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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 Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II) - A History of the Development of Thought and Emotion in the Middle Ages - -Author: Henry Osborn Taylor - -Release Date: October 4, 2013 [EBook #43880] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEDIAEVAL MIND (VOLUME I *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - - - - -THE MEDIAEVAL MIND - - - - - MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED - LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA - MELBOURNE - - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO - ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO - - THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. - TORONTO - - - - - THE MEDIAEVAL MIND - - A HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT - OF THOUGHT AND EMOTION - IN THE MIDDLE AGES - - - BY HENRY OSBORN TAYLOR - - - IN TWO VOLUMES - - VOL. I - - - MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED - ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON - 1911 - - - - -TO J. I. T. - - - - -PREFACE - - -The Middle Ages! They seem so far away; intellectually so preposterous, -spiritually so strange. Bits of them may touch our sympathy, please our -taste; their window-glass, their sculpture, certain of their stories, -their romances,--as if those straitened ages really were the time of -romance, which they were not, God knows, in the sense commonly taken. Yet -perhaps they were such intellectually, or at least spiritually. Their -_terra_--not for them _incognita_, though full of mystery and pall and -vaguer glory--was not the earth. It was the land of metaphysical -construction and the land of spiritual passion. There lay their romance, -thither pointed their veriest thinking, thither drew their utter yearning. - -Is it possible that the Middle Ages should speak to us, as through a -common humanity? Their mask is by no means dumb: in full voice speaks the -noble beauty of Chartres Cathedral. Such mediaeval product, we hope, is of -the universal human, and therefore of us as well as of the bygone -craftsmen. Why it moves us, we are not certain, being ignorant, perhaps, -of the building's formative and earnestly intended meaning. Do we care to -get at that? There is no way save by entering the mediaeval depths, -penetrating to the _rationale_ of the Middle Ages, learning the -_doctrinale_, or _emotionale_, of the modes in which they still present -themselves so persuasively. - -But if the pageant of those centuries charm our eyes with forms that seem -so full of meaning, why should we stand indifferent to the harnessed -processes of mediaeval thinking and the passion surging through the -thought? Thought marshalled the great mediaeval procession, which moved to -measures of pulsating and glorifying emotion. Shall we not press on, -through knowledge, and search out its efficient causes, so that we too may -feel the reality of the mediaeval argumentation, with the possible -validity of mediaeval conclusions, and tread those channels of mediaeval -passion which were cleared and deepened by the thought? This would be to -reach human comradeship with mediaeval motives, no longer found too remote -for our sympathy, or too fantastic or shallow for our understanding. - -But where is the path through these footless mazes? Obviously, if we would -attain, perhaps, no unified, but at least an orderly presentation of -mediaeval intellectual and emotional development, we must avoid -entanglements with manifold and not always relevant detail. We must not -drift too far with studies of daily life, habits and dress, wars and -raiding, crimes and brutalities, or trade and craft and agriculture. Nor -will it be wise to keep too close to theology or within the lines of -growth of secular and ecclesiastical institutions. Let the student be -mindful of his purpose (which is my purpose in this book) to follow -through the Middle Ages the development of intellectual energy and the -growth of emotion. Holding this end in view, we, students all, shall not -stray from our quest after those human qualities which impelled the -strivings of mediaeval men and women, informed their imaginations, and -moved them to love and tears and pity. - -The plan and method by which I have endeavoured to realize this purpose in -my book may be gathered from the Table of Contents and the First Chapter, -which is introductory. These will obviate the need of sketching here the -order of presentation of the successive or co-ordinated topics forming the -subject-matter. - -Yet one word as to the standpoint from which the book is written. An -historian explains by the standards and limitations of the times to which -his people belong. He judges--for he must also judge--by his own best -wisdom. His sympathy cannot but reach out to those who lived up to their -best understanding of life; for who can do more? Yet woe unto that man -whose mind is closed, whose standards are material and base. - -Not only shalt thou do what seems well to thee; but thou shalt do right, -with wisdom. History has laid some thousands of years of emphasis on this. -Thou shalt not only be sincere, but thou shalt be righteous, and not -iniquitous; beneficent, and not malignant; loving and lovable, and not -hating and hateful. Thou shalt be a promoter of light, and not of -darkness; an illuminator, and not an obscurer. Not only shalt thou seek to -choose aright, but at thy peril thou shalt so choose. "Unto him that hath -shall be given"--nothing is said about sincerity. The fool, the maniac, is -sincere; the mainsprings of the good which we may commend lie deeper. - -So, and at _his_ peril likewise, must the historian judge. He cannot state -the facts and sit aloof, impartial between good and ill, between success -and failure, progress and retrogression, the soul's health and loveliness, -and spiritual foulness and disease. He must love and hate, and at his -peril love aright and hate what is truly hateful. And although his -sympathies quiver to understand and feel as the man and woman before him, -his sympathies must be controlled by wisdom. - -Whatever may be one's beliefs, a realization of the power and import of -the Christian Faith is needed for an understanding of the thoughts and -feelings moving the men and women of the Middle Ages, and for a just -appreciation of their aspirations and ideals. Perhaps the fittest standard -to apply to them is one's own broadest conception of the Christian scheme, -the Christian scheme whole and entire with the full life of Christ's -Gospel. Every age has offered an interpretation of that Gospel and an -attempt at fulfilment. Neither the interpretation of the Church Fathers, -nor that of the Middle Ages satisfies us now. And by our further -understanding of life and the Gospel of life, we criticize the judgment of -mediaeval men. We have to sympathize with their best, and understand their -lives out of their lives and the conditions in which they were passed. But -we must judge according to our own best wisdom, and out of ourselves offer -our comment and contribution. - -HENRY OSBORN TAYLOR. - - -Many translations from mediaeval (chiefly Latin) writings will be found in -this work, which seeks to make the Middle Ages speak for themselves. With -a very few exceptions, mentioned in the foot-notes, these translations are -my own. I have tried to keep them literal, and at all events free from the -intrusion of thoughts and suggestions not in the originals. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - BOOK I - - THE GROUNDWORK - - CHAPTER I - - GENESIS OF THE MEDIAEVAL GENIUS 3 - - CHAPTER II - - THE LATINIZING OF THE WEST 23 - - - CHAPTER III - - GREEK PHILOSOPHY AS THE ANTECEDENT OF THE PATRISTIC - APPREHENSION OF FACT 33 - - CHAPTER IV - - INTELLECTUAL INTERESTS OF THE LATIN FATHERS 61 - - CHAPTER V - - LATIN TRANSMITTERS OF ANTIQUE AND PATRISTIC THOUGHT 88 - - CHAPTER VI - - THE BARBARIC DISRUPTION OF THE EMPIRE 110 - - CHAPTER VII - - THE CELTIC STRAIN IN GAUL AND IRELAND 124 - - CHAPTER VIII - - TEUTON QUALITIES: ANGLO-SAXON, GERMAN, NORSE 138 - - CHAPTER IX - - THE BRINGING OF CHRISTIANITY AND ANTIQUE KNOWLEDGE TO THE - NORTHERN PEOPLES 169 - - I. Irish Activities; Columbanus of Luxeuil. - - II. Conversion of the English; the learning of Bede and Alfred. - - III. Gaul and Germany; from Clovis to St. Winifried-Boniface. - - - BOOK II - - THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES - - CHAPTER X - - CAROLINGIAN PERIOD: THE FIRST STAGE IN THE APPROPRIATION OF - THE PATRISTIC AND ANTIQUE 207 - - CHAPTER XI - - MENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY: ITALY 238 - - I. From Charlemagne to Hildebrand. - - II. The Human Situation. - - III. The Italian Continuity of Antique Culture. - - IV. Italy's Intellectual Piety: Peter Damiani and St. Anselm. - - CHAPTER XII - - MENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY: FRANCE 280 - - I. Gerbert. - - II. Odilo of Cluny. - - III. Fulbert and the School of Chartres; Trivium and Quadrivium. - - IV. Berengar of Tours, Roscellin, and the coming time. - - CHAPTER XIII - - MENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY: GERMANY; ENGLAND 307 - - I. German Appropriation of Christianity and Antique Culture. - - II. Othloh's Spiritual Conflict. - - III. England; Closing Comparisons. - - CHAPTER XIV - - THE GROWTH OF MEDIAEVAL EMOTION 330 - - I. The Patristic Chart of Passion. - - II. Emotionalizing of Latin Christianity. - - - BOOK III - - THE IDEAL AND THE ACTUAL: THE SAINTS - - CHAPTER XV - - THE REFORMS OF MONASTICISM 353 - - Mediaeval Extremes; Benedict of Aniane; Cluny; Citeaux's - _Charta Charitatis_; the _vita contemplativa_ accepts the - _vita activa_. - - CHAPTER XVI - - THE HERMIT TEMPER 368 - - Peter Damiani; Romuald; Dominicus Loricatus; Bruno and Guigo, - Carthusians. - - CHAPTER XVII - - THE QUALITY OF LOVE IN ST. BERNARD 392 - - CHAPTER XVIII - - ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI 415 - - CHAPTER XIX - - MYSTIC VISIONS OF ASCETIC WOMEN 442 - - Elizabeth of Schönau; Hildegard of Bingen; Mary of Ognies; - Liutgard of Tongern; Mechthild of Magdeburg. - - CHAPTER XX - - THE SPOTTED ACTUALITY 471 - - The Testimony of Invective and Satire; Archbishop Rigaud's - _Register_; Engelbert of Cologne; Popular Credences. - - CHAPTER XXI - - THE WORLD OF SALIMBENE 494 - - - BOOK IV - - THE IDEAL AND THE ACTUAL: SOCIETY - - CHAPTER XXII - - FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 521 - - Feudal and Christian Origin of Knightly Virtue; the Order of - the Temple; Godfrey of Bouillon; St. Louis; Froissart's - _Chronicles_. - - CHAPTER XXIII - - ROMANTIC CHIVALRY AND COURTLY LOVE 558 - - From Roland to Tristan and Lancelot. - - CHAPTER XXIV - - PARZIVAL, THE BRAVE MAN SLOWLY WISE 588 - - - - -BOOK I - -THE GROUNDWORK - - - - -CHAPTER I - -GENESIS OF THE MEDIAEVAL GENIUS - - -The antique civilization of the Roman Empire was followed by that -depression of decadence and barbarization which separates antiquity from -the Middle Ages. Out of the confusion of this intervening period emerged -the mediaeval peoples of western Europe. These, as knowledge increased -with them, began to manifest spiritual traits having no clear counterpart -in the ancient sources from which they drew the matter of their thought -and contemplation. - -The past which furnished the content of mediaeval thought was twofold, -very dual, even carrying within itself the elements of irreconcilable -conflict; and yet with its opposing fronts seemingly confederated, if not -made into one. Sprung from such warring elements, fashioned by all the -interests of life in heaven as well as life on earth, the traits and -faculties of mediaeval humanity were to make a motley company. Clearly -each mediaeval century will offer a manifold of disparity and -irrelationship, not to be brought to unity, any more than can be followed -to the breast of one mighty wind-god the blasts that blow from every -quarter over the waters of our own time. Nevertheless, each mediaeval -century, and if one will, the entire Middle Ages, seen in distant -perspective, presents a consistent picture, in which dominant mediaeval -traits, retaining their due pre-eminence, may afford a just conception of -the mediaeval genius.[1] - - -I - -While complex in themselves, and intricate in their interaction, the -elements that were to form the spiritual constituency of the Middle Ages -of western Europe may be disentangled and regarded separately. There was -first the element of the antique, which was descended from the thought and -knowledge current in Italy and the western provinces of the Roman Empire, -where Latin was the common language. In those Roman times, this fund of -thought and knowledge consisted of Greek metaphysics, physical science, -and ethics, and also of much that the Latins had themselves evolved, -especially in private law and political institutions. - -Rome had borrowed her philosophy and the motives of her literature and art -from Greece. At first, quite provincially, she drew as from a foreign -source; but as the great Republic extended her boundaries around the -Mediterranean world, and brought under her levelling power the Hellenized -or still Asiatic East, and Africa and Spain and Gaul as well, Greek -thought, as the informing principle of knowledge, was diffused throughout -all this Roman Empire, and ceased to be alien to the Latin West. Yet the -peoples of the West did not become Hellenized, or change their speech for -Greek. Latin held its own against its subtle rival, and continued to -advance with power through the lands which had spoken other tongues before -their Roman subjugation; and it was the soul of Latium, and not the soul -of Hellas, that imbued these lands with a new homogeneity of civic order. -The Greek knowledge which spread through them was transmuted in Latin -speech or writings; while the great Latin authors who modelled Latin -literature upon the Greek, and did so much to fill the Latin mind with -Greek thoughts, recast their borrowings in their own style as well as -language, and re-tempered the matter to accord with the Roman natures of -themselves and their countrymen. Hence only through Latin paraphrase, and -through transformation in the Latin classics, Greek thought reached the -mediaeval peoples; until the thirteenth century, when a better -acquaintance was opened with the Greek sources, yet still through closer -Latin translations, as will be seen. - -Thus it was with the pagan antique as an element of mediaeval culture. Nor -was it very different with the patristic, or Christian antique, element. -For in the fourth and fifth centuries, the influence of pagan Greece on -pagan Rome tended to repeat itself in the relations between the Greek and -the Latin Fathers of the Church. The dogmatic formulation of Christianity -was mainly the work of the former. Tertullian, a Latin, had indeed been an -early and important contributor to the process. But, in general, the Latin -Fathers were to approve and confirm the work of Athanasius and of his -coadjutors and predecessors, who thought and wrote in Greek. Nevertheless, -Augustine and other Latin Fathers ordered and made anew what had come from -their elder brethren in the East, Latinizing it in form and temper as well -as language. At the same time, they supplemented it with matter drawn from -their own thinking. And so, the thoughts of the Greek Fathers having been -well transmuted in the writings of Ambrose, Hilary, and Augustine, -patristic theology and the entire mass of Christianized knowledge and -opinion came to the Middle Ages in a Latin medium. - -A third and vaguest factor in the evolution of the mediaeval genius -consisted in the diverse and manifold capacities of the mediaeval peoples: -Italians whose ancestors had been very part of the antique; inhabitants of -Spain and Gaul who were descended from once Latinized provincials; and -lastly that widespread Teuton folk, whose forbears had barbarized and -broken the Roman Empire in those centuries when a decadent civilization -could no longer make Romans of barbarians. Moreover, the way in which -Christianity was brought to the Teuton peoples and accepted by them, and -the manner of their introduction to the pagan culture, reduced at last to -following in the Christian train, did not cease for centuries to react -upon the course of mediaeval development. - -The distinguishing characteristics which make the Middle Ages a period in -the history of western Europe were the result of the interaction of the -elements of mediaeval development working together, and did not spring -from the singular nature of any one of them. Accordingly, the proper -beginning of the Middle Ages, so far as one may speak of a beginning, -should lie in the time of the conjunction of these elements in a joint -activity. That could not be before the barbaric disturbers of the Roman -peace had settled down to life and progress under the action of Latin -Christianity and the surviving antique culture. Nor may this beginning be -placed before the time when Gregory the Great (died 604) had refashioned -Augustine, and much that was earlier, to the measure of the coming -centuries; nor before Boëthius (died 523), Cassiodorus (died 575), and -Isidore of Seville (died 636), had prepared the antique pabulum for the -mediaeval stomach. All these men were intermediaries or transmitters, and -belong to the epoch of transition from the antique and the patristic to -the properly inceptive time, when new learners were beginning, in -typically mediaeval ways, to rehandle the patristic material and what -remained of the antique. Contemporary with those intermediaries, or -following hard upon them, were the great missionaries or converters, who -laboured to introduce Christianity, with antique thought incorporated in -it, and the squalid survival of antique education sheltered in its train, -to Teuton peoples in Gaul, England, and Rhenish Germany. Among these was -the truculent Irishman, St. Columbanus (died 615), founder of Luxeuil and -Bobbio, whose disciple was St. Gall, and whose contemporary was St. -Augustine of Canterbury, whom Gregory the Great sent to convert the -Anglo-Saxons. A good century later, St. Winifried-Boniface is working to -establish Christianity in Germany.[2] Thus it will not be easy to find a -large and catholic beginning for the Middle Ages until the eighth century -is reached, and we are come on what is called the Carolingian period. - -Let us approach a little nearer, and consider the situation of western -Europe, with respect to antique culture and Latin Christianity, in the -centuries following the disruption of the Roman Empire. The broadest -distinction is to be drawn between Italy and the lands north of the Alps. -Under the Empire, there was an Italian people. However diverse may have -been its ancient stocks, this people had long since become Latin in -language, culture, sentiment and tradition. They were the heirs of the -Greek, and the creators of the Roman literature, art, philosophy, and law. -They were never to become barbarians, although they suffered decadence. -Like all great peoples, they had shown a power to assimilate foreigners, -which was not lost, but only degraded and diminished, in the fourth and -fifth centuries, when Teutonic slaves, immigrants, invaders, seemed to be -barbarizing the Latin order quite as much as it was Latinizing them. In -these and the following times the culture of Italy sank lamentably low. -Yet there was no break of civilization, but only a deep decline and then a -re-emergence, in the course of which the Latin civilization had become -Italian. For a lowered form of classical education had survived, and the -better classes continued to be educated people according to the degraded -standard and lessened intellectual energies of those times.[3] - -Undoubtedly, in its decline this Latin civilization of Italy could no -longer raise barbarians to the level of the Augustan age. Yet it still was -making them over into the likeness of its own weakened children. The -Visigoths broke into Italy, then, as we are told, passed into southern -France; other confused barbarians came and went, and then the Ostrogoths, -with Theodoric at their head, an excellent but not very numerous folk. -They stayed in Italy, and fought and died, or lived on, changing into -indistinguishable Italians, save for flashes of yellow hair, appearing and -reappearing where the Goths had lived. And then the Lombards, crueller -than the Goths, but better able to maintain their energies effective. -Their numbers also were not great, compared with the Italians. And -thereafter, in spite of their fierceness and the tenacity of their -Germanic customs, the succeeding Lombard generations became imbued with -the culture of Italy. They became North Italians, gravitating to the towns -of Lombardy, or perhaps, farther to the south, holding together in -settlements of their own, or forming the nucleus of a hill-dwelling -country nobility. - -The Italian stock remained predominant over all the incomers of northern -blood. It certainly needed no introduction to what had largely been its -own creation, the Latin civilization. With weakened hands, it still held -to the education, the culture, of its own past; it still read its ancient -literature, and imitated it in miserable verse. The incoming barbarians -had hastened the land's intellectual downfall. But all the plagues of -inroad and pestilence and famine, which intermittently devastated Italy -from the fifth to the tenth century, left some squalid continuity of -education. And those barbarian stocks which stayed in that home of the -classics, became imbued with whatever culture existed around them, and -tended gradually to coalesce with the Italians. - -Evidently in its old home, where it merely had become decadent, this -ancient culture would fill a rôle quite different from any specific -influence which it might exert in a country where the Latin education was -freshly introduced. In Italy, a general survival of Roman law and -institution, custom and tradition, endured so far as these various -elements of the Italian civilization had not been lost or dispossessed, or -left high and dry above the receding tide of culture and intelligence. -Christianity had been superimposed upon paganism; and the Christian faith -held thoughts incompatible with antique views of life. Teutonic customs -were brought in, and the Lombard codes were enacted, working some specific -supersession of the Roman law. The tone, the sentiment, the mind of the -Italian people had altered from the patterns presented by Cicero, or -Virgil, or Horace, or Tacitus. Nevertheless, the antique remained as the -soil from which things grew, or as the somewhat turgid atmosphere breathed -by living beings. It was not merely a form of education or vehicle of -edifying knowledge, nor solely a literary standard. The common modes of -the antique were there as well, its daily habits, its urbanity and its -dross. - -The relationship toward the antique held by the peoples of the Iberian -peninsula and the lands which eventually were to make France, was not -quite the same as that held by the Italians. Spain, save in intractable -mountain regions, had become a domicile of Latin culture before its -people were converted to Christianity. Then it became a stronghold of -early Catholicism. Latin and Catholic Spain absorbed its Visigothic -invaders, who in a few generations had appropriated the antique culture, -and had turned from Arianism to the orthodoxy of their new home. Under -Visigothic rule, the Spanish Church became exceptionally authoritative, -and its Latin and Catholic learning flourished at the beginning of the -seventh century. These conditions gave way before the Moorish conquest, -which was most complete in the most thoroughly Romanized portions of the -land. Yet the permanent Latinization of the territory where Christianity -continued, is borne witness to by the languages growing from the vulgar -Latin dialects. The endurance of Latin culture is shown by the polished -Latinity of Theodulphus, a Spanish Goth, who left his home at the -invitation of Charlemagne, and died, the best Latin verse-maker of his -time, as Bishop of Orleans in 821. Thus the education, culture, and -languages of Spain were all from the antique. Yet the genius of the land -was to be specifically Spanish rather than assimilated to any such -deep-soiled paganism as underlay the ecclesiastical Christianization of -Italy. - -As for France, in the southern part which had been Provincia, the antique -endured in laws and institutions, in architecture and in ways of life, to -a degree second only to its dynamic continuity in Italy. And this in spite -of the crude masses of Teutondom which poured into Provincia to be -leavened by its culture. In northern France there were more barbarian folk -and a less universally diffused Latinity. The Merovingian period swept -most of the last away, leaving a fair field to be sown afresh with the -Latin education of the Carolingian revival. Yet the inherited discipline -of obedience to the Roman order was not obliterated from the Gallic stock, -and the lasting Latinization of Gaul endured in the Romance tongues, which -were also to be impressed upon all German invaders. Franks, Burgundians, -or Alemanni, who came in contact with the provincials, began to be -affected by their language, their religion, their ways of living, and by -whatever survival of letters there was among them. The Romance dialects -were to triumph, were to become French; and in the earliest extant pieces -of this vernacular poetry, the effect of Latin verse-forms appears. Yet -Franks and Burgundians were not Latinized in spirit; and, in truth, the -Gauls before them had only become good imitation Latins. At all events, -from these mixed and intermediate conditions, a people were to emerge who -were not German, nor altogether Latin, in spite of their Romance speech. -Latin culture was not quite as a foreign influence upon these Gallo-Roman, -Teutonically re-inspirited, incipient, French. Nor were they born and bred -to it, like the Italians. The antique was not to dominate the French -genius; it was not to stem the growth of what was, so to speak, Gothic or -northern or Teutonic. The glass-painting, the sculpture, the architecture -of northern France were to become their own great French selves; and while -the literature was to hold to forms derived from the antique and the -Romanesque, the spirit and the contents did not come from Italy. - -The office of Latin culture in Germany and England was to be more definite -and limited. Germany had never been subdued to the Roman order; in -Anglo-Saxon England, Roman civilization had been effaced by the Saxon -conquest, which, like the Moorish conquest of Spain, was most complete in -those parts of the land where the Roman influence had been strongest. In -neither of these lands was there any antique atmosphere, or antique pagan -substratum--save as the universal human soul is pagan! Latinity came to -Germans and Anglo-Saxons as a foreign culture, which was not to pertain to -all men's daily living. It was matter for the educated, for the clergy. -Its vehicle was a formal language, having no connection with the -vernacular. And when the antique culture had obtained certain -resting-places in England and Germany, the first benign labours of those -Germans or Anglo-Saxons who had mastered the language consisted in the -translation of edifying Latin matter into their own tongues. So Latinity -in England and Germany was likely to remain a distinguishable influence. -The Anglo-Saxons and the rest in England were to become Englishmen, the -Germans were to remain Germans; nor was either race ever to become -Latinized, however deeply the educated people of these countries might -imbibe Latinity, and exercise their intellects upon all that was contained -in the antique metaphysics and natural science, literature and law. - -Thus diverse were the situations of the young mediaeval peoples with -respect to the antique store. There were like differences of situation in -regard to Latin Christianity. It had been formed (from some points of view -one might say, created) by the civilized peoples of the Roman Empire who -had been converted in the course of the original diffusion of the Faith. -It was, in fact, the product of the conversion of the Roman Empire, and, -in Italy and the Latin provinces received its final fashioning and temper -from the Latin Fathers. Thus within the Latin-speaking portions of the -Empire was formed the system which was to be presented to the Teutonic -heathen peoples of the north. They had neither made it nor grown up with -it. It was brought to the Franks, to the Anglo-Saxons, and to the Germans -east of the Rhine, as a new and foreign faith. And the import of the fact -that it was introduced to them as an authoritative religion brought from -afar, did not lessen as Christianity became a formative element in their -natures. - -One may say that an attitude of humble inferiority before Christianity and -Latin culture was an initial condition of mediaeval development, having -much to do with setting its future lines. In Italy, men looked back to -what seemed even as a greater ancestral self, while in the minds of the -northern peoples the ancient Empire represented all knowledge and the -summit of human greatness. The formulated and ordered Latin Christianity -evoked even deeper homage. Well it might, since besides the resistless -Gospel (its source of life) it held the intelligence and the organizing -power of Rome, which had passed into its own last creation, the Catholic -Church. And when this Christianity, so mighty in itself and august through -the prestige of Rome, was presented as under authority, its new converts -might well be struck with awe.[4] It was such awe as this that -acknowledged the claims of the Roman bishops, and made possible a Roman -and Catholic Church--the most potent unifying influence of the Middle -Ages. - -Still more was the character of mediaeval progress set by the action and -effect of these two forces. The Latin culture provided the means and -method of elementary education, as well as the material for study; while -Latin Christianity, with transforming power, worked itself into the souls -of the young mediaeval peoples. The two were assuredly the moulding forces -of all mediaeval development; and whatever sprang to life beyond the range -of their action was not, properly speaking, mediaeval, even though seeing -the light in the twelfth century.[5] Yet one should not think of these two -great influences as entities, unchanging and utterly distinct from what -must be called for simplicity's sake the native traits of the mediaeval -peoples. The antique culture had never ceased to form part of the nature -and faculties of Italians, and to some extent still made the inherited -equipment of the Latinized or Latin-descended people of Spain and France. -In the same lands also, Latin Christianity had attained its form. And even -in England and Germany, Christianity and Latin culture would be distinct -from the Teuton folk only at the first moment of presentation and -acceptance. Thereupon the two would begin to enter into and affect their -new disciples, and would themselves change under the process of their own -assimilation by these Teutonic natures. - -Nevertheless, the Latin Christianity of the Fathers and the antique fund -of sentiment and knowledge, through their self-conserving strength, -affected men in constant ways. Under their action the peoples of western -Europe, from the eighth to the thirteenth century, passed through a -homogeneous growth, and evolved a spirit different from that of any other -period of history--a spirit which stood in awe before its monitors divine -and human, and deemed that knowledge was to be drawn from the storehouse -of the past; which seemed to rely on everything except its sin-crushed -self, and trusted everything except its senses; which in the actual looked -for the ideal, in the concrete saw the symbol, in the earthly Church -beheld the heavenly, and in fleshly joys discerned the devil's lures; -which lived in the unreconciled opposition between the lust and vain-glory -of earth and the attainment of salvation; which felt life's terror and its -pitifulness, and its eternal hope; around which waved concrete -infinitudes, and over which flamed the terror of darkness and the Judgment -Day. - - -II - -Under the action of Latin Christianity and the antique culture the -mediaeval genius developed, as it fused the constituents of its growth -into temperament and power. Its energies were neither to produce an -extension of knowledge, nor originate substantial novelties either of -thought or imaginative conception. They were rather to expend themselves -in the creation of new forms--forms of apprehending and presenting what -was (or might be) known from the old books, and all that from century to -century was ever more plastically felt. This principle is most important -for the true appreciation of the intellectual and emotional phenomena of -the Middle Ages. - -When a sublime religion is presented to capable but half-civilized -peoples, and at the same time an acquaintance is opened to them with the -education, the knowledge, the literature of a great civilization, they -cannot create new forms or presentations of what they have received, until -the same has been assimilated, and has become plastic in their minds, as -it were, part of their faculty and feeling. Manifestly the northern -peoples could not at once transmute the lofty and superabundant matter of -Latin Christianity and its accompanying Latin culture, and present the -same in new forms. Nor in truth could Italy, involved as she was in a -disturbed decadence, wherein she seemed to be receding from an -understanding of the nobler portions of her antique and Christian -heritage, rather than progressing toward a vital use of one or the other. -In Spain and France there was some decadence among Latinized provincials; -and the Teutonic conquerors were novices in both Christianity and -Latinity. In these lands neither decadence nor the novelty of the matter -was the sole embarrassment, but both combined to hinder creativeness, -although the decadence was less obvious than in Italy, and the newness of -the matter less utter than in Germany. - -The ancient material was appropriated, and then re-expressed in new forms, -through two general ways of transmutation, the intellectual and the -emotional. Although patently distinguishable, these would usually work -together, with one or the other dominating the joint progress. - -Of the two, the intellectual is the easier to analyze. Thinking is -necessarily dependent on the thinker, although it appear less intimately -part of him than his emotions, and less expressive of his character. -Accordingly, the mediaeval genius shows somewhat more palely in its -intellectual productions, than in the more emotional phases of literature -and art. Yet the former exemplify not only mediaeval capacities, but also -the mediaeval intellectual temperament, or, as it were, the synthetic -predisposition of the mediaeval mind. This temperament, this intellectual -predisposition, became in general more marked through the centuries from -the ninth to the twelfth. People could not go on generation after -generation occupied with like topics of intellectual interest, reasoning -upon them along certain lines of religious and ethical suggestion, without -developing or intensifying some general type of intellectual temper. - -From the Carolingian period onward, the men interested in knowledge -learned the patristic theology, and, in gradually expanding compass, -acquired antique logic and metaphysics, mathematics, natural science and -jurisprudence. What they learned, they laboured to restate or expound. -With each succeeding generation, the subjects of mediaeval study were made -more closely part of the intelligence occupied with them; because the -matter had been considered for a longer time, and had been constantly -restated and restudied in terms more nearly adapted to the comprehension -of the men who were learning and restating it. At length mediaeval men -made the antique and patristic material, or rather their understanding of -it, dynamically their own. Their comprehension of it became part of their -intellectual faculties, they could think for themselves in its terms, -think almost originally and creatively, and could present as their own the -matter of their thoughts in restatements, that is in forms, essentially -new. - -From century to century may be traced the process of restatement of -patristic Christianity, with the antique material contained in it. The -Christianity of the fifth century contained an amplitude of thought and -learning. To the creative work of earlier and chiefly eastern men, the -Latin intellect finally incorporate in Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine had -added its further great accomplishment and ordering. The sum of dogma was -well-nigh made up; the Trinity was established; Christian learning had -reached a compass beyond which it was not to pass for the next thousand -years; the doctrines as to the "sacred mysteries," as to the functions of -the Church and its spiritual authority, existed in substance; the -principles of symbolism and allegory had been set; the great mass of -allegorical Scriptural interpretations had been devised; the spiritual -relationship of man to God's ordainment, to wit, the part to be played by -the human will in man's salvation or damnation, had been reasoned out; and -man's need and love of God, his nothingness apart from the Source and King -and End of Life, had been uttered in words which men still use. Evidently -succeeding generations of less illumination could not add to this vast -intellectual creation; much indeed had to be done before they could -comprehend and make it theirs, so as to use it as an element of their own -thinking, or possess it as an inspiration of passionate, imaginative -reverie. - -At the darkening close of the patristic period, Gregory the Great was -still partially creative in his barbarizing handling of patristic -themes.[6] After his death, for some three centuries, theologians were to -devote themselves to mastering the great heritage from the Church Fathers. -It was still a time of racial antipathy and conflict. The disparate -elements of the mediaeval personality were as yet unblended. How could the -unformed intellect of such a period grasp the patristic store of thought -in its integrity? Still less might this wavering human spirit, uncertain -of itself and unadjusted to novel and great conceptions, transform, and so -renew, them with fresh life. Scarcely any proper recasting of patristic -doctrine will be found in the Carolingian period, but merely a shuffling -of the matter. There were some exceptions, arising, as in the case of -Eriugena, from the extraordinary genius of this thinker; or again from the -narrow controversial treatment of a matter argued with rupturing -detachment of patristic opinions from their setting and balancing -qualifications.[7] But the typical works of the eighth and ninth centuries -were commentaries upon Scripture, consisting chiefly of excerpts from the -Fathers. The flower of them all was the compendious _Glossa Ordinaria_ of -Walafrid Strabo, a pupil of the voluminous commentator Rabanus Maurus.[8] - -Through the tenth and eleventh centuries, one finds no great advance in -the systematic restatement of Christian doctrine.[9] Nevertheless, two -hundred years of devotion have been put upon it; and statements of parts -of it occur, showing that the eleventh century has made progress over the -ninth in its thoughtful and vital appropriation of Latin Christianity. A -man like German Othloh has thought for himself within its lines;[10] -Anselm of Canterbury has set forth pieces of it with a depth of reflection -and intimacy of understanding which make his works creative;[11] Peter -Damiani through intensity of feeling has become the embodiment of -Christian asceticism and the grace of Christian tears;[12] and Hildebrand -has established the mediaeval papal church. Of a truth, the mediaeval man -was adjusting himself, and reaching his understanding of what the past had -given him. - -The twelfth century presents a universal progress in philosophic and -theological thinking. It is the century of Abaelard, of Hugo of St. -Victor, and St. Bernard, and of Peter Lombard. The first of these -penetrates into the logical premises of systematic thought as no mediaeval -man had done before him; St. Bernard moves the world through his emotional -and political comprehension of the Faith; Hugo of St. Victor offers a -sacramental explanation of the universe and man, based upon symbolism as -the working principle of creation; and Peter Lombard makes or, at least, -typifies, the systematic advance, from the _Commentary_ to the _Books of -Sentences_, in which he presents patristic doctrine arranged according to -the cardinal topics of the Christian scheme. Here Abaelard's _Sic et non_ -had been a precursor rather carping in its excessive clear-sightedness. - -Thus, as a rule, each successive mediaeval period shows a more organic -restatement of the old material. Yet this principle may be impeded or -deflected, in its exemplifications, by social turmoil and disaster, or -even by the use of further antique matter, demanding assimilation. For -example, upon the introduction of the complete works of Aristotle in the -thirteenth century, an enormous intellectual effort was required for the -mastery of their contents. They were not mastered at once, or by all -people who studied the philosopher. So the works of Hugo of St. Victor, of -the first half of the twelfth century, are more original in their organic -restatement of less vast material than are the works of Albertus Magnus, -Aristotle's prodigious expounder, one hundred years later. But Thomas -Aquinas accomplishes a final Catholic presentation of the whole enlarged -material, patristic and antique.[13] - -One may perceive three stages in this chief phase of mediaeval -intellectual progress, consisting in the appropriation of Latin -Christianity: its first conning, its more vital appropriation, its -re-expression, with added elements of thought. There were also three -stages in the evolution of the outer forms of this same catholic mastery -and re-expression of doctrine: first, the Scriptural _Commentary_; -secondly, the _Books of Sentences_; and thirdly, the _Summa Theologiae_, -of which Thomas Aquinas is the final definitive creator. The philosophical -material used in its making was the substantial philosophy of Aristotle, -mastered at length by this Christian Titan of the thirteenth century. In -the _Summa_, both visibly as well as more inwardly and essentially -considered, the Latin Christianity of the Fathers received an organically -new form. - -Quite as impressive, more moving, and possibly more creative, than the -intellectual recasting of the ancient patristic matter, were its emotional -transformations. The sequence and character of mediaeval development is -clearly seen in the evolution of new forms of emotional, and especially of -poetic and plastic, expression. The intellectual transformation of the -antique and more especially the patristic matter, was accompanied by -currents of desire and aversion, running with increasing definiteness and -power. As patristic thought became more organically mediaeval, more -intrinsically part of the intellectual faculties of men, it constituted -with increasing incisiveness the suggestion and the rationale of emotional -experiences, and set the lines accordingly of impassioned expression in -devotional prose and verse, and in the more serious forms of art. -Patristic theology, the authoritative statement of the Christian faith, -contained men's furthest hopes and deepest fears, set forth together with -the divine Means by which those might be realized and these allayed. As -generation after generation clung to this system as to the stay of their -salvation, the intellectual consideration of it became instinct with the -emotions of desire and aversion, and with love and gratitude toward the -suffering means and instruments which made salvation possible--the -Crucified, the Weeping Mother, and the martyred or self-torturing saints. -All these had suffered; they were sublime objects for human compassion. -Who could think upon them without tears? Thus mediaeval religious thought -became a well of emotion. - -Emotion breaks its way to expression; it feeds itself upon its expression, -thereby increasing in resistlessness; it even becomes identical with its -expression. Surely it creates the modes of its expression, seeking -continually the more facile, the more unimpeded, which is to say, the -adequate and perfect form. Typical mediaeval emotion, which was religious, -cast itself around the Gospel of Christ and the theology of the Fathers as -studied and pondered on in the mediaeval centuries. Seeking fitting forms -of expression, which are at once modes of relief and forms of added power, -the passionate energy of the mediaeval genius constrained the intellectual -faculties to unite with it in the production of these forms. They were to -become more personal and original than any mere scholastic restatement of -the patristic and antique thought. Yet the perfect form of the emotional -expression was not quickly reached. It could not outrun the intelligent -appropriation of Latin Christianity. Its media, moreover, as in the case -of sculpture, might present retarding difficulties, to be overcome before -that means of presentation could be mastered. A sequence may be observed -in the evolution of the mediaeval emotional expression of patristic -Christianity. One of the first attained was impassioned devotional Latin -prose, like that of Peter Damiani or St. Anselm of Canterbury.[14] But -prose is a halting means of emotional expression. It is too circumstantial -and too slow. Only in the chanted strophe, winged with the power of -rhythm, can emotion pour out its unimpeded strength. But before the -thought can be fused in verse, it must be plastic, molten indeed. Even -then, the finished verse is not produced at once. The perfected mediaeval -Latin strophe was a final form of religious emotional expression, which -was not attained until the twelfth century.[15] - -Impassioned prose may be art; the loftier forms of verse are surely art. -And art is not spontaneous, but carefully intended; no babbling of a -child, but a mutual fitting of form and content, in which efficient unison -the artist's intellect has worked. Such intellectual, such artistic -endeavour, was evinced in the long development of mediaeval plastic art. -The sculpture and the painted glass, which tell the Christian story in -Chartres Cathedral, set forth the patristic and antique matter in forms -expressive of the feeling and emotion which had gathered around the scheme -of Latin Christianity. They were forms never to be outdone for -appropriateness and power. Several centuries not only of spiritual growth, -but of mechanical and artistic endeavour, had been needed for their -perfecting. - -In these and like emotional recastings, or indeed creations, patristic and -antique elements were transformed and transfigured. And again, in fields -non-religious and non-philosophical, through a combined evolution of the -mediaeval mind and heart, novelties of sentiment and situation were -introduced into antique themes of fiction; new forms of romance, new -phases of human love and devotion were evolved, in which (witness the -poetry of chivalric love in Provençal and Old French) the energies of -intellect and passion were curiously blended.[16] These represented a side -of human growth not unrelated to the supreme mediaeval achievement, the -vital appropriation and emotional humanizing of patristic Christianity. -For that carried an impassioning of its teachings with love and tears, a -fostering of them with devotion, an adorning of them with quivering -fantasies, a translation of them into art, into poetry, into romance. With -what wealth of love and terror, with what grandeur of imagination, with -what power of mystery and symbolism, did the Middle Ages glorify their -heritage, turning its precepts into spirit. - -Of a surety the emotional is not to be separated from the intellectual -recasting of Christianity. The greatest exponents of the one had their -share in the other. Hugo of St. Victor as well as St. Bernard were mighty -agents of this spiritually passionate mode of apprehending Latin -Christianity, and transfusing it with emotion, or reviving the Gospel -elements in it. Here work, knowingly or instinctively, many men and women, -Peter Damiani and St. Francis of Assisi, St. Hildegard of Bingen and -Mechthild of Magdeburg, who, according to their diverse temperaments, -overmasteringly and burningly loved Christ. With them the intellectual -appropriation of dogmatic Christianity was subordinate. - -Such men and women were poets and artists, even when they wrote no poetry, -and did not carve or paint. For their lives were poems, unisons of -overmastering thoughts and the emotions inspired by them. The life of -Francis was a living poem. It was kin to the _Dies Irae_, the _Stabat -Mater_, the hymns of Adam of St. Victor, and in a later time, the _Divina -Commedia_. For all these poems, in their different ways, using Christian -thought and feeling as symbols, created imaginative presentations of -universal human moods, even as the lives of Francis and many a cloistered -soul presented like moods in visible embodiment. - -Such lives likewise close in with art. They poured themselves around the -symbols of the human person of Christ and its sacrificial presence in the -Eucharist; they grasped the infinite and universal through these -tangibilities. But the poems also sprang into being through a concrete -realizing in mood, and a visualizing in narrative, of such symbols. And -the same need of grasping the infinite and universal through symbols was -the inspiration of mediaeval art: it built the cathedrals, painted their -windows, filled their niches with statues, carving prophet types, carving -the times and seasons of God's providence, carving the vices and virtues -of the soul and its eternal destiny, and at the same time augmenting the -Liturgy with symbolic words and acts. So saint and poet and -artist-craftsman join in that appropriation of Christianity which was -putting life into whatever had come from the Latin Fathers, by pondering -upon it, loving it, living it, imagining it, and making it into poetry and -art. - -It is better not to generalize further, or attempt more specifically to -characterize the mediaeval genius. As its manifestations pass before our -consideration, we shall see the complexity of thought and life within the -interplay of the moulding forces of mediaeval development, as they strove -with each other or wrought in harmony, as they were displayed in frightful -contrasts between the brutalities of life, and the lofty, but not less -real, strainings of the spirit, or again in the opposition between -inchoately variant ideals and the endeavour for their more inclusive -reconcilement. Various phases of the mediaeval spirit were to unfold only -too diversely with popes, kings and knights, monks, nuns, and heretics, -satirists, troubadours and minnesingers; in emotional yearnings and -intellectual ideals; in the literature of love and the literature of its -suppression; in mistress-worship, and the worship of the Virgin and the -passion-flooded Christ of Canticles. Sublimely will this spirit show -itself in the resistless apotheosis of symbolism, and in art and poetry -giving utterance to the mediaeval conceptions of order and beauty. Other -of its phases will be evinced in the striving of earnest souls for -spiritual certitude; in the scholastic structure and accomplishment; in -the ways in which men felt the spell of the Classics; and everywhere and -universally in the mediaeval conflict between life's fulness and the -insistency of the soul's salvation. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE LATINIZING OF THE WEST - - -The intellectual and spiritual life of the partly Hellenized and, at last, -Christianized, Roman Empire furnished the contents of the intellectual and -spiritual development of the Middle Ages.[17] In Latin forms the Christian -and antique elements passed to the mediaeval period. Their Latinization, -their continuance, and their passing on, were due to the existence of the -Empire as a political and social fact. Rome's equal government facilitated -the transmission of Greek thought through the Mediterranean west; Roman -arms, Roman qualities conquered Spain and Gaul, subdued them to the Roman -order, opened them to Graeco-Latin influences, also to Christianity. -Indelibly Latinized in language and temper, Spain, Gaul, and Italy present -first a homogeneity of culture and civic order, and then a common -decadence and confusion. But decadence and confusion did not obliterate -the ancient elements; which painfully endured, passing down disfigured and -bedimmed, to form the basis of mediaeval culture. - -The all-important Latinization of western Europe began with the -unification of Italy under Rome. This took five centuries of war. In -central Italy, Marsians, Samnites, Umbrians, Etruscans, were slowly -conquered; and in the south Rome stood forth at last triumphant after the -war against Tarentum and Pyrrhus of Epirus. With Rome's political -domination, the Latin language also won its way to supremacy throughout -the peninsula, being drastically forced, along with Roman civic -institutions, upon Tarentum and the other Greek communities of Magna -Graecia.[18] Yet in revenge, from this time on, Greek medicine and -manners, mythology, art, poetry, philosophy--Greek thought in every -guise--entered the Latin pale. - -At the time of which we speak, the third century before Christ, the -northern boundaries of Italy were still the rivers Arno and, to the east, -the Aesis, which flows into the Adriatic, near Ancona. North-west of the -Arno, Ligurian highlanders held the mountain lands as far as Nice. North -of the Aesis lay the valley of the Po. That great plain may have been -occupied at an early time by Etruscan communities scattered through a -Celtic population gradually settling to an agricultural life. Whatever may -be the facts as to the existence of these earlier Celts, other and ruder -Celtic tribes swarmed down from the Alps[19] about 400 B.C., spread -through the Po Valley, pushing the Etruscans back into Etruria, and -following them there to carry on the war. After this comes the well-known -story of Roman interference, leading to Roman overthrow at the river Allia -in 390, and the capture of the city by these "Gauls." The latter then -retired northward, to occupy the Po Valley; though bands of them settled -as far south as the Aesis. - -Time and again, Rome was to be reminded of the Celtic peril. Between the -first and second Punic wars, the Celts, reinforced from beyond the Alps, -attacked Etruria and threatened Rome. Defeating them, the Consuls pushed -north to subdue the Po Valley (222 B.C.). South of the river the Celts -were expelled, and their place was filled by Roman colonists. The fortress -cities of Placentia (Piacenza) and Cremona were founded on the right and -left banks of the Po, and south-east of them Mutina (Modena). The -Flaminian road was extended across the Apennines to Fanum, and thence to -Ariminum (Rimini), thus connecting the two Italian seas. - -Hannibal's invasion of Italy brought fresh disturbance, and when the war -with him was over, Rome set herself to the final subjugation of the Celts -north of the Po. Upon their submission the Latinization of the whole -valley began, and advanced apace; but the evidence is scanty. Statius -Caecilius, a comic Latin poet, was a manumitted Insubrian Celt who had -been brought to Rome probably as a prisoner of war. He died in 168 B.C. -Some generations after him, Cornelius Nepos was born in upper Italy, and -Catullus at Verona; Celtic blood may have flowed in their veins. In the -meanwhile the whole region had been organized as Gallia Cisalpina, with -its southern boundary fixed at the Rubicon, which flows near Rimini. - -The Celts of northern Italy were the first palpably non-Italian people to -adopt the Latin language. Second in time and thoroughness to their -Latinization was that of Spain. Military reasons led to its conquest. -Hamilcar's genius had created there a Carthaginian power, as a base for -the invasion of Italy. This project, accomplished by Hamilcar's son, -brought home to the Roman Senate the need to control the Spanish -peninsula. The expulsion of the Carthaginians, which followed, did not -give mastery over the land; and two centuries of Roman persistence were -required to subdue the indomitable Iberians. - -So, in the end, Spain was conquered, and became a Latin country. Its -tribal cantons were replaced with urban communities, and many Roman -colonies were founded, to grow to prosperous cities. These were -strongholds of Latin. Cordova became a very famous home of education and -letters. Apparently the southern Spaniards had fully adopted the ways and -speech of Rome before Strabo wrote his _Geography_, about A.D. 20. The -change was slower in the mountains of Asturia, but quite rapid in the -north-eastern region known as Nearer Spain, Hispania Citerior, as it was -called. There, at the town of Osca (Huesca), Sertorius eighty years before -Christ had established the first Latin school for the native Spanish -youth. - -The reign of Augustus, and especially his two years' sojourn in Spain (26 -and 25 B.C.) brought quiet to the peninsula, and thereafter no part of the -Empire enjoyed such unbroken peace. Of all lands outside of Italy, with -the possible exception of Provincia, Spain became most completely Roman in -its institutions, and most unequivocally Latin in its culture. It was the -most populous of the European provinces;[20] and no other held so many -Roman citizens, or so many cities early endowed with Roman civic -rights.[21] The great Augustan literature was the work of natives of -Italy.[22] But in the Silver Age that followed, many of the chief Latin -authors--the elder and younger Seneca, Lucan, Quintilian--were Spaniards. -They were unquestioned representatives of Latin literature, with no -provincial twang in their writings. Then, of Rome's emperors, Trajan was -born in Spain, and Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius were of Spanish blood. - -Perhaps even more completely Latinized was Narbonensis, commonly called -Provincia. Its official name was drawn from the ancient town of Narbo -(Narbonne), which in 118 B.C. was refounded as a Roman colony in partial -accomplishment of the plans of Caius Gracchus. The boundaries of this -colony touched those of the Greek city-state Massilia (Marseilles), whose -rights were respected until it sided against Caesar in the Civil War. Save -for the Massilian territory, which it later included, Provincia stretched -from the eastern Pyrenees by the way of Nemausus (Nîmes) and the Arelate -(Arles) north-easterly through the Rhone Valley, taking in Vienne and -Valence in the country of the Allobroges, and then onward to the edge of -Lake Geneva; thence southerly along the Maritime Alps to the sea. Many of -its towns owed their prosperity to Caesar. In his time the country west of -the Rhone was already half Latin, and was filling up with men from -Italy.[23] Two or three generations later, Pliny dubbed it _Italia verius -quam provincia_. At all events, like northern Italy and Spain, Provincia, -throughout its length and breadth, had appropriated the Latin civilization -of Rome; that civilization city-born and city-reared, solvent of cantonal -organization and tribal custom, destructive of former ways of living and -standards of conduct; a civilization which was commercial as well as -military in its means, and urban in its ends; which loved the life of the -forum, the theatre, the circus, the public bath, and seemed to gain its -finest essence from the instruction of the grammarian and rhetorician. The -language and literature of this civilization were those of an imperial -city, and were to be the language and literature of the Latin city -universal, in whatever western land its walls might rise. - -North of Provincia stretched the great territory reaching from the -Atlantic to the Rhine, and with its edges following that river northerly, -and again westerly to the sea. This was Caesar's conquest, his _omnis -Gallia_. The resistlessness of Rome, her civic and military superiority -over the western peoples whom she conquered, may be grasped from the -record of Gallic subjugation by one in whom great Roman qualities were -united. Perhaps the deepest impression received by the reader of those -_Commentaries_ is of the man behind the book, Caesar himself. The Gallic -War passes before us as a presentation, or medium of realization, of that -all-compelling personality, with whom to consider was to plan, and to -resolve was to accomplish, without hesitation or fear, by the force of -mind. It is in the mirror of this man's contempt for restless -irresolution, for unsteadiness and impotence, that Gallic qualities are -shown, the reflection undisturbed either by intolerance or sympathy. The -Gauls were always anxious for change, _mobiliter celeriterque_ inflamed to -war or revolution, says Caesar in his memorable words; and, like all men, -they were by nature zealous for liberty, hating the servile state--so it -behoved Caesar to distribute his legions with foresight in a certain -crisis.[24] Thus, without shrug or smile, writes the greatest of -revolutionists who for himself was also seeking liberty of action, freely -and devisingly, not hurried by impatience or any such planless -restlessness as, for example, drove Dumnorix the Aeduan to plot feebly, -futilely, without plan or policy, against fate, to wit Caesar--so he met -his death.[25] - -Instability appears as peculiarly characteristic of the Gauls. They were -not barbarians, but an ingenious folk, quick-witted and loquacious.[26] -Their domestic customs were reasonable; they had taxes and judicial -tribunals; their religion held belief in immortality, and in other -respects was not below the paganism of Italy. It was directed by the -priestly caste of Druids, who possessed considerable knowledge, and used -the Greek alphabet in writing. They also presided at trials, and -excommunicated suitors who would not obey their judicial decrees.[27] - -The country was divided into about ninety states (_civitates_). Monarchies -appear among them, but the greater number were aristocracies torn with -jealousy, and always in alarm lest some noble's overweening influence -upset the government. The common people and poor debtors seem scarcely to -have counted. Factions existed in every state, village, and even -household, says Caesar,[28] headed by the rival states of the Aedui and -Sequani. Espousing, as he professed to, the Aeduan cause, Caesar could -always appear as an ally of one faction. At the last a general confederacy -took up arms against him under the noble Auvernian, Vercingetorix.[29] But -the instability of his authority forced the hand of this brilliant leader. - -In fine, it would seem that the Gallic peoples had progressed in -civilization as far as their limited political capacity and self-control -would allow. These were the limitations set by the Gallic character. It is -a Gallic custom, says Caesar, to stop travellers, and insist upon their -telling what they know or have heard. In the towns the crowd will throng -around a merchant and make him tell where he has come from and give them -the news. Upon such hearsay the Gauls enter upon measures of the gravest -importance. The states which are deemed the best governed, he adds, have a -law that whenever any one has heard a report or rumour of public moment, -he shall communicate it to a magistrate and to none else. The magistrates -conceal or divulge such news in their discretion. It is not permitted to -discuss public affairs save in an assembly.[30] - -Apparently Caesar is not joking in these passages, which speak of a -statecraft based on gossip gathered in the streets, carried straight to a -magistrate, and neither discussed nor divulged on the way! Quite otherwise -were Roman officials to govern, when Caesar's great campaigns had subdued -these mercurial Gauls. It was after his death that Augustus established -the Roman order through the land. In those famous _partes tres_ of the -_Commentaries_ he settled it: Iberian and Celtic Aquitania, Celtic -Lugdunensis, and Celtic-Teuton Belgica, making together the three Gauls. -It is significant that the emperor kept them as imperial provinces, still -needing military administration, while he handed over Provincia to the -Senate. - -Provincia had been Romanized in law and government as the "Three Gauls" -never were to be. Augustus followed Caesar in respecting the tribal and -cantonal divisions of the latter, making only such changes as were -necessary. Gallic cities under the Empire show no great uniformity. Each -appears as the continuance of the local tribe, whose life and politics -were focused in the town. The city (_civitas_) did not end with the town -walls, but included the surrounding country and perhaps many villages. A -number of these cities preserved their ancient constitutions; others -conformed to the type of Roman colonies, whose constitutions were modelled -on those of Italian cities. Colonia Claudia Agrippina (Cologne) is an -example. But all the cities of the "Three Gauls" as well as those of -Provincia, whatever their form of government, conducted their affairs with -senate, magistrates and police of their choosing, had their municipal -property, and controlled their internal finances. A diet was established -for the "Three Gauls" at Lyons, to which the cities sent delegates. -Whatever were its powers, its existence tended to foster a sense of common -Gallic nationality. The Roman franchise, however, was but sparingly -bestowed on individuals, and was not granted to any Gallic city (except -Lyons) until the time of Claudius, himself born at Lyons. He refounded -Cologne as a colony, granted the franchise to Trèves, and abolished the -provisions forbidding Gauls to hold the imperial magistracies. With the -reorganization of the Empire under Diocletian, Trèves became the capital -not only of Gaul, but of Spain and Britain also. - -Although there was thus no violent Romanization of Gaul, Roman -civilization rapidly progressed under imperial fostering, and by virtue of -its own energy. Roman roads traversed the country; bridges spanned the -rivers; aqueducts were constructed; cities grew, trade increased, -agriculture improved, and the vine was introduced. At the time of Caesar's -conquest, the quick-minded Gauls were prepared to profit from a superior -civilization; and under the mighty peace of Rome, men settled down to the -blessings of safe living and law regularly enforced. - -The spread of the Latin tongue and the finer elements of Latin culture -followed the establishment of the Roman order. One Gallic city and then -another adopted the new language according to its circumstances and -situation. Of course the cities of Provincia took the lead, largely -Italian as they were in population. On the other hand, Latin made slow -progress among the hills of Auvergne. But farther north, the Roman city of -Lyons was Latin-tongued from its foundation. Thence to the remoter north -and west and east, Latin spread by cities, the foci of affairs and -provincial administration. The imperial government did not demand of its -subjects that they should abandon their native speech, but required in -Gaul, as elsewhere, the use of Latin in the transaction of official -business. This compelled all to study Latin who had affairs in law courts -or with officials, or hoped to become magistrates. Undoubtedly the rich -and noble, especially in the towns, learned Latin quickly, and it soon -became the vehicle of polite, as well as official, intercourse. It was -also the language of the schools attended by the noble Gallic youth. But -among the rural population, the native tongues continued indefinitely. -Obviously one cannot assign any specific time for the popular and general -change from Celtic; but it appears to have very generally taken place -before the Frankish conquest.[31] - -By that time, too, those who would naturally constitute the educated -classes, possessed a Latin education. First in the cities of Provincia, -Nîmes, Arles, Vienne, Fréjus, Aix in Provence, then of course at Lyons and -in Aquitaine, and later through the cities of the north-east, Trèves, -Mainz, Cologne, and most laggingly through the north-west Belgic lands -lying over against the channel and the North Sea, Latin education spread. -Grammar and rhetoric were taught, and the great Classics were explained -and read, till the Gauls doubtless felt themselves Roman in spirit as in -tongue. - -Of course they were mistaken. To be sure the Gaul was a citizen of the -Empire, which not only represented safety and civilization, but in fact -was the entire civilized world. He had no thought of revolting from that, -any more than from his daily habits or his daily food. Often he felt -himself sentimentally affected toward this universal symbol of his -welfare. He had Latin speech; he had Roman fashions; he took his warm -baths and his cold, enjoyed the sports of the amphitheatre, studied Roman -literature, and talked of the _Respublica_ and _Aurea Roma_. Yet he was, -after all, merely a Romanized inhabitant of Gaul. Roman law and -government, Latin education, and the colour of the Roman spirit had been -imparted; but the inworking, creative genius of Rome was not within her -gift or his capacity. The Gauls, however, are the chief example of a -mediating people. Romanized and not made Roman, their epoch, their -geographical situation, and their modified faculties, all made them -intermediaries between the Roman and the Teuton. - -If the Romanization of the "Three Gauls" was least thorough in Belgica, -there was even less of it across the channel. Britain, as far north as the -Clyde and Firth of Forth, was a Roman province for three or four hundred -years. Latin was the language of the towns; but probably never supplanted -the Celtic in the country. The Romanization of the Britons however, -whether thorough or superficial, affected a people who were to be -apparently submerged. They seem to have transmitted none of their Latin -civilization to their Anglo-Saxon conquerors. Yet even the latter when -they came to Britain were not quite untouched by Rome. They were familiar -with Roman wares, if not with Roman ways; and certain Latin words which -are found in all Teutonic languages had doubtless entered Anglo-Saxon.[32] -But this early Roman influence was slight, compared with that which -afterwards came with Christianity. Nor did the Roman culture, before the -introduction of Christianity, exert a deep effect on Germany, at least -beyond the neighbourhood of the large Roman or Romanized towns like -Cologne and Mainz. In many ways, indeed, the Germans were touched by Rome. -Roman diplomacy, exciting tribe against tribe, was decimating them. Roman -influence, and sojourn at Rome, had taught much to many German princes. -Roman weapons, Roman utensils and wares of all kinds were used from the -Danube to the Baltic. But all this did not Romanize the Germans, any more -than a number of Latin words, which had crept in, Latinized their -language.[33] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -GREEK PHILOSOPHY AS THE ANTECEDENT OF THE PATRISTIC APPREHENSION OF FACT - - -The Latin West afforded the _milieu_ in which the thoughts and sentiments -of the antique and partly Christian world were held in Latin forms and -preserved from obliteration during the fifth and succeeding centuries, -until taken up by the currents of mingled decrepitude and callowness which -marked the coming of the mediaeval time. Latin Christianity survived, and -made its way across those stormy centuries, to its mediaeval harbourage. -The antique also was carried over, either in the ship of Latin -Christianity, or in tenders freighted by certain Latin Christians who -dealt in secular learning, though not in "unbroken packages." Those -unbroken packages, to wit, the Latin classics, and after many centuries -the Greek, also floated over. But in the early mediaeval times, men -preferred the pagan matter rehashed, as in the _Etymologies_ of Isidore. - -The great ship of Christian doctrine not only bore bits of the pagan -antique stowed here and there, but itself was built with many a plank of -antique timber, and there was antique adulteration in its Christian -freight; or, in other words, the theology of the Church Fathers was partly -made of Greek philosophy, and was put together in modes of Greek -philosophic reasoning. The Fathers lived in the Roman Empire, or in what -was left of it in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries. Many of -them were born of pagan parents, and all received the common education in -grammar, rhetoric, and literature, which were pagan and permeated with -pagan philosophy. For philosophy did not then stand apart from life and -education; but had become a source of principles of conduct and "daily -thoughts for daily needs." Many of the Fathers in their pagan, or at least -unsanctified youth, had deeply studied it. - -Philosophy held the sum of knowledge in the Empire, and from it came the -concepts in which all the Fathers reasoned. But the _Latin_ Fathers, who -were juristically and rhetorically educated, might also reason through -conceptions, or in a terminology, taken from the Roman Law. Nevertheless, -in the rational process of formulating Christian dogma, Greek philosophy -was the overwhelmingly important factor, because it furnished knowledge -and the metaphysical concepts, and because the greater number of Christian -theologians were Hellenic in spirit, and wrote Greek; while the Latins -reset in Latin, and sometimes juristic, phrase what their eastern brethren -had evolved.[34] - -Obviously, for our purpose, which is to appreciate the spiritual endowment -of the Middle Ages, it is essential to have cognizance of patristic -thought. And in order to understand the mental processes of the Fathers, -their attitude toward knowledge and their perception of fact, one must -consider their intellectual environment; which was, of course, made up of -the store of knowledge and philosophic interests prevailing in the Roman -Empire. So we have to gauge the intellectual interests of the pagan world, -first in the earlier times when thinkers were bringing together knowledge -and philosophic concepts, and then in the later period when its -accumulated and somewhat altered thought made the actual environment of -the Church. - - * * * * * - -What race had ever a more genial appreciation of the facts of nature and -of mortal life, than the Greeks? The older Greek philosophies had sprung -from open and unprejudiced observation of the visible world. They were -physical inquiries. With Socrates philosophy turned, as it were, from -fact to truth, to a consideration of the validity of human understanding. -Thereupon the Greek mind became entranced with its own creations. Man was -the measure of all things, for the Sophists. More irrefragably and -pregnantly, man became the measure of all things for Socrates and Plato. -The aphorism might be discarded; but its transcendental import was -established in an imaginative dialectic whose correspondence to the -divinest splendours of the human mind warranted its truth. With -Platonists--and the world was always to be filled with them--perceptions -of physical facts and the data of human life and history, were henceforth -to constitute the outer actuality of a creation within the mind. Every -observed fact is an apparent tangibility; but its reality consists in its -unison with the ultimate realities of rational conception. The -apprehension of the fact must be made to conform to these. For this reason -every fact has a secondary, nay, primary, because spiritual, meaning. Its -true interpretation lies in that significance which accords with the -mind's consistent system of conceptions, which present the fact as it must -be thought, and therefore as it is; it is the fact brought into right -relationship with spiritual and ethical verity. Of course, methods of -apprehending terrestrial and celestial phenomena as illustrations of -ideally conceived principles, were unlikely to foster habits of close -observation. The apparent facts of sense would probably be imaginatively -treated if not transformed in the process of their apprehension. Nor, with -respect to human story, would such methods draw fixed lines between the -narration of what men are pleased to call the actual occurrence, and the -shaping of a tale to meet the exigencies of argument or illustration. - -All this is obvious in Plato. The _Timaeus_ was his vision of the -universe, in which physical facts became plastic material for the spirit's -power to mould into the likeness of ideal conceptions. The creation of the -universe is conformed to the structure of Platonic dialectic. If any -meaning be certain through the words and imagery of this dialogue, it is -that the world and all creatures which it contains derive such reality as -they have from conformity to the thoughts or ideal patterns in the divine -mind. Visible things are real only so far as they conform to those -perfect conceptions. Moreover, the visible creation has another value, -that of its ethical significance. Physical phenomena symbolize the -conformity of humanity to its best ideal of conduct. Man may learn to -regulate the lawless movements of his soul from the courses of the stars, -the noblest of created gods. - -Thus as to natural phenomena; and likewise as to the human story, fact or -fiction. The myth of the shadow-seers in the cave, with which the seventh -book of the _Republic_ opens, is just as illustratively and ideally true -as that opening tale in the _Timaeus_ of the ancient Athenian state, which -fought for its own and others' freedom against the people of -Atlantis--till the earthquake ended the old Athenian race, and the -Atlantean continent was swallowed in the sea. This story has piqued -curiosity for two thousand years. Was it tradition, or the creation of an -artist dialectician? In either case its ideal and edifying truth stood or -fell, not by reason of conformity to any basic antecedent fact, but -according to its harmony with the beautiful and good. - -Plato's method of conceiving fact might be applied to man's thoughts of -God, of the origin of the world and the courses of the stars; also to the -artistic manipulation of illustrative or edifying story. Matters, large, -remote, and mysterious, admit of idealizing ways of apprehension. But it -might seem idiocy, rather than idealism, to apply this method to the plain -facts of common life, which may be handled and looked at all around--to -which there is no mysterious other side, like the moon's, for ever turned -away. Nevertheless the method and its motives drew men from careful -observation of nature, and would invest biography and history with -interests promoting the ingenious application, rather than the close -scrutiny, of fact. - -Thus Platonism and its way of treating narrative could not but foster the -allegorical interpretation of ancient tradition and literature, which was -already in vogue in Plato's time. It mattered not that he would have -nothing to do with the current allegories through which men moralized or -rationalized the old tales of the doings of the gods. He was himself a -weaver of the loveliest allegories when it served his purpose. And after -him the allegorical habit entered into the interpretation of all ancient -story. In the course of time allegory will be applied by the Jew Philo of -Alexandria to the Pentateuch; and one or two centuries later it will play -a great rôle in Christian polemics against Jew and then against Manichean. -It will become _par excellence_ the chief mode of patristic exegesis, and -pass on as a legacy of spiritual truth to the mediaeval church. - -Aristotle strikes us as a man of different type from Plato. Whether his -intellectual interests were broader than his teacher's is hardly for -ordinary people to say. He certainly was more actively interested in the -investigation of nature. Head of an actual school (as Plato had been), and -assisted by the co-operation of able men, he presents himself, with what -he accomplished, at least in threefold guise: as a metaphysician and the -perfecter, if not creator, of formal logic; as an observer of the facts of -nature and the institutions and arts of men; as a man of encyclopaedic -learning. These three phases of intellectual effort proportioned each -other in a mind of universal power and appetition. Yet it has been thought -that there was more metaphysics and formal logic in Aristotle than was -good for his natural science. - -The lost and extant writings which have been ascribed to him, embraced a -hundred and fifty titles and amounted to four hundred books. Those which -have been of universal influence upon human inquiry suffice to illustrate -the scope of his labours. There were the treatises upon Logic and first -among them the _Categories_ or classes of propositions, and the _De -interpretatione_ on the constituent parts and kinds of sentences. These -two elementary treatises (the authorship of which has been questioned) -were the only Aristotelian writings generally used through the West until -the latter half of the twelfth century, when the remainder of the logical -treatises became known, to wit, the _Prior Analytics_, upon the syllogism; -the _Posterior Analytics_ upon logical demonstration; the _Topics_, or -demonstrations having probability; and the _Sophistical Elenchi_, upon -false conclusions and their refutation. Together these constitute the -_Organon_ or complete logical instrument, as it became known to the -latter half of the twelfth century, and as we possess it to-day. - -The _Rhetoric_ follows, not disconnected with the logical treatises. Then -may be named the _Metaphysics_, and then the writings devoted to Nature, -to wit, the _Physics_, _Concerning the Heavens_, _Concerning Genesis and -Decay_, the _Meteorology_, the _Mechanical Problems_, the _History of -Animals_, the _Anatomical descriptions_, the _Psychology_, the _Parts of -Animals_, the _Generation of Animals_. There was a Botany, which is lost. -Finally, one names the great works on Ethics, Politics, and Poetry. - -Every one is overwhelmed by the compass of the achievement of this -intellect. As to the transcendent value of the works on Logic, -Metaphysics, Psychology, Rhetoric, Ethics, Politics, and Poetry, the world -of scholarship has long been practically at one. There is a difference of -opinion as to the quantity and quality of actual investigation represented -by the writings on Natural History. But Aristotle is commonly regarded as -the founder of systematic Zoology. On the whole, perhaps one will not err -in repeating what has been said hundreds of times, that the works ascribed -to Aristotle, and which undoubtedly were produced by him or his -co-labourers under his direction, represent the most prodigious -intellectual achievement ever connected with any single name. - -In the school of Aristotle, one phase or another of the master's activity -would be likely to absorb the student's energy and fasten his entire -attention. Aristotle's own pupil and successor was the admirable -Theophrastus, a man of comprehensive attainment, who nevertheless devoted -himself principally to carrying on his master's labours in botany, and -other branches of natural science. A History of Physics was one of the -most important of his works. Another pupil of Aristotle was Eudemus of -Rhodes, who became a physicist and a historian of the three sciences of -Geometry, Arithmetic, and Astronomy. He exhibits the learned activities -thenceforth to characterize the Peripatetics. It would have been difficult -to carry further the logic or metaphysics of the master. But his work in -natural science might be supplemented, while the body of his writings -offered a vast field for the labours of the commentator. And so, in fact, -Peripatetic energies in the succeeding generations were divided between -science and learning, the latter centring chiefly in historical and -grammatical labours and the exposition of the master's writing.[35] - -Aristotelianism was not to be the philosophy of the closing pre-Christian -centuries, any more than it was to be the philosophy of the thousand years -and more following the Crucifixion. During all that time, its logic held -its own, and a number of its metaphysical principles were absorbed in -other systems. But Aristotelianism as a system soon ceased to be in vogue, -and by the sixth century was no longer known. - -Yet one might find an echo of its, or some like, spirit in all men who -were seeking knowledge from the world of nature, from history and humane -learning. There were always such; and some famous examples may be drawn -even from among the practical-minded Romans. One thinks at once of -Cicero's splendid breadth of humane and literary interest. His friend -Terentius Varro was a more encyclopaedic personality, and an eager student -in all fields of knowledge. Although not an investigator of nature he -wrote on agriculture, on navigation, on geometry, as well as the Latin -tongue, and on Antiquities, divine and human, even on philosophy.[36] - -Another lover of knowledge was the elder Pliny, who died from venturing -too near to observe the eruption which destroyed Pompeii. He was an -important functionary under the emperor Vespasian, just as Varro had held -offices of authority in the time of the Republic. Pliny's _Historia -naturalis_ was an astounding compilation, intended to cover the whole -plain of common and uncommon knowledge. The compiler neither observed for -himself nor weighed the statements of others. His compilation is a happy -harbourage for the preposterous as well as reasonable, where the -traveller's tale of far-off wonders takes its place beside the testimony -of Aristotle. All is fish that comes to the net of the good Pliny, though -it be that wonderful _piscis_, the _Echinus_, which though but a cubit -long has such tenacity of grip and purpose that it holds fast the largest -galley, and with the resistance of its fins, renders impotent the efforts -of a hundred rowers. Fish for Pliny also are all the stories of antiquity, -of dog-headed, one-legged, big-footed men, of the Pigmies and the Cranes, -of the Phoenix and the Basilisk. He delights in the more intricate -causality of nature's phenomena, and tells how the bowels of the -field-mouse increase in number with the days of the moon, and the energy -of the ant decreases as the orb of Venus wanes.[37] But this credulous -person was a marvel of curiosity and diligence, and we are all his debtors -for an acquaintance with the hearsay opinions current in the antique -world. - -Varro and Pliny were encyclopaedists. Yet before, as well as after them, -the men possessed by the passion for knowledge of the natural world, were -frequently devoted to some branch of inquiry, rather than encyclopaedic -gleaners, or universal philosophers. Hippocrates, Socrates's contemporary, -had left a name rightly enduring as the greatest of physicians. In the -third century before Christ Euclid is a great mathematician, and -Hipparchus and Archimedes have place for ever, the one among the great -astronomers, the other among the great terrestrial physicists. All these -men represent reflection and theory, as well as investigation and -experiment. Leaping forward to the second century A.D., we find among -others two great lovers of science. Galen of Pergamos was a worthy -follower, if not a peer, of the great physician of classic Greece; and -Ptolemy of Alexandria emulated the Alexandrian Hipparchus, whose fame he -revered, and whose labours (with his own) he transmitted to posterity. -Each of these men may be regarded as advancing some portion of the -universal plan of Aristotle. - -Another philosophy, Stoicism, had already reached a wide acceptance. As -for the causes of this, doubtless the decline of Greek civic freedom -before the third century B.C., had tended to throw thoughtful men back -upon their inner life; and those who had lost their taste for the popular -religion, needed a philosophy to live by. Stoicism became especially -popular among the Romans. It was ethics, a philosophy of practice rather -than of knowledge. The Stoic looked out upon the world from the inner -fortress of the human will. That guarded or rather constituted his -well-being. He cared for such knowledge, call it instruction rather, as -would make good the principle that human well-being lay in the rightly -self-directing will. He did not seriously care for metaphysics, or for -knowledge of the natural world, save as one or the other subserved the -ends of his philosophy as a guide of life. Thus the Stoic physics, so -important a part in the Stoic system, was inspired by utilitarian motives -and deflected from unprejudiced observation by teleological considerations -and reflections on the dispensations of Providence. Of course, some of the -Stoics show a further range of intellectual interest; Seneca, for example, -who was a fine moralist and wrote beautiful essays upon the conduct of -life. He, like a number of other people, composed a book of _Quaestiones -naturales_, which was chiefly devoted to the weather, a subject always -very close to man. But he was not a serious meteorologist. For him the -interest of the fact lay rather in its use or in its moral bearing. After -Seneca the Stoic interest in fact narrows still further, as with Epictetus -and Marcus Aurelius. - -Like things might be said of the school of Epicurus, a child of different -colour, yet birthmate of the Stoa. For in that philosophy as in Stoicism, -all knowledge beyond ethics had a subordinate rôle. As a Stoic or -Epicurean, a man was not likely to contribute to the advance of any branch -of science. Yet habits of eclectic thought and common curiosity, or call -it love of knowledge, made many nominal members of these schools eager -students and compilers from the works of others. - -We have yet to speak of the system most representative of latter-day -paganism, and of enormous import for the first thousand years of Christian -thought. Neo-Platonism was the last great creation of Greek philosophy. -More specifically, it was the noblest product of that latter-day paganism -which was yearning somewhat distractedly, impelled by cravings which -paganism could neither quench nor satisfy. - -Spirit is; it is the Real. It makes the body, thereby presenting itself in -sensible form; it is not confined by body or dependent on body as its -cause or necessary ground. In many ways men have expressed, and will -express hereafter, the creative or causal antecedence of the spiritual -principle. In many ways they have striven to establish this principle in -God who is Spirit, or in the Absolute One. Many also have been the -processes of individualization and diverse the mediatorial means, through -which philosopher, apostle, or Church Doctor has tried to bring this -principle down to man, and conceive him as spirit manifesting an -intelligible selfhood through the organs of sense. Platonism was a -beautiful, if elusive, expression of this endeavour, and Neo-Platonism a -very palpable although darkening statement of the same. - -All men, except fools, have their irrational sides. Who does not believe -what his reason shall labour in vain to justify? Such belief may have its -roots spread through generalizations broader than any specific rational -processes of which the man is conscious. And a man is marked by the -character of his supra-rational convictions, or beliefs or credulous -conjectures. One thinks how Plato wove and coloured his dialectic, and -angled with it, after those transcendencies that he well knew could never -be so hooked and taken. His conviction--non-dialectical--of the supreme -and beautiful reality of spirit led him on through all his arguments, some -of which appear as playful, while others are very earnest. - -Less elusive than Plato's was the supra-rationality of his distant -disciple, the Egyptian Plotinus (died 270), creator of Neo-Platonism. With -him the supra-rational represented an _élan_, a reaching beyond the -clearly seen or clearly known, to the Spirit itself. He had a disciple -Porphyry, like himself a sage--and yet a different sage. Porphyry's -supra-rationalities hungered for many things from which his rational -nature turned askance. But he has a disciple, Iamblicus by name, whose -rational nature not only ceases to protest, but of its free will -prostitutes itself in the service of unreason. - -The synthetic genius of Plotinus enabled him to weave into his system -valuable elements from Aristotle and the Stoics. But he was above all a -Platonist. He presents the spiritual triad: the One, the Mind, the Soul. -From the One comes the Mind, that is, the Nous, which embraces the -totality of the knowable or intelligible, to wit, the Cosmos of Ideas. -From that, come the Soul of the World and the souls of men. Matter, which -is no-thing, gains form and partial reality when _informed_ with soul. -Plotinus's attitude toward knowledge of the concrete natural or historic -fact, displays a transcendental indifference exceeding that of Plato. -Perceptible facts with him are but half-real manifestations of the -informing spirit. They were quite plastic, malleable, reducible. Moreover, -thoughts of the evil of the multiple world of sense held for Plotinus and -his followers a bitterness of ethical unreality which Plato was too great -an Athenian to feel. - -Dualistic ethics which find in matter the principle of unreality or evil, -diminish the human interest in physical fact. The ethics of Plotinus -consisted in purification and detachment from things of sense. This is -asceticism. And Plotinus was an ascetic, not through endeavour, but from -contempt. He did not struggle to renounce the world, but despised it with -the spontaneity of a sublimated temperament. He seemed like a man ashamed -of being in the body, Porphyry says of him. Nor did he wish to cure any -contemptible bodily ailments, or wash his wretched body. - -Plotinus's Absolute, the First or One, might not be grasped by reason. Yet -to approach and contemplate It was the best for man. Life's crown was the -ecstasy of the supra-rational and supra-intelligible vision of It. This -Plotinean irrationality was lofty; but it was too transcendent, too -difficult, and too unrelated to the human heart, to satisfy other men. No -fear but that his followers would bring it down to the level of _their_ -irrational tendencies. - -The borrowed materials of this philosophy were made by its founder into a -veritable system. It included, potentially at least, the popular beliefs, -which, however, interested this metaphysical Copt very little. But in -those superstitious centuries, before as well as after him, these cruder -elements were gathered and made much of by men of note. There was a -tendency to contrast the spiritual and real with the manifold of material -nonentity, and a cognate tendency to emphasize the opposition between the -spiritual and good, and the material and evil, or between opposing -spiritual principles. With less metaphysical people such opposition would -take more entrancing shapes in the battles of gods and demons. Probably it -would cause ascetic repression of the physical passions. Both tendencies -had shown themselves before Plotinus came to build them into his system. -Friend Plutarch, for instance, of Chaeroneia, was a man of pleasant temper -and catholic curiosity. His philosophy was no great matter. He was gently -credulous, and interested in anything marvellous and every imaginable god -and demon. This good Greek was no ascetic, and yet had much to say of the -strife between the good and evil principle. Like thoughts begat asceticism -in men of a different temperament; for instance in the once famous -Apollonius of Tyana and others, who were called Neo-Pythagoreans, whatever -that meant. Such men had also their irrationalities, which perhaps made up -the major part of their natures. They did indeed belong to those centuries -when Astrology flourished at the imperial Court,[38] and every mode of -magic mystery drew its gaping votaries; when men were ravenously drawing -toward everything, except the plain concrete fact steadily viewed and -quietly reasoned on. - -But it was within the schools of Neo-Platonism, in the generations after -Plotinus, that these tendencies flourished, beneath the shelter of his -elastic principles. Here three kindred currents made a resistless stream: -a transcendental, fact-compelling dialectic; unveiled recognition of the -supreme virtue of supra-rational convictions and experiences; and an -asceticism which contemned matter and abhorred the things of sense. What -more was needed to close the faculties of observation, befool the reason, -and destroy knowledge in the end? - -Porphyry and Iamblicus show the turning of the tide. The first of these -was a Tyrian, learned, intelligent, austere. His life extends from about -the year 232 to the year 300. His famous _Introduction_ to the -_Categories_ of Aristotle was a corner-stone of the early mediaeval -knowledge of logic. He wrote a keenly rational work against the -Christians, in which his critical acumen pointed out that the Book of -Daniel was not composed before the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. He did -much to render intelligible the writings of his master Plotinus, and made -a compend of Neo-Platonism in the form of _Sentences_. These survive, as -well as his work on _Abstinence from Eating Flesh_, and other treatises, -allegorical and philosophic. - -He was to Plotinus as Soul, in the Neo-Platonic system, was to Mind--Soul -which somehow was darkly, passionately tangled in the body of which it was -the living principle. The individual soul of Porphyry wrestled with all -the matters which the mind of Plotinus made slight account of. Plotinus -lived aloof in a region of metaphysics warmed with occasional ecstasy. -Porphyry, willy nilly, was drawn down to life, and suffered all the pain -of keen mentality when limed and netted with the anxieties of common -superstitions. He was forever groping in a murky atmosphere. He could not -clear himself of credulity, deny and argue as he might. Nor could -asceticism pacify his mind. Philosophically he followed Plotinus's -teachings, and understood them too, which was a marvel. Many of his own, -or possibly reflected, thoughts are excellent. No Christian could hold a -more spiritual conception of sacrifice than Porphyry when thinking of the -worship of the Mind--the Nous or Second God. Offer to it silence and -chaste thought, which will unite us to it, and make us like itself. The -perfect sacrifice is to disengage the soul from passions.[39] What could -be finer? And again says Porphyry: The body is the soul's garment, to be -laid aside; the wise man needs only God; evil spirits have no power over a -pure soul. But, but, but--at his last statement Porphyry's confidence -breaks. He is worried because it is so hard to know the good from evil -demons; and the latter throng the temples, and must be exorcised before -the true God will appear. This same man had said that God's true temple -was the wise man's soul! Alas! Porphyry's nature reeks with -contradictions. His letter to the Egyptian priest, Anebo, consists of -sharply-put questions as to the validity of any kind of theurgy or -divination. How can men know anything as to these things? What reason to -suppose that this, that, or the other rite--all anxiously enumerated--is -rightly directed or has effect? None! none! none! such is the answer -expected by the questions. - -But Porphyry's own soul answers otherwise. His works--the _De abstinentia_ -for example--teem with detailed and believing discussion of every kind of -theurgic practice and magic rite, whereby the divine and demonic natures -may be moved. He believed in oracles and sorcery. Vainly did the more -keenly intellectual side of his nature seek to hold such matters at arm's -length; his other instincts hungered for them, craved to touch and taste -and handle, as the child hankers for what is forbidden. There is -angel-lore, but far more devil-lore, in Porphyry, and below the earth the -demons have their realm, and at their head a demon-king. Thus organized, -these malformed devil-shapes torment the lives of men, malignant -deceivers, spiteful trippers-up, as they are. - -Such a man beset by demons (which his intelligence declares to have no -power over him!), such a man, austere and grim, would practise fanatically -the asceticism recognized so calmly by the system of Plotinus. With -Porphyry, strenuously, anxiously, the upper grades of virtue become -violent purification and detachment from things of sense. Here he is in -grim earnest. - -It is wonderful that this man should have had a critical sense of historic -fact, as when he saw the comparatively late date of the Book of Daniel. He -could see the holes in others' garments. But save for some such polemic -purpose, the bare, crude fact interests him little. He is an elaborate -fashioner of allegory, and would so interpret the fictions of the poets. -Plotinus, when it suited him, had played with myths, like Plato. No such -light hand, and scarcely concealed smile, has Porphyry. As for physical -investigations, they interest him no more seriously than they did his -master, and when he touches upon natural fact he is as credulous as Pliny. -"The Arabians," says he, "understand the speech of crows, and the -Tyrrhenians that of eagles; and perhaps we and all men would understand -all living beings if a dragon licked our ears."[40] - -These inner conflicts darkened Porphyry's life, and doubtless made some of -the motives which were turning his thoughts to suicide, when Plotinus -showed him that this was not the true way of detachment. There was no -conflict, but complete surrender, and happy abandonment in Iamblicus the -Divine ([Greek: theios]) who when he prayed might be lifted ten cubits -from the ground--so thought his disciples--and around whose theurgic -fingers, dabbling in a magic basin of water, Cupids played and kissed each -other. His life, told by the Neo-Platonic biographer, Eunapius, is as full -of miracle as the contemporary Life of St. Antony by Athanasius. Iamblicus -floats before us a beautiful and marvellously garbed priest, a dweller in -the recesses of temples. He frankly gave himself to theurgy, convinced -that the Soul needs the aid of every superhuman being--hero, god, demon, -angel.[41] He was credulous on principle. It is of first importance, he -writes, that the devotee should not let the marvellous character of an -occurrence arouse incredulity within him. He needs above all a "science" -([Greek: epistêmê]) which shall teach him to disbelieve nothing as to the -gods.[42] For the divine principle is essentially miraculous, and magic is -the open door, yes, and the way up to it, the anagogic path. - -All this and more besides is set forth in the _De mysteriis_, the chief -composition of his school. It was the answer to that doubting letter of -Porphyry to Anebo, and contains full proof and exposition of the occult -art of moving god or demon. We all have an inborn knowledge ([Greek: -emphytos gnôsis])[43] of the gods. But it is not thought or contemplation -that unites us to them; it is the power of the theurgic rite or cabalistic -word, understood only by the gods. We cannot understand the reason of -these acts and their effects.[44] - -There is no lower depth. Plotinus's reason-surpassing vision of the One -(which represents in him the principle of irrationality) is at last -brought down to the irrational act, the occult magic deed or word. Truly -the worshipper needs his best credulity--which is bespoken by Iamblicus -and by this book. The work seems to argue, somewhat obscurely, that the -prayer or invocation or rite, does not actually draw the god to us, but -draws us toward the god, making our wills fit to share in his. The writer -of such a work is likely to be confused in his statement of principles; -but will expand more genially when expounding the natures of demons, -heroes, angels, and gods, and the effect of them upon humanity. Perhaps -the matter still seems dark; but the picturesque details are bright -enough. For the writer describes the manifestations and apparitions of -these beings--their [Greek: epiphaneiai] and [Greek: phasmata]. The -apparitions of the gods are [Greek: monoeidê], simple and uniform: those -of the demons are [Greek: poikila], that is, various and manifold; those -of the angels are more simple than those of the demons, but inferior to -those of the gods. The archangels in their apparitions are more like the -gods; while the [Greek: archontes], the "governors," have variety and yet -order. The gods as they appear to men, are radiant with divine effulgence, -the archangels terrible yet kind; the demons are frightful, producing -perturbation and terror--on all of which the work enlarges. Speaking more -specifically of the effect of these apparitions on the thaumaturgist, the -writer says that visions of the gods bring a mighty power, and divine love -and joy ineffable; the archangels bring steadfastness and power of will -and intellectual contemplation; the angels bring rational wisdom and truth -and virtue. But the vision of demons brings the desires of sense and the -vigour to fulfil them. - -So low sank Neo-Platonism in pagan circles. Of course it did not create -this mass of superstitious fantasy. It merely fell in cordially, and over -every superstition flung the justification of its principles. In the -process it changed from a philosophy to a system of theurgic practice. The -common superstitions of the time, or their like, were old enough. But -now--and here was the portentous fact--they had wound themselves into the -natures of intellectual people; and Neo-Platonism represents the chief -formal facilitation of this result. - -A contemporary phenomenon, and perhaps the most popular of pagan cults in -the third and fourth centuries, was the worship of Mithra, around which -Neo-Platonism could throw its cloak as well as around any other form of -pagan worship. Mithraism, a partially Hellenized growth from the old -Mazdaean (even Indo-Iranian) faith, had been carried from one boundary of -the Empire to the other, by soldiers or by merchants who had imbibed its -doctrines in the East. It shot over the Empire like a flame. A warrior -cult, the late pagan emperors gave it their adhesion. It was, in fine, the -pagan Antaeus destined to succumb in the grasp of the Christian Hercules. - -With it, or after it, came Manicheism, also from the East. This was quite -as good a philosophy as the Neo-Platonism of Iamblicus. The system called -after Manes was a crass dualism, containing fantastic and largely borrowed -speculation as to the world and man. Satan was there and all his devils. -He was the begetter of mankind, in Adam. But Satan himself, in previous -struggles with good angels, had gained some elements of light; and these -passed into Adam's nature. Eve, however, is sensuality. After man's -engendering, the strife begins between the good and evil spirits to -control his lot. In ethics, of course, Manicheism was dualistic and -ascetic, like Neo-Platonism, and also like the Christianity of the Eastern -and Western Empire. Manicheism, unlike Mithraism, was not to succumb, but -merely to retreat before Christianity. Again and again from the East, -through the lower confines of the present Russia, through Hungary, it made -advance. The Bogomiles were its children; likewise the Cathari in the -north of Italy, and the Albigenses of Provence.[45] - -Platonism, Stoicism, Neo-Platonism, Mithraism, and Manicheism, these -names, taken for simplicity's sake, serve to indicate the mind and temper -of the educated world in which Christianity was spreading. Obviously the -Christian Fathers' ways of thinking were given by all that made up their -environment, their education, their second natures. They were men of -their period, and as Christians their intellectual standards did not rise -nor their understanding of fact alter, although their approvals and -disapprovals might be changed. Their natures might be stimulated and -uplifted by the Faith and its polemic ardours, and yet their manner of -approaching and apprehending facts, _its_ facts, for example, might -continue substantially those of their pagan contemporaries or -predecessors. - -In the fourth century the leaders of the Church both in the East and West -were greater men than contemporary pagan priests or philosophers or -rhetoricians. For the strongest minds had enlisted on the Christian side, -and a great cause inspired their highest energies with an efficient -purpose. There is no comparison between Athanasius, Basil, Gregory -Nazianzen, Gregory of Nyssa and Chrysostom in the East; Ambrose, Jerome, -and Augustine in the West; and pagans, like Libanius, the favourite of the -Emperor Julian, or even Julian himself, or Symmachus, the opponent of St. -Ambrose in the cause of the pagan Altar of Victory. That was a lost cause, -and the cause of paganism was becoming more and more broken, dissipated, -uninspiring. Nevertheless, in spite of the superiority of the Christian -doctors, in spite also of the mighty cause which marshalled their -endeavours so efficiently, they present, both in their higher intelligence -and their lower irrationalities, abundant likeness to the pagans. - -It has appeared that metaphysical interests absorbed the attention of -Plotinus, who has nevertheless his supreme irrationality atop of all. -Porphyry also possessed a strong reasoning nature, but was drawn -irresistibly to all the things, gods, demons, divination and theurgy, of -which one half of him disapproved. Plotinus, quite in accordance with his -philosophic principles, has an easy contempt for physical life. With -Porphyry this has become ardent asceticism. It was also remarked that -Plotinus's system was a synthesis of much antecedent thought; and that its -receptivity was rendered extremely elastic by the Neo-Platonic principle -that man's ultimate approach to God lay through ecstasy and not through -reason. Herein, rather latent and not yet sorely taxed, was a broad -justification of common beliefs and practices. To all these Iamblicus -gladly opened the door. Rather than a philosopher, he was a priest, a -thaumaturgist and magician. Finally, it is obvious that neither Iamblicus -nor Porphyry nor Plotinus was primarily or even seriously interested in -any clear objective knowledge of material facts. Plotinus merely noticed -them casually in order to illustrate his principles, while Iamblicus -looked to them for miracles. - -Christianity as well as Neo-Platonism was an expression of the principle -that life's primordial reality is spirit. And likewise with Christians, as -with Neo-Platonists, phases of irrationality may be observed in ascending -and descending order. At the summit the sublimest Christian -supra-rationality, the love of God, uplifts itself. From that height the -irrational conviction grades down to credulity preoccupied with the -demoniacal and miraculous. Fruitful comparisons may be drawn between -Neo-Platonists and Christian doctors.[46] - -Origen (died 253), like Plotinus, of Coptic descent, and the most -brilliant genius of the Eastern Church, was by some fifteen years the -senior of the Neo-Platonist. It is not certain that either of them -directly influenced the other. In intellectual power the two were peers. -Both were absorbed in the higher phases of their thought, but neither -excluded the more popular beliefs from the system which he was occupied in -constructing. Plotinus had no mind to shut the door against the beliefs of -polytheism; and Origen accepted on his part the demons and angels of -current Christian credence.[47] In fact, he occupied himself with them -more than Plotinus did with the gods of the Hellenic pantheon. Of course -Origen, like every other Christian doctor, had his fundamental and saving -irrationality in his acceptance of the Christian revelation and the risen -Christ. This had already taken its most drastic form in the _credo quia -absurdum_ of Tertullian the Latin Father, who was twenty-five years his -senior. Herein one observes the acceptance of the miraculous on principle. -That the great facts of the Christian creed were beyond the proof or -disproof of reason was a principle definitely accepted by all the Fathers. - -Further, since all Catholic Christians accepted the Scriptures as revealed -truth, they were obliged to accept many things which their reason, -unaided, might struggle with in vain. Here was a large opportunity, as to -which Christians would act according to their tempers, in emphasizing and -amplifying the authoritative or miraculous, _i.e._ irrational, element. -And besides, outside even of these Scriptural matters and their -interpretations, there would be the general question of the educated -Christian's interest in the miraculous. Great mental power and devotion to -the construction of dogma by no means precluded a lively interest in this, -as may be seen in that very miraculous life of St. Anthony, written -probably by Athanasius himself. This biography is more preoccupied with -the demoniacal and miraculous than Porphyry's _Life of Plotinus_; indeed -in this respect it is not outdone by Eunapius's _Life of Iamblicus_. -Turning to the Latin West, one may compare with them that charming -prototypal Vita Sancti, the _Life of St. Martin_ by Sulpicius Severus.[48] -A glance at these writings shows a similarity of interest with Christian -and Neo-Platonist, and in both is found the same unquestioning acceptance -of the miraculous. - -Thus one observes how the supernatural manifestation, the miraculous -event, was admitted and justified on principle in both the Neo-Platonic -and the Christian system. In both, moreover, metaphysical or symbolizing -tendencies had withdrawn attention from a close scrutiny of any fact, -observed, imagined, or reported. With both, the primary value of -historical or physical fact lay in its illumination of general convictions -or accepted principles. And with both, the supernatural fact was the fact -_par excellence_, in that it was the direct manifestation of the divine or -spiritual power. - -Iamblicus had announced that man must not be incredulous as to superhuman -beings and their supernatural doings. On the Christian side, there was no -bit of popular credence in miracle or magic mystery, or any notion as to -devils, angels, and departed saints, for which justification could not be -found in the writings of the great Doctors of the Church. These learned -and intellectual men evince different degrees of interest in such matters; -but none stands altogether aloof, or denies _in toto_. No evidence is -needed here. A broad illustration, however, lies in the fact that before -the fourth century the chief Christian rites had become sacramental -mysteries, necessarily miraculous in their nature and their efficacy. This -was true of Baptism; it was more stupendously true of the Eucharist. -Mystically, but none the less really, and above all inevitably, the bread -and wine have miraculously become the body and the blood. The process, one -may say, began with Origen; with Cyril of Jerusalem it is completed; -Gregory of Nyssa regards it as a continuation of the verity of the -Incarnation, and Chrysostom is with him.[49] One pauses to remark that the -relationship between the pagan and Christian mysteries was not one of -causal antecedence so much as one of analogous growth. A pollen of terms -and concepts blew hither and thither, and effected a cross-fertilization -of vigorously growing plants. The life-sap of the Christian mysteries, as -with those of Mithra, was the passion for a symbolism of the unknown and -the inexpressible. - -But one must not stop here. The whole Christian Church, as well as -Porphyry and Iamblicus, accepted angels and devils, and recognized their -intervention or interference in human affairs. Then displacing the local -pagan divinities come the saints, and Mary above all. They are honoured, -they are worshipped. Only an Augustine has some gentle warning to utter -against carrying these matters to excess. - -In connection with all this, one may notice an illuminating point, or -rather motive. In the third and fourth centuries the common yearning of -the Graeco-Roman world was for an approach to God; it was looking for the -anagogic path, the way up from man and multiplicity to unity and God. An -absorbing interest was taken in the means. Neo-Platonism, the creature of -this time, whatever else it was, was mediatorial, a system of mediation -between man and the Absolute First Principle. Passing halfway over from -paganism to Christianity, the Celestial Hierarchy of Pseudo-Dionysius is -also essentially a system of mediation, which has many affinities (as well -it might!) with the system of Plotinus.[50] Within Catholic Christianity -the great work of Athanasius was to establish Christ's sole and -all-sufficient mediation. Catholicism was permanently set upon the -mediatorship of Christ, God and man, the one God-man reconciling the -nature which He had veritably, and not seemingly, assumed, to the divine -substance which He had never ceased to be. Athanasius's struggle for this -principle was bitter and hard-pressed, because within Christianity as well -as without, men were demanding easier and more tangible stages and means -of mediation. - -Of such, Catholic Christianity was to recognize a vast multitude, perhaps -not dogmatically as a necessary part of itself; but practically and -universally. Angels, saints, the Virgin over all, are mediators between -man and God. This began to be true at an early period, and was established -before the fourth century.[51] Moreover, every bit of rite and mystery and -miracle, as in paganism, so in Catholicism, was essentially a means of -mediation, a way of bringing the divine principle to bear on man and his -affairs, and so of bringing man within the sphere of the divine -efficiency. - -Let us make some further Christian comparisons with our Neo-Platonic -friends Plotinus, Porphyry, and Iamblicus. As we have adduced Origen, it -would also be easy to find other parallels from the Eastern Church. But as -the purpose is to mark the origin of the intellectual tendencies of the -Western Middle Ages, we may at once draw examples from the Latin Fathers. -For their views set the forms of mediaeval intellectual interests, and for -centuries directed and even limited the mediaeval capacity for -apprehending whatever it was given to the Middle Ages to set themselves to -know. To pass thus from the East to the West is permissible, since the -same pagan cults and modes of thought passed from one boundary of the -Empire to the other. Plotinus himself lived and taught in Rome for the -last twenty-five years of his life, and there wrote his _Enneads_ in -Greek. So on the Christian side, the Catholic Church throughout the East -and West presents a solidarity of development, both as to dogma and -organization, and also as to popular acceptances. - -Let us train our attention upon some points of likeness between Plotinus -and St. Augustine. The latter's teachings contain much Platonism; and with -this greatest of Latin Fathers, who did not read much Greek, Platonism was -inextricably mingled with Neo-Platonism. It is possible to search the -works of Augustine and discover this, that, or the other statement -reflecting Plato or Plotinus.[52] Yet their most interesting effect on -Augustine will not be found in Platonic theorems consciously followed or -abjured by the latter. Platonism was "in the air," at least was in the air -breathed by an Augustine. Our specific bishop of Hippo knew little of -Plato's writings. But Plato had lived: his thoughts had influenced many -generations, and in their diffusion had been modified, and had lost many a -specific feature. Thereafter Plotinus had constructed Neo-Platonism; that -too had permeated the minds of many, itself loosened in the process. These -views, these phases of thought and mood, were held or felt by many men, -who may not have known their source. And Augustine was not only part of -all this, but in mind and temper was Platonically inclined. Thus the most -important elements of Platonism and Neo-Platonism in Augustine were his -cognate spiritual mood and his attitude toward the world of physical fact. - -Note the personal affinity between Augustine and Plotinus. Both are -absorbed in the higher pointings of their thought; neither is much -occupied with its left-handed relationships, which, however, are by no -means to be disowned. The minds and souls of both are set upon God the -Spirit; the minds and eyes of both are closed to the knowledge of the -natural world. Thus neither Plotinus nor Augustine was much affected by -the popular beliefs of Christianity or paganism. The former cared little -for demon-lore or divination, and was not seriously touched by polytheism. -No more was the latter affected by the worship of saints and relics, or by -other elements of Christian credulity, which when brought to his attention -pass from his mind as quickly as his duties of Christian bishop will -permit. - -But it was _half_ otherwise with Porphyry, and altogether otherwise with -Iamblicus. The first of these was drawn, repelled, and tortured by the -common superstitions, especially the magic and theurgy which made men -gape; but Iamblicus gladly sported in these mottled currents. On the -Christian side, Jerome might be compared with them, or a later man, the -last of the Latin Fathers, Gregory the Great. Clear as was the temporal -wisdom of this great pope, and heavy as were his duties during the -troubled times of his pontificate (590-604), still his mind was busy with -the miraculous and diabolic. His mind and temperament have absorbed at -least the fruitage of prior superstitions, whether Christian or pagan need -not be decided. He certainly was not influenced by Iamblicus. Nor need one -look upon these phases of his nature as specifically the result of the -absorption of pagan elements. He and his forebears had but gone the path -of credulity and mortal blindness, thronged by both pagans and Christians. -And so in Gregory the tendencies making for intellectual obliquity do -their perfect work. His religious dualism is strident; his resultant -ascetism is extreme; and finally the symbolical, the allegorical, habit -has shut his mind to the perception of the literal (shall we say, actual) -meaning, when engaged with Scripture, as his great Commentary on Job bears -witness. The same tendencies, but usually in milder type, had shown -themselves with Augustine, who, in these respects, stands to Gregory as -Plotinus to Iamblicus. Augustine can push allegory to absurdity; he can -be ascetic; he is dualistic. But all these things have not barbarized his -mind, as they have Gregory's.[53] Similarly the elements, which in -Plotinus's personality were held in innocuous abeyance, dominated the -entire personality of Iamblicus, and made him a high priest of folly. - -Thus we have observed the phases of thought which set the intellectual -conditions of the later pagan times, and affected the mental processes of -the Latin Fathers. The matter may be summarized briefly in conclusion. -Platonism had created an intellectual and intelligible world, wherein a -dissolving dialectic turned the cognition of material phenomena into a -reflection of the mind's ideals. This was more palpable in Neo-Platonism -than it had been in Plato's system. Stoicism on the other hand represented -a rule of life, the sanction of which was inner peace. Its working -principle was the rightly directed action of the self-controlling will. -Fundamentally ethical, it set itself to frame a corresponding conception -of the universe. Platonism and Neo-Platonism found in material facts -illustrations or symbols of ideal truths and principles of human life. -Stoicism was interested in them as affording a foundation for ethics. None -of these systems was seriously interested in facts apart from their -symbolical exemplification of truth, or their bearing on the conduct of -life; and the same principles that affected the observation of nature were -applied to the interpretation of myth, tradition, and history. - -In the opening centuries of the Christian Era the world was becoming less -self-reliant. It was tending to look to authority for its peace of mind. -In religion men not only sought, as formerly, for superhuman aid, but were -reaching outward for what their own rational self-control no longer gave. -They needed not merely to be helped by the gods, but to be sustained and -saved. Consequently, prodigious interest was taken in the means of -bringing man to the divine, and obtaining the saving support which the -gods alone could give. The philosophic thought of the time became palpably -mediatorial. Neo-Platonism was a system of mediation between man and the -Absolute First Principle; and soon its lower phases became occupied with -such palpable means as divination and oracles, magic and theurgy. - -The human reason has always proved unable to effect this mediation between -man and God. The higher Neo-Platonism presented as the furthest goal a -supra-rational and ecstatic vision. This was its union with the divine. -The lower Neo-Platonism turned this lofty supra-rationality into a -principle of credulity more and more agape for fascinating or helpful -miracles. Thus a constant looking for divine or demonic action became -characteristic of the pagan intelligence. - -The Gospel of Christ, in spreading throughout the pagan world, was certain -to gather to itself the incidents of its apprehension by pagans, and take -various forms, one of which was to become the dominant or Catholic. -Conversely, Christians (and we have in mind the educated people) would -retain their methods of thinking in spite of change in the contents of -their thought. This would be true even of the great and learned Christian -leaders, the Fathers of the Church. At the same time the Faith reinspired -and redirected their energies. Yet (be it repeated for the sake of -emphasis) their mental processes, their ways of apprehending and -appreciating facts, would continue those of that paganism which in them -had changed to Christianity. - -Every phase of intellectual tendency just summarized as characteristic of -the pagan world, entered the modes in which the Fathers of the Latin -Church apprehended and built out their new religion. First of all, the -attitude toward knowledge. No pagan philosophy, not Platonism or any -system that came after it, had afforded an incentive for concentration of -desire equal to that presented in the person and the precepts of Jesus. -The desire of the Kingdom of Heaven was a master-motive such as no -previous idealism had offered. It would bring into conformity with itself -not only all the practical considerations of life, but verily the whole -human desire to know. First it mastered the mind of Tertullian; and in -spite of variance and deviation it endured through the Middle Ages as the -controlling principle of intellectual effort. Its decree was this: the -knowledge which men need and should desire is that which will help them -to save and perfect their souls for the Kingdom of God. Some would -interpret this broadly, others narrowly; some would actually be -constrained by it, and others merely do it a polite obeisance. But -acknowledged it was by well-nigh all men, according to their individual -tempers and the varying times in which they lived. - -Platonism was an idealistic cosmos; Stoicism a cosmos of subjective ethics -and teleological conceptions of the physical world. The furthest outcome -of both might be represented by Augustine's cosmos of the soul and God. As -for reasoning processes, inwardly inspired and then applied to the world -of nature and history, Christianity combined the idealizing, -fact-compelling ways of Platonic dialectic with the Stoical interest in -moral edification. And, more utterly than either Platonist or Stoic, the -Christian Father lacked interest in knowledge of the concrete fact for its -own sake. His mental glance was even more oblique than theirs, fixed as it -was upon the moral or spiritual--the anagogic--inference. Of course he -carried symbolism and allegory further than Stoic and Platonist had done, -one reason being that he was impelled by the specific motive of -harmonizing the Old Testament with the Gospel, and thereby proving the -divine mission of Jesus. - -Idealism might tend toward dualistic ethics, and issue in asceticism, as -was the tendency in Stoicism and the open result with Plotinus and his -disciples. Such, with mightier power and firmer motive, was the outcome of -Christian ethics, in monasticism. Christianity was not a dualistic -philosophy; but neither was Stoicism nor Neo-Platonism. Yet, like them, it -was burningly dualistic in its warfare against the world, the flesh, and -the devil. - -We turn to other but connected matters: salvation, mediatorship, theory -and practice. The need of salvation made men Christians; the God-man was -the one and sufficient mediator between man and God. Such was the high -dogma, established with toil and pain. And the practice graded downward to -mediatorial persons, acts, and things, marvellous, manifold, and utterly -analogous to their pagan kin. The mediatorial persons were the Virgin and -the saints; the sacraments were the magic mediatorial acts; the relic was -the magic mediatorial thing. And, as with Neo-Platonism, there was in -Christianity a principle of supra-rational belief in all these matters. At -the top the revelation of Christ, and the high love of God which He -inspired. This was not set on reason, but above it. And, as with -Neo-Platonism, the supra-rational principle of Christianity was led down -through conduits of credulity, resembling those we have become familiar -with in our descent from Plotinus to Iamblicus. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -INTELLECTUAL INTERESTS OF THE LATIN FATHERS - - -So it was that the intellectual conditions of the Roman Empire affected -the attitude of the Church Fathers toward knowledge, and determined their -ways of apprehending fact. There was, indeed, scarcely a spiritual -tendency or way of thinking, in the surrounding paganism, that did not -enter their mental processes and make part of their understanding of -Christianity. On the other hand, the militant and polemic position of the -Church in the Empire furnished new interests, opened new fields of effort, -and produced new modes of intellectual energy. And every element emanating -from the pagan environment was, on entering the Christian pale, reinspired -by Christian necessities and brought into a working concord with the -master-motive of the Faith. - -Salvation was the master Christian motive. The Gospel of Christ was a -gospel of salvation unto eternal life. It presented itself in the -self-sacrifice of divine love, not without warnings touching its -rejection. It was understood and accepted according to the capacities of -those to whom it was offered, capacities which it should reinspire and -direct anew, and yet not change essentially. The young Christian -communities had to adjust their tempers to the new Faith. They also fell -under the unconscious need of defining it, in order to satisfy their own -intelligence and present it in a valid form to the minds of men as yet -unconverted. Consequently, the new Gospel of Salvation drew the energies -of Christian communities to the work of defining that which they had -accepted, and of establishing its religious and rational validity. The -intellectual interests of these communities were first unified by the -master-motive of salvation, and then ordered and redirected according to -the doctrinal and polemic exigencies of this new Faith precipitated into -the Graeco-Roman world. - -The intellectual interests of the Christian Fathers are not to be -classified under categories of desire to know, for the sake of knowledge, -but under categories of desire to be saved, and to that end possess -knowledge in its saving forms. Their desire was less to know, than to know -how--how to be saved and contribute to the salvation of others. Their need -rightly to understand the Faith, define it and maintain it, was of such -drastic power as to force into ancillary rôles every line of inquiry and -intellectual effort. This need inspired those central intellectual labours -of the Fathers which directly made for the Faith's dogmatic substantiation -and ecclesiastical supremacy; and then it mastered all provinces of -education and inquiry which might seem to possess independent intellectual -interest. They were either to be drawn to its support or discredited as -irrelevant distractions. - -This compelling Christian need did not, in fact, impress into its service -the total sum of intellectual interests among Christians. Mortal curiosity -survived, and the love of _belles lettres_. Yet its dominance was real. -The Church Fathers were absorbed in the building up of Christian doctrine -and ecclesiastical authority. The productions of Christian authorship -through the first four centuries were entirely religious, so far as the -extant works bear witness. This is true of both the Greek and the Latin -Fathers, and affords a prodigious proof that the inspiration and the -exigencies of the new religion had drawn into one spiritual vortex the -energies and interests of Christian communities. - -Some of the Fathers have left statements of their principles, coupled with -more or less intimate accounts of their own spiritual attitude. Among the -Eastern Christians Origen has already been referred to. With him -Christianity was the sum of knowledge; and his life's endeavour was to -realize this view by co-ordinating all worthy forms of knowledge within -the scheme of salvation through Christ. His mind was imbued with a vast -desire to know. This he did not derive from Christianity. But his -understanding of Christianity gave him the schematic principle guiding -his inquiries. His aim was to direct his labours with Christianity as an -end--[Greek: telikôs eis christianismon], as he says so pregnantly. He -would use Greek philosophy as a propaedeutic for Christianity; he would -seek from geometry and astronomy what might serve to explain Scripture; -and so with all branches of learning.[54] - -This was the expression of a mind of prodigious energy. For more personal -disclosures we may turn at once to the Latin Fathers. Hilary, Bishop of -Poictiers (d. 367), was a foremost Latin polemicist against the Arians in -the middle of the fourth century. He was born a pagan; and in the -introductory book to his chief work, the _De Trinitate_, he tells how he -turned, with all his intellect and higher aspirations, to the Faith. -Taking a noble view of human nature, he makes bold to say that men usually -spurn the sensual and material, and yearn for a more worthy life. Thus -they have reached patience, temperance, and other virtues, believing that -death is not the end of all. He himself, however, did not rest satisfied -with the pagan religion or the teachings of pagan philosophers; but he -found doctrines to his liking in the books of Moses, and then in the -Gospel of John. It was clear to him that prophecy led up to the revelation -of Jesus Christ, and in that at length he gained a safe harbour. Thus -Hilary explains that his better aspirations had led him on and upward to -the Gospel; and when he had reached that end and unification of spiritual -yearning, it was but natural that it should thenceforth hold the sum of -his intellectual interests. - -A like result appears with greater power in Augustine. His _Confessions_ -give the mode in which his spiritual progress presented itself to him some -time after he had become a Catholic Christian.[55] His whole life sets -forth the same theme, presenting the religious passion of the man drawing -into itself his energies and interests. God and the Soul--these two would -he know, and these alone. But these alone indeed! As if they did not -embrace all life pointed and updrawn toward its salvation. God was the -overmastering object of intellectual interest and of passionate love. All -knowledge should direct itself toward knowing Him. By grace, within God's -light and love, was the Soul, knower and lover, expectant of eternal life. -Nothing that was transient could be its chief good, or its good at all -except so far as leading on to its chief good of salvation, life eternal, -in and through the Trinity. One may read Augustine's self-disclosures or -the passages containing statements of the ultimate religious principles -whereby he and all men should live, or one may proceed to examine his long -life and the vast entire product of his labour. The result will be the -same. His whole strength will be found devoted to the cause of Catholic -Church and Faith; and all his intellectual interests will be seen -converging to that end. He writes nothing save with Catholic religious -purpose; and nothing in any of his writings had interest for the writer -save as it bore upon that central aim. He may be engaged in a great work -of ultimate Christian doctrine, as in his _De Trinitate_; he may be -involved in controversy with Manichean, with Donatist or Pelagian; he may -be offering pastoral instruction, as in his many letters; he may survey, -as in the _Civitas Dei_, the whole range of human life and human -knowledge; but never does his mind really bear away from its -master-motive. - -The justification for this centering of human interests and energies lay -in the nature of the _summum bonum_ for man. According to the principles -of the _City of God_, eternal life is the supreme good and eternal death -the supreme evil. Evidently no temporal satisfaction or happiness compares -with the eternal. This is good logic; but it is enforced with arguments -drawn from the Christian temper, which viewed earth as a vale of tears. -The deep Catholic pessimism toward mortal life is Augustine's in full -measure: "Quis enim sufficit quantovis eloquentiae flumine, vitae hujus -miserias explicare?" Virtue itself, the best of mortal goods, does nothing -here on earth but wage perpetual war with vices. Though man's life is and -must be social, how filled is it with distress! The saints are blessed -with hope. And mortal good which has not that hope is a false joy and a -great misery. For it lacks the real blessedness of the soul, which is the -true wisdom that directs itself to the end where God shall be all in all -in eternal certitude and perfect peace. Here our peace is with God through -faith; and yet is rather a _solatium miseriae_ than a _gaudium -beatitudinis_, as it will be hereafter. But the end of those who do not -belong to the City of God will be _miseria sempiterna_, which is also -called the second death, since the soul alienated from God cannot be said -to live, nor that body be said to live which is enduring eternal -pains.[56] Augustine devotes a whole book, the twenty-first, to an -exposition of the sempiternal, non-purgatorial, punishment of the damned, -whom the compassionate intercession of the saints will not save, nor many -other considerations which have been deemed eventually saving by the -fondly lenient opinions of men. His views were as dark as those of Gregory -the Great. Only imaginative elaboration was needed to expand them to the -full compass of mediaeval fear. - -Augustine brought all intellectual interests into the closure of the -Christian Faith, or discredited whatever stubbornly remained without. He -did the same with ethics. For he transformed the virtues into accord with -his Catholic conception of man's chief good. That must consist in cleaving -to what is most blessed to cleave to, which is God. To Him we can cleave -only through _dilectio_, _amor_, and _charitas_. Virtue which leads us to -the _vita beata_ is nothing but _summus amor Dei_. So he defines the four -cardinal virtues anew. Temperance is love keeping itself whole and -incorrupt for God; fortitude is love easily bearing all things for God's -sake; justice is love serving God only, and for that reason rightly ruling -in the other matters, which are subject to man; and prudence is love well -discriminating between what helps and what impedes as to God (_in -deum_).[57] Conversely, the heathen virtues, as the heathen had in fact -conceived them, were vices rather than virtues to Augustine. For they -lacked knowledge of the true God, and therefore were affected with -fundamental ignorance, and were also tainted with pride.[58] Through his -unique power of religious perception, Augustine discerned the -inconsistency between pagan ethics, and the Christian thoughts of divine -grace moving the humbly and lovingly acceptant soul. - -The treatise on Christian Doctrine clearly expresses Augustine's views as -to the value of knowledge. He starts, in his usual way, from a fundamental -principle, which is here the distinction between the use of something for -a purpose and the enjoyment of something in and for itself. "To enjoy is -to cleave fast in the love of a thing for its own sake. But to use is to -employ a thing in obtaining what one loves." For an illustration he draws -upon that Christian sentiment which from the first had made the Christian -feel as a sojourner on earth.[59] - - "It is as if we were sojourners unable to live happily away from our - own country, and we wished to use the means of journeying by land and - sea to end our misery and return to our fatherland, which is to be - enjoyed. But the charm of the journey or the very movement of the - vehicle delighting us, we are taken by a froward sweetness and become - careless of reaching our own country whose sweetness would make us - happy. Now if, journeying through this world, away from God, we wish - to return to our own land where we may be happy, this world must be - used, not enjoyed; that the invisible things of God may be apprehended - through those created things before our eyes, and we may gain the - eternal and spiritual from the corporeal and temporal." - -From this illustration Augustine leaps at once to his final inference that -only the Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--is to be enjoyed.[60] It -follows as a corollary that the important knowledge for man is that which -will bring him to God surely and for eternity. Such is knowledge of Holy -Writ and its teachings. Other knowledge is valuable as it aids us to this. - -Proceeding from this point of view, Augustine speaks more specifically. To -understand Scripture one needs to know the words and also the things -referred to. Knowledge of the latter is useful, because it sheds light on -their figurative significance. For example, to know the serpent's habit of -presenting its whole body to the assailant, in order to protect its head, -helps to understand our Lord's command to be wise as serpents, and for the -sake of our Head, which is Christ, present our whole bodies to the -persecutors. Again, the statement that the serpent rids itself of its skin -by squeezing through a narrow hole, accords with the Scriptural injunction -to imitate the serpent's wisdom, and put off the old man that we may put -on the new, and in a narrow place--Enter ye in at the strait gate, says -the Lord.[61] The writer gives a rule for deciding whether in any instance -a literal or figurative interpretation of Scripture should be employed, a -rule representing a phase of the idealizing way of treating facts which -began with Plato or before him, and through many channels entered the -practice of Christian doctors. "Whatever in the divine word cannot -properly be referred to _morum honestas_ or _fidei veritas_ is to be taken -figuratively. The first pertains to love of God and one's neighbour; the -second to knowing God and one's neighbour."[62] - -Augustine then refers to matters of human invention, like the letters of -the alphabet, which are useful to know. History also is well, as it helps -us to understand Scripture; and a knowledge of physical objects will help -us to understand the Scriptural references. Likewise a moderate knowledge -of rhetoric and dialectic enables one the better to understand and expound -Scripture. Some men have made useful vocabularies of the Scriptural Hebrew -and Syriac words and compends of history, which throw light on Scriptural -questions. So, to save Christians from needless labour, I think it would -be well if some one would make a general description of unknown places, -animals, plants and minerals, and other things mentioned in Scripture; and -the same might be done as to the _numbers_ which Scripture uses. These -suggestions were curiously prophetic. Christians were soon to produce just -such compends, as will be seen when noticing the labours of Isidore of -Seville.[63] Augustine speaks sometimes in scorn and sometimes in sorrow -of those who remain ignorant of God, and learn philosophies, or deem that -they achieve something great by curiously examining into that universal -mass of matter which we call the world.[64] - -Augustine's word and his example sufficiently attest the fact that the -Christian Faith constituted the primary intellectual interest with the -Fathers. While not annihilating other activities of the mind, this -dominant interest lowered their dignity by forcing them into a common -subservience. Exerting its manifold energies in defining and building out -the Faith, in protecting it from open attack or insidious corruption, it -drew to its exigencies the whole strength of its votaries. There resulted -the perfected organization of the Catholic Church and the production of a -vast doctrinal literature. The latter may be characterized as constructive -of dogma, theoretically interpretative of Scripture, and polemically -directed against pagans, Jews, heretics or schismatics, as the case might -be. - -It was constructive of dogma through the intellectual necessity of -apprehending the Faith in concepts and modes of reasoning accepted as -valid by the Graeco-Roman world. In the dogmatic treatises emanating from -the Hellenic East, the concepts and modes of reasoning were those of the -later phases of Greek philosophy. Prominent examples are the _De -principiis_ of Origen or the _Orationes_ of Athanasius against the Arians. -For the Latin West, Tertullian's _Adversus Marcionem_ or the treatises of -Hilary and Augustine upon the Trinity serve for examples. The Western -writings are distinguished from their Eastern kin by the entry of the -juristic element, filling them with a mass of conceptions from the Roman -Law.[65] They also develop a more searching psychology. In both of these -respects, Tertullian and Augustine were the great creators. - -Secondly, this literature, at least in theory, was interpretative or -expository of Scripture. Undoubtedly Origen and Athanasius and Augustine -approached the Faith with ideas formed from philosophical study and their -own reflections; and their metaphysical and allegorical treatment of -Scripture texts elicited a significance different from the meaning which -we now should draw. Yet Christianity was an authoritatively revealed -religion, and the letter of that revelation was Holy Scripture, to wit, -the gradually formed canon of the Old and New Testaments. If the reasoning -or conclusions which resulted in the Nicene Creed were not just what -Scripture would seem to suggest, at all events they had to be and were -confirmed by Scripture, interpreted, to be sure, under the stress of -controversy and the influence of all that had gone into the intellectual -natures of the Greek and Latin Fathers. And the patristic faculty of -doctrinal exposition, that is, of reasoning constructively along the lines -of Scriptural interpretation, was marvellous. Such a writing as -Augustine's Anti-Pelagian _De spiritu et littera_ is a striking example. - -Moreover, the Faith, which is to say, the Scriptures rightly interpreted, -contained the sum of knowledge needful for salvation, and indeed -everything that men should seek to know. Therefore there was no question -possessing valid claim upon human curiosity which the Scriptures, through -their interpreters, might not be called upon to answer. For example, -Augustine feels obliged to solve through Scriptural interpretation and -inference such an apparently obscure question as that of the different -degrees of knowledge of God possessed by demons and angels.[66] Indeed, -many an unanswerable question had beset the ways by which Augustine -himself and other doctors had reached their spiritual harbourage in -Catholic Christianity. They sought to confirm from Scripture _their_ -solutions of their own doubts. At all events, from Scripture they were -obliged to answer other questioners seeking instruction or needing -refutation.[67] - -Thirdly, it is too well known to require more than a mere reminder, that -dogmatic treatises commonly were controversial or polemic, directed as -might be against pagans or Jews, or Gnostics or Manicheans, or against -Arians or Montanists or Donatists. Practically all Christian doctrine was -of militant growth, advancing by argumentative denial and then by -counter-formulation. - -As already noticed at some length, the later phases of pagan philosophic -inquiry had other motives besides the wish for knowledge. These motives -were connected with man's social welfare or his relations with -supernatural powers. The Stoical and Epicurean interest in knowledge had a -practical incentive. And Neo-Platonism was a philosophy of saving union -with the divine, rather than an open-minded search for ultimate knowledge. -But no Hellenic or quasi-Romanized philosophy so drastically drew all -subjects of speculation and inquiry within the purview and dominance of a -single motive at once intellectual and emotional as the Christian Faith. - -Naturally the surviving intellectual ardour of the Graeco-Roman world -passed into the literature of Christian doctrine. For example, the Faith, -with its master-motive of salvation, drew within its work of militant -formulation and pertinent discussion that round of intellectual interest -and energy which had issued in Neo-Platonism. Likewise such ethical -earnestness as had come down through Stoicism was drawn within the master -Christian energy. And so far as any interest survived in zoology or -physics or astronomy, it also was absorbed in curious Christian endeavours -to educe an edifying conformity between the statements or references of -Scripture and the round of phenomena of the natural world. Then history -likewise passed from heathenism to the service of the Church, and became -polemic narrative, or filled itself with edifying tales, mostly of -miracles. - -In fine, no branch of human inquiry or intellectual interest was left -unsubjugated by the dominant motives of the Faith. First of all, -philosophy itself--the general inquiry for final knowledge--no longer had -an independent existence. It had none with Hilary, none with Ambrose, and -none whatsoever with Augustine after he became a Catholic Christian. -Patristic philosophy consisted in the formulation of Christian doctrine, -which in theory was an eliciting of the truth of Scripture. It embodied -the substantial results, or survivals if one will, of Greek philosophy, so -far as it did not controvert and discard them. As for the reasoning -process, the dialectic whereby such results were reached, as -distinguished from the results themselves, that also passed into doctrinal -writings. The great Christian Fathers were masters of it. Augustine -recognized it as a proper tool; but like other tools its value was not in -itself but in its usefulness. As a tool, dialectic, or logic as it has -commonly been called, was to preserve a distinct, if not independent, -existence. Aristotle had devoted to it a group of special treatises.[68] -No one had anything to add to this Organon, or Aristotelian tool, which -was to be preserved in Latin by the Boëthian translations.[69] No attempt -was made to supplant them with Christian treatises. - -So it was with elementary education. The grammarians, Servius, Priscianus, -and probably Donatus, were pagans. As far as concerned grammatical and -rhetorical studies, the Fathers had to admit that the best theory and -examples were in pagan writings. It also happened that the book which was -to become the common text-book of the Seven Arts was by a pagan, of -Neo-Platonic views. This was the _De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_, by -Martianus Capella.[70] Possibly some good Christian of the time could have -composed a worse book, or at least one somewhat more deflected from the -natural objects of primary education. But the _De nuptiis_ is -astonishingly poor and dry. The writer was an unintelligent compiler, who -took his matter not from the original sources, but from compilers before -him, Varro above all. Capella talks of Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Euclid, -Ptolemy; but if he had ever read them, it was to little profit. Book VI., -for example, is occupied with "Geometria." The first part of it is simply -geography; then come nine pages[71] of geometry, consisting of -definitions, with a few axioms; and then, instead of following with -theorems, the maid, who personifies "Geometria," presents as a bridal -offering the books of Euclid, amid great applause. Had she ever opened -them, one queries. Book VII., "Arithmetica," is even worse. It begins with -the current foolishness regarding the virtues and interesting qualities of -the first ten numbers: "How shall I commemorate thee, O Seven, always to -be revered, neither begotten like the other numbers, nor procreative, a -virgin even as Minerva?" Capella never is original. From Pythagoras on, -the curiosities of numbers had interested the pagan mind.[72] These -fantasies gained new power and application in the writings of the Fathers. -For them, the numbers used in Scripture had prefigurative significance. -Such notions came to Christianity from its environment, and then took on a -new apologetic purpose. Here an intellect like Augustine's is no whit -above its fellows. In arguing from Scripture numbers he is at his very -obvious worst.[73] Fortunately the coming time was to have better -treatises, like the _De arithmetica_ of Boëthius, which was quite free -from mysticism. But in Boëthius's time, as well as before and after him, -it was the allegorical significance of numbers apologetically pointed that -aroused deepest interest. - -Astronomy makes one of Capella's seven _Artes_. His eighth book, a rather -abject compilation, is devoted to it. His matter, of course, is not yet -Christianized. But Christianity was to draw Astronomy into its service; -and the determination of the date of Easter and other Church festivals -became the chief end of what survived of astronomical knowledge. - -The patristic attitude toward cosmogony and natural science plainly -appears in the _Hexaëmeron_ of St. Ambrose.[74] This was a commentary on -the first chapters of Genesis, or rather an argumentative exposition of -the Scriptural account of the Creation, primarily directed against those -who asserted that the world was uncreated and eternal. As one turns the -leaves of this writing, it becomes clear that the interest of Ambrose is -always religious, and that his soul is gazing beyond the works of the -Creation to another world. He has no interest in physical phenomena, -which have no laws for him except the will of God. - - "To discuss the nature and position of the earth," says he, "does not - help us in our hope of the life to come. It is enough to know what - Scripture states, 'that He hung up the earth upon nothing' (Job xxvi. - 7). Why then argue whether He hung it up in air or upon the water, and - raise a controversy as to how the thin air could sustain the earth; or - why, if upon the waters, the earth does not go crashing down to the - bottom?... Not because the earth is in the middle, as if suspended on - even balance, but because the majesty of God constrains it by the law - of His will, does it endure stable upon the unstable and the void." - -The archbishop then explains that God did not fix the earth's stability as -an artisan would, with compass and level, but as the Omnipotent, by the -might of His command. If we would understand why the earth is unmoved, we -must not try to measure creation as with a compass, but must look to the -will of God: "voluntate Dei immobilis manet et stat in saeculum terra." -And again Ambrose asks, Why argue as to the elements which make the -heaven? Why trouble oneself with these physical inquiries? "Sufficeth for -our salvation, not such disputation, but the verity of the precepts, not -the acuteness of argument, but the mind's faith, so that rather than the -creature, we may serve the Creator, who is God blessed forever."[75] - -Thus with Ambrose, the whole creation springs from the immediate working -of God's inscrutable will. It is all essentially a miracle, like those -which He wrought in after times to aid or save men: they also were but -operations of His will. God said _Fiat lux_, and there was light. Thus His -will creates; and nature is His work (_opus Dei natura est_). And God -said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it -divide the waters from the waters; and it was so. "Hear the word, Fiat. -His will is the measure of things; His word ends the work." The division -of the waters above and beneath the firmament was a work of His will; just -as He divided the waters of the Red Sea before the eyes of the Jews in -order that those things might be believed which the Jews had not seen. He -could have saved them by another means. The fiat of God is nature's -strength (_virtus_) and the substance of its endurance (_diurnitatis -substantia_) so long as He wishes it to continue where He has appointed -it.[76] - -According to this reasoning, the miracle, except for its infrequency, is -in the same category with other occurrences. Here Ambrose is fully -supported by Augustine. With the latter, God is the source of all -causation: He is the cause of usual as well as of extraordinary -occurrences, _i.e._ miracles. The exceptional or extraordinary character -of certain occurrences is what makes them miracles.[77] - -Here are fundamental principles of patristic faith. The will of God is the -one cause of all things. It is unsearchable. But we have been taught much -regarding God's love and compassionateness, and of His desire to edify and -save His people. These qualities prompt His actions toward them. Therefore -we may expect His acts to evince edifying and saving purpose. All the -narratives of Scripture are for our edification. How many mighty saving -acts do they record, from the Creation, onward through the story of -Israel, to the birth and resurrection of Christ! And surely God still -cares for His people. Nor is there any reason to suppose that He has -ceased to edify and save them through signs and wonders. Shall we not -still look for miracles from His grace? - -Thus in the nature of Christianity, as a miraculously founded and revealed -religion, lay the ground for expecting miracles, or, at least, for not -deeming them unlikely to occur. And to the same result from all sides -conspired the influences which had been obscuring natural knowledge. We -have followed those influences in pagan circles from Plato on through -Neo-Platonism and other systems current in the first centuries of the -Christian era. We have seen them obliterate rational conceptions of -nature's processes and destroy the interest that impels to unbiassed -investigation. The character and exigencies of the Faith intensified the -operation of like tendencies among Christians. Their eyes were lifted from -the earth. They were not concerned with its transitory things, soon to be -consumed. Their hope was fixed in the assurance of their Faith; their -minds were set upon its confirmation. They and their Faith seemed to have -no use for a knowledge of earth's phenomena save as bearing illustrative -or confirmatory testimony to the truth of Scripture. Moreover, the -militant exigencies of their situation made them set excessive store on -the miraculous foundation and continuing confirmation of their religion. - -For these reasons the eyes of the Fathers were closed to the natural -world, or at least their vision was affected with an obliquity parallel to -the needs of doctrine. Any veritable physical or natural knowledge rapidly -dwindled among them. What remained continued to exist because explanatory -of Scripture and illustrative of spiritual allegories. To such an -intellectual temper nothing seems impossible, provided it accord, or can -be interpreted to accord, with doctrines elicited from Scripture. Soon -there will cease to exist any natural knowledge sufficient to distinguish -the normal and possible from the impossible and miraculous. One may recall -how little knowledge of the physiology and habits of animals was shown in -Pliny's _Natural History_.[78] He had not even a rough idea of what was -physiologically possible. Personally, he may or may not have believed that -the bowels of the field-mouse increase in number with the waxing of the -moon; but he had no sufficiently clear appreciation of the causes and -relations of natural phenomena to know that such an idea was absurd. It -was almost an accident, whether he believed it or not. It is safe to say -that neither Ambrose nor Jerome nor Augustine had any clearer -understanding of such things than Pliny. They had read far less about -them, and knew less than he. Pliny, at all events, had no motive for -understanding or presenting natural facts in any other way than as he had -read or been told about them, or perhaps had noticed for himself. -Augustine and Ambrose had a motive. Their sole interest in natural fact -lay in its confirmatory evidence of Scriptural truth. They were constantly -impelled to understand facts in conformity with their understanding of -Scripture, and to accept or deny accordingly. Thus Augustine denies the -existence of Antipodes, men on the opposite side of the earth, who walk -with their feet opposite to our own.[79] That did not harmonize with his -general conception of Scriptural cosmogony. - -For the result, one can point to a concrete instance which is typical of -much. In patristic circles the knowledge of the animal kingdom came to be -represented by the curious book called the _Physiologus_. It was a series -of descriptions of animals, probably based on stories current in -Alexandria, and appears to have been put together in Greek early in the -second century. Internal evidence has led to the supposition that it -emanated from Gnostic circles. It soon came into common use among the -Greek and Latin Fathers. Origen draws from it by name. In the West, to -refer only to the fourth and fifth centuries, Ambrose seems to use it -constantly, Jerome occasionally, and also Augustine. - -Well known as these stories are, one or two examples may be given to -recall their character: The Lion has three characteristics; as he walks or -runs he brushes his footprints with his tail, so that the hunters may not -track him. This signifies the secrecy of the Incarnation--of the Lion of -the tribe of Judah. Secondly, the Lion sleeps with his eyes open; so slept -the body of Christ upon the Cross, while His Godhead watched at the right -hand of the Father. Thirdly, the Lioness brings forth her cub dead; on the -third day the father comes and roars in its face, and wakes it to life. -This signifies our Lord's resurrection on the third day. - -The Pelican is distinguished by its love for its young. As these begin to -grow they strike at their parents' faces, and the parents strike back and -kill them. Then the parents take pity, and on the third day the mother -comes and opens her side and lets the blood flow on the dead young ones, -and they become alive again. Thus God cast off mankind after the Fall, and -delivered them over to death; but He took pity on us, as a mother, for by -the Crucifixion He awoke us with His blood to eternal life. - -The _Unicorn_ cannot be taken by hunters, because of his great strength, -but lets himself be captured by a pure virgin. So Christ, mightier than -the heavenly powers, took on humanity in a virgin's womb. - -The Phoenix lives in India, and when five hundred years old fills his -wings with fragrant herbs and flies to Heliopolis, where he commits -himself to the flames in the Temple of the Sun. From his ashes comes a -worm, which the second day becomes a fledgling, and on the third a -full-grown phoenix, who flies away to his old dwelling-place. The Phoenix -is the symbol of Christ; the two wings filled with sweet-smelling herbs -are the Old and New Testaments, full of divine teaching.[80] - -These examples illustrate the two general characteristics of the accounts -in the _Physiologus_: they have the same legendary quality whether the -animal is real or fabulous; the subjects are chosen, and the accounts are -shaped, by doctrinal considerations. Indeed, from the first the -_Physiologus_ seems to have been a selection of those animal stories which -lent themselves most readily to theological application. It would be -pointless to distinguish between the actual and fabulous in such a book; -nor did the minds of the readers make any such distinction. For Ambrose or -Augustine the importance of the story lay in its doctrinal significance, -or moral, which was quite careless of the truth of facts of which it was -the "point." The facts were told as introductory argument. - -The interest of the Fathers in physics and natural history bears analogy -to their interest in history and biography. Looking back to classical -times, one finds that historians were led by other motives than the mere -endeavour to ascertain and state the facts. The Homeric Epos was the -literary forerunner of the history which Herodotus wrote of the Persian -Wars; and the latter often was less interested in the closeness of his -facts than in their aptness and rhetorical probability. Doubtless he -followed legends when telling how Greek and Persian spoke or acted. But -had not legend already sifted the chaff of irrelevancy from the story, -leaving the grain of convincing fitness, which is also rhetorical -probability? Likewise, Thucydides, in composing the _History of the -Peloponnesian War_, that masterpiece of reasoned statement, was not -over-anxious as to accuracy of actual word and fact reported. He carefully -inquired regarding the events, in some of which he had been an actor. -Often he knew or ascertained what the chief speakers said in those -dramatic situations which kept arising in this war of neighbours. Yet, -instead of reporting actual words, he gives the sentiments which, -according to the laws of rhetorical probability, they must have uttered. -So he presents the psychology and turning-point of the matter. - -This was true historical rhetoric; the historian's art of setting forth a -situation veritably, by presenting its intrinsic necessities. Xenophon's -_Cyropaedia_ went a step farther; it was a historical romance, which -neither followed fact nor proceeded according to the necessities of the -actual situation. But it did proceed according to moral proprieties, and -so was edifying and plausible. - -The classical Latin practice accorded with the Greek. Cicero speaks of -history as _opus oratorium_, that is, a work having rhetorical and -literary qualities. It should set forth the events and situations -according to their inherent necessities which constitute their rhetorical -truth. Then it should possess the civic and social qualities of good -oratory: morals and public utility. These are, in fact, the -characteristics of the works of Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. None of them -troubled himself much over an accuracy of detail irrelevant to his larger -purpose. Tacitus is interested in memorable facts; he would relate them in -such form that they might carry their lesson, and bear their part in the -education of the citizen, for whom it is salutary to study the past. He -condemns, indeed, the historians of the Empire who, under an evil emperor, -lie from fear, and, upon his death, lie from hate. But such condemnation -of immoral lying does not forbid the shaping of a story according to -artistic probability and moral ends. Some shaping and adorning of fact -might be allowed the historian, acting with motives of public policy, or -seeking to glorify or defend his country.[81] This quite accords with the -view of Varro and Cicero, that good policy should sometimes outweigh -truth: whether or not the accounts of the gods were true, it was well for -the people to believe. - -Thus the Fathers of the Church were accustomed to a historical tradition -and practice in which facts were presented so as to conduce to worthy -ends. Various motives lie back of human interest in truth. A knowledge of -the world's origin, of man's creation, destiny, and relationship to God, -may be sought for its own sake as the highest human good; and yet it may -be also sought for the sake of some ulterior and, to the seeker, more -important end. With the Christian Fathers that more important end was -salvation. To obtain a saving knowledge was the object of their most -strenuous inquiries. Doubtless all men take some pleasure simply in -knowing; and, on the other hand, there are few among wisdom's most -disinterested lovers that have not some thought of the connection between -knowledge and the other goods of human life, to which it may conduce. Yet -if seekers after knowledge be roughly divided into two classes, those who -wish to know for the sake of knowing, and those who look to another end to -which true knowledge is a means, then the Fathers of the Church fall in -the latter class. - -If truth be sought for the sake of something else, why may it not also be -sacrificed? A work of art is achieved by shaping the story for the drama's -sake, and if we weave fiction to suit the end, why not weave fiction with -fact, or, still better, _see_ the fact in such guise as to suit the -requirements of our purpose? Many are the aspects and relationships of any -fact; its _actuality_ is exhaustless.[82] In how many ways does a human -life present itself? What narrative could exhaust the actuality and -significance of the assassination of Julius Caesar? Indeed, no fact has -such narrow or compelling singleness of significance or actuality that all -its truth can be put in any statement! And again, who is it that can draw -the line between reality and conviction? - -It is clear that the limited and special interest taken by the Church -Fathers in physical and historic facts would affect their apprehension of -them. One may ask what was real to Plato in the world of physical -phenomena. At all events, Christian Platonists, like Origen or Gregory of -Nyssa,[83] saw the paramount reality of such phenomena in the spiritual -ideas implicated and evinced by them. The world's reality would thus be -resolved into the world's moral or spiritual significance, and in that -case its truth might be educed through moral and allegorical -interpretation. Of course, such an understanding of reality involves hosts -of assumptions which were valid in the fourth century, but are not -commonly accepted now; and chief among them is this very assumption that -the deepest meaning of ancient poets, and the Scriptures above all, is -allegorical. - -This is but a central illustration of what would determine the Fathers' -conception of the truth of physical events. Again: the Creation was a -great miracle; its cause, the will of God. The Cause of the Creation was -spiritual, and spiritual was its purpose, to wit, the edification and -salvation of God's people; the building, preservation, and final -consummation of the City of God. Did not the deepest truth of the matter -lie in this spiritual cause and purpose? And afterwards to what other end -tended all human history? It was one long exemplification of the purpose -of God through the ways of providence. The conception of what constituted -a fitting exemplification of that purpose would control the choice of -facts and shape their presentation. Then what was more natural than that -events should exhibit this purpose, that it might be perceived by the -people of God? It would clearly appear in saving interpositions or -remarkable chronological coincidences. Such, even more palpably than the -other links in the providential chain, were direct manifestations of the -will of God, and were miraculous because of their extraordinary character. -History, made anew through these convictions, became a demonstration of -the truth of Christian doctrine--in other words, _apologetic_. - -The most universal and comprehensive example of this was Augustine's _City -of God_, already adverted to. Its subject was the ways of God with men. It -embraced history, philosophy, and religion. It was the final Christian -apology, and the conclusive proof of Christian doctrine, _adversum -paganos_. To this end Augustine unites the manifold topics which he -discusses; and to this end his apparent digressions eventually return, -bearing their sheaves of corroborative evidence. In no province of inquiry -does his apologetic purpose appear with clearer power than in his -treatment of history, profane and sacred.[84] Through the centuries the -currents of divine purpose are seen to draw into their dual course the -otherwise pointless eddyings of human affairs. Beneath the Providence of -God, a revolving succession of kingdoms fill out the destinies of the -earthly Commonwealth of war and rapine, until the red torrents are pressed -together into the terrestrial greatness of imperial Rome. No power of -heathen gods effected this result, nor all the falsities of pagan -philosophy: but the will of the one true Christian God. The fortunes of -the heavenly City are traced through the prefigurative stories of -antediluvian and patriarchal times, and then on through the prophetic -history of the chosen people, until the end of prophecy appears--Christ -and the Catholic Church. - -The _Civitas Dei_ is the crowning example of the drastic power with which -the Church Fathers conformed the data of human understanding into a -substantiation of Catholic Christianity.[85] At the time of its -composition, the Faith needed advocacy in the world. Alaric entered Rome -in 410; and it was to meet the cry of those who would lay that catastrophe -at the Church's doors that Augustine began the _Civitas Dei_. Soon after, -an ardent young Spaniard named Orosius came on pilgrimage to the great -doctor at Hippo, and finding favour in his eyes, was asked to write a -profane history proving the abundance of calamities which had afflicted -mankind before the time of Christ. So Orosius devoted some years (417-418) -to the compilation of a universal chronicle, using Latin sources, and -calling his work _Seven Books of Histories "adversum paganos."_[86] -Addressing Augustine in his prologue, he says: - - "Thou hast commanded me that as against the vain rhetoric of those - who, aliens to God's Commonwealth, coming from country cross-roads and - villages are called pagans, because they know earthly things, who seek - not unto the future and ignore the past, yet cry down the present time - as filled with evil, just because Christ is believed and God is - worshipped;--thou hast commanded that I should gather from histories - and annals whatever mighty ills and miseries and terrors there have - been from wars and pestilence, from famine, earthquake, and floods, - from volcanic eruptions, from lightning or from hail, and also from - monstrous crimes in the past centuries; and that I should arrange and - set forth the matter briefly in a book." - -Orosius's story of the four great Empires--Babylonian, Macedonian, -African, and Roman--makes a red tale of carnage. He deemed "that such -things should be commemorated, in order that with the secret of God's -ineffable judgments partly laid open, those stupid murmurers at our -Christian times should understand that the one God ordained the fortunes -of Babylon in the beginning, and at the end those of Rome; understand also -that it is through His clemency that we live, although wretchedly because -of our intemperance. Like was the origin of Babylon and Rome, and like -their power, greatness, and their fortunes good and ill; but unlike their -destinies, since Babylon lost her kingdom and Rome keeps hers"; and -Orosius refers to the clemency of the barbarian victors who as Christians -spared Christians.[87] - -At the opening of his seventh book he again presents his purpose and -conclusions: - - "I think enough evidence has been brought together, to prove that the - one and true God, made known by the Christian Faith, created the world - and His creature as He wished, and that He has ordered and directed it - through many things, of which it has not seen the purpose, and has - ordained it for one event, declared through One; and likewise has made - manifest His power and patience by arguments manifold. Whereat, I - perceive, straitened and anxious minds have stumbled, to think of so - much patience joined to so great power. For, if He was able to create - the world, and establish its peace, and impart to it a knowledge of - His worship and Himself, what was the need of so great and (as they - say) so hurtful patience, exerted to the end that at last, through the - errors, slaughters and the toils of men, there should result what - might rather have arisen in the beginning by His virtue, which you - preach? To whom I can truly reply: the human race from the beginning - was so created and appointed that living under religion with peace - without labour, by the fruit of obedience it might merit eternity; but - it abused the Creator's goodness, turned liberty into wilful licence, - and through disdain fell into forgetfulness; now the patience of God - is just and doubly just, operating that this disdain might not wholly - ruin those whom He wished to spare, but might be reduced through - labours; and also so that He might always hold out guidance although - to an ignorant creature, to whom if penitent He would mercifully - restore the means of grace." - -Such was the point of view and such the motives of this book, which was to -be _par excellence_ the source of ancient history for the Middle Ages. -But, concerned chiefly with the Gentile nations, Orosius has few palpable -miracles to tell. The miracle lies in God's _ineffabilis ordinatio_ of -events, and especially in marvellous chronological parallels shown in the -histories of nations, for our edification. Likewise for mediaeval men -these ineffable chronological correspondences (which never existed in -fact) were to be evidence of God's providential guidance of the world. - -Some thirty years after Orosius wrote, a priest of Marseilles, Salvian by -name, composed a different sort of treatise, with a like object of -demonstrating the righteous validity of God's providential ordering of -affairs, especially in those troubled times of barbarian invasion through -which the Empire then was passing. The book declared its purpose in its -title--_De gubernatione Dei_.[88] Its tenor is further elucidated by the -title bestowed upon it by a contemporary: _De praesenti (Dei) judicio_. It -is famous for the pictures (doubtless overwrought) which it gives of the -low state of morals among the Roman provincials, and of the comparative -decency of the barbarians. - -These examples sufficiently indicate the broad apologetic purpose in the -patristic writing of history. There was another class of composition, -biographical rather than historical, the object of which was to give -edifying examples of the grace of God working in holy men. The reference, -of course, is to the _Vitae sanctorum_ whose number from the fourth -century onward becomes legion. They set forth the marvellous virtues of -anchorites and their miracles. In the East, the prime example is the -Athanasian Life of Anthony; Jerome also wrote, in Latin, the lives of -Anthony's forerunner Paulus and of other saints. But for the Latin West -the typical example was the _Life_ of St. Martin of Tours, most popular of -saints, by Sulpicius Severus. - -To dub this class of compositions (and there are classes within classes -here) uncritical, credulous, intentionally untruthful, is not warranted -without a preliminary consideration of their purpose. That in general was -to edify; the writer is telling a moral tale, illustrative of God's grace -in the instances of holy men. But the divine grace is the real matter; the -saint's life is but the example. God's grace exists; it operates in this -way. As to the illustrative details of its operation, why be over-anxious -as to their correctness? Only the _vita_ must be interesting, to fix the -reader's attention, and must be edifying, to improve him. These principles -exerted sometimes a less, sometimes a greater influence; and accordingly, -while perhaps none of the _vitae_ is without pious colouring, as a class -they range from fairly trustworthy biographies to vehicles of edifying -myth.[89] - -Miracles are never lacking. The _vita_ commonly was drawn less from -personal knowledge than from report or tradition. Report grows passing -from mouth to mouth, and is enlarged with illustrative incidents. Since no -disbelief blocked the acceptance of miracles, their growth outstripped -that of the other elements of the story, because they interested the most -people. Yet there was little originality, and the _vitae_ constantly -reproduced like incidents. Especially, Biblical prototypes were followed, -as one sees in the _Dialogi_ of Gregory the Great, telling of the career -of St. Benedict of Nursia. The Pope finds that the great founder of -western monasticism performed many of the miracles ascribed to Scriptural -characters.[90] Herein we see the working of suggestion and imitation upon -a "legend"; but Gregory found rather an additional wonder-striking -feature, that God not only had wrought miracles through Benedict, but in -His ineffable wisdom had chosen to conform the saint's deeds to the -pattern of Scriptural prototypes. And so, in the _Vitae sanctorum_, the -joinder of suggestion and the will to believe literally worked marvels. - -Usually the Fathers of the Church were as interested in miracles as the -uneducated laity. Ambrose, the great Archbishop of Milan, writes a long -letter to his sister Marcellina upon finding the relics of certain -martyrs, and the miracles wrought by this treasure-trove.[91] As for -Jerome, of course, he is very open-minded, and none too careful in his own -accounts. His passion for the relics of the saints appears in his polemic -_Contra Vigilantium_. What interest, either in the writing or the hearing, -would men have taken in a hermit desert life that was bare of miracles? -The desert and the forest solitude have always been full of wonders. In -Jerome's Lives of Paulus and Hilarion, the romantic and picturesque -elements consist exclusively in the miraculous. And again, how could any -one devote himself to the cult of an almost contemporary saint or the -worship of a martyr, and not find abundant miracles? Sulpicius Severus -wrote the _Vita_ of St. Martin while the saint was still alive; and there -would have been no reason for the worship of St. Felix, carried on through -years by Paulinus of Nola, if Felix's relics had not had saving power. It -was to this charming tender of the dead, afterwards beatified as St. -Paulinus of Nola,[92] that Augustine addressed his moderating treatise on -these matters, entitled _De cura pro mortuis_. He can see no advantage in -burying a body close to a martyr's tomb unless in order to stimulate the -prayers of the living. How the martyrs help us surpasses my understanding, -says the writer; but it is known that they do help. Very few were as -critical as the Bishop of Hippo; and all men recognized the efficacy of -prayers to the martyred saints, and the magic power of their relics. - -Having said so much of the intellectual obliquities of the Church Fathers, -it were well to dwell a moment on their power. Their inspiration was the -Christian Faith, working within them and bending their strength to its -call. Their mental energies conformed to their understanding of the Faith -and their interpretation of its Scriptural presentation. Their achievement -was Catholic Christianity consisting in the union of two complements, -ecclesiastical organization and the complete and consistent organism of -doctrine. Here, in fact, two living organisms were united as body and -soul. Each was fitted to the other, and neither could have existed alone. -In their union they were to prove unequalled in history for coherence and -efficiency. Great then was the energy and intellectual power of the men -who constructed Church and doctrine. Great was Paul; great was Tertullian; -great were Origen, Athanasius, and the Greek Gregories. Great also were -those Latin Fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries, Augustine their -last and greatest, who finally completed Church and doctrine for -transmission to the Middle Ages--the doctrine, however, destined to be -re-adjusted as to emphasis, and barbarized in character by him whose mind -at least is patristically recreative, but whose soul is mediaeval, -Gregorius Magnus.[93] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -LATIN TRANSMITTERS OF ANTIQUE AND PATRISTIC THOUGHT - - -For the Latin West the creative patristic epoch closes with the death of -Augustine. There follows a period marked by the cessation of intellectual -originality. Men are engaged upon translations from the Greek; they are -busy commenting upon older writings, or are expounding with a change of -emphasis the systematic constructions of their predecessors. Epitomes and -compendia appear, simplified and mechanical abstracts of the bare elements -of inherited knowledge and current education. Compilations are made, put -together of excerpts taken unshriven and unshorn into the compiler's -writing. Knowledge is brought down to a more barbaric level. Yet -temperament lingers for a while, and still appears in the results. - -The representatives of this post-patristic period of translation, comment, -and compendium, and of re-expression with temperamental change of -emphasis, are the two contemporaries, Boëthius and Cassiodorus; then -Gregory the Great, who became pope soon after Cassiodorus closed his eyes -at the age of ninety or more; and, lastly, Isidore, Archbishop of Seville, -who died in 636, twenty-two years after Gregory. All these were Latin -bred, and belonged to the Roman world rather than to those new peoples -whose barbarism was hastening the disruption of a decadent order, but -whose recently converted zeal was soon to help on the further diffusion of -Latin Christianity. They appear as transmitters of antique and patristic -thought; because, originating little, they put together matter congenial -to their own lowering intellectual predilections, and therefore suitable -mental pabulum for times of mingled decadence and barbarism, and also for -the following periods of mediaeval re-emergence which continued to hark -back to the obvious and the easy. - -Instead of _transmitters_, a word indicating function, one might call -these men _intermediaries_, and so indicate their position as well as -rôle. Both words, however, should be taken relatively. For all the Fathers -heretofore considered were in some sense transmitters or intermediaries, -even though creative in their work of systematizing, adding to, or -otherwise transforming their matter. Yet one would not dub Augustine a -transmitter, because he was far more of a remaker or creator. But a dark -refashioner indeed will Gregory the Great appear; while Boëthius, -Cassiodorus, Isidore are rather sheer transmitters, or intermediaries, the -last-named worthy destined to be the most popular of them all, through his -unerring faculty of selecting for his compilations the foolish and the -flat. - -Among them, Boëthius alone was attached to the antique by affinity of -sentiment and temper. Although doubtless a professing Christian, his -sentiments were those of pagan philosophy. The _De consolatione -philosophiae_, which comes to us as his very self, is a work of eclectic -pagan moralizing, fused to a personal unity by the author's artistic and -emotional nature, then deeply stirred by his imprisonment and peril. He -had enjoyed the favour of the great Ostrogoth, Theodoric, ruler of Italy, -but now was fallen under suspicion, and had been put in prison, where he -was executed in the year 525 at the age of forty-three. His book moves all -readers by its controlled and noble pathos, rendered more appealing -through the romantic interest surrounding its composition. It became _par -excellence_ the mediaeval source of such ethical precept and consolation -as might be drawn from rational self-control and acquiescence in the ways -of Providence. But at present we are concerned with the range of -Boëthius's intellectual interests and his labours for the transmission of -learning. He was an antique-minded man, whose love of knowledge did not -revolve around "salvation," the patristic focus of intellectual effort. -Rather he was moved by an ardent wish to place before his Latin -contemporaries what was best in the classic education and philosophy. He -is first of all a translator from Greek to Latin, and, secondly, a helpful -commentator on the works which he translates. - -He was little over twenty years of age when he wrote his first work, the -_De arithmetica_.[94] It was a free translation of the _Arithmetic_ of -Nichomachus, a Neo-Pythagorean who flourished about the year 100. -Boëthius's work opens with a dedicatory _Praefatio_ to his father-in-law -Symmachus. In that and in the first chapter he evinces a broad conception -of education, and shows that lovers of wisdom should not despise -arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy, the fourfold path or -_quadrivium_, a word which he may have been the first to use in this -sense.[95] With him arithmetic treats of quantity in and by itself; music, -of quantity related to measure; geometry, of moveless, and astronomy, of -moving, quantity. He was a better Greek scholar than mathematician; and -his free translation ignores some of the finer points of Nichomachus's -work, which would have impressed one better versed in mathematics.[96] - -The young scholar followed up his maiden work with a treatise on Music, -showing a knowledge of Greek harmonics. Then came a _De geometria_, in -which the writer draws from Euclid as well as from the practical knowledge -of Roman surveyors.[97] He composed or translated other works on -elementary branches of education, as appears from a royal letter written -by Cassiodorus in the name of Theodoric: "In your translations Pythagoras -the musician, Ptolemy the astronomer, Nichomachus the arithmetician, -Euclid the geometer are read by Italians, while Plato the theologian and -Aristotle the logician dispute in Roman voice; and you have given back the -mechanician Archimedes in Latin to the Sicilians."[98] Making all -allowance for politeness, this letter indicates the large accomplishment -of Boëthius, who was but twenty-five years old when it was written. We -turn to the commentated Aristotelian translations which he now -undertook.[99] "Although the duties of the consular office[100] prevent -the bestowal of our time upon these studies, it still seems a proper part -of our care for the Republic to instruct its citizens in the learning -which is gained by the labours of the lamp. Since the valour of a bygone -time brought dominion over other cities to this one Republic, I shall not -merit ill of my countrymen if I shall have instructed the manners of our -State with the arts of Greek wisdom."[101] These sentences open the second -book of Boëthius's translation of the _Categories_ of Aristotle. His plan -of work enlarged, apparently, and grew more definite, as the years passed, -each adding its quota of accomplishment. At all events, some time -afterwards, when he may have been not far from thirty-five, he speaks in -the flush of an intellectual anticipation which the many years of labour -still to be counted on seemed to justify: - - "Labour ennobles the human race and completes it with the fruits of - genius; but idleness deadens the mind. Not experience, but ignorance, - of labour turns us from it. For what man who has made trial of labour - has ever forsaken it? And the power of the mind lies in keeping the - mind tense; to unstring it is to ruin it. My fixed intention, if the - potent favour of the deity will so grant, is (although others have - laboured in this field, yet not with satisfactory method) to translate - into Latin every work of Aristotle that comes to my hand, and furnish - it with a Latin commentary. Thus I may present, well ordered and - illustrated with the light of comment, whatever subtilty of logic's - art, whatever weight of moral experience, and whatever insight into - natural truth, may be gathered from Aristotle. And I mean to translate - all the dialogues of Plato, or reduce them in my commentary to a Latin - form. Having accomplished this, I shall not have despised the opinions - of Aristotle and Plato if I evoke a certain concord between them and - show in how many things of importance for philosophy they agree--if - only life and leisure last. But now let us return to our - subject."[102] - -One sees a veritable love of intellectual labour and a love of the -resulting mental increment. It is distinctly the antique, not the -patristic, attitude towards interests of the mind. In spite of his unhappy -sixth century way of writing, and the mental fallings away indicated by -it, Boëthius possessed the old pagan spirit, and shows indeed how tastes -might differ in the sixth century. He never translated the whole of -Aristotle and Plato; and his idea of reconciling the two evinces the -shallow eclectic spirit of the closing pagan times. Nevertheless, he -carried out his purpose to the extent of rendering into Latin, with -abundant comment, the entire _Organon_, that is, all the logical writings -of Aristotle. First of all, and with elaborate explanation, he rendered -Porphyry's famous Introduction to the _Categories_ of the Master. Then the -_Categories_ themselves, likewise with abundant explanation. Then -Aristotle's _De interpretatione_, in two editions, the first with simple -comment suited to beginners, the second with the best elaboration of -formal logic that he could devise or compile.[103] These elementary -portions of the _Organon_, as transmitted in the Boëthian translations, -made the logical discipline of the mediaeval schools until the latter part -of the twelfth century. He translated also Aristotle's _Prior_ and -_Posterior Analytics_, the _Topics_, and the _Sophistical Elenchi_. But -such advanced treatises were beyond the requirements of the early -mediaeval centuries. With the lessening of intellectual energy they passed -into oblivion, to re-emerge only when called for by the livelier mental -activities of a later time. - -The list of Boëthius's works is not yet exhausted, for he wrote some minor -logical treatises, and a voluminous commentary on Cicero's _Topica_. He -was probably the author of certain Christian theological tracts, -themselves less famous than the controversy which long has raged as to -their authorship.[104] If he wrote them, he did but make polite obeisance -to the ruling intellectual preoccupations of the time. - -Boëthius's commentaries reproduced the comments of other -commentators,[105] and he presents merely the logical processes of -thought. But these, analyzed and tabulated, were just the parts of -philosophy to be seized by a period whose lack of mental originality was -rapidly lowering to a barbaric frame of mind. The logical works of -Boëthius were formal, pedantic, even mechanical. They necessarily -presented the method rather than the substance of philosophic truth. But -their study would exercise the mind, and they were peculiarly adapted to -serve as discipline for the coming centuries, which could not become -progressive until they had mastered their antique inheritance, including -this chief method of presenting the elemental forms of truth. - -The "life and leisure" of Boëthius were cut off by his untimely death. -Cassiodorus, although a year or two older, outlived him by half a century. -He was born at Squillace, a Calabrian town which looks out south-easterly -over the little gulf bearing the same name. His father, grandfather, and -great-grandfather had been generals and high officials. He himself served -for forty years under Theodoric and his successors, and at last became -praetorian praefect, the chief office in the Gothic Roman kingdom.[106] -Through his birth, his education, his long official career, and perhaps -his pliancy, he belonged to both Goths and Romans, and like the great king -whom he first served, stood for a policy of reconcilement and assimilation -of the two peoples, and also for tolerance as between Arian and Catholic. - -Some years after Theodoric's death, when the Gothic kingdom had passed -through internecine struggles and seemed at last to have fallen before the -skill of Belisarius, Cassiodorus forsook the troubles of the world. He -retired to his birthplace Squillace, and there in propitious situations -founded a pleasant cloister for coenobites and an austerer hermitage for -those who would lead lives of arduous seclusion. For himself, he chose the -former. It was the year of grace 540, three years before the death of -Benedict of Nursia. Cassiodorus was past sixty. In retiring from the world -he followed the instinct of his time, yet temperately and with an -increment of wisdom. For he was the first influential man to recognize the -fitness of the cloister for the labours of the pious student and copyist. -It is not too much to regard him as the inaugurator of the learned, -compiling, commenting and transcribing functions of monasticism. Not only -as a patron, but through his own works, he was here a leader. His writings -composed after his retirement represent the intellectual interests of -western monasticism in the last half of the sixth century. They indicate -the round of study proper for monks; just the grammar, the orthography, -and other elementary branches which they might know; just the history with -which it behoved them to be acquainted; and then, outbulking all the rest, -those Scriptural studies to which they might well devote their lives for -the sake of their own and others' souls. - -In passing these writings in review, it is unnecessary to pause over the -interesting collection of letters--_Variae epistolae_--which were the -fruit of Cassiodorus's official life, before he shut the convent's outer -door against the toils of office. He "edited" them near the close of his -public career. Before that ended he had made a wretched _Chronicon_, -carelessly and none too honestly compiled. He had also written his Gothic -History, a far better work. It survives only in the compend of the -ignorant Jordanes, a fact the like of which will be found repeatedly -recurring in the sixth and following centuries, when a barbaric mentality -continually prefers the compend to the larger and better original, which -demands greater effort from the reader. A little later Cassiodorus -composed his _De anima_, a treatise on the nature, qualities, and -destinies of the Soul. Although made at the request of friends, it -indicated the turning of the statesman's interest to the matters occupying -his latter years, during which his literary labours were guided by a -paternal purpose. One may place it with the works coming from his pen in -those thirty years of retirement, when study and composition were rather -stimulated than disturbed by care of his convent and estates, the modicum -of active occupation needed by an old man whose life had been passed in -the management of State affairs. Its preface sets out the topical -arrangement in a manner prophetic of scholastic methods: - - "Let us first learn why it is called Anima; secondly, its definition; - thirdly, its substantial quality; fourthly, whether any form should be - ascribed to it; fifthly, what are its moral virtues; sixthly, its - natural powers (_virtutes naturales_) by which it holds the body - together; seventhly, as to its origin; eighthly, where is its especial - seat; ninthly, as to the body's form; tenthly, as to the properties of - the souls of sinners; eleventhly, as to those of the souls of the - just; and twelfthly, as to the resurrection."[107] - -The short treatise which follows is neither original nor penetrating. It -closes with an encomium on the number twelve, with praise of Christ and -with a prayer. - -Soon after Cassiodorus had installed himself in Vivaria, as he called his -convent, from the fishponds and gardens surrounding it, he set himself to -work to transcribe the Scriptures, and commenced a huge Commentary on the -Psalms. But he interrupted these undertakings in 543 in order to write for -his monks a syllabus of their sacred and secular education. The title of -the work was _Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum_.[108] In -opening he refers to his failure to found a school of Christian teaching -at Rome, on account of the wars. Partially to repair this want, he will -compose an introduction to the study of Scripture and letters. It will not -set out his own opinions, but those of former men. Through the expositions -of the Fathers we ascend to divine Scripture, as by a ladder. The proper -order is for the "tiros of Christ" first to learn the Psalms, and then -proceed to study the rest of Scripture in carefully corrected codices. -When the "soldiers of Christ" have completed the reading of Scripture, and -fixed it in their minds by constant meditation, they will begin to -recognize passages when cited, and be able to find them. They should also -know the Latin commentators, and even the Greek, who have expounded the -various books. - -The first book of these _Institutiones_ is strictly a guide to Scripture -study, and in no way a commentary. For example, beginning with the -"Octateuch," as making up the first "codex" of Scripture, Cassiodorus -tells what Latin and what Greek Fathers have expounded it. He proceeds, -briefly, in the same way with the rest of the Old and New Testaments. He -mentions the Ecumenical Councils, which had passed upon Christian -doctrine, and then refers to the division of Scripture by Jerome, by -Augustine, and in the Septuagint. He states rules for preserving the -purity of the text, exclaims over its ineffable value, and mentions famous -doctrinal works, like Augustine's _De Trinitate_ and the _De officiis_ of -Ambrose. He then recommends the study of Church historians and names the -great ones, who while incidentally telling of secular events have shown -that such hung not on chance nor on the power of the feeble gods, but -solely on the Creator's will. Then he shortly characterizes the great -Latin Doctors, Cyprian, Hilary, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, and -mentions a convenient collection of excerpts from the works of the -last-named saint, made by a certain priest. Next he admonishes the student -as to the careful reading of Scripture, and suggests convenient -abbreviations for noting citations. He speaks of the desirability of -knowing enough cosmography to understand when Scripture speaks of -countries, towns, mountains, or rivers, and then reverts to the need of an -acquaintance with the Seven Arts; this secular wisdom, having been -originally pilfered from Scripture, should now be called back to its true -service. Those monks who lack intelligence for such studies may properly -work in the fields and gardens which surround Vivaria (Columella and other -writers on agriculture are to be found in the convent library), and to all -the care of the sick is recommended. The second book of the -_Institutiones_ is a brief and unequal compend of the Seven Arts, in which -Dialectic is treated at greatest length. - -The remaining works of Cassiodorus appear as special aids to the student -in carrying out the programme of the first book of the _Institutiones_. -Such an aid was the bulky Commentary on the Psalms; another such was the -famous _Historia tripartita_, made of the Church histories of Socrates, -Sozomen, and Theodoret, translated by a friend of Cassiodorus, and crudely -thrown together by himself into one narrative. Finally, such another work -was the compilation upon Latin orthography which the good old man made for -his monks in his ninety-third year. - -This long and useful life does not display the zeal for knowledge for its -own sake which marks the labours of Boëthius. It is the Christian -utilitarian view of knowledge that Cassiodorus represents, and yet not -narrowly, nor with a trace of that intolerance of whatever did not bear -directly on salvation, which is to be found in Gregory. From Boëthius's -love of philosophy, and from the practical interest of Cassiodorus in -education, it is indeed a change to the spiritual anxiousness and fear of -hell besetting this great pope.[109] - -In appreciating a man's opinions and his mental clarity or murkiness, one -should consider his temperament and the temper of his time. Gregory was -constrained as well as driven by temperamental yearnings and aversions, -aggravated by the humour of the century that produced Benedict of Nursia -and was contemplating gloomily the Empire's ruin and decay, now more -acutely borne in upon the consciousness of thoughtful people than in the -age of Augustine. His temper drew from prevailing moods, and in turn -impressed its spiritual incisiveness upon the influences which it -absorbed; and his writings, so expressive of his own temperament and all -that fed it, were to work mightily upon the minds and moods of men to -come. - -Born of a distinguished Roman family about the year 540, he was some -thirty-five years old when Cassiodorus died. His education was the best -that Rome could give. In spite of disclaimer on his part, rhetorical -training shows in the antithetic power of his style; for example, in that -resounding sentence in the dedicatory letter prefixed to his _Moralia_, -wherein he would seem to be casting grammar to the winds. Although quoted -until threadbare, it is so illustrative as to justify citation: "Nam sicut -hujus quoque epistolae tenor enunciat, non metacismi collisionem fugio, -non barbarismi confusionem devito, situs motusque et praepositionum casus -servare contemno, quia indignum vehementer existimo, ut verba coelestis -oraculi restringam sub regulis Donati."[110] By no means will he flee the -concussion of the oft-repeated M, or avoid the confusing barbarism; he -will despise the laws of place and case, because he deems it utterly unfit -to confine the words of the heavenly oracle beneath the rules of Donatus. -By all of which Gregory means that he proposes to write freely, according -to the needs of his subject, and to disregard the artificial rules of the -somewhat emptied rhetoric, let us say, of Cassiodorus's epistles. - -In his early manhood naturally he was called to take part in affairs, and -was made _Praetor urbanus_. But soon the prevalent feeling of the -difficulty of serving God in the world drove him to retirement. His -father's palace on the Coelian hill he changed to a convent, upon the site -of which now stands the Church of San Gregorio Magno; and there he became -a monk. Passionately he loved the monk's life, for which he was to long in -vain through most of the years to come. Soon he was dragged forth from the -companionship of "Mary" to serve with "Martha." The toiling papacy could -not allow a man of his abilities to remain hidden. He was harnessed to its -active service, and sent as the papal representative to the Imperial Court -at Constantinople; whence he returned, after several years, in 585. -Re-entering his monastery on the Coelian, he became its abbot; but was -drawn out again, and made pope by acclamation and insistency in the year -590. There is no need to speak of the efficient and ceaseless activity of -this pontiff, whose body was never free from pain, nor his soul released -from longing for seclusion which only the grave was to bring. - -Gregory's mind was less antique, and more barbarous and mediaeval than -Augustine's, whose doctrine he reproduced with garbling changes of tone -and emphasis. In the century and a half between the two, the Roman -institutions had broken down, decadence had advanced, and the patristic -mind had passed from indifference to the laws of physical phenomena to -something like sheer barbaric ignorance of the same. Whatever in Ambrose, -Jerome, or Augustine represented conviction or opinion, has in Gregory -become mental habit, spontaneity of acceptance, matter of course. The -miraculous is with him a frame of mind; and the allegorical method of -understanding Scripture is no longer intended, not to say wilful, as with -Augustine, but has become persistent unconscious habit. Augustine desired -to know God and the Soul, and the true Christian doctrine with whatever -made for its substantiation. He is conscious of closing his mind to -everything irrelevant to this. Gregory's nature has settled itself within -this scheme of Christian knowledge which Augustine framed. He has no -intellectual inclinations reaching out beyond. He is not conscious of -closing his mind to extraneous knowledge. His mental habits and -temperament are so perfectly adjusted to the confines of this circle, that -all beyond has ceased to exist for him. - -So with Gregory the patristic limitation of intellectual interest, -indifference to physical phenomena, and acceptance of the miraculous are -no longer merely thoughts and opinions consciously entertained; they make -part of his nature. There was nothing novel in his views regarding -knowledge, sacred and profane. But there is a turbid force of temperament -in his expressions. In consequence, his vehement words to Bishop -Desiderius of Vienne[111] have been so taken as to make the great pope a -barbarizing idiot. He exclaims with horror at the report that the bishop -is occupying himself teaching grammar; he is shocked that an episcopal -mouth should be singing praises of Jove, which are unfit for a lay brother -to utter. But Gregory is not decrying here, any more than in the sentence -quoted from the letter prefixed to his _Moralia_, a decent command of -Latin. He is merely declaring with temperamental vehemence that to teach -grammar and poetry is not the proper function of a bishop--the bishop in -this case of a most important see. Gregory had no more taste for secular -studies than Tertullian four centuries before him. For both, however, -letters had their handmaidenly function, which they performed effectively -in the instances of these two great rhetoricians.[112] - -It is needless to say that the entire literary labour of Gregory was -religious. His works, as in time, so in quality, are midway between those -of Ambrose and Augustine and those of the Carolingian rearrangers of -patristic opinion. Gregory, who laboured chiefly as a commentator upon -Scripture, was not highly original in his thoughts, yet was no mere -excerpter of patristic interpretations, like Rabanus Maurus or Walafrid -Strabo, who belong to the ninth century.[113] In studying Scripture, he -thought and interpreted in allegories. But he was also a man experienced -in life's exigencies, and his religious admonishings were wise and -searching. His prodigious Commentary upon Job has with reason been called -Gregory's _Moralia_.[114] And as the moral advice and exhortation sprang -from Gregory the bishop, so the allegorical interpretations largely were -his own, or at least not borrowed and applied mechanically. - -Gregory represents the patristic mind passing into a more barbarous stage. -He delighted in miracles, and wrote his famous _Dialogues on the Lives and -Miracles of the Italian Saints_[115] to solace the cares of his -pontificate. The work exhibits a naïve acceptance of every kind of -miracle, and presents the supple mediaeval devil in all his deceitful -metamorphoses.[116] - -Quite in accord with Gregory's interest in these stories is his -elaboration of certain points of doctrine, for example, the worship of the -saints, whose intercession and supererogatory righteousness may be turned -by prayer and worship to the devotee's benefit. Thus he comments upon the -eighth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter of Job: - - "They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rocks - as a shelter. The showers of the mountains are the words of the - doctors. Concerning which mountains it is said with the voice of the - Church: 'I will lift up my eyes unto the hills.' The showers of the - mountains water these, for the streams of the holy fathers saturate. - We receive the 'shelter' as a covering of good works, by which one is - covered so that before the eyes of omnipotent God the filthiness of - his perversity is concealed. Wherefore it is written, 'Blessed are - those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered' (Ps. - xxxii. 1). And under the name of stones whom do we understand except - the strong men of the Church? To whom it is said through the first - shepherd: 'Ye also as living stones are built up a spiritual house' (1 - Peter ii. 5). So those who confide in no work of their own, run to the - protection of the holy martyrs, and press with tears to their sacred - bodies, pleading to obtain pardon through their intercession."[117] - -Another point of Gregorian emphasis: no delict is remitted without -punishment.[118] To complement which principle, Gregory develops the -doctrine of penance in its three elements, _contritio_, _conversio -mentis_, _satisfactio_. Our whole life should be one long penitence and -penance, and baptism of tears; for our first baptism cannot wash out later -sins, and cannot be repeated. In the fourth book of the _Dialogi_ he -develops his cognate doctrine of Purgatory,[119] and amplifies upon the -situation and character of hell. These things are implicit in Augustine -and existed before him: with Gregory they have become explicit, -elaborated, and insisted on with recurrent emphasis. Thus Augustinianism -is altered in form and barbarized.[120] - -Gregory is throughout prefigurative of the Middle Ages, which he likewise -prefigures in his greatness as a sovereign bishop and a man of -ecclesiastical affairs. He is energetic and wise and temperate. The -practical wisdom of the Catholic Church is in him and in his rightly famed -book of _Pastoral Rule_. The temperance and wisdom of his letters of -instructions to Augustine of Canterbury are admirable. The practical -exigency seemed always to have the effect of tempering any extreme opinion -which apart from it he might have expressed; as one sees, for example, in -those letters to this apostle to the English, or in his letter to Serenus, -Bishop of Marseilles, who had been too violent as to paintings and images. -Gregory's stand is moderate and reasonable. Likewise he opposes the use of -force to convert the Jews, although insisting firmly that no Jew may hold -a Christian slave.[121] - -There has been occasion to remark that decadence tends to join hands with -barbarism on a common intellectual level. Had Boëthius lived in a greater -epoch, he might not have been an adapter of an elementary arithmetic and -geometry, and his best years would not have been devoted to the -translation and illustration of logical treatises. Undoubtedly his labours -were needed by the times in which he lived and by the centuries which -followed them in spirit as well as chronologically. He was the principal -purveyor of the strictly speaking intellectual grist of the early Middle -Ages; and it was most apt that the great scholastic controversy as to -universals should have drawn its initial text from his translation of -Porphyry's Introduction to the _Categories_ of Aristotle.[122] Gregory, on -the other hand, was a purveyor of theology, the subject to which logic -chiefly was to be applied. He purveyed matter very much to the mediaeval -taste; for example, his wise practical admonishments; his elaboration of -such a doctrine as that of penance, so tangible that it could be handled, -and felt with one's very fingers; and, finally, his supreme intellectual -endeavour, the allegorical trellising of Scripture, to which the Middle -Ages were to devote their thoughts, and were to make warm and living with -the love and yearning of their souls. The converging currents--decadence -and barbarism--meet and join in Gregory's powerful personality. He -embodies the intellectual decadence which has lost all independent wish -for knowledge and has dropped the whole round of the mind's mortal -interests; which has seized upon the near, the tangible, and the ominous -in theology till it has rooted religion in the fear of hell. All this may -be viewed as a decadent abandonment of the more intellectual and spiritual -complement to the brute facts of sin, penance, and hell barely escaped. -But, on the other hand, it was also barbarization, and held the strength -of barbaric narrowing of motives and the resistlessness of barbaric fear. - -Such were the rôles of Boëthius and Gregory in the transmission of antique -and patristic intellectual interests into the mediaeval time. Quite -different was that of Gregory's younger contemporary, Isidore, the -princely and vastly influential Bishop of Seville, the primary see in that -land of Spain, which, however it might change dynasties, was destined -never to be free from some kind of sacerdotal bondage. In Isidore's time, -the kingdom of the Visigoths had recently turned from Arianism to -Catholicism, and wore its new priestly yoke with ardour. Boëthius had -provided a formal discipline and Gregory much substance already -mediaevalized. But the whole ground-plan of Isidore's mind corresponded -with the aptitudes and methods of the Carolingian period, which was to be -the schoolday of the Middle Ages. By reason of his own habits of study, by -reason of the quality of his mind, which led him to select the palpable, -the foolish, and the mechanically correlated, by reason, in fine, of _his_ -mental faculties and interests, Isidore gathered and arranged in his -treatises a conglomerate of knowledge, secular and sacred, exactly suited -to the coming centuries. - -In drawing from its spiritual heritage, an age takes what it cares for; -and if comparatively decadent or barbarized or childlike in its -intellectual affinities, it will still manage to draw what is like itself. -In that case, probably it will not draw directly from the great sources, -but from intermediaries who have partially debased them. From these turbid -compositions the still duller age will continue to select the obvious and -the worse. This indicates the character of Isidore's work. His writings -speak for themselves through their titles, and are so flat, so -transparent, so palpably taken from the nearest authorities, that there is -no call to analyze them. But their titles with some slight indication of -their contents will show the excerpt character of Isidore's mental -processes, and illustrate by anticipation the like qualities reappearing -with the Carolingian doctors. - -Isidore's _Quaestiones in vetus Testamentum_[123] is his chief work in the -nature of a Scripture commentary. It is confined to those passages of the -Old Testament which were deemed most pregnant with allegorical meaning. -His Preface discloses his usual method of procedure: "We have taken -certain of those incidents of the sacred history which were told or done -figuratively, and are filled with mystic sacraments, and have woven them -together in sequence in this little work; and, collecting the opinions of -the old churchmen, we have made a choice of flowers as from divers -meadows; and briefly presenting a few matters from so many, with some -changes or additions, we offer them not only to studious but fastidious -readers who detest prolixity." Every one may feel assured that he will be -reading the interpretations of the Fathers, and not those of Isidore--"my -voice is but their tongue." He states that his sources are Origen, -Victorinus, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Fulgentius, Cassian, and "Gregory -so distinguished for his eloquence in our own time." The spirit of the -mediaeval commentary is in this Preface. The phrase about "culling the -opinions of the Fathers like flowers from divers meadows," will be -repeated hundreds of times. Such a commentary is a thing of excerpts; so -it rests upon authority. The writer thus comforts both his reader and -himself; neither runs the peril of originality, and together they repose -on the broad bosom of the Fathers. - -Throughout his writings, Isidore commonly proceeds in this way, whether he -says so or not. We may name first the casual works which represent -separate parcels of his encyclopaedic gleanings, and then glance at his -putting together of them, in his _Etymologiae_.[124] The muster opens with -two books of Distinctions (_Differentiarum_). The first is concerned with -the distinctions of like-sounding and like-meaning words. It is -alphabetically arranged. The second is concerned with the distinctions of -_things_: it begins with God and the Creation, and passes to the physical -parts and spiritual traits of man. No need to say that it contains nothing -that is Isidore's own. Now come the _Allegoriae quaedam sacrae -Scripturae_, which give in chronological order the allegorical -signification of all the important persons mentioned in the Old Testament -and the New. It was one of the earliest hand-books of Scriptural -allegories, and is a sheer bit of the Middle Ages in spirit and method. -The substance, of course, is taken from the Fathers. Next, a little work, -_De ortu et obitu Patrum_, states in short paragraphs the birthplace, span -of life, place of sepulture, and noticeable traits of Scriptural -personages. - -There follows a collection of brief Isidorean prefaces to the books of -Scripture. Then comes a curious book, which may have been suggested to the -writer by the words of Augustine himself. This is the _Liber numerorum_, -the book of the _numbers_ occurring in the Scriptures. It tells the -qualities and mystical significance of every number from one to sixteen, -and of the chief ones between sixteen and sixty. These numbers were "most -holy and most full of mysteries" to Augustine,[125] and Augustine is the -man whom Isidore chiefly draws on in this treatise--Augustine at his very -worst. One might search far for an apter instance of an ecclesiastical -writer elaborately exploiting the most foolish statements that could -possibly be found in the writings of a great predecessor. - -Isidore composed a polemic treatise on the Catholic Faith against the -Jews--_De fide Catholica contra Judaeos_. The good bishop had nothing to -add to the patristic discussion of this weighty controversy. His book is -filled with quotations from Scripture. It put the matter together in a way -suited to his epoch and the coming centuries, and at an early time was -translated into the German and other vernacular tongues. Three books of -_Sententiae_ follow, upon the contents of Christian doctrine--as to God, -the world, evil, the angels, man, Christ and the Church. They consist of -excerpts from the writings of Gregory the Great and earlier Church -Fathers.[126] A more original work is the _De ecclesiasticis officiis_, -upon the services of the Church and the orders of clergy and laity. It -presents the liturgical practices and ecclesiastical regulations of -Isidore's epoch. - -Isidore seems to have put most pious feeling into a work called by him -_Synonyma_, to which name was added the supplementary designation: _De -lamentatione animae_. First the Soul pours out its lament in excruciating -iteration, repeating the same commonplace of Christian piety in synonymous -phrases. When its lengthy plaint is ended, Reason replies with admonitions -synonymously reiterated in the same fashion.[127] This work combined a -grammatical with a pious purpose, and became very popular through its -doubly edifying nature, and because it strung together so many easy -commonplaces of Christian piety. Isidore also drew up a _Regula_ for -monks, and a book on the Order of Creation has been ascribed to him. This -completes the sum of his extant works upon religious topics, from which we -pass to those of a secular character. - -The first of these is the _De rerum natura_, written to enlighten his -king, Sisebut, "on the scheme (_ratio_) of the days and months, the bounds -of the year and the change of seasons, the nature of the elements, the -courses of the sun and moon and stars, and the signs of tempests and -winds, the position of the earth, and the ebb and flow of the sea." Of all -of which, continues Isidore, "we have made brief note, from the writings -of the ancients (_veteribus viris_), and especially those who were of the -Catholic Faith. For it is not a vain knowledge (_superstitiosa scientia_) -to know the nature of these things, if we consider them according to sound -and sober teaching."[128] So Isidore compiles a book of secular physical -knowledge, the substance of which is taken from the _Hexaemeron_ of -Ambrose and the works of other Fathers, and also from the lost _Prata_ of -pagan Suetonius.[129] - -Of course Isidore busied himself also with history. He made a dismal -universal _Chronicon_, and perhaps a History of the Kings of the Goths, -through which stirs a breath of national pride; and after the model of -Jerome, he wrote a _De viris illustribus_, concerned with some fifty -worthies of the Church flourishing between Jerome's time and his own. - -Here we end the somewhat dry enumeration of the various works of Isidore -outside of his famous "twenty books of Etymologies." This work has been -aptly styled a _Konversationslexikon_, to use the excellent German word. -It was named _Etymologiae_, because the author always gives the etymology -of everything which he describes or defines. Indeed the tenth book -contains only the etymological definitions of words alphabetically -arranged. These etymologies follow the haphazard similarities of the -words, and often are nonsensical. Sometimes they show a fantastic caprice -indicating a mind steeped in allegorical interpretations, as, for example, -when "_Amicus_ is said to be, by derivation, _animi custos_; also from -_hamus_, that is, chain of love, whence we say _hami_ or hooks because -they hold."[130] This is not ignorance so much as fancy. - -The _Etymologiae_ were meant to cover the current knowledge of the time, -doctrinal as well as secular. But the latter predominates, as it would in -a _Konversationslexikon_. The general arrangement of the treatise is not -alphabetical, but topical. To indicate the sources of its contents would -be difficult as well as tedious. Isidore drew on many previous authors and -compilers: to Cassiodorus and Boëthius he went for Rhetoric and Dialectic, -and made frequent trips to the _Prata_ of Suetonius for natural -knowledge--or ignorance. In matters of doctrine he draws on the Church -Fathers; and for his epitome of jurisprudence in the fifth book, upon the -Fathers from Tertullian on, and (probably) upon some elementary book of -legal Institutes.[131] Glancing at the handling of topics in the -_Etymologies_ one feels it to have been a huge collection of terms and -definitions. The actual information conveyed is very slight. Isidore is -under the spell of words. Were they fetishes to him? did they carry moral -potency? At all events the working of his mind reflects the age-long -dominance of grammar and rhetoric in Roman education, which treated other -topics almost as illustrations of these chief branches.[132] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE BARBARIC DESTRUCTION OF THE EMPIRE[133] - - -The Latinizing of northern Italy, Spain, and Gaul was part of the -expansion of Roman dominion. Throughout these lands, alien peoples -submitted to the Roman order and acquired new traits from the training of -its discipline. Voluntarily or under compulsion they exchanged their -institutions and customs for those of Roman Italy, and their native -tongues for Latin. The education and culture of the upper classes became -identical with that gained in the schools about the Forum, and Roman -literature was the literature which they studied and produced. In a -greater or less degree their characters were Latinized, while their -traditions were abandoned for those of Rome. Yet, although Romanized and -Latinized, these peoples were not Roman. Their culture was acquired, their -characters were changed, yet with old traits surviving. In character and -faculties, as in geographical position, they were intermediate, and in -rôle they were mediatorial. Much of what they had received, and what they -had themselves become, they perforce transmitted to the ruder humanity -which, as the Empire weakened, pressed in, serving, plundering, murdering, -and finally amalgamating with these provincials. The surviving Latin -culture passed to the mingled populations which were turning to inchoate -Romance nations in Italy, Spain, and Gaul. Likewise Christianity, -Romanized, paganized, barbarized, had been accepted through these -countries. And now these mingled peoples, these inchoate Romance nations, -were to accomplish a broader mediation in extending the rudiments of -Latin culture, along with the great new Religion, to the barbarous peoples -beyond the Romance pale. - -The mediating rôles of the Roman provincials began with their first -subjection to Roman order. For barbarians were continually brought into -the provinces as slaves or prisoners of war. Next, they entered to serve -as auxiliary troops, coming especially from the wavering Teutonic -outskirts of the Empire. And during that time of misrule and military -anarchy which came between the death of Commodus (A.D. 192) and the -accession of Diocletian (A.D. 284), Teutonic inroads threatened the -imperial fabric. But, apart from palpable invasions, there was a constant -increase in the Teutonic inflow from the close of the second century. More -and more the Teutons tilled the fields; more and more they filled the -armies. They became officers of the army and officials of the Government. -So long as the vigour of life and growth continued in the Latinized -population of the Empire, and so long as the Roman law and order held, the -assimilative power of Latin culture and Roman institutions was enormous; -the barbarians became Romanized. But when self-conserving strength and -coercive energy waned with Romans and provincials, when the law's -protection was no longer sure, and a dry rot infected civic institutions, -then Roman civilization lost some of its transforming virtue. The -barbarism of the Teutonic influx became more obstinate as the transmuting -forces of civilization weakened. Evidently the decadent civilization of -the Empire could no longer raise these barbarians to the level of its -greater periods; it could at most impress them with such culture and such -order as it still possessed. Moreover, reacting upon these disturbed and -infirm conditions, barbarism put forth a positive transforming energy, -tending to barbarize the Empire, its government, its army, its -inhabitants. The decay of Roman institutions and the grafting of Teutonic -institutions upon Roman survivals were as universal as the mingling of -races, tempers, and traditions. The course of events may briefly be -reviewed. - -In the third century the Goths began, by land and sea, to raid the eastern -provinces of the undivided Roman Empire; down the Danube they sailed, and -out upon the Euxine; then their plundering fleets spread through the -eastern Mediterranean. They were attacked, repulsed, overthrown, and -slaughtered in hordes in the year 270. Some of the survivors remained in -bondage, some retired north beyond the Danube. Aurelian gave up to them -the province of Dacia: the latest conquest of the Empire, the first to be -abandoned. These Dacian settlers thenceforth appear as Visigoths. For a -century the Empire had no great trouble from them. Dacia was the scene of -the career of Ulfilas (b. 311, d. 380), the Arian apostle of the Goths. -They became Christian in part, and in part remained fiercely heathen. -About 372, harassed by the Huns, they pressed south to escape over the -Danube. Valens permitted them to cross; then Roman treachery followed, -answered by desperate Gothic raids in Thrace, till at last Valens was -defeated and slain at Hadrianople in 378. - -It was sixteen years after this that Theodosius the Great marched from the -East to Italy to suppress Arbogast, the overweening Frank, who had cast -out his weak master Valentinian. The leader of the Visigothic auxiliaries -was Alaric. When the great emperor died, Alaric was proclaimed King of the -Visigoths, and soon proceeded to ravage and conquer Greece. Stilicho, son -of a Vandal chief--one sees how all the high officers are Teutons--was the -uncertain stay of Theodosius's weakling sons, Honorius and Arcadius. In -400 Alaric attempted to invade Italy, but was foiled by Stilicho, who five -years later circumvented and destroyed another horde of Goths, both men -and women, who had penetrated Italy to the Apennines. In 408 Alaric made a -second attempt to enter, and this time was successful, for Stilicho was -dead. Thrice he besieged Rome, capturing it in 410. Then he died, his -quick death to be a warning to Attila. The new Gothic king, Ataulf, -conceived the plan of uniting Romans and Goths in a renewed and -strengthened kingdom. But this task was not for him, and in two years he -left Italy with his Visigoths to establish a kingdom in the south of Gaul. - -Attila comes next upon the scene. The eastern Empire had endured the -oppression of this terrible Turanian, and had paid him tribute for some -years, before he decided to march westward by a route north of the Alps, -and attack Gaul. He penetrated to Orleans, which he besieged in vain. Many -nations were in the two armies that were now to meet in battle on the -"Catalaunian Plains." On Attila's side, besides his Huns, were subject -Franks, Bructeri, Thuringians, Burgundians, and the hosts of Gepidae and -Ostrogoths. Opposed were the Roman forces, Bretons, Burgundians, Alans, -Saxons, Salian Franks, and the army of the Visigoths. Defeated, but not -overthrown, the lion Hun withdrew across the Rhine; but the next spring, -in 452, he descended from the eastern Alps upon Aquileia and destroyed it, -and next sacked the cities of Venetia and the Po Valley as far as Milan. -Then he passed eastward to the river Mincio, where he was met by a Roman -embassy, in which Pope Leo was the most imposing figure. Before this -embassy the Scourge of God withdrew, awed or persuaded, or in -superstitious fear. The following year, upon Attila's death, his realm -broke up; Gepidae and Goths beat the Huns in battle, and again Teutons -held sway in Central Europe. - -The fear of the Hun had hardly ceased when the Vandals came from Africa, -and leisurely plundered Rome. They were Teutons, perhaps kin to the Goths. -But theirs had been a far migration. At the opening of the fifth century -they had entered Gaul and fought the Franks, then passed on to Spain, -where they were broken by the Visigoths. So they crossed to Africa and -founded a kingdom there, whence they invaded Italy. By this time, the -middle of the fifth century, the fighting and ruling energy in the western -Empire was barbarian. The stocks had become mixed through intermarriage -and the confusion of wars and frequent change of sides. An illustrative -figure is Count Ricimer, whose father was a noble Suevian, while his -mother was a Visigothic princess. He directed the Roman State from 456 to -472, placing one after another of his Roman puppets on the imperial -throne. - -In the famous year 476 the Roman army was made up of barbarians, mainly -drawn from lands now included in Bohemia, Austria, and Hungary. There were -large contingents of Rugii and Heruli, who had flocked in bands to Italy -as adventurers. Such troops had the status of _foederati_, that is, -barbarian auxiliaries or allies. Suddenly they demanded one-third of the -lands of Italy.[134] Upon refusal of their demand, they made a king from -among themselves, the Herulian Odoacer, and Romulus Augustulus flitted -from the shadowy imperial throne. By reason of his dramatic name, rather -than by any marked circumstance of his deposition, he has come to typify -with historians the close of the line of western emperors. - -The Herulian soldier-king or "Patrician," Odoacer, a nondescript -transition personage, ruled twelve years. Then the nation of the -Ostrogoths, which had learned much from the vicissitudes of fortune in the -East, obtained the eastern emperor's sanction, and made its perilous way -to the gates of Italy under the king, Theodoric. This invading people -numbered perhaps two hundred thousand souls; their fighting men were forty -thousand. Odoacer was beaten on the river Isonzo; he retreated to the line -of the Adige, and was again defeated at Verona. After standing a long -siege in Ravenna, he made terms with Theodoric, and was murdered by him. - -The Goths were among the best of the barbarians, and Theodoric was the -greatest of the Goths. The eastern emperors probably regarded him as their -representative in Italy; and he coined money only with the Emperor's -image. But in fact he was a sovereign; and, through his sovereignty over -both Goths and Romans, from a Teutonic king he became an absolute monarch, -even as his contemporary Clovis became, under analogous circumstances. He -was a just despot, with his subjects' welfare at heart. The Goths received -one-third of the Italian lands, in return for which their duty was to -defend the whole. This third may have been that previously possessed by -Odoacer's troops. Under Theodoric the relations between Goths and "Romans" -were friendly. It was from the Code of Theodosius and other Roman sources -that he drew the substance of his legislation, the _Edictum_ which about -the year 510 he promulgated for both Goths and Romans (_barbari -Romanique_).[135] His aim--and here the influence of his minister -Cassiodorus appears--was to harmonize the relations of the two peoples and -assimilate the ways of the Goths to those of their more civilized -neighbours. But if his rule brought prosperity to Italy, after his death -came desolating wars between the Goths under their noble kings, and -Justinian's great generals, Belisarius and Narses. These wars ruined the -Ostrogothic nation. Only some remnants were left to reascend the Alps in -553. Behind them Italy was a waste. - -An imperial eastern Roman restoration followed. It was not to endure. For -already the able and savage Lombard Alboin was making ready to lead down -his army of Lombards, Saxons, Gepidae and unassorted Teutons, and perhaps -Slavs. No strength was left to oppose him in plague-stricken Italy. So the -Lombard conquered easily, and set up a kingdom which, united or divided -under kings and dukes, endured for two hundred years. Then -Charlemagne--his father Pippin had been before him--at the entreaty of the -Pope, invaded Italy with a host of mingled Teuton tribes, and put an end -to the Lombard kingdom, but not to Lombard blood and Lombard traits. - -The result of all these invasions was a progressive barbarization of -Italy, which was not altogether unfortunate, because fraught with some -renewal of strength. The Teutons brought their customs; and at least one -Teuton people, the Lombards, maintained them masterfully. The Ostrogoth, -Theodoric, had preserved the Italian municipal organization, and had drawn -his code for all from Roman sources. But the first Lombard Code, that of -King Rothari, promulgated about 643, ignored Roman law, and apparently the -very existence of Romans. Though written in barbarous Latin, it is Lombard -through and through. So, to a scarcely less degree, is the Code of King -Liutprand, promulgated about 725.[136] Even then the Lombards looked upon -themselves as distinct from the "Romans." Their laws were still those of -the Lombards, yet of Lombards settling down to urban life. Within Lombard -territories the "Romans" were subjects. In Liutprand's Code they seem to -be referred to under the name of _aldii_ and _aldiae_, male and female -persons, who were not slaves and yet not free. Instead of surrendering -one-third of the land, the Romans were obliged to furnish one-third of its -produce. Hence their Lombard masters were interested in keeping them fixed -to the soil, perhaps in a state of serfdom. Little is known as to the -intermarriage of the stocks, or when the Lombards adopted a Latin -speech.[137] - -It is difficult, either in Italy or elsewhere, to follow the changes and -reciprocal working of Roman and Teutonic institutions through these -obscure centuries. They wrought upon each other universally, and became -what neither had been before. The Roman State was there no longer; where -the names of its officials survived they stood for altered functions. The -Roman law prevailed within the dominions of the eastern Empire and the -popes. Everywhere the crass barbarian law and the pure Roman institution -was passing away, or changing into something new. In Italy another -pregnant change was taking place, the passing of the functions of -government to the bishops of Rome. Its stages are marked by the names of -great men upon whose shoulders fell the authority no longer held by a -remote ruler. Leo the Great heads the embassy which turns back the Hun; a -century and a half afterwards Gregory the Great leads the opposition to -the Lombards, still somewhat unkempt savages. Thereafter each succeeding -pope, in fact the papacy by necessity of its position and its aspirations, -opposes the Lombards when they have ceased to be either savage or Arian. -It is an absent supporter that the papacy desires, and not a rival close -at hand: Charlemagne, not Desiderius. - -When the Visigoths under Ataulf left Italy they passed into southern Gaul, -and there established themselves with Toulouse as the centre of the -Visigothic kingdom. They soon extended their rule to Spain, with the -connivance of sundry Roman rulers. Some time before them Vandals, Suevi -and Alans, having crossed the Rhine into Gaul, had been drawn across the -Pyrenees by half-traitorous invitations of rival Roman governors. The -Visigoths now attacked these peoples, with the result that the Suevi -retreated to the north-west of the peninsula, and at length the restless -Vandals accepted the invitation of the traitor Count Boniface, and crossed -to Africa. Visigothic fortunes varied under an irregular succession of -non-hereditary and occasionally murdered kings. Their kingdom reached its -farthest limit in the reign of Euric (466-486), who extended its -boundaries northward to the Loire and southward over nearly all of -Spain.[138] - -Under the Visigoths the lot of the Latinized provincials, who with their -ancestors had long been Roman citizens, was not a hard one. The Roman -system of quartering soldiers upon provincials, with a right to one-third -of the house, afforded precedent for the manner of settlement of the -Visigoths and other Teuton invaders after them. The Visigoths received -two-thirds not only of the houses but also of the lands, which indeed were -bare of cultivators. The municipal organization of the towns was left -intact, and in general the nomenclature and structure of Roman officialdom -were preserved. As the Romans were the more numerous and the cleverer, -they regained their wealth and social consideration. In 506, Alaric II. -promulgated his famous code, the _Lex Romana Visigothorum_, usually called -the "Breviarium," for his Roman subjects. Although the next year Clovis -broke down the Visigothic kingdom in Gaul, and confined it to narrow -limits around Narbonne, this code remained in force, a lasting source of -Roman law for the inhabitants of the south and west of Gaul.[139] - -Throughout Visigothic Spain there existed, in conflict if not in force, a -complex mass of diverse laws and customs, written and unwritten, Roman, -Gothic, ecclesiastical. Soon after the middle of the seventh century a -general code was compiled for both Goths and Roman provincials, between -whom marriages were formally sanctioned. This codification was the legal -expression of a national unity, which however had no great political -vigour. For what with its inheritance of intolerable taxation, of -dwindling agriculture, of enfeebled institutions and social degeneracy, -the Visigothic state fell an easy victim before the Arabs in 711. It had -been subject to all manner of administrative abuse. In name the government -was secular. But in fact the bishops of the great sees were all-powerful -to clog, if not to administer, justice and the affairs of State within -their domains; the nobles abetted them in their misgovernment. So it came -that instead of a united Government supported by a strong military power, -there was divided misrule, and an army without discipline or valour. This -misrule was also cruelly intolerant. The bitter persecution of the Jews, -and the law that none but a Catholic should live in Spain, if not causes, -were at least symptoms, of a fatal impotence, and prophetic of like -measures taken by later rulers in that chosen land of religious -persecution.[140] - -In Gaul, contact between Latinized provincials and Teutonic invaders -produced interesting results. Mingled peoples came into being, whose -polity and institutions were neither Roman nor Teutonic, and whose -literature and intellectual achievement were to unite the racial qualities -of both. The hybrid political and social phenomena of the Frankish period -were engendered by a series of events which may be outlined as follows. -The Franks, Salic and Ripuarian, were clustered in the region of the lower -and middle Rhine. Like other Teutonic groups dwelling near the boundaries -of the weakening Empire, they were alternately plunderers of Roman -territory and auxiliaries in the imperial army, or its independent allies -against Huns or Saxons or Alans. One Childeric, whose career opens in saga -and ends in history, was king or hereditary leader of a part of the Salian -Franks. This active man appears in frequent relations with Aegidius, the -half-independent Roman ruler of that north-western portion of Gaul which -was not held by Visigoths or Burgundians. If Childeric's forefathers had -oftener been enemies than allies of the Empire, he was its ally, and -perhaps commander of the forces which helped to preserve this outlying -portion of its territory. - -Aegidius died in 463, and the territories ruled by him passed to his son -Syagrius practically as an independent kingdom. Childeric in the next -eighteen years increased his power among the Salian Franks, and extended -his territories through victories over other Teutonic groups. Upon his -death in 481 his kingdom passed to his son Chlodoweg, or, as it is easier -to call him, Clovis, then in his sixteenth year. The next five years were -employed by this precocious genius of barbarian craft in strengthening his -kingship among the Salians. At the age of twenty he attacked Syagrius, and -overthrew his power at Soissons. The last Roman ruler of a part of Gaul -fled to the Visigoths for refuge: their king delivered him to Clovis, who -had him killed. So Clovis's realm was extended first to the Seine and then -to the Loire. The Gallo-Romans were not driven out or dispossessed, but -received a new master, who on his part treated them forbearingly and -accepted them as subjects. The royal domains of Syagrius perhaps were -large enough to satisfy the cupidity of the victors. - -Clovis was now king of Gallo-Romans as well as Salian Franks. Thus -strengthened he could fight other Franks with success, and carry on a -great war against the Alemanni to the south-east. At the "battle of -Tolbiac," in which he finally overthrew these people, the heathen Frank -invoked the Christian God (so tells Gregory of Tours), and vowed to accept -the Faith if Christ gave him the victory. This is like the legend of -Constantine at the battle of the Malvern Bridge, nor is the probability of -its essential truth lessened because of this resemblance. Both Roman -emperor and Frankish king turned from heathenism to Christianity as to the -stronger supernatural support. And if ever man received tenfold reward in -this world from his faith it was this treacherous and bloody Frank. - -Hitherto the Teuton tribes, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Burgundians -who had accepted Christianity, were Arians by reason of the circumstances -of their "conversion." On the other hand, the Romanized inhabitants of -Italy, Spain, and Gaul were Catholics, and the influence of their -Arian-hating clergy was enormous. Evidently when Clovis, under the -influence of Catholic bishops and a Catholic wife, became a Catholic, the -power of the Church and the sympathy of the laity would make his power -irresistible. For the Catholic population was greatly in the majority, -even in the countries held by Burgundian or Visigothic kings. The -Burgundian rulers had half turned to Catholicism, and the Visigothic -monarchy treated it with respect. Yet the Burgundian kings did not win the -Church's confidence, nor did the Visigoths disarm its active hostility. -With such ability as Clovis and his sons possessed, their conversion to -Catholicism ensured victory over their rivals, and made a bond of -friendship between them and their Gallo-Roman subjects.[141] - -The extension of Clovis's kingdom, his overthrow of the Visigothic power, -his partial conquest of the Burgundians, would have been even more rapid -and decisive but for the opposing diplomacy of the great Arian ruler, -Theodoric the Ostrogoth, whose prestige and power even the bold Frank -dared not defy. Moreover, the Burgundians stood well with their Roman -subjects, whom they treated generously, and permitted to live under a code -of Roman law. When it came to war between them and Clovis, the advantage -rested with the latter; but possibly the fear of Theodoric, or the -pressure of war with the Alemanni, deferred the final conquest of the -Burgundian kingdom for another generation. - -In 507 Clovis attacked the Visigothic kingdom, and incorporated it with -his dominions in the course of the next year. Whether or not he had cried -out, in the words of Gregory of Tours, "it is a shame that these Arians -should hold a part of Gaul; let us attack them with God's help and take -their land," at all events the war had a religious sanction, and its -successful issue was facilitated by the Catholic clergy within the -Visigothic territory. Clovis's career was now nearing its end. In his last -years, by treachery, murder, and open war when needed, he made himself -king of all the Franks, Ripuarian and Salian. The intense partisan -sympathy of the Church for this its eldest royal Teuton son speaks in the -words of Gregory of Tours, concluding his recital of these deeds of -incomparable villainy: "Thus day by day God cast down his (Clovis's) -enemies before him, because he did what was right in His eyes"! - -The unresting sons and grandsons of Clovis not only conquered Burgundy, -but extended their rule far to the east, into the heart of Germany, and -Merovingians became masters of Thuringia and Bavaria. That such a realm -should hold together was impossible. From Clovis to Charlemagne it was the -regular practice to divide the realm at death among the ruler's sons, and -for the ablest among them to pursue and slay the others, and so unite the -realm again. Besides this principle of internecine conflict, differences -of race and language and degrees of Latinization ensured eventual -disruption. - -Nothing passes away, and very little quite begins, but all things change; -and so the verity of social and political phenomena lies in the -_becoming_, rather than in any temporary phase--as one may perceive in the -Merovingian, later Carolingian, _regnum Francorum_. Therein Roman -institutions survived either as decayed actualities or as names or -effigies; therein were conditions and even institutions which arose and -were developed through the decay of previous institutions, through the -weakening of the imperial peace and justice, the growth of abuses, and the -need of the weak to put themselves under the protection of the nearest -strong. This huge conglomerate of a government also held sturdy Teuton -elements. There was the kingship and the strong body of personal -followers, the latter an outgrowth of the _comitatus_, or rather of the -needs of any barbaric chieftaincy. There was _wergeld_, not so much -exclusively a Teutonic institution, as belonging to a rough society which -sees the need of checking feuds, and finds the means in a system of -compensation to the injured person or his kin, who would otherwise make -reprisals; there was also _Sippe_, the rights and duties of kin among -themselves, and of the kinship as a corporate unit toward the world -without; and therein, in general, was continuance of the warrior spirit of -the Franks and other Teutons, of their social ways and mode of dress, of -their methods of warfare and their thoughts of barbaric hardihood. - -These elements, and much more besides, were in process of mutual interplay -and amalgamation. Childeric had been king of some of the Salian Franks, -and had allied himself with the last fragment of the Roman Empire in Gaul. -Clovis, his son, is greater: he makes himself king of more Franks, and -becomes the head of the Roman-Frankish combination by overthrowing -Syagrius and taking his place as lord of the Gallo-Romans. As towards them -he becomes even as Syagrius and the emperors before him, absolute ruler, -_princeps_. This authority enhanced the dignity of Clovis's kingship over -his own Franks and the Alemanni, and his personal power increased with -each new conquest. He became a novel sort of monarch, combining -heterogeneous prerogatives. Hence his sovereignty and that of his -successors was not a simple development of Teutonic kingship, nor was it a -continuation of Roman imperial or proconsular rule, but rather a new -composite evolution. Some of its contradictions and anomalies were -symbolized by Clovis's acceptance of the title of Consul and stamping the -effigies of the eastern emperors upon his coins--as if they held any power -in the _regnum Francorum_! As between Gallo-Romans and Franks, the -headship had gone over to the latter; yet there was neither hatred on the -one side nor oppression from the other. A common catholicism and many -similarities of condition promoted mutual sympathy and union. For example, -through the decay of the imperial power, oppression had increased, and the -common Gallo-Roman people were compelled to place themselves under the -patronage of powerful personages who could give them the protection which -they could no longer look for from the Government. So relationships of -personal dependence developed, not essentially dissimilar from those -subsisting between the Franks and their kings, when the kings were mere -leaders of small tribes or war bands. But the vastness of the Salian realm -impaired the personal relationship between king and subjects, and again -the latter, Frankish or Gallo-Roman, needed nearer protectors, and found -them in neighbouring great proprietors and functionaries, Frankish or -Gallo-Roman as the case might be.[142] - -Through all the turmoil of the Merovingian period, there was doubtless -individual injustice and hardship everywhere, but no racial tyranny. The -Gallo-Roman kept his language and property, and continued to live under -the Roman law. He was not inferior to the Frank, except that the latter -was entitled to a higher _wergeld_ for personal injury, which, however, -soon was equalized. The Frank also lived under his own law, Salic or -Ripuarian. But the general mingling of peoples in the end made it -impossible to distinguish the law personally applicable; and thereupon, -both as to Franks and Gallo-Romans, the territorial law superseded the law -of race.[143] And when, after two centuries, the Merovingian kingdom, -through change of dynasty, became the Carolingian, political discrepancies -between Frank and Gallo-Roman had passed away. Yet this huge colossus of a -realm with its shoulders of iron and its feet of clay, still included -enough disparities of race and land, language and institution, to ensure -its dissolution. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE CELTIC STRAIN IN GAUL AND IRELAND - - -The northern races who were to form part of the currents of mediaeval life -are grouped under the names of Celts and Teutons.[144] The chief sections -of the former, dwelling in northern Italy and Gaul and Spain, were -Latinized and then Christianized long before the mediaeval period, and -themselves helped to create the patristic and even the antique side of the -mediaeval patrimony. Their rôle was largely mediatorial, and -geographically, as well as in their time of receiving Latin culture, they -were intermediaries between the classic sources and the Teutons, who also -were to drink of these magic draughts, but not so deeply as to be -transformed to Latin peoples. The rôle of the Teutons in the mediaeval -evolution was to accept Christianity and learn something of the pagan -antique, and then to react upon what they had received and change it in -their natures. - -Central Europe seems to have been the early home alike of Celts and -Teutons. Thence successive migratory groups appear to have passed -westwardly and southerly. Both races spoke Aryan tongues, and according to -the earliest notices of classic writers resembled each other -physically--large, blue-eyed, with yellow or tawny hair. The more -penetrating accounts of Caesar and Tacitus disclose their distinctive -racial traits, which contrast still more clearly in the remains of the -early Celtic (Irish) and Teutonic literatures. Whatever were the -ethnological affinities between Celt and Teuton, and however imperceptibly -these races may have shaded into each other, for example, in northern -France and Belgium, their characters were different, and their opposing -racial traits have never ceased to display themselves in the literature as -well as in the political and social history of western Europe. - -The time and manner of the Celtic occupation of Gaul and Spain remain -obscure.[145] It took place long before the turmoils of the second century -B.C., when the Teutonic tribes began to assert themselves, probably in the -north of the present Germany, and to press south-westwardly upon Celtic -neighbours on both sides of the Rhine. Some of them pushed on towards -lands held by the Belgae, and then passed southward toward Aquitania, -drawing Belgic and Celtic peoples with them. Afterwards turning eastwardly -they invaded the Roman Provincia in southern Gaul, and through their -victories threatened the great Republic. This was the peril of the Cimbri -and Teutones, which Marius quelled by the waters of the Durance and then -among the hills of Piedmont. The invasion did not change the ethnology of -Gaul, which, however, was not altogether Celtic in Caesar's time. The -opening sentences of his _Commentaries_ indicate anything but racial -unity. The Roman province was mainly Ligurian in blood. West of the -province, between the Pyrenees and the Garonne, were the "Aquitani," -chiefly of Iberian stock. The Celtae, whose western boundary was the -ocean, reached from the Garonne as far north as the Seine, and eastwardly -across the centre of Gaul to the head waters of the Rhine. North of them -were the Belgae, extending from the Seine and the British Channel to the -lower Rhine. These Belgae also apparently were Celts, and yet, as their -lands touched those of the Germans on the Rhine, they naturally show -Teutonic affinities, and some of their tribes contained strains of Teuton -blood. But it is not blood alone that makes the race; and Gaul, with its -dominant Celtic element, was making Gauls out of all these peoples. At all -events a common likeness may be discerned in the picture of Gallic traits -which Caesar gives.[146] - -Gallic civilization had then advanced as far as the native political -incapacity of the Gauls would permit. Quick-witted and intelligent, they -were to gain from Rome the discipline they needed. Once accustomed to the -enforcement of a stable order, their finer qualities responded by a ready -acceptance of the benefits of civilization and a rapid appropriation of -Latin culture. Not a sentence of the Gallic literature survives. But that -this people were endowed with eloquence and possessed of a sense of form, -was to be shown by works in their adopted tongue.[147] Romanized and -Latinized, they were converted to Christianity and then renewed with fresh -Teutonic blood. So they enter upon the mediaeval period; and when, after -the millennial year, the voices of the Middle Ages cease simply to utter -the barbaric or echo the antique, it becomes clear that nowhere is there a -happier balance of intellectual faculty and emotional capacity than in -these peoples of mingled stock who long had dwelt in the country which we -know as France. - -Since the Celts of Gaul have left no witness of themselves in Gallic -institutions or literature, it is necessary to turn to Ireland for clearer -evidence of Celtic qualities. There one may see what might come of a -predominantly Celtic people who lacked the lesson of Roman conquest and -the discipline of Roman order. The early history of the Irish, their -presentation of themselves in imaginative literature, their attainment in -learning and accomplishment in art, are not unlike what might have been -expected from Caesar's Gauls under similar conditions of comparative -isolation. Irish history displays the social turmoil and barbarism -resulting from the insular aggravation of the Celtic weaknesses noticeable -in Caesar's sketch; and the same are carried to burlesque excess in the -old Irish literature. On the other hand, Irish qualities of temperament -and mind bear such fair fruit in literature and art as might be imagined -springing from the Gallic stem but for the Roman graft.[148] - -No trustworthy story can be put together from the myth, tradition, and -conscious fiction which record the unprogressive turbulence of -pre-Christian Ireland. But the Irish character and capacities are clearly -mirrored in this enormous Gaelic literature. Truculence and vanity pervade -it, and a passion for hyperbole. A weak sense of fact and a lack of steady -rational purpose are also conspicuous. It is as ferocious as may be. Yet, -withal, it keeps the charm of the Irish temperament. Its pathos is moving, -even lovely. Some of the poetry has a mystic sensuousness; the lines fall -on the ear like the lapping of ripples on an unseen shore; the imagery has -a fantastic and romantic beauty, and the reader is wafted along on waves -of temperament and feeling.[149] - -Whatever themes sprang from the pagan age, probably nothing was written -down before the Christian time, when Christian matter might be foisted -into the pagan story. The Sagas belonging to the so-called Ulster Cycle -afford the best illustration of early Irish traits.[150] They reflect a -society apparently at the "Homeric" stage of development, though the -Irish heroes suffer in comparison with the Greek by reason of the -immeasurable inferiority of these Gaelic Sagas to the _Iliad_ and -_Odyssey_. There is the same custom of fighting from chariots, the same -tried charioteer, the hero's closest friend, and the same unstable -relationship between the chieftains and the king.[151] - -The Achilles of the Ulster Cycle is Cuchulain. The Tain Bo Cuailgne -(Englished rather improperly as the "Cattle-raid of Cooley") is the long -and famous Saga that brings his glory to its height.[152] Other Sagas tell -of his mysterious birth, his youthful deeds, his wooing, his various -feats, and then the moving, fateful story of his death. Loved by many -women, cherished by heroes, beautiful in face and form, possessed of -strength, agility, and skill in arms beyond belief, uncontrolled, -chivalric, his battle-ardour unquenchable, he is a brilliant epic hero. -But his story is weakened by hyperbole. Even to-day we know how -sword-strokes and spear-thrust kill. So do great narrators, who likewise -realize the literary power of truth. Through the _Iliad_ there is no -combat between heroes where spear and sword do not pierce and kill as they -do in fact. So in the Sagas of the Norse, the man falls before the mortal -blow. But in the Ulster Cycle, day after day, two heroes may mangle each -other in every impossible and fantastic way, beyond the bounds of the -faintest shadow of verisimilitude.[153] In this weakness of hyperbole the -Irish Sagas are outdone only by the monstrous doings of the epics of -India. - -Besides hyperbole, Irish tales display another weakness, which is not -unpleasing, although an element of failure both in the people and their -literature. This is the quality of non-arrival. Some old tales evince it -in the unsteadfast purpose of the narrative, the hero quite forgetting the -initial motive of his action. In the _Voyage of Mældun_, for instance, a -son sets out upon the ocean to seek his father's murderers, a motive which -is lost sight of amid the marvels of the voyage.[154] As may be imagined, -qualities of vanity, truculence, irrationality, hyperbole, and non-arrival -or lack of sequence, frequently impart an air of _bouffe_ to the Irish -Sagas, making them humorous beyond the intention of their composers.[155] - -Yet true heroic notes are to be heard.[156] And however rare the tales -which have not the makings of a brawl on every page, these truculent Sagas -sometimes speak with power and pathos, and sweetly present the loveliness -of nature or the charms of women; all in a manner happily indicative of -the impressionable Irish temperament. Examples are the moving tales of -_The Children of Usnach_ and the _Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne_.[157] -They bring to mind the Tristram story, which grew up among a kindred -people. The first of them only belongs to the Ulster Cycle. Both are -stories of a beautiful and headstrong maiden betrothed to an old king. -Each maid rebels against union with an old man; each falls in love with a -young hero, and, unabashed, asks him to flee with her. In the former tale -the heroine's charms win the hero, while in the latter he is overcome by -the violent insistence of a woman not to be gainsaid. In both stories love -brings the hero to his death. - -The Irish genius also showed an aptitude for lyric expression, and at an -early period developed elaborate modes of rhymed and alliterative -verse.[158] Peculiarly beautiful are the poems reflecting the Gaelic -belief in a future life. A charming description of Elysium is offered by -_The Voyage of Bran_, a Saga of the Otherworld, dating from the seventh -century. Its verse portions preponderate, the prose serving as their -frame.[159] But it opens in prose, telling how one day, walking near his -stronghold, Bran heard sweet music behind him, and as often as he turned -the music was still behind him. He fell asleep at last from the sweetness -of the strains. When he awoke, he found by him a branch silvery with white -blossoms. He took it to his home, where was seen a woman who sang: - - "A branch of the apple-tree from Emain I bring; - Twigs of white silver are on it, - Crystal boughs with blossoms. - There is a distant isle, - Around which sea-horses (waves) glisten:" - -And the woman sings on, picturing "Mag Mell of many flowers," and of the -host ever rowing thither from across the sea; till at last Bran and his -people set forth in their boat and row on and on, till they are welcomed -by sweet women with music and wine in island-fields of flowers and -bird-song. There is no sad strain in the music from this Gaelic land -beyond the grave. - -Irish traits observed in poem and Saga are reflected in accounts of not -improbable events, and exemplified in Christian saints; for the Irish did -not change their spots upon conversion. How Christianity failed to affect -the manners of the ancient Irish is illustrated in the story of the -Cursing of Tara, where tradition says the high-kings of Ireland held sway. -The account is scarcely historical; yet Tara existed, and fell to decay in -the sixth century.[160] Its cursing was on this wise. King Dermot was -high-king of Ireland. His laws were obeyed throughout the land, and over -its length and breadth marched his spear-bearer asserting the royal -authority, and holding the king's spear across his body before him. Every -town and castle must open wide enough to let this spear pass, carried -crosswise. The spear-bearer comes to the strong house of Ædh. He finds the -outer palisade breached to let the spear through, but not the inner house. -The bearer demands that it be torn open. "Order it so as to please -thyself," quoth Ædh, as he smote off his head. - -King Dermot sent his men to lay waste to Ædh's land and seize his person. -Ædh flees, and at last takes refuge with St. Ruadhan. The king again sends -messengers, but they are foiled, till he comes himself, seizes the outlaw, -and carries him off to hang him at Tara. Thereupon St. Ruadhan seeks St. -Brendan of Birr and others. They proceed to Tara and demand the prisoner. -The king answers that the Church cannot protect law-breakers. So all the -clergy rang their bells and chanted psalms against the king before Tara, -and fasted on him (in order that their imprecations might be more potent), -and he fasted on them. King and clergy fasted on each other, till one -night the clergy made a show of eating in sight of the town, but passed -the meat and ale beneath their cowls. So the king was tricked into taking -meat; and an evil dream came to him, by which he knew the clergy would -succeed in destroying his kingdom. - -In the morning the king went and said to the clergy: "Ill have ye done to -undo my kingdom, because I maintained the righteous cause. Be thy diocese, -Ruadhan, the first one ruined, and may thy monks desert thee." - -Said the saint: "May thy kingdom droop speedily." - -Said the king: "Thy see shall be empty, and swine shall root up thy -churchyards." - -Said the saint: "Tara shall be desolate, and therein shall no dwelling be -for ever." - -It was the custom of ancient bards to utter an imprecation or "satire" -against those offending them.[161] The irate fasting and cursing by the -Irish clergy was a thinly Christianized continuation of the same Irish -habit, inspired by the same Irish temper. There was no chasm between the -pagan bards and the Christian clergy, who loved the Sagas and preserved -them. They had also their predecessors in the Druids, who had performed -the functions of diviners, magicians, priests, and teachers, which were -assumed by the clergy in the fifth and sixth centuries.[162] Doubtless -many of the Druids became monks. - -Christianity came to the Irish as a new ardour, effacing none of their -characteristics. Irish monks and Irish saints were as irascible as Irish -bards and Saga heroes. The Irish temper lived on in St. Columba of Iona -and St. Columbanus of Luxeuil and Bobbio. Both of these men left Ireland -to spread monastic Christianity, and also because, as Irishmen, they loved -to rove, like their forefathers. Christianity furnished this Irish -propensity with a definite aim in the mission-passion to convert the -heathen. It likewise brought the ascetic hermit-passion, which drove these -travel-loving islanders over the sea in search of solitude; and so a -yearning came on Irish monks to sail forth to some distant isle and gain -within the seclusion of the sea a hermitage beyond the reach of man. There -are many stories of these explorers. They sailed along the Hebrides, they -settled on the Shetland Islands, they reached the Faroes, and even brought -back news of Iceland. But before the seventh century closed, their sea -hermitages were harried by Norsemen who were sailing upon quite different -ventures. From an opposite direction they too had reached the Shetlands -and the Hebrides, and had pushed on farther south among the islands off -the west coast of Scotland. So there come sorry tales of monks fleeing -from one island to another. These harryings and flights had gone on for a -century and more before the Vikings landed in Ireland, apparently for the -first time, in 795.[163] There followed two centuries of fierce struggle -with the invaders, during which much besides blows was exchanged. Vikings -and Irish learned from each other; Norse strains passed into Irish -literature, and conversely the Norse story-tellers probably obtained the -Saga form of composition. - -The rôle of the Irish in the diffusion of Christianity with its -accompaniment of Latin culture will be noted hereafter, and a sketch of -the unquestionably Irish saint Columbanus will be given in illustration. A -few paragraphs on his almost namesake of Iona, whose career hardly -extended beyond Celtic circles, may fitly close the present chapter on the -Celtic genius. In him is seen the truculent Irishman and the clan-abbot of -royal birth, violent, dominating by his impetuosity and the strident -fervour of his voice; also the saint, devoted, loving, to his followers. -Colum,[164] surnamed Cille, "of the church," from his incessant devotions, -and by his Latin name known as Columba, was born at Gartan, Donegal, in -the extreme north-west of Ireland, about the year 520. His family was -chief in that part of the country, and through both his parents he was -descended from kings. He does not belong to those early Irish saints -represented by Patrick and his storied coadjutors of both sexes, whose -missionary activities were not constrained within any ascetic rule; but to -the later generation who lived in those monastic communities which were so -very typically Irish.[165] - -Columba appears to have passed his youth wandering from one monastery to -another, and his manhood in founding them. But so strong a nature could -not hold aloof from the wars of his clan, which belonged to the northern -branch of the Hy-neill race, then maintaining its independence against the -southern branch. The head of the latter was that very King Dermot (usually -called Diarmaid or Diarmuid) against whom St. Ruadhan[166] and the clergy -fasted and rang their bells. Columba appears to have had no part in the -cursing of Tara. But Dermot was the king against whom the wars of his -family were waged, and all the traditions point to the saint as their -instigator. The account given by Keating, the seventeenth century -historian of Gaelic Ireland, is curious.[167] - - "Diarmuid ... King of Ireland, made the Feast of Tara, and a nobleman - was killed at that feast by Curran, son of Aodh; wherefore Diarmuid - killed him in revenge for that, because he committed murder at the - Feast of Tara, against the law and the sanctuary of the feast; and - before Curran was put to death he fled to the protection of - Colum-Cille, and notwithstanding the protection of Colum-Cille he was - killed by Diarmuid. And from that it arose that Colum-Cille mustered - the Clanna Neill of the North, because his own protection and the - protection of the sons of Earc was violated. Whereupon the battle of - Cul Dreimhne was gained over Diarmuid and over the Connaughtmen, so - that they were defeated through the prayer of Colum-Cille." - -Keating adds that another book relates another cause of this battle, to -wit: - - "... the false judgment which Diarmuid gave against Colum-Cille when - he wrote the gospel out of the book of Finnian without his - knowledge.[168] Finnian said that it was to himself belonged the - son-book which was written from his book, and they both selected - Diarmuid as judge between them. This is the decision that Diarmuid - made: that to every book belongs its son-book, as to every cow belongs - her calf." - -Less consistent is the tradition that Columba left Ireland because of the -sentence passed upon him by certain of his fellow-saints, as penance for -the bloodshed which he had occasioned. Indeed, for his motives one need -hardly look beyond the desire to spread the Gospel, and the passion of the -Irish monk _peregrinam ducere vitam_. Reaching the west of Scotland, -Columba was granted that rugged little island then called Hy, but Iova -afterwards, and now Iona. This was in 563, and he continued abbot of Hy -until his death in 597. Not that he stayed there all these years, for he -moved about ceaselessly, founding churches among the Picts and Scots. Some -thirty foundations are attributed to him, besides his thirty odd in -Ireland. - -Adamnan's _Vita_ largely consists of stories of the saint's miracles and -prophecies and the interpositions of Providence in his behalf. It -nevertheless gives a consistent picture of this man of powerful frame and -mighty voice, restless and unrestrained, ascetically tempered, working -always for the spread of his religion. We see him compelling men to set -sail with him despite the tempest, or again rushing into "the green glass -water up to his knees" to curse a plunderer in the name of Christ. "He was -not a gentle hero," says an old Gaelic Eulogy. Yet if somewhat quick to -curse, he was still readier to bless, and if he could be masterful, his -life had its own humility. "Surely it was great lowliness in Colomb Cille -that he himself used to take off his monks' sandals and wash their feet -for them. He often used to carry his portion of corn on his back to the -mill, and grind it and bring it home to his house. He never used to put -linen or wool against his skin. His side used to come against the bare -mould."[169] - -So this impetuous life passes before our eyes filled with adventure, -touched with romance, its colours heightened through tradition. As it -draws to its close the love in it seems to exceed the wrath; and thus it -ends: as the old man was resting himself the day before his death, seated -by the barn of the monastery, the white work-horse came and laid its head -against his breast. Late the same night, reclining on his stone bed he -spoke his last words, enjoining peace and charity among the monks. Rising -before dawn, he entered the church alone, knelt beside the altar, and -there he died.[170]--His memory still hangs the peace of God and man over -the Island of Iona. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -TEUTON QUALITIES: ANGLO-SAXON, GERMAN, NORSE - - -There were intellectual as well as emotional differences between the Celts -and Teutons. A certain hard rationality and grasp of fact mark the -mentality of the latter. On land or sea they view the situation, realize -its opportunities, their own strength, and the opposing odds: with -definite and persistent purpose they move, they fight, they labour. The -quality of purposefulness becomes clearer as they emerge from the forest -obscurity of their origins into the open light of history. To a definite -goal of conquest and settlement Theodoric led the Ostrogoths from Moesia -westward, and fought his way into Italy. With persistent purposefulness -Clovis and his Merovingian successors intrigued and fought. Among -Anglo-Saxon pirates the aim of plunder quickly grew to that of conquest. -And in times which were to follow, there was purpose in every voyage and -battle of the Vikings. The Teutons disclose more strength and persistency -of desire than the Celts. Their feelings were slower, less impulsive; also -less quickly diverted, more unswerving, even fiercer in their strength. -The general characteristic of Teutonic emotion is its close connection -with some motive grounded in rational purpose. - -Caesar's short sketch of the Germans[171] gives the impression of -barbarous peoples, numerous, brave, overweening. They had not reached the -agricultural stage, but were devoted to war and hunting. There were no -Druids among them. Their bodies were inured to hardship. They lived in -robust independence, and were subject to their chiefs only in war. Their -fiercest folk, the Suevi, from boyhood would submit neither to labour nor -discipline, that their strength and spirit might be unchecked. It was -deemed shameful for a youth to have to do with women before his twentieth -year. - -The Roman world knew more about these Germans by the year A.D. 99 when -Tacitus composed his _Germania_. They had scarcely yet turned to -agriculture. Respect for women appears clearly. These barbarians are most -reluctant to give their maidens as hostages; they listen to their women's -voices and deem that there is something holy and prophetic in their -nature. Upon marriage, oxen, a horse, and shield and lance make up the -husband's _morgengabe_ to his bride: she is to have part in her husband's -valour. Fornication and adultery are rare, the adulteress is ruthlessly -punished; men and maidens marry late. The men of the tribe decide -important matters, which, however, the chiefs have previously discussed -apart. The people sit down armed; the priests proclaim silence; the king -or war-leader is listened to, and the assembly is swayed by his persuasion -and repute. They dissent with murmurs, or assent brandishing their spears. -There is thus participation by the tribe, and yet deference to reputation. -This description discloses Teutonic freedom as different from Celtic -political unrestraint. Tacitus also speaks of the Germanic _Comitatus_, -consisting of a chief and a band of youths drawn together by his repute, -who fight by his side and are disgraced if they survive him dead upon the -field. In time of peace they may seek another leader from a tribe at war; -for the Germans are impatient of peace and toil, and slothful except when -fighting or hunting. They had further traits and customs which are -barbaric rather than specifically Teutonic: cruelty and faithlessness -toward enemies, feuds, _wergeld_, drinking bouts, gambling, slavery, -absence of testaments. - -Between the time of Tacitus and the fifth century many changes came over -the Teuton tribes. Early tribal names vanished, while a regrouping into -larger and apparently more mobile aggregates took place. The obscure -revolutions occurring in Central Europe in the second, third, and fourth -centuries do not indicate social progress, but rather retrogression from -an almost agricultural state toward stages of migratory unrest.[172] We -have already noted the fortunes of those tribes that helped to barbarize -and disrupt the Roman Empire, and lost themselves among the Romance -populations of Italy, Gaul, and Spain. We are here concerned with those -that preserved their native speech and qualities, and as Teuton peoples -became contributories to the currents of mediaeval evolution. - - -I - -When the excellent Apollinaris Sidonius, writing in the middle of the -fifth century to a young friend about to enter the Roman naval service off -the coasts of Gaul, characterized the Saxon pirates as the fiercest and -most treacherous of foes, whose way is to dash upon their prey amid the -tempest, and for whom shipwreck is a school, he spoke truly, and also -illustrated the difference that lies in point of view.[173] Fierce they -were, and hardy seamen, likewise treacherous in Roman eyes, and insatiate -plunderers. From the side of the sea they represented the barbarian -disorder threatening the world. The Roman was scarcely interested in the -fact that these men kept troth among themselves with energy and sacrifice -of life. The Saxons, Angles, Jutes, whose homes ashore lay between the -Weser and the Elbe and through Sleswig, Holstein, and Denmark, possessed -interesting qualities before they landed in Britain, where under novel -circumstances they were to develop their character and institutions with a -rapidity that soon raised them above the condition of their kin who had -stayed at home. Bands of them had touched Britain before the year 411, -when the Roman legions were withdrawn. But it was only with the landing of -Hengest and Horsa in 449 that they began to come in conquering force. The -Anglo-Saxon conquest of the island went on for two centuries. Information -regarding it is of the scantiest; but the Britons seem to have been -submerged or driven westward. There is at least no evidence of any -friendly mingling of the races. The invaders accepted neither Christianity -nor Roman culture from the conquered, and Britain became a heathen -England. - -While these Teuton peoples were driving through their conquest and also -fighting fiercely with each other, their characters and institutions were -becoming distinctively Anglo-Saxon. Under stress of ceaseless war, -military leaders became hereditary kings, whose powers, at least in -intervals of peace, were controlled by the Witan or Council of the Wise, -and limited by the jurisdiction of the Hundred Court. Likewise the -temporary ties of the Teutonic _Comitatus_ became permanent in the body of -king's companions (thegns, thanes), whose influence was destined to -supplant that of the eorls, the older nobility of blood. The _Comitatus_ -principle pervades Anglo-Saxon history as well as literature; it runs -through the _Beowulf_ epic; Anglo-Saxon Biblical versifiers transfer it to -the followers of Abraham and the disciples of Christ; and every child -knows the story of Lilla, faithful thegn, who flung himself between his -Northumbrian king, Edwin, and the sword of the assassin--the latter sent -by a West Saxon king and doubtless one of _his_ faithful thegns. Their law -consisted mainly in the graded _wergeld_ for homicide, in an elaborate -tariff of compensation for personal injuries, and in penalties for -cattle-raiding. Beyond the matter of theft, property law was still -unwritten custom, and contract law did not exist. The rules of procedure, -for instance in the Hundred Court, were elaborate, as is usual in a -primitive society where the substantial rights are simple, and the -important thing is to induce the parties to submit to an adjudication. -Similar Teutonic customs obtained elsewhere. But the course of their -development in Saxon England displays an ever clearer recognition of -fundamental principles of English law: justice is public; the parties -immediately concerned must bring the case to court and there conduct it -according to rules of procedure; the court of freemen hear and determine, -but do not extend the inquiry beyond the evidence adduced before them; to -interpret and declare the law is the function of the court, not of the -king and his officers.[174] - -During these first centuries in England, the Anglo-Saxon endowment of -character and faculty becomes clearly shown in events and expressed in -literature. A battle-loving people whose joy in fight flashes from their -"shield-play" and "sword-game" epithets, even as their fondness for -seafaring is seen in such phrases as "wave-floater," "foam-necked," "like -a swan" breasting the "swan-road" of the sea. But their sword-games and -wave-floatings had purpose, a quality that became large and steady as -generation after generation, unstopped by fortress, forest, or river, -pushed on the conquest of England. When that conquest had been completed, -and these Saxons were in turn hard pressed by their Danish kin more lately -sailing from the north, their courage still could not be overborne. It is -reflected in the overweening mood of _Maldon_, the poem which is also -called _The Death of Byrhtnoth_. The cold grey scene lies in the north of -England. The Viking invaders demand rings of gold; Byrhtnoth, the Alderman -of the East Saxons, retorts scornfully. So the fight begins with arrows -and spear throwings across the black water. The Saxons hold the ford. The -Sea-wolves cannot force it. They call for leave to cross. In his overmood -Byrhtnoth answers: "To you this is yielded: come straightway to us; God -only wots who shall hold fast the place of battle." In the bitter end when -Byrhtnoth is killed, still speaks his thane: "Mind shall the harder be, -heart the keener, mood the greater, as our might lessens. Here lies our -Elder hewn to death. I am old; I will not go hence. I think to lay me down -by the side of my lord." - -The spiritual gifts of the Anglo-Saxons are discernible in their language, -which so adequately could render the Bible[175] and the phraseology of the -Seven Liberal Arts. Its terms were somewhat more concrete and physical -than the Latin, but readily lent themselves to figurative meanings. More -palpably the poetry with its reflection upon life shows the endowment of -the race. Marked is its elegiac mood. In an old poem is heard the voice of -one who sails with hapless care the exile's way, and must forego his dear -lord's gifts: in sleep he kisses him, and again lays hands and head upon -those knees, as in times past. Then wakes the friendless man, and sees the -ocean's waves, the gulls spreading their wings, rime and snow falling. -More impersonal is the heavy tone of a meditative fragment over the ruins, -apparently, of a Roman city: - - "Wondrous is this wall-stone, - fates have broken it, - have burst the stronghold, - roofs are fallen, - towers tottering, - hoar gate-towers despoiled, - shattered the battlements, - riven, fallen. - - * * * * - - Earth's grasp holdeth - the mighty workmen - worn away, done for, - in the hard grip of the grave." - -But the noblest presentation of character in pagan Anglo-Saxon poetry is -afforded by the epic poem of _Beowulf_, which tells the story of a Geatic -hero who sets out for Denmark to slay a monster, accomplishes the feat, is -nobly rewarded by the Danish king, and returns to rule his own people -justly for fifty winters, when his valiant and beneficent life ends in a -last victorious conflict with a hoard-guarding dragon. Here myth and -tradition were not peculiarly Anglo-Saxon; but the finally recast and -finished work, noble in diction, sentiment, and action, expresses the -highest ethics of Anglo-Saxon heathendom. Beowulf does what he ought to -do, heroically; and finds satisfaction and reward. He does not seek his -pleasure, though that comes with gold and mead-drinking; consciousness of -deeds done bravely and the assurance of fame sweeten death at last.[176] - -A century or more after the composition of this poem, there lived an -Anglo-Saxon whose aims were spiritualized through Christianity, whose -vigorous mind was broadened by such knowledge and philosophy as his epoch -had gathered from antique sources, and whose energies were trained in -generalship and the office of a king. He presents a life intrinsically -good and true, manifesting itself in warfare against heathen barbarism and -in endeavour to rule his people righteously and enlarge their knowledge. -Many of the qualities and activities of Alfred had no place in the life of -Beowulf. Yet the heathen hero and the Christian king were hewn from the -same rock of Saxon manhood. Alfred's life was established upon principles -of right conduct generically the same as those of the poem. But -Christianity, experience, contact with learned men, and education through -books, had informed him of man's spiritual nature, and taught him that -human welfare depended on knowledge and intent and will. Accordingly, his -beneficence does not stop with the armed safe-guarding of his realm, but -seeks to compass the instruction of those who should have knowledge in -order the better to guide the faith and conduct of the people. "He seems -to me a very foolish man and inexcusable, who will not increase his -knowledge the while that he is in this world, and always wish and will -that he may come to the everlasting life where nothing shall be dark or -unknown."[177] - - -II - -In spite of the general Teutonic traits and customs which the Germans east -and west of the Rhine possessed in common with the Anglo-Saxons, distinct -qualities appear in the one and the other from the moment of our nearer -acquaintance with their separate history and literature. So scanty, -however, are the literary remains of German heathendom that recourse must -be had to Christian productions to discover, for example, that with the -Germans the sentiment of home and its dear relationships[178] is as marked -as the Anglo-Saxon's elegiac meditative mood. Language bears its witness -to the spiritual endowment of both peoples. The German dialects along the -Rhine were rich in abstract nouns ending in _ung_ and _keit_ and _schaft_ -and _tum_.[179] - -There remains one piece of untouched German heathenism, the -_Hildebrandslied_, which dates from the end of the eighth century, and may -possibly be the sole survivor of a collection of German poems made at -Charlemagne's command.[180] It is a tale of single combat between a father -and son, the counterpart of which is found in the Persian, Irish, and -Norse literatures. Such an incident might be diversely rendered; armies -might watch their champions engage, or the combat might occur unwitnessed -in some mountain gorge; it might be described pathetically or in warrior -mood, and the heroes might fight in ignorance, or one of them know well, -who was the man confronting him. In German, this story is a part of that -huge mass of legend which grew up around the memory of the terrible Hun -Attila, and transformed him to the Atli of Norse literature, and to the -worthy King Etzel of the _Nibelungenlied_, at whose Court the flower of -Burgundian chivalry went down in that fierce feud in which Etzel had -little part. Among his vassal kings appears the mighty exile Dietrich of -Bern, who in the _Nibelungen_ reluctantly overcomes the last of the -Burgundian heroes. This Dietrich is none other than Theodoric the -Ostrogoth, transformed in legend and represented as driven from his -kingdom of Italy by Odoacer, and for the time forced to take refuge with -Etzel; for the legend was not troubled by the fact that Attila was dead -before Theodoric was born. Bern is the name given to Verona, and legend -saw Theodoric's castle in that most beautiful of Roman amphitheatres, -where the traveller still may sit and meditate on many things. It is told -also that Theodoric recovered his kingdom in the legendary Rabenschlacht -fought by Ravenna's walls. Old Hildebrand was his master-at-arms, who had -fled with him. In the _Nibelungen_ it is he that cuts down Kriemhild, -Etzel's queen, before the monarch's eyes; for he could not endure that a -woman's hand had slain Gunther and Hagen, whom, exhausted at last, -Dietrich's strength had set before her helpless and bound. And now, after -years of absence, he has recrossed the mountains with his king come to -claim his kingdom, and before the armies he challenges the champion of the -opposing host. Here the Old German poem, which is called the -_Hildebrandslied_, takes up the story: - - "Hildebrand spoke, the wiser man, and asked as to the other's - father--'Or tell me of what race art thou; 'twill be enough; every one - in the realm is known to me.' - - "Hadubrand spoke, Hildebrand's son: 'Our people, the old and knowing - of them, tell me Hildebrand was my father's name; mine is Hadubrand. - Aforetime he fled to the east, from Otacher's hate, fled with Dietrich - and his knights. He left wife to mourn, and ungrown child. Dietrich's - need called him. He was always in the front; fighting was dear to him. - I do not believe he is alive.' - - "'God forbid, from heaven above, that thou shouldst wage fight with so - near kin.' He took from his arm the ring given by the king, lord of - the Huns. 'Lo! I give it thee graciously.' - - "Hadubrand spoke: 'With spear alone a man receives gift, point against - point. Too cunning art thou, old Hun. Beguiling me with words thou - wouldst thrust me with thy spear. Thou art so old--thou hast a trick - in store. Seafaring men have told me Hildebrand is dead.' - - "Hildebrand spoke: 'O mighty God, a drear fate happens. Sixty summers - and winters, ever placed by men among the spearmen, I have so borne - myself that bane got I never. Now shall my own child smite me with the - sword, or I be his death.'" - -There is a break here in the poem; but the uncontrolled son evidently -taunted the father with cowardice. The old warrior cries: - - "'Be he the vilest of all the East people who now would refuse thee - the fight thou hankerest after. Happen it and show which of us must - give up his armour.'" - -The end fails, but probably the son was slain. - -Stubborn and grim appears the Old German character. Point to point shall -foes exchange gifts. Such also was the way when a lord made reward; on the -spear's point presenting the arm-ring to him who had served, he accepting -it in like fashion, each on his guard perhaps. The _Hildebrandslied_ -exhibits other qualities of the German spirit, as its bluntness and lack -of tact; even its clumsiness is evinced in the seventy lines of the poem, -which although broken is not a fragment, but a short poem--a ballad -graceless and shapeless because of its stiff unvarying lines. - -In a later poem, which gives the story of Walter of Aquitaine, the same -set and stubborn mood appears, although lightened by rough banter. This -legend existed in Old German as well as Anglo-Saxon. In the tenth century, -Ekkehart, a monk of St. Gall, freely altering and adding to the tale, made -of it the small Latin epic which is extant.[181] Monk as he was, he tells -a spirited story in his rugged hexameters. He had studied classic authors -to good purpose; and his poem of Walter fleeing with his love Hildegund -from the Hunnish Court (for the all-pervasive Attila is here also) is -vivid, diversified, well-constructed--qualities which may not have been in -the story till he remodelled it. Its leading incidents still present -German traits. Walter and Hildegund carry off a treasure in their flight; -and it is to get this treasure that Gunther urges Hagen (for they are here -too) to attack the fugitive. This is Teutonic. It was for plunder that -Teuton tribes fought their bravest fights from the time of Alaric and -Genseric to the Viking age, and the hoard has a great part in Teutonic -story. In the _Waltarius_ Gunther's driving avarice, Walter's stubborn -defence of his gold are Teutonic. The humour and the banter are more -distinctly German, and nobly German is the relationship of trust and -honour between Walter and the maiden who is fleeing with him. Yet the -story does not revolve around the woman in it, but rather around the -shrewdly got and bravely guarded treasure. - -German traits obvious in the _Hildebrandslied_, and strong through the -Latin of the _Waltarius_, evince themselves in the epic of the -_Nibelungenlied_ and in the _Kudrun_, often called its companion piece. -The former holds the strength of German manhood and the power of German -hate, with the edged energy of speech accompanying it. In the latter, -German womanhood is at its best. Both poems, in their extant form, belong -to the middle or latter part of the twelfth century, and are not -unaffected by influences which were not native German. - -The _Nibelungenlied_ is but dimly reminiscent of any bygone love between -Siegfried and Brunhilde, and carries within its own narrative a sufficient -explanation of Brunhilde's jealous anger and Siegfried's death. Kriemhild -is left to nurse the wrath which shall never cease to devise vengeance for -her husband's murderers. Years afterwards, Hagen warns Gunther, about to -accept Etzel's invitation, that Kriemhild is _lancraeche_ (long vengeful). -The course of that vengeance is told with power; for the constructive soul -of a race contributed to this Volksepos. The actors in the tragedy are -strikingly drawn and contrasted, and are lifted in true epic fashion above -the common stature by intensity of feeling and the power of will to -realize through unswerving action the prompting of their natures. The -fatefulness of the tale is true to tragic reality, in which the far -results of an ill deed involve the innocent with the guilty. - -A comparison of the poem with the _Hildebrandslied_ shows that the sense -of the pathetic had deepened in the intervening centuries. There is -scarcely any pathos in the earlier composition, although its subject is -the fatal combat between father and son. But the _Nibelungen_, with a -fiercer hate, can set forth the heroic pathos of the lot of one, who, -struggling between fealties, is driven on to dishonour and to death. This -is the pathos of the death of Rüdiger, who had received the Burgundians -in his castle on their way to Etzel's Court, had exchanged gifts with -them, and betrothed his daughter to the youngest of the three kings. He -was as unsuspecting as Etzel of Kriemhild's plot. But in the end Kriemhild -forces him, on his fealty as liegeman, to outrage his heart and honour, -and attack those whom he had sheltered and guided onward--to their death. - -Not much love in this tale, only hate insatiable. But the greatness of -hate may show the passional power of the hating soul. The centuries have -raised to high relief the elemental Teutonic qualities of hate, greed, -courage and devotion, and human personality has enlarged with the -heightened power of will. The reader is affected with admiration and -sympathy. First he is drawn to Siegfried's bright morning courage, his -noble masterfulness--his character appears touched with the ideals of -chivalry.[182] After his death the interest turns to Kriemhild planning -for revenge. It may be that sympathy is repelled as her hate draws within -its tide so much of guiltlessness and honour; and as the doomed Nibelungen -heroes show themselves haughty, strong-handed, and stout-hearted to the -end, he cheers them on, and most heartily that grim, consistent Hagen in -whom the old German troth and treachery for troth's sake are incarnate. - -The _Kudrun_[183] is a happier story, ending in weddings instead of death. -There was no licentiousness or infidelity between man and wife in the -_Nibelungen_, and through all its hate and horror no outrage is done to -woman's honour. That may be taken as the leading theme of the _Kudrun_. An -ardent wooer, to be sure, may seize and carry off the heroine, and his -father drag her by the hair on her refusal to wed his son; but her honour, -and the honour of all women in the poem, is respected and maintained. The -ideal of womanhood is noble throughout: an old king thus bids farewell to -his daughter on setting forth to be married: "You shall so wear your crown -that I and your mother may never hear that any one hates you. Rich as you -are, it would mar your fame to give any occasion for blame."[184] - -A mediaeval epic may tell of the fortunes of several generations, and the -_Kudrun_ devotes a number of books to the heroine's ancestors, making a -half-savage narrative, in which one feels a conflict between ancient -barbarities and a newer and more courtly order. When the venturesome -wooing and wedded fortune of Kudrun's mother have been told, the poem -turns to its chief heroine, who grows to stately maidenhood, and becomes -betrothed to a young king, Herwig. A rejected wooer, the "Norman" Prince -Hartmuth, by a sudden descent upon the land in the absence of its -defenders, carries off Kudrun and her women by force of arms, and the -king, her father, is killed in an abortive attempt to recapture her. In -Hartmuth's castle by the sea Kudrun spends bitter years waiting for -deliverance. His sister, Ortrun, is kind to her, but his mother, Gerlint, -treats her shamefully. The maiden is steadfast. Between her and Hartmuth -stands a double barrier: his father had killed hers; she was betrothed to -Herwig. Hartmuth repels his wicked mother's advice to force her to his -will. In his absence on a foray Gerlint compels Kudrun to do unfitting -tasks. Hartmuth, returning, asks her: "Kudrun, fair lady, how has it been -with you while I and my knights were away?" - -"Here I have been forced to serve, to your sin and my shame,"[185] -answers Kudrun--a great answer, in its truth and self-control. - -After an interval of kind treatment the old "she-wolf" Gerlint sets Kudrun -with her faithful Hildeburg to washing clothes in the sea. It is winter; -their garments are mean, their feet are naked. They see a boat -approaching, in which are Kudrun's brother Ortwin, and Herwig her -betrothed, who had come before their host as spies. A recognition follows. -Herwig is for carrying them off; Ortwin forbids it. "With open force they -were taken; my hand shall not steal them back"; dear as Kudrun is, he can -take her only _nâch êren_ (as becomes his honour). When they have gone, -Kudrun throws the clothes to be washed into the sea. "No more will I wash -for Gerlint; two kings have kissed me and held me in their arms." - -Kudrun returns to the castle, which soon is stormed. She saves Hartmuth -and his sister from the slaughter, and all sail home, where the thought is -now of wedding festivals. - -Kudrun is married to Herwig; at her advice Ortwin weds Ortrun, and then -she thinks of Hartmuth's plight, and asks her friend Hildeburg whether she -will have him for a husband. Hildeburg consents. Kudrun commands that -Hartmuth be brought, and bids him be seated by the side of her dear friend -"who had washed clothes along with her!" - -"Queen, you would reproach me with that. I grieved at the shame they put -on you. It was kept from me." - -"I cannot let it pass. I must speak with you alone, Hartmuth." - -"God grant she means well with me," thought he. She took him aside and -spoke: "If you will do as I bid, you will part with your troubles." - -Hartmuth answered: "I know you are so noble that your behest can be only -honourable and good. I can find nothing in my heart to keep me from doing -your bidding gladly, Queen."[186] The high quality of speech between these -two will rarely be outdone. - -There is directness and troth in all these German poems. Troth is an ideal -which must carry truth within it. The more thoughtful and reflecting -German spirit will evince loyalty to truth itself as an ideal. Wolfram's -poem of _Parzival_ has this; and by virtue of this same ideal, Walter von -der Vogelweide's judgments upon life and emperors and popes are whole and -steady, unveiling the sham, condemning the lie and defying the liar.[187] -In them dawns the spirit of Luther and the German Reformation, with its -love of truth stronger than its love of art. - - -III - -Chronologically these last illustrations of German traits belong to the -mediaeval time; and in fact the _Nibelungenlied_ and _Kudrun_, and much -more Wolfram's _Parzival_ and Walter's poems, are mediaeval, because to -some extent affected by that interplay of influences which made the -mediaeval genius.[188] On the other hand, the almost contemporaneous Norse -Sagas and the somewhat older Eddic poems exhibit Teutonic traits in their -northern integrity. For the Norse period of free and independent growth -continued long after the distinctive barbarism of other Teutons had become -mediaevalized. There resulted under the strenuous conditions of Norse life -that unique heightening of energy which is manifested in the deeds of the -Viking age and reflected in Norse literature.[189] - -This time of extreme activity opens in the eighth century, toward the end -of which Viking ravagers began to harry the British Isles. St. Cuthbert's -holy island of Lindisfarne was sacked in 793, and similar raids multiplied -with portentous rapidity. The coasts of Ireland and Great Britain, and the -islands lying about them, were well plundered while the ninth century was -young. In Ireland permanent conquests were made near Dublin, at Waterford, -and Limerick. The second half of this century witnesses the great Danish -Viking invasion of England. On the Continent the Vikings worried the -skirts of the Carolingian colossus, and the Lowlands suffered before -Charlemagne was in his grave. After his death the trouble began in -earnest. Not only the coasts were ravaged, but the river towns trembled, -on the Elbe, the Rhine, the Somme, the Seine, the Loire. Paris foiled or -succumbed to more than one fierce siege. About the middle of the ninth -century the Vikings began to winter where they had plundered in the -summer. - -The north was ruled by chiefs and petty kings until Harold Fairhair -overcame the chiefs of Norway and made himself supreme about the year 870. -But he established his power only after great sea-fights, and many of the -conquered choosing exile rather than submission, took refuge in the -Orkneys, the Faroes, and other islands. Harold pursued with his fleets, -and forced them to further flight. It was this exodus from the islands and -from Norway in the last years of the ninth century that gave Iceland the -greater part of its population. Thither also came other bold spirits from -the Norse holdings in Ireland. - -While these events were happening in the west, the Scandinavians had not -failed to push easterly. Some settled in Russia, by the Gulf of Finland, -others along the south shore of the Baltic between the Vistula and Oder. -So their holdings in the tenth century encircled the north of Europe; for -besides Sleswig, Denmark, and Scandinavia, they held the coast of Holland, -also Normandy, where Rollo came in 912. Of insular domain, they held -Iceland, parts of Scotland, and the islands north and west of it, some -bits of Ireland, and much of England. Moreover, Scandinavians filled the -Varangian corps of the Byzantine emperors, and old Runic inscriptions are -found on marbles at Athens. Their narrow barks traversed the eastern -Mediterranean[190] long before Norman Roger and Norman Robert conquered -Sicily and southern Italy. Such reach of conquest shows them to have been -moved by no passion for adventure. Their fierce valour was part of their -great capacity for the strategy of war. As pirates, as invaders, as -settlers, they dared and fought and fended for a purpose--to get what they -wanted, and to hold it fast. When they had mastered the foe and conquered -his land, they settled down, in England and Normandy and Sicily. - -Such genius for fighting was in accord with shrewdness and industry in -peace. The Vikings laboured, whether in Norway or in Iceland. In the -_Edda_ the freeman learns to break oxen, till the ground, timber houses, -build barns, make carts and ploughs.[191] So a tenth-century Viking king -may be found in the field directing the cutting and stacking of his corn -and the gathering of it into barns. They were also traders and even -money-lenders. The Icelanders, whom we know so intimately from the Sagas, -went regularly upon voyages of trade or piracy before settling down to -farm and wife. Sharp of speech, efficient in affairs, and often adepts in -the law, they eagerly took part in the meetings of the Althing and its -settlement of suits. If such settlement was rejected, private war or the -_holmgang_ (an appointed single combat on a small island) was the regular -recourse. But it was murder to kill in the night or without previous -notice. Nothing should be said behind an enemy's back that the speaker -would not make good; and every man must keep his plighted word. - -Much of the Norse wisdom consists in a shrewd wariness. Contempt for the -chattering fool runs through the _Edda_.[192] Let a man be chary of -speech and in action unflinching. Eddic poetry is full of action; even its -didactic pieces are dramatic. The _Edda_ is as hard as steel. In the -mythological pieces the action has the ruthlessness of the elements, while -the stories of conduct show elemental passions working in elemental -strength. The men and women are not rounded and complete; but certain -disengaged motives are raised to the Titanic and thrown out with power. -Neither present anguish, nor death surely foreseen, checks the course of -vengeance for broken faith in those famous Eddic lays of Atli, of Sigurd -and Sigrifa, Helgi and Sigrun, Brynhild and Gudrun, out of which the -Volsunga Saga was subsequently put together, and to which the -_Nibelungenlied_ is kin. They seem to carry the same story, with change of -names and incidents. Always the hero's fate is netted by woman's vengeance -and the curse of the Hoard. But still the women feel most; the men strike, -or are struck. Hard and cold grey, with hidden fire, was the temper of -these people. Their love was not over-tender, and yet stronger than death: -cries Brynhild's ghost riding hellward, "Men and women will always be born -to live in woe. We two, Sigurd and I, shall never part again." And the -power of such love speaks in the deed and word of Sigrun, who answers the -ghostly call of slain Helgi from his barrow, and enters it to cast her -arms about him there: "I am as glad to meet thee as are the greedy hawks -of Odin when they scent the slain. I will kiss thee, my dead king, ere -thou cast off thy bloody coat. Thy hair, my Helgi, is thick with rime, thy -body is drenched with gory dew, dead-cold are thy hands." - -The characters which appear in large grey traits in the _Edda_, come -nearer to us in the Icelandic Sagas. The _Edda_ has something of a far, -unearthly gloom; the Saga the light of day. Saga-folk are extraordinarily -individual; men and women are portrayed, body and soul, with homely, -telling realism. Nevertheless, within a fuller round of human trait, -Eddic qualities endure. There is the same clear purpose and the strong -resolve, and still the deed keeps pace with the intent.[193] - -The period which the Sagas would delineate commences when the Norse chiefs -sail to Iceland with kith and kin and following to be rid of Harold -Fairhair, and lasts for a century or more on through the time of King Olaf -Tryggvason who, shield over head, sprang into the sea in the year 1000, -and the life of that other Olaf, none too rightly called the Saint, who in -1030 perished in battle fighting against overwhelming odds. Following hard -upon this heroic time comes the age of telling of it, telling of it at the -mid-summer Althing, telling of it at Yuletide feasts, and otherwise -through the long winter nights in Iceland. These tellings are the Sagas in -process of creation; for a Saga is essentially a tale told by word of -mouth to listeners. Thus pass another hundred years of careful telling, -memorizing, and retelling of these tales, kept close to the old incidents -and deeds, yet ever with a higher truth intruding. They are becoming true -to reality itself, in concrete types, and not simply narratives of facts -actually occurring--if indeed facts ever occur in any such unequivocal -singleness of actuality and with such compelling singleness of meaning, -that one man shall not read them in one way and another otherwise. And the -more imaginative reading may be the truer. - -This century of Saga-growth in memory and word of mouth came to an end, -and men began to write them down. For still another hundred years -(beginning about 1140) this process lasted. In its nature it was something -of a remodelling. As oral tales to be listened to, the Sagas had come to -these scribe-authors, and as such the latter wrote them down, yet with -such modification as would be involved in writing out for mind and eye and -ear that which the ear had heard and the memory retained. In some -instances the scribe-author set himself the more ambitious task of casting -certain tales together in a single, yet composite story. Such is the -Njála, greatest of all Sagas; it may have been written about the year -1220.[194] - -As representative of the Norse personality, the Sagas, like all national -literature, bear a twofold testimony: that of their own literary -qualities, and that of the characters which they portray. In the first -place, a Saga is absolute narrative: it relates deeds, incidents, and -sayings, in the manner and order in which they would strike the eye and -ear of the listener, did the matter pass before him. The narrator offers -no analysis of motives; he inserts no reflections upon characters and -situations. He does not even relate the incidents from the vantage-ground -of a full knowledge of them, but from the point of view of each instant's -impression upon the participants or onlookers. The result is an objective -and vivid presentation of the story. Next, the Sagas are economical of -incident as well as language. That incident is told which the story needs -for the presentation of the hero's career; those circumstances are given -which the incident needs in order that its significance may be perceived; -such sayings of the actors are related as reveal most in fewest words. -There is nothing more extraordinary in these stories than the significance -of the small incident, and the extent of revelation carried by a terse -remark. - -For example, in the Gisli Saga, Gisli has gone out in the winter night to -the house of his brother Thorkel, with whom he is on good terms, and there -has slain Thorkel's wife's brother in his bed. In the darkness and -confusion he escapes unrecognized, gets back to his own house and into -bed, where he lies as if asleep. At daybreak the dead man's friends come -packing to Gisli's farm: - - "Now they come to the farm, Thorkel and Eyjolf, and go up to the - shut-bed where Gisli and his wife slept; but Thorkel, Gisli's brother, - stepped up first on to the floor, and stands at the side of the bed, - and sees Gisli's shoes lying all frozen and snowy. He kicked them - under the foot-board, so that no other man should see them."[195] - -This little incident of the shoes not only shows how near was Gisli to -detection and death, but also discloses the way in which Thorkel meant to -act and did act toward his brother: to wit, shield him so long as it might -be done without exposing himself. - -Another illustration. The Njáls Saga opens with a sketch of the girl -Hallgerda, so drawn that it presages most of the trouble in the story. -There were two well-to-do brothers, Hauskuld and Hrut: - - "It happened once that Hauskuld bade his friends to a feast, and his - brother Hrut was there, and sat next to him. Hauskuld had a daughter - named Hallgerda, who was playing on the floor with some other girls. - She was fair of face and tall of growth, and her hair was as soft as - silk; it was so long, too, that it came down to her waist. Hauskuld - called out to her, 'Come hither to me, daughter.' So she went up to - him, and he took her by the chin and kissed her; after that she went - away. Then Hauskuld said to Hrut, 'What dost thou think of this - maiden? Is she not fair?' Hrut held his peace. Hauskuld said the same - thing to him a second time, and then Hrut answered, 'Fair enough is - this maid, and many will smart for it; but this I know not, whence - thief's eyes have come into our race.' Then Hauskuld was wroth, and - for a time the brothers saw little of each other."[196] - -The picture of Hallgerda will never leave the reader's mind throughout the -story, of which she is the evil genius. It is after she has caused the -death of her first husband and is sought by a second, that she is sent for -by her father to ask what her mind may be: - - "Then they sent for Hallgerda, and she came thither, and two women - with her. She had on a cloak of rich blue woof, and under it a scarlet - kirtle, and a silver girdle round her waist; but her hair came down on - both sides of her bosom, and she had turned the locks up under her - girdle. She sat down between Hrut and her father, and she greeted them - all with kind words, and spoke well and boldly, and asked what was the - news. After that she ceased speaking." - -This is the woman that the girl has grown to be; and she is still at the -beginning of her mischief. Such narrative art discloses both in the -tale-teller and the audience an intelligence which sees the essential fact -and is impatient of encumbrance. It is the same intelligence that made -these Vikings so efficient in war, and in peace quick to seize cogent -means. - -Truthfulness is another quality of the Sagas. Indeed their respect for -historical or biographical fact sometimes hindered the evolution of a -perfect story. They hesitated to omit or alter well-remembered incidents. -Nevertheless a certain remodelling came, as generation after generation of -narrators made the incidents more striking and the characters more marked, -and, under the exigencies of storytelling, omitted details which, although -actual, were irrelevant to the current of the story. The disadvantages -from truthfulness were slight, compared with the admirable artistic -qualities preserved by it. It kept the stories true to reality, excluding -unreality, exaggeration, absurdity. Hence these Sagas are convincing: no -reader can withhold belief. They contain no incredible incidents. On -occasions they tell of portents, prescience, and second sight, but not so -as to raise a smile. They relate a very few encounters with trolls--the -hideous, unlaid, still embodied dead. But those accounts conform to the -hard-wrung superstitions of a people not given to credulity. So they are -real. The reality of Grettir's night-wrestling with Glam, the troll, is -hardly to be matched.[197] Truthfulness likewise characterizes their -heroes: no man lies about his deeds, and no man's word is doubted. - -While the Saga-folk include no cowards or men of petty manners, there is -still great diversity of character among them. Some are lazy and some -industrious, some quarrelsome and some good-natured, some dangerous, some -forbearing, gloomy or cheerful, open-minded or biassed, shrewd or stupid, -generous or avaricious. Such contrasts of character abound both in the -Sagas of Icelandic life and those which handle the broader matter of -history. One may note in the _Heimskringla_[198] of the Kings of Norway -the contrasted characters of the kings Olaf Tryggvason and St. Olaf. The -latter appears as a hard-working, canny ruler, a lover of order, a -legislator and enforcer of the laws; in person, short, thick-set, carrying -his head a little bent. A Viking had he been, and was a fighter, till he -fell in his last great battle undaunted by odds. - -But the other Olaf, Norway's darling hero, is epic: tall, golden-haired, -peerless from his boyhood, beloved and hated. His marvellous physical -masteries are told, his cliff-climbing, his walking on the sweeping oars -keeping three war-axes tossing in the air. He smote well with either hand -and cast two spears at once. He was the gladdest and gamesomest of men, -kind and lowly-hearted, eager in all matters, bountiful of gifts, glorious -of attire, before all men for high heart in battle, and grimmest of all -men in his wrath; marvellous great pains he laid upon his foes. "No man -durst gainsay him, and all the land was christened wheresoever he came." -Five short years made up his reign. At the end, neither he was broken nor -his power. But a plot, moved by the hatred of a spurned heathen queen, -delivered him to unequal combat with his enemies, the Kings of Denmark and -Sweden, and Eric the great Viking Earl. - -Olaf is sailing home from Wendland. The hostile fleet crouches behind an -island. Sundry of Olaf's ships pass by. Then the kings spy a great ship -sailing--that will be Olaf's _Long Worm_ they say; Eric says no. Anon come -four ships, and a great dragon amid them--the _Long Worm_? not yet. At -last she comes, greatest and bravest of all, and Olaf in her, standing on -the poop, with gilded shield and golden helm and a red kirtle over his -mail coat. His men bade to sail on, and not fight so great a host; but -Olaf said, "Never have I fled from battle." So Olaf's ships are lashed in -line, at the centre the _Long Worm_, its prow forward of the others -because of her greater length. Olaf would have it thus in spite of the -"windy weather in the bows" predicted by her captain. The enemies' ships -close around them. Olaf's grapplings are too much for the Danes; they draw -back. Their places are taken by the ships of Sweden. They fare no better. -At last Earl Eric lays fast his iron-beaks to Olaf's ships; Danes and -Swedes take courage and return. It is hand to hand now, the ships laid -aboard of each other. - -At last all of Olaf's ships are cleared of men and cut adrift, save the -_Long Worm_. There fight Olaf's chosen, mad with battle. Einar, Olaf's -strong bowman, from the _Worm_ aft in the main hold, shot at Earl Eric; -one arrow pierced the tiller by his head, the second flew beneath his arm. -Says the Earl to Finn, his bowman, "Shoot me yonder big man." Finn shot, -and the arrow struck full upon Einar's bow as he was drawing it the third -time, and it broke in the middle. - -"What broke there so loud?" said Olaf. - -"Norway, king, from thine hands," answered Einar. - -"No such crash as that," said the king; "take my bow and shoot." - -But the foeman's strength was overpowering. Olaf's men were cut down -amidships. They hardly held the poop and bow. Earl Eric leads the -boarders. The ship is full of foes. Olaf will not be taken. He leaps -overboard. About the ship swarm boats to seize him; but he threw his -shield over his head and sank quickly in the sea. - -The private Sagas construct in powerful lines the characters of the heroes -from the stories of their lives. A great example is the Saga of Egil,[199] -whose father was a Norse chief who had sailed to Iceland, where Egil was -born. As a child he was moody, intractible, and dangerous, and once killed -an older lad who had got the better of him at ball playing. There was no -great love between him and his father. When he was twelve years old his -father used him roughly. He entered the great hall and walked up to his -father's steward and slew him. Then he went to his seat. After that, -father and son said little to each other. The boy was bent on going -cruising with his older brother, Thorolf. The father yields, and Egil goes -a-harrying. Fierce is his course in Norway, where they come. On the sea -his vessel bears him from deed to deed of blood and daring. His strength -won him booty and reward; he won a friend too, Arinbjorn, and there was -always troth between them. - -Thorolf and Egil took service with King Athelstane, who was threatened -with attack from the King of the Scots. The brothers led the Vikings in -Athelstane's force. In the battle Thorolf loses his life; but Egil hears -the shout when Thorolf falls. His furious valour wins the day for -Athelstane. After the fight he buries his brother and sings staves over -his grave. - - "Then went Egil and those about him to seek King Athelstan, and at - once went before the king, where he sat at the drinking. There was - much noise of merriment. And when the king saw that Egil was come in, - he bade the lower bench be cleared for them, and that Egil should sit - in the high-seat facing the king. Egil sat down there, and cast his - shield before his feet. He had his helm on his head, and laid his - sword across his knees; and now and again he half drew it, and then - clashed it back into the sheath. He sat upright, but with head bent - forward. Egil was large-featured, broad of forehead, with large - eye-brows, a nose not long but very thick, lips wide and long, chin - exceeding broad, as was all about the jaws; thick-necked was he, and - big-shouldered beyond other men, hard-featured, and grim when angry. - He would not drink now, though the horn was borne to him, but - alternately twitched his brows up and down. King Athelstan sat in the - upper high-seat. He too laid his sword across his knees. When they had - sat there for a time, then the king drew his sword from the sheath, - and took from his arm a gold ring large and good, and placing it upon - the sword-point he stood up, and went across the floor, and reached it - over the fire to Egil. Egil stood up and drew his sword, and went - across the floor. He stuck the sword-point within the round of the - ring, and drew it to him; then he went back to his place. The king - sate him again in his high-seat. But when Egil was set down, he drew - the ring on his arm, and then his brows went back to their place. He - now laid down sword and helm, took the horn that they bare to him, and - drank it off. Then sang he: - - 'Mailed monarch, god of battle, - Maketh the tinkling circlet - Hang, his own arm forsaking, - On hawk-trod wrist of mine. - I bear on arm brand-wielding - Bracelet of red gold gladly. - War-falcon's feeder meetly - Findeth such meed of praise.' - - "Thereafter Egil drank his share, and talked with others. Presently - the king caused to be borne in two chests; two men bare each. Both - were full of silver. The king said: 'These chests, Egil, thou shalt - have, and, if thou comest to Iceland, shalt carry this money to thy - father; as payment for a son I send it to him: but some of the money - thou shalt divide among such kinsmen of thyself and Thorolf as thou - thinkest most honourable. But thou shalt take here payment for a - brother with me, land or chattels, which thou wilt. And if thou wilt - abide with me long, then will I give thee honour and dignity such as - thyself mayst name.' - - "Egil took the money, and thanked the king for his gifts and friendly - words. Thenceforward Egil began to be cheerful; and then he sang: - - 'In sorrow sadly drooping - Sank my brows close-knitted; - Then found I one who furrows - Of forehead could smooth. - Fierce-frowning cliffs that shaded - My face a king hath lifted - With gleam of golden armlet: - Gloom leaveth my eyes.'" - -Like many of his kind in Iceland and Norway, this fierce man was a poet. -Once he saved his life by a poem, and poems he had made as gifts. It was -when the old Viking's life was drawing to its close at his home in Iceland -that he composed his most moving lay. His beautiful beloved son was -drowned. After the burial Egil rode home, went to his bed-closet, lay down -and shut himself in, none daring to speak to him. There he lay, silent, -for a day and night. At last his daughter knocks and speaks; he opens. She -enters and beguiles him with her devotion. After a while the old man takes -food. And at last she prevails on him to make a poem on his son's death, -and assuage his grief. So the song begins, and at length rises clear and -strong--perhaps the most heart-breaking of all old Norse poems.[200] - -In the portrayal of contrasted characters no other Saga can equal the -great Njála, a Saga large and complex, and doubtless composite; for it -seems put together out of three stories, in all of which figured the just -Njal, although he is the chief personage in only one of them. The story, -with its multitude of personages and threefold subject-matter, lacks unity -perhaps. Yet the different parts of the Saga successively hold the -attention. In the first part, the incomparable Gunnar is the hero; in the -second, Njal and his sons engage our interest in their varied characters -and common fate. These are great narratives. The third part is perhaps -epigonic, excellent and yet an aftermath. Only a reading of this Saga can -bring any realization of its power of narrative and character delineation. -Its chief personages are as clear as the day. One can almost see the -sunlight of Gunnar's open brow, and certainly can feel his manly heart. -The foil against which he is set off is his friend Njal, equally good, -utterly different: unwarlike, wise in counsel, a great lawyer, truthful, -just, shrewd and foreseeing. Hallgerda, of the long silken hair, is -Gunnar's wife; she has caused the deaths of two husbands already, and will -yet prove Gunnar's bane. Little time passes before she is the enemy of -Njal's high-minded spouse, Bergthora. Then Hallgerda beginning, Bergthora -following quick, the two push on their quarrel, instigating in -counter-vengeance alternate manslayings, each one a little nearer to the -heart and honour of Gunnar and Njal. Yet their friendship is unshaken. For -every killing the one atones with the other; and the same blood-money -passes to and fro between them. - -Gunnar's friendship with the pacific Njal and his warlike sons endured -till Gunnar's death. That came from enmities first stirred by the thieving -of Hallgerda's thieving thrall. She had ordered it, and in shame Gunnar -gave her a slap in the face, the sole act of irritation recorded of this -generous, forbearing, peerless Viking, who once remarked: "I would like to -know whether I am by so much the less brisk and bold than other men, -because I think more of killing men than they?" At a meeting of the -Althing he was badgered by his ill-wishers into entering his stallion for -a horse-fight, a kind of contest usually ending in a man-fight. -Skarphedinn, the most masterful of Njal's sons, offered to handle Gunnar's -horse for him: - -"Wilt thou that I drive thy horse, kinsman Gunnar?" - -"I will not have that," says Gunnar. - -"It wouldn't be amiss, though," says Skarphedinn; "we are hot-headed on -both sides." - -"Ye would say or do little," says Gunnar, "before a quarrel would spring -up; but with me it will take longer, though it will be all the same in the -end." - -Naturally the contest ends in trouble. Gunnar's beaten and enraged -opponent seizes his weapons, but is stopped by bystanders. "This crowd -wearies me," said Skarphedinn; "it is far more manly that men should fight -it out with weapons." Gunnar remained quiet, the best swordsman and bowman -of them all. But his enemies fatuously pushed on the quarrel; once they -rode over him working in the field. So at last he fought, and killed many -of them. Then came the suits for slaying, at the Althing. Njal is Gunnar's -counsellor, and atonements are made: Gunnar is to go abroad for three -winters, and unless he go, he may be slain by the kinsmen of those he has -killed. Gunnar said nothing. Njal adjured him solemnly to go on that -journey: "Thou wilt come back with great glory, and live to be an old man, -and no man here will then tread on thy heel; but if thou dost not fare -away, and so breakest thy atonement, then thou wilt be slain here in the -land, and that is ill knowing for those who are thy friends." - -Gunnar said he had no mind to break the atonement, and rode home. A ship -is made ready, and Gunnar's gear is brought down. He rides around and bids -farewell to his friends, thanking them for the help they had given him, -and returns to his house. The next day he embraces the members of his -household, leaps into the saddle, and rides away. But as he is riding down -to the sea, his horse trips and throws him. He springs from the ground, -and says with his face to the Lithe, his home: "Fair is the Lithe; so fair -that it has never seemed to me so fair; the cornfields are white to -harvest, and the home mead is mown; and now I will ride back home, and not -fare abroad at all." - -So he turns back--to his fate. The following summer at the Althing, his -enemies give notice of his outlawry. Njal rides to Gunnar's home, tells -him of it, and offers his sons' aid, to come and dwell with him: "they -will lay down their lives for thy life." - -"I will not," says Gunnar, "that thy sons should be slain for my sake, and -thou hast a right to look for other things from me." - -Njal rode to his home, while Gunnar's enemies gathered and moved secretly -to his house. His hound, struck down with an axe, gives a great howl and -expires. Gunnar awoke in his hall, and said: "Thou hast been sorely -treated, Sam, my fosterling, and this warning is so meant that our two -deaths will not be far apart." Single-handed, the beset chieftain -maintains himself within, killing two of his enemies and wounding eight. -At last, wounded, and with his bowstring cut, he turns to his wife -Hallgerda: "Give me two locks of thy hair, and do thou and my mother twist -them into a bowstring for me." - -"Does aught lie on it?" she says. - -"My life lies on it," he said; "for they will never come to close quarters -with me if I can keep them off with my bow." - -"Well," she says, "now I will call to thy mind that slap on the face which -thou gavest me; and I care never a whit whether thou holdest out a long -while or a short." - -Then Gunnar sang a stave, and said, "Every one has something to boast of, -and I will ask thee no more for this." He fought on till spent with -wounds, and at last they killed him. - -Here the Njála may be left with its good men and true and its evil -plotters, all so differently shown. It has still to tell the story and -fate of Njal's unbending sons, of Njal himself and his high-tempered dame, -who will abide with her spouse in their burning house, which enemies have -surrounded and set on fire to destroy those sons. Njal himself was offered -safety if he would come out, but he would not. - -Perhaps we have been beguiled by their unique literary qualities into -dwelling overlong upon the Sagas. These Norse compositions belong to the -Middle Ages only in time; for they were uninfluenced either by -Christianity or the antique culture, the formative elements of mediaeval -development. They are interesting in their aloofness, and also important -for our mediaeval theme, because they were the ultimate as well as the -most admirable expression of the native Teutonic genius as yet integral, -but destined to have mighty part in the composite course of mediaeval -growth. More specifically they are the voice of that falcon race which -came from the Norseland to stock England with fresh strains of Danish -blood, to conquer Normandy, and give new courage to the -Celtic-German-Frenchmen, and thence went on to bring its hardihood, war -cunning, and keen statecraft to southern Italy and Sicily. In all these -countries the Norse nature, supple and pliant, accepted the gifts of new -experience, and in return imparted strength of purpose to peoples with -whom the Norsemen mingled in marriage as well as war. - -This chapter has shown Teutonic faculties still integral and unmodified by -Latin Christian influence. Their participation in the processes of -mediaeval development will be seen as Anglo-Saxons and Germans become -converted to Latin Christianity, and apply themselves to the study of the -profane Latinity, to which it opened the way. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE BRINGING OF CHRISTIANITY AND ANTIQUE KNOWLEDGE TO THE NORTHERN PEOPLES - - I. IRISH ACTIVITIES; COLUMBANUS OF LUXEUIL. - - II. CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH; THE LEARNING OF BEDE AND ALFRED. - - III. GAUL AND GERMANY; FROM CLOVIS TO ST. WINIFRIED-BONIFACE. - - -The northern peoples, Celts and Teutons for the most part as they are -called, came into contact with Roman civilization as the great Republic -brought Gaul and Britain under its rule. Since Rome was still pagan when -these lands were made provinces, an unchristianized Latinity was grafted -upon their predominantly Celtic populations. The second stage, as it were, -of this contact between Rome and the north, is represented by that influx -of barbarians, mostly Teutonic, which, in both senses of the word, -_quickened_ the disruption of the Empire in the fourth and following -centuries. The religion called after the name of Christ had then been -accepted; and invading Goths, Franks, Burgundians, Lombards, and the rest, -were introduced to a somewhat Christianized Latindom. Indeed, in the -Latin-Christian combination, the latter was becoming dominant, and was -soon to be the active influence in extending even the antique culture. For -Christianity, with Latinity in its train, was to project itself outward to -subjugate heathen Anglo-Saxons in England, Frisians in the Low Countries, -and the unkempt Teutondom which roved east of the Rhine, and was ever -pressing southward over the boundaries of former provinces, now reverting -to unrest. In past times the assimilating energy of Roman civilization had -united western Europe in a common social order. Henceforth Christianity -was to be the prime amalgamator, while the survivals of Roman -institutions and the remnants of antique culture were to assist in -secondary rôles. With Charles Martell, with Pippin, and with Charlemagne, -Latin Christianity is the symbol of civilized order, while heathendom and -savagery are identical. - - -I - -The conversion of the northern peoples, and their incidental introduction -to profane knowledge, wrought upon them deeply; while their own qualities -and the conditions of their lives affected their understanding of what -they received and their attitude toward the new religion. Obviously the -dissemination of Christianity among rude peoples would be unlike that -first spreading of the Gospel through the Empire, in the course of which -it had been transformed to Greek and Latin Christianity. Italy, Spain, and -Gaul made the western region of this primary diffusion of the Faith. Of a -distinctly missionary character were the further labours which resulted in -the conversion of the fresh masses of Teutons who were breaking into the -Roman pale, or were still moving restlessly beyond it. Moreover, between -the time of the first diffusion of Christianity within the Empire and that -of its missionary extension beyond those now decayed and fallen -boundaries, it had been formulated dogmatically, and given ecclesiastical -embodiment in a Catholic church into which had passed the conquering and -organizing genius of Rome. This finished system was presented to simple -peoples, sanctioned by the authority and dowered with the surviving -culture of the civilized world. It offered them mightier supernatural aid, -nobler knowledge, and a better ordering of life than they had known. The -manner and authority of its presentation hastened its acceptance, and also -determined the attitude toward it of the new converts and their children -for generations. Theirs was to be the attitude of ignorance before -recognized wisdom, and that of a docility which revered the manner and -form as well as the substance of its lesson. The development of mediaeval -Europe was affected by the mode and circumstances of this secondary -propagation of Christianity. For centuries the northern peoples were to -be held in tutelage to the form and constitution of that which they had -received: they continued to revere the patristic sources of Christian -doctrines, and to look with awe upon the profane culture accompanying -them. - -Thus, as under authority, Christianity came to the Teutonic peoples, even -to those who, like the Goths, were converted to the Arian creed. Likewise -the orthodox belief was brought to the Celtic Britons and Irish as a -superior religion associated with superior culture. But the qualities or -circumstances of these western Celts reacted more freely upon their form -of faith, because Ireland and Britain were the fringe of the world, and -Christianity was hardly fixed in dogma and ritual when the conversion at -least of Britain began. - -Certain phrases of Tertullian indicate that Christianity had made some -progress among the Britons by the beginning of the third century. For the -next hundred years nothing is known of the British Church, save that it -did not suffer from the persecution under Diocletian in 304, and ten years -afterwards was represented by three bishops at the Council of Arles. It -was orthodox, accepting the creed of Nicaea (A.D. 325) and the date of -Easter there fixed. The fourth century seems to have been the period of -its prosperity. It was affiliated with the Church of Gaul; nor did these -relations cease at once when the Roman legions were withdrawn from Britain -in 410. But not many decades later the Saxon invasion began to cut off -Britain from the Christian world. After a while certain divergences appear -in rite and custom, though not in doctrine. They seem not to have been -serious when Gildas wrote in 550. Yet when Augustine came, fifty years -later, the Britons celebrated Easter at a different date from that -observed by the Roman Catholic Church; for they followed the old -computation which Rome had used before adopting the better method of -Alexandria. Also the mode of baptism and the tonsure differed from the -Roman. - -At the close of the sixth century the British Church existed chiefly in -Wales, whither the Britons had retreated before the Saxons. Formerly there -had been no unwillingness to follow the Church of Rome. But now a long -period had elapsed, during which Britain had been left to its misfortunes. -The Britons had been raided and harassed; their country invaded; and at -last they had been driven from the greater portion of their land. How they -hated those Saxon conquerors! And forsooth a Roman mission appears to -convert those damned and hateful heathen, and a somewhat haughty summons -issues to the expelled or downtrodden people to abandon their own -Christian usages for those of the Roman communion, and then join this -Roman mission in its saving work among those Saxons whom the Britons had -met only at the spear's point. Love of ancient and familiar customs soured -to obstinacy in the face of such demands; a sweeping rejection was -returned. Yet to conform to Roman usages and join with Augustine in his -mission to the Saxons, was the only way in which the dwindling British -Church could link itself to the Christian world, and save its people from -exterminating wars. By refusing, it committed suicide. - -A refusal to conform, although no refusal to undertake missions to the -Saxons, came from the Irish-Scottish Church. As Ireland had never been -drawn within the Roman world, its conversion was later than that of -Britain. Yet there would seem to have been Christians in Ireland before -431; for in that year, according to an older record quoted by Bede, -Palladius, the first bishop (_primus episcopus_), was sent by Celestine -the Roman pontiff "ad Scottos in Christum credentes."[201] The mission of -Palladius does not appear to have been acceptable to the Irish. Some -accounts have confused his story with that of Patrick, the "Apostle of -Ireland," whose apostolic glory has not been overthrown by criticism. The -more authentic accounts, and above all his own _Confession_, go far to -explain Patrick's success. His early manhood, passed as a slave in Antrim, -gave him understanding of the Irish; and doubtless his was a great -missionary capacity and zeal. The natural approach to such a people was -through their tribal kings, and Patrick appears to have made his prime -onslaught upon Druidical heathendom at Tara, the abode of the high king of -Ireland. The earliest accounts do not refer to any authority from Rome. -Patrick seems to have acted from spontaneous inspiration; and a like -independence characterizes the monastic Christianity which sprang up in -Ireland and overleapt the water to Iona, to Christianize Scotland as well -as northern Anglo-Saxon heathendom. - -Irish monasticism was an ascetically ordered continuance of Irish society. -If, like other early western monasticism, it derived suggestions from -Syria or Egypt, it was far more the product of Irish temperament, customs, -and conditions. One may also find a potent source in the monastic -communities alleged to have existed in Ireland in the days of the Druids. -Doubtless many members of that caste became Christian monks. - -The noblest passion of Irish monastic Christianity was to _peregrinare_ -for the sake of Christ, and spread the Faith among the heathen; the most -interesting episodes of its history are the wanderings and missionary -labours and foundations of its leaders. The careers of Columba and -Columbanus afford grandiose examples. Something has been said of the -former. The monastery which he founded on the Island of Iona was the -Faith's fountainhead for Scotland and the Saxon north of England in the -sixth and seventh centuries. About the time of Columba's birth, men from -Dalriada on the north coast of Ireland crossed the water to found another -Dalriada in the present Argyleshire, and transfer the name of Scotia -(Ireland) to Scotland. When Columba landed at Iona, these settlers were -hard pressed by the heathen Picts under King Brude or Bridius. Accompanied -by two Pictish Christians, he penetrated to Brude's dwelling, near the -modern Inverness, converted that monarch in 565, and averted the overthrow -of Dalriada. For the next thirty years Columba and his monks did not cease -from their labours; numbers of monasteries were founded, daughters of -Iona; and great parts of Scotland became Christian at least in name. The -supreme authority was the Abbot of Iona with his council of monks; -"bishops" performed their functions under him. Early in the seventh -century, St. Aidan was ordained bishop in Iona and sent to convert the -Anglo-Saxons of Northumberland. The story of the Irish Church in the north -is one of effective mission work, but unsuccessful organization, wherein -it was inferior to the Roman Church. Its representatives suffered defeat -at the Synod of Whitby in 664. Fifty years afterward Iona gave up its -separate usages and accepted the Roman Easter.[202] - -The missionary labours of the Irish were not confined to Great Britain, -but extended far and wide through the west of Europe. In the sixth and -seventh centuries, Irish monasteries were founded in Austrasia and -Burgundy, Italy, Switzerland, Bavaria; they were established among -Frisians, Saxons, Alemanni. And as centres of Latin education as well as -Christianity, the names of Bobbio and St. Gall will occur to every one. Of -these, the first directly and the second through a disciple were due to -Columbanus. With him we enter the larger avenues of Irish missions to the -heathen, the semi-heathen, and the lax, and upon the question of their -efficacy in the preservation of Latin education throughout the rent and -driven fragments of the western Roman Empire. The story of Columban's life -is illuminating and amusing.[203] - -He was born in Leinster. While yet a boy he felt the conflict between -fleshly lusts and that counter-ascetic passion which throughout the -Christian world was drawing thousands into monasteries. Asceticism, with -desire for knowledge, won the victory, and the youth entered the monastery -of Bangor, in the extreme north-east of Ireland. There he passed years of -labour, study, and self-mortification. At length the pilgrim -mission-passion came upon him (_coepit peregrinationem desiderare_) and -his importunity overcame the abbot's reluctance to let him depart. Twelve -disciples are said to have followed him across the water to the shores of -Britain. There they hesitated in anxious doubt, till it was decided to -cross to Gaul. - -This was about the year 590. Columban's austere and commanding form, his -fearlessness, his quick and fiery tongue, impressed the people among whom -he came. Reports of his holiness spread; multitudes sought his blessing. -He traversed the country, preaching and setting his own stern example, -until he reached the land of the Burgundians, where Gontran, a grandson of -Clovis, reigned. Well received by this ruler, Columban established himself -in an old castle. His disciples grew in numbers, and after a while Gontran -granted him an extensive Roman structure called Luxovium (Luxeuil) -situated at the confines of the Burgundian and Austrasian kingdoms. -Columban converted this into a monastery, and it soon included many noble -Franks and Burgundians among its monks. For them he composed a monastic -_regula_, stern and cruel in its penalties of many stripes imposed for -trivial faults. "Whoever may wish to know his strenuousness -(_strenuitatem_) will find it in his precepts," writes the monk Jonas, who -had lived under him. - -The strenuousness of this masterful and overbearing man was displayed in -his controversy with the Gallican clergy, upon whom he tried to impose the -Easter day observed by the Celtic Church in the British Isles. In his -letter to the Gallican synod, he points out their errors, and lectures -them on their Christian duties, asking pardon at the end for his loquacity -and presumption. Years afterwards, entering upon another controversy, he -wrote an extraordinary letter to Pope Boniface IV. The superscription is -Hibernian: "To the most beautiful head of all the churches of entire -Europe, the most sweet pope, the most high president, the most reverent -investigator: O marvellous! mirum dictu! nova res! rara avis!--that the -lowest to the loftiest, the clown to the polite, the stammerer to the -prince of eloquence, the stranger to the son of the house, the last to the -first, that the Wood-pigeon (Palumbus) should dare to write to Father -Boniface!" Whereupon this Wood-pigeon writes a long letter in which -belligerent expostulation alternates with self-debasement. He dubs himself -"garrulus, presumptuosus, homunculus vilissimae qualitatis," who caps his -impudence by writing unrequested. He implores pardon for his harsh and too -biting speech, while he deplores--to him who sat thereon--the _infamia_ of -Peter's Seat, and shrills to the Pope to watch: "Vigila itaque, quaeso, -papa, vigila; et iterum dico: vigila"; and he marvels at the Pope's lethal -sleep. - -One who thus berated pope and clergy might be censorious of princes. -Gontran died. After various dynastic troubles, the Burgundian land came -under the rule nominally of young Theuderic, but actually of his imperious -grandmother, the famous Brunhilde. In order that no queen-wife's power -should supplant her own, she encouraged her grandson to content himself -with mistresses. The youth stood in awe of the stern old figure ruling at -Luxeuil, who more than once reproved him for not wedding a lawful queen. -It happened one day when Columban was at Brunhilde's residence that she -brought out Theuderic's various sons for him to bless. "Never shall -sceptre be held by this brothel-brood," said he. - -Henceforth it was war between these two: Theuderic was the pivot of the -storm; the one worked upon his fears, the other played upon his lusts. -Brunhilde prevailed. She incited the king to insist that Luxeuil be made -open to all, and with his retinue to push his way into the monastery. The -saint withstood him fiercely, and prophesied his ruin. The king drew back; -the saint followed, heaping reproaches on him, till the young king said -with some self-restraint: "You hope to win the crown of martyrdom through -me. But I am not a lunatic, to commit such a crime. I have a better plan: -since you won't fall in with the ways of men of the world, you shall go -back by the road you came." - -So the king sent his retainers to seize the stubborn saint. They took him -as a prisoner to Besançon. He escaped, and hurried back to Luxeuil. Again -the king sent, this time a count with soldiers, to drive him from the -land. They feared the sacrilege of laying hands on the old man. In the -church, surrounded by his monks praying and singing psalms, he awaited -them. "O man of God," cried the count, "we beseech thee to obey the royal -command, and take thy way to the place from which thou earnest." "Nay, I -will rather please my Creator, by abiding here," returned the saint. The -count retired, leaving a few rough soldiers to carry out the king's will. -These, still fearing to use violence, begged the saint to take pity on -them, unjustly burdened with this evil task--to disobey their orders meant -their death. The saint reiterates his determination to abide, till they -fall on their knees, cling to his robe, and with groans implore his pardon -for the crime they must execute. - -From pity the saint yields at last, and a company of the king's men make -ready and escort him from the kingdom westward toward Brittany. Many -miracles mark the journey. They reach the Loire, and embark on it. -Proceeding down the river they come to Tours, where the saint asks to be -allowed to land and worship at St. Martin's shrine. The leader bids the -rowers keep the middle of the stream and row on. But the boat resistlessly -made its way to the landing-place. Columban passed the night at the -shrine, and the next day was hospitably entertained by the bishop, who -inquired why he was returning to his native land. "The dog Theuderic has -driven me from my brethren," answered the saint. At last Nantes was -reached near the mouth of the Loire, where the vessel was waiting to carry -the exile back to Ireland. Columban wrote a letter to his monks, in which -he poured forth his love to them with much advice as to their future -conduct. The letter is filled with grief--suppressed lest it unman his -beloved children. "While I write, the messenger comes to say that the ship -is ready to bear me, unwilling, to my country. But there is no guard to -prevent my escape, and these people even seem to wish it." - -The letter ends, but not the story. Columban did not sail for Ireland. -Jonas says that the vessel was miraculously impeded, and that then -Columban was permitted to go whither he would. So the dauntless old man -travelled back from the sea, and went to the Neustrian Court, the people -along the way bringing him their children to bless. He did not rest in -Neustria, for the desire was upon him to preach to the heathen. Making his -way to the Rhine, he embarked near Mainz, ascended the river, and at last -established himself, with his disciples, upon the lake of Constance. There -they preached to the heathen, and threw their idols into the lake. He had -the thought to preach to the Wends, but this was not to be. - -The time soon came when all Austrasia fell into the hands of Brunhilde and -Theuderic, and Columbanus decided to cross over into northern Italy, -breaking out in anger at his disciple Gall, who was too sick to go with -him. With other disciples he made the arduous journey, and reached the -land of the Lombards. King Agilulf made him a gift of Bobbio, lying in a -gorge of the Apennines near Genoa, and there he founded the monastery -which long was to be a stronghold of letters. For himself, his career was -well-nigh run; he retired to a solitary spot on the banks of the river -Trebbia, where he passed away, being, apparently, some seventy years of -age. - -It may seem surprising that this strenuous ascetic should occasionally -have occupied a leisure hour writing Latin poems in imitation of the -antique. There still exists such an effusion to a friend: - - "Accipe, quaeso, - Nunc bipedali - Condita versu - Carminulorum - Munera parva." - -The verses consist mainly of classic allusions and advice of an antique -rather than a Christian flavour: the wise will cease to add coin to coin, -and will despise wealth, but not the pastime of such verse as the - - "Inclyta Vates - Nomine Sappho" - -was wont to make. "Now, dear Fedolius, quit learned numbers and accept our -squibs--_frivola nostra_. I have dictated them oppressed with pain and old -age: 'Vive, vale, laetus, tristisque memento senectae.'" The last is a -pagan reminiscence, which the saint's Christian soul may not have deeply -felt. But the poem shows the saint's classic training, which probably was -exceptional. For there is no evidence of like knowledge in any Irishman -before him; and after his time, in the seventh century, or the eighth, -Latin education in Ireland was confined to a few monastic centres. A small -minority studied the profanities, sometimes because they liked them, but -oftener as the means of proficiency in sacred learning. - -The Irish had cleverness, facility, ardour, and energy. They did much for -the dissemination of Christianity and letters. Their deficiency was lack -of organization; and they had but little capacity for ordered discipline -humbly and obediently accepted from others. Consequently, when the period -of evangelization was past in western Europe, and organization was needed, -with united and persistent effort for order, the Irish ceased to lead or -even to keep pace with those to whom once they had brought the Gospel. In -Anglo-Saxon England and on the Carolingian continent they became strains -of influence handed on. This was the fortune which overtook them as -illuminators of manuscripts and preservers of knowledge. Their emotional -traits, moreover, entered the larger currents of mediaeval feeling and -imagination. Strains of the Irish, or of a kindred Celtic temperament -passed on into such "Breton" matters as the Tristan story, wherein love is -passion unrestrained, and is more distinctly out of relationship with -ethical considerations than, for example, the equally adulterous tale of -Lancelot and Guinevere.[204] - - -II - -The Saxon invasions of the fifth and sixth centuries drove Christianity -and letters from the land where the semi-Romanized Britons and their -church had flourished. To reconvert and instruct anew a relapsed heathen -country was the task which Gregory the Great laid on the willing -Augustine. The story of that famous mission (A.D. 597) need not be -told;[205] but we may note the manner of the presentation of Christianity -to the heathen Saxons, and the temper of its reception. Most impressive -was this bringing of the Faith. Augustine and his band of monks came as a -stately embassy from Rome, the traditionary centre of imperial and -spiritual power. Their coming was a solemn call to the English to -associate themselves with all that was most august and authoritative in -heaven and earth. According to Bede, Augustine sent a messenger to -Ethelbert, the Kentish king, to announce that he had come from Rome -bearing the best of messages, and would assure to such as hearkened, -eternal joys in heaven and dominion without end with the living and true -God. To Ethelbert, whose kingdom lay at the edge of the great world, the -message came from this world's sovereign pontiff, who in some awful way -represented its almighty God, and had authority to admit to His kingdom. -He was not ignorant of what lay within the hand of Rome to give. His wife -was a Catholic Christian, daughter of a Frankish king, and had her own -ministering bishop. Doubtless the queen had spoken with her lord. Still -Ethelbert feared the spell-craft of this awe-inspiring embassy, and would -meet Augustine only under the open sky. Augustine came to the meeting, a -silver cross borne before him as a banner, and the pictured image of -Christ, his monks singing litanies and loudly supplicating their Lord for -the king's and their own salvation. Knowledge, authority, supernatural -power, were represented here. And how could the king fail to be struck by -the nobility of Augustine's Gospel message, by its clear assurance, its -love and terror,[206] so overwhelming and convincing, so far outsoaring -Ethelbert's heathen religion? To be sure, in Christian love and -forgiveness lay some reversal of Saxon morality, for instance of the duty -of revenge. But this was not prominent in the Christianity of the day; and -experience was to show that only in isolated instances did this teaching -impede the acceptance of the Gospel.[207] - -Ethelbert spoke these missionaries fair; accorded them a habitation in -Canterbury with the privilege of celebrating their Christian rites and -preaching to his people. There they abode, zealous in vigils and fastings, -and preaching the word of life. Certain heathen men were converted, then -the king, and then his folk in multitudes--the usual way. Under the -direction of Gregory, Augustine proceeded with that combination of -insistence, dignity, and tolerance, so well understood in the Roman -Church. There was insistence upon the main doctrines and requirements of -the Faith--upon the Roman Easter day and baptism, as against the practices -of the British Church. Tolerance was shown respecting heathen fanes and -sacrificial feastings; the fanes should be reconsecrated as Christian -churches; the feasts should be continued in honour of the true God.[208] - -Besides zeal and knowledge and authority, miracles advanced Augustine's -enterprise. To eliminate by any sweeping negation the miraculous element -from the causes of success of such a mission is to close the eyes to the -situation. All men expected miracles; Gregory who sent Augustine was -infatuated with them. Augustine performed them, or believed he did, and -others believed it too. Throughout these centuries, and indeed late into -the mediaeval period, the power and habit of working miracles constituted -sainthood in the hermit or the monk, thereby singled out as the special -instrument of God's will or the Virgin's kindness. Of course miracles were -ascribed to the great missionary apostles like Augustine or Boniface; and -this conviction brought many conversions. - -Among the heathen English about to be converted, there was diversity of -view and mood as to the Faith. They stood in awe of these newcomers from -Rome, fearing their spell-craft. From their old religion they had sought -earthly victory and prosperity; and some had found it of uncertain aid. -"See, king, how this matter stands," says Coifi, at the Northumbrian -Witenagemot held by Edwin to decide as to the new religion: "I have -learned of a certainty that there is no virtue or utility whatever in that -religion which we have been following. None of your thanes has slaved in -the worship of our gods more zealously than I. Yet many have had greater -rewards and dignities from you, and in every way have prospered more. Were -the gods worth anything, they would wish rather to aid me, who have been -so zealous in serving them. So if these new teachings are better and -stronger, let us accept them at once."[209] Coifi expressed the common -motives of converts of all nations from the time of Constantine. No better -thought of Christian expediency had inspired Gregory of Tours's story of -Clovis's career; and Bede in no way condemns Coifi's _verba prudentiae_, -as he terms them. Naturally in times of adversity such converts were quick -to abandon their new religion, proved ineffectual.[210] - -Among these Angles of Northumberland, however, finer souls were looking -for light and certitude. Such a one was that thane who followed Coifi with -the wonderful illustration of man's mortal need of enlightenment, the -thane for whom life was as the swallow flying through the warmed and -lighted hall, from the dark cold into the dark cold: "So this life of men -comes into sight for a little; we are ignorant of what shall follow or -what may have preceded. If this new doctrine offers anything more certain, -I think we should follow it." The heathen poetry had given varied voice to -this contemplative melancholy so wont to dwell on life's untoward changes; -and there was ghostly evidence of the other world before the coming of the -Roman monks. Now, as those monks came with authority from the traditionary -home of ghostly lore, why question their knowledge of the life beyond the -grave? Many Anglo-Saxons were prepared to fix their gaze upon a life to -come and to let their fancies fill with visions of the great last -severance unto heaven and hell. When once impressed by the monastic -Christianity[211] of the Roman, or the Irish, mission, they were quick to -throw themselves into the ascetic life which most surely opened heaven's -doors. So many a noble thane became an anchorite or a monk, many a noble -dame became a nun; and Saxon kings forsook their kingdoms for the -cloister: "Cenred, who for some time had reigned most nobly in Mercia, -still more nobly abandoned his sceptre. For he came to Rome, and there was -tonsured and made a monk at the church of the Apostles, and continued in -prayers and fastings and almsgiving until his last day."[212] - -As might be expected, the re-expression of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon -writings was martial and emotional. A martial tone pervades the epic -paraphrases of Scripture, the Anglo-Saxon _Genesis_ for example. On the -other hand, adaptations of devotional Latin compositions[213] evince a -realization of Christian feeling and prevalent ascetic sentiments. The -"elegiac" Anglo-Saxon feeling seems to reach its height in a more original -composition, the _Christ_ of Cynewulf, while the emotional fervour coming -with Christianity is disclosed in Bede's account of the inspiration which -fell upon the cowherd Cædmon, in St. Hilda's monastery of Whitby, to sing -the story of creation.[214] A pervasive monastic atmosphere also surrounds -the visions of hell and purgatory, which were to continue so typically -characteristic of monastic Christianity.[215] - -What knowledge, sacred and profane, came to the Anglo-Saxons with -Christianity? Quite properly learned were Augustine and the other -organizers of the English Church. Two generations after him, the Greek -monk Theodore was sent by the Pope to become Archbishop of Canterbury, -complete Augustine's work, and instruct the English monks and clergy. -Theodore was accompanied by his friend Hadrian, as learned as himself. -Their labours finally established Roman Christianity in England. The two -drew about them a band of students, and formed at Canterbury a school of -sacred learning, where liberal studies were conducted by these foreigners -with a knowledge and intelligence novel in Great Britain. In the north, -Benedict Biscop, a Northumbrian, promoted the ends of Roman Catholicism -and learning by establishing the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow under -the monastic _regula_ of St. Benedict of Nursia, as modified by the -practices of continental monasteries in the seventh century. He had been -in Italy, and brought thence many books. It was among these books that -Bede grew up at Jarrow. - -Thus strong currents of Roman ecclesiasticism and liberal knowledge -reached England. On the other hand, Irish monastic Christianity had -already made its entry in the south-western part of Great Britain, and -with greater strength established itself in the north, converting -multitudes to the Faith and instructing such as would learn. The Irish -teaching had been eagerly received by those groups of Anglo-Saxons who -henceforth were to prosecute their studies with the aid of the further -knowledge and discipline brought from the Continent by Theodore. Some of -them had even journeyed to Ireland to study. - -From this dual source was drawn the education of Aldhelm. He was born in -Wessex about the year 650, and was nephew of the powerful King Ini. He -became abbot of Malmesbury in 675. An Irish monk was his first teacher; -his second, the learned Hadrian. From the two he received a broader -education than any Anglo-Saxon had possessed before him. Always holding in -view the perfecting of his sacred knowledge, he studied grammar and -kindred topics, produced treatises himself, and as a Catholic student and -teacher was a true forerunner of the greatest scholar among his younger -contemporaries, Bede.[216] - -Bede the Venerable, and we may add the still beloved, was Aldhelm's junior -by some twenty-five years. He was born in 673 and died in 735. He passed -his whole life reading, teaching, and writing in the Cloister of Jarrow -near where he was born, and not far from where, beneath the "Galilee" of -Durham Cathedral, his bones have long reposed. Back of him was the double -tradition of learning, the Irish and the Graeco-Roman. Through a long life -of pious study, Bede drew into his mind, and incorporated in his writings, -practically the total sum of knowledge then accessible in western Europe. -He stands between the great Latin transmitters (Boëthius, Cassiodorus, -Gregory and Isidore) and the epoch known as the Carolingian. He was -himself a transmitter of knowledge to that later time. If in spirit, race, -epoch and circumstances, Aldhelm was Bede's direct forerunner, Bede had -also a notable predecessor in Isidore. The writings of the Spanish bishop -contributed substance and suggestions of plan and method to the -Anglo-Saxon monk, whose works embrace practically the same series of -topics as Isidore's, whose intellectual interests also, and attitude -toward the Church Fathers, appear the same. But Bede was the more genial -personality, and could not help imbuing his compositions with something -from his own temperament. Even in his Commentaries upon the books of -Scripture, which were made up principally of borrowed allegorical -interpretations, there is common sense and some endeavour to present the -actual meaning and situation.[217] But he disclaimed originality, as he -says in the preface to his Commentary on the Hexaemeron, addressed to -Bishop Acca of Hexham: - - "Concerning the beginning of Genesis where the creation of the world - is described, many have said much, and have left to posterity - monuments of their talents. Among these, as far as our feebleness can - learn, we may distinguish Basil of Caesarea (whom Eustathius - translated from Greek to Latin), Ambrose of Milan, and Augustine, - Bishop of Hippo. Of whom the first-named in nine books, the second - following his footprints in six books, the third in twelve books and - also in two others directed against the Manichaeans, shed floods of - salutary doctrine for their readers; and in them the promise of the - Truth was fulfilled: 'Whoso believeth in me, as the Scripture saith, - out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water....' But since - these works are so great that only the rich may own them, and so - profound that they may be fathomed only by the learned, your holiness - has seen fit to lay on us the task of plucking from them all, as from - the sweetest wide-flowering fields of paradise, what might seem to - meet the needs of weaklings."[218] - -Bede was also a lovely story-teller. His literary charm and power appear -in his Life of St. Cuthbert, and still more in his ever-famous -_Ecclesiastical History of the English People_, so warm with love of -mankind, and presenting so wonderful a series of dramatic stories animate -with vital motive and the colour of incident and circumstance. Midway -between the spontaneous genius of this work and the copied Scripture -Commentary, stand Bede's grammatical, metrical, and scientific -compositions, compiled with studious zeal. They evince a broad interest in -scholarship and in nature. Still, neither material nor method was -original. For instance, his _De rerum natura_ took its plan and much of -its substance from Isidore's work of the same name. Bede has, however, put -in further matter and made his work less of a mere shell of words than -Isidore's. For he is interested in connecting natural occurrences with -their causes, stating, for example, that the tides depend on the -moon.[219] In this work as in his other _opera didascalica_, like the _De -temporum ratione_ and his learned _De arte metrica_,[220] he shows himself -a more intelligent student than his Spanish predecessor. Yet he drew -everything from some written source. - -One need not wonder at the voluminousness of Bede's literary -productions.[221] Many of the writings emanating from monasteries are -transcriptions rather than compositions. The circumstance that books, -_i.e._ manuscripts, were rare and costly was an impelling motive. Isidore -and Bede made systematic compilations for general use. They and their -congeners would also make extracts from manuscripts, of which they might -have but the loan, or from unique codices in order to preserve the -contents. Such notes or excerpts might have the value of a treatise, and -might be preserved and in turn transcribed as a distinct work. Yet whether -made by a Bede or by a lesser man, they represent mainly the labour of a -copyist. - -Bede's writings were all in Latin, and were intended for the instruction -of monks. They played a most important rôle in the transmission of -learning, sacred and profane, in Latin form. For its still more popular -diffusion, translations into the vernacular might be demanded. Such at all -events were made of Scripture; and perhaps a century and a half after -Bede's death, the translation of edifying Latin books was undertaken by -the best of Saxon kings. King Alfred was born in 849 and closed his eyes -in 901. In the midst of other royal labours he set himself the task of -placing before his people, or at least his clergy, Anglo-Saxon versions of -some of the then most highly regarded volumes of instruction. The wise -_Pastoral Care_ of Gregory the Great; his _Dialogues_, less wise according -to our views; the _Histories_ of Orosius[222] and Bede; and that -philosophic vade-mecum of the Middle Ages, the _De consolatione -philosophiae_ of Boëthius. Of these, Alfred translated the _Pastoral Care_ -and the _De consolatione_, also Orosius; the other works appear to have -been translated at his direction.[223] Alfred's translations contain his -own reflections and other matter not in the originals. In rendering -Orosius, he rewrote the geographical introduction, inserted a description -of Germany and accounts of northern Europe given by two of his Norse -liegemen, Ohthere and Wulfstan. The alertness of his mind is shown by this -insertion of the latest geographical knowledge. Other and more personal -passages will disclose his purpose, and illustrate the manner in which his -Christianized intelligence worked upon trains of thought suggested perhaps -by the Latin writing before him. - -Alfred's often-quoted preface to Gregory's _Pastoral Care_ tells his -reasons for undertaking its translation, and sets forth the condition of -England. He speaks of the "wise men there formerly were throughout -England, both of sacred and secular orders," and of their zeal in learning -and teaching and serving God; and how foreigners came to the land in -search of wisdom and instruction. But "when I came to the throne," so -general was the decay of learning in England "that there were very few on -this side of the Humber who could understand their rituals in English, or -translate a letter from Latin into English; and I believe there were not -many beyond the Humber.... Thanks be to God Almighty that we have any -teachers among us now." Alfred therefore commands the bishop, to whom he -is now sending the copy, to disengage himself as often as possible from -worldly matters, and apply the Christian wisdom God has given him. "I -remembered also how I saw, before it had been all ravaged and burnt, how -the churches throughout the whole of England stood filled with treasures -and books, and there was also a great multitude of God's servants, but -they had very little knowledge of books, for they could not understand -anything of them because they were not written in their own language." It -therefore seemed wise to me "to translate some books which are most -needful for all men to know, into the language which we can all -understand, and ... that all the youth now in England of free men, who are -rich enough to be able to devote themselves to it, be set to learn so long -as they are not fit for any other occupation, until that they are well -able to read English writing: and let those be afterwards taught more in -the Latin language who are to continue learning and be promoted to a -higher rank." - -In the _De consolatione_ of Boëthius, the antique pagan thought, softened -with human sympathy, and in need of such comfort and assurance as was -offered by the Faith, is found occupied with questions (like that of -free-will) prominent in Christianity. The book presented meditations which -were so consonant with Christian views that its Christian readers from -Alfred to Dante mistook them for Christian sentiments, and added further -meanings naturally occurring to the Christian soul. Alfred's reflections -in his version of the _De consolatione_ are very personal to Saxon Alfred -and show how he took his life and kingly office: - - "O Philosophy, thou knowest that I never greatly delighted in - covetousness and the possession of earthly power, nor longed for this - authority"--so far Boëthius,[224] and now Alfred himself: "but I - desired instruments and materials to carry out the work I was set to - do, which was that I should virtuously and fittingly administer the - authority committed unto me. Now no man, as thou knowest, can get full - play for his natural gifts, nor conduct and administer government, - unless he hath fit tools, and the raw material to work upon. By - material I mean that which is necessary to the exercise of natural - powers; thus a king's raw material and instruments of rule are a - well-peopled land, and he must have men of prayer, men of war, and men - of work. As thou knowest, without these tools no king may display his - special talent. Further, for his materials he must have means of - support for the three classes above spoken of, which are his - instruments; and these means are land to dwell in, gifts, weapons, - meat, ale, clothing, and what else soever the three classes need. - Without these means he cannot keep his tools in order, and without - these tools he cannot perform any of the tasks entrusted to him. [I - have desired material for the exercise of government that my talents - and my power might not be forgotten and hidden away[225]] for every - good gift and every power soon groweth old and is no more heard of, if - Wisdom be not in them. Without Wisdom no faculty can be fully brought - out, for whatsoever is done unwisely can never be accounted as skill. - To be brief, I may say that it has ever been my desire to live - honourably while I was alive, and after my death to leave to them that - should come after me my memory in good works." - -The last sentence needs no comment. But those preceding it will be -illuminated by another passage inserted by Alfred: - - "Therefore it is that a man never by his authority attains to virtue - and excellence, but by reason of his virtue and excellence he attains - to authority and power. No man is better for his power, but for his - skill he is good, if he is good, and for his skill he is worthy of - power, if he is worthy of it. Study Wisdom then, and, when ye have - learned it, contemn it not, for I tell you that by its means ye may - without fail attain to power, yea, even though not desiring it." - -Perhaps from the teaching of his own life Alfred knew, as well as -Boëthius, the toil and sadness of power: "Though their false hope and -imagination lead fools to believe that power and wealth are the highest -good, yet it is quite otherwise." And again, speaking of friendship, he -says that Nature unites friends in love, "but by means of these worldly -goods and the wealth of this life we oftener make foes than friends," -which doubtless Alfred had discovered, as well as Marcus Aurelius. Perhaps -the Saxon king knew wherein lay peace, as he makes Wisdom say: "When I -rise aloft with these my servants, we look down upon the storms of this -world, even as the eagle does when he soars in stormy weather above the -clouds, where no storm can harm him." The king was thinking of man's peace -with God.[226] - - -III - -Christianity came to the cities of Provincia and the chief Roman colonies -of Gaul (Lyons, Trèves, Cologne) in the course of the original -dissemination of the Faith. There were Roman, Greek, or Syrian Christians -in these towns before the end of the second century. Early Gallic -Christianity spoke Greek and Latin, and its rather slow advance was due -partly to the tenacity of Celtic speech even in the cities; while outside -of them heathen speech and practices were scarcely touched. Through Gaul -and along the Rhine, the country in the main continued heathen in religion -and Celtic or Germanic in speech during the fifth century.[227] The -complete Latinizing of Gaul and the conversion of its rural population -proceeded from the urban churches, and from the labours and miracles of -anchorites and monks. In contrast with the decay of the municipal -governments, the urban churches continued living institutions. Their -bishops usually were men of energy. The episcopal office was elective, yet -likely to remain in the same influential family, and the bishop, the -leading man in the town, might be its virtual ruler. He represented -Christianity and Latin culture, and when Roman officials yielded to -Teutonic conquerors, the bishop was left as the spokesman of the -Gallo-Roman population. Thus the Gallic churches, far from succumbing -before the barbarian invasions, rescued and appropriated the derelict -functions of government, and emerged aggrandized from the political and -racial revolution. In the year 400 the city of Trèves was Latin in speech -and Roman in government; in the year 500 the Roman government had been -overthrown, and a German-speaking population predominated in what was left -of the city, but the church went on unchanged in constitution and in -language. - -There was constant intercourse between Teutons and Romans along the -northern boundaries of the Empire. In the Danube regions many of the -former were converted. The Goths, through the labours of Ulfilas and -others in the fourth century, became Arian Christians; their conversion -was of moment to themselves and others, but destiny severed the continuity -of its import for history. In the provinces of Rhaetia, Vindelicia, and -Noricum there were Christians, some of them Teutons, as early as the time -of Constantine. For the next century, when disruption of the Empire was in -full progress, the Life of St. Severinus by Eugippius, his disciple, gives -the picture.[228] Bits and fragments of Roman government endured; letters -were not quite quenched; but Alemanni and Rugii moved as they would, -marauding, besieging, and destroying. Everywhere there was uncertainty and -confusion, and yet civilized Roman provincials still clung to a driven -life. Through this mountain land, the monk Severinus went here and there, -barefoot even in ice and snow, austere, commanding. He encouraged the -townspeople to maintain decency and courage; he turned the barbarians from -ruthlessness. Clear-seeing, capable, his energies shielded the land. He -was an ascetic who took nothing for himself, and won men to the Faith by -this guarantee of disinterestedness. So he shepherded his harrowed flocks, -and more than once averted their destruction. But his arm was too feeble; -after his death even his cell was plundered, while the confusion swept on. - -Such were fifth-century conditions on the northern boundary of what had -been the Empire, conditions amid which the culture and doctrine germane to -Christianity went down, although the Faith still glimmered here and there. -Farther to the west, the Burgundians had gained a domicile in a land -sparsely tenanted by Roman and Catholic provincials. Here on the left bank -of the Rhine, in the neighbourhood of Worms, this people accepted the -Christianity which they found. Afterwards, in the year 430, their heathen -kin on the right bank were baptized as a people; for they hoped, through -aid from fellow-Christians, to ward off the destruction threatening from -the Huns. Yet five years later they were overthrown by those savage -riders--an overthrow out of which was to rise the _Nibelungenlied_. The -Burgundian remnants found a new home by the Rhone. - -The Christianity of Burgundians and Goths was subject to the vicissitudes -of their fortunes. The permanent conversion to Catholicism of the great -masses of the Germans commenced somewhat later, when the turmoil of -fifth-century migration was settling into contests for homes destined to -prove more lasting. Its beginning may be dated from the baptism of Clovis -as a Catholic on Christmas Day in the year 496. His retainers followed him -into the consecrated water. By reason of the king's genius for war and -politics, this event was the beginning of the final triumph of -Catholicism.[229] - -The baptism of Clovis and his followers was typical of early Teutonic -conversions. King and tribal following acted as a unit. Christ gave -victory; He was the mightier God: such was the crude form of the motive. -Its larger scope was grasped by the far-seeing king. Believing in -supernatural aid, he desired it from the mightiest source, which, he was -persuaded, was the Christian God. It was to be obtained by such homage to -Christ as heretofore the king had paid to Wuotan. Any doubt as to the -sincerity of his belief presupposes a point of view impossible for a -fifth-century barbarian. But to this sincere expectation of Christ's aid, -to be gained through baptism, Clovis joined careful consideration of the -political situation. Catholic Christianity was the religion of the -Gallo-Roman population forming the greater part of the Frankish king's -subjects. He knew of Arian peoples; probably attempts had been made to -draw him to their side. They constituted the great Teutonic powers at the -time; for Theodoric was the monarch of Italy, and Arian Teutons ruled in -southern France, in Spain, and Africa. Nevertheless, it was of paramount -importance for the establishment of his kingdom that there should be no -schism between the Franks and the Gallo-Roman people who exceeded them in -number and in wealth and culture. Catholic influences surrounded Clovis; -Catholic interests represented the wealth and prosperity of his dominions, -and when he decided to be baptized he did not waver between the Catholic -and the Arian belief. Thus the king attached to himself the civilized -population of his realm. A common Catholic faith quickly obliterated -racial antagonism within its boundaries and gained him the support of -Catholic church and people in the kingdoms of his Arian rivals. - -So under Clovis and his successors the Gallic Church became the Frankish -Church, and flourished exceedingly. Tithes were paid it, and gifts were -made by princes and nobles. Its lands increased, carrying their dependent -population, until the Church became the largest landholder in the -Merovingian realm. It was governed by Roman law, but the clergy were -subject to the penal jurisdiction of the king.[230] It was he that -summoned councils, although he did not vote, and left ecclesiastical -matters to the bishops, who were his liegemen and appointees.[231] They -recognized the king's virtually unlimited authority, which they patterned -on the absolute power of the Roman Emperors and the prerogatives of David -and Solomon. In fine, the Merovingian Church was a national church, -subject to the king. Until the seventh century it was quite independent of -the Bishop of Rome.[232] - -It is common knowledge--especially vivid with readers of the famous -_Historia Francorum_ of Gregory of Tours--that ethically viewed, the -conduct of the Merovingian house was cruel, treacherous, and abominable; -and likewise the conduct of their vassals. Frankish kings and nobles -appear as men no longer bound by the ethics of the heathenism which they -had foresworn, and as yet untouched by the moral precepts of the Christian -code. Not Christianity, however, but contact with decadent civilization, -and rapid increase of power and wealth, had loosened their heathen -standards. Merovingian history leaves a unique impression of a line of -rulers and dependents among whom mercy and truth and chastity were -unknown. The elements of sixth-century Christianity which the Franks made -their own were its rites, its magic, and its miracles, and its expectation -of the aid of a God and His saints duly solicited. Here the customs of -heathenism were a preparation, or themselves passed into Frankish -Christianity. Nevertheless, the general character of Christian -observances--baptism, the mass, prayer, the sign of the cross, the rites -at marriage, sickness, and death--could not fail to impress a certain tone -and demeanour upon the people, and impart some sense of human sinfulness. -The general conviction that patent and outrageous crime would bring divine -vengeance gained point and power from the terrific doctrine of the Day of -Wrath, and the system of penances imposed by the clergy proved an -excellent discipline with these rough Christians. Many bishops and priests -were little better than the nobles, yet the Church preserved Christian -belief and did something to improve morality. Everywhere the monk was the -most striking object-lesson, with his austerities, his terror-stricken -sense of sinfulness, and conviction of the peril of the world. No martial, -grasping bishop, no dissolute and treacherous priest denied that the -monk's was the ideal Christian life; and the laity stood in awe, or -expectation, of the wonder-working power of his asceticism. Indeed -monasticism was becoming popular, and the Merovingian period witnessed the -foundation of numberless cloisters. - -In the fifth and through part of the sixth century the Gallic monastery of -Lerins, on an island in the Mediterranean, near Fréjus, was a chief source -of ascetic and Christian influence for Gaul. Its monks took their -precepts from Syria and Egypt, and some of the zeal of St. Martin of Tours -had fallen on their shoulders. As the energy of this community declined, -Columban's monastery at Luxeuil succeeded to the work. The example of -Columbanus, his precepts and severe monastic discipline, proved a source -of ascetic and missionary zeal. With him or following in his steps came -other Irishmen; and heathen German lands soon looked upon the walls of -many an Irish monastery. But Columbanus failed, and all the Irish failed, -in obedience, order, and effective organization. His own monastic -_regula_, with all its rigour, contained no provisions for the government -of the monasteries. Without due ordering, bands of monks dwelling in -heathen communities would waver in their practices and even show a lack of -doctrinal stability. Sooner or later they were certain to become confused -in habit and contaminated with the manners of the surrounding people. -These Irish monasteries omitted to educate a native priesthood to -perpetuate their Christian teaching. The best of them, St. Gall (founded -by Columbanus's disciple Gallus), might be a citadel of culture, and -convert the people about it, through the talents and character of its -founder and his successors. But other monasteries, farther to the east, -were tainted with heathen practices. In fine, it was not for the Irish to -convert the great heathen German land, or effect a lasting reform of -existing churches there or in Gaul. - -The labours of Anglo-Saxons were fraught with more enduring results. -Through their abilities and zeal, their faculty of organization and -capacity of submitting to authority, through their consequent harmony with -Rome and the support given them by the Frankish monarchy, these -Anglo-Saxons converted many German tribes, established permanent churches -among them, reorganized the heterogeneous Christianity which they found in -certain German lands, and were a moving factor in the reform of the -Frankish Church. The most striking features of their work on the Continent -were diocesan organization, the training of a native clergy, the -establishment of monasteries under the Benedictine constitution, union -with Rome, obedience to her commands, strenuous conformity to her law, and -insistence on like conformity in others. Their presentation of -Christianity was orthodox, regular, and authoritative. - -Some of these features appear in the work of the Saxon Willibrord among -the Frisians, but are more largely illustrated in the career of St. -Boniface-Winfried. Willibrord moved under the authority of Rome; the -varying fortunes of his labours were connected with the enterprises of -Pippin of Heristal, the father of Charles Martel. They advanced with the -power of that Frankish potentate. But after his death, during the strife -between Neustria and Austrasia, the heathen Frisian king Radbod drove back -Christianity as he enlarged his dominion at the expense of the divided -Franks. Later, Charles Martel conquered him, and the Frankish power -reached (718) to the Zuyder Zee. Under its protection Willibrord at last -founded the bishopric of Utrecht (734). He succeeded in educating a native -clergy; and his labours had lasting result among the Frisians who were -subject to the Franks, but not among the free Frisians and the Danes. - -Evidently there was no sharp geographical boundary between Christianity -and heathendom. Throughout broad territories, Christian and heathen -practices mingled. This was true of the Frisian land. It was true in -greater range and complexity of the still wider fields of Boniface's -career. This able man surrendered his high station in his native Wessex in -order to serve Christ more perfectly as a missionary monk among the -heathen. He went first to Frisia and worked with Willibrord, yet refused -to be his bishop-coadjutor and successor, because planning to carry -Christianity into Germany. - -Strikingly his life exemplifies Anglo-Saxon faculties working under the -directing power of Rome among heathen and partly Christian peoples. On his -first visit to Rome he became imbued with the principles, and learned the -ritual, of the Roman Church. He returned to enter into relations with -Charles Martell, and to labour in Hesse and Thuringia, and again with -Willibrord in Frisia. Not long afterwards, at his own solicitation, -Gregory II. called him back to Rome (722), where he fed his passion for -punctilious conformity by binding himself formally to obey the Pope, -follow the practices of the Roman Church, and have no fellowship with -bishops whose ways conflicted with them. Gregory made him bishop over -Thuringia and Hesse, and sent him back there to reform Christian and -heathen communities. Thus Gregory created a bishop within the bounds of -the Frankish kingdom--an unprecedented act. Nevertheless, Charles, to whom -Boniface came with a letter from Gregory, received him favourably and -furnished him with a safe conduct, only exacting a recognition of his own -authority. - -Boniface set forth upon his mission. In Hesse he cut down the ancient -heathen oak, and made a chapel of its timber; he preached and he -organized--the land was not altogether heathen. Then he proceeded to -Thuringia. That also was a partly Christian land; many Irish-Scottish -preachers were labouring or dwelling there. Boniface set his face against -their irregularities as firmly as against heathenism. Again he dominated -and reorganized, yet continued unfailing in energetic preaching to the -heathen. Gregory watched closely and zealously co-operated. - -On the death of the second Gregory in 731, the third Gregory succeeded to -the papacy and continued his predecessor's support of the Anglo-Saxon -apostle, making him archbishop with authority to ordain bishops. Many -Anglo-Saxons, both men and holy women, came to aid their countryman, and -brought their education and their nobler views of life to form centres of -Christian culture in the German lands. Cloisters for nuns, cloisters for -monks were founded. The year 744 witnessed the foundation of Fulda by -Sturm under the direction of Boniface, and destined to be the very apple -of his eye and the monastic model for Germany. It was placed under the -authority of Rome, with the consent of Pippin, who then ruled. The -reorganization rather than the conversion of Bavaria was Boniface's next -achievement. The land long before had been partially Romanized, and now -was nominally Christian. Here again Boniface acted as representative of -the Pope, and not of Charles, although Bavaria was part of the Frankish -empire. - -The year 738 brought Boniface to Rome for the third time. He was now -yearning to leave the fields already tilled, and go as missionary to the -heathen Saxons. But Gregory sent him back to complete the reorganization -of the Bavarian Church, and to this large field of action he added also -Alemannia with its diocesan centre at Speyer. Here he came in conflict -with Frankish bishops, firm in their secular irregularities. Yet again he -prevailed, reorganized the churches, and placed them under the authority -of Rome. Evidently the two Gregories had in large measure turned the -energies of Boniface from the mission-field to the labours of reform. - -On the death of Charles in 741 (and in the same year died Gregory, to be -succeeded by the lukewarm Zacharias) his sons Carloman and Pippin -succeeded to his power. The following year Carloman in German-speaking -Austrasia called a council of his church (_Concilium Germanicum primum_) -under the primacy of Boniface. Its decrees confirmed the reforms for which -the latter had struggled: - - "We Carloman, Duke and Prince of the Franks, in the year 742 of the - Incarnation, on the 21st of April, upon the advice of the servants of - God, the bishops and priests of our realm, have assembled them to take - counsel how God's law and the Church's discipline (fallen to ruin - under former princes) may be restored, and the Christian folk led to - salvation, instead of perishing deceived by false priests. We have set - up bishops in the cities, and have set over them as archbishop - Bonifatius, the legate of St. Peter." - -The council decreed that yearly synods should be held, that the -possessions taken from the Church should be restored, and the false -priests deprived of their emoluments and forced to do penance. The clergy -were forbidden to bear arms, go to war, or hunt. Every priest should give -yearly account of his stewardship to his bishop. Bishops, supported by the -count in the diocese, should suppress heathen practices. Punishments were -set for the fleshly sins of monks and nuns and clergy, and for the -priestly offences of wearing secular garb or harbouring women. The -Benedictine rule was appointed for monasteries. It was easier to make -these decrees than carry them out against the opposition of such martial -bishops as those of Mainz and Trèves, whose support was necessary to -Carloman's government; and military conditions rendered the restoration of -Church lands impracticable. Yet the word was spoken, and something was -done. - -The next year in Neustria Pippin instituted like reforms. He was aided by -Boniface, although the latter held no ecclesiastical office there. In 747 -Carloman abdicated and retired to a monastery;[233] and Pippin became sole -ruler, and at last formally king, anointed by Boniface under the direction -of the Pope in 752. After this, Boniface, withdrawing from the direction -of the Church, turned once more to satisfy his heart's desire by going on -a mission among the heathen Frisians, where he crowned a great life with a -martyr's death. - -Thus authoritatively, supported by Rome and the Frankish monarchy, -Christianity was presented to the Germans. It carried suggestions of a -better order and some knowledge of Latin letters. The extension of Roman -Catholic Christianity was the aim of Boniface first and last and always. -But a Latin education was needed by the clergy to enable them to -understand and set forth this some-what elaborated and learned scheme of -salvation. Boniface and his coadjutors had no aversion to the literary -means by which a serviceable Latin knowledge was to be obtained, and -their missionary and reorganizing labours necessarily worked some -diffusion of Latinity. - -The Frankish secular power which had supported Boniface, advanced to -violent action when Charlemagne's sword bloodily constrained the Saxons to -accept his rule and Christianity, the two inseverable objects which he -tirelessly pursued. Nor could this ruler stay his mighty hand from the -government of the Church within his realm. With his power to appoint -bishops, he might, if he chose, control its councils. But apparently he -chose to rule the Church directly; and his, and his predecessors' and -successors' Capitularies (rather than Conciliar decrees) contain the chief -ecclesiastical legislation for the Frankish realm. - -In its temporalities and secular action the Church was the greatest and -richest of all subjects; it possessed the rights of lay vassals and was -affected with like duties.[234] But in ritual, doctrine, language and -affiliation, the Frankish Church made part of the Roman Catholic Church. -It used the Roman liturgy and the Latin tongue. The ordering of the clergy -was Roman, and the regulation of the monasteries was Romanized by the -adoption of the Benedictine _regula_. Within the Church Rome had -triumphed. Prelates were vassals of the king who had now become Emperor; -and the great corporate Church was subject to him. Nevertheless, this -great corporate institution was Roman rather than Gallic or Frankish or -German. It was Teuton only in those elements which represented -ecclesiastical abuses, for example, the remaining irregularities of -various kinds, the lay and martial habits of prelates, and even their -appointment by the monarch. These were the elements which the Church in -its logical Roman evolution was to eliminate. Charlemagne himself, as well -as his lesser successors, strove just as zealously to bring the people -into obedience to the Church as into obedience to the lay rulers. While -the Carolingian rule was strong, its power was exerted on behalf of -ecclesiastical authority and discipline; and when the royal administration -weakened after Charlemagne's death, the Church was not slow to revolt -against its temporal subjection to the royal power. - -But the Church, in spite of Latin and Roman affinities, strove also to -come near the German peoples and speak to them in their own tongues. This -is borne witness to by the many translations from Latin into Frankish, -Saxon, or Alemannish dialects, made by the clergy. Christianity deeply -affected the German language. Many of its words received German form, and -the new thoughts forced old terms to take on novel and more spiritual -meanings. To be sure these German dialects were there before Christianity -came, and the capacities of the Germans acquired in heathen times are -attested by the sufficiency of their language to express Christian -thought. Likewise the German character was there, and proved its range and -quality by the very transformation of which it showed itself capable under -Christianity. And just as Christianity was given expression in the German -language, which retained many of its former qualities, so many fundamental -traits of German character remained in the converted people. Yet so -earnestly did the Germans turn to Christianity, and such draughts of its -spirit did they draw into their nature, that the early Germanic -re-expression of it is sincere, heartfelt, and moving, and illumined with -understanding of the Faith. - -These qualities may be observed in the series of Christian documents in -the German tongues commencing in the first years of Charlemagne's reign. -They consist of baptismal confessions of belief, the first of which (cir. -769) was composed for heathen Saxons just converted by the sword, and of -catechisms presenting the elements of Christian precept and dogma. The -earliest of the latter (cir. 789), coming from the monastery at -Weissenburg in Alsace, contains the Lord's Prayer, with explanations, an -enumeration of the deadly sins according to the fifth chapter of the -Epistle to the Galatians, the Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian. Further, -one finds among these documents a translation of the _De fide Catholica_ -of Isidore of Seville, and of the Benedictine _regula_; also -Charlemagne's _Exhortatio ad plebem Christianam_, which was an admonition -to the people to learn the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. There are likewise -general confessions of sins. Less dependent on a Latin original is the -so-called _Muspilli_, a spirited description in alliterative verse of the -last times and the Day of Judgment. - -German qualities, however, express themselves more fully in two Gospel -versions, the first the famous Saxon _Heliand_ (cir. 835), (which follows -Tatian's "Harmony"); the second the somewhat later _Evangelienbuch_ of -Otfrid the Frank. They were both composed in alliterative verse, though -Otfrid also made use of rhyme.[235] The martial, Teutonic ring of the -former is well known. Christ is the king, the disciples are His thanes -whose duty is to stand by their lord to the death; He rewards them with -the promised riches of heaven, excelling the earthly goods bestowed by -other kings. In the "betrayal" they close around their Lord, saying: "Were -it thy will, mighty Lord of ours, that we should set upon them with the -spear, gladly would we strike and die for our Lord." Out broke the wrath -of the "ready swordsman" (_snel suerdthegan_)[236] Simon Peter; he could -not speak for anguish to think that his lord should be bound. Angrily -strode the bold knight before his lord, drew his weapon, the sword by his -side, and smote the nearest foe with might of hands. Before his fury and -the spurting blood the people fled fearing the sword's bite. - -The _Heliand_ has also gentler qualities, as when it calls the infant -Christ the _fridubarn_ (peace-child), and pictures Mary watching over her -"little man." But German love of wife and child and home speak more -clearly in Otfrid's book. Although a learned monk, his pride of Frankish -race rings in his oft-quoted reasons for writing _theotisce_, _i.e._ in -German: Why shall not the Franks sing God's praise in Frankish tongue? -Forcible and logical it is, although not bound by grammar's rules. Yes, -why should the Franks be incapable? they are brave as Romans or Greeks; -they are as good in field and wood; wide power is theirs, and ready are -they with the sword. They are rich, and possess a good land, with honour. -They can guard their own; what people is their equal in battle? Diligent -are they also in the Word of God. Otfrid is quite moving in his -sympathetic sense of the sorrow of the Last Judgment, when the mother from -child shall be parted, the father from son, the lord from his faithful -thane, friend from friend--all human kind. Deep is the mystic love and -yearning with which he realizes Heaven as one's own land: there is life -without death, light without darkness, the angels and eternal bliss. We -have left it--that must we bewail always, banished to a strange land, poor -misled orphans. The antithesis between the _fremidemo lant_ (_fremdes -land_) of earth, and the _heimat_, the _eigan lant_ of Heaven, which is -home, real home, is the keynote strongly felt and movingly expressed. - - - - -BOOK II - -THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES - - - - -CHAPTER X - -CAROLINGIAN PERIOD: THE FIRST STAGE IN THE APPROPRIATION OF THE PATRISTIC -AND ANTIQUE - - -With the conversion of Teuton peoples and their introduction to the Latin -culture accompanying the new religion, the factors of mediaeval -development came at last into conjunction. The mediaeval development was -to issue from their combined action, rather than from the singular nature -of any one of them.[237] Taking up the introductory theme concerning the -meeting of these forces, we followed the Latinizing of the West resulting -from the expansion of the Roman Republic, which represents the political -and social preparation of the field. Then we considered the antique pagan -gospel of philosophy and letters, which had quickened this Latin -civilization and was to form the spiritual environment of patristic -Christianity. Next in order we observed the intellectual interests of the -Latin Fathers, and then turned to the great Latin transmitters of the -somewhat amalgamated antique and patristic material--Boëthius, -Cassiodorus, Gregory the Great, and Isidore of Seville--who gathered what -they might, and did much to reduce the same to decadent forms, suited to -the barbaric understanding. Then the course of the barbaric disruption of -the Empire was reviewed; and this led to a consideration of the qualities -and circumstances of the Celts and Teutons, both those who to all -appearances had been Latinized, and those who took active part in the -barbarization and disruption of the Roman order. And finally we closed -these introductory, though essential, chapters by tracing the ways in -which Christianity, with the now humbled and degraded antique culture, was -presented to this renewed and largely Teutonic barbarism. - -Having now reached the epoch of conjunction of the various elements of the -mediaeval evolution, it lies before us to consider the first stage in the -action of true mediaeval conditions upon the two chief spiritual forces, -the first stage, in other words, of the mediaeval appropriation of the -patristic and antique material. The period is what is called Carlovingian -or Carolingian, after the great ruler Charlemagne. Intellectually -considered, it may be said to have begun when Charles palpably evinced his -interest in sacred and liberal studies by calling Alcuin and other -scholars to his Court about the year 781. Let us note the political and -social situation. - -The Merovingian kingdom created by Clovis and his house has been spoken -of.[238] One may properly refer to it in the singular, although -frequently, instead of one, there were several kingdoms, since upon the -death of a Merovingian monarch his realm was divided among his sons. But -no true son of the house could leave the others unconquered or unmurdered; -and therefore if the Merovingian kingdom constantly was divided, it also -tended to coalesce again, coerced to unity. Constituted both of Roman and -Teutonic elements, it operated as a mediating power between Latin -Christendom and barbaric heathendom. Its energies were great, and were not -waning when its royal house was passing into insignificance before the -power of the nobles and the chief personage among them who had become the -_major domus_ ("Mayor of the palace") and virtual ruler. Moreover, -experience, contact with Latin civilization, membership in the Roman -Catholic Church, were informing the Merovingian energies. They were -becoming just a little less barbarous and a little more instructed; in -fine, were changing from Merovingian to Carolingian. - -In the latter part of the seventh century, Pippin, called "of Heristal," -ruled as _major domus_ (as one or more of his ancestors before him) in -Austrasia, the eastern Frankish kingdom. Many were his wars, especially -with the Neustrian or western Frankish kingdom, under its _major domus_, -Ebroin. This somewhat unconquerable man at last was murdered, and one of -the two Merovingian kings being murdered likewise, Pippin about the year -688 became _princeps regiminis ac major domus_ for the now united realm. -From this date the Merovingians are but shadow kings, whose names are not -worth recording. Pippin's rule marks the advent of his house to virtual -sovereignty, and also the passing of the preponderance of power from -Neustria to Austrasia. These two facts became clear after Pippin's death -(714), when his redoubtable son Charles in a five years' struggle against -great odds made himself sole _major domus_, and with his Austrasians -overwhelmed the Neustrian army. Thenceforth this Charles, called Martell -the Hammer, mightily prevailed, smiting Saxons, Bavarians, and Alemanni, -and, after much warfare in the south with Saracens, at last vindicated the -Cross against the Crescent at Tours in 732. Nine years longer he was to -reign, increasing his power to the end, and supporting the establishment -of Catholicism in Frisia, by the Anglo-Saxon Willibrord, and in heathen -German lands by St. Boniface.[239] He died in 741, dividing what virtually -was his realm between his sons Carloman and Pippin: the former receiving -Austrasia, Alemannia, Thuringia; the latter, Neustria, Burgundy, Provence. - -These two sons valiantly took up their task, reforming the Church under -the inspiration of Boniface, and ruling their domains without conflict -with each other until 747, when Carloman retired and became a monk, -leaving the entire realm to Pippin. The latter in 751 at Soissons, with -universal approval and the consent of the Pope, was crowned king, and -anointed by the hand of Boniface. This able and energetic sovereign -pursued the course of his father and grandfather, but on still larger -scale; aiding the popes and reducing the Lombard power in Italy, carrying -on wars around the borders of his realm, bringing Aquitania to full -submission, and expelling the Saracens from Narbonne and other fortress -towns. In 768 he died, again dividing his vast realm between his two sons -Carloman and Charles. - -These bore each other little love; but fortunately the former died (771) -before an open breach occurred. So Charles was left to rule alone, and -prove himself, all things considered, the greatest of mediaeval -sovereigns. Having fought his many wars of conquest and subjugation -against Saracens, Saxons, Avars, Bavarians, Slavs, Danes, Lombards; having -conquered much of Italy and freed the Pope from neighbouring domination; -having been crowned and anointed emperor in the year 800; having restored -letters, uplifted the Church, issued much wise legislation, and -Christianized with iron hand the stubborn heathen; and above all, having -administered his vast realm with never-failing energy, he died in -814--just one hundred years after the time when his grandfather Charles -was left to fight so doughtily for life and power. - -Poetry and history have conspired to raise the fame of Charlemagne. In -more than one _chanson de geste_, the old French _épopée_ has put his name -where that of Pippin, Charles Martell, or perhaps that of some Merovingian -should have been.[240] Sober history has not thus falsified its matter, -and yet has over-dramatized the incidents of its hero's reign. For -example, every schoolboy has been told of the embassy to Charlemagne from -Harun al Raschid, Caliph of Bagdad. But not so many schoolboys know that -Pippin had sent an embassy to a previous caliph, which was courteously -entertained for three years in Bagdad;[241] and Pippin, like his son, -received embassies from the Greek emperor. The careers of Charles Martell -and Pippin have not been ignored; and yet historical convention has -focused its attention and its phrases upon "the age of Charlemagne." One -should not forget that this exceedingly great man stood upon the shoulders -of the great men to whose achievement he succeeded. - -Neither politically, socially, intellectually, nor geographically[242] was -there discontinuity or break or sudden change between the Merovingian and -the Carolingian periods.[243] The character of the monarchy was scarcely -affected by the substitution of the house of Pippin of Heristal for the -house of Clovis. The baleful custom of dividing the realm upon a monarch's -death survived; but Fortune rendered it innocuous through one strong -century, during which (719-814) the realm was free from internecine war, -while the tossing streams of humanity were driven onward by three great -successive rulers. - -The Carolingian, like the Merovingian, realm included many different -peoples who were destined never to become one nation; and the whole -Carolingian system of government virtually had existed in the Merovingian -period. Before, as well as after, the dynastic change, the government -throughout the realm was administered by _Counts_. Likewise the famous -_missi dominici_, or royal legates, are found in Merovingian times; but -they were employed more effectively by Charles Martell, Pippin, and, -finally, by Charlemagne, who enlarged their sphere of action. He -elaborately defined their functions in a famous Capitulary of the year -802. It was set forth that the emperor had chosen these legates from among -his best and greatest (_ex optimatibus suis_), and had authorized them to -receive the new oaths of allegiance, and supervise the observance of the -laws, the execution of justice, the maintenance of the military and fiscal -rights of the emperor. They were given power to see that the permanent -functionaries (the counts and their subordinates) duly administered the -law as written or recognized. The _missi_ had jurisdiction over -ecclesiastical as well as lay officials; and many of them were entrusted -with special powers and duties in the particular instance. - -Thus Charlemagne developed the functions of these ancient officers. -Likewise his Court and royal council, the synods and assemblies of his -reign, the military service, modes of holding land, methods of collecting -revenue, were not greatly changed from Merovingian prototypes. Yet the old -institutions had been renewed and bettered. A vast misjoined and unrelated -realm was galvanized into temporary unity. And, most impressive and -portentous thing of all, an _Empire_--the _Holy_ Roman Empire--was -resurrected for a time in fact and verity: the same was destined to endure -in endeavour and contemplation. - -So there was no break politically or socially between the Carolingian -Empire and its antecedents, which had made it possible. Likewise there was -no discontinuity spiritually and intellectually between the earlier time -and that epoch which begins with Charlemagne's first endeavours to restore -knowledge, and extends through the ninth and, if one will, even the tenth -century.[244] Western Europe (except Scandinavia) had become nominally -Christian, and had been made acquainted with Latin education to the extent -indicated in the preceding chapter, the purpose of which was to tell how -Christianity and the antique culture were brought to the northern peoples. -The present chapter, on the other hand, seeks to describe how the eighth -and ninth centuries proceeded to learn and consider and react upon this -newly introduced Christianity and antique culture, out of which the -spiritual destinies of the Middle Ages were to be forged. The task of -Carolingian scholars was to learn what had been brought to them. They -scarcely excelled even the later intermediaries through whom this -knowledge had been transmitted. One need not look among them for better -scholarship than was possessed by Bede, who died in 735, the birth year of -Alcuin who drew so much from him, and was to be the chief luminary of the -palace school of Charlemagne. Undoubtedly, Charlemagne's exertions caused -a revival of sacred and profane studies through the region of the present -France and Rhenish Germany. His primary motive was the purification and -extension of Catholic Christianity. Here Charles Martell and Pippin (with -his brother Carloman) had done much, as their support of Boniface bears -witness to. But Charlemagne's efforts went beyond those of his -predecessors. More clearly than they he understood the need of education, -and he was himself intensely interested in knowledge. Hence his -endeavours, primarily to uplift the Faith, brought a revival of learning -and a literary productivity, consisting mostly in reproduction or -rearrangement of old material, doctrinal or profane.[245] - -Another preliminary consideration may help us to appreciate the -intellectual qualities of the period before us. Charlemagne was primarily -a ruler in the largest sense, conqueror, statesman, law-giver, one who -realized the needs of the time, and met or forestalled them. His monarchy, -with its powers inherited, as well as radiating from his own personality, -provided an imperial government for western Europe. The chief activities -of this ruler and his epoch were practical, to wit, political and -military. In laws, in institutions, and in deeds, he and his Empire -represent creativeness and progress; although, to be sure, that -conglomerate empire of his had itself to fall in pieces before there could -take place a more lasting and national evolution of States. And, of -course, Carolingian political creativeness included the conservation of -existing social, political, and, above all, ecclesiastical, institutions. -In fine, this period was creative and progressive in its practical -energies. The factors were the pressing needs and palpable opportunities, -which were met or availed of. And to the same effective treatment of -problems ecclesiastical and doctrinal was due the modicum of originality -in the Carolingian literature. Aside from this, the period's intellectual -accomplishment, in religious as well as secular studies, shows merely a -diligent learning and imitation of pagan letters, and a rehandling and -arrangement of the work of the Church Fathers and their immediate -successors. Its efforts were exhausted in rearranging the heritage of -Christian teaching coming from the Church Fathers, or in endeavours to -acquire the transmitted antique culture and imitate the antique in phrase -and metre. The combined task, or occupation, absorbed the minds of men. -The whole period was at school, where it needed to be: at school to the -Church Fathers, at school to the transmitters of antique culture. Its task -was one of adjustment of its materials to itself, and of itself to its -materials. - -The reinvigoration of studies marking the life-time of Charlemagne did not -extend to Italy, where letters, although decayed, had never ceased, nor to -Anglo-Saxon England, where Bede had taught and whence Alcuin had come. The -revival radiated, one may say, from the palace school attached to the -Court, which had its least intermittent domicile at Aix-la-Chapelle. It -extended to the chief monastic centres of Gaul and Germany, and to -cathedral schools where such existed. From many lands scholars were drawn -by that great hand so generous in giving, so mighty to protect. Some came -on invitation more or less compelling, and many of their own free will. -The first and most famous of them all was the Anglo-Saxon, Alcuin of York. -Charles first saw him at Parma in the year 781, and ever after kept him in -his service as his most trusted teacher and director of studies. Love of -home drew Alcuin back, once at least, to England. In 796 Charles permitted -him to leave the Court, and entrusted him with the re-establishment of the -Abbey of St. Martin at Tours and its schools. There he lived and laboured -till his death in 804. - -Another scholar was Peter of Pisa, a grammarian, who seems to have shared -with Alcuin the honourable task of instructing the king. Of greater note -was Paulus Diaconus, who, like Alcuin himself, was to sigh for the pious -or scholarly quiet which the seething, half-barbarous, and loose-mannered -Court did not afford. Paulus at last gained Charles's consent to retire -to Monte Cassino. He was of the Lombard race, like another favourite of -Charles, Paulinus of Aquileia. From Spain, apparently, came Theodulphus, -by descent a Goth, and reputed the most elegant Latin versifier of his -time. Charles made him Bishop of Orleans. A little later, Einhart the -Frank appears, who was to be the emperor's secretary and biographer. -Likewise came certain sons of Erin, among them such a problematic poet as -he who styled himself "Hibernicus Exul"--not the first or last of his -line! - -These belonged to the generation about the emperor. Belonging to the next -generation, and for the most part pupils of the older men, were Abbot -Smaragdus, grammarian and didactic writer; the German, Rabanus Maurus, -Abbot of Fulda and, against his will, Archbishop of Mainz, an -encyclopaedic excerpter and educator, _primus praeceptor Germaniae_; his -pupil was Walafrid Strabo, the cleverest putter-together of the excerpt -commentary, and a pleasing poet. In Lorraine at the same time flourished -the Irishman, Sedulius Scotus, and in the West that ardent classical -scholar, Servatus Lupus, Abbot of Ferrières, and Agobard, Bishop of Lyons, -a man practical and hard-headed, with whom one may couple Claudius, Bishop -of Turin, the opponent of relic-worship. One might also mention those -theological controversialists, Radbertus Paschasius and Ratramnus, -Hincmar, the great Archbishop of Rheims, and Gottschalk, the unhappy monk, -ever recalcitrant; at the end John Scotus Eriugena should stand, the -somewhat too intellectual Neo-Platonic Irishman, translator of -Pseudo-Dionysius, and announcer of various rationalizing propositions for -which men were to look on him askance. - -There will be occasion to speak more particularly of a number of these -men. They were all scholars, and interested in the maintenance of -elementary Latin education as well as in theology. They wished to write -good Latin, and sometimes tried for a classical standard, as Einhart did -in his _Vita Caroli_. Few of them refrained from verse, for they were -addicted to metrical compositions made of borrowed classic phrase and -often of reflected classic sentiment, sometimes prettily composed, but -usually insipid, and in the mass, which was great, exceptionally -uninspired. Such metrical effort, quite as much as Einhart's consciously -classicizing Latin prose, represents a survival of the antique excited to -recrudescence in forms which, if they were not classical, at least had not -become anything else. Stylistically, and perhaps temperamentally, it -represented the ending of what had nearly passed away, rather than the -beginning of the more organic development which was to come.[246] - -Among these men, Alcuin and Rabanus broadly represent at once the -intellectual interests of the period and the first stage in the process of -the mediaeval appropriation of the patristic and antique material. The -affectionate and sympathetic personality of the former[247] appears -throughout his voluminous correspondence with Charles and others, which -shows, among other matters, the interest of the time in elementary points -of Latinity, and the alertness of the mind of the great king, who put so -many questions to his genial instructor upon grammar, astronomy, and such -like knowledge. An examination of the works of Alcuin will indicate the -range and character of the educational and more usual intellectual -interests of the epoch. In fact, they are outlined in a simple fashion -suited to youthful minds in his treatise upon Grammar.[248] Its opening -colloquy presents a sort of programme and justification of elementary -secular studies. - -"We have heard you saying," begins Discipulus, "that philosophy is the -teacher (_magistra_) of all virtues, and that she alone of secular riches -has never left the possessor miserable. Lend a hand, good Master,"--and -the pupil becomes self-deprecatory. "Flint has fire within, which comes -out only when struck; so the light of knowledge exists by nature in human -minds, but a teacher is needed to knock it out." - -"It is easy," responds the Master, "to show you wisdom's path, if only you -will pursue it for the sake of God, for the sake of the soul's purity and -to learn the truth, and also for its own sake, and not for human praise -and honour." - -We confess, answers little Discipulus, that we love happiness, but know -not whether it can exist in this world. And the dialogue rambles on in -discursive comment upon the superiority of the lasting over the -transitory, with some feeble echoing of notes from Boëthius's _De -consolatione_. There is talk to show that man, a rational animal, the -image of his Creator, and immortal in his better part, should seek what is -truly of himself, and not what is alien, the abiding and not the fugitive. -In fine, one should adorn the soul, which is eternal, with wisdom, the -soul's true lasting dignity. There is some coy demurring over the -steepness of the way; but the pupil is ardent, and the Master confident -that with the aid of Divine Grace they will ascend the seven grades of -philosophy, by which philosophers have gained honour brighter than that of -kings, and the holy doctors and defenders of our Catholic Faith have -triumphed over all heresiarchs. "Through these paths, dearest son, let -your youth run its daily course, until its completed years and -strengthened mind shall attain to the heights of the Holy Scriptures upon -which you and your like shall become armed defenders of the Faith and -invincible assertors of its truth." This means, of course, that the -Liberal Arts are the proper preparation for the study of Scripture, that -is, theology. But Alcuin's discourse seems to tarry with those studies as -if detained by some love of them for their own sake. - -The body of this treatise is in form a disputation between two youthful -pupils, a Frank and a Saxon. A _Magister_ makes a third interlocutor, and -sets the subject of the argument. These _personae_ discuss letters and -syllables in definitions taken from Donatus, Priscian, or Isidore; and -whenever Alcuin permits any one of them to stray from the words of those -authorities, the language shows at once his own confused ideas regarding -the parts of speech. He uses terms without adequately comprehending them, -and thus affords one of the myriad examples of how, under decadent or -barbarized conditions, phrases may outlive an intelligent understanding of -their meaning. "Grammar," says the _Magister_, when solicited to define -it, "is the science of letters, and the guardian of correct speech and -writing. It rests on nature, reason, authority, and custom." "In how many -species is it divided?" "In twenty-six: words, letters, syllables, -clauses, dictions, speeches, definitions, feet, accent, punctuation, -signs, spelling, analogies, etymologies, glosses, differences, barbarism, -solecism, faults, metaplasm, schemata, tropes, prose, metre, fables and -histories."[249] The actual treatise does not cover these twenty-six -topics, but confines itself to the division of grammar commonly called -Etymology. - -Though the mental processes of an individual preserve a working harmony, -some of them appear more rational than others. Such disparities may be -glaring in men who enter upon the learning of a higher civilization -without proper pilotage. How are they to discriminate between the valuable -and the foolish? The common sense, which they apply to familiar matters, -contrasts with their childlike lucubrations upon novel topics of education -or philosophy. And if that higher culture to which such pupils are -introduced be in part decadent, it will itself contain disparities between -the stronger thinking held in the surviving writings of a prior time and -the later degeneracies which are declining to the level, it may be, of -these new learners. - -There would naturally be disparities in the mental processes of an -Anglo-Saxon like Alcuin introduced to the debris of Latin education and -the writings of the Fathers; and his state would typify the character of -the studies at the palace school of Charlemagne and at monastic schools -through his northern realm. This newly stimulated scholarship held the -same disparities that appear in the writings of Alcuin. He may seem to be -adapting his teaching to barbaric needs, but it is evident that his matter -accords with his own intellectual tastes, as, for example, when he -introduces into his educational writings the habit of riddling in -metaphors, so dear to the Anglo-Saxon.[250] The sound but very elementary -portions of his teaching were needed by the ignorance of his scholars. For -instance, no information regarding Latin orthography could come amiss in -the eighth century. And Alcuin in his treatise on that subject[251] took -many words commonly misspelled and contrasted them with those which -sounded like them, but were quite different in meaning and derivation. One -should not, for example, confuse _habeo_ with _abeo_; or _bibo_ and -_vivo_. Such warnings were valuable. The use of the vulgar Romance-forms -of Latin spoken through a large part of Charles's dominions implied no -knowledge of correct Latinity. Even among the clergy, there was almost -universal ignorance of Latin orthography and grammar. - -As a companion to his _Grammar_ and _Orthography_, Alcuin composed a _De -rhetorica et virtutibus_,[252] in the form of a dialogue between Charles -and himself. The king desired such instruction to equip him for the civil -disputes (_civiles quaestiones_) which were brought before him from all -parts of his realm. And Alcuin proceeded to furnish him with a compend of -the _scientia bene dicendi_, which is Rhetoric. This crude epitome was -based chiefly on Cicero's _De inventione_, but indicates a use of other of -his oratorical writings, and has bits here and there which apparently have -filtered through from the _Rhetoric_ of Aristotle. Some illustrations are -taken from Scripture. The work is most successful in showing the -difference between Cicero and Alcuin. The genius, the spirit, the art of -the great orator's treatises are lost; a naked skeleton of statement -remains. We have words, terms, definitions, even rules; and Alcuin is not -conscious that beyond them there is the living spirit of discourse. - -A more complete descent from substance to a clatter of words and -definitions is exhibited by Alcuin's _De dialectica_.[253] In logical -studies _facilis descensus_! Others had illustrated this before him. His -treatise is again a dialogue, with Charlemagne for questioner. Opening -with the stock definitions and divisions of philosophy, it arrives at -logic, which is composed (as Isidore and Cassiodorus said) of dialectic -and rhetoric, "the shut and open fist," a simile which had come down from -Varro. Says Charles: "What are the _species_ of dialectic?" Answers -Alcuin: "Five principal ones: Isagogae, categories, forms of syllogisms -and definitions, topics, periermeniae." What a classification! -Introductions, categories, syllogisms, topics, _De interpretatione_-s! It -is not a classification but in reality an enumeration of the treatises -which had served as sources for those men from whom Alcuin drew! Evidently -this excerpter is not really thinking in the terms and categories of his -subject. His work shows no intelligence beyond Isidore's, from whose -_Etymologies_ it is largely taken. And the genius of our author for -metaphysics may be perceived from the definition which he offers Charles -of substance--_substantia_ or _usia_ (_i.e._ [Greek: ousia]): it is that -which is discerned by corporeal sense; while _accidens_ is that which -changes frequently and is apprehended by the mind. _Substantia_ is the -underlying, the _subjacens_, in which the _accidentia_ are said to -be.[254] One observes the crassness and inconsistency of these statements. - -There are illustrations of the knowledge and methods shown in the -educational writings of the man who, next to Charles himself, was the -guiding spirit of the intellectual revival. No mention has been made of -those of his works that were representative of the chief intellectual -labour of the period--that of exploiting the Patristic material. Here -Alcuin contributed a compend of Augustine's doctrines on the Trinity,[255] -and a book on the Vices and Virtues, drawn chiefly from Augustine's -sermons.[256] Like most of his learned contemporaries, he also compiled -Commentaries upon Scripture, the method of which is prettily told in a -prefatory epistle placed by him before his Commentary on the Gospel of -John, and addressed to two pious women: - - "Devoutly searching the pantries of the holy Fathers, I let you taste - whatever I have been able to find in them. Nor did I deem it fitting - to cull the blossoms from any meadow of my own, but with humble heart - and head bowed low, to search through the flowering fields of many - Fathers, and thus safely satisfy your pious pleasure. First of all I - seek the suffrage of Saint Augustine, who laboured with such zeal upon - this Gospel; then I draw something from the tracts of the most holy - doctor Saint Ambrose; nor have I neglected the homilies of Father - Gregory the pope, or those of the blessed Bede, nor, in fact, the - works of others of the holy Fathers. I have cited their - interpretations, as I found them, preferring to use their meanings and - their words, than trust to my own presumption."[257] - -In the next generation, a most industrious compiler of such Commentaries -was Alcuin's pupil, Rabanus Maurus.[258] More deeply learned than his -master, his conception of the purposes of study has not changed -essentially. Like Alcuin, he sets forth a proper intellectual programme -for the instruction of the clergy: "The foundation, the state, and the -perfection, of wisdom is knowledge of the Holy Scriptures." The Seven Arts -are the ancillary _disciplinae_; the first three constitute that -grammatical, rhetorical, and logical training which is needed for an -understanding of the holy texts and their interpretation. Likewise -arithmetic and the rest of the quadrivium have place in the cleric's -education. A knowledge of pagan philosophy need not be avoided: "The -philosophers, especially the Platonists, if perchance they have spoken -truths accordant with our faith, are not to be shunned, but their truths -appropriated, as from unjust possessors."[259] And Rabanus continues with -the never-failing metaphor of Moses despoiling the Egyptians. - -Raban, however, had somewhat larger thoughts of education than his master. -For example, he takes a broader view of grammar, which he regards as the -_scientia_ of interpreting the poets and historians, and the _ratio_ of -correct speech and writing.[260] Likewise he treats _Dialectica_ more -seriously. With him it is the "_disciplina_ of rational investigation, of -defining and discussing, and distinguishing the true from the false. It is -therefore the _disciplina disciplinarum_. It teaches how to teach and how -to learn; in this same study, reason itself demonstrates what it is and -what it wills. This art alone knows how to know, and is willing and able -to make knowers. Reasoning in it, we learn what we are, and whence, and -also to know Creator and creature; through it we trace truth and detect -falsity, we argue and discover what is consequent and what inconsequent, -what is contrary to the nature of things, what is true, what is probable, -and what is intrinsically false in disputations. Wherefore the clergy -ought to know this noble art, and have its laws in constant meditation, so -that subtly they may discern the wiles of heretics, and confute their -poisoned sayings with the conclusions of the syllogism."[261] - -This somewhat extravagant but not novel view of logic's function was -prophetic of the coming scholastic reliance upon it as the means and -instrument of truth. Rabanus had no hesitancy in commending this edged -tool to his pupils. But the operations of his mind were predominantly -Carolingian, which is to say that ninety-nine per cent of the contents of -his _opera_ consist of material extracted from prior writers. His -Commentaries upon Scripture outbulk all his other works taken together, -and are compiled in this manner. So is his encyclopaedic compilation, _De -universo libri XXII._,[262] two books more than those of Isidore's -_Etymologies_, from which he chiefly drew; but he changed the arrangement, -and devoted a larger part of his parchment to religious topics; and he -added further matter gleaned from the Church Fathers, from whom he had -drawn his Commentaries. This further matter consisted of the mystical -interpretations of things, which he subjoined to their "natural" -explanations. He says, in his Praefatio, addressed to King Louis: - - "Much is set forth in this work concerning the natures of things and - the meanings of words, and also as to the mystical signification of - things. Accordingly I have arranged my matter so that the reader may - find the historical and mystical explanations of each thing set - together--_continuatim positam_; and may be able to satisfy his desire - to know both significations." - -These allegorical elaborations accorded with the habits of this compiler -of allegorical comment upon Scripture.[263] - -Rabanus was a full Teutonic personality, a massive scholar for his time, -untiring in labour and intrinsically honest. Except when involved in the -foolishness of the mystic qualities of numbers, or following the -will-o'-wisps of allegory, he evinces much sound wisdom. He abhors the -pretence of teaching what one has not first diligently learned; and his -good sense is shown in his admonition to teachers to use words which their -pupils or audience will understand. His views upon profane knowledge were -liberal: one should use the treasured experience and accumulated wisdom of -the ancients, for that is still the mainstay of human society; but one -should shun their vain as well as pernicious idolatries and -superstitions.[264] Let us by all means preserve their sound educational -learning and the elements of their philosophy which accord with the -verities of Christian doctrine. Raban also realized the sublimity of the -study of Astronomy, which he deemed "a worthy argument for the religious -and a torment for the curious. If pursued with chaste and sober mind, it -floods our thoughts with immense love. How admirable to mount the heavens -in spirit, and with inquiring reason consider that whole celestial fabric, -and from every side gather in the mind's reflective heights what those -vast recesses veil."[265] He then rebukes the folly of those who vainly -would draw auguries from the stars.[266] - -Raban's mental activities were commonly constrained by the need felt by -him and his pious contemporaries to master the works of the Latin Fathers. -Perhaps more than any other one man (though here his pupil Walafrid Strabo -made a skilful second) he contributed to what necessarily was the first -stage in this mediaeval achievement of appropriating patristic -Christianity, to wit, the preliminary task of rearranging the doctrinal -expositions of the Fathers conveniently, and for the most part in -Commentaries following verse and chapter of the canonical books of -Scripture. But, like many of his contemporaries, Raban, when compelled by -controversial exigencies, would think for himself if the situation could -not be met with matter taken from a Father. Accordingly, individual and -personal views are vigorously put in some of his writings, as in his -_Liber de oblatione puerorum_,[267] directed against the attempt of the -interesting Saxon, Gottschalk, to free himself from the vows made by those -who dedicated him in boyhood as an _oblatus_ at the monastery of Fulda, of -which Raban was abbot. Raban's tract maintained that the monastic vows -made upon such dedication of children could not be broken by the latter on -reaching years of discretion. - -This same Gottschalk was the centre of the storm, which he indeed blew up, -over Predestination; and again Raban was his fierce opponent. This -controversy, with that relating to the Eucharist, will serve to illustrate -the doctrinal interests of the time, and also to exemplify the -quasi-originality of its controversial productions. - -Of course Predestination and the Eucharist had been exhaustively discussed -by the Latin Fathers. No man of the ninth century could really add -anything to the arguments touching the former set forth in the works of -Augustine and his Pelagian adversaries. And the substance of the -discussion as to the eucharistic Body and Blood of Christ had permeated -countless tomes, both Greek and Latin, from the time of Irenaeus, Bishop -of Lyons (d. 202); and yet neither as to the impossible topic of -Predestination, nor as to the distinctly Christian mystery of the -Eucharist, had the Latin Church authoritatively and finally fixed doctrine -in dogma or put together the arguments. The ninth century with its lack of -elastic thinking, and its greater need of tangible authority, was -compelled by its mental limitations to attempt in each of these matters to -drag a definite conclusion from out of its entourage of argument, and -strip it of its decently veiling obscurities. Thereupon, and with its -justifying and balanced foundation of reasons and considerations knocked -from under, the conclusion had to sustain itself in mid air, just at the -level of the common eye. - -Such, obviously, was the result of the Eucharistic or Paschal controversy. -The symbol, all indecision brushed away, hardened into the tangible -miraculous reality. Radbertus, Abbot of Corbie, who was so rightly named -Paschasius, was the chief agent in the process. His method of procedure, -just as the result which he obtained, was what the time required. The -method was almost a bit of creation in itself: he put the matter in a -separate monograph, _De corpore et sanguine Domini_,[268] the first work -exclusively devoted to the subject. This was needed as a matter of -arrangement and presentation. Men could not endure to look here and -thither among many books on many subjects, for arguments one way and the -other. That was too distraught. There was call for a compendium, a manual -of the matter; and in providing it Paschasius was a master mechanic for -his time. Inevitably the discussion and the conclusion took on a new -definiteness. It is impossible to glean and gather arguments and matter -from all sides, and bring them together into a single composition, without -making the thesis more organic, tangible, definite. Thus Paschasius -presented the scattered, wavering discussion--the victorious side of -it--as a clear dogma reached at last. And whatever qualification of -counter-doctrine there was in his grouped arguments, there was none in the -conclusion; and the definite conclusion was what men wanted. - -And practically for the whole western Church, clergy and laity, the -conclusion was but one, and accorded with what was already the current -acceptance of the matter. Radbert's arguments embraced the spiritual -realism of Augustine, according to which the ultra reality of the -eucharistic elements consisted in the _virtus sacramenti_, that is in -their miraculous and real, but invisible, transformation into the -veritable substance of Christ's veritable body. This took place through -priestly consecration, and existed only for believers. For the brute to -eat the elements was nothing more than to consume other similar natural -substances. For the misbeliever it was not so simple. He indeed ate not -Christ's body, but his own _judicium_, his own deeper damnation. Here lay -the terror, which made more anxious, more poignant, the believer's hope, -that he was faithful and humbled, and was eating the veritable Christ-body -to his sure salvation. For the Eucharist could not fail, though the -partaker might. - -Out of all of this emerged the one clear thing, the point, the practical -conclusion, which was transubstantiation, though the word was not yet -made. Here it is in Paschasius; says he: "That body and blood veritably -come into existence (_fiat_) by the consecration of the Mystery, no one -doubts who believes the divine words; hence Truth says, 'For my flesh -verily is food, and my blood verily is drink' (John vi. 55). And that it -should be clearer to the disciples who did not rightly understand of what -flesh He spoke, or of what blood, He added, to make this plain, 'Whoso -eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me and I in him' -(_ibid._ 56). Therefore, if it is veritably food, it is veritable flesh; -and if it is veritably drink, it also is veritable blood. Otherwise how -could He have said, 'The bread which I will give is my flesh for the life -of the world' (_ibid._ 52)?" - -Could anything be more positive and simplified? At first sight it is a -marvel how Paschasius, even though treading in the steps of so many who -had gone before, could give a literal interpretation to words which -Christ seems to have used as figuratively as when He said, "I am the vine, -ye are the branches." A marvel indeed, when we think that Paschasius and -all of his generation, as well as those who went before, had abandoned -themselves to the most wonderful and far-fetched allegorical -interpretations of every historical and literal statement in the -Scriptures. And this same Paschasius, and all the rest too, do not -hesitate to interpret and explain by allegory the significance of every -accompanying act and circumstance of the mass. This might seem the climax -of the marvel, but it is a step toward explaining it. For the literal -interpretation of the phrases which Paschasius quotes was followed for the -sake of the more absolute miracle, the deeper mystery, the fuller -florescence of encompassing allegorical meaning. Only thus could be -brought about the transformation of the palpable symbol into the -miraculous reality; and only _then_ could that bread and wine be what -Cyril of Alexandria and others, five hundred years before Paschasius, had -called it: "the drug of immortality." Only through the miraculous and real -identity of the elements of the Eucharist with the body and blood of -Christ could they save the souls of the partakers. - -In partial disagreement with these hard and fast conclusions, Ratramnus, -also of Corbie,[269] and others might still try to veil the matter, with -utterances capable of more equivocal meaning; might try to make it all -more dim, and therefore more possibly reasonable. That was not what the -Carolingian time, or the centuries to come, wanted; but rather the -definite tangible statement, which they could grasp as readily as they -could see and touch the elements before their eyes. In disenveloping the -question and conclusion from every wavering consideration and veiling -ambiguity, the Carolingian period was creative in this Paschal -controversy. New propositions were not devised; but the old, such of them -as fitted, were put together and given the unity and force of a -projectile. - -It was the same and yet different with the Predestination strife. -Gottschalk, who raised the storm, stated doctrines of Augustine. But he -set them out naked and alone, with nothing else as counterpoise, as -Augustine had not done. Thus to draw a single doctrine out from the -totality of a man's work and the demonstrative suggestiveness of all the -rest of his teachings, whether that man be Paul or Augustine, is to -present it so as to make it something else. For thereby it is left naked -and alone, and unadjusted with the connected and mitigating considerations -yielded by the rest of the man's opinions. Such a procedure is a garbling, -at least in spirit. It is almost like quoting the first half of a sentence -and leaving off everything following the author's "but" in the middle of -it. - -At all events the hard and fast, complete and twin (_gemina_), divine -predestination, unto hell as well as heaven, was too unmitigated for the -Carolingian Church. This doctrine, and his own intractible temper, immured -the unhappy announcer of it in a monastic dungeon till he died. It was -monstrous, as monstrous as transubstantiation, for example! But -transubstantiation saved; and while the Church could stand the doctrine of -the election of the Elect to salvation, it revolted from the -counter-inference, of the election of the damned to hell, which -contradicted too drastically the sweet and lovely teaching that Christ -died for all. The theologians of one and more generations were drawn into -the strife, which was to have a less definitive result than the Paschal -controversy. Even to-day the adjustment of human free-will with omnipotent -foreknowledge has not been made quite clear.[270] - -There was one man who was drawn into the Predestination strife, although -for him it lacked cardinal import. For the Neo-Platonic principles of John -Scotus Eriugena scarcely permitted him to see in evil more than -non-existence, and led him to trace all phases of reality downward from -the primal Source. His intellectual attitude, interests, and faculties -were exceptional, and yet nevertheless partook of the characteristics of -his time, out of which not even an Eriugena could lift himself. He was an -Irishman, who came to the Court of Charles the Bald on invitation, and -for many years, until his orthodoxy became too suspect, was the head of -the palace school. He may have died about the year 877. - -Eriugena was in the first place a man of learning, widely read in the -works of the Greek Fathers. From the _Celestial Hierarchy_ of -Pseudo-Dionysius and other sources, he had absorbed huge draughts of -Neo-Platonism. One must not think of him always as an original thinker. A -large part of his literary labours correspond with those of -contemporaries. He was a translator of the works of Pseudo-Dionysius, for -he knew Greek. Then he composed or compiled Commentaries upon those -writings. He cared supremely for the fruits of those faculties with which -he was pre-eminently endowed. He, the man of acquisitive powers, loved -learning; and he, the man with a faculty of constructive reason, loved -rational truth and the labour of its systematic and syllogistic -presentation. He ascribed primal validity to what was true by force of -logic, and in his soul set reason above authority. Certain of his -contemporaries, with a discernment springing from repugnance, perceived -his self-reliant intellectual mood. The same ground underlay their -detestation, which centuries after underlay St. Bernard's, for Abaelard. -That Abaelard should deem himself to be something! here was the root of -the saint's abhorrence. And, similarly, good Deacon Florus of Lyons wrote -a vituperative polemic quite as much against the man Eriugena as against -his detestable views of Predestination. Eriugena, forsooth, would be -disputing with human argument, which he draws from philosophy, and for -which he would be accountable to none. He proffers no authority from the -Fathers, "as if daring to define with his own presumption what should be -held and followed."[271] Such was not the way that Carolingian Churchmen -liked to argue, but rather with attested sentences from Augustine or -Gregory. Manifestly Eriugena was not one of them. - -Had his works been earlier understood, they would have been earlier -condemned. But people did not realize what sort of Neo-Platonic, -pantheistic and emanational, principles this Irishman from over the sea -was setting forth. St. Denis, the great saint who was becoming St. Denis -of France, had been authoritatively (and most preposterously) identified -with Dionysius the Areopagite who heard Paul preach, and, according to the -growing legend, won a martyr's crown not far from Paris. This was set -forth in his Life by Abbot Hilduin;[272] this was confirmed by Hincmar, -the great Archbishop of Rheims, who said, closing his discussion of the -matter: "veritas saepius agitata magis splendescit in lucem!"[273] -Eriugena seemed to be a translator of his holy writings, and might be -regarded as a setter forth of his exceptionally resplendent truths. He -could use the Fathers' language too. So in his book on Predestination he -quotes Augustine as saying, Philosophy, which is the study of wisdom, is -not other than religion.[274] But he was not going to keep meaning what -Augustine meant. He slowly extends his talons in the following sentences -which do _not_ stand at the _beginning_ of his great work _De divisione -naturae_. - -Says the Magister, for the work is in dialogue form: "You are aware, I -suppose, that what is prior by nature is of greater dignity than what is -prior in time." - -Answers Discipulus: "This is known to almost all." - -Continues Magister: "We learn that reason is prior by nature, but -authority prior in time. For although nature was created at the same -moment with time, authority did not begin with the beginning of time and -nature. But reason sprang with nature and time from the beginning of -things." - -Discipulus clenches the matter: "Reason itself teaches this. Authority -sometimes proceeds from reason; but reason never from authority. For all -authority which is not approved by true reason seems weak. But true -reason, since it is stablished in its own strength, needs to be -strengthened by the assent of no authority."[275] - -No doubt of the talons here! Reason superior to authority--is it not also -prior to faith? Eriugena does not press that reversal of the Christian -position. But his _De divisione naturae_ was a reasoned construction, -although of course the materials were not his own. It was no loosely -compiled encyclopaedia, such as Isidore or Bede or Rabanus would have -presented under such a title. It did not describe every object in nature -known to the writer; but it discussed Nature metaphysically, and presented -its lengthy exposition as a long argument in linked syllogistic form. Yet -it respected its borrowed materials, and preserved their -characteristics--with the exception of Scripture, which Eriugena -recognized as supreme authority! That he interpreted figuratively of -course; so had every one else done. But he differed from other -commentators and from the Church Fathers, in degree if not in kind. For -his interpretation was a systematic moulding of Scriptural phrase to suit -his system. He transformed the meaning with as clear a purpose as once -Philo of Alexandria had done. The pre-Christian Jew changed the -Pentateuch--holding fast, of course, to its authority!--into a Platonic -philosophy; and so, likewise by figurative interpretations, Eriugena -turned Scripture into a semi-Christianized Neo-Platonic scheme.[276] The -logical nature of the man was strong within him, so strong, indeed, that -in its working it could not but present all topics as component parts of a -syllogistic and systematized philosophy.[277] If he borrowed his -materials, he also made them his own with power. He appears as the one man -of his time that really could build with the material received from the -past. - -Even beyond the range of such acute theological polemics as we have been -considering, the pressing exigencies of political or ecclesiastical -controversy might cause a capable man to think for himself even in the -ninth century. Such a man was Claudius, Bishop of Turin, the foe of image -and relic-worship, and of other superstitions too crass for one who was a -follower of Augustine.[278] And another such a one even more palpably was -Agobard, Archbishop of Lyons (d. 840), a brave and energetic man, -clear-seeing and enlightened, and incessantly occupied with questions of -living interest, to which his nature responded more quickly than to -theologic lore. Absorbed in the affairs of his diocese, of the Church at -large, and of the Empire, he expresses views which he has made his own. -Practical issues, operating upon his mind, evoked a personal originality -of treatment. His writings are clear illustrations of the originality -which actual issues aroused in the Carolingian epoch. They were directed -against common superstitions and degraded religious opinion, or against -the Jews whose aggressive prosperity in the south of France disturbed him; -or they were political. In fine, they were the fruit of the living issue. -For example, his so often-cited pamphlet, "Against the silly opinion of -the crowd as to hail and thunder,"[279] was doubtless called forth by the -intolerable conditions stated in the first sentence: - - "In these parts almost all men, noble and common, city folk and - country folk, old and young, think that hail storms and thunder can be - brought about at the pleasure of men. People say when they hear - thunder and see lightning '_Aura levatitia est_.' When asked what - _aura levatitia_ may be, some are ashamed or conscience-stricken, - while others, with the boldness of ignorance, assert that the air is - raised (_levata_) by the incantations of men called Tempestarii, and - so is called 'raised air.'" - -Agobard does not marshal physical explanations against this folly, but -texts of Scripture showing that God alone can raise and lay the storms. -Perhaps he thought such texts the best arguments for those who needed any. -The manner of the writing is reasonable, and the reader perceives that the -clear-headed archbishop, apart from his Scriptural arguments, deemed these -notions ridiculous, as well as harmful.[280] - -In like spirit Agobard argued against trials by combat and ordeal. -Undoubtedly, God might thus announce His righteous judgment, but one -should not expect to elicit it in modes so opposed to justice and -Scripture; again, he cites many texts while also considering the matter -rationally.[281] On the other hand, his book against image-worship is made -up of extracts from Augustine and other Church authorities. There was no -call for originality here, when the subject seemed to have been so -exhaustively and authoritatively treated.[282] - -One cannot follow Agobard so comfortably in his rancorous tracts against -the Jews. Doubtless this subject also presented itself to him as an -exigency requiring handling, and he was just in his contention that -heathen slaves belonging to Jews might be converted and baptized, and then -should not be given back to their former masters, but a money equivalent -be made instead. The question was important from its frequency. Yet one -would be loath to approve his arguments, unoriginal as they are. He gives -currency to the common slanders against the Jews, and then at great length -cites passages from the Church Fathers, to show in what detestation they -held that people. Then he sets forth the abominable opinions of the hated -race, and ransacks Scripture to prove that the Jews are therein -authoritatively and incontestably condemned.[283] - -The years of Agobard's maturity belong to the troubled time which came -with the accession of the incompetent Louis, in 814, to the throne of his -father Charlemagne. In the contentions and wars that followed, Agobard -proved himself an apt political partisan and writer. His political tracts, -notwithstanding their constant citation of Scripture, are his own, and -evince an originality evoked by the situation which they were written to -influence. - -Something of the originality which the pressing political exigency -imparted to these tracts of Agobard might be transmitted to such history -as was occupied with contemporary events. As long as the historian was a -mere excerpting chronicler extracting his dry summaries from the writings -of former men, his work would not rouse him to independence of conception -or presentation. That would have come with criticism upon the old -authorities. But criticism had scarcely begun to murmur among the -Carolingians, too absorbed with the task of grasping their inherited -material to weigh it, and too overawed by the authority of the past to -question the truth of its transmitted statements. Excerpts, however, could -not be made to tell the stirring events of the period in which the -Carolingian historian lived. He would have to set forth his own perception -and understanding of them, and in manner and language which to a less or -greater extent were his own: to a less extent with those feebly beginning -Annals, or Year-books, which set down the occurrences of cloister life or -the larger happenings of which the report penetrated from the outer -world;[284] to a greater extent, however, with a more veritable history of -some topic of living and coherent interest. In the latter case the writer -must present his conception of events, and therewith something of -himself.[285] - -An example of this necessitated originality in the writing of contemporary -history is the work of Count Nithard. He was the son of Charlemagne's -daughter Bertha and of Angilbert, the emperor's counsellor and lifelong -friend. His parents were not man and wife, because Charles would not let -his daughters marry, from reasons of policy; but the relationship between -them was open, and apparently approved by the lady's sire. Angilbert -studied in the palace school with Charlemagne, and became himself a writer -of Latin verse. He was often his sovereign's ambassador, and continued -active in affairs until his closing years, when he became the lay-abbot of -a rich monastery in Picardy, and received his emperor and virtual -father-in-law as his guest. He died the same year with Charles. - -Like his father, Nithard was educated at the palace school, perhaps with -his cousin who was to become Charles the Bald. His loyalty continued -staunch to that king, whose tried confidant he became. He was a -diplomatist and a military leader in the wars following the death of Louis -the Pious; and he felt impelled to present from his side the story of the -strife among the sons of Louis, in "four books of histories" as they grew -to be.[286] Involved with his king in that same hurricane (_eodem -turbine_) he describes those stormy times which they were fighting out -together even while he was writing. This man of action could not but -present himself, his views, his temperament, in narrating the events he -moved in. Throughout, one perceives the pen of the participant, in this -case an honest partisan of his king, and the enemy of those whose conduct -had given the divided realm over to rapine. So the vigorous narrative of -this noble Frank partakes of the originality which inheres in the writings -of men of action when their literary faculty is sufficient to enable them -to put themselves into their compositions. - -Engaged, as we have been, with the intellectual or scholarly interests of -the Carolingian period, we should not forget how slender in numbers were -the men who promoted them, and how few were the places where they throve. -There was the central group of open-minded laymen and Churchmen about the -palace school, or following the Court in its journeyings, which were far -and swift. Then there were monastic or episcopal centres of education as -at Tours, or Rheims, or Fulda. The scholars carried from the schools their -precious modicum of knowledge, and passed on through life as educated men -living in the world, or dwelt as learned compilers, reading in the -cloister. But scant were the rays of their enlightening influence amidst -that period's vast encompassing ignorance. - -To have classified the Carolingian intellectual interests according to -topics would have been misleading, since that would have introduced a -fictitious element of individual preference and aptitude, as if the -Carolingian scholar of his spontaneous volition occupied himself with -mathematical studies rather than grammar, or with astronomy rather than -theology. In general, all was a matter of reading and learning from such -books as Isidore's _Origines_, which handled all topics indiscriminately, -or from Bede, or from the works of Augustine or Gregory, in which every -topic did but form part of the encyclopaedic presentation of the -relationship between the soul and God, and the soul's way to salvation. - -What then did these men care for? Naturally, first of all, for the -elements of their primary education, their studies in the Seven Arts. They -did what they might with Grammar and Rhetoric, and with Dialectic, which -sometimes was Rhetoric and formal Logic joined. Logic, for those who -studied it seriously, was beginning to form an important mental -discipline. The four branches of the quadrivium were pursued more -casually. Knowledge of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy (one may -throw in medicine as a fifth) was as it might be in the individual -instance--always rudimentary, and usually rather less than more. - -All of this, however, and it was not very much, was but the preparation, -if the man was to be earnest in his pursuit of wisdom. Wisdom lay chiefly -in Theology, to wit, the whole saving contents of Scripture as understood -and interpreted by Gregory and Augustine. There was little mortal -knowledge which this range of Scriptural interpretation might not include. -It compassed such knowledge of the physical world as would enable one to -understand the work of Creation set forth in Genesis; it embraced all that -could be known of man, of his physical nature, and assuredly of his -spiritual part. Here Christian truth might call on the better pagan -philosophy for illustration and rational corroboration, so far as that did -corroborate. When it did not, it was pernicious falsity. - -So Christian piety viewed the matter. But the pious commonly have their -temporal fancies, sweet as stolen fruit. These Carolingian scholars, the -man in orders and the man without, studied the Latin poets, historians, -and orators. And in their imaginative or poetic moods, as they followed -classic metre, so they reproduced classic phrase and sentiment in their -verses. The men who made such--it might be Alcuin, or Theodulphus, or -Walafrid Strabo--chose what they would as the subject of their poems; but -the presentation took form and phrase from Virgil and other old poets. The -antique influence so strong in the Carolingian period, included much more -than matters of elegant culture, like poetry and art, or even rhetoric and -grammar. It held the accumulated experience in law and institution, which -still made part of the basis of civic life. Rabanus Maurus recognized it -thus broadly. And, thus largely taken, the antique survives in the -Carolingian time as a co-ordinate dominant, with Latin Christianity. -Neither, as yet, was affected by the solvent processes of transmutation -into new human faculty and power. None the less, this same antique -survival was destined to pass into modes and forms belonging quite as much -to the Middle Ages as to antiquity; and, thus recast, it was to become a -broadening and informing element in the mediaeval personality. - -Likewise with the patristic Christianity which had been transmitted to the -Carolingian time, to be then and there not only conned and studied, but -also rearranged by these painful students, so that they and their -successors might the better comprehend it. It was not for them to change -the patristic forms organically, by converting them into the modes of -mediaeval understanding of the same. These would be devised, or rather -achieved, by later men, living in centuries when the patristic heritage of -doctrine, long held and cherished, had permeated the whole spiritual -natures of mediaeval men and women, and had been itself transmuted in what -it had transformed. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -MENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY: ITALY - - I. FROM CHARLEMAGNE TO HILDEBRAND. - - II. THE HUMAN SITUATION. - - III. THE ITALIAN CONTINUITY OF ANTIQUE CULTURE. - - IV. ITALY'S INTELLECTUAL PIETY: PETER DAMIANI AND ST. ANSELM. - - -I - -The Empire of Charlemagne could not last. Two obvious causes, among -others, were enough to prevent it. No single government (save when -temporarily energized by some extraordinary ruler) could control such -enormous and widely separated regions, which included much of the present -Germany and Austria, the greater part of Italy, France, and the Low -Countries. Large portions of this Empire were almost trackless, and -nowhere were there good roads and means of transportation. Then, as the -second cause, within these diverse and ununited lands dwelt or moved many -peoples differing from each other in blood and language, in conditions of -life and degrees of civilization or barbarism. No power existed that could -either hold them in subjection or make them into proper constituents of an -Empire.[287] - -There were other, more particular, causes of dissolution: the Frankish -custom of partitioning the realm brought war between Louis the Pious and -his sons, and then among the latter; no scion of the Carolingian house was -equal to the situation; under the ensuing turbulence, the royal power -weakened, and local protection, or oppression, took its place; constant -war exhausted the strength of the Empire, and particularly of Austrasia, -while from without Norsemen, Slavs, and Saracens were attacking, invading, -plundering everywhere. These marauders still were heathen, or obstinate -followers of the Prophet; while Christianity was the bond of unity and -empire. Charlemagne and his strong predecessors had been able thus to view -and use the Church; but the weaker successors, beginning with Louis the -Pious, too eager for the Church's aid and condonation, found their -subservience as a reed that broke and pierced the hand. - -These causes quickly brought about the Empire's actual dissolution. On the -other hand, a potent conception had been revived in western Europe. Louis -the Pious, himself made emperor in Charlemagne's lifetime, associated his -eldest son with him as co-emperor, and made his two younger sons kings, -hoping thus to preserve the Empire's unity. If that unity forthwith became -a name, it was a name to conjure with; and the corresponding imperial fact -was to be again made actual by the first Saxon Otto, a man worthy to reach -back across the years and clasp the hand of the great Charles. - -That intervening century and a half preceding the year 962 when Otto was -crowned emperor, carried political and social changes. To the West, in the -old Neustrian kingdom which was to form the nucleus of mediaeval France, -the Carolingian line ran out in degenerates surnamed the Pious, the Bald, -the Stammerer, the Simple, and the Fat. The Counts of Paris, Odo, Robert, -Hugh the Great, and, finally, Hugh Capet, playing something like the old -rôle of the palace mayors, were becoming the actual rulers, although not -till 987 was the last-named Hugh formally elected and anointed king. - -Other great houses also had arisen through the land of France, which was -very far from being under the power of the last Carolingians or the first -Capetians. The year 911 saw the treaty between Norman Rollo and Charles -the Simple, and may be taken to symbolize the settling down of Norsemen -from freebooters to denizens, with a change of faith. Rollo received the -land between the Epte and the sea, to the borders of Brittany, along with -temporary privileges, granted by the same Simple Charles, of sack and -plunder over the latter. But a generation later the valiant Count Alan of -the Twisted Beard drove out the plunderers, and established the feudal -duchy long to bear the name of Brittany. Likewise, aided by the need of -protection against invading plunderers, feudal principalities were formed -in Flanders, Champagne, Burgundy, Aquitaine, Languedoc. - -At the time when Hugh Capet drew near his royal destiny, his brother was -Duke of Burgundy, the Dukes of Normandy and Aquitaine were his -brothers-in-law, and Adalberon, Archbishop of Rheims, was his partisan. As -a king elected by his peers, his royal rights were only such as sprang -from the feudal homage and fidelity which they tendered him. Yet he, with -the clergy, deemed that his consecration by the Church gave him the -prerogatives of Frankish sovereigns, which were patterned on those of -Roman emperors and Old Testament kings. It was to be the long endeavour of -the Capetian line to make good these higher claims against the -counter-assumptions of feudal vassals, who individually might be stronger -than the king.[288] - -Austrasia, the eastern Frankish kingdom, formed the centre of those -portions of the Carolingian Empire which were to remain German. Throughout -these lands, as in the West, feudal disintegration was progressing. The -great territorial divisions were set by differences of race or _stamm_. -Saxons, Franks, Bavarians, Suabians, had never been one people. In the -tenth century each of these _stamms_, with the land it dwelt in, made a -dukedom; and there were besides marks or frontier lordships, each under -its markgrave, upon whom lay the duty of repelling outer foes. These -divisions, fixed in differences of law, language, and blood, were -destined to prevent the formation of a strong kingdom like that of France. - -Yet what was to prove a veritable German royalty sprang from the ducal -Saxon house. Upon the failure of the German Carolingian branch in 911, -Conrad, Duke of Franconia, was elected king, the Saxons and Suabians -consenting. After struggling a few years, mainly against the power of the -Saxon duke Henry, Conrad at his death in 918 pronounced in favour of his -stronger rival. Thereupon Henry, called by later legend "The Fowler," -became king, and having maintained his royal authority against -recalcitrants, and fought successfully with Hungarians and Bohemians, he -died in 936, naming his son Otto as his successor. - -The latter's reign was to be a long and great one. He was consecrated at -Aix-la-Chapelle in Charlemagne's basilica, thus at the outset showing what -and whom he had in mind. Then and thereafter all manner of internal -opposition had to be suppressed. His own competing brothers were, first of -all, to be put down; and with them the Dukes of Bavaria, Franconia, and -Lorraine, whom Otto conquered and replaced with men connected with him by -ties of blood or marriage. Far to the West he made his power felt, -settling affairs between Louis and Hugh the Great. Hungarians and Slavs -attacked his realm in vain. New _marks_ were established to hold them in -check, and new bishoprics were founded, fonts of missionary Christianity -and fortresses of defence. - -Thereupon Otto looked southward, over the Alps. To say that Italy was sick -with turmoil and corruption, and exposed to the attack of every foe, is to -give but the negative and least interesting side. She held more of -civilized life and of education than any northern land; she differed from -the north in her politics and institutions. Feudalism did not fix itself -widely there, although the Roman barons, who made and unmade popes, -represented it; and in many regions, as later among the Normans in the -south, there was to be a feudal land-holding nobility. But in Italy, it -was the city, whether under civic or episcopal government, or in a -despot's grip, that took the lead, and was to keep the life of the -peninsula predominantly urban, as it had been in the Roman time. - -Tenth-century Italy contained enough claimants to the royal, even the -imperial, title. Rome reeked with faction; and the papal power was nearly -snuffed out. Pope followed pope, to reign or be dragged from his -throne--eight of them between 896 and 904. Then began at Rome the -domination of the notorious, but virile, Theodora and her daughter -Marozia, makers and perhaps mistresses of popes, and leaders in feudal -violence. Marozia married a certain valiant Alberic, "markgrave of -Camerino" and forerunner of many a later Italian soldier and tyrant of -fortune. When he fell, she married again, and overthrew Pope John X., who -had got the better of her first husband. In 931 she made her son pope as -John XI. For yet a third husband she took a certain King Hugo, a -Burgundian; but another son of hers, a second Alberic, roused the city, -drove him out, and proclaimed himself "Prince and Senator of all the -Romans." - -It was in this Italy that Otto intervened, in 951, drawn perhaps by the -wrongs of Queen Adelaide, widow of Hugo's son, Lothaire, a landless king, -since Markgrave Berengar had ousted him from his Italian holdings. This -Berengar now persecuted and imprisoned the queen-widow. She escaped; Otto -descended from the Alps, and married her; Lombardy submitted; Berengar -fled. This time Otto did not advance to Rome, being impeded by many -things--Alberic's refusal to admit him, and behind his back in Germany the -rebellion of his own son Liudolf aided by the Archbishop of Mainz, and -later by those whom Otto left in Italy to represent him as he hurried -north. These were straitened times for the king, and the Hungarians poured -over the boundaries to take advantage of the confusion. But Otto's star -triumphed over both rebels and Hungarians--a bloody star for the latter, -as the plains of Lech might testify, where they were so handled that they -never ravaged German lands again. - -Otto's power now reached its zenith. He reordered the German dukedoms, -filled the archbishoprics with faithful servants, bound the German clergy -to himself with gifts and new foundations, and ruled them like another -Charlemagne. It was his time to become emperor, an emperor like -Charlemagne, and not like later weaklings. In 961 he again entered Italy, -to be greeted with universal acclaim as by men longing for a deliverer. He -was crowned king in Pavia; the levies of the once more hostile Berengar -dispersed before him. In February 962 he was anointed emperor at Rome by -John XII., son of that second Alberic who had refused to open the gates, -but whose debauched son had called for aid upon the mighty German. Once -more the Holy Roman Empire of the Germans was refounded to endure a while -with power, and continue a titular existence for eight centuries. - -The power of the first Otto was so overwhelming that the papacy could not -escape the temporary subjection which its vile state deserved. And the -Empire was its honest patron, for the good of both. So on through the -reigns of Otto II., who died in 983, aged twenty-eight, and his son Otto -III., who died in 1002, at the age of twenty-two, a dreamer and would-be -universal potentate. Then came the practical-minded rule of the second -Henry (1002-1024), who still aided and humbly ruled the Church. Conrad -II., of Franconia, followed, faithful to the imperial tradition.[289] He -was succeeded in 1039 by his son Henry III., beneficent and prosperous, if -not far-seeing, who again cared for both Church and State, and imperially -constrained the papacy, itself impotent in the grip of the Roman barons -and the Counts of Tusculum. Henry did not hesitate to clear away at once -three rival popes (1046) and name a German, Clement II. It was this worthy -man, but still more another German, his successor, Leo IX. (1049-1054), -who lifted the papacy from its Italian mire, and launched it full on its -course toward an absolute spiritual supremacy that was to carry the -temporal control of kings and princes. But the man already at the helm was -a certain deacon Hildebrand, who was destined to guide the papal policy -through the reigns of successive popes until he himself was hailed as -Gregory VII. (1073-1085).[290] - -With Hildebrand's pontificate, which in truth began before he sat in -Peter's chair, the reforming spirits among the clergy, aroused to his keen -policy, set themselves to the uplifting of their order. In all countries -the Church, heavy with its possessions, seemed about to become feudal and -secular. Bishops and abbots were appointed by kings and the great -feudatories, and were by them _invested_ with their lands as fiefs, for -which the clerical appointee did homage, and undertook to perform feudal -duties. Church fiefs failed to become hereditary only because bishops and -abbots could not marry; yet in fact great numbers of the lower clergy -lived in a state of marriage or "concubinage." Evidently the celibacy of -the clergy was a vital issue in Church reform; and so were investitures -and the matter of simony. Under mediaeval conditions, the most open form -of this "heresy" called after Simon Magus, was the large gift from the new -incumbent to his feudal lord who had invested him with abbey or bishopric. -Such simony was not wrong from the feudal point of view, and might -properly represent the duty of bishop or abbot to his lord. - -Obviously, for the reform and emancipation of the Church, and in order -that it should become a world-power, and not remain a semi-secular local -institution in each land, it was necessary that the three closely -connected corruptions of simony, lay investitures, and clerical -concubinage should be destroyed. To this enormous task the papacy -addressed itself under the leadership of Hildebrand.[291] In his -pontificate the struggle with the supreme representative of secular power, -to wit, the Empire, came to a head touching investitures. Gregory's -secular opponent was Henry IV., of tragic and unseemly fame; for whom the -conflict proved to be the road by which he reached Canossa, dragged by the -Pope's anathema, and also driven to this shame by a rebellious Germany -(1076, 1077). Henry was conquered, although a revulsion of the -long-swaying war drove Gregory from Rome, to die an exile for the cause -which he deemed that of righteousness. - -Between the papacy and the secular power represented in this struggle by -the Empire, a peaceful co-equality could not exist. The superiority of the -spiritual and eternal over the carnal and temporal had to be vindicated; -and in terms admitting neither limit nor condition, Hildebrand maintained -the Church's universal jurisdiction upon earth. The authority granted by -Christ to Peter and his successors, the popes, was absolute for eternity. -Should it not include the passing moment of mortal life, important only -because determining man's eternal lot? The divine grant was made without -qualification or exception _in saeculo_ as well as for the life to come. -If spiritual men are under the Pope's jurisdiction, shall he not also -constrain secular folk from their wickedness?[292] Were kings excepted -when the Lord said, Thou art Peter?[293] Nay; the salvation of souls -demands that the Pope shall have full authority _in terra_ to suppress the -waves of pride with the arms of humility. The _dictatus papae_ of the year -1075 make the Pope the head of the Christian world: the Roman Church was -founded by God alone; the Roman pontiff alone by right is called -_universal_; he alone may use the imperial insignia; his feet alone shall -be kissed by all princes; he may depose emperors and release subjects from -fealty; and he can be judged by no man.[294] - -In the century and a half following Gregory's reign the papacy well-nigh -attained the realization of the claims made by this great upbuilder of its -power.[295] Constantine's forged donation was outdone, in fact; and the -furthest hopes of Leo I. and the first, second, and third Gregories were -more than realized. - - -II - -One might liken the Carolingian period to a vessel at her dock, taking on -her cargo, casks of antique culture and huge crates of patristic theology. -Then western Europe in the eleventh century would be the same vessel -getting under way, well started on the mediaeval ocean. - -This would be one way of putting the matter. A closer simile already used -is the likening of the Carolingian period to the lusty schoolboy learning -his lessons, thinking very little for himself. By the eleventh century he -will have left school, though still impressionable, still with much to -learn; but he has begun to turn his conned lessons over in his mind, and -to think a little, in the terms, of what he has acquired--has even begun -to select therefrom tentatively, and still under the mastery of the whole. -He perceives the charm of the antique culture, of the humanly inspiring -literature, so exhaustless in its profane fascinations; he is realizing -the spiritual import of the patristic share of his instruction, and -already feels the power of emotion which lay implicit in the Latin -formulation of the Christian Faith. Withal he is beginning to evolve an -individuality of his own. - -Speaking more explicitly, it should be said that instead of one such -hopeful youth there are several, or rather groups of them, differing -widely from each other. The forefathers of certain of these groups were -civilized and educated men, at home in the antique and patristic -curriculum with which our youths are supposed to have been busy. The -forefathers of other groups were rustics, or rude herdsmen and hunters, -hard-hitting warriors, who once had served, but more latterly had rather -lorded it over, the cultivated forbears of the others. Still, again, the -forefathers of other numerous groups had been partly cultivated and partly -rude. Evidently these groups of youths are diverse in blood and in -ancestral traits; evidently also the antique and patristic curriculum is -quite a new thing to some of them, while others had it at their fathers' -knees. - -Our different youthful groups represent Italians, Germans, and the -inhabitants of France and the British Isles. One may safely speak of the -ninth-century Germans as schoolboys just brought face to face with -Christianity and the antique culture. So with the Saxon stock in England. -The propriety is not so clear as to the Italians; for they are not newly -introduced to these matters. Yet their household affairs have been -disturbed, and they themselves have slackened in their study. So they too -have much to learn anew, and may be regarded as truants, dirtied and -muddied, and perhaps refreshed, by the scrambles of their time of truancy, -and now returning to lessons which they have pretty well forgotten. - -Obviously, in considering the intellectual condition of western Europe in -the tenth and eleventh centuries, it will be convenient to regard each -country in turn: and, besides, a geographical is more appropriate than a -topical arrangement, because there was still little choice of one branch -of discipline rather than another. The majority still were conning -indiscriminately what had come from the past, studying heterogeneous -matters in the same books, the same forlorn compendia. They read the -_Etymologies_ of Isidore or the corresponding works of Bede, and followed -as of course the Trivium and Quadrivium. In sacred learning they might -read the Scriptural Commentaries of Rabanus Maurus or Walafrid Strabo, or -study the works of Augustine. This was still the supreme study, and all -else, properly viewed, was ancillary to it. Nevertheless, as between -sacred study and profane literature, an even violent divergence of choice -existed. Everywhere there were men who loved the profanities in -themselves, and some who felt that for their souls' sake they must abjure -them. - -For further diverging lines of preference, one should wait for the twelfth -century. Many men will then be found absorbed in religious study, while -others cultivate logic and metaphysics, with the desire to know more -active in them than the fear of hell. Still others will study "grammar" -and the classics, or, again, with conscious specializing choice, devote -their energies to the civil or the canon law. In later chapters, and -mainly with reference to this culminating mediaeval time which includes -the twelfth, the thirteenth, and at least, for Dante's sake, the first -part of the fourteenth, century, we shall review these various branches of -intellectual endeavour in topical order. But for the earlier time which -still enshrouds us, we pass from land to land as on a tour of intellectual -inspection. - - -III - -We start with Italy. There was no break between her antique civilization -and her mediaeval development, but only a period of depression and decay. -Notwithstanding the change from paganism to Christianity and the influx of -barbarians, both a race-continuity and a continuity of culture persisted. -The Italian stock maintained its numerical preponderance, as well as the -power of transforming newcomers to the likeness of itself. The natural -qualities of the country, and the existence of cities and antique -constructions, assisted in the Italianizing of Goth, Lombard, German, -Norman. Latin civic reminiscence, tradition, custom, permeated society, -and prevented the growth of feudalism. Italy remained urban, and continued -to reflect the ancient time. "Consuls" and "tribunes" long survived the -passing of their antique functions, and the fame endured of antique -heroes, mythical and historical. Florence honoured Mars and Caesar; Padua -had Antenor, Cremona Hercules. Such names remained veritably eponymous. -Other cities claimed the birthplace of Pliny, of Ovid, of Virgil. An altar -might no longer be dedicated to a pagan hero, yet the town would preserve -his name upon monuments, would adorn his fancied tomb, stamp his effigy on -coins or keep it in the communal seal. Of course the figments of the -Trojan Saga were current through the land, which, however divided, was -conscious of itself as Italy. _Te Italia plorabit_ writes an -eleventh-century Pisan poet of a young Pisan noble fallen in Africa. - -In Italy, as in no other country, the currents of antique education, -disturbed yet unbroken, carried clear across that long period of -invasions, catastrophes, and reconstructions, which began with the time of -Alaric. Under the later pagan emperors, and under Constantine and his -successors, the private schools of grammar and rhetoric had tended to -decline. There were fewer pupils with inclination and ability to pay. So -the emperors established municipal schools in the towns of Italy and the -provinces. The towns tried to shirk the burden, and the teachers, whose -pay came tardily, had to look to private pupils for support. In Italy -there was always some demand for instruction in grammar and law. The -supply rose and fell with the happier or the more devastated condition of -the land. Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, re-established municipal schools -through his dominion. After him further troubles came, for example from -the Lombards, until they too became gentled by Italian conditions, and -their kings and nobles sought to encourage and acquire the education and -culture which their coming had disturbed. In the seventh and eighth -centuries the grade of instruction was very low; but there is evidence of -the unintermitted existence of lay schools, private or municipal, in all -the important towns, from the eighth century to the tenth, the eleventh, -and so on and on. These did not give religious instruction, but taught -grammar and the classic literature, law and the art of drawing documents -and writing letters. The former branches of study appear singularly -profane in Italy. The literature exemplifying the principles of grammar -was pagan and classical, and the fictitious themes on which the pupils -exercised their eloquence continued such as might have been orated on in -the time of Quintilian. Intellectually the instruction was -poverty-stricken, but the point to note is, that in Italy there never -ceased to be schools conducted by laymen for laymen, where instruction in -matters profane and secular was imparted and received for the sake of its -profane and secular value, without regard to its utility for the saving of -souls. There was no barbaric contempt for letters, nor did the laity fear -them as a spiritual peril. Gerbert before the year 1000 had found Italy -the field for the purchase of books;[296] and about 1028 Wipo, a native of -Burgundy and chaplain of the emperor Conrad II., contrasts the ignorance -of Germany with Italy, where "the entire youth (_tota juventus_) is sent -to sweat in the schools";[297] and about the middle of the twelfth -century, Otto of Freising suggests a like contrast between the Italy and -Germany of his time.[298] - -In Italy the study of grammar, with all that it included, was established -in tradition, and also was regarded as a necessary preparation for the -study both of law and medicine. Even in the eleventh century these -professions were followed by men who were "grammarians," a term to be -taken to mean for the early Middle Ages the profession of letters. In the -eleventh century, a lawyer or notary in Italy (where there were always -such, and some study of law and legal forms) needed education in a -Latinity different from the vulgar Latin which was turning into Italian. A -little later, Irnerius, the founder of the Bologna school, was a teacher -of "grammar" before he became a teacher of law.[299] As for medicine, that -appears always to have been cultivated at least in southern Italy; and a -knowledge of grammar, even of logic, was required for its study.[300] - -The survival of medical knowledge in Italy did not, in means and manner, -differ from the survival of the rest of the antique culture. Some -acquaintance had continued with the works of Galen and other ancient -physicians; but more use was made of compendia, the matter of which may -have been taken from Galen, but was larded with current superstitions -regarding disease. Such compendia began to appear in the fifth century, -and through these and other channels a considerable medical knowledge -found its way to a congenial home in Salerno. There are references to this -town as a medical community as early as the ninth century. By the -eleventh, it was famous for its medicine. About the year 1060 a certain -Constantine seems to have brought there novel and stimulating medical -knowledge which he had gained in Africa from Arabian (ultimately Greek) -sources. Nevertheless, translations from the Arabic seem scarcely to have -exerted much influence upon medicine for yet another hundred years.[301] - -Thus in Italy the antique education never stopped, antique reminiscence -and tradition never passed away, and the literary matter of the pagan past -never faded from the consciousness of the more educated among the laity -and clergy. Some understanding of the classic literature, as well as a -daily absorption of the antique from its survival in habits, laws, and -institutions, made part of the capacities and temperament of Italians. -Grammarians, lawyers, doctors, monks even, might think and produce under -the influence of that which never had quite fallen from the life of Italy. -And just as the ancient ways of civic life and styles of building became -rude and impoverished, and yet passed on without any abrupt break into the -tenth and the eleventh centuries, so was it with the literature of Italy, -or at least with those productions which were sheer literature, and not -deflected from traditional modes of expression by any definite business or -by the distorting sentiments of Christian asceticism. This literature -proper was likely to take the form of verse in the eleventh century. A -practical matter would be put in prose; but the effervescence of the -soul, or the intended literary effort, would fall into rhyme or resort to -metre. - -We have an example of the former in those often-cited tenth-century verses -exhorting the watchers on the walls of Modena: - - "O tu qui servas armis ista moenia, - Noli dormire, moneo, sed vigila. - Dum Hector vigil extitit in Troia, - Non eam cepit fraudulenta Graecia. - - "Vigili voce avis anser candida - Fugavit Gallos ex arce Romulea." - -The antique reminiscence fills this jingle, as it does the sensuous - - "O admirabile Veneris ydolum - Cuius materiae nichil est frivolum: - Archos te protegat, qui stellas et polum - Fecit et maria condidit et solum."[302] - -And so on from century to century. At the beginning of the twelfth, a -Pisan poet celebrates Pisa's conquest of the Balearic Isles: - - "Inclytorum Pisanorum scripturus historiam, - Antiquorum Romanorum renovo memoriam, - Nam ostendit modo Pisa laudem admirabilem, - Quam olim recepit Roma vincendo Carthaginem." - -For an eleventh-century example of more literary verse, one may turn to -the metres of Alphanus, a noble Salernian, lover of letters, pilgrim -traveller, archbishop of his native town, and monk of Monte Cassino, the -parent Benedictine monastery, which had been the cultured retreat of -Paulus Diaconus in the time of Charlemagne. It was destroyed by the -Saracens in 884. Learning languished in the calamitous decades which -followed. But the convent was rebuilt, and some care for learning -recommences there under the abbot Theobald (1022-1035). The monastery's -troubles were not over; but it re-entered upon prosperity under the -energetic rule of the German Richer (1038-1055).[303] Shortly after his -death two close friends were received among its monks, Alphanus and -Desiderius. The latter was of princely Lombard stock, from Beneventum. He -met Alphanus at Salerno, and there they became friends. Afterwards both -saw something of the world and experienced its perils. Desiderius was born -to be monk, abbot, and at last pope (Victor III.) against his will. -Alphanus, always a man of letters, was drawn by his friend to monastic -life. Long after, when Archbishop of Salerno, he gave a refuge and a tomb -to the outworn Hildebrand. - -The rebuilding and adorning of Monte Cassino by Desiderius with the aid of -Greek artists is a notable episode in the history of art.[304] Under the -long rule of this great abbot (1058-1087) the monastery reached the summit -of its repute and influence. It was the home of theology and -ecclesiastical policy. There law and medicine were studied. Likewise -"grammar" and classic literature, the latter not too broadly, as would -appear from the list of manuscripts copied under Desiderius--Virgil, Ovid, -Terence, Seneca, Cicero's _De natura deorum_. But then there was the whole -host of early Christian poets, historians, and theologians. Naturally, -Christian studies were dominant within those walls. - -Alphanus did not spend many of his years there. But his loyalty to the -great monastery never failed, nor his intercourse with its abbot and -monks. He has left an enthusiastic poem descriptive of the place and the -splendour of its building.[305] A general and interesting feature of his -poetry is the naturalness of its classical reminiscence and its feeling -for the past, which is even translated into the poet's sentiments toward -his contemporaries and toward life. In his metrical verses _ad -Hildebrandum archidiaconum Romanum_, his stirring praise of that statesman -is imbued with pagan sentiment. - - "How great the glory which so often comes to those defending the - republic, has not escaped thy knowledge, Hildebrand. The Via Sacra - and the Via Latina recall the same, and the lofty crown of the - Capitol, that mighty seat of empire.... The hidden poison of envy - implants its infirmity in wretched affairs, and brings overthrow only - to such. That thou shouldst be envied, and not envy, beseems thy - skill.... How great the power of the anathema! Whatever Marius and - Julius wrought with the slaughter of soldiers, thou dost with thy - small voice.... What more does Rome owe to the Scipios and the other - Quirites than to thee?" - -Perhaps the glyconic metre of this poem was too much for Alphanus. His -awkward constructions, however, constantly reflect classic phrases. And -how naturally his mind reproduced the old pagan--or fundamental -human--views of life, appears again in his admiring sapphics to Romuald, -chief among Salerno's lawyers: - - "Dulcis orator, vehemens gravisque, - Inter omnes causidicos perennem - Gloriam juris tibi, Romoalde, - Prestitit usus." - -Further stanzas follow on Romuald's wealth, station, and mundane felicity. -Then comes the sudden turn, and Romuald is praised for having spurned them -all: - - "Cumque sic felix, ut in orbe sidus - Fulseris, mundum roseo jacentem - Flore sprevisti...." - -Apparently Romuald had become a monk: - - "Rite fecisti, potiore vita - Perfruiturus."[306] - -This turn of sentiment curiously accorded with the poet's own fortune and -way of life; for Alphanus, with all his love of antique letters, was also -a monk and an ascetic, of whom a contemporary chronicler tells that in -Lent he ate but twice a week and never slept on a bed. Yet monk, and -occasional ascetic, as he was, the ordinary antique-descended education -and inherited strains of antique feeling made the substratum of his -nature, and this although he could inveigh against the philosophic and -grammatical studies flourishing in a neighbouring monastery, and advise -one of its studious youths to turn from such: - - "Si, Transmunde, mihi credis, amice, - His uti studiis desine tandem; - Fac cures monachi scire professum, - Ut vere sapiens esse puteris."[307] - -Eleventh-century Italian "versificatores" were interested in a variety of -things. Some of them gave the story of a saint's or bishop's life, or were -occupied with an ecclesiastic theme. Others sang the fierce struggle -between rival cities, or some victory over Saracens, or made an idyl of -very human love with mythological appurtenances. The verse-forms either -followed the antique metres or were accentual deflections from them with -the new added element of rhyme; the ways of expression copied antique -phrase and simile, except when the matter and sentiment of the poem -compelled another choice. In that case the Latin becomes freer, more -mediaeval, ruder, if one will; and still antique turns of expression and -bits of sentences show how naturally it came to these men to construct -their verses out of ancient phrases. Yet borrowed phrases and the -constraint of metre impeded spontaneity, and these feeble versifiers could -hardly create in modes of the antique. A fresher spirit breathes in -certain anonymous poems, which have broken with metre, while they give -voice to sentiments quite after the feeling of the old Italian paganism. -In one of these, from Ivrea, the poet meets a nymph by the banks of the -Po, and in leonine elegiacs bespeaks her love, with all the paraphernalia -of antique reference, assuring her that his verse shall make her immortal, -a perfectly pagan sentiment--or affectation: - - "Sum sum sum vates, musarum servo penates, - Subpeditante Clio queque futura scio. - Me minus extollo, quamvis mihi cedit Apollo, - Invidet et cedit, scire Minerva dedit. - Laude mea vivit mihi se dare queque cupivit, - Immortalis erit, ni mea Musa perit."[308] - -It is obvious that in the tenth and eleventh centuries there were Italians -whose sentiments and intellectual interests were profane, humanistic in a -word. These men might even be high ecclesiastics, like Liutprand, Bishop -of Cremona (d. 972).[309] He was of Lombard stock, and yet a genuine -Italian, bred in an atmosphere of classical reminiscence and contemporary -gossip and misdeed. Politically, at least, the Italy of John XII. was not -so much better than its pope; and the _Antapodosis_ of Liutprand goes -along in its easy, and often dramatic way, telling of crime and perfidy, -and showing scant horror. It was a general history of the historian's -times, written while in exile in Germany; for Liutprand had been driven -out of Italy by King Berengar, whom he had once served. He hated Berengar -and his wife, and although well received at the Court of the great Otto, -he did not love his place of exile.[310] - -In exile Liutprand wrote his book to requite Berengar. The work had also a -broader purpose, yet one just as consolatory to the writer. It should -acknowledge and show the justice of the divine judgments exemplified in -history. Herein lay a fuller, although less Italian, consolation for his -exile than in Berengar's requital. Liutprand keeps in mind Boëthius and -his _De consolatione_, and regards his own work as a Consolation of -History, as that of Boëthius was a Consolation of Philosophy. The paths of -Liutprand's Consolation are as broad as the justice and power of the -Trinity, "which casts down these for their wicked deeds and raises up -those for their merits' sake."[311] - -Quite explicitly he explains the title and reason of his work at the -opening of its third book: - - "Since it will show the deeds of famous men, why call it Antapodosis? - I reply: Its object is to set forth and cry aloud the acts of this - Berengar who at this moment does not reign but tyrannize in Italy, and - of his wife Willa, who for the boundlessness of her tyranny should be - called a second Jezebel, and Lamia for her insatiate rapines. Me and - my house, my family and kin, have they harassed with so many javelins - of lies, so many spoliations, so many essays of wickedness, that - neither tongue nor pen can avail to set them forth. May then these - pages be to them an antapodosis, that is retribution, to make their - wickedness naked before men living and unborn. None the less may it - prove an antapodosis for the benefits conferred on me by holy and - happy men."[312] - -Liutprand's narrative is breezy and interspersed with ribald tales. The -writer meant to amuse his readers and himself. These literary qualities -give picturesqueness to his well-known _Embassy to Constantinople_, where -he was sent by Otto the Great, for purposes of peace and to ask the hand -of the Byzantine princess for Otto II. The highly coloured ceremonial life -of the Greek Court, the chicane and contemptuous treatment met with, the -spirited words of Liutprand, and the rancour of this same thwarted envoy, -all appear vividly in his report.[313] - -There were also many laymen occupied with Latin studies. Such a one was -Gunzo of Novara, a curiously vain grammarian of the second half of the -tenth century. According to his own story, the fame of his learning -incited Otto the Great to implore his presence in Germany. So he -condescended to cross the Alps, with all his books, perhaps in the year -965. On his way he stopped with the monks of St. Gall, themselves proud of -their learning, and perhaps jealous of the southern scholar. As the weary -Gunzo was lifted, half frozen, from his horse at the convent door, and the -brethren stood about, a young monk caught at a slip in grammar, and made a -skit on him--because, forsooth, he had used an accusative when it should -have been an ablative. - -Gunzo neither forgave nor forgot. Passing on to the rival congregation of -Reichenau, he composed a long and angry epistle of pedantic excuse and -satirical invective, addressed to his former hosts.[314] In it he parades -his wide knowledge of classic authors, justifies what the monks of St. -Gall had presumed to mock as a ridiculous barbarism, and closes with a -prayer for them in hexameters. His letter contains the interesting avowal, -that, although the monk of St. Gall had wrongly deemed him ignorant of -grammar, his Latin sometimes was impeded by the "usu nostrae vulgaris -linguae, quae latinitati vicina est." So a slip would be due not to -unfamiliarity with Latin, but to an excessive colloquial familiarity with -the vulgar tongue which had scarcely ceased to be Latin--an excuse no -German monk could have given. It is amusing to see an Italian grammarian -of this early period enter the lists to defend his reputation and assuage -his wounded vanity. Later, such learned battles became frequent.[315] - -Gunzo died as the tenth century closed. Other Italians of his time and -after him crossed the Alps to learn and teach and play the orator. From -the early eleventh century comes a satirical sketch of one. The subject -was a certain Benedict, Prior of the Abbey of St. Michael of Chiusa, and -nephew of its abbot--therefore doubtless born to wealth and position. At -all events as a youth he had moved about for nine years "per multa loca in -Longobardia et Francia propter grammaticam," spending the huge sum of two -thousand gold soldi. His pride was unmeasured. "I have two houses full of -books; there is no book on the earth that I do not possess. I study them -every day. I can discourse on letters. There is no instruction to be had -in Aquitaine, and but little in Francia. Lombardy, where I learned most, -is the cradle of knowledge." So the satire makes Benedict speak of -himself. Then it makes a monk sketch Benedict's sojourn at a convent in -Angoulême: "He knows more than any man I ever saw. We have heard his -chatter the whole day. _O quam loquax est!_ He is never tired. Wherever he -may be, standing, sitting, walking, lying, words pour from his mouth like -water from the Tigris. He orders the whole convent about as if he were -Abbot. Monks, laity, clergy, do nothing without his nod. A multitude of -the people, knights too, were always hastening to hear him, as the goal of -their desires. Untired, hurling words the entire day, he sends them off -worn out. And they depart, saying: Never have we seen sic eloquentem -grammaticum."[316] - -Another of these early wandering Italian humanists won kinder notice, a -certain Lombard Guido, who died where he was teaching in Auxerre, in 1095, -and was lamented in leonine hexameters: "Alas, famous man, so abounding, -so diligent, so praised, so venerated through many lands-- - - "Filius Italiae, sed alumnus Philosophiae. - -Let Gaul grieve, and thou Philosophy who nourished him: Grieve Grammar, -thou. With his death the words of Plato died, the work of Cicero is -blotted out, Maro is silent and the muse of Naso stops her song."[317] - -A final instance to close our examples. In the middle of the eleventh -century flourished Anselm the Peripatetic, a rhetorician and humanist of -Besate (near Milan). In his _Rhetorimachia_ he tells of a dream in which -he finds himself in Heaven, surrounded and embraced by saintly souls. -Their spiritual kisses were still on his lips when three virgins of -another ilk appear, to reproach him with forsaking them. These are -Dialectic and Rhetoric and Grammar--we have met them before! Now the -embraces of the saints seem cold! and to the protests of the blessed -throng that Anselm is theirs, the virgins make reply that he is altogether -their own fosterling. Anselm gives up the saints and departs with the -three.[318] This was his humanistic choice. - -This rather pleasant dream discloses the conflict between Letters and the -call of piety, which might harass the learned and the holy in Italy. -Distrust of the enticements of pagan letters might transform itself to -diabolic visions. Such a tale comes from the neighbourhood of Ravenna, in -the late tenth century. It is of one Vilgard, a grammarian, who became -infatuated with the great pagan poets, till their figures waved through -his dreams and he heard their thanks and assurances that he should -participate in their glory. He foolishly began to teach matters contrary -to the Faith, and in the end was condemned as a heretic. Others were -infected with his opinions, and perished by the sword and fire.[319] - -Evidently Vilgard's profane studies made him a heretic. But, ordinarily, -the Italians with their antique descended temperament were not troubled in -the observance and the expression of their Faith by the paganism of their -intellectual tastes. Such tastes did not produce open heretics in Italy in -the eleventh century any more than in the fifteenth. A pagan disposition -seldom prevented an Italian from being a good Catholic. - -Yet the monastic spirit in Italy, as elsewhere, in the eleventh century -defied and condemned the pagan literature, and in fact all Latin studies -beyond the elements of grammar. The protest of the monk or hermit might -represent his individual ignorance of classic literature; or, as in the -case of Peter Damiani, the ascetic soul is horrified at the seductive -nature of the pagan sweets which it knows too well. Peter indeed could say -in his sonorous Latin: "Olim mihi Tullius dulcescebat, blandiebantur -carmina poetarum, philosophi verbis aureis insplendebant, et Sirenes usque -in exitium dulces meum incantaverunt intellectum."[320] So a few decades -after Peter's death, Rangerius, Bishop of Lucca, writes the life of an -episcopal predecessor in elegiacs which show considerable knowledge of -grammar and prosody; and yet he protests against liberal -studies--philosophy, astronomy, grammar--with pithy commonplace: - - "Et nos ergo scholas non spectamus inanes - - * * * * * - - Scire Deum satis est, quo nulla scientia maior."[321] - -So with the Italians the antique never was an influence brought from -without, but always an element of their temperament and faculties. We have -not seen that they recast it into novel and interesting forms in the -eleventh century; yet they used it familiarly as something of their own, -being quite at home with it. As one may imagine some grand old Roman -garden, planned and constructed by rich and talented ancestors, and still -remaining as a home and heritage to descendants whose wealth and -capacities have shrunken. The garden is somewhat ruinous, and fallen to -decay; yet these sons are still at home in it, their daily steps pursue -its ancient avenues; they still recline upon the marble seats by the -fountains where perhaps scant water runs. Fauns and satyrs--ears gone and -noses broken--with even an occasional god, still haunt the courts and -sylvan paths, while everywhere, above and about these lazy sons, the -lights still chase the shadows, and anon the shadows darken the green and -yellow flashes. Perhaps nothing in the garden has become so subtly in and -of the race as this play of light and shade. And when the Italian genius -shall revive again, and children's children find themselves with power, -still within this ancient garden the great vernacular poems will be -composed; great paintings will be painted in its light and shade and under -the influence of its formal beauties; and Italian buildings will never -escape the power of the ruined structures found therein. - - -IV - -In the tenth and eleventh centuries, as remarked already, studiously -inclined people made no particular selection of one study rather than -another. But men discriminated sharply between religious devotion and all -profane pursuits. Energies which were regarded as religious might have a -political-ecclesiastical character, and be devoted to the purification and -upbuilding of the Church; or they might be intellectual and aloof; or -ascetic and emotional. All three modes might exist together in -religious-minded men; but usually one form would dominate, and mark the -man's individuality. Hildebrand, for example, was a monk, fervent and -ascetic; but his strength was devoted to the discipline of the clergy and -the elevation of the papal power. In the great Hildebrandine Church which -was his more than any other man's achievement, the organizing and -political genius of Rome re-emerges, and Rome becomes again the seat of -Empire.[322] - -Eminent examples of Italians who illustrate the ascetic-emotional and the -intellectual mode of religious devotion are the two very different saints, -Peter Damiani and Anselm. The former, to whom we shall again refer when -considering the ideals of the hermit life, was born in Ravenna not long -after the year 1000. His parents, who were poor, seem to have thought him -an unwelcome addition to their already burdensome family. His was a hard -lot until he reached the age of ten, when his elder brother Damianus was -made an archpresbyter in Ravenna and took Peter to live with him, to -educate the gifted boy. From his brother's house the youth proceeded in -search of further instruction, first to Faenza, then to Parma. He became -proficient in the secular knowledge comprised in the Seven Liberal Arts, -and soon began to teach. A growing reputation brought many pupils, who -paid such fees that Peter had amassed considerable property when he -decided upon a change of life. For some years he had been fearful of the -world, and he now turned from secular to religious studies. He put on -haircloth underneath the gentler garb in which he was seen of men, and -became earnest in vigils, fasts, and prayers. In the night-time he quelled -the lusts of the flesh by immersing himself in flowing water; he overcame -the temptations of avarice and pride by lavishly giving to the poor, and -tending them at his own table. Still he felt unsafe, and yearned to escape -the dangers of worldly living. A number of hermits dwelt in a community -known as the Hermitage of the Holy Cross of Fonte Avellana, near Faenza; -Peter became one of them shortly before his thirtieth year. They lived -ascetically, two in a cell together, spending their time in watching, -fasting, and prayer: thus they fought the Evil One. Damiani was not -satisfied merely with following the austerities practised at Fonte -Avellana. Quickly he surpassed all his fellows, except a certain mail-clad -Dominic, whose scourgings he could not equal. His chief asceticism lay in -the temper of his soul. - -From this congenial community (the hermits had made him their prior) -Damiani was drawn forth to serve the Church more actively, sorely against -his will, and was made Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia by Pope Stephen IX. in -1058. It was indeed the hand of Hildebrand, already directing the papal -policy, that had fastened on this unwilling yet serviceable tool. Peter -feared and also looked askance upon the relentless spirit, whom he called -Sanctus Satanas, not deeming him to be altogether of the kingdom of -heaven. He deprecates his censure upon one occasion: "I humbly beg that my -Saint Satan may not rage so cruelly against me, and that his worshipful -pride may not destroy me with long-reaching rods; rather, may it, -appeased, quiet to a calm around his servant." In this same letter, which -is addressed to the two conspiring souls, Pope Alexander II. and -Archdeacon Hildebrand, he sarcastically likens them to the Wind and the -Sun of Aesop's fable, who contended as to which could the sooner strip the -Traveller of his cloak.[323] Peter's tongue was sharp enough, and apt to -indulge in epigram: - - "Wilt thou live in Rome, cry aloud: - The Pope's lord more than the Pope I obey." - -And another squib he writes on Hildebrand: - - "Papam rite colo, sed te prostratus adoro; - Tu facis hunc dominum, te facit iste deum."[324] - -It was, however, for his own soul that Damiani feared, while in the -service of the Curia. To Desiderius, Abbot of Monte Cassino, he exclaims: -"He errs, Father, errs indeed, who imagines he can be a monk and at the -same time serve the Curia. Ill he bargains, who presumes to desert the -cloister, that he may take up the warfare of the world."[325] - -Albeit against his will, Damiani became a soldier of the Church in the -fields of her secular militancy against the world. He was sent on more -than one important mission--to Milan, to crush the married priests and -establish the Pope's authority, or to Mainz, there to quell a rebellious -archbishop and a youthful German king. Such missions and others he might -accomplish with holy strenuousness; his more spontaneous zeal, however, -was set upon the task of cleansing the immoralities of monks and clergy. -In spite of his enforced relations with the powers of the world, he was a -fiery reforming ascetic, a scourge of his time's wickedness, rather than a -statesman of the Church. His writings were a vent for the outcries of his -horror-stricken soul. The corruption of the clergy filled his nostrils: -they were rotten, like the loin-cloth of Jeremiah, hidden by the -Euphrates; their bellies were full of drunkenness and lust.[326] As for -the apostolic see: - - "Heu! sedes apostolica, - Orbis olim gloria, - Nunc, proh dolor! efficeris - Officina Simonis."[327] - -These, with other verses written in tears, relate to schisms of pope and -antipope which so often rent the papacy in Peter's lifetime.[328] He never -ceased to cry out against monks and clergy, denouncing their simony and -avarice, their luxury, intemperance and vile unchastity, their viciousness -of every kind. Such denunciations fill his letters, while many of his -other writings chiefly consist of them.[329] They culminate in his -horrible _Liber Gomorrhianus_, which was issued with the approval of one -pope, to be suppressed by another as too unspeakable. - -Naturally over so foul a world, flame and lower the terrors of the Day of -Judgment. For Damiani it was near at hand. He writes to a certain judge: - - "Therefore, most dear brother now while the world smiles for thee, - while thy body glows in health, while the prosperity of earth is sweet - and fair, think upon those things which are to come. Deem whatever is - transitory to be but as the illusion of a dream. And that terrible day - of the last Judgment keep ever present to thy sight, and brood with - quaking bowels over the sudden coming of such majesty--nor think it to - be far off!"[330] - -Beware of penitence postponed! - - "O how full of grief and dole is that late unfruitful repentance, when - the sinful soul, about to be loosed from its dungeon of flesh, looks - behind it, and then directs its gaze into the future. It sees behind - it that little stadium of mortal life, already traversed; it sees - before it the range of endless aeons. That flown moment which it has - lived it perceives to be an instant; it contemplates the infinite - length of time to come."[331] - -From Damiani's stricken thoughts upon the wickedness of the age, we may -turn to the more personal disclosures of one who wrote himself _Petrus -peccator monachus_. There is one tell-tale letter of confession to his -brother Damianus, whom he loved and revered: - - "To my lord Damianus, my best loved brother, Peter, sinner and monk, - his servant and son. - - "I would not have it hid from thee, my sweetest father and lord in - Christ, that my mind is cast down with sadness while it contemplates - its own exit which is so near. For I count now many long years that I - wait to be thrown to dogs; and I notice that in whatever monastery I - come nearly all are younger than myself. When I consider this, I - ponder upon death alone, I meditate upon my tomb; I do not withdraw - the eyes of my mind from my tomb. Nor is my mind content to limit its - fear and its consideration to the death of the body; for it is at once - haled to judgment, and meditates with terror upon what might be its - plea and defence. Wretched me! with what fountains of tears must I - lament! I who have done every evil, and through my long life have - fulfilled scarce one commandment of the divine law. For what evil have - not I, miserable man, committed? Where are the vices, where are the - crimes in which I am not implicated; I confess my life has fallen in a - lake of misery; my soul is taken in its iniquities. Pride, lust, - anger, impatience, malice, envy, gluttony, drunkenness, concupiscence, - robbery, lying, perjury, idle talking, scurrility, ignorance, - negligence, and other pests have overthrown me, and all the vices like - ravening beasts have devoured my soul. My heart and my lips are - defiled. I am contaminate in sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. - And in every way, in cogitation, in speech or action, I am lost. All - these evils have I done; and alas! alas! I have brought forth no fruit - meet for repentance. - - "One pernicious fault, among others, I acknowledge: scurrility has - been my besetting sin; it has never really left me. For howsoever I - have fought against this monster, and broken its wicked teeth with the - hammer of austerity, and at times repelled it, I have never won the - full victory. When, in the ways of spiritual gladness, I wish to show - myself cheerful to the brethren, I drop into words of vanity; and when - as it were discreetly for the sake of brotherly love, I think to throw - off my severity, then indiscreetly my tongue unbridled utters - foolishness. If the Lord said: 'Blessed are they that mourn, for they - shall be comforted,' what judgment hangs over those who not only are - slack at weeping, but act like buffoons with laughter and vain - giggling. Consolation is due to those who weep, not to those who - rejoice; what consolation may be expected from that future Judge by - those who now are given to foolish mirth and vain jocularity? If the - Truth says: 'Woe unto ye who laugh, for ye shall weep,' what fearful - judgment shall be theirs who not only laugh themselves, but with - scurrilities drag laughter from their listeners?" - -The penitent saint then shows from Scripture how that our hearts ought to -be vessels of tears, and concludes with casting himself at the feet of his -beloved "father" in entreaty that he would interpose the shield of his -holy prayers between his petitioner and that monster, and exorcise its -serpentine poison, and also that he would ever pour forth prayers to God, -and beseech the divine mercy in behalf of all the other vices confessed in -this letter.[332] - -A strange confession this--or, indeed, is it strange? This cowled Peter -Damiani who passes from community to community, seeing more keenly than -others may, denouncing, execrating every vice existent or imagined, who -wears haircloth, goes barefoot, lives on bread and water, scourges himself -with daily flagellations, urging others to do likewise,--this Peter -Damiani is yet unable quite to scourge out the human nature from him, and -evidently cannot always refrain from that jocularity and _inepta laetitia_ -for which the Abbess Hildegard also saw sundry souls in hell.[333] -Perhaps, with Peter, revulsions from the strain of austerity took the form -of sudden laughter. His imagination was fine, his wit too quick for his -soul's safety. His confession was no matter of mock humility, nor did he -deem laughter vulgar or in bad taste. He feared to imperil his soul -through it. Of course, in accusing himself of other, and as we should -think more serious crimes--drunkenness, robbery, perjury--Peter was merely -carrying to an extreme the monkish conventions of self-vilification. - -If it appears from this letter that Damiani had been unable quite to -scourge his wit out of him, another letter, to a young countess, will show -more touchingly that he had been unable quite to fast out of him his human -heart. - - "To Guilla, most illustrious countess, Peter, monk and sinner, [sends] - the instancy of prayer. - - "Since of a thing out of which will issue conflict it is better to - have ignorance without cost, than with dear-bought forgetting wage - hard war, we prudently accord to young women, whose aspect we fear, - audience by letter. Certainly I, who now am an old man, may safely - look upon the seared and wrinkled visage of a blear-eyed crone. Yet - from sight of the more comely and adorned I guard my eyes as boys from - fire. Alas my wretched heart which cannot hold Scriptural mysteries - read through a hundred times, and will not lose the memory of a form - seen but once! There where the divine law remains not, no oblivion - blurs vanity's image. But of this another time. Here I have not to - write of what is hurtful to me but of what may be salutary for thee." - -Peter then continues with excellent advice for the young noblewoman, -exhorting her to deeds of mercy and kindness, and warning her against the -enjoyment of revenues wrung from the poor.[334] Indeed Damiani's writings -contain much that still is wise. His advice to the great and noble of the -world was admirable,[335] and though couched in austere phrase, it -demanded what many men feel bound to fulfil in the twentieth century. His -little work on Almsgiving[336] contains sentences which might be spoken -to-day. He has been pointing out that no one can be exercising the ascetic -virtues all the time: no one can be always praying and fasting, washing -feet and subjecting the body to pain. Some people, moreover, shun such -self-castigation. But one can always be benevolent; and, though fearing to -afflict the body, can stretch forth his hand in charity: "Those then who -are rich should seek to be dispensers rather than possessors. They ought -not to regard what they have as their own: for they did not receive this -transitory wealth in order to revel in luxury, but that they should -administer it so long as they continue in their stewardship. Whoever gives -to the poor does not distribute his own but restores another's."[337] - -This sounds modern--it also sounds like Seneca.[338] Yet Damiani was no -modern man, nor was he antique, but very fearful of the classics. Having -been a rhetorician and grammarian, when he became a hermit-monk he made -Christ his grammar (_mea grammatica Christus est_).[339] Horror-stricken -at the world, and writhing under his own contamination, he cast body and -soul into the ascetic life. That was the harbour of escape from the carnal -temptations which threatened the soul's hope of pardon from the Judge at -the Last Day. Therefore Peter is fierce in execration of all lapses from -the hermit-life, so rapturously praised with its contrition, its -penitence, and tears. His ascetic rhapsodies, with which, as a poet might, -he delighted or relieved his soul, are eloquent illustrations of the -monastic ideal.[340] - -Other men in Italy less intelligent than Damiani, but equally picturesque, -were held by like ascetic and emotional obsession. Intellectual interest, -however, in theology was less prominent, because the Italian concern with -religion was either emotional or ecclesiastical, which is to say, -political. The philosophic or dialectical treatment of the Faith was to -run its course north of the Alps; and those men of Italian birth--Anselm, -Peter Lombard, Bonaventura, and Aquinas--who contributed to Christian -thought, early left their native land, and accomplished their careers -under intellectual conditions which did not obtain in Italy. Nevertheless, -Anselm and Bonaventura at least did not lose their Italian qualities; and -it is as representative of what might come out of Italy in the eleventh -century that the former may detain us here. - -The story of Anselm is told well and lovingly by his companion -Eadmer.[341] His life, although it was drawn within the currents of -affairs, remained intellectual and aloof, a meditation upon God. It opens -with a dream of climbing the mountain to God's palace-seat. For Anselm's -boyhood was passed at Aosta, within the shadows of the Graian Alps.[342] -Surely the heaven rested upon them. Might he not then go up to the hall -where God, above in the heaven, as the boy's mother taught, ruled and held -all? - - "So one night it seemed he must ascend to the summit of the mountains, - and go to the hall of the great King. In the plain at the first - slopes, he saw women, the servants of the King, reaping grain - carelessly and idly. He would accuse them to their Lord. He went up - across the summit and came to the King's hall. He found Him there - alone with His seneschal, for it was autumn and He had sent His - servants to gather the harvest. The Lord called the boy as he entered; - and he went and sat at His feet. The Lord asked kindly (_jucunda - affabilitate_) whence he came and what he wished. He replied just as - he knew the thing to be (_juxta quod rem esse sciebat_). Then, at the - Lord's command, the Seneschal brought him bread of the whitest, and he - was there refreshed in His presence. In the morning he verily believed - that he had been in Heaven and had been refreshed with the bread of - the Lord." - -A pious mother had been the boy's first teacher. Others taught him -Letters, till he became proficient, and beloved by those who knew him. He -wished to be made a monk, but a neighbouring abbot refused his request, -fearing the displeasure of Anselm's father, of whom the biographer has -nothing good to say. The youth fell sick, but with returning health the -joy of living drew his mind from study and his pious purpose. Love for his -mother held him from over-indulgence in pastimes. She died, and with this -sheet-anchor lost, Anselm's ship was near to drifting out on the world's -slippery flood. But here the impossible temper of the father wrought as -God's providence, and Anselm, unable to stay with him, left his home, and -set out across Mount Senis attended by one clericus. For three years he -moved through Burgundy and Francia, till Lanfranc's repute drew him to -Bec. Day and night he studied beneath that master, and also taught. The -desire to be a monk returned; and he began to direct his purpose toward -pleasing God and spurning the world. - -But where? At either Cluny or Bec he feared to lose the fruit of his -studies; for at Cluny there was the strictness of the rule,[343] and at -Bec Lanfranc's eminent learning would "make mine of little value." Anselm -says that he was not yet subdued, nor had the contempt of the world become -strong in him. Then the thought came: "Is this to be a monk to wish to be -set before others and magnified above them? Nay,--become a monk where, for -the sake of God, you will be put after all and be held viler than all. -And where can this be? Surely at Bec. I shall be of no weight while he is -here, whose wisdom and repute are enough for all. Here then is my rest, -here God alone will be my purpose, here the single love of Him will be my -thought, and here the constant remembrance of Him will be a happy -consolation." - -Scripture bade him: Do all things with counsel. Whom but Lanfranc should -he consult? So he laid three plans before him--to become a monk, a hermit, -or (his father being dead) for the sake of God administer his patrimony -for the poor. Lanfranc persuaded Anselm to refer the decision to the -venerable Archbishop of Rouen. Together they went to him, and such, says -the biographer, was Anselm's reverence for Lanfranc, that on the way, -passing through the wood near Bec, had Lanfranc bade him stay in that -wood, he would not have left it all his days. - -The archbishop decided for the monastic life. So Anslem took the vows of a -monk at Bec, being twenty-seven years of age. Lanfranc was then Prior, but -soon left to become Abbot of St. Stephen's at Caen.[344] Made Prior in his -place, Anselm devoted himself in gentleness and wisdom to the care of the -monks and to meditation upon God and the divine truths. He was especially -considerate of the younger monks, whose waywardness he guided and whose -love he won. The envy of cavillers was stilled. Yet the business of office -harassed one whose thoughts dwelled more gladly in the blue heaven with -God. Again he sought the counsel of the archbishop; for Herluin, the first -Abbot and founder of Bec, still lived on, old and unlettered, and -apparently no great fount of wisdom. The archbishop commanded him _per -sanctam obedientiam_ not to renounce his office, nor refuse if called to a -higher one. So, sad but resolute, he returned to the convent, and resumed -his burdens in such wise as to be held by all as a loved father. It was at -this period that he wrote several treatises upon the high doctrinal themes -which filled his thoughts. Gradually his mind settled to the search after -some single proof of that which is believed concerning God--that He -exists, and is eternal, unchanging, omnipotent, just, and pitying, and is -truth and goodness. This thing caused him great difficulty. Not only it -kept him from food and drink and sleep, but what weighed upon him more, it -interfered with his devotion to God's service. Reflecting thus, and unable -to reach a valid conclusion, he decided that such speculation was a -temptation of the devil, and tried to drive it from his thoughts. But the -more he struggled, the more it beset him. And one night, at the time of -the nocturnal vigils, the grace of God shed light in his heart, and the -argument was clear to his mind, and filled his inmost being with an -immense jubilation. All the more now was he confirmed in the love of God -and the contempt of the world, of which one night he had a vision as of a -torrent filled with obscene filth, and carrying in its flood the countless -host of people of the world, while apart and aloof from its slime rose the -sweet cloister, with its walls of silver, surrounded by silvery herbage, -all delectable beyond conception. - -In the year 1078 old Herluin died. Anselm long had guided the convent, and -with one voice the brethren chose him Abbot. He reasoned and argued, but -could not dissuade them, and in his anxiety he knew not what to do. Some -days passed. He had recourse to entreaties; with tears he flung himself -prostrate before them all, praying and protesting in the name of God, and -beseeching them, if they had any bowels of compassion, to permit him to -remain free from this great burden. But they only cast themselves upon the -earth, and prayed that he would rather commiserate them, and not disregard -the convent's good. At length he yielded, for the command of the -archbishop came to his mind. Such a scene occurs often in monastic -history. None the less is it moving when the participants are in earnest, -as Anselm was, and his monks. - -So Anselm's life opened; so it sought counsel, gathered strength, and -centred to its purpose, pursuing as its goal the thought of God. Anselm -had love and gentleness for his fellows; he drew their love and reverence. -Yet, aloof, he lived within his spirit. Did he open its hidden places even -to Lanfranc? Although one who in his humility always desired counsel, -perhaps neither Lanfranc nor Eadmer, the friend whom the Pope gave him for -an adviser, knew the meditations of his heart. We at all events should -discern little of them by following the outer story of his life. It might -even be fruitless to sail with him across the channel to visit Lanfranc, -now Primate of England. The biographer has nothing to tell of the converse -between the two, although quite rightly impressed at the meeting between -him who was pre-eminent in _auctoritas_ and _scientia_ and him who -excelled in _sanctitas_ and _sapientia Dei_. Nor would it enlighten us to -follow Anselm's archiepiscopal career, save so far as to realize that he -who lives in the thought of God will fear no brutal earthly majesty, such -as that of William Rufus, to admonish whom Anselm once more crossed the -Channel after Lanfranc's death. Whatever this despoiler of bishoprics then -thought, he fell sick afterwards, and, being terrified, named Anselm -archbishop, this being in the year 1093. One may imagine the unison -between them! and how little the Red King's ways would turn the enskied -steadfastness of Anselm's soul. But the king had the power, and could keep -the archbishop in trouble and in peril. Anselm asked and asked again for -leave to go to Rome, and the king refused. After more than one stormy -scene--the storm being always on the Red King's part--Anselm made it plain -that he would obey God rather than man in the matter. At the very last he -went in to the king and his Court, and seating himself quietly at the -king's right he said: "I, my lord, shall go, as I have determined. But -first, if you do not decline it, I will give you my blessing." So the king -acquiesced. - -The archbishop went first to Canterbury, to comfort and strengthen his -monks, and spoke to them assembled together: - - "Dearly beloved brothers and sons, I am, as you know, about to leave - this kingdom. The contention with our lord the king as to Christian - discipline, has reached this pass that I must either do what is - contrary to God and my own honour, or leave the realm. Gladly I go, - hoping through the mercy of God that my journey may advance the - Church's liberty hereafter. I am moved to pity you, upon whom greater - tribulations will come in my absence. Even with me here you have not - been unoppressed, yet I think I have given you more peace than you - have had since the death of our Father Lanfranc. I think those who - molest you will rage the more with me away. You, however, are not - undisciplined in the school of the Lord. Nevertheless I will say - something, because, since you have come together within the close of - this monastery to fight for God, you should always have before your - eyes how you should fight. - - "All retainers do not fight in the same way either for an earthly - prince, or for God whose are all things that are. The angels - established in eternal beatitude wait upon Him. He has also men who - serve Him for earthly benefits, like hired knights. He has also some - who, cleaving to His will, contend to reach the kingdom of heaven, - which they have forfeited through Adam's fault. Observe the knights - who are in God's pay. Many you see leading a secular life and cleaving - to the household of God for the good things which they gain in His - service. But when, by God's judgment, trial comes to them, and - disaster, they fly from His love and accuse Him of injustice. We - monks--would that we were such as not to be like them! For those who - cannot stand to their professed purpose unless they have all things - comfortable, and do not wish to suffer destitution for God, how shall - they not be held like to these? And shall such be heirs of the kingdom - of heaven? Faithfully I say, No, never, unless they repent. - - "He who truly contends toward recovering the kingdom of life, strives - to cleave to God through all; no adversity draws him from God's - service, no pleasure lures him from the love of Him. _Per dura et - aspera_ he treads the way of His commands, and from hope of the reward - to come, his heart is aflame with the ardour of love, and sings with - the Psalmist, Great is the glory of the Lord. Which glory he tastes in - this pilgrimage, and tasting, he desires, and desiring, salutes as - from afar. Supported by the hope of attaining, he is consoled amid the - perils of the world and gladly sings, Great is the glory of the Lord. - Know that this one will in no way be defrauded of that glory of the - Lord, since all that is in him serves the Lord, and is directed to - winning this reward. But I see that there is no need to say to you - another word. My brothers, since we are separated now in grief, I - beseech you so to strive that hereafter we may be united joyfully - before God. Be ye those who truly wish to be made heirs of God." - -The clarity and gentle love of this high argument is Anselm. Now the story -follows of Anselm and Eadmer and another monk travelling on, sometimes -unknown, sometimes acclaimed, through France to Italy and Rome. Anselm's -face inspired reverence in those who did not know him, and the peace of -his countenance attracted even Saracens. Had he been born and bred in -England, he might have managed better with the Red King. He never got an -English point of view, but remained a Churchman with Italian-Hildebrandine -convictions. Of course, two policies were clashing then in England, where -it happened that there was on one side an able and rapacious tyrant, while -the other was represented by a man with the countenance and temperament of -an angel. But we may leave Anselm now in Italy, where he is beyond the Red -King's molestation, and turn to his writings. - -Their choice and treatment of subject was partly guided by the needs of -his pupils and friends at Bec and elsewhere in Normandy or Francia or -England. For he wrote much at their solicitation; and the theological -problems of which solutions were requested, suggest the intellectual -temper of those regions, rather than of Italy. In a way Anselm's works, -treating of separate and selected Christian questions, are a proper -continuation of those composed by northern theologians in the ninth -century on Predestination and the Eucharist.[345] Only Anselm's were not -evoked by the exigency of actual controversy as much as by the insistency -of the eleventh-century mind, and the need it felt of some adjustment -regarding certain problems. Anselm's theological and philosophic -consciousness is clear and confident. His faculties are formative and -creative, quite different from the compiling instincts of Alcuin or -Rabanus. The matter of his argument has become his own; it has been remade -in his thinking, and is presented as from himself--and God. He no longer -conceives himself as one searching through the "pantries" of the Fathers -or culling the choice flowers of their "meadows." He will set forth the -matter as God has deigned to disclose it to him. In the _Cur Deus homo_ he -begins by saying that he has been urged by many, verbally and by letter, -to consider the reasons why God became man and suffered, and then, -assenting, says: "Although, from the holy Fathers on, what should suffice -has been said, yet concerning this question I will endeavour to set forth -for my inquirers what God shall deign to disclose to me."[346] - -Certain works of Anselm, the _Monologion_, for instance, present the dry -and the formal method of reasoning which was to make its chief home in -France; others, like the _Proslogion_, seem to be Italian in a certain -beautiful emotionalism. The feeling is very lofty, even lifted out of the -human, very skyey, even. The _Proslogion_, the _Meditationes_, do not -throb with the red blood of Augustine's _Confessions_, the writing which -influenced them most. The quality of their feeling suggests rather Dante's -_Paradiso_; and sometimes with Anselm a sense of formal beauty and -perfection seems to disclose the mind of Italy. Moreover, Anselm's Latin -style appears Italian. It is elastic, even apparently idiomatic, and -varies with the temper and character of his different works. Throughout, -it shows in Latin the fluency and simple word-order natural to an author -whose _vulgaris eloquentia_ was even closer to Latin in the time of Anselm -than when Dante wrote. - -So Anselm's writings were intimately part of their author, and very part -of his life-long meditation upon God. Led by the solicitations of others, -as well as impelled by the needs of his own faculties and nature, he takes -up one Christian problem after another, and sets forth his understanding -of it with his conclusion. He is devout, an absolute believer; and he is -wonderfully metaphysical. He is a beautiful, a sublimated, and idealizing -reasoner, convinced that a divine reality must exist in correspondence -with his thought, which projects itself aloft to evoke from the blue an -answering reality. The inspiration, the radiating point of Anselm's -intellectual interest, is clearly given--to understand that which he first -believes. It is a spontaneous intellectual interest, not altogether -springing from a desire to know how to be saved. It does not seek to -understand in order to believe; but seeks the happiness of knowing and -understanding that which it believes and loves. Listen to some sentences -from the opening of the _Proslogion_: - - "Come now, mannikin, flee thy occupations for a little, and hide from - the confusion of thy cares. Be vacant a little while for God, and for - a little rest in Him.... Now, O Lord my God, teach my heart where and - how to seek thee, where and how to find thee. Lord, Lord, illuminate - us; show us thyself. Pity us labouring toward thee, impotent without - thee.... Teach me to seek thee, and show thyself to my search; for I - cannot seek thee unless thou dost teach, nor find thee unless thou - dost show thyself.... I make no attempt, Lord, to penetrate thy - depths, for my intellect has no such reach; but I desire to understand - some measure of thy truth, which my heart believes and loves. I do not - seek to know in order that I may believe; but I believe, that I may - know. For I believe this also, that unless I shall have believed, I - shall not understand."[347] - -So Anselm is first a believer, then a theologian; and his reason devotes -itself to the elucidation of his faith. Faith prescribes his intellectual -interests, and sets their bounds. His thought does not occupy itself with -matters beyond. But it takes a pure intellectual delight in reasoning upon -the God which his faith presents and his heart cleaves to. The motive is -the intellectual and loving delight which his mind takes in this pursuit. -His faith was sure and undisturbed, and ample for his salvation. His -intellect, affected by no motive beyond its own strength and joy, delights -in reasoning upon the matter of his faith.[348] - -We may still linger for a moment to observe how closely part of Anselm's -nature was his proof of the existence of God.[349] It sprang directly from -his saintly soul and the compelling idealism of his reason. In the -_Monologion_ Anselm ranged his many arguments concerning the nature and -attributes of the _summum bonum_ which is God. Its chain of inductions -failed to satisfy him and his pupils. So he set his mind to seek a sole -and unconditioned proof (as Eadmer states in the _Vita_) of God's -existence and the attributes which faith ascribes to Him. Anselm says the -same in the Preface to the _Proslogion_: - - "Considering that the prior work was woven out of a concatenation of - many arguments, I set to seek within myself (_mecum_) whether I might - not discover one argument which needed nothing else than itself alone - for its proof; and which by itself might suffice to show that God - truly exists, and that He is the _summum bonum_ needing nothing else, - but needed by all things in order that they may exist and have - well-being (_ut sint et bene sint_); and whatever we believe - concerning the divine substance." - -The famous proof which at length flashed upon him is substantially this: -By very definition the word _God_ means the greatest conceivable being. -This conception exists even in the atheist's mind, for he knows what is -meant by the words, the absolutely greatest. But the greatest cannot be in -the intellect alone, for then conceivably there would be a greater which -would exist in reality as well. And since, by definition, God is the -absolutely greatest, He must exist in reality as well as in the mind.[350] -Carrying out the scholia to this argument, Anselm then proves that God -possesses the various attributes ascribed to Him by the Christian Faith. - -That from a definition one may not infer the existence of the thing -defined, was pointed out by a certain monk Gaunilo almost as soon as the -_Proslogion_ appeared. Anselm answered him that the argument applied only -to the greatest conceivable being. Since that time Anselm's proof has been -upheld and disproved many times. It was at all events a great dialectic -leap; but likely one may not with such a bound cross the chasm from -definition to existence--at least one will be less bold to try when he -realizes that this chasm is there. Temperamentally, at least, this proof -was the summit of Anselm's idealism: he could not but conceive things to -exist in correspondence to the demands of his conceptions. He never made -another so palpable leap from conception to conviction as in this proof of -God's existence; yet his theology proceeded through like processes of -thought. For example, he is sure of God's omnipotence, and also sure that -God can do nothing which would detract from the perfection of His nature: -God cannot lie: "For it does not follow, if God wills to lie that it is -just to lie; but rather that He is not God. For only that will can will to -lie in which truth is corrupted, or rather which is corrupted by forsaking -truth. Therefore when one says 'if God wills to lie,' he says in -substance, 'if God is of such a nature as to will to lie.'"[351] - -Anselm's other famous work was the _Cur Deus homo_, upon the problem why -God became man to redeem mankind. It was connected with his view of sin, -and the fall of the angels, as set forth chiefly in his dialogue _De casu -Diaboli_. One may note certain cardinal points in his exposition: Man -could be redeemed only by God; for he would have been the bond-servant of -whoever redeemed him, and to have been the servant of any one except God -would not have restored him to the dignity which would have been his had -he not sinned.[352] Or again: The devil had no rights over man, which he -lost by unjustly slaying God. For man was not the devil's, nor does the -devil belong to himself but to God.[353] Evidently Anselm frees himself -from the conception of any ransom paid to the devil, or any trickery put -on him--thoughts which had lowered current views of the Atonement. -Anselm's arguments (which are too large, and too interwoven with his views -upon connected subjects, to be done justice to by any casual statement) -are free from degrading foolishness. His reasonings were deeply felt, as -one may see in his _Meditationes_, where thought and feeling mutually -support and enhance each other. So he recalls Augustine, the great model -and predecessor whom he followed and revered. And still the feeling in -Anselm's _Meditationes_, as in the _Proslogion_, is somewhat sublimated -and lifted above human heart-throbs. Perhaps it may seem rhetorical, and -intentionally stimulated in order to edify. Even in the _Meditationes_ -upon the humanity and passion of Jesus, Anselm is not very close to the -quivering tenderness of St. Bernard, and very far from the impulsive and -passionate love of Francis of Assisi. One thinks that his feelings rarely -distorted his countenance or wet it with tears.[354] - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -MENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY: FRANCE - - I. GERBERT. - - II. ODILO OF CLUNY. - - III. FULBERT AND THE SCHOOL OF CHARTRES; TRIVIUM AND QUADRIVIUM. - - IV. BERENGAR OF TOURS, ROSCELLIN, AND THE COMING TIME. - - -I - -It appeared in the last chapter that Anselm's choice of topic was not -uninfluenced by his northern domicile at Bec in Normandy, from which, one -may add, it was no far cry to the monastery (Marmoutier) of Anselm's sharp -critic Gaunilo. These places lay within the confines of central and -northern France, the home of the most originative mediaeval development. -For this region, the renewed studies of the Carolingian period were the -proper antecedents of the efforts of the eleventh century. The topics of -study still remained substantially the same; yet the later time represents -a further stage in the appropriation of the antique and patristic -material, and its productions show the genius of the authors more clearly -than Carolingian writings, which were taken piecemeal from patristic -sources or made of borrowed antique phrase. - -The difference is seen in the personality and writings of Gerbert of -Aurillac,[355] the man who with such intellectual catholicity opens the -story of this period. One will be struck with the apparently arid crudity -of his intellectual processes. Crude they were, and of necessity; arid -they were not, being an unavoidable stage in the progress of mediaeval -thinking. Yet it is a touch of fate's irony that such an interesting -personality should have been afflicted with them. For Gerbert was the -redeeming intellect of the last part of the tenth century. The cravings of -his mind compassed the intellectual predilections of his contemporaries in -their entirety. Secular and by no means priestly they appear in him; and -it is clear that religious motives did not dominate this extraordinary -individual who was reared among monks, became Abbot of Bobbio, Archbishop -of Rheims, Archbishop of Ravenna, and pope at last. - -He appears to have been born shortly before the year 950. From the -ignorance in which we are left as to his parents and the exact place of -his birth in Aquitaine, it may be inferred that his origin was humble. -While still a boy he was received into the Benedictine monastery of St. -Geraldus at Aurillac in Auvergne. There he studied grammar (in the -extended mediaeval sense), under a monk named Raymund, and grew to love -the classics. A loyal affectionateness was a life-long trait of Gerbert, -and more than one letter in after life bears witness to the love which he -never ceased to feel for the monks of Aurillac among whom his youthful -years were passed, and especially for this brother Raymund from whom he -received his first instruction. - -Raymund afterwards became abbot of the convent. But it was his -predecessor, Gerald, who had received the boy Gerbert, and was still to do -something of moment in directing his career. A certain duke of the Spanish -March came on a pilgrimage to Aurillac; and Gerald besought him to take -Gerbert back with him to Spain for such further instruction as the convent -did not afford. The duke departed, taking Gerbert, and placed him under -the tuition of the Bishop of Vich, a town near Barcelona. Here he studied -mathematics. The tradition that he travelled through Spain and learned -from the Arabs lacks probability. But in the course of time the duke and -bishop set forth to pray for sundry material objects at the fountainhead -of Catholicism, and took their _protégé_ with them to Rome. - -In Rome, Gerbert's destiny advanced apace. His patrons, doubtless proud of -their young scholar, introduced him to the Pope, John XIII., who also was -impressed by Gerbert's personality and learning. John told his own -protector, the great Otto, and informed him of Gerbert's ability to teach -mathematics; and the two kept Gerbert in Rome, when the Spanish duke and -bishop returned to their country. Gerbert began to teach, and either at -this time or later had among his pupils the young Augustus, Otto II. But -he was more anxious to study logic than to teach mathematics, even under -imperial favour. He persuaded the old emperor to let him go to Rheims with -a certain archdeacon from that place, who was skilled in the science which -he lacked. The emperor dismissed him, with a liberal hand. In his new home -Gerbert rapidly mastered logic, and impressed all with his genius. He won -the love of the archbishop, Adalberon, who shortly set the now triply -accomplished scholar at the head of the episcopal school. Gerbert's -education was complete, in letters, in mathematics including music, and in -logic. Thenceforth for ten years (972-982), the happiest of his life, he -studied and also taught the whole range of academic knowledge. - -Fortune, not altogether kind, bestowed on Gerbert the favour of three -emperors. The graciousness of the first Otto had enabled him to proceed to -Rheims. The second Otto listened to his teaching, admired the teacher, and -early in the year 983 made him Abbot and Count of Bobbio. Long afterwards -the third Otto made him Archbishop of Ravenna, and then pope. - -Bobbio, the chief foundation of Columbanus, situated not far from Genoa, -was powerful and rich; but its vast possessions, scattered throughout -Italy, had been squandered by worthless abbots or seized by lawless -nobles. The new count-abbot, eager to fulfil the ecclesiastical and feudal -functions of his position, strove to reclaim the monastery's property and -bring back its monks to decency and learning. In vain. Now, as more than -once in Gerbert's later life, brute circumstances proved too strong. Otto -died. Gerbert was unsupported. He struggled and wrote many letters which -serve to set forth the situation for us, though they did not win the -battle for their writer: - - "According to the largeness of my mind, my lord (Otto II.) has - enriched me with most ample honours. For what part of Italy does not - hold the possessions of the blessed Columbanus? So should this be, - from the generosity and benevolence of our Caesar. Fortune, indeed, - ordains it otherwise. Forsooth according to the largeness of my mind - she has loaded me with most ample stores of enemies. For what part of - Italy has not my enemies? My strength is unequal to the strength of - Italy! There is peace on this condition: if I, despoiled, submit, they - cease to strike; intractable in my vested rights, they attack with the - sword. When they do not strike with the sword, they thrust with - javelins of words."[356] - -Within a year Gerbert gave up the struggle at Bobbio, and returned to -Rheims to resume his duties as head of the school, and secretary and -intimate adviser of Adalberon. Politically the time was one of uncertainty -and turmoil. The Carolingian house was crumbling, and the house of Capet -was scheming and struggling on to a royalty scarcely more considerable. In -Germany intrigue and revolt threatened the rights of the child Otto III. -Archbishop Adalberon, guided by Gerbert, was a powerful factor in the -dynastic change in France; and the two were zealous for Otto. Throughout -these troubles Gerbert constantly appears, directing projected measures -and divining courses of events, yet somehow, in spite of his unmatched -intelligence, failing to control them. - -Time passed, and Adalberon died at the beginning of the year 989. His -successor, Arnulf, a scion of the falling Carolingian house, was -subsequently unseated for treason to the new-sprung house of Capet. In 991 -Gerbert himself was made archbishop. But although seeming to reach his -longed-for goal, troubles redoubled on his head. There was rage at the -choice of one so lowly born for the princely dignity. The storm gathered -around the new archbishop, and the See of Rome was moved to interfere, -which it did gladly, since at Rome Gerbert was hated for the reproaches -cast upon its ignorance and corruption by bishops at the council which -elected him and deposed his predecessor. In that deposition and election -Rome had not acquiesced; and we read the words of the papal legate: - - "The acts of your synod against Arnulf, or rather against the Roman - Church, astound me with their insults and blasphemies. Truly is the - word of the Gospel fulfilled in you, 'There shall be many - anti-Christs.'... Your anti-Christs say that Rome is as a temple of - idols, an image of stone. Because the vicars of Peter and their - disciples will not have as master Plato, Virgil, Terence or the rest - of the herd of Philosophers, ye say they are not worthy to be - door-keepers--because they have no part in such song."[357] - -The battle went against Gerbert. Interdicted from his archiepiscopal -functions, he left France for the Court of Otto III., where his intellect -at once dominated the aspirations of the young monarch. Otto and Gerbert -went together to Italy, and the emperor made his friend Archbishop of -Ravenna. The next year, 999, Gregory V. died, and the archbishop became -Pope Sylvester II. For three short years the glorious young imperial -dreamer and his peerless counsellor planned and wrought for a great united -Empire and Papacy on earth. Then death took first the emperor and soon -afterwards the pope-philosopher. - -Gerbert was the first mind of his time, its greatest teacher, its most -eager learner, and most universal scholar. His pregnant letters reflect a -finished man who has mastered his acquired knowledge and transformed it -into power. They also evince the authorship of one who had uniquely -profited from the power and spirit of the great minds of the pagan past, -had imbibed their sense of form and pertinency, and with them had become -self-contained and self-controlled, master of himself and of all that had -entered in and made him what he was. Notice how the personality of the -writer, with his capacities, tastes, and temperament, is unfolded before -us in a letter to a close friend, abbot of a monastery at Tours: - - "Since you hold my memory in honour, and in virtue of relationship - declare great friendship, I deem that I shall be happy for your - opinion, if only I am one who in the judgment of so great a man is - found worthy to be loved. But since I am not one who, with Panetius, - would sometimes separate the good from the useful, but rather with - Tully would mingle it with everything useful, I wish these best and - holiest friendships never to be void of reciprocal utility. And as - morality and the art of speech are not to be severed from philosophy, - I have always joined the study of speaking well with the study of - living well. For although by itself living well may be nobler than - speaking well, and may suffice without its fellow for one absolved - from the direction of affairs; yet for us, busied with the State, both - are needed. For it is of the greatest utility to speak appositely when - persuading, and with mild discourse check the fury of angry men. In - preparing for such business, I am eagerly collecting a library; and as - formerly at Rome and elsewhere in Italy, so likewise in Germany and - Belgium, I have obtained copyists and manuscripts with a mass of - money, and the help of friends in those parts. Permit me likewise to - beg of you also to promote this end. We will append at the end of this - letter a list of those writers we wish copied. We have sent for your - disposal parchment for the scribes and money to defray the cost, not - unmindful of your goodness. Finally, lest by saying more we should - abuse epistolary _convenances_, the cause of so much trouble is - contempt of faithless fortune; a contempt which not nature alone has - given to us--as to many men--but careful study. Consequently when at - leisure and when busied in affairs, we teach what we know, and learn - where we are ignorant."[358] - -Gerbert's letters are concise, even elliptical to the verge of obscurity. -He discloses himself in a few words to his old friend Raymund at the -monastery of Aurillac: "With what love we are bound to you, the Latins -know and also the barbarians,[359] who share the fruit of our studies. -Their vows demand your presence. Amid public cares philosophy is the sole -solace; and from her study we have often been the gainer, when in this -stormy time we have thus broken the attack of fortune raging grievously -against others or ourselves...."[360] - -Save for the language, one might fancy Cicero speaking to some friend, and -not the future pope of the year 1000 to a monk. The sentiment is quite -antique. And Gerbert not only uses antique phrase but is touched, like -many a mediaeval man, with the antique spirit. In another letter he -writes of friendship, and queries whether the divinity has given anything -better to mortals. He refers to his prospects, and remarks: "sed involvit -mundum caeca fortuna," and he is not certain whither it will cast -him.[361] - -Doubtless such antique sentiments were a matter of mood with Gerbert; he -can readily express others of a Christian colour, and turn again to still -other topics very readily, as in the following letter--a curious one. It -is to a monk: - - "Think not, sweetest brother, that it is through my fault I lack my - brethren's society. After leaving thee, I had to undertake many - journeys in the business of my father Columbanus.[362] The ambitions - of the powers, the hard and wretched times, turn right to wrong. No - one keeps faith. Yet since I know that all things hang on the decree - of God, who changes both hearts and the kingdoms of the sons of men, I - patiently await the end of things. I admonish and exhort thee, - brother, to do the same. In the meanwhile one thing I beg, which may - be accomplished without danger or loss to thee, and will make me thy - friend forever. Thou knowest with what zeal I gather books everywhere, - and thou knowest how many scribes there are in Italy, in town and - country. Come then, quietly procure me copies of Manlius's (Boëthius) - _De astrologia_, Victorinus's _Rhetoric_, Demosthenes's - _Optalmicus_.[363] I promise thee, brother, and will keep my word, to - preserve a sacred silence as to thy praiseworthy compliance, and will - remit twofold whatever thou dost demand. Let this much be known to the - man, and the pay too, and cheer us more frequently with a letter; and - have no fear that knowledge will come to any one of any matter thou - mayest confide to our good faith."[364] - -When he wrote this letter, about the year 988, Gerbert was dangerously -deep in politics, and great was the power of this low-born titular Abbot -of Bobbio, head of the school at Rheims and secretary to the archbishop. -The tortuous statecraft and startling many-sidedness of this "scholar in -politics" must have disturbed his contemporaries, and may have roused the -suspicions from which grew the stories, told by future men, that this -scholar, statesman, and philosopher-pope was a magician who had learned -from forbidden sources much that should be veiled. Withal, however, one -may deem that the most veritable inner bit of Gerbert was his love of -knowledge and of antique literature, and that the letters disclosing this -are the subtlest revelation of the man who was ever transmuting his -well-guarded knowledge into himself and his most personal moods. - - "For there is nothing more noble for us in human affairs than a - knowledge of the most distinguished men; and may it be displayed in - volumes upon volumes multiplied. Go on then, as you have begun, and - bring the streams of Cicero to one who thirsts. Let M. Tullius thrust - himself into the midst of the anxieties which have enveloped us since - the betrayal of our city, so that in the happy eyes of men we are held - unhappy through our sentence. What things are of the world we have - sought, we have found, we have accomplished, and, as I will say, we - have become chief among the wicked. Lend aid, father, in order that - divinity, expelled by the multitude of sinners, bent by thy prayers, - may return, may visit us, may dwell with us--and if possible, may we - who mourn the absence of the blessed father Adalberon, be rejoiced by - thy presence."[365] - -So Gerbert wrote from Rheims, himself a chief intriguer in a city full of -treason. - -Gerbert was a power making for letters. The best scholars sat at his feet; -he was an inspiration at the Courts of the second and third Ottos, who -loved learning and died so young; and the great school of Chartres, under -the headship of his pupil Fulbert, was the direct heir to his instruction. -At Rheims, where he taught so many years, he left to others the elementary -instruction in Latin. A pupil, Richer, who wrote his history, speaks of -courses in rhetoric and literature, to which he introduced his pupils -after instructing them in logic: - - "When he wished to lead them on from such studies to rhetoric, he put - in practice his opinion that one cannot attain the art of oratory - without a previous knowledge of the modes of diction which are to be - learned from the poets. So he brought forward those with whom he - thought his pupils should be conversant. He read and explained the - poets Virgil, Statius, and Terence, the satirists Juvenal and Persius - and Horace, also Lucan the historiographer. Familiarized with these, - and practised in their locutions, he taught his pupils rhetoric. - After they were instructed in this art, he brought up a sophist, to - practise them in disputation, so that practised in this art as well, - they might seem to argue artlessly, which he deemed the height of - oratory."[366] - -So Gerbert used the classic poets in teaching rhetoric, and doubtless the -great prose writers too, with whom he was familiar. Following Cicero's -precept that the orator should be a proficient reasoner, he prepared his -young rhetoricians by a course in logic, and completed their discipline -with exercises in disputation. - -Richer also speaks of Gerbert's epoch-making mathematical knowledge.[367] -In arithmetic he improved the current methods of computation; in geometry -he taught the traditional methods of measurement descended from the Roman -surveyors, and compiled a work from Boëthius and other sources. For -astronomy he made spheres and other instruments, and in music his teaching -was the best obtainable. In none of these provinces was he an original -inventor; nor did he exhaust the knowledge had by men before him. He was, -however, the embodiment of mediaeval progress, in that he drew -intelligently upon the sources within his reach, and then taught with -understanding and enthusiasm. Richer's praise is unstinted: - - "He began with arithmetic; then taught music, of which there had long - been ignorance in Gaul.... With what pains he set forth the method of - astronomy, it may be well to state, so that the reader may perceive - the sagacity and skill of this great man. This difficult subject he - explained by means of admirable instruments. First he illustrated the - world's sphere by one of solid wood, the greater by the less. He fixed - it obliquely as to the horizon with two poles, and near the upper pole - set the northern constellations, and by the lower one those of the - south. He determined its position by means of the circle called by the - Greeks _orizon_ and by the Latins _limitans_, because it divides the - constellations which are seen from those which are not. By his sphere - thus fixed, he demonstrated the rising and setting of the stars, and - taught his disciples to recognize them. And at night he followed their - courses and marked the place of their rising and setting upon the - different regions of his model." - -The historian passes on to tell how Gerbert with ingenious devices showed -on his sphere the imaginary circles called parallels, and on another the -movements of the planets, and on still another marked the constellations -of the heavens, so that even a beginner, upon having one constellation -pointed out, could find the others.[368] - -In the province of philosophy, Gerbert's labours extended little beyond -formal logic, philosophy's instrument. He could do no more than understand -and apply as much of Boëthius's rendering of the Aristotelian _Organon_ as -he was acquainted with. Yet he appears to have used more of the Boëthian -writings than any man before him, or for a hundred and fifty years after -his death. Richer gives the list. Beyond this evidence, curious testimony -is borne to the nature of Gerbert's dialectic by Richer's account of a -notable debate. The year was 980, when the fame of the brilliant young -_scholasticus_ of Rheims had spread through Gaul and penetrated Germany. A -certain master of repute at Magdeburg, named Otric, sent one of his pupils -to report on Gerbert's teaching, and especially as to his method of laying -out the divisions of philosophy as "the science of things divine and -human." The pupil returned with notes of Gerbert's classification, in -which, by error or intention, it was made to appear that he subordinated -physics to mathematics, as species to genus, whereas, in truth, he made -them of equal rank. Otric thought to catch him tripping, and so managed -that a disputation was held between them at a time when Adalberon and -Gerbert were in Italy with the Emperor Otto II. It took place in Ravenna. -The emperor, then nineteen years of age, presided, there being present -many masters and dignitaries of the Church. Holding in his hand a tablet -of Gerbert's alleged division of the sciences, His Majesty opened the -debate: - - "Meditation and discussion, as I think, make for the betterment of - human knowledge, and questions from the wise rouse our thoughtfulness. - Thus knowledge of things is drawn forth by the learned, or discovered - by them and committed to books, which remain to our great good. We - also may be incited by certain objects which draw the mind to a surer - understanding. Observe now, that I am turning over this tablet - inscribed with the divisions of philosophy. Let all consider it - carefully, and each say what he thinks. If it be complete, let it be - confirmed by your approbation. If imperfect, let it be rejected or - corrected. - - "Then Otric, taking it before them all, said that it was arranged by - Gerbert, and had been taken down from his lectures. He handed it to - the Lord Augustus, who read it through, and presented it to Gerbert. - The latter, carefully examining it, approved in part, and in part - condemned, asserting that the scheme had not been arranged thus by - him. Asked by Augustus to correct it, he said: 'Since, O great Caesar - Augustus, I see thee more potent than all these, I will, as is - fitting, obey thy behest. Nor shall I be concerned at the spite of the - malevolent, by whose instigation the very correct division of - philosophy recently set forth so lucidly by me, has been vitiated by - the substitution of a species. I say then, that mathematics, physics, - and theology are to be placed as equals under one genus. The genus - likewise has equal share in them. Nor is it possible that one and the - same species, in one and the same respect, should be co-ordinate with - another species and also be put under it as species under a genus.'" - -Then in answer to a demand from Otric for a more explicit statement of his -classification, he said there could be no objection to dividing philosophy -according to Vitruvius (Victorinus) and Boëthius; "for philosophy is the -genus, of which the species are the practical and the theoretical: under -the practical, as species again, come _dispensativa_, _distributiva_ and -_civilis_; under the theoretical fall _phisica naturalis_, _mathematica -intelligibilis_, and _theologia intellectibilis_." - -Otric then wonders that Gerbert put mathematics immediately after physics, -omitting physiology. To which Gerbert replies that physiology stands to -physics as philology to philosophy, of which it is part. Otric changes his -attack to a flank movement, and asks Gerbert what is the _causa_ of -philosophy. Gerbert asks whether he means the cause by which, or the cause -for which, it is devised (_inventa_). Otric replies the latter. "Then," -says Gerbert, "since you make your question clear, I say that philosophy -was devised that from it we might understand things divine and human." -"But why use so many words," says Otric, "to designate the cause of one -thing?" "Because one word may not suffice to designate a cause. Plato uses -three to designate the cause of the creation of the world, to wit, the -_bona Dei voluntas_. He could not have said _voluntas_ simply." "But," -says Otric, "he could have said more concisely _Dei voluntas_, for God's -will is always good, which he would not deny." - - "Here I do not contradict you," says Gerbert, "but consider: since God - alone is good in himself, and every creature is good only by - participation, the word _bona_ is added to express the quality - peculiar to His nature alone. However this may be, still one word will - not always designate a cause. What is the cause of shadow? Can you put - that in one word? I say, the cause of shadow is a body interposed to - light. It is not 'body' nor even 'body interposed.' I don't deny that - the causes of many things can be stated in one word, as the genera of - substance, quantity, or quality, which are the causes of species. - Others cannot so simply be expressed, as _rationale ad mortale_." - -This enigmatic phrase electrifies Otric, who cries: "You put the mortal -under the rational? Who does not know that the rational is confined to -God, angels, and mankind, while the mortal embraces everything mortal, a -limitless mass?" - - "To which Gerbert: 'If, following Porphyry and Boëthius, you make a - careful division of substance, carrying it down to individuals, you - will have the rational broader than the mortal as may readily be - shown. Since substance, admittedly the most general genus, may be - divided into subordinate genera and species down to individuals, it is - to be seen whether all these subordinates may be expressed by a single - word. Clearly, some are designated with one word, as _corpus_, others - with several, as _animatum sensibile_. With like reason, the - subordinate, which is _animal rationale_, may be predicated of the - subject that is _animal rationale mortale_. Not that _rationale_ may - be predicated of what is mortal simply; but _rationale_, I say, joined - to _animal_ is predicated of _mortale_ joined to _animal rationale_.' - - "At this, Augustus with a nod ended the argument, since it had lasted - nearly the whole day, and the audience were fatigued with the prolix - and unbroken disputation. He splendidly rewarded Gerbert, who set out - for Gaul with Adalberon."[369] - -Evidently Richer's account gives merely the captions of this disputation. -There was not the slightest originality in any of the propositions stated -by the disputants; everything is taken from Porphyry and Boëthius and the -current Latin translation of Plato's _Timaeus_. Yet the whole affair, the -selection of the questions, the nature of the answers, the limitation of -the matter to the bare poles of logical palestrics, is most illustrative -of the mentality and intellectual interests of the late tenth century. The -growth of the mediaeval intellect lay unavoidably through such courses of -discipline. And just as early mediaeval Latin had to save itself from -barbarism by cleaving to grammar, so the best intellect of this early -period grasped at logic not only as the most obviously needed discipline -and guide, but also with imperfect consciousness that this discipline and -means did not contain the goal and plenitude of substantial knowledge. -Grammar was then not simply a means but an end in the study of letters, -and so was logic unconsciously. In the one case and the other, the -palpable need of the _disciplina_ and its difficulties kept the student -from realizing that the instrument was but an instrument. - -Moreover, upon Gerbert's time pressed the specific need to consider just -such questions as the disputation affords a sample of. An enormous mass of -theology, philosophy, and science awaited mastering, the heritage from a -greater past, antique and patristic. Perhaps a true instinct guided -Gerbert and his contemporaries to problems of classification and method as -a primary essential task. Had the Middle Ages been a period when -knowledge, however crude, was perforce advancing through experience, -investigation, and discovery, the problems of classification and method -would not have presented themselves as preliminary. But mediaeval -development lay through the study of what former men had won from nature -or received from God. This was preserved in books which had to be studied -and mastered. Hence classifications of knowledge were essential aids or -sorely needed guides. With a true instinct the Middle Ages first of all -looked within this mass of knowledge for guides to its mazes, seeking a -plan or scheme by the aid of which universal knowledge might be -unravelled, and then reconstructed in forms corresponding to even larger -verities.[370] - - -II - -The decades on either side of the year 1000 were cramped and dull. In -Burgundy, to be sure, the energies of Cluny,[371] under its great abbots, -were rousing the monastic world to a sense of religious and disciplinary -decency. This reform, however, took little interest in culture. The monks -of Cluny were commonly instructed in the rudiments of the Seven Arts. They -had a little mathematics; bits of crude physical knowledge had unavoidably -come to them; and just as unavoidably had they made use of extracts from -the pagan poets in studying Latinity.[372] But they did not follow letters -for their own sake, nor knowledge because they loved it and felt that love -a holy one. Monastic principles hardly justified such a love, and Cluny's -abbots had enough to do in bringing the monastic world to decency, without -dallying with inapplicable knowledge or the charms of pagan poetry. - -Religious reforms in the ninth century had helped letters in the cathedral -and monastic schools of Gaul. The latter soon fell back to ignorance; but -among the cathedral schools, Chartres and Rheims continued to flourish. A -moral ordering of life increases thoughtfulness and may stimulate study. -Hence, in the latter part of the tenth century, the Cluniac reforms, like -the earlier reforming movements, affected letters favourably in the -monasteries. Here and there an exceptional man created an exceptional -situation. Such a one was Abbo, Abbot of St. Benedict's at Fleury on the -Loire, who died the year after Gerbert. He was fortunate in his excellent -pupil and biographer, Aimoin, who ascribes to him as liberal sentiments -toward study as were consistent with a stern monasticism: - - "He admonished his hearers that having cast out the thorns of sin, - they should sow the little gardens of their hearts with the spices of - the divine virtues. The battle lay against the vices of the flesh, and - it was for them to consider what arms they should oppose to its - delights. To complete their armament, after the vows of prayer, and - the manly strife of fastings, he deemed that the study of letters - would advantage them, and especially the exercise of composition. - Indeed he himself, the studious man, scarcely let pass a moment when - he was not reading, writing, or dictating."[373] - -It is curious to observe the unavoidable influence of a crude Latin -education upon the most strenuous of these reforming monks. In 994 Odilo -became Abbot of Cluny. After a most notable and effective rule of more -than half a century, he died just as the year 1049 began. The closing -scenes are typically illustrative of the passing of an early mediaeval -saint. The dying abbot preaches and comforts his monks, gives his -blessing, adores the Cross, repels the devil: - - "I warn thee, enemy of the human race, turn from me thy plots and - hidden wiles, for by me is the Cross of the Lord, which I always - adore: the Cross my refuge, my way and virtue; the Cross, - unconquerable banner, the invincible weapon. The Cross repels every - evil, and puts darkness to flight. Through this divine Cross I - approach my journey; the Cross is my life--death to thee, Enemy!" - -The next day, "in the presence of all, the Creed is read for a shield of -faith against the deceptions of malignant spirits and the attacks of evil -thoughts; Augustine is brought in to expound, intently listened to, and -discussed."[374] - -For Odilo, the Cross is a divine, not to say magic, safeguard. His prayer -and imprecation have something of the nature of an uttered spell. No -antique zephyrs seem to blow in this atmosphere of faith and fear, in -which he passed his life, and performed his miracles before and after -death. Nevertheless the antique might mould his phrases, and perhaps -unconsciously affect his ethical conceptions. He wrote a Life of a former -abbot of Cluny, ascribing to him the four _cardinales disciplinas_, in -which he strove to perfect himself "in order that through _prudentia_ he -might assure the welfare of himself and those in his charge; that through -_temperantia_ (which by another name is called _modestia_), by a proper -measure of a just discretion, he might modestly discharge the spiritual -business entrusted to him; that through _fortitudo_ he might resist and -conquer the devil and his vices; and that through _justitia_, which -permeates all virtues and seasons them, he might live soberly and piously -and justly, fight the good fight and finish his course."[375] - -Thus the antique virtues shape Odilo's thoughts, as seven hundred years -before him the point of view and reasoning of Ambrose's _De officiis -ministrorum_ were set by Cicero's _De officiis_.[376] The same classically -touched phrases, if not conceptions, pass on to Odilo's pupil and -biographer, the monk Jotsaldus, to whom we owe our description of Odilo's -last moments. He ascribes the four cardinal virtues to his hero, and then -defines them from the antique standpoint, but with Christian turns of -thought: - - "The philosophers define Prudence as the search for truth and the - thirst for fuller knowledge. In which virtue Odilo was so - distinguished that neither by day nor night did he cease from the - search for truth. The Book of the divine contemplation was always in - his hands, and ceaselessly he spoke of Scripture for the edification - of all, and prayer ever followed reading. - - "Justice, as the philosophers say, is that which renders each his - due, lays no claim to what is another's, and neglects self-advantage, - so as to maintain what is equitable for all." [To illustrate this - virtue in Odilo, the biographer gives instances of his charity, by - which one observes the Christian turn taken by the conception.] - - "Fortitude is to hold the mind above the dread of danger, to fear - nothing save the base, and bravely bear adversity and prosperity. - Supported by this virtue, it is difficult to say how brave he was in - repelling the plots of enemies and how patient in enduring them. You - might observe in him this very privilege of patience; to those who - injured him, as another David he repaid the grace of benefit, and - toward those who hated him, he preserved a stronger benevolence." - [Again the Christian turn of thought.] - - "Temperance, last in the catalogue of the aforesaid virtues, according - to its definition maintains moderation and order in whatever is to be - said or done. Here he was so mighty as to hold to moderation and - observe propriety (_ordinem_) in all his actions and commands, and - show a wonderful discretion. Following the blessed Jerome, he tempered - fasting to the golden mean, according to the weakness or strength of - the body, thus avoiding fanaticism and preserving continency. Neither - elegance nor squalor was noticeable in his dress. He tempered gravity - of conduct with gaiety of countenance. He was severe in the correction - of vice as the occasion demanded, gracious in pardoning, in both - balancing an impartial scale."[377] - - -III - -A friend of Odilo was Gerbert's pupil Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres from -1006 to 1028. His name is joined forever with that chief cathedral school -of early mediaeval France, which he so firmly and so broadly -re-established as to earn a founder's fame. It will be interesting to -notice its range of studies. Chartres was an ancient home of letters. -Caesar[378] speaks of the land of the Carnuti as the centre of Druidism in -Gaul; and under the Empire, liberal studies quickly sprang up in the -Gallo-Roman city. They did not quite cease even in Merovingian times, and -revived with the Carolingian revival. Thenceforth they were pursued -continuously at the convent school of St. Peter, if not at the school -attached to the cathedral. For some years before he was made bishop, the -grave and kindly Fulbert had been the head of this cathedral school, -where he did not cease to teach until his death. As bishop, widely -esteemed and influential, he rebuilt the cathedral, aided by the kings of -France and Denmark, the dukes of Aquitaine and Normandy, the counts of -Champagne and Blois. His vast crypt still endures, a shadowy goal for -thousands of pilgrim knees, and an ample support for the great edifice -above it. Admiring tradition has ascribed to him even this glory of a -later time. - -From near and far, pious students came to benefit by the instruction of -the school, of which Fulbert was the head and inspiration. Close was their -intercourse with their "Venerable Socrates" in the small school buildings -near the cathedral. From the accounts, we can almost see him moving among -them, stopping to correct one here, or looking over the shoulder of -another engaged upon a geometric figure, and putting some new problem. -Among the pupils there might be rivalry, quarrels, breaches of decorum; -but there was the master, ever grave and steadfast, always ready to -encourage with his sympathy, but prepared also to reprove, either silently -by withdrawing his confidence, or in words, as when he forbade an -instructor to joke when explaining Donatus: "spectaculum factus es -omnibus; cave." - -Some of these scholars became men of sanctity and renown--Berengar of -Tours gained an unhappy fame. A fellow-student wrote to him in later years -addressing him as foster-brother: - - "I have called thee foster-brother because of that sweetest common - life led by us while youths in the Academy of Chartres under our - venerable Socrates. Well we proved his saving doctrine and holy - living, and now that he is with God we should hope to be aided by his - prayers. Surely he is mindful of us, cherishing us even more than when - he moved a pilgrim in the body of this death, and drew us to him by - vows and tacit prayer, entreating us in those evening colloquies - (_vespertina colloquia_) in the garden by the chapel, that we should - tread the royal way, and cleave to the footprints of the holy - fathers."[379] - -The cathedral school included youths receiving their first lessons, as -well as older scholars and instructors. They lived together under rules, -and together celebrated the services of the cathedral, chanting the -matins, the hours, and the mass. The Trivium and Quadrivium made the basis -of their studies. Text-books and courses were already some centuries old. - -The first branch of the Trivium was Grammar, which included literature by -way of illustration; and he who held the chair had the title of -_grammaticus_. For the beginners, _Donatus_ was the text-book, and -_Priscianus_ for the more advanced.[380] Nor was Martianus Capella -neglected. The student annotated these works with citations from the -_Etymologies_ of Isidore. Divers mnemotechnic processes assisted him to -commit the contents to memory. The grammatical course included the writing -of compositions in prose and verse, according to rule, and the reading of -classic authors. For their school verses in metre the pupils used Bede's -_De arte metrica_, an encyclopaedia of metrical forms. They also wrote -accentual and rhymed Latin verse. Of profane authors the Library appears -to have contained Livy, Valerius Maximus, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Statius, -Servius the commentator on Virgil; and of writers who were Christian -Classics in the Middle Ages, Orosius, Gregory of Tours, Fortunatus, -Sedulius, Arator, Prudentius, and Boëthius, the last named being the most -important single source of early mediaeval education. Rhetoric, the second -branch of the Trivium, bore that vague relationship to grammar which it -bears in modern parlance. The rules of the rhetoricians were learned; the -works of profane or Christian orators were read and imitated. This study -left its mark on mediaeval sermons and _Vitae Sanctorum_. - -As for the third branch, Dialectic, Fulbert's pupils studied the logical -treatises in general use in the earlier Middle Ages: to wit, the -_Categories_ and the _De interpretatione_ of Aristotle, and Porphyry's -_Introduction_, all in the Latin of Boëthius. For works which might be -regarded as commentaries upon these, the school had at its disposal the -_Categories_ ascribed to Augustine and Apuleius's _De interpretatione_, -Cicero's _Topica_, and Boëthius's discussion of definition, division, and -categorical and hypothetical syllogisms--the logical writings expounded -by Gerbert at Rheims. The school had likewise Gerbert's own _Libellus de -ratione uti_ and Boëthius's _De consolatione_, that chief ethical compend -for the early Middle Ages; also the writings of Eriugena, and Dionysius -the Areopagite in Eriugena's translation. Whether or not it possessed the -current Latin version of Plato's _Timaeus_, Fulbert and Berengar at all -events refer to Plato in terms of eulogy. - -Passing to the Quadrivium, we find that Fulbert had studied its four -branches under Gerbert. In Arithmetic the students used the treatise of -Boëthius, and also the Abacus, a table of vertical columns, with Roman -numerals at the top to indicate the order of units, tens, and hundreds -according to the decimal system. In Geometry the students likewise fell -back upon Boëthius. Astronomy, the third branch of the Quadrivium, had for -its practical object the computation of the Church's calendar. The pupils -learned the signs of the Zodiac and were instructed in the method of -finding the stars by the _Astrolabius_, a sphere (such as Gerbert had -constructed) representing the constellations, and turning upon a tube as -an axis, which served to fix the polar star. Music, the fourth branch of -the Quadrivium, was zealously cultivated. For its theory, the treatise of -Boëthius was studied; and Fulbert and his scholars did much to advance the -music of the liturgy, composing texts and airs for organ chanting. - -In addition to the Quadrivium, medicine was taught. The students learned -receipts and processes handed down by tradition and commonly ascribed to -Hippocrates. For more convenient memorizing, Fulbert cast them into verse. -Such "medicine" was not founded on observation; and a mediaeval -scholar-copyist would as naturally transcribe a medical receipt-book as -any other work coming within the range of his stylus. One may remember -that in the early Middle Ages the relic was the common means of cure. - -The seven _Artes_ of the Trivium and Quadrivium were the handmaids of -Theology; and Fulbert gave elaborate instruction in this Christian queen -of the sciences, expounding the Scriptures, explaining the Liturgy, and -taking up the controversies of the time. As a part of this sacred -science, the students apparently were taught something of Canon and Roman -law and of Charlemagne's Capitularies.[381] - - -IV - -The Chartres Quadrivium represents the extreme compass of mathematical and -physical studies in France in the eleventh century, when slight interest -was taken in physical science--a phrase far too grand to designate the -crass traditional views of nature which prevailed. Indifference to natural -knowledge was the most palpable intellectual defect of Ambrose and -Augustine, and the most portentous. The coming centuries, which were to -look upon their writings as universal guides to living and knowing, found -therein no incentive to observe or study the natural world. Of course the -Carolingian period evolved out of itself no such desire; nor did the -eleventh century. At the best, the general understanding of physical fact -remained that which had been handed down. It was gleaned from the books -commonly read, the _Physiologus_ or the edifying stories of miracles in -the myriad _Vitae Sanctorum_, quite as much as from the scant information -given in Isidore's _Origines_, Bede's _Liber de temporibus_, or the _De -universo_ of Rabanus Maurus. - -So much for natural science. In historical writing the quality of -composition rarely rose above that of the tenth century.[382] No sign of -critical acumen had appeared, and the writers of the period show but a -narrow local interest. There was no France, but everywhere a parcelling of -the land into small sections of misrule, between which travel was -difficult and dangerous. The chroniclers confine their attention, as -doubtless their knowledge also was confined, to the region where they -lived. To lift history over these narrow barriers, there was needed the -renewal of the royal power, which came with the century's close, and the -stimulus to curiosity springing from the Crusades.[383] - -In fine, the eleventh century was crude and inchoate, preparatory to the -intellectual activity and the unleashed energies of life which mark the -opening of the twelfth. Yet the mediaeval mind was assimilating and -appropriating dynamically its lessons from the Fathers, as well as those -portions of the antique heritage of thought which, so far, it had felt a -need of. Difficult problems were stated, but in ways presenting, as it -were, the apices of alternatives too narrow to hold truth, which lies less -frequently in warring opposites than in an inclusive and discriminating -conciliation. This century, especially when we fix our attention upon -France, appears as the threshold of mediaeval thinking, the immediate -antecedent to mediaeval formulations of philosophic and theological -conviction. The controversies and the different mental tendencies which -thereafter were to move through such large and often diverging courses, -drew their origin from still prior times. With the coming of the eleventh -century they had been sturdily cradled, and seemed safe from the danger of -dying in infancy. Thence on through the twelfth century, through the -thirteenth, the climacteric of mediaeval thought, opinions and convictions -are set in multitudes of propositions, relating to many provinces of human -meditation. - -These masses of propositions, convictions, opinions, philosophic and -religious, constitute the religious philosophy of the Middle -Ages--scholasticism as it commonly is called. Hereafter[384] it will be -necessary to consider that large matter in its continuity of development, -with its roots or antecedents stretching back through the eleventh century -to the Carolingian period, and beyond. Mediaeval thinkers will then be -seen to fall into two classes, very roughly speaking, the one tending to -set authority above reason, and the other tending to set reason above -authority. Both classes appear in the ninth century, represented -respectively by Rabanus Maurus and Eriugena. In the eleventh they are also -evident. St. Anselm, who came from Italy, is the most admirable -representative of the first class, being in heart and mind a theologian -whose philosophy revolved entire around his faith. Of him we have spoken; -and here may mention in contrast with him two Frenchmen, Berengar of Tours -and Roscellinus. In place and time they come within the scope of the -present chapter; nor were their mental processes such as to attach them to -a later period. By temperament, and in somewhat confused expression, they -set reason above authority, save that of Scripture as they understood it. - -Berengar was born, apparently at Tours, and of wealthy parents, just as -the tenth century closed. After studying under his uncle, the Treasurer of -St. Martin, he came to Chartres, where Fulbert was bishop. Judging from a -general consensus of expression from men who became his opponents, but had -been his fellow-pupils, he quickly aroused attention by his talents, and -anxiety or enmity by his pride and the self-confident assertion of his -opinions. He would neither accept with good grace the admonitions of those -about him, nor follow the authority of the Fathers. He was said to have -despised even the great grammarians and logicians, Priscian, Donatus, and -Boëthius. Why err with everybody if everybody errs, he asked. He appears -as a vain man eager for admiration. The report comes down that he imitated -Fulbert's manner in lecturing, first covering his visage with a hood so as -to seem in deep meditation, and then speaking in a gentle, plaintive -voice. From Chartres he passed to Angers, where he filled the office of -archdeacon, and thence he returned to Tours, was placed over the Church -schools of St. Martin's, and in the course of time began to lecture on the -Eucharist. This was between the years 1030 and 1040. - -That a man's fortunes and fame are linked to a certain doctrine or -controversy may be an accident of environment. Berengar chose to adduce -and partly follow the teachings of Eriugena, whose fame was great, but -whose orthodoxy was tainted. The nature of the Eucharist leant itself to -dispute, and from the time of Ratramnus, Radbertus, and Eriugena, it was -common for theologians to try their hand on it, if only in order to -demonstrate their adherence to the extreme doctrines accepted by the -Church. These were not the doctrines of Eriugena, nor were they held by -Berengar, who would not bring himself to admit an absolute substantial -change in the bread and wine. Possibly his convictions were less -irrational than the dominant doctrine. Yet he appears to have asserted -them, not because he had a clearer mind than others, but by reason of his -more self-assertive and combative temperament. He was not an original -thinker, but a controversial and turgid reasoner, who naturally enough was -forced into all kinds of tergiversation in order to escape condemnation as -a heretic. His self-assertiveness settled on the most obvious theological -dispute of the time, and his self-esteem maintained the superiority of his -own reason over the authorities adduced by his adversaries. Of course he -never impugned the authority of Scripture, but relied on it to -substantiate his views, merely asserting that a reasonable interpretation -was better than a foolish one. Throughout the controversy, one may observe -that Berengar's understanding of fact kept somewhat closer than that of -his opponents' to the tangible realities of sense. But a difference of -intellectual temperament lay at the bottom of his dissent; and had not the -Eucharist presented itself as the readiest topic of dispute, he would -doubtless have fallen upon some other question. As it was, his arguments -gained adherents, the dominant view being repellent to independent minds. -Still, it won the day, and Berengar was condemned by more than one -council, and forced into all manner of equivocal retractions, by which at -least he saved his life, and died in extreme old age. - -It may be that a larger relative import attributed by Berengar and also -Roscellin to the tangibilities of sense-perception, led the latter at the -close of the century to put forth views on the nature of universals which -have given him a shadowy repute as the father of nominalism. The -Eucharistic controversy pertained primarily to Christian dogmatics. That -regarding universals, or general ideas, pertains to philosophy, and, from -the standpoint of formal logic, lies at the foundations of consistent -thinking. So closely does it make part of the development of -scholasticism, that its discussion had best be postponed; merely assuming -for the present that Roscellin's thinking upon the topic to which his name -is attached was not superior in method and analysis to Berengar's upon the -Eucharist. - -One cannot escape the conclusion that intellectually the eleventh century -in France was crude. The mediaeval intellect was still but imperfectly -developed; its manifestations had not reached the zenith of their energy. -Yet doubtless the mental development of mankind proceeds at a more uniform -rate than would appear from the brilliant phenomena which crowd the eras -of apparent culmination, in contrast with the previous dulness. The -profounder constancy of growth may be discerned by scrutinizing those dumb -courses of gestation, from which spring the marvels of the great epoch. -The opening of the twelfth century was to inaugurate a brilliant -intellectual era in France. The efficient preparation stretched back into -the latter half of the eleventh, whose Catholic progress heralded a period -of awakening. The Church already was striving to accomplish its own -reordering and regeneration, free itself from things that drag and hinder, -from lay investiture and simony, abominations through which feudal -depotentiating principles had intruded into the ecclesiastic body; free -itself likewise from clerical marriage and concubinage, which kept the -clergy from being altogether clergy, and weighted the Church with the -claims of half-spurious priests' offspring. In France the reform of the -monks comes first, impelled by Cluny; and when Cluny herself becomes less -zealous, because too great and rich, the spirit of soldiery against sin -reincarnates itself in the Grand-Chartreuse, in Citeaux and Clairvaux. The -reform of the secular clergy follows, with Hildebrand the veritable -master; for the Church was passing from prelacy to papacy, and the Pope -was becoming a true monarch, instead of nominal head of an episcopal -aristocracy. - -The perfected organization and unceasing purification of the Church made -one part of the general progress of the period. Another consisted in the -disengaging of the greater powers from out the indiscriminate anarchy of -feudalism, and the advance of the French monarchy, under Louis the -Sixth,[385] toward effective sovereignty, all making for a surer law and -order throughout France. Then through the eleventh and twelfth centuries -came the struggle of the people, out of serfdom into some control over -their own persons and fortunes. The serfs were affranchised and became -peasants; the huddled dwellers in the squalid towns tended to become -burghers with actual strength and chartered power to protect themselves -against signorial tyranny. Their rights limited and fixed the exactions of -their lords. Everywhere the population increased; old cities grew apace, -and a multitude of new ones came into existence. Economic evolution -progressed, advancing with the affranchisement of industry, the -organization of guilds, the growth of trade, the opening of new markets, -fairs, and freer avenues of commerce: thus more wealth was diffused among -the many. Architecture with new civic resources was pushing on through -Romanesque toward Gothic, while the affiliated arts of sculpture and -painting were becoming more expressive. Then the Crusades began, and did -their work of spreading knowledge through the Occident, carrying foreign -ideas and institutions across provincial barriers. The Crusades could not -have taken place had it not been for the freeing of social forces during -the half century preceding their inception in the year 1099. They were led -up to and made possible by the advance of the papacy to domination, by the -growth of chivalry, and the habit of making far pilgrimages to holy -places, and by the wealth coming with more active trade and industry. - -Thus humanity was universally bestirring itself throughout the land we -know as France. Such a bestirring could not fail to crown itself with a -mightier winging of the spirit through the higher provinces of thought. -This was to show itself among saints and doctors of the Church in their -philosophies and theologies of the mind and heart; with like power it was -to show itself among those hardier rationalists who with difficulty and -misgivings, or under hard compulsion, still kept themselves within the -Church's pale. It showed itself too with heretics who let themselves be -burned rather than surrender their outlawed convictions. It was also to -show itself through things beautiful, in the strivings of art toward the -perfect symbolical presentation of what the soul cherished or abhorred; -and show itself too in the literature of the common tongues as well as the -literature of the time-honoured Latin. In fine, it was to show itself, -through every heightened faculty and appetition of the universally -striving and desirous soul of man, in a larger, bolder understanding and -appreciation of life. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -MENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY: GERMANY; ENGLAND; CONCLUSION - - I. German Appropriation of Christianity and Antique Culture. - - II. Othloh's Spiritual Conflict. - - III. England; Closing Comparisons. - - -I - -In the Germans of the eleventh century one notes a strong sense of German -selfhood, supplemented by a consciousness that Latin culture is a foreign -matter, introduced as a thing of great value which it were exceeding well -for them to make their own. They are even conscious of having been -converted to Latin Christianity, which on their part they are imbuing with -German thoughts and feeling. They are not Romance people; they have never -spoken Latin; it has never been and will never be their speech. They will -master what they can of the antique education which has been brought to -them. But even as it was no part of their forefathers' lives, so it will -never penetrate their own personalities, so as to make them the spiritual -descendants of any antique Latin or Latinized people. They have never been -and never will be Latinized; but will remain forever Germans. - -Consequently the appropriation of the Latin culture in Germany is a labour -of translation: first a palpable labour of translation from the Latin -language into the German tongue, and secondly, and for always, a more -subtle kind of translation of the antique influence into a German -understanding of the same, and gradually into informing principles made -use of by a strong and advancing racial genius. The German genius will be -enlarged and developed through these foreign elements, but it will never -cease to use the Latin culture as a means of informing and developing -itself. - -No need to say that these strong statements apply to the Germans in their -home north of the Alps and east of the Rhine; not to those who left the -Fatherland, and in the course of generations became Italians, for example. -Moreover, general phrases must always be taken subject to qualification -and rounding of the corners. No people can absorb a foreign influence -without in some degree being made over into the likeness of what they are -receiving, and to that extent ceasing to be their unmitigated selves. In -general, however, while Latin Christianity and the antique culture both -were brought to Germany from abroad, the Germans were converted or -transformed only by the former, and merely took and used the latter--a -true statement this, so far as one may separate these two great mingled -factors of mediaeval progress. - -Evidently those Germans of the opening mediaeval centuries who did most to -advance the civilization of their people were essentially introducers of -foreign culture. This was manifestly true of the missionaries (chief among -whom was the Anglo-Saxon Boniface) who brought Christianity to Germany. It -was true both as to the Christian and the secular learning of Rabanus -Maurus, who was born at Mainz, a very German.[386] With all his Latin -learning he kept his interest in his mother tongue, and always realized -that his people spoke German and not Latin. He encouraged preaching in -German; and with the aid of his favourite pupil, Walafrid, he prepared -German glosses and Latin-German glossaries for Scripture. - -Before Rabanus's death popular translations of the Gospels had appeared, -imbued with the Germanic spirit. The _Heliand_ and Otfrid's -_Evangelienbuch_ are the best known of these.[387] Then, extending through -the last part of the tenth and the first part of the eleventh century we -note the labours of that most diligent of translators, Notker the German, -a monk of St. Gall, and member of the Ekkehart family, which gave so many -excellent abbots to that cloister. He died in 1022. Like Bede, Rabanus, -and many other Teutonic scholars, he was an encyclopaedia of the knowledge -afforded by his time. He was the head of a school of German translators. -His own translations covered part of Boëthius's _De consolatione_, -Virgil's _Bucolics_, Terence's _Andria_, Martianus Capella's _De nuptiis_, -Aristotle's _Categories_ and _De interpretatione_, an arithmetic, a -rhetoric, Job, and the Psalms. He was a teacher all his life, and a German -always, loving his mother tongue, and occupying himself with its grammar -and word forms. His method of translation was to give the Latin sentence, -with a close German rendering, accompanied by an occasional explanation of -the matter, also in German.[388] All the while, this foreign learning was -being mastered gallantly in the leading cloisters, Fulda, St. Gall, -Reichenau, Hersfeld, and others. Within their walls this Latin culture was -studied and mastered, as one with resolve and perseverance masters that to -which he is not born. - -Besides those who laboured as translators, other earnest fosterers of -learning in Germany appear as introducers of the same. Bruno, youngest -brother of Otto I., is distinguished in this rôle. He promoted letters in -his archiepiscopal diocese of Cologne. From many lands learned men came to -him, Liutprand and Ratherius among others. Otto himself loved learning, -and drew foreign scholars to his Court, one of whom was that conceited -Gunzo, already spoken of.[389] Schools moved with the emperor (_scholae -translatitiae_) also with Bruno, who though archbishop, duke, and burdened -with affairs, took the time to teach. A passage in his Life by Ruotger -shows the education and accomplishments of this most worthy prince of the -Church and land: - - "Then as soon as he learned the first rudiments of the grammatic art, - as we have heard from himself, often pondering upon this in the glory - of the omnipotent God, he began to read the poet Prudentius, at the - instance of his master. This one, as he is catholic in faith and - argument, eminent for eloquence and truth, and most elegant in the - variety of his works and metres, with so great sweetness quickly - pleased the palate of his heart, that at once, with greater avidity - than can be expressed, he drank up not only the knowledge of the - foreign words, but even the marrow of the innermost meaning and most - liquid nectar, if I may so say. Afterwards there was almost no branch - of liberal study in all Greek or Latin eloquence, that escaped the - quickness of his genius. Nor indeed, as often happens, did the - multitude of riches, or the insistency of clamouring crowds, nor any - disgust otherwise coming over him, ever turn his mind from this noble - employment of leisure.... Often he seated himself as a learned arbiter - in the midst of the most learned Greek and Latin doctors, when they - argued on the sublimity of philosophy or upon some subtility of her - glistening discipline, and gave satisfaction to the disputants, amid - universal plaudits, than which he cared for nothing less."[390] - -One may read between these awkward lines that all this learning was -something to which Bruno had been introduced at school. Another short -passage shows how new and strange this Latin culture seemed, and how he -approached it with a timorous seriousness natural to one who did not well -understand what it all meant: - - "The buffoonery and mimic talk in comedies and tragedies, which cause - such laughter when recited by a number of people, he would always read - seriously; he took small count of the matter, but chiefly of - authority, in literary compositions."[391] - -Such an attitude would have been impossible for an Italian cradled amid -Latin or quasi-Latin speech and reminiscence. - -The most curious if not original literary phenomenon of the time of Bruno -and his great brother was the nun Hrotsvitha, of Gandersheim, a Saxon -cloister supported by the royal Saxon house. A niece of Otto's was the -Abbess, and she it was who introduced Hrotsvitha to the Latin Classics, -after the completion of her elementary studies under another _magistra_, -likewise an inmate of the convent. The account bears witness to the taste -for Latin reading among this group of noble Saxon dames. Hrotsvitha soon -surpassed the rest, at least in productivity, and became a prolific -authoress. She composed a number of sacred _legendae_, in leonine or -rhymed hexameters.[392] One of them gave the legend of the Virgin, as -drawn from the Apocryphal Gospel of Matthew. She also wrote several -_Passiones_ or accounts of the martyrdoms of saints, and the story of the -Fall and Repentance of Theophilus, the oldest poetic version of a compact -with the devil. Quite different in topic was the Deeds of Otto I. (_De -gestis Oddonis I. imperatoris_) written between 962 and 967, likewise in -leonine hexameters. It told the fortunes of the Saxon house as well as the -career of its greatest member. - -Possibly more interesting were six moral dramas written in formal -imitation of the _Comedies_ of Terence. As an antidote to the poison of -the latter, they were to celebrate the virtue of holy virgins in this same -kind of composition which had flaunted the adulteries of lascivious -women--so the preface explains. Again, Hrotsvitha's sources were -_legenda_, in which Christian chastity, martyred though it be, triumphs -with no uncertain note of victory.[393] These pious imitations of the -impious Terence do not appear to have been imitated by other mediaeval -writers: they exerted no influence upon the later development of the -Mystery Play. They remain as evidence of the writer's courage, and of the -studies of certain denizens of the cloister at Gandersheim. - -Besides this convent for high-born women, and such monasteries as Fulda -and St. Gall, an interesting centre of introduced learning was Hildesheim, -fortunate in its bishops, who made it an oasis of culture in the north. -Otwin, bishop in 954, supplied its school with books from Italy. Some -years after him came that great hearty man, Bernward, of princely birth, -who began his clerical career at an early age, and was made bishop in 992. -For thirty years he ruled his see with admirable piety, energy, and -judgment; qualities which he likewise showed in affairs of State. He was a -diligent student of Latin letters, one "who conned not only the books in -the monastery, but others in divers places, from which he formed a goodly -library of codices of the divines and also the philosophers."[394] His was -a master's faculty and a master-hand, itself skilfully fashioning; for not -only did he build the beautiful cloister church of St. Michael at -Hildesheim, and cause it to be sumptuously adorned, but he himself carved -and painted, and set gems. Some of the excellent works of his hand remain -to-day. His biographer tells of that munificence and untiring zeal which -rendered Hildesheim beautiful, as one still may see. Yet, throughout, -Bernward appears as consciously studying and gathering and bringing to his -beloved church an art from afar and a learning which was not of his own -people. The bronze work on the Bernward column in Hildesheim is thought to -suggest an influence of Trajan's column, while the doors of Bernward's -church unquestionably follow those of St. Sabina on the Aventine. This -shows how Bernward noticed and learned and copied during his stay at Rome -in the year 1001, when Otto III. was imperator and Gerbert was pope. - -Bernward's successor, Godehard, continued the good work. One of his -letters closes with a quick appeal for books: "Mittite nobis librum -Horatii et epistolas Tullii."[395] Belonging to the same generation was -Froumundus (fl. cir. 1040), a monk of Tegernsee, where Godehard had been -abbot before becoming bishop of Hildesheim. He was a sturdy German lover -of the classics--very German. At one time he writes for a copy of Horace, -apparently to complete his own, and at another for a copy of Statius; -other letters refer to Juvenal and Persius.[396] His ardour for study is -as apparent as the fact that he is learning a literature to which he was -not born. His turgid hexameters sweat with effort to master the foreign -language and metre. People would have made a priest of him; not he: - - "Cogere me certant, fatear, quod sim sapiens vir," - -and a good grin seems to escape him: - - "Discere decrevi libros, aliosque docere: - - from such work no difficulty shall repel me; be it my reward to be - co-operator (_synergus_) with what almighty God grants to flourish in - this time of Christ, or in the time of yore."[397] - -The spirit is grand, the literary result awful. With diligence, the -studious _élite_ of Germany applied themselves to Latin letters. And in -the course of time tremendous scholars were to rise among them. But the -Latin culture remained a thing of study; its foreign tongue was never as -their own; and in the eleventh century, at least, they used it with a -painful effort that is apparent in their writings and the Germanisms -abounding in them. There may come one like Lambert of Hersfeld, the famous -annalist of the Hildebrandine epoch, who with exceptional gifts gains a -good mastery of Latin, and writes with a conscious approach to -quasi-classical correctness. The place of his birth and the sources of his -education are unknown. He was thirty years old, and doubtless had obtained -his excellent training in Latin, when he took the cowl in the cloister of -Hersfeld in 1058. But the next year he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and -afterwards other journeys. He wrote his _Annals_[398] in his later years, -laying down his pen in 1077, when he had brought the Emperor to Canossa. -His was a practised hand, and his style the evident result of much study -of the classics. His work remains the best piece of Latin from an -eleventh-century German. - -Among German scholars of the period, one can find no more charming -creature than Hermann Contractus, the lame or paralytic. His father, a -Suabian count, brought the little cripple to the convent of Reichenau. It -was in the year 1020. Hermann was seven years old. There he studied and -taught, and loved his fellows, till his death thirty-four years later. His -mind was as strong as his body was weak. He could not rise from the -movable seat on which his attendant placed him, and could scarcely sit up. -He enunciated with difficulty; his words were scarcely intelligible. But -his learning was encyclopaedic, his sympathies were broad: "Homo revera -sine querela nihil humani a se alienum putavit," says a loving pupil who -sketched his life. Evil was foreign to his nature. Affectionate, cheerful, -happy, his sweet and engaging personality drew all men's love, while his -learning attracted pupils from afar. - - "At length, after he had been labouring for ten days in a grievous - pleurisy, God's mercy saw fit to free his holy soul from prison. I who - was his familiar above the rest," says the biographer, "came to his - couch at dawn of day, and asked him whether he was not feeling a - little better. 'Do not ask me,' he replied, 'but rather listen to what - I have to tell you. I shall die very soon and shall not recover: so to - thee and all my friends I commend my sinful soul. This whole night I - have been rapt in ecstasy. With such complete memory as we have for - the Lord's Prayer, I seemed to be reading over and over Cicero's - _Hortensius_, and likewise to be scanning the substance and very - written pages of what I intended to write Concerning the Vices--just - as if I had it already written. I am so stirred and lifted by this - reading, that the earth and all pertaining to it and this mortal life - are despicable and tedious; while the future everlasting world and the - eternal life have become such an unspeakable desire and joy, that all - these transitory circumstances are inane--nothing at all. It wearies - me to live.'"[399] - -Was not this a scholar's vision? The German dwarf reads and cares for the -_Hortensius_ even as Augustine, from whose _Confessions_ doubtless came -the recommendation of this classic. The barbarous Latin of the _Vita_ is -so uncouth and unformed as to convey no certain grammatical meaning. One -can only sense it. The biographer cannot write Latin correctly, nor write -it glibly and ungrammatically, like a man born to a Latinesque speech. -Hermann's own Latin is but little better. It approaches neither fluency -nor style. But the scholar ardour was his, and his works remain--a long -chronicle, a treatise on the Astrolabe, and one on Music; also, perhaps, a -poem in leonine elegiacs, "The Dispute of the Sheep and the Flax," which -goes on for several hundred lines till one comes to a welcome _caetera -desunt_.[400] - -Thus, with a heavy-footed Teutonic diligence, the Germans studied the -Trivium and Quadrivium. They sweated at Latin grammar, reading also the -literature or the stock passages. Their ignorance of natural science was -no denser than that of peoples west of the Rhine or south of the Alps. -Many of them went to learn at Chartres or Paris. Within the mapped-out -scheme of knowledge, there was too much for them to master to admit of -their devising new provinces of study. They could not but continue for -many decades translators of the foreign matter into their German tongue or -German selves. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries they will be -translators of the French and Provençal literatures. - -Even before the eleventh century Germans were at work at Logic--one -recalls Gerbert's opponent Otric;[401] and some of them were engaged with -dialectic and philosophy. William, Abbot of Hirschau, crudely anticipated -Anselm in attempting a syllogistic proof of God's existence.[402] He died -in 1091, and once had been a monk in the convent of St. Emmeram at -Ratisbon in Bavaria, where he may have known a certain monk named Othloh, -who has left a unique disclosure of himself. One is sufficiently informed -as to what the Germans and other people studied in the eleventh century; -but this man has revealed the spiritual conflict out of which he hardly -brought his soul's peace. - - -II - -Nothing is so fascinating in the life of a holy man as the struggle and -crisis through which his convictions are established and his peace -attained. How diverse has been this strife--with Buddha, with Augustine, -with Luther, or Ignatius Loyola. Its heroes fall into two companies: in -one of them the man attains through his own thought and resolution; in the -other he casts himself on God, and it may be that devils and angels carry -on the fight, of which his soul is the battle-ground and prize. -Nevertheless, the man himself holds the scales of victory; the choice is -his, and it is he who at last goes over to the devil or accepts the grace -of God. This conflict, in which God is felt to aid, is still for men; only -its forms and setting change. Therefore the struggle and the tears, -through which souls have won their wisdom and their peace, never cease to -move us. Othloh, like many another mediaeval scholar, was disturbed over -the sinful pleasure derived from Tully and Virgil, Maro and Lucan. But his -soul's chief turmoil came from the doubts that sprang from his human -sympathies and from moral grounds--can the Bible be true and God -omnipotent when sin and misery abound? The struggle through which he -became assured was the supreme experience of his life: it fixed his -thoughts; his writings were its fruit; they reflect the struggle and the -struggler, and present a psychological tableau of a mediaeval German soul. - -He was born in the bishopric of Freising in Bavaria not long after the -year 1000, and spent his youth in the monastic schools of Tegernsee and -Hersfeld. His scholarship was made evident to men about him through his -skill in copying texts in a beautiful script, ornamented with -illuminations. In the year 1032 he took the monk's vows in the monastery -of St. Emmeram at Ratisbon, which had been founded long before in honour -of this sainted Frankish missionary bishop, who had met a martyr's death -in Bavaria in the late Merovingian period. The annals of the monastery are -extant. When the Ottos were emperors, grammatical and theological studies -flourished there, especially under a certain capable Wolfgang, who died -as Bishop of Ratisbon in 994, and whose life Othloh wrote. The latter, on -becoming a monk, received charge of the monastery school, which he -continued to direct for thirty years.[403] Then he left, because some of -the young monks had turned the Abbot against him; but after some years -spent mainly at the monastery of Fulda, he returned to St Emmeram's in -1063, where he died an old man ten or fifteen years later. From his youth -he had been subject to illness, even to fits of swooning, and, writing in -the evening of his days, he speaks of his many bodily infirmities. - -As Othloh looked back over his life, his soul's crisis seemed to have been -reached soon after he was made a monk. The wisdom brought through it came -as the answer to those questionings which made up the diabolic side of -that great experience. Othloh describes it in his _Book concerning the -Temptations of a certain Monk_. - - "There was a sinful clerk, who, having often been corrected by the - Lord, at length turned to monastic life. In the monastery where he was - made a monk he found many sorts of men, some of whom were given over - to the reading of secular works, while some read Holy Scripture. He - resolved to imitate the latter. The more earnest he was in this, the - more was he molested by temptations of the devil; but committing - himself to the grace of God, he persevered; and when, after a long - while, he was delivered, and thought over what he had suffered, it - seemed that others might be edified by his temptations, as well as by - the passages of Holy Scripture which had come to him through divine - inspiration. So he began to write as follows: I wish to tell the - delusions of Satan which I endured sleeping and waking. His deceits - first confounded me with doubt as to whether I was not rash in taking - the vow perilous of the monastic life, without consulting parents or - friends, when Scripture bids us 'do all things with counsel.' Diabolic - illusion, as if sympathizing and counselling with me, brought these - and like thoughts. When, the grace of God resisting him, the Tempter - failed to have his way with me here, he tried to make me despair - because of my many sins. 'Do you think,' said he, 'that such a wretch - can expect mercy from God the Judge, when it is written, Scarcely - shall a righteous man be saved?' So he overwhelmed me, till I could do - nothing but weep, and tears were my bread day and night. I protest, - from my innermost heart, that save through the grace of God alone, no - one can overcome such delusions. - - "When the Weaver of wiles failed to cause me utterly to despair, he - tried with other arguments of guile to lead me to blaspheme the divine - justice, suggesting thoughts, as if condoling with my misery: 'O most - unhappy youth, whose grief no man deigns to consider--but men are not - to blame, for they do not know your trouble. God alone knows, and - since He can do all things, why does He not aid you in tribulation, - when for love of Him you have surrendered the world and now endure - this agony? Have done with impossible prayers and foolish grief. The - injustice of that Potentate will not permit all to perish.' These - delusions were connected with what I now wish to mention: Often I was - awakened by some imaginary signal, and would hasten to the oratory - before the time of morning prayer; also, and for a number of years, - though I slept at night as a man sound in body, when the hour came to - rise, my limbs were numb, and only with uncertain trembling step could - I reach the Church. - - "One delusion and temptation must be spoken of, which I hardly know - how to describe, as I never read or heard of anything like it. By the - stress of my many temptations I was driven--though by God's grace I - was never utterly torn from faith and hope of heavenly aid--to doubt - as to Holy Scripture and the essence of God himself. In the struggle - with the other temptations there was some respite, and a refuge of - hope remained. In this I knew no alleviation, and when formerly I had - been strengthened by the sacred book and had fought against the darts - of death with the arms of faith and hope, now, shut round with doubt - and mental blindness, I doubted whether there was truth in Holy - Scripture and whether God was omnipotent. This broke over me with such - violence as to leave me neither strength of body nor strength of mind, - and I could not see or hear. Then sometimes it was as if a voice was - whispering close to my ear: 'Why such vain labourings? Can you not, - most foolish of mortals, prove by your own experience that the - testimony of Scripture is without sense or reason? Do you not see that - what the divine book says is the reverse of what the lives and habits - of mankind approve? Those many thousands who neither know nor care to - know its doctrine, do you think they err?' Troubled, I would urge, as - if against some one questioning and objecting: 'How then is there such - agreement among all the divinely inspired writings when they speak of - God the Founder and of obedience to His commands?' Then words of this - kind would be suggested in reply: 'Fool, the Scriptures on which you - rely for knowledge of God and religion speak double words; for the men - who wrote them lived as men live now. You know how all men speak well - and piously, and act otherwise, as advantage or frailty prompts. From - which you may learn how the authors of the ancient writings wrote good - and religious sayings, and did not live accordingly. Understand then, - that all the books of the divine law were so written that they have an - outer surface of piety and virtue, but quite another inner meaning. - All of which is proved by Paul's saying, The letter killeth; the - spirit, that is the meaning, maketh to live. So you see how perilous - it is to follow the precepts of these books. Likewise should one think - concerning the essence of God. And besides, if there existed any - person or power of an omnipotent God there would not be this apparent - confusion in everything,--nor would you yourself have had all these - doubts which trouble you.'" - -The last diabolically insidious suggestion was just the one to bring -despair to the unaided reason seeking faith. Othloh's soul was passing -through the depths; but the path now ascends, and rapidly: - - "I was assaulted with an incredible number of these delusions, and so - strange and unheard of were they that I feared to speak of them to any - of the brothers. At last I threw myself upon the ground groaning in - bitterness, and, collecting the forces of my mind, I cried with my - lips and from my heart: 'O if thou art some one, Almighty, and if thou - art everywhere, as I have read so often in so many books, now, I pray, - show me whom thou art and what thou canst do, delivering me quickly - from these perils; I can bear this strife no more.' I did not have to - wait; the grace of God scattered the whole cloud of doubt, and such a - light of knowledge poured into my heart that I have never since had to - endure the darkness of deadly doubt. I began to understand what I had - scarcely perceived before. Then the grace of knowledge was so - increased that I could no longer hide it. I was urged by ineffable - impulse to undertake some work of gratitude for the glory of God, and - it seemed that this new ardour should be devoted to composition. So I - wrote what I have written concerning those diabolic delusions which - sprang from my sins, and then it seemed reasonable to tell of the - divine inspiration by which my mind was enabled to repel them; so that - he who reads these delusions may at the same time know the workings of - the divine aid, and not ascribe to me a victory which was never mine, - or, thinking that aid was lacking in my temptation, fear lest it fail - in his. I remember how often, especially on rising in the mornings, it - was as if there was some one rising with me and walking with me, who - mutely warned, or gently persuaded me to amend faults which it may be - only the day before I was ignorantly committing and deeming of no - consequence. - - "When surrounded by such inspirations I would enter the Church and bow - down in prayer--God knows that I do not lie--it seemed as if some one - besought me with like earnestness of prayer, saying: 'As that has been - granted which you asked of me, it will be precious to me if you will - obey my entreaties. Do you not continue in those vices which I have - often begged you to abandon? are you not proud and carnal, neglectful - of God's service, hating whom you should not hate, although the - Scripture says, Every one who hates his brother is a murderer? Where - now is the patience and constancy and that perfection which you - promised God, if He would deliver you from perils and make you a monk? - God has done as you asked, why do you delay to pay your vow? You have - asked Him to set you in a place where you would have a store of books. - Lo, you have been heard; you have books--from which you may learn of - life eternal. Why do you dissipate your mind in vanities and do not - hasten to take the desired gift? You have also asked to be tried, and - tried you have been in temptation, and delivered. Yet you are still a - man unfit for peace or war, since when the battle is far off you are - ready for it, and when it approaches you flee. Which of the holy - fathers that you have read of in the Old or New Testament was so dear - to me that I did not seek to try him in the furnace of tribulation? - Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness' sake. - Steep and narrow is the way; no one is crowned who has not striven - lawfully. When you have read these, and many more passages of - Scripture, why if you desire a crown of life eternal, do you wish to - suffer no tribulation for your sins?'" - -Then the Spirit of God, with many admonishings, shows Othloh how easy had -been his lot and how needful to him were his temptations, even the very -carnal temptations of the flesh, which Othloh suffered in common with all -monks. And he is bid to consider their reason and order: - - "First you were tried with lighter trials, that gradually you might - gain strength for the weightier; as you progressed you ascribed to - your own strength what was wrought by my grace. Wherefore I subjected - you to the final temptation, from which you will emerge the more - certain of my grace the less you trust in your merits." - -The "warring opposites" of Othloh's spiritual struggle were, on the one -side, evil thoughts and delusions from the devil, and, on the other, the -strength and enlightenment imparted by the grace of God. The nearer the -crisis comes, the clearer are the devil's whisperings and the warnings of -the instructing voice. Othloh's part in it was his choice and acceptance -of the divine counsellor. This conflict never faded from his mind. He has -much to say of the visions[404] in which parts of his enlightenment had -come. Once reading Lucan in the monastery, he swooned, and in his swoon -was beaten with many stripes by a man of terrible and threatening -countenance. By this he was led to abandon profane reading and other -worldly vanities. These visionary floggings left him feeble and ill in -body. They were the approaches to his great spiritual conflict. His -"fourth vision" is in and of the crisis. This monk, immersed in spiritual -struggles, had also his opinions regarding the government of the -monastery, and for a time refused obedience to the abbot's irregular -rulings, and spoke harshly of him: - - "For this I did penance before the abbot but not before God, against - whom I had greatly sinned; and after a few days I fell sick. This - sickness was from God, since I have always begged of His mercy, that - for any sin committed I might suffer sickness or tribulation, and so - it has come to me. On this occasion, when weakness had for some days - kept me in the infirmary, one evening as it was growing dark I thought - I should feel better if I rose and sat by my cot. Immediately the - house appeared to be filled with flame and smoke. Horror-stricken, my - wonted trust in God all scattered, I started, tottering, towards the - cot of the lay brother in charge, but, ashamed, I turned back and went - to the cot of a brother who was sick; he was asleep. Then I sank - exhausted on my cot, thinking how to escape the horror of that vision - of smoke. I had no doubt that the smoke was the work of evil spirits, - who, from its midst, would try to torment me. As I gradually saw that - it was not physical, but of the spirit, and that there was no one to - help me, as all were asleep, I began to sing certain psalms, and, - singing, went out and entered the nearest church, of St. Gallus, and - fell down before the altar. At once, for my sins, strength of mind and - body left me, and I perceived that my lips were held together by evil - spirits, so that I could not move them, to sing a psalm. I tried till - I was weary to open them with my hands. - - "Leaving that church, crawling rather than walking I gained the great - church of St. Emmeram, where I hoped for some alleviation of my agony. - But it was as before; I could barely utter a few words of prayer. So I - painfully made my way back to my bed, hoping, from sheer weariness, to - get some sleep. But none came, and, turn as I would, still I saw the - vision of smoke. Suddenly--was I asleep or awake?--I seemed to be in a - field well known to me, surrounded by a crowd of demons mocking me - with shrieks of laughter. The louder they laughed, the sadder I was, - seeing them gathered to destroy me. When they saw that I would not - laugh, they became enraged, crying, 'So! you won't laugh and be merry - with us! Since you choose melancholy you shall have enough.' Then - flying about me, with blows from all sides, they whirled me round and - round with them over vast spaces of earth, till I thought to die. - Suffering unspeakably, I was at length set down on the top of a peak - which scarcely held me; no eye could fathom its abyss. Vainly I looked - for a descent, and the demons kept flying about me, saying: 'Where now - is your hope in God! And where is that God of yours! Don't you know - that neither God is, as men say, nor is there any power in Him which - can prevail against us? One proof of this is that you have no help, - and there is no one who can deliver you from our hands. Choose now; - for unless you join with us you shall be cast into the abyss.' In this - strait, scarcely consenting or resisting, I faintly remembered that I - had once believed and read that God was everywhere, and so I looked - around to see whether He would not send some aid. Now when the demons - kept insisting that I should choose, and when I was well-nigh put to - it to promise what they wished, a man suddenly appeared, and, standing - by me, said: 'Do not do it; all that these cheats say is false. Abide - firm in that faith which you had in God. He knows all that you suffer, - and permits it for your good.' Then he vanished, and the demons - returned, flying about me, and saying: 'Miserable man, would you trust - one who came to deceive you? Why, he dared not wait till we came! Come - now, yield yourself to our power.' - - "Uttering these words with fury, they snatched me up, and whirled me, - sorely beaten, across plains and deserts, over heights and precipices, - and set me on a yet more dreadful peak, hurling at me abuse and - threats, to make me do their will. And, as before, I was near - succumbing, and was looking around for some aid from God, when that - same man again stood near, and heartened me. 'Do not yield; let your - heart be comforted against its besiegers.' And I replied: 'Lord, I can - no longer bear these perils. Stay with me, and aid, lest when you go - away they torment me still more grievously.' To which he said: 'Their - threats cannot prevail so long as you persevere in faith and hope in - the Lord. Be comforted; the sharper the strife, the quicker will it - end. If with constancy you wage the Lord's battles, you shall have - eternal rewards in the future, and in this world you shall be famous.' - - "Then he vanished the second time, and the demons, who dared do - nothing in his presence, raged and mocked more savagely, and kept me - in anguish, until, the divine grace effecting it, the convent bell - rang for early prayer. I heard it as I lay in bed, and gradually - gaining my senses, I was conscious that I was living, and I no longer - saw the vision of smoke. With gratitude I remembered what the man in - my vision told me that my trial would soon be over. After this, though - for many days I lay sick in body and soul, my spiritual temptations - began to lessen; and I have learned that without the Grace of God I - am, and always shall be, a thing of naught." - -The struggle through which faith and peace came to Othloh became the -fountain-head of his wisdom; it fixed the point of view from which he -judged life, and set the categories in which he ordered his knowledge; it -directed his thoughts and imparted purpose and unity to his writings. His -gratitude to God incited him to write in order that others might share in -the light and wisdom which God's grace had granted him; and his writings -chiefly enlarge upon those questions which the victory in his spiritual -conflict had solved. I will refrain from drawing further from them, -although they seem to me the most interesting works of a pious and -doctrinal nature emanating from any German of this still crude and -inchoate intellectual period.[405] - - -III - -From the point of view of the development of mediaeval intellectual -interests in the eleventh century, England has little that is distinctive -to offer. The firm rule of Canute (1016-1035) brought some reinstatement -of order, after the times of struggle between Dane and Saxon. But his son, -Hardicanute, was a savage. The reign of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) -followed. It wears a halo because it was the end of the old order, which -henceforth was to be a memory. Then came the revolution of the Norman -Conquest. Letters did not thrive amid these storms. At the beginning of -the period, Dunstan is the sole name of note, as one who fostered letters -in the monasteries where his energies were bringing discipline. English -piety and learning looked then, as it had looked before and was for -centuries to look, to the Continent. And Dunstan promoted letters by -calling to his assistance Abbo of St. Fleury, of whom something has been -said.[406] - -In Dunstan's time Saxon men were still translating Scripture into their -tongue--paraphrasing it rather, with a change of spirit. Such translations -were needed in Anglo-Saxon England, as in Germany. But after the Conquest -the introduction of Norman-French tended to lessen at least the -consciousness of such a need. That language, as compared with Anglo-Saxon, -came so much nearer to Latin as to reduce the chasm between the learned -tongue and the vernacular. The Normans had (at least in speech) been -Gallicized, and yet had kept many Norse traits. England likewise took on a -Gallic veneering as Norman-French became the language of the Court and the -new nobility. But the people continued to speak English. The degree of -foreign influence upon their thought and manners may be gauged by the -proportion of foreign idiom penetrating the English language; and the fact -that English remained essentially and structurally English proves the same -for England racially. In spite of the introduction of foreign elements, -people and language endured and became more and more progressively -English. - -In the island before the Conquest, the round of studies had been the same -as on the Continent; and that event brought no change. The studies might -improve, but would have no novel source to draw upon. And in this period -of racial turmoil and revolution, it was unlikely that the Anglo-Saxon -temperament would present itself as clearly as aforetime in the Saxon poem -of _Beowulf_ or the personality of the Saxon Alfred, or in the Saxon -_Genesis_ and the writings of Cynewulf.[407] In a word, the eleventh -century in England was specifically the period when the old traits were -becoming obscure, and no distinct modifications had been evolved in -correspondence with the new conditions. Consequently, for presentations of -the intellectual genius of the English people, one has to wait until the -next century, the time of John of Salisbury and other English minds. Even -such will be found receiving their training and their knowledge in France -and Italy. England was still intellectually as well as politically under -foreign domination. - - * * * * * - -In every way it has been borne in upon us how radically the conditions and -faculties of men differed in England, Germany, France, and Italy in the -eleventh century. Very different were their intellectual qualities, and -different also was the measure of their attainment to a palpable mediaeval -character, which in Italy was not that of the ancient Latins, in France -was not that of the Gallic provincials, and in England and Germany was not -altogether that of the original Celtic and Teutonic stocks. Neither in the -eleventh century nor afterwards was there an obliteration of race traits; -yet the mediaeval modification tended constantly to evoke a general -uniformity of intellectual interest and accepted view. - -There exists a certain ancient _Chronicon Venetum_ written by a Venetian -diplomat and man of affairs called John the Deacon, who died apparently -soon after 1008.[408] He was the chaplain of the Doge, Peter Urseolus, and -the doge's ambassador to the emperors Otto III. and Henry II. The earlier -parts of his _Chronicon_ were taken from Paulus Diaconus and others; the -later are his own, and form a facile narrative, which makes no pretence to -philosophic insight and has nothing to say either of miracles or God's -Christian providence. Its interests are quite secular. John writes his -Latin, glib, clear, and unclassical, just as he might talk his Venetian -speech, his _vulgaris eloquentia_. There is no effort, no struggle with -the medium of expression, but a pervasive quality of familiarity with his -story and with the language he tells it in. These characteristics, it is -safe to say, are not to be found, to a like degree, in the work of any -contemporary writer north of the Alps. - -The man and his story, in fine, however mediocre they may be, have -arrived: they are not struggling or apparently tending anywhither. The -writing suggests no capacity in the writer as yet unreached, nor any -imperfect blending of disparate elements in his education. One should not -generalize too broadly from the qualities exemplified in this work; yet -they indicate that the people to which the writer belonged were possessed -of a certain entirety of development, in which the component elements of -culture and antecedent human growth and decadence were blended in accord. -This old _Chronicon_ affords an illustration of the fact that the -transition and early mediaeval centuries had brought nothing to Italy that -was new or foreign, nothing that was not in the blood, nothing to deeply -disturb the continuity of Italian culture and character which moved along -without break, whether in ascending or descending curves. - -Yet evidently the eleventh-century Italian is no longer a Latin of the -Empire. For one thing, he is more individualistic. Formerly the prodigious -power of Roman government united citizens and subject peoples, and -impressed a human uniformity upon them. The surplus energies of the Latin -race were then absorbed in the functions of the _Respublica_, or were at -least directed along common channels. That great unification had long been -broken; and the smaller units had reasserted themselves--the civic units -of town or district, and the individual units of human beings upon whom no -longer pressed the conforming influence of one great government. - -In imperial times cities formed the subordinate units of the _Respublica_; -the Roman, like the Greek civilization, was essentially urban. This -condition remained. The civilization of Italy in the eleventh century was -still urban, but was now more distinctly the civilization of small closely -compacted bodies, which were no longer united. For the most part, the -life, the thought, of Italy was in the towns; it remained predominantly -humanistic, taken up with men and their mortal affairs, their joys and -hates, and all that is developed by much daily intercourse with fellows. -Thus the intellect of Italy continued secular, interesting itself in -mortal life, and not so much occupied with theology and the life beyond -the grave. This is as true of the intellectual energies of the Roman -papacy as it is of the mental activities of the towns which served or -opposed it, according to their politics. - -On the other hand, the intense emotional nature of the Italians was apt to -be religious, and given to despair and tears and ecstasy; its love welled -up and flung itself around its object, without the mediating offices of -reason. If reflection came, it was love's ardent musing, rather than -religious ratiocination. One does not forget that the Italians who became -scholastic theologians or philosophers left Italy, and subjected -themselves to northern spiritual influences at Paris or elsewhere. Their -greatest were Anselm, Peter Lombard, Bonaventura, Thomas Aquinas. None of -these remained through life altogether Italian. - -Thus, with Italians, religion meant either the papal government and the -daily conventions of observance and minor mental habits, all very secular; -or it meant that which was a thing of ecstasy and not of -thought--generally speaking, of course. The mediaeval Italian (in the -eleventh century only to a slightly less degree than in the twelfth or -thirteenth) is, typically speaking, a man of urban human interests and -affairs, a politician, a trader, a doctor, a man of law or letters, an -artist, or a poet. If really religious, his religion is an emotion, and is -not occupied with dogma, nor interested in doctrinal correctness or -reform. Such a religious character may, according to individual temper, -result in a Romuald[409] or a Peter Damiani; its perfected ideal is -Francis of Assisi. - -Things were already different in the country now called France. No need to -repeat what has been said as to the lesser strength and somewhat broken -continuity of the antique there, as compared with Italy. Yet there was a -sufficient power of antique influence and descent to keep the language -Romanesque, and the forms of its literature partly set by antique -tradition. But the spirit was not Latin. Perhaps it had but seemed such -with the Gallic provincials. At all events, the incoming Franks and other -Germans brought a Teutonic infusion and reinspiration that forever kept -France from being or becoming a northern Italy. - -Neither was the spirit urban. To be sure, much of the energy of French -thought awoke and did its work in towns; and Paris was to become the -intellectual centre. But the stress of French life was not so surely in -the towns, nor men's minds so characteristically urban as in Italy, and by -no means so predominantly humanistic. Even in the eleventh century the -lofty range of French thought, of French intellectual interests, is -apparent; for it embraces the problems of philosophy and theology, and -does not find its boundary and limit in phenomenal or mortal life. Gerbert -is almost too universal an intellect to offer as a fair example. Yet all -that he cared for is more than represented by other men taken together; -for Gerbert did not fully represent the interests of religious thought in -France. His was the humanism and the thirst for all the round of knowledge -included in the Seven Arts. But he scarcely reached out beyond logic to -philosophy; and theology seems not to have troubled him. Both philosophy -and theology, however, made part of the intellectual interests of France; -for there was Berengar and Roscellinus, Gaunilo and St. Anselm, and the -wrangling of many disputatious, although overwhelmingly orthodox, councils -of French Churchmen. Paris also, with its great schools of theology and -philosophy, looms on the horizon. The intellectual matter is but inchoate, -yet universally germinating, in the eleventh century. - -Thus intellectual qualities of mediaeval France appear inceptively. The -French mediaeval temperament needs perhaps another century for its clear -development. Both as to temperament and intellectual interests, a line -will have to be drawn between the south and north; between the land of the -_langue d'oc_, the Roman law, the troubadour, and the easy, irreligious, -gay society which jumped the life to come; and the land of the various old -French dialects (among which that of the Isle de France will win to -dominance), the land of philosophy and theology, the land of Gothic -architecture and religion, the hearth of the crusades against the Saracen -or the Albigensian heretic; the land of the most distinctive mediaeval -thought and strongest intellectual development. - -In the Germany and the England of the eleventh century there is less of -interest from this point of view. England had scarcely become her -mediaeval self; the time was one of desperate struggle, or, at most, of -tumultuous settling down and shaking together. As for Germany, it was -surely German then, and not a medley of Saxon, Dane, and Norman-French. -The people were talking in their German tongues. German song and German -epos were already heard in forms which were not to be cast aside, but -retained and developed; of course the influence of the French poetry was -not yet. The Germans were still living their own sturdy and half-barbarous -life. Those who loved knowledge had turned with earnest purpose to the -Latin culture; they were studying Latin and logic, and, as we have said, -translating it into their German tongue or temperament. But the lessons -were not fully mastered--not yet transformed into German mediaeval -intellectual capacity. And in this respect, at least, the German will -become more entirely his Germanic mediaeval self in another century, when -he has more faculty of using the store of foreign knowledge in combination -with his strongly felt and honestly considered Christianity. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -THE GROWTH OF MEDIAEVAL EMOTION - - I. THE PATRISTIC CHART OF PASSION. - - II. EMOTIONALIZING OF LATIN CHRISTIANITY. - - -The characteristic passions of a period represent the emotionalized -thoughts of multitudes of men and women. Mediaeval emotional development -followed prevailing ideas, opinions, convictions, especially those of -mediaeval Christianity. Its most impressive phases conformed to the tenets -of the system which the Middle Ages had received from the Church Fathers, -and represented the complement of passion arising from the long acceptance -of the same. One may observe, first, the process of exclusion, inclusion, -and enhancement, through which the Fathers formed a certain synthesis of -emotion from the matter of their faith and the circumstances of their -environment; and, secondly, the further growth of emotion in the Middle -Ages. - - -I - -In the centuries immediately preceding and following the Christian era -there took place a remarkable growth of the pathetic or emotional element -in Greek and Roman literature. Yet during the same period Stoicism, the -most respected system of philosophy, kept its face as stone, and would not -recognize the ethical value of emotion in human life.[410] But the -emotional elements of paganism, which were stretching out their hands like -the shades by Acheron, were not to be restrained by philosophic -admonition, or Virgilian _Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando_. And -though the Stoic could not consent to Juvenal's avowal that the sense of -tears is the best part of us, Neo-Platonism soon was to uphold the -sublimated emotion of a vision transcending reason as the highest good for -man. Rational self-control was disintegrating in the Neo-Platonic -dialectic which pointed beyond reason to ecstasy. That ecstasy, however, -was to be super-sensual, and indeed came only to those who had long -suppressed all cravings of the flesh. This ascetic emotionalism of the -Neo-Platonic _summum bonum_ was strikingly analogous to the ideal of -Christian living pressing to domination in the patristic period. - -No need to say that the Gospel of Jesus was addressed to the heart as well -as to the mind; and for times to come the Saviour on the Cross and at its -foot the weeping Mother were to rouse floods of tears over human sin, -which caused the divine sacrifice. The words _Jesus wept_ heralded a new -dispensation under which the heart should quicken and the mind should -guide through reaches of humanity unknown to paganism. This Christian -expansion of the spirit did not, however, address itself to human -relationships, but uplifted itself to God, its upward impulse spurning -mortal loves. In its mortal bearings the Christian spirit was more ascetic -than Neo-Platonism, and its _élan_ of emotion might have been as -sublimated in quality as the Neo-Platonic, but for the greater reality of -love and terror in the God toward whom it yearned with tears of -contrition, love, and fear. - -Another strain very different from Neo-Platonism contributed to the sum of -Christian emotion. This was Judaism, which recently had shown the fury of -its energy in defence of Jerusalem against the legions of Titus. -Christians imbibed its force of feeling from the books of the Old -Testament. The passion of those writings was not as the humanly directed -passions of the Greeks. Israel's desire and aversion, her scorn and -hatred, her devotion and her love, hung on Jehovah. "Do I not hate them, O -Jehovah, that hate thee?" This cry of the Psalmist is echoed in Elijah's -"Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape." Jewish wrath was -a righteous intolerance, which would neither endure idolatrous Gentiles -nor suffer idolaters in Israel. Moses is enraged by the sight of the -people dancing before the golden calf; and Isaiah's scorn hisses over -those daughters of Israel who have turned from Jehovah's ways of decorum: -"Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth -necks, and wanton eyes, mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with -their feet; therefore Jehovah will smite with a scab the crown of the head -of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts." - -Did a like scorn and anger find harbourage in Him who likened the -Pharisees to whitened sepulchres, and with a scourge of small cords drove -the money-changers from His Father's house? At all events a kindred hate -found an enduring home in the religion of Tertullian and Athanasius, and -in the great Church that persecuted the Montanists at Augustine's -entreaty, and thereafter poured its fury upon Jew and Saracen and heretic -for a thousand years. - -Jehovah was also a great heart of love, loving His people along the ways -of every sweet relationship understood by man. "When Israel was a child, -then I loved him, and out of Egypt called my son hither." "Can a woman -forget her sucking child, so as not to yearn upon the son of her womb? -Yea, these may forget, yet will I not forget thee." Again, Jehovah is the -husband, and Israel the sinning wife whom He will not put away.[411] -Israel's responding love answers: "My soul waits on God--My heart and -flesh cry aloud to the living God--Like as the hart panteth for the -water-brooks"! Such passages throb obedience to Deuteronomy's great -command, which Jesus said was the sum of the Law and the Prophets. No need -to say that the Christian's love of God had its emotional antecedent in -Psalmist and Prophet. Jehovah's purifying wrath of love also passed over -to the Christian words, "As many as I love, I reprove and chasten." And -"the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom," found its climax -in the Christian terror of the Judgment Day. - -The Old Testament has its instances of human love: Isaac and Rebekah, -Jacob and Rachel. There is Jacob's love of Joseph and Benjamin, and -Joseph's love, which yearned upon his brethren who had sold him to the -Egyptians. The most loving man of all is David, with his love of Jonathan, -"wonderful and passing the love of women," unforgotten in the king's old -age, when he asks, "Is there yet any living of the house of Saul, that I -may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" To a later time belongs the -Song of Songs. Beautiful, orientally sensuous, too glowing perhaps for -western taste, is this utterance of unchecked passion. And its fortune has -been the most wonderful that ever fell to a love poem. It became the -epithalamion of the Christian soul married to Christ, an epithalamion -which was to be enlarged with passionate thought by doctor, monk, and -saint, through the Christian centuries. The first to construe it as the -bridal of the Soul was one who, by an act more irrevocable than a monastic -vow, put from him mortal bridals--Origen, the greatest thinker of the -Eastern Church. Thus the passion of the Hebrew woman for the lover that -was to her as a bundle of myrrh lying between her breasts, was lifted, -still full of desire, to the love of the God-man, by those of sterile -flesh and fruitful souls. - -Christianity was not eclecticism, which, for lack of principles of its -own, borrows whatever may seem good. But it made a synthetic adoption of -what could be included under the dominance of its own motives, that is, -could be made to accord with its criterion of Salvation. What sort of -synthesis could it make of the passions and emotions of the -Graeco-Roman-Oriental-Jewish world? That which was achieved by the close -of the patristic period, and was to be passionately approved by the Middle -Ages, proceeded partly in the way of exclusion, and partly by adding a -quality of boundlessness to the emotional elements admitted. - -With the first conversions to the new religion, arose the problem: What -human feelings, what loves and interests of this world, shall the believer -recognize as according with his faith, and as offering no obstacle to the -love of God and the attainment of eternal life? A practical answer was -given by the growth of an indeterminate asceticism within the Christian -communities, which in the fourth century went forth with power, and -peopled the desert with anchorites and monks. - -Ascetic suggestions came from many sources to the early Christians. -Stoicism was ascetic in tendency; Neo-Platonism ascetic in principle, -holding that the soul should be purged from contamination with things of -sense. Throughout Egypt asceticism was rife in circles interested in the -conflict of Set and his evil host with Horus seeking vengeance for Osiris -slain; and we know that some of the earliest Christian hermits had been -recluses devoted to the cult of Serapis. In Syria dwelt communities of -Jewish Essenes, living continently like monks. Nevertheless, whatever may -have been the effects of such examples, monasticism developed from within -Christianity, and was not the fruit of influences from without. - -The Lord had said, "My kingdom is not of this world"; and soon enough -there came antagonism between the early Churches and the Roman Empire. The -Church was in a state of conflict. It behoved the Christian to keep his -loins girded: why should he hamper himself with ephemeral domestic ties, -when the coming of the Lord was at hand? Moreover, the Christian warfare -to the death was not merely with political tyranny, but against fleshly -lusts. Such convictions, in men and women desirous of purifying the soul -from the cravings of sense, might bring the thought that even lawful -marriage was not as holy as the virgin state. The Christian's ascetic -abnegation had as a further motive the love of Christ and the desire to -help on His kingdom and attain to it, the motive of sacrifice for the sake -of the Kingdom of Heaven; for which one man must be burned, another must -give up his goods, and a third renounce his heart's love. Ascetic acts are -also a natural accompaniment of penitence: the sinner, with fear of hell -before him, seeks to undergo temporal in order to avoid eternal pain; or, -better, stung by love of the Crucified, his heart cries for flagellation. -When St. Martin came to die he would lie only upon ashes: "I have sinned -if I leave you a different example."[412] A similar strain of religious -conviction is rendered in Jerome's "You are too pleasure-loving, brother, -if you wish to rejoice in this world and hereafter to reign with -Christ."[413] - -So currents of ascetic living early began in Christian circles; and before -long the difficulty of leading lives of self-mortification within the -community was manifest. It was easier to withdraw: ascetics must become -anchorites, "they who have withdrawn." Here was reason why the movement -should betake itself to the desert. But the solitary life is so difficult, -that association for mutual aid will soon ensue; and then regulations will -be needed for these newly-formed ascetic groups. So anchorites tended to -become coenobites; monasticism has begun. - -In both its hermit and coenobitic phases, monasticism began in the East, -in Syria and the Thebaid. It was accepted by the Latin West, and there -became impressed with Roman qualities of order, regularity, and obedience. -The precepts of the eastern monks were collected and arranged by Cassian, -a native of Gaul, in his _Institutes_ and _Conlocations_ between the years -419 and 428. And about a century afterwards, western monasticism received -its typeform in the _Regula_ of St. Benedict of Nursia (d. 543), which was -approved by the authority of Gregory the Great (d. 604).[414] - -By the close of the patristic period, monasticism had become the most -highly applauded practical interpretation of Christianity. Its precepts -represented the requirements of the Christian criterion of Salvation -applied to earthly life. Like all great systems which have widely -prevailed and long endured, it was not negation, but substitution. If it -condemned usual modes of pleasure, this was because of their -incompatibility with the life it inculcated. The _Regula_ of Benedict set -forth a manner of life replete with positive demands. Its purpose was to -prescribe for those who had taken monastic vows that way of living, that -daily round of occupation, that constant mode of thought and temper, which -should make a perfected Christian, that is, a perfect monk. And so broad -and spiritually interwoven were its precepts that one of them could hardly -be obeyed without fulfilling all. Read, for example, the beautiful seventh -chapter upon the twelve grades of humility, and it will become evident -that whoever achieves this virtue will gain all the rest: he will always -have the fear of God before his eyes, the terror of hell and the hope of -heaven; he will cut off the desires of the flesh; he will do, not his own -will, but the Lord's; since Christ obeyed His Father unto death, he will -render absolute obedience to his superior, obeying readily and cheerfully -even when unjustly blamed; in confession he will conceal no evil thought; -he will deem himself vilest of all, and will do nothing save what the -_regula_ of the monastery or the example of the elders prescribes; he will -keep from laughter and from speech, except when questioned, and then he -will speak gently and humbly, and with gravity, in few words; he will -stand and walk with inclined head and looks bent on the ground, feeling -himself unworthy to lift up his eyes to heaven: through these stairs of -humility he will reach that perfect love of God which banishes fear, and -will no longer need the fear of hell, as he will do right from habit and -through the love of Christ. - -Having thus pointed out the way of righteousness, Benedict's _regula_ -gives minute precepts for the monk's conduct and occupation through each -hour of the day and night. No time, no circumstance shall be left -unguarded, or unoccupied with those acts which lead to God. Wise was this -great prototypal _regula_ in that its abundance of positive precepts kept -the monk busy with righteousness, so that he might have no leisure for -sin. Its prohibitions are comparatively unemphatic, and the monk is guided -along the paths of righteousness rather than forbidden to go astray. - -Thus monk and nun were consecrated to a calling which should contain their -whole desire, as it certainly demanded their whole strength. Was the monk -a celibate because carnal marriage was denied him? Rather he was wedded to -Christ. If this is allegory, it is also close to literal truth. "Thou -shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and -with all thy mind." Is not love the better part of marriage? And how if -the Lord thy God has been a gracious loving figure here on earth, who -loved thee humanly as well as divinely, and died for thee at last? Will -not the complete love required by the commandment become very ardent, very -heart-filling? Shalt thou not always yearn to see Him, fall at His feet, -confess thy unworthiness, and touch His garment? Is there any end to the -compass of thy loving Him, and musing upon Him, and dwelling in His -presence? Dost thou not live with Him in a closer communion than the -sunderances of mortality permit among men, or between men and women? And -if it be thou art a nun, art thou not as close to Him in tears and washing -of those blessed feet, as ever was that other woman, who had been a -sinner? Thou shalt keep thy virginity for Him as for a bridegroom.[415] - -But the great commandment to love the Lord thy God has an adjunct--"and -thy neighbour as thyself." _As thyself_--how does the monk love himself? -why, unto Christ and his own salvation. He does not love his sinful -pleasures, nor those matters of earth which might not be sins, had he not -realized how they conflicted with his scheme of life. His love for a -fellow could not recognize those pleasures which he himself had cast -away. He must love his fellow, like himself, unto the saving, not the -undoing, of him--be his true lover, not his enemy. This vital principle of -Christian love had to recast pagan passion and direct the affections to an -immortal goal. Under it these reached a new absoluteness. The Christian -lover should always be ready to give his life for his friend's salvation, -as for his own. So love's offices gained enlargement and an infinity of -new relationship, because directed toward eternal life.[416] - -Unquestionably in the monk's eyes passionate love between the sexes was -mainly lust. Within the bonds of marriage it was not mortal sin; but the -virgin state was the best. Here, as we shall see, life was to claim its -own and free its currents. Monasticism did not stop the human race, or -keep men from loving women. Such love would assert itself; and ardent -natures who felt its power were to find in themselves a love and passion -somewhat novel, somewhat raised, somewhat enlarged. In the end the love -between man and woman drew new inspiration and energy from the enhancement -of all the rest of love, which came with Christianity. - -Evidently the great office of Christian love in a heathen period was to -convert idolaters to the Faith. So it had been from the days of Paul. -Rapidly Christianity spread through all parts of the Roman Empire. Then -the Faith pressed beyond those crumbling boundaries into the barbarian -world. Hereupon, with Gregory the Great and his successors, it became -clear that the great pope is always a missionary pope, sending out such -Christian embassies as Gregory sent to the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. - -If conversion was a chief office of Christian love, the great object of -Christian wrath was unbelief. That existed within and without Christendom: -within in forms of heresy, without in the practices of heathenism. -Christian wrath was moved by whatever opposed the true faith. The -Christian should discriminate: hate the sin, and love the sinner unto his -betterment. But it was so easy, so human, from hating the sin to hate the -obdurate sinner who could not be saved and could but harm the Church. One -need not recount how the disputes of the Athanasian time regarding the -nature of Christ came to express themselves in curses; nor how the -Christian sword began its slaughter of heretic and heathen. Persecution -seemed justified in reason; it was very logical; broad reasons of -Christian statecraft seemed to make for it; and often a righteous zeal -wielded the weapon. It had moreover its apparent sanction in Jehovah's -destroying wrath against idolaters within and without the tribes of -Israel. - -So the two opposites of love and wrath laid aside somewhat of grossness, -and gained new height and compass in the Christian soul. A like change -came over other emotions. As life lifted itself to further heights of -holiness, and hitherto unseen depths of evil yawned, there came a new -power of pity and novel revulsions of aversion. The pagan pity for life's -mortality, which filled Virgil's heart, could not but take on change. -There was no more mortality, but eternal joy and pain. Souls which had so -unavailingly stretched forth their hands to fate, had now been given wings -of faith. Yet death gained blacker terror from the Christian Hell, the -newly-assured alternative of the Christian Heaven. The great Christian -pity did not touch the mortal ebbing of the breath; that should be a -triumphant birth. But an enormous and terror-stricken pity was evoked by -sin, and the thought of the immortal soul hanging over an eternal hell. -And since all human actions were connected with the man's eternal lot, -they became invested with a new import. So the Christian's compassion -would deepen, his sympathy become more intense, although no longer stirred -by everything that had moved his pagan self. With him fear was raised to a -new intensity by other terrors than had driven the blood from pagan -cheeks. His sense of joy was deepened also; for a joy hitherto unrealized -came from his new love of God and the God-man, from the assurance of his -salvation, and the thought of loved human relationships never to end. So -Christian joy might have an absoluteness which it never had under the -pause-giving mortal limitations of paganism. - -Within the compass of pagan joyfulness there had been no deeper passion -than the love of beauty. That had its sensuous phases, and its far blue -heights, where Plato saw the beauty of order, justice, and proportion. For -the Christian, the beauty of the flesh became a veil through which he -looked for the beauty of the soul. If a face testified to the beauty of -holiness within, it was fair. Better the pale, drawn visages of monk and -nun than the red lip too quickly smiling. Feeling as well as thought -should be adjusted to these sentiments. Yet Plato's realization of -intellectual beauty found home within the Christian thoughts of God and -holiness, indeed helped to construct them. This is clear with the Fathers. -In the East, Gregory of Nyssa's passion for divine beauty was Platonism -set in Christian phrase; in the West, Augustine reached his thoughts of -beauty through considerations which came to him from Greek -philosophy.[417] "Love is of the beautiful," said Plato; "Do we love ought -else?" says Augustine. Both men shape their thoughts of beauty after their -best ideals of perfection. Augustine's burn upward to the beauty of a God -as loving as He is omnipotent; Plato's had been more abstract. Augustine's -Platonism shows the highest Greek thoughts of beauty and goodness changed -into attributes of a personal God, who could be loved because He was -loving. - -In these ways the loftier Christian souls suppressed, or transformed and -greatened, the emotions of their natures. It was thus with those possessed -of a faith that brought the whole of life within its dominance. There were -many such. Yet the multitude of Christians ranged downward from such great -obsession, through all stages of human half-heartedness and frailty, to -the state of those whose Christianity was but a name, or but a magic rite. -Always preponderant in numbers, and often in influence and power, these -nominal and fetichistic Christians would keep alive the loves and hates, -the interests and tastes, the approvals and disapprovals, of paganism or -barbaric heathenism, as the case might be. - - -II - -The patristic synthesis of emotion passed on entire and authoritative to -the Middle Ages. It exercised enormous influence (usually in the way of -compulsion, but sometimes in the way of repulsion) upon emotional -phenomena both of a religious and a secular nature. Yet it was merely the -foundation, or the first stage, of mediaeval emotional development. The -subsequent stages were dependent on the conditions under which mediaeval -attitudes of mind arose, very dependent upon the maturing and blending of -the native traits of inchoate mediaeval peoples and upon their -appropriation of Latin Christianity and the antique education. - -The northern races had been introduced to a novel religion and to modes of -thought considerably above them. Their old conceptions were discredited, -their feelings somewhat distraught. Emotionally as well as intellectually -they were confused. Turbid feelings, arising from ideas not fully -mastered, had to clarify and adjust themselves. From the sixth to the -eleventh century the crude mediaeval stocks, tangled but not blended, -strange to the religion and culture which held their destinies, were not -possessed of clear and dominant emotions that could create their own forms -of expression. They could not think and feel as they would when their new -acquirements had mellowed into faculty and temperament, and unities of -character had once more emerged. - -Christianity and Latin culture were operative everywhere, and everywhere -tended to produce a uniform development. Yet the peoples affected by these -common influences were kept unlike each other through varieties of -environment and a diversity of racial traits which still showed clearly as -the centuries passed. In consequence, the emotional development of these -different peoples remained marked by racial characteristics, while also -becoming mediaeval under the action of common influences. It proceeded in -two parallel and partially mingling streams: the one of the religious -life, the other of earth's desires. They may be observed in turn. - -Augustine represents the sum of doctrine and emotion contained in the -Latin Christianity of the fifth century. However imperfectly others might -comprehend his thought or feel the power of his grandly reasoned love of -God, he established this love for time to come as the centre and the bound -of Christian righteousness: "Virtus non est nisi diligere quod diligendum -est."[418] He drew within this principle the array of dogma and precept -constituting Latin Christianity. On the other hand, the practical -embodiment of the patristic synthesis of human interests and emotions was -monasticism, with its lines set by the Rule of Benedict. - -Pope Gregory the Great[419] refashioned Augustine's teachings, and placed -the seal of his approval upon Benedictine monasticism as the perfect way -of Christian living. His mind was darkened with the new ignorance and -intellectual debasement which had come in the century and a half -separating him from Augustine; and his soul was filled with the fantastic -terrors which were to constitute so large a part of the religion of the -Middle Ages. Devil lore, relic worship, miracles, permeate his -consciousness of life. The soul's ceaseless business is so to keep itself -that it may at last escape the sentence of the awful Judge. Love and -terror struggle fearfully in Gregory. Christ's death had shown God's love; -and yet the Dies Irae impends. No delict is wiped out without penitence -and punishment, in this life or afterwards--let it be in Purgatory and not -in Hell! - -The centuries following Gregory's death rearranged the contents of Latin -Christianity, including Gregory's teachings, to suit their own -intellectual capacities. This (Carolingian) period of rearrangement and -painful learning, as it was unoriginative intellectually, was likewise -unproductive of Christian emotion. Occasionally from far-off converts, -who are not troubled overmuch with learning, come utterances of simple -feeling for the Faith (one thinks of Bede's story of Cædmon); and the -Teuton spirit, warlike as well as intimate and sentimental, enters the -vernacular interpretation of Christianity.[420] The Christian message -could not be understood at all without a stirring of the convert's nature; -some quickening of emotion would ensue. This did not imply a development -of emotion corresponding to the credences of Latin Christianity, to which -so many people had been newly introduced. That system had to be more -vitally appropriated before it could arouse the emotional counterpart of -its tenets, and run its course in modes of mediaeval religious passion. - -Accordingly one will look in vain among the Carolingian scholars for that -torrential feeling which becomes articulate in the eleventh century. They -were excerpting and rearranging patristic Christianity to suit their own -capacities. They could not use it as a basis for further thinking; nor, on -the other hand, had it become for them the ground of religious feeling. -Undoubtedly, Alcuin and Rabanus Maurus and Walafrid Strabo were pious -Christians, taking their Faith devoutly. But such religious emotion as was -theirs, was reflected rather than spontaneous. Alcuin, as well as Gregory -the Great, realizes the opposition between heaven and the _vana -delectibilia_[421] of this world. But Alcuin's words have lost the -horror-stricken quality of Gregory; neither do they carry the floods of -tears which like thoughts bring to Peter Damiani in the eleventh century. -Odo, Abbot of Cluny in the middle of the tenth century, has something of -Gregory's heavy horror; but even in him the gift of tears is not yet -loosed.[422] - -From the eleventh century onward, the gathering religious feeling pours -itself out in passionate utterances; and in this new emotionalizing of -Latin Christianity lay the chief religious office of the Middle Ages, -wherein they went far beyond the patristic authors of their faith. The -Fathers of the Latin Church from Tertullian to Gregory the Great had been -occupied with doctrine and ecclesiastical organization. This dual -achievement was the work of the constructive mind of the Latin West, -following, of course, what had been accomplished by the Greek Fathers. It -stood forth mainly as the creation of those human faculties which are -grouped under the name of intellect. Patristic Latin Christianity hardly -presents itself as the product of the whole man. Its principles were not -as yet fully humanized, made matter of the heart, and imbued with love and -fear and pity: this creature of the intellect had yet to receive a soul. - -It is true that Augustine had an enormous love of God. It was fervently -felt; it was powerfully reasoned; it impassioned his thought. Yet it did -not contain that tender love of the divinely human Christ which trembles -in the words of Bernard and makes the life of Francis a lyric poem. St. -Jerome also had even an hysterically emotional nature; Tertullian at the -beginning of the patristic period was no placid soul, nor Gregory the -Great at its close. But it does not follow that Latin Christianity was as -yet emotionalized, or that it had become a matter of the heart because it -was accepted by the mind. Its dogmas and constructive principles were -still too new; the energies of men had been spent in devising and -establishing them. Not yet had they been pondered over for generation -after generation, and hallowed through time; they had not yet become part -of human life, cherished in men's hopes, fondled in their affections, -frozen in their fears, trembled before and loved. - -What was absent from the formation of Latin Christianity constituted the -conditions of its gradual appropriation by the Middle Ages. It had come to -them from a greater past, sanctioned by the saints who now reigned above. -Through the centuries, men had come to understand it, and had made it -their own with power. Through generations its commands and promises, its -threats and rewards, had been feared and loved. Its persons, symbols, and -sacraments had become animate with human quality and were endeared with -intimate incident and association. Every one had been born to it, had been -suckled upon it, had adored it in childhood, youth, and age: it filled all -life; with hope or menace it overhung the closing hour. - -The Middle Ages have been given credit for dry theologies and sublimated -metaphysics. Less frequently have they been credited with their great -achievement, the imbuing of patristic Christianity with the human elements -of love and fear and pity. Yet their religious phenomena display this -emotionalizing of transmitted theological elements. Chapters which are to -follow will illustrate it from the lives of many saints of different -temperaments. As wide apart as life will be the phases of its -manifestations. The tears of Peter Damiani are not like the love of the -God-man in St. Bernard; St. Francis's love of Christ and love of man is -again different and new; and the mystic thought-shot visions of a -Hildegard of Bingen are as blue to crimson when compared with the -sense-passion for the Bridegroom of a Mechthild of Magdeburg. Even as -illustrated in these so different natures, it will still appear that the -emotional humanizing of Latin Christianity in the Middle Ages shaped -itself to the tenets of the system formulated by the Church Fathers. It -was an emotionalizing of that system, quite as much as a direct -appropriation of the Gospel-heart of Christ. Christ and the heart of -Christ were with the mediaeval saints; and yet the emotions as well as -thoughts through which they turned to Him received their form from -patristic Christianity. - -Religious art plainly tells the story. Let one call to mind the character -of its achievements in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries. That was -the period following the recognition of Christianity as the religion of -the Roman Empire. Everywhere basilicas arose.[423] Some of them may be -seen in Rome, in Ravenna, in Constantinople. They still contain many of -the mural mosaics which were their glory. Numberless artists laboured in -the composition of those stately church decorations. There was a need, -unprecedented and never afterwards paralleled, of creative composition. -Spacious surfaces were to be covered with prefigurative scenes from the -Old Testament, with scenes from the life of Christ on earth, and -representations of His apocalyptic triumph in the Resurrection. They had -all to be composed without aid from previous designs, for there were none. -The artists had need to be as constructive as the Church Fathers, who -through the same period were perfecting the formulation of the Faith. They -succeeded grandly, setting forth the subjects they were told to execute, -in noble, balanced, and decorative compositions, which presented the facts -and tenets of the Faith strikingly and correctly. Stylistically, these -great church mosaics belonged to antique art. What did they lack? Merely -the human, veritably tragic, qualities of love and fear and pity, which -had not yet come. Like the dogmatic system, this mosaic presentation was -too recently composed. Its subjects were not yet humanized through -centuries of contemplation, reverence, and love.[424] - -Many of the early compositions, repeated from century to century, in time -were humanized and transformed with feeling. But this was not in the -seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, when art was but a decadent and -barbarized survival of the antique Christian manner, nor in the tenth and -eleventh. One may note also that the mediaeval expression of Christian -emotion was beginning in religious literature. This came with fulness in -the twelfth century, and along with it the emotionalizing, the veritable -humanizing, of religious art began. Yet the artists of western Europe -still lacked the skill requisite for delicate execution. A marked advance -came in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. That was the great period -of Gothic architecture; and in the sculpture on the French cathedrals, -stone seems to live and feel. The prophetic figures from the Old -Testament, the scenes of man's redemption and final judgment, are -humanized with love and terror. Moreover, the sculptor surrounds them with -the myriad subsidiary detail of mortal life and changing beauty, showing -how closely they are knit to every human love and interest. - -In Italy a like story is told in a different manner. There is sculpture, -but there also is mosaic, and above all there is and will be fresco. -Before the end of the thirteenth century, Giotto was busy with his new -dramatic art; no need to tell what power of human feeling filled the -works of that chief of painters and his school. The hard materials of the -mosaicist were also made to render emotion. If one will note the mosaics -along the nave in Santa Maria Maggiore, belonging to the fifth century, -and then turn to the mosaics of the Coronation of the Virgin in the apse, -or cross the Tiber and look at those in the lower zone of the apse of -Santa Maria in Trastevere, which tell the Virgin's story, he will see the -change which was bringing love and sweetness into the stiff mosaic medium. -Torriti executed the former in 1295; and the latter with their gentler -feeling were made by Giotto's pupil, Cavallini, in 1351. The art is still -as correct and true and orthodox as in the fifth century. It conforms to -Latin Christianity in the choice of topics and the manner of presenting -them, and drapes its human emotions around conceptions which the patristic -period formed and delivered to the Middle Ages. Thus, in full measure, it -has taken to itself the emotional qualities of the mediaeval -transformation of Latin Christianity, and is filled with a love and tears -and pity, which were not in the old Christian mosaics. - -Quite analogous to the emotionalizing of Christian art is the example -afforded by the evolution of the Latin hymn. The earliest extant Latin -hymns are those of St. Ambrose, written in iambic dimeters. Antique in -phrase as in metre, they are also trenchantly correct in doctrine, as -behoved the compositions of the great Archbishop of Milan who commanded -the forces of orthodoxy in the Arian conflict. They were sung in anxious -seasons. Yet these dignified and noble hymns are no emotional outpour -either of anxiety or adoration. Such feeling as they carry lies in their -strength of trust in God and in the power of conviction of their stately -orthodoxy. - -Between the death of Ambrose and the tenth century, Latin hymns gradually -substituted accent in the place of metrical quantity, as the dominant -principle of their rhythm. With this partial change there seems to come -increase of feeling. The - - "Jesu nostra redemptio, - Amor et desiderium." - -of the seventh century is different from the - - "Te diligat castus amor, - Te mens adoret sobria" - -of Ambrose.[425] And the famous pilgrim chant of the tenth century, "O -Roma nobilis, orbis et domina," has the strength of long-deepening -emotion.[426] - -These hymns have but dropped the constraint of metre. Religious passion -had not yet proved its creative power, and the new verse-forms with their -mighty rhyme, fit to voice the accumulated emotions of the Liturgy, were -not in existence. The eleventh and twelfth centuries witnessed the -strophic evolution of the Latin hymn, in which feeling, joined with art, -at last perfected line and stanza and the passionate phrases filling -them.[427] Yet nothing could be more orthodox than the Latin hymn -throughout its course of development. Its function was liturgical. It was -correct in doctrinal expressions, and followed in every way the -authoritative teachings of the Church; its symbolism was derived from the -works of learned doctors; and its feeling took form from the tenets of -Latin Christianity. The _Dies Irae_ and the _Stabat Mater_ yield evidence -of this.[428] - -From the religious phases of mediaeval emotion, one may pass to modes of -feeling which were secular and human. The antecedents were again the -racial traits of the peoples who were to become mediaeval; the formative -influences still are Christianity and the profane antique culture. The -racial traits show clearest in vernacular compositions, some of which may -carry fervent feeling, such as enkindles the Crusader's song of _Hartmann -von Aue_: - - "Min froüde wart nie sorgelos - Unz an die tage - Daz ich mir Kristes bluomen kos - Die ich hie trage. - Die kundent eine sumerzìt, - Die alsô gar - In suezer augenweide lit; - Got helfe uns dar. - - "Mich hât diu werlt also gewent (gewöhnt), - Daz mir der muot - Sich z'einer mâze nâch ir sent: - Dêst mir nu guot. - Got hat vil wol ze mir getân, - Als ez nu stât, - Daz ich der sorgen bin erlân - Diu manegen hât - Gebunden an den fuoz, - Daz er belîben muoz - Swenn' ich in Kristes schar - Mit fröuden wünneclichen var."[429] - -The secular emotional development was connected with the religious. It was -stimulated by the deepening of emotional capacity caused by Christianity, -and was not unrelated to the Christian love of God, the place of which was -taken, in secular mediaeval passion, by an idealizing, but carnal, love of -woman; and instead of the terror-stricken piety which accompanied the -Christian's love for his Maker and his Judge, the heart was glad and the -temper open to every joy, while also subject to the fears and hates which -spring up among men of mortal passions. - -In the romantic and utter abandonment required of its votaries, this -earthly love may well have drawn suggestion from that boundless love of -God which had superseded the Greek precept of "nothing in excess," -teaching instead that no limit should be set on what was absolutely good. -The principle of love unrestrained was thus inaugurated, and did not -always turn to God. Ardent natures who felt love's power, might hold it as -the supreme arbiter and law of life, and the giver of strength and virtue. -These thoughts will shape the tale of Lancelot and myriad poems besides. -They also may be found incarnate in the living instance: the heart of -Heloïse held a passion for her human master which she recognized as her -highest law. It was such a passion as she would hardly have conceived but -for the existence of like categories of devotion to the Christian God. Not -in her nature alone, but through many Christian generations whereof she -was the fruit, there had gone on a continual enhancement of capacities of -feeling, for which she was a greater woman when she grew to womanhood and -felt its passion. Through such heightening of her powers of loving, and -through the suggestiveness of the Christian love of God, she could -conceive and feel a like absolute devotion to a man.[430] - -There were, moreover, partially humanized stages in which the love of God -was affiliated with loves of mortal hue. Many a mediaeval woman felt a -passionate love for the spiritual Bridegroom. Its expression, its -suggestions, its training, might transmit power and passion to the love of -very mortal men: while from the worship of the Blessed Virgin expressions -of passionate devotion might pass over into poems telling man's love of -woman. And what reaches of passion might not the Song of Songs suggest, -although that imagined bridal of the Soul was never deemed a song of human -love?[431] - - - - -BOOK III - -THE IDEAL AND THE ACTUAL: THE SAINTS - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE REFORMS OF MONASTICISM - - MEDIAEVAL EXTREMES; BENEDICT OF ANIANE; CLUNY; Citeaux's _Charta - Charitatis_; THE _Vita Contemplativa_ ACCEPTS THE _Vita Activa_ - - -The present Book and the following will set forth the higher -manifestations of the religious energies of the Middle Ages, and then the -counter ideals which knights and ladies delighted to contemplate, and -sometimes strove to reach. In religious as well as mundane life, ideals -admired and striven for constitute human facts, make part of the human -story, quite as veritably as the spotted actuality everywhere in evidence. -The tale of piety is to be gathered from those efforts of the religious -purpose which almost attain their ideal; while as a comment on them, and a -foil and contrast, the deflections of human frailty may be observed. -Likewise the full reality of chivalry lies in its ideals, supplemented by -the illuminating contrast of failure and oppression, making what we may -call its actuality. The emotional element, reviewed in the last chapter, -will for the time be dominant. - - * * * * * - -Practice always drops below the ethical standards of a period. The -contrast appears in the history of Greece and Rome. Yet in neither Greece -nor Rome could there exist the abysms of contradiction which disclose -themselves after the conversion of western Europe to the religion of -Christ. - -And for the following reasons. Greek and Roman standards were finite; they -regarded only the mortal happiness of the individual and the terrestrial -welfare of the State. To Greek thought the indefinite or limitless was as -the monstrous and unformed; and therefore abhorrent to the classic ideals -of perfection. Again, Greek and Roman standards demanded only what Greek -and Roman humanity could fulfil in the mortal life of earth. But the -Christian ideal of conduct assumes the universal imperfection and infinite -perfectibility of man. It has constant regard to immortality, and eternity -is needed for its fulfilment. Moreover, whether or not Christ's Gospel set -forth any inherent antagonism between the fulness of mortal life and the -sure attainment of heaven, its historical interpretations have never -effected a complete reconcilement. They have always presented a conflict -between the finite and the eternal, unconceived and unsuspected by the -pagan ethics of Greece and Rome. - -This conflict dawned in the Apostolic age. During the patristic period it -worked itself out to a formulated opposition between the world and the -City of God. Of this, monasticism was the chief expression. Nevertheless, -pagan principle and feeling lived on in the reasonings and characters of -the Church Fathers. The Roman qualities in Ambrose, the general survival -of antique greatness in Augustine, preserved them from the rhetorical -hysteria of Jerome and the exaggeration of phrase which affects the -writings of Gregory the Great.[432] With the decadence preceding, and the -confusion following, the Carolingian period, antique qualities passed -away; and when men began again to think and feel constructively, there -remained no antique poise to restrain the strife of those mighty -opposites--the joys of life and the terrors of the Judgment Day. - -This conflict, inherent in mediaeval Christianity, was in part a struggle -between temporal desires which many men approved, and their renunciation -for eternal joy. From this point of view it was a conflict of ideals, -though, to be sure, life's common cravings were on one side, and often -unideally turned the scale. We are not immediately concerned, however, -with this conflict of ideals; but with the contrasts presented between -the actual and the ideal, between conduct and the principles which should -have controlled it. The opposition between this life and eternity is -mentioned in order to make clear the tremendous demands of the Christian -ethical ideal, and the unlikelihood of its fulfilment by mediaeval -humanity. So one may perceive a reason why the Middle Ages were to show -such extremes of contrast between principles and practices. The standards -recognized as holiest countered the natural lives of men; and for that -reason could be lived up to only under transient spiritual enthusiasm or -by exceptional people. Monasticism held the highest ideals of Christian -living, and its story illustrates the continual falling away of conduct -from the recognized ideal. - -Without regard to the contrast between the ideal and the actual, the -Middle Ages were a period of extremes--of extreme humility and love as -well as cruelty and hate. Such extremes may be traceable to a certain -unlimited quality in Christian principles, according to which no man could -have too much humility or Christian love, or could too strenuously combat -the enemies of Christ. To be sure, an all-proportioning principle of -conduct lay in man's love of God, answering to God's love which -encompassed all His creatures. But such proportionment is difficult for -simple minds, and many of the extremes which meet us in the Middle Ages -were directly due to the simplicity with which mediaeval men and women -carried out such Christian precepts as they were taken with, in disregard -of all else that commonly balances and conventionalizes human lives. - -For this reason also the Middle Ages are picturesque and poetic. Nothing -could be more picturesque and more like a poem than the simple -absoluteness with which St. Francis interpreted and lived out his Lord's -principle of love, and made universal application of his Lord's injunction -to the rich young man, to go and sell his goods and give to the poor, and -then come follow Him. This particular solution of the problem of God's -service was taken by Francis, and by many another, as of general -application, and was literally carried out; just as Francis with -exquisite simplicity carried out other precepts of his Lord in a way that -would be foolishness were it not so beautiful. - -There was no contrast between conduct and principle in the life of -Francis; and in other men conduct might agree with such principles as they -understood. Many a rustic layman, many a good knight, fulfilled the -standards of his calling. Many a parish priest did his whole duty, as he -thought it. And many a monk and nun lived up to their monastic _regula_, -if indeed never satisfying the inner yearning of the soul unquenchably -striving for perfection. Indeed, for the monk ever to have been satisfied -with himself would have meant a fall from humility to vainglory. - -The precepts of the Gospel were for every man and woman. Nevertheless, the -same rules of living did not apply to all. In this regard, mediaeval -society falls into the two general divisions of clergy and laity, meaning -by the former all persons making special profession of religion or engaged -in the service of the Church.[433] This would include anchorites and monks -(also the _conversi_[434] or lay-brethren) and the secular clergy from the -rank of bishop downward. To such (excepting seculars below the grade of -sub-deacon) the rule of celibacy applied, as well as other ascetic -precepts dependent on the vows they had taken or the regulations under -which they lived. Conversely, certain rules like those relating to the -conduct of man and wife would touch the laity alone. - -A general similarity of principle pervaded the rules of conduct applying -to all orders of the clergy, secular and regular.[435] Yet there was a -difference in the severity of the rules and the stringency of their -application. The mediaeval code of religious ethics applied in its utter -strenuousness only to monks and nuns. They alone had seriously undertaken -to obey the Gospel precept, _esto perfecti_; and they alone could be -regarded as living the life of complete Christian militancy against the -world, the flesh, and the devil. The trials, that is to say the -temptations, of this warfare could be fully known only to the monk. -"Tentatio," says Caesar of Heisterbach, "est militia," _i.e._ warfare; it -is possible only for those who live humanly and rationally, after the -spirit, which is to say, as monks; "the seculars (_i.e._ the clergy who -were not monks) and the carnal (_i.e._ the laity) who walk according to -the flesh, are improperly said to be tempted; for as soon as they feel the -temptation they consent, or resist lukewarmly, like the horse and the mule -who have no understanding."[436] - -We have spoken of the inception of monasticism, and of its early -motives,[437] which included the fear of hell, the love of Christ, and the -conviction of the antagonism between pleasure and that service which opens -heaven's gates. Such sentiments were likely to develop and expand. The -fear of hell might be inflamed and made visible by the same imagination -that festered over the carnality of pleasure; the heart could impassion -and extend the love of Christ through humanity's full capacity for loving -what was holiest and most lovable; and the mind could attain to an -overmastering conviction of the incompatibility of pleasure with absolute -devotion. Through the Middle Ages these motives developed and grew -together, until they made a mode of life, and fashioned human characters -into accord with it. Century after century the lives of thousands -fulfilled the monastic spirit, and often so perfectly as to belie -humanity's repute for frailty. Their virtues shunned encomium. Record was -made of those whose mind and energy organized and wrought, or whose piety -and love of God burned so hotly that others were enkindled. But legion -upon legion of tacit lives are registered only in the Book with seven -seals. - -Monastic abuses have usually spoken more loudly than monastic regularity. -In Christian monasticism there is an energy of renovation which constantly -cries against corruption. Its invective reaches us from all the mediaeval -centuries; while monastic regularity has more commonly been unreported. It -is well to bear this in mind when reading of monastic vice. It always -existed, and judging from the fiery denunciations which it awakened, it -was often widely prevalent. In fact, the monastic life required such love -of God or fear of hell, such renunciation of this world, its ambitions, -its lusts and its lures, that monks were likely to fall below the -prescribed standards, and then quickly into all manner of sin, from lack -of the restraints, or outlets, of secular life. - -Consequently the most patent history of monasticism is the history of its -attempts to reform and renew itself. Its heroes come before us as -reformers or refounders, whose endeavour is to reinstitute the perfect -way, impassion men anew to follow it, by added precepts discipline them -for its long ascents, and so occupy them in the practice of its virtues -that all distracting impulses shall perish. Their apparent endeavour (at -least until the day of Francis of Assisi) is to renew a life from which -their contemporaries have fallen away. And yet through all there was -unconscious innovation and progress. - -The greater part of the fervent piety of the Middle Ages dwelt in -cloisters, when not drawn forth unwillingly to serve the Lord in the -world. Mediaeval saints were, or yearned to be, monks or nuns. -Consequently monastic reforms, as well as attempts to raise the condition -of the secular clergy, emanated from within monasticism. Its own rules of -living had been set from within by Benedict of Nursia, and others who were -monks. There was much irregularity at first; but the seventh and eighth -centuries witnessed the conflict between different types of monastic -organization, and then the general victory of the Benedictine _regula_. -This was also a victory for monastic reform; for moral looseness, -accompanied by heathenish irregularities, easily penetrated cloisters when -not protected by a common and authoritative rule. As it was, the energy of -Benedictine uniformity seemed exhausted in the contest. - -But a Benedictine refounder arose. This was the high-born Witiza of -Aquitaine, the ascetic virtuosity of whose early life had won him repute. -Assuming the name of Benedict, he established a monastery on the bank of -the little Aniane, in Aquitaine, in the year 779. His foundation -flourished in righteousness and increased in numbers, till it drew the -attention of Alcuin and Charlemagne to its abbot. Benedict was given the -task of reforming the monasteries of Aquitaine. Afterwards Louis the Pious -extended his authority; till in 817 a reforming synod, over which he -presided, was held at Aix, and the king's authority was attached to its -decrees. All Frankish monasteries were therein commanded to observe the -_regula_ of Benedict of Nursia, with many further precepts set by him of -Aniane, aggravating the severity of the older rule; for example, by -enforcing a more rigid silence among the monks when at labour, and -restricting their intercourse with the laity. Great stress was laid upon -the labours of the field. There was little novelty in the work of this -reorganizer, with his consistent ascetic contempt for profane literature. -His labours were typical of those of many a monastic reformer after him, -who likewise sought to re-establish the strictness of the old Benedictine -rule, and in fact added to its austerities. - -The next example of reform is Cluny, founded in the year 910. Its cloister -discipline followed the _regula_ of Benedict with the additions decreed by -the synod of Aix. Under Odo (d. 942) Majolus (d. 994) and Odilo (d. 1048) -it rose to unprecedented power and influence. Mainly because of the -winning and commanding qualities of its abbots, it received the support of -kings and popes; its authority and privileges were increased, until it -became the head of more than three hundred cloisters distributed through -France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. In ecclesiastical policy it stood for -decency and reform, but without giving extreme support to either emperor -or pope. Balance and temperance characterized its career. It was a -monastic organization which by precept and example, and by the wide -supervising powers it received from the papacy and from temporal -authorities, promoted regularity and propriety of life among monks, and -also among the secular clergy. The "reforms of Cluny" do not represent any -specific intensifying of monastic principles, but rather the general -endeavour of the better elements in Burgundian and French monasticism to -overcome the crass secularization of the Church, within and without the -cloister. Cluny's influence told generally against monastic degradation, -rather than in favour of any special ascetic or ecclesiastic policy. The -prevailing simony, the clerical concubinage, the rough and warlike ways of -bishops and abbots were all corruptions standing in the way of any -monastic or ecclesiastical improvement; and Cluny opposed them, in -moderation however, and with considerable acquiescence in the apparently -necessary conditions of the time.[438] - -After the comparative strictness of its first abbots, Cluny's discipline -moderated almost to laxity; and the interests of the rich and magnificent -monastery became elegant and somewhat secular. It still maintained -monastic decencies while not going beyond their demands. Its face was no -longer set against comfortable living, nor against art and letters. And -the time came when fervent spirits demanded a more uncompromising attack -upon the world and the flesh. - -Such came from Citeaux (near Dijon), where a few monks founded a -struggling monastery in 1098. Its fortunes were small and feeble until the -time of its third abbot, the Englishman, Stephen Harding (1109-1134), -whose genius set the lines of Citeaux's larger destinies. Her great period -began when, shortly after Harding's entrance on his abbacy, there arrived -a band of well-born youths, led by one Bernard. Then of a truth the -cloister burned with ardour. Its numbers grew, and Bernard was sent with a -Cistercian band to found a daughter monastery at Clairvaux (1115). - -Like Stephen Harding, Bernard was an ascetic, and the Cistercian Order -represents a stern tightening of the reins which Cluny left lying somewhat -slackly upon the backs of her stall-fed monks.[439] Controversies arose -between the Cluniac Benedictines and the Cistercian Benedictines insisting -on a stricter rule. Bernard himself entered into heated controversy with -that great temperate personality of the twelfth century, Peter the -Venerable, Cluny's revered lord. - -The original _regula_ of Benedict provided an admirable constitution for -the single monastery, but no plan for the supervision of one monastery by -another. The mediaeval advance in monastic organization consisted in the -authoritative supervision of subordinate or "daughter" foundations by the -superior or primal monastery of the Order. The Abbot of Cluny exercised -such authority over Cluniac foundations, as well as over monasteries -which, at the instance of the secular lord of the land, had been -reorganized by Cluny. - -The Cistercian Order represents a less monarchical, or more decentralized -subordination, on a plan similar to the feudal principle of -sub-infeudation, whereby the holder of the fief owed his duties to his -immediate lord, who in turn owed duties to his own lord, still above him. -Thus in the Cistercian Order the visitatorial authority over each -foundation was vested in the immediate mother abbey, rather than in the -primal abbey of Citeaux, from which the intervening mother abbey had gone -forth. - -This plan was formulated by Stephen Harding's _Charta Charitatis_,[440] -the charter of the Cistercian Order and a monument of constructive genius. -Apparently mindful of the various privileges recognized by the feudal -system, it begins by renouncing on the part of the superior monastery all -claim to temporal emolument from the daughter foundations: "Nullam -terrenae commoditatis seu rerum temporalium exactionem imponimus." "But -for love's sake (_gratia-charitatis_) we desire to retain the care of -their souls; so that should they swerve from the holy way and the -observance of the Holy Rule, they may through our solicitude return to -rectitude of life." - -Then follows the command that all Cistercian foundations obey implicitly -the _regula_ of Benedict, as understood and practised at Citeaux, and that -all follow the customs of Citeaux, and the same forms of chant and prayer -and service (for we receive their monks in our cloister, and they ours), -"so that without discordant actions we may live by one love, one rule, and -like practices (_una charitate, una regula, similibusque vivamus -moribus_)." A short sentence follows, forbidding all monasteries and -individual monks to accept from any source any privilege inconsistent with -the customs of the Order. - -So the _Charta_ enjoined a uniformity of discipline. Wise and temperate -provision was made for the enforcement of the same when necessary by the -immediate parent monastery of the delinquent foundation. "Whenever the -Abbot of Citeaux comes to a monastery to visit it, its abbot shall make -way for him, and he shall there hold the office of abbot. Yet let him not -presume to order or conduct affairs against the wishes of its abbot and -the brethren. But if he sees that the precepts of the _Regula_ or of our -Order are transgressed, let him seek to correct the brethren with the -advice and in the presence of the abbot. If the abbot be absent, he may -still proceed." Once a year the Abbot of Citeaux, in person or through one -of his co-abbots, must visit all the monasteries (coenobia) which he has -founded, and if more often, the brethren should the more rejoice. Likewise -must the four primary abbots of La Ferté, Pontigny, Clairvaux, and -Morimond, together visit Citeaux once a year, at such time as they may -choose, except that set for the annual meeting of the general Chapter. At -Citeaux also, let any visiting abbot be treated as if he were abbot there. - - "Whenever any of our churches (monasteries) by God's grace so - increases that it is able to found another brotherhood, let the same - relationship (_definitio_) obtain between them which obtains between - us and our _cofratres_, except that they may not hold an annual - Chapter; but rather let all abbots come without fail every year to the - annual Chapter at Citeaux. - - "At which Chapter let them take measures for the safety of their - souls; if in the observance of the holy _Regula_ or the Order, - anything should be amended or supplemented, let them ordain it; let - them re-establish the bond of peace and love among themselves." - -The annual Chapter is also given authority to correct any abbot and settle -controversies between abbots; but when an abbot appears unworthy of his -charge, and the Chapter has not acted, it is the duty of the abbot of his -mother church to admonish him, and, upon his obduracy, summon other abbots -and move for his deposition. Thus the _Charta Charitatis_ apportioned -authority among the abbots of the Order, providing, as it were, a mutual -power of enforcement in which every abbot had part. One notices also that -the _Charta_ is neither monarchical nor democratic, but aristocratic; for -the abbots (not the Abbot of Citeaux alone) manage and control the Order, -and without any representation of the monks at the annual Chapter.[441] -The _Charta Charitatis_ seems a spiritual mirror of the feudal system. - -Mediaeval monasticism, whether cloistered or sent forth into the world, -was predominantly coenobitic or communal. Yet through the Middle Ages the -anchorite or hermit way of life was not unrepresented. Both monk and -hermit existed from the beginning of Christian monasticism; they -recognized the same purpose, but employed different means to achieve it. -For their common aim was to merit the kingdom of heaven through the -suppression of sense-desires and devotion to spiritual righteousness. But -the communal system recognized the social nature of man, his essential -weakness in isolation, and his inability to satisfy his bodily wants by -himself. Thus admitting the human need of fellowship and correction, it -deemed that man's spiritual progress could be best advanced in a way of -life which took account of these facts. On the other hand, anchoritism -looked rather to man's self-sufficiency alone with God--and the devil. It -held that man could best conquer his carnal nature in solitude, and in -solitude best meditate upon his soul and God. The society of one's -fellows, even though they be likeminded, is a distraction and a hindrance. -Obviously, the devoted temper has its variants; and some souls will draw -from solitude that strength which others gain from support and sympathy. - -Both the coenobitic and the hermit life were, from the time of their -inception, phases of the _vita contemplativa_. Yet more active duties had -constantly been recognized, until at last monasticism, in an ardour of -love for fellow-men, broke from the cloister and went abroad in the steps -of Francis and Dominic. Even this active and uncloistered monasticism drew -its strength from its hidden meditation, and, strengthened from within -itself, entered upon the _vita activa_, and practised among men the -virtues which it had acquired through contemplation and the quiet -discipline of the cloister. So if we people of the world would have -understanding of the matter, we must never forget that at its source and -in its essence the monastic life is a _vita contemplativa_, whether the -monastic man, as a member of a fervent community, be sustained through the -support of his brethren and the counsel or command of his superior, or -whether, as an anchorite, he seclude himself in solitude. And the essence -of this _vita contemplativa_ is not to do or act, but to contemplate, -meditate upon God and the human soul. By one line of ancestry it is a -descendant of Aristotle's [Greek: bios theôrêtikos]. But its mightier -parent was the Saviour's manifestation of God's love of man and man's love -of God. From this source came the emotional elements (and they were the -predominant and overwhelming) of the Christian _vita contemplativa_, its -terror and despair, its tears and hope, and its yearning love. Through -these any Hellenic calm was transformed to storm-tossed Christian ecstasy. - -Monastic quietism might at any time be drafted into Christian militancy. -In the crises of the Church, or when there was call to go forth and -convert the heathen or the carnal, both monk and hermit became zealots in -the world. Yet important and frequent as these active functions were, they -were not commanded by the Benedictine _regula_, either in its original -form or in its many modifications, Cluniac, Cistercian, or Carthusian; -hence they were not treated as part of the monastic life. There was to -come a change. The _vita contemplativa_ was to take to itself the _vita -activa_ as a regular and not an occasional function of perfect Christian -piety. An evangelization of monasticism, according to the more active -spirit of the Gospel, was at hand. The monastic ideal was to become humane -and actively loving. In principle and theory, as well as practice, -Christian piety was no longer to find its entire end and aim in -contemplation, in asceticism, in purity: it was _regularly_ henceforth to -occupy itself with a loving beneficence among men. - -Some of the ardent beginnings of this movement did not receive the -sanction of the Church. The Poor of Lyons, the Humbled Folk (_Humiliati_) -of Lombardy, the Beghards of Liége, were pronounced to be heretics. -Predominantly lay and ecclesiastically somewhat bizarre, they were -scarcely monks. Yet these irregular evangelists of the latter part of the -twelfth century were forerunners of that chief evangelizer of Monasticism, -Francis of Assisi.[442] - -The life of Francis, as all men know, fulfilled the current demands of -monasticism. He lived and taught obedience, chastity, humility, and a more -absolute poverty than had been before conceived. With respect to the first -three virtues, it was only through his loving way of living them that -Francis set anything new before his brethren. As for the last, it may be -said that monks had always been forbidden to own property; only the -monastery or the Order might. Francis's absolute acceptance of poverty -comes to us as inspired by the command of Christ to the rich young man: Go -and sell all, and give to the poor, and then come follow me. But had no -Christian soul read this before and accepted it absolutely? The Athanasian -Life of St. Anthony, at the very beginning of Christian monasticism, has -the same account; he too gave up all he had on reading this passage. But -then he fled to the desert, while Francis, when he had given up all, -opened his arms to mankind. In accordance with his brotherly and social -evangelization of monasticism, Francis modified certain of its practices. -He removed restrictions upon intercourse among the brethren, and took away -the barriers, save those of holiness, between the brethren and the world. -Then he lifted the veil of silence from the brethren's lips. They should -thenceforth speak freely, in love of God and man. So monasticism stepped -forth, at last uncloistered, upon its course of love and teaching in the -world. - -In spite of the temperamental differences between Francis and Dominic, and -in spite of the different tasks which they set before their Orders, the -analogy between Franciscans and Dominicans was fundamental; for the -latter, as well as the former, regularly undertook to evoke the _vita -activa_ from the _vita contemplativa_. The Dominicans were to preach and -teach true Christian doctrine, and as veritable _Domini canes_ destroy the -wolves of heresy menacing the Christian fold. - -Dominic received from Pope Honorius III., in 1217, the confirmation of his -Order, as an Order of Canons according to the _Regula_ supposed to have -been taught by Augustine. The Preaching Friars were never cloistered by -their _regula_, any more than were the Minorites. Two or three years -later, Dominic added, or emphasized anew, the principle of voluntary -poverty, not only in the individuals but in the Order as a corporate -whole. Whencesoever he derived this idea--whether from the Franciscans, or -because it was rife among men--at all events it was not his originally; -for Dominic had accepted at an earlier period the one-sixth of the -revenues of the Bishop of Toulouse. This he now renounced, and instead -accepted voluntary poverty. - -It was not given to Dominic to love as Francis loved. Nor was he an -incarnate poem. But it was in the spirit of Christian devotion that he -undertook and laid upon his Order the performance of active duties in the -world, especially of preaching true doctrines for the salvation of souls. -Dominic took no personal part in the Albigensian blood-shedding; and he -was not the founder of the Inquisition, although his Order was so soon to -be identified with it. He was a theologian, a teacher, and an ardent -preacher; a devoted man, given to tears. Almost the only words we have -from him are those of his Testament: "Caritatem habete, humilitatem -servate, paupertatem voluntariam possedete."[443] - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -THE HERMIT TEMPER - - PETER DAMIANI; ROMUALD; DOMINICUS LORICATUS; BRUNO AND GUIGO, - CARTHUSIANS - - -To contemplate goodness in God, and strain toward it in yearning love, is -the method of the Christian _vita contemplativa_. In this way the recluse -cultivates humility, patience, purity, and love, and perfects his soul for -heaven. And herein, in that it is more undistracted and more undisturbed, -lies the superiority of the solitary life over the coenobitic. - -Yet this conceived superiority is but the reason and the conscious motive -for the solitary life. The call to it is felt as well as intellectually -accepted. It is temperament that makes the recluse; his reasons are but -his justification. In solitude he lives the reaches of his life; from -solitude he draws his utmost bliss. To leave it involves the torture of -separation, and then all the petty pains of unhappy labour and distasteful -intercourse with men. "Whoever would reach the summit of perfection should -keep within the cloister of his seclusion, cherish spiritual leisure, and -shudder at traversing the world, as if he were about to plunge into a sea -of blood. For the world is so filthy with vices, that any holy mind is -befouled even by thinking about it."[444] - -Here speaks the hermit temper, by the mouth of a supreme exponent. If -Hildebrand, who compelled all men to his purposes, kept Peter Damiani in -the world, that ascetic soul did not cease to yearn for the hermit life. -His skilful pen served it untiringly. Its temper, its merits, and its -grounds, appear with unique clarity in the writings of him who, sore -against his will, was the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia.[445] - - "The solitary life is the school of celestial doctrine and the divine - arts (_artes divinae_)," says Damiani, meaning every word. "For there - God is the whole that is learned. He is also the way by which one - advances, through which one attains knowledge of the sum of - truth."[446] To obtain its benefits, it must be led assiduously and - without break or wandering abroad among men: "Habit makes his cell - sweet to the monk, but roving makes it seem horrible.... The unbroken - hermit life is a cooling refreshment (_refrigerium_); but, if - interrupted, it seems a torment. Through continued seclusion the soul - is illuminated, vices are uncovered, and whatever of himself had been - hidden from the man, is disclosed."[447] - -Peter argues that the hermit life is free from temptations (!) and offers -every aid to victory. - - "The wise man, bent on safeguarding his salvation, watches always to - destroy his vices; he girds his loins--and his belly--with the girdle - of perfect mortification. Truly that takes place when the itching - palate is suppressed, when the pert tongue is held in silence, the ear - is shut off from distractions and the eye from unpermitted sights; - when the hand is held from cruel striking, and the foot from vainly - roving; when the heart is withstood, that it may not envy another's - felicity, nor through avarice covet what is not its own, nor through - anger sever itself from fraternal love, nor vaunt itself arrogantly - above its fellows, nor yield to the ticklings of lust, nor - immoderately sink itself in grief or abandon itself wantonly to joy. - Since, then, the human mind has not the power to remain entirely - empty, and unoccupied with the love of something, it is girt around - with a wall of the virtues. - - "In this way, then, our mind begins to be at rest in its Author and to - taste the sweetness of that intimacy. At once it rejects whatever it - deems contrary to the divine law, shrinks from what does not agree - with the rule of supernal righteousness. Hence true mortification is - born; hence it comes that man kissing the Cross of his Redeemer seems - dead to the world. No longer he delights in silly fables, nor is - content to waste his time with idle talk. But he is free for psalms - and hymns and spiritual songs; he seeks seclusion, he longs for a - hiding-place; he avoids the monastery's conversation-rooms and - rejoices in nooks and corners; and that he may the more freely attend - to the contemplation of his Creator, so far as he may he declines - colloquy with men."[448] - - "In fine," says Damiani, in another treatise, "our entire conversion, - and renunciation of the world, aims at nothing else than rest. This - rest is won through the man's prior discipline in the toils of strife, - in order that when the tumult of disturbance ceases, his mind, through - the grace of contemplation, may be translated to gaze upon the face of - truth. But since one attains to this rest only through labour and - conflict, how can one reach it who has not gone down into the strife? - By what right can one enter the halls of the King who has not - traversed the arena before the doors?"[449] - - "It further behoves each brother who with his whole heart has - abandoned the world, to unlearn and forget forever whatever is - injurious. He should not be disputatious as to cookery, nor clever in - the petty matters of the town; nor an adept in rhetoric's jinglings, - or in jokes or wordplay. He should love fasts and cherish penury; he - should flee the sight of man, restrain himself under the censorship of - silence, withdraw from affairs, keep his mouth from idle talk, and - seek the hiding-place of his soul, and in such hiding be on fire to - see the face of his Creator. Let him pant for tears, and implore God - for them by daily prayer." - -With this last sentence Damiani makes his transition to the emotional side -of the Christian _vita contemplativa_. He will now pour himself out in a -rhapsody of praise of tears, which purify and refresh the soul, and open -it to the love of God. - - "From the fire of divine love rises the grace of contrition (_gratia - compunctionis_), and again from the contrition of tears (_ex - compunctione lacrymarum_) the ardour of celestial yearning is - increased. The one hangs from the other, and each promotes the other; - while the contrition of tears flows from the love of God, through - tears again our soul burns more fervidly toward the love of God. In - this reciprocal and alternating action, the soul is purged of the - filth of its offence."[450] - -Elsewhere Damiani suggests how the hermit may acquire the "grace of -tears": - - "Seclude thyself from the turmoil of secular affairs and often even - from talk with thy brethren. Cut off the cares and anxieties of - mundane action; clear them away as a heap of rubbish which stops the - fountain's flow. As water in a cavern of the earth wells up from the - abyss, so sadness (_tristitia_) wells in a human heart from - contemplation of the profundity of God's Judgment, and yet will not - flow forth in tears if checked by the clods of earthly hindrance. - Sadness is the material of tears. But in order that the veins of this - fount may flow more abundantly, do thou clear away all obstacles of - secular business--and other matters also, as I know from experience. - Even spiritual zeal in the punishment of delinquents, and the labour - of preaching, and like matters, holy as they are and commanded by - divine authority, nevertheless are certainly obstacles to tears. - - "So if you would attain the grace of tears, you must even curb the - exercise of spiritual duties, eliminate malice, anger, and hatred, and - the other pests from your heart. And do not let your own accusing - conscience dry up the dew of tears with the aridity of fear. Indeed - the confidence of holiness (_sanctitatis fiducia_) and a conscience - bearing witness to its own innocence, waters the pure soul with the - celestial rivulets of grace, softens the hardness of the impure heart, - and opens the floodgates of weeping."[451] - - "Many are the ways," says Damiani in words sounding like a final - reflection upon the solitary life--"many are the ways by which one - comes to God; diverse are the orders in the society of the faithful; - but among them all there is no way so straight, so sure, so unimpeded, - so free from obstacles which trip one's feet, as this holy life. It - eliminates occasions for sin; it cultivates the greatest number of - virtues by which God may be pleased; and thus, as it removes the - opportunities of delinquency, it lays upon good conduct the added - strength of necessity's insistence."[452] - -Peter Damiani, exiled from solitude, found no task more grateful than that -of writing the Life of his older contemporary, St. Romualdus, the founder -of Camaldoli and other hermit communities in Italy. That man had -completely lived the life from which the Church's exigencies dragged his -biographer. Peter put himself, as well as his best literary powers, into -this _Vita Romualdi_, and made it one of the most vivid of mediaeval -_Vitae sanctorum_. If Romuald was a hermit in the flesh, Damiani had the -imagination to make the hermit spirit speak.[453] - - "Against thee, unclean world, we cry, that thou hast an intolerable - crowd of the foolish wise, eloquent as regards thee, mute as to God. - Wise are they to do evil; they know not how to do good. For behold - almost three _lustra_[454] have passed since the blessed Romualdus, - laying aside the burden of flesh, migrated to the heavenly realm, and - no one has arisen from these wise people to place upon the page of - history even a few of the lessons of that wonderful life." - -The tone of this prologue suggests the kind of lessons found by the -biographer in the Life of Romuald. He was born of an illustrious Ravenna -family about the year 950. In youth his devout mind became conscious of -the sinfulness of the flesh. Whenever he went hunting, as was his wont, -and would come to a retired nook in the woods, the hermit yearning came -over him--and in love, says Damiani, he was prescient of what he was later -to fulfil in deed. - -His father chanced to kill a neighbour in knightly brawl; and for this -homicide the son entered the monastery of St. Apollinaris in Classe, to do -forty days' penance for his parent. This introduction to the cloister had -its natural effect on such a temper. Goaded by a vision of the saint, -Romuald became a monk. He soon showed himself no easy man. His harsh -censure of the brethren's laxities caused a plot to murder him, the first -of many attempts upon his life. - -Three years he dwelt there. Then the yearning for perfection drove him -forth, and, for a master, he sought out a hermit named Marinus, who lived -in the Venetian territory, a man well meaning, but untaught as to the -method of the hermit life. He and his disciple would issue from their cell -and wander, singing together twenty psalms under one tree, and then thirty -or forty under another. The disciple was unlettered, and the master rude. -Romuald experienced intolerable tedium from straining his fixed eyes upon -a psalter, which he could not read. He may have betrayed his _ennui_. At -all events Marinus, grasping his rod in his right hand, and sitting on his -disciple's left, continually beat him, and always on the left side of his -head. At length Romuald said humbly: "Master, if you please, would you -henceforth beat me on the right side, as I have lost the hearing of my -left ear." - -In the neighbourhood there dwelt a duke whose rapacity had brought him -into peril. It happened that the abbot of a monastery situated not far -from Chalons-sur-Marne in France came pilgrimaging that way, and the duke -took counsel of him. The two hermits were also called; and the advice to -the duke was to flee the world. So the whole party set forth, crossed the -Alps, and travelled to the abbot's monastery. There the duke became a -monk, while Romuald and Marinus dwelt as solitaries a little way off. - -From this time Romuald increased in virtue, far outstripping all the -brethren. He supplied his wants by tilling the soil, and fasted -exceedingly. He sustained continual conflicts with the devil, who was -always bringing into his mind the loves and hates of his former life in -the world. - - "The devil would come striking on his cell, just as Romuald was - falling asleep, and then no sleep for him. Every night for nearly five - years the devil pressed crosses upon his feet, and weighted them with - the likeness of a phantom weight, so that Romuald could scarcely turn - on his couch. How often did the devil let loose the raging beasts of - the vices! and how often did Romuald put them to flight by his dire - threats! Hence if any of the brethren came in the silence, knocking at - his door, the soldier of Christ, always ready for battle, taking him - for the devil, would threaten and cry out: 'What now, wretch! what is - there for thee in the hermitage, outcast of heaven! Back, unclean dog! - Vanish, old snake!' He declared that with such words as these he gave - battle to malignant spirits; and with the arms of faith would go out - and meet the challenge of the foe in a neighbouring field." - -Marvellously Romuald increased his fasts and austerities, after the manner -of the old anchorites of Egypt.[455] Miraculous powers became his. But -news came of his father which drew him back to Italy. That noble but -sinful parent had entered a monastery where, under the persuasion of the -devil, he was soon sorry for his conversion, and sought to return to the -world. Romuald decided to go to his perishing father's aid. But the people -of the region hearing of it, were distressed to lose a man of such -spiritual might. They took counsel how to prevent his departure, and with -impious piety (_impia pietate_) decided to send men to kill him, thinking -that since they could not retain him alive, they would have his corpse as -a protection for the land (_pro patrocinio terrae_). Knowing of this, -Romuald shaved his head, and as the murderers approached his cell in the -dusk of morning, he began to eat ravenously. Thinking him demented, they -did him no injury. He then set forth, staff in hand, and walked from the -centre of Gaul, even to Ravenna. There finding his father still seeking to -return to the world, he tied the old sinner's feet to a beam, fettered him -with chains, flogged him, and at length by pious severity so subjugated -his flesh that with God's aid he brought his mind back to a state of -salvation.[456] - -Thus far Romuald's life affords striking illustration of the fact that -prodigious austerities and the consequent repute for miracles were the -chief elements in mediaeval sainthood; also of the fact that the saint's -dead body might be as good as he. But while he lived, Romuald was much -more than a miracle-working relic. He was a strong, domineering -personality. It was soon after he brought his father back to the way of -holiness that the old man saw a vision, and happily yielded up the ghost. -The son continued to advance in his chosen way of life and in the elements -of character which it fostered. He became a prodigious solitary; one to -whom men and their ways were intolerable, and who himself was sometimes -found intolerable by men. Even his appearance might be exceptional: - - "The venerable man dwelt for a while in a swamp (near Ferrara). At - length the poisonous air and the stench of the marsh drove him out; - and he emerged hairless, with his flesh puffed and swollen - (_tumefactus et depilatus_), not looking as if belonging to the _genus - homo_; for he was as green as a newt."[457] - -Such a story displays the very extravagance of fleshly mortification. It -has also its local colour. But one should seek its explanation in the -grounds of the hermit life as set forth by Peter Damiani. Then the -incidents of Romuald's life will appear to spring from these hermit -motives and from the hermit temperament, which became of terrible -intensity with him. Also the egotism, so frequently an element of that -temperament, rose with him to spiritual megalomania: - - "One day (apparently in the latter part of his life) some disciples - asked him, 'Master, of what age does the soul appear, and in what form - is it presented for Judgment?' He replied, 'I know a man in Christ, - whose soul is brought before God shining like snow, and indeed in - human form, with the stature of the perfect time of life.' Asked again - who that man might be, he would not speak for indignation. And then - the disciples talked it over, and recognized that he was certainly the - man."[458] - -In another part of the _Vita_, Damiani, having told of his hero's sojourn -with a company of hermits who preferred their will to his, thus continues: -"Romuald, therefore, impatient of sterility, began to search with anxious -eagerness where he might find a soil fit to bear a fruitage of souls." It -was his passion to change men to anchorites: he yearned to convert the -whole world to the solitary life. Many were the hermit communities which -he established. But he could not endure his hermit sons for long, nor they -him. His intolerant soul revolted from the give and take of intercourse. -Such intolerance and his passion to make more converts drove him from -place to place. He seemed inspired with a superhuman power of drawing men -from the world. Now - - "therefore he sent messengers to the Counts of Camerino. When these - heard the name of Romuald they were beside themselves with joy, and - placed their possessions, mountains, woods, and fields at his - disposal, to select from. He chose a spot suited to the hermit way of - living, intrenched amid forests and mountains, and affording an ample - space of level fruitful ground, watered with crystal streams. The - place was called of old the Valley of the Camp (Vallis de Castro), and - a little church was there with a convent of women who had turned from - the world. Here having built their cells, the venerable man and his - disciples took up their abode. - - "And what fruitage of souls the Lord there won through him, pen cannot - describe nor tongue relate. From all directions men began to pour in, - for penance and to bequeath in pity their goods to the poor, while - others utterly forsook the world and with fervent spirit hastened to - the holy way of life. For this most blessed man was as one of the - Seraphim, himself burning with the flame of divine love, and kindling - others, wherever he went, with the fires of his holy preaching. Often, - while speaking, a vast contrition brought him to such floods of tears - that, breaking off his sermon, he would flee anywhere for refuge, like - one demented. And also when travelling on horseback with the brethren, - he followed far behind them, always singing psalms, as if he were in - his cell, and never ceasing to shed tears."[459] - -In that age, the hopes and fears and wonderment of men looked to the -recluse as the perfected saint. No wonder that those Italian lands, so -blithely sinful and so grievously penitent, were moved by this volcanic -tempest of a man, fierce, merciless to the flesh, convulsed with scorching -tears, famed for austerities and miracles. He lashed men from their sins; -men feared before one whose presence was a threat of hell. Said the -Marquis of Tuscany: "Not the emperor nor any mortal man, can put such fear -in me as Romuald's look. Before his face I know not what to say, nor how -to defend myself or find excuses." And the biographer adds that "of a -truth the holy man had this grace from the divine favour, that sinners, -and especially the great of this world, quaked in their bowels before him -as if before the majesty of God."[460] - -But some men hated, and especially those of his own persuasion who could -not endure his harshness. From such came attempts at murder, from such -also came milder outbreaks of detestation and revolt. No other founder of -ascetic communities seems to have been so rebelled against. He went from -the Valley of the Camp to Classe, where a simoniac abbot attempted to -strangle him; then he returned, but not for long, for the abbot -established in his place rejected his reproofs, and maligned him with the -lords of the land. "And in that way," says Damiani, "the tall cedar of -Paradise was cast forth from the forest of earthly men."[461] - -His next sojourn was Vallombrosa, where after his decease one of his -disciples was to found a famous cloister. From that nest in the Tuscan -Apennines, he went to dwell permanently on the Umbrian mount of Sytrio. -At this point his biographer proceeds: - - "Whoever hears that the holy man so often changed his habitation, must - not ascribe this to the vice of levity. For the cause of these changes - was that wherever he stayed, an almost countless crowd assembled, and - when he saw one place filled with converts he very properly would - appoint a prior and at once hasten to fill another. - - "In Sytrio what insults and what indignities he endured from his - disciples! We will set down one instance, and omit the rest for - brevity. There was a disciple named Romanus, noble by birth, but - ignoble by deed. Him the holy man for his carnal impurity not only - chided by word but corrected with heavy beatings. That diabolic man - dared to retort with the fabrication of the same charge, and to bark - with sacrilegious mouth against this temple of the Holy Spirit, saying - forsooth that the holy man was spotted with this same infection. The - rage of the disciples broke out immediately against Romuald. All were - his enemies: some declared that the wicked old man ought to be hanged - from a gallows, others that he should be burned in his cell. - - "One cannot understand how spiritual men could have believed such - wickedness of a decrepit old man, whose frigid blood and aridity of - attenuated frame would have forbade him, had he had the will. But - doubtless it is to be deemed that this scourge of adversity came upon - the holy man by the will of Heaven, to augment his merit. For he said - himself that he had foreknown it with certainty in the solitude which - he had left just before, and had come with alacrity to undergo this - shame. But that false monkish reprobate who brought the charge against - the holy man, afterwards became Bishop of Noceria through simony, and - in the first year of his occupancy, saw, as he deserved, his house - with his books and bells and the rest of his sacred paraphernalia - burned; and in the second year, the divine sentence struck him and he - wretchedly lost both his dignity and his life. - - "In the meanwhile the disciples put a penance on the holy man as if he - had been guilty, and deprived him of the right to celebrate the holy - mysteries. He willingly accepted this false judgment, and took his - penance like a culprit, not presuming to approach the altar for - well-nigh six months. At length, as he afterwards told his disciples, - he was divinely commanded to celebrate mass. On the next day, when - proceeding with the sacrifice, he became rapt in ecstasy, and - continued speechless for so long a time that all present marvelled. - When afterwards asked the reason of his delay, he replied: 'Carried - into heaven, I was borne before God; and the divine voice commanded - me, that with such intelligence as God had set in me, I should write - and commend for use a Commentary on the Psalms. Overcome with terror, - I could only respond: so let it be, so let it be.' For this reason the - holy man made a Commentary on the whole Psalter; and although its - grammar was bad, its sense was sound and clear."[462] - -Various attempts were made in the Middle Ages to render the hermit life -practicable, through permitting a limited intercourse among a cluster of -like-minded ascetics, as well as to regulate it under the direction of a -superior. In Italy, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the picturesque -energy of the individual hermit is prodigious, while in the north, as in -the establishment of the Carthusian Order, the organization is better, the -result more permanent, but the imaginative and consistent extravagance of -personality is not there. In the hermit communities founded by Romuald -there was a prior or abbot, invested with some authority. Yet the -organization was less complete than in coenobitic monasteries; for -Romuald's hermit methods sought to minimize the intercourse among the -brethren, to an extent which was scarcely compatible with effective -organization. An idea of these communities may be had from Damiani's -description of one of them: - - "Such was the mode of life in Sytrio, that not only in name but in - fact it was as another Nytria.[463] The brethren went barefoot; - unkempt and haggard; they were content with the barest necessaries. - Some were shut in with doomed doors (_damnatis januis_), seemingly as - dead to the world as if in a tomb. Wine was unknown, even in extreme - illness. The attendants of the monks (_famuli monachorum_) and those - who kept the cattle, fasted and preserved silence. They made - regulations among themselves, and laid penances for speaking."[464] - -For seven years Romuald lived at Sytrio as an _inclusus_, shut up in his -cell, and preserving unbroken silence. Yet though his tongue was dumb his -life was eloquent. He lived on, setting a shining example of squalor and -austerity, eating only vile food, and handing back untouched any savoury -morsel. His conflicts with the devil continued; nor was he ever -vanquished. Advancing years intensified his aversion to human society and -his passion for solitude. In proportion as he made his ways displeasing to -men, his self-approval was enhanced.[465] A solitary death kept tally with -the temper of a recluse life. - - "When he saw his end draw near he returned to the Valley of the Camp, - and had a cell with an oratory prepared, in which to immure himself - and keep silence until death. Twenty years before, he had foretold to - his disciples that there he should attain his peace; and had declared - his wish to breathe forth his spirit with no one standing by or - bestowing the last rites. When this cell of immurement (_reclusorium_) - was ready, the mind in Romuald was so that it scarcely could be - imprisoned. But his body grew heavy with the increasing ills of - extreme age, and the hard breathing of tussis. Yet not for this would - the holy man lie on a bed or relax his fasts. One day his strength - gradually forsook him, and he found himself sinking with fatigue. So - as the sun was setting he directed two brothers who stood by to go out - and shut the door of his cell after them. He told them that when the - time came for them to celebrate the matin hymns at dawn, they might - return. Unwillingly they went out, but did not go at once to rest; and - waited anxiously, concealing themselves by the master's cell. After a - while, as they listened intent and could hear no movement of his body - nor any sound of his voice, correctly conjecturing what had happened, - they broke open the door, rushed in and lighted the light; and there, - the blessed soul having been transported to heaven, they found the - holy corpse supine. It lay as a celestial pearl neglected, but - hereafter to be placed with honour in the treasury of the King."[466] - -The spiritual unity which lies beneath the actions of Romuald should be -sought in the reasons and temper of the hermit life. To perfect the soul -for its passage to eternity is the fundamental motive. Monastic logic -convinces the man that this can best be accomplished through withdrawal -from the temptations of the world; and the hermit temper draws -irresistibly to solitude. The only consistent social function left to such -a man is that of turning the steps of his fellows to his own recluse path -of perfection. Romuald's life manifests such motives and such temper, and -also this one function passionately performed. We see in him no love of -kind, but only a fiery passion for their salvation. Also we see the -absorption of self in self with God, the harsh intolerance of other men, -the fierce aversions and the passionate cravings which are germane to the -hermit life. - -Physical self-mortification is the element of the hermit life most -difficult for modern people to understand. Yet nothing in Romuald extorted -more entire admiration from his biographer than his austerities. And if -there was one man on earth whom Peter admired as much as he did Romuald, -it was a certain mail-coated Dominicus, a virtuoso in self-mortification. -He exhibits its purging and penitential motives. Scourging purifies the -body from carnality; that is one motive. It also atones for sins, and -lessens the purgatorial period after death; this is another. There is a -third which is rooted rather in temperament than in reason. This is -contrition; the contrite heart may love to flagellate itself in love of -Him who suffered sinless. - -Dominicus was surnamed Loricatus because he wore a coat of mail against -the attacks of the devil through the frailties of the too-comfortable -flesh. In his youth, family influence had installed him in a snug -ecclesiastic berth. As he reached maturity and bethought himself, the -sense of this involuntary simoniacal contamination filled him with -remorse. He abjured the world and became a member of the hermit community -of Fonte Avellana, where Damiani exercised the authority of prior. Yet the -latter looked on Dominic as his master, whom he admired to the pitch of -marvel, while regretting that he lacked himself the strength and leisure -to equal his flagellations. So Peter was enraptured with this wonder of a -Dominic, and wrote his biography, which deserved telling if, as Peter -says, his entire life, his _tota quippe vita_, was a preaching and an -edification, instruction and discipline (_praedicatio, aedificatio, -doctrina, disciplina_). - -One descriptive passage from it will suffice: - - "I am speaking of Dominic, my teacher and my master, whose tongue - indeed is rustic, but whose life is polished and accomplished - (_artificiosa satis et lepida_). His life indeed preaches more - effectively by its living actions (_vivis operibus_) than a barren - tongue which inanely weighs out the balanced phrases of a bespangled - urbanity (_phaleratae urbanitatis_). Through a long course of gliding - years, girt with iron mail, he has waged truceless war against the - wicked spirits; with cuirassed body and heart always ready for battle, - he marches eager warrior against the hostile array. - - "Likewise it is his regular and unremitting habit, with a rod in each - hand every day to beat time upon his naked body, and thus scourge out - two psalters. And this even in the slacker season. For in Lent or when - he has a penance to perform (and he often undertakes a penance of a - hundred years), each day, while he plies himself with his rods, he - pays off at least three psalters repeating them mentally - (_meditando_). - - "The penance of a hundred years is performed thus: With us three - thousand blows satisfies a year of penance; and the chanting - (_modulatio_) of ten psalms, as has often been tested, admits one - thousand blows. Now, clearly, as the Psalter consists of one hundred - and fifty psalms, any one computing correctly will see that five years - of penance lie in chanting one psalter, with this discipline. Now, - whether you take five times twenty or twenty times five you have a - hundred. Consequently whoever chants twenty psalters, with this - accompanying discipline, may be confident of having performed a - hundred years of penance. Herein our Dominic outdid those who struck - with only one hand; for he, a true son of Benjamin, warred - indefatigably with both hands against the lawless rebels of the flesh. - He has told me himself that he easily accomplished a penance of a - hundred years in six days."[467] - -This loricated Dominic was conscious of his virtuosity. We find him at the -beginning of a certain Lent, requesting the imposition of a penance of a -thousand years! Again, he comes after vespers to Damiani's cell to tell -him that between morning and evening he has broken his record by "doing" -eight psalters! And once more we read of his coming troubled to his -master, saying: "You have written, as I have just heard, that in one day I -chanted nine psalters with corporeal discipline. When I heard it, I turned -pale and groaned. 'Woe is me,' I said; 'without my knowledge, this has -been written of me, and yet I do not know whether I could do it.' So I am -going to try again, and I shall certainly find out."[468] - -Dominic probably derived more pleasure than pain from his scourgings. For -besides the vanity of achievement, and some ecstasy of contrition, the -flesh itself turns morbid and rejoices in its laceration. Yet such -austerity is pre-eminently penal, and is initially impelled by fear. With -Dominic, with Romuald, with Damiani, the fear of hell entered the motives -of the secluded life. To observe this fear writ large in panic terror, we -turn to the old legend regarding the conversion of Bruno of Cologne, the -founder of the Carthusian Order. The scene is laid in Paris, where (with -much improbability) Bruno is supposed to be studying in the year 1082. One -of the most learned and pious of the doctors of theology died. His funeral -had been celebrated, and his body was about to be carried to the grave, -when the corpse raised its head and cried aloud with a dreadful voice: -"Justo Dei judicio accusatus sum." Then the head fell back. The people, -terror-stricken, postponed the interment to the following day, when again, -as before, with a grievous and terrible voice the corpse raised its head -and cried: "Justo Dei judicio judicatus sum." Amid general terror the -interment was again postponed to the next day, when, as before, with a -horrible cry the corpse shrieked: "Justo Dei judicio condemnatus sum." - -At this, Bruno, impressed and terrified, said to his friends: "Beloved, -what shall we do? Unless we fly we shall all perish utterly. Let us -renounce the world, and, like Anthony and John the Baptist, seek the caves -of the desert, that we may escape the wrath of the Judge, and reach the -port of salvation." So they flee, and the Carthusian Order, with its -terrific asceticism, begins.[469] - -This story, aside from its marvellous character, does not harmonize with -the more authentic facts of Bruno's life. It is, however, a striking -expression of the ascetic fear; it also reflects psychologic truth. Who -but the man himself knows the naughtiness of his own heart? its -never-to-be disclosed vile and morbid thoughts? The modern may realize -this. Hamlet did. And it was just such a phase of self-consciousness as -the mediaeval imagination would transform into a tale of horror. Bruno -himself had been a learned doctor, a teacher, and the head of the -cathedral school at Rheims; he had been a zealous soldier of the Church. -In all this he had not found peace. The profession of a doctor of -theology, even when coupled with more active belligerency for the Church, -afforded no certain salvation. The story of the Paris doctor may have -symbolized the anxieties which dwelt in Bruno's breast, until under their -stimulus the yearnings of a solitary temper gathered head and at last -brought him with six followers to Carthusia (_la grande Chartreuse_), -which lies to the north of Grenoble. 1084 is the year of its beginning. - -It was a hermit community, the brethren living two by two in isolated -cells, but meeting for divine service in a little chapel. Camaldoli may -have been the model. Bruno wrote no _regula_ for his followers, and the -practices of the Order were first formulated by Guigo, the fifth prior, in -his _Consuetudines Cartusiae_, about the year 1130.[470] These permit a -limited intercourse among the brethren, for the service of God and the -regulation of their own lives. Yet the broader object was seclusion. Not -only severance from the world, but the seclusion of the brethren from each -other, in solitary labour and contemplation, was their ideal. The -asceticism of these _Consuetudines_ is of the strictest. And somehow it -would seem as if in the Carthusian Order the frailties of the spirit and -the lusts of the flesh were to be permanently vanquished by this set life -of labour, meditation, and rigid asceticism. _Carthusia nunquam reformata, -quia nunquam deformata_, remained true century after century. This long -freedom from corruption was partly due to the lofty and somewhat -exclusive character of the brotherhood. Carthusia was no broad way for the -monastic multitude. Its monks were relatively few and holy, the select of -God. Men of devout piety, they must be. It was also needful that they -should be possessed of such intellectual endowment and meditative capacity -as would with God's grace yield provision for a life of solitary thought. - -The intellectual piety of Carthusia finds its loftiest expression in the -_Meditationes_ of this same prior Guigo,[471] the form of which calls to -mind the Reflections of Marcus Aurelius or Epictetus. In substance they -reflect Augustine's intellectual devoutness and many of his thoughts. But -they seem Guigo's very own, fruit of his own reflection; and thus -incidentally they afford an illustration of the general principle that by -the twelfth century the Middle Ages had made over into themselves what -they had drawn from the Fathers or from the pagan antique. Guigo's -_Meditations_ possess spiritual calm; their logic is unhesitating; it is -remorselessly correct, however incomplete may be its premises or its -comprehension of life's data. Whoever wishes to know the high -contemplative mind of monastic seclusion in the twelfth century may learn -it from this work. A number of its precepts are given here for the sake of -their illustrative pertinency and intrinsic merit, and because our author -is not very widely known. He begins with general reflections upon Veritas -and Pax: - - "Truth should be set in the middle, as something beautiful. Nor, if - any one abhors it, do thou condemn, but pity. Thou indeed, who - desirest to come to it, why dost thou spurn it when it chides thy - faults? - - "Without form and comeliness and fastened to the cross, truth is to be - worshipped. - - "If thou speakest truth not from love of truth but from wish to injure - another, thou wilt not gain the reward of a truthspeaker but the - punishment of a defamer. - - "Truth is life and eternal salvation. Therefore you ought to pity any - one whom it displeases. For to that extent he is dead and lost. But - you, perverse one, would not tell him the truth unless you thought it - bitter and intolerable to him. You do still worse when in order to - please men you speak a truth which delights them as much as if it - were lies and flattery. Not because it displeases or pleases should - truth be spoken, but as it profits. Yet be silent when it would do - harm, as light to weak eyes. - - "Blessed is he whose mind is moved or affected only by the perception - and love of truth, and whose body is moved only by his mind. Thus the - body, like the mind, is moved by truth alone. For if there is no - stirring in the mind save that of truth, and none in the body save - that from the mind, then also there is no stirring in the body save - from truth, that is from God. - - "Thou dost all things for the sake of peace, toward which the way lies - through truth alone, which is thine adversary in this life. Therefore - either subject thee to it or it to thee. For nothing else is left - thee. - - "The lake does not boast because it abounds in water; for that is from - the source. So as to thy peace. Its cause is always something else. - Therefore thy peace is shifting and inconstant in proportion to the - instability of its cause. How worthless is it when it arises from the - pleasingness of a human face! - - "Let not temporal things be the cause of thy peace; for then wilt thou - be as worthless and fragile as they. You would have such a peace in - common with the brutes; let thine be that of the angels, which - proceeds from truth. - - "The beginning of the return to truth is to be displeased with - falsity. Blame precedes correction. - - "In the cares which engage thee for thy salvation, no service or - medicine is more useful than to blame and despise thyself. Whoever - does this for thee is thy helper. - - "Easy is the way to God, since it advances by laying down burdens. - Thou dost unburden thyself so far as thou deniest thyself. - - "When anything good is said of thee, it is but as a rumour regarding - which thou knowest better. - - "Consider the two experiences of filling and emptying (_ingestionis et - egestionis_); which blesses thee more? That burdens thee with useless - matters; this disburdens thee. To have had that is to have devoured it - altogether. Nothing remains for hope. So in all things of sense. They - perish all. And what of thee after these? Set thy love and hope on - what will not pass. - - "Bestial pleasure comes from the senses of the flesh; it is diabolic, - a thing of arrogance, envy, and deceit; philosophic pleasure is to - know the creature; the angelic pleasure is to know and love God. - - "When we take our pleasure from that from which brutes draw - pleasure--from lust like dogs, or from gluttony like swine--our souls - become like theirs. Yet we do not shudder. I had rather have a dog's - body than his soul. It would be more tolerable if our body changed to - bestial shape, while our soul remained in its dignity, that is, in the - likeness of God. - - "Readily man entangles himself in love of bodies and of vanity; but, - willy, nilly, he is torn with fear and grief at their dissolution. For - the love of perishable things is as a fountain of useless fears and - sorrows. The Lord frees the poor man from the mighty, by loosing him - from the fetter of earthly love. - - "The human soul is tortured in itself as long as it can be tortured, - that is, as long as it loves anything besides God. - - "Thou hast been clinging to one syllable of a great song, and art - troubled when that wisest Singer proceeds in His singing. For the - syllable which alone thou wast loving is withdrawn from thee, and - others succeed in order. He does not sing to thee alone, nor to thy - will, but His. The syllables which succeed are distasteful to thee - because they drive on that one which thou wast loving evilly. - - "All matters which are called adverse are adverse only to the wicked, - that is, those who love the creature instead of the Creator. - - "If in any way thou art tormented by fear, or anger or hate or grief - of any kind, lay it to thyself, that is, to thy concupiscence, - ignorance, or sloth. And if any one wishes to injure thee, lay that to - his concupiscence. Thy distress is evidence of thy sin in loving - anything destructible, having dismissed God. Thou dost grieve over the - ruined show; lay it to thee and thine error because thou hast been - cleaving to things that may be broken. - - "He seeks a long temptation who seeks a long life. - - "What God has not loved in His friends--power, rank, riches, - dignities--do not thou love in thine. - - "Snares thou eatest, drinkest, wearest, sleepest in; all things are - snares. - - "We are exiles through love and wantonness and inclination, not - through locality; exiles in the country of defilement, of dark - passions, of ignorance, of wicked loves and hates. - - "In so far as thou lovest thyself--that is, this temporal life--so far - dost thou love what is transitory. - - "Adverse matters do not make thee wretched, but rather show thee to - have been so; prosperity blinds the soul, by covering and increasing - misery, not by removing it. - - "Every one ought to love all men. Whoever wishes another to show - special love toward him is a robber, and an offender against all. - - "Mixed through this body, thou wast wretched enough; for thou wast - subject to all its corruptions, even to the bite of the flea or the - sorunculus. This did not suffice thee. Thou hast mixed thyself up with - other quasi bodies, the opinion of men, admiration, love, honour, fear - and the like. When these are harmed, pain comes to thee, as from - bodily hurt. Thy honour is hurt when contempt is shown thee; and so - with the rest. Think also thus regarding bodily forms. - - "Unless thou hast despised whatever men can do to thwart or aid thee, - thou wilt not be able to contemn their disposition toward thee, their - hate and love, their opinions, good or bad. - - "Why dost thou wish to be loved by men? - - "Who rejoices in praise, loses praise. - - "Who is pained or angered by the loss of any temporal thing, shows - himself worth what he has lost. - - "No thing ought to wish to be loved as good, unless it blesses its - lover in the very matter for which it is loved. But no thing does this - if it needs its lover, or is helped by loving or being loved by - another. Most cruel, then, is the thing which wishes another to place - affection and hope on it when it cannot benefit that other. The devils - do this, who wish men to be engrossed in their service instead of - God's. So cry to thy lovers, Cease, ye wretched, to admire or respect - or honour me; for I, miserable wretch, can neither aid myself nor you, - but rather need your aid. - - "So far as in thee is, thou hast destroyed all men, for thou hast put - thyself between them and God, so that gazing on thee and ignoring God, - they might admire and praise thee alone. This is utterly profitless to - thee and them, not to say destructive. - - "Whatever form thou dost enjoy is as the male to thy mind. For thy - mind yields and lies down to it. Thou dost not assimilate it, but it - thee. Its image endures, like an idol in its temple, to which thou - dost sacrifice neither ox nor goat, but thy rational soul and thy - body, to wit, thy whole self, when thou enjoyest it. - - "See how, as in a wine-shop, thou dost prostitute thine as a venal - love, and to the measure of pay weighest thyself out to men. In this - wine-shop he receives nothing who gives nothing. And yet thou wouldst - not have that which thou dost sell, unless freely from above it had - been given to thee who gave nothing. Therefore thou hast received thy - pay. - - "To be empty and removed from God is to make ready for lust. - - "Who wishes to enjoy thee in thyself, deserves from thee the thanks of - flies and fleas who suck thy blood. - - "This is the very sum of human depravity to forsake the better, which - is God, and to regard the lesser and cleave to them by delighting in - them--these temporalities! - - "The beetle as it flies sees everything, and then selects nothing that - is beautiful or wholesome or durable, but settles down upon dung. So - thy soul in mental flight (_intuitu pervolans_) surveying heaven and - earth and whatever is great and precious therein, cleaves to none of - these, but embraces the cheap and dirty things occurring to its - thought. Blush for this. - - "When thou pleadest with God not to take from thee something to which - thou cleavest by desire, it is as if an adulteress caught by her - husband in the act, should not ask pardon for her crime, but beg him - not to interrupt her pleasure. It is not enough for thee to go - wantoning from God, but thou must incline Him to save and approve the - things in which thou takest delight to thy undoing--the forms of - bodies, their savours and their colours. - - "The poverty of thine inner vision of God, purblind as thou art, - although He is there, makes thee willing to go out of doors from thine - own hearth, refusing to linger within thyself, as in the dark. So thou - hast nothing to do but go gaping after the external forms of bodies - and the opinions of men. Thou dost carry thyself in this world as if - thou hadst come hither to gaze and wonder at the forms of bodies. - - "May God be gracious to thee, that the feet of thy mind may find no - resting-place, so that somehow, O soul, thou mayest return to the Ark, - like Noah's dove. - - "Prosperity is a snare, adversity the knife that cuts it; prosperity - imprisons us from the love of God; adversity breaks the dungeon in - pieces. - - "Since you are taken only by pleasure, you should shun whatever gives - it. The Christian soul is safe only in adversity. From what thou - cherishest God makes thee rods. - - "The only medicine for every pain and torment is contempt for whatever - in thee is hurt by them, and the turning of the mind to God. - - "As many carnal pleasures as thou spurnest, just so many snares of the - devil dost thou escape. As many tribulations--especially those for - truth's sake--as thou dost flee, so many salutary remedies thou - spurnest. - - "In hope thou mayest cherish the unripened grain; thus love those who - are not yet good, Be such toward all as the Truth has shown itself - toward thee. Just as it has sustained and loved thee for thy - betterment, so do thou sustain and love men in order to better them. - - "You are set as a standard to blunt the darts of the enemy, that is, - to destroy evil by opposing good to it. You should never return evil - for evil, except very medicinally; which is not to return evil but - good. - - "If to cleave to God is thine whole and only good, thine whole and - only evil is separation from Him. - - "Who loves all will be saved without doubt; but who is loved by men - will not for that reason be saved." - -The unity of these _Meditations_ lies in the absolute manner in which the -meditating soul attaches itself to God as its whole and only good. Herein -Guigo's thoughts are Augustinian. One notes their clear intellectual tone. -Nothing lures the thinker from his aim and goal of God. He abhors whatever -might distract him; and as to all except God and God's commands, he is -indifferent. Guigo detests impermanence as keenly as did the Brahmin and -Buddhist meditators of India. He has as high regard as any Indian or Greek -philosopher for a life of thought. But there are differences between the -Carthusian prior and the Greek or Indian sage. Guigo's renunciation does -not (from his standpoint) penetrate life as deeply as Gotama's; for Guigo -renounces only things comparatively insignificant, so utterly transient -are they, so completely they pale before the light of his goal of God. -Therein shall lie clearer attainment than lay at the end of any Indian -chain of reasoning. So note well, that Guigo, like other Christians, is -not essentially a renouncer, but one who attains and receives. - -The difference between him and the Greek is also patent. The source of his -blue lake of thought is not himself, but God. Although calm and sustained -by reason, he is rationally the opposite of self-reliant, and so the -opposite of the ideal Stoic or Aristotelian. God is his Creator, the -source of his thoughts, the loadstar of his meditations, the -all-comprehending object of his desire. - -We find in Guigo further specific elements of Christian asceticism, which -sharpen his repugnances for the world of transient phenomena. Those -phenomena mostly contain elements of sin: all pleasure is temptation and a -snare; adversity keeps the soul's wings trimmed true. So the main content -of passing mortal life, while not evil in itself, is so charged with -temptation and allure, that it is worthy only of avoidance. The transient, -the physical, the brutal, the diabolic--one shades into the next, and -leads on to the last. Have none of them, O soul! They are snares all. - -Of course, Guigo has the specific monkish horror of sexual lust, that -chief of fleshly snares. But he goes further. With him all particular, -disproportionate love is wrong; love no one, and desire not to be loved, -out of the proportionment of the common love which God has for all His -creatures: so love you, and not otherwise. Others, even women, attained -this standard. In the legend, St. Elizabeth of Hungary gives thanks that -she loves her own children no more than others'. She is no mother, but a -saint. So Guigo will love all--love indeed? one queries. Thus also will he -have others hold themselves toward him, lest he be a stumbling-block in -their or his salvation. - -Yea, salvation! If indeed this monk shall not have attained that, of a -truth he would be of all men most miserable--save for the quiet, -thought-filled calm which is his inner and his veritable life. It is a -calm not riven by the storms which drove the soul of Peter Damiani. God -was not less to Guigo; but the temperaments of the two men differed. Not -beyond or out of one's nature can one love or yearn, or even know the -stress of storm. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -THE QUALITY OF LOVE IN SAINT BERNARD - - -Through the prodigious power of his personality, St. Bernard gave new life -to monasticism, promoted the reform of the secular clergy and the -suppression of heresy, ended a papal schism, set on foot the Second -Crusade, and for a quarter of a century swayed Christendom as never holy -man before or after him. An adequate account of his career would embrace -the entire history of the first half of the twelfth century.[472] - -The man who was to move men with his love, and quell the proud with fear, -had, as a youth, a graceful figure, a sweet countenance, and manners the -most winning. Later in life he is spoken of as cheerfully bearing -reproaches, but shamefaced at praise, and his gentle manners are again -mentioned. - - "As a helpmeet for his holy spirit, God made his body to conform. In - his flesh there was visible a certain grace, but spiritual rather than - of the flesh. A brightness not of earth shone in his look; there was - an angelic purity in his eyes, and a dove-like simplicity. The beauty - of the inner man was so great that it would burst forth in visible - tokens, and the outer man would seem bathed from the store of inward - purity and copious grace. His frame was of the slightest - (_tenuissimum_), and most spare of flesh; a blush often tinged the - delicate skin of his cheeks. And a certain natural heat (_quidquid - caloris naturalis_) was in him, arising from assiduous meditation and - penitent zeal. His hair was bright yellow, his beard reddish with - some white hairs toward the end of his life. Actually of medium - stature, he looked taller."[473] - -This same biography says: - - "He who had set him apart, from his mother's womb, for the work of a - preacher, had given him, with a weak body, a voice sufficiently strong - and clear. His speech, whatever persons he spoke to for the edifying - of souls, was adapted to his audience; for he knew the intelligence, - the habits and occupations of each and all. To country folk he spoke - as if born and bred in the country; and so to other classes, as it he - had been always occupied with their business. He was learned with the - erudite, and simple with the simple, and with spiritual men rich in - illustrations of perfection and wisdom. He adapted himself to all, - desiring to gain all for Christ."[474] - -Bernard was born of noble parents at the Chateau of Fontaines, near Dijon, -in the year 1090, and was educated in a church school at Chatillon on the -Seine. It is an ofttold story, how, when little more than twenty years of -age, he drew together a band formed of his own brothers, his uncle, and -his friends, and led them to Citeaux,[475] his ardent soul unsatisfied so -long as one held back. Three years later, in 1115, the Abbot, Stephen -Harding, entrusted him with the headship of the new monastery, to be -founded in the domains of the Count of Troyes. Bernard set forth with -twelve companions, came to Clara Vallis on the river Aube, and placed his -convent in that austere solitude. - -Great were the attractions of Clairvaux (Clara Vallis) under Bernard's -vigorous and loving rule. Its monks increased so rapidly and so constantly -that during its founder's life sixty-five bands were sent forth to rear -new convents. Meanwhile, Bernard's activities and influence widened, till -they seemed to compass western Christendom. He had become a power in the -politics of Church and State. In 1130 he was summoned by Louis le Gros -practically to determine the claims of the rival Popes Innocent II. and -Anacletus II. He decided for the former, and was the chief instrument of -his eventual reinstatement at Rome. Before this Bernard's health had been -broken by his extreme austerities. Yet even the lamentable failure of the -Second Crusade, zealously promoted by him, did not break his power over -Europe, which continued unimpaired until his death in 1153. - -This active and masterful man was impelled by those elements of the _vita -contemplativa_ which formed his inner self. First and last and always he -was a monk. Had he not been the very monk he was, he would not have been -the dominator of men and situations that he proved himself to be. -Temperament fashions the objects of contemplation, and shapes the yearning -and aversions, of great monks. The temperamental element of love--the love -of God and man, with its appurtenant detestations--made the heart of -Bernard's _vita contemplativa_, and impassioned and empowered his active -faculties. It was the keynote of his life: in his letters it speaks in -words of fire, while other writings of the saint analyze this great human -quality with profundity and truth. In these he renders explicit the modes -of affection which man may have for man and above all for God; he sets -them forth as the path as well as goal of life on earth, and then as the -rapt summit of attainment in the life to come. Through all its stages, as -it flows from self to fellow, as it rises from man to God, love still is -love, and forms the unifying principle among men and between them and God. - -Let us trace in his letters the nature and the power of Bernard's love, -and see with what yearning he loved his fellows, seeking to withdraw them -from the world; and how his love strove to be as sword and armour against -the flesh and the devil. By easy transition we shall pass to Bernard's -warning wrath, flung against those who would turn the struggling soul -aside, or threaten the Church's peace; then by more arduous, but still -unbroken stages, we may rise to the love of Jesus, and through love of the -God-man to love of God. We shall realize at the close why that last -mediaeval assessor of destinies, whose name was Dante Alighieri, selected -St. Bernard as the exponent of the blessed vision which is salvation's -crown in the paradise of God.[476] - -The way of life at Clara Vallis might discourage monks of feeble zeal. -Among the brethren of these early days was one named Robert, a cousin of -the Abbot, seemingly of weak and petulant disposition. Soon he fled, to -seek a softer cell in Cluny, the great and rich monastery to which his -parents appear to have dedicated him in childhood. For a while Bernard -suppressed his grief; but the day came when he could endure no longer -Robert's abandonment of his soul's safety and of the friend who yearned -for him. He stole out of the monastery, accompanied by a monk named -William. There, in the open (_sub dio_), Bernard dictated a long letter to -be sent to the deserter. While the two were busy, the one dictating, the -other writing, a rainstorm broke upon them. William wished to stop. "It is -God's work; write and fear not," said Bernard. So William wrote on, in the -midst of the rain; but no drop fell on him or the parchment; for the power -of love which dictated the letter preserved the parchment on which it was -being written.[477] - -Whoever has read this letter in its own fervent Latin will not care to -dispute this miracle, for which it stands first in the collection of -Bernard's correspondence. Bernard does not recriminate or argue in it; his -love shall bring the young monk back to him. Yes, yes, he says to all that -the other has urged regarding fancied slights and persecution: - - "Quite right; I admit it. I am not writing in order to contend, but to - end contention. To flee persecution is no fault in him who flees, but - in him who pursues; I do not deny it. I pass over what has happened; I - do not ask why or how it happened. I do not discuss faults, I do not - dispute as to the circumstances, I have no memory for injuries. I - speak only what is in my heart. Wretched me, that I lack thee, that I - do not see thee, that I am living without thee, for whom to die would - be to live; without whom to live, is to die. I ask not why thou hast - gone away; I complain only that thou dost not return. Come, and there - shall be peace; return, and all shall be made good. - - "It was certainly my fault that thou didst go away. I was too austere - with thy young years, and treated thee inhumanly. So thou saidst when - here, and so I hear thou dost still reproach me. But that shall not be - imputed to thee. I never meant it harshly, I was only indiscreet. Now - thou wilt find me different, and I thee. Where before thou didst fear - the master, thou shalt now embrace the companion. Do not think that I - will not excuse any fault of thine. Dost thou wish to be quite free - from fault? then return. If thou wilt forget thy fault I will pardon - it; also pardon thou me, and I too will forget my fault." - -Bernard then argues long and passionately against those who had led the -young man away and received him with such blandishments at Cluny; and -passionately he argues against the insidious softening of monastic -principles. - - "Arise, soldier of Christ, arise, shake off the dust, return to the - battle whence thou hast fled, and more bravely shalt thou fight and - more gloriously triumph. Christ has many soldiers who bravely began, - stood fast and conquered; He has few who have turned from flight and - renewed the combat. Everything rare is precious; and thou among that - rare company shalt the more radiantly shine. - - "Thou art fearful? so be it; but why dost thou fear where there is no - fear, and why dost thou not fear where everything is to be feared? - Because thou hast fled from the battle-line, dost thou think to have - escaped the foe? It is easier for the Adversary to pursue a fugitive - than to bear himself against manful defence. Secure, arms cast aside, - thou takest thy morning slumbers, the hour when Christ will have - arisen! The multitude of enemies beset the house, and thou sleepest. - Is it safer to be caught alone and sleeping, than armed with others in - the field? Arouse thee, seize thy arms, and escape to thy - fellow-soldiers. Dost thou recoil at the weight of thy arms, O - delicate soldier! Before the enemy's darts the shield is no burden, - nor the helmet heavy. The bravest soldiers tremble when the trumpet is - heard before the battle is joined; but then hope of victory and fear - of defeat make them brave. How canst thou tremble, walled round with - the zeal of thy armed brethren, angels bearing aid at thy right hand, - and thy leader Christ? There shalt thou safely fight, secure of - victory. O battle, safe with Christ and for Christ! In which there is - no wound or defeat or circumvention so long as thou fleest not. Only - flight loses the victory, which death does not lose. Blessed art thou, - and quickly to be crowned, dying in battle. Woe for thee, if - recoiling, thou losest at once the victory and the crown--which may He - avert, my beloved son, who in the Judgment will award thee deeper - damnation because of this letter of mine if He finds thee to have - taken no amendment from it." - -"It is God's work," said Bernard to the hesitating scribe. These words -suggest the character of the love which inspired this letter. He loved -Robert as man yearns for man; but his motive was to do God's will, and win -the young man back to salvation. In after years this young man returned to -Clara Vallis. - -It was Bernard's lot to write many letters urging procrastinators to -fulfil their vows,[478] or appealing to those who had laid aside the arms -of austerity, perhaps betaking themselves to the more worldly life of the -secular clergy. This seems to have been the case with a young canon Fulco, -whom an ambitious uncle sought to draw back to the world, or at least to a -career of sacerdotal emolument. In fact, Fulco at last became an -archdeacon; from which it may be inferred that in his case Bernard's -appeal was not successful. He had poured forth his arguments in an ardent -letter.[479] Love compels him to use words to make the recipient grieve; -for love would have him feel grief, that he might no longer have true -cause for grief--good mother love, who can cherish the weak, exercise -those who have entered upon their course, or quell the restless, and so -show herself differently toward her sons, all of whom she loves. This -letter, like the one to Robert, concludes with a burning peroration: - - "What dost thou in the city, dainty soldier? Thy fellows whom thou - hast deserted, fight and conquer; they storm heaven (_coelum rapiunt_) - and reign, and thou, sitting on thy palfrey (_ambulatorem_), clothed - in purple and fine linen, goest ambling about the highways!" - -Bernard also wrote letters of consolation to parents whose sons had become -monks, or letters of warning to those who sought to withdraw a monk from -his good fight. In one instance, his influence had made a monk of a youth -of gentle birth named Godfrey, to his parents' grief. So Bernard writes to -them: - - "If God makes your son His also, what have you lost, or he? He, from - rich, becomes richer, from being noble, still more illustrious, and - what is more than all, from a sinner he becomes a saint. It behoved - him to be made ready for the Kingdom prepared for him from the - foundation of the world, and for this reason it is well for him to - spend with us his short span of days, so that clean from the filth of - living in the world, earth's dust shaken off, he may become fit for - the heavenly mansion. If you love him you will rejoice that he goes to - his Father, and such a Father! He goes to God, but you do not lose - him; rather through him you gain many sons. For all of us who belong - to Clara Vallis have taken him to be our brother and you for our - parents. - - "Perhaps you fear this hard life for his tender body--that were to - fear where there is nothing to fear. Have faith and be comforted. I - will be a father to him and he shall be my son until from my hands the - Father of Mercies and God of all consolation shall receive him. Do not - grieve; do not weep; your Godfrey is hastening to joy, not to sorrow. - A father to him will I be, a mother too, a brother and a sister. I - will make the crooked ways straight, and the steep places plain. I - will so temper and provide for him that as his spirit profits, his - body shall not want. So shall he serve the Lord in joy and gladness, - and shall sing before Him, How great is the glory of the Lord."[480] - -Young Godfrey was a daintily nurtured plant. For all the Abbot's eloquence -he did not stay in Clara Vallis. The world drew him back. It was now for -the saint to weep: - - "I grieve over thee, my son Godfrey; I grieve over thee. And with - reason. For who would not lament that the flower of thy youth which, - to the joy of angels, thou didst offer unsullied to God in the odour - of sweetness, is now trampled on by demons, defiled with sins, and - contaminated by the world. How could you, who were called by God, - follow the devil recalling thee? How could you, whom He had begun to - draw to Himself, withdraw your foot from the very entry upon glory? In - thee I see the truth of those words: 'A man's foes are they of his own - household.' Thy friends and neighbours drew near and stood up against - thee. They called thee back into the jaws of the lion and the gates of - death. They have set thee in darkness, like the dead; and thou art - nigh to go down into the belly of hell, which now is ravening to - devour thee. - - "Turn back, I say, turn back, before the abyss swallows you and the - pit closes its mouth, before you are engulfed whence you shall not - escape, before, bound hand and foot, you are cast into outer darkness - where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, before you are hurled - into darkness, shut in with the darkness of death. - - "Perhaps you blush to return, where you have only now fallen away. - Blush for flight, and not for turning to renew the combat. The - conflict is not ended; the hostile arrays have not withdrawn from each - other. We would not conquer without you, nor do we envy you your share - of the glory. Joyful we will run to thee, and receive thee in our - arms, crying: 'It is meet to make merry and be glad; for this our son - was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found.'"[481] - -Who knows whether this letter brought back the little monk? Bernard wrote -so lovingly to him, so gently to his parents. He could write otherwise, -and show himself insensible to this world's pestering tears. To the -importunate parents of a monk named Elias, who would drag him away from -Clara Vallis, Bernard writes in their son's name thus: - - "To his dear parents, Ingorranus and Iveta, Elias, monk but sinner, - sends daily prayers. - - "The only cause for which it is permitted not to obey parents is God; - for He said: 'Whoso loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy - of me.' If you truly love me as good and faithful parents, why do you - molest my endeavour to please the Father of all, and attempt to - withdraw me from the service of Him, to serve whom is to reign? For - this I ought not to obey you as parents, but regard you as enemies. If - you loved me, you would rejoice, because I go to my Father and yours. - But what is there between you and me? What have I from you save sin - and misery? And indeed the corruptible body which I carry I admit I - have from you. Is it not enough that you brought miserable me into the - misery of this hateful world? that you, sinners, in your sin produced - a sinner? and that him born in sin, in sin you nourished? Envying the - mercy which I have obtained from Him who desireth not the death of a - sinner, would you make me a child of hell? - - "O harsh father! savage mother! parents cruel and impious--parents! - rather destroyers, whose grief is the safety of the child, whose - consolation is the death of their son! who would drag me back to the - shipwreck which I, naked, escaped; who would give me again to the - robbers when through the good Samaritan I am a little recovering from - my wounds. - - "Cease then, my parents," concludes the letter after many other - reproofs, "cease to afflict yourselves with vain weeping and to - disquiet me. No messengers you send will force me to leave. Clara - Vallis will I never forsake. This is my rest, and here shall be my - habitation. Here will I pray without ceasing for my sins and yours; - here with constant prayer will I implore that He whose love has - separated us for a little while, will join us in another life happy - and inseparable,--in whose love we may live forever and ever. - Amen."[482] - -If Bernard was severe toward those who threatened some loved person's -weal, his anger burned more fiercely against those whom he deemed enemies -of God. Heavy was his hand upon the evils of the Church: "The insolence of -the clergy--to which the bishop's neglect is mother--troubles the earth -and molests the Church. The bishops give what is holy to the dogs, and -pearls to swine."[483] - -Likewise, fearlessly but with restraint arising from his respect for all -power ordained of God, Bernard opposes kings. Thus he writes to Louis the -Fat, in regard to the election of a bishop, with many protests, however, -that he would not oppose the royal power--for which we note his reason: -"If the whole world conspired to force me to do aught against kingly -majesty, yet would I fear God, and would not dare to offend the king -ordained by Him. For neither do I forget where I read that whosoever -resisteth power, resisteth the ordinance of God." But--but--but--continues -the letter, through many qualifyings which are also admonitions. At last -come the words: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the -living God, even for thee, O king." Thereupon the saint does not fail to -speak his mind.[484] - -Bernard's fiercest denunciations were reserved for heretics and -schismatics, for Abaelard, for Arnold of Brescia, for the Antipope -Anacletus--were they not enemies of God? Clearly the saint saw and -understood these men from his point of view. Thus in a letter to Innocent -II.[485] he sums up his attitude towards Abaelard: "Peter Abaelard is -trying to make void the merit of Christian faith, when he deems himself -able by human reason to comprehend God altogether. He ascends to the -heavens and descends even to the abyss! Nothing may hide from him in the -depths of hell or in the heights above! The man is great in his own -eyes--this scrutinizer of Majesty and fabricator of heresies." Here was -the gist of the matter. That a man should be great in his own eyes, apart -from God, and teach others so, stirred Bernard's bowels.[486] - -Of Arnold, the impetuous clerical revolutionist and pupil of Abaelard, -Bernard writes with fury: "Arnold of Brescia, whose speech is honey and -whose teaching poison, whom Brescia vomited forth, Rome abhorred, France -repelled, Germany abominates, Italy will not receive, is said to be with -you."[487] Again, Bernard rejoices with great joy when he hears that the -anti-pope who divided Christendom was dead.[488] - -It is pleasant to turn back to Bernard's lovingness and mercy. His God -would not condemn those who repented; and the saint can be gentle toward -sinners possibly repentant. He urges certain monks to receive back an -erring brother: "Take him back then, you who are spiritual, in the spirit -of gentleness; let love be confirmed in him, and let good intention excuse -the evil done. Receive back with joy him whom you wept as lost."[489] In -another letter he urges a countess to be more lenient with her -children;[490] and there is a story of his begging a robber from the hands -of the executioners, and leading him to Clara Vallis, where he became at -length a holy man.[491] - -So one sees Bernard's severity, his gentle mercy, and the love burning -within him for his fellows' good. Such were the emotions of Bernard the -saint. The man's human heart could also yearn, and feel bereavement in -spite of faith. As his zeal draws him from land to land, he is home-sick -for Clara Vallis. From Italy, in 1137, fighting to crush the anti-pope, a -letter carries his yearning love to his dear ones there: - - "Sad is my soul, and not to be consoled, until I may return. For what - consolation save you in the Lord have I in an evil time and in the - place of my pilgrimage? Wherever I go, your sweet recollection does - not leave me; but the sweeter the memory the more vexing is the - absence. Alas! my wandering not only is prolonged but aggravated. Hard - enough is exile from the Lord, which is common to us all while we are - pilgrims in the body. But I endure a special exile also, compelled to - live away from you. - - "For a third time my bowels are torn from me.[492] Those little - children are weaned before the time; the very ones whom I begot - through the Gospel I may not educate. I am forced to abandon my own, - and care for the affairs of others; and it is not easy to say whether - to be dragged from the former, or to be involved in the latter is - harder to bear. Thus, O good Jesus, my whole life is spent in grief - and my years in groaning! It is good for me, O Lord, to die, rather - than to live and not among my brothers, my own household, my own - dearest ones."[493] - -Bernard had a younger brother, Gerard, whom he deeply loved. In 1138 he -died while still young, and having recently returned with Bernard from -Italy. Bernard, dry-eyed, read the burial-service over his body; so says -his biographer wondering, for the saint was not wont to bury even -strangers without tears.[494] No other eyes were dry at that funeral. -Afterwards he preached a sermon;[495] it began with restraint, then became -a long cry of grief. - -The saint took the text from Canticles where he had left off in his -previous sermon--"I am black, but comely, as the tents of Kedar." He -proceeded to expound its meaning: the tents are our bodies, in which we -pilgrims dwell and carry on our war. Then he spoke of other portions of -the text--and suddenly deferred the whole subject till his next sermon: -Grief ordains an end, "and the calamity which I suffer." - - "For why dissemble, or conceal the fire which is scorching my sad - breast? What have I to do with this Song, I who am in bitterness? The - power of grief turns my intent, and the anger of the Lord has parched - my spirit. I did violence to my soul and dissembled till now, lest - sorrow should seem to conquer faith. Others wept, but with dry eyes I - followed the hateful funeral, and dry-eyed stood at the tomb, until - all the solemnities were performed. In my priestly robes I finished - the prayers, and sprinkled the earth over the body of my loved one - about to become earth. Those who looked on, weeping, wondered that I - did not. With such strength as I could command, I resisted and - struggled not to be moved at nature's due, at the fiat of the - Powerful, at the decree of the Just, at the scourge of the Terrible, - at the will of the Lord. But though tears were pressed back, I could - not command my sadness; and grief, suppressed, roots deeper. I confess - I am beaten. My sorrow will out before the eyes of my children who - understand and will console. - - "You know, my sons, how just is my grief. You know what a comrade has - left me in the path wherein I was walking. He was my brother in blood - and still closer by religion. I was weak in body, and he carried me; - faint-hearted, and he comforted me; lazy, and he spurred me; - thoughtless, and he admonished me. Whither art thou snatched away, - snatched from my hands! O bitter separation, which only death could - bring; for living, thou wouldst never leave me. Why did we so love, - and now have lost each other! Hard state, but my fortune, not his, is - to be pitied. For thou, dear brother, if thou hast lost dear ones, - hast gained those who are dearer. Me only this separation wounds. - Sweet was our presence to each other, sweet our consorting, sweet our - colloquy; I have lost these joys; thou hast but changed them. Now, - instead of such a worm as me, thou hast the presence of Christ. But - what have I in place of thee? And perhaps though thou knewest us in - the flesh, now that thou hast entered into the power of the Lord, thou - art mindful only of His righteousness, forgetting us. - - "I seem to hear my brother saying: 'Can a woman forget her sucking - child; even so, yet will I not forget thee.' That does not help, where - no hand is stretched out." - -Bernard speaks of Gerard's unfailing helpfulness to him and every one, and -of his piety and religious life. He feels the cares of his life and -station closing around him, and his brother gone. Then he justifies his -grief, and pours it forth unrestrained. Would any one bid him not to weep? -as well tell him not to feel when his bowels were torn from him; he feels, -for his flesh is not brass; he grieves, and his grief is ever before him: - - "I confess my sorrow. Will some one call me carnal? Certainly I am - human, since I am a man. Nor do I deny being carnal, for I am, and - sold under sin, adjudged to death and punishment. I am not insensible - to punishments; I shudder at death, my own or others'. Mine was - Gerard, mine! He is gone, and I feel, and am wounded, grievously! - - "Pardon me, my sons; or rather lament your father's state. Pity me, - and think how grievously I have been requited for my sins by the hand - of God. Though I feel the punishment, I do not impugn the sentence. - This is human; that would be impious. Man must needs be affected - towards those dear to him, with gladness at their presence, with - sorrow at their absence. I grieve over thee, Gerard, my beloved, not - because thou art to be pitied, but because thou art taken away. May it - be that I have not lost thee, but sent thee on before! Be it granted - me some time to follow whither thou art gone; for thou hast joined the - company of those heavenly ones on whom in thy last hours thou didst - call exultingly to praise the Lord. For thee death had no sting, nor - any fear. Through his jaws Gerard passed to his Fatherland safe and - glad and exulting. When I reached his side, and he had finished the - psalm, looking up to heaven, he said in a clear voice: 'Father, into - thy hands I commend my spirit.' Then saying over again and again the - word, 'Father, Father,' he turned his joyful face to me, and said: - 'What great condescension that God should be father to men! What glory - for men to be sons of God and heirs of God!' So he rejoiced, till my - grief was almost turned to a song of gladness. - - "But the pang of sorrow calls me back from that lovely vision, as care - wakens one from light slumber. I grieve, but only over myself; I - lament his loss to this household, to the poor, to all our Order; whom - did he not comfort with deed and word and example? Grievously am I - afflicted, because I love vehemently. And let no one blame my tears; - for Jesus wept at Lazarus's tomb. His tears bore witness to His - nature, not to His lack of faith. So these tears of mine; they show my - sorrow, not my faithlessness. I grieve, but do not murmur. Lord, I - will sing of thy mercy and righteousness. Thou gavest Gerard; thou - hast taken him. Though we grieve that he is gone, we thank thee for - the gift. - - "I bear in mind, O Lord, my pact and thy commiseration, that thou - mightest the more be justified in thy word. For when last year we were - in Viterbo, and he fell sick, and I was afflicted at the thought of - losing him in a strange land and not bringing him back to those who - loved him, I prayed to thee with groans and tears: 'Wait, O Lord, - until our return. When he is restored to his friends, take him, if - thou wilt, and I will not complain.' Thou heardest me, God; he - recovered; we finished the work thou hadst laid on us, and returned in - gladness bringing our sheaves of peace. Then I was near to forget my - pact, but not so thou. I shame me of these sobs, which convict me of - prevarication. Thou hast recalled thy loan, thou hast taken again what - was thine. Tears set an end to words; thou, O Lord, wilt set to them - limit and measure."[496] - -We may now turn to Bernard's love of God, and rise with him from the -fleshly to the spiritual, from the conditioned to the absolute. There is -no break; love is always love. More especially the love of Christ, the -God-man is the mediating term: He presents the Godhead in human form; to -love Him is to know a love attaching to both God and man. - -Guigo, Prior of the "Grande Chartreuse," whose _Meditations_ have been -given,[497] was Bernard's friend, and wrote to him upon love. Bernard -replies: "While I was reading it, I felt sparks in my breast, from which -my heart glowed within me as from that fire which the Lord sent upon the -earth!" He hesitates to suggest anything to Guigo's fervent spirit, as he -would hesitate to rouse a bride quiet in the bridegroom's arms. Yet "what -I do not dare, love dares; it boldly knocks at a friend's door, fearing no -repulse, and quite careless of disturbing your delightful ease with its -affairs." Bernard is here speaking of love's importunate devotion; his -words characterize the soul's importuning of God: - - "I should call love undefiled because it keeps nothing of its own. - Indeed it has nothing of its own, for everything which it has is - God's. The undefiled law of the Lord is love, which seeks not what - profits itself but what profits many. It is called the law of the - Lord, either because He lives by it, or because no one possesses it - save by His gift. It is not irrational to speak of God as living by - law, that law being love. Indeed in the blessed highest Trinity what - preserves that highest ineffable unity, except love?" - -So far, Bernard has been using the word _charitas_. Now, in order to -indicate love's desire, he begins to use the words _cupiditas_ and -_amor_.[498] When these yearning qualities are rightly guided by God's -grace, what is good will be cherished for the sake of what is better, the -body will be loved for the soul's sake, the soul for God's sake, and God -for His own sake. - - "Yet because we are of the flesh (_carnales_) and are begotten through - the flesh's concupiscence, our yearning love (_cupiditas vel amor - noster_) must begin from the flesh; yet if rightly directed, advancing - under the leadership of grace, it will be consummated in spirit. For - that which is first is not spiritual, but that which is natural - (_animale_); then that which is spiritual. First man loves (_diligit_) - himself for his own sake. For he is flesh, and is able to understand - nothing beyond himself. When he sees that he cannot live - (_subsistere_) by himself alone, he begins, as it were from necessity, - to seek and love God. Thus, in this second stage, he loves God, but - only for his own sake. Yet as his necessities lead him to cultivate - and dwell with God in thinking, reading, praying, and obeying, God - little by little becomes known and becomes sweet. Having thus tasted - how sweet is the Lord, he passes to the third stage, where he loves - God for God's sake. Whether any man in this life has perfectly - attained the fourth stage, where he loves himself for God's sake, I do - not know. Let those say who have knowledge; for myself, I confess it - seems impossible. Doubtless it will be so when the good and faithful - servant shall have entered into the joy of his Lord, and shall be - drunk with the flowing richness of God's house. Then oblivious to - himself, he will pass to God and become one spirit with Him."[499] - -So one sees the stages through which love of self and lust of fellow -become love of God. A responsive emotion attends each ascending step in -the saint's intellectual apprehension of love--as one should bear in mind -while following the larger exposition of the theme in Bernard's _De -deligendo Deo_.[500] - -The cause and reason for loving God is God; the _mode_ is to love without -measure: "Causa diligendi Deum, Deus est; modus, sine modo diligere." -Should we love God because of His desert, or our advantage? For both -reasons. On the score of His desert, because He first loved us. What stint -shall there be to my love of Him who is my life's free giver, its -bounteous administrator, its kind consoler, its solicitous ruler, its -redeemer, eternal preserver and glorifier? On the other hand, "God is not -loved without reward; but He should be loved without regard to the -reward. _Charitas_ seeks not its own. It is affection and not a contract; -it is not bought, nor does it buy. _Amor_ is satisfied with itself. It has -the reward, which is what is loved. True love demands no reward, but -merits one. The reward, although not sought by the lover, is due him, and -will be rendered if he perseveres." - -Bernard proceeds to expound the four stages or grades (_gradus_) of love: - - "Love is a natural affection, one of the four.[501] As it exists by - nature, it should diligently serve the Author of nature first of all. - But as nature is frail and weak, love is compelled by necessity first - to serve itself. This is carnal love, whereby, above everything, man - loves himself for his own sake. It is not set forth by precept, but is - rooted in nature; for who hates his own flesh? As love becomes more - ready and profuse, it is not content with the channel of necessity, - but will pour forth and overspread the broad fields of pleasure. At - once the overflow is bridled by the command, 'Thou shalt love thy - neighbour as thyself.' This is just and needful, lest what is part of - nature should have no part in grace. A man may concede to himself what - he will, so long as he is mindful to provide the same for his - neighbour. The bridle of temperance is imposed on thee, O man, out of - the law of life and discipline, in order that thou shouldst not follow - thy desires, nor with the good things of nature serve the enemy of the - soul, which is lust. If thou wilt turn away from thy pleasures, and be - content with food and raiment, little by little it will not so burden - thee to keep thy love from carnal desires, which war against the soul. - Thy love will be temperate and righteous when what is withdrawn from - its own pleasures is not denied to its brother's needs. Thus carnal - love becomes social when extended to one's kind. - - "Yet in order that perfect justice should exist in the love of - neighbour, God must be regarded (_Deum in causa haberi necesse est_). - How can one love his neighbour purely who does not love in God? God - makes Himself loved, He who makes all things good. He who founded - nature so made it that it should always need to be sustained by Him. - In order that no creature might be ignorant of this, and arrogate for - himself the good deeds of the Creator, the Founder wisely decreed that - man should be tried in tribulations. By this means, when he shall have - failed and God have aided, God shall be honoured by him whom He has - delivered. The result is that man, animal and carnal, who knew not how - to love any one beside himself, begins for his own sake to love God; - because he has found out that in God he can accomplish everything - profitable, and without Him can do nothing. - - "So now for his own interest, he loves God--love's second grade; but - does not yet love God for God's sake. If, however, tribulation keeps - assailing him, and he continually turns to God for aid, and God - delivers him, will not the man so oft delivered, though he have a - breast of iron and a heart of stone, be drawn to cherish his - deliverer, and love Him not only for His aid but for Himself? Frequent - necessities compel man to come to God incessantly; repeatedly he - tastes and, by tasting, proves how sweet is the Lord. At length God's - sweetness, rather than human need, draws the man to love Him. - Thereafter it will not be hard for the man to fulfil the command to - love his neighbour. Truly loving God, he loves for this reason those - who are God's. He loves chastely, and is not oppressed through obeying - the chaste command; he loves justly, and willingly embraces the just - command. That is the third grade of love, when God is loved for - Himself. - - "Happy is he who attains to the fourth grade, where man loves himself - only on account of God. Thy righteousness, O God, is as the mountain - of God; love is that mountain, that high mountain of God. Who shall - ascend into the mountain of the Lord? Who will give me the wings of a - dove and I will fly away and be at rest. Alas! for my long-drawn - sojourning! When shall I gain that habitation in Zion, and my soul - become one spirit with God? Blessed and holy will I call him to whom - in this mortal life such has been given though but once. For to be - lost to self and not to feel thyself, and to be emptied of thyself and - almost to be made nothing, that pertains to heavenly intercourse, not - to human affection. And if any one among mortals here gain admission - for an instant, at once the wicked world is envious, the day's evil - disturbs, the body of death drags down, fleshly necessity solicits, - corruption's debility does not sustain, and, fiercest of all, - brotherly love calls back! Alas! he is dragged back to himself, and - forced to cry: 'O Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me' (Isa. - xxxviii. 14); 'Who will deliver me from the body of this death?' (Rom. - vii. 24). - - "Yet Scripture says that God made all things for His own sake; that - will come to pass when the creation is in full accord with its Author. - Therefore we must sometime pass into that state wherein we do not wish - to be ourselves or anything else, except for His sake and by reason of - His will, not ours. Then not our need or happiness, but His will, will - be fulfilled in us. O holy love and chaste! O sweet affection! O pure - and purged intention of the will, in which nothing of its own is - mingled! This is it to be made God (_deificari_). As the drop of water - is diffused in a jar of wine, taking its taste and colour, and as - molten iron becomes like to fire and casts off its form, and as the - air transfused with sunlight is transformed into that same brightness - of light, so that it seems not illumined, but itself to be the light, - thus in the saints every human affection must in some ineffable mode - be liquefied of itself and transfused into the will of God. How could - God be all in all if in man anything of man remained? A certain - substance will remain, but in another form, another glory, another - power." - -Hereupon St. Bernard considers how this fourth grade of love will be -attained in the resurrection, and "perpetually possessed, when God only is -loved and we love ourselves only for His sake, that He may be the -recompense and aim (_praemium_) of those who love themselves, the eternal -recompense of those who love eternally." - -Christ is the universal Mediator between God and man, not only because -reconciling them, but as forming the intervening term, the concrete -instance of the One suited to the comprehension of the other. Such -thoughts and sentiments as commonly apply to man, when they are applied to -Christ become fit to apply to God. Herein especially may be perceived the -continuing identity of love, whether relating to human beings or to God. -The soul's love of Christ is mediatorial, and symbolic of its love of God. -All of which Bernard has demonstrated with conjoined power of argument and -feeling in his famous _Sermons on Canticles_.[502] - -The human personality of Christ draws men to love Him, till their love is -purged of carnality and exalted to a perfect love of God: - - "Observe that the heart's love is partly carnal; it is affected - through the flesh of Christ and what He said and did while in the - flesh. Filled with this love, the heart is readily touched by - discourse upon His words and acts. It hears of nothing more willingly, - reads nothing more carefully, recalls nothing more frequently, and - meditates upon nothing more sweetly. When man prays, the sacred image - of the God-man is with him, as He was born or suckled, as He taught or - died, rose from the dead or ascended to heaven. This image never fails - to nerve man's mind with the love of virtue, cast out the vices of the - flesh and quell its lusts. I deem the principal reason why the - invisible God wished to be seen in the flesh, and, as man, hold - intercourse with men, was that He might draw the affections of carnal - men, who could only love carnally, to a salutary love of His flesh, - and then on to a spiritual love." - -Conversely, the Saviour's example teaches men how they should love Him: - - "He loved sweetly, wisely, and bravely: sweetly, in that He put on - flesh; wisely, in that He avoided fault; bravely, in that He bore - death. Those, however, with whom He sojourned in the flesh, He did not - love carnally, but in prudence of spirit. Learn then, Christian, from - Christ how to love Christ." - -Bernard shows how even the Apostles failed sometimes to love Him according -to His perfect teaching and example: - - "Good, indeed, is this carnal love," he concludes, "through which a - carnal life is shut out; and the world is despised and conquered. This - love progresses as it becomes rational, and perfected as it becomes - spiritual."[503] - -From his own experiences Bernard could have spoken much of the winning -power of Jesus, and could have told how sweetly it drew him to love his -Saviour's steps from Bethlehem to Calvary. The fifteenth sermon upon -Canticles is on the healing power of Jesus' name. - - "Dry is all food for the soul unless anointed with that oil. Whatever - you write is not to my taste unless I read Jesus there. Your talk and - disputation is nothing unless that name is rung. Jesus is honey in the - mouth, melody in the ear, joy in the heart. He is medicine as well. Is - any one troubled, let Jesus come into the heart and thence leap to the - lips, and behold! at the rising of that bright name the clouds scatter - and the air is again serene. If any one slips in crime, and then - desponds amid the snares of death, will he not, invoking that name of - life, regain the breath of life? In whom can hardness of heart, sloth, - rancour, languishment stand before that name? In whom at its - invocation will not the dried fount of tears burst forth more - abundantly and sweetly? To what fearful trembler did the power of that - name ever fail to bring back confidence? To what man struggling amid - doubts did not the clear assurance of that name, invoked, shine forth? - Who despairing in adversity lacked fortitude if that name sounded? - These are the languors and sickness of the soul, and that the - medicine. Nothing is as potent to restrain the attack of wrath, or - quell the tumour of pride, or heal envy's wound, or put out the fire - of lust, or temper avarice. When I name Jesus, I see before me a man - meek and humble of heart, benignant, sober, chaste, pitying, holy, who - heals me with His example and strengthens me with aid. I take example - from the Man, and draw aid from the Mighty One. Here hast thou, O my - soul, an herb of price, hidden in the vessel of that name, bringing - thee health surely and in thy sickness failing thee never." - -This is a little illustration of Bernard's love of the Christ-man, a love -which is ever taking on spiritual hues and changing to a love of the -Christ-God. Christians, from the time of Origen, had recognized the many -offices of Christ, the many saving potencies in which He ministered unto -each soul according to its need. And so Bernard preaches that the sick -soul needs Christ as the physician, but that the saintly soul has other -yearnings for a more perfect communion. - -This perfect communion, this most complete relationship which in this -mortal life a soul can have with Christ, with God, had been symbolized, -likewise ever since the time of Origen, by the words Bride and Bridegroom, -and the Song of Songs had furnished the burning phrases. With surpassing -spirituality Bernard uses the texts of Canticles to set forth the -relationship of the soul to Christ, of man to God. The texts are what they -are, burning, sensuous, fleshly, intense, and beautiful--every one knows -them; but in Bernard's sermons flesh fades before the spirit's whiter -glow. - - "O love (_amor_), headlong, vehement, burning, impetuous, that canst - think of nothing beyond thyself, detesting all else, despising all - else, satisfied with thyself! Thou dost confound ranks, carest for no - usage, knowest no measure. In thyself dost thou triumph over apparent - opportuneness, reason, shame, council and judgment, and leadest them - into captivity. Everything which the soul-bride utters resounds of - thee and nothing else; so hast thou possessed her heart and - tongue."[504] - -What Bernard here ejaculates as to the overwhelming sufficiency of love, -he sets forth finally in a sustained and reasoned passage, in which man's -ways of loving God are cast together in a sequence of ardent thought and -image. He has been explaining the soul's likeness to the Word. Although it -be afflicted and defiled by sin, it may yet venture to come to Him whose -likeness it retains, however obscured. The soul does not leave God by -change of place, but, in the manner of spiritual substance, by becoming -depraved. The return of the soul is its conversion, in which it is made -conformable to God. - - "Such conformity marries the soul to the Word, whom it is like by - nature, and may show itself like in will, loving as it is loved. If it - loves perfectly it weds. What more delightful than this conformity, - what more desirable than this love, through which thou, O soul, - faithfully drawest near to the Word, with constancy cleavest to the - Word, consulting Him in everything, as capable in intellect as - audacious in desire. Spiritual is the contracting of these holy - nuptials, wherein always to will the same makes one spirit out of two. - No fear lest the disparity of persons make but a lame concurrence of - wills: for love does not know respect. The name love comes from loving - and not from honouring. He may honour who dreads, who is struck dumb - with fear and wonder. Not so the lover. Love aboundeth in itself, and - derides and imprisons the other emotions. Wherefore she who loves, - loves, and knows nothing else. And He who is to be honoured and - marvelled at, still loves rather to be loved. Bridegroom and Bride - they are. And what necessity or bond is there between spouses except - to be loved and love? - - "Think also, that the Bridegroom is not only loving but very love. Is - He also honour? I have not so read. I have read that God is love; not - that He is honour, or dignity. God indeed demands to be feared as - Lord, to be honoured as Father, and as Bridegroom to be loved. Which - excels the rest? Love, surely. Without it, fear is penal, and honour - graceless. Fear is slavish till manumitted by love; and the honour - which does not rise from love is adulation. To God alone belong honour - and glory; but He will accept neither unless it is flavoured with - love's honey. - - "Love asks neither cause nor fruit beyond itself. I love because I - love; I love that I may love. A great thing is love. Among all the - movements, sensations, and affections of the soul, it is the only one - wherein the creature can make a return to its Author. If God be angry - with me, shall I likewise be angry with Him? Nay, I will fear and - tremble and beseech. If He accuse me, I will make no counter-charge, - but plead before Him. If He judge me, I will not judge but worship. - And when He saves me, He asks not to be saved by me; nor does He who - frees all ask to be freed of any one. Likewise if He commands, I obey, - and do not order Him. Now see how different it is with love. For when - God loves, He wishes only to be loved; He loves with no other end than - to be loved, knowing that those who love are blessed with love itself. - - - "A great thing is love; but there are grades in it. The Bride stands - at the summit. Sons love, but they are thinking of their inheritance. - Fearing to lose that, they honour, rather than love, him from whom - they expect it. Love is suspect when its suffrage appears to be won by - hope of gain. Weak is it, if it cease or lessen with that hope - withdrawn. It is impure if it desires anything else. Pure love is not - mercenary: it gains no strength from hope, nor weakens with lack of - trust. This love is the Bride's, because she is what she is by love. - Love is the Bride's sole hope and interest. In it the Bride abounds - and the Bridegroom is content. He seeks nothing else, nor has she - ought beside. Hence he is Bridegroom and she Bride. This belongs to - spouses which none else, not even a son, can attain. Man is commanded - to honour his father and mother; but there is silence as to love. - Which is not because parents are not to be loved by their sons; but - because sons are rather moved to honour them. The honour of the King - loves judgment; but the Bridegroom's love--for He is love--asks only - love's return and faith. - - "Rightly renouncing all other affections, the Bride reposes on love - alone, and returns a love reciprocal. And when she has poured her - whole self out in love, what is that compared with the perennial flood - of that fountain? Not equals in abundance are this loving one and - Love, the soul and the Word, the Bride and Bridegroom, creature and - Creator--no more than thirst equals the fount. What then? shall she - therefore despair, and the vow of the would-be Bride be rendered - empty? Shall the desire of this panting one, the ardour of this loving - one, the trust of this confiding one be baffled because she cannot - keep pace with the giant's course, in sweetness contend with honey, in - mildness with the Lamb, in whiteness with the Lily, in brightness with - the Sun, in love with Him who is love? No. For although the creature - loves less, because she is less, yet if she loves with her whole self, - nothing lacks where there is all. Wherefore, as I have said, so to - love is to have wedded; for no one can so love and yet be loved but - little, and in mutual consent stands the entire and perfect - marriage."[505] - -Who has not marvelled that the relationship of marriage should make so -large a part of the symbolism through which monks and nuns expressed the -soul's love of God? Historically it might be traced to Paul's precept, -"Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the Church"; still more -potently it was derived from the Song of Songs. But beyond these almost -adventitious influences, did not the holy priest, the monk, the nun, feel -and know that marriage was the great human relationship? So they drew from -it the most adequate allegory of the soul's communion with its Maker: -differently according to their sex, with much emotion, and even with -unseemly imaginings, they thought and felt the love of God along the ways -of wedded union or even bridal passion.[506] - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI[507] - - -Twenty-nine years after the death of St. Bernard, Francis was born in the -Umbrian hill town of Assisi. The year was 1182. On the fourth of October -1226, in the forty-fifth year of his age, this most loving and best -beloved of mediaeval saints breathed his last, in the little church of the -Portiuncula, within the shadows of that same hill town. - -Of all mediaeval saints, Bernard and Francis impressed themselves most -strongly upon their times. Neither of them was pre-eminently an -intellectual force--Francis especially would not have been what he was but -for certain childlike qualities of mind which never fell away from him. -The power of these men sprang from their personalities and the _vivida -vis_ (their contemporaries would have said, the grace of God) realizing -itself in every word and act. Bernard's power was more directly dependent -upon the conditions of his epoch, and his influence was more limited in -duration. - -The reason is not far to seek. Both men were of the Middle Ages, even of -those decades in which they lived. But Bernard's strength was part of the -medium wherein he worked and the evil against which he fought--the -clerical corruptions, the heresies, the schisms and political -controversies, the warfare of Christ with Mahomet,--all matters of vital -import for his time, but which were to change and pass. - -Francis, on the other hand, was occupied with none of these. He was no -scourge of clerical corruptions, no scourge of anything; he knew nought of -heresy or schism, nothing of politics or war; into the story of his life -there comes not even a far-off echo of the Albigensian Crusade or the -conflict between pope and emperor. His life appears detached from the -special conditions of his time; it is neither held within them nor -compelled by them, but only by its inner impulse. For it was not occupied -with the exigencies of Italy and Germany, or Southern France, during that -first quarter of the thirteenth century, when De Montfort was hurling the -orthodox and brutal north upon the fair but heretical provinces of -Languedoc, and when Innocent III. was excommunicating Otho IV., and -Frederick II. was disclosing himself as the most dangerous foe the papacy -had yet known. The passing turmoil and danger of the time did not touch -this life; the man knew naught of all these things. He was not considering -thirteenth-century Italians, Frenchmen, and Germans; he was fascinated -with men as men, with the dumb brutes as fellow-creatures, and even with -plants and stones as vessels of God's loveliness or symbols of His Word; -above all he was absorbed in Christ, who had taken on humanity for him, -had suffered for him, died for him, and who now around, above, within him, -inspired and directed his life. - -So Francis's life was not compassed by its circumstances; nor was its -effect limited to the thirteenth century. His life partook of the eternal -and the universal, and might move men in times to come as simply and -directly as it turned men's hearts to love in the years when Francis was -treading the rough stones of Assisi. - -On the other hand, Francis was mediaeval and in a way to give concrete -form and colour to the elements of universal manhood that were his. He was -mediaeval in complete and finished mode; among mediaeval men he offers -perhaps the most distinct and most perfectly consistent individuality. He -is Francis of Assisi, born in 1182 and dying in 1226, and no one else who -ever lived either there and then or elsewhere at some other time. He is -Francis of Assisi perfectly and always, a man presenting a complete -artistic unity, never exhibiting act or word or motive out of character -with himself. - -From a slightly different point of view we may perceive how he was a -perfect individual and at the same time a perfect mediaeval type. There -was no element in his character which was not assimilated and made into -Francis of Assisi. Anterior and external influences contributed to make -this Francis. But in entering him they ceased to be what they had been; -they changed and became Francis. For example, nothing of the antique, no -distinct bit of classical inheritance, appears in him; if, in any way, he -was touched by it--as in his joyous love of life and the world about -him--the influence had ceased to be anything distinct in him; it had -become himself. Likewise, whatever he may have known of the Fathers and of -all the dogmatic possession and ecclesiastical tradition of the Church, -this also was remade in Francis. Evidently such an all-assimilating and -transforming individuality could not have existed in those earlier -centuries when the immature mediaeval world was taking over its great -inheritance from the pagan and Christian antique--those centuries when men -could but turn their heritage of thought and knowledge this way and that, -disturb and distort and rearrange it. Such an individuality as Francis -could exist only at the climax of the Middle Age, at the period of its -fullest strength and greatest distinction, when it had masterfully changed -after its own heart whatever it had received from the past, and had made -its transformed acquisitions into itself. - -Francis is of this grand mediaeval climacteric. The Middle Ages were no -longer in a stage of transition from the antique; they had attained; they -were themselves. Sides of this distinctive mediaeval development and -temper express themselves in Francis--are Francis verily. The spirit of -romance is incarnate in him. Roland, Oliver, Charlemagne (he of the -_Chansons de geste_), and the knights of the Round Table, are part of -Francis;--his first disciples are his paladins. Again, instead of emperor -or paladin, he is himself the _jongleour_, the _joculator Dei_ (God's -minstrel). - -And of all that had become Francis the greatest was Christ. He had not -taken the theology of Augustine; he had not taken the Christ handed over -by the transition centuries to the early Middle Ages; he had not adopted -the Christ of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. He took Jesus from the Gospel, -or at least such elements of Jesus' life and teaching as he felt and -understood. Francis modelled his life on his understanding of Christ and -His teaching. So many another saint had done; in fact, so must all -Christians try to do. Francis accomplished it with completeness and power; -he created a new Christ life; a Christ life partial and reduced from the -breadth and balance of the original, yet veritable and living. Francis -himself felt that his whole life was Christ-directed and inspired, and -that even because of his own special insignificance Christ had chosen him -to show forth the true Gospel life again--but chosen him indeed.[508] - -Although the life of Francis appears as if detached from the larger -political and ecclesiastical movements of the time, it yields glimpses of -the ways and doings of the people of Assisi. We see their jealousies and -quarrels, their war with Perugia, also their rustic readiness to jeer at -the unusual and incomprehensible; or we are struck with instances of the -stupid obstinacy and intolerance often characterizing a small community. -Again, we see in some of those citizens an open and quick impulsiveness, -which, at the sight of love, may turn to love. It would seem as if the -harshest, most impossible man of all the town was Peter Bernardone, a -well-to-do merchant whose affairs took him often from Assisi, and not -infrequently to France. - -Bernardone had a predilection for things French, and the child born to his -wife while he was absent in France, he called Francis upon his return, -although the mother had given it the name of John. The mother, whose name -was Pica, may have been of Provençal or French blood. Apparently such -education as Francis received in his boyhood was as much French as -Italian. Through all his life he never lost the habit of singing French -songs which he composed himself.[509] - -The biographers assert that Francis was nourished in worldly vanity and -insolence. His temperament drew him to the former, but kept him from the -latter. For while he delighted in making merry with his friends, he was -always distinguished by a winning courtesy of manner toward poor and rich. -An innate generosity was also his, and he loved to spend money as he -roamed with his companions about Assisi singing jovial choruses and -himself the leader of the frolic. Bernardone did not object to his son's -squandering some money in a way which led others to admire him and think -his parents rich; while Pica would keep saying that some day he would be -God's son through grace. A vein of sprightly fantasy runs through these -gaieties of Francis's, which we may be sure were unstained by any gross -dissipation. Francis's life as a saint is peculiarly free from monkish -impudicity, free, that is, from morbid dwelling upon things sensual; which -shows that in him there was no reaction or need of reaction against any -youthful dissoluteness, and bears testimony to the purity of his -unconverted years.[510] - -In those days Francis loved to be admired and praised. He was possessed -with a romantic and imaginative vanity. Costly clothes delighted him as he -dreamed of still more royal entertainment, and fancied great things to -come. His mind was filled with the figures of Romance; a knight would he -be at least; why not a paladin, whom all the world should wonder at? So he -dreamed, and so he acted out his whim as best he might on the little stage -of Assisi; for Francis was a poet, and a poet even more in deed than in -words. He was endowed with exquisite fancy, and he did its dictates never -doubting. His life was to prove an almost unexampled inspiration to art, -because it was itself a poem by reason of its unfailing realization of the -conceptions of a fervent and beautiful imagination. - -There came war with Perugia, a very hard-hitting town; and the Assisi -cavaliers, Francis among them, found themselves in their neighbours' -dungeons. There some desponded; but not Francis. For in these careless -days he was always gleeful and jocular, even as afterwards his entire -saintly life was glad with an invincible gaiety of spirit. So Francis -laughed and joked in prison till his fellow-prisoners thought him crazy, -which no whit worried him, as he answered with the glad boast that some -day he would be adored by all the world. He showed another side of his -inborn nature when he was kind to a certain one of the captives whom the -rest detested, and tried to reconcile his fellows with him. - -It was soon after his release from this twelvemonth captivity that the -sails of Francis's spirit began to fill with still more topping hopes, and -then to waver strangely. He naturally fell sick after the privations of a -Perugia prison. As he recovered and went about with the aid of a staff, -the loveliness of field and vineyard failed to please him. He wondered at -himself, and suspected that his former pleasures were follies. But it was -not so easy to leave off his previous life, and Francis's thoughts were -lured back again to this world's glory; for a certain nobleman of Assisi -was about to set out on an expedition to Apulia to win gain and fame, and -Francis was inflamed to go with him. In the night he dreamed that his -father's house with its heaps of cloth and other wares was filled instead -with swords and lances, with glittering shields, helmets and breastplates. -He awoke in an ecstasy of joy at the great glory portended by this dream. -Then he fitted himself out sumptuously, with splendid garb, bright -weapons, new armour, and accoutrements, and in due time set forth with his -fellow-adventurers. - -Once more he wavered. Before reaching Spoleto he stopped, left the -company, turned back on his steps, this time impelled more strongly to -seek those things which he was to love through life. He was about -twenty-three years old. It was his nature to love everything, fame and -applause, power perhaps, and joy; but he had not yet loved worthily. Now -his Lord was calling him, the voice at first not very certain, and yet -becoming stronger. Francis seems to have seen a vision, in which the -vanity of his attachments was made clear, and he learned that he was -following a servant instead of the Lord. So his heart replied, "Lord, what -wouldst thou have me to do?" and then the vision showed him that he should -return, for he had misunderstood his former dream of arms. When Francis -awoke he thought diligently on these matters. - -Such spiritual experiences are incommunicable, even though the man should -try to tell them. But we know that as Francis had set out joyfully -expecting worldly glory, he now returned with exultation, to await the -will of the Lord, as it might be shown him. The facts and also their -sequence are somewhat confused in the biographies. - -On his return to Assisi, his comrades seem to have chosen him as lord of -their revels; again he ordained a merry feast; but as they set forth -singing gleefully, Francis walked behind them, holding his marshal's -staff, in silence. Thoughts of the Lord had come again, and withdrawn his -attention: he was thinking sweetly of the Lord, and vilely of himself. -Soon after he is found providing destitute chapels with the requisites for -a decent service; already--in his father's absence--he is filling his -table with beggars; and already he has overcome his fastidious temper, has -forced himself to exchange the kiss of peace with lepers, and has kissed -the livid hands in which he presses alms.[511] He appears to have made a -trip to St. Peter's at Rome, where, standing before the altar, it struck -him that the Prince of the Apostles was being honoured with mean -offerings. So in his own princely way he flung down the contents of his -purse, to the wonder of all. Then going without the church, he put on the -clothes of a beggar and asked alms. - -In such conduct Francis showed himself a poet and a saint. Imagination was -required to conceive these extreme, these perfect acts, acts perfect in -their carrying out of a lovely thought to its fulfilment, and suffering -nothing to impede its perfect realization. So Francis flings down all he -has, and not a measure of his goods; he puts on beggars' clothes, and -begs; he kisses lepers' hands, eats from the same bowl with them--acts -which were perfect in the singleness of their fulfilment of a saintly -motive, acts which were likewise beautiful. They are instances of -obsession with a saintly idea of great spiritual beauty, obsession so -complete that the ridiculous or hideous concomitants of the realization -serve only to enhance the beauty of the holy thought perfectly fulfilled. - -One day at Assisi, passing by the church of St. Damian, Francis was moved -to enter for prayer. As he prayed before the Crucifix, the image seemed to -say, "Francis, dost thou not see my house in ruins? Rebuild it for me." -And he answered, "Gladly, Lord," thinking that the little chapel of St. -Damian was intended. Filled with joy, having felt the Crucified in his -soul, he sought the priest and gave him money to buy oil for the lamp -before the Crucifix. This day was ever memorable in Francis's walk with -God. His way had lost its turnings; he saw his life before him clear, -glad, and full of tears of love. "From that hour his heart was so wounded -and melted at the memory of his Lord's passion that henceforth while he -lived he carried in his heart the marks of the Lord Jesus. Again he was -seen walking near the Portiuncula, wailing aloud. And in response to the -inquiries of a priest, he answered: 'I bewail the passion of my Lord Jesus -Christ, which it should not shame me to go weeping through the world!' -Often as he rose from prayer his eyes were full of blood, because he had -wept so bitterly."[512] - -It appears to have been after this vision in St. Damian's Church that -Francis went on horseback to Foligno, carrying pieces of cloth, which he -sold there, and his horse as well. He travelled back on foot, and seeking -out St. Damian's astonished little priest, he kissed his hands devoutly -and offered him the money. When, for fear of Bernardone, the priest would -not receive it, Francis threw it into a box. He prevailed on the priest, -however, to let him stay there. - -What Bernardone thought of this son of his is better only guessing. The -St. Damian episode brought matters to a crisis between the two. He came -looking for his son, and Francis escaped to a cave, where he spent a month -in tears and prayer to the Lord, that he might be freed from his father's -pursuit, so that he might fulfil his vows. Gradually courage and joy -returned, and he issued from his cave and took his way to the town. Former -acquaintances of his pursued him with jeers and stones, as one demented, -so wretched was he to look upon after his sojourn in the cave. He made no -reply, save to give thanks to God. The hubbub reached the father, who -rushed out and seized his son, beat him, and locked him up in the house. -From this captivity he was released by his mother, in her husband's -absence, and again betook himself to St. Damian's. - -Shortly afterward Bernardone returned, and would have haled Francis before -the magistrates of the town for squandering his patrimony; but his son -repudiated their jurisdiction, as being the servant of God. They were glad -enough to turn the matter over to the bishop, who counselled Francis to -give back the money which was his father's. The scene which followed has -been made famous by the brush of Giotto. The _Three Companions_ narrate it -thus: - - "Then arose the man of God glad and comforted by the bishop's words, - and fetching the money said, 'My lord, not only the money which is his - I wish to return to him, but my clothes as well, and gladly.' Then - entering the bishop's chamber, he took off his clothes, and placing - the money upon them, went out again naked before them, and said: 'Hear - ye all and know. Until now I have called Pietro Bernardone my father; - but because I have determined to serve God, I return him the money - about which he was disturbed, and these clothes which I had from him, - wishing only to say, "Our Father who art in heaven" and not "Father - Pietro Bernardone."' The man of God was found even then to have worn - haircloth beneath his gay garments. His father rising, incensed, took - the money and the clothes. As he carried them away to his house, those - who had seen the sight were indignant that he had left not a single - garment for his son, and they shed tears of pity over Francis. The - bishop was moved to admiration at the constancy of the man of God, and - embraced him and covered him with his cloak."[513] - -Thus Francis was indeed made naked of the world. With joy he hastened back -to St. Damian's; and there prepared himself a hermit garb, in which he -again set forth through the streets of the city, praising God and -soliciting stones to rebuild the Church. As he went he cried that whoever -gave one stone should have one reward, and he who gave two, two rewards, -and he who gave more as many rewards as he gave stones. Many laughed at -him, thinking him crazy; but others were moved to tears at the sight of -one who from such frivolity and vanity had so quickly become drunken with -divine love. - -Francis became a beggar for the love of Christ, seeking to imitate Him -who, born poor, lived poor, and had no place to lay His head. Not only did -he beg stones to rebuild St. Damian's, but he began to go from house to -house with a bowl to beg his food. Naked before them all, he had chosen -"holy poverty," "lady poverty"[514] for his bride. He was filled with the -desire to copy Christ and obey His words to the letter. According to the -_Three Companions_, when the blessed Francis completed the church of St. -Damian, his wont was to wear a hermit garb and carry a staff; he wore -shoes on his feet and a girdle about him. But listening one day to Jesus' -words to His disciples, as He sent them out to preach, not to take with -them gold, or silver, or a wallet, or bread, or a staff, or shoes, nor -have two cloaks, Francis said with joy: "This is what I desire to fulfil -with my whole strength."[515] - -The literal imitation of certain particular Gospel instances, and the -unconditional carrying out of certain of Christ's specially intended -precepts, mark Francis's understanding of his Lord. It is exemplified in -the account of the conversion of Francis's first disciple, as told by the -_Three Companions_: - - "As the truth of the blessed Francis's simple life and doctrine became - manifest to many, two years after his own conversion, certain men were - moved to penitence by his example, and were drawn to give up - everything and join with him in life and garb. Of these the first was - Bernard of saintly memory, who reflecting upon the constancy and - fervour of the blessed Francis in serving God, and with what labour he - was repairing ruined churches and leading a hard life, although - delicately nurtured, he determined to distribute his property among - the poor and cling to Francis. Accordingly one day in secret he - approached the man of God and disclosed his purpose, at the same time - requesting that on such an evening he would come to him. Having no - companion hitherto, the blessed Francis gave thanks to God, and - rejoiced greatly, especially as Messer (_dominus_) Bernard was a man - of exemplary life. - - "So with exulting heart the blessed Francis went to his house on the - appointed evening and stayed all night with him. Messer Bernard said - among other things: 'If a person should have much or a little from his - lord, and have held it many years, how could he do with the same what - would be the best?' The blessed Francis replied that he should return - it to his lord from whom he had received it. - - "And Messer Bernard said: 'Therefore, brother, I wish to distribute, - in the way that may seem best to thee, all my worldly goods for love - of my Lord, who conferred them on me.' - - "To whom the saint said: 'In the morning we will go to the Church, and - will learn from the copy (_codex_) of the Gospels there how the Lord - taught His disciples.' - - "So rising in the morning, with a certain other named Peter, who also - desired to become a brother, they went to the church of St. Nicholas - close to the piazza of the city Assisi. And commencing to pray - (because they were simple men and did not know where to find the - Gospel text relating to the renouncing of the world) they asked the - Lord devoutly, that He would deign to show them His will at the first - opening of the Book. - - "When they had prayed, the blessed Francis taking in his hands the - closed book, kneeling before the altar opened it, and his eye fell - first upon this precept of the Lord: 'If thou wouldst be perfect, go, - sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have - treasure in heaven.' At which the blessed Francis was very glad and - gave thanks to God. But because this true observer of the Trinity - wished to be assured with threefold witness, he opened the Book for - the second and third time. The second time he read, 'Carry nothing for - the journey,' and the third time, 'Who wishes to come after me, let - him deny himself.' - - "At each opening of the Book, the blessed Francis gave thanks to God - for the divine confirmation of his purpose and long-conceived desire, - and then said to Bernard and Peter: 'Brothers, this is our life and - this is our rule, and the life and rule of all who shall wish to join - our society. Go, then, and as you have heard, so do.' - - "Messer Bernard went away (he was very rich) and, having sold his - possessions and got together much money, he distributed it to the poor - of the town. Peter also complied with the divine admonition as best he - could. They both assumed the habit which Francis had adopted, and from - that hour lived with him after the model (_formam_) of the holy Gospel - shown them by the Lord. Therefore the blessed Francis has said in his - Testament: 'The Lord himself revealed to me that I should live - according to the model (_formam_) of the holy Gospel.'"[516] - -The words which met the eyes of Francis on first opening this Gospel-book, -had nearly a thousand years before his time driven the holy Anthony to the -desert of the Thebaid. Still one need not think the later tale a fruit of -imitative legend. The accounts of Francis afford other instances of his -literal acceptance of the Gospels.[517] - -After the step taken by Bernard and Peter, others quickly joined -themselves to Francis, and in short time the small company took up its -abode in an abandoned cabin at Rivo-torto, near Assisi. In a twelvemonth -or more they removed to the little church of Santa Maria de Portiuncula -(Saint Mary of the little portion).[518] In the meanwhile Francis had been -to Rome and gained papal authorization from the great Innocent III. for -his lowly way of life. It would be hard to describe the joyfulness of -these first Gospel days of the brethren: they come and go, and pray and -labour; all are filled with joy; _gaudium_, _jucunditas_, _laetabantur_, -such words crowd each other in accounts of the early days. Their love was -complete; they would gladly give their bodies to pain or death not only -for the love of Christ, but for the love of each other; they were founded -and rooted in humility and love; Francis's own life was a song of joy, as -he went singing (always _gallice_) and abounding in love and its joyful -prayers and tears. What joy indeed could be greater than his; he had -given himself to his Lord, and had been accepted. One day he had retired -for contemplation, and as he prayed, "God be merciful to me a sinner," an -ineffable joy and sweetness was shed in his heart. He began to fall away -from himself; the anxieties and fears which a sense of sin had set in his -heart were dispelled, and a certitude of the remission of his sins took -possession of him. His mind dilated and a joyful vision made him seem -another man when he returned and said in gladness to the brethren: "Be -comforted, my best beloved, and rejoice in the Lord. Do not feel sad -because you are so few. Let neither my simplicity nor yours abash you, for -it has been shown me of the Lord that God will make of you a great -multitude, and multiply you to the confines of the earth. I saw a great -multitude of men coming to us, desiring to assume the habit and rule of -our blessed religion; and the sound of them is in my ears as they come and -go according to the command of holy obedience; and I saw the ways filled -with them from every nation. Frenchmen come, and Spaniards hurry, Germans -and English run, and a multitude speaking other tongues."[519] - -Thus far the life of Francis was a poem, even as it was to be unto the -end; for, although the saint's plans might be thwarted by the wisdom and -frailty of men, his words and actions did not cease to realize the -exquisite conceptions of his soul. But the volume of his life, from this -time on, becomes too large for us to follow, embracing as it does the far -from simple history of the first decades of his Order. Our object is still -to observe his personality, and his love of God and man and creature-kind. - -Francis's mind was as simple as his heart was single. He had no distinctly -intellectual interests, as nothing appealed to his mentality alone.[520] -In his consciousness, everything related itself to his way of life, its -yearnings and aversions. Whatever was unsuited to enter into this catholic -relationship repelled rather than interested him. Hence he was averse to -studies which had nothing to do with the man's closer walk with God, and -love of fellow. "My brothers who are led by the curiosity of knowledge -will find their hands empty in the day of tribulation. I would wish them -rather to be strengthened by virtues, that when the time of tribulation -comes they may have the Lord with them in their straits--for such a time -will come when they will throw their good-for-nothing books into holes and -corners."[521] - -The moral temper of Francis was childlike in its simple truth. He could -not endure in the smallest matter to seem other than as he was before God: -"As much as a man is before God so much is he, and no more."[522] Once in -Lent he ate of cakes cooked in lard, because everything cooked in oil -violently disagreed with him. When Lent was over, he thus began his first -sermon to a concourse of people: "You have come to me with great devotion, -believing me to be a holy man, but I confess to God and to you that in -this Lent I have eaten cakes cooked in lard."[523] At another time, when -in severe sickness he had somewhat exceeded the pittance of food which he -allowed himself, he rose, still shaking with fever, and went and preached -to the people. When the sermon was over, he retired a moment, and having -first exacted a promise of obedience from the monks accompanying him, he -threw off his cloak, tied a rope around his waist, and commanded them to -drag him naked before the people, and there cast ashes in his face; all -which was done by the weeping monks. And then he confessed his fault to -all.[524] - -Francis took joy in obedience and humility. One of his motives in -resigning the headship of the Order was that he might have a superior to -obey.[525] However pained by the shortcomings and corruptions of the -Church, he was always obedient and reverent. He had no thought of -revolution, but the hope of purifying all. One day certain brothers said -to him: "Father, do you not see that the bishops do not let us preach, and -keep us for days standing idle, before we are able to declare the word of -God? Would it not be better to obtain the privilege from the Pope, that -there might be a salvation of souls?" - -"You, brothers Minorites," answered Francis, "know not the will of God, -and do not permit me to convert the whole world, which is God's will; for -I wish first through holy obedience and reverence to convert the prelates, -who when they see our holy life and humble reverence for them, will beg -you to preach and convert the people, and will call the people to hear you -far better than your privileges, which draw you to pride. For me, I desire -this privilege from the Lord that I may never have any privilege from man -except to do reverence to all, and through obedience to our holy rule of -life convert mankind more by example than by word."[526] - -And again he said to the brothers: "We are sent to aid the clergy in the -salvation of souls, and what is found lacking in them should be supplied -by us. Know, brothers, that the gain of souls is most pleasing to God, and -this we may win better by peace with the clergy, than by discord. If they -hinder the salvation of the people, vengeance is God's and He will repay -in time. So be ye subject to the prelates and take heed on your part that -no jealousy arise. If ye are sons of peace ye shall gain both clergy and -people, and this will be more acceptable to God than to gain the people -alone by scandalizing the clergy. Cover their slips, and supply their -deficiencies; and when ye shall have done this be ye the more -humble."[527] - -So Francis loved _sancta obedientia_ as he called it. As a wise builder he -set himself upon a rock, to wit, the perfect humility and poverty of the -Son of God; and because of his own humility he called his company the -Minorites (the "lesser" brethren).[528] For himself, he deemed that he -should most rejoice when men should revile him and cast him forth in -shame, and not when they revered and honoured him.[529] - -Above all he loved his "lady poverty" and could not say enough to impress -his followers with her high worth and beauty, and with the dignity and -nobility of begging alms for the love of the Lord.[530] As a high-born -lady, poor and beautiful, he had seen her in a vision, in the midst of a -desert, and worthy to be wooed by the King.[531] In the early days when -the brothers were a little band, Francis had gone about and begged for -all. He loved them so that he dreaded to require what might shame them. -But when the labour was too great for one man, so delicate and weak, he -said to them: "Best beloved brothers and my children, do not be ashamed to -go for alms, because the Lord made Himself poor for us in this world after -whose example we have chosen the truest poverty. For this is our heritage, -which our Lord Jesus Christ achieved and left to us and to all who, after -His example, wish to live in holy poverty. I tell you of a truth that many -wise and noble of this world shall join that congregation and hold it for -an honour and a grace to go out for alms. Therefore boldly and with glad -heart seek alms with God's blessing; and more freely and gladly should you -seek alms than he who offers a hundred pieces of money for one coin, since -to those from whom you ask alms you offer the love of God, saying, 'Do us -an alms for the love of the Lord God,' in comparison with which heaven and -earth are nothing."[532] - -With Francis all virtues were holy (_sancta obedientia_, _sancta -paupertas_). Righteousness, goodness, piety, lay in imitating and obeying -his Lord. What joy was there in loving Christ, and being loved by Him! and -what an eternity of bliss awaited the Christian soul! To do right, to -imitate Christ and obey and love Him, is a privilege. Can it be other than -a joy? Indeed, this following of Christ is so blessed, that not to rejoice -continually in it, betokens some failure in obedience and love. Many have -approved this Christian logic; but to realize it in one's heart and -manifest it in one's life, was the more singular grace of Francis of -Assisi. His heart sang always unto the Lord; his love flowed out in -gladness to his fellows; his enchanted spirit rejoiced in every creature. -The gospel of this new evangelist awoke the hearts of men to love and joy. -Nothing rejoiced him more than to see his sons rejoice in the Lord; and -nothing was more certain to draw forth his tender reproof than a sad -countenance. - - "Once while the blessed Francis was at the Portiuncula, a certain good - beggar came along the way, returning from alms-begging in Assisi, and - he went along praising God with a high voice and great jocundity. As - he approached, Francis heard him, and ran out and met him in the way, - and joyfully kissed his shoulder where he bore the wallet containing - the gifts. Then he lifted the wallet, and set it on his own shoulder, - and so carried it within, and said to the brothers: 'Thus I wish to - have my brothers go and return with alms, joyful and glad and praising - God.'"[533] - - "Aside from prayer and the divine service, the blessed Francis was - most zealous in preserving continually an inward and outward spiritual - gladness. And this he especially cherished in the brothers, and would - reprove them for sadness and depression. For he said that if the - servant of God would study to preserve, inwardly and outwardly, the - spiritual joy which rises from purity of heart, and is acquired - through the devotion of prayer, the devils could not harm him, for - they say: So long as the servant of God is joyful in tribulation and - prosperity, we cannot enter into him or harm him.... To our enemy and - his members it pertains to be sad, but to us always to rejoice and be - glad in the Lord."[534] - -Thus the glad temper of his young unconverted days passed into his saintly -life, of which Christ was the primal source of rapture. - - "Drunken with the love and pity of Christ, the blessed Francis would - sometimes do such acts, when the sweetest melody of spirit within him - boiling outward gave sound in French, and the strain of the divine - whisper which his ear had taken secretly, broke forth in a glad French - song. He would pick up a stick and, holding it over his left arm, - would with another stick in his right hand make as if drawing a bow - across a violin (_viellam_), and with fitting gestures would sing in - French of the Lord Jesus Christ. At last this dancing would end in - tears, and the jubilee turn to pity for the Passion of Christ. And in - that he would continue, drawing sighs and groans, as, oblivious to - what he held in his hands, he was suspended from heaven."[535] - -Francis had been a lover from his youth; naturally and always he had loved -his kind. But from the time when Christ held his heart and mind, his love -of fellow-man was moulded by his thought and love of Christ. Henceforth -the loving acts of Francis moving among his fellows become a loving -following of Christ. He sees in every man the character and person of his -Lord, soliciting his love, commanding what he should do. He never refused, -or permitted his followers to refuse, what was asked in Christ's name; but -it displeased him when he heard the brothers ask lightly for the love of -God, and he would reprove them, saying: "So high and precious is God's -love that it never should be invoked save with great reverence and under -pressing need."[536] - -Such a man felt strong personal affection. Pure and wise was his love for -Santa Clara;[537] and a deep affection for one of his earliest and closest -followers touches us in his letter to brother Leo. Not all of the writings -ascribed to Francis breathe his spirit; but we hear his voice in this -letter as it closes: "And if it is needful for thy soul or for thy -consolation, and thou dost wish, my Leo, to come to me, come. Farewell in -Christ." - -Francis's love was unfailing in compassionate word and deed. Although cold -and sick, he would give his cloak away at the first demand, till his own -appointed minister-general commanded him on his obedience not to do so -without permission; and he saw that the brothers did not injure themselves -with fasting, though he took slight care of himself. On one occasion he -had them all partake of a meal, in order that one delicate brother, who -needed food, might not be put to shame eating while the rest fasted. And -once, early in the morning, he led an old and feeble brother secretly to a -certain vineyard, and there ate grapes before him, that he might not be -ashamed to do likewise, for his health.[538] - -The effect of his sweet example melted the hearts of angry men, -reconciling such as had been wronged to those who had wronged them, and -leading ruffians back to ways of gentleness. His conduct on learning of -certain dissensions in Assisi illustrates his method of restoring peace -and amity. - - "After the blessed Francis had composed the Lauds of the creatures, - which he called the Canticle of Brother Sun, it happened that great - dissension arose between the bishop and the podestà of the City of - Assisi, so that the bishop excommunicated the podestà, and the podestà - made proclamation that no person should sell anything to the bishop or - buy from him or make any contract with him. - - "When the blessed Francis (who was now so very sick) heard this, he - was greatly moved with pity, since no one interposed between them to - make peace. And he said to his companions: 'It is a great shame for us - servants of God that the bishop and the podestà hate each other so, - and none interposes to make peace.' - - "And so for this occasion he at once made a verse in the Lauds above - mentioned and said: - - 'Praised be thou, O my Lord, for those who forgive from love of - thee, - And endure sickness and tribulation. - Blessed are those who shall endure in peace, - For by thee, Most High, shall they be crowned.' - - "Then he called one of his companions and said to him: 'Go to the - podestà, and on my behalf tell him to come to the bishop's palace with - the magnates of the city and others that he may bring with him.' - - "And as that brother went, he said to two other of his companions: 'Go - before the bishop and podestà and the others who may be with them, and - sing the Canticle of Brother Sun, and I trust in the Lord that He will - straightway humble their hearts, and they will return to their former - affection and friendship.' - - "When all were assembled in the piazza of the episcopate, the two - brothers arose, and one of them said: 'The blessed Francis in his - sickness made a Lauds of the Lord from His creatures in praise of the - Lord and for the edification of our neighbour. Wherefore he begs that - you would listen to it with great devoutness.' And then they began to - say and sing them. - - "At once the podestà rose, and with folded hands listened intently, as - if it were the Lord's gospel; this he did with the greatest devoutness - and with many tears, for he had great trust and devotion toward the - blessed Francis. - - "When the Lauds of the Lord were finished, the podestà said before - them all: 'Truly I say to you that not only my lord-bishop, whom I - wish and ought to hold as my lord, but if any one had slain my brother - or son I would forgive him.' And so saying, he threw himself at the - bishop's feet, and said to him: 'Look, I am ready in all things to - make satisfaction to you as shall please you, for the love of our Lord - Jesus Christ and His servant the blessed Francis.' - - "The bishop accepting him, raised him with his hands and said: - 'Because of my office it became me to be humble, and since I am - naturally quick-tempered you ought to pardon me.' And so with great - kindness and love they embraced and kissed each other. - - "The brothers were astounded and made glad when they saw fulfilled to - the letter the concord predicted by the blessed Francis. And all - others present ascribed it as a great miracle to the merits of the - blessed Francis, that the Lord suddenly had visited them, and out of - such dissension and scandal had brought such concord."[539] - -It would be mistaken to refer to any single pious sentiment, the saint's -blithe love of animals and birds and flowers, and his regard even for -senseless things. It is right, however, for Thomas of Celano, as a proper -monkish biographer, to say: - - "While hastening through this world of pilgrimage and exile that - traveller (Francis) rejoiced in those things which are in the world, - and not a little. As toward the princes of darkness he used the world - as a field for battle, but as toward the Lord he treated it as the - brightest mirror of goodness; in the fabric he commended the - Artificer, and what he found in created things, he referred to the - Maker; he exulted over all the works of the hands of the Lord, and in - the pleasing spectacle beheld the life-giving reason and the cause. In - beautiful things he perceived that which was most beautiful, as all - good things acclaim, He who made us is best. Through vestiges - impressed on things he followed his chosen, and made of all a ladder - by which to reach the throne. He embraced all things in a feeling of - unheard of devotion, speaking to them concerning the Lord and - exhorting them in His praise."[540] - -This was true, even if it was not all the truth. Living creatures spoke to -Francis of their Maker, while things insensible aroused his reverence -through their suggestiveness, their scriptural associations, or their -symbolism. But beyond these motives there was in this poet Francis a happy -love of nature. If nature always spoke to him of God, its loveliness -needed no stimulation of devotion in order to be loved by him. His feeling -for it found everywhere sensibility and responsiveness. He was as if -possessed by an imaginative animism, wherein every object had a soul. His -acts and words may appear fantastic; they never lack loveliness and -beauty.[541] - - "Wrapped in the love of God, the blessed Francis perfectly discerned - the goodness of God not only in his own soul but in every creature. - Wherefore he was affected with a singular and yearning (_viscerosa_) - love toward creatures, and especially toward those in which was - figured something of God or something pertaining to religion. - - "Whence above all birds he loved a little bird called the lark (the - _lodola capellata_ of the vulgar tongue) and would say of her: 'Sister - lark has a hood like a Religious and is a humble bird, because she - goes willingly along the road to find for herself some grains of corn. - Even if she find them in dung she picks them out and eats them. In - flying she praises the Lord very sweetly, as the good Religious look - down upon earthly things, whose conversation is always in the heavens - and whose intent is always upon the praise of God. Her garments are - like earth, that is, her feathers, and set an example to the Religious - that they should not have delicate and gaudy garments, but such as are - vile in price and colour, as earth is viler than other - elements.'"[542] - -The unquestionably true story of Francis preaching to the birds is known -to all, especially to readers of the _Fioretti_. Thus Thomas of Celano -tells it: As the blessed Father Francis was journeying through the Spoleto -Valley, he reached a place near Mevanium, where there was a multitude of -birds--doves, crows, and other kinds. When he saw them, for the love and -sweet affection which he bore toward the lower creatures, he quickly ran -to them, leaving his companions. As he came near and saw that they were -waiting for him, he saluted them in his accustomed way. Then wondering -that they did not take flight, he was very glad, and humbly begged them to -listen to the word of God; among other things he said to them: "My -brothers who fly, verily you should praise the Lord your Maker and love -Him always, who gave you feathers to clothe you and wings to fly with and -whatever was necessary to you. God made you noble among creatures, -prepared your mansion in the purity of air; and though you neither sow nor -reap, nevertheless without any solicitude on your part, He protects and -guides you." - -At this, those little birds as he was speaking, marvellously exulting, -began to stretch out their necks and spread their wings and open their -beaks, looking at him. He passed through their midst, sweeping their heads -and bodies with his mantle. At length he blessed them, and with the sign -of the cross gave them leave to fly away. Then returning gladdened to his -companions, he yet blamed himself for his neglect to preach to the birds -before, since they so reverently heard the word of God. And from that day -he ceased not to exhort all flying and creeping things, and even things -insensible, to the praise and love of their Creator.[543] - -Thomas also says that above all animals Francis loved the lambs, because -so frequently in Scripture the humility of our Lord is likened unto a -lamb. One day, as Francis was making his way through the March of Ancona -he met a goat-herd pasturing his flock of goats. Among them, humbly and -quietly, a little lamb was feeding. Francis stopped as he saw it, and, -deeply touched, said to the brother accompanying him: "Dost thou see this -sheep walking so gently among the goats? I tell you, thus our Lord Jesus -Christ used to walk mild and humble among Pharisees and chief priests. For -love of Him, then, I beg thee, my son, to buy this little sheep with me -and lead it out from among these goats." - -The brother was also moved with pity. They had nothing with them save -their wretched cloaks, but a merchant chancing to come along the way, the -money was obtained from him. Giving thanks to God and leading the sheep -they had bought, they reached the town of Osimo whither they were going; -and entering the house of the bishop, were honourably received by him. Yet -my lord bishop wondered at the sheep which Francis was leading with such -tender love. But when Francis had set forth the parable of his sermon, the -bishop too was touched and gave thanks to God. - -The following day they considered what to do with the sheep, and it was -given over to the nuns of the cloister of St. Severinus, who received it -as a great boon given them from God. Long while they cared for it, and in -the course of time wove a cloak from its wool, which they sent to the -blessed Francis at the Portiuncula at the time of a Chapter meeting. The -saint accepted it with joy, and kissed it, and begged all the brothers to -be glad with him.[544] - -Celano also tells how Francis loved the grass and vines and stones and -woods, and all comely things in the fields, also the streams, and earth -and fire and air, and called every creature "brother";[545] also how he -would not put out the flame of a lamp or candle, how he walked reverently -upon stones, and was careful to injure no living thing.[546] - -There are two documents which are both (the one with much reason and the -other with certainty) ascribed to Francis. Utterly different as they are, -each still remains a clear expression of his spirit. The one is the Lauds, -commonly called the Canticle of the Brother Sun, and the other is the -saint's last Testament. One may think of the Canticle as the closing -stanza of a life which was an enacted poem: - - Most High, omnipotent, good Lord, thine is the praise, the glory, the - honour and every benediction; - - To thee alone, Most High, these do belong, and no man is worthy to - name thee. - - Praised be thou, my Lord, with all thy creatures, especially milord - Brother Sun that dawns and lightens us; - - And he, beautiful and radiant with great splendour, signifies thee, - Most High. - - Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars that thou hast made - bright and precious and beautiful. - - Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Wind, and for the air and cloud and - the clear sky and for all weathers through which thou givest - sustenance to thy creatures. - - Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Water, that is very useful and humble - and precious and chaste. - - Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Fire, through whom thou dost illumine - the night, and comely is he and glad and bold and strong. - - Be praised, my Lord, for Sister, Our Mother Earth, that doth cherish - and keep us, and produces various fruits with coloured flowers and the - grass. - - Be praised, my Lord, for those who forgive for love of thee, and - endure sickness and tribulation; blessed are they who endure in peace; - for by thee, Most High, shall they be crowned. - - Be praised, my Lord, for our bodily death, from which no living man - can escape; woe unto those who die in mortal sin. - - Blessed are they that have found thy most holy will, for the second - death shall do them no hurt. - - Praise and bless my Lord, and render thanks, and serve Him with great - humility.[547] - -The self-expression of the more personal parts of the Testament supplement -these utterances: - - "Thus the Lord gave to me, Brother Francis, to begin to do penance: - because while I was in sins, it seemed too bitter to me to see lepers; - and the Lord himself led me among them, and I did mercy with them. And - departing from them, that which seemed to me bitter, was turned for me - into sweetness of soul and body. And a little afterwards I went out of - the world. - - "And the Lord gave me such faith in churches, that thus simply I - should pray and say: 'We adore thee, Lord Jesus Christ, and in all thy - churches which are in the whole world, and we bless thee, because - through thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.' - - "Afterwards the Lord gave and gives me so great faith in priests who - live after the model of the holy Roman Church according to their - order, that if they should persecute me I will still turn to them. And - if I should have as great wisdom as Solomon had, and should have found - the lowliest secular priests in the parishes where they dwell, I do - not wish to preach contrary to their wish. And them and all others I - wish to fear and honour as my lords; and I do not wish to consider sin - in them, because I see the Son of God in them and they are my lords. - - "And the reason I do this is because corporeally I see nothing in this - world of that most high Son of God except His most holy body and most - holy blood, which they receive and which they alone administer. And I - wish these most holy mysteries to be honoured above all and revered, - and to be placed together in precious places. Wherever I shall find - His most holy names and His written words in unfit places, I wish to - collect them, and I ask that they be collected and placed in a proper - place; and all theologians and those who administer the most holy - divine words, we ought to honour and venerate, as those who administer - to us spirit and life. - - "And after the Lord gave me brothers, no one showed me what I ought to - do, but the Most High himself revealed to me that I ought to live - according to the model of the holy Gospel. And I in a few words and - simply had this written, and the lord Pope confirmed it to me. And - they who were coming to receive life, all that they were able to have - they gave to the poor; and they were content with one patched cloak, - with the cord and breeches; and we did not wish to have more. We who - were of the clergy said our office as other clergy; the lay members - said 'Our Father.' And willingly we remained in churches; and we were - simple (_idiotae_) and subject to all. And I laboured with my hands, - and I wish to labour; and I wish all other brothers to labour. Who do - not know how, let them learn, not from the cupidity of receiving the - price of labour, but on account of the example, and to repel - slothfulness. And when the price of labour is not given to us, we - resort to the table of the Lord by seeking alms from door to door. - - "The Lord revealed to me a salutation that we should say: The Lord - give thee peace." - - Francis's precepts for the brothers follow here. The last paragraph of - the Will is: "And whoever shall have observed these principles, in - heaven may he be filled with the benediction of the most high Father, - and on earth may he be filled with the benediction of His beloved Son, - with the most holy spirit Paraclete, and with all the virtues of the - heavens and with everything holy. And I, Brother Francis, your very - little servant, so far as I am able, confirm to you within and without - that most holy benediction." - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -MYSTIC VISIONS OF ASCETIC WOMEN - - ELIZABETH OF SCHÖNAU; HILDEGARD OF BINGEN; MARY OF OGNIES; LIUTGARD OF - TONGERN; MECHTHILD OF MAGDEBURG - - -We pass to matters of a different complexion from anything presented in -the last few chapters. Thus far, besides Bernard and Francis, matchless -examples of monastic ideals, there have been instances of contemplation -and piety, with much emotion, and a sufficiency of experience having small -part in reason; also hallucinations and fantastic conduct, as in the case -of Romuald. The last class of phenomena, however, have not been prominent. -Now for a while we shall be wrapt in visions, rational, imitative, -fashioned with intent and plan; or, again, directly experienced, -passionate, hallucinative. They will range from those climaxes of the -constructive or intuitive imagination,[548] which are of the whole man, to -passionate or morbid delusions representing but a partial and passing -phase of the subject's personality. Moreover, we have been occupied with -hermits and monks, that is to say, with men. The present chapter has to do -with nuns; who are more prone to visions, and are occasionally subject to -those passionate hallucinations which are prompted by the circumstance -that the Christian God was incarnate in the likeness of a man. - -Besides the conclusions which the mind draws from the data of sense, or -reaches through reflection, there are other modes of conviction whose -distinguishing mark is their apparent immediacy and spontaneity. They are -not elicited from antecedent processes of thought, as inferences or -deductions; rather they loom upon the consciousness, and are experienced. -Yet they are far from simple, and may contain a multiplicity of submerged -reasonings, and bear relation to countless previous inferences. They are -usually connected with emotion or neural excitement, and may even take the -guise of sense-manifestations. Through such convictions, religious minds -are assured of God and the soul's communion with Him.[549] While not -issuing from argument, this assurance may be informed with reason and -involve the total sum of conclusions which the reasoner has drawn from -life. - -In devout mediaeval circles, the consciousness of communion with God, with -the Virgin, with angels and saints, and with the devil, often took on the -semblance of sense-perception. The senses seemed to be experiencing: -stenches of hell, odours of heaven, might be smelled, or a taste infect -the mouth; the divine or angelic touch was felt, or the pain of blows; -most frequently voices were heard, and forms were seen in a vision. In -these apparent testimonies of sight and hearing, the entire spiritual -nature of the man or woman might set the vision, dramatize it with his or -her desires and aversions, and complete it from the store of knowledge at -command. - -The visions of an eleventh-century monk named Othloh have been observed at -some length.[550] Intimate and trying, they were also, so to speak, in and -of the whole man: his tastes, his solicitudes, his acquired knowledge and -ways of reasoning, joined in these vivid experiences of God's truth and -the devil's onslaughts. One may be mindful of Othloh in turning to the -more impersonal visions of certain German nuns, which likewise issued -from the entire nature and intellectual equipment of these women.[551] - -On the Rhine, fifteen miles north-east of Bingen, lies the village of -Schönau, where in the twelfth century flourished a Benedictine monastery, -and near it a cloister for nuns. At the latter a girl of twelve named -Elizabeth was received in the year 1141. She lived there as nun, and -finally as abbess, till her death in 1165. Like many other lofty souls -dwelling in the ideal, she was a stern censor of the evils in the world -and in the Church. The bodily infirmities from which she was never free, -were aggravated by austerities, and usually became most painful just -before the trances that brought her visions. Masses and penances, prayer -and meditation, made her manner of approach to these direct disclosures of -eternity, wherein the whole contents of her faith and her reflection were -unrolled. Frequently she beheld the Saints in the nights following their -festivals; her larger visions were moulded by the Apocalypse. These -experiences were usually beatific, though sometimes she suffered insult -from malignant shapes. What humility bade her conceal, the importunities -of admirers compelled her to disclose: and so her visions have been -preserved, and may be read in the _Vita_ written by her brother Eckbert, -Abbot of Schönau.[552] Here is an example of how the saint and seeress -spoke: - - "On the Sunday night following the festival of St. James (in the year - 1153), drawn from the body, I was borne into an ecstasy (_avocata a - corpore rapta sum in exstasim_). And a great flaming wheel flared in - the heaven. Then it disappeared, and I saw a light more splendid than - I was accustomed to see; and thousands of saints stood in it, forming - an immense circle; in front were some glorious men, having palms and - shining crowns and the titles of their martyrdoms inscribed upon their - foreheads. From these titles, as well as from their pre-eminent - splendour, I knew them to be the Apostles. At their right was a great - company having the same shining titles; and behind these were others, - who lacked the signs of martyrdom. At the left of the Apostles shone - the holy order of virgins, also adorned with the signs of martyrdom, - and behind them another splendid band of maidens, some crowned, but - without these signs. Still back of these, a company of venerable women - in white completed the circle. Below it was another circle of great - brilliancy, which I knew to be of the holy angels." - - "In the midst of all was a Glory of Supreme Majesty, and its throne - was encircled by a rainbow. At the right of that Majesty I saw one - like unto the Son of Man, seated in glory; at the left was a radiant - sign of the Cross.... At the right of the Son of Man sat the Queen of - Kings and Angels on a starry throne circumfused with immense light. At - the left of the Cross four-and-twenty honourable men sat facing it. - And not far from them I saw two rams sustaining on their shoulders a - great shining wheel. The morning after this, at terse, one of the - brothers came to the window of my cell, and I asked that the mass for - the Holy Trinity might be celebrated. - - "The next Sunday I saw the same vision, and more: for I saw the Lamb - of God standing before the throne, very lovable, and with a gold - cross, as if implanted in its back. And I saw the four Evangelists in - those forms which Holy Scripture ascribes to them. They were at the - right of the Blessed Virgin, and their faces were turned toward her." - -And Elizabeth saw the Virgin arise and advance from out the great light -into the lower ether, followed by a multitude of women saints, and then -return amid great praise. - -In another vision she saw the events of the Saviour's last days on earth: -saw Him riding into Jerusalem, and the multitude throwing down branches; -saw Him washing the disciples' feet, then the agony in the garden, the -betrayal, the crowning with thorns, the spitting, the Lord upon the Cross, -and the Mother of God full of grief; she saw the piercing of His side, the -dreadful darkness,--all as in Scripture, and then the Scriptural incidents -following the Resurrection. Upon this, her vision took another turn, and -words were put in her mouth to chastise the people for their sins. - -Apparently more original was Elizabeth's vision of the _Paths of God_ (the -_Viae Dei_). In it three paths went straight up a mountain from opposite -sides, the first having the hyacinthine hue of the deep heaven; the second -green, the third purple. At the top of the mountain was a man, clad with a -hyacinthine tunic, his reins bound with a white girdle; his face was -splendid as the sun, his eyes shone as stars, and his hair was white; from -his mouth issued a two-edged sword; in his right hand he held a key and -in his left a sceptre. Elizabeth interprets: the man is Christ; and the -mountain represents the loftiness of celestial beatitude; the light at the -top is the brightness of eternal life; the three paths are the diverse -ways in which the elect ascend. The hyacinthine path is that of the _vita -contemplativa_; the green path is that of the religious _vita activa_; and -the purple path is the way of the blessed martyrs. - -There were also other paths up the mountain, one beset with brambles until -half way up, where they gave place to flowers. This is the way of married -folk, who pass from brambles to flowers when they abandon the pleasures of -the flesh; for the flowers are the virtues which adorn a life of -continence. Still other ways there were, for prelates, for widows, and for -solitaries. And Elizabeth turns her visions into texts, and preaches -vigorous sermons, denouncing the vices of the clergy as well as laity. In -other visions she had seen prelates and monks and nuns in hell. - -The visions of this nun appear to have been the fruit of the constructive -imagination working upon data of the mind. Yet she is said to have seen -them in trances, a statement explicitly made in the account of those last -days when life had almost left her body. Praying devoutly in the middle of -the night before she died, she seemed much troubled; then she passed into -a trance (_exstasim_). Returning to herself, she murmured to the sister -who held her in her arms: "I know not how it is with me; that light which -I have been wont to see in the heavens is dividing." Again she passed into -a trance, and afterwards, when the sisters begged her to disclose what she -had seen, she said her end was at hand, for she had seen holy visions -which, many years before, God's angel had told her she should not see -again until she came to die. On being asked whether the Lord had comforted -her, she answered, "Oh! what excellent comfort have I received!" - - * * * * * - -A more imposing personality than Elizabeth was Hildegard of Bingen,[553] -whose career extends through nearly the whole of the twelfth century; for -she was born in 1099 and died in 1179. Her parents were of the lesser -nobility, holding lands in the diocese of Mainz. A certain holy woman, one -Jutta, daughter of the Count of Spanheim, had secluded herself in a -solitary cell at Disenberg--the mount of St. Disibodus--near a monastery -of Benedictine monks. Drawn by her reputation, Hildegard's parents brought -their daughter to Jutta, who received her to a life like her own. The -ceremony, which took place in the presence of a number of persons, was -that of the last rites of the dead, performed with funeral torches. -Hildegard was buried to the world. She was eight years old. At the same -time a niece of Jutta also became a recluse, and afterwards others joined -them. - -On the death of Jutta in 1136, Hildegard was compelled to take the office -of Prioress. But when the fame of the dead Jutta began to draw many people -to her shrine, and cause a concourse of pilgrims, Hildegard decided to -seek greater quiet, and possibly more complete independence; for the -authority of the new abbot at the monastery may not have been to her -liking. She was ever a masterful woman, better fitted to command than to -obey. So in 1147 she and her nuns moved to Bingen, and established -themselves permanently near the tomb of St. Rupert. From this centre the -energies and influence of Hildegard, and rumours of her visions, soon -began to radiate. Her advice was widely sought, and often given unasked. -She corresponded with the great and influential, admonishing dukes and -kings and emperors, monks, abbots, and popes. Her epistolary manner -sometimes reminds one of Bernard, who was himself among her -correspondents. The following letter to Frederick Barbarossa would match -some of his: - - "O King, it is very needful that thou be foreseeing in thy affairs. - For, in mystic vision, I see thee living, small and insensate, beneath - the Living Eyes (of God). Thou hast still some time to reign over - earthly matters. Therefore beware lest the Supreme King cast thee down - for the blindness of thine eyes, which do not rightly see how thou - holdest the rod of right government in thy hand. See also to it that - thou art such that the grace of God may not be lacking in thee."[554] - -This is the whole letter. Hildegard's communications were not wont to -stammer. They were frequently announced as from God, and began with the -words "Lux vivens dicit." - -Hildegard was a woman of intellectual power. She was also learned in -theology, and versed in the medicine and scanty natural science of an -epoch which preceded the reopening of the great volume of Aristotelian -knowledge in the thirteenth century. Yet she asserts her illiteracy, and -seems always to have employed learned monks to help her express, in -awkward Latin, the thoughts and flashing words which, as she says, were -given her in visions. Her many gifts of grace, if not her learning, -impressed contemporaries, who wrote to her for enlightenment upon points -of doctrine and biblical interpretation; they would wait patiently until -she should be enabled to answer, since her answers were not in the power -of her own reflection, but had to be seen or heard. For instance, a monk -named Guibert, who afterwards became the saint's amanuensis and -biographer, propounded thirty-eight questions of biblical interpretation -on behalf of the monks of the monastery of Villars. In the course of time -Hildegard replies: "In visione animae meae, haec verba vidi et audivi," -and thereupon she gives a text from Canticles with an exposition of it, -which neither she nor the monks regarded quite as hers, but as divinely -revealed. At the end of the letter she says that she, insignificant and -untaught creature, has looked to the "true light," and through the grace -of God has laboured upon their questions and has completed the solutions -of fourteen of them.[555] - -In some of Hildegard's voluminous writings, visions were apparently a form -of composition; again, more veritable visions, deemed by her and by her -friends to have been divinely given, made the nucleus of the work at -length produced by the labour of her mind. Guibert recognized both -elements, the God-given visions of the seeress and her contributory -labour. In letters which had elicited the answers above mentioned, he -calls her _speculativa anima_, and urges her to direct her talents -(_ingenium_) to the solution of the questions. But he also addresses her -in words just varied from Gabriel's and Elizabeth's to the Virgin: - - "Hail--after Mary--full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art - thou among women, and blessed is the word of thy mouth.... In the - character of thy visions, the logic of thy expositions, the orthodoxy - of thy opinions, the Holy Spirit has marvellously illuminated thee, - and revealed to babes divers secrets of His wisdom."[556] - -In answer to more personal inquiries from the deeply-interested Guibert, -Hildegard (who at the time was venerable in years and in repute for -sanctity) explains how she saw her visions, and how her knowledge of -Scripture came to her: - - "From infancy, even to the present time when I am more than seventy - years old, my soul has always beheld this _visio_,[557] and in it my - soul, as God may will, soars to the summit of the firmament and into a - different air, and diffuses itself among divers peoples, however - remote they may be. Therefore I perceive these matters in my soul, as - if I saw them through dissolving views of clouds and other objects. I - do not hear them with my outer ears, nor do I perceive them by the - cogitations of my heart, or by any collaboration of my five senses; - but only in my soul, my eyes open, and not sightless as in a trance; - wide awake, whether by day or night, I see these things. And I am - perpetually bound by my infirmities and with pains so severe as to - threaten death, but hitherto God has raised me up. - - "The brightness which I see is not limited in space, and is more - brilliant than the luminous air around the sun, nor can I estimate its - height or length or breadth. Its name, which has been given me, is - Shade of the living light (_umbra viventis luminis_). Just as sun, - moon, or stars appear reflected in the water, I see Scripture, - discourses, virtues and human actions shining in it. - - "Whatever I see or learn in this vision, I retain in my memory; and as - I may have seen or heard it, I recall it to mind, and at once see, - hear, know; in an instant I learn whatever I know. On the other hand, - what I do not see, that I do not know, because I am unlearned; but I - have had some simple instruction in letters. I write whatever I see - and hear in the vision, nor do I set down any other words, but tell my - message in the rude Latin words which I read in the vision. For I am - not instructed in the vision to write as the learned write; and the - words in the vision are not as words sounding from a human mouth, but - as flashing flame and as a cloud moving in clear air. - - "Nor have I been able to perceive the form of this brightness, just as - I cannot perfectly see the disk of the Sun. In that brightness I - sometimes see another light, for which the name _Lux vivens_ has been - given me. When and how I see it I cannot tell; but sometimes when I - see it, all sadness and pain is lifted from me, and then I have the - ways of a simple girl and not those of an old woman."[558] - -The obscure Latin of this letter gives the impression of one trying to put -in words what was unintelligible to the writer. And the same sense of -struggle with the inadequacies of speech comes from the prologue of a work -written many years before: - - "Lo, in the forty-third year of my temporal course, while I, in fear - and trembling, was intent upon the celestial vision, I saw a great - splendour in which was a voice speaking to me from heaven: Frail - creature, dust of the dust, speak and write what thou seest and - hearest. But because that thou art timid of speech and unskilled in - writing, speak and write these things not according to human utterance - nor human understanding of composition; but as thou seest and hearest - in the heavens above, in the marvels of God, so declare, as a hearer - sets forth the words of his preceptor, preserving the fashion of his - speech, under his will, his guidance and his command. Thus thou, O man - (_homo_), tell those things which thou seest and hearest, and write, - not according to thyself or other human being, but according to the - will of Him who knows and sees and disposes all things in the secrets - of His mysteries. - - "And again, I heard a voice saying to me from heaven: Tell these - marvels and write them, taught in this way, and say: It happened in - the year one thousand one hundred and forty-one of the incarnation of - Jesus Christ the Son of God, when I was forty-two years old, that a - flashing fire of light from the clear sky transfused my brain, my - heart, and my whole breast as with flame; yet it did not burn but only - warmed me, as the sun warms an object upon which it sheds its rays. - And suddenly I had intelligence of the full meaning of the Psalter, - the Gospels, and the other books of the Old and New Testaments, - although I did not have the exact interpretation of the words of their - text, nor the division of syllables nor knowledge of cases and moods." - -The writer continues with the statement: - - "The visions which I saw, I did not perceive in dreams or sleeping, - nor in delirium, nor with the corporeal ears and eyes of the outer - man; but watchful and intent in mind I received them according to the - will of God."[559] - -Hildegard spoke as truthfully as she could about her visions and the -source of her knowledge, matters hard for her to put in words, and by no -means easy for others to classify in categories of seeming explanation. -Guibert may have read the work in question. At all events, his interesting -correspondence with her, and her great repute, led him to come to see for -himself and investigate her visions; for he realized that deceptions were -common, and wished to follow the advice of Scripture to prove all things. -So he made the journey to Bingen, and stayed four days with Hildegard. -This was in 1178, about a year before her death. "So far as was possible -in this short space of time, I observed her attentively; and I could not -perceive in her any invention or untruth or hypocrisy, or indeed anything -that could offend either us or other men who follow reason."[560] - -Springing from her rapt faith, the visions of this seeress and _anima -speculativa_ disclose the range of her knowledge and the power of her -mind. The visions all were allegories; but while some appear as sheer -spontaneous visions, in others the mind of Hildegard, aware of the -intended allegorical significance, constructs the vision, and fashions its -details to suit the spiritual meaning. This woman, fit sister to her -contemporaries Hugo of St. Victor and Bernard of Clairvaux, was ancestress -of him who saw his _Commedia_ both as fact and allegory, and with intended -mind laboured upon that inspiration which kept him lean for twenty years. - -Let us now follow these visions for ourselves, and begin with the _Book of -the Rewards of Life_ revealed by the Living Light through a simple -person.[561] - - "When I was sixty years old, I saw the strong and wonderful vision - wherein I toiled for five years. And I saw a Man of such size that he - reached from the summit of the clouds of heaven even to the Abyss. - From his shoulders upward he was above the clouds in the serenest - ether. From his shoulders down to his hips he was in a white cloud; - from his hips to his knees he was in the air of earth; from the knees - to the calves he was in the earth; and from his calves to the soles of - his feet he was in the waters of the Abyss, so that he stood upon the - Abyss. And he turned to the East. The brightness of his countenance - dazzled me. At his mouth was a white cloud like a trumpet, which was - full of all sounds sounding quickly. When he blew in it, it sent forth - three winds, of which one sustained above itself a fiery cloud, and - one a storm-cloud, and one a cloud of light. But the wind with the - fiery cloud above it hovered before the Man's face, while the two - others descended to his breast and blew there. - - "And in the fiery cloud there was a living fiery multitude all one in - will and life. Before them was spread a tablet covered with quills - (_pennae_) which flew in the precepts of God. And when the precepts of - God lifted up that tablet where God's knowledge had written certain of - its secrets, this multitude with one impulse gazed on it. And as they - saw the writing, God's virtue was so bestowed upon them that as a - mighty trumpet they gave forth in one note a music manifold. - - "The wind having the storm-cloud over it, spread, with that cloud, - from the south to the west. In it was a multitude of the blessed, who - possessed the spirit of life; and their voice was as the noise of many - waters as they cried: We have our habitations from Him who made this - wind, and when shall we receive them? But the multitude that was in - the fiery cloud chanted responding: When God shall grasp His trumpet, - lightning and thunder and burning fire shall He send upon the earth, - and then in that trumpet shall ye have your habitation. - - "And the wind which had over it the cloud of light spread with that - cloud from the east to the north. But masses of darkness and thick - horror coming from the west, extended themselves to the light cloud, - yet could not pass beyond it. In that darkness was a countless crowd - of lost souls; and these swerved in their course whenever they heard - the song of those singing in the storm-cloud, as if they shunned their - company. - - "Then I saw coming from the north, a cloud barren of delight, - untouched by the Sun's rays. It reached towards the darkness - aforesaid, and was full of malignant spirits, who go about devising - snares for men. And I heard the old serpent saying, 'I will prepare my - men of might and will make war upon mine enemies.' And he spat forth - among men a spume of things impure, and inflated them with derision. - Then he blew up a foul mist which filled the whole earth as with black - smoke, out of which was heard a groaning; and in that mist I saw the - images of every sin."[562] - -These images now speak in their own defence, and are answered by the -virtues, speaking from the storm-cloud, Heavenly Love replying to Love of -this World, Discipline answering Petulance, Shame answering Ribaldry (the -vice of the _jongleours_) after the fashion of such mediaeval allegorical -debates. The virtues are simply voices; but the monstrous or bestial image -of each sin is described: - - "Ignavia (cowardly sloth) had a human head, but its left ear was like - the ear of a hare, and so large as to cover the head. Its body and - limbs were worm-like, apparently without bones; and it spoke - trembling."[563] - -Hildegard explains the general features of her vision: God with secret -inquisition, reviewing the profound disposal of His will, made three ways -of righteousness, which should advance in the three orders of the blessed. -These are the three winds with the three clouds above them. The first wind -bears over it the fiery cloud, which is the glory of angels burning with -love of God, willing only what He wills; the wind bearing over it the -storm-cloud represents the works of men, stormy and various, done in -straits and tribulations; the third way of righteousness, through the -Incarnation of our Lord, bears above it a white and untouched virginity, -as a cloud of light.[564] - -Then Hildegard sees the punishments of those who die in their sins -impenitent. They were in a pit having a bottom of burning pitch, out of -which crawled fiery worms; and sharp nails were driven about in that pit -as by a wind. - - "I saw a well deep and broad, full of boiling pitch and sulphur, and - around it were wasps and scorpions, who scared but did not injure the - souls of those therein; which were the souls of those who had slain in - order not to be slain. - - "Near a pond of clear water I saw a great fire. In this some souls - were burned and others were girdled with snakes, and others drew in - and again exhaled the fire like a breath, while malignant spirits cast - lighted stones at them. And all of them beheld their punishments - reflected in the water, and thereat were the more afflicted. These - were the souls of those who had extinguished the substance of the - human form within them, or had slain their infants. - - "And I saw a great swamp, over which hung a black cloud of smoke, - which was issuing from it. And in the swamp there swarmed a mass of - little worms. Here were the souls of those who in the world had - delighted in foolish merriment (_inepta laetitia_).[565] - - "And I saw a great fire, black, red, and white, and in it horrible - fiery vipers spitting flame; and there the vipers tortured the souls - of those who had been slaves of the sin of uncharitableness - (_acerbitas_). - - "And I saw a fire burning in a blackness, in which were dragons, who - blew up the fire with their breath. And near was an icy river; and the - dragons passed into it from time to time and disturbed it. And a fiery - air was over both river and fire. Here were punished the souls of - liars; and for relief from the heat, they pass into the river, and - again, for the cold, they return to the fire, and the dragons torment - them. But the fiery air afflicts only those who have sworn - falsely.[566] - - "I saw a hollow mountain full of fire and vipers, with a little - opening; and near it a horrible cold place crawling with scorpions. - The souls of those guilty of envy and malice suffer here, passing for - relief from one place of torment to the other. - - "And I saw a thickest darkness, in which the souls of the disobedient - lay on a fiery pavement and were bitten by sharp-toothed worms. For - blind were they in life, and the fiery pavement is for their wilful - disobedience, and the worms because they disobeyed their prelates. - - "And I beheld at great height in the air a hail of ice and fire - descending. And from that height, the souls of those who had broken - their vows of chastity were falling, and then as by a wind were - whirled aloft again wrapped in a ligature of darkness, so that they - could not move; and the hail of cold and fire fell upon them. - - "And I saw demons with fiery scourges beating hither and thither, - through fires shaped like thorns and sharpened flails, the souls of - those who on earth had been guilty bestially."[567] - -After the vision of the punishment, Hildegard states the penance which -would have averted it, and usually follows with pious discourse and -quotations from Scripture. Apparently she would have the punishments seen -by her to be taken not as allegories, but literally as those actually in -store for the wicked. - -It is different with her visions of Paradise. In Hildegard, as in Dante, -descriptions of heaven's blessedness are pale in comparison with the -highly-coloured happenings in hell. And naturally, since Paradise is won -by those in whom spirit has triumphed over carnality. But flesh triumphed -in the wicked on earth, and hell is of the flesh, though the spirit also -be agonized. Hildegard sees many blessed folk in Paradise, but all is much -the same with them: they are clad in splendid clothes, they breathe an air -fragrant with sweetest flowers, they are adorned with jewels, and many of -them wear crowns. For example, she sees the blessed virgins standing in -purest light and limpid splendour, surpassing that of the sun. They are -clad "quasi candidissima veste velut auro intexta, et quasi pretiosissimis -lapidibus a pectore usque ad pedes, in modum dependentis zonae, ornata -induebantur, quae etiam maximum odorem velut aromatum de se emittebat. Sed -et cingulis, quasi auro et gemmis ac margaritis supra humanum intellectum -ornatis, circumcingebantur." - -This seems a description of heavenly millinery. Are these virgins rewarded -in the life to come with what they spurned in this? What would the saint -have thought of virgins had she seen them in the flesh clad in the whitest -vestment ornamented with interwoven gold and gems, falling in alluring -folds from their breasts to their feet, giving out aromatic odours, and -belted with girdles of pearls beyond human conception? Could it be -possible that the woman surviving in the nun took delight in contemplating -the blissful things forbidden here below? However this may be, the quasi-s -and velut-s suggest the symbolical character of these marvels. This -indication becomes stronger as Hildegard, in language wavering between the -literal and the symbolical, explains the appropriateness of ornaments and -perfumes as rewards for the virtues shown by saints on earth. At last all -is made clear: the _Lux vivens_ declares that these ornaments are -spiritual and eternal; gold and gems, which are of the dust, are not for -the eternal life of celestial beings; but the elect are spiritually -adorned by their righteous works as people are bodily adorned with costly -ornaments. So one gains the lesson that the bliss of heaven can only be -shown in allegories, since it surpasses the understanding of men while -held in mortal flesh.[568] - -These visions from Hildegard's _Book of the Rewards of Life_ may be -supplemented by one or two selected from the curious and lengthy work -which she named _Scivias_, signifying _Scito vias domini_ (know the ways -of the Lord). In this work, on which she laboured for nine years, the -seeress shows forth the Church, in images seen in visions, and the whole -dogmatic scheme of Christian polity. The allegories form the texts of -expository sermons. For example, the first vision in the first Book is of -an iron-coloured mountain, which is at once explained as an image of the -stability of God's eternal kingdom. The third vision is of a fiery, -egg-shaped object, very complicated in construction, and devised to -illustrate the truth that things visible and temporal shadow forth the -invisible and eternal, in the polity of God.[569] In the fourth vision, -globes of fire are seen to enter the human form at birth, and are then -attacked by many whirlwinds rushing in upon them. This is an allegory of -human souls and their temptations, and forms the text for a long discourse -on the nature of the soul. - -The fifth vision is of the Synagogue, the _Mater incarnationis Filii Dei_: - - "Then I saw as it were the image of a woman, pale from the top to the - navel, and black from the navel to the feet, and its feet were - blood-colour, and had about them a very white cloud. This image lacked - eyes, and kept its hands under its arm-pits. It stood by the Altar - that is before the eyes of God, but did not touch it." - -The pale upper part of this image represents the prescience of the -patriarchs and prophets, who had not the strong light of the Gospel; the -black lower portion represents Israel's later backslidings; and the bloody -feet surrounded by a white cloud, the slaying of Christ, and the Church -arising from that consummation. The image is sightless--blind to -Christ--and stands before His altar, but will have none of it; and its -slothful hands keep from the work of righteousness.[570] - -The sixth vision is of the orders of celestial spirits, and harks back to -the _Celestial Hierarchy_ of Dionysius the Areopagite. In the height of -the celestial secrets Hildegard sees a shining company of supernal spirits -having as it were wings (_pennas_) across their breasts, and bearing -before them a face like the human countenance, in which the look of man -was mirrored. These are angels spreading as wings the desires of their -profound intelligence; not that they have wings, like birds; but they -quickly do the will of God in their desires, as a man flees quickly in his -thoughts.[571] They manifest the beauty of rationality through their -faces, wherein God scrutinizes the works of men. For these angels see to -the accomplishment of the will of God in men; and then in themselves they -show the actions of men. - -Another celestial company was seen, also having as it were wings over -their breasts, and bearing before them a face like the human countenance -in which the image of the Son of Man shone as in a mirror. These are -archangels contemplating the will of God in the desires of their own -intelligences, and displaying the grace of rationality; they glorify the -incarnate Word by figuring in their attributes the mysteries of the -Incarnation. This vision, symbolizing the angelic intelligence, is -consciously and rationally constructed. - -Perhaps the same may be said of the second vision of the second Book:[572] - - "Then I saw a most glorious light and in it a human form of sapphire - hue, all aflame with a most gentle glowing fire; and that glorious - light was infused in the glowing fire, and the fire was infused in the - glorious light; and both light and fire transfused that human - form--all inter-existent as one light, one virtue, and one power." - -This vision of the Trinity, in which the glorious light is the Father, the -human form is the Son, and the fire is the Holy Spirit, may remind the -reader of the closing "vision" of the thirty-third canto of Dante's -_Paradiso_. - -The third Book contains manifold visions of a four-sided edifice set upon -a mountain, and built with a double (_biformis_) wall. Here an infinitude -of symbolic detail illustrates the entire Christian Faith. Observe a part -of the symbolism of the twofold wall: the wall is double (_in duabus -formis_). One of its formae[573] is speculative knowledge, which man -possesses through careful and penetrating investigation of the speculation -of his mind; so that he may be circumspect in all his ways. The other -forma of the wall represents the _homo operans_. - - "This speculative knowledge shines in the brightness of the light of - day, that through it men may see and consider their acts. This - brightness is of the human mind carefully looking about itself; and - this glorious knowledge appears as a white mist permeating the minds - of the peoples, as quickly as mist is scattered through the air; it is - light as the light of day, after the brightness of that most glorious - work which God benignly works in men, to wit, that they shun evil and - do the good which shines in them as the light of day.... This - knowledge is speculative, for it is like a mirror (_speculum_) in - which a man sees whether his face be fair or blotched; thus this - knowledge views the good and evil in the deed done."[574] - -The _Scivias_ closes with visions of the Last Judgment, splendid, ordered, -tremendous, and rendered audible in hymns rising to the Virgin and to -Christ. Apostles, martyrs, saints chant the refrains of victory which echo -the past militancy of this faithful choir. - - * * * * * - -The visions of Elizabeth of Schönau and Hildegard of Bingen set forth -universal dogmas and convictions. They show the action of the imaginative -and rational faculties and the full use of the acquired knowledge -possessed by the women to whom they came. Such visions spring from the -mind--quite different are those born of love. Emotion dominates the -latter; their motives are subjective; they are personal experiences having -no clear pertinency to the lives of others. If the visions of Hildegard -were object lessons, the blissful ecstasies of Mary of Ognies and Liutgard -of Tongern were specifically their own, very nearly as the intimate -consolation of a wife from a husband, or a lady from her faithful knight, -would be that woman's and none other's. - -One cannot say that there was no love of God before Jesus was born; still -less that men had not conceived of God as loving them. Nevertheless in -Jesus' words God became lovable as never before, and God's love of man was -shown anew, and was anew set forth as the perfect pattern of human love. -In Christ, God offered the sacrifice which afore He had demanded of -Abraham: for "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son." -That Son carried out the Father's act: "Greater love hath no man than -this, that a man lay down his life for his friend." So men learned the -final teaching: "God is love." - -A new love also was aroused by the personality of Jesus. Was this the love -of God or love of man? Rather, it was such as to reveal the two as one. In -Jesus' teachings, love of God and love of man might not be severed: "As ye -have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it -unto me." And the love which He inspired for himself was at once a love of -man and love of God.[575] Think of that love, new in the world, with -which, more than with her ointment or her tears, the woman who had been a -sinner bathed the Master's feet. - -This woman saw the Master in the flesh; but the love which was hers was -born again in those who never looked upon His face. Through the Middle -Ages the love of Christ with which saintly women were possessed was as -impulsive as this sinner's, and also held much resembling human passion. -Their burning faith tended to liquefy to ecstatic experiences. They had -renounced the passionate love of man in order to devote themselves to the -love of Christ; and as their thoughts leapt toward the Bridegroom, the -Church's Spouse and Lord, their visions sometimes kept at least the colour -of the love for knight or husband which they had abjured.[576] - -At the height of the horrors of the Albigensian Crusade, in the year 1212, -Fulco, Bishop of Toulouse, was driven from his diocese by the incensed but -heretical populace. He travelled northward through France, seeking aid -against these foes of Christ, and came to the diocese of Liége. There he -observed with joy the faith and humility of those who were leading a -religious life, and was struck by the devotion of certain saintly women -whose ardour knew no bounds. It was all very different from Toulouse. -"Indeed I have heard you declare that you had gone out of Egypt--your own -diocese--and having passed through the desert, had reached the promised -land--in Liége." - -Jacques de Vitry is speaking. His friend the bishop had asked him to write -of these holy women, who brought such glory to the Church in troubled -times. Jacques was himself a clever Churchman, zealous for the Church's -interests and his own. He afterwards became Bishop and Cardinal of -Tusculum; and as papal legate consecrated the holy bones of her whom the -Church had decided to canonize, the blessed Mary of Ognies, the paragon of -all these other women who rejoiced the ecclesiastical hearts of himself -and Fulco. Jacques had known her and had been present at her pious death; -and also had witnessed many of the matters of which he is speaking at the -commencement of his _Vita_ of this saint.[577] - -Many of these women, continues Jacques, had for Christ spurned carnal -joys, and for Him had despised the riches of this world, in poverty and -humility clinging to their heavenly Spouse. - - "You saw," says Jacques, again addressing Fulco, "some of these women - dissolved with such a particular and marvellous love toward God (_tam - speciali et mirabili in Deum amoris affectione resolutas_) that they - languished with desire, and for years had rarely been able to rise - from their cots. They had no other infirmity, save that their souls - were melted with desire of Him, and, sweetly resting with the Lord, as - they were comforted in spirit they were weakened in body. They cried - in their hearts, though from modesty their lips dissimulated: - "Fulcite me floribus, stipate me malis, quia amore langueo."[578] The - cheeks of one were seen to waste away, while her soul was melted with - the greatness of her love. Another's flow of tears had made visible - furrows down her face. Others were drawn with such intoxication of - spirit that in sacred silence they would remain quiet a whole day, - 'while the King was on His couch' (_i.e._ at meat),[579] with no sense - or feeling for things without them, so that they could not be roused - by clamour or feel a blow. I saw another whom for thirty years her - Spouse had so zealously guarded in her cell, that she could not leave - it herself, nor could the hands of others drag her out. I saw another - who sometimes was seized with ecstasy five-and-twenty times a day, in - which state she was motionless, and on returning to herself was so - enraptured that she could not keep from displaying her inner joy with - movements of the body, like David leaping before the Ark. And I saw - still another who after she had lain for some time dead, before burial - was permitted by the Lord to return to the flesh, that she might on - earth do purgatorial penance; and long was she thus afflicted of the - Lord, sometimes rolling herself in the fire, and in the winter - standing in frozen water."[580] - -But what need to say more of these, as all their graces are found in one -precious and pre-excellent pearl--and Jacques proceeds to tell the life of -Mary of Ognies. She was born in a village near Namur in Belgium, about the -year 1177. She never took part in games or foolishness with other girls; -but kept her soul free from vanity. Married at fourteen to a young man, -she burned the more to afflict her body, passing the nights in austerities -and prayer. Her husband soon was willing to dwell with her in continence, -himself sustaining her in her holy life, and giving his goods to the poor -for Christ's sake. - -There was nothing more marvellous with Mary than her gift of tears, as -her soul dwelt in the passion of her Lord. Her tears--so says her -biographer--wetted the pavement of the Church or the cloth of the altar. -Her life was one of body-destroying austerities: she went barefoot in the -ice of the winter; often she took no food through the day, and then -watched out the night in prayer. Her body was afflicted and wasted; her -soul was comforted. She had frequent visions, the gift of second sight, -and great power over devils. Once for thirty-five days in silent trance -she rested sweetly with the Lord, only occasionally uttering these words: -"I desire the body of our Lord Jesus Christ" (_i.e._ the Eucharist); and -when she had received it, she turned again to silence.[581] Always she -sought after her Lord: He was her meditation, and example in speech and -deed. She died in the year 1213, at the age of thirty-six. She was called -Mary of Ognies, from the name of the town where a church was dedicated to -her, and where her relics were laid to rest. - - * * * * * - -Emotionally, another very interesting personality was the blessed virgin, -Liutgard of Tongern, a younger contemporary of Mary of Ognies. In -accordance with her heart's desire, she was providentially protected from -the forceful importunities of her wooers, and became a Benedictine nun. -After some years, however, seeking a more strenuous rule of life, she -entered the Cistercian convent at Aquiria, near Cambray.[582] - -Liutgard's experiences were sense-realizations of her faith, but chiefly -of her love of Christ. Sometimes her senses realized the imagery of the -Apocalypse; as when singing in Church she had a vision of Christ as a -white lamb. The lamb rests a foot on each of her shoulders, sets his mouth -to hers, and draws out sweetest song. Far more frequently she realized -within her heart the burning words of Canticles. Her whole being yearned -continually for the Lord, and sought no other comfort. For five years she -received almost daily visits from the Mother of Christ, as well as from -the Apostles and other saints; the angels were continually with her. Yet -in all these she did not find perfect rest for her spirit, till she found -the Saint of saints, who is ineffably sweeter than them all, even as He is -their sanctifier. Smitten as the bride in Canticles, she is wounded, she -languishes, she pants, she arises; "in the streets" she seeks the Saints -of the New Dispensation, and through "the broad places" the Patriarchs of -the Old Testament. Little by little she passes by them "because He is not -far from every one of us"; she finds Him whom her soul cherishes. She -finds, she holds Him, because He does not send her away; she holds Him by -faith, happy in the seeking, more happy in the holding fast.[583] - -There are three couches in Canticles:[584] the first signifies the soul's -state of penitence; the second its state of warfare; the third the state -of those made perfect in the _vita contemplativa_. On the first couch the -soul is wounded, on the second it is wearied, on the third it is made -glad. The saintly Liutgard sought her Beloved perfectly on the couch of -penitence, and watered it with her tears, although she never had been -stung by mortal sin. On the second couch she sought her Beloved, battling -against the flesh with fasting and endeavour; with poverty and humility -she overcame the world, and cast down the devil with prayer and remedial -tears. On the third couch, which is the couch of quiet, she perfectly -sought her Beloved, since she did not lean upon the angels or saints, but -through contemplation rested sweetly only upon the couch of the Spouse. -This couch is called flowery (_floridus_) from the vernal quality of its -virtues; and it is called "ours" because common to husband and wife: in it -she may say, "My Beloved is mine and I am His," and, "I am my Beloved's, -and His desire is towards me." Why not say that? exclaims the biographer, -quoting the lines: - - "Nescit amor Dominum; non novit amor dominari, - Quamlibet altus amet, non amat absque pari." - -Thenceforth her spirit was absorbed in God, as drops of water in a jar of -wine. When asked how she was wont to see the visage of Christ in -contemplation, she answered: "In a moment there appears to me a splendour -inconceivable, and as lightning I see the ineffable beauty of His -glorification; the sight of which I could not endure in this present life, -did it not instantly pass from my view. A mental splendour remains, and -when I seek in that what I saw for an instant, I do not find it." - -A little more than a year before her death the Lord Jesus Christ appeared -to her, with the look as of one who applauds, and said: "The end of thy -labour is at hand: I do not wish thee longer to be separated from me. This -year I require three things of thee: first, that thou shouldst render -thanks for all thy benefits received; secondly, that thou pour thyself out -in prayer to the Father for my sinners; and thirdly, that, without any -other solicitude, thou burn to come to me, panting with desire."[585] - -The religious yearning which with Liutgard touches sense-realization, -seems transformed completely into the latter in the extraordinary German -book of one Sister Mechthild, called of Magdeburg.[586] The authoress -probably was born not far from that town about the year 1212. To judge -from her work, she belonged to a good family and was acquainted with the -courtly literature of the time. She speaks of her loving parents, from -whom she tore herself away at the age of twenty-three, and entered the -town of Magdeburg, there to begin a life of rapt religious mendicancy, for -which Francis had set the resistless example. Sustained by love for her -Lord, she led a despised and homeless life of hardship and austerity for -thirty years. At length bodily infirmities brought her to rest in a -Cistercian cloister for nuns at Helfta, near Eisleben, where ruled a wise -and holy abbess, the noble Gertrude of Hackeborn. Here Mechthild remained -until her death in 1277. For many years it had been her custom to write -down her experiences of the divine love in a book which she called _The -Flowing Light of God_, in which she also wrote the prophetic -denunciations, revealed to her to be pronounced before men, especially in -the presence of those who were great in what should be God's holy -Church.[587] - -"Frau Minne (Lady Love) you have taken from me the world's riches and -honour," cries Mechthild.[588] Love's ecstasy came upon her when she -abandoned the world and cast herself upon God alone. Then first her soul's -eyes beheld the beautiful manhood of her Lord Jesus Christ, also the Holy -Trinity, her own guardian angel, and the devil who tempted her through the -vainglory of her visions and through unchaste desire. She defended herself -with the agony of our Lord. For Mechthild, hell is the "city whose name is -eternal hate." With her all blessedness is love, as her book will now -disclose. - -Cries the Soul to Love (_Minne_) her guardian: "Thou hast hunted and -taken, bound and wounded me; never shall I be healed." - -Love answers: "It was my pleasure to hunt thee; to take thee captive was -my desire; to bind thee was my joy. I drove Almighty God from His throne -in heaven, and took His human life from Him, and then with honour gave -Him back to His Father; how couldst thou, poor worm, save thyself from -me!"[589] - -What then will love's omnipotence exact from this poor Soul? Merely all. -Drawn by yearning, the Soul comes flying, like an eagle toward the sun. -"See, how she mounts to us, she who wounded me"--it is the Lord that is -speaking. "She has thrown away the ashes of the world, overcome lust, and -trodden the lion of pride beneath her feet--thou eager huntress of love, -what bringest thou to me?" - -"Lord, I bring thee my treasure, which is greater than mountains, wider -than the world, deeper than the sea, higher than the clouds, more -beautiful than the sun, more manifold than the stars, and outweighs the -riches of the earth." - -"Image of my Divinity, ennobled by my manhood, adorned by my Holy Spirit, -how is thy treasure called?" - -"Lord, it is called my heart's desire: I have withdrawn it from the world, -withheld it from myself, forbidden it all creatures. I can carry it no -farther; Lord, where shall I lay it?" - -"Thou shalt lay thy heart's desire nowhere else than in my divine heart -and on my human breast. There only wilt thou be comforted and kissed with -my spirit." - -Love casts out fear and difference, and lifts the Soul to equality with -the divine Lover. Through the passion of love the Soul may pass into the -Beloved's being, and become one with Him: "He, thy life, died from love -for thy sake; now love Him so that thou mayest long to die for His sake. -Then shalt thou burn for evermore unquenched, like a shining spark in the -great fire of the Living Majesty." - -These are passion's vision-flights. But God himself points out the way by -which the Soul that loves shall come to Him: she--the Soul--shall come, -surmounting the need of penitence and penance, surmounting love of the -world, conflicts with the devil, carnal appetite, and the promptings of -her own will. Thereupon, exhausted, she shall yearn resistlessly for that -beautiful Youth (Christ). He will be moved to come to meet her. Now her -guardians (the Senses) bid her attire herself. "Love, whither shall I -hence?" she cries. The Senses make answer: "We hear the murmur; the Prince -will come to meet you in the dew and the sweet-bird song. Courage, Lady, -He will not tarry." - -The Soul clothes herself in a garment of humility, and over it draws the -white robe of chastity, and goes into the wood. There nightingales sing of -union with God, and strains of divine knowledge meet her ears. She then -strives to follow in festal dance (_i.e._ to imitate) the example of the -prophets, the chaste humility of the Virgin, the virtues of Jesus, and the -piety of His saints. Then comes the Youth and says: "Maiden, thou hast -danced holily, even as my saints." - -The Soul answers: "I cannot dance unless thou leadest. If thou wouldst -have me spring aloft, sing thou: and I will spring--into love, and from -love to knowledge, and from knowledge to ecstasy, above all human sense." - -The Youth speaks: "Maiden, thy dance of praise is well performed. Since -now thou art tired, thou shalt have thy will with the Virgin's Son. Come -to the brown shades at midday, to the couch of love, and there shalt thou -cool thyself with Him." - -Then the Soul speaks to her guardians, the Senses: "I am tired with the -dance; leave me, for I must go where I may cool myself." The Senses bid -her cool herself in the tears of love shed by St. Mary Magdalen. - -"Hush, good sirs: ye know not what I mean. Unhindered, for a little I -would drink the unmixed wine." - -"Lady, in the Virgin's chastity the great love is reached." - -"That may be--with me it is not the highest." - -"You, Lady, might cool yourself in martyr-blood." - -"I have been martyred many a day." - -"In the counsel of Father Confessors, the pure live gladly." - -"Good is their counsel, but it helps not here." - -"Great safety would you find in the Apostles' wisdom." - -"Wisdom I have myself--to choose the best." - -"Lady, bright are the angels, and lovely in love's hue; to cool yourself, -be lifted up with them." - -"The bliss of angels brings me love's woe, unless I see their lord, my -Bridegroom." - -"Then cool you in the hard, holy life that John the Baptist showed." - -"I have tried that painful toil; my love passes beyond that." - -"Lady, would you with love cool yourself, approach the Child in the -Virgin's lap." - -"That is a childish love, to quiet children with. I am a full-grown bride -and will have my Bridegroom." - -"Lady, there we should be smitten blind. The Godhead is so fiery hot. -Heaven's glow and all the holy lights flow from His divine breath and -human mouth by the counsel of the Holy Spirit." - -But the Soul feeling its nature and its affinity with God, through love, -makes answer boldly: "The fish cannot drown in the water, nor the bird -sink in the air, nor gold perish in the flame, where it gains its bright -clarity and colour. God has granted to all creatures to follow their -natures; how can I withstand mine? To God will I go, who is my Father by -nature, my Brother through His humility, my Bridegroom through love, and I -am His forever."[590] Not long after this the Soul's rapture bursts forth -in song: - - "Ich sturbe gern von minnen, moehte es mir geschehen, - Denn jenen den ich minnen, den han ich gesehen - Mit minen liehten ougen in miner sele stehen."[591] - -Mechthild's book is heavy with passion--with God's passionate love for the -Soul, and the Soul's passionate response. No speech between lovers could -outdo the converse between them. God calls the Soul, sweet dove, dear -heart, my queen; and with like phrase the quivering Soul responds upward, -as it were, to the great countenance glowing above it. Throughout, there -is passion and impatient yearning--or satisfaction. The pain of the Soul -severed, not yet a bride, is deeper than the abyss, bitterer than the -world; but her joy shall exceed that of seraphs, she, Bride of the -Trinity.[592] - -The Soul must surrender herself, and become sheer desire for God.[593] -God's own yearning has begotten this desire. As glorious prince, as -knight, as emperor, God comes; also in other forms: - - "I come to my Beloved - As dew upon the flowers."[594] - -For each other are these lovers wounded, for each other these lovers -bleed, and each to the other is joy unspeakable and unforgettable. From -the wafer of the holy Eucharist, the Lamb looks out upon me "with such -sweet eyes that I never can forget." - - "His eyes in my eyes; His heart in my heart, - His soul in my soul, - Embraced and untroubled."[595] - -No need to say that in the end love draws the Soul to heaven's gate, which -the Lord opens to her. All is marvellous; but, far more, all is love: the -Lord kisses her--what else than love can the soul thereafter know or -feel.[596] - -Mechthild, of course, is what is called a "mystic," and a forerunner -indeed of many another--Eckhart, Suso, Tauler--of German blood. With -direct and utter passion she realizes God's love; also she feels and -thinks in symbols, which, with her, never cease to be the things they -literally are. They remain flesh and blood, while also signifying the -mysteries of God. Jesus was a man, Mechthild a woman. Her love not only -uses lovers' speech, but actually holds affinity with a maid's love for -her betrothed. If it is the Soul's love of God, it is also the woman's -love of Him who overhung her from the Cross. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -THE SPOTTED ACTUALITY - - THE TESTIMONY OF INVECTIVE AND SATIRE; ARCHBISHOP RIGAUD'S _Register_; - ENGELBERT OF COLOGNE; POPULAR CREDENCES - - -The preceding sketches of monastic qualities and personalities illustrate -the ideals of monasticism. That monastic practices should fall away, -corruptions enter, and when expelled inevitably return, was to be -expected. The cause lay in those qualities of human nature which may be -either power or frailty. The acquisitive, self-seeking, lusting qualities -of men lie at the base of life, and may be essential to achievement and -advance. Yet a higher interpretation of values will set the spiritual -above the earthly, and beatify the self-denial through which man -ultimately attains his highest self, under the prompting of his vision of -the divine. The sight of this far goal is given to few men steadily, and -the multitude, whether cowled or clad in fashions of the world, pursue -more immediate desires. - -So human nature saw to it that monasticism should constantly exhibit -frivolity instead of earnestness, gluttony instead of fasting, avarice -instead of alms-giving, anger and malice instead of charity and love, -lustfulness instead of chastity, and, instead of meekness, pride and -vain-glory. The particular forms assumed by these corruptions depended on -the conditions of mediaeval life and the position in it occupied by monks. - -It has already been said that the standard of conduct for the secular -clergy was the same in principle as that for monks, though with allowance -made for the stress of a life of service in the cure of souls.[597] But -always the cloister and the hermitage were looked upon as the -abiding-places where one stood the best chance to save one's soul: the -life of the layman--merchant, usurer, knight--was fraught with instant -peril; that of the secular clergy was also perilous, especially when they -held high office. Dread of ecclesiastical preferment might be well -founded; the reluctance to be a bishop was often real. This sentiment, -like all feelings in the Middle Ages, took the form of a story, with the -usual vision to certify the moral of the tale: - - "It is told of a certain prior of Clairvaux, Geoffrey by name, that - when he had been elected Bishop of Tournai, and Pope Eugene as well as - the blessed Bernard, his own abbot, was urging him to take the office, - he cast himself down at the feet of the blessed Bernard and his - clergy, and lay prone in the form of a cross, and said: 'An expelled - monk I may be, if you drive me out; but I will never be a bishop.' At - a later time, as this same prior lay breathing his last, a monk who - loved him well adjured him in the name of God to bring him news of his - state beyond the grave, if God would permit it. Some time after, as - the monk was praying prostrate before the altar, his friend appeared - and said that it was he. When the monk asked him how he was faring, - 'Well,' he replied, 'by the grace of God. Yet verily it has been - revealed to me by the blessed Trinity, that had I been in the number - of bishops I should have been in the number of the reprobate and - damned.'"[598] - -Through the Middle Ages, Church dignities everywhere were secularized -through the vast possessions, and corresponding responsibilities, -attaching to them. The clerical situation varied in different lands, yet -with a like result. The Italian clergy were secularized through -participation in civic and papal business, the German through their -estates and principalities. In France clerical secularization was most -typically mediaeval, because there the functions and fortunes of the -higher clergy were most inextricably involved in feudalism. Monasteries -and bishoprics were as feudal fiefs: abbots as well as bishops commonly -held lands from an over-lord, and were themselves lords of their -sub-vassals who held lands from them. To the former they owed rent, or -aid, or service; to the latter they owed protection. In either case they -might have to go or send their men to war. They also managed and guarded -their own lands, like feudal nobles, _vi et armis_. When the estates of a -monastery, for example, lay in different places, the abbot might exercise -authority over them through a local potentate, and might also have such a -protector (_vîdame_, _avoué_, _advocatus_) for the home abbey. There was -always a general feeling, often embodied in law or custom, that a Church -dignitary should fight by another's sword and spear. But this did not -prevent bishop and abbot in countless instances in France, England, -Germany, and Spain, from riding mail-clad under their seignorial banner at -the head of their forces.[599] - -Episcopal lands and offices were not inherited:[600] yet with rare -exceptions the bishops came from the noble, fighting, hunting class. They -were noblemen first and ecclesiastics afterwards. The same was true of the -abbots. Noble-born, they became dignitaries of the world through -investiture with the broad lands of the monastery, and then administrators -by reason of the temporal functions involved. As with the episcopal or -monastic heads, so with canons and monks. They, too, for the most part -were well-born. They also were good, bad, or indifferent, warlike or -clerkly, devoted to study, abandoned to pleasure, or following the one and -the other sparingly. Many a holy meditative monk there was; and many a -saintly parish priest, the stay of piety and justice in his village. The -rude times, the ceaseless murder and harrying, uncertainty and danger -everywhere, seemed to beget such holy lives. - -Invectives, satires, histories, and records, bear witness to the state of -the clergy. All diatribes are to be taken with allowance. Whoever, for -example, reads Peter Damiani's _Liber Gomorrhianus_ against the foulness -of the clergy, must bear in mind the writer's fiercely ascetic temper, the -warfare which the stricter element in the Church was then waging against -simony and priestly concubinage, and the monkish phraseology so common to -ecclesiastical indictment of frivolity and vice. - -One cannot quote comfortably from the _Gomorrhianus_. St. Bernard -furnishes more decorous denunciation: - - "Woe unto this generation, for its leaven of the Pharisees which is - hypocrisy!--if that should be called hypocrisy which cannot be hidden - because of its abundance, and through impudence does not seek to hide! - To-day, foul rottenness crawls through the whole body of the Church. - If a heretic foe should arise openly, he would be cast out and - withered; or if the enemy raged madly, the Church might hide herself - from him. But now whom shall she cast out, or from whom hide herself? - All are friends and all are foes; all necessary and all adverse; all - of her own household and none pacific; all are her neighbours and all - seek their own interest. Ministers of Christ, they serve Antichrist. - They go clothed in the good things of the Lord and render Him no - honour. Hence that _éclat_ of the courtesan which you daily see, that - theatric garb, that regal state. Hence the gold-trapped reins and - saddles and spurs--for the spurs shine brighter than the altars. Hence - the splendid tables laden with food and goblets; hence the feastings - and drunkenness, the guitars, the lyres and the flutes; hence the - swollen wine-presses and the storehouses heaped and running over from - this one into that, and the jars of perfumes, and the stuffed purses. - 'Tis for such matters that they wish to be and are the over-seers of - churches, deacons, archdeacons, bishops, and archbishops. For neither - do these offices come by merit, but through that sort of business - which walketh in darkness!"[601] - -Such rhetoric gives glimpses of the times, but also springs from that -temper which is always crying _hora novissima, tempora pessima_. -Invectives of this nature have their deepest source in the religious -sense of the ineradicable opposition between this world and the kingdom of -heaven. Yet luxury did in fact pervade the Church of Bernard's time, and -simony was as wide as western Europe. This crime was the offspring of the -entire social state; it was part and parcel of the feudal system and the -whole matter of lay investitures. One sees that simony was no extraneous -stain to be washed off from the body ecclesiastic, but rather an element -of its actual constitution. The eradication had to come through social and -ecclesiastical evolution, rather than spasmodic reformation. - -One may turn from the invectives of the great saint to forms of satire -more frankly literary. The Latin poems "commonly attributed to Walter -Mapes"[602] satirize with biting ridicule, through the mouth of "Bishop -Golias," the avarice and venality, the gluttony and lubricity of the -Church, secular and monastic. In a quite different kind of poem the satire -directs itself against the rapacity of Rome. She, head of the Church and -Caput Mundi, is shown to be like Scylla and Charybdis and the Sirens.[603] -These powerful verses anticipate the denunciation of the Roman papacy by -the good Germans Walther von der Vogelweide and Freidank,[604] and, a -century later, in the _Vision of Piers Ploughman_. - -In this outcry against papal rapacity France was not silent. Most extreme -is the "Bible" of Guiot de Provens: it satirizes the entire age, "siècle -puant et orrible." As it turns toward the papacy it cries: - - "Ha! Rome, Rome, - Encor ociras tu maint home!" - -The cardinals are stuffed with avarice and simony and evil living; without -faith or religion, they sell God and His Mother, and betray us and their -fathers. Rome sucks and devours us; Rome kills and destroys all. Guiot's -voice is raised against the entire Church; neither the monks nor the -seculars escape--bishops, priests, canons, the black monks and the white, -Templars and Hospitallers, nuns and abbesses, all bad.[605] - -One might extend indefinitely the list of these invectives, which, like -the corruptions denounced by them, were common to all mediaeval centuries. -From the testimony of more definite accounts one perceives the rudeness -and cruelty of mediaeval life, in which the Church likewise was involved. -In order to rise, it had to lift the social fabric. To this end many of -its children struggled nobly, devoting themselves and sometimes yielding -up their lives for the betterment of the society in which their lots were -cast. - -One of these capable children of the Church who did his duty in the high -ecclesiastical station to which he was called was Eude Rigaud, or Odo -Rigaldus, Archbishop of Rouen from 1248 to 1275, the year of his death. He -was a scion of a noble house whose fiefs lay in the neighbourhood of -Brie-Comte-Robert (Seine-et-Marne). In 1236 he joined the Franciscans, and -then studied at Paris under Alexander of Hales, one of the Order's great -theologians. His first fame came from his preaching. As archbishop, he was -a reformer, and abetted the endeavours of Pope Gregory IX. He was also a -counsellor of Saint Louis, and followed him upon that last crusade from -which the king did not return alive.[606] - -The good archbishop was a man of method, and kept a record of his official -acts. This monumental document exists, the _Register_ of Rigaud's -visitations among the monks and secular clergy within his wide -jurisdiction, between the years 1248 and 1269.[607] Consisting of entries -made at the time, it is a mirror of actual conditions, presumably similar -to those existing in other parts of France. Rigaud visited many -monasteries and parishes where he found nothing to reform, and merely made -a memorandum of having been there; wherever abuses were found, the entry -expands to a statement of them and the measures taken for their remedy. -Consequently one may not infer that the blameworthy or abominable -conditions recorded in the particular instance obtained universally in -Normandy. Occasionally Rigaud records in more detail the good condition of -some monastery. A few instructive extracts may be given. - - "Calends of October (1248). We were again at Ouville (Ovilla). We - found that the prior wanders about when he ought to stay in the - cloister; he is not in the cloister one day in five. Item, he is a - drunkard, and of such vile drunkenness that he sometimes lies out in - the fields because of it. Item, he frequents feasts and drinking-bouts - with laymen. Item, he is incontinent, and is accused in respect to a - certain woman of Grainville, and also with the wife of Robertot, and - also with a woman of Rouen named Agnes. Item, brother Geoffrey was - publicly accused with respect to the wife of Walter of Esquaquelon who - recently had a child from him. Item, they do not keep proper accounts - of their revenues. We ordered that they should keep better - accounts."[608] - -Such an entry needs no comment. But it is illuminating to observe the -strictness or leniency with which Rigaud treats offences. Doubtless he was -guided by what he thought he could enforce. - -Apparently near the Ouville priory, the archbishop was scandalized by the -priest of St. Vedasti de Depedale, who was convicted of taking part in the -rough ball-play, common in Normandy, in which game, as might easily -happen, he had injured some one. "He took oath before us that if again -convicted he would hold himself to have resigned from his church."[609] -Rigaud did not approve of these somewhat too merry games for his parish -priests, who were not angels. The archbishop finds of the priest of -Lortiey "that he but rarely wears his capa, that he does not confess to -the _penitentiarius_, that he is gravely accused concerning two women, by -whom he has had many children, and he is drunken."[610] - -Rigaud enters the cases of other parish priests as follows: - - "We found that the priest of Nigella was accused as to a woman, and of - being engaged in trade and of treating his father despitefully, who is - patron of the church which he holds, and that with drawn sword he - fought with a certain knight, with a riotous following of relatives - and friends. Item, the priest of Basinval is accused as to a woman - whom he takes about with him to the market-places and taverns. - Likewise the priest of Vieux-Rouen is accused of incontinency, and - goes about wearing a sword in shameless garb. Likewise the priest of - Cotigines is a dicer and plays at quoits and frequents taverns, and is - incontinent, and although corrected as to these matters, - perseveres."[611] - -Sometimes accusations were brought to the archbishop by the suffering -parishioners: - - "Calends of August (1255). Passing through the village of Brai, the - parishioners of the church there accused the rector of the church in - our presence. They said that he went about in the night through the - village with arms, that he was quarrelsome and scurrilous and abusive - to his parishioners, and was incontinent." - -Summoning this priest before his ecclesiastical tribunal, the archbishop -says, "We admonished him to abstain from such ill-conduct; or that -otherwise we should proceed against him."[612] - -Either this priest or another of "Brayo subtus Baudemont," named Walter, -was subsequently deprived of his priesthood on his own confession as -follows: - - "He confessed that the accusation against him concerning a woman of - his parish, which he had denied under oath, was supported by truth; - item, he confessed in regard to a waxen image made to be used in - divining; he confessed (various other incontinencies and his - fatherhood of various children); item, he confessed his ill-repute for - usury and base gain; he admitted that he had led the dances at the - nuptials of a certain prostitute whom he had married."[613] - -Rigaud continually records accusations against parish priests, commonly -for incontinency and drunkenness and generally unbecoming conduct, and -sometimes for homicide.[614] But his own examinations kept out many a -turbulent and ignorant clerk, presented by the lay patron for the -benefice; and so he prevented improper inductions as he might. The -_Register_ gives a number of instances of crass illiteracy in these -candidates, a matter to cause no surprise, for the feudal patrons of the -living naturally presented their relatives. Some of these candidates -appealed to Rome from the archbishop's refusal, probably without -success.[615] - -A monk might be as bad as any parish priest: - - "Brother Thomas ... wore gold rings. He went about in armour, by - night, and without any monastic habit, and kept bad company. He - wounded many clergy and laity at night, and was himself wounded, - losing a thumb. We commanded the abbot to expel him; or that otherwise - we should seize the place and expel the monks."[616] - -Life in a nunnery was the feminine counterpart of life in a monastery. -There were good and bad nunneries, and nuns good and bad, serious and -frivolous. Many had the foibles, and were addicted to the diversions, -comforts, or fancies of their sex: they were always wanting to keep dogs -and birds, and have locks to their chests! - - "Nones of May (1250). We visited the Benedictine convent of nuns of - St. Sauveur at Evreux. There were sixty-one nuns there. Sometimes they - drank, not in the refectory or infirmary, but in their chambers. They - kept little dogs, squirrels, and birds. We ordered that all such - things be removed. They do not observe the _regula_. They eat flesh - needlessly. They have locked chests. We directed the abbess to inspect - their chests often and unexpectedly, or to take off the locks. We - directed the abbess to take away their girdles ornamented with - ironwork and their fancy pouches, and the silk cushions they were - working."[617] - -Again, the picture is more terrible: - - "Nones of July (1249). We visited the priory of Villa Arcelli. - Thirty-three nuns are there and three lay sisters. They confess and - communicate six times a year. Only four of the nuns have taken the - vows according to the _regula_. Many of them had cloaks of rabbit-fur, - or made from the fur of hares and foxes. In the infirmary they eat - flesh needlessly. Silence is not observed; nor do they keep within the - cloister. Johanna of Aululari once went out and lived with some one, - by whom she had a child; and sometimes she goes out to see that child: - she is also suspected with a certain man named Gaillard. Isabella la - Treiche (?) is a fault-finder, murmuring against the prioress and - others. The stewardess is suspected with a man named Philip de - Vilarceau. The prioress is too remiss; she does not reprove. Johanna - de Alto Villari kept going out alone with a man named Gayllard, and - within a year had a child by him. The subprioress is suspected with - Thomas the carter; Idonia, her sister, with Crispinatus; and the Prior - of Gisorcium is always coming to the house for Idonia. Philippa of - Rouen is suspected with a priest of Suentre, of the diocese of - Chartres; Marguarita, the treasuress, with Richard de Genville, a - clerk. Agnes de Fontenei, with a priest of Guerrevile, diocese of - Chartres. The Tooliere (?) with Sir Andrew de Monciac, a knight. All - wear their hair improperly and perfume their veils. Jacqueline came - back pregnant from visiting a certain chaplain, who was expelled from - his house on account of this. Agnes de Monsec was suspected with the - same. Emengarde and Johanna of Alto Villari beat each other. The - prioress is drunk almost any night; she does not rise for matins, nor - eat in the refectory or correct excesses." - -The archbishop thereupon issues an order, regulating this extraordinary -convent, and prescribing a better way of living. He threatens to lay a -heavier hand on them if they do not obey.[618] This was what a loosely -regulated nunnery might come to. We close with the sketch of a good -monastery which had an evil abbot: - - "Nones of August (1258). Through God's grace we visited the monastery - of Jumiéges. Forty-three monks were there, and twenty-one outside. All - of these who dwelt there, except eleven, were priests (_sacerdotes_). - We found, by God's grace, the convent well-ordered in its services and - observances, yet greatly troubled by what was said of the abbot within - and without its walls. For opinion was sinister regarding him, and - there, in full chapter, brother Peter of Neubourg, a monk of the - monastery, leaping up, made shameful charges against him. And he read - the following schedule: I, brother Peter of Neubourg, a monk of - Jumiéges, in my name and in the name of the monastery and for the - benefit of the monastery, bring before you, Reverend Father, - Archbishop of Rouen, for an accusation against Richard, Abbot of - Jumiéges, that he is a forger (_falsarius_) because he wrote or caused - to be written certain letters in the name of our convent, falsely - alleging our approval of them although we were absent and ignorant; - and secretly by night he sealed them with the convent's seal...." - -The letters related to an important controversy in which the monastery was -involved. Monk Peter offers to prove his case. A day is set for the -hearing. But, instead, the very next day, in order to avoid scandal, the -archbishop called the abbot before him and his counsellors; and - - "We admonished him specially regarding the following matters: To wit: - that he should not keep dogs and birds of chase; that he should send - strolling players away from his premises; that he should abstain from - extravagant expenses; that he should not eat in his own chambers; that - he should keep from consorting with women altogether; that he should - order his household decently; that he should lease out the farms as - well as might be; that he should not burden the monks unduly; that he - should be more in the convent with them, and bear himself more - soberly. He made promises as to all these matters and took oath upon - holy relics that if he failed to obey our admonition he should be held - to do whatever we should decree in the premises."[619] - -Rigaud seems to have been lenient here, but may have known the wisest -course to take. - -A peaceful death terminated Rigaud's long career. We may leave his diocese -of Rouen, and travel north-easterly to the German archiepiscopal dukedom -of Cologne for a very different example of a brave prelate who brought -death upon himself. - -The man who was chosen Archbishop of Cologne in 1216 was of the highest -birth. It was Engelbert, son of Count Engelbert of Berg. A young nobleman, -related by blood to the local powers, lay and ecclesiastic, and destined -for Church dignities, would be quickly given benefices. Engelbert received -such, and also was appointed Provost of the Cathedral. Strong of body, -rich, he led a boisterous martial life, and took a truculent part in the -political dissensions which were undoing the German realm. With his -cousin, the Archbishop Adolph, he went over to the side of Philip of -Suavia. For this the archbishop and his provost were deposed and -excommunicated by Pope Innocent III. There ensued years of turbulence and -fighting, during which Engelbert's hand followed his passions. But with -the turning of events in 1208 he was reconciled to the Pope, restored to -his offices, and went crusading against the Albigenses in atonement for -his sins. He stood by the young Frederick, then favoured by Innocent, and -after some intervening years of proof, was, with general approval, elected -Archbishop of Cologne. He was about thirty-one years old. - -There had been power and bravery in the man from the beginning; and his -faculties gained poise and gathered purpose through the stormy springtime -of his life. Now he stood forth prince-bishop, feudal duke; a man strong -of arm and clear of vision, steadfast against the violence of his brother -nobles who oppressed the churches and cloisters within their lordships. -The weak found him a rock of defence. Says his biographer, Caesar of -Heisterbach: - - "He was a defender of the afflicted and a hammer of tyrants, - magnanimous and meek, lofty and affable, stern and gentle, dissembling - for a time, and when least expected girding himself for vengeance. - With the bishopric he had received the spiritual sword, and the - material sword with the dukedom. He used either weapon against the - rebellious, excommunicating some and crushing some by war." - -Under him archbishopric and dukedom prospered, their well-managed revenues -increased, palaces and churches rose. No mightier prince of the Church, no -stronger, juster ruler could be found. Said Pope Honorius after -Engelbert's death: "All men in Germany feared me from fear of him." From -the lay and German side is heard the hearty voice of Walther von der -Vogelweide, no friend of priests! "Worthy Bishop of Cologne, happy should -you be! You have well served the realm, and served it so that your praise -rises and waves on high. Master of princes! if your might weighs hard on -evil cowards, deem that as nothing! King's guardian, high is your state, -unequalled Chancellor!"[620] - -Archbishop of Cologne, duke of its double dukedom, and Regent of the -German realm, Engelbert was well-nigh Germany's greatest figure during -these years. If his arm was strong, his also was the spirit of counsel and -wisdom. And although bearing himself as prince and ruler, he had within -him the devotion and humility of a true bishop. Said one of Engelbert's -chaplains, speaking to the Abbot of Heisterbach: "Although my lord seems -as of the world, within he is not as he appears outwardly. Know that he -has many secret comfortings from God." - -The iron course of Engelbert's life brought queryings to the monkish mind -of his biographer. Caesar felt that it was not easy for any bishop to be -saved; how much harder was it for a statesman-warrior-prelate so to -conduct himself in the warfare of this world as to attain at last "the -peace of divine contemplation." Not thither did such a career seem to -lead! But there was a way, or at least an exit, which surely opened upon -heaven's gate. This was the purple steep, the _purpureum ascensum_, of -martyrdom. Caesar was not alone in thinking thus, as to the saving close -of Engelbert's career; for a devout and learned priest, who in earlier -years had been co-canon with Engelbert, said to Caesar after the -archbishop's murder: "I do not think there was another way through which a -man so placed (_in statu tali positus_) could have entered the door of the -kingdom of heaven, which is narrow." - -Caesar tells the story of this martyrdom in all its causes and details of -plot. That plot succeeded because it was the envenomed culmination of the -hatred for the archbishop felt by the nobles--bishops among them too--whom -he restrained with his authority and unhesitating hand. Frederic, Count of -Isenburg, a kinsman of Engelbert as well as of the former archbishop, was -the feudal warden of the nunnery of Essen, which he greedily oppressed. -The abbess turned to Engelbert, as she had to his predecessor. The -archbishop hesitated to proceed against a relative. So the abbess appealed -to Rome. Papal letters came back causing Engelbert to take the matter up. -He acted with forbearance and generosity; for he even offered to make up -from his own revenues any loss the count might sustain from acting justly -toward the nunnery. In vain. Frederic, so we read, would have none of his -interference. The devil hardened his heart; and he began to incite his -friends and kinsmen (who were also the kin of Engelbert) to a treacherous -attack upon the man they could not openly withstand. - -Rumours of the plot were in the air. Said a monk of Heisterbach to his -abbot: "Lord, if you have any business with the archbishop, do it quickly, -for his death is near." Engelbert himself was not unwarned. A letter came -to him revealing the matter. Upon reading it, he threw it in the fire. Yet -he told its contents to his friend the Bishop of Minden, who was present. -Said the latter: "Have a care for thyself, my lord, for God's sake, and -not for thyself alone, but for the welfare of your church and the safety -of the whole land." - -The archbishop answered: "Dangers are all about me, and what I should do -the Lord knows and not I. Woe is me, if I keep quiet! Yet if I should -accuse them of this matter, they would complain to every one that I was -fastening the crime of parricide on them. From this hour I commit my body -and soul to the divine care." - - "Then taking the bishop alone into his chapel, he began to confess all - his sins from his very youth, with a shower of tears that wetted all - his breast, and, as we hope, washed the stains from his heart. And - when the Lord of Minden said: 'I fear there is still something on thy - conscience which thou hast not told me,' he answered: 'The Lord knows - that I have concealed nothing consciously.' But thinking over his sins - more fully, the next morning he took his confessor again into the same - chapel and with meek and contrite soul and floods of tears confessed - everything that had recurred to his mind. Then his conscience being - clear, he said fearlessly: 'Now let God's will regarding me be done.' - - "In the meanwhile some one was knocking at the door of the chapel. The - archbishop would not let it be opened because his eyes were wet with - tears. But the knocking continued, and it was announced that the - bishops of Osnabrück and Münster (brothers of Count Frederic) were - there. After he had dried his eyes and wiped his face, he allowed them - to be shown in, and said when they had entered: 'You lords both are - kin of mine, and I have injured you in nothing, as you know well, but - have advanced your interests, as I might, and your brother's also. And - look you, from all sides by word and letter I hear that your brother - Count Frederic, whom I have loved heartily and never harmed, is - devising ill to me and seeks to kill me.' - - "They protested, trembling in their deceit: 'Lord, may this never, - never, be! You need have no fear; such a thought has never entered his - heart. We all have been honoured and enriched and lifted up by you.' - Which last was true." - -This was after the festival of All Saints in the first days of November -1225; and Count Frederic, the better to conceal his purpose, came and -accepted the archbishop's terms. Together they set out from Cologne, the -count knowing that the now unsuspecting Engelbert would stop the next day -to dedicate a church at Swelm. So it turned out, and the count took that -opportunity to excuse himself and rode off to set his men in ambush. Just -then a widow rose up from the roadside, and demanded judgment as to a fief -withheld from her. At once the archbishop dismounted, and took his seat as -duke to hear the cause. It went against the widow, and in favour of him -who sat as judge. But he said: "Lady, this fief which you demand is taken -from you by decree and adjudged to me. But for the sake of God, pitying -your distress, I relinquish it to you." - -The archbishop rode on. About midday Frederic came up again to see which -way he was taking. Engelbert invited the count to pass the night with him. -But he declined on some pretext, and rode away. The archbishop and his -company proceeded on their road until the hour of vespers. Vespers were -said, and again the count appeared. Observing him, a nobleman in -Engelbert's train said: "My lord, this coming and going of the count looks -suspicious. For the third time he is approaching, and now not as before on -his palfrey but on his war-horse. I advise you to mount your war-horse -too." - -But the archbishop said that would be too noticeable, and there was -nothing to fear. As the count drew near, they saw that the colour had left -his face. The archbishop spoke to him: "Now, kinsman, I am sure you will -stay with me." He answered nothing, and they went on together. Suspicious -and alarmed, some of the clergy and some of the knights withdrew, so that -but a small company remained; for a good part of the episcopal household -with the cooks had gone ahead to prepare the night's lodgings. - -It was dusk as they drew near the place of ambush. The count grew -agitated, and was blaming himself to his followers for planning to kill -his lord and kinsman, but they egged him on. Now the foot of the Gevelberg -was reached, and the count said as they began to ascend, "My lord, this is -our path." "May the Lord protect us," replied Engelbert, for he was not -without suspicion. - -The company was entering the hollow way leading over the summit of the -mountain, when suddenly the followers of Frederic, who were ahead, turned -on them, and others leaped from hiding, while a shrill whistle sounded, -startling the horses. "My lord, mount your war-horse; death is at the -door," cried a knight. It was indeed. The archbishop's company made no -resistance, except the faithful noble who first had scented danger. The -rest fled while the murderers rushed upon Engelbert, unable to turn in the -narrow way, and struck at him with swords and daggers. One seized him by -the cloak and the two rolled together on the ground; but the strong and -active prelate dragged himself and his antagonist out of the roadway into -a thicket. There he was again set upon by the mad crew, urged on by the -count, and was hacked and stabbed to death. He breathed his last beneath -an oak ten paces from the roadway. - -There is no need to recount the finding of the gashed and stripped body, -its solemn interment in the Cathedral Church of St. Peter's at Cologne, -the canonization of Engelbert, and the building of a chapel, succeeded by -a cloister, to mark the place of his martyrdom. Nor need one follow with -Caesar the banning of the murderers, and the unhappy ways in which their -deaths made part atonement for the injury which their wicked deed had done -the German realm.[621] - - * * * * * - -The ideals and shortcomings of monasticism were closely connected with -popular beliefs. The monastic ideal had its inception in the thought of -sin as entailing either purgatorial or everlasting punishment, and in the -thought of holiness as ensuring eternal bliss. Whatever other motives -participated, the knot of the monastic purpose was held in the jaws of -this antithesis, which for itself drew form, colour, picturesqueness, from -popular beliefs, and was made tangible in countless stories telling of -purity and love and meekness impaired by lust and cruelty and pride, and -of retribution avoided by some shifty supernatural adjustment of the sin. -Such stories might be accepted as well by the learned as by the -illiterate. The brooding soul of the Middle Ages, with its knowledge of -humanity and its reaches of spiritual insight, was undisturbed by the -crass superstitions so queerly at odds with its deeper inspiration--a -remark specifically applicable to thoughtful or spiritually-minded -individuals in the mediaeval centuries. - -As we descend the spiritual scale, the crude superstitious elements become -more prominent or apparently the whole matter. Likewise as we descend the -moral scale; for the more vicious the individual, the more utterly will he -omit the spiritual from his working faith, and the more mechanical will be -his methods of squaring his conduct with his fears of the supernatural. -Nevertheless, in estimating the ethical shortcomings of mediaeval -superstitions, one must remember how easily in a simple mind all sorts of -superstition may co-exist with a sweet religious and moral tone. - -Sins unatoned for and uncondoned bring purgatorial or perpetual torment -after death, even as holiness brings eternal bliss. But how were sins -thought to come to men and women in the Middle Ages, and especially to -those who were earnestly striving to escape them? Rather than fruit of the -naughtiness of the human heart, they came through the malicious -suggestions, the temptations, of a Tempter. They were in fine the -machinations of the devil. This was the popular view, and also the -authoritative doctrine, expressed, re-expressed, and enforced in myriad -examples, by all the saints and magnates of the Church who had lived since -the time when Athanasius wrote the life of Anthony in devil-fighting -heroics. - -Against the devil, every man had staunch allies; the readiest were the -Virgin Mary and the saints, for Christ was very high above the conflict, -and at the Judgment Day must be its final umpire. The object of the -cunning enemy was to trip man into hell, an object hostile alike to God -and man. Saintly aid enabled man to overcome the devil, or if he succumbed -to temptation and committed mortal sin, there was still a chance to -frustrate the devil's plot, and save the soul by wiles or force. The -sinner may use every stratagem to defeat the devil and escape the results -of sins committed by himself, but prompted by his enemy. This was war and -the ethics of war, in which man was the central struggling figure, -attacked by the devil and defended by the saints. The latter also help -man's earthly fortunes, and devotion to them may ensure one's welfare in -this very palpable and pressing life of earth. - -This popular and yet authoritative view of mortal peril and saintly aid is -illustrated in the tales from sermons and other pious writings. In them -any uncanny or untoward experience was ascribed to the devil. So it was in -monkish Chronicles, _Vitae sanctorum_, _Dialogi miraculorum_, or indeed in -any edifying writing couched in narrative form or containing illustrative -tales. Throughout this literature the devil inspires evil thoughts, -instigates crimes, and causes any unhappy or immoral happening. It is just -as much a matter of course as if one should say to-day, I have a cold, or -John stole a ring, or James misbehaved with So-and-so.[622] Any man might -meet the devil, and if sinful, suffer physical violence from him. If any -one disappeared the devil might be supposed to have carried him off. -Details of the abduction might be given, or the whole matter take place -before witnesses. - - "A rich usurer, with little fear of God in him, had dined well one - evening, and was in bed with his wife, when he suddenly leaped up. She - asked what ailed him. He replied: 'I was just snatched away to God's - judgment seat, where I heard so many accusations that I did not know - what to answer. And while I waited for something to happen, I heard - the final sentence given against me, that I should be handed over to - demons, who were to come and get me to-day.' Saying this, he flung on - a coat, and ran out of the house, for all his wife could do to stop - him. His servants, following, discovered him almost crazed in a church - where monks were saying their matins. There they kept him in custody - for some hours. But he made no sign of willingness to confess or make - restitution or repent. So after mass they led him back toward his - house, and as they came by a river, a boat was seen coming rapidly up - against the current, manned apparently by no one. But the usurer said - that it was full of demons, who had come to take him. The words were - no sooner uttered, than he was seized by them, and put in the boat, - which suddenly turned on its course and disappeared with its - prey."[623] - -One observes that this usurer had received sentence at God's tribunal, and -the devils carried it out: the sentence gave them power. Any man may be -tempted; but falls into his enemy's power only by sinning. His yielding is -an act of acquiescence in the devil's will, and may be the commencement of -a state of permanent consent. With this we reach the notion of a formal -pact with the devil, of which there were many instances. But still the -pact is with the Enemy; the man is not bound beyond the letter, and may -escape by any trick. It is still the ethics of war; we are very close to -the principle that a man by stratagem or narrow observance of the letter -may escape the eternal retribution which God decrees conditionally and the -devil delights in. - -The sacraments prescribed by the Church were the common means of escaping -future punishment. Confession is an example. The correct doctrine was that -without penitence it was ineffective. But popularly the confession -represented the whole fact. It was efficacious of itself, and kept the -soul from hell. It might even prevent retribution in this life. Caesar of -Heisterbach has a number of illustrative stories, rather immoral as they -seem to us. There was, for instance, a person possessed (_obsessus_) of a -devil who dwelt in him, and through his lips would make known the -_unconfessed_ sins of any one brought before him; but the devil could not -remember sins which had been confessed. A certain knight suspected (quite -correctly) a priest of sinning with his wife. So he haled him before this -_obsessus_. On the way the priest managed to elude his persecutor for an -instant, and, darting into a barn, confessed his sin to a layman he found -there. Returning, he went along with the knight, and, behold, the sin was -obliterated from the memory of the devil in the _obsessus_, and the priest -remained undetected.[624] - -Men and women sometimes escaped the wages of sin by the aid of a saint, -but more often through the incarnate pity of the Virgin Mary. The Virgin -and the saints were ready to take up any cause, however desperate, against -the devil; which means that they were ready to intervene between the -sinner and the impending punishment. People took kindly to these thoughts -of irregular intervention, since everlasting torment for transient sin was -so extreme; but a surer source of their approval lay in the incomplete -spiritualization of the popular religion and its ethics. - -To thwart the devil was the office of the Virgin and the saints. Their aid -was given when it was besought. Sometimes they intervened voluntarily to -protect a votary whose devotions had won their favour. The stories of the -pitying intervention of the Virgin to save the sinner from the wages of -his sin, and frustrate the devil, are among the fragrant flowers of the -mediaeval spirit. Ethically some of them leave much to ask for; but others -are tales of sweet forgiveness upon heart-felt repentance. - -Jacques of Vitry has a story (scarcely fit to repeat) of a certain very -religious Roman widow-lady, who had an only son, with whom she sinned at -the devil's instigation. She was a devoted worshipper of the Virgin; and -the devil, fearing that she would repent, plotted to bring her to trial -and immediate condemnation before the emperor's tribunal, for her incest. -When the widow knew of her impending ruin, she went with tears to the -confessional, and then day and night besought the Virgin to deliver her -from infamy and death. The day of trial came. Suddenly the accuser, who -was the devil in disguise, began to quake and groan, and could not answer -when the emperor asked what ailed him. But as the woman drew near the -judgment seat, he uttered a horrid howl, exclaiming: "See! Mary is coming -with the woman, holding her hand." And in a fetid whirlwind he -disappeared. "And thus," says Jacques of Vitry, "the widow was set free -through confession and the Virgin's aid, and afterwards persevered in the -service of God more cautiously."[625] - -Such a tale sounds immoral; yet there is some good in saving any soul from -hell; and here there was repentance. Caesar of Heisterbach has another, of -the Virgin taking the place of a sinning nun in the convent until she -repented and returned. Again repentance and forgiveness make the sinner -whole.[626] - -The _Miracles de Nostre Dame_[627] are an interesting repertory of the -Virgin's interventions. These "Mysteries" or miracle plays in Old French -verse are naïve enough in their kindly stratagems, by which the votary is -saved from punishment in this life and his soul from torment in the next. -The first "Miracle" in this collection runs thus: A pious dame and her -knightly husband, from devotion to the Virgin Mary took the not unusual -vow of married continence. But under diabolic incitement, the knight -over-persuaded his lady, who in her chagrin at the broken vow devoted the -offspring to the devil. A son was born, and in due time the devil came to -claim it. Thereupon a huge machinery, of pope and cardinals, hermits and -archangels, is set in motion. At last the case is brought before God, -where the devils show cause on one side, and "Nostre Dame" pleads on the -other. Our Lady wins on the ground that the mother could not devote her -offspring to the devil without the father's consent, which was not shown. - -There is surely no harm in this pleasant drama; for the devil ought not to -have had the boy. But there follow quite different "Miracles" of Our Lady. -The next one is typical. An abbess sins with her clerk. Her condition is -observed by the nuns, and the bishop is informed. The abbess casts herself -on the mercy of Mary, who miraculously delivers her of the child and gives -it into the care of a holy hermit. An examination of the abbess takes -place, after which she is declared innocent by the bishop. But she is at -once moved to repentance, and confesses all to him. In the bishop's mind, -however, the Virgin's intervention is sufficient proof of the abbess's -holiness. He absolves her, and goes to the hermitage and takes charge of -the child.[628] - -Such is an example of the kindly but peculiar miracles, in which the -Virgin saves her friends who turn to her and repent. Many other tales, -quite lovely and unobjectionable, are told of her: how she keeps her -tempted votaries from sinning, or helps them to repent:[629] or blesses -and leads on to joy those who need no forgiveness. Such a one was the -monk-scribe who illuminated Mary's blessed name in three lovely colours -whenever it occurred in the works he copied, and then kissed it devoutly. -As he lay very ill, having received the sacraments, another brother saw in -vision the Virgin hover above his couch and heard her say: "Fear not, son, -thou shalt rejoice with the dwellers in heaven, because thou didst honour -my name with such care. Thine own name is written in the book of life. -Arise and come with me." Running to the infirmary the brother found his -brother dying blissfully.[630] - -There are lovely stories too of passionate repentance, coming -unmiraculously to those devoutly thinking on the Virgin and her infant -Son. "For there was once a nun who forsook her convent and became a -prostitute, but returned after many years. As she thought of God's -judgment and the pains of hell, she despaired of ever gaining pardon; as -she thought of Paradise, she deemed that she, impure, could never enter -there; and when she thought upon the Passion, and how great ills Christ -had borne for her and how great sins she had committed, she still was -without hope. But on the Day of the Nativity she began to think that unto -us a Child is born, and that children are appeased easily. Before the -image of the Virgin she began to think of the Saviour's infancy, and, with -floods of passionate tears, besought the Child through the benignity of -His childhood to have mercy upon her. She heard a voice saying to her that -through the benignity of that childhood which she had invoked, her sins -were forgiven."[631] - -But enough of these stories. Nor is there need to enlarge upon the -relic-worship and other superstitions of the Middle Ages. One sees such -matters on every side. It was all a matter of course, and disapprovals -were rare. Such conceptions of sin and the devil's part in it affected the -morality of clergy as well as laity. The morals of the latter could not -rise above those of their instructors; and the layman's religion of -masses, veneration of relics, pilgrimages, almsgiving and endowment of -monasteries, scarcely interfered with the cruelty and rapine to which he -might be addicted. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE WORLD OF SALIMBENE - - -At the close of this long survey of the saintly ideals and actualities of -the Middle Ages, it will be illuminating to look abroad over mediaeval -life through the half mystic but most observant eyes of a certain Italian -Franciscan. The Middle Ages were not characterized by the open eye. -Mediaeval Chronicles and _Vitae_ rarely afford a broad and variegated -picture of the world. As they were so largely the work of monks, obviously -they would set forth only what would strike the monastic eye, an eye often -intense with its inner vision, but not wide open to the occurrences of -life. The monk was not a good observer, commonly from lack of sympathy and -understanding. Of course there were exceptions; one of them was the -Franciscan Salimbene, an undeniable if not too loving son of an alert -north Italian city, Parma. - -Humanism springs from cities; and it began in Italy long before Petrarch. -North of the Alps there was nothing like the city life of Italy, so quick -and voluble, so unreticent and unrestrained, open and -neighbourly--neighbours hate as well as love! From Cicero's time, from -Numa's if one will, Italian life was what it never ceased to be, urban. -The city was the centre and the bound of human intercourse, almost of -human sympathy. This was always true; as true in those devastated seventh, -eighth, and ninth centuries as before or after; certainly true of the -tenth and eleventh centuries when the Lombards and other Teuton children -of the waste and forest had become good urban Italians. It was still more -abundantly true of the following centuries when life was burgeoning with -power. Whatever other cause or source of parentage it had, humanism was a -city child. And as city life never ceased in Italy, that land had no -unhumanistic period. There humanism always existed, whether we take it in -the narrower sense of love of humanistic, that is, antique literature, or -take it broadly as in the words of old Menander-Terence: "homo sum, humani -nil a me alienum." - -Now turn to the close of the twelfth century, and look at Francis of -Assisi. It is his humanism and his naturalism, his interest in men and -women, and in bird and beast as well, that fills this sweet lover of -Christ with tender sympathy for them all. Through him human interest and -love of man drew monasticism from its cloister, and sent it forth upon an -unhampered ministry of love. Francis (God bless him!) had not been -Francis, had he not been Francis _of Assisi_. - -A certain gifted well-born city child was five years old when Francis -died. It was to be his lot to paint for posterity a picture of his world -such as no man had painted before; and in all his work no line suggests so -many reasons for the differences between Italy and the lands north of the -Alps, and also so many why Salimbene happened to be what he was, as this -remark, relating to his French tour: "In France _only the townspeople_ -dwell in the towns; the knights and noble ladies stay in their villas and -on their own domains." - -Only the townspeople live in the towns, merchants, craftsmen, -artisans--the unleavened bourgeoisie! In Lombardy how different! There -knights and nobles, and their lovely ladies, have their strong dwellings -in the towns; jostle with the townspeople, converse with them, intermarry -sometimes, lord it over them when they can, hate them, murder them. But -there they are, and what variety and colour and picturesqueness and -illumination do they not add to city life? If a Lombardy town thronged -with merchants and craftsmen, it was also gay and voluptuous with knights -and ladies. How rich and fascinating its life compared with the grey towns -beyond the Alps. In France the townspeople made an audience for the -Fabliaux! The Italian town had also its courtly audience of knight and -dame for the love lyrics of the troubadour, and for the romances of -chivalry. In fact, the whole world was there, and not just workaday, -sorry, parts of it. - -Had it not been for the full and varied city life in which he was born and -bred, the quick-eyed youth would not have had that fund of human interest -and intuition which makes him so pleasant and so different from any one -north of the Alps in the thirteenth century. A city boy indeed, and what a -full personality! He was to be a man of human curiosity, a tireless -sight-seer. His interest is universal; his human love quick enough--for -those he loved; for he was no saint, although a Minorite. His detestation -is vivid, illuminating; it brings the hated man before us. And Salimbene's -wide-open eyes are his own. He sees with a fresh vision; he is himself; a -man of temperament, which lends its colours to the panorama. His own -interest or curiosity is paramount with him; so his narrative will naïvely -follow his sweet will and whim, and pass from topic to topic in chase of -the suggestions of his thoughts. - -The result is for us a unique treasure-trove. The story presents the world -and something more; two worlds, if you will, very co-related: -_macrocosmos_ and _microcosmos_, the world without and the very eager ego, -Salimbene. There he is unfailingly, the writer in his world. Scarcely -another mediaeval penman so naïvely shows the world he moves about in and -himself. Let us follow, for a little, his autobiographic chronicle, taking -the liberty which he always took, of selecting as we choose.[632] - -In the year 1221 Salimbene was born at Parma, into the very centre of the -world of strife between popes and emperors--a world wherein also the -renewed Gospel was being preached by Francis of Assisi, who did not die -till five years later. But St. Dominic died the year of Salimbene's birth. -Innocent III., most powerful of popes, had breathed his last five years -before, leaving surviving him that viper-nursling of the papacy, Frederick -II., an able, much-experienced youth of twenty-two. Frederick was -afterwards crowned emperor by Honorius III., and soon showed himself the -most resourceful of his Hohenstaufen line of arch-enemies to the papacy. -This Emperor Frederick, whom Innocent III., says Salimbene, had exalted -and named "Son of the Church" ... "was a man pestiferous and accursed, a -schismatic, heretic, and epicurean, who corrupted the whole earth."[633] - -Salimbene's family was in high regard at Parma, and the boy naturally saw -and perhaps met the interesting strangers coming to the town. He tells us -that when he was baptized the lord Balianus of Sydon, a great baron of -France, a retainer of the Emperor Frederick's, "lifted me from the sacred -font." The mother was a pious dame, whom Salimbene loved none too well, -because once she snatched up his infant sisters to flee from the danger of -the Baptistery toppling over upon their house during an earthquake, and -left Salimbene himself lying in his cradle! The father had been a -crusader, and was a man of wealth and influence. - -So the youth was born into a stirring swirl of life. These vigorous -northern Italian cities hated each other shrewdly in the thirteenth -century. When the boy was eight years old a great fight took place between -the folk of Parma, Modena, and Cremona on the one side, and that big -blustering Bologna. Hot was the battle. On the _Carrocio_ of Parma only -one man remained; for it was stripped of its defenders by the stones from -those novel war-engines of the Bolognese, called _manganellae_. -Nevertheless the three towns won the battle, and the Bolognese turned -their backs and abandoned their own _Carrocio_. The Cremona people wanted -to drag it within their walls; but the prudent Parma leaders prevented it, -because such action would have been an insult forever, and a lasting cause -of war with a strong enemy. But Salimbene saw the captured _manganellae_ -brought as trophies into his city. - -Other scenes of more peaceful rejoicing came before his eyes; as in the -year 1233, he being twelve years old. That was a year of alleluia, as it -was afterwards called, - - "to wit a time of peace and quiet, of joy, jollity and merry-making, - of praise and jubilee; because wars were over. Horse and foot, - townsfolk and rustics, youths and virgins, old and young, sang songs - and hymns. There was such devotion in all the cities of Italy. And I - saw that each quarter of the city would have its banner in the - procession, a banner on which was painted the figure of its - martyr-saint. And men and women, boys and girls, thronged from the - villages to the city with their flags, to hear the preaching, and - praise God. They had branches of trees and lighted candles. There was - preaching morning, noon, and evening, and _stationes_ arranged in - churches and squares; and they lifted their hands to God to praise and - bless Him forever. Nor could they cease, so drunk were they with love - divine. There was no wrath among them, or disquiet or rancour. - Everything was peaceful and benign; I saw it with my eyes."[634] - -And then Salimbene tells of all the famous preachers, and the lovely -hymns, and Ave Marias; Frater So-and-so, from Bologna; Frater So-and-so -from somewhere else; Minorite and Preaching friar. - -One might almost fancy himself in the Florence of Savonarola. Like enough -this season of soul outpour and tears and songs of joy first stirred the -religious temper of this quickly moved youth. These were also the great -days of dawning for the Friars. Dominic was not yet sainted; yet his Order -of the Preaching Friars was growing. The blessed Francis had been -canonized;--sainted had he been indeed before his death! And the world was -turning to these novel, open, sympathetic brethren who were pouring -themselves through Europe. Love's mendicancy, envied but not yet -discredited, was before men's eyes and in men's thoughts; and what -opportunity it offered of helping people, of saving one's own soul, and of -seeing the world! We can guess how Salimbene's temper was drawn by it. We -know at least that one of these friars, Brother Girard of Modena, who -preached at this jubilee in Parma, was the man who made petition five -years later for Salimbene, so that the Minister-General of the Minorites, -Brother Elias, being then at Parma, received the seventeen-year-old boy -into the Order, in the year 1238. - -Salimbene's father was frantic at the loss of his heir. Never while he -lived did he cease to lament it. He at once began strenuous appeals to -have his son returned to him. Salimbene's account of this, exhibits -himself, his father, and the situation. - - "He complained to the emperor (Frederick II.), who had come to Parma, - that the brothers Minorites had taken his son from him. The emperor - wrote to Brother Elias that if he held his favour dear, he should - listen to him and return me to my father. Then my father went to - Assisi, where Brother Elias was, and placed in his hands the emperor's - letter, which began: 'In order to mitigate the sighs of our faithful - Guido de Adam,' and so forth. Brother Illuminatus, Brother Elias's - scribe, showed me this letter long afterwards, when I was with him in - the convent at Siena. - - "When the imperial letter had been read, Brother Elias wrote at once - to the brethren of the convent at Fano, where I dwelt, that if I - wished it, they should return me to my father without delay; but that - if I did not wish to go with my father, they should guard and keep me - as the pupil of his eye. - - "A number of knights came with my father to Fano, to see the end of my - affair. There was I and my salvation made the centre of the spectacle. - The brethren were assembled, with them of the world; and there was - much talk. My father produced the letter of the minister-general, and - showed it to the brothers. When it was read, Brother Jeremiah, who was - in charge of me, answered my father in the hearing of all: 'Lord - Guido, we sympathize with your distress, and are prepared to obey the - letter of our father. Behold, here is your son; he is old enough; let - him speak for himself. Ask him; if he wishes to go with you, let him - in God's name; if not, we cannot force him.' - - "My father asked me whether I wished to go with him or not. I replied, - No; because the Lord says, 'No one putting his hand to the plow and - looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.' - - "And father said to me: 'Thou carest not for thy father and mother, - who are afflicted with many griefs for thee.' - - "I replied: 'Truly I do not care, because the Lord says, Who loveth - father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. But of thee He also - says: Who loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. - Thou oughtest to care, father, for Him who hung on the cross for us, - that He might give us eternal life. For it is himself who says: I am - come to set a man against his father, and the daughter against her - mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's - foes are they of his household.' - - "The brethren wondered and rejoiced that I said such things to my - father. And then my father said: 'You have bewitched and deceived my - son, so that he will not mind me. I will complain again of you to the - emperor and to the minister-general. Now let me speak with my son - apart from you; and you will see him follow me without delay.' - - "So the brothers allowed me to talk with him alone; for they began to - have a little confidence in me, because of my words. Yet they listened - behind the wall to what we should say. For they trembled as a reed in - water, lest my father should alter my mind with his blandishments. And - not for me alone they feared, but lest my return should hinder others - from entering the Order. - - "Then my father said to me: 'Dear son, don't believe those nasty - tunics[635] who have deceived you; but come with me, and I will give - you all I have.' - - "And I replied: 'Go away, father. As the Wise Man says in Proverbs, - Thou shall not hinder him to do right, who is able.' - - "And my father answered with tears, and said to me: 'What then, son, - shall I say to thy mother, who is afflicted because of thee?' - - "And I say to him: 'Thou shalt tell her from me; thus says thy son: My - father and mother have forsaken me, and the Lord hath taken me up; - also (Jer. iii.): Thou shalt call me Father, and walk after me in my - steps.... It is good for a man when he has borne the yoke from his - youth.' - - "Hearing all these things my father, despairing of my coming out, - threw himself down in the presence of the brethren and the secular - folk who had come with him, and said: 'I give thee to a thousand - devils, cursed son, thee and thy brother here who has deceived thee. - My curse be on you forever, and may it commend you to the spirits of - hell.' And he went away excited beyond measure; while we remained - greatly comforted and giving thanks to our God, and saying to each - other, 'They shall curse, and thou shalt bless.' Likewise the seculars - retired edified at my constancy. The brethren also rejoiced seeing - what the Lord had wrought through me, His little boy." - -This whole scene presents such a conflict as the thirteenth century -witnessed daily, and the twelfth, and other mediaeval centuries as well. -The letters of St. Bernard set forth situations quite as extreme or -outrageous, from modern points of view. And Bernard can apply (or shall we -say, distort?) Scripture in the same drastic fashion. But these monks -meant it deeply; and from their standpoint they were in the right with -their quotations. The attitude goes back to Jerome; that a man's father -and mother, and they of his own household, may be his worst enemies, if -they seek to hinder his feet set toward God. Of course we can see the -sensible, worldly, martial father of the youth leap in the air and roll on -the ground in rage; flesh and blood could not stand such turn of -Scripture: Tell my weeping mother (who so longs for me) that I say my -father and mother have forsaken me, and the Lord hath taken me up! This -came to the Lord Guido as a maddening gibe; but Salimbene meant simply -that his parents did not care for his highest welfare, and the Lord had -received him into the path of salvation. It is all a scene, which should -evoke our serious reflections--after which it may be permitted us to enjoy -it as we will. - -In his conscience Salimbene felt justified; for a dream set the seal of -divine approval on his conduct. - - "The Blessed Virgin rewarded me that very night. For it seemed to me - that I was lying prostrate in prayer before her altar, as the brothers - are wont when they rise for matins. And I heard the voice of the - Blessed Virgin calling me. Lifting my face, I saw her sitting above - the altar in that place where is set the host and the calix. She had - her little boy in her lap, and she held him out to me, saying: - 'Approach without fear and kiss my son, whom yesterday thou didst - confess before men.' And when I was afraid, I saw that the little boy - gladly stretched out his arms. Trusting his innocence and the - graciousness of his mother, I drew near, embraced and kissed him; and - the benign mother gave him to me for a long while. And when I could - not have enough of it, the Blessed Virgin blessed me and said: 'Go, - beloved son, and lie down, lest the brothers rising from matins find - thee here with us.' I obeyed, and the vision disappeared; but - unspeakable sweetness remained in my heart. Never in the world have I - had such bliss." - -From this we see that Salimbene had sufficient mystic ardour to keep him a -happy Franciscan. It made the otherworldly part of one who also was a -merry gossip among his fellows. An inner power of spiritual enthusiasm -and fantasy accompanied him through his life, giving him a double point of -view: he looks at things as they are, with curiosity and interest, and -ever and anon loses himself in transcendental dreams of Paradise and all -at last made perfect.[636] - -Although the father had devoted his son to a thousand devils, he did not -cease from attempts, by persuasion and even violence, to draw him back -into his own civic and martial world. So the young man got permission from -the minister-general to go and live in Tuscany, where he might be beyond -the reach of parental activities. "Thereupon I went and lived in Tuscany -for eight years, two of them at Lucca, two at Siena, and four at Pisa." He -gained great comfort from converse and gossip of an edifying kind, as he -fell in with those loving enthusiasts who had received their cloaks from -the hand of the blessed Francis himself. At Siena he saw much of Brother -Bernard of Quintavalle who had been the very first to receive the dress of -the Order from the hand of its founder. Salimbene gladly listened to his -recollections of Francis, who in this venerable disciple's words might -seem once more to walk the earth. - -Yet Salimbene, still young in heart and years, could readily take up with -the companionship of the ne'er-do-well vagabonds who frequently attached -themselves, as lay brothers, to the Franciscan Order. He tells of a day's -outing with one of whose character he is outspoken but without personal -repugnance: - - "I was a young man when I dwelt at Pisa. One day I went out begging - with a certain lay brother, a good-for-nothing. He was a Pisan, and - the same who afterwards went and lived with the brothers at Fixulus, - where they had to drag him out of a well which he had jumped into from - some foolishness or desperation. Then he disappeared, and could not be - found. The brothers thought the devil had carried him off. However - that may have been, this day at Pisa he and I went with our baskets to - beg bread, and chanced to enter a courtyard. Above, all about, hung a - thick, leafy vine, its freshness lovely to see and its shade sweet for - resting in. There were leopards there and other beasts from over the - sea, at which we gazed long, transfixed with delight, as one will at - the sight of the novel and beautiful. Girls were there also and boys - at their sweetest age, handsome and lovely, and ten times as alluring - for their beautiful clothes. The boys and girls held violas and - cytharas and other musical instruments in their hands, on which they - made sweet melodies, accompanied with gestures. There was no hub-bub, - nor did any one talk; but all listened in silence. And the song which - they chanted was so new and lovely in words and melody as to gladden - the heart exceedingly. None spoke to us, nor did we say a word to any - one. They did not stop singing and playing so long as we were - there--and long indeed we lingered and could scarcely take ourselves - away. God knows, I do not, who set this joyful entertainment; for we - had never seen anything like it before nor could we ever find its like - again." - -From the witchery of this cloud-dropped entertainment Salimbene was rudely -roused as he went out upon the public way. - - "A man met me, whom I did not know, and said he was from Parma. He - seized upon me, and began to chide and revile: 'Away scamp, away,' he - cried. 'A crowd of servants in your father's house have bread enough - and meat; and you go from door to door begging bread from those - without it, when you have enough to give to any number of beggars! You - ought to be riding on a war-horse through Parma, and delighting people - with your skill with the lance, so that there might be a sight for the - ladies, and comfort for the players. Now your father is worn with - grief and your mother from love of you, so she despairs of God.'" - -Salimbene fended off this attack of carnal wisdom with many texts of -Scripture. Yet the other's words set him to thinking that perhaps it would -be hard to lead a beggar's life year after year until old age. And he lay -awake that night, until God comforted him as before with a reassuring -dream. - -Pretty dreamer as he was, Salimbene can often tell a ribald tale. There -was rivalry, as may be imagined, between the Dominicans (_solemnes -praedicatores_) and the Minorites. The former seem occasionally to have -concerted together so as to have knowledge of what their friends in other -places were about. Then, when preaching, they would exhibit marvels of -second sight, which on investigation proved true! A certain Brother John -of Vicenza was a Dominican famed for preaching and miracles perhaps, and -with such overtopping sense of himself that he went at least a little mad. -Bologna was his tarrying-place. There a certain Florentine grammarian, -Boncompagnus, tired of the foolery, made gibing rhymes about him and his -admirers, and said he would do a miracle himself, and at a certain hour -would fly with wings from the pinnacle of Sta. Maria in Monte. All came -together at that hour to see. There he stood aloft, with his wings, ready, -and the folk expectant, for a long time--and then he bade them disperse -with God's blessing, for it was enough for them to have seen him. They -then knew that they had been fooled! - -None the less the _dementia_ of Brother John increased, so that one day at -the Dominican convent in Bologna he fell in a rage because when his beard -was cut the brothers did not preserve the hairs as relics. There came -along a Minorite, Brother God-save-you, a Florentine like Boncompagnus, -and like him a great buffoon and joker. To this convent he came, but -refused all invitation to stay and eat unless a piece of the cloak of -Brother John were given him, which was kept to hold relics. So they gave -him a piece of the cloak, and after dinner he went off and befouled it, -folded it up, and called for all to come and see the precious relics of -the sainted John, which he had lost in the latrina. So they flocked to -see, and were somewhat more than satisfied.[637] - -No need to say that this Salimbene had a quick eye for beauty in both men -and women; he is always speaking of so-and-so as a handsome man, and such -and such a lady as "pulcherrima domina," of pleasing ways and moderate -stature, neither too tall nor too short. But one may win a more amusing -side-light on the "eternal womanly" in his Chronicle, from the following: -"Like other popes, Nicholas III. made cardinals of many of his relatives. -He made a cardinal of one, Lord Latinus, of the Order of Preachers (which -we note with a smile, and expect something funny). He appointed him legate -to Lombardy and Tuscany and Romagnola." Note the enactments of this -cardinal-legate: - - "He disturbed all the women with a 'Constitution' which he - promulgated, to wit, that the women should wear short dresses - reaching to the ground, and only so much more as a palm's breadth. - Formerly they wore trains, sweeping the earth for several feet (_per - brachium et dimidium_). A rhymer dubs them: - - 'Et drappi longhi, ke la polver menna.' - - ('The long cloaks that gather up the dust.') - - "And he had this to be proclaimed in the churches, and imposed it on - the women by command; and ordered that no priest should absolve them - unless they complied. The which was bitterer to the women than any - kind of death! For as a woman said to me familiarly, that train was - dearer to her than all the other clothes she wore. And further, - Cardinal Latinus decreed that all women, girls and young ladies, - matrons and widows, should wear veils. Which was again a horror for - them. But they found a remedy for that tribulation, as they could not - for their trains. For they made veils of linen and silk inwoven with - gold, with which they looked ten times as well, and drew the eyes of - men to lust all the more." - -Thus did the cardinal-legate, the Pope's relative. And plenty of gossip -has Salimbene to tell of such creatures of nepotism. "Flesh and blood -_had_ revealed" to the Pope that he should make cardinals of them; says he -with a sort of giant sneer; "for he built up Zion _in sanguinibus_," that -is, through his blood-relatives! "There are a thousand brothers Minorites, -more fit, on the score of knowledge and holiness, to be cardinals than -they." Had not another pope, Urban IV., made chief among the cardinals a -relation whose only use as a student had been to fetch the other students' -meat from market? - -It was a few years after this that Salimbene returned to his native town -of Parma, near the time when that city passed from the side of the Emperor -to that of the Pope. This was a fatal defection for Frederick, which he -set about to repair, by laying siege to the turn-coat city. And the war -went on with great devastation, and the wolves and other wild beasts -increased and grew bold. Salimbene throws Eccelino da Romano on the scene, -that regent of the emperor, and monster of cruelty, "who was feared more -than the devil," and had once burned to death "eleven thousand Paduans in -Verona. The building holding them was set on fire; and while they burned, -Eccelino and his knights held a tournament about them (_circa eos_).... I -verily believe that as the Son of God desired to have one special friend, -whom He made like to himself, to wit the blessed Francis, so the devil -fashioned Eccelino in his likeness."[638] - -Salimbene tells of the siege of Parma at much length, and of the final -defeat of the emperor, with the destruction of the stronghold which he had -built to menace the city, and of all his curious treasures, with the -imperial crown itself taken by the men of Parma and their allies. But -before this, while the turmoil of the siege was at its height, in 1247, he -received orders to leave Parma and set out for Lyons, where Innocent IV. -at that time held his papal court, having fled from Italy, from the -emperor, three years before. Setting out, he reached Lyons on All Saints -Day. - - "At once the Pope sent for me, and talked with me familiarly in his - chamber. For since my leaving Parma he had received neither messenger - nor letters. And he thanked me warmly and listened to my prayers, for - he was a courtly and liberal man; ... and he absolved me from my sins - and appointed me preacher!" - -Our autobiographic chronicler was at this time twenty-six years old; his -personality bespoke a kind reception everywhere. He soon left Lyons, and -went on through the towns of Champagne to Troyes, where he found plenty of -merchants from Lombardy and Tuscany, for there were markets there, lasting -two months. So was it also in Provins, the next halting-place; from which -Salimbene went on to Paris. There he stayed eight days and saw much which -pleased him; and then, going back upon his tracks, he took up his journey -to Sens, where he dwelt in the Franciscan convent, "and the French -brethren entertained me gladly, because I was a friendly, cheerful youth, -and spoke them fair." From Sens he went south to Auxerre, the place which -had been named as his destination when he left Parma. It was in the year -1248, and as he writes (how many years after?) there comes back to him the -memory of the grand wines of Auxerre: - - "I remember when at Cremona (in 1245) Brother Gabriel of that place, a - Minorite, a great teacher and a man of holy life, told me that Auxerre - had more vines and wine than Cremona and Parma and Reggio and Modena - together. I wouldn't believe him. But when I came to live at Auxerre, - I saw that he spoke the truth. It is a large district, or bishopric, - and the mountains, hills, and plains are covered with vines. There - they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; but they send their - wine by river to Paris, where they sell it nobly; and live and clothe - themselves from the proceeds. Three times I went all about the - district with one or another of the brothers: once with one who was - preaching and affixing crosses for the Crusade of the French king (St. - Louis); then with another who preached to the Cistercians in a most - beautiful monastery; and the third time we spent Easter with a - countess, who set before the whole company twelve courses of food, all - different. And had the count been at home, there would have been a - still greater abundance and variety. Now in four parts of France they - drink beer, and in four, wine. And the three lands where the wine is - most abundant are La Rochelle, Beaune, and Auxerre. In Auxerre the red - wine is least regarded and is not as good as the Italian. But Auxerre - has its white or golden wines, which are fragrant and comforting and - good, and make every one drinking them feel happy. Some of the Auxerre - wine is so strong that when put in a jug, drops appear on the outside - (_lacrymantur exterius_). The French laugh and say that three b's and - seven f's go with the best wine: - - 'Le vin bon et bel et blanc, - Fort et fer et fin et franc, - Freit et fres et fourmijant.' - - "The French delight in good wine--no wonder! since it 'gladdens God - and men.' Both French and English are very diligent with their - drinking-cups. Indeed the French have blear eyes from drinking - overmuch; and in the morning after a bout, they go to the priest who - has celebrated mass and ask him to drop a little of the water in which - he has washed his hands into their eyes. But Brother Bartholomew at - Provins has a way of saying it would be better for them if they would - put their water in their wine instead of in their eyes. As for the - English, they take a measure of wine, drink it out, and say: 'I have - drunk; now you'--meaning that you should drink as much. And this is - their idea of politeness; and any one will take it very ill if the - other does not follow his precept and example."[639] - -While Salimbene was living at Auxerre, in the year 1248, a provincial -Chapter of the Franciscan Order was held at Sens, with the -Minister-General, John of Parma, presiding. Thither went Salimbene. - - "The King of France, St. Louis, was expected. And the brothers all - went out from the house to receive him. And Brother Rigaud,[640] of - the Order, Archbishop of Rouen, having put on his pontifical - trappings, left the house and hurried toward the king, asking all the - time, 'Where is the king? where is the king?' And I followed him; for - he went alone and frantically, his mitre on his head and pastoral - staff in hand. He had been tardy in dressing himself, so that the - other brothers had gone ahead, and now lined the street, with faces - turned from the town, straining to see the king coming. And I - wondered, saying to myself, that I had read that these Senonian Gauls - once, under Brennus, captured Rome; now their women seemed a lot of - servant girls. If the King of France had made a progress through Pisa - or Bologna, the whole _élite_ of the ladies of the city would have met - him. Then I remembered the Gallic way, for the mere townsfolk to dwell - in the towns, while the knights and noble ladies live in their castles - and possessions. - - "The king was slender and graceful, rather lean, of fair height, with - an angelic look and gracious face. And he came to the church of the - brothers Minorites not in regal pomp, but on foot in the habit of a - pilgrim, with wallet and staff, which well adorned his royal shoulder. - His own brothers, who were counts, followed in like humility and garb. - Nor did the king care as much for the society of nobles as for the - prayers and suffrages of the poor. Indeed he was one to be held a - monarch, both on the score of devotion and for his knightly deeds of - arms. - - "Thus he entered the church of the brethren, with most devout - genuflections, and prayed before the altar. And when he left the - church and paused at the threshold, I was next to him. And there, on - behalf of the church at Sens, the warden presented him with a huge - live pike swimming in water in a tub made of firwood, such as they - bathe babies in. The pike is dear and highly prized in France. The - king returned thanks to the sender as well as to the presenter of the - gift. Then he requested audibly that no one, unless he were a knight, - should enter the Chapter House, except the brethren, with whom he - wished to speak. When we were met in Chapter, the king began to speak - of his actions and, devoutly kneeling, begged the prayers and - suffrages of the brethren for himself, his brothers, his lady mother - the queen, and all his companions. And certain French brothers, next - to me, from devotion and piety wept as if unconsolable. After the - king, Lord Oddo, a Roman cardinal, who once was chancellor at Paris, - and now was to cross the sea with the king, arose and said a few - words. Then on behalf of the Order, John of Parma, the - Minister-General, spoke fittingly, promising the prayers of the - brethren, and ordaining masses for the king; which, thereupon, at the - king's request he confirmed by a letter under his seal. - - "Afterwards, on that day, the king distributed alms and dined with the - brethren in the refectory. There were at table his three brothers, a - cardinal of the Roman curia, the minister-general, and Brother Rigaud, - Archbishop of Rouen, and many brethren. The minister-general, knowing - what a noble company was with the king, had no mind to thrust himself - forward, although he was asked to sit next the king. So to set an - example of courtliness and humility, he sat among the lowest. On that - day first we had cherries and then the very whitest bread; there was - wine in abundance and of the best, as befitted the regal magnificence. - And after the Gallic custom many reluctant ones were invited and - forced to drink. After that we had fresh beans cooked in milk, fish - and crabs, eel-pies, rice with milk of almonds and powdered cinnamon, - broiled eels with excellent sauce; and plenty of cakes and herbs, and - fruit. Everything was well served, and the service at table excellent. - - "The following day the king resumed his journey, and I followed him, - as the Chapter was over; for I had permission to go and stay in - Provincia. It was easy for me to find him, as he frequently turned - aside to go to the hermitages of the brothers Minorites or some other - religious Order, to gain their prayers. And he kept this up - continually until he reached the sea and took ship for the Holy Land. - - "I remember that one day I went to a noble castle in Burgundy, where - the body of the Magdalene was then believed to be. The next day was - Sunday; and early in the morning came the king to ask the suffrages of - the brethren. He dismissed his retinue in the castle, from which the - house of the brothers was but a little way. The king took his own - three brothers, as was his wont, and some servants to take care of the - horses. And when genuflections and reverences were duly made, the - brothers sought benches to sit on. But the king sat on the earth in - the dust, as I saw with my eyes. For that church had no pavement. And - he called us, saying: 'Come to me, my sweetest brothers, and hear my - words.' And we made a circle about him, sitting with him on the earth; - and his own brothers likewise. And he asked our prayers, as I have - been saying. And when promise had been given him, he rose and went his - way."[641] - -Is not this a picture of St. Louis, pilgrimaging from convent to convent, -to make sure of the divine aid, and trusting, so far as concerned the -business of the Holy Land, quite as much in the prayers of monks as in -the deeds of knights? We have hardly such a vivid sight of him in -Joinville or Geoffrey of Beaulieu.[642] - -After this scene, the king proceeded on his way, to make ready for his -voyage, and Salimbene went to Lyons, then down the Rhone to Arles, then -around by sea to Marseilles, and thence to Areae, the present Hyères, -which lies near the coast. Here to his joy he met with Brother Hugo of -Montpellier whom he was seeking, the great "Joachite," the great clerk, -the mighty preacher and resistless disputer, whom he had not forgotten -since the days, long before, when he had been in Hugo's company and -listened to his preaching at Siena. Even then, Minorites, Dominicans, and -all men, had flocked to hear this small dark man, who seemed another Paul, -as he descanted on the marvels of Paradise and the contempt one should -feel for this world; but especially those Franciscans delighted in his -preaching who were of the "spiritual" party, which sought to follow -strictly the injunctions of the blessed Francis, and also cherished the -prophesies of the enigmatical Joachim of Flora. To this Joachim was -ascribed that long since vanished but much-bespoken _Evangelium eternum_, -which appears to have been written years after his death under the -auspices of John of Parma, Minister-General of the Franciscan Order.[643] - -There was heresy in this book, with its doctrine of a still unrevealed, -but everlasting Gospel of the Holy Ghost. Until its appearance the genuine -utterances of Joachim were not prescribed, consisting as they did of -prophecies, for example, as to the life of that monster Frederick II., and -of denunciations of the pride and worldliness of ecclesiastics. Thus they -fell in with the enthusiasms of the "spiritual" Franciscans, who still -lived in an ecstasy of love and anticipation;--in the coming time some of -them were to be dubbed Fratricelli, and under that name be held as -heretics. - -John of Parma was, of course, a "Joachite"; and "I was intimate with him," -says Salimbene, "from love and because I seemed to believe the writings of -Abbot Joachim of the Order of the Flower." John was likewise a friend (so -strong a bond was the belief in the holy but over-prophetic Joachim) of -Hugo of Montpellier, of whose manner and arguments we shall now let -Salimbene speak. - - "Once Hugo came from Pisa to Lucca, where the brothers had invited him - to come and preach. He arrived at the hour for setting out for the - cathedral service. And there the whole convent was assembled to - accompany him and do him honour, and from desire to hear him too. And - he wondered, seeing the brothers assembled outside of the convent - door, and said: 'Ah God! what are they going to do?' The reply was, - that they were there to do him honour, and to hear him. But he said: - 'I do not need such honour, for I am not pope. If they wish to hear, - let them come after we have got there. I will go ahead with one - companion, and I will not go with that band.'" - -Hugo was worshipped by his admirers, and hated by those whom he disagreed -with or denounced. Aside from his disputations in defence of Joachim, a -sample of which will be given shortly, one can see what hate must have -sprung from such invective as Salimbene reports him once to have addressed -to a consistory of cardinals at Lyons, where the Pope then held court. -Here is the story, quite too harsh for the respectable editors of the -Parma edition of the _Chronaca_: - - "The cardinals inquired of Brother Hugo for news (_rumores_). So he - reviled them, as asses, saying: 'I have no news, but a plenitude of - peace in my conscience and before my God, who surpasses sense and - keeps my heart and mind in Christ Jesus my Lord. I know that ye seek - after news, and wait idle the live-long day. For ye are Athenians and - not disciples of Christ. Of whom Luke says in the Acts: For all the - Athenians and the strangers which were there had time for nothing else - but to tell or hear some new thing. The disciples of Christ were - fishers and weak men according to the world, but they converted the - whole earth because the hand of the Lord was with them. They set forth - and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them. But ye are those - who build up Zion in blood (_i.e._ consanguinity) and Jerusalem in - iniquity. For you choose your little nephews and relations for the - benefices and dignities of the Church, and you exalt and make rich - your clan, and shut out men good and fit who would be useful to the - Church, and you prebendate children in their cradles. As a certain - mountebank well has said: If with an accusative you would go to the - Curia, you'll take nothing if you don't start with the dative! And - another says, the Roman Curia cares not for a sheep without wool.'" - -And with such like, Hugo continues a considerable space. - - "Hearing these things the cardinals were cut to the heart and gnashed - their teeth at him. But they had not the hardihood to reply; for the - fear of the Lord came over them and the hand of the Lord was with him. - Yet they wondered that he spoke to them so boldly; and finally it - seemed best to them to slip out and leave him, nor did they question - him, saying, as the Athenians to Paul: 'We will hear thee again of - this matter.'"[644] - -Hugo's invective is outdone by Salimbene's closing scorn. - -And now (to return to Salimbene's journey) here at Hyères in the year 1248 -many notaries and judges, and physicians and other men of learning, were -assembled to hear Brother Hugo speak of the Abbot Joachim's doctrines, and -expound Holy Scripture, and predict the future. "And I was there to hear -him; for long before I had been instructed in these teachings." But there -came two Preaching friars, and abode at the Franciscan house, since the -Dominicans had no convent at Hyères. One was Brother Peter of Apulia, a -learned man and a great speaker. After dinner a brother asked him what he -thought of Abbot Joachim. He answered: "I care as much for Joachim as for -the fifth wheel of a coach." - -Thereupon this brother hurried to Hugo's chamber, and exclaimed in the -presence of all the notables there: "Here is a brother Preacher who does -not believe that doctrine at all." - -To whom Brother Hugo: "And what is it to me if he does not believe? Be it -laid at his door; he will see it when trouble shall enlighten him. Yet -call him to debate; let us hear of what he doubts." - -So, called, he came, very unwillingly, because he held Joachim so cheaply, -and besides thought there was no one in that house fit to dispute with -him. When Brother Hugo saw him he said: "Art thou he who doubts the -doctrine of Joachim?" - -Brother Peter replied: "Indeed I am." - -Then said Brother Hugo: "Hast thou ever read Joachim?" - -Replied Brother Peter: "I have read and well read." - -To whom Hugo: "I believe thou hast read as a woman reads the Psalter, who -does not remember at the end what she read at the beginning. Thus many -read and do not understand, either because they despise what they read, or -because their foolish heart is darkened. Now, therefore, tell me what thou -wouldst hear as to Joachim, so that we may better know thy doubts." - -Thereupon there is question back and forth regarding the Scripture proofs -of Joachim's prophecies, for instance, those relating to Frederick's -reign. Brother Hugo dilates on Joachim's holiness; explains the dark -Scripture references, and brings in the prophecies of Merlin, _anglicus -vates_, and talks of the allegorical, anagogical, tropological, moral and -mystical, senses of Scripture. The discussion waxes hot. Peter begins to -beat about the bush (_discurrere per ambages_), and declares it to be -heretical to quote an infidel like Merlin. At which Hugo answers: "Thou -liest, as I will prove _multipliciter_; for the writings of Balaam, -Caiaphas, Merlin, and the Sybil are not spurned by the Church: 'The rose -gives forth no thorn, although the thorn's daughter.'"[645] - -Peter then turns to the sayings of the saints and the philosophers. But as -Hugo was _doctissimus_ in these, he at once twists him up and finishes him -(_statim involvit eum et conclusit ei_). Hereupon Peter's brother -Preacher, an old priest and a good, sought to come to his aid. But Peter -said, "Peace, be still." For Peter knew himself vanquished, and began to -praise Brother Hugo for his manifold wisdom. - - "At this moment came a messenger from the ship's captain, bidding the - brothers Preachers hurry, and go aboard. When they had left, Brother - Hugo said to the learned men remaining, who had heard the debate: - 'Take it not for evil, if we have said some things which ought not to - have been said; for disputants often roam the fields of licence. Those - good men glory in their knowledge, and speak what is found in their - Order's fount of wisdom, which is the Word of God. They also say that - they travel among simple folk when they pass through the places of the - brothers Minorites, where they are ministered to with loving charity. - But by the grace of God these two shall no longer be able to say they - have walked among the simple.' - - "His auditors dispersed, edified and comforted, saying, We have heard - wonderful things to-day. Later, that same day, the brothers Preachers - returned, to our delight, for the weather proved unfit for sailing. - After dinner, Brother Hugo conversed with them familiarly, and Brother - Peter sat himself on the earth at Brother Hugo's feet; nor was any one - able to make him rise and sit on the bench on the same level with him, - not even when Brother Hugo himself besought him. So Brother Peter, no - longer disputing or contradicting, but meekly listening, heard honied - words spoken by Brother Hugo, and worthy to be set down, but omitted - here for brevity's sake, as I hasten to record other things."[646] - -So Salimbene passes on, both in his Chronicle and in his journey, but -though his steps lead deviously through the cities of Provence, they bring -him back once more to Hyères and Hugo, at whose feet he sits and listens -for a season in rapt admiration. - -After this happy season, Salimbene returned to Genoa, and from that time -on spent his life among the Franciscan brotherhoods of Italy. Henceforth -his Chronicle is chiefly occupied with those wretched unceasing wars of -northern Italy, Imperialists against Papists, and city against city--and -with the affairs of the Franciscan Order. The story is now less varied, -yet not lacking in picturesque qualities; and through it all we still see -the man himself, although the man, as life goes on, seems to become more -of a Franciscan monk, and less of an observer of human life. But he -continues naïve. Thus he tells that one time, with some companions, he -came to Bobbio, that famous book-lovers' foundation of St. Columban, in -the mountains north of Genoa: "and there we saw one of those water-pots of -the Lord, in which the Lord made wine from water at the marriage at Cana, -for it is said to be one of those: whether it is, God knows, to whom all -things are known and open and naked." - -And again, some one brings him news of the state of France in the year -1251, when King Louis was a captive in Africa;[647] and thus he tells it: - - "In this year a countless crowd of shepherds came together in France, - saying that they would cross the sea to kill the Saracens and free the - King of France. Many followed from divers cities of France, and no one - dared stop them. For their leader said it was revealed to him of God - that he must lead that multitude across the sea to avenge the King of - France. The common folk believed him, and were enraged against the - religious, especially the Preachers, because they had preached the - Crusade and had 'crossed' men who were sailing with the king. And the - people were angry at Christ, so that they dared blaspheme His blessed - name. And when the Minorites and Preachers came seeking alms in His - name, they gnashed their teeth at them and in their sight turned and - gave the sou to some other beggar, saying, 'Take this in Mahomet's - name, who is stronger than Christ.'"[648] - -Of those Italian wars--rather feuds, vengeances, and monstrosities of -hate--Salimbene can tell enough. He gives a ghastly picture of the fate of -Alberic da Romano, brother of Eccelino, and tyrant indeed of Treviso. - - "There he lorded it for many years; and cruel and hard was his rule, - as those know who experienced it. He was a limb of the devil and a son - of iniquity, but he perished by an evil death with his wife and sons - and daughters. For those who slew them tore off the legs and arms from - their living bodies, in their parents' sight, and with them struck the - parents' faces. Then they bound the wife and daughters to stakes, and - burned them; they were noble, beautiful virgins, nor in any way in - fault. But their innocence and beauty did not save them, because of - the hatred for the father and mother. Terribly had these afflicted the - people of Treviso. So they came upon Alberic with tongs and ----"-- - -the sentence is too horrid for translation. But the chronicler goes on to -tell that they destroyed his body amid gibes and insults and torments. - - "For he had killed a blood-relative of this one, and that one's - father, son or daughter. And he had laid such taxes and exactions on - them, that they had to destroy their houses. The very walls and beams - and chests and cupboards and wine-vats they put in boats and sent to - Ferrara to sell them and redeem themselves. I saw those with my eyes. - Alberic pretended to be at war with his brother Eccelino, so as to do - his evil deeds more safely; and he did not hold his hand from the - slaughter of citizens and subjects. One day he hanged twenty-five - prominent men of Treviso, who had done him no ill; because he feared - they would! And thirty noble women, mothers, wives and daughters of - these, were brought there to see them hanging; and he had these women - stripped half naked, that those who were hanging might see them so. - The men were hanged quite close to the ground; and he forced these - women to go so close that their faces were struck by the legs and feet - of those who were dying in anguish."[649] - -Such was the kind of devil-madness that might walk abroad in Italy in the -Middle Ages. Let us relieve our minds by a story our friend tells of a -certain boy placed in a Franciscan convent in Bologna, to become a monk. - - "When asleep he snored so mightily, that no one could have peace in - the same house with him, so horribly did he disturb those who slept as - well as those who were at their vigils. And they made him sleep in the - shed where wood and staves were stored, but even then the brothers - could not escape, so did that voice of malediction resound through the - whole place. And all the priests and wiseacres among the brothers met - in the director's chamber, to eject him from the Order because of his - insupportable offence: I was there. It was decided to return him to - his mother, who had deceived the Order, since she had known his defect - before letting him go. But he was not returned to his mother, for the - Lord performed a miracle through Brother Nicolas [a holy brother - through whom God had worked other miracles as well]. This brother - seeing that the boy was to be expelled for no fault, but for a natural - defect, called him at daybreak to assist at mass. When the mass was - finished, the boy as commanded knelt before him, back of the altar, - hoping to receive some grace. Brother Nicolas touched his face and - nose with his hands, in the wish to confer health upon him, if the - Lord would grant it, and commanded him to keep this secret. What more? - The boy at once was cured, and after that slept as quietly as a - dormouse without annoying any brother."[650] - -Thus we have this Chronicle, rambling, incoherent, picturesque, with its -glimpses of all this pretty world, for which our Salimbene, despite his -cowl, has an uncloistered eye--its keenness for incident and circumstance -undeflected by the inner sight with which it could also look on the -invisible world. When Brother Salimbene was young and an enthusiastic -Joachite, a strong motive of his wish to live on in the flesh was to see -whether those prophecies regarding Frederick came true. Alas! for this -purpose he lived too long: Frederick died before the prophecies were -fulfilled, and with his death honest Salimbene had to put from him his -darling trust in the words of Abbot Joachim of the Order of the Flower. - - - - -BOOK IV - -THE IDEAL AND THE ACTUAL: SOCIETY - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD - - FEUDAL AND CHRISTIAN ORIGIN OF KNIGHTLY VIRTUE; THE ORDER OF THE - TEMPLE; GODFREY OF BOUILLON; ST. LOUIS; FROISSART'S _Chronicles_ - - -The world is evil! the clergy corrupt, the laity depraved! none denounces -them! Awake! arise! be mindful! Such ceaseless cry rises more shrilly in -times of reform and progress. It was the cry of the preacher in the -twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when preaching was reviving with the -general advance of life.[651] - -Satire and pious invective struck at all classes: kings, counts and -knights, merchants, tradesmen, artisans, even villain-serfs, came under -its lash.[652] And properly, since every class is touched with universal -human vices, besides those which are more peculiar to its special way of -life. All men fall below the standards of the time; and each class fails -with respect to its own ideals. The special shortcomings are most apparent -with those classes whose ideals are most definitely formulated. - -Among the laity the gap between the ideal and the actual may best be -observed in the warrior class whose ideals accorded with the feudal -situation and tended to express themselves in chivalry. Not that knights -and ladies were better or worse than other mediaeval men and women. But -literature contains clearer statements of their ideals. The knightly -virtues range before us as distinctly as the monastic; and harsh is the -contrast between the character they outline and the feudal actuality of -cruelty and greed and lust. Feudalism itself presents everywhere a state -of contrast between its principles of mutual fidelity and protection, and -its actuality of oppression, revolt, and private war. - -The feudal system was a sprawling conglomerate fact. The actual usages of -chivalry (the term is loose and must be allowed gradually to define -itself) were one expression of it, and varied with the period and country. -But chivalry had its home also in the imagination, and its most -interesting media are legend and romantic fiction. Still, much that was -romantic in it sprang from the aggregate of law, custom, and sentiment, -which held feudal society together. Chivalry was the fine flower of honour -growing from this soil, embosomed in an abundant leafage of imagination. - -The feudal system was founded on relations and sentiments arising from a -state of turbulence where every man needed the protection of a lord: it -could not fail to foster sentiments of fealty. The fief itself, the feudal -unit of land held on condition of homage and service, symbolized the -principle of mutual troth between lord and vassal. The land was part of -mother earth; the troth, the elemental personal tie, existed from of yore. -In this instance it came from the German forests. But the feudal system of -land tenure also stretched its roots back into the rural institutions of -the disintegrating Roman Empire. In the fifth century, for example, when -what was left of the imperial rule could no longer enforce order, and -provincial governments were decaying with the decay of the central power -from which they drew their life, men had to look about them for -protection. It became customary for men to hand over land and liberty to -some near lord, and enter into a relationship akin to serfage in return -for protection. Thus the Gallo-Roman population were becoming accustomed -to personal dependence even while the Merovingians were establishing their -kingdom. - -On their side the Franks and other Teutons had inherited the institution -of the _comitatus_, which bound the young warrior to his chief. They were -familiar with exacting modes of personal retainership, which merged the -follower's freedom in his lord's will. If during the reigns of Pepin and -his prodigious son the development of local dominion and dependence was -held in some abeyance, on the death of Charlemagne it would proceed apace. -All the factors which tend to make institutions out of abuses and the -infractions of earlier custom, sprang at once into activity in the renewed -confusion. Everything served to increase the lesser man's need of defence, -weld his dependence on his lord, and augment the latter's power. Moreover, -long before Charlemagne's time, not only for protection in this life, but -for the sake of their souls, men had been granting their lands to -monasteries and receiving back the use thereof--such usufruct being known -as a _beneficium_. This custom lent the force of its example and manifest -utility to the relations between lay lords and tenants. And finally one -notes the frequent grant to monasteries and individuals of immunity from -governmental visitation, a grant preventing the king's officers from -entering lands in order to exercise the king's justice, or exact fines and -requisitions.[653] - -From out of such conditions the feudal system gradually took form. Its -central feature was the tenure of a fief by a vassal from his lord on -condition of rendering faithful military and other not ignoble service. As -the tenth century passed, fiefs tended to become hereditary. So long as -the vassal fulfilled his duty to his lord, the rights of the lord over the -land were nominal; more substantial was the mutual obligation--on the part -of the lord to protect his vassal against the violence of others, and on -the vassal's part to make good the homage pledged by him when he knelt and -placed his hands within his lord's hands and vowed himself his lord's man -for the fief he held. His duty was to aid his lord against enemies, yield -him counsel and assistance in the judgment of causes, and pay money to -ransom him from captivity, knight his eldest son, or portion his daughter. -The ramifications of these feudal tenures and obligations extended, with -all manner of complications, from king and duke down to such as held the -meagre fief that barely kept man and war-horse from degrading labour. All -these made up the feudal class whose members might expect to become -knights on reaching manhood. - -Neither this system of land tenure, nor the sentiments and relations -sustaining it, drew their origin from Christianity. But the Church was -mighty in its influence over the secular relationships of those who came -under its spiritual guidance. Feudal troth was to become Christianized. -The old regard for war-chief and war-comrade was to be broadened through -the Faith's solicitude for all believers; then it was raised above the -human sphere to fealty toward God and His Church; and thereupon it was -gentled through Christian meekness and mercy. - -This Christianized spirit of fealty, broadening to courtesy and pity, was -to take visible form in a universal Order into which members of the feudal -class were admitted when their valour had been proved, and into which -brave deeds might bring even a low-born man. Gradually, as the Order's -_regula_, a code of knighthood's honour was developed, valid in its -fundamentals throughout western Christendom; but varying details and -changing fancies from time to time intruded, just as subsequent phases of -monastic development were grafted on the common Benedictine rule. - -Investing a young warrior with the arms of manhood has always in fighting -communities been the normal ceremony of the youth's coming of age and his -recognition as a member of the clan. The binding on of the young Teuton's -sword in the assembly of his people was an historical antecedent of the -making of a knight. In all the lands of western Europe--France, Germany, -Anglo-Saxon England, Lombard Italy, and Visigothic Spain--this ceremony -appears to have remained a simple one through the ninth and tenth -centuries. As for the eleventh, one may note the following passages: -William of Malmesbury (d. 1142 cir.) speaks of William of Normandy -receiving the insignia of knighthood (_militiae insignia_) from the King -of France as soon as his years permitted.[654] Henry of Huntington (d. -1155) says that this same William the Conqueror, in the nineteenth year of -his reign, invested his younger son Henry with the arms of manhood -(_virilibus induit armis_); while another chronicler says that Prince -Henry: "sumpsit arma in Pentecostem"--a festival at which it was customary -to make knights. And again, Ordericus Vitalis says of the armour-bearer of -Duke William that after five years' service he was by that same duke -regularly invested with his arms and made a knight (_decenter est armis -adornatus et miles effectus_). - -These short references[655] do not indicate the nature of the ceremony. -But one notes the use of the Latin words _miles_ and _militia_ as meaning -knight and knighthood. Like so many other classical words, _miles_ took -various meanings in the Middle Ages. But it came commonly to signify -knight, chevalier, or ritter.[656] And whatever other meanings _militia_ -and _militare_ retained or acquired, they signified knighthood and the -performance of its duties. Frequently they suggested the relationship of -vassal to a lord: and in this sense _miles_ meant one who held a fief -under the obligation to do knightly service in return. - -But how did this word _miles_ (which in classical Latin meant a soldier -and sometimes specifically a foot-soldier as contrasted with an _eques_) -come to mean a knight? It was first applied to the warriors of the various -Teutonic peoples, who for the most part fought on foot. But the wars with -the Saracens in the eighth century appear to have made clear the need of a -large and efficient corps of horse. From the time of Charles Martel the -warrior class began to fight regularly on horseback;[657] and thus, -apparently, the term _miles_ began to signify primarily one of these tried -and well-armed riders.[658] Such were the very ones who would regularly be -invested with their arms on reaching manhood. Many of them had inherited -the sentiments of fealty to a chief, and probably were vassals of some -lord from whom they had received lands to be held on military tenure. They -were not all noble (an utterly loose term with reference to these early -confused centuries) nor were they necessarily free (another inappropriate -term with respect to these incipiently mediaeval social conditions).[659] -But their mainly military duties would naturally develop into a retainer's -relationship of fealty. - -The ninth century passes into the tenth, the tenth into the eleventh, the -eleventh into the twelfth. Classes and orders of society become more -distinct. The old warrior groups have become lords and vassals, and -compose the feudal class whose members upon maturity are formally girt -with the arms of manhood, and thereupon become knights. The ceremony of -their investiture has been gradually made more impressive; it has also -been imbued with religious sentiment and elaborated with religious rite. -It now constitutes the initiation to a universally recognized fighting -Order which has its knightly code of honour, if not its knightly duties. -In a word, along with the clearer determination of its membership, and the -elaboration of the ceremonies of entry or "adoubement," knighthood has -become a distinct conception and has attained existence as an Order. And -an Order it remains, into which one is admitted, but into which no one is -born, though he be hereditary king or duke or count. Moreover, although -the candidates normally would be of the feudal class, the Order is not -closed against knightly merit in whomsoever found.[660] Of course there -was no written _regula_ or charter, except of certain special Orders. Yet -there was no uncertainty as to who was or was not a knight. - -A knight could be "made" or "dubbed" at any time, for example, on the -field of battle or before the fight. But certain festivals of the Church, -Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, came to be regarded as peculiarly -appropriate for the ceremony. Any knight, but no unknighted person however -high his rank, could "dub" another knight.[661] This appears to have been -the universal rule, and yet it suffered infringements. For example, at a -late period a king might claim the right to _confirm_ the bestowal of -knighthood, which in fact commonly was bestowed by a great lord or -sovereign prince. On its negative side, the general rule may be said to -have been infringed when Church dignitaries, no longer content with -blessing the arms of the young warrior, usurped the secular privilege of -investing him with them and dubbing him a knight.[662] - -The ceremony itself probably originated in the girding on of the sword. As -these warriors in time changed to mounted riders with elaborate arms and -armour, it became more of an affair to invest them fully with their -equipment. There would be the putting on of helm and coat of mail, and -there would be the binding on of spurs; and at some time it became -customary for the youth to prepare himself by a bath. But girding on the -sword was still the important point, although perhaps the somewhat -enigmatical blow, given by him who conferred the dignity, and not to be -returned (_non repercutiendus_), became the finish to the ceremony. That -blow existed (we find it in the _Chansons de geste_) in the twelfth -century as a thwack with the fist on the young man's bare neck; then in -course of years it refined itself into a gentle sword-tap on the mailed -shoulder.[663] - -At an early period the Church sought to sanctify the ceremony through -religious rites; for it could not remain unconcerned with the consecration -of the warriors of Christendom, whose services were needed and whose souls -were to be saved. What time so apt for inculcating obedience and other -Christian virtues as this solemn hour when the young warrior's nature was -stirred with the pride and hopes of knighthood? And the young knight -needed the Church's blessing. Heathen peoples sought in every enterprise -the protection of their gods, usually obtained through priestly magic. And -when converted to the faith of Christ, should they not call on Him who was -mightier than Odin? Should not His power be invoked to shield the -Christian knight? Will not the sword which the priest has blessed and has -laid upon Christ's miracle-working altar, more surely guard the wearer's -life? Better still if there be blessed relics in its hilt. The dying -Roland speaks to his great sword: - - "O Durendel cum ies bele et seintisme!" - -"O Durendel how art thou fair and holy! In thy hilt what store of relics: -tooth of St. Peter, blood of St. Basil, hairs of my lord St. Denis, cloth -worn by the Holy Mary."[664] These relics made the "holiness" of that -sword, not in the way of sentiment, but through their magic power. And we -shall not be thinking in mediaeval categories if we lose sight of the -magic-religious effect of the priest's blessing on the novice's sword: it -is a protection for the future knight. - -Doubtless the religious features of the "adoubement" revert to various -epochs. The ancient watch-nights preceding Easter and Pentecost, followed -at daybreak by the baptism of white-robed catechumens, may have been the -original of the novice's night vigil over his arms laid by the altar. His -bath had become a symbol of purification from sin. He heard Mass in the -early morning, and then came the blessing of the sword, the _benedictio -ensis_, of which the oldest extant formula is found in a Roman manuscript -of the early eleventh century: "Exaudi, quaeso, Domine, preces nostras, et -hunc ensem quo hic famulus N. se circumcingi desiderat, majestatis tuae -dextera benedicere dignare."[665] - -Through the Middle Ages the fashions of feudalism did not remain -unchanged; likewise its quintessential spirit, chivalry, was modified, and -one may say, between the ninth and the fourteenth centuries, passed from -barbarism to preciosity. Nevertheless the main ideals of chivalry endured, -springing as they did from the fundamental and but slowly-changing -conditions of feudal society. Since that society was constantly at -war,[666] the first virtue of the knight was valour. Next, since life and -property hung on mutual aid and troth, and a larger safety was ensured if -one lord could rely upon his neighbour's word, the virtues of -truth-speaking and troth-keeping took their places in the chivalric ideal. -Another useful quality, and means of winning men, was generosity -(_largesse_). When coin is scarce, and stipulations for fixed pay unusual, -he who serves looks for liberality, which, in accordance with feudal -conditions, made the third of the chief knightly virtues. - -Valour, troth, largesse, had no necessary connection with Christianity. -It was otherwise with certain of the remaining qualities of a knight. -According to Christian teaching, pride was the deadliest of sins. So -haughtiness, boasting, and vain-glory were to be held vices by the -Christian knight. He should show a humble demeanour, save toward the -mortal enemies of God; and far from boasting, he should rather depreciate -himself and his exploits, though never lowering the standard of his -purpose to achieve. Humility entered knighthood's ideal from Christianity; -and so perhaps did courtesy, its kin, a virtue which was not among the -earliest to enter knighthood's ideal, and yet reached universal -recognition. - -Christianity also meant active charity, beneficence, and love of -neighbour. These are virtues hard to import into a state of war. Fighting -means harm-doing to an enemy; and only indirectly makes for some one's -good. Let there be some vindication of good in the fighting of a Christian -knight: he shall be quick to right the wrong, succour distress, and -quickest to bear help where no reward can come. Since knighthood's ideals -took form in crusading times, the slaughter of the Paynim became the -supreme act of knightly warfare. - -If such elements of the knightly ideal were of Christian origin, others -still were even more closely part of mediaeval Christianity. First of -these was faith, orthodox faith, heresy-uprooting, infidel-destroying, -_fides_ in the full Church sense. Without faith's sacramental -credentials--baptism, participation in the mass--no one could be a knight: -and heresy degrades the recreant even before the scullion's cleaver hacks -off his spurs. - -From faith knighthood advances to obedience to the Church, a vow expressly -made by every knight on taking the Cross, and also incorporated in the -Constitutions of the crusading Orders of Templars and Hospitallers. But -does the knight pass on from obedience to chastity? This virtue might or -might not enter knighthood's ideal. It scarcely could exist with courtly -or chivalric love;[667] and, in fact, knights commonly were either lovers -or married men--or both. Yet even in the Arthurian literature there is the -monkish Galahad, and many a sinful knight becomes a hermit in the end; and -among real and living knights, the Templars and Hospitallers were vowed to -celibacy. In these crusading orders the orbits of knighthood and -monasticism cross; and it will not be altogether a digression to review -the foundation and constitution of one of them. - -The Order of the Temple was founded in the year 1118 by Hugh of Payns -(Champagne) and other French knights; who placed their hands within those -of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and vowed to devote themselves to the -protection of pilgrims in the Holy Land. Probably they also bestowed their -lands for the support of the nascent Order. Ten years afterwards Hugh -passed through France and England, winning new recruits and appearing at -the Council of Troyes. With the authority of that Council and of Pope -Honorius II. the _Regula pauperum commilitonum Christi Templique -Salomonici_ was promulgated. St. Bernard, to whom it is ascribed, was in -large part its inspiration and its author. It still exists in some -seventy-two chapters; but one cannot distinguish between those belonging -to the original document of 1128 and those added somewhat later.[668] - -This _regula_ with its amendments and additions was translated from Latin -into Old French (_par excellence_ the tongue of the Crusades), and became -apparently the earliest form of the _Regle dou Temple_, upon which was -grafted a mass of ordinances (_retrais et establissemens_). Apparently the -whole of the extant Latin regula was prior to everything contained in the -French _regle_; and accordingly we shall simply regard the Latin as -containing the earliest regulations of the Temple, and the French as -exhibiting the modifications of tone and interest which came in the course -of years. - -The hand of St. Bernard ensured the dominance of the monastic temper in -the original _regula_; and Hugo, the first Master of the Temple, could -not have been the Saint's close friend without sharing his enthusiasms. So -the prologue opens with a true monastic note: - - "Our word is directed primarily to all who despise their own wills, - and with purity of mind desire to serve under the supreme and - veritable King; and with minds intent choose the noble warfare of - obedience, and persevere therein. We therefore exhort you who until - now have embraced secular knighthood (_miliciam secularem_) where - Christ was not the cause, and whom God in His mercy has chosen out of - the mass of perdition for the defence of the holy Church, to hasten to - associate yourselves perpetually." - -This phraseology would suit the constitution of a sheer monastic order. -And the first chapter exhorts these _venerabiles fratres_ who renounce -their own wills and serve the King (Christ) with horses and arms, -zealously to observe all the religious services regularly prescribed for -monks. The _regula_ contains the usual monastic commands. For example, -obedience to the Master of the Order is enjoined _sine mora_ as if God -were commanding, which recalls the language of St. Benedict.[669] Clothes -are regulated, and diet; habitual silence is recommended; the brethren are -not to go alone, nor at their own will, but as directed by the Master, so -as to imitate Him who said, I came not to do mine own will, but His who -sent me.[670] Again, chests with locks are forbidden the brothers, except -under special permission; nor may any brother, without like permission, -receive letters from parents or friends; and then they should be read in -the Master's presence.[671] Let the brethren shun idle speech, and above -all let no brother talk with another of military exploits, "follies -rather," achieved by him while "in the world," or of his doings with -miserable women.[672] Let no brother hunt with hawks; such mundane -delectations do not befit the religious, who should be rather hearing -God's precepts, and at prayer, or confessing their sins with tears. Yet -the lion may always be hunted; for he goes seeking whom he may -devour.[673] - -The _religio_ professed by the Templars is called, in the Latin rule, -_religio militaris_, which the French translates "religion de -chevalerie," not incorrectly, but with somewhat different flavour.[674] - - "This new _genus religionis_, as we believe, by divine providence - began with you in the Holy Land, a _religio_ in which you mingle - chivalry (_milicia_). Thus this armed religion may advance through - chivalry, and smite the enemy without incurring sin. Rightfully then - we decree that you shall be called knights of the Temple (_milites - Templi_) and may hold houses, lands and men, and possess serfs and - justly rule them."[675] - -The pomp of the last sentence seems to remove from the tone of the earlier -chapters, and suggests a later date. Another, possibly late, chapter (66) -permits the knights to receive tithes, since they have abandoned their -riches for _spontaneae paupertati_. Still another accords to married men a -qualified admission to the brotherhood, but they may not wear the white -robe and mantle (55). The next forbids the admission of _sorores_; and the -last chapter of all (72) warns against the sight of women, and forbids the -brethren to kiss one, be she widow, virgin, mother, sister or friend. - -Thus the Latin _regula_ formulates an order of monasticism with only the -modifications imperatively demanded by the exigencies of holy warfare. The -French _regle_ elaborates the military organization and enhances the -chivalric element. This begins to appear in the portions which are a -translation (usually quite close) of the Latin rule. But even that -translation makes changes, for example, omitting the period of probation -required in the Latin text, before admitting a brother to the Order.[676] -A striking change was made by the later French ordinances in the -interrogations and proceedings for admission. The Latin formula begins in -Cistercian phrase: - - "Vis abrenunciare seculo? - - "Volo. - - "Vis profiteri obedientiam secundum canonicam institutionem et - secundum preceptum domini papae? - - "Volo. - - "Vis assumere tibi conversationem (the monastic mode and change of - life) fratrum nostrorum? - - "Volo."[677] - -And so forth. - -The substance of these and other questions was retained in the far longer -French formula, which exacted specific promises of compliance with all the -Order's ordinances. But far removed from the original are such questions -as the following: "Biau dous amis" (the ordinary phrase of the chivalric -romance) have you, or has any one for you, made any promise to any one in -return for his aid in procuring your admission, which would be simony? -"Estes vos chevalier et fis de chevalier?" - -Is the candidate a knight, and son of knight and lady, and are his "peres -... de lignage de chevaliers"? This means chivalry and gentle blood; and -if the candidate answers in the negative, he cannot be admitted as a -knight of the Temple, although he may be as "sergent," or in some other -character. Most noble and courtly is the phrasing of these statutes. Their -frequent "Beaus seignors freres" is the address proper for knights rather -than monks.[678] - -Usually wherever the translation of the Latin _regula_ ends, the _Regle -dou Temple_ passes on to provisions meeting the requirements of a -military, rather than a monastic order. We enter upon such in the chapters -governing the powers and privileges of the (Grand) Master, of the -Seneschal, of the Marshal, of the "Comandeor de la terre de Jerusalem." -Many sections have to do with military discipline, with the ordering of -the knights and their followers on the march and in the battle; they -forbid the knights to joust or leave the squadron without orders.[679] -Horses, armour, and accoutrements are regulated, and, in short, full -provision is made for everything conducing to make the army efficient in -war. There is also a long list of faults and crimes for which a knight may -be disciplined or expelled; the latter shall be his punishment if he flee -before the Saracens and forsake his standard in battle.[680] - -The history of the Templars, significantly epitomized in the amendments to -their _regula_, shows the necessary as well as inevitable secularization -of a military monastic order; an order which for the purposes of this -chapter may be placed among the chief historical examples of chivalry. For -in this chapter we are not straying through the pleasant mazes of romantic -literature, but are keeping close to history, with the intention of -drawing from it illustrations of chivalry's ideals. We shall not, however, -enter further upon the story of the Order of the Temple, with its valorous -and rapacious achievements and most tragic end; but will rather look to -the careers of historic individuals for the illumination of our theme. - -Reaching form and consciousness in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, -chivalry became part of the crusading ardour of those times. All true -knights were or might be Crusaders; and of a truth there was no purer -incarnation of the crusading spirit than Godfrey of Bouillon, that figure -of veritable if somewhat slender historicity, upon whom in time chronicler -and trouvère alike were to fasten as the true hero of the enterprise that -won Jerusalem. And so he was. Not that Godfrey was commander of the host. -He was not even its most energetic or most capable leader. Boemund of -Tarentum and Raymond of Toulouse were his superiors in power and military -energy. But neither Boemund, nor Tancred, nor Raymond, nor any other of -those princes of Christendom, was what Godfrey appears to us, the type and -symbol of the perfect, single-hearted, crusading knight, fighting solely -for the Faith, with Christian devotion and humility, and, like them all, -with more than Christian wrath. The First Crusade (1096-1099) was stamped -with hatred and slaughter: on the dreadful march, at the more dreadful -siege and final sack of Antioch, and finally when the holy sepulchre's -defilement was washed out in Saracen blood. And there was no slaughterer -more eager than Godfrey. - -The cruelty and religious fervour of the Crusade are rendered in the -words of Raymond of Agiles, one of the clergy in the train of Count -Raymond of Toulouse, and an eye-witness of the capture of Jerusalem. After -days of despairing struggle to effect a breach, success came as by the -mercy of God: - - "Among the first to enter was Tancred and the Duke of Lothringia - (Godfrey), who on that day shed quantities of blood almost beyond - belief. After them, the host mounted the walls, and now the Saracens - suffered. Yet although the city was all but in the hands of the - Franks, the Saracens resisted the party of Count Raymond as if they - were never going to be taken. But when our men had mastered the walls - of the city and the towers, then wonderful things were to be seen. - Numbers of the Saracens were beheaded--which was the easiest for them; - others were shot with arrows, or forced to jump from the towers; - others were slowly tortured and were burned in flames. In the streets - and open places of the town were seen piles of heads and hands and - feet. One rode about everywhere amid the corpses of men and horses. - But these were small matters! Let us go to Solomon's temple, where - they were wont to chant their rites and solemnities. What had been - done there? If we speak the truth we exceed belief: let this suffice. - In the temple and porch of Solomon one rode in blood up to the knees - and even to the horses' bridles by the just and marvellous Judgment of - God, in order that the same place which so long had endured their - blasphemies against Him should receive their blood." - -So the Crusaders wrought; and what joy did they feel! Raymond continues: - - "When the city was taken it was worth the whole long labour to witness - the devotion of the pilgrims to the sepulchre of the Lord, how they - clapped their hands, exulted, and sang a new song unto the Lord. For - their hearts presented to God, victor and triumphant, vows of praise - which they were unable to explain. A new day, new joy and exultation, - new and perpetual gladness, the consummation of toil and devotion drew - forth from all new words, new songs. This day, I say, glorious in - every age to come, turned all our griefs and toils into joy and - exultation."[681] - -So new songs of gladness burst from the hearts of the soldiers of the -Cross. In a few days the princes made an election, and offered the kingdom -to Count Raymond: he declined. Then Godfrey was made king; though he -would not be crowned, nor would he ever wear a crown where his Lord had -worn a crown of thorns. As a servant of Christ and of His Church he fought -and ruled some short months till his death. His fame has grown because his -heart was pure, and because, among the knights, he represented most -perfectly the religious impulse of this crusade which fought its way -through blood, until it poured out its new song of joy over the -blood-drenched city. He errs who thinks to find the source and power of -the First Crusade elsewhere than in the flaming zeal of feudal -Christianity. There was doubtless much divergence of motive, secular and -religious; but over-mastering and unifying all was the passion to wrest -the sepulchre of Christ from paynim defilement, and thus win salvation for -the Crusader. Greed went with the host, but it did not inspire the -enterprise. - -Doubtless the stories of returning knights awakened a spirit of romantic -adventure, which stirred in later crusading generations. It was not so in -the eleventh century when the First Crusade was gathering. The romantic -imagination was then scarcely quickened; adventure was still inarticulate, -and the literature of adventure for the venture's sake was yet to be -created. So the First Crusade, with its motive of religious zeal, is in -some degree distinguishable from those which followed when knighthood was -in different flower. If not the Crusades themselves, at least the -_Chansons_ of the trouvères who sang of them, follow a change -corresponding with the changing taste of chivalry: they begin with serious -matters, and are occupied with the great enterprise; then they become -adventurous in theme, romantic, till at last even romantic love is -infelicitously grafted upon the religious rage that won Jerusalem. - -This process of change may be traced in the growth of the legends of the -First Crusade and Godfrey of Bouillon. Something was added to his career -even by the Latin Chronicles of fifty years later. But his most -venturesome development is to be found in those French _Chansons de geste_ -which have been made into the "Cycle" of the First Crusade. Two of these, -the _Chansons_ of _Antioche_ and _Jerusalem_, were originally composed by -a contemporary, if not a participant in the expedition. They were -refashioned perhaps seventy-five or a hundred years later, in the reign of -Philip Augustus, by another trouvère, who still kept their old tone and -substance. They remained poetic narratives of the holy war. In them the -knights are fierce and bloody, cruel and sometimes greedy; but their whole -emprise makes onward to the end in view, the winning of the holy city. -These poems are epic and not romantic: they may even be called historical. -The character of Godfrey is developed with legendary or epic propriety, -through a heightening of his historic qualities. He equals or excels the -other barons in fierce valour, and yet a touch of courtesy tempers his -wrath. In Christian meekness and in modesty he surpasses all, and he -refuses the throne of Jerusalem until he has been commanded from on high. -At that he accepts the kingdom as a sacred charge in defence of which he -is to die. - -It is otherwise with a number of other _chansons_ composed in the latter -part of the twelfth and through the thirteenth century. Some of them (the -_Chanson des chétifs_, for example) had probably to do with the First -Crusade. Others, like the various poems which tell of the Chevalier au -Cygne, were inaptly forced into connection with the family of Godfrey. -They have become adventurous, and are studded with irrelevant marvels, -rather than assisted to their denouements by serious supernatural -intervention. Monsters appear, and incongruous romantic episodes; -Godfrey's ancestor has become the Swan-knight, and he himself duplicates -the exploits previously ascribed to that half-fairy person. Knightly -manners, from brutal have become courteous. Women throng these poems, and -the romantic love of women enters, although not in the finished guise in -which it plays so dominant a role in the Arthurian Cycle. Such themes, -unknown to the earlier crusading _chansons_, would have fitted ill with a -martial theme driving on through war and carnage (not through -"adventures") to the holy end in view.[682] - -The Crusades open with the form of Godfrey of Bouillon. A century and a -half elapses and they deaden to a close beneath the futile radiance of a -saintlike and perfect knightly personality. St. Louis of France is as -clear a figure as any in the Middle Ages. From all sides his life is -known. We see him as a painstaking sovereign meting out even justice, and -maintaining his royal rights against feudal turbulence and also against -ecclesiastical encroachment. During his reign the monarchy of France -continues to advance in power and repute. And yet there was no jot of -worldly wisdom, and scant consideration of a realm sorely needing its -ruler, in the Quixotic religious devotion which drew him twice across the -sea on crusades unparalleled in their foolishness. For the world was -growing wiser politically; and what was glorious feudal enthusiasm in the -year 1099, was deliberate disregard of experience in the years 1248 and -1270. - -Yet who would have had St. Louis wiser in his generation? The loss to -France was mankind's gain, from the example of saintly king and perfect -knight, kept bright in the narratives of men equal to the task. Louis was -happy in his biographers. Two among them knew him intimately and in ways -affording special opportunities to observe the sides of his character -congenial to their respective tempers. One was his confessor for twenty -years, the Dominican Geoffrey of Beaulieu; the other was the Sire de -Joinville. Geoffrey's _Vita_ records Louis' devotions; Joinville's -_Histoire_ notes the king's piety; but the qualities which it illuminates -are those of a French gentleman and knight and grand seigneur, like -Joinville himself. - -The book of the Dominican[683] is not picturesque. It opens with an -edifying comparison between King Josiah and King Louis. Then it praises -the king's mother, Queen Blanche of pious memory. As for Louis, the -confessor has been unable to discover that he ever committed a mortal sin: -he sought faithful and wise counsellors; he was careful and gracious in -speech, never using an oath or any scurrilous expression. In earlier -years, when under the necessity of taking oath, he would say, "In nomine -mei"; but afterwards, hearing that some religious man had objected to -this, he restricted his asseverations to the "est, est" and "non, non" of -the Gospel. - -From the time he first crossed the sea, he wore no scarlet raiment, but -clothed himself in sober garments. And as such were of less value to give -to the poor than those which he had formerly worn, he added sixty pounds a -year to his almsgiving; for he did not wish the poor to suffer because of -his humble dress. Geoffrey gives the long tale of his charities to the -poor and to the mendicant Orders. On the Sabbaths it was the king's secret -custom to wash the feet of three beggars, dry them, and kiss them humbly. -He commanded in his will that no stately monument should be erected over -his grave. He treated his confessors with great respect, and, while -confessing, if perchance a window was to be closed or opened, he quickly -rose and shut or opened it, and would not hear of his confessor doing it. -In Advent season and Lent he abstained from marital intercourse. Some -years before his death, if he had had his will, he would have resigned his -kingdom to his son, and entered the Order of the Franciscans or -Dominicans. He brought up his children most religiously, and wished some -of them to take the vows.[684] - -He confessed every Friday and also between times, if something occurred to -him; and if he thought of anything in the night, he would send for his -confessor and confess before matins.[685] After confession he always took -his discipline from his confessor, whom he furnished with a scourge of -five little braided iron chains, attached to an ivory handle. This he -would afterwards put back into a little case, which he carried hanging to -his belt, but out of sight. Such little cases he sometimes presented to -his children or friends in secret, that they might have a convenient -instrument of discipline. He wore haircloth next his flesh in the holy -seasons, a habit distressing to his tender skin, until his confessor -persuaded him to abandon this form of penance as ill comporting with his -station. He replaced it by increasing his charities. His fasts were -regular and frequent, till he lessened them upon prudent advice; for he -was not strong. He would have liked to hear all the canonical hours -chanted; and twice a day he heard Mass, and daily the Office for the Dead. -Sometimes, soon after midnight, he would rise to hear matins, and then -would take a quiet time for prayer by his bed. Likewise he loved to hear -sermons. On returning over the sea, when the ships suffered a long delay, -he had preaching three times a week, with the sermon specially adapted to -the sailors, a class of men who rarely hear the Word of God. He prevailed -on many of them to confess, and declared himself ready at any time to put -his hand to a rope, if necessary, so that a sailor while confessing might -not be called away by any exigency of the sea. - -While beyond the sea, this good king, hearing that a Saracen Sultan had -collected the books of their philosophy at his own expense for his -subjects' use, determined not to be outdone whenever he should return to -Paris, a purpose which he amply carried out, diligently and generously -supplying money for copying and renewing the writings of the Doctors. At -enormous expense he obtained the Saviour's crown of thorns and a good part -of the true cross, from the emperor at Constantinople, with many other -precious relics; all of which the king barefooted helped to carry in holy -procession when they were received by the clergy of Paris. - -The king was very careful in the distribution of ecclesiastical patronage, -always seeing to it that the candidate was not already enjoying another -benefice. His heart exulted when it came to him to bestow a benefice upon -some especially holy man. He was most zealous in the suppression of -swearing and blasphemy, and with the advice of the papal legate then in -France issued an edict, providing that the lips of those guilty of this -sin should be seared with hot irons; and when certain ones murmured, he -declared that he would willingly suffer his own lips to be branded if that -would purge his realm of this vice. - -Such were the acts and qualities of Louis which impressed his Dominican -confessor. They were the qualities of a saint, and would have brought -their possessor to a monastery, had not his royal station held him in the -world. The Dominican could not know the knightly nature of his royal -penitent, and still less reflect it in his Latin of the confessional. For -this there was needed the pen of a great gentleman, whose nature enabled -him to picture his lord in a book of such high breeding that it were hard -to find its fellow. This book is stately with the Sire de Joinville's -consciousness of his position and blood, and stately through the respect -he bore his lord--a book with which no one would take a liberty. Yet it is -simple in thought and phrase, as written by one who lived through what he -tells, and closely knew and dearly loved the king. From it one learns that -he who was a saint in his confessor's eyes was also a monarch from his -soul out to his royal manners and occasional royal insistence upon acts -which others thought unwise. We also learn to know him as a knightly, -hapless soldier of the Cross, who would not waver from his word plighted -even to an infidel. - -That St. Louis was a veritable knight is the first thing one learns from -Joinville. The first part of my book, says that gentleman, tells how the -king conducted his life after the way of God and the Church, and to the -profit of his realm; the second tells of his "granz chevaleries et de ses -granz faiz d'armes." "The first deed (_faiz_) whereby 'il mist son cors en -avanture de mort' was at our arrival before Damietta, where his council -was of the opinion, as I have understood, that he ought to remain in his -ship until he saw what his knights (_sa chevalerie_) should do, who made a -landing. The reason why they so counselled him was that if he disembarked, -and his people should be killed and he with them, the whole affair was -lost; while if he remained in his ship he could in his own person renew -the attempt to conquer Egypt. And he would credit no one, but leaped into -the sea, all armed, his shield hanging from his neck, his lance in hand, -and was one of the first upon the beach." - -This is from Joinville's Introduction. He recommences formally: - - "In the name of God the all powerful, I, John, Sire of Joinville, - Seneschal of Champagne, cause to be written the life of our sainted - king Louis, as I saw and heard of it for the space of six years while - I was in his company on the pilgrimage beyond the sea, and since we - returned. And before I tell you his great deeds and prowess - (_chevalerie_), I will recount what I saw and heard of his holy words - and good precepts, so that they may be found one after the other for - the improvement of those who hear. - - "This holy man loved God with all his heart, and imitated His works: - which was evident in this, that as God died for the love which He bore - His people, so he (Louis) put his body in peril several times for the - love which he bore his people. The great love which he had for his - people appeared in what he said to his eldest son, Louis, when very - sick at Fontainebleau: 'Fair son,' said he, 'I beg thee to make - thyself loved by the people of thy kingdom; for indeed I should prefer - that a Scot from Scotland came and ruled the people of the kingdom - well and faithfully, rather than that thou shouldst rule them ill in - the sight of all.'" - -Joinville continues relating the virtues of the king, and recording his -conversations with himself: - - "He called me once and said, 'Seneschal, what is God?' And I said to - him, 'Sire, it is a being so good that there can be no better.' - - "'Now I ask you,' said he, 'which would you choose, to be a leper, or - to have committed a mortal sin?' And I who never lied to him replied - that I had rather have committed thirty than be a leper. Afterwards he - called me apart and made me sit at his feet and said: 'Why did you say - that to me yesterday?' And I told him that I would say it again. And - he: 'You speak like a thoughtless trifler; for you should know there - is no leprosy so ugly as to be in mortal sin, because the soul in - mortal sin is like the devil. This is why there can be no leprosy so - ugly. And then, of a truth, when a man dies, he is cured of the - leprosy of the body; but when the man who has committed a mortal sin - dies, he does not know, nor is it certain, that he has so repented - while living, that God has pardoned him; this is why he should have - great fear that this leprosy will last as long as God shall be in - paradise. So I pray you earnestly that you will train your heart, for - the love of God and of me, to wish rather for leprosy or any other - bodily evil, rather than that mortal sin should come into your soul.' - He asked me whether I washed the feet of the poor on Holy Tuesday. - 'Sire,' said I, '_quel malheur_! I will not wash those villains' - feet.' 'Truly that was ill said,' said he; 'for you should not hold - in contempt what God did for our instruction. So I pray you, for the - love of God first, and for the love of me, to accustom yourself to - wash them.'" - -Joinville was some years younger than his king, who loved him well and -wished to help him. The king also esteemed Master Robert de Sorbon[686] -for the high respect as a _preudom_ in which he was held, and had him eat -at his table. One day Master Robert was seated next to Joinville. - - "'Seneschal,' said the king, smiling, 'tell me the reasons why a man - of wisdom and valour (_preudom_, _prud'homme_) is accounted better - than a fool.' Then began the argument between me and Master Robert; - and when we had disputed for a time, the king rendered his decision, - saying: 'Master Robert, I should like to have the name of _preudom_, - so be it that I was one, and all the rest I would leave to you; for - _preudom_ is such a grand and good thing that it fills the mouth just - to pronounce it.'" - -Master Robert plays a not altogether happy part in another scene, -varicoloured and delightful: - - "The holy king was at Corbeil one Pentecost, and twenty-four knights - with him. The king went down after dinner into the courtyard back of - the chapel, and was talking at the entrance with the Count of - Brittany, the father of the present duke, whom God preserve. Master - Robert de Sorbon came to seek me there, and took me by the cloak, and - led me to the king, and all the other gentlemen came after us. Then I - asked Master Robert: 'Master Robert, what would you?' And he said to - me: 'If the king should sit down here, and you should seat yourself - above him, I ask you whether you would not be to blame?' And I said, - Yes. - - "And he said to me: 'Yet you lay yourself open to blame, since you are - more nobly clad than the king: for you wear squirrel's fur and cloth - of green, which the king does not.' - - "And I said to him: 'Master Robert, saving your grace, I do nothing - worthy of blame when I wear squirrel's fur and cloth of green; for it - is the clothing which my father and mother left me. But you do what is - to blame; for you are the son of a _vilain_ and _vilaine_, and have - abandoned the clothes of your father and your mother, and are clad in - richer cloth than the king.' And then I took the lappet of his surcoat - and that of the king's, and said to him: 'See whether I do not speak - truly.' And the king set himself to defend Master Robert with all his - might." - - "Afterwards Messire the king called to him Monseigneur Philippe his - son, the father of the present king, and the king Thibaut (of - Navarre), and laid his hand on the earth and said: 'Sit close to me, - so that they may not hear.' - - "'Ah Sire,' say they, 'we dare not sit so close to you.' - - "And he said to me, 'Seneschal, sit down here.' And so I did, so close - that our clothes touched. And he made them sit down by me, and said to - them: 'You have done ill, you who are my sons, who have not obeyed at - once all that I bade you: and see to it that this does not happen with - you again.' And they promised. And then he said to me, that he had - called us in order to confess to me that he was in the wrong in - defending Master Robert against me. 'But,' said he, 'I saw him so - dumbfounded that there was good need I should defend him. And do none - of you attach any importance to all I said defending Master Robert; - for, as the seneschal said to him, you ought to dress well and - becomingly, so that your wives may love you better, and your people - hold you in higher esteem. For the sage says that one should appear in - such clothes and arms that the wise of this world may not say you have - done too much, nor the young people say you have done too little.'" - -The hopelessly worthy _parvenu_ was quite outside this charmed circle of -blood and manners. - -Another story of Joinville opens our eyes to Louis' views on Jews and -infidels. The king was telling him of a grand argument between Jews and -Christian clergy which was to have been held at Cluny. And a certain -poverty-stricken knight was there, who obtained leave to speak the first -word; and he asked the head Jew whether he believed that Mary was the -mother of God and still a virgin. And the Jew answered that he did not -believe it at all. The knight replied that in that case the Jew had acted -like a fool to enter her monastery, and should pay for it; and with that -he knocked him down with his staff, and all the other Jews ran off. When -the abbot reproached him for his folly, he replied that the abbot's folly -was greater in having the argument at all. "So I tell you," said the king -on finishing his story, "that only a skilled clerk should dispute with -misbelievers; but a layman, when he hears any one speak ill of the -Christian law, should defend that law with nothing but his sword, which he -should plunge into the defamer's belly, to the hilt if possible." - -Well known is the hapless outcome of St. Louis' Crusades: the first one -leading to defeat and captivity in Egypt, the second ending in the king's -death by disease at Tunis. Yet in what he sought to do in his Lord's -cause, St. Louis was a true knight and soldier of the Cross. The spirit -was willing; but the flesh accomplished little. Let us take from -Joinville's story of that first crusade a wonderfully illustrative -chapter, giving the confused scenes occurring after the capture of -Damietta, when the French king and his feudal host had advanced southerly -through the Delta, along the eastern branch of the Nile. Joinville was -making a reconnaissance with his own knights, when they came suddenly upon -a large body of Saracens. The Christians were hard pressed; here and there -a knight falls in the melée, among them - - "Monseigneur Hugues de Trichatel, the lord of Conflans, who carried my - banner. I and my knights spurred to deliver Monseigneur Raoul de - Wanou, who was thrown to the ground. As I was making my way back, the - Turks struck at me with their lances; my horse fell on his knees under - the blows, and I went over his head. I recovered myself as I might, - shield on neck and sword in hand; and Monseigneur Erard de Siverey - (whom God absolve!), who was of my people, came to my aid, and said - that we had better retreat to a ruined house, and there wait for the - king who was approaching." - -One notes the high-born courtesy with which the Sire de Joinville speaks -of the gentlemen who had the honour of serving him. The fight goes on. - - "Monseigneur Erard de Siverey was struck by a sword-blow in his face, - so that his nose hung down over his lips. And then I was minded of - Monseigneur Saint Jacques, whom I thus invoked: 'Beau Sire Saint - Jacques help and succour me in this need.' - - "When I had made my prayer, Monseigneur Erard de Siverey said to me: - 'Sire, if you think that neither I nor my heirs would suffer reproof, - I would go for aid to the Count of Anjou, whom I see over there in the - fields.' And I said to him: 'Messire Erard, I think you would do - yourself great honour, if you now went for aid to save our lives; for - your own is in jeopardy.' And indeed I spoke truly, for he died of - that wound. He asked the advice of all our knights who were there, and - all approved as I had approved. And when he heard that, he requested - me to let him have his horse, which I was holding by the bridle with - the rest. And so I did." - -The knightliness of this scene is perfect, with its liege fealty and its -carefulness as to the point of honour, its carefulness also that the -vassal knight shall fail in no duty to his lord whereby the descent of his -fief may be jeopardized. Monseigneur Erard (whom God absolve, we say with -Joinville!) is very careful to have his lord's assent and the approval of -his fellows, before he will leave his lord in peril, and undergo still -greater risk to bring him succour. - -Well, the Count of Anjou brought such aid as created a diversion, and the -Saracens turned to the new foe. But now the king arrives on the scene: - - "There where I was on foot with my knights, wounded as already said, - comes the king with his whole array, and a great sound of trumpets and - drums. And he halted on the road on the dyke. Never saw I one so - bravely armed: for he showed above all his people from his shoulders - up, a gilded casque upon his head and a German sword in his hand." - -Then the king's good knights charge into the battle, and fine feats of -arms are done. The fighting is fierce and general. At length the king is -counselled to bear back along the river, keeping close to it on his right -hand, so as to reunite with the Duke of Burgundy who had been left to -guard the camp. The knights are recalled from the melée, and with a great -noise of trumpets and drums, and Saracen horns, the army is set in motion. - - "And now up comes the constable, Messire Imbert de Beaujeu, and tells - the king that the Count of Artois, his brother, was defending himself - in a house in Mansourah, and needed aid. And the king said to him: - 'Constable go before and I will follow you.' And I said to the - constable that I would be his knight, at which he thanked me greatly." - -Again one feels the feudal chivalry. Now the affair becomes rather -distraught. They set out to succour the Count of Artois, but are checked, -and it is rumoured that the king is taken; and in fact six Saracens had -rushed upon him and seized his horse by the bridle; but he had freed -himself with such great strokes that all his people took courage. Yet the -host is driven back upon the river, and is in desperate straits. Joinville -and his knights defend a bridge over a tributary, which helps to check the -Saracen advance, and affords an uncertain means of safety to the French. -But there is no cessation of the Saracen attack with bows and spears. The -knights seemed full of arrows. Joinville saved his life with an -arrow-proof Saracen vest, "so that I was wounded by their arrows only in -five places"! One of Joinville's own stout burgesses, bearing his lord's -banner on a lance, helped in the charges upon the enemy. In the melée up -speaks the good Count of Soissons, whose cousin Joinville had married. "He -joked with me and said: 'Seneschal, let us whoop after this canaille; for -by God's coif (his favourite oath) we shall be talking, you and I, about -this day in the chambers of the ladies.'" - -At last, the arbalests were brought out from the camp, and the Saracens -drew off--fled, says the Sire de Joinville. And the king was there, and - - "I took off his casque, and gave him my iron cap, so that he might get - some air. And then comes brother Henry de Ronnay, Prevost of the - Hospital, to the king when he had passed the river, and kisses his - mailed hand. And the king asked him whether he had news of the Count - of Artois, his brother; and he said that he had indeed news of him, - for he was sure that his brother the Count of Artois was in Paradise. - 'Ha! sire,' said the Prevost, 'be of good cheer; for no such honour - ever came to a king of France as is come to you. For to fight your - enemies you have crossed a river by swimming, have discomfited your - enemies and driven them from the field, and taken their engines and - tents, where you will sleep this night.' And the king replied that God - be adored for all that He gave; and then the great tears fell from his - eyes." - -One need not follow on to the ill ending of the campaign, when king and -knights all had to yield themselves prisoners, in most uncertain -captivity. The Saracen Emirs conspired and slew their Sultan; the -prisoners' lives hung on a thread; and when the terms were arranging for -the delivery and ransom of the king, his own scruples nearly proved fatal. -For the Emirs, after they had made their oath, wished the king to swear, -and put his seal to a parchment, - - "that if he the king did not hold to his agreements, might he be as - shamed as the Christian who denied God and His Mother, and was cut off - from the company of the twelve Companions (apostles) and of all the - saints, male and female. To this the king consented. The last point of - the oath was this: That if the king did not keep his agreements, might - he be as shamed as the Christian who denied God and His law, and in - contempt of God spat on the Cross and trod on it. When the king heard - that, he said, please God, he would not make that oath." - -Then the trouble began, and the Emirs tortured the venerable patriarch of -Jerusalem till he besought the king to swear. How the oath was arranged I -do not know, says Joinville, but finally the Emirs professed themselves -satisfied. And after that, when the ransom was paid, the Saracens by a -mistake accepted a sum ten thousand livres short, and Louis, in spite of -the protest of his counsellors, refused to permit advantage to be taken -and insisted on full payment. - -Many years afterwards, when Louis was dead and canonized, a dream came to -his faithful Joinville who was then an old man. - - "It seemed to me in my dream that I saw the king in front of my chapel - at Joinville; and he was, so he seemed to me, wonderfully happy and - glad at heart; and I also was glad at heart, because I saw him in my - chateau. And I said to him: 'Sire, when you go hence, I will prepare - lodging for you at my house in my village of Chevillon.' And he - replied, smiling, and said to me: 'Sire de Joinville, by the troth I - owe you, I do not wish so soon to go from here.' When I awoke I - bethought me; and it seemed to me that it would please God and the - king that I should provide a lodging for him in my chapel. So I have - placed an altar in honour of God and of him there, where there shall - be always chanting in his honour. And I have established a fund in - perpetuity to do this." - -Godfrey of Bouillon and St. Louis of France show knighthood as inspired by -serious and religious motives. We pass on a hundred years after St. Louis, -to a famous Chronicle concerning men whose knightly lives exhibit no such -religious, and possibly no such serious, purpose, so far at least as they -are set forth by this delightful chronicler. His name of course is Sir -John Froissart, and his chief work goes under the name of _The Chronicles -of England, France, Spain, and the adjoining Countries_. It covers the -period from the reign of Edward II. to the coronation of Henry IV. of -England. Have we not all known his book as one to delight youth and age? - -Let us, however, open it seriously, and first of all notice the Preface, -with its initial sentence giving the note of the entire work: "That the -_grans merveilles_ and the _biau fait d'armes_ achieved in the great wars -between England and France, and the neighbouring realms may be worthily -recorded, and known in the present and in the time to come, I purpose to -order and put the same in prose, according to the true information which I -have obtained from valiant knights, squires, and marshals at arms, who are -and rightly should be the investigators and reporters of such -matters."[687] - -"Marvels" and "deeds of arms"--soon he will use the equivalent phrase -_belles aventures_. With delicious garrulity, but never wavering from his -point of view, the good Sir John repeats and enlarges as he enters on his -work in which "to encourage all valorous hearts, and to show them -honourable examples" he proposes to "point out and speak of each adventure -from the nativity of the noble King Edward (III.) of England, who so -potently reigned, and who was engaged in so many battles and perilous -adventures and other feats of arms and great prowess, from the year of -grace 1326, when he was crowned in England." - -Of course Froissart says that the occasion of these wars was King Edward's -enterprise to recover his inheritance of France, which the twelve peers -and barons of that realm had awarded to Lord Philip of Valois, from whom -it had passed on to his son, King Charles. This enterprise was the woof -whereon should hang an hundred years of knightly and romantic feats of -arms, which incidentally wrought desolation to the fair realm of France. -Yet the full opening of these matters was not yet; and Froissart begins -with the story of the troubles brought on Queen Isabella and the nobles -of England through the overbearing insolence of Sir Hugh Spencer, the -favourite of her husband Edward II. - -The Queen left England secretly, to seek aid at Paris from her brother -King Charles, that she might regain her rights against the upstart and her -own weak estranged husband. King Charles received her graciously, as a -great lord should receive a great dame; and richly provided for her and -her young son Edward. Then he took counsel of the "great lords and barons -of his kingdom"; and their advice was that he should permit her to enlist -assistance in his realm, and yet himself appear ignorant of the matter. Of -this, Sir Hugh hears, and his gold is busy with these counsellors; so that -the Court becomes a cold place for the self-exiled queen. On she fares in -her distress, and, as advised, seeks the aid of the great Earl of -Hainault, then at Valenciennes. But before the queen can reach that city, -the earl's young brother, Sir John, Lord of Beaumont, rides to meet her, -ardent to succour a great lady in distress, "being at that time very -young, and panting for glory like a knight-errant." In the evening he -reached the house of Sir Eustace d'Ambreticourt, where the queen was -lodged. She made her lamentable complaint, at which Sir John was affected -even to tears, and said, "Lady, see here your knight, who will not fail to -die for you, though every one else should desert you; therefore will I do -everything in my power to conduct you and your son, and to restore you to -your rank in England, by the grace of God, and the assistance of your -friends in those parts; and I, and all those whom I can influence, will -risk our lives on the adventure for your sake." - -Is not this a chivalric beginning? And so the Chronicle goes on. King -Edward III. is crowned, marries the Lady Philippa, daughter of the Earl of -Hainault, and afterwards sends his defiance to Philip, King of France, for -not yielding up to him his rightful inheritance, and this after the same -King Edward had, as Duke of Aquitaine, done homage to King Philip for that -great duchy. - -So the challenge of King Edward, and of sundry other lords, was delivered -to the King of France; and thereupon the first bold raid is made by the -knightliest figure of the first generation of the war, Sir Walter Manny, -a young Hainaulter who had remained in the train of Queen Philippa. The -war is carried on by incursions and deeds of derring-do, the larger armies -of the kings of England and France circumspectly refraining from battle, -which might have checked the martial jollity of the affair. It is all -beautifully pointless and adventurous, and carried out in the spirit of a -knighthood that loves fighting and seeks honour and adventure, while -steadying itself with a hope of plunder and reward. There are likewise -ladies to be succoured and defended. - -One of these was the lion-hearted Countess of Montfort, who with her -husband had become possessed of the disputed dukedom of Brittany. The Earl -of Montfort did homage to the King of England; the rival claimant, Charles -of Blois, sought the aid of France. He came with an army, and Montfort was -taken and died in prison; the duchess was left to carry on the war. She -was at last shut up and besieged in Hennebon on the coast; the burghers -were falling away, the knights discouraged; emissaries from Lord Charles -were working among them. His ally, Lord Lewis of Spain, and Sir Hervé de -Leon were the leaders of the besiegers. Sir Hervé had an uncle, a bishop, -Sir Guy de Leon, who was on the side of the Countess of Montfort. The -nephew won the uncle over in a conference without the walls; and the -latter assumed the task of persuading the Lords of Brittany who were with -the countess to abandon the apparently hopeless struggle. Re-entering the -town, the bishop was eloquent against the countess's cause, and promised -free pardon to the lords if they would give up the town. Now listen to -Froissart, how he tells the story: - - "The countess had strong suspicions of what was going forward, and - begged of the lords of Brittany, for the love of God, that they would - not doubt but she should receive succours before three days were over. - But the bishop spoke so eloquently, and made use of such good - arguments, that these lords were in much suspense all that night. On - the morrow he continued the subject, and succeeded so far as to gain - them over, or very nearly so, to his opinion; insomuch that Sir Hervé - de Leon had advanced close to the town to take possession of it, with - their free consent, when the countess looking out from a window of the - castle toward the sea, cried out most joyfully, 'I see the succours I - have so long expected and wished for coming.' She repeated this twice; - and the town's people ran to the ramparts and to the windows of the - castle, and saw a numerous fleet of great and small vessels, well - trimmed, making all the sail they could toward Hennebon. They rightly - imagined it must be the fleet from England, so long detained at sea by - tempests and contrary winds. - - "When the governor of Guingamp, Sir Yves de Tresiquidi, Sir Galeran de - Landreman, and the other knights, perceived this succour coming to - them, they told the bishop that he might break up his conference, for - they were not now inclined to follow his advice. The bishop, Sir Guy - de Leon, replied, 'My lords, then our company shall separate; for I - will go to him who seems to me to have the clearest right.' Upon which - he sent his defiance to the lady, and to all her party, and left the - town to inform Sir Hervé de Leon how matters stood. Sir Hervé was much - vexed at it, and immediately ordered the largest machine that was with - the army to be placed as near the castle as possible, strictly - commanding that it should never cease working day nor night. He then - presented his uncle to the Lord Lewis of Spain, and to the Lord - Charles of Blois, who both received him most courteously. The - countess, in the meantime, prepared and hung with tapestry halls and - chambers to lodge handsomely the lords and barons of England, whom she - saw coming, and sent out a noble company to meet them. When they were - landed, she went herself to give them welcome, respectfully thanking - each knight and squire, and led them into the town and castle that - they might have convenient lodging: on the morrow, she gave them a - magnificent entertainment. All that night, and the following day, the - large machine never ceased from casting stones into the town. - - "After the entertainment, Sir Walter Manny, who was captain of the - English, inquired of the countess the state of the town and the - enemy's army. Upon looking out of the window, he said, he had a great - inclination to destroy that large machine which was placed so near, - and much annoyed them, if any would help him. Sir Yves de Tresiquidi - replied, that he would not fail him in this his first expedition; as - did also the lord of Landreman. They went to arm themselves, and then - sallied quietly out of one of the gates, taking with them three - hundred archers, who shot so well, that those who guarded the machine - fled, and the men at arms, who followed the archers, falling upon - them, slew the greater part, and broke down and cut in pieces this - large machine. They then dashed in among the tents and huts, set fire - to them, and killed and wounded many of their enemies before the army - was in motion. After this they made a handsome retreat. When the enemy - were mounted and armed they galloped after them like madmen. - - "Sir Walter Manny, seeing this, exclaimed, 'May I never be embraced by - my mistress and dear friend, if I enter castle or fortress before I - have unhorsed one of these gallopers.' He then turned round, and - pointed his spear toward the enemy, as did the two brothers of - Lande-Halle, le Haze de Brabant, Sir Yves de Tresiquidi, Sir Galeran - de Landreman, and many others, and spitted the first coursers. Many - legs were made to kick the air. Some of their own party were also - unhorsed. The conflict became very serious, for reinforcements were - perpetually coming from the camp; and the English were obliged to - retreat towards the castle, which they did in good order until they - came to the castle ditch; there the knights made a stand, until all - their men were safely returned. Many brilliant actions, captures, and - rescues might have been seen. Those of the town who had not been of - the party to destroy the large machine now issued forth, and, ranging - themselves upon the banks of the ditch, made such good use of their - bows, that they forced the enemy to withdraw, killing many men and - horses. The chiefs of the army, perceiving they had the worst of it, - and that they were losing men to no purpose, sounded a retreat, and - made their men retire to the camp. As soon as they were gone, the - townsmen re-entered, and went each to his quarters. The Countess of - Montfort came down from the castle to meet them, and with a most - cheerful countenance, kissed Sir Walter Manny, and all his companions, - one after the other like a noble and valiant dame." - -In this manner the genial chronicler goes on through his long delightful -ramble. After a while the chief combatants close. Cressy is fought and -Poictiers. The Black Prince, that extremest bit of knightly royalty, fills -the page. The place of Sir Walter Manny is taken by the larger figure of -Sir John Chandos, and, on the other side, the usually unfortunate but -unconquerable Bertrand du Guesclin. Froissart is at his best when he tells -of the great expedition of the Black Prince to restore the cruel Don Pedro -of Castille to the throne from which he had been expelled by that -picturesque bastard brother Henry, who had a poorer title but a better -right, by virtue of being fit to rule. - -This whole expedition was--as we see it in Froissart--neither politics nor -war, but chivalry. What interest had England, or Edward III., or the -Prince of Wales in Don Pedro? None. He was a cruel tyrant, rightfully -expelled. The Prince of Wales would set him back upon his throne in the -interest of royal legitimacy, and because there offered a brilliant -opportunity for fame and plunder: the Black Prince thought less of the -latter than the Free Companies enlisted under his banner, and less than -his own rapacious knights. - -So in three divisions, headed by the most famous knights and in a way -generalled by Sir John Chandos, the host passes through the kingdom of -Navarre, and crosses the Pyrenees. Then begin a series of exploits. Sir -Thomas Felton and a company set out just to dare and beard the Castillian -army, and after entrancing feats of knight-errantry, are all captured or -slain. Much is the prince annoyed at this; but bears on, gladdened with -the thought, often expressed, that the bastard Henry is a bold and hardy -knight, and is advancing to give battle. - -And true it was. One of Henry's counsellors explains to him how easy it is -to hem in the Black Prince in the defiles, and starve him into a -disastrous retreat. Perish the thought! "By the soul of my father," -answers King Henry, "I have such a desire to see this prince, and to try -my strength with him, that we will never part without a battle." - -So the unnecessary and resultless battle of Navaretta took place. Don -Pedro, the cruel rightful king, was knighted, with others, by the Prince -of Wales before the fight. The tried unflinching chivalry of England and -Aquitaine conquered, although one division of King Henry's host had du -Guesclin at its head. That knight was captured; somehow his star had a way -of sinking before the steadier fortune of Sir John Chandos, who was here -du Guesclin's captor for a second time. King Henry, after valiant -fighting, escaped. Don Pedro was re-set upon his throne; and played false -with the Black Prince and his army, in the matter of pay. The whole -expedition turned back across the Pyrenees. And not so long after, Henry -bestirred himself, and the tardily freed du Guesclin hurried again to aid -him. This time there was no Black Prince and Sir John Chandos; and Don -Pedro was conquered and slain, and Henry was at last firm upon his throne. - -Could anything have been more chivalric, more objectless, and more -absolutely lacking in result? It is a beautiful story; every one should -refresh his childhood's memory of it by reading Froissart's delightful -pages. And then let him also read at least the subsequent story of the -death of Sir John Chandos in a knightly brush at arms; he, the really wise -and great leader, perishes through his personal rash knighthood! It is a -fine tale of the ending of an old and mighty knight, the very flower of -chivalry, as he was called. - -So matters fare on through these Chronicles. All is charming and -interesting and picturesque; charming also for the knights: great fame is -won and fat ransoms paid to recoup knightly fortunes. Now and then--all -too frequently, alas! and the only pity of it all!--some brave knight has -the mishap to lose his life! That is to say, the only pity of it from the -point of view of good Sir John. But we can see further horrors in this -picture of chivalry's actualities: we see King Edward pillage, devastate, -destroy France;[688] we see the awful outcome of the general ruin in the -rising of the vile, unhappy peasants, the Jacquerie; then in the -indiscriminate slaughter and pillaging by the Free Companies, no longer -well employed by royalties; and then we see the cruel treachery of many an -incident wrought out by such a flower of chivalry even as du -Guesclin.[689] Indeed all the horrors of ceaseless interminable war are -everywhere, and no more dreadful horror through the whole story than the -bloody sack of Limoges commanded by that perfect knight, the Black Prince, -himself stricken with disease, and carried in a litter through the breach -of the walls into the town, and there reposing, assuaging his cruel soul, -while his men run hither and thither "slaying men, women and children -according to their orders."[690] - -But when King Edward was old, and the Prince of Wales dying with disease, -the French and their partisans gathered heart, and pressed back the -English party with successful captures and reprisals. Du Guesclin was made -Constable of France; and there remained no English leader who was his -match. From this second period onwards, the wars and slaughters and -pillagings become more embittered, more horrid and less relieved. The tone -of everything is brutalized, and the good chronicler himself frequently -animadverts on the wanton destruction wrought, and the frightful ruin. -All is not as in the opening of the story, which was so fascinating, so -knightly and almost as purely adventurous as the Arthurian romances--only -that there was less love of ladies and a disturbing dearth of forests -perilous, and enchanted castles. It was then that the reader had ever and -anon to remind himself that Froissart is not romance or legend, but a -contemporary chronicle; and that in spite of heightened colours and -expanded (if not invented) dialogues, his narrative does not belong to the -imaginative or fictitious side of chivalry, but to its actualities.[691] - -Froissart's pictures of the depravity and devastation caused by the wars -of England and France, disclose the unhappy actuality in which chivalry -might move and have its being. And the knights were part of the cruelty, -treachery, and lust. One may remark besides in Froissart a certain -shallowness, a certain emptying, of the spirit of chivalry. One phase of -this lay in the expansion of form and ceremony, while life was -departing;--as, for example, in the hypertrophe of heraldry, and in the -pageantry of the later tournaments, where such care was taken to prevent -injury to the combatants. A subtler phase of chivalry's emptying lay in -its preciosity and in the excessive growth of fantasy and utter -romance--of which enough will be said in the next chapter. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -ROMANTIC CHIVALRY AND COURTLY LOVE - - FROM ROLAND TO TRISTAN AND LANCELOT - - -The instance of Godfrey of Bouillon showed how easy was the passage from -knighthood in history to knighthood in legend and romance: legend -springing from fact, out of which it makes a story framed in a picture of -the time; romance unhistorical in origin, borrowing, devising, imagining -according to the taste of an audience and the faculty of the trouvère. A -boundless mediaeval literature of poetic legend and romantic fiction sets -forth the ways of chivalry. Our attention may be confined to the Old -French, the source from which German, English, and Italian literatures -never ceased to draw. Three branches may be selected: the _chansons de -geste_; the _romans d'aventure_; and the Arthurian romances. The subjects -of the three are distinct, and likewise the tone and manner of treatment. -Yet they were not unaffected by each other; for instance, the hard feudal -spirit of the _chansons de geste_ became touched with the tastes which -moulded the two other groups, and there was even a borrowing of topic. -This was natural, as the periods of their composition over-lapped, and -doubtless their audiences were in part the same. - -The _chansons de geste_ (_gesta_ == deeds) were epic narratives with -historical facts for subjects, and commonly were composed in ten-syllable -assonanced or (later) rhyming couplets, _laisses_ so called, the same -final assonance or rhyme extending through a dozen or so lines. They told -the deeds of Charlemagne and his barons, or the feuds of the barons among -themselves, especially those of the time following the emperor's death. So -the subject might be national, for instance the war against the Saracens -in Spain; or it might be more provincially feudal in every sense of the -latter word.[692] It is not to our purpose to discuss how these poems grew -through successive generations, nor how much of Teutonic spirit they put -in Romance forms of verse. They were composed by trouvères or _jongleurs_. -The _Roland_ is the earliest of them, and in its extant form belongs to -the last part of the eleventh century. One or two others are nearly as -early; but the vast majority, as we have them, are the creations, or -rather the _remaniements_, of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. - -These _chansons_ present the feudal system in epic action. They blazon -forth its virtues and its horrors. The heroes are called barons (_ber_) -and also chevaliers;[693] _vassalage_ and prowess (_proecce_) are closely -joined; the _Roland_ speaks of the _vassalage_ of Charles _le ber_ -(Charlemagne). The usages of chivalry are found:[694] a baron begins as -_enfant_, and does his youthful feats (_enfances_); then he is girt with -manhood's sword and given the thwack which dubs him _chevalier_. -Naturally, the chivalry of the _chansons_ is feudal rather than romantic. -It is chivalry, sometimes crusading against "felun paien," sometimes -making war against emperors or rivals; always truculent, yet fighting for -an object and not for pure adventure's sake or the love of ladies. The -motives of action are quite tangible, and the tales reflect actual -situations and conditions. They tell what knights (the chevaliers and -barons) really did, though, of course, the particular incidents related -may not be historical. Naturally they speak from the time of their -composition. The _Roland_, for example, throbs with the crusading wrath -of the eleventh century--a new fervour, and no passionate memory of the -old obscure disaster of Roncesvalles. It does not speak from the time of -the great emperor. For when Charlemagne lived there was neither a "dulce -France" nor the sentiment which enshrined it; nor was there a sharply -deliminated feudal Christianity set over against a world of "felun -paien"--those false paynim, who should be trusted by no Christian baron. -The whole poem revolves around a treason plotted by a renegade among vile -infidels. - -In this rude poem which carries the noblest spirit of the _chansons de -geste_, the soul of feudal chivalry climbs to its height of loyal -expiation for overweening bravery. The battle-note is given in Roland's -words, as Oliver descries the masses of paynim closing in around that -valiant rear-guard. - -Said Oliver: "Sir comrade, I think we shall have battle with these -Saracens." - -Replied Roland: "God grant it! Here must we hold for our king. A man -should suffer for his lord, endure heat and cold, though he lose hair and -hide. Let each one strike his best, that no evil song be sung of us. The -paynim are in the wrong, Christians in the right!"[695] - -Then follows Oliver's prudent solicitation, and Roland's fatal refusal to -sound his horn and recall Charles and his host: "Please God and His holy -angels, France shall not be so shamed through me; better death than such -dishonour. The harder we strike the more the emperor will love us." Oliver -can be stubborn too; for when the fight is close to its fell end, he -swears that Roland shall never wed his sister Aude, if, beaten, he sound -that horn.[696] - -The paynim host is shattered and riven; but nearly all the Franks have -fallen. Roland looks upon the mountains and the plain. Of those of France -he sees so many lying dead, and he laments them like a high-born knight -(_chevaliers gentilz_). "_Seigneurs barons_, may God have pity on you and -grant Paradise to your souls, and give them to repose on holy flowers! -Better vassals shall I never see; long are the years that you have served -me, and conquered wide countries for Charles--the emperor has nurtured you -for an ill end! Land of France, sweet land, to-day bereft of barons of -high prize! Barons of France! for me I see you dying. I cannot save or -defend you! God be your aid, who never lies! Oliver, brother, you I must -not fail. I shall die of grief, if no one slay me! Sir comrade, let us -strike again."[697] - -Roland and Oliver are almost alone, and Oliver receives a death-stroke. -With his last strength he slays his slayer, shouts his defiance, and calls -Roland to his aid. He strikes on blindly as Roland comes and looks into -his face;--and then might you have seen Roland swoon on his horse, and -Oliver wounded to death. "He had bled so much, that his eyes were -troubled, and he could not see to recognize any mortal man. As he met his -comrade, he struck him on his helmet a blow that cut it shear in twain, -though the sword did not touch the head. At this Roland looked at him, and -asked him soft and low: 'Sir comrade, did you mean that? It is Roland, who -loves you well. You have not defied me.' - -"Says Oliver, 'Now I hear you speak; I did not see you; may the Lord God -see you! I have struck you; for which pardon me.'" - -Roland replied: "I was not hurt. I pardon you here and before God." - -"At this word they bent over each other, and in such love they parted." -Oliver feels his death-anguish at hand; sight and hearing fail him: he -sinks from his horse and lies on the earth; he confesses his sins, with -his two hands joined toward heaven. He prays God to grant him Paradise, -and blesses Charles and sweet France, and his comrade Roland above all -men. Stretched on the ground the count lies dead.[698] - -A little after, when Roland and Turpin the stout archbishop have made -their last charge, and the paynim have withdrawn, and the archbishop too -lies on the ground, just breathing; then it is that Roland gathers the -bodies of the peers and carries them one by one to lay them before the -archbishop for his absolution. He finds Oliver's body, and tightly -straining it to his heart, lays it with the rest before the archbishop, -whose dying breath is blessing and absolving his companions. And with -tears Roland's voice breaks "Sweet comrade, Oliver, son of the good count -Renier, who held the March of Geneva; to break spear and pierce shield, -and counsel loyally the good, and discomfit and vanquish villains, in no -land was there better knight."[699] Knowing his own death near, Roland -tries to shatter his great sword, and then lies down upon it with his face -toward Spain; he holds up his glove toward God in token of fealty; Gabriel -accepts his glove and the angels receive his soul. - -This was the best of knighthood in the best of the _chansons_: and we see -how close it was to what was best in life. As the fight moves on to -Oliver's blow and Roland's pardon, to Roland's last deeds of Christian -comradeship, and to his death, the eyes are critical indeed that do not -swell with tears. The heroic pathos of this rough poem is great because -the qualities which perished at Roncesvalles were so noble and so -knightly. - -The poem passes on to the vengeance taken by the emperor upon the -Saracens, then to his return to Aix, and the short great scene between him -and Aude, Roland's betrothed: - -"Where is Roland, the chief, who vowed to take me for his wife?" - -Charles weeps, and tears his white beard as he answers: "Sister, dear -friend, you are asking about a dead man. But I will make it good to -thee--there is Louis my son, who holds the Marches...." - -Aude replies: "Strange words! God forbid, and His saints and angels, that -I should live after Roland." And she falls dead at the emperor's feet. - -As was fitting, the poem closes with the trial of the traitor Ganelon, by -combat. His defence is feudal: he had defied Roland and all his -companions; his treachery was proper vengeance and not treason. But his -champion is defeated, and Ganelon himself is torn in pieces by horses, -while his relatives, pledged as hostages, are hanged. All of which is -feudalism, and can be matched for savagery in many a scene from the -Arthurian romances of chivalry--not always reproduced in modern versions. - -So the _chansons de geste_ are a mirror of the ways and customs of feudal -society in the twelfth century. The feudal virtues are there, troth to -one's liege, orthodox crusading ardour, limitless valour, truth-speaking. -There is also enormous brutality; and the recognized feudal vices, -cruelty, impiousness, and treason. In the _Raoul de Cambrai_, for example, -the nominal hero is a paroxysm of ferocity and impiety. All crimes rejoice -him as he rages along his ruthless way to establish his seignorial rights -over a fief unjustly awarded him by Louis, the weak son of Charlemagne. -His foil is Bernier, the natural son of one of the rightful heirs against -whom Raoul carries on raging feudal war. But Bernier is also Raoul's -squire and vassal, who had received knighthood from him, and so is bound -to the monster by the strongest feudal tie. He is a pattern of knighthood -and of every feudal virtue. On the day of his knighting he implored his -lord not to enter on that fell war against his (Bernier's) family. In -vain. The war is begun with fire and sword. Bernier must support his lord; -says he: "Raoul, my lord, is worse (_plu fel_) than Judas; he is my lord; -he has given me horse and clothes, my arms and cloth of gold. I would not -fail him for the riches of Damascus": and all cried, "Bernier, thou art -right."[700] - -But there is a limit. Raoul is ferociously wasting the land, and -committing every impiety. He would desecrate the abbey of Origni, and set -his tent in the middle of the church, stabling his horse in its porch and -making his bed before the altar. Bernier's mother is there as a nun; Raoul -pauses at her entreaties and those of his uncle. Then his rage breaks out -afresh at the death of two of his men; he burns the town and abbey, and -Bernier's mother perishes with the other nuns in the flames. - -Now the monster is feasting on the scene of desolation--and it is Lent -besides! After dining, he plays chess: enter Bernier. Raoul asks for wine. -Bernier takes the cup and, kneeling, hands it to him. Raoul is surprised -to see him, but at once renews his oath to disinherit all of Bernier's -family--his father and uncles. Bernier speaks and reproaches Raoul with -his mother's death: "I cannot bring her back to life, but I can aid my -father whom you unjustly follow up with war. I am your man no longer. Your -cruelty has released me from my duties; and you will find me on the side -of my father and uncles when you attack them." For reply, Raoul breaks his -head open with the butt of his spear; but then at once asks pardon and -humiliates himself strangely. Bernier answers that there shall be no peace -between them till the blood which flowed from his head returns back whence -it came. Yet in the final battle he still seeks to turn Raoul back before -attacking him who had been his liege lord. Again in vain; and Raoul falls -beneath Bernier's sword. Here are the two sides of the picture, the -monster of a lord, the vassal vainly seeking to be true: a situation -utterly tragic from the standpoint of feudal chivalry. - -It is not to be supposed that a huge body of poetic narrative could remain -utterly truculent. Other motives had to enter;--the love of women, of -which the _Roland_ has its one great flash. The ladies of the _chansons_ -are not coy, and often make the first advances. Such natural lusty love is -not romantic; it is not _l'amour courtois_; and marriage is its obvious -end. The _chansons_ also tend to become adventurous and to fill with -romantic episode. An interesting example of this is the _Renaud de -Montaubon_ where Renaud and his three brothers are aided by the enchanter, -Maugis, against the pursuing hate of Charlemagne and where the marvellous -horse, Bayard, is a fascinating personality. This diversified and romantic -tale long held its own in many tongues. In the somewhat later _Huon de -Bordeaux_ we are at last in fairyland--verily at the Court of Oberon--his -first known entry into literature.[701] Thus the _chansons_ tend toward -the tone and temper of the _romans d'aventure_. - -The latter have the courtly love and the purely adventurous motives of the -Arthurian romances, with which the men who fashioned them probably were -acquainted, as were the _jongleurs_ who recast certain of the _chansons de -geste_ to suit a more courtly taste. Of the _romans d'aventure_, -so-called, the _Blancandrin_ or the _Amadas_ or the _Flamenca_ may be -taken as the type; or, if one will, _Flore et Blanchefleur_ and _Aucassin -et Nicolette_, those two enduring lovers' tales.[702] Courtly love and -knightly ventures are the themes of these _romans_ so illustrative of -noble French society in the thirteenth century. They differ from the -Arthurian romances in having other than a Breton origin; and their heroes -and heroines are sometimes of more easily imagined historicity than the -knights and ladies of the Round Table. But they never approached the -universal vogue of the Arthurian Cycle. - -It goes without saying that tastes in reading (or rather listening) -diverged in the twelfth century, just as in the twentieth. One cannot read -the old _chansons de geste_ in which fighting, and not love, is the -absorbing topic, without feeling that the audience before whom they were -chanted was predominantly male. One cannot but feel the contrary to have -been the fact with the romances in verse and prose which constitute that -immense mass of literature vaguely termed Arthurian. These two huge -groups, the _chansons de geste_ and the Arthurian romances, overlap -chronologically and geographically. Although the development of the -_chansons_ was somewhat earlier, the Arthurian stories were flourishing -before the _chansons_ were past their prime; and both were in vogue -through central and northern France. But the Arthurian stories won -adoptive homes in England, Germany, Italy, and elsewhere. Indeed their -earlier stages scarcely seem attached to real localities: nor were their -manners and interests rooted in the special traditions of any definite -place. - -The tone and topics of these romances suggest an audience chiefly of -women, and possibly feminine authorship. Doubtless, with a few exceptions, -men composed and recited them. But the male authors were influenced by the -taste, the favour and patronage, and the sympathetic suggestive interest -of the ladies. Prominent among the first known composers of these -"Breton" lays was a woman, Marie de France as she is called, who lived in -England in the reign of Henry II. (1154-1189). Her younger contemporary -was the facile trouvère Chrétien de Troies, of whose life little is -actually known. But we know that the subject of his famous Lancelot -romance, called the _Conte de la charrette_, was suggested to him (about -1170) by the Countess Marie de Champagne, daughter of Louis VII. Surely -then he wrote to please the taste of that royal dame, whose queenly -mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was also a patroness of this courtly poetry. - -These are instances proving the feminine influence upon the composition of -these romances. And the growth of this great Arthurian Cycle represents, -_par excellence_, the entry of womanhood into the literature of chivalry. -Men love, as well as women; but the topic engrosses them less, and they -talk less about it. Likewise men appreciate courtesy; but in fact it is -woman's influence that softens manners. And while the masculine fancy may -be drawn by what is fanciful and romantic, women abandon themselves to its -charm. - -Of course the origin or _provenance_ of these romances was different from -that of the _chansons de geste_. It was Breton--it was Welsh, it was -_walhisch_ (the Old-German word for the same) which means that it was -_foreign_. In fact, the beginnings of these stories floated beautifully in -from a _weiss-nicht-wo_ which in the twelfth century was already hidden in -the clouds. When the names of known localities are mentioned, they have -misty import. Arthurian geography is more elusive than Homeric. - -In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries these stories took form in the -verse and prose compositions in which they still exist. Sometimes the -poet's name is known, Chrétien de Troies, for instance; but the source -from which he drew is doubtful. It probably was Breton, and Artus once in -Great Britain fought the Saxons like as not. But the growth, the -development, the further composition, of the _matière de Bretagne_ is -predominantly French. In France it grows; from France it passes on across -the Rhine, across the Alps, then back to what may have been its old home -across the British Channel. With equal ease on the wings of universal -human interest it surmounts the Pyrenees. It would have crossed the ocean, -had the New World been discovered. - -Far be it from our purpose to enter the bottomless swamp of critical -discussion of the source and history of the Arthurian romances. Two or -three statements--general and probably rather incorrect--may be made. -Marie de France, soon after the middle of the twelfth century, wrote a -number of shortish narrative poems of chivalric manners and romantic love, -which, as it were, touch the hem of Arthur's cloak. Chrétien de Troies -between 1160 and 1175 composed his _Tristan_ (a story originally having -nothing to do with Arthur), and then his _Erec_ (Geraint), then _Cligés_; -then his (unfinished) _Lancelot_ or the _Conte de la charrette_; then -_Ivain_ or the _Chevalier au lion_, and at last _Perceval_ or the _Conte -du Graal_. How much of the matter of these poems came from Brittany--or -indirectly from Great Britain? This is a large unsolved question! Another -is the relation of Chrétien's poems to the subsequent Arthurian romances -in verse and prose. And perhaps most disputed of all is the authorship -(Beroul? Robert de Boron? Walter Mapes?) of this mass of Arthurian Old -French literature which was not the work of Chrétien. Without lengthy -_prolegomena_ it would be fruitless to attempt to order and name these -compositions. The Arthurian matters were taken up by German poets of -excellence--Heinrich von Veldeke, Hartmann von Aue, Gottfried von -Strassburg, Wolfram von Eschenbach,--and sometimes the best existing -versions are the work of the latter; for instance, Wolfram's _Parzival_ -and Gottfried's _Tristan_. And again the relation of these German versions -to their French originals becomes still another problem. - -For the chivalry of these romances, one may look to the poems of Chrétien -and to passages in the Old French prose (presumably of the early -thirteenth century), to which the name of Robert de Boron or Walter Mapes -is attached. Chrétien enumerates knightly excellences in his _Cligés_, -and, speaking from the natural point of view of the _jongleur_, he puts -_largesce_ (generosity) at their head. This, says he, makes one a -_prodome_ more than _hautesce_ (high station) or _corteisie_ or _savoirs_ -or _jantillesce_ (noble birth) or _chevalerie_, or _hardemanz_ (hardihood) -or _seignorie_, or _biautez_ (beauty).[703] - -Such are the knightly virtues, which, however, reach their full worth only -through the aid of that which makes perfect the Arthurian knight, the high -love of ladies, shortly to be spoken of. In the meanwhile let us turn from -Chrétien to the broader tableau of the Old French prose, and note the -beginning of _Artus_, as he is there called. The lineage of the royal boy -remains romantically undiscovered, till the time when he is declared to be -the king. It is then that he receives all kinds of riches from the lords -of his realm. He keeps nothing for himself; but makes inquiry as to the -character and circumstances of his future knights, and distributes all -among them according to their worth. This is the virtue of _largesce_. - -Now comes the ceremony of making him a knight, and then of investing him -with, as it were, the supreme knighthood of kingship. The archbishop, it -is told, "fist (made) Artu chevalier, et celle nuit veilla Artus a la -mestre Eglise (the cathedral) jusques au jour." Then follows the ceremony -of swearing allegiance to him; but Arthur has not yet finally taken his -great sword. When he is arrayed for the mass, the archbishop says to him: -"Allez querre (seek) l'espee et la jostise dont vos devez defendre Saincte -Eglise et la crestiante sauver." - - "Lors alla la procession au perron, et la demanda li arcevesques a - Artu, se il est tiels que il osast jurer et creanter Dieu et madame - Sainte Marie et a tous Sains et toutes Saintes, Sainte Eglise a sauver - et a maintenir, et a tous povres homes et toutes povres femmes pais et - loiaute tenir, et conseiller tous desconseillies, et avoier (guide) - tous desvoies (erring), et maintenir toutes droitures et droite - justice a tenir, si alast avant et preist l'espee dont nostre sire - avoit fait de lui election. Et Artus plora et dist: 'Ensi voirement - com Dieus est sire de toutes les choses, me donit-il force et povoir - de ce maintenir que vous avez dit.' - - "Il fu a genols et prit l'espee a jointes mains et la leva de - l'enclume (anvil) ausi voirement come se ele ne tenist a riens; et - lors, l'espee toute droite, l'enmenerent a l'autel et la mist sus; et - lors il le pristrent et sacrerent et l'enoindrent, et li firent - toutes iceles choses que l'en doit faire a roi."[704] - -All this is good chivalry as well as proper feudalism. And there are other -instances of genuine feudalism in these Romances. Such is the scene -between the good knight Pharien and the bad king Claudas, where the former -renounces his allegiance to the latter (_je declare renoncer a vostre -fief_) and then declares himself to be Claudas's enemy, and claims the -right to fight or slay him; since Claudas has not kept troth with -him.[705] - -There is perhaps nothing lovelier in all these Romances than the story of -the young Lancelot, reared by the tender care of the Lady of the Lake. His -training supplements the genial instincts of his nature, and the result is -the mirror of all knighthood's qualities. He is noble, he is true, he is -perfect in bravery, in courtesy, in modesty, the Lady imparting the -precepts of these virtues to his ready spirit.[706] There is no knightly -virtue that is not perfect in this peerless youth, as he sets forth to -Arthur's Court, there to receive knighthood and prove himself the peerless -knight and perfect lover. In this Old French prose his career is set forth -most completely, and most correctly, so to speak. One or two points may be -adverted to. - -Lancelot is not strictly Arthur's knight. Originally he owed no fealty to -him; and he avoided receiving his sword from the king, in order that he -might receive it from Guinever, as he did. And so, from the first, -Lancelot was Guinever's knight, as he was afterwards her accepted lover. -Consequently his relations to her broke no fealty of his to Arthur. - -Again, one notices that the absolute character of Lancelot's love and -troth to Guinever is paralleled by the friendship of the high prince -Galahaut to him. That has the same _précieuse_ logic; it is absolute. No -act or thought of Galahaut infringes friendship's least conceived -requirement; while conversely that marvellous high prince leaves undone no -act, however extreme, which can carry out the logic of this absolute -single-souled devotion. At last he dies on thinking that Lancelot is dead; -just as the latter could not have survived the death of Guinever. In spite -of the beauty of Galahaut's devotion, its logic and preciosity scarcely -throb with manhood's blood. It will not cause our eyes to swell with human -tears, as did the blind blow and the true words which passed between -Oliver and Roland at Roncesvalles.[707] - -Chivalry--the institution and the whole knightly character--began in the -rough and veritable, and progressed to courtlier idealizations. Likewise -that knightly virtue, love of woman, displays a parallel evolution, being -part of the chivalric whole. Beginning in natural qualities, its progress -is romantic, logical, fantastic, even mystical. - -Feudal life in the earlier mediaeval centuries did not foster tender -sentiments between betrothed or wedded couples. The chief object of every -landholder was by force or policy to secure his own safety and increase -his retainers and possessions. A ready means was for him to marry lands -and serfs in the robust person of the daughter, or widow, of some other -baron. The marriage was prefaced by scant courtship; and little love was -likely to ensue between the rough-handed husband and high-tempered wife. -Such conditions, whether in Languedoc, Aquitaine, or Champagne, made it -likely that high-blooded men and women would satisfy their amorous -cravings outside the bonds of matrimony. For these reasons, among others, -the Provençal and Old French literature, which was the medium of -development for the sentiment of love, did not commonly concern itself -with bringing lovers to the altar. - -In literature, as in life, marriage is usually the goal of bliss and -silence for love-song and love-story: attainment quells the fictile -elements of fear and hope. Entire classes of mediaeval poetry like the -_aube_ (dawn) and the _pastorelle_ had no thought of marriage. The former -_genre_ of Provençal and Old French, as well as Old German, poetry, is a -lyric dialogue wherein the sentiments of lover and mistress become more -tender with the approach of the envious dawn.[708] The latter is the song -of the merry encounter of some clerk or cavalier with a mocking or -complaisant shepherdess. Yet one must beware of speaking too -categorically. For in mediaeval love-literature, marriage is looked -forward to or excluded according to circumstances; and there are instances -of romantic love where the lovers are blessed securely by the priest at -the beginning of their adventures. But whether the lover look to wed his -lady, or whether he have wedded her, or whether she be but his paramour, -is all a thing of incident, dependent on the traditional or devised plot -of the story.[709] - -Like all other periods that have been articulate in literature--and those -that have not been, so far as one may guess--the Middle Ages experienced -and expressed the usual ways of love. These need not detain us. For they -were included as elements within those interesting forms of romantic love, -which were presented in the lyrics of the Troubadours and their more or -less conscious imitators, and in the romantic narratives of chivalry. This -literature elaborately expresses mediaeval sentiments and also love's -passion. Its ideals drew inspiration from Christianity and many a -suggestion from the antique. More especially, in its growth, at last two -currents seem to meet. The one sprang from the fashions of Languedoc and -the courtly centres of the north; the other was the strain of fantasy and -passion constituting the _matière de Bretagne_. - -Languedoc had been Romanized before the Christian era, and thereafter did -not cease to be the home of the surviving Latin culture. By the eleventh -century, castles and towns held a gay and aristocratic society, on which -Christianity, honeycombed with heresy, sat lightly, or at least joyfully. -This society was inclined to luxury, and the gentle relationships between -men and women interested it exceedingly. Out of it as the eleventh century -closes, songs of the Troubadours begin to rise and give utterance to -thoughts and feelings of chivalric love. These songs flourished during the -whole of the twelfth century, and then their notes were crushed by the -Albigensian Crusade, which destroyed the pretty life from which they -sprang. - -She whom such songs were meant to adulate or win, frequently was the wife -of the Troubadour's lord. The song might intend nothing beyond such -worship as the lady's spouse would sanction; or it might give subtle voice -to a real passion, which offered and sought all. To separate the sincere -and passionate from the fanciful in such songs is neither easy nor apt, -since fancy may enhance the expression of passion, or present a pleasing -substitute. At all events, in this very personal poetry, passion and -imaginative enhancings blended in verses that might move a lady's heart or -vanity. - -Love, with the Troubadours and their ladies, was a source of joy. Its -commands and exigencies made life's supreme law. Love was knighthood's -service; it was loyalty and devotion; it was the noblest human giving. It -was also the spring of excellence, the inspiration of high deeds. This -love was courteous, delicately ceremonial, precise, and on the lady's part -exacting and whimsical. A moderate knowledge of the poems and lives of the -Troubadours and their ladies will show that love with its joys and pains, -its passion, its fancies and subtle conclusions, made the life and -business of these men and dames.[710] - -In culture and the love of pleasure the great feudal courts of Aquitaine, -Champagne, and even Flanders, were scarcely behind the society of -Languedoc. And at these courts, rather than in Languedoc, courtly love -encountered a new passionate current, and found the tales which were to -form its chief vehicle. These were the lays and stories, as of Tristan and -of Arthur and his knights, which from Great Britain had come to Brittany -and Normandy. They were now attracting many listeners who had no part with -Arthur or Tristan, save the love of love and adventure. Marie de France -had put certain Breton lays into Old French verse. And one or two decades -later, a request from the great Countess Marie de Champagne led Chrétien -de Troies, as we have seen, to recast other Breton tales in a manner -somewhat transformed with thoughts of courtly love. These northern poems -of love and chivalry were written to please the taste of high-born dames, -just as the Troubadours had sung and still were singing to please their -sisters in the south. The southern poems may have influenced the -northern.[711] - -In the courtly society of Champagne and Aquitaine diverse racial elements -had long been blending, and acquirements, once foreign, had turned into -personal qualities. Views of life had been evolved, along with faculties -to express them. Likewise modes of feeling had developed. This society -had become what it was within the influence of Christianity and the -antique educational tradition. It knew the Song of Songs, as well as -Ovid's stories, and likewise his _Ars amatoria_, which Chrétien was the -first to translate into Old French. Possibly its Christianity had learned -of a boundless love of God, and its mortal nature might feel mortal loves -equally resistless. And now, in the early twelfth century, there came from -lands which were or had been Breton, an abundance of moving and catching -stories of adventure and of passion which broke through restraint, or knew -none. Dames and knights and their rhymers would eagerly receive such -tales, and not as barren vessels; for they refashioned and reinspired them -with their own thoughts of the joy of life and love, and with thoughts of -love's high service and its uplifting virtue for the lover, and again of -its ways and the laws which should direct and guide, but never stem, it. - -Thus it came that French trouvères enlarged the matter of these Breton -lays. Their romances reflected the loftiest thoughts and the most eloquent -emotion pertaining to the earthly side of mediaeval life. In these rhyming -and prose compositions, love was resistless in power; it absorbed the -lover's nature; it became his sole source of joy and pain. So it sought -nothing but its own fulfilment; it knew no honour save its own demands. It -was unimpeachable, for in ecstasy and grief it was accountable to no law -except that of its being. This resistless love was also life's highest -worth, and the spring of inspiration and strength for doing valorously and -living nobly. The trouvère of the twelfth century created new conceptions -of love's service, and therewith the impassioned thought that beyond what -men might do in the hope of love's fruition or at the dictates of its -affection, love was itself a power strengthening and ennobling him who -loved. Thought and feeling joined in this conviction, each helping the -other on, in interchanging rôles of inspirer and inspired. And finally the -two are one: - - "Oltre la spera, che più larga gira, - Passa il sospiro ch'esce del mio core: - Intelligenza nuova, che l'Amore - Piangendo mette in lui, pur su lo tira." - -No one can separate the thought and feeling in this verse. But they were -not always fused. The mediaeval fancy sported with this love; the -mediaeval mind delighted in it as a theme of argument. And the fancy might -be as fantastic as the reasoning was finely spun. - -The literature of this love draws no sharp lines between love as -resistless passion and love as enabling virtue; yet these two aspects are -distinguishable. The first was less an original creation of the Middle -Ages than the second. Antiquity had known the passion which overwhelmed -the stricken mortal, and had treated it as something put upon the man and -woman, a convulsive joy, also a bane. Antiquity had analyzed it too, and -had shown its effects, especially its physical symptoms. Much had been -written of its fatal nature; songs had sung how it overthrew the strong -and brought men and women to their death. Looking upon this love as -something put on man and woman, antiquity pictured it mainly as an -insanity cast like a spell upon some one who otherwise would have been -sane. But the Middle Ages saw love transformed into the man and woman, saw -it constitute their will as well as passion, and perceived that it was -their being. If the lover could not avoid or resist it, the reason was -because it was his mightiest self, and not because it was a compulsion -from without; it was his nature, not his disease. - -The nature, ways, and laws of this high and ennobling love were much -pondered on and talked of. They were expounded in pedantic treatises, as -well as set forth in tales which sometimes have the breath of universal -life. Ovid's _Ars amatoria_ furnished the idea that love was an art to be -learned and practised. Mediaeval clerks and rhymers took his light art -seriously, and certain of them made manuals of the rules and precepts of -love, devised by themselves and others interested in such fancies. An -example is the _Flos amoris_ or _Ars amatoria_ of Andrew the Chaplain, who -compiled his book not far from the year 1200.[712] He wrote with his -obsequious head filled with a sense of the authority in love matters of -Marie de Champagne, and other great ladies. His book contains a number of -curious questions which had been laid before one or the other of those -reigning dames, and which they solved boldly in love's favour. Thus on -solicitation Countess Marie decided that there could be no true love -between a husband and wife; and that the possession of an honoured husband -or beautiful wife did not bar the proffer or acceptance of love from -another. The living literature of love was never constrained by the -foolishness of the first proposition, but was freely to exemplify the -further conclusion which others besides the countess drew. - -Andrew gives a code of love's rules. He would have no one think that he -composed them; but that he saw them written on a parchment attached to the -hawk's perch, and won at Arthur's Court by the valour of a certain Breton -knight. They read like proverbs, and undoubtedly represent the ideas of -courtly society upon courtly love. There are thirty-one of them--for -example: - - (1) Marriage is not a good excuse for rejecting love. - - (2) Who does not conceal, cannot love. - - (3) None can love two at once. There is no reason why a woman should - not be loved by two men, or a man by two women. - - (4) It is love's way always to increase or lessen. - - (9) None can love except one who is moved by love's suasion. - - (12) The true lover has no desire to embrace any one except his (or - her) co-lover (_co-amans_). - - (13) Love when published rarely endures. - - (14) Easy winning makes love despicable; the difficult is held dear. - - (15) Every lover turns pale in the sight of the co-lover. - - (16) The lover's heart trembles at the sudden sight of the co-lover. - - (18) Prowess (_probitas_) alone makes one worthy of love. - - (20) The lover is always fearful. - - (23) The one whom the thought of love disturbs, eats and sleeps - little. - - (25) The true lover finds happiness only in what he deems will please - his co-lover. - - (28) A slight fault in the lover awakens the co-lover's suspicion. - - (30) The true lover constantly, without intermission, is engrossed - with the image of the co-lover. - -These rules were exemplified in the imaginative literature of courtly -love. Such love and the feats inspired by it made the chief matter of the -Arthurian romances, which became the literary property of western Europe; -and the supreme examples of their darling theme are the careers and -fortunes of the two most famous pairs of lovers in all this gallant cycle, -Tristan and Iseult, Lancelot and Guinevere. In the former story love is -resistless passion; in the latter its virtue- and valour-bestowing -qualities appear. In both, the laws forbidding its fruition are shattered: -in the Tristan story blindly, madly, without further thought; while in the -tale of Lancelot this conflict sometimes rises to consciousness even in -the lovers' hearts. How chivalric love may reach accord with Christian -precept will be shown hereafter in the progress of the white and scarlet -soul of Parzival, the brave man proving himself slowly wise. - -Probably there never was a better version of the story of Tristan and -Iseult than that of Gottfried of Strassburg, who transformed French -originals into his Middle High German poem about the year 1210.[713] The -poet-adapter sets forth his ideas of love in an elaborate prologue. Very -antithetically he shows its bitter sweet, its dear sorrow, its yearning -need; indeed to love is to yearn--an idea not strange to Plato--and -Gottfried uses the words _sene_, _senelîch_, _senedaere_ (all of which are -related to _sehnsucht_, which is yearning) to signify love, a lover, and -his pain. His poem shall be of two noble lovers: - - "Ein senedaere, eine senedaerin." - -The more love's fire burns the heart, the more one loves; this pain is -full of love, an ill so good for the heart that no noble nature once -roused by it would wish to lose part therein. Who never felt love's pain -has never felt love: - - "Liep unde leit diu waren ie - An minnen ungescheiden." - -It is good for men to hear a tale of noble love, yes, a deep good. It -sweetens love and raises the hearer's mood; it strengthens troth, enriches -life. Love, troth, a constant spirit, honour, and whatever else is good, -are never so precious as when set in a tale of love's joy and pain. Love -is such a blessed thing, such a blessed striving, that no one without its -teaching has worth or honour. These lovers died long ago; yet their love -and troth, their life, their death, will still give troth and honour to -seekers after these. Their death lives and is ever new, as we listen to -the tale. Evidently, in Gottfried's mind the Tristan tale of love's -almighty passion carried the thought of love as the inspiration of a noble -life. Yet that thought was not native to the legend, and finds scant -exemplification in Gottfried's poem. - -The tragic passion of the main narrative is presaged by the story of -Tristan's parents. His mother was Blancheflur, King Mark's sister, and his -father Prince Riwalin. She saw him in the May-Court tourney held near -Tintajoel. She took him into her thoughts; he entered her heart, and there -wore crown and sceptre. - -She greeted him; he her. She bashfully began: "My lord, may God enrich -your heart and courage; but I harbour something against you." - -"Sweet one, what have I done?" - -"You have done violence to my best friend"--it was her heart, she meant. - -"Beauty, bear me no hate for that; command, and I will do your bidding." - -"Then I will not hate you bitterly. I will see what atonement you will -make." - -He bowed, and carried with him her image. Love's will mastered his heart, -as he thought of Blancheflur, of her hair, her brow, her cheek, her mouth, -her chin, and the glad Easter day that smiling lay in her eyes. Love the -heartburner set his heart aflame, and lo! he entered upon another life; -purpose and habit changed, he was another man. - -Sad is the short tale of these lovers. Riwalin is killed in battle, and at -the news of his death Blancheflur expires, giving birth to a son. Rual the -Faithful names the child Tristan, to symbolize the sorrow of its birth. - -The story of Tristan's early years draws the reader to the accomplished, -happy youth. He is the delight of all; for his young manhood is -courtliness itself, and valour and generosity. He is loved, and -afterwards recognized and knighted, by his uncle Mark. Then he sets out -and avenges his father's death; after which he returns to Mark's Court, -and vanquishes the Irish champion Morold. A fragment of Tristan's sword -remained in Morold's head; Tristan himself received a poisoned wound, -which could be healed, as the dying Morold told him, only by Ireland's -queen, Iseult. Very charming is the story of Tristan's first visit to -Ireland, disguised as a harper, under the name of Tantris. The queen -hearing of his skill, has him brought to the palace, where she heals him, -and he in return becomes the teacher of her daughter, the younger Iseult, -whom he instructs in letters, music and singing, French and Latin, ethics, -courtly arts and manners, till the girl became as accomplished as she was -beautiful, and could write and read, and compose and sing _pastorelles_ -and _rondeaux_ and other songs. - -On his return to Cornwall he told Mark of the young Iseult, and then, at -Mark's request, set forth again to woo her for him. The Irish king has -promised his daughter to whoever shall slay the dragon. Tristan does the -deed, cuts out the dragon's tongue as proof, and then falls overcome and -fainting. The king's cupbearer comes by, breaks his lance on the dead -dragon, and, riding on, announces that he has slain the monster; he has -the great head brought to the Court upon a wagon. Iseult is in despair at -the thought of marrying the cupbearer; her mother doubts his story, and -bids Iseult ride out and search for the real slayer. The ladies discover -Tristan, with him the dragon's tongue. They carry him to the palace to -heal him, and the young Iseult recognizes him as the harper Tantris, and -redoubles her kind care. But after a while she noticed the notch in his -sword, and saw that it fitted the fragment found in Morold's head--and is -not Tantris just Tristan reversed? This is the man who slew Morold, her -mother's brother! She seizes the sword and rushes in to kill him in his -bath. Her mother checks her, and at last she is appeased, Tristan letting -them see that an important mission has brought him to Ireland. There is -truce between them, and Tristan goes to the king with Mark's demand for -Iseult's hand. Then the cupbearer is discomfited, peace is made between -the Irish king and Mark, and the young Iseult, with Brangaene her cousin, -makes ready to sail with Tristan. The queen secretly gave a love-drink -into Brangaene's care, which Iseult and Mark should drink together. The -people followed down to the haven, and all wept and lamented that with -fair Iseult the sunshine had left Ireland. - -Iseult is sad. She cannot forget that it is Tristan who slew her uncle and -is now taking her from her home. Tristan fails to comfort her. They see -land. Tristan calls for wine to pledge Iseult. A little maid brings--the -love-drink! They drink together, not wine but that endless heart's pain -which shall be their common death. Too late, Brangaene with a cry throws -the goblet into the sea. Love stole into both their hearts; gone was -Iseult's hate. They were no longer two, but one; the sinner, love, had -done it. They were each other's joy and pain; doubt and shame seized them. -Tristan bethought him of his loyalty and honour, struggling against love -vainly. Iseult was like a bird caught with the fowler's lime; shame drove -her eyes away from him; but love drew her heart. She gave over the contest -as she looked on him, and he also began to yield. They thought each other -fairer than before; love was conquering. - -The ship sails on. Love's need conquered. They talk together of the past, -how he had once come in a little boat, and of the lessons: "Fair Iseult, -what is troubling you?" - -"What I know, that troubles me; what I see, the heaven and sea, that -weighs on me; body and life are heavy." - -They leaned toward each other; bright eyes began to fill from the heart's -spring; her head sank, his arm sustained her;--"Ah! sweet, tell me, what -is it?" - -Answered love's feather-play, Iseult: "Love is my need, love is my pain." - -He answered painfully: "Fair Iseult, it is the rude wind and sea." - -"No, no, it is not wind or sea; love is my pain." - -"Beauty, so with me! Love and you make my need. Heart's lady, dear Iseult, -you and the love of you have seized me. I am dazed. I cannot find myself. -All the world has become naught, save thee alone." - -"Sir, so is it with me." - -They loved, and in each other saw one mind, one heart, one will. Their -silent kiss was long. In the night, love the physician brought their only -balm. Sweet had the voyage become; alas! that it must end. - -With their landing begins the trickery and falsehood compelled by the -situation. The fearful Iseult plotted to murder the true Brangaene, who -alone knew. After a while Mark's suspicion is aroused, to be lulled by -guile. Plot and counterplot go on; the lovers win and win again; truth and -honour, everything save love's joy and fear and all-sufficiency, are cast -to the winds. Even the "Judgment of God" is tricked; the hot iron does not -burn Iseult swearing her false oath, literally true. Many a time Mark's -jealousy has been fiercely stirred, only to be tricked to sleep again. Yet -he knows that Tristan and Iseult are lovers. He calls them to him; he -tells them he will not avenge himself, they are too dear to him. But let -them take each other by the hand and leave him. So, together, they -disappear in the forest. - -Then comes the wonderful, beautiful story of the love-grotto and the -lovers' forest-life; they had the forest and they had themselves, and -needed no more. One morning they arose to the sweet birds' song of -greeting; but they heard a horn; Mark must be hunting near. So they were -very careful, and again prepared deception. Mark has been told of the -love-grotto in the wood. In the night he came and found it, looked through -its little rustic window as the day began to dawn. There lay the lovers, -apart, a naked sword between them. A sunbeam, stealing through the window, -touches Iseult's cheek, touches her sweet mouth. Mark loves her anew. Then -fearful lest the sunlight should disturb her, he covered the window with -grass and leaves and flowers, blessed her, and went away in tears. The -lovers waken. They had no need to fear. The lie of the naked sword again -had won. Mark sends and invites them to return. - -Insatiable love knew no surcease or pause. The German poet is driven to a -few reflections on the deceits of Eve's daughters, the anxieties of -forbidden love, and the crown of worth and joy that a true woman's love -may be. At last the lovers are betrayed--in each other's arms. They know -that Mark has seen them. - -"Heart's lady, fair Iseult, now we must part. Let me not pass from your -heart. Iseult must ever be in Tristan's heart. Forget me not." - -Says Iseult: "Our hearts have been too long one ever to know forgetting. -Whether you are near or far, nothing but Tristan enters mine. See to it -that no other woman parts us. Take this ring and think of me. Iseult with -Tristan has been ever one heart, one troth, one body, one life. Think of -me as your life--Iseult." - -The fateful turning of the story is not far off: Tristan has met the other -Iseult, her of the white hands. The poet Gottfried did not complete his -work. He died, leaving Tristan's heart struggling between the old love and -the new--the new and weaker love, but the more present offering to pain. -The story was variously concluded by different rhymers, in Gottfried's -time and after. The best ending is the extant fragment of the _Tristan_ by -Thomas of Brittany, the master whom Gottfried followed. In it, the wounded -Tristan dies at the false news of the black sails--the treachery of Iseult -of the white hands. The true Iseult finds him dead; kisses him, takes him -in her arms, and dies. - -From the time when on the ship Tristan and Iseult cast shame and honour to -the winds, the story tells of a love which knows no law except itself, a -love which is not hindered or made to hesitate and doubt by any command of -righteousness or honour. Love is the theme; the tale has no sympathy or -understanding for anything else. It is therefore free from the consciously -realized inconsistencies present at least in some versions of the story of -Lancelot and Guinevere. In them two laws of life seem on the verge of -conflict. On the one--the feebler--side, honour, troth to marriage vows, -some sense of right and wrong; on the other, passionate love, which is law -and right unto itself, having its own commands and prohibitions; a love -which is also an inspiration and uplifting power unto the lover; a love -holy in itself and yet because of its high nature the more fatally -impeached by truth and honour trampled on. In the conflict between the two -laws of life in the Lancelot story, the rights and needs and power of love -maintain themselves; yet the end must come, and the lovers live out love's -palinode in separate convents. For this love to be made perfect, must be -crowned with repentance. - -Who first created Lancelot, and who first made the peerless knight love -Arthur's queen? This question has not yet been answered.[714] Chrétien de -Troies' poem, _Le Conte de la charrette_, has for its subject an episode -in Lancelot's long love of Guinevere.[715] Here, as in his other poems, -Chrétien is a facile narrator, with little sense of the significance that -might be given to the stories which he received and cleverly remade. But -their significance is shown in the Old French prose _Lancelot_, probably -composed two or three decades after Chrétien wrote. It contains the lovely -story of Lancelot's rearing, by the Lady of the Lake, and of his glorious -youth. It brings him to the Court of Arthur, and tells how he was made a -knight--it was the queen and not the king from whom he received his sword. -And he loves her--loves her and her only from the first until his death. -He has no thought of serving any other mistress. And he is aided in his -love by the "haute prince Galehaut," the most high-hearted friend that -ever gave himself to his friend's weal. - -From the beginning Lancelot's love is worship, it is holy; and almost from -the beginning it is unholy. From the beginning, too, it is the man's -inspiration, it is his strength; it makes him the peerless knight, -peerless in courtesy, peerless in emprise; this love gives him the single -eye, the unswerving heart, the resistless valour to accomplish those -adventures wherein all other knights had found their shame--they were not -perfect lovers! Only through his perfect love could Lancelot have -accomplished that greatest adventure of the _Val des faux amants_;--_Val -sans retour_ for all other knights.[716] Lancelot alone had always been, -and to his death remained, a lover absolutely true in act and word and -thought; incomparably more chastely loyal to Guinevere than her kingly -spouse. Against the singleness of this perfect love enchantments fail, and -swords and lances break. Yet this love, fraught with untruth and -dishonour, must conceal itself from that king who, while breaking his own -marriage vows as passion led him, trusted and honoured above all men the -peerless knight whose peerlessness was rooted in his unholy holy love for -Arthur's queen. - -The first full sin between Lancelot and Guinevere was committed when -Arthur was absent on a love-adventure, which brought him to a shameful -prison. He was delivered by Lancelot, and recognizing his deliverer, he -said in royal gratitude: "I yield you my land, my honour, and myself." -Lancelot blushes! Thereafter, as towards Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere -are forced into stratagems almost as ignoble as those by which King Mark -was tricked. And Guinevere--she too is peerless among women; perfect in -beauty, perfect in courtliness, perfect in dutifulness to her -husband--saving her love for Lancelot! Guinevere's dutifulness to Arthur -is not shaken by his outrageous treatment of her because of the "false -Guinevere," when he cast off and sought to burn his queen. She will -continue to obey him though he has dishonoured her--and all the time, -unknown to her outrageous, unjustly accusing lord, how had she cast her -and his honour down with Lancelot! Only while she is put away from her -lord, and under Lancelot's guard, for that time she will be true to -marriage vows; and Lancelot assents.[717] - -The latter part of the story, when asceticism enters with Galahad,[718] -suggests that the peerless knight of "les temps adventureux" was sinful. -But the main body of the tale put no reproach on Lancelot for his great -love. It told of a love as perfect and as absolute as the author or -compiler could conceive; and the conduct of Lancelot was intended to be -that of a perfect lover, whose sentiments and actions should accord with -the idea of courtly love and exemplify its rules. Their underlying -principle was that love should always be absolute, and that the lover's -every thought and act should on all occasions correspond with the most -extreme feelings or sentiments or fancies possible for a lover. In the -prose narrative, for example, Lancelot goes mad three times because of his -mistress's cruelty, a cruelty which may seem to us absurd, but which -represents the adored lady's insistence, under all circumstances, upon the -most unhesitating and utter devotion from her lover. - -Chrétien's _Conte de la charrette_ is a clear rendering of the idea that -love shall be absolute, and hesitate at nothing; it is an example of -courtly love carried to its furthest imagined conclusions. It displays all -the rules of Andrew the Chaplain in operation. In it Lancelot will do -anything for Guinevere, will show himself a coward knight at her command, -or perform feats of arms; he will desire the least little bit of her--a -tress of hair--more than all else which is not she; he will throw himself -from the window to be near her; engaged in deadly combat, the sight of her -makes him forget his enemy; at the news of her death he seeks at once to -die. Of course his heart loathes the thought of infringing this great love -by the slightest fancy for another woman. On the other hand, when by -marvels of valour Lancelot rescues Guinevere from captivity, she will not -speak to him because for a single instant he had hesitated to mount a -_charrette_, in which no knight was carried save one who was felon and -condemned to death. This was logical on Guinevere's part; Lancelot's love -should always have been so absolute as never for one instant to hesitate. -Much of this is extreme, and yet hardly unreal. Heloïse's love for -Abaelard never hesitated. - -Such love, imperious and absolute, shuts out all laws and exigencies save -its own;[719] it must be virtue and honour unto itself; it is careless of -what ill it may do so long as that ill does not infringe love's laws. -Evidently before it the bonds of marriage break, or pale to -insignificance. It is its own sanction, nor needs the faint blessing of -the priest. The poet--as the actual lover likewise--may even deem that -love can best show itself to be the principle of its own honour when -unsustained by wedlock; thus unsustained and unobscured it stands alone, -fairer, clearer, more interesting and romantic. Again, since mediaeval -marriage in high life was more often a joining of fiefs than a union of -hearts, there would be high-born dames and courtly poets to declare that -love could only exist between knight and mistress, and not between husband -and wife. Marriage shuts out love's doubts and fears; there is no need of -further knightly services; and husband and wife by law are bound to render -to each other what between lovers is gracious favour; this was the opinion -of Marie de Champagne, it also was the opinion of Heloïse. In chivalric -poetry the lovers, when at last duly married, may continue to call each -other _ami et amie_ rather than wife and lord;[720] or a knight may shun -marriage lest he settle down and lose worship, doing no more adventurous -feats of arms, like Chrétien's Erec, till his wife Enide stung him by her -speech.[721] Some centuries later Malory has Lancelot utter a like -sentiment: "But to be a wedded man I think never to be, for if I were, -then should I be bound to tarry with my wife, and leave arms and -tournaments, battles and adventures." - -If allowance be made for the difference in topic and treatment between the -Arthurian romances and Guillaume de Lorris's portion of the _Roman de la -rose_, the latter will be seen to illustrate similar love principles. De -Lorris's poem is fancy playing with thoughts of love which had inspired -these tales of chivalry. Every one knows its gentle idyllic -character;--how charming, for instance, is the conflict between the -Lover-to-be and Love, who quickly overcomes the ready yielder. So he -surrenders unconditionally, gives himself over; Love may slay him or -gladden him--"le cuers est vostre, non pas miens," says the lover to Love, -and you shall do with it as you will. Then Love sweetly takes his little -golden key, and locks the lover's heart, after which he safely may impart -his rules and counsels: the lover must abjure _vilanie_, and foul and -slanderous speech--the opposite of courtesy. Pride also (_orgoil_) must be -abandoned. He should attire himself seemingly, and show cheerfulness; he -must be niggardly in nothing; his heart must be given utterly to one; he -shall undergo toils and endure griefs without complaint; in absence he -will always think of the beloved, sighing for her, keeping his love -aflame; he will be shameful, confused and changing colour in her presence; -at night he will toss and weep for love of her, and dream dreams of -passionate delight; then wakeful, he will rise and wander near her -dwelling, but will not be seen--nor will he forget to be generous to her -waiting-maid. All of this will make the lover pale and lean. To aid him to -endure these agonies, will come Hope with her gentle healings, and -Fond-thought, and Sweet-speech of the beloved with a wise confidant, and -Sweet-sight of her dwelling, maybe of herself. The _Roman de la rose_ is -fancy, and the Arthurian romances are fiction. In the one or the other, -imagination may take the place of passion, and the contents of the poem or -romance afford a type and presentation of the theory of love. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -PARZIVAL, THE BRAVE MAN SLOWLY WISE - - -The instances of romantic chivalry and courtly love reviewed in the last -chapter exemplify ideals of conduct in some respects opposed to Christian -ethics. But there is still a famous poem of chivalry in which the romantic -ideal has gained in ethical consideration and achieved a hard-won -agreement with the teachings of mediaeval Christianity, and yet has not -become monkish or lost its knightly character. This poem told of a -struggle toward wisdom and toward peace; and the victory when won rested -upon the broadest mediaeval thoughts of life, and therefore necessarily -included the soul's reconcilement to the saving ways of God. Yet it was -knighthood's battle, won on earth by strength of arm, by steadfast -courage, and by loyalty to whatsoever through the weary years the man's -increasing wisdom recognized as right. A monk, seeking salvation, casts -himself on God; the man that battles in the world is conscious that his -own endeavour helps, and knows that God is ally to the valiant and not to -him who lets his hands drop--even in the lap of God. - -Among the romances presumably having a remote Breton origin, and somehow -connected with the Court of Arthur, was the tale of Parzival, the princely -youth reared in foolish ignorance of life, who learned all knighthood's -lessons in the end, and became a perfect worshipful knight. This tale was -told and retold. The adventures of another knight, Gawain, were interwoven -in it. Possibly the French poet, Chrétien de Troies, about the year 1170, -in his retelling, first brought into the story the conception of that -_thing_, that magic dish, which in the course of _its_ retellings became -the Holy Grail. Chrétien did not finish his poem, and after him others -completed or retold the story. Among them there was one who lacked the -smooth facility of the French Trouvère, yet surpassed him and all others -in thoughtfulness and dramatic power. This was the Bavarian, Wolfram von -Eschenbach. He was a knight, and wandered from castle to castle and from -court to court, and saw men. His generous patron was Hermann, Landgraf of -Thüringen, who held court on the Wartburg, near Eisenach. There Wolfram -may have composed his great poem in the opening years of the thirteenth -century. He was no clerk, and had no clerkly education. Probably he could -neither read nor write. But he lived during the best period of mediaeval -German poetry, and the Wartburg was the centre of gay and literary life. -Walther von der Vogelweide was one of Wolfram's familiars in its halls. - -Wolfram knew and disapproved of Chrétien's version of the _Perceval_; and -said the story had been far better told by a certain Kyot, a singer of -Provence.[722] Nothing is known of the latter beyond Wolfram's praise. -Perhaps he was an invention of Wolfram's; not infrequently mediaeval poets -referred to fictitious sources. At all events, Wolfram's sources were -French or Provençal. In large measure the best German mediaeval poetry was -an adaptation of the French; a fact which did not prevent the German -adaptations from occasionally surpassing the French works they were drawn -from. In the instance of Wolfram's _Parzival_, as in that of Gottfried von -Strassburg's _Tristan_, the German poems were the great renderings of -these tales. - -As our author was a thoughtful German, his style is difficult and -involved. Yet he had imagination, and his poem is great in the climaxes -of the story. It is a poem of the hero's development, his spiritual -progress. Apparently it was Wolfram who first realized the profound -significance of the Parzival legend. Both the choice of subject and the -contents of the poem reflect his temperament and opinions. Wolfram was a -knight, and chose a knightly tale; for him knightly victories were the -natural symbols of a man's progress. He was also one living in the world, -prizing its gifts, and entertaining merely a perfunctory approval of -ascetic renunciation. The loyal love between man and woman was to him -earth's greatest good, and wedlock did not yield to celibacy in -righteousness.[723] Let fame and power and the glory of this world be -striven for and won in loyalty and steadfastness and truth, in service of -those who need aid, in mercy to the vanquished and in humility before God, -with assurance that He is truth and loyalty and power, and never fails -those who obey and serve Him. - - "While two wills (_Zvifel_, _Zweifel_ == doubt) dwell near the heart, - the soul is bitter. Shamed and graced the man whose dauntless mood - is--piebald! In him both heaven and hell have part. Black-coloured the - unsteadfast comrade; white the man whose thoughts keep troth. False - comradeship is fit for hell fire. Likewise let women heed whither they - carry their honour, and on whom they bestow their love, that they may - not rue their troth. Before God, I counsel good women to observe right - measure. Their fortress is shame: I cannot wish them better weal. The - false one gains false reward; her praise vanishes. Wide is the fame of - many a fair; but if her heart be counterfeit, 'tis a false gem set in - gold. The woman true to womanhood, be hers the praise--not lessened by - her outside hue. - - "Shall I now prove and draw a man and woman rightly? Hear then this - tale of love--joy and anguish too. My story tells of faithfulness, of - woman's truth to womanhood, of man's to manhood, never flinching. - Steel was he; in strife his conquering hand still took the guerdon; - he, brave and slowly wise, this hero whom I greet, sweet in the eyes - of women, heart's malady for them as well, himself a very flight from - evil deed." - -Such is Wolfram's Prologue. The story opens in a forest, where Queen -Herzeloide had buried herself with her infant son after the death in -knightly battle of Prince Gahmuret, her husband. The broken-hearted, -foolish mother is seeking to keep her boy in ignorance of arms and -knights. He has made himself a bow; he shoots a bird--its song is hushed. -This is the child's first sorrow, and childish ignorance has been the -cause; as afterwards youth's folly and then man's lack of wisdom will -cause that child, grown large, more lasting anguish. Now to see a bird -makes his tears start. His still foolish mother orders her servants to -kill them. The boy protests, and the mother with a quick caress declares -the birds shall have peace, she will no more infringe God's commands. At -this unknown name the boy cries out, "O mother! what is God?" "Son, I will -tell thee. Brighter than the day is He--who put on a human face. Pray to -Him in need; His faithfulness helps men ever. There is another, hell's -chief, black and false. Keep thy thoughts from him and from doubt's -waverings." Away springs the boy again; and in the forest he learns to -throw the hunting-spear and slay the stags. One day he hears the sounds of -hoofs. He waves his spear: "May now the devil come in all his rage; I'd -stand against him. My mother speaks of him in dread; but she is just -afraid." Three knights gallop up in glancing armour. He thinks each is a -god; falls on his knees before them. "Help, god, since thou canst help so -well!" "This fool blocks our path," cries one. A fourth, their lord, rides -up, and the boy calls him God. - -"God?--not I; I gladly do His behests. Thou seest four knights." - -"Knights? what is that? If thou hast not God's power, then tell me, who -makes knights?" - -"Young sir, that does King Arthur; go to him. He'll knight you--you seem -to knighthood born." - -The knights gazed on the boy, in whom God's craft showed clear. The boy -touches their armour, their swords. The prince speaks over him: "Had I thy -beauty! God's gifts to thee are great--if thou wilt wisely fare. May He -keep sorrow from thee!" The knights rode on, while the boy sped to his -mother, to tell her what he had seen. She was speechless. The boy would go -to Arthur's Court. So she bethought her of a silly plan, to put fool's -garb on him, that insult and scoff might drive him back to her. She also -gave him counsel, wise and foolish. - -So the youth is launched. He rides away; his mother dies of grief. As his -path winds on, he finds a lady asleep in a pavilion, and following his -mother's counsel he kisses her, and takes her ring by force; trouble came -from this deed of folly. Then he meets with Sigune, mourning a dead -knight. He stops and promises to avenge her. She was his cousin and, -recognizing him, called him by name, and spoke to him of his lineage. Then -the youth is piloted by a fisherman, till, in the neighbourhood of -Arthur's Court, he meets a knight, Ither, in red armour, who greets him, -points out the way, and sends a challenge to Arthur and his Round Table. -Parzival now finds himself at Arthur's thronging Court. The young Iwein -first speaks to him and the fool-youth returns: "God keep thee--so my -mother bade me say. Here I see so many Arthurs; who is it that will make -me knight?" Iwein, laughing, leads him to the royal pavilion, where he -says: "God keep you, gentles, especially the king and his wife--as my -mother bade me greet--and all the honoured knights of the Round Table. But -I cannot tell which one here is lord. To him a red knight sends a -challenge; I think he wants to fight. O! might the king's hand grant me -the Red Knight's harness!" They crowd around the glorious youth. "Thanks, -young sir, for your greeting which I shall hope to earn," said the king. - -"Would to God!" cried the young man, quivering with impatience; "the time -seems years before I shall be knight. Give me knighthood now." - -"Gladly," returns the king. "Might I grant it to you worthily. Wait till -to-morrow that I may knight you duly and with gifts." - -"I want no gifts--only that knight's armour. My mother can give me gifts; -she is a queen." - -Arthur feared to send the raw youth against the noble Ither, but yielded -to the malignant spurring of Sir Kay, and Parzival rode out with his -unknightly hunting-spear. Abruptly he bade Ither give him his horse and -armour, and on the knight's sarcastic answer, grasped his horse's bridle. -The angry Ither reversed his lance, and with the butt end struck down -Parzival and his sorry nag. Parzival sprang to his feet and threw his -spear straight through the visor of the other's helmet; and the knight -fell from his horse, dead. With brutal stupidity Parzival tried to pull -his armour off, not knowing how to unlace it. Iwein came and showed him -how to remove and wear the armour, and how to carry his shield and lance. -So clad in Ither's armour and mounted on the great war-horse, he bids -Iwein commend him to King Arthur, and rides off, leaving the other to care -for the body of the dead knight. - -In the evening he reached the castle of an aged prince, who saw the -marvellous youth come riding, with the fool garments showing out from -under his armour. Courteously received, the youth enjoyed a bath, a -repast, and a long night's sleep. Fortunately his mother had bade him -follow the counsels of grey hairs; so in the morning he put on the -garments which his host had left in his room for him, instead of what his -mother gave. The host first heard mass with his simple guest, and -instructed him as to its significance, and how to cross himself and guard -against the devil's wiles. Then they breakfasted, and the old man, having -heard Parzival's story, advised him to leave off saying "My mother bade -me," and gave him further counsel: "Preserve thy shame; the shameless man -is worthless, and at last, wins hell. You seem a mighty lord, mind you -take pity on those in need; be kind and generous and humble. The worthy -man in need is shamed to beg; anticipate his wants; this brings God's -favour. Yet be prudent, neither lavish nor miserly; right measure be your -rule. Sorely you need counsel; avoid harsh conduct, do not ask too many -questions, nor yet refuse to answer a question fitly asked; observe and -listen. Let mercy temper valour. Spare him who yields, whatever wrong he -has done you. When you lay off your armour, wash your hands and face; make -yourself neat; woman's eye will mark it. Be manly and gay. Hold women in -respect and love; this increases a young man's honour. Be constant--that -is manhood's part. Short his praise who betrays honest love. The -night-thief wakes many foes; against treachery true love has its own -wisdom and resource. Gain its disfavour and your lot is shame." - -The guest thanked the host for his counsel. He spoke no more of his mother -save in his heart. Then his host, remarking that he had seen many a shield -hang better on a wall than Parzival's on him, took him out into a field; -and there in the company of other knights he instructed him in jousting, -and found him a ready and resistless pupil. The old man looked fondly on -him--his daughter Liasse--she is fair--would not Parzival think so, and -stay as a son in the now sonless house? Fair and chaste was the damsel, -but Parzival says: "My lord, I am not wise. If I gain knighthood's praise -so that I may look for love--then keep Liasse for me. You shall have less -weight of grief if I can lighten it." - -Parzival's first experience of life and the old man's counsels had changed -him. He was no longer the callow boy who a few days before in the forest -took the knights for gods, but a young man conscious of his inexperience -and lack of wisdom. Perhaps the change seems sudden; but the subtle -development of character had not yet found literary expression in the -Middle Ages, and Wolfram here is a great pioneer. - -So the young knight rode away, carrying secret thoughts of the maiden, and -a little pain, his heart lightly touched with love, and so made ready for -a mightier passion. His horse carried him on through woods and savage -mountains, to the kingdom whose capital, Pelrapeire, was besieged, because -it held its queen, Condwiramurs (_coin de voire amors_). Within the town -were famine and death, without, a knightly, cruel foe, King Clamide, who -fought to win the queen by sack and ruin. Crossing a field and bridge -where many a knight had fallen, Parzival reached a gate and knocked. A -maid called out, and finding that he brought aid and not enmity, she -admitted him. Armed men weak with hunger fill the streets, through which -the maid leads the knight on to the palace. His armour is removed, a -mantle brought him. "Will he see the queen, our lady?" ask the attendants. -"Gladly," answers Parzival. They enter the great hall--and the queen's -fair eyes greet him. She advances surrounded by her ladies. With courtesy -she kisses the knight, gives him her hand, and leads him to a seat. The -faces of her warriors and women are sad and worn; but she--had she -contended with Enit and both Iseults fair, and whomsoever else men praise -for beauty, hers had been the prize. - -The guest mused: "Liasse was there--Liasse is here; God slacks my grief, -here is Liasse." He sat silent by the queen, mindful of the old prince's -advice not to ask questions. "Does this man despise me," thought she, -"because I am no longer lovely? No, he is the guest, the hostess I; it is -for me to speak." Then aloud: "Sir, a hostess must speak. Your greeting -won a kiss from me; you offered me your service--so said my maid. Rare -offer now! Sir, whence come you?" - -"Lady, I rode this very day from the house of the good, well-remembered -host, Prince Gurnemanz." - -"Sir, I had hardly believed this from another; the way is so long. His -sister was my mother. Many a sad day have I and his Liasse wept together. -Since you bear kindness for that prince, I will tell you our grievous -plight." - -The telling is deferred till some refreshment is obtained, and then -Parzival is shown to his chamber. He sleeps; but the sound of sobbing -breaks his slumber. The hapless queen in her need had sought out her guest -in the solitude of night; she had cast herself on her knees by his couch; -her tears fall--on him, and he awakes. Touched with love and pity at the -sight, Parzival sprang up. "Lady! you mock me? You should kneel to God." -In honour they sit by each other, and the queen tells her story, how King -Clamide and his seneschal have wasted her lands, unhappy orphan, slain her -people, even her knightly defender, Liasse's brother--she will die rather -than yield herself to him. - -Liasse's name stirs Parzival: "How can I help you?" - -"Save me from that seneschal, who harries me and mine." - -Parzival promises, and the queen steals away. The day is breaking, and -Parzival hears the minster bells. Mass is sung, and the young knight arms -and goes forth--the burghers' prayers go with him--against the host led by -the seneschal. Parzival vanquishes him, grants him his life, and sends him -to Arthur's Court. The townsmen receive the victor with acclaim, the -queen embraces him. Who but he shall be her lord? So their nuptials were -celebrated, although Parzival felt the reward to be too great; it were -enough for him to touch her garment's hem. Soon King Clamide himself -ordered an assault upon the town, only to meet repulse. He challenged -Parzival, and, vanquished like his seneschal, was likewise sent to -Arthur's Court. - -Love was strong between Queen Condwiramurs and Parzival her husband. One -morning Parzival spoke to her in the presence of their people: "Lady, -please you, with your permission, I would see how my mother fares and seek -adventures. If thus I serve and honour you, your love is ample guerdon." - -From his wife and from all those who called him Lord, Parzival rode forth -alone. He has to learn what pain and sorrow are; the first teaching came -now, as longing for his wife filled his heart with grief. In the evening -he reached the shore of a lake, and saw a fisher in a boat, attired like a -king.[724] The fisher directed him to a castle, promising there to be his -host. Following his directions, Parzival came to a marvellously great -castle, where, on saying that the fisher sent him, he was courteously -received and his needs attended to. Sadness pervaded the great halls. The -banquet-room, to which he was shown, was lighted by a hundred chandeliers, -and around the walls were ranged a hundred couches. The host entered and -lay down on one of them, made like a stretcher; he seemed a stranger to -joy. They covered him with furs and mantles, as a sick man. He beckoned -Parzival to sit by him. As the hall filled with people, a squire entered -carrying a bleeding lance, whereupon all present made lament. A procession -of nobly clad ladies followed, bearing precious dishes, and at last among -them a queen, Repanse de Schoye. She bore, upon a silken cushion, the -fulness of all good, an object called the Grail. Only a maiden pure and -true might carry it. There also came six other maids bearing each a -flashing goblet; and they set their burdens before the host. Water for the -hands was then brought to the host and to his guest, and to the knights -ranged on the couches; and tables were placed before them all. A hundred -squires came and reverently took from the Grail all manner of food and -wine, which they set before the knights, whatever each might wish. -Everything came from the power of the Grail. - -Parzival wondered, but kept silence, thinking of the old prince's counsel -not to ask many questions, and hoping to be told what all this might be. A -squire brought a sword to the host, who gave it to the guest: "I bore this -sword in all need, until God wounded me. Take it as amends for our sad -hospitality. Rely on it in battle." - -The gift of the sword was Parzival's opportunity to ask his host what had -stricken him. He let it pass. The feast was solemnly removed. "Your bed is -ready, whenever you will rest," said the host; and Parzival was shown to a -bedchamber, where he was left alone. But the knight did not sleep -uncompanioned. Coming sorrow sent her messengers. Dreams overhung him, as -a tapestry, woven of sword-strokes and deadly thrusts of lance. He was -fighting dark, endless, battles for his life, till sweating in every limb -he woke. Day shone through the window. "Where are the knaves to fetch my -clothes?" He heard no sound. He sprang up. His armour lay there, and the -two swords--the one which he took from Ither and the one given him by his -host. Thought he: "I have suffered such pain in my sleep, there must be -hard work for me to-day. Is mine host in need, I will gladly aid him and -her too, Repanse, who gave me this mantle; yet I would not serve her for -her love; my own wife is as beautiful." - -Parzival passed through the castle's empty halls, calling aloud in anger. -He saw no one, heard no sound. In the courtyard he found his horse, and -flung himself into the saddle. He rode through the open castle-gate, over -the draw-bridge, which an unseen hand drew up before his horse's hoofs had -fairly cleared it. He looked behind him in surprise. A squire cursed him: -"May the sun scorch you! Had you just used your mouth to ask a question of -your host! You missed it, goose!" Parzival called for explanation, but the -gates were swung to in his face. His joy was gone, his pain begun. By -chance throw of the dice he had found and lost the Grail. He sees the -ground torn as by the hoofs of knights riding hard. "These," thought he, -"fight to-day for my host's honour. Their band would not have been shamed -by me. I would not fail them in their need--so might I earn the bread I -ate and this sword which their lord gave me. I carry it unearned. They -think I am a coward." - -He followed the hoof tracks; they led him on a way, then scattered and -grew faint. The day was young. Under a linden sat a lady, holding the body -of a knight embalmed. What earthly troth compared with hers? He turned his -horse to her: "Lady, your sorrow grieves my heart. Would my service avail -you?" - -"Whence come you? Many a man has found death in this wood. Flee, as you -love your life; but, say, where did you spend the night?" - -"In a castle not a league from here." - -"Do not deceive. You carry stranger shield. There is no house in thirty -leagues, save one castle high and great. Those who seek it, find it not. -It is only found unsought. Munsalvaesch its name. The ancient Titurel -bequeathed it to his son Frimutel, a hero; but in the jousts he won his -death from love. Of his children, one is a hermit, Trevrizent; another, -Anfortas, is the castle's lord, and can neither ride nor walk, nor sit nor -lie. But, sir, if you were there, may be that he is healed of his long -pain." - -"Many marvels saw I there," he answered. - -She recognized the voice: "You are Parzival. Say, then, saw you the Grail -and the joyless lord? If his pain is stilled through you, then hail! far -as the wind blows spreads your glory, your dominion too." - -"How did you know me?" said Parzival. - -"I am the maid who once before told you her grief, your kinswoman, who -mourns her lover slain." - -"Alas! where are thy red lips? Art thou Sigune who told me who I was? -Where is fled thy long brown hair, thy loveliness and colour?" - -Sigune spoke: "My only consolation were to hear that you have helped the -helpless man whose sword you bear. Know you its gifts? The first stroke it -strikes well, at the second, breaks; a word is needed that the sword may -make its bearer peerless. Do you know this word? If so, none can withstand -you--have you asked the question?" - -"I asked nothing." - -"Woe is me that mine eyes have seen you! You asked no question! You saw -such wonders there--the Grail, the noble ladies, the bloody spear. -Wretched, accursed man, what would you have from me? Yours the false -wolf-tooth! You should have taken pity on your host, and asked his -ail--then God had worked a miracle on him. You live, but dead to -happiness." - -"Dear cousin, speak me fair. I will atone for any ill." - -"Atone? nay, leave that! At Munsalvaesch your honour and your knightly -praise vanished. You get no more from me." - -Parzival's fault was not accident; it sprang from what he was--unwise. He -could atone only through becoming wise through the endurance of years of -trial. The unhappy knight rode on, loosing his helmet to breathe more -freely. Soon he chanced to overtake the lady Jesute, travelling on a mean -horse in wretched guise, her garments torn, her face disfigured. He -offered aid, and she, recognizing him, said with tears that her sorrows -all were due to him; she was the lady whose girdle and ring his fool's -hand had taken, and now her husband Orilus treated her as a woman of -shame. Here the proud duke himself came thundering up, to see what knight -dared aid his cast-off wife. Parzival conquered him after a long combat; -and the three went to a hermitage where the victor made oath that it was -he who took by force the ring and girdle from the blameless lady. -Returning the ring to Orilus, he sent him with his lady, reconciled and -happy, to Arthur's Court. Thus Parzival's knighthood made amends for his -first foolish act. He found a strong lance in the hermitage, took it, and -departed. - -When Orilus and his lady had been received with honour at Arthur's Court, -the king with all his knights set forth towards Munsalvaesch to find the -mighty man calling himself the Red Knight, who had sent so many conquered -pledges of his prowess; for he wished to make him a knight of the Round -Table. It was winter. Parzival--the Red Knight--came riding from the -opposite direction. As he drew near the encampment of the king, his eye -lighted on three drops of blood showing clear red in the fresh-fallen -snow; in mid air above, a wild goose had been struck by a falcon. The -knight paused in reverie--red and white--the colours carried his thoughts -to his heart's queen, Condwiramurs. There he sat, as a statue on his -horse, with poised spear; his thoughts had flown to her whose image now -closed his eyes to all else. A lad spied the great knight, and ran -breathless to Arthur, to tell of the stranger who seemed to challenge all -the Round Table. Segramors gained Arthur's permission to accost him. Out -he rode with ready challenge; Parzival neither saw nor heard, till his -horse swerved at the knight's approach, so that he saw the drops no -longer. Then his mighty lance fell in rest, Segramors was hurled to the -ground, and took himself back discomfited, while Parzival returned to gaze -on the drops of blood, lost in reverie as before. Now Kay the quarrelsome -rode out, and roused the hero with a rude blow. The joust is run again, -and Kay crawls back with broken leg and arm. Again Parzival loses himself -in reverie. And now courtly Gawain, best of Arthur's knights, rides forth, -unarmed. Courteously he addresses Parzival, who hears nothing, and sits -moveless. Gawain bethinks him it is love that binds the knight. Seeing -that Parzival is gazing on three drops of blood, he gently covers them -with a silken cloth. Parzival's wits return; he moans: "Alas, lady wife of -mine, what comes between us? A cloud has hidden thee." Then, astonished, -he sees Gawain--a knight without lance or shield--does he come to mock? -With noble courtesy Gawain disclosed himself and led the way to Arthur's -Court, where fair ladies and the king greeted the hero whom they had come -to seek. A festival was ordained in his honour. The fair company of -knights and ladies are seated about the Round Table; the feast is at its -height, when suddenly upon a gigantic mule, a scourge in her rough hand, -comes riding the seeress Cundrie, harsh and unlovely. Straight she -addresses Arthur: "Son of King Uterpendragon, you have shamed yourself and -this high company, receiving Parzival, whom you call the Red Knight." She -turns on Parzival: "Disgrace fall on your proud form and strength! Sir -Parzival, tell me, how came it that you met that joyless fisher, and did -not help him? He showed you his pain, and you, false guest, had no pity -for him. Abhorred by all good men, marked for hell by heaven's Highest, -you ban of happiness and curse of joy! No leech can heal your sickened -honour. Greater betrayal never shamed a man so goodly. Your host gave you -a sword; you saw them bear the Grail, the silver dishes, and the bloody -spear, and you, dishonoured Parzival, were silent. You failed to win -earth's chiefest prize; your father had not done so--are you his son? Yes, -for Herzeloide was as true as he. Woe's me, that Herzeloide's child has so -let honour slip!" Cundrie wrung her hands; her tears fell fast; she turned -her mule and cried: "Woe, woe to thee Munsalvaesch, mount of pain; here is -no aid for thee!" And bidding none farewell, she rode away, leaving -Parzival to his shame, the knights to their astonishment, the ladies to -their tears. - -Cundrie was hardly out of sight, before another shame was put on the Round -Table. An armed knight rode in, and, accusing Gawain of murdering his king -and cousin, summoned him to mortal combat within forty days before the -King of Askalon. Arthur himself was ready to do battle for Gawain, but -that good knight accepted the challenge with all courtesy. - -Parzival's lineage was first known to the Court from Cundrie's calling him -by name and speaking of his mother. Now Clamide, once Condwiramurs's cruel -wooer, begged the hero to intercede for him with another fair one, the -lady Cunneware. Parzival courteously complied. A heathen queen then -saluted him with the news that he had a great heathen half-brother, -Feirefiz, the son of Parzival's father by a heathen queen. Thanking her, -Parzival spoke to the company: "I cannot endure Cundrie's reproach;--what -knight here does not look askance? I will seek no joy until I find the -Grail, be the quest short or long. The worthy Gurnemanz bade me refrain -from questions. Honoured knights, your favour is for me to win again, for -I have lost it. Me yet unshamed you took into your company; I release you. -Let sorrow be my comrade; for I forsook my happiness on Munsalvaesch. Ah! -helpless Anfortas! You had small help from me." - -Knights and ladies were grieved to see the hero depart in such sorrow, and -many a knight's service was offered him. The lady Cunneware took his hand; -Lord Gawain kissed him and said: "I know thy way is full of strife; God -grant to thee good fortune, and to me the chance to serve thee." - -"Ah! what is God?" answered Parzival. "Were He strong He would not have -put such shame on me and you. I was His subject from the hour I learned to -ask His favour. Now I renounce His service. If He hates me, I will bear -it. Friend, in thine hour of strife let the love of a woman pure and true -strengthen thy hand. I know not when I shall see thee again; may my good -wishes towards thee be fulfilled." - -The hero's arms are brought; his horse is saddled; his grievous toil -begins. - -Why should long sorrow come to Parzival for not asking a question, when -his omission was caused neither by brutality nor ill will? when, on the -contrary, he would gladly have served his host? The relation between his -conduct and his fortune seems lame. Yet in life as well as in literature, -ignorance and error bring punishment. Moreover, to mediaeval romance not -only is there a background of sorcery and magic, but active elements of -magic survive in the tales.[725] And nothing is more fraught with magic -import and result than question and answer. Wolfram did not treat as -magical the effect upon his hero's lot of his failure to ask the question; -but he retained the palpably magic import of the act as affecting the sick -Anfortas. It was hard that the omission should have brought Parzival to -sorrow and despair; yet the fault was part of himself, and the man so -ignorant and unwise was sure to incur calamity, and also gain sorrow's -lessons if he was capable of learning. So the sequence becomes ethical: -from error, calamity; from calamity, grief; and from grief, wisdom. With -Wolfram, Parzival's fault was Parzival; failure to ask the question was a -symbol of his lack of wisdom. The poet was of his time; and mediaeval -thought tended to symbolism, and to move, as it were, from symbol to -symbol, and from symbolical significance to related symbolical -significance, and indeed often to treat a symbol as if it were the fact -which was symbolized. - - * * * * * - -At this point Wolfram's poem devotes some cantos to the lighter-hearted -adventures of Gawain. This valiant, courtly, loyal knight and his -adventures are throughout a foil to the heavier lot and character of -Parzival. But when Gawain has had his due, the poet is glad to return to -his rightful hero. Parzival has ridden through many lands; he has sailed -many seas; before his lance no knight has kept his seat; his praise and -fame are spread afar. Though he has never been overthrown, the sword given -him by Anfortas broke; but with magic water Parzival welded it again. In a -forest one day he rode up to a hut, where Sigune was living as a recluse, -feeding her soul with thoughts of her dead lover, barring all fancies that -might disunite her from the dead whom she still held as her husband. -Parzival recognized her, and she him, when he removed his helm: "You are -Sir Parzival--tell me, how is it with the Grail?" - -"It has given me sorrow enough; I left a land where I was king, a loving -wife, fairest of women; I suffer anguish for her love, and more because of -that high goal of Munsalvaesch which is not reached. Cousin Sigune, -knowing my sorrow, you do wrong to hate me." - -"My wrath is spent. You have lost joy enough since that time you failed to -question Anfortas, your host--your happiness as well. Then that question -would have blessed you; now joy is denied you; your high mood halts; your -heart is tamed by sorrow, which had stayed a stranger to it had you asked -the question." - -"I acted as a luckless man. Dear cousin, counsel me--but, say, how is it -with you? I should bemoan your grief were not my own greater than man ever -bore." - -"Let His hand help you who knows all sorrow. A path might bring you yet to -Munsalvaesch. Cundrie but now rode hence--follow her track." - -Parzival started to follow the track of Cundrie's mule, which soon was -lost, and with it the Grail was lost again. Without guidance he rode on. -He overthrew a Grail knight, and took his horse, his own having been -wounded in the combat. How long he rode I know not, says the poet. One -frosty morning he met an aged knight unhelmeted, and walking barefoot with -his wife and daughters. The knight reproved him for riding armed on that -holy day. - -Parzival answered: "I do not know the time of year; it is long since I -kept count of days. Once I served Him who is called God--until He graced -me with His mockery. He helps, men say. I have not found it so." - -"If you mean God who was born of a virgin," replied the old knight, "and -believe that He took man's nature, you do wrong to ride in armour; for -this is the day when He hung on the Cross for us. Sir, not far from here -dwells a holy man, who will give you counsel; you may repent and be -absolved from your sins." - -Parzival courteously took his leave. He had regarded his failure to ask -that question as a luckless error, had felt that God was unjust to him, -and had also doubted His power to aid. Now came wavering thoughts: "What -if God might help my pain? If He ever favoured a knight, or if sword and -shield might win His favour--if to-day is His day of help, let Him help me -if He can. If God's craft can show the way to man and horse, I'll honour -Him. Go then according to God's choosing." - -He flung the bridle on his horse's neck, spurring him forward; and the -horse carried him straight to the hermitage of holy Trevrizent, who fasted -there to fit himself for heaven, his chastity warring with the devil. -Parzival recognized the place where he had sworn the oath to Orilus, to -clear Jesute's honour. The hermit, seeing him, exclaimed: "Alas! sir, that -you ride equipped in this holy season. Were you sore pressed? Another garb -were fitter, did your pride permit. Come by the fire. If you follow love's -adventure, think of that afterward, and this day seek the love which this -day gives." - -Dismounting, Parzival stood respectfully before the hermit: "Sir, advise -me; I am a man of sin." - -His host promised counsel and asked how he came there. Parzival told of -meeting the old knight, and inquired whether his host felt no fear at -seeing him ride up. "Believe me, no," answered the hermit; "I fear no man. -I would not boast, but in my day my heart never quailed in the fight. I -was a knight as you are, and had many sinful thoughts." - -Having placed the horse in shelter beneath a cliff, the hermit led the -knight into his cell. There was a fire of coals, before which Parzival was -glad to warm himself and exchange his steel armour for a cloak; he seemed -forest-weary. A door opened to an inner cell, where stood an altar, -bearing the very reliquary on which Parzival had laid his hand in making -oath. He told his host of this, and of the lance which he had found there -and taken. "A friend of mine left it there, and chided with me afterwards. -It is four years, six months, and three days since you took that spear; I -will prove it to you from this Psalter." - -"I did not know how long I had journeyed, lost and unhappy. I carry -sorrow's weight. Sir, I will tell you more: from that time no man has seen -me in church or minster, where they honour God. I have sought battles -only. I also bear a hate for God. He is my trouble's sponsor: had He borne -aid, my joy had not been buried living! My heart is sore. In reward of my -many fights, sorrow has set on me a crown--of thorns. I bear a grudge -against that Lord of aid, that me alone He helps not." - -The host sighed, and looked at him; then spoke: "Sir, be wise. You should -trust God well. He will help you, it is His office; He must help us both. -Tell me with sober wits, how did your anger against Him arise? Learn from -me His guiltlessness before you accuse Him. His aid is never withheld. -Even I, a layman, can read the meaning of those unlying books; man must -continue steadfast in service of Him who never wearies in His steady aid -to sinking souls. Keep troth, for God is troth. Deceit is hateful to Him. -We should be grateful; in our behalf His nobility took on the form of man. -God is called, and is, truth. He can turn from no one; teach your thoughts -never to turn from Him. You can force nothing from Him with your wrath. -Whoever sees you carry hate toward Him will deem you sick of wit. Think of -Lucifer and all his comrades. Hell was their reward. When Lucifer and his -host had taken their hell-journey, a man was made. God made from clay the -worthy Adam. From Adam's flesh He took Eve, who brought us calamity when -she listened not to her Creator, and destroyed our joy. Two sons were born -to them. One of these in envious anger destroyed his grandmother's -maidenhood, by sin." - -"Sir, how could that be?" - -"The earth was Adam's mother, and was a maiden. Adam was Cain's father, -who slew Abel; and the blood fell on the pure earth; its maidenhood was -sped. Thence arose hate among men--and still endures. Nothing in the world -is as pure as an innocent maid; God was himself a maiden's child, and took -the image of the first maid's fruit. With Adam's seed came sorrow and joy; -through him our lineage is from God, but through him, too, we carry sin, -for which God took man's image, and so suffered, battling with troth -against untroth. Turn to Him if you would not be lost. Plato, Sibyl the -prophetess, foretold Him. With divine love His mighty hand plucked us from -hell. The joyful news they tell of Him the True Lover is this: He is -radiant light, and wavers not in His love. Men may have either His love or -hate. The unrepentant sinner flees the divine faithfulness; he who does -penance wins His clemency. God penetrates thought, which is hidden to the -sun's rays and needs no castle's ward. Yet God's light passes its dark -wall, comes stealing in, and noiselessly departs. No thought so quick but -He discovers it before it leaves the heart. The pure in heart He chooses. -Woe to the man who harbours evil. What help is there in human craft for -him whose deeds put God to shame? You are lost if you act in His despite, -who is prepared for either love or hate. Now change your heart; with -goodness earn His thanks." - -"Sir," says Parzival, "I am glad to be taught by you of Him who does not -fail to reward both crime and virtue. With pain and struggle I have so -borne my young life to this day that through keeping troth I have got -sorrow." - -Parzival still feels his innocence; perhaps the host is not so sure: -"Prithee, be open with me. I would gladly hear your troubles and your -sins. May be I can advise you." - -"The Grail is my chief woe and then my wife--she is beyond compare. For -both of these I yearn." - -"Sir, you say well. Your grief is righteous if its cause is yearning for -your wife. If you were cast to hell for other sins, but loyal to your -wife, God's hand would lift you out. As for the Grail, you foolish man, -pursuit will never win it. 'Tis for him only who is named in heaven. I can -say; for I have seen it." - -"Sir, were you there?" - -"I was." - -Parzival did not say that he had been there too; but asked about the -Grail. His host then told him of the valiant Templars who dwelt on -Munsalvaesch, and rode thence on adventures as penance for their sins. -"They are nourished by a Stone of marvellous virtue; no sick man seeing it -could die that week; it gives youth and strength, and is called the Grail. -To-day, as on every Good Friday, a dove flies from heaven and lays a wafer -on the Grail, from which the Grail receives its share of every food and -every good the earth or Paradise affords. The name of whosoever is chosen -for the Grail, be it boy or girl, appears inscribed upon it, suddenly, and -when read disappears. They come as children; glad the mother whose child -is named; for taken to that company, it will be held from sin and shame, -and be received in heaven when this life is past. Further, all those who -took neither side in the war between Lucifer and the Trinity, were cast -out of heaven to earth, and here must serve the Grail." - -Parzival spoke: "If knighthood might with shield and spear win earth's -prize and Paradise for the soul--why I have fought wherever I found fight; -often my hand has touched the prize. If God is wise in conflicts, He -should name me, that those people there may learn to know me. My hand -never drew back." - -"First you must guard against pride, and practise modesty." The old man -paused and then continued: "There was a Grail king named Anfortas. You and -I should pity his sad lot which befell him through pride in youth and -riches; he loved in the world's light way--that also goes not with the -Grail. There came once to the castle one unnamed, a simple man; he went -away, his sins upon his head; he never asked the host what ailed him. -Before that time a prince, Lahelein, approached and fought with a Grail -knight, and slew him and took his horse. Sir, are you Lahelein? you rode a -Grail steed hither. I know his trappings well, and the dove's crest which -Anfortas gave his knights. The old Titurel also wore that crest, and after -him his son Frimutel, till he lost his life. Sir, you resemble him. Who -are you?" - -Each looked on the other. Parzival spoke: "My father was a knight. He lost -his life in combat; sir, include him in your prayers. His name was -Gamuhret. I am not Lahelein; yet in my folly once I too robbed the dead. -My sinful hand slew Ither. I left him dead upon the sward--and took what -was to take." - -"O world! alas for thee! heart's sorrow is thy pay!" the hermit cried. "My -nephew, it was your own flesh and blood you slew; a deed which with God -merits death. Ither, the pattern of all knights--how can you atone? My -sister too, your mother Herzeloide, you brought her to her death." - -"Oh no! good sir, how say you that? If I am your sister's child, oh tell -me all." - -"Your mother died when you left her. My other sister was Sigune's mother; -our brother is Anfortas, who long has been the Grail's sad lord. We early -lost our father, Frimutel; from him Anfortas, his first-born, inherited -the Grail crown, when still a child. As he grew a man, all too eagerly he -followed the service set by love of woman, chose him a mistress and broke -many a spear for her. He disobeyed the Grail, which forbids its lords -love's service, save as it prescribes. One day, for his lady's favour, he -ran a joust with a heathen knight. He slew him, but the heathen spear -struck him, and broke, leaving a poisoned wound. In anguish he returned. -No medicine or charm can heal that wound, and yet he cannot die; that is -the Grail's power. I renounced knighthood, flesh, and wine, in prayer that -God would heal him. We knelt before the Grail, and on it read that when a -knight should come, and, unadmonished, ask what ailed him, he should be -sound again. That knight should then be the Grail's king, in place of -Anfortas. Since then a knight did come--I spoke of him to you. He might as -well have stayed away for all the honour that he won or aid he brought us. -He did not ask: My lord, what brought you to this pass? Stupidity forbade -him." - -The two made moan together. It was noon. The host said: "Let us take food -now, and tend your horse." They went out; Parzival broke up some branches -for his horse, while the host gathered a repast of herbs. Then they -returned to the cell. "Dear nephew," said the hermit, "do not despise this -food. At least, you will not find another host who would more gladly give -you better." - -"Sir, may God's favour pass me by, if ever a host's care was sweeter to -me." - -When they had eaten, they saw to the horse again, whose hungry plight -grieved the old man because of the saddle with Anfortas's crest. Then -Parzival spoke: - -"Lord and uncle mine, if I dare speak for shame, I should tell you all my -unhappiness. My troth takes refuge in you. My misdeeds are so sore, that -if you cast me off I shall go all my days unloosed from my remorse. Take -pity with good counsel on a fool. He who rode to Munsalvaesch, and saw -that pain, and asked no question, that was I, misfortune's child. Thus -have I, sir, misdone." - -"Nephew! Alas! We both may well lament--where were your five senses? Yet I -will not refuse thee counsel. You must not grieve overmuch, but, in lament -and laying grief aside, follow right measure. Would that I might refresh -and hearten you, so that you would push on, and not despair of God. You -might still cure your sorrow. God will not forsake you. I counsel thee -from Him." - -His host then told Parzival more about Anfortas's pains, and about the -Grail people, then the story of his own life before he renounced -knighthood, and also about Ither. "Ither was your kin. If your hand forgot -this kinship, God will not. You must do penance for this deadly sin, and -also for your mother's death. Repent of your misdeeds and think of death, -so that your labour here below may bring peace to your soul above." - -These two deadly sins of Parzival were done unwittingly, and unwitting -was his neglect to ask the question. His guilt was thoughtlessness and -stupid ignorance. It is impossible not to think of Oedipus, and compare -the Christian mediaeval treatment of unwitting crimes with the classical -Greek consideration of the same dark subject. Oedipus sinned as -unwittingly as Parzival, and as impulsively. His ruin was complete. -Afterwards--in the _Oedipus Coloneus_--his character gathers greatness -through submission to the necessary consequences of his acts; here was his -spiritual expiation. On the other hand, mercy, repentance, hope, the -uplifting of the unwitting sinner, forgiveness and consolation, soften and -glorify the Christian mediaeval story. - -Parzival stayed some days at the hermitage. At parting the hermit spoke -words of comfort to him: "Leave me your sins. I will be your surety with -God for your repentance. Perform what I have bidden you, and do not -waver." - -The story here turns to Gawain. In the tale of his adventures there comes -a glimpse of Parzival. A proud lady, for whose love Gawain is doing -perilous deeds, tells him, she has never met a man she could not bend to -her will and love, save only one. That one came and overthrew her knights. -She offered him her land and her fair self; his answer put her to shame: -"The glorious Queen of Pelrapeire is my wife, and I am Parzival. I will -have none of your love. The Grail gives me other care." - -Gawain won this lady, and conducted her to Arthur's Court, whither his -rival the haughty King Gramoflanz was summoned to do battle with him. On -the morning set for the combat Gawain rode out a little to the bank of a -river, to prove his horse and armour. There at the river rode a knight; -Gawain deemed it was Gramoflanz. They rush together; man and horse go down -in the joust. The knights spring to their feet and fight on with their -swords. Meanwhile Gramoflanz, with a splendid company, has arrived at -Arthur's Court. The lists are ready; Gramoflanz stands armed. But where is -Gawain? He was not wont to tarry. Squires hurry out in search, to find him -just falling before the blows of the stranger. They call, Gawain! and the -unknown knight throws away his sword with a great cry: "Wretched and -worthless! Accursed is my dishonoured hand. Be mine the shame. My -luckless arms ever--and now again--strike down my happiness. That I should -raise my hand against noble Gawain! It is myself that I have overthrown." - -Gawain heard him: "Alas, sir, who are you that speak such love towards me? -Would you had spoken sooner, before my strength and praise had left me." - -"Cousin, I am your cousin, ready to serve you, Parzival." - -"Then you said true! This fool's fight of two hearts that love! Your hand -has overthrown us both." - -Gawain could no longer stand. Fainting they laid him on the grass. -Gramoflanz rides up, and is grieved to find his rival in no condition to -fight. Parzival offers to take Gawain's place; but Gramoflanz declines, -and the combat is postponed till the morrow. Parzival is then escorted to -Arthur's Court, where Gawain would have him meet fair ladies; he holds -back, thinking of the shame once put on him there by Cundrie. Gawain -insists, and ladies greet the knight. Arthur again makes Parzival one of -the Round Table. Early the next morning, Parzival, changing his arms, -meets Gramoflanz in the lists, before Gawain has arrived; and vanquishes -him. Then comes Gawain and offers to postpone the combat as Gramoflanz had -done. So the combat is again set for the next day. In the meanwhile, -however, various matters come to light and explanations are had; Arthur -succeeds in reconciling the rival knights and adjusting their relations to -the ladies. So the Court becomes gay with wedding festivals, and all is -joy. - -Except with Parzival. His heart is torn with pain and yearning for his -wife. He muses: "Since I could love, how has love dealt with me! I was -born from love; why have I lost love? I must seek the Grail; yet how I -yearn for the sweet arms of her from whom I parted--so long ago! It is not -fit that I should look on this joyful festival with anguish in my heart." -There lay his armour: "Since I have no part in this joy, and God wills -none for me; and the love of Condwiramurs banishes all wish for other -happiness--now God grant happiness to all this company. I will go forth." -He put his armour on, saddled his horse, took spear and shield, and fled -from the joyous Court, as the day was dawning. - -And now he meets a heathen knight, approaching with a splendid following. -They rode a great joust; and the heathen wondered to find a knight abide -his lance. They fought with swords together, till their horses were blown; -they sprang on the ground, and there fought on. Then the heathen thought -of his queen; the love-thought brought him strength, and he struck -Parzival a blow that brought him to his knee. Now rouse thee, Parzival; -why dost thou not think on thy wife? Suddenly he thought of her, and how -he won her love, vanquishing Clamide before Pelrapeire. Straight her aid -came to him across four kingdoms, and he struck the heathen down; but his -sword--once Ither's--broke. - -The foolish evil deed of Parzival in slaying Ither seems atoned for in the -breaking of this sword. Had it not broken, great evil had been done. The -great-hearted heathen sprang up. "Hero, you would have conquered had that -sword not broken. Be peace between us while we rest." - -They sat together on the grass. "Tell me your name," said the heathen; "I -have never met as great a knight." - -"Is it through fear, that I should tell my name?" - -"Nay, I will name myself--Feirefiz of Anjou." - -"How of Anjou? that is my heritage. Yet I have heard I had a brother. Let -me see your face. I will not attack you with your helmet off." - -"Attack me? it is I that hold the sword; but let neither have the -vantage." He threw his sword far from them. - -With joy and tears the brothers recognized each other; and long and loving -was their speech. Then they rode back together to the Court. They entered -Gawain's tent. Arthur came to greet them, and with him many knights. At -Arthur's request each of the great brothers told the long list of his -knightly victories. The next day Feirefiz was made a knight of the Round -Table, and a grand tournament was held. Then the feast followed; and -again, as once before, to the great company seated at the table, Cundrie -came riding. She greeted the king; then turned to Parzival, and in tears -threw herself at his feet and begged a greeting and forgiveness. Parzival -forgives her. She rises up and cries: "Hail to thee, son of -Gahmuret--Herzeloide's child. Humble thyself in gladness. The high lot is -thine, thou crown of human blessing. Thou shalt be the Grail's lord; with -thee thy wife Condwiramurs, and thy sons Lohengrin and Kardeiz, whom she -bore to thee after thy going. Thy mouth shall question Anfortas--unto his -joy. Now the planets favour thee; thy grief is spent. The Grail and the -Grail's power shall let thee have no part in evil. When young, thou didst -get thee sorrow, which betrayed thy joy as it came;--thou hast won thy -soul's peace, and in sorrow thou hast endured unto thy life's joy." - -Tears of love sprang from Parzival's heart and fell from his eyes: "Lady, -if this be true, that God's grace has granted me, sinful man, to have my -children and my wife, God has been good to me. Loyally would you make good -my losses. Before, had I not done amiss, you would not have been angry. At -that time I was yet unblessed. Now tell me, when and how I shall go meet -my joy. Oh! let me not be stayed!" - -There was no more delay. Parzival was permitted to take one comrade; he -chose Feirefiz. Cundrie guided them to the Grail castle. They entered to -find Anfortas calling on death to free him of his pain. Weeping, and with -prayer to God, Parzival asked what ailed him, and the king was healed. -Then Parzival rode again to Trevrizent. The hermit breaks out in wonder at -the power of God, which man cannot comprehend; let Parzival obey Him and -keep from evil; that any one should win the Grail by striving was unheard -of; now this has come to Parzival, let him be humble. The hero yearns for -his wife--where is she? He is told; there by the meadow where he once saw -the drops of blood he finds her and his sons, asleep in their tent. They -are united; Parzival is made Grail king; and the queen Repanse is given in -marriage to Feirefiz, who is baptized and departs with her. Lohengrin is -named as Parzival's successor, while Kardeiz receives the kingdoms which -had been Gahmuret's and Herzeloide's. - - -END OF VOL. I - - -_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. - - - - -INDEX - -_NOTE.--Of several references to the same matter the more important are -shown by heavy type._ - - - Abaelard, Peter, career of, ii. 342-5; - at Paris, ii. 343, 344, 383; - popularity there, ii. 119; - love for Heloïse, ii. 4-=5=, 344; - love-songs, ii. =13=, 207; - Heloïse's love for, i. 585; ii. =3=, =5=, 8, 9, =15-16=; - early relations with Heloïse, ii. 4-5; - suggestion of marriage opposed by her, ii. 6-9; - marriage, ii. 9; - suffers vengeance of Fulbert, ii. 9; - becomes a monk at St. Denis, ii. 10; - at the Paraclete, ii. 10, 344; - at Breton monastery, ii. 10; - St. Bernard's denunciations of, i. 229, 401; ii. =344-5=, =355=; - letters to, from Heloïse quoted, ii. 11-15, 17-20, 23, 24; - letters from, to Heloïse quoted, ii. 16-17, 21-3, 24-5; - closing years at Cluny, ii. 25, =26=, 345; - death of, ii. =27=, 345; - estimate of, ii. 4, 342; - rationalizing temper, i. 229; ii. =298-9=; - skill in dialectic, ii. 303, =345-6=, 353; - not an Aristotelian, ii. 369; - works on theology, ii. 352-5; - _De Unitate et Trinitate divina_, ii. 10, =298-9=, 352 _and_ _n. 3_; - _Theologia_, ii. =303-4=, 395; - _Scito te ipsum_, ii. 350-1; - _Sic et non_, i. 17; ii. =304-6=, =352=, 357; - _Dialectica_, ii. 346 _and_ _nn._, 349-50; - _Dialogue_ between Philosopher, Jew, and Christian, ii. 350, =351=; - _Historia calamitatum_, ii. =4-11=, 298-9, =343=; - _Carmen ad Astralabium filium_, ii. 192; - hymns, ii. 207-9; - otherwise mentioned, ii. 134, 283 _and_ _n._ - - Abbo, Abbot, i. =294 and n.=, 324 - - Abbots: - Armed forces, with, i. 473 - Cistercian, position of, i. 362-3 _and_ _n._ - Investiture of, lay, i. 244 - Social class of, i. 473 - - Accursius, _Glossa ordinaria_ of, ii. 262, =263= - - Adalberon, Abp. of Rheims, i. 240, =282-3=, 287 - - Adam of Marsh, ii. 389, 400, 487 - - Adam of St. Victor, editions of hymns of, ii. 87 _n. 1_; - examples of the hymns, ii. 87 _seqq._; - Latin originals, ii. 206, 209-15 - - Adamnan cited, i. 134 _n. 2_, 137 - - Adelard of Bath, ii. 370 - - Aedh, i. 132 - - Agobard, Abp. of Lyons, i. 215, =232-3=; - cited, ii. 247 - - Aidan, St., i. 174 - - Aimoin, _Vita Abbonis_ by, i. 294 _and_ _n._ - - Aix, Synod of, i. 359 - - Aix-la-Chapelle: - Chapel at, i. 212 _n._ - School at, _see_ Carolingian period--Palace school - - Alans, i. 113, 116, 119 - - Alanus de Insulis, career of, ii. 92-4; - estimate of, ii. 375-6; - works of, ii. 48 _n. 1_, =94=, 375 _n. 5_, 376; - _Anticlaudianus_, ii. =94-103=, 192, 377, 539; - _De planctu naturae_, ii. =192-3 and n. 1=, 376 - - Alaric, i. 112 - - Alaric II., i. =117=; ii. 243 - - Alberic, Card., i. 252 _n. 2_ - - Alberic, Markgrave of Camerino, i. 242 - - Alberic, son of Marozia, i. 242-3 - - Albertus Magnus, career of, ii. 421; - estimate of, ii. 298, 301, =421=; - estimate of work of, ii. 393, 395; - attitude toward Gilbert de la Porrée, ii. 372; - compared with Bacon, ii. 422; - with Aquinas, ii. 433, =438=; - relations with Aquinas, ii. 434; - on logic, ii. 314-15; - method of, ii. 315 _n._; - edition of works, ii. 424 _n. 1_; - _De praedicabilibus_, ii. 314 and _n._, 315, 424-5; - work on the rest of Aristotle, ii. 420-1; - analysis of this work, ii. 424 _seqq._; - attitude toward the original, ii. 422; - _Summa theologiae_, ii. 430, 431; - _Summa de creaturis_, ii. 430-1; - _De adhaerendo Deo_, ii. 432; - otherwise mentioned, i. 17; ii. 82 _n. 2_, 283, 312, 402, 541 _n. 2_ - - Albigenses, i. 49; - persecution of, i. 366-7, 461, 481, 572; ii. 168 - - Alboin the Lombard, i. 115 - - Alchemy, ii. 496-7 - - Alcuin of York, career of, i. 214; - works of, i. 216-21 _and_ _n. 2_; - extracts from letters of, ii. 159; - stylelessness of, ii. =159=, 174; - verses by, quoted, ii. 136-7; - on _urbanitas_, ii. 136; - otherwise mentioned, i. 212, 240, 343; ii. 112, 312, 332 - - Aldhelm, i. 185 - - Alemanni, i. 9, 121, 122, 145 _n. 2_, 174, 192 - - Alemannia, Boniface's work in, i. 199 - - Alexander the Great, Pseudo-Callisthenes' Life of, ii. 224, 225, - =229-230=; - Walter of Lille's work on, ii. 230 _n. 1_ - - Alexander II., Pope, i. 262 _n._, 263 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Alexander de Villa-Dei, _Doctrinale_ of, ii. =125-7=, 163 - - Alexander of Hales--at Paris, i. 476; ii. =399=; - Bacon's attack on, ii. 494, 497; - estimate of work of, ii. 393, 395, 399; - Augustinianism of, ii. 403-4 - - Alfred, King of England, i. 144 _and_ _n. 2_, =187-90= - - Allegory (_See also_ Symbolism): - Dictionaries of, ii. 47-8 _and_ _n. 1_, 49 - Greek examples of, ii. 42, 364 - Metaphor distinguished from, ii. 41 _n._ - Politics, in, ii. 60-1, 275-=6=, =280= - _Roman de la rose_ as exemplifying, ii. 103 - Scripture, _see under_ Scriptures - Two uses of, ii. 365 - - Almsgiving, i. 268 - - Alphanus, i. 253-4 - - _Amadas_, i. 565 - - Ambrose, St., Abp. of Milan, on miracles, i. 85-6; - attitude toward secular studies, i. 300; ii. 288; - _Hexaëmeron_ of, i. 72-4; - _De officiis_, i. 96; - hymns, i. 347-8; - otherwise mentioned, i. 70, 75, 76, 104, 186, 354; ii. 45 _n._, 272 - - Anacletus II., Pope, i. 394 - - Anchorites, _see_ Hermits - - Andrew the Chaplain, _Flos amoris_ of, i. 575-6 - - Angels: - Aquinas' discussion of, ii. 324-5, 435, =457 seqq.=, =469=, =473-5= - Dante's views on, ii. 551 - Emotionalizing of conception of, i. 348 _n. 4_ - Hugo of St. Victor on, ii. 68, 69 - Symbols, regarded as, ii. 457 - Vincent's _Speculum_ as concerning, ii. 319 - Writings regarding, summary of, ii. 457 - - Angilbert, i. 234-5 - - Angles, i. 140 - - Anglo-Saxons: - Britain conquered by, i. 141 - Characteristics of, i. 142, =196= - Christian missions by, i. 196, 197 - Christian missions to, i. 172, 174, =180 seqq.= - Customs of, i. 141 - Poetry of, i. 142-4 - Roman influence slight on, i. 32 - - Aniane monastery, i. 358-9 - - Annals, i. 234 and _n. 1_ - - Anselm (at Laon), ii. 343-4 - - Anselm, St., Abp. of Canterbury, dream of, i. 269-70; - early career, i. 270; - at Bec, i. 271-2; - relations with Rufus, i. 273, 275; - journey to Italy, i. 275; - estimate of, i. 274, =276-7=; ii. =303=, 330, =338=; - style of, i. 276; ii. =166-7=; - influence of, on Duns Scotus, ii. 511; - works of, i. 275 _seqq._; - _Cur Deus homo_, i. 275, 277 _n. 1_, =279=; ii. 395; - _Monologion_, i. 275-7; - _Proslogion_, i. 276-8; ii. =166=, 395; - _Meditationes_, i. 276, =279=; - _De grammatico_, i. 277 _n. 2_; - otherwise mentioned, i. 16, 19, 301-2; ii. 139, 283, 297, 340 - - Anselm of Besate, i. 259 - - Anthony, St., i. 365-6; - Life of, by Athanasius, i. 47, =52 and n.= - - Antique literature, _see_ Greek thought _and_ Latin classics - - Antique stories, themes of, in vernacular poetry, ii. 223 _seqq._ - - Apollinaris Sidonius, ii. 107 - - Apollonius of Tyana, i. 44 - - _Apollonius of Tyre_, ii. 224 _and_ _n._ - - Aquinas, Thomas, family of, ii. 433-4; - career, ii. 434-5; - relations with Albertus Magnus, ii. 434; - translations of Aristotle obtained by, ii. 391; - _Vita_ of, by Guilielmus de Thoco, ii. 435 _n._; - works of, ii. 435; - estimate of, and of his work, i. 17, 18; ii. 301, =436-8=, 484; - completeness of his philosophy, ii. 393-5; - pivot of his attitude, ii. 440; - present position of, ii. 501; - style, ii. 180; - mastery of dialectic, ii. 352; - compared with Eriugena, i. 231 _n. 1_; - with Albertus Magnus, ii. 433, =438=; - with Bonaventura, ii. 437; - with Duns, ii. 517; - Dante compared with and influenced by, ii. 541 _n. 2_, =547=, 549, - 551, 555; - on monarchy, ii. 277; - on faith, ii. 288; - on difference between philosophy and theology, ii. 290; - on logic, ii. 313; - _Summa theologiae_, i. 17, 18; ii. =290 seqq.=; - style of the work, ii. 180-1; - Bacon's charge against it, ii. 300; - Peter Lombard's work contrasted with it, ii. 307-10; - its method, ii. 307; - its classification scheme, ii. 324-9; - analysis of the work, ii. 438 _seqq._, 447 _seqq._; - _Summa philosophica contra Gentiles_, ii. 290, 438, =445-6=; - otherwise mentioned, i. 69 _n. 2_; ii. 283, 298, 300, 312, 402 - - Aquitaine, i. 29, 240, =573= - - Arabian philosophy, ii. =389-90=, 400-1 - - Arabs, Spanish conquest by, i. 9, 118 - - Archimedes, i. 40 - - Architecture, Gothic: - Evolution of, i. 305; ii. =539= - Great period of, i. 346 - - Argenteuil convent, ii. 9, 10 - - Arianism: - Teutonic acceptance of, i. =120=, 192, 194 - Visigothic abandonment of, i. 118 _nn._ - - Aristotle, estimate of, i. 37-8; - works of, i. 37-8; - unliterary character of writings of, ii. 118, 119; - philosophy as classified by, ii. 312; - attitude of, to discussions of final cause, ii. 336; - the _Organon_, i. =37=, 71; - progressive character of its treatises, ii. 333-4; - Boëthius' translation of the work, i. 71, =91-2=; - advanced treatises "lost" till 12th cent., ii. 248 _n._, 334; - Porphyry's _Introduction_ to the _Categories_, i. 45, 92, 102; ii. - 312, =314 n.=, 333, =339=; - Arabian translations of works, ii. 389-90; - introduction of complete works, i. 17; - Latin translations made in 13th cent., ii. 391; - three stages in scholastic appropriation of the Natural Philosophy and - Metaphysics, ii. 393; - Paris University study of, ii. 391-2 _and_ _n._; - Albertus Magnus' work on, ii. 420-1, 424 _seqq._; - Aquinas' mastery of, i. 17, 18; - Dominican acceptance of system of, ii. 404; - Dante's reverence for, ii. 542 - - Arithmetic: - Abacus, the, i. 299 - Boëthius' work on, i. 72, =90= - Music in relation to, ii. 291 - Patristic treatment of, i. 72 - Scholastic classification of, ii. 313 - - Arnold of Brescia, i. 401; ii. 171 - - Arnulf, Abp. of Rheims, i. 283-4 - - Art, Christian (_For particular arts, see their names_): - Demons as depicted in, ii. 540 _n. 2_ - Early, i. 345 _n._ - Emotionalizing of, i. 345-7 - Evolution of, i. 19-20 - Germany, in (11th cent.), i. 312 - Symbolism the inspiration of, i. 21; ii. 82-6 - - Arthur, King, story of youth of, i. 568-569; - relations with Lancelot and Guinevere, i. 584; - with Parzival, i. 592, 599-600, 612 - - Arthurian romances: - Comparison of, with _Chansons de geste_, i. 564-5 - German culture influenced by, ii. 28 - Origin and authorship of, question as to, i. 565-7 - Universal vogue of, i. =565=, 573, 577 - otherwise mentioned, i. 531, 538 - - Arts, the (_See also_ Latin classics): - Classifications of, ii. 312 _seqq._ - Course of, shortening of, ii. =132=, 384 - _Dictamen_, ii. =121=, =129=, 381 - Grammar, _see that heading_ - Masters in, at Paris and Oxford, ii. 384-5; - course for, ii. 388 - Seven Liberal, _see that heading_ - - Asceticism: - Christian: - Carthusian, i. 384 - Early growth of, i. 333-5 - Manichean, i. 49 - Women's practice of, i. 444, 462-3 - Neo-Platonic, i. 43, 44, 46, 50, =331=, 334 - - Astralabius, ii. 6, 9, 27; - Abaelard's poem to, ii. 191-2 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Astrology, i. =44 and n.=; ii. 374: - Bacon's views on, ii. 499-500 - - Astronomy: - Chartres study of, i. 299 - Gerbert's teaching of, i. 288-9 - Patristic attitude toward, i. 72 - - Ataulf, i. 112, 116 - - Athanasius, St., estimate of work of, i. =54=, 68; - Life of St. Anthony by, i. 47, =52 and n.=, 84; - _Orationes_, i. 68 - - Atlantis, i. 36 - - Attila the Hun, i. 112-13; - in legend, i. 145-7 - - Augustine, Abp. of Canterbury, i. 6, 171, =180-2=; - Gregory's letters to, cited, i. 102 - - Augustine, St., Bp. of Hippo, Platonism of, i. 55; - personal affinity of, with Plotinus, i. 55-7; - barbarization of, by Gregory the Great, i. 98, 102; - compared with Gregory the Great, i. 98-9; - with Anselm, i. 279; - with Guigo, i. 385, 390; - overwhelming influence of, in Middle Ages, ii. 403; - on numbers, i. 72 _and_ _n. 2_, 105; - attitude toward physical science, i. 300; - on love of God, i. 342, 344; - allegorizing of Scripture by, ii. 44-5; - modification by, of classical Latin, ii. 152; - _Confessions_, i. =63=; ii. 531; - _De Trinitate_, i. =64=, =68=, 74, 96; - _Civitas Dei_, i. 64-65, 69 _n. 2_, =81-82=; - _De moribus Ecclesiae_, i. 65, 67-8; - _De doctrina Christiana_, i. 66-7; - classification scheme based on the _Doctrina_, ii. 322; - _De spiritu et littera_, i. 69; - _De cura pro mortuis_, i. 86; - _De genesi ad litteram_, ii. 324; - Alcuin's compends of works of, i. 220; - otherwise mentioned, i. 5, 53, 71, 75, 82, 87, 89, 104, 186, 225, 340, - 354, 366, 370; ii. 107, 269, 297, 312 - - Augustus, Emp., i. 26, 29 - - Aurillac monastery, i. 281 - - Ausonius, i. 126 _n. 2_; ii. 107 - - Austrasia: - Church organization in, i. 199 - Feudal disintegration of, i. 240 - Irish monasteries founded in, i. 174 - Rise of, under Pippin, i. 209 - - Authority _v._ reason, _see_ Reason - - Auxerre, i. 506-7 - - Averroes, ii. 390 - - Averroism, ii. 400-1 - - Averroists, ii. =284 n.=, 296 _n. 1_ - - Avicenna, ii. 390 - - Avitus, Bp. of Vienne, i. 126 _n. 2_ - - Azo, ii. 262-3 - - - Bacon, Roger, career of, ii. 486-7 - tragedy of career, ii. 486; - relations with Franciscan Order, ii. 299, 486, =488=, 490-1; - encouragement to, from Clement IV., ii. 489-90 _and_ _n. 1_; - estimate of, ii. 484-6; - estimate of work of, ii. 402; - style of, ii. 179-80; - attitude toward the classics, ii. 120; - predilection for physical science, ii. 289, 486-7; - Albertus Magnus compared with, ii. 422; - on four causes of ignorance, ii. 494-5; - on seven errors in theological study, ii. 495-8; - on experimental science, ii. 502-8; - on logic, ii. 505; - on faith, ii. 507; - editions of works of, ii. 484 _n._; - Greek Grammar by, ii. =128= _and_ _n. 5_, 484 _n._, 487, 498; - _Multiplicatio specierum_, ii. 484 _n._, 500; - _Opus tertium_, ii. =488=, 490 _and_ _nn._, 491, 492, 498, 499; - _Opus majus_, ii. 490-1, 492, =494-5=, 498, =499-500=, =506-8=; - _Optics_, ii. 500; - _Opus minus_, ii. 490-1, =495-8=; - _Vatican fragment_, ii. 490 _and_ _n. 2_, =505 n. 1=; - _Compendium studii philosophiae_, ii. 491, 493-4, 507-8; - _Compendium theologiae_, ii. 491; - otherwise mentioned, ii. 284 _n._, 335 _n._, =389=, 531-2 - - Bartolomaeus, _De proprietatibus rerum_ of, ii. 316 _n. 2_ - - Bartolus, ii. 264 - - Baudri, Abbot of Bourgueil, ii. 192 _n. 1_ - - Bavaria: - Irish monasteries founded in, i. 174 - Merovingian rule in, i. 121 - Otto's relations with, i. 241 - Reorganization of Church in, 198-9 - - Bavarians, i. 145 _n. 2_, 209, 210 - - Beauty, love of, i. 340 - - Bec monastery, i. 262 _n._, 270-2 - - Bede, estimate of, i. 185-6; - allegorizing of Scripture by, ii. 47 _n. 1_; - _Church History of the English People_, i. 172, =186=, 234 _n. 2_; - _De arte metrica_, i. 187, =298=; - _Liber de temporibus_, 300; - otherwise mentioned, i. 184, 212 - - Beghards of Liége, i. 365 - - Belgae, i. 126 - - Belgica, i. 29, 32 - - Benedict, Prior, i. 258 - - Benedict, St., of Nursia, i. =85 and n. 2=, 94, 100 _n. 4_; - _Regula_ of, _see under_ Monasticism - - Benedictus, _Chronicon_ of, ii. 160-1 - - Benedictus Levita, Deacon, ii. 270 - - Benoit de St. More, _Roman de Troie_ by, ii. 225, =227-9= - - Beowulf, i. 141, =143-4= _and_ _n. 1_ - - Berengar, King, i. 256 - - Berengar of Tours, i. 297, 299, =302-3=; ii. 137 - - Bernard, Bro., of Quintavalle, i. 502 - - Bernard, disciple of St. Francis, i. 425-6 - - Bernard of Chartres, ii. 130-2, 370 - - Bernard, St., Abbot of Clairvaux, at Citeaux, i. 360, 393; - inspires Templars' _regula_, i. 531; - denounces and crushes Abaelard, i. 229, 401; ii. =344-5=, =355=; - denounces Arnold of Brescia, i. 401; ii. 171; - relations with Gilbert de la Porrée, ii. 372; - Lives of, i. 392 _n._, 393 _n. 1_; - appearance and characteristics of, i. 392-3; - estimate of, i. 394; ii. 367-8; - love and tenderness of, i. 344, 345, =394 seqq.=; ii. 365; - severity of, i. 400-1; - his love of Clairvaux, i. 401-2; - of his brother, i. 402-4; - Latin style of, ii. 169-71; - on church corruption, i. 474; - on faith, ii. 298; - unconcerned with physics, ii. 356; - St. Francis compared with, i. 415-16; - extracts from letters of, i. 395 _seqq._; ii. 170-1; - _Sermons on Canticles_--cited, 337 _n._; - quoted, i. =409-13=; ii. =169=, 368-9; - _De consideratione_, ii. 368; - otherwise mentioned, i. 17, 20, 279, 302, 472, 501; ii. 34, 168 - - Bernard Morlanensis, _De contemptu mundi_ by, ii. 199 _n. 3_ - - Bernard Silvestris, _Commentum ..._ of, ii. 116-17 _and_ _n. 2_; - _De mundi universitate_, ii. 119, =371 and n.= - - Bernardone, Peter, i. 419, 423-4 - - Bernward, Bp. of Hildesheim, i. 312 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Bible, _see_ Scriptures - - Biscop, Benedict, i. 184 - - Bishops: - Armed forces, with, i. 473 - Francis of Assisi's attitude toward, i. 430 - Gallo-Roman and Frankish, position of, i. 191-2, 194 _and_ _nn._, 198, - =201 n.= - Investiture of, lay, i. 244-5 _and_ _n. 4_; ii. 140 - Jurisdiction and privileges of, ii. 266 - Papacy's ascendancy over, i. 304 - Reluctance to be consecrated, i. 472 - Social class of, i. 473 - Vestments of, symbolism of, ii. 77 _n. 2_ - - _Blancandrin_, i. 565 - - Bobbio monastery, i. 178, =282-3= - - Boëthius, death of, i. =89=, 93; - estimate of, i. 89, 92, =102=; - Albertus Magnus compared with, ii. 420; - works of, i. 90-3; - Gerbert's familiarity with works of, i. 289; - works of, studied at Chartres, i. 298-9; - their importance, i. 298; - _De arithmetica_, i. 72, =90=; - _De geometria_, i. 90; - commentary on Porphyry's _Isagoge_, i. =92=; ii. 312; - translation of the _Organon_, i. 71, =91-2=; - "loss" of advanced works, ii. 248 _n._, 334; - _De consolatione philosophiae_, i. =89=, 188, =189-90=, 299; - mediaeval study of the work, i. 89; ii. 135-6 - - Bologna: - Clubs and guilds in, ii. 382 - Fight of, against Parma, i. 497 - Law school at, ii. =121=, 251, =259-62=, 378 - Medical school at, ii. 121, 383 _n._ - University, Law, inception and character of, ii. 121, =381-3=; - affiliated universities, ii. 383 _n._ - - Bonaventura, St. (John of Fidanza), career of, ii. 403; - at Paris, ii. 399, 403; - estimate of, ii. 301; - style of, ii. 181-2; - contrasted with Albertus, ii. 405; - compared with Aquinas, ii. 405, 437; - with Dante, ii. 547; - on faith, ii. 298; - on Minorites and Preachers, ii. 396; - attitude toward Plato and Aristotle, ii. 404-5; - toward Scriptures, ii. 405 _seqq._; - _De reductione artium ad theologiam_, ii. 406-8; - _Breviloquium_, ii. 408-13; - _Itinerarium mentis in Deum_, ii. 413-18; - otherwise mentioned, ii. 283, 288 - - Boniface, _see_ Winifried-Boniface - - Boniface VIII., Pope, _Sextus_ of, ii. 272; - _Unam sanctam_ bull of, ii. 509 - - _Books of Sentences_, method of, ii. 307 - (_See also under_ Lombard) - - Botany, ii. 427-8 - - Bretons, i. 113 - - _Breviarium_, i. 117, 239, =243-4= - - Britain: - Anglo-Saxon conquest of, i. 141 - Antique culture in relation to, before Middle Ages, i. 10-11 - Celts in, i. 127 _n._ - Christianity of, i. 171-2 - Romanization of, i. 32 - - Brude (Bridius), King of Picts, i. 173 - - Brunhilde, i. 176, 178 - - Bruno, Abp. of Cologne, i. 309-10, 383-4; - Ruotger's Life of, i. 310; ii. 162 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Burgundians: - Christianizing of, i. 193 - Church's attitude toward, i. 120 - Roman law code promulgated by (_Papianus_), ii. 239, =242= - Roman subjects of, i. 121 - otherwise mentioned, i. 9-10, 113, 145 - - Burgundy, i. =175=, 243 _n. 1_ - - Byzantine architecture, 212 _n._ - - Byzantine Empire, _see_ Eastern Empire - - - Cædmon, i. 183, 343 - - Caesar, C. Julius, cited, i. =27-9=, 138, 296 - - Caesar of Heisterbach, Life of Engelbert by, i. 482-6 _and_ _n._; - _Dialogi miraculorum_, cited, i. 488 _n._, 491. - - Canon law: - Authority of, ii. 274 - Basis of, ii. 267-9 - Bulk of, ii. 269 - Conciliar decrees, collections of, ii. =269= - Decretals: - Collections of, ii. 269, =271-2=, =275= =n.= - False, ii. 270, 273 - Gratian's _Decretum_, ii. 268-9, =270-1=, 306 - _Jus naturale_ in, ii. 268-9 - _Lex romana canonice compta_, ii. 252 - Scope of, ii. 267 - Sources of, ii. 269 - Supremacy of, ii. 277 - - Canossa, i. 244 - - Cantafables, i. 157 _n. 1_ - - Canticles, i. 350; - Origen's interpretation of, 333; - St. Bernard's Sermons on, i. 337 _n._, =409-13=; ii. =169=, 368-9 - - Capella, Martianus, _De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_ of, i. =71 and - n. 3=; ii. 553 - - _Caritas_, ii. 476-8; - in relation to faith, ii. 479-81; - to wisdom, ii. 481 - - Carloman, King of Austrasia, i. =199-200 and n.=, 209 - - Carloman (son of Pippin), i. 209-10 - - Carnuti, i. 296 - - Carolingian period: - _Breviarium_ epitomes current during, ii. 244, =249= - Continuity of, with Merovingian, i. 210-12 - Criticism of records non-existent in, i. 234 - Definiteness of statement a characteristic of, i. 225, =227= - Educational revival in, 218-19, 222, =236=; ii. 122, =158=; - palace school, i. =214=, 218, 229, 235 - First stage of mediaeval learning represented by, ii. 330, 332 - History as compiled in, i. 234-5 - King's law in, ii. 247 - Latin poetry of, ii. 188, 194, 197 - Latin prose of, ii. 158 - Originality in, circumstances evoking, i. 232-3 - Restatement of antique and patristic matter in, i. =237=, 342-3 - - Carthaginians, i. 25 - - Carthusian Order, origin of, i. 383-4 - - Cassian's _Institutes_ and _Conlocations_, i. 335 - - Cassiodorus, life and works of, i. 93-7; - _Chronicon_, i. 94; - _Variae epistolae_, i. 94; - _De anima_, 94-5; - _Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum_, i. =95-6=; ii. - 357 _n. 2_; - otherwise mentioned, i. 6, 88-9, 115; ii. 312 - - Cathari, i. 49; ii. 283 _n._ - - Catullus, i. 25 - - Cavallini, i. 347 - - Celsus cited, ii. 235, 237 - - Celtic language, date of disuse of, i. 31 _and_ _n._ - - Celts: - Gaul, in, i. =125 and n.=, =126-7=, 129 _n. 1_ - Goidelic and Brythonic, i. 127 _n._ - Ireland, in, _see_ Irish - Italy invaded by (3rd cent. B.C.), i. 24 - Latinized, i. 124 - Teutons compared with, i. 125 - - Champagne, i. 240, =573= - - Chandos, Sir John, i. 554-5 - - _Chanson de Roland_, i. 12 _n._, 528 _and_ _n. 2_, =559-62= - - _Chansons de geste_, i. =558 seqq.=; ii. 222 - - Charlemagne, age of, _see_ Carolingian period; - estimate of, i. 213; - relations of, with the Church, i. =201=, 239; ii. 273; - relations with Angilbert, i. 234-5; - educational revival by, i. =213-14=; ii. 110, 122, =158=, 332; - book of Germanic poems compiled by order of, ii. 220; - Capitularies of, ii. 110, =248=; - open letters of, i. 213 _n._; - Einhard's Life of, ii. 158-9; - poetic fame of, i. 210; - false Capitularies ascribed to, ii. 270; - empire of, non-enduring, i. 238; - otherwise mentioned, i. 9, 115, 153, 562; ii. 8 - - Charles Martel, i. 197, =198=, =209=; ii. 273 - - Charles II. (the Bald), King of France, i. 228, 235 - - Charles III. (the Simple), King of France, i. 239-40 - - Charles IV., King of France, i. 551 - - Chartres Cathedral, sculpture of, i. =20=, 297; ii. =82-5= - - Chartres Schools: - Classics the study of, i. 298; ii. 119 - Fulbert's work at, i. 296-7, 299 - Grammar as studied at, ii. 129-30 - Medicine studied at, ii. 372 - Orleans the rival of, ii. 119 _n. 2_ - Trivium and quadrivium at, i. =298-9=; ii. 163 - mentioned, i. 287, 293 - - Chartreuse, La Grande, founding of, i. 384 (_See also_ Carthusian) - - Chaucer, ii. 95 - - Childeric, King, i. 119, 122 - - Chivalry: - Literature of: - Arthurian romances, _see that heading_ - Aube (alba) poetry, i. =571=; ii. 30 - _Chansons de geste_, i. 558 _seqq._ - Nature of, i. 20 - _Pastorelle_, i. 571 - Pietistic ideal recognized in, ii. 288, 533 - Poems of various nations cited, i. 570 =n.= - Religious phraseology in love poems, i. 350 _n. 2_ - _Romans d'aventure_, i. =564-5=, 571 _n. 2_ - Three branches of, i. 558 - Nature of, i. 522, =570 n.= - Order of, evolution of, i. 524 _seqq._ - (_See also_ Knighthood) - - Chrétien de Troies, romances by, i. 566-=7=; - _Tristan_, i. 567; - _Perceval_, i. 567, =588-9=; - _Erec_ (Geraint), i. 567, 586; ii. 29 _n._; - _Lancelot_ or _Le Conte de la charrette_, i. 567, 569-70, =582-5=; - _Cligés_, i. 567, =586 n. 2=; - _Ivain_, i. =571 n. 2=, 586 _n. 3_; ii. 29 _n._; - translation of Ovid's _Ars amatoria_, i. 574 - - Christianity: - Appropriation of, by mediaeval peoples, stages in, i. 17-18 - Aquinas' _Summa_ as concerning, ii. 324 - Art, in, _see_ Art - Atonement doctrine, Anselm's views on, i. 279 - Basis of, ii. 268 - Britain, in, i. 171-2 - Buddhism contrasted with, i. 390 - Catholic Church, _see_ Church - Completeness of scheme of, ii. 394-5 - Dualistic element in, i. 59 - Eleventh century, position in, i. 16 - Emotional elements in: - Fear, i. 103, 339, 342, 383 - Hate, i. 332, 339 - Love, i. 331, =345= - Synthetic treatment of, i. 333 - Emotionalizing of, angels as regarded in, i. 348 _n. 4_ - Eternal punishment doctrine of, i. =65=, =339=, 486 - Faith of, _see_ Faith - Feudalism in relation to, i. 524, 527-=9 and n. 2=, =530= - Fifth century, position in, i. 15 - Gallo-Roman, i. 191-2 - German language affected by, i. 202 - Greek Fathers' contribution to, i. 5 - Greek philosophic admixture in, i. 33-4 - Hell-fear in, i. 103, =339=, 342, =383= - Hymns, _see that heading_ - Ideal _v._ actual, i. 354-5 - Incarnation doctrine of, ii. 369 - Irish missionaries of, _see under_ Irish - Latin as modified for expression of, ii. 152, =154=, 156, 164, 171 - Marriage as regarded by, ii. 8, 529 - Martyrs for, _see_ Martyrs - Mediaeval development in relation to, i. 11, 170 - Mediation doctrine of, i. 54, 59-60 - Militant character of, in early centuries, i. =69-70=, 75 - Miracles, attitude toward, i. 50-1 - Monasticism, _see that heading_ - Neo-Platonism compared with, i. 51 - Pagan ethics inconsistent with, i. 66 - Pessimism of, toward mortal life, i. 64 - Saints, _see that heading_ - Salvation: - Master motive, as, i. 59, =61=, 79, 89 - Scholasticism's main interest, as, ii. =296-7=, 300, 311 - Standard of discrimination, as, ii. =530=, =533=, 559 - Scriptures, _see that heading_ - Teutonic acceptance of, _see under_ Teutons - Trinity doctrine of: - Abaelard's works on, ii. 10, =298-9=, 352-3, 355 - Aquinas on, ii. 449-50, 456 - Bonaventura on, ii. 416-17 - Dante's vision, ii. 551 - Peter Lombard's Book on, ii. 323 - Roscellin on, ii. 340 - Vernacular presentation of, ii. 221 - Visions, _see that heading_ - - Chronicles, mediaeval, ii. 175 - - Chrysostom, i. 53 - - Church, Roman Catholic: - Authority of, Duns' views on, ii. 516 - Bishops, _see that heading_ - British Church's divergencies from, 171-2 - Canon Law, _see that heading_ - Charlemagne's relations with, i. =201=, 239; ii. 273 - Classical study as regarded by, i. 260; ii. =110 seqq.=, 396-7 - Clergy, _see that heading_ - Confession doctrine of, i. 489 - Constantine's relations with, ii. 266 - Creation of, i. 11, 68, =86-7= - Decretals, etc., _see under_ Canon Law - Denunciations of, i. 474-5; ii. 34-5 - Diocesan organization of, among Germans, i. 196 - Doctrinal literature of, i. 68-70 - Duns' attitude towards, ii. 513 - East and West, solidarity of development of, i. 55 - Empire's relations with, _see under_ Papacy - Eternal punishment doctrine of, i. =65=, =339=, 486; ii. 550 - Eucharistic controversy, _see that heading_ - Fathers of the, _see_ Greek thought, patristic; Latin Fathers; _and - chiefly_ Patristic thought - Feudalism as affected by, i. 524, 527-=9 and n. 2=, =530= - Feudalism as affecting, i. 244, 473 - Frankish, _see under_ Franks - Gallo-Roman, i. 191-2, 194 - Hildegard's visions regarding, i. 457 - Intolerance of, _see subheading_ Persecutions - Investiture controversy, _see under_ Bishops - Irish Church's relations with, i. 172-4 _and_ =n. 1= - Isidore's treatise on liturgical practices of, i. 106 - Knights' vow of obedience to, i. 530 - Mass, the: - Alleluia chant and Sequence-hymn, ii. 196, =201 seqq.= - Symbolism of, ii. 77-8 - Nicene Creed, i. 69 - Papacy, Popes, _see those headings_ - Paschal controversy, _see_ Eucharistic - Penance doctrine of, i. =101=, 195 - Persecutions by, i. 339; - of Albigenses, i. 366-7, 461, 481, 572; ii. 168; - of Jews, i. 118, 332; - of Montanists, i. 332 - Popes, _see that heading_ - Predestination, attitude toward, i. 228 - Property of, enactments regarding, ii. 266 - Rationalists in, i. 305 - Reforms in (11th cent.), i. 304 - Roman law for, ii. 265 _and_ _n. 2_ - Sacraments: - Definition of the word, ii. 72 _and_ _n. 1_ - Hugo of St. Victor on, ii. 64, 66, 68-9, 71, =72-4=, 90 _n. 2_ - Origin of, Bonaventura on, ii. 411-13 - Pagan analogy with, i. 53, 59-60 - Secularization of dignities of, i. 472 - Simony in, i. =244=, 475 - Spain, in, _see under_ Spain - Standards set by, ii. 528-9 - Suspects to, estimate of, ii. 532 - Synod of Aix (817), i. 359 - Theodosian Code as concerning, ii. 266-7 _and_ _n. 1_ - Transubstantiation doctrine of, i. 226-227 - "Truce of God" promulgated by, i. 529 _n. 2_ - - Churches: - Building of, symbolism in, ii. 78-82 - Dedication of, sequence designed for, ii. 210-11 - - Cicero, i. 26 _n. 3_, 39, 78, =219= - - Cino, ii. 264 - - Cistercian Order: - _Charta charitatis_, i. 361-3 - Clairvaux founded, i. 393 - Cluniac controversies with, i. 360 - - Citeaux monastery: - Bernard at, i. 360, 393 - Foundation and rise of, i. 360-3 - - Cities and towns: - Growth of, in 12th cent., i. 305; ii. =379-80= - Italian, _see under_ Italy - - Cities (_civitates_) of Roman provinces, i. 29-30 - - Clairvaux (Clara Vallis): - Founding of, i. 360, 393 - Position of, i. 362 - St. Bernard's love of, i. 401-2 - - Classics, _see_ Latin classics - - Claudius, Bp. of Turin, i. 215, 231-2 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Claudius, Emp., i. 30 - - Clement II., Pope, i. 243 - - Clement IV., Pope, ii. 489-91 - - Clement V., Pope, _Decretales Clementinae_ of, ii. 272 - - Clement of Alexandria, ii. 64 - - Clergy: - Accusations against, false, penalty for, ii. 266 - Legal status of, ii. 382 - Regular, _see_ Monasticism - Secular: - Concubinage of, i. 244 - Francis of Assisi's attitude toward, i. 430, 440 - Marriage of, i. 472 _n. 1_ - Reforms of, i. 359 - Standard of conduct for, i. 471; ii. 529 - Term, scope of, i. 356 - - Clerval, Abbé, cited, i. 300 _n. 1_ - - Clopinel, Jean, _see_ De Meun - - Clovis (Chlodoweg), i. 114, 117, =119-21=, 122, 138, =193-4=; ii. 245 - - Cluny monastery: - Abaelard at, ii. 25, =26=, 345 - Characteristics of, i. 359-60 - Monastic reforms accomplished by, i. =293=, 304 - - Cologne, i. 29, 31 - - Columba, St., of Iona, i. =133-7=, 173 - - Columbanus, St., of Luxeuil and Bobbio, i. 6, 133, =174-9=, 196; - Life and works of, 174 _n. 2_ - - Combat, trial by, i. 232 - - Commentaries, mediaeval: - Boëthius', i. 93 - Excerpts as characteristic of, i. 104 - General addiction to, ii. 390, 553 _n. 4_ - Originals supplanted by, ii. 390 - Raban's, i. 222-3 - - Compends: - Fourteenth century use of, ii. 523 - Mediaeval preference for, i. 94 - Medical, in Italy, i. 251 - Saints' lives, of (_Legenda aurea_), ii. 184 - - Conrad, Duke of Franconia, i. 241 - - Conrad II., Emp., i. 243 - - Constantine, Emp., ii. 266; - "Donation" of, ii. =35=, 265, 270 - - Constantinus Africanus, i. =251= _and_ _n._; ii. 372 - - Cordova, i. 25 - - Cornelius Nepos, i. 25 - - _Cornificiani_, ii. =132=, 373 - - Cosmogony: - Aquinas' theory of, ii. 456 - Mediaeval allegorizing of, ii. 65 _seqq._ - Patristic attitude toward, i. 72-4 - - Cosmology, Alan's, in _Anticlaudianus_, ii. 377 - - Cremona, i. 24 - - Cross, Christian: - Magic safeguard, as, i. 294-5 - Mediaeval feeling for, ii. 197 - - Crusades: - Constantinople, capture of, as affecting Western learning, ii. 391 - First: - _Chansons_ concerning, i. 537-8 - Character of, i. 535-7 - Guibert's account of, ii. 175 - Hymn concerning, quoted, i. 349 _and_ _n._ - Italians little concerned in, ii. 189 - Joinville's account of, quoted, i. 546-9 - Language of, i. 531 - Results of, i. 305 - Second, i. 394 - Spirit of, i. 535-7 - - Cuchulain, i. 129 _and_ _nn. 2, 3_ - - Cynewulf's _Christ_, i. 183 - - Cyprian quoted, i. 337 _n._ - - Cyril of Alexandria, i. 227 - - Cyril of Jerusalem, i. 53 - - - Da Romano, Alberic, i. 515-16 - - Da Romano, Eccelino, i. =505-6=, 516 - - Dacia, Visigoths in, i. 112 - - Damiani, St. Peter, Card. Bp. of Ostia, career of, i. 262-4; - attitude of, to the classics, i. 260; ii. 112, 165; - on the hermit life, i. 369-70; - on tears, i. 371 _and_ _n._; - extract illustrating Latin style of, ii. 165 _and_ _n. 3_; - works of, i. 263 _n. 1_; - writings quoted, i. 263-7; - _Liber Gomorrhianus_, i. 265, 474; - _Vita Romualdi_, i. 372 _seqq._; - biography of Dominicus Loricatus, i. 381-2; - _De parentelae gradibus_, ii. 252; - otherwise mentioned, i. 17, 19, 20, 260, 343, 345, 391; ii. 34 - - Damianus, i. 262, 265 - - Danes, i. 142, =153= - - Dante, estimate of, ii. 534-5; - scholarship of, ii. 541 _n. 2_; - possessed by spirit of allegory, ii. 552-5; - compared with Aquinas and influenced by him, ii. 541 _n. 2_, 547, 549, - 551, 555; - compared with Bonaventura, ii. 547; - attitude to Beatrice, ii. 555-8; - on love, ii. 555-6; - on monarchy, ii. 278; - _De monarchia_, ii. 535; - _De vulgari eloquentia_, ii. 219, =536=; - _Vita nuova_, ii. =556=, 559; - _Convito_, ii. =537-8=, 553; - _Divina Commedia_, i. 12 _n._; ii. 86, 99 _n. 1_, =103=, 219; - commentaries on this work, ii. 553-4; - estimate of it, ii. 538, 540-1, 544, 553-4; - _Inferno_ cited, ii. 42, 541-3, =545-7=; - _Purgatorio_ cited, ii. 535, 542-3, =548-9=, 554, 558; - _Paradiso_ cited, i. 395; ii. 542-3, =549-51=, 558 - - Dares the Phrygian, ii. 116 _and_ _n. 3_, 224-=5 and nn.=, 226-7 - - _De bello et excidio urbis Comensis_, ii. 189-90 - - De Boron, Robert, i. 567 - - _De casu Diaboli_, i. 279 - - _De consolatione philosophiae_, _see under_ Boëthius - - De Lorris, Guillaume, _Roman de la rose_ by, i. =586-7=; ii. 103 _and_ - _n. 1_, 104 - - De Meun, Jean (Clopinel), _Roman de la rose_ by, ii. 103 _and_ _n. 1_, - 104, =223= - - Denis, St., i. 230 - - Dermot (Diarmaid, Diarmuid), High-King of Ireland, i. =132=-3, 135, =136= - - Desiderius, Bp. of Vienne, i. 99 - - Desiderius, Pope, i. =253=, 263 - - Devil, the: - Mediaeval beliefs and stories as to, i. 487 _seqq._ - Romuald's conflicts with, i. =374=, 379-80 - - Dialectic (_See also_ Logic): - Abaelard's skill in, ii. 118, 119, =345-6=, 353; - his subjection of dogma to, ii. 304; - his _Dialectica_, ii. 346 _and_ _nn._, 349-50 - Chartres study of, i. 298 - Duns Scotus' mastery of, ii. 510, 514 - Grammar penetrated by, ii. 127 _seqq._ - Hugo of St. Victor on, ii. 67 - Raban's view of, i. 222 - Thirteenth century study of, ii. 118-20 - - Diarmaid (Diarmuid), _see_ Dermot - - _Dictamen_, ii. =121=, =129=, 381 - - Dictys the Cretan, ii. 224, 225 _and_ _n. 1_ - - _Dies irae_, i. 348 - - Dionysius the Areopagite, ii. 10, 102, =344= - - _Divina Commedia_, _see under_ Dante - - Divination, ii. 374 - - Dominic, St., i. =366-7=, 497; ii. 396 - - Dominican Order: - Aristotelianism of, ii. 404 - Founding of, i. =366=; ii. 396 - Growth of, i. 498; ii. =398= - Object of, ii. 396 - Oxford University, at, ii. 387 - Papacy, relations with, ii. =398=, 509 - Paris University, position in, ii. =386=, 399 - - Dominicus Loricatus, i. 263, =381-3= - - Donatus, i. 71, 297; - _Ars minor_ and _Barbarismus_ of, ii. 123-=4= - - Donizo of Canossa, ii. 189 _and_ _n. 2_ - - Druids: - Gallic, i. =28=, 296 - Irish, i. 133 - - Du Guesclin, Bertrand, Constable of France, i. 554-6, 557 _n._ - - Duns Scotus, education of, ii. 511; - career of, ii. 513; - estimate of, ii. 513; - intricacy of style of, ii. 510, 514, =516 n. 2=; - on logic, ii. 504 _n. 2_; - Occam's attitude toward, ii. 518 _seqq._; - editions of works of, ii. 511 _n. 1_; - estimate of his work, ii. 509-10, 514 - - Dunstan, St., Abp. of Canterbury, i. 323-4 - - Durandus, Guilelmus, _Rationale divinorum officiorum_ of, ii. 76 _seqq._ - - - Eadmer, i. 269, 273, 277 - - Eastern Empire: - Frankish relations with, i. 123 - Huns' relations with, i. 112-13 - Norse mercenaries of, i. 153 - Ostrogoths' relations with, i. 114 - Roman restoration by, i. 115 - - Ebroin, i. 209 - - Eckbert, Abbot of Schönau, i. 444 - - Ecstasy: - Bernard's views on, ii. 368 - Examples of, i. 444, 446 - - Eddas, ii. 220 - - Education: - Carolingian period, in, i. =213-14=, 218-19, 222, =236=; ii. 110, 122, - =158=, 332 - Chartres method of, ii. 130-1 - Grammar a chief study in, ii. 122 _seqq._, 331-2 - Italy, in, _see under_ Italy - Latin culture the means and method of, i. 12; ii. =109= - Schools, clerical and monastic, i. =250 n. 2=, 293 - Schools, lay, i. 249-51 - Seven Liberal Arts, _see that heading_ - Shortening of academic course, advocates of, ii. =132=, 373 - - Edward II., King of England, i. 551 - - Edward III., King of England, i. 550-1 - - Edward the Black Prince, i. 554-6 - - Einhard the Frank, i. 234 _n. 1_; - _Life of Charlemagne_ by, i. 215; ii. 158-9 - - Ekkehart family, i. 309 - - Ekkehart of St. Gall, _Waltarius_ (_Waltharilied_) by, ii. 188 - - El-Farabi, ii. 390 - - Eleventh century: - Characteristics of, i. 301; - in France, i. 301, 304, 328; - in Germany, i. 307-9; - in England, i. 324; - in Italy, i. 327 - Christianity in, position of, i. 16 - - Elias, Minister-General of the Minorites, i. 499 - - Elizabeth, St., of Hungary, i. 391, =465 n. 1= - - Elizabeth, St., of Schönau, visions of, i. 444-6 - - Emotional development, secular, i. 349-50 _and_ _n. 2_ - - Empire, the, _see_ Holy Roman Empire - - Encyclopaedias, mediaeval, ii. 316 _n. 2_; - Vincent's _Speculum majus_, ii. 315-22 - - _Eneas_, ii. 225, =226= - - Engelbert, Abp. of Cologne, i. 481-6; - estimate of, i. 482 - - England (_See also_ Britain): - Danish Viking invasion of, i. 153 - Eleventh century conditions in, i. 324 - Law in, principles of, i. 141-2; - Roman law almost non-existent in Middle Ages, ii. 248 - Norman conquest of, linguistic result of, i. 324 - - English language, character of, i. 324 - - Epicureanism, i. =41=, 70; ii. 296, 312 - - Eriugena, John Scotus, estimate of, i. 215, =228-9=, =231=; ii. 330; - on reason _v._ authority, ii. 298, 302; - works of, studied at Chartres, i. 299; - _De divisione naturae_, i. =230-1=; ii. 302; - otherwise mentioned, i. 16; ii. 282 _n._, 312 - - Essenes, i. 334 - - Ethelbert, King of Kent, i. 180-1 - - _Etymologies_ of Isidore, i. 33, 105 _and_ _n. 1_, =107-9=; ii. 318; - law codes glossed from, ii. 250 - - Eucharistic (Paschal) controversy: - Berengar's contribution to, i. 302-3 - Paschasius' contribution to, i. 225-7 - - Eucherius, Bp. of Lyons, ii. 48 _n. 1_ - - Euclid, i. 40 - - Eudemus of Rhodes, i. 38 - - Eunapius, i. 47, 52 - - Euric, King of the Visigoths, i. 117 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Eusebius, i. 81 _n. 2_ - - Evil or sin: - Abaelard's views concerning, ii. 350 - Eriugena's views concerning, i. 228 - Original sin, realism in relation to, ii. 340 _n._ - Peter Lombard and Aquinas contrasted as to, ii. 308-10 - - Experimental science, Bacon on, ii. 502-8 - - - _Fabliaux_, i. =521 n. 2=; ii. 222 - - Facts, unlimited actuality of, i. 79-80 - - Faith: - Abaelard's definition of, ii. 354 - Bacon's views on, ii. 507 - Bernard of Clairvaux's attitude toward, ii. 355 - _Caritas_ in relation to, ii. 479-81 - Cognition through, Aquinas' views on, ii. 446 - Occam's views on, ii. 519 - Proof of matters of, Aquinas on, ii. 450 - Will as functioning in, ii. 479 - - _False Decretals_, i. 104 _n._, =118 n. 1= - - Fathers of the Church (_See also_ Patristic thought): - Greek, _see_ Greek thought, patristic - Latin, _see_ Latin Fathers - - Faustus, ii. 44 - - Felix, St., i. 86 - - Feudalism (_See also_ Knighthood): - Anarchy of, modification of, i. 304 - Austrasian disintegration by, i. 240 - _Chansons_ regarding, i. 559 _seqq._, 569 - Christianity in relation to, i. 524, 527-=9 and n. 2=, =530= - Church affected by, i. 244, 473 - Italy not greatly under, i. 241 - Marriage as affected by, i. 571, 586 - Obligations of, i. 533-4 - Origin of, 522-3 - Principle and practice of, at variance, i. 522 - - Fibonacci, Leonardo, ii. 501 - - Finnian, i. 136 - - _Flamenca_, i. 565 - - _Flore et Blanchefleur_, i. 565 - - Florus, Deacon, of Lyons, i. 229 _and_ _n._ - - Fonte Avellana hermitage, i. =262-3=, 381 - - Forms, new, creation of, _see_ Mediaeval thought--Restatement - - Fortunatus, Hymns by, ii. 196-7 - - Fourteenth century: - Academic decadence in, ii. 523 - Papal position in, ii. 509-10 - - France (_For particular districts, towns, etc., see their names_): - Antique, the, in relation to, before Middle Ages, i. 9-10 - Arthurian romances developed in, i. 566 - Cathedrals of, ii. 539, 554-5 - Church in, secularization of, i. 472-3 - Eleventh century conditions in, i. 301, 304, 328 - History of, in 11th century, i. 300 - Hundred Years' War, i. 550 _seqq._ - Jacquerie in (1358), i. 556 - Language modifications in, ii. 155 - Literary celebrities in (12th cent.), ii. 168 - Monarchy of, advance of, i. 305 - North and South, characteristics of, i. 328 - Rise of, in 14th century, ii. 509 - Town-dwellers of, i. =495=, 508 - - Francis, St., of Assisi, birth of, i. 415; - parentage, i. 419; - youth, i. 420-3; - breach with his father, i. 423-4; - monastic career, i. 427 _seqq._; - French songs sung by, i. =419 and n. 2=, 427, 432; - _Lives_ of, i. 415 _n._; - style of Thomas of Celano's _Life_, ii. 182-3; - _Speculum perfectionis_, i. 415 _n._, 416 _n._, =438 n. 3=; ii. =183=; - literal acceptance of Scripture by, i. 365, 406-=7=; - on Scripture interpretation, i. 427 _n. 1_; ii. 183; - universality of outlook, i. 417; - mediaevalism, i. 417; - Christ-influence, i. 417, =418=, =432=-3; - inspiration, i. =419 n. 1=, 441; - gaiety of spirit, i. 421, 427-8, 431-2; - poetic temperament, i. 422, 435; - love of God, man, and nature, i. 366, 428, =432-3=, =435=-7; - simplicity, i. 429; - obedience and humility, i. 365 _n._, =429-30=; - humanism, i. 495; - St. Bernard compared with, i. 415-16; - St. Dominic contrasted with, ii. 396; - _Fioretti_, ii. 184; - Canticle of Brother Sun, i. 433-4, =439-40=; - last testament of, i. 440-1; - otherwise mentioned, i. 20, 21, 279, 344, 345, 355-6; ii. 302 - - Franciscan Order: - Attractiveness of, i. 498 - Augustinianism of, ii. 404 - Bacon's relations with, ii. 486, =488=, 490-=1= - Characteristics of, i. 366 - Founding of, i. =427=; ii. 396 - Grosseteste's relations, ii. =487=, 511 - Object of, ii. 396 - Oxford University, at, ii. 387, 400 - Papacy, relations with, ii. =398=, 509 - Paris University, in, ii. 386, 399 - Rise of, ii. 398 - - Franconia, i. 241 - - Franks (_See also_ Germans): - Christianity as accepted by, i. 193 - Church among: - Bishops, position of, i. =194 and nn.=, 198, 201 _n._ - Charlemagne's relations with, i. =201=, 239; ii. 273 - Clovis, under, i. 194 - Lands held by, i. 194, 199-200; - immunities of, i. 201 _and_ _n._ - Organization of, i. 199 - Reform of, by Boniface, i. =196=; ii. 273 - Roman character of, i. 201 - Division of the kingdom a custom of, i. 238-9 - Gallo-Roman relations with, i. 123 - Language of, i. 145 _n. 2_ - Law of, ii. 245-6 - _Missi dominici_, i. 211 - Ripuarian, i. 119, 121; ii. 246 - Romanizing of, partial, i. 9-10 - Salian, i. 113, =119=; Code, ii. 245-6 - Saracens defeated by, i. 209-10 _n. 1_ - Trojan origin of, belief as to, ii. 225 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Frederic, Count of Isenburg, i. 483-6 - - Frederick I. (Barbarossa), Emp., i. 448 - - Frederick II., Emp., under Innocent's guardianship, ii. 32-3; - crowned, ii. 33; - estimate of, i. 497; - otherwise mentioned, i. 250 _n. 4_, 417, 481, 505, 510, 517 - - Free, meaning of term, i. 526 _n. 3_ - - Free Companies, i. 556 - - Free will: - Angelic, ii. 473 - Duns Scotus on, ii. 515 - Human, ii. 475 - Richard of Middleton on, ii. 512 - - Freidank, i. 475; ii. =35= - - Frescoes, i. 346-7 - - Friendship, chivalric, i. 561-2, 569-70, 583 - - Frisians, i. 169, 174; - missionary work among, i. =197=, 200, 209 - - Froissart, Sir John, _Chronicles_ of, i. 549 _seqq._; - estimate of the work, i. 557 - - Froumund of Tegernsee, i. =312-13=; ii. 110 - - Fulbert, Bp. of Chartres, i. 287, =296-7=, 299 - - Fulbert, Canon, ii. 4-6, 9 - - Fulco, Bp. of Toulouse, i. 461 - - Fulda monastery, i. =198=, 221 _n. 2_ - - Fulk of Anjou, ii. 138 - - - Gaius, _Institutes_ of, ii. 241, 243 - - Galahad, i. 569-70, 583, 584 _and_ _n. 2_ - - Galen of Pergamos, i. =40=, 251 - - Gall, St., i. 6, 178, =196= - - Gallo-Romans: - Feudal system among, i. 523 - Frankish rule over, i. 120, 123 - Literature of, i. 126 _n. 2_ - - Gandersheim cloister, i. 311 - - Gaul (_For particular districts, towns, etc., see their names_): - Celtic inhabitants of, i. =125 and n.=, =126=-7, 129 _n. 1_ - Druidism in, i. =28=, 296 - Ethnology of, i. 126 - Heathenism in, late survival of, i. 191 _n. 1_ - Latinization of, i. 9-10, =29-32= - Visigothic kingdom in south of, i. 112, 116, 117, 121 - - Gauls, characteristics and customs of, i. 27-8 - - Geoffrey of Beaulieu, Life of St. Louis by, i. 539-42 - - Gepidae, i. 113, 115 - - Geraldus, St., i. 281 - - Gerard, brother of St. Bernard, i. 402-4 - - Gerbert of Aurillac, _see_ Sylvester II. - - German language: - Christianity as affecting, i. 202 - High and Low, separation of, i. 145 _n. 2_ - Middle High German literature, ii. 168, 221 - Old High German poetry, ii. =194=, 220 - - Germans (Saxons) (_See also_ Franks): - Characteristics of, i. 138-40, 147, 151-2 - Language of, _see_ German language - Latin as studied by, i. =307-9=; ii. =123=, 155 - Literature of, ii. 220-1 (_See also subheading_ Poetry) - Marriage as regarded by, ii. 30 - Nationalism of, in 13th cent., ii. 28 - Poetry of: - _Hildebrandslied_, i. 145-7 - _Kudrun_ (_Gudrun_), i. 148, =149=-52; ii. 220 - _Nibelungenlied_, i. 145-6, =148-9=, 152, 193, 203 _n. 2_; ii. 220 - _Waltarius_, i. 147 _and_ _n._, 148 - otherwise mentioned, i. 113, 115, 119, 174, 209, 210 - - Germany: - Antique, the, in relation to, before Middle Ages, i. 10-11 - Art in (11th cent.), i. 312 - Church in, secularization of, i. 472 - Italy contrasted with, as to culture, i. 249-50 - Merovingian supremacy in, i. 121 - Papacy as regarded by, ii. 28, 33, =34-5= - Sequence-composition in, ii. 215 - - Gertrude of Hackeborn, Abbess, i. 466 - - Gilbert de la Porrée, Bp. of Poictiers, ii. 132, =372= - - Gilduin, Abbot of St. Victor, ii. =62= _and_ _n. 2_ - - Giraldus Cambrensis, ii. 135 _and_ _n._ - - Girard, Bro., of Modena, i. 498 - - Glaber, Radulphus, _Histories_ of, i. 488 _n._ - - Glass-painting, ii. 82-6 - - Gnosticism, i. 51 _n. 1_ - - Gnostics, Eriugena compared with, i. 231 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Godehard, Bp. of Hildesheim, i. 312 - - Godfrey of Bouillon, i. 535-8 - - Godfrey of Viterbo, ii. 190 _and_ _n. 4_ - - Gondebaud, King of the Burgundians, ii. 242 - - Good and the true compared, ii. 441, 512 - - Goths (_See also_ Visigoths): - Christianity of, i. 192, 194 - Roman Empire invaded by, i. 111 _seqq._ - - Gottfried von Strassburg, i. 567; ii. 223; - _Tristan_ of, i. 577-82 - - Gottschalk, i. 215, 221 _n. 2_, 224-5, 227-=8=; - verses by, ii. 197-9 - - Government: - Church _v._ State controversy, ii. 276-7 - (_See also_ Papacy--Empire) - Ecclesiastical, _see_ Canon Law - Monarchical, ii. 277-8 - Natural law in relation to, ii. 278-=9= - Representative assemblies, ii. 278 - - Grace, Aquinas' definition of, ii. 478-9 - - Grail, the, i. 589, =596-7=, =607=, 608, 613 - - Grammar: - Chartres studies in, i. =298=; ii. 129-30 - Current usage followed by, ii. 163 _and_ _n. 1_ - Hugo of St. Victor on, ii. 67 - Importance and predominance of, in Middle Ages, i. 109 _and_ _n._, - =292=; ii. =331-2= - Italian study of, ii. =129=, 381 - Language continuity preserved by, ii. =122-3=, 151, 155 - Law studies in relation to, ii. 121 - Logic in relation to, ii. 127 _seqq._, 333-4; - in Abaelard's work, ii. 346 - Raban's view of, i. 222 - Scholastic classification of, ii. 313 - Syntax, connotation of term, ii. 125 - Works on--Donatus, Priscian, Alexander, ii. 123 =seqq.= - - Grammarian, meaning of term, i. 250 - - Gratianus, _Decretum_ of, ii. 268-9, =270-1=, 306, 380-2; - _dicta_, ii. 271 - - Greek classics, _see_ Greek thought, pagan - - Greek language: - Oxford studies in, ii. 120, 391, =487= - Translations from, direct, in 13th cent., ii. 391 - - Greek legends, mediaeval allegorizing of, ii. 52, 56-9 - - Greek novels, ii. 224 _and_ _n._ - - Greek thought, pagan: - Bacon's attitude toward, ii. 492-3 - Breadth of interest of, ii. 109 - Christian standpoint contrasted with, i. 390; ii. 295-6 - Church Fathers permeated by, i. 33-4 - Completeness of schemes presented by, ii. 394 - Limitless, the, abhorrent to, i. 353-4 - Love as regarded by, i. 575 - Metaphysics in, ii. 335-7 - Scholasticism contrasted with, ii. 296 - _Summa moralium philosophorum_, ii. 373 - Symbolism in, ii. 42, =56= - Transmutation of, through Latin medium, i. 4 - - Greek thought, patristic (_See also_ Patristic thought): - Comparison of, with Latin, i. 68 - Pagan philosophic thought contrasted with, ii. 295-6 - Symbolism in, ii. 43 - Transmutation of, through Latin medium, i. 5, 34 _and_ _n._ - - Gregorianus, ii. =240=, 243 - - Gregory, Bp. of Tours, i. 121; - _Historia Francorum_ by, i. 234 _n. 2_; ii. 155 - - Gregory I. (the Great), Pope, family and education of, i. 97; - Augustine of Hippo compared with, i. 98-9; - Augustinianism barbarized by, i. 98, 102; - sends mission to England, i. 6, 33, =180-1 and n. 1=; - estimate of, i. =56=, 89, =102-3=, =342=; - estimate of his writings, i. 354; - on miracles, i. 100, 182; - on secular studies, ii. 288; - letter to Theoctista cited, i. 102 _n. 1_; - editions of works of, i. 97 _n._; - works of, translated by King Alfred, i. 187; - _Dialogues on the Lives and Miracles of the Italian Saints_, i. 85 - and _n. 2_, 100; - _Moralia_, i. =97=, 100; ii. 57; - Odo's epitome of this work, ii. 161; - _Commentary on Kings_, i. 100 _n. 1_; - _Pastoral Rule_, i. =102=, 187-8; - otherwise mentioned, i. 16 _and_ _n. 4_, 65, 87, 104, 116 - - Gregory II., Pope, i. 197-8; ii. 273 - - Gregory III., Pope, i. 198; ii. 273 - - Gregory VII., Pope (Hildebrand), claims of, i. =244-5=; ii. 274; - relations with Damiani, i. 263; - exile of, i. 244, 253; - estimate of, i. 261; - otherwise mentioned, i. 17, 174 _n. 1_, 243, 304 - - Gregory IX., Pope, codification by, of Canon law, ii. 272; - efforts of, to improve education of the Church, ii. 398; - mentioned, i. 476; ii. 33 - - Gregory of Nyssa, i. 53, 80, 87, 340 - - Grosseteste, Robert, Chancellor of Oxford University and Bp. of Lincoln, - Greek studies promoted by, ii. =120=, =391=, 487; - estimate of, ii. 511-12; - Augustinianism of, ii. 403-4; - attitude toward the classics, ii. 120, 389; - relations with Franciscan Order, ii. =487=, 511; - Bacon's relations with, ii. 487 - - _Gudrun_ (_Kudrun_), i. 148, =149=-52; ii. 220 - - Guigo, Prior, estimate of, i. 390-1; - relations with St. Bernard, i. 405; - _Consuetudines Carthusiae_ by, i. 384; - _Meditationes_ of, i. 385-90 - - Guinevere, i. 569, =584= _and_ _n. 1_, 585 - - Guiot de Provens, "Bible" of, i. 475-6 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Guiscard, Robert, ii. 189 _n. 2_ - - Gumpoldus, Bp. of Mantua, _Life of Wenceslaus_ by, ii. 162 _n. 1_ - - Gundissalinus, Archdeacon of Segovia, ii. 312 _and_ _n. 4_, 313 - - Gunther, _Ligurinus_ of, ii. 192 _and_ _n. 4_ - - Gunzo of Novara, i. 257-8 - - - Harding, Stephen, Abbot of Citeaux, i. =360=, =361=, 393 - - Harold Fairhair, i. 153 - - _Hartmann von Aue_, i. =348-9 and n.=, 567; ii. 29 _n._ - - Harun al Raschid, Caliph, i. 210 - - Heinrich von Veldeke, i. 567; ii. 29 _n._ - - _Heliand_, i. =203 and nn.=, 308 - - Helias, Count of Maine, ii. 138 - - Hell: - Dante's descriptions of, ii. 546-7 - Fear of, i. 103, =339=, 342, =383= - Visions of, i. 454-5, 456 _n._ - - Heloïse, Abaelard's love for, ii. 4-5, 344; - his love-songs to, ii. =13=, 207; - love of, for Abaelard, i. 585; ii. =3=, =5=, 8, 9, =15-16=; - birth of Astralabius, ii. 6; - opposes marriage with Abaelard, ii. 6-9; - marriage, ii. 9; - at Argenteuil, ii. 9, 10; - takes the veil, ii. 10; - at the Paraclete, ii. 10 _seqq._; - letters of, to Abaelard quoted, ii. 11-15, 17-20, 23, 24; - Abaelard's letters to, quoted, ii. 16-17, 21-3, 24-5; - Peter the Venerable's letter, ii. 25-7; - letter of, to Peter the Venerable, ii. 27; - death of, ii. 27; - intellectual capacity of, ii. 3 - - Henry the Fowler, i. 241 - - Henry II., Emp., i. 243; - dirge on death of, ii. 216 - - Henry IV., Emp., i. 244; ii. =167= - - Henry VI., Emp., ii. 32, 190 - - Henry I., King of England, ii. 139, 146, 176-8 - - Henry II., King of England, ii. 133, 135, 372 - - Henry of Brabant, ii. 391 - - Henry of Ghent, ii. 512 - - Henry of Huntington cited, i. 525 - - Henry of Septimella, ii. 190 _and_ _n. 3_ - - Heretics (_For particular sects, see their names_): - Abaelard's views on coercion of, ii. 350, 354 - Insignificance of, in relation to mediaeval thought, ii. 283 _and_ _n._ - Theodosian enactments against, ii. 266 - Twelfth century, in, i. 305 - - Herluin, Abbot of Bec, i. 271 - - Hermann, Landgraf of Thüringen, i. 589; ii. 29 - - Hermann Contractus, i. 314-15 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Hermits: - Irish, i. 133 - Motives of, i. 335, 363 - Temper of, i. 368 _seqq._ - - Hermogenianus, ii. 240, 243 - - Herodotus, i. 77 - - Hesse, Boniface's work in, i. 197-8 - - Hilarion, St., i. 86 - - Hilary, Bp. of Poictiers, i. =63=, 68, 70 - - Hildebert of Lavardin, Bp. of Le Mans and Abp. of Tours, career of, ii. - 137-40; - love of the classics, ii. =141-2=, =146=, 531; - letters of, quoted, ii. 140, 143, 144-5, 146-7; - Latin text of letter, ii. 172; - Latin elegy by, ii. 191; - otherwise mentioned, ii. 61, 134, 373 _n. 2_ - - Hildebrand, _see_ Gregory VII. - - _Hildebrandslied_, ii. 220 - - Hildegard, St., Abbess of Bingen, dedication of, i. 447; - visions of, i. 267, =449-59=; - affinity of, with Dante, ii. 539; - correspondence of, i. 448; - works of, i. 446 _n._; - _Book of the Rewards of Life_, i. 452-6; - _Scivias_, i. 457-9; - otherwise mentioned, i. 20, 345, 443; ii. 302, 365 - - Hildesheim, bishops of (11th cent.), i. 312 - - Hilduin, Abbot, i. 230 - - Hincmar, i. 215, 230, =233 n. 1= - - Hipparchus, i. 40 - - Hippocrates, i. 40 - - History: - Carolingian treatment of, i. 234-5 - Classical attitude toward, i. 77-8 - Eleventh century treatment of, i. 300 - _Historia tripartita_ of Cassiodorus, i. 96-7 - Patristic attitude toward, i. 80-4 - _Seven Books of Histories adversum paganos_ by Orosius, i. 82-3 - - Holy Roman Empire: - Burgundy added to, i. 243 _n. 1_ - German character of, ii. 32 - Papacy, relations with, _see under_ Papacy - Refounding of, by Otto, i. 243 - Rise of, under Charlemagne, i. 212 - - Honorius II., Pope, i. 531 - - Honorius III., Pope, i. 366, 482, 497; ii. 33, 385 _n._, =398= - - Honorius of Autun--on classical study, ii. 110, =112-13=; - _Speculum ecclesiae_ of, ii. 50 _seqq._; - _Gemma animae_, ii. 77 _n. 1_ - - Hosius, Bp. of Cordova, i. 118 _n. 1_ - - Hospitallers, i. 531 - - Hrotsvitha, i. 311 _and_ _n. 2_, ii. 215 _n. 2_ - - Huesca (Osca), i. 25 - - Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, ii. 137 - - Hugh Capet, i. 239-=40= _and_ _n._ - - Hugh the Great, Count of Paris, i. 241 - - Hugh of Payns, i. 531 - - Hugo, Archdeacon of Halberstadt, ii. 62 - - Hugo, Bro., of Montpellier, i. 510-14 - - Hugo, King, i. 242 - - Hugo of St. Victor, estimate of, ii. =63=, =111=, 118, 301, =356=; - allegorizing by, ii. 367; - on classical study, ii. 110-11; - on logic, ii. 333; - pupils of, ii. 87; - works of, ii. 61 _n. 2_; - _Didascalicon_, ii. 48 _n. 2_, =63=, =111=, 312, =357 and nn. 2-5=; - _De sacramentis Christianae fidei_, ii. 48 _n. 2_, =64 seqq.=, 365, - =395=, 540; - _Expositio in regulam beati Augustini_, ii. 62 _n. 2_; - _De arca Noë morali_, ii. 75 _n._, =365-7=; - _De arca Noë mystica_, ii. 367; - _De vanitate mundi_, ii. 75 _n._, =111-12=; - _Summa sententiarum_, ii. 356; - _Sermons on Ecclesiastes_, ii. 358-9; - otherwise mentioned, i. 17, 20, 457; ii. 404 - - Humanists, ii. 126 - - _Humiliati_ of Lombardy, i. 365 - - Hungarians, i. 241-=2= - - Huns, i. 112, 119, 193 - - _Huon de Bordeaux_, i. 564 - - Hy (Iona) Island, i. 136, =173= - - Hymns, Christian: - Abaelard, by, ii. 25, =207-9= - Estimate of, i. 21 - Evolution of, i. 347-9 _and_ _n._; ii. 196, =200 seqq.= - Hildegard's visions regarding, i. 459 - Hugo of St. Victor, by, ii. 86 _seqq._ - Sequences, development of, ii. 196, =201-6=; - Adam of St. Victor's, ii. 209-15 - - - Iamblicus, i. 42, =47=, 51, 56-7; ii. 295 - - Iceland, Norse settlement in, i. 153 - - Icelanders, characteristics and customs of, i. 154 - - Icelandic Sagas, _see_ Sagas - - Ideal _v._ actual, i. 353 _seqq._ - - Innocent II., Pope, i. =394=; ii. 10 - - Innocent III., Pope, i. 417, 481, 497; ii. =32=, =274=, 384, =398= - - Innocent IV., Pope, i. 506 - - _Intellectus agens_, ii. 464, =507 n. 2= - - Iona (Hy) Island, i. 136, =173= - - Ireland: - Celts in, _see_ Irish - Church of, missionary zeal of, i. 133, 136, 172 _seqq._ - Danish settlements in, i. 153 - Monasteries in, i. =153 n. 1=, 173 - Norse invasion of, i. 134 - Scholarship in, i. =180 n.=, 184-5 - - Irenaeus, Bp. of Lyons, i. 225 - - Irish: - Art of, i. 128 _n. 1_ - Characteristics of, i. =128=, 130, 133, 179 - History of, i. 127 _and_ _n._ - Influence of, on mediaeval feeling, i. 179 _and_ _n._ - Literature of, i. =128 and n. 2=, =129 seqq.=, 134; - poetry, ii. 194 - Missionary labours of, i. 133, 136, 172 _seqq._; - defect of, i. 179, 196 - Norse harryings of, i. 133-4; - intercourse with, i. 152 _n. 3_ - Oxford University, at, ii. 387 - - Irnerius, ii. 121, =260=, 380-1; - _Summa codicis_ of, ii. 255-9 - - Irrationality (_See also_ Miracles): - Neo-Platonic teaching as to, i. 42-4, 48, 52 - Patristic doctrine as to, i. 51-3 - - Isabella, Queen, wife of Edward II., i. 550-1 - - Isidore, Abp. of Seville, estimate of, i. 89, 103, 118 _n. 1_; - Bede compared with, i. 185-7; - _False Decretals_ attributed to, i. 118 _n. 1_; ii. =270=, 273; - works of, i. 104-9; - _Etymologiae_, _see_ Etymologies of Isidore; - _Origines_, i. 236, 300; - otherwise mentioned, i. 6, 88; ii. 46, 312 - - Italian people in relation to the antique, i. 7-8 - - Italy (_For particular districts, towns, etc., see their names_): - Celtic inroads into (3rd cent. B.C.), i. 24 - Church in, secularization of, i. 472 - Cities in: - Continuity of, through dark ages, i. 248, =494-5=; ii. 381 - Fighting amongst, i. 497-8 - Importance of, i. 241, 326, =494-5= - Continuity of culture and character in, i. =326=, 495; ii. =120-2= - Dante as influenced by, ii. 534-5 - Education in--lay, persistence of, i. 249-51; - clerical and monastic, i. 250 _n. 2_ - Eleventh-century conditions in, i. 327 - Feudalism not widely fixed in, i. 241 - Feuds in, i. 515-16 - Grammar as studied in, i. 250 _and_ _n. 2_; ii. 129 - Irish monasteries founded in, i. 174 - Literature of, mediaeval, lack of originality in, ii. 189; - eleventh-century verse, i. 251 _seqq._; ii. 165 _n. 1_, 186 - Lombard kingdom of (6th cent.), i. 115-16 - Medicine studied in, i. 250 _and_ _n. 4_, =251=; ii. 121 - Unification of, under Rome, i. 23 - - - Jacobus à Voragine, _Legenda aurea_ by, ii. 184 - - Jacques de Vitry, Bp. and Card. of Tusculum, i. 461 and n.; - Exempla of, i. 488 _n._, 490 - - Jerome, St., estimate of, i. 344, 354; - letter of, on asceticism, i. 335 _and_ =n. 1=; - love of the classics, ii. 107, 112, 531; - modification by, of classical Latin, ii. 152, 171; - two styles of, ii. 171 _and_ _n. 4_; - Life of Paulus by, i. 84, 86; - Life of Hilarion, i. 86; - _Contra Vigilantium_, i. 86; - otherwise mentioned, i. 56, 75, 76, 104 - - Jerome of Ascoli (Pope Nicholas IV.), ii. 491 - - Jews: - Agobard's tracts against, i. 232-=3= - Gregory the Great's attitude toward, i. 102 - Louis IX.'s attitude toward, i. 545 - Persecution of, i. 118, 332 - - Joachim, Abbot of Flora, _Evangelicum eternum_ of, 502 _n._, =510=, - =512-13=, 517 - - John, Bro., of Vicenza, i. 503-4 - - John X., Pope, i. 242 - - John XI., Pope, i. 242 - - John XII., Pope, i. 243; ii. =160-1= - - John XIII., Pope, i. 282 - - John XXII., Pope, _Decretales extravaganes_ of, ii. 272 - - John of Damascus, ii. 439 _n. 1_ - - John of Fidanza, _see_ Bonaventura - - John of Parma, Minister-General of Franciscans, i. 507, 508, =510-11= - - John of Salisbury, estimate of, ii. 118, 373-4; - Chartres studies described by, ii. 130-2; - attitude of, to the classics, ii. 114, 164, =173=, 531; - Latin style of, ii. 173-4; - _Polycraticus_, ii. 114-15, 174-5; - _Metalogicus_, ii. 173-4; - _Entheticus_, ii. 192; - _De septem septenis_, ii. 375 - - John the Deacon, _Chronicon Venetum_ by, i. 325-6 - - Joinville, Sire de, _Histories_ of St. Louis by, i. 539, =542-9= - - Jordanes, compend of Gothic history by, i. 94 - - Jordanes of Osnabrück cited, ii. 276 _n. 2_ - - Joseph of Exeter, ii. 225 _n. 2_ - - Jotsaldus, Life of Odilo by, i. 295-6 - - Judaism, emotional elements in, i. 331-2 - - Julianus, _Epitome_ of, ii. 242, =249=, 254 - - Jumièges cloister, ii. 201 - - Jurisprudence (_See also_ Roman law): - Irnerius an exponent of, ii. 256, 259 - Mediaeval renaissance of, ii. 265 - Roman law, in, beginnings of, ii. 232 - - Justinian, _Codex_, _Institutes_, _Novellae_ of, _see under_ Roman law; - _Digest of_, _see_ Roman law--Pandects - - Jutes, i. 140 - - Jutta, i. 447 - - - Keating quoted, i. 136 - - Kilwardby, Richard, Abp. of Canterbury, _De ortu et divisione - philosophiae_ of, ii. 313 - - Kilwardby, Robert, ii. 128 - - Knighthood, order of: - Admission to, persons eligible for, i. 527 - Code of, i. 524 - Hospitallers, i. 531 - Investiture ceremony, i. 525-8 - Love the service of, i. 568, =573= - Templars, i. 531-5 - Virtues and ideals of, i. 529-31, 567-8 - - Knowledge: - Cogitation, meditation, contemplation (Hugo's scheme), ii. 358 _seqq._ - Forms and modes of, Aquinas on--divine, ii. 451-5; - angelic, ii. 459-62; - human, ii. 463 _seqq._ - Grades of, Aquinas on, ii. 461, 467 - Primacy of, over will maintained by Aquinas, ii. 440-1 - - - La Ferté Monastery, i. 362 - - Lambert of Hersfeld, _Annals_ of, i. 313; ii. 167 - - Lambertus Audomarensis, _Liber Floridus_ of, ii. 316 _n. 2_ - - _Lancelot of the Lake_, i. 567, 569-70, =582-5=; - Old French prose version of, i. 583 _seqq._ - - Land tenure, feudal, i. 523-4 - - Lanfranc, Primate of England, i. 174 _n. 1_, =261 n.=, 273 - - _Langue d'oc_, ii. 222, 248 - - _Langue d'oil_, ii. 222, 248 - - Languedoc, chivalric society of (11th and 12th centuries), i. 572 - - Latin classics: - Abaelard's reference to, ii. 353 - Alexandrian antecedents of the verse, ii. 152 _n. 1_ - Artificial character of the prose, ii. 151 _n._ - Breadth of interest of, ii. 109 - Characteristics of, ii. 153 - Chartres a home of, i. 298; ii. 119 - Common elements in, ii. 149, 157 - Dante's attitude toward, ii. 541, 544; - his quotations from, ii. 543 _n. 1_ - Ecclesiastical attitude toward, i. 260; ii. 110 _seqq._, 396-7 - Familiarity with, of Damiani, i. 260; ii. 165; - Gerbert, i. 287-8; ii. 110; - John of Salisbury, ii. 114, 164, =173=, 531; - Bernard of Chartres, ii. 132-3; - Peter of Blois, ii. 133-4; - Hildebert, ii. =141-2=, =146=, 531 - Knowledge-storehouses for the Middle Ages, as, ii. 108 - Mastery of, complete, as affecting mediaeval writings, ii. 164 - Reverential attitude of mediaevals toward, ii. 107-9 - Scripture study as aided by study of, ii. 110, 112, 120 - Suggestions of new ideas from, for Northern peoples, ii. 136 - Themes of, in vernacular poetry, ii. 223 _seqq._ - Twelfth-century study of, ii. 117-18 - - Latin Fathers (_See also their names and_ Patristic thought): - Comparison of, with Greek, i. 68 - Style and diction of, ii. 150, 152 _seqq._ - Symbolism in, ii. 43-6 - Transmutation by, of Greek thought, i. 5, 34 _and_ _n._ - - Latin language: - Britain, position in, i. 10, 32 - Children's letters in, ii. 123 _n._ - Christianity as modifying, ii. 152, =154=, 156, 164, 171 - Continuity of, preserved by universal study of grammar, ii. =122-3=, - 151, 155 - "Cornificiani" in regard to, ii. =132=, 373 - Educational medium as, ii. 109 - Genius of, susceptible of change, ii. 149 - German acquisition of, i. 10, 32, =307-8=, =313=; ii. =123=, 155 - Grammar of, _see_ Grammar - Mediaeval modifications in, ii. 125, 164 - Patristic modifications of, ii. 150, 152 _seqq._; - Jerome's, ii. 152, 171 - Spelling of, mediaeval, i. 219 - Sphere of, ii. 219-20 - Supremacy of (during Roman conquest period), i. 4, =23-4 and n. 1=, - 25, =30-1= - Translations from, scanty nature of, ii. 331 _n. 2_ - Translations into, difficulties of, ii. 498 - Universality of, as language of scholars, ii. 219, 331 _n. 2_ - Vernacular, developments of, ii. 151 - Vitality of, in relation to vernacular tongues, ii. 219 - - Latin prose, mediaeval: - Antecedents of, ii. 151 _seqq._ - Best period of, ii. 167-8 - Bulk of, ii. 157 _n._ - Carolingian, ii. 158-60 - Characteristics of, ii. 156 - Estimation of, difficulties of, ii. 157 _and_ _n._ - Influences upon, summary of, ii. 156 - Prolixity and inconsequence of, ii. 154 - Range of, ii. 154 - Simplicity of word-order in, ii. 163 _n. 1_ - Stages of development of, ii. 157 _seqq._ - Style in, beginnings of, ii. 164 - Stylelessness of, in Carolingian period, ii. 158-60 - Thirteenth-century styles, ii. 179 - Value of, as expressing the mediaeval mind, ii. 156, 164 - - Latin verse, mediaeval: - Accentual and rhyming compositions, ii. 194; - two kinds of, ii. 196 - Antecedents of, ii. 187 _n. 1_ - Carmina Burana (Goliardic poetry), ii. 203, =217-19 and n.= - Development of, stages in, ii. 187 - Leonine hexameters, ii. 199 _and_ _n. 3_ - Metrical composition, ii. 187 _seqq._; - elegiac verse, ii. 190-2 _and_ _n. 1_; - hexameters, ii. 192; - Sapphics, ii. 192-3 _and_ _n. 1_ - Modi, ii. 215-16 - Rhyme, development of, ii. 195, =206= - - Law: - Barbarian, Latin codes of, ii. 244 _seqq._ - Barbaric conception of, ii. 245, 248-9 - _Breviarium_, _see under_ Roman law - Canon, _see_ Canon law - English, principles of, i. 141-2 - Grammar in relation to, ii. 121 - Lombard codes, i. =115=; ii. 242, =246=, 248, 253; - _Concordia_, ii. 259 - Natural: - Gratian on, ii. 268-9 - _Jus gentium_ in relation to, ii. =234 and n.=, 268 - Occam on, ii. 519 - Sacraments of, ii. 74 _and_ _n. 1_ - Supremacy of, ii. 269, 279 - Roman, _see_ Roman law - Salic, ii. 245-6 - Territorial basis of, i. 123; ii. 247 - Tribal basis of, i. 123; ii. =245-7= - Visigothic codification of, in Spain, i. 118 - - Leander, Bp. of Seville, i. 118 _n. 1_ - - Légonais, Chrétien, ii. 230 _and_ _n. 2_ - - Leo, Brother, _Speculum perfectionis_ by, ii. 183-4 - - Leo I. (the Great), Pope, i. 113, 116 - - Leo IX., Pope, i. 243 - - Leon, Sir Guy de, i. 552-3 - - Leon, Sir Hervé de, i. 552-3 - - Leowigild, i. 117 _n. 2_, 118 _n. 1_ - - Lerins monastery, i. 195 - - Lewis, Lord, of Spain, i. 552-3 - - Liberal arts, _see_ Seven Liberal Arts - - Liutgard of Tongern, i. 463-5 - - Liutprand, Bp. of Cremona i. =256-7=; ii. 161 _n. 1_ - - Liutprand, King of Lombards, i. 115-16 - - Logic (_See also_ Dialectic): - Albertus Magnus on, ii. =313-15=, 504, 506 - Aristotelian, mediaeval apprehension of, ii. 329 (_See also_ - Aristotle--_Organon_) - Bacon's attitude toward, ii. 505 - Gerbert's preoccupation with, i. 282, 289, =292= - Grammar in relation to, ii. 127 _seqq._, 333-4; - in Abaelard's work, ii. 346 - Importance of, in Middle Ages, i. 236; ii. 297 - Nature of, ii. 333; - schoolmen's views on, ii. 313-15, 333 - Occam's views on, ii. 522 - Patristic attitude toward, i. 71 - Raban's view of, i. 222 - Scholastic classification of, ii. 313 _seqq._ - Scholastic decay in relation to, ii. 523 - Second stage of mediaeval development represented by, ii. 332-4 - Specialisation of, in 12th cent., ii. 119 - Theology in relation to, ii. =340 n.=, 346 - Twofold interpretation of, ii. 333 - Universals, problem of, ii. 339 _seqq._; - Abaelard's treatment of, ii. 342, =348= - - Lombard, Peter, estimate of, ii. 370; - Gratian compared with, ii. 270; - Bacon's attitude toward, ii. 497; - _Books of Sentences_ by, i. 17, 18; ii. 134, 370; - method of the work, ii. 306; - Aquinas' _Summa_ contrasted with it, ii. 307-10; - its classification scheme, ii. 322-4; - Bonaventura's commentary on it, ii. 408 - - Lombards: - Italian kingdom of (6th cent.), i. 115-16 - Italian influence on, i. 7, 249 - Law codes of, _see under_ Law - - Louis of Bavaria, Emp., ii. 518 - - Louis I. (the Pious), King of France, i. 233, 239, =359=; - false capitularies ascribed to, ii. 270 - - Louis VI. (the Fat), King of France, i. 304-5, 394, 400; ii. 62; - Hildebert's letter on encroachments of, ii. 140, 172 - - Louis IX. (the Saint), King of France, Geoffrey's _Vita_ of, i. 539-42; - Joinville's _Histoire of_, i. 542-9; - Testament of, i. 540 _n. 1_; - otherwise mentioned, i. 476, 507-=9=, 515 - - Love, Aquinas on distinguishing definitions of, ii. 475-6 - - Love, chivalric: - Antique conception of love contrasted with, i. 575 - _Chansons de geste_ as concerned with, i. 564 - Code of, by Andrew the Chaplain, i. 575-6 - Dante's exposition of, ii. 555-6 - Estimate of, mediaeval, i. 568, 570 - Literature of, _see_ Chivalry--Literature - Marriage in relation to, i. 571 _and_ _n. 2_ - _Minnelieder_ as depicting, ii. 30 - Nature of, i. 572-5, 582-7 - Stories exemplifying--_Tristan_, i. 577 _seqq._; - _Lancelot_, 582 _seqq._ - - Love, spiritual: - Aquinas' discussion of, ii. 472-3, 476 - Bernard of Clairvaux as exemplifying, i. 394 _seqq._ - - Lupus, Servatus, Abbot of Ferrières, i. 215; - ii. 113 - - Luxeuil, i. 175-7 - - Lyons: - Diet of the "Three Gauls" at, i. 30 - Law studies at, ii. 250 - - - Macrobius, _Saturnalia_ of, ii. 116 _and_ _n. 4_ - - Magic, i. =46-8=; ii. 500 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Majolus, Abbot of Cluny, i. 359 - - Manichaeism, i. =49=; ii. =44=, 283 - - Manny, Sir Walter, i. 552-4 - - Mapes (Map), Walter, i. =475=, 567; ii. 219 _n._ - - Marie, Countess, de Champagne, i. 566, 573, =576= - - Marie de France, i. =566=, 567, 573; - _Eliduc_ by, i. 571 _n. 2_ - - Marinus (hermit), i. 373 - - Marozia, i. 242 - - Marriage: - Christian attitude toward, ii. 8; - ecclesiastical view, ii. 529 - Feudalism as affecting, i. 571, 586 - German view of, ii. 30 - - Marsilius of Padua, ii. 277 _n. 2_ - - Martin, St., of Tours, i. 334; - Life of, i. 52 and _n._, 84, 85 _n. 2_, =86= - - Martyrs: - Mediaeval view of, i. 483 - Patristic attitude toward, i. 86 - - Mary, St., of Ognies, i. =462-3=; - nature of visions of, i. 459 - - Massilia, i. 26 - - Mathematics: - Bacon's views on, ii. 499-500 - Gerbert's proficiency in, i. 282, =288= - - Mathew Paris cited, ii. 487 - - Matthew of Vendome, _Ars versificatoria_ by, ii. 190 _and_ _n. 5_ - - Maurus, Rabanus, _see_ Rabanus - - Mayors of the palace, i. 240 - - Mechthild of Magdeburg, i. 20, 345; ii. 365; - Book of, i. 465 _and_ _n. 2_-70 - - Mediaeval thought: - Abstractions, genius for, ii. 280 - Characteristics of, i. 13 - Commentaries characteristic of, ii. 390, 553 _n. 4_ - Conflict inherent in, i. 22; ii. =293-4= - Deference of, toward the past, i. 13; ii. 534 - Emotionalizing by, of patristic Christianity, i. 345 - Metalogics rather than metaphysics the final stage of, ii. 337 - Moulding forces of, i. 3, 5, 12; ii. =293-4= - Orthodox character of, ii. 283 _and_ _n._ - Political theorizing, ii. 275 _seqq._ - Problems of, origins of, ii. 294-5 - Restatement and rearrangement of antique matter the work of, i. 13-15, - =224=, 237, =292=, 342; ii. 297, 329, 341: - Culmination of third stage in, ii. 394 - Emotional transformations of the antique, i. 18 _seqq._ - Intellectual transformations of the antique, i. 14 _seqq._ - Salvation the main interest of, i. =58-9=, 334; ii. =296-7=, 300 - Scholasticism, _see that heading_ - Superstitions accepted by, i. 487 - Symbolism the great influence in, ii. 43, 102, 365 - Three stages of, ii. 329 _seqq._ - Ultimate intellectual interests of, ii. 287 _seqq._ - - Medicine: - Relics used in, i. 299 - Smattering of, included in Arts course, ii. 250 - Study of--in Italy, i. 250 _and_ _n. 4_, =251=; ii. 383 _n._ - at Chartres, i. 299; ii. 372 - - Mendicant Orders, _see_ Dominican _and_ Franciscan - - Merovingian Kingdom: - Character of, i. 208 - Church under, i. 194 - Extent of, i. 210 _n. 3_ - German conquests of, i. 121, 138 - - Merovingian period: - Barbarism of, i. 9 - Continuity of, with Carolingian, i. 210-12 - King's law in, ii. 247 - - Merovingians, estimate of, i. 195 - - Metaphor distinguished from allegory, ii. 41 _n._ (_See also_ Symbolism) - - Metaphysics: - Final stage of mediaeval development represented by, ii. 335-7 - Logic, mediaeval, in relation to, ii. 334 - Theology dissociated from, by Duns, ii. 510, 516, =517= - - Michelangelo quoted, ii. 113 - - Middle Ages (_See also_ Mediaeval thought): - Beginning of, i. 6 - Extremes characteristic of, i. 355 - - Milan, lawyers in, ii. 251 _n. 2_ - - _Miles_, signification of word, i. 525-6 _and_ _n. 2_ - - _Minnelieder_, ii. 28-31 - - Minorites, i. 430 (_See also_ Franciscan Order) - - Miracles (_See also_ Irrationality): - Devil, concerned with, i. 488 _seqq._ - _Nostre Dame, Miracles de_, i. 491-2 - Patristic attitude toward, i. =85-6=, =100=, 182 - Roman Empire aided by, belief as to, ii. 536 - Salimbene's instance of, i. 516 - Universal acceptance of, i. =74=, 182 - _Vitae sanctorum_ in regard to, i. 85 _and_ _n. 2_ - - Mithraism, i. 49 - - Modena (Mutina), i. 24 - - Modi, ii. 215-16 - - Monasteries: - Immunities granted to, i. 523 _and_ _n._ - _Regula_ of, meaning of, ii. 62 - - Monasticism (_For particular Monasteries, Orders, etc., see their - names_): - Abuses of, i. 357-8; Rigaud's _Register_ quoted, i. 477-481 - Benedictine rule: - Adoption of--in England, i. 184; - among the Franks, i. 199, 201; - generally, i. 358 - Papal approval of, i. 335 - Cassiodorus a pioneer in literary functions of, i. 94 - General mediaeval view regarding, i. =472=; ii. 529 - Ideal _v._ actual, i. 355 - Ireland, in, i. 135 _n. 1_ - Lament over deprivations of, ii. 218-19 - Modifications of, by St. Francis, i. 366 - Motives of, i. 357 - Nature of, i. 336-7 - Nuns, _see_ Women--monastic life - Origin of, i. 335 - Pagan literature condemned by, i. 260 - Popularity of, in 5th and 6th centuries, i. 195-6 - Poverty--of monks, i. 365; - of Orders, i. 366, =425=, =430= - Reforms of, i. 358 _seqq._ - Schools, monastic, in Italy, i. 250 _n. 2_ - Sex-relations as regarded by, i. 338 - Studies of, in 6th cent., i. 94, 95 - Subordinate monasteries, supervision of, i. 361 - Uncloistered, _see_ Dominican _and_ Franciscan - _Vita activa_ accepted by, i. 363-6 - _Vita contemplativa_, _see that title_ - Women vilified by devotees of, i. =354 n.=, 521 _n. 2_, 532, =533=; - ii. 58 - - Montanists, 332 - - Monte Cassino, i. 250 _n. 2_, 252-3 - - Montfort, Countess of, i. 552-4 - - Moorish conquest of Spain, i. 9, 118 - - Morimond monastery, i. 362 - - Mosaics, i. 345-7 - - Music: - Arithmetic in relation to, ii. 291 - Chartres studies in, i. 299 - Poetry and, interaction of, ii. 195-=6=, =201-2= - Scholastic classification of, ii. 313 - - Mysticism: - Hugo's strain of, ii. 361-3 - Nature of, i. 443 _n. 1_; ii. =363 and n. 4= - Symbolism as expressing, _see_ Symbolism - - - Narbo, i. 26 - - Narbonensis, _see_ Provincia - - Narbonne, law studies at, ii. 250 - - Natural history and science, _see_ Physical science - - Nemorarius, Jordanus, ii. 501 - - Neo-Platonism: - Arabian versions of Aristotle touched with, ii. 389 - Augustinian, i. =55=; ii. 403 - Christianity compared with, i. 51; - Patristic habit of mind compared, ii. 295 - Ecstasy as regarded by, i. 331 - Metaphysics so named by, ii. 336 - Pseudo-Dionysian, i. 54 _and_ _n. 1_ - Tenets and nature of, i. 41-9; - a mediatorial system, i. 50, 54, 57-8, 70 - Trinity of, ii. 355 - - Neustria, i. 200, =209=, 239 - - _Nibelungenlied_, i. 145-6, =148-9=, 152, 193, 203 _n. 2_; ii. 220 - - Nicholas II., Pope, i. 243 _n. 2_ - - Nicholas III., Pope, i. 504 - - Nicholas IV., Pope (Jerome of Ascoli), ii. 491 - - Nicholas, St., sequence for festival of, ii. 213-15 - - Nicolas of Damascus, ii. 427 - - Nilus, St., Abbot of Crypta-Ferrata, i. 374 _n._ - - Nithard, Count, i. 234-5 - - Nominalism, i. 303 - - Norbert, ii. 344 - - Normandy, Norse occupation of, i. 153 - - Norsemen (Scandinavians, Vikings): - Characteristics of, i. 138, =154-5= - Continental and insular holdings of, i. 153 - Eddic poems of, i. 154-5 _and_ _n. 3_ - Irish harassed by, i. 133-4; - later relations, i. 152 _n. 3_ - Jumièges cloister sacked by, ii. 201 - Metal-working among, i. 152 _n. 3_ - Ravages by, in 8th and 9th centuries, i. 152-3 - _Sagas_ of, i. 155 _seqq._ - Settling down of, i. 240 - - Notker, i. 308-9 _and_ _n. 1_; sequences of, ii. 201-2 - - Numbers, symbolic phantasies regarding, i. 72 _and_ _nn. 1, 2_; ii. 49 - _n. 3_ - - - Oberon, fairy king, i. 564 _and_ _n._ - - Occam, William of, career of, ii. 518; - estimate of his work, ii. 522-3; - attitude toward Duns, ii. 518 _seqq._; - on faith and reason, ii. 519; - on Universals, ii. 520-1 - - Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, i. =294-5=, 359; - Jotsaldus' biography of, quoted, i. 295-6 - - Odo, Abbot of Cluny, i. 343 _and_ _n. 3_, 359; - Epitome by, of Gregory's _Moralia_, i. 16 _n. 4_; ii. 161 _and_ _n. 2_; - Latin style of _Collationes_, ii. 161-2 - - Odo of Tournai, ii. 340 _n._ - - Odoacer, i. =114=, 145 - - Olaf, St., i. 156, =160-1= - - Olaf Tryggvason, King, i. 156, =161-2= - - Old French: - Formation of, ii. 155 - Latin as studied by speakers of, ii. 123 - Poetry, ii. 222, =225 seqq.= - - Ontology, _see_ Metaphysics - - Ordeal, trial by, i. 232-3 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Ordericus Vitalis, i. 525; - _Historia ecclesiastica_ by, ii. 176-8 - - _Organon_, _see under_ Aristotle - - Origen, estimate of, i. 51, 62-3; - on Canticles, i. =333=; ii. 369; - _De principiis_, i. 68; - otherwise mentioned, i. 53, 76, 80, 87, 104, 411; ii. 64 - - Orleans School: - Classical studies at, ii. 119 _n. 2_, 127 - Law studies at, ii. 250 - Rivalry of, with Chartres, ii. 119 _n. 2_ - - Orosius, i. =82= _and_ _n. 1_, 188 - - Ostrogoths, i. 7, 113, =114-15=, 120 - - Otfrid the Frank, i. =203-4=, 308 - - Other world: - Irish beliefs as to, i. 131 _and_ _n. 2_ - Voyages to, mediaeval narratives of, i. 444 _n. 1_ - - Othloh, i. 315; - visions of, i. 443; - _Book concerning the Temptations of a certain Monk_, i. 316-23 - - Otric, i. 289-91 - - Otto I. (the Great), Emp., i. =241-3=, 256-7, 309 - - Otto II., Emp., i. 243, =282-3=, =289= - - Otto III., Emp., i. =243=, 283, 284; - _Modus Ottinc_ in honour of, ii. 215-216 - - Otto IV. (of Brunswick), Emp., i. 417; ii. =32-3= - - Otwin, Bp. of Hildesheim, i. 312 - - Ovid, _Ars amatoria_ of, i. 574-5; - mediaeval allegorizing of, and of _Metamorphoses_, ii. 230 - - Oxford University: - Characteristics of, ii. 388-9 - Curriculum at, ii. 387-8 - Foundation of, ii. 380, =386-7= - Franciscan fame at, ii. 400 - Greek studies at, ii. 120, 391, 487 - - - Palladius, Bp., i. 172 - - Pandects, _see under_ Roman law - - Papacy (_See also_ Church _and_ Popes): - Ascendancy of, over prelacy, i. 304 - Character of, ii. 32 - Denunciations against, i. 475; ii. 34-5, 218 - Empire's relations with: - Concordat of Worms, i. 245 _n. 4_ - Conflict (11th cent.), i. 244; - (12th cent.), i. 245 _n. 4_; ii. 273; - (13th cent.), ii. 33, =34-5=; - (14th cent.), ii. 518; - allegory as a weapon in, ii. 60 - Recognition of ecclesiastical authority, ii. 265-7, 272-3 - Reforms by Otto I., i. 243 - Gregory VII.'s claims for, i. 245; ii. 274 - Mendicant Orders' relations with, ii. =398=, 509 - Nepotism of, i. =504-5=, 511 - Schisms of popes and anti-popes, i. 264 - Temporal power of, rise of, i. 116; - claims advanced, i. 245; - realized, ii. 274, 276-7 - - Papinian cited, ii. 235 - - Paraclete oratory: - Abaelard at, ii. 10, 344 - Heloïse at, ii. 10 _seqq._ - - Paradise: - Dante's _Paradiso_, _see under_ Dante - Hildegard's visions of, i. 455-6 - - Paris: - Schools: - Growth of, ii. 380 - Notre Dame and St. Geneviève, ii. 383 - St. Victor, ii. =61-3=, 143, 383 - University: - Aristotle prohibited at, ii. 391-2 - Authorities on, ii. 381 _n._ - Bacon at, ii. 488 - Bonaventura at, ii. 403 - Curriculum at, ii. 387-8 - Dominicans and Franciscans at, ii. 399 - Prominence of, in philosophy and theology, ii. 283, =378-9= - Rise, constitution, and struggles of, ii. 119-20, 383-6 - Viking sieges of, i. 153 - - Parma, i. 497, 505-6 - - _Parsival_: - Chrétien's version of, i. 567, =588-9= - Wolfram's version of, i. 12 _n._, 571 _n. 2_, =589-613=; ii. =29= - - Paschal controversy, _see_ Eucharistic - - Paschasius, Radbertus, Abbot of Corbie i. 215, =225-7= - - Patrick, St., i. 172-3 - - Patristic thought and doctrine (_See also_ Greek thought, patristic, - _and_ Latin Fathers): - Abaelard's attitude toward, ii. 305 - Achievement of exponents of, i. 86-7 - Bacon's attitude toward, ii. 492 - Completeness of schemes presented by, ii. 394 - Emotion as synthesized by, i. 340-2 - Intellectual rather than emotional, i. 343-4; - emotionalizing of, by mediaeval thinkers, i. 345 - Latin medium of, i. 5 - Logic as regarded by, i. 71 - Mediaeval attitude toward, i. 16 - Miracle accepted by, i. 51-3, =85-6= - Natural knowledge as treated by, i. =61 seqq.=, =72-3=, =76-7=, 99; - ii. 393 - Pagan philosophy permeating exponents of, i. =33-4=, =58=, 61 - Philosophy as classified by, ii. 312 - Rearrangement of, undertaken in Carolingian period, i. =224=, 237 - Symbolism of, _see under_ Symbolism - - Paulinus of Aquileia, i. 215 - - Paulinus, St., of Nola, i. =86=, 126 _n. 2_ - - Paulus--on _jus_, ii. 237: - _Sententiae_ of, ii. 243 - - Paulus, St., i. 84, 86 - - Paulus Diaconus, i. 214-15, 252 - - Pavia, law school at, ii. 251, =259= - - Pedro, Don, of Castille, i. 554-5 - - Pelagians, i. 225 - - Pelagius, i. 172 _n._ - - Peripatetic School, i. 38-9 - (_See also_ Aristotle) - - Peter, Bro., of Apulia, i. 512-14 - - Peter, disciple of St. Francis, i. 426 - - Peter Damiani, _see_ Damiani - - Peter of Blois, ii. 133-4 - - Peter of Ebulo, ii. 190 - - Peter of Maharncuria, ii. 502-4 - - Peter of Pisa, i. 214 - - Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, i. 360; - letter of, to Heloïse, ii. 25-7 - - Petrarch, ii. 188, =219= - - Petrus Riga, _Aurora_ of, ii. 127 - - Philip VI., King of France, i. 551 - - Philip Augustus, King of France, ii. 33 - - Philip Hohenstauffen, Duke of Suabia, i. 481; ii. =32=, 33 - - Philo, i. 37, =231=; - allegorizing of, ii. =42=, 364 - - Philosophy: - Division of, schemes of, ii. 312 _seqq._ - End of: - Abaelard's and Hugo's views on, ii. 352, 361 - John of Salisbury on, ii. 375 - - Philosophy, antique: - Divine source of, Bacon's view as to, ii. 507 _n. 2_ - "First" (Aristotelian), ii. 335 - Position of, in Roman Empire (3rd-6th cent.), i. 34 (_See also_ Greek - thought) - - Philosophy, Arabian, ii. =389-90=, 400-1 - - Philosophy, scholastic: - Completeness of, in Aquinas, ii. 395 - Divisions of, ii. 312 _seqq._ - Importance of, as intellectual interest, ii. 287-8 - Physical sciences included in, _see_ Physical science - Theology as the end of (Abaelard's and Hugo's view), ii. 352, 361 - Theology distinguished from, ii. 284, 288; - by Aquinas, ii. =290=, 311; - by Bonaventura, ii. 410 _and_ _n._; - considered as superior to, by Aquinas, ii. 289-=90=, =292=; - dominated by (Bacon's contention), ii. 496; - dissociated from, by Duns and Occam, ii. 510, =517=, 519 - - Physical science: - Albertus Magnus' attitude toward, ii. 423; - his works on, ii. 425-9 - Bacon's predilection for, ii. 486-7 - Classifications of, ii. 312 _seqq._ - Experimental science or method, ii. 502-8 - Mediaeval attitude toward, i. 300 - Oxford school of, ii. 389 - Patristic attitude toward, i. 63, 66-7, =72-3=, =76-7=, 99; ii. 393 - Theology as subserved by, ii. =67=, 111, =289=, =486=, =492=, =496=, - 500, 530; - denial of the theory--by Duns, ii. 510; - by Occam, ii. 519-20 - - _Physiologus_, i. =76-7 and n.=, 300; ii. 83 - - Pippin of Heristal, i. =208-9=; ii. 197 - - Pippin of Neustria, i. 115, =200=, =209=, 210 and _n. 1_; ii. 273 - - Pippin, son of Charlemagne, ii. 197 - - Placentia (Piacenza), i. 24 - - Placentinus, ii. 261-2 - - Plato, supra-rationalism of, i. 42; - allegorizing by, i. 36; ii. 364; - doctrine of ideas, i. =35=; ii. 339-340; - Aquinas on this doctrine, ii. 455, 465; - Augustine of Hippo as influenced by, ii. 403; - "salvation" suggestion in, ii. 296 _n. 2_; - _Republic_, i. 36; - _Timaeus_, i. =35-6=, 291; ii. 64, 69, =118=, 348, 370, 372, =377= - - Platonism: - Alanus' _Anticlaudianus_, in, ii. 100 _n. 2_ - Augustinian, i. 55 - Nature of, i. =35-6=, 57, 59 - Philosophy as classified by, ii. 312 - - Pliny the Elder, _Historia naturalis_ by, i. 39-40, 75 - - Plotinus, estimate of, i. 43, 45; - personal affinity of Augustine with, i. 55-7; - philosophic system of, i. =42=-6, 50, 51; - _Enneads_ of, i. 55; - otherwise mentioned, i. 50, 51; ii. 64 - - Plutarch, i. 44 - - Poetry, mediaeval: - Carmina Burana (Goliardic poetry), ii. 203, =217-19 and n.= - Chivalric, _see_ Chivalry--Literature - Hymns, _see that heading_ - Italian, of 11th cent., i. =251 seqq.=; ii. 186 - Latin, _see_ Latin verse - Modi, ii. 215-16 - Music and, interaction of, ii. 195-=6=, =201-2= - Old High German, ii. 194 - Popular verse, _see sub-headings_ Carmina _and_ Modi; _also_ Vernacular - Prosody, Alexander de Villa-Dei on, ii. 126 - Vernacular: - Germanic, Norse, and Anglo-Saxon, ii. 220-1 - Romance, ii. 221-3, 225 _seqq._ - - Pontigny monastery, i. 362 - - Poor of Lyons (Waldenses), i. 364, =365 n.=; ii. 34 - - Popes (_See also_ Papacy; _and for particular popes see their names_): - Avignon, at, ii. 510 - Decretals of, _see under_ Canon law - Degradation of (10th cent.), i. 242 - Election of, freed from lay control, i. 243 _n. 2_ - - Popular rights, growth of, in 12th cent., i. 305 - - Porphyry, i. 42, =44-7=, 50, 51, 56; ii. 295; - _Isagoge_ (Introduction to the _Categories_ of Aristotle), i. 45, 92, - 102; ii. 312, =314 n.=, 333, =339= - - Preaching Friars, _see_ Dominican Order - - Predestination, Gottschalk's controversy as to, i. 224-5, 227-=8= - - Priscianus, i. 71; ii. 119 _n. 2_; - _Institutiones grammaticae_ of (_Priscianus major_ and _minor_), ii. - 124-5 - - Prosper of Aquitaine, i. 106 _n. 1_ - - Provençal literature, i. 571; ii. 168; - Alba (aube) poetry, i. 20, =571=; ii. 30 - - Provincia (Narbonensis): - Antique, the, in relation to, before Middle Ages, i. 9 - Latinization of, i. 26-7 _and_ _n. 1_ - Ligurian inhabitants of, i. 126 - Teutonic invasion of, i. 125 - - Prudentius, ii. 63; - _Psychomachia_ of, ii. 102-4 - - Pseudo-Callisthenes, _Life and Deeds of Alexander_ by, ii. 224, 225, - =229-230= - - Pseudo-Dionysius, ii. 302; - _Celestial Hierarchy_ by, i. 54 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Pseudo-Turpin, ii. 319 - - Ptolemy of Alexandria, i. 40 - - Purgatory: - Dante's _Purgatorio_, _see under_ Dante - Hildegard's visions as to, i. 456 _n._ - Popular belief as to, i. 486 - - - _Quadrivium_, _see under_ Seven Liberal Arts - - - Rabanus Maurus, Abp. of Mainz, allegorizing of Scripture by, ii. 46-7; - interest in the vernacular, i. 308; - works of, i. 222-41; - _De universo_, i. 300; ii. 316 _n. 2_; - _Allegoriae in universam sacram scripturam_, ii. 48-9; - _De laudibus sanctae crucis_, ii. 49 _n. 3_; - otherwise mentioned, i. 16, 100, 215; ii. 302-303, 312, 332 - - Race, tests for determining, i. 124 _n._ - - Radbertus, _see_ Paschasius - - _Raoul de Cambrai_, i. 563-4 - - Ratherius, i. 309 and =n. 2= - - Ratramnus of Corbie, i. 215, 227; ii. 199 - - Ravenna: - Gerbert's disputation in, i. 289-91 - Grammar and rhetoric studies at, ii. 121 - Law studies at, ii. 251, 252 - S. Apollinaris in Classe, i. 373, 377 - - Raymond of Agiles quoted, i. 536 - - Realism, Duns' exposition of, ii. 514 _and_ _n._ - - Reason _v._ authority controversy: - Berengar's position in, i. 302-3 - Eriugena's contribution to, i. 229-=30= - - Reccared, i. 118 _nn._ - - Reinhard, Bp. of Halberstadt, ii. 62 - - Relics of saints and martyrs: - Arms enshrining, i. 528 - Curative use of, i. 299 - Patristic attitude toward, i. 86, 101 _n._ - - Renaissance, misleading nature of term, i. 211 _n._ - - _Renaud de Montaubon_, i. 564 - - Rheims cathedral school, i. 293 - - Rhetoric: - Chartres study of, i. 298 - Hugo of St. Victor on, ii. 67 - Predominance of, i. 109 _and_ _n._ - - Richard, Abbot of Jumièges, i. 480-1 - - Richard of Middleton, ii. 512 - - Richard of St. Victor, ii. 80, =87= _and_ _n. 2_, =367 n. 2=, 540 - - Richer, Abbot of Monte Cassino, i. 252, 300 _n. 2_; - history of Gerbert by, quoted, i. 287-91 - - Ricimer, Count, i. 113 - - Riddles, didactic, i. 218-19 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Rigaud, Eude (Oddo Rigaldus), Abp. of Rouen, i. =476=, =508=, 509; - _Register_ of, quoted, i. 476-81 - - Robert, cousin of St. Bernard, i. 395-7 - - Robert of Normandy, ii. 139 - - Rollo, Duke, of Normandy, i. 153, 239-40 - - _Roman de la rose_, i. =586-7=; ii. 103 _and_ _nn._, 104, 223 - - _Roman de Thebes_, ii. 227, =229 n.= - - Roman Empire: - Barbarization of, i. 5, 7, =111 seqq.= - Billeting of soldiers, custom as to, i. 114 _n._, 117 - Christianity accepted by, i. 345 - Church, relations with, ii. 265-7, 272-3 - Cities enjoying citizenship of--in Spain, i. 26 _and_ _n. 2_; - in Gaul, i. 30 - City life of, i. 27, 326 - Clientage system under, i. 117 _n. 2_ - Dante's views on, ii. 536 - Decadence of, i. =84=, 97, =111= - Eastern, _see_ Eastern Empire - Enduring nature of, conditions of, i. 238 _n._ - Greek thought diffused by, i. 4 - Italian people under, i. 7 - Jurisconsults of, authority and capacity of, ii. 232-3 _and_ _n._, 236 - Latinization of Western Europe due to, i. 23 _seqq._, 110 - Mediaeval attitude toward, i. 11 - Scandinavians under influence of, i. 152 _n. 3_ - - Roman law: - Auditory, Imperial or Praetorian, ii. 233 _n._, 235 _n. 1_ - Bologna famed for study of, ii. =121=, 251, =259-62=, 378 - _Brachylogus_, ii. 254-5 - _Breviarium_ and its _Interpretatio_, i. =117=; ii. 243-4; - Epitomes of, ii. 244, =249-50=; - _Brachylogus_ influenced by, ii. 254 - Burgundian tolerance of, i. 121; - code (_Papianus_), ii. 239, =242= - Church under, ii. 265 _and_ _n. 2_ - Codes of: - Barbaric, nature of, ii. 244 - (_See also sub-headings_ Breviarium _and_ Burgundian) - Gregorianus', ii. 240, 243 - Hermogenianus', ii. 240, 243 - Nature of, ii. 239-40 - Theodosian, ii. 240 _and_ _n. 2_, 241 _n. 2_, 242-3, =249=, =266-7 - and n. 1= - _Codex_ of Justinian, ii. =240=, =242=, 253: - Azo's and Accursius' work on, ii. 263-4 - Glosses to, ii. 249-50 - Placentinus' _Summa_ of, ii. 262 - _Summa Perusina_ an epitome of, ii. =249=, 252 - _Constitutiones_ and _rescripta principum_, ii. =235 and n. 1=, 239, - =240= - Custom recognized by, ii. 236 - Digest of, by Justinian, _see subheading_ Pandects - Elementary education including smattering of, ii. 250 - Epitomes of, various, ii. 249-50; - _Epitome of Julianus_, ii. 242, =249=, 254 - Glosses: - Accursius' _Glossa ordinaria_, ii. 263-4 - Irnerius', ii. 261 _and_ _n. 1_ - Justinian's _Codex_, to, ii. 249-50 - Gothic adoption of, i. 114 - _Institutes_ of Gaius, ii. 241, 243 - _Institutes_ of Justinian, ii. =241=, 243, =254=: - Azo's _Summa_ of, ii. 263 - Placentinus' _Summa_ of, ii. 262 - Jurisprudential element in early stages of, ii. 232 - _Jus_ identified with _aequitas_, ii. 235 - _Jus civile_, ii. 237, 257 - _Jus gentium_: - _Jus naturale_ in relation to, ii. 234 _and_ _n._ - Origin of, ii. 233-4 - Popular rights as regarded by, ii. 278 - _Jus praetorium_, ii. 235 - _Lex romana canonice compta_, ii. 252 - Lombard attitude toward, i. 115 - _Novellae_ of Justinian, ii. 240, =242= - Pandects (Justinian's _Digest_), ii. 235 _and_ _n. 2_, =236-8=, - =241=-2, 248, 253, 255: - Accursius' _Glossa_ on, ii. 264 - Glossators' interpretation of, ii. 265 - Permanence of, ii. 236 - _Petrus_ (_Petri exceptiones_), ii. 252-4 - Placentinus' work in, ii. 261-2 - Principles of, examples of, ii. 237-8; - possession and its rights, ii. 256-8 - Principles of interpretation of, ii. 256 - Provincia, in, i. 27 _n. 1_ - _Responsa_ or _auctoritas jurisprudentium_, ii. 235-6 - Sources of, multifarious, ii. 235 - Sphere of, ii. 248 - Study of, centres for--in France, ii. 250; - in Italy, ii. =121=, 251 _and_ _n. 2_, =259-62=, 378 - _Summa codicis Irnerii_, ii. 255 - Theodosian Code, _see under subheading_ Codes - Treatises on, mediaeval, ii. 252 _seqq._ - Twelve Tables, ii. 232, 236 - Visigothic code of, _see subheading_ _Breviarium_ - - Romance, spirit of, i. 418 - - Romance languages (_See also_ Old French): - Characteristics of, ii. 152 - Dante's attitude toward, ii. 537 - Latin as modified by, ii. 155 - Literature of, ii. 221-3 - (_See also_ Provençal literature) - Strength of, i. 9 - - Romance nations, mediatorial rôle of, i. =110-11=, 124 - - _Romans d'aventure_, i. =564-5=, 571 _n. 2_ - - Rome: - Bishops of, _see_ Popes - Factions in (10th cent.), i. 242 - Law School in, ii. 251, 255 - Mosaics in, i. 347 - Verses to, i. 348; ii. =200= - - Romualdus, St., youth of, i. 373; - austerities of, i. 374, =379=, 381; - relations with his father, i. 374-5; - harshness and egotism of, i. 375-7; - at Vallis de Castro, i. 376-7, 380; - at Sytrio, i. 378-9; - death of, i. 372 _n. 3_, =380=; - Commentary of, on the Psalter, i. 379 - - Romulus Augustulus, Emp., i. 114 - - Roncesvalles, battle of, i. 559 _n. 2_-62 - - Roscellinus, i. 303-4; ii. 339-=40= - - Rothari, King of Lombards, i. 115; ii. 251 - - Ruadhan, St., i. 132-3 - - Ruotger, Life of Abp. Bruno by, i. 310; ii. 162 _and_ _n. 1_ - - - _Sacra doctrina_, _see_ Theology - - Sacraments, _see under_ Church - - _Sagas_, Norse: - Character of, i. 12 _n._, 155 _seqq._ - _Egil_, i. 162-4 - _Gisli_, i. 158 - _Heimskringla_, i. 160-2 _and_ _n. 2_ - _Njala_, i. 157 _and_ =n.=, =159=, =164-7= - Oral tradition of, ii. 220 - - St. Denis monastery, ii. 10, =344= - - St. Emmeram convent (Ratisbon), i. 315, =316= - - St. Gall monastery, i. 257-8; - Notker's work at, ii. 201-2 - - St. Victor monastery and school, ii. =61-3=, 143, 383 - - Saints: - Austerities of, i. 374 _and_ _n._, 375 - Interventions of, mediaeval beliefs as to, i. 487-8, 490 - Irish clergy so called, i. 135 _n. 2_ - Lives of: - Compend. of (_Legenda Aurea_), ii. 184 - Conventionalized descriptions in, i. 393 _n. 1_ - Defects of, i. 494 - Estimate of, i. =84-5 and nn.= - otherwise mentioned, i. 298, 300 - Relics of, _see_ Relics - Visions of, i. 444-5 - Worship of, i. 101 - - Salerno medical school, i. =250 n. 4=, =251=; ii. 121 - - Salian Franks, _see under_ Franks - - Salimbene, i. 496-7, 499-500; - _Chronica_ of, quoted and cited, i. 498 _seqq._; - editions and translations of the work, i. 496 _n._ - - Salvation, _see under_ Christianity - - Salvian, _De gubernatione Dei_ by, i. 84 - - Saracens: - Crusades against, _see_ Crusades - Frankish victories against, i. 209-10 _n. 1_ - Wars with, necessitating mounted warriors, i. 525 - otherwise mentioned, i. 239, 252, 274, 332 - - Saxons, _see_ Anglo-Saxons _and_ Germans - - Scandinavians, _see_ Norsemen - - Scholasticism: - Arab analogy with, ii. 390 _and_ _n. 2_ - Aristotle's advanced works, stages of appropriation of, ii. 393-5 - Bacon's attack on, ii. 484, =493-4=, =496=, 509 - Classification of topics by: - Schemes of, various, ii. 312 _seqq._ - Twofold principle of, ii. 311 - Conceptualism, ii. 520-1 - Content of, i. 301 - Deference to authority a characteristic of, ii. 297, 300 - Disintegration of--through Duns, ii. 510, 516; - through Occam, ii. 522-3 - Elementary nature of discussions of, ii. 347 - Evil, problem of, _see_ Evil - Exponents of, ii. 283 _and_ _n._ - Final exposition of, by Aquinas, ii. 484 - Greek thought contrasted with, ii. 296 - Humour non-existent in, ii. 459 - Method of, ii. =302=, =306-7=, 315 _n._; - prototype of, i. 95 - Nominalism, ii. 340 - Philosophy of, _see_ Philosophy, scholastic - Phraseology of, untranslatable, ii. 348, 483 - _Praedicables_, ii. 314 _n._ - Present interest of, ii. 285 - Realism, ii. 340; - Pantheism in relation to, ii. 370 - Salvation a main interest of, ii. =296-7=, 300, 311 - Scriptural authority, position of, ii. 289, =291-2= - Secular studies as regarded by, ii. 349, 357 - Stages of development of, ii. 333 _seqq._ - Sympathetic study of, the key to contradictions, ii. 371 - Theology of, _see_ Theology - Universals, problem of: - Aquinas' treatment of, ii. 462 - Duns' treatment of, ii. 515 - Occam's contribution toward, ii. 520-1 - Roscellin's views on, i. 303-4 - - Sciences, classifications of, ii. 312 _seqq._ - (_See also_ Physical science) - - Scotland, Christianizing of, i. 173 - - Scriptures, Christian: - Allegorizing of: - Examples of: - David and Bathsheba episode, ii. 44-6 - Exodus, Book of, ii. 47 - Good Samaritan parable, ii. =53-6=, 84, 90 - Hannah, story of, ii. 47 _n. 1_ - Pharisee and Publican parable, ii. 51-2 - Hugo of St. Victor's view of, ii. 65 _n._ - Writers exemplifying--Philo, ii. 42-43; - the Fathers, ii. =43 seqq.=, 68-9 _and_ _n. 2_; - Rabanus, ii. 46-50; - Bede, ii. 47 _n. 1_; - Honorius of Autun, ii. 51 _seqq._; - Hugo of St. Victor, ii. 67 _seqq._ - Anglo-Saxon version of, i. =142 n. 2=, 183 - Authority of--in patristic doctrine, ii. 295; - acknowledged by Eriugena, i. 231; - by Berengar, i. 303; - in scholasticism, ii. 280, 291-2 - Bacon's attitude toward, ii. =491-2=, 497 - Bonaventura's attitude toward, and writings on, ii. 405 _seqq._ - Canon law based on, ii. 267-9 - Classical studies in relation to, _see subheading_ Secular - Classification of topics based on, ii. 317, 324 - Commentaries on--Alcuin's, i. 220-1; - Raban's, i. 222-3 - Duns' attitude toward, ii. 516 - Francis of Assisi's literal acceptance of, i. 365, 426-=7=; - his realization of spirit of, i. 427 _n. 1_; ii. 183 - Gothic version of, i. 143 _n._ - _Heliand_, i. =203 and nn.=, 308 - Hymns based on, ii. 88 _seqq._ - Interpretation of--by the Fathers, i. =43 seqq.=, 68-9 _and_ _n. 2_; - by Eriugena, i. 231; - by Berengar, i. 303 - Isidore's writings on, i. 104-5 - Love, human, as treated in Old Testament, i. 332-3 - Scenes from, in Gothic art, ii. 82 _seqq._ - Secular knowledge in relation to, i. 63, =66=; ii. =110=, =112=, 120, - 499 - Song of Songs, _see_ Canticles - Study of, by monks, i. 94; - Cassiodorus' _Institutiones_, i. 95-6 - Theology identified with, ii. 406, 408 - Vulgate, the: - Corruption in Paris copy of, ii. 497 - Language of, ii. 171 - - Sculpture, Gothic: - Cathedrals, evolution of, ii. 538-=9= - Symbolism of, i. 457 _n. 2_; ii. =82-6= - - Sedulius Scotus, i. 215 - - Seneca, i. 26, 41 - - _Sentences, Books of_: - Isidore's, i. 106 _and_ _n. 1_ - Paulus' _Sententiae_, ii. 243 - Peter Lombard's, _see under_ Lombard - Prosper's, i. 106 _n. 1_ - - Sequence-hymns, development of, ii. 196, =201-6=; - Adam of St. Victor's, ii. 209-215 - - Serenus, Bp. of Marseilles, i. 102 - - Sermons, allegorizing: - Bernard of Clairvaux, by, i. 337 _n._, =409-13=; ii. =169=, 368-9 - Honorius of Autun, by, ii. 50 _seqq._ - - Seven Liberal Arts (_See also separate headings_ Grammar, Logic, _etc._): - Alanus de Insulis on functions of, ii. 98 _n. 1_ - Carolingian study of, i. 236 - Clerical education in, i. 221-2 - Compend of, by Cassiodorus, i. 96 - _De nuptiis_ as concerned with, i. 71 _n. 3_ - Hugo of St. Victor on function of, ii. 67, 111 - Latin the medium for, ii. 109 - Law smattering included with, ii. 250 - Quadrivium: - Boëthius on, i. 90 _and_ _n. 2_ - Chartres, at, i. 299 - Thierry's encyclopaedia of, ii. 130 - Trivium: - Chartres, at, i. =298-9=; ii. 163 - Courses of, as representing stages of mediaeval development, ii. - 331 _seqq._ - otherwise mentioned, i. 217; ii. 553 - - Severinus, St., i. 192 - - Severus, Sulpicius, i. 126 _n. 2_; - Life of St. Martin by, i. 52, 84, 85 _n. 2_, =86= - - Sidonius, Apollinaris, i. 126 _n. 2_; - cited, i. 117 _n. 1_, 140 - - Siger de Brabant, ii. 401 _and_ _n._ - - _Sippe_, i. 122 - - Smaragdus, Abbot, i. 215 - - Socrates, i. 34-5; ii. 7 - - Songs, _see_ Poetry - - Sophists, Greek, i. 35 - - Sorbon, Robert de, i. 544-5 - - Sorcery, i. 46 - - Spain: - Antique, the, in relation to, before Middle Ages, i. 9 - Arabian philosophy in, ii. 390 - Church in, i. 9, 103, =118 and n.= - Latinization of, i. 25-6 _and_ _n. 2_ - Moorish conquest of, i. 9, 118 - Visigoths in, i. 113, 116-=17 and n. 2=, 118 - - _Stabat Mater_, i. 348 - - Statius, ii. 229 _n._ - - Statius Caecilius, i. 25 - - Stephen IX., Pope, i. 263 - - Stephen, St., sequence for festival of, ii. 211-13 - - Stephen of Bourbon quoted, i. 365 _n._ - - Stilicho, i. 112 - - Stoicism: - Emotion as regarded by, i. 330 - Nature of, i. =41=, 57, 59 - Neo-Platonism contrasted with, ii. 296 - Philosophy as classified by, ii. 312 - Roman law as affected by, ii. 232 - otherwise mentioned, i. 40, 70 - - Strabo, Walafrid, _see_ Walafrid - - Suevi, i. 116-17 _and_ _n. 2_, =139= - - _Summae_, method of, ii. 306-7 - (_See also under_ Theology) - - _Summum bonum_, Aquinas' discussion of, ii. 438 _seqq._, 456 - - Switzerland, Irish monasteries founded in, i. 174 - - Sylvester II., Pope (Gerbert of Aurillac), career of, i. 281-4; - disputation with Otric, i. 289-91; - estimate of, i. 281, =285-7=; - love of the classics, i. =287-8=; ii. 110; - Latin style of, ii. 160; - logical studies of, ii. 332, 338, 339, 345; - letters of, quoted, i. 283-7; - estimated, i. 284-5; - editions of works of, i. 280 _n._; - _Libellus de rationali et ratione uti_, i. =292 n.=, 299; - otherwise mentioned, i. 249; ii. 35 - - Symbolism: - Alanus' _Anticlaudianus_ as exemplifying, ii. 94-103 - Angels as symbols, ii. 457 - Art, mediaeval, inspired by, i. 21 - Augustine and Gregory compared as to, i. 56-7 - Carolingian, nature and examples of, ii. 46-50 - Church edifices, of, ii. 78-82 - Dante permeated with, ii. 534, =552-5= - Greek, nature of, ii. 56-7 - Hildegard's visions, in, i. 456 _seqq._ - Marriage relationship, in, i. 413-14 - Mass, of the, ii. 77-8 - Mediaeval thought deeply impressed by, ii. =43=, 50 _n. 1_, =102=, - =365= - Mysticism in relation to, ii. 364 - Neo-Platonic, i. 52 - Ovid's works interpreted by, ii. 230 - Patristic, i. =37=, =43-6=, 52, 53, 58, =80= - Platonic, i. 36 - Raban's addiction to, i. 223 _and_ _n. 2_ - _Signum et res_ classification, ii. 322-3 - Twelfth century--in Honorius of Autun, ii. 51 _seqq._; - in Hugo of St. Victor, ii. 64 _seqq._ - Universal in mental processes, ii. 41, 552 _n._ - Universe explained by, ii. 64, 66 _seqq._ - otherwise mentioned, i. 15, 22 - - Sytrio, Romualdus at, i. 378-9 - - - Tacitus, i. 78; ii. 134 - - Tears, grace of, i. 370-1 _and_ _n._, 462, 463 - - Templars, i. 531-5 - - Tenth century, _see_ Carolingian period - - Tertullian, i. 5, 58, 87, 99, 171, 332, 344, 354 _n._; ii 152; - paradox of, i. 51; ii. 297; - _Adversus Marcionem_, i. 68 - - Teutons (_See also_ Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Germans, Norsemen): - Celts compared with, i. 125 - Characteristics of, i. 138 - Christianizing of: - Manner of, i. =181-3=, =196-7=, 193; - results of, i. 5, =170=-1 - Motives of converts, i. 193 - Customs of, i. 122, 139, 141, 523 - Law of, early, tribal nature of, ii. 245-7 - Rôle of, in mediaeval evolution, i. 125 - Roman Empire permeated by, i. 111 _seqq._ - - Theodora, i. 242 - - Theodore, Abp. of Canterbury, i. 184 - - Theodoric of Freiburg, ii. 501 _n._ - - Theodoric the Ostrogoth, i. 89, 91 _n. 2_, 93, =114-15=, 120-1, 138, 249; - in legend, i. 145-6; - Edict of, ii. 244 _n._ - - Theodosius the Great, Emp., i. 112; ii. 272; - Code of, ii. 240 _and_ _n. 2_, 241 _n. 2_, 242, =249=, =266-7 and n. 1= - - Theodulphus, Bp. of Orleans, i. =9=, 215; - Latin diction of, ii. 160 - - Theology, scholastic: - Abaelard's treatises on, _see under_ Abaelard - Aquinas' _Summa_ of, _see under_ Aquinas - Argumentative nature of, ii. 292-3 - Augustinian character of, ii. 403 - Course of study in, ii. 388 - Importance of, as intellectual interest, ii. 287-8 - Logic in relation to, ii. =340 n.=, 346 - Mysticism of, ii. 363-4 - Natural sciences, etc., as handmaids to, ii. =67=, 111, 289, =486=, - =492=, =496=, 500, 530; - denial of the theory--by Duns, ii. 510; - by Occam, ii. 519-520 - (_See also_ Physical science--Patristic attitude toward) - Paris the centre for, ii. 283, =379= - Philosophy in relation to, _see under_ Philosophy - Practical, not speculative, regarded as, ii. 512, =515=, 519 - Scientific nature of, as regarded by Albertus, ii. 291, 430 - Scripture identified with, ii. 406, 408 - _Summae_ of--by Alexander of Hales, ii. 399; - by Bonaventura, ii. 408; - by Albertus Magnus, ii. 430-1; - by Aquinas, _see under_ Aquinas - Thirteenth-century study of, ii. 118-=120= - - Theophrastus, i. 38 - - Theresa, St., i. 443 _n. 1_ - - Theurgic practice, i. 46-8 - - Thierry, Chancellor of Chartres, ii. 119, =370-1=; - _Eptateuchon_ of, ii. 130 _and_ _n._ - - Thirteenth century: - Intellectual interests of, ultimate, ii. 287 - Latin prose styles of, ii. 179 - Papal position in, ii. 509 - Personalities of writers emergent in, ii. 436 - Theology and dialectic the chief studies of, ii. 118-=20= - Three phenomena marking, ii. 378 - - Thomas à Kempis, _De imitatione Christi_ by, ii. 185 - - Thomas Aquinas, _see_ Aquinas - - Thomas of Brittany, _Tristan_ fragment by, i. 582 - - Thomas of Cantimpré, ii. 428-9 - - Thomas of Celano, Life of St. Francis by, quoted, i. 435, 436-8; - style of the work, ii. 182-3 - - Thucydides, _History of the Peloponnesian War_ by, i. 77-8 - - Thuringia: - Boniface's work in, i. 197-8 - Merovingian rule in, i. 121 - - Thuringians, language of, i. 145 _n. 2_ - - Torriti, i. 347 - - Trance, _see_ Ecstasy - - Trèves, i. =30=, 31, 192 - - _Tristan_: - Chrétien's version of, i. 567 - Gottfried von Strassburg's version of, i. 577-82 - - Trivium, _see under_ Seven Liberal Arts - - Troubadours (trouvères), i. 572-3 _and_ _nn._ - - Troy, tales of, in mediaeval literature, ii. 200, =224-5 and n. 2=, - =227-9= - - True and the good compared, ii. 441, 512 - - Truth, Guigo's _Meditationes_ as concerning, i. 385-6 - - Twelfth century: - Classical studies at zenith in, ii. 117-118 - Growth in, various, i. 305-6 - Intellectual interests of, ultimate, ii. 287 - Literary zenith in, ii. 168, 205-6 - Mobility increased during, ii. 379 - - - Ulfilas, i. 192; ii. 221 - - Ulpian--on _jus naturale_ and _jus gentium_, ii. 234 _and_ _n._; - on _justitia_, _jus_ and _jurisprudentia_, ii. 237 - - Ulster Cycle, Sagas of, i. 128 _and_ _n. 2_, 129 _seqq._ - - Universals, _see under_ Scholasticism - - Universities, mediaeval (_For particular universities see their names_): - Increase in (14th cent.), ii. 523 - Rise of, ii. 379, 381 _seqq._ - Studies at, ii. 388 _and_ _n._ - - Urban II., Pope, ii. 175 - - Urban IV., Pope, ii. 391-2, 434 - - Utrecht, bishopric of, i. 197 - - - Vallombrosa, i. 377 - - Vandals, i. 112, =113=, 120 - - Varro, Terentius, i. 39, 71, 78 - - Vercingetorix, i. 28 - - Vernacular poetry, _see under_ Poetry - - Verse, _see_ Poetry - - Vikings, _see_ Danes _and_ Norsemen - - Vilgard, i. 259-60 - - Vincent of Beauvais, _Speculum majus_ of, ii. 82 _and_ _n. 2_, 315-22 - - Virgil, Bernard Silvestris' _Commentum_ on, ii. 116-17 _and_ _n. 2_; - Dante in relation to, ii. 535, 536, 539, 543 - - Virgin Mary: - Dante's _Paradiso_ as concerning, ii. 551 - Hymns to, by Hugo of St. Victor, ii. 86-7, 92 - Interventions of, against the devil, i. 487, =490-2= - Mediaeval attitude toward, i. 53, 54 _and_ =n. 2=; ii. =431=, =551=, - 558 - - Virtues: - Aquinas' classification of, ii. 326-8 - Odilo's _Cardinales disciplinae_, i. 295 - - Virtues and vices, poetic treatment of--by Alanus, ii. 102 _n._; - by De Lorris and De Meun, ii. 103 - - Visigoths: - Arianism of, i. 120 - Dacian settlement of, i. 112 - Gaul, Southern, kingdom in, i. 7, 112, =116=; - Clovis' conquest of, i. 121 - Roman law code promulgated by, _see_ Roman law--_Breviarium_ - Spain, in, i. 9, 113, 116-=17 and n. 2=, 118 - - Visions: - Examples of, i. 444-6, 451, 452-9 - Monastic atmosphere in, i. 184 _and_ _n. 2_ - Nature of, i. 443, 449 and _n. 3_, =450=, 451 _and_ _n._ - - _Vita contemplativa_: - Aquinas' views on, ii. 443, =481-2= - Hildebert on, ii. 144-5 - - _Vitae sanctorum_, _see_ Saints--Lives of - - - Walafrid Strabo, i. 100, =215=; ii. =332=; - _Glossa ordinaria_ of, i. 16, =221 n. 2=; ii. =46=; - _De cultura hortorum_, ii. 188 _n. 2_ - - Waldenses, i. =365 n.=; ii. 34 - - Walter of Lille (of Chatillon), _Alexandreis_ of, ii. 192 _and_ _n. 3_, - 230 _n. 1_ - - Walther von der Vogelweide, political views of, ii. 33; - attitude of, toward Papacy, ii. 34-6; - piety and crusading zeal of, ii. 36; - melancholy, ii. 36-7; - _Minnelieder_ of, ii. 29-31; - _Sprüche_, ii. 29, =32=, 36; - _Tagelied_, ii. 30; - _Unter der Linde_, ii. 30; - otherwise mentioned, i. 475, =482=, 589; ii. 223 - - _Wergeld_, i. =122=, 139; ii. =246= - - Will, primacy of, over intellect, ii. 512, 515 - - William, Abbot of Hirschau, i. 315 - - William II. (Rufus), King of England, i. 273, 275; ii. =138-9= - - William of Apulia, ii. 189 _and_ _n. 3_ - - William of Champeaux--worsted by Abaelard, ii. 342-3; - founds St. Victor, ii. 61, 143; - Hildebert's letter to, quoted, ii. 143 - - William of Conches, ii. 132; - studies and works of, ii. 372-3; - _Summa moralium philosophorum_, ii. 134-5, 373 _and_ _n. 2_ - - William of Malmsbury cited, i. 525 - - William of Moerbeke, ii. 391 - - William of Occam, _see_ Occam - - William of St. Thierry, ii. 300, 344 - - Willibrord, St., i. 197 - - Winifried-Boniface, St., i. 6, =197-200=, 308; ii. 273 - - Wisdom, Aquinas on, ii. 481 - - Witelo, _Perspectiva_ by, ii. 501 _n._ - - Witiza of Aquitaine, i. 358-9 - - Wolfram von Eschenbach, ii. 223; - _Parzival_ by, i. 12 _n._, 149 _n. 1_, 152, 567, 571 _n. 2_, - =589-613=; ii. =36=; - estimate of the work, i. 588; ii. 29 - - Women: - Emotion regarding, i. 349-50 - Emotional Christ-love experienced by, i. 442, =459 seqq.= - Fabliaux' tone toward, i. 521 _n. 2_ - German prae-mediaeval attitude toward, i. 139, 150; - mediaeval, ii. 31 - Monastic life, in: - Abuses among, i. 491-2; - Rigaud's _Register_ as concerning, i. 479-480 - Consecration of, i. 337 _and_ _n._ - Gandersheim nuns, i. 311 - Visions of, i. 442 _seqq._, 463 _seqq._ - Monkish vilification of, i. =354 n.=, 521 _n. 2_, 532, =533=; ii. 58 - Romantic literature as concerned with, i. 564 - Romantic poems for audiences of, i. 565 - Walther von der Vogelweide on, ii. 31 - - Worms, Concordat of (1122), i. 245 _n. 4_ - - - Xenophon's _Cyropaedia_, i. 78 - - - Year-books (_Annales_), i. 234 _and_ =n. 1= - - Yves, Bp. of Chartres, i. 262 _n._; ii. =139= - - - Zacharias, Pope, i. 199 - - Zoology: - Albertus Magnus' works on, ii. 429 - Aristotle's work in, i. 38 - _Physiologus_, i. =76-7 and n.=, 300; ii. 83 - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] The present work is not occupied with the brutalities of mediaeval -life, nor with all the lower grades of ignorance and superstition -abounding in the Middle Ages, and still existing, in a less degree, -through parts of Spain and southern France and Italy. Consequently I have -not such things very actively in mind when speaking of the mediaeval -genius. That phrase, and the like, in this book, will signify the more -informed and constructive spirit of the mediaeval time. - -[2] There will be much to say of all these men in later chapters. - -[3] _Post_, Chapter XI. - -[4] See _post_, Chapter IX., as to the manner of the coming of Augustine -to England. - -[5] The Icelandic Sagas, for example, were then brought into written form. -They have a genius of their own; they are realistic and without a trace of -symbolism. They are wonderful expressions of the people among whom they -were composed. _Post_, Chapter VIII. But, products of a remote island, -they were unaffected by the moulding forces of mediaeval development, nor -did they exert any influence in turn. The native traits of the mediaeval -peoples were the great complementary factor in mediaeval -progress--complementary, that is to say, to Latin Christianity and antique -culture. Mediaeval characteristics sprang from the interaction of these -elements; they certainly did not spring from any such independent and -severed growth of native Teuton quality as is evinced by the Sagas. One -will look far, however, for another instance of such spiritual aloofness. -For clear as are the different racial or national traits throughout the -mediaeval period, they constantly appear in conjunction with other -elements. They are discerned working beneath, possibly reacting against, -and always affected by, the genius of the Middle Ages, to wit, the genius -of the mutual interaction of the whole. Wolfram's very German _Parzival_, -the old French _Chanson de Roland_, and above them all the _Divina -Commedia_, are mediaeval. In these compositions in the vernacular, racial -traits manifest themselves distinctly, and yet are affected by the -mediaeval spirit. - -[6] See _post_, Chapter V. - -[7] The Predestination and Eucharistic controversies are examples; _post_, -Chapter X. - -[8] See _post_, Chapter X. - -[9] The lack of originality in the first half of the tenth century is -illustrated by the Epitome of Gregory's _Moralia_, made by such an -energetic person as Odo of Cluny. It occupies four hundred columns in -Migne's _Patrologia Latina_, 133. See _post_, Chapter XII. - -[10] See _post_, Chapter XIII. - -[11] See _post_, Chapter XI. - -[12] See _post_, Chapter XVI. - -[13] These men will be fully considered later, Chapters XXXIV.-XL. - -[14] See _post_, Chapter XXXI. - -[15] See _post_, Chapter XXXII. - -[16] _Post_, Chapter XXIII. - -[17] The term "spiritual" is here intended to signify the activities of -the mind which are emotionalized with yearning or aversion, and therefore -may be said to belong to the entire nature of man. - -[18] The history of the spread of Latin through Italy and the provinces is -from the nature of the subject obscure. Budinsky's _Die Ausbreitung der -lateinischer Sprache_ (Berlin, 1881) is somewhat unsatisfactory. See also -Meyer-Lübke, _Die lateinische Sprache in den romanischen Ländern_ -(Gröber's _Grundriss_, 1{2}, 451 _sqq._; F. G. Mohl, _Introduction à la -chronologie du latin vulgaire_ (1899). The statements in the text are very -general, and ignore intentionally the many difficult questions as to what -sort of Latin--dialectal, popular, or literary--was spread through the -peninsula. See Mohl, _o.c._ § 33 _sqq._ - -[19] Tradition says from Gaul, but the sifted evidence points to the -Danube north of the later province of Noricum. See Bertrand and Reinach, -_Les Celtes dans les vallées du Pô et du Danube_ (Paris, 1894). - -[20] See Beloch, _Bevölkerung der griechisch-römischen Welt_, p. 507 -(Leipzig, 1886). - -[21] Mommsen says that in Augustus's time fifty Spanish cities had the -full privileges of Roman citizenship and fifty others the rights of -Italian towns (_Roman Provinces_, i. 75, Eng. trans.). But this seems a -mistake; as the enumeration of Beloch, _Bevölkerung_, etc., p. 330, gives -fifty in all, following the account of Pliny. - -[22] Cicero, _Pro Archia_, 10, speaks slightingly of poets born at -Cordova, but, later, Latro of Cordova was Ovid's teacher. - -[23] The Roman law was used throughout Provincia. In this respect a line -is to be drawn between Provincia and the North. See _post_, Chapter -XXXIII. - -[24] _Bellum Gallicum_, iii. 10. - -[25] _Bellum Gallicum_, v. 6. - -[26] Porcius Cato, in his _Origines_, written a hundred years before -Caesar crossed the mountains, says that Gallia was devoted to the art of -war and to eloquence (_argute loqui_). Presumably the Gallia that Cato -thus characterized as clever or acute of speech, was Cisalpine Gaul, to -wit, the north of Italy; yet Caesar's transalpine Gauls were both clever -of speech and often the fools of their own arguments. Lucian, in his -_Hercules_ (No. 55, Dindorf's edition) has his "Celt" argue that Hercules -accomplished his deeds by the power of words. - -[27] See, generally, Fustel de Coulanges, _Institutions politiques de -l'ancienne France_, vol. i. (_La Gaule romaine_). - -[28] _Bellum Gallicum_, vi. 11, 12. - -[29] Cf. Julian, _Vercingetorix_ (2nd ed., Paris, 1902). - -[30] _Bellum Gallicum_, iv. 5; vi. 20. - -[31] There are a number of texts from the second to the fifth century -which bear on the matter. Taken altogether they are unsatisfying, if not -blind. They have been frequently discussed. See Gröber, _Grundriss der -romanischen Philologie_, i. 451 _sqq._ (2nd edition, 1904); Brunot, -_Origines de la langue française_, which is the Introduction to Petit de -Julleville's _Histoire de la langue et de la littérature française_ -(Paris, 1896); Bonnet, _Le Latin de Grégoire de Tours_, pp. 22-30 (Paris, -1890); Mommsen's _Provinces of the Roman Empire_, p. 108 _sqq._ of English -translation; Fustel de Coulanges, _Institutions politiques_, vol. i. (_La -Gaule romaine_), pp. 125-135 (Paris, 1891); Roger, _L'Enseignement des -lettres classiques d' Ausone à Alcuin_, p. 24 _sqq._ (Paris, 1905). - -[32] Such words are, _e.g._, wine, street, wall. See Toller, _History of -the English Language_ (Macmillan & Co., 1900), pp. 41, 42. - -[33] See Paul, _Grundriss der germanischen Philologie_, Band i. pp. -305-315, (Strassburg, 1891). - -[34] A prime illustration is afforded by the Latin juristic word _persona_ -used in the Creed. The Latins had to render the three [Greek: hypostaseis] -of the Greeks; and "three somethings," _tria quaedam_, was too loose, as -Augustine says (_De Trinitate_, vii. 7-12). The true and literal -translation of [Greek: hypostasis] would have been _substantia_; but that -word had been taken to render [Greek: ousia]. So the legal word _persona_ -was employed in spite of its recognized unfitness. Cf. Taylor, _Classical -Heritage, etc._, p. 116 _sqq._ - -[35] On these Peripatetics see Zeller, _Philosophie der Griechen_, 3rd ed. -vol. ii. pp. 806-946. - -[36] See Boissier, _Étude sur M. T. Varron_ (Paris, 1861). - -[37] _Hist. naturalis_, ii. 41. - -[38] From the reign of Augustus onward, Astrology flourished as never -before. See Habler, _Astrologie im Alterthum_, p. 23 _sqq._ (Zwickau, -1879). - -[39] _De abstinentia_, ii. 34. - -[40] _De abstinentia_, iii. 4. - -[41] Porphyry before him had spoken of angels and archangels which he had -found in Jewish writings. - -[42] For authorities cited, see Zeller, _Ges. der Phil._, iii.{2} p. 686. - -[43] _De mysteriis_, i. 3. - -[44] _Ibid._ ii. 3, 9. - -[45] Cf. Döllinger, _Sektengeschichte_. - -[46] All my Christian examples are taken from among the representatives of -Catholic Christianity, because it was that which triumphed, and set the -lines of mediaeval thought. Consequently, I have not referred to the -Gnostics, not wishing to complicate an already complex spiritual -situation. Gnosticism was a mixture of Hellenic, oriental, and Christian -elements. Its votaries represented one (most distorting) way in which the -Gospel was taken. But Gnosticism neither triumphed nor deserved to. It -flourished somewhat before the time of Plotinus. - -[47] See Origen, _De principiis_, iii. 2. - -[48] The Athanasian _Vita Antonii_ is in Migne, _Patr. Graec._ 26, and -trans. in _Nicene Fathers_, second series, iv. The _Vita S. Martini_ is in -Halm's ed. of Sulp. Severus (Vienna, 1866), and in Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 20, -and trans. in _Nicene Fathers_, second series, xi. - -[49] See Harnack, _Dogmengeschichte_, ii. 413 _sqq._, especially 432 sqq. -Also Taylor, _Classical Heritage_, pp. 94-97. - -[50] In cap. iii. § 2 of the _Celestial Hierarchy_, Pseudo-Dionysius says -that the goal of his system is the becoming like to God and oneness with -Him ([Greek: hê pros theon aphomoiôsis te kai henôsis]). He classifies his -"celestial intelligences" even more systematically than the _De mysteriis_ -of Iamblicus's school. His work is full of Neo-Platonism. Cf. Vacherot, -_Histoire de l'école d'Alexandrie_, iii. 24 _sqq._ - -[51] The cult of the Virgin and the saints was of very early growth. See -Lucius, _Die Anfänge des Heiligen Kults in der christlichen Kirche_ (ed. -by Anrich, Tübingen, 1904). - -[52] See, _e.g._, Grandgeorge, _St. Augustin et le Néoplatonisme_ (Paris, -1896). - -[53] On Gregory, see _post_, Chapter V. - -[54] _Epistola ad Gregorium Thaumaturgum._ - -[55] Cf. Boissier, _Fin du paganisme_. - -[56] _Civ. Dei_, xix. caps. 49, 20, 27, 28. - -[57] _De moribus Ecclesiae_, 14, 15; cf. _Epist._ 155, §§ 12, 13. - -[58] _Civ. Dei_, xix. 25. - -[59] See Clement of Rome, _Ep. to the Corinthians_ (A.D. cir. 92), opening -passage, and notes in Lightfoot's edition. - -[60] _De doc. Chris._ i. 4, 5. - -[61] _De doc. Chris._ ii. 16. - -[62] _De doc. Chris._ iii. cap. 10 _sqq._ - -[63] _Post_, Chapter V. - -[64] _De moribus Ecclesiae_, 21; _Confessions_, v. 7; x. 54-57. - -[65] See Harnack, _Dogmengeschichte_, iii. 14 _sqq._; Taylor, _Classical -Heritage_, p. 117 _sqq._ - -[66] _Civ. Dei_, ix. 21, 22; cf. _Civ. Dei_, xvi. 6-9. - -[67] _Civ. Dei_, book xii., affords a discussion of such questions, _e.g._ -why was man created when he was, and not before or afterwards. All these -matters entered into the discussions of the mediaeval philosophers, Thomas -Aquinas, for example. - -Besides these dogmatic treatises, in which Scriptural texts were called -upon at least for confirmation, the Fathers, Greek and Latin, composed an -enormous mass of Biblical commentary, chiefly allegorical, following the -chapter and verse of the canonical writings. - -[68] See _ante_, Chapter III. - -[69] See _post_, Chapter V. - -[70] The substance of Capella's book is framed in an allegorical narrative -of the Marriage of Philology and Mercury. For a nuptial gift, the groom -presents the bride with seven maid-servants, symbolizing the Seven Liberal -Arts--Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, -Music. Cf. Taylor, _Classical Heritage, etc._, p. 49 _sqq._ - -[71] In Eyssenhardt's edition. - -[72] On the symbolism of Numbers see Cantor, _Vorlesungen über Ges. der -Mathematik_, 2nd ed. pp. 95, 96, 146, 156, 529, 531. - -[73] See an extraordinary example taken from the treatise against Faustus, -_post_, Chapter XXVII. Also _De doc. Chris._ ii. 16; _De Trinitate_, iv. -4-6. - -[74] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 14, col. 123-273. Written cir. 389. - -[75] _Hex._ i. cap. 6. - -[76] _Hex._ ii. caps. 2, 3. - -[77] Aug. _De Trinitate_, iii. 5-9. - -[78] _Ante_, Chapter III. - -[79] _Civ. Dei_, xvi. 9. - -[80] For the sources of these accounts see Lauchert, _Ges. des -Physiologus_ (Strassburg, 1889), p. 4 _sqq._ The wide use of this work is -well known. It was soon translated into Ethiopian, Armenian, and Syrian; -into Latin not later than the beginning of the fifth century; and -subsequently, of course with many accretions, into the various languages -of western mediaeval Europe. See Lauchert, _o.c._ p. 79 _sqq._ - -[81] Cf. Boissier, _Tacite_ (Paris, 1903). - -[82] For example, what different truths can one speak afterwards of a -social dinner of men and women at which he has sat. In the first place, -there is the hostess, to whom he may say something pleasant and yet true. -Then there is his congenial friend among the ladies present, to whom he -will impart some intimate observations, also true. Thirdly, a club friend -was at the dinner, and his ear shall be the receptacle of remarks on -feminine traits illustrated by what was said and done there. Finally, -there is himself, to whom in the watches of the night the dinner will -present itself in its permanent values as an incident in human -intercourse, which is so fascinating, so transitory, and so suggestive of -topics of reflection. Here are four presentations; and if there was a -company of twelve, we may multiply four by that number and imagine -forty-eight true, although inexhaustive, accounts of that dinner which has -now joined the fading circle of events that are no more. - -[83] On Gregory of Nyssa, see Taylor, _Classical Heritage_, p. 125 _sqq._ - -[84] Chiefly in Books III. and XV.-XVIII. - -[85] Like the _Civitas Dei_, the patristic writings devoted exclusively to -history were all frankly apologetic, yet following different manners -according to the temper and circumstances of the writer. In the East, at -the epoch of the formal Christian triumph and the climax of the Arian -dispute, lived Eusebius of Caesarea, the most famous of the early Church -historians. He was learned, careful, capable of weighing testimony, and -possessed the faculty of presenting salient points. He does not dwell -overmuch on miracles. His apologetic tendencies appear in his method of -seeing and stating facts so as to uphold the truth of Christianity. If -just then Christianity seemed no longer to demand an advocate, there was -place for a eulogist, and such was Eusebius in his Church History and -fulsome _Life of Constantine_. His Church History is translated by A. C. -McGiffert, _Library of Nicene Fathers_, second series, vol. i. (New York, -1890). It was translated into Latin by Rufinus, friend and then enemy of -St. Jerome. - -[86] The best edition is Zangemeister's in the Vienna _Corpus scriptorum -eccles._ (1882). Orosius ignores the classic Greek historians, of whom he -knew little or nothing. Cf. Taylor, _Classical Heritage_, pp. 219-221. - -[87] _Hist._ ii. 3. - -[88] Best edition that of Pauly, in Vienna _Corpus scrip. eccles._ (1883). - -[89] An excellent statement of the nature and classes of the mediaeval -_Vitae sanctorum_ is "Les Légendes hagiographiques," by Hipp. Delehaye, -S.J., in _Revue des questions historiques_, t. 74 (1903), pp. 56-122. An -English translation of this article has appeared as an independent volume. - -[90] At Gregory's statement of the marvellous deeds of Benedict, his -interlocutor, the Deacon Peter, answers and exclaims: "Wonderful and -astonishing is what you relate. For in the water brought forth from the -rock (_i.e._ by Benedict) I see Moses, in the iron which returned from the -bottom of the lake I see Elisha (2 Kings vi. 6), in the running upon the -water I see Peter, in the obedience of the raven I see Elijah (1 Kings -xvii. 6), and in his grief for his dead enemy I see David (2 Sam. i. 11). -That man, as I consider him, was full of the spirit of all the just" -(Gregorius Magnus, _Dialogi_, ii. 8. Quoted and expanded by Odo of Cluny, -Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 133, col. 724). The rest of the second book contains -other miracles like those told in the Bible. The Life of a later saint may -also follow earlier monastic types. Francis kisses the wounds of lepers, -as Martin of Tours had done. See Sulpicius Severus, _Vita S. Martini_. But -often the writer of a _vita_ deliberately inserts miracles to make his -story edifying, or enhance the fame of his hero, perhaps in order to -benefit the church where he is interred. - -[91] Ambrose, _Ep._ 22, _ad Marcellinam_. - -[92] On Paulinus of Nola, see Taylor, _Classical Heritage_, pp. 272-276. - -[93] As this chapter has been devoted to the intellectual interests of the -Fathers, it should be supplemented by a consideration of the emotions and -passions approved or rejected by them. But this matter may be considered -more conveniently in connection with the development of mediaeval emotion, -_post_, Chapter XIV. - -[94] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 63, col. 1079-1167. Also edited by Friedlein -(Leipsic, 1867). - -[95] I know of no earlier employment of the word to designate these four -branches of study. But one might infer from Boëthius's youth at this time -that he received it from a teacher. - -[96] See Cantor, _Vorlesungen über die Ges. der Mathematik_, i. 537-540. - -[97] See Cantor, _o.c._ i. 540-551. - -[98] Cassiodorus, _Ep. variae_, i. 45 - -[99] Upon the dates of Boëthius's writings, see S. Brandt, -"Entstehungszeit und zeitliche Folge der Werke des Boëtius," _Philologus_, -Band 62 (N.S. Bd. 16), 1903, pp. 141 _sqq._ and 234 _sqq._ - -[100] Social position, his own abilities, and the favour of Theodoric, -obtained the consulship for Boëthius in 510, when he was twenty-eight or --nine years old. - -[101] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 64, col. 201. - -[102] _In librum de interpretatione_, editio secunda, beginning of Book -II., Migne 64, col. 433. - -[103] See _De inter._ ed. prima, Book I. (Migne 64, col. 193); ed. -secunda, beginning of Book III. and of Book IV. (Migne 64, col. 487 and -517). The Boëthian translations are all in the 64th vol. of Migne's _Pat. -Lat._ - -[104] See A. Hildebrand, _Boëthius und seine Stellung zum Christentum_ -(Regensburg, 1885), and works therein referred to. - -[105] See Prantl, _Ges. der Logik_, i. 679 _sqq._ - -[106] See his Life in Hodgkin's _Letters of Cassiodorus_; also Roger, -_Enseignement des lettres classiques d'Ausone à Alcuin_, pp. 175-187 -(Paris, 1905). - -[107] Migne 70, col. 1281. - -[108] Migne 70, col. 1105-1219. - -[109] Gregory's works are printed in Migne, _Patrologia Latina_, 75-79. -His epistles are also published in the _Monumenta Germaniae historica_. On -Gregory, his life and times, writings and doctrines, see F. H. Dudden, -_Gregory the Great_, etc., 2 vols. (Longmans, 1905). - -[110] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 75, col. 516. - -[111] _Ep._ xi. 54 (Migne 77, col. 1171). - -[112] This is the view expressed in the _Commentary on Kings_ ascribed to -Gregory, but perhaps the work of a later hand. Thus, in the allegorical -interpretation of 1 Kings (1 Sam.) xiii. 20, "But all the Israelites went -down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, -and his axe." Says the commentator (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 79, col. 356): We -go down to the Philistines when we incline the mind to secular studies; -Christian simplicity is upon a height. Secular books are said to be in the -plane since they have no celestial truths. God put secular knowledge in a -plane before us that we should use it as a step to ascend to the heights -of Scripture. So Moses first learned the wisdom of the Egyptians that he -might be able to understand and expound the divine precepts; Isaiah, most -eloquent of the prophets, was _nobiliter instructus et urbanus_; and Paul -had sat at Gamaliel's feet before he was lifted to the height of the third -heaven. One goes to the Philistines to sharpen his plow, because secular -learning is needed as a training for Christian preaching. - -[113] See _post_, Chapter X. - -[114] Migne 75, 76. - -[115] Migne 77, col. 149-430. The second book is devoted to Benedict of -Nursia. - -[116] For illustrations see Dudden, _o.c._ i. 321-366, and ii. 367-68. -Gregory's interest in the miraculous shows also in his letters. The -Empress Constantine had written requesting him to send her the head of St. -Paul! He replies (_Ep._ iv. 30, _ad Constantinam Augustam_) in a wonderful -letter on the terrors of such holy relics and their death-striking as well -as healing powers, of which he gives instances. He says that sometimes he -has sent a bit of St. Peter's chain or a few filings; and when people come -seeking those filings from the priest in attendance, sometimes they -readily come off, and again no effort of the file can detach anything. - -[117] _Moralia_ xvi. 51 (Migne 75, col. 1151). Cf. Dudden, _o.c._ ii. -369-373. - -[118] _Mor._ ix. 34, 54 (Migne 75, col. 889). Cf. Dudden, _o.c._ ii. -419-426. - -[119] _Dialogi_, iv. caps. 39, 55. - -[120] A better Augustinianism speaks in Gregory's letter to Theoctista -(_Ep._ vii. 26), in which he says that there are two kinds of -"compunction, the one which fears eternal punishments, the other which -sighs for the heavenly rewards, as the soul thirsting after God is stung -first by fear and then by love." - -[121] _Ep._ iv. 21; vi. 32; ix. 6. - -[122] See _post_, Chapter XXXVI., 1. - -[123] Migne 83, col. 207-424. No reference need be made, of course, to the -_False Decretals_, pseudonymously connected with Isidore's name; they are -later than his time. - -[124] The _Etymologiae_ is to be found in vol. 82 of Migne, col. 73-728; -the other works fill vol. 83 of Migne. - -[125] Aug. _Quaest. in Gen._ i. 152. See _ante_, Chapter IV. - -[126] Isidore's _Books of Sentences_ present a topical arrangement of -matters more or less closely pertinent to the Christian Faith, and thus -may be regarded as a precursor of the _Sentences_ of Peter Lombard -(_post_, Chapter XXXIV.). But Isidore's work is the merest compilation, -and he does not marshal his extracts to prove or disprove a set -proposition, and show the consensus of authority, like the Lombard. His -chief source is Gregory's _Moralia_. Prosper of Aquitaine, a younger -contemporary and disciple of Augustine, compiled from Augustine's works a -book of Sentences, a still slighter affair than Isidore's (Migne, _Pat. -Lat._ 51, col. 427-496). - -[127] For example, Reason begins her reply thus: "Quaeso te, anima, -obsecro te, deprecor te, imploro te, ne quid ultra leviter agas, ne quid -inconsulte geras, ne temere aliquid facias," etc. (Migne 83, col. 845). - -[128] _De rerum natura_, Praefatio (Migne 83, col. 963). - -[129] See Prolegomena to Becker's edition. - -[130] Migne 82, col. 367. - -[131] See Kübler, "Isidorus-Studien," _Hermes_ xxv. (1890), 497, 518, and -literature there cited. - -An analysis of the _Etymologies_ would be out of the question. But the -captions of the twenty books into which it is divided will indicate the -range of Isidore's intellectual interests and those of his time: - - I. _De grammatica._ - - II. _De rhetorica et dialectica._ - - III. _De quatuor disciplinis mathematicis._ (Thus the first three - books contain the Trivium and Quadrivium.) - - IV. _De medicina._ (A brief hand-book of medical terms.) - - V. _De legibus et temporibus._ (The latter part describes the days, - nights, weeks, months, years, solstices and equinoxes. It is hard to - guess why this was put in the same book with Law.) - - VI. _De libris et officiis ecclesiasticis._ (An account of the books - of the Bible and the services of the Church.) - - VII. _De Deo, angelis et fidelium ordinibus._ - - VIII. _De ecclesia et sectis diversis._ - - IX. _De linguis, gentibus, regnis, etc._ (Concerning the various - peoples of the earth and their languages, and other matters.) - - X. _Vocum certarum alphabetum._ (An etymological vocabulary of many - Latin words.) - - XI. _De homine et portentis._ (The names and definitions of the - various parts of the human body, the ages of life, and prodigies and - monsters.) - - XII. _De animalibus._ - - XIII. _De mundo et partibus._ (The universe and its parts--atoms, - elements, sky, thunder, winds, waters, etc.) - - XIV. _De terra et partibus._ (Geographical.) - - XV. _De aedificiis et agris._ (Cities, their public constructions, - houses, temples, and the fields.) - - XVI. _De lapidibus et metallis._ (Stones, metals, and their qualities - curious and otherwise.) - - XVII. _De rebus rusticis._ (Trees, herbs, etc.) - - XVIII. _De bello et ludis._ (On war, weapons, armour; on public games - and the theatre.) - - XIX. _De navibus, aedificiis et vestibus._ (Ships, their parts and - equipment, buildings and their decoration; garments and their - ornament.) - - XX. _De penu et instrumentis domesticis et rusticis._ (On wines and - provisions, and their stores and receptacles.) - -[132] The exaggerated growth of grammatical and rhetorical studies is -curiously shown by the mass of words invented to indicate the various -kinds of tropes and figures. See the list in Bede, _De schematis_ (Migne -90, col. 175 _sqq._). - -[133] Cf. Hodgkin, _Italy and her Invaders_, 8 vols.; Villari, _The -Barbarian Invasions of Italy_, 2 vols. - -[134] This demand was not so extraordinary in view of the common Roman -custom in the provinces of billeting soldiers upon the inhabitants, with -the right to one-third of the house and appurtenances. - -[135] Cf. _post_, Chapter XXXIII., II. - -[136] On the Codes see Hodgkin, _o.c._ vol. vi. - -[137] The Lombard language was still spoken in the time of Paulus Diaconus -(eighth century). - -[138] Apollinaris Sidonius, _Ep._ i. 2 (trans. by Hodgkin, _o.c._ vol. ii. -352-358), gives a sketch of a Visigothic king, Theodoric II., son of him -who fell in the battle against the Huns. He ascended the throne in 453, -having accomplished the murder of his brother Thorismund. In 466, he was -himself slain by his brother Euric. In the meanwhile he appears to have -been a good half-barbaric, half-civilized king. - -[139] See _post_, Chapter XXXIII., II. For the Visigothic kingdom of Spain -the great reigns were those of Leowigild (568-586) and his son Reccared -(586-601). In Justinian's time the "Roman Empire" had again made good its -rule over the south of Spain. Leowigild pushed the Empire back to a narrow -strip of southern coast, where there were still important cities. Save for -this, he conquered all Spain, finally mastering the Suevi in the -north-west. His capital was Toledo. Great as was his power, it hardly -sufficed to hold in check the overweening nobles and landowners. Under the -declining Empire there had sprung up a system of clientage and protection, -in which the Teutons found an obstacle to the establishment of monarchies. -In Spain this system hastened the downfall of the Visigothic kingdom. -Another source of trouble for Leowigild, who was still an Arian, was the -opposition of the powerful Catholic clergy. Reccared, his son, changed to -the Catholic or "Roman" creed, and ended the schism between the throne and -the bishops. - -[140] The Spanish Roman Church, which controlled or thwarted the destinies -of the doomed Visigothic kingdom, was foremost among the western churches -in ability and learning. It had had its martyrs in the times of pagan -persecution; it had its universally venerated Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, -and prominent at the Council of Nicaea; it had its fiercely quelled -heresies and schisms; and it had an astounding number of councils, usually -held at Toledo. Its bishops were princes. Leander, Bishop of Seville, had -been a tribulation to the powerful, still Arian, King Leowigild, who was -compelled to banish him. That king's son, Reccared, recalled him from -banishment, to preside at the Council of Toledo in 589, when the -Visigothic monarchy turned to Roman Catholicism. Leander was succeeded in -his more than episcopal see by his younger brother Isidore (Bishop of -Seville from 600 to 636). A princely prelate, Isidore was to have still -wider and more lasting fame for sanctity and learning. The last -encyclopaedic scholar belonging to the antique Christian world, he became -one of the great masters of the Middle Ages (see _ante_, Chapter V.). The -forger and compiler of the _False Decretals_ in selecting the name of -Isidore rather than another to clothe that collection with authority, -acted under the universal veneration felt for this great Spanish -Churchman. - -[141] Marriages between Romans and Franks were legalized as early as 497. - -[142] See Flach, _Les Origines de l'ancienne France_, vol. i. chap. i. -_sqq._ (Paris, 1886). - -[143] See _post_, Chapter XXXIII., II. - -[144] The physiological criterion of a race is consanguinity. But -unfortunately racial lineage soon loses itself in obscurity. Moreover, -during periods as to which we have some knowledge, no race has continued -pure from alien admixture; and every people that has taken part in the -world's advance has been acted upon by foreign influences from its -prehistoric beginnings throughout the entire course of its history. -Indeed, foreign suggestions and contact with other peoples appear -essential to tribal or national progress. For the historian there exists -no pure and unmixed race, and even the conception of one becomes -self-contradictory. To him a race is a group of people, presumably related -in some way by blood, who appear to transmit from generation to generation -a common heritage of culture and like physical and spiritual traits. He -observes that the transmitted characteristics of such a group may weaken -or dissipate before foreign influence, and much more as the group scatters -among other people; or again he sees its distinguishing traits becoming -clearer as the members draw to a closer national unity under the action of -a common physical environment, common institutions, and a common speech. -The historian will not accept as conclusive any single kind of evidence -regarding race. He may attach weight to complexion, stature, and shape of -skull, and yet find their interpretation quite perplexing when compared -with other evidence, historical or linguistic. He will consider customs -and implements, and yet remember that customs may be borrowed, and -implements are often of foreign pattern. Language affords him the most -enticing criterion, but one of the most deceptive. It is a matter of -observation that when two peoples of different tongues meet together, they -may mingle their blood through marriage, combine their customs, and adopt -each other's utensils and ornaments; but the two languages will not -structurally unite: one will supplant the other. The language may thus be -more single in source than the people speaking it; though, conversely, -people of the same race, by reason of special circumstances, may not speak -the same tongue. Hence linguistic unity is not conclusive evidence of -unity of race. - -[145] As to the Celts in Gaul and elsewhere, and the early non-Celtic -population of Gaul, see A. Bertrand, _La Gaule avant les Gaulois_ (Paris, -1891); _La Religion des Gaulois_ (Paris, 1897); _Les Celtes dans les -vallées du Pô et du Danube_ (in conjunction with S. Reinach); D'Arbois de -Jubainville, _Les Premiers Habitants de l'Europe_ (second edition, Paris, -1894); Fustel de Coulanges, _Institutions politiques de l'ancienne France_ -(Paris, 1891); Karl Müllenhoff, _Deutsche Altertumskunde_, Bde. I. and -II.; Zupitza, "Kelten und Gallier," _Zeitschrift für keltische -Philologie_, 1902. - -[146] See _ante_, Chapter II. - -[147] The Latin literature produced by their descendants in the fourth -century is usually good in form, whatever other qualities it lack. This -statement applies to the works of the nominally Christian, but really -pagan, rhetorician and poet, Ausonius, born in 310, at Bordeaux, of -mingled Aquitanian and Aeduan blood; likewise to the poems of Paulinus of -Nola, born at the same town, in 353, and to the prose of Sulpicius -Severus, also born in Aquitaine a little after. In the fifth century, -Avitus, an Auvernian, Bishop of Vienne, and Apollinaris Sidonius continue -the Gallo-Latin strain in literature. - -[148] Without hazarding a discussion of the origin of the Irish, of their -proportion of Celtic blood, or their exact relation to the Celts of the -Continent, it may in a general way be said, that Ireland and Great Britain -were inhabited by a prehistoric and pre-Celtic people. The Celts came from -the Continent, conquered them, and probably intermarried with them. The -Celtic inflow may have begun in the sixth century before Christ, and -perhaps continued until shortly before Caesar's time. Evidences of -language point to a dual Celtic stock, Goidelic and Brythonic. It may be -surmised that the former was the first to arrive. The Celtic dialect -spoken by them is now represented by the Gaelic of Ireland, Man, and -Scotland. The Brythonic is still represented by the speech of Wales and -the Armoric dialects of Brittany. This was the language of the Britons who -fought with Caesar, and were subdued by later Roman generals. After the -Roman time they were either pressed back into Wales and Cornwall by -Angles, Jutes, and Saxons, or were absorbed among these conquering -Teutons. Probably Caesar was correct in asserting the close affinity of -the Britons with the Belgic tribes of the Continent. See the opening -chapters of Rhys and Brynmor-Jones's _Welsh People_; also Rhys's _Early -Britain_ (London, 1882); Zupitza, "Kelten und Gallier," _Zeitschrift für -keltische Phil._, 1902; T. H. Huxley, "On some Fixed Points in British -Ethnology," _Contemporary Review_ for 1871, reprinted in Essays -(Appleton's, 1894); Ripley, _Races of Europe_, chap. xii. (New York, -1899). - -[149] The Irish art of illumination presents analogies to the literature. -The finesse of design and execution in the _Book of Kells_ (seventh -century) is astonishing. Equally marvellous was the work of Irish -goldsmiths. Both arts doubtless made use of designs common upon the -Continent, and may even have drawn suggestions from Byzantine or late -Roman patterns. Nevertheless, illumination and the goldsmith's art in -Ireland are characteristically Irish and the very climax of barbaric -fashions. Their forms pointed to nothing further. These astounding -spirals, meanders, and interlacings, combined with utterly fantastic and -impossible drawings of the human form, required essential modification -before they were suited to form part of that organic development of -mediaeval art which followed its earlier imitative periods. - -Irish illumination was carried by Columba to Iona, and spread thence -through many monasteries in the northern part of Britain. It was imitated -in the Anglo-Saxon monasteries of Northumbria, and from them passed with -Alcuin to the Court of Charlemagne. Through these transplantings the Irish -art was changed, under the hands of men conversant with Byzantine and -later Roman art. The influence of the art also worked outward from Irish -monasteries upon the Continent, St. Gall, for example. The Irish -goldsmith's art likewise passed into Saxon England, into Carolingian -France, and into Scandinavia. See J. H. Middleton, _Illuminated -Manuscripts_ (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1892), and the different view as to -the sources of Irish illuminating art in Muntz, _Études iconographiques_ -(Paris, 1887); also Kraus, _Geschichte der christlichen Kunst_, i. -607-619; Margaret Stokes, _Early Christian Art in Ireland_ (South -Kensington Museum Art Hand-Books, 1894), vol. i. p. 32 _sqq._, and vol. -ii. pp. 73, 78; Sophus Müller, _Nordische Altertumskunde_, vol. ii. chap. -xiv. (Strassburg, 1898). - -[150] The classification of ancient Irish literature is largely the work -of O'Curry, _Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish -History_ (Dublin, 1861, 2nd ed., 1878). See also D. Hyde, _A Literary -History of Ireland_, chaps. xxi.-xxix. (London, 1899); D'Arbois de -Jubainville, _Introduction à l'étude de la littérature celtique_, chap. -préliminaire (Paris, 1883). The tales of the Ulster Cycle, in the main, -antedate the coming of the Norsemen in the eighth century; but the later -redactions seem to reflect Norse customs; see Pflugk-Hartung, in _Revue -celtique_, t. xiii. (1892), p. 170 _sqq._ - -[151] This comparison with Homeric society might be extended so as to -include the Celts of Britain and Gaul. Close affinities appear between the -Gauls and the personages of the Ulster Cycle. Several of its Sagas have to -do with the "hero's portion" awarded to the bravest warrior at the feast, -a source of much pleasant trouble. Posidonius, writing in the time of -Cicero, mentions the same custom among the Celts of Gaul (Didot-Müller, -_Fragmenta hist. Graec._ t. iii. p. 260, col. 1; D'Arbois de Jubainville, -_Introduction_, etc., pp. 297, 298). - -[152] Probably first written down in the seventh century. Some of the -Cuchulain Sagas are rendered by D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Épopée -celtique_; they are given popularly in E. Hull's Cuchulain Saga (D. Nutt, -London, 1898). Also to some extent in Hyde's _Lit. Hist., etc._ - -[153] See the famous Battle of the Ford between Cuchulain and Ferdiad -(Hyde, _Lit. Hist. of Ireland_, pp. 328-334). A more burlesque hyperbole -is that of the three caldrons of cold water prepared for Cuchulain to cool -his battle-heat: when he was plunged in the first, it boiled; plunged into -the second, no one could hold his hand in it; but in the third, the water -became tepid (D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Épopée celtique_, p. 204). - -[154] Certain interpolated Christian chapters at the end tell how Mældun -is led to forgive the murderers--an idea certainly foreign to the original -pagan story, which may perhaps have had its own ending. The tale is -translated in P. W. Joyce's _Old Celtic Romances_ (London, 1894), and by -F. Lot in D'Arbois de Jubainville's _Épopée celtique_, pp. 449-500. - -[155] Perhaps no one of the Ulster Sagas exhibits these qualities more -amusingly than _The Feast of Bricriu_, a tale in which contention for the -"hero's portion" is the leading motive. Its _personae_ are the men and -women who constantly appear and reappear throughout this cycle. In this -Saga they act and speak admirably in character, and some of the -descriptions bring the very man before our eyes. It is translated by -George Henderson, Vol. II. Irish Texts Society (London, 1899), and also by -D'Arbois de Jubainville in his _Épopée celtique_ (Paris, 1892). - -[156] For example, in a historical Saga the great King Brian speaks, -fighting against the Norsemen: "O God ... retreat becomes us not, and I -myself know I shall not leave this place alive; and what would it profit -me if I did? For Aibhell of Grey Crag came to me last night, and told me -that I should be killed this day." - -[157] "Deirdre, or the Fate of the Sons of Usnach," is rendered in E. -Hull's Cuchulain Saga; Hyde, _Lit. Hist._, chap, xxv., and D'Arbois de -Jubainville, _Épopée celtique_, pp. 217-319. _The Pursuit of Diarmuid and -Grainne_ was edited by O'Duffy for the Society for the Preservation of the -Irish Language (Dublin, Gill and Son, 1895), and less completely in -Joyce's _Old Celtic Romances_ (London, 1894). - -[158] Cf. Hyde, _o.c._, chaps. xxi. xxxvi. - -[159] _The Voyage of Bran_, edited and translated by Kuno Meyer, with -essays on the _Celtic Otherworld_, by Alfred Nutt (2 vols., David Nutt, -London, 1895). A Saga usually is prose interspersed with lyric verses at -critical points of the story. - -[160] On Tara, see Index in O'Curry's _Manners and Customs of the Ancient -Irish_; also Hyde, _Literary History_, pp. 126-130. For this story, see -O'Grady, _Silva Gaedelica_, pp. 77-88 (London, 1892); Hyde, pp. 226-232. - -[161] See D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Introduction à la lit. celtique_, pp. -259-271 (Paris, 1883). - -[162] See D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Introduction_, etc., p. 129 _sqq._; -Bertrand, _La Religion des Gaulois_, chap. xx. (Paris, 1897). Also -O'Curry, _o.c._ _passim_. - -[163] For this whole story see H. Zimmer, "Über die frühesten Berührungen -der Iren mit den Nordgermanen," _Sitzungsbericht der Preussischen Akad._, -1891 (1), pp. 279-317. - -[164] For the life of Saint Columba the chief source is the _Vita_ by -Adamnan, his eighth successor as abbot of Iona. It contains well-drawn -sketches of the saint and much that is marvellous and incredible. It was -edited with elaborate notes by Dr. W. Reeves, for the Irish Archaeological -Society, in 1857. His work, rearranged and with a translation of the -_Vita_, was republished as Vol. VI. of _The Historians of Scotland_ -(Edinburgh, 1874). The _Vita_ may also be found in Migne, _Patrologia -Latina_, 88, col. 725-776. Bede, _Ecc. Hist._ iii. 4, refers to Columba. -The Gaelic life from the _Book of Lismore_ is published, with a -translation by M. Stokes, _Anecdota Oxoniensia_ (Oxford, Clarendon Press, -1890). The Bodleian Eulogy, _i.e._ the _Amra Choluim chille_, was -published, with translation by M. Stokes, in _Revue celtique_, t. xx. -(1899); as to its date, see _Rev. celtique_, t. xvii. p. 41. Another -(later) Gaelic life has been published by R. Henebry in the _Zeitschrift -für celtische Philologie_, 1901, and later. There is an interesting -article on the hymns ascribed to Columba in _Blackwood's Magazine_ for -September 1899. See also Cuissard, _Rev. celtique_, t. v. p. 207. The -hymns themselves are in Dr. Todd's _Liber Hymnorum_. Montalembert's _Monks -of the West_, book ix. (vol. iii. Eng. trans.), gives a long, readable, -and uncritical account of "St. Columba, the Apostle of Caledonia." - -[165] The Irish monastery was ordered as an Irish clan, and indeed might -be a clan monastically ordered. At the head was an abbot, not elected by -the monks, but usually appointed by the preceding abbot from his own -family; as an Irish king appointed his successor. The monks ordinarily -belonged to the abbot's clan. They lived in an assemblage of huts. Some -devoted themselves to contemplation, prayer, and writing; more to manual -labour. There were recluses among them. Besides the monks, other members -of the clan living near the "monastery" owed it duties and were entitled -to its protection and spiritual ministration. The abbot might be an -ordained priest; he rarely was a bishop, though he had bishops under him -who at his bidding performed such episcopal functions as that of -ordination. But he was the ruler, lay as well as spiritual. Not -infrequently he also was a king. Although there was no common ordering of -Irish monasteries, a head monastery might bear rule over its daughter -foundations, as did Columba's primal monastery of Iona over those in -Ireland or Northern Britain which owed their origin to him. Irish -monasteries might march with their clan on military expeditions, or carry -on a war of monastery against monastery. "A.D. 763. A battle was fought at -Argamoyn, between the fraternities of Clonmacnois and Durrow, where Dermod -Duff, son of Donnell, was killed with 200 men of the fraternity of Durrow. -Bresal, son of Murchadh, with the fraternity of Clonmacnois, was victor" -(_Ancient Annals_). This entry is not alone, for there is another one of -the year 816, in which a "fraternity of Colum-cille" seems to have been -worsted in battle, and then to have gone "to Tara to curse" the reigning -king. See Reeve's _Adamnan's Life of Columba_, p. 255. Of course Irish -armies felt no qualms at sacking the monasteries and slaying the monks of -another kingdom. The sanctuaries of Clonmacnois, Kildare, Clonard, Armagh -were plundered as readily by "Christian" Irishmen as by heathen Danes. In -the ninth century, Phelim, King of Munster, was an abbot and a bishop too; -but he sacked the sacred places of Ulster and killed their monks and -clergy. See G. T. Stokes, _Ireland and the Celtic Church_; Killen, _Eccl. -Hist. of Ireland_, vol. i. p. 145 _sqq._ - -[166] The title of saint is regularly given to the higher clergy of this -period in Ireland. - -[167] _"The History of Ireland by Geoffrey Keating" in the original Gaelic -with an English translation, by Comyn and Dineen_ (Irish Texts Society. -David Nutt, London, 1902-1908). - -[168] This means that he copied a manuscript belonging to Finnian. - -[169] The Life of Colomb Cille from the _Book of Lismore_. - -[170] Adamnan. - -[171] _B.G._ iv. 1-3; vi. 21-28. For convenience I use the word _Teuton_ -as the general term and _German_ as relating to the Teutons of the lands -still known as German. But with reference to the times of Caesar and -Tacitus the latter word must be taken generally. - -[172] These views are set forth brilliantly, but with exaggeration, by -Fustel de Coulanges, in _L'Invasion germanique_, vol. ii. of his -_Institutions politiques_, etc. (revised edition, Paris, 1891). - -[173] Apoll. Sid. _Epist._ viii. 6 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 58, col. 697). - -[174] See Pollock and Maitland, _History of English Law_; and Pollock, -_English Law before the Norman Conquest_, _Law Quarterly Review_. - -[175] The ancient Anglo-Saxon version is Anglo-Saxon through and through. -The considerable store of Latin (or Greek) words retained by the -"authorized" English version (for example, Scripture, Testament, Genesis, -Exodus, etc., prophet, evangelist, religion, conversion, adoption, -temptation, redemption, salvation, and damnation) were all translated into -sheer Anglo-Saxon. See Toller, _Outlines of the History of the English -Language_ (Macmillan & Co., 1900), pp. 90-101. Some hundreds of years -before, Ulfilas's fourth century Gothic translation had shown a Teutonic -tongue capable of rendering the thought of the Pauline epistles. - -[176] See the "Beowulf" translated in Gummere's _Oldest English Epic_ -(Macmillan & Co., 1909). - -[177] This is the closing sentence of Alfred's _Blossoms_, culled from -divers sources. Hereafter (Chapter IX.) when speaking of the introduction -of antique and Christian culture there will be occasion to note more -specifically what Alfred accomplished in his attempt to increase knowledge -throughout his kingdom. - -[178] See _e.g._ in Otfried's _Evangelienbuch_, _post_, Chapter IX. - -[179] For example: _skidunga_ (Scheidung), _saligheit_ (Seligkeit), -_fiantscaft_ (Feindschaft), _heidantuom_ (Heidentum). By the eighth -century the High German of the Bavarians and Alemanni began to separate -from the Low German of the lower Rhine, spoken by Saxons and certain of -the Franks. The greater part of the Frankish tribes, and the Thuringians, -occupied intermediate sections of country and spoke dialects midway -between Low German and High. - -[180] Text in Piper's _Die älteste Literatur_ (Deutsche National Lit.). - -[181] On the Waltari poem, see Ebert, _Allgemeine Gesch. der Literatur des -Mittelalters_, Bd. iii. 264-276; also K. Strecker, "Probleme in der -Walthariusforschung," _Neue Jahrbücher für klass. Altertumsgesch. und -Deutsche Literatur_, 2te Jahrgang (Leipzig, 1899), pp. 573-594, 629-645. -The author is called Ekkehart I. (d. 973), being the first of the -celebrated monks bearing that name at St. Gall. The poem is edited by -Peiper (Berlin, 1873), and by Scheffel and Holder (Stuttgart, 1874); it is -translated into German by the latter, by San Marte (Magdeburg, 1853), and -by Althof (Leipzig, 1902). - -[182] The description of Siegfried's love for Kriemhild is just touched by -the chivalric love, which exists in Wolfram's _Parzival_, in Gottfried's -_Tristan_, and of course in their French models. See _post_, Chapter -XXIII. For example, as he first sees her who was to be to him "beide lieb -und leit," he becomes "bleich unde rôt"; and at her greeting, his spirit -is lifted up: "dô wart im von dem gruoze vil wol gehoehét der muot." And -the scene is laid in May (_Nibelungenlied_, Aventiure V., stanzas 284, -285, 292, 295). - -[183] A convenient edition of the _Kudrun_ is Pfeiffer's in _Deutsche -Klassiker des Mittelalters_ (Leipzig, 1880). Under the name of _Gudrun_ it -is translated into modern German by Simrock, and into English by M. P. -Nichols (Boston, 1899). - -[184] _Kudrun_, viii. 558. Whatever may have been the facts of German life -in the Middle Ages, the literature shows respect for marriage and woman's -virtue. This remark applies not only to those works of the Middle High -German tongue which are occupied with themes of Teutonic origin, but also -to those--Wolfram's _Parzival_, for example--whose foreign themes do not -force the poet to magnify adulterous love. When, however, that is the -theme of the story, the German writer, as in Gottfried's _Tristan_, does -not fail to do it justice. - -Willmans, in his _Leben und Dichtung Walthers von der Vogelweide_ (Bonn, -1882), note 1{a} on page 328, cites a number of passages from Middle High -German works on the serious regard for marriage held by the Germans. Even -the German minnesingers sometimes felt the contradiction between the -broken marriage vow and the ennobling nature of chivalric love. See -Willmans, _ibid._ p. 162 and note 7. - -[185] _Kudrun_, xx. 1013. - -[186] _Kudrun_, xxx. 1632 _sqq._ - -[187] As to the _Parzival_, and Walter's poems, see _post_, Chapters XXIV. -XXVI. - -[188] _Ante_, Chapter I. - -[189] It is not known when Teutons first entered Denmark and the -Scandinavian peninsula. Although non-Teutonic populations may have -preceded them, the archaeological remains do not point clearly to a -succession of races, while they do indicate ages of stone, bronze, and -iron (Sophus Müller, _Nordische Altertumskunde_). The bronze ages began in -the Northlands a thousand years or more before Christ. In course of time, -beautiful bronze weapons show what skill the race acquired in working -metals not found in Scandinavia, but perhaps brought there in exchange for -the amber of the Baltic shores. The use of iron (native to Scandinavia) -begins about 500 B.C. A progressive facility in its treatment is evinced -down to the Christian Era. Then a foreign influence appears--Rome. For -Roman wares entered these countries where the legionaries never set foot, -and native handicraft copied Roman models until the fourth century, when -northern styles reassert themselves. The Scandinavians themselves were -unaffected by Roman wares; but after the fifth century they began to -profit from their intercourse with Anglo-Saxons and Irish. - -[190] It is said that some twenty-five thousand Arabian coins, mostly of -the Viking periods, have been found in Sweden. - -[191] See Vigfusson and Powell, _Corpus poeticum Boreale_, i. 238. - -[192] There is much controversy as to the date (the Viking Age?) and place -of origin (Norway, the Western Isles, or Iceland?) of the older Eddic -poems; also as to the presence of Christian elements. The last are denied -by Müllenhoff (_Deutsche Altertumskunde_, Bd. v., 1891) and others; while -Bugge finds them throughout the whole Viking mythology (_Home of the Eddic -Poems_, London, D. Nutt, 1899), and Chr. Bang has endeavoured to prove -that the _Voluspa_, the chief Eddic mythological poem, was an imitation of -the Christian Sibyl's oracles (_Christiania Videnskabsselskabs -Forhanlinger_, 1879, No. 9; Müllenhoff, _o.c._ Bd. v. p. 3 _sqq._). -Similar views are held in Vigfusson and Powell's _Corpus poeticum Boreale_ -(i. ci.-cvii. and 427). These scholars find Celtic influences in the Eddic -poems. The whole controversy is still far from settlement. - -As for English translations of the _Edda_, that by B. Thorpe (_Edda -Samundar_) is difficult to obtain. Those of the _Corpus poeticum Boreale_ -are literal; but the phraseology of the renderings of the mythological -poems is shaped to the theory of Christian influence. A recent translation -(1909) is that of Olive Bray (Viking Club), _The Elder or Poetic Edda_, -Part I. The Mythological Poems. - -[193] The best account of the Sagas, in English, is the Prolegomena to -Vigfusson's edition of the Sturlunga Saga (Clarendon Press, 1878). -Dasent's Introduction to his translation of the Njáls Saga (Edinburgh, -1861) is instructive as to the conditions of life in Iceland in the early -times. W. P. Ker's _Epic and Romance_ (Macmillan & Co., 1897) has -elaborate literary criticism upon the Sagas. The following is Vigfusson's: -"The Saga proper is a kind of prose Epic. It has its fixed laws, its set -phrases, its regular epithets and terms of expression, and though there -is, as in all high literary form, an endless diversity of interest and -style, yet there are also bounds which are never over-stepped, confining -the Saga as closely as the employment and restrictions of verse could do. -It will be best to take as the type the smaller Icelandic Saga, from which -indeed all the later forms of composition have sprung. This is, in its -original form, the story of the life of an Icelandic gentleman, living -some time in the tenth or eleventh centuries. It will tell first of his -kin, going back to the settler from whom he sprung, then of his youth and -early promise before he left his father's house to set forth on that -foreign career which was the fitting education of the young Northern -chief. These _wanderjahre_ passed in trading voyages and pirate cruises, -or in the service of one of the Scandinavian kings, as poet or henchman, -the hero returns to Iceland a proved man, and the main part of the story -thus preluded begins. It recounts in fuller detail and in order of time -his friendships and his enmities, his exploits and renown, and finally his -death; usually concluding with the revenge taken for him by his kinsmen, -which fitly winds up the whole. This tale is told in an earnest, -straightforward way, as by a man talking, in short simple sentences, -changing when the interest grows into the historic present, with here and -there an 'aside' of explanation put in.... The whole composition, grouped -around a single man and a single place, is so well balanced and so -naturally unfolded piece by piece, that the great art shown therein often -at first escapes the reader." - -[194] The Story of Burnt Njal (Njáls Saga or Njála), trans. by Dasent (2 -vols. Edinburgh, 1861). A prose narrative interspersed with occasional -lyric verses is the form which the Icelandic Sagas have in common with the -Irish. In view of the mutual intercourse and undoubted mingling of Norse -and Celtic blood both in Ireland and Iceland, it is probable that the -Norse Saga-form was taken from the Irish. But, except in the Laxdæla Saga -(trans. by Mrs. Press in the Temple Classics, Dent, 1899), one seems to -find no Celtic strain. The Sagas are the prose complement of the poetic -_Edda_. Both are Norse absolutely: fruit of one spirit, part of one -literature, a possession of one people. As to racial purity of blood in -their authors and fashioners, or in the men of whom the tales are told, -that is another matter. Who shall say that Celtic blood and inherited -Celtic gifts of expression were not the leaven of this Norse literature? -But whatever entered into it and helped to create it, became Norse just as -vitally as, ages before, every foreign suggestion adopted by a certain -gifted Mediterranean race was Hellenized, and became Greek. In Iceland, in -the Orkneys and the Faroes, Viking conditions, the Viking spirit, and -Norse blood, dominated, assimilating, transforming and doubtless using -whatever talents and capacities came within the vortex of Viking life. - -It may be added that there is merely an accidental likeness between the -Saga and the Cantafable. In the Saga the verses are the utterances of the -heroes when specially moved. One may make a verse as a short death-song -when his death is imminent, or as a gibe on an enemy, whom he is about to -attack. In the Cantafable--_Aucassin and Nicolette_, for example--the -verses are a lyric summary of the parts of the narrative following them, -and are not spoken by the _dramatis personae_. The Cantafable (but not the -Sagas) perhaps may be traced back to such a work as Boëthius's _De -consolatione_, which at least is identical in form, or Capella's _De -nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_. The _De planctu naturae_ of Alanus de -Insulis (_post_, Chapter XXXII. 1) plainly shows such antecedents. - -[195] Story of Gisli the outlaw, trans. by Dasent, chap. ix. (Edinburgh, -1866). - -[196] The Story of Burnt Njal, chap. i., trans. by Dasent. - -[197] The Story of Grettir the Strong (Grettis Saga), chaps. 32-35, trans. -by Magnusson and Morris (London, 1869). See also _ibid._ chaps. 65, 66. -These accounts are analogous to the story of Beowulf's fights with Grendal -and his dam; but are more convincing. - -[198] The stories of the Kings of Norway, called the _Round World_ -(Heimskringla), by Snorri Sturluson, done into English by Magnusson and -Morris (London, 1893). Snorri Sturluson (b. 1178, d. 1241) composed or put -together the _Heimskringla_ from earlier writings, chiefly those of Ari -the Historian (b. 1067, d. 1148), "a man of truthfulness, wisdom, and good -memory," who wrote largely from oral accounts. - -[199] The Story of Egil Skallagrimson, trans. by W. C. Green (London, -1893). - -[200] These poems are in the Saga, and will be found translated in Mr. -Green's edition. They are also edited with prose translations in _C.P.B._, -vol. i. pp. 266-280. With Egil one may compare the still more truculent, -but very different Grettir, hero of the Grettis Saga. The Story of Grettir -the Strong, trans. by Magnusson and Morris (2nd ed., London, 1869). - -[201] Bede, _Hist. Ecc._ i. 13. Moreover, the chief partisan of Pelagius -(a Briton) was Coelestinus, an Irishman whose restless activity falls in -the thirty years preceding the mission of Palladius. - -[202] As for the Irish Church in Ireland, there were many differences in -usage between it and the Church of Rome. In the matters of Easter and the -tonsure the southern Irish were won over to the Roman customs before the -middle of the seventh century, and after that the Roman Easter made its -way to acceptance through the island. Yet still the Irish appear to have -used their own Liturgy, and to have shown little repugnance to the -marriage of priests. The organization of the churches remained monastic -rather than diocesan or episcopal, in spite of the fact that "bishops," -apparently with parochial functions, existed in great numbers. Hereditary -customs governed the succession of the great abbots, as at Armagh, until -the time of St. Malachy, a contemporary of St. Bernard. See St. Bernard's -_Life of Malachy_, chap. x.; Migne 182, col. 1086, cited by Killen, _o.c._ -vol. i. p. 173. The exertions of Gregory VII. and Lanfranc, Archbishop of -Canterbury, did much to bring the Irish Church into obedience to Rome. -Various Irish synods in the twelfth century completed a proper diocesan -system; and in 1155 a bull of Adrian IV. delivered the island over to -Henry II. Plantagenet. Cf. Killen, _Eccl. Hist. of Ireland_, vol. i. pp. -162-222. - -[203] The works of St. Columbanus or Columban, usually called of Luxeuil, -are printed in Migne's _Patrologia Latina_, 80, col. 209-296. The chief -source of knowledge of his life is the _Vita_ by Jonas his disciple: -Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 87, col. 1009-1046. It has been translated by D. C. -Munro, in vol. ii. No. 7 (series of 1895) of _Translations, etc._, -published by University of Pennsylvania (Phila. 1897). See also -Montalembert, _Monks of the West_, book vii. (vol. ii. of English -translation). - -[204] The article of H. Zimmer, "Über die Bedeutung des irischen Elements -für die mittelalterliche Cultur," _Preussische Jahrbücher_, Bd. 59, 1887, -presents an interesting summary of the Irish influence. His views, and -still more those of Ozanam in _Civilisation chrétienne chez les Francs_, -chap, v., should be controlled by the detailed discussion in Roger's -_L'Enseignement des lettres classiques d'Ausone à Alcuin_ (Paris, 1905), -chaps. vi. vii. and viii. See also G. T. Stokes, _Ireland and the Celtic -Church_, Lect. XI. (London, 1892, 3rd ed.); D'Arbois de Jubainville, -_Introduction à l'étude de la littérature celtique_, livre ii. chap. ix.; -F. J. H. Jenkinson, _The Hisperica Famina_ (Cambridge and New York, 1909). -Obviously it is unjustifiable (though it has been done) to regard the -scholarship of gifted Irishmen who lived on the Continent in the ninth -century (Sedulius Scotus, Eriugena, etc.) as evidence of scholarship in -Ireland in the sixth, seventh, or eighth century. We do not know where -these later men obtained their knowledge; there is little reason to -suppose that they got it in Ireland. - -[205] See the narrative in Green's _History of the English People_. - -[206] There is no positive evidence that Augustine painted the terrors of -the Day of Judgment in his first preaching. But it was a chief part of the -mediaeval Gospel, and never absent from the soul of Augustine's master, -Gregory. The latter set it forth vividly in his letter to Ethelbert after -his baptism (Bede, _Hist. Ecc._ i. 32). - -[207] Bede, _Hist. Ecc._ iii. 22, tells how a certain noble gesith slew -his king from exasperation with the latter's practice of forgiving his -enemies, instead of requiting them, according to the principles of heathen -morality. - -[208] Bede, _Hist. Ecc._ i. 30. Well known are the picturesque scenes -surrounding the long controversy as to Easter between the Roman clergy and -the British and Irish. The matter bulks hugely in Bede's book, as it did -in his mind. - -[209] Bede ii. 13. - -[210] _E.g._ as in Bede iii. 1. - -[211] One may bear in mind that practically all active proselytizing -Christianity of the period was of a monastic type. - -[212] A.D. 709. _Hist. Ecc._ v. 19, where another instance is also given; -and see _ibid._ v. 7. - -[213] See the pieces in Thorpe's _Codex Exoniensis_, _e.g._ the -"Supplication," p. 452. - -[214] _Ecc. Hist._ iv. 22. - -[215] Bede, _Hist. Ecc._ iii. 19; v. 12, 13, 14. Of these the most famous -is the vision of Fursa, an Irishman; but others were had by Northumbrians. -Plummer, in his edition of Bede, vol. ii. p. 294, gives a list of such -visions in the Middle Ages. - -[216] On Aldhelm see Ebert, _Allegemeine Ges. des Lit. des Mittelalters_; -and Roger, _L'Enseignement des lettres classiques_, etc., p. 288 _sqq._ - -[217] This is noticeable in his Commentary on the Gospel of John, Migne, -_Pat. Lat._ 92, col. 633 _sqq._ - -[218] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 91, col. 9. In another prefatory epistle to the -same bishop Acca, Bede intimates that he has abridged the language of the -Fathers: he says it is inconvenient always to put their names in the text. -Instead he has inscribed the proper initials of each Father in the margin -opposite to whatever he may have taken from him (_in Lucae Evangelium -expositio_, Migne 92, col. 304). - -[219] Migne 90, col. 258; _ibid._ col. 422. I have not observed this -statement in Isidore. - -[220] All of these are in t. 90 of Migne. - -[221] His writings fill about five volumes (90-95) in Migne's _Patrol. -Latina_. A list may be found in the article "Bede" in the _Dictionary of -National Biography_. _Beda der Ehrwürdige_, by Karl Werner (Vienna, 1881), -is a good monograph. - -[222] _Ante_, Chapter IV. - -[223] _The Works of King Alfred the Great_ are translated from Anglo-Saxon -in the Jubilee edition of Giles (2 vols., London, 1858). The _Pastoral -Care_ and the _Orosius_ are translated by Henry Sweet in the publications -of the Early English Text Society. W. J. Sedgefield's translation of -Alfred's version of the _Consolations of Boëthius_ is very convenient from -the italicizing of the portions added by Alfred to Boëthius's original. -The extracts given in the following pages have been taken from these -editions. - -[224] Boëthius's words, which Alfred here paraphrases and supplements are -as follows: "Tum ego, scis, inquam, ipsa minimum nobis ambitionem -mortalium rerum fuisse dominatam; sed materiam gerendis rebus optavimus, -quo ne virtus tacita consenesceret" (_De consol. phil._ ii. prosa 7). - -[225] The substance of this bracketed clause is in Boëthius--the last -words quoted in the preceding note. - -[226] Toward the close of his life Alfred gathered some thoughts from -Augustine's _Soliloquies_ and from other writings, with which he mingled -reflections of his own. He called the book _Blossoms_. He says in his -preface: "I gathered me then staves and props, and bars, and helves for -each of my tools, and boughs; and for each of the works that I could work, -I took the fairest trees, so far as I might carry them away. Nor did I -ever bring any burden home without longing to bring home the whole wood, -if that might be; for in every tree I saw something of which I had need at -home. Wherefore I exhort every one who is strong, and has many wains, that -he direct his steps to the same wood where I cut the props. Let him there -get him others, and load his wains with fair twigs, that he may weave -thereof many a goodly wain, and set up many a noble house, and build many -a pleasant town, and dwell therein in mirth and ease, both winter and -summer, as I could never do hitherto. But He who taught me to love that -wood, He may cause me to dwell more easily, both in this transitory -dwelling ... and also in the eternal home which He has promised us" -(Translation borrowed from _The Life and Time of Alfred the Great_, by C. -Plummer, Clarendon Press, 1902). These metaphors represent Alfred's way of -putting what Isidore or Bede or Alcuin meant when they spoke in their -prefaces of searching through the pantries of the Fathers or culling the -sweetest flowers from the patristic meadows. See _e.g._ _ante_, Chapter V. -and _post_, Chapter X. - -[227] Far into the Frankish period there were many heathen in northern -Gaul and along the Rhine: Hauck, _Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands_, I. Kap. -i. (second edition, Leipzig, 1898). Cf. Vacandard, "L'Idolatrie en Gaule -au VI{e} et au VII{e} siècles," _Rev. des questions historiques_, 65 -(1899), 424-454. - -[228] _Mon. Germ. hist. Auctores antiquissimi_, tom. i. Cf. Ebert, _Ges. -des Lit. des Mittelalters_, i. 452 _sqq._ - -[229] Cf. _ante_, Chapter VI. - -[230] In those of its lands which were granted immunity from public -burdens, the Church gradually acquired a jurisdiction by reason of its -right to exact penalties, which elsewhere fell to the king. - -[231] The synod of 549 declared (ineffectually) for the election of -bishops, to be followed by royal confirmation. - -[232] Hauck, _Kirchenges. Deutschlands_, Bd. I. Buch ii. Kap. ii.; Möller, -_Kirchengeschichte_, Bd. II. p. 52 _sqq._ (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1893). - -[233] Carloman went at first to Rome, and built a monastery, in which he -lived for a while. But here his _contemptum regni terreni_ brought him -more renown than his monk's soul could endure. So, with a single -companion, he fled, and came unmarked and in abject guise to Monte -Cassino. He announced himself as a murderer seeking to do penance, and was -received on probation. At the end of a year he took the vows of a monk. It -happened that he was put to help in the kitchen, where he worked humbly -but none too dexterously, and was chidden and struck by the cook for his -clumsiness. At which he said with placid countenance, "May the Lord -forgive thee, brother, and Carloman." This occurring for the third time, -his follower fell on the cook and beat him. When the uproar had subsided, -and an investigation was called before the brethren, the follower said in -explanation, that he could not hold back, seeing the vilest of the vile -strike the noblest of all. The brethren seemed contemptuous, till the -follower proclaimed that this monk was Carloman, once King of the Franks, -who had relinquished his kingdom for the love of Christ. At this the -terrified monks rose from their seats and flung themselves at Carloman's -feet, imploring pardon, and pleading their ignorance. But Carloman, -rolling on the ground before them (_in terram provolutus_) denied it all -with tears, and said he was not Carloman, but a common murderer. -Nevertheless, thenceforth, recognized by all, he was treated with great -reverence (_Regino, Chronicon_, Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 132, col. 45). - -[234] For example, immunity (from governmental taxation and visitation) -might attach to the lands of bishops and abbots, as it might to the lands -of a lay potentate. On the other hand, the lands of bishops and abbots -owed the Government such temporal aid in war and peace as would have -attached to them in the hands of laymen. Such dignitaries had high secular -rank. The king did not interfere with the appointment and control of the -lower clergy by their lords, the bishops and abbots, any more than he did -with the domestic or administrative appointments of great lay -functionaries within their households or jurisdictions. - -[235] There are numerous editions of the _Heliand_: by Sievers (1878), by -Rückert (1876). Very complete is Heyne's third edition (Paderborn, 1883). -Portions of it are given, with modern German interlinear translation, in -Piper's _Die älteste Literatur_ (Deutsche Nat. Lit.), pp. 164-186. -Otfrid's book is elaborately edited by Piper (2nd edition with notes and -glossary, Freiburg i. B., 1882). See also Piper's _Die älteste Literatur_, -where portions of the work are given with modern German interlinear -translation. Compare Ebert, _Literatur des Mittelalters_, iii. 100-117. - -[236] The _Heliand_ uses the epic phrases of popular poetry: they reappear -three centuries later in the _Nibelungenlied_. - -[237] _Ante_, Chapter I. - -[238] _Ante_, Chapter VI. - -[239] _Ante_, Chapter IX. - -[240] _E.g._ Charles Martell and Pippin drove the Saracens from -Narbonne--not Charlemagne, to whom these _chansons_ ascribe the deed. - -[241] The dates are 801 and 765. - -[242] Historical atlases usually devote a double map to the Empire of -Charlemagne, and little side-maps to the Merovingian realm, which included -vast German territories, and for a time extended into Italy. - -[243] A part of the serious historian's task is to get rid of "epochs" and -"renaissances"--Carolingian, Twelfth Century, or Italian. For such there -should be substituted a conception of historical continuity, with effect -properly growing out of cause. Of course, one must have convenient terms, -like "periods," etc., and they are legitimate; for the Carolingian period -did differ in degree from the Merovingian, and the twelfth century from -the eleventh. But it would be well to eliminate "renaissance." It seems to -have been applied to the culture of the _quattrocento_, etc., in Italy -sixty or seventy years ago (1845 is the earliest instance in Murray's -_Dictionary_ of this use of the word), and carries more false notions than -can be contradicted in a summer's day. - -[244] The architecture, sculpture, and painting of the Carolingian time -continued the Christian antique or Byzantine styles. Church interiors were -commonly painted, a custom coming from early Christian mosaic and fresco -decoration. Charlemagne's Capitularies provided for the renovation of the -churches, including their decorations. No large sculpture has survived; -but we see that there was little artistic originality either in the -illumination of manuscripts or in ivory carving. The royal chapel at Aix -was built on the model of St. Vitale at Ravenna, and its columns appear to -have been taken from existing structures and brought to Aix. - -[245] Charlemagne's famous open letters of general admonition, _de -litteris colendis_ and _de emendatione librorum_, and his _admonitio -generalis_ for the instruction of his legates (_missi_), show that the -fundamental purpose of his exhortations was to advance the true -understanding of Scripture: "ut facilius et rectius divinarum scripturarum -mysteria valeatis penetrare." To this end he seeks to improve the Latin -education of monks and clergy; and to this end he would have the texts of -Scripture emended and a proper liturgy provided; and, as touching the -last, he refers to the efforts of his father Pippin before him. The best -edition of these documents is by Boretius in the _Monumenta Germaniac -historica_. - -[246] As to the stylistic qualities of Carolingian prose and metre see -_post_, Chapters XXXI., XXXII. - -[247] Alcuin's works are printed conveniently in tomes 100 and 101 of -Migne's _Patrologia Latina_. Extracts are given, _post_, Chapter XXXI., to -indicate the place of Carolingian prose in the development of mediaeval -Latin styles. - -[248] Printed in Migne 101, col. 849-902. Alcuin adopted for his _Grammar_ -the dialogue form frequent in Anglo-Saxon literature; and from his time -the question and answer of _Discipulus_ and _Magister_ will not cease -their cicada chime in didactic Latin writings. - -[249] Migne 101, col. 857. See Mullinger, _Schools of Charles the Great_, -p. 76 (an excellent book), and West's _Alcuin_, chap. v. (New York, 1892). - -[250] As in his _Disputatio Pippini_ (the son of Charlemagne), Migne 101, -col. 975-980, which is just a series of didactic riddles: What is a -letter? The guardian of history. What is a word? The betrayer of the mind. -What generates language? The tongue. What is the tongue? The whip of the -air--and so forth. - -[251] _De orthographia_, Migne 101, col. 902-919. - -[252] Migne 101, col. 919-950. Mullinger, _o.c._ pp. 83-85. - -[253] Migne 101, col. 951-976. - -[254] Migne 101, col. 956. - -[255] Migne 101, col. 11-56. - -[256] Migne 101, col. 613-638. - -[257] Migne 100, cols. 737, 744. - -[258] An important person. He was born at Mainz about 776. Placed as a -child in the convent of Fulda, his talents and learning caused him to be -sent at the age of twenty-one to Alcuin at Tours for further instruction. -After Alcuin's death in 804, Rabanus returned to Fulda and was made -Principal of the monastery school. In 822 he was elected Abbot. His -labours gained for him the title of Primus praeceptor Germaniae. Resigning -in 842, he withdrew to devote himself to literary labours; but he was soon -drawn from his retreat and made Archbishop of Mainz. He died in 856. While -archbishop, and also while abbot, Rabanus with spiteful zeal prosecuted -that rebellious monk, the high-born Saxon Gottschalk, who, among other -faults, held too harsh views upon Predestination. His works are published -in Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 107-112. - -Rabanus has left huge Commentaries upon the books of the Old and New -Testaments, in which he and his pupils gathered the opinions of the -Fathers. He also added such needful comment of his own as his "exiguity" -of mind permitted (Praef. to _Com. in Lib. Judicum_, Migne 108, col. -1110). His Commentaries were superseded by the _Glossa ordinaria_ (Migne -113 and 114) of his own pupil, Walafrid Strabo, which was systematically -put together from Rabanus and those upon whom he drew. It was smoothly -done, and the writer knew how to eliminate obscurity and prolixity, and in -fact make his work such that it naturally became the Commentary in widest -use for centuries. The dominant interest of these commentators is in the -allegorical significance of Scripture, as we shall see (Chapter XXVII.). -On Rabanus and Walafrid, see Ebert, _Allge. Gesch. der Lit. des -Mittelalters_, ii. 120-166. - -[259] _De cleric. inst._ iii. 26 (Migne 107, col. 404). - -[260] _Ibid._ iii. 18. - -[261] _Ibid._ iii. 20 (Migne 107, col. 397). - -[262] Migne III, col. 9-614. - -[263] Raban's excruciating _De laudibus sanctae crucis_ shows what he -could do as a virtuoso in allegorical mystification (Migne 107, col. -137-294). - -[264] _De cleric. inst._ iii. 16 (Migne 107, col. 392). - -[265] _De cleric. inst._ iii. 25 (Migne 107, col. 403). - -[266] Compare his _De magicis artibus_, Migne 110, col. 1095 _sqq._ - -[267] Migne 107, col. 419 _sqq._ - -[268] Migne 120, col. 1267-1350. - -[269] Ratramnus, _De corpore, etc._ (Migne 121, col. 125-170). - -[270] On the Carolingian controversies upon Predestination and the -Eucharist, see Harnack, _Dogmengeschichte_, vol. iii. chap. vi. - -[271] Migne 119, col. 102. Florus called his tract "Libellus Flori -adversus cuiusdam vanissimi hominis, qui cognominatur Joannes, ineptias et -errores de praedestinatione," etc. Florus was a contemporary of Eriugena. - -[272] Migne 106. - -[273] Hincmar, _Ep._ 23 (Migne 126, col. 153). - -[274] Migne 122, col. 357. - -[275] _De div. nat._ i. 69 (Migne 122, col. 513). - -[276] One may say that the work of Eriugena in presenting Christianity -transformed in substance as well as form, stood to the work of such a one -as Thomas Aquinas as the work of the Gnostics in the second century had -stood toward the dogmatic formulation of Christianity by the Fathers of -the Church. With the Church Fathers as with Thomas, there was earnest -endeavour to preserve the substance of Christianity, though presenting it -in a changed form. This cannot be said of either the Gnostics or Eriugena. - -[277] See Prantl, _Ges. der Logik_, ii. 20-36. - -[278] Claudius died about 830. His works are in tome 104 of Migne. - -[279] Migne 104, col. 147-158. - -[280] Compare Agobard's Ep. _ad Bartholomaeum_ (Migne 104, col. 179). - -[281] _Liber contra judicium Dei_ (Migne 104, col. 250-268). Here the -powerful Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, is emphatically on the opposite -side, and argues lengthily in support of the _judicium aquae frigidae_, in -_Epist._ 26, Migne 126, col. 161. Hincmar (cir. 806-882) was a man of -imposing eminence. He was a great ecclesiastical statesman. The compass -and character of his writings is what might be expected from such an -archiepiscopal man of affairs. They include edifying tracts for the use of -the king, an authoritative Life of St Remi, and writings theological, -political, and controversial. As the writer was not a profound thinker, -his works have mainly that originality which was impressed upon them by -the nature of whatever exigency called them forth. They are contained in -Migne 125, 126. - -[282] _Liber de imaginibus sanctorum_ (Migne 104, col. 199-226). - -[283] These writings are also in vol. 104 of Migne. - -[284] See Wattenbach, _Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen_, i. 130-142 (5th -ed.). Writings known as _Annales_ drew their origin from the notes made by -monks upon the margin of their calendars. These notes were put together -the following year, and subsequently might be revised, perhaps by some -person of larger view and literary skill. Thus the Annals found in the -cloister of Lorsch are supposed to have been rewritten in part by Einhart. - -[285] There were two great earlier examples of such histories: one was the -_Historia Francorum_ of Gregory of Tours, the author of which was of -distinguished Roman descent, born in 540 and dying in 594; the other was -Bede's _Church History of the English People_, which was completed shortly -before its author's death in 735. In individuality and picturesqueness of -narrative, these two works surpass all the historical writings of the -Carolingian time. - -[286] In _Mon. Germ. hist. scrip._ ii.; also Migne, vol. 116, col. 45-76; -trans, in German in _Geschichtsschreiber der deutschen Vorzeit_ (Leipzig). -See also Wattenbach, _Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen_, i., and Ebert, -_Ges. der Lit._ ii. 370 _sqq._ - -[287] In both these respects a contrary condition had made possible the -endurance of the Roman Empire. Its territories in the main were civilized, -and were traversed by the best of roads, while many of them lay about that -ancient common highway of peoples, the Mediterranean. Then the whole -Empire was leavened, and one part made capable of understanding another, -by the Graeco-Roman culture. - -[288] Within his hereditary domain, Hugh had the powers of other feudal -lords; but this domain, instead of expanding, tended to shrink under the -reigns of the Capetians of the eleventh century. - -[289] In Conrad's reign "Burgundy," comprising most of the eastern and -southern regions of France, and with Lyons and Marseilles, as well as -Basle and Geneva within its boundaries, was added to the Empire. - -[290] Papal elections were freed from lay control, and a great step made -toward the emancipation of the entire Church, by the decree of Nicholas -II. in 1059, by which the election of the popes was committed to the -conclave of cardinals. - -[291] For the matter of clerical celibacy, and the part played by -monasticism in these reforms, see _post_, Chapter XV. - -[292] Gregory VII., _Ep._ iv. 2 (Migne 148, col. 455). - -[293] _Ep._ viii. 21 (Migne 148, col. 594). - -[294] Migne 148, col. 407, 408. Cf. _post_, Chapter XXXIII. - -[295] As between the Empire and the Papacy the particular struggle over -investitures was adjusted by the Concordat of Worms (1122), by which the -Church should choose her bishops; but the elections were to be held in the -presence of the king, who conferred, by special investiture, the temporal -fiefs and privileges. For translations of Gregory's Letters and other -matter, see J. H. Robinson's _Readings in European History_, i. 274-293. - -[296] See _post_, Chapter XII. The copying of manuscripts was a lucrative -profession in Italy. - -[297] Tetralogus, Pertz, _Mon. Germ, scriptores_, xi. 251. - -[298] The clerical schools were no less important than the lay, but less -distinctive because their fellows existed north of the Alps. Cathedral -schools may be obscurely traced back to the fifth century; and there were -schools under the direction of the parish priests. In them aspirants for -the priesthood were educated, receiving some Latin and some doctrinal -instruction. So the cathedral and parochial schools helped to preserve the -elements of antique education; but they present no such open cultivation -of letters for their own profane sake as may be found in the schools of -lay grammarians. The monastic schools are better known. From the ninth -century they usually consisted of an outer school (_schola exterior_) for -the laity and youths who wished to become secular priests, and an inner -school (_interior_) for those desiring to become monks. At different times -the monastery schools of Bobbio, Farfa, and other places rose to fame, but -Monte Cassino outshone them all. - -As to the schools and culture of Italy during the early Middle Ages, see -Ozanam, _Les Écoles en Italie aux temps barbares_ (in his _Documents -inédits, etc._, and printed elsewhere); Giesebrecht, _De literarum studiis -apud Italos, etc._ (translated into Italian by C. Pascal, Florence, 1895, -under the title _L' Istruzione in Italia nei primi secoli del Medio-Evo_); -G. Salvioli, _L' Istruzione publica in Italia nei secoli VIII._, _IX._, -_X._ (Florence, 1898); Novati, _L' Influsso del pensiero latino sopra la -civilità italiana del Medio-Evo_ (2nd ed., Milan, 1899). - -[299] See _post_, Chapter XXXIII., III. - -[300] At Salerno, according to the Constitution of Frederick II., three -years' preliminary study of the _scientia logicalis_ was demanded, because -"numquam sciri potest scientia medicinae nisi de scientia logicali aliquid -praesciatur" (cited by Novati, _L' Influsso del pensiero latino, etc._, p. -220). Just as Law and Medical Schools in the United States may require a -college diploma from applicants for admission. - -[301] On Constantine see Wüstenfeld, "Übersetzungen arabischer Werke," -etc. _Abhand. Göttingen Gesellschaft_, vol. 22 (1877), pp. 10-20, and p. -55 _sqq._ Also on the Salerno school, Daremberg, _Hist. des sciences -médicales_, vol. i. p. 254 _sqq._ - -[302] _Traube_, "O Roma nobilis," _Abhand. philos.-philol. Classe Bayer. -Akad._ Bd. 19, p. 301. This poem probably belongs to the tenth century. -"Archos" is mediaeval Greek for "The Lord." - -[303] The _Rationes dictandi_, a much-used book on the art of composing -letters, comes from the hand of one Alberic, who was a monk at Monte -Cassino in the middle of the eleventh century. He died a cardinal in 1088. -The _ars dictaminis_ related either to drawing legal documents or -composing letters. See _post_, Chapter XXX., II. - -[304] See E. Bertaux, _L'Art dans l'Italie méridionale_, i. 155 _sqq._ -(Paris, 1904). - -[305] The poems of Alphanus are in Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 147, col. 1219-1268. - -[306] "Ad Romualdum causidicum," printed in Ozanam, _Doc. inédits_, p. -259. - -[307] Printed in Giesebrecht, _De lit. stud. etc._ - -[308] Printed by Dummler in _Anselm der Peripatetiker_, pp. 94-102. See -also the rhyming colloquy between Helen and Ganymede, of the twelfth -century, printed in Ozanam, _Documents inédits, etc._, p. 19. - -[309] On Liutprand see Ebert, _Ges. der Lit._ iii. 414-427; Molinier, -_Sources de l'histoire de France_, i. 274. His works are in the _Monumenta -Ger._, also in 136 of Migne. The _Antapodosis_ and _Embassy to -Constantinople_ are translated into German in the _Geschichtsschreiber der -deutschen Vorzeit_. - -[310] See _Antapod._ vi. 1 (Migne 136, col. 893). - -[311] _Antapod._ i. 1 (Migne 136, col. 791). - -[312] Migne 136, col. 837. - -[313] _Legatio Constantinopolitana_ (Migne 136, col. 909-937). - -[314] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 136, col. 1283-1302. - -[315] See Ebert, _Allgem. Ges._ iii. 370, etc.; Novati, _L'Influsso del -pensiero latino, etc._, p. 31 _sqq._; and Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 136. - -[316] See Novati, _L'Influsso, etc._, pp. 188-191. The passage is from the -vituperative polemic of a certain Ademarus (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 141, col. -107-108). - -[317] Dummler, "Gedichte aus Abdinghof," in _Neues Archiv_, v. 1 (1876), -p. 181 (cited by Novati, p. 192). - -[318] Dummler, _Anselm der Peripatetiker_, p. 36 _sqq._; cf. Hauréau, -_Singularités historiques_, p. 179 _sqq._ - -[319] The account is from Radolphus Glaber, _Historiarum libri_, ii. 12. - -[320] On Damiani's views of classical studies, see _Opusc._ xi., _Liber -qui dicitur Dominus vobiscum_, cap. i. (Migne 145, col. 232); _Opusc._ -xlv., _De sancta simplicitate_ (_ibid._ col. 695); _Opusc._ lviii., _De -vera felicitate et sapientia_ (_ibid._ col. 831). For the life and works -of this interesting man see _post_, p. 262 _sqq._, and _post_, Chapter -XVI. - -[321] _Vita Anselmi_, 1247 (cited by Ronca, p. 227). - -[322] Another great politico-ecclesiastical Italian was Lanfranc (cir. -1005-1089), whose life was almost exactly contemporaneous with that of -Hildebrand. He was born in high station at Pavia, and educated in letters -and the law. Seized with the desire to be a monk, he left his home and -passed through France, sojourning on his way, until he came to the convent -of Bec in Normandy, in the year 1042. A man of practical ability and a -great teacher, it was he that made the monastery great. Men, lay and -clerical, noble and base, came thronging to hear him: Anselm came and Ives -of Chartres, both future saints, and one who afterwards as Pope Alexander -II. rose before Lanfranc, then Archbishop of Canterbury, and said: "Thus I -honour, not the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the master of the school of -Bec, at whose feet I sat with other pupils." William the Conqueror made -Lanfranc Primate of England and prince-ruler of the land in the -Conqueror's absence. - -[323] _Petri Damiani Ep._ i. xvi. (Migne 144, col. 236). Damiani's works -are contained in Migne 144 and 145. Alexander II. was pope from 1061 to -1073, when he was succeeded by Hildebrand. - -[324] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 145, col. 961, 967. - -[325] _Opusculum_, xxxvi. (Migne 145, col. 595). It is also bad to be an -abbot, as Damiani shows in plaintive and almost humorous verses: - - "Nullus pene abbas modo - Valet esse monachus, - Dum diversum et nocivum - Sustinet negotium: - Et, quod velit sustinere, - Velut iniquus patitur - - * * * * - - "Spiritaliter abbatem - Volunt fratres vivere, - Et per causas saeculares - Cogunt illum pergere; - Per tam itaque diversa - Quis valet incedere?" - _De abbatum miseria rhythmus_ - (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 145, col. 972). - -[326] Lib. v. Ep. iv.; cf. Jer. xiii. - -[327] Ep. iv. 11 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 144, col. 313). - -[328] He died in 1072, a year before Hildebrand was made pope. - -[329] _Opusc._ xvii., _De coelibatu_; _Opusc._ xviii., _Contra -intemperantes clericos_; _Opusc._ xxii., _Contra clericos aulicos_, etc. - -[330] Lib. iv. Ep. 5 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 144, col. 300). - -[331] Lib. v. Ep. 3 (Migne 144, col. 343). - -[332] Lib. v. Ep. 2 (Migne 144, col. 340). Damiani's _Rhythmus poenitentis -monachi_ (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 145, col. 971) expresses the passionate -remorse of a sinful monk. - -[333] _Post_, Chapter XIX. - -[334] Lib. vii. Ep. 18 (Migne 144, col. 458). - -[335] Much is contained in the eighth book of his letters. The third -letter of this book is addressed to a nobleman who did not treat his -mother as Peter would have had him. The whole family situation is given in -two sentences: "But you may say: 'My mother exasperates me often, and with -her rasping words worries me and my wife. We cannot endure such -reproaches, nor tolerate the burden of her severity and interference.' But -for this, your reward will be the richer, if you return gentleness for -contumely, and mollify her with humility when you are sprinkled with the -salt of her abuse" (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 144, col. 467). Some sentences from -this letter are given _post_, Chapter XXXI., as examples of Latin style. - -The next letter is addressed to the same nobleman and his wife on the -death of their son. It gently points out to them that his migration to the -_coelestia regna_, where among the angels he has put on the garment of -immortality, is cause for joy. - -[336] _Opusc._ ix., _De eleemosyna_ (Migne 145, col. 207 _sqq._). - -[337] _Opusc._ ix., _De eleemosyna_, cap. i. - -[338] Seneca, _De vita beata_, 20. - -[339] Lib. viii. Ep. 8 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 144, col. 476). Cf. _ante_, p. -260. - -[340] Extracts will be given _post_, Chapter XVI., together with Damiani's -remarkable Life of Romuald. - -[341] Migne 158, col. 50 _sqq._ - -[342] Anselm was born in 1033 and died in 1109. His works are in Migne -158, 159. See also Domet de Vorges, _S. Anselme_ (Les grands Philosophes, -1901). - -[343] "Districtio ordinis," _Vita_, i. 6. This indicates that liberal -studies were not favoured in Cluny at this time, cir. 1060. - -[344] In a convent where there is an abbot, the prior is the officer -directly under him. - -[345] _Ante_, Chapter X. - -[346] _Cur Deus homo_, i. 1 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 158, col. 361). - -[347] In the _Cur Deus homo_, i. 2, Anselm has his approved disciple state -the same point of view: "As the right order prescribes that we should -believe the profundities of the Christian Faith, before presuming to -discuss them by reason, so it seems to me neglect if after we are -confirmed in faith we do not study to understand what we believe. -Wherefore, since by the prevenient grace of God, I deem myself to hold the -faith of our redemption, so that even if I could by no reason comprehend -what I believe, there is nothing that could pluck me from it, I ask from -thee, as many ask, that thou wouldst set forth to me, as thou knowest it, -by what necessity and reason, God, being omnipotent, should have assumed -the humility and weakness of human nature for its restoration." - -[348] There is indeed an early treatise, _De grammatico_ (Migne 158, col. -561-581), in which Anselm seems to abandon himself to dialectic concerned -with an academic topic. The question is whether _grammaticus_, a -grammarian, is to be subsumed under the category of substance or quality; -dialectically is a grammarian a man or an incident? - -[349] Cf. Kaulich, _Ges. der scholastischen Philosophie_, i. 293-332; -Hauréau, _Histoire de la philosophie scholastique_, i. 242-288; Stöckl, -_Philosophie des Mittelalters_, i. 151-208; De Wulf, _History of Medieval -Philosophy_, 3rd ed. (Longmans, 1909), p. 162 _sqq._, and authorities. - -[350] The _locus classicus_ is _Proslogion_, cap. 2. - -[351] _Cur Deus homo_, i. 12. - -[352] _Ibid._ i. 5. - -[353] _Ibid._ i. 7. - -[354] Examples of Anselm's prose are given _post_, Chapter XXXI. - -[355] On Gerbert see _Lettres de Gerbert publiées avec une introduction, -etc._, par Julien Havet (Paris: Picard, 1889; I have cited them according -to this edition); _Oeuvres de Gerbert_, ed. by Olleris (Clermont and -Paris, 1867); also in Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 139; Richerus, _Historiarum libri -IV._ (especially lib. iii. cap. 55 _sqq._); _Mon. Germ. script._ iii. 561 -_sqq._; Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 138, col. 17 _sqq._ Also Picavet, _Gerbert, une -pape philosophe_ (Paris: Leroux, 1897); Cantor, _Ges. der Mathematik_, i. -728-751 (Leipzig, 1880); Prantl, _Ges. der Logik_, ii. 53-57 (Leipzig, -1861). - -[356] _Ep._ 12. - -[357] _Mon. Germ. scriptores_, iii. 686. - -[358] _Ep._ 44. - -[359] Presumably Gerbert's German-speaking scholars are meant. - -[360] _Ep._ 45, _Raimundo monacho_. - -[361] _Ep._ 46, _ad Geraldum Abbatem_. - -[362] _I.e._ on the affairs of the monastery of Bobbio. - -[363] A Greek doctor of Augustus's time, who wrote on the diseases of the -eye. - -[364] _Ep._ 130. - -[365] _Ep._ 167 (in Migne, _Ep._ 174). - -[366] Richer, _Hist._ iii. 47, 48. - -[367] Several of his compositions are extant. - -[368] Richer, _Hist._ iii. 48-53. - -[369] Richer, _Hist._ iii. cap. 55-65. - -[370] See _post_, Chapter XXXV. If one should hesitate to find a phase of -the veritable Gerbert in Richer's report of the disputation with Otric, -one may turn to Gerbert's own philosophic or logical _Libellus--de -rationali et ratione uti_ (Migne 139, col. 159-168). It is addressed to -Otto II., and the opening paragraph recalls to the emperor the disputation -which we have been following. The _Libellus_ is naturally more coherent -than the disputation, in which Otric's questions seem intended rather to -trip his adversary than to lead a topic on to its proper end. It is -devoted, however, to a problem exactly analogous to the point taken by -Otric, that the term rational was not as broad as the term mortal. For the -_Libellus_ discusses whether the use of reason (_ratione uti_) can be -predicated of the rational being (_rationale_). The concept of the -predicate should be the broader one, but here it might seem less broad, -since all reasonable beings do not exercise reason. The discussion closely -resembles the dispute in the character of the intellectual interests -disclosed, and its arguments are not more original than those employed -against Otric. Disputation and _Libellus_ alike represent necessary -endeavours of the mind, which has reached a certain stage of tuition and -development, to adjust itself with problems of logical order and method. - -[371] _Post_, Chapter XV. - -[372] Cf. Sackür, _Die Cluniacenser_, ii. 330 _sqq._; Pfister. _Études sur -le règne de Robert le Pieux_, p. 2 _sqq._ (the latter takes an extreme -view). - -[373] Aimoin's _Vita Abbonis_, cap. 7 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 139, col. 393). -The same volume contains most of Abbo's extant writings, and those of -Aimoin. On Abbo see Sackür, _Die Cluniacenser_, ii. 345 _sqq._ - -An incredibly large number of students are said to have attended Abbo's -lectures. His studies and teaching lay mainly in astronomy, mathematics, -chronology, and grammar. The pupil Aimoin cultivated history and -biography, compiling a History of the Francs and a History of the miracles -of St. Benedict, the latter a theme worthy of the tenth century. One -leaves it with a sigh of relief, so barren was it save for its feat of -gestation in giving birth to Gerbert. - -[374] Jotsaldus, _Vita Odilonis_ (Migne 142, col. 1037). - -[375] Odilo, _Vita Maioli_ (Migne 142, col. 951). - -[376] See Taylor, _Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages_, p. 74 _sqq._ -One may compare the influence of Cicero's _De amicitia_ on the _De -amicitia Christiana_ of Peter of Blois (cir. 1200), Migne 207, col. -871-898. - -[377] _Vita Odilonis_, chaps. vi.-xiii. (Migne 142, col. 909 _sqq._). - -[378] _Bellum Gallicum_, vi. 13. - -[379] Migne 143, col. 1290. - -[380] For a description of these works, see _post_, Chapter XXX. II. - -[381] The substance of this sketch of the school of Chartres is taken -chiefly from the Abbé Clerval's exhaustive study, "Les Écoles de Chartres -au moyen âge," _Mémoires de la Société archéologique d'Eure-et-Loir_, xi., -1895. For the later fortunes of this school see _post_, Chapter XXX. - -[382] The Histories of Gerbert's pupil Richer are somewhat better, and -show an imitation of Sallust. - -[383] Cf. Molinier, _Les Sources de l'histoire de France_, v., lxix. - -[384] _Post_, Chapters XXXIV.-XLII. - -[385] Born 1078; king from 1108-1137. - -[386] _Ante_, Chapter X. - -[387] _Ante_, Chapter IX. - -[388] On Notker see Piper, _Die älteste Litteratur_ (Deutsche Nat. Lit.), -pp. 337-340. - -[389] _Ante_, Chapter XI., where something was said of Liutprand also. -Ratherius was a restless intriguer and pamphleteer, a sort of stormy -petrel, who was born in 890 near Liège. In the course of his career he was -once bishop of that northern city, and three times bishop of Verona, where -he died, an old man of angry soul and bitter tongue. Two years and more -had he passed in a dungeon at Pavia--a sharpening experience for one -already given overmuch to hate. There he compiled his rather dreary six -books of _Praeloquia_ (Migne 136, col. 145-344), preparatory discourses, -perhaps precursive of another work, but at all events containing moral -instruction for all orders of society. It was in the nature of a -compilation, and yet touched with a strain of personal plaint, which -sometimes makes itself clearly audible in words that show this work to -have been its author's prison _consolatio_: "Think what anguish impelled -me to it, what calamity, what necessity showed me these paths of -authorship. Dread of forgetting was my first reason for writing. Buried -under all sorts of the rubbish of wickedness, surrounded by the darkness -of evil, and distracted with the clamours of affairs, I feared that I -should forget, and was delighted to find how much I could remember. Books -were lacking, and friends to talk with, while sorrow gnawed the soul; so I -used this book of mine as a friend to chat with, and was comforted by it -as by a companion. Nor did I worry, asking who will read it; since I knew -me for its reader, and as its lover, if it had none other" (_Praeloq._ vi. -26; Migne 136, col. 342). On Ratherius see Ebert, _Ges. der Lit._, iii. -375 _sqq._ - -[390] _Vita Brunonis_, caps. 4, 6. - -[391] _Vita Brunonis_, cap. 8. - -[392] Cf. _post_, Chapter XXXII., III. - -[393] Enough will be found regarding Hrotsvitha and her works in Ebert, -_Allgem. Ges. der Lit._, iii. 285-329. - -[394] _Vita Bernwardi_, 6 (Migne 140, col. 397), by Thangmar, who was -Bernward's teacher and outlived him to write his Life. - -[395] Migne 141, col. 1229. - -[396] See Froumundus, _Ep._ 9, 11, 13 (Migne 141, col. 1288 _sqq._). A -number of his poems are published by F. Seiler, _Zeitschrift für deutsche -Philologie_, Bd. 14, pp. 406-442. - -[397] Migne 141, col. 1292. I am not sure that I have caught Froumund's -meaning. - -[398] _Mon. Ger. Scriptores_, v. 134 _sqq._ (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 146, col. -1027 _sqq._). - -[399] _Vita Hermanni_ (Migne 143, col. 29). - -[400] The writings of Hermannus Contractus are in Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 143. -The poem is reprinted from Du Meril's _Poésies populaires_; a more -complete text is in Bd XI. of the _Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum_. - -[401] _Ante_, Chapter XII., 1. - -[402] Prantl, _Ges. Logik_, ii. 83. - -[403] Cf. Endres, "Othloh's von St. Emmeram Verhältnis zu den freien -Kunsten," _Philos. Jahrbuch_, 1904. - -[404] _Liber visionum._ - -[405] Othloh's works are all in tome 146 of Migne's _Patrologia Latina_. - -[406] _Ante_, Chapter XII. 11. - -[407] _Ante_, Chapters VIII., IX. - -[408] Printed in Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 139, col. 871 _sqq._ and elsewhere. -For editions see Wattenbach, _Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen_, 6th ed. i. -485. - -[409] _Post_, Chapter XVI. - -[410] Cf. Taylor, _Ancient Ideals_, chaps. xv., xvi.; _Classical -Heritage_, chaps. ii., iii. - -[411] Hosea i.-iii. - -[412] Sulpicius Severus, _Epist._ iii. - -[413] These words occur in Jerome's famous letter (_Ep._ xiv.), in which -he exhorts the wavering Heliodoras to sever all ties and affections: "Do -not mind the entreaties of those dependent on you, come to the desert and -fight for Christ's name. If they believe in Christ, they will encourage -you; if they do not,--let the dead bury their dead. A monk cannot be -perfect in his own land; not to wish to be perfect is a sin; leave all, -and come to the desert. The desert loves the naked. O desert, blooming -with the flowers of Christ! O solitude, whence are brought the stones of -the city of the Great King! O wilderness rejoicing close to God! What -would you, brother, in the world,--you that are greater than the world? -How long are the shades of roofs to oppress you? How long the dungeon of a -city's smoke? Believe me, I see more of light! Do you fear poverty? Christ -called the poor "blessed." Are you terrified at labour? No athlete without -sweat is crowned. Do you think of food? Faith fears not hunger. Do you -dread the naked ground for limbs consumed with fasts? The Lord lies with -you. Does the infinite vastness of the desert fright you? In the mind walk -abroad in Paradise. Does your skin roughen without baths? Who is once -washed in Christ needs not to wash again. And in a word, hear the apostle -answering: The sufferings of the present time are not to be compared with -the glory to come which shall be revealed in us!" - -[414] In my _Classical Heritage_, pp. 136-197, I have given an account of -the origins of monasticism, and of its distinctive western features. There -I have also set out the Rule of Benedict, with sketches of the early -monastic character. - -[415] Cyprian said in the third century, addressing himself to Christian -virgins: "Dominus vester et caput Christus est ad instar ad vicem masculi" -(_De habitu virginum_, 22). To realize how near to the full human -relationship was this wedded love of Christ, one should read the -commentaries and sermons upon Canticles. Those of a later time--St. -Bernard's, for example--are the best, because they sum up so much that had -been gathering fervour through the centuries. One might look further to -those mediaeval instances that break through mysticism to a sensuousness -in which the man Christ becomes an almost too concrete husband for -ecstatic women. See _post_, Chapter XIX. - -[416] The whole Christian love, first the love of God and then the love of -man, is felt and set forth by Augustine. "Thou hast made us toward thee, -and unquiet is our heart until it rests in thee.... That is the blessed -life to rejoice toward thee, concerning thee and because of thee.... Give -me thyself, my God.... All my plenty which is not my God is need." With -his love of God his love for man accords. "This is true love, that -cleaving to truth we may live aright; and for that reason we contemn all -mortal things except the love of men, whereby we wish them to live aright. -Thus can we profitably be prepared even to die for our brethren, as the -Lord Jesus Christ taught us by His example.... It is love which unites -good angels and servants of God in the bond of holiness, joins us to them -and them to us, and subjoins all unto God." These passages are from the -_Confessions_ and from the _De Trinitate_. - -[417] Cf. _Classical Heritage_, p. 123 _sqq._ - -[418] Augustine, _Epp._ 155, c. 13. - -[419] _Ante_, Chapter V. - -[420] _Ante_, Chapter IX. - -[421] Alcuin, _Ep._ 40 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 100, col. 201). - -[422] Cf. Odo's _Collationes_, in Migne 133, and Chapter XII. II., _ante_. -Gregory was Odo's favourite author. - -[423] Before Constantine's reign there had been few Christian basilicas; -Christian art was sepulchral, drawing upon the galleries of the Catacombs, -in meagre and monotonous designs, the symbols of the soul's deliverance -from death. These designs were antique in style and poor in execution. - -[424] See Taylor, _Classical Heritage_, chap. x. sec. 2. - -[425] See _Classical Heritage_, p. 267, and cf. _ibid._ chap. ix. sec. 1. - -[426] See _post_, Chapter XXXII. II. - -[427] The account of the evolution of the hymn from the prose sequence is -given _post_, Chapter XXXII. III. - -[428] Further illustrations of the mediaeval emotionalizing of Latin -Christianity could be made from the history of certain Christian -conceptions, angels for example:--the Old and New Testaments and the -Apocrypha contain the revelation of their functions; next, their natures -are defined in the works of the Fathers and the _Celestial Hierarchy_ of -Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. The matter is gone over at great length, -and their nature and functions logically perfected, by the schoolmen of -the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But, all the while, religious -feeling, popular credences, and the imagination of poet and artist went on -investing with beauty and loveliness these guardian spirits who carried -out God's care of man. Thus angels became the realities they were felt to -be. - -[429] Hartmann belongs to that great group of courtly German poets whose -lives surround the year 1200. He was the translator of Chrètien de Troye's -_Erec_ and _Ivain_. See Bech's _Hartmann von Aue_ (Deutsche klassiker). -The verses quoted can hardly be rendered; but the meaning is as follows: - -"My joys were never free from care until the day which showed me the -flowers of Christ which I wear here (_i.e._ the Crusader's cross). They -herald a summer-time leading to sweet pastures of delight. God help us -thither! The world has treated me so that my spirit yearns therefor;--well -for me! God has been good to me, so that I am released from cares which -tie the feet of many, chaining them here, while I in Christ's band with -blissful joys fare on." - -These lines carry that same yearning of the simple soul for heaven, _its -home_, which was expressed, some centuries before, in Otfried's -_Evangelienbuch_ (_ante_, Chapter IX.). The words and their connotations -(_augenweide_, _wünneclich_) are utterly German. Yet the author lived in a -literary atmosphere of translation from the French. - -[430] _Post_, Chapter XXV. - -[431] The makers of love poems borrowed expressions from poems to the -Virgin. Cf. Wilmanns, _Leben und Dichtung Walter's Von der Vogelweide_, p. -179. Touches of mortal passion sometimes appear in the adoration of men -for the Blessed Virgin. See _Caesar of Heisterbach_, vii. 32 and 50, and -viii. 58. Of course, many suggestions were drawn also from the antique -literature. See _post_, Chapter XXXII. IV. The subject of courtly and -romantic love will come up properly for treatment in Chapter XXIII. - -[432] One will bear in mind that much mediaeval phraseology goes back to -the Fathers. For example, in monkish vilification of woman there is no -phrase more common than _janua diaboli_, and it was Tertullian's, who died -in the first part of the third century. - -[433] For the different meanings of the term _clericus_ see Du Cange, -_Glossarium_, under that word. - -[434] For the meanings of this term also see Du Cange, _Glossarium_, under -that word. - -[435] Regular clergy are the monks, who live under a _regula_. - -[436] _Dialogus miraculorum_, ed. J. Strange, iv. i. (Cologne, 1851). Of -course Caesar was a monk. - -[437] _Ante_, Chapter XIV. - -[438] See Sackur, _Die Cluniacenser, etc._, _passim_, and Bd. II. 464 -(Halle, 1892). - -[439] On the differences between Cluny and Citeaux see Vacandard, _Vie de -St Bernard_, chap. iv. (2nd ed., Paris, 1897), and Zöckler, _Askese und -Mönchtum_, 2nd ed. pp. 406-415 (Frankfurt a. M., 1897). - -[440] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 166, col. 1377-1384. - -[441] In fact, paragraph 15 provides that at the Chapter accusations -against an abbot shall be brought only by an abbot. - -[442] It is interesting to observe how much of Stephen of Bourbon's -description of the Poor of Lyons applies to Franciscan beginnings, and how -much more of it would have applied had not St. Francis possessed the gift -of obedience among his other virtues. Stephen was a Dominican of the first -half of the thirteenth century, and himself an inquisitor. Thus he -describes these misled people: "The Waldenses are called after the author -of this heresy, whose name was Waldensis. They are also called the Poor of -Lyons, because there they first professed poverty. Likewise they call -themselves the Poor in Spirit, because the Lord says: 'Blessed are the -poor in spirit....' Waldensis, who lived in Lyons, was a man of wealth, -but of little education. Hearing the Gospels, and curious to understand -their meaning, he bargained with two priests that they should make a -translation in the vulgar tongue. This they did, with other books of the -Bible and many precepts from the writings of the saints. When this -townsman had read the Gospel till he knew it by heart, he set out to -follow apostolic perfection, just as the Apostles themselves. So, selling -all his goods, in contempt of the world, he tossed his money like dirt to -the poor. Then he presumed to usurp the office of the Apostles, and -preached the Gospels in the open streets. He led many men and women to do -the same, exercising them in the Gospels. He also sent them to preach in -the neighbouring villages. These ignorant men and women running through -villages, entering houses, and preaching in the open places as well as the -churches, drew others to the same ways." - -Up to this point we are close to the Franciscans. But now the Archbishop -of Lyons forbids these ignorant irregular evangelists to preach. Their -leader answers for them, that they must obey God rather than man, and -Scripture says to preach the Gospel to every creature. Thus they fell into -disobedience, contumacy, and incurred excommunication, says Stephen -(_Anecdotes, etc., d'Étienne de Bourbon_, edited by Lecoy de la Marche -(Soc. de l'Histoire de France, Paris, 1877), cap. 342). - -[443] The rôle of Franciscans and Dominicans in the spread of philosophic -knowledge in the thirteenth century will be considered _post_, Chapter -XXXVII. Chapter XVIII., _post_, is devoted to the personal qualities of -Francis. - -[444] Peter Damiani, _De contemptu saeculi_, cap. 32 (Migne 145, col. -287). - -[445] On Damiani, see _ante_, Chapter XI. IV. - -[446] Peter Damiani, _Opusc._ xi., _Dominus vobiscum_, cap. 19 (Migne 145, -col. 246). - -[447] Peter Damiani, _De contemptu saeculi_, cap. 25 (Migne 145, col. -278). - -[448] Peter Damiani, _De perfectione monachi_, caps. 2, 3 (Migne 145, col. -294). - -[449] _De perfectione monachi_, cap. 8 (Migne 145, col. 303). - -[450] _De perf. mon._ cap. 13 (Migne 145, col. 307). - -[451] _De ins. ord. eremitarum_, cap. 26 (Migne 145, col. 358). On the -distraction from the _vita contemplativa_ involved in an abbot's duties -see Damiani's verses, _De abbatum miseria_, _ante_, Chapter XI. IV. - -For such as have feeling for these matters, I give the following extracts -from Damiani's _Opusc._ xiii., _De perfectione monachi_, caps. 12, 13: -"Let the brother love fasting and cherish privation, let him flee the -sight of men, withdraw from affairs, keep his mouth from vain -conversation, seek the hiding-place of his mind wherein with his whole -strength he burns to see the face of his Creator; and let him pant for -tears, and beset God for them with daily prayer. For the dew of tears -cleanses the soul from every stain and makes fruitful the meadows of our -hearts so that they bring forth the sprouts of virtue. For often as under -an icy frost the wretched soul sheds its foliage, and, grace departing, it -is left to itself barren and stripped of its shortlived blossoms. But anon -tears given by the Tester of hearts burst forth, and this same soul is -loosed from the cold of its slothful torpor, and becomes green again with -the renewed leafage of its virtues, as a tree in spring kindled by the -south wind. - -"Tears, moreover, which are from God, with fidelity approach the tribunal -of divine hearing, and quickly obtaining what they ask, assure us of the -remission of our sins. Tears are intermediaries in concluding peace -between God and men; they are the truthful and the very wisest -(_doctissimae_) teachers in the dubiousness of human ignorance. For when -we are in doubt whether something may be pleasing to God, we can reach no -better certitude than through prayer, weeping truthfully. We need never -again hesitate as to what our mind has decided on under such conditions. - -"Tears," continues Damiani, "washed the noisomeness of her guilt from the -Magdalen, saved the Apostle who denied his Lord, restored King David after -deadly sin, added three years to Hezekiah's life, preserved inviolate the -chastity of Judith, and won for her the head of Holophernes. Why mention -the centurion Cornelius, why mention Susanna? indeed were I to tell all -the deeds of tears, the day would close before my task were ended. For it -is they that purify the sinner's soul, confirm his inconstant heart, -prepare joy out of grief, and, breaking forth from our eyes of flesh, -raise us to the hope of supernal beatitude. For their petition may not be -set aside, so mighty are their voices in the Creator's ears. Before the -pious Judge they hesitate at nothing, but vindicate their claim to mercy -as a right, and exult confident of having obtained what they implore. - -"O ye tears, joys of the spirit, sweeter than honey, sweeter than nectar! -which with a sweet and pleasant taste refresh minds lifted up to God, and -water consumed and arid hearts with a flood of penetrating grace from -heaven. Weeping eyes terrify the devil; he fears the onslaught of tears -bursting forth, as one would flee a tempest of hail driven by the fury of -all the winds. As the torrent's rush cleanses the river-bed, the flowing -tears purge the weeper's mind from the devil's tares and every pest of -sin." - -[452] _De inst. ord. er._ cap. 1 (Migne 145, col. 337). - -[453] The _Vita Romualdi_ is printed in Migne 144, col. 950-1008. - -[454] Romuald died in 1027; _lustrum_ here may mean four years, which -would bring the time of writing to 1039. - -[455] _Vita Romualdi_, caps. 8, 9. Damiani does not say this here, but -quite definitely suggests it in cap. 64. The lives of these eastern -hermits were known to Romuald; hermits in Italy had imitated them; and the -connection with the knowledge of the Orient was not severed. See Sackur, -_Die Cluniacenser, etc._, i. 324 _sqq._ Thus for their models these -Italian hermits go behind the _Regula Benedicti_ to the anchorite examples -of Cassian and the East. Cf. Taylor, _Classical Heritage_, p. 160. A good -example was St. Nilus, a Calabrian, perhaps of Greek stock. As Abbot of -Crypta-Ferrata in Agro-Tusculano, he did not cease from his austerities, -and still dwelt in a cave. He died in 1005 at the alleged age of -ninety-five. His days are thus described: from dawn to the third hour he -copied rapidly, filling a [Greek: tetradeion] (quaternion) each day. From -the third to the sixth hour he stood before the Cross of the Lord, -reciting psalms and making genuflections; from the sixth to the ninth, he -sat and read--no profane book we may be sure. When the ninth hour was -come, he addressed his evening hymn to God and went out to walk and study -Him in His works. See his _Vita_, from the Greek, in _Acta sanctorum_, -sept. t. vii. pp. 279-343, especially page 293. - -[456] _Vita Romualdi_, cap. 13. - -[457] _Ibid._ cap. 20. - -[458] _Vita Romualdi_, cap. 51. - -[459] _Vita Romualdi_, cap. 35. - -[460] _Ibid._ cap. 40. - -[461] _Ibid._ cap. 45. - -[462] _Vita_, caps. 49, 50. - -[463] The Syrian region famous for its early anchorites. - -[464] _Vita Romualdi_, cap. 64. - -[465] Cf. Sackur, _Die Cluniacenser_, i. 328 note. - -[466] _Vita Romualdi_, 69. - -[467] Peter Damiani, _Vitae SS. Rodulphi et Dominici loricati_, cap. 8 -(Migne 144, col. 1015.) - -[468] _Ibid._ cap. 10 (Migne 144, col. 1017). - -[469] This story is told in all the early lives of Bruno, the _Vita -antiquior_, the _Vita altera_, and the _Vita tertia_ (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ -152, col. 482, 493, and 525). These lives, especially the _Vita altera_, -are interesting illustrations of the ascetic spirit, which, as might be -expected, also moulds Bruno's thoughts and his understanding of Scripture. -All of which appears in his long _Expositio in Psalmos_ (Migne, _Pat. -Lat._ 152). To us, for example, the note of the twenty-third (in the -Vulgate the twenty-second) psalm is love; to Bruno it is disciplinary -guidance: the Lord guides me in the place of pasture, that is, He is my -guide lest I go astray in the Scriptures, where the souls of the faithful -are fed; I shall not want, that is an understanding of them shall not fail -me. Thy rod, that is the lesser tribulation; thy staff, that is the -greater tribulation, correct and chastise me. - -[470] Guigo was born in 1083 at St. Romain near Valence, of noble family -(like most monks of prominence). There was close sympathy between him and -St. Bernard, as their letters show. Cf. _post_, Chapter XVII. - -[471] Migne 153, col. 601-631. - -[472] A bibliography of what has been written on Bernard would make a -volume. His own writings and the _Vitae_ and _Acta_ (as edited by -Mabillon) are printed in Migne, tomes 182-185. The _Vie de Saint Bernard_, -by the abbé Vacandard, in two volumes, is to be recommended (2nd ed., -Paris, 1897). - -[473] _Vita prima_, iii. cap. 1 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 185). This _Vita_ was -written by contemporaries of the saint who knew him intimately. But one -must be on one's guard as to these apparently close descriptions of the -saints in their _vitae_; for they are commonly conventionalized. This -description of Bernard, excepting perhaps the colour of his hair, would -have fitted Francis of Assisi. - -[474] _Vita prima_, iii. 3. Bernard himself said that his aim in preaching -was not so much to expound the words (of Scripture) as to move his -hearers' hearts (_Sermo xvi. in Cantica canticorum_). That his preaching -was resistless is universally attested. - -[475] See, _e.g._, Vacandard, _o.c._ chap. i. - -[476] _Post_, Chapter XLIII. - -[477] _Vita prima_, i. cap. 11. This William became Abbot of St. Thierry -and one of Bernard's biographers. - -[478] _E.g._ _Ep._ 107. - -[479] _Ep._ 2. - -[480] _Ep._ 110 (this is the whole letter). - -[481] _Ep._ 112 (the entire letter). The Latin of this letter is given -_post_, Chapter XXXI. - -[482] _Ep._ 111. - -[483] _Ep._ 152, _ad Innocentium papam_, A.D. 1135. - -[484] _Ep._ 170, _ad Ludovicum_. Written in 1138. - -[485] _Ep._ 191. - -[486] Cf. _post_, Chapter XXXVI. I., regarding this instance of Bernard's -zeal. His position is critically set out in Wilhelm Meyer's "Die -Anklagesätze des h. Bernard gegen Abaelard," _Göttingische gelehrte -Nachrichten, philol. hist. Klasse_, 1898, pp. 397-468. - -[487] _Ep._ 196, _ad Guidonen_; cf. _Ep._ 195 (A.D. 1140). See for the -Latin of this letter _post_, Chapter XXXI. - -[488] _Ep._ 147, to Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny (A.D. 1138). - -[489] _Ep._ 101, _ad religiosos_; cf. also _Ep._ 136. - -[490] _Ep._ 300. - -[491] _Vita prima_, lib. vii. cap. 15. - -[492] It was Bernard's third absence in Italy. - -[493] _Ep._ 144, _ad suos Clarae-Vallenses_. - -[494] _Vita prima_, lib. iii. cap. 7. - -[495] _Sermo xxvi. in Cantica._ - -[496] "Finem verborum indicunt lacrymae; tu illis, Domine, finem modumque -indixeris." - -[497] _Ante_, Chapter XVI. - -[498] As Augustine before him. Cf. Taylor, _The Classical Heritage, etc._, -pp. 129-131. - -[499] _Ep._ 11, _ad Guigonem_. Bernard adds that when Paul says that flesh -and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God, it is not to be understood -that the substance of flesh will not be there, but that every carnal -necessity will have ceased; the love of flesh will be absorbed in the love -of the spirit, and our weak human affections transformed into divine -energies. - -[500] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 182, col. 973-1000. - -[501] Love, fear, joy, sorrow. - -[502] Migne 183, col. 785-1198. - -[503] _Sermo xx. in Cantica._ - -[504] _Sermo lxxix. in Cantica._ - -[505] _Sermo lxxxiii. in Cantica._ This is nearly the whole of this -sermon. Bernard's sermons were not long. See _post_, Chapter XXXVI. II., -as to Bernard's use of the symbolism of the kiss. - -[506] _Post_, Chapter XIX. - -[507] The present chapter is intended as an appreciation of the -personality of Francis; incidents of his life are used for illustration. I -have endeavoured to confine myself to such as are generally accepted as -authentic, and to those parts of the sources which are confirmed by -corroborative testimony. The reader doubtless is aware that the sources of -Franciscan history are abundant, but that there is still much critical and -even polemic controversy touching their trustworthiness. Of the _Speculum -perfectionis_, edited by Sabatier, I would make this remark: many of its -narratives contain such wisdom and human truth as seem to me to bring them -very close to the acts and words of some great personality, _i.e._ -Francis. This is no sure proof of their authenticity, and yet is a fair -reason for following their form of statement of some of the incidents in -Francis's life, the human value of which perhaps appears narrowed and -deflected in other accounts. - -The chief sources for the life of St. Francis of Assisi are first his own -compositions, edited conveniently under the title of _Opuscula sancti -patris Francisci Assisiensis_, by the Franciscans of Quarrachi (1904). -They have been translated by P. Robinson (Philadelphia, The Dolphin Press, -1906). Next in certainty of authenticity come the two Lives by Celano, -_i.e._ _Vita prima S. Francisci Assisiensis_, auctore B. Thoma de Celano, -ejus discipulo, Bollandi _Acta sanctorum_, tome 46 (Oct. tome 2), pp. -683-723; also edited by Canon Amoni (Rome, 1880); _Vita secunda seu -appendix ad Vitam primam_, ed. by Amoni (Rome, 1880). Better editions than -Amoni's are those of Edouard d'Alençon (Rome, 1906), and H. G. Rosedale -(Dent, London, 1904). Of great importance also is the _Legenda trium -sociorum_ (_Leo, Rufinus, Angelus_), Bollandi _Acta sanctorum_, t. 46 -(Oct. t. 2), pp. 723-742; also ed. by Amoni (Rome, 1880). (Amoni's texts -differ somewhat from those of the Bollandist.) It is also edited by -Pulignani (Foligno, 1898), and edited and hypothetically completed from -the problematical Italian version, by Marcellino da Civezza and Teofilo -Domenichelli (Rome, 1899). Perhaps most vivid of all the early sources is -the so-called _Speculum perfectionis seu S. Francisci Assisiensis legenda -antiquissima auctore fratre Leone_, as edited by Paul Sabatier (Paris, -1898). It has been translated into English several times. Its date and -authenticity are still under violent discussion. One may conveniently -refer to the article "Franciscan Literature" in the _Edinburgh Review_ for -January 1904, and to P. Robinson's _Short Introduction to Franciscan -Literature_ (New York, 1907) for further references, which the student -must supplement for himself from the mass of recent literature in books -and periodicals touching the life of Francis and its sources. See also -Fierens, _La Question franciscaine, etc._ (Louvain, 1909). Among modern -Lives, that of Sabatier is probably known to all readers of this note. The -Lives by Bonghi and Le Monnier may be referred to. Gebhard's _Italie -mystique_ is interesting in connection with Francis. - -[508] Consciousness of direct authority from God speaks in the saint's -unquestionably authentic Testament: "And after the Lord gave me some -brothers, no one showed me what I ought to do, but the Most High himself -revealed to me that I ought to live according to the model of the holy -Gospel." It is also rendered with picturesque vehemence in a scene -(_Speculum perfectionis_, ed. Sabatier, ch. 68) which may or may not be -authentic. At a general meeting of the Order, certain wise brethren had -persuaded the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia to advise Francis to follow their -counsel, and had adduced certain examples from the monastic rule of -Benedict and others. "When the Cardinal had related these matters to the -blessed Francis, in the way of admonition, the blessed Francis answered -nothing, but took him by the hand and led him before the assembled -brothers, and spoke to the brothers in the fervour and power of the Holy -Spirit, thus: 'My brothers, my brothers, the Lord called me in the way of -simplicity and humility, and showed me in truth this way for myself and -for those who wish to believe and imitate me. And therefore I desire that -you will not name any rule to me, neither the rule of St. Benedict, nor -that of St. Augustine or St. Bernard, or any other rule or model of living -except that which was mercifully shown and given me by the Lord. And the -Lord said that He wished me to be a new covenant (_pactum_) in the world, -and did not wish us to live by any other way save by that knowledge.'" - -[509] These songs (none of which survive) were apparently in the _langue -d'oïl_ and not in the _langue d'oc_. The phrases used by the biographers -are _lingua francigena_ (1 Cel. i. 7) and _lingua gallica_ (_III. Soc._ -iii.) or _gallice cantabat_ (_Spec. perf._ vii. 93). - -[510] In fact this is vouched for in _III. Soc._ i. - -[511] St. Martin of Tours had done the same. - -[512] _III. Soc._ v. par. 13, 14. - -[513] _III. Soc._ vi. par. 20. - -[514] "Sancta paupertas," "domina paupertas" are the phrases. The first is -used by St. Bernard. - -[515] _III. Soc._ viii.; 1 Cel. ix. - -[516] _III. Soc._ viii.; see 1 Cel. x. and 2 Cel. x. - -[517] _Spec. per._ 3, 9, 19, 122. How truly he also felt their spirit is -seen in the story of his words, at a somewhat later period, to a certain -Dominican: "While he was staying at Siena, a certain doctor of theology, -of the order of the Preachers, himself an humble and spiritual man, came -to him. When they had spoken for a while about the words of the Lord, this -master interrogated him concerning this text of Ezekiel: 'If thou dost not -declare to the wicked man his wickedness, I will require his soul of thy -hand' (Ezek. iii. 18). And he added: 'I know many indeed, good father, in -mortal sin, to whom I do not declare their wickedness. Will their souls be -required at my hand?' - -"To whom the blessed Francis humbly said that it was fitting that an -ignorant person like himself should be taught by him rather than give -answer upon the meaning of Scripture. Then that humble master replied: -'Brother, albeit I have heard the exposition of this text from a number of -the wise, still would I willingly make note of your understanding of it.' - -"So the blessed Francis said: 'If the text is to be understood generally, -I take it to mean that the servant of God ought by his life and holiness -so to burn and shine in himself, that the light of his example and the -tenor of his holy conversation would reprove all wicked men. Thus I say -will his splendour and the odour of his reputation declare their -iniquities to all,'" _Spec. perf._ 53; also 2 Cel. iii. 46. - -[518] As to the acquisition of the Portiuncula see _Spec. perf._ 55, and -on Francis's love of it see _Spec. perf._ 82-84, 124. - -[519] 1 Cel. xi. - -[520] This seems to be true of Francis's great Exemplar. - -[521] _Spec. perf._ 69; 2 Cel. iii. 124; _III. Soc._ 25. - -[522] _Francisci admonitiones_, xx. - -[523] _Spec. perf._ 62; 2 Cel. iii. 71. - -[524] _Spec. perf._ 61; see 1 Cel. 19. - -[525] 2 Cel. iii. 81; _Spec. perf._ 39. - -[526] _Spec. perf._ 50. - -[527] _Spec. perf._ 54; 2 Cel. iii. 84. - -[528] _Spec. perf._ 44. - -[529] _Spec. perf._ 64; _III. Soc._ 39; 2 Cel. iii. 83; cf. _Admon._ iii. - -[530] Cf. _Spec. perf._ 22 and 23; 2 Cel. iii. 23. - -[531] _III. Soc._ xii. 50, 51. - -[532] _Spec. perf._ 18; cf. 2 Cel. iii. 20. - -[533] _Spec. perf._ 25; 2 Cel. iii. 22. - -[534] _Spec. perf._ 95; 2 Cel. iii. 65. But Francis condemned all vain and -foolish words which move to laughter (_Admon._ xxi.; _Spec. perf._ 96). - -[535] _Spec. perf._ 93; 2 Cel. iii. 67. - -[536] _Spec. perf._ 34. - -[537] Cf. _Spec. perf._ 108; 2 Cel. 132. - -[538] _Spec. perf._ 27, 28, 33; cf. 2 Cel. i. 15; _ibid._ iii. 30 and 36. - -[539] _Spec. perf._ 101. This is one of the apparently unsupported stories -of the _Speculum_, that none would like to doubt. - -[540] 2 Cel. iii. cap. 101. - -[541] One is tempted to amuse oneself with paradox, and say: Not he of -Vaucluse, who ascended a mountain for the view and left a record of his -sentiments, but he of Assisi, who loved the sheep, the birds, the flowers, -the stones, and fire and water, was "the first modern man." But such -statements are foolish; there was no "first modern man." - -[542] _Spec. perf._ 113. - -[543] 1 Cel. xxi. 58. - -[544] 1 Cel. cap. xxviii. - -[545] 1 Cel. cap. xxix. - -[546] 2 Cel. iii. 101. These matters are set forth more picturesquely in -the _Speculum perfectionis_; if authentic, they throw a vivid light on -this wonderful person. Here are examples: - -"Francis had come to the hermitage of Fonte Palumbo, near Riete, to cure -the infirmity of his eyes, as he was ordered on his obedience by the -lord-cardinal of Ostia and by Brother Elias, minister-general. There the -doctor advised a cautery over the cheek as far as the eyebrow of the eye -that was in worse state. Francis wished to wait till brother Elias came, -but when he was kept from coming Francis prepared himself. And when the -iron was set in the fire to heat it, Francis, wishing to comfort his -spirit, lest he be afraid, spoke to the fire: 'My Brother Fire, noble and -useful among other creatures, be courteous to me in this hour, since I -have loved and will love thee for the love of Him who made thee. I also -beseech our Creator, who made us both, that He may temper thy heat so that -I may bear it.' And when his prayer was finished he made the sign of the -cross over the fire. - -"We indeed who were with him then fled for pity and compassion, and the -doctor remained alone with him. When the cautery was finished, we -returned, and he said to us: 'Fearful and of little faith, why did you -flee? I tell you truly I felt no pain, nor any heat of the fire. If it is -not well seared he may sear it better.' - -"The astonished doctor assured them all that the cautery was so severe -that a strong man, let alone one so weak, could hardly have endured it, -while Francis showed no sign of pain" (_Spec. perf._ 115). "Thus fire -treated Francis courteously; for he had never failed to treat it -reverently and respect its rights. Once his clothes caught fire, and he -would not put it out, and forbade a brother, saying: 'Nay, dearest -brother, do no harm to the fire.' He would never put out fire, and did not -wish any brother to throw away a fire or push a smoking log away, but -wished that it should be just set on the ground, out of reverence to Him -whose creature it is" (_ibid._ 116). - -"Next to fire he had a peculiar love for water, wherein is figured holy -penitence and the tribulation with which the soul's uncleanness is washed -away, and because the first washing of the soul is through the water of -baptism. So when he washed his hands he would choose a place where the -water which fell would not be trodden on. Also when he walked over rocks, -he walked with trembling and reverence for the love of Him who is called -the 'Rock'; and whenever he repeated that psalm, 'Thou hast exalted me -upon a rock,' he would say with great reverence and devotion: 'Under the -foot of the rock thou hast exalted me.'" - -"He directed the brother who cut and fetched the fire-wood never to cut a -whole tree, so that some part of it might remain untouched for the love of -Him who was willing to work out our salvation upon the wood of the cross. - -"Likewise he told the brother who made the garden, not to devote all of it -to vegetables, but to have some part for flowering plants, which in their -seasons produce Brother Flowers for love of Him who is called the 'Flower -of the field and the Lily of the valley.' He said indeed that Brother -Gardener always ought to make a beautiful patch in some part of the -garden, and plant it with all sorts of sweet-smelling herbs and herbs that -produce beautiful flowers, so that in their season they may invite men -seeing them to praise the Lord. For every creature cries aloud, 'God made -me for thy sake, O man.' We that were with him saw that inwardly and -outwardly he did so greatly rejoice in all created things, that touching -or seeing them his spirit seemed not to be upon the earth, but in heaven" -(_ibid._ 113). - -"Above all things lacking reason he loved the sun and fire most -affectionately, for he would say: 'In the morning when the sun rises every -man ought to praise God who created it for our use, because by day our -eyes are illumined by it; in the evening, when night comes, every man -ought to give praise on account of Brother Fire, because by it our eyes -are illumined by night. For all of us are blind, and the Lord through -those two brothers lightens our eyes; and therefore for these, and for -other creatures which we daily use, we ought to praise the Creator.' Which -indeed he did himself up to the day of his death" (_ibid._ 119). - -[547] Translated from the text as given in E. Monaci's _Crestomazia -italiana dei primi secoli_. Substantially the same text is given in _Spec. -perf._ 120. - -[548] The mediaeval term _apex mentis_ is not inapt. - -[549] Assurance of the soul's communion, and even union, with God is the -chief element of what is termed mysticism, which will be discussed briefly -in connection with scholastic philosophy, _post_, Chapter XXXVI. II. In -the twelfth and thirteenth centuries those who experienced the divine -through visions, ecstasies, and rapt contemplation, were not as -analytically and autobiographically self-conscious as later mystics. Yet -St. Theresa's (sixteenth century) mystical analysis of self and God (for -which see H. Delacroix, _Études d'histoire et de psychologie du -mysticisme_, Paris, 1908) might be applied to the experiences of St. -Elizabeth of Schönau or St. Hildegard of Bingen. - -[550] _Ante_, Chapter XIII. II. - -[551] Neither Othloh's visions, nor those to be recounted, were narratives -of voyages to the other world. The name of these is legion. They begin in -_Bede's Ecclesiastical History_, and continue through the Middle -Ages--until they reach their apotheosis in the _Divina Commedia_. See -_post_, Chapter XLIII. - -[552] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 195. - -[553] The works of St. Hildegard of Bingen are published in vol. 197 of -Migne's _Pat. Lat._ and in vol. viii. of Pitra's _Analecta sacra_, under -the title _Analecta Sanctae Hildegardis opera Spicilegio Solesmensi -parata_ (1882). Certain supplementary passages to the latter volume are -published in _Analecta Bollandiana_, i. (Paris, 1882). These publications -are completed by F. W. E. Roth's _Lieder und die unbekannte Sprache der h. -Hildegardis_ (Wiesbaden, 1880). The same author has a valuable article on -Hildegard in _Zeitschrift für kirchliche Wissenschaft, etc._, 1888, pp. -453-471. See also an article by Battandier, _Revue des questions -historiques_, 33 (1883), pp. 395-425. Other literature on Hildegard in -Chevalier's _Répertoire des sources historiques du moyen âge_, under her -name. - -Her two most interesting works, for our purposes at least, are the -_Scivias_ (meaning _Scito vias Domini_), completed in 1151 after ten years -of labour, and the _Liber vitae meritorum per simplicem hominem a vivente -luce revelatorum_ (Pitra, _o.c._ pp. 1-244), begun in 1159, and finished -some five years later. Extracts from these are given in the text. Other -works show her extraordinary intellectual range. Of these the _Liber -divinorum operum simplicis hominis_ (Migne 197, col. 741-1038) is a vision -of the mysteries of creation, followed by a voluminous commentary upon the -world and all therein, including natural phenomena, human affairs, the -nature of man, and the functions of his mind and body. It closes with a -discussion of Antichrist and the Last Times. The work was begun about -1164, when Hildegard finished the _Liber vitae meritorum_, and was -completed after seven years of labour. She also wrote a Commentary on the -Gospels, and sundry lives of saints, and there is ascribed to her quite a -prodigious work upon natural history and the virtues of plants, the whole -entitled: _Subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum libri IX._ (Migne -197, col. 1118-1351); and probably she composed another work on medicine, -_i.e._ the unpublished _Liber de causis et curis_ (see Pitra, _o.c._, -prooemium, p. xi.). Preger's contention (_Geschichte der deutschen -Mystik_, i. pp. 13-27, 1874) that the works bearing Hildegard's name are -forgeries, never obtained credence, and is not worth discussing since the -publication of Pitra's volume. - -[554] _Analecta Sanctae Hildegardis opera Spicilegio Solesmensi parata_, -p. 523; cf. _ibid._ p. 561; also _Ep._ 27 of Hildegard in Migne 197, col. -186. - -[555] These questions and Hildegard's solutions are given in Migne 197, -col. 1038-1054, and the letter in Pitra, _o.c._ 399-400. - -[556] Pitra, _o.c._ 394, 395. - -[557] By _visio_ as used here, Hildegard refers to the general undefined -light--the _umbra viventis lucis_, in which she saw her special visions. - -[558] Pitra, _o.c._ 332. - -[559] This is from the prologue to the _Scivias_, Pitra, _o.c._ 503, 504 -(Migne 197, 483, 484). Guibert in his _Vita_ speaks of Hildegard as -_indocta_ and unable to penetrate the meaning of Scripture _nisi cum vis -internae aspirationis illuminans eam juvaret_, Pitra, _o.c._ 413. Compare -Hildegard's prooemium to her _Life of St. Disibodus_ (Pitra, _o.c._ 357) -and the preface to her _Liber divinorum operum_ (Migne 197, 741, 742). - -[560] Guibertus to Radilfus, a monk of Villars (Pitra, _o.c._ 577) -apparently written in 1180. - -[561] Pitra, _o.c._ pp. 1-244. - -[562] Pitra, _o.c._ pp. 8-10. The translation is condensed, but is kept -close to the original. - -[563] _Ibid._ p. 13. - -[564] Pitra, _o.c._ p. 24. - -[565] _Ibid._ p. 51 _sqq._ - -[566] Pitra, _o.c._ p. 92 _sqq._ - -[567] _Ibid._ p. 131 _sqq._ Of course, one at once thinks of the -punishments in Dante's _Inferno_, which in no instance are identical with -those of Hildegard, and yet offer common elements. Dante is not known to -have read the work of Hildegard. - -[568] Pitra, _o.c._ pp. 230-240. I am not clear as to Hildegard's ideas of -Purgatory, for which she seems to have no separate region. In the case of -sinners who have begun, but not completed, their penances on earth, the -punishments described work _purgationem_, and the souls are loosed -(_ibid._ p. 42). In Part III. of the work we are considering, the -paragraphs describing the punishments are entitled _De superbiae_, -_invidiae_, _inobedientiae_, _infidelitatis_, etc., _poenis purgatoriis_ -(_ibid._ p. 130). But each paragraph is followed by one entitled _De -poenitentia superbiae_, etc., and the _poenitentia_ referred to is worked -out with penance in this life. Consequently it is not quite clear that the -word _purgatoriis_ attached to _poenis_ signifies temporary punishment to -be followed by release. - -In a vision of the Last Times (_ibid._ p. 225) Hildegard sees "black -burning darkness," in which was _gehenna_, containing every kind of -horrible punishment. She did not then see _gehenna_ itself, because of the -darkness surrounding it; but heard the frightful cries. Cf. _Aeneid_, vi. -548 _sqq._ - -[569] This is the view expounded so grandly by Hugo of St. Victor in his -_De sacramentis_, _post_, Chapter XXVIII. - -[570] Migne 197, col. 433. All this is interesting in view of the many -figures of the Church and Synagogue carved on the cathedrals, most of them -later than Hildegard's time. The "Synagogue" of sculpture has her eyes -bound, the sculpturesque expression of eyelessness. The rest of -Hildegard's symbolism was not followed in sculpture. - -[571] Migne 197, col. 437 _sqq._ Cf. St. Bernard, _Sermo xix. in Cantica_. - -[572] Migne 197, col. 449. - -[573] Notice the supra-terrestrial term, which can hardly be translated so -as to fit an actual wall. - -[574] Migne 197, col. 583. Compare this vision with the symbolic -interpretation of the cathedral edifice, _post_, Chapter XXIX. - -[575] Cf. St. Bernard's treatment of this matter, _ante_, Chapter XVII. - -[576] In a Middle High German Marienleben, by Bruder Phillips (13th -century) the young virgin is made herself to say to God: - - "Du bist min lieber priutegam (bridegroom), - Dir gib ich minen magetuom (maidenhood), - Du bist min vil schoener man. - - "Du bist min vriedel (lover) und min vriunt (ami); - Ich bin von diner minne entzundt." - -Bobertag, _Erzählende Dichtungen des späteren Mittelalters_, p. 46 -(Deutsche Nat. Litt.). - -[577] _Vita B. Mariae Ogniacensis_, per Jacobum de Vitreaco, Bollandi, -_Acta sanctorum_ t. 21 (June t. iv. pp. 636-666). Jacques had good reason -to canonize her bones, since one of them, in his saddle-bags, had saved -his mule from drowning while crossing a river in Tuscany. - -[578] Cant. ii. 5. The translation in the English Revised Version is: -"Stay me with cakes of raisins, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of -love." The phrases of Canticles, always in the words of the Latin Vulgate, -come continually into the minds of these ecstatic women and their -biographers. The sonorous language of the Vulgate is not always close to -the meaning of the Hebrew. But it was the Vulgate and not the Hebrew that -formed the mediaeval Bible, and its language should be observed in -discussing mediaeval applications of Scripture. - -[579] "Dum esset Rex in accubitu suo," Cant. i. 11, in Vulgate; Cant. i. -12, in the English version, which renders it: "While the King sitteth at -His table." - -[580] _Vita B. Mariae, etc._, par. 2-8. Since we are seeing these -mediaeval religious phenomena as they impressed contemporaries, it would -be irrelevant to subject them to the analyses which pathological -psychology applies to not dissimilar phenomena. - -[581] It is reported of St. Catharine of Siena that she would go for weeks -with no other food than the Eucharist. - -[582] I am drawing from her _Vita_ by her contemporary, Thomas of -Cantimpré, _Acta SS._, Bollandi, t. 21 (t. 3 of June), p. 234 _sqq._ - -[583] Cf. Canticles iii. 2; _Vita_, lib. iii. par. 42. - -[584] Cant. iii. 1, 7; i. 16. - -[585] _Vita_, lib. iii. pars. 9, 11. It is well known how great a love of -her Lord possessed St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and how she sent her children -away from her, that she might not be distracted from loving Him alone. The -vision which came to her upon her expulsion from the Wartburg, after the -death of her husband, King Louis of Thuringia, is given as follows, in her -own words, according to the sworn statement of her waiting-women: "I saw -the heaven open, and that sweet Jesus, my Lord, bending toward me and -consoling me in my tribulation; and when I saw Him I was glad, and -laughed; but when He turned His face, as if to go away, I cried. Pitying -me, He turned His serene countenance to me a second time, saying: 'If thou -wishest to be with me, I wish to be with thee.' I responded: 'Thou, Lord, -thou dost wish to be with me, and I wish to be with thee, and I wish never -to be separated from thee'" (_Libellus de dictis quatuor ancillarum_, -Mencken, _Scriptores Rerum Germ._ ii. 2020 A-C, Leipzig, 1728). The German -sermon of Hermann von Fritzlar (cir. 1340) tells this vision in nearly the -same words, putting, however, this phrase in Elizabeth's mouth: "Our Lord -Jesus Christ appeared to me, and when He turned from me, I cried, and then -He turned to me, and I became red (blushed?), and before I was pale" -(Hildebrand, _Didaktik aus der Zeit der Kreuzzüge_, p. 36, Deutsche Nat. -Lit.). - -[586] _Offenbarungen der Schwester Mechthild von Magdeburg oder das -fliessende Licht der Gottheit_, ed. by P. G. Morel, Regensburg, 1869. See -Preger, _Gesch. der deutschen Mystik_, i. 70, 91 _sqq._ Preger points out -that the High-German version of this work, which we possess, was made from -the Low-German original in the year 1344. Extracts from Mechthild's book -are given by Vetter, _Lehrhafte Literatur des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts_, -pp. 192-199; and by Hildebrand, _Didaktik aus der Zeit der Kreuzzüge_, pp. -6-10 (Deutsche Nat. Lit.). - -[587] We pass over these portions of Mechthild's book which exemplify the -close connection between ecstatic contemplation and the denunciation of -evil in the world. - -[588] Mechthild constantly uses phrases from the courtly love poetry of -her time. - -[589] _Das fliessende Licht, etc._, i. cap. 3. Hildebrand, _o.c._ p. 6, -cites this apposite verse from the thoughtful and knightly Minnesinger, -Reimar von Zweter: - - "Got herre unuberwundenlich, - Wie uberwant die Minne dich! - Getorste ich, so spraech ich: - Si wart an dir so sigerich." - -[590] _Das fliessende Licht, etc._, i. 38-44. - -[591] "I would gladly die of love, might that be my lot; for Him whom I -love I have seen with my bright eyes standing in my soul" (_ibid._ ii. -cap. 2). - -[592] Cf. ii. 22. - -[593] See i. 10; ii. 23. - -[594] i. 13. - -[595] ii. 4. - -[596] iii. 1, 10. - -[597] It is quite true that in the earliest Christian times the marriage -of priests was recognized, and continued to be at least connived at until, -say, the time of Hildebrand. Yet the best thoughtfulness and piety from -the Patristic period onward had disapproved of priestly marriages, which -consequently tended to sink to the level of concubinage, until they were -absolutely condemned by the Church. - -[598] _Anecdotes, etc., d'Étienne de Bourbon_, ed. by Lecoy de la Marche, -p. 249 (Soc. de l'Histoire de France, t. 185, Paris, 1877). This story -refers to the years 1166-1171. - -[599] Many bishops and abbots held definite secular rank; the Archbishop -of Rheims was a duke, and so was the Bishop of Langres and Laon; while the -bishops of Beauvais and Noyon were counts. In Germany, the archiepiscopal -dukes of Cologne and Mainz were among the chief princes of the land. - -[600] There were, however, some (naturally shocking) instances of -inheritance, as where the Bishop of Nantes in 1049 admitted that he had -been invested with the bishopric during the lifetime of his father, the -preceding bishop. See Luchaire, in vol. ii. (2), pp. 107-117 of Lavisse's -_Hist. de France_, for this and other examples of episcopal feudalism. - -[601] _Sermo in Cantica_, 33, par. 15 (Migne 183, col. 958-959). With this -passage from St. Bernard, one may compare the far more detailed picture of -the luxury and dissolute ways of the secular clergy in France given in the -_Apologia of Guido of Bazoches_ (latter part of the twelfth century). W. -Wattenbach. "Die Apologie des Guido von Bazoches," _Sitzungsberichte -Preussichen Akad._, 1893, (1), pp. 395-420. - -[602] Ed. by T. Wright (Camden Society, London, 1841). - -[603] The poem called _De ruina Romae_. It begins, "Propter Syon non -tacebo." - -[604] _Post_, Chapter XXVI. - -[605] The "Bible" of Guiot is published in Barbazan's _Fabliaux_, t. ii. -(Paris, 1808). It is conveniently given with other satirical or moralizing -compositions in Ch. V. Langlois, _La Vie en France au moyen âge d'après -quelques moralistes du temps_ (Paris, 1908). - -[606] Salimbene gives an amusing picture of our worthy Rigaud hurrying to -catch sight of the king at a Franciscan Chapter. _Post_, Chapter XXI. - -[607] _Regestrum visilationum archiepiscopi Rothomagensis_, ed. Bonnin -(Rouen, 1852). It is analyzed by L. V. Delisle, in an article entitled "Le -Clergé normand" (_Bib. de l'École des Chartes_, 2nd ser. vol. iii.). - -[608] _Reg. vis._ p. 9. - -[609] _R. V._ p. 10. - -[610] _R. V._ p. 18. - -[611] _R. V._ pp. 19-20. - -[612] _R. V._ p. 222. - -[613] _R. V._ p. 379. - -[614] _R. V._ p. 154. - -[615] See _e.g._ _R. V._ pp. 159, 162, 395-396. - -[616] _R. V._ p. 109. - -[617] _R. V._ p. 73. - -[618] _R. V._ pp. 43-45. - -[619] _R. V._ p. 607. - -[620] In Pfeiffer's ed. No. 159. See also _ibid._ 162. - -[621] The above is drawn from the "Vita Sancti Engelberti," by Caesar of -Heisterbach, in Boehmer, _Fontes rerum Germanicarum_, ii. 294-329 -(Stuttgart, 1845). E. Michael, _Culturzustände des deutschen Volkes -während des 13{n} Jahrhunderts_, ii. 30 _sqq._ (Freiburg im Breisgau, -1899), has an excellent account drawn mainly from the same source. - -[622] The _Dialogi miraculorum_ of Caesar of Heisterbach, and the -_Exempla_ of Étienne de Bourbon (d. 1262) and Jacques de Vitry (d. 1240) -present a huge collection of such stories. For the early Middle Ages, the -decades just before and after the year one thousand, the mechanically -supernatural view of any occurrence is illustrated in the five books of -_Histories_ of Radulphus Glaber, an incontinent and wandering, but -observing monk, native of Burgundy. Best edition by M. Prou, in -_Collection des textes, etc._ (Paris, Picard, 1886); also in Migne, _Pat. -Lat._ 142. An interesting study of his work by Gebhart, entitled, "Un -Moine de l'an 1000," is to be found in the _Revue des deux mondes_, for -October 1, 1891. Glaber's fifth book opens with some excellent devil -stories. As there was a progressive enlightenment through the mediaeval -centuries, such tales gradually became less common and less crude. - -[623] _Anecdotes historiques d'Étienne de Bourbon_, par. 422, ed. by Lecoy -de la Marche (vol. 185 of Société de l'Histoire de France), Paris, 1877; -cf. _ibid._ par. 383. - -[624] _Dialogus miraculorum_, iii. 2. Similar stories are told in _ibid._ -iii. 3, 15, 19. - -[625] _Exempla_ of Jacques de Vitry, ed. by T. F. Crane, pp. 110-111, vol. -26 (Folk-lore Society, London, 1890). - -[626] _Dialogus miraculorum_, vii. 34. Caesar's seventh book has many -similar tales. - -[627] Ed. in eight volumes by Gaston Paris and U. Robert for the Société -des Anciens Textes Français. - -[628] Étienne de Bourbon tells this same story in his Latin; _Anecdotes -historiques etc._, p. 114. - -[629] See Étienne de Bourbon, _o.c._ pp. 109-110, 120. - -[630] Étienne de Bourbon, _o.c._ p. 119. - -[631] Étienne de Bourbon, _o.c._ p. 83. - -[632] The chief part of the "Chronica Fr. Salembenis Parmensis" was -printed in 1857 in the _Monumenta Historica ad provincias Parmensem, etc._ -The manner of its truncated editing has ever since been a grief to -scholars. The portions omitted from the Parma edition, covering years -before Salimbene's time, are printed by Clédat, as an appendix to his -Thesis, _De Fr. Salimbene, etc._ (Paris, 1878). Novati's article, "La -Cronaca di Salimbene" in vol. i. (1883) of the _Giornale storico della -letteratura italiana_, pp. 383-423, will be found enlightening as to the -faults of the Parma editor. A good consideration of the man and his -chronicle is Emil Michael's _Salimbene und seine Chronik_ (Innsbruck, -1889), with which should be read Alfred Dove's _Die Doppel Chronik von -Reggio und die Quellen Salimbene's_ (Leipzig, 1873). A short translation -of some of the more or less autobiographical parts of Salimbene's -narrative, by T. L. K. Olyphant, may be found in vol. i. of the -_Translations of the Historical Society_, pp. 449-478 (London, 1872); and -much of Salimbene is translated in Coulton's _From St. Francis to Dante_ -(London, 1907). - -[633] Parma edition, p. 3. - -[634] P. 31. - -[635] The Latin is a little strong: "Non credas istis pissintunicis, idest -qui in tunicis mingunt." - -[636] These qualities led Salimbene to accept the teachings of Joachim and -the _Evangelium eternum_ (_post_, pp. 510 _sqq._). - -[637] Parma ed. pp. 37-41. This coarse story is given for illustration's -sake; there are many worse than it in Salimbene. Novati prints some in his -article in the _Giornale Storico_ that are amusing, but altogether beyond -the pale of modern decency. - -[638] This in fact became the later legend of Eccelino. - -[639] Pp. 90-93. - -[640] He whose _Regesta_ we have read, _ante_ Chapter XX. - -[641] Parma ed. pp. 93-97. - -[642] _Post_, Chapter XXII. - -[643] Cf. Tocco, _L'Eresia nel medio evo_, pp. 449-483 (Florence, 1884). - -[644] From Novati, _o.c._ pp. 415, 416. Cf. pp. 97 _sqq._ of the Parma ed. - -[645] For further interesting allusions to the prophecies of Merlin, see -Salimbene, pp. 303, 309 _sqq._ - -[646] Pp. 104-109. - -[647] Cf. Joinville's account, _post_, Chapter XXII. - -[648] P. 225. - -[649] Pp. 179, 180. - -[650] P. 324. - -[651] See Bourgain, _La Chaire française au XII{e} siècle_; Lecoy de la -Marche, _La Chaire française au XIII{e} siècle_. - -[652] Certain kinds of literature, in nature satirical or merely gross, -portray, doubtless with grotesque exaggeration, the ways and manners of -clerks and merchants, craftsmen and vile serfs, as well as those of monks -and bishops, lords and ladies. A notable example is offered by the old -French _fabliaux_, which with coarse and heartless laughter, rather than -with any definite satirical intent, display the harshness, brutality, the -degradation and hardship of the ways of living coming within their range -of interest. In them we see the brutal and deceived husband, the wily -clerk, the merchant with his tricks of trade, the _vilain_, raised above -the brute, not by a better way of life as much as by a certain native wit. -The women were reviled as coarsely as in monkish writings; but a -Rabelaisian quality takes the place of doctrinal prurience. In weighing -the evidence of these fabliaux their satirical nature should be allowed -for. Cf. Langlois, _La Vie en France au moyen âge d'après quelques -moralistes du temps_ (Paris, 1908); also the _Sermons_ of Jacques de -Vitry; Pitra, _Analecta novissima spicilegii Solesmensis_, t. ii., and -Haurèau upon the same in _Journal des savants_, 1888, p. 410 _sqq._ - -[653] Such immunities were common before Charlemagne. Cf. Brunner, -_Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, ii. 243-302. - -[654] _Gesta regum Anglorum_, iii. (Migne 179, col. 1213). - -[655] Taken from the note to p. 274 of Gautier's _Chevalerie_. - -[656] See Du Cange, _Glossarium_, under "Miles," etc.; where much -information may be found uncritically put together. - -[657] Cf. Brunner, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, ii. 202-216. - -[658] The way that _miles_ came to mean knight, has its analogy in the -etymological history of the word "knight" itself. In German and French the -words "Ritter" and "chevalier" indicate one who fought on horseback. Not -so with the English word "knight," which in its original Anglo-Saxon and -Old-German forms (see Murray's _Dictionary_) as _cniht_ and _kneht_ might -mean any armed follower. It lost its servile sense slowly. "In 1086 we -read that the Conqueror _dubbade his sunu Henric to ridere_; this ... is -the next year Englished by _cniht_" (Kington-Oliphant, _Old and Middle -English_, p. 130; Macmillan, 1878). - -[659] We naturally use the term "free" with reference to modern -conditions, where law and its sanctions emanate, in fact as well as -theory, from a stable government. But in these early feudal periods where -a man's life and property were in fact and theory protected by the power -of his immediate lord, to whom he was bound by the strongest ties then -recognized, to be "free" might be very close to being an unprotected -outlaw. - -[660] In these respects it exhibits analogies to monkhood, which likewise -was recruited commonly from the upper classes of society. - -[661] See Gautier, _La Chevalerie_, p. 256 _sqq._; Du Cange, under the -word "Miles." - -[662] Cf. Gautier, _o.c._ 296-308. It must be remembered that an abbot or -a bishop might also be a knight and so could make knights. See Du Cange, -_Glossarium_, "Abbas" (_abbates miletes_). - -[663] On this blow, called in Latin _alapa_, in French _accolée_, in -English _accolade_, see Du Cange under "Alapa," and Gautier, _o.c._ pp. -246-247, and 270 _sqq._ - -[664] _Chanson de Roland_, 2344 sqq. Lines 2500-2510 speak of -Charlemagne's sword, named _Joiuse_ because of the honour it had in having -in its hilt the iron of the lance which pierced the Saviour. - -[665] Gautier, _Chevalerie_, pp. 290, 297. Examples of these ceremonies -may be found as follows: the actual one of the knighting of Geoffrey -Plantagenet of Anjou by Henry I. of England, at Rouen in 1129, in the -Chronicle of Johannis Turonensis, _Historiens de France_, xii. p. 520; -Gautier, _Chevalerie_, p. 275. Gautier gives many examples, and puts -together a typical ceremony, as of the twelfth century, in _Chev._ p. 309 -_sqq._ Perhaps the most famous account of all is that of the poem entitled -_Ordene de Chevalerie_ (thirteenth century), published by Barbazan, -_Fabliaux, etc._, i. 59-82 (Paris, 1808). It relates how a captive -Christian knight bestowed the order of chivalry, _i.e._ knighthood, upon -Saladin. See other accounts cited in Du Cange under "Miles." - -[666] Not war as we understand it, where with some large purpose one great -cohesive state directs its total military power against another; but -neighbourhood war, never permanently ended. When not actually attacking or -defending, men were anticipating attack, or expecting to make a raid. -Perhaps nothing better suggests the local and neighbourly character of -these feudal hostilities than the most famous means devised by the Church -to mitigate them. This was the "Truce of God," promulgated in the eleventh -century. It forbade hostilities from Thursday to Monday and in Lent. -Whether this ordinance was effective or not, it indicates the nature of -the wars that could stop from Thursday to Monday! - -[667] Courtly, chivalric, or romantic, love as an element of knightly -excellence is so inseverably connected with its romantic literature that I -have kept it for the next chapter. - -[668] The following remarks upon the _regula_ of the Templars, and the -extracts which are given, are based on the introduction and text of _La -Règle du Temple_, edited by Henri de Curzon for the Société de l'Histoire -de France (Paris, 1886). - -[669] The phraseology of the Latin _regula_ often follows that of the -Benedictine rule. - -[670] Chaps. 33, 35. - -[671] Chaps. 40, 41. - -[672] Chap. 42. - -[673] Chaps. 46, 48. - -[674] Chap. 62 Latin _regula_ and chap. 14 of French _regle_. - -[675] Chap. 51. - -[676] Chap. 58 of the Latin, chap. 11 of the French. The chapters of the -French translation do not follow the order of the Latin. - -[677] Page 167 of de Curzon's edition. - -[678] See in de Curzon's edition, sections 431, 436, 448, 454, and 657 -_sqq._ - -[679] It would seem as if military discipline, as moderns understand it, -took its rise in these Templars and Hospitallers. - -[680] See _e.g._ de Curzon's edition, sections 419, 420, 574. - -[681] Raimundus de Agiles, _Hist. Francorum qui ceperunt Jerusalem_, cap. -38-39. (Migne 155, col. 659). - -[682] On these poems see Pigeonneau, _Le Cycle de la Croisade_ (St. Cloud, -1877); Paulin Paris, in _Histoire littéraire de la France_, vol. 22, pp. -350-402, and _ibid._ vol. 25, p. 507 _sqq._; Gaston Paris, "La Naissance -du chevalier au Cygne," _Romania_, 19, p. 314 _sqq._ (1890). - -[683] "Vita Ludovici noni auctore Gaufrido de Belloloco" (_Recueil des -historiens des Gaules et de la France_, t. xx. pp. 3-26). - -[684] The Testament of St. Louis, written for his eldest son, is a -complete rule of conduct for a Christian prince, and indicates St. Louis' -mind on the education of one. It has been printed and translated many -times. Geoffrey of Beaulieu gives it in Latin (chap. xv.) and in French at -the end of the _Vita_. It is also in Joinville. - -[685] One sees here the same religious anxiety which is so well brought -out by Salimbene's account of St. Louis, _ante_, Chapter XXI. - -[686] The founder of the College of the Sorbonne. - -[687] _Chroniques de J. Froissart_, ed. S. Luce (Société de l'Histoire de -France). The opening of the Prologue. It seemed desirable to render this -sentence literally. The rest of my extracts are from Thomas Johnes's -translation, for which I plead a boyhood's affection. For a brief account -of Froissart's chief source (Jean le Bel), with excellent criticism, see -W. P. Ker, "Froissart" (_Essays on Medieval Literature_, Macmillan and -Co., 1905). - -[688] Froissart, i. 210. - -[689] Froissart, i. 220. - -[690] Froissart, i. 290. - -[691] Yet the matter was fit for legend and romance; and a late impotent -_chanson de geste_ was formed out of the career of du Guesclin. - -[692] On the _chansons de geste_ see Gaston Paris, _Littérature française -au moyen âge_; Leon Gautier in Petit de Julleville's _Histoire de la -langue et de la littérature française_, vol. i.; more at length Gautier, -_Épopées nationales_, and Paulin Paris in vol. 22 of _L'Histoire -littéraire de France_; also Nyrop, _Storia dell' epopea francese nel medio -evo_. Ample bibliographies will be found in these works. - -[693] On the field of Roncesvalles, Roland folds the hands of the dead -Archbishop Turpin, and grieves over him, beginning: - - "E! gentilz hum chevaliers de bon aire, ..." - (_Roland_, line 2252). - -[694] Leon Gautier, in his _Chevalerie_, makes the _chansons de geste_ his -chief source. - -[695] 1006-1016. - -[696] 1051 _sqq._ and 1700 _sqq._ - -[697] 1851-1868. - -[698] 1940-2023. - -[699] 2164 _sqq._ - -[700] _Raoul de Cambrai_, cited by Gautier, _Chevalerie_, p. 75. - -[701] Unless indeed Oberon, the fairy king, be a romantic form of the -Alberich of the _Nibelungen_ (Gaston Paris). - -[702] See Gaston Paris, _Lit. française, etc._, chaps. iii. and v.; and -Émile Littré in vol. 22 of the _Histoire littéraire de la France_. For -examples of these _romans_, see Langlois, _La Société française au XIII{e} -siècle d'après dix romans d'aventure_ (2nd ed., Paris, 1904). - -[703] Chrétien, _Cligés_, line 201 _sqq._ - -[704] The Old French from vol. ii. of P. Paris, _Romans de la Table -Ronde_, p. 96. One sees that the coronation is a larger knighting, and -kingship a larger knighthood. - -[705] _Romans de la Table Ronde_, iii. 96. This scene closely parallels -that between Bernier and Raoul de Cambrai, instanced above. - -[706] See the first part of vol. iii. of _Romans de la Table Ronde_, -especially pp. 113-117. - -[707] It would be easy to go on drawing illustrations of the actual and -imaginative elements in chivalry, until this chapter should grow into an -encyclopedia. They could so easily be taken from many kinds of mediaeval -literature in all the mediaeval tongues. The French has barely been -touched upon. It affords an exhaustless store. Then in the German we might -draw upon the courtly epics, Gottfried of Strassburg's _Tristan_ or the -_Parzival_ of Wolfram von Eschenbach; or on the _Nibelungenlied_, wherein -Siegfried is a very knight. Or we might draw upon the knightly precepts -(the Ritterlehre) of the Winsbeke and the Winsbekin (printed in -Hildebrand's _Didaktik aus der Zeit der Kreuzzüge_, Deutsche Nat. Litt.). -And we might delve in the great store of Latin Chronicles which relate the -mediaeval history of German kings and nobles. In Spanish, there would be -the _Cid_, and how much more besides. In Italian we should have latter-day -romantic chivalry; Pulci's _Rotta di Roncisvalle_; Boiardo's _Orlando -innamorato_; Ariosto's _Orlando furioso_; still later, Tasso's -_Gerusalemme liberata_, which takes us well out of the Middle Ages. And in -English there is much Arthurian romance; there is _Chevy Chace_; and we -may come down through Chaucer's _Knight's Tale_, to the sunset beauty of -Spenser's _Fairie Queen_. This glorious poem should serve to fix in our -minds the principle that chivalry, knighthood, was not merely a material -fact, a ceremony and an institution; but that it also was that -ultra-reality, a spirit. And this spirit's ideal creations--the ideal -creations of the many phases of this spirit--accorded with actual deeds -which may be read of in the old Chronicles. For final exemplification of -the actual and the ideally real in chivalry, the reader may look within -himself, and observe the inextricable mingling of the imaginative and the -real. He will recognize that what at one time seems part of his -imagination, at another will prove itself the veriest reality of his life. -Even such wavering verity of spirit was chivalry. - -[708] See Gaston Paris in _Journal des savants_, 1892, pp. 161-163. Of -course the English reader cannot but think of the brief secret marriage -between Romeo and Juliet. - -[709] Marriage or no marriage depends on the plot; but occasionally a -certain respect for marriage is shown, as in the _Eliduc_ of Marie de -France, and of course far more strongly in Wolfram's _Parzival_. In -Chrétien's _Ivain_ the hero marries early in the story; and thereafter his -wife acts towards him with the haughty caprice of an _amie_; Ivain, at her -displeasure, goes mad, like an _ami_. The _romans d'aventure_ afford other -instances of this courtly love, sometimes illicit, sometimes looking to -marriage. See Langlois, _La Société française au XIII{e} siècle d'après -dix romans d'aventure_. - -[710] On Provençal poetry see Diez, _Poesie der Troubadours_ (2nd ed. by -Bartsch, Leipzig, 1883); _id._, _Leben und Werke der Troubadours_; Justin -H. Smith, _The Troubadours at Home_ (New York and London, 1899); Ida -Farnell, _Lives of the Troubadours_ (London). - -[711] Cf. Gaston Paris, t. 30, pp. 1-18, _Hist. lit. de la France_; Paul -Meyer, _Romania_, v. 257-268; xix. 1-62. "Trouvère" is the Old French word -corresponding to Provençal "Troubadour." - -[712] On this work see Gaston Paris, _Romania_, xii. 524 _sqq._ (1883); -_id._ in _Journal des savants_, 1888, pp. 664 _sqq._ and 727 _sqq._; also -(for extracts) Raynouard, _Choix des poésies des Troubadours_, ii. lxxx. -sqq. - -[713] On origins and sources see, generally, Gaston Paris, _Tristan and -Iseult_ (Paris, 1894), reprinted from _Revue de Paris_ of April 15, 1894; -W. Golther, _Die Sage von Tristan und Isolde_ (Munich, 1887). - -[714] Cf. generally, J. L. Weston, _The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac_ -(London, 1901, David Nutt). - -[715] See Gaston Paris, _Romania_, xii. 459-534. - -[716] Paulin Paris, _Romans de la Table Ronde_, iv. 280 _sqq._ - -[717] See Paulin Paris, _Romans de la Table Ronde_, iv. Guinevere's -woman-mind is shown in the following scene. On an occasion the lovers' -sophisticated friend, the Dame de Malehaut, laughs tauntingly at Lancelot: - -"'Ah! Lancelot, Lancelot, dit-elle, je vois que le roi n'a plus d'autre -avantage sur vous que la couronne de Logres!' - -"Et comme il ne trouvait rien à répondre de convenable, 'Ma chère -Malehaut, dit la reine, si je suis fille de roi, il est fils de roi; si je -suis belle, il est beau; de plus, il est le plus preux des preux. Je n'ai -donc pas à rougir de l'avoir choisi pour mon chevalier'" (Paulin Paris, -_ibid._ iv. 58). - -[718] Galahad's mother was Helene, daughter of King Pelles (_roi -pêcheur_), the custodian of the Holy Grail. A love-philter makes Lancelot -mistake her for Guinevere; and so the knight's loyalty to his mistress is -saved. The damsel herself was without passion, beyond the wish to bear a -son begotten by the best of knights (_Romans, etc._, v. 308 _sqq._). - -[719] "For what is he that may yeve a lawe to lovers? Love is a gretter -lawe and a strengere to himself than any lawe that men may yeven" -(Chaucer, _Boece_, book iii. metre 12). - -[720] As in Chrétien's _Cligés_, 6751 _sqq._, when Cligés is crowned -emperor and Fenice becomes his queen, then: _De s'amie a feite sa -fame_--but he still calls her _amie et dame_, that he may not cease to -love her as one should an _amie_. Cf. also Chrétien's _Erec_, 4689. - -[721] See also Gawain's words to _Ivain_ when the latter is married--in -Chrétien's _Ivain_, 2484 _sqq._ - -[722] As a matter of fact, in those parts of Wolfram's poem which are -covered by Chrétien's unfinished _Perceval le Gallois_, the incidents are -nearly identical with Chrétien's. For the question of the relationship of -the two poems, and for other versions of the Grail legend, see A. Nutt, -_Studies in the Legend of the Holy Grail_ (Folk-Lore Society Publications, -London, 1888); Birch-Hirshfeld, _Die Graal Sage_; _Einleitung_ to Piper's -edition of Wolfram von Eschenbach, Stuttgart, Deutsche Nat. Litteratur; -_Einleitung_ to Bartch's edition in Deutsche Klassiker des Mittelalters -(Leipzig, 1875). These two editions of the poem are furnished with modern -German glossaries. There is a modern German version by Zimmrock, and an -English translation by Jessie L. Weston (London, D. Nutt, 1894). - -[723] In other versions of the Grail legend there is much about the virgin -or celibate state, and also plenty of unchastity and no especial esteem -for marriage. - -[724] The Fisher King (_roi pêcheur_) was the regular title of the Grail -kings. See _e.g._ Pauline Paris, _Romans de la Table Ronde_, t. i. p. 306. - -[725] _E.g._ the love-potion in the tale of Tristan. - - - - -BY THE SAME AUTHOR - -_Two vols. 8vo. 21s. net._ - -ANCIENT IDEALS - -A STUDY OF INTELLECTUAL AND SPIRITUAL - -GROWTH FROM EARLY TIMES TO THE - -ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY - - _SPECTATOR._--"The American people are giving to the world some of the - most thoughtful and balanced studies in history and philosophy now - being produced. Mr. Taylor's work is an admirable example of this - class of writings." - - _GUARDIAN._--"A book which stands far above anything else of the kind - that we have seen. It needs something like genius to give an account - so sympathetic and penetrating of religions so diverse; yet the author - never fails to leave in the mind a perfectly definite picture of each - system, with its essential characteristics quite distinct, and - illustrated by just so much history as is needed to make the picture - living. Again, the book is a literary work in a sense in which few - histories of human thought are literary--in the sense in which - Froude's _Studies in Great Subjects_, or Symonds's _Studies in the - Greek Poets_, or Pater's _Plato and Platonism_ are literary.... A book - of intense interest, catholic sympathy, and perfectly balanced - judgment." - - -_Globe 8vo. 7s. 6d. net._ - -THE CLASSICAL HERITAGE - -OF THE - -MIDDLE AGES - - _SPECTATOR._--"A volume which contains within narrow limits of space a - quite remarkable variety of suggestive remarks.... Mr. Taylor is - always readable and instructive.... We take leave of Mr. Taylor with - many thanks for a most interesting book." - - _WESTMINSTER GAZETTE._--"An admirable short study of a subject which - even well-read men have for the most part left unexplored, except so - far as it is covered by Gibbon.... We know no better brief summary - than Mr. Taylor's of all the various tendencies which finally combined - in mediaevalism. It is sound, scholarly, well written, and obviously - based upon the widest reading." - - -WORKS ON PHILOSOPHY - -By Prof. HENRY SIDGWICK - -THE METHODS OF ETHICS. 8vo. 8s. 6d. net. - -OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF ETHICS FOR ENGLISH READERS. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. - -PHILOSOPHY. Its Scope and Relations. 8vo. 6s. 6d. net. - -LECTURES ON THE ETHICS OF T. H. GREEN, MR. HERBERT SPENCER, AND J. -MARTINEAU. 8vo. 8s. 6d. net. - -LECTURES ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF KANT, and other Philosophical Lectures and -Essays. 8vo. 10s. net. - - -By Prof. HARALD HÖFFDING - -A HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY. A Sketch of the History of Philosophy from -the close of the Renaissance to our own Day. Translated by B. E. MEYER. -Two vols. 8vo. 15s. net each. - -THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY. Translated by GALEN M. FISHER, with a Preface -by WILLIAM JAMES. Globe 8vo. 4s. 6d. net. - -THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. Translated by B. E. MEYER. 8vo. 12s. net. - -OUTLINES OF PSYCHOLOGY. Translated by M. E. LOWNDES. Crown 8vo. 6s. - -MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - -Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. - -Passages in bold are indicated by =bold=. - -Superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}. - -The original text includes Greek characters that have been replaced with -transliterations in this text version. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II), by -Henry Osborn Taylor - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEDIAEVAL MIND (VOLUME I *** - -***** This file should be named 43880-8.txt or 43880-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/8/8/43880/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II) - A History of the Development of Thought and Emotion in the Middle Ages - -Author: Henry Osborn Taylor - -Release Date: October 4, 2013 [EBook #43880] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEDIAEVAL MIND (VOLUME I *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - - +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43880 ***</div> <p class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></p> @@ -27938,384 +27897,7 @@ kings. See <i>e.g.</i> Pauline Paris, <i>Romans de la Table Ronde</i>, t. i. p. <p><a name='f_725' id='f_725' href='#fna_725'>[725]</a> <i>E.g.</i> the love-potion in the tale of Tristan.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II), by -Henry Osborn Taylor - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEDIAEVAL MIND (VOLUME I *** - -***** This file should be named 43880-h.htm or 43880-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/8/8/43880/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - -</pre> - +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43880 ***</div> </body> </html> diff --git a/43880.txt b/43880.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1fdd975..0000000 --- a/43880.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,28258 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II), by -Henry Osborn Taylor - -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 Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II) - A History of the Development of Thought and Emotion in the Middle Ages - -Author: Henry Osborn Taylor - -Release Date: October 4, 2013 [EBook #43880] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEDIAEVAL MIND (VOLUME I *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - - - - -THE MEDIAEVAL MIND - - - - - MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED - LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA - MELBOURNE - - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO - ATLANTA . SAN FRANCISCO - - THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. - TORONTO - - - - - THE MEDIAEVAL MIND - - A HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT - OF THOUGHT AND EMOTION - IN THE MIDDLE AGES - - - BY HENRY OSBORN TAYLOR - - - IN TWO VOLUMES - - VOL. I - - - MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED - ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON - 1911 - - - - -TO J. I. T. - - - - -PREFACE - - -The Middle Ages! They seem so far away; intellectually so preposterous, -spiritually so strange. Bits of them may touch our sympathy, please our -taste; their window-glass, their sculpture, certain of their stories, -their romances,--as if those straitened ages really were the time of -romance, which they were not, God knows, in the sense commonly taken. Yet -perhaps they were such intellectually, or at least spiritually. Their -_terra_--not for them _incognita_, though full of mystery and pall and -vaguer glory--was not the earth. It was the land of metaphysical -construction and the land of spiritual passion. There lay their romance, -thither pointed their veriest thinking, thither drew their utter yearning. - -Is it possible that the Middle Ages should speak to us, as through a -common humanity? Their mask is by no means dumb: in full voice speaks the -noble beauty of Chartres Cathedral. Such mediaeval product, we hope, is of -the universal human, and therefore of us as well as of the bygone -craftsmen. Why it moves us, we are not certain, being ignorant, perhaps, -of the building's formative and earnestly intended meaning. Do we care to -get at that? There is no way save by entering the mediaeval depths, -penetrating to the _rationale_ of the Middle Ages, learning the -_doctrinale_, or _emotionale_, of the modes in which they still present -themselves so persuasively. - -But if the pageant of those centuries charm our eyes with forms that seem -so full of meaning, why should we stand indifferent to the harnessed -processes of mediaeval thinking and the passion surging through the -thought? Thought marshalled the great mediaeval procession, which moved to -measures of pulsating and glorifying emotion. Shall we not press on, -through knowledge, and search out its efficient causes, so that we too may -feel the reality of the mediaeval argumentation, with the possible -validity of mediaeval conclusions, and tread those channels of mediaeval -passion which were cleared and deepened by the thought? This would be to -reach human comradeship with mediaeval motives, no longer found too remote -for our sympathy, or too fantastic or shallow for our understanding. - -But where is the path through these footless mazes? Obviously, if we would -attain, perhaps, no unified, but at least an orderly presentation of -mediaeval intellectual and emotional development, we must avoid -entanglements with manifold and not always relevant detail. We must not -drift too far with studies of daily life, habits and dress, wars and -raiding, crimes and brutalities, or trade and craft and agriculture. Nor -will it be wise to keep too close to theology or within the lines of -growth of secular and ecclesiastical institutions. Let the student be -mindful of his purpose (which is my purpose in this book) to follow -through the Middle Ages the development of intellectual energy and the -growth of emotion. Holding this end in view, we, students all, shall not -stray from our quest after those human qualities which impelled the -strivings of mediaeval men and women, informed their imaginations, and -moved them to love and tears and pity. - -The plan and method by which I have endeavoured to realize this purpose in -my book may be gathered from the Table of Contents and the First Chapter, -which is introductory. These will obviate the need of sketching here the -order of presentation of the successive or co-ordinated topics forming the -subject-matter. - -Yet one word as to the standpoint from which the book is written. An -historian explains by the standards and limitations of the times to which -his people belong. He judges--for he must also judge--by his own best -wisdom. His sympathy cannot but reach out to those who lived up to their -best understanding of life; for who can do more? Yet woe unto that man -whose mind is closed, whose standards are material and base. - -Not only shalt thou do what seems well to thee; but thou shalt do right, -with wisdom. History has laid some thousands of years of emphasis on this. -Thou shalt not only be sincere, but thou shalt be righteous, and not -iniquitous; beneficent, and not malignant; loving and lovable, and not -hating and hateful. Thou shalt be a promoter of light, and not of -darkness; an illuminator, and not an obscurer. Not only shalt thou seek to -choose aright, but at thy peril thou shalt so choose. "Unto him that hath -shall be given"--nothing is said about sincerity. The fool, the maniac, is -sincere; the mainsprings of the good which we may commend lie deeper. - -So, and at _his_ peril likewise, must the historian judge. He cannot state -the facts and sit aloof, impartial between good and ill, between success -and failure, progress and retrogression, the soul's health and loveliness, -and spiritual foulness and disease. He must love and hate, and at his -peril love aright and hate what is truly hateful. And although his -sympathies quiver to understand and feel as the man and woman before him, -his sympathies must be controlled by wisdom. - -Whatever may be one's beliefs, a realization of the power and import of -the Christian Faith is needed for an understanding of the thoughts and -feelings moving the men and women of the Middle Ages, and for a just -appreciation of their aspirations and ideals. Perhaps the fittest standard -to apply to them is one's own broadest conception of the Christian scheme, -the Christian scheme whole and entire with the full life of Christ's -Gospel. Every age has offered an interpretation of that Gospel and an -attempt at fulfilment. Neither the interpretation of the Church Fathers, -nor that of the Middle Ages satisfies us now. And by our further -understanding of life and the Gospel of life, we criticize the judgment of -mediaeval men. We have to sympathize with their best, and understand their -lives out of their lives and the conditions in which they were passed. But -we must judge according to our own best wisdom, and out of ourselves offer -our comment and contribution. - -HENRY OSBORN TAYLOR. - - -Many translations from mediaeval (chiefly Latin) writings will be found in -this work, which seeks to make the Middle Ages speak for themselves. With -a very few exceptions, mentioned in the foot-notes, these translations are -my own. I have tried to keep them literal, and at all events free from the -intrusion of thoughts and suggestions not in the originals. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - BOOK I - - THE GROUNDWORK - - CHAPTER I - - GENESIS OF THE MEDIAEVAL GENIUS 3 - - CHAPTER II - - THE LATINIZING OF THE WEST 23 - - - CHAPTER III - - GREEK PHILOSOPHY AS THE ANTECEDENT OF THE PATRISTIC - APPREHENSION OF FACT 33 - - CHAPTER IV - - INTELLECTUAL INTERESTS OF THE LATIN FATHERS 61 - - CHAPTER V - - LATIN TRANSMITTERS OF ANTIQUE AND PATRISTIC THOUGHT 88 - - CHAPTER VI - - THE BARBARIC DISRUPTION OF THE EMPIRE 110 - - CHAPTER VII - - THE CELTIC STRAIN IN GAUL AND IRELAND 124 - - CHAPTER VIII - - TEUTON QUALITIES: ANGLO-SAXON, GERMAN, NORSE 138 - - CHAPTER IX - - THE BRINGING OF CHRISTIANITY AND ANTIQUE KNOWLEDGE TO THE - NORTHERN PEOPLES 169 - - I. Irish Activities; Columbanus of Luxeuil. - - II. Conversion of the English; the learning of Bede and Alfred. - - III. Gaul and Germany; from Clovis to St. Winifried-Boniface. - - - BOOK II - - THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES - - CHAPTER X - - CAROLINGIAN PERIOD: THE FIRST STAGE IN THE APPROPRIATION OF - THE PATRISTIC AND ANTIQUE 207 - - CHAPTER XI - - MENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY: ITALY 238 - - I. From Charlemagne to Hildebrand. - - II. The Human Situation. - - III. The Italian Continuity of Antique Culture. - - IV. Italy's Intellectual Piety: Peter Damiani and St. Anselm. - - CHAPTER XII - - MENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY: FRANCE 280 - - I. Gerbert. - - II. Odilo of Cluny. - - III. Fulbert and the School of Chartres; Trivium and Quadrivium. - - IV. Berengar of Tours, Roscellin, and the coming time. - - CHAPTER XIII - - MENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY: GERMANY; ENGLAND 307 - - I. German Appropriation of Christianity and Antique Culture. - - II. Othloh's Spiritual Conflict. - - III. England; Closing Comparisons. - - CHAPTER XIV - - THE GROWTH OF MEDIAEVAL EMOTION 330 - - I. The Patristic Chart of Passion. - - II. Emotionalizing of Latin Christianity. - - - BOOK III - - THE IDEAL AND THE ACTUAL: THE SAINTS - - CHAPTER XV - - THE REFORMS OF MONASTICISM 353 - - Mediaeval Extremes; Benedict of Aniane; Cluny; Citeaux's - _Charta Charitatis_; the _vita contemplativa_ accepts the - _vita activa_. - - CHAPTER XVI - - THE HERMIT TEMPER 368 - - Peter Damiani; Romuald; Dominicus Loricatus; Bruno and Guigo, - Carthusians. - - CHAPTER XVII - - THE QUALITY OF LOVE IN ST. BERNARD 392 - - CHAPTER XVIII - - ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI 415 - - CHAPTER XIX - - MYSTIC VISIONS OF ASCETIC WOMEN 442 - - Elizabeth of Schoenau; Hildegard of Bingen; Mary of Ognies; - Liutgard of Tongern; Mechthild of Magdeburg. - - CHAPTER XX - - THE SPOTTED ACTUALITY 471 - - The Testimony of Invective and Satire; Archbishop Rigaud's - _Register_; Engelbert of Cologne; Popular Credences. - - CHAPTER XXI - - THE WORLD OF SALIMBENE 494 - - - BOOK IV - - THE IDEAL AND THE ACTUAL: SOCIETY - - CHAPTER XXII - - FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 521 - - Feudal and Christian Origin of Knightly Virtue; the Order of - the Temple; Godfrey of Bouillon; St. Louis; Froissart's - _Chronicles_. - - CHAPTER XXIII - - ROMANTIC CHIVALRY AND COURTLY LOVE 558 - - From Roland to Tristan and Lancelot. - - CHAPTER XXIV - - PARZIVAL, THE BRAVE MAN SLOWLY WISE 588 - - - - -BOOK I - -THE GROUNDWORK - - - - -CHAPTER I - -GENESIS OF THE MEDIAEVAL GENIUS - - -The antique civilization of the Roman Empire was followed by that -depression of decadence and barbarization which separates antiquity from -the Middle Ages. Out of the confusion of this intervening period emerged -the mediaeval peoples of western Europe. These, as knowledge increased -with them, began to manifest spiritual traits having no clear counterpart -in the ancient sources from which they drew the matter of their thought -and contemplation. - -The past which furnished the content of mediaeval thought was twofold, -very dual, even carrying within itself the elements of irreconcilable -conflict; and yet with its opposing fronts seemingly confederated, if not -made into one. Sprung from such warring elements, fashioned by all the -interests of life in heaven as well as life on earth, the traits and -faculties of mediaeval humanity were to make a motley company. Clearly -each mediaeval century will offer a manifold of disparity and -irrelationship, not to be brought to unity, any more than can be followed -to the breast of one mighty wind-god the blasts that blow from every -quarter over the waters of our own time. Nevertheless, each mediaeval -century, and if one will, the entire Middle Ages, seen in distant -perspective, presents a consistent picture, in which dominant mediaeval -traits, retaining their due pre-eminence, may afford a just conception of -the mediaeval genius.[1] - - -I - -While complex in themselves, and intricate in their interaction, the -elements that were to form the spiritual constituency of the Middle Ages -of western Europe may be disentangled and regarded separately. There was -first the element of the antique, which was descended from the thought and -knowledge current in Italy and the western provinces of the Roman Empire, -where Latin was the common language. In those Roman times, this fund of -thought and knowledge consisted of Greek metaphysics, physical science, -and ethics, and also of much that the Latins had themselves evolved, -especially in private law and political institutions. - -Rome had borrowed her philosophy and the motives of her literature and art -from Greece. At first, quite provincially, she drew as from a foreign -source; but as the great Republic extended her boundaries around the -Mediterranean world, and brought under her levelling power the Hellenized -or still Asiatic East, and Africa and Spain and Gaul as well, Greek -thought, as the informing principle of knowledge, was diffused throughout -all this Roman Empire, and ceased to be alien to the Latin West. Yet the -peoples of the West did not become Hellenized, or change their speech for -Greek. Latin held its own against its subtle rival, and continued to -advance with power through the lands which had spoken other tongues before -their Roman subjugation; and it was the soul of Latium, and not the soul -of Hellas, that imbued these lands with a new homogeneity of civic order. -The Greek knowledge which spread through them was transmuted in Latin -speech or writings; while the great Latin authors who modelled Latin -literature upon the Greek, and did so much to fill the Latin mind with -Greek thoughts, recast their borrowings in their own style as well as -language, and re-tempered the matter to accord with the Roman natures of -themselves and their countrymen. Hence only through Latin paraphrase, and -through transformation in the Latin classics, Greek thought reached the -mediaeval peoples; until the thirteenth century, when a better -acquaintance was opened with the Greek sources, yet still through closer -Latin translations, as will be seen. - -Thus it was with the pagan antique as an element of mediaeval culture. Nor -was it very different with the patristic, or Christian antique, element. -For in the fourth and fifth centuries, the influence of pagan Greece on -pagan Rome tended to repeat itself in the relations between the Greek and -the Latin Fathers of the Church. The dogmatic formulation of Christianity -was mainly the work of the former. Tertullian, a Latin, had indeed been an -early and important contributor to the process. But, in general, the Latin -Fathers were to approve and confirm the work of Athanasius and of his -coadjutors and predecessors, who thought and wrote in Greek. Nevertheless, -Augustine and other Latin Fathers ordered and made anew what had come from -their elder brethren in the East, Latinizing it in form and temper as well -as language. At the same time, they supplemented it with matter drawn from -their own thinking. And so, the thoughts of the Greek Fathers having been -well transmuted in the writings of Ambrose, Hilary, and Augustine, -patristic theology and the entire mass of Christianized knowledge and -opinion came to the Middle Ages in a Latin medium. - -A third and vaguest factor in the evolution of the mediaeval genius -consisted in the diverse and manifold capacities of the mediaeval peoples: -Italians whose ancestors had been very part of the antique; inhabitants of -Spain and Gaul who were descended from once Latinized provincials; and -lastly that widespread Teuton folk, whose forbears had barbarized and -broken the Roman Empire in those centuries when a decadent civilization -could no longer make Romans of barbarians. Moreover, the way in which -Christianity was brought to the Teuton peoples and accepted by them, and -the manner of their introduction to the pagan culture, reduced at last to -following in the Christian train, did not cease for centuries to react -upon the course of mediaeval development. - -The distinguishing characteristics which make the Middle Ages a period in -the history of western Europe were the result of the interaction of the -elements of mediaeval development working together, and did not spring -from the singular nature of any one of them. Accordingly, the proper -beginning of the Middle Ages, so far as one may speak of a beginning, -should lie in the time of the conjunction of these elements in a joint -activity. That could not be before the barbaric disturbers of the Roman -peace had settled down to life and progress under the action of Latin -Christianity and the surviving antique culture. Nor may this beginning be -placed before the time when Gregory the Great (died 604) had refashioned -Augustine, and much that was earlier, to the measure of the coming -centuries; nor before Boethius (died 523), Cassiodorus (died 575), and -Isidore of Seville (died 636), had prepared the antique pabulum for the -mediaeval stomach. All these men were intermediaries or transmitters, and -belong to the epoch of transition from the antique and the patristic to -the properly inceptive time, when new learners were beginning, in -typically mediaeval ways, to rehandle the patristic material and what -remained of the antique. Contemporary with those intermediaries, or -following hard upon them, were the great missionaries or converters, who -laboured to introduce Christianity, with antique thought incorporated in -it, and the squalid survival of antique education sheltered in its train, -to Teuton peoples in Gaul, England, and Rhenish Germany. Among these was -the truculent Irishman, St. Columbanus (died 615), founder of Luxeuil and -Bobbio, whose disciple was St. Gall, and whose contemporary was St. -Augustine of Canterbury, whom Gregory the Great sent to convert the -Anglo-Saxons. A good century later, St. Winifried-Boniface is working to -establish Christianity in Germany.[2] Thus it will not be easy to find a -large and catholic beginning for the Middle Ages until the eighth century -is reached, and we are come on what is called the Carolingian period. - -Let us approach a little nearer, and consider the situation of western -Europe, with respect to antique culture and Latin Christianity, in the -centuries following the disruption of the Roman Empire. The broadest -distinction is to be drawn between Italy and the lands north of the Alps. -Under the Empire, there was an Italian people. However diverse may have -been its ancient stocks, this people had long since become Latin in -language, culture, sentiment and tradition. They were the heirs of the -Greek, and the creators of the Roman literature, art, philosophy, and law. -They were never to become barbarians, although they suffered decadence. -Like all great peoples, they had shown a power to assimilate foreigners, -which was not lost, but only degraded and diminished, in the fourth and -fifth centuries, when Teutonic slaves, immigrants, invaders, seemed to be -barbarizing the Latin order quite as much as it was Latinizing them. In -these and the following times the culture of Italy sank lamentably low. -Yet there was no break of civilization, but only a deep decline and then a -re-emergence, in the course of which the Latin civilization had become -Italian. For a lowered form of classical education had survived, and the -better classes continued to be educated people according to the degraded -standard and lessened intellectual energies of those times.[3] - -Undoubtedly, in its decline this Latin civilization of Italy could no -longer raise barbarians to the level of the Augustan age. Yet it still was -making them over into the likeness of its own weakened children. The -Visigoths broke into Italy, then, as we are told, passed into southern -France; other confused barbarians came and went, and then the Ostrogoths, -with Theodoric at their head, an excellent but not very numerous folk. -They stayed in Italy, and fought and died, or lived on, changing into -indistinguishable Italians, save for flashes of yellow hair, appearing and -reappearing where the Goths had lived. And then the Lombards, crueller -than the Goths, but better able to maintain their energies effective. -Their numbers also were not great, compared with the Italians. And -thereafter, in spite of their fierceness and the tenacity of their -Germanic customs, the succeeding Lombard generations became imbued with -the culture of Italy. They became North Italians, gravitating to the towns -of Lombardy, or perhaps, farther to the south, holding together in -settlements of their own, or forming the nucleus of a hill-dwelling -country nobility. - -The Italian stock remained predominant over all the incomers of northern -blood. It certainly needed no introduction to what had largely been its -own creation, the Latin civilization. With weakened hands, it still held -to the education, the culture, of its own past; it still read its ancient -literature, and imitated it in miserable verse. The incoming barbarians -had hastened the land's intellectual downfall. But all the plagues of -inroad and pestilence and famine, which intermittently devastated Italy -from the fifth to the tenth century, left some squalid continuity of -education. And those barbarian stocks which stayed in that home of the -classics, became imbued with whatever culture existed around them, and -tended gradually to coalesce with the Italians. - -Evidently in its old home, where it merely had become decadent, this -ancient culture would fill a role quite different from any specific -influence which it might exert in a country where the Latin education was -freshly introduced. In Italy, a general survival of Roman law and -institution, custom and tradition, endured so far as these various -elements of the Italian civilization had not been lost or dispossessed, or -left high and dry above the receding tide of culture and intelligence. -Christianity had been superimposed upon paganism; and the Christian faith -held thoughts incompatible with antique views of life. Teutonic customs -were brought in, and the Lombard codes were enacted, working some specific -supersession of the Roman law. The tone, the sentiment, the mind of the -Italian people had altered from the patterns presented by Cicero, or -Virgil, or Horace, or Tacitus. Nevertheless, the antique remained as the -soil from which things grew, or as the somewhat turgid atmosphere breathed -by living beings. It was not merely a form of education or vehicle of -edifying knowledge, nor solely a literary standard. The common modes of -the antique were there as well, its daily habits, its urbanity and its -dross. - -The relationship toward the antique held by the peoples of the Iberian -peninsula and the lands which eventually were to make France, was not -quite the same as that held by the Italians. Spain, save in intractable -mountain regions, had become a domicile of Latin culture before its -people were converted to Christianity. Then it became a stronghold of -early Catholicism. Latin and Catholic Spain absorbed its Visigothic -invaders, who in a few generations had appropriated the antique culture, -and had turned from Arianism to the orthodoxy of their new home. Under -Visigothic rule, the Spanish Church became exceptionally authoritative, -and its Latin and Catholic learning flourished at the beginning of the -seventh century. These conditions gave way before the Moorish conquest, -which was most complete in the most thoroughly Romanized portions of the -land. Yet the permanent Latinization of the territory where Christianity -continued, is borne witness to by the languages growing from the vulgar -Latin dialects. The endurance of Latin culture is shown by the polished -Latinity of Theodulphus, a Spanish Goth, who left his home at the -invitation of Charlemagne, and died, the best Latin verse-maker of his -time, as Bishop of Orleans in 821. Thus the education, culture, and -languages of Spain were all from the antique. Yet the genius of the land -was to be specifically Spanish rather than assimilated to any such -deep-soiled paganism as underlay the ecclesiastical Christianization of -Italy. - -As for France, in the southern part which had been Provincia, the antique -endured in laws and institutions, in architecture and in ways of life, to -a degree second only to its dynamic continuity in Italy. And this in spite -of the crude masses of Teutondom which poured into Provincia to be -leavened by its culture. In northern France there were more barbarian folk -and a less universally diffused Latinity. The Merovingian period swept -most of the last away, leaving a fair field to be sown afresh with the -Latin education of the Carolingian revival. Yet the inherited discipline -of obedience to the Roman order was not obliterated from the Gallic stock, -and the lasting Latinization of Gaul endured in the Romance tongues, which -were also to be impressed upon all German invaders. Franks, Burgundians, -or Alemanni, who came in contact with the provincials, began to be -affected by their language, their religion, their ways of living, and by -whatever survival of letters there was among them. The Romance dialects -were to triumph, were to become French; and in the earliest extant pieces -of this vernacular poetry, the effect of Latin verse-forms appears. Yet -Franks and Burgundians were not Latinized in spirit; and, in truth, the -Gauls before them had only become good imitation Latins. At all events, -from these mixed and intermediate conditions, a people were to emerge who -were not German, nor altogether Latin, in spite of their Romance speech. -Latin culture was not quite as a foreign influence upon these Gallo-Roman, -Teutonically re-inspirited, incipient, French. Nor were they born and bred -to it, like the Italians. The antique was not to dominate the French -genius; it was not to stem the growth of what was, so to speak, Gothic or -northern or Teutonic. The glass-painting, the sculpture, the architecture -of northern France were to become their own great French selves; and while -the literature was to hold to forms derived from the antique and the -Romanesque, the spirit and the contents did not come from Italy. - -The office of Latin culture in Germany and England was to be more definite -and limited. Germany had never been subdued to the Roman order; in -Anglo-Saxon England, Roman civilization had been effaced by the Saxon -conquest, which, like the Moorish conquest of Spain, was most complete in -those parts of the land where the Roman influence had been strongest. In -neither of these lands was there any antique atmosphere, or antique pagan -substratum--save as the universal human soul is pagan! Latinity came to -Germans and Anglo-Saxons as a foreign culture, which was not to pertain to -all men's daily living. It was matter for the educated, for the clergy. -Its vehicle was a formal language, having no connection with the -vernacular. And when the antique culture had obtained certain -resting-places in England and Germany, the first benign labours of those -Germans or Anglo-Saxons who had mastered the language consisted in the -translation of edifying Latin matter into their own tongues. So Latinity -in England and Germany was likely to remain a distinguishable influence. -The Anglo-Saxons and the rest in England were to become Englishmen, the -Germans were to remain Germans; nor was either race ever to become -Latinized, however deeply the educated people of these countries might -imbibe Latinity, and exercise their intellects upon all that was contained -in the antique metaphysics and natural science, literature and law. - -Thus diverse were the situations of the young mediaeval peoples with -respect to the antique store. There were like differences of situation in -regard to Latin Christianity. It had been formed (from some points of view -one might say, created) by the civilized peoples of the Roman Empire who -had been converted in the course of the original diffusion of the Faith. -It was, in fact, the product of the conversion of the Roman Empire, and, -in Italy and the Latin provinces received its final fashioning and temper -from the Latin Fathers. Thus within the Latin-speaking portions of the -Empire was formed the system which was to be presented to the Teutonic -heathen peoples of the north. They had neither made it nor grown up with -it. It was brought to the Franks, to the Anglo-Saxons, and to the Germans -east of the Rhine, as a new and foreign faith. And the import of the fact -that it was introduced to them as an authoritative religion brought from -afar, did not lessen as Christianity became a formative element in their -natures. - -One may say that an attitude of humble inferiority before Christianity and -Latin culture was an initial condition of mediaeval development, having -much to do with setting its future lines. In Italy, men looked back to -what seemed even as a greater ancestral self, while in the minds of the -northern peoples the ancient Empire represented all knowledge and the -summit of human greatness. The formulated and ordered Latin Christianity -evoked even deeper homage. Well it might, since besides the resistless -Gospel (its source of life) it held the intelligence and the organizing -power of Rome, which had passed into its own last creation, the Catholic -Church. And when this Christianity, so mighty in itself and august through -the prestige of Rome, was presented as under authority, its new converts -might well be struck with awe.[4] It was such awe as this that -acknowledged the claims of the Roman bishops, and made possible a Roman -and Catholic Church--the most potent unifying influence of the Middle -Ages. - -Still more was the character of mediaeval progress set by the action and -effect of these two forces. The Latin culture provided the means and -method of elementary education, as well as the material for study; while -Latin Christianity, with transforming power, worked itself into the souls -of the young mediaeval peoples. The two were assuredly the moulding forces -of all mediaeval development; and whatever sprang to life beyond the range -of their action was not, properly speaking, mediaeval, even though seeing -the light in the twelfth century.[5] Yet one should not think of these two -great influences as entities, unchanging and utterly distinct from what -must be called for simplicity's sake the native traits of the mediaeval -peoples. The antique culture had never ceased to form part of the nature -and faculties of Italians, and to some extent still made the inherited -equipment of the Latinized or Latin-descended people of Spain and France. -In the same lands also, Latin Christianity had attained its form. And even -in England and Germany, Christianity and Latin culture would be distinct -from the Teuton folk only at the first moment of presentation and -acceptance. Thereupon the two would begin to enter into and affect their -new disciples, and would themselves change under the process of their own -assimilation by these Teutonic natures. - -Nevertheless, the Latin Christianity of the Fathers and the antique fund -of sentiment and knowledge, through their self-conserving strength, -affected men in constant ways. Under their action the peoples of western -Europe, from the eighth to the thirteenth century, passed through a -homogeneous growth, and evolved a spirit different from that of any other -period of history--a spirit which stood in awe before its monitors divine -and human, and deemed that knowledge was to be drawn from the storehouse -of the past; which seemed to rely on everything except its sin-crushed -self, and trusted everything except its senses; which in the actual looked -for the ideal, in the concrete saw the symbol, in the earthly Church -beheld the heavenly, and in fleshly joys discerned the devil's lures; -which lived in the unreconciled opposition between the lust and vain-glory -of earth and the attainment of salvation; which felt life's terror and its -pitifulness, and its eternal hope; around which waved concrete -infinitudes, and over which flamed the terror of darkness and the Judgment -Day. - - -II - -Under the action of Latin Christianity and the antique culture the -mediaeval genius developed, as it fused the constituents of its growth -into temperament and power. Its energies were neither to produce an -extension of knowledge, nor originate substantial novelties either of -thought or imaginative conception. They were rather to expend themselves -in the creation of new forms--forms of apprehending and presenting what -was (or might be) known from the old books, and all that from century to -century was ever more plastically felt. This principle is most important -for the true appreciation of the intellectual and emotional phenomena of -the Middle Ages. - -When a sublime religion is presented to capable but half-civilized -peoples, and at the same time an acquaintance is opened to them with the -education, the knowledge, the literature of a great civilization, they -cannot create new forms or presentations of what they have received, until -the same has been assimilated, and has become plastic in their minds, as -it were, part of their faculty and feeling. Manifestly the northern -peoples could not at once transmute the lofty and superabundant matter of -Latin Christianity and its accompanying Latin culture, and present the -same in new forms. Nor in truth could Italy, involved as she was in a -disturbed decadence, wherein she seemed to be receding from an -understanding of the nobler portions of her antique and Christian -heritage, rather than progressing toward a vital use of one or the other. -In Spain and France there was some decadence among Latinized provincials; -and the Teutonic conquerors were novices in both Christianity and -Latinity. In these lands neither decadence nor the novelty of the matter -was the sole embarrassment, but both combined to hinder creativeness, -although the decadence was less obvious than in Italy, and the newness of -the matter less utter than in Germany. - -The ancient material was appropriated, and then re-expressed in new forms, -through two general ways of transmutation, the intellectual and the -emotional. Although patently distinguishable, these would usually work -together, with one or the other dominating the joint progress. - -Of the two, the intellectual is the easier to analyze. Thinking is -necessarily dependent on the thinker, although it appear less intimately -part of him than his emotions, and less expressive of his character. -Accordingly, the mediaeval genius shows somewhat more palely in its -intellectual productions, than in the more emotional phases of literature -and art. Yet the former exemplify not only mediaeval capacities, but also -the mediaeval intellectual temperament, or, as it were, the synthetic -predisposition of the mediaeval mind. This temperament, this intellectual -predisposition, became in general more marked through the centuries from -the ninth to the twelfth. People could not go on generation after -generation occupied with like topics of intellectual interest, reasoning -upon them along certain lines of religious and ethical suggestion, without -developing or intensifying some general type of intellectual temper. - -From the Carolingian period onward, the men interested in knowledge -learned the patristic theology, and, in gradually expanding compass, -acquired antique logic and metaphysics, mathematics, natural science and -jurisprudence. What they learned, they laboured to restate or expound. -With each succeeding generation, the subjects of mediaeval study were made -more closely part of the intelligence occupied with them; because the -matter had been considered for a longer time, and had been constantly -restated and restudied in terms more nearly adapted to the comprehension -of the men who were learning and restating it. At length mediaeval men -made the antique and patristic material, or rather their understanding of -it, dynamically their own. Their comprehension of it became part of their -intellectual faculties, they could think for themselves in its terms, -think almost originally and creatively, and could present as their own the -matter of their thoughts in restatements, that is in forms, essentially -new. - -From century to century may be traced the process of restatement of -patristic Christianity, with the antique material contained in it. The -Christianity of the fifth century contained an amplitude of thought and -learning. To the creative work of earlier and chiefly eastern men, the -Latin intellect finally incorporate in Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine had -added its further great accomplishment and ordering. The sum of dogma was -well-nigh made up; the Trinity was established; Christian learning had -reached a compass beyond which it was not to pass for the next thousand -years; the doctrines as to the "sacred mysteries," as to the functions of -the Church and its spiritual authority, existed in substance; the -principles of symbolism and allegory had been set; the great mass of -allegorical Scriptural interpretations had been devised; the spiritual -relationship of man to God's ordainment, to wit, the part to be played by -the human will in man's salvation or damnation, had been reasoned out; and -man's need and love of God, his nothingness apart from the Source and King -and End of Life, had been uttered in words which men still use. Evidently -succeeding generations of less illumination could not add to this vast -intellectual creation; much indeed had to be done before they could -comprehend and make it theirs, so as to use it as an element of their own -thinking, or possess it as an inspiration of passionate, imaginative -reverie. - -At the darkening close of the patristic period, Gregory the Great was -still partially creative in his barbarizing handling of patristic -themes.[6] After his death, for some three centuries, theologians were to -devote themselves to mastering the great heritage from the Church Fathers. -It was still a time of racial antipathy and conflict. The disparate -elements of the mediaeval personality were as yet unblended. How could the -unformed intellect of such a period grasp the patristic store of thought -in its integrity? Still less might this wavering human spirit, uncertain -of itself and unadjusted to novel and great conceptions, transform, and so -renew, them with fresh life. Scarcely any proper recasting of patristic -doctrine will be found in the Carolingian period, but merely a shuffling -of the matter. There were some exceptions, arising, as in the case of -Eriugena, from the extraordinary genius of this thinker; or again from the -narrow controversial treatment of a matter argued with rupturing -detachment of patristic opinions from their setting and balancing -qualifications.[7] But the typical works of the eighth and ninth centuries -were commentaries upon Scripture, consisting chiefly of excerpts from the -Fathers. The flower of them all was the compendious _Glossa Ordinaria_ of -Walafrid Strabo, a pupil of the voluminous commentator Rabanus Maurus.[8] - -Through the tenth and eleventh centuries, one finds no great advance in -the systematic restatement of Christian doctrine.[9] Nevertheless, two -hundred years of devotion have been put upon it; and statements of parts -of it occur, showing that the eleventh century has made progress over the -ninth in its thoughtful and vital appropriation of Latin Christianity. A -man like German Othloh has thought for himself within its lines;[10] -Anselm of Canterbury has set forth pieces of it with a depth of reflection -and intimacy of understanding which make his works creative;[11] Peter -Damiani through intensity of feeling has become the embodiment of -Christian asceticism and the grace of Christian tears;[12] and Hildebrand -has established the mediaeval papal church. Of a truth, the mediaeval man -was adjusting himself, and reaching his understanding of what the past had -given him. - -The twelfth century presents a universal progress in philosophic and -theological thinking. It is the century of Abaelard, of Hugo of St. -Victor, and St. Bernard, and of Peter Lombard. The first of these -penetrates into the logical premises of systematic thought as no mediaeval -man had done before him; St. Bernard moves the world through his emotional -and political comprehension of the Faith; Hugo of St. Victor offers a -sacramental explanation of the universe and man, based upon symbolism as -the working principle of creation; and Peter Lombard makes or, at least, -typifies, the systematic advance, from the _Commentary_ to the _Books of -Sentences_, in which he presents patristic doctrine arranged according to -the cardinal topics of the Christian scheme. Here Abaelard's _Sic et non_ -had been a precursor rather carping in its excessive clear-sightedness. - -Thus, as a rule, each successive mediaeval period shows a more organic -restatement of the old material. Yet this principle may be impeded or -deflected, in its exemplifications, by social turmoil and disaster, or -even by the use of further antique matter, demanding assimilation. For -example, upon the introduction of the complete works of Aristotle in the -thirteenth century, an enormous intellectual effort was required for the -mastery of their contents. They were not mastered at once, or by all -people who studied the philosopher. So the works of Hugo of St. Victor, of -the first half of the twelfth century, are more original in their organic -restatement of less vast material than are the works of Albertus Magnus, -Aristotle's prodigious expounder, one hundred years later. But Thomas -Aquinas accomplishes a final Catholic presentation of the whole enlarged -material, patristic and antique.[13] - -One may perceive three stages in this chief phase of mediaeval -intellectual progress, consisting in the appropriation of Latin -Christianity: its first conning, its more vital appropriation, its -re-expression, with added elements of thought. There were also three -stages in the evolution of the outer forms of this same catholic mastery -and re-expression of doctrine: first, the Scriptural _Commentary_; -secondly, the _Books of Sentences_; and thirdly, the _Summa Theologiae_, -of which Thomas Aquinas is the final definitive creator. The philosophical -material used in its making was the substantial philosophy of Aristotle, -mastered at length by this Christian Titan of the thirteenth century. In -the _Summa_, both visibly as well as more inwardly and essentially -considered, the Latin Christianity of the Fathers received an organically -new form. - -Quite as impressive, more moving, and possibly more creative, than the -intellectual recasting of the ancient patristic matter, were its emotional -transformations. The sequence and character of mediaeval development is -clearly seen in the evolution of new forms of emotional, and especially of -poetic and plastic, expression. The intellectual transformation of the -antique and more especially the patristic matter, was accompanied by -currents of desire and aversion, running with increasing definiteness and -power. As patristic thought became more organically mediaeval, more -intrinsically part of the intellectual faculties of men, it constituted -with increasing incisiveness the suggestion and the rationale of emotional -experiences, and set the lines accordingly of impassioned expression in -devotional prose and verse, and in the more serious forms of art. -Patristic theology, the authoritative statement of the Christian faith, -contained men's furthest hopes and deepest fears, set forth together with -the divine Means by which those might be realized and these allayed. As -generation after generation clung to this system as to the stay of their -salvation, the intellectual consideration of it became instinct with the -emotions of desire and aversion, and with love and gratitude toward the -suffering means and instruments which made salvation possible--the -Crucified, the Weeping Mother, and the martyred or self-torturing saints. -All these had suffered; they were sublime objects for human compassion. -Who could think upon them without tears? Thus mediaeval religious thought -became a well of emotion. - -Emotion breaks its way to expression; it feeds itself upon its expression, -thereby increasing in resistlessness; it even becomes identical with its -expression. Surely it creates the modes of its expression, seeking -continually the more facile, the more unimpeded, which is to say, the -adequate and perfect form. Typical mediaeval emotion, which was religious, -cast itself around the Gospel of Christ and the theology of the Fathers as -studied and pondered on in the mediaeval centuries. Seeking fitting forms -of expression, which are at once modes of relief and forms of added power, -the passionate energy of the mediaeval genius constrained the intellectual -faculties to unite with it in the production of these forms. They were to -become more personal and original than any mere scholastic restatement of -the patristic and antique thought. Yet the perfect form of the emotional -expression was not quickly reached. It could not outrun the intelligent -appropriation of Latin Christianity. Its media, moreover, as in the case -of sculpture, might present retarding difficulties, to be overcome before -that means of presentation could be mastered. A sequence may be observed -in the evolution of the mediaeval emotional expression of patristic -Christianity. One of the first attained was impassioned devotional Latin -prose, like that of Peter Damiani or St. Anselm of Canterbury.[14] But -prose is a halting means of emotional expression. It is too circumstantial -and too slow. Only in the chanted strophe, winged with the power of -rhythm, can emotion pour out its unimpeded strength. But before the -thought can be fused in verse, it must be plastic, molten indeed. Even -then, the finished verse is not produced at once. The perfected mediaeval -Latin strophe was a final form of religious emotional expression, which -was not attained until the twelfth century.[15] - -Impassioned prose may be art; the loftier forms of verse are surely art. -And art is not spontaneous, but carefully intended; no babbling of a -child, but a mutual fitting of form and content, in which efficient unison -the artist's intellect has worked. Such intellectual, such artistic -endeavour, was evinced in the long development of mediaeval plastic art. -The sculpture and the painted glass, which tell the Christian story in -Chartres Cathedral, set forth the patristic and antique matter in forms -expressive of the feeling and emotion which had gathered around the scheme -of Latin Christianity. They were forms never to be outdone for -appropriateness and power. Several centuries not only of spiritual growth, -but of mechanical and artistic endeavour, had been needed for their -perfecting. - -In these and like emotional recastings, or indeed creations, patristic and -antique elements were transformed and transfigured. And again, in fields -non-religious and non-philosophical, through a combined evolution of the -mediaeval mind and heart, novelties of sentiment and situation were -introduced into antique themes of fiction; new forms of romance, new -phases of human love and devotion were evolved, in which (witness the -poetry of chivalric love in Provencal and Old French) the energies of -intellect and passion were curiously blended.[16] These represented a side -of human growth not unrelated to the supreme mediaeval achievement, the -vital appropriation and emotional humanizing of patristic Christianity. -For that carried an impassioning of its teachings with love and tears, a -fostering of them with devotion, an adorning of them with quivering -fantasies, a translation of them into art, into poetry, into romance. With -what wealth of love and terror, with what grandeur of imagination, with -what power of mystery and symbolism, did the Middle Ages glorify their -heritage, turning its precepts into spirit. - -Of a surety the emotional is not to be separated from the intellectual -recasting of Christianity. The greatest exponents of the one had their -share in the other. Hugo of St. Victor as well as St. Bernard were mighty -agents of this spiritually passionate mode of apprehending Latin -Christianity, and transfusing it with emotion, or reviving the Gospel -elements in it. Here work, knowingly or instinctively, many men and women, -Peter Damiani and St. Francis of Assisi, St. Hildegard of Bingen and -Mechthild of Magdeburg, who, according to their diverse temperaments, -overmasteringly and burningly loved Christ. With them the intellectual -appropriation of dogmatic Christianity was subordinate. - -Such men and women were poets and artists, even when they wrote no poetry, -and did not carve or paint. For their lives were poems, unisons of -overmastering thoughts and the emotions inspired by them. The life of -Francis was a living poem. It was kin to the _Dies Irae_, the _Stabat -Mater_, the hymns of Adam of St. Victor, and in a later time, the _Divina -Commedia_. For all these poems, in their different ways, using Christian -thought and feeling as symbols, created imaginative presentations of -universal human moods, even as the lives of Francis and many a cloistered -soul presented like moods in visible embodiment. - -Such lives likewise close in with art. They poured themselves around the -symbols of the human person of Christ and its sacrificial presence in the -Eucharist; they grasped the infinite and universal through these -tangibilities. But the poems also sprang into being through a concrete -realizing in mood, and a visualizing in narrative, of such symbols. And -the same need of grasping the infinite and universal through symbols was -the inspiration of mediaeval art: it built the cathedrals, painted their -windows, filled their niches with statues, carving prophet types, carving -the times and seasons of God's providence, carving the vices and virtues -of the soul and its eternal destiny, and at the same time augmenting the -Liturgy with symbolic words and acts. So saint and poet and -artist-craftsman join in that appropriation of Christianity which was -putting life into whatever had come from the Latin Fathers, by pondering -upon it, loving it, living it, imagining it, and making it into poetry and -art. - -It is better not to generalize further, or attempt more specifically to -characterize the mediaeval genius. As its manifestations pass before our -consideration, we shall see the complexity of thought and life within the -interplay of the moulding forces of mediaeval development, as they strove -with each other or wrought in harmony, as they were displayed in frightful -contrasts between the brutalities of life, and the lofty, but not less -real, strainings of the spirit, or again in the opposition between -inchoately variant ideals and the endeavour for their more inclusive -reconcilement. Various phases of the mediaeval spirit were to unfold only -too diversely with popes, kings and knights, monks, nuns, and heretics, -satirists, troubadours and minnesingers; in emotional yearnings and -intellectual ideals; in the literature of love and the literature of its -suppression; in mistress-worship, and the worship of the Virgin and the -passion-flooded Christ of Canticles. Sublimely will this spirit show -itself in the resistless apotheosis of symbolism, and in art and poetry -giving utterance to the mediaeval conceptions of order and beauty. Other -of its phases will be evinced in the striving of earnest souls for -spiritual certitude; in the scholastic structure and accomplishment; in -the ways in which men felt the spell of the Classics; and everywhere and -universally in the mediaeval conflict between life's fulness and the -insistency of the soul's salvation. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE LATINIZING OF THE WEST - - -The intellectual and spiritual life of the partly Hellenized and, at last, -Christianized, Roman Empire furnished the contents of the intellectual and -spiritual development of the Middle Ages.[17] In Latin forms the Christian -and antique elements passed to the mediaeval period. Their Latinization, -their continuance, and their passing on, were due to the existence of the -Empire as a political and social fact. Rome's equal government facilitated -the transmission of Greek thought through the Mediterranean west; Roman -arms, Roman qualities conquered Spain and Gaul, subdued them to the Roman -order, opened them to Graeco-Latin influences, also to Christianity. -Indelibly Latinized in language and temper, Spain, Gaul, and Italy present -first a homogeneity of culture and civic order, and then a common -decadence and confusion. But decadence and confusion did not obliterate -the ancient elements; which painfully endured, passing down disfigured and -bedimmed, to form the basis of mediaeval culture. - -The all-important Latinization of western Europe began with the -unification of Italy under Rome. This took five centuries of war. In -central Italy, Marsians, Samnites, Umbrians, Etruscans, were slowly -conquered; and in the south Rome stood forth at last triumphant after the -war against Tarentum and Pyrrhus of Epirus. With Rome's political -domination, the Latin language also won its way to supremacy throughout -the peninsula, being drastically forced, along with Roman civic -institutions, upon Tarentum and the other Greek communities of Magna -Graecia.[18] Yet in revenge, from this time on, Greek medicine and -manners, mythology, art, poetry, philosophy--Greek thought in every -guise--entered the Latin pale. - -At the time of which we speak, the third century before Christ, the -northern boundaries of Italy were still the rivers Arno and, to the east, -the Aesis, which flows into the Adriatic, near Ancona. North-west of the -Arno, Ligurian highlanders held the mountain lands as far as Nice. North -of the Aesis lay the valley of the Po. That great plain may have been -occupied at an early time by Etruscan communities scattered through a -Celtic population gradually settling to an agricultural life. Whatever may -be the facts as to the existence of these earlier Celts, other and ruder -Celtic tribes swarmed down from the Alps[19] about 400 B.C., spread -through the Po Valley, pushing the Etruscans back into Etruria, and -following them there to carry on the war. After this comes the well-known -story of Roman interference, leading to Roman overthrow at the river Allia -in 390, and the capture of the city by these "Gauls." The latter then -retired northward, to occupy the Po Valley; though bands of them settled -as far south as the Aesis. - -Time and again, Rome was to be reminded of the Celtic peril. Between the -first and second Punic wars, the Celts, reinforced from beyond the Alps, -attacked Etruria and threatened Rome. Defeating them, the Consuls pushed -north to subdue the Po Valley (222 B.C.). South of the river the Celts -were expelled, and their place was filled by Roman colonists. The fortress -cities of Placentia (Piacenza) and Cremona were founded on the right and -left banks of the Po, and south-east of them Mutina (Modena). The -Flaminian road was extended across the Apennines to Fanum, and thence to -Ariminum (Rimini), thus connecting the two Italian seas. - -Hannibal's invasion of Italy brought fresh disturbance, and when the war -with him was over, Rome set herself to the final subjugation of the Celts -north of the Po. Upon their submission the Latinization of the whole -valley began, and advanced apace; but the evidence is scanty. Statius -Caecilius, a comic Latin poet, was a manumitted Insubrian Celt who had -been brought to Rome probably as a prisoner of war. He died in 168 B.C. -Some generations after him, Cornelius Nepos was born in upper Italy, and -Catullus at Verona; Celtic blood may have flowed in their veins. In the -meanwhile the whole region had been organized as Gallia Cisalpina, with -its southern boundary fixed at the Rubicon, which flows near Rimini. - -The Celts of northern Italy were the first palpably non-Italian people to -adopt the Latin language. Second in time and thoroughness to their -Latinization was that of Spain. Military reasons led to its conquest. -Hamilcar's genius had created there a Carthaginian power, as a base for -the invasion of Italy. This project, accomplished by Hamilcar's son, -brought home to the Roman Senate the need to control the Spanish -peninsula. The expulsion of the Carthaginians, which followed, did not -give mastery over the land; and two centuries of Roman persistence were -required to subdue the indomitable Iberians. - -So, in the end, Spain was conquered, and became a Latin country. Its -tribal cantons were replaced with urban communities, and many Roman -colonies were founded, to grow to prosperous cities. These were -strongholds of Latin. Cordova became a very famous home of education and -letters. Apparently the southern Spaniards had fully adopted the ways and -speech of Rome before Strabo wrote his _Geography_, about A.D. 20. The -change was slower in the mountains of Asturia, but quite rapid in the -north-eastern region known as Nearer Spain, Hispania Citerior, as it was -called. There, at the town of Osca (Huesca), Sertorius eighty years before -Christ had established the first Latin school for the native Spanish -youth. - -The reign of Augustus, and especially his two years' sojourn in Spain (26 -and 25 B.C.) brought quiet to the peninsula, and thereafter no part of the -Empire enjoyed such unbroken peace. Of all lands outside of Italy, with -the possible exception of Provincia, Spain became most completely Roman in -its institutions, and most unequivocally Latin in its culture. It was the -most populous of the European provinces;[20] and no other held so many -Roman citizens, or so many cities early endowed with Roman civic -rights.[21] The great Augustan literature was the work of natives of -Italy.[22] But in the Silver Age that followed, many of the chief Latin -authors--the elder and younger Seneca, Lucan, Quintilian--were Spaniards. -They were unquestioned representatives of Latin literature, with no -provincial twang in their writings. Then, of Rome's emperors, Trajan was -born in Spain, and Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius were of Spanish blood. - -Perhaps even more completely Latinized was Narbonensis, commonly called -Provincia. Its official name was drawn from the ancient town of Narbo -(Narbonne), which in 118 B.C. was refounded as a Roman colony in partial -accomplishment of the plans of Caius Gracchus. The boundaries of this -colony touched those of the Greek city-state Massilia (Marseilles), whose -rights were respected until it sided against Caesar in the Civil War. Save -for the Massilian territory, which it later included, Provincia stretched -from the eastern Pyrenees by the way of Nemausus (Nimes) and the Arelate -(Arles) north-easterly through the Rhone Valley, taking in Vienne and -Valence in the country of the Allobroges, and then onward to the edge of -Lake Geneva; thence southerly along the Maritime Alps to the sea. Many of -its towns owed their prosperity to Caesar. In his time the country west of -the Rhone was already half Latin, and was filling up with men from -Italy.[23] Two or three generations later, Pliny dubbed it _Italia verius -quam provincia_. At all events, like northern Italy and Spain, Provincia, -throughout its length and breadth, had appropriated the Latin civilization -of Rome; that civilization city-born and city-reared, solvent of cantonal -organization and tribal custom, destructive of former ways of living and -standards of conduct; a civilization which was commercial as well as -military in its means, and urban in its ends; which loved the life of the -forum, the theatre, the circus, the public bath, and seemed to gain its -finest essence from the instruction of the grammarian and rhetorician. The -language and literature of this civilization were those of an imperial -city, and were to be the language and literature of the Latin city -universal, in whatever western land its walls might rise. - -North of Provincia stretched the great territory reaching from the -Atlantic to the Rhine, and with its edges following that river northerly, -and again westerly to the sea. This was Caesar's conquest, his _omnis -Gallia_. The resistlessness of Rome, her civic and military superiority -over the western peoples whom she conquered, may be grasped from the -record of Gallic subjugation by one in whom great Roman qualities were -united. Perhaps the deepest impression received by the reader of those -_Commentaries_ is of the man behind the book, Caesar himself. The Gallic -War passes before us as a presentation, or medium of realization, of that -all-compelling personality, with whom to consider was to plan, and to -resolve was to accomplish, without hesitation or fear, by the force of -mind. It is in the mirror of this man's contempt for restless -irresolution, for unsteadiness and impotence, that Gallic qualities are -shown, the reflection undisturbed either by intolerance or sympathy. The -Gauls were always anxious for change, _mobiliter celeriterque_ inflamed to -war or revolution, says Caesar in his memorable words; and, like all men, -they were by nature zealous for liberty, hating the servile state--so it -behoved Caesar to distribute his legions with foresight in a certain -crisis.[24] Thus, without shrug or smile, writes the greatest of -revolutionists who for himself was also seeking liberty of action, freely -and devisingly, not hurried by impatience or any such planless -restlessness as, for example, drove Dumnorix the Aeduan to plot feebly, -futilely, without plan or policy, against fate, to wit Caesar--so he met -his death.[25] - -Instability appears as peculiarly characteristic of the Gauls. They were -not barbarians, but an ingenious folk, quick-witted and loquacious.[26] -Their domestic customs were reasonable; they had taxes and judicial -tribunals; their religion held belief in immortality, and in other -respects was not below the paganism of Italy. It was directed by the -priestly caste of Druids, who possessed considerable knowledge, and used -the Greek alphabet in writing. They also presided at trials, and -excommunicated suitors who would not obey their judicial decrees.[27] - -The country was divided into about ninety states (_civitates_). Monarchies -appear among them, but the greater number were aristocracies torn with -jealousy, and always in alarm lest some noble's overweening influence -upset the government. The common people and poor debtors seem scarcely to -have counted. Factions existed in every state, village, and even -household, says Caesar,[28] headed by the rival states of the Aedui and -Sequani. Espousing, as he professed to, the Aeduan cause, Caesar could -always appear as an ally of one faction. At the last a general confederacy -took up arms against him under the noble Auvernian, Vercingetorix.[29] But -the instability of his authority forced the hand of this brilliant leader. - -In fine, it would seem that the Gallic peoples had progressed in -civilization as far as their limited political capacity and self-control -would allow. These were the limitations set by the Gallic character. It is -a Gallic custom, says Caesar, to stop travellers, and insist upon their -telling what they know or have heard. In the towns the crowd will throng -around a merchant and make him tell where he has come from and give them -the news. Upon such hearsay the Gauls enter upon measures of the gravest -importance. The states which are deemed the best governed, he adds, have a -law that whenever any one has heard a report or rumour of public moment, -he shall communicate it to a magistrate and to none else. The magistrates -conceal or divulge such news in their discretion. It is not permitted to -discuss public affairs save in an assembly.[30] - -Apparently Caesar is not joking in these passages, which speak of a -statecraft based on gossip gathered in the streets, carried straight to a -magistrate, and neither discussed nor divulged on the way! Quite otherwise -were Roman officials to govern, when Caesar's great campaigns had subdued -these mercurial Gauls. It was after his death that Augustus established -the Roman order through the land. In those famous _partes tres_ of the -_Commentaries_ he settled it: Iberian and Celtic Aquitania, Celtic -Lugdunensis, and Celtic-Teuton Belgica, making together the three Gauls. -It is significant that the emperor kept them as imperial provinces, still -needing military administration, while he handed over Provincia to the -Senate. - -Provincia had been Romanized in law and government as the "Three Gauls" -never were to be. Augustus followed Caesar in respecting the tribal and -cantonal divisions of the latter, making only such changes as were -necessary. Gallic cities under the Empire show no great uniformity. Each -appears as the continuance of the local tribe, whose life and politics -were focused in the town. The city (_civitas_) did not end with the town -walls, but included the surrounding country and perhaps many villages. A -number of these cities preserved their ancient constitutions; others -conformed to the type of Roman colonies, whose constitutions were modelled -on those of Italian cities. Colonia Claudia Agrippina (Cologne) is an -example. But all the cities of the "Three Gauls" as well as those of -Provincia, whatever their form of government, conducted their affairs with -senate, magistrates and police of their choosing, had their municipal -property, and controlled their internal finances. A diet was established -for the "Three Gauls" at Lyons, to which the cities sent delegates. -Whatever were its powers, its existence tended to foster a sense of common -Gallic nationality. The Roman franchise, however, was but sparingly -bestowed on individuals, and was not granted to any Gallic city (except -Lyons) until the time of Claudius, himself born at Lyons. He refounded -Cologne as a colony, granted the franchise to Treves, and abolished the -provisions forbidding Gauls to hold the imperial magistracies. With the -reorganization of the Empire under Diocletian, Treves became the capital -not only of Gaul, but of Spain and Britain also. - -Although there was thus no violent Romanization of Gaul, Roman -civilization rapidly progressed under imperial fostering, and by virtue of -its own energy. Roman roads traversed the country; bridges spanned the -rivers; aqueducts were constructed; cities grew, trade increased, -agriculture improved, and the vine was introduced. At the time of Caesar's -conquest, the quick-minded Gauls were prepared to profit from a superior -civilization; and under the mighty peace of Rome, men settled down to the -blessings of safe living and law regularly enforced. - -The spread of the Latin tongue and the finer elements of Latin culture -followed the establishment of the Roman order. One Gallic city and then -another adopted the new language according to its circumstances and -situation. Of course the cities of Provincia took the lead, largely -Italian as they were in population. On the other hand, Latin made slow -progress among the hills of Auvergne. But farther north, the Roman city of -Lyons was Latin-tongued from its foundation. Thence to the remoter north -and west and east, Latin spread by cities, the foci of affairs and -provincial administration. The imperial government did not demand of its -subjects that they should abandon their native speech, but required in -Gaul, as elsewhere, the use of Latin in the transaction of official -business. This compelled all to study Latin who had affairs in law courts -or with officials, or hoped to become magistrates. Undoubtedly the rich -and noble, especially in the towns, learned Latin quickly, and it soon -became the vehicle of polite, as well as official, intercourse. It was -also the language of the schools attended by the noble Gallic youth. But -among the rural population, the native tongues continued indefinitely. -Obviously one cannot assign any specific time for the popular and general -change from Celtic; but it appears to have very generally taken place -before the Frankish conquest.[31] - -By that time, too, those who would naturally constitute the educated -classes, possessed a Latin education. First in the cities of Provincia, -Nimes, Arles, Vienne, Frejus, Aix in Provence, then of course at Lyons and -in Aquitaine, and later through the cities of the north-east, Treves, -Mainz, Cologne, and most laggingly through the north-west Belgic lands -lying over against the channel and the North Sea, Latin education spread. -Grammar and rhetoric were taught, and the great Classics were explained -and read, till the Gauls doubtless felt themselves Roman in spirit as in -tongue. - -Of course they were mistaken. To be sure the Gaul was a citizen of the -Empire, which not only represented safety and civilization, but in fact -was the entire civilized world. He had no thought of revolting from that, -any more than from his daily habits or his daily food. Often he felt -himself sentimentally affected toward this universal symbol of his -welfare. He had Latin speech; he had Roman fashions; he took his warm -baths and his cold, enjoyed the sports of the amphitheatre, studied Roman -literature, and talked of the _Respublica_ and _Aurea Roma_. Yet he was, -after all, merely a Romanized inhabitant of Gaul. Roman law and -government, Latin education, and the colour of the Roman spirit had been -imparted; but the inworking, creative genius of Rome was not within her -gift or his capacity. The Gauls, however, are the chief example of a -mediating people. Romanized and not made Roman, their epoch, their -geographical situation, and their modified faculties, all made them -intermediaries between the Roman and the Teuton. - -If the Romanization of the "Three Gauls" was least thorough in Belgica, -there was even less of it across the channel. Britain, as far north as the -Clyde and Firth of Forth, was a Roman province for three or four hundred -years. Latin was the language of the towns; but probably never supplanted -the Celtic in the country. The Romanization of the Britons however, -whether thorough or superficial, affected a people who were to be -apparently submerged. They seem to have transmitted none of their Latin -civilization to their Anglo-Saxon conquerors. Yet even the latter when -they came to Britain were not quite untouched by Rome. They were familiar -with Roman wares, if not with Roman ways; and certain Latin words which -are found in all Teutonic languages had doubtless entered Anglo-Saxon.[32] -But this early Roman influence was slight, compared with that which -afterwards came with Christianity. Nor did the Roman culture, before the -introduction of Christianity, exert a deep effect on Germany, at least -beyond the neighbourhood of the large Roman or Romanized towns like -Cologne and Mainz. In many ways, indeed, the Germans were touched by Rome. -Roman diplomacy, exciting tribe against tribe, was decimating them. Roman -influence, and sojourn at Rome, had taught much to many German princes. -Roman weapons, Roman utensils and wares of all kinds were used from the -Danube to the Baltic. But all this did not Romanize the Germans, any more -than a number of Latin words, which had crept in, Latinized their -language.[33] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -GREEK PHILOSOPHY AS THE ANTECEDENT OF THE PATRISTIC APPREHENSION OF FACT - - -The Latin West afforded the _milieu_ in which the thoughts and sentiments -of the antique and partly Christian world were held in Latin forms and -preserved from obliteration during the fifth and succeeding centuries, -until taken up by the currents of mingled decrepitude and callowness which -marked the coming of the mediaeval time. Latin Christianity survived, and -made its way across those stormy centuries, to its mediaeval harbourage. -The antique also was carried over, either in the ship of Latin -Christianity, or in tenders freighted by certain Latin Christians who -dealt in secular learning, though not in "unbroken packages." Those -unbroken packages, to wit, the Latin classics, and after many centuries -the Greek, also floated over. But in the early mediaeval times, men -preferred the pagan matter rehashed, as in the _Etymologies_ of Isidore. - -The great ship of Christian doctrine not only bore bits of the pagan -antique stowed here and there, but itself was built with many a plank of -antique timber, and there was antique adulteration in its Christian -freight; or, in other words, the theology of the Church Fathers was partly -made of Greek philosophy, and was put together in modes of Greek -philosophic reasoning. The Fathers lived in the Roman Empire, or in what -was left of it in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries. Many of -them were born of pagan parents, and all received the common education in -grammar, rhetoric, and literature, which were pagan and permeated with -pagan philosophy. For philosophy did not then stand apart from life and -education; but had become a source of principles of conduct and "daily -thoughts for daily needs." Many of the Fathers in their pagan, or at least -unsanctified youth, had deeply studied it. - -Philosophy held the sum of knowledge in the Empire, and from it came the -concepts in which all the Fathers reasoned. But the _Latin_ Fathers, who -were juristically and rhetorically educated, might also reason through -conceptions, or in a terminology, taken from the Roman Law. Nevertheless, -in the rational process of formulating Christian dogma, Greek philosophy -was the overwhelmingly important factor, because it furnished knowledge -and the metaphysical concepts, and because the greater number of Christian -theologians were Hellenic in spirit, and wrote Greek; while the Latins -reset in Latin, and sometimes juristic, phrase what their eastern brethren -had evolved.[34] - -Obviously, for our purpose, which is to appreciate the spiritual endowment -of the Middle Ages, it is essential to have cognizance of patristic -thought. And in order to understand the mental processes of the Fathers, -their attitude toward knowledge and their perception of fact, one must -consider their intellectual environment; which was, of course, made up of -the store of knowledge and philosophic interests prevailing in the Roman -Empire. So we have to gauge the intellectual interests of the pagan world, -first in the earlier times when thinkers were bringing together knowledge -and philosophic concepts, and then in the later period when its -accumulated and somewhat altered thought made the actual environment of -the Church. - - * * * * * - -What race had ever a more genial appreciation of the facts of nature and -of mortal life, than the Greeks? The older Greek philosophies had sprung -from open and unprejudiced observation of the visible world. They were -physical inquiries. With Socrates philosophy turned, as it were, from -fact to truth, to a consideration of the validity of human understanding. -Thereupon the Greek mind became entranced with its own creations. Man was -the measure of all things, for the Sophists. More irrefragably and -pregnantly, man became the measure of all things for Socrates and Plato. -The aphorism might be discarded; but its transcendental import was -established in an imaginative dialectic whose correspondence to the -divinest splendours of the human mind warranted its truth. With -Platonists--and the world was always to be filled with them--perceptions -of physical facts and the data of human life and history, were henceforth -to constitute the outer actuality of a creation within the mind. Every -observed fact is an apparent tangibility; but its reality consists in its -unison with the ultimate realities of rational conception. The -apprehension of the fact must be made to conform to these. For this reason -every fact has a secondary, nay, primary, because spiritual, meaning. Its -true interpretation lies in that significance which accords with the -mind's consistent system of conceptions, which present the fact as it must -be thought, and therefore as it is; it is the fact brought into right -relationship with spiritual and ethical verity. Of course, methods of -apprehending terrestrial and celestial phenomena as illustrations of -ideally conceived principles, were unlikely to foster habits of close -observation. The apparent facts of sense would probably be imaginatively -treated if not transformed in the process of their apprehension. Nor, with -respect to human story, would such methods draw fixed lines between the -narration of what men are pleased to call the actual occurrence, and the -shaping of a tale to meet the exigencies of argument or illustration. - -All this is obvious in Plato. The _Timaeus_ was his vision of the -universe, in which physical facts became plastic material for the spirit's -power to mould into the likeness of ideal conceptions. The creation of the -universe is conformed to the structure of Platonic dialectic. If any -meaning be certain through the words and imagery of this dialogue, it is -that the world and all creatures which it contains derive such reality as -they have from conformity to the thoughts or ideal patterns in the divine -mind. Visible things are real only so far as they conform to those -perfect conceptions. Moreover, the visible creation has another value, -that of its ethical significance. Physical phenomena symbolize the -conformity of humanity to its best ideal of conduct. Man may learn to -regulate the lawless movements of his soul from the courses of the stars, -the noblest of created gods. - -Thus as to natural phenomena; and likewise as to the human story, fact or -fiction. The myth of the shadow-seers in the cave, with which the seventh -book of the _Republic_ opens, is just as illustratively and ideally true -as that opening tale in the _Timaeus_ of the ancient Athenian state, which -fought for its own and others' freedom against the people of -Atlantis--till the earthquake ended the old Athenian race, and the -Atlantean continent was swallowed in the sea. This story has piqued -curiosity for two thousand years. Was it tradition, or the creation of an -artist dialectician? In either case its ideal and edifying truth stood or -fell, not by reason of conformity to any basic antecedent fact, but -according to its harmony with the beautiful and good. - -Plato's method of conceiving fact might be applied to man's thoughts of -God, of the origin of the world and the courses of the stars; also to the -artistic manipulation of illustrative or edifying story. Matters, large, -remote, and mysterious, admit of idealizing ways of apprehension. But it -might seem idiocy, rather than idealism, to apply this method to the plain -facts of common life, which may be handled and looked at all around--to -which there is no mysterious other side, like the moon's, for ever turned -away. Nevertheless the method and its motives drew men from careful -observation of nature, and would invest biography and history with -interests promoting the ingenious application, rather than the close -scrutiny, of fact. - -Thus Platonism and its way of treating narrative could not but foster the -allegorical interpretation of ancient tradition and literature, which was -already in vogue in Plato's time. It mattered not that he would have -nothing to do with the current allegories through which men moralized or -rationalized the old tales of the doings of the gods. He was himself a -weaver of the loveliest allegories when it served his purpose. And after -him the allegorical habit entered into the interpretation of all ancient -story. In the course of time allegory will be applied by the Jew Philo of -Alexandria to the Pentateuch; and one or two centuries later it will play -a great role in Christian polemics against Jew and then against Manichean. -It will become _par excellence_ the chief mode of patristic exegesis, and -pass on as a legacy of spiritual truth to the mediaeval church. - -Aristotle strikes us as a man of different type from Plato. Whether his -intellectual interests were broader than his teacher's is hardly for -ordinary people to say. He certainly was more actively interested in the -investigation of nature. Head of an actual school (as Plato had been), and -assisted by the co-operation of able men, he presents himself, with what -he accomplished, at least in threefold guise: as a metaphysician and the -perfecter, if not creator, of formal logic; as an observer of the facts of -nature and the institutions and arts of men; as a man of encyclopaedic -learning. These three phases of intellectual effort proportioned each -other in a mind of universal power and appetition. Yet it has been thought -that there was more metaphysics and formal logic in Aristotle than was -good for his natural science. - -The lost and extant writings which have been ascribed to him, embraced a -hundred and fifty titles and amounted to four hundred books. Those which -have been of universal influence upon human inquiry suffice to illustrate -the scope of his labours. There were the treatises upon Logic and first -among them the _Categories_ or classes of propositions, and the _De -interpretatione_ on the constituent parts and kinds of sentences. These -two elementary treatises (the authorship of which has been questioned) -were the only Aristotelian writings generally used through the West until -the latter half of the twelfth century, when the remainder of the logical -treatises became known, to wit, the _Prior Analytics_, upon the syllogism; -the _Posterior Analytics_ upon logical demonstration; the _Topics_, or -demonstrations having probability; and the _Sophistical Elenchi_, upon -false conclusions and their refutation. Together these constitute the -_Organon_ or complete logical instrument, as it became known to the -latter half of the twelfth century, and as we possess it to-day. - -The _Rhetoric_ follows, not disconnected with the logical treatises. Then -may be named the _Metaphysics_, and then the writings devoted to Nature, -to wit, the _Physics_, _Concerning the Heavens_, _Concerning Genesis and -Decay_, the _Meteorology_, the _Mechanical Problems_, the _History of -Animals_, the _Anatomical descriptions_, the _Psychology_, the _Parts of -Animals_, the _Generation of Animals_. There was a Botany, which is lost. -Finally, one names the great works on Ethics, Politics, and Poetry. - -Every one is overwhelmed by the compass of the achievement of this -intellect. As to the transcendent value of the works on Logic, -Metaphysics, Psychology, Rhetoric, Ethics, Politics, and Poetry, the world -of scholarship has long been practically at one. There is a difference of -opinion as to the quantity and quality of actual investigation represented -by the writings on Natural History. But Aristotle is commonly regarded as -the founder of systematic Zoology. On the whole, perhaps one will not err -in repeating what has been said hundreds of times, that the works ascribed -to Aristotle, and which undoubtedly were produced by him or his -co-labourers under his direction, represent the most prodigious -intellectual achievement ever connected with any single name. - -In the school of Aristotle, one phase or another of the master's activity -would be likely to absorb the student's energy and fasten his entire -attention. Aristotle's own pupil and successor was the admirable -Theophrastus, a man of comprehensive attainment, who nevertheless devoted -himself principally to carrying on his master's labours in botany, and -other branches of natural science. A History of Physics was one of the -most important of his works. Another pupil of Aristotle was Eudemus of -Rhodes, who became a physicist and a historian of the three sciences of -Geometry, Arithmetic, and Astronomy. He exhibits the learned activities -thenceforth to characterize the Peripatetics. It would have been difficult -to carry further the logic or metaphysics of the master. But his work in -natural science might be supplemented, while the body of his writings -offered a vast field for the labours of the commentator. And so, in fact, -Peripatetic energies in the succeeding generations were divided between -science and learning, the latter centring chiefly in historical and -grammatical labours and the exposition of the master's writing.[35] - -Aristotelianism was not to be the philosophy of the closing pre-Christian -centuries, any more than it was to be the philosophy of the thousand years -and more following the Crucifixion. During all that time, its logic held -its own, and a number of its metaphysical principles were absorbed in -other systems. But Aristotelianism as a system soon ceased to be in vogue, -and by the sixth century was no longer known. - -Yet one might find an echo of its, or some like, spirit in all men who -were seeking knowledge from the world of nature, from history and humane -learning. There were always such; and some famous examples may be drawn -even from among the practical-minded Romans. One thinks at once of -Cicero's splendid breadth of humane and literary interest. His friend -Terentius Varro was a more encyclopaedic personality, and an eager student -in all fields of knowledge. Although not an investigator of nature he -wrote on agriculture, on navigation, on geometry, as well as the Latin -tongue, and on Antiquities, divine and human, even on philosophy.[36] - -Another lover of knowledge was the elder Pliny, who died from venturing -too near to observe the eruption which destroyed Pompeii. He was an -important functionary under the emperor Vespasian, just as Varro had held -offices of authority in the time of the Republic. Pliny's _Historia -naturalis_ was an astounding compilation, intended to cover the whole -plain of common and uncommon knowledge. The compiler neither observed for -himself nor weighed the statements of others. His compilation is a happy -harbourage for the preposterous as well as reasonable, where the -traveller's tale of far-off wonders takes its place beside the testimony -of Aristotle. All is fish that comes to the net of the good Pliny, though -it be that wonderful _piscis_, the _Echinus_, which though but a cubit -long has such tenacity of grip and purpose that it holds fast the largest -galley, and with the resistance of its fins, renders impotent the efforts -of a hundred rowers. Fish for Pliny also are all the stories of antiquity, -of dog-headed, one-legged, big-footed men, of the Pigmies and the Cranes, -of the Phoenix and the Basilisk. He delights in the more intricate -causality of nature's phenomena, and tells how the bowels of the -field-mouse increase in number with the days of the moon, and the energy -of the ant decreases as the orb of Venus wanes.[37] But this credulous -person was a marvel of curiosity and diligence, and we are all his debtors -for an acquaintance with the hearsay opinions current in the antique -world. - -Varro and Pliny were encyclopaedists. Yet before, as well as after them, -the men possessed by the passion for knowledge of the natural world, were -frequently devoted to some branch of inquiry, rather than encyclopaedic -gleaners, or universal philosophers. Hippocrates, Socrates's contemporary, -had left a name rightly enduring as the greatest of physicians. In the -third century before Christ Euclid is a great mathematician, and -Hipparchus and Archimedes have place for ever, the one among the great -astronomers, the other among the great terrestrial physicists. All these -men represent reflection and theory, as well as investigation and -experiment. Leaping forward to the second century A.D., we find among -others two great lovers of science. Galen of Pergamos was a worthy -follower, if not a peer, of the great physician of classic Greece; and -Ptolemy of Alexandria emulated the Alexandrian Hipparchus, whose fame he -revered, and whose labours (with his own) he transmitted to posterity. -Each of these men may be regarded as advancing some portion of the -universal plan of Aristotle. - -Another philosophy, Stoicism, had already reached a wide acceptance. As -for the causes of this, doubtless the decline of Greek civic freedom -before the third century B.C., had tended to throw thoughtful men back -upon their inner life; and those who had lost their taste for the popular -religion, needed a philosophy to live by. Stoicism became especially -popular among the Romans. It was ethics, a philosophy of practice rather -than of knowledge. The Stoic looked out upon the world from the inner -fortress of the human will. That guarded or rather constituted his -well-being. He cared for such knowledge, call it instruction rather, as -would make good the principle that human well-being lay in the rightly -self-directing will. He did not seriously care for metaphysics, or for -knowledge of the natural world, save as one or the other subserved the -ends of his philosophy as a guide of life. Thus the Stoic physics, so -important a part in the Stoic system, was inspired by utilitarian motives -and deflected from unprejudiced observation by teleological considerations -and reflections on the dispensations of Providence. Of course, some of the -Stoics show a further range of intellectual interest; Seneca, for example, -who was a fine moralist and wrote beautiful essays upon the conduct of -life. He, like a number of other people, composed a book of _Quaestiones -naturales_, which was chiefly devoted to the weather, a subject always -very close to man. But he was not a serious meteorologist. For him the -interest of the fact lay rather in its use or in its moral bearing. After -Seneca the Stoic interest in fact narrows still further, as with Epictetus -and Marcus Aurelius. - -Like things might be said of the school of Epicurus, a child of different -colour, yet birthmate of the Stoa. For in that philosophy as in Stoicism, -all knowledge beyond ethics had a subordinate role. As a Stoic or -Epicurean, a man was not likely to contribute to the advance of any branch -of science. Yet habits of eclectic thought and common curiosity, or call -it love of knowledge, made many nominal members of these schools eager -students and compilers from the works of others. - -We have yet to speak of the system most representative of latter-day -paganism, and of enormous import for the first thousand years of Christian -thought. Neo-Platonism was the last great creation of Greek philosophy. -More specifically, it was the noblest product of that latter-day paganism -which was yearning somewhat distractedly, impelled by cravings which -paganism could neither quench nor satisfy. - -Spirit is; it is the Real. It makes the body, thereby presenting itself in -sensible form; it is not confined by body or dependent on body as its -cause or necessary ground. In many ways men have expressed, and will -express hereafter, the creative or causal antecedence of the spiritual -principle. In many ways they have striven to establish this principle in -God who is Spirit, or in the Absolute One. Many also have been the -processes of individualization and diverse the mediatorial means, through -which philosopher, apostle, or Church Doctor has tried to bring this -principle down to man, and conceive him as spirit manifesting an -intelligible selfhood through the organs of sense. Platonism was a -beautiful, if elusive, expression of this endeavour, and Neo-Platonism a -very palpable although darkening statement of the same. - -All men, except fools, have their irrational sides. Who does not believe -what his reason shall labour in vain to justify? Such belief may have its -roots spread through generalizations broader than any specific rational -processes of which the man is conscious. And a man is marked by the -character of his supra-rational convictions, or beliefs or credulous -conjectures. One thinks how Plato wove and coloured his dialectic, and -angled with it, after those transcendencies that he well knew could never -be so hooked and taken. His conviction--non-dialectical--of the supreme -and beautiful reality of spirit led him on through all his arguments, some -of which appear as playful, while others are very earnest. - -Less elusive than Plato's was the supra-rationality of his distant -disciple, the Egyptian Plotinus (died 270), creator of Neo-Platonism. With -him the supra-rational represented an _elan_, a reaching beyond the -clearly seen or clearly known, to the Spirit itself. He had a disciple -Porphyry, like himself a sage--and yet a different sage. Porphyry's -supra-rationalities hungered for many things from which his rational -nature turned askance. But he has a disciple, Iamblicus by name, whose -rational nature not only ceases to protest, but of its free will -prostitutes itself in the service of unreason. - -The synthetic genius of Plotinus enabled him to weave into his system -valuable elements from Aristotle and the Stoics. But he was above all a -Platonist. He presents the spiritual triad: the One, the Mind, the Soul. -From the One comes the Mind, that is, the Nous, which embraces the -totality of the knowable or intelligible, to wit, the Cosmos of Ideas. -From that, come the Soul of the World and the souls of men. Matter, which -is no-thing, gains form and partial reality when _informed_ with soul. -Plotinus's attitude toward knowledge of the concrete natural or historic -fact, displays a transcendental indifference exceeding that of Plato. -Perceptible facts with him are but half-real manifestations of the -informing spirit. They were quite plastic, malleable, reducible. Moreover, -thoughts of the evil of the multiple world of sense held for Plotinus and -his followers a bitterness of ethical unreality which Plato was too great -an Athenian to feel. - -Dualistic ethics which find in matter the principle of unreality or evil, -diminish the human interest in physical fact. The ethics of Plotinus -consisted in purification and detachment from things of sense. This is -asceticism. And Plotinus was an ascetic, not through endeavour, but from -contempt. He did not struggle to renounce the world, but despised it with -the spontaneity of a sublimated temperament. He seemed like a man ashamed -of being in the body, Porphyry says of him. Nor did he wish to cure any -contemptible bodily ailments, or wash his wretched body. - -Plotinus's Absolute, the First or One, might not be grasped by reason. Yet -to approach and contemplate It was the best for man. Life's crown was the -ecstasy of the supra-rational and supra-intelligible vision of It. This -Plotinean irrationality was lofty; but it was too transcendent, too -difficult, and too unrelated to the human heart, to satisfy other men. No -fear but that his followers would bring it down to the level of _their_ -irrational tendencies. - -The borrowed materials of this philosophy were made by its founder into a -veritable system. It included, potentially at least, the popular beliefs, -which, however, interested this metaphysical Copt very little. But in -those superstitious centuries, before as well as after him, these cruder -elements were gathered and made much of by men of note. There was a -tendency to contrast the spiritual and real with the manifold of material -nonentity, and a cognate tendency to emphasize the opposition between the -spiritual and good, and the material and evil, or between opposing -spiritual principles. With less metaphysical people such opposition would -take more entrancing shapes in the battles of gods and demons. Probably it -would cause ascetic repression of the physical passions. Both tendencies -had shown themselves before Plotinus came to build them into his system. -Friend Plutarch, for instance, of Chaeroneia, was a man of pleasant temper -and catholic curiosity. His philosophy was no great matter. He was gently -credulous, and interested in anything marvellous and every imaginable god -and demon. This good Greek was no ascetic, and yet had much to say of the -strife between the good and evil principle. Like thoughts begat asceticism -in men of a different temperament; for instance in the once famous -Apollonius of Tyana and others, who were called Neo-Pythagoreans, whatever -that meant. Such men had also their irrationalities, which perhaps made up -the major part of their natures. They did indeed belong to those centuries -when Astrology flourished at the imperial Court,[38] and every mode of -magic mystery drew its gaping votaries; when men were ravenously drawing -toward everything, except the plain concrete fact steadily viewed and -quietly reasoned on. - -But it was within the schools of Neo-Platonism, in the generations after -Plotinus, that these tendencies flourished, beneath the shelter of his -elastic principles. Here three kindred currents made a resistless stream: -a transcendental, fact-compelling dialectic; unveiled recognition of the -supreme virtue of supra-rational convictions and experiences; and an -asceticism which contemned matter and abhorred the things of sense. What -more was needed to close the faculties of observation, befool the reason, -and destroy knowledge in the end? - -Porphyry and Iamblicus show the turning of the tide. The first of these -was a Tyrian, learned, intelligent, austere. His life extends from about -the year 232 to the year 300. His famous _Introduction_ to the -_Categories_ of Aristotle was a corner-stone of the early mediaeval -knowledge of logic. He wrote a keenly rational work against the -Christians, in which his critical acumen pointed out that the Book of -Daniel was not composed before the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. He did -much to render intelligible the writings of his master Plotinus, and made -a compend of Neo-Platonism in the form of _Sentences_. These survive, as -well as his work on _Abstinence from Eating Flesh_, and other treatises, -allegorical and philosophic. - -He was to Plotinus as Soul, in the Neo-Platonic system, was to Mind--Soul -which somehow was darkly, passionately tangled in the body of which it was -the living principle. The individual soul of Porphyry wrestled with all -the matters which the mind of Plotinus made slight account of. Plotinus -lived aloof in a region of metaphysics warmed with occasional ecstasy. -Porphyry, willy nilly, was drawn down to life, and suffered all the pain -of keen mentality when limed and netted with the anxieties of common -superstitions. He was forever groping in a murky atmosphere. He could not -clear himself of credulity, deny and argue as he might. Nor could -asceticism pacify his mind. Philosophically he followed Plotinus's -teachings, and understood them too, which was a marvel. Many of his own, -or possibly reflected, thoughts are excellent. No Christian could hold a -more spiritual conception of sacrifice than Porphyry when thinking of the -worship of the Mind--the Nous or Second God. Offer to it silence and -chaste thought, which will unite us to it, and make us like itself. The -perfect sacrifice is to disengage the soul from passions.[39] What could -be finer? And again says Porphyry: The body is the soul's garment, to be -laid aside; the wise man needs only God; evil spirits have no power over a -pure soul. But, but, but--at his last statement Porphyry's confidence -breaks. He is worried because it is so hard to know the good from evil -demons; and the latter throng the temples, and must be exorcised before -the true God will appear. This same man had said that God's true temple -was the wise man's soul! Alas! Porphyry's nature reeks with -contradictions. His letter to the Egyptian priest, Anebo, consists of -sharply-put questions as to the validity of any kind of theurgy or -divination. How can men know anything as to these things? What reason to -suppose that this, that, or the other rite--all anxiously enumerated--is -rightly directed or has effect? None! none! none! such is the answer -expected by the questions. - -But Porphyry's own soul answers otherwise. His works--the _De abstinentia_ -for example--teem with detailed and believing discussion of every kind of -theurgic practice and magic rite, whereby the divine and demonic natures -may be moved. He believed in oracles and sorcery. Vainly did the more -keenly intellectual side of his nature seek to hold such matters at arm's -length; his other instincts hungered for them, craved to touch and taste -and handle, as the child hankers for what is forbidden. There is -angel-lore, but far more devil-lore, in Porphyry, and below the earth the -demons have their realm, and at their head a demon-king. Thus organized, -these malformed devil-shapes torment the lives of men, malignant -deceivers, spiteful trippers-up, as they are. - -Such a man beset by demons (which his intelligence declares to have no -power over him!), such a man, austere and grim, would practise fanatically -the asceticism recognized so calmly by the system of Plotinus. With -Porphyry, strenuously, anxiously, the upper grades of virtue become -violent purification and detachment from things of sense. Here he is in -grim earnest. - -It is wonderful that this man should have had a critical sense of historic -fact, as when he saw the comparatively late date of the Book of Daniel. He -could see the holes in others' garments. But save for some such polemic -purpose, the bare, crude fact interests him little. He is an elaborate -fashioner of allegory, and would so interpret the fictions of the poets. -Plotinus, when it suited him, had played with myths, like Plato. No such -light hand, and scarcely concealed smile, has Porphyry. As for physical -investigations, they interest him no more seriously than they did his -master, and when he touches upon natural fact he is as credulous as Pliny. -"The Arabians," says he, "understand the speech of crows, and the -Tyrrhenians that of eagles; and perhaps we and all men would understand -all living beings if a dragon licked our ears."[40] - -These inner conflicts darkened Porphyry's life, and doubtless made some of -the motives which were turning his thoughts to suicide, when Plotinus -showed him that this was not the true way of detachment. There was no -conflict, but complete surrender, and happy abandonment in Iamblicus the -Divine ([Greek: theios]) who when he prayed might be lifted ten cubits -from the ground--so thought his disciples--and around whose theurgic -fingers, dabbling in a magic basin of water, Cupids played and kissed each -other. His life, told by the Neo-Platonic biographer, Eunapius, is as full -of miracle as the contemporary Life of St. Antony by Athanasius. Iamblicus -floats before us a beautiful and marvellously garbed priest, a dweller in -the recesses of temples. He frankly gave himself to theurgy, convinced -that the Soul needs the aid of every superhuman being--hero, god, demon, -angel.[41] He was credulous on principle. It is of first importance, he -writes, that the devotee should not let the marvellous character of an -occurrence arouse incredulity within him. He needs above all a "science" -([Greek: episteme]) which shall teach him to disbelieve nothing as to the -gods.[42] For the divine principle is essentially miraculous, and magic is -the open door, yes, and the way up to it, the anagogic path. - -All this and more besides is set forth in the _De mysteriis_, the chief -composition of his school. It was the answer to that doubting letter of -Porphyry to Anebo, and contains full proof and exposition of the occult -art of moving god or demon. We all have an inborn knowledge ([Greek: -emphytos gnosis])[43] of the gods. But it is not thought or contemplation -that unites us to them; it is the power of the theurgic rite or cabalistic -word, understood only by the gods. We cannot understand the reason of -these acts and their effects.[44] - -There is no lower depth. Plotinus's reason-surpassing vision of the One -(which represents in him the principle of irrationality) is at last -brought down to the irrational act, the occult magic deed or word. Truly -the worshipper needs his best credulity--which is bespoken by Iamblicus -and by this book. The work seems to argue, somewhat obscurely, that the -prayer or invocation or rite, does not actually draw the god to us, but -draws us toward the god, making our wills fit to share in his. The writer -of such a work is likely to be confused in his statement of principles; -but will expand more genially when expounding the natures of demons, -heroes, angels, and gods, and the effect of them upon humanity. Perhaps -the matter still seems dark; but the picturesque details are bright -enough. For the writer describes the manifestations and apparitions of -these beings--their [Greek: epiphaneiai] and [Greek: phasmata]. The -apparitions of the gods are [Greek: monoeide], simple and uniform: those -of the demons are [Greek: poikila], that is, various and manifold; those -of the angels are more simple than those of the demons, but inferior to -those of the gods. The archangels in their apparitions are more like the -gods; while the [Greek: archontes], the "governors," have variety and yet -order. The gods as they appear to men, are radiant with divine effulgence, -the archangels terrible yet kind; the demons are frightful, producing -perturbation and terror--on all of which the work enlarges. Speaking more -specifically of the effect of these apparitions on the thaumaturgist, the -writer says that visions of the gods bring a mighty power, and divine love -and joy ineffable; the archangels bring steadfastness and power of will -and intellectual contemplation; the angels bring rational wisdom and truth -and virtue. But the vision of demons brings the desires of sense and the -vigour to fulfil them. - -So low sank Neo-Platonism in pagan circles. Of course it did not create -this mass of superstitious fantasy. It merely fell in cordially, and over -every superstition flung the justification of its principles. In the -process it changed from a philosophy to a system of theurgic practice. The -common superstitions of the time, or their like, were old enough. But -now--and here was the portentous fact--they had wound themselves into the -natures of intellectual people; and Neo-Platonism represents the chief -formal facilitation of this result. - -A contemporary phenomenon, and perhaps the most popular of pagan cults in -the third and fourth centuries, was the worship of Mithra, around which -Neo-Platonism could throw its cloak as well as around any other form of -pagan worship. Mithraism, a partially Hellenized growth from the old -Mazdaean (even Indo-Iranian) faith, had been carried from one boundary of -the Empire to the other, by soldiers or by merchants who had imbibed its -doctrines in the East. It shot over the Empire like a flame. A warrior -cult, the late pagan emperors gave it their adhesion. It was, in fine, the -pagan Antaeus destined to succumb in the grasp of the Christian Hercules. - -With it, or after it, came Manicheism, also from the East. This was quite -as good a philosophy as the Neo-Platonism of Iamblicus. The system called -after Manes was a crass dualism, containing fantastic and largely borrowed -speculation as to the world and man. Satan was there and all his devils. -He was the begetter of mankind, in Adam. But Satan himself, in previous -struggles with good angels, had gained some elements of light; and these -passed into Adam's nature. Eve, however, is sensuality. After man's -engendering, the strife begins between the good and evil spirits to -control his lot. In ethics, of course, Manicheism was dualistic and -ascetic, like Neo-Platonism, and also like the Christianity of the Eastern -and Western Empire. Manicheism, unlike Mithraism, was not to succumb, but -merely to retreat before Christianity. Again and again from the East, -through the lower confines of the present Russia, through Hungary, it made -advance. The Bogomiles were its children; likewise the Cathari in the -north of Italy, and the Albigenses of Provence.[45] - -Platonism, Stoicism, Neo-Platonism, Mithraism, and Manicheism, these -names, taken for simplicity's sake, serve to indicate the mind and temper -of the educated world in which Christianity was spreading. Obviously the -Christian Fathers' ways of thinking were given by all that made up their -environment, their education, their second natures. They were men of -their period, and as Christians their intellectual standards did not rise -nor their understanding of fact alter, although their approvals and -disapprovals might be changed. Their natures might be stimulated and -uplifted by the Faith and its polemic ardours, and yet their manner of -approaching and apprehending facts, _its_ facts, for example, might -continue substantially those of their pagan contemporaries or -predecessors. - -In the fourth century the leaders of the Church both in the East and West -were greater men than contemporary pagan priests or philosophers or -rhetoricians. For the strongest minds had enlisted on the Christian side, -and a great cause inspired their highest energies with an efficient -purpose. There is no comparison between Athanasius, Basil, Gregory -Nazianzen, Gregory of Nyssa and Chrysostom in the East; Ambrose, Jerome, -and Augustine in the West; and pagans, like Libanius, the favourite of the -Emperor Julian, or even Julian himself, or Symmachus, the opponent of St. -Ambrose in the cause of the pagan Altar of Victory. That was a lost cause, -and the cause of paganism was becoming more and more broken, dissipated, -uninspiring. Nevertheless, in spite of the superiority of the Christian -doctors, in spite also of the mighty cause which marshalled their -endeavours so efficiently, they present, both in their higher intelligence -and their lower irrationalities, abundant likeness to the pagans. - -It has appeared that metaphysical interests absorbed the attention of -Plotinus, who has nevertheless his supreme irrationality atop of all. -Porphyry also possessed a strong reasoning nature, but was drawn -irresistibly to all the things, gods, demons, divination and theurgy, of -which one half of him disapproved. Plotinus, quite in accordance with his -philosophic principles, has an easy contempt for physical life. With -Porphyry this has become ardent asceticism. It was also remarked that -Plotinus's system was a synthesis of much antecedent thought; and that its -receptivity was rendered extremely elastic by the Neo-Platonic principle -that man's ultimate approach to God lay through ecstasy and not through -reason. Herein, rather latent and not yet sorely taxed, was a broad -justification of common beliefs and practices. To all these Iamblicus -gladly opened the door. Rather than a philosopher, he was a priest, a -thaumaturgist and magician. Finally, it is obvious that neither Iamblicus -nor Porphyry nor Plotinus was primarily or even seriously interested in -any clear objective knowledge of material facts. Plotinus merely noticed -them casually in order to illustrate his principles, while Iamblicus -looked to them for miracles. - -Christianity as well as Neo-Platonism was an expression of the principle -that life's primordial reality is spirit. And likewise with Christians, as -with Neo-Platonists, phases of irrationality may be observed in ascending -and descending order. At the summit the sublimest Christian -supra-rationality, the love of God, uplifts itself. From that height the -irrational conviction grades down to credulity preoccupied with the -demoniacal and miraculous. Fruitful comparisons may be drawn between -Neo-Platonists and Christian doctors.[46] - -Origen (died 253), like Plotinus, of Coptic descent, and the most -brilliant genius of the Eastern Church, was by some fifteen years the -senior of the Neo-Platonist. It is not certain that either of them -directly influenced the other. In intellectual power the two were peers. -Both were absorbed in the higher phases of their thought, but neither -excluded the more popular beliefs from the system which he was occupied in -constructing. Plotinus had no mind to shut the door against the beliefs of -polytheism; and Origen accepted on his part the demons and angels of -current Christian credence.[47] In fact, he occupied himself with them -more than Plotinus did with the gods of the Hellenic pantheon. Of course -Origen, like every other Christian doctor, had his fundamental and saving -irrationality in his acceptance of the Christian revelation and the risen -Christ. This had already taken its most drastic form in the _credo quia -absurdum_ of Tertullian the Latin Father, who was twenty-five years his -senior. Herein one observes the acceptance of the miraculous on principle. -That the great facts of the Christian creed were beyond the proof or -disproof of reason was a principle definitely accepted by all the Fathers. - -Further, since all Catholic Christians accepted the Scriptures as revealed -truth, they were obliged to accept many things which their reason, -unaided, might struggle with in vain. Here was a large opportunity, as to -which Christians would act according to their tempers, in emphasizing and -amplifying the authoritative or miraculous, _i.e._ irrational, element. -And besides, outside even of these Scriptural matters and their -interpretations, there would be the general question of the educated -Christian's interest in the miraculous. Great mental power and devotion to -the construction of dogma by no means precluded a lively interest in this, -as may be seen in that very miraculous life of St. Anthony, written -probably by Athanasius himself. This biography is more preoccupied with -the demoniacal and miraculous than Porphyry's _Life of Plotinus_; indeed -in this respect it is not outdone by Eunapius's _Life of Iamblicus_. -Turning to the Latin West, one may compare with them that charming -prototypal Vita Sancti, the _Life of St. Martin_ by Sulpicius Severus.[48] -A glance at these writings shows a similarity of interest with Christian -and Neo-Platonist, and in both is found the same unquestioning acceptance -of the miraculous. - -Thus one observes how the supernatural manifestation, the miraculous -event, was admitted and justified on principle in both the Neo-Platonic -and the Christian system. In both, moreover, metaphysical or symbolizing -tendencies had withdrawn attention from a close scrutiny of any fact, -observed, imagined, or reported. With both, the primary value of -historical or physical fact lay in its illumination of general convictions -or accepted principles. And with both, the supernatural fact was the fact -_par excellence_, in that it was the direct manifestation of the divine or -spiritual power. - -Iamblicus had announced that man must not be incredulous as to superhuman -beings and their supernatural doings. On the Christian side, there was no -bit of popular credence in miracle or magic mystery, or any notion as to -devils, angels, and departed saints, for which justification could not be -found in the writings of the great Doctors of the Church. These learned -and intellectual men evince different degrees of interest in such matters; -but none stands altogether aloof, or denies _in toto_. No evidence is -needed here. A broad illustration, however, lies in the fact that before -the fourth century the chief Christian rites had become sacramental -mysteries, necessarily miraculous in their nature and their efficacy. This -was true of Baptism; it was more stupendously true of the Eucharist. -Mystically, but none the less really, and above all inevitably, the bread -and wine have miraculously become the body and the blood. The process, one -may say, began with Origen; with Cyril of Jerusalem it is completed; -Gregory of Nyssa regards it as a continuation of the verity of the -Incarnation, and Chrysostom is with him.[49] One pauses to remark that the -relationship between the pagan and Christian mysteries was not one of -causal antecedence so much as one of analogous growth. A pollen of terms -and concepts blew hither and thither, and effected a cross-fertilization -of vigorously growing plants. The life-sap of the Christian mysteries, as -with those of Mithra, was the passion for a symbolism of the unknown and -the inexpressible. - -But one must not stop here. The whole Christian Church, as well as -Porphyry and Iamblicus, accepted angels and devils, and recognized their -intervention or interference in human affairs. Then displacing the local -pagan divinities come the saints, and Mary above all. They are honoured, -they are worshipped. Only an Augustine has some gentle warning to utter -against carrying these matters to excess. - -In connection with all this, one may notice an illuminating point, or -rather motive. In the third and fourth centuries the common yearning of -the Graeco-Roman world was for an approach to God; it was looking for the -anagogic path, the way up from man and multiplicity to unity and God. An -absorbing interest was taken in the means. Neo-Platonism, the creature of -this time, whatever else it was, was mediatorial, a system of mediation -between man and the Absolute First Principle. Passing halfway over from -paganism to Christianity, the Celestial Hierarchy of Pseudo-Dionysius is -also essentially a system of mediation, which has many affinities (as well -it might!) with the system of Plotinus.[50] Within Catholic Christianity -the great work of Athanasius was to establish Christ's sole and -all-sufficient mediation. Catholicism was permanently set upon the -mediatorship of Christ, God and man, the one God-man reconciling the -nature which He had veritably, and not seemingly, assumed, to the divine -substance which He had never ceased to be. Athanasius's struggle for this -principle was bitter and hard-pressed, because within Christianity as well -as without, men were demanding easier and more tangible stages and means -of mediation. - -Of such, Catholic Christianity was to recognize a vast multitude, perhaps -not dogmatically as a necessary part of itself; but practically and -universally. Angels, saints, the Virgin over all, are mediators between -man and God. This began to be true at an early period, and was established -before the fourth century.[51] Moreover, every bit of rite and mystery and -miracle, as in paganism, so in Catholicism, was essentially a means of -mediation, a way of bringing the divine principle to bear on man and his -affairs, and so of bringing man within the sphere of the divine -efficiency. - -Let us make some further Christian comparisons with our Neo-Platonic -friends Plotinus, Porphyry, and Iamblicus. As we have adduced Origen, it -would also be easy to find other parallels from the Eastern Church. But as -the purpose is to mark the origin of the intellectual tendencies of the -Western Middle Ages, we may at once draw examples from the Latin Fathers. -For their views set the forms of mediaeval intellectual interests, and for -centuries directed and even limited the mediaeval capacity for -apprehending whatever it was given to the Middle Ages to set themselves to -know. To pass thus from the East to the West is permissible, since the -same pagan cults and modes of thought passed from one boundary of the -Empire to the other. Plotinus himself lived and taught in Rome for the -last twenty-five years of his life, and there wrote his _Enneads_ in -Greek. So on the Christian side, the Catholic Church throughout the East -and West presents a solidarity of development, both as to dogma and -organization, and also as to popular acceptances. - -Let us train our attention upon some points of likeness between Plotinus -and St. Augustine. The latter's teachings contain much Platonism; and with -this greatest of Latin Fathers, who did not read much Greek, Platonism was -inextricably mingled with Neo-Platonism. It is possible to search the -works of Augustine and discover this, that, or the other statement -reflecting Plato or Plotinus.[52] Yet their most interesting effect on -Augustine will not be found in Platonic theorems consciously followed or -abjured by the latter. Platonism was "in the air," at least was in the air -breathed by an Augustine. Our specific bishop of Hippo knew little of -Plato's writings. But Plato had lived: his thoughts had influenced many -generations, and in their diffusion had been modified, and had lost many a -specific feature. Thereafter Plotinus had constructed Neo-Platonism; that -too had permeated the minds of many, itself loosened in the process. These -views, these phases of thought and mood, were held or felt by many men, -who may not have known their source. And Augustine was not only part of -all this, but in mind and temper was Platonically inclined. Thus the most -important elements of Platonism and Neo-Platonism in Augustine were his -cognate spiritual mood and his attitude toward the world of physical fact. - -Note the personal affinity between Augustine and Plotinus. Both are -absorbed in the higher pointings of their thought; neither is much -occupied with its left-handed relationships, which, however, are by no -means to be disowned. The minds and souls of both are set upon God the -Spirit; the minds and eyes of both are closed to the knowledge of the -natural world. Thus neither Plotinus nor Augustine was much affected by -the popular beliefs of Christianity or paganism. The former cared little -for demon-lore or divination, and was not seriously touched by polytheism. -No more was the latter affected by the worship of saints and relics, or by -other elements of Christian credulity, which when brought to his attention -pass from his mind as quickly as his duties of Christian bishop will -permit. - -But it was _half_ otherwise with Porphyry, and altogether otherwise with -Iamblicus. The first of these was drawn, repelled, and tortured by the -common superstitions, especially the magic and theurgy which made men -gape; but Iamblicus gladly sported in these mottled currents. On the -Christian side, Jerome might be compared with them, or a later man, the -last of the Latin Fathers, Gregory the Great. Clear as was the temporal -wisdom of this great pope, and heavy as were his duties during the -troubled times of his pontificate (590-604), still his mind was busy with -the miraculous and diabolic. His mind and temperament have absorbed at -least the fruitage of prior superstitions, whether Christian or pagan need -not be decided. He certainly was not influenced by Iamblicus. Nor need one -look upon these phases of his nature as specifically the result of the -absorption of pagan elements. He and his forebears had but gone the path -of credulity and mortal blindness, thronged by both pagans and Christians. -And so in Gregory the tendencies making for intellectual obliquity do -their perfect work. His religious dualism is strident; his resultant -ascetism is extreme; and finally the symbolical, the allegorical, habit -has shut his mind to the perception of the literal (shall we say, actual) -meaning, when engaged with Scripture, as his great Commentary on Job bears -witness. The same tendencies, but usually in milder type, had shown -themselves with Augustine, who, in these respects, stands to Gregory as -Plotinus to Iamblicus. Augustine can push allegory to absurdity; he can -be ascetic; he is dualistic. But all these things have not barbarized his -mind, as they have Gregory's.[53] Similarly the elements, which in -Plotinus's personality were held in innocuous abeyance, dominated the -entire personality of Iamblicus, and made him a high priest of folly. - -Thus we have observed the phases of thought which set the intellectual -conditions of the later pagan times, and affected the mental processes of -the Latin Fathers. The matter may be summarized briefly in conclusion. -Platonism had created an intellectual and intelligible world, wherein a -dissolving dialectic turned the cognition of material phenomena into a -reflection of the mind's ideals. This was more palpable in Neo-Platonism -than it had been in Plato's system. Stoicism on the other hand represented -a rule of life, the sanction of which was inner peace. Its working -principle was the rightly directed action of the self-controlling will. -Fundamentally ethical, it set itself to frame a corresponding conception -of the universe. Platonism and Neo-Platonism found in material facts -illustrations or symbols of ideal truths and principles of human life. -Stoicism was interested in them as affording a foundation for ethics. None -of these systems was seriously interested in facts apart from their -symbolical exemplification of truth, or their bearing on the conduct of -life; and the same principles that affected the observation of nature were -applied to the interpretation of myth, tradition, and history. - -In the opening centuries of the Christian Era the world was becoming less -self-reliant. It was tending to look to authority for its peace of mind. -In religion men not only sought, as formerly, for superhuman aid, but were -reaching outward for what their own rational self-control no longer gave. -They needed not merely to be helped by the gods, but to be sustained and -saved. Consequently, prodigious interest was taken in the means of -bringing man to the divine, and obtaining the saving support which the -gods alone could give. The philosophic thought of the time became palpably -mediatorial. Neo-Platonism was a system of mediation between man and the -Absolute First Principle; and soon its lower phases became occupied with -such palpable means as divination and oracles, magic and theurgy. - -The human reason has always proved unable to effect this mediation between -man and God. The higher Neo-Platonism presented as the furthest goal a -supra-rational and ecstatic vision. This was its union with the divine. -The lower Neo-Platonism turned this lofty supra-rationality into a -principle of credulity more and more agape for fascinating or helpful -miracles. Thus a constant looking for divine or demonic action became -characteristic of the pagan intelligence. - -The Gospel of Christ, in spreading throughout the pagan world, was certain -to gather to itself the incidents of its apprehension by pagans, and take -various forms, one of which was to become the dominant or Catholic. -Conversely, Christians (and we have in mind the educated people) would -retain their methods of thinking in spite of change in the contents of -their thought. This would be true even of the great and learned Christian -leaders, the Fathers of the Church. At the same time the Faith reinspired -and redirected their energies. Yet (be it repeated for the sake of -emphasis) their mental processes, their ways of apprehending and -appreciating facts, would continue those of that paganism which in them -had changed to Christianity. - -Every phase of intellectual tendency just summarized as characteristic of -the pagan world, entered the modes in which the Fathers of the Latin -Church apprehended and built out their new religion. First of all, the -attitude toward knowledge. No pagan philosophy, not Platonism or any -system that came after it, had afforded an incentive for concentration of -desire equal to that presented in the person and the precepts of Jesus. -The desire of the Kingdom of Heaven was a master-motive such as no -previous idealism had offered. It would bring into conformity with itself -not only all the practical considerations of life, but verily the whole -human desire to know. First it mastered the mind of Tertullian; and in -spite of variance and deviation it endured through the Middle Ages as the -controlling principle of intellectual effort. Its decree was this: the -knowledge which men need and should desire is that which will help them -to save and perfect their souls for the Kingdom of God. Some would -interpret this broadly, others narrowly; some would actually be -constrained by it, and others merely do it a polite obeisance. But -acknowledged it was by well-nigh all men, according to their individual -tempers and the varying times in which they lived. - -Platonism was an idealistic cosmos; Stoicism a cosmos of subjective ethics -and teleological conceptions of the physical world. The furthest outcome -of both might be represented by Augustine's cosmos of the soul and God. As -for reasoning processes, inwardly inspired and then applied to the world -of nature and history, Christianity combined the idealizing, -fact-compelling ways of Platonic dialectic with the Stoical interest in -moral edification. And, more utterly than either Platonist or Stoic, the -Christian Father lacked interest in knowledge of the concrete fact for its -own sake. His mental glance was even more oblique than theirs, fixed as it -was upon the moral or spiritual--the anagogic--inference. Of course he -carried symbolism and allegory further than Stoic and Platonist had done, -one reason being that he was impelled by the specific motive of -harmonizing the Old Testament with the Gospel, and thereby proving the -divine mission of Jesus. - -Idealism might tend toward dualistic ethics, and issue in asceticism, as -was the tendency in Stoicism and the open result with Plotinus and his -disciples. Such, with mightier power and firmer motive, was the outcome of -Christian ethics, in monasticism. Christianity was not a dualistic -philosophy; but neither was Stoicism nor Neo-Platonism. Yet, like them, it -was burningly dualistic in its warfare against the world, the flesh, and -the devil. - -We turn to other but connected matters: salvation, mediatorship, theory -and practice. The need of salvation made men Christians; the God-man was -the one and sufficient mediator between man and God. Such was the high -dogma, established with toil and pain. And the practice graded downward to -mediatorial persons, acts, and things, marvellous, manifold, and utterly -analogous to their pagan kin. The mediatorial persons were the Virgin and -the saints; the sacraments were the magic mediatorial acts; the relic was -the magic mediatorial thing. And, as with Neo-Platonism, there was in -Christianity a principle of supra-rational belief in all these matters. At -the top the revelation of Christ, and the high love of God which He -inspired. This was not set on reason, but above it. And, as with -Neo-Platonism, the supra-rational principle of Christianity was led down -through conduits of credulity, resembling those we have become familiar -with in our descent from Plotinus to Iamblicus. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -INTELLECTUAL INTERESTS OF THE LATIN FATHERS - - -So it was that the intellectual conditions of the Roman Empire affected -the attitude of the Church Fathers toward knowledge, and determined their -ways of apprehending fact. There was, indeed, scarcely a spiritual -tendency or way of thinking, in the surrounding paganism, that did not -enter their mental processes and make part of their understanding of -Christianity. On the other hand, the militant and polemic position of the -Church in the Empire furnished new interests, opened new fields of effort, -and produced new modes of intellectual energy. And every element emanating -from the pagan environment was, on entering the Christian pale, reinspired -by Christian necessities and brought into a working concord with the -master-motive of the Faith. - -Salvation was the master Christian motive. The Gospel of Christ was a -gospel of salvation unto eternal life. It presented itself in the -self-sacrifice of divine love, not without warnings touching its -rejection. It was understood and accepted according to the capacities of -those to whom it was offered, capacities which it should reinspire and -direct anew, and yet not change essentially. The young Christian -communities had to adjust their tempers to the new Faith. They also fell -under the unconscious need of defining it, in order to satisfy their own -intelligence and present it in a valid form to the minds of men as yet -unconverted. Consequently, the new Gospel of Salvation drew the energies -of Christian communities to the work of defining that which they had -accepted, and of establishing its religious and rational validity. The -intellectual interests of these communities were first unified by the -master-motive of salvation, and then ordered and redirected according to -the doctrinal and polemic exigencies of this new Faith precipitated into -the Graeco-Roman world. - -The intellectual interests of the Christian Fathers are not to be -classified under categories of desire to know, for the sake of knowledge, -but under categories of desire to be saved, and to that end possess -knowledge in its saving forms. Their desire was less to know, than to know -how--how to be saved and contribute to the salvation of others. Their need -rightly to understand the Faith, define it and maintain it, was of such -drastic power as to force into ancillary roles every line of inquiry and -intellectual effort. This need inspired those central intellectual labours -of the Fathers which directly made for the Faith's dogmatic substantiation -and ecclesiastical supremacy; and then it mastered all provinces of -education and inquiry which might seem to possess independent intellectual -interest. They were either to be drawn to its support or discredited as -irrelevant distractions. - -This compelling Christian need did not, in fact, impress into its service -the total sum of intellectual interests among Christians. Mortal curiosity -survived, and the love of _belles lettres_. Yet its dominance was real. -The Church Fathers were absorbed in the building up of Christian doctrine -and ecclesiastical authority. The productions of Christian authorship -through the first four centuries were entirely religious, so far as the -extant works bear witness. This is true of both the Greek and the Latin -Fathers, and affords a prodigious proof that the inspiration and the -exigencies of the new religion had drawn into one spiritual vortex the -energies and interests of Christian communities. - -Some of the Fathers have left statements of their principles, coupled with -more or less intimate accounts of their own spiritual attitude. Among the -Eastern Christians Origen has already been referred to. With him -Christianity was the sum of knowledge; and his life's endeavour was to -realize this view by co-ordinating all worthy forms of knowledge within -the scheme of salvation through Christ. His mind was imbued with a vast -desire to know. This he did not derive from Christianity. But his -understanding of Christianity gave him the schematic principle guiding -his inquiries. His aim was to direct his labours with Christianity as an -end--[Greek: telikos eis christianismon], as he says so pregnantly. He -would use Greek philosophy as a propaedeutic for Christianity; he would -seek from geometry and astronomy what might serve to explain Scripture; -and so with all branches of learning.[54] - -This was the expression of a mind of prodigious energy. For more personal -disclosures we may turn at once to the Latin Fathers. Hilary, Bishop of -Poictiers (d. 367), was a foremost Latin polemicist against the Arians in -the middle of the fourth century. He was born a pagan; and in the -introductory book to his chief work, the _De Trinitate_, he tells how he -turned, with all his intellect and higher aspirations, to the Faith. -Taking a noble view of human nature, he makes bold to say that men usually -spurn the sensual and material, and yearn for a more worthy life. Thus -they have reached patience, temperance, and other virtues, believing that -death is not the end of all. He himself, however, did not rest satisfied -with the pagan religion or the teachings of pagan philosophers; but he -found doctrines to his liking in the books of Moses, and then in the -Gospel of John. It was clear to him that prophecy led up to the revelation -of Jesus Christ, and in that at length he gained a safe harbour. Thus -Hilary explains that his better aspirations had led him on and upward to -the Gospel; and when he had reached that end and unification of spiritual -yearning, it was but natural that it should thenceforth hold the sum of -his intellectual interests. - -A like result appears with greater power in Augustine. His _Confessions_ -give the mode in which his spiritual progress presented itself to him some -time after he had become a Catholic Christian.[55] His whole life sets -forth the same theme, presenting the religious passion of the man drawing -into itself his energies and interests. God and the Soul--these two would -he know, and these alone. But these alone indeed! As if they did not -embrace all life pointed and updrawn toward its salvation. God was the -overmastering object of intellectual interest and of passionate love. All -knowledge should direct itself toward knowing Him. By grace, within God's -light and love, was the Soul, knower and lover, expectant of eternal life. -Nothing that was transient could be its chief good, or its good at all -except so far as leading on to its chief good of salvation, life eternal, -in and through the Trinity. One may read Augustine's self-disclosures or -the passages containing statements of the ultimate religious principles -whereby he and all men should live, or one may proceed to examine his long -life and the vast entire product of his labour. The result will be the -same. His whole strength will be found devoted to the cause of Catholic -Church and Faith; and all his intellectual interests will be seen -converging to that end. He writes nothing save with Catholic religious -purpose; and nothing in any of his writings had interest for the writer -save as it bore upon that central aim. He may be engaged in a great work -of ultimate Christian doctrine, as in his _De Trinitate_; he may be -involved in controversy with Manichean, with Donatist or Pelagian; he may -be offering pastoral instruction, as in his many letters; he may survey, -as in the _Civitas Dei_, the whole range of human life and human -knowledge; but never does his mind really bear away from its -master-motive. - -The justification for this centering of human interests and energies lay -in the nature of the _summum bonum_ for man. According to the principles -of the _City of God_, eternal life is the supreme good and eternal death -the supreme evil. Evidently no temporal satisfaction or happiness compares -with the eternal. This is good logic; but it is enforced with arguments -drawn from the Christian temper, which viewed earth as a vale of tears. -The deep Catholic pessimism toward mortal life is Augustine's in full -measure: "Quis enim sufficit quantovis eloquentiae flumine, vitae hujus -miserias explicare?" Virtue itself, the best of mortal goods, does nothing -here on earth but wage perpetual war with vices. Though man's life is and -must be social, how filled is it with distress! The saints are blessed -with hope. And mortal good which has not that hope is a false joy and a -great misery. For it lacks the real blessedness of the soul, which is the -true wisdom that directs itself to the end where God shall be all in all -in eternal certitude and perfect peace. Here our peace is with God through -faith; and yet is rather a _solatium miseriae_ than a _gaudium -beatitudinis_, as it will be hereafter. But the end of those who do not -belong to the City of God will be _miseria sempiterna_, which is also -called the second death, since the soul alienated from God cannot be said -to live, nor that body be said to live which is enduring eternal -pains.[56] Augustine devotes a whole book, the twenty-first, to an -exposition of the sempiternal, non-purgatorial, punishment of the damned, -whom the compassionate intercession of the saints will not save, nor many -other considerations which have been deemed eventually saving by the -fondly lenient opinions of men. His views were as dark as those of Gregory -the Great. Only imaginative elaboration was needed to expand them to the -full compass of mediaeval fear. - -Augustine brought all intellectual interests into the closure of the -Christian Faith, or discredited whatever stubbornly remained without. He -did the same with ethics. For he transformed the virtues into accord with -his Catholic conception of man's chief good. That must consist in cleaving -to what is most blessed to cleave to, which is God. To Him we can cleave -only through _dilectio_, _amor_, and _charitas_. Virtue which leads us to -the _vita beata_ is nothing but _summus amor Dei_. So he defines the four -cardinal virtues anew. Temperance is love keeping itself whole and -incorrupt for God; fortitude is love easily bearing all things for God's -sake; justice is love serving God only, and for that reason rightly ruling -in the other matters, which are subject to man; and prudence is love well -discriminating between what helps and what impedes as to God (_in -deum_).[57] Conversely, the heathen virtues, as the heathen had in fact -conceived them, were vices rather than virtues to Augustine. For they -lacked knowledge of the true God, and therefore were affected with -fundamental ignorance, and were also tainted with pride.[58] Through his -unique power of religious perception, Augustine discerned the -inconsistency between pagan ethics, and the Christian thoughts of divine -grace moving the humbly and lovingly acceptant soul. - -The treatise on Christian Doctrine clearly expresses Augustine's views as -to the value of knowledge. He starts, in his usual way, from a fundamental -principle, which is here the distinction between the use of something for -a purpose and the enjoyment of something in and for itself. "To enjoy is -to cleave fast in the love of a thing for its own sake. But to use is to -employ a thing in obtaining what one loves." For an illustration he draws -upon that Christian sentiment which from the first had made the Christian -feel as a sojourner on earth.[59] - - "It is as if we were sojourners unable to live happily away from our - own country, and we wished to use the means of journeying by land and - sea to end our misery and return to our fatherland, which is to be - enjoyed. But the charm of the journey or the very movement of the - vehicle delighting us, we are taken by a froward sweetness and become - careless of reaching our own country whose sweetness would make us - happy. Now if, journeying through this world, away from God, we wish - to return to our own land where we may be happy, this world must be - used, not enjoyed; that the invisible things of God may be apprehended - through those created things before our eyes, and we may gain the - eternal and spiritual from the corporeal and temporal." - -From this illustration Augustine leaps at once to his final inference that -only the Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--is to be enjoyed.[60] It -follows as a corollary that the important knowledge for man is that which -will bring him to God surely and for eternity. Such is knowledge of Holy -Writ and its teachings. Other knowledge is valuable as it aids us to this. - -Proceeding from this point of view, Augustine speaks more specifically. To -understand Scripture one needs to know the words and also the things -referred to. Knowledge of the latter is useful, because it sheds light on -their figurative significance. For example, to know the serpent's habit of -presenting its whole body to the assailant, in order to protect its head, -helps to understand our Lord's command to be wise as serpents, and for the -sake of our Head, which is Christ, present our whole bodies to the -persecutors. Again, the statement that the serpent rids itself of its skin -by squeezing through a narrow hole, accords with the Scriptural injunction -to imitate the serpent's wisdom, and put off the old man that we may put -on the new, and in a narrow place--Enter ye in at the strait gate, says -the Lord.[61] The writer gives a rule for deciding whether in any instance -a literal or figurative interpretation of Scripture should be employed, a -rule representing a phase of the idealizing way of treating facts which -began with Plato or before him, and through many channels entered the -practice of Christian doctors. "Whatever in the divine word cannot -properly be referred to _morum honestas_ or _fidei veritas_ is to be taken -figuratively. The first pertains to love of God and one's neighbour; the -second to knowing God and one's neighbour."[62] - -Augustine then refers to matters of human invention, like the letters of -the alphabet, which are useful to know. History also is well, as it helps -us to understand Scripture; and a knowledge of physical objects will help -us to understand the Scriptural references. Likewise a moderate knowledge -of rhetoric and dialectic enables one the better to understand and expound -Scripture. Some men have made useful vocabularies of the Scriptural Hebrew -and Syriac words and compends of history, which throw light on Scriptural -questions. So, to save Christians from needless labour, I think it would -be well if some one would make a general description of unknown places, -animals, plants and minerals, and other things mentioned in Scripture; and -the same might be done as to the _numbers_ which Scripture uses. These -suggestions were curiously prophetic. Christians were soon to produce just -such compends, as will be seen when noticing the labours of Isidore of -Seville.[63] Augustine speaks sometimes in scorn and sometimes in sorrow -of those who remain ignorant of God, and learn philosophies, or deem that -they achieve something great by curiously examining into that universal -mass of matter which we call the world.[64] - -Augustine's word and his example sufficiently attest the fact that the -Christian Faith constituted the primary intellectual interest with the -Fathers. While not annihilating other activities of the mind, this -dominant interest lowered their dignity by forcing them into a common -subservience. Exerting its manifold energies in defining and building out -the Faith, in protecting it from open attack or insidious corruption, it -drew to its exigencies the whole strength of its votaries. There resulted -the perfected organization of the Catholic Church and the production of a -vast doctrinal literature. The latter may be characterized as constructive -of dogma, theoretically interpretative of Scripture, and polemically -directed against pagans, Jews, heretics or schismatics, as the case might -be. - -It was constructive of dogma through the intellectual necessity of -apprehending the Faith in concepts and modes of reasoning accepted as -valid by the Graeco-Roman world. In the dogmatic treatises emanating from -the Hellenic East, the concepts and modes of reasoning were those of the -later phases of Greek philosophy. Prominent examples are the _De -principiis_ of Origen or the _Orationes_ of Athanasius against the Arians. -For the Latin West, Tertullian's _Adversus Marcionem_ or the treatises of -Hilary and Augustine upon the Trinity serve for examples. The Western -writings are distinguished from their Eastern kin by the entry of the -juristic element, filling them with a mass of conceptions from the Roman -Law.[65] They also develop a more searching psychology. In both of these -respects, Tertullian and Augustine were the great creators. - -Secondly, this literature, at least in theory, was interpretative or -expository of Scripture. Undoubtedly Origen and Athanasius and Augustine -approached the Faith with ideas formed from philosophical study and their -own reflections; and their metaphysical and allegorical treatment of -Scripture texts elicited a significance different from the meaning which -we now should draw. Yet Christianity was an authoritatively revealed -religion, and the letter of that revelation was Holy Scripture, to wit, -the gradually formed canon of the Old and New Testaments. If the reasoning -or conclusions which resulted in the Nicene Creed were not just what -Scripture would seem to suggest, at all events they had to be and were -confirmed by Scripture, interpreted, to be sure, under the stress of -controversy and the influence of all that had gone into the intellectual -natures of the Greek and Latin Fathers. And the patristic faculty of -doctrinal exposition, that is, of reasoning constructively along the lines -of Scriptural interpretation, was marvellous. Such a writing as -Augustine's Anti-Pelagian _De spiritu et littera_ is a striking example. - -Moreover, the Faith, which is to say, the Scriptures rightly interpreted, -contained the sum of knowledge needful for salvation, and indeed -everything that men should seek to know. Therefore there was no question -possessing valid claim upon human curiosity which the Scriptures, through -their interpreters, might not be called upon to answer. For example, -Augustine feels obliged to solve through Scriptural interpretation and -inference such an apparently obscure question as that of the different -degrees of knowledge of God possessed by demons and angels.[66] Indeed, -many an unanswerable question had beset the ways by which Augustine -himself and other doctors had reached their spiritual harbourage in -Catholic Christianity. They sought to confirm from Scripture _their_ -solutions of their own doubts. At all events, from Scripture they were -obliged to answer other questioners seeking instruction or needing -refutation.[67] - -Thirdly, it is too well known to require more than a mere reminder, that -dogmatic treatises commonly were controversial or polemic, directed as -might be against pagans or Jews, or Gnostics or Manicheans, or against -Arians or Montanists or Donatists. Practically all Christian doctrine was -of militant growth, advancing by argumentative denial and then by -counter-formulation. - -As already noticed at some length, the later phases of pagan philosophic -inquiry had other motives besides the wish for knowledge. These motives -were connected with man's social welfare or his relations with -supernatural powers. The Stoical and Epicurean interest in knowledge had a -practical incentive. And Neo-Platonism was a philosophy of saving union -with the divine, rather than an open-minded search for ultimate knowledge. -But no Hellenic or quasi-Romanized philosophy so drastically drew all -subjects of speculation and inquiry within the purview and dominance of a -single motive at once intellectual and emotional as the Christian Faith. - -Naturally the surviving intellectual ardour of the Graeco-Roman world -passed into the literature of Christian doctrine. For example, the Faith, -with its master-motive of salvation, drew within its work of militant -formulation and pertinent discussion that round of intellectual interest -and energy which had issued in Neo-Platonism. Likewise such ethical -earnestness as had come down through Stoicism was drawn within the master -Christian energy. And so far as any interest survived in zoology or -physics or astronomy, it also was absorbed in curious Christian endeavours -to educe an edifying conformity between the statements or references of -Scripture and the round of phenomena of the natural world. Then history -likewise passed from heathenism to the service of the Church, and became -polemic narrative, or filled itself with edifying tales, mostly of -miracles. - -In fine, no branch of human inquiry or intellectual interest was left -unsubjugated by the dominant motives of the Faith. First of all, -philosophy itself--the general inquiry for final knowledge--no longer had -an independent existence. It had none with Hilary, none with Ambrose, and -none whatsoever with Augustine after he became a Catholic Christian. -Patristic philosophy consisted in the formulation of Christian doctrine, -which in theory was an eliciting of the truth of Scripture. It embodied -the substantial results, or survivals if one will, of Greek philosophy, so -far as it did not controvert and discard them. As for the reasoning -process, the dialectic whereby such results were reached, as -distinguished from the results themselves, that also passed into doctrinal -writings. The great Christian Fathers were masters of it. Augustine -recognized it as a proper tool; but like other tools its value was not in -itself but in its usefulness. As a tool, dialectic, or logic as it has -commonly been called, was to preserve a distinct, if not independent, -existence. Aristotle had devoted to it a group of special treatises.[68] -No one had anything to add to this Organon, or Aristotelian tool, which -was to be preserved in Latin by the Boethian translations.[69] No attempt -was made to supplant them with Christian treatises. - -So it was with elementary education. The grammarians, Servius, Priscianus, -and probably Donatus, were pagans. As far as concerned grammatical and -rhetorical studies, the Fathers had to admit that the best theory and -examples were in pagan writings. It also happened that the book which was -to become the common text-book of the Seven Arts was by a pagan, of -Neo-Platonic views. This was the _De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_, by -Martianus Capella.[70] Possibly some good Christian of the time could have -composed a worse book, or at least one somewhat more deflected from the -natural objects of primary education. But the _De nuptiis_ is -astonishingly poor and dry. The writer was an unintelligent compiler, who -took his matter not from the original sources, but from compilers before -him, Varro above all. Capella talks of Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Euclid, -Ptolemy; but if he had ever read them, it was to little profit. Book VI., -for example, is occupied with "Geometria." The first part of it is simply -geography; then come nine pages[71] of geometry, consisting of -definitions, with a few axioms; and then, instead of following with -theorems, the maid, who personifies "Geometria," presents as a bridal -offering the books of Euclid, amid great applause. Had she ever opened -them, one queries. Book VII., "Arithmetica," is even worse. It begins with -the current foolishness regarding the virtues and interesting qualities of -the first ten numbers: "How shall I commemorate thee, O Seven, always to -be revered, neither begotten like the other numbers, nor procreative, a -virgin even as Minerva?" Capella never is original. From Pythagoras on, -the curiosities of numbers had interested the pagan mind.[72] These -fantasies gained new power and application in the writings of the Fathers. -For them, the numbers used in Scripture had prefigurative significance. -Such notions came to Christianity from its environment, and then took on a -new apologetic purpose. Here an intellect like Augustine's is no whit -above its fellows. In arguing from Scripture numbers he is at his very -obvious worst.[73] Fortunately the coming time was to have better -treatises, like the _De arithmetica_ of Boethius, which was quite free -from mysticism. But in Boethius's time, as well as before and after him, -it was the allegorical significance of numbers apologetically pointed that -aroused deepest interest. - -Astronomy makes one of Capella's seven _Artes_. His eighth book, a rather -abject compilation, is devoted to it. His matter, of course, is not yet -Christianized. But Christianity was to draw Astronomy into its service; -and the determination of the date of Easter and other Church festivals -became the chief end of what survived of astronomical knowledge. - -The patristic attitude toward cosmogony and natural science plainly -appears in the _Hexaemeron_ of St. Ambrose.[74] This was a commentary on -the first chapters of Genesis, or rather an argumentative exposition of -the Scriptural account of the Creation, primarily directed against those -who asserted that the world was uncreated and eternal. As one turns the -leaves of this writing, it becomes clear that the interest of Ambrose is -always religious, and that his soul is gazing beyond the works of the -Creation to another world. He has no interest in physical phenomena, -which have no laws for him except the will of God. - - "To discuss the nature and position of the earth," says he, "does not - help us in our hope of the life to come. It is enough to know what - Scripture states, 'that He hung up the earth upon nothing' (Job xxvi. - 7). Why then argue whether He hung it up in air or upon the water, and - raise a controversy as to how the thin air could sustain the earth; or - why, if upon the waters, the earth does not go crashing down to the - bottom?... Not because the earth is in the middle, as if suspended on - even balance, but because the majesty of God constrains it by the law - of His will, does it endure stable upon the unstable and the void." - -The archbishop then explains that God did not fix the earth's stability as -an artisan would, with compass and level, but as the Omnipotent, by the -might of His command. If we would understand why the earth is unmoved, we -must not try to measure creation as with a compass, but must look to the -will of God: "voluntate Dei immobilis manet et stat in saeculum terra." -And again Ambrose asks, Why argue as to the elements which make the -heaven? Why trouble oneself with these physical inquiries? "Sufficeth for -our salvation, not such disputation, but the verity of the precepts, not -the acuteness of argument, but the mind's faith, so that rather than the -creature, we may serve the Creator, who is God blessed forever."[75] - -Thus with Ambrose, the whole creation springs from the immediate working -of God's inscrutable will. It is all essentially a miracle, like those -which He wrought in after times to aid or save men: they also were but -operations of His will. God said _Fiat lux_, and there was light. Thus His -will creates; and nature is His work (_opus Dei natura est_). And God -said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it -divide the waters from the waters; and it was so. "Hear the word, Fiat. -His will is the measure of things; His word ends the work." The division -of the waters above and beneath the firmament was a work of His will; just -as He divided the waters of the Red Sea before the eyes of the Jews in -order that those things might be believed which the Jews had not seen. He -could have saved them by another means. The fiat of God is nature's -strength (_virtus_) and the substance of its endurance (_diurnitatis -substantia_) so long as He wishes it to continue where He has appointed -it.[76] - -According to this reasoning, the miracle, except for its infrequency, is -in the same category with other occurrences. Here Ambrose is fully -supported by Augustine. With the latter, God is the source of all -causation: He is the cause of usual as well as of extraordinary -occurrences, _i.e._ miracles. The exceptional or extraordinary character -of certain occurrences is what makes them miracles.[77] - -Here are fundamental principles of patristic faith. The will of God is the -one cause of all things. It is unsearchable. But we have been taught much -regarding God's love and compassionateness, and of His desire to edify and -save His people. These qualities prompt His actions toward them. Therefore -we may expect His acts to evince edifying and saving purpose. All the -narratives of Scripture are for our edification. How many mighty saving -acts do they record, from the Creation, onward through the story of -Israel, to the birth and resurrection of Christ! And surely God still -cares for His people. Nor is there any reason to suppose that He has -ceased to edify and save them through signs and wonders. Shall we not -still look for miracles from His grace? - -Thus in the nature of Christianity, as a miraculously founded and revealed -religion, lay the ground for expecting miracles, or, at least, for not -deeming them unlikely to occur. And to the same result from all sides -conspired the influences which had been obscuring natural knowledge. We -have followed those influences in pagan circles from Plato on through -Neo-Platonism and other systems current in the first centuries of the -Christian era. We have seen them obliterate rational conceptions of -nature's processes and destroy the interest that impels to unbiassed -investigation. The character and exigencies of the Faith intensified the -operation of like tendencies among Christians. Their eyes were lifted from -the earth. They were not concerned with its transitory things, soon to be -consumed. Their hope was fixed in the assurance of their Faith; their -minds were set upon its confirmation. They and their Faith seemed to have -no use for a knowledge of earth's phenomena save as bearing illustrative -or confirmatory testimony to the truth of Scripture. Moreover, the -militant exigencies of their situation made them set excessive store on -the miraculous foundation and continuing confirmation of their religion. - -For these reasons the eyes of the Fathers were closed to the natural -world, or at least their vision was affected with an obliquity parallel to -the needs of doctrine. Any veritable physical or natural knowledge rapidly -dwindled among them. What remained continued to exist because explanatory -of Scripture and illustrative of spiritual allegories. To such an -intellectual temper nothing seems impossible, provided it accord, or can -be interpreted to accord, with doctrines elicited from Scripture. Soon -there will cease to exist any natural knowledge sufficient to distinguish -the normal and possible from the impossible and miraculous. One may recall -how little knowledge of the physiology and habits of animals was shown in -Pliny's _Natural History_.[78] He had not even a rough idea of what was -physiologically possible. Personally, he may or may not have believed that -the bowels of the field-mouse increase in number with the waxing of the -moon; but he had no sufficiently clear appreciation of the causes and -relations of natural phenomena to know that such an idea was absurd. It -was almost an accident, whether he believed it or not. It is safe to say -that neither Ambrose nor Jerome nor Augustine had any clearer -understanding of such things than Pliny. They had read far less about -them, and knew less than he. Pliny, at all events, had no motive for -understanding or presenting natural facts in any other way than as he had -read or been told about them, or perhaps had noticed for himself. -Augustine and Ambrose had a motive. Their sole interest in natural fact -lay in its confirmatory evidence of Scriptural truth. They were constantly -impelled to understand facts in conformity with their understanding of -Scripture, and to accept or deny accordingly. Thus Augustine denies the -existence of Antipodes, men on the opposite side of the earth, who walk -with their feet opposite to our own.[79] That did not harmonize with his -general conception of Scriptural cosmogony. - -For the result, one can point to a concrete instance which is typical of -much. In patristic circles the knowledge of the animal kingdom came to be -represented by the curious book called the _Physiologus_. It was a series -of descriptions of animals, probably based on stories current in -Alexandria, and appears to have been put together in Greek early in the -second century. Internal evidence has led to the supposition that it -emanated from Gnostic circles. It soon came into common use among the -Greek and Latin Fathers. Origen draws from it by name. In the West, to -refer only to the fourth and fifth centuries, Ambrose seems to use it -constantly, Jerome occasionally, and also Augustine. - -Well known as these stories are, one or two examples may be given to -recall their character: The Lion has three characteristics; as he walks or -runs he brushes his footprints with his tail, so that the hunters may not -track him. This signifies the secrecy of the Incarnation--of the Lion of -the tribe of Judah. Secondly, the Lion sleeps with his eyes open; so slept -the body of Christ upon the Cross, while His Godhead watched at the right -hand of the Father. Thirdly, the Lioness brings forth her cub dead; on the -third day the father comes and roars in its face, and wakes it to life. -This signifies our Lord's resurrection on the third day. - -The Pelican is distinguished by its love for its young. As these begin to -grow they strike at their parents' faces, and the parents strike back and -kill them. Then the parents take pity, and on the third day the mother -comes and opens her side and lets the blood flow on the dead young ones, -and they become alive again. Thus God cast off mankind after the Fall, and -delivered them over to death; but He took pity on us, as a mother, for by -the Crucifixion He awoke us with His blood to eternal life. - -The _Unicorn_ cannot be taken by hunters, because of his great strength, -but lets himself be captured by a pure virgin. So Christ, mightier than -the heavenly powers, took on humanity in a virgin's womb. - -The Phoenix lives in India, and when five hundred years old fills his -wings with fragrant herbs and flies to Heliopolis, where he commits -himself to the flames in the Temple of the Sun. From his ashes comes a -worm, which the second day becomes a fledgling, and on the third a -full-grown phoenix, who flies away to his old dwelling-place. The Phoenix -is the symbol of Christ; the two wings filled with sweet-smelling herbs -are the Old and New Testaments, full of divine teaching.[80] - -These examples illustrate the two general characteristics of the accounts -in the _Physiologus_: they have the same legendary quality whether the -animal is real or fabulous; the subjects are chosen, and the accounts are -shaped, by doctrinal considerations. Indeed, from the first the -_Physiologus_ seems to have been a selection of those animal stories which -lent themselves most readily to theological application. It would be -pointless to distinguish between the actual and fabulous in such a book; -nor did the minds of the readers make any such distinction. For Ambrose or -Augustine the importance of the story lay in its doctrinal significance, -or moral, which was quite careless of the truth of facts of which it was -the "point." The facts were told as introductory argument. - -The interest of the Fathers in physics and natural history bears analogy -to their interest in history and biography. Looking back to classical -times, one finds that historians were led by other motives than the mere -endeavour to ascertain and state the facts. The Homeric Epos was the -literary forerunner of the history which Herodotus wrote of the Persian -Wars; and the latter often was less interested in the closeness of his -facts than in their aptness and rhetorical probability. Doubtless he -followed legends when telling how Greek and Persian spoke or acted. But -had not legend already sifted the chaff of irrelevancy from the story, -leaving the grain of convincing fitness, which is also rhetorical -probability? Likewise, Thucydides, in composing the _History of the -Peloponnesian War_, that masterpiece of reasoned statement, was not -over-anxious as to accuracy of actual word and fact reported. He carefully -inquired regarding the events, in some of which he had been an actor. -Often he knew or ascertained what the chief speakers said in those -dramatic situations which kept arising in this war of neighbours. Yet, -instead of reporting actual words, he gives the sentiments which, -according to the laws of rhetorical probability, they must have uttered. -So he presents the psychology and turning-point of the matter. - -This was true historical rhetoric; the historian's art of setting forth a -situation veritably, by presenting its intrinsic necessities. Xenophon's -_Cyropaedia_ went a step farther; it was a historical romance, which -neither followed fact nor proceeded according to the necessities of the -actual situation. But it did proceed according to moral proprieties, and -so was edifying and plausible. - -The classical Latin practice accorded with the Greek. Cicero speaks of -history as _opus oratorium_, that is, a work having rhetorical and -literary qualities. It should set forth the events and situations -according to their inherent necessities which constitute their rhetorical -truth. Then it should possess the civic and social qualities of good -oratory: morals and public utility. These are, in fact, the -characteristics of the works of Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. None of them -troubled himself much over an accuracy of detail irrelevant to his larger -purpose. Tacitus is interested in memorable facts; he would relate them in -such form that they might carry their lesson, and bear their part in the -education of the citizen, for whom it is salutary to study the past. He -condemns, indeed, the historians of the Empire who, under an evil emperor, -lie from fear, and, upon his death, lie from hate. But such condemnation -of immoral lying does not forbid the shaping of a story according to -artistic probability and moral ends. Some shaping and adorning of fact -might be allowed the historian, acting with motives of public policy, or -seeking to glorify or defend his country.[81] This quite accords with the -view of Varro and Cicero, that good policy should sometimes outweigh -truth: whether or not the accounts of the gods were true, it was well for -the people to believe. - -Thus the Fathers of the Church were accustomed to a historical tradition -and practice in which facts were presented so as to conduce to worthy -ends. Various motives lie back of human interest in truth. A knowledge of -the world's origin, of man's creation, destiny, and relationship to God, -may be sought for its own sake as the highest human good; and yet it may -be also sought for the sake of some ulterior and, to the seeker, more -important end. With the Christian Fathers that more important end was -salvation. To obtain a saving knowledge was the object of their most -strenuous inquiries. Doubtless all men take some pleasure simply in -knowing; and, on the other hand, there are few among wisdom's most -disinterested lovers that have not some thought of the connection between -knowledge and the other goods of human life, to which it may conduce. Yet -if seekers after knowledge be roughly divided into two classes, those who -wish to know for the sake of knowing, and those who look to another end to -which true knowledge is a means, then the Fathers of the Church fall in -the latter class. - -If truth be sought for the sake of something else, why may it not also be -sacrificed? A work of art is achieved by shaping the story for the drama's -sake, and if we weave fiction to suit the end, why not weave fiction with -fact, or, still better, _see_ the fact in such guise as to suit the -requirements of our purpose? Many are the aspects and relationships of any -fact; its _actuality_ is exhaustless.[82] In how many ways does a human -life present itself? What narrative could exhaust the actuality and -significance of the assassination of Julius Caesar? Indeed, no fact has -such narrow or compelling singleness of significance or actuality that all -its truth can be put in any statement! And again, who is it that can draw -the line between reality and conviction? - -It is clear that the limited and special interest taken by the Church -Fathers in physical and historic facts would affect their apprehension of -them. One may ask what was real to Plato in the world of physical -phenomena. At all events, Christian Platonists, like Origen or Gregory of -Nyssa,[83] saw the paramount reality of such phenomena in the spiritual -ideas implicated and evinced by them. The world's reality would thus be -resolved into the world's moral or spiritual significance, and in that -case its truth might be educed through moral and allegorical -interpretation. Of course, such an understanding of reality involves hosts -of assumptions which were valid in the fourth century, but are not -commonly accepted now; and chief among them is this very assumption that -the deepest meaning of ancient poets, and the Scriptures above all, is -allegorical. - -This is but a central illustration of what would determine the Fathers' -conception of the truth of physical events. Again: the Creation was a -great miracle; its cause, the will of God. The Cause of the Creation was -spiritual, and spiritual was its purpose, to wit, the edification and -salvation of God's people; the building, preservation, and final -consummation of the City of God. Did not the deepest truth of the matter -lie in this spiritual cause and purpose? And afterwards to what other end -tended all human history? It was one long exemplification of the purpose -of God through the ways of providence. The conception of what constituted -a fitting exemplification of that purpose would control the choice of -facts and shape their presentation. Then what was more natural than that -events should exhibit this purpose, that it might be perceived by the -people of God? It would clearly appear in saving interpositions or -remarkable chronological coincidences. Such, even more palpably than the -other links in the providential chain, were direct manifestations of the -will of God, and were miraculous because of their extraordinary character. -History, made anew through these convictions, became a demonstration of -the truth of Christian doctrine--in other words, _apologetic_. - -The most universal and comprehensive example of this was Augustine's _City -of God_, already adverted to. Its subject was the ways of God with men. It -embraced history, philosophy, and religion. It was the final Christian -apology, and the conclusive proof of Christian doctrine, _adversum -paganos_. To this end Augustine unites the manifold topics which he -discusses; and to this end his apparent digressions eventually return, -bearing their sheaves of corroborative evidence. In no province of inquiry -does his apologetic purpose appear with clearer power than in his -treatment of history, profane and sacred.[84] Through the centuries the -currents of divine purpose are seen to draw into their dual course the -otherwise pointless eddyings of human affairs. Beneath the Providence of -God, a revolving succession of kingdoms fill out the destinies of the -earthly Commonwealth of war and rapine, until the red torrents are pressed -together into the terrestrial greatness of imperial Rome. No power of -heathen gods effected this result, nor all the falsities of pagan -philosophy: but the will of the one true Christian God. The fortunes of -the heavenly City are traced through the prefigurative stories of -antediluvian and patriarchal times, and then on through the prophetic -history of the chosen people, until the end of prophecy appears--Christ -and the Catholic Church. - -The _Civitas Dei_ is the crowning example of the drastic power with which -the Church Fathers conformed the data of human understanding into a -substantiation of Catholic Christianity.[85] At the time of its -composition, the Faith needed advocacy in the world. Alaric entered Rome -in 410; and it was to meet the cry of those who would lay that catastrophe -at the Church's doors that Augustine began the _Civitas Dei_. Soon after, -an ardent young Spaniard named Orosius came on pilgrimage to the great -doctor at Hippo, and finding favour in his eyes, was asked to write a -profane history proving the abundance of calamities which had afflicted -mankind before the time of Christ. So Orosius devoted some years (417-418) -to the compilation of a universal chronicle, using Latin sources, and -calling his work _Seven Books of Histories "adversum paganos."_[86] -Addressing Augustine in his prologue, he says: - - "Thou hast commanded me that as against the vain rhetoric of those - who, aliens to God's Commonwealth, coming from country cross-roads and - villages are called pagans, because they know earthly things, who seek - not unto the future and ignore the past, yet cry down the present time - as filled with evil, just because Christ is believed and God is - worshipped;--thou hast commanded that I should gather from histories - and annals whatever mighty ills and miseries and terrors there have - been from wars and pestilence, from famine, earthquake, and floods, - from volcanic eruptions, from lightning or from hail, and also from - monstrous crimes in the past centuries; and that I should arrange and - set forth the matter briefly in a book." - -Orosius's story of the four great Empires--Babylonian, Macedonian, -African, and Roman--makes a red tale of carnage. He deemed "that such -things should be commemorated, in order that with the secret of God's -ineffable judgments partly laid open, those stupid murmurers at our -Christian times should understand that the one God ordained the fortunes -of Babylon in the beginning, and at the end those of Rome; understand also -that it is through His clemency that we live, although wretchedly because -of our intemperance. Like was the origin of Babylon and Rome, and like -their power, greatness, and their fortunes good and ill; but unlike their -destinies, since Babylon lost her kingdom and Rome keeps hers"; and -Orosius refers to the clemency of the barbarian victors who as Christians -spared Christians.[87] - -At the opening of his seventh book he again presents his purpose and -conclusions: - - "I think enough evidence has been brought together, to prove that the - one and true God, made known by the Christian Faith, created the world - and His creature as He wished, and that He has ordered and directed it - through many things, of which it has not seen the purpose, and has - ordained it for one event, declared through One; and likewise has made - manifest His power and patience by arguments manifold. Whereat, I - perceive, straitened and anxious minds have stumbled, to think of so - much patience joined to so great power. For, if He was able to create - the world, and establish its peace, and impart to it a knowledge of - His worship and Himself, what was the need of so great and (as they - say) so hurtful patience, exerted to the end that at last, through the - errors, slaughters and the toils of men, there should result what - might rather have arisen in the beginning by His virtue, which you - preach? To whom I can truly reply: the human race from the beginning - was so created and appointed that living under religion with peace - without labour, by the fruit of obedience it might merit eternity; but - it abused the Creator's goodness, turned liberty into wilful licence, - and through disdain fell into forgetfulness; now the patience of God - is just and doubly just, operating that this disdain might not wholly - ruin those whom He wished to spare, but might be reduced through - labours; and also so that He might always hold out guidance although - to an ignorant creature, to whom if penitent He would mercifully - restore the means of grace." - -Such was the point of view and such the motives of this book, which was to -be _par excellence_ the source of ancient history for the Middle Ages. -But, concerned chiefly with the Gentile nations, Orosius has few palpable -miracles to tell. The miracle lies in God's _ineffabilis ordinatio_ of -events, and especially in marvellous chronological parallels shown in the -histories of nations, for our edification. Likewise for mediaeval men -these ineffable chronological correspondences (which never existed in -fact) were to be evidence of God's providential guidance of the world. - -Some thirty years after Orosius wrote, a priest of Marseilles, Salvian by -name, composed a different sort of treatise, with a like object of -demonstrating the righteous validity of God's providential ordering of -affairs, especially in those troubled times of barbarian invasion through -which the Empire then was passing. The book declared its purpose in its -title--_De gubernatione Dei_.[88] Its tenor is further elucidated by the -title bestowed upon it by a contemporary: _De praesenti (Dei) judicio_. It -is famous for the pictures (doubtless overwrought) which it gives of the -low state of morals among the Roman provincials, and of the comparative -decency of the barbarians. - -These examples sufficiently indicate the broad apologetic purpose in the -patristic writing of history. There was another class of composition, -biographical rather than historical, the object of which was to give -edifying examples of the grace of God working in holy men. The reference, -of course, is to the _Vitae sanctorum_ whose number from the fourth -century onward becomes legion. They set forth the marvellous virtues of -anchorites and their miracles. In the East, the prime example is the -Athanasian Life of Anthony; Jerome also wrote, in Latin, the lives of -Anthony's forerunner Paulus and of other saints. But for the Latin West -the typical example was the _Life_ of St. Martin of Tours, most popular of -saints, by Sulpicius Severus. - -To dub this class of compositions (and there are classes within classes -here) uncritical, credulous, intentionally untruthful, is not warranted -without a preliminary consideration of their purpose. That in general was -to edify; the writer is telling a moral tale, illustrative of God's grace -in the instances of holy men. But the divine grace is the real matter; the -saint's life is but the example. God's grace exists; it operates in this -way. As to the illustrative details of its operation, why be over-anxious -as to their correctness? Only the _vita_ must be interesting, to fix the -reader's attention, and must be edifying, to improve him. These principles -exerted sometimes a less, sometimes a greater influence; and accordingly, -while perhaps none of the _vitae_ is without pious colouring, as a class -they range from fairly trustworthy biographies to vehicles of edifying -myth.[89] - -Miracles are never lacking. The _vita_ commonly was drawn less from -personal knowledge than from report or tradition. Report grows passing -from mouth to mouth, and is enlarged with illustrative incidents. Since no -disbelief blocked the acceptance of miracles, their growth outstripped -that of the other elements of the story, because they interested the most -people. Yet there was little originality, and the _vitae_ constantly -reproduced like incidents. Especially, Biblical prototypes were followed, -as one sees in the _Dialogi_ of Gregory the Great, telling of the career -of St. Benedict of Nursia. The Pope finds that the great founder of -western monasticism performed many of the miracles ascribed to Scriptural -characters.[90] Herein we see the working of suggestion and imitation upon -a "legend"; but Gregory found rather an additional wonder-striking -feature, that God not only had wrought miracles through Benedict, but in -His ineffable wisdom had chosen to conform the saint's deeds to the -pattern of Scriptural prototypes. And so, in the _Vitae sanctorum_, the -joinder of suggestion and the will to believe literally worked marvels. - -Usually the Fathers of the Church were as interested in miracles as the -uneducated laity. Ambrose, the great Archbishop of Milan, writes a long -letter to his sister Marcellina upon finding the relics of certain -martyrs, and the miracles wrought by this treasure-trove.[91] As for -Jerome, of course, he is very open-minded, and none too careful in his own -accounts. His passion for the relics of the saints appears in his polemic -_Contra Vigilantium_. What interest, either in the writing or the hearing, -would men have taken in a hermit desert life that was bare of miracles? -The desert and the forest solitude have always been full of wonders. In -Jerome's Lives of Paulus and Hilarion, the romantic and picturesque -elements consist exclusively in the miraculous. And again, how could any -one devote himself to the cult of an almost contemporary saint or the -worship of a martyr, and not find abundant miracles? Sulpicius Severus -wrote the _Vita_ of St. Martin while the saint was still alive; and there -would have been no reason for the worship of St. Felix, carried on through -years by Paulinus of Nola, if Felix's relics had not had saving power. It -was to this charming tender of the dead, afterwards beatified as St. -Paulinus of Nola,[92] that Augustine addressed his moderating treatise on -these matters, entitled _De cura pro mortuis_. He can see no advantage in -burying a body close to a martyr's tomb unless in order to stimulate the -prayers of the living. How the martyrs help us surpasses my understanding, -says the writer; but it is known that they do help. Very few were as -critical as the Bishop of Hippo; and all men recognized the efficacy of -prayers to the martyred saints, and the magic power of their relics. - -Having said so much of the intellectual obliquities of the Church Fathers, -it were well to dwell a moment on their power. Their inspiration was the -Christian Faith, working within them and bending their strength to its -call. Their mental energies conformed to their understanding of the Faith -and their interpretation of its Scriptural presentation. Their achievement -was Catholic Christianity consisting in the union of two complements, -ecclesiastical organization and the complete and consistent organism of -doctrine. Here, in fact, two living organisms were united as body and -soul. Each was fitted to the other, and neither could have existed alone. -In their union they were to prove unequalled in history for coherence and -efficiency. Great then was the energy and intellectual power of the men -who constructed Church and doctrine. Great was Paul; great was Tertullian; -great were Origen, Athanasius, and the Greek Gregories. Great also were -those Latin Fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries, Augustine their -last and greatest, who finally completed Church and doctrine for -transmission to the Middle Ages--the doctrine, however, destined to be -re-adjusted as to emphasis, and barbarized in character by him whose mind -at least is patristically recreative, but whose soul is mediaeval, -Gregorius Magnus.[93] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -LATIN TRANSMITTERS OF ANTIQUE AND PATRISTIC THOUGHT - - -For the Latin West the creative patristic epoch closes with the death of -Augustine. There follows a period marked by the cessation of intellectual -originality. Men are engaged upon translations from the Greek; they are -busy commenting upon older writings, or are expounding with a change of -emphasis the systematic constructions of their predecessors. Epitomes and -compendia appear, simplified and mechanical abstracts of the bare elements -of inherited knowledge and current education. Compilations are made, put -together of excerpts taken unshriven and unshorn into the compiler's -writing. Knowledge is brought down to a more barbaric level. Yet -temperament lingers for a while, and still appears in the results. - -The representatives of this post-patristic period of translation, comment, -and compendium, and of re-expression with temperamental change of -emphasis, are the two contemporaries, Boethius and Cassiodorus; then -Gregory the Great, who became pope soon after Cassiodorus closed his eyes -at the age of ninety or more; and, lastly, Isidore, Archbishop of Seville, -who died in 636, twenty-two years after Gregory. All these were Latin -bred, and belonged to the Roman world rather than to those new peoples -whose barbarism was hastening the disruption of a decadent order, but -whose recently converted zeal was soon to help on the further diffusion of -Latin Christianity. They appear as transmitters of antique and patristic -thought; because, originating little, they put together matter congenial -to their own lowering intellectual predilections, and therefore suitable -mental pabulum for times of mingled decadence and barbarism, and also for -the following periods of mediaeval re-emergence which continued to hark -back to the obvious and the easy. - -Instead of _transmitters_, a word indicating function, one might call -these men _intermediaries_, and so indicate their position as well as -role. Both words, however, should be taken relatively. For all the Fathers -heretofore considered were in some sense transmitters or intermediaries, -even though creative in their work of systematizing, adding to, or -otherwise transforming their matter. Yet one would not dub Augustine a -transmitter, because he was far more of a remaker or creator. But a dark -refashioner indeed will Gregory the Great appear; while Boethius, -Cassiodorus, Isidore are rather sheer transmitters, or intermediaries, the -last-named worthy destined to be the most popular of them all, through his -unerring faculty of selecting for his compilations the foolish and the -flat. - -Among them, Boethius alone was attached to the antique by affinity of -sentiment and temper. Although doubtless a professing Christian, his -sentiments were those of pagan philosophy. The _De consolatione -philosophiae_, which comes to us as his very self, is a work of eclectic -pagan moralizing, fused to a personal unity by the author's artistic and -emotional nature, then deeply stirred by his imprisonment and peril. He -had enjoyed the favour of the great Ostrogoth, Theodoric, ruler of Italy, -but now was fallen under suspicion, and had been put in prison, where he -was executed in the year 525 at the age of forty-three. His book moves all -readers by its controlled and noble pathos, rendered more appealing -through the romantic interest surrounding its composition. It became _par -excellence_ the mediaeval source of such ethical precept and consolation -as might be drawn from rational self-control and acquiescence in the ways -of Providence. But at present we are concerned with the range of -Boethius's intellectual interests and his labours for the transmission of -learning. He was an antique-minded man, whose love of knowledge did not -revolve around "salvation," the patristic focus of intellectual effort. -Rather he was moved by an ardent wish to place before his Latin -contemporaries what was best in the classic education and philosophy. He -is first of all a translator from Greek to Latin, and, secondly, a helpful -commentator on the works which he translates. - -He was little over twenty years of age when he wrote his first work, the -_De arithmetica_.[94] It was a free translation of the _Arithmetic_ of -Nichomachus, a Neo-Pythagorean who flourished about the year 100. -Boethius's work opens with a dedicatory _Praefatio_ to his father-in-law -Symmachus. In that and in the first chapter he evinces a broad conception -of education, and shows that lovers of wisdom should not despise -arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy, the fourfold path or -_quadrivium_, a word which he may have been the first to use in this -sense.[95] With him arithmetic treats of quantity in and by itself; music, -of quantity related to measure; geometry, of moveless, and astronomy, of -moving, quantity. He was a better Greek scholar than mathematician; and -his free translation ignores some of the finer points of Nichomachus's -work, which would have impressed one better versed in mathematics.[96] - -The young scholar followed up his maiden work with a treatise on Music, -showing a knowledge of Greek harmonics. Then came a _De geometria_, in -which the writer draws from Euclid as well as from the practical knowledge -of Roman surveyors.[97] He composed or translated other works on -elementary branches of education, as appears from a royal letter written -by Cassiodorus in the name of Theodoric: "In your translations Pythagoras -the musician, Ptolemy the astronomer, Nichomachus the arithmetician, -Euclid the geometer are read by Italians, while Plato the theologian and -Aristotle the logician dispute in Roman voice; and you have given back the -mechanician Archimedes in Latin to the Sicilians."[98] Making all -allowance for politeness, this letter indicates the large accomplishment -of Boethius, who was but twenty-five years old when it was written. We -turn to the commentated Aristotelian translations which he now -undertook.[99] "Although the duties of the consular office[100] prevent -the bestowal of our time upon these studies, it still seems a proper part -of our care for the Republic to instruct its citizens in the learning -which is gained by the labours of the lamp. Since the valour of a bygone -time brought dominion over other cities to this one Republic, I shall not -merit ill of my countrymen if I shall have instructed the manners of our -State with the arts of Greek wisdom."[101] These sentences open the second -book of Boethius's translation of the _Categories_ of Aristotle. His plan -of work enlarged, apparently, and grew more definite, as the years passed, -each adding its quota of accomplishment. At all events, some time -afterwards, when he may have been not far from thirty-five, he speaks in -the flush of an intellectual anticipation which the many years of labour -still to be counted on seemed to justify: - - "Labour ennobles the human race and completes it with the fruits of - genius; but idleness deadens the mind. Not experience, but ignorance, - of labour turns us from it. For what man who has made trial of labour - has ever forsaken it? And the power of the mind lies in keeping the - mind tense; to unstring it is to ruin it. My fixed intention, if the - potent favour of the deity will so grant, is (although others have - laboured in this field, yet not with satisfactory method) to translate - into Latin every work of Aristotle that comes to my hand, and furnish - it with a Latin commentary. Thus I may present, well ordered and - illustrated with the light of comment, whatever subtilty of logic's - art, whatever weight of moral experience, and whatever insight into - natural truth, may be gathered from Aristotle. And I mean to translate - all the dialogues of Plato, or reduce them in my commentary to a Latin - form. Having accomplished this, I shall not have despised the opinions - of Aristotle and Plato if I evoke a certain concord between them and - show in how many things of importance for philosophy they agree--if - only life and leisure last. But now let us return to our - subject."[102] - -One sees a veritable love of intellectual labour and a love of the -resulting mental increment. It is distinctly the antique, not the -patristic, attitude towards interests of the mind. In spite of his unhappy -sixth century way of writing, and the mental fallings away indicated by -it, Boethius possessed the old pagan spirit, and shows indeed how tastes -might differ in the sixth century. He never translated the whole of -Aristotle and Plato; and his idea of reconciling the two evinces the -shallow eclectic spirit of the closing pagan times. Nevertheless, he -carried out his purpose to the extent of rendering into Latin, with -abundant comment, the entire _Organon_, that is, all the logical writings -of Aristotle. First of all, and with elaborate explanation, he rendered -Porphyry's famous Introduction to the _Categories_ of the Master. Then the -_Categories_ themselves, likewise with abundant explanation. Then -Aristotle's _De interpretatione_, in two editions, the first with simple -comment suited to beginners, the second with the best elaboration of -formal logic that he could devise or compile.[103] These elementary -portions of the _Organon_, as transmitted in the Boethian translations, -made the logical discipline of the mediaeval schools until the latter part -of the twelfth century. He translated also Aristotle's _Prior_ and -_Posterior Analytics_, the _Topics_, and the _Sophistical Elenchi_. But -such advanced treatises were beyond the requirements of the early -mediaeval centuries. With the lessening of intellectual energy they passed -into oblivion, to re-emerge only when called for by the livelier mental -activities of a later time. - -The list of Boethius's works is not yet exhausted, for he wrote some minor -logical treatises, and a voluminous commentary on Cicero's _Topica_. He -was probably the author of certain Christian theological tracts, -themselves less famous than the controversy which long has raged as to -their authorship.[104] If he wrote them, he did but make polite obeisance -to the ruling intellectual preoccupations of the time. - -Boethius's commentaries reproduced the comments of other -commentators,[105] and he presents merely the logical processes of -thought. But these, analyzed and tabulated, were just the parts of -philosophy to be seized by a period whose lack of mental originality was -rapidly lowering to a barbaric frame of mind. The logical works of -Boethius were formal, pedantic, even mechanical. They necessarily -presented the method rather than the substance of philosophic truth. But -their study would exercise the mind, and they were peculiarly adapted to -serve as discipline for the coming centuries, which could not become -progressive until they had mastered their antique inheritance, including -this chief method of presenting the elemental forms of truth. - -The "life and leisure" of Boethius were cut off by his untimely death. -Cassiodorus, although a year or two older, outlived him by half a century. -He was born at Squillace, a Calabrian town which looks out south-easterly -over the little gulf bearing the same name. His father, grandfather, and -great-grandfather had been generals and high officials. He himself served -for forty years under Theodoric and his successors, and at last became -praetorian praefect, the chief office in the Gothic Roman kingdom.[106] -Through his birth, his education, his long official career, and perhaps -his pliancy, he belonged to both Goths and Romans, and like the great king -whom he first served, stood for a policy of reconcilement and assimilation -of the two peoples, and also for tolerance as between Arian and Catholic. - -Some years after Theodoric's death, when the Gothic kingdom had passed -through internecine struggles and seemed at last to have fallen before the -skill of Belisarius, Cassiodorus forsook the troubles of the world. He -retired to his birthplace Squillace, and there in propitious situations -founded a pleasant cloister for coenobites and an austerer hermitage for -those who would lead lives of arduous seclusion. For himself, he chose the -former. It was the year of grace 540, three years before the death of -Benedict of Nursia. Cassiodorus was past sixty. In retiring from the world -he followed the instinct of his time, yet temperately and with an -increment of wisdom. For he was the first influential man to recognize the -fitness of the cloister for the labours of the pious student and copyist. -It is not too much to regard him as the inaugurator of the learned, -compiling, commenting and transcribing functions of monasticism. Not only -as a patron, but through his own works, he was here a leader. His writings -composed after his retirement represent the intellectual interests of -western monasticism in the last half of the sixth century. They indicate -the round of study proper for monks; just the grammar, the orthography, -and other elementary branches which they might know; just the history with -which it behoved them to be acquainted; and then, outbulking all the rest, -those Scriptural studies to which they might well devote their lives for -the sake of their own and others' souls. - -In passing these writings in review, it is unnecessary to pause over the -interesting collection of letters--_Variae epistolae_--which were the -fruit of Cassiodorus's official life, before he shut the convent's outer -door against the toils of office. He "edited" them near the close of his -public career. Before that ended he had made a wretched _Chronicon_, -carelessly and none too honestly compiled. He had also written his Gothic -History, a far better work. It survives only in the compend of the -ignorant Jordanes, a fact the like of which will be found repeatedly -recurring in the sixth and following centuries, when a barbaric mentality -continually prefers the compend to the larger and better original, which -demands greater effort from the reader. A little later Cassiodorus -composed his _De anima_, a treatise on the nature, qualities, and -destinies of the Soul. Although made at the request of friends, it -indicated the turning of the statesman's interest to the matters occupying -his latter years, during which his literary labours were guided by a -paternal purpose. One may place it with the works coming from his pen in -those thirty years of retirement, when study and composition were rather -stimulated than disturbed by care of his convent and estates, the modicum -of active occupation needed by an old man whose life had been passed in -the management of State affairs. Its preface sets out the topical -arrangement in a manner prophetic of scholastic methods: - - "Let us first learn why it is called Anima; secondly, its definition; - thirdly, its substantial quality; fourthly, whether any form should be - ascribed to it; fifthly, what are its moral virtues; sixthly, its - natural powers (_virtutes naturales_) by which it holds the body - together; seventhly, as to its origin; eighthly, where is its especial - seat; ninthly, as to the body's form; tenthly, as to the properties of - the souls of sinners; eleventhly, as to those of the souls of the - just; and twelfthly, as to the resurrection."[107] - -The short treatise which follows is neither original nor penetrating. It -closes with an encomium on the number twelve, with praise of Christ and -with a prayer. - -Soon after Cassiodorus had installed himself in Vivaria, as he called his -convent, from the fishponds and gardens surrounding it, he set himself to -work to transcribe the Scriptures, and commenced a huge Commentary on the -Psalms. But he interrupted these undertakings in 543 in order to write for -his monks a syllabus of their sacred and secular education. The title of -the work was _Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum_.[108] In -opening he refers to his failure to found a school of Christian teaching -at Rome, on account of the wars. Partially to repair this want, he will -compose an introduction to the study of Scripture and letters. It will not -set out his own opinions, but those of former men. Through the expositions -of the Fathers we ascend to divine Scripture, as by a ladder. The proper -order is for the "tiros of Christ" first to learn the Psalms, and then -proceed to study the rest of Scripture in carefully corrected codices. -When the "soldiers of Christ" have completed the reading of Scripture, and -fixed it in their minds by constant meditation, they will begin to -recognize passages when cited, and be able to find them. They should also -know the Latin commentators, and even the Greek, who have expounded the -various books. - -The first book of these _Institutiones_ is strictly a guide to Scripture -study, and in no way a commentary. For example, beginning with the -"Octateuch," as making up the first "codex" of Scripture, Cassiodorus -tells what Latin and what Greek Fathers have expounded it. He proceeds, -briefly, in the same way with the rest of the Old and New Testaments. He -mentions the Ecumenical Councils, which had passed upon Christian -doctrine, and then refers to the division of Scripture by Jerome, by -Augustine, and in the Septuagint. He states rules for preserving the -purity of the text, exclaims over its ineffable value, and mentions famous -doctrinal works, like Augustine's _De Trinitate_ and the _De officiis_ of -Ambrose. He then recommends the study of Church historians and names the -great ones, who while incidentally telling of secular events have shown -that such hung not on chance nor on the power of the feeble gods, but -solely on the Creator's will. Then he shortly characterizes the great -Latin Doctors, Cyprian, Hilary, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, and -mentions a convenient collection of excerpts from the works of the -last-named saint, made by a certain priest. Next he admonishes the student -as to the careful reading of Scripture, and suggests convenient -abbreviations for noting citations. He speaks of the desirability of -knowing enough cosmography to understand when Scripture speaks of -countries, towns, mountains, or rivers, and then reverts to the need of an -acquaintance with the Seven Arts; this secular wisdom, having been -originally pilfered from Scripture, should now be called back to its true -service. Those monks who lack intelligence for such studies may properly -work in the fields and gardens which surround Vivaria (Columella and other -writers on agriculture are to be found in the convent library), and to all -the care of the sick is recommended. The second book of the -_Institutiones_ is a brief and unequal compend of the Seven Arts, in which -Dialectic is treated at greatest length. - -The remaining works of Cassiodorus appear as special aids to the student -in carrying out the programme of the first book of the _Institutiones_. -Such an aid was the bulky Commentary on the Psalms; another such was the -famous _Historia tripartita_, made of the Church histories of Socrates, -Sozomen, and Theodoret, translated by a friend of Cassiodorus, and crudely -thrown together by himself into one narrative. Finally, such another work -was the compilation upon Latin orthography which the good old man made for -his monks in his ninety-third year. - -This long and useful life does not display the zeal for knowledge for its -own sake which marks the labours of Boethius. It is the Christian -utilitarian view of knowledge that Cassiodorus represents, and yet not -narrowly, nor with a trace of that intolerance of whatever did not bear -directly on salvation, which is to be found in Gregory. From Boethius's -love of philosophy, and from the practical interest of Cassiodorus in -education, it is indeed a change to the spiritual anxiousness and fear of -hell besetting this great pope.[109] - -In appreciating a man's opinions and his mental clarity or murkiness, one -should consider his temperament and the temper of his time. Gregory was -constrained as well as driven by temperamental yearnings and aversions, -aggravated by the humour of the century that produced Benedict of Nursia -and was contemplating gloomily the Empire's ruin and decay, now more -acutely borne in upon the consciousness of thoughtful people than in the -age of Augustine. His temper drew from prevailing moods, and in turn -impressed its spiritual incisiveness upon the influences which it -absorbed; and his writings, so expressive of his own temperament and all -that fed it, were to work mightily upon the minds and moods of men to -come. - -Born of a distinguished Roman family about the year 540, he was some -thirty-five years old when Cassiodorus died. His education was the best -that Rome could give. In spite of disclaimer on his part, rhetorical -training shows in the antithetic power of his style; for example, in that -resounding sentence in the dedicatory letter prefixed to his _Moralia_, -wherein he would seem to be casting grammar to the winds. Although quoted -until threadbare, it is so illustrative as to justify citation: "Nam sicut -hujus quoque epistolae tenor enunciat, non metacismi collisionem fugio, -non barbarismi confusionem devito, situs motusque et praepositionum casus -servare contemno, quia indignum vehementer existimo, ut verba coelestis -oraculi restringam sub regulis Donati."[110] By no means will he flee the -concussion of the oft-repeated M, or avoid the confusing barbarism; he -will despise the laws of place and case, because he deems it utterly unfit -to confine the words of the heavenly oracle beneath the rules of Donatus. -By all of which Gregory means that he proposes to write freely, according -to the needs of his subject, and to disregard the artificial rules of the -somewhat emptied rhetoric, let us say, of Cassiodorus's epistles. - -In his early manhood naturally he was called to take part in affairs, and -was made _Praetor urbanus_. But soon the prevalent feeling of the -difficulty of serving God in the world drove him to retirement. His -father's palace on the Coelian hill he changed to a convent, upon the site -of which now stands the Church of San Gregorio Magno; and there he became -a monk. Passionately he loved the monk's life, for which he was to long in -vain through most of the years to come. Soon he was dragged forth from the -companionship of "Mary" to serve with "Martha." The toiling papacy could -not allow a man of his abilities to remain hidden. He was harnessed to its -active service, and sent as the papal representative to the Imperial Court -at Constantinople; whence he returned, after several years, in 585. -Re-entering his monastery on the Coelian, he became its abbot; but was -drawn out again, and made pope by acclamation and insistency in the year -590. There is no need to speak of the efficient and ceaseless activity of -this pontiff, whose body was never free from pain, nor his soul released -from longing for seclusion which only the grave was to bring. - -Gregory's mind was less antique, and more barbarous and mediaeval than -Augustine's, whose doctrine he reproduced with garbling changes of tone -and emphasis. In the century and a half between the two, the Roman -institutions had broken down, decadence had advanced, and the patristic -mind had passed from indifference to the laws of physical phenomena to -something like sheer barbaric ignorance of the same. Whatever in Ambrose, -Jerome, or Augustine represented conviction or opinion, has in Gregory -become mental habit, spontaneity of acceptance, matter of course. The -miraculous is with him a frame of mind; and the allegorical method of -understanding Scripture is no longer intended, not to say wilful, as with -Augustine, but has become persistent unconscious habit. Augustine desired -to know God and the Soul, and the true Christian doctrine with whatever -made for its substantiation. He is conscious of closing his mind to -everything irrelevant to this. Gregory's nature has settled itself within -this scheme of Christian knowledge which Augustine framed. He has no -intellectual inclinations reaching out beyond. He is not conscious of -closing his mind to extraneous knowledge. His mental habits and -temperament are so perfectly adjusted to the confines of this circle, that -all beyond has ceased to exist for him. - -So with Gregory the patristic limitation of intellectual interest, -indifference to physical phenomena, and acceptance of the miraculous are -no longer merely thoughts and opinions consciously entertained; they make -part of his nature. There was nothing novel in his views regarding -knowledge, sacred and profane. But there is a turbid force of temperament -in his expressions. In consequence, his vehement words to Bishop -Desiderius of Vienne[111] have been so taken as to make the great pope a -barbarizing idiot. He exclaims with horror at the report that the bishop -is occupying himself teaching grammar; he is shocked that an episcopal -mouth should be singing praises of Jove, which are unfit for a lay brother -to utter. But Gregory is not decrying here, any more than in the sentence -quoted from the letter prefixed to his _Moralia_, a decent command of -Latin. He is merely declaring with temperamental vehemence that to teach -grammar and poetry is not the proper function of a bishop--the bishop in -this case of a most important see. Gregory had no more taste for secular -studies than Tertullian four centuries before him. For both, however, -letters had their handmaidenly function, which they performed effectively -in the instances of these two great rhetoricians.[112] - -It is needless to say that the entire literary labour of Gregory was -religious. His works, as in time, so in quality, are midway between those -of Ambrose and Augustine and those of the Carolingian rearrangers of -patristic opinion. Gregory, who laboured chiefly as a commentator upon -Scripture, was not highly original in his thoughts, yet was no mere -excerpter of patristic interpretations, like Rabanus Maurus or Walafrid -Strabo, who belong to the ninth century.[113] In studying Scripture, he -thought and interpreted in allegories. But he was also a man experienced -in life's exigencies, and his religious admonishings were wise and -searching. His prodigious Commentary upon Job has with reason been called -Gregory's _Moralia_.[114] And as the moral advice and exhortation sprang -from Gregory the bishop, so the allegorical interpretations largely were -his own, or at least not borrowed and applied mechanically. - -Gregory represents the patristic mind passing into a more barbarous stage. -He delighted in miracles, and wrote his famous _Dialogues on the Lives and -Miracles of the Italian Saints_[115] to solace the cares of his -pontificate. The work exhibits a naive acceptance of every kind of -miracle, and presents the supple mediaeval devil in all his deceitful -metamorphoses.[116] - -Quite in accord with Gregory's interest in these stories is his -elaboration of certain points of doctrine, for example, the worship of the -saints, whose intercession and supererogatory righteousness may be turned -by prayer and worship to the devotee's benefit. Thus he comments upon the -eighth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter of Job: - - "They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rocks - as a shelter. The showers of the mountains are the words of the - doctors. Concerning which mountains it is said with the voice of the - Church: 'I will lift up my eyes unto the hills.' The showers of the - mountains water these, for the streams of the holy fathers saturate. - We receive the 'shelter' as a covering of good works, by which one is - covered so that before the eyes of omnipotent God the filthiness of - his perversity is concealed. Wherefore it is written, 'Blessed are - those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered' (Ps. - xxxii. 1). And under the name of stones whom do we understand except - the strong men of the Church? To whom it is said through the first - shepherd: 'Ye also as living stones are built up a spiritual house' (1 - Peter ii. 5). So those who confide in no work of their own, run to the - protection of the holy martyrs, and press with tears to their sacred - bodies, pleading to obtain pardon through their intercession."[117] - -Another point of Gregorian emphasis: no delict is remitted without -punishment.[118] To complement which principle, Gregory develops the -doctrine of penance in its three elements, _contritio_, _conversio -mentis_, _satisfactio_. Our whole life should be one long penitence and -penance, and baptism of tears; for our first baptism cannot wash out later -sins, and cannot be repeated. In the fourth book of the _Dialogi_ he -develops his cognate doctrine of Purgatory,[119] and amplifies upon the -situation and character of hell. These things are implicit in Augustine -and existed before him: with Gregory they have become explicit, -elaborated, and insisted on with recurrent emphasis. Thus Augustinianism -is altered in form and barbarized.[120] - -Gregory is throughout prefigurative of the Middle Ages, which he likewise -prefigures in his greatness as a sovereign bishop and a man of -ecclesiastical affairs. He is energetic and wise and temperate. The -practical wisdom of the Catholic Church is in him and in his rightly famed -book of _Pastoral Rule_. The temperance and wisdom of his letters of -instructions to Augustine of Canterbury are admirable. The practical -exigency seemed always to have the effect of tempering any extreme opinion -which apart from it he might have expressed; as one sees, for example, in -those letters to this apostle to the English, or in his letter to Serenus, -Bishop of Marseilles, who had been too violent as to paintings and images. -Gregory's stand is moderate and reasonable. Likewise he opposes the use of -force to convert the Jews, although insisting firmly that no Jew may hold -a Christian slave.[121] - -There has been occasion to remark that decadence tends to join hands with -barbarism on a common intellectual level. Had Boethius lived in a greater -epoch, he might not have been an adapter of an elementary arithmetic and -geometry, and his best years would not have been devoted to the -translation and illustration of logical treatises. Undoubtedly his labours -were needed by the times in which he lived and by the centuries which -followed them in spirit as well as chronologically. He was the principal -purveyor of the strictly speaking intellectual grist of the early Middle -Ages; and it was most apt that the great scholastic controversy as to -universals should have drawn its initial text from his translation of -Porphyry's Introduction to the _Categories_ of Aristotle.[122] Gregory, on -the other hand, was a purveyor of theology, the subject to which logic -chiefly was to be applied. He purveyed matter very much to the mediaeval -taste; for example, his wise practical admonishments; his elaboration of -such a doctrine as that of penance, so tangible that it could be handled, -and felt with one's very fingers; and, finally, his supreme intellectual -endeavour, the allegorical trellising of Scripture, to which the Middle -Ages were to devote their thoughts, and were to make warm and living with -the love and yearning of their souls. The converging currents--decadence -and barbarism--meet and join in Gregory's powerful personality. He -embodies the intellectual decadence which has lost all independent wish -for knowledge and has dropped the whole round of the mind's mortal -interests; which has seized upon the near, the tangible, and the ominous -in theology till it has rooted religion in the fear of hell. All this may -be viewed as a decadent abandonment of the more intellectual and spiritual -complement to the brute facts of sin, penance, and hell barely escaped. -But, on the other hand, it was also barbarization, and held the strength -of barbaric narrowing of motives and the resistlessness of barbaric fear. - -Such were the roles of Boethius and Gregory in the transmission of antique -and patristic intellectual interests into the mediaeval time. Quite -different was that of Gregory's younger contemporary, Isidore, the -princely and vastly influential Bishop of Seville, the primary see in that -land of Spain, which, however it might change dynasties, was destined -never to be free from some kind of sacerdotal bondage. In Isidore's time, -the kingdom of the Visigoths had recently turned from Arianism to -Catholicism, and wore its new priestly yoke with ardour. Boethius had -provided a formal discipline and Gregory much substance already -mediaevalized. But the whole ground-plan of Isidore's mind corresponded -with the aptitudes and methods of the Carolingian period, which was to be -the schoolday of the Middle Ages. By reason of his own habits of study, by -reason of the quality of his mind, which led him to select the palpable, -the foolish, and the mechanically correlated, by reason, in fine, of _his_ -mental faculties and interests, Isidore gathered and arranged in his -treatises a conglomerate of knowledge, secular and sacred, exactly suited -to the coming centuries. - -In drawing from its spiritual heritage, an age takes what it cares for; -and if comparatively decadent or barbarized or childlike in its -intellectual affinities, it will still manage to draw what is like itself. -In that case, probably it will not draw directly from the great sources, -but from intermediaries who have partially debased them. From these turbid -compositions the still duller age will continue to select the obvious and -the worse. This indicates the character of Isidore's work. His writings -speak for themselves through their titles, and are so flat, so -transparent, so palpably taken from the nearest authorities, that there is -no call to analyze them. But their titles with some slight indication of -their contents will show the excerpt character of Isidore's mental -processes, and illustrate by anticipation the like qualities reappearing -with the Carolingian doctors. - -Isidore's _Quaestiones in vetus Testamentum_[123] is his chief work in the -nature of a Scripture commentary. It is confined to those passages of the -Old Testament which were deemed most pregnant with allegorical meaning. -His Preface discloses his usual method of procedure: "We have taken -certain of those incidents of the sacred history which were told or done -figuratively, and are filled with mystic sacraments, and have woven them -together in sequence in this little work; and, collecting the opinions of -the old churchmen, we have made a choice of flowers as from divers -meadows; and briefly presenting a few matters from so many, with some -changes or additions, we offer them not only to studious but fastidious -readers who detest prolixity." Every one may feel assured that he will be -reading the interpretations of the Fathers, and not those of Isidore--"my -voice is but their tongue." He states that his sources are Origen, -Victorinus, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Fulgentius, Cassian, and "Gregory -so distinguished for his eloquence in our own time." The spirit of the -mediaeval commentary is in this Preface. The phrase about "culling the -opinions of the Fathers like flowers from divers meadows," will be -repeated hundreds of times. Such a commentary is a thing of excerpts; so -it rests upon authority. The writer thus comforts both his reader and -himself; neither runs the peril of originality, and together they repose -on the broad bosom of the Fathers. - -Throughout his writings, Isidore commonly proceeds in this way, whether he -says so or not. We may name first the casual works which represent -separate parcels of his encyclopaedic gleanings, and then glance at his -putting together of them, in his _Etymologiae_.[124] The muster opens with -two books of Distinctions (_Differentiarum_). The first is concerned with -the distinctions of like-sounding and like-meaning words. It is -alphabetically arranged. The second is concerned with the distinctions of -_things_: it begins with God and the Creation, and passes to the physical -parts and spiritual traits of man. No need to say that it contains nothing -that is Isidore's own. Now come the _Allegoriae quaedam sacrae -Scripturae_, which give in chronological order the allegorical -signification of all the important persons mentioned in the Old Testament -and the New. It was one of the earliest hand-books of Scriptural -allegories, and is a sheer bit of the Middle Ages in spirit and method. -The substance, of course, is taken from the Fathers. Next, a little work, -_De ortu et obitu Patrum_, states in short paragraphs the birthplace, span -of life, place of sepulture, and noticeable traits of Scriptural -personages. - -There follows a collection of brief Isidorean prefaces to the books of -Scripture. Then comes a curious book, which may have been suggested to the -writer by the words of Augustine himself. This is the _Liber numerorum_, -the book of the _numbers_ occurring in the Scriptures. It tells the -qualities and mystical significance of every number from one to sixteen, -and of the chief ones between sixteen and sixty. These numbers were "most -holy and most full of mysteries" to Augustine,[125] and Augustine is the -man whom Isidore chiefly draws on in this treatise--Augustine at his very -worst. One might search far for an apter instance of an ecclesiastical -writer elaborately exploiting the most foolish statements that could -possibly be found in the writings of a great predecessor. - -Isidore composed a polemic treatise on the Catholic Faith against the -Jews--_De fide Catholica contra Judaeos_. The good bishop had nothing to -add to the patristic discussion of this weighty controversy. His book is -filled with quotations from Scripture. It put the matter together in a way -suited to his epoch and the coming centuries, and at an early time was -translated into the German and other vernacular tongues. Three books of -_Sententiae_ follow, upon the contents of Christian doctrine--as to God, -the world, evil, the angels, man, Christ and the Church. They consist of -excerpts from the writings of Gregory the Great and earlier Church -Fathers.[126] A more original work is the _De ecclesiasticis officiis_, -upon the services of the Church and the orders of clergy and laity. It -presents the liturgical practices and ecclesiastical regulations of -Isidore's epoch. - -Isidore seems to have put most pious feeling into a work called by him -_Synonyma_, to which name was added the supplementary designation: _De -lamentatione animae_. First the Soul pours out its lament in excruciating -iteration, repeating the same commonplace of Christian piety in synonymous -phrases. When its lengthy plaint is ended, Reason replies with admonitions -synonymously reiterated in the same fashion.[127] This work combined a -grammatical with a pious purpose, and became very popular through its -doubly edifying nature, and because it strung together so many easy -commonplaces of Christian piety. Isidore also drew up a _Regula_ for -monks, and a book on the Order of Creation has been ascribed to him. This -completes the sum of his extant works upon religious topics, from which we -pass to those of a secular character. - -The first of these is the _De rerum natura_, written to enlighten his -king, Sisebut, "on the scheme (_ratio_) of the days and months, the bounds -of the year and the change of seasons, the nature of the elements, the -courses of the sun and moon and stars, and the signs of tempests and -winds, the position of the earth, and the ebb and flow of the sea." Of all -of which, continues Isidore, "we have made brief note, from the writings -of the ancients (_veteribus viris_), and especially those who were of the -Catholic Faith. For it is not a vain knowledge (_superstitiosa scientia_) -to know the nature of these things, if we consider them according to sound -and sober teaching."[128] So Isidore compiles a book of secular physical -knowledge, the substance of which is taken from the _Hexaemeron_ of -Ambrose and the works of other Fathers, and also from the lost _Prata_ of -pagan Suetonius.[129] - -Of course Isidore busied himself also with history. He made a dismal -universal _Chronicon_, and perhaps a History of the Kings of the Goths, -through which stirs a breath of national pride; and after the model of -Jerome, he wrote a _De viris illustribus_, concerned with some fifty -worthies of the Church flourishing between Jerome's time and his own. - -Here we end the somewhat dry enumeration of the various works of Isidore -outside of his famous "twenty books of Etymologies." This work has been -aptly styled a _Konversationslexikon_, to use the excellent German word. -It was named _Etymologiae_, because the author always gives the etymology -of everything which he describes or defines. Indeed the tenth book -contains only the etymological definitions of words alphabetically -arranged. These etymologies follow the haphazard similarities of the -words, and often are nonsensical. Sometimes they show a fantastic caprice -indicating a mind steeped in allegorical interpretations, as, for example, -when "_Amicus_ is said to be, by derivation, _animi custos_; also from -_hamus_, that is, chain of love, whence we say _hami_ or hooks because -they hold."[130] This is not ignorance so much as fancy. - -The _Etymologiae_ were meant to cover the current knowledge of the time, -doctrinal as well as secular. But the latter predominates, as it would in -a _Konversationslexikon_. The general arrangement of the treatise is not -alphabetical, but topical. To indicate the sources of its contents would -be difficult as well as tedious. Isidore drew on many previous authors and -compilers: to Cassiodorus and Boethius he went for Rhetoric and Dialectic, -and made frequent trips to the _Prata_ of Suetonius for natural -knowledge--or ignorance. In matters of doctrine he draws on the Church -Fathers; and for his epitome of jurisprudence in the fifth book, upon the -Fathers from Tertullian on, and (probably) upon some elementary book of -legal Institutes.[131] Glancing at the handling of topics in the -_Etymologies_ one feels it to have been a huge collection of terms and -definitions. The actual information conveyed is very slight. Isidore is -under the spell of words. Were they fetishes to him? did they carry moral -potency? At all events the working of his mind reflects the age-long -dominance of grammar and rhetoric in Roman education, which treated other -topics almost as illustrations of these chief branches.[132] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE BARBARIC DESTRUCTION OF THE EMPIRE[133] - - -The Latinizing of northern Italy, Spain, and Gaul was part of the -expansion of Roman dominion. Throughout these lands, alien peoples -submitted to the Roman order and acquired new traits from the training of -its discipline. Voluntarily or under compulsion they exchanged their -institutions and customs for those of Roman Italy, and their native -tongues for Latin. The education and culture of the upper classes became -identical with that gained in the schools about the Forum, and Roman -literature was the literature which they studied and produced. In a -greater or less degree their characters were Latinized, while their -traditions were abandoned for those of Rome. Yet, although Romanized and -Latinized, these peoples were not Roman. Their culture was acquired, their -characters were changed, yet with old traits surviving. In character and -faculties, as in geographical position, they were intermediate, and in -role they were mediatorial. Much of what they had received, and what they -had themselves become, they perforce transmitted to the ruder humanity -which, as the Empire weakened, pressed in, serving, plundering, murdering, -and finally amalgamating with these provincials. The surviving Latin -culture passed to the mingled populations which were turning to inchoate -Romance nations in Italy, Spain, and Gaul. Likewise Christianity, -Romanized, paganized, barbarized, had been accepted through these -countries. And now these mingled peoples, these inchoate Romance nations, -were to accomplish a broader mediation in extending the rudiments of -Latin culture, along with the great new Religion, to the barbarous peoples -beyond the Romance pale. - -The mediating roles of the Roman provincials began with their first -subjection to Roman order. For barbarians were continually brought into -the provinces as slaves or prisoners of war. Next, they entered to serve -as auxiliary troops, coming especially from the wavering Teutonic -outskirts of the Empire. And during that time of misrule and military -anarchy which came between the death of Commodus (A.D. 192) and the -accession of Diocletian (A.D. 284), Teutonic inroads threatened the -imperial fabric. But, apart from palpable invasions, there was a constant -increase in the Teutonic inflow from the close of the second century. More -and more the Teutons tilled the fields; more and more they filled the -armies. They became officers of the army and officials of the Government. -So long as the vigour of life and growth continued in the Latinized -population of the Empire, and so long as the Roman law and order held, the -assimilative power of Latin culture and Roman institutions was enormous; -the barbarians became Romanized. But when self-conserving strength and -coercive energy waned with Romans and provincials, when the law's -protection was no longer sure, and a dry rot infected civic institutions, -then Roman civilization lost some of its transforming virtue. The -barbarism of the Teutonic influx became more obstinate as the transmuting -forces of civilization weakened. Evidently the decadent civilization of -the Empire could no longer raise these barbarians to the level of its -greater periods; it could at most impress them with such culture and such -order as it still possessed. Moreover, reacting upon these disturbed and -infirm conditions, barbarism put forth a positive transforming energy, -tending to barbarize the Empire, its government, its army, its -inhabitants. The decay of Roman institutions and the grafting of Teutonic -institutions upon Roman survivals were as universal as the mingling of -races, tempers, and traditions. The course of events may briefly be -reviewed. - -In the third century the Goths began, by land and sea, to raid the eastern -provinces of the undivided Roman Empire; down the Danube they sailed, and -out upon the Euxine; then their plundering fleets spread through the -eastern Mediterranean. They were attacked, repulsed, overthrown, and -slaughtered in hordes in the year 270. Some of the survivors remained in -bondage, some retired north beyond the Danube. Aurelian gave up to them -the province of Dacia: the latest conquest of the Empire, the first to be -abandoned. These Dacian settlers thenceforth appear as Visigoths. For a -century the Empire had no great trouble from them. Dacia was the scene of -the career of Ulfilas (b. 311, d. 380), the Arian apostle of the Goths. -They became Christian in part, and in part remained fiercely heathen. -About 372, harassed by the Huns, they pressed south to escape over the -Danube. Valens permitted them to cross; then Roman treachery followed, -answered by desperate Gothic raids in Thrace, till at last Valens was -defeated and slain at Hadrianople in 378. - -It was sixteen years after this that Theodosius the Great marched from the -East to Italy to suppress Arbogast, the overweening Frank, who had cast -out his weak master Valentinian. The leader of the Visigothic auxiliaries -was Alaric. When the great emperor died, Alaric was proclaimed King of the -Visigoths, and soon proceeded to ravage and conquer Greece. Stilicho, son -of a Vandal chief--one sees how all the high officers are Teutons--was the -uncertain stay of Theodosius's weakling sons, Honorius and Arcadius. In -400 Alaric attempted to invade Italy, but was foiled by Stilicho, who five -years later circumvented and destroyed another horde of Goths, both men -and women, who had penetrated Italy to the Apennines. In 408 Alaric made a -second attempt to enter, and this time was successful, for Stilicho was -dead. Thrice he besieged Rome, capturing it in 410. Then he died, his -quick death to be a warning to Attila. The new Gothic king, Ataulf, -conceived the plan of uniting Romans and Goths in a renewed and -strengthened kingdom. But this task was not for him, and in two years he -left Italy with his Visigoths to establish a kingdom in the south of Gaul. - -Attila comes next upon the scene. The eastern Empire had endured the -oppression of this terrible Turanian, and had paid him tribute for some -years, before he decided to march westward by a route north of the Alps, -and attack Gaul. He penetrated to Orleans, which he besieged in vain. Many -nations were in the two armies that were now to meet in battle on the -"Catalaunian Plains." On Attila's side, besides his Huns, were subject -Franks, Bructeri, Thuringians, Burgundians, and the hosts of Gepidae and -Ostrogoths. Opposed were the Roman forces, Bretons, Burgundians, Alans, -Saxons, Salian Franks, and the army of the Visigoths. Defeated, but not -overthrown, the lion Hun withdrew across the Rhine; but the next spring, -in 452, he descended from the eastern Alps upon Aquileia and destroyed it, -and next sacked the cities of Venetia and the Po Valley as far as Milan. -Then he passed eastward to the river Mincio, where he was met by a Roman -embassy, in which Pope Leo was the most imposing figure. Before this -embassy the Scourge of God withdrew, awed or persuaded, or in -superstitious fear. The following year, upon Attila's death, his realm -broke up; Gepidae and Goths beat the Huns in battle, and again Teutons -held sway in Central Europe. - -The fear of the Hun had hardly ceased when the Vandals came from Africa, -and leisurely plundered Rome. They were Teutons, perhaps kin to the Goths. -But theirs had been a far migration. At the opening of the fifth century -they had entered Gaul and fought the Franks, then passed on to Spain, -where they were broken by the Visigoths. So they crossed to Africa and -founded a kingdom there, whence they invaded Italy. By this time, the -middle of the fifth century, the fighting and ruling energy in the western -Empire was barbarian. The stocks had become mixed through intermarriage -and the confusion of wars and frequent change of sides. An illustrative -figure is Count Ricimer, whose father was a noble Suevian, while his -mother was a Visigothic princess. He directed the Roman State from 456 to -472, placing one after another of his Roman puppets on the imperial -throne. - -In the famous year 476 the Roman army was made up of barbarians, mainly -drawn from lands now included in Bohemia, Austria, and Hungary. There were -large contingents of Rugii and Heruli, who had flocked in bands to Italy -as adventurers. Such troops had the status of _foederati_, that is, -barbarian auxiliaries or allies. Suddenly they demanded one-third of the -lands of Italy.[134] Upon refusal of their demand, they made a king from -among themselves, the Herulian Odoacer, and Romulus Augustulus flitted -from the shadowy imperial throne. By reason of his dramatic name, rather -than by any marked circumstance of his deposition, he has come to typify -with historians the close of the line of western emperors. - -The Herulian soldier-king or "Patrician," Odoacer, a nondescript -transition personage, ruled twelve years. Then the nation of the -Ostrogoths, which had learned much from the vicissitudes of fortune in the -East, obtained the eastern emperor's sanction, and made its perilous way -to the gates of Italy under the king, Theodoric. This invading people -numbered perhaps two hundred thousand souls; their fighting men were forty -thousand. Odoacer was beaten on the river Isonzo; he retreated to the line -of the Adige, and was again defeated at Verona. After standing a long -siege in Ravenna, he made terms with Theodoric, and was murdered by him. - -The Goths were among the best of the barbarians, and Theodoric was the -greatest of the Goths. The eastern emperors probably regarded him as their -representative in Italy; and he coined money only with the Emperor's -image. But in fact he was a sovereign; and, through his sovereignty over -both Goths and Romans, from a Teutonic king he became an absolute monarch, -even as his contemporary Clovis became, under analogous circumstances. He -was a just despot, with his subjects' welfare at heart. The Goths received -one-third of the Italian lands, in return for which their duty was to -defend the whole. This third may have been that previously possessed by -Odoacer's troops. Under Theodoric the relations between Goths and "Romans" -were friendly. It was from the Code of Theodosius and other Roman sources -that he drew the substance of his legislation, the _Edictum_ which about -the year 510 he promulgated for both Goths and Romans (_barbari -Romanique_).[135] His aim--and here the influence of his minister -Cassiodorus appears--was to harmonize the relations of the two peoples and -assimilate the ways of the Goths to those of their more civilized -neighbours. But if his rule brought prosperity to Italy, after his death -came desolating wars between the Goths under their noble kings, and -Justinian's great generals, Belisarius and Narses. These wars ruined the -Ostrogothic nation. Only some remnants were left to reascend the Alps in -553. Behind them Italy was a waste. - -An imperial eastern Roman restoration followed. It was not to endure. For -already the able and savage Lombard Alboin was making ready to lead down -his army of Lombards, Saxons, Gepidae and unassorted Teutons, and perhaps -Slavs. No strength was left to oppose him in plague-stricken Italy. So the -Lombard conquered easily, and set up a kingdom which, united or divided -under kings and dukes, endured for two hundred years. Then -Charlemagne--his father Pippin had been before him--at the entreaty of the -Pope, invaded Italy with a host of mingled Teuton tribes, and put an end -to the Lombard kingdom, but not to Lombard blood and Lombard traits. - -The result of all these invasions was a progressive barbarization of -Italy, which was not altogether unfortunate, because fraught with some -renewal of strength. The Teutons brought their customs; and at least one -Teuton people, the Lombards, maintained them masterfully. The Ostrogoth, -Theodoric, had preserved the Italian municipal organization, and had drawn -his code for all from Roman sources. But the first Lombard Code, that of -King Rothari, promulgated about 643, ignored Roman law, and apparently the -very existence of Romans. Though written in barbarous Latin, it is Lombard -through and through. So, to a scarcely less degree, is the Code of King -Liutprand, promulgated about 725.[136] Even then the Lombards looked upon -themselves as distinct from the "Romans." Their laws were still those of -the Lombards, yet of Lombards settling down to urban life. Within Lombard -territories the "Romans" were subjects. In Liutprand's Code they seem to -be referred to under the name of _aldii_ and _aldiae_, male and female -persons, who were not slaves and yet not free. Instead of surrendering -one-third of the land, the Romans were obliged to furnish one-third of its -produce. Hence their Lombard masters were interested in keeping them fixed -to the soil, perhaps in a state of serfdom. Little is known as to the -intermarriage of the stocks, or when the Lombards adopted a Latin -speech.[137] - -It is difficult, either in Italy or elsewhere, to follow the changes and -reciprocal working of Roman and Teutonic institutions through these -obscure centuries. They wrought upon each other universally, and became -what neither had been before. The Roman State was there no longer; where -the names of its officials survived they stood for altered functions. The -Roman law prevailed within the dominions of the eastern Empire and the -popes. Everywhere the crass barbarian law and the pure Roman institution -was passing away, or changing into something new. In Italy another -pregnant change was taking place, the passing of the functions of -government to the bishops of Rome. Its stages are marked by the names of -great men upon whose shoulders fell the authority no longer held by a -remote ruler. Leo the Great heads the embassy which turns back the Hun; a -century and a half afterwards Gregory the Great leads the opposition to -the Lombards, still somewhat unkempt savages. Thereafter each succeeding -pope, in fact the papacy by necessity of its position and its aspirations, -opposes the Lombards when they have ceased to be either savage or Arian. -It is an absent supporter that the papacy desires, and not a rival close -at hand: Charlemagne, not Desiderius. - -When the Visigoths under Ataulf left Italy they passed into southern Gaul, -and there established themselves with Toulouse as the centre of the -Visigothic kingdom. They soon extended their rule to Spain, with the -connivance of sundry Roman rulers. Some time before them Vandals, Suevi -and Alans, having crossed the Rhine into Gaul, had been drawn across the -Pyrenees by half-traitorous invitations of rival Roman governors. The -Visigoths now attacked these peoples, with the result that the Suevi -retreated to the north-west of the peninsula, and at length the restless -Vandals accepted the invitation of the traitor Count Boniface, and crossed -to Africa. Visigothic fortunes varied under an irregular succession of -non-hereditary and occasionally murdered kings. Their kingdom reached its -farthest limit in the reign of Euric (466-486), who extended its -boundaries northward to the Loire and southward over nearly all of -Spain.[138] - -Under the Visigoths the lot of the Latinized provincials, who with their -ancestors had long been Roman citizens, was not a hard one. The Roman -system of quartering soldiers upon provincials, with a right to one-third -of the house, afforded precedent for the manner of settlement of the -Visigoths and other Teuton invaders after them. The Visigoths received -two-thirds not only of the houses but also of the lands, which indeed were -bare of cultivators. The municipal organization of the towns was left -intact, and in general the nomenclature and structure of Roman officialdom -were preserved. As the Romans were the more numerous and the cleverer, -they regained their wealth and social consideration. In 506, Alaric II. -promulgated his famous code, the _Lex Romana Visigothorum_, usually called -the "Breviarium," for his Roman subjects. Although the next year Clovis -broke down the Visigothic kingdom in Gaul, and confined it to narrow -limits around Narbonne, this code remained in force, a lasting source of -Roman law for the inhabitants of the south and west of Gaul.[139] - -Throughout Visigothic Spain there existed, in conflict if not in force, a -complex mass of diverse laws and customs, written and unwritten, Roman, -Gothic, ecclesiastical. Soon after the middle of the seventh century a -general code was compiled for both Goths and Roman provincials, between -whom marriages were formally sanctioned. This codification was the legal -expression of a national unity, which however had no great political -vigour. For what with its inheritance of intolerable taxation, of -dwindling agriculture, of enfeebled institutions and social degeneracy, -the Visigothic state fell an easy victim before the Arabs in 711. It had -been subject to all manner of administrative abuse. In name the government -was secular. But in fact the bishops of the great sees were all-powerful -to clog, if not to administer, justice and the affairs of State within -their domains; the nobles abetted them in their misgovernment. So it came -that instead of a united Government supported by a strong military power, -there was divided misrule, and an army without discipline or valour. This -misrule was also cruelly intolerant. The bitter persecution of the Jews, -and the law that none but a Catholic should live in Spain, if not causes, -were at least symptoms, of a fatal impotence, and prophetic of like -measures taken by later rulers in that chosen land of religious -persecution.[140] - -In Gaul, contact between Latinized provincials and Teutonic invaders -produced interesting results. Mingled peoples came into being, whose -polity and institutions were neither Roman nor Teutonic, and whose -literature and intellectual achievement were to unite the racial qualities -of both. The hybrid political and social phenomena of the Frankish period -were engendered by a series of events which may be outlined as follows. -The Franks, Salic and Ripuarian, were clustered in the region of the lower -and middle Rhine. Like other Teutonic groups dwelling near the boundaries -of the weakening Empire, they were alternately plunderers of Roman -territory and auxiliaries in the imperial army, or its independent allies -against Huns or Saxons or Alans. One Childeric, whose career opens in saga -and ends in history, was king or hereditary leader of a part of the Salian -Franks. This active man appears in frequent relations with Aegidius, the -half-independent Roman ruler of that north-western portion of Gaul which -was not held by Visigoths or Burgundians. If Childeric's forefathers had -oftener been enemies than allies of the Empire, he was its ally, and -perhaps commander of the forces which helped to preserve this outlying -portion of its territory. - -Aegidius died in 463, and the territories ruled by him passed to his son -Syagrius practically as an independent kingdom. Childeric in the next -eighteen years increased his power among the Salian Franks, and extended -his territories through victories over other Teutonic groups. Upon his -death in 481 his kingdom passed to his son Chlodoweg, or, as it is easier -to call him, Clovis, then in his sixteenth year. The next five years were -employed by this precocious genius of barbarian craft in strengthening his -kingship among the Salians. At the age of twenty he attacked Syagrius, and -overthrew his power at Soissons. The last Roman ruler of a part of Gaul -fled to the Visigoths for refuge: their king delivered him to Clovis, who -had him killed. So Clovis's realm was extended first to the Seine and then -to the Loire. The Gallo-Romans were not driven out or dispossessed, but -received a new master, who on his part treated them forbearingly and -accepted them as subjects. The royal domains of Syagrius perhaps were -large enough to satisfy the cupidity of the victors. - -Clovis was now king of Gallo-Romans as well as Salian Franks. Thus -strengthened he could fight other Franks with success, and carry on a -great war against the Alemanni to the south-east. At the "battle of -Tolbiac," in which he finally overthrew these people, the heathen Frank -invoked the Christian God (so tells Gregory of Tours), and vowed to accept -the Faith if Christ gave him the victory. This is like the legend of -Constantine at the battle of the Malvern Bridge, nor is the probability of -its essential truth lessened because of this resemblance. Both Roman -emperor and Frankish king turned from heathenism to Christianity as to the -stronger supernatural support. And if ever man received tenfold reward in -this world from his faith it was this treacherous and bloody Frank. - -Hitherto the Teuton tribes, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Burgundians -who had accepted Christianity, were Arians by reason of the circumstances -of their "conversion." On the other hand, the Romanized inhabitants of -Italy, Spain, and Gaul were Catholics, and the influence of their -Arian-hating clergy was enormous. Evidently when Clovis, under the -influence of Catholic bishops and a Catholic wife, became a Catholic, the -power of the Church and the sympathy of the laity would make his power -irresistible. For the Catholic population was greatly in the majority, -even in the countries held by Burgundian or Visigothic kings. The -Burgundian rulers had half turned to Catholicism, and the Visigothic -monarchy treated it with respect. Yet the Burgundian kings did not win the -Church's confidence, nor did the Visigoths disarm its active hostility. -With such ability as Clovis and his sons possessed, their conversion to -Catholicism ensured victory over their rivals, and made a bond of -friendship between them and their Gallo-Roman subjects.[141] - -The extension of Clovis's kingdom, his overthrow of the Visigothic power, -his partial conquest of the Burgundians, would have been even more rapid -and decisive but for the opposing diplomacy of the great Arian ruler, -Theodoric the Ostrogoth, whose prestige and power even the bold Frank -dared not defy. Moreover, the Burgundians stood well with their Roman -subjects, whom they treated generously, and permitted to live under a code -of Roman law. When it came to war between them and Clovis, the advantage -rested with the latter; but possibly the fear of Theodoric, or the -pressure of war with the Alemanni, deferred the final conquest of the -Burgundian kingdom for another generation. - -In 507 Clovis attacked the Visigothic kingdom, and incorporated it with -his dominions in the course of the next year. Whether or not he had cried -out, in the words of Gregory of Tours, "it is a shame that these Arians -should hold a part of Gaul; let us attack them with God's help and take -their land," at all events the war had a religious sanction, and its -successful issue was facilitated by the Catholic clergy within the -Visigothic territory. Clovis's career was now nearing its end. In his last -years, by treachery, murder, and open war when needed, he made himself -king of all the Franks, Ripuarian and Salian. The intense partisan -sympathy of the Church for this its eldest royal Teuton son speaks in the -words of Gregory of Tours, concluding his recital of these deeds of -incomparable villainy: "Thus day by day God cast down his (Clovis's) -enemies before him, because he did what was right in His eyes"! - -The unresting sons and grandsons of Clovis not only conquered Burgundy, -but extended their rule far to the east, into the heart of Germany, and -Merovingians became masters of Thuringia and Bavaria. That such a realm -should hold together was impossible. From Clovis to Charlemagne it was the -regular practice to divide the realm at death among the ruler's sons, and -for the ablest among them to pursue and slay the others, and so unite the -realm again. Besides this principle of internecine conflict, differences -of race and language and degrees of Latinization ensured eventual -disruption. - -Nothing passes away, and very little quite begins, but all things change; -and so the verity of social and political phenomena lies in the -_becoming_, rather than in any temporary phase--as one may perceive in the -Merovingian, later Carolingian, _regnum Francorum_. Therein Roman -institutions survived either as decayed actualities or as names or -effigies; therein were conditions and even institutions which arose and -were developed through the decay of previous institutions, through the -weakening of the imperial peace and justice, the growth of abuses, and the -need of the weak to put themselves under the protection of the nearest -strong. This huge conglomerate of a government also held sturdy Teuton -elements. There was the kingship and the strong body of personal -followers, the latter an outgrowth of the _comitatus_, or rather of the -needs of any barbaric chieftaincy. There was _wergeld_, not so much -exclusively a Teutonic institution, as belonging to a rough society which -sees the need of checking feuds, and finds the means in a system of -compensation to the injured person or his kin, who would otherwise make -reprisals; there was also _Sippe_, the rights and duties of kin among -themselves, and of the kinship as a corporate unit toward the world -without; and therein, in general, was continuance of the warrior spirit of -the Franks and other Teutons, of their social ways and mode of dress, of -their methods of warfare and their thoughts of barbaric hardihood. - -These elements, and much more besides, were in process of mutual interplay -and amalgamation. Childeric had been king of some of the Salian Franks, -and had allied himself with the last fragment of the Roman Empire in Gaul. -Clovis, his son, is greater: he makes himself king of more Franks, and -becomes the head of the Roman-Frankish combination by overthrowing -Syagrius and taking his place as lord of the Gallo-Romans. As towards them -he becomes even as Syagrius and the emperors before him, absolute ruler, -_princeps_. This authority enhanced the dignity of Clovis's kingship over -his own Franks and the Alemanni, and his personal power increased with -each new conquest. He became a novel sort of monarch, combining -heterogeneous prerogatives. Hence his sovereignty and that of his -successors was not a simple development of Teutonic kingship, nor was it a -continuation of Roman imperial or proconsular rule, but rather a new -composite evolution. Some of its contradictions and anomalies were -symbolized by Clovis's acceptance of the title of Consul and stamping the -effigies of the eastern emperors upon his coins--as if they held any power -in the _regnum Francorum_! As between Gallo-Romans and Franks, the -headship had gone over to the latter; yet there was neither hatred on the -one side nor oppression from the other. A common catholicism and many -similarities of condition promoted mutual sympathy and union. For example, -through the decay of the imperial power, oppression had increased, and the -common Gallo-Roman people were compelled to place themselves under the -patronage of powerful personages who could give them the protection which -they could no longer look for from the Government. So relationships of -personal dependence developed, not essentially dissimilar from those -subsisting between the Franks and their kings, when the kings were mere -leaders of small tribes or war bands. But the vastness of the Salian realm -impaired the personal relationship between king and subjects, and again -the latter, Frankish or Gallo-Roman, needed nearer protectors, and found -them in neighbouring great proprietors and functionaries, Frankish or -Gallo-Roman as the case might be.[142] - -Through all the turmoil of the Merovingian period, there was doubtless -individual injustice and hardship everywhere, but no racial tyranny. The -Gallo-Roman kept his language and property, and continued to live under -the Roman law. He was not inferior to the Frank, except that the latter -was entitled to a higher _wergeld_ for personal injury, which, however, -soon was equalized. The Frank also lived under his own law, Salic or -Ripuarian. But the general mingling of peoples in the end made it -impossible to distinguish the law personally applicable; and thereupon, -both as to Franks and Gallo-Romans, the territorial law superseded the law -of race.[143] And when, after two centuries, the Merovingian kingdom, -through change of dynasty, became the Carolingian, political discrepancies -between Frank and Gallo-Roman had passed away. Yet this huge colossus of a -realm with its shoulders of iron and its feet of clay, still included -enough disparities of race and land, language and institution, to ensure -its dissolution. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE CELTIC STRAIN IN GAUL AND IRELAND - - -The northern races who were to form part of the currents of mediaeval life -are grouped under the names of Celts and Teutons.[144] The chief sections -of the former, dwelling in northern Italy and Gaul and Spain, were -Latinized and then Christianized long before the mediaeval period, and -themselves helped to create the patristic and even the antique side of the -mediaeval patrimony. Their role was largely mediatorial, and -geographically, as well as in their time of receiving Latin culture, they -were intermediaries between the classic sources and the Teutons, who also -were to drink of these magic draughts, but not so deeply as to be -transformed to Latin peoples. The role of the Teutons in the mediaeval -evolution was to accept Christianity and learn something of the pagan -antique, and then to react upon what they had received and change it in -their natures. - -Central Europe seems to have been the early home alike of Celts and -Teutons. Thence successive migratory groups appear to have passed -westwardly and southerly. Both races spoke Aryan tongues, and according to -the earliest notices of classic writers resembled each other -physically--large, blue-eyed, with yellow or tawny hair. The more -penetrating accounts of Caesar and Tacitus disclose their distinctive -racial traits, which contrast still more clearly in the remains of the -early Celtic (Irish) and Teutonic literatures. Whatever were the -ethnological affinities between Celt and Teuton, and however imperceptibly -these races may have shaded into each other, for example, in northern -France and Belgium, their characters were different, and their opposing -racial traits have never ceased to display themselves in the literature as -well as in the political and social history of western Europe. - -The time and manner of the Celtic occupation of Gaul and Spain remain -obscure.[145] It took place long before the turmoils of the second century -B.C., when the Teutonic tribes began to assert themselves, probably in the -north of the present Germany, and to press south-westwardly upon Celtic -neighbours on both sides of the Rhine. Some of them pushed on towards -lands held by the Belgae, and then passed southward toward Aquitania, -drawing Belgic and Celtic peoples with them. Afterwards turning eastwardly -they invaded the Roman Provincia in southern Gaul, and through their -victories threatened the great Republic. This was the peril of the Cimbri -and Teutones, which Marius quelled by the waters of the Durance and then -among the hills of Piedmont. The invasion did not change the ethnology of -Gaul, which, however, was not altogether Celtic in Caesar's time. The -opening sentences of his _Commentaries_ indicate anything but racial -unity. The Roman province was mainly Ligurian in blood. West of the -province, between the Pyrenees and the Garonne, were the "Aquitani," -chiefly of Iberian stock. The Celtae, whose western boundary was the -ocean, reached from the Garonne as far north as the Seine, and eastwardly -across the centre of Gaul to the head waters of the Rhine. North of them -were the Belgae, extending from the Seine and the British Channel to the -lower Rhine. These Belgae also apparently were Celts, and yet, as their -lands touched those of the Germans on the Rhine, they naturally show -Teutonic affinities, and some of their tribes contained strains of Teuton -blood. But it is not blood alone that makes the race; and Gaul, with its -dominant Celtic element, was making Gauls out of all these peoples. At all -events a common likeness may be discerned in the picture of Gallic traits -which Caesar gives.[146] - -Gallic civilization had then advanced as far as the native political -incapacity of the Gauls would permit. Quick-witted and intelligent, they -were to gain from Rome the discipline they needed. Once accustomed to the -enforcement of a stable order, their finer qualities responded by a ready -acceptance of the benefits of civilization and a rapid appropriation of -Latin culture. Not a sentence of the Gallic literature survives. But that -this people were endowed with eloquence and possessed of a sense of form, -was to be shown by works in their adopted tongue.[147] Romanized and -Latinized, they were converted to Christianity and then renewed with fresh -Teutonic blood. So they enter upon the mediaeval period; and when, after -the millennial year, the voices of the Middle Ages cease simply to utter -the barbaric or echo the antique, it becomes clear that nowhere is there a -happier balance of intellectual faculty and emotional capacity than in -these peoples of mingled stock who long had dwelt in the country which we -know as France. - -Since the Celts of Gaul have left no witness of themselves in Gallic -institutions or literature, it is necessary to turn to Ireland for clearer -evidence of Celtic qualities. There one may see what might come of a -predominantly Celtic people who lacked the lesson of Roman conquest and -the discipline of Roman order. The early history of the Irish, their -presentation of themselves in imaginative literature, their attainment in -learning and accomplishment in art, are not unlike what might have been -expected from Caesar's Gauls under similar conditions of comparative -isolation. Irish history displays the social turmoil and barbarism -resulting from the insular aggravation of the Celtic weaknesses noticeable -in Caesar's sketch; and the same are carried to burlesque excess in the -old Irish literature. On the other hand, Irish qualities of temperament -and mind bear such fair fruit in literature and art as might be imagined -springing from the Gallic stem but for the Roman graft.[148] - -No trustworthy story can be put together from the myth, tradition, and -conscious fiction which record the unprogressive turbulence of -pre-Christian Ireland. But the Irish character and capacities are clearly -mirrored in this enormous Gaelic literature. Truculence and vanity pervade -it, and a passion for hyperbole. A weak sense of fact and a lack of steady -rational purpose are also conspicuous. It is as ferocious as may be. Yet, -withal, it keeps the charm of the Irish temperament. Its pathos is moving, -even lovely. Some of the poetry has a mystic sensuousness; the lines fall -on the ear like the lapping of ripples on an unseen shore; the imagery has -a fantastic and romantic beauty, and the reader is wafted along on waves -of temperament and feeling.[149] - -Whatever themes sprang from the pagan age, probably nothing was written -down before the Christian time, when Christian matter might be foisted -into the pagan story. The Sagas belonging to the so-called Ulster Cycle -afford the best illustration of early Irish traits.[150] They reflect a -society apparently at the "Homeric" stage of development, though the -Irish heroes suffer in comparison with the Greek by reason of the -immeasurable inferiority of these Gaelic Sagas to the _Iliad_ and -_Odyssey_. There is the same custom of fighting from chariots, the same -tried charioteer, the hero's closest friend, and the same unstable -relationship between the chieftains and the king.[151] - -The Achilles of the Ulster Cycle is Cuchulain. The Tain Bo Cuailgne -(Englished rather improperly as the "Cattle-raid of Cooley") is the long -and famous Saga that brings his glory to its height.[152] Other Sagas tell -of his mysterious birth, his youthful deeds, his wooing, his various -feats, and then the moving, fateful story of his death. Loved by many -women, cherished by heroes, beautiful in face and form, possessed of -strength, agility, and skill in arms beyond belief, uncontrolled, -chivalric, his battle-ardour unquenchable, he is a brilliant epic hero. -But his story is weakened by hyperbole. Even to-day we know how -sword-strokes and spear-thrust kill. So do great narrators, who likewise -realize the literary power of truth. Through the _Iliad_ there is no -combat between heroes where spear and sword do not pierce and kill as they -do in fact. So in the Sagas of the Norse, the man falls before the mortal -blow. But in the Ulster Cycle, day after day, two heroes may mangle each -other in every impossible and fantastic way, beyond the bounds of the -faintest shadow of verisimilitude.[153] In this weakness of hyperbole the -Irish Sagas are outdone only by the monstrous doings of the epics of -India. - -Besides hyperbole, Irish tales display another weakness, which is not -unpleasing, although an element of failure both in the people and their -literature. This is the quality of non-arrival. Some old tales evince it -in the unsteadfast purpose of the narrative, the hero quite forgetting the -initial motive of his action. In the _Voyage of Maeldun_, for instance, a -son sets out upon the ocean to seek his father's murderers, a motive which -is lost sight of amid the marvels of the voyage.[154] As may be imagined, -qualities of vanity, truculence, irrationality, hyperbole, and non-arrival -or lack of sequence, frequently impart an air of _bouffe_ to the Irish -Sagas, making them humorous beyond the intention of their composers.[155] - -Yet true heroic notes are to be heard.[156] And however rare the tales -which have not the makings of a brawl on every page, these truculent Sagas -sometimes speak with power and pathos, and sweetly present the loveliness -of nature or the charms of women; all in a manner happily indicative of -the impressionable Irish temperament. Examples are the moving tales of -_The Children of Usnach_ and the _Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne_.[157] -They bring to mind the Tristram story, which grew up among a kindred -people. The first of them only belongs to the Ulster Cycle. Both are -stories of a beautiful and headstrong maiden betrothed to an old king. -Each maid rebels against union with an old man; each falls in love with a -young hero, and, unabashed, asks him to flee with her. In the former tale -the heroine's charms win the hero, while in the latter he is overcome by -the violent insistence of a woman not to be gainsaid. In both stories love -brings the hero to his death. - -The Irish genius also showed an aptitude for lyric expression, and at an -early period developed elaborate modes of rhymed and alliterative -verse.[158] Peculiarly beautiful are the poems reflecting the Gaelic -belief in a future life. A charming description of Elysium is offered by -_The Voyage of Bran_, a Saga of the Otherworld, dating from the seventh -century. Its verse portions preponderate, the prose serving as their -frame.[159] But it opens in prose, telling how one day, walking near his -stronghold, Bran heard sweet music behind him, and as often as he turned -the music was still behind him. He fell asleep at last from the sweetness -of the strains. When he awoke, he found by him a branch silvery with white -blossoms. He took it to his home, where was seen a woman who sang: - - "A branch of the apple-tree from Emain I bring; - Twigs of white silver are on it, - Crystal boughs with blossoms. - There is a distant isle, - Around which sea-horses (waves) glisten:" - -And the woman sings on, picturing "Mag Mell of many flowers," and of the -host ever rowing thither from across the sea; till at last Bran and his -people set forth in their boat and row on and on, till they are welcomed -by sweet women with music and wine in island-fields of flowers and -bird-song. There is no sad strain in the music from this Gaelic land -beyond the grave. - -Irish traits observed in poem and Saga are reflected in accounts of not -improbable events, and exemplified in Christian saints; for the Irish did -not change their spots upon conversion. How Christianity failed to affect -the manners of the ancient Irish is illustrated in the story of the -Cursing of Tara, where tradition says the high-kings of Ireland held sway. -The account is scarcely historical; yet Tara existed, and fell to decay in -the sixth century.[160] Its cursing was on this wise. King Dermot was -high-king of Ireland. His laws were obeyed throughout the land, and over -its length and breadth marched his spear-bearer asserting the royal -authority, and holding the king's spear across his body before him. Every -town and castle must open wide enough to let this spear pass, carried -crosswise. The spear-bearer comes to the strong house of AEdh. He finds the -outer palisade breached to let the spear through, but not the inner house. -The bearer demands that it be torn open. "Order it so as to please -thyself," quoth AEdh, as he smote off his head. - -King Dermot sent his men to lay waste to AEdh's land and seize his person. -AEdh flees, and at last takes refuge with St. Ruadhan. The king again sends -messengers, but they are foiled, till he comes himself, seizes the outlaw, -and carries him off to hang him at Tara. Thereupon St. Ruadhan seeks St. -Brendan of Birr and others. They proceed to Tara and demand the prisoner. -The king answers that the Church cannot protect law-breakers. So all the -clergy rang their bells and chanted psalms against the king before Tara, -and fasted on him (in order that their imprecations might be more potent), -and he fasted on them. King and clergy fasted on each other, till one -night the clergy made a show of eating in sight of the town, but passed -the meat and ale beneath their cowls. So the king was tricked into taking -meat; and an evil dream came to him, by which he knew the clergy would -succeed in destroying his kingdom. - -In the morning the king went and said to the clergy: "Ill have ye done to -undo my kingdom, because I maintained the righteous cause. Be thy diocese, -Ruadhan, the first one ruined, and may thy monks desert thee." - -Said the saint: "May thy kingdom droop speedily." - -Said the king: "Thy see shall be empty, and swine shall root up thy -churchyards." - -Said the saint: "Tara shall be desolate, and therein shall no dwelling be -for ever." - -It was the custom of ancient bards to utter an imprecation or "satire" -against those offending them.[161] The irate fasting and cursing by the -Irish clergy was a thinly Christianized continuation of the same Irish -habit, inspired by the same Irish temper. There was no chasm between the -pagan bards and the Christian clergy, who loved the Sagas and preserved -them. They had also their predecessors in the Druids, who had performed -the functions of diviners, magicians, priests, and teachers, which were -assumed by the clergy in the fifth and sixth centuries.[162] Doubtless -many of the Druids became monks. - -Christianity came to the Irish as a new ardour, effacing none of their -characteristics. Irish monks and Irish saints were as irascible as Irish -bards and Saga heroes. The Irish temper lived on in St. Columba of Iona -and St. Columbanus of Luxeuil and Bobbio. Both of these men left Ireland -to spread monastic Christianity, and also because, as Irishmen, they loved -to rove, like their forefathers. Christianity furnished this Irish -propensity with a definite aim in the mission-passion to convert the -heathen. It likewise brought the ascetic hermit-passion, which drove these -travel-loving islanders over the sea in search of solitude; and so a -yearning came on Irish monks to sail forth to some distant isle and gain -within the seclusion of the sea a hermitage beyond the reach of man. There -are many stories of these explorers. They sailed along the Hebrides, they -settled on the Shetland Islands, they reached the Faroes, and even brought -back news of Iceland. But before the seventh century closed, their sea -hermitages were harried by Norsemen who were sailing upon quite different -ventures. From an opposite direction they too had reached the Shetlands -and the Hebrides, and had pushed on farther south among the islands off -the west coast of Scotland. So there come sorry tales of monks fleeing -from one island to another. These harryings and flights had gone on for a -century and more before the Vikings landed in Ireland, apparently for the -first time, in 795.[163] There followed two centuries of fierce struggle -with the invaders, during which much besides blows was exchanged. Vikings -and Irish learned from each other; Norse strains passed into Irish -literature, and conversely the Norse story-tellers probably obtained the -Saga form of composition. - -The role of the Irish in the diffusion of Christianity with its -accompaniment of Latin culture will be noted hereafter, and a sketch of -the unquestionably Irish saint Columbanus will be given in illustration. A -few paragraphs on his almost namesake of Iona, whose career hardly -extended beyond Celtic circles, may fitly close the present chapter on the -Celtic genius. In him is seen the truculent Irishman and the clan-abbot of -royal birth, violent, dominating by his impetuosity and the strident -fervour of his voice; also the saint, devoted, loving, to his followers. -Colum,[164] surnamed Cille, "of the church," from his incessant devotions, -and by his Latin name known as Columba, was born at Gartan, Donegal, in -the extreme north-west of Ireland, about the year 520. His family was -chief in that part of the country, and through both his parents he was -descended from kings. He does not belong to those early Irish saints -represented by Patrick and his storied coadjutors of both sexes, whose -missionary activities were not constrained within any ascetic rule; but to -the later generation who lived in those monastic communities which were so -very typically Irish.[165] - -Columba appears to have passed his youth wandering from one monastery to -another, and his manhood in founding them. But so strong a nature could -not hold aloof from the wars of his clan, which belonged to the northern -branch of the Hy-neill race, then maintaining its independence against the -southern branch. The head of the latter was that very King Dermot (usually -called Diarmaid or Diarmuid) against whom St. Ruadhan[166] and the clergy -fasted and rang their bells. Columba appears to have had no part in the -cursing of Tara. But Dermot was the king against whom the wars of his -family were waged, and all the traditions point to the saint as their -instigator. The account given by Keating, the seventeenth century -historian of Gaelic Ireland, is curious.[167] - - "Diarmuid ... King of Ireland, made the Feast of Tara, and a nobleman - was killed at that feast by Curran, son of Aodh; wherefore Diarmuid - killed him in revenge for that, because he committed murder at the - Feast of Tara, against the law and the sanctuary of the feast; and - before Curran was put to death he fled to the protection of - Colum-Cille, and notwithstanding the protection of Colum-Cille he was - killed by Diarmuid. And from that it arose that Colum-Cille mustered - the Clanna Neill of the North, because his own protection and the - protection of the sons of Earc was violated. Whereupon the battle of - Cul Dreimhne was gained over Diarmuid and over the Connaughtmen, so - that they were defeated through the prayer of Colum-Cille." - -Keating adds that another book relates another cause of this battle, to -wit: - - "... the false judgment which Diarmuid gave against Colum-Cille when - he wrote the gospel out of the book of Finnian without his - knowledge.[168] Finnian said that it was to himself belonged the - son-book which was written from his book, and they both selected - Diarmuid as judge between them. This is the decision that Diarmuid - made: that to every book belongs its son-book, as to every cow belongs - her calf." - -Less consistent is the tradition that Columba left Ireland because of the -sentence passed upon him by certain of his fellow-saints, as penance for -the bloodshed which he had occasioned. Indeed, for his motives one need -hardly look beyond the desire to spread the Gospel, and the passion of the -Irish monk _peregrinam ducere vitam_. Reaching the west of Scotland, -Columba was granted that rugged little island then called Hy, but Iova -afterwards, and now Iona. This was in 563, and he continued abbot of Hy -until his death in 597. Not that he stayed there all these years, for he -moved about ceaselessly, founding churches among the Picts and Scots. Some -thirty foundations are attributed to him, besides his thirty odd in -Ireland. - -Adamnan's _Vita_ largely consists of stories of the saint's miracles and -prophecies and the interpositions of Providence in his behalf. It -nevertheless gives a consistent picture of this man of powerful frame and -mighty voice, restless and unrestrained, ascetically tempered, working -always for the spread of his religion. We see him compelling men to set -sail with him despite the tempest, or again rushing into "the green glass -water up to his knees" to curse a plunderer in the name of Christ. "He was -not a gentle hero," says an old Gaelic Eulogy. Yet if somewhat quick to -curse, he was still readier to bless, and if he could be masterful, his -life had its own humility. "Surely it was great lowliness in Colomb Cille -that he himself used to take off his monks' sandals and wash their feet -for them. He often used to carry his portion of corn on his back to the -mill, and grind it and bring it home to his house. He never used to put -linen or wool against his skin. His side used to come against the bare -mould."[169] - -So this impetuous life passes before our eyes filled with adventure, -touched with romance, its colours heightened through tradition. As it -draws to its close the love in it seems to exceed the wrath; and thus it -ends: as the old man was resting himself the day before his death, seated -by the barn of the monastery, the white work-horse came and laid its head -against his breast. Late the same night, reclining on his stone bed he -spoke his last words, enjoining peace and charity among the monks. Rising -before dawn, he entered the church alone, knelt beside the altar, and -there he died.[170]--His memory still hangs the peace of God and man over -the Island of Iona. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -TEUTON QUALITIES: ANGLO-SAXON, GERMAN, NORSE - - -There were intellectual as well as emotional differences between the Celts -and Teutons. A certain hard rationality and grasp of fact mark the -mentality of the latter. On land or sea they view the situation, realize -its opportunities, their own strength, and the opposing odds: with -definite and persistent purpose they move, they fight, they labour. The -quality of purposefulness becomes clearer as they emerge from the forest -obscurity of their origins into the open light of history. To a definite -goal of conquest and settlement Theodoric led the Ostrogoths from Moesia -westward, and fought his way into Italy. With persistent purposefulness -Clovis and his Merovingian successors intrigued and fought. Among -Anglo-Saxon pirates the aim of plunder quickly grew to that of conquest. -And in times which were to follow, there was purpose in every voyage and -battle of the Vikings. The Teutons disclose more strength and persistency -of desire than the Celts. Their feelings were slower, less impulsive; also -less quickly diverted, more unswerving, even fiercer in their strength. -The general characteristic of Teutonic emotion is its close connection -with some motive grounded in rational purpose. - -Caesar's short sketch of the Germans[171] gives the impression of -barbarous peoples, numerous, brave, overweening. They had not reached the -agricultural stage, but were devoted to war and hunting. There were no -Druids among them. Their bodies were inured to hardship. They lived in -robust independence, and were subject to their chiefs only in war. Their -fiercest folk, the Suevi, from boyhood would submit neither to labour nor -discipline, that their strength and spirit might be unchecked. It was -deemed shameful for a youth to have to do with women before his twentieth -year. - -The Roman world knew more about these Germans by the year A.D. 99 when -Tacitus composed his _Germania_. They had scarcely yet turned to -agriculture. Respect for women appears clearly. These barbarians are most -reluctant to give their maidens as hostages; they listen to their women's -voices and deem that there is something holy and prophetic in their -nature. Upon marriage, oxen, a horse, and shield and lance make up the -husband's _morgengabe_ to his bride: she is to have part in her husband's -valour. Fornication and adultery are rare, the adulteress is ruthlessly -punished; men and maidens marry late. The men of the tribe decide -important matters, which, however, the chiefs have previously discussed -apart. The people sit down armed; the priests proclaim silence; the king -or war-leader is listened to, and the assembly is swayed by his persuasion -and repute. They dissent with murmurs, or assent brandishing their spears. -There is thus participation by the tribe, and yet deference to reputation. -This description discloses Teutonic freedom as different from Celtic -political unrestraint. Tacitus also speaks of the Germanic _Comitatus_, -consisting of a chief and a band of youths drawn together by his repute, -who fight by his side and are disgraced if they survive him dead upon the -field. In time of peace they may seek another leader from a tribe at war; -for the Germans are impatient of peace and toil, and slothful except when -fighting or hunting. They had further traits and customs which are -barbaric rather than specifically Teutonic: cruelty and faithlessness -toward enemies, feuds, _wergeld_, drinking bouts, gambling, slavery, -absence of testaments. - -Between the time of Tacitus and the fifth century many changes came over -the Teuton tribes. Early tribal names vanished, while a regrouping into -larger and apparently more mobile aggregates took place. The obscure -revolutions occurring in Central Europe in the second, third, and fourth -centuries do not indicate social progress, but rather retrogression from -an almost agricultural state toward stages of migratory unrest.[172] We -have already noted the fortunes of those tribes that helped to barbarize -and disrupt the Roman Empire, and lost themselves among the Romance -populations of Italy, Gaul, and Spain. We are here concerned with those -that preserved their native speech and qualities, and as Teuton peoples -became contributories to the currents of mediaeval evolution. - - -I - -When the excellent Apollinaris Sidonius, writing in the middle of the -fifth century to a young friend about to enter the Roman naval service off -the coasts of Gaul, characterized the Saxon pirates as the fiercest and -most treacherous of foes, whose way is to dash upon their prey amid the -tempest, and for whom shipwreck is a school, he spoke truly, and also -illustrated the difference that lies in point of view.[173] Fierce they -were, and hardy seamen, likewise treacherous in Roman eyes, and insatiate -plunderers. From the side of the sea they represented the barbarian -disorder threatening the world. The Roman was scarcely interested in the -fact that these men kept troth among themselves with energy and sacrifice -of life. The Saxons, Angles, Jutes, whose homes ashore lay between the -Weser and the Elbe and through Sleswig, Holstein, and Denmark, possessed -interesting qualities before they landed in Britain, where under novel -circumstances they were to develop their character and institutions with a -rapidity that soon raised them above the condition of their kin who had -stayed at home. Bands of them had touched Britain before the year 411, -when the Roman legions were withdrawn. But it was only with the landing of -Hengest and Horsa in 449 that they began to come in conquering force. The -Anglo-Saxon conquest of the island went on for two centuries. Information -regarding it is of the scantiest; but the Britons seem to have been -submerged or driven westward. There is at least no evidence of any -friendly mingling of the races. The invaders accepted neither Christianity -nor Roman culture from the conquered, and Britain became a heathen -England. - -While these Teuton peoples were driving through their conquest and also -fighting fiercely with each other, their characters and institutions were -becoming distinctively Anglo-Saxon. Under stress of ceaseless war, -military leaders became hereditary kings, whose powers, at least in -intervals of peace, were controlled by the Witan or Council of the Wise, -and limited by the jurisdiction of the Hundred Court. Likewise the -temporary ties of the Teutonic _Comitatus_ became permanent in the body of -king's companions (thegns, thanes), whose influence was destined to -supplant that of the eorls, the older nobility of blood. The _Comitatus_ -principle pervades Anglo-Saxon history as well as literature; it runs -through the _Beowulf_ epic; Anglo-Saxon Biblical versifiers transfer it to -the followers of Abraham and the disciples of Christ; and every child -knows the story of Lilla, faithful thegn, who flung himself between his -Northumbrian king, Edwin, and the sword of the assassin--the latter sent -by a West Saxon king and doubtless one of _his_ faithful thegns. Their law -consisted mainly in the graded _wergeld_ for homicide, in an elaborate -tariff of compensation for personal injuries, and in penalties for -cattle-raiding. Beyond the matter of theft, property law was still -unwritten custom, and contract law did not exist. The rules of procedure, -for instance in the Hundred Court, were elaborate, as is usual in a -primitive society where the substantial rights are simple, and the -important thing is to induce the parties to submit to an adjudication. -Similar Teutonic customs obtained elsewhere. But the course of their -development in Saxon England displays an ever clearer recognition of -fundamental principles of English law: justice is public; the parties -immediately concerned must bring the case to court and there conduct it -according to rules of procedure; the court of freemen hear and determine, -but do not extend the inquiry beyond the evidence adduced before them; to -interpret and declare the law is the function of the court, not of the -king and his officers.[174] - -During these first centuries in England, the Anglo-Saxon endowment of -character and faculty becomes clearly shown in events and expressed in -literature. A battle-loving people whose joy in fight flashes from their -"shield-play" and "sword-game" epithets, even as their fondness for -seafaring is seen in such phrases as "wave-floater," "foam-necked," "like -a swan" breasting the "swan-road" of the sea. But their sword-games and -wave-floatings had purpose, a quality that became large and steady as -generation after generation, unstopped by fortress, forest, or river, -pushed on the conquest of England. When that conquest had been completed, -and these Saxons were in turn hard pressed by their Danish kin more lately -sailing from the north, their courage still could not be overborne. It is -reflected in the overweening mood of _Maldon_, the poem which is also -called _The Death of Byrhtnoth_. The cold grey scene lies in the north of -England. The Viking invaders demand rings of gold; Byrhtnoth, the Alderman -of the East Saxons, retorts scornfully. So the fight begins with arrows -and spear throwings across the black water. The Saxons hold the ford. The -Sea-wolves cannot force it. They call for leave to cross. In his overmood -Byrhtnoth answers: "To you this is yielded: come straightway to us; God -only wots who shall hold fast the place of battle." In the bitter end when -Byrhtnoth is killed, still speaks his thane: "Mind shall the harder be, -heart the keener, mood the greater, as our might lessens. Here lies our -Elder hewn to death. I am old; I will not go hence. I think to lay me down -by the side of my lord." - -The spiritual gifts of the Anglo-Saxons are discernible in their language, -which so adequately could render the Bible[175] and the phraseology of the -Seven Liberal Arts. Its terms were somewhat more concrete and physical -than the Latin, but readily lent themselves to figurative meanings. More -palpably the poetry with its reflection upon life shows the endowment of -the race. Marked is its elegiac mood. In an old poem is heard the voice of -one who sails with hapless care the exile's way, and must forego his dear -lord's gifts: in sleep he kisses him, and again lays hands and head upon -those knees, as in times past. Then wakes the friendless man, and sees the -ocean's waves, the gulls spreading their wings, rime and snow falling. -More impersonal is the heavy tone of a meditative fragment over the ruins, -apparently, of a Roman city: - - "Wondrous is this wall-stone, - fates have broken it, - have burst the stronghold, - roofs are fallen, - towers tottering, - hoar gate-towers despoiled, - shattered the battlements, - riven, fallen. - - * * * * - - Earth's grasp holdeth - the mighty workmen - worn away, done for, - in the hard grip of the grave." - -But the noblest presentation of character in pagan Anglo-Saxon poetry is -afforded by the epic poem of _Beowulf_, which tells the story of a Geatic -hero who sets out for Denmark to slay a monster, accomplishes the feat, is -nobly rewarded by the Danish king, and returns to rule his own people -justly for fifty winters, when his valiant and beneficent life ends in a -last victorious conflict with a hoard-guarding dragon. Here myth and -tradition were not peculiarly Anglo-Saxon; but the finally recast and -finished work, noble in diction, sentiment, and action, expresses the -highest ethics of Anglo-Saxon heathendom. Beowulf does what he ought to -do, heroically; and finds satisfaction and reward. He does not seek his -pleasure, though that comes with gold and mead-drinking; consciousness of -deeds done bravely and the assurance of fame sweeten death at last.[176] - -A century or more after the composition of this poem, there lived an -Anglo-Saxon whose aims were spiritualized through Christianity, whose -vigorous mind was broadened by such knowledge and philosophy as his epoch -had gathered from antique sources, and whose energies were trained in -generalship and the office of a king. He presents a life intrinsically -good and true, manifesting itself in warfare against heathen barbarism and -in endeavour to rule his people righteously and enlarge their knowledge. -Many of the qualities and activities of Alfred had no place in the life of -Beowulf. Yet the heathen hero and the Christian king were hewn from the -same rock of Saxon manhood. Alfred's life was established upon principles -of right conduct generically the same as those of the poem. But -Christianity, experience, contact with learned men, and education through -books, had informed him of man's spiritual nature, and taught him that -human welfare depended on knowledge and intent and will. Accordingly, his -beneficence does not stop with the armed safe-guarding of his realm, but -seeks to compass the instruction of those who should have knowledge in -order the better to guide the faith and conduct of the people. "He seems -to me a very foolish man and inexcusable, who will not increase his -knowledge the while that he is in this world, and always wish and will -that he may come to the everlasting life where nothing shall be dark or -unknown."[177] - - -II - -In spite of the general Teutonic traits and customs which the Germans east -and west of the Rhine possessed in common with the Anglo-Saxons, distinct -qualities appear in the one and the other from the moment of our nearer -acquaintance with their separate history and literature. So scanty, -however, are the literary remains of German heathendom that recourse must -be had to Christian productions to discover, for example, that with the -Germans the sentiment of home and its dear relationships[178] is as marked -as the Anglo-Saxon's elegiac meditative mood. Language bears its witness -to the spiritual endowment of both peoples. The German dialects along the -Rhine were rich in abstract nouns ending in _ung_ and _keit_ and _schaft_ -and _tum_.[179] - -There remains one piece of untouched German heathenism, the -_Hildebrandslied_, which dates from the end of the eighth century, and may -possibly be the sole survivor of a collection of German poems made at -Charlemagne's command.[180] It is a tale of single combat between a father -and son, the counterpart of which is found in the Persian, Irish, and -Norse literatures. Such an incident might be diversely rendered; armies -might watch their champions engage, or the combat might occur unwitnessed -in some mountain gorge; it might be described pathetically or in warrior -mood, and the heroes might fight in ignorance, or one of them know well, -who was the man confronting him. In German, this story is a part of that -huge mass of legend which grew up around the memory of the terrible Hun -Attila, and transformed him to the Atli of Norse literature, and to the -worthy King Etzel of the _Nibelungenlied_, at whose Court the flower of -Burgundian chivalry went down in that fierce feud in which Etzel had -little part. Among his vassal kings appears the mighty exile Dietrich of -Bern, who in the _Nibelungen_ reluctantly overcomes the last of the -Burgundian heroes. This Dietrich is none other than Theodoric the -Ostrogoth, transformed in legend and represented as driven from his -kingdom of Italy by Odoacer, and for the time forced to take refuge with -Etzel; for the legend was not troubled by the fact that Attila was dead -before Theodoric was born. Bern is the name given to Verona, and legend -saw Theodoric's castle in that most beautiful of Roman amphitheatres, -where the traveller still may sit and meditate on many things. It is told -also that Theodoric recovered his kingdom in the legendary Rabenschlacht -fought by Ravenna's walls. Old Hildebrand was his master-at-arms, who had -fled with him. In the _Nibelungen_ it is he that cuts down Kriemhild, -Etzel's queen, before the monarch's eyes; for he could not endure that a -woman's hand had slain Gunther and Hagen, whom, exhausted at last, -Dietrich's strength had set before her helpless and bound. And now, after -years of absence, he has recrossed the mountains with his king come to -claim his kingdom, and before the armies he challenges the champion of the -opposing host. Here the Old German poem, which is called the -_Hildebrandslied_, takes up the story: - - "Hildebrand spoke, the wiser man, and asked as to the other's - father--'Or tell me of what race art thou; 'twill be enough; every one - in the realm is known to me.' - - "Hadubrand spoke, Hildebrand's son: 'Our people, the old and knowing - of them, tell me Hildebrand was my father's name; mine is Hadubrand. - Aforetime he fled to the east, from Otacher's hate, fled with Dietrich - and his knights. He left wife to mourn, and ungrown child. Dietrich's - need called him. He was always in the front; fighting was dear to him. - I do not believe he is alive.' - - "'God forbid, from heaven above, that thou shouldst wage fight with so - near kin.' He took from his arm the ring given by the king, lord of - the Huns. 'Lo! I give it thee graciously.' - - "Hadubrand spoke: 'With spear alone a man receives gift, point against - point. Too cunning art thou, old Hun. Beguiling me with words thou - wouldst thrust me with thy spear. Thou art so old--thou hast a trick - in store. Seafaring men have told me Hildebrand is dead.' - - "Hildebrand spoke: 'O mighty God, a drear fate happens. Sixty summers - and winters, ever placed by men among the spearmen, I have so borne - myself that bane got I never. Now shall my own child smite me with the - sword, or I be his death.'" - -There is a break here in the poem; but the uncontrolled son evidently -taunted the father with cowardice. The old warrior cries: - - "'Be he the vilest of all the East people who now would refuse thee - the fight thou hankerest after. Happen it and show which of us must - give up his armour.'" - -The end fails, but probably the son was slain. - -Stubborn and grim appears the Old German character. Point to point shall -foes exchange gifts. Such also was the way when a lord made reward; on the -spear's point presenting the arm-ring to him who had served, he accepting -it in like fashion, each on his guard perhaps. The _Hildebrandslied_ -exhibits other qualities of the German spirit, as its bluntness and lack -of tact; even its clumsiness is evinced in the seventy lines of the poem, -which although broken is not a fragment, but a short poem--a ballad -graceless and shapeless because of its stiff unvarying lines. - -In a later poem, which gives the story of Walter of Aquitaine, the same -set and stubborn mood appears, although lightened by rough banter. This -legend existed in Old German as well as Anglo-Saxon. In the tenth century, -Ekkehart, a monk of St. Gall, freely altering and adding to the tale, made -of it the small Latin epic which is extant.[181] Monk as he was, he tells -a spirited story in his rugged hexameters. He had studied classic authors -to good purpose; and his poem of Walter fleeing with his love Hildegund -from the Hunnish Court (for the all-pervasive Attila is here also) is -vivid, diversified, well-constructed--qualities which may not have been in -the story till he remodelled it. Its leading incidents still present -German traits. Walter and Hildegund carry off a treasure in their flight; -and it is to get this treasure that Gunther urges Hagen (for they are here -too) to attack the fugitive. This is Teutonic. It was for plunder that -Teuton tribes fought their bravest fights from the time of Alaric and -Genseric to the Viking age, and the hoard has a great part in Teutonic -story. In the _Waltarius_ Gunther's driving avarice, Walter's stubborn -defence of his gold are Teutonic. The humour and the banter are more -distinctly German, and nobly German is the relationship of trust and -honour between Walter and the maiden who is fleeing with him. Yet the -story does not revolve around the woman in it, but rather around the -shrewdly got and bravely guarded treasure. - -German traits obvious in the _Hildebrandslied_, and strong through the -Latin of the _Waltarius_, evince themselves in the epic of the -_Nibelungenlied_ and in the _Kudrun_, often called its companion piece. -The former holds the strength of German manhood and the power of German -hate, with the edged energy of speech accompanying it. In the latter, -German womanhood is at its best. Both poems, in their extant form, belong -to the middle or latter part of the twelfth century, and are not -unaffected by influences which were not native German. - -The _Nibelungenlied_ is but dimly reminiscent of any bygone love between -Siegfried and Brunhilde, and carries within its own narrative a sufficient -explanation of Brunhilde's jealous anger and Siegfried's death. Kriemhild -is left to nurse the wrath which shall never cease to devise vengeance for -her husband's murderers. Years afterwards, Hagen warns Gunther, about to -accept Etzel's invitation, that Kriemhild is _lancraeche_ (long vengeful). -The course of that vengeance is told with power; for the constructive soul -of a race contributed to this Volksepos. The actors in the tragedy are -strikingly drawn and contrasted, and are lifted in true epic fashion above -the common stature by intensity of feeling and the power of will to -realize through unswerving action the prompting of their natures. The -fatefulness of the tale is true to tragic reality, in which the far -results of an ill deed involve the innocent with the guilty. - -A comparison of the poem with the _Hildebrandslied_ shows that the sense -of the pathetic had deepened in the intervening centuries. There is -scarcely any pathos in the earlier composition, although its subject is -the fatal combat between father and son. But the _Nibelungen_, with a -fiercer hate, can set forth the heroic pathos of the lot of one, who, -struggling between fealties, is driven on to dishonour and to death. This -is the pathos of the death of Ruediger, who had received the Burgundians -in his castle on their way to Etzel's Court, had exchanged gifts with -them, and betrothed his daughter to the youngest of the three kings. He -was as unsuspecting as Etzel of Kriemhild's plot. But in the end Kriemhild -forces him, on his fealty as liegeman, to outrage his heart and honour, -and attack those whom he had sheltered and guided onward--to their death. - -Not much love in this tale, only hate insatiable. But the greatness of -hate may show the passional power of the hating soul. The centuries have -raised to high relief the elemental Teutonic qualities of hate, greed, -courage and devotion, and human personality has enlarged with the -heightened power of will. The reader is affected with admiration and -sympathy. First he is drawn to Siegfried's bright morning courage, his -noble masterfulness--his character appears touched with the ideals of -chivalry.[182] After his death the interest turns to Kriemhild planning -for revenge. It may be that sympathy is repelled as her hate draws within -its tide so much of guiltlessness and honour; and as the doomed Nibelungen -heroes show themselves haughty, strong-handed, and stout-hearted to the -end, he cheers them on, and most heartily that grim, consistent Hagen in -whom the old German troth and treachery for troth's sake are incarnate. - -The _Kudrun_[183] is a happier story, ending in weddings instead of death. -There was no licentiousness or infidelity between man and wife in the -_Nibelungen_, and through all its hate and horror no outrage is done to -woman's honour. That may be taken as the leading theme of the _Kudrun_. An -ardent wooer, to be sure, may seize and carry off the heroine, and his -father drag her by the hair on her refusal to wed his son; but her honour, -and the honour of all women in the poem, is respected and maintained. The -ideal of womanhood is noble throughout: an old king thus bids farewell to -his daughter on setting forth to be married: "You shall so wear your crown -that I and your mother may never hear that any one hates you. Rich as you -are, it would mar your fame to give any occasion for blame."[184] - -A mediaeval epic may tell of the fortunes of several generations, and the -_Kudrun_ devotes a number of books to the heroine's ancestors, making a -half-savage narrative, in which one feels a conflict between ancient -barbarities and a newer and more courtly order. When the venturesome -wooing and wedded fortune of Kudrun's mother have been told, the poem -turns to its chief heroine, who grows to stately maidenhood, and becomes -betrothed to a young king, Herwig. A rejected wooer, the "Norman" Prince -Hartmuth, by a sudden descent upon the land in the absence of its -defenders, carries off Kudrun and her women by force of arms, and the -king, her father, is killed in an abortive attempt to recapture her. In -Hartmuth's castle by the sea Kudrun spends bitter years waiting for -deliverance. His sister, Ortrun, is kind to her, but his mother, Gerlint, -treats her shamefully. The maiden is steadfast. Between her and Hartmuth -stands a double barrier: his father had killed hers; she was betrothed to -Herwig. Hartmuth repels his wicked mother's advice to force her to his -will. In his absence on a foray Gerlint compels Kudrun to do unfitting -tasks. Hartmuth, returning, asks her: "Kudrun, fair lady, how has it been -with you while I and my knights were away?" - -"Here I have been forced to serve, to your sin and my shame,"[185] -answers Kudrun--a great answer, in its truth and self-control. - -After an interval of kind treatment the old "she-wolf" Gerlint sets Kudrun -with her faithful Hildeburg to washing clothes in the sea. It is winter; -their garments are mean, their feet are naked. They see a boat -approaching, in which are Kudrun's brother Ortwin, and Herwig her -betrothed, who had come before their host as spies. A recognition follows. -Herwig is for carrying them off; Ortwin forbids it. "With open force they -were taken; my hand shall not steal them back"; dear as Kudrun is, he can -take her only _nach eren_ (as becomes his honour). When they have gone, -Kudrun throws the clothes to be washed into the sea. "No more will I wash -for Gerlint; two kings have kissed me and held me in their arms." - -Kudrun returns to the castle, which soon is stormed. She saves Hartmuth -and his sister from the slaughter, and all sail home, where the thought is -now of wedding festivals. - -Kudrun is married to Herwig; at her advice Ortwin weds Ortrun, and then -she thinks of Hartmuth's plight, and asks her friend Hildeburg whether she -will have him for a husband. Hildeburg consents. Kudrun commands that -Hartmuth be brought, and bids him be seated by the side of her dear friend -"who had washed clothes along with her!" - -"Queen, you would reproach me with that. I grieved at the shame they put -on you. It was kept from me." - -"I cannot let it pass. I must speak with you alone, Hartmuth." - -"God grant she means well with me," thought he. She took him aside and -spoke: "If you will do as I bid, you will part with your troubles." - -Hartmuth answered: "I know you are so noble that your behest can be only -honourable and good. I can find nothing in my heart to keep me from doing -your bidding gladly, Queen."[186] The high quality of speech between these -two will rarely be outdone. - -There is directness and troth in all these German poems. Troth is an ideal -which must carry truth within it. The more thoughtful and reflecting -German spirit will evince loyalty to truth itself as an ideal. Wolfram's -poem of _Parzival_ has this; and by virtue of this same ideal, Walter von -der Vogelweide's judgments upon life and emperors and popes are whole and -steady, unveiling the sham, condemning the lie and defying the liar.[187] -In them dawns the spirit of Luther and the German Reformation, with its -love of truth stronger than its love of art. - - -III - -Chronologically these last illustrations of German traits belong to the -mediaeval time; and in fact the _Nibelungenlied_ and _Kudrun_, and much -more Wolfram's _Parzival_ and Walter's poems, are mediaeval, because to -some extent affected by that interplay of influences which made the -mediaeval genius.[188] On the other hand, the almost contemporaneous Norse -Sagas and the somewhat older Eddic poems exhibit Teutonic traits in their -northern integrity. For the Norse period of free and independent growth -continued long after the distinctive barbarism of other Teutons had become -mediaevalized. There resulted under the strenuous conditions of Norse life -that unique heightening of energy which is manifested in the deeds of the -Viking age and reflected in Norse literature.[189] - -This time of extreme activity opens in the eighth century, toward the end -of which Viking ravagers began to harry the British Isles. St. Cuthbert's -holy island of Lindisfarne was sacked in 793, and similar raids multiplied -with portentous rapidity. The coasts of Ireland and Great Britain, and the -islands lying about them, were well plundered while the ninth century was -young. In Ireland permanent conquests were made near Dublin, at Waterford, -and Limerick. The second half of this century witnesses the great Danish -Viking invasion of England. On the Continent the Vikings worried the -skirts of the Carolingian colossus, and the Lowlands suffered before -Charlemagne was in his grave. After his death the trouble began in -earnest. Not only the coasts were ravaged, but the river towns trembled, -on the Elbe, the Rhine, the Somme, the Seine, the Loire. Paris foiled or -succumbed to more than one fierce siege. About the middle of the ninth -century the Vikings began to winter where they had plundered in the -summer. - -The north was ruled by chiefs and petty kings until Harold Fairhair -overcame the chiefs of Norway and made himself supreme about the year 870. -But he established his power only after great sea-fights, and many of the -conquered choosing exile rather than submission, took refuge in the -Orkneys, the Faroes, and other islands. Harold pursued with his fleets, -and forced them to further flight. It was this exodus from the islands and -from Norway in the last years of the ninth century that gave Iceland the -greater part of its population. Thither also came other bold spirits from -the Norse holdings in Ireland. - -While these events were happening in the west, the Scandinavians had not -failed to push easterly. Some settled in Russia, by the Gulf of Finland, -others along the south shore of the Baltic between the Vistula and Oder. -So their holdings in the tenth century encircled the north of Europe; for -besides Sleswig, Denmark, and Scandinavia, they held the coast of Holland, -also Normandy, where Rollo came in 912. Of insular domain, they held -Iceland, parts of Scotland, and the islands north and west of it, some -bits of Ireland, and much of England. Moreover, Scandinavians filled the -Varangian corps of the Byzantine emperors, and old Runic inscriptions are -found on marbles at Athens. Their narrow barks traversed the eastern -Mediterranean[190] long before Norman Roger and Norman Robert conquered -Sicily and southern Italy. Such reach of conquest shows them to have been -moved by no passion for adventure. Their fierce valour was part of their -great capacity for the strategy of war. As pirates, as invaders, as -settlers, they dared and fought and fended for a purpose--to get what they -wanted, and to hold it fast. When they had mastered the foe and conquered -his land, they settled down, in England and Normandy and Sicily. - -Such genius for fighting was in accord with shrewdness and industry in -peace. The Vikings laboured, whether in Norway or in Iceland. In the -_Edda_ the freeman learns to break oxen, till the ground, timber houses, -build barns, make carts and ploughs.[191] So a tenth-century Viking king -may be found in the field directing the cutting and stacking of his corn -and the gathering of it into barns. They were also traders and even -money-lenders. The Icelanders, whom we know so intimately from the Sagas, -went regularly upon voyages of trade or piracy before settling down to -farm and wife. Sharp of speech, efficient in affairs, and often adepts in -the law, they eagerly took part in the meetings of the Althing and its -settlement of suits. If such settlement was rejected, private war or the -_holmgang_ (an appointed single combat on a small island) was the regular -recourse. But it was murder to kill in the night or without previous -notice. Nothing should be said behind an enemy's back that the speaker -would not make good; and every man must keep his plighted word. - -Much of the Norse wisdom consists in a shrewd wariness. Contempt for the -chattering fool runs through the _Edda_.[192] Let a man be chary of -speech and in action unflinching. Eddic poetry is full of action; even its -didactic pieces are dramatic. The _Edda_ is as hard as steel. In the -mythological pieces the action has the ruthlessness of the elements, while -the stories of conduct show elemental passions working in elemental -strength. The men and women are not rounded and complete; but certain -disengaged motives are raised to the Titanic and thrown out with power. -Neither present anguish, nor death surely foreseen, checks the course of -vengeance for broken faith in those famous Eddic lays of Atli, of Sigurd -and Sigrifa, Helgi and Sigrun, Brynhild and Gudrun, out of which the -Volsunga Saga was subsequently put together, and to which the -_Nibelungenlied_ is kin. They seem to carry the same story, with change of -names and incidents. Always the hero's fate is netted by woman's vengeance -and the curse of the Hoard. But still the women feel most; the men strike, -or are struck. Hard and cold grey, with hidden fire, was the temper of -these people. Their love was not over-tender, and yet stronger than death: -cries Brynhild's ghost riding hellward, "Men and women will always be born -to live in woe. We two, Sigurd and I, shall never part again." And the -power of such love speaks in the deed and word of Sigrun, who answers the -ghostly call of slain Helgi from his barrow, and enters it to cast her -arms about him there: "I am as glad to meet thee as are the greedy hawks -of Odin when they scent the slain. I will kiss thee, my dead king, ere -thou cast off thy bloody coat. Thy hair, my Helgi, is thick with rime, thy -body is drenched with gory dew, dead-cold are thy hands." - -The characters which appear in large grey traits in the _Edda_, come -nearer to us in the Icelandic Sagas. The _Edda_ has something of a far, -unearthly gloom; the Saga the light of day. Saga-folk are extraordinarily -individual; men and women are portrayed, body and soul, with homely, -telling realism. Nevertheless, within a fuller round of human trait, -Eddic qualities endure. There is the same clear purpose and the strong -resolve, and still the deed keeps pace with the intent.[193] - -The period which the Sagas would delineate commences when the Norse chiefs -sail to Iceland with kith and kin and following to be rid of Harold -Fairhair, and lasts for a century or more on through the time of King Olaf -Tryggvason who, shield over head, sprang into the sea in the year 1000, -and the life of that other Olaf, none too rightly called the Saint, who in -1030 perished in battle fighting against overwhelming odds. Following hard -upon this heroic time comes the age of telling of it, telling of it at the -mid-summer Althing, telling of it at Yuletide feasts, and otherwise -through the long winter nights in Iceland. These tellings are the Sagas in -process of creation; for a Saga is essentially a tale told by word of -mouth to listeners. Thus pass another hundred years of careful telling, -memorizing, and retelling of these tales, kept close to the old incidents -and deeds, yet ever with a higher truth intruding. They are becoming true -to reality itself, in concrete types, and not simply narratives of facts -actually occurring--if indeed facts ever occur in any such unequivocal -singleness of actuality and with such compelling singleness of meaning, -that one man shall not read them in one way and another otherwise. And the -more imaginative reading may be the truer. - -This century of Saga-growth in memory and word of mouth came to an end, -and men began to write them down. For still another hundred years -(beginning about 1140) this process lasted. In its nature it was something -of a remodelling. As oral tales to be listened to, the Sagas had come to -these scribe-authors, and as such the latter wrote them down, yet with -such modification as would be involved in writing out for mind and eye and -ear that which the ear had heard and the memory retained. In some -instances the scribe-author set himself the more ambitious task of casting -certain tales together in a single, yet composite story. Such is the -Njala, greatest of all Sagas; it may have been written about the year -1220.[194] - -As representative of the Norse personality, the Sagas, like all national -literature, bear a twofold testimony: that of their own literary -qualities, and that of the characters which they portray. In the first -place, a Saga is absolute narrative: it relates deeds, incidents, and -sayings, in the manner and order in which they would strike the eye and -ear of the listener, did the matter pass before him. The narrator offers -no analysis of motives; he inserts no reflections upon characters and -situations. He does not even relate the incidents from the vantage-ground -of a full knowledge of them, but from the point of view of each instant's -impression upon the participants or onlookers. The result is an objective -and vivid presentation of the story. Next, the Sagas are economical of -incident as well as language. That incident is told which the story needs -for the presentation of the hero's career; those circumstances are given -which the incident needs in order that its significance may be perceived; -such sayings of the actors are related as reveal most in fewest words. -There is nothing more extraordinary in these stories than the significance -of the small incident, and the extent of revelation carried by a terse -remark. - -For example, in the Gisli Saga, Gisli has gone out in the winter night to -the house of his brother Thorkel, with whom he is on good terms, and there -has slain Thorkel's wife's brother in his bed. In the darkness and -confusion he escapes unrecognized, gets back to his own house and into -bed, where he lies as if asleep. At daybreak the dead man's friends come -packing to Gisli's farm: - - "Now they come to the farm, Thorkel and Eyjolf, and go up to the - shut-bed where Gisli and his wife slept; but Thorkel, Gisli's brother, - stepped up first on to the floor, and stands at the side of the bed, - and sees Gisli's shoes lying all frozen and snowy. He kicked them - under the foot-board, so that no other man should see them."[195] - -This little incident of the shoes not only shows how near was Gisli to -detection and death, but also discloses the way in which Thorkel meant to -act and did act toward his brother: to wit, shield him so long as it might -be done without exposing himself. - -Another illustration. The Njals Saga opens with a sketch of the girl -Hallgerda, so drawn that it presages most of the trouble in the story. -There were two well-to-do brothers, Hauskuld and Hrut: - - "It happened once that Hauskuld bade his friends to a feast, and his - brother Hrut was there, and sat next to him. Hauskuld had a daughter - named Hallgerda, who was playing on the floor with some other girls. - She was fair of face and tall of growth, and her hair was as soft as - silk; it was so long, too, that it came down to her waist. Hauskuld - called out to her, 'Come hither to me, daughter.' So she went up to - him, and he took her by the chin and kissed her; after that she went - away. Then Hauskuld said to Hrut, 'What dost thou think of this - maiden? Is she not fair?' Hrut held his peace. Hauskuld said the same - thing to him a second time, and then Hrut answered, 'Fair enough is - this maid, and many will smart for it; but this I know not, whence - thief's eyes have come into our race.' Then Hauskuld was wroth, and - for a time the brothers saw little of each other."[196] - -The picture of Hallgerda will never leave the reader's mind throughout the -story, of which she is the evil genius. It is after she has caused the -death of her first husband and is sought by a second, that she is sent for -by her father to ask what her mind may be: - - "Then they sent for Hallgerda, and she came thither, and two women - with her. She had on a cloak of rich blue woof, and under it a scarlet - kirtle, and a silver girdle round her waist; but her hair came down on - both sides of her bosom, and she had turned the locks up under her - girdle. She sat down between Hrut and her father, and she greeted them - all with kind words, and spoke well and boldly, and asked what was the - news. After that she ceased speaking." - -This is the woman that the girl has grown to be; and she is still at the -beginning of her mischief. Such narrative art discloses both in the -tale-teller and the audience an intelligence which sees the essential fact -and is impatient of encumbrance. It is the same intelligence that made -these Vikings so efficient in war, and in peace quick to seize cogent -means. - -Truthfulness is another quality of the Sagas. Indeed their respect for -historical or biographical fact sometimes hindered the evolution of a -perfect story. They hesitated to omit or alter well-remembered incidents. -Nevertheless a certain remodelling came, as generation after generation of -narrators made the incidents more striking and the characters more marked, -and, under the exigencies of storytelling, omitted details which, although -actual, were irrelevant to the current of the story. The disadvantages -from truthfulness were slight, compared with the admirable artistic -qualities preserved by it. It kept the stories true to reality, excluding -unreality, exaggeration, absurdity. Hence these Sagas are convincing: no -reader can withhold belief. They contain no incredible incidents. On -occasions they tell of portents, prescience, and second sight, but not so -as to raise a smile. They relate a very few encounters with trolls--the -hideous, unlaid, still embodied dead. But those accounts conform to the -hard-wrung superstitions of a people not given to credulity. So they are -real. The reality of Grettir's night-wrestling with Glam, the troll, is -hardly to be matched.[197] Truthfulness likewise characterizes their -heroes: no man lies about his deeds, and no man's word is doubted. - -While the Saga-folk include no cowards or men of petty manners, there is -still great diversity of character among them. Some are lazy and some -industrious, some quarrelsome and some good-natured, some dangerous, some -forbearing, gloomy or cheerful, open-minded or biassed, shrewd or stupid, -generous or avaricious. Such contrasts of character abound both in the -Sagas of Icelandic life and those which handle the broader matter of -history. One may note in the _Heimskringla_[198] of the Kings of Norway -the contrasted characters of the kings Olaf Tryggvason and St. Olaf. The -latter appears as a hard-working, canny ruler, a lover of order, a -legislator and enforcer of the laws; in person, short, thick-set, carrying -his head a little bent. A Viking had he been, and was a fighter, till he -fell in his last great battle undaunted by odds. - -But the other Olaf, Norway's darling hero, is epic: tall, golden-haired, -peerless from his boyhood, beloved and hated. His marvellous physical -masteries are told, his cliff-climbing, his walking on the sweeping oars -keeping three war-axes tossing in the air. He smote well with either hand -and cast two spears at once. He was the gladdest and gamesomest of men, -kind and lowly-hearted, eager in all matters, bountiful of gifts, glorious -of attire, before all men for high heart in battle, and grimmest of all -men in his wrath; marvellous great pains he laid upon his foes. "No man -durst gainsay him, and all the land was christened wheresoever he came." -Five short years made up his reign. At the end, neither he was broken nor -his power. But a plot, moved by the hatred of a spurned heathen queen, -delivered him to unequal combat with his enemies, the Kings of Denmark and -Sweden, and Eric the great Viking Earl. - -Olaf is sailing home from Wendland. The hostile fleet crouches behind an -island. Sundry of Olaf's ships pass by. Then the kings spy a great ship -sailing--that will be Olaf's _Long Worm_ they say; Eric says no. Anon come -four ships, and a great dragon amid them--the _Long Worm_? not yet. At -last she comes, greatest and bravest of all, and Olaf in her, standing on -the poop, with gilded shield and golden helm and a red kirtle over his -mail coat. His men bade to sail on, and not fight so great a host; but -Olaf said, "Never have I fled from battle." So Olaf's ships are lashed in -line, at the centre the _Long Worm_, its prow forward of the others -because of her greater length. Olaf would have it thus in spite of the -"windy weather in the bows" predicted by her captain. The enemies' ships -close around them. Olaf's grapplings are too much for the Danes; they draw -back. Their places are taken by the ships of Sweden. They fare no better. -At last Earl Eric lays fast his iron-beaks to Olaf's ships; Danes and -Swedes take courage and return. It is hand to hand now, the ships laid -aboard of each other. - -At last all of Olaf's ships are cleared of men and cut adrift, save the -_Long Worm_. There fight Olaf's chosen, mad with battle. Einar, Olaf's -strong bowman, from the _Worm_ aft in the main hold, shot at Earl Eric; -one arrow pierced the tiller by his head, the second flew beneath his arm. -Says the Earl to Finn, his bowman, "Shoot me yonder big man." Finn shot, -and the arrow struck full upon Einar's bow as he was drawing it the third -time, and it broke in the middle. - -"What broke there so loud?" said Olaf. - -"Norway, king, from thine hands," answered Einar. - -"No such crash as that," said the king; "take my bow and shoot." - -But the foeman's strength was overpowering. Olaf's men were cut down -amidships. They hardly held the poop and bow. Earl Eric leads the -boarders. The ship is full of foes. Olaf will not be taken. He leaps -overboard. About the ship swarm boats to seize him; but he threw his -shield over his head and sank quickly in the sea. - -The private Sagas construct in powerful lines the characters of the heroes -from the stories of their lives. A great example is the Saga of Egil,[199] -whose father was a Norse chief who had sailed to Iceland, where Egil was -born. As a child he was moody, intractible, and dangerous, and once killed -an older lad who had got the better of him at ball playing. There was no -great love between him and his father. When he was twelve years old his -father used him roughly. He entered the great hall and walked up to his -father's steward and slew him. Then he went to his seat. After that, -father and son said little to each other. The boy was bent on going -cruising with his older brother, Thorolf. The father yields, and Egil goes -a-harrying. Fierce is his course in Norway, where they come. On the sea -his vessel bears him from deed to deed of blood and daring. His strength -won him booty and reward; he won a friend too, Arinbjorn, and there was -always troth between them. - -Thorolf and Egil took service with King Athelstane, who was threatened -with attack from the King of the Scots. The brothers led the Vikings in -Athelstane's force. In the battle Thorolf loses his life; but Egil hears -the shout when Thorolf falls. His furious valour wins the day for -Athelstane. After the fight he buries his brother and sings staves over -his grave. - - "Then went Egil and those about him to seek King Athelstan, and at - once went before the king, where he sat at the drinking. There was - much noise of merriment. And when the king saw that Egil was come in, - he bade the lower bench be cleared for them, and that Egil should sit - in the high-seat facing the king. Egil sat down there, and cast his - shield before his feet. He had his helm on his head, and laid his - sword across his knees; and now and again he half drew it, and then - clashed it back into the sheath. He sat upright, but with head bent - forward. Egil was large-featured, broad of forehead, with large - eye-brows, a nose not long but very thick, lips wide and long, chin - exceeding broad, as was all about the jaws; thick-necked was he, and - big-shouldered beyond other men, hard-featured, and grim when angry. - He would not drink now, though the horn was borne to him, but - alternately twitched his brows up and down. King Athelstan sat in the - upper high-seat. He too laid his sword across his knees. When they had - sat there for a time, then the king drew his sword from the sheath, - and took from his arm a gold ring large and good, and placing it upon - the sword-point he stood up, and went across the floor, and reached it - over the fire to Egil. Egil stood up and drew his sword, and went - across the floor. He stuck the sword-point within the round of the - ring, and drew it to him; then he went back to his place. The king - sate him again in his high-seat. But when Egil was set down, he drew - the ring on his arm, and then his brows went back to their place. He - now laid down sword and helm, took the horn that they bare to him, and - drank it off. Then sang he: - - 'Mailed monarch, god of battle, - Maketh the tinkling circlet - Hang, his own arm forsaking, - On hawk-trod wrist of mine. - I bear on arm brand-wielding - Bracelet of red gold gladly. - War-falcon's feeder meetly - Findeth such meed of praise.' - - "Thereafter Egil drank his share, and talked with others. Presently - the king caused to be borne in two chests; two men bare each. Both - were full of silver. The king said: 'These chests, Egil, thou shalt - have, and, if thou comest to Iceland, shalt carry this money to thy - father; as payment for a son I send it to him: but some of the money - thou shalt divide among such kinsmen of thyself and Thorolf as thou - thinkest most honourable. But thou shalt take here payment for a - brother with me, land or chattels, which thou wilt. And if thou wilt - abide with me long, then will I give thee honour and dignity such as - thyself mayst name.' - - "Egil took the money, and thanked the king for his gifts and friendly - words. Thenceforward Egil began to be cheerful; and then he sang: - - 'In sorrow sadly drooping - Sank my brows close-knitted; - Then found I one who furrows - Of forehead could smooth. - Fierce-frowning cliffs that shaded - My face a king hath lifted - With gleam of golden armlet: - Gloom leaveth my eyes.'" - -Like many of his kind in Iceland and Norway, this fierce man was a poet. -Once he saved his life by a poem, and poems he had made as gifts. It was -when the old Viking's life was drawing to its close at his home in Iceland -that he composed his most moving lay. His beautiful beloved son was -drowned. After the burial Egil rode home, went to his bed-closet, lay down -and shut himself in, none daring to speak to him. There he lay, silent, -for a day and night. At last his daughter knocks and speaks; he opens. She -enters and beguiles him with her devotion. After a while the old man takes -food. And at last she prevails on him to make a poem on his son's death, -and assuage his grief. So the song begins, and at length rises clear and -strong--perhaps the most heart-breaking of all old Norse poems.[200] - -In the portrayal of contrasted characters no other Saga can equal the -great Njala, a Saga large and complex, and doubtless composite; for it -seems put together out of three stories, in all of which figured the just -Njal, although he is the chief personage in only one of them. The story, -with its multitude of personages and threefold subject-matter, lacks unity -perhaps. Yet the different parts of the Saga successively hold the -attention. In the first part, the incomparable Gunnar is the hero; in the -second, Njal and his sons engage our interest in their varied characters -and common fate. These are great narratives. The third part is perhaps -epigonic, excellent and yet an aftermath. Only a reading of this Saga can -bring any realization of its power of narrative and character delineation. -Its chief personages are as clear as the day. One can almost see the -sunlight of Gunnar's open brow, and certainly can feel his manly heart. -The foil against which he is set off is his friend Njal, equally good, -utterly different: unwarlike, wise in counsel, a great lawyer, truthful, -just, shrewd and foreseeing. Hallgerda, of the long silken hair, is -Gunnar's wife; she has caused the deaths of two husbands already, and will -yet prove Gunnar's bane. Little time passes before she is the enemy of -Njal's high-minded spouse, Bergthora. Then Hallgerda beginning, Bergthora -following quick, the two push on their quarrel, instigating in -counter-vengeance alternate manslayings, each one a little nearer to the -heart and honour of Gunnar and Njal. Yet their friendship is unshaken. For -every killing the one atones with the other; and the same blood-money -passes to and fro between them. - -Gunnar's friendship with the pacific Njal and his warlike sons endured -till Gunnar's death. That came from enmities first stirred by the thieving -of Hallgerda's thieving thrall. She had ordered it, and in shame Gunnar -gave her a slap in the face, the sole act of irritation recorded of this -generous, forbearing, peerless Viking, who once remarked: "I would like to -know whether I am by so much the less brisk and bold than other men, -because I think more of killing men than they?" At a meeting of the -Althing he was badgered by his ill-wishers into entering his stallion for -a horse-fight, a kind of contest usually ending in a man-fight. -Skarphedinn, the most masterful of Njal's sons, offered to handle Gunnar's -horse for him: - -"Wilt thou that I drive thy horse, kinsman Gunnar?" - -"I will not have that," says Gunnar. - -"It wouldn't be amiss, though," says Skarphedinn; "we are hot-headed on -both sides." - -"Ye would say or do little," says Gunnar, "before a quarrel would spring -up; but with me it will take longer, though it will be all the same in the -end." - -Naturally the contest ends in trouble. Gunnar's beaten and enraged -opponent seizes his weapons, but is stopped by bystanders. "This crowd -wearies me," said Skarphedinn; "it is far more manly that men should fight -it out with weapons." Gunnar remained quiet, the best swordsman and bowman -of them all. But his enemies fatuously pushed on the quarrel; once they -rode over him working in the field. So at last he fought, and killed many -of them. Then came the suits for slaying, at the Althing. Njal is Gunnar's -counsellor, and atonements are made: Gunnar is to go abroad for three -winters, and unless he go, he may be slain by the kinsmen of those he has -killed. Gunnar said nothing. Njal adjured him solemnly to go on that -journey: "Thou wilt come back with great glory, and live to be an old man, -and no man here will then tread on thy heel; but if thou dost not fare -away, and so breakest thy atonement, then thou wilt be slain here in the -land, and that is ill knowing for those who are thy friends." - -Gunnar said he had no mind to break the atonement, and rode home. A ship -is made ready, and Gunnar's gear is brought down. He rides around and bids -farewell to his friends, thanking them for the help they had given him, -and returns to his house. The next day he embraces the members of his -household, leaps into the saddle, and rides away. But as he is riding down -to the sea, his horse trips and throws him. He springs from the ground, -and says with his face to the Lithe, his home: "Fair is the Lithe; so fair -that it has never seemed to me so fair; the cornfields are white to -harvest, and the home mead is mown; and now I will ride back home, and not -fare abroad at all." - -So he turns back--to his fate. The following summer at the Althing, his -enemies give notice of his outlawry. Njal rides to Gunnar's home, tells -him of it, and offers his sons' aid, to come and dwell with him: "they -will lay down their lives for thy life." - -"I will not," says Gunnar, "that thy sons should be slain for my sake, and -thou hast a right to look for other things from me." - -Njal rode to his home, while Gunnar's enemies gathered and moved secretly -to his house. His hound, struck down with an axe, gives a great howl and -expires. Gunnar awoke in his hall, and said: "Thou hast been sorely -treated, Sam, my fosterling, and this warning is so meant that our two -deaths will not be far apart." Single-handed, the beset chieftain -maintains himself within, killing two of his enemies and wounding eight. -At last, wounded, and with his bowstring cut, he turns to his wife -Hallgerda: "Give me two locks of thy hair, and do thou and my mother twist -them into a bowstring for me." - -"Does aught lie on it?" she says. - -"My life lies on it," he said; "for they will never come to close quarters -with me if I can keep them off with my bow." - -"Well," she says, "now I will call to thy mind that slap on the face which -thou gavest me; and I care never a whit whether thou holdest out a long -while or a short." - -Then Gunnar sang a stave, and said, "Every one has something to boast of, -and I will ask thee no more for this." He fought on till spent with -wounds, and at last they killed him. - -Here the Njala may be left with its good men and true and its evil -plotters, all so differently shown. It has still to tell the story and -fate of Njal's unbending sons, of Njal himself and his high-tempered dame, -who will abide with her spouse in their burning house, which enemies have -surrounded and set on fire to destroy those sons. Njal himself was offered -safety if he would come out, but he would not. - -Perhaps we have been beguiled by their unique literary qualities into -dwelling overlong upon the Sagas. These Norse compositions belong to the -Middle Ages only in time; for they were uninfluenced either by -Christianity or the antique culture, the formative elements of mediaeval -development. They are interesting in their aloofness, and also important -for our mediaeval theme, because they were the ultimate as well as the -most admirable expression of the native Teutonic genius as yet integral, -but destined to have mighty part in the composite course of mediaeval -growth. More specifically they are the voice of that falcon race which -came from the Norseland to stock England with fresh strains of Danish -blood, to conquer Normandy, and give new courage to the -Celtic-German-Frenchmen, and thence went on to bring its hardihood, war -cunning, and keen statecraft to southern Italy and Sicily. In all these -countries the Norse nature, supple and pliant, accepted the gifts of new -experience, and in return imparted strength of purpose to peoples with -whom the Norsemen mingled in marriage as well as war. - -This chapter has shown Teutonic faculties still integral and unmodified by -Latin Christian influence. Their participation in the processes of -mediaeval development will be seen as Anglo-Saxons and Germans become -converted to Latin Christianity, and apply themselves to the study of the -profane Latinity, to which it opened the way. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE BRINGING OF CHRISTIANITY AND ANTIQUE KNOWLEDGE TO THE NORTHERN PEOPLES - - I. IRISH ACTIVITIES; COLUMBANUS OF LUXEUIL. - - II. CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH; THE LEARNING OF BEDE AND ALFRED. - - III. GAUL AND GERMANY; FROM CLOVIS TO ST. WINIFRIED-BONIFACE. - - -The northern peoples, Celts and Teutons for the most part as they are -called, came into contact with Roman civilization as the great Republic -brought Gaul and Britain under its rule. Since Rome was still pagan when -these lands were made provinces, an unchristianized Latinity was grafted -upon their predominantly Celtic populations. The second stage, as it were, -of this contact between Rome and the north, is represented by that influx -of barbarians, mostly Teutonic, which, in both senses of the word, -_quickened_ the disruption of the Empire in the fourth and following -centuries. The religion called after the name of Christ had then been -accepted; and invading Goths, Franks, Burgundians, Lombards, and the rest, -were introduced to a somewhat Christianized Latindom. Indeed, in the -Latin-Christian combination, the latter was becoming dominant, and was -soon to be the active influence in extending even the antique culture. For -Christianity, with Latinity in its train, was to project itself outward to -subjugate heathen Anglo-Saxons in England, Frisians in the Low Countries, -and the unkempt Teutondom which roved east of the Rhine, and was ever -pressing southward over the boundaries of former provinces, now reverting -to unrest. In past times the assimilating energy of Roman civilization had -united western Europe in a common social order. Henceforth Christianity -was to be the prime amalgamator, while the survivals of Roman -institutions and the remnants of antique culture were to assist in -secondary roles. With Charles Martell, with Pippin, and with Charlemagne, -Latin Christianity is the symbol of civilized order, while heathendom and -savagery are identical. - - -I - -The conversion of the northern peoples, and their incidental introduction -to profane knowledge, wrought upon them deeply; while their own qualities -and the conditions of their lives affected their understanding of what -they received and their attitude toward the new religion. Obviously the -dissemination of Christianity among rude peoples would be unlike that -first spreading of the Gospel through the Empire, in the course of which -it had been transformed to Greek and Latin Christianity. Italy, Spain, and -Gaul made the western region of this primary diffusion of the Faith. Of a -distinctly missionary character were the further labours which resulted in -the conversion of the fresh masses of Teutons who were breaking into the -Roman pale, or were still moving restlessly beyond it. Moreover, between -the time of the first diffusion of Christianity within the Empire and that -of its missionary extension beyond those now decayed and fallen -boundaries, it had been formulated dogmatically, and given ecclesiastical -embodiment in a Catholic church into which had passed the conquering and -organizing genius of Rome. This finished system was presented to simple -peoples, sanctioned by the authority and dowered with the surviving -culture of the civilized world. It offered them mightier supernatural aid, -nobler knowledge, and a better ordering of life than they had known. The -manner and authority of its presentation hastened its acceptance, and also -determined the attitude toward it of the new converts and their children -for generations. Theirs was to be the attitude of ignorance before -recognized wisdom, and that of a docility which revered the manner and -form as well as the substance of its lesson. The development of mediaeval -Europe was affected by the mode and circumstances of this secondary -propagation of Christianity. For centuries the northern peoples were to -be held in tutelage to the form and constitution of that which they had -received: they continued to revere the patristic sources of Christian -doctrines, and to look with awe upon the profane culture accompanying -them. - -Thus, as under authority, Christianity came to the Teutonic peoples, even -to those who, like the Goths, were converted to the Arian creed. Likewise -the orthodox belief was brought to the Celtic Britons and Irish as a -superior religion associated with superior culture. But the qualities or -circumstances of these western Celts reacted more freely upon their form -of faith, because Ireland and Britain were the fringe of the world, and -Christianity was hardly fixed in dogma and ritual when the conversion at -least of Britain began. - -Certain phrases of Tertullian indicate that Christianity had made some -progress among the Britons by the beginning of the third century. For the -next hundred years nothing is known of the British Church, save that it -did not suffer from the persecution under Diocletian in 304, and ten years -afterwards was represented by three bishops at the Council of Arles. It -was orthodox, accepting the creed of Nicaea (A.D. 325) and the date of -Easter there fixed. The fourth century seems to have been the period of -its prosperity. It was affiliated with the Church of Gaul; nor did these -relations cease at once when the Roman legions were withdrawn from Britain -in 410. But not many decades later the Saxon invasion began to cut off -Britain from the Christian world. After a while certain divergences appear -in rite and custom, though not in doctrine. They seem not to have been -serious when Gildas wrote in 550. Yet when Augustine came, fifty years -later, the Britons celebrated Easter at a different date from that -observed by the Roman Catholic Church; for they followed the old -computation which Rome had used before adopting the better method of -Alexandria. Also the mode of baptism and the tonsure differed from the -Roman. - -At the close of the sixth century the British Church existed chiefly in -Wales, whither the Britons had retreated before the Saxons. Formerly there -had been no unwillingness to follow the Church of Rome. But now a long -period had elapsed, during which Britain had been left to its misfortunes. -The Britons had been raided and harassed; their country invaded; and at -last they had been driven from the greater portion of their land. How they -hated those Saxon conquerors! And forsooth a Roman mission appears to -convert those damned and hateful heathen, and a somewhat haughty summons -issues to the expelled or downtrodden people to abandon their own -Christian usages for those of the Roman communion, and then join this -Roman mission in its saving work among those Saxons whom the Britons had -met only at the spear's point. Love of ancient and familiar customs soured -to obstinacy in the face of such demands; a sweeping rejection was -returned. Yet to conform to Roman usages and join with Augustine in his -mission to the Saxons, was the only way in which the dwindling British -Church could link itself to the Christian world, and save its people from -exterminating wars. By refusing, it committed suicide. - -A refusal to conform, although no refusal to undertake missions to the -Saxons, came from the Irish-Scottish Church. As Ireland had never been -drawn within the Roman world, its conversion was later than that of -Britain. Yet there would seem to have been Christians in Ireland before -431; for in that year, according to an older record quoted by Bede, -Palladius, the first bishop (_primus episcopus_), was sent by Celestine -the Roman pontiff "ad Scottos in Christum credentes."[201] The mission of -Palladius does not appear to have been acceptable to the Irish. Some -accounts have confused his story with that of Patrick, the "Apostle of -Ireland," whose apostolic glory has not been overthrown by criticism. The -more authentic accounts, and above all his own _Confession_, go far to -explain Patrick's success. His early manhood, passed as a slave in Antrim, -gave him understanding of the Irish; and doubtless his was a great -missionary capacity and zeal. The natural approach to such a people was -through their tribal kings, and Patrick appears to have made his prime -onslaught upon Druidical heathendom at Tara, the abode of the high king of -Ireland. The earliest accounts do not refer to any authority from Rome. -Patrick seems to have acted from spontaneous inspiration; and a like -independence characterizes the monastic Christianity which sprang up in -Ireland and overleapt the water to Iona, to Christianize Scotland as well -as northern Anglo-Saxon heathendom. - -Irish monasticism was an ascetically ordered continuance of Irish society. -If, like other early western monasticism, it derived suggestions from -Syria or Egypt, it was far more the product of Irish temperament, customs, -and conditions. One may also find a potent source in the monastic -communities alleged to have existed in Ireland in the days of the Druids. -Doubtless many members of that caste became Christian monks. - -The noblest passion of Irish monastic Christianity was to _peregrinare_ -for the sake of Christ, and spread the Faith among the heathen; the most -interesting episodes of its history are the wanderings and missionary -labours and foundations of its leaders. The careers of Columba and -Columbanus afford grandiose examples. Something has been said of the -former. The monastery which he founded on the Island of Iona was the -Faith's fountainhead for Scotland and the Saxon north of England in the -sixth and seventh centuries. About the time of Columba's birth, men from -Dalriada on the north coast of Ireland crossed the water to found another -Dalriada in the present Argyleshire, and transfer the name of Scotia -(Ireland) to Scotland. When Columba landed at Iona, these settlers were -hard pressed by the heathen Picts under King Brude or Bridius. Accompanied -by two Pictish Christians, he penetrated to Brude's dwelling, near the -modern Inverness, converted that monarch in 565, and averted the overthrow -of Dalriada. For the next thirty years Columba and his monks did not cease -from their labours; numbers of monasteries were founded, daughters of -Iona; and great parts of Scotland became Christian at least in name. The -supreme authority was the Abbot of Iona with his council of monks; -"bishops" performed their functions under him. Early in the seventh -century, St. Aidan was ordained bishop in Iona and sent to convert the -Anglo-Saxons of Northumberland. The story of the Irish Church in the north -is one of effective mission work, but unsuccessful organization, wherein -it was inferior to the Roman Church. Its representatives suffered defeat -at the Synod of Whitby in 664. Fifty years afterward Iona gave up its -separate usages and accepted the Roman Easter.[202] - -The missionary labours of the Irish were not confined to Great Britain, -but extended far and wide through the west of Europe. In the sixth and -seventh centuries, Irish monasteries were founded in Austrasia and -Burgundy, Italy, Switzerland, Bavaria; they were established among -Frisians, Saxons, Alemanni. And as centres of Latin education as well as -Christianity, the names of Bobbio and St. Gall will occur to every one. Of -these, the first directly and the second through a disciple were due to -Columbanus. With him we enter the larger avenues of Irish missions to the -heathen, the semi-heathen, and the lax, and upon the question of their -efficacy in the preservation of Latin education throughout the rent and -driven fragments of the western Roman Empire. The story of Columban's life -is illuminating and amusing.[203] - -He was born in Leinster. While yet a boy he felt the conflict between -fleshly lusts and that counter-ascetic passion which throughout the -Christian world was drawing thousands into monasteries. Asceticism, with -desire for knowledge, won the victory, and the youth entered the monastery -of Bangor, in the extreme north-east of Ireland. There he passed years of -labour, study, and self-mortification. At length the pilgrim -mission-passion came upon him (_coepit peregrinationem desiderare_) and -his importunity overcame the abbot's reluctance to let him depart. Twelve -disciples are said to have followed him across the water to the shores of -Britain. There they hesitated in anxious doubt, till it was decided to -cross to Gaul. - -This was about the year 590. Columban's austere and commanding form, his -fearlessness, his quick and fiery tongue, impressed the people among whom -he came. Reports of his holiness spread; multitudes sought his blessing. -He traversed the country, preaching and setting his own stern example, -until he reached the land of the Burgundians, where Gontran, a grandson of -Clovis, reigned. Well received by this ruler, Columban established himself -in an old castle. His disciples grew in numbers, and after a while Gontran -granted him an extensive Roman structure called Luxovium (Luxeuil) -situated at the confines of the Burgundian and Austrasian kingdoms. -Columban converted this into a monastery, and it soon included many noble -Franks and Burgundians among its monks. For them he composed a monastic -_regula_, stern and cruel in its penalties of many stripes imposed for -trivial faults. "Whoever may wish to know his strenuousness -(_strenuitatem_) will find it in his precepts," writes the monk Jonas, who -had lived under him. - -The strenuousness of this masterful and overbearing man was displayed in -his controversy with the Gallican clergy, upon whom he tried to impose the -Easter day observed by the Celtic Church in the British Isles. In his -letter to the Gallican synod, he points out their errors, and lectures -them on their Christian duties, asking pardon at the end for his loquacity -and presumption. Years afterwards, entering upon another controversy, he -wrote an extraordinary letter to Pope Boniface IV. The superscription is -Hibernian: "To the most beautiful head of all the churches of entire -Europe, the most sweet pope, the most high president, the most reverent -investigator: O marvellous! mirum dictu! nova res! rara avis!--that the -lowest to the loftiest, the clown to the polite, the stammerer to the -prince of eloquence, the stranger to the son of the house, the last to the -first, that the Wood-pigeon (Palumbus) should dare to write to Father -Boniface!" Whereupon this Wood-pigeon writes a long letter in which -belligerent expostulation alternates with self-debasement. He dubs himself -"garrulus, presumptuosus, homunculus vilissimae qualitatis," who caps his -impudence by writing unrequested. He implores pardon for his harsh and too -biting speech, while he deplores--to him who sat thereon--the _infamia_ of -Peter's Seat, and shrills to the Pope to watch: "Vigila itaque, quaeso, -papa, vigila; et iterum dico: vigila"; and he marvels at the Pope's lethal -sleep. - -One who thus berated pope and clergy might be censorious of princes. -Gontran died. After various dynastic troubles, the Burgundian land came -under the rule nominally of young Theuderic, but actually of his imperious -grandmother, the famous Brunhilde. In order that no queen-wife's power -should supplant her own, she encouraged her grandson to content himself -with mistresses. The youth stood in awe of the stern old figure ruling at -Luxeuil, who more than once reproved him for not wedding a lawful queen. -It happened one day when Columban was at Brunhilde's residence that she -brought out Theuderic's various sons for him to bless. "Never shall -sceptre be held by this brothel-brood," said he. - -Henceforth it was war between these two: Theuderic was the pivot of the -storm; the one worked upon his fears, the other played upon his lusts. -Brunhilde prevailed. She incited the king to insist that Luxeuil be made -open to all, and with his retinue to push his way into the monastery. The -saint withstood him fiercely, and prophesied his ruin. The king drew back; -the saint followed, heaping reproaches on him, till the young king said -with some self-restraint: "You hope to win the crown of martyrdom through -me. But I am not a lunatic, to commit such a crime. I have a better plan: -since you won't fall in with the ways of men of the world, you shall go -back by the road you came." - -So the king sent his retainers to seize the stubborn saint. They took him -as a prisoner to Besancon. He escaped, and hurried back to Luxeuil. Again -the king sent, this time a count with soldiers, to drive him from the -land. They feared the sacrilege of laying hands on the old man. In the -church, surrounded by his monks praying and singing psalms, he awaited -them. "O man of God," cried the count, "we beseech thee to obey the royal -command, and take thy way to the place from which thou earnest." "Nay, I -will rather please my Creator, by abiding here," returned the saint. The -count retired, leaving a few rough soldiers to carry out the king's will. -These, still fearing to use violence, begged the saint to take pity on -them, unjustly burdened with this evil task--to disobey their orders meant -their death. The saint reiterates his determination to abide, till they -fall on their knees, cling to his robe, and with groans implore his pardon -for the crime they must execute. - -From pity the saint yields at last, and a company of the king's men make -ready and escort him from the kingdom westward toward Brittany. Many -miracles mark the journey. They reach the Loire, and embark on it. -Proceeding down the river they come to Tours, where the saint asks to be -allowed to land and worship at St. Martin's shrine. The leader bids the -rowers keep the middle of the stream and row on. But the boat resistlessly -made its way to the landing-place. Columban passed the night at the -shrine, and the next day was hospitably entertained by the bishop, who -inquired why he was returning to his native land. "The dog Theuderic has -driven me from my brethren," answered the saint. At last Nantes was -reached near the mouth of the Loire, where the vessel was waiting to carry -the exile back to Ireland. Columban wrote a letter to his monks, in which -he poured forth his love to them with much advice as to their future -conduct. The letter is filled with grief--suppressed lest it unman his -beloved children. "While I write, the messenger comes to say that the ship -is ready to bear me, unwilling, to my country. But there is no guard to -prevent my escape, and these people even seem to wish it." - -The letter ends, but not the story. Columban did not sail for Ireland. -Jonas says that the vessel was miraculously impeded, and that then -Columban was permitted to go whither he would. So the dauntless old man -travelled back from the sea, and went to the Neustrian Court, the people -along the way bringing him their children to bless. He did not rest in -Neustria, for the desire was upon him to preach to the heathen. Making his -way to the Rhine, he embarked near Mainz, ascended the river, and at last -established himself, with his disciples, upon the lake of Constance. There -they preached to the heathen, and threw their idols into the lake. He had -the thought to preach to the Wends, but this was not to be. - -The time soon came when all Austrasia fell into the hands of Brunhilde and -Theuderic, and Columbanus decided to cross over into northern Italy, -breaking out in anger at his disciple Gall, who was too sick to go with -him. With other disciples he made the arduous journey, and reached the -land of the Lombards. King Agilulf made him a gift of Bobbio, lying in a -gorge of the Apennines near Genoa, and there he founded the monastery -which long was to be a stronghold of letters. For himself, his career was -well-nigh run; he retired to a solitary spot on the banks of the river -Trebbia, where he passed away, being, apparently, some seventy years of -age. - -It may seem surprising that this strenuous ascetic should occasionally -have occupied a leisure hour writing Latin poems in imitation of the -antique. There still exists such an effusion to a friend: - - "Accipe, quaeso, - Nunc bipedali - Condita versu - Carminulorum - Munera parva." - -The verses consist mainly of classic allusions and advice of an antique -rather than a Christian flavour: the wise will cease to add coin to coin, -and will despise wealth, but not the pastime of such verse as the - - "Inclyta Vates - Nomine Sappho" - -was wont to make. "Now, dear Fedolius, quit learned numbers and accept our -squibs--_frivola nostra_. I have dictated them oppressed with pain and old -age: 'Vive, vale, laetus, tristisque memento senectae.'" The last is a -pagan reminiscence, which the saint's Christian soul may not have deeply -felt. But the poem shows the saint's classic training, which probably was -exceptional. For there is no evidence of like knowledge in any Irishman -before him; and after his time, in the seventh century, or the eighth, -Latin education in Ireland was confined to a few monastic centres. A small -minority studied the profanities, sometimes because they liked them, but -oftener as the means of proficiency in sacred learning. - -The Irish had cleverness, facility, ardour, and energy. They did much for -the dissemination of Christianity and letters. Their deficiency was lack -of organization; and they had but little capacity for ordered discipline -humbly and obediently accepted from others. Consequently, when the period -of evangelization was past in western Europe, and organization was needed, -with united and persistent effort for order, the Irish ceased to lead or -even to keep pace with those to whom once they had brought the Gospel. In -Anglo-Saxon England and on the Carolingian continent they became strains -of influence handed on. This was the fortune which overtook them as -illuminators of manuscripts and preservers of knowledge. Their emotional -traits, moreover, entered the larger currents of mediaeval feeling and -imagination. Strains of the Irish, or of a kindred Celtic temperament -passed on into such "Breton" matters as the Tristan story, wherein love is -passion unrestrained, and is more distinctly out of relationship with -ethical considerations than, for example, the equally adulterous tale of -Lancelot and Guinevere.[204] - - -II - -The Saxon invasions of the fifth and sixth centuries drove Christianity -and letters from the land where the semi-Romanized Britons and their -church had flourished. To reconvert and instruct anew a relapsed heathen -country was the task which Gregory the Great laid on the willing -Augustine. The story of that famous mission (A.D. 597) need not be -told;[205] but we may note the manner of the presentation of Christianity -to the heathen Saxons, and the temper of its reception. Most impressive -was this bringing of the Faith. Augustine and his band of monks came as a -stately embassy from Rome, the traditionary centre of imperial and -spiritual power. Their coming was a solemn call to the English to -associate themselves with all that was most august and authoritative in -heaven and earth. According to Bede, Augustine sent a messenger to -Ethelbert, the Kentish king, to announce that he had come from Rome -bearing the best of messages, and would assure to such as hearkened, -eternal joys in heaven and dominion without end with the living and true -God. To Ethelbert, whose kingdom lay at the edge of the great world, the -message came from this world's sovereign pontiff, who in some awful way -represented its almighty God, and had authority to admit to His kingdom. -He was not ignorant of what lay within the hand of Rome to give. His wife -was a Catholic Christian, daughter of a Frankish king, and had her own -ministering bishop. Doubtless the queen had spoken with her lord. Still -Ethelbert feared the spell-craft of this awe-inspiring embassy, and would -meet Augustine only under the open sky. Augustine came to the meeting, a -silver cross borne before him as a banner, and the pictured image of -Christ, his monks singing litanies and loudly supplicating their Lord for -the king's and their own salvation. Knowledge, authority, supernatural -power, were represented here. And how could the king fail to be struck by -the nobility of Augustine's Gospel message, by its clear assurance, its -love and terror,[206] so overwhelming and convincing, so far outsoaring -Ethelbert's heathen religion? To be sure, in Christian love and -forgiveness lay some reversal of Saxon morality, for instance of the duty -of revenge. But this was not prominent in the Christianity of the day; and -experience was to show that only in isolated instances did this teaching -impede the acceptance of the Gospel.[207] - -Ethelbert spoke these missionaries fair; accorded them a habitation in -Canterbury with the privilege of celebrating their Christian rites and -preaching to his people. There they abode, zealous in vigils and fastings, -and preaching the word of life. Certain heathen men were converted, then -the king, and then his folk in multitudes--the usual way. Under the -direction of Gregory, Augustine proceeded with that combination of -insistence, dignity, and tolerance, so well understood in the Roman -Church. There was insistence upon the main doctrines and requirements of -the Faith--upon the Roman Easter day and baptism, as against the practices -of the British Church. Tolerance was shown respecting heathen fanes and -sacrificial feastings; the fanes should be reconsecrated as Christian -churches; the feasts should be continued in honour of the true God.[208] - -Besides zeal and knowledge and authority, miracles advanced Augustine's -enterprise. To eliminate by any sweeping negation the miraculous element -from the causes of success of such a mission is to close the eyes to the -situation. All men expected miracles; Gregory who sent Augustine was -infatuated with them. Augustine performed them, or believed he did, and -others believed it too. Throughout these centuries, and indeed late into -the mediaeval period, the power and habit of working miracles constituted -sainthood in the hermit or the monk, thereby singled out as the special -instrument of God's will or the Virgin's kindness. Of course miracles were -ascribed to the great missionary apostles like Augustine or Boniface; and -this conviction brought many conversions. - -Among the heathen English about to be converted, there was diversity of -view and mood as to the Faith. They stood in awe of these newcomers from -Rome, fearing their spell-craft. From their old religion they had sought -earthly victory and prosperity; and some had found it of uncertain aid. -"See, king, how this matter stands," says Coifi, at the Northumbrian -Witenagemot held by Edwin to decide as to the new religion: "I have -learned of a certainty that there is no virtue or utility whatever in that -religion which we have been following. None of your thanes has slaved in -the worship of our gods more zealously than I. Yet many have had greater -rewards and dignities from you, and in every way have prospered more. Were -the gods worth anything, they would wish rather to aid me, who have been -so zealous in serving them. So if these new teachings are better and -stronger, let us accept them at once."[209] Coifi expressed the common -motives of converts of all nations from the time of Constantine. No better -thought of Christian expediency had inspired Gregory of Tours's story of -Clovis's career; and Bede in no way condemns Coifi's _verba prudentiae_, -as he terms them. Naturally in times of adversity such converts were quick -to abandon their new religion, proved ineffectual.[210] - -Among these Angles of Northumberland, however, finer souls were looking -for light and certitude. Such a one was that thane who followed Coifi with -the wonderful illustration of man's mortal need of enlightenment, the -thane for whom life was as the swallow flying through the warmed and -lighted hall, from the dark cold into the dark cold: "So this life of men -comes into sight for a little; we are ignorant of what shall follow or -what may have preceded. If this new doctrine offers anything more certain, -I think we should follow it." The heathen poetry had given varied voice to -this contemplative melancholy so wont to dwell on life's untoward changes; -and there was ghostly evidence of the other world before the coming of the -Roman monks. Now, as those monks came with authority from the traditionary -home of ghostly lore, why question their knowledge of the life beyond the -grave? Many Anglo-Saxons were prepared to fix their gaze upon a life to -come and to let their fancies fill with visions of the great last -severance unto heaven and hell. When once impressed by the monastic -Christianity[211] of the Roman, or the Irish, mission, they were quick to -throw themselves into the ascetic life which most surely opened heaven's -doors. So many a noble thane became an anchorite or a monk, many a noble -dame became a nun; and Saxon kings forsook their kingdoms for the -cloister: "Cenred, who for some time had reigned most nobly in Mercia, -still more nobly abandoned his sceptre. For he came to Rome, and there was -tonsured and made a monk at the church of the Apostles, and continued in -prayers and fastings and almsgiving until his last day."[212] - -As might be expected, the re-expression of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon -writings was martial and emotional. A martial tone pervades the epic -paraphrases of Scripture, the Anglo-Saxon _Genesis_ for example. On the -other hand, adaptations of devotional Latin compositions[213] evince a -realization of Christian feeling and prevalent ascetic sentiments. The -"elegiac" Anglo-Saxon feeling seems to reach its height in a more original -composition, the _Christ_ of Cynewulf, while the emotional fervour coming -with Christianity is disclosed in Bede's account of the inspiration which -fell upon the cowherd Caedmon, in St. Hilda's monastery of Whitby, to sing -the story of creation.[214] A pervasive monastic atmosphere also surrounds -the visions of hell and purgatory, which were to continue so typically -characteristic of monastic Christianity.[215] - -What knowledge, sacred and profane, came to the Anglo-Saxons with -Christianity? Quite properly learned were Augustine and the other -organizers of the English Church. Two generations after him, the Greek -monk Theodore was sent by the Pope to become Archbishop of Canterbury, -complete Augustine's work, and instruct the English monks and clergy. -Theodore was accompanied by his friend Hadrian, as learned as himself. -Their labours finally established Roman Christianity in England. The two -drew about them a band of students, and formed at Canterbury a school of -sacred learning, where liberal studies were conducted by these foreigners -with a knowledge and intelligence novel in Great Britain. In the north, -Benedict Biscop, a Northumbrian, promoted the ends of Roman Catholicism -and learning by establishing the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow under -the monastic _regula_ of St. Benedict of Nursia, as modified by the -practices of continental monasteries in the seventh century. He had been -in Italy, and brought thence many books. It was among these books that -Bede grew up at Jarrow. - -Thus strong currents of Roman ecclesiasticism and liberal knowledge -reached England. On the other hand, Irish monastic Christianity had -already made its entry in the south-western part of Great Britain, and -with greater strength established itself in the north, converting -multitudes to the Faith and instructing such as would learn. The Irish -teaching had been eagerly received by those groups of Anglo-Saxons who -henceforth were to prosecute their studies with the aid of the further -knowledge and discipline brought from the Continent by Theodore. Some of -them had even journeyed to Ireland to study. - -From this dual source was drawn the education of Aldhelm. He was born in -Wessex about the year 650, and was nephew of the powerful King Ini. He -became abbot of Malmesbury in 675. An Irish monk was his first teacher; -his second, the learned Hadrian. From the two he received a broader -education than any Anglo-Saxon had possessed before him. Always holding in -view the perfecting of his sacred knowledge, he studied grammar and -kindred topics, produced treatises himself, and as a Catholic student and -teacher was a true forerunner of the greatest scholar among his younger -contemporaries, Bede.[216] - -Bede the Venerable, and we may add the still beloved, was Aldhelm's junior -by some twenty-five years. He was born in 673 and died in 735. He passed -his whole life reading, teaching, and writing in the Cloister of Jarrow -near where he was born, and not far from where, beneath the "Galilee" of -Durham Cathedral, his bones have long reposed. Back of him was the double -tradition of learning, the Irish and the Graeco-Roman. Through a long life -of pious study, Bede drew into his mind, and incorporated in his writings, -practically the total sum of knowledge then accessible in western Europe. -He stands between the great Latin transmitters (Boethius, Cassiodorus, -Gregory and Isidore) and the epoch known as the Carolingian. He was -himself a transmitter of knowledge to that later time. If in spirit, race, -epoch and circumstances, Aldhelm was Bede's direct forerunner, Bede had -also a notable predecessor in Isidore. The writings of the Spanish bishop -contributed substance and suggestions of plan and method to the -Anglo-Saxon monk, whose works embrace practically the same series of -topics as Isidore's, whose intellectual interests also, and attitude -toward the Church Fathers, appear the same. But Bede was the more genial -personality, and could not help imbuing his compositions with something -from his own temperament. Even in his Commentaries upon the books of -Scripture, which were made up principally of borrowed allegorical -interpretations, there is common sense and some endeavour to present the -actual meaning and situation.[217] But he disclaimed originality, as he -says in the preface to his Commentary on the Hexaemeron, addressed to -Bishop Acca of Hexham: - - "Concerning the beginning of Genesis where the creation of the world - is described, many have said much, and have left to posterity - monuments of their talents. Among these, as far as our feebleness can - learn, we may distinguish Basil of Caesarea (whom Eustathius - translated from Greek to Latin), Ambrose of Milan, and Augustine, - Bishop of Hippo. Of whom the first-named in nine books, the second - following his footprints in six books, the third in twelve books and - also in two others directed against the Manichaeans, shed floods of - salutary doctrine for their readers; and in them the promise of the - Truth was fulfilled: 'Whoso believeth in me, as the Scripture saith, - out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water....' But since - these works are so great that only the rich may own them, and so - profound that they may be fathomed only by the learned, your holiness - has seen fit to lay on us the task of plucking from them all, as from - the sweetest wide-flowering fields of paradise, what might seem to - meet the needs of weaklings."[218] - -Bede was also a lovely story-teller. His literary charm and power appear -in his Life of St. Cuthbert, and still more in his ever-famous -_Ecclesiastical History of the English People_, so warm with love of -mankind, and presenting so wonderful a series of dramatic stories animate -with vital motive and the colour of incident and circumstance. Midway -between the spontaneous genius of this work and the copied Scripture -Commentary, stand Bede's grammatical, metrical, and scientific -compositions, compiled with studious zeal. They evince a broad interest in -scholarship and in nature. Still, neither material nor method was -original. For instance, his _De rerum natura_ took its plan and much of -its substance from Isidore's work of the same name. Bede has, however, put -in further matter and made his work less of a mere shell of words than -Isidore's. For he is interested in connecting natural occurrences with -their causes, stating, for example, that the tides depend on the -moon.[219] In this work as in his other _opera didascalica_, like the _De -temporum ratione_ and his learned _De arte metrica_,[220] he shows himself -a more intelligent student than his Spanish predecessor. Yet he drew -everything from some written source. - -One need not wonder at the voluminousness of Bede's literary -productions.[221] Many of the writings emanating from monasteries are -transcriptions rather than compositions. The circumstance that books, -_i.e._ manuscripts, were rare and costly was an impelling motive. Isidore -and Bede made systematic compilations for general use. They and their -congeners would also make extracts from manuscripts, of which they might -have but the loan, or from unique codices in order to preserve the -contents. Such notes or excerpts might have the value of a treatise, and -might be preserved and in turn transcribed as a distinct work. Yet whether -made by a Bede or by a lesser man, they represent mainly the labour of a -copyist. - -Bede's writings were all in Latin, and were intended for the instruction -of monks. They played a most important role in the transmission of -learning, sacred and profane, in Latin form. For its still more popular -diffusion, translations into the vernacular might be demanded. Such at all -events were made of Scripture; and perhaps a century and a half after -Bede's death, the translation of edifying Latin books was undertaken by -the best of Saxon kings. King Alfred was born in 849 and closed his eyes -in 901. In the midst of other royal labours he set himself the task of -placing before his people, or at least his clergy, Anglo-Saxon versions of -some of the then most highly regarded volumes of instruction. The wise -_Pastoral Care_ of Gregory the Great; his _Dialogues_, less wise according -to our views; the _Histories_ of Orosius[222] and Bede; and that -philosophic vade-mecum of the Middle Ages, the _De consolatione -philosophiae_ of Boethius. Of these, Alfred translated the _Pastoral Care_ -and the _De consolatione_, also Orosius; the other works appear to have -been translated at his direction.[223] Alfred's translations contain his -own reflections and other matter not in the originals. In rendering -Orosius, he rewrote the geographical introduction, inserted a description -of Germany and accounts of northern Europe given by two of his Norse -liegemen, Ohthere and Wulfstan. The alertness of his mind is shown by this -insertion of the latest geographical knowledge. Other and more personal -passages will disclose his purpose, and illustrate the manner in which his -Christianized intelligence worked upon trains of thought suggested perhaps -by the Latin writing before him. - -Alfred's often-quoted preface to Gregory's _Pastoral Care_ tells his -reasons for undertaking its translation, and sets forth the condition of -England. He speaks of the "wise men there formerly were throughout -England, both of sacred and secular orders," and of their zeal in learning -and teaching and serving God; and how foreigners came to the land in -search of wisdom and instruction. But "when I came to the throne," so -general was the decay of learning in England "that there were very few on -this side of the Humber who could understand their rituals in English, or -translate a letter from Latin into English; and I believe there were not -many beyond the Humber.... Thanks be to God Almighty that we have any -teachers among us now." Alfred therefore commands the bishop, to whom he -is now sending the copy, to disengage himself as often as possible from -worldly matters, and apply the Christian wisdom God has given him. "I -remembered also how I saw, before it had been all ravaged and burnt, how -the churches throughout the whole of England stood filled with treasures -and books, and there was also a great multitude of God's servants, but -they had very little knowledge of books, for they could not understand -anything of them because they were not written in their own language." It -therefore seemed wise to me "to translate some books which are most -needful for all men to know, into the language which we can all -understand, and ... that all the youth now in England of free men, who are -rich enough to be able to devote themselves to it, be set to learn so long -as they are not fit for any other occupation, until that they are well -able to read English writing: and let those be afterwards taught more in -the Latin language who are to continue learning and be promoted to a -higher rank." - -In the _De consolatione_ of Boethius, the antique pagan thought, softened -with human sympathy, and in need of such comfort and assurance as was -offered by the Faith, is found occupied with questions (like that of -free-will) prominent in Christianity. The book presented meditations which -were so consonant with Christian views that its Christian readers from -Alfred to Dante mistook them for Christian sentiments, and added further -meanings naturally occurring to the Christian soul. Alfred's reflections -in his version of the _De consolatione_ are very personal to Saxon Alfred -and show how he took his life and kingly office: - - "O Philosophy, thou knowest that I never greatly delighted in - covetousness and the possession of earthly power, nor longed for this - authority"--so far Boethius,[224] and now Alfred himself: "but I - desired instruments and materials to carry out the work I was set to - do, which was that I should virtuously and fittingly administer the - authority committed unto me. Now no man, as thou knowest, can get full - play for his natural gifts, nor conduct and administer government, - unless he hath fit tools, and the raw material to work upon. By - material I mean that which is necessary to the exercise of natural - powers; thus a king's raw material and instruments of rule are a - well-peopled land, and he must have men of prayer, men of war, and men - of work. As thou knowest, without these tools no king may display his - special talent. Further, for his materials he must have means of - support for the three classes above spoken of, which are his - instruments; and these means are land to dwell in, gifts, weapons, - meat, ale, clothing, and what else soever the three classes need. - Without these means he cannot keep his tools in order, and without - these tools he cannot perform any of the tasks entrusted to him. [I - have desired material for the exercise of government that my talents - and my power might not be forgotten and hidden away[225]] for every - good gift and every power soon groweth old and is no more heard of, if - Wisdom be not in them. Without Wisdom no faculty can be fully brought - out, for whatsoever is done unwisely can never be accounted as skill. - To be brief, I may say that it has ever been my desire to live - honourably while I was alive, and after my death to leave to them that - should come after me my memory in good works." - -The last sentence needs no comment. But those preceding it will be -illuminated by another passage inserted by Alfred: - - "Therefore it is that a man never by his authority attains to virtue - and excellence, but by reason of his virtue and excellence he attains - to authority and power. No man is better for his power, but for his - skill he is good, if he is good, and for his skill he is worthy of - power, if he is worthy of it. Study Wisdom then, and, when ye have - learned it, contemn it not, for I tell you that by its means ye may - without fail attain to power, yea, even though not desiring it." - -Perhaps from the teaching of his own life Alfred knew, as well as -Boethius, the toil and sadness of power: "Though their false hope and -imagination lead fools to believe that power and wealth are the highest -good, yet it is quite otherwise." And again, speaking of friendship, he -says that Nature unites friends in love, "but by means of these worldly -goods and the wealth of this life we oftener make foes than friends," -which doubtless Alfred had discovered, as well as Marcus Aurelius. Perhaps -the Saxon king knew wherein lay peace, as he makes Wisdom say: "When I -rise aloft with these my servants, we look down upon the storms of this -world, even as the eagle does when he soars in stormy weather above the -clouds, where no storm can harm him." The king was thinking of man's peace -with God.[226] - - -III - -Christianity came to the cities of Provincia and the chief Roman colonies -of Gaul (Lyons, Treves, Cologne) in the course of the original -dissemination of the Faith. There were Roman, Greek, or Syrian Christians -in these towns before the end of the second century. Early Gallic -Christianity spoke Greek and Latin, and its rather slow advance was due -partly to the tenacity of Celtic speech even in the cities; while outside -of them heathen speech and practices were scarcely touched. Through Gaul -and along the Rhine, the country in the main continued heathen in religion -and Celtic or Germanic in speech during the fifth century.[227] The -complete Latinizing of Gaul and the conversion of its rural population -proceeded from the urban churches, and from the labours and miracles of -anchorites and monks. In contrast with the decay of the municipal -governments, the urban churches continued living institutions. Their -bishops usually were men of energy. The episcopal office was elective, yet -likely to remain in the same influential family, and the bishop, the -leading man in the town, might be its virtual ruler. He represented -Christianity and Latin culture, and when Roman officials yielded to -Teutonic conquerors, the bishop was left as the spokesman of the -Gallo-Roman population. Thus the Gallic churches, far from succumbing -before the barbarian invasions, rescued and appropriated the derelict -functions of government, and emerged aggrandized from the political and -racial revolution. In the year 400 the city of Treves was Latin in speech -and Roman in government; in the year 500 the Roman government had been -overthrown, and a German-speaking population predominated in what was left -of the city, but the church went on unchanged in constitution and in -language. - -There was constant intercourse between Teutons and Romans along the -northern boundaries of the Empire. In the Danube regions many of the -former were converted. The Goths, through the labours of Ulfilas and -others in the fourth century, became Arian Christians; their conversion -was of moment to themselves and others, but destiny severed the continuity -of its import for history. In the provinces of Rhaetia, Vindelicia, and -Noricum there were Christians, some of them Teutons, as early as the time -of Constantine. For the next century, when disruption of the Empire was in -full progress, the Life of St. Severinus by Eugippius, his disciple, gives -the picture.[228] Bits and fragments of Roman government endured; letters -were not quite quenched; but Alemanni and Rugii moved as they would, -marauding, besieging, and destroying. Everywhere there was uncertainty and -confusion, and yet civilized Roman provincials still clung to a driven -life. Through this mountain land, the monk Severinus went here and there, -barefoot even in ice and snow, austere, commanding. He encouraged the -townspeople to maintain decency and courage; he turned the barbarians from -ruthlessness. Clear-seeing, capable, his energies shielded the land. He -was an ascetic who took nothing for himself, and won men to the Faith by -this guarantee of disinterestedness. So he shepherded his harrowed flocks, -and more than once averted their destruction. But his arm was too feeble; -after his death even his cell was plundered, while the confusion swept on. - -Such were fifth-century conditions on the northern boundary of what had -been the Empire, conditions amid which the culture and doctrine germane to -Christianity went down, although the Faith still glimmered here and there. -Farther to the west, the Burgundians had gained a domicile in a land -sparsely tenanted by Roman and Catholic provincials. Here on the left bank -of the Rhine, in the neighbourhood of Worms, this people accepted the -Christianity which they found. Afterwards, in the year 430, their heathen -kin on the right bank were baptized as a people; for they hoped, through -aid from fellow-Christians, to ward off the destruction threatening from -the Huns. Yet five years later they were overthrown by those savage -riders--an overthrow out of which was to rise the _Nibelungenlied_. The -Burgundian remnants found a new home by the Rhone. - -The Christianity of Burgundians and Goths was subject to the vicissitudes -of their fortunes. The permanent conversion to Catholicism of the great -masses of the Germans commenced somewhat later, when the turmoil of -fifth-century migration was settling into contests for homes destined to -prove more lasting. Its beginning may be dated from the baptism of Clovis -as a Catholic on Christmas Day in the year 496. His retainers followed him -into the consecrated water. By reason of the king's genius for war and -politics, this event was the beginning of the final triumph of -Catholicism.[229] - -The baptism of Clovis and his followers was typical of early Teutonic -conversions. King and tribal following acted as a unit. Christ gave -victory; He was the mightier God: such was the crude form of the motive. -Its larger scope was grasped by the far-seeing king. Believing in -supernatural aid, he desired it from the mightiest source, which, he was -persuaded, was the Christian God. It was to be obtained by such homage to -Christ as heretofore the king had paid to Wuotan. Any doubt as to the -sincerity of his belief presupposes a point of view impossible for a -fifth-century barbarian. But to this sincere expectation of Christ's aid, -to be gained through baptism, Clovis joined careful consideration of the -political situation. Catholic Christianity was the religion of the -Gallo-Roman population forming the greater part of the Frankish king's -subjects. He knew of Arian peoples; probably attempts had been made to -draw him to their side. They constituted the great Teutonic powers at the -time; for Theodoric was the monarch of Italy, and Arian Teutons ruled in -southern France, in Spain, and Africa. Nevertheless, it was of paramount -importance for the establishment of his kingdom that there should be no -schism between the Franks and the Gallo-Roman people who exceeded them in -number and in wealth and culture. Catholic influences surrounded Clovis; -Catholic interests represented the wealth and prosperity of his dominions, -and when he decided to be baptized he did not waver between the Catholic -and the Arian belief. Thus the king attached to himself the civilized -population of his realm. A common Catholic faith quickly obliterated -racial antagonism within its boundaries and gained him the support of -Catholic church and people in the kingdoms of his Arian rivals. - -So under Clovis and his successors the Gallic Church became the Frankish -Church, and flourished exceedingly. Tithes were paid it, and gifts were -made by princes and nobles. Its lands increased, carrying their dependent -population, until the Church became the largest landholder in the -Merovingian realm. It was governed by Roman law, but the clergy were -subject to the penal jurisdiction of the king.[230] It was he that -summoned councils, although he did not vote, and left ecclesiastical -matters to the bishops, who were his liegemen and appointees.[231] They -recognized the king's virtually unlimited authority, which they patterned -on the absolute power of the Roman Emperors and the prerogatives of David -and Solomon. In fine, the Merovingian Church was a national church, -subject to the king. Until the seventh century it was quite independent of -the Bishop of Rome.[232] - -It is common knowledge--especially vivid with readers of the famous -_Historia Francorum_ of Gregory of Tours--that ethically viewed, the -conduct of the Merovingian house was cruel, treacherous, and abominable; -and likewise the conduct of their vassals. Frankish kings and nobles -appear as men no longer bound by the ethics of the heathenism which they -had foresworn, and as yet untouched by the moral precepts of the Christian -code. Not Christianity, however, but contact with decadent civilization, -and rapid increase of power and wealth, had loosened their heathen -standards. Merovingian history leaves a unique impression of a line of -rulers and dependents among whom mercy and truth and chastity were -unknown. The elements of sixth-century Christianity which the Franks made -their own were its rites, its magic, and its miracles, and its expectation -of the aid of a God and His saints duly solicited. Here the customs of -heathenism were a preparation, or themselves passed into Frankish -Christianity. Nevertheless, the general character of Christian -observances--baptism, the mass, prayer, the sign of the cross, the rites -at marriage, sickness, and death--could not fail to impress a certain tone -and demeanour upon the people, and impart some sense of human sinfulness. -The general conviction that patent and outrageous crime would bring divine -vengeance gained point and power from the terrific doctrine of the Day of -Wrath, and the system of penances imposed by the clergy proved an -excellent discipline with these rough Christians. Many bishops and priests -were little better than the nobles, yet the Church preserved Christian -belief and did something to improve morality. Everywhere the monk was the -most striking object-lesson, with his austerities, his terror-stricken -sense of sinfulness, and conviction of the peril of the world. No martial, -grasping bishop, no dissolute and treacherous priest denied that the -monk's was the ideal Christian life; and the laity stood in awe, or -expectation, of the wonder-working power of his asceticism. Indeed -monasticism was becoming popular, and the Merovingian period witnessed the -foundation of numberless cloisters. - -In the fifth and through part of the sixth century the Gallic monastery of -Lerins, on an island in the Mediterranean, near Frejus, was a chief source -of ascetic and Christian influence for Gaul. Its monks took their -precepts from Syria and Egypt, and some of the zeal of St. Martin of Tours -had fallen on their shoulders. As the energy of this community declined, -Columban's monastery at Luxeuil succeeded to the work. The example of -Columbanus, his precepts and severe monastic discipline, proved a source -of ascetic and missionary zeal. With him or following in his steps came -other Irishmen; and heathen German lands soon looked upon the walls of -many an Irish monastery. But Columbanus failed, and all the Irish failed, -in obedience, order, and effective organization. His own monastic -_regula_, with all its rigour, contained no provisions for the government -of the monasteries. Without due ordering, bands of monks dwelling in -heathen communities would waver in their practices and even show a lack of -doctrinal stability. Sooner or later they were certain to become confused -in habit and contaminated with the manners of the surrounding people. -These Irish monasteries omitted to educate a native priesthood to -perpetuate their Christian teaching. The best of them, St. Gall (founded -by Columbanus's disciple Gallus), might be a citadel of culture, and -convert the people about it, through the talents and character of its -founder and his successors. But other monasteries, farther to the east, -were tainted with heathen practices. In fine, it was not for the Irish to -convert the great heathen German land, or effect a lasting reform of -existing churches there or in Gaul. - -The labours of Anglo-Saxons were fraught with more enduring results. -Through their abilities and zeal, their faculty of organization and -capacity of submitting to authority, through their consequent harmony with -Rome and the support given them by the Frankish monarchy, these -Anglo-Saxons converted many German tribes, established permanent churches -among them, reorganized the heterogeneous Christianity which they found in -certain German lands, and were a moving factor in the reform of the -Frankish Church. The most striking features of their work on the Continent -were diocesan organization, the training of a native clergy, the -establishment of monasteries under the Benedictine constitution, union -with Rome, obedience to her commands, strenuous conformity to her law, and -insistence on like conformity in others. Their presentation of -Christianity was orthodox, regular, and authoritative. - -Some of these features appear in the work of the Saxon Willibrord among -the Frisians, but are more largely illustrated in the career of St. -Boniface-Winfried. Willibrord moved under the authority of Rome; the -varying fortunes of his labours were connected with the enterprises of -Pippin of Heristal, the father of Charles Martel. They advanced with the -power of that Frankish potentate. But after his death, during the strife -between Neustria and Austrasia, the heathen Frisian king Radbod drove back -Christianity as he enlarged his dominion at the expense of the divided -Franks. Later, Charles Martel conquered him, and the Frankish power -reached (718) to the Zuyder Zee. Under its protection Willibrord at last -founded the bishopric of Utrecht (734). He succeeded in educating a native -clergy; and his labours had lasting result among the Frisians who were -subject to the Franks, but not among the free Frisians and the Danes. - -Evidently there was no sharp geographical boundary between Christianity -and heathendom. Throughout broad territories, Christian and heathen -practices mingled. This was true of the Frisian land. It was true in -greater range and complexity of the still wider fields of Boniface's -career. This able man surrendered his high station in his native Wessex in -order to serve Christ more perfectly as a missionary monk among the -heathen. He went first to Frisia and worked with Willibrord, yet refused -to be his bishop-coadjutor and successor, because planning to carry -Christianity into Germany. - -Strikingly his life exemplifies Anglo-Saxon faculties working under the -directing power of Rome among heathen and partly Christian peoples. On his -first visit to Rome he became imbued with the principles, and learned the -ritual, of the Roman Church. He returned to enter into relations with -Charles Martell, and to labour in Hesse and Thuringia, and again with -Willibrord in Frisia. Not long afterwards, at his own solicitation, -Gregory II. called him back to Rome (722), where he fed his passion for -punctilious conformity by binding himself formally to obey the Pope, -follow the practices of the Roman Church, and have no fellowship with -bishops whose ways conflicted with them. Gregory made him bishop over -Thuringia and Hesse, and sent him back there to reform Christian and -heathen communities. Thus Gregory created a bishop within the bounds of -the Frankish kingdom--an unprecedented act. Nevertheless, Charles, to whom -Boniface came with a letter from Gregory, received him favourably and -furnished him with a safe conduct, only exacting a recognition of his own -authority. - -Boniface set forth upon his mission. In Hesse he cut down the ancient -heathen oak, and made a chapel of its timber; he preached and he -organized--the land was not altogether heathen. Then he proceeded to -Thuringia. That also was a partly Christian land; many Irish-Scottish -preachers were labouring or dwelling there. Boniface set his face against -their irregularities as firmly as against heathenism. Again he dominated -and reorganized, yet continued unfailing in energetic preaching to the -heathen. Gregory watched closely and zealously co-operated. - -On the death of the second Gregory in 731, the third Gregory succeeded to -the papacy and continued his predecessor's support of the Anglo-Saxon -apostle, making him archbishop with authority to ordain bishops. Many -Anglo-Saxons, both men and holy women, came to aid their countryman, and -brought their education and their nobler views of life to form centres of -Christian culture in the German lands. Cloisters for nuns, cloisters for -monks were founded. The year 744 witnessed the foundation of Fulda by -Sturm under the direction of Boniface, and destined to be the very apple -of his eye and the monastic model for Germany. It was placed under the -authority of Rome, with the consent of Pippin, who then ruled. The -reorganization rather than the conversion of Bavaria was Boniface's next -achievement. The land long before had been partially Romanized, and now -was nominally Christian. Here again Boniface acted as representative of -the Pope, and not of Charles, although Bavaria was part of the Frankish -empire. - -The year 738 brought Boniface to Rome for the third time. He was now -yearning to leave the fields already tilled, and go as missionary to the -heathen Saxons. But Gregory sent him back to complete the reorganization -of the Bavarian Church, and to this large field of action he added also -Alemannia with its diocesan centre at Speyer. Here he came in conflict -with Frankish bishops, firm in their secular irregularities. Yet again he -prevailed, reorganized the churches, and placed them under the authority -of Rome. Evidently the two Gregories had in large measure turned the -energies of Boniface from the mission-field to the labours of reform. - -On the death of Charles in 741 (and in the same year died Gregory, to be -succeeded by the lukewarm Zacharias) his sons Carloman and Pippin -succeeded to his power. The following year Carloman in German-speaking -Austrasia called a council of his church (_Concilium Germanicum primum_) -under the primacy of Boniface. Its decrees confirmed the reforms for which -the latter had struggled: - - "We Carloman, Duke and Prince of the Franks, in the year 742 of the - Incarnation, on the 21st of April, upon the advice of the servants of - God, the bishops and priests of our realm, have assembled them to take - counsel how God's law and the Church's discipline (fallen to ruin - under former princes) may be restored, and the Christian folk led to - salvation, instead of perishing deceived by false priests. We have set - up bishops in the cities, and have set over them as archbishop - Bonifatius, the legate of St. Peter." - -The council decreed that yearly synods should be held, that the -possessions taken from the Church should be restored, and the false -priests deprived of their emoluments and forced to do penance. The clergy -were forbidden to bear arms, go to war, or hunt. Every priest should give -yearly account of his stewardship to his bishop. Bishops, supported by the -count in the diocese, should suppress heathen practices. Punishments were -set for the fleshly sins of monks and nuns and clergy, and for the -priestly offences of wearing secular garb or harbouring women. The -Benedictine rule was appointed for monasteries. It was easier to make -these decrees than carry them out against the opposition of such martial -bishops as those of Mainz and Treves, whose support was necessary to -Carloman's government; and military conditions rendered the restoration of -Church lands impracticable. Yet the word was spoken, and something was -done. - -The next year in Neustria Pippin instituted like reforms. He was aided by -Boniface, although the latter held no ecclesiastical office there. In 747 -Carloman abdicated and retired to a monastery;[233] and Pippin became sole -ruler, and at last formally king, anointed by Boniface under the direction -of the Pope in 752. After this, Boniface, withdrawing from the direction -of the Church, turned once more to satisfy his heart's desire by going on -a mission among the heathen Frisians, where he crowned a great life with a -martyr's death. - -Thus authoritatively, supported by Rome and the Frankish monarchy, -Christianity was presented to the Germans. It carried suggestions of a -better order and some knowledge of Latin letters. The extension of Roman -Catholic Christianity was the aim of Boniface first and last and always. -But a Latin education was needed by the clergy to enable them to -understand and set forth this some-what elaborated and learned scheme of -salvation. Boniface and his coadjutors had no aversion to the literary -means by which a serviceable Latin knowledge was to be obtained, and -their missionary and reorganizing labours necessarily worked some -diffusion of Latinity. - -The Frankish secular power which had supported Boniface, advanced to -violent action when Charlemagne's sword bloodily constrained the Saxons to -accept his rule and Christianity, the two inseverable objects which he -tirelessly pursued. Nor could this ruler stay his mighty hand from the -government of the Church within his realm. With his power to appoint -bishops, he might, if he chose, control its councils. But apparently he -chose to rule the Church directly; and his, and his predecessors' and -successors' Capitularies (rather than Conciliar decrees) contain the chief -ecclesiastical legislation for the Frankish realm. - -In its temporalities and secular action the Church was the greatest and -richest of all subjects; it possessed the rights of lay vassals and was -affected with like duties.[234] But in ritual, doctrine, language and -affiliation, the Frankish Church made part of the Roman Catholic Church. -It used the Roman liturgy and the Latin tongue. The ordering of the clergy -was Roman, and the regulation of the monasteries was Romanized by the -adoption of the Benedictine _regula_. Within the Church Rome had -triumphed. Prelates were vassals of the king who had now become Emperor; -and the great corporate Church was subject to him. Nevertheless, this -great corporate institution was Roman rather than Gallic or Frankish or -German. It was Teuton only in those elements which represented -ecclesiastical abuses, for example, the remaining irregularities of -various kinds, the lay and martial habits of prelates, and even their -appointment by the monarch. These were the elements which the Church in -its logical Roman evolution was to eliminate. Charlemagne himself, as well -as his lesser successors, strove just as zealously to bring the people -into obedience to the Church as into obedience to the lay rulers. While -the Carolingian rule was strong, its power was exerted on behalf of -ecclesiastical authority and discipline; and when the royal administration -weakened after Charlemagne's death, the Church was not slow to revolt -against its temporal subjection to the royal power. - -But the Church, in spite of Latin and Roman affinities, strove also to -come near the German peoples and speak to them in their own tongues. This -is borne witness to by the many translations from Latin into Frankish, -Saxon, or Alemannish dialects, made by the clergy. Christianity deeply -affected the German language. Many of its words received German form, and -the new thoughts forced old terms to take on novel and more spiritual -meanings. To be sure these German dialects were there before Christianity -came, and the capacities of the Germans acquired in heathen times are -attested by the sufficiency of their language to express Christian -thought. Likewise the German character was there, and proved its range and -quality by the very transformation of which it showed itself capable under -Christianity. And just as Christianity was given expression in the German -language, which retained many of its former qualities, so many fundamental -traits of German character remained in the converted people. Yet so -earnestly did the Germans turn to Christianity, and such draughts of its -spirit did they draw into their nature, that the early Germanic -re-expression of it is sincere, heartfelt, and moving, and illumined with -understanding of the Faith. - -These qualities may be observed in the series of Christian documents in -the German tongues commencing in the first years of Charlemagne's reign. -They consist of baptismal confessions of belief, the first of which (cir. -769) was composed for heathen Saxons just converted by the sword, and of -catechisms presenting the elements of Christian precept and dogma. The -earliest of the latter (cir. 789), coming from the monastery at -Weissenburg in Alsace, contains the Lord's Prayer, with explanations, an -enumeration of the deadly sins according to the fifth chapter of the -Epistle to the Galatians, the Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian. Further, -one finds among these documents a translation of the _De fide Catholica_ -of Isidore of Seville, and of the Benedictine _regula_; also -Charlemagne's _Exhortatio ad plebem Christianam_, which was an admonition -to the people to learn the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. There are likewise -general confessions of sins. Less dependent on a Latin original is the -so-called _Muspilli_, a spirited description in alliterative verse of the -last times and the Day of Judgment. - -German qualities, however, express themselves more fully in two Gospel -versions, the first the famous Saxon _Heliand_ (cir. 835), (which follows -Tatian's "Harmony"); the second the somewhat later _Evangelienbuch_ of -Otfrid the Frank. They were both composed in alliterative verse, though -Otfrid also made use of rhyme.[235] The martial, Teutonic ring of the -former is well known. Christ is the king, the disciples are His thanes -whose duty is to stand by their lord to the death; He rewards them with -the promised riches of heaven, excelling the earthly goods bestowed by -other kings. In the "betrayal" they close around their Lord, saying: "Were -it thy will, mighty Lord of ours, that we should set upon them with the -spear, gladly would we strike and die for our Lord." Out broke the wrath -of the "ready swordsman" (_snel suerdthegan_)[236] Simon Peter; he could -not speak for anguish to think that his lord should be bound. Angrily -strode the bold knight before his lord, drew his weapon, the sword by his -side, and smote the nearest foe with might of hands. Before his fury and -the spurting blood the people fled fearing the sword's bite. - -The _Heliand_ has also gentler qualities, as when it calls the infant -Christ the _fridubarn_ (peace-child), and pictures Mary watching over her -"little man." But German love of wife and child and home speak more -clearly in Otfrid's book. Although a learned monk, his pride of Frankish -race rings in his oft-quoted reasons for writing _theotisce_, _i.e._ in -German: Why shall not the Franks sing God's praise in Frankish tongue? -Forcible and logical it is, although not bound by grammar's rules. Yes, -why should the Franks be incapable? they are brave as Romans or Greeks; -they are as good in field and wood; wide power is theirs, and ready are -they with the sword. They are rich, and possess a good land, with honour. -They can guard their own; what people is their equal in battle? Diligent -are they also in the Word of God. Otfrid is quite moving in his -sympathetic sense of the sorrow of the Last Judgment, when the mother from -child shall be parted, the father from son, the lord from his faithful -thane, friend from friend--all human kind. Deep is the mystic love and -yearning with which he realizes Heaven as one's own land: there is life -without death, light without darkness, the angels and eternal bliss. We -have left it--that must we bewail always, banished to a strange land, poor -misled orphans. The antithesis between the _fremidemo lant_ (_fremdes -land_) of earth, and the _heimat_, the _eigan lant_ of Heaven, which is -home, real home, is the keynote strongly felt and movingly expressed. - - - - -BOOK II - -THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES - - - - -CHAPTER X - -CAROLINGIAN PERIOD: THE FIRST STAGE IN THE APPROPRIATION OF THE PATRISTIC -AND ANTIQUE - - -With the conversion of Teuton peoples and their introduction to the Latin -culture accompanying the new religion, the factors of mediaeval -development came at last into conjunction. The mediaeval development was -to issue from their combined action, rather than from the singular nature -of any one of them.[237] Taking up the introductory theme concerning the -meeting of these forces, we followed the Latinizing of the West resulting -from the expansion of the Roman Republic, which represents the political -and social preparation of the field. Then we considered the antique pagan -gospel of philosophy and letters, which had quickened this Latin -civilization and was to form the spiritual environment of patristic -Christianity. Next in order we observed the intellectual interests of the -Latin Fathers, and then turned to the great Latin transmitters of the -somewhat amalgamated antique and patristic material--Boethius, -Cassiodorus, Gregory the Great, and Isidore of Seville--who gathered what -they might, and did much to reduce the same to decadent forms, suited to -the barbaric understanding. Then the course of the barbaric disruption of -the Empire was reviewed; and this led to a consideration of the qualities -and circumstances of the Celts and Teutons, both those who to all -appearances had been Latinized, and those who took active part in the -barbarization and disruption of the Roman order. And finally we closed -these introductory, though essential, chapters by tracing the ways in -which Christianity, with the now humbled and degraded antique culture, was -presented to this renewed and largely Teutonic barbarism. - -Having now reached the epoch of conjunction of the various elements of the -mediaeval evolution, it lies before us to consider the first stage in the -action of true mediaeval conditions upon the two chief spiritual forces, -the first stage, in other words, of the mediaeval appropriation of the -patristic and antique material. The period is what is called Carlovingian -or Carolingian, after the great ruler Charlemagne. Intellectually -considered, it may be said to have begun when Charles palpably evinced his -interest in sacred and liberal studies by calling Alcuin and other -scholars to his Court about the year 781. Let us note the political and -social situation. - -The Merovingian kingdom created by Clovis and his house has been spoken -of.[238] One may properly refer to it in the singular, although -frequently, instead of one, there were several kingdoms, since upon the -death of a Merovingian monarch his realm was divided among his sons. But -no true son of the house could leave the others unconquered or unmurdered; -and therefore if the Merovingian kingdom constantly was divided, it also -tended to coalesce again, coerced to unity. Constituted both of Roman and -Teutonic elements, it operated as a mediating power between Latin -Christendom and barbaric heathendom. Its energies were great, and were not -waning when its royal house was passing into insignificance before the -power of the nobles and the chief personage among them who had become the -_major domus_ ("Mayor of the palace") and virtual ruler. Moreover, -experience, contact with Latin civilization, membership in the Roman -Catholic Church, were informing the Merovingian energies. They were -becoming just a little less barbarous and a little more instructed; in -fine, were changing from Merovingian to Carolingian. - -In the latter part of the seventh century, Pippin, called "of Heristal," -ruled as _major domus_ (as one or more of his ancestors before him) in -Austrasia, the eastern Frankish kingdom. Many were his wars, especially -with the Neustrian or western Frankish kingdom, under its _major domus_, -Ebroin. This somewhat unconquerable man at last was murdered, and one of -the two Merovingian kings being murdered likewise, Pippin about the year -688 became _princeps regiminis ac major domus_ for the now united realm. -From this date the Merovingians are but shadow kings, whose names are not -worth recording. Pippin's rule marks the advent of his house to virtual -sovereignty, and also the passing of the preponderance of power from -Neustria to Austrasia. These two facts became clear after Pippin's death -(714), when his redoubtable son Charles in a five years' struggle against -great odds made himself sole _major domus_, and with his Austrasians -overwhelmed the Neustrian army. Thenceforth this Charles, called Martell -the Hammer, mightily prevailed, smiting Saxons, Bavarians, and Alemanni, -and, after much warfare in the south with Saracens, at last vindicated the -Cross against the Crescent at Tours in 732. Nine years longer he was to -reign, increasing his power to the end, and supporting the establishment -of Catholicism in Frisia, by the Anglo-Saxon Willibrord, and in heathen -German lands by St. Boniface.[239] He died in 741, dividing what virtually -was his realm between his sons Carloman and Pippin: the former receiving -Austrasia, Alemannia, Thuringia; the latter, Neustria, Burgundy, Provence. - -These two sons valiantly took up their task, reforming the Church under -the inspiration of Boniface, and ruling their domains without conflict -with each other until 747, when Carloman retired and became a monk, -leaving the entire realm to Pippin. The latter in 751 at Soissons, with -universal approval and the consent of the Pope, was crowned king, and -anointed by the hand of Boniface. This able and energetic sovereign -pursued the course of his father and grandfather, but on still larger -scale; aiding the popes and reducing the Lombard power in Italy, carrying -on wars around the borders of his realm, bringing Aquitania to full -submission, and expelling the Saracens from Narbonne and other fortress -towns. In 768 he died, again dividing his vast realm between his two sons -Carloman and Charles. - -These bore each other little love; but fortunately the former died (771) -before an open breach occurred. So Charles was left to rule alone, and -prove himself, all things considered, the greatest of mediaeval -sovereigns. Having fought his many wars of conquest and subjugation -against Saracens, Saxons, Avars, Bavarians, Slavs, Danes, Lombards; having -conquered much of Italy and freed the Pope from neighbouring domination; -having been crowned and anointed emperor in the year 800; having restored -letters, uplifted the Church, issued much wise legislation, and -Christianized with iron hand the stubborn heathen; and above all, having -administered his vast realm with never-failing energy, he died in -814--just one hundred years after the time when his grandfather Charles -was left to fight so doughtily for life and power. - -Poetry and history have conspired to raise the fame of Charlemagne. In -more than one _chanson de geste_, the old French _epopee_ has put his name -where that of Pippin, Charles Martell, or perhaps that of some Merovingian -should have been.[240] Sober history has not thus falsified its matter, -and yet has over-dramatized the incidents of its hero's reign. For -example, every schoolboy has been told of the embassy to Charlemagne from -Harun al Raschid, Caliph of Bagdad. But not so many schoolboys know that -Pippin had sent an embassy to a previous caliph, which was courteously -entertained for three years in Bagdad;[241] and Pippin, like his son, -received embassies from the Greek emperor. The careers of Charles Martell -and Pippin have not been ignored; and yet historical convention has -focused its attention and its phrases upon "the age of Charlemagne." One -should not forget that this exceedingly great man stood upon the shoulders -of the great men to whose achievement he succeeded. - -Neither politically, socially, intellectually, nor geographically[242] was -there discontinuity or break or sudden change between the Merovingian and -the Carolingian periods.[243] The character of the monarchy was scarcely -affected by the substitution of the house of Pippin of Heristal for the -house of Clovis. The baleful custom of dividing the realm upon a monarch's -death survived; but Fortune rendered it innocuous through one strong -century, during which (719-814) the realm was free from internecine war, -while the tossing streams of humanity were driven onward by three great -successive rulers. - -The Carolingian, like the Merovingian, realm included many different -peoples who were destined never to become one nation; and the whole -Carolingian system of government virtually had existed in the Merovingian -period. Before, as well as after, the dynastic change, the government -throughout the realm was administered by _Counts_. Likewise the famous -_missi dominici_, or royal legates, are found in Merovingian times; but -they were employed more effectively by Charles Martell, Pippin, and, -finally, by Charlemagne, who enlarged their sphere of action. He -elaborately defined their functions in a famous Capitulary of the year -802. It was set forth that the emperor had chosen these legates from among -his best and greatest (_ex optimatibus suis_), and had authorized them to -receive the new oaths of allegiance, and supervise the observance of the -laws, the execution of justice, the maintenance of the military and fiscal -rights of the emperor. They were given power to see that the permanent -functionaries (the counts and their subordinates) duly administered the -law as written or recognized. The _missi_ had jurisdiction over -ecclesiastical as well as lay officials; and many of them were entrusted -with special powers and duties in the particular instance. - -Thus Charlemagne developed the functions of these ancient officers. -Likewise his Court and royal council, the synods and assemblies of his -reign, the military service, modes of holding land, methods of collecting -revenue, were not greatly changed from Merovingian prototypes. Yet the old -institutions had been renewed and bettered. A vast misjoined and unrelated -realm was galvanized into temporary unity. And, most impressive and -portentous thing of all, an _Empire_--the _Holy_ Roman Empire--was -resurrected for a time in fact and verity: the same was destined to endure -in endeavour and contemplation. - -So there was no break politically or socially between the Carolingian -Empire and its antecedents, which had made it possible. Likewise there was -no discontinuity spiritually and intellectually between the earlier time -and that epoch which begins with Charlemagne's first endeavours to restore -knowledge, and extends through the ninth and, if one will, even the tenth -century.[244] Western Europe (except Scandinavia) had become nominally -Christian, and had been made acquainted with Latin education to the extent -indicated in the preceding chapter, the purpose of which was to tell how -Christianity and the antique culture were brought to the northern peoples. -The present chapter, on the other hand, seeks to describe how the eighth -and ninth centuries proceeded to learn and consider and react upon this -newly introduced Christianity and antique culture, out of which the -spiritual destinies of the Middle Ages were to be forged. The task of -Carolingian scholars was to learn what had been brought to them. They -scarcely excelled even the later intermediaries through whom this -knowledge had been transmitted. One need not look among them for better -scholarship than was possessed by Bede, who died in 735, the birth year of -Alcuin who drew so much from him, and was to be the chief luminary of the -palace school of Charlemagne. Undoubtedly, Charlemagne's exertions caused -a revival of sacred and profane studies through the region of the present -France and Rhenish Germany. His primary motive was the purification and -extension of Catholic Christianity. Here Charles Martell and Pippin (with -his brother Carloman) had done much, as their support of Boniface bears -witness to. But Charlemagne's efforts went beyond those of his -predecessors. More clearly than they he understood the need of education, -and he was himself intensely interested in knowledge. Hence his -endeavours, primarily to uplift the Faith, brought a revival of learning -and a literary productivity, consisting mostly in reproduction or -rearrangement of old material, doctrinal or profane.[245] - -Another preliminary consideration may help us to appreciate the -intellectual qualities of the period before us. Charlemagne was primarily -a ruler in the largest sense, conqueror, statesman, law-giver, one who -realized the needs of the time, and met or forestalled them. His monarchy, -with its powers inherited, as well as radiating from his own personality, -provided an imperial government for western Europe. The chief activities -of this ruler and his epoch were practical, to wit, political and -military. In laws, in institutions, and in deeds, he and his Empire -represent creativeness and progress; although, to be sure, that -conglomerate empire of his had itself to fall in pieces before there could -take place a more lasting and national evolution of States. And, of -course, Carolingian political creativeness included the conservation of -existing social, political, and, above all, ecclesiastical, institutions. -In fine, this period was creative and progressive in its practical -energies. The factors were the pressing needs and palpable opportunities, -which were met or availed of. And to the same effective treatment of -problems ecclesiastical and doctrinal was due the modicum of originality -in the Carolingian literature. Aside from this, the period's intellectual -accomplishment, in religious as well as secular studies, shows merely a -diligent learning and imitation of pagan letters, and a rehandling and -arrangement of the work of the Church Fathers and their immediate -successors. Its efforts were exhausted in rearranging the heritage of -Christian teaching coming from the Church Fathers, or in endeavours to -acquire the transmitted antique culture and imitate the antique in phrase -and metre. The combined task, or occupation, absorbed the minds of men. -The whole period was at school, where it needed to be: at school to the -Church Fathers, at school to the transmitters of antique culture. Its task -was one of adjustment of its materials to itself, and of itself to its -materials. - -The reinvigoration of studies marking the life-time of Charlemagne did not -extend to Italy, where letters, although decayed, had never ceased, nor to -Anglo-Saxon England, where Bede had taught and whence Alcuin had come. The -revival radiated, one may say, from the palace school attached to the -Court, which had its least intermittent domicile at Aix-la-Chapelle. It -extended to the chief monastic centres of Gaul and Germany, and to -cathedral schools where such existed. From many lands scholars were drawn -by that great hand so generous in giving, so mighty to protect. Some came -on invitation more or less compelling, and many of their own free will. -The first and most famous of them all was the Anglo-Saxon, Alcuin of York. -Charles first saw him at Parma in the year 781, and ever after kept him in -his service as his most trusted teacher and director of studies. Love of -home drew Alcuin back, once at least, to England. In 796 Charles permitted -him to leave the Court, and entrusted him with the re-establishment of the -Abbey of St. Martin at Tours and its schools. There he lived and laboured -till his death in 804. - -Another scholar was Peter of Pisa, a grammarian, who seems to have shared -with Alcuin the honourable task of instructing the king. Of greater note -was Paulus Diaconus, who, like Alcuin himself, was to sigh for the pious -or scholarly quiet which the seething, half-barbarous, and loose-mannered -Court did not afford. Paulus at last gained Charles's consent to retire -to Monte Cassino. He was of the Lombard race, like another favourite of -Charles, Paulinus of Aquileia. From Spain, apparently, came Theodulphus, -by descent a Goth, and reputed the most elegant Latin versifier of his -time. Charles made him Bishop of Orleans. A little later, Einhart the -Frank appears, who was to be the emperor's secretary and biographer. -Likewise came certain sons of Erin, among them such a problematic poet as -he who styled himself "Hibernicus Exul"--not the first or last of his -line! - -These belonged to the generation about the emperor. Belonging to the next -generation, and for the most part pupils of the older men, were Abbot -Smaragdus, grammarian and didactic writer; the German, Rabanus Maurus, -Abbot of Fulda and, against his will, Archbishop of Mainz, an -encyclopaedic excerpter and educator, _primus praeceptor Germaniae_; his -pupil was Walafrid Strabo, the cleverest putter-together of the excerpt -commentary, and a pleasing poet. In Lorraine at the same time flourished -the Irishman, Sedulius Scotus, and in the West that ardent classical -scholar, Servatus Lupus, Abbot of Ferrieres, and Agobard, Bishop of Lyons, -a man practical and hard-headed, with whom one may couple Claudius, Bishop -of Turin, the opponent of relic-worship. One might also mention those -theological controversialists, Radbertus Paschasius and Ratramnus, -Hincmar, the great Archbishop of Rheims, and Gottschalk, the unhappy monk, -ever recalcitrant; at the end John Scotus Eriugena should stand, the -somewhat too intellectual Neo-Platonic Irishman, translator of -Pseudo-Dionysius, and announcer of various rationalizing propositions for -which men were to look on him askance. - -There will be occasion to speak more particularly of a number of these -men. They were all scholars, and interested in the maintenance of -elementary Latin education as well as in theology. They wished to write -good Latin, and sometimes tried for a classical standard, as Einhart did -in his _Vita Caroli_. Few of them refrained from verse, for they were -addicted to metrical compositions made of borrowed classic phrase and -often of reflected classic sentiment, sometimes prettily composed, but -usually insipid, and in the mass, which was great, exceptionally -uninspired. Such metrical effort, quite as much as Einhart's consciously -classicizing Latin prose, represents a survival of the antique excited to -recrudescence in forms which, if they were not classical, at least had not -become anything else. Stylistically, and perhaps temperamentally, it -represented the ending of what had nearly passed away, rather than the -beginning of the more organic development which was to come.[246] - -Among these men, Alcuin and Rabanus broadly represent at once the -intellectual interests of the period and the first stage in the process of -the mediaeval appropriation of the patristic and antique material. The -affectionate and sympathetic personality of the former[247] appears -throughout his voluminous correspondence with Charles and others, which -shows, among other matters, the interest of the time in elementary points -of Latinity, and the alertness of the mind of the great king, who put so -many questions to his genial instructor upon grammar, astronomy, and such -like knowledge. An examination of the works of Alcuin will indicate the -range and character of the educational and more usual intellectual -interests of the epoch. In fact, they are outlined in a simple fashion -suited to youthful minds in his treatise upon Grammar.[248] Its opening -colloquy presents a sort of programme and justification of elementary -secular studies. - -"We have heard you saying," begins Discipulus, "that philosophy is the -teacher (_magistra_) of all virtues, and that she alone of secular riches -has never left the possessor miserable. Lend a hand, good Master,"--and -the pupil becomes self-deprecatory. "Flint has fire within, which comes -out only when struck; so the light of knowledge exists by nature in human -minds, but a teacher is needed to knock it out." - -"It is easy," responds the Master, "to show you wisdom's path, if only you -will pursue it for the sake of God, for the sake of the soul's purity and -to learn the truth, and also for its own sake, and not for human praise -and honour." - -We confess, answers little Discipulus, that we love happiness, but know -not whether it can exist in this world. And the dialogue rambles on in -discursive comment upon the superiority of the lasting over the -transitory, with some feeble echoing of notes from Boethius's _De -consolatione_. There is talk to show that man, a rational animal, the -image of his Creator, and immortal in his better part, should seek what is -truly of himself, and not what is alien, the abiding and not the fugitive. -In fine, one should adorn the soul, which is eternal, with wisdom, the -soul's true lasting dignity. There is some coy demurring over the -steepness of the way; but the pupil is ardent, and the Master confident -that with the aid of Divine Grace they will ascend the seven grades of -philosophy, by which philosophers have gained honour brighter than that of -kings, and the holy doctors and defenders of our Catholic Faith have -triumphed over all heresiarchs. "Through these paths, dearest son, let -your youth run its daily course, until its completed years and -strengthened mind shall attain to the heights of the Holy Scriptures upon -which you and your like shall become armed defenders of the Faith and -invincible assertors of its truth." This means, of course, that the -Liberal Arts are the proper preparation for the study of Scripture, that -is, theology. But Alcuin's discourse seems to tarry with those studies as -if detained by some love of them for their own sake. - -The body of this treatise is in form a disputation between two youthful -pupils, a Frank and a Saxon. A _Magister_ makes a third interlocutor, and -sets the subject of the argument. These _personae_ discuss letters and -syllables in definitions taken from Donatus, Priscian, or Isidore; and -whenever Alcuin permits any one of them to stray from the words of those -authorities, the language shows at once his own confused ideas regarding -the parts of speech. He uses terms without adequately comprehending them, -and thus affords one of the myriad examples of how, under decadent or -barbarized conditions, phrases may outlive an intelligent understanding of -their meaning. "Grammar," says the _Magister_, when solicited to define -it, "is the science of letters, and the guardian of correct speech and -writing. It rests on nature, reason, authority, and custom." "In how many -species is it divided?" "In twenty-six: words, letters, syllables, -clauses, dictions, speeches, definitions, feet, accent, punctuation, -signs, spelling, analogies, etymologies, glosses, differences, barbarism, -solecism, faults, metaplasm, schemata, tropes, prose, metre, fables and -histories."[249] The actual treatise does not cover these twenty-six -topics, but confines itself to the division of grammar commonly called -Etymology. - -Though the mental processes of an individual preserve a working harmony, -some of them appear more rational than others. Such disparities may be -glaring in men who enter upon the learning of a higher civilization -without proper pilotage. How are they to discriminate between the valuable -and the foolish? The common sense, which they apply to familiar matters, -contrasts with their childlike lucubrations upon novel topics of education -or philosophy. And if that higher culture to which such pupils are -introduced be in part decadent, it will itself contain disparities between -the stronger thinking held in the surviving writings of a prior time and -the later degeneracies which are declining to the level, it may be, of -these new learners. - -There would naturally be disparities in the mental processes of an -Anglo-Saxon like Alcuin introduced to the debris of Latin education and -the writings of the Fathers; and his state would typify the character of -the studies at the palace school of Charlemagne and at monastic schools -through his northern realm. This newly stimulated scholarship held the -same disparities that appear in the writings of Alcuin. He may seem to be -adapting his teaching to barbaric needs, but it is evident that his matter -accords with his own intellectual tastes, as, for example, when he -introduces into his educational writings the habit of riddling in -metaphors, so dear to the Anglo-Saxon.[250] The sound but very elementary -portions of his teaching were needed by the ignorance of his scholars. For -instance, no information regarding Latin orthography could come amiss in -the eighth century. And Alcuin in his treatise on that subject[251] took -many words commonly misspelled and contrasted them with those which -sounded like them, but were quite different in meaning and derivation. One -should not, for example, confuse _habeo_ with _abeo_; or _bibo_ and -_vivo_. Such warnings were valuable. The use of the vulgar Romance-forms -of Latin spoken through a large part of Charles's dominions implied no -knowledge of correct Latinity. Even among the clergy, there was almost -universal ignorance of Latin orthography and grammar. - -As a companion to his _Grammar_ and _Orthography_, Alcuin composed a _De -rhetorica et virtutibus_,[252] in the form of a dialogue between Charles -and himself. The king desired such instruction to equip him for the civil -disputes (_civiles quaestiones_) which were brought before him from all -parts of his realm. And Alcuin proceeded to furnish him with a compend of -the _scientia bene dicendi_, which is Rhetoric. This crude epitome was -based chiefly on Cicero's _De inventione_, but indicates a use of other of -his oratorical writings, and has bits here and there which apparently have -filtered through from the _Rhetoric_ of Aristotle. Some illustrations are -taken from Scripture. The work is most successful in showing the -difference between Cicero and Alcuin. The genius, the spirit, the art of -the great orator's treatises are lost; a naked skeleton of statement -remains. We have words, terms, definitions, even rules; and Alcuin is not -conscious that beyond them there is the living spirit of discourse. - -A more complete descent from substance to a clatter of words and -definitions is exhibited by Alcuin's _De dialectica_.[253] In logical -studies _facilis descensus_! Others had illustrated this before him. His -treatise is again a dialogue, with Charlemagne for questioner. Opening -with the stock definitions and divisions of philosophy, it arrives at -logic, which is composed (as Isidore and Cassiodorus said) of dialectic -and rhetoric, "the shut and open fist," a simile which had come down from -Varro. Says Charles: "What are the _species_ of dialectic?" Answers -Alcuin: "Five principal ones: Isagogae, categories, forms of syllogisms -and definitions, topics, periermeniae." What a classification! -Introductions, categories, syllogisms, topics, _De interpretatione_-s! It -is not a classification but in reality an enumeration of the treatises -which had served as sources for those men from whom Alcuin drew! Evidently -this excerpter is not really thinking in the terms and categories of his -subject. His work shows no intelligence beyond Isidore's, from whose -_Etymologies_ it is largely taken. And the genius of our author for -metaphysics may be perceived from the definition which he offers Charles -of substance--_substantia_ or _usia_ (_i.e._ [Greek: ousia]): it is that -which is discerned by corporeal sense; while _accidens_ is that which -changes frequently and is apprehended by the mind. _Substantia_ is the -underlying, the _subjacens_, in which the _accidentia_ are said to -be.[254] One observes the crassness and inconsistency of these statements. - -There are illustrations of the knowledge and methods shown in the -educational writings of the man who, next to Charles himself, was the -guiding spirit of the intellectual revival. No mention has been made of -those of his works that were representative of the chief intellectual -labour of the period--that of exploiting the Patristic material. Here -Alcuin contributed a compend of Augustine's doctrines on the Trinity,[255] -and a book on the Vices and Virtues, drawn chiefly from Augustine's -sermons.[256] Like most of his learned contemporaries, he also compiled -Commentaries upon Scripture, the method of which is prettily told in a -prefatory epistle placed by him before his Commentary on the Gospel of -John, and addressed to two pious women: - - "Devoutly searching the pantries of the holy Fathers, I let you taste - whatever I have been able to find in them. Nor did I deem it fitting - to cull the blossoms from any meadow of my own, but with humble heart - and head bowed low, to search through the flowering fields of many - Fathers, and thus safely satisfy your pious pleasure. First of all I - seek the suffrage of Saint Augustine, who laboured with such zeal upon - this Gospel; then I draw something from the tracts of the most holy - doctor Saint Ambrose; nor have I neglected the homilies of Father - Gregory the pope, or those of the blessed Bede, nor, in fact, the - works of others of the holy Fathers. I have cited their - interpretations, as I found them, preferring to use their meanings and - their words, than trust to my own presumption."[257] - -In the next generation, a most industrious compiler of such Commentaries -was Alcuin's pupil, Rabanus Maurus.[258] More deeply learned than his -master, his conception of the purposes of study has not changed -essentially. Like Alcuin, he sets forth a proper intellectual programme -for the instruction of the clergy: "The foundation, the state, and the -perfection, of wisdom is knowledge of the Holy Scriptures." The Seven Arts -are the ancillary _disciplinae_; the first three constitute that -grammatical, rhetorical, and logical training which is needed for an -understanding of the holy texts and their interpretation. Likewise -arithmetic and the rest of the quadrivium have place in the cleric's -education. A knowledge of pagan philosophy need not be avoided: "The -philosophers, especially the Platonists, if perchance they have spoken -truths accordant with our faith, are not to be shunned, but their truths -appropriated, as from unjust possessors."[259] And Rabanus continues with -the never-failing metaphor of Moses despoiling the Egyptians. - -Raban, however, had somewhat larger thoughts of education than his master. -For example, he takes a broader view of grammar, which he regards as the -_scientia_ of interpreting the poets and historians, and the _ratio_ of -correct speech and writing.[260] Likewise he treats _Dialectica_ more -seriously. With him it is the "_disciplina_ of rational investigation, of -defining and discussing, and distinguishing the true from the false. It is -therefore the _disciplina disciplinarum_. It teaches how to teach and how -to learn; in this same study, reason itself demonstrates what it is and -what it wills. This art alone knows how to know, and is willing and able -to make knowers. Reasoning in it, we learn what we are, and whence, and -also to know Creator and creature; through it we trace truth and detect -falsity, we argue and discover what is consequent and what inconsequent, -what is contrary to the nature of things, what is true, what is probable, -and what is intrinsically false in disputations. Wherefore the clergy -ought to know this noble art, and have its laws in constant meditation, so -that subtly they may discern the wiles of heretics, and confute their -poisoned sayings with the conclusions of the syllogism."[261] - -This somewhat extravagant but not novel view of logic's function was -prophetic of the coming scholastic reliance upon it as the means and -instrument of truth. Rabanus had no hesitancy in commending this edged -tool to his pupils. But the operations of his mind were predominantly -Carolingian, which is to say that ninety-nine per cent of the contents of -his _opera_ consist of material extracted from prior writers. His -Commentaries upon Scripture outbulk all his other works taken together, -and are compiled in this manner. So is his encyclopaedic compilation, _De -universo libri XXII._,[262] two books more than those of Isidore's -_Etymologies_, from which he chiefly drew; but he changed the arrangement, -and devoted a larger part of his parchment to religious topics; and he -added further matter gleaned from the Church Fathers, from whom he had -drawn his Commentaries. This further matter consisted of the mystical -interpretations of things, which he subjoined to their "natural" -explanations. He says, in his Praefatio, addressed to King Louis: - - "Much is set forth in this work concerning the natures of things and - the meanings of words, and also as to the mystical signification of - things. Accordingly I have arranged my matter so that the reader may - find the historical and mystical explanations of each thing set - together--_continuatim positam_; and may be able to satisfy his desire - to know both significations." - -These allegorical elaborations accorded with the habits of this compiler -of allegorical comment upon Scripture.[263] - -Rabanus was a full Teutonic personality, a massive scholar for his time, -untiring in labour and intrinsically honest. Except when involved in the -foolishness of the mystic qualities of numbers, or following the -will-o'-wisps of allegory, he evinces much sound wisdom. He abhors the -pretence of teaching what one has not first diligently learned; and his -good sense is shown in his admonition to teachers to use words which their -pupils or audience will understand. His views upon profane knowledge were -liberal: one should use the treasured experience and accumulated wisdom of -the ancients, for that is still the mainstay of human society; but one -should shun their vain as well as pernicious idolatries and -superstitions.[264] Let us by all means preserve their sound educational -learning and the elements of their philosophy which accord with the -verities of Christian doctrine. Raban also realized the sublimity of the -study of Astronomy, which he deemed "a worthy argument for the religious -and a torment for the curious. If pursued with chaste and sober mind, it -floods our thoughts with immense love. How admirable to mount the heavens -in spirit, and with inquiring reason consider that whole celestial fabric, -and from every side gather in the mind's reflective heights what those -vast recesses veil."[265] He then rebukes the folly of those who vainly -would draw auguries from the stars.[266] - -Raban's mental activities were commonly constrained by the need felt by -him and his pious contemporaries to master the works of the Latin Fathers. -Perhaps more than any other one man (though here his pupil Walafrid Strabo -made a skilful second) he contributed to what necessarily was the first -stage in this mediaeval achievement of appropriating patristic -Christianity, to wit, the preliminary task of rearranging the doctrinal -expositions of the Fathers conveniently, and for the most part in -Commentaries following verse and chapter of the canonical books of -Scripture. But, like many of his contemporaries, Raban, when compelled by -controversial exigencies, would think for himself if the situation could -not be met with matter taken from a Father. Accordingly, individual and -personal views are vigorously put in some of his writings, as in his -_Liber de oblatione puerorum_,[267] directed against the attempt of the -interesting Saxon, Gottschalk, to free himself from the vows made by those -who dedicated him in boyhood as an _oblatus_ at the monastery of Fulda, of -which Raban was abbot. Raban's tract maintained that the monastic vows -made upon such dedication of children could not be broken by the latter on -reaching years of discretion. - -This same Gottschalk was the centre of the storm, which he indeed blew up, -over Predestination; and again Raban was his fierce opponent. This -controversy, with that relating to the Eucharist, will serve to illustrate -the doctrinal interests of the time, and also to exemplify the -quasi-originality of its controversial productions. - -Of course Predestination and the Eucharist had been exhaustively discussed -by the Latin Fathers. No man of the ninth century could really add -anything to the arguments touching the former set forth in the works of -Augustine and his Pelagian adversaries. And the substance of the -discussion as to the eucharistic Body and Blood of Christ had permeated -countless tomes, both Greek and Latin, from the time of Irenaeus, Bishop -of Lyons (d. 202); and yet neither as to the impossible topic of -Predestination, nor as to the distinctly Christian mystery of the -Eucharist, had the Latin Church authoritatively and finally fixed doctrine -in dogma or put together the arguments. The ninth century with its lack of -elastic thinking, and its greater need of tangible authority, was -compelled by its mental limitations to attempt in each of these matters to -drag a definite conclusion from out of its entourage of argument, and -strip it of its decently veiling obscurities. Thereupon, and with its -justifying and balanced foundation of reasons and considerations knocked -from under, the conclusion had to sustain itself in mid air, just at the -level of the common eye. - -Such, obviously, was the result of the Eucharistic or Paschal controversy. -The symbol, all indecision brushed away, hardened into the tangible -miraculous reality. Radbertus, Abbot of Corbie, who was so rightly named -Paschasius, was the chief agent in the process. His method of procedure, -just as the result which he obtained, was what the time required. The -method was almost a bit of creation in itself: he put the matter in a -separate monograph, _De corpore et sanguine Domini_,[268] the first work -exclusively devoted to the subject. This was needed as a matter of -arrangement and presentation. Men could not endure to look here and -thither among many books on many subjects, for arguments one way and the -other. That was too distraught. There was call for a compendium, a manual -of the matter; and in providing it Paschasius was a master mechanic for -his time. Inevitably the discussion and the conclusion took on a new -definiteness. It is impossible to glean and gather arguments and matter -from all sides, and bring them together into a single composition, without -making the thesis more organic, tangible, definite. Thus Paschasius -presented the scattered, wavering discussion--the victorious side of -it--as a clear dogma reached at last. And whatever qualification of -counter-doctrine there was in his grouped arguments, there was none in the -conclusion; and the definite conclusion was what men wanted. - -And practically for the whole western Church, clergy and laity, the -conclusion was but one, and accorded with what was already the current -acceptance of the matter. Radbert's arguments embraced the spiritual -realism of Augustine, according to which the ultra reality of the -eucharistic elements consisted in the _virtus sacramenti_, that is in -their miraculous and real, but invisible, transformation into the -veritable substance of Christ's veritable body. This took place through -priestly consecration, and existed only for believers. For the brute to -eat the elements was nothing more than to consume other similar natural -substances. For the misbeliever it was not so simple. He indeed ate not -Christ's body, but his own _judicium_, his own deeper damnation. Here lay -the terror, which made more anxious, more poignant, the believer's hope, -that he was faithful and humbled, and was eating the veritable Christ-body -to his sure salvation. For the Eucharist could not fail, though the -partaker might. - -Out of all of this emerged the one clear thing, the point, the practical -conclusion, which was transubstantiation, though the word was not yet -made. Here it is in Paschasius; says he: "That body and blood veritably -come into existence (_fiat_) by the consecration of the Mystery, no one -doubts who believes the divine words; hence Truth says, 'For my flesh -verily is food, and my blood verily is drink' (John vi. 55). And that it -should be clearer to the disciples who did not rightly understand of what -flesh He spoke, or of what blood, He added, to make this plain, 'Whoso -eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me and I in him' -(_ibid._ 56). Therefore, if it is veritably food, it is veritable flesh; -and if it is veritably drink, it also is veritable blood. Otherwise how -could He have said, 'The bread which I will give is my flesh for the life -of the world' (_ibid._ 52)?" - -Could anything be more positive and simplified? At first sight it is a -marvel how Paschasius, even though treading in the steps of so many who -had gone before, could give a literal interpretation to words which -Christ seems to have used as figuratively as when He said, "I am the vine, -ye are the branches." A marvel indeed, when we think that Paschasius and -all of his generation, as well as those who went before, had abandoned -themselves to the most wonderful and far-fetched allegorical -interpretations of every historical and literal statement in the -Scriptures. And this same Paschasius, and all the rest too, do not -hesitate to interpret and explain by allegory the significance of every -accompanying act and circumstance of the mass. This might seem the climax -of the marvel, but it is a step toward explaining it. For the literal -interpretation of the phrases which Paschasius quotes was followed for the -sake of the more absolute miracle, the deeper mystery, the fuller -florescence of encompassing allegorical meaning. Only thus could be -brought about the transformation of the palpable symbol into the -miraculous reality; and only _then_ could that bread and wine be what -Cyril of Alexandria and others, five hundred years before Paschasius, had -called it: "the drug of immortality." Only through the miraculous and real -identity of the elements of the Eucharist with the body and blood of -Christ could they save the souls of the partakers. - -In partial disagreement with these hard and fast conclusions, Ratramnus, -also of Corbie,[269] and others might still try to veil the matter, with -utterances capable of more equivocal meaning; might try to make it all -more dim, and therefore more possibly reasonable. That was not what the -Carolingian time, or the centuries to come, wanted; but rather the -definite tangible statement, which they could grasp as readily as they -could see and touch the elements before their eyes. In disenveloping the -question and conclusion from every wavering consideration and veiling -ambiguity, the Carolingian period was creative in this Paschal -controversy. New propositions were not devised; but the old, such of them -as fitted, were put together and given the unity and force of a -projectile. - -It was the same and yet different with the Predestination strife. -Gottschalk, who raised the storm, stated doctrines of Augustine. But he -set them out naked and alone, with nothing else as counterpoise, as -Augustine had not done. Thus to draw a single doctrine out from the -totality of a man's work and the demonstrative suggestiveness of all the -rest of his teachings, whether that man be Paul or Augustine, is to -present it so as to make it something else. For thereby it is left naked -and alone, and unadjusted with the connected and mitigating considerations -yielded by the rest of the man's opinions. Such a procedure is a garbling, -at least in spirit. It is almost like quoting the first half of a sentence -and leaving off everything following the author's "but" in the middle of -it. - -At all events the hard and fast, complete and twin (_gemina_), divine -predestination, unto hell as well as heaven, was too unmitigated for the -Carolingian Church. This doctrine, and his own intractible temper, immured -the unhappy announcer of it in a monastic dungeon till he died. It was -monstrous, as monstrous as transubstantiation, for example! But -transubstantiation saved; and while the Church could stand the doctrine of -the election of the Elect to salvation, it revolted from the -counter-inference, of the election of the damned to hell, which -contradicted too drastically the sweet and lovely teaching that Christ -died for all. The theologians of one and more generations were drawn into -the strife, which was to have a less definitive result than the Paschal -controversy. Even to-day the adjustment of human free-will with omnipotent -foreknowledge has not been made quite clear.[270] - -There was one man who was drawn into the Predestination strife, although -for him it lacked cardinal import. For the Neo-Platonic principles of John -Scotus Eriugena scarcely permitted him to see in evil more than -non-existence, and led him to trace all phases of reality downward from -the primal Source. His intellectual attitude, interests, and faculties -were exceptional, and yet nevertheless partook of the characteristics of -his time, out of which not even an Eriugena could lift himself. He was an -Irishman, who came to the Court of Charles the Bald on invitation, and -for many years, until his orthodoxy became too suspect, was the head of -the palace school. He may have died about the year 877. - -Eriugena was in the first place a man of learning, widely read in the -works of the Greek Fathers. From the _Celestial Hierarchy_ of -Pseudo-Dionysius and other sources, he had absorbed huge draughts of -Neo-Platonism. One must not think of him always as an original thinker. A -large part of his literary labours correspond with those of -contemporaries. He was a translator of the works of Pseudo-Dionysius, for -he knew Greek. Then he composed or compiled Commentaries upon those -writings. He cared supremely for the fruits of those faculties with which -he was pre-eminently endowed. He, the man of acquisitive powers, loved -learning; and he, the man with a faculty of constructive reason, loved -rational truth and the labour of its systematic and syllogistic -presentation. He ascribed primal validity to what was true by force of -logic, and in his soul set reason above authority. Certain of his -contemporaries, with a discernment springing from repugnance, perceived -his self-reliant intellectual mood. The same ground underlay their -detestation, which centuries after underlay St. Bernard's, for Abaelard. -That Abaelard should deem himself to be something! here was the root of -the saint's abhorrence. And, similarly, good Deacon Florus of Lyons wrote -a vituperative polemic quite as much against the man Eriugena as against -his detestable views of Predestination. Eriugena, forsooth, would be -disputing with human argument, which he draws from philosophy, and for -which he would be accountable to none. He proffers no authority from the -Fathers, "as if daring to define with his own presumption what should be -held and followed."[271] Such was not the way that Carolingian Churchmen -liked to argue, but rather with attested sentences from Augustine or -Gregory. Manifestly Eriugena was not one of them. - -Had his works been earlier understood, they would have been earlier -condemned. But people did not realize what sort of Neo-Platonic, -pantheistic and emanational, principles this Irishman from over the sea -was setting forth. St. Denis, the great saint who was becoming St. Denis -of France, had been authoritatively (and most preposterously) identified -with Dionysius the Areopagite who heard Paul preach, and, according to the -growing legend, won a martyr's crown not far from Paris. This was set -forth in his Life by Abbot Hilduin;[272] this was confirmed by Hincmar, -the great Archbishop of Rheims, who said, closing his discussion of the -matter: "veritas saepius agitata magis splendescit in lucem!"[273] -Eriugena seemed to be a translator of his holy writings, and might be -regarded as a setter forth of his exceptionally resplendent truths. He -could use the Fathers' language too. So in his book on Predestination he -quotes Augustine as saying, Philosophy, which is the study of wisdom, is -not other than religion.[274] But he was not going to keep meaning what -Augustine meant. He slowly extends his talons in the following sentences -which do _not_ stand at the _beginning_ of his great work _De divisione -naturae_. - -Says the Magister, for the work is in dialogue form: "You are aware, I -suppose, that what is prior by nature is of greater dignity than what is -prior in time." - -Answers Discipulus: "This is known to almost all." - -Continues Magister: "We learn that reason is prior by nature, but -authority prior in time. For although nature was created at the same -moment with time, authority did not begin with the beginning of time and -nature. But reason sprang with nature and time from the beginning of -things." - -Discipulus clenches the matter: "Reason itself teaches this. Authority -sometimes proceeds from reason; but reason never from authority. For all -authority which is not approved by true reason seems weak. But true -reason, since it is stablished in its own strength, needs to be -strengthened by the assent of no authority."[275] - -No doubt of the talons here! Reason superior to authority--is it not also -prior to faith? Eriugena does not press that reversal of the Christian -position. But his _De divisione naturae_ was a reasoned construction, -although of course the materials were not his own. It was no loosely -compiled encyclopaedia, such as Isidore or Bede or Rabanus would have -presented under such a title. It did not describe every object in nature -known to the writer; but it discussed Nature metaphysically, and presented -its lengthy exposition as a long argument in linked syllogistic form. Yet -it respected its borrowed materials, and preserved their -characteristics--with the exception of Scripture, which Eriugena -recognized as supreme authority! That he interpreted figuratively of -course; so had every one else done. But he differed from other -commentators and from the Church Fathers, in degree if not in kind. For -his interpretation was a systematic moulding of Scriptural phrase to suit -his system. He transformed the meaning with as clear a purpose as once -Philo of Alexandria had done. The pre-Christian Jew changed the -Pentateuch--holding fast, of course, to its authority!--into a Platonic -philosophy; and so, likewise by figurative interpretations, Eriugena -turned Scripture into a semi-Christianized Neo-Platonic scheme.[276] The -logical nature of the man was strong within him, so strong, indeed, that -in its working it could not but present all topics as component parts of a -syllogistic and systematized philosophy.[277] If he borrowed his -materials, he also made them his own with power. He appears as the one man -of his time that really could build with the material received from the -past. - -Even beyond the range of such acute theological polemics as we have been -considering, the pressing exigencies of political or ecclesiastical -controversy might cause a capable man to think for himself even in the -ninth century. Such a man was Claudius, Bishop of Turin, the foe of image -and relic-worship, and of other superstitions too crass for one who was a -follower of Augustine.[278] And another such a one even more palpably was -Agobard, Archbishop of Lyons (d. 840), a brave and energetic man, -clear-seeing and enlightened, and incessantly occupied with questions of -living interest, to which his nature responded more quickly than to -theologic lore. Absorbed in the affairs of his diocese, of the Church at -large, and of the Empire, he expresses views which he has made his own. -Practical issues, operating upon his mind, evoked a personal originality -of treatment. His writings are clear illustrations of the originality -which actual issues aroused in the Carolingian epoch. They were directed -against common superstitions and degraded religious opinion, or against -the Jews whose aggressive prosperity in the south of France disturbed him; -or they were political. In fine, they were the fruit of the living issue. -For example, his so often-cited pamphlet, "Against the silly opinion of -the crowd as to hail and thunder,"[279] was doubtless called forth by the -intolerable conditions stated in the first sentence: - - "In these parts almost all men, noble and common, city folk and - country folk, old and young, think that hail storms and thunder can be - brought about at the pleasure of men. People say when they hear - thunder and see lightning '_Aura levatitia est_.' When asked what - _aura levatitia_ may be, some are ashamed or conscience-stricken, - while others, with the boldness of ignorance, assert that the air is - raised (_levata_) by the incantations of men called Tempestarii, and - so is called 'raised air.'" - -Agobard does not marshal physical explanations against this folly, but -texts of Scripture showing that God alone can raise and lay the storms. -Perhaps he thought such texts the best arguments for those who needed any. -The manner of the writing is reasonable, and the reader perceives that the -clear-headed archbishop, apart from his Scriptural arguments, deemed these -notions ridiculous, as well as harmful.[280] - -In like spirit Agobard argued against trials by combat and ordeal. -Undoubtedly, God might thus announce His righteous judgment, but one -should not expect to elicit it in modes so opposed to justice and -Scripture; again, he cites many texts while also considering the matter -rationally.[281] On the other hand, his book against image-worship is made -up of extracts from Augustine and other Church authorities. There was no -call for originality here, when the subject seemed to have been so -exhaustively and authoritatively treated.[282] - -One cannot follow Agobard so comfortably in his rancorous tracts against -the Jews. Doubtless this subject also presented itself to him as an -exigency requiring handling, and he was just in his contention that -heathen slaves belonging to Jews might be converted and baptized, and then -should not be given back to their former masters, but a money equivalent -be made instead. The question was important from its frequency. Yet one -would be loath to approve his arguments, unoriginal as they are. He gives -currency to the common slanders against the Jews, and then at great length -cites passages from the Church Fathers, to show in what detestation they -held that people. Then he sets forth the abominable opinions of the hated -race, and ransacks Scripture to prove that the Jews are therein -authoritatively and incontestably condemned.[283] - -The years of Agobard's maturity belong to the troubled time which came -with the accession of the incompetent Louis, in 814, to the throne of his -father Charlemagne. In the contentions and wars that followed, Agobard -proved himself an apt political partisan and writer. His political tracts, -notwithstanding their constant citation of Scripture, are his own, and -evince an originality evoked by the situation which they were written to -influence. - -Something of the originality which the pressing political exigency -imparted to these tracts of Agobard might be transmitted to such history -as was occupied with contemporary events. As long as the historian was a -mere excerpting chronicler extracting his dry summaries from the writings -of former men, his work would not rouse him to independence of conception -or presentation. That would have come with criticism upon the old -authorities. But criticism had scarcely begun to murmur among the -Carolingians, too absorbed with the task of grasping their inherited -material to weigh it, and too overawed by the authority of the past to -question the truth of its transmitted statements. Excerpts, however, could -not be made to tell the stirring events of the period in which the -Carolingian historian lived. He would have to set forth his own perception -and understanding of them, and in manner and language which to a less or -greater extent were his own: to a less extent with those feebly beginning -Annals, or Year-books, which set down the occurrences of cloister life or -the larger happenings of which the report penetrated from the outer -world;[284] to a greater extent, however, with a more veritable history of -some topic of living and coherent interest. In the latter case the writer -must present his conception of events, and therewith something of -himself.[285] - -An example of this necessitated originality in the writing of contemporary -history is the work of Count Nithard. He was the son of Charlemagne's -daughter Bertha and of Angilbert, the emperor's counsellor and lifelong -friend. His parents were not man and wife, because Charles would not let -his daughters marry, from reasons of policy; but the relationship between -them was open, and apparently approved by the lady's sire. Angilbert -studied in the palace school with Charlemagne, and became himself a writer -of Latin verse. He was often his sovereign's ambassador, and continued -active in affairs until his closing years, when he became the lay-abbot of -a rich monastery in Picardy, and received his emperor and virtual -father-in-law as his guest. He died the same year with Charles. - -Like his father, Nithard was educated at the palace school, perhaps with -his cousin who was to become Charles the Bald. His loyalty continued -staunch to that king, whose tried confidant he became. He was a -diplomatist and a military leader in the wars following the death of Louis -the Pious; and he felt impelled to present from his side the story of the -strife among the sons of Louis, in "four books of histories" as they grew -to be.[286] Involved with his king in that same hurricane (_eodem -turbine_) he describes those stormy times which they were fighting out -together even while he was writing. This man of action could not but -present himself, his views, his temperament, in narrating the events he -moved in. Throughout, one perceives the pen of the participant, in this -case an honest partisan of his king, and the enemy of those whose conduct -had given the divided realm over to rapine. So the vigorous narrative of -this noble Frank partakes of the originality which inheres in the writings -of men of action when their literary faculty is sufficient to enable them -to put themselves into their compositions. - -Engaged, as we have been, with the intellectual or scholarly interests of -the Carolingian period, we should not forget how slender in numbers were -the men who promoted them, and how few were the places where they throve. -There was the central group of open-minded laymen and Churchmen about the -palace school, or following the Court in its journeyings, which were far -and swift. Then there were monastic or episcopal centres of education as -at Tours, or Rheims, or Fulda. The scholars carried from the schools their -precious modicum of knowledge, and passed on through life as educated men -living in the world, or dwelt as learned compilers, reading in the -cloister. But scant were the rays of their enlightening influence amidst -that period's vast encompassing ignorance. - -To have classified the Carolingian intellectual interests according to -topics would have been misleading, since that would have introduced a -fictitious element of individual preference and aptitude, as if the -Carolingian scholar of his spontaneous volition occupied himself with -mathematical studies rather than grammar, or with astronomy rather than -theology. In general, all was a matter of reading and learning from such -books as Isidore's _Origines_, which handled all topics indiscriminately, -or from Bede, or from the works of Augustine or Gregory, in which every -topic did but form part of the encyclopaedic presentation of the -relationship between the soul and God, and the soul's way to salvation. - -What then did these men care for? Naturally, first of all, for the -elements of their primary education, their studies in the Seven Arts. They -did what they might with Grammar and Rhetoric, and with Dialectic, which -sometimes was Rhetoric and formal Logic joined. Logic, for those who -studied it seriously, was beginning to form an important mental -discipline. The four branches of the quadrivium were pursued more -casually. Knowledge of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy (one may -throw in medicine as a fifth) was as it might be in the individual -instance--always rudimentary, and usually rather less than more. - -All of this, however, and it was not very much, was but the preparation, -if the man was to be earnest in his pursuit of wisdom. Wisdom lay chiefly -in Theology, to wit, the whole saving contents of Scripture as understood -and interpreted by Gregory and Augustine. There was little mortal -knowledge which this range of Scriptural interpretation might not include. -It compassed such knowledge of the physical world as would enable one to -understand the work of Creation set forth in Genesis; it embraced all that -could be known of man, of his physical nature, and assuredly of his -spiritual part. Here Christian truth might call on the better pagan -philosophy for illustration and rational corroboration, so far as that did -corroborate. When it did not, it was pernicious falsity. - -So Christian piety viewed the matter. But the pious commonly have their -temporal fancies, sweet as stolen fruit. These Carolingian scholars, the -man in orders and the man without, studied the Latin poets, historians, -and orators. And in their imaginative or poetic moods, as they followed -classic metre, so they reproduced classic phrase and sentiment in their -verses. The men who made such--it might be Alcuin, or Theodulphus, or -Walafrid Strabo--chose what they would as the subject of their poems; but -the presentation took form and phrase from Virgil and other old poets. The -antique influence so strong in the Carolingian period, included much more -than matters of elegant culture, like poetry and art, or even rhetoric and -grammar. It held the accumulated experience in law and institution, which -still made part of the basis of civic life. Rabanus Maurus recognized it -thus broadly. And, thus largely taken, the antique survives in the -Carolingian time as a co-ordinate dominant, with Latin Christianity. -Neither, as yet, was affected by the solvent processes of transmutation -into new human faculty and power. None the less, this same antique -survival was destined to pass into modes and forms belonging quite as much -to the Middle Ages as to antiquity; and, thus recast, it was to become a -broadening and informing element in the mediaeval personality. - -Likewise with the patristic Christianity which had been transmitted to the -Carolingian time, to be then and there not only conned and studied, but -also rearranged by these painful students, so that they and their -successors might the better comprehend it. It was not for them to change -the patristic forms organically, by converting them into the modes of -mediaeval understanding of the same. These would be devised, or rather -achieved, by later men, living in centuries when the patristic heritage of -doctrine, long held and cherished, had permeated the whole spiritual -natures of mediaeval men and women, and had been itself transmuted in what -it had transformed. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -MENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY: ITALY - - I. FROM CHARLEMAGNE TO HILDEBRAND. - - II. THE HUMAN SITUATION. - - III. THE ITALIAN CONTINUITY OF ANTIQUE CULTURE. - - IV. ITALY'S INTELLECTUAL PIETY: PETER DAMIANI AND ST. ANSELM. - - -I - -The Empire of Charlemagne could not last. Two obvious causes, among -others, were enough to prevent it. No single government (save when -temporarily energized by some extraordinary ruler) could control such -enormous and widely separated regions, which included much of the present -Germany and Austria, the greater part of Italy, France, and the Low -Countries. Large portions of this Empire were almost trackless, and -nowhere were there good roads and means of transportation. Then, as the -second cause, within these diverse and ununited lands dwelt or moved many -peoples differing from each other in blood and language, in conditions of -life and degrees of civilization or barbarism. No power existed that could -either hold them in subjection or make them into proper constituents of an -Empire.[287] - -There were other, more particular, causes of dissolution: the Frankish -custom of partitioning the realm brought war between Louis the Pious and -his sons, and then among the latter; no scion of the Carolingian house was -equal to the situation; under the ensuing turbulence, the royal power -weakened, and local protection, or oppression, took its place; constant -war exhausted the strength of the Empire, and particularly of Austrasia, -while from without Norsemen, Slavs, and Saracens were attacking, invading, -plundering everywhere. These marauders still were heathen, or obstinate -followers of the Prophet; while Christianity was the bond of unity and -empire. Charlemagne and his strong predecessors had been able thus to view -and use the Church; but the weaker successors, beginning with Louis the -Pious, too eager for the Church's aid and condonation, found their -subservience as a reed that broke and pierced the hand. - -These causes quickly brought about the Empire's actual dissolution. On the -other hand, a potent conception had been revived in western Europe. Louis -the Pious, himself made emperor in Charlemagne's lifetime, associated his -eldest son with him as co-emperor, and made his two younger sons kings, -hoping thus to preserve the Empire's unity. If that unity forthwith became -a name, it was a name to conjure with; and the corresponding imperial fact -was to be again made actual by the first Saxon Otto, a man worthy to reach -back across the years and clasp the hand of the great Charles. - -That intervening century and a half preceding the year 962 when Otto was -crowned emperor, carried political and social changes. To the West, in the -old Neustrian kingdom which was to form the nucleus of mediaeval France, -the Carolingian line ran out in degenerates surnamed the Pious, the Bald, -the Stammerer, the Simple, and the Fat. The Counts of Paris, Odo, Robert, -Hugh the Great, and, finally, Hugh Capet, playing something like the old -role of the palace mayors, were becoming the actual rulers, although not -till 987 was the last-named Hugh formally elected and anointed king. - -Other great houses also had arisen through the land of France, which was -very far from being under the power of the last Carolingians or the first -Capetians. The year 911 saw the treaty between Norman Rollo and Charles -the Simple, and may be taken to symbolize the settling down of Norsemen -from freebooters to denizens, with a change of faith. Rollo received the -land between the Epte and the sea, to the borders of Brittany, along with -temporary privileges, granted by the same Simple Charles, of sack and -plunder over the latter. But a generation later the valiant Count Alan of -the Twisted Beard drove out the plunderers, and established the feudal -duchy long to bear the name of Brittany. Likewise, aided by the need of -protection against invading plunderers, feudal principalities were formed -in Flanders, Champagne, Burgundy, Aquitaine, Languedoc. - -At the time when Hugh Capet drew near his royal destiny, his brother was -Duke of Burgundy, the Dukes of Normandy and Aquitaine were his -brothers-in-law, and Adalberon, Archbishop of Rheims, was his partisan. As -a king elected by his peers, his royal rights were only such as sprang -from the feudal homage and fidelity which they tendered him. Yet he, with -the clergy, deemed that his consecration by the Church gave him the -prerogatives of Frankish sovereigns, which were patterned on those of -Roman emperors and Old Testament kings. It was to be the long endeavour of -the Capetian line to make good these higher claims against the -counter-assumptions of feudal vassals, who individually might be stronger -than the king.[288] - -Austrasia, the eastern Frankish kingdom, formed the centre of those -portions of the Carolingian Empire which were to remain German. Throughout -these lands, as in the West, feudal disintegration was progressing. The -great territorial divisions were set by differences of race or _stamm_. -Saxons, Franks, Bavarians, Suabians, had never been one people. In the -tenth century each of these _stamms_, with the land it dwelt in, made a -dukedom; and there were besides marks or frontier lordships, each under -its markgrave, upon whom lay the duty of repelling outer foes. These -divisions, fixed in differences of law, language, and blood, were -destined to prevent the formation of a strong kingdom like that of France. - -Yet what was to prove a veritable German royalty sprang from the ducal -Saxon house. Upon the failure of the German Carolingian branch in 911, -Conrad, Duke of Franconia, was elected king, the Saxons and Suabians -consenting. After struggling a few years, mainly against the power of the -Saxon duke Henry, Conrad at his death in 918 pronounced in favour of his -stronger rival. Thereupon Henry, called by later legend "The Fowler," -became king, and having maintained his royal authority against -recalcitrants, and fought successfully with Hungarians and Bohemians, he -died in 936, naming his son Otto as his successor. - -The latter's reign was to be a long and great one. He was consecrated at -Aix-la-Chapelle in Charlemagne's basilica, thus at the outset showing what -and whom he had in mind. Then and thereafter all manner of internal -opposition had to be suppressed. His own competing brothers were, first of -all, to be put down; and with them the Dukes of Bavaria, Franconia, and -Lorraine, whom Otto conquered and replaced with men connected with him by -ties of blood or marriage. Far to the West he made his power felt, -settling affairs between Louis and Hugh the Great. Hungarians and Slavs -attacked his realm in vain. New _marks_ were established to hold them in -check, and new bishoprics were founded, fonts of missionary Christianity -and fortresses of defence. - -Thereupon Otto looked southward, over the Alps. To say that Italy was sick -with turmoil and corruption, and exposed to the attack of every foe, is to -give but the negative and least interesting side. She held more of -civilized life and of education than any northern land; she differed from -the north in her politics and institutions. Feudalism did not fix itself -widely there, although the Roman barons, who made and unmade popes, -represented it; and in many regions, as later among the Normans in the -south, there was to be a feudal land-holding nobility. But in Italy, it -was the city, whether under civic or episcopal government, or in a -despot's grip, that took the lead, and was to keep the life of the -peninsula predominantly urban, as it had been in the Roman time. - -Tenth-century Italy contained enough claimants to the royal, even the -imperial, title. Rome reeked with faction; and the papal power was nearly -snuffed out. Pope followed pope, to reign or be dragged from his -throne--eight of them between 896 and 904. Then began at Rome the -domination of the notorious, but virile, Theodora and her daughter -Marozia, makers and perhaps mistresses of popes, and leaders in feudal -violence. Marozia married a certain valiant Alberic, "markgrave of -Camerino" and forerunner of many a later Italian soldier and tyrant of -fortune. When he fell, she married again, and overthrew Pope John X., who -had got the better of her first husband. In 931 she made her son pope as -John XI. For yet a third husband she took a certain King Hugo, a -Burgundian; but another son of hers, a second Alberic, roused the city, -drove him out, and proclaimed himself "Prince and Senator of all the -Romans." - -It was in this Italy that Otto intervened, in 951, drawn perhaps by the -wrongs of Queen Adelaide, widow of Hugo's son, Lothaire, a landless king, -since Markgrave Berengar had ousted him from his Italian holdings. This -Berengar now persecuted and imprisoned the queen-widow. She escaped; Otto -descended from the Alps, and married her; Lombardy submitted; Berengar -fled. This time Otto did not advance to Rome, being impeded by many -things--Alberic's refusal to admit him, and behind his back in Germany the -rebellion of his own son Liudolf aided by the Archbishop of Mainz, and -later by those whom Otto left in Italy to represent him as he hurried -north. These were straitened times for the king, and the Hungarians poured -over the boundaries to take advantage of the confusion. But Otto's star -triumphed over both rebels and Hungarians--a bloody star for the latter, -as the plains of Lech might testify, where they were so handled that they -never ravaged German lands again. - -Otto's power now reached its zenith. He reordered the German dukedoms, -filled the archbishoprics with faithful servants, bound the German clergy -to himself with gifts and new foundations, and ruled them like another -Charlemagne. It was his time to become emperor, an emperor like -Charlemagne, and not like later weaklings. In 961 he again entered Italy, -to be greeted with universal acclaim as by men longing for a deliverer. He -was crowned king in Pavia; the levies of the once more hostile Berengar -dispersed before him. In February 962 he was anointed emperor at Rome by -John XII., son of that second Alberic who had refused to open the gates, -but whose debauched son had called for aid upon the mighty German. Once -more the Holy Roman Empire of the Germans was refounded to endure a while -with power, and continue a titular existence for eight centuries. - -The power of the first Otto was so overwhelming that the papacy could not -escape the temporary subjection which its vile state deserved. And the -Empire was its honest patron, for the good of both. So on through the -reigns of Otto II., who died in 983, aged twenty-eight, and his son Otto -III., who died in 1002, at the age of twenty-two, a dreamer and would-be -universal potentate. Then came the practical-minded rule of the second -Henry (1002-1024), who still aided and humbly ruled the Church. Conrad -II., of Franconia, followed, faithful to the imperial tradition.[289] He -was succeeded in 1039 by his son Henry III., beneficent and prosperous, if -not far-seeing, who again cared for both Church and State, and imperially -constrained the papacy, itself impotent in the grip of the Roman barons -and the Counts of Tusculum. Henry did not hesitate to clear away at once -three rival popes (1046) and name a German, Clement II. It was this worthy -man, but still more another German, his successor, Leo IX. (1049-1054), -who lifted the papacy from its Italian mire, and launched it full on its -course toward an absolute spiritual supremacy that was to carry the -temporal control of kings and princes. But the man already at the helm was -a certain deacon Hildebrand, who was destined to guide the papal policy -through the reigns of successive popes until he himself was hailed as -Gregory VII. (1073-1085).[290] - -With Hildebrand's pontificate, which in truth began before he sat in -Peter's chair, the reforming spirits among the clergy, aroused to his keen -policy, set themselves to the uplifting of their order. In all countries -the Church, heavy with its possessions, seemed about to become feudal and -secular. Bishops and abbots were appointed by kings and the great -feudatories, and were by them _invested_ with their lands as fiefs, for -which the clerical appointee did homage, and undertook to perform feudal -duties. Church fiefs failed to become hereditary only because bishops and -abbots could not marry; yet in fact great numbers of the lower clergy -lived in a state of marriage or "concubinage." Evidently the celibacy of -the clergy was a vital issue in Church reform; and so were investitures -and the matter of simony. Under mediaeval conditions, the most open form -of this "heresy" called after Simon Magus, was the large gift from the new -incumbent to his feudal lord who had invested him with abbey or bishopric. -Such simony was not wrong from the feudal point of view, and might -properly represent the duty of bishop or abbot to his lord. - -Obviously, for the reform and emancipation of the Church, and in order -that it should become a world-power, and not remain a semi-secular local -institution in each land, it was necessary that the three closely -connected corruptions of simony, lay investitures, and clerical -concubinage should be destroyed. To this enormous task the papacy -addressed itself under the leadership of Hildebrand.[291] In his -pontificate the struggle with the supreme representative of secular power, -to wit, the Empire, came to a head touching investitures. Gregory's -secular opponent was Henry IV., of tragic and unseemly fame; for whom the -conflict proved to be the road by which he reached Canossa, dragged by the -Pope's anathema, and also driven to this shame by a rebellious Germany -(1076, 1077). Henry was conquered, although a revulsion of the -long-swaying war drove Gregory from Rome, to die an exile for the cause -which he deemed that of righteousness. - -Between the papacy and the secular power represented in this struggle by -the Empire, a peaceful co-equality could not exist. The superiority of the -spiritual and eternal over the carnal and temporal had to be vindicated; -and in terms admitting neither limit nor condition, Hildebrand maintained -the Church's universal jurisdiction upon earth. The authority granted by -Christ to Peter and his successors, the popes, was absolute for eternity. -Should it not include the passing moment of mortal life, important only -because determining man's eternal lot? The divine grant was made without -qualification or exception _in saeculo_ as well as for the life to come. -If spiritual men are under the Pope's jurisdiction, shall he not also -constrain secular folk from their wickedness?[292] Were kings excepted -when the Lord said, Thou art Peter?[293] Nay; the salvation of souls -demands that the Pope shall have full authority _in terra_ to suppress the -waves of pride with the arms of humility. The _dictatus papae_ of the year -1075 make the Pope the head of the Christian world: the Roman Church was -founded by God alone; the Roman pontiff alone by right is called -_universal_; he alone may use the imperial insignia; his feet alone shall -be kissed by all princes; he may depose emperors and release subjects from -fealty; and he can be judged by no man.[294] - -In the century and a half following Gregory's reign the papacy well-nigh -attained the realization of the claims made by this great upbuilder of its -power.[295] Constantine's forged donation was outdone, in fact; and the -furthest hopes of Leo I. and the first, second, and third Gregories were -more than realized. - - -II - -One might liken the Carolingian period to a vessel at her dock, taking on -her cargo, casks of antique culture and huge crates of patristic theology. -Then western Europe in the eleventh century would be the same vessel -getting under way, well started on the mediaeval ocean. - -This would be one way of putting the matter. A closer simile already used -is the likening of the Carolingian period to the lusty schoolboy learning -his lessons, thinking very little for himself. By the eleventh century he -will have left school, though still impressionable, still with much to -learn; but he has begun to turn his conned lessons over in his mind, and -to think a little, in the terms, of what he has acquired--has even begun -to select therefrom tentatively, and still under the mastery of the whole. -He perceives the charm of the antique culture, of the humanly inspiring -literature, so exhaustless in its profane fascinations; he is realizing -the spiritual import of the patristic share of his instruction, and -already feels the power of emotion which lay implicit in the Latin -formulation of the Christian Faith. Withal he is beginning to evolve an -individuality of his own. - -Speaking more explicitly, it should be said that instead of one such -hopeful youth there are several, or rather groups of them, differing -widely from each other. The forefathers of certain of these groups were -civilized and educated men, at home in the antique and patristic -curriculum with which our youths are supposed to have been busy. The -forefathers of other groups were rustics, or rude herdsmen and hunters, -hard-hitting warriors, who once had served, but more latterly had rather -lorded it over, the cultivated forbears of the others. Still, again, the -forefathers of other numerous groups had been partly cultivated and partly -rude. Evidently these groups of youths are diverse in blood and in -ancestral traits; evidently also the antique and patristic curriculum is -quite a new thing to some of them, while others had it at their fathers' -knees. - -Our different youthful groups represent Italians, Germans, and the -inhabitants of France and the British Isles. One may safely speak of the -ninth-century Germans as schoolboys just brought face to face with -Christianity and the antique culture. So with the Saxon stock in England. -The propriety is not so clear as to the Italians; for they are not newly -introduced to these matters. Yet their household affairs have been -disturbed, and they themselves have slackened in their study. So they too -have much to learn anew, and may be regarded as truants, dirtied and -muddied, and perhaps refreshed, by the scrambles of their time of truancy, -and now returning to lessons which they have pretty well forgotten. - -Obviously, in considering the intellectual condition of western Europe in -the tenth and eleventh centuries, it will be convenient to regard each -country in turn: and, besides, a geographical is more appropriate than a -topical arrangement, because there was still little choice of one branch -of discipline rather than another. The majority still were conning -indiscriminately what had come from the past, studying heterogeneous -matters in the same books, the same forlorn compendia. They read the -_Etymologies_ of Isidore or the corresponding works of Bede, and followed -as of course the Trivium and Quadrivium. In sacred learning they might -read the Scriptural Commentaries of Rabanus Maurus or Walafrid Strabo, or -study the works of Augustine. This was still the supreme study, and all -else, properly viewed, was ancillary to it. Nevertheless, as between -sacred study and profane literature, an even violent divergence of choice -existed. Everywhere there were men who loved the profanities in -themselves, and some who felt that for their souls' sake they must abjure -them. - -For further diverging lines of preference, one should wait for the twelfth -century. Many men will then be found absorbed in religious study, while -others cultivate logic and metaphysics, with the desire to know more -active in them than the fear of hell. Still others will study "grammar" -and the classics, or, again, with conscious specializing choice, devote -their energies to the civil or the canon law. In later chapters, and -mainly with reference to this culminating mediaeval time which includes -the twelfth, the thirteenth, and at least, for Dante's sake, the first -part of the fourteenth, century, we shall review these various branches of -intellectual endeavour in topical order. But for the earlier time which -still enshrouds us, we pass from land to land as on a tour of intellectual -inspection. - - -III - -We start with Italy. There was no break between her antique civilization -and her mediaeval development, but only a period of depression and decay. -Notwithstanding the change from paganism to Christianity and the influx of -barbarians, both a race-continuity and a continuity of culture persisted. -The Italian stock maintained its numerical preponderance, as well as the -power of transforming newcomers to the likeness of itself. The natural -qualities of the country, and the existence of cities and antique -constructions, assisted in the Italianizing of Goth, Lombard, German, -Norman. Latin civic reminiscence, tradition, custom, permeated society, -and prevented the growth of feudalism. Italy remained urban, and continued -to reflect the ancient time. "Consuls" and "tribunes" long survived the -passing of their antique functions, and the fame endured of antique -heroes, mythical and historical. Florence honoured Mars and Caesar; Padua -had Antenor, Cremona Hercules. Such names remained veritably eponymous. -Other cities claimed the birthplace of Pliny, of Ovid, of Virgil. An altar -might no longer be dedicated to a pagan hero, yet the town would preserve -his name upon monuments, would adorn his fancied tomb, stamp his effigy on -coins or keep it in the communal seal. Of course the figments of the -Trojan Saga were current through the land, which, however divided, was -conscious of itself as Italy. _Te Italia plorabit_ writes an -eleventh-century Pisan poet of a young Pisan noble fallen in Africa. - -In Italy, as in no other country, the currents of antique education, -disturbed yet unbroken, carried clear across that long period of -invasions, catastrophes, and reconstructions, which began with the time of -Alaric. Under the later pagan emperors, and under Constantine and his -successors, the private schools of grammar and rhetoric had tended to -decline. There were fewer pupils with inclination and ability to pay. So -the emperors established municipal schools in the towns of Italy and the -provinces. The towns tried to shirk the burden, and the teachers, whose -pay came tardily, had to look to private pupils for support. In Italy -there was always some demand for instruction in grammar and law. The -supply rose and fell with the happier or the more devastated condition of -the land. Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, re-established municipal schools -through his dominion. After him further troubles came, for example from -the Lombards, until they too became gentled by Italian conditions, and -their kings and nobles sought to encourage and acquire the education and -culture which their coming had disturbed. In the seventh and eighth -centuries the grade of instruction was very low; but there is evidence of -the unintermitted existence of lay schools, private or municipal, in all -the important towns, from the eighth century to the tenth, the eleventh, -and so on and on. These did not give religious instruction, but taught -grammar and the classic literature, law and the art of drawing documents -and writing letters. The former branches of study appear singularly -profane in Italy. The literature exemplifying the principles of grammar -was pagan and classical, and the fictitious themes on which the pupils -exercised their eloquence continued such as might have been orated on in -the time of Quintilian. Intellectually the instruction was -poverty-stricken, but the point to note is, that in Italy there never -ceased to be schools conducted by laymen for laymen, where instruction in -matters profane and secular was imparted and received for the sake of its -profane and secular value, without regard to its utility for the saving of -souls. There was no barbaric contempt for letters, nor did the laity fear -them as a spiritual peril. Gerbert before the year 1000 had found Italy -the field for the purchase of books;[296] and about 1028 Wipo, a native of -Burgundy and chaplain of the emperor Conrad II., contrasts the ignorance -of Germany with Italy, where "the entire youth (_tota juventus_) is sent -to sweat in the schools";[297] and about the middle of the twelfth -century, Otto of Freising suggests a like contrast between the Italy and -Germany of his time.[298] - -In Italy the study of grammar, with all that it included, was established -in tradition, and also was regarded as a necessary preparation for the -study both of law and medicine. Even in the eleventh century these -professions were followed by men who were "grammarians," a term to be -taken to mean for the early Middle Ages the profession of letters. In the -eleventh century, a lawyer or notary in Italy (where there were always -such, and some study of law and legal forms) needed education in a -Latinity different from the vulgar Latin which was turning into Italian. A -little later, Irnerius, the founder of the Bologna school, was a teacher -of "grammar" before he became a teacher of law.[299] As for medicine, that -appears always to have been cultivated at least in southern Italy; and a -knowledge of grammar, even of logic, was required for its study.[300] - -The survival of medical knowledge in Italy did not, in means and manner, -differ from the survival of the rest of the antique culture. Some -acquaintance had continued with the works of Galen and other ancient -physicians; but more use was made of compendia, the matter of which may -have been taken from Galen, but was larded with current superstitions -regarding disease. Such compendia began to appear in the fifth century, -and through these and other channels a considerable medical knowledge -found its way to a congenial home in Salerno. There are references to this -town as a medical community as early as the ninth century. By the -eleventh, it was famous for its medicine. About the year 1060 a certain -Constantine seems to have brought there novel and stimulating medical -knowledge which he had gained in Africa from Arabian (ultimately Greek) -sources. Nevertheless, translations from the Arabic seem scarcely to have -exerted much influence upon medicine for yet another hundred years.[301] - -Thus in Italy the antique education never stopped, antique reminiscence -and tradition never passed away, and the literary matter of the pagan past -never faded from the consciousness of the more educated among the laity -and clergy. Some understanding of the classic literature, as well as a -daily absorption of the antique from its survival in habits, laws, and -institutions, made part of the capacities and temperament of Italians. -Grammarians, lawyers, doctors, monks even, might think and produce under -the influence of that which never had quite fallen from the life of Italy. -And just as the ancient ways of civic life and styles of building became -rude and impoverished, and yet passed on without any abrupt break into the -tenth and the eleventh centuries, so was it with the literature of Italy, -or at least with those productions which were sheer literature, and not -deflected from traditional modes of expression by any definite business or -by the distorting sentiments of Christian asceticism. This literature -proper was likely to take the form of verse in the eleventh century. A -practical matter would be put in prose; but the effervescence of the -soul, or the intended literary effort, would fall into rhyme or resort to -metre. - -We have an example of the former in those often-cited tenth-century verses -exhorting the watchers on the walls of Modena: - - "O tu qui servas armis ista moenia, - Noli dormire, moneo, sed vigila. - Dum Hector vigil extitit in Troia, - Non eam cepit fraudulenta Graecia. - - "Vigili voce avis anser candida - Fugavit Gallos ex arce Romulea." - -The antique reminiscence fills this jingle, as it does the sensuous - - "O admirabile Veneris ydolum - Cuius materiae nichil est frivolum: - Archos te protegat, qui stellas et polum - Fecit et maria condidit et solum."[302] - -And so on from century to century. At the beginning of the twelfth, a -Pisan poet celebrates Pisa's conquest of the Balearic Isles: - - "Inclytorum Pisanorum scripturus historiam, - Antiquorum Romanorum renovo memoriam, - Nam ostendit modo Pisa laudem admirabilem, - Quam olim recepit Roma vincendo Carthaginem." - -For an eleventh-century example of more literary verse, one may turn to -the metres of Alphanus, a noble Salernian, lover of letters, pilgrim -traveller, archbishop of his native town, and monk of Monte Cassino, the -parent Benedictine monastery, which had been the cultured retreat of -Paulus Diaconus in the time of Charlemagne. It was destroyed by the -Saracens in 884. Learning languished in the calamitous decades which -followed. But the convent was rebuilt, and some care for learning -recommences there under the abbot Theobald (1022-1035). The monastery's -troubles were not over; but it re-entered upon prosperity under the -energetic rule of the German Richer (1038-1055).[303] Shortly after his -death two close friends were received among its monks, Alphanus and -Desiderius. The latter was of princely Lombard stock, from Beneventum. He -met Alphanus at Salerno, and there they became friends. Afterwards both -saw something of the world and experienced its perils. Desiderius was born -to be monk, abbot, and at last pope (Victor III.) against his will. -Alphanus, always a man of letters, was drawn by his friend to monastic -life. Long after, when Archbishop of Salerno, he gave a refuge and a tomb -to the outworn Hildebrand. - -The rebuilding and adorning of Monte Cassino by Desiderius with the aid of -Greek artists is a notable episode in the history of art.[304] Under the -long rule of this great abbot (1058-1087) the monastery reached the summit -of its repute and influence. It was the home of theology and -ecclesiastical policy. There law and medicine were studied. Likewise -"grammar" and classic literature, the latter not too broadly, as would -appear from the list of manuscripts copied under Desiderius--Virgil, Ovid, -Terence, Seneca, Cicero's _De natura deorum_. But then there was the whole -host of early Christian poets, historians, and theologians. Naturally, -Christian studies were dominant within those walls. - -Alphanus did not spend many of his years there. But his loyalty to the -great monastery never failed, nor his intercourse with its abbot and -monks. He has left an enthusiastic poem descriptive of the place and the -splendour of its building.[305] A general and interesting feature of his -poetry is the naturalness of its classical reminiscence and its feeling -for the past, which is even translated into the poet's sentiments toward -his contemporaries and toward life. In his metrical verses _ad -Hildebrandum archidiaconum Romanum_, his stirring praise of that statesman -is imbued with pagan sentiment. - - "How great the glory which so often comes to those defending the - republic, has not escaped thy knowledge, Hildebrand. The Via Sacra - and the Via Latina recall the same, and the lofty crown of the - Capitol, that mighty seat of empire.... The hidden poison of envy - implants its infirmity in wretched affairs, and brings overthrow only - to such. That thou shouldst be envied, and not envy, beseems thy - skill.... How great the power of the anathema! Whatever Marius and - Julius wrought with the slaughter of soldiers, thou dost with thy - small voice.... What more does Rome owe to the Scipios and the other - Quirites than to thee?" - -Perhaps the glyconic metre of this poem was too much for Alphanus. His -awkward constructions, however, constantly reflect classic phrases. And -how naturally his mind reproduced the old pagan--or fundamental -human--views of life, appears again in his admiring sapphics to Romuald, -chief among Salerno's lawyers: - - "Dulcis orator, vehemens gravisque, - Inter omnes causidicos perennem - Gloriam juris tibi, Romoalde, - Prestitit usus." - -Further stanzas follow on Romuald's wealth, station, and mundane felicity. -Then comes the sudden turn, and Romuald is praised for having spurned them -all: - - "Cumque sic felix, ut in orbe sidus - Fulseris, mundum roseo jacentem - Flore sprevisti...." - -Apparently Romuald had become a monk: - - "Rite fecisti, potiore vita - Perfruiturus."[306] - -This turn of sentiment curiously accorded with the poet's own fortune and -way of life; for Alphanus, with all his love of antique letters, was also -a monk and an ascetic, of whom a contemporary chronicler tells that in -Lent he ate but twice a week and never slept on a bed. Yet monk, and -occasional ascetic, as he was, the ordinary antique-descended education -and inherited strains of antique feeling made the substratum of his -nature, and this although he could inveigh against the philosophic and -grammatical studies flourishing in a neighbouring monastery, and advise -one of its studious youths to turn from such: - - "Si, Transmunde, mihi credis, amice, - His uti studiis desine tandem; - Fac cures monachi scire professum, - Ut vere sapiens esse puteris."[307] - -Eleventh-century Italian "versificatores" were interested in a variety of -things. Some of them gave the story of a saint's or bishop's life, or were -occupied with an ecclesiastic theme. Others sang the fierce struggle -between rival cities, or some victory over Saracens, or made an idyl of -very human love with mythological appurtenances. The verse-forms either -followed the antique metres or were accentual deflections from them with -the new added element of rhyme; the ways of expression copied antique -phrase and simile, except when the matter and sentiment of the poem -compelled another choice. In that case the Latin becomes freer, more -mediaeval, ruder, if one will; and still antique turns of expression and -bits of sentences show how naturally it came to these men to construct -their verses out of ancient phrases. Yet borrowed phrases and the -constraint of metre impeded spontaneity, and these feeble versifiers could -hardly create in modes of the antique. A fresher spirit breathes in -certain anonymous poems, which have broken with metre, while they give -voice to sentiments quite after the feeling of the old Italian paganism. -In one of these, from Ivrea, the poet meets a nymph by the banks of the -Po, and in leonine elegiacs bespeaks her love, with all the paraphernalia -of antique reference, assuring her that his verse shall make her immortal, -a perfectly pagan sentiment--or affectation: - - "Sum sum sum vates, musarum servo penates, - Subpeditante Clio queque futura scio. - Me minus extollo, quamvis mihi cedit Apollo, - Invidet et cedit, scire Minerva dedit. - Laude mea vivit mihi se dare queque cupivit, - Immortalis erit, ni mea Musa perit."[308] - -It is obvious that in the tenth and eleventh centuries there were Italians -whose sentiments and intellectual interests were profane, humanistic in a -word. These men might even be high ecclesiastics, like Liutprand, Bishop -of Cremona (d. 972).[309] He was of Lombard stock, and yet a genuine -Italian, bred in an atmosphere of classical reminiscence and contemporary -gossip and misdeed. Politically, at least, the Italy of John XII. was not -so much better than its pope; and the _Antapodosis_ of Liutprand goes -along in its easy, and often dramatic way, telling of crime and perfidy, -and showing scant horror. It was a general history of the historian's -times, written while in exile in Germany; for Liutprand had been driven -out of Italy by King Berengar, whom he had once served. He hated Berengar -and his wife, and although well received at the Court of the great Otto, -he did not love his place of exile.[310] - -In exile Liutprand wrote his book to requite Berengar. The work had also a -broader purpose, yet one just as consolatory to the writer. It should -acknowledge and show the justice of the divine judgments exemplified in -history. Herein lay a fuller, although less Italian, consolation for his -exile than in Berengar's requital. Liutprand keeps in mind Boethius and -his _De consolatione_, and regards his own work as a Consolation of -History, as that of Boethius was a Consolation of Philosophy. The paths of -Liutprand's Consolation are as broad as the justice and power of the -Trinity, "which casts down these for their wicked deeds and raises up -those for their merits' sake."[311] - -Quite explicitly he explains the title and reason of his work at the -opening of its third book: - - "Since it will show the deeds of famous men, why call it Antapodosis? - I reply: Its object is to set forth and cry aloud the acts of this - Berengar who at this moment does not reign but tyrannize in Italy, and - of his wife Willa, who for the boundlessness of her tyranny should be - called a second Jezebel, and Lamia for her insatiate rapines. Me and - my house, my family and kin, have they harassed with so many javelins - of lies, so many spoliations, so many essays of wickedness, that - neither tongue nor pen can avail to set them forth. May then these - pages be to them an antapodosis, that is retribution, to make their - wickedness naked before men living and unborn. None the less may it - prove an antapodosis for the benefits conferred on me by holy and - happy men."[312] - -Liutprand's narrative is breezy and interspersed with ribald tales. The -writer meant to amuse his readers and himself. These literary qualities -give picturesqueness to his well-known _Embassy to Constantinople_, where -he was sent by Otto the Great, for purposes of peace and to ask the hand -of the Byzantine princess for Otto II. The highly coloured ceremonial life -of the Greek Court, the chicane and contemptuous treatment met with, the -spirited words of Liutprand, and the rancour of this same thwarted envoy, -all appear vividly in his report.[313] - -There were also many laymen occupied with Latin studies. Such a one was -Gunzo of Novara, a curiously vain grammarian of the second half of the -tenth century. According to his own story, the fame of his learning -incited Otto the Great to implore his presence in Germany. So he -condescended to cross the Alps, with all his books, perhaps in the year -965. On his way he stopped with the monks of St. Gall, themselves proud of -their learning, and perhaps jealous of the southern scholar. As the weary -Gunzo was lifted, half frozen, from his horse at the convent door, and the -brethren stood about, a young monk caught at a slip in grammar, and made a -skit on him--because, forsooth, he had used an accusative when it should -have been an ablative. - -Gunzo neither forgave nor forgot. Passing on to the rival congregation of -Reichenau, he composed a long and angry epistle of pedantic excuse and -satirical invective, addressed to his former hosts.[314] In it he parades -his wide knowledge of classic authors, justifies what the monks of St. -Gall had presumed to mock as a ridiculous barbarism, and closes with a -prayer for them in hexameters. His letter contains the interesting avowal, -that, although the monk of St. Gall had wrongly deemed him ignorant of -grammar, his Latin sometimes was impeded by the "usu nostrae vulgaris -linguae, quae latinitati vicina est." So a slip would be due not to -unfamiliarity with Latin, but to an excessive colloquial familiarity with -the vulgar tongue which had scarcely ceased to be Latin--an excuse no -German monk could have given. It is amusing to see an Italian grammarian -of this early period enter the lists to defend his reputation and assuage -his wounded vanity. Later, such learned battles became frequent.[315] - -Gunzo died as the tenth century closed. Other Italians of his time and -after him crossed the Alps to learn and teach and play the orator. From -the early eleventh century comes a satirical sketch of one. The subject -was a certain Benedict, Prior of the Abbey of St. Michael of Chiusa, and -nephew of its abbot--therefore doubtless born to wealth and position. At -all events as a youth he had moved about for nine years "per multa loca in -Longobardia et Francia propter grammaticam," spending the huge sum of two -thousand gold soldi. His pride was unmeasured. "I have two houses full of -books; there is no book on the earth that I do not possess. I study them -every day. I can discourse on letters. There is no instruction to be had -in Aquitaine, and but little in Francia. Lombardy, where I learned most, -is the cradle of knowledge." So the satire makes Benedict speak of -himself. Then it makes a monk sketch Benedict's sojourn at a convent in -Angouleme: "He knows more than any man I ever saw. We have heard his -chatter the whole day. _O quam loquax est!_ He is never tired. Wherever he -may be, standing, sitting, walking, lying, words pour from his mouth like -water from the Tigris. He orders the whole convent about as if he were -Abbot. Monks, laity, clergy, do nothing without his nod. A multitude of -the people, knights too, were always hastening to hear him, as the goal of -their desires. Untired, hurling words the entire day, he sends them off -worn out. And they depart, saying: Never have we seen sic eloquentem -grammaticum."[316] - -Another of these early wandering Italian humanists won kinder notice, a -certain Lombard Guido, who died where he was teaching in Auxerre, in 1095, -and was lamented in leonine hexameters: "Alas, famous man, so abounding, -so diligent, so praised, so venerated through many lands-- - - "Filius Italiae, sed alumnus Philosophiae. - -Let Gaul grieve, and thou Philosophy who nourished him: Grieve Grammar, -thou. With his death the words of Plato died, the work of Cicero is -blotted out, Maro is silent and the muse of Naso stops her song."[317] - -A final instance to close our examples. In the middle of the eleventh -century flourished Anselm the Peripatetic, a rhetorician and humanist of -Besate (near Milan). In his _Rhetorimachia_ he tells of a dream in which -he finds himself in Heaven, surrounded and embraced by saintly souls. -Their spiritual kisses were still on his lips when three virgins of -another ilk appear, to reproach him with forsaking them. These are -Dialectic and Rhetoric and Grammar--we have met them before! Now the -embraces of the saints seem cold! and to the protests of the blessed -throng that Anselm is theirs, the virgins make reply that he is altogether -their own fosterling. Anselm gives up the saints and departs with the -three.[318] This was his humanistic choice. - -This rather pleasant dream discloses the conflict between Letters and the -call of piety, which might harass the learned and the holy in Italy. -Distrust of the enticements of pagan letters might transform itself to -diabolic visions. Such a tale comes from the neighbourhood of Ravenna, in -the late tenth century. It is of one Vilgard, a grammarian, who became -infatuated with the great pagan poets, till their figures waved through -his dreams and he heard their thanks and assurances that he should -participate in their glory. He foolishly began to teach matters contrary -to the Faith, and in the end was condemned as a heretic. Others were -infected with his opinions, and perished by the sword and fire.[319] - -Evidently Vilgard's profane studies made him a heretic. But, ordinarily, -the Italians with their antique descended temperament were not troubled in -the observance and the expression of their Faith by the paganism of their -intellectual tastes. Such tastes did not produce open heretics in Italy in -the eleventh century any more than in the fifteenth. A pagan disposition -seldom prevented an Italian from being a good Catholic. - -Yet the monastic spirit in Italy, as elsewhere, in the eleventh century -defied and condemned the pagan literature, and in fact all Latin studies -beyond the elements of grammar. The protest of the monk or hermit might -represent his individual ignorance of classic literature; or, as in the -case of Peter Damiani, the ascetic soul is horrified at the seductive -nature of the pagan sweets which it knows too well. Peter indeed could say -in his sonorous Latin: "Olim mihi Tullius dulcescebat, blandiebantur -carmina poetarum, philosophi verbis aureis insplendebant, et Sirenes usque -in exitium dulces meum incantaverunt intellectum."[320] So a few decades -after Peter's death, Rangerius, Bishop of Lucca, writes the life of an -episcopal predecessor in elegiacs which show considerable knowledge of -grammar and prosody; and yet he protests against liberal -studies--philosophy, astronomy, grammar--with pithy commonplace: - - "Et nos ergo scholas non spectamus inanes - - * * * * * - - Scire Deum satis est, quo nulla scientia maior."[321] - -So with the Italians the antique never was an influence brought from -without, but always an element of their temperament and faculties. We have -not seen that they recast it into novel and interesting forms in the -eleventh century; yet they used it familiarly as something of their own, -being quite at home with it. As one may imagine some grand old Roman -garden, planned and constructed by rich and talented ancestors, and still -remaining as a home and heritage to descendants whose wealth and -capacities have shrunken. The garden is somewhat ruinous, and fallen to -decay; yet these sons are still at home in it, their daily steps pursue -its ancient avenues; they still recline upon the marble seats by the -fountains where perhaps scant water runs. Fauns and satyrs--ears gone and -noses broken--with even an occasional god, still haunt the courts and -sylvan paths, while everywhere, above and about these lazy sons, the -lights still chase the shadows, and anon the shadows darken the green and -yellow flashes. Perhaps nothing in the garden has become so subtly in and -of the race as this play of light and shade. And when the Italian genius -shall revive again, and children's children find themselves with power, -still within this ancient garden the great vernacular poems will be -composed; great paintings will be painted in its light and shade and under -the influence of its formal beauties; and Italian buildings will never -escape the power of the ruined structures found therein. - - -IV - -In the tenth and eleventh centuries, as remarked already, studiously -inclined people made no particular selection of one study rather than -another. But men discriminated sharply between religious devotion and all -profane pursuits. Energies which were regarded as religious might have a -political-ecclesiastical character, and be devoted to the purification and -upbuilding of the Church; or they might be intellectual and aloof; or -ascetic and emotional. All three modes might exist together in -religious-minded men; but usually one form would dominate, and mark the -man's individuality. Hildebrand, for example, was a monk, fervent and -ascetic; but his strength was devoted to the discipline of the clergy and -the elevation of the papal power. In the great Hildebrandine Church which -was his more than any other man's achievement, the organizing and -political genius of Rome re-emerges, and Rome becomes again the seat of -Empire.[322] - -Eminent examples of Italians who illustrate the ascetic-emotional and the -intellectual mode of religious devotion are the two very different saints, -Peter Damiani and Anselm. The former, to whom we shall again refer when -considering the ideals of the hermit life, was born in Ravenna not long -after the year 1000. His parents, who were poor, seem to have thought him -an unwelcome addition to their already burdensome family. His was a hard -lot until he reached the age of ten, when his elder brother Damianus was -made an archpresbyter in Ravenna and took Peter to live with him, to -educate the gifted boy. From his brother's house the youth proceeded in -search of further instruction, first to Faenza, then to Parma. He became -proficient in the secular knowledge comprised in the Seven Liberal Arts, -and soon began to teach. A growing reputation brought many pupils, who -paid such fees that Peter had amassed considerable property when he -decided upon a change of life. For some years he had been fearful of the -world, and he now turned from secular to religious studies. He put on -haircloth underneath the gentler garb in which he was seen of men, and -became earnest in vigils, fasts, and prayers. In the night-time he quelled -the lusts of the flesh by immersing himself in flowing water; he overcame -the temptations of avarice and pride by lavishly giving to the poor, and -tending them at his own table. Still he felt unsafe, and yearned to escape -the dangers of worldly living. A number of hermits dwelt in a community -known as the Hermitage of the Holy Cross of Fonte Avellana, near Faenza; -Peter became one of them shortly before his thirtieth year. They lived -ascetically, two in a cell together, spending their time in watching, -fasting, and prayer: thus they fought the Evil One. Damiani was not -satisfied merely with following the austerities practised at Fonte -Avellana. Quickly he surpassed all his fellows, except a certain mail-clad -Dominic, whose scourgings he could not equal. His chief asceticism lay in -the temper of his soul. - -From this congenial community (the hermits had made him their prior) -Damiani was drawn forth to serve the Church more actively, sorely against -his will, and was made Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia by Pope Stephen IX. in -1058. It was indeed the hand of Hildebrand, already directing the papal -policy, that had fastened on this unwilling yet serviceable tool. Peter -feared and also looked askance upon the relentless spirit, whom he called -Sanctus Satanas, not deeming him to be altogether of the kingdom of -heaven. He deprecates his censure upon one occasion: "I humbly beg that my -Saint Satan may not rage so cruelly against me, and that his worshipful -pride may not destroy me with long-reaching rods; rather, may it, -appeased, quiet to a calm around his servant." In this same letter, which -is addressed to the two conspiring souls, Pope Alexander II. and -Archdeacon Hildebrand, he sarcastically likens them to the Wind and the -Sun of Aesop's fable, who contended as to which could the sooner strip the -Traveller of his cloak.[323] Peter's tongue was sharp enough, and apt to -indulge in epigram: - - "Wilt thou live in Rome, cry aloud: - The Pope's lord more than the Pope I obey." - -And another squib he writes on Hildebrand: - - "Papam rite colo, sed te prostratus adoro; - Tu facis hunc dominum, te facit iste deum."[324] - -It was, however, for his own soul that Damiani feared, while in the -service of the Curia. To Desiderius, Abbot of Monte Cassino, he exclaims: -"He errs, Father, errs indeed, who imagines he can be a monk and at the -same time serve the Curia. Ill he bargains, who presumes to desert the -cloister, that he may take up the warfare of the world."[325] - -Albeit against his will, Damiani became a soldier of the Church in the -fields of her secular militancy against the world. He was sent on more -than one important mission--to Milan, to crush the married priests and -establish the Pope's authority, or to Mainz, there to quell a rebellious -archbishop and a youthful German king. Such missions and others he might -accomplish with holy strenuousness; his more spontaneous zeal, however, -was set upon the task of cleansing the immoralities of monks and clergy. -In spite of his enforced relations with the powers of the world, he was a -fiery reforming ascetic, a scourge of his time's wickedness, rather than a -statesman of the Church. His writings were a vent for the outcries of his -horror-stricken soul. The corruption of the clergy filled his nostrils: -they were rotten, like the loin-cloth of Jeremiah, hidden by the -Euphrates; their bellies were full of drunkenness and lust.[326] As for -the apostolic see: - - "Heu! sedes apostolica, - Orbis olim gloria, - Nunc, proh dolor! efficeris - Officina Simonis."[327] - -These, with other verses written in tears, relate to schisms of pope and -antipope which so often rent the papacy in Peter's lifetime.[328] He never -ceased to cry out against monks and clergy, denouncing their simony and -avarice, their luxury, intemperance and vile unchastity, their viciousness -of every kind. Such denunciations fill his letters, while many of his -other writings chiefly consist of them.[329] They culminate in his -horrible _Liber Gomorrhianus_, which was issued with the approval of one -pope, to be suppressed by another as too unspeakable. - -Naturally over so foul a world, flame and lower the terrors of the Day of -Judgment. For Damiani it was near at hand. He writes to a certain judge: - - "Therefore, most dear brother now while the world smiles for thee, - while thy body glows in health, while the prosperity of earth is sweet - and fair, think upon those things which are to come. Deem whatever is - transitory to be but as the illusion of a dream. And that terrible day - of the last Judgment keep ever present to thy sight, and brood with - quaking bowels over the sudden coming of such majesty--nor think it to - be far off!"[330] - -Beware of penitence postponed! - - "O how full of grief and dole is that late unfruitful repentance, when - the sinful soul, about to be loosed from its dungeon of flesh, looks - behind it, and then directs its gaze into the future. It sees behind - it that little stadium of mortal life, already traversed; it sees - before it the range of endless aeons. That flown moment which it has - lived it perceives to be an instant; it contemplates the infinite - length of time to come."[331] - -From Damiani's stricken thoughts upon the wickedness of the age, we may -turn to the more personal disclosures of one who wrote himself _Petrus -peccator monachus_. There is one tell-tale letter of confession to his -brother Damianus, whom he loved and revered: - - "To my lord Damianus, my best loved brother, Peter, sinner and monk, - his servant and son. - - "I would not have it hid from thee, my sweetest father and lord in - Christ, that my mind is cast down with sadness while it contemplates - its own exit which is so near. For I count now many long years that I - wait to be thrown to dogs; and I notice that in whatever monastery I - come nearly all are younger than myself. When I consider this, I - ponder upon death alone, I meditate upon my tomb; I do not withdraw - the eyes of my mind from my tomb. Nor is my mind content to limit its - fear and its consideration to the death of the body; for it is at once - haled to judgment, and meditates with terror upon what might be its - plea and defence. Wretched me! with what fountains of tears must I - lament! I who have done every evil, and through my long life have - fulfilled scarce one commandment of the divine law. For what evil have - not I, miserable man, committed? Where are the vices, where are the - crimes in which I am not implicated; I confess my life has fallen in a - lake of misery; my soul is taken in its iniquities. Pride, lust, - anger, impatience, malice, envy, gluttony, drunkenness, concupiscence, - robbery, lying, perjury, idle talking, scurrility, ignorance, - negligence, and other pests have overthrown me, and all the vices like - ravening beasts have devoured my soul. My heart and my lips are - defiled. I am contaminate in sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. - And in every way, in cogitation, in speech or action, I am lost. All - these evils have I done; and alas! alas! I have brought forth no fruit - meet for repentance. - - "One pernicious fault, among others, I acknowledge: scurrility has - been my besetting sin; it has never really left me. For howsoever I - have fought against this monster, and broken its wicked teeth with the - hammer of austerity, and at times repelled it, I have never won the - full victory. When, in the ways of spiritual gladness, I wish to show - myself cheerful to the brethren, I drop into words of vanity; and when - as it were discreetly for the sake of brotherly love, I think to throw - off my severity, then indiscreetly my tongue unbridled utters - foolishness. If the Lord said: 'Blessed are they that mourn, for they - shall be comforted,' what judgment hangs over those who not only are - slack at weeping, but act like buffoons with laughter and vain - giggling. Consolation is due to those who weep, not to those who - rejoice; what consolation may be expected from that future Judge by - those who now are given to foolish mirth and vain jocularity? If the - Truth says: 'Woe unto ye who laugh, for ye shall weep,' what fearful - judgment shall be theirs who not only laugh themselves, but with - scurrilities drag laughter from their listeners?" - -The penitent saint then shows from Scripture how that our hearts ought to -be vessels of tears, and concludes with casting himself at the feet of his -beloved "father" in entreaty that he would interpose the shield of his -holy prayers between his petitioner and that monster, and exorcise its -serpentine poison, and also that he would ever pour forth prayers to God, -and beseech the divine mercy in behalf of all the other vices confessed in -this letter.[332] - -A strange confession this--or, indeed, is it strange? This cowled Peter -Damiani who passes from community to community, seeing more keenly than -others may, denouncing, execrating every vice existent or imagined, who -wears haircloth, goes barefoot, lives on bread and water, scourges himself -with daily flagellations, urging others to do likewise,--this Peter -Damiani is yet unable quite to scourge out the human nature from him, and -evidently cannot always refrain from that jocularity and _inepta laetitia_ -for which the Abbess Hildegard also saw sundry souls in hell.[333] -Perhaps, with Peter, revulsions from the strain of austerity took the form -of sudden laughter. His imagination was fine, his wit too quick for his -soul's safety. His confession was no matter of mock humility, nor did he -deem laughter vulgar or in bad taste. He feared to imperil his soul -through it. Of course, in accusing himself of other, and as we should -think more serious crimes--drunkenness, robbery, perjury--Peter was merely -carrying to an extreme the monkish conventions of self-vilification. - -If it appears from this letter that Damiani had been unable quite to -scourge his wit out of him, another letter, to a young countess, will show -more touchingly that he had been unable quite to fast out of him his human -heart. - - "To Guilla, most illustrious countess, Peter, monk and sinner, [sends] - the instancy of prayer. - - "Since of a thing out of which will issue conflict it is better to - have ignorance without cost, than with dear-bought forgetting wage - hard war, we prudently accord to young women, whose aspect we fear, - audience by letter. Certainly I, who now am an old man, may safely - look upon the seared and wrinkled visage of a blear-eyed crone. Yet - from sight of the more comely and adorned I guard my eyes as boys from - fire. Alas my wretched heart which cannot hold Scriptural mysteries - read through a hundred times, and will not lose the memory of a form - seen but once! There where the divine law remains not, no oblivion - blurs vanity's image. But of this another time. Here I have not to - write of what is hurtful to me but of what may be salutary for thee." - -Peter then continues with excellent advice for the young noblewoman, -exhorting her to deeds of mercy and kindness, and warning her against the -enjoyment of revenues wrung from the poor.[334] Indeed Damiani's writings -contain much that still is wise. His advice to the great and noble of the -world was admirable,[335] and though couched in austere phrase, it -demanded what many men feel bound to fulfil in the twentieth century. His -little work on Almsgiving[336] contains sentences which might be spoken -to-day. He has been pointing out that no one can be exercising the ascetic -virtues all the time: no one can be always praying and fasting, washing -feet and subjecting the body to pain. Some people, moreover, shun such -self-castigation. But one can always be benevolent; and, though fearing to -afflict the body, can stretch forth his hand in charity: "Those then who -are rich should seek to be dispensers rather than possessors. They ought -not to regard what they have as their own: for they did not receive this -transitory wealth in order to revel in luxury, but that they should -administer it so long as they continue in their stewardship. Whoever gives -to the poor does not distribute his own but restores another's."[337] - -This sounds modern--it also sounds like Seneca.[338] Yet Damiani was no -modern man, nor was he antique, but very fearful of the classics. Having -been a rhetorician and grammarian, when he became a hermit-monk he made -Christ his grammar (_mea grammatica Christus est_).[339] Horror-stricken -at the world, and writhing under his own contamination, he cast body and -soul into the ascetic life. That was the harbour of escape from the carnal -temptations which threatened the soul's hope of pardon from the Judge at -the Last Day. Therefore Peter is fierce in execration of all lapses from -the hermit-life, so rapturously praised with its contrition, its -penitence, and tears. His ascetic rhapsodies, with which, as a poet might, -he delighted or relieved his soul, are eloquent illustrations of the -monastic ideal.[340] - -Other men in Italy less intelligent than Damiani, but equally picturesque, -were held by like ascetic and emotional obsession. Intellectual interest, -however, in theology was less prominent, because the Italian concern with -religion was either emotional or ecclesiastical, which is to say, -political. The philosophic or dialectical treatment of the Faith was to -run its course north of the Alps; and those men of Italian birth--Anselm, -Peter Lombard, Bonaventura, and Aquinas--who contributed to Christian -thought, early left their native land, and accomplished their careers -under intellectual conditions which did not obtain in Italy. Nevertheless, -Anselm and Bonaventura at least did not lose their Italian qualities; and -it is as representative of what might come out of Italy in the eleventh -century that the former may detain us here. - -The story of Anselm is told well and lovingly by his companion -Eadmer.[341] His life, although it was drawn within the currents of -affairs, remained intellectual and aloof, a meditation upon God. It opens -with a dream of climbing the mountain to God's palace-seat. For Anselm's -boyhood was passed at Aosta, within the shadows of the Graian Alps.[342] -Surely the heaven rested upon them. Might he not then go up to the hall -where God, above in the heaven, as the boy's mother taught, ruled and held -all? - - "So one night it seemed he must ascend to the summit of the mountains, - and go to the hall of the great King. In the plain at the first - slopes, he saw women, the servants of the King, reaping grain - carelessly and idly. He would accuse them to their Lord. He went up - across the summit and came to the King's hall. He found Him there - alone with His seneschal, for it was autumn and He had sent His - servants to gather the harvest. The Lord called the boy as he entered; - and he went and sat at His feet. The Lord asked kindly (_jucunda - affabilitate_) whence he came and what he wished. He replied just as - he knew the thing to be (_juxta quod rem esse sciebat_). Then, at the - Lord's command, the Seneschal brought him bread of the whitest, and he - was there refreshed in His presence. In the morning he verily believed - that he had been in Heaven and had been refreshed with the bread of - the Lord." - -A pious mother had been the boy's first teacher. Others taught him -Letters, till he became proficient, and beloved by those who knew him. He -wished to be made a monk, but a neighbouring abbot refused his request, -fearing the displeasure of Anselm's father, of whom the biographer has -nothing good to say. The youth fell sick, but with returning health the -joy of living drew his mind from study and his pious purpose. Love for his -mother held him from over-indulgence in pastimes. She died, and with this -sheet-anchor lost, Anselm's ship was near to drifting out on the world's -slippery flood. But here the impossible temper of the father wrought as -God's providence, and Anselm, unable to stay with him, left his home, and -set out across Mount Senis attended by one clericus. For three years he -moved through Burgundy and Francia, till Lanfranc's repute drew him to -Bec. Day and night he studied beneath that master, and also taught. The -desire to be a monk returned; and he began to direct his purpose toward -pleasing God and spurning the world. - -But where? At either Cluny or Bec he feared to lose the fruit of his -studies; for at Cluny there was the strictness of the rule,[343] and at -Bec Lanfranc's eminent learning would "make mine of little value." Anselm -says that he was not yet subdued, nor had the contempt of the world become -strong in him. Then the thought came: "Is this to be a monk to wish to be -set before others and magnified above them? Nay,--become a monk where, for -the sake of God, you will be put after all and be held viler than all. -And where can this be? Surely at Bec. I shall be of no weight while he is -here, whose wisdom and repute are enough for all. Here then is my rest, -here God alone will be my purpose, here the single love of Him will be my -thought, and here the constant remembrance of Him will be a happy -consolation." - -Scripture bade him: Do all things with counsel. Whom but Lanfranc should -he consult? So he laid three plans before him--to become a monk, a hermit, -or (his father being dead) for the sake of God administer his patrimony -for the poor. Lanfranc persuaded Anselm to refer the decision to the -venerable Archbishop of Rouen. Together they went to him, and such, says -the biographer, was Anselm's reverence for Lanfranc, that on the way, -passing through the wood near Bec, had Lanfranc bade him stay in that -wood, he would not have left it all his days. - -The archbishop decided for the monastic life. So Anslem took the vows of a -monk at Bec, being twenty-seven years of age. Lanfranc was then Prior, but -soon left to become Abbot of St. Stephen's at Caen.[344] Made Prior in his -place, Anselm devoted himself in gentleness and wisdom to the care of the -monks and to meditation upon God and the divine truths. He was especially -considerate of the younger monks, whose waywardness he guided and whose -love he won. The envy of cavillers was stilled. Yet the business of office -harassed one whose thoughts dwelled more gladly in the blue heaven with -God. Again he sought the counsel of the archbishop; for Herluin, the first -Abbot and founder of Bec, still lived on, old and unlettered, and -apparently no great fount of wisdom. The archbishop commanded him _per -sanctam obedientiam_ not to renounce his office, nor refuse if called to a -higher one. So, sad but resolute, he returned to the convent, and resumed -his burdens in such wise as to be held by all as a loved father. It was at -this period that he wrote several treatises upon the high doctrinal themes -which filled his thoughts. Gradually his mind settled to the search after -some single proof of that which is believed concerning God--that He -exists, and is eternal, unchanging, omnipotent, just, and pitying, and is -truth and goodness. This thing caused him great difficulty. Not only it -kept him from food and drink and sleep, but what weighed upon him more, it -interfered with his devotion to God's service. Reflecting thus, and unable -to reach a valid conclusion, he decided that such speculation was a -temptation of the devil, and tried to drive it from his thoughts. But the -more he struggled, the more it beset him. And one night, at the time of -the nocturnal vigils, the grace of God shed light in his heart, and the -argument was clear to his mind, and filled his inmost being with an -immense jubilation. All the more now was he confirmed in the love of God -and the contempt of the world, of which one night he had a vision as of a -torrent filled with obscene filth, and carrying in its flood the countless -host of people of the world, while apart and aloof from its slime rose the -sweet cloister, with its walls of silver, surrounded by silvery herbage, -all delectable beyond conception. - -In the year 1078 old Herluin died. Anselm long had guided the convent, and -with one voice the brethren chose him Abbot. He reasoned and argued, but -could not dissuade them, and in his anxiety he knew not what to do. Some -days passed. He had recourse to entreaties; with tears he flung himself -prostrate before them all, praying and protesting in the name of God, and -beseeching them, if they had any bowels of compassion, to permit him to -remain free from this great burden. But they only cast themselves upon the -earth, and prayed that he would rather commiserate them, and not disregard -the convent's good. At length he yielded, for the command of the -archbishop came to his mind. Such a scene occurs often in monastic -history. None the less is it moving when the participants are in earnest, -as Anselm was, and his monks. - -So Anselm's life opened; so it sought counsel, gathered strength, and -centred to its purpose, pursuing as its goal the thought of God. Anselm -had love and gentleness for his fellows; he drew their love and reverence. -Yet, aloof, he lived within his spirit. Did he open its hidden places even -to Lanfranc? Although one who in his humility always desired counsel, -perhaps neither Lanfranc nor Eadmer, the friend whom the Pope gave him for -an adviser, knew the meditations of his heart. We at all events should -discern little of them by following the outer story of his life. It might -even be fruitless to sail with him across the channel to visit Lanfranc, -now Primate of England. The biographer has nothing to tell of the converse -between the two, although quite rightly impressed at the meeting between -him who was pre-eminent in _auctoritas_ and _scientia_ and him who -excelled in _sanctitas_ and _sapientia Dei_. Nor would it enlighten us to -follow Anselm's archiepiscopal career, save so far as to realize that he -who lives in the thought of God will fear no brutal earthly majesty, such -as that of William Rufus, to admonish whom Anselm once more crossed the -Channel after Lanfranc's death. Whatever this despoiler of bishoprics then -thought, he fell sick afterwards, and, being terrified, named Anselm -archbishop, this being in the year 1093. One may imagine the unison -between them! and how little the Red King's ways would turn the enskied -steadfastness of Anselm's soul. But the king had the power, and could keep -the archbishop in trouble and in peril. Anselm asked and asked again for -leave to go to Rome, and the king refused. After more than one stormy -scene--the storm being always on the Red King's part--Anselm made it plain -that he would obey God rather than man in the matter. At the very last he -went in to the king and his Court, and seating himself quietly at the -king's right he said: "I, my lord, shall go, as I have determined. But -first, if you do not decline it, I will give you my blessing." So the king -acquiesced. - -The archbishop went first to Canterbury, to comfort and strengthen his -monks, and spoke to them assembled together: - - "Dearly beloved brothers and sons, I am, as you know, about to leave - this kingdom. The contention with our lord the king as to Christian - discipline, has reached this pass that I must either do what is - contrary to God and my own honour, or leave the realm. Gladly I go, - hoping through the mercy of God that my journey may advance the - Church's liberty hereafter. I am moved to pity you, upon whom greater - tribulations will come in my absence. Even with me here you have not - been unoppressed, yet I think I have given you more peace than you - have had since the death of our Father Lanfranc. I think those who - molest you will rage the more with me away. You, however, are not - undisciplined in the school of the Lord. Nevertheless I will say - something, because, since you have come together within the close of - this monastery to fight for God, you should always have before your - eyes how you should fight. - - "All retainers do not fight in the same way either for an earthly - prince, or for God whose are all things that are. The angels - established in eternal beatitude wait upon Him. He has also men who - serve Him for earthly benefits, like hired knights. He has also some - who, cleaving to His will, contend to reach the kingdom of heaven, - which they have forfeited through Adam's fault. Observe the knights - who are in God's pay. Many you see leading a secular life and cleaving - to the household of God for the good things which they gain in His - service. But when, by God's judgment, trial comes to them, and - disaster, they fly from His love and accuse Him of injustice. We - monks--would that we were such as not to be like them! For those who - cannot stand to their professed purpose unless they have all things - comfortable, and do not wish to suffer destitution for God, how shall - they not be held like to these? And shall such be heirs of the kingdom - of heaven? Faithfully I say, No, never, unless they repent. - - "He who truly contends toward recovering the kingdom of life, strives - to cleave to God through all; no adversity draws him from God's - service, no pleasure lures him from the love of Him. _Per dura et - aspera_ he treads the way of His commands, and from hope of the reward - to come, his heart is aflame with the ardour of love, and sings with - the Psalmist, Great is the glory of the Lord. Which glory he tastes in - this pilgrimage, and tasting, he desires, and desiring, salutes as - from afar. Supported by the hope of attaining, he is consoled amid the - perils of the world and gladly sings, Great is the glory of the Lord. - Know that this one will in no way be defrauded of that glory of the - Lord, since all that is in him serves the Lord, and is directed to - winning this reward. But I see that there is no need to say to you - another word. My brothers, since we are separated now in grief, I - beseech you so to strive that hereafter we may be united joyfully - before God. Be ye those who truly wish to be made heirs of God." - -The clarity and gentle love of this high argument is Anselm. Now the story -follows of Anselm and Eadmer and another monk travelling on, sometimes -unknown, sometimes acclaimed, through France to Italy and Rome. Anselm's -face inspired reverence in those who did not know him, and the peace of -his countenance attracted even Saracens. Had he been born and bred in -England, he might have managed better with the Red King. He never got an -English point of view, but remained a Churchman with Italian-Hildebrandine -convictions. Of course, two policies were clashing then in England, where -it happened that there was on one side an able and rapacious tyrant, while -the other was represented by a man with the countenance and temperament of -an angel. But we may leave Anselm now in Italy, where he is beyond the Red -King's molestation, and turn to his writings. - -Their choice and treatment of subject was partly guided by the needs of -his pupils and friends at Bec and elsewhere in Normandy or Francia or -England. For he wrote much at their solicitation; and the theological -problems of which solutions were requested, suggest the intellectual -temper of those regions, rather than of Italy. In a way Anselm's works, -treating of separate and selected Christian questions, are a proper -continuation of those composed by northern theologians in the ninth -century on Predestination and the Eucharist.[345] Only Anselm's were not -evoked by the exigency of actual controversy as much as by the insistency -of the eleventh-century mind, and the need it felt of some adjustment -regarding certain problems. Anselm's theological and philosophic -consciousness is clear and confident. His faculties are formative and -creative, quite different from the compiling instincts of Alcuin or -Rabanus. The matter of his argument has become his own; it has been remade -in his thinking, and is presented as from himself--and God. He no longer -conceives himself as one searching through the "pantries" of the Fathers -or culling the choice flowers of their "meadows." He will set forth the -matter as God has deigned to disclose it to him. In the _Cur Deus homo_ he -begins by saying that he has been urged by many, verbally and by letter, -to consider the reasons why God became man and suffered, and then, -assenting, says: "Although, from the holy Fathers on, what should suffice -has been said, yet concerning this question I will endeavour to set forth -for my inquirers what God shall deign to disclose to me."[346] - -Certain works of Anselm, the _Monologion_, for instance, present the dry -and the formal method of reasoning which was to make its chief home in -France; others, like the _Proslogion_, seem to be Italian in a certain -beautiful emotionalism. The feeling is very lofty, even lifted out of the -human, very skyey, even. The _Proslogion_, the _Meditationes_, do not -throb with the red blood of Augustine's _Confessions_, the writing which -influenced them most. The quality of their feeling suggests rather Dante's -_Paradiso_; and sometimes with Anselm a sense of formal beauty and -perfection seems to disclose the mind of Italy. Moreover, Anselm's Latin -style appears Italian. It is elastic, even apparently idiomatic, and -varies with the temper and character of his different works. Throughout, -it shows in Latin the fluency and simple word-order natural to an author -whose _vulgaris eloquentia_ was even closer to Latin in the time of Anselm -than when Dante wrote. - -So Anselm's writings were intimately part of their author, and very part -of his life-long meditation upon God. Led by the solicitations of others, -as well as impelled by the needs of his own faculties and nature, he takes -up one Christian problem after another, and sets forth his understanding -of it with his conclusion. He is devout, an absolute believer; and he is -wonderfully metaphysical. He is a beautiful, a sublimated, and idealizing -reasoner, convinced that a divine reality must exist in correspondence -with his thought, which projects itself aloft to evoke from the blue an -answering reality. The inspiration, the radiating point of Anselm's -intellectual interest, is clearly given--to understand that which he first -believes. It is a spontaneous intellectual interest, not altogether -springing from a desire to know how to be saved. It does not seek to -understand in order to believe; but seeks the happiness of knowing and -understanding that which it believes and loves. Listen to some sentences -from the opening of the _Proslogion_: - - "Come now, mannikin, flee thy occupations for a little, and hide from - the confusion of thy cares. Be vacant a little while for God, and for - a little rest in Him.... Now, O Lord my God, teach my heart where and - how to seek thee, where and how to find thee. Lord, Lord, illuminate - us; show us thyself. Pity us labouring toward thee, impotent without - thee.... Teach me to seek thee, and show thyself to my search; for I - cannot seek thee unless thou dost teach, nor find thee unless thou - dost show thyself.... I make no attempt, Lord, to penetrate thy - depths, for my intellect has no such reach; but I desire to understand - some measure of thy truth, which my heart believes and loves. I do not - seek to know in order that I may believe; but I believe, that I may - know. For I believe this also, that unless I shall have believed, I - shall not understand."[347] - -So Anselm is first a believer, then a theologian; and his reason devotes -itself to the elucidation of his faith. Faith prescribes his intellectual -interests, and sets their bounds. His thought does not occupy itself with -matters beyond. But it takes a pure intellectual delight in reasoning upon -the God which his faith presents and his heart cleaves to. The motive is -the intellectual and loving delight which his mind takes in this pursuit. -His faith was sure and undisturbed, and ample for his salvation. His -intellect, affected by no motive beyond its own strength and joy, delights -in reasoning upon the matter of his faith.[348] - -We may still linger for a moment to observe how closely part of Anselm's -nature was his proof of the existence of God.[349] It sprang directly from -his saintly soul and the compelling idealism of his reason. In the -_Monologion_ Anselm ranged his many arguments concerning the nature and -attributes of the _summum bonum_ which is God. Its chain of inductions -failed to satisfy him and his pupils. So he set his mind to seek a sole -and unconditioned proof (as Eadmer states in the _Vita_) of God's -existence and the attributes which faith ascribes to Him. Anselm says the -same in the Preface to the _Proslogion_: - - "Considering that the prior work was woven out of a concatenation of - many arguments, I set to seek within myself (_mecum_) whether I might - not discover one argument which needed nothing else than itself alone - for its proof; and which by itself might suffice to show that God - truly exists, and that He is the _summum bonum_ needing nothing else, - but needed by all things in order that they may exist and have - well-being (_ut sint et bene sint_); and whatever we believe - concerning the divine substance." - -The famous proof which at length flashed upon him is substantially this: -By very definition the word _God_ means the greatest conceivable being. -This conception exists even in the atheist's mind, for he knows what is -meant by the words, the absolutely greatest. But the greatest cannot be in -the intellect alone, for then conceivably there would be a greater which -would exist in reality as well. And since, by definition, God is the -absolutely greatest, He must exist in reality as well as in the mind.[350] -Carrying out the scholia to this argument, Anselm then proves that God -possesses the various attributes ascribed to Him by the Christian Faith. - -That from a definition one may not infer the existence of the thing -defined, was pointed out by a certain monk Gaunilo almost as soon as the -_Proslogion_ appeared. Anselm answered him that the argument applied only -to the greatest conceivable being. Since that time Anselm's proof has been -upheld and disproved many times. It was at all events a great dialectic -leap; but likely one may not with such a bound cross the chasm from -definition to existence--at least one will be less bold to try when he -realizes that this chasm is there. Temperamentally, at least, this proof -was the summit of Anselm's idealism: he could not but conceive things to -exist in correspondence to the demands of his conceptions. He never made -another so palpable leap from conception to conviction as in this proof of -God's existence; yet his theology proceeded through like processes of -thought. For example, he is sure of God's omnipotence, and also sure that -God can do nothing which would detract from the perfection of His nature: -God cannot lie: "For it does not follow, if God wills to lie that it is -just to lie; but rather that He is not God. For only that will can will to -lie in which truth is corrupted, or rather which is corrupted by forsaking -truth. Therefore when one says 'if God wills to lie,' he says in -substance, 'if God is of such a nature as to will to lie.'"[351] - -Anselm's other famous work was the _Cur Deus homo_, upon the problem why -God became man to redeem mankind. It was connected with his view of sin, -and the fall of the angels, as set forth chiefly in his dialogue _De casu -Diaboli_. One may note certain cardinal points in his exposition: Man -could be redeemed only by God; for he would have been the bond-servant of -whoever redeemed him, and to have been the servant of any one except God -would not have restored him to the dignity which would have been his had -he not sinned.[352] Or again: The devil had no rights over man, which he -lost by unjustly slaying God. For man was not the devil's, nor does the -devil belong to himself but to God.[353] Evidently Anselm frees himself -from the conception of any ransom paid to the devil, or any trickery put -on him--thoughts which had lowered current views of the Atonement. -Anselm's arguments (which are too large, and too interwoven with his views -upon connected subjects, to be done justice to by any casual statement) -are free from degrading foolishness. His reasonings were deeply felt, as -one may see in his _Meditationes_, where thought and feeling mutually -support and enhance each other. So he recalls Augustine, the great model -and predecessor whom he followed and revered. And still the feeling in -Anselm's _Meditationes_, as in the _Proslogion_, is somewhat sublimated -and lifted above human heart-throbs. Perhaps it may seem rhetorical, and -intentionally stimulated in order to edify. Even in the _Meditationes_ -upon the humanity and passion of Jesus, Anselm is not very close to the -quivering tenderness of St. Bernard, and very far from the impulsive and -passionate love of Francis of Assisi. One thinks that his feelings rarely -distorted his countenance or wet it with tears.[354] - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -MENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY: FRANCE - - I. GERBERT. - - II. ODILO OF CLUNY. - - III. FULBERT AND THE SCHOOL OF CHARTRES; TRIVIUM AND QUADRIVIUM. - - IV. BERENGAR OF TOURS, ROSCELLIN, AND THE COMING TIME. - - -I - -It appeared in the last chapter that Anselm's choice of topic was not -uninfluenced by his northern domicile at Bec in Normandy, from which, one -may add, it was no far cry to the monastery (Marmoutier) of Anselm's sharp -critic Gaunilo. These places lay within the confines of central and -northern France, the home of the most originative mediaeval development. -For this region, the renewed studies of the Carolingian period were the -proper antecedents of the efforts of the eleventh century. The topics of -study still remained substantially the same; yet the later time represents -a further stage in the appropriation of the antique and patristic -material, and its productions show the genius of the authors more clearly -than Carolingian writings, which were taken piecemeal from patristic -sources or made of borrowed antique phrase. - -The difference is seen in the personality and writings of Gerbert of -Aurillac,[355] the man who with such intellectual catholicity opens the -story of this period. One will be struck with the apparently arid crudity -of his intellectual processes. Crude they were, and of necessity; arid -they were not, being an unavoidable stage in the progress of mediaeval -thinking. Yet it is a touch of fate's irony that such an interesting -personality should have been afflicted with them. For Gerbert was the -redeeming intellect of the last part of the tenth century. The cravings of -his mind compassed the intellectual predilections of his contemporaries in -their entirety. Secular and by no means priestly they appear in him; and -it is clear that religious motives did not dominate this extraordinary -individual who was reared among monks, became Abbot of Bobbio, Archbishop -of Rheims, Archbishop of Ravenna, and pope at last. - -He appears to have been born shortly before the year 950. From the -ignorance in which we are left as to his parents and the exact place of -his birth in Aquitaine, it may be inferred that his origin was humble. -While still a boy he was received into the Benedictine monastery of St. -Geraldus at Aurillac in Auvergne. There he studied grammar (in the -extended mediaeval sense), under a monk named Raymund, and grew to love -the classics. A loyal affectionateness was a life-long trait of Gerbert, -and more than one letter in after life bears witness to the love which he -never ceased to feel for the monks of Aurillac among whom his youthful -years were passed, and especially for this brother Raymund from whom he -received his first instruction. - -Raymund afterwards became abbot of the convent. But it was his -predecessor, Gerald, who had received the boy Gerbert, and was still to do -something of moment in directing his career. A certain duke of the Spanish -March came on a pilgrimage to Aurillac; and Gerald besought him to take -Gerbert back with him to Spain for such further instruction as the convent -did not afford. The duke departed, taking Gerbert, and placed him under -the tuition of the Bishop of Vich, a town near Barcelona. Here he studied -mathematics. The tradition that he travelled through Spain and learned -from the Arabs lacks probability. But in the course of time the duke and -bishop set forth to pray for sundry material objects at the fountainhead -of Catholicism, and took their _protege_ with them to Rome. - -In Rome, Gerbert's destiny advanced apace. His patrons, doubtless proud of -their young scholar, introduced him to the Pope, John XIII., who also was -impressed by Gerbert's personality and learning. John told his own -protector, the great Otto, and informed him of Gerbert's ability to teach -mathematics; and the two kept Gerbert in Rome, when the Spanish duke and -bishop returned to their country. Gerbert began to teach, and either at -this time or later had among his pupils the young Augustus, Otto II. But -he was more anxious to study logic than to teach mathematics, even under -imperial favour. He persuaded the old emperor to let him go to Rheims with -a certain archdeacon from that place, who was skilled in the science which -he lacked. The emperor dismissed him, with a liberal hand. In his new home -Gerbert rapidly mastered logic, and impressed all with his genius. He won -the love of the archbishop, Adalberon, who shortly set the now triply -accomplished scholar at the head of the episcopal school. Gerbert's -education was complete, in letters, in mathematics including music, and in -logic. Thenceforth for ten years (972-982), the happiest of his life, he -studied and also taught the whole range of academic knowledge. - -Fortune, not altogether kind, bestowed on Gerbert the favour of three -emperors. The graciousness of the first Otto had enabled him to proceed to -Rheims. The second Otto listened to his teaching, admired the teacher, and -early in the year 983 made him Abbot and Count of Bobbio. Long afterwards -the third Otto made him Archbishop of Ravenna, and then pope. - -Bobbio, the chief foundation of Columbanus, situated not far from Genoa, -was powerful and rich; but its vast possessions, scattered throughout -Italy, had been squandered by worthless abbots or seized by lawless -nobles. The new count-abbot, eager to fulfil the ecclesiastical and feudal -functions of his position, strove to reclaim the monastery's property and -bring back its monks to decency and learning. In vain. Now, as more than -once in Gerbert's later life, brute circumstances proved too strong. Otto -died. Gerbert was unsupported. He struggled and wrote many letters which -serve to set forth the situation for us, though they did not win the -battle for their writer: - - "According to the largeness of my mind, my lord (Otto II.) has - enriched me with most ample honours. For what part of Italy does not - hold the possessions of the blessed Columbanus? So should this be, - from the generosity and benevolence of our Caesar. Fortune, indeed, - ordains it otherwise. Forsooth according to the largeness of my mind - she has loaded me with most ample stores of enemies. For what part of - Italy has not my enemies? My strength is unequal to the strength of - Italy! There is peace on this condition: if I, despoiled, submit, they - cease to strike; intractable in my vested rights, they attack with the - sword. When they do not strike with the sword, they thrust with - javelins of words."[356] - -Within a year Gerbert gave up the struggle at Bobbio, and returned to -Rheims to resume his duties as head of the school, and secretary and -intimate adviser of Adalberon. Politically the time was one of uncertainty -and turmoil. The Carolingian house was crumbling, and the house of Capet -was scheming and struggling on to a royalty scarcely more considerable. In -Germany intrigue and revolt threatened the rights of the child Otto III. -Archbishop Adalberon, guided by Gerbert, was a powerful factor in the -dynastic change in France; and the two were zealous for Otto. Throughout -these troubles Gerbert constantly appears, directing projected measures -and divining courses of events, yet somehow, in spite of his unmatched -intelligence, failing to control them. - -Time passed, and Adalberon died at the beginning of the year 989. His -successor, Arnulf, a scion of the falling Carolingian house, was -subsequently unseated for treason to the new-sprung house of Capet. In 991 -Gerbert himself was made archbishop. But although seeming to reach his -longed-for goal, troubles redoubled on his head. There was rage at the -choice of one so lowly born for the princely dignity. The storm gathered -around the new archbishop, and the See of Rome was moved to interfere, -which it did gladly, since at Rome Gerbert was hated for the reproaches -cast upon its ignorance and corruption by bishops at the council which -elected him and deposed his predecessor. In that deposition and election -Rome had not acquiesced; and we read the words of the papal legate: - - "The acts of your synod against Arnulf, or rather against the Roman - Church, astound me with their insults and blasphemies. Truly is the - word of the Gospel fulfilled in you, 'There shall be many - anti-Christs.'... Your anti-Christs say that Rome is as a temple of - idols, an image of stone. Because the vicars of Peter and their - disciples will not have as master Plato, Virgil, Terence or the rest - of the herd of Philosophers, ye say they are not worthy to be - door-keepers--because they have no part in such song."[357] - -The battle went against Gerbert. Interdicted from his archiepiscopal -functions, he left France for the Court of Otto III., where his intellect -at once dominated the aspirations of the young monarch. Otto and Gerbert -went together to Italy, and the emperor made his friend Archbishop of -Ravenna. The next year, 999, Gregory V. died, and the archbishop became -Pope Sylvester II. For three short years the glorious young imperial -dreamer and his peerless counsellor planned and wrought for a great united -Empire and Papacy on earth. Then death took first the emperor and soon -afterwards the pope-philosopher. - -Gerbert was the first mind of his time, its greatest teacher, its most -eager learner, and most universal scholar. His pregnant letters reflect a -finished man who has mastered his acquired knowledge and transformed it -into power. They also evince the authorship of one who had uniquely -profited from the power and spirit of the great minds of the pagan past, -had imbibed their sense of form and pertinency, and with them had become -self-contained and self-controlled, master of himself and of all that had -entered in and made him what he was. Notice how the personality of the -writer, with his capacities, tastes, and temperament, is unfolded before -us in a letter to a close friend, abbot of a monastery at Tours: - - "Since you hold my memory in honour, and in virtue of relationship - declare great friendship, I deem that I shall be happy for your - opinion, if only I am one who in the judgment of so great a man is - found worthy to be loved. But since I am not one who, with Panetius, - would sometimes separate the good from the useful, but rather with - Tully would mingle it with everything useful, I wish these best and - holiest friendships never to be void of reciprocal utility. And as - morality and the art of speech are not to be severed from philosophy, - I have always joined the study of speaking well with the study of - living well. For although by itself living well may be nobler than - speaking well, and may suffice without its fellow for one absolved - from the direction of affairs; yet for us, busied with the State, both - are needed. For it is of the greatest utility to speak appositely when - persuading, and with mild discourse check the fury of angry men. In - preparing for such business, I am eagerly collecting a library; and as - formerly at Rome and elsewhere in Italy, so likewise in Germany and - Belgium, I have obtained copyists and manuscripts with a mass of - money, and the help of friends in those parts. Permit me likewise to - beg of you also to promote this end. We will append at the end of this - letter a list of those writers we wish copied. We have sent for your - disposal parchment for the scribes and money to defray the cost, not - unmindful of your goodness. Finally, lest by saying more we should - abuse epistolary _convenances_, the cause of so much trouble is - contempt of faithless fortune; a contempt which not nature alone has - given to us--as to many men--but careful study. Consequently when at - leisure and when busied in affairs, we teach what we know, and learn - where we are ignorant."[358] - -Gerbert's letters are concise, even elliptical to the verge of obscurity. -He discloses himself in a few words to his old friend Raymund at the -monastery of Aurillac: "With what love we are bound to you, the Latins -know and also the barbarians,[359] who share the fruit of our studies. -Their vows demand your presence. Amid public cares philosophy is the sole -solace; and from her study we have often been the gainer, when in this -stormy time we have thus broken the attack of fortune raging grievously -against others or ourselves...."[360] - -Save for the language, one might fancy Cicero speaking to some friend, and -not the future pope of the year 1000 to a monk. The sentiment is quite -antique. And Gerbert not only uses antique phrase but is touched, like -many a mediaeval man, with the antique spirit. In another letter he -writes of friendship, and queries whether the divinity has given anything -better to mortals. He refers to his prospects, and remarks: "sed involvit -mundum caeca fortuna," and he is not certain whither it will cast -him.[361] - -Doubtless such antique sentiments were a matter of mood with Gerbert; he -can readily express others of a Christian colour, and turn again to still -other topics very readily, as in the following letter--a curious one. It -is to a monk: - - "Think not, sweetest brother, that it is through my fault I lack my - brethren's society. After leaving thee, I had to undertake many - journeys in the business of my father Columbanus.[362] The ambitions - of the powers, the hard and wretched times, turn right to wrong. No - one keeps faith. Yet since I know that all things hang on the decree - of God, who changes both hearts and the kingdoms of the sons of men, I - patiently await the end of things. I admonish and exhort thee, - brother, to do the same. In the meanwhile one thing I beg, which may - be accomplished without danger or loss to thee, and will make me thy - friend forever. Thou knowest with what zeal I gather books everywhere, - and thou knowest how many scribes there are in Italy, in town and - country. Come then, quietly procure me copies of Manlius's (Boethius) - _De astrologia_, Victorinus's _Rhetoric_, Demosthenes's - _Optalmicus_.[363] I promise thee, brother, and will keep my word, to - preserve a sacred silence as to thy praiseworthy compliance, and will - remit twofold whatever thou dost demand. Let this much be known to the - man, and the pay too, and cheer us more frequently with a letter; and - have no fear that knowledge will come to any one of any matter thou - mayest confide to our good faith."[364] - -When he wrote this letter, about the year 988, Gerbert was dangerously -deep in politics, and great was the power of this low-born titular Abbot -of Bobbio, head of the school at Rheims and secretary to the archbishop. -The tortuous statecraft and startling many-sidedness of this "scholar in -politics" must have disturbed his contemporaries, and may have roused the -suspicions from which grew the stories, told by future men, that this -scholar, statesman, and philosopher-pope was a magician who had learned -from forbidden sources much that should be veiled. Withal, however, one -may deem that the most veritable inner bit of Gerbert was his love of -knowledge and of antique literature, and that the letters disclosing this -are the subtlest revelation of the man who was ever transmuting his -well-guarded knowledge into himself and his most personal moods. - - "For there is nothing more noble for us in human affairs than a - knowledge of the most distinguished men; and may it be displayed in - volumes upon volumes multiplied. Go on then, as you have begun, and - bring the streams of Cicero to one who thirsts. Let M. Tullius thrust - himself into the midst of the anxieties which have enveloped us since - the betrayal of our city, so that in the happy eyes of men we are held - unhappy through our sentence. What things are of the world we have - sought, we have found, we have accomplished, and, as I will say, we - have become chief among the wicked. Lend aid, father, in order that - divinity, expelled by the multitude of sinners, bent by thy prayers, - may return, may visit us, may dwell with us--and if possible, may we - who mourn the absence of the blessed father Adalberon, be rejoiced by - thy presence."[365] - -So Gerbert wrote from Rheims, himself a chief intriguer in a city full of -treason. - -Gerbert was a power making for letters. The best scholars sat at his feet; -he was an inspiration at the Courts of the second and third Ottos, who -loved learning and died so young; and the great school of Chartres, under -the headship of his pupil Fulbert, was the direct heir to his instruction. -At Rheims, where he taught so many years, he left to others the elementary -instruction in Latin. A pupil, Richer, who wrote his history, speaks of -courses in rhetoric and literature, to which he introduced his pupils -after instructing them in logic: - - "When he wished to lead them on from such studies to rhetoric, he put - in practice his opinion that one cannot attain the art of oratory - without a previous knowledge of the modes of diction which are to be - learned from the poets. So he brought forward those with whom he - thought his pupils should be conversant. He read and explained the - poets Virgil, Statius, and Terence, the satirists Juvenal and Persius - and Horace, also Lucan the historiographer. Familiarized with these, - and practised in their locutions, he taught his pupils rhetoric. - After they were instructed in this art, he brought up a sophist, to - practise them in disputation, so that practised in this art as well, - they might seem to argue artlessly, which he deemed the height of - oratory."[366] - -So Gerbert used the classic poets in teaching rhetoric, and doubtless the -great prose writers too, with whom he was familiar. Following Cicero's -precept that the orator should be a proficient reasoner, he prepared his -young rhetoricians by a course in logic, and completed their discipline -with exercises in disputation. - -Richer also speaks of Gerbert's epoch-making mathematical knowledge.[367] -In arithmetic he improved the current methods of computation; in geometry -he taught the traditional methods of measurement descended from the Roman -surveyors, and compiled a work from Boethius and other sources. For -astronomy he made spheres and other instruments, and in music his teaching -was the best obtainable. In none of these provinces was he an original -inventor; nor did he exhaust the knowledge had by men before him. He was, -however, the embodiment of mediaeval progress, in that he drew -intelligently upon the sources within his reach, and then taught with -understanding and enthusiasm. Richer's praise is unstinted: - - "He began with arithmetic; then taught music, of which there had long - been ignorance in Gaul.... With what pains he set forth the method of - astronomy, it may be well to state, so that the reader may perceive - the sagacity and skill of this great man. This difficult subject he - explained by means of admirable instruments. First he illustrated the - world's sphere by one of solid wood, the greater by the less. He fixed - it obliquely as to the horizon with two poles, and near the upper pole - set the northern constellations, and by the lower one those of the - south. He determined its position by means of the circle called by the - Greeks _orizon_ and by the Latins _limitans_, because it divides the - constellations which are seen from those which are not. By his sphere - thus fixed, he demonstrated the rising and setting of the stars, and - taught his disciples to recognize them. And at night he followed their - courses and marked the place of their rising and setting upon the - different regions of his model." - -The historian passes on to tell how Gerbert with ingenious devices showed -on his sphere the imaginary circles called parallels, and on another the -movements of the planets, and on still another marked the constellations -of the heavens, so that even a beginner, upon having one constellation -pointed out, could find the others.[368] - -In the province of philosophy, Gerbert's labours extended little beyond -formal logic, philosophy's instrument. He could do no more than understand -and apply as much of Boethius's rendering of the Aristotelian _Organon_ as -he was acquainted with. Yet he appears to have used more of the Boethian -writings than any man before him, or for a hundred and fifty years after -his death. Richer gives the list. Beyond this evidence, curious testimony -is borne to the nature of Gerbert's dialectic by Richer's account of a -notable debate. The year was 980, when the fame of the brilliant young -_scholasticus_ of Rheims had spread through Gaul and penetrated Germany. A -certain master of repute at Magdeburg, named Otric, sent one of his pupils -to report on Gerbert's teaching, and especially as to his method of laying -out the divisions of philosophy as "the science of things divine and -human." The pupil returned with notes of Gerbert's classification, in -which, by error or intention, it was made to appear that he subordinated -physics to mathematics, as species to genus, whereas, in truth, he made -them of equal rank. Otric thought to catch him tripping, and so managed -that a disputation was held between them at a time when Adalberon and -Gerbert were in Italy with the Emperor Otto II. It took place in Ravenna. -The emperor, then nineteen years of age, presided, there being present -many masters and dignitaries of the Church. Holding in his hand a tablet -of Gerbert's alleged division of the sciences, His Majesty opened the -debate: - - "Meditation and discussion, as I think, make for the betterment of - human knowledge, and questions from the wise rouse our thoughtfulness. - Thus knowledge of things is drawn forth by the learned, or discovered - by them and committed to books, which remain to our great good. We - also may be incited by certain objects which draw the mind to a surer - understanding. Observe now, that I am turning over this tablet - inscribed with the divisions of philosophy. Let all consider it - carefully, and each say what he thinks. If it be complete, let it be - confirmed by your approbation. If imperfect, let it be rejected or - corrected. - - "Then Otric, taking it before them all, said that it was arranged by - Gerbert, and had been taken down from his lectures. He handed it to - the Lord Augustus, who read it through, and presented it to Gerbert. - The latter, carefully examining it, approved in part, and in part - condemned, asserting that the scheme had not been arranged thus by - him. Asked by Augustus to correct it, he said: 'Since, O great Caesar - Augustus, I see thee more potent than all these, I will, as is - fitting, obey thy behest. Nor shall I be concerned at the spite of the - malevolent, by whose instigation the very correct division of - philosophy recently set forth so lucidly by me, has been vitiated by - the substitution of a species. I say then, that mathematics, physics, - and theology are to be placed as equals under one genus. The genus - likewise has equal share in them. Nor is it possible that one and the - same species, in one and the same respect, should be co-ordinate with - another species and also be put under it as species under a genus.'" - -Then in answer to a demand from Otric for a more explicit statement of his -classification, he said there could be no objection to dividing philosophy -according to Vitruvius (Victorinus) and Boethius; "for philosophy is the -genus, of which the species are the practical and the theoretical: under -the practical, as species again, come _dispensativa_, _distributiva_ and -_civilis_; under the theoretical fall _phisica naturalis_, _mathematica -intelligibilis_, and _theologia intellectibilis_." - -Otric then wonders that Gerbert put mathematics immediately after physics, -omitting physiology. To which Gerbert replies that physiology stands to -physics as philology to philosophy, of which it is part. Otric changes his -attack to a flank movement, and asks Gerbert what is the _causa_ of -philosophy. Gerbert asks whether he means the cause by which, or the cause -for which, it is devised (_inventa_). Otric replies the latter. "Then," -says Gerbert, "since you make your question clear, I say that philosophy -was devised that from it we might understand things divine and human." -"But why use so many words," says Otric, "to designate the cause of one -thing?" "Because one word may not suffice to designate a cause. Plato uses -three to designate the cause of the creation of the world, to wit, the -_bona Dei voluntas_. He could not have said _voluntas_ simply." "But," -says Otric, "he could have said more concisely _Dei voluntas_, for God's -will is always good, which he would not deny." - - "Here I do not contradict you," says Gerbert, "but consider: since God - alone is good in himself, and every creature is good only by - participation, the word _bona_ is added to express the quality - peculiar to His nature alone. However this may be, still one word will - not always designate a cause. What is the cause of shadow? Can you put - that in one word? I say, the cause of shadow is a body interposed to - light. It is not 'body' nor even 'body interposed.' I don't deny that - the causes of many things can be stated in one word, as the genera of - substance, quantity, or quality, which are the causes of species. - Others cannot so simply be expressed, as _rationale ad mortale_." - -This enigmatic phrase electrifies Otric, who cries: "You put the mortal -under the rational? Who does not know that the rational is confined to -God, angels, and mankind, while the mortal embraces everything mortal, a -limitless mass?" - - "To which Gerbert: 'If, following Porphyry and Boethius, you make a - careful division of substance, carrying it down to individuals, you - will have the rational broader than the mortal as may readily be - shown. Since substance, admittedly the most general genus, may be - divided into subordinate genera and species down to individuals, it is - to be seen whether all these subordinates may be expressed by a single - word. Clearly, some are designated with one word, as _corpus_, others - with several, as _animatum sensibile_. With like reason, the - subordinate, which is _animal rationale_, may be predicated of the - subject that is _animal rationale mortale_. Not that _rationale_ may - be predicated of what is mortal simply; but _rationale_, I say, joined - to _animal_ is predicated of _mortale_ joined to _animal rationale_.' - - "At this, Augustus with a nod ended the argument, since it had lasted - nearly the whole day, and the audience were fatigued with the prolix - and unbroken disputation. He splendidly rewarded Gerbert, who set out - for Gaul with Adalberon."[369] - -Evidently Richer's account gives merely the captions of this disputation. -There was not the slightest originality in any of the propositions stated -by the disputants; everything is taken from Porphyry and Boethius and the -current Latin translation of Plato's _Timaeus_. Yet the whole affair, the -selection of the questions, the nature of the answers, the limitation of -the matter to the bare poles of logical palestrics, is most illustrative -of the mentality and intellectual interests of the late tenth century. The -growth of the mediaeval intellect lay unavoidably through such courses of -discipline. And just as early mediaeval Latin had to save itself from -barbarism by cleaving to grammar, so the best intellect of this early -period grasped at logic not only as the most obviously needed discipline -and guide, but also with imperfect consciousness that this discipline and -means did not contain the goal and plenitude of substantial knowledge. -Grammar was then not simply a means but an end in the study of letters, -and so was logic unconsciously. In the one case and the other, the -palpable need of the _disciplina_ and its difficulties kept the student -from realizing that the instrument was but an instrument. - -Moreover, upon Gerbert's time pressed the specific need to consider just -such questions as the disputation affords a sample of. An enormous mass of -theology, philosophy, and science awaited mastering, the heritage from a -greater past, antique and patristic. Perhaps a true instinct guided -Gerbert and his contemporaries to problems of classification and method as -a primary essential task. Had the Middle Ages been a period when -knowledge, however crude, was perforce advancing through experience, -investigation, and discovery, the problems of classification and method -would not have presented themselves as preliminary. But mediaeval -development lay through the study of what former men had won from nature -or received from God. This was preserved in books which had to be studied -and mastered. Hence classifications of knowledge were essential aids or -sorely needed guides. With a true instinct the Middle Ages first of all -looked within this mass of knowledge for guides to its mazes, seeking a -plan or scheme by the aid of which universal knowledge might be -unravelled, and then reconstructed in forms corresponding to even larger -verities.[370] - - -II - -The decades on either side of the year 1000 were cramped and dull. In -Burgundy, to be sure, the energies of Cluny,[371] under its great abbots, -were rousing the monastic world to a sense of religious and disciplinary -decency. This reform, however, took little interest in culture. The monks -of Cluny were commonly instructed in the rudiments of the Seven Arts. They -had a little mathematics; bits of crude physical knowledge had unavoidably -come to them; and just as unavoidably had they made use of extracts from -the pagan poets in studying Latinity.[372] But they did not follow letters -for their own sake, nor knowledge because they loved it and felt that love -a holy one. Monastic principles hardly justified such a love, and Cluny's -abbots had enough to do in bringing the monastic world to decency, without -dallying with inapplicable knowledge or the charms of pagan poetry. - -Religious reforms in the ninth century had helped letters in the cathedral -and monastic schools of Gaul. The latter soon fell back to ignorance; but -among the cathedral schools, Chartres and Rheims continued to flourish. A -moral ordering of life increases thoughtfulness and may stimulate study. -Hence, in the latter part of the tenth century, the Cluniac reforms, like -the earlier reforming movements, affected letters favourably in the -monasteries. Here and there an exceptional man created an exceptional -situation. Such a one was Abbo, Abbot of St. Benedict's at Fleury on the -Loire, who died the year after Gerbert. He was fortunate in his excellent -pupil and biographer, Aimoin, who ascribes to him as liberal sentiments -toward study as were consistent with a stern monasticism: - - "He admonished his hearers that having cast out the thorns of sin, - they should sow the little gardens of their hearts with the spices of - the divine virtues. The battle lay against the vices of the flesh, and - it was for them to consider what arms they should oppose to its - delights. To complete their armament, after the vows of prayer, and - the manly strife of fastings, he deemed that the study of letters - would advantage them, and especially the exercise of composition. - Indeed he himself, the studious man, scarcely let pass a moment when - he was not reading, writing, or dictating."[373] - -It is curious to observe the unavoidable influence of a crude Latin -education upon the most strenuous of these reforming monks. In 994 Odilo -became Abbot of Cluny. After a most notable and effective rule of more -than half a century, he died just as the year 1049 began. The closing -scenes are typically illustrative of the passing of an early mediaeval -saint. The dying abbot preaches and comforts his monks, gives his -blessing, adores the Cross, repels the devil: - - "I warn thee, enemy of the human race, turn from me thy plots and - hidden wiles, for by me is the Cross of the Lord, which I always - adore: the Cross my refuge, my way and virtue; the Cross, - unconquerable banner, the invincible weapon. The Cross repels every - evil, and puts darkness to flight. Through this divine Cross I - approach my journey; the Cross is my life--death to thee, Enemy!" - -The next day, "in the presence of all, the Creed is read for a shield of -faith against the deceptions of malignant spirits and the attacks of evil -thoughts; Augustine is brought in to expound, intently listened to, and -discussed."[374] - -For Odilo, the Cross is a divine, not to say magic, safeguard. His prayer -and imprecation have something of the nature of an uttered spell. No -antique zephyrs seem to blow in this atmosphere of faith and fear, in -which he passed his life, and performed his miracles before and after -death. Nevertheless the antique might mould his phrases, and perhaps -unconsciously affect his ethical conceptions. He wrote a Life of a former -abbot of Cluny, ascribing to him the four _cardinales disciplinas_, in -which he strove to perfect himself "in order that through _prudentia_ he -might assure the welfare of himself and those in his charge; that through -_temperantia_ (which by another name is called _modestia_), by a proper -measure of a just discretion, he might modestly discharge the spiritual -business entrusted to him; that through _fortitudo_ he might resist and -conquer the devil and his vices; and that through _justitia_, which -permeates all virtues and seasons them, he might live soberly and piously -and justly, fight the good fight and finish his course."[375] - -Thus the antique virtues shape Odilo's thoughts, as seven hundred years -before him the point of view and reasoning of Ambrose's _De officiis -ministrorum_ were set by Cicero's _De officiis_.[376] The same classically -touched phrases, if not conceptions, pass on to Odilo's pupil and -biographer, the monk Jotsaldus, to whom we owe our description of Odilo's -last moments. He ascribes the four cardinal virtues to his hero, and then -defines them from the antique standpoint, but with Christian turns of -thought: - - "The philosophers define Prudence as the search for truth and the - thirst for fuller knowledge. In which virtue Odilo was so - distinguished that neither by day nor night did he cease from the - search for truth. The Book of the divine contemplation was always in - his hands, and ceaselessly he spoke of Scripture for the edification - of all, and prayer ever followed reading. - - "Justice, as the philosophers say, is that which renders each his - due, lays no claim to what is another's, and neglects self-advantage, - so as to maintain what is equitable for all." [To illustrate this - virtue in Odilo, the biographer gives instances of his charity, by - which one observes the Christian turn taken by the conception.] - - "Fortitude is to hold the mind above the dread of danger, to fear - nothing save the base, and bravely bear adversity and prosperity. - Supported by this virtue, it is difficult to say how brave he was in - repelling the plots of enemies and how patient in enduring them. You - might observe in him this very privilege of patience; to those who - injured him, as another David he repaid the grace of benefit, and - toward those who hated him, he preserved a stronger benevolence." - [Again the Christian turn of thought.] - - "Temperance, last in the catalogue of the aforesaid virtues, according - to its definition maintains moderation and order in whatever is to be - said or done. Here he was so mighty as to hold to moderation and - observe propriety (_ordinem_) in all his actions and commands, and - show a wonderful discretion. Following the blessed Jerome, he tempered - fasting to the golden mean, according to the weakness or strength of - the body, thus avoiding fanaticism and preserving continency. Neither - elegance nor squalor was noticeable in his dress. He tempered gravity - of conduct with gaiety of countenance. He was severe in the correction - of vice as the occasion demanded, gracious in pardoning, in both - balancing an impartial scale."[377] - - -III - -A friend of Odilo was Gerbert's pupil Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres from -1006 to 1028. His name is joined forever with that chief cathedral school -of early mediaeval France, which he so firmly and so broadly -re-established as to earn a founder's fame. It will be interesting to -notice its range of studies. Chartres was an ancient home of letters. -Caesar[378] speaks of the land of the Carnuti as the centre of Druidism in -Gaul; and under the Empire, liberal studies quickly sprang up in the -Gallo-Roman city. They did not quite cease even in Merovingian times, and -revived with the Carolingian revival. Thenceforth they were pursued -continuously at the convent school of St. Peter, if not at the school -attached to the cathedral. For some years before he was made bishop, the -grave and kindly Fulbert had been the head of this cathedral school, -where he did not cease to teach until his death. As bishop, widely -esteemed and influential, he rebuilt the cathedral, aided by the kings of -France and Denmark, the dukes of Aquitaine and Normandy, the counts of -Champagne and Blois. His vast crypt still endures, a shadowy goal for -thousands of pilgrim knees, and an ample support for the great edifice -above it. Admiring tradition has ascribed to him even this glory of a -later time. - -From near and far, pious students came to benefit by the instruction of -the school, of which Fulbert was the head and inspiration. Close was their -intercourse with their "Venerable Socrates" in the small school buildings -near the cathedral. From the accounts, we can almost see him moving among -them, stopping to correct one here, or looking over the shoulder of -another engaged upon a geometric figure, and putting some new problem. -Among the pupils there might be rivalry, quarrels, breaches of decorum; -but there was the master, ever grave and steadfast, always ready to -encourage with his sympathy, but prepared also to reprove, either silently -by withdrawing his confidence, or in words, as when he forbade an -instructor to joke when explaining Donatus: "spectaculum factus es -omnibus; cave." - -Some of these scholars became men of sanctity and renown--Berengar of -Tours gained an unhappy fame. A fellow-student wrote to him in later years -addressing him as foster-brother: - - "I have called thee foster-brother because of that sweetest common - life led by us while youths in the Academy of Chartres under our - venerable Socrates. Well we proved his saving doctrine and holy - living, and now that he is with God we should hope to be aided by his - prayers. Surely he is mindful of us, cherishing us even more than when - he moved a pilgrim in the body of this death, and drew us to him by - vows and tacit prayer, entreating us in those evening colloquies - (_vespertina colloquia_) in the garden by the chapel, that we should - tread the royal way, and cleave to the footprints of the holy - fathers."[379] - -The cathedral school included youths receiving their first lessons, as -well as older scholars and instructors. They lived together under rules, -and together celebrated the services of the cathedral, chanting the -matins, the hours, and the mass. The Trivium and Quadrivium made the basis -of their studies. Text-books and courses were already some centuries old. - -The first branch of the Trivium was Grammar, which included literature by -way of illustration; and he who held the chair had the title of -_grammaticus_. For the beginners, _Donatus_ was the text-book, and -_Priscianus_ for the more advanced.[380] Nor was Martianus Capella -neglected. The student annotated these works with citations from the -_Etymologies_ of Isidore. Divers mnemotechnic processes assisted him to -commit the contents to memory. The grammatical course included the writing -of compositions in prose and verse, according to rule, and the reading of -classic authors. For their school verses in metre the pupils used Bede's -_De arte metrica_, an encyclopaedia of metrical forms. They also wrote -accentual and rhymed Latin verse. Of profane authors the Library appears -to have contained Livy, Valerius Maximus, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Statius, -Servius the commentator on Virgil; and of writers who were Christian -Classics in the Middle Ages, Orosius, Gregory of Tours, Fortunatus, -Sedulius, Arator, Prudentius, and Boethius, the last named being the most -important single source of early mediaeval education. Rhetoric, the second -branch of the Trivium, bore that vague relationship to grammar which it -bears in modern parlance. The rules of the rhetoricians were learned; the -works of profane or Christian orators were read and imitated. This study -left its mark on mediaeval sermons and _Vitae Sanctorum_. - -As for the third branch, Dialectic, Fulbert's pupils studied the logical -treatises in general use in the earlier Middle Ages: to wit, the -_Categories_ and the _De interpretatione_ of Aristotle, and Porphyry's -_Introduction_, all in the Latin of Boethius. For works which might be -regarded as commentaries upon these, the school had at its disposal the -_Categories_ ascribed to Augustine and Apuleius's _De interpretatione_, -Cicero's _Topica_, and Boethius's discussion of definition, division, and -categorical and hypothetical syllogisms--the logical writings expounded -by Gerbert at Rheims. The school had likewise Gerbert's own _Libellus de -ratione uti_ and Boethius's _De consolatione_, that chief ethical compend -for the early Middle Ages; also the writings of Eriugena, and Dionysius -the Areopagite in Eriugena's translation. Whether or not it possessed the -current Latin version of Plato's _Timaeus_, Fulbert and Berengar at all -events refer to Plato in terms of eulogy. - -Passing to the Quadrivium, we find that Fulbert had studied its four -branches under Gerbert. In Arithmetic the students used the treatise of -Boethius, and also the Abacus, a table of vertical columns, with Roman -numerals at the top to indicate the order of units, tens, and hundreds -according to the decimal system. In Geometry the students likewise fell -back upon Boethius. Astronomy, the third branch of the Quadrivium, had for -its practical object the computation of the Church's calendar. The pupils -learned the signs of the Zodiac and were instructed in the method of -finding the stars by the _Astrolabius_, a sphere (such as Gerbert had -constructed) representing the constellations, and turning upon a tube as -an axis, which served to fix the polar star. Music, the fourth branch of -the Quadrivium, was zealously cultivated. For its theory, the treatise of -Boethius was studied; and Fulbert and his scholars did much to advance the -music of the liturgy, composing texts and airs for organ chanting. - -In addition to the Quadrivium, medicine was taught. The students learned -receipts and processes handed down by tradition and commonly ascribed to -Hippocrates. For more convenient memorizing, Fulbert cast them into verse. -Such "medicine" was not founded on observation; and a mediaeval -scholar-copyist would as naturally transcribe a medical receipt-book as -any other work coming within the range of his stylus. One may remember -that in the early Middle Ages the relic was the common means of cure. - -The seven _Artes_ of the Trivium and Quadrivium were the handmaids of -Theology; and Fulbert gave elaborate instruction in this Christian queen -of the sciences, expounding the Scriptures, explaining the Liturgy, and -taking up the controversies of the time. As a part of this sacred -science, the students apparently were taught something of Canon and Roman -law and of Charlemagne's Capitularies.[381] - - -IV - -The Chartres Quadrivium represents the extreme compass of mathematical and -physical studies in France in the eleventh century, when slight interest -was taken in physical science--a phrase far too grand to designate the -crass traditional views of nature which prevailed. Indifference to natural -knowledge was the most palpable intellectual defect of Ambrose and -Augustine, and the most portentous. The coming centuries, which were to -look upon their writings as universal guides to living and knowing, found -therein no incentive to observe or study the natural world. Of course the -Carolingian period evolved out of itself no such desire; nor did the -eleventh century. At the best, the general understanding of physical fact -remained that which had been handed down. It was gleaned from the books -commonly read, the _Physiologus_ or the edifying stories of miracles in -the myriad _Vitae Sanctorum_, quite as much as from the scant information -given in Isidore's _Origines_, Bede's _Liber de temporibus_, or the _De -universo_ of Rabanus Maurus. - -So much for natural science. In historical writing the quality of -composition rarely rose above that of the tenth century.[382] No sign of -critical acumen had appeared, and the writers of the period show but a -narrow local interest. There was no France, but everywhere a parcelling of -the land into small sections of misrule, between which travel was -difficult and dangerous. The chroniclers confine their attention, as -doubtless their knowledge also was confined, to the region where they -lived. To lift history over these narrow barriers, there was needed the -renewal of the royal power, which came with the century's close, and the -stimulus to curiosity springing from the Crusades.[383] - -In fine, the eleventh century was crude and inchoate, preparatory to the -intellectual activity and the unleashed energies of life which mark the -opening of the twelfth. Yet the mediaeval mind was assimilating and -appropriating dynamically its lessons from the Fathers, as well as those -portions of the antique heritage of thought which, so far, it had felt a -need of. Difficult problems were stated, but in ways presenting, as it -were, the apices of alternatives too narrow to hold truth, which lies less -frequently in warring opposites than in an inclusive and discriminating -conciliation. This century, especially when we fix our attention upon -France, appears as the threshold of mediaeval thinking, the immediate -antecedent to mediaeval formulations of philosophic and theological -conviction. The controversies and the different mental tendencies which -thereafter were to move through such large and often diverging courses, -drew their origin from still prior times. With the coming of the eleventh -century they had been sturdily cradled, and seemed safe from the danger of -dying in infancy. Thence on through the twelfth century, through the -thirteenth, the climacteric of mediaeval thought, opinions and convictions -are set in multitudes of propositions, relating to many provinces of human -meditation. - -These masses of propositions, convictions, opinions, philosophic and -religious, constitute the religious philosophy of the Middle -Ages--scholasticism as it commonly is called. Hereafter[384] it will be -necessary to consider that large matter in its continuity of development, -with its roots or antecedents stretching back through the eleventh century -to the Carolingian period, and beyond. Mediaeval thinkers will then be -seen to fall into two classes, very roughly speaking, the one tending to -set authority above reason, and the other tending to set reason above -authority. Both classes appear in the ninth century, represented -respectively by Rabanus Maurus and Eriugena. In the eleventh they are also -evident. St. Anselm, who came from Italy, is the most admirable -representative of the first class, being in heart and mind a theologian -whose philosophy revolved entire around his faith. Of him we have spoken; -and here may mention in contrast with him two Frenchmen, Berengar of Tours -and Roscellinus. In place and time they come within the scope of the -present chapter; nor were their mental processes such as to attach them to -a later period. By temperament, and in somewhat confused expression, they -set reason above authority, save that of Scripture as they understood it. - -Berengar was born, apparently at Tours, and of wealthy parents, just as -the tenth century closed. After studying under his uncle, the Treasurer of -St. Martin, he came to Chartres, where Fulbert was bishop. Judging from a -general consensus of expression from men who became his opponents, but had -been his fellow-pupils, he quickly aroused attention by his talents, and -anxiety or enmity by his pride and the self-confident assertion of his -opinions. He would neither accept with good grace the admonitions of those -about him, nor follow the authority of the Fathers. He was said to have -despised even the great grammarians and logicians, Priscian, Donatus, and -Boethius. Why err with everybody if everybody errs, he asked. He appears -as a vain man eager for admiration. The report comes down that he imitated -Fulbert's manner in lecturing, first covering his visage with a hood so as -to seem in deep meditation, and then speaking in a gentle, plaintive -voice. From Chartres he passed to Angers, where he filled the office of -archdeacon, and thence he returned to Tours, was placed over the Church -schools of St. Martin's, and in the course of time began to lecture on the -Eucharist. This was between the years 1030 and 1040. - -That a man's fortunes and fame are linked to a certain doctrine or -controversy may be an accident of environment. Berengar chose to adduce -and partly follow the teachings of Eriugena, whose fame was great, but -whose orthodoxy was tainted. The nature of the Eucharist leant itself to -dispute, and from the time of Ratramnus, Radbertus, and Eriugena, it was -common for theologians to try their hand on it, if only in order to -demonstrate their adherence to the extreme doctrines accepted by the -Church. These were not the doctrines of Eriugena, nor were they held by -Berengar, who would not bring himself to admit an absolute substantial -change in the bread and wine. Possibly his convictions were less -irrational than the dominant doctrine. Yet he appears to have asserted -them, not because he had a clearer mind than others, but by reason of his -more self-assertive and combative temperament. He was not an original -thinker, but a controversial and turgid reasoner, who naturally enough was -forced into all kinds of tergiversation in order to escape condemnation as -a heretic. His self-assertiveness settled on the most obvious theological -dispute of the time, and his self-esteem maintained the superiority of his -own reason over the authorities adduced by his adversaries. Of course he -never impugned the authority of Scripture, but relied on it to -substantiate his views, merely asserting that a reasonable interpretation -was better than a foolish one. Throughout the controversy, one may observe -that Berengar's understanding of fact kept somewhat closer than that of -his opponents' to the tangible realities of sense. But a difference of -intellectual temperament lay at the bottom of his dissent; and had not the -Eucharist presented itself as the readiest topic of dispute, he would -doubtless have fallen upon some other question. As it was, his arguments -gained adherents, the dominant view being repellent to independent minds. -Still, it won the day, and Berengar was condemned by more than one -council, and forced into all manner of equivocal retractions, by which at -least he saved his life, and died in extreme old age. - -It may be that a larger relative import attributed by Berengar and also -Roscellin to the tangibilities of sense-perception, led the latter at the -close of the century to put forth views on the nature of universals which -have given him a shadowy repute as the father of nominalism. The -Eucharistic controversy pertained primarily to Christian dogmatics. That -regarding universals, or general ideas, pertains to philosophy, and, from -the standpoint of formal logic, lies at the foundations of consistent -thinking. So closely does it make part of the development of -scholasticism, that its discussion had best be postponed; merely assuming -for the present that Roscellin's thinking upon the topic to which his name -is attached was not superior in method and analysis to Berengar's upon the -Eucharist. - -One cannot escape the conclusion that intellectually the eleventh century -in France was crude. The mediaeval intellect was still but imperfectly -developed; its manifestations had not reached the zenith of their energy. -Yet doubtless the mental development of mankind proceeds at a more uniform -rate than would appear from the brilliant phenomena which crowd the eras -of apparent culmination, in contrast with the previous dulness. The -profounder constancy of growth may be discerned by scrutinizing those dumb -courses of gestation, from which spring the marvels of the great epoch. -The opening of the twelfth century was to inaugurate a brilliant -intellectual era in France. The efficient preparation stretched back into -the latter half of the eleventh, whose Catholic progress heralded a period -of awakening. The Church already was striving to accomplish its own -reordering and regeneration, free itself from things that drag and hinder, -from lay investiture and simony, abominations through which feudal -depotentiating principles had intruded into the ecclesiastic body; free -itself likewise from clerical marriage and concubinage, which kept the -clergy from being altogether clergy, and weighted the Church with the -claims of half-spurious priests' offspring. In France the reform of the -monks comes first, impelled by Cluny; and when Cluny herself becomes less -zealous, because too great and rich, the spirit of soldiery against sin -reincarnates itself in the Grand-Chartreuse, in Citeaux and Clairvaux. The -reform of the secular clergy follows, with Hildebrand the veritable -master; for the Church was passing from prelacy to papacy, and the Pope -was becoming a true monarch, instead of nominal head of an episcopal -aristocracy. - -The perfected organization and unceasing purification of the Church made -one part of the general progress of the period. Another consisted in the -disengaging of the greater powers from out the indiscriminate anarchy of -feudalism, and the advance of the French monarchy, under Louis the -Sixth,[385] toward effective sovereignty, all making for a surer law and -order throughout France. Then through the eleventh and twelfth centuries -came the struggle of the people, out of serfdom into some control over -their own persons and fortunes. The serfs were affranchised and became -peasants; the huddled dwellers in the squalid towns tended to become -burghers with actual strength and chartered power to protect themselves -against signorial tyranny. Their rights limited and fixed the exactions of -their lords. Everywhere the population increased; old cities grew apace, -and a multitude of new ones came into existence. Economic evolution -progressed, advancing with the affranchisement of industry, the -organization of guilds, the growth of trade, the opening of new markets, -fairs, and freer avenues of commerce: thus more wealth was diffused among -the many. Architecture with new civic resources was pushing on through -Romanesque toward Gothic, while the affiliated arts of sculpture and -painting were becoming more expressive. Then the Crusades began, and did -their work of spreading knowledge through the Occident, carrying foreign -ideas and institutions across provincial barriers. The Crusades could not -have taken place had it not been for the freeing of social forces during -the half century preceding their inception in the year 1099. They were led -up to and made possible by the advance of the papacy to domination, by the -growth of chivalry, and the habit of making far pilgrimages to holy -places, and by the wealth coming with more active trade and industry. - -Thus humanity was universally bestirring itself throughout the land we -know as France. Such a bestirring could not fail to crown itself with a -mightier winging of the spirit through the higher provinces of thought. -This was to show itself among saints and doctors of the Church in their -philosophies and theologies of the mind and heart; with like power it was -to show itself among those hardier rationalists who with difficulty and -misgivings, or under hard compulsion, still kept themselves within the -Church's pale. It showed itself too with heretics who let themselves be -burned rather than surrender their outlawed convictions. It was also to -show itself through things beautiful, in the strivings of art toward the -perfect symbolical presentation of what the soul cherished or abhorred; -and show itself too in the literature of the common tongues as well as the -literature of the time-honoured Latin. In fine, it was to show itself, -through every heightened faculty and appetition of the universally -striving and desirous soul of man, in a larger, bolder understanding and -appreciation of life. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -MENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY: GERMANY; ENGLAND; CONCLUSION - - I. German Appropriation of Christianity and Antique Culture. - - II. Othloh's Spiritual Conflict. - - III. England; Closing Comparisons. - - -I - -In the Germans of the eleventh century one notes a strong sense of German -selfhood, supplemented by a consciousness that Latin culture is a foreign -matter, introduced as a thing of great value which it were exceeding well -for them to make their own. They are even conscious of having been -converted to Latin Christianity, which on their part they are imbuing with -German thoughts and feeling. They are not Romance people; they have never -spoken Latin; it has never been and will never be their speech. They will -master what they can of the antique education which has been brought to -them. But even as it was no part of their forefathers' lives, so it will -never penetrate their own personalities, so as to make them the spiritual -descendants of any antique Latin or Latinized people. They have never been -and never will be Latinized; but will remain forever Germans. - -Consequently the appropriation of the Latin culture in Germany is a labour -of translation: first a palpable labour of translation from the Latin -language into the German tongue, and secondly, and for always, a more -subtle kind of translation of the antique influence into a German -understanding of the same, and gradually into informing principles made -use of by a strong and advancing racial genius. The German genius will be -enlarged and developed through these foreign elements, but it will never -cease to use the Latin culture as a means of informing and developing -itself. - -No need to say that these strong statements apply to the Germans in their -home north of the Alps and east of the Rhine; not to those who left the -Fatherland, and in the course of generations became Italians, for example. -Moreover, general phrases must always be taken subject to qualification -and rounding of the corners. No people can absorb a foreign influence -without in some degree being made over into the likeness of what they are -receiving, and to that extent ceasing to be their unmitigated selves. In -general, however, while Latin Christianity and the antique culture both -were brought to Germany from abroad, the Germans were converted or -transformed only by the former, and merely took and used the latter--a -true statement this, so far as one may separate these two great mingled -factors of mediaeval progress. - -Evidently those Germans of the opening mediaeval centuries who did most to -advance the civilization of their people were essentially introducers of -foreign culture. This was manifestly true of the missionaries (chief among -whom was the Anglo-Saxon Boniface) who brought Christianity to Germany. It -was true both as to the Christian and the secular learning of Rabanus -Maurus, who was born at Mainz, a very German.[386] With all his Latin -learning he kept his interest in his mother tongue, and always realized -that his people spoke German and not Latin. He encouraged preaching in -German; and with the aid of his favourite pupil, Walafrid, he prepared -German glosses and Latin-German glossaries for Scripture. - -Before Rabanus's death popular translations of the Gospels had appeared, -imbued with the Germanic spirit. The _Heliand_ and Otfrid's -_Evangelienbuch_ are the best known of these.[387] Then, extending through -the last part of the tenth and the first part of the eleventh century we -note the labours of that most diligent of translators, Notker the German, -a monk of St. Gall, and member of the Ekkehart family, which gave so many -excellent abbots to that cloister. He died in 1022. Like Bede, Rabanus, -and many other Teutonic scholars, he was an encyclopaedia of the knowledge -afforded by his time. He was the head of a school of German translators. -His own translations covered part of Boethius's _De consolatione_, -Virgil's _Bucolics_, Terence's _Andria_, Martianus Capella's _De nuptiis_, -Aristotle's _Categories_ and _De interpretatione_, an arithmetic, a -rhetoric, Job, and the Psalms. He was a teacher all his life, and a German -always, loving his mother tongue, and occupying himself with its grammar -and word forms. His method of translation was to give the Latin sentence, -with a close German rendering, accompanied by an occasional explanation of -the matter, also in German.[388] All the while, this foreign learning was -being mastered gallantly in the leading cloisters, Fulda, St. Gall, -Reichenau, Hersfeld, and others. Within their walls this Latin culture was -studied and mastered, as one with resolve and perseverance masters that to -which he is not born. - -Besides those who laboured as translators, other earnest fosterers of -learning in Germany appear as introducers of the same. Bruno, youngest -brother of Otto I., is distinguished in this role. He promoted letters in -his archiepiscopal diocese of Cologne. From many lands learned men came to -him, Liutprand and Ratherius among others. Otto himself loved learning, -and drew foreign scholars to his Court, one of whom was that conceited -Gunzo, already spoken of.[389] Schools moved with the emperor (_scholae -translatitiae_) also with Bruno, who though archbishop, duke, and burdened -with affairs, took the time to teach. A passage in his Life by Ruotger -shows the education and accomplishments of this most worthy prince of the -Church and land: - - "Then as soon as he learned the first rudiments of the grammatic art, - as we have heard from himself, often pondering upon this in the glory - of the omnipotent God, he began to read the poet Prudentius, at the - instance of his master. This one, as he is catholic in faith and - argument, eminent for eloquence and truth, and most elegant in the - variety of his works and metres, with so great sweetness quickly - pleased the palate of his heart, that at once, with greater avidity - than can be expressed, he drank up not only the knowledge of the - foreign words, but even the marrow of the innermost meaning and most - liquid nectar, if I may so say. Afterwards there was almost no branch - of liberal study in all Greek or Latin eloquence, that escaped the - quickness of his genius. Nor indeed, as often happens, did the - multitude of riches, or the insistency of clamouring crowds, nor any - disgust otherwise coming over him, ever turn his mind from this noble - employment of leisure.... Often he seated himself as a learned arbiter - in the midst of the most learned Greek and Latin doctors, when they - argued on the sublimity of philosophy or upon some subtility of her - glistening discipline, and gave satisfaction to the disputants, amid - universal plaudits, than which he cared for nothing less."[390] - -One may read between these awkward lines that all this learning was -something to which Bruno had been introduced at school. Another short -passage shows how new and strange this Latin culture seemed, and how he -approached it with a timorous seriousness natural to one who did not well -understand what it all meant: - - "The buffoonery and mimic talk in comedies and tragedies, which cause - such laughter when recited by a number of people, he would always read - seriously; he took small count of the matter, but chiefly of - authority, in literary compositions."[391] - -Such an attitude would have been impossible for an Italian cradled amid -Latin or quasi-Latin speech and reminiscence. - -The most curious if not original literary phenomenon of the time of Bruno -and his great brother was the nun Hrotsvitha, of Gandersheim, a Saxon -cloister supported by the royal Saxon house. A niece of Otto's was the -Abbess, and she it was who introduced Hrotsvitha to the Latin Classics, -after the completion of her elementary studies under another _magistra_, -likewise an inmate of the convent. The account bears witness to the taste -for Latin reading among this group of noble Saxon dames. Hrotsvitha soon -surpassed the rest, at least in productivity, and became a prolific -authoress. She composed a number of sacred _legendae_, in leonine or -rhymed hexameters.[392] One of them gave the legend of the Virgin, as -drawn from the Apocryphal Gospel of Matthew. She also wrote several -_Passiones_ or accounts of the martyrdoms of saints, and the story of the -Fall and Repentance of Theophilus, the oldest poetic version of a compact -with the devil. Quite different in topic was the Deeds of Otto I. (_De -gestis Oddonis I. imperatoris_) written between 962 and 967, likewise in -leonine hexameters. It told the fortunes of the Saxon house as well as the -career of its greatest member. - -Possibly more interesting were six moral dramas written in formal -imitation of the _Comedies_ of Terence. As an antidote to the poison of -the latter, they were to celebrate the virtue of holy virgins in this same -kind of composition which had flaunted the adulteries of lascivious -women--so the preface explains. Again, Hrotsvitha's sources were -_legenda_, in which Christian chastity, martyred though it be, triumphs -with no uncertain note of victory.[393] These pious imitations of the -impious Terence do not appear to have been imitated by other mediaeval -writers: they exerted no influence upon the later development of the -Mystery Play. They remain as evidence of the writer's courage, and of the -studies of certain denizens of the cloister at Gandersheim. - -Besides this convent for high-born women, and such monasteries as Fulda -and St. Gall, an interesting centre of introduced learning was Hildesheim, -fortunate in its bishops, who made it an oasis of culture in the north. -Otwin, bishop in 954, supplied its school with books from Italy. Some -years after him came that great hearty man, Bernward, of princely birth, -who began his clerical career at an early age, and was made bishop in 992. -For thirty years he ruled his see with admirable piety, energy, and -judgment; qualities which he likewise showed in affairs of State. He was a -diligent student of Latin letters, one "who conned not only the books in -the monastery, but others in divers places, from which he formed a goodly -library of codices of the divines and also the philosophers."[394] His was -a master's faculty and a master-hand, itself skilfully fashioning; for not -only did he build the beautiful cloister church of St. Michael at -Hildesheim, and cause it to be sumptuously adorned, but he himself carved -and painted, and set gems. Some of the excellent works of his hand remain -to-day. His biographer tells of that munificence and untiring zeal which -rendered Hildesheim beautiful, as one still may see. Yet, throughout, -Bernward appears as consciously studying and gathering and bringing to his -beloved church an art from afar and a learning which was not of his own -people. The bronze work on the Bernward column in Hildesheim is thought to -suggest an influence of Trajan's column, while the doors of Bernward's -church unquestionably follow those of St. Sabina on the Aventine. This -shows how Bernward noticed and learned and copied during his stay at Rome -in the year 1001, when Otto III. was imperator and Gerbert was pope. - -Bernward's successor, Godehard, continued the good work. One of his -letters closes with a quick appeal for books: "Mittite nobis librum -Horatii et epistolas Tullii."[395] Belonging to the same generation was -Froumundus (fl. cir. 1040), a monk of Tegernsee, where Godehard had been -abbot before becoming bishop of Hildesheim. He was a sturdy German lover -of the classics--very German. At one time he writes for a copy of Horace, -apparently to complete his own, and at another for a copy of Statius; -other letters refer to Juvenal and Persius.[396] His ardour for study is -as apparent as the fact that he is learning a literature to which he was -not born. His turgid hexameters sweat with effort to master the foreign -language and metre. People would have made a priest of him; not he: - - "Cogere me certant, fatear, quod sim sapiens vir," - -and a good grin seems to escape him: - - "Discere decrevi libros, aliosque docere: - - from such work no difficulty shall repel me; be it my reward to be - co-operator (_synergus_) with what almighty God grants to flourish in - this time of Christ, or in the time of yore."[397] - -The spirit is grand, the literary result awful. With diligence, the -studious _elite_ of Germany applied themselves to Latin letters. And in -the course of time tremendous scholars were to rise among them. But the -Latin culture remained a thing of study; its foreign tongue was never as -their own; and in the eleventh century, at least, they used it with a -painful effort that is apparent in their writings and the Germanisms -abounding in them. There may come one like Lambert of Hersfeld, the famous -annalist of the Hildebrandine epoch, who with exceptional gifts gains a -good mastery of Latin, and writes with a conscious approach to -quasi-classical correctness. The place of his birth and the sources of his -education are unknown. He was thirty years old, and doubtless had obtained -his excellent training in Latin, when he took the cowl in the cloister of -Hersfeld in 1058. But the next year he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and -afterwards other journeys. He wrote his _Annals_[398] in his later years, -laying down his pen in 1077, when he had brought the Emperor to Canossa. -His was a practised hand, and his style the evident result of much study -of the classics. His work remains the best piece of Latin from an -eleventh-century German. - -Among German scholars of the period, one can find no more charming -creature than Hermann Contractus, the lame or paralytic. His father, a -Suabian count, brought the little cripple to the convent of Reichenau. It -was in the year 1020. Hermann was seven years old. There he studied and -taught, and loved his fellows, till his death thirty-four years later. His -mind was as strong as his body was weak. He could not rise from the -movable seat on which his attendant placed him, and could scarcely sit up. -He enunciated with difficulty; his words were scarcely intelligible. But -his learning was encyclopaedic, his sympathies were broad: "Homo revera -sine querela nihil humani a se alienum putavit," says a loving pupil who -sketched his life. Evil was foreign to his nature. Affectionate, cheerful, -happy, his sweet and engaging personality drew all men's love, while his -learning attracted pupils from afar. - - "At length, after he had been labouring for ten days in a grievous - pleurisy, God's mercy saw fit to free his holy soul from prison. I who - was his familiar above the rest," says the biographer, "came to his - couch at dawn of day, and asked him whether he was not feeling a - little better. 'Do not ask me,' he replied, 'but rather listen to what - I have to tell you. I shall die very soon and shall not recover: so to - thee and all my friends I commend my sinful soul. This whole night I - have been rapt in ecstasy. With such complete memory as we have for - the Lord's Prayer, I seemed to be reading over and over Cicero's - _Hortensius_, and likewise to be scanning the substance and very - written pages of what I intended to write Concerning the Vices--just - as if I had it already written. I am so stirred and lifted by this - reading, that the earth and all pertaining to it and this mortal life - are despicable and tedious; while the future everlasting world and the - eternal life have become such an unspeakable desire and joy, that all - these transitory circumstances are inane--nothing at all. It wearies - me to live.'"[399] - -Was not this a scholar's vision? The German dwarf reads and cares for the -_Hortensius_ even as Augustine, from whose _Confessions_ doubtless came -the recommendation of this classic. The barbarous Latin of the _Vita_ is -so uncouth and unformed as to convey no certain grammatical meaning. One -can only sense it. The biographer cannot write Latin correctly, nor write -it glibly and ungrammatically, like a man born to a Latinesque speech. -Hermann's own Latin is but little better. It approaches neither fluency -nor style. But the scholar ardour was his, and his works remain--a long -chronicle, a treatise on the Astrolabe, and one on Music; also, perhaps, a -poem in leonine elegiacs, "The Dispute of the Sheep and the Flax," which -goes on for several hundred lines till one comes to a welcome _caetera -desunt_.[400] - -Thus, with a heavy-footed Teutonic diligence, the Germans studied the -Trivium and Quadrivium. They sweated at Latin grammar, reading also the -literature or the stock passages. Their ignorance of natural science was -no denser than that of peoples west of the Rhine or south of the Alps. -Many of them went to learn at Chartres or Paris. Within the mapped-out -scheme of knowledge, there was too much for them to master to admit of -their devising new provinces of study. They could not but continue for -many decades translators of the foreign matter into their German tongue or -German selves. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries they will be -translators of the French and Provencal literatures. - -Even before the eleventh century Germans were at work at Logic--one -recalls Gerbert's opponent Otric;[401] and some of them were engaged with -dialectic and philosophy. William, Abbot of Hirschau, crudely anticipated -Anselm in attempting a syllogistic proof of God's existence.[402] He died -in 1091, and once had been a monk in the convent of St. Emmeram at -Ratisbon in Bavaria, where he may have known a certain monk named Othloh, -who has left a unique disclosure of himself. One is sufficiently informed -as to what the Germans and other people studied in the eleventh century; -but this man has revealed the spiritual conflict out of which he hardly -brought his soul's peace. - - -II - -Nothing is so fascinating in the life of a holy man as the struggle and -crisis through which his convictions are established and his peace -attained. How diverse has been this strife--with Buddha, with Augustine, -with Luther, or Ignatius Loyola. Its heroes fall into two companies: in -one of them the man attains through his own thought and resolution; in the -other he casts himself on God, and it may be that devils and angels carry -on the fight, of which his soul is the battle-ground and prize. -Nevertheless, the man himself holds the scales of victory; the choice is -his, and it is he who at last goes over to the devil or accepts the grace -of God. This conflict, in which God is felt to aid, is still for men; only -its forms and setting change. Therefore the struggle and the tears, -through which souls have won their wisdom and their peace, never cease to -move us. Othloh, like many another mediaeval scholar, was disturbed over -the sinful pleasure derived from Tully and Virgil, Maro and Lucan. But his -soul's chief turmoil came from the doubts that sprang from his human -sympathies and from moral grounds--can the Bible be true and God -omnipotent when sin and misery abound? The struggle through which he -became assured was the supreme experience of his life: it fixed his -thoughts; his writings were its fruit; they reflect the struggle and the -struggler, and present a psychological tableau of a mediaeval German soul. - -He was born in the bishopric of Freising in Bavaria not long after the -year 1000, and spent his youth in the monastic schools of Tegernsee and -Hersfeld. His scholarship was made evident to men about him through his -skill in copying texts in a beautiful script, ornamented with -illuminations. In the year 1032 he took the monk's vows in the monastery -of St. Emmeram at Ratisbon, which had been founded long before in honour -of this sainted Frankish missionary bishop, who had met a martyr's death -in Bavaria in the late Merovingian period. The annals of the monastery are -extant. When the Ottos were emperors, grammatical and theological studies -flourished there, especially under a certain capable Wolfgang, who died -as Bishop of Ratisbon in 994, and whose life Othloh wrote. The latter, on -becoming a monk, received charge of the monastery school, which he -continued to direct for thirty years.[403] Then he left, because some of -the young monks had turned the Abbot against him; but after some years -spent mainly at the monastery of Fulda, he returned to St Emmeram's in -1063, where he died an old man ten or fifteen years later. From his youth -he had been subject to illness, even to fits of swooning, and, writing in -the evening of his days, he speaks of his many bodily infirmities. - -As Othloh looked back over his life, his soul's crisis seemed to have been -reached soon after he was made a monk. The wisdom brought through it came -as the answer to those questionings which made up the diabolic side of -that great experience. Othloh describes it in his _Book concerning the -Temptations of a certain Monk_. - - "There was a sinful clerk, who, having often been corrected by the - Lord, at length turned to monastic life. In the monastery where he was - made a monk he found many sorts of men, some of whom were given over - to the reading of secular works, while some read Holy Scripture. He - resolved to imitate the latter. The more earnest he was in this, the - more was he molested by temptations of the devil; but committing - himself to the grace of God, he persevered; and when, after a long - while, he was delivered, and thought over what he had suffered, it - seemed that others might be edified by his temptations, as well as by - the passages of Holy Scripture which had come to him through divine - inspiration. So he began to write as follows: I wish to tell the - delusions of Satan which I endured sleeping and waking. His deceits - first confounded me with doubt as to whether I was not rash in taking - the vow perilous of the monastic life, without consulting parents or - friends, when Scripture bids us 'do all things with counsel.' Diabolic - illusion, as if sympathizing and counselling with me, brought these - and like thoughts. When, the grace of God resisting him, the Tempter - failed to have his way with me here, he tried to make me despair - because of my many sins. 'Do you think,' said he, 'that such a wretch - can expect mercy from God the Judge, when it is written, Scarcely - shall a righteous man be saved?' So he overwhelmed me, till I could do - nothing but weep, and tears were my bread day and night. I protest, - from my innermost heart, that save through the grace of God alone, no - one can overcome such delusions. - - "When the Weaver of wiles failed to cause me utterly to despair, he - tried with other arguments of guile to lead me to blaspheme the divine - justice, suggesting thoughts, as if condoling with my misery: 'O most - unhappy youth, whose grief no man deigns to consider--but men are not - to blame, for they do not know your trouble. God alone knows, and - since He can do all things, why does He not aid you in tribulation, - when for love of Him you have surrendered the world and now endure - this agony? Have done with impossible prayers and foolish grief. The - injustice of that Potentate will not permit all to perish.' These - delusions were connected with what I now wish to mention: Often I was - awakened by some imaginary signal, and would hasten to the oratory - before the time of morning prayer; also, and for a number of years, - though I slept at night as a man sound in body, when the hour came to - rise, my limbs were numb, and only with uncertain trembling step could - I reach the Church. - - "One delusion and temptation must be spoken of, which I hardly know - how to describe, as I never read or heard of anything like it. By the - stress of my many temptations I was driven--though by God's grace I - was never utterly torn from faith and hope of heavenly aid--to doubt - as to Holy Scripture and the essence of God himself. In the struggle - with the other temptations there was some respite, and a refuge of - hope remained. In this I knew no alleviation, and when formerly I had - been strengthened by the sacred book and had fought against the darts - of death with the arms of faith and hope, now, shut round with doubt - and mental blindness, I doubted whether there was truth in Holy - Scripture and whether God was omnipotent. This broke over me with such - violence as to leave me neither strength of body nor strength of mind, - and I could not see or hear. Then sometimes it was as if a voice was - whispering close to my ear: 'Why such vain labourings? Can you not, - most foolish of mortals, prove by your own experience that the - testimony of Scripture is without sense or reason? Do you not see that - what the divine book says is the reverse of what the lives and habits - of mankind approve? Those many thousands who neither know nor care to - know its doctrine, do you think they err?' Troubled, I would urge, as - if against some one questioning and objecting: 'How then is there such - agreement among all the divinely inspired writings when they speak of - God the Founder and of obedience to His commands?' Then words of this - kind would be suggested in reply: 'Fool, the Scriptures on which you - rely for knowledge of God and religion speak double words; for the men - who wrote them lived as men live now. You know how all men speak well - and piously, and act otherwise, as advantage or frailty prompts. From - which you may learn how the authors of the ancient writings wrote good - and religious sayings, and did not live accordingly. Understand then, - that all the books of the divine law were so written that they have an - outer surface of piety and virtue, but quite another inner meaning. - All of which is proved by Paul's saying, The letter killeth; the - spirit, that is the meaning, maketh to live. So you see how perilous - it is to follow the precepts of these books. Likewise should one think - concerning the essence of God. And besides, if there existed any - person or power of an omnipotent God there would not be this apparent - confusion in everything,--nor would you yourself have had all these - doubts which trouble you.'" - -The last diabolically insidious suggestion was just the one to bring -despair to the unaided reason seeking faith. Othloh's soul was passing -through the depths; but the path now ascends, and rapidly: - - "I was assaulted with an incredible number of these delusions, and so - strange and unheard of were they that I feared to speak of them to any - of the brothers. At last I threw myself upon the ground groaning in - bitterness, and, collecting the forces of my mind, I cried with my - lips and from my heart: 'O if thou art some one, Almighty, and if thou - art everywhere, as I have read so often in so many books, now, I pray, - show me whom thou art and what thou canst do, delivering me quickly - from these perils; I can bear this strife no more.' I did not have to - wait; the grace of God scattered the whole cloud of doubt, and such a - light of knowledge poured into my heart that I have never since had to - endure the darkness of deadly doubt. I began to understand what I had - scarcely perceived before. Then the grace of knowledge was so - increased that I could no longer hide it. I was urged by ineffable - impulse to undertake some work of gratitude for the glory of God, and - it seemed that this new ardour should be devoted to composition. So I - wrote what I have written concerning those diabolic delusions which - sprang from my sins, and then it seemed reasonable to tell of the - divine inspiration by which my mind was enabled to repel them; so that - he who reads these delusions may at the same time know the workings of - the divine aid, and not ascribe to me a victory which was never mine, - or, thinking that aid was lacking in my temptation, fear lest it fail - in his. I remember how often, especially on rising in the mornings, it - was as if there was some one rising with me and walking with me, who - mutely warned, or gently persuaded me to amend faults which it may be - only the day before I was ignorantly committing and deeming of no - consequence. - - "When surrounded by such inspirations I would enter the Church and bow - down in prayer--God knows that I do not lie--it seemed as if some one - besought me with like earnestness of prayer, saying: 'As that has been - granted which you asked of me, it will be precious to me if you will - obey my entreaties. Do you not continue in those vices which I have - often begged you to abandon? are you not proud and carnal, neglectful - of God's service, hating whom you should not hate, although the - Scripture says, Every one who hates his brother is a murderer? Where - now is the patience and constancy and that perfection which you - promised God, if He would deliver you from perils and make you a monk? - God has done as you asked, why do you delay to pay your vow? You have - asked Him to set you in a place where you would have a store of books. - Lo, you have been heard; you have books--from which you may learn of - life eternal. Why do you dissipate your mind in vanities and do not - hasten to take the desired gift? You have also asked to be tried, and - tried you have been in temptation, and delivered. Yet you are still a - man unfit for peace or war, since when the battle is far off you are - ready for it, and when it approaches you flee. Which of the holy - fathers that you have read of in the Old or New Testament was so dear - to me that I did not seek to try him in the furnace of tribulation? - Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness' sake. - Steep and narrow is the way; no one is crowned who has not striven - lawfully. When you have read these, and many more passages of - Scripture, why if you desire a crown of life eternal, do you wish to - suffer no tribulation for your sins?'" - -Then the Spirit of God, with many admonishings, shows Othloh how easy had -been his lot and how needful to him were his temptations, even the very -carnal temptations of the flesh, which Othloh suffered in common with all -monks. And he is bid to consider their reason and order: - - "First you were tried with lighter trials, that gradually you might - gain strength for the weightier; as you progressed you ascribed to - your own strength what was wrought by my grace. Wherefore I subjected - you to the final temptation, from which you will emerge the more - certain of my grace the less you trust in your merits." - -The "warring opposites" of Othloh's spiritual struggle were, on the one -side, evil thoughts and delusions from the devil, and, on the other, the -strength and enlightenment imparted by the grace of God. The nearer the -crisis comes, the clearer are the devil's whisperings and the warnings of -the instructing voice. Othloh's part in it was his choice and acceptance -of the divine counsellor. This conflict never faded from his mind. He has -much to say of the visions[404] in which parts of his enlightenment had -come. Once reading Lucan in the monastery, he swooned, and in his swoon -was beaten with many stripes by a man of terrible and threatening -countenance. By this he was led to abandon profane reading and other -worldly vanities. These visionary floggings left him feeble and ill in -body. They were the approaches to his great spiritual conflict. His -"fourth vision" is in and of the crisis. This monk, immersed in spiritual -struggles, had also his opinions regarding the government of the -monastery, and for a time refused obedience to the abbot's irregular -rulings, and spoke harshly of him: - - "For this I did penance before the abbot but not before God, against - whom I had greatly sinned; and after a few days I fell sick. This - sickness was from God, since I have always begged of His mercy, that - for any sin committed I might suffer sickness or tribulation, and so - it has come to me. On this occasion, when weakness had for some days - kept me in the infirmary, one evening as it was growing dark I thought - I should feel better if I rose and sat by my cot. Immediately the - house appeared to be filled with flame and smoke. Horror-stricken, my - wonted trust in God all scattered, I started, tottering, towards the - cot of the lay brother in charge, but, ashamed, I turned back and went - to the cot of a brother who was sick; he was asleep. Then I sank - exhausted on my cot, thinking how to escape the horror of that vision - of smoke. I had no doubt that the smoke was the work of evil spirits, - who, from its midst, would try to torment me. As I gradually saw that - it was not physical, but of the spirit, and that there was no one to - help me, as all were asleep, I began to sing certain psalms, and, - singing, went out and entered the nearest church, of St. Gallus, and - fell down before the altar. At once, for my sins, strength of mind and - body left me, and I perceived that my lips were held together by evil - spirits, so that I could not move them, to sing a psalm. I tried till - I was weary to open them with my hands. - - "Leaving that church, crawling rather than walking I gained the great - church of St. Emmeram, where I hoped for some alleviation of my agony. - But it was as before; I could barely utter a few words of prayer. So I - painfully made my way back to my bed, hoping, from sheer weariness, to - get some sleep. But none came, and, turn as I would, still I saw the - vision of smoke. Suddenly--was I asleep or awake?--I seemed to be in a - field well known to me, surrounded by a crowd of demons mocking me - with shrieks of laughter. The louder they laughed, the sadder I was, - seeing them gathered to destroy me. When they saw that I would not - laugh, they became enraged, crying, 'So! you won't laugh and be merry - with us! Since you choose melancholy you shall have enough.' Then - flying about me, with blows from all sides, they whirled me round and - round with them over vast spaces of earth, till I thought to die. - Suffering unspeakably, I was at length set down on the top of a peak - which scarcely held me; no eye could fathom its abyss. Vainly I looked - for a descent, and the demons kept flying about me, saying: 'Where now - is your hope in God! And where is that God of yours! Don't you know - that neither God is, as men say, nor is there any power in Him which - can prevail against us? One proof of this is that you have no help, - and there is no one who can deliver you from our hands. Choose now; - for unless you join with us you shall be cast into the abyss.' In this - strait, scarcely consenting or resisting, I faintly remembered that I - had once believed and read that God was everywhere, and so I looked - around to see whether He would not send some aid. Now when the demons - kept insisting that I should choose, and when I was well-nigh put to - it to promise what they wished, a man suddenly appeared, and, standing - by me, said: 'Do not do it; all that these cheats say is false. Abide - firm in that faith which you had in God. He knows all that you suffer, - and permits it for your good.' Then he vanished, and the demons - returned, flying about me, and saying: 'Miserable man, would you trust - one who came to deceive you? Why, he dared not wait till we came! Come - now, yield yourself to our power.' - - "Uttering these words with fury, they snatched me up, and whirled me, - sorely beaten, across plains and deserts, over heights and precipices, - and set me on a yet more dreadful peak, hurling at me abuse and - threats, to make me do their will. And, as before, I was near - succumbing, and was looking around for some aid from God, when that - same man again stood near, and heartened me. 'Do not yield; let your - heart be comforted against its besiegers.' And I replied: 'Lord, I can - no longer bear these perils. Stay with me, and aid, lest when you go - away they torment me still more grievously.' To which he said: 'Their - threats cannot prevail so long as you persevere in faith and hope in - the Lord. Be comforted; the sharper the strife, the quicker will it - end. If with constancy you wage the Lord's battles, you shall have - eternal rewards in the future, and in this world you shall be famous.' - - "Then he vanished the second time, and the demons, who dared do - nothing in his presence, raged and mocked more savagely, and kept me - in anguish, until, the divine grace effecting it, the convent bell - rang for early prayer. I heard it as I lay in bed, and gradually - gaining my senses, I was conscious that I was living, and I no longer - saw the vision of smoke. With gratitude I remembered what the man in - my vision told me that my trial would soon be over. After this, though - for many days I lay sick in body and soul, my spiritual temptations - began to lessen; and I have learned that without the Grace of God I - am, and always shall be, a thing of naught." - -The struggle through which faith and peace came to Othloh became the -fountain-head of his wisdom; it fixed the point of view from which he -judged life, and set the categories in which he ordered his knowledge; it -directed his thoughts and imparted purpose and unity to his writings. His -gratitude to God incited him to write in order that others might share in -the light and wisdom which God's grace had granted him; and his writings -chiefly enlarge upon those questions which the victory in his spiritual -conflict had solved. I will refrain from drawing further from them, -although they seem to me the most interesting works of a pious and -doctrinal nature emanating from any German of this still crude and -inchoate intellectual period.[405] - - -III - -From the point of view of the development of mediaeval intellectual -interests in the eleventh century, England has little that is distinctive -to offer. The firm rule of Canute (1016-1035) brought some reinstatement -of order, after the times of struggle between Dane and Saxon. But his son, -Hardicanute, was a savage. The reign of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) -followed. It wears a halo because it was the end of the old order, which -henceforth was to be a memory. Then came the revolution of the Norman -Conquest. Letters did not thrive amid these storms. At the beginning of -the period, Dunstan is the sole name of note, as one who fostered letters -in the monasteries where his energies were bringing discipline. English -piety and learning looked then, as it had looked before and was for -centuries to look, to the Continent. And Dunstan promoted letters by -calling to his assistance Abbo of St. Fleury, of whom something has been -said.[406] - -In Dunstan's time Saxon men were still translating Scripture into their -tongue--paraphrasing it rather, with a change of spirit. Such translations -were needed in Anglo-Saxon England, as in Germany. But after the Conquest -the introduction of Norman-French tended to lessen at least the -consciousness of such a need. That language, as compared with Anglo-Saxon, -came so much nearer to Latin as to reduce the chasm between the learned -tongue and the vernacular. The Normans had (at least in speech) been -Gallicized, and yet had kept many Norse traits. England likewise took on a -Gallic veneering as Norman-French became the language of the Court and the -new nobility. But the people continued to speak English. The degree of -foreign influence upon their thought and manners may be gauged by the -proportion of foreign idiom penetrating the English language; and the fact -that English remained essentially and structurally English proves the same -for England racially. In spite of the introduction of foreign elements, -people and language endured and became more and more progressively -English. - -In the island before the Conquest, the round of studies had been the same -as on the Continent; and that event brought no change. The studies might -improve, but would have no novel source to draw upon. And in this period -of racial turmoil and revolution, it was unlikely that the Anglo-Saxon -temperament would present itself as clearly as aforetime in the Saxon poem -of _Beowulf_ or the personality of the Saxon Alfred, or in the Saxon -_Genesis_ and the writings of Cynewulf.[407] In a word, the eleventh -century in England was specifically the period when the old traits were -becoming obscure, and no distinct modifications had been evolved in -correspondence with the new conditions. Consequently, for presentations of -the intellectual genius of the English people, one has to wait until the -next century, the time of John of Salisbury and other English minds. Even -such will be found receiving their training and their knowledge in France -and Italy. England was still intellectually as well as politically under -foreign domination. - - * * * * * - -In every way it has been borne in upon us how radically the conditions and -faculties of men differed in England, Germany, France, and Italy in the -eleventh century. Very different were their intellectual qualities, and -different also was the measure of their attainment to a palpable mediaeval -character, which in Italy was not that of the ancient Latins, in France -was not that of the Gallic provincials, and in England and Germany was not -altogether that of the original Celtic and Teutonic stocks. Neither in the -eleventh century nor afterwards was there an obliteration of race traits; -yet the mediaeval modification tended constantly to evoke a general -uniformity of intellectual interest and accepted view. - -There exists a certain ancient _Chronicon Venetum_ written by a Venetian -diplomat and man of affairs called John the Deacon, who died apparently -soon after 1008.[408] He was the chaplain of the Doge, Peter Urseolus, and -the doge's ambassador to the emperors Otto III. and Henry II. The earlier -parts of his _Chronicon_ were taken from Paulus Diaconus and others; the -later are his own, and form a facile narrative, which makes no pretence to -philosophic insight and has nothing to say either of miracles or God's -Christian providence. Its interests are quite secular. John writes his -Latin, glib, clear, and unclassical, just as he might talk his Venetian -speech, his _vulgaris eloquentia_. There is no effort, no struggle with -the medium of expression, but a pervasive quality of familiarity with his -story and with the language he tells it in. These characteristics, it is -safe to say, are not to be found, to a like degree, in the work of any -contemporary writer north of the Alps. - -The man and his story, in fine, however mediocre they may be, have -arrived: they are not struggling or apparently tending anywhither. The -writing suggests no capacity in the writer as yet unreached, nor any -imperfect blending of disparate elements in his education. One should not -generalize too broadly from the qualities exemplified in this work; yet -they indicate that the people to which the writer belonged were possessed -of a certain entirety of development, in which the component elements of -culture and antecedent human growth and decadence were blended in accord. -This old _Chronicon_ affords an illustration of the fact that the -transition and early mediaeval centuries had brought nothing to Italy that -was new or foreign, nothing that was not in the blood, nothing to deeply -disturb the continuity of Italian culture and character which moved along -without break, whether in ascending or descending curves. - -Yet evidently the eleventh-century Italian is no longer a Latin of the -Empire. For one thing, he is more individualistic. Formerly the prodigious -power of Roman government united citizens and subject peoples, and -impressed a human uniformity upon them. The surplus energies of the Latin -race were then absorbed in the functions of the _Respublica_, or were at -least directed along common channels. That great unification had long been -broken; and the smaller units had reasserted themselves--the civic units -of town or district, and the individual units of human beings upon whom no -longer pressed the conforming influence of one great government. - -In imperial times cities formed the subordinate units of the _Respublica_; -the Roman, like the Greek civilization, was essentially urban. This -condition remained. The civilization of Italy in the eleventh century was -still urban, but was now more distinctly the civilization of small closely -compacted bodies, which were no longer united. For the most part, the -life, the thought, of Italy was in the towns; it remained predominantly -humanistic, taken up with men and their mortal affairs, their joys and -hates, and all that is developed by much daily intercourse with fellows. -Thus the intellect of Italy continued secular, interesting itself in -mortal life, and not so much occupied with theology and the life beyond -the grave. This is as true of the intellectual energies of the Roman -papacy as it is of the mental activities of the towns which served or -opposed it, according to their politics. - -On the other hand, the intense emotional nature of the Italians was apt to -be religious, and given to despair and tears and ecstasy; its love welled -up and flung itself around its object, without the mediating offices of -reason. If reflection came, it was love's ardent musing, rather than -religious ratiocination. One does not forget that the Italians who became -scholastic theologians or philosophers left Italy, and subjected -themselves to northern spiritual influences at Paris or elsewhere. Their -greatest were Anselm, Peter Lombard, Bonaventura, Thomas Aquinas. None of -these remained through life altogether Italian. - -Thus, with Italians, religion meant either the papal government and the -daily conventions of observance and minor mental habits, all very secular; -or it meant that which was a thing of ecstasy and not of -thought--generally speaking, of course. The mediaeval Italian (in the -eleventh century only to a slightly less degree than in the twelfth or -thirteenth) is, typically speaking, a man of urban human interests and -affairs, a politician, a trader, a doctor, a man of law or letters, an -artist, or a poet. If really religious, his religion is an emotion, and is -not occupied with dogma, nor interested in doctrinal correctness or -reform. Such a religious character may, according to individual temper, -result in a Romuald[409] or a Peter Damiani; its perfected ideal is -Francis of Assisi. - -Things were already different in the country now called France. No need to -repeat what has been said as to the lesser strength and somewhat broken -continuity of the antique there, as compared with Italy. Yet there was a -sufficient power of antique influence and descent to keep the language -Romanesque, and the forms of its literature partly set by antique -tradition. But the spirit was not Latin. Perhaps it had but seemed such -with the Gallic provincials. At all events, the incoming Franks and other -Germans brought a Teutonic infusion and reinspiration that forever kept -France from being or becoming a northern Italy. - -Neither was the spirit urban. To be sure, much of the energy of French -thought awoke and did its work in towns; and Paris was to become the -intellectual centre. But the stress of French life was not so surely in -the towns, nor men's minds so characteristically urban as in Italy, and by -no means so predominantly humanistic. Even in the eleventh century the -lofty range of French thought, of French intellectual interests, is -apparent; for it embraces the problems of philosophy and theology, and -does not find its boundary and limit in phenomenal or mortal life. Gerbert -is almost too universal an intellect to offer as a fair example. Yet all -that he cared for is more than represented by other men taken together; -for Gerbert did not fully represent the interests of religious thought in -France. His was the humanism and the thirst for all the round of knowledge -included in the Seven Arts. But he scarcely reached out beyond logic to -philosophy; and theology seems not to have troubled him. Both philosophy -and theology, however, made part of the intellectual interests of France; -for there was Berengar and Roscellinus, Gaunilo and St. Anselm, and the -wrangling of many disputatious, although overwhelmingly orthodox, councils -of French Churchmen. Paris also, with its great schools of theology and -philosophy, looms on the horizon. The intellectual matter is but inchoate, -yet universally germinating, in the eleventh century. - -Thus intellectual qualities of mediaeval France appear inceptively. The -French mediaeval temperament needs perhaps another century for its clear -development. Both as to temperament and intellectual interests, a line -will have to be drawn between the south and north; between the land of the -_langue d'oc_, the Roman law, the troubadour, and the easy, irreligious, -gay society which jumped the life to come; and the land of the various old -French dialects (among which that of the Isle de France will win to -dominance), the land of philosophy and theology, the land of Gothic -architecture and religion, the hearth of the crusades against the Saracen -or the Albigensian heretic; the land of the most distinctive mediaeval -thought and strongest intellectual development. - -In the Germany and the England of the eleventh century there is less of -interest from this point of view. England had scarcely become her -mediaeval self; the time was one of desperate struggle, or, at most, of -tumultuous settling down and shaking together. As for Germany, it was -surely German then, and not a medley of Saxon, Dane, and Norman-French. -The people were talking in their German tongues. German song and German -epos were already heard in forms which were not to be cast aside, but -retained and developed; of course the influence of the French poetry was -not yet. The Germans were still living their own sturdy and half-barbarous -life. Those who loved knowledge had turned with earnest purpose to the -Latin culture; they were studying Latin and logic, and, as we have said, -translating it into their German tongue or temperament. But the lessons -were not fully mastered--not yet transformed into German mediaeval -intellectual capacity. And in this respect, at least, the German will -become more entirely his Germanic mediaeval self in another century, when -he has more faculty of using the store of foreign knowledge in combination -with his strongly felt and honestly considered Christianity. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -THE GROWTH OF MEDIAEVAL EMOTION - - I. THE PATRISTIC CHART OF PASSION. - - II. EMOTIONALIZING OF LATIN CHRISTIANITY. - - -The characteristic passions of a period represent the emotionalized -thoughts of multitudes of men and women. Mediaeval emotional development -followed prevailing ideas, opinions, convictions, especially those of -mediaeval Christianity. Its most impressive phases conformed to the tenets -of the system which the Middle Ages had received from the Church Fathers, -and represented the complement of passion arising from the long acceptance -of the same. One may observe, first, the process of exclusion, inclusion, -and enhancement, through which the Fathers formed a certain synthesis of -emotion from the matter of their faith and the circumstances of their -environment; and, secondly, the further growth of emotion in the Middle -Ages. - - -I - -In the centuries immediately preceding and following the Christian era -there took place a remarkable growth of the pathetic or emotional element -in Greek and Roman literature. Yet during the same period Stoicism, the -most respected system of philosophy, kept its face as stone, and would not -recognize the ethical value of emotion in human life.[410] But the -emotional elements of paganism, which were stretching out their hands like -the shades by Acheron, were not to be restrained by philosophic -admonition, or Virgilian _Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando_. And -though the Stoic could not consent to Juvenal's avowal that the sense of -tears is the best part of us, Neo-Platonism soon was to uphold the -sublimated emotion of a vision transcending reason as the highest good for -man. Rational self-control was disintegrating in the Neo-Platonic -dialectic which pointed beyond reason to ecstasy. That ecstasy, however, -was to be super-sensual, and indeed came only to those who had long -suppressed all cravings of the flesh. This ascetic emotionalism of the -Neo-Platonic _summum bonum_ was strikingly analogous to the ideal of -Christian living pressing to domination in the patristic period. - -No need to say that the Gospel of Jesus was addressed to the heart as well -as to the mind; and for times to come the Saviour on the Cross and at its -foot the weeping Mother were to rouse floods of tears over human sin, -which caused the divine sacrifice. The words _Jesus wept_ heralded a new -dispensation under which the heart should quicken and the mind should -guide through reaches of humanity unknown to paganism. This Christian -expansion of the spirit did not, however, address itself to human -relationships, but uplifted itself to God, its upward impulse spurning -mortal loves. In its mortal bearings the Christian spirit was more ascetic -than Neo-Platonism, and its _elan_ of emotion might have been as -sublimated in quality as the Neo-Platonic, but for the greater reality of -love and terror in the God toward whom it yearned with tears of -contrition, love, and fear. - -Another strain very different from Neo-Platonism contributed to the sum of -Christian emotion. This was Judaism, which recently had shown the fury of -its energy in defence of Jerusalem against the legions of Titus. -Christians imbibed its force of feeling from the books of the Old -Testament. The passion of those writings was not as the humanly directed -passions of the Greeks. Israel's desire and aversion, her scorn and -hatred, her devotion and her love, hung on Jehovah. "Do I not hate them, O -Jehovah, that hate thee?" This cry of the Psalmist is echoed in Elijah's -"Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape." Jewish wrath was -a righteous intolerance, which would neither endure idolatrous Gentiles -nor suffer idolaters in Israel. Moses is enraged by the sight of the -people dancing before the golden calf; and Isaiah's scorn hisses over -those daughters of Israel who have turned from Jehovah's ways of decorum: -"Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth -necks, and wanton eyes, mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with -their feet; therefore Jehovah will smite with a scab the crown of the head -of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts." - -Did a like scorn and anger find harbourage in Him who likened the -Pharisees to whitened sepulchres, and with a scourge of small cords drove -the money-changers from His Father's house? At all events a kindred hate -found an enduring home in the religion of Tertullian and Athanasius, and -in the great Church that persecuted the Montanists at Augustine's -entreaty, and thereafter poured its fury upon Jew and Saracen and heretic -for a thousand years. - -Jehovah was also a great heart of love, loving His people along the ways -of every sweet relationship understood by man. "When Israel was a child, -then I loved him, and out of Egypt called my son hither." "Can a woman -forget her sucking child, so as not to yearn upon the son of her womb? -Yea, these may forget, yet will I not forget thee." Again, Jehovah is the -husband, and Israel the sinning wife whom He will not put away.[411] -Israel's responding love answers: "My soul waits on God--My heart and -flesh cry aloud to the living God--Like as the hart panteth for the -water-brooks"! Such passages throb obedience to Deuteronomy's great -command, which Jesus said was the sum of the Law and the Prophets. No need -to say that the Christian's love of God had its emotional antecedent in -Psalmist and Prophet. Jehovah's purifying wrath of love also passed over -to the Christian words, "As many as I love, I reprove and chasten." And -"the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom," found its climax -in the Christian terror of the Judgment Day. - -The Old Testament has its instances of human love: Isaac and Rebekah, -Jacob and Rachel. There is Jacob's love of Joseph and Benjamin, and -Joseph's love, which yearned upon his brethren who had sold him to the -Egyptians. The most loving man of all is David, with his love of Jonathan, -"wonderful and passing the love of women," unforgotten in the king's old -age, when he asks, "Is there yet any living of the house of Saul, that I -may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" To a later time belongs the -Song of Songs. Beautiful, orientally sensuous, too glowing perhaps for -western taste, is this utterance of unchecked passion. And its fortune has -been the most wonderful that ever fell to a love poem. It became the -epithalamion of the Christian soul married to Christ, an epithalamion -which was to be enlarged with passionate thought by doctor, monk, and -saint, through the Christian centuries. The first to construe it as the -bridal of the Soul was one who, by an act more irrevocable than a monastic -vow, put from him mortal bridals--Origen, the greatest thinker of the -Eastern Church. Thus the passion of the Hebrew woman for the lover that -was to her as a bundle of myrrh lying between her breasts, was lifted, -still full of desire, to the love of the God-man, by those of sterile -flesh and fruitful souls. - -Christianity was not eclecticism, which, for lack of principles of its -own, borrows whatever may seem good. But it made a synthetic adoption of -what could be included under the dominance of its own motives, that is, -could be made to accord with its criterion of Salvation. What sort of -synthesis could it make of the passions and emotions of the -Graeco-Roman-Oriental-Jewish world? That which was achieved by the close -of the patristic period, and was to be passionately approved by the Middle -Ages, proceeded partly in the way of exclusion, and partly by adding a -quality of boundlessness to the emotional elements admitted. - -With the first conversions to the new religion, arose the problem: What -human feelings, what loves and interests of this world, shall the believer -recognize as according with his faith, and as offering no obstacle to the -love of God and the attainment of eternal life? A practical answer was -given by the growth of an indeterminate asceticism within the Christian -communities, which in the fourth century went forth with power, and -peopled the desert with anchorites and monks. - -Ascetic suggestions came from many sources to the early Christians. -Stoicism was ascetic in tendency; Neo-Platonism ascetic in principle, -holding that the soul should be purged from contamination with things of -sense. Throughout Egypt asceticism was rife in circles interested in the -conflict of Set and his evil host with Horus seeking vengeance for Osiris -slain; and we know that some of the earliest Christian hermits had been -recluses devoted to the cult of Serapis. In Syria dwelt communities of -Jewish Essenes, living continently like monks. Nevertheless, whatever may -have been the effects of such examples, monasticism developed from within -Christianity, and was not the fruit of influences from without. - -The Lord had said, "My kingdom is not of this world"; and soon enough -there came antagonism between the early Churches and the Roman Empire. The -Church was in a state of conflict. It behoved the Christian to keep his -loins girded: why should he hamper himself with ephemeral domestic ties, -when the coming of the Lord was at hand? Moreover, the Christian warfare -to the death was not merely with political tyranny, but against fleshly -lusts. Such convictions, in men and women desirous of purifying the soul -from the cravings of sense, might bring the thought that even lawful -marriage was not as holy as the virgin state. The Christian's ascetic -abnegation had as a further motive the love of Christ and the desire to -help on His kingdom and attain to it, the motive of sacrifice for the sake -of the Kingdom of Heaven; for which one man must be burned, another must -give up his goods, and a third renounce his heart's love. Ascetic acts are -also a natural accompaniment of penitence: the sinner, with fear of hell -before him, seeks to undergo temporal in order to avoid eternal pain; or, -better, stung by love of the Crucified, his heart cries for flagellation. -When St. Martin came to die he would lie only upon ashes: "I have sinned -if I leave you a different example."[412] A similar strain of religious -conviction is rendered in Jerome's "You are too pleasure-loving, brother, -if you wish to rejoice in this world and hereafter to reign with -Christ."[413] - -So currents of ascetic living early began in Christian circles; and before -long the difficulty of leading lives of self-mortification within the -community was manifest. It was easier to withdraw: ascetics must become -anchorites, "they who have withdrawn." Here was reason why the movement -should betake itself to the desert. But the solitary life is so difficult, -that association for mutual aid will soon ensue; and then regulations will -be needed for these newly-formed ascetic groups. So anchorites tended to -become coenobites; monasticism has begun. - -In both its hermit and coenobitic phases, monasticism began in the East, -in Syria and the Thebaid. It was accepted by the Latin West, and there -became impressed with Roman qualities of order, regularity, and obedience. -The precepts of the eastern monks were collected and arranged by Cassian, -a native of Gaul, in his _Institutes_ and _Conlocations_ between the years -419 and 428. And about a century afterwards, western monasticism received -its typeform in the _Regula_ of St. Benedict of Nursia (d. 543), which was -approved by the authority of Gregory the Great (d. 604).[414] - -By the close of the patristic period, monasticism had become the most -highly applauded practical interpretation of Christianity. Its precepts -represented the requirements of the Christian criterion of Salvation -applied to earthly life. Like all great systems which have widely -prevailed and long endured, it was not negation, but substitution. If it -condemned usual modes of pleasure, this was because of their -incompatibility with the life it inculcated. The _Regula_ of Benedict set -forth a manner of life replete with positive demands. Its purpose was to -prescribe for those who had taken monastic vows that way of living, that -daily round of occupation, that constant mode of thought and temper, which -should make a perfected Christian, that is, a perfect monk. And so broad -and spiritually interwoven were its precepts that one of them could hardly -be obeyed without fulfilling all. Read, for example, the beautiful seventh -chapter upon the twelve grades of humility, and it will become evident -that whoever achieves this virtue will gain all the rest: he will always -have the fear of God before his eyes, the terror of hell and the hope of -heaven; he will cut off the desires of the flesh; he will do, not his own -will, but the Lord's; since Christ obeyed His Father unto death, he will -render absolute obedience to his superior, obeying readily and cheerfully -even when unjustly blamed; in confession he will conceal no evil thought; -he will deem himself vilest of all, and will do nothing save what the -_regula_ of the monastery or the example of the elders prescribes; he will -keep from laughter and from speech, except when questioned, and then he -will speak gently and humbly, and with gravity, in few words; he will -stand and walk with inclined head and looks bent on the ground, feeling -himself unworthy to lift up his eyes to heaven: through these stairs of -humility he will reach that perfect love of God which banishes fear, and -will no longer need the fear of hell, as he will do right from habit and -through the love of Christ. - -Having thus pointed out the way of righteousness, Benedict's _regula_ -gives minute precepts for the monk's conduct and occupation through each -hour of the day and night. No time, no circumstance shall be left -unguarded, or unoccupied with those acts which lead to God. Wise was this -great prototypal _regula_ in that its abundance of positive precepts kept -the monk busy with righteousness, so that he might have no leisure for -sin. Its prohibitions are comparatively unemphatic, and the monk is guided -along the paths of righteousness rather than forbidden to go astray. - -Thus monk and nun were consecrated to a calling which should contain their -whole desire, as it certainly demanded their whole strength. Was the monk -a celibate because carnal marriage was denied him? Rather he was wedded to -Christ. If this is allegory, it is also close to literal truth. "Thou -shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and -with all thy mind." Is not love the better part of marriage? And how if -the Lord thy God has been a gracious loving figure here on earth, who -loved thee humanly as well as divinely, and died for thee at last? Will -not the complete love required by the commandment become very ardent, very -heart-filling? Shalt thou not always yearn to see Him, fall at His feet, -confess thy unworthiness, and touch His garment? Is there any end to the -compass of thy loving Him, and musing upon Him, and dwelling in His -presence? Dost thou not live with Him in a closer communion than the -sunderances of mortality permit among men, or between men and women? And -if it be thou art a nun, art thou not as close to Him in tears and washing -of those blessed feet, as ever was that other woman, who had been a -sinner? Thou shalt keep thy virginity for Him as for a bridegroom.[415] - -But the great commandment to love the Lord thy God has an adjunct--"and -thy neighbour as thyself." _As thyself_--how does the monk love himself? -why, unto Christ and his own salvation. He does not love his sinful -pleasures, nor those matters of earth which might not be sins, had he not -realized how they conflicted with his scheme of life. His love for a -fellow could not recognize those pleasures which he himself had cast -away. He must love his fellow, like himself, unto the saving, not the -undoing, of him--be his true lover, not his enemy. This vital principle of -Christian love had to recast pagan passion and direct the affections to an -immortal goal. Under it these reached a new absoluteness. The Christian -lover should always be ready to give his life for his friend's salvation, -as for his own. So love's offices gained enlargement and an infinity of -new relationship, because directed toward eternal life.[416] - -Unquestionably in the monk's eyes passionate love between the sexes was -mainly lust. Within the bonds of marriage it was not mortal sin; but the -virgin state was the best. Here, as we shall see, life was to claim its -own and free its currents. Monasticism did not stop the human race, or -keep men from loving women. Such love would assert itself; and ardent -natures who felt its power were to find in themselves a love and passion -somewhat novel, somewhat raised, somewhat enlarged. In the end the love -between man and woman drew new inspiration and energy from the enhancement -of all the rest of love, which came with Christianity. - -Evidently the great office of Christian love in a heathen period was to -convert idolaters to the Faith. So it had been from the days of Paul. -Rapidly Christianity spread through all parts of the Roman Empire. Then -the Faith pressed beyond those crumbling boundaries into the barbarian -world. Hereupon, with Gregory the Great and his successors, it became -clear that the great pope is always a missionary pope, sending out such -Christian embassies as Gregory sent to the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. - -If conversion was a chief office of Christian love, the great object of -Christian wrath was unbelief. That existed within and without Christendom: -within in forms of heresy, without in the practices of heathenism. -Christian wrath was moved by whatever opposed the true faith. The -Christian should discriminate: hate the sin, and love the sinner unto his -betterment. But it was so easy, so human, from hating the sin to hate the -obdurate sinner who could not be saved and could but harm the Church. One -need not recount how the disputes of the Athanasian time regarding the -nature of Christ came to express themselves in curses; nor how the -Christian sword began its slaughter of heretic and heathen. Persecution -seemed justified in reason; it was very logical; broad reasons of -Christian statecraft seemed to make for it; and often a righteous zeal -wielded the weapon. It had moreover its apparent sanction in Jehovah's -destroying wrath against idolaters within and without the tribes of -Israel. - -So the two opposites of love and wrath laid aside somewhat of grossness, -and gained new height and compass in the Christian soul. A like change -came over other emotions. As life lifted itself to further heights of -holiness, and hitherto unseen depths of evil yawned, there came a new -power of pity and novel revulsions of aversion. The pagan pity for life's -mortality, which filled Virgil's heart, could not but take on change. -There was no more mortality, but eternal joy and pain. Souls which had so -unavailingly stretched forth their hands to fate, had now been given wings -of faith. Yet death gained blacker terror from the Christian Hell, the -newly-assured alternative of the Christian Heaven. The great Christian -pity did not touch the mortal ebbing of the breath; that should be a -triumphant birth. But an enormous and terror-stricken pity was evoked by -sin, and the thought of the immortal soul hanging over an eternal hell. -And since all human actions were connected with the man's eternal lot, -they became invested with a new import. So the Christian's compassion -would deepen, his sympathy become more intense, although no longer stirred -by everything that had moved his pagan self. With him fear was raised to a -new intensity by other terrors than had driven the blood from pagan -cheeks. His sense of joy was deepened also; for a joy hitherto unrealized -came from his new love of God and the God-man, from the assurance of his -salvation, and the thought of loved human relationships never to end. So -Christian joy might have an absoluteness which it never had under the -pause-giving mortal limitations of paganism. - -Within the compass of pagan joyfulness there had been no deeper passion -than the love of beauty. That had its sensuous phases, and its far blue -heights, where Plato saw the beauty of order, justice, and proportion. For -the Christian, the beauty of the flesh became a veil through which he -looked for the beauty of the soul. If a face testified to the beauty of -holiness within, it was fair. Better the pale, drawn visages of monk and -nun than the red lip too quickly smiling. Feeling as well as thought -should be adjusted to these sentiments. Yet Plato's realization of -intellectual beauty found home within the Christian thoughts of God and -holiness, indeed helped to construct them. This is clear with the Fathers. -In the East, Gregory of Nyssa's passion for divine beauty was Platonism -set in Christian phrase; in the West, Augustine reached his thoughts of -beauty through considerations which came to him from Greek -philosophy.[417] "Love is of the beautiful," said Plato; "Do we love ought -else?" says Augustine. Both men shape their thoughts of beauty after their -best ideals of perfection. Augustine's burn upward to the beauty of a God -as loving as He is omnipotent; Plato's had been more abstract. Augustine's -Platonism shows the highest Greek thoughts of beauty and goodness changed -into attributes of a personal God, who could be loved because He was -loving. - -In these ways the loftier Christian souls suppressed, or transformed and -greatened, the emotions of their natures. It was thus with those possessed -of a faith that brought the whole of life within its dominance. There were -many such. Yet the multitude of Christians ranged downward from such great -obsession, through all stages of human half-heartedness and frailty, to -the state of those whose Christianity was but a name, or but a magic rite. -Always preponderant in numbers, and often in influence and power, these -nominal and fetichistic Christians would keep alive the loves and hates, -the interests and tastes, the approvals and disapprovals, of paganism or -barbaric heathenism, as the case might be. - - -II - -The patristic synthesis of emotion passed on entire and authoritative to -the Middle Ages. It exercised enormous influence (usually in the way of -compulsion, but sometimes in the way of repulsion) upon emotional -phenomena both of a religious and a secular nature. Yet it was merely the -foundation, or the first stage, of mediaeval emotional development. The -subsequent stages were dependent on the conditions under which mediaeval -attitudes of mind arose, very dependent upon the maturing and blending of -the native traits of inchoate mediaeval peoples and upon their -appropriation of Latin Christianity and the antique education. - -The northern races had been introduced to a novel religion and to modes of -thought considerably above them. Their old conceptions were discredited, -their feelings somewhat distraught. Emotionally as well as intellectually -they were confused. Turbid feelings, arising from ideas not fully -mastered, had to clarify and adjust themselves. From the sixth to the -eleventh century the crude mediaeval stocks, tangled but not blended, -strange to the religion and culture which held their destinies, were not -possessed of clear and dominant emotions that could create their own forms -of expression. They could not think and feel as they would when their new -acquirements had mellowed into faculty and temperament, and unities of -character had once more emerged. - -Christianity and Latin culture were operative everywhere, and everywhere -tended to produce a uniform development. Yet the peoples affected by these -common influences were kept unlike each other through varieties of -environment and a diversity of racial traits which still showed clearly as -the centuries passed. In consequence, the emotional development of these -different peoples remained marked by racial characteristics, while also -becoming mediaeval under the action of common influences. It proceeded in -two parallel and partially mingling streams: the one of the religious -life, the other of earth's desires. They may be observed in turn. - -Augustine represents the sum of doctrine and emotion contained in the -Latin Christianity of the fifth century. However imperfectly others might -comprehend his thought or feel the power of his grandly reasoned love of -God, he established this love for time to come as the centre and the bound -of Christian righteousness: "Virtus non est nisi diligere quod diligendum -est."[418] He drew within this principle the array of dogma and precept -constituting Latin Christianity. On the other hand, the practical -embodiment of the patristic synthesis of human interests and emotions was -monasticism, with its lines set by the Rule of Benedict. - -Pope Gregory the Great[419] refashioned Augustine's teachings, and placed -the seal of his approval upon Benedictine monasticism as the perfect way -of Christian living. His mind was darkened with the new ignorance and -intellectual debasement which had come in the century and a half -separating him from Augustine; and his soul was filled with the fantastic -terrors which were to constitute so large a part of the religion of the -Middle Ages. Devil lore, relic worship, miracles, permeate his -consciousness of life. The soul's ceaseless business is so to keep itself -that it may at last escape the sentence of the awful Judge. Love and -terror struggle fearfully in Gregory. Christ's death had shown God's love; -and yet the Dies Irae impends. No delict is wiped out without penitence -and punishment, in this life or afterwards--let it be in Purgatory and not -in Hell! - -The centuries following Gregory's death rearranged the contents of Latin -Christianity, including Gregory's teachings, to suit their own -intellectual capacities. This (Carolingian) period of rearrangement and -painful learning, as it was unoriginative intellectually, was likewise -unproductive of Christian emotion. Occasionally from far-off converts, -who are not troubled overmuch with learning, come utterances of simple -feeling for the Faith (one thinks of Bede's story of Caedmon); and the -Teuton spirit, warlike as well as intimate and sentimental, enters the -vernacular interpretation of Christianity.[420] The Christian message -could not be understood at all without a stirring of the convert's nature; -some quickening of emotion would ensue. This did not imply a development -of emotion corresponding to the credences of Latin Christianity, to which -so many people had been newly introduced. That system had to be more -vitally appropriated before it could arouse the emotional counterpart of -its tenets, and run its course in modes of mediaeval religious passion. - -Accordingly one will look in vain among the Carolingian scholars for that -torrential feeling which becomes articulate in the eleventh century. They -were excerpting and rearranging patristic Christianity to suit their own -capacities. They could not use it as a basis for further thinking; nor, on -the other hand, had it become for them the ground of religious feeling. -Undoubtedly, Alcuin and Rabanus Maurus and Walafrid Strabo were pious -Christians, taking their Faith devoutly. But such religious emotion as was -theirs, was reflected rather than spontaneous. Alcuin, as well as Gregory -the Great, realizes the opposition between heaven and the _vana -delectibilia_[421] of this world. But Alcuin's words have lost the -horror-stricken quality of Gregory; neither do they carry the floods of -tears which like thoughts bring to Peter Damiani in the eleventh century. -Odo, Abbot of Cluny in the middle of the tenth century, has something of -Gregory's heavy horror; but even in him the gift of tears is not yet -loosed.[422] - -From the eleventh century onward, the gathering religious feeling pours -itself out in passionate utterances; and in this new emotionalizing of -Latin Christianity lay the chief religious office of the Middle Ages, -wherein they went far beyond the patristic authors of their faith. The -Fathers of the Latin Church from Tertullian to Gregory the Great had been -occupied with doctrine and ecclesiastical organization. This dual -achievement was the work of the constructive mind of the Latin West, -following, of course, what had been accomplished by the Greek Fathers. It -stood forth mainly as the creation of those human faculties which are -grouped under the name of intellect. Patristic Latin Christianity hardly -presents itself as the product of the whole man. Its principles were not -as yet fully humanized, made matter of the heart, and imbued with love and -fear and pity: this creature of the intellect had yet to receive a soul. - -It is true that Augustine had an enormous love of God. It was fervently -felt; it was powerfully reasoned; it impassioned his thought. Yet it did -not contain that tender love of the divinely human Christ which trembles -in the words of Bernard and makes the life of Francis a lyric poem. St. -Jerome also had even an hysterically emotional nature; Tertullian at the -beginning of the patristic period was no placid soul, nor Gregory the -Great at its close. But it does not follow that Latin Christianity was as -yet emotionalized, or that it had become a matter of the heart because it -was accepted by the mind. Its dogmas and constructive principles were -still too new; the energies of men had been spent in devising and -establishing them. Not yet had they been pondered over for generation -after generation, and hallowed through time; they had not yet become part -of human life, cherished in men's hopes, fondled in their affections, -frozen in their fears, trembled before and loved. - -What was absent from the formation of Latin Christianity constituted the -conditions of its gradual appropriation by the Middle Ages. It had come to -them from a greater past, sanctioned by the saints who now reigned above. -Through the centuries, men had come to understand it, and had made it -their own with power. Through generations its commands and promises, its -threats and rewards, had been feared and loved. Its persons, symbols, and -sacraments had become animate with human quality and were endeared with -intimate incident and association. Every one had been born to it, had been -suckled upon it, had adored it in childhood, youth, and age: it filled all -life; with hope or menace it overhung the closing hour. - -The Middle Ages have been given credit for dry theologies and sublimated -metaphysics. Less frequently have they been credited with their great -achievement, the imbuing of patristic Christianity with the human elements -of love and fear and pity. Yet their religious phenomena display this -emotionalizing of transmitted theological elements. Chapters which are to -follow will illustrate it from the lives of many saints of different -temperaments. As wide apart as life will be the phases of its -manifestations. The tears of Peter Damiani are not like the love of the -God-man in St. Bernard; St. Francis's love of Christ and love of man is -again different and new; and the mystic thought-shot visions of a -Hildegard of Bingen are as blue to crimson when compared with the -sense-passion for the Bridegroom of a Mechthild of Magdeburg. Even as -illustrated in these so different natures, it will still appear that the -emotional humanizing of Latin Christianity in the Middle Ages shaped -itself to the tenets of the system formulated by the Church Fathers. It -was an emotionalizing of that system, quite as much as a direct -appropriation of the Gospel-heart of Christ. Christ and the heart of -Christ were with the mediaeval saints; and yet the emotions as well as -thoughts through which they turned to Him received their form from -patristic Christianity. - -Religious art plainly tells the story. Let one call to mind the character -of its achievements in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries. That was -the period following the recognition of Christianity as the religion of -the Roman Empire. Everywhere basilicas arose.[423] Some of them may be -seen in Rome, in Ravenna, in Constantinople. They still contain many of -the mural mosaics which were their glory. Numberless artists laboured in -the composition of those stately church decorations. There was a need, -unprecedented and never afterwards paralleled, of creative composition. -Spacious surfaces were to be covered with prefigurative scenes from the -Old Testament, with scenes from the life of Christ on earth, and -representations of His apocalyptic triumph in the Resurrection. They had -all to be composed without aid from previous designs, for there were none. -The artists had need to be as constructive as the Church Fathers, who -through the same period were perfecting the formulation of the Faith. They -succeeded grandly, setting forth the subjects they were told to execute, -in noble, balanced, and decorative compositions, which presented the facts -and tenets of the Faith strikingly and correctly. Stylistically, these -great church mosaics belonged to antique art. What did they lack? Merely -the human, veritably tragic, qualities of love and fear and pity, which -had not yet come. Like the dogmatic system, this mosaic presentation was -too recently composed. Its subjects were not yet humanized through -centuries of contemplation, reverence, and love.[424] - -Many of the early compositions, repeated from century to century, in time -were humanized and transformed with feeling. But this was not in the -seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, when art was but a decadent and -barbarized survival of the antique Christian manner, nor in the tenth and -eleventh. One may note also that the mediaeval expression of Christian -emotion was beginning in religious literature. This came with fulness in -the twelfth century, and along with it the emotionalizing, the veritable -humanizing, of religious art began. Yet the artists of western Europe -still lacked the skill requisite for delicate execution. A marked advance -came in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. That was the great period -of Gothic architecture; and in the sculpture on the French cathedrals, -stone seems to live and feel. The prophetic figures from the Old -Testament, the scenes of man's redemption and final judgment, are -humanized with love and terror. Moreover, the sculptor surrounds them with -the myriad subsidiary detail of mortal life and changing beauty, showing -how closely they are knit to every human love and interest. - -In Italy a like story is told in a different manner. There is sculpture, -but there also is mosaic, and above all there is and will be fresco. -Before the end of the thirteenth century, Giotto was busy with his new -dramatic art; no need to tell what power of human feeling filled the -works of that chief of painters and his school. The hard materials of the -mosaicist were also made to render emotion. If one will note the mosaics -along the nave in Santa Maria Maggiore, belonging to the fifth century, -and then turn to the mosaics of the Coronation of the Virgin in the apse, -or cross the Tiber and look at those in the lower zone of the apse of -Santa Maria in Trastevere, which tell the Virgin's story, he will see the -change which was bringing love and sweetness into the stiff mosaic medium. -Torriti executed the former in 1295; and the latter with their gentler -feeling were made by Giotto's pupil, Cavallini, in 1351. The art is still -as correct and true and orthodox as in the fifth century. It conforms to -Latin Christianity in the choice of topics and the manner of presenting -them, and drapes its human emotions around conceptions which the patristic -period formed and delivered to the Middle Ages. Thus, in full measure, it -has taken to itself the emotional qualities of the mediaeval -transformation of Latin Christianity, and is filled with a love and tears -and pity, which were not in the old Christian mosaics. - -Quite analogous to the emotionalizing of Christian art is the example -afforded by the evolution of the Latin hymn. The earliest extant Latin -hymns are those of St. Ambrose, written in iambic dimeters. Antique in -phrase as in metre, they are also trenchantly correct in doctrine, as -behoved the compositions of the great Archbishop of Milan who commanded -the forces of orthodoxy in the Arian conflict. They were sung in anxious -seasons. Yet these dignified and noble hymns are no emotional outpour -either of anxiety or adoration. Such feeling as they carry lies in their -strength of trust in God and in the power of conviction of their stately -orthodoxy. - -Between the death of Ambrose and the tenth century, Latin hymns gradually -substituted accent in the place of metrical quantity, as the dominant -principle of their rhythm. With this partial change there seems to come -increase of feeling. The - - "Jesu nostra redemptio, - Amor et desiderium." - -of the seventh century is different from the - - "Te diligat castus amor, - Te mens adoret sobria" - -of Ambrose.[425] And the famous pilgrim chant of the tenth century, "O -Roma nobilis, orbis et domina," has the strength of long-deepening -emotion.[426] - -These hymns have but dropped the constraint of metre. Religious passion -had not yet proved its creative power, and the new verse-forms with their -mighty rhyme, fit to voice the accumulated emotions of the Liturgy, were -not in existence. The eleventh and twelfth centuries witnessed the -strophic evolution of the Latin hymn, in which feeling, joined with art, -at last perfected line and stanza and the passionate phrases filling -them.[427] Yet nothing could be more orthodox than the Latin hymn -throughout its course of development. Its function was liturgical. It was -correct in doctrinal expressions, and followed in every way the -authoritative teachings of the Church; its symbolism was derived from the -works of learned doctors; and its feeling took form from the tenets of -Latin Christianity. The _Dies Irae_ and the _Stabat Mater_ yield evidence -of this.[428] - -From the religious phases of mediaeval emotion, one may pass to modes of -feeling which were secular and human. The antecedents were again the -racial traits of the peoples who were to become mediaeval; the formative -influences still are Christianity and the profane antique culture. The -racial traits show clearest in vernacular compositions, some of which may -carry fervent feeling, such as enkindles the Crusader's song of _Hartmann -von Aue_: - - "Min frouede wart nie sorgelos - Unz an die tage - Daz ich mir Kristes bluomen kos - Die ich hie trage. - Die kundent eine sumerzit, - Die also gar - In suezer augenweide lit; - Got helfe uns dar. - - "Mich hat diu werlt also gewent (gewoehnt), - Daz mir der muot - Sich z'einer maze nach ir sent: - Dest mir nu guot. - Got hat vil wol ze mir getan, - Als ez nu stat, - Daz ich der sorgen bin erlan - Diu manegen hat - Gebunden an den fuoz, - Daz er beliben muoz - Swenn' ich in Kristes schar - Mit froeuden wuenneclichen var."[429] - -The secular emotional development was connected with the religious. It was -stimulated by the deepening of emotional capacity caused by Christianity, -and was not unrelated to the Christian love of God, the place of which was -taken, in secular mediaeval passion, by an idealizing, but carnal, love of -woman; and instead of the terror-stricken piety which accompanied the -Christian's love for his Maker and his Judge, the heart was glad and the -temper open to every joy, while also subject to the fears and hates which -spring up among men of mortal passions. - -In the romantic and utter abandonment required of its votaries, this -earthly love may well have drawn suggestion from that boundless love of -God which had superseded the Greek precept of "nothing in excess," -teaching instead that no limit should be set on what was absolutely good. -The principle of love unrestrained was thus inaugurated, and did not -always turn to God. Ardent natures who felt love's power, might hold it as -the supreme arbiter and law of life, and the giver of strength and virtue. -These thoughts will shape the tale of Lancelot and myriad poems besides. -They also may be found incarnate in the living instance: the heart of -Heloise held a passion for her human master which she recognized as her -highest law. It was such a passion as she would hardly have conceived but -for the existence of like categories of devotion to the Christian God. Not -in her nature alone, but through many Christian generations whereof she -was the fruit, there had gone on a continual enhancement of capacities of -feeling, for which she was a greater woman when she grew to womanhood and -felt its passion. Through such heightening of her powers of loving, and -through the suggestiveness of the Christian love of God, she could -conceive and feel a like absolute devotion to a man.[430] - -There were, moreover, partially humanized stages in which the love of God -was affiliated with loves of mortal hue. Many a mediaeval woman felt a -passionate love for the spiritual Bridegroom. Its expression, its -suggestions, its training, might transmit power and passion to the love of -very mortal men: while from the worship of the Blessed Virgin expressions -of passionate devotion might pass over into poems telling man's love of -woman. And what reaches of passion might not the Song of Songs suggest, -although that imagined bridal of the Soul was never deemed a song of human -love?[431] - - - - -BOOK III - -THE IDEAL AND THE ACTUAL: THE SAINTS - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE REFORMS OF MONASTICISM - - MEDIAEVAL EXTREMES; BENEDICT OF ANIANE; CLUNY; Citeaux's _Charta - Charitatis_; THE _Vita Contemplativa_ ACCEPTS THE _Vita Activa_ - - -The present Book and the following will set forth the higher -manifestations of the religious energies of the Middle Ages, and then the -counter ideals which knights and ladies delighted to contemplate, and -sometimes strove to reach. In religious as well as mundane life, ideals -admired and striven for constitute human facts, make part of the human -story, quite as veritably as the spotted actuality everywhere in evidence. -The tale of piety is to be gathered from those efforts of the religious -purpose which almost attain their ideal; while as a comment on them, and a -foil and contrast, the deflections of human frailty may be observed. -Likewise the full reality of chivalry lies in its ideals, supplemented by -the illuminating contrast of failure and oppression, making what we may -call its actuality. The emotional element, reviewed in the last chapter, -will for the time be dominant. - - * * * * * - -Practice always drops below the ethical standards of a period. The -contrast appears in the history of Greece and Rome. Yet in neither Greece -nor Rome could there exist the abysms of contradiction which disclose -themselves after the conversion of western Europe to the religion of -Christ. - -And for the following reasons. Greek and Roman standards were finite; they -regarded only the mortal happiness of the individual and the terrestrial -welfare of the State. To Greek thought the indefinite or limitless was as -the monstrous and unformed; and therefore abhorrent to the classic ideals -of perfection. Again, Greek and Roman standards demanded only what Greek -and Roman humanity could fulfil in the mortal life of earth. But the -Christian ideal of conduct assumes the universal imperfection and infinite -perfectibility of man. It has constant regard to immortality, and eternity -is needed for its fulfilment. Moreover, whether or not Christ's Gospel set -forth any inherent antagonism between the fulness of mortal life and the -sure attainment of heaven, its historical interpretations have never -effected a complete reconcilement. They have always presented a conflict -between the finite and the eternal, unconceived and unsuspected by the -pagan ethics of Greece and Rome. - -This conflict dawned in the Apostolic age. During the patristic period it -worked itself out to a formulated opposition between the world and the -City of God. Of this, monasticism was the chief expression. Nevertheless, -pagan principle and feeling lived on in the reasonings and characters of -the Church Fathers. The Roman qualities in Ambrose, the general survival -of antique greatness in Augustine, preserved them from the rhetorical -hysteria of Jerome and the exaggeration of phrase which affects the -writings of Gregory the Great.[432] With the decadence preceding, and the -confusion following, the Carolingian period, antique qualities passed -away; and when men began again to think and feel constructively, there -remained no antique poise to restrain the strife of those mighty -opposites--the joys of life and the terrors of the Judgment Day. - -This conflict, inherent in mediaeval Christianity, was in part a struggle -between temporal desires which many men approved, and their renunciation -for eternal joy. From this point of view it was a conflict of ideals, -though, to be sure, life's common cravings were on one side, and often -unideally turned the scale. We are not immediately concerned, however, -with this conflict of ideals; but with the contrasts presented between -the actual and the ideal, between conduct and the principles which should -have controlled it. The opposition between this life and eternity is -mentioned in order to make clear the tremendous demands of the Christian -ethical ideal, and the unlikelihood of its fulfilment by mediaeval -humanity. So one may perceive a reason why the Middle Ages were to show -such extremes of contrast between principles and practices. The standards -recognized as holiest countered the natural lives of men; and for that -reason could be lived up to only under transient spiritual enthusiasm or -by exceptional people. Monasticism held the highest ideals of Christian -living, and its story illustrates the continual falling away of conduct -from the recognized ideal. - -Without regard to the contrast between the ideal and the actual, the -Middle Ages were a period of extremes--of extreme humility and love as -well as cruelty and hate. Such extremes may be traceable to a certain -unlimited quality in Christian principles, according to which no man could -have too much humility or Christian love, or could too strenuously combat -the enemies of Christ. To be sure, an all-proportioning principle of -conduct lay in man's love of God, answering to God's love which -encompassed all His creatures. But such proportionment is difficult for -simple minds, and many of the extremes which meet us in the Middle Ages -were directly due to the simplicity with which mediaeval men and women -carried out such Christian precepts as they were taken with, in disregard -of all else that commonly balances and conventionalizes human lives. - -For this reason also the Middle Ages are picturesque and poetic. Nothing -could be more picturesque and more like a poem than the simple -absoluteness with which St. Francis interpreted and lived out his Lord's -principle of love, and made universal application of his Lord's injunction -to the rich young man, to go and sell his goods and give to the poor, and -then come follow Him. This particular solution of the problem of God's -service was taken by Francis, and by many another, as of general -application, and was literally carried out; just as Francis with -exquisite simplicity carried out other precepts of his Lord in a way that -would be foolishness were it not so beautiful. - -There was no contrast between conduct and principle in the life of -Francis; and in other men conduct might agree with such principles as they -understood. Many a rustic layman, many a good knight, fulfilled the -standards of his calling. Many a parish priest did his whole duty, as he -thought it. And many a monk and nun lived up to their monastic _regula_, -if indeed never satisfying the inner yearning of the soul unquenchably -striving for perfection. Indeed, for the monk ever to have been satisfied -with himself would have meant a fall from humility to vainglory. - -The precepts of the Gospel were for every man and woman. Nevertheless, the -same rules of living did not apply to all. In this regard, mediaeval -society falls into the two general divisions of clergy and laity, meaning -by the former all persons making special profession of religion or engaged -in the service of the Church.[433] This would include anchorites and monks -(also the _conversi_[434] or lay-brethren) and the secular clergy from the -rank of bishop downward. To such (excepting seculars below the grade of -sub-deacon) the rule of celibacy applied, as well as other ascetic -precepts dependent on the vows they had taken or the regulations under -which they lived. Conversely, certain rules like those relating to the -conduct of man and wife would touch the laity alone. - -A general similarity of principle pervaded the rules of conduct applying -to all orders of the clergy, secular and regular.[435] Yet there was a -difference in the severity of the rules and the stringency of their -application. The mediaeval code of religious ethics applied in its utter -strenuousness only to monks and nuns. They alone had seriously undertaken -to obey the Gospel precept, _esto perfecti_; and they alone could be -regarded as living the life of complete Christian militancy against the -world, the flesh, and the devil. The trials, that is to say the -temptations, of this warfare could be fully known only to the monk. -"Tentatio," says Caesar of Heisterbach, "est militia," _i.e._ warfare; it -is possible only for those who live humanly and rationally, after the -spirit, which is to say, as monks; "the seculars (_i.e._ the clergy who -were not monks) and the carnal (_i.e._ the laity) who walk according to -the flesh, are improperly said to be tempted; for as soon as they feel the -temptation they consent, or resist lukewarmly, like the horse and the mule -who have no understanding."[436] - -We have spoken of the inception of monasticism, and of its early -motives,[437] which included the fear of hell, the love of Christ, and the -conviction of the antagonism between pleasure and that service which opens -heaven's gates. Such sentiments were likely to develop and expand. The -fear of hell might be inflamed and made visible by the same imagination -that festered over the carnality of pleasure; the heart could impassion -and extend the love of Christ through humanity's full capacity for loving -what was holiest and most lovable; and the mind could attain to an -overmastering conviction of the incompatibility of pleasure with absolute -devotion. Through the Middle Ages these motives developed and grew -together, until they made a mode of life, and fashioned human characters -into accord with it. Century after century the lives of thousands -fulfilled the monastic spirit, and often so perfectly as to belie -humanity's repute for frailty. Their virtues shunned encomium. Record was -made of those whose mind and energy organized and wrought, or whose piety -and love of God burned so hotly that others were enkindled. But legion -upon legion of tacit lives are registered only in the Book with seven -seals. - -Monastic abuses have usually spoken more loudly than monastic regularity. -In Christian monasticism there is an energy of renovation which constantly -cries against corruption. Its invective reaches us from all the mediaeval -centuries; while monastic regularity has more commonly been unreported. It -is well to bear this in mind when reading of monastic vice. It always -existed, and judging from the fiery denunciations which it awakened, it -was often widely prevalent. In fact, the monastic life required such love -of God or fear of hell, such renunciation of this world, its ambitions, -its lusts and its lures, that monks were likely to fall below the -prescribed standards, and then quickly into all manner of sin, from lack -of the restraints, or outlets, of secular life. - -Consequently the most patent history of monasticism is the history of its -attempts to reform and renew itself. Its heroes come before us as -reformers or refounders, whose endeavour is to reinstitute the perfect -way, impassion men anew to follow it, by added precepts discipline them -for its long ascents, and so occupy them in the practice of its virtues -that all distracting impulses shall perish. Their apparent endeavour (at -least until the day of Francis of Assisi) is to renew a life from which -their contemporaries have fallen away. And yet through all there was -unconscious innovation and progress. - -The greater part of the fervent piety of the Middle Ages dwelt in -cloisters, when not drawn forth unwillingly to serve the Lord in the -world. Mediaeval saints were, or yearned to be, monks or nuns. -Consequently monastic reforms, as well as attempts to raise the condition -of the secular clergy, emanated from within monasticism. Its own rules of -living had been set from within by Benedict of Nursia, and others who were -monks. There was much irregularity at first; but the seventh and eighth -centuries witnessed the conflict between different types of monastic -organization, and then the general victory of the Benedictine _regula_. -This was also a victory for monastic reform; for moral looseness, -accompanied by heathenish irregularities, easily penetrated cloisters when -not protected by a common and authoritative rule. As it was, the energy of -Benedictine uniformity seemed exhausted in the contest. - -But a Benedictine refounder arose. This was the high-born Witiza of -Aquitaine, the ascetic virtuosity of whose early life had won him repute. -Assuming the name of Benedict, he established a monastery on the bank of -the little Aniane, in Aquitaine, in the year 779. His foundation -flourished in righteousness and increased in numbers, till it drew the -attention of Alcuin and Charlemagne to its abbot. Benedict was given the -task of reforming the monasteries of Aquitaine. Afterwards Louis the Pious -extended his authority; till in 817 a reforming synod, over which he -presided, was held at Aix, and the king's authority was attached to its -decrees. All Frankish monasteries were therein commanded to observe the -_regula_ of Benedict of Nursia, with many further precepts set by him of -Aniane, aggravating the severity of the older rule; for example, by -enforcing a more rigid silence among the monks when at labour, and -restricting their intercourse with the laity. Great stress was laid upon -the labours of the field. There was little novelty in the work of this -reorganizer, with his consistent ascetic contempt for profane literature. -His labours were typical of those of many a monastic reformer after him, -who likewise sought to re-establish the strictness of the old Benedictine -rule, and in fact added to its austerities. - -The next example of reform is Cluny, founded in the year 910. Its cloister -discipline followed the _regula_ of Benedict with the additions decreed by -the synod of Aix. Under Odo (d. 942) Majolus (d. 994) and Odilo (d. 1048) -it rose to unprecedented power and influence. Mainly because of the -winning and commanding qualities of its abbots, it received the support of -kings and popes; its authority and privileges were increased, until it -became the head of more than three hundred cloisters distributed through -France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. In ecclesiastical policy it stood for -decency and reform, but without giving extreme support to either emperor -or pope. Balance and temperance characterized its career. It was a -monastic organization which by precept and example, and by the wide -supervising powers it received from the papacy and from temporal -authorities, promoted regularity and propriety of life among monks, and -also among the secular clergy. The "reforms of Cluny" do not represent any -specific intensifying of monastic principles, but rather the general -endeavour of the better elements in Burgundian and French monasticism to -overcome the crass secularization of the Church, within and without the -cloister. Cluny's influence told generally against monastic degradation, -rather than in favour of any special ascetic or ecclesiastic policy. The -prevailing simony, the clerical concubinage, the rough and warlike ways of -bishops and abbots were all corruptions standing in the way of any -monastic or ecclesiastical improvement; and Cluny opposed them, in -moderation however, and with considerable acquiescence in the apparently -necessary conditions of the time.[438] - -After the comparative strictness of its first abbots, Cluny's discipline -moderated almost to laxity; and the interests of the rich and magnificent -monastery became elegant and somewhat secular. It still maintained -monastic decencies while not going beyond their demands. Its face was no -longer set against comfortable living, nor against art and letters. And -the time came when fervent spirits demanded a more uncompromising attack -upon the world and the flesh. - -Such came from Citeaux (near Dijon), where a few monks founded a -struggling monastery in 1098. Its fortunes were small and feeble until the -time of its third abbot, the Englishman, Stephen Harding (1109-1134), -whose genius set the lines of Citeaux's larger destinies. Her great period -began when, shortly after Harding's entrance on his abbacy, there arrived -a band of well-born youths, led by one Bernard. Then of a truth the -cloister burned with ardour. Its numbers grew, and Bernard was sent with a -Cistercian band to found a daughter monastery at Clairvaux (1115). - -Like Stephen Harding, Bernard was an ascetic, and the Cistercian Order -represents a stern tightening of the reins which Cluny left lying somewhat -slackly upon the backs of her stall-fed monks.[439] Controversies arose -between the Cluniac Benedictines and the Cistercian Benedictines insisting -on a stricter rule. Bernard himself entered into heated controversy with -that great temperate personality of the twelfth century, Peter the -Venerable, Cluny's revered lord. - -The original _regula_ of Benedict provided an admirable constitution for -the single monastery, but no plan for the supervision of one monastery by -another. The mediaeval advance in monastic organization consisted in the -authoritative supervision of subordinate or "daughter" foundations by the -superior or primal monastery of the Order. The Abbot of Cluny exercised -such authority over Cluniac foundations, as well as over monasteries -which, at the instance of the secular lord of the land, had been -reorganized by Cluny. - -The Cistercian Order represents a less monarchical, or more decentralized -subordination, on a plan similar to the feudal principle of -sub-infeudation, whereby the holder of the fief owed his duties to his -immediate lord, who in turn owed duties to his own lord, still above him. -Thus in the Cistercian Order the visitatorial authority over each -foundation was vested in the immediate mother abbey, rather than in the -primal abbey of Citeaux, from which the intervening mother abbey had gone -forth. - -This plan was formulated by Stephen Harding's _Charta Charitatis_,[440] -the charter of the Cistercian Order and a monument of constructive genius. -Apparently mindful of the various privileges recognized by the feudal -system, it begins by renouncing on the part of the superior monastery all -claim to temporal emolument from the daughter foundations: "Nullam -terrenae commoditatis seu rerum temporalium exactionem imponimus." "But -for love's sake (_gratia-charitatis_) we desire to retain the care of -their souls; so that should they swerve from the holy way and the -observance of the Holy Rule, they may through our solicitude return to -rectitude of life." - -Then follows the command that all Cistercian foundations obey implicitly -the _regula_ of Benedict, as understood and practised at Citeaux, and that -all follow the customs of Citeaux, and the same forms of chant and prayer -and service (for we receive their monks in our cloister, and they ours), -"so that without discordant actions we may live by one love, one rule, and -like practices (_una charitate, una regula, similibusque vivamus -moribus_)." A short sentence follows, forbidding all monasteries and -individual monks to accept from any source any privilege inconsistent with -the customs of the Order. - -So the _Charta_ enjoined a uniformity of discipline. Wise and temperate -provision was made for the enforcement of the same when necessary by the -immediate parent monastery of the delinquent foundation. "Whenever the -Abbot of Citeaux comes to a monastery to visit it, its abbot shall make -way for him, and he shall there hold the office of abbot. Yet let him not -presume to order or conduct affairs against the wishes of its abbot and -the brethren. But if he sees that the precepts of the _Regula_ or of our -Order are transgressed, let him seek to correct the brethren with the -advice and in the presence of the abbot. If the abbot be absent, he may -still proceed." Once a year the Abbot of Citeaux, in person or through one -of his co-abbots, must visit all the monasteries (coenobia) which he has -founded, and if more often, the brethren should the more rejoice. Likewise -must the four primary abbots of La Ferte, Pontigny, Clairvaux, and -Morimond, together visit Citeaux once a year, at such time as they may -choose, except that set for the annual meeting of the general Chapter. At -Citeaux also, let any visiting abbot be treated as if he were abbot there. - - "Whenever any of our churches (monasteries) by God's grace so - increases that it is able to found another brotherhood, let the same - relationship (_definitio_) obtain between them which obtains between - us and our _cofratres_, except that they may not hold an annual - Chapter; but rather let all abbots come without fail every year to the - annual Chapter at Citeaux. - - "At which Chapter let them take measures for the safety of their - souls; if in the observance of the holy _Regula_ or the Order, - anything should be amended or supplemented, let them ordain it; let - them re-establish the bond of peace and love among themselves." - -The annual Chapter is also given authority to correct any abbot and settle -controversies between abbots; but when an abbot appears unworthy of his -charge, and the Chapter has not acted, it is the duty of the abbot of his -mother church to admonish him, and, upon his obduracy, summon other abbots -and move for his deposition. Thus the _Charta Charitatis_ apportioned -authority among the abbots of the Order, providing, as it were, a mutual -power of enforcement in which every abbot had part. One notices also that -the _Charta_ is neither monarchical nor democratic, but aristocratic; for -the abbots (not the Abbot of Citeaux alone) manage and control the Order, -and without any representation of the monks at the annual Chapter.[441] -The _Charta Charitatis_ seems a spiritual mirror of the feudal system. - -Mediaeval monasticism, whether cloistered or sent forth into the world, -was predominantly coenobitic or communal. Yet through the Middle Ages the -anchorite or hermit way of life was not unrepresented. Both monk and -hermit existed from the beginning of Christian monasticism; they -recognized the same purpose, but employed different means to achieve it. -For their common aim was to merit the kingdom of heaven through the -suppression of sense-desires and devotion to spiritual righteousness. But -the communal system recognized the social nature of man, his essential -weakness in isolation, and his inability to satisfy his bodily wants by -himself. Thus admitting the human need of fellowship and correction, it -deemed that man's spiritual progress could be best advanced in a way of -life which took account of these facts. On the other hand, anchoritism -looked rather to man's self-sufficiency alone with God--and the devil. It -held that man could best conquer his carnal nature in solitude, and in -solitude best meditate upon his soul and God. The society of one's -fellows, even though they be likeminded, is a distraction and a hindrance. -Obviously, the devoted temper has its variants; and some souls will draw -from solitude that strength which others gain from support and sympathy. - -Both the coenobitic and the hermit life were, from the time of their -inception, phases of the _vita contemplativa_. Yet more active duties had -constantly been recognized, until at last monasticism, in an ardour of -love for fellow-men, broke from the cloister and went abroad in the steps -of Francis and Dominic. Even this active and uncloistered monasticism drew -its strength from its hidden meditation, and, strengthened from within -itself, entered upon the _vita activa_, and practised among men the -virtues which it had acquired through contemplation and the quiet -discipline of the cloister. So if we people of the world would have -understanding of the matter, we must never forget that at its source and -in its essence the monastic life is a _vita contemplativa_, whether the -monastic man, as a member of a fervent community, be sustained through the -support of his brethren and the counsel or command of his superior, or -whether, as an anchorite, he seclude himself in solitude. And the essence -of this _vita contemplativa_ is not to do or act, but to contemplate, -meditate upon God and the human soul. By one line of ancestry it is a -descendant of Aristotle's [Greek: bios theoretikos]. But its mightier -parent was the Saviour's manifestation of God's love of man and man's love -of God. From this source came the emotional elements (and they were the -predominant and overwhelming) of the Christian _vita contemplativa_, its -terror and despair, its tears and hope, and its yearning love. Through -these any Hellenic calm was transformed to storm-tossed Christian ecstasy. - -Monastic quietism might at any time be drafted into Christian militancy. -In the crises of the Church, or when there was call to go forth and -convert the heathen or the carnal, both monk and hermit became zealots in -the world. Yet important and frequent as these active functions were, they -were not commanded by the Benedictine _regula_, either in its original -form or in its many modifications, Cluniac, Cistercian, or Carthusian; -hence they were not treated as part of the monastic life. There was to -come a change. The _vita contemplativa_ was to take to itself the _vita -activa_ as a regular and not an occasional function of perfect Christian -piety. An evangelization of monasticism, according to the more active -spirit of the Gospel, was at hand. The monastic ideal was to become humane -and actively loving. In principle and theory, as well as practice, -Christian piety was no longer to find its entire end and aim in -contemplation, in asceticism, in purity: it was _regularly_ henceforth to -occupy itself with a loving beneficence among men. - -Some of the ardent beginnings of this movement did not receive the -sanction of the Church. The Poor of Lyons, the Humbled Folk (_Humiliati_) -of Lombardy, the Beghards of Liege, were pronounced to be heretics. -Predominantly lay and ecclesiastically somewhat bizarre, they were -scarcely monks. Yet these irregular evangelists of the latter part of the -twelfth century were forerunners of that chief evangelizer of Monasticism, -Francis of Assisi.[442] - -The life of Francis, as all men know, fulfilled the current demands of -monasticism. He lived and taught obedience, chastity, humility, and a more -absolute poverty than had been before conceived. With respect to the first -three virtues, it was only through his loving way of living them that -Francis set anything new before his brethren. As for the last, it may be -said that monks had always been forbidden to own property; only the -monastery or the Order might. Francis's absolute acceptance of poverty -comes to us as inspired by the command of Christ to the rich young man: Go -and sell all, and give to the poor, and then come follow me. But had no -Christian soul read this before and accepted it absolutely? The Athanasian -Life of St. Anthony, at the very beginning of Christian monasticism, has -the same account; he too gave up all he had on reading this passage. But -then he fled to the desert, while Francis, when he had given up all, -opened his arms to mankind. In accordance with his brotherly and social -evangelization of monasticism, Francis modified certain of its practices. -He removed restrictions upon intercourse among the brethren, and took away -the barriers, save those of holiness, between the brethren and the world. -Then he lifted the veil of silence from the brethren's lips. They should -thenceforth speak freely, in love of God and man. So monasticism stepped -forth, at last uncloistered, upon its course of love and teaching in the -world. - -In spite of the temperamental differences between Francis and Dominic, and -in spite of the different tasks which they set before their Orders, the -analogy between Franciscans and Dominicans was fundamental; for the -latter, as well as the former, regularly undertook to evoke the _vita -activa_ from the _vita contemplativa_. The Dominicans were to preach and -teach true Christian doctrine, and as veritable _Domini canes_ destroy the -wolves of heresy menacing the Christian fold. - -Dominic received from Pope Honorius III., in 1217, the confirmation of his -Order, as an Order of Canons according to the _Regula_ supposed to have -been taught by Augustine. The Preaching Friars were never cloistered by -their _regula_, any more than were the Minorites. Two or three years -later, Dominic added, or emphasized anew, the principle of voluntary -poverty, not only in the individuals but in the Order as a corporate -whole. Whencesoever he derived this idea--whether from the Franciscans, or -because it was rife among men--at all events it was not his originally; -for Dominic had accepted at an earlier period the one-sixth of the -revenues of the Bishop of Toulouse. This he now renounced, and instead -accepted voluntary poverty. - -It was not given to Dominic to love as Francis loved. Nor was he an -incarnate poem. But it was in the spirit of Christian devotion that he -undertook and laid upon his Order the performance of active duties in the -world, especially of preaching true doctrines for the salvation of souls. -Dominic took no personal part in the Albigensian blood-shedding; and he -was not the founder of the Inquisition, although his Order was so soon to -be identified with it. He was a theologian, a teacher, and an ardent -preacher; a devoted man, given to tears. Almost the only words we have -from him are those of his Testament: "Caritatem habete, humilitatem -servate, paupertatem voluntariam possedete."[443] - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -THE HERMIT TEMPER - - PETER DAMIANI; ROMUALD; DOMINICUS LORICATUS; BRUNO AND GUIGO, - CARTHUSIANS - - -To contemplate goodness in God, and strain toward it in yearning love, is -the method of the Christian _vita contemplativa_. In this way the recluse -cultivates humility, patience, purity, and love, and perfects his soul for -heaven. And herein, in that it is more undistracted and more undisturbed, -lies the superiority of the solitary life over the coenobitic. - -Yet this conceived superiority is but the reason and the conscious motive -for the solitary life. The call to it is felt as well as intellectually -accepted. It is temperament that makes the recluse; his reasons are but -his justification. In solitude he lives the reaches of his life; from -solitude he draws his utmost bliss. To leave it involves the torture of -separation, and then all the petty pains of unhappy labour and distasteful -intercourse with men. "Whoever would reach the summit of perfection should -keep within the cloister of his seclusion, cherish spiritual leisure, and -shudder at traversing the world, as if he were about to plunge into a sea -of blood. For the world is so filthy with vices, that any holy mind is -befouled even by thinking about it."[444] - -Here speaks the hermit temper, by the mouth of a supreme exponent. If -Hildebrand, who compelled all men to his purposes, kept Peter Damiani in -the world, that ascetic soul did not cease to yearn for the hermit life. -His skilful pen served it untiringly. Its temper, its merits, and its -grounds, appear with unique clarity in the writings of him who, sore -against his will, was the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia.[445] - - "The solitary life is the school of celestial doctrine and the divine - arts (_artes divinae_)," says Damiani, meaning every word. "For there - God is the whole that is learned. He is also the way by which one - advances, through which one attains knowledge of the sum of - truth."[446] To obtain its benefits, it must be led assiduously and - without break or wandering abroad among men: "Habit makes his cell - sweet to the monk, but roving makes it seem horrible.... The unbroken - hermit life is a cooling refreshment (_refrigerium_); but, if - interrupted, it seems a torment. Through continued seclusion the soul - is illuminated, vices are uncovered, and whatever of himself had been - hidden from the man, is disclosed."[447] - -Peter argues that the hermit life is free from temptations (!) and offers -every aid to victory. - - "The wise man, bent on safeguarding his salvation, watches always to - destroy his vices; he girds his loins--and his belly--with the girdle - of perfect mortification. Truly that takes place when the itching - palate is suppressed, when the pert tongue is held in silence, the ear - is shut off from distractions and the eye from unpermitted sights; - when the hand is held from cruel striking, and the foot from vainly - roving; when the heart is withstood, that it may not envy another's - felicity, nor through avarice covet what is not its own, nor through - anger sever itself from fraternal love, nor vaunt itself arrogantly - above its fellows, nor yield to the ticklings of lust, nor - immoderately sink itself in grief or abandon itself wantonly to joy. - Since, then, the human mind has not the power to remain entirely - empty, and unoccupied with the love of something, it is girt around - with a wall of the virtues. - - "In this way, then, our mind begins to be at rest in its Author and to - taste the sweetness of that intimacy. At once it rejects whatever it - deems contrary to the divine law, shrinks from what does not agree - with the rule of supernal righteousness. Hence true mortification is - born; hence it comes that man kissing the Cross of his Redeemer seems - dead to the world. No longer he delights in silly fables, nor is - content to waste his time with idle talk. But he is free for psalms - and hymns and spiritual songs; he seeks seclusion, he longs for a - hiding-place; he avoids the monastery's conversation-rooms and - rejoices in nooks and corners; and that he may the more freely attend - to the contemplation of his Creator, so far as he may he declines - colloquy with men."[448] - - "In fine," says Damiani, in another treatise, "our entire conversion, - and renunciation of the world, aims at nothing else than rest. This - rest is won through the man's prior discipline in the toils of strife, - in order that when the tumult of disturbance ceases, his mind, through - the grace of contemplation, may be translated to gaze upon the face of - truth. But since one attains to this rest only through labour and - conflict, how can one reach it who has not gone down into the strife? - By what right can one enter the halls of the King who has not - traversed the arena before the doors?"[449] - - "It further behoves each brother who with his whole heart has - abandoned the world, to unlearn and forget forever whatever is - injurious. He should not be disputatious as to cookery, nor clever in - the petty matters of the town; nor an adept in rhetoric's jinglings, - or in jokes or wordplay. He should love fasts and cherish penury; he - should flee the sight of man, restrain himself under the censorship of - silence, withdraw from affairs, keep his mouth from idle talk, and - seek the hiding-place of his soul, and in such hiding be on fire to - see the face of his Creator. Let him pant for tears, and implore God - for them by daily prayer." - -With this last sentence Damiani makes his transition to the emotional side -of the Christian _vita contemplativa_. He will now pour himself out in a -rhapsody of praise of tears, which purify and refresh the soul, and open -it to the love of God. - - "From the fire of divine love rises the grace of contrition (_gratia - compunctionis_), and again from the contrition of tears (_ex - compunctione lacrymarum_) the ardour of celestial yearning is - increased. The one hangs from the other, and each promotes the other; - while the contrition of tears flows from the love of God, through - tears again our soul burns more fervidly toward the love of God. In - this reciprocal and alternating action, the soul is purged of the - filth of its offence."[450] - -Elsewhere Damiani suggests how the hermit may acquire the "grace of -tears": - - "Seclude thyself from the turmoil of secular affairs and often even - from talk with thy brethren. Cut off the cares and anxieties of - mundane action; clear them away as a heap of rubbish which stops the - fountain's flow. As water in a cavern of the earth wells up from the - abyss, so sadness (_tristitia_) wells in a human heart from - contemplation of the profundity of God's Judgment, and yet will not - flow forth in tears if checked by the clods of earthly hindrance. - Sadness is the material of tears. But in order that the veins of this - fount may flow more abundantly, do thou clear away all obstacles of - secular business--and other matters also, as I know from experience. - Even spiritual zeal in the punishment of delinquents, and the labour - of preaching, and like matters, holy as they are and commanded by - divine authority, nevertheless are certainly obstacles to tears. - - "So if you would attain the grace of tears, you must even curb the - exercise of spiritual duties, eliminate malice, anger, and hatred, and - the other pests from your heart. And do not let your own accusing - conscience dry up the dew of tears with the aridity of fear. Indeed - the confidence of holiness (_sanctitatis fiducia_) and a conscience - bearing witness to its own innocence, waters the pure soul with the - celestial rivulets of grace, softens the hardness of the impure heart, - and opens the floodgates of weeping."[451] - - "Many are the ways," says Damiani in words sounding like a final - reflection upon the solitary life--"many are the ways by which one - comes to God; diverse are the orders in the society of the faithful; - but among them all there is no way so straight, so sure, so unimpeded, - so free from obstacles which trip one's feet, as this holy life. It - eliminates occasions for sin; it cultivates the greatest number of - virtues by which God may be pleased; and thus, as it removes the - opportunities of delinquency, it lays upon good conduct the added - strength of necessity's insistence."[452] - -Peter Damiani, exiled from solitude, found no task more grateful than that -of writing the Life of his older contemporary, St. Romualdus, the founder -of Camaldoli and other hermit communities in Italy. That man had -completely lived the life from which the Church's exigencies dragged his -biographer. Peter put himself, as well as his best literary powers, into -this _Vita Romualdi_, and made it one of the most vivid of mediaeval -_Vitae sanctorum_. If Romuald was a hermit in the flesh, Damiani had the -imagination to make the hermit spirit speak.[453] - - "Against thee, unclean world, we cry, that thou hast an intolerable - crowd of the foolish wise, eloquent as regards thee, mute as to God. - Wise are they to do evil; they know not how to do good. For behold - almost three _lustra_[454] have passed since the blessed Romualdus, - laying aside the burden of flesh, migrated to the heavenly realm, and - no one has arisen from these wise people to place upon the page of - history even a few of the lessons of that wonderful life." - -The tone of this prologue suggests the kind of lessons found by the -biographer in the Life of Romuald. He was born of an illustrious Ravenna -family about the year 950. In youth his devout mind became conscious of -the sinfulness of the flesh. Whenever he went hunting, as was his wont, -and would come to a retired nook in the woods, the hermit yearning came -over him--and in love, says Damiani, he was prescient of what he was later -to fulfil in deed. - -His father chanced to kill a neighbour in knightly brawl; and for this -homicide the son entered the monastery of St. Apollinaris in Classe, to do -forty days' penance for his parent. This introduction to the cloister had -its natural effect on such a temper. Goaded by a vision of the saint, -Romuald became a monk. He soon showed himself no easy man. His harsh -censure of the brethren's laxities caused a plot to murder him, the first -of many attempts upon his life. - -Three years he dwelt there. Then the yearning for perfection drove him -forth, and, for a master, he sought out a hermit named Marinus, who lived -in the Venetian territory, a man well meaning, but untaught as to the -method of the hermit life. He and his disciple would issue from their cell -and wander, singing together twenty psalms under one tree, and then thirty -or forty under another. The disciple was unlettered, and the master rude. -Romuald experienced intolerable tedium from straining his fixed eyes upon -a psalter, which he could not read. He may have betrayed his _ennui_. At -all events Marinus, grasping his rod in his right hand, and sitting on his -disciple's left, continually beat him, and always on the left side of his -head. At length Romuald said humbly: "Master, if you please, would you -henceforth beat me on the right side, as I have lost the hearing of my -left ear." - -In the neighbourhood there dwelt a duke whose rapacity had brought him -into peril. It happened that the abbot of a monastery situated not far -from Chalons-sur-Marne in France came pilgrimaging that way, and the duke -took counsel of him. The two hermits were also called; and the advice to -the duke was to flee the world. So the whole party set forth, crossed the -Alps, and travelled to the abbot's monastery. There the duke became a -monk, while Romuald and Marinus dwelt as solitaries a little way off. - -From this time Romuald increased in virtue, far outstripping all the -brethren. He supplied his wants by tilling the soil, and fasted -exceedingly. He sustained continual conflicts with the devil, who was -always bringing into his mind the loves and hates of his former life in -the world. - - "The devil would come striking on his cell, just as Romuald was - falling asleep, and then no sleep for him. Every night for nearly five - years the devil pressed crosses upon his feet, and weighted them with - the likeness of a phantom weight, so that Romuald could scarcely turn - on his couch. How often did the devil let loose the raging beasts of - the vices! and how often did Romuald put them to flight by his dire - threats! Hence if any of the brethren came in the silence, knocking at - his door, the soldier of Christ, always ready for battle, taking him - for the devil, would threaten and cry out: 'What now, wretch! what is - there for thee in the hermitage, outcast of heaven! Back, unclean dog! - Vanish, old snake!' He declared that with such words as these he gave - battle to malignant spirits; and with the arms of faith would go out - and meet the challenge of the foe in a neighbouring field." - -Marvellously Romuald increased his fasts and austerities, after the manner -of the old anchorites of Egypt.[455] Miraculous powers became his. But -news came of his father which drew him back to Italy. That noble but -sinful parent had entered a monastery where, under the persuasion of the -devil, he was soon sorry for his conversion, and sought to return to the -world. Romuald decided to go to his perishing father's aid. But the people -of the region hearing of it, were distressed to lose a man of such -spiritual might. They took counsel how to prevent his departure, and with -impious piety (_impia pietate_) decided to send men to kill him, thinking -that since they could not retain him alive, they would have his corpse as -a protection for the land (_pro patrocinio terrae_). Knowing of this, -Romuald shaved his head, and as the murderers approached his cell in the -dusk of morning, he began to eat ravenously. Thinking him demented, they -did him no injury. He then set forth, staff in hand, and walked from the -centre of Gaul, even to Ravenna. There finding his father still seeking to -return to the world, he tied the old sinner's feet to a beam, fettered him -with chains, flogged him, and at length by pious severity so subjugated -his flesh that with God's aid he brought his mind back to a state of -salvation.[456] - -Thus far Romuald's life affords striking illustration of the fact that -prodigious austerities and the consequent repute for miracles were the -chief elements in mediaeval sainthood; also of the fact that the saint's -dead body might be as good as he. But while he lived, Romuald was much -more than a miracle-working relic. He was a strong, domineering -personality. It was soon after he brought his father back to the way of -holiness that the old man saw a vision, and happily yielded up the ghost. -The son continued to advance in his chosen way of life and in the elements -of character which it fostered. He became a prodigious solitary; one to -whom men and their ways were intolerable, and who himself was sometimes -found intolerable by men. Even his appearance might be exceptional: - - "The venerable man dwelt for a while in a swamp (near Ferrara). At - length the poisonous air and the stench of the marsh drove him out; - and he emerged hairless, with his flesh puffed and swollen - (_tumefactus et depilatus_), not looking as if belonging to the _genus - homo_; for he was as green as a newt."[457] - -Such a story displays the very extravagance of fleshly mortification. It -has also its local colour. But one should seek its explanation in the -grounds of the hermit life as set forth by Peter Damiani. Then the -incidents of Romuald's life will appear to spring from these hermit -motives and from the hermit temperament, which became of terrible -intensity with him. Also the egotism, so frequently an element of that -temperament, rose with him to spiritual megalomania: - - "One day (apparently in the latter part of his life) some disciples - asked him, 'Master, of what age does the soul appear, and in what form - is it presented for Judgment?' He replied, 'I know a man in Christ, - whose soul is brought before God shining like snow, and indeed in - human form, with the stature of the perfect time of life.' Asked again - who that man might be, he would not speak for indignation. And then - the disciples talked it over, and recognized that he was certainly the - man."[458] - -In another part of the _Vita_, Damiani, having told of his hero's sojourn -with a company of hermits who preferred their will to his, thus continues: -"Romuald, therefore, impatient of sterility, began to search with anxious -eagerness where he might find a soil fit to bear a fruitage of souls." It -was his passion to change men to anchorites: he yearned to convert the -whole world to the solitary life. Many were the hermit communities which -he established. But he could not endure his hermit sons for long, nor they -him. His intolerant soul revolted from the give and take of intercourse. -Such intolerance and his passion to make more converts drove him from -place to place. He seemed inspired with a superhuman power of drawing men -from the world. Now - - "therefore he sent messengers to the Counts of Camerino. When these - heard the name of Romuald they were beside themselves with joy, and - placed their possessions, mountains, woods, and fields at his - disposal, to select from. He chose a spot suited to the hermit way of - living, intrenched amid forests and mountains, and affording an ample - space of level fruitful ground, watered with crystal streams. The - place was called of old the Valley of the Camp (Vallis de Castro), and - a little church was there with a convent of women who had turned from - the world. Here having built their cells, the venerable man and his - disciples took up their abode. - - "And what fruitage of souls the Lord there won through him, pen cannot - describe nor tongue relate. From all directions men began to pour in, - for penance and to bequeath in pity their goods to the poor, while - others utterly forsook the world and with fervent spirit hastened to - the holy way of life. For this most blessed man was as one of the - Seraphim, himself burning with the flame of divine love, and kindling - others, wherever he went, with the fires of his holy preaching. Often, - while speaking, a vast contrition brought him to such floods of tears - that, breaking off his sermon, he would flee anywhere for refuge, like - one demented. And also when travelling on horseback with the brethren, - he followed far behind them, always singing psalms, as if he were in - his cell, and never ceasing to shed tears."[459] - -In that age, the hopes and fears and wonderment of men looked to the -recluse as the perfected saint. No wonder that those Italian lands, so -blithely sinful and so grievously penitent, were moved by this volcanic -tempest of a man, fierce, merciless to the flesh, convulsed with scorching -tears, famed for austerities and miracles. He lashed men from their sins; -men feared before one whose presence was a threat of hell. Said the -Marquis of Tuscany: "Not the emperor nor any mortal man, can put such fear -in me as Romuald's look. Before his face I know not what to say, nor how -to defend myself or find excuses." And the biographer adds that "of a -truth the holy man had this grace from the divine favour, that sinners, -and especially the great of this world, quaked in their bowels before him -as if before the majesty of God."[460] - -But some men hated, and especially those of his own persuasion who could -not endure his harshness. From such came attempts at murder, from such -also came milder outbreaks of detestation and revolt. No other founder of -ascetic communities seems to have been so rebelled against. He went from -the Valley of the Camp to Classe, where a simoniac abbot attempted to -strangle him; then he returned, but not for long, for the abbot -established in his place rejected his reproofs, and maligned him with the -lords of the land. "And in that way," says Damiani, "the tall cedar of -Paradise was cast forth from the forest of earthly men."[461] - -His next sojourn was Vallombrosa, where after his decease one of his -disciples was to found a famous cloister. From that nest in the Tuscan -Apennines, he went to dwell permanently on the Umbrian mount of Sytrio. -At this point his biographer proceeds: - - "Whoever hears that the holy man so often changed his habitation, must - not ascribe this to the vice of levity. For the cause of these changes - was that wherever he stayed, an almost countless crowd assembled, and - when he saw one place filled with converts he very properly would - appoint a prior and at once hasten to fill another. - - "In Sytrio what insults and what indignities he endured from his - disciples! We will set down one instance, and omit the rest for - brevity. There was a disciple named Romanus, noble by birth, but - ignoble by deed. Him the holy man for his carnal impurity not only - chided by word but corrected with heavy beatings. That diabolic man - dared to retort with the fabrication of the same charge, and to bark - with sacrilegious mouth against this temple of the Holy Spirit, saying - forsooth that the holy man was spotted with this same infection. The - rage of the disciples broke out immediately against Romuald. All were - his enemies: some declared that the wicked old man ought to be hanged - from a gallows, others that he should be burned in his cell. - - "One cannot understand how spiritual men could have believed such - wickedness of a decrepit old man, whose frigid blood and aridity of - attenuated frame would have forbade him, had he had the will. But - doubtless it is to be deemed that this scourge of adversity came upon - the holy man by the will of Heaven, to augment his merit. For he said - himself that he had foreknown it with certainty in the solitude which - he had left just before, and had come with alacrity to undergo this - shame. But that false monkish reprobate who brought the charge against - the holy man, afterwards became Bishop of Noceria through simony, and - in the first year of his occupancy, saw, as he deserved, his house - with his books and bells and the rest of his sacred paraphernalia - burned; and in the second year, the divine sentence struck him and he - wretchedly lost both his dignity and his life. - - "In the meanwhile the disciples put a penance on the holy man as if he - had been guilty, and deprived him of the right to celebrate the holy - mysteries. He willingly accepted this false judgment, and took his - penance like a culprit, not presuming to approach the altar for - well-nigh six months. At length, as he afterwards told his disciples, - he was divinely commanded to celebrate mass. On the next day, when - proceeding with the sacrifice, he became rapt in ecstasy, and - continued speechless for so long a time that all present marvelled. - When afterwards asked the reason of his delay, he replied: 'Carried - into heaven, I was borne before God; and the divine voice commanded - me, that with such intelligence as God had set in me, I should write - and commend for use a Commentary on the Psalms. Overcome with terror, - I could only respond: so let it be, so let it be.' For this reason the - holy man made a Commentary on the whole Psalter; and although its - grammar was bad, its sense was sound and clear."[462] - -Various attempts were made in the Middle Ages to render the hermit life -practicable, through permitting a limited intercourse among a cluster of -like-minded ascetics, as well as to regulate it under the direction of a -superior. In Italy, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the picturesque -energy of the individual hermit is prodigious, while in the north, as in -the establishment of the Carthusian Order, the organization is better, the -result more permanent, but the imaginative and consistent extravagance of -personality is not there. In the hermit communities founded by Romuald -there was a prior or abbot, invested with some authority. Yet the -organization was less complete than in coenobitic monasteries; for -Romuald's hermit methods sought to minimize the intercourse among the -brethren, to an extent which was scarcely compatible with effective -organization. An idea of these communities may be had from Damiani's -description of one of them: - - "Such was the mode of life in Sytrio, that not only in name but in - fact it was as another Nytria.[463] The brethren went barefoot; - unkempt and haggard; they were content with the barest necessaries. - Some were shut in with doomed doors (_damnatis januis_), seemingly as - dead to the world as if in a tomb. Wine was unknown, even in extreme - illness. The attendants of the monks (_famuli monachorum_) and those - who kept the cattle, fasted and preserved silence. They made - regulations among themselves, and laid penances for speaking."[464] - -For seven years Romuald lived at Sytrio as an _inclusus_, shut up in his -cell, and preserving unbroken silence. Yet though his tongue was dumb his -life was eloquent. He lived on, setting a shining example of squalor and -austerity, eating only vile food, and handing back untouched any savoury -morsel. His conflicts with the devil continued; nor was he ever -vanquished. Advancing years intensified his aversion to human society and -his passion for solitude. In proportion as he made his ways displeasing to -men, his self-approval was enhanced.[465] A solitary death kept tally with -the temper of a recluse life. - - "When he saw his end draw near he returned to the Valley of the Camp, - and had a cell with an oratory prepared, in which to immure himself - and keep silence until death. Twenty years before, he had foretold to - his disciples that there he should attain his peace; and had declared - his wish to breathe forth his spirit with no one standing by or - bestowing the last rites. When this cell of immurement (_reclusorium_) - was ready, the mind in Romuald was so that it scarcely could be - imprisoned. But his body grew heavy with the increasing ills of - extreme age, and the hard breathing of tussis. Yet not for this would - the holy man lie on a bed or relax his fasts. One day his strength - gradually forsook him, and he found himself sinking with fatigue. So - as the sun was setting he directed two brothers who stood by to go out - and shut the door of his cell after them. He told them that when the - time came for them to celebrate the matin hymns at dawn, they might - return. Unwillingly they went out, but did not go at once to rest; and - waited anxiously, concealing themselves by the master's cell. After a - while, as they listened intent and could hear no movement of his body - nor any sound of his voice, correctly conjecturing what had happened, - they broke open the door, rushed in and lighted the light; and there, - the blessed soul having been transported to heaven, they found the - holy corpse supine. It lay as a celestial pearl neglected, but - hereafter to be placed with honour in the treasury of the King."[466] - -The spiritual unity which lies beneath the actions of Romuald should be -sought in the reasons and temper of the hermit life. To perfect the soul -for its passage to eternity is the fundamental motive. Monastic logic -convinces the man that this can best be accomplished through withdrawal -from the temptations of the world; and the hermit temper draws -irresistibly to solitude. The only consistent social function left to such -a man is that of turning the steps of his fellows to his own recluse path -of perfection. Romuald's life manifests such motives and such temper, and -also this one function passionately performed. We see in him no love of -kind, but only a fiery passion for their salvation. Also we see the -absorption of self in self with God, the harsh intolerance of other men, -the fierce aversions and the passionate cravings which are germane to the -hermit life. - -Physical self-mortification is the element of the hermit life most -difficult for modern people to understand. Yet nothing in Romuald extorted -more entire admiration from his biographer than his austerities. And if -there was one man on earth whom Peter admired as much as he did Romuald, -it was a certain mail-coated Dominicus, a virtuoso in self-mortification. -He exhibits its purging and penitential motives. Scourging purifies the -body from carnality; that is one motive. It also atones for sins, and -lessens the purgatorial period after death; this is another. There is a -third which is rooted rather in temperament than in reason. This is -contrition; the contrite heart may love to flagellate itself in love of -Him who suffered sinless. - -Dominicus was surnamed Loricatus because he wore a coat of mail against -the attacks of the devil through the frailties of the too-comfortable -flesh. In his youth, family influence had installed him in a snug -ecclesiastic berth. As he reached maturity and bethought himself, the -sense of this involuntary simoniacal contamination filled him with -remorse. He abjured the world and became a member of the hermit community -of Fonte Avellana, where Damiani exercised the authority of prior. Yet the -latter looked on Dominic as his master, whom he admired to the pitch of -marvel, while regretting that he lacked himself the strength and leisure -to equal his flagellations. So Peter was enraptured with this wonder of a -Dominic, and wrote his biography, which deserved telling if, as Peter -says, his entire life, his _tota quippe vita_, was a preaching and an -edification, instruction and discipline (_praedicatio, aedificatio, -doctrina, disciplina_). - -One descriptive passage from it will suffice: - - "I am speaking of Dominic, my teacher and my master, whose tongue - indeed is rustic, but whose life is polished and accomplished - (_artificiosa satis et lepida_). His life indeed preaches more - effectively by its living actions (_vivis operibus_) than a barren - tongue which inanely weighs out the balanced phrases of a bespangled - urbanity (_phaleratae urbanitatis_). Through a long course of gliding - years, girt with iron mail, he has waged truceless war against the - wicked spirits; with cuirassed body and heart always ready for battle, - he marches eager warrior against the hostile array. - - "Likewise it is his regular and unremitting habit, with a rod in each - hand every day to beat time upon his naked body, and thus scourge out - two psalters. And this even in the slacker season. For in Lent or when - he has a penance to perform (and he often undertakes a penance of a - hundred years), each day, while he plies himself with his rods, he - pays off at least three psalters repeating them mentally - (_meditando_). - - "The penance of a hundred years is performed thus: With us three - thousand blows satisfies a year of penance; and the chanting - (_modulatio_) of ten psalms, as has often been tested, admits one - thousand blows. Now, clearly, as the Psalter consists of one hundred - and fifty psalms, any one computing correctly will see that five years - of penance lie in chanting one psalter, with this discipline. Now, - whether you take five times twenty or twenty times five you have a - hundred. Consequently whoever chants twenty psalters, with this - accompanying discipline, may be confident of having performed a - hundred years of penance. Herein our Dominic outdid those who struck - with only one hand; for he, a true son of Benjamin, warred - indefatigably with both hands against the lawless rebels of the flesh. - He has told me himself that he easily accomplished a penance of a - hundred years in six days."[467] - -This loricated Dominic was conscious of his virtuosity. We find him at the -beginning of a certain Lent, requesting the imposition of a penance of a -thousand years! Again, he comes after vespers to Damiani's cell to tell -him that between morning and evening he has broken his record by "doing" -eight psalters! And once more we read of his coming troubled to his -master, saying: "You have written, as I have just heard, that in one day I -chanted nine psalters with corporeal discipline. When I heard it, I turned -pale and groaned. 'Woe is me,' I said; 'without my knowledge, this has -been written of me, and yet I do not know whether I could do it.' So I am -going to try again, and I shall certainly find out."[468] - -Dominic probably derived more pleasure than pain from his scourgings. For -besides the vanity of achievement, and some ecstasy of contrition, the -flesh itself turns morbid and rejoices in its laceration. Yet such -austerity is pre-eminently penal, and is initially impelled by fear. With -Dominic, with Romuald, with Damiani, the fear of hell entered the motives -of the secluded life. To observe this fear writ large in panic terror, we -turn to the old legend regarding the conversion of Bruno of Cologne, the -founder of the Carthusian Order. The scene is laid in Paris, where (with -much improbability) Bruno is supposed to be studying in the year 1082. One -of the most learned and pious of the doctors of theology died. His funeral -had been celebrated, and his body was about to be carried to the grave, -when the corpse raised its head and cried aloud with a dreadful voice: -"Justo Dei judicio accusatus sum." Then the head fell back. The people, -terror-stricken, postponed the interment to the following day, when again, -as before, with a grievous and terrible voice the corpse raised its head -and cried: "Justo Dei judicio judicatus sum." Amid general terror the -interment was again postponed to the next day, when, as before, with a -horrible cry the corpse shrieked: "Justo Dei judicio condemnatus sum." - -At this, Bruno, impressed and terrified, said to his friends: "Beloved, -what shall we do? Unless we fly we shall all perish utterly. Let us -renounce the world, and, like Anthony and John the Baptist, seek the caves -of the desert, that we may escape the wrath of the Judge, and reach the -port of salvation." So they flee, and the Carthusian Order, with its -terrific asceticism, begins.[469] - -This story, aside from its marvellous character, does not harmonize with -the more authentic facts of Bruno's life. It is, however, a striking -expression of the ascetic fear; it also reflects psychologic truth. Who -but the man himself knows the naughtiness of his own heart? its -never-to-be disclosed vile and morbid thoughts? The modern may realize -this. Hamlet did. And it was just such a phase of self-consciousness as -the mediaeval imagination would transform into a tale of horror. Bruno -himself had been a learned doctor, a teacher, and the head of the -cathedral school at Rheims; he had been a zealous soldier of the Church. -In all this he had not found peace. The profession of a doctor of -theology, even when coupled with more active belligerency for the Church, -afforded no certain salvation. The story of the Paris doctor may have -symbolized the anxieties which dwelt in Bruno's breast, until under their -stimulus the yearnings of a solitary temper gathered head and at last -brought him with six followers to Carthusia (_la grande Chartreuse_), -which lies to the north of Grenoble. 1084 is the year of its beginning. - -It was a hermit community, the brethren living two by two in isolated -cells, but meeting for divine service in a little chapel. Camaldoli may -have been the model. Bruno wrote no _regula_ for his followers, and the -practices of the Order were first formulated by Guigo, the fifth prior, in -his _Consuetudines Cartusiae_, about the year 1130.[470] These permit a -limited intercourse among the brethren, for the service of God and the -regulation of their own lives. Yet the broader object was seclusion. Not -only severance from the world, but the seclusion of the brethren from each -other, in solitary labour and contemplation, was their ideal. The -asceticism of these _Consuetudines_ is of the strictest. And somehow it -would seem as if in the Carthusian Order the frailties of the spirit and -the lusts of the flesh were to be permanently vanquished by this set life -of labour, meditation, and rigid asceticism. _Carthusia nunquam reformata, -quia nunquam deformata_, remained true century after century. This long -freedom from corruption was partly due to the lofty and somewhat -exclusive character of the brotherhood. Carthusia was no broad way for the -monastic multitude. Its monks were relatively few and holy, the select of -God. Men of devout piety, they must be. It was also needful that they -should be possessed of such intellectual endowment and meditative capacity -as would with God's grace yield provision for a life of solitary thought. - -The intellectual piety of Carthusia finds its loftiest expression in the -_Meditationes_ of this same prior Guigo,[471] the form of which calls to -mind the Reflections of Marcus Aurelius or Epictetus. In substance they -reflect Augustine's intellectual devoutness and many of his thoughts. But -they seem Guigo's very own, fruit of his own reflection; and thus -incidentally they afford an illustration of the general principle that by -the twelfth century the Middle Ages had made over into themselves what -they had drawn from the Fathers or from the pagan antique. Guigo's -_Meditations_ possess spiritual calm; their logic is unhesitating; it is -remorselessly correct, however incomplete may be its premises or its -comprehension of life's data. Whoever wishes to know the high -contemplative mind of monastic seclusion in the twelfth century may learn -it from this work. A number of its precepts are given here for the sake of -their illustrative pertinency and intrinsic merit, and because our author -is not very widely known. He begins with general reflections upon Veritas -and Pax: - - "Truth should be set in the middle, as something beautiful. Nor, if - any one abhors it, do thou condemn, but pity. Thou indeed, who - desirest to come to it, why dost thou spurn it when it chides thy - faults? - - "Without form and comeliness and fastened to the cross, truth is to be - worshipped. - - "If thou speakest truth not from love of truth but from wish to injure - another, thou wilt not gain the reward of a truthspeaker but the - punishment of a defamer. - - "Truth is life and eternal salvation. Therefore you ought to pity any - one whom it displeases. For to that extent he is dead and lost. But - you, perverse one, would not tell him the truth unless you thought it - bitter and intolerable to him. You do still worse when in order to - please men you speak a truth which delights them as much as if it - were lies and flattery. Not because it displeases or pleases should - truth be spoken, but as it profits. Yet be silent when it would do - harm, as light to weak eyes. - - "Blessed is he whose mind is moved or affected only by the perception - and love of truth, and whose body is moved only by his mind. Thus the - body, like the mind, is moved by truth alone. For if there is no - stirring in the mind save that of truth, and none in the body save - that from the mind, then also there is no stirring in the body save - from truth, that is from God. - - "Thou dost all things for the sake of peace, toward which the way lies - through truth alone, which is thine adversary in this life. Therefore - either subject thee to it or it to thee. For nothing else is left - thee. - - "The lake does not boast because it abounds in water; for that is from - the source. So as to thy peace. Its cause is always something else. - Therefore thy peace is shifting and inconstant in proportion to the - instability of its cause. How worthless is it when it arises from the - pleasingness of a human face! - - "Let not temporal things be the cause of thy peace; for then wilt thou - be as worthless and fragile as they. You would have such a peace in - common with the brutes; let thine be that of the angels, which - proceeds from truth. - - "The beginning of the return to truth is to be displeased with - falsity. Blame precedes correction. - - "In the cares which engage thee for thy salvation, no service or - medicine is more useful than to blame and despise thyself. Whoever - does this for thee is thy helper. - - "Easy is the way to God, since it advances by laying down burdens. - Thou dost unburden thyself so far as thou deniest thyself. - - "When anything good is said of thee, it is but as a rumour regarding - which thou knowest better. - - "Consider the two experiences of filling and emptying (_ingestionis et - egestionis_); which blesses thee more? That burdens thee with useless - matters; this disburdens thee. To have had that is to have devoured it - altogether. Nothing remains for hope. So in all things of sense. They - perish all. And what of thee after these? Set thy love and hope on - what will not pass. - - "Bestial pleasure comes from the senses of the flesh; it is diabolic, - a thing of arrogance, envy, and deceit; philosophic pleasure is to - know the creature; the angelic pleasure is to know and love God. - - "When we take our pleasure from that from which brutes draw - pleasure--from lust like dogs, or from gluttony like swine--our souls - become like theirs. Yet we do not shudder. I had rather have a dog's - body than his soul. It would be more tolerable if our body changed to - bestial shape, while our soul remained in its dignity, that is, in the - likeness of God. - - "Readily man entangles himself in love of bodies and of vanity; but, - willy, nilly, he is torn with fear and grief at their dissolution. For - the love of perishable things is as a fountain of useless fears and - sorrows. The Lord frees the poor man from the mighty, by loosing him - from the fetter of earthly love. - - "The human soul is tortured in itself as long as it can be tortured, - that is, as long as it loves anything besides God. - - "Thou hast been clinging to one syllable of a great song, and art - troubled when that wisest Singer proceeds in His singing. For the - syllable which alone thou wast loving is withdrawn from thee, and - others succeed in order. He does not sing to thee alone, nor to thy - will, but His. The syllables which succeed are distasteful to thee - because they drive on that one which thou wast loving evilly. - - "All matters which are called adverse are adverse only to the wicked, - that is, those who love the creature instead of the Creator. - - "If in any way thou art tormented by fear, or anger or hate or grief - of any kind, lay it to thyself, that is, to thy concupiscence, - ignorance, or sloth. And if any one wishes to injure thee, lay that to - his concupiscence. Thy distress is evidence of thy sin in loving - anything destructible, having dismissed God. Thou dost grieve over the - ruined show; lay it to thee and thine error because thou hast been - cleaving to things that may be broken. - - "He seeks a long temptation who seeks a long life. - - "What God has not loved in His friends--power, rank, riches, - dignities--do not thou love in thine. - - "Snares thou eatest, drinkest, wearest, sleepest in; all things are - snares. - - "We are exiles through love and wantonness and inclination, not - through locality; exiles in the country of defilement, of dark - passions, of ignorance, of wicked loves and hates. - - "In so far as thou lovest thyself--that is, this temporal life--so far - dost thou love what is transitory. - - "Adverse matters do not make thee wretched, but rather show thee to - have been so; prosperity blinds the soul, by covering and increasing - misery, not by removing it. - - "Every one ought to love all men. Whoever wishes another to show - special love toward him is a robber, and an offender against all. - - "Mixed through this body, thou wast wretched enough; for thou wast - subject to all its corruptions, even to the bite of the flea or the - sorunculus. This did not suffice thee. Thou hast mixed thyself up with - other quasi bodies, the opinion of men, admiration, love, honour, fear - and the like. When these are harmed, pain comes to thee, as from - bodily hurt. Thy honour is hurt when contempt is shown thee; and so - with the rest. Think also thus regarding bodily forms. - - "Unless thou hast despised whatever men can do to thwart or aid thee, - thou wilt not be able to contemn their disposition toward thee, their - hate and love, their opinions, good or bad. - - "Why dost thou wish to be loved by men? - - "Who rejoices in praise, loses praise. - - "Who is pained or angered by the loss of any temporal thing, shows - himself worth what he has lost. - - "No thing ought to wish to be loved as good, unless it blesses its - lover in the very matter for which it is loved. But no thing does this - if it needs its lover, or is helped by loving or being loved by - another. Most cruel, then, is the thing which wishes another to place - affection and hope on it when it cannot benefit that other. The devils - do this, who wish men to be engrossed in their service instead of - God's. So cry to thy lovers, Cease, ye wretched, to admire or respect - or honour me; for I, miserable wretch, can neither aid myself nor you, - but rather need your aid. - - "So far as in thee is, thou hast destroyed all men, for thou hast put - thyself between them and God, so that gazing on thee and ignoring God, - they might admire and praise thee alone. This is utterly profitless to - thee and them, not to say destructive. - - "Whatever form thou dost enjoy is as the male to thy mind. For thy - mind yields and lies down to it. Thou dost not assimilate it, but it - thee. Its image endures, like an idol in its temple, to which thou - dost sacrifice neither ox nor goat, but thy rational soul and thy - body, to wit, thy whole self, when thou enjoyest it. - - "See how, as in a wine-shop, thou dost prostitute thine as a venal - love, and to the measure of pay weighest thyself out to men. In this - wine-shop he receives nothing who gives nothing. And yet thou wouldst - not have that which thou dost sell, unless freely from above it had - been given to thee who gave nothing. Therefore thou hast received thy - pay. - - "To be empty and removed from God is to make ready for lust. - - "Who wishes to enjoy thee in thyself, deserves from thee the thanks of - flies and fleas who suck thy blood. - - "This is the very sum of human depravity to forsake the better, which - is God, and to regard the lesser and cleave to them by delighting in - them--these temporalities! - - "The beetle as it flies sees everything, and then selects nothing that - is beautiful or wholesome or durable, but settles down upon dung. So - thy soul in mental flight (_intuitu pervolans_) surveying heaven and - earth and whatever is great and precious therein, cleaves to none of - these, but embraces the cheap and dirty things occurring to its - thought. Blush for this. - - "When thou pleadest with God not to take from thee something to which - thou cleavest by desire, it is as if an adulteress caught by her - husband in the act, should not ask pardon for her crime, but beg him - not to interrupt her pleasure. It is not enough for thee to go - wantoning from God, but thou must incline Him to save and approve the - things in which thou takest delight to thy undoing--the forms of - bodies, their savours and their colours. - - "The poverty of thine inner vision of God, purblind as thou art, - although He is there, makes thee willing to go out of doors from thine - own hearth, refusing to linger within thyself, as in the dark. So thou - hast nothing to do but go gaping after the external forms of bodies - and the opinions of men. Thou dost carry thyself in this world as if - thou hadst come hither to gaze and wonder at the forms of bodies. - - "May God be gracious to thee, that the feet of thy mind may find no - resting-place, so that somehow, O soul, thou mayest return to the Ark, - like Noah's dove. - - "Prosperity is a snare, adversity the knife that cuts it; prosperity - imprisons us from the love of God; adversity breaks the dungeon in - pieces. - - "Since you are taken only by pleasure, you should shun whatever gives - it. The Christian soul is safe only in adversity. From what thou - cherishest God makes thee rods. - - "The only medicine for every pain and torment is contempt for whatever - in thee is hurt by them, and the turning of the mind to God. - - "As many carnal pleasures as thou spurnest, just so many snares of the - devil dost thou escape. As many tribulations--especially those for - truth's sake--as thou dost flee, so many salutary remedies thou - spurnest. - - "In hope thou mayest cherish the unripened grain; thus love those who - are not yet good, Be such toward all as the Truth has shown itself - toward thee. Just as it has sustained and loved thee for thy - betterment, so do thou sustain and love men in order to better them. - - "You are set as a standard to blunt the darts of the enemy, that is, - to destroy evil by opposing good to it. You should never return evil - for evil, except very medicinally; which is not to return evil but - good. - - "If to cleave to God is thine whole and only good, thine whole and - only evil is separation from Him. - - "Who loves all will be saved without doubt; but who is loved by men - will not for that reason be saved." - -The unity of these _Meditations_ lies in the absolute manner in which the -meditating soul attaches itself to God as its whole and only good. Herein -Guigo's thoughts are Augustinian. One notes their clear intellectual tone. -Nothing lures the thinker from his aim and goal of God. He abhors whatever -might distract him; and as to all except God and God's commands, he is -indifferent. Guigo detests impermanence as keenly as did the Brahmin and -Buddhist meditators of India. He has as high regard as any Indian or Greek -philosopher for a life of thought. But there are differences between the -Carthusian prior and the Greek or Indian sage. Guigo's renunciation does -not (from his standpoint) penetrate life as deeply as Gotama's; for Guigo -renounces only things comparatively insignificant, so utterly transient -are they, so completely they pale before the light of his goal of God. -Therein shall lie clearer attainment than lay at the end of any Indian -chain of reasoning. So note well, that Guigo, like other Christians, is -not essentially a renouncer, but one who attains and receives. - -The difference between him and the Greek is also patent. The source of his -blue lake of thought is not himself, but God. Although calm and sustained -by reason, he is rationally the opposite of self-reliant, and so the -opposite of the ideal Stoic or Aristotelian. God is his Creator, the -source of his thoughts, the loadstar of his meditations, the -all-comprehending object of his desire. - -We find in Guigo further specific elements of Christian asceticism, which -sharpen his repugnances for the world of transient phenomena. Those -phenomena mostly contain elements of sin: all pleasure is temptation and a -snare; adversity keeps the soul's wings trimmed true. So the main content -of passing mortal life, while not evil in itself, is so charged with -temptation and allure, that it is worthy only of avoidance. The transient, -the physical, the brutal, the diabolic--one shades into the next, and -leads on to the last. Have none of them, O soul! They are snares all. - -Of course, Guigo has the specific monkish horror of sexual lust, that -chief of fleshly snares. But he goes further. With him all particular, -disproportionate love is wrong; love no one, and desire not to be loved, -out of the proportionment of the common love which God has for all His -creatures: so love you, and not otherwise. Others, even women, attained -this standard. In the legend, St. Elizabeth of Hungary gives thanks that -she loves her own children no more than others'. She is no mother, but a -saint. So Guigo will love all--love indeed? one queries. Thus also will he -have others hold themselves toward him, lest he be a stumbling-block in -their or his salvation. - -Yea, salvation! If indeed this monk shall not have attained that, of a -truth he would be of all men most miserable--save for the quiet, -thought-filled calm which is his inner and his veritable life. It is a -calm not riven by the storms which drove the soul of Peter Damiani. God -was not less to Guigo; but the temperaments of the two men differed. Not -beyond or out of one's nature can one love or yearn, or even know the -stress of storm. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -THE QUALITY OF LOVE IN SAINT BERNARD - - -Through the prodigious power of his personality, St. Bernard gave new life -to monasticism, promoted the reform of the secular clergy and the -suppression of heresy, ended a papal schism, set on foot the Second -Crusade, and for a quarter of a century swayed Christendom as never holy -man before or after him. An adequate account of his career would embrace -the entire history of the first half of the twelfth century.[472] - -The man who was to move men with his love, and quell the proud with fear, -had, as a youth, a graceful figure, a sweet countenance, and manners the -most winning. Later in life he is spoken of as cheerfully bearing -reproaches, but shamefaced at praise, and his gentle manners are again -mentioned. - - "As a helpmeet for his holy spirit, God made his body to conform. In - his flesh there was visible a certain grace, but spiritual rather than - of the flesh. A brightness not of earth shone in his look; there was - an angelic purity in his eyes, and a dove-like simplicity. The beauty - of the inner man was so great that it would burst forth in visible - tokens, and the outer man would seem bathed from the store of inward - purity and copious grace. His frame was of the slightest - (_tenuissimum_), and most spare of flesh; a blush often tinged the - delicate skin of his cheeks. And a certain natural heat (_quidquid - caloris naturalis_) was in him, arising from assiduous meditation and - penitent zeal. His hair was bright yellow, his beard reddish with - some white hairs toward the end of his life. Actually of medium - stature, he looked taller."[473] - -This same biography says: - - "He who had set him apart, from his mother's womb, for the work of a - preacher, had given him, with a weak body, a voice sufficiently strong - and clear. His speech, whatever persons he spoke to for the edifying - of souls, was adapted to his audience; for he knew the intelligence, - the habits and occupations of each and all. To country folk he spoke - as if born and bred in the country; and so to other classes, as it he - had been always occupied with their business. He was learned with the - erudite, and simple with the simple, and with spiritual men rich in - illustrations of perfection and wisdom. He adapted himself to all, - desiring to gain all for Christ."[474] - -Bernard was born of noble parents at the Chateau of Fontaines, near Dijon, -in the year 1090, and was educated in a church school at Chatillon on the -Seine. It is an ofttold story, how, when little more than twenty years of -age, he drew together a band formed of his own brothers, his uncle, and -his friends, and led them to Citeaux,[475] his ardent soul unsatisfied so -long as one held back. Three years later, in 1115, the Abbot, Stephen -Harding, entrusted him with the headship of the new monastery, to be -founded in the domains of the Count of Troyes. Bernard set forth with -twelve companions, came to Clara Vallis on the river Aube, and placed his -convent in that austere solitude. - -Great were the attractions of Clairvaux (Clara Vallis) under Bernard's -vigorous and loving rule. Its monks increased so rapidly and so constantly -that during its founder's life sixty-five bands were sent forth to rear -new convents. Meanwhile, Bernard's activities and influence widened, till -they seemed to compass western Christendom. He had become a power in the -politics of Church and State. In 1130 he was summoned by Louis le Gros -practically to determine the claims of the rival Popes Innocent II. and -Anacletus II. He decided for the former, and was the chief instrument of -his eventual reinstatement at Rome. Before this Bernard's health had been -broken by his extreme austerities. Yet even the lamentable failure of the -Second Crusade, zealously promoted by him, did not break his power over -Europe, which continued unimpaired until his death in 1153. - -This active and masterful man was impelled by those elements of the _vita -contemplativa_ which formed his inner self. First and last and always he -was a monk. Had he not been the very monk he was, he would not have been -the dominator of men and situations that he proved himself to be. -Temperament fashions the objects of contemplation, and shapes the yearning -and aversions, of great monks. The temperamental element of love--the love -of God and man, with its appurtenant detestations--made the heart of -Bernard's _vita contemplativa_, and impassioned and empowered his active -faculties. It was the keynote of his life: in his letters it speaks in -words of fire, while other writings of the saint analyze this great human -quality with profundity and truth. In these he renders explicit the modes -of affection which man may have for man and above all for God; he sets -them forth as the path as well as goal of life on earth, and then as the -rapt summit of attainment in the life to come. Through all its stages, as -it flows from self to fellow, as it rises from man to God, love still is -love, and forms the unifying principle among men and between them and God. - -Let us trace in his letters the nature and the power of Bernard's love, -and see with what yearning he loved his fellows, seeking to withdraw them -from the world; and how his love strove to be as sword and armour against -the flesh and the devil. By easy transition we shall pass to Bernard's -warning wrath, flung against those who would turn the struggling soul -aside, or threaten the Church's peace; then by more arduous, but still -unbroken stages, we may rise to the love of Jesus, and through love of the -God-man to love of God. We shall realize at the close why that last -mediaeval assessor of destinies, whose name was Dante Alighieri, selected -St. Bernard as the exponent of the blessed vision which is salvation's -crown in the paradise of God.[476] - -The way of life at Clara Vallis might discourage monks of feeble zeal. -Among the brethren of these early days was one named Robert, a cousin of -the Abbot, seemingly of weak and petulant disposition. Soon he fled, to -seek a softer cell in Cluny, the great and rich monastery to which his -parents appear to have dedicated him in childhood. For a while Bernard -suppressed his grief; but the day came when he could endure no longer -Robert's abandonment of his soul's safety and of the friend who yearned -for him. He stole out of the monastery, accompanied by a monk named -William. There, in the open (_sub dio_), Bernard dictated a long letter to -be sent to the deserter. While the two were busy, the one dictating, the -other writing, a rainstorm broke upon them. William wished to stop. "It is -God's work; write and fear not," said Bernard. So William wrote on, in the -midst of the rain; but no drop fell on him or the parchment; for the power -of love which dictated the letter preserved the parchment on which it was -being written.[477] - -Whoever has read this letter in its own fervent Latin will not care to -dispute this miracle, for which it stands first in the collection of -Bernard's correspondence. Bernard does not recriminate or argue in it; his -love shall bring the young monk back to him. Yes, yes, he says to all that -the other has urged regarding fancied slights and persecution: - - "Quite right; I admit it. I am not writing in order to contend, but to - end contention. To flee persecution is no fault in him who flees, but - in him who pursues; I do not deny it. I pass over what has happened; I - do not ask why or how it happened. I do not discuss faults, I do not - dispute as to the circumstances, I have no memory for injuries. I - speak only what is in my heart. Wretched me, that I lack thee, that I - do not see thee, that I am living without thee, for whom to die would - be to live; without whom to live, is to die. I ask not why thou hast - gone away; I complain only that thou dost not return. Come, and there - shall be peace; return, and all shall be made good. - - "It was certainly my fault that thou didst go away. I was too austere - with thy young years, and treated thee inhumanly. So thou saidst when - here, and so I hear thou dost still reproach me. But that shall not be - imputed to thee. I never meant it harshly, I was only indiscreet. Now - thou wilt find me different, and I thee. Where before thou didst fear - the master, thou shalt now embrace the companion. Do not think that I - will not excuse any fault of thine. Dost thou wish to be quite free - from fault? then return. If thou wilt forget thy fault I will pardon - it; also pardon thou me, and I too will forget my fault." - -Bernard then argues long and passionately against those who had led the -young man away and received him with such blandishments at Cluny; and -passionately he argues against the insidious softening of monastic -principles. - - "Arise, soldier of Christ, arise, shake off the dust, return to the - battle whence thou hast fled, and more bravely shalt thou fight and - more gloriously triumph. Christ has many soldiers who bravely began, - stood fast and conquered; He has few who have turned from flight and - renewed the combat. Everything rare is precious; and thou among that - rare company shalt the more radiantly shine. - - "Thou art fearful? so be it; but why dost thou fear where there is no - fear, and why dost thou not fear where everything is to be feared? - Because thou hast fled from the battle-line, dost thou think to have - escaped the foe? It is easier for the Adversary to pursue a fugitive - than to bear himself against manful defence. Secure, arms cast aside, - thou takest thy morning slumbers, the hour when Christ will have - arisen! The multitude of enemies beset the house, and thou sleepest. - Is it safer to be caught alone and sleeping, than armed with others in - the field? Arouse thee, seize thy arms, and escape to thy - fellow-soldiers. Dost thou recoil at the weight of thy arms, O - delicate soldier! Before the enemy's darts the shield is no burden, - nor the helmet heavy. The bravest soldiers tremble when the trumpet is - heard before the battle is joined; but then hope of victory and fear - of defeat make them brave. How canst thou tremble, walled round with - the zeal of thy armed brethren, angels bearing aid at thy right hand, - and thy leader Christ? There shalt thou safely fight, secure of - victory. O battle, safe with Christ and for Christ! In which there is - no wound or defeat or circumvention so long as thou fleest not. Only - flight loses the victory, which death does not lose. Blessed art thou, - and quickly to be crowned, dying in battle. Woe for thee, if - recoiling, thou losest at once the victory and the crown--which may He - avert, my beloved son, who in the Judgment will award thee deeper - damnation because of this letter of mine if He finds thee to have - taken no amendment from it." - -"It is God's work," said Bernard to the hesitating scribe. These words -suggest the character of the love which inspired this letter. He loved -Robert as man yearns for man; but his motive was to do God's will, and win -the young man back to salvation. In after years this young man returned to -Clara Vallis. - -It was Bernard's lot to write many letters urging procrastinators to -fulfil their vows,[478] or appealing to those who had laid aside the arms -of austerity, perhaps betaking themselves to the more worldly life of the -secular clergy. This seems to have been the case with a young canon Fulco, -whom an ambitious uncle sought to draw back to the world, or at least to a -career of sacerdotal emolument. In fact, Fulco at last became an -archdeacon; from which it may be inferred that in his case Bernard's -appeal was not successful. He had poured forth his arguments in an ardent -letter.[479] Love compels him to use words to make the recipient grieve; -for love would have him feel grief, that he might no longer have true -cause for grief--good mother love, who can cherish the weak, exercise -those who have entered upon their course, or quell the restless, and so -show herself differently toward her sons, all of whom she loves. This -letter, like the one to Robert, concludes with a burning peroration: - - "What dost thou in the city, dainty soldier? Thy fellows whom thou - hast deserted, fight and conquer; they storm heaven (_coelum rapiunt_) - and reign, and thou, sitting on thy palfrey (_ambulatorem_), clothed - in purple and fine linen, goest ambling about the highways!" - -Bernard also wrote letters of consolation to parents whose sons had become -monks, or letters of warning to those who sought to withdraw a monk from -his good fight. In one instance, his influence had made a monk of a youth -of gentle birth named Godfrey, to his parents' grief. So Bernard writes to -them: - - "If God makes your son His also, what have you lost, or he? He, from - rich, becomes richer, from being noble, still more illustrious, and - what is more than all, from a sinner he becomes a saint. It behoved - him to be made ready for the Kingdom prepared for him from the - foundation of the world, and for this reason it is well for him to - spend with us his short span of days, so that clean from the filth of - living in the world, earth's dust shaken off, he may become fit for - the heavenly mansion. If you love him you will rejoice that he goes to - his Father, and such a Father! He goes to God, but you do not lose - him; rather through him you gain many sons. For all of us who belong - to Clara Vallis have taken him to be our brother and you for our - parents. - - "Perhaps you fear this hard life for his tender body--that were to - fear where there is nothing to fear. Have faith and be comforted. I - will be a father to him and he shall be my son until from my hands the - Father of Mercies and God of all consolation shall receive him. Do not - grieve; do not weep; your Godfrey is hastening to joy, not to sorrow. - A father to him will I be, a mother too, a brother and a sister. I - will make the crooked ways straight, and the steep places plain. I - will so temper and provide for him that as his spirit profits, his - body shall not want. So shall he serve the Lord in joy and gladness, - and shall sing before Him, How great is the glory of the Lord."[480] - -Young Godfrey was a daintily nurtured plant. For all the Abbot's eloquence -he did not stay in Clara Vallis. The world drew him back. It was now for -the saint to weep: - - "I grieve over thee, my son Godfrey; I grieve over thee. And with - reason. For who would not lament that the flower of thy youth which, - to the joy of angels, thou didst offer unsullied to God in the odour - of sweetness, is now trampled on by demons, defiled with sins, and - contaminated by the world. How could you, who were called by God, - follow the devil recalling thee? How could you, whom He had begun to - draw to Himself, withdraw your foot from the very entry upon glory? In - thee I see the truth of those words: 'A man's foes are they of his own - household.' Thy friends and neighbours drew near and stood up against - thee. They called thee back into the jaws of the lion and the gates of - death. They have set thee in darkness, like the dead; and thou art - nigh to go down into the belly of hell, which now is ravening to - devour thee. - - "Turn back, I say, turn back, before the abyss swallows you and the - pit closes its mouth, before you are engulfed whence you shall not - escape, before, bound hand and foot, you are cast into outer darkness - where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, before you are hurled - into darkness, shut in with the darkness of death. - - "Perhaps you blush to return, where you have only now fallen away. - Blush for flight, and not for turning to renew the combat. The - conflict is not ended; the hostile arrays have not withdrawn from each - other. We would not conquer without you, nor do we envy you your share - of the glory. Joyful we will run to thee, and receive thee in our - arms, crying: 'It is meet to make merry and be glad; for this our son - was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found.'"[481] - -Who knows whether this letter brought back the little monk? Bernard wrote -so lovingly to him, so gently to his parents. He could write otherwise, -and show himself insensible to this world's pestering tears. To the -importunate parents of a monk named Elias, who would drag him away from -Clara Vallis, Bernard writes in their son's name thus: - - "To his dear parents, Ingorranus and Iveta, Elias, monk but sinner, - sends daily prayers. - - "The only cause for which it is permitted not to obey parents is God; - for He said: 'Whoso loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy - of me.' If you truly love me as good and faithful parents, why do you - molest my endeavour to please the Father of all, and attempt to - withdraw me from the service of Him, to serve whom is to reign? For - this I ought not to obey you as parents, but regard you as enemies. If - you loved me, you would rejoice, because I go to my Father and yours. - But what is there between you and me? What have I from you save sin - and misery? And indeed the corruptible body which I carry I admit I - have from you. Is it not enough that you brought miserable me into the - misery of this hateful world? that you, sinners, in your sin produced - a sinner? and that him born in sin, in sin you nourished? Envying the - mercy which I have obtained from Him who desireth not the death of a - sinner, would you make me a child of hell? - - "O harsh father! savage mother! parents cruel and impious--parents! - rather destroyers, whose grief is the safety of the child, whose - consolation is the death of their son! who would drag me back to the - shipwreck which I, naked, escaped; who would give me again to the - robbers when through the good Samaritan I am a little recovering from - my wounds. - - "Cease then, my parents," concludes the letter after many other - reproofs, "cease to afflict yourselves with vain weeping and to - disquiet me. No messengers you send will force me to leave. Clara - Vallis will I never forsake. This is my rest, and here shall be my - habitation. Here will I pray without ceasing for my sins and yours; - here with constant prayer will I implore that He whose love has - separated us for a little while, will join us in another life happy - and inseparable,--in whose love we may live forever and ever. - Amen."[482] - -If Bernard was severe toward those who threatened some loved person's -weal, his anger burned more fiercely against those whom he deemed enemies -of God. Heavy was his hand upon the evils of the Church: "The insolence of -the clergy--to which the bishop's neglect is mother--troubles the earth -and molests the Church. The bishops give what is holy to the dogs, and -pearls to swine."[483] - -Likewise, fearlessly but with restraint arising from his respect for all -power ordained of God, Bernard opposes kings. Thus he writes to Louis the -Fat, in regard to the election of a bishop, with many protests, however, -that he would not oppose the royal power--for which we note his reason: -"If the whole world conspired to force me to do aught against kingly -majesty, yet would I fear God, and would not dare to offend the king -ordained by Him. For neither do I forget where I read that whosoever -resisteth power, resisteth the ordinance of God." But--but--but--continues -the letter, through many qualifyings which are also admonitions. At last -come the words: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the -living God, even for thee, O king." Thereupon the saint does not fail to -speak his mind.[484] - -Bernard's fiercest denunciations were reserved for heretics and -schismatics, for Abaelard, for Arnold of Brescia, for the Antipope -Anacletus--were they not enemies of God? Clearly the saint saw and -understood these men from his point of view. Thus in a letter to Innocent -II.[485] he sums up his attitude towards Abaelard: "Peter Abaelard is -trying to make void the merit of Christian faith, when he deems himself -able by human reason to comprehend God altogether. He ascends to the -heavens and descends even to the abyss! Nothing may hide from him in the -depths of hell or in the heights above! The man is great in his own -eyes--this scrutinizer of Majesty and fabricator of heresies." Here was -the gist of the matter. That a man should be great in his own eyes, apart -from God, and teach others so, stirred Bernard's bowels.[486] - -Of Arnold, the impetuous clerical revolutionist and pupil of Abaelard, -Bernard writes with fury: "Arnold of Brescia, whose speech is honey and -whose teaching poison, whom Brescia vomited forth, Rome abhorred, France -repelled, Germany abominates, Italy will not receive, is said to be with -you."[487] Again, Bernard rejoices with great joy when he hears that the -anti-pope who divided Christendom was dead.[488] - -It is pleasant to turn back to Bernard's lovingness and mercy. His God -would not condemn those who repented; and the saint can be gentle toward -sinners possibly repentant. He urges certain monks to receive back an -erring brother: "Take him back then, you who are spiritual, in the spirit -of gentleness; let love be confirmed in him, and let good intention excuse -the evil done. Receive back with joy him whom you wept as lost."[489] In -another letter he urges a countess to be more lenient with her -children;[490] and there is a story of his begging a robber from the hands -of the executioners, and leading him to Clara Vallis, where he became at -length a holy man.[491] - -So one sees Bernard's severity, his gentle mercy, and the love burning -within him for his fellows' good. Such were the emotions of Bernard the -saint. The man's human heart could also yearn, and feel bereavement in -spite of faith. As his zeal draws him from land to land, he is home-sick -for Clara Vallis. From Italy, in 1137, fighting to crush the anti-pope, a -letter carries his yearning love to his dear ones there: - - "Sad is my soul, and not to be consoled, until I may return. For what - consolation save you in the Lord have I in an evil time and in the - place of my pilgrimage? Wherever I go, your sweet recollection does - not leave me; but the sweeter the memory the more vexing is the - absence. Alas! my wandering not only is prolonged but aggravated. Hard - enough is exile from the Lord, which is common to us all while we are - pilgrims in the body. But I endure a special exile also, compelled to - live away from you. - - "For a third time my bowels are torn from me.[492] Those little - children are weaned before the time; the very ones whom I begot - through the Gospel I may not educate. I am forced to abandon my own, - and care for the affairs of others; and it is not easy to say whether - to be dragged from the former, or to be involved in the latter is - harder to bear. Thus, O good Jesus, my whole life is spent in grief - and my years in groaning! It is good for me, O Lord, to die, rather - than to live and not among my brothers, my own household, my own - dearest ones."[493] - -Bernard had a younger brother, Gerard, whom he deeply loved. In 1138 he -died while still young, and having recently returned with Bernard from -Italy. Bernard, dry-eyed, read the burial-service over his body; so says -his biographer wondering, for the saint was not wont to bury even -strangers without tears.[494] No other eyes were dry at that funeral. -Afterwards he preached a sermon;[495] it began with restraint, then became -a long cry of grief. - -The saint took the text from Canticles where he had left off in his -previous sermon--"I am black, but comely, as the tents of Kedar." He -proceeded to expound its meaning: the tents are our bodies, in which we -pilgrims dwell and carry on our war. Then he spoke of other portions of -the text--and suddenly deferred the whole subject till his next sermon: -Grief ordains an end, "and the calamity which I suffer." - - "For why dissemble, or conceal the fire which is scorching my sad - breast? What have I to do with this Song, I who am in bitterness? The - power of grief turns my intent, and the anger of the Lord has parched - my spirit. I did violence to my soul and dissembled till now, lest - sorrow should seem to conquer faith. Others wept, but with dry eyes I - followed the hateful funeral, and dry-eyed stood at the tomb, until - all the solemnities were performed. In my priestly robes I finished - the prayers, and sprinkled the earth over the body of my loved one - about to become earth. Those who looked on, weeping, wondered that I - did not. With such strength as I could command, I resisted and - struggled not to be moved at nature's due, at the fiat of the - Powerful, at the decree of the Just, at the scourge of the Terrible, - at the will of the Lord. But though tears were pressed back, I could - not command my sadness; and grief, suppressed, roots deeper. I confess - I am beaten. My sorrow will out before the eyes of my children who - understand and will console. - - "You know, my sons, how just is my grief. You know what a comrade has - left me in the path wherein I was walking. He was my brother in blood - and still closer by religion. I was weak in body, and he carried me; - faint-hearted, and he comforted me; lazy, and he spurred me; - thoughtless, and he admonished me. Whither art thou snatched away, - snatched from my hands! O bitter separation, which only death could - bring; for living, thou wouldst never leave me. Why did we so love, - and now have lost each other! Hard state, but my fortune, not his, is - to be pitied. For thou, dear brother, if thou hast lost dear ones, - hast gained those who are dearer. Me only this separation wounds. - Sweet was our presence to each other, sweet our consorting, sweet our - colloquy; I have lost these joys; thou hast but changed them. Now, - instead of such a worm as me, thou hast the presence of Christ. But - what have I in place of thee? And perhaps though thou knewest us in - the flesh, now that thou hast entered into the power of the Lord, thou - art mindful only of His righteousness, forgetting us. - - "I seem to hear my brother saying: 'Can a woman forget her sucking - child; even so, yet will I not forget thee.' That does not help, where - no hand is stretched out." - -Bernard speaks of Gerard's unfailing helpfulness to him and every one, and -of his piety and religious life. He feels the cares of his life and -station closing around him, and his brother gone. Then he justifies his -grief, and pours it forth unrestrained. Would any one bid him not to weep? -as well tell him not to feel when his bowels were torn from him; he feels, -for his flesh is not brass; he grieves, and his grief is ever before him: - - "I confess my sorrow. Will some one call me carnal? Certainly I am - human, since I am a man. Nor do I deny being carnal, for I am, and - sold under sin, adjudged to death and punishment. I am not insensible - to punishments; I shudder at death, my own or others'. Mine was - Gerard, mine! He is gone, and I feel, and am wounded, grievously! - - "Pardon me, my sons; or rather lament your father's state. Pity me, - and think how grievously I have been requited for my sins by the hand - of God. Though I feel the punishment, I do not impugn the sentence. - This is human; that would be impious. Man must needs be affected - towards those dear to him, with gladness at their presence, with - sorrow at their absence. I grieve over thee, Gerard, my beloved, not - because thou art to be pitied, but because thou art taken away. May it - be that I have not lost thee, but sent thee on before! Be it granted - me some time to follow whither thou art gone; for thou hast joined the - company of those heavenly ones on whom in thy last hours thou didst - call exultingly to praise the Lord. For thee death had no sting, nor - any fear. Through his jaws Gerard passed to his Fatherland safe and - glad and exulting. When I reached his side, and he had finished the - psalm, looking up to heaven, he said in a clear voice: 'Father, into - thy hands I commend my spirit.' Then saying over again and again the - word, 'Father, Father,' he turned his joyful face to me, and said: - 'What great condescension that God should be father to men! What glory - for men to be sons of God and heirs of God!' So he rejoiced, till my - grief was almost turned to a song of gladness. - - "But the pang of sorrow calls me back from that lovely vision, as care - wakens one from light slumber. I grieve, but only over myself; I - lament his loss to this household, to the poor, to all our Order; whom - did he not comfort with deed and word and example? Grievously am I - afflicted, because I love vehemently. And let no one blame my tears; - for Jesus wept at Lazarus's tomb. His tears bore witness to His - nature, not to His lack of faith. So these tears of mine; they show my - sorrow, not my faithlessness. I grieve, but do not murmur. Lord, I - will sing of thy mercy and righteousness. Thou gavest Gerard; thou - hast taken him. Though we grieve that he is gone, we thank thee for - the gift. - - "I bear in mind, O Lord, my pact and thy commiseration, that thou - mightest the more be justified in thy word. For when last year we were - in Viterbo, and he fell sick, and I was afflicted at the thought of - losing him in a strange land and not bringing him back to those who - loved him, I prayed to thee with groans and tears: 'Wait, O Lord, - until our return. When he is restored to his friends, take him, if - thou wilt, and I will not complain.' Thou heardest me, God; he - recovered; we finished the work thou hadst laid on us, and returned in - gladness bringing our sheaves of peace. Then I was near to forget my - pact, but not so thou. I shame me of these sobs, which convict me of - prevarication. Thou hast recalled thy loan, thou hast taken again what - was thine. Tears set an end to words; thou, O Lord, wilt set to them - limit and measure."[496] - -We may now turn to Bernard's love of God, and rise with him from the -fleshly to the spiritual, from the conditioned to the absolute. There is -no break; love is always love. More especially the love of Christ, the -God-man is the mediating term: He presents the Godhead in human form; to -love Him is to know a love attaching to both God and man. - -Guigo, Prior of the "Grande Chartreuse," whose _Meditations_ have been -given,[497] was Bernard's friend, and wrote to him upon love. Bernard -replies: "While I was reading it, I felt sparks in my breast, from which -my heart glowed within me as from that fire which the Lord sent upon the -earth!" He hesitates to suggest anything to Guigo's fervent spirit, as he -would hesitate to rouse a bride quiet in the bridegroom's arms. Yet "what -I do not dare, love dares; it boldly knocks at a friend's door, fearing no -repulse, and quite careless of disturbing your delightful ease with its -affairs." Bernard is here speaking of love's importunate devotion; his -words characterize the soul's importuning of God: - - "I should call love undefiled because it keeps nothing of its own. - Indeed it has nothing of its own, for everything which it has is - God's. The undefiled law of the Lord is love, which seeks not what - profits itself but what profits many. It is called the law of the - Lord, either because He lives by it, or because no one possesses it - save by His gift. It is not irrational to speak of God as living by - law, that law being love. Indeed in the blessed highest Trinity what - preserves that highest ineffable unity, except love?" - -So far, Bernard has been using the word _charitas_. Now, in order to -indicate love's desire, he begins to use the words _cupiditas_ and -_amor_.[498] When these yearning qualities are rightly guided by God's -grace, what is good will be cherished for the sake of what is better, the -body will be loved for the soul's sake, the soul for God's sake, and God -for His own sake. - - "Yet because we are of the flesh (_carnales_) and are begotten through - the flesh's concupiscence, our yearning love (_cupiditas vel amor - noster_) must begin from the flesh; yet if rightly directed, advancing - under the leadership of grace, it will be consummated in spirit. For - that which is first is not spiritual, but that which is natural - (_animale_); then that which is spiritual. First man loves (_diligit_) - himself for his own sake. For he is flesh, and is able to understand - nothing beyond himself. When he sees that he cannot live - (_subsistere_) by himself alone, he begins, as it were from necessity, - to seek and love God. Thus, in this second stage, he loves God, but - only for his own sake. Yet as his necessities lead him to cultivate - and dwell with God in thinking, reading, praying, and obeying, God - little by little becomes known and becomes sweet. Having thus tasted - how sweet is the Lord, he passes to the third stage, where he loves - God for God's sake. Whether any man in this life has perfectly - attained the fourth stage, where he loves himself for God's sake, I do - not know. Let those say who have knowledge; for myself, I confess it - seems impossible. Doubtless it will be so when the good and faithful - servant shall have entered into the joy of his Lord, and shall be - drunk with the flowing richness of God's house. Then oblivious to - himself, he will pass to God and become one spirit with Him."[499] - -So one sees the stages through which love of self and lust of fellow -become love of God. A responsive emotion attends each ascending step in -the saint's intellectual apprehension of love--as one should bear in mind -while following the larger exposition of the theme in Bernard's _De -deligendo Deo_.[500] - -The cause and reason for loving God is God; the _mode_ is to love without -measure: "Causa diligendi Deum, Deus est; modus, sine modo diligere." -Should we love God because of His desert, or our advantage? For both -reasons. On the score of His desert, because He first loved us. What stint -shall there be to my love of Him who is my life's free giver, its -bounteous administrator, its kind consoler, its solicitous ruler, its -redeemer, eternal preserver and glorifier? On the other hand, "God is not -loved without reward; but He should be loved without regard to the -reward. _Charitas_ seeks not its own. It is affection and not a contract; -it is not bought, nor does it buy. _Amor_ is satisfied with itself. It has -the reward, which is what is loved. True love demands no reward, but -merits one. The reward, although not sought by the lover, is due him, and -will be rendered if he perseveres." - -Bernard proceeds to expound the four stages or grades (_gradus_) of love: - - "Love is a natural affection, one of the four.[501] As it exists by - nature, it should diligently serve the Author of nature first of all. - But as nature is frail and weak, love is compelled by necessity first - to serve itself. This is carnal love, whereby, above everything, man - loves himself for his own sake. It is not set forth by precept, but is - rooted in nature; for who hates his own flesh? As love becomes more - ready and profuse, it is not content with the channel of necessity, - but will pour forth and overspread the broad fields of pleasure. At - once the overflow is bridled by the command, 'Thou shalt love thy - neighbour as thyself.' This is just and needful, lest what is part of - nature should have no part in grace. A man may concede to himself what - he will, so long as he is mindful to provide the same for his - neighbour. The bridle of temperance is imposed on thee, O man, out of - the law of life and discipline, in order that thou shouldst not follow - thy desires, nor with the good things of nature serve the enemy of the - soul, which is lust. If thou wilt turn away from thy pleasures, and be - content with food and raiment, little by little it will not so burden - thee to keep thy love from carnal desires, which war against the soul. - Thy love will be temperate and righteous when what is withdrawn from - its own pleasures is not denied to its brother's needs. Thus carnal - love becomes social when extended to one's kind. - - "Yet in order that perfect justice should exist in the love of - neighbour, God must be regarded (_Deum in causa haberi necesse est_). - How can one love his neighbour purely who does not love in God? God - makes Himself loved, He who makes all things good. He who founded - nature so made it that it should always need to be sustained by Him. - In order that no creature might be ignorant of this, and arrogate for - himself the good deeds of the Creator, the Founder wisely decreed that - man should be tried in tribulations. By this means, when he shall have - failed and God have aided, God shall be honoured by him whom He has - delivered. The result is that man, animal and carnal, who knew not how - to love any one beside himself, begins for his own sake to love God; - because he has found out that in God he can accomplish everything - profitable, and without Him can do nothing. - - "So now for his own interest, he loves God--love's second grade; but - does not yet love God for God's sake. If, however, tribulation keeps - assailing him, and he continually turns to God for aid, and God - delivers him, will not the man so oft delivered, though he have a - breast of iron and a heart of stone, be drawn to cherish his - deliverer, and love Him not only for His aid but for Himself? Frequent - necessities compel man to come to God incessantly; repeatedly he - tastes and, by tasting, proves how sweet is the Lord. At length God's - sweetness, rather than human need, draws the man to love Him. - Thereafter it will not be hard for the man to fulfil the command to - love his neighbour. Truly loving God, he loves for this reason those - who are God's. He loves chastely, and is not oppressed through obeying - the chaste command; he loves justly, and willingly embraces the just - command. That is the third grade of love, when God is loved for - Himself. - - "Happy is he who attains to the fourth grade, where man loves himself - only on account of God. Thy righteousness, O God, is as the mountain - of God; love is that mountain, that high mountain of God. Who shall - ascend into the mountain of the Lord? Who will give me the wings of a - dove and I will fly away and be at rest. Alas! for my long-drawn - sojourning! When shall I gain that habitation in Zion, and my soul - become one spirit with God? Blessed and holy will I call him to whom - in this mortal life such has been given though but once. For to be - lost to self and not to feel thyself, and to be emptied of thyself and - almost to be made nothing, that pertains to heavenly intercourse, not - to human affection. And if any one among mortals here gain admission - for an instant, at once the wicked world is envious, the day's evil - disturbs, the body of death drags down, fleshly necessity solicits, - corruption's debility does not sustain, and, fiercest of all, - brotherly love calls back! Alas! he is dragged back to himself, and - forced to cry: 'O Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me' (Isa. - xxxviii. 14); 'Who will deliver me from the body of this death?' (Rom. - vii. 24). - - "Yet Scripture says that God made all things for His own sake; that - will come to pass when the creation is in full accord with its Author. - Therefore we must sometime pass into that state wherein we do not wish - to be ourselves or anything else, except for His sake and by reason of - His will, not ours. Then not our need or happiness, but His will, will - be fulfilled in us. O holy love and chaste! O sweet affection! O pure - and purged intention of the will, in which nothing of its own is - mingled! This is it to be made God (_deificari_). As the drop of water - is diffused in a jar of wine, taking its taste and colour, and as - molten iron becomes like to fire and casts off its form, and as the - air transfused with sunlight is transformed into that same brightness - of light, so that it seems not illumined, but itself to be the light, - thus in the saints every human affection must in some ineffable mode - be liquefied of itself and transfused into the will of God. How could - God be all in all if in man anything of man remained? A certain - substance will remain, but in another form, another glory, another - power." - -Hereupon St. Bernard considers how this fourth grade of love will be -attained in the resurrection, and "perpetually possessed, when God only is -loved and we love ourselves only for His sake, that He may be the -recompense and aim (_praemium_) of those who love themselves, the eternal -recompense of those who love eternally." - -Christ is the universal Mediator between God and man, not only because -reconciling them, but as forming the intervening term, the concrete -instance of the One suited to the comprehension of the other. Such -thoughts and sentiments as commonly apply to man, when they are applied to -Christ become fit to apply to God. Herein especially may be perceived the -continuing identity of love, whether relating to human beings or to God. -The soul's love of Christ is mediatorial, and symbolic of its love of God. -All of which Bernard has demonstrated with conjoined power of argument and -feeling in his famous _Sermons on Canticles_.[502] - -The human personality of Christ draws men to love Him, till their love is -purged of carnality and exalted to a perfect love of God: - - "Observe that the heart's love is partly carnal; it is affected - through the flesh of Christ and what He said and did while in the - flesh. Filled with this love, the heart is readily touched by - discourse upon His words and acts. It hears of nothing more willingly, - reads nothing more carefully, recalls nothing more frequently, and - meditates upon nothing more sweetly. When man prays, the sacred image - of the God-man is with him, as He was born or suckled, as He taught or - died, rose from the dead or ascended to heaven. This image never fails - to nerve man's mind with the love of virtue, cast out the vices of the - flesh and quell its lusts. I deem the principal reason why the - invisible God wished to be seen in the flesh, and, as man, hold - intercourse with men, was that He might draw the affections of carnal - men, who could only love carnally, to a salutary love of His flesh, - and then on to a spiritual love." - -Conversely, the Saviour's example teaches men how they should love Him: - - "He loved sweetly, wisely, and bravely: sweetly, in that He put on - flesh; wisely, in that He avoided fault; bravely, in that He bore - death. Those, however, with whom He sojourned in the flesh, He did not - love carnally, but in prudence of spirit. Learn then, Christian, from - Christ how to love Christ." - -Bernard shows how even the Apostles failed sometimes to love Him according -to His perfect teaching and example: - - "Good, indeed, is this carnal love," he concludes, "through which a - carnal life is shut out; and the world is despised and conquered. This - love progresses as it becomes rational, and perfected as it becomes - spiritual."[503] - -From his own experiences Bernard could have spoken much of the winning -power of Jesus, and could have told how sweetly it drew him to love his -Saviour's steps from Bethlehem to Calvary. The fifteenth sermon upon -Canticles is on the healing power of Jesus' name. - - "Dry is all food for the soul unless anointed with that oil. Whatever - you write is not to my taste unless I read Jesus there. Your talk and - disputation is nothing unless that name is rung. Jesus is honey in the - mouth, melody in the ear, joy in the heart. He is medicine as well. Is - any one troubled, let Jesus come into the heart and thence leap to the - lips, and behold! at the rising of that bright name the clouds scatter - and the air is again serene. If any one slips in crime, and then - desponds amid the snares of death, will he not, invoking that name of - life, regain the breath of life? In whom can hardness of heart, sloth, - rancour, languishment stand before that name? In whom at its - invocation will not the dried fount of tears burst forth more - abundantly and sweetly? To what fearful trembler did the power of that - name ever fail to bring back confidence? To what man struggling amid - doubts did not the clear assurance of that name, invoked, shine forth? - Who despairing in adversity lacked fortitude if that name sounded? - These are the languors and sickness of the soul, and that the - medicine. Nothing is as potent to restrain the attack of wrath, or - quell the tumour of pride, or heal envy's wound, or put out the fire - of lust, or temper avarice. When I name Jesus, I see before me a man - meek and humble of heart, benignant, sober, chaste, pitying, holy, who - heals me with His example and strengthens me with aid. I take example - from the Man, and draw aid from the Mighty One. Here hast thou, O my - soul, an herb of price, hidden in the vessel of that name, bringing - thee health surely and in thy sickness failing thee never." - -This is a little illustration of Bernard's love of the Christ-man, a love -which is ever taking on spiritual hues and changing to a love of the -Christ-God. Christians, from the time of Origen, had recognized the many -offices of Christ, the many saving potencies in which He ministered unto -each soul according to its need. And so Bernard preaches that the sick -soul needs Christ as the physician, but that the saintly soul has other -yearnings for a more perfect communion. - -This perfect communion, this most complete relationship which in this -mortal life a soul can have with Christ, with God, had been symbolized, -likewise ever since the time of Origen, by the words Bride and Bridegroom, -and the Song of Songs had furnished the burning phrases. With surpassing -spirituality Bernard uses the texts of Canticles to set forth the -relationship of the soul to Christ, of man to God. The texts are what they -are, burning, sensuous, fleshly, intense, and beautiful--every one knows -them; but in Bernard's sermons flesh fades before the spirit's whiter -glow. - - "O love (_amor_), headlong, vehement, burning, impetuous, that canst - think of nothing beyond thyself, detesting all else, despising all - else, satisfied with thyself! Thou dost confound ranks, carest for no - usage, knowest no measure. In thyself dost thou triumph over apparent - opportuneness, reason, shame, council and judgment, and leadest them - into captivity. Everything which the soul-bride utters resounds of - thee and nothing else; so hast thou possessed her heart and - tongue."[504] - -What Bernard here ejaculates as to the overwhelming sufficiency of love, -he sets forth finally in a sustained and reasoned passage, in which man's -ways of loving God are cast together in a sequence of ardent thought and -image. He has been explaining the soul's likeness to the Word. Although it -be afflicted and defiled by sin, it may yet venture to come to Him whose -likeness it retains, however obscured. The soul does not leave God by -change of place, but, in the manner of spiritual substance, by becoming -depraved. The return of the soul is its conversion, in which it is made -conformable to God. - - "Such conformity marries the soul to the Word, whom it is like by - nature, and may show itself like in will, loving as it is loved. If it - loves perfectly it weds. What more delightful than this conformity, - what more desirable than this love, through which thou, O soul, - faithfully drawest near to the Word, with constancy cleavest to the - Word, consulting Him in everything, as capable in intellect as - audacious in desire. Spiritual is the contracting of these holy - nuptials, wherein always to will the same makes one spirit out of two. - No fear lest the disparity of persons make but a lame concurrence of - wills: for love does not know respect. The name love comes from loving - and not from honouring. He may honour who dreads, who is struck dumb - with fear and wonder. Not so the lover. Love aboundeth in itself, and - derides and imprisons the other emotions. Wherefore she who loves, - loves, and knows nothing else. And He who is to be honoured and - marvelled at, still loves rather to be loved. Bridegroom and Bride - they are. And what necessity or bond is there between spouses except - to be loved and love? - - "Think also, that the Bridegroom is not only loving but very love. Is - He also honour? I have not so read. I have read that God is love; not - that He is honour, or dignity. God indeed demands to be feared as - Lord, to be honoured as Father, and as Bridegroom to be loved. Which - excels the rest? Love, surely. Without it, fear is penal, and honour - graceless. Fear is slavish till manumitted by love; and the honour - which does not rise from love is adulation. To God alone belong honour - and glory; but He will accept neither unless it is flavoured with - love's honey. - - "Love asks neither cause nor fruit beyond itself. I love because I - love; I love that I may love. A great thing is love. Among all the - movements, sensations, and affections of the soul, it is the only one - wherein the creature can make a return to its Author. If God be angry - with me, shall I likewise be angry with Him? Nay, I will fear and - tremble and beseech. If He accuse me, I will make no counter-charge, - but plead before Him. If He judge me, I will not judge but worship. - And when He saves me, He asks not to be saved by me; nor does He who - frees all ask to be freed of any one. Likewise if He commands, I obey, - and do not order Him. Now see how different it is with love. For when - God loves, He wishes only to be loved; He loves with no other end than - to be loved, knowing that those who love are blessed with love itself. - - - "A great thing is love; but there are grades in it. The Bride stands - at the summit. Sons love, but they are thinking of their inheritance. - Fearing to lose that, they honour, rather than love, him from whom - they expect it. Love is suspect when its suffrage appears to be won by - hope of gain. Weak is it, if it cease or lessen with that hope - withdrawn. It is impure if it desires anything else. Pure love is not - mercenary: it gains no strength from hope, nor weakens with lack of - trust. This love is the Bride's, because she is what she is by love. - Love is the Bride's sole hope and interest. In it the Bride abounds - and the Bridegroom is content. He seeks nothing else, nor has she - ought beside. Hence he is Bridegroom and she Bride. This belongs to - spouses which none else, not even a son, can attain. Man is commanded - to honour his father and mother; but there is silence as to love. - Which is not because parents are not to be loved by their sons; but - because sons are rather moved to honour them. The honour of the King - loves judgment; but the Bridegroom's love--for He is love--asks only - love's return and faith. - - "Rightly renouncing all other affections, the Bride reposes on love - alone, and returns a love reciprocal. And when she has poured her - whole self out in love, what is that compared with the perennial flood - of that fountain? Not equals in abundance are this loving one and - Love, the soul and the Word, the Bride and Bridegroom, creature and - Creator--no more than thirst equals the fount. What then? shall she - therefore despair, and the vow of the would-be Bride be rendered - empty? Shall the desire of this panting one, the ardour of this loving - one, the trust of this confiding one be baffled because she cannot - keep pace with the giant's course, in sweetness contend with honey, in - mildness with the Lamb, in whiteness with the Lily, in brightness with - the Sun, in love with Him who is love? No. For although the creature - loves less, because she is less, yet if she loves with her whole self, - nothing lacks where there is all. Wherefore, as I have said, so to - love is to have wedded; for no one can so love and yet be loved but - little, and in mutual consent stands the entire and perfect - marriage."[505] - -Who has not marvelled that the relationship of marriage should make so -large a part of the symbolism through which monks and nuns expressed the -soul's love of God? Historically it might be traced to Paul's precept, -"Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the Church"; still more -potently it was derived from the Song of Songs. But beyond these almost -adventitious influences, did not the holy priest, the monk, the nun, feel -and know that marriage was the great human relationship? So they drew from -it the most adequate allegory of the soul's communion with its Maker: -differently according to their sex, with much emotion, and even with -unseemly imaginings, they thought and felt the love of God along the ways -of wedded union or even bridal passion.[506] - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI[507] - - -Twenty-nine years after the death of St. Bernard, Francis was born in the -Umbrian hill town of Assisi. The year was 1182. On the fourth of October -1226, in the forty-fifth year of his age, this most loving and best -beloved of mediaeval saints breathed his last, in the little church of the -Portiuncula, within the shadows of that same hill town. - -Of all mediaeval saints, Bernard and Francis impressed themselves most -strongly upon their times. Neither of them was pre-eminently an -intellectual force--Francis especially would not have been what he was but -for certain childlike qualities of mind which never fell away from him. -The power of these men sprang from their personalities and the _vivida -vis_ (their contemporaries would have said, the grace of God) realizing -itself in every word and act. Bernard's power was more directly dependent -upon the conditions of his epoch, and his influence was more limited in -duration. - -The reason is not far to seek. Both men were of the Middle Ages, even of -those decades in which they lived. But Bernard's strength was part of the -medium wherein he worked and the evil against which he fought--the -clerical corruptions, the heresies, the schisms and political -controversies, the warfare of Christ with Mahomet,--all matters of vital -import for his time, but which were to change and pass. - -Francis, on the other hand, was occupied with none of these. He was no -scourge of clerical corruptions, no scourge of anything; he knew nought of -heresy or schism, nothing of politics or war; into the story of his life -there comes not even a far-off echo of the Albigensian Crusade or the -conflict between pope and emperor. His life appears detached from the -special conditions of his time; it is neither held within them nor -compelled by them, but only by its inner impulse. For it was not occupied -with the exigencies of Italy and Germany, or Southern France, during that -first quarter of the thirteenth century, when De Montfort was hurling the -orthodox and brutal north upon the fair but heretical provinces of -Languedoc, and when Innocent III. was excommunicating Otho IV., and -Frederick II. was disclosing himself as the most dangerous foe the papacy -had yet known. The passing turmoil and danger of the time did not touch -this life; the man knew naught of all these things. He was not considering -thirteenth-century Italians, Frenchmen, and Germans; he was fascinated -with men as men, with the dumb brutes as fellow-creatures, and even with -plants and stones as vessels of God's loveliness or symbols of His Word; -above all he was absorbed in Christ, who had taken on humanity for him, -had suffered for him, died for him, and who now around, above, within him, -inspired and directed his life. - -So Francis's life was not compassed by its circumstances; nor was its -effect limited to the thirteenth century. His life partook of the eternal -and the universal, and might move men in times to come as simply and -directly as it turned men's hearts to love in the years when Francis was -treading the rough stones of Assisi. - -On the other hand, Francis was mediaeval and in a way to give concrete -form and colour to the elements of universal manhood that were his. He was -mediaeval in complete and finished mode; among mediaeval men he offers -perhaps the most distinct and most perfectly consistent individuality. He -is Francis of Assisi, born in 1182 and dying in 1226, and no one else who -ever lived either there and then or elsewhere at some other time. He is -Francis of Assisi perfectly and always, a man presenting a complete -artistic unity, never exhibiting act or word or motive out of character -with himself. - -From a slightly different point of view we may perceive how he was a -perfect individual and at the same time a perfect mediaeval type. There -was no element in his character which was not assimilated and made into -Francis of Assisi. Anterior and external influences contributed to make -this Francis. But in entering him they ceased to be what they had been; -they changed and became Francis. For example, nothing of the antique, no -distinct bit of classical inheritance, appears in him; if, in any way, he -was touched by it--as in his joyous love of life and the world about -him--the influence had ceased to be anything distinct in him; it had -become himself. Likewise, whatever he may have known of the Fathers and of -all the dogmatic possession and ecclesiastical tradition of the Church, -this also was remade in Francis. Evidently such an all-assimilating and -transforming individuality could not have existed in those earlier -centuries when the immature mediaeval world was taking over its great -inheritance from the pagan and Christian antique--those centuries when men -could but turn their heritage of thought and knowledge this way and that, -disturb and distort and rearrange it. Such an individuality as Francis -could exist only at the climax of the Middle Age, at the period of its -fullest strength and greatest distinction, when it had masterfully changed -after its own heart whatever it had received from the past, and had made -its transformed acquisitions into itself. - -Francis is of this grand mediaeval climacteric. The Middle Ages were no -longer in a stage of transition from the antique; they had attained; they -were themselves. Sides of this distinctive mediaeval development and -temper express themselves in Francis--are Francis verily. The spirit of -romance is incarnate in him. Roland, Oliver, Charlemagne (he of the -_Chansons de geste_), and the knights of the Round Table, are part of -Francis;--his first disciples are his paladins. Again, instead of emperor -or paladin, he is himself the _jongleour_, the _joculator Dei_ (God's -minstrel). - -And of all that had become Francis the greatest was Christ. He had not -taken the theology of Augustine; he had not taken the Christ handed over -by the transition centuries to the early Middle Ages; he had not adopted -the Christ of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. He took Jesus from the Gospel, -or at least such elements of Jesus' life and teaching as he felt and -understood. Francis modelled his life on his understanding of Christ and -His teaching. So many another saint had done; in fact, so must all -Christians try to do. Francis accomplished it with completeness and power; -he created a new Christ life; a Christ life partial and reduced from the -breadth and balance of the original, yet veritable and living. Francis -himself felt that his whole life was Christ-directed and inspired, and -that even because of his own special insignificance Christ had chosen him -to show forth the true Gospel life again--but chosen him indeed.[508] - -Although the life of Francis appears as if detached from the larger -political and ecclesiastical movements of the time, it yields glimpses of -the ways and doings of the people of Assisi. We see their jealousies and -quarrels, their war with Perugia, also their rustic readiness to jeer at -the unusual and incomprehensible; or we are struck with instances of the -stupid obstinacy and intolerance often characterizing a small community. -Again, we see in some of those citizens an open and quick impulsiveness, -which, at the sight of love, may turn to love. It would seem as if the -harshest, most impossible man of all the town was Peter Bernardone, a -well-to-do merchant whose affairs took him often from Assisi, and not -infrequently to France. - -Bernardone had a predilection for things French, and the child born to his -wife while he was absent in France, he called Francis upon his return, -although the mother had given it the name of John. The mother, whose name -was Pica, may have been of Provencal or French blood. Apparently such -education as Francis received in his boyhood was as much French as -Italian. Through all his life he never lost the habit of singing French -songs which he composed himself.[509] - -The biographers assert that Francis was nourished in worldly vanity and -insolence. His temperament drew him to the former, but kept him from the -latter. For while he delighted in making merry with his friends, he was -always distinguished by a winning courtesy of manner toward poor and rich. -An innate generosity was also his, and he loved to spend money as he -roamed with his companions about Assisi singing jovial choruses and -himself the leader of the frolic. Bernardone did not object to his son's -squandering some money in a way which led others to admire him and think -his parents rich; while Pica would keep saying that some day he would be -God's son through grace. A vein of sprightly fantasy runs through these -gaieties of Francis's, which we may be sure were unstained by any gross -dissipation. Francis's life as a saint is peculiarly free from monkish -impudicity, free, that is, from morbid dwelling upon things sensual; which -shows that in him there was no reaction or need of reaction against any -youthful dissoluteness, and bears testimony to the purity of his -unconverted years.[510] - -In those days Francis loved to be admired and praised. He was possessed -with a romantic and imaginative vanity. Costly clothes delighted him as he -dreamed of still more royal entertainment, and fancied great things to -come. His mind was filled with the figures of Romance; a knight would he -be at least; why not a paladin, whom all the world should wonder at? So he -dreamed, and so he acted out his whim as best he might on the little stage -of Assisi; for Francis was a poet, and a poet even more in deed than in -words. He was endowed with exquisite fancy, and he did its dictates never -doubting. His life was to prove an almost unexampled inspiration to art, -because it was itself a poem by reason of its unfailing realization of the -conceptions of a fervent and beautiful imagination. - -There came war with Perugia, a very hard-hitting town; and the Assisi -cavaliers, Francis among them, found themselves in their neighbours' -dungeons. There some desponded; but not Francis. For in these careless -days he was always gleeful and jocular, even as afterwards his entire -saintly life was glad with an invincible gaiety of spirit. So Francis -laughed and joked in prison till his fellow-prisoners thought him crazy, -which no whit worried him, as he answered with the glad boast that some -day he would be adored by all the world. He showed another side of his -inborn nature when he was kind to a certain one of the captives whom the -rest detested, and tried to reconcile his fellows with him. - -It was soon after his release from this twelvemonth captivity that the -sails of Francis's spirit began to fill with still more topping hopes, and -then to waver strangely. He naturally fell sick after the privations of a -Perugia prison. As he recovered and went about with the aid of a staff, -the loveliness of field and vineyard failed to please him. He wondered at -himself, and suspected that his former pleasures were follies. But it was -not so easy to leave off his previous life, and Francis's thoughts were -lured back again to this world's glory; for a certain nobleman of Assisi -was about to set out on an expedition to Apulia to win gain and fame, and -Francis was inflamed to go with him. In the night he dreamed that his -father's house with its heaps of cloth and other wares was filled instead -with swords and lances, with glittering shields, helmets and breastplates. -He awoke in an ecstasy of joy at the great glory portended by this dream. -Then he fitted himself out sumptuously, with splendid garb, bright -weapons, new armour, and accoutrements, and in due time set forth with his -fellow-adventurers. - -Once more he wavered. Before reaching Spoleto he stopped, left the -company, turned back on his steps, this time impelled more strongly to -seek those things which he was to love through life. He was about -twenty-three years old. It was his nature to love everything, fame and -applause, power perhaps, and joy; but he had not yet loved worthily. Now -his Lord was calling him, the voice at first not very certain, and yet -becoming stronger. Francis seems to have seen a vision, in which the -vanity of his attachments was made clear, and he learned that he was -following a servant instead of the Lord. So his heart replied, "Lord, what -wouldst thou have me to do?" and then the vision showed him that he should -return, for he had misunderstood his former dream of arms. When Francis -awoke he thought diligently on these matters. - -Such spiritual experiences are incommunicable, even though the man should -try to tell them. But we know that as Francis had set out joyfully -expecting worldly glory, he now returned with exultation, to await the -will of the Lord, as it might be shown him. The facts and also their -sequence are somewhat confused in the biographies. - -On his return to Assisi, his comrades seem to have chosen him as lord of -their revels; again he ordained a merry feast; but as they set forth -singing gleefully, Francis walked behind them, holding his marshal's -staff, in silence. Thoughts of the Lord had come again, and withdrawn his -attention: he was thinking sweetly of the Lord, and vilely of himself. -Soon after he is found providing destitute chapels with the requisites for -a decent service; already--in his father's absence--he is filling his -table with beggars; and already he has overcome his fastidious temper, has -forced himself to exchange the kiss of peace with lepers, and has kissed -the livid hands in which he presses alms.[511] He appears to have made a -trip to St. Peter's at Rome, where, standing before the altar, it struck -him that the Prince of the Apostles was being honoured with mean -offerings. So in his own princely way he flung down the contents of his -purse, to the wonder of all. Then going without the church, he put on the -clothes of a beggar and asked alms. - -In such conduct Francis showed himself a poet and a saint. Imagination was -required to conceive these extreme, these perfect acts, acts perfect in -their carrying out of a lovely thought to its fulfilment, and suffering -nothing to impede its perfect realization. So Francis flings down all he -has, and not a measure of his goods; he puts on beggars' clothes, and -begs; he kisses lepers' hands, eats from the same bowl with them--acts -which were perfect in the singleness of their fulfilment of a saintly -motive, acts which were likewise beautiful. They are instances of -obsession with a saintly idea of great spiritual beauty, obsession so -complete that the ridiculous or hideous concomitants of the realization -serve only to enhance the beauty of the holy thought perfectly fulfilled. - -One day at Assisi, passing by the church of St. Damian, Francis was moved -to enter for prayer. As he prayed before the Crucifix, the image seemed to -say, "Francis, dost thou not see my house in ruins? Rebuild it for me." -And he answered, "Gladly, Lord," thinking that the little chapel of St. -Damian was intended. Filled with joy, having felt the Crucified in his -soul, he sought the priest and gave him money to buy oil for the lamp -before the Crucifix. This day was ever memorable in Francis's walk with -God. His way had lost its turnings; he saw his life before him clear, -glad, and full of tears of love. "From that hour his heart was so wounded -and melted at the memory of his Lord's passion that henceforth while he -lived he carried in his heart the marks of the Lord Jesus. Again he was -seen walking near the Portiuncula, wailing aloud. And in response to the -inquiries of a priest, he answered: 'I bewail the passion of my Lord Jesus -Christ, which it should not shame me to go weeping through the world!' -Often as he rose from prayer his eyes were full of blood, because he had -wept so bitterly."[512] - -It appears to have been after this vision in St. Damian's Church that -Francis went on horseback to Foligno, carrying pieces of cloth, which he -sold there, and his horse as well. He travelled back on foot, and seeking -out St. Damian's astonished little priest, he kissed his hands devoutly -and offered him the money. When, for fear of Bernardone, the priest would -not receive it, Francis threw it into a box. He prevailed on the priest, -however, to let him stay there. - -What Bernardone thought of this son of his is better only guessing. The -St. Damian episode brought matters to a crisis between the two. He came -looking for his son, and Francis escaped to a cave, where he spent a month -in tears and prayer to the Lord, that he might be freed from his father's -pursuit, so that he might fulfil his vows. Gradually courage and joy -returned, and he issued from his cave and took his way to the town. Former -acquaintances of his pursued him with jeers and stones, as one demented, -so wretched was he to look upon after his sojourn in the cave. He made no -reply, save to give thanks to God. The hubbub reached the father, who -rushed out and seized his son, beat him, and locked him up in the house. -From this captivity he was released by his mother, in her husband's -absence, and again betook himself to St. Damian's. - -Shortly afterward Bernardone returned, and would have haled Francis before -the magistrates of the town for squandering his patrimony; but his son -repudiated their jurisdiction, as being the servant of God. They were glad -enough to turn the matter over to the bishop, who counselled Francis to -give back the money which was his father's. The scene which followed has -been made famous by the brush of Giotto. The _Three Companions_ narrate it -thus: - - "Then arose the man of God glad and comforted by the bishop's words, - and fetching the money said, 'My lord, not only the money which is his - I wish to return to him, but my clothes as well, and gladly.' Then - entering the bishop's chamber, he took off his clothes, and placing - the money upon them, went out again naked before them, and said: 'Hear - ye all and know. Until now I have called Pietro Bernardone my father; - but because I have determined to serve God, I return him the money - about which he was disturbed, and these clothes which I had from him, - wishing only to say, "Our Father who art in heaven" and not "Father - Pietro Bernardone."' The man of God was found even then to have worn - haircloth beneath his gay garments. His father rising, incensed, took - the money and the clothes. As he carried them away to his house, those - who had seen the sight were indignant that he had left not a single - garment for his son, and they shed tears of pity over Francis. The - bishop was moved to admiration at the constancy of the man of God, and - embraced him and covered him with his cloak."[513] - -Thus Francis was indeed made naked of the world. With joy he hastened back -to St. Damian's; and there prepared himself a hermit garb, in which he -again set forth through the streets of the city, praising God and -soliciting stones to rebuild the Church. As he went he cried that whoever -gave one stone should have one reward, and he who gave two, two rewards, -and he who gave more as many rewards as he gave stones. Many laughed at -him, thinking him crazy; but others were moved to tears at the sight of -one who from such frivolity and vanity had so quickly become drunken with -divine love. - -Francis became a beggar for the love of Christ, seeking to imitate Him -who, born poor, lived poor, and had no place to lay His head. Not only did -he beg stones to rebuild St. Damian's, but he began to go from house to -house with a bowl to beg his food. Naked before them all, he had chosen -"holy poverty," "lady poverty"[514] for his bride. He was filled with the -desire to copy Christ and obey His words to the letter. According to the -_Three Companions_, when the blessed Francis completed the church of St. -Damian, his wont was to wear a hermit garb and carry a staff; he wore -shoes on his feet and a girdle about him. But listening one day to Jesus' -words to His disciples, as He sent them out to preach, not to take with -them gold, or silver, or a wallet, or bread, or a staff, or shoes, nor -have two cloaks, Francis said with joy: "This is what I desire to fulfil -with my whole strength."[515] - -The literal imitation of certain particular Gospel instances, and the -unconditional carrying out of certain of Christ's specially intended -precepts, mark Francis's understanding of his Lord. It is exemplified in -the account of the conversion of Francis's first disciple, as told by the -_Three Companions_: - - "As the truth of the blessed Francis's simple life and doctrine became - manifest to many, two years after his own conversion, certain men were - moved to penitence by his example, and were drawn to give up - everything and join with him in life and garb. Of these the first was - Bernard of saintly memory, who reflecting upon the constancy and - fervour of the blessed Francis in serving God, and with what labour he - was repairing ruined churches and leading a hard life, although - delicately nurtured, he determined to distribute his property among - the poor and cling to Francis. Accordingly one day in secret he - approached the man of God and disclosed his purpose, at the same time - requesting that on such an evening he would come to him. Having no - companion hitherto, the blessed Francis gave thanks to God, and - rejoiced greatly, especially as Messer (_dominus_) Bernard was a man - of exemplary life. - - "So with exulting heart the blessed Francis went to his house on the - appointed evening and stayed all night with him. Messer Bernard said - among other things: 'If a person should have much or a little from his - lord, and have held it many years, how could he do with the same what - would be the best?' The blessed Francis replied that he should return - it to his lord from whom he had received it. - - "And Messer Bernard said: 'Therefore, brother, I wish to distribute, - in the way that may seem best to thee, all my worldly goods for love - of my Lord, who conferred them on me.' - - "To whom the saint said: 'In the morning we will go to the Church, and - will learn from the copy (_codex_) of the Gospels there how the Lord - taught His disciples.' - - "So rising in the morning, with a certain other named Peter, who also - desired to become a brother, they went to the church of St. Nicholas - close to the piazza of the city Assisi. And commencing to pray - (because they were simple men and did not know where to find the - Gospel text relating to the renouncing of the world) they asked the - Lord devoutly, that He would deign to show them His will at the first - opening of the Book. - - "When they had prayed, the blessed Francis taking in his hands the - closed book, kneeling before the altar opened it, and his eye fell - first upon this precept of the Lord: 'If thou wouldst be perfect, go, - sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have - treasure in heaven.' At which the blessed Francis was very glad and - gave thanks to God. But because this true observer of the Trinity - wished to be assured with threefold witness, he opened the Book for - the second and third time. The second time he read, 'Carry nothing for - the journey,' and the third time, 'Who wishes to come after me, let - him deny himself.' - - "At each opening of the Book, the blessed Francis gave thanks to God - for the divine confirmation of his purpose and long-conceived desire, - and then said to Bernard and Peter: 'Brothers, this is our life and - this is our rule, and the life and rule of all who shall wish to join - our society. Go, then, and as you have heard, so do.' - - "Messer Bernard went away (he was very rich) and, having sold his - possessions and got together much money, he distributed it to the poor - of the town. Peter also complied with the divine admonition as best he - could. They both assumed the habit which Francis had adopted, and from - that hour lived with him after the model (_formam_) of the holy Gospel - shown them by the Lord. Therefore the blessed Francis has said in his - Testament: 'The Lord himself revealed to me that I should live - according to the model (_formam_) of the holy Gospel.'"[516] - -The words which met the eyes of Francis on first opening this Gospel-book, -had nearly a thousand years before his time driven the holy Anthony to the -desert of the Thebaid. Still one need not think the later tale a fruit of -imitative legend. The accounts of Francis afford other instances of his -literal acceptance of the Gospels.[517] - -After the step taken by Bernard and Peter, others quickly joined -themselves to Francis, and in short time the small company took up its -abode in an abandoned cabin at Rivo-torto, near Assisi. In a twelvemonth -or more they removed to the little church of Santa Maria de Portiuncula -(Saint Mary of the little portion).[518] In the meanwhile Francis had been -to Rome and gained papal authorization from the great Innocent III. for -his lowly way of life. It would be hard to describe the joyfulness of -these first Gospel days of the brethren: they come and go, and pray and -labour; all are filled with joy; _gaudium_, _jucunditas_, _laetabantur_, -such words crowd each other in accounts of the early days. Their love was -complete; they would gladly give their bodies to pain or death not only -for the love of Christ, but for the love of each other; they were founded -and rooted in humility and love; Francis's own life was a song of joy, as -he went singing (always _gallice_) and abounding in love and its joyful -prayers and tears. What joy indeed could be greater than his; he had -given himself to his Lord, and had been accepted. One day he had retired -for contemplation, and as he prayed, "God be merciful to me a sinner," an -ineffable joy and sweetness was shed in his heart. He began to fall away -from himself; the anxieties and fears which a sense of sin had set in his -heart were dispelled, and a certitude of the remission of his sins took -possession of him. His mind dilated and a joyful vision made him seem -another man when he returned and said in gladness to the brethren: "Be -comforted, my best beloved, and rejoice in the Lord. Do not feel sad -because you are so few. Let neither my simplicity nor yours abash you, for -it has been shown me of the Lord that God will make of you a great -multitude, and multiply you to the confines of the earth. I saw a great -multitude of men coming to us, desiring to assume the habit and rule of -our blessed religion; and the sound of them is in my ears as they come and -go according to the command of holy obedience; and I saw the ways filled -with them from every nation. Frenchmen come, and Spaniards hurry, Germans -and English run, and a multitude speaking other tongues."[519] - -Thus far the life of Francis was a poem, even as it was to be unto the -end; for, although the saint's plans might be thwarted by the wisdom and -frailty of men, his words and actions did not cease to realize the -exquisite conceptions of his soul. But the volume of his life, from this -time on, becomes too large for us to follow, embracing as it does the far -from simple history of the first decades of his Order. Our object is still -to observe his personality, and his love of God and man and creature-kind. - -Francis's mind was as simple as his heart was single. He had no distinctly -intellectual interests, as nothing appealed to his mentality alone.[520] -In his consciousness, everything related itself to his way of life, its -yearnings and aversions. Whatever was unsuited to enter into this catholic -relationship repelled rather than interested him. Hence he was averse to -studies which had nothing to do with the man's closer walk with God, and -love of fellow. "My brothers who are led by the curiosity of knowledge -will find their hands empty in the day of tribulation. I would wish them -rather to be strengthened by virtues, that when the time of tribulation -comes they may have the Lord with them in their straits--for such a time -will come when they will throw their good-for-nothing books into holes and -corners."[521] - -The moral temper of Francis was childlike in its simple truth. He could -not endure in the smallest matter to seem other than as he was before God: -"As much as a man is before God so much is he, and no more."[522] Once in -Lent he ate of cakes cooked in lard, because everything cooked in oil -violently disagreed with him. When Lent was over, he thus began his first -sermon to a concourse of people: "You have come to me with great devotion, -believing me to be a holy man, but I confess to God and to you that in -this Lent I have eaten cakes cooked in lard."[523] At another time, when -in severe sickness he had somewhat exceeded the pittance of food which he -allowed himself, he rose, still shaking with fever, and went and preached -to the people. When the sermon was over, he retired a moment, and having -first exacted a promise of obedience from the monks accompanying him, he -threw off his cloak, tied a rope around his waist, and commanded them to -drag him naked before the people, and there cast ashes in his face; all -which was done by the weeping monks. And then he confessed his fault to -all.[524] - -Francis took joy in obedience and humility. One of his motives in -resigning the headship of the Order was that he might have a superior to -obey.[525] However pained by the shortcomings and corruptions of the -Church, he was always obedient and reverent. He had no thought of -revolution, but the hope of purifying all. One day certain brothers said -to him: "Father, do you not see that the bishops do not let us preach, and -keep us for days standing idle, before we are able to declare the word of -God? Would it not be better to obtain the privilege from the Pope, that -there might be a salvation of souls?" - -"You, brothers Minorites," answered Francis, "know not the will of God, -and do not permit me to convert the whole world, which is God's will; for -I wish first through holy obedience and reverence to convert the prelates, -who when they see our holy life and humble reverence for them, will beg -you to preach and convert the people, and will call the people to hear you -far better than your privileges, which draw you to pride. For me, I desire -this privilege from the Lord that I may never have any privilege from man -except to do reverence to all, and through obedience to our holy rule of -life convert mankind more by example than by word."[526] - -And again he said to the brothers: "We are sent to aid the clergy in the -salvation of souls, and what is found lacking in them should be supplied -by us. Know, brothers, that the gain of souls is most pleasing to God, and -this we may win better by peace with the clergy, than by discord. If they -hinder the salvation of the people, vengeance is God's and He will repay -in time. So be ye subject to the prelates and take heed on your part that -no jealousy arise. If ye are sons of peace ye shall gain both clergy and -people, and this will be more acceptable to God than to gain the people -alone by scandalizing the clergy. Cover their slips, and supply their -deficiencies; and when ye shall have done this be ye the more -humble."[527] - -So Francis loved _sancta obedientia_ as he called it. As a wise builder he -set himself upon a rock, to wit, the perfect humility and poverty of the -Son of God; and because of his own humility he called his company the -Minorites (the "lesser" brethren).[528] For himself, he deemed that he -should most rejoice when men should revile him and cast him forth in -shame, and not when they revered and honoured him.[529] - -Above all he loved his "lady poverty" and could not say enough to impress -his followers with her high worth and beauty, and with the dignity and -nobility of begging alms for the love of the Lord.[530] As a high-born -lady, poor and beautiful, he had seen her in a vision, in the midst of a -desert, and worthy to be wooed by the King.[531] In the early days when -the brothers were a little band, Francis had gone about and begged for -all. He loved them so that he dreaded to require what might shame them. -But when the labour was too great for one man, so delicate and weak, he -said to them: "Best beloved brothers and my children, do not be ashamed to -go for alms, because the Lord made Himself poor for us in this world after -whose example we have chosen the truest poverty. For this is our heritage, -which our Lord Jesus Christ achieved and left to us and to all who, after -His example, wish to live in holy poverty. I tell you of a truth that many -wise and noble of this world shall join that congregation and hold it for -an honour and a grace to go out for alms. Therefore boldly and with glad -heart seek alms with God's blessing; and more freely and gladly should you -seek alms than he who offers a hundred pieces of money for one coin, since -to those from whom you ask alms you offer the love of God, saying, 'Do us -an alms for the love of the Lord God,' in comparison with which heaven and -earth are nothing."[532] - -With Francis all virtues were holy (_sancta obedientia_, _sancta -paupertas_). Righteousness, goodness, piety, lay in imitating and obeying -his Lord. What joy was there in loving Christ, and being loved by Him! and -what an eternity of bliss awaited the Christian soul! To do right, to -imitate Christ and obey and love Him, is a privilege. Can it be other than -a joy? Indeed, this following of Christ is so blessed, that not to rejoice -continually in it, betokens some failure in obedience and love. Many have -approved this Christian logic; but to realize it in one's heart and -manifest it in one's life, was the more singular grace of Francis of -Assisi. His heart sang always unto the Lord; his love flowed out in -gladness to his fellows; his enchanted spirit rejoiced in every creature. -The gospel of this new evangelist awoke the hearts of men to love and joy. -Nothing rejoiced him more than to see his sons rejoice in the Lord; and -nothing was more certain to draw forth his tender reproof than a sad -countenance. - - "Once while the blessed Francis was at the Portiuncula, a certain good - beggar came along the way, returning from alms-begging in Assisi, and - he went along praising God with a high voice and great jocundity. As - he approached, Francis heard him, and ran out and met him in the way, - and joyfully kissed his shoulder where he bore the wallet containing - the gifts. Then he lifted the wallet, and set it on his own shoulder, - and so carried it within, and said to the brothers: 'Thus I wish to - have my brothers go and return with alms, joyful and glad and praising - God.'"[533] - - "Aside from prayer and the divine service, the blessed Francis was - most zealous in preserving continually an inward and outward spiritual - gladness. And this he especially cherished in the brothers, and would - reprove them for sadness and depression. For he said that if the - servant of God would study to preserve, inwardly and outwardly, the - spiritual joy which rises from purity of heart, and is acquired - through the devotion of prayer, the devils could not harm him, for - they say: So long as the servant of God is joyful in tribulation and - prosperity, we cannot enter into him or harm him.... To our enemy and - his members it pertains to be sad, but to us always to rejoice and be - glad in the Lord."[534] - -Thus the glad temper of his young unconverted days passed into his saintly -life, of which Christ was the primal source of rapture. - - "Drunken with the love and pity of Christ, the blessed Francis would - sometimes do such acts, when the sweetest melody of spirit within him - boiling outward gave sound in French, and the strain of the divine - whisper which his ear had taken secretly, broke forth in a glad French - song. He would pick up a stick and, holding it over his left arm, - would with another stick in his right hand make as if drawing a bow - across a violin (_viellam_), and with fitting gestures would sing in - French of the Lord Jesus Christ. At last this dancing would end in - tears, and the jubilee turn to pity for the Passion of Christ. And in - that he would continue, drawing sighs and groans, as, oblivious to - what he held in his hands, he was suspended from heaven."[535] - -Francis had been a lover from his youth; naturally and always he had loved -his kind. But from the time when Christ held his heart and mind, his love -of fellow-man was moulded by his thought and love of Christ. Henceforth -the loving acts of Francis moving among his fellows become a loving -following of Christ. He sees in every man the character and person of his -Lord, soliciting his love, commanding what he should do. He never refused, -or permitted his followers to refuse, what was asked in Christ's name; but -it displeased him when he heard the brothers ask lightly for the love of -God, and he would reprove them, saying: "So high and precious is God's -love that it never should be invoked save with great reverence and under -pressing need."[536] - -Such a man felt strong personal affection. Pure and wise was his love for -Santa Clara;[537] and a deep affection for one of his earliest and closest -followers touches us in his letter to brother Leo. Not all of the writings -ascribed to Francis breathe his spirit; but we hear his voice in this -letter as it closes: "And if it is needful for thy soul or for thy -consolation, and thou dost wish, my Leo, to come to me, come. Farewell in -Christ." - -Francis's love was unfailing in compassionate word and deed. Although cold -and sick, he would give his cloak away at the first demand, till his own -appointed minister-general commanded him on his obedience not to do so -without permission; and he saw that the brothers did not injure themselves -with fasting, though he took slight care of himself. On one occasion he -had them all partake of a meal, in order that one delicate brother, who -needed food, might not be put to shame eating while the rest fasted. And -once, early in the morning, he led an old and feeble brother secretly to a -certain vineyard, and there ate grapes before him, that he might not be -ashamed to do likewise, for his health.[538] - -The effect of his sweet example melted the hearts of angry men, -reconciling such as had been wronged to those who had wronged them, and -leading ruffians back to ways of gentleness. His conduct on learning of -certain dissensions in Assisi illustrates his method of restoring peace -and amity. - - "After the blessed Francis had composed the Lauds of the creatures, - which he called the Canticle of Brother Sun, it happened that great - dissension arose between the bishop and the podesta of the City of - Assisi, so that the bishop excommunicated the podesta, and the podesta - made proclamation that no person should sell anything to the bishop or - buy from him or make any contract with him. - - "When the blessed Francis (who was now so very sick) heard this, he - was greatly moved with pity, since no one interposed between them to - make peace. And he said to his companions: 'It is a great shame for us - servants of God that the bishop and the podesta hate each other so, - and none interposes to make peace.' - - "And so for this occasion he at once made a verse in the Lauds above - mentioned and said: - - 'Praised be thou, O my Lord, for those who forgive from love of - thee, - And endure sickness and tribulation. - Blessed are those who shall endure in peace, - For by thee, Most High, shall they be crowned.' - - "Then he called one of his companions and said to him: 'Go to the - podesta, and on my behalf tell him to come to the bishop's palace with - the magnates of the city and others that he may bring with him.' - - "And as that brother went, he said to two other of his companions: 'Go - before the bishop and podesta and the others who may be with them, and - sing the Canticle of Brother Sun, and I trust in the Lord that He will - straightway humble their hearts, and they will return to their former - affection and friendship.' - - "When all were assembled in the piazza of the episcopate, the two - brothers arose, and one of them said: 'The blessed Francis in his - sickness made a Lauds of the Lord from His creatures in praise of the - Lord and for the edification of our neighbour. Wherefore he begs that - you would listen to it with great devoutness.' And then they began to - say and sing them. - - "At once the podesta rose, and with folded hands listened intently, as - if it were the Lord's gospel; this he did with the greatest devoutness - and with many tears, for he had great trust and devotion toward the - blessed Francis. - - "When the Lauds of the Lord were finished, the podesta said before - them all: 'Truly I say to you that not only my lord-bishop, whom I - wish and ought to hold as my lord, but if any one had slain my brother - or son I would forgive him.' And so saying, he threw himself at the - bishop's feet, and said to him: 'Look, I am ready in all things to - make satisfaction to you as shall please you, for the love of our Lord - Jesus Christ and His servant the blessed Francis.' - - "The bishop accepting him, raised him with his hands and said: - 'Because of my office it became me to be humble, and since I am - naturally quick-tempered you ought to pardon me.' And so with great - kindness and love they embraced and kissed each other. - - "The brothers were astounded and made glad when they saw fulfilled to - the letter the concord predicted by the blessed Francis. And all - others present ascribed it as a great miracle to the merits of the - blessed Francis, that the Lord suddenly had visited them, and out of - such dissension and scandal had brought such concord."[539] - -It would be mistaken to refer to any single pious sentiment, the saint's -blithe love of animals and birds and flowers, and his regard even for -senseless things. It is right, however, for Thomas of Celano, as a proper -monkish biographer, to say: - - "While hastening through this world of pilgrimage and exile that - traveller (Francis) rejoiced in those things which are in the world, - and not a little. As toward the princes of darkness he used the world - as a field for battle, but as toward the Lord he treated it as the - brightest mirror of goodness; in the fabric he commended the - Artificer, and what he found in created things, he referred to the - Maker; he exulted over all the works of the hands of the Lord, and in - the pleasing spectacle beheld the life-giving reason and the cause. In - beautiful things he perceived that which was most beautiful, as all - good things acclaim, He who made us is best. Through vestiges - impressed on things he followed his chosen, and made of all a ladder - by which to reach the throne. He embraced all things in a feeling of - unheard of devotion, speaking to them concerning the Lord and - exhorting them in His praise."[540] - -This was true, even if it was not all the truth. Living creatures spoke to -Francis of their Maker, while things insensible aroused his reverence -through their suggestiveness, their scriptural associations, or their -symbolism. But beyond these motives there was in this poet Francis a happy -love of nature. If nature always spoke to him of God, its loveliness -needed no stimulation of devotion in order to be loved by him. His feeling -for it found everywhere sensibility and responsiveness. He was as if -possessed by an imaginative animism, wherein every object had a soul. His -acts and words may appear fantastic; they never lack loveliness and -beauty.[541] - - "Wrapped in the love of God, the blessed Francis perfectly discerned - the goodness of God not only in his own soul but in every creature. - Wherefore he was affected with a singular and yearning (_viscerosa_) - love toward creatures, and especially toward those in which was - figured something of God or something pertaining to religion. - - "Whence above all birds he loved a little bird called the lark (the - _lodola capellata_ of the vulgar tongue) and would say of her: 'Sister - lark has a hood like a Religious and is a humble bird, because she - goes willingly along the road to find for herself some grains of corn. - Even if she find them in dung she picks them out and eats them. In - flying she praises the Lord very sweetly, as the good Religious look - down upon earthly things, whose conversation is always in the heavens - and whose intent is always upon the praise of God. Her garments are - like earth, that is, her feathers, and set an example to the Religious - that they should not have delicate and gaudy garments, but such as are - vile in price and colour, as earth is viler than other - elements.'"[542] - -The unquestionably true story of Francis preaching to the birds is known -to all, especially to readers of the _Fioretti_. Thus Thomas of Celano -tells it: As the blessed Father Francis was journeying through the Spoleto -Valley, he reached a place near Mevanium, where there was a multitude of -birds--doves, crows, and other kinds. When he saw them, for the love and -sweet affection which he bore toward the lower creatures, he quickly ran -to them, leaving his companions. As he came near and saw that they were -waiting for him, he saluted them in his accustomed way. Then wondering -that they did not take flight, he was very glad, and humbly begged them to -listen to the word of God; among other things he said to them: "My -brothers who fly, verily you should praise the Lord your Maker and love -Him always, who gave you feathers to clothe you and wings to fly with and -whatever was necessary to you. God made you noble among creatures, -prepared your mansion in the purity of air; and though you neither sow nor -reap, nevertheless without any solicitude on your part, He protects and -guides you." - -At this, those little birds as he was speaking, marvellously exulting, -began to stretch out their necks and spread their wings and open their -beaks, looking at him. He passed through their midst, sweeping their heads -and bodies with his mantle. At length he blessed them, and with the sign -of the cross gave them leave to fly away. Then returning gladdened to his -companions, he yet blamed himself for his neglect to preach to the birds -before, since they so reverently heard the word of God. And from that day -he ceased not to exhort all flying and creeping things, and even things -insensible, to the praise and love of their Creator.[543] - -Thomas also says that above all animals Francis loved the lambs, because -so frequently in Scripture the humility of our Lord is likened unto a -lamb. One day, as Francis was making his way through the March of Ancona -he met a goat-herd pasturing his flock of goats. Among them, humbly and -quietly, a little lamb was feeding. Francis stopped as he saw it, and, -deeply touched, said to the brother accompanying him: "Dost thou see this -sheep walking so gently among the goats? I tell you, thus our Lord Jesus -Christ used to walk mild and humble among Pharisees and chief priests. For -love of Him, then, I beg thee, my son, to buy this little sheep with me -and lead it out from among these goats." - -The brother was also moved with pity. They had nothing with them save -their wretched cloaks, but a merchant chancing to come along the way, the -money was obtained from him. Giving thanks to God and leading the sheep -they had bought, they reached the town of Osimo whither they were going; -and entering the house of the bishop, were honourably received by him. Yet -my lord bishop wondered at the sheep which Francis was leading with such -tender love. But when Francis had set forth the parable of his sermon, the -bishop too was touched and gave thanks to God. - -The following day they considered what to do with the sheep, and it was -given over to the nuns of the cloister of St. Severinus, who received it -as a great boon given them from God. Long while they cared for it, and in -the course of time wove a cloak from its wool, which they sent to the -blessed Francis at the Portiuncula at the time of a Chapter meeting. The -saint accepted it with joy, and kissed it, and begged all the brothers to -be glad with him.[544] - -Celano also tells how Francis loved the grass and vines and stones and -woods, and all comely things in the fields, also the streams, and earth -and fire and air, and called every creature "brother";[545] also how he -would not put out the flame of a lamp or candle, how he walked reverently -upon stones, and was careful to injure no living thing.[546] - -There are two documents which are both (the one with much reason and the -other with certainty) ascribed to Francis. Utterly different as they are, -each still remains a clear expression of his spirit. The one is the Lauds, -commonly called the Canticle of the Brother Sun, and the other is the -saint's last Testament. One may think of the Canticle as the closing -stanza of a life which was an enacted poem: - - Most High, omnipotent, good Lord, thine is the praise, the glory, the - honour and every benediction; - - To thee alone, Most High, these do belong, and no man is worthy to - name thee. - - Praised be thou, my Lord, with all thy creatures, especially milord - Brother Sun that dawns and lightens us; - - And he, beautiful and radiant with great splendour, signifies thee, - Most High. - - Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars that thou hast made - bright and precious and beautiful. - - Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Wind, and for the air and cloud and - the clear sky and for all weathers through which thou givest - sustenance to thy creatures. - - Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Water, that is very useful and humble - and precious and chaste. - - Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Fire, through whom thou dost illumine - the night, and comely is he and glad and bold and strong. - - Be praised, my Lord, for Sister, Our Mother Earth, that doth cherish - and keep us, and produces various fruits with coloured flowers and the - grass. - - Be praised, my Lord, for those who forgive for love of thee, and - endure sickness and tribulation; blessed are they who endure in peace; - for by thee, Most High, shall they be crowned. - - Be praised, my Lord, for our bodily death, from which no living man - can escape; woe unto those who die in mortal sin. - - Blessed are they that have found thy most holy will, for the second - death shall do them no hurt. - - Praise and bless my Lord, and render thanks, and serve Him with great - humility.[547] - -The self-expression of the more personal parts of the Testament supplement -these utterances: - - "Thus the Lord gave to me, Brother Francis, to begin to do penance: - because while I was in sins, it seemed too bitter to me to see lepers; - and the Lord himself led me among them, and I did mercy with them. And - departing from them, that which seemed to me bitter, was turned for me - into sweetness of soul and body. And a little afterwards I went out of - the world. - - "And the Lord gave me such faith in churches, that thus simply I - should pray and say: 'We adore thee, Lord Jesus Christ, and in all thy - churches which are in the whole world, and we bless thee, because - through thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.' - - "Afterwards the Lord gave and gives me so great faith in priests who - live after the model of the holy Roman Church according to their - order, that if they should persecute me I will still turn to them. And - if I should have as great wisdom as Solomon had, and should have found - the lowliest secular priests in the parishes where they dwell, I do - not wish to preach contrary to their wish. And them and all others I - wish to fear and honour as my lords; and I do not wish to consider sin - in them, because I see the Son of God in them and they are my lords. - - "And the reason I do this is because corporeally I see nothing in this - world of that most high Son of God except His most holy body and most - holy blood, which they receive and which they alone administer. And I - wish these most holy mysteries to be honoured above all and revered, - and to be placed together in precious places. Wherever I shall find - His most holy names and His written words in unfit places, I wish to - collect them, and I ask that they be collected and placed in a proper - place; and all theologians and those who administer the most holy - divine words, we ought to honour and venerate, as those who administer - to us spirit and life. - - "And after the Lord gave me brothers, no one showed me what I ought to - do, but the Most High himself revealed to me that I ought to live - according to the model of the holy Gospel. And I in a few words and - simply had this written, and the lord Pope confirmed it to me. And - they who were coming to receive life, all that they were able to have - they gave to the poor; and they were content with one patched cloak, - with the cord and breeches; and we did not wish to have more. We who - were of the clergy said our office as other clergy; the lay members - said 'Our Father.' And willingly we remained in churches; and we were - simple (_idiotae_) and subject to all. And I laboured with my hands, - and I wish to labour; and I wish all other brothers to labour. Who do - not know how, let them learn, not from the cupidity of receiving the - price of labour, but on account of the example, and to repel - slothfulness. And when the price of labour is not given to us, we - resort to the table of the Lord by seeking alms from door to door. - - "The Lord revealed to me a salutation that we should say: The Lord - give thee peace." - - Francis's precepts for the brothers follow here. The last paragraph of - the Will is: "And whoever shall have observed these principles, in - heaven may he be filled with the benediction of the most high Father, - and on earth may he be filled with the benediction of His beloved Son, - with the most holy spirit Paraclete, and with all the virtues of the - heavens and with everything holy. And I, Brother Francis, your very - little servant, so far as I am able, confirm to you within and without - that most holy benediction." - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -MYSTIC VISIONS OF ASCETIC WOMEN - - ELIZABETH OF SCHOeNAU; HILDEGARD OF BINGEN; MARY OF OGNIES; LIUTGARD OF - TONGERN; MECHTHILD OF MAGDEBURG - - -We pass to matters of a different complexion from anything presented in -the last few chapters. Thus far, besides Bernard and Francis, matchless -examples of monastic ideals, there have been instances of contemplation -and piety, with much emotion, and a sufficiency of experience having small -part in reason; also hallucinations and fantastic conduct, as in the case -of Romuald. The last class of phenomena, however, have not been prominent. -Now for a while we shall be wrapt in visions, rational, imitative, -fashioned with intent and plan; or, again, directly experienced, -passionate, hallucinative. They will range from those climaxes of the -constructive or intuitive imagination,[548] which are of the whole man, to -passionate or morbid delusions representing but a partial and passing -phase of the subject's personality. Moreover, we have been occupied with -hermits and monks, that is to say, with men. The present chapter has to do -with nuns; who are more prone to visions, and are occasionally subject to -those passionate hallucinations which are prompted by the circumstance -that the Christian God was incarnate in the likeness of a man. - -Besides the conclusions which the mind draws from the data of sense, or -reaches through reflection, there are other modes of conviction whose -distinguishing mark is their apparent immediacy and spontaneity. They are -not elicited from antecedent processes of thought, as inferences or -deductions; rather they loom upon the consciousness, and are experienced. -Yet they are far from simple, and may contain a multiplicity of submerged -reasonings, and bear relation to countless previous inferences. They are -usually connected with emotion or neural excitement, and may even take the -guise of sense-manifestations. Through such convictions, religious minds -are assured of God and the soul's communion with Him.[549] While not -issuing from argument, this assurance may be informed with reason and -involve the total sum of conclusions which the reasoner has drawn from -life. - -In devout mediaeval circles, the consciousness of communion with God, with -the Virgin, with angels and saints, and with the devil, often took on the -semblance of sense-perception. The senses seemed to be experiencing: -stenches of hell, odours of heaven, might be smelled, or a taste infect -the mouth; the divine or angelic touch was felt, or the pain of blows; -most frequently voices were heard, and forms were seen in a vision. In -these apparent testimonies of sight and hearing, the entire spiritual -nature of the man or woman might set the vision, dramatize it with his or -her desires and aversions, and complete it from the store of knowledge at -command. - -The visions of an eleventh-century monk named Othloh have been observed at -some length.[550] Intimate and trying, they were also, so to speak, in and -of the whole man: his tastes, his solicitudes, his acquired knowledge and -ways of reasoning, joined in these vivid experiences of God's truth and -the devil's onslaughts. One may be mindful of Othloh in turning to the -more impersonal visions of certain German nuns, which likewise issued -from the entire nature and intellectual equipment of these women.[551] - -On the Rhine, fifteen miles north-east of Bingen, lies the village of -Schoenau, where in the twelfth century flourished a Benedictine monastery, -and near it a cloister for nuns. At the latter a girl of twelve named -Elizabeth was received in the year 1141. She lived there as nun, and -finally as abbess, till her death in 1165. Like many other lofty souls -dwelling in the ideal, she was a stern censor of the evils in the world -and in the Church. The bodily infirmities from which she was never free, -were aggravated by austerities, and usually became most painful just -before the trances that brought her visions. Masses and penances, prayer -and meditation, made her manner of approach to these direct disclosures of -eternity, wherein the whole contents of her faith and her reflection were -unrolled. Frequently she beheld the Saints in the nights following their -festivals; her larger visions were moulded by the Apocalypse. These -experiences were usually beatific, though sometimes she suffered insult -from malignant shapes. What humility bade her conceal, the importunities -of admirers compelled her to disclose: and so her visions have been -preserved, and may be read in the _Vita_ written by her brother Eckbert, -Abbot of Schoenau.[552] Here is an example of how the saint and seeress -spoke: - - "On the Sunday night following the festival of St. James (in the year - 1153), drawn from the body, I was borne into an ecstasy (_avocata a - corpore rapta sum in exstasim_). And a great flaming wheel flared in - the heaven. Then it disappeared, and I saw a light more splendid than - I was accustomed to see; and thousands of saints stood in it, forming - an immense circle; in front were some glorious men, having palms and - shining crowns and the titles of their martyrdoms inscribed upon their - foreheads. From these titles, as well as from their pre-eminent - splendour, I knew them to be the Apostles. At their right was a great - company having the same shining titles; and behind these were others, - who lacked the signs of martyrdom. At the left of the Apostles shone - the holy order of virgins, also adorned with the signs of martyrdom, - and behind them another splendid band of maidens, some crowned, but - without these signs. Still back of these, a company of venerable women - in white completed the circle. Below it was another circle of great - brilliancy, which I knew to be of the holy angels." - - "In the midst of all was a Glory of Supreme Majesty, and its throne - was encircled by a rainbow. At the right of that Majesty I saw one - like unto the Son of Man, seated in glory; at the left was a radiant - sign of the Cross.... At the right of the Son of Man sat the Queen of - Kings and Angels on a starry throne circumfused with immense light. At - the left of the Cross four-and-twenty honourable men sat facing it. - And not far from them I saw two rams sustaining on their shoulders a - great shining wheel. The morning after this, at terse, one of the - brothers came to the window of my cell, and I asked that the mass for - the Holy Trinity might be celebrated. - - "The next Sunday I saw the same vision, and more: for I saw the Lamb - of God standing before the throne, very lovable, and with a gold - cross, as if implanted in its back. And I saw the four Evangelists in - those forms which Holy Scripture ascribes to them. They were at the - right of the Blessed Virgin, and their faces were turned toward her." - -And Elizabeth saw the Virgin arise and advance from out the great light -into the lower ether, followed by a multitude of women saints, and then -return amid great praise. - -In another vision she saw the events of the Saviour's last days on earth: -saw Him riding into Jerusalem, and the multitude throwing down branches; -saw Him washing the disciples' feet, then the agony in the garden, the -betrayal, the crowning with thorns, the spitting, the Lord upon the Cross, -and the Mother of God full of grief; she saw the piercing of His side, the -dreadful darkness,--all as in Scripture, and then the Scriptural incidents -following the Resurrection. Upon this, her vision took another turn, and -words were put in her mouth to chastise the people for their sins. - -Apparently more original was Elizabeth's vision of the _Paths of God_ (the -_Viae Dei_). In it three paths went straight up a mountain from opposite -sides, the first having the hyacinthine hue of the deep heaven; the second -green, the third purple. At the top of the mountain was a man, clad with a -hyacinthine tunic, his reins bound with a white girdle; his face was -splendid as the sun, his eyes shone as stars, and his hair was white; from -his mouth issued a two-edged sword; in his right hand he held a key and -in his left a sceptre. Elizabeth interprets: the man is Christ; and the -mountain represents the loftiness of celestial beatitude; the light at the -top is the brightness of eternal life; the three paths are the diverse -ways in which the elect ascend. The hyacinthine path is that of the _vita -contemplativa_; the green path is that of the religious _vita activa_; and -the purple path is the way of the blessed martyrs. - -There were also other paths up the mountain, one beset with brambles until -half way up, where they gave place to flowers. This is the way of married -folk, who pass from brambles to flowers when they abandon the pleasures of -the flesh; for the flowers are the virtues which adorn a life of -continence. Still other ways there were, for prelates, for widows, and for -solitaries. And Elizabeth turns her visions into texts, and preaches -vigorous sermons, denouncing the vices of the clergy as well as laity. In -other visions she had seen prelates and monks and nuns in hell. - -The visions of this nun appear to have been the fruit of the constructive -imagination working upon data of the mind. Yet she is said to have seen -them in trances, a statement explicitly made in the account of those last -days when life had almost left her body. Praying devoutly in the middle of -the night before she died, she seemed much troubled; then she passed into -a trance (_exstasim_). Returning to herself, she murmured to the sister -who held her in her arms: "I know not how it is with me; that light which -I have been wont to see in the heavens is dividing." Again she passed into -a trance, and afterwards, when the sisters begged her to disclose what she -had seen, she said her end was at hand, for she had seen holy visions -which, many years before, God's angel had told her she should not see -again until she came to die. On being asked whether the Lord had comforted -her, she answered, "Oh! what excellent comfort have I received!" - - * * * * * - -A more imposing personality than Elizabeth was Hildegard of Bingen,[553] -whose career extends through nearly the whole of the twelfth century; for -she was born in 1099 and died in 1179. Her parents were of the lesser -nobility, holding lands in the diocese of Mainz. A certain holy woman, one -Jutta, daughter of the Count of Spanheim, had secluded herself in a -solitary cell at Disenberg--the mount of St. Disibodus--near a monastery -of Benedictine monks. Drawn by her reputation, Hildegard's parents brought -their daughter to Jutta, who received her to a life like her own. The -ceremony, which took place in the presence of a number of persons, was -that of the last rites of the dead, performed with funeral torches. -Hildegard was buried to the world. She was eight years old. At the same -time a niece of Jutta also became a recluse, and afterwards others joined -them. - -On the death of Jutta in 1136, Hildegard was compelled to take the office -of Prioress. But when the fame of the dead Jutta began to draw many people -to her shrine, and cause a concourse of pilgrims, Hildegard decided to -seek greater quiet, and possibly more complete independence; for the -authority of the new abbot at the monastery may not have been to her -liking. She was ever a masterful woman, better fitted to command than to -obey. So in 1147 she and her nuns moved to Bingen, and established -themselves permanently near the tomb of St. Rupert. From this centre the -energies and influence of Hildegard, and rumours of her visions, soon -began to radiate. Her advice was widely sought, and often given unasked. -She corresponded with the great and influential, admonishing dukes and -kings and emperors, monks, abbots, and popes. Her epistolary manner -sometimes reminds one of Bernard, who was himself among her -correspondents. The following letter to Frederick Barbarossa would match -some of his: - - "O King, it is very needful that thou be foreseeing in thy affairs. - For, in mystic vision, I see thee living, small and insensate, beneath - the Living Eyes (of God). Thou hast still some time to reign over - earthly matters. Therefore beware lest the Supreme King cast thee down - for the blindness of thine eyes, which do not rightly see how thou - holdest the rod of right government in thy hand. See also to it that - thou art such that the grace of God may not be lacking in thee."[554] - -This is the whole letter. Hildegard's communications were not wont to -stammer. They were frequently announced as from God, and began with the -words "Lux vivens dicit." - -Hildegard was a woman of intellectual power. She was also learned in -theology, and versed in the medicine and scanty natural science of an -epoch which preceded the reopening of the great volume of Aristotelian -knowledge in the thirteenth century. Yet she asserts her illiteracy, and -seems always to have employed learned monks to help her express, in -awkward Latin, the thoughts and flashing words which, as she says, were -given her in visions. Her many gifts of grace, if not her learning, -impressed contemporaries, who wrote to her for enlightenment upon points -of doctrine and biblical interpretation; they would wait patiently until -she should be enabled to answer, since her answers were not in the power -of her own reflection, but had to be seen or heard. For instance, a monk -named Guibert, who afterwards became the saint's amanuensis and -biographer, propounded thirty-eight questions of biblical interpretation -on behalf of the monks of the monastery of Villars. In the course of time -Hildegard replies: "In visione animae meae, haec verba vidi et audivi," -and thereupon she gives a text from Canticles with an exposition of it, -which neither she nor the monks regarded quite as hers, but as divinely -revealed. At the end of the letter she says that she, insignificant and -untaught creature, has looked to the "true light," and through the grace -of God has laboured upon their questions and has completed the solutions -of fourteen of them.[555] - -In some of Hildegard's voluminous writings, visions were apparently a form -of composition; again, more veritable visions, deemed by her and by her -friends to have been divinely given, made the nucleus of the work at -length produced by the labour of her mind. Guibert recognized both -elements, the God-given visions of the seeress and her contributory -labour. In letters which had elicited the answers above mentioned, he -calls her _speculativa anima_, and urges her to direct her talents -(_ingenium_) to the solution of the questions. But he also addresses her -in words just varied from Gabriel's and Elizabeth's to the Virgin: - - "Hail--after Mary--full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art - thou among women, and blessed is the word of thy mouth.... In the - character of thy visions, the logic of thy expositions, the orthodoxy - of thy opinions, the Holy Spirit has marvellously illuminated thee, - and revealed to babes divers secrets of His wisdom."[556] - -In answer to more personal inquiries from the deeply-interested Guibert, -Hildegard (who at the time was venerable in years and in repute for -sanctity) explains how she saw her visions, and how her knowledge of -Scripture came to her: - - "From infancy, even to the present time when I am more than seventy - years old, my soul has always beheld this _visio_,[557] and in it my - soul, as God may will, soars to the summit of the firmament and into a - different air, and diffuses itself among divers peoples, however - remote they may be. Therefore I perceive these matters in my soul, as - if I saw them through dissolving views of clouds and other objects. I - do not hear them with my outer ears, nor do I perceive them by the - cogitations of my heart, or by any collaboration of my five senses; - but only in my soul, my eyes open, and not sightless as in a trance; - wide awake, whether by day or night, I see these things. And I am - perpetually bound by my infirmities and with pains so severe as to - threaten death, but hitherto God has raised me up. - - "The brightness which I see is not limited in space, and is more - brilliant than the luminous air around the sun, nor can I estimate its - height or length or breadth. Its name, which has been given me, is - Shade of the living light (_umbra viventis luminis_). Just as sun, - moon, or stars appear reflected in the water, I see Scripture, - discourses, virtues and human actions shining in it. - - "Whatever I see or learn in this vision, I retain in my memory; and as - I may have seen or heard it, I recall it to mind, and at once see, - hear, know; in an instant I learn whatever I know. On the other hand, - what I do not see, that I do not know, because I am unlearned; but I - have had some simple instruction in letters. I write whatever I see - and hear in the vision, nor do I set down any other words, but tell my - message in the rude Latin words which I read in the vision. For I am - not instructed in the vision to write as the learned write; and the - words in the vision are not as words sounding from a human mouth, but - as flashing flame and as a cloud moving in clear air. - - "Nor have I been able to perceive the form of this brightness, just as - I cannot perfectly see the disk of the Sun. In that brightness I - sometimes see another light, for which the name _Lux vivens_ has been - given me. When and how I see it I cannot tell; but sometimes when I - see it, all sadness and pain is lifted from me, and then I have the - ways of a simple girl and not those of an old woman."[558] - -The obscure Latin of this letter gives the impression of one trying to put -in words what was unintelligible to the writer. And the same sense of -struggle with the inadequacies of speech comes from the prologue of a work -written many years before: - - "Lo, in the forty-third year of my temporal course, while I, in fear - and trembling, was intent upon the celestial vision, I saw a great - splendour in which was a voice speaking to me from heaven: Frail - creature, dust of the dust, speak and write what thou seest and - hearest. But because that thou art timid of speech and unskilled in - writing, speak and write these things not according to human utterance - nor human understanding of composition; but as thou seest and hearest - in the heavens above, in the marvels of God, so declare, as a hearer - sets forth the words of his preceptor, preserving the fashion of his - speech, under his will, his guidance and his command. Thus thou, O man - (_homo_), tell those things which thou seest and hearest, and write, - not according to thyself or other human being, but according to the - will of Him who knows and sees and disposes all things in the secrets - of His mysteries. - - "And again, I heard a voice saying to me from heaven: Tell these - marvels and write them, taught in this way, and say: It happened in - the year one thousand one hundred and forty-one of the incarnation of - Jesus Christ the Son of God, when I was forty-two years old, that a - flashing fire of light from the clear sky transfused my brain, my - heart, and my whole breast as with flame; yet it did not burn but only - warmed me, as the sun warms an object upon which it sheds its rays. - And suddenly I had intelligence of the full meaning of the Psalter, - the Gospels, and the other books of the Old and New Testaments, - although I did not have the exact interpretation of the words of their - text, nor the division of syllables nor knowledge of cases and moods." - -The writer continues with the statement: - - "The visions which I saw, I did not perceive in dreams or sleeping, - nor in delirium, nor with the corporeal ears and eyes of the outer - man; but watchful and intent in mind I received them according to the - will of God."[559] - -Hildegard spoke as truthfully as she could about her visions and the -source of her knowledge, matters hard for her to put in words, and by no -means easy for others to classify in categories of seeming explanation. -Guibert may have read the work in question. At all events, his interesting -correspondence with her, and her great repute, led him to come to see for -himself and investigate her visions; for he realized that deceptions were -common, and wished to follow the advice of Scripture to prove all things. -So he made the journey to Bingen, and stayed four days with Hildegard. -This was in 1178, about a year before her death. "So far as was possible -in this short space of time, I observed her attentively; and I could not -perceive in her any invention or untruth or hypocrisy, or indeed anything -that could offend either us or other men who follow reason."[560] - -Springing from her rapt faith, the visions of this seeress and _anima -speculativa_ disclose the range of her knowledge and the power of her -mind. The visions all were allegories; but while some appear as sheer -spontaneous visions, in others the mind of Hildegard, aware of the -intended allegorical significance, constructs the vision, and fashions its -details to suit the spiritual meaning. This woman, fit sister to her -contemporaries Hugo of St. Victor and Bernard of Clairvaux, was ancestress -of him who saw his _Commedia_ both as fact and allegory, and with intended -mind laboured upon that inspiration which kept him lean for twenty years. - -Let us now follow these visions for ourselves, and begin with the _Book of -the Rewards of Life_ revealed by the Living Light through a simple -person.[561] - - "When I was sixty years old, I saw the strong and wonderful vision - wherein I toiled for five years. And I saw a Man of such size that he - reached from the summit of the clouds of heaven even to the Abyss. - From his shoulders upward he was above the clouds in the serenest - ether. From his shoulders down to his hips he was in a white cloud; - from his hips to his knees he was in the air of earth; from the knees - to the calves he was in the earth; and from his calves to the soles of - his feet he was in the waters of the Abyss, so that he stood upon the - Abyss. And he turned to the East. The brightness of his countenance - dazzled me. At his mouth was a white cloud like a trumpet, which was - full of all sounds sounding quickly. When he blew in it, it sent forth - three winds, of which one sustained above itself a fiery cloud, and - one a storm-cloud, and one a cloud of light. But the wind with the - fiery cloud above it hovered before the Man's face, while the two - others descended to his breast and blew there. - - "And in the fiery cloud there was a living fiery multitude all one in - will and life. Before them was spread a tablet covered with quills - (_pennae_) which flew in the precepts of God. And when the precepts of - God lifted up that tablet where God's knowledge had written certain of - its secrets, this multitude with one impulse gazed on it. And as they - saw the writing, God's virtue was so bestowed upon them that as a - mighty trumpet they gave forth in one note a music manifold. - - "The wind having the storm-cloud over it, spread, with that cloud, - from the south to the west. In it was a multitude of the blessed, who - possessed the spirit of life; and their voice was as the noise of many - waters as they cried: We have our habitations from Him who made this - wind, and when shall we receive them? But the multitude that was in - the fiery cloud chanted responding: When God shall grasp His trumpet, - lightning and thunder and burning fire shall He send upon the earth, - and then in that trumpet shall ye have your habitation. - - "And the wind which had over it the cloud of light spread with that - cloud from the east to the north. But masses of darkness and thick - horror coming from the west, extended themselves to the light cloud, - yet could not pass beyond it. In that darkness was a countless crowd - of lost souls; and these swerved in their course whenever they heard - the song of those singing in the storm-cloud, as if they shunned their - company. - - "Then I saw coming from the north, a cloud barren of delight, - untouched by the Sun's rays. It reached towards the darkness - aforesaid, and was full of malignant spirits, who go about devising - snares for men. And I heard the old serpent saying, 'I will prepare my - men of might and will make war upon mine enemies.' And he spat forth - among men a spume of things impure, and inflated them with derision. - Then he blew up a foul mist which filled the whole earth as with black - smoke, out of which was heard a groaning; and in that mist I saw the - images of every sin."[562] - -These images now speak in their own defence, and are answered by the -virtues, speaking from the storm-cloud, Heavenly Love replying to Love of -this World, Discipline answering Petulance, Shame answering Ribaldry (the -vice of the _jongleours_) after the fashion of such mediaeval allegorical -debates. The virtues are simply voices; but the monstrous or bestial image -of each sin is described: - - "Ignavia (cowardly sloth) had a human head, but its left ear was like - the ear of a hare, and so large as to cover the head. Its body and - limbs were worm-like, apparently without bones; and it spoke - trembling."[563] - -Hildegard explains the general features of her vision: God with secret -inquisition, reviewing the profound disposal of His will, made three ways -of righteousness, which should advance in the three orders of the blessed. -These are the three winds with the three clouds above them. The first wind -bears over it the fiery cloud, which is the glory of angels burning with -love of God, willing only what He wills; the wind bearing over it the -storm-cloud represents the works of men, stormy and various, done in -straits and tribulations; the third way of righteousness, through the -Incarnation of our Lord, bears above it a white and untouched virginity, -as a cloud of light.[564] - -Then Hildegard sees the punishments of those who die in their sins -impenitent. They were in a pit having a bottom of burning pitch, out of -which crawled fiery worms; and sharp nails were driven about in that pit -as by a wind. - - "I saw a well deep and broad, full of boiling pitch and sulphur, and - around it were wasps and scorpions, who scared but did not injure the - souls of those therein; which were the souls of those who had slain in - order not to be slain. - - "Near a pond of clear water I saw a great fire. In this some souls - were burned and others were girdled with snakes, and others drew in - and again exhaled the fire like a breath, while malignant spirits cast - lighted stones at them. And all of them beheld their punishments - reflected in the water, and thereat were the more afflicted. These - were the souls of those who had extinguished the substance of the - human form within them, or had slain their infants. - - "And I saw a great swamp, over which hung a black cloud of smoke, - which was issuing from it. And in the swamp there swarmed a mass of - little worms. Here were the souls of those who in the world had - delighted in foolish merriment (_inepta laetitia_).[565] - - "And I saw a great fire, black, red, and white, and in it horrible - fiery vipers spitting flame; and there the vipers tortured the souls - of those who had been slaves of the sin of uncharitableness - (_acerbitas_). - - "And I saw a fire burning in a blackness, in which were dragons, who - blew up the fire with their breath. And near was an icy river; and the - dragons passed into it from time to time and disturbed it. And a fiery - air was over both river and fire. Here were punished the souls of - liars; and for relief from the heat, they pass into the river, and - again, for the cold, they return to the fire, and the dragons torment - them. But the fiery air afflicts only those who have sworn - falsely.[566] - - "I saw a hollow mountain full of fire and vipers, with a little - opening; and near it a horrible cold place crawling with scorpions. - The souls of those guilty of envy and malice suffer here, passing for - relief from one place of torment to the other. - - "And I saw a thickest darkness, in which the souls of the disobedient - lay on a fiery pavement and were bitten by sharp-toothed worms. For - blind were they in life, and the fiery pavement is for their wilful - disobedience, and the worms because they disobeyed their prelates. - - "And I beheld at great height in the air a hail of ice and fire - descending. And from that height, the souls of those who had broken - their vows of chastity were falling, and then as by a wind were - whirled aloft again wrapped in a ligature of darkness, so that they - could not move; and the hail of cold and fire fell upon them. - - "And I saw demons with fiery scourges beating hither and thither, - through fires shaped like thorns and sharpened flails, the souls of - those who on earth had been guilty bestially."[567] - -After the vision of the punishment, Hildegard states the penance which -would have averted it, and usually follows with pious discourse and -quotations from Scripture. Apparently she would have the punishments seen -by her to be taken not as allegories, but literally as those actually in -store for the wicked. - -It is different with her visions of Paradise. In Hildegard, as in Dante, -descriptions of heaven's blessedness are pale in comparison with the -highly-coloured happenings in hell. And naturally, since Paradise is won -by those in whom spirit has triumphed over carnality. But flesh triumphed -in the wicked on earth, and hell is of the flesh, though the spirit also -be agonized. Hildegard sees many blessed folk in Paradise, but all is much -the same with them: they are clad in splendid clothes, they breathe an air -fragrant with sweetest flowers, they are adorned with jewels, and many of -them wear crowns. For example, she sees the blessed virgins standing in -purest light and limpid splendour, surpassing that of the sun. They are -clad "quasi candidissima veste velut auro intexta, et quasi pretiosissimis -lapidibus a pectore usque ad pedes, in modum dependentis zonae, ornata -induebantur, quae etiam maximum odorem velut aromatum de se emittebat. Sed -et cingulis, quasi auro et gemmis ac margaritis supra humanum intellectum -ornatis, circumcingebantur." - -This seems a description of heavenly millinery. Are these virgins rewarded -in the life to come with what they spurned in this? What would the saint -have thought of virgins had she seen them in the flesh clad in the whitest -vestment ornamented with interwoven gold and gems, falling in alluring -folds from their breasts to their feet, giving out aromatic odours, and -belted with girdles of pearls beyond human conception? Could it be -possible that the woman surviving in the nun took delight in contemplating -the blissful things forbidden here below? However this may be, the quasi-s -and velut-s suggest the symbolical character of these marvels. This -indication becomes stronger as Hildegard, in language wavering between the -literal and the symbolical, explains the appropriateness of ornaments and -perfumes as rewards for the virtues shown by saints on earth. At last all -is made clear: the _Lux vivens_ declares that these ornaments are -spiritual and eternal; gold and gems, which are of the dust, are not for -the eternal life of celestial beings; but the elect are spiritually -adorned by their righteous works as people are bodily adorned with costly -ornaments. So one gains the lesson that the bliss of heaven can only be -shown in allegories, since it surpasses the understanding of men while -held in mortal flesh.[568] - -These visions from Hildegard's _Book of the Rewards of Life_ may be -supplemented by one or two selected from the curious and lengthy work -which she named _Scivias_, signifying _Scito vias domini_ (know the ways -of the Lord). In this work, on which she laboured for nine years, the -seeress shows forth the Church, in images seen in visions, and the whole -dogmatic scheme of Christian polity. The allegories form the texts of -expository sermons. For example, the first vision in the first Book is of -an iron-coloured mountain, which is at once explained as an image of the -stability of God's eternal kingdom. The third vision is of a fiery, -egg-shaped object, very complicated in construction, and devised to -illustrate the truth that things visible and temporal shadow forth the -invisible and eternal, in the polity of God.[569] In the fourth vision, -globes of fire are seen to enter the human form at birth, and are then -attacked by many whirlwinds rushing in upon them. This is an allegory of -human souls and their temptations, and forms the text for a long discourse -on the nature of the soul. - -The fifth vision is of the Synagogue, the _Mater incarnationis Filii Dei_: - - "Then I saw as it were the image of a woman, pale from the top to the - navel, and black from the navel to the feet, and its feet were - blood-colour, and had about them a very white cloud. This image lacked - eyes, and kept its hands under its arm-pits. It stood by the Altar - that is before the eyes of God, but did not touch it." - -The pale upper part of this image represents the prescience of the -patriarchs and prophets, who had not the strong light of the Gospel; the -black lower portion represents Israel's later backslidings; and the bloody -feet surrounded by a white cloud, the slaying of Christ, and the Church -arising from that consummation. The image is sightless--blind to -Christ--and stands before His altar, but will have none of it; and its -slothful hands keep from the work of righteousness.[570] - -The sixth vision is of the orders of celestial spirits, and harks back to -the _Celestial Hierarchy_ of Dionysius the Areopagite. In the height of -the celestial secrets Hildegard sees a shining company of supernal spirits -having as it were wings (_pennas_) across their breasts, and bearing -before them a face like the human countenance, in which the look of man -was mirrored. These are angels spreading as wings the desires of their -profound intelligence; not that they have wings, like birds; but they -quickly do the will of God in their desires, as a man flees quickly in his -thoughts.[571] They manifest the beauty of rationality through their -faces, wherein God scrutinizes the works of men. For these angels see to -the accomplishment of the will of God in men; and then in themselves they -show the actions of men. - -Another celestial company was seen, also having as it were wings over -their breasts, and bearing before them a face like the human countenance -in which the image of the Son of Man shone as in a mirror. These are -archangels contemplating the will of God in the desires of their own -intelligences, and displaying the grace of rationality; they glorify the -incarnate Word by figuring in their attributes the mysteries of the -Incarnation. This vision, symbolizing the angelic intelligence, is -consciously and rationally constructed. - -Perhaps the same may be said of the second vision of the second Book:[572] - - "Then I saw a most glorious light and in it a human form of sapphire - hue, all aflame with a most gentle glowing fire; and that glorious - light was infused in the glowing fire, and the fire was infused in the - glorious light; and both light and fire transfused that human - form--all inter-existent as one light, one virtue, and one power." - -This vision of the Trinity, in which the glorious light is the Father, the -human form is the Son, and the fire is the Holy Spirit, may remind the -reader of the closing "vision" of the thirty-third canto of Dante's -_Paradiso_. - -The third Book contains manifold visions of a four-sided edifice set upon -a mountain, and built with a double (_biformis_) wall. Here an infinitude -of symbolic detail illustrates the entire Christian Faith. Observe a part -of the symbolism of the twofold wall: the wall is double (_in duabus -formis_). One of its formae[573] is speculative knowledge, which man -possesses through careful and penetrating investigation of the speculation -of his mind; so that he may be circumspect in all his ways. The other -forma of the wall represents the _homo operans_. - - "This speculative knowledge shines in the brightness of the light of - day, that through it men may see and consider their acts. This - brightness is of the human mind carefully looking about itself; and - this glorious knowledge appears as a white mist permeating the minds - of the peoples, as quickly as mist is scattered through the air; it is - light as the light of day, after the brightness of that most glorious - work which God benignly works in men, to wit, that they shun evil and - do the good which shines in them as the light of day.... This - knowledge is speculative, for it is like a mirror (_speculum_) in - which a man sees whether his face be fair or blotched; thus this - knowledge views the good and evil in the deed done."[574] - -The _Scivias_ closes with visions of the Last Judgment, splendid, ordered, -tremendous, and rendered audible in hymns rising to the Virgin and to -Christ. Apostles, martyrs, saints chant the refrains of victory which echo -the past militancy of this faithful choir. - - * * * * * - -The visions of Elizabeth of Schoenau and Hildegard of Bingen set forth -universal dogmas and convictions. They show the action of the imaginative -and rational faculties and the full use of the acquired knowledge -possessed by the women to whom they came. Such visions spring from the -mind--quite different are those born of love. Emotion dominates the -latter; their motives are subjective; they are personal experiences having -no clear pertinency to the lives of others. If the visions of Hildegard -were object lessons, the blissful ecstasies of Mary of Ognies and Liutgard -of Tongern were specifically their own, very nearly as the intimate -consolation of a wife from a husband, or a lady from her faithful knight, -would be that woman's and none other's. - -One cannot say that there was no love of God before Jesus was born; still -less that men had not conceived of God as loving them. Nevertheless in -Jesus' words God became lovable as never before, and God's love of man was -shown anew, and was anew set forth as the perfect pattern of human love. -In Christ, God offered the sacrifice which afore He had demanded of -Abraham: for "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son." -That Son carried out the Father's act: "Greater love hath no man than -this, that a man lay down his life for his friend." So men learned the -final teaching: "God is love." - -A new love also was aroused by the personality of Jesus. Was this the love -of God or love of man? Rather, it was such as to reveal the two as one. In -Jesus' teachings, love of God and love of man might not be severed: "As ye -have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it -unto me." And the love which He inspired for himself was at once a love of -man and love of God.[575] Think of that love, new in the world, with -which, more than with her ointment or her tears, the woman who had been a -sinner bathed the Master's feet. - -This woman saw the Master in the flesh; but the love which was hers was -born again in those who never looked upon His face. Through the Middle -Ages the love of Christ with which saintly women were possessed was as -impulsive as this sinner's, and also held much resembling human passion. -Their burning faith tended to liquefy to ecstatic experiences. They had -renounced the passionate love of man in order to devote themselves to the -love of Christ; and as their thoughts leapt toward the Bridegroom, the -Church's Spouse and Lord, their visions sometimes kept at least the colour -of the love for knight or husband which they had abjured.[576] - -At the height of the horrors of the Albigensian Crusade, in the year 1212, -Fulco, Bishop of Toulouse, was driven from his diocese by the incensed but -heretical populace. He travelled northward through France, seeking aid -against these foes of Christ, and came to the diocese of Liege. There he -observed with joy the faith and humility of those who were leading a -religious life, and was struck by the devotion of certain saintly women -whose ardour knew no bounds. It was all very different from Toulouse. -"Indeed I have heard you declare that you had gone out of Egypt--your own -diocese--and having passed through the desert, had reached the promised -land--in Liege." - -Jacques de Vitry is speaking. His friend the bishop had asked him to write -of these holy women, who brought such glory to the Church in troubled -times. Jacques was himself a clever Churchman, zealous for the Church's -interests and his own. He afterwards became Bishop and Cardinal of -Tusculum; and as papal legate consecrated the holy bones of her whom the -Church had decided to canonize, the blessed Mary of Ognies, the paragon of -all these other women who rejoiced the ecclesiastical hearts of himself -and Fulco. Jacques had known her and had been present at her pious death; -and also had witnessed many of the matters of which he is speaking at the -commencement of his _Vita_ of this saint.[577] - -Many of these women, continues Jacques, had for Christ spurned carnal -joys, and for Him had despised the riches of this world, in poverty and -humility clinging to their heavenly Spouse. - - "You saw," says Jacques, again addressing Fulco, "some of these women - dissolved with such a particular and marvellous love toward God (_tam - speciali et mirabili in Deum amoris affectione resolutas_) that they - languished with desire, and for years had rarely been able to rise - from their cots. They had no other infirmity, save that their souls - were melted with desire of Him, and, sweetly resting with the Lord, as - they were comforted in spirit they were weakened in body. They cried - in their hearts, though from modesty their lips dissimulated: - "Fulcite me floribus, stipate me malis, quia amore langueo."[578] The - cheeks of one were seen to waste away, while her soul was melted with - the greatness of her love. Another's flow of tears had made visible - furrows down her face. Others were drawn with such intoxication of - spirit that in sacred silence they would remain quiet a whole day, - 'while the King was on His couch' (_i.e._ at meat),[579] with no sense - or feeling for things without them, so that they could not be roused - by clamour or feel a blow. I saw another whom for thirty years her - Spouse had so zealously guarded in her cell, that she could not leave - it herself, nor could the hands of others drag her out. I saw another - who sometimes was seized with ecstasy five-and-twenty times a day, in - which state she was motionless, and on returning to herself was so - enraptured that she could not keep from displaying her inner joy with - movements of the body, like David leaping before the Ark. And I saw - still another who after she had lain for some time dead, before burial - was permitted by the Lord to return to the flesh, that she might on - earth do purgatorial penance; and long was she thus afflicted of the - Lord, sometimes rolling herself in the fire, and in the winter - standing in frozen water."[580] - -But what need to say more of these, as all their graces are found in one -precious and pre-excellent pearl--and Jacques proceeds to tell the life of -Mary of Ognies. She was born in a village near Namur in Belgium, about the -year 1177. She never took part in games or foolishness with other girls; -but kept her soul free from vanity. Married at fourteen to a young man, -she burned the more to afflict her body, passing the nights in austerities -and prayer. Her husband soon was willing to dwell with her in continence, -himself sustaining her in her holy life, and giving his goods to the poor -for Christ's sake. - -There was nothing more marvellous with Mary than her gift of tears, as -her soul dwelt in the passion of her Lord. Her tears--so says her -biographer--wetted the pavement of the Church or the cloth of the altar. -Her life was one of body-destroying austerities: she went barefoot in the -ice of the winter; often she took no food through the day, and then -watched out the night in prayer. Her body was afflicted and wasted; her -soul was comforted. She had frequent visions, the gift of second sight, -and great power over devils. Once for thirty-five days in silent trance -she rested sweetly with the Lord, only occasionally uttering these words: -"I desire the body of our Lord Jesus Christ" (_i.e._ the Eucharist); and -when she had received it, she turned again to silence.[581] Always she -sought after her Lord: He was her meditation, and example in speech and -deed. She died in the year 1213, at the age of thirty-six. She was called -Mary of Ognies, from the name of the town where a church was dedicated to -her, and where her relics were laid to rest. - - * * * * * - -Emotionally, another very interesting personality was the blessed virgin, -Liutgard of Tongern, a younger contemporary of Mary of Ognies. In -accordance with her heart's desire, she was providentially protected from -the forceful importunities of her wooers, and became a Benedictine nun. -After some years, however, seeking a more strenuous rule of life, she -entered the Cistercian convent at Aquiria, near Cambray.[582] - -Liutgard's experiences were sense-realizations of her faith, but chiefly -of her love of Christ. Sometimes her senses realized the imagery of the -Apocalypse; as when singing in Church she had a vision of Christ as a -white lamb. The lamb rests a foot on each of her shoulders, sets his mouth -to hers, and draws out sweetest song. Far more frequently she realized -within her heart the burning words of Canticles. Her whole being yearned -continually for the Lord, and sought no other comfort. For five years she -received almost daily visits from the Mother of Christ, as well as from -the Apostles and other saints; the angels were continually with her. Yet -in all these she did not find perfect rest for her spirit, till she found -the Saint of saints, who is ineffably sweeter than them all, even as He is -their sanctifier. Smitten as the bride in Canticles, she is wounded, she -languishes, she pants, she arises; "in the streets" she seeks the Saints -of the New Dispensation, and through "the broad places" the Patriarchs of -the Old Testament. Little by little she passes by them "because He is not -far from every one of us"; she finds Him whom her soul cherishes. She -finds, she holds Him, because He does not send her away; she holds Him by -faith, happy in the seeking, more happy in the holding fast.[583] - -There are three couches in Canticles:[584] the first signifies the soul's -state of penitence; the second its state of warfare; the third the state -of those made perfect in the _vita contemplativa_. On the first couch the -soul is wounded, on the second it is wearied, on the third it is made -glad. The saintly Liutgard sought her Beloved perfectly on the couch of -penitence, and watered it with her tears, although she never had been -stung by mortal sin. On the second couch she sought her Beloved, battling -against the flesh with fasting and endeavour; with poverty and humility -she overcame the world, and cast down the devil with prayer and remedial -tears. On the third couch, which is the couch of quiet, she perfectly -sought her Beloved, since she did not lean upon the angels or saints, but -through contemplation rested sweetly only upon the couch of the Spouse. -This couch is called flowery (_floridus_) from the vernal quality of its -virtues; and it is called "ours" because common to husband and wife: in it -she may say, "My Beloved is mine and I am His," and, "I am my Beloved's, -and His desire is towards me." Why not say that? exclaims the biographer, -quoting the lines: - - "Nescit amor Dominum; non novit amor dominari, - Quamlibet altus amet, non amat absque pari." - -Thenceforth her spirit was absorbed in God, as drops of water in a jar of -wine. When asked how she was wont to see the visage of Christ in -contemplation, she answered: "In a moment there appears to me a splendour -inconceivable, and as lightning I see the ineffable beauty of His -glorification; the sight of which I could not endure in this present life, -did it not instantly pass from my view. A mental splendour remains, and -when I seek in that what I saw for an instant, I do not find it." - -A little more than a year before her death the Lord Jesus Christ appeared -to her, with the look as of one who applauds, and said: "The end of thy -labour is at hand: I do not wish thee longer to be separated from me. This -year I require three things of thee: first, that thou shouldst render -thanks for all thy benefits received; secondly, that thou pour thyself out -in prayer to the Father for my sinners; and thirdly, that, without any -other solicitude, thou burn to come to me, panting with desire."[585] - -The religious yearning which with Liutgard touches sense-realization, -seems transformed completely into the latter in the extraordinary German -book of one Sister Mechthild, called of Magdeburg.[586] The authoress -probably was born not far from that town about the year 1212. To judge -from her work, she belonged to a good family and was acquainted with the -courtly literature of the time. She speaks of her loving parents, from -whom she tore herself away at the age of twenty-three, and entered the -town of Magdeburg, there to begin a life of rapt religious mendicancy, for -which Francis had set the resistless example. Sustained by love for her -Lord, she led a despised and homeless life of hardship and austerity for -thirty years. At length bodily infirmities brought her to rest in a -Cistercian cloister for nuns at Helfta, near Eisleben, where ruled a wise -and holy abbess, the noble Gertrude of Hackeborn. Here Mechthild remained -until her death in 1277. For many years it had been her custom to write -down her experiences of the divine love in a book which she called _The -Flowing Light of God_, in which she also wrote the prophetic -denunciations, revealed to her to be pronounced before men, especially in -the presence of those who were great in what should be God's holy -Church.[587] - -"Frau Minne (Lady Love) you have taken from me the world's riches and -honour," cries Mechthild.[588] Love's ecstasy came upon her when she -abandoned the world and cast herself upon God alone. Then first her soul's -eyes beheld the beautiful manhood of her Lord Jesus Christ, also the Holy -Trinity, her own guardian angel, and the devil who tempted her through the -vainglory of her visions and through unchaste desire. She defended herself -with the agony of our Lord. For Mechthild, hell is the "city whose name is -eternal hate." With her all blessedness is love, as her book will now -disclose. - -Cries the Soul to Love (_Minne_) her guardian: "Thou hast hunted and -taken, bound and wounded me; never shall I be healed." - -Love answers: "It was my pleasure to hunt thee; to take thee captive was -my desire; to bind thee was my joy. I drove Almighty God from His throne -in heaven, and took His human life from Him, and then with honour gave -Him back to His Father; how couldst thou, poor worm, save thyself from -me!"[589] - -What then will love's omnipotence exact from this poor Soul? Merely all. -Drawn by yearning, the Soul comes flying, like an eagle toward the sun. -"See, how she mounts to us, she who wounded me"--it is the Lord that is -speaking. "She has thrown away the ashes of the world, overcome lust, and -trodden the lion of pride beneath her feet--thou eager huntress of love, -what bringest thou to me?" - -"Lord, I bring thee my treasure, which is greater than mountains, wider -than the world, deeper than the sea, higher than the clouds, more -beautiful than the sun, more manifold than the stars, and outweighs the -riches of the earth." - -"Image of my Divinity, ennobled by my manhood, adorned by my Holy Spirit, -how is thy treasure called?" - -"Lord, it is called my heart's desire: I have withdrawn it from the world, -withheld it from myself, forbidden it all creatures. I can carry it no -farther; Lord, where shall I lay it?" - -"Thou shalt lay thy heart's desire nowhere else than in my divine heart -and on my human breast. There only wilt thou be comforted and kissed with -my spirit." - -Love casts out fear and difference, and lifts the Soul to equality with -the divine Lover. Through the passion of love the Soul may pass into the -Beloved's being, and become one with Him: "He, thy life, died from love -for thy sake; now love Him so that thou mayest long to die for His sake. -Then shalt thou burn for evermore unquenched, like a shining spark in the -great fire of the Living Majesty." - -These are passion's vision-flights. But God himself points out the way by -which the Soul that loves shall come to Him: she--the Soul--shall come, -surmounting the need of penitence and penance, surmounting love of the -world, conflicts with the devil, carnal appetite, and the promptings of -her own will. Thereupon, exhausted, she shall yearn resistlessly for that -beautiful Youth (Christ). He will be moved to come to meet her. Now her -guardians (the Senses) bid her attire herself. "Love, whither shall I -hence?" she cries. The Senses make answer: "We hear the murmur; the Prince -will come to meet you in the dew and the sweet-bird song. Courage, Lady, -He will not tarry." - -The Soul clothes herself in a garment of humility, and over it draws the -white robe of chastity, and goes into the wood. There nightingales sing of -union with God, and strains of divine knowledge meet her ears. She then -strives to follow in festal dance (_i.e._ to imitate) the example of the -prophets, the chaste humility of the Virgin, the virtues of Jesus, and the -piety of His saints. Then comes the Youth and says: "Maiden, thou hast -danced holily, even as my saints." - -The Soul answers: "I cannot dance unless thou leadest. If thou wouldst -have me spring aloft, sing thou: and I will spring--into love, and from -love to knowledge, and from knowledge to ecstasy, above all human sense." - -The Youth speaks: "Maiden, thy dance of praise is well performed. Since -now thou art tired, thou shalt have thy will with the Virgin's Son. Come -to the brown shades at midday, to the couch of love, and there shalt thou -cool thyself with Him." - -Then the Soul speaks to her guardians, the Senses: "I am tired with the -dance; leave me, for I must go where I may cool myself." The Senses bid -her cool herself in the tears of love shed by St. Mary Magdalen. - -"Hush, good sirs: ye know not what I mean. Unhindered, for a little I -would drink the unmixed wine." - -"Lady, in the Virgin's chastity the great love is reached." - -"That may be--with me it is not the highest." - -"You, Lady, might cool yourself in martyr-blood." - -"I have been martyred many a day." - -"In the counsel of Father Confessors, the pure live gladly." - -"Good is their counsel, but it helps not here." - -"Great safety would you find in the Apostles' wisdom." - -"Wisdom I have myself--to choose the best." - -"Lady, bright are the angels, and lovely in love's hue; to cool yourself, -be lifted up with them." - -"The bliss of angels brings me love's woe, unless I see their lord, my -Bridegroom." - -"Then cool you in the hard, holy life that John the Baptist showed." - -"I have tried that painful toil; my love passes beyond that." - -"Lady, would you with love cool yourself, approach the Child in the -Virgin's lap." - -"That is a childish love, to quiet children with. I am a full-grown bride -and will have my Bridegroom." - -"Lady, there we should be smitten blind. The Godhead is so fiery hot. -Heaven's glow and all the holy lights flow from His divine breath and -human mouth by the counsel of the Holy Spirit." - -But the Soul feeling its nature and its affinity with God, through love, -makes answer boldly: "The fish cannot drown in the water, nor the bird -sink in the air, nor gold perish in the flame, where it gains its bright -clarity and colour. God has granted to all creatures to follow their -natures; how can I withstand mine? To God will I go, who is my Father by -nature, my Brother through His humility, my Bridegroom through love, and I -am His forever."[590] Not long after this the Soul's rapture bursts forth -in song: - - "Ich sturbe gern von minnen, moehte es mir geschehen, - Denn jenen den ich minnen, den han ich gesehen - Mit minen liehten ougen in miner sele stehen."[591] - -Mechthild's book is heavy with passion--with God's passionate love for the -Soul, and the Soul's passionate response. No speech between lovers could -outdo the converse between them. God calls the Soul, sweet dove, dear -heart, my queen; and with like phrase the quivering Soul responds upward, -as it were, to the great countenance glowing above it. Throughout, there -is passion and impatient yearning--or satisfaction. The pain of the Soul -severed, not yet a bride, is deeper than the abyss, bitterer than the -world; but her joy shall exceed that of seraphs, she, Bride of the -Trinity.[592] - -The Soul must surrender herself, and become sheer desire for God.[593] -God's own yearning has begotten this desire. As glorious prince, as -knight, as emperor, God comes; also in other forms: - - "I come to my Beloved - As dew upon the flowers."[594] - -For each other are these lovers wounded, for each other these lovers -bleed, and each to the other is joy unspeakable and unforgettable. From -the wafer of the holy Eucharist, the Lamb looks out upon me "with such -sweet eyes that I never can forget." - - "His eyes in my eyes; His heart in my heart, - His soul in my soul, - Embraced and untroubled."[595] - -No need to say that in the end love draws the Soul to heaven's gate, which -the Lord opens to her. All is marvellous; but, far more, all is love: the -Lord kisses her--what else than love can the soul thereafter know or -feel.[596] - -Mechthild, of course, is what is called a "mystic," and a forerunner -indeed of many another--Eckhart, Suso, Tauler--of German blood. With -direct and utter passion she realizes God's love; also she feels and -thinks in symbols, which, with her, never cease to be the things they -literally are. They remain flesh and blood, while also signifying the -mysteries of God. Jesus was a man, Mechthild a woman. Her love not only -uses lovers' speech, but actually holds affinity with a maid's love for -her betrothed. If it is the Soul's love of God, it is also the woman's -love of Him who overhung her from the Cross. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -THE SPOTTED ACTUALITY - - THE TESTIMONY OF INVECTIVE AND SATIRE; ARCHBISHOP RIGAUD'S _Register_; - ENGELBERT OF COLOGNE; POPULAR CREDENCES - - -The preceding sketches of monastic qualities and personalities illustrate -the ideals of monasticism. That monastic practices should fall away, -corruptions enter, and when expelled inevitably return, was to be -expected. The cause lay in those qualities of human nature which may be -either power or frailty. The acquisitive, self-seeking, lusting qualities -of men lie at the base of life, and may be essential to achievement and -advance. Yet a higher interpretation of values will set the spiritual -above the earthly, and beatify the self-denial through which man -ultimately attains his highest self, under the prompting of his vision of -the divine. The sight of this far goal is given to few men steadily, and -the multitude, whether cowled or clad in fashions of the world, pursue -more immediate desires. - -So human nature saw to it that monasticism should constantly exhibit -frivolity instead of earnestness, gluttony instead of fasting, avarice -instead of alms-giving, anger and malice instead of charity and love, -lustfulness instead of chastity, and, instead of meekness, pride and -vain-glory. The particular forms assumed by these corruptions depended on -the conditions of mediaeval life and the position in it occupied by monks. - -It has already been said that the standard of conduct for the secular -clergy was the same in principle as that for monks, though with allowance -made for the stress of a life of service in the cure of souls.[597] But -always the cloister and the hermitage were looked upon as the -abiding-places where one stood the best chance to save one's soul: the -life of the layman--merchant, usurer, knight--was fraught with instant -peril; that of the secular clergy was also perilous, especially when they -held high office. Dread of ecclesiastical preferment might be well -founded; the reluctance to be a bishop was often real. This sentiment, -like all feelings in the Middle Ages, took the form of a story, with the -usual vision to certify the moral of the tale: - - "It is told of a certain prior of Clairvaux, Geoffrey by name, that - when he had been elected Bishop of Tournai, and Pope Eugene as well as - the blessed Bernard, his own abbot, was urging him to take the office, - he cast himself down at the feet of the blessed Bernard and his - clergy, and lay prone in the form of a cross, and said: 'An expelled - monk I may be, if you drive me out; but I will never be a bishop.' At - a later time, as this same prior lay breathing his last, a monk who - loved him well adjured him in the name of God to bring him news of his - state beyond the grave, if God would permit it. Some time after, as - the monk was praying prostrate before the altar, his friend appeared - and said that it was he. When the monk asked him how he was faring, - 'Well,' he replied, 'by the grace of God. Yet verily it has been - revealed to me by the blessed Trinity, that had I been in the number - of bishops I should have been in the number of the reprobate and - damned.'"[598] - -Through the Middle Ages, Church dignities everywhere were secularized -through the vast possessions, and corresponding responsibilities, -attaching to them. The clerical situation varied in different lands, yet -with a like result. The Italian clergy were secularized through -participation in civic and papal business, the German through their -estates and principalities. In France clerical secularization was most -typically mediaeval, because there the functions and fortunes of the -higher clergy were most inextricably involved in feudalism. Monasteries -and bishoprics were as feudal fiefs: abbots as well as bishops commonly -held lands from an over-lord, and were themselves lords of their -sub-vassals who held lands from them. To the former they owed rent, or -aid, or service; to the latter they owed protection. In either case they -might have to go or send their men to war. They also managed and guarded -their own lands, like feudal nobles, _vi et armis_. When the estates of a -monastery, for example, lay in different places, the abbot might exercise -authority over them through a local potentate, and might also have such a -protector (_vidame_, _avoue_, _advocatus_) for the home abbey. There was -always a general feeling, often embodied in law or custom, that a Church -dignitary should fight by another's sword and spear. But this did not -prevent bishop and abbot in countless instances in France, England, -Germany, and Spain, from riding mail-clad under their seignorial banner at -the head of their forces.[599] - -Episcopal lands and offices were not inherited:[600] yet with rare -exceptions the bishops came from the noble, fighting, hunting class. They -were noblemen first and ecclesiastics afterwards. The same was true of the -abbots. Noble-born, they became dignitaries of the world through -investiture with the broad lands of the monastery, and then administrators -by reason of the temporal functions involved. As with the episcopal or -monastic heads, so with canons and monks. They, too, for the most part -were well-born. They also were good, bad, or indifferent, warlike or -clerkly, devoted to study, abandoned to pleasure, or following the one and -the other sparingly. Many a holy meditative monk there was; and many a -saintly parish priest, the stay of piety and justice in his village. The -rude times, the ceaseless murder and harrying, uncertainty and danger -everywhere, seemed to beget such holy lives. - -Invectives, satires, histories, and records, bear witness to the state of -the clergy. All diatribes are to be taken with allowance. Whoever, for -example, reads Peter Damiani's _Liber Gomorrhianus_ against the foulness -of the clergy, must bear in mind the writer's fiercely ascetic temper, the -warfare which the stricter element in the Church was then waging against -simony and priestly concubinage, and the monkish phraseology so common to -ecclesiastical indictment of frivolity and vice. - -One cannot quote comfortably from the _Gomorrhianus_. St. Bernard -furnishes more decorous denunciation: - - "Woe unto this generation, for its leaven of the Pharisees which is - hypocrisy!--if that should be called hypocrisy which cannot be hidden - because of its abundance, and through impudence does not seek to hide! - To-day, foul rottenness crawls through the whole body of the Church. - If a heretic foe should arise openly, he would be cast out and - withered; or if the enemy raged madly, the Church might hide herself - from him. But now whom shall she cast out, or from whom hide herself? - All are friends and all are foes; all necessary and all adverse; all - of her own household and none pacific; all are her neighbours and all - seek their own interest. Ministers of Christ, they serve Antichrist. - They go clothed in the good things of the Lord and render Him no - honour. Hence that _eclat_ of the courtesan which you daily see, that - theatric garb, that regal state. Hence the gold-trapped reins and - saddles and spurs--for the spurs shine brighter than the altars. Hence - the splendid tables laden with food and goblets; hence the feastings - and drunkenness, the guitars, the lyres and the flutes; hence the - swollen wine-presses and the storehouses heaped and running over from - this one into that, and the jars of perfumes, and the stuffed purses. - 'Tis for such matters that they wish to be and are the over-seers of - churches, deacons, archdeacons, bishops, and archbishops. For neither - do these offices come by merit, but through that sort of business - which walketh in darkness!"[601] - -Such rhetoric gives glimpses of the times, but also springs from that -temper which is always crying _hora novissima, tempora pessima_. -Invectives of this nature have their deepest source in the religious -sense of the ineradicable opposition between this world and the kingdom of -heaven. Yet luxury did in fact pervade the Church of Bernard's time, and -simony was as wide as western Europe. This crime was the offspring of the -entire social state; it was part and parcel of the feudal system and the -whole matter of lay investitures. One sees that simony was no extraneous -stain to be washed off from the body ecclesiastic, but rather an element -of its actual constitution. The eradication had to come through social and -ecclesiastical evolution, rather than spasmodic reformation. - -One may turn from the invectives of the great saint to forms of satire -more frankly literary. The Latin poems "commonly attributed to Walter -Mapes"[602] satirize with biting ridicule, through the mouth of "Bishop -Golias," the avarice and venality, the gluttony and lubricity of the -Church, secular and monastic. In a quite different kind of poem the satire -directs itself against the rapacity of Rome. She, head of the Church and -Caput Mundi, is shown to be like Scylla and Charybdis and the Sirens.[603] -These powerful verses anticipate the denunciation of the Roman papacy by -the good Germans Walther von der Vogelweide and Freidank,[604] and, a -century later, in the _Vision of Piers Ploughman_. - -In this outcry against papal rapacity France was not silent. Most extreme -is the "Bible" of Guiot de Provens: it satirizes the entire age, "siecle -puant et orrible." As it turns toward the papacy it cries: - - "Ha! Rome, Rome, - Encor ociras tu maint home!" - -The cardinals are stuffed with avarice and simony and evil living; without -faith or religion, they sell God and His Mother, and betray us and their -fathers. Rome sucks and devours us; Rome kills and destroys all. Guiot's -voice is raised against the entire Church; neither the monks nor the -seculars escape--bishops, priests, canons, the black monks and the white, -Templars and Hospitallers, nuns and abbesses, all bad.[605] - -One might extend indefinitely the list of these invectives, which, like -the corruptions denounced by them, were common to all mediaeval centuries. -From the testimony of more definite accounts one perceives the rudeness -and cruelty of mediaeval life, in which the Church likewise was involved. -In order to rise, it had to lift the social fabric. To this end many of -its children struggled nobly, devoting themselves and sometimes yielding -up their lives for the betterment of the society in which their lots were -cast. - -One of these capable children of the Church who did his duty in the high -ecclesiastical station to which he was called was Eude Rigaud, or Odo -Rigaldus, Archbishop of Rouen from 1248 to 1275, the year of his death. He -was a scion of a noble house whose fiefs lay in the neighbourhood of -Brie-Comte-Robert (Seine-et-Marne). In 1236 he joined the Franciscans, and -then studied at Paris under Alexander of Hales, one of the Order's great -theologians. His first fame came from his preaching. As archbishop, he was -a reformer, and abetted the endeavours of Pope Gregory IX. He was also a -counsellor of Saint Louis, and followed him upon that last crusade from -which the king did not return alive.[606] - -The good archbishop was a man of method, and kept a record of his official -acts. This monumental document exists, the _Register_ of Rigaud's -visitations among the monks and secular clergy within his wide -jurisdiction, between the years 1248 and 1269.[607] Consisting of entries -made at the time, it is a mirror of actual conditions, presumably similar -to those existing in other parts of France. Rigaud visited many -monasteries and parishes where he found nothing to reform, and merely made -a memorandum of having been there; wherever abuses were found, the entry -expands to a statement of them and the measures taken for their remedy. -Consequently one may not infer that the blameworthy or abominable -conditions recorded in the particular instance obtained universally in -Normandy. Occasionally Rigaud records in more detail the good condition of -some monastery. A few instructive extracts may be given. - - "Calends of October (1248). We were again at Ouville (Ovilla). We - found that the prior wanders about when he ought to stay in the - cloister; he is not in the cloister one day in five. Item, he is a - drunkard, and of such vile drunkenness that he sometimes lies out in - the fields because of it. Item, he frequents feasts and drinking-bouts - with laymen. Item, he is incontinent, and is accused in respect to a - certain woman of Grainville, and also with the wife of Robertot, and - also with a woman of Rouen named Agnes. Item, brother Geoffrey was - publicly accused with respect to the wife of Walter of Esquaquelon who - recently had a child from him. Item, they do not keep proper accounts - of their revenues. We ordered that they should keep better - accounts."[608] - -Such an entry needs no comment. But it is illuminating to observe the -strictness or leniency with which Rigaud treats offences. Doubtless he was -guided by what he thought he could enforce. - -Apparently near the Ouville priory, the archbishop was scandalized by the -priest of St. Vedasti de Depedale, who was convicted of taking part in the -rough ball-play, common in Normandy, in which game, as might easily -happen, he had injured some one. "He took oath before us that if again -convicted he would hold himself to have resigned from his church."[609] -Rigaud did not approve of these somewhat too merry games for his parish -priests, who were not angels. The archbishop finds of the priest of -Lortiey "that he but rarely wears his capa, that he does not confess to -the _penitentiarius_, that he is gravely accused concerning two women, by -whom he has had many children, and he is drunken."[610] - -Rigaud enters the cases of other parish priests as follows: - - "We found that the priest of Nigella was accused as to a woman, and of - being engaged in trade and of treating his father despitefully, who is - patron of the church which he holds, and that with drawn sword he - fought with a certain knight, with a riotous following of relatives - and friends. Item, the priest of Basinval is accused as to a woman - whom he takes about with him to the market-places and taverns. - Likewise the priest of Vieux-Rouen is accused of incontinency, and - goes about wearing a sword in shameless garb. Likewise the priest of - Cotigines is a dicer and plays at quoits and frequents taverns, and is - incontinent, and although corrected as to these matters, - perseveres."[611] - -Sometimes accusations were brought to the archbishop by the suffering -parishioners: - - "Calends of August (1255). Passing through the village of Brai, the - parishioners of the church there accused the rector of the church in - our presence. They said that he went about in the night through the - village with arms, that he was quarrelsome and scurrilous and abusive - to his parishioners, and was incontinent." - -Summoning this priest before his ecclesiastical tribunal, the archbishop -says, "We admonished him to abstain from such ill-conduct; or that -otherwise we should proceed against him."[612] - -Either this priest or another of "Brayo subtus Baudemont," named Walter, -was subsequently deprived of his priesthood on his own confession as -follows: - - "He confessed that the accusation against him concerning a woman of - his parish, which he had denied under oath, was supported by truth; - item, he confessed in regard to a waxen image made to be used in - divining; he confessed (various other incontinencies and his - fatherhood of various children); item, he confessed his ill-repute for - usury and base gain; he admitted that he had led the dances at the - nuptials of a certain prostitute whom he had married."[613] - -Rigaud continually records accusations against parish priests, commonly -for incontinency and drunkenness and generally unbecoming conduct, and -sometimes for homicide.[614] But his own examinations kept out many a -turbulent and ignorant clerk, presented by the lay patron for the -benefice; and so he prevented improper inductions as he might. The -_Register_ gives a number of instances of crass illiteracy in these -candidates, a matter to cause no surprise, for the feudal patrons of the -living naturally presented their relatives. Some of these candidates -appealed to Rome from the archbishop's refusal, probably without -success.[615] - -A monk might be as bad as any parish priest: - - "Brother Thomas ... wore gold rings. He went about in armour, by - night, and without any monastic habit, and kept bad company. He - wounded many clergy and laity at night, and was himself wounded, - losing a thumb. We commanded the abbot to expel him; or that otherwise - we should seize the place and expel the monks."[616] - -Life in a nunnery was the feminine counterpart of life in a monastery. -There were good and bad nunneries, and nuns good and bad, serious and -frivolous. Many had the foibles, and were addicted to the diversions, -comforts, or fancies of their sex: they were always wanting to keep dogs -and birds, and have locks to their chests! - - "Nones of May (1250). We visited the Benedictine convent of nuns of - St. Sauveur at Evreux. There were sixty-one nuns there. Sometimes they - drank, not in the refectory or infirmary, but in their chambers. They - kept little dogs, squirrels, and birds. We ordered that all such - things be removed. They do not observe the _regula_. They eat flesh - needlessly. They have locked chests. We directed the abbess to inspect - their chests often and unexpectedly, or to take off the locks. We - directed the abbess to take away their girdles ornamented with - ironwork and their fancy pouches, and the silk cushions they were - working."[617] - -Again, the picture is more terrible: - - "Nones of July (1249). We visited the priory of Villa Arcelli. - Thirty-three nuns are there and three lay sisters. They confess and - communicate six times a year. Only four of the nuns have taken the - vows according to the _regula_. Many of them had cloaks of rabbit-fur, - or made from the fur of hares and foxes. In the infirmary they eat - flesh needlessly. Silence is not observed; nor do they keep within the - cloister. Johanna of Aululari once went out and lived with some one, - by whom she had a child; and sometimes she goes out to see that child: - she is also suspected with a certain man named Gaillard. Isabella la - Treiche (?) is a fault-finder, murmuring against the prioress and - others. The stewardess is suspected with a man named Philip de - Vilarceau. The prioress is too remiss; she does not reprove. Johanna - de Alto Villari kept going out alone with a man named Gayllard, and - within a year had a child by him. The subprioress is suspected with - Thomas the carter; Idonia, her sister, with Crispinatus; and the Prior - of Gisorcium is always coming to the house for Idonia. Philippa of - Rouen is suspected with a priest of Suentre, of the diocese of - Chartres; Marguarita, the treasuress, with Richard de Genville, a - clerk. Agnes de Fontenei, with a priest of Guerrevile, diocese of - Chartres. The Tooliere (?) with Sir Andrew de Monciac, a knight. All - wear their hair improperly and perfume their veils. Jacqueline came - back pregnant from visiting a certain chaplain, who was expelled from - his house on account of this. Agnes de Monsec was suspected with the - same. Emengarde and Johanna of Alto Villari beat each other. The - prioress is drunk almost any night; she does not rise for matins, nor - eat in the refectory or correct excesses." - -The archbishop thereupon issues an order, regulating this extraordinary -convent, and prescribing a better way of living. He threatens to lay a -heavier hand on them if they do not obey.[618] This was what a loosely -regulated nunnery might come to. We close with the sketch of a good -monastery which had an evil abbot: - - "Nones of August (1258). Through God's grace we visited the monastery - of Jumieges. Forty-three monks were there, and twenty-one outside. All - of these who dwelt there, except eleven, were priests (_sacerdotes_). - We found, by God's grace, the convent well-ordered in its services and - observances, yet greatly troubled by what was said of the abbot within - and without its walls. For opinion was sinister regarding him, and - there, in full chapter, brother Peter of Neubourg, a monk of the - monastery, leaping up, made shameful charges against him. And he read - the following schedule: I, brother Peter of Neubourg, a monk of - Jumieges, in my name and in the name of the monastery and for the - benefit of the monastery, bring before you, Reverend Father, - Archbishop of Rouen, for an accusation against Richard, Abbot of - Jumieges, that he is a forger (_falsarius_) because he wrote or caused - to be written certain letters in the name of our convent, falsely - alleging our approval of them although we were absent and ignorant; - and secretly by night he sealed them with the convent's seal...." - -The letters related to an important controversy in which the monastery was -involved. Monk Peter offers to prove his case. A day is set for the -hearing. But, instead, the very next day, in order to avoid scandal, the -archbishop called the abbot before him and his counsellors; and - - "We admonished him specially regarding the following matters: To wit: - that he should not keep dogs and birds of chase; that he should send - strolling players away from his premises; that he should abstain from - extravagant expenses; that he should not eat in his own chambers; that - he should keep from consorting with women altogether; that he should - order his household decently; that he should lease out the farms as - well as might be; that he should not burden the monks unduly; that he - should be more in the convent with them, and bear himself more - soberly. He made promises as to all these matters and took oath upon - holy relics that if he failed to obey our admonition he should be held - to do whatever we should decree in the premises."[619] - -Rigaud seems to have been lenient here, but may have known the wisest -course to take. - -A peaceful death terminated Rigaud's long career. We may leave his diocese -of Rouen, and travel north-easterly to the German archiepiscopal dukedom -of Cologne for a very different example of a brave prelate who brought -death upon himself. - -The man who was chosen Archbishop of Cologne in 1216 was of the highest -birth. It was Engelbert, son of Count Engelbert of Berg. A young nobleman, -related by blood to the local powers, lay and ecclesiastic, and destined -for Church dignities, would be quickly given benefices. Engelbert received -such, and also was appointed Provost of the Cathedral. Strong of body, -rich, he led a boisterous martial life, and took a truculent part in the -political dissensions which were undoing the German realm. With his -cousin, the Archbishop Adolph, he went over to the side of Philip of -Suavia. For this the archbishop and his provost were deposed and -excommunicated by Pope Innocent III. There ensued years of turbulence and -fighting, during which Engelbert's hand followed his passions. But with -the turning of events in 1208 he was reconciled to the Pope, restored to -his offices, and went crusading against the Albigenses in atonement for -his sins. He stood by the young Frederick, then favoured by Innocent, and -after some intervening years of proof, was, with general approval, elected -Archbishop of Cologne. He was about thirty-one years old. - -There had been power and bravery in the man from the beginning; and his -faculties gained poise and gathered purpose through the stormy springtime -of his life. Now he stood forth prince-bishop, feudal duke; a man strong -of arm and clear of vision, steadfast against the violence of his brother -nobles who oppressed the churches and cloisters within their lordships. -The weak found him a rock of defence. Says his biographer, Caesar of -Heisterbach: - - "He was a defender of the afflicted and a hammer of tyrants, - magnanimous and meek, lofty and affable, stern and gentle, dissembling - for a time, and when least expected girding himself for vengeance. - With the bishopric he had received the spiritual sword, and the - material sword with the dukedom. He used either weapon against the - rebellious, excommunicating some and crushing some by war." - -Under him archbishopric and dukedom prospered, their well-managed revenues -increased, palaces and churches rose. No mightier prince of the Church, no -stronger, juster ruler could be found. Said Pope Honorius after -Engelbert's death: "All men in Germany feared me from fear of him." From -the lay and German side is heard the hearty voice of Walther von der -Vogelweide, no friend of priests! "Worthy Bishop of Cologne, happy should -you be! You have well served the realm, and served it so that your praise -rises and waves on high. Master of princes! if your might weighs hard on -evil cowards, deem that as nothing! King's guardian, high is your state, -unequalled Chancellor!"[620] - -Archbishop of Cologne, duke of its double dukedom, and Regent of the -German realm, Engelbert was well-nigh Germany's greatest figure during -these years. If his arm was strong, his also was the spirit of counsel and -wisdom. And although bearing himself as prince and ruler, he had within -him the devotion and humility of a true bishop. Said one of Engelbert's -chaplains, speaking to the Abbot of Heisterbach: "Although my lord seems -as of the world, within he is not as he appears outwardly. Know that he -has many secret comfortings from God." - -The iron course of Engelbert's life brought queryings to the monkish mind -of his biographer. Caesar felt that it was not easy for any bishop to be -saved; how much harder was it for a statesman-warrior-prelate so to -conduct himself in the warfare of this world as to attain at last "the -peace of divine contemplation." Not thither did such a career seem to -lead! But there was a way, or at least an exit, which surely opened upon -heaven's gate. This was the purple steep, the _purpureum ascensum_, of -martyrdom. Caesar was not alone in thinking thus, as to the saving close -of Engelbert's career; for a devout and learned priest, who in earlier -years had been co-canon with Engelbert, said to Caesar after the -archbishop's murder: "I do not think there was another way through which a -man so placed (_in statu tali positus_) could have entered the door of the -kingdom of heaven, which is narrow." - -Caesar tells the story of this martyrdom in all its causes and details of -plot. That plot succeeded because it was the envenomed culmination of the -hatred for the archbishop felt by the nobles--bishops among them too--whom -he restrained with his authority and unhesitating hand. Frederic, Count of -Isenburg, a kinsman of Engelbert as well as of the former archbishop, was -the feudal warden of the nunnery of Essen, which he greedily oppressed. -The abbess turned to Engelbert, as she had to his predecessor. The -archbishop hesitated to proceed against a relative. So the abbess appealed -to Rome. Papal letters came back causing Engelbert to take the matter up. -He acted with forbearance and generosity; for he even offered to make up -from his own revenues any loss the count might sustain from acting justly -toward the nunnery. In vain. Frederic, so we read, would have none of his -interference. The devil hardened his heart; and he began to incite his -friends and kinsmen (who were also the kin of Engelbert) to a treacherous -attack upon the man they could not openly withstand. - -Rumours of the plot were in the air. Said a monk of Heisterbach to his -abbot: "Lord, if you have any business with the archbishop, do it quickly, -for his death is near." Engelbert himself was not unwarned. A letter came -to him revealing the matter. Upon reading it, he threw it in the fire. Yet -he told its contents to his friend the Bishop of Minden, who was present. -Said the latter: "Have a care for thyself, my lord, for God's sake, and -not for thyself alone, but for the welfare of your church and the safety -of the whole land." - -The archbishop answered: "Dangers are all about me, and what I should do -the Lord knows and not I. Woe is me, if I keep quiet! Yet if I should -accuse them of this matter, they would complain to every one that I was -fastening the crime of parricide on them. From this hour I commit my body -and soul to the divine care." - - "Then taking the bishop alone into his chapel, he began to confess all - his sins from his very youth, with a shower of tears that wetted all - his breast, and, as we hope, washed the stains from his heart. And - when the Lord of Minden said: 'I fear there is still something on thy - conscience which thou hast not told me,' he answered: 'The Lord knows - that I have concealed nothing consciously.' But thinking over his sins - more fully, the next morning he took his confessor again into the same - chapel and with meek and contrite soul and floods of tears confessed - everything that had recurred to his mind. Then his conscience being - clear, he said fearlessly: 'Now let God's will regarding me be done.' - - "In the meanwhile some one was knocking at the door of the chapel. The - archbishop would not let it be opened because his eyes were wet with - tears. But the knocking continued, and it was announced that the - bishops of Osnabrueck and Muenster (brothers of Count Frederic) were - there. After he had dried his eyes and wiped his face, he allowed them - to be shown in, and said when they had entered: 'You lords both are - kin of mine, and I have injured you in nothing, as you know well, but - have advanced your interests, as I might, and your brother's also. And - look you, from all sides by word and letter I hear that your brother - Count Frederic, whom I have loved heartily and never harmed, is - devising ill to me and seeks to kill me.' - - "They protested, trembling in their deceit: 'Lord, may this never, - never, be! You need have no fear; such a thought has never entered his - heart. We all have been honoured and enriched and lifted up by you.' - Which last was true." - -This was after the festival of All Saints in the first days of November -1225; and Count Frederic, the better to conceal his purpose, came and -accepted the archbishop's terms. Together they set out from Cologne, the -count knowing that the now unsuspecting Engelbert would stop the next day -to dedicate a church at Swelm. So it turned out, and the count took that -opportunity to excuse himself and rode off to set his men in ambush. Just -then a widow rose up from the roadside, and demanded judgment as to a fief -withheld from her. At once the archbishop dismounted, and took his seat as -duke to hear the cause. It went against the widow, and in favour of him -who sat as judge. But he said: "Lady, this fief which you demand is taken -from you by decree and adjudged to me. But for the sake of God, pitying -your distress, I relinquish it to you." - -The archbishop rode on. About midday Frederic came up again to see which -way he was taking. Engelbert invited the count to pass the night with him. -But he declined on some pretext, and rode away. The archbishop and his -company proceeded on their road until the hour of vespers. Vespers were -said, and again the count appeared. Observing him, a nobleman in -Engelbert's train said: "My lord, this coming and going of the count looks -suspicious. For the third time he is approaching, and now not as before on -his palfrey but on his war-horse. I advise you to mount your war-horse -too." - -But the archbishop said that would be too noticeable, and there was -nothing to fear. As the count drew near, they saw that the colour had left -his face. The archbishop spoke to him: "Now, kinsman, I am sure you will -stay with me." He answered nothing, and they went on together. Suspicious -and alarmed, some of the clergy and some of the knights withdrew, so that -but a small company remained; for a good part of the episcopal household -with the cooks had gone ahead to prepare the night's lodgings. - -It was dusk as they drew near the place of ambush. The count grew -agitated, and was blaming himself to his followers for planning to kill -his lord and kinsman, but they egged him on. Now the foot of the Gevelberg -was reached, and the count said as they began to ascend, "My lord, this is -our path." "May the Lord protect us," replied Engelbert, for he was not -without suspicion. - -The company was entering the hollow way leading over the summit of the -mountain, when suddenly the followers of Frederic, who were ahead, turned -on them, and others leaped from hiding, while a shrill whistle sounded, -startling the horses. "My lord, mount your war-horse; death is at the -door," cried a knight. It was indeed. The archbishop's company made no -resistance, except the faithful noble who first had scented danger. The -rest fled while the murderers rushed upon Engelbert, unable to turn in the -narrow way, and struck at him with swords and daggers. One seized him by -the cloak and the two rolled together on the ground; but the strong and -active prelate dragged himself and his antagonist out of the roadway into -a thicket. There he was again set upon by the mad crew, urged on by the -count, and was hacked and stabbed to death. He breathed his last beneath -an oak ten paces from the roadway. - -There is no need to recount the finding of the gashed and stripped body, -its solemn interment in the Cathedral Church of St. Peter's at Cologne, -the canonization of Engelbert, and the building of a chapel, succeeded by -a cloister, to mark the place of his martyrdom. Nor need one follow with -Caesar the banning of the murderers, and the unhappy ways in which their -deaths made part atonement for the injury which their wicked deed had done -the German realm.[621] - - * * * * * - -The ideals and shortcomings of monasticism were closely connected with -popular beliefs. The monastic ideal had its inception in the thought of -sin as entailing either purgatorial or everlasting punishment, and in the -thought of holiness as ensuring eternal bliss. Whatever other motives -participated, the knot of the monastic purpose was held in the jaws of -this antithesis, which for itself drew form, colour, picturesqueness, from -popular beliefs, and was made tangible in countless stories telling of -purity and love and meekness impaired by lust and cruelty and pride, and -of retribution avoided by some shifty supernatural adjustment of the sin. -Such stories might be accepted as well by the learned as by the -illiterate. The brooding soul of the Middle Ages, with its knowledge of -humanity and its reaches of spiritual insight, was undisturbed by the -crass superstitions so queerly at odds with its deeper inspiration--a -remark specifically applicable to thoughtful or spiritually-minded -individuals in the mediaeval centuries. - -As we descend the spiritual scale, the crude superstitious elements become -more prominent or apparently the whole matter. Likewise as we descend the -moral scale; for the more vicious the individual, the more utterly will he -omit the spiritual from his working faith, and the more mechanical will be -his methods of squaring his conduct with his fears of the supernatural. -Nevertheless, in estimating the ethical shortcomings of mediaeval -superstitions, one must remember how easily in a simple mind all sorts of -superstition may co-exist with a sweet religious and moral tone. - -Sins unatoned for and uncondoned bring purgatorial or perpetual torment -after death, even as holiness brings eternal bliss. But how were sins -thought to come to men and women in the Middle Ages, and especially to -those who were earnestly striving to escape them? Rather than fruit of the -naughtiness of the human heart, they came through the malicious -suggestions, the temptations, of a Tempter. They were in fine the -machinations of the devil. This was the popular view, and also the -authoritative doctrine, expressed, re-expressed, and enforced in myriad -examples, by all the saints and magnates of the Church who had lived since -the time when Athanasius wrote the life of Anthony in devil-fighting -heroics. - -Against the devil, every man had staunch allies; the readiest were the -Virgin Mary and the saints, for Christ was very high above the conflict, -and at the Judgment Day must be its final umpire. The object of the -cunning enemy was to trip man into hell, an object hostile alike to God -and man. Saintly aid enabled man to overcome the devil, or if he succumbed -to temptation and committed mortal sin, there was still a chance to -frustrate the devil's plot, and save the soul by wiles or force. The -sinner may use every stratagem to defeat the devil and escape the results -of sins committed by himself, but prompted by his enemy. This was war and -the ethics of war, in which man was the central struggling figure, -attacked by the devil and defended by the saints. The latter also help -man's earthly fortunes, and devotion to them may ensure one's welfare in -this very palpable and pressing life of earth. - -This popular and yet authoritative view of mortal peril and saintly aid is -illustrated in the tales from sermons and other pious writings. In them -any uncanny or untoward experience was ascribed to the devil. So it was in -monkish Chronicles, _Vitae sanctorum_, _Dialogi miraculorum_, or indeed in -any edifying writing couched in narrative form or containing illustrative -tales. Throughout this literature the devil inspires evil thoughts, -instigates crimes, and causes any unhappy or immoral happening. It is just -as much a matter of course as if one should say to-day, I have a cold, or -John stole a ring, or James misbehaved with So-and-so.[622] Any man might -meet the devil, and if sinful, suffer physical violence from him. If any -one disappeared the devil might be supposed to have carried him off. -Details of the abduction might be given, or the whole matter take place -before witnesses. - - "A rich usurer, with little fear of God in him, had dined well one - evening, and was in bed with his wife, when he suddenly leaped up. She - asked what ailed him. He replied: 'I was just snatched away to God's - judgment seat, where I heard so many accusations that I did not know - what to answer. And while I waited for something to happen, I heard - the final sentence given against me, that I should be handed over to - demons, who were to come and get me to-day.' Saying this, he flung on - a coat, and ran out of the house, for all his wife could do to stop - him. His servants, following, discovered him almost crazed in a church - where monks were saying their matins. There they kept him in custody - for some hours. But he made no sign of willingness to confess or make - restitution or repent. So after mass they led him back toward his - house, and as they came by a river, a boat was seen coming rapidly up - against the current, manned apparently by no one. But the usurer said - that it was full of demons, who had come to take him. The words were - no sooner uttered, than he was seized by them, and put in the boat, - which suddenly turned on its course and disappeared with its - prey."[623] - -One observes that this usurer had received sentence at God's tribunal, and -the devils carried it out: the sentence gave them power. Any man may be -tempted; but falls into his enemy's power only by sinning. His yielding is -an act of acquiescence in the devil's will, and may be the commencement of -a state of permanent consent. With this we reach the notion of a formal -pact with the devil, of which there were many instances. But still the -pact is with the Enemy; the man is not bound beyond the letter, and may -escape by any trick. It is still the ethics of war; we are very close to -the principle that a man by stratagem or narrow observance of the letter -may escape the eternal retribution which God decrees conditionally and the -devil delights in. - -The sacraments prescribed by the Church were the common means of escaping -future punishment. Confession is an example. The correct doctrine was that -without penitence it was ineffective. But popularly the confession -represented the whole fact. It was efficacious of itself, and kept the -soul from hell. It might even prevent retribution in this life. Caesar of -Heisterbach has a number of illustrative stories, rather immoral as they -seem to us. There was, for instance, a person possessed (_obsessus_) of a -devil who dwelt in him, and through his lips would make known the -_unconfessed_ sins of any one brought before him; but the devil could not -remember sins which had been confessed. A certain knight suspected (quite -correctly) a priest of sinning with his wife. So he haled him before this -_obsessus_. On the way the priest managed to elude his persecutor for an -instant, and, darting into a barn, confessed his sin to a layman he found -there. Returning, he went along with the knight, and, behold, the sin was -obliterated from the memory of the devil in the _obsessus_, and the priest -remained undetected.[624] - -Men and women sometimes escaped the wages of sin by the aid of a saint, -but more often through the incarnate pity of the Virgin Mary. The Virgin -and the saints were ready to take up any cause, however desperate, against -the devil; which means that they were ready to intervene between the -sinner and the impending punishment. People took kindly to these thoughts -of irregular intervention, since everlasting torment for transient sin was -so extreme; but a surer source of their approval lay in the incomplete -spiritualization of the popular religion and its ethics. - -To thwart the devil was the office of the Virgin and the saints. Their aid -was given when it was besought. Sometimes they intervened voluntarily to -protect a votary whose devotions had won their favour. The stories of the -pitying intervention of the Virgin to save the sinner from the wages of -his sin, and frustrate the devil, are among the fragrant flowers of the -mediaeval spirit. Ethically some of them leave much to ask for; but others -are tales of sweet forgiveness upon heart-felt repentance. - -Jacques of Vitry has a story (scarcely fit to repeat) of a certain very -religious Roman widow-lady, who had an only son, with whom she sinned at -the devil's instigation. She was a devoted worshipper of the Virgin; and -the devil, fearing that she would repent, plotted to bring her to trial -and immediate condemnation before the emperor's tribunal, for her incest. -When the widow knew of her impending ruin, she went with tears to the -confessional, and then day and night besought the Virgin to deliver her -from infamy and death. The day of trial came. Suddenly the accuser, who -was the devil in disguise, began to quake and groan, and could not answer -when the emperor asked what ailed him. But as the woman drew near the -judgment seat, he uttered a horrid howl, exclaiming: "See! Mary is coming -with the woman, holding her hand." And in a fetid whirlwind he -disappeared. "And thus," says Jacques of Vitry, "the widow was set free -through confession and the Virgin's aid, and afterwards persevered in the -service of God more cautiously."[625] - -Such a tale sounds immoral; yet there is some good in saving any soul from -hell; and here there was repentance. Caesar of Heisterbach has another, of -the Virgin taking the place of a sinning nun in the convent until she -repented and returned. Again repentance and forgiveness make the sinner -whole.[626] - -The _Miracles de Nostre Dame_[627] are an interesting repertory of the -Virgin's interventions. These "Mysteries" or miracle plays in Old French -verse are naive enough in their kindly stratagems, by which the votary is -saved from punishment in this life and his soul from torment in the next. -The first "Miracle" in this collection runs thus: A pious dame and her -knightly husband, from devotion to the Virgin Mary took the not unusual -vow of married continence. But under diabolic incitement, the knight -over-persuaded his lady, who in her chagrin at the broken vow devoted the -offspring to the devil. A son was born, and in due time the devil came to -claim it. Thereupon a huge machinery, of pope and cardinals, hermits and -archangels, is set in motion. At last the case is brought before God, -where the devils show cause on one side, and "Nostre Dame" pleads on the -other. Our Lady wins on the ground that the mother could not devote her -offspring to the devil without the father's consent, which was not shown. - -There is surely no harm in this pleasant drama; for the devil ought not to -have had the boy. But there follow quite different "Miracles" of Our Lady. -The next one is typical. An abbess sins with her clerk. Her condition is -observed by the nuns, and the bishop is informed. The abbess casts herself -on the mercy of Mary, who miraculously delivers her of the child and gives -it into the care of a holy hermit. An examination of the abbess takes -place, after which she is declared innocent by the bishop. But she is at -once moved to repentance, and confesses all to him. In the bishop's mind, -however, the Virgin's intervention is sufficient proof of the abbess's -holiness. He absolves her, and goes to the hermitage and takes charge of -the child.[628] - -Such is an example of the kindly but peculiar miracles, in which the -Virgin saves her friends who turn to her and repent. Many other tales, -quite lovely and unobjectionable, are told of her: how she keeps her -tempted votaries from sinning, or helps them to repent:[629] or blesses -and leads on to joy those who need no forgiveness. Such a one was the -monk-scribe who illuminated Mary's blessed name in three lovely colours -whenever it occurred in the works he copied, and then kissed it devoutly. -As he lay very ill, having received the sacraments, another brother saw in -vision the Virgin hover above his couch and heard her say: "Fear not, son, -thou shalt rejoice with the dwellers in heaven, because thou didst honour -my name with such care. Thine own name is written in the book of life. -Arise and come with me." Running to the infirmary the brother found his -brother dying blissfully.[630] - -There are lovely stories too of passionate repentance, coming -unmiraculously to those devoutly thinking on the Virgin and her infant -Son. "For there was once a nun who forsook her convent and became a -prostitute, but returned after many years. As she thought of God's -judgment and the pains of hell, she despaired of ever gaining pardon; as -she thought of Paradise, she deemed that she, impure, could never enter -there; and when she thought upon the Passion, and how great ills Christ -had borne for her and how great sins she had committed, she still was -without hope. But on the Day of the Nativity she began to think that unto -us a Child is born, and that children are appeased easily. Before the -image of the Virgin she began to think of the Saviour's infancy, and, with -floods of passionate tears, besought the Child through the benignity of -His childhood to have mercy upon her. She heard a voice saying to her that -through the benignity of that childhood which she had invoked, her sins -were forgiven."[631] - -But enough of these stories. Nor is there need to enlarge upon the -relic-worship and other superstitions of the Middle Ages. One sees such -matters on every side. It was all a matter of course, and disapprovals -were rare. Such conceptions of sin and the devil's part in it affected the -morality of clergy as well as laity. The morals of the latter could not -rise above those of their instructors; and the layman's religion of -masses, veneration of relics, pilgrimages, almsgiving and endowment of -monasteries, scarcely interfered with the cruelty and rapine to which he -might be addicted. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE WORLD OF SALIMBENE - - -At the close of this long survey of the saintly ideals and actualities of -the Middle Ages, it will be illuminating to look abroad over mediaeval -life through the half mystic but most observant eyes of a certain Italian -Franciscan. The Middle Ages were not characterized by the open eye. -Mediaeval Chronicles and _Vitae_ rarely afford a broad and variegated -picture of the world. As they were so largely the work of monks, obviously -they would set forth only what would strike the monastic eye, an eye often -intense with its inner vision, but not wide open to the occurrences of -life. The monk was not a good observer, commonly from lack of sympathy and -understanding. Of course there were exceptions; one of them was the -Franciscan Salimbene, an undeniable if not too loving son of an alert -north Italian city, Parma. - -Humanism springs from cities; and it began in Italy long before Petrarch. -North of the Alps there was nothing like the city life of Italy, so quick -and voluble, so unreticent and unrestrained, open and -neighbourly--neighbours hate as well as love! From Cicero's time, from -Numa's if one will, Italian life was what it never ceased to be, urban. -The city was the centre and the bound of human intercourse, almost of -human sympathy. This was always true; as true in those devastated seventh, -eighth, and ninth centuries as before or after; certainly true of the -tenth and eleventh centuries when the Lombards and other Teuton children -of the waste and forest had become good urban Italians. It was still more -abundantly true of the following centuries when life was burgeoning with -power. Whatever other cause or source of parentage it had, humanism was a -city child. And as city life never ceased in Italy, that land had no -unhumanistic period. There humanism always existed, whether we take it in -the narrower sense of love of humanistic, that is, antique literature, or -take it broadly as in the words of old Menander-Terence: "homo sum, humani -nil a me alienum." - -Now turn to the close of the twelfth century, and look at Francis of -Assisi. It is his humanism and his naturalism, his interest in men and -women, and in bird and beast as well, that fills this sweet lover of -Christ with tender sympathy for them all. Through him human interest and -love of man drew monasticism from its cloister, and sent it forth upon an -unhampered ministry of love. Francis (God bless him!) had not been -Francis, had he not been Francis _of Assisi_. - -A certain gifted well-born city child was five years old when Francis -died. It was to be his lot to paint for posterity a picture of his world -such as no man had painted before; and in all his work no line suggests so -many reasons for the differences between Italy and the lands north of the -Alps, and also so many why Salimbene happened to be what he was, as this -remark, relating to his French tour: "In France _only the townspeople_ -dwell in the towns; the knights and noble ladies stay in their villas and -on their own domains." - -Only the townspeople live in the towns, merchants, craftsmen, -artisans--the unleavened bourgeoisie! In Lombardy how different! There -knights and nobles, and their lovely ladies, have their strong dwellings -in the towns; jostle with the townspeople, converse with them, intermarry -sometimes, lord it over them when they can, hate them, murder them. But -there they are, and what variety and colour and picturesqueness and -illumination do they not add to city life? If a Lombardy town thronged -with merchants and craftsmen, it was also gay and voluptuous with knights -and ladies. How rich and fascinating its life compared with the grey towns -beyond the Alps. In France the townspeople made an audience for the -Fabliaux! The Italian town had also its courtly audience of knight and -dame for the love lyrics of the troubadour, and for the romances of -chivalry. In fact, the whole world was there, and not just workaday, -sorry, parts of it. - -Had it not been for the full and varied city life in which he was born and -bred, the quick-eyed youth would not have had that fund of human interest -and intuition which makes him so pleasant and so different from any one -north of the Alps in the thirteenth century. A city boy indeed, and what a -full personality! He was to be a man of human curiosity, a tireless -sight-seer. His interest is universal; his human love quick enough--for -those he loved; for he was no saint, although a Minorite. His detestation -is vivid, illuminating; it brings the hated man before us. And Salimbene's -wide-open eyes are his own. He sees with a fresh vision; he is himself; a -man of temperament, which lends its colours to the panorama. His own -interest or curiosity is paramount with him; so his narrative will naively -follow his sweet will and whim, and pass from topic to topic in chase of -the suggestions of his thoughts. - -The result is for us a unique treasure-trove. The story presents the world -and something more; two worlds, if you will, very co-related: -_macrocosmos_ and _microcosmos_, the world without and the very eager ego, -Salimbene. There he is unfailingly, the writer in his world. Scarcely -another mediaeval penman so naively shows the world he moves about in and -himself. Let us follow, for a little, his autobiographic chronicle, taking -the liberty which he always took, of selecting as we choose.[632] - -In the year 1221 Salimbene was born at Parma, into the very centre of the -world of strife between popes and emperors--a world wherein also the -renewed Gospel was being preached by Francis of Assisi, who did not die -till five years later. But St. Dominic died the year of Salimbene's birth. -Innocent III., most powerful of popes, had breathed his last five years -before, leaving surviving him that viper-nursling of the papacy, Frederick -II., an able, much-experienced youth of twenty-two. Frederick was -afterwards crowned emperor by Honorius III., and soon showed himself the -most resourceful of his Hohenstaufen line of arch-enemies to the papacy. -This Emperor Frederick, whom Innocent III., says Salimbene, had exalted -and named "Son of the Church" ... "was a man pestiferous and accursed, a -schismatic, heretic, and epicurean, who corrupted the whole earth."[633] - -Salimbene's family was in high regard at Parma, and the boy naturally saw -and perhaps met the interesting strangers coming to the town. He tells us -that when he was baptized the lord Balianus of Sydon, a great baron of -France, a retainer of the Emperor Frederick's, "lifted me from the sacred -font." The mother was a pious dame, whom Salimbene loved none too well, -because once she snatched up his infant sisters to flee from the danger of -the Baptistery toppling over upon their house during an earthquake, and -left Salimbene himself lying in his cradle! The father had been a -crusader, and was a man of wealth and influence. - -So the youth was born into a stirring swirl of life. These vigorous -northern Italian cities hated each other shrewdly in the thirteenth -century. When the boy was eight years old a great fight took place between -the folk of Parma, Modena, and Cremona on the one side, and that big -blustering Bologna. Hot was the battle. On the _Carrocio_ of Parma only -one man remained; for it was stripped of its defenders by the stones from -those novel war-engines of the Bolognese, called _manganellae_. -Nevertheless the three towns won the battle, and the Bolognese turned -their backs and abandoned their own _Carrocio_. The Cremona people wanted -to drag it within their walls; but the prudent Parma leaders prevented it, -because such action would have been an insult forever, and a lasting cause -of war with a strong enemy. But Salimbene saw the captured _manganellae_ -brought as trophies into his city. - -Other scenes of more peaceful rejoicing came before his eyes; as in the -year 1233, he being twelve years old. That was a year of alleluia, as it -was afterwards called, - - "to wit a time of peace and quiet, of joy, jollity and merry-making, - of praise and jubilee; because wars were over. Horse and foot, - townsfolk and rustics, youths and virgins, old and young, sang songs - and hymns. There was such devotion in all the cities of Italy. And I - saw that each quarter of the city would have its banner in the - procession, a banner on which was painted the figure of its - martyr-saint. And men and women, boys and girls, thronged from the - villages to the city with their flags, to hear the preaching, and - praise God. They had branches of trees and lighted candles. There was - preaching morning, noon, and evening, and _stationes_ arranged in - churches and squares; and they lifted their hands to God to praise and - bless Him forever. Nor could they cease, so drunk were they with love - divine. There was no wrath among them, or disquiet or rancour. - Everything was peaceful and benign; I saw it with my eyes."[634] - -And then Salimbene tells of all the famous preachers, and the lovely -hymns, and Ave Marias; Frater So-and-so, from Bologna; Frater So-and-so -from somewhere else; Minorite and Preaching friar. - -One might almost fancy himself in the Florence of Savonarola. Like enough -this season of soul outpour and tears and songs of joy first stirred the -religious temper of this quickly moved youth. These were also the great -days of dawning for the Friars. Dominic was not yet sainted; yet his Order -of the Preaching Friars was growing. The blessed Francis had been -canonized;--sainted had he been indeed before his death! And the world was -turning to these novel, open, sympathetic brethren who were pouring -themselves through Europe. Love's mendicancy, envied but not yet -discredited, was before men's eyes and in men's thoughts; and what -opportunity it offered of helping people, of saving one's own soul, and of -seeing the world! We can guess how Salimbene's temper was drawn by it. We -know at least that one of these friars, Brother Girard of Modena, who -preached at this jubilee in Parma, was the man who made petition five -years later for Salimbene, so that the Minister-General of the Minorites, -Brother Elias, being then at Parma, received the seventeen-year-old boy -into the Order, in the year 1238. - -Salimbene's father was frantic at the loss of his heir. Never while he -lived did he cease to lament it. He at once began strenuous appeals to -have his son returned to him. Salimbene's account of this, exhibits -himself, his father, and the situation. - - "He complained to the emperor (Frederick II.), who had come to Parma, - that the brothers Minorites had taken his son from him. The emperor - wrote to Brother Elias that if he held his favour dear, he should - listen to him and return me to my father. Then my father went to - Assisi, where Brother Elias was, and placed in his hands the emperor's - letter, which began: 'In order to mitigate the sighs of our faithful - Guido de Adam,' and so forth. Brother Illuminatus, Brother Elias's - scribe, showed me this letter long afterwards, when I was with him in - the convent at Siena. - - "When the imperial letter had been read, Brother Elias wrote at once - to the brethren of the convent at Fano, where I dwelt, that if I - wished it, they should return me to my father without delay; but that - if I did not wish to go with my father, they should guard and keep me - as the pupil of his eye. - - "A number of knights came with my father to Fano, to see the end of my - affair. There was I and my salvation made the centre of the spectacle. - The brethren were assembled, with them of the world; and there was - much talk. My father produced the letter of the minister-general, and - showed it to the brothers. When it was read, Brother Jeremiah, who was - in charge of me, answered my father in the hearing of all: 'Lord - Guido, we sympathize with your distress, and are prepared to obey the - letter of our father. Behold, here is your son; he is old enough; let - him speak for himself. Ask him; if he wishes to go with you, let him - in God's name; if not, we cannot force him.' - - "My father asked me whether I wished to go with him or not. I replied, - No; because the Lord says, 'No one putting his hand to the plow and - looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.' - - "And father said to me: 'Thou carest not for thy father and mother, - who are afflicted with many griefs for thee.' - - "I replied: 'Truly I do not care, because the Lord says, Who loveth - father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. But of thee He also - says: Who loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. - Thou oughtest to care, father, for Him who hung on the cross for us, - that He might give us eternal life. For it is himself who says: I am - come to set a man against his father, and the daughter against her - mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's - foes are they of his household.' - - "The brethren wondered and rejoiced that I said such things to my - father. And then my father said: 'You have bewitched and deceived my - son, so that he will not mind me. I will complain again of you to the - emperor and to the minister-general. Now let me speak with my son - apart from you; and you will see him follow me without delay.' - - "So the brothers allowed me to talk with him alone; for they began to - have a little confidence in me, because of my words. Yet they listened - behind the wall to what we should say. For they trembled as a reed in - water, lest my father should alter my mind with his blandishments. And - not for me alone they feared, but lest my return should hinder others - from entering the Order. - - "Then my father said to me: 'Dear son, don't believe those nasty - tunics[635] who have deceived you; but come with me, and I will give - you all I have.' - - "And I replied: 'Go away, father. As the Wise Man says in Proverbs, - Thou shall not hinder him to do right, who is able.' - - "And my father answered with tears, and said to me: 'What then, son, - shall I say to thy mother, who is afflicted because of thee?' - - "And I say to him: 'Thou shalt tell her from me; thus says thy son: My - father and mother have forsaken me, and the Lord hath taken me up; - also (Jer. iii.): Thou shalt call me Father, and walk after me in my - steps.... It is good for a man when he has borne the yoke from his - youth.' - - "Hearing all these things my father, despairing of my coming out, - threw himself down in the presence of the brethren and the secular - folk who had come with him, and said: 'I give thee to a thousand - devils, cursed son, thee and thy brother here who has deceived thee. - My curse be on you forever, and may it commend you to the spirits of - hell.' And he went away excited beyond measure; while we remained - greatly comforted and giving thanks to our God, and saying to each - other, 'They shall curse, and thou shalt bless.' Likewise the seculars - retired edified at my constancy. The brethren also rejoiced seeing - what the Lord had wrought through me, His little boy." - -This whole scene presents such a conflict as the thirteenth century -witnessed daily, and the twelfth, and other mediaeval centuries as well. -The letters of St. Bernard set forth situations quite as extreme or -outrageous, from modern points of view. And Bernard can apply (or shall we -say, distort?) Scripture in the same drastic fashion. But these monks -meant it deeply; and from their standpoint they were in the right with -their quotations. The attitude goes back to Jerome; that a man's father -and mother, and they of his own household, may be his worst enemies, if -they seek to hinder his feet set toward God. Of course we can see the -sensible, worldly, martial father of the youth leap in the air and roll on -the ground in rage; flesh and blood could not stand such turn of -Scripture: Tell my weeping mother (who so longs for me) that I say my -father and mother have forsaken me, and the Lord hath taken me up! This -came to the Lord Guido as a maddening gibe; but Salimbene meant simply -that his parents did not care for his highest welfare, and the Lord had -received him into the path of salvation. It is all a scene, which should -evoke our serious reflections--after which it may be permitted us to enjoy -it as we will. - -In his conscience Salimbene felt justified; for a dream set the seal of -divine approval on his conduct. - - "The Blessed Virgin rewarded me that very night. For it seemed to me - that I was lying prostrate in prayer before her altar, as the brothers - are wont when they rise for matins. And I heard the voice of the - Blessed Virgin calling me. Lifting my face, I saw her sitting above - the altar in that place where is set the host and the calix. She had - her little boy in her lap, and she held him out to me, saying: - 'Approach without fear and kiss my son, whom yesterday thou didst - confess before men.' And when I was afraid, I saw that the little boy - gladly stretched out his arms. Trusting his innocence and the - graciousness of his mother, I drew near, embraced and kissed him; and - the benign mother gave him to me for a long while. And when I could - not have enough of it, the Blessed Virgin blessed me and said: 'Go, - beloved son, and lie down, lest the brothers rising from matins find - thee here with us.' I obeyed, and the vision disappeared; but - unspeakable sweetness remained in my heart. Never in the world have I - had such bliss." - -From this we see that Salimbene had sufficient mystic ardour to keep him a -happy Franciscan. It made the otherworldly part of one who also was a -merry gossip among his fellows. An inner power of spiritual enthusiasm -and fantasy accompanied him through his life, giving him a double point of -view: he looks at things as they are, with curiosity and interest, and -ever and anon loses himself in transcendental dreams of Paradise and all -at last made perfect.[636] - -Although the father had devoted his son to a thousand devils, he did not -cease from attempts, by persuasion and even violence, to draw him back -into his own civic and martial world. So the young man got permission from -the minister-general to go and live in Tuscany, where he might be beyond -the reach of parental activities. "Thereupon I went and lived in Tuscany -for eight years, two of them at Lucca, two at Siena, and four at Pisa." He -gained great comfort from converse and gossip of an edifying kind, as he -fell in with those loving enthusiasts who had received their cloaks from -the hand of the blessed Francis himself. At Siena he saw much of Brother -Bernard of Quintavalle who had been the very first to receive the dress of -the Order from the hand of its founder. Salimbene gladly listened to his -recollections of Francis, who in this venerable disciple's words might -seem once more to walk the earth. - -Yet Salimbene, still young in heart and years, could readily take up with -the companionship of the ne'er-do-well vagabonds who frequently attached -themselves, as lay brothers, to the Franciscan Order. He tells of a day's -outing with one of whose character he is outspoken but without personal -repugnance: - - "I was a young man when I dwelt at Pisa. One day I went out begging - with a certain lay brother, a good-for-nothing. He was a Pisan, and - the same who afterwards went and lived with the brothers at Fixulus, - where they had to drag him out of a well which he had jumped into from - some foolishness or desperation. Then he disappeared, and could not be - found. The brothers thought the devil had carried him off. However - that may have been, this day at Pisa he and I went with our baskets to - beg bread, and chanced to enter a courtyard. Above, all about, hung a - thick, leafy vine, its freshness lovely to see and its shade sweet for - resting in. There were leopards there and other beasts from over the - sea, at which we gazed long, transfixed with delight, as one will at - the sight of the novel and beautiful. Girls were there also and boys - at their sweetest age, handsome and lovely, and ten times as alluring - for their beautiful clothes. The boys and girls held violas and - cytharas and other musical instruments in their hands, on which they - made sweet melodies, accompanied with gestures. There was no hub-bub, - nor did any one talk; but all listened in silence. And the song which - they chanted was so new and lovely in words and melody as to gladden - the heart exceedingly. None spoke to us, nor did we say a word to any - one. They did not stop singing and playing so long as we were - there--and long indeed we lingered and could scarcely take ourselves - away. God knows, I do not, who set this joyful entertainment; for we - had never seen anything like it before nor could we ever find its like - again." - -From the witchery of this cloud-dropped entertainment Salimbene was rudely -roused as he went out upon the public way. - - "A man met me, whom I did not know, and said he was from Parma. He - seized upon me, and began to chide and revile: 'Away scamp, away,' he - cried. 'A crowd of servants in your father's house have bread enough - and meat; and you go from door to door begging bread from those - without it, when you have enough to give to any number of beggars! You - ought to be riding on a war-horse through Parma, and delighting people - with your skill with the lance, so that there might be a sight for the - ladies, and comfort for the players. Now your father is worn with - grief and your mother from love of you, so she despairs of God.'" - -Salimbene fended off this attack of carnal wisdom with many texts of -Scripture. Yet the other's words set him to thinking that perhaps it would -be hard to lead a beggar's life year after year until old age. And he lay -awake that night, until God comforted him as before with a reassuring -dream. - -Pretty dreamer as he was, Salimbene can often tell a ribald tale. There -was rivalry, as may be imagined, between the Dominicans (_solemnes -praedicatores_) and the Minorites. The former seem occasionally to have -concerted together so as to have knowledge of what their friends in other -places were about. Then, when preaching, they would exhibit marvels of -second sight, which on investigation proved true! A certain Brother John -of Vicenza was a Dominican famed for preaching and miracles perhaps, and -with such overtopping sense of himself that he went at least a little mad. -Bologna was his tarrying-place. There a certain Florentine grammarian, -Boncompagnus, tired of the foolery, made gibing rhymes about him and his -admirers, and said he would do a miracle himself, and at a certain hour -would fly with wings from the pinnacle of Sta. Maria in Monte. All came -together at that hour to see. There he stood aloft, with his wings, ready, -and the folk expectant, for a long time--and then he bade them disperse -with God's blessing, for it was enough for them to have seen him. They -then knew that they had been fooled! - -None the less the _dementia_ of Brother John increased, so that one day at -the Dominican convent in Bologna he fell in a rage because when his beard -was cut the brothers did not preserve the hairs as relics. There came -along a Minorite, Brother God-save-you, a Florentine like Boncompagnus, -and like him a great buffoon and joker. To this convent he came, but -refused all invitation to stay and eat unless a piece of the cloak of -Brother John were given him, which was kept to hold relics. So they gave -him a piece of the cloak, and after dinner he went off and befouled it, -folded it up, and called for all to come and see the precious relics of -the sainted John, which he had lost in the latrina. So they flocked to -see, and were somewhat more than satisfied.[637] - -No need to say that this Salimbene had a quick eye for beauty in both men -and women; he is always speaking of so-and-so as a handsome man, and such -and such a lady as "pulcherrima domina," of pleasing ways and moderate -stature, neither too tall nor too short. But one may win a more amusing -side-light on the "eternal womanly" in his Chronicle, from the following: -"Like other popes, Nicholas III. made cardinals of many of his relatives. -He made a cardinal of one, Lord Latinus, of the Order of Preachers (which -we note with a smile, and expect something funny). He appointed him legate -to Lombardy and Tuscany and Romagnola." Note the enactments of this -cardinal-legate: - - "He disturbed all the women with a 'Constitution' which he - promulgated, to wit, that the women should wear short dresses - reaching to the ground, and only so much more as a palm's breadth. - Formerly they wore trains, sweeping the earth for several feet (_per - brachium et dimidium_). A rhymer dubs them: - - 'Et drappi longhi, ke la polver menna.' - - ('The long cloaks that gather up the dust.') - - "And he had this to be proclaimed in the churches, and imposed it on - the women by command; and ordered that no priest should absolve them - unless they complied. The which was bitterer to the women than any - kind of death! For as a woman said to me familiarly, that train was - dearer to her than all the other clothes she wore. And further, - Cardinal Latinus decreed that all women, girls and young ladies, - matrons and widows, should wear veils. Which was again a horror for - them. But they found a remedy for that tribulation, as they could not - for their trains. For they made veils of linen and silk inwoven with - gold, with which they looked ten times as well, and drew the eyes of - men to lust all the more." - -Thus did the cardinal-legate, the Pope's relative. And plenty of gossip -has Salimbene to tell of such creatures of nepotism. "Flesh and blood -_had_ revealed" to the Pope that he should make cardinals of them; says he -with a sort of giant sneer; "for he built up Zion _in sanguinibus_," that -is, through his blood-relatives! "There are a thousand brothers Minorites, -more fit, on the score of knowledge and holiness, to be cardinals than -they." Had not another pope, Urban IV., made chief among the cardinals a -relation whose only use as a student had been to fetch the other students' -meat from market? - -It was a few years after this that Salimbene returned to his native town -of Parma, near the time when that city passed from the side of the Emperor -to that of the Pope. This was a fatal defection for Frederick, which he -set about to repair, by laying siege to the turn-coat city. And the war -went on with great devastation, and the wolves and other wild beasts -increased and grew bold. Salimbene throws Eccelino da Romano on the scene, -that regent of the emperor, and monster of cruelty, "who was feared more -than the devil," and had once burned to death "eleven thousand Paduans in -Verona. The building holding them was set on fire; and while they burned, -Eccelino and his knights held a tournament about them (_circa eos_).... I -verily believe that as the Son of God desired to have one special friend, -whom He made like to himself, to wit the blessed Francis, so the devil -fashioned Eccelino in his likeness."[638] - -Salimbene tells of the siege of Parma at much length, and of the final -defeat of the emperor, with the destruction of the stronghold which he had -built to menace the city, and of all his curious treasures, with the -imperial crown itself taken by the men of Parma and their allies. But -before this, while the turmoil of the siege was at its height, in 1247, he -received orders to leave Parma and set out for Lyons, where Innocent IV. -at that time held his papal court, having fled from Italy, from the -emperor, three years before. Setting out, he reached Lyons on All Saints -Day. - - "At once the Pope sent for me, and talked with me familiarly in his - chamber. For since my leaving Parma he had received neither messenger - nor letters. And he thanked me warmly and listened to my prayers, for - he was a courtly and liberal man; ... and he absolved me from my sins - and appointed me preacher!" - -Our autobiographic chronicler was at this time twenty-six years old; his -personality bespoke a kind reception everywhere. He soon left Lyons, and -went on through the towns of Champagne to Troyes, where he found plenty of -merchants from Lombardy and Tuscany, for there were markets there, lasting -two months. So was it also in Provins, the next halting-place; from which -Salimbene went on to Paris. There he stayed eight days and saw much which -pleased him; and then, going back upon his tracks, he took up his journey -to Sens, where he dwelt in the Franciscan convent, "and the French -brethren entertained me gladly, because I was a friendly, cheerful youth, -and spoke them fair." From Sens he went south to Auxerre, the place which -had been named as his destination when he left Parma. It was in the year -1248, and as he writes (how many years after?) there comes back to him the -memory of the grand wines of Auxerre: - - "I remember when at Cremona (in 1245) Brother Gabriel of that place, a - Minorite, a great teacher and a man of holy life, told me that Auxerre - had more vines and wine than Cremona and Parma and Reggio and Modena - together. I wouldn't believe him. But when I came to live at Auxerre, - I saw that he spoke the truth. It is a large district, or bishopric, - and the mountains, hills, and plains are covered with vines. There - they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; but they send their - wine by river to Paris, where they sell it nobly; and live and clothe - themselves from the proceeds. Three times I went all about the - district with one or another of the brothers: once with one who was - preaching and affixing crosses for the Crusade of the French king (St. - Louis); then with another who preached to the Cistercians in a most - beautiful monastery; and the third time we spent Easter with a - countess, who set before the whole company twelve courses of food, all - different. And had the count been at home, there would have been a - still greater abundance and variety. Now in four parts of France they - drink beer, and in four, wine. And the three lands where the wine is - most abundant are La Rochelle, Beaune, and Auxerre. In Auxerre the red - wine is least regarded and is not as good as the Italian. But Auxerre - has its white or golden wines, which are fragrant and comforting and - good, and make every one drinking them feel happy. Some of the Auxerre - wine is so strong that when put in a jug, drops appear on the outside - (_lacrymantur exterius_). The French laugh and say that three b's and - seven f's go with the best wine: - - 'Le vin bon et bel et blanc, - Fort et fer et fin et franc, - Freit et fres et fourmijant.' - - "The French delight in good wine--no wonder! since it 'gladdens God - and men.' Both French and English are very diligent with their - drinking-cups. Indeed the French have blear eyes from drinking - overmuch; and in the morning after a bout, they go to the priest who - has celebrated mass and ask him to drop a little of the water in which - he has washed his hands into their eyes. But Brother Bartholomew at - Provins has a way of saying it would be better for them if they would - put their water in their wine instead of in their eyes. As for the - English, they take a measure of wine, drink it out, and say: 'I have - drunk; now you'--meaning that you should drink as much. And this is - their idea of politeness; and any one will take it very ill if the - other does not follow his precept and example."[639] - -While Salimbene was living at Auxerre, in the year 1248, a provincial -Chapter of the Franciscan Order was held at Sens, with the -Minister-General, John of Parma, presiding. Thither went Salimbene. - - "The King of France, St. Louis, was expected. And the brothers all - went out from the house to receive him. And Brother Rigaud,[640] of - the Order, Archbishop of Rouen, having put on his pontifical - trappings, left the house and hurried toward the king, asking all the - time, 'Where is the king? where is the king?' And I followed him; for - he went alone and frantically, his mitre on his head and pastoral - staff in hand. He had been tardy in dressing himself, so that the - other brothers had gone ahead, and now lined the street, with faces - turned from the town, straining to see the king coming. And I - wondered, saying to myself, that I had read that these Senonian Gauls - once, under Brennus, captured Rome; now their women seemed a lot of - servant girls. If the King of France had made a progress through Pisa - or Bologna, the whole _elite_ of the ladies of the city would have met - him. Then I remembered the Gallic way, for the mere townsfolk to dwell - in the towns, while the knights and noble ladies live in their castles - and possessions. - - "The king was slender and graceful, rather lean, of fair height, with - an angelic look and gracious face. And he came to the church of the - brothers Minorites not in regal pomp, but on foot in the habit of a - pilgrim, with wallet and staff, which well adorned his royal shoulder. - His own brothers, who were counts, followed in like humility and garb. - Nor did the king care as much for the society of nobles as for the - prayers and suffrages of the poor. Indeed he was one to be held a - monarch, both on the score of devotion and for his knightly deeds of - arms. - - "Thus he entered the church of the brethren, with most devout - genuflections, and prayed before the altar. And when he left the - church and paused at the threshold, I was next to him. And there, on - behalf of the church at Sens, the warden presented him with a huge - live pike swimming in water in a tub made of firwood, such as they - bathe babies in. The pike is dear and highly prized in France. The - king returned thanks to the sender as well as to the presenter of the - gift. Then he requested audibly that no one, unless he were a knight, - should enter the Chapter House, except the brethren, with whom he - wished to speak. When we were met in Chapter, the king began to speak - of his actions and, devoutly kneeling, begged the prayers and - suffrages of the brethren for himself, his brothers, his lady mother - the queen, and all his companions. And certain French brothers, next - to me, from devotion and piety wept as if unconsolable. After the - king, Lord Oddo, a Roman cardinal, who once was chancellor at Paris, - and now was to cross the sea with the king, arose and said a few - words. Then on behalf of the Order, John of Parma, the - Minister-General, spoke fittingly, promising the prayers of the - brethren, and ordaining masses for the king; which, thereupon, at the - king's request he confirmed by a letter under his seal. - - "Afterwards, on that day, the king distributed alms and dined with the - brethren in the refectory. There were at table his three brothers, a - cardinal of the Roman curia, the minister-general, and Brother Rigaud, - Archbishop of Rouen, and many brethren. The minister-general, knowing - what a noble company was with the king, had no mind to thrust himself - forward, although he was asked to sit next the king. So to set an - example of courtliness and humility, he sat among the lowest. On that - day first we had cherries and then the very whitest bread; there was - wine in abundance and of the best, as befitted the regal magnificence. - And after the Gallic custom many reluctant ones were invited and - forced to drink. After that we had fresh beans cooked in milk, fish - and crabs, eel-pies, rice with milk of almonds and powdered cinnamon, - broiled eels with excellent sauce; and plenty of cakes and herbs, and - fruit. Everything was well served, and the service at table excellent. - - "The following day the king resumed his journey, and I followed him, - as the Chapter was over; for I had permission to go and stay in - Provincia. It was easy for me to find him, as he frequently turned - aside to go to the hermitages of the brothers Minorites or some other - religious Order, to gain their prayers. And he kept this up - continually until he reached the sea and took ship for the Holy Land. - - "I remember that one day I went to a noble castle in Burgundy, where - the body of the Magdalene was then believed to be. The next day was - Sunday; and early in the morning came the king to ask the suffrages of - the brethren. He dismissed his retinue in the castle, from which the - house of the brothers was but a little way. The king took his own - three brothers, as was his wont, and some servants to take care of the - horses. And when genuflections and reverences were duly made, the - brothers sought benches to sit on. But the king sat on the earth in - the dust, as I saw with my eyes. For that church had no pavement. And - he called us, saying: 'Come to me, my sweetest brothers, and hear my - words.' And we made a circle about him, sitting with him on the earth; - and his own brothers likewise. And he asked our prayers, as I have - been saying. And when promise had been given him, he rose and went his - way."[641] - -Is not this a picture of St. Louis, pilgrimaging from convent to convent, -to make sure of the divine aid, and trusting, so far as concerned the -business of the Holy Land, quite as much in the prayers of monks as in -the deeds of knights? We have hardly such a vivid sight of him in -Joinville or Geoffrey of Beaulieu.[642] - -After this scene, the king proceeded on his way, to make ready for his -voyage, and Salimbene went to Lyons, then down the Rhone to Arles, then -around by sea to Marseilles, and thence to Areae, the present Hyeres, -which lies near the coast. Here to his joy he met with Brother Hugo of -Montpellier whom he was seeking, the great "Joachite," the great clerk, -the mighty preacher and resistless disputer, whom he had not forgotten -since the days, long before, when he had been in Hugo's company and -listened to his preaching at Siena. Even then, Minorites, Dominicans, and -all men, had flocked to hear this small dark man, who seemed another Paul, -as he descanted on the marvels of Paradise and the contempt one should -feel for this world; but especially those Franciscans delighted in his -preaching who were of the "spiritual" party, which sought to follow -strictly the injunctions of the blessed Francis, and also cherished the -prophesies of the enigmatical Joachim of Flora. To this Joachim was -ascribed that long since vanished but much-bespoken _Evangelium eternum_, -which appears to have been written years after his death under the -auspices of John of Parma, Minister-General of the Franciscan Order.[643] - -There was heresy in this book, with its doctrine of a still unrevealed, -but everlasting Gospel of the Holy Ghost. Until its appearance the genuine -utterances of Joachim were not prescribed, consisting as they did of -prophecies, for example, as to the life of that monster Frederick II., and -of denunciations of the pride and worldliness of ecclesiastics. Thus they -fell in with the enthusiasms of the "spiritual" Franciscans, who still -lived in an ecstasy of love and anticipation;--in the coming time some of -them were to be dubbed Fratricelli, and under that name be held as -heretics. - -John of Parma was, of course, a "Joachite"; and "I was intimate with him," -says Salimbene, "from love and because I seemed to believe the writings of -Abbot Joachim of the Order of the Flower." John was likewise a friend (so -strong a bond was the belief in the holy but over-prophetic Joachim) of -Hugo of Montpellier, of whose manner and arguments we shall now let -Salimbene speak. - - "Once Hugo came from Pisa to Lucca, where the brothers had invited him - to come and preach. He arrived at the hour for setting out for the - cathedral service. And there the whole convent was assembled to - accompany him and do him honour, and from desire to hear him too. And - he wondered, seeing the brothers assembled outside of the convent - door, and said: 'Ah God! what are they going to do?' The reply was, - that they were there to do him honour, and to hear him. But he said: - 'I do not need such honour, for I am not pope. If they wish to hear, - let them come after we have got there. I will go ahead with one - companion, and I will not go with that band.'" - -Hugo was worshipped by his admirers, and hated by those whom he disagreed -with or denounced. Aside from his disputations in defence of Joachim, a -sample of which will be given shortly, one can see what hate must have -sprung from such invective as Salimbene reports him once to have addressed -to a consistory of cardinals at Lyons, where the Pope then held court. -Here is the story, quite too harsh for the respectable editors of the -Parma edition of the _Chronaca_: - - "The cardinals inquired of Brother Hugo for news (_rumores_). So he - reviled them, as asses, saying: 'I have no news, but a plenitude of - peace in my conscience and before my God, who surpasses sense and - keeps my heart and mind in Christ Jesus my Lord. I know that ye seek - after news, and wait idle the live-long day. For ye are Athenians and - not disciples of Christ. Of whom Luke says in the Acts: For all the - Athenians and the strangers which were there had time for nothing else - but to tell or hear some new thing. The disciples of Christ were - fishers and weak men according to the world, but they converted the - whole earth because the hand of the Lord was with them. They set forth - and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them. But ye are those - who build up Zion in blood (_i.e._ consanguinity) and Jerusalem in - iniquity. For you choose your little nephews and relations for the - benefices and dignities of the Church, and you exalt and make rich - your clan, and shut out men good and fit who would be useful to the - Church, and you prebendate children in their cradles. As a certain - mountebank well has said: If with an accusative you would go to the - Curia, you'll take nothing if you don't start with the dative! And - another says, the Roman Curia cares not for a sheep without wool.'" - -And with such like, Hugo continues a considerable space. - - "Hearing these things the cardinals were cut to the heart and gnashed - their teeth at him. But they had not the hardihood to reply; for the - fear of the Lord came over them and the hand of the Lord was with him. - Yet they wondered that he spoke to them so boldly; and finally it - seemed best to them to slip out and leave him, nor did they question - him, saying, as the Athenians to Paul: 'We will hear thee again of - this matter.'"[644] - -Hugo's invective is outdone by Salimbene's closing scorn. - -And now (to return to Salimbene's journey) here at Hyeres in the year 1248 -many notaries and judges, and physicians and other men of learning, were -assembled to hear Brother Hugo speak of the Abbot Joachim's doctrines, and -expound Holy Scripture, and predict the future. "And I was there to hear -him; for long before I had been instructed in these teachings." But there -came two Preaching friars, and abode at the Franciscan house, since the -Dominicans had no convent at Hyeres. One was Brother Peter of Apulia, a -learned man and a great speaker. After dinner a brother asked him what he -thought of Abbot Joachim. He answered: "I care as much for Joachim as for -the fifth wheel of a coach." - -Thereupon this brother hurried to Hugo's chamber, and exclaimed in the -presence of all the notables there: "Here is a brother Preacher who does -not believe that doctrine at all." - -To whom Brother Hugo: "And what is it to me if he does not believe? Be it -laid at his door; he will see it when trouble shall enlighten him. Yet -call him to debate; let us hear of what he doubts." - -So, called, he came, very unwillingly, because he held Joachim so cheaply, -and besides thought there was no one in that house fit to dispute with -him. When Brother Hugo saw him he said: "Art thou he who doubts the -doctrine of Joachim?" - -Brother Peter replied: "Indeed I am." - -Then said Brother Hugo: "Hast thou ever read Joachim?" - -Replied Brother Peter: "I have read and well read." - -To whom Hugo: "I believe thou hast read as a woman reads the Psalter, who -does not remember at the end what she read at the beginning. Thus many -read and do not understand, either because they despise what they read, or -because their foolish heart is darkened. Now, therefore, tell me what thou -wouldst hear as to Joachim, so that we may better know thy doubts." - -Thereupon there is question back and forth regarding the Scripture proofs -of Joachim's prophecies, for instance, those relating to Frederick's -reign. Brother Hugo dilates on Joachim's holiness; explains the dark -Scripture references, and brings in the prophecies of Merlin, _anglicus -vates_, and talks of the allegorical, anagogical, tropological, moral and -mystical, senses of Scripture. The discussion waxes hot. Peter begins to -beat about the bush (_discurrere per ambages_), and declares it to be -heretical to quote an infidel like Merlin. At which Hugo answers: "Thou -liest, as I will prove _multipliciter_; for the writings of Balaam, -Caiaphas, Merlin, and the Sybil are not spurned by the Church: 'The rose -gives forth no thorn, although the thorn's daughter.'"[645] - -Peter then turns to the sayings of the saints and the philosophers. But as -Hugo was _doctissimus_ in these, he at once twists him up and finishes him -(_statim involvit eum et conclusit ei_). Hereupon Peter's brother -Preacher, an old priest and a good, sought to come to his aid. But Peter -said, "Peace, be still." For Peter knew himself vanquished, and began to -praise Brother Hugo for his manifold wisdom. - - "At this moment came a messenger from the ship's captain, bidding the - brothers Preachers hurry, and go aboard. When they had left, Brother - Hugo said to the learned men remaining, who had heard the debate: - 'Take it not for evil, if we have said some things which ought not to - have been said; for disputants often roam the fields of licence. Those - good men glory in their knowledge, and speak what is found in their - Order's fount of wisdom, which is the Word of God. They also say that - they travel among simple folk when they pass through the places of the - brothers Minorites, where they are ministered to with loving charity. - But by the grace of God these two shall no longer be able to say they - have walked among the simple.' - - "His auditors dispersed, edified and comforted, saying, We have heard - wonderful things to-day. Later, that same day, the brothers Preachers - returned, to our delight, for the weather proved unfit for sailing. - After dinner, Brother Hugo conversed with them familiarly, and Brother - Peter sat himself on the earth at Brother Hugo's feet; nor was any one - able to make him rise and sit on the bench on the same level with him, - not even when Brother Hugo himself besought him. So Brother Peter, no - longer disputing or contradicting, but meekly listening, heard honied - words spoken by Brother Hugo, and worthy to be set down, but omitted - here for brevity's sake, as I hasten to record other things."[646] - -So Salimbene passes on, both in his Chronicle and in his journey, but -though his steps lead deviously through the cities of Provence, they bring -him back once more to Hyeres and Hugo, at whose feet he sits and listens -for a season in rapt admiration. - -After this happy season, Salimbene returned to Genoa, and from that time -on spent his life among the Franciscan brotherhoods of Italy. Henceforth -his Chronicle is chiefly occupied with those wretched unceasing wars of -northern Italy, Imperialists against Papists, and city against city--and -with the affairs of the Franciscan Order. The story is now less varied, -yet not lacking in picturesque qualities; and through it all we still see -the man himself, although the man, as life goes on, seems to become more -of a Franciscan monk, and less of an observer of human life. But he -continues naive. Thus he tells that one time, with some companions, he -came to Bobbio, that famous book-lovers' foundation of St. Columban, in -the mountains north of Genoa: "and there we saw one of those water-pots of -the Lord, in which the Lord made wine from water at the marriage at Cana, -for it is said to be one of those: whether it is, God knows, to whom all -things are known and open and naked." - -And again, some one brings him news of the state of France in the year -1251, when King Louis was a captive in Africa;[647] and thus he tells it: - - "In this year a countless crowd of shepherds came together in France, - saying that they would cross the sea to kill the Saracens and free the - King of France. Many followed from divers cities of France, and no one - dared stop them. For their leader said it was revealed to him of God - that he must lead that multitude across the sea to avenge the King of - France. The common folk believed him, and were enraged against the - religious, especially the Preachers, because they had preached the - Crusade and had 'crossed' men who were sailing with the king. And the - people were angry at Christ, so that they dared blaspheme His blessed - name. And when the Minorites and Preachers came seeking alms in His - name, they gnashed their teeth at them and in their sight turned and - gave the sou to some other beggar, saying, 'Take this in Mahomet's - name, who is stronger than Christ.'"[648] - -Of those Italian wars--rather feuds, vengeances, and monstrosities of -hate--Salimbene can tell enough. He gives a ghastly picture of the fate of -Alberic da Romano, brother of Eccelino, and tyrant indeed of Treviso. - - "There he lorded it for many years; and cruel and hard was his rule, - as those know who experienced it. He was a limb of the devil and a son - of iniquity, but he perished by an evil death with his wife and sons - and daughters. For those who slew them tore off the legs and arms from - their living bodies, in their parents' sight, and with them struck the - parents' faces. Then they bound the wife and daughters to stakes, and - burned them; they were noble, beautiful virgins, nor in any way in - fault. But their innocence and beauty did not save them, because of - the hatred for the father and mother. Terribly had these afflicted the - people of Treviso. So they came upon Alberic with tongs and ----"-- - -the sentence is too horrid for translation. But the chronicler goes on to -tell that they destroyed his body amid gibes and insults and torments. - - "For he had killed a blood-relative of this one, and that one's - father, son or daughter. And he had laid such taxes and exactions on - them, that they had to destroy their houses. The very walls and beams - and chests and cupboards and wine-vats they put in boats and sent to - Ferrara to sell them and redeem themselves. I saw those with my eyes. - Alberic pretended to be at war with his brother Eccelino, so as to do - his evil deeds more safely; and he did not hold his hand from the - slaughter of citizens and subjects. One day he hanged twenty-five - prominent men of Treviso, who had done him no ill; because he feared - they would! And thirty noble women, mothers, wives and daughters of - these, were brought there to see them hanging; and he had these women - stripped half naked, that those who were hanging might see them so. - The men were hanged quite close to the ground; and he forced these - women to go so close that their faces were struck by the legs and feet - of those who were dying in anguish."[649] - -Such was the kind of devil-madness that might walk abroad in Italy in the -Middle Ages. Let us relieve our minds by a story our friend tells of a -certain boy placed in a Franciscan convent in Bologna, to become a monk. - - "When asleep he snored so mightily, that no one could have peace in - the same house with him, so horribly did he disturb those who slept as - well as those who were at their vigils. And they made him sleep in the - shed where wood and staves were stored, but even then the brothers - could not escape, so did that voice of malediction resound through the - whole place. And all the priests and wiseacres among the brothers met - in the director's chamber, to eject him from the Order because of his - insupportable offence: I was there. It was decided to return him to - his mother, who had deceived the Order, since she had known his defect - before letting him go. But he was not returned to his mother, for the - Lord performed a miracle through Brother Nicolas [a holy brother - through whom God had worked other miracles as well]. This brother - seeing that the boy was to be expelled for no fault, but for a natural - defect, called him at daybreak to assist at mass. When the mass was - finished, the boy as commanded knelt before him, back of the altar, - hoping to receive some grace. Brother Nicolas touched his face and - nose with his hands, in the wish to confer health upon him, if the - Lord would grant it, and commanded him to keep this secret. What more? - The boy at once was cured, and after that slept as quietly as a - dormouse without annoying any brother."[650] - -Thus we have this Chronicle, rambling, incoherent, picturesque, with its -glimpses of all this pretty world, for which our Salimbene, despite his -cowl, has an uncloistered eye--its keenness for incident and circumstance -undeflected by the inner sight with which it could also look on the -invisible world. When Brother Salimbene was young and an enthusiastic -Joachite, a strong motive of his wish to live on in the flesh was to see -whether those prophecies regarding Frederick came true. Alas! for this -purpose he lived too long: Frederick died before the prophecies were -fulfilled, and with his death honest Salimbene had to put from him his -darling trust in the words of Abbot Joachim of the Order of the Flower. - - - - -BOOK IV - -THE IDEAL AND THE ACTUAL: SOCIETY - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD - - FEUDAL AND CHRISTIAN ORIGIN OF KNIGHTLY VIRTUE; THE ORDER OF THE - TEMPLE; GODFREY OF BOUILLON; ST. LOUIS; FROISSART'S _Chronicles_ - - -The world is evil! the clergy corrupt, the laity depraved! none denounces -them! Awake! arise! be mindful! Such ceaseless cry rises more shrilly in -times of reform and progress. It was the cry of the preacher in the -twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when preaching was reviving with the -general advance of life.[651] - -Satire and pious invective struck at all classes: kings, counts and -knights, merchants, tradesmen, artisans, even villain-serfs, came under -its lash.[652] And properly, since every class is touched with universal -human vices, besides those which are more peculiar to its special way of -life. All men fall below the standards of the time; and each class fails -with respect to its own ideals. The special shortcomings are most apparent -with those classes whose ideals are most definitely formulated. - -Among the laity the gap between the ideal and the actual may best be -observed in the warrior class whose ideals accorded with the feudal -situation and tended to express themselves in chivalry. Not that knights -and ladies were better or worse than other mediaeval men and women. But -literature contains clearer statements of their ideals. The knightly -virtues range before us as distinctly as the monastic; and harsh is the -contrast between the character they outline and the feudal actuality of -cruelty and greed and lust. Feudalism itself presents everywhere a state -of contrast between its principles of mutual fidelity and protection, and -its actuality of oppression, revolt, and private war. - -The feudal system was a sprawling conglomerate fact. The actual usages of -chivalry (the term is loose and must be allowed gradually to define -itself) were one expression of it, and varied with the period and country. -But chivalry had its home also in the imagination, and its most -interesting media are legend and romantic fiction. Still, much that was -romantic in it sprang from the aggregate of law, custom, and sentiment, -which held feudal society together. Chivalry was the fine flower of honour -growing from this soil, embosomed in an abundant leafage of imagination. - -The feudal system was founded on relations and sentiments arising from a -state of turbulence where every man needed the protection of a lord: it -could not fail to foster sentiments of fealty. The fief itself, the feudal -unit of land held on condition of homage and service, symbolized the -principle of mutual troth between lord and vassal. The land was part of -mother earth; the troth, the elemental personal tie, existed from of yore. -In this instance it came from the German forests. But the feudal system of -land tenure also stretched its roots back into the rural institutions of -the disintegrating Roman Empire. In the fifth century, for example, when -what was left of the imperial rule could no longer enforce order, and -provincial governments were decaying with the decay of the central power -from which they drew their life, men had to look about them for -protection. It became customary for men to hand over land and liberty to -some near lord, and enter into a relationship akin to serfage in return -for protection. Thus the Gallo-Roman population were becoming accustomed -to personal dependence even while the Merovingians were establishing their -kingdom. - -On their side the Franks and other Teutons had inherited the institution -of the _comitatus_, which bound the young warrior to his chief. They were -familiar with exacting modes of personal retainership, which merged the -follower's freedom in his lord's will. If during the reigns of Pepin and -his prodigious son the development of local dominion and dependence was -held in some abeyance, on the death of Charlemagne it would proceed apace. -All the factors which tend to make institutions out of abuses and the -infractions of earlier custom, sprang at once into activity in the renewed -confusion. Everything served to increase the lesser man's need of defence, -weld his dependence on his lord, and augment the latter's power. Moreover, -long before Charlemagne's time, not only for protection in this life, but -for the sake of their souls, men had been granting their lands to -monasteries and receiving back the use thereof--such usufruct being known -as a _beneficium_. This custom lent the force of its example and manifest -utility to the relations between lay lords and tenants. And finally one -notes the frequent grant to monasteries and individuals of immunity from -governmental visitation, a grant preventing the king's officers from -entering lands in order to exercise the king's justice, or exact fines and -requisitions.[653] - -From out of such conditions the feudal system gradually took form. Its -central feature was the tenure of a fief by a vassal from his lord on -condition of rendering faithful military and other not ignoble service. As -the tenth century passed, fiefs tended to become hereditary. So long as -the vassal fulfilled his duty to his lord, the rights of the lord over the -land were nominal; more substantial was the mutual obligation--on the part -of the lord to protect his vassal against the violence of others, and on -the vassal's part to make good the homage pledged by him when he knelt and -placed his hands within his lord's hands and vowed himself his lord's man -for the fief he held. His duty was to aid his lord against enemies, yield -him counsel and assistance in the judgment of causes, and pay money to -ransom him from captivity, knight his eldest son, or portion his daughter. -The ramifications of these feudal tenures and obligations extended, with -all manner of complications, from king and duke down to such as held the -meagre fief that barely kept man and war-horse from degrading labour. All -these made up the feudal class whose members might expect to become -knights on reaching manhood. - -Neither this system of land tenure, nor the sentiments and relations -sustaining it, drew their origin from Christianity. But the Church was -mighty in its influence over the secular relationships of those who came -under its spiritual guidance. Feudal troth was to become Christianized. -The old regard for war-chief and war-comrade was to be broadened through -the Faith's solicitude for all believers; then it was raised above the -human sphere to fealty toward God and His Church; and thereupon it was -gentled through Christian meekness and mercy. - -This Christianized spirit of fealty, broadening to courtesy and pity, was -to take visible form in a universal Order into which members of the feudal -class were admitted when their valour had been proved, and into which -brave deeds might bring even a low-born man. Gradually, as the Order's -_regula_, a code of knighthood's honour was developed, valid in its -fundamentals throughout western Christendom; but varying details and -changing fancies from time to time intruded, just as subsequent phases of -monastic development were grafted on the common Benedictine rule. - -Investing a young warrior with the arms of manhood has always in fighting -communities been the normal ceremony of the youth's coming of age and his -recognition as a member of the clan. The binding on of the young Teuton's -sword in the assembly of his people was an historical antecedent of the -making of a knight. In all the lands of western Europe--France, Germany, -Anglo-Saxon England, Lombard Italy, and Visigothic Spain--this ceremony -appears to have remained a simple one through the ninth and tenth -centuries. As for the eleventh, one may note the following passages: -William of Malmesbury (d. 1142 cir.) speaks of William of Normandy -receiving the insignia of knighthood (_militiae insignia_) from the King -of France as soon as his years permitted.[654] Henry of Huntington (d. -1155) says that this same William the Conqueror, in the nineteenth year of -his reign, invested his younger son Henry with the arms of manhood -(_virilibus induit armis_); while another chronicler says that Prince -Henry: "sumpsit arma in Pentecostem"--a festival at which it was customary -to make knights. And again, Ordericus Vitalis says of the armour-bearer of -Duke William that after five years' service he was by that same duke -regularly invested with his arms and made a knight (_decenter est armis -adornatus et miles effectus_). - -These short references[655] do not indicate the nature of the ceremony. -But one notes the use of the Latin words _miles_ and _militia_ as meaning -knight and knighthood. Like so many other classical words, _miles_ took -various meanings in the Middle Ages. But it came commonly to signify -knight, chevalier, or ritter.[656] And whatever other meanings _militia_ -and _militare_ retained or acquired, they signified knighthood and the -performance of its duties. Frequently they suggested the relationship of -vassal to a lord: and in this sense _miles_ meant one who held a fief -under the obligation to do knightly service in return. - -But how did this word _miles_ (which in classical Latin meant a soldier -and sometimes specifically a foot-soldier as contrasted with an _eques_) -come to mean a knight? It was first applied to the warriors of the various -Teutonic peoples, who for the most part fought on foot. But the wars with -the Saracens in the eighth century appear to have made clear the need of a -large and efficient corps of horse. From the time of Charles Martel the -warrior class began to fight regularly on horseback;[657] and thus, -apparently, the term _miles_ began to signify primarily one of these tried -and well-armed riders.[658] Such were the very ones who would regularly be -invested with their arms on reaching manhood. Many of them had inherited -the sentiments of fealty to a chief, and probably were vassals of some -lord from whom they had received lands to be held on military tenure. They -were not all noble (an utterly loose term with reference to these early -confused centuries) nor were they necessarily free (another inappropriate -term with respect to these incipiently mediaeval social conditions).[659] -But their mainly military duties would naturally develop into a retainer's -relationship of fealty. - -The ninth century passes into the tenth, the tenth into the eleventh, the -eleventh into the twelfth. Classes and orders of society become more -distinct. The old warrior groups have become lords and vassals, and -compose the feudal class whose members upon maturity are formally girt -with the arms of manhood, and thereupon become knights. The ceremony of -their investiture has been gradually made more impressive; it has also -been imbued with religious sentiment and elaborated with religious rite. -It now constitutes the initiation to a universally recognized fighting -Order which has its knightly code of honour, if not its knightly duties. -In a word, along with the clearer determination of its membership, and the -elaboration of the ceremonies of entry or "adoubement," knighthood has -become a distinct conception and has attained existence as an Order. And -an Order it remains, into which one is admitted, but into which no one is -born, though he be hereditary king or duke or count. Moreover, although -the candidates normally would be of the feudal class, the Order is not -closed against knightly merit in whomsoever found.[660] Of course there -was no written _regula_ or charter, except of certain special Orders. Yet -there was no uncertainty as to who was or was not a knight. - -A knight could be "made" or "dubbed" at any time, for example, on the -field of battle or before the fight. But certain festivals of the Church, -Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, came to be regarded as peculiarly -appropriate for the ceremony. Any knight, but no unknighted person however -high his rank, could "dub" another knight.[661] This appears to have been -the universal rule, and yet it suffered infringements. For example, at a -late period a king might claim the right to _confirm_ the bestowal of -knighthood, which in fact commonly was bestowed by a great lord or -sovereign prince. On its negative side, the general rule may be said to -have been infringed when Church dignitaries, no longer content with -blessing the arms of the young warrior, usurped the secular privilege of -investing him with them and dubbing him a knight.[662] - -The ceremony itself probably originated in the girding on of the sword. As -these warriors in time changed to mounted riders with elaborate arms and -armour, it became more of an affair to invest them fully with their -equipment. There would be the putting on of helm and coat of mail, and -there would be the binding on of spurs; and at some time it became -customary for the youth to prepare himself by a bath. But girding on the -sword was still the important point, although perhaps the somewhat -enigmatical blow, given by him who conferred the dignity, and not to be -returned (_non repercutiendus_), became the finish to the ceremony. That -blow existed (we find it in the _Chansons de geste_) in the twelfth -century as a thwack with the fist on the young man's bare neck; then in -course of years it refined itself into a gentle sword-tap on the mailed -shoulder.[663] - -At an early period the Church sought to sanctify the ceremony through -religious rites; for it could not remain unconcerned with the consecration -of the warriors of Christendom, whose services were needed and whose souls -were to be saved. What time so apt for inculcating obedience and other -Christian virtues as this solemn hour when the young warrior's nature was -stirred with the pride and hopes of knighthood? And the young knight -needed the Church's blessing. Heathen peoples sought in every enterprise -the protection of their gods, usually obtained through priestly magic. And -when converted to the faith of Christ, should they not call on Him who was -mightier than Odin? Should not His power be invoked to shield the -Christian knight? Will not the sword which the priest has blessed and has -laid upon Christ's miracle-working altar, more surely guard the wearer's -life? Better still if there be blessed relics in its hilt. The dying -Roland speaks to his great sword: - - "O Durendel cum ies bele et seintisme!" - -"O Durendel how art thou fair and holy! In thy hilt what store of relics: -tooth of St. Peter, blood of St. Basil, hairs of my lord St. Denis, cloth -worn by the Holy Mary."[664] These relics made the "holiness" of that -sword, not in the way of sentiment, but through their magic power. And we -shall not be thinking in mediaeval categories if we lose sight of the -magic-religious effect of the priest's blessing on the novice's sword: it -is a protection for the future knight. - -Doubtless the religious features of the "adoubement" revert to various -epochs. The ancient watch-nights preceding Easter and Pentecost, followed -at daybreak by the baptism of white-robed catechumens, may have been the -original of the novice's night vigil over his arms laid by the altar. His -bath had become a symbol of purification from sin. He heard Mass in the -early morning, and then came the blessing of the sword, the _benedictio -ensis_, of which the oldest extant formula is found in a Roman manuscript -of the early eleventh century: "Exaudi, quaeso, Domine, preces nostras, et -hunc ensem quo hic famulus N. se circumcingi desiderat, majestatis tuae -dextera benedicere dignare."[665] - -Through the Middle Ages the fashions of feudalism did not remain -unchanged; likewise its quintessential spirit, chivalry, was modified, and -one may say, between the ninth and the fourteenth centuries, passed from -barbarism to preciosity. Nevertheless the main ideals of chivalry endured, -springing as they did from the fundamental and but slowly-changing -conditions of feudal society. Since that society was constantly at -war,[666] the first virtue of the knight was valour. Next, since life and -property hung on mutual aid and troth, and a larger safety was ensured if -one lord could rely upon his neighbour's word, the virtues of -truth-speaking and troth-keeping took their places in the chivalric ideal. -Another useful quality, and means of winning men, was generosity -(_largesse_). When coin is scarce, and stipulations for fixed pay unusual, -he who serves looks for liberality, which, in accordance with feudal -conditions, made the third of the chief knightly virtues. - -Valour, troth, largesse, had no necessary connection with Christianity. -It was otherwise with certain of the remaining qualities of a knight. -According to Christian teaching, pride was the deadliest of sins. So -haughtiness, boasting, and vain-glory were to be held vices by the -Christian knight. He should show a humble demeanour, save toward the -mortal enemies of God; and far from boasting, he should rather depreciate -himself and his exploits, though never lowering the standard of his -purpose to achieve. Humility entered knighthood's ideal from Christianity; -and so perhaps did courtesy, its kin, a virtue which was not among the -earliest to enter knighthood's ideal, and yet reached universal -recognition. - -Christianity also meant active charity, beneficence, and love of -neighbour. These are virtues hard to import into a state of war. Fighting -means harm-doing to an enemy; and only indirectly makes for some one's -good. Let there be some vindication of good in the fighting of a Christian -knight: he shall be quick to right the wrong, succour distress, and -quickest to bear help where no reward can come. Since knighthood's ideals -took form in crusading times, the slaughter of the Paynim became the -supreme act of knightly warfare. - -If such elements of the knightly ideal were of Christian origin, others -still were even more closely part of mediaeval Christianity. First of -these was faith, orthodox faith, heresy-uprooting, infidel-destroying, -_fides_ in the full Church sense. Without faith's sacramental -credentials--baptism, participation in the mass--no one could be a knight: -and heresy degrades the recreant even before the scullion's cleaver hacks -off his spurs. - -From faith knighthood advances to obedience to the Church, a vow expressly -made by every knight on taking the Cross, and also incorporated in the -Constitutions of the crusading Orders of Templars and Hospitallers. But -does the knight pass on from obedience to chastity? This virtue might or -might not enter knighthood's ideal. It scarcely could exist with courtly -or chivalric love;[667] and, in fact, knights commonly were either lovers -or married men--or both. Yet even in the Arthurian literature there is the -monkish Galahad, and many a sinful knight becomes a hermit in the end; and -among real and living knights, the Templars and Hospitallers were vowed to -celibacy. In these crusading orders the orbits of knighthood and -monasticism cross; and it will not be altogether a digression to review -the foundation and constitution of one of them. - -The Order of the Temple was founded in the year 1118 by Hugh of Payns -(Champagne) and other French knights; who placed their hands within those -of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and vowed to devote themselves to the -protection of pilgrims in the Holy Land. Probably they also bestowed their -lands for the support of the nascent Order. Ten years afterwards Hugh -passed through France and England, winning new recruits and appearing at -the Council of Troyes. With the authority of that Council and of Pope -Honorius II. the _Regula pauperum commilitonum Christi Templique -Salomonici_ was promulgated. St. Bernard, to whom it is ascribed, was in -large part its inspiration and its author. It still exists in some -seventy-two chapters; but one cannot distinguish between those belonging -to the original document of 1128 and those added somewhat later.[668] - -This _regula_ with its amendments and additions was translated from Latin -into Old French (_par excellence_ the tongue of the Crusades), and became -apparently the earliest form of the _Regle dou Temple_, upon which was -grafted a mass of ordinances (_retrais et establissemens_). Apparently the -whole of the extant Latin regula was prior to everything contained in the -French _regle_; and accordingly we shall simply regard the Latin as -containing the earliest regulations of the Temple, and the French as -exhibiting the modifications of tone and interest which came in the course -of years. - -The hand of St. Bernard ensured the dominance of the monastic temper in -the original _regula_; and Hugo, the first Master of the Temple, could -not have been the Saint's close friend without sharing his enthusiasms. So -the prologue opens with a true monastic note: - - "Our word is directed primarily to all who despise their own wills, - and with purity of mind desire to serve under the supreme and - veritable King; and with minds intent choose the noble warfare of - obedience, and persevere therein. We therefore exhort you who until - now have embraced secular knighthood (_miliciam secularem_) where - Christ was not the cause, and whom God in His mercy has chosen out of - the mass of perdition for the defence of the holy Church, to hasten to - associate yourselves perpetually." - -This phraseology would suit the constitution of a sheer monastic order. -And the first chapter exhorts these _venerabiles fratres_ who renounce -their own wills and serve the King (Christ) with horses and arms, -zealously to observe all the religious services regularly prescribed for -monks. The _regula_ contains the usual monastic commands. For example, -obedience to the Master of the Order is enjoined _sine mora_ as if God -were commanding, which recalls the language of St. Benedict.[669] Clothes -are regulated, and diet; habitual silence is recommended; the brethren are -not to go alone, nor at their own will, but as directed by the Master, so -as to imitate Him who said, I came not to do mine own will, but His who -sent me.[670] Again, chests with locks are forbidden the brothers, except -under special permission; nor may any brother, without like permission, -receive letters from parents or friends; and then they should be read in -the Master's presence.[671] Let the brethren shun idle speech, and above -all let no brother talk with another of military exploits, "follies -rather," achieved by him while "in the world," or of his doings with -miserable women.[672] Let no brother hunt with hawks; such mundane -delectations do not befit the religious, who should be rather hearing -God's precepts, and at prayer, or confessing their sins with tears. Yet -the lion may always be hunted; for he goes seeking whom he may -devour.[673] - -The _religio_ professed by the Templars is called, in the Latin rule, -_religio militaris_, which the French translates "religion de -chevalerie," not incorrectly, but with somewhat different flavour.[674] - - "This new _genus religionis_, as we believe, by divine providence - began with you in the Holy Land, a _religio_ in which you mingle - chivalry (_milicia_). Thus this armed religion may advance through - chivalry, and smite the enemy without incurring sin. Rightfully then - we decree that you shall be called knights of the Temple (_milites - Templi_) and may hold houses, lands and men, and possess serfs and - justly rule them."[675] - -The pomp of the last sentence seems to remove from the tone of the earlier -chapters, and suggests a later date. Another, possibly late, chapter (66) -permits the knights to receive tithes, since they have abandoned their -riches for _spontaneae paupertati_. Still another accords to married men a -qualified admission to the brotherhood, but they may not wear the white -robe and mantle (55). The next forbids the admission of _sorores_; and the -last chapter of all (72) warns against the sight of women, and forbids the -brethren to kiss one, be she widow, virgin, mother, sister or friend. - -Thus the Latin _regula_ formulates an order of monasticism with only the -modifications imperatively demanded by the exigencies of holy warfare. The -French _regle_ elaborates the military organization and enhances the -chivalric element. This begins to appear in the portions which are a -translation (usually quite close) of the Latin rule. But even that -translation makes changes, for example, omitting the period of probation -required in the Latin text, before admitting a brother to the Order.[676] -A striking change was made by the later French ordinances in the -interrogations and proceedings for admission. The Latin formula begins in -Cistercian phrase: - - "Vis abrenunciare seculo? - - "Volo. - - "Vis profiteri obedientiam secundum canonicam institutionem et - secundum preceptum domini papae? - - "Volo. - - "Vis assumere tibi conversationem (the monastic mode and change of - life) fratrum nostrorum? - - "Volo."[677] - -And so forth. - -The substance of these and other questions was retained in the far longer -French formula, which exacted specific promises of compliance with all the -Order's ordinances. But far removed from the original are such questions -as the following: "Biau dous amis" (the ordinary phrase of the chivalric -romance) have you, or has any one for you, made any promise to any one in -return for his aid in procuring your admission, which would be simony? -"Estes vos chevalier et fis de chevalier?" - -Is the candidate a knight, and son of knight and lady, and are his "peres -... de lignage de chevaliers"? This means chivalry and gentle blood; and -if the candidate answers in the negative, he cannot be admitted as a -knight of the Temple, although he may be as "sergent," or in some other -character. Most noble and courtly is the phrasing of these statutes. Their -frequent "Beaus seignors freres" is the address proper for knights rather -than monks.[678] - -Usually wherever the translation of the Latin _regula_ ends, the _Regle -dou Temple_ passes on to provisions meeting the requirements of a -military, rather than a monastic order. We enter upon such in the chapters -governing the powers and privileges of the (Grand) Master, of the -Seneschal, of the Marshal, of the "Comandeor de la terre de Jerusalem." -Many sections have to do with military discipline, with the ordering of -the knights and their followers on the march and in the battle; they -forbid the knights to joust or leave the squadron without orders.[679] -Horses, armour, and accoutrements are regulated, and, in short, full -provision is made for everything conducing to make the army efficient in -war. There is also a long list of faults and crimes for which a knight may -be disciplined or expelled; the latter shall be his punishment if he flee -before the Saracens and forsake his standard in battle.[680] - -The history of the Templars, significantly epitomized in the amendments to -their _regula_, shows the necessary as well as inevitable secularization -of a military monastic order; an order which for the purposes of this -chapter may be placed among the chief historical examples of chivalry. For -in this chapter we are not straying through the pleasant mazes of romantic -literature, but are keeping close to history, with the intention of -drawing from it illustrations of chivalry's ideals. We shall not, however, -enter further upon the story of the Order of the Temple, with its valorous -and rapacious achievements and most tragic end; but will rather look to -the careers of historic individuals for the illumination of our theme. - -Reaching form and consciousness in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, -chivalry became part of the crusading ardour of those times. All true -knights were or might be Crusaders; and of a truth there was no purer -incarnation of the crusading spirit than Godfrey of Bouillon, that figure -of veritable if somewhat slender historicity, upon whom in time chronicler -and trouvere alike were to fasten as the true hero of the enterprise that -won Jerusalem. And so he was. Not that Godfrey was commander of the host. -He was not even its most energetic or most capable leader. Boemund of -Tarentum and Raymond of Toulouse were his superiors in power and military -energy. But neither Boemund, nor Tancred, nor Raymond, nor any other of -those princes of Christendom, was what Godfrey appears to us, the type and -symbol of the perfect, single-hearted, crusading knight, fighting solely -for the Faith, with Christian devotion and humility, and, like them all, -with more than Christian wrath. The First Crusade (1096-1099) was stamped -with hatred and slaughter: on the dreadful march, at the more dreadful -siege and final sack of Antioch, and finally when the holy sepulchre's -defilement was washed out in Saracen blood. And there was no slaughterer -more eager than Godfrey. - -The cruelty and religious fervour of the Crusade are rendered in the -words of Raymond of Agiles, one of the clergy in the train of Count -Raymond of Toulouse, and an eye-witness of the capture of Jerusalem. After -days of despairing struggle to effect a breach, success came as by the -mercy of God: - - "Among the first to enter was Tancred and the Duke of Lothringia - (Godfrey), who on that day shed quantities of blood almost beyond - belief. After them, the host mounted the walls, and now the Saracens - suffered. Yet although the city was all but in the hands of the - Franks, the Saracens resisted the party of Count Raymond as if they - were never going to be taken. But when our men had mastered the walls - of the city and the towers, then wonderful things were to be seen. - Numbers of the Saracens were beheaded--which was the easiest for them; - others were shot with arrows, or forced to jump from the towers; - others were slowly tortured and were burned in flames. In the streets - and open places of the town were seen piles of heads and hands and - feet. One rode about everywhere amid the corpses of men and horses. - But these were small matters! Let us go to Solomon's temple, where - they were wont to chant their rites and solemnities. What had been - done there? If we speak the truth we exceed belief: let this suffice. - In the temple and porch of Solomon one rode in blood up to the knees - and even to the horses' bridles by the just and marvellous Judgment of - God, in order that the same place which so long had endured their - blasphemies against Him should receive their blood." - -So the Crusaders wrought; and what joy did they feel! Raymond continues: - - "When the city was taken it was worth the whole long labour to witness - the devotion of the pilgrims to the sepulchre of the Lord, how they - clapped their hands, exulted, and sang a new song unto the Lord. For - their hearts presented to God, victor and triumphant, vows of praise - which they were unable to explain. A new day, new joy and exultation, - new and perpetual gladness, the consummation of toil and devotion drew - forth from all new words, new songs. This day, I say, glorious in - every age to come, turned all our griefs and toils into joy and - exultation."[681] - -So new songs of gladness burst from the hearts of the soldiers of the -Cross. In a few days the princes made an election, and offered the kingdom -to Count Raymond: he declined. Then Godfrey was made king; though he -would not be crowned, nor would he ever wear a crown where his Lord had -worn a crown of thorns. As a servant of Christ and of His Church he fought -and ruled some short months till his death. His fame has grown because his -heart was pure, and because, among the knights, he represented most -perfectly the religious impulse of this crusade which fought its way -through blood, until it poured out its new song of joy over the -blood-drenched city. He errs who thinks to find the source and power of -the First Crusade elsewhere than in the flaming zeal of feudal -Christianity. There was doubtless much divergence of motive, secular and -religious; but over-mastering and unifying all was the passion to wrest -the sepulchre of Christ from paynim defilement, and thus win salvation for -the Crusader. Greed went with the host, but it did not inspire the -enterprise. - -Doubtless the stories of returning knights awakened a spirit of romantic -adventure, which stirred in later crusading generations. It was not so in -the eleventh century when the First Crusade was gathering. The romantic -imagination was then scarcely quickened; adventure was still inarticulate, -and the literature of adventure for the venture's sake was yet to be -created. So the First Crusade, with its motive of religious zeal, is in -some degree distinguishable from those which followed when knighthood was -in different flower. If not the Crusades themselves, at least the -_Chansons_ of the trouveres who sang of them, follow a change -corresponding with the changing taste of chivalry: they begin with serious -matters, and are occupied with the great enterprise; then they become -adventurous in theme, romantic, till at last even romantic love is -infelicitously grafted upon the religious rage that won Jerusalem. - -This process of change may be traced in the growth of the legends of the -First Crusade and Godfrey of Bouillon. Something was added to his career -even by the Latin Chronicles of fifty years later. But his most -venturesome development is to be found in those French _Chansons de geste_ -which have been made into the "Cycle" of the First Crusade. Two of these, -the _Chansons_ of _Antioche_ and _Jerusalem_, were originally composed by -a contemporary, if not a participant in the expedition. They were -refashioned perhaps seventy-five or a hundred years later, in the reign of -Philip Augustus, by another trouvere, who still kept their old tone and -substance. They remained poetic narratives of the holy war. In them the -knights are fierce and bloody, cruel and sometimes greedy; but their whole -emprise makes onward to the end in view, the winning of the holy city. -These poems are epic and not romantic: they may even be called historical. -The character of Godfrey is developed with legendary or epic propriety, -through a heightening of his historic qualities. He equals or excels the -other barons in fierce valour, and yet a touch of courtesy tempers his -wrath. In Christian meekness and in modesty he surpasses all, and he -refuses the throne of Jerusalem until he has been commanded from on high. -At that he accepts the kingdom as a sacred charge in defence of which he -is to die. - -It is otherwise with a number of other _chansons_ composed in the latter -part of the twelfth and through the thirteenth century. Some of them (the -_Chanson des chetifs_, for example) had probably to do with the First -Crusade. Others, like the various poems which tell of the Chevalier au -Cygne, were inaptly forced into connection with the family of Godfrey. -They have become adventurous, and are studded with irrelevant marvels, -rather than assisted to their denouements by serious supernatural -intervention. Monsters appear, and incongruous romantic episodes; -Godfrey's ancestor has become the Swan-knight, and he himself duplicates -the exploits previously ascribed to that half-fairy person. Knightly -manners, from brutal have become courteous. Women throng these poems, and -the romantic love of women enters, although not in the finished guise in -which it plays so dominant a role in the Arthurian Cycle. Such themes, -unknown to the earlier crusading _chansons_, would have fitted ill with a -martial theme driving on through war and carnage (not through -"adventures") to the holy end in view.[682] - -The Crusades open with the form of Godfrey of Bouillon. A century and a -half elapses and they deaden to a close beneath the futile radiance of a -saintlike and perfect knightly personality. St. Louis of France is as -clear a figure as any in the Middle Ages. From all sides his life is -known. We see him as a painstaking sovereign meting out even justice, and -maintaining his royal rights against feudal turbulence and also against -ecclesiastical encroachment. During his reign the monarchy of France -continues to advance in power and repute. And yet there was no jot of -worldly wisdom, and scant consideration of a realm sorely needing its -ruler, in the Quixotic religious devotion which drew him twice across the -sea on crusades unparalleled in their foolishness. For the world was -growing wiser politically; and what was glorious feudal enthusiasm in the -year 1099, was deliberate disregard of experience in the years 1248 and -1270. - -Yet who would have had St. Louis wiser in his generation? The loss to -France was mankind's gain, from the example of saintly king and perfect -knight, kept bright in the narratives of men equal to the task. Louis was -happy in his biographers. Two among them knew him intimately and in ways -affording special opportunities to observe the sides of his character -congenial to their respective tempers. One was his confessor for twenty -years, the Dominican Geoffrey of Beaulieu; the other was the Sire de -Joinville. Geoffrey's _Vita_ records Louis' devotions; Joinville's -_Histoire_ notes the king's piety; but the qualities which it illuminates -are those of a French gentleman and knight and grand seigneur, like -Joinville himself. - -The book of the Dominican[683] is not picturesque. It opens with an -edifying comparison between King Josiah and King Louis. Then it praises -the king's mother, Queen Blanche of pious memory. As for Louis, the -confessor has been unable to discover that he ever committed a mortal sin: -he sought faithful and wise counsellors; he was careful and gracious in -speech, never using an oath or any scurrilous expression. In earlier -years, when under the necessity of taking oath, he would say, "In nomine -mei"; but afterwards, hearing that some religious man had objected to -this, he restricted his asseverations to the "est, est" and "non, non" of -the Gospel. - -From the time he first crossed the sea, he wore no scarlet raiment, but -clothed himself in sober garments. And as such were of less value to give -to the poor than those which he had formerly worn, he added sixty pounds a -year to his almsgiving; for he did not wish the poor to suffer because of -his humble dress. Geoffrey gives the long tale of his charities to the -poor and to the mendicant Orders. On the Sabbaths it was the king's secret -custom to wash the feet of three beggars, dry them, and kiss them humbly. -He commanded in his will that no stately monument should be erected over -his grave. He treated his confessors with great respect, and, while -confessing, if perchance a window was to be closed or opened, he quickly -rose and shut or opened it, and would not hear of his confessor doing it. -In Advent season and Lent he abstained from marital intercourse. Some -years before his death, if he had had his will, he would have resigned his -kingdom to his son, and entered the Order of the Franciscans or -Dominicans. He brought up his children most religiously, and wished some -of them to take the vows.[684] - -He confessed every Friday and also between times, if something occurred to -him; and if he thought of anything in the night, he would send for his -confessor and confess before matins.[685] After confession he always took -his discipline from his confessor, whom he furnished with a scourge of -five little braided iron chains, attached to an ivory handle. This he -would afterwards put back into a little case, which he carried hanging to -his belt, but out of sight. Such little cases he sometimes presented to -his children or friends in secret, that they might have a convenient -instrument of discipline. He wore haircloth next his flesh in the holy -seasons, a habit distressing to his tender skin, until his confessor -persuaded him to abandon this form of penance as ill comporting with his -station. He replaced it by increasing his charities. His fasts were -regular and frequent, till he lessened them upon prudent advice; for he -was not strong. He would have liked to hear all the canonical hours -chanted; and twice a day he heard Mass, and daily the Office for the Dead. -Sometimes, soon after midnight, he would rise to hear matins, and then -would take a quiet time for prayer by his bed. Likewise he loved to hear -sermons. On returning over the sea, when the ships suffered a long delay, -he had preaching three times a week, with the sermon specially adapted to -the sailors, a class of men who rarely hear the Word of God. He prevailed -on many of them to confess, and declared himself ready at any time to put -his hand to a rope, if necessary, so that a sailor while confessing might -not be called away by any exigency of the sea. - -While beyond the sea, this good king, hearing that a Saracen Sultan had -collected the books of their philosophy at his own expense for his -subjects' use, determined not to be outdone whenever he should return to -Paris, a purpose which he amply carried out, diligently and generously -supplying money for copying and renewing the writings of the Doctors. At -enormous expense he obtained the Saviour's crown of thorns and a good part -of the true cross, from the emperor at Constantinople, with many other -precious relics; all of which the king barefooted helped to carry in holy -procession when they were received by the clergy of Paris. - -The king was very careful in the distribution of ecclesiastical patronage, -always seeing to it that the candidate was not already enjoying another -benefice. His heart exulted when it came to him to bestow a benefice upon -some especially holy man. He was most zealous in the suppression of -swearing and blasphemy, and with the advice of the papal legate then in -France issued an edict, providing that the lips of those guilty of this -sin should be seared with hot irons; and when certain ones murmured, he -declared that he would willingly suffer his own lips to be branded if that -would purge his realm of this vice. - -Such were the acts and qualities of Louis which impressed his Dominican -confessor. They were the qualities of a saint, and would have brought -their possessor to a monastery, had not his royal station held him in the -world. The Dominican could not know the knightly nature of his royal -penitent, and still less reflect it in his Latin of the confessional. For -this there was needed the pen of a great gentleman, whose nature enabled -him to picture his lord in a book of such high breeding that it were hard -to find its fellow. This book is stately with the Sire de Joinville's -consciousness of his position and blood, and stately through the respect -he bore his lord--a book with which no one would take a liberty. Yet it is -simple in thought and phrase, as written by one who lived through what he -tells, and closely knew and dearly loved the king. From it one learns that -he who was a saint in his confessor's eyes was also a monarch from his -soul out to his royal manners and occasional royal insistence upon acts -which others thought unwise. We also learn to know him as a knightly, -hapless soldier of the Cross, who would not waver from his word plighted -even to an infidel. - -That St. Louis was a veritable knight is the first thing one learns from -Joinville. The first part of my book, says that gentleman, tells how the -king conducted his life after the way of God and the Church, and to the -profit of his realm; the second tells of his "granz chevaleries et de ses -granz faiz d'armes." "The first deed (_faiz_) whereby 'il mist son cors en -avanture de mort' was at our arrival before Damietta, where his council -was of the opinion, as I have understood, that he ought to remain in his -ship until he saw what his knights (_sa chevalerie_) should do, who made a -landing. The reason why they so counselled him was that if he disembarked, -and his people should be killed and he with them, the whole affair was -lost; while if he remained in his ship he could in his own person renew -the attempt to conquer Egypt. And he would credit no one, but leaped into -the sea, all armed, his shield hanging from his neck, his lance in hand, -and was one of the first upon the beach." - -This is from Joinville's Introduction. He recommences formally: - - "In the name of God the all powerful, I, John, Sire of Joinville, - Seneschal of Champagne, cause to be written the life of our sainted - king Louis, as I saw and heard of it for the space of six years while - I was in his company on the pilgrimage beyond the sea, and since we - returned. And before I tell you his great deeds and prowess - (_chevalerie_), I will recount what I saw and heard of his holy words - and good precepts, so that they may be found one after the other for - the improvement of those who hear. - - "This holy man loved God with all his heart, and imitated His works: - which was evident in this, that as God died for the love which He bore - His people, so he (Louis) put his body in peril several times for the - love which he bore his people. The great love which he had for his - people appeared in what he said to his eldest son, Louis, when very - sick at Fontainebleau: 'Fair son,' said he, 'I beg thee to make - thyself loved by the people of thy kingdom; for indeed I should prefer - that a Scot from Scotland came and ruled the people of the kingdom - well and faithfully, rather than that thou shouldst rule them ill in - the sight of all.'" - -Joinville continues relating the virtues of the king, and recording his -conversations with himself: - - "He called me once and said, 'Seneschal, what is God?' And I said to - him, 'Sire, it is a being so good that there can be no better.' - - "'Now I ask you,' said he, 'which would you choose, to be a leper, or - to have committed a mortal sin?' And I who never lied to him replied - that I had rather have committed thirty than be a leper. Afterwards he - called me apart and made me sit at his feet and said: 'Why did you say - that to me yesterday?' And I told him that I would say it again. And - he: 'You speak like a thoughtless trifler; for you should know there - is no leprosy so ugly as to be in mortal sin, because the soul in - mortal sin is like the devil. This is why there can be no leprosy so - ugly. And then, of a truth, when a man dies, he is cured of the - leprosy of the body; but when the man who has committed a mortal sin - dies, he does not know, nor is it certain, that he has so repented - while living, that God has pardoned him; this is why he should have - great fear that this leprosy will last as long as God shall be in - paradise. So I pray you earnestly that you will train your heart, for - the love of God and of me, to wish rather for leprosy or any other - bodily evil, rather than that mortal sin should come into your soul.' - He asked me whether I washed the feet of the poor on Holy Tuesday. - 'Sire,' said I, '_quel malheur_! I will not wash those villains' - feet.' 'Truly that was ill said,' said he; 'for you should not hold - in contempt what God did for our instruction. So I pray you, for the - love of God first, and for the love of me, to accustom yourself to - wash them.'" - -Joinville was some years younger than his king, who loved him well and -wished to help him. The king also esteemed Master Robert de Sorbon[686] -for the high respect as a _preudom_ in which he was held, and had him eat -at his table. One day Master Robert was seated next to Joinville. - - "'Seneschal,' said the king, smiling, 'tell me the reasons why a man - of wisdom and valour (_preudom_, _prud'homme_) is accounted better - than a fool.' Then began the argument between me and Master Robert; - and when we had disputed for a time, the king rendered his decision, - saying: 'Master Robert, I should like to have the name of _preudom_, - so be it that I was one, and all the rest I would leave to you; for - _preudom_ is such a grand and good thing that it fills the mouth just - to pronounce it.'" - -Master Robert plays a not altogether happy part in another scene, -varicoloured and delightful: - - "The holy king was at Corbeil one Pentecost, and twenty-four knights - with him. The king went down after dinner into the courtyard back of - the chapel, and was talking at the entrance with the Count of - Brittany, the father of the present duke, whom God preserve. Master - Robert de Sorbon came to seek me there, and took me by the cloak, and - led me to the king, and all the other gentlemen came after us. Then I - asked Master Robert: 'Master Robert, what would you?' And he said to - me: 'If the king should sit down here, and you should seat yourself - above him, I ask you whether you would not be to blame?' And I said, - Yes. - - "And he said to me: 'Yet you lay yourself open to blame, since you are - more nobly clad than the king: for you wear squirrel's fur and cloth - of green, which the king does not.' - - "And I said to him: 'Master Robert, saving your grace, I do nothing - worthy of blame when I wear squirrel's fur and cloth of green; for it - is the clothing which my father and mother left me. But you do what is - to blame; for you are the son of a _vilain_ and _vilaine_, and have - abandoned the clothes of your father and your mother, and are clad in - richer cloth than the king.' And then I took the lappet of his surcoat - and that of the king's, and said to him: 'See whether I do not speak - truly.' And the king set himself to defend Master Robert with all his - might." - - "Afterwards Messire the king called to him Monseigneur Philippe his - son, the father of the present king, and the king Thibaut (of - Navarre), and laid his hand on the earth and said: 'Sit close to me, - so that they may not hear.' - - "'Ah Sire,' say they, 'we dare not sit so close to you.' - - "And he said to me, 'Seneschal, sit down here.' And so I did, so close - that our clothes touched. And he made them sit down by me, and said to - them: 'You have done ill, you who are my sons, who have not obeyed at - once all that I bade you: and see to it that this does not happen with - you again.' And they promised. And then he said to me, that he had - called us in order to confess to me that he was in the wrong in - defending Master Robert against me. 'But,' said he, 'I saw him so - dumbfounded that there was good need I should defend him. And do none - of you attach any importance to all I said defending Master Robert; - for, as the seneschal said to him, you ought to dress well and - becomingly, so that your wives may love you better, and your people - hold you in higher esteem. For the sage says that one should appear in - such clothes and arms that the wise of this world may not say you have - done too much, nor the young people say you have done too little.'" - -The hopelessly worthy _parvenu_ was quite outside this charmed circle of -blood and manners. - -Another story of Joinville opens our eyes to Louis' views on Jews and -infidels. The king was telling him of a grand argument between Jews and -Christian clergy which was to have been held at Cluny. And a certain -poverty-stricken knight was there, who obtained leave to speak the first -word; and he asked the head Jew whether he believed that Mary was the -mother of God and still a virgin. And the Jew answered that he did not -believe it at all. The knight replied that in that case the Jew had acted -like a fool to enter her monastery, and should pay for it; and with that -he knocked him down with his staff, and all the other Jews ran off. When -the abbot reproached him for his folly, he replied that the abbot's folly -was greater in having the argument at all. "So I tell you," said the king -on finishing his story, "that only a skilled clerk should dispute with -misbelievers; but a layman, when he hears any one speak ill of the -Christian law, should defend that law with nothing but his sword, which he -should plunge into the defamer's belly, to the hilt if possible." - -Well known is the hapless outcome of St. Louis' Crusades: the first one -leading to defeat and captivity in Egypt, the second ending in the king's -death by disease at Tunis. Yet in what he sought to do in his Lord's -cause, St. Louis was a true knight and soldier of the Cross. The spirit -was willing; but the flesh accomplished little. Let us take from -Joinville's story of that first crusade a wonderfully illustrative -chapter, giving the confused scenes occurring after the capture of -Damietta, when the French king and his feudal host had advanced southerly -through the Delta, along the eastern branch of the Nile. Joinville was -making a reconnaissance with his own knights, when they came suddenly upon -a large body of Saracens. The Christians were hard pressed; here and there -a knight falls in the melee, among them - - "Monseigneur Hugues de Trichatel, the lord of Conflans, who carried my - banner. I and my knights spurred to deliver Monseigneur Raoul de - Wanou, who was thrown to the ground. As I was making my way back, the - Turks struck at me with their lances; my horse fell on his knees under - the blows, and I went over his head. I recovered myself as I might, - shield on neck and sword in hand; and Monseigneur Erard de Siverey - (whom God absolve!), who was of my people, came to my aid, and said - that we had better retreat to a ruined house, and there wait for the - king who was approaching." - -One notes the high-born courtesy with which the Sire de Joinville speaks -of the gentlemen who had the honour of serving him. The fight goes on. - - "Monseigneur Erard de Siverey was struck by a sword-blow in his face, - so that his nose hung down over his lips. And then I was minded of - Monseigneur Saint Jacques, whom I thus invoked: 'Beau Sire Saint - Jacques help and succour me in this need.' - - "When I had made my prayer, Monseigneur Erard de Siverey said to me: - 'Sire, if you think that neither I nor my heirs would suffer reproof, - I would go for aid to the Count of Anjou, whom I see over there in the - fields.' And I said to him: 'Messire Erard, I think you would do - yourself great honour, if you now went for aid to save our lives; for - your own is in jeopardy.' And indeed I spoke truly, for he died of - that wound. He asked the advice of all our knights who were there, and - all approved as I had approved. And when he heard that, he requested - me to let him have his horse, which I was holding by the bridle with - the rest. And so I did." - -The knightliness of this scene is perfect, with its liege fealty and its -carefulness as to the point of honour, its carefulness also that the -vassal knight shall fail in no duty to his lord whereby the descent of his -fief may be jeopardized. Monseigneur Erard (whom God absolve, we say with -Joinville!) is very careful to have his lord's assent and the approval of -his fellows, before he will leave his lord in peril, and undergo still -greater risk to bring him succour. - -Well, the Count of Anjou brought such aid as created a diversion, and the -Saracens turned to the new foe. But now the king arrives on the scene: - - "There where I was on foot with my knights, wounded as already said, - comes the king with his whole array, and a great sound of trumpets and - drums. And he halted on the road on the dyke. Never saw I one so - bravely armed: for he showed above all his people from his shoulders - up, a gilded casque upon his head and a German sword in his hand." - -Then the king's good knights charge into the battle, and fine feats of -arms are done. The fighting is fierce and general. At length the king is -counselled to bear back along the river, keeping close to it on his right -hand, so as to reunite with the Duke of Burgundy who had been left to -guard the camp. The knights are recalled from the melee, and with a great -noise of trumpets and drums, and Saracen horns, the army is set in motion. - - "And now up comes the constable, Messire Imbert de Beaujeu, and tells - the king that the Count of Artois, his brother, was defending himself - in a house in Mansourah, and needed aid. And the king said to him: - 'Constable go before and I will follow you.' And I said to the - constable that I would be his knight, at which he thanked me greatly." - -Again one feels the feudal chivalry. Now the affair becomes rather -distraught. They set out to succour the Count of Artois, but are checked, -and it is rumoured that the king is taken; and in fact six Saracens had -rushed upon him and seized his horse by the bridle; but he had freed -himself with such great strokes that all his people took courage. Yet the -host is driven back upon the river, and is in desperate straits. Joinville -and his knights defend a bridge over a tributary, which helps to check the -Saracen advance, and affords an uncertain means of safety to the French. -But there is no cessation of the Saracen attack with bows and spears. The -knights seemed full of arrows. Joinville saved his life with an -arrow-proof Saracen vest, "so that I was wounded by their arrows only in -five places"! One of Joinville's own stout burgesses, bearing his lord's -banner on a lance, helped in the charges upon the enemy. In the melee up -speaks the good Count of Soissons, whose cousin Joinville had married. "He -joked with me and said: 'Seneschal, let us whoop after this canaille; for -by God's coif (his favourite oath) we shall be talking, you and I, about -this day in the chambers of the ladies.'" - -At last, the arbalests were brought out from the camp, and the Saracens -drew off--fled, says the Sire de Joinville. And the king was there, and - - "I took off his casque, and gave him my iron cap, so that he might get - some air. And then comes brother Henry de Ronnay, Prevost of the - Hospital, to the king when he had passed the river, and kisses his - mailed hand. And the king asked him whether he had news of the Count - of Artois, his brother; and he said that he had indeed news of him, - for he was sure that his brother the Count of Artois was in Paradise. - 'Ha! sire,' said the Prevost, 'be of good cheer; for no such honour - ever came to a king of France as is come to you. For to fight your - enemies you have crossed a river by swimming, have discomfited your - enemies and driven them from the field, and taken their engines and - tents, where you will sleep this night.' And the king replied that God - be adored for all that He gave; and then the great tears fell from his - eyes." - -One need not follow on to the ill ending of the campaign, when king and -knights all had to yield themselves prisoners, in most uncertain -captivity. The Saracen Emirs conspired and slew their Sultan; the -prisoners' lives hung on a thread; and when the terms were arranging for -the delivery and ransom of the king, his own scruples nearly proved fatal. -For the Emirs, after they had made their oath, wished the king to swear, -and put his seal to a parchment, - - "that if he the king did not hold to his agreements, might he be as - shamed as the Christian who denied God and His Mother, and was cut off - from the company of the twelve Companions (apostles) and of all the - saints, male and female. To this the king consented. The last point of - the oath was this: That if the king did not keep his agreements, might - he be as shamed as the Christian who denied God and His law, and in - contempt of God spat on the Cross and trod on it. When the king heard - that, he said, please God, he would not make that oath." - -Then the trouble began, and the Emirs tortured the venerable patriarch of -Jerusalem till he besought the king to swear. How the oath was arranged I -do not know, says Joinville, but finally the Emirs professed themselves -satisfied. And after that, when the ransom was paid, the Saracens by a -mistake accepted a sum ten thousand livres short, and Louis, in spite of -the protest of his counsellors, refused to permit advantage to be taken -and insisted on full payment. - -Many years afterwards, when Louis was dead and canonized, a dream came to -his faithful Joinville who was then an old man. - - "It seemed to me in my dream that I saw the king in front of my chapel - at Joinville; and he was, so he seemed to me, wonderfully happy and - glad at heart; and I also was glad at heart, because I saw him in my - chateau. And I said to him: 'Sire, when you go hence, I will prepare - lodging for you at my house in my village of Chevillon.' And he - replied, smiling, and said to me: 'Sire de Joinville, by the troth I - owe you, I do not wish so soon to go from here.' When I awoke I - bethought me; and it seemed to me that it would please God and the - king that I should provide a lodging for him in my chapel. So I have - placed an altar in honour of God and of him there, where there shall - be always chanting in his honour. And I have established a fund in - perpetuity to do this." - -Godfrey of Bouillon and St. Louis of France show knighthood as inspired by -serious and religious motives. We pass on a hundred years after St. Louis, -to a famous Chronicle concerning men whose knightly lives exhibit no such -religious, and possibly no such serious, purpose, so far at least as they -are set forth by this delightful chronicler. His name of course is Sir -John Froissart, and his chief work goes under the name of _The Chronicles -of England, France, Spain, and the adjoining Countries_. It covers the -period from the reign of Edward II. to the coronation of Henry IV. of -England. Have we not all known his book as one to delight youth and age? - -Let us, however, open it seriously, and first of all notice the Preface, -with its initial sentence giving the note of the entire work: "That the -_grans merveilles_ and the _biau fait d'armes_ achieved in the great wars -between England and France, and the neighbouring realms may be worthily -recorded, and known in the present and in the time to come, I purpose to -order and put the same in prose, according to the true information which I -have obtained from valiant knights, squires, and marshals at arms, who are -and rightly should be the investigators and reporters of such -matters."[687] - -"Marvels" and "deeds of arms"--soon he will use the equivalent phrase -_belles aventures_. With delicious garrulity, but never wavering from his -point of view, the good Sir John repeats and enlarges as he enters on his -work in which "to encourage all valorous hearts, and to show them -honourable examples" he proposes to "point out and speak of each adventure -from the nativity of the noble King Edward (III.) of England, who so -potently reigned, and who was engaged in so many battles and perilous -adventures and other feats of arms and great prowess, from the year of -grace 1326, when he was crowned in England." - -Of course Froissart says that the occasion of these wars was King Edward's -enterprise to recover his inheritance of France, which the twelve peers -and barons of that realm had awarded to Lord Philip of Valois, from whom -it had passed on to his son, King Charles. This enterprise was the woof -whereon should hang an hundred years of knightly and romantic feats of -arms, which incidentally wrought desolation to the fair realm of France. -Yet the full opening of these matters was not yet; and Froissart begins -with the story of the troubles brought on Queen Isabella and the nobles -of England through the overbearing insolence of Sir Hugh Spencer, the -favourite of her husband Edward II. - -The Queen left England secretly, to seek aid at Paris from her brother -King Charles, that she might regain her rights against the upstart and her -own weak estranged husband. King Charles received her graciously, as a -great lord should receive a great dame; and richly provided for her and -her young son Edward. Then he took counsel of the "great lords and barons -of his kingdom"; and their advice was that he should permit her to enlist -assistance in his realm, and yet himself appear ignorant of the matter. Of -this, Sir Hugh hears, and his gold is busy with these counsellors; so that -the Court becomes a cold place for the self-exiled queen. On she fares in -her distress, and, as advised, seeks the aid of the great Earl of -Hainault, then at Valenciennes. But before the queen can reach that city, -the earl's young brother, Sir John, Lord of Beaumont, rides to meet her, -ardent to succour a great lady in distress, "being at that time very -young, and panting for glory like a knight-errant." In the evening he -reached the house of Sir Eustace d'Ambreticourt, where the queen was -lodged. She made her lamentable complaint, at which Sir John was affected -even to tears, and said, "Lady, see here your knight, who will not fail to -die for you, though every one else should desert you; therefore will I do -everything in my power to conduct you and your son, and to restore you to -your rank in England, by the grace of God, and the assistance of your -friends in those parts; and I, and all those whom I can influence, will -risk our lives on the adventure for your sake." - -Is not this a chivalric beginning? And so the Chronicle goes on. King -Edward III. is crowned, marries the Lady Philippa, daughter of the Earl of -Hainault, and afterwards sends his defiance to Philip, King of France, for -not yielding up to him his rightful inheritance, and this after the same -King Edward had, as Duke of Aquitaine, done homage to King Philip for that -great duchy. - -So the challenge of King Edward, and of sundry other lords, was delivered -to the King of France; and thereupon the first bold raid is made by the -knightliest figure of the first generation of the war, Sir Walter Manny, -a young Hainaulter who had remained in the train of Queen Philippa. The -war is carried on by incursions and deeds of derring-do, the larger armies -of the kings of England and France circumspectly refraining from battle, -which might have checked the martial jollity of the affair. It is all -beautifully pointless and adventurous, and carried out in the spirit of a -knighthood that loves fighting and seeks honour and adventure, while -steadying itself with a hope of plunder and reward. There are likewise -ladies to be succoured and defended. - -One of these was the lion-hearted Countess of Montfort, who with her -husband had become possessed of the disputed dukedom of Brittany. The Earl -of Montfort did homage to the King of England; the rival claimant, Charles -of Blois, sought the aid of France. He came with an army, and Montfort was -taken and died in prison; the duchess was left to carry on the war. She -was at last shut up and besieged in Hennebon on the coast; the burghers -were falling away, the knights discouraged; emissaries from Lord Charles -were working among them. His ally, Lord Lewis of Spain, and Sir Herve de -Leon were the leaders of the besiegers. Sir Herve had an uncle, a bishop, -Sir Guy de Leon, who was on the side of the Countess of Montfort. The -nephew won the uncle over in a conference without the walls; and the -latter assumed the task of persuading the Lords of Brittany who were with -the countess to abandon the apparently hopeless struggle. Re-entering the -town, the bishop was eloquent against the countess's cause, and promised -free pardon to the lords if they would give up the town. Now listen to -Froissart, how he tells the story: - - "The countess had strong suspicions of what was going forward, and - begged of the lords of Brittany, for the love of God, that they would - not doubt but she should receive succours before three days were over. - But the bishop spoke so eloquently, and made use of such good - arguments, that these lords were in much suspense all that night. On - the morrow he continued the subject, and succeeded so far as to gain - them over, or very nearly so, to his opinion; insomuch that Sir Herve - de Leon had advanced close to the town to take possession of it, with - their free consent, when the countess looking out from a window of the - castle toward the sea, cried out most joyfully, 'I see the succours I - have so long expected and wished for coming.' She repeated this twice; - and the town's people ran to the ramparts and to the windows of the - castle, and saw a numerous fleet of great and small vessels, well - trimmed, making all the sail they could toward Hennebon. They rightly - imagined it must be the fleet from England, so long detained at sea by - tempests and contrary winds. - - "When the governor of Guingamp, Sir Yves de Tresiquidi, Sir Galeran de - Landreman, and the other knights, perceived this succour coming to - them, they told the bishop that he might break up his conference, for - they were not now inclined to follow his advice. The bishop, Sir Guy - de Leon, replied, 'My lords, then our company shall separate; for I - will go to him who seems to me to have the clearest right.' Upon which - he sent his defiance to the lady, and to all her party, and left the - town to inform Sir Herve de Leon how matters stood. Sir Herve was much - vexed at it, and immediately ordered the largest machine that was with - the army to be placed as near the castle as possible, strictly - commanding that it should never cease working day nor night. He then - presented his uncle to the Lord Lewis of Spain, and to the Lord - Charles of Blois, who both received him most courteously. The - countess, in the meantime, prepared and hung with tapestry halls and - chambers to lodge handsomely the lords and barons of England, whom she - saw coming, and sent out a noble company to meet them. When they were - landed, she went herself to give them welcome, respectfully thanking - each knight and squire, and led them into the town and castle that - they might have convenient lodging: on the morrow, she gave them a - magnificent entertainment. All that night, and the following day, the - large machine never ceased from casting stones into the town. - - "After the entertainment, Sir Walter Manny, who was captain of the - English, inquired of the countess the state of the town and the - enemy's army. Upon looking out of the window, he said, he had a great - inclination to destroy that large machine which was placed so near, - and much annoyed them, if any would help him. Sir Yves de Tresiquidi - replied, that he would not fail him in this his first expedition; as - did also the lord of Landreman. They went to arm themselves, and then - sallied quietly out of one of the gates, taking with them three - hundred archers, who shot so well, that those who guarded the machine - fled, and the men at arms, who followed the archers, falling upon - them, slew the greater part, and broke down and cut in pieces this - large machine. They then dashed in among the tents and huts, set fire - to them, and killed and wounded many of their enemies before the army - was in motion. After this they made a handsome retreat. When the enemy - were mounted and armed they galloped after them like madmen. - - "Sir Walter Manny, seeing this, exclaimed, 'May I never be embraced by - my mistress and dear friend, if I enter castle or fortress before I - have unhorsed one of these gallopers.' He then turned round, and - pointed his spear toward the enemy, as did the two brothers of - Lande-Halle, le Haze de Brabant, Sir Yves de Tresiquidi, Sir Galeran - de Landreman, and many others, and spitted the first coursers. Many - legs were made to kick the air. Some of their own party were also - unhorsed. The conflict became very serious, for reinforcements were - perpetually coming from the camp; and the English were obliged to - retreat towards the castle, which they did in good order until they - came to the castle ditch; there the knights made a stand, until all - their men were safely returned. Many brilliant actions, captures, and - rescues might have been seen. Those of the town who had not been of - the party to destroy the large machine now issued forth, and, ranging - themselves upon the banks of the ditch, made such good use of their - bows, that they forced the enemy to withdraw, killing many men and - horses. The chiefs of the army, perceiving they had the worst of it, - and that they were losing men to no purpose, sounded a retreat, and - made their men retire to the camp. As soon as they were gone, the - townsmen re-entered, and went each to his quarters. The Countess of - Montfort came down from the castle to meet them, and with a most - cheerful countenance, kissed Sir Walter Manny, and all his companions, - one after the other like a noble and valiant dame." - -In this manner the genial chronicler goes on through his long delightful -ramble. After a while the chief combatants close. Cressy is fought and -Poictiers. The Black Prince, that extremest bit of knightly royalty, fills -the page. The place of Sir Walter Manny is taken by the larger figure of -Sir John Chandos, and, on the other side, the usually unfortunate but -unconquerable Bertrand du Guesclin. Froissart is at his best when he tells -of the great expedition of the Black Prince to restore the cruel Don Pedro -of Castille to the throne from which he had been expelled by that -picturesque bastard brother Henry, who had a poorer title but a better -right, by virtue of being fit to rule. - -This whole expedition was--as we see it in Froissart--neither politics nor -war, but chivalry. What interest had England, or Edward III., or the -Prince of Wales in Don Pedro? None. He was a cruel tyrant, rightfully -expelled. The Prince of Wales would set him back upon his throne in the -interest of royal legitimacy, and because there offered a brilliant -opportunity for fame and plunder: the Black Prince thought less of the -latter than the Free Companies enlisted under his banner, and less than -his own rapacious knights. - -So in three divisions, headed by the most famous knights and in a way -generalled by Sir John Chandos, the host passes through the kingdom of -Navarre, and crosses the Pyrenees. Then begin a series of exploits. Sir -Thomas Felton and a company set out just to dare and beard the Castillian -army, and after entrancing feats of knight-errantry, are all captured or -slain. Much is the prince annoyed at this; but bears on, gladdened with -the thought, often expressed, that the bastard Henry is a bold and hardy -knight, and is advancing to give battle. - -And true it was. One of Henry's counsellors explains to him how easy it is -to hem in the Black Prince in the defiles, and starve him into a -disastrous retreat. Perish the thought! "By the soul of my father," -answers King Henry, "I have such a desire to see this prince, and to try -my strength with him, that we will never part without a battle." - -So the unnecessary and resultless battle of Navaretta took place. Don -Pedro, the cruel rightful king, was knighted, with others, by the Prince -of Wales before the fight. The tried unflinching chivalry of England and -Aquitaine conquered, although one division of King Henry's host had du -Guesclin at its head. That knight was captured; somehow his star had a way -of sinking before the steadier fortune of Sir John Chandos, who was here -du Guesclin's captor for a second time. King Henry, after valiant -fighting, escaped. Don Pedro was re-set upon his throne; and played false -with the Black Prince and his army, in the matter of pay. The whole -expedition turned back across the Pyrenees. And not so long after, Henry -bestirred himself, and the tardily freed du Guesclin hurried again to aid -him. This time there was no Black Prince and Sir John Chandos; and Don -Pedro was conquered and slain, and Henry was at last firm upon his throne. - -Could anything have been more chivalric, more objectless, and more -absolutely lacking in result? It is a beautiful story; every one should -refresh his childhood's memory of it by reading Froissart's delightful -pages. And then let him also read at least the subsequent story of the -death of Sir John Chandos in a knightly brush at arms; he, the really wise -and great leader, perishes through his personal rash knighthood! It is a -fine tale of the ending of an old and mighty knight, the very flower of -chivalry, as he was called. - -So matters fare on through these Chronicles. All is charming and -interesting and picturesque; charming also for the knights: great fame is -won and fat ransoms paid to recoup knightly fortunes. Now and then--all -too frequently, alas! and the only pity of it all!--some brave knight has -the mishap to lose his life! That is to say, the only pity of it from the -point of view of good Sir John. But we can see further horrors in this -picture of chivalry's actualities: we see King Edward pillage, devastate, -destroy France;[688] we see the awful outcome of the general ruin in the -rising of the vile, unhappy peasants, the Jacquerie; then in the -indiscriminate slaughter and pillaging by the Free Companies, no longer -well employed by royalties; and then we see the cruel treachery of many an -incident wrought out by such a flower of chivalry even as du -Guesclin.[689] Indeed all the horrors of ceaseless interminable war are -everywhere, and no more dreadful horror through the whole story than the -bloody sack of Limoges commanded by that perfect knight, the Black Prince, -himself stricken with disease, and carried in a litter through the breach -of the walls into the town, and there reposing, assuaging his cruel soul, -while his men run hither and thither "slaying men, women and children -according to their orders."[690] - -But when King Edward was old, and the Prince of Wales dying with disease, -the French and their partisans gathered heart, and pressed back the -English party with successful captures and reprisals. Du Guesclin was made -Constable of France; and there remained no English leader who was his -match. From this second period onwards, the wars and slaughters and -pillagings become more embittered, more horrid and less relieved. The tone -of everything is brutalized, and the good chronicler himself frequently -animadverts on the wanton destruction wrought, and the frightful ruin. -All is not as in the opening of the story, which was so fascinating, so -knightly and almost as purely adventurous as the Arthurian romances--only -that there was less love of ladies and a disturbing dearth of forests -perilous, and enchanted castles. It was then that the reader had ever and -anon to remind himself that Froissart is not romance or legend, but a -contemporary chronicle; and that in spite of heightened colours and -expanded (if not invented) dialogues, his narrative does not belong to the -imaginative or fictitious side of chivalry, but to its actualities.[691] - -Froissart's pictures of the depravity and devastation caused by the wars -of England and France, disclose the unhappy actuality in which chivalry -might move and have its being. And the knights were part of the cruelty, -treachery, and lust. One may remark besides in Froissart a certain -shallowness, a certain emptying, of the spirit of chivalry. One phase of -this lay in the expansion of form and ceremony, while life was -departing;--as, for example, in the hypertrophe of heraldry, and in the -pageantry of the later tournaments, where such care was taken to prevent -injury to the combatants. A subtler phase of chivalry's emptying lay in -its preciosity and in the excessive growth of fantasy and utter -romance--of which enough will be said in the next chapter. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -ROMANTIC CHIVALRY AND COURTLY LOVE - - FROM ROLAND TO TRISTAN AND LANCELOT - - -The instance of Godfrey of Bouillon showed how easy was the passage from -knighthood in history to knighthood in legend and romance: legend -springing from fact, out of which it makes a story framed in a picture of -the time; romance unhistorical in origin, borrowing, devising, imagining -according to the taste of an audience and the faculty of the trouvere. A -boundless mediaeval literature of poetic legend and romantic fiction sets -forth the ways of chivalry. Our attention may be confined to the Old -French, the source from which German, English, and Italian literatures -never ceased to draw. Three branches may be selected: the _chansons de -geste_; the _romans d'aventure_; and the Arthurian romances. The subjects -of the three are distinct, and likewise the tone and manner of treatment. -Yet they were not unaffected by each other; for instance, the hard feudal -spirit of the _chansons de geste_ became touched with the tastes which -moulded the two other groups, and there was even a borrowing of topic. -This was natural, as the periods of their composition over-lapped, and -doubtless their audiences were in part the same. - -The _chansons de geste_ (_gesta_ == deeds) were epic narratives with -historical facts for subjects, and commonly were composed in ten-syllable -assonanced or (later) rhyming couplets, _laisses_ so called, the same -final assonance or rhyme extending through a dozen or so lines. They told -the deeds of Charlemagne and his barons, or the feuds of the barons among -themselves, especially those of the time following the emperor's death. So -the subject might be national, for instance the war against the Saracens -in Spain; or it might be more provincially feudal in every sense of the -latter word.[692] It is not to our purpose to discuss how these poems grew -through successive generations, nor how much of Teutonic spirit they put -in Romance forms of verse. They were composed by trouveres or _jongleurs_. -The _Roland_ is the earliest of them, and in its extant form belongs to -the last part of the eleventh century. One or two others are nearly as -early; but the vast majority, as we have them, are the creations, or -rather the _remaniements_, of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. - -These _chansons_ present the feudal system in epic action. They blazon -forth its virtues and its horrors. The heroes are called barons (_ber_) -and also chevaliers;[693] _vassalage_ and prowess (_proecce_) are closely -joined; the _Roland_ speaks of the _vassalage_ of Charles _le ber_ -(Charlemagne). The usages of chivalry are found:[694] a baron begins as -_enfant_, and does his youthful feats (_enfances_); then he is girt with -manhood's sword and given the thwack which dubs him _chevalier_. -Naturally, the chivalry of the _chansons_ is feudal rather than romantic. -It is chivalry, sometimes crusading against "felun paien," sometimes -making war against emperors or rivals; always truculent, yet fighting for -an object and not for pure adventure's sake or the love of ladies. The -motives of action are quite tangible, and the tales reflect actual -situations and conditions. They tell what knights (the chevaliers and -barons) really did, though, of course, the particular incidents related -may not be historical. Naturally they speak from the time of their -composition. The _Roland_, for example, throbs with the crusading wrath -of the eleventh century--a new fervour, and no passionate memory of the -old obscure disaster of Roncesvalles. It does not speak from the time of -the great emperor. For when Charlemagne lived there was neither a "dulce -France" nor the sentiment which enshrined it; nor was there a sharply -deliminated feudal Christianity set over against a world of "felun -paien"--those false paynim, who should be trusted by no Christian baron. -The whole poem revolves around a treason plotted by a renegade among vile -infidels. - -In this rude poem which carries the noblest spirit of the _chansons de -geste_, the soul of feudal chivalry climbs to its height of loyal -expiation for overweening bravery. The battle-note is given in Roland's -words, as Oliver descries the masses of paynim closing in around that -valiant rear-guard. - -Said Oliver: "Sir comrade, I think we shall have battle with these -Saracens." - -Replied Roland: "God grant it! Here must we hold for our king. A man -should suffer for his lord, endure heat and cold, though he lose hair and -hide. Let each one strike his best, that no evil song be sung of us. The -paynim are in the wrong, Christians in the right!"[695] - -Then follows Oliver's prudent solicitation, and Roland's fatal refusal to -sound his horn and recall Charles and his host: "Please God and His holy -angels, France shall not be so shamed through me; better death than such -dishonour. The harder we strike the more the emperor will love us." Oliver -can be stubborn too; for when the fight is close to its fell end, he -swears that Roland shall never wed his sister Aude, if, beaten, he sound -that horn.[696] - -The paynim host is shattered and riven; but nearly all the Franks have -fallen. Roland looks upon the mountains and the plain. Of those of France -he sees so many lying dead, and he laments them like a high-born knight -(_chevaliers gentilz_). "_Seigneurs barons_, may God have pity on you and -grant Paradise to your souls, and give them to repose on holy flowers! -Better vassals shall I never see; long are the years that you have served -me, and conquered wide countries for Charles--the emperor has nurtured you -for an ill end! Land of France, sweet land, to-day bereft of barons of -high prize! Barons of France! for me I see you dying. I cannot save or -defend you! God be your aid, who never lies! Oliver, brother, you I must -not fail. I shall die of grief, if no one slay me! Sir comrade, let us -strike again."[697] - -Roland and Oliver are almost alone, and Oliver receives a death-stroke. -With his last strength he slays his slayer, shouts his defiance, and calls -Roland to his aid. He strikes on blindly as Roland comes and looks into -his face;--and then might you have seen Roland swoon on his horse, and -Oliver wounded to death. "He had bled so much, that his eyes were -troubled, and he could not see to recognize any mortal man. As he met his -comrade, he struck him on his helmet a blow that cut it shear in twain, -though the sword did not touch the head. At this Roland looked at him, and -asked him soft and low: 'Sir comrade, did you mean that? It is Roland, who -loves you well. You have not defied me.' - -"Says Oliver, 'Now I hear you speak; I did not see you; may the Lord God -see you! I have struck you; for which pardon me.'" - -Roland replied: "I was not hurt. I pardon you here and before God." - -"At this word they bent over each other, and in such love they parted." -Oliver feels his death-anguish at hand; sight and hearing fail him: he -sinks from his horse and lies on the earth; he confesses his sins, with -his two hands joined toward heaven. He prays God to grant him Paradise, -and blesses Charles and sweet France, and his comrade Roland above all -men. Stretched on the ground the count lies dead.[698] - -A little after, when Roland and Turpin the stout archbishop have made -their last charge, and the paynim have withdrawn, and the archbishop too -lies on the ground, just breathing; then it is that Roland gathers the -bodies of the peers and carries them one by one to lay them before the -archbishop for his absolution. He finds Oliver's body, and tightly -straining it to his heart, lays it with the rest before the archbishop, -whose dying breath is blessing and absolving his companions. And with -tears Roland's voice breaks "Sweet comrade, Oliver, son of the good count -Renier, who held the March of Geneva; to break spear and pierce shield, -and counsel loyally the good, and discomfit and vanquish villains, in no -land was there better knight."[699] Knowing his own death near, Roland -tries to shatter his great sword, and then lies down upon it with his face -toward Spain; he holds up his glove toward God in token of fealty; Gabriel -accepts his glove and the angels receive his soul. - -This was the best of knighthood in the best of the _chansons_: and we see -how close it was to what was best in life. As the fight moves on to -Oliver's blow and Roland's pardon, to Roland's last deeds of Christian -comradeship, and to his death, the eyes are critical indeed that do not -swell with tears. The heroic pathos of this rough poem is great because -the qualities which perished at Roncesvalles were so noble and so -knightly. - -The poem passes on to the vengeance taken by the emperor upon the -Saracens, then to his return to Aix, and the short great scene between him -and Aude, Roland's betrothed: - -"Where is Roland, the chief, who vowed to take me for his wife?" - -Charles weeps, and tears his white beard as he answers: "Sister, dear -friend, you are asking about a dead man. But I will make it good to -thee--there is Louis my son, who holds the Marches...." - -Aude replies: "Strange words! God forbid, and His saints and angels, that -I should live after Roland." And she falls dead at the emperor's feet. - -As was fitting, the poem closes with the trial of the traitor Ganelon, by -combat. His defence is feudal: he had defied Roland and all his -companions; his treachery was proper vengeance and not treason. But his -champion is defeated, and Ganelon himself is torn in pieces by horses, -while his relatives, pledged as hostages, are hanged. All of which is -feudalism, and can be matched for savagery in many a scene from the -Arthurian romances of chivalry--not always reproduced in modern versions. - -So the _chansons de geste_ are a mirror of the ways and customs of feudal -society in the twelfth century. The feudal virtues are there, troth to -one's liege, orthodox crusading ardour, limitless valour, truth-speaking. -There is also enormous brutality; and the recognized feudal vices, -cruelty, impiousness, and treason. In the _Raoul de Cambrai_, for example, -the nominal hero is a paroxysm of ferocity and impiety. All crimes rejoice -him as he rages along his ruthless way to establish his seignorial rights -over a fief unjustly awarded him by Louis, the weak son of Charlemagne. -His foil is Bernier, the natural son of one of the rightful heirs against -whom Raoul carries on raging feudal war. But Bernier is also Raoul's -squire and vassal, who had received knighthood from him, and so is bound -to the monster by the strongest feudal tie. He is a pattern of knighthood -and of every feudal virtue. On the day of his knighting he implored his -lord not to enter on that fell war against his (Bernier's) family. In -vain. The war is begun with fire and sword. Bernier must support his lord; -says he: "Raoul, my lord, is worse (_plu fel_) than Judas; he is my lord; -he has given me horse and clothes, my arms and cloth of gold. I would not -fail him for the riches of Damascus": and all cried, "Bernier, thou art -right."[700] - -But there is a limit. Raoul is ferociously wasting the land, and -committing every impiety. He would desecrate the abbey of Origni, and set -his tent in the middle of the church, stabling his horse in its porch and -making his bed before the altar. Bernier's mother is there as a nun; Raoul -pauses at her entreaties and those of his uncle. Then his rage breaks out -afresh at the death of two of his men; he burns the town and abbey, and -Bernier's mother perishes with the other nuns in the flames. - -Now the monster is feasting on the scene of desolation--and it is Lent -besides! After dining, he plays chess: enter Bernier. Raoul asks for wine. -Bernier takes the cup and, kneeling, hands it to him. Raoul is surprised -to see him, but at once renews his oath to disinherit all of Bernier's -family--his father and uncles. Bernier speaks and reproaches Raoul with -his mother's death: "I cannot bring her back to life, but I can aid my -father whom you unjustly follow up with war. I am your man no longer. Your -cruelty has released me from my duties; and you will find me on the side -of my father and uncles when you attack them." For reply, Raoul breaks his -head open with the butt of his spear; but then at once asks pardon and -humiliates himself strangely. Bernier answers that there shall be no peace -between them till the blood which flowed from his head returns back whence -it came. Yet in the final battle he still seeks to turn Raoul back before -attacking him who had been his liege lord. Again in vain; and Raoul falls -beneath Bernier's sword. Here are the two sides of the picture, the -monster of a lord, the vassal vainly seeking to be true: a situation -utterly tragic from the standpoint of feudal chivalry. - -It is not to be supposed that a huge body of poetic narrative could remain -utterly truculent. Other motives had to enter;--the love of women, of -which the _Roland_ has its one great flash. The ladies of the _chansons_ -are not coy, and often make the first advances. Such natural lusty love is -not romantic; it is not _l'amour courtois_; and marriage is its obvious -end. The _chansons_ also tend to become adventurous and to fill with -romantic episode. An interesting example of this is the _Renaud de -Montaubon_ where Renaud and his three brothers are aided by the enchanter, -Maugis, against the pursuing hate of Charlemagne and where the marvellous -horse, Bayard, is a fascinating personality. This diversified and romantic -tale long held its own in many tongues. In the somewhat later _Huon de -Bordeaux_ we are at last in fairyland--verily at the Court of Oberon--his -first known entry into literature.[701] Thus the _chansons_ tend toward -the tone and temper of the _romans d'aventure_. - -The latter have the courtly love and the purely adventurous motives of the -Arthurian romances, with which the men who fashioned them probably were -acquainted, as were the _jongleurs_ who recast certain of the _chansons de -geste_ to suit a more courtly taste. Of the _romans d'aventure_, -so-called, the _Blancandrin_ or the _Amadas_ or the _Flamenca_ may be -taken as the type; or, if one will, _Flore et Blanchefleur_ and _Aucassin -et Nicolette_, those two enduring lovers' tales.[702] Courtly love and -knightly ventures are the themes of these _romans_ so illustrative of -noble French society in the thirteenth century. They differ from the -Arthurian romances in having other than a Breton origin; and their heroes -and heroines are sometimes of more easily imagined historicity than the -knights and ladies of the Round Table. But they never approached the -universal vogue of the Arthurian Cycle. - -It goes without saying that tastes in reading (or rather listening) -diverged in the twelfth century, just as in the twentieth. One cannot read -the old _chansons de geste_ in which fighting, and not love, is the -absorbing topic, without feeling that the audience before whom they were -chanted was predominantly male. One cannot but feel the contrary to have -been the fact with the romances in verse and prose which constitute that -immense mass of literature vaguely termed Arthurian. These two huge -groups, the _chansons de geste_ and the Arthurian romances, overlap -chronologically and geographically. Although the development of the -_chansons_ was somewhat earlier, the Arthurian stories were flourishing -before the _chansons_ were past their prime; and both were in vogue -through central and northern France. But the Arthurian stories won -adoptive homes in England, Germany, Italy, and elsewhere. Indeed their -earlier stages scarcely seem attached to real localities: nor were their -manners and interests rooted in the special traditions of any definite -place. - -The tone and topics of these romances suggest an audience chiefly of -women, and possibly feminine authorship. Doubtless, with a few exceptions, -men composed and recited them. But the male authors were influenced by the -taste, the favour and patronage, and the sympathetic suggestive interest -of the ladies. Prominent among the first known composers of these -"Breton" lays was a woman, Marie de France as she is called, who lived in -England in the reign of Henry II. (1154-1189). Her younger contemporary -was the facile trouvere Chretien de Troies, of whose life little is -actually known. But we know that the subject of his famous Lancelot -romance, called the _Conte de la charrette_, was suggested to him (about -1170) by the Countess Marie de Champagne, daughter of Louis VII. Surely -then he wrote to please the taste of that royal dame, whose queenly -mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was also a patroness of this courtly poetry. - -These are instances proving the feminine influence upon the composition of -these romances. And the growth of this great Arthurian Cycle represents, -_par excellence_, the entry of womanhood into the literature of chivalry. -Men love, as well as women; but the topic engrosses them less, and they -talk less about it. Likewise men appreciate courtesy; but in fact it is -woman's influence that softens manners. And while the masculine fancy may -be drawn by what is fanciful and romantic, women abandon themselves to its -charm. - -Of course the origin or _provenance_ of these romances was different from -that of the _chansons de geste_. It was Breton--it was Welsh, it was -_walhisch_ (the Old-German word for the same) which means that it was -_foreign_. In fact, the beginnings of these stories floated beautifully in -from a _weiss-nicht-wo_ which in the twelfth century was already hidden in -the clouds. When the names of known localities are mentioned, they have -misty import. Arthurian geography is more elusive than Homeric. - -In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries these stories took form in the -verse and prose compositions in which they still exist. Sometimes the -poet's name is known, Chretien de Troies, for instance; but the source -from which he drew is doubtful. It probably was Breton, and Artus once in -Great Britain fought the Saxons like as not. But the growth, the -development, the further composition, of the _matiere de Bretagne_ is -predominantly French. In France it grows; from France it passes on across -the Rhine, across the Alps, then back to what may have been its old home -across the British Channel. With equal ease on the wings of universal -human interest it surmounts the Pyrenees. It would have crossed the ocean, -had the New World been discovered. - -Far be it from our purpose to enter the bottomless swamp of critical -discussion of the source and history of the Arthurian romances. Two or -three statements--general and probably rather incorrect--may be made. -Marie de France, soon after the middle of the twelfth century, wrote a -number of shortish narrative poems of chivalric manners and romantic love, -which, as it were, touch the hem of Arthur's cloak. Chretien de Troies -between 1160 and 1175 composed his _Tristan_ (a story originally having -nothing to do with Arthur), and then his _Erec_ (Geraint), then _Cliges_; -then his (unfinished) _Lancelot_ or the _Conte de la charrette_; then -_Ivain_ or the _Chevalier au lion_, and at last _Perceval_ or the _Conte -du Graal_. How much of the matter of these poems came from Brittany--or -indirectly from Great Britain? This is a large unsolved question! Another -is the relation of Chretien's poems to the subsequent Arthurian romances -in verse and prose. And perhaps most disputed of all is the authorship -(Beroul? Robert de Boron? Walter Mapes?) of this mass of Arthurian Old -French literature which was not the work of Chretien. Without lengthy -_prolegomena_ it would be fruitless to attempt to order and name these -compositions. The Arthurian matters were taken up by German poets of -excellence--Heinrich von Veldeke, Hartmann von Aue, Gottfried von -Strassburg, Wolfram von Eschenbach,--and sometimes the best existing -versions are the work of the latter; for instance, Wolfram's _Parzival_ -and Gottfried's _Tristan_. And again the relation of these German versions -to their French originals becomes still another problem. - -For the chivalry of these romances, one may look to the poems of Chretien -and to passages in the Old French prose (presumably of the early -thirteenth century), to which the name of Robert de Boron or Walter Mapes -is attached. Chretien enumerates knightly excellences in his _Cliges_, -and, speaking from the natural point of view of the _jongleur_, he puts -_largesce_ (generosity) at their head. This, says he, makes one a -_prodome_ more than _hautesce_ (high station) or _corteisie_ or _savoirs_ -or _jantillesce_ (noble birth) or _chevalerie_, or _hardemanz_ (hardihood) -or _seignorie_, or _biautez_ (beauty).[703] - -Such are the knightly virtues, which, however, reach their full worth only -through the aid of that which makes perfect the Arthurian knight, the high -love of ladies, shortly to be spoken of. In the meanwhile let us turn from -Chretien to the broader tableau of the Old French prose, and note the -beginning of _Artus_, as he is there called. The lineage of the royal boy -remains romantically undiscovered, till the time when he is declared to be -the king. It is then that he receives all kinds of riches from the lords -of his realm. He keeps nothing for himself; but makes inquiry as to the -character and circumstances of his future knights, and distributes all -among them according to their worth. This is the virtue of _largesce_. - -Now comes the ceremony of making him a knight, and then of investing him -with, as it were, the supreme knighthood of kingship. The archbishop, it -is told, "fist (made) Artu chevalier, et celle nuit veilla Artus a la -mestre Eglise (the cathedral) jusques au jour." Then follows the ceremony -of swearing allegiance to him; but Arthur has not yet finally taken his -great sword. When he is arrayed for the mass, the archbishop says to him: -"Allez querre (seek) l'espee et la jostise dont vos devez defendre Saincte -Eglise et la crestiante sauver." - - "Lors alla la procession au perron, et la demanda li arcevesques a - Artu, se il est tiels que il osast jurer et creanter Dieu et madame - Sainte Marie et a tous Sains et toutes Saintes, Sainte Eglise a sauver - et a maintenir, et a tous povres homes et toutes povres femmes pais et - loiaute tenir, et conseiller tous desconseillies, et avoier (guide) - tous desvoies (erring), et maintenir toutes droitures et droite - justice a tenir, si alast avant et preist l'espee dont nostre sire - avoit fait de lui election. Et Artus plora et dist: 'Ensi voirement - com Dieus est sire de toutes les choses, me donit-il force et povoir - de ce maintenir que vous avez dit.' - - "Il fu a genols et prit l'espee a jointes mains et la leva de - l'enclume (anvil) ausi voirement come se ele ne tenist a riens; et - lors, l'espee toute droite, l'enmenerent a l'autel et la mist sus; et - lors il le pristrent et sacrerent et l'enoindrent, et li firent - toutes iceles choses que l'en doit faire a roi."[704] - -All this is good chivalry as well as proper feudalism. And there are other -instances of genuine feudalism in these Romances. Such is the scene -between the good knight Pharien and the bad king Claudas, where the former -renounces his allegiance to the latter (_je declare renoncer a vostre -fief_) and then declares himself to be Claudas's enemy, and claims the -right to fight or slay him; since Claudas has not kept troth with -him.[705] - -There is perhaps nothing lovelier in all these Romances than the story of -the young Lancelot, reared by the tender care of the Lady of the Lake. His -training supplements the genial instincts of his nature, and the result is -the mirror of all knighthood's qualities. He is noble, he is true, he is -perfect in bravery, in courtesy, in modesty, the Lady imparting the -precepts of these virtues to his ready spirit.[706] There is no knightly -virtue that is not perfect in this peerless youth, as he sets forth to -Arthur's Court, there to receive knighthood and prove himself the peerless -knight and perfect lover. In this Old French prose his career is set forth -most completely, and most correctly, so to speak. One or two points may be -adverted to. - -Lancelot is not strictly Arthur's knight. Originally he owed no fealty to -him; and he avoided receiving his sword from the king, in order that he -might receive it from Guinever, as he did. And so, from the first, -Lancelot was Guinever's knight, as he was afterwards her accepted lover. -Consequently his relations to her broke no fealty of his to Arthur. - -Again, one notices that the absolute character of Lancelot's love and -troth to Guinever is paralleled by the friendship of the high prince -Galahaut to him. That has the same _precieuse_ logic; it is absolute. No -act or thought of Galahaut infringes friendship's least conceived -requirement; while conversely that marvellous high prince leaves undone no -act, however extreme, which can carry out the logic of this absolute -single-souled devotion. At last he dies on thinking that Lancelot is dead; -just as the latter could not have survived the death of Guinever. In spite -of the beauty of Galahaut's devotion, its logic and preciosity scarcely -throb with manhood's blood. It will not cause our eyes to swell with human -tears, as did the blind blow and the true words which passed between -Oliver and Roland at Roncesvalles.[707] - -Chivalry--the institution and the whole knightly character--began in the -rough and veritable, and progressed to courtlier idealizations. Likewise -that knightly virtue, love of woman, displays a parallel evolution, being -part of the chivalric whole. Beginning in natural qualities, its progress -is romantic, logical, fantastic, even mystical. - -Feudal life in the earlier mediaeval centuries did not foster tender -sentiments between betrothed or wedded couples. The chief object of every -landholder was by force or policy to secure his own safety and increase -his retainers and possessions. A ready means was for him to marry lands -and serfs in the robust person of the daughter, or widow, of some other -baron. The marriage was prefaced by scant courtship; and little love was -likely to ensue between the rough-handed husband and high-tempered wife. -Such conditions, whether in Languedoc, Aquitaine, or Champagne, made it -likely that high-blooded men and women would satisfy their amorous -cravings outside the bonds of matrimony. For these reasons, among others, -the Provencal and Old French literature, which was the medium of -development for the sentiment of love, did not commonly concern itself -with bringing lovers to the altar. - -In literature, as in life, marriage is usually the goal of bliss and -silence for love-song and love-story: attainment quells the fictile -elements of fear and hope. Entire classes of mediaeval poetry like the -_aube_ (dawn) and the _pastorelle_ had no thought of marriage. The former -_genre_ of Provencal and Old French, as well as Old German, poetry, is a -lyric dialogue wherein the sentiments of lover and mistress become more -tender with the approach of the envious dawn.[708] The latter is the song -of the merry encounter of some clerk or cavalier with a mocking or -complaisant shepherdess. Yet one must beware of speaking too -categorically. For in mediaeval love-literature, marriage is looked -forward to or excluded according to circumstances; and there are instances -of romantic love where the lovers are blessed securely by the priest at -the beginning of their adventures. But whether the lover look to wed his -lady, or whether he have wedded her, or whether she be but his paramour, -is all a thing of incident, dependent on the traditional or devised plot -of the story.[709] - -Like all other periods that have been articulate in literature--and those -that have not been, so far as one may guess--the Middle Ages experienced -and expressed the usual ways of love. These need not detain us. For they -were included as elements within those interesting forms of romantic love, -which were presented in the lyrics of the Troubadours and their more or -less conscious imitators, and in the romantic narratives of chivalry. This -literature elaborately expresses mediaeval sentiments and also love's -passion. Its ideals drew inspiration from Christianity and many a -suggestion from the antique. More especially, in its growth, at last two -currents seem to meet. The one sprang from the fashions of Languedoc and -the courtly centres of the north; the other was the strain of fantasy and -passion constituting the _matiere de Bretagne_. - -Languedoc had been Romanized before the Christian era, and thereafter did -not cease to be the home of the surviving Latin culture. By the eleventh -century, castles and towns held a gay and aristocratic society, on which -Christianity, honeycombed with heresy, sat lightly, or at least joyfully. -This society was inclined to luxury, and the gentle relationships between -men and women interested it exceedingly. Out of it as the eleventh century -closes, songs of the Troubadours begin to rise and give utterance to -thoughts and feelings of chivalric love. These songs flourished during the -whole of the twelfth century, and then their notes were crushed by the -Albigensian Crusade, which destroyed the pretty life from which they -sprang. - -She whom such songs were meant to adulate or win, frequently was the wife -of the Troubadour's lord. The song might intend nothing beyond such -worship as the lady's spouse would sanction; or it might give subtle voice -to a real passion, which offered and sought all. To separate the sincere -and passionate from the fanciful in such songs is neither easy nor apt, -since fancy may enhance the expression of passion, or present a pleasing -substitute. At all events, in this very personal poetry, passion and -imaginative enhancings blended in verses that might move a lady's heart or -vanity. - -Love, with the Troubadours and their ladies, was a source of joy. Its -commands and exigencies made life's supreme law. Love was knighthood's -service; it was loyalty and devotion; it was the noblest human giving. It -was also the spring of excellence, the inspiration of high deeds. This -love was courteous, delicately ceremonial, precise, and on the lady's part -exacting and whimsical. A moderate knowledge of the poems and lives of the -Troubadours and their ladies will show that love with its joys and pains, -its passion, its fancies and subtle conclusions, made the life and -business of these men and dames.[710] - -In culture and the love of pleasure the great feudal courts of Aquitaine, -Champagne, and even Flanders, were scarcely behind the society of -Languedoc. And at these courts, rather than in Languedoc, courtly love -encountered a new passionate current, and found the tales which were to -form its chief vehicle. These were the lays and stories, as of Tristan and -of Arthur and his knights, which from Great Britain had come to Brittany -and Normandy. They were now attracting many listeners who had no part with -Arthur or Tristan, save the love of love and adventure. Marie de France -had put certain Breton lays into Old French verse. And one or two decades -later, a request from the great Countess Marie de Champagne led Chretien -de Troies, as we have seen, to recast other Breton tales in a manner -somewhat transformed with thoughts of courtly love. These northern poems -of love and chivalry were written to please the taste of high-born dames, -just as the Troubadours had sung and still were singing to please their -sisters in the south. The southern poems may have influenced the -northern.[711] - -In the courtly society of Champagne and Aquitaine diverse racial elements -had long been blending, and acquirements, once foreign, had turned into -personal qualities. Views of life had been evolved, along with faculties -to express them. Likewise modes of feeling had developed. This society -had become what it was within the influence of Christianity and the -antique educational tradition. It knew the Song of Songs, as well as -Ovid's stories, and likewise his _Ars amatoria_, which Chretien was the -first to translate into Old French. Possibly its Christianity had learned -of a boundless love of God, and its mortal nature might feel mortal loves -equally resistless. And now, in the early twelfth century, there came from -lands which were or had been Breton, an abundance of moving and catching -stories of adventure and of passion which broke through restraint, or knew -none. Dames and knights and their rhymers would eagerly receive such -tales, and not as barren vessels; for they refashioned and reinspired them -with their own thoughts of the joy of life and love, and with thoughts of -love's high service and its uplifting virtue for the lover, and again of -its ways and the laws which should direct and guide, but never stem, it. - -Thus it came that French trouveres enlarged the matter of these Breton -lays. Their romances reflected the loftiest thoughts and the most eloquent -emotion pertaining to the earthly side of mediaeval life. In these rhyming -and prose compositions, love was resistless in power; it absorbed the -lover's nature; it became his sole source of joy and pain. So it sought -nothing but its own fulfilment; it knew no honour save its own demands. It -was unimpeachable, for in ecstasy and grief it was accountable to no law -except that of its being. This resistless love was also life's highest -worth, and the spring of inspiration and strength for doing valorously and -living nobly. The trouvere of the twelfth century created new conceptions -of love's service, and therewith the impassioned thought that beyond what -men might do in the hope of love's fruition or at the dictates of its -affection, love was itself a power strengthening and ennobling him who -loved. Thought and feeling joined in this conviction, each helping the -other on, in interchanging roles of inspirer and inspired. And finally the -two are one: - - "Oltre la spera, che piu larga gira, - Passa il sospiro ch'esce del mio core: - Intelligenza nuova, che l'Amore - Piangendo mette in lui, pur su lo tira." - -No one can separate the thought and feeling in this verse. But they were -not always fused. The mediaeval fancy sported with this love; the -mediaeval mind delighted in it as a theme of argument. And the fancy might -be as fantastic as the reasoning was finely spun. - -The literature of this love draws no sharp lines between love as -resistless passion and love as enabling virtue; yet these two aspects are -distinguishable. The first was less an original creation of the Middle -Ages than the second. Antiquity had known the passion which overwhelmed -the stricken mortal, and had treated it as something put upon the man and -woman, a convulsive joy, also a bane. Antiquity had analyzed it too, and -had shown its effects, especially its physical symptoms. Much had been -written of its fatal nature; songs had sung how it overthrew the strong -and brought men and women to their death. Looking upon this love as -something put on man and woman, antiquity pictured it mainly as an -insanity cast like a spell upon some one who otherwise would have been -sane. But the Middle Ages saw love transformed into the man and woman, saw -it constitute their will as well as passion, and perceived that it was -their being. If the lover could not avoid or resist it, the reason was -because it was his mightiest self, and not because it was a compulsion -from without; it was his nature, not his disease. - -The nature, ways, and laws of this high and ennobling love were much -pondered on and talked of. They were expounded in pedantic treatises, as -well as set forth in tales which sometimes have the breath of universal -life. Ovid's _Ars amatoria_ furnished the idea that love was an art to be -learned and practised. Mediaeval clerks and rhymers took his light art -seriously, and certain of them made manuals of the rules and precepts of -love, devised by themselves and others interested in such fancies. An -example is the _Flos amoris_ or _Ars amatoria_ of Andrew the Chaplain, who -compiled his book not far from the year 1200.[712] He wrote with his -obsequious head filled with a sense of the authority in love matters of -Marie de Champagne, and other great ladies. His book contains a number of -curious questions which had been laid before one or the other of those -reigning dames, and which they solved boldly in love's favour. Thus on -solicitation Countess Marie decided that there could be no true love -between a husband and wife; and that the possession of an honoured husband -or beautiful wife did not bar the proffer or acceptance of love from -another. The living literature of love was never constrained by the -foolishness of the first proposition, but was freely to exemplify the -further conclusion which others besides the countess drew. - -Andrew gives a code of love's rules. He would have no one think that he -composed them; but that he saw them written on a parchment attached to the -hawk's perch, and won at Arthur's Court by the valour of a certain Breton -knight. They read like proverbs, and undoubtedly represent the ideas of -courtly society upon courtly love. There are thirty-one of them--for -example: - - (1) Marriage is not a good excuse for rejecting love. - - (2) Who does not conceal, cannot love. - - (3) None can love two at once. There is no reason why a woman should - not be loved by two men, or a man by two women. - - (4) It is love's way always to increase or lessen. - - (9) None can love except one who is moved by love's suasion. - - (12) The true lover has no desire to embrace any one except his (or - her) co-lover (_co-amans_). - - (13) Love when published rarely endures. - - (14) Easy winning makes love despicable; the difficult is held dear. - - (15) Every lover turns pale in the sight of the co-lover. - - (16) The lover's heart trembles at the sudden sight of the co-lover. - - (18) Prowess (_probitas_) alone makes one worthy of love. - - (20) The lover is always fearful. - - (23) The one whom the thought of love disturbs, eats and sleeps - little. - - (25) The true lover finds happiness only in what he deems will please - his co-lover. - - (28) A slight fault in the lover awakens the co-lover's suspicion. - - (30) The true lover constantly, without intermission, is engrossed - with the image of the co-lover. - -These rules were exemplified in the imaginative literature of courtly -love. Such love and the feats inspired by it made the chief matter of the -Arthurian romances, which became the literary property of western Europe; -and the supreme examples of their darling theme are the careers and -fortunes of the two most famous pairs of lovers in all this gallant cycle, -Tristan and Iseult, Lancelot and Guinevere. In the former story love is -resistless passion; in the latter its virtue- and valour-bestowing -qualities appear. In both, the laws forbidding its fruition are shattered: -in the Tristan story blindly, madly, without further thought; while in the -tale of Lancelot this conflict sometimes rises to consciousness even in -the lovers' hearts. How chivalric love may reach accord with Christian -precept will be shown hereafter in the progress of the white and scarlet -soul of Parzival, the brave man proving himself slowly wise. - -Probably there never was a better version of the story of Tristan and -Iseult than that of Gottfried of Strassburg, who transformed French -originals into his Middle High German poem about the year 1210.[713] The -poet-adapter sets forth his ideas of love in an elaborate prologue. Very -antithetically he shows its bitter sweet, its dear sorrow, its yearning -need; indeed to love is to yearn--an idea not strange to Plato--and -Gottfried uses the words _sene_, _senelich_, _senedaere_ (all of which are -related to _sehnsucht_, which is yearning) to signify love, a lover, and -his pain. His poem shall be of two noble lovers: - - "Ein senedaere, eine senedaerin." - -The more love's fire burns the heart, the more one loves; this pain is -full of love, an ill so good for the heart that no noble nature once -roused by it would wish to lose part therein. Who never felt love's pain -has never felt love: - - "Liep unde leit diu waren ie - An minnen ungescheiden." - -It is good for men to hear a tale of noble love, yes, a deep good. It -sweetens love and raises the hearer's mood; it strengthens troth, enriches -life. Love, troth, a constant spirit, honour, and whatever else is good, -are never so precious as when set in a tale of love's joy and pain. Love -is such a blessed thing, such a blessed striving, that no one without its -teaching has worth or honour. These lovers died long ago; yet their love -and troth, their life, their death, will still give troth and honour to -seekers after these. Their death lives and is ever new, as we listen to -the tale. Evidently, in Gottfried's mind the Tristan tale of love's -almighty passion carried the thought of love as the inspiration of a noble -life. Yet that thought was not native to the legend, and finds scant -exemplification in Gottfried's poem. - -The tragic passion of the main narrative is presaged by the story of -Tristan's parents. His mother was Blancheflur, King Mark's sister, and his -father Prince Riwalin. She saw him in the May-Court tourney held near -Tintajoel. She took him into her thoughts; he entered her heart, and there -wore crown and sceptre. - -She greeted him; he her. She bashfully began: "My lord, may God enrich -your heart and courage; but I harbour something against you." - -"Sweet one, what have I done?" - -"You have done violence to my best friend"--it was her heart, she meant. - -"Beauty, bear me no hate for that; command, and I will do your bidding." - -"Then I will not hate you bitterly. I will see what atonement you will -make." - -He bowed, and carried with him her image. Love's will mastered his heart, -as he thought of Blancheflur, of her hair, her brow, her cheek, her mouth, -her chin, and the glad Easter day that smiling lay in her eyes. Love the -heartburner set his heart aflame, and lo! he entered upon another life; -purpose and habit changed, he was another man. - -Sad is the short tale of these lovers. Riwalin is killed in battle, and at -the news of his death Blancheflur expires, giving birth to a son. Rual the -Faithful names the child Tristan, to symbolize the sorrow of its birth. - -The story of Tristan's early years draws the reader to the accomplished, -happy youth. He is the delight of all; for his young manhood is -courtliness itself, and valour and generosity. He is loved, and -afterwards recognized and knighted, by his uncle Mark. Then he sets out -and avenges his father's death; after which he returns to Mark's Court, -and vanquishes the Irish champion Morold. A fragment of Tristan's sword -remained in Morold's head; Tristan himself received a poisoned wound, -which could be healed, as the dying Morold told him, only by Ireland's -queen, Iseult. Very charming is the story of Tristan's first visit to -Ireland, disguised as a harper, under the name of Tantris. The queen -hearing of his skill, has him brought to the palace, where she heals him, -and he in return becomes the teacher of her daughter, the younger Iseult, -whom he instructs in letters, music and singing, French and Latin, ethics, -courtly arts and manners, till the girl became as accomplished as she was -beautiful, and could write and read, and compose and sing _pastorelles_ -and _rondeaux_ and other songs. - -On his return to Cornwall he told Mark of the young Iseult, and then, at -Mark's request, set forth again to woo her for him. The Irish king has -promised his daughter to whoever shall slay the dragon. Tristan does the -deed, cuts out the dragon's tongue as proof, and then falls overcome and -fainting. The king's cupbearer comes by, breaks his lance on the dead -dragon, and, riding on, announces that he has slain the monster; he has -the great head brought to the Court upon a wagon. Iseult is in despair at -the thought of marrying the cupbearer; her mother doubts his story, and -bids Iseult ride out and search for the real slayer. The ladies discover -Tristan, with him the dragon's tongue. They carry him to the palace to -heal him, and the young Iseult recognizes him as the harper Tantris, and -redoubles her kind care. But after a while she noticed the notch in his -sword, and saw that it fitted the fragment found in Morold's head--and is -not Tantris just Tristan reversed? This is the man who slew Morold, her -mother's brother! She seizes the sword and rushes in to kill him in his -bath. Her mother checks her, and at last she is appeased, Tristan letting -them see that an important mission has brought him to Ireland. There is -truce between them, and Tristan goes to the king with Mark's demand for -Iseult's hand. Then the cupbearer is discomfited, peace is made between -the Irish king and Mark, and the young Iseult, with Brangaene her cousin, -makes ready to sail with Tristan. The queen secretly gave a love-drink -into Brangaene's care, which Iseult and Mark should drink together. The -people followed down to the haven, and all wept and lamented that with -fair Iseult the sunshine had left Ireland. - -Iseult is sad. She cannot forget that it is Tristan who slew her uncle and -is now taking her from her home. Tristan fails to comfort her. They see -land. Tristan calls for wine to pledge Iseult. A little maid brings--the -love-drink! They drink together, not wine but that endless heart's pain -which shall be their common death. Too late, Brangaene with a cry throws -the goblet into the sea. Love stole into both their hearts; gone was -Iseult's hate. They were no longer two, but one; the sinner, love, had -done it. They were each other's joy and pain; doubt and shame seized them. -Tristan bethought him of his loyalty and honour, struggling against love -vainly. Iseult was like a bird caught with the fowler's lime; shame drove -her eyes away from him; but love drew her heart. She gave over the contest -as she looked on him, and he also began to yield. They thought each other -fairer than before; love was conquering. - -The ship sails on. Love's need conquered. They talk together of the past, -how he had once come in a little boat, and of the lessons: "Fair Iseult, -what is troubling you?" - -"What I know, that troubles me; what I see, the heaven and sea, that -weighs on me; body and life are heavy." - -They leaned toward each other; bright eyes began to fill from the heart's -spring; her head sank, his arm sustained her;--"Ah! sweet, tell me, what -is it?" - -Answered love's feather-play, Iseult: "Love is my need, love is my pain." - -He answered painfully: "Fair Iseult, it is the rude wind and sea." - -"No, no, it is not wind or sea; love is my pain." - -"Beauty, so with me! Love and you make my need. Heart's lady, dear Iseult, -you and the love of you have seized me. I am dazed. I cannot find myself. -All the world has become naught, save thee alone." - -"Sir, so is it with me." - -They loved, and in each other saw one mind, one heart, one will. Their -silent kiss was long. In the night, love the physician brought their only -balm. Sweet had the voyage become; alas! that it must end. - -With their landing begins the trickery and falsehood compelled by the -situation. The fearful Iseult plotted to murder the true Brangaene, who -alone knew. After a while Mark's suspicion is aroused, to be lulled by -guile. Plot and counterplot go on; the lovers win and win again; truth and -honour, everything save love's joy and fear and all-sufficiency, are cast -to the winds. Even the "Judgment of God" is tricked; the hot iron does not -burn Iseult swearing her false oath, literally true. Many a time Mark's -jealousy has been fiercely stirred, only to be tricked to sleep again. Yet -he knows that Tristan and Iseult are lovers. He calls them to him; he -tells them he will not avenge himself, they are too dear to him. But let -them take each other by the hand and leave him. So, together, they -disappear in the forest. - -Then comes the wonderful, beautiful story of the love-grotto and the -lovers' forest-life; they had the forest and they had themselves, and -needed no more. One morning they arose to the sweet birds' song of -greeting; but they heard a horn; Mark must be hunting near. So they were -very careful, and again prepared deception. Mark has been told of the -love-grotto in the wood. In the night he came and found it, looked through -its little rustic window as the day began to dawn. There lay the lovers, -apart, a naked sword between them. A sunbeam, stealing through the window, -touches Iseult's cheek, touches her sweet mouth. Mark loves her anew. Then -fearful lest the sunlight should disturb her, he covered the window with -grass and leaves and flowers, blessed her, and went away in tears. The -lovers waken. They had no need to fear. The lie of the naked sword again -had won. Mark sends and invites them to return. - -Insatiable love knew no surcease or pause. The German poet is driven to a -few reflections on the deceits of Eve's daughters, the anxieties of -forbidden love, and the crown of worth and joy that a true woman's love -may be. At last the lovers are betrayed--in each other's arms. They know -that Mark has seen them. - -"Heart's lady, fair Iseult, now we must part. Let me not pass from your -heart. Iseult must ever be in Tristan's heart. Forget me not." - -Says Iseult: "Our hearts have been too long one ever to know forgetting. -Whether you are near or far, nothing but Tristan enters mine. See to it -that no other woman parts us. Take this ring and think of me. Iseult with -Tristan has been ever one heart, one troth, one body, one life. Think of -me as your life--Iseult." - -The fateful turning of the story is not far off: Tristan has met the other -Iseult, her of the white hands. The poet Gottfried did not complete his -work. He died, leaving Tristan's heart struggling between the old love and -the new--the new and weaker love, but the more present offering to pain. -The story was variously concluded by different rhymers, in Gottfried's -time and after. The best ending is the extant fragment of the _Tristan_ by -Thomas of Brittany, the master whom Gottfried followed. In it, the wounded -Tristan dies at the false news of the black sails--the treachery of Iseult -of the white hands. The true Iseult finds him dead; kisses him, takes him -in her arms, and dies. - -From the time when on the ship Tristan and Iseult cast shame and honour to -the winds, the story tells of a love which knows no law except itself, a -love which is not hindered or made to hesitate and doubt by any command of -righteousness or honour. Love is the theme; the tale has no sympathy or -understanding for anything else. It is therefore free from the consciously -realized inconsistencies present at least in some versions of the story of -Lancelot and Guinevere. In them two laws of life seem on the verge of -conflict. On the one--the feebler--side, honour, troth to marriage vows, -some sense of right and wrong; on the other, passionate love, which is law -and right unto itself, having its own commands and prohibitions; a love -which is also an inspiration and uplifting power unto the lover; a love -holy in itself and yet because of its high nature the more fatally -impeached by truth and honour trampled on. In the conflict between the two -laws of life in the Lancelot story, the rights and needs and power of love -maintain themselves; yet the end must come, and the lovers live out love's -palinode in separate convents. For this love to be made perfect, must be -crowned with repentance. - -Who first created Lancelot, and who first made the peerless knight love -Arthur's queen? This question has not yet been answered.[714] Chretien de -Troies' poem, _Le Conte de la charrette_, has for its subject an episode -in Lancelot's long love of Guinevere.[715] Here, as in his other poems, -Chretien is a facile narrator, with little sense of the significance that -might be given to the stories which he received and cleverly remade. But -their significance is shown in the Old French prose _Lancelot_, probably -composed two or three decades after Chretien wrote. It contains the lovely -story of Lancelot's rearing, by the Lady of the Lake, and of his glorious -youth. It brings him to the Court of Arthur, and tells how he was made a -knight--it was the queen and not the king from whom he received his sword. -And he loves her--loves her and her only from the first until his death. -He has no thought of serving any other mistress. And he is aided in his -love by the "haute prince Galehaut," the most high-hearted friend that -ever gave himself to his friend's weal. - -From the beginning Lancelot's love is worship, it is holy; and almost from -the beginning it is unholy. From the beginning, too, it is the man's -inspiration, it is his strength; it makes him the peerless knight, -peerless in courtesy, peerless in emprise; this love gives him the single -eye, the unswerving heart, the resistless valour to accomplish those -adventures wherein all other knights had found their shame--they were not -perfect lovers! Only through his perfect love could Lancelot have -accomplished that greatest adventure of the _Val des faux amants_;--_Val -sans retour_ for all other knights.[716] Lancelot alone had always been, -and to his death remained, a lover absolutely true in act and word and -thought; incomparably more chastely loyal to Guinevere than her kingly -spouse. Against the singleness of this perfect love enchantments fail, and -swords and lances break. Yet this love, fraught with untruth and -dishonour, must conceal itself from that king who, while breaking his own -marriage vows as passion led him, trusted and honoured above all men the -peerless knight whose peerlessness was rooted in his unholy holy love for -Arthur's queen. - -The first full sin between Lancelot and Guinevere was committed when -Arthur was absent on a love-adventure, which brought him to a shameful -prison. He was delivered by Lancelot, and recognizing his deliverer, he -said in royal gratitude: "I yield you my land, my honour, and myself." -Lancelot blushes! Thereafter, as towards Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere -are forced into stratagems almost as ignoble as those by which King Mark -was tricked. And Guinevere--she too is peerless among women; perfect in -beauty, perfect in courtliness, perfect in dutifulness to her -husband--saving her love for Lancelot! Guinevere's dutifulness to Arthur -is not shaken by his outrageous treatment of her because of the "false -Guinevere," when he cast off and sought to burn his queen. She will -continue to obey him though he has dishonoured her--and all the time, -unknown to her outrageous, unjustly accusing lord, how had she cast her -and his honour down with Lancelot! Only while she is put away from her -lord, and under Lancelot's guard, for that time she will be true to -marriage vows; and Lancelot assents.[717] - -The latter part of the story, when asceticism enters with Galahad,[718] -suggests that the peerless knight of "les temps adventureux" was sinful. -But the main body of the tale put no reproach on Lancelot for his great -love. It told of a love as perfect and as absolute as the author or -compiler could conceive; and the conduct of Lancelot was intended to be -that of a perfect lover, whose sentiments and actions should accord with -the idea of courtly love and exemplify its rules. Their underlying -principle was that love should always be absolute, and that the lover's -every thought and act should on all occasions correspond with the most -extreme feelings or sentiments or fancies possible for a lover. In the -prose narrative, for example, Lancelot goes mad three times because of his -mistress's cruelty, a cruelty which may seem to us absurd, but which -represents the adored lady's insistence, under all circumstances, upon the -most unhesitating and utter devotion from her lover. - -Chretien's _Conte de la charrette_ is a clear rendering of the idea that -love shall be absolute, and hesitate at nothing; it is an example of -courtly love carried to its furthest imagined conclusions. It displays all -the rules of Andrew the Chaplain in operation. In it Lancelot will do -anything for Guinevere, will show himself a coward knight at her command, -or perform feats of arms; he will desire the least little bit of her--a -tress of hair--more than all else which is not she; he will throw himself -from the window to be near her; engaged in deadly combat, the sight of her -makes him forget his enemy; at the news of her death he seeks at once to -die. Of course his heart loathes the thought of infringing this great love -by the slightest fancy for another woman. On the other hand, when by -marvels of valour Lancelot rescues Guinevere from captivity, she will not -speak to him because for a single instant he had hesitated to mount a -_charrette_, in which no knight was carried save one who was felon and -condemned to death. This was logical on Guinevere's part; Lancelot's love -should always have been so absolute as never for one instant to hesitate. -Much of this is extreme, and yet hardly unreal. Heloise's love for -Abaelard never hesitated. - -Such love, imperious and absolute, shuts out all laws and exigencies save -its own;[719] it must be virtue and honour unto itself; it is careless of -what ill it may do so long as that ill does not infringe love's laws. -Evidently before it the bonds of marriage break, or pale to -insignificance. It is its own sanction, nor needs the faint blessing of -the priest. The poet--as the actual lover likewise--may even deem that -love can best show itself to be the principle of its own honour when -unsustained by wedlock; thus unsustained and unobscured it stands alone, -fairer, clearer, more interesting and romantic. Again, since mediaeval -marriage in high life was more often a joining of fiefs than a union of -hearts, there would be high-born dames and courtly poets to declare that -love could only exist between knight and mistress, and not between husband -and wife. Marriage shuts out love's doubts and fears; there is no need of -further knightly services; and husband and wife by law are bound to render -to each other what between lovers is gracious favour; this was the opinion -of Marie de Champagne, it also was the opinion of Heloise. In chivalric -poetry the lovers, when at last duly married, may continue to call each -other _ami et amie_ rather than wife and lord;[720] or a knight may shun -marriage lest he settle down and lose worship, doing no more adventurous -feats of arms, like Chretien's Erec, till his wife Enide stung him by her -speech.[721] Some centuries later Malory has Lancelot utter a like -sentiment: "But to be a wedded man I think never to be, for if I were, -then should I be bound to tarry with my wife, and leave arms and -tournaments, battles and adventures." - -If allowance be made for the difference in topic and treatment between the -Arthurian romances and Guillaume de Lorris's portion of the _Roman de la -rose_, the latter will be seen to illustrate similar love principles. De -Lorris's poem is fancy playing with thoughts of love which had inspired -these tales of chivalry. Every one knows its gentle idyllic -character;--how charming, for instance, is the conflict between the -Lover-to-be and Love, who quickly overcomes the ready yielder. So he -surrenders unconditionally, gives himself over; Love may slay him or -gladden him--"le cuers est vostre, non pas miens," says the lover to Love, -and you shall do with it as you will. Then Love sweetly takes his little -golden key, and locks the lover's heart, after which he safely may impart -his rules and counsels: the lover must abjure _vilanie_, and foul and -slanderous speech--the opposite of courtesy. Pride also (_orgoil_) must be -abandoned. He should attire himself seemingly, and show cheerfulness; he -must be niggardly in nothing; his heart must be given utterly to one; he -shall undergo toils and endure griefs without complaint; in absence he -will always think of the beloved, sighing for her, keeping his love -aflame; he will be shameful, confused and changing colour in her presence; -at night he will toss and weep for love of her, and dream dreams of -passionate delight; then wakeful, he will rise and wander near her -dwelling, but will not be seen--nor will he forget to be generous to her -waiting-maid. All of this will make the lover pale and lean. To aid him to -endure these agonies, will come Hope with her gentle healings, and -Fond-thought, and Sweet-speech of the beloved with a wise confidant, and -Sweet-sight of her dwelling, maybe of herself. The _Roman de la rose_ is -fancy, and the Arthurian romances are fiction. In the one or the other, -imagination may take the place of passion, and the contents of the poem or -romance afford a type and presentation of the theory of love. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -PARZIVAL, THE BRAVE MAN SLOWLY WISE - - -The instances of romantic chivalry and courtly love reviewed in the last -chapter exemplify ideals of conduct in some respects opposed to Christian -ethics. But there is still a famous poem of chivalry in which the romantic -ideal has gained in ethical consideration and achieved a hard-won -agreement with the teachings of mediaeval Christianity, and yet has not -become monkish or lost its knightly character. This poem told of a -struggle toward wisdom and toward peace; and the victory when won rested -upon the broadest mediaeval thoughts of life, and therefore necessarily -included the soul's reconcilement to the saving ways of God. Yet it was -knighthood's battle, won on earth by strength of arm, by steadfast -courage, and by loyalty to whatsoever through the weary years the man's -increasing wisdom recognized as right. A monk, seeking salvation, casts -himself on God; the man that battles in the world is conscious that his -own endeavour helps, and knows that God is ally to the valiant and not to -him who lets his hands drop--even in the lap of God. - -Among the romances presumably having a remote Breton origin, and somehow -connected with the Court of Arthur, was the tale of Parzival, the princely -youth reared in foolish ignorance of life, who learned all knighthood's -lessons in the end, and became a perfect worshipful knight. This tale was -told and retold. The adventures of another knight, Gawain, were interwoven -in it. Possibly the French poet, Chretien de Troies, about the year 1170, -in his retelling, first brought into the story the conception of that -_thing_, that magic dish, which in the course of _its_ retellings became -the Holy Grail. Chretien did not finish his poem, and after him others -completed or retold the story. Among them there was one who lacked the -smooth facility of the French Trouvere, yet surpassed him and all others -in thoughtfulness and dramatic power. This was the Bavarian, Wolfram von -Eschenbach. He was a knight, and wandered from castle to castle and from -court to court, and saw men. His generous patron was Hermann, Landgraf of -Thueringen, who held court on the Wartburg, near Eisenach. There Wolfram -may have composed his great poem in the opening years of the thirteenth -century. He was no clerk, and had no clerkly education. Probably he could -neither read nor write. But he lived during the best period of mediaeval -German poetry, and the Wartburg was the centre of gay and literary life. -Walther von der Vogelweide was one of Wolfram's familiars in its halls. - -Wolfram knew and disapproved of Chretien's version of the _Perceval_; and -said the story had been far better told by a certain Kyot, a singer of -Provence.[722] Nothing is known of the latter beyond Wolfram's praise. -Perhaps he was an invention of Wolfram's; not infrequently mediaeval poets -referred to fictitious sources. At all events, Wolfram's sources were -French or Provencal. In large measure the best German mediaeval poetry was -an adaptation of the French; a fact which did not prevent the German -adaptations from occasionally surpassing the French works they were drawn -from. In the instance of Wolfram's _Parzival_, as in that of Gottfried von -Strassburg's _Tristan_, the German poems were the great renderings of -these tales. - -As our author was a thoughtful German, his style is difficult and -involved. Yet he had imagination, and his poem is great in the climaxes -of the story. It is a poem of the hero's development, his spiritual -progress. Apparently it was Wolfram who first realized the profound -significance of the Parzival legend. Both the choice of subject and the -contents of the poem reflect his temperament and opinions. Wolfram was a -knight, and chose a knightly tale; for him knightly victories were the -natural symbols of a man's progress. He was also one living in the world, -prizing its gifts, and entertaining merely a perfunctory approval of -ascetic renunciation. The loyal love between man and woman was to him -earth's greatest good, and wedlock did not yield to celibacy in -righteousness.[723] Let fame and power and the glory of this world be -striven for and won in loyalty and steadfastness and truth, in service of -those who need aid, in mercy to the vanquished and in humility before God, -with assurance that He is truth and loyalty and power, and never fails -those who obey and serve Him. - - "While two wills (_Zvifel_, _Zweifel_ == doubt) dwell near the heart, - the soul is bitter. Shamed and graced the man whose dauntless mood - is--piebald! In him both heaven and hell have part. Black-coloured the - unsteadfast comrade; white the man whose thoughts keep troth. False - comradeship is fit for hell fire. Likewise let women heed whither they - carry their honour, and on whom they bestow their love, that they may - not rue their troth. Before God, I counsel good women to observe right - measure. Their fortress is shame: I cannot wish them better weal. The - false one gains false reward; her praise vanishes. Wide is the fame of - many a fair; but if her heart be counterfeit, 'tis a false gem set in - gold. The woman true to womanhood, be hers the praise--not lessened by - her outside hue. - - "Shall I now prove and draw a man and woman rightly? Hear then this - tale of love--joy and anguish too. My story tells of faithfulness, of - woman's truth to womanhood, of man's to manhood, never flinching. - Steel was he; in strife his conquering hand still took the guerdon; - he, brave and slowly wise, this hero whom I greet, sweet in the eyes - of women, heart's malady for them as well, himself a very flight from - evil deed." - -Such is Wolfram's Prologue. The story opens in a forest, where Queen -Herzeloide had buried herself with her infant son after the death in -knightly battle of Prince Gahmuret, her husband. The broken-hearted, -foolish mother is seeking to keep her boy in ignorance of arms and -knights. He has made himself a bow; he shoots a bird--its song is hushed. -This is the child's first sorrow, and childish ignorance has been the -cause; as afterwards youth's folly and then man's lack of wisdom will -cause that child, grown large, more lasting anguish. Now to see a bird -makes his tears start. His still foolish mother orders her servants to -kill them. The boy protests, and the mother with a quick caress declares -the birds shall have peace, she will no more infringe God's commands. At -this unknown name the boy cries out, "O mother! what is God?" "Son, I will -tell thee. Brighter than the day is He--who put on a human face. Pray to -Him in need; His faithfulness helps men ever. There is another, hell's -chief, black and false. Keep thy thoughts from him and from doubt's -waverings." Away springs the boy again; and in the forest he learns to -throw the hunting-spear and slay the stags. One day he hears the sounds of -hoofs. He waves his spear: "May now the devil come in all his rage; I'd -stand against him. My mother speaks of him in dread; but she is just -afraid." Three knights gallop up in glancing armour. He thinks each is a -god; falls on his knees before them. "Help, god, since thou canst help so -well!" "This fool blocks our path," cries one. A fourth, their lord, rides -up, and the boy calls him God. - -"God?--not I; I gladly do His behests. Thou seest four knights." - -"Knights? what is that? If thou hast not God's power, then tell me, who -makes knights?" - -"Young sir, that does King Arthur; go to him. He'll knight you--you seem -to knighthood born." - -The knights gazed on the boy, in whom God's craft showed clear. The boy -touches their armour, their swords. The prince speaks over him: "Had I thy -beauty! God's gifts to thee are great--if thou wilt wisely fare. May He -keep sorrow from thee!" The knights rode on, while the boy sped to his -mother, to tell her what he had seen. She was speechless. The boy would go -to Arthur's Court. So she bethought her of a silly plan, to put fool's -garb on him, that insult and scoff might drive him back to her. She also -gave him counsel, wise and foolish. - -So the youth is launched. He rides away; his mother dies of grief. As his -path winds on, he finds a lady asleep in a pavilion, and following his -mother's counsel he kisses her, and takes her ring by force; trouble came -from this deed of folly. Then he meets with Sigune, mourning a dead -knight. He stops and promises to avenge her. She was his cousin and, -recognizing him, called him by name, and spoke to him of his lineage. Then -the youth is piloted by a fisherman, till, in the neighbourhood of -Arthur's Court, he meets a knight, Ither, in red armour, who greets him, -points out the way, and sends a challenge to Arthur and his Round Table. -Parzival now finds himself at Arthur's thronging Court. The young Iwein -first speaks to him and the fool-youth returns: "God keep thee--so my -mother bade me say. Here I see so many Arthurs; who is it that will make -me knight?" Iwein, laughing, leads him to the royal pavilion, where he -says: "God keep you, gentles, especially the king and his wife--as my -mother bade me greet--and all the honoured knights of the Round Table. But -I cannot tell which one here is lord. To him a red knight sends a -challenge; I think he wants to fight. O! might the king's hand grant me -the Red Knight's harness!" They crowd around the glorious youth. "Thanks, -young sir, for your greeting which I shall hope to earn," said the king. - -"Would to God!" cried the young man, quivering with impatience; "the time -seems years before I shall be knight. Give me knighthood now." - -"Gladly," returns the king. "Might I grant it to you worthily. Wait till -to-morrow that I may knight you duly and with gifts." - -"I want no gifts--only that knight's armour. My mother can give me gifts; -she is a queen." - -Arthur feared to send the raw youth against the noble Ither, but yielded -to the malignant spurring of Sir Kay, and Parzival rode out with his -unknightly hunting-spear. Abruptly he bade Ither give him his horse and -armour, and on the knight's sarcastic answer, grasped his horse's bridle. -The angry Ither reversed his lance, and with the butt end struck down -Parzival and his sorry nag. Parzival sprang to his feet and threw his -spear straight through the visor of the other's helmet; and the knight -fell from his horse, dead. With brutal stupidity Parzival tried to pull -his armour off, not knowing how to unlace it. Iwein came and showed him -how to remove and wear the armour, and how to carry his shield and lance. -So clad in Ither's armour and mounted on the great war-horse, he bids -Iwein commend him to King Arthur, and rides off, leaving the other to care -for the body of the dead knight. - -In the evening he reached the castle of an aged prince, who saw the -marvellous youth come riding, with the fool garments showing out from -under his armour. Courteously received, the youth enjoyed a bath, a -repast, and a long night's sleep. Fortunately his mother had bade him -follow the counsels of grey hairs; so in the morning he put on the -garments which his host had left in his room for him, instead of what his -mother gave. The host first heard mass with his simple guest, and -instructed him as to its significance, and how to cross himself and guard -against the devil's wiles. Then they breakfasted, and the old man, having -heard Parzival's story, advised him to leave off saying "My mother bade -me," and gave him further counsel: "Preserve thy shame; the shameless man -is worthless, and at last, wins hell. You seem a mighty lord, mind you -take pity on those in need; be kind and generous and humble. The worthy -man in need is shamed to beg; anticipate his wants; this brings God's -favour. Yet be prudent, neither lavish nor miserly; right measure be your -rule. Sorely you need counsel; avoid harsh conduct, do not ask too many -questions, nor yet refuse to answer a question fitly asked; observe and -listen. Let mercy temper valour. Spare him who yields, whatever wrong he -has done you. When you lay off your armour, wash your hands and face; make -yourself neat; woman's eye will mark it. Be manly and gay. Hold women in -respect and love; this increases a young man's honour. Be constant--that -is manhood's part. Short his praise who betrays honest love. The -night-thief wakes many foes; against treachery true love has its own -wisdom and resource. Gain its disfavour and your lot is shame." - -The guest thanked the host for his counsel. He spoke no more of his mother -save in his heart. Then his host, remarking that he had seen many a shield -hang better on a wall than Parzival's on him, took him out into a field; -and there in the company of other knights he instructed him in jousting, -and found him a ready and resistless pupil. The old man looked fondly on -him--his daughter Liasse--she is fair--would not Parzival think so, and -stay as a son in the now sonless house? Fair and chaste was the damsel, -but Parzival says: "My lord, I am not wise. If I gain knighthood's praise -so that I may look for love--then keep Liasse for me. You shall have less -weight of grief if I can lighten it." - -Parzival's first experience of life and the old man's counsels had changed -him. He was no longer the callow boy who a few days before in the forest -took the knights for gods, but a young man conscious of his inexperience -and lack of wisdom. Perhaps the change seems sudden; but the subtle -development of character had not yet found literary expression in the -Middle Ages, and Wolfram here is a great pioneer. - -So the young knight rode away, carrying secret thoughts of the maiden, and -a little pain, his heart lightly touched with love, and so made ready for -a mightier passion. His horse carried him on through woods and savage -mountains, to the kingdom whose capital, Pelrapeire, was besieged, because -it held its queen, Condwiramurs (_coin de voire amors_). Within the town -were famine and death, without, a knightly, cruel foe, King Clamide, who -fought to win the queen by sack and ruin. Crossing a field and bridge -where many a knight had fallen, Parzival reached a gate and knocked. A -maid called out, and finding that he brought aid and not enmity, she -admitted him. Armed men weak with hunger fill the streets, through which -the maid leads the knight on to the palace. His armour is removed, a -mantle brought him. "Will he see the queen, our lady?" ask the attendants. -"Gladly," answers Parzival. They enter the great hall--and the queen's -fair eyes greet him. She advances surrounded by her ladies. With courtesy -she kisses the knight, gives him her hand, and leads him to a seat. The -faces of her warriors and women are sad and worn; but she--had she -contended with Enit and both Iseults fair, and whomsoever else men praise -for beauty, hers had been the prize. - -The guest mused: "Liasse was there--Liasse is here; God slacks my grief, -here is Liasse." He sat silent by the queen, mindful of the old prince's -advice not to ask questions. "Does this man despise me," thought she, -"because I am no longer lovely? No, he is the guest, the hostess I; it is -for me to speak." Then aloud: "Sir, a hostess must speak. Your greeting -won a kiss from me; you offered me your service--so said my maid. Rare -offer now! Sir, whence come you?" - -"Lady, I rode this very day from the house of the good, well-remembered -host, Prince Gurnemanz." - -"Sir, I had hardly believed this from another; the way is so long. His -sister was my mother. Many a sad day have I and his Liasse wept together. -Since you bear kindness for that prince, I will tell you our grievous -plight." - -The telling is deferred till some refreshment is obtained, and then -Parzival is shown to his chamber. He sleeps; but the sound of sobbing -breaks his slumber. The hapless queen in her need had sought out her guest -in the solitude of night; she had cast herself on her knees by his couch; -her tears fall--on him, and he awakes. Touched with love and pity at the -sight, Parzival sprang up. "Lady! you mock me? You should kneel to God." -In honour they sit by each other, and the queen tells her story, how King -Clamide and his seneschal have wasted her lands, unhappy orphan, slain her -people, even her knightly defender, Liasse's brother--she will die rather -than yield herself to him. - -Liasse's name stirs Parzival: "How can I help you?" - -"Save me from that seneschal, who harries me and mine." - -Parzival promises, and the queen steals away. The day is breaking, and -Parzival hears the minster bells. Mass is sung, and the young knight arms -and goes forth--the burghers' prayers go with him--against the host led by -the seneschal. Parzival vanquishes him, grants him his life, and sends him -to Arthur's Court. The townsmen receive the victor with acclaim, the -queen embraces him. Who but he shall be her lord? So their nuptials were -celebrated, although Parzival felt the reward to be too great; it were -enough for him to touch her garment's hem. Soon King Clamide himself -ordered an assault upon the town, only to meet repulse. He challenged -Parzival, and, vanquished like his seneschal, was likewise sent to -Arthur's Court. - -Love was strong between Queen Condwiramurs and Parzival her husband. One -morning Parzival spoke to her in the presence of their people: "Lady, -please you, with your permission, I would see how my mother fares and seek -adventures. If thus I serve and honour you, your love is ample guerdon." - -From his wife and from all those who called him Lord, Parzival rode forth -alone. He has to learn what pain and sorrow are; the first teaching came -now, as longing for his wife filled his heart with grief. In the evening -he reached the shore of a lake, and saw a fisher in a boat, attired like a -king.[724] The fisher directed him to a castle, promising there to be his -host. Following his directions, Parzival came to a marvellously great -castle, where, on saying that the fisher sent him, he was courteously -received and his needs attended to. Sadness pervaded the great halls. The -banquet-room, to which he was shown, was lighted by a hundred chandeliers, -and around the walls were ranged a hundred couches. The host entered and -lay down on one of them, made like a stretcher; he seemed a stranger to -joy. They covered him with furs and mantles, as a sick man. He beckoned -Parzival to sit by him. As the hall filled with people, a squire entered -carrying a bleeding lance, whereupon all present made lament. A procession -of nobly clad ladies followed, bearing precious dishes, and at last among -them a queen, Repanse de Schoye. She bore, upon a silken cushion, the -fulness of all good, an object called the Grail. Only a maiden pure and -true might carry it. There also came six other maids bearing each a -flashing goblet; and they set their burdens before the host. Water for the -hands was then brought to the host and to his guest, and to the knights -ranged on the couches; and tables were placed before them all. A hundred -squires came and reverently took from the Grail all manner of food and -wine, which they set before the knights, whatever each might wish. -Everything came from the power of the Grail. - -Parzival wondered, but kept silence, thinking of the old prince's counsel -not to ask many questions, and hoping to be told what all this might be. A -squire brought a sword to the host, who gave it to the guest: "I bore this -sword in all need, until God wounded me. Take it as amends for our sad -hospitality. Rely on it in battle." - -The gift of the sword was Parzival's opportunity to ask his host what had -stricken him. He let it pass. The feast was solemnly removed. "Your bed is -ready, whenever you will rest," said the host; and Parzival was shown to a -bedchamber, where he was left alone. But the knight did not sleep -uncompanioned. Coming sorrow sent her messengers. Dreams overhung him, as -a tapestry, woven of sword-strokes and deadly thrusts of lance. He was -fighting dark, endless, battles for his life, till sweating in every limb -he woke. Day shone through the window. "Where are the knaves to fetch my -clothes?" He heard no sound. He sprang up. His armour lay there, and the -two swords--the one which he took from Ither and the one given him by his -host. Thought he: "I have suffered such pain in my sleep, there must be -hard work for me to-day. Is mine host in need, I will gladly aid him and -her too, Repanse, who gave me this mantle; yet I would not serve her for -her love; my own wife is as beautiful." - -Parzival passed through the castle's empty halls, calling aloud in anger. -He saw no one, heard no sound. In the courtyard he found his horse, and -flung himself into the saddle. He rode through the open castle-gate, over -the draw-bridge, which an unseen hand drew up before his horse's hoofs had -fairly cleared it. He looked behind him in surprise. A squire cursed him: -"May the sun scorch you! Had you just used your mouth to ask a question of -your host! You missed it, goose!" Parzival called for explanation, but the -gates were swung to in his face. His joy was gone, his pain begun. By -chance throw of the dice he had found and lost the Grail. He sees the -ground torn as by the hoofs of knights riding hard. "These," thought he, -"fight to-day for my host's honour. Their band would not have been shamed -by me. I would not fail them in their need--so might I earn the bread I -ate and this sword which their lord gave me. I carry it unearned. They -think I am a coward." - -He followed the hoof tracks; they led him on a way, then scattered and -grew faint. The day was young. Under a linden sat a lady, holding the body -of a knight embalmed. What earthly troth compared with hers? He turned his -horse to her: "Lady, your sorrow grieves my heart. Would my service avail -you?" - -"Whence come you? Many a man has found death in this wood. Flee, as you -love your life; but, say, where did you spend the night?" - -"In a castle not a league from here." - -"Do not deceive. You carry stranger shield. There is no house in thirty -leagues, save one castle high and great. Those who seek it, find it not. -It is only found unsought. Munsalvaesch its name. The ancient Titurel -bequeathed it to his son Frimutel, a hero; but in the jousts he won his -death from love. Of his children, one is a hermit, Trevrizent; another, -Anfortas, is the castle's lord, and can neither ride nor walk, nor sit nor -lie. But, sir, if you were there, may be that he is healed of his long -pain." - -"Many marvels saw I there," he answered. - -She recognized the voice: "You are Parzival. Say, then, saw you the Grail -and the joyless lord? If his pain is stilled through you, then hail! far -as the wind blows spreads your glory, your dominion too." - -"How did you know me?" said Parzival. - -"I am the maid who once before told you her grief, your kinswoman, who -mourns her lover slain." - -"Alas! where are thy red lips? Art thou Sigune who told me who I was? -Where is fled thy long brown hair, thy loveliness and colour?" - -Sigune spoke: "My only consolation were to hear that you have helped the -helpless man whose sword you bear. Know you its gifts? The first stroke it -strikes well, at the second, breaks; a word is needed that the sword may -make its bearer peerless. Do you know this word? If so, none can withstand -you--have you asked the question?" - -"I asked nothing." - -"Woe is me that mine eyes have seen you! You asked no question! You saw -such wonders there--the Grail, the noble ladies, the bloody spear. -Wretched, accursed man, what would you have from me? Yours the false -wolf-tooth! You should have taken pity on your host, and asked his -ail--then God had worked a miracle on him. You live, but dead to -happiness." - -"Dear cousin, speak me fair. I will atone for any ill." - -"Atone? nay, leave that! At Munsalvaesch your honour and your knightly -praise vanished. You get no more from me." - -Parzival's fault was not accident; it sprang from what he was--unwise. He -could atone only through becoming wise through the endurance of years of -trial. The unhappy knight rode on, loosing his helmet to breathe more -freely. Soon he chanced to overtake the lady Jesute, travelling on a mean -horse in wretched guise, her garments torn, her face disfigured. He -offered aid, and she, recognizing him, said with tears that her sorrows -all were due to him; she was the lady whose girdle and ring his fool's -hand had taken, and now her husband Orilus treated her as a woman of -shame. Here the proud duke himself came thundering up, to see what knight -dared aid his cast-off wife. Parzival conquered him after a long combat; -and the three went to a hermitage where the victor made oath that it was -he who took by force the ring and girdle from the blameless lady. -Returning the ring to Orilus, he sent him with his lady, reconciled and -happy, to Arthur's Court. Thus Parzival's knighthood made amends for his -first foolish act. He found a strong lance in the hermitage, took it, and -departed. - -When Orilus and his lady had been received with honour at Arthur's Court, -the king with all his knights set forth towards Munsalvaesch to find the -mighty man calling himself the Red Knight, who had sent so many conquered -pledges of his prowess; for he wished to make him a knight of the Round -Table. It was winter. Parzival--the Red Knight--came riding from the -opposite direction. As he drew near the encampment of the king, his eye -lighted on three drops of blood showing clear red in the fresh-fallen -snow; in mid air above, a wild goose had been struck by a falcon. The -knight paused in reverie--red and white--the colours carried his thoughts -to his heart's queen, Condwiramurs. There he sat, as a statue on his -horse, with poised spear; his thoughts had flown to her whose image now -closed his eyes to all else. A lad spied the great knight, and ran -breathless to Arthur, to tell of the stranger who seemed to challenge all -the Round Table. Segramors gained Arthur's permission to accost him. Out -he rode with ready challenge; Parzival neither saw nor heard, till his -horse swerved at the knight's approach, so that he saw the drops no -longer. Then his mighty lance fell in rest, Segramors was hurled to the -ground, and took himself back discomfited, while Parzival returned to gaze -on the drops of blood, lost in reverie as before. Now Kay the quarrelsome -rode out, and roused the hero with a rude blow. The joust is run again, -and Kay crawls back with broken leg and arm. Again Parzival loses himself -in reverie. And now courtly Gawain, best of Arthur's knights, rides forth, -unarmed. Courteously he addresses Parzival, who hears nothing, and sits -moveless. Gawain bethinks him it is love that binds the knight. Seeing -that Parzival is gazing on three drops of blood, he gently covers them -with a silken cloth. Parzival's wits return; he moans: "Alas, lady wife of -mine, what comes between us? A cloud has hidden thee." Then, astonished, -he sees Gawain--a knight without lance or shield--does he come to mock? -With noble courtesy Gawain disclosed himself and led the way to Arthur's -Court, where fair ladies and the king greeted the hero whom they had come -to seek. A festival was ordained in his honour. The fair company of -knights and ladies are seated about the Round Table; the feast is at its -height, when suddenly upon a gigantic mule, a scourge in her rough hand, -comes riding the seeress Cundrie, harsh and unlovely. Straight she -addresses Arthur: "Son of King Uterpendragon, you have shamed yourself and -this high company, receiving Parzival, whom you call the Red Knight." She -turns on Parzival: "Disgrace fall on your proud form and strength! Sir -Parzival, tell me, how came it that you met that joyless fisher, and did -not help him? He showed you his pain, and you, false guest, had no pity -for him. Abhorred by all good men, marked for hell by heaven's Highest, -you ban of happiness and curse of joy! No leech can heal your sickened -honour. Greater betrayal never shamed a man so goodly. Your host gave you -a sword; you saw them bear the Grail, the silver dishes, and the bloody -spear, and you, dishonoured Parzival, were silent. You failed to win -earth's chiefest prize; your father had not done so--are you his son? Yes, -for Herzeloide was as true as he. Woe's me, that Herzeloide's child has so -let honour slip!" Cundrie wrung her hands; her tears fell fast; she turned -her mule and cried: "Woe, woe to thee Munsalvaesch, mount of pain; here is -no aid for thee!" And bidding none farewell, she rode away, leaving -Parzival to his shame, the knights to their astonishment, the ladies to -their tears. - -Cundrie was hardly out of sight, before another shame was put on the Round -Table. An armed knight rode in, and, accusing Gawain of murdering his king -and cousin, summoned him to mortal combat within forty days before the -King of Askalon. Arthur himself was ready to do battle for Gawain, but -that good knight accepted the challenge with all courtesy. - -Parzival's lineage was first known to the Court from Cundrie's calling him -by name and speaking of his mother. Now Clamide, once Condwiramurs's cruel -wooer, begged the hero to intercede for him with another fair one, the -lady Cunneware. Parzival courteously complied. A heathen queen then -saluted him with the news that he had a great heathen half-brother, -Feirefiz, the son of Parzival's father by a heathen queen. Thanking her, -Parzival spoke to the company: "I cannot endure Cundrie's reproach;--what -knight here does not look askance? I will seek no joy until I find the -Grail, be the quest short or long. The worthy Gurnemanz bade me refrain -from questions. Honoured knights, your favour is for me to win again, for -I have lost it. Me yet unshamed you took into your company; I release you. -Let sorrow be my comrade; for I forsook my happiness on Munsalvaesch. Ah! -helpless Anfortas! You had small help from me." - -Knights and ladies were grieved to see the hero depart in such sorrow, and -many a knight's service was offered him. The lady Cunneware took his hand; -Lord Gawain kissed him and said: "I know thy way is full of strife; God -grant to thee good fortune, and to me the chance to serve thee." - -"Ah! what is God?" answered Parzival. "Were He strong He would not have -put such shame on me and you. I was His subject from the hour I learned to -ask His favour. Now I renounce His service. If He hates me, I will bear -it. Friend, in thine hour of strife let the love of a woman pure and true -strengthen thy hand. I know not when I shall see thee again; may my good -wishes towards thee be fulfilled." - -The hero's arms are brought; his horse is saddled; his grievous toil -begins. - -Why should long sorrow come to Parzival for not asking a question, when -his omission was caused neither by brutality nor ill will? when, on the -contrary, he would gladly have served his host? The relation between his -conduct and his fortune seems lame. Yet in life as well as in literature, -ignorance and error bring punishment. Moreover, to mediaeval romance not -only is there a background of sorcery and magic, but active elements of -magic survive in the tales.[725] And nothing is more fraught with magic -import and result than question and answer. Wolfram did not treat as -magical the effect upon his hero's lot of his failure to ask the question; -but he retained the palpably magic import of the act as affecting the sick -Anfortas. It was hard that the omission should have brought Parzival to -sorrow and despair; yet the fault was part of himself, and the man so -ignorant and unwise was sure to incur calamity, and also gain sorrow's -lessons if he was capable of learning. So the sequence becomes ethical: -from error, calamity; from calamity, grief; and from grief, wisdom. With -Wolfram, Parzival's fault was Parzival; failure to ask the question was a -symbol of his lack of wisdom. The poet was of his time; and mediaeval -thought tended to symbolism, and to move, as it were, from symbol to -symbol, and from symbolical significance to related symbolical -significance, and indeed often to treat a symbol as if it were the fact -which was symbolized. - - * * * * * - -At this point Wolfram's poem devotes some cantos to the lighter-hearted -adventures of Gawain. This valiant, courtly, loyal knight and his -adventures are throughout a foil to the heavier lot and character of -Parzival. But when Gawain has had his due, the poet is glad to return to -his rightful hero. Parzival has ridden through many lands; he has sailed -many seas; before his lance no knight has kept his seat; his praise and -fame are spread afar. Though he has never been overthrown, the sword given -him by Anfortas broke; but with magic water Parzival welded it again. In a -forest one day he rode up to a hut, where Sigune was living as a recluse, -feeding her soul with thoughts of her dead lover, barring all fancies that -might disunite her from the dead whom she still held as her husband. -Parzival recognized her, and she him, when he removed his helm: "You are -Sir Parzival--tell me, how is it with the Grail?" - -"It has given me sorrow enough; I left a land where I was king, a loving -wife, fairest of women; I suffer anguish for her love, and more because of -that high goal of Munsalvaesch which is not reached. Cousin Sigune, -knowing my sorrow, you do wrong to hate me." - -"My wrath is spent. You have lost joy enough since that time you failed to -question Anfortas, your host--your happiness as well. Then that question -would have blessed you; now joy is denied you; your high mood halts; your -heart is tamed by sorrow, which had stayed a stranger to it had you asked -the question." - -"I acted as a luckless man. Dear cousin, counsel me--but, say, how is it -with you? I should bemoan your grief were not my own greater than man ever -bore." - -"Let His hand help you who knows all sorrow. A path might bring you yet to -Munsalvaesch. Cundrie but now rode hence--follow her track." - -Parzival started to follow the track of Cundrie's mule, which soon was -lost, and with it the Grail was lost again. Without guidance he rode on. -He overthrew a Grail knight, and took his horse, his own having been -wounded in the combat. How long he rode I know not, says the poet. One -frosty morning he met an aged knight unhelmeted, and walking barefoot with -his wife and daughters. The knight reproved him for riding armed on that -holy day. - -Parzival answered: "I do not know the time of year; it is long since I -kept count of days. Once I served Him who is called God--until He graced -me with His mockery. He helps, men say. I have not found it so." - -"If you mean God who was born of a virgin," replied the old knight, "and -believe that He took man's nature, you do wrong to ride in armour; for -this is the day when He hung on the Cross for us. Sir, not far from here -dwells a holy man, who will give you counsel; you may repent and be -absolved from your sins." - -Parzival courteously took his leave. He had regarded his failure to ask -that question as a luckless error, had felt that God was unjust to him, -and had also doubted His power to aid. Now came wavering thoughts: "What -if God might help my pain? If He ever favoured a knight, or if sword and -shield might win His favour--if to-day is His day of help, let Him help me -if He can. If God's craft can show the way to man and horse, I'll honour -Him. Go then according to God's choosing." - -He flung the bridle on his horse's neck, spurring him forward; and the -horse carried him straight to the hermitage of holy Trevrizent, who fasted -there to fit himself for heaven, his chastity warring with the devil. -Parzival recognized the place where he had sworn the oath to Orilus, to -clear Jesute's honour. The hermit, seeing him, exclaimed: "Alas! sir, that -you ride equipped in this holy season. Were you sore pressed? Another garb -were fitter, did your pride permit. Come by the fire. If you follow love's -adventure, think of that afterward, and this day seek the love which this -day gives." - -Dismounting, Parzival stood respectfully before the hermit: "Sir, advise -me; I am a man of sin." - -His host promised counsel and asked how he came there. Parzival told of -meeting the old knight, and inquired whether his host felt no fear at -seeing him ride up. "Believe me, no," answered the hermit; "I fear no man. -I would not boast, but in my day my heart never quailed in the fight. I -was a knight as you are, and had many sinful thoughts." - -Having placed the horse in shelter beneath a cliff, the hermit led the -knight into his cell. There was a fire of coals, before which Parzival was -glad to warm himself and exchange his steel armour for a cloak; he seemed -forest-weary. A door opened to an inner cell, where stood an altar, -bearing the very reliquary on which Parzival had laid his hand in making -oath. He told his host of this, and of the lance which he had found there -and taken. "A friend of mine left it there, and chided with me afterwards. -It is four years, six months, and three days since you took that spear; I -will prove it to you from this Psalter." - -"I did not know how long I had journeyed, lost and unhappy. I carry -sorrow's weight. Sir, I will tell you more: from that time no man has seen -me in church or minster, where they honour God. I have sought battles -only. I also bear a hate for God. He is my trouble's sponsor: had He borne -aid, my joy had not been buried living! My heart is sore. In reward of my -many fights, sorrow has set on me a crown--of thorns. I bear a grudge -against that Lord of aid, that me alone He helps not." - -The host sighed, and looked at him; then spoke: "Sir, be wise. You should -trust God well. He will help you, it is His office; He must help us both. -Tell me with sober wits, how did your anger against Him arise? Learn from -me His guiltlessness before you accuse Him. His aid is never withheld. -Even I, a layman, can read the meaning of those unlying books; man must -continue steadfast in service of Him who never wearies in His steady aid -to sinking souls. Keep troth, for God is troth. Deceit is hateful to Him. -We should be grateful; in our behalf His nobility took on the form of man. -God is called, and is, truth. He can turn from no one; teach your thoughts -never to turn from Him. You can force nothing from Him with your wrath. -Whoever sees you carry hate toward Him will deem you sick of wit. Think of -Lucifer and all his comrades. Hell was their reward. When Lucifer and his -host had taken their hell-journey, a man was made. God made from clay the -worthy Adam. From Adam's flesh He took Eve, who brought us calamity when -she listened not to her Creator, and destroyed our joy. Two sons were born -to them. One of these in envious anger destroyed his grandmother's -maidenhood, by sin." - -"Sir, how could that be?" - -"The earth was Adam's mother, and was a maiden. Adam was Cain's father, -who slew Abel; and the blood fell on the pure earth; its maidenhood was -sped. Thence arose hate among men--and still endures. Nothing in the world -is as pure as an innocent maid; God was himself a maiden's child, and took -the image of the first maid's fruit. With Adam's seed came sorrow and joy; -through him our lineage is from God, but through him, too, we carry sin, -for which God took man's image, and so suffered, battling with troth -against untroth. Turn to Him if you would not be lost. Plato, Sibyl the -prophetess, foretold Him. With divine love His mighty hand plucked us from -hell. The joyful news they tell of Him the True Lover is this: He is -radiant light, and wavers not in His love. Men may have either His love or -hate. The unrepentant sinner flees the divine faithfulness; he who does -penance wins His clemency. God penetrates thought, which is hidden to the -sun's rays and needs no castle's ward. Yet God's light passes its dark -wall, comes stealing in, and noiselessly departs. No thought so quick but -He discovers it before it leaves the heart. The pure in heart He chooses. -Woe to the man who harbours evil. What help is there in human craft for -him whose deeds put God to shame? You are lost if you act in His despite, -who is prepared for either love or hate. Now change your heart; with -goodness earn His thanks." - -"Sir," says Parzival, "I am glad to be taught by you of Him who does not -fail to reward both crime and virtue. With pain and struggle I have so -borne my young life to this day that through keeping troth I have got -sorrow." - -Parzival still feels his innocence; perhaps the host is not so sure: -"Prithee, be open with me. I would gladly hear your troubles and your -sins. May be I can advise you." - -"The Grail is my chief woe and then my wife--she is beyond compare. For -both of these I yearn." - -"Sir, you say well. Your grief is righteous if its cause is yearning for -your wife. If you were cast to hell for other sins, but loyal to your -wife, God's hand would lift you out. As for the Grail, you foolish man, -pursuit will never win it. 'Tis for him only who is named in heaven. I can -say; for I have seen it." - -"Sir, were you there?" - -"I was." - -Parzival did not say that he had been there too; but asked about the -Grail. His host then told him of the valiant Templars who dwelt on -Munsalvaesch, and rode thence on adventures as penance for their sins. -"They are nourished by a Stone of marvellous virtue; no sick man seeing it -could die that week; it gives youth and strength, and is called the Grail. -To-day, as on every Good Friday, a dove flies from heaven and lays a wafer -on the Grail, from which the Grail receives its share of every food and -every good the earth or Paradise affords. The name of whosoever is chosen -for the Grail, be it boy or girl, appears inscribed upon it, suddenly, and -when read disappears. They come as children; glad the mother whose child -is named; for taken to that company, it will be held from sin and shame, -and be received in heaven when this life is past. Further, all those who -took neither side in the war between Lucifer and the Trinity, were cast -out of heaven to earth, and here must serve the Grail." - -Parzival spoke: "If knighthood might with shield and spear win earth's -prize and Paradise for the soul--why I have fought wherever I found fight; -often my hand has touched the prize. If God is wise in conflicts, He -should name me, that those people there may learn to know me. My hand -never drew back." - -"First you must guard against pride, and practise modesty." The old man -paused and then continued: "There was a Grail king named Anfortas. You and -I should pity his sad lot which befell him through pride in youth and -riches; he loved in the world's light way--that also goes not with the -Grail. There came once to the castle one unnamed, a simple man; he went -away, his sins upon his head; he never asked the host what ailed him. -Before that time a prince, Lahelein, approached and fought with a Grail -knight, and slew him and took his horse. Sir, are you Lahelein? you rode a -Grail steed hither. I know his trappings well, and the dove's crest which -Anfortas gave his knights. The old Titurel also wore that crest, and after -him his son Frimutel, till he lost his life. Sir, you resemble him. Who -are you?" - -Each looked on the other. Parzival spoke: "My father was a knight. He lost -his life in combat; sir, include him in your prayers. His name was -Gamuhret. I am not Lahelein; yet in my folly once I too robbed the dead. -My sinful hand slew Ither. I left him dead upon the sward--and took what -was to take." - -"O world! alas for thee! heart's sorrow is thy pay!" the hermit cried. "My -nephew, it was your own flesh and blood you slew; a deed which with God -merits death. Ither, the pattern of all knights--how can you atone? My -sister too, your mother Herzeloide, you brought her to her death." - -"Oh no! good sir, how say you that? If I am your sister's child, oh tell -me all." - -"Your mother died when you left her. My other sister was Sigune's mother; -our brother is Anfortas, who long has been the Grail's sad lord. We early -lost our father, Frimutel; from him Anfortas, his first-born, inherited -the Grail crown, when still a child. As he grew a man, all too eagerly he -followed the service set by love of woman, chose him a mistress and broke -many a spear for her. He disobeyed the Grail, which forbids its lords -love's service, save as it prescribes. One day, for his lady's favour, he -ran a joust with a heathen knight. He slew him, but the heathen spear -struck him, and broke, leaving a poisoned wound. In anguish he returned. -No medicine or charm can heal that wound, and yet he cannot die; that is -the Grail's power. I renounced knighthood, flesh, and wine, in prayer that -God would heal him. We knelt before the Grail, and on it read that when a -knight should come, and, unadmonished, ask what ailed him, he should be -sound again. That knight should then be the Grail's king, in place of -Anfortas. Since then a knight did come--I spoke of him to you. He might as -well have stayed away for all the honour that he won or aid he brought us. -He did not ask: My lord, what brought you to this pass? Stupidity forbade -him." - -The two made moan together. It was noon. The host said: "Let us take food -now, and tend your horse." They went out; Parzival broke up some branches -for his horse, while the host gathered a repast of herbs. Then they -returned to the cell. "Dear nephew," said the hermit, "do not despise this -food. At least, you will not find another host who would more gladly give -you better." - -"Sir, may God's favour pass me by, if ever a host's care was sweeter to -me." - -When they had eaten, they saw to the horse again, whose hungry plight -grieved the old man because of the saddle with Anfortas's crest. Then -Parzival spoke: - -"Lord and uncle mine, if I dare speak for shame, I should tell you all my -unhappiness. My troth takes refuge in you. My misdeeds are so sore, that -if you cast me off I shall go all my days unloosed from my remorse. Take -pity with good counsel on a fool. He who rode to Munsalvaesch, and saw -that pain, and asked no question, that was I, misfortune's child. Thus -have I, sir, misdone." - -"Nephew! Alas! We both may well lament--where were your five senses? Yet I -will not refuse thee counsel. You must not grieve overmuch, but, in lament -and laying grief aside, follow right measure. Would that I might refresh -and hearten you, so that you would push on, and not despair of God. You -might still cure your sorrow. God will not forsake you. I counsel thee -from Him." - -His host then told Parzival more about Anfortas's pains, and about the -Grail people, then the story of his own life before he renounced -knighthood, and also about Ither. "Ither was your kin. If your hand forgot -this kinship, God will not. You must do penance for this deadly sin, and -also for your mother's death. Repent of your misdeeds and think of death, -so that your labour here below may bring peace to your soul above." - -These two deadly sins of Parzival were done unwittingly, and unwitting -was his neglect to ask the question. His guilt was thoughtlessness and -stupid ignorance. It is impossible not to think of Oedipus, and compare -the Christian mediaeval treatment of unwitting crimes with the classical -Greek consideration of the same dark subject. Oedipus sinned as -unwittingly as Parzival, and as impulsively. His ruin was complete. -Afterwards--in the _Oedipus Coloneus_--his character gathers greatness -through submission to the necessary consequences of his acts; here was his -spiritual expiation. On the other hand, mercy, repentance, hope, the -uplifting of the unwitting sinner, forgiveness and consolation, soften and -glorify the Christian mediaeval story. - -Parzival stayed some days at the hermitage. At parting the hermit spoke -words of comfort to him: "Leave me your sins. I will be your surety with -God for your repentance. Perform what I have bidden you, and do not -waver." - -The story here turns to Gawain. In the tale of his adventures there comes -a glimpse of Parzival. A proud lady, for whose love Gawain is doing -perilous deeds, tells him, she has never met a man she could not bend to -her will and love, save only one. That one came and overthrew her knights. -She offered him her land and her fair self; his answer put her to shame: -"The glorious Queen of Pelrapeire is my wife, and I am Parzival. I will -have none of your love. The Grail gives me other care." - -Gawain won this lady, and conducted her to Arthur's Court, whither his -rival the haughty King Gramoflanz was summoned to do battle with him. On -the morning set for the combat Gawain rode out a little to the bank of a -river, to prove his horse and armour. There at the river rode a knight; -Gawain deemed it was Gramoflanz. They rush together; man and horse go down -in the joust. The knights spring to their feet and fight on with their -swords. Meanwhile Gramoflanz, with a splendid company, has arrived at -Arthur's Court. The lists are ready; Gramoflanz stands armed. But where is -Gawain? He was not wont to tarry. Squires hurry out in search, to find him -just falling before the blows of the stranger. They call, Gawain! and the -unknown knight throws away his sword with a great cry: "Wretched and -worthless! Accursed is my dishonoured hand. Be mine the shame. My -luckless arms ever--and now again--strike down my happiness. That I should -raise my hand against noble Gawain! It is myself that I have overthrown." - -Gawain heard him: "Alas, sir, who are you that speak such love towards me? -Would you had spoken sooner, before my strength and praise had left me." - -"Cousin, I am your cousin, ready to serve you, Parzival." - -"Then you said true! This fool's fight of two hearts that love! Your hand -has overthrown us both." - -Gawain could no longer stand. Fainting they laid him on the grass. -Gramoflanz rides up, and is grieved to find his rival in no condition to -fight. Parzival offers to take Gawain's place; but Gramoflanz declines, -and the combat is postponed till the morrow. Parzival is then escorted to -Arthur's Court, where Gawain would have him meet fair ladies; he holds -back, thinking of the shame once put on him there by Cundrie. Gawain -insists, and ladies greet the knight. Arthur again makes Parzival one of -the Round Table. Early the next morning, Parzival, changing his arms, -meets Gramoflanz in the lists, before Gawain has arrived; and vanquishes -him. Then comes Gawain and offers to postpone the combat as Gramoflanz had -done. So the combat is again set for the next day. In the meanwhile, -however, various matters come to light and explanations are had; Arthur -succeeds in reconciling the rival knights and adjusting their relations to -the ladies. So the Court becomes gay with wedding festivals, and all is -joy. - -Except with Parzival. His heart is torn with pain and yearning for his -wife. He muses: "Since I could love, how has love dealt with me! I was -born from love; why have I lost love? I must seek the Grail; yet how I -yearn for the sweet arms of her from whom I parted--so long ago! It is not -fit that I should look on this joyful festival with anguish in my heart." -There lay his armour: "Since I have no part in this joy, and God wills -none for me; and the love of Condwiramurs banishes all wish for other -happiness--now God grant happiness to all this company. I will go forth." -He put his armour on, saddled his horse, took spear and shield, and fled -from the joyous Court, as the day was dawning. - -And now he meets a heathen knight, approaching with a splendid following. -They rode a great joust; and the heathen wondered to find a knight abide -his lance. They fought with swords together, till their horses were blown; -they sprang on the ground, and there fought on. Then the heathen thought -of his queen; the love-thought brought him strength, and he struck -Parzival a blow that brought him to his knee. Now rouse thee, Parzival; -why dost thou not think on thy wife? Suddenly he thought of her, and how -he won her love, vanquishing Clamide before Pelrapeire. Straight her aid -came to him across four kingdoms, and he struck the heathen down; but his -sword--once Ither's--broke. - -The foolish evil deed of Parzival in slaying Ither seems atoned for in the -breaking of this sword. Had it not broken, great evil had been done. The -great-hearted heathen sprang up. "Hero, you would have conquered had that -sword not broken. Be peace between us while we rest." - -They sat together on the grass. "Tell me your name," said the heathen; "I -have never met as great a knight." - -"Is it through fear, that I should tell my name?" - -"Nay, I will name myself--Feirefiz of Anjou." - -"How of Anjou? that is my heritage. Yet I have heard I had a brother. Let -me see your face. I will not attack you with your helmet off." - -"Attack me? it is I that hold the sword; but let neither have the -vantage." He threw his sword far from them. - -With joy and tears the brothers recognized each other; and long and loving -was their speech. Then they rode back together to the Court. They entered -Gawain's tent. Arthur came to greet them, and with him many knights. At -Arthur's request each of the great brothers told the long list of his -knightly victories. The next day Feirefiz was made a knight of the Round -Table, and a grand tournament was held. Then the feast followed; and -again, as once before, to the great company seated at the table, Cundrie -came riding. She greeted the king; then turned to Parzival, and in tears -threw herself at his feet and begged a greeting and forgiveness. Parzival -forgives her. She rises up and cries: "Hail to thee, son of -Gahmuret--Herzeloide's child. Humble thyself in gladness. The high lot is -thine, thou crown of human blessing. Thou shalt be the Grail's lord; with -thee thy wife Condwiramurs, and thy sons Lohengrin and Kardeiz, whom she -bore to thee after thy going. Thy mouth shall question Anfortas--unto his -joy. Now the planets favour thee; thy grief is spent. The Grail and the -Grail's power shall let thee have no part in evil. When young, thou didst -get thee sorrow, which betrayed thy joy as it came;--thou hast won thy -soul's peace, and in sorrow thou hast endured unto thy life's joy." - -Tears of love sprang from Parzival's heart and fell from his eyes: "Lady, -if this be true, that God's grace has granted me, sinful man, to have my -children and my wife, God has been good to me. Loyally would you make good -my losses. Before, had I not done amiss, you would not have been angry. At -that time I was yet unblessed. Now tell me, when and how I shall go meet -my joy. Oh! let me not be stayed!" - -There was no more delay. Parzival was permitted to take one comrade; he -chose Feirefiz. Cundrie guided them to the Grail castle. They entered to -find Anfortas calling on death to free him of his pain. Weeping, and with -prayer to God, Parzival asked what ailed him, and the king was healed. -Then Parzival rode again to Trevrizent. The hermit breaks out in wonder at -the power of God, which man cannot comprehend; let Parzival obey Him and -keep from evil; that any one should win the Grail by striving was unheard -of; now this has come to Parzival, let him be humble. The hero yearns for -his wife--where is she? He is told; there by the meadow where he once saw -the drops of blood he finds her and his sons, asleep in their tent. They -are united; Parzival is made Grail king; and the queen Repanse is given in -marriage to Feirefiz, who is baptized and departs with her. Lohengrin is -named as Parzival's successor, while Kardeiz receives the kingdoms which -had been Gahmuret's and Herzeloide's. - - -END OF VOL. I - - -_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. - - - - -INDEX - -_NOTE.--Of several references to the same matter the more important are -shown by heavy type._ - - - Abaelard, Peter, career of, ii. 342-5; - at Paris, ii. 343, 344, 383; - popularity there, ii. 119; - love for Heloise, ii. 4-=5=, 344; - love-songs, ii. =13=, 207; - Heloise's love for, i. 585; ii. =3=, =5=, 8, 9, =15-16=; - early relations with Heloise, ii. 4-5; - suggestion of marriage opposed by her, ii. 6-9; - marriage, ii. 9; - suffers vengeance of Fulbert, ii. 9; - becomes a monk at St. Denis, ii. 10; - at the Paraclete, ii. 10, 344; - at Breton monastery, ii. 10; - St. Bernard's denunciations of, i. 229, 401; ii. =344-5=, =355=; - letters to, from Heloise quoted, ii. 11-15, 17-20, 23, 24; - letters from, to Heloise quoted, ii. 16-17, 21-3, 24-5; - closing years at Cluny, ii. 25, =26=, 345; - death of, ii. =27=, 345; - estimate of, ii. 4, 342; - rationalizing temper, i. 229; ii. =298-9=; - skill in dialectic, ii. 303, =345-6=, 353; - not an Aristotelian, ii. 369; - works on theology, ii. 352-5; - _De Unitate et Trinitate divina_, ii. 10, =298-9=, 352 _and_ _n. 3_; - _Theologia_, ii. =303-4=, 395; - _Scito te ipsum_, ii. 350-1; - _Sic et non_, i. 17; ii. =304-6=, =352=, 357; - _Dialectica_, ii. 346 _and_ _nn._, 349-50; - _Dialogue_ between Philosopher, Jew, and Christian, ii. 350, =351=; - _Historia calamitatum_, ii. =4-11=, 298-9, =343=; - _Carmen ad Astralabium filium_, ii. 192; - hymns, ii. 207-9; - otherwise mentioned, ii. 134, 283 _and_ _n._ - - Abbo, Abbot, i. =294 and n.=, 324 - - Abbots: - Armed forces, with, i. 473 - Cistercian, position of, i. 362-3 _and_ _n._ - Investiture of, lay, i. 244 - Social class of, i. 473 - - Accursius, _Glossa ordinaria_ of, ii. 262, =263= - - Adalberon, Abp. of Rheims, i. 240, =282-3=, 287 - - Adam of Marsh, ii. 389, 400, 487 - - Adam of St. Victor, editions of hymns of, ii. 87 _n. 1_; - examples of the hymns, ii. 87 _seqq._; - Latin originals, ii. 206, 209-15 - - Adamnan cited, i. 134 _n. 2_, 137 - - Adelard of Bath, ii. 370 - - Aedh, i. 132 - - Agobard, Abp. of Lyons, i. 215, =232-3=; - cited, ii. 247 - - Aidan, St., i. 174 - - Aimoin, _Vita Abbonis_ by, i. 294 _and_ _n._ - - Aix, Synod of, i. 359 - - Aix-la-Chapelle: - Chapel at, i. 212 _n._ - School at, _see_ Carolingian period--Palace school - - Alans, i. 113, 116, 119 - - Alanus de Insulis, career of, ii. 92-4; - estimate of, ii. 375-6; - works of, ii. 48 _n. 1_, =94=, 375 _n. 5_, 376; - _Anticlaudianus_, ii. =94-103=, 192, 377, 539; - _De planctu naturae_, ii. =192-3 and n. 1=, 376 - - Alaric, i. 112 - - Alaric II., i. =117=; ii. 243 - - Alberic, Card., i. 252 _n. 2_ - - Alberic, Markgrave of Camerino, i. 242 - - Alberic, son of Marozia, i. 242-3 - - Albertus Magnus, career of, ii. 421; - estimate of, ii. 298, 301, =421=; - estimate of work of, ii. 393, 395; - attitude toward Gilbert de la Porree, ii. 372; - compared with Bacon, ii. 422; - with Aquinas, ii. 433, =438=; - relations with Aquinas, ii. 434; - on logic, ii. 314-15; - method of, ii. 315 _n._; - edition of works, ii. 424 _n. 1_; - _De praedicabilibus_, ii. 314 and _n._, 315, 424-5; - work on the rest of Aristotle, ii. 420-1; - analysis of this work, ii. 424 _seqq._; - attitude toward the original, ii. 422; - _Summa theologiae_, ii. 430, 431; - _Summa de creaturis_, ii. 430-1; - _De adhaerendo Deo_, ii. 432; - otherwise mentioned, i. 17; ii. 82 _n. 2_, 283, 312, 402, 541 _n. 2_ - - Albigenses, i. 49; - persecution of, i. 366-7, 461, 481, 572; ii. 168 - - Alboin the Lombard, i. 115 - - Alchemy, ii. 496-7 - - Alcuin of York, career of, i. 214; - works of, i. 216-21 _and_ _n. 2_; - extracts from letters of, ii. 159; - stylelessness of, ii. =159=, 174; - verses by, quoted, ii. 136-7; - on _urbanitas_, ii. 136; - otherwise mentioned, i. 212, 240, 343; ii. 112, 312, 332 - - Aldhelm, i. 185 - - Alemanni, i. 9, 121, 122, 145 _n. 2_, 174, 192 - - Alemannia, Boniface's work in, i. 199 - - Alexander the Great, Pseudo-Callisthenes' Life of, ii. 224, 225, - =229-230=; - Walter of Lille's work on, ii. 230 _n. 1_ - - Alexander II., Pope, i. 262 _n._, 263 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Alexander de Villa-Dei, _Doctrinale_ of, ii. =125-7=, 163 - - Alexander of Hales--at Paris, i. 476; ii. =399=; - Bacon's attack on, ii. 494, 497; - estimate of work of, ii. 393, 395, 399; - Augustinianism of, ii. 403-4 - - Alfred, King of England, i. 144 _and_ _n. 2_, =187-90= - - Allegory (_See also_ Symbolism): - Dictionaries of, ii. 47-8 _and_ _n. 1_, 49 - Greek examples of, ii. 42, 364 - Metaphor distinguished from, ii. 41 _n._ - Politics, in, ii. 60-1, 275-=6=, =280= - _Roman de la rose_ as exemplifying, ii. 103 - Scripture, _see under_ Scriptures - Two uses of, ii. 365 - - Almsgiving, i. 268 - - Alphanus, i. 253-4 - - _Amadas_, i. 565 - - Ambrose, St., Abp. of Milan, on miracles, i. 85-6; - attitude toward secular studies, i. 300; ii. 288; - _Hexaemeron_ of, i. 72-4; - _De officiis_, i. 96; - hymns, i. 347-8; - otherwise mentioned, i. 70, 75, 76, 104, 186, 354; ii. 45 _n._, 272 - - Anacletus II., Pope, i. 394 - - Anchorites, _see_ Hermits - - Andrew the Chaplain, _Flos amoris_ of, i. 575-6 - - Angels: - Aquinas' discussion of, ii. 324-5, 435, =457 seqq.=, =469=, =473-5= - Dante's views on, ii. 551 - Emotionalizing of conception of, i. 348 _n. 4_ - Hugo of St. Victor on, ii. 68, 69 - Symbols, regarded as, ii. 457 - Vincent's _Speculum_ as concerning, ii. 319 - Writings regarding, summary of, ii. 457 - - Angilbert, i. 234-5 - - Angles, i. 140 - - Anglo-Saxons: - Britain conquered by, i. 141 - Characteristics of, i. 142, =196= - Christian missions by, i. 196, 197 - Christian missions to, i. 172, 174, =180 seqq.= - Customs of, i. 141 - Poetry of, i. 142-4 - Roman influence slight on, i. 32 - - Aniane monastery, i. 358-9 - - Annals, i. 234 and _n. 1_ - - Anselm (at Laon), ii. 343-4 - - Anselm, St., Abp. of Canterbury, dream of, i. 269-70; - early career, i. 270; - at Bec, i. 271-2; - relations with Rufus, i. 273, 275; - journey to Italy, i. 275; - estimate of, i. 274, =276-7=; ii. =303=, 330, =338=; - style of, i. 276; ii. =166-7=; - influence of, on Duns Scotus, ii. 511; - works of, i. 275 _seqq._; - _Cur Deus homo_, i. 275, 277 _n. 1_, =279=; ii. 395; - _Monologion_, i. 275-7; - _Proslogion_, i. 276-8; ii. =166=, 395; - _Meditationes_, i. 276, =279=; - _De grammatico_, i. 277 _n. 2_; - otherwise mentioned, i. 16, 19, 301-2; ii. 139, 283, 297, 340 - - Anselm of Besate, i. 259 - - Anthony, St., i. 365-6; - Life of, by Athanasius, i. 47, =52 and n.= - - Antique literature, _see_ Greek thought _and_ Latin classics - - Antique stories, themes of, in vernacular poetry, ii. 223 _seqq._ - - Apollinaris Sidonius, ii. 107 - - Apollonius of Tyana, i. 44 - - _Apollonius of Tyre_, ii. 224 _and_ _n._ - - Aquinas, Thomas, family of, ii. 433-4; - career, ii. 434-5; - relations with Albertus Magnus, ii. 434; - translations of Aristotle obtained by, ii. 391; - _Vita_ of, by Guilielmus de Thoco, ii. 435 _n._; - works of, ii. 435; - estimate of, and of his work, i. 17, 18; ii. 301, =436-8=, 484; - completeness of his philosophy, ii. 393-5; - pivot of his attitude, ii. 440; - present position of, ii. 501; - style, ii. 180; - mastery of dialectic, ii. 352; - compared with Eriugena, i. 231 _n. 1_; - with Albertus Magnus, ii. 433, =438=; - with Bonaventura, ii. 437; - with Duns, ii. 517; - Dante compared with and influenced by, ii. 541 _n. 2_, =547=, 549, - 551, 555; - on monarchy, ii. 277; - on faith, ii. 288; - on difference between philosophy and theology, ii. 290; - on logic, ii. 313; - _Summa theologiae_, i. 17, 18; ii. =290 seqq.=; - style of the work, ii. 180-1; - Bacon's charge against it, ii. 300; - Peter Lombard's work contrasted with it, ii. 307-10; - its method, ii. 307; - its classification scheme, ii. 324-9; - analysis of the work, ii. 438 _seqq._, 447 _seqq._; - _Summa philosophica contra Gentiles_, ii. 290, 438, =445-6=; - otherwise mentioned, i. 69 _n. 2_; ii. 283, 298, 300, 312, 402 - - Aquitaine, i. 29, 240, =573= - - Arabian philosophy, ii. =389-90=, 400-1 - - Arabs, Spanish conquest by, i. 9, 118 - - Archimedes, i. 40 - - Architecture, Gothic: - Evolution of, i. 305; ii. =539= - Great period of, i. 346 - - Argenteuil convent, ii. 9, 10 - - Arianism: - Teutonic acceptance of, i. =120=, 192, 194 - Visigothic abandonment of, i. 118 _nn._ - - Aristotle, estimate of, i. 37-8; - works of, i. 37-8; - unliterary character of writings of, ii. 118, 119; - philosophy as classified by, ii. 312; - attitude of, to discussions of final cause, ii. 336; - the _Organon_, i. =37=, 71; - progressive character of its treatises, ii. 333-4; - Boethius' translation of the work, i. 71, =91-2=; - advanced treatises "lost" till 12th cent., ii. 248 _n._, 334; - Porphyry's _Introduction_ to the _Categories_, i. 45, 92, 102; ii. - 312, =314 n.=, 333, =339=; - Arabian translations of works, ii. 389-90; - introduction of complete works, i. 17; - Latin translations made in 13th cent., ii. 391; - three stages in scholastic appropriation of the Natural Philosophy and - Metaphysics, ii. 393; - Paris University study of, ii. 391-2 _and_ _n._; - Albertus Magnus' work on, ii. 420-1, 424 _seqq._; - Aquinas' mastery of, i. 17, 18; - Dominican acceptance of system of, ii. 404; - Dante's reverence for, ii. 542 - - Arithmetic: - Abacus, the, i. 299 - Boethius' work on, i. 72, =90= - Music in relation to, ii. 291 - Patristic treatment of, i. 72 - Scholastic classification of, ii. 313 - - Arnold of Brescia, i. 401; ii. 171 - - Arnulf, Abp. of Rheims, i. 283-4 - - Art, Christian (_For particular arts, see their names_): - Demons as depicted in, ii. 540 _n. 2_ - Early, i. 345 _n._ - Emotionalizing of, i. 345-7 - Evolution of, i. 19-20 - Germany, in (11th cent.), i. 312 - Symbolism the inspiration of, i. 21; ii. 82-6 - - Arthur, King, story of youth of, i. 568-569; - relations with Lancelot and Guinevere, i. 584; - with Parzival, i. 592, 599-600, 612 - - Arthurian romances: - Comparison of, with _Chansons de geste_, i. 564-5 - German culture influenced by, ii. 28 - Origin and authorship of, question as to, i. 565-7 - Universal vogue of, i. =565=, 573, 577 - otherwise mentioned, i. 531, 538 - - Arts, the (_See also_ Latin classics): - Classifications of, ii. 312 _seqq._ - Course of, shortening of, ii. =132=, 384 - _Dictamen_, ii. =121=, =129=, 381 - Grammar, _see that heading_ - Masters in, at Paris and Oxford, ii. 384-5; - course for, ii. 388 - Seven Liberal, _see that heading_ - - Asceticism: - Christian: - Carthusian, i. 384 - Early growth of, i. 333-5 - Manichean, i. 49 - Women's practice of, i. 444, 462-3 - Neo-Platonic, i. 43, 44, 46, 50, =331=, 334 - - Astralabius, ii. 6, 9, 27; - Abaelard's poem to, ii. 191-2 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Astrology, i. =44 and n.=; ii. 374: - Bacon's views on, ii. 499-500 - - Astronomy: - Chartres study of, i. 299 - Gerbert's teaching of, i. 288-9 - Patristic attitude toward, i. 72 - - Ataulf, i. 112, 116 - - Athanasius, St., estimate of work of, i. =54=, 68; - Life of St. Anthony by, i. 47, =52 and n.=, 84; - _Orationes_, i. 68 - - Atlantis, i. 36 - - Attila the Hun, i. 112-13; - in legend, i. 145-7 - - Augustine, Abp. of Canterbury, i. 6, 171, =180-2=; - Gregory's letters to, cited, i. 102 - - Augustine, St., Bp. of Hippo, Platonism of, i. 55; - personal affinity of, with Plotinus, i. 55-7; - barbarization of, by Gregory the Great, i. 98, 102; - compared with Gregory the Great, i. 98-9; - with Anselm, i. 279; - with Guigo, i. 385, 390; - overwhelming influence of, in Middle Ages, ii. 403; - on numbers, i. 72 _and_ _n. 2_, 105; - attitude toward physical science, i. 300; - on love of God, i. 342, 344; - allegorizing of Scripture by, ii. 44-5; - modification by, of classical Latin, ii. 152; - _Confessions_, i. =63=; ii. 531; - _De Trinitate_, i. =64=, =68=, 74, 96; - _Civitas Dei_, i. 64-65, 69 _n. 2_, =81-82=; - _De moribus Ecclesiae_, i. 65, 67-8; - _De doctrina Christiana_, i. 66-7; - classification scheme based on the _Doctrina_, ii. 322; - _De spiritu et littera_, i. 69; - _De cura pro mortuis_, i. 86; - _De genesi ad litteram_, ii. 324; - Alcuin's compends of works of, i. 220; - otherwise mentioned, i. 5, 53, 71, 75, 82, 87, 89, 104, 186, 225, 340, - 354, 366, 370; ii. 107, 269, 297, 312 - - Augustus, Emp., i. 26, 29 - - Aurillac monastery, i. 281 - - Ausonius, i. 126 _n. 2_; ii. 107 - - Austrasia: - Church organization in, i. 199 - Feudal disintegration of, i. 240 - Irish monasteries founded in, i. 174 - Rise of, under Pippin, i. 209 - - Authority _v._ reason, _see_ Reason - - Auxerre, i. 506-7 - - Averroes, ii. 390 - - Averroism, ii. 400-1 - - Averroists, ii. =284 n.=, 296 _n. 1_ - - Avicenna, ii. 390 - - Avitus, Bp. of Vienne, i. 126 _n. 2_ - - Azo, ii. 262-3 - - - Bacon, Roger, career of, ii. 486-7 - tragedy of career, ii. 486; - relations with Franciscan Order, ii. 299, 486, =488=, 490-1; - encouragement to, from Clement IV., ii. 489-90 _and_ _n. 1_; - estimate of, ii. 484-6; - estimate of work of, ii. 402; - style of, ii. 179-80; - attitude toward the classics, ii. 120; - predilection for physical science, ii. 289, 486-7; - Albertus Magnus compared with, ii. 422; - on four causes of ignorance, ii. 494-5; - on seven errors in theological study, ii. 495-8; - on experimental science, ii. 502-8; - on logic, ii. 505; - on faith, ii. 507; - editions of works of, ii. 484 _n._; - Greek Grammar by, ii. =128= _and_ _n. 5_, 484 _n._, 487, 498; - _Multiplicatio specierum_, ii. 484 _n._, 500; - _Opus tertium_, ii. =488=, 490 _and_ _nn._, 491, 492, 498, 499; - _Opus majus_, ii. 490-1, 492, =494-5=, 498, =499-500=, =506-8=; - _Optics_, ii. 500; - _Opus minus_, ii. 490-1, =495-8=; - _Vatican fragment_, ii. 490 _and_ _n. 2_, =505 n. 1=; - _Compendium studii philosophiae_, ii. 491, 493-4, 507-8; - _Compendium theologiae_, ii. 491; - otherwise mentioned, ii. 284 _n._, 335 _n._, =389=, 531-2 - - Bartolomaeus, _De proprietatibus rerum_ of, ii. 316 _n. 2_ - - Bartolus, ii. 264 - - Baudri, Abbot of Bourgueil, ii. 192 _n. 1_ - - Bavaria: - Irish monasteries founded in, i. 174 - Merovingian rule in, i. 121 - Otto's relations with, i. 241 - Reorganization of Church in, 198-9 - - Bavarians, i. 145 _n. 2_, 209, 210 - - Beauty, love of, i. 340 - - Bec monastery, i. 262 _n._, 270-2 - - Bede, estimate of, i. 185-6; - allegorizing of Scripture by, ii. 47 _n. 1_; - _Church History of the English People_, i. 172, =186=, 234 _n. 2_; - _De arte metrica_, i. 187, =298=; - _Liber de temporibus_, 300; - otherwise mentioned, i. 184, 212 - - Beghards of Liege, i. 365 - - Belgae, i. 126 - - Belgica, i. 29, 32 - - Benedict, Prior, i. 258 - - Benedict, St., of Nursia, i. =85 and n. 2=, 94, 100 _n. 4_; - _Regula_ of, _see under_ Monasticism - - Benedictus, _Chronicon_ of, ii. 160-1 - - Benedictus Levita, Deacon, ii. 270 - - Benoit de St. More, _Roman de Troie_ by, ii. 225, =227-9= - - Beowulf, i. 141, =143-4= _and_ _n. 1_ - - Berengar, King, i. 256 - - Berengar of Tours, i. 297, 299, =302-3=; ii. 137 - - Bernard, Bro., of Quintavalle, i. 502 - - Bernard, disciple of St. Francis, i. 425-6 - - Bernard of Chartres, ii. 130-2, 370 - - Bernard, St., Abbot of Clairvaux, at Citeaux, i. 360, 393; - inspires Templars' _regula_, i. 531; - denounces and crushes Abaelard, i. 229, 401; ii. =344-5=, =355=; - denounces Arnold of Brescia, i. 401; ii. 171; - relations with Gilbert de la Porree, ii. 372; - Lives of, i. 392 _n._, 393 _n. 1_; - appearance and characteristics of, i. 392-3; - estimate of, i. 394; ii. 367-8; - love and tenderness of, i. 344, 345, =394 seqq.=; ii. 365; - severity of, i. 400-1; - his love of Clairvaux, i. 401-2; - of his brother, i. 402-4; - Latin style of, ii. 169-71; - on church corruption, i. 474; - on faith, ii. 298; - unconcerned with physics, ii. 356; - St. Francis compared with, i. 415-16; - extracts from letters of, i. 395 _seqq._; ii. 170-1; - _Sermons on Canticles_--cited, 337 _n._; - quoted, i. =409-13=; ii. =169=, 368-9; - _De consideratione_, ii. 368; - otherwise mentioned, i. 17, 20, 279, 302, 472, 501; ii. 34, 168 - - Bernard Morlanensis, _De contemptu mundi_ by, ii. 199 _n. 3_ - - Bernard Silvestris, _Commentum ..._ of, ii. 116-17 _and_ _n. 2_; - _De mundi universitate_, ii. 119, =371 and n.= - - Bernardone, Peter, i. 419, 423-4 - - Bernward, Bp. of Hildesheim, i. 312 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Bible, _see_ Scriptures - - Biscop, Benedict, i. 184 - - Bishops: - Armed forces, with, i. 473 - Francis of Assisi's attitude toward, i. 430 - Gallo-Roman and Frankish, position of, i. 191-2, 194 _and_ _nn._, 198, - =201 n.= - Investiture of, lay, i. 244-5 _and_ _n. 4_; ii. 140 - Jurisdiction and privileges of, ii. 266 - Papacy's ascendancy over, i. 304 - Reluctance to be consecrated, i. 472 - Social class of, i. 473 - Vestments of, symbolism of, ii. 77 _n. 2_ - - _Blancandrin_, i. 565 - - Bobbio monastery, i. 178, =282-3= - - Boethius, death of, i. =89=, 93; - estimate of, i. 89, 92, =102=; - Albertus Magnus compared with, ii. 420; - works of, i. 90-3; - Gerbert's familiarity with works of, i. 289; - works of, studied at Chartres, i. 298-9; - their importance, i. 298; - _De arithmetica_, i. 72, =90=; - _De geometria_, i. 90; - commentary on Porphyry's _Isagoge_, i. =92=; ii. 312; - translation of the _Organon_, i. 71, =91-2=; - "loss" of advanced works, ii. 248 _n._, 334; - _De consolatione philosophiae_, i. =89=, 188, =189-90=, 299; - mediaeval study of the work, i. 89; ii. 135-6 - - Bologna: - Clubs and guilds in, ii. 382 - Fight of, against Parma, i. 497 - Law school at, ii. =121=, 251, =259-62=, 378 - Medical school at, ii. 121, 383 _n._ - University, Law, inception and character of, ii. 121, =381-3=; - affiliated universities, ii. 383 _n._ - - Bonaventura, St. (John of Fidanza), career of, ii. 403; - at Paris, ii. 399, 403; - estimate of, ii. 301; - style of, ii. 181-2; - contrasted with Albertus, ii. 405; - compared with Aquinas, ii. 405, 437; - with Dante, ii. 547; - on faith, ii. 298; - on Minorites and Preachers, ii. 396; - attitude toward Plato and Aristotle, ii. 404-5; - toward Scriptures, ii. 405 _seqq._; - _De reductione artium ad theologiam_, ii. 406-8; - _Breviloquium_, ii. 408-13; - _Itinerarium mentis in Deum_, ii. 413-18; - otherwise mentioned, ii. 283, 288 - - Boniface, _see_ Winifried-Boniface - - Boniface VIII., Pope, _Sextus_ of, ii. 272; - _Unam sanctam_ bull of, ii. 509 - - _Books of Sentences_, method of, ii. 307 - (_See also under_ Lombard) - - Botany, ii. 427-8 - - Bretons, i. 113 - - _Breviarium_, i. 117, 239, =243-4= - - Britain: - Anglo-Saxon conquest of, i. 141 - Antique culture in relation to, before Middle Ages, i. 10-11 - Celts in, i. 127 _n._ - Christianity of, i. 171-2 - Romanization of, i. 32 - - Brude (Bridius), King of Picts, i. 173 - - Brunhilde, i. 176, 178 - - Bruno, Abp. of Cologne, i. 309-10, 383-4; - Ruotger's Life of, i. 310; ii. 162 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Burgundians: - Christianizing of, i. 193 - Church's attitude toward, i. 120 - Roman law code promulgated by (_Papianus_), ii. 239, =242= - Roman subjects of, i. 121 - otherwise mentioned, i. 9-10, 113, 145 - - Burgundy, i. =175=, 243 _n. 1_ - - Byzantine architecture, 212 _n._ - - Byzantine Empire, _see_ Eastern Empire - - - Caedmon, i. 183, 343 - - Caesar, C. Julius, cited, i. =27-9=, 138, 296 - - Caesar of Heisterbach, Life of Engelbert by, i. 482-6 _and_ _n._; - _Dialogi miraculorum_, cited, i. 488 _n._, 491. - - Canon law: - Authority of, ii. 274 - Basis of, ii. 267-9 - Bulk of, ii. 269 - Conciliar decrees, collections of, ii. =269= - Decretals: - Collections of, ii. 269, =271-2=, =275= =n.= - False, ii. 270, 273 - Gratian's _Decretum_, ii. 268-9, =270-1=, 306 - _Jus naturale_ in, ii. 268-9 - _Lex romana canonice compta_, ii. 252 - Scope of, ii. 267 - Sources of, ii. 269 - Supremacy of, ii. 277 - - Canossa, i. 244 - - Cantafables, i. 157 _n. 1_ - - Canticles, i. 350; - Origen's interpretation of, 333; - St. Bernard's Sermons on, i. 337 _n._, =409-13=; ii. =169=, 368-9 - - Capella, Martianus, _De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_ of, i. =71 and - n. 3=; ii. 553 - - _Caritas_, ii. 476-8; - in relation to faith, ii. 479-81; - to wisdom, ii. 481 - - Carloman, King of Austrasia, i. =199-200 and n.=, 209 - - Carloman (son of Pippin), i. 209-10 - - Carnuti, i. 296 - - Carolingian period: - _Breviarium_ epitomes current during, ii. 244, =249= - Continuity of, with Merovingian, i. 210-12 - Criticism of records non-existent in, i. 234 - Definiteness of statement a characteristic of, i. 225, =227= - Educational revival in, 218-19, 222, =236=; ii. 122, =158=; - palace school, i. =214=, 218, 229, 235 - First stage of mediaeval learning represented by, ii. 330, 332 - History as compiled in, i. 234-5 - King's law in, ii. 247 - Latin poetry of, ii. 188, 194, 197 - Latin prose of, ii. 158 - Originality in, circumstances evoking, i. 232-3 - Restatement of antique and patristic matter in, i. =237=, 342-3 - - Carthaginians, i. 25 - - Carthusian Order, origin of, i. 383-4 - - Cassian's _Institutes_ and _Conlocations_, i. 335 - - Cassiodorus, life and works of, i. 93-7; - _Chronicon_, i. 94; - _Variae epistolae_, i. 94; - _De anima_, 94-5; - _Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum_, i. =95-6=; ii. - 357 _n. 2_; - otherwise mentioned, i. 6, 88-9, 115; ii. 312 - - Cathari, i. 49; ii. 283 _n._ - - Catullus, i. 25 - - Cavallini, i. 347 - - Celsus cited, ii. 235, 237 - - Celtic language, date of disuse of, i. 31 _and_ _n._ - - Celts: - Gaul, in, i. =125 and n.=, =126-7=, 129 _n. 1_ - Goidelic and Brythonic, i. 127 _n._ - Ireland, in, _see_ Irish - Italy invaded by (3rd cent. B.C.), i. 24 - Latinized, i. 124 - Teutons compared with, i. 125 - - Champagne, i. 240, =573= - - Chandos, Sir John, i. 554-5 - - _Chanson de Roland_, i. 12 _n._, 528 _and_ _n. 2_, =559-62= - - _Chansons de geste_, i. =558 seqq.=; ii. 222 - - Charlemagne, age of, _see_ Carolingian period; - estimate of, i. 213; - relations of, with the Church, i. =201=, 239; ii. 273; - relations with Angilbert, i. 234-5; - educational revival by, i. =213-14=; ii. 110, 122, =158=, 332; - book of Germanic poems compiled by order of, ii. 220; - Capitularies of, ii. 110, =248=; - open letters of, i. 213 _n._; - Einhard's Life of, ii. 158-9; - poetic fame of, i. 210; - false Capitularies ascribed to, ii. 270; - empire of, non-enduring, i. 238; - otherwise mentioned, i. 9, 115, 153, 562; ii. 8 - - Charles Martel, i. 197, =198=, =209=; ii. 273 - - Charles II. (the Bald), King of France, i. 228, 235 - - Charles III. (the Simple), King of France, i. 239-40 - - Charles IV., King of France, i. 551 - - Chartres Cathedral, sculpture of, i. =20=, 297; ii. =82-5= - - Chartres Schools: - Classics the study of, i. 298; ii. 119 - Fulbert's work at, i. 296-7, 299 - Grammar as studied at, ii. 129-30 - Medicine studied at, ii. 372 - Orleans the rival of, ii. 119 _n. 2_ - Trivium and quadrivium at, i. =298-9=; ii. 163 - mentioned, i. 287, 293 - - Chartreuse, La Grande, founding of, i. 384 (_See also_ Carthusian) - - Chaucer, ii. 95 - - Childeric, King, i. 119, 122 - - Chivalry: - Literature of: - Arthurian romances, _see that heading_ - Aube (alba) poetry, i. =571=; ii. 30 - _Chansons de geste_, i. 558 _seqq._ - Nature of, i. 20 - _Pastorelle_, i. 571 - Pietistic ideal recognized in, ii. 288, 533 - Poems of various nations cited, i. 570 =n.= - Religious phraseology in love poems, i. 350 _n. 2_ - _Romans d'aventure_, i. =564-5=, 571 _n. 2_ - Three branches of, i. 558 - Nature of, i. 522, =570 n.= - Order of, evolution of, i. 524 _seqq._ - (_See also_ Knighthood) - - Chretien de Troies, romances by, i. 566-=7=; - _Tristan_, i. 567; - _Perceval_, i. 567, =588-9=; - _Erec_ (Geraint), i. 567, 586; ii. 29 _n._; - _Lancelot_ or _Le Conte de la charrette_, i. 567, 569-70, =582-5=; - _Cliges_, i. 567, =586 n. 2=; - _Ivain_, i. =571 n. 2=, 586 _n. 3_; ii. 29 _n._; - translation of Ovid's _Ars amatoria_, i. 574 - - Christianity: - Appropriation of, by mediaeval peoples, stages in, i. 17-18 - Aquinas' _Summa_ as concerning, ii. 324 - Art, in, _see_ Art - Atonement doctrine, Anselm's views on, i. 279 - Basis of, ii. 268 - Britain, in, i. 171-2 - Buddhism contrasted with, i. 390 - Catholic Church, _see_ Church - Completeness of scheme of, ii. 394-5 - Dualistic element in, i. 59 - Eleventh century, position in, i. 16 - Emotional elements in: - Fear, i. 103, 339, 342, 383 - Hate, i. 332, 339 - Love, i. 331, =345= - Synthetic treatment of, i. 333 - Emotionalizing of, angels as regarded in, i. 348 _n. 4_ - Eternal punishment doctrine of, i. =65=, =339=, 486 - Faith of, _see_ Faith - Feudalism in relation to, i. 524, 527-=9 and n. 2=, =530= - Fifth century, position in, i. 15 - Gallo-Roman, i. 191-2 - German language affected by, i. 202 - Greek Fathers' contribution to, i. 5 - Greek philosophic admixture in, i. 33-4 - Hell-fear in, i. 103, =339=, 342, =383= - Hymns, _see that heading_ - Ideal _v._ actual, i. 354-5 - Incarnation doctrine of, ii. 369 - Irish missionaries of, _see under_ Irish - Latin as modified for expression of, ii. 152, =154=, 156, 164, 171 - Marriage as regarded by, ii. 8, 529 - Martyrs for, _see_ Martyrs - Mediaeval development in relation to, i. 11, 170 - Mediation doctrine of, i. 54, 59-60 - Militant character of, in early centuries, i. =69-70=, 75 - Miracles, attitude toward, i. 50-1 - Monasticism, _see that heading_ - Neo-Platonism compared with, i. 51 - Pagan ethics inconsistent with, i. 66 - Pessimism of, toward mortal life, i. 64 - Saints, _see that heading_ - Salvation: - Master motive, as, i. 59, =61=, 79, 89 - Scholasticism's main interest, as, ii. =296-7=, 300, 311 - Standard of discrimination, as, ii. =530=, =533=, 559 - Scriptures, _see that heading_ - Teutonic acceptance of, _see under_ Teutons - Trinity doctrine of: - Abaelard's works on, ii. 10, =298-9=, 352-3, 355 - Aquinas on, ii. 449-50, 456 - Bonaventura on, ii. 416-17 - Dante's vision, ii. 551 - Peter Lombard's Book on, ii. 323 - Roscellin on, ii. 340 - Vernacular presentation of, ii. 221 - Visions, _see that heading_ - - Chronicles, mediaeval, ii. 175 - - Chrysostom, i. 53 - - Church, Roman Catholic: - Authority of, Duns' views on, ii. 516 - Bishops, _see that heading_ - British Church's divergencies from, 171-2 - Canon Law, _see that heading_ - Charlemagne's relations with, i. =201=, 239; ii. 273 - Classical study as regarded by, i. 260; ii. =110 seqq.=, 396-7 - Clergy, _see that heading_ - Confession doctrine of, i. 489 - Constantine's relations with, ii. 266 - Creation of, i. 11, 68, =86-7= - Decretals, etc., _see under_ Canon Law - Denunciations of, i. 474-5; ii. 34-5 - Diocesan organization of, among Germans, i. 196 - Doctrinal literature of, i. 68-70 - Duns' attitude towards, ii. 513 - East and West, solidarity of development of, i. 55 - Empire's relations with, _see under_ Papacy - Eternal punishment doctrine of, i. =65=, =339=, 486; ii. 550 - Eucharistic controversy, _see that heading_ - Fathers of the, _see_ Greek thought, patristic; Latin Fathers; _and - chiefly_ Patristic thought - Feudalism as affected by, i. 524, 527-=9 and n. 2=, =530= - Feudalism as affecting, i. 244, 473 - Frankish, _see under_ Franks - Gallo-Roman, i. 191-2, 194 - Hildegard's visions regarding, i. 457 - Intolerance of, _see subheading_ Persecutions - Investiture controversy, _see under_ Bishops - Irish Church's relations with, i. 172-4 _and_ =n. 1= - Isidore's treatise on liturgical practices of, i. 106 - Knights' vow of obedience to, i. 530 - Mass, the: - Alleluia chant and Sequence-hymn, ii. 196, =201 seqq.= - Symbolism of, ii. 77-8 - Nicene Creed, i. 69 - Papacy, Popes, _see those headings_ - Paschal controversy, _see_ Eucharistic - Penance doctrine of, i. =101=, 195 - Persecutions by, i. 339; - of Albigenses, i. 366-7, 461, 481, 572; ii. 168; - of Jews, i. 118, 332; - of Montanists, i. 332 - Popes, _see that heading_ - Predestination, attitude toward, i. 228 - Property of, enactments regarding, ii. 266 - Rationalists in, i. 305 - Reforms in (11th cent.), i. 304 - Roman law for, ii. 265 _and_ _n. 2_ - Sacraments: - Definition of the word, ii. 72 _and_ _n. 1_ - Hugo of St. Victor on, ii. 64, 66, 68-9, 71, =72-4=, 90 _n. 2_ - Origin of, Bonaventura on, ii. 411-13 - Pagan analogy with, i. 53, 59-60 - Secularization of dignities of, i. 472 - Simony in, i. =244=, 475 - Spain, in, _see under_ Spain - Standards set by, ii. 528-9 - Suspects to, estimate of, ii. 532 - Synod of Aix (817), i. 359 - Theodosian Code as concerning, ii. 266-7 _and_ _n. 1_ - Transubstantiation doctrine of, i. 226-227 - "Truce of God" promulgated by, i. 529 _n. 2_ - - Churches: - Building of, symbolism in, ii. 78-82 - Dedication of, sequence designed for, ii. 210-11 - - Cicero, i. 26 _n. 3_, 39, 78, =219= - - Cino, ii. 264 - - Cistercian Order: - _Charta charitatis_, i. 361-3 - Clairvaux founded, i. 393 - Cluniac controversies with, i. 360 - - Citeaux monastery: - Bernard at, i. 360, 393 - Foundation and rise of, i. 360-3 - - Cities and towns: - Growth of, in 12th cent., i. 305; ii. =379-80= - Italian, _see under_ Italy - - Cities (_civitates_) of Roman provinces, i. 29-30 - - Clairvaux (Clara Vallis): - Founding of, i. 360, 393 - Position of, i. 362 - St. Bernard's love of, i. 401-2 - - Classics, _see_ Latin classics - - Claudius, Bp. of Turin, i. 215, 231-2 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Claudius, Emp., i. 30 - - Clement II., Pope, i. 243 - - Clement IV., Pope, ii. 489-91 - - Clement V., Pope, _Decretales Clementinae_ of, ii. 272 - - Clement of Alexandria, ii. 64 - - Clergy: - Accusations against, false, penalty for, ii. 266 - Legal status of, ii. 382 - Regular, _see_ Monasticism - Secular: - Concubinage of, i. 244 - Francis of Assisi's attitude toward, i. 430, 440 - Marriage of, i. 472 _n. 1_ - Reforms of, i. 359 - Standard of conduct for, i. 471; ii. 529 - Term, scope of, i. 356 - - Clerval, Abbe, cited, i. 300 _n. 1_ - - Clopinel, Jean, _see_ De Meun - - Clovis (Chlodoweg), i. 114, 117, =119-21=, 122, 138, =193-4=; ii. 245 - - Cluny monastery: - Abaelard at, ii. 25, =26=, 345 - Characteristics of, i. 359-60 - Monastic reforms accomplished by, i. =293=, 304 - - Cologne, i. 29, 31 - - Columba, St., of Iona, i. =133-7=, 173 - - Columbanus, St., of Luxeuil and Bobbio, i. 6, 133, =174-9=, 196; - Life and works of, 174 _n. 2_ - - Combat, trial by, i. 232 - - Commentaries, mediaeval: - Boethius', i. 93 - Excerpts as characteristic of, i. 104 - General addiction to, ii. 390, 553 _n. 4_ - Originals supplanted by, ii. 390 - Raban's, i. 222-3 - - Compends: - Fourteenth century use of, ii. 523 - Mediaeval preference for, i. 94 - Medical, in Italy, i. 251 - Saints' lives, of (_Legenda aurea_), ii. 184 - - Conrad, Duke of Franconia, i. 241 - - Conrad II., Emp., i. 243 - - Constantine, Emp., ii. 266; - "Donation" of, ii. =35=, 265, 270 - - Constantinus Africanus, i. =251= _and_ _n._; ii. 372 - - Cordova, i. 25 - - Cornelius Nepos, i. 25 - - _Cornificiani_, ii. =132=, 373 - - Cosmogony: - Aquinas' theory of, ii. 456 - Mediaeval allegorizing of, ii. 65 _seqq._ - Patristic attitude toward, i. 72-4 - - Cosmology, Alan's, in _Anticlaudianus_, ii. 377 - - Cremona, i. 24 - - Cross, Christian: - Magic safeguard, as, i. 294-5 - Mediaeval feeling for, ii. 197 - - Crusades: - Constantinople, capture of, as affecting Western learning, ii. 391 - First: - _Chansons_ concerning, i. 537-8 - Character of, i. 535-7 - Guibert's account of, ii. 175 - Hymn concerning, quoted, i. 349 _and_ _n._ - Italians little concerned in, ii. 189 - Joinville's account of, quoted, i. 546-9 - Language of, i. 531 - Results of, i. 305 - Second, i. 394 - Spirit of, i. 535-7 - - Cuchulain, i. 129 _and_ _nn. 2, 3_ - - Cynewulf's _Christ_, i. 183 - - Cyprian quoted, i. 337 _n._ - - Cyril of Alexandria, i. 227 - - Cyril of Jerusalem, i. 53 - - - Da Romano, Alberic, i. 515-16 - - Da Romano, Eccelino, i. =505-6=, 516 - - Dacia, Visigoths in, i. 112 - - Damiani, St. Peter, Card. Bp. of Ostia, career of, i. 262-4; - attitude of, to the classics, i. 260; ii. 112, 165; - on the hermit life, i. 369-70; - on tears, i. 371 _and_ _n._; - extract illustrating Latin style of, ii. 165 _and_ _n. 3_; - works of, i. 263 _n. 1_; - writings quoted, i. 263-7; - _Liber Gomorrhianus_, i. 265, 474; - _Vita Romualdi_, i. 372 _seqq._; - biography of Dominicus Loricatus, i. 381-2; - _De parentelae gradibus_, ii. 252; - otherwise mentioned, i. 17, 19, 20, 260, 343, 345, 391; ii. 34 - - Damianus, i. 262, 265 - - Danes, i. 142, =153= - - Dante, estimate of, ii. 534-5; - scholarship of, ii. 541 _n. 2_; - possessed by spirit of allegory, ii. 552-5; - compared with Aquinas and influenced by him, ii. 541 _n. 2_, 547, 549, - 551, 555; - compared with Bonaventura, ii. 547; - attitude to Beatrice, ii. 555-8; - on love, ii. 555-6; - on monarchy, ii. 278; - _De monarchia_, ii. 535; - _De vulgari eloquentia_, ii. 219, =536=; - _Vita nuova_, ii. =556=, 559; - _Convito_, ii. =537-8=, 553; - _Divina Commedia_, i. 12 _n._; ii. 86, 99 _n. 1_, =103=, 219; - commentaries on this work, ii. 553-4; - estimate of it, ii. 538, 540-1, 544, 553-4; - _Inferno_ cited, ii. 42, 541-3, =545-7=; - _Purgatorio_ cited, ii. 535, 542-3, =548-9=, 554, 558; - _Paradiso_ cited, i. 395; ii. 542-3, =549-51=, 558 - - Dares the Phrygian, ii. 116 _and_ _n. 3_, 224-=5 and nn.=, 226-7 - - _De bello et excidio urbis Comensis_, ii. 189-90 - - De Boron, Robert, i. 567 - - _De casu Diaboli_, i. 279 - - _De consolatione philosophiae_, _see under_ Boethius - - De Lorris, Guillaume, _Roman de la rose_ by, i. =586-7=; ii. 103 _and_ - _n. 1_, 104 - - De Meun, Jean (Clopinel), _Roman de la rose_ by, ii. 103 _and_ _n. 1_, - 104, =223= - - Denis, St., i. 230 - - Dermot (Diarmaid, Diarmuid), High-King of Ireland, i. =132=-3, 135, =136= - - Desiderius, Bp. of Vienne, i. 99 - - Desiderius, Pope, i. =253=, 263 - - Devil, the: - Mediaeval beliefs and stories as to, i. 487 _seqq._ - Romuald's conflicts with, i. =374=, 379-80 - - Dialectic (_See also_ Logic): - Abaelard's skill in, ii. 118, 119, =345-6=, 353; - his subjection of dogma to, ii. 304; - his _Dialectica_, ii. 346 _and_ _nn._, 349-50 - Chartres study of, i. 298 - Duns Scotus' mastery of, ii. 510, 514 - Grammar penetrated by, ii. 127 _seqq._ - Hugo of St. Victor on, ii. 67 - Raban's view of, i. 222 - Thirteenth century study of, ii. 118-20 - - Diarmaid (Diarmuid), _see_ Dermot - - _Dictamen_, ii. =121=, =129=, 381 - - Dictys the Cretan, ii. 224, 225 _and_ _n. 1_ - - _Dies irae_, i. 348 - - Dionysius the Areopagite, ii. 10, 102, =344= - - _Divina Commedia_, _see under_ Dante - - Divination, ii. 374 - - Dominic, St., i. =366-7=, 497; ii. 396 - - Dominican Order: - Aristotelianism of, ii. 404 - Founding of, i. =366=; ii. 396 - Growth of, i. 498; ii. =398= - Object of, ii. 396 - Oxford University, at, ii. 387 - Papacy, relations with, ii. =398=, 509 - Paris University, position in, ii. =386=, 399 - - Dominicus Loricatus, i. 263, =381-3= - - Donatus, i. 71, 297; - _Ars minor_ and _Barbarismus_ of, ii. 123-=4= - - Donizo of Canossa, ii. 189 _and_ _n. 2_ - - Druids: - Gallic, i. =28=, 296 - Irish, i. 133 - - Du Guesclin, Bertrand, Constable of France, i. 554-6, 557 _n._ - - Duns Scotus, education of, ii. 511; - career of, ii. 513; - estimate of, ii. 513; - intricacy of style of, ii. 510, 514, =516 n. 2=; - on logic, ii. 504 _n. 2_; - Occam's attitude toward, ii. 518 _seqq._; - editions of works of, ii. 511 _n. 1_; - estimate of his work, ii. 509-10, 514 - - Dunstan, St., Abp. of Canterbury, i. 323-4 - - Durandus, Guilelmus, _Rationale divinorum officiorum_ of, ii. 76 _seqq._ - - - Eadmer, i. 269, 273, 277 - - Eastern Empire: - Frankish relations with, i. 123 - Huns' relations with, i. 112-13 - Norse mercenaries of, i. 153 - Ostrogoths' relations with, i. 114 - Roman restoration by, i. 115 - - Ebroin, i. 209 - - Eckbert, Abbot of Schoenau, i. 444 - - Ecstasy: - Bernard's views on, ii. 368 - Examples of, i. 444, 446 - - Eddas, ii. 220 - - Education: - Carolingian period, in, i. =213-14=, 218-19, 222, =236=; ii. 110, 122, - =158=, 332 - Chartres method of, ii. 130-1 - Grammar a chief study in, ii. 122 _seqq._, 331-2 - Italy, in, _see under_ Italy - Latin culture the means and method of, i. 12; ii. =109= - Schools, clerical and monastic, i. =250 n. 2=, 293 - Schools, lay, i. 249-51 - Seven Liberal Arts, _see that heading_ - Shortening of academic course, advocates of, ii. =132=, 373 - - Edward II., King of England, i. 551 - - Edward III., King of England, i. 550-1 - - Edward the Black Prince, i. 554-6 - - Einhard the Frank, i. 234 _n. 1_; - _Life of Charlemagne_ by, i. 215; ii. 158-9 - - Ekkehart family, i. 309 - - Ekkehart of St. Gall, _Waltarius_ (_Waltharilied_) by, ii. 188 - - El-Farabi, ii. 390 - - Eleventh century: - Characteristics of, i. 301; - in France, i. 301, 304, 328; - in Germany, i. 307-9; - in England, i. 324; - in Italy, i. 327 - Christianity in, position of, i. 16 - - Elias, Minister-General of the Minorites, i. 499 - - Elizabeth, St., of Hungary, i. 391, =465 n. 1= - - Elizabeth, St., of Schoenau, visions of, i. 444-6 - - Emotional development, secular, i. 349-50 _and_ _n. 2_ - - Empire, the, _see_ Holy Roman Empire - - Encyclopaedias, mediaeval, ii. 316 _n. 2_; - Vincent's _Speculum majus_, ii. 315-22 - - _Eneas_, ii. 225, =226= - - Engelbert, Abp. of Cologne, i. 481-6; - estimate of, i. 482 - - England (_See also_ Britain): - Danish Viking invasion of, i. 153 - Eleventh century conditions in, i. 324 - Law in, principles of, i. 141-2; - Roman law almost non-existent in Middle Ages, ii. 248 - Norman conquest of, linguistic result of, i. 324 - - English language, character of, i. 324 - - Epicureanism, i. =41=, 70; ii. 296, 312 - - Eriugena, John Scotus, estimate of, i. 215, =228-9=, =231=; ii. 330; - on reason _v._ authority, ii. 298, 302; - works of, studied at Chartres, i. 299; - _De divisione naturae_, i. =230-1=; ii. 302; - otherwise mentioned, i. 16; ii. 282 _n._, 312 - - Essenes, i. 334 - - Ethelbert, King of Kent, i. 180-1 - - _Etymologies_ of Isidore, i. 33, 105 _and_ _n. 1_, =107-9=; ii. 318; - law codes glossed from, ii. 250 - - Eucharistic (Paschal) controversy: - Berengar's contribution to, i. 302-3 - Paschasius' contribution to, i. 225-7 - - Eucherius, Bp. of Lyons, ii. 48 _n. 1_ - - Euclid, i. 40 - - Eudemus of Rhodes, i. 38 - - Eunapius, i. 47, 52 - - Euric, King of the Visigoths, i. 117 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Eusebius, i. 81 _n. 2_ - - Evil or sin: - Abaelard's views concerning, ii. 350 - Eriugena's views concerning, i. 228 - Original sin, realism in relation to, ii. 340 _n._ - Peter Lombard and Aquinas contrasted as to, ii. 308-10 - - Experimental science, Bacon on, ii. 502-8 - - - _Fabliaux_, i. =521 n. 2=; ii. 222 - - Facts, unlimited actuality of, i. 79-80 - - Faith: - Abaelard's definition of, ii. 354 - Bacon's views on, ii. 507 - Bernard of Clairvaux's attitude toward, ii. 355 - _Caritas_ in relation to, ii. 479-81 - Cognition through, Aquinas' views on, ii. 446 - Occam's views on, ii. 519 - Proof of matters of, Aquinas on, ii. 450 - Will as functioning in, ii. 479 - - _False Decretals_, i. 104 _n._, =118 n. 1= - - Fathers of the Church (_See also_ Patristic thought): - Greek, _see_ Greek thought, patristic - Latin, _see_ Latin Fathers - - Faustus, ii. 44 - - Felix, St., i. 86 - - Feudalism (_See also_ Knighthood): - Anarchy of, modification of, i. 304 - Austrasian disintegration by, i. 240 - _Chansons_ regarding, i. 559 _seqq._, 569 - Christianity in relation to, i. 524, 527-=9 and n. 2=, =530= - Church affected by, i. 244, 473 - Italy not greatly under, i. 241 - Marriage as affected by, i. 571, 586 - Obligations of, i. 533-4 - Origin of, 522-3 - Principle and practice of, at variance, i. 522 - - Fibonacci, Leonardo, ii. 501 - - Finnian, i. 136 - - _Flamenca_, i. 565 - - _Flore et Blanchefleur_, i. 565 - - Florus, Deacon, of Lyons, i. 229 _and_ _n._ - - Fonte Avellana hermitage, i. =262-3=, 381 - - Forms, new, creation of, _see_ Mediaeval thought--Restatement - - Fortunatus, Hymns by, ii. 196-7 - - Fourteenth century: - Academic decadence in, ii. 523 - Papal position in, ii. 509-10 - - France (_For particular districts, towns, etc., see their names_): - Antique, the, in relation to, before Middle Ages, i. 9-10 - Arthurian romances developed in, i. 566 - Cathedrals of, ii. 539, 554-5 - Church in, secularization of, i. 472-3 - Eleventh century conditions in, i. 301, 304, 328 - History of, in 11th century, i. 300 - Hundred Years' War, i. 550 _seqq._ - Jacquerie in (1358), i. 556 - Language modifications in, ii. 155 - Literary celebrities in (12th cent.), ii. 168 - Monarchy of, advance of, i. 305 - North and South, characteristics of, i. 328 - Rise of, in 14th century, ii. 509 - Town-dwellers of, i. =495=, 508 - - Francis, St., of Assisi, birth of, i. 415; - parentage, i. 419; - youth, i. 420-3; - breach with his father, i. 423-4; - monastic career, i. 427 _seqq._; - French songs sung by, i. =419 and n. 2=, 427, 432; - _Lives_ of, i. 415 _n._; - style of Thomas of Celano's _Life_, ii. 182-3; - _Speculum perfectionis_, i. 415 _n._, 416 _n._, =438 n. 3=; ii. =183=; - literal acceptance of Scripture by, i. 365, 406-=7=; - on Scripture interpretation, i. 427 _n. 1_; ii. 183; - universality of outlook, i. 417; - mediaevalism, i. 417; - Christ-influence, i. 417, =418=, =432=-3; - inspiration, i. =419 n. 1=, 441; - gaiety of spirit, i. 421, 427-8, 431-2; - poetic temperament, i. 422, 435; - love of God, man, and nature, i. 366, 428, =432-3=, =435=-7; - simplicity, i. 429; - obedience and humility, i. 365 _n._, =429-30=; - humanism, i. 495; - St. Bernard compared with, i. 415-16; - St. Dominic contrasted with, ii. 396; - _Fioretti_, ii. 184; - Canticle of Brother Sun, i. 433-4, =439-40=; - last testament of, i. 440-1; - otherwise mentioned, i. 20, 21, 279, 344, 345, 355-6; ii. 302 - - Franciscan Order: - Attractiveness of, i. 498 - Augustinianism of, ii. 404 - Bacon's relations with, ii. 486, =488=, 490-=1= - Characteristics of, i. 366 - Founding of, i. =427=; ii. 396 - Grosseteste's relations, ii. =487=, 511 - Object of, ii. 396 - Oxford University, at, ii. 387, 400 - Papacy, relations with, ii. =398=, 509 - Paris University, in, ii. 386, 399 - Rise of, ii. 398 - - Franconia, i. 241 - - Franks (_See also_ Germans): - Christianity as accepted by, i. 193 - Church among: - Bishops, position of, i. =194 and nn.=, 198, 201 _n._ - Charlemagne's relations with, i. =201=, 239; ii. 273 - Clovis, under, i. 194 - Lands held by, i. 194, 199-200; - immunities of, i. 201 _and_ _n._ - Organization of, i. 199 - Reform of, by Boniface, i. =196=; ii. 273 - Roman character of, i. 201 - Division of the kingdom a custom of, i. 238-9 - Gallo-Roman relations with, i. 123 - Language of, i. 145 _n. 2_ - Law of, ii. 245-6 - _Missi dominici_, i. 211 - Ripuarian, i. 119, 121; ii. 246 - Romanizing of, partial, i. 9-10 - Salian, i. 113, =119=; Code, ii. 245-6 - Saracens defeated by, i. 209-10 _n. 1_ - Trojan origin of, belief as to, ii. 225 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Frederic, Count of Isenburg, i. 483-6 - - Frederick I. (Barbarossa), Emp., i. 448 - - Frederick II., Emp., under Innocent's guardianship, ii. 32-3; - crowned, ii. 33; - estimate of, i. 497; - otherwise mentioned, i. 250 _n. 4_, 417, 481, 505, 510, 517 - - Free, meaning of term, i. 526 _n. 3_ - - Free Companies, i. 556 - - Free will: - Angelic, ii. 473 - Duns Scotus on, ii. 515 - Human, ii. 475 - Richard of Middleton on, ii. 512 - - Freidank, i. 475; ii. =35= - - Frescoes, i. 346-7 - - Friendship, chivalric, i. 561-2, 569-70, 583 - - Frisians, i. 169, 174; - missionary work among, i. =197=, 200, 209 - - Froissart, Sir John, _Chronicles_ of, i. 549 _seqq._; - estimate of the work, i. 557 - - Froumund of Tegernsee, i. =312-13=; ii. 110 - - Fulbert, Bp. of Chartres, i. 287, =296-7=, 299 - - Fulbert, Canon, ii. 4-6, 9 - - Fulco, Bp. of Toulouse, i. 461 - - Fulda monastery, i. =198=, 221 _n. 2_ - - Fulk of Anjou, ii. 138 - - - Gaius, _Institutes_ of, ii. 241, 243 - - Galahad, i. 569-70, 583, 584 _and_ _n. 2_ - - Galen of Pergamos, i. =40=, 251 - - Gall, St., i. 6, 178, =196= - - Gallo-Romans: - Feudal system among, i. 523 - Frankish rule over, i. 120, 123 - Literature of, i. 126 _n. 2_ - - Gandersheim cloister, i. 311 - - Gaul (_For particular districts, towns, etc., see their names_): - Celtic inhabitants of, i. =125 and n.=, =126=-7, 129 _n. 1_ - Druidism in, i. =28=, 296 - Ethnology of, i. 126 - Heathenism in, late survival of, i. 191 _n. 1_ - Latinization of, i. 9-10, =29-32= - Visigothic kingdom in south of, i. 112, 116, 117, 121 - - Gauls, characteristics and customs of, i. 27-8 - - Geoffrey of Beaulieu, Life of St. Louis by, i. 539-42 - - Gepidae, i. 113, 115 - - Geraldus, St., i. 281 - - Gerard, brother of St. Bernard, i. 402-4 - - Gerbert of Aurillac, _see_ Sylvester II. - - German language: - Christianity as affecting, i. 202 - High and Low, separation of, i. 145 _n. 2_ - Middle High German literature, ii. 168, 221 - Old High German poetry, ii. =194=, 220 - - Germans (Saxons) (_See also_ Franks): - Characteristics of, i. 138-40, 147, 151-2 - Language of, _see_ German language - Latin as studied by, i. =307-9=; ii. =123=, 155 - Literature of, ii. 220-1 (_See also subheading_ Poetry) - Marriage as regarded by, ii. 30 - Nationalism of, in 13th cent., ii. 28 - Poetry of: - _Hildebrandslied_, i. 145-7 - _Kudrun_ (_Gudrun_), i. 148, =149=-52; ii. 220 - _Nibelungenlied_, i. 145-6, =148-9=, 152, 193, 203 _n. 2_; ii. 220 - _Waltarius_, i. 147 _and_ _n._, 148 - otherwise mentioned, i. 113, 115, 119, 174, 209, 210 - - Germany: - Antique, the, in relation to, before Middle Ages, i. 10-11 - Art in (11th cent.), i. 312 - Church in, secularization of, i. 472 - Italy contrasted with, as to culture, i. 249-50 - Merovingian supremacy in, i. 121 - Papacy as regarded by, ii. 28, 33, =34-5= - Sequence-composition in, ii. 215 - - Gertrude of Hackeborn, Abbess, i. 466 - - Gilbert de la Porree, Bp. of Poictiers, ii. 132, =372= - - Gilduin, Abbot of St. Victor, ii. =62= _and_ _n. 2_ - - Giraldus Cambrensis, ii. 135 _and_ _n._ - - Girard, Bro., of Modena, i. 498 - - Glaber, Radulphus, _Histories_ of, i. 488 _n._ - - Glass-painting, ii. 82-6 - - Gnosticism, i. 51 _n. 1_ - - Gnostics, Eriugena compared with, i. 231 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Godehard, Bp. of Hildesheim, i. 312 - - Godfrey of Bouillon, i. 535-8 - - Godfrey of Viterbo, ii. 190 _and_ _n. 4_ - - Gondebaud, King of the Burgundians, ii. 242 - - Good and the true compared, ii. 441, 512 - - Goths (_See also_ Visigoths): - Christianity of, i. 192, 194 - Roman Empire invaded by, i. 111 _seqq._ - - Gottfried von Strassburg, i. 567; ii. 223; - _Tristan_ of, i. 577-82 - - Gottschalk, i. 215, 221 _n. 2_, 224-5, 227-=8=; - verses by, ii. 197-9 - - Government: - Church _v._ State controversy, ii. 276-7 - (_See also_ Papacy--Empire) - Ecclesiastical, _see_ Canon Law - Monarchical, ii. 277-8 - Natural law in relation to, ii. 278-=9= - Representative assemblies, ii. 278 - - Grace, Aquinas' definition of, ii. 478-9 - - Grail, the, i. 589, =596-7=, =607=, 608, 613 - - Grammar: - Chartres studies in, i. =298=; ii. 129-30 - Current usage followed by, ii. 163 _and_ _n. 1_ - Hugo of St. Victor on, ii. 67 - Importance and predominance of, in Middle Ages, i. 109 _and_ _n._, - =292=; ii. =331-2= - Italian study of, ii. =129=, 381 - Language continuity preserved by, ii. =122-3=, 151, 155 - Law studies in relation to, ii. 121 - Logic in relation to, ii. 127 _seqq._, 333-4; - in Abaelard's work, ii. 346 - Raban's view of, i. 222 - Scholastic classification of, ii. 313 - Syntax, connotation of term, ii. 125 - Works on--Donatus, Priscian, Alexander, ii. 123 =seqq.= - - Grammarian, meaning of term, i. 250 - - Gratianus, _Decretum_ of, ii. 268-9, =270-1=, 306, 380-2; - _dicta_, ii. 271 - - Greek classics, _see_ Greek thought, pagan - - Greek language: - Oxford studies in, ii. 120, 391, =487= - Translations from, direct, in 13th cent., ii. 391 - - Greek legends, mediaeval allegorizing of, ii. 52, 56-9 - - Greek novels, ii. 224 _and_ _n._ - - Greek thought, pagan: - Bacon's attitude toward, ii. 492-3 - Breadth of interest of, ii. 109 - Christian standpoint contrasted with, i. 390; ii. 295-6 - Church Fathers permeated by, i. 33-4 - Completeness of schemes presented by, ii. 394 - Limitless, the, abhorrent to, i. 353-4 - Love as regarded by, i. 575 - Metaphysics in, ii. 335-7 - Scholasticism contrasted with, ii. 296 - _Summa moralium philosophorum_, ii. 373 - Symbolism in, ii. 42, =56= - Transmutation of, through Latin medium, i. 4 - - Greek thought, patristic (_See also_ Patristic thought): - Comparison of, with Latin, i. 68 - Pagan philosophic thought contrasted with, ii. 295-6 - Symbolism in, ii. 43 - Transmutation of, through Latin medium, i. 5, 34 _and_ _n._ - - Gregorianus, ii. =240=, 243 - - Gregory, Bp. of Tours, i. 121; - _Historia Francorum_ by, i. 234 _n. 2_; ii. 155 - - Gregory I. (the Great), Pope, family and education of, i. 97; - Augustine of Hippo compared with, i. 98-9; - Augustinianism barbarized by, i. 98, 102; - sends mission to England, i. 6, 33, =180-1 and n. 1=; - estimate of, i. =56=, 89, =102-3=, =342=; - estimate of his writings, i. 354; - on miracles, i. 100, 182; - on secular studies, ii. 288; - letter to Theoctista cited, i. 102 _n. 1_; - editions of works of, i. 97 _n._; - works of, translated by King Alfred, i. 187; - _Dialogues on the Lives and Miracles of the Italian Saints_, i. 85 - and _n. 2_, 100; - _Moralia_, i. =97=, 100; ii. 57; - Odo's epitome of this work, ii. 161; - _Commentary on Kings_, i. 100 _n. 1_; - _Pastoral Rule_, i. =102=, 187-8; - otherwise mentioned, i. 16 _and_ _n. 4_, 65, 87, 104, 116 - - Gregory II., Pope, i. 197-8; ii. 273 - - Gregory III., Pope, i. 198; ii. 273 - - Gregory VII., Pope (Hildebrand), claims of, i. =244-5=; ii. 274; - relations with Damiani, i. 263; - exile of, i. 244, 253; - estimate of, i. 261; - otherwise mentioned, i. 17, 174 _n. 1_, 243, 304 - - Gregory IX., Pope, codification by, of Canon law, ii. 272; - efforts of, to improve education of the Church, ii. 398; - mentioned, i. 476; ii. 33 - - Gregory of Nyssa, i. 53, 80, 87, 340 - - Grosseteste, Robert, Chancellor of Oxford University and Bp. of Lincoln, - Greek studies promoted by, ii. =120=, =391=, 487; - estimate of, ii. 511-12; - Augustinianism of, ii. 403-4; - attitude toward the classics, ii. 120, 389; - relations with Franciscan Order, ii. =487=, 511; - Bacon's relations with, ii. 487 - - _Gudrun_ (_Kudrun_), i. 148, =149=-52; ii. 220 - - Guigo, Prior, estimate of, i. 390-1; - relations with St. Bernard, i. 405; - _Consuetudines Carthusiae_ by, i. 384; - _Meditationes_ of, i. 385-90 - - Guinevere, i. 569, =584= _and_ _n. 1_, 585 - - Guiot de Provens, "Bible" of, i. 475-6 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Guiscard, Robert, ii. 189 _n. 2_ - - Gumpoldus, Bp. of Mantua, _Life of Wenceslaus_ by, ii. 162 _n. 1_ - - Gundissalinus, Archdeacon of Segovia, ii. 312 _and_ _n. 4_, 313 - - Gunther, _Ligurinus_ of, ii. 192 _and_ _n. 4_ - - Gunzo of Novara, i. 257-8 - - - Harding, Stephen, Abbot of Citeaux, i. =360=, =361=, 393 - - Harold Fairhair, i. 153 - - _Hartmann von Aue_, i. =348-9 and n.=, 567; ii. 29 _n._ - - Harun al Raschid, Caliph, i. 210 - - Heinrich von Veldeke, i. 567; ii. 29 _n._ - - _Heliand_, i. =203 and nn.=, 308 - - Helias, Count of Maine, ii. 138 - - Hell: - Dante's descriptions of, ii. 546-7 - Fear of, i. 103, =339=, 342, =383= - Visions of, i. 454-5, 456 _n._ - - Heloise, Abaelard's love for, ii. 4-5, 344; - his love-songs to, ii. =13=, 207; - love of, for Abaelard, i. 585; ii. =3=, =5=, 8, 9, =15-16=; - birth of Astralabius, ii. 6; - opposes marriage with Abaelard, ii. 6-9; - marriage, ii. 9; - at Argenteuil, ii. 9, 10; - takes the veil, ii. 10; - at the Paraclete, ii. 10 _seqq._; - letters of, to Abaelard quoted, ii. 11-15, 17-20, 23, 24; - Abaelard's letters to, quoted, ii. 16-17, 21-3, 24-5; - Peter the Venerable's letter, ii. 25-7; - letter of, to Peter the Venerable, ii. 27; - death of, ii. 27; - intellectual capacity of, ii. 3 - - Henry the Fowler, i. 241 - - Henry II., Emp., i. 243; - dirge on death of, ii. 216 - - Henry IV., Emp., i. 244; ii. =167= - - Henry VI., Emp., ii. 32, 190 - - Henry I., King of England, ii. 139, 146, 176-8 - - Henry II., King of England, ii. 133, 135, 372 - - Henry of Brabant, ii. 391 - - Henry of Ghent, ii. 512 - - Henry of Huntington cited, i. 525 - - Henry of Septimella, ii. 190 _and_ _n. 3_ - - Heretics (_For particular sects, see their names_): - Abaelard's views on coercion of, ii. 350, 354 - Insignificance of, in relation to mediaeval thought, ii. 283 _and_ _n._ - Theodosian enactments against, ii. 266 - Twelfth century, in, i. 305 - - Herluin, Abbot of Bec, i. 271 - - Hermann, Landgraf of Thueringen, i. 589; ii. 29 - - Hermann Contractus, i. 314-15 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Hermits: - Irish, i. 133 - Motives of, i. 335, 363 - Temper of, i. 368 _seqq._ - - Hermogenianus, ii. 240, 243 - - Herodotus, i. 77 - - Hesse, Boniface's work in, i. 197-8 - - Hilarion, St., i. 86 - - Hilary, Bp. of Poictiers, i. =63=, 68, 70 - - Hildebert of Lavardin, Bp. of Le Mans and Abp. of Tours, career of, ii. - 137-40; - love of the classics, ii. =141-2=, =146=, 531; - letters of, quoted, ii. 140, 143, 144-5, 146-7; - Latin text of letter, ii. 172; - Latin elegy by, ii. 191; - otherwise mentioned, ii. 61, 134, 373 _n. 2_ - - Hildebrand, _see_ Gregory VII. - - _Hildebrandslied_, ii. 220 - - Hildegard, St., Abbess of Bingen, dedication of, i. 447; - visions of, i. 267, =449-59=; - affinity of, with Dante, ii. 539; - correspondence of, i. 448; - works of, i. 446 _n._; - _Book of the Rewards of Life_, i. 452-6; - _Scivias_, i. 457-9; - otherwise mentioned, i. 20, 345, 443; ii. 302, 365 - - Hildesheim, bishops of (11th cent.), i. 312 - - Hilduin, Abbot, i. 230 - - Hincmar, i. 215, 230, =233 n. 1= - - Hipparchus, i. 40 - - Hippocrates, i. 40 - - History: - Carolingian treatment of, i. 234-5 - Classical attitude toward, i. 77-8 - Eleventh century treatment of, i. 300 - _Historia tripartita_ of Cassiodorus, i. 96-7 - Patristic attitude toward, i. 80-4 - _Seven Books of Histories adversum paganos_ by Orosius, i. 82-3 - - Holy Roman Empire: - Burgundy added to, i. 243 _n. 1_ - German character of, ii. 32 - Papacy, relations with, _see under_ Papacy - Refounding of, by Otto, i. 243 - Rise of, under Charlemagne, i. 212 - - Honorius II., Pope, i. 531 - - Honorius III., Pope, i. 366, 482, 497; ii. 33, 385 _n._, =398= - - Honorius of Autun--on classical study, ii. 110, =112-13=; - _Speculum ecclesiae_ of, ii. 50 _seqq._; - _Gemma animae_, ii. 77 _n. 1_ - - Hosius, Bp. of Cordova, i. 118 _n. 1_ - - Hospitallers, i. 531 - - Hrotsvitha, i. 311 _and_ _n. 2_, ii. 215 _n. 2_ - - Huesca (Osca), i. 25 - - Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, ii. 137 - - Hugh Capet, i. 239-=40= _and_ _n._ - - Hugh the Great, Count of Paris, i. 241 - - Hugh of Payns, i. 531 - - Hugo, Archdeacon of Halberstadt, ii. 62 - - Hugo, Bro., of Montpellier, i. 510-14 - - Hugo, King, i. 242 - - Hugo of St. Victor, estimate of, ii. =63=, =111=, 118, 301, =356=; - allegorizing by, ii. 367; - on classical study, ii. 110-11; - on logic, ii. 333; - pupils of, ii. 87; - works of, ii. 61 _n. 2_; - _Didascalicon_, ii. 48 _n. 2_, =63=, =111=, 312, =357 and nn. 2-5=; - _De sacramentis Christianae fidei_, ii. 48 _n. 2_, =64 seqq.=, 365, - =395=, 540; - _Expositio in regulam beati Augustini_, ii. 62 _n. 2_; - _De arca Noe morali_, ii. 75 _n._, =365-7=; - _De arca Noe mystica_, ii. 367; - _De vanitate mundi_, ii. 75 _n._, =111-12=; - _Summa sententiarum_, ii. 356; - _Sermons on Ecclesiastes_, ii. 358-9; - otherwise mentioned, i. 17, 20, 457; ii. 404 - - Humanists, ii. 126 - - _Humiliati_ of Lombardy, i. 365 - - Hungarians, i. 241-=2= - - Huns, i. 112, 119, 193 - - _Huon de Bordeaux_, i. 564 - - Hy (Iona) Island, i. 136, =173= - - Hymns, Christian: - Abaelard, by, ii. 25, =207-9= - Estimate of, i. 21 - Evolution of, i. 347-9 _and_ _n._; ii. 196, =200 seqq.= - Hildegard's visions regarding, i. 459 - Hugo of St. Victor, by, ii. 86 _seqq._ - Sequences, development of, ii. 196, =201-6=; - Adam of St. Victor's, ii. 209-15 - - - Iamblicus, i. 42, =47=, 51, 56-7; ii. 295 - - Iceland, Norse settlement in, i. 153 - - Icelanders, characteristics and customs of, i. 154 - - Icelandic Sagas, _see_ Sagas - - Ideal _v._ actual, i. 353 _seqq._ - - Innocent II., Pope, i. =394=; ii. 10 - - Innocent III., Pope, i. 417, 481, 497; ii. =32=, =274=, 384, =398= - - Innocent IV., Pope, i. 506 - - _Intellectus agens_, ii. 464, =507 n. 2= - - Iona (Hy) Island, i. 136, =173= - - Ireland: - Celts in, _see_ Irish - Church of, missionary zeal of, i. 133, 136, 172 _seqq._ - Danish settlements in, i. 153 - Monasteries in, i. =153 n. 1=, 173 - Norse invasion of, i. 134 - Scholarship in, i. =180 n.=, 184-5 - - Irenaeus, Bp. of Lyons, i. 225 - - Irish: - Art of, i. 128 _n. 1_ - Characteristics of, i. =128=, 130, 133, 179 - History of, i. 127 _and_ _n._ - Influence of, on mediaeval feeling, i. 179 _and_ _n._ - Literature of, i. =128 and n. 2=, =129 seqq.=, 134; - poetry, ii. 194 - Missionary labours of, i. 133, 136, 172 _seqq._; - defect of, i. 179, 196 - Norse harryings of, i. 133-4; - intercourse with, i. 152 _n. 3_ - Oxford University, at, ii. 387 - - Irnerius, ii. 121, =260=, 380-1; - _Summa codicis_ of, ii. 255-9 - - Irrationality (_See also_ Miracles): - Neo-Platonic teaching as to, i. 42-4, 48, 52 - Patristic doctrine as to, i. 51-3 - - Isabella, Queen, wife of Edward II., i. 550-1 - - Isidore, Abp. of Seville, estimate of, i. 89, 103, 118 _n. 1_; - Bede compared with, i. 185-7; - _False Decretals_ attributed to, i. 118 _n. 1_; ii. =270=, 273; - works of, i. 104-9; - _Etymologiae_, _see_ Etymologies of Isidore; - _Origines_, i. 236, 300; - otherwise mentioned, i. 6, 88; ii. 46, 312 - - Italian people in relation to the antique, i. 7-8 - - Italy (_For particular districts, towns, etc., see their names_): - Celtic inroads into (3rd cent. B.C.), i. 24 - Church in, secularization of, i. 472 - Cities in: - Continuity of, through dark ages, i. 248, =494-5=; ii. 381 - Fighting amongst, i. 497-8 - Importance of, i. 241, 326, =494-5= - Continuity of culture and character in, i. =326=, 495; ii. =120-2= - Dante as influenced by, ii. 534-5 - Education in--lay, persistence of, i. 249-51; - clerical and monastic, i. 250 _n. 2_ - Eleventh-century conditions in, i. 327 - Feudalism not widely fixed in, i. 241 - Feuds in, i. 515-16 - Grammar as studied in, i. 250 _and_ _n. 2_; ii. 129 - Irish monasteries founded in, i. 174 - Literature of, mediaeval, lack of originality in, ii. 189; - eleventh-century verse, i. 251 _seqq._; ii. 165 _n. 1_, 186 - Lombard kingdom of (6th cent.), i. 115-16 - Medicine studied in, i. 250 _and_ _n. 4_, =251=; ii. 121 - Unification of, under Rome, i. 23 - - - Jacobus a Voragine, _Legenda aurea_ by, ii. 184 - - Jacques de Vitry, Bp. and Card. of Tusculum, i. 461 and n.; - Exempla of, i. 488 _n._, 490 - - Jerome, St., estimate of, i. 344, 354; - letter of, on asceticism, i. 335 _and_ =n. 1=; - love of the classics, ii. 107, 112, 531; - modification by, of classical Latin, ii. 152, 171; - two styles of, ii. 171 _and_ _n. 4_; - Life of Paulus by, i. 84, 86; - Life of Hilarion, i. 86; - _Contra Vigilantium_, i. 86; - otherwise mentioned, i. 56, 75, 76, 104 - - Jerome of Ascoli (Pope Nicholas IV.), ii. 491 - - Jews: - Agobard's tracts against, i. 232-=3= - Gregory the Great's attitude toward, i. 102 - Louis IX.'s attitude toward, i. 545 - Persecution of, i. 118, 332 - - Joachim, Abbot of Flora, _Evangelicum eternum_ of, 502 _n._, =510=, - =512-13=, 517 - - John, Bro., of Vicenza, i. 503-4 - - John X., Pope, i. 242 - - John XI., Pope, i. 242 - - John XII., Pope, i. 243; ii. =160-1= - - John XIII., Pope, i. 282 - - John XXII., Pope, _Decretales extravaganes_ of, ii. 272 - - John of Damascus, ii. 439 _n. 1_ - - John of Fidanza, _see_ Bonaventura - - John of Parma, Minister-General of Franciscans, i. 507, 508, =510-11= - - John of Salisbury, estimate of, ii. 118, 373-4; - Chartres studies described by, ii. 130-2; - attitude of, to the classics, ii. 114, 164, =173=, 531; - Latin style of, ii. 173-4; - _Polycraticus_, ii. 114-15, 174-5; - _Metalogicus_, ii. 173-4; - _Entheticus_, ii. 192; - _De septem septenis_, ii. 375 - - John the Deacon, _Chronicon Venetum_ by, i. 325-6 - - Joinville, Sire de, _Histories_ of St. Louis by, i. 539, =542-9= - - Jordanes, compend of Gothic history by, i. 94 - - Jordanes of Osnabrueck cited, ii. 276 _n. 2_ - - Joseph of Exeter, ii. 225 _n. 2_ - - Jotsaldus, Life of Odilo by, i. 295-6 - - Judaism, emotional elements in, i. 331-2 - - Julianus, _Epitome_ of, ii. 242, =249=, 254 - - Jumieges cloister, ii. 201 - - Jurisprudence (_See also_ Roman law): - Irnerius an exponent of, ii. 256, 259 - Mediaeval renaissance of, ii. 265 - Roman law, in, beginnings of, ii. 232 - - Justinian, _Codex_, _Institutes_, _Novellae_ of, _see under_ Roman law; - _Digest of_, _see_ Roman law--Pandects - - Jutes, i. 140 - - Jutta, i. 447 - - - Keating quoted, i. 136 - - Kilwardby, Richard, Abp. of Canterbury, _De ortu et divisione - philosophiae_ of, ii. 313 - - Kilwardby, Robert, ii. 128 - - Knighthood, order of: - Admission to, persons eligible for, i. 527 - Code of, i. 524 - Hospitallers, i. 531 - Investiture ceremony, i. 525-8 - Love the service of, i. 568, =573= - Templars, i. 531-5 - Virtues and ideals of, i. 529-31, 567-8 - - Knowledge: - Cogitation, meditation, contemplation (Hugo's scheme), ii. 358 _seqq._ - Forms and modes of, Aquinas on--divine, ii. 451-5; - angelic, ii. 459-62; - human, ii. 463 _seqq._ - Grades of, Aquinas on, ii. 461, 467 - Primacy of, over will maintained by Aquinas, ii. 440-1 - - - La Ferte Monastery, i. 362 - - Lambert of Hersfeld, _Annals_ of, i. 313; ii. 167 - - Lambertus Audomarensis, _Liber Floridus_ of, ii. 316 _n. 2_ - - _Lancelot of the Lake_, i. 567, 569-70, =582-5=; - Old French prose version of, i. 583 _seqq._ - - Land tenure, feudal, i. 523-4 - - Lanfranc, Primate of England, i. 174 _n. 1_, =261 n.=, 273 - - _Langue d'oc_, ii. 222, 248 - - _Langue d'oil_, ii. 222, 248 - - Languedoc, chivalric society of (11th and 12th centuries), i. 572 - - Latin classics: - Abaelard's reference to, ii. 353 - Alexandrian antecedents of the verse, ii. 152 _n. 1_ - Artificial character of the prose, ii. 151 _n._ - Breadth of interest of, ii. 109 - Characteristics of, ii. 153 - Chartres a home of, i. 298; ii. 119 - Common elements in, ii. 149, 157 - Dante's attitude toward, ii. 541, 544; - his quotations from, ii. 543 _n. 1_ - Ecclesiastical attitude toward, i. 260; ii. 110 _seqq._, 396-7 - Familiarity with, of Damiani, i. 260; ii. 165; - Gerbert, i. 287-8; ii. 110; - John of Salisbury, ii. 114, 164, =173=, 531; - Bernard of Chartres, ii. 132-3; - Peter of Blois, ii. 133-4; - Hildebert, ii. =141-2=, =146=, 531 - Knowledge-storehouses for the Middle Ages, as, ii. 108 - Mastery of, complete, as affecting mediaeval writings, ii. 164 - Reverential attitude of mediaevals toward, ii. 107-9 - Scripture study as aided by study of, ii. 110, 112, 120 - Suggestions of new ideas from, for Northern peoples, ii. 136 - Themes of, in vernacular poetry, ii. 223 _seqq._ - Twelfth-century study of, ii. 117-18 - - Latin Fathers (_See also their names and_ Patristic thought): - Comparison of, with Greek, i. 68 - Style and diction of, ii. 150, 152 _seqq._ - Symbolism in, ii. 43-6 - Transmutation by, of Greek thought, i. 5, 34 _and_ _n._ - - Latin language: - Britain, position in, i. 10, 32 - Children's letters in, ii. 123 _n._ - Christianity as modifying, ii. 152, =154=, 156, 164, 171 - Continuity of, preserved by universal study of grammar, ii. =122-3=, - 151, 155 - "Cornificiani" in regard to, ii. =132=, 373 - Educational medium as, ii. 109 - Genius of, susceptible of change, ii. 149 - German acquisition of, i. 10, 32, =307-8=, =313=; ii. =123=, 155 - Grammar of, _see_ Grammar - Mediaeval modifications in, ii. 125, 164 - Patristic modifications of, ii. 150, 152 _seqq._; - Jerome's, ii. 152, 171 - Spelling of, mediaeval, i. 219 - Sphere of, ii. 219-20 - Supremacy of (during Roman conquest period), i. 4, =23-4 and n. 1=, - 25, =30-1= - Translations from, scanty nature of, ii. 331 _n. 2_ - Translations into, difficulties of, ii. 498 - Universality of, as language of scholars, ii. 219, 331 _n. 2_ - Vernacular, developments of, ii. 151 - Vitality of, in relation to vernacular tongues, ii. 219 - - Latin prose, mediaeval: - Antecedents of, ii. 151 _seqq._ - Best period of, ii. 167-8 - Bulk of, ii. 157 _n._ - Carolingian, ii. 158-60 - Characteristics of, ii. 156 - Estimation of, difficulties of, ii. 157 _and_ _n._ - Influences upon, summary of, ii. 156 - Prolixity and inconsequence of, ii. 154 - Range of, ii. 154 - Simplicity of word-order in, ii. 163 _n. 1_ - Stages of development of, ii. 157 _seqq._ - Style in, beginnings of, ii. 164 - Stylelessness of, in Carolingian period, ii. 158-60 - Thirteenth-century styles, ii. 179 - Value of, as expressing the mediaeval mind, ii. 156, 164 - - Latin verse, mediaeval: - Accentual and rhyming compositions, ii. 194; - two kinds of, ii. 196 - Antecedents of, ii. 187 _n. 1_ - Carmina Burana (Goliardic poetry), ii. 203, =217-19 and n.= - Development of, stages in, ii. 187 - Leonine hexameters, ii. 199 _and_ _n. 3_ - Metrical composition, ii. 187 _seqq._; - elegiac verse, ii. 190-2 _and_ _n. 1_; - hexameters, ii. 192; - Sapphics, ii. 192-3 _and_ _n. 1_ - Modi, ii. 215-16 - Rhyme, development of, ii. 195, =206= - - Law: - Barbarian, Latin codes of, ii. 244 _seqq._ - Barbaric conception of, ii. 245, 248-9 - _Breviarium_, _see under_ Roman law - Canon, _see_ Canon law - English, principles of, i. 141-2 - Grammar in relation to, ii. 121 - Lombard codes, i. =115=; ii. 242, =246=, 248, 253; - _Concordia_, ii. 259 - Natural: - Gratian on, ii. 268-9 - _Jus gentium_ in relation to, ii. =234 and n.=, 268 - Occam on, ii. 519 - Sacraments of, ii. 74 _and_ _n. 1_ - Supremacy of, ii. 269, 279 - Roman, _see_ Roman law - Salic, ii. 245-6 - Territorial basis of, i. 123; ii. 247 - Tribal basis of, i. 123; ii. =245-7= - Visigothic codification of, in Spain, i. 118 - - Leander, Bp. of Seville, i. 118 _n. 1_ - - Legonais, Chretien, ii. 230 _and_ _n. 2_ - - Leo, Brother, _Speculum perfectionis_ by, ii. 183-4 - - Leo I. (the Great), Pope, i. 113, 116 - - Leo IX., Pope, i. 243 - - Leon, Sir Guy de, i. 552-3 - - Leon, Sir Herve de, i. 552-3 - - Leowigild, i. 117 _n. 2_, 118 _n. 1_ - - Lerins monastery, i. 195 - - Lewis, Lord, of Spain, i. 552-3 - - Liberal arts, _see_ Seven Liberal Arts - - Liutgard of Tongern, i. 463-5 - - Liutprand, Bp. of Cremona i. =256-7=; ii. 161 _n. 1_ - - Liutprand, King of Lombards, i. 115-16 - - Logic (_See also_ Dialectic): - Albertus Magnus on, ii. =313-15=, 504, 506 - Aristotelian, mediaeval apprehension of, ii. 329 (_See also_ - Aristotle--_Organon_) - Bacon's attitude toward, ii. 505 - Gerbert's preoccupation with, i. 282, 289, =292= - Grammar in relation to, ii. 127 _seqq._, 333-4; - in Abaelard's work, ii. 346 - Importance of, in Middle Ages, i. 236; ii. 297 - Nature of, ii. 333; - schoolmen's views on, ii. 313-15, 333 - Occam's views on, ii. 522 - Patristic attitude toward, i. 71 - Raban's view of, i. 222 - Scholastic classification of, ii. 313 _seqq._ - Scholastic decay in relation to, ii. 523 - Second stage of mediaeval development represented by, ii. 332-4 - Specialisation of, in 12th cent., ii. 119 - Theology in relation to, ii. =340 n.=, 346 - Twofold interpretation of, ii. 333 - Universals, problem of, ii. 339 _seqq._; - Abaelard's treatment of, ii. 342, =348= - - Lombard, Peter, estimate of, ii. 370; - Gratian compared with, ii. 270; - Bacon's attitude toward, ii. 497; - _Books of Sentences_ by, i. 17, 18; ii. 134, 370; - method of the work, ii. 306; - Aquinas' _Summa_ contrasted with it, ii. 307-10; - its classification scheme, ii. 322-4; - Bonaventura's commentary on it, ii. 408 - - Lombards: - Italian kingdom of (6th cent.), i. 115-16 - Italian influence on, i. 7, 249 - Law codes of, _see under_ Law - - Louis of Bavaria, Emp., ii. 518 - - Louis I. (the Pious), King of France, i. 233, 239, =359=; - false capitularies ascribed to, ii. 270 - - Louis VI. (the Fat), King of France, i. 304-5, 394, 400; ii. 62; - Hildebert's letter on encroachments of, ii. 140, 172 - - Louis IX. (the Saint), King of France, Geoffrey's _Vita_ of, i. 539-42; - Joinville's _Histoire of_, i. 542-9; - Testament of, i. 540 _n. 1_; - otherwise mentioned, i. 476, 507-=9=, 515 - - Love, Aquinas on distinguishing definitions of, ii. 475-6 - - Love, chivalric: - Antique conception of love contrasted with, i. 575 - _Chansons de geste_ as concerned with, i. 564 - Code of, by Andrew the Chaplain, i. 575-6 - Dante's exposition of, ii. 555-6 - Estimate of, mediaeval, i. 568, 570 - Literature of, _see_ Chivalry--Literature - Marriage in relation to, i. 571 _and_ _n. 2_ - _Minnelieder_ as depicting, ii. 30 - Nature of, i. 572-5, 582-7 - Stories exemplifying--_Tristan_, i. 577 _seqq._; - _Lancelot_, 582 _seqq._ - - Love, spiritual: - Aquinas' discussion of, ii. 472-3, 476 - Bernard of Clairvaux as exemplifying, i. 394 _seqq._ - - Lupus, Servatus, Abbot of Ferrieres, i. 215; - ii. 113 - - Luxeuil, i. 175-7 - - Lyons: - Diet of the "Three Gauls" at, i. 30 - Law studies at, ii. 250 - - - Macrobius, _Saturnalia_ of, ii. 116 _and_ _n. 4_ - - Magic, i. =46-8=; ii. 500 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Majolus, Abbot of Cluny, i. 359 - - Manichaeism, i. =49=; ii. =44=, 283 - - Manny, Sir Walter, i. 552-4 - - Mapes (Map), Walter, i. =475=, 567; ii. 219 _n._ - - Marie, Countess, de Champagne, i. 566, 573, =576= - - Marie de France, i. =566=, 567, 573; - _Eliduc_ by, i. 571 _n. 2_ - - Marinus (hermit), i. 373 - - Marozia, i. 242 - - Marriage: - Christian attitude toward, ii. 8; - ecclesiastical view, ii. 529 - Feudalism as affecting, i. 571, 586 - German view of, ii. 30 - - Marsilius of Padua, ii. 277 _n. 2_ - - Martin, St., of Tours, i. 334; - Life of, i. 52 and _n._, 84, 85 _n. 2_, =86= - - Martyrs: - Mediaeval view of, i. 483 - Patristic attitude toward, i. 86 - - Mary, St., of Ognies, i. =462-3=; - nature of visions of, i. 459 - - Massilia, i. 26 - - Mathematics: - Bacon's views on, ii. 499-500 - Gerbert's proficiency in, i. 282, =288= - - Mathew Paris cited, ii. 487 - - Matthew of Vendome, _Ars versificatoria_ by, ii. 190 _and_ _n. 5_ - - Maurus, Rabanus, _see_ Rabanus - - Mayors of the palace, i. 240 - - Mechthild of Magdeburg, i. 20, 345; ii. 365; - Book of, i. 465 _and_ _n. 2_-70 - - Mediaeval thought: - Abstractions, genius for, ii. 280 - Characteristics of, i. 13 - Commentaries characteristic of, ii. 390, 553 _n. 4_ - Conflict inherent in, i. 22; ii. =293-4= - Deference of, toward the past, i. 13; ii. 534 - Emotionalizing by, of patristic Christianity, i. 345 - Metalogics rather than metaphysics the final stage of, ii. 337 - Moulding forces of, i. 3, 5, 12; ii. =293-4= - Orthodox character of, ii. 283 _and_ _n._ - Political theorizing, ii. 275 _seqq._ - Problems of, origins of, ii. 294-5 - Restatement and rearrangement of antique matter the work of, i. 13-15, - =224=, 237, =292=, 342; ii. 297, 329, 341: - Culmination of third stage in, ii. 394 - Emotional transformations of the antique, i. 18 _seqq._ - Intellectual transformations of the antique, i. 14 _seqq._ - Salvation the main interest of, i. =58-9=, 334; ii. =296-7=, 300 - Scholasticism, _see that heading_ - Superstitions accepted by, i. 487 - Symbolism the great influence in, ii. 43, 102, 365 - Three stages of, ii. 329 _seqq._ - Ultimate intellectual interests of, ii. 287 _seqq._ - - Medicine: - Relics used in, i. 299 - Smattering of, included in Arts course, ii. 250 - Study of--in Italy, i. 250 _and_ _n. 4_, =251=; ii. 383 _n._ - at Chartres, i. 299; ii. 372 - - Mendicant Orders, _see_ Dominican _and_ Franciscan - - Merovingian Kingdom: - Character of, i. 208 - Church under, i. 194 - Extent of, i. 210 _n. 3_ - German conquests of, i. 121, 138 - - Merovingian period: - Barbarism of, i. 9 - Continuity of, with Carolingian, i. 210-12 - King's law in, ii. 247 - - Merovingians, estimate of, i. 195 - - Metaphor distinguished from allegory, ii. 41 _n._ (_See also_ Symbolism) - - Metaphysics: - Final stage of mediaeval development represented by, ii. 335-7 - Logic, mediaeval, in relation to, ii. 334 - Theology dissociated from, by Duns, ii. 510, 516, =517= - - Michelangelo quoted, ii. 113 - - Middle Ages (_See also_ Mediaeval thought): - Beginning of, i. 6 - Extremes characteristic of, i. 355 - - Milan, lawyers in, ii. 251 _n. 2_ - - _Miles_, signification of word, i. 525-6 _and_ _n. 2_ - - _Minnelieder_, ii. 28-31 - - Minorites, i. 430 (_See also_ Franciscan Order) - - Miracles (_See also_ Irrationality): - Devil, concerned with, i. 488 _seqq._ - _Nostre Dame, Miracles de_, i. 491-2 - Patristic attitude toward, i. =85-6=, =100=, 182 - Roman Empire aided by, belief as to, ii. 536 - Salimbene's instance of, i. 516 - Universal acceptance of, i. =74=, 182 - _Vitae sanctorum_ in regard to, i. 85 _and_ _n. 2_ - - Mithraism, i. 49 - - Modena (Mutina), i. 24 - - Modi, ii. 215-16 - - Monasteries: - Immunities granted to, i. 523 _and_ _n._ - _Regula_ of, meaning of, ii. 62 - - Monasticism (_For particular Monasteries, Orders, etc., see their - names_): - Abuses of, i. 357-8; Rigaud's _Register_ quoted, i. 477-481 - Benedictine rule: - Adoption of--in England, i. 184; - among the Franks, i. 199, 201; - generally, i. 358 - Papal approval of, i. 335 - Cassiodorus a pioneer in literary functions of, i. 94 - General mediaeval view regarding, i. =472=; ii. 529 - Ideal _v._ actual, i. 355 - Ireland, in, i. 135 _n. 1_ - Lament over deprivations of, ii. 218-19 - Modifications of, by St. Francis, i. 366 - Motives of, i. 357 - Nature of, i. 336-7 - Nuns, _see_ Women--monastic life - Origin of, i. 335 - Pagan literature condemned by, i. 260 - Popularity of, in 5th and 6th centuries, i. 195-6 - Poverty--of monks, i. 365; - of Orders, i. 366, =425=, =430= - Reforms of, i. 358 _seqq._ - Schools, monastic, in Italy, i. 250 _n. 2_ - Sex-relations as regarded by, i. 338 - Studies of, in 6th cent., i. 94, 95 - Subordinate monasteries, supervision of, i. 361 - Uncloistered, _see_ Dominican _and_ Franciscan - _Vita activa_ accepted by, i. 363-6 - _Vita contemplativa_, _see that title_ - Women vilified by devotees of, i. =354 n.=, 521 _n. 2_, 532, =533=; - ii. 58 - - Montanists, 332 - - Monte Cassino, i. 250 _n. 2_, 252-3 - - Montfort, Countess of, i. 552-4 - - Moorish conquest of Spain, i. 9, 118 - - Morimond monastery, i. 362 - - Mosaics, i. 345-7 - - Music: - Arithmetic in relation to, ii. 291 - Chartres studies in, i. 299 - Poetry and, interaction of, ii. 195-=6=, =201-2= - Scholastic classification of, ii. 313 - - Mysticism: - Hugo's strain of, ii. 361-3 - Nature of, i. 443 _n. 1_; ii. =363 and n. 4= - Symbolism as expressing, _see_ Symbolism - - - Narbo, i. 26 - - Narbonensis, _see_ Provincia - - Narbonne, law studies at, ii. 250 - - Natural history and science, _see_ Physical science - - Nemorarius, Jordanus, ii. 501 - - Neo-Platonism: - Arabian versions of Aristotle touched with, ii. 389 - Augustinian, i. =55=; ii. 403 - Christianity compared with, i. 51; - Patristic habit of mind compared, ii. 295 - Ecstasy as regarded by, i. 331 - Metaphysics so named by, ii. 336 - Pseudo-Dionysian, i. 54 _and_ _n. 1_ - Tenets and nature of, i. 41-9; - a mediatorial system, i. 50, 54, 57-8, 70 - Trinity of, ii. 355 - - Neustria, i. 200, =209=, 239 - - _Nibelungenlied_, i. 145-6, =148-9=, 152, 193, 203 _n. 2_; ii. 220 - - Nicholas II., Pope, i. 243 _n. 2_ - - Nicholas III., Pope, i. 504 - - Nicholas IV., Pope (Jerome of Ascoli), ii. 491 - - Nicholas, St., sequence for festival of, ii. 213-15 - - Nicolas of Damascus, ii. 427 - - Nilus, St., Abbot of Crypta-Ferrata, i. 374 _n._ - - Nithard, Count, i. 234-5 - - Nominalism, i. 303 - - Norbert, ii. 344 - - Normandy, Norse occupation of, i. 153 - - Norsemen (Scandinavians, Vikings): - Characteristics of, i. 138, =154-5= - Continental and insular holdings of, i. 153 - Eddic poems of, i. 154-5 _and_ _n. 3_ - Irish harassed by, i. 133-4; - later relations, i. 152 _n. 3_ - Jumieges cloister sacked by, ii. 201 - Metal-working among, i. 152 _n. 3_ - Ravages by, in 8th and 9th centuries, i. 152-3 - _Sagas_ of, i. 155 _seqq._ - Settling down of, i. 240 - - Notker, i. 308-9 _and_ _n. 1_; sequences of, ii. 201-2 - - Numbers, symbolic phantasies regarding, i. 72 _and_ _nn. 1, 2_; ii. 49 - _n. 3_ - - - Oberon, fairy king, i. 564 _and_ _n._ - - Occam, William of, career of, ii. 518; - estimate of his work, ii. 522-3; - attitude toward Duns, ii. 518 _seqq._; - on faith and reason, ii. 519; - on Universals, ii. 520-1 - - Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, i. =294-5=, 359; - Jotsaldus' biography of, quoted, i. 295-6 - - Odo, Abbot of Cluny, i. 343 _and_ _n. 3_, 359; - Epitome by, of Gregory's _Moralia_, i. 16 _n. 4_; ii. 161 _and_ _n. 2_; - Latin style of _Collationes_, ii. 161-2 - - Odo of Tournai, ii. 340 _n._ - - Odoacer, i. =114=, 145 - - Olaf, St., i. 156, =160-1= - - Olaf Tryggvason, King, i. 156, =161-2= - - Old French: - Formation of, ii. 155 - Latin as studied by speakers of, ii. 123 - Poetry, ii. 222, =225 seqq.= - - Ontology, _see_ Metaphysics - - Ordeal, trial by, i. 232-3 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Ordericus Vitalis, i. 525; - _Historia ecclesiastica_ by, ii. 176-8 - - _Organon_, _see under_ Aristotle - - Origen, estimate of, i. 51, 62-3; - on Canticles, i. =333=; ii. 369; - _De principiis_, i. 68; - otherwise mentioned, i. 53, 76, 80, 87, 104, 411; ii. 64 - - Orleans School: - Classical studies at, ii. 119 _n. 2_, 127 - Law studies at, ii. 250 - Rivalry of, with Chartres, ii. 119 _n. 2_ - - Orosius, i. =82= _and_ _n. 1_, 188 - - Ostrogoths, i. 7, 113, =114-15=, 120 - - Otfrid the Frank, i. =203-4=, 308 - - Other world: - Irish beliefs as to, i. 131 _and_ _n. 2_ - Voyages to, mediaeval narratives of, i. 444 _n. 1_ - - Othloh, i. 315; - visions of, i. 443; - _Book concerning the Temptations of a certain Monk_, i. 316-23 - - Otric, i. 289-91 - - Otto I. (the Great), Emp., i. =241-3=, 256-7, 309 - - Otto II., Emp., i. 243, =282-3=, =289= - - Otto III., Emp., i. =243=, 283, 284; - _Modus Ottinc_ in honour of, ii. 215-216 - - Otto IV. (of Brunswick), Emp., i. 417; ii. =32-3= - - Otwin, Bp. of Hildesheim, i. 312 - - Ovid, _Ars amatoria_ of, i. 574-5; - mediaeval allegorizing of, and of _Metamorphoses_, ii. 230 - - Oxford University: - Characteristics of, ii. 388-9 - Curriculum at, ii. 387-8 - Foundation of, ii. 380, =386-7= - Franciscan fame at, ii. 400 - Greek studies at, ii. 120, 391, 487 - - - Palladius, Bp., i. 172 - - Pandects, _see under_ Roman law - - Papacy (_See also_ Church _and_ Popes): - Ascendancy of, over prelacy, i. 304 - Character of, ii. 32 - Denunciations against, i. 475; ii. 34-5, 218 - Empire's relations with: - Concordat of Worms, i. 245 _n. 4_ - Conflict (11th cent.), i. 244; - (12th cent.), i. 245 _n. 4_; ii. 273; - (13th cent.), ii. 33, =34-5=; - (14th cent.), ii. 518; - allegory as a weapon in, ii. 60 - Recognition of ecclesiastical authority, ii. 265-7, 272-3 - Reforms by Otto I., i. 243 - Gregory VII.'s claims for, i. 245; ii. 274 - Mendicant Orders' relations with, ii. =398=, 509 - Nepotism of, i. =504-5=, 511 - Schisms of popes and anti-popes, i. 264 - Temporal power of, rise of, i. 116; - claims advanced, i. 245; - realized, ii. 274, 276-7 - - Papinian cited, ii. 235 - - Paraclete oratory: - Abaelard at, ii. 10, 344 - Heloise at, ii. 10 _seqq._ - - Paradise: - Dante's _Paradiso_, _see under_ Dante - Hildegard's visions of, i. 455-6 - - Paris: - Schools: - Growth of, ii. 380 - Notre Dame and St. Genevieve, ii. 383 - St. Victor, ii. =61-3=, 143, 383 - University: - Aristotle prohibited at, ii. 391-2 - Authorities on, ii. 381 _n._ - Bacon at, ii. 488 - Bonaventura at, ii. 403 - Curriculum at, ii. 387-8 - Dominicans and Franciscans at, ii. 399 - Prominence of, in philosophy and theology, ii. 283, =378-9= - Rise, constitution, and struggles of, ii. 119-20, 383-6 - Viking sieges of, i. 153 - - Parma, i. 497, 505-6 - - _Parsival_: - Chretien's version of, i. 567, =588-9= - Wolfram's version of, i. 12 _n._, 571 _n. 2_, =589-613=; ii. =29= - - Paschal controversy, _see_ Eucharistic - - Paschasius, Radbertus, Abbot of Corbie i. 215, =225-7= - - Patrick, St., i. 172-3 - - Patristic thought and doctrine (_See also_ Greek thought, patristic, - _and_ Latin Fathers): - Abaelard's attitude toward, ii. 305 - Achievement of exponents of, i. 86-7 - Bacon's attitude toward, ii. 492 - Completeness of schemes presented by, ii. 394 - Emotion as synthesized by, i. 340-2 - Intellectual rather than emotional, i. 343-4; - emotionalizing of, by mediaeval thinkers, i. 345 - Latin medium of, i. 5 - Logic as regarded by, i. 71 - Mediaeval attitude toward, i. 16 - Miracle accepted by, i. 51-3, =85-6= - Natural knowledge as treated by, i. =61 seqq.=, =72-3=, =76-7=, 99; - ii. 393 - Pagan philosophy permeating exponents of, i. =33-4=, =58=, 61 - Philosophy as classified by, ii. 312 - Rearrangement of, undertaken in Carolingian period, i. =224=, 237 - Symbolism of, _see under_ Symbolism - - Paulinus of Aquileia, i. 215 - - Paulinus, St., of Nola, i. =86=, 126 _n. 2_ - - Paulus--on _jus_, ii. 237: - _Sententiae_ of, ii. 243 - - Paulus, St., i. 84, 86 - - Paulus Diaconus, i. 214-15, 252 - - Pavia, law school at, ii. 251, =259= - - Pedro, Don, of Castille, i. 554-5 - - Pelagians, i. 225 - - Pelagius, i. 172 _n._ - - Peripatetic School, i. 38-9 - (_See also_ Aristotle) - - Peter, Bro., of Apulia, i. 512-14 - - Peter, disciple of St. Francis, i. 426 - - Peter Damiani, _see_ Damiani - - Peter of Blois, ii. 133-4 - - Peter of Ebulo, ii. 190 - - Peter of Maharncuria, ii. 502-4 - - Peter of Pisa, i. 214 - - Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, i. 360; - letter of, to Heloise, ii. 25-7 - - Petrarch, ii. 188, =219= - - Petrus Riga, _Aurora_ of, ii. 127 - - Philip VI., King of France, i. 551 - - Philip Augustus, King of France, ii. 33 - - Philip Hohenstauffen, Duke of Suabia, i. 481; ii. =32=, 33 - - Philo, i. 37, =231=; - allegorizing of, ii. =42=, 364 - - Philosophy: - Division of, schemes of, ii. 312 _seqq._ - End of: - Abaelard's and Hugo's views on, ii. 352, 361 - John of Salisbury on, ii. 375 - - Philosophy, antique: - Divine source of, Bacon's view as to, ii. 507 _n. 2_ - "First" (Aristotelian), ii. 335 - Position of, in Roman Empire (3rd-6th cent.), i. 34 (_See also_ Greek - thought) - - Philosophy, Arabian, ii. =389-90=, 400-1 - - Philosophy, scholastic: - Completeness of, in Aquinas, ii. 395 - Divisions of, ii. 312 _seqq._ - Importance of, as intellectual interest, ii. 287-8 - Physical sciences included in, _see_ Physical science - Theology as the end of (Abaelard's and Hugo's view), ii. 352, 361 - Theology distinguished from, ii. 284, 288; - by Aquinas, ii. =290=, 311; - by Bonaventura, ii. 410 _and_ _n._; - considered as superior to, by Aquinas, ii. 289-=90=, =292=; - dominated by (Bacon's contention), ii. 496; - dissociated from, by Duns and Occam, ii. 510, =517=, 519 - - Physical science: - Albertus Magnus' attitude toward, ii. 423; - his works on, ii. 425-9 - Bacon's predilection for, ii. 486-7 - Classifications of, ii. 312 _seqq._ - Experimental science or method, ii. 502-8 - Mediaeval attitude toward, i. 300 - Oxford school of, ii. 389 - Patristic attitude toward, i. 63, 66-7, =72-3=, =76-7=, 99; ii. 393 - Theology as subserved by, ii. =67=, 111, =289=, =486=, =492=, =496=, - 500, 530; - denial of the theory--by Duns, ii. 510; - by Occam, ii. 519-20 - - _Physiologus_, i. =76-7 and n.=, 300; ii. 83 - - Pippin of Heristal, i. =208-9=; ii. 197 - - Pippin of Neustria, i. 115, =200=, =209=, 210 and _n. 1_; ii. 273 - - Pippin, son of Charlemagne, ii. 197 - - Placentia (Piacenza), i. 24 - - Placentinus, ii. 261-2 - - Plato, supra-rationalism of, i. 42; - allegorizing by, i. 36; ii. 364; - doctrine of ideas, i. =35=; ii. 339-340; - Aquinas on this doctrine, ii. 455, 465; - Augustine of Hippo as influenced by, ii. 403; - "salvation" suggestion in, ii. 296 _n. 2_; - _Republic_, i. 36; - _Timaeus_, i. =35-6=, 291; ii. 64, 69, =118=, 348, 370, 372, =377= - - Platonism: - Alanus' _Anticlaudianus_, in, ii. 100 _n. 2_ - Augustinian, i. 55 - Nature of, i. =35-6=, 57, 59 - Philosophy as classified by, ii. 312 - - Pliny the Elder, _Historia naturalis_ by, i. 39-40, 75 - - Plotinus, estimate of, i. 43, 45; - personal affinity of Augustine with, i. 55-7; - philosophic system of, i. =42=-6, 50, 51; - _Enneads_ of, i. 55; - otherwise mentioned, i. 50, 51; ii. 64 - - Plutarch, i. 44 - - Poetry, mediaeval: - Carmina Burana (Goliardic poetry), ii. 203, =217-19 and n.= - Chivalric, _see_ Chivalry--Literature - Hymns, _see that heading_ - Italian, of 11th cent., i. =251 seqq.=; ii. 186 - Latin, _see_ Latin verse - Modi, ii. 215-16 - Music and, interaction of, ii. 195-=6=, =201-2= - Old High German, ii. 194 - Popular verse, _see sub-headings_ Carmina _and_ Modi; _also_ Vernacular - Prosody, Alexander de Villa-Dei on, ii. 126 - Vernacular: - Germanic, Norse, and Anglo-Saxon, ii. 220-1 - Romance, ii. 221-3, 225 _seqq._ - - Pontigny monastery, i. 362 - - Poor of Lyons (Waldenses), i. 364, =365 n.=; ii. 34 - - Popes (_See also_ Papacy; _and for particular popes see their names_): - Avignon, at, ii. 510 - Decretals of, _see under_ Canon law - Degradation of (10th cent.), i. 242 - Election of, freed from lay control, i. 243 _n. 2_ - - Popular rights, growth of, in 12th cent., i. 305 - - Porphyry, i. 42, =44-7=, 50, 51, 56; ii. 295; - _Isagoge_ (Introduction to the _Categories_ of Aristotle), i. 45, 92, - 102; ii. 312, =314 n.=, 333, =339= - - Preaching Friars, _see_ Dominican Order - - Predestination, Gottschalk's controversy as to, i. 224-5, 227-=8= - - Priscianus, i. 71; ii. 119 _n. 2_; - _Institutiones grammaticae_ of (_Priscianus major_ and _minor_), ii. - 124-5 - - Prosper of Aquitaine, i. 106 _n. 1_ - - Provencal literature, i. 571; ii. 168; - Alba (aube) poetry, i. 20, =571=; ii. 30 - - Provincia (Narbonensis): - Antique, the, in relation to, before Middle Ages, i. 9 - Latinization of, i. 26-7 _and_ _n. 1_ - Ligurian inhabitants of, i. 126 - Teutonic invasion of, i. 125 - - Prudentius, ii. 63; - _Psychomachia_ of, ii. 102-4 - - Pseudo-Callisthenes, _Life and Deeds of Alexander_ by, ii. 224, 225, - =229-230= - - Pseudo-Dionysius, ii. 302; - _Celestial Hierarchy_ by, i. 54 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Pseudo-Turpin, ii. 319 - - Ptolemy of Alexandria, i. 40 - - Purgatory: - Dante's _Purgatorio_, _see under_ Dante - Hildegard's visions as to, i. 456 _n._ - Popular belief as to, i. 486 - - - _Quadrivium_, _see under_ Seven Liberal Arts - - - Rabanus Maurus, Abp. of Mainz, allegorizing of Scripture by, ii. 46-7; - interest in the vernacular, i. 308; - works of, i. 222-41; - _De universo_, i. 300; ii. 316 _n. 2_; - _Allegoriae in universam sacram scripturam_, ii. 48-9; - _De laudibus sanctae crucis_, ii. 49 _n. 3_; - otherwise mentioned, i. 16, 100, 215; ii. 302-303, 312, 332 - - Race, tests for determining, i. 124 _n._ - - Radbertus, _see_ Paschasius - - _Raoul de Cambrai_, i. 563-4 - - Ratherius, i. 309 and =n. 2= - - Ratramnus of Corbie, i. 215, 227; ii. 199 - - Ravenna: - Gerbert's disputation in, i. 289-91 - Grammar and rhetoric studies at, ii. 121 - Law studies at, ii. 251, 252 - S. Apollinaris in Classe, i. 373, 377 - - Raymond of Agiles quoted, i. 536 - - Realism, Duns' exposition of, ii. 514 _and_ _n._ - - Reason _v._ authority controversy: - Berengar's position in, i. 302-3 - Eriugena's contribution to, i. 229-=30= - - Reccared, i. 118 _nn._ - - Reinhard, Bp. of Halberstadt, ii. 62 - - Relics of saints and martyrs: - Arms enshrining, i. 528 - Curative use of, i. 299 - Patristic attitude toward, i. 86, 101 _n._ - - Renaissance, misleading nature of term, i. 211 _n._ - - _Renaud de Montaubon_, i. 564 - - Rheims cathedral school, i. 293 - - Rhetoric: - Chartres study of, i. 298 - Hugo of St. Victor on, ii. 67 - Predominance of, i. 109 _and_ _n._ - - Richard, Abbot of Jumieges, i. 480-1 - - Richard of Middleton, ii. 512 - - Richard of St. Victor, ii. 80, =87= _and_ _n. 2_, =367 n. 2=, 540 - - Richer, Abbot of Monte Cassino, i. 252, 300 _n. 2_; - history of Gerbert by, quoted, i. 287-91 - - Ricimer, Count, i. 113 - - Riddles, didactic, i. 218-19 _and_ _n. 1_ - - Rigaud, Eude (Oddo Rigaldus), Abp. of Rouen, i. =476=, =508=, 509; - _Register_ of, quoted, i. 476-81 - - Robert, cousin of St. Bernard, i. 395-7 - - Robert of Normandy, ii. 139 - - Rollo, Duke, of Normandy, i. 153, 239-40 - - _Roman de la rose_, i. =586-7=; ii. 103 _and_ _nn._, 104, 223 - - _Roman de Thebes_, ii. 227, =229 n.= - - Roman Empire: - Barbarization of, i. 5, 7, =111 seqq.= - Billeting of soldiers, custom as to, i. 114 _n._, 117 - Christianity accepted by, i. 345 - Church, relations with, ii. 265-7, 272-3 - Cities enjoying citizenship of--in Spain, i. 26 _and_ _n. 2_; - in Gaul, i. 30 - City life of, i. 27, 326 - Clientage system under, i. 117 _n. 2_ - Dante's views on, ii. 536 - Decadence of, i. =84=, 97, =111= - Eastern, _see_ Eastern Empire - Enduring nature of, conditions of, i. 238 _n._ - Greek thought diffused by, i. 4 - Italian people under, i. 7 - Jurisconsults of, authority and capacity of, ii. 232-3 _and_ _n._, 236 - Latinization of Western Europe due to, i. 23 _seqq._, 110 - Mediaeval attitude toward, i. 11 - Scandinavians under influence of, i. 152 _n. 3_ - - Roman law: - Auditory, Imperial or Praetorian, ii. 233 _n._, 235 _n. 1_ - Bologna famed for study of, ii. =121=, 251, =259-62=, 378 - _Brachylogus_, ii. 254-5 - _Breviarium_ and its _Interpretatio_, i. =117=; ii. 243-4; - Epitomes of, ii. 244, =249-50=; - _Brachylogus_ influenced by, ii. 254 - Burgundian tolerance of, i. 121; - code (_Papianus_), ii. 239, =242= - Church under, ii. 265 _and_ _n. 2_ - Codes of: - Barbaric, nature of, ii. 244 - (_See also sub-headings_ Breviarium _and_ Burgundian) - Gregorianus', ii. 240, 243 - Hermogenianus', ii. 240, 243 - Nature of, ii. 239-40 - Theodosian, ii. 240 _and_ _n. 2_, 241 _n. 2_, 242-3, =249=, =266-7 - and n. 1= - _Codex_ of Justinian, ii. =240=, =242=, 253: - Azo's and Accursius' work on, ii. 263-4 - Glosses to, ii. 249-50 - Placentinus' _Summa_ of, ii. 262 - _Summa Perusina_ an epitome of, ii. =249=, 252 - _Constitutiones_ and _rescripta principum_, ii. =235 and n. 1=, 239, - =240= - Custom recognized by, ii. 236 - Digest of, by Justinian, _see subheading_ Pandects - Elementary education including smattering of, ii. 250 - Epitomes of, various, ii. 249-50; - _Epitome of Julianus_, ii. 242, =249=, 254 - Glosses: - Accursius' _Glossa ordinaria_, ii. 263-4 - Irnerius', ii. 261 _and_ _n. 1_ - Justinian's _Codex_, to, ii. 249-50 - Gothic adoption of, i. 114 - _Institutes_ of Gaius, ii. 241, 243 - _Institutes_ of Justinian, ii. =241=, 243, =254=: - Azo's _Summa_ of, ii. 263 - Placentinus' _Summa_ of, ii. 262 - Jurisprudential element in early stages of, ii. 232 - _Jus_ identified with _aequitas_, ii. 235 - _Jus civile_, ii. 237, 257 - _Jus gentium_: - _Jus naturale_ in relation to, ii. 234 _and_ _n._ - Origin of, ii. 233-4 - Popular rights as regarded by, ii. 278 - _Jus praetorium_, ii. 235 - _Lex romana canonice compta_, ii. 252 - Lombard attitude toward, i. 115 - _Novellae_ of Justinian, ii. 240, =242= - Pandects (Justinian's _Digest_), ii. 235 _and_ _n. 2_, =236-8=, - =241=-2, 248, 253, 255: - Accursius' _Glossa_ on, ii. 264 - Glossators' interpretation of, ii. 265 - Permanence of, ii. 236 - _Petrus_ (_Petri exceptiones_), ii. 252-4 - Placentinus' work in, ii. 261-2 - Principles of, examples of, ii. 237-8; - possession and its rights, ii. 256-8 - Principles of interpretation of, ii. 256 - Provincia, in, i. 27 _n. 1_ - _Responsa_ or _auctoritas jurisprudentium_, ii. 235-6 - Sources of, multifarious, ii. 235 - Sphere of, ii. 248 - Study of, centres for--in France, ii. 250; - in Italy, ii. =121=, 251 _and_ _n. 2_, =259-62=, 378 - _Summa codicis Irnerii_, ii. 255 - Theodosian Code, _see under subheading_ Codes - Treatises on, mediaeval, ii. 252 _seqq._ - Twelve Tables, ii. 232, 236 - Visigothic code of, _see subheading_ _Breviarium_ - - Romance, spirit of, i. 418 - - Romance languages (_See also_ Old French): - Characteristics of, ii. 152 - Dante's attitude toward, ii. 537 - Latin as modified by, ii. 155 - Literature of, ii. 221-3 - (_See also_ Provencal literature) - Strength of, i. 9 - - Romance nations, mediatorial role of, i. =110-11=, 124 - - _Romans d'aventure_, i. =564-5=, 571 _n. 2_ - - Rome: - Bishops of, _see_ Popes - Factions in (10th cent.), i. 242 - Law School in, ii. 251, 255 - Mosaics in, i. 347 - Verses to, i. 348; ii. =200= - - Romualdus, St., youth of, i. 373; - austerities of, i. 374, =379=, 381; - relations with his father, i. 374-5; - harshness and egotism of, i. 375-7; - at Vallis de Castro, i. 376-7, 380; - at Sytrio, i. 378-9; - death of, i. 372 _n. 3_, =380=; - Commentary of, on the Psalter, i. 379 - - Romulus Augustulus, Emp., i. 114 - - Roncesvalles, battle of, i. 559 _n. 2_-62 - - Roscellinus, i. 303-4; ii. 339-=40= - - Rothari, King of Lombards, i. 115; ii. 251 - - Ruadhan, St., i. 132-3 - - Ruotger, Life of Abp. Bruno by, i. 310; ii. 162 _and_ _n. 1_ - - - _Sacra doctrina_, _see_ Theology - - Sacraments, _see under_ Church - - _Sagas_, Norse: - Character of, i. 12 _n._, 155 _seqq._ - _Egil_, i. 162-4 - _Gisli_, i. 158 - _Heimskringla_, i. 160-2 _and_ _n. 2_ - _Njala_, i. 157 _and_ =n.=, =159=, =164-7= - Oral tradition of, ii. 220 - - St. Denis monastery, ii. 10, =344= - - St. Emmeram convent (Ratisbon), i. 315, =316= - - St. Gall monastery, i. 257-8; - Notker's work at, ii. 201-2 - - St. Victor monastery and school, ii. =61-3=, 143, 383 - - Saints: - Austerities of, i. 374 _and_ _n._, 375 - Interventions of, mediaeval beliefs as to, i. 487-8, 490 - Irish clergy so called, i. 135 _n. 2_ - Lives of: - Compend. of (_Legenda Aurea_), ii. 184 - Conventionalized descriptions in, i. 393 _n. 1_ - Defects of, i. 494 - Estimate of, i. =84-5 and nn.= - otherwise mentioned, i. 298, 300 - Relics of, _see_ Relics - Visions of, i. 444-5 - Worship of, i. 101 - - Salerno medical school, i. =250 n. 4=, =251=; ii. 121 - - Salian Franks, _see under_ Franks - - Salimbene, i. 496-7, 499-500; - _Chronica_ of, quoted and cited, i. 498 _seqq._; - editions and translations of the work, i. 496 _n._ - - Salvation, _see under_ Christianity - - Salvian, _De gubernatione Dei_ by, i. 84 - - Saracens: - Crusades against, _see_ Crusades - Frankish victories against, i. 209-10 _n. 1_ - Wars with, necessitating mounted warriors, i. 525 - otherwise mentioned, i. 239, 252, 274, 332 - - Saxons, _see_ Anglo-Saxons _and_ Germans - - Scandinavians, _see_ Norsemen - - Scholasticism: - Arab analogy with, ii. 390 _and_ _n. 2_ - Aristotle's advanced works, stages of appropriation of, ii. 393-5 - Bacon's attack on, ii. 484, =493-4=, =496=, 509 - Classification of topics by: - Schemes of, various, ii. 312 _seqq._ - Twofold principle of, ii. 311 - Conceptualism, ii. 520-1 - Content of, i. 301 - Deference to authority a characteristic of, ii. 297, 300 - Disintegration of--through Duns, ii. 510, 516; - through Occam, ii. 522-3 - Elementary nature of discussions of, ii. 347 - Evil, problem of, _see_ Evil - Exponents of, ii. 283 _and_ _n._ - Final exposition of, by Aquinas, ii. 484 - Greek thought contrasted with, ii. 296 - Humour non-existent in, ii. 459 - Method of, ii. =302=, =306-7=, 315 _n._; - prototype of, i. 95 - Nominalism, ii. 340 - Philosophy of, _see_ Philosophy, scholastic - Phraseology of, untranslatable, ii. 348, 483 - _Praedicables_, ii. 314 _n._ - Present interest of, ii. 285 - Realism, ii. 340; - Pantheism in relation to, ii. 370 - Salvation a main interest of, ii. =296-7=, 300, 311 - Scriptural authority, position of, ii. 289, =291-2= - Secular studies as regarded by, ii. 349, 357 - Stages of development of, ii. 333 _seqq._ - Sympathetic study of, the key to contradictions, ii. 371 - Theology of, _see_ Theology - Universals, problem of: - Aquinas' treatment of, ii. 462 - Duns' treatment of, ii. 515 - Occam's contribution toward, ii. 520-1 - Roscellin's views on, i. 303-4 - - Sciences, classifications of, ii. 312 _seqq._ - (_See also_ Physical science) - - Scotland, Christianizing of, i. 173 - - Scriptures, Christian: - Allegorizing of: - Examples of: - David and Bathsheba episode, ii. 44-6 - Exodus, Book of, ii. 47 - Good Samaritan parable, ii. =53-6=, 84, 90 - Hannah, story of, ii. 47 _n. 1_ - Pharisee and Publican parable, ii. 51-2 - Hugo of St. Victor's view of, ii. 65 _n._ - Writers exemplifying--Philo, ii. 42-43; - the Fathers, ii. =43 seqq.=, 68-9 _and_ _n. 2_; - Rabanus, ii. 46-50; - Bede, ii. 47 _n. 1_; - Honorius of Autun, ii. 51 _seqq._; - Hugo of St. Victor, ii. 67 _seqq._ - Anglo-Saxon version of, i. =142 n. 2=, 183 - Authority of--in patristic doctrine, ii. 295; - acknowledged by Eriugena, i. 231; - by Berengar, i. 303; - in scholasticism, ii. 280, 291-2 - Bacon's attitude toward, ii. =491-2=, 497 - Bonaventura's attitude toward, and writings on, ii. 405 _seqq._ - Canon law based on, ii. 267-9 - Classical studies in relation to, _see subheading_ Secular - Classification of topics based on, ii. 317, 324 - Commentaries on--Alcuin's, i. 220-1; - Raban's, i. 222-3 - Duns' attitude toward, ii. 516 - Francis of Assisi's literal acceptance of, i. 365, 426-=7=; - his realization of spirit of, i. 427 _n. 1_; ii. 183 - Gothic version of, i. 143 _n._ - _Heliand_, i. =203 and nn.=, 308 - Hymns based on, ii. 88 _seqq._ - Interpretation of--by the Fathers, i. =43 seqq.=, 68-9 _and_ _n. 2_; - by Eriugena, i. 231; - by Berengar, i. 303 - Isidore's writings on, i. 104-5 - Love, human, as treated in Old Testament, i. 332-3 - Scenes from, in Gothic art, ii. 82 _seqq._ - Secular knowledge in relation to, i. 63, =66=; ii. =110=, =112=, 120, - 499 - Song of Songs, _see_ Canticles - Study of, by monks, i. 94; - Cassiodorus' _Institutiones_, i. 95-6 - Theology identified with, ii. 406, 408 - Vulgate, the: - Corruption in Paris copy of, ii. 497 - Language of, ii. 171 - - Sculpture, Gothic: - Cathedrals, evolution of, ii. 538-=9= - Symbolism of, i. 457 _n. 2_; ii. =82-6= - - Sedulius Scotus, i. 215 - - Seneca, i. 26, 41 - - _Sentences, Books of_: - Isidore's, i. 106 _and_ _n. 1_ - Paulus' _Sententiae_, ii. 243 - Peter Lombard's, _see under_ Lombard - Prosper's, i. 106 _n. 1_ - - Sequence-hymns, development of, ii. 196, =201-6=; - Adam of St. Victor's, ii. 209-215 - - Serenus, Bp. of Marseilles, i. 102 - - Sermons, allegorizing: - Bernard of Clairvaux, by, i. 337 _n._, =409-13=; ii. =169=, 368-9 - Honorius of Autun, by, ii. 50 _seqq._ - - Seven Liberal Arts (_See also separate headings_ Grammar, Logic, _etc._): - Alanus de Insulis on functions of, ii. 98 _n. 1_ - Carolingian study of, i. 236 - Clerical education in, i. 221-2 - Compend of, by Cassiodorus, i. 96 - _De nuptiis_ as concerned with, i. 71 _n. 3_ - Hugo of St. Victor on function of, ii. 67, 111 - Latin the medium for, ii. 109 - Law smattering included with, ii. 250 - Quadrivium: - Boethius on, i. 90 _and_ _n. 2_ - Chartres, at, i. 299 - Thierry's encyclopaedia of, ii. 130 - Trivium: - Chartres, at, i. =298-9=; ii. 163 - Courses of, as representing stages of mediaeval development, ii. - 331 _seqq._ - otherwise mentioned, i. 217; ii. 553 - - Severinus, St., i. 192 - - Severus, Sulpicius, i. 126 _n. 2_; - Life of St. Martin by, i. 52, 84, 85 _n. 2_, =86= - - Sidonius, Apollinaris, i. 126 _n. 2_; - cited, i. 117 _n. 1_, 140 - - Siger de Brabant, ii. 401 _and_ _n._ - - _Sippe_, i. 122 - - Smaragdus, Abbot, i. 215 - - Socrates, i. 34-5; ii. 7 - - Songs, _see_ Poetry - - Sophists, Greek, i. 35 - - Sorbon, Robert de, i. 544-5 - - Sorcery, i. 46 - - Spain: - Antique, the, in relation to, before Middle Ages, i. 9 - Arabian philosophy in, ii. 390 - Church in, i. 9, 103, =118 and n.= - Latinization of, i. 25-6 _and_ _n. 2_ - Moorish conquest of, i. 9, 118 - Visigoths in, i. 113, 116-=17 and n. 2=, 118 - - _Stabat Mater_, i. 348 - - Statius, ii. 229 _n._ - - Statius Caecilius, i. 25 - - Stephen IX., Pope, i. 263 - - Stephen, St., sequence for festival of, ii. 211-13 - - Stephen of Bourbon quoted, i. 365 _n._ - - Stilicho, i. 112 - - Stoicism: - Emotion as regarded by, i. 330 - Nature of, i. =41=, 57, 59 - Neo-Platonism contrasted with, ii. 296 - Philosophy as classified by, ii. 312 - Roman law as affected by, ii. 232 - otherwise mentioned, i. 40, 70 - - Strabo, Walafrid, _see_ Walafrid - - Suevi, i. 116-17 _and_ _n. 2_, =139= - - _Summae_, method of, ii. 306-7 - (_See also under_ Theology) - - _Summum bonum_, Aquinas' discussion of, ii. 438 _seqq._, 456 - - Switzerland, Irish monasteries founded in, i. 174 - - Sylvester II., Pope (Gerbert of Aurillac), career of, i. 281-4; - disputation with Otric, i. 289-91; - estimate of, i. 281, =285-7=; - love of the classics, i. =287-8=; ii. 110; - Latin style of, ii. 160; - logical studies of, ii. 332, 338, 339, 345; - letters of, quoted, i. 283-7; - estimated, i. 284-5; - editions of works of, i. 280 _n._; - _Libellus de rationali et ratione uti_, i. =292 n.=, 299; - otherwise mentioned, i. 249; ii. 35 - - Symbolism: - Alanus' _Anticlaudianus_ as exemplifying, ii. 94-103 - Angels as symbols, ii. 457 - Art, mediaeval, inspired by, i. 21 - Augustine and Gregory compared as to, i. 56-7 - Carolingian, nature and examples of, ii. 46-50 - Church edifices, of, ii. 78-82 - Dante permeated with, ii. 534, =552-5= - Greek, nature of, ii. 56-7 - Hildegard's visions, in, i. 456 _seqq._ - Marriage relationship, in, i. 413-14 - Mass, of the, ii. 77-8 - Mediaeval thought deeply impressed by, ii. =43=, 50 _n. 1_, =102=, - =365= - Mysticism in relation to, ii. 364 - Neo-Platonic, i. 52 - Ovid's works interpreted by, ii. 230 - Patristic, i. =37=, =43-6=, 52, 53, 58, =80= - Platonic, i. 36 - Raban's addiction to, i. 223 _and_ _n. 2_ - _Signum et res_ classification, ii. 322-3 - Twelfth century--in Honorius of Autun, ii. 51 _seqq._; - in Hugo of St. Victor, ii. 64 _seqq._ - Universal in mental processes, ii. 41, 552 _n._ - Universe explained by, ii. 64, 66 _seqq._ - otherwise mentioned, i. 15, 22 - - Sytrio, Romualdus at, i. 378-9 - - - Tacitus, i. 78; ii. 134 - - Tears, grace of, i. 370-1 _and_ _n._, 462, 463 - - Templars, i. 531-5 - - Tenth century, _see_ Carolingian period - - Tertullian, i. 5, 58, 87, 99, 171, 332, 344, 354 _n._; ii 152; - paradox of, i. 51; ii. 297; - _Adversus Marcionem_, i. 68 - - Teutons (_See also_ Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Germans, Norsemen): - Celts compared with, i. 125 - Characteristics of, i. 138 - Christianizing of: - Manner of, i. =181-3=, =196-7=, 193; - results of, i. 5, =170=-1 - Motives of converts, i. 193 - Customs of, i. 122, 139, 141, 523 - Law of, early, tribal nature of, ii. 245-7 - Role of, in mediaeval evolution, i. 125 - Roman Empire permeated by, i. 111 _seqq._ - - Theodora, i. 242 - - Theodore, Abp. of Canterbury, i. 184 - - Theodoric of Freiburg, ii. 501 _n._ - - Theodoric the Ostrogoth, i. 89, 91 _n. 2_, 93, =114-15=, 120-1, 138, 249; - in legend, i. 145-6; - Edict of, ii. 244 _n._ - - Theodosius the Great, Emp., i. 112; ii. 272; - Code of, ii. 240 _and_ _n. 2_, 241 _n. 2_, 242, =249=, =266-7 and n. 1= - - Theodulphus, Bp. of Orleans, i. =9=, 215; - Latin diction of, ii. 160 - - Theology, scholastic: - Abaelard's treatises on, _see under_ Abaelard - Aquinas' _Summa_ of, _see under_ Aquinas - Argumentative nature of, ii. 292-3 - Augustinian character of, ii. 403 - Course of study in, ii. 388 - Importance of, as intellectual interest, ii. 287-8 - Logic in relation to, ii. =340 n.=, 346 - Mysticism of, ii. 363-4 - Natural sciences, etc., as handmaids to, ii. =67=, 111, 289, =486=, - =492=, =496=, 500, 530; - denial of the theory--by Duns, ii. 510; - by Occam, ii. 519-520 - (_See also_ Physical science--Patristic attitude toward) - Paris the centre for, ii. 283, =379= - Philosophy in relation to, _see under_ Philosophy - Practical, not speculative, regarded as, ii. 512, =515=, 519 - Scientific nature of, as regarded by Albertus, ii. 291, 430 - Scripture identified with, ii. 406, 408 - _Summae_ of--by Alexander of Hales, ii. 399; - by Bonaventura, ii. 408; - by Albertus Magnus, ii. 430-1; - by Aquinas, _see under_ Aquinas - Thirteenth-century study of, ii. 118-=120= - - Theophrastus, i. 38 - - Theresa, St., i. 443 _n. 1_ - - Theurgic practice, i. 46-8 - - Thierry, Chancellor of Chartres, ii. 119, =370-1=; - _Eptateuchon_ of, ii. 130 _and_ _n._ - - Thirteenth century: - Intellectual interests of, ultimate, ii. 287 - Latin prose styles of, ii. 179 - Papal position in, ii. 509 - Personalities of writers emergent in, ii. 436 - Theology and dialectic the chief studies of, ii. 118-=20= - Three phenomena marking, ii. 378 - - Thomas a Kempis, _De imitatione Christi_ by, ii. 185 - - Thomas Aquinas, _see_ Aquinas - - Thomas of Brittany, _Tristan_ fragment by, i. 582 - - Thomas of Cantimpre, ii. 428-9 - - Thomas of Celano, Life of St. Francis by, quoted, i. 435, 436-8; - style of the work, ii. 182-3 - - Thucydides, _History of the Peloponnesian War_ by, i. 77-8 - - Thuringia: - Boniface's work in, i. 197-8 - Merovingian rule in, i. 121 - - Thuringians, language of, i. 145 _n. 2_ - - Torriti, i. 347 - - Trance, _see_ Ecstasy - - Treves, i. =30=, 31, 192 - - _Tristan_: - Chretien's version of, i. 567 - Gottfried von Strassburg's version of, i. 577-82 - - Trivium, _see under_ Seven Liberal Arts - - Troubadours (trouveres), i. 572-3 _and_ _nn._ - - Troy, tales of, in mediaeval literature, ii. 200, =224-5 and n. 2=, - =227-9= - - True and the good compared, ii. 441, 512 - - Truth, Guigo's _Meditationes_ as concerning, i. 385-6 - - Twelfth century: - Classical studies at zenith in, ii. 117-118 - Growth in, various, i. 305-6 - Intellectual interests of, ultimate, ii. 287 - Literary zenith in, ii. 168, 205-6 - Mobility increased during, ii. 379 - - - Ulfilas, i. 192; ii. 221 - - Ulpian--on _jus naturale_ and _jus gentium_, ii. 234 _and_ _n._; - on _justitia_, _jus_ and _jurisprudentia_, ii. 237 - - Ulster Cycle, Sagas of, i. 128 _and_ _n. 2_, 129 _seqq._ - - Universals, _see under_ Scholasticism - - Universities, mediaeval (_For particular universities see their names_): - Increase in (14th cent.), ii. 523 - Rise of, ii. 379, 381 _seqq._ - Studies at, ii. 388 _and_ _n._ - - Urban II., Pope, ii. 175 - - Urban IV., Pope, ii. 391-2, 434 - - Utrecht, bishopric of, i. 197 - - - Vallombrosa, i. 377 - - Vandals, i. 112, =113=, 120 - - Varro, Terentius, i. 39, 71, 78 - - Vercingetorix, i. 28 - - Vernacular poetry, _see under_ Poetry - - Verse, _see_ Poetry - - Vikings, _see_ Danes _and_ Norsemen - - Vilgard, i. 259-60 - - Vincent of Beauvais, _Speculum majus_ of, ii. 82 _and_ _n. 2_, 315-22 - - Virgil, Bernard Silvestris' _Commentum_ on, ii. 116-17 _and_ _n. 2_; - Dante in relation to, ii. 535, 536, 539, 543 - - Virgin Mary: - Dante's _Paradiso_ as concerning, ii. 551 - Hymns to, by Hugo of St. Victor, ii. 86-7, 92 - Interventions of, against the devil, i. 487, =490-2= - Mediaeval attitude toward, i. 53, 54 _and_ =n. 2=; ii. =431=, =551=, - 558 - - Virtues: - Aquinas' classification of, ii. 326-8 - Odilo's _Cardinales disciplinae_, i. 295 - - Virtues and vices, poetic treatment of--by Alanus, ii. 102 _n._; - by De Lorris and De Meun, ii. 103 - - Visigoths: - Arianism of, i. 120 - Dacian settlement of, i. 112 - Gaul, Southern, kingdom in, i. 7, 112, =116=; - Clovis' conquest of, i. 121 - Roman law code promulgated by, _see_ Roman law--_Breviarium_ - Spain, in, i. 9, 113, 116-=17 and n. 2=, 118 - - Visions: - Examples of, i. 444-6, 451, 452-9 - Monastic atmosphere in, i. 184 _and_ _n. 2_ - Nature of, i. 443, 449 and _n. 3_, =450=, 451 _and_ _n._ - - _Vita contemplativa_: - Aquinas' views on, ii. 443, =481-2= - Hildebert on, ii. 144-5 - - _Vitae sanctorum_, _see_ Saints--Lives of - - - Walafrid Strabo, i. 100, =215=; ii. =332=; - _Glossa ordinaria_ of, i. 16, =221 n. 2=; ii. =46=; - _De cultura hortorum_, ii. 188 _n. 2_ - - Waldenses, i. =365 n.=; ii. 34 - - Walter of Lille (of Chatillon), _Alexandreis_ of, ii. 192 _and_ _n. 3_, - 230 _n. 1_ - - Walther von der Vogelweide, political views of, ii. 33; - attitude of, toward Papacy, ii. 34-6; - piety and crusading zeal of, ii. 36; - melancholy, ii. 36-7; - _Minnelieder_ of, ii. 29-31; - _Sprueche_, ii. 29, =32=, 36; - _Tagelied_, ii. 30; - _Unter der Linde_, ii. 30; - otherwise mentioned, i. 475, =482=, 589; ii. 223 - - _Wergeld_, i. =122=, 139; ii. =246= - - Will, primacy of, over intellect, ii. 512, 515 - - William, Abbot of Hirschau, i. 315 - - William II. (Rufus), King of England, i. 273, 275; ii. =138-9= - - William of Apulia, ii. 189 _and_ _n. 3_ - - William of Champeaux--worsted by Abaelard, ii. 342-3; - founds St. Victor, ii. 61, 143; - Hildebert's letter to, quoted, ii. 143 - - William of Conches, ii. 132; - studies and works of, ii. 372-3; - _Summa moralium philosophorum_, ii. 134-5, 373 _and_ _n. 2_ - - William of Malmsbury cited, i. 525 - - William of Moerbeke, ii. 391 - - William of Occam, _see_ Occam - - William of St. Thierry, ii. 300, 344 - - Willibrord, St., i. 197 - - Winifried-Boniface, St., i. 6, =197-200=, 308; ii. 273 - - Wisdom, Aquinas on, ii. 481 - - Witelo, _Perspectiva_ by, ii. 501 _n._ - - Witiza of Aquitaine, i. 358-9 - - Wolfram von Eschenbach, ii. 223; - _Parzival_ by, i. 12 _n._, 149 _n. 1_, 152, 567, 571 _n. 2_, - =589-613=; ii. =36=; - estimate of the work, i. 588; ii. 29 - - Women: - Emotion regarding, i. 349-50 - Emotional Christ-love experienced by, i. 442, =459 seqq.= - Fabliaux' tone toward, i. 521 _n. 2_ - German prae-mediaeval attitude toward, i. 139, 150; - mediaeval, ii. 31 - Monastic life, in: - Abuses among, i. 491-2; - Rigaud's _Register_ as concerning, i. 479-480 - Consecration of, i. 337 _and_ _n._ - Gandersheim nuns, i. 311 - Visions of, i. 442 _seqq._, 463 _seqq._ - Monkish vilification of, i. =354 n.=, 521 _n. 2_, 532, =533=; ii. 58 - Romantic literature as concerned with, i. 564 - Romantic poems for audiences of, i. 565 - Walther von der Vogelweide on, ii. 31 - - Worms, Concordat of (1122), i. 245 _n. 4_ - - - Xenophon's _Cyropaedia_, i. 78 - - - Year-books (_Annales_), i. 234 _and_ =n. 1= - - Yves, Bp. of Chartres, i. 262 _n._; ii. =139= - - - Zacharias, Pope, i. 199 - - Zoology: - Albertus Magnus' works on, ii. 429 - Aristotle's work in, i. 38 - _Physiologus_, i. =76-7 and n.=, 300; ii. 83 - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] The present work is not occupied with the brutalities of mediaeval -life, nor with all the lower grades of ignorance and superstition -abounding in the Middle Ages, and still existing, in a less degree, -through parts of Spain and southern France and Italy. Consequently I have -not such things very actively in mind when speaking of the mediaeval -genius. That phrase, and the like, in this book, will signify the more -informed and constructive spirit of the mediaeval time. - -[2] There will be much to say of all these men in later chapters. - -[3] _Post_, Chapter XI. - -[4] See _post_, Chapter IX., as to the manner of the coming of Augustine -to England. - -[5] The Icelandic Sagas, for example, were then brought into written form. -They have a genius of their own; they are realistic and without a trace of -symbolism. They are wonderful expressions of the people among whom they -were composed. _Post_, Chapter VIII. But, products of a remote island, -they were unaffected by the moulding forces of mediaeval development, nor -did they exert any influence in turn. The native traits of the mediaeval -peoples were the great complementary factor in mediaeval -progress--complementary, that is to say, to Latin Christianity and antique -culture. Mediaeval characteristics sprang from the interaction of these -elements; they certainly did not spring from any such independent and -severed growth of native Teuton quality as is evinced by the Sagas. One -will look far, however, for another instance of such spiritual aloofness. -For clear as are the different racial or national traits throughout the -mediaeval period, they constantly appear in conjunction with other -elements. They are discerned working beneath, possibly reacting against, -and always affected by, the genius of the Middle Ages, to wit, the genius -of the mutual interaction of the whole. Wolfram's very German _Parzival_, -the old French _Chanson de Roland_, and above them all the _Divina -Commedia_, are mediaeval. In these compositions in the vernacular, racial -traits manifest themselves distinctly, and yet are affected by the -mediaeval spirit. - -[6] See _post_, Chapter V. - -[7] The Predestination and Eucharistic controversies are examples; _post_, -Chapter X. - -[8] See _post_, Chapter X. - -[9] The lack of originality in the first half of the tenth century is -illustrated by the Epitome of Gregory's _Moralia_, made by such an -energetic person as Odo of Cluny. It occupies four hundred columns in -Migne's _Patrologia Latina_, 133. See _post_, Chapter XII. - -[10] See _post_, Chapter XIII. - -[11] See _post_, Chapter XI. - -[12] See _post_, Chapter XVI. - -[13] These men will be fully considered later, Chapters XXXIV.-XL. - -[14] See _post_, Chapter XXXI. - -[15] See _post_, Chapter XXXII. - -[16] _Post_, Chapter XXIII. - -[17] The term "spiritual" is here intended to signify the activities of -the mind which are emotionalized with yearning or aversion, and therefore -may be said to belong to the entire nature of man. - -[18] The history of the spread of Latin through Italy and the provinces is -from the nature of the subject obscure. Budinsky's _Die Ausbreitung der -lateinischer Sprache_ (Berlin, 1881) is somewhat unsatisfactory. See also -Meyer-Luebke, _Die lateinische Sprache in den romanischen Laendern_ -(Groeber's _Grundriss_, 1{2}, 451 _sqq._; F. G. Mohl, _Introduction a la -chronologie du latin vulgaire_ (1899). The statements in the text are very -general, and ignore intentionally the many difficult questions as to what -sort of Latin--dialectal, popular, or literary--was spread through the -peninsula. See Mohl, _o.c._ Sec. 33 _sqq._ - -[19] Tradition says from Gaul, but the sifted evidence points to the -Danube north of the later province of Noricum. See Bertrand and Reinach, -_Les Celtes dans les vallees du Po et du Danube_ (Paris, 1894). - -[20] See Beloch, _Bevoelkerung der griechisch-roemischen Welt_, p. 507 -(Leipzig, 1886). - -[21] Mommsen says that in Augustus's time fifty Spanish cities had the -full privileges of Roman citizenship and fifty others the rights of -Italian towns (_Roman Provinces_, i. 75, Eng. trans.). But this seems a -mistake; as the enumeration of Beloch, _Bevoelkerung_, etc., p. 330, gives -fifty in all, following the account of Pliny. - -[22] Cicero, _Pro Archia_, 10, speaks slightingly of poets born at -Cordova, but, later, Latro of Cordova was Ovid's teacher. - -[23] The Roman law was used throughout Provincia. In this respect a line -is to be drawn between Provincia and the North. See _post_, Chapter -XXXIII. - -[24] _Bellum Gallicum_, iii. 10. - -[25] _Bellum Gallicum_, v. 6. - -[26] Porcius Cato, in his _Origines_, written a hundred years before -Caesar crossed the mountains, says that Gallia was devoted to the art of -war and to eloquence (_argute loqui_). Presumably the Gallia that Cato -thus characterized as clever or acute of speech, was Cisalpine Gaul, to -wit, the north of Italy; yet Caesar's transalpine Gauls were both clever -of speech and often the fools of their own arguments. Lucian, in his -_Hercules_ (No. 55, Dindorf's edition) has his "Celt" argue that Hercules -accomplished his deeds by the power of words. - -[27] See, generally, Fustel de Coulanges, _Institutions politiques de -l'ancienne France_, vol. i. (_La Gaule romaine_). - -[28] _Bellum Gallicum_, vi. 11, 12. - -[29] Cf. Julian, _Vercingetorix_ (2nd ed., Paris, 1902). - -[30] _Bellum Gallicum_, iv. 5; vi. 20. - -[31] There are a number of texts from the second to the fifth century -which bear on the matter. Taken altogether they are unsatisfying, if not -blind. They have been frequently discussed. See Groeber, _Grundriss der -romanischen Philologie_, i. 451 _sqq._ (2nd edition, 1904); Brunot, -_Origines de la langue francaise_, which is the Introduction to Petit de -Julleville's _Histoire de la langue et de la litterature francaise_ -(Paris, 1896); Bonnet, _Le Latin de Gregoire de Tours_, pp. 22-30 (Paris, -1890); Mommsen's _Provinces of the Roman Empire_, p. 108 _sqq._ of English -translation; Fustel de Coulanges, _Institutions politiques_, vol. i. (_La -Gaule romaine_), pp. 125-135 (Paris, 1891); Roger, _L'Enseignement des -lettres classiques d' Ausone a Alcuin_, p. 24 _sqq._ (Paris, 1905). - -[32] Such words are, _e.g._, wine, street, wall. See Toller, _History of -the English Language_ (Macmillan & Co., 1900), pp. 41, 42. - -[33] See Paul, _Grundriss der germanischen Philologie_, Band i. pp. -305-315, (Strassburg, 1891). - -[34] A prime illustration is afforded by the Latin juristic word _persona_ -used in the Creed. The Latins had to render the three [Greek: hypostaseis] -of the Greeks; and "three somethings," _tria quaedam_, was too loose, as -Augustine says (_De Trinitate_, vii. 7-12). The true and literal -translation of [Greek: hypostasis] would have been _substantia_; but that -word had been taken to render [Greek: ousia]. So the legal word _persona_ -was employed in spite of its recognized unfitness. Cf. Taylor, _Classical -Heritage, etc._, p. 116 _sqq._ - -[35] On these Peripatetics see Zeller, _Philosophie der Griechen_, 3rd ed. -vol. ii. pp. 806-946. - -[36] See Boissier, _Etude sur M. T. Varron_ (Paris, 1861). - -[37] _Hist. naturalis_, ii. 41. - -[38] From the reign of Augustus onward, Astrology flourished as never -before. See Habler, _Astrologie im Alterthum_, p. 23 _sqq._ (Zwickau, -1879). - -[39] _De abstinentia_, ii. 34. - -[40] _De abstinentia_, iii. 4. - -[41] Porphyry before him had spoken of angels and archangels which he had -found in Jewish writings. - -[42] For authorities cited, see Zeller, _Ges. der Phil._, iii.{2} p. 686. - -[43] _De mysteriis_, i. 3. - -[44] _Ibid._ ii. 3, 9. - -[45] Cf. Doellinger, _Sektengeschichte_. - -[46] All my Christian examples are taken from among the representatives of -Catholic Christianity, because it was that which triumphed, and set the -lines of mediaeval thought. Consequently, I have not referred to the -Gnostics, not wishing to complicate an already complex spiritual -situation. Gnosticism was a mixture of Hellenic, oriental, and Christian -elements. Its votaries represented one (most distorting) way in which the -Gospel was taken. But Gnosticism neither triumphed nor deserved to. It -flourished somewhat before the time of Plotinus. - -[47] See Origen, _De principiis_, iii. 2. - -[48] The Athanasian _Vita Antonii_ is in Migne, _Patr. Graec._ 26, and -trans. in _Nicene Fathers_, second series, iv. The _Vita S. Martini_ is in -Halm's ed. of Sulp. Severus (Vienna, 1866), and in Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 20, -and trans. in _Nicene Fathers_, second series, xi. - -[49] See Harnack, _Dogmengeschichte_, ii. 413 _sqq._, especially 432 sqq. -Also Taylor, _Classical Heritage_, pp. 94-97. - -[50] In cap. iii. Sec. 2 of the _Celestial Hierarchy_, Pseudo-Dionysius says -that the goal of his system is the becoming like to God and oneness with -Him ([Greek: he pros theon aphomoiosis te kai henosis]). He classifies his -"celestial intelligences" even more systematically than the _De mysteriis_ -of Iamblicus's school. His work is full of Neo-Platonism. Cf. Vacherot, -_Histoire de l'ecole d'Alexandrie_, iii. 24 _sqq._ - -[51] The cult of the Virgin and the saints was of very early growth. See -Lucius, _Die Anfaenge des Heiligen Kults in der christlichen Kirche_ (ed. -by Anrich, Tuebingen, 1904). - -[52] See, _e.g._, Grandgeorge, _St. Augustin et le Neoplatonisme_ (Paris, -1896). - -[53] On Gregory, see _post_, Chapter V. - -[54] _Epistola ad Gregorium Thaumaturgum._ - -[55] Cf. Boissier, _Fin du paganisme_. - -[56] _Civ. Dei_, xix. caps. 49, 20, 27, 28. - -[57] _De moribus Ecclesiae_, 14, 15; cf. _Epist._ 155, Secs. 12, 13. - -[58] _Civ. Dei_, xix. 25. - -[59] See Clement of Rome, _Ep. to the Corinthians_ (A.D. cir. 92), opening -passage, and notes in Lightfoot's edition. - -[60] _De doc. Chris._ i. 4, 5. - -[61] _De doc. Chris._ ii. 16. - -[62] _De doc. Chris._ iii. cap. 10 _sqq._ - -[63] _Post_, Chapter V. - -[64] _De moribus Ecclesiae_, 21; _Confessions_, v. 7; x. 54-57. - -[65] See Harnack, _Dogmengeschichte_, iii. 14 _sqq._; Taylor, _Classical -Heritage_, p. 117 _sqq._ - -[66] _Civ. Dei_, ix. 21, 22; cf. _Civ. Dei_, xvi. 6-9. - -[67] _Civ. Dei_, book xii., affords a discussion of such questions, _e.g._ -why was man created when he was, and not before or afterwards. All these -matters entered into the discussions of the mediaeval philosophers, Thomas -Aquinas, for example. - -Besides these dogmatic treatises, in which Scriptural texts were called -upon at least for confirmation, the Fathers, Greek and Latin, composed an -enormous mass of Biblical commentary, chiefly allegorical, following the -chapter and verse of the canonical writings. - -[68] See _ante_, Chapter III. - -[69] See _post_, Chapter V. - -[70] The substance of Capella's book is framed in an allegorical narrative -of the Marriage of Philology and Mercury. For a nuptial gift, the groom -presents the bride with seven maid-servants, symbolizing the Seven Liberal -Arts--Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, -Music. Cf. Taylor, _Classical Heritage, etc._, p. 49 _sqq._ - -[71] In Eyssenhardt's edition. - -[72] On the symbolism of Numbers see Cantor, _Vorlesungen ueber Ges. der -Mathematik_, 2nd ed. pp. 95, 96, 146, 156, 529, 531. - -[73] See an extraordinary example taken from the treatise against Faustus, -_post_, Chapter XXVII. Also _De doc. Chris._ ii. 16; _De Trinitate_, iv. -4-6. - -[74] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 14, col. 123-273. Written cir. 389. - -[75] _Hex._ i. cap. 6. - -[76] _Hex._ ii. caps. 2, 3. - -[77] Aug. _De Trinitate_, iii. 5-9. - -[78] _Ante_, Chapter III. - -[79] _Civ. Dei_, xvi. 9. - -[80] For the sources of these accounts see Lauchert, _Ges. des -Physiologus_ (Strassburg, 1889), p. 4 _sqq._ The wide use of this work is -well known. It was soon translated into Ethiopian, Armenian, and Syrian; -into Latin not later than the beginning of the fifth century; and -subsequently, of course with many accretions, into the various languages -of western mediaeval Europe. See Lauchert, _o.c._ p. 79 _sqq._ - -[81] Cf. Boissier, _Tacite_ (Paris, 1903). - -[82] For example, what different truths can one speak afterwards of a -social dinner of men and women at which he has sat. In the first place, -there is the hostess, to whom he may say something pleasant and yet true. -Then there is his congenial friend among the ladies present, to whom he -will impart some intimate observations, also true. Thirdly, a club friend -was at the dinner, and his ear shall be the receptacle of remarks on -feminine traits illustrated by what was said and done there. Finally, -there is himself, to whom in the watches of the night the dinner will -present itself in its permanent values as an incident in human -intercourse, which is so fascinating, so transitory, and so suggestive of -topics of reflection. Here are four presentations; and if there was a -company of twelve, we may multiply four by that number and imagine -forty-eight true, although inexhaustive, accounts of that dinner which has -now joined the fading circle of events that are no more. - -[83] On Gregory of Nyssa, see Taylor, _Classical Heritage_, p. 125 _sqq._ - -[84] Chiefly in Books III. and XV.-XVIII. - -[85] Like the _Civitas Dei_, the patristic writings devoted exclusively to -history were all frankly apologetic, yet following different manners -according to the temper and circumstances of the writer. In the East, at -the epoch of the formal Christian triumph and the climax of the Arian -dispute, lived Eusebius of Caesarea, the most famous of the early Church -historians. He was learned, careful, capable of weighing testimony, and -possessed the faculty of presenting salient points. He does not dwell -overmuch on miracles. His apologetic tendencies appear in his method of -seeing and stating facts so as to uphold the truth of Christianity. If -just then Christianity seemed no longer to demand an advocate, there was -place for a eulogist, and such was Eusebius in his Church History and -fulsome _Life of Constantine_. His Church History is translated by A. C. -McGiffert, _Library of Nicene Fathers_, second series, vol. i. (New York, -1890). It was translated into Latin by Rufinus, friend and then enemy of -St. Jerome. - -[86] The best edition is Zangemeister's in the Vienna _Corpus scriptorum -eccles._ (1882). Orosius ignores the classic Greek historians, of whom he -knew little or nothing. Cf. Taylor, _Classical Heritage_, pp. 219-221. - -[87] _Hist._ ii. 3. - -[88] Best edition that of Pauly, in Vienna _Corpus scrip. eccles._ (1883). - -[89] An excellent statement of the nature and classes of the mediaeval -_Vitae sanctorum_ is "Les Legendes hagiographiques," by Hipp. Delehaye, -S.J., in _Revue des questions historiques_, t. 74 (1903), pp. 56-122. An -English translation of this article has appeared as an independent volume. - -[90] At Gregory's statement of the marvellous deeds of Benedict, his -interlocutor, the Deacon Peter, answers and exclaims: "Wonderful and -astonishing is what you relate. For in the water brought forth from the -rock (_i.e._ by Benedict) I see Moses, in the iron which returned from the -bottom of the lake I see Elisha (2 Kings vi. 6), in the running upon the -water I see Peter, in the obedience of the raven I see Elijah (1 Kings -xvii. 6), and in his grief for his dead enemy I see David (2 Sam. i. 11). -That man, as I consider him, was full of the spirit of all the just" -(Gregorius Magnus, _Dialogi_, ii. 8. Quoted and expanded by Odo of Cluny, -Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 133, col. 724). The rest of the second book contains -other miracles like those told in the Bible. The Life of a later saint may -also follow earlier monastic types. Francis kisses the wounds of lepers, -as Martin of Tours had done. See Sulpicius Severus, _Vita S. Martini_. But -often the writer of a _vita_ deliberately inserts miracles to make his -story edifying, or enhance the fame of his hero, perhaps in order to -benefit the church where he is interred. - -[91] Ambrose, _Ep._ 22, _ad Marcellinam_. - -[92] On Paulinus of Nola, see Taylor, _Classical Heritage_, pp. 272-276. - -[93] As this chapter has been devoted to the intellectual interests of the -Fathers, it should be supplemented by a consideration of the emotions and -passions approved or rejected by them. But this matter may be considered -more conveniently in connection with the development of mediaeval emotion, -_post_, Chapter XIV. - -[94] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 63, col. 1079-1167. Also edited by Friedlein -(Leipsic, 1867). - -[95] I know of no earlier employment of the word to designate these four -branches of study. But one might infer from Boethius's youth at this time -that he received it from a teacher. - -[96] See Cantor, _Vorlesungen ueber die Ges. der Mathematik_, i. 537-540. - -[97] See Cantor, _o.c._ i. 540-551. - -[98] Cassiodorus, _Ep. variae_, i. 45 - -[99] Upon the dates of Boethius's writings, see S. Brandt, -"Entstehungszeit und zeitliche Folge der Werke des Boetius," _Philologus_, -Band 62 (N.S. Bd. 16), 1903, pp. 141 _sqq._ and 234 _sqq._ - -[100] Social position, his own abilities, and the favour of Theodoric, -obtained the consulship for Boethius in 510, when he was twenty-eight or --nine years old. - -[101] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 64, col. 201. - -[102] _In librum de interpretatione_, editio secunda, beginning of Book -II., Migne 64, col. 433. - -[103] See _De inter._ ed. prima, Book I. (Migne 64, col. 193); ed. -secunda, beginning of Book III. and of Book IV. (Migne 64, col. 487 and -517). The Boethian translations are all in the 64th vol. of Migne's _Pat. -Lat._ - -[104] See A. Hildebrand, _Boethius und seine Stellung zum Christentum_ -(Regensburg, 1885), and works therein referred to. - -[105] See Prantl, _Ges. der Logik_, i. 679 _sqq._ - -[106] See his Life in Hodgkin's _Letters of Cassiodorus_; also Roger, -_Enseignement des lettres classiques d'Ausone a Alcuin_, pp. 175-187 -(Paris, 1905). - -[107] Migne 70, col. 1281. - -[108] Migne 70, col. 1105-1219. - -[109] Gregory's works are printed in Migne, _Patrologia Latina_, 75-79. -His epistles are also published in the _Monumenta Germaniae historica_. On -Gregory, his life and times, writings and doctrines, see F. H. Dudden, -_Gregory the Great_, etc., 2 vols. (Longmans, 1905). - -[110] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 75, col. 516. - -[111] _Ep._ xi. 54 (Migne 77, col. 1171). - -[112] This is the view expressed in the _Commentary on Kings_ ascribed to -Gregory, but perhaps the work of a later hand. Thus, in the allegorical -interpretation of 1 Kings (1 Sam.) xiii. 20, "But all the Israelites went -down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, -and his axe." Says the commentator (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 79, col. 356): We -go down to the Philistines when we incline the mind to secular studies; -Christian simplicity is upon a height. Secular books are said to be in the -plane since they have no celestial truths. God put secular knowledge in a -plane before us that we should use it as a step to ascend to the heights -of Scripture. So Moses first learned the wisdom of the Egyptians that he -might be able to understand and expound the divine precepts; Isaiah, most -eloquent of the prophets, was _nobiliter instructus et urbanus_; and Paul -had sat at Gamaliel's feet before he was lifted to the height of the third -heaven. One goes to the Philistines to sharpen his plow, because secular -learning is needed as a training for Christian preaching. - -[113] See _post_, Chapter X. - -[114] Migne 75, 76. - -[115] Migne 77, col. 149-430. The second book is devoted to Benedict of -Nursia. - -[116] For illustrations see Dudden, _o.c._ i. 321-366, and ii. 367-68. -Gregory's interest in the miraculous shows also in his letters. The -Empress Constantine had written requesting him to send her the head of St. -Paul! He replies (_Ep._ iv. 30, _ad Constantinam Augustam_) in a wonderful -letter on the terrors of such holy relics and their death-striking as well -as healing powers, of which he gives instances. He says that sometimes he -has sent a bit of St. Peter's chain or a few filings; and when people come -seeking those filings from the priest in attendance, sometimes they -readily come off, and again no effort of the file can detach anything. - -[117] _Moralia_ xvi. 51 (Migne 75, col. 1151). Cf. Dudden, _o.c._ ii. -369-373. - -[118] _Mor._ ix. 34, 54 (Migne 75, col. 889). Cf. Dudden, _o.c._ ii. -419-426. - -[119] _Dialogi_, iv. caps. 39, 55. - -[120] A better Augustinianism speaks in Gregory's letter to Theoctista -(_Ep._ vii. 26), in which he says that there are two kinds of -"compunction, the one which fears eternal punishments, the other which -sighs for the heavenly rewards, as the soul thirsting after God is stung -first by fear and then by love." - -[121] _Ep._ iv. 21; vi. 32; ix. 6. - -[122] See _post_, Chapter XXXVI., 1. - -[123] Migne 83, col. 207-424. No reference need be made, of course, to the -_False Decretals_, pseudonymously connected with Isidore's name; they are -later than his time. - -[124] The _Etymologiae_ is to be found in vol. 82 of Migne, col. 73-728; -the other works fill vol. 83 of Migne. - -[125] Aug. _Quaest. in Gen._ i. 152. See _ante_, Chapter IV. - -[126] Isidore's _Books of Sentences_ present a topical arrangement of -matters more or less closely pertinent to the Christian Faith, and thus -may be regarded as a precursor of the _Sentences_ of Peter Lombard -(_post_, Chapter XXXIV.). But Isidore's work is the merest compilation, -and he does not marshal his extracts to prove or disprove a set -proposition, and show the consensus of authority, like the Lombard. His -chief source is Gregory's _Moralia_. Prosper of Aquitaine, a younger -contemporary and disciple of Augustine, compiled from Augustine's works a -book of Sentences, a still slighter affair than Isidore's (Migne, _Pat. -Lat._ 51, col. 427-496). - -[127] For example, Reason begins her reply thus: "Quaeso te, anima, -obsecro te, deprecor te, imploro te, ne quid ultra leviter agas, ne quid -inconsulte geras, ne temere aliquid facias," etc. (Migne 83, col. 845). - -[128] _De rerum natura_, Praefatio (Migne 83, col. 963). - -[129] See Prolegomena to Becker's edition. - -[130] Migne 82, col. 367. - -[131] See Kuebler, "Isidorus-Studien," _Hermes_ xxv. (1890), 497, 518, and -literature there cited. - -An analysis of the _Etymologies_ would be out of the question. But the -captions of the twenty books into which it is divided will indicate the -range of Isidore's intellectual interests and those of his time: - - I. _De grammatica._ - - II. _De rhetorica et dialectica._ - - III. _De quatuor disciplinis mathematicis._ (Thus the first three - books contain the Trivium and Quadrivium.) - - IV. _De medicina._ (A brief hand-book of medical terms.) - - V. _De legibus et temporibus._ (The latter part describes the days, - nights, weeks, months, years, solstices and equinoxes. It is hard to - guess why this was put in the same book with Law.) - - VI. _De libris et officiis ecclesiasticis._ (An account of the books - of the Bible and the services of the Church.) - - VII. _De Deo, angelis et fidelium ordinibus._ - - VIII. _De ecclesia et sectis diversis._ - - IX. _De linguis, gentibus, regnis, etc._ (Concerning the various - peoples of the earth and their languages, and other matters.) - - X. _Vocum certarum alphabetum._ (An etymological vocabulary of many - Latin words.) - - XI. _De homine et portentis._ (The names and definitions of the - various parts of the human body, the ages of life, and prodigies and - monsters.) - - XII. _De animalibus._ - - XIII. _De mundo et partibus._ (The universe and its parts--atoms, - elements, sky, thunder, winds, waters, etc.) - - XIV. _De terra et partibus._ (Geographical.) - - XV. _De aedificiis et agris._ (Cities, their public constructions, - houses, temples, and the fields.) - - XVI. _De lapidibus et metallis._ (Stones, metals, and their qualities - curious and otherwise.) - - XVII. _De rebus rusticis._ (Trees, herbs, etc.) - - XVIII. _De bello et ludis._ (On war, weapons, armour; on public games - and the theatre.) - - XIX. _De navibus, aedificiis et vestibus._ (Ships, their parts and - equipment, buildings and their decoration; garments and their - ornament.) - - XX. _De penu et instrumentis domesticis et rusticis._ (On wines and - provisions, and their stores and receptacles.) - -[132] The exaggerated growth of grammatical and rhetorical studies is -curiously shown by the mass of words invented to indicate the various -kinds of tropes and figures. See the list in Bede, _De schematis_ (Migne -90, col. 175 _sqq._). - -[133] Cf. Hodgkin, _Italy and her Invaders_, 8 vols.; Villari, _The -Barbarian Invasions of Italy_, 2 vols. - -[134] This demand was not so extraordinary in view of the common Roman -custom in the provinces of billeting soldiers upon the inhabitants, with -the right to one-third of the house and appurtenances. - -[135] Cf. _post_, Chapter XXXIII., II. - -[136] On the Codes see Hodgkin, _o.c._ vol. vi. - -[137] The Lombard language was still spoken in the time of Paulus Diaconus -(eighth century). - -[138] Apollinaris Sidonius, _Ep._ i. 2 (trans. by Hodgkin, _o.c._ vol. ii. -352-358), gives a sketch of a Visigothic king, Theodoric II., son of him -who fell in the battle against the Huns. He ascended the throne in 453, -having accomplished the murder of his brother Thorismund. In 466, he was -himself slain by his brother Euric. In the meanwhile he appears to have -been a good half-barbaric, half-civilized king. - -[139] See _post_, Chapter XXXIII., II. For the Visigothic kingdom of Spain -the great reigns were those of Leowigild (568-586) and his son Reccared -(586-601). In Justinian's time the "Roman Empire" had again made good its -rule over the south of Spain. Leowigild pushed the Empire back to a narrow -strip of southern coast, where there were still important cities. Save for -this, he conquered all Spain, finally mastering the Suevi in the -north-west. His capital was Toledo. Great as was his power, it hardly -sufficed to hold in check the overweening nobles and landowners. Under the -declining Empire there had sprung up a system of clientage and protection, -in which the Teutons found an obstacle to the establishment of monarchies. -In Spain this system hastened the downfall of the Visigothic kingdom. -Another source of trouble for Leowigild, who was still an Arian, was the -opposition of the powerful Catholic clergy. Reccared, his son, changed to -the Catholic or "Roman" creed, and ended the schism between the throne and -the bishops. - -[140] The Spanish Roman Church, which controlled or thwarted the destinies -of the doomed Visigothic kingdom, was foremost among the western churches -in ability and learning. It had had its martyrs in the times of pagan -persecution; it had its universally venerated Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, -and prominent at the Council of Nicaea; it had its fiercely quelled -heresies and schisms; and it had an astounding number of councils, usually -held at Toledo. Its bishops were princes. Leander, Bishop of Seville, had -been a tribulation to the powerful, still Arian, King Leowigild, who was -compelled to banish him. That king's son, Reccared, recalled him from -banishment, to preside at the Council of Toledo in 589, when the -Visigothic monarchy turned to Roman Catholicism. Leander was succeeded in -his more than episcopal see by his younger brother Isidore (Bishop of -Seville from 600 to 636). A princely prelate, Isidore was to have still -wider and more lasting fame for sanctity and learning. The last -encyclopaedic scholar belonging to the antique Christian world, he became -one of the great masters of the Middle Ages (see _ante_, Chapter V.). The -forger and compiler of the _False Decretals_ in selecting the name of -Isidore rather than another to clothe that collection with authority, -acted under the universal veneration felt for this great Spanish -Churchman. - -[141] Marriages between Romans and Franks were legalized as early as 497. - -[142] See Flach, _Les Origines de l'ancienne France_, vol. i. chap. i. -_sqq._ (Paris, 1886). - -[143] See _post_, Chapter XXXIII., II. - -[144] The physiological criterion of a race is consanguinity. But -unfortunately racial lineage soon loses itself in obscurity. Moreover, -during periods as to which we have some knowledge, no race has continued -pure from alien admixture; and every people that has taken part in the -world's advance has been acted upon by foreign influences from its -prehistoric beginnings throughout the entire course of its history. -Indeed, foreign suggestions and contact with other peoples appear -essential to tribal or national progress. For the historian there exists -no pure and unmixed race, and even the conception of one becomes -self-contradictory. To him a race is a group of people, presumably related -in some way by blood, who appear to transmit from generation to generation -a common heritage of culture and like physical and spiritual traits. He -observes that the transmitted characteristics of such a group may weaken -or dissipate before foreign influence, and much more as the group scatters -among other people; or again he sees its distinguishing traits becoming -clearer as the members draw to a closer national unity under the action of -a common physical environment, common institutions, and a common speech. -The historian will not accept as conclusive any single kind of evidence -regarding race. He may attach weight to complexion, stature, and shape of -skull, and yet find their interpretation quite perplexing when compared -with other evidence, historical or linguistic. He will consider customs -and implements, and yet remember that customs may be borrowed, and -implements are often of foreign pattern. Language affords him the most -enticing criterion, but one of the most deceptive. It is a matter of -observation that when two peoples of different tongues meet together, they -may mingle their blood through marriage, combine their customs, and adopt -each other's utensils and ornaments; but the two languages will not -structurally unite: one will supplant the other. The language may thus be -more single in source than the people speaking it; though, conversely, -people of the same race, by reason of special circumstances, may not speak -the same tongue. Hence linguistic unity is not conclusive evidence of -unity of race. - -[145] As to the Celts in Gaul and elsewhere, and the early non-Celtic -population of Gaul, see A. Bertrand, _La Gaule avant les Gaulois_ (Paris, -1891); _La Religion des Gaulois_ (Paris, 1897); _Les Celtes dans les -vallees du Po et du Danube_ (in conjunction with S. Reinach); D'Arbois de -Jubainville, _Les Premiers Habitants de l'Europe_ (second edition, Paris, -1894); Fustel de Coulanges, _Institutions politiques de l'ancienne France_ -(Paris, 1891); Karl Muellenhoff, _Deutsche Altertumskunde_, Bde. I. and -II.; Zupitza, "Kelten und Gallier," _Zeitschrift fuer keltische -Philologie_, 1902. - -[146] See _ante_, Chapter II. - -[147] The Latin literature produced by their descendants in the fourth -century is usually good in form, whatever other qualities it lack. This -statement applies to the works of the nominally Christian, but really -pagan, rhetorician and poet, Ausonius, born in 310, at Bordeaux, of -mingled Aquitanian and Aeduan blood; likewise to the poems of Paulinus of -Nola, born at the same town, in 353, and to the prose of Sulpicius -Severus, also born in Aquitaine a little after. In the fifth century, -Avitus, an Auvernian, Bishop of Vienne, and Apollinaris Sidonius continue -the Gallo-Latin strain in literature. - -[148] Without hazarding a discussion of the origin of the Irish, of their -proportion of Celtic blood, or their exact relation to the Celts of the -Continent, it may in a general way be said, that Ireland and Great Britain -were inhabited by a prehistoric and pre-Celtic people. The Celts came from -the Continent, conquered them, and probably intermarried with them. The -Celtic inflow may have begun in the sixth century before Christ, and -perhaps continued until shortly before Caesar's time. Evidences of -language point to a dual Celtic stock, Goidelic and Brythonic. It may be -surmised that the former was the first to arrive. The Celtic dialect -spoken by them is now represented by the Gaelic of Ireland, Man, and -Scotland. The Brythonic is still represented by the speech of Wales and -the Armoric dialects of Brittany. This was the language of the Britons who -fought with Caesar, and were subdued by later Roman generals. After the -Roman time they were either pressed back into Wales and Cornwall by -Angles, Jutes, and Saxons, or were absorbed among these conquering -Teutons. Probably Caesar was correct in asserting the close affinity of -the Britons with the Belgic tribes of the Continent. See the opening -chapters of Rhys and Brynmor-Jones's _Welsh People_; also Rhys's _Early -Britain_ (London, 1882); Zupitza, "Kelten und Gallier," _Zeitschrift fuer -keltische Phil._, 1902; T. H. Huxley, "On some Fixed Points in British -Ethnology," _Contemporary Review_ for 1871, reprinted in Essays -(Appleton's, 1894); Ripley, _Races of Europe_, chap. xii. (New York, -1899). - -[149] The Irish art of illumination presents analogies to the literature. -The finesse of design and execution in the _Book of Kells_ (seventh -century) is astonishing. Equally marvellous was the work of Irish -goldsmiths. Both arts doubtless made use of designs common upon the -Continent, and may even have drawn suggestions from Byzantine or late -Roman patterns. Nevertheless, illumination and the goldsmith's art in -Ireland are characteristically Irish and the very climax of barbaric -fashions. Their forms pointed to nothing further. These astounding -spirals, meanders, and interlacings, combined with utterly fantastic and -impossible drawings of the human form, required essential modification -before they were suited to form part of that organic development of -mediaeval art which followed its earlier imitative periods. - -Irish illumination was carried by Columba to Iona, and spread thence -through many monasteries in the northern part of Britain. It was imitated -in the Anglo-Saxon monasteries of Northumbria, and from them passed with -Alcuin to the Court of Charlemagne. Through these transplantings the Irish -art was changed, under the hands of men conversant with Byzantine and -later Roman art. The influence of the art also worked outward from Irish -monasteries upon the Continent, St. Gall, for example. The Irish -goldsmith's art likewise passed into Saxon England, into Carolingian -France, and into Scandinavia. See J. H. Middleton, _Illuminated -Manuscripts_ (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1892), and the different view as to -the sources of Irish illuminating art in Muntz, _Etudes iconographiques_ -(Paris, 1887); also Kraus, _Geschichte der christlichen Kunst_, i. -607-619; Margaret Stokes, _Early Christian Art in Ireland_ (South -Kensington Museum Art Hand-Books, 1894), vol. i. p. 32 _sqq._, and vol. -ii. pp. 73, 78; Sophus Mueller, _Nordische Altertumskunde_, vol. ii. chap. -xiv. (Strassburg, 1898). - -[150] The classification of ancient Irish literature is largely the work -of O'Curry, _Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish -History_ (Dublin, 1861, 2nd ed., 1878). See also D. Hyde, _A Literary -History of Ireland_, chaps. xxi.-xxix. (London, 1899); D'Arbois de -Jubainville, _Introduction a l'etude de la litterature celtique_, chap. -preliminaire (Paris, 1883). The tales of the Ulster Cycle, in the main, -antedate the coming of the Norsemen in the eighth century; but the later -redactions seem to reflect Norse customs; see Pflugk-Hartung, in _Revue -celtique_, t. xiii. (1892), p. 170 _sqq._ - -[151] This comparison with Homeric society might be extended so as to -include the Celts of Britain and Gaul. Close affinities appear between the -Gauls and the personages of the Ulster Cycle. Several of its Sagas have to -do with the "hero's portion" awarded to the bravest warrior at the feast, -a source of much pleasant trouble. Posidonius, writing in the time of -Cicero, mentions the same custom among the Celts of Gaul (Didot-Mueller, -_Fragmenta hist. Graec._ t. iii. p. 260, col. 1; D'Arbois de Jubainville, -_Introduction_, etc., pp. 297, 298). - -[152] Probably first written down in the seventh century. Some of the -Cuchulain Sagas are rendered by D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Epopee -celtique_; they are given popularly in E. Hull's Cuchulain Saga (D. Nutt, -London, 1898). Also to some extent in Hyde's _Lit. Hist., etc._ - -[153] See the famous Battle of the Ford between Cuchulain and Ferdiad -(Hyde, _Lit. Hist. of Ireland_, pp. 328-334). A more burlesque hyperbole -is that of the three caldrons of cold water prepared for Cuchulain to cool -his battle-heat: when he was plunged in the first, it boiled; plunged into -the second, no one could hold his hand in it; but in the third, the water -became tepid (D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Epopee celtique_, p. 204). - -[154] Certain interpolated Christian chapters at the end tell how Maeldun -is led to forgive the murderers--an idea certainly foreign to the original -pagan story, which may perhaps have had its own ending. The tale is -translated in P. W. Joyce's _Old Celtic Romances_ (London, 1894), and by -F. Lot in D'Arbois de Jubainville's _Epopee celtique_, pp. 449-500. - -[155] Perhaps no one of the Ulster Sagas exhibits these qualities more -amusingly than _The Feast of Bricriu_, a tale in which contention for the -"hero's portion" is the leading motive. Its _personae_ are the men and -women who constantly appear and reappear throughout this cycle. In this -Saga they act and speak admirably in character, and some of the -descriptions bring the very man before our eyes. It is translated by -George Henderson, Vol. II. Irish Texts Society (London, 1899), and also by -D'Arbois de Jubainville in his _Epopee celtique_ (Paris, 1892). - -[156] For example, in a historical Saga the great King Brian speaks, -fighting against the Norsemen: "O God ... retreat becomes us not, and I -myself know I shall not leave this place alive; and what would it profit -me if I did? For Aibhell of Grey Crag came to me last night, and told me -that I should be killed this day." - -[157] "Deirdre, or the Fate of the Sons of Usnach," is rendered in E. -Hull's Cuchulain Saga; Hyde, _Lit. Hist._, chap, xxv., and D'Arbois de -Jubainville, _Epopee celtique_, pp. 217-319. _The Pursuit of Diarmuid and -Grainne_ was edited by O'Duffy for the Society for the Preservation of the -Irish Language (Dublin, Gill and Son, 1895), and less completely in -Joyce's _Old Celtic Romances_ (London, 1894). - -[158] Cf. Hyde, _o.c._, chaps. xxi. xxxvi. - -[159] _The Voyage of Bran_, edited and translated by Kuno Meyer, with -essays on the _Celtic Otherworld_, by Alfred Nutt (2 vols., David Nutt, -London, 1895). A Saga usually is prose interspersed with lyric verses at -critical points of the story. - -[160] On Tara, see Index in O'Curry's _Manners and Customs of the Ancient -Irish_; also Hyde, _Literary History_, pp. 126-130. For this story, see -O'Grady, _Silva Gaedelica_, pp. 77-88 (London, 1892); Hyde, pp. 226-232. - -[161] See D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Introduction a la lit. celtique_, pp. -259-271 (Paris, 1883). - -[162] See D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Introduction_, etc., p. 129 _sqq._; -Bertrand, _La Religion des Gaulois_, chap. xx. (Paris, 1897). Also -O'Curry, _o.c._ _passim_. - -[163] For this whole story see H. Zimmer, "Ueber die fruehesten Beruehrungen -der Iren mit den Nordgermanen," _Sitzungsbericht der Preussischen Akad._, -1891 (1), pp. 279-317. - -[164] For the life of Saint Columba the chief source is the _Vita_ by -Adamnan, his eighth successor as abbot of Iona. It contains well-drawn -sketches of the saint and much that is marvellous and incredible. It was -edited with elaborate notes by Dr. W. Reeves, for the Irish Archaeological -Society, in 1857. His work, rearranged and with a translation of the -_Vita_, was republished as Vol. VI. of _The Historians of Scotland_ -(Edinburgh, 1874). The _Vita_ may also be found in Migne, _Patrologia -Latina_, 88, col. 725-776. Bede, _Ecc. Hist._ iii. 4, refers to Columba. -The Gaelic life from the _Book of Lismore_ is published, with a -translation by M. Stokes, _Anecdota Oxoniensia_ (Oxford, Clarendon Press, -1890). The Bodleian Eulogy, _i.e._ the _Amra Choluim chille_, was -published, with translation by M. Stokes, in _Revue celtique_, t. xx. -(1899); as to its date, see _Rev. celtique_, t. xvii. p. 41. Another -(later) Gaelic life has been published by R. Henebry in the _Zeitschrift -fuer celtische Philologie_, 1901, and later. There is an interesting -article on the hymns ascribed to Columba in _Blackwood's Magazine_ for -September 1899. See also Cuissard, _Rev. celtique_, t. v. p. 207. The -hymns themselves are in Dr. Todd's _Liber Hymnorum_. Montalembert's _Monks -of the West_, book ix. (vol. iii. Eng. trans.), gives a long, readable, -and uncritical account of "St. Columba, the Apostle of Caledonia." - -[165] The Irish monastery was ordered as an Irish clan, and indeed might -be a clan monastically ordered. At the head was an abbot, not elected by -the monks, but usually appointed by the preceding abbot from his own -family; as an Irish king appointed his successor. The monks ordinarily -belonged to the abbot's clan. They lived in an assemblage of huts. Some -devoted themselves to contemplation, prayer, and writing; more to manual -labour. There were recluses among them. Besides the monks, other members -of the clan living near the "monastery" owed it duties and were entitled -to its protection and spiritual ministration. The abbot might be an -ordained priest; he rarely was a bishop, though he had bishops under him -who at his bidding performed such episcopal functions as that of -ordination. But he was the ruler, lay as well as spiritual. Not -infrequently he also was a king. Although there was no common ordering of -Irish monasteries, a head monastery might bear rule over its daughter -foundations, as did Columba's primal monastery of Iona over those in -Ireland or Northern Britain which owed their origin to him. Irish -monasteries might march with their clan on military expeditions, or carry -on a war of monastery against monastery. "A.D. 763. A battle was fought at -Argamoyn, between the fraternities of Clonmacnois and Durrow, where Dermod -Duff, son of Donnell, was killed with 200 men of the fraternity of Durrow. -Bresal, son of Murchadh, with the fraternity of Clonmacnois, was victor" -(_Ancient Annals_). This entry is not alone, for there is another one of -the year 816, in which a "fraternity of Colum-cille" seems to have been -worsted in battle, and then to have gone "to Tara to curse" the reigning -king. See Reeve's _Adamnan's Life of Columba_, p. 255. Of course Irish -armies felt no qualms at sacking the monasteries and slaying the monks of -another kingdom. The sanctuaries of Clonmacnois, Kildare, Clonard, Armagh -were plundered as readily by "Christian" Irishmen as by heathen Danes. In -the ninth century, Phelim, King of Munster, was an abbot and a bishop too; -but he sacked the sacred places of Ulster and killed their monks and -clergy. See G. T. Stokes, _Ireland and the Celtic Church_; Killen, _Eccl. -Hist. of Ireland_, vol. i. p. 145 _sqq._ - -[166] The title of saint is regularly given to the higher clergy of this -period in Ireland. - -[167] _"The History of Ireland by Geoffrey Keating" in the original Gaelic -with an English translation, by Comyn and Dineen_ (Irish Texts Society. -David Nutt, London, 1902-1908). - -[168] This means that he copied a manuscript belonging to Finnian. - -[169] The Life of Colomb Cille from the _Book of Lismore_. - -[170] Adamnan. - -[171] _B.G._ iv. 1-3; vi. 21-28. For convenience I use the word _Teuton_ -as the general term and _German_ as relating to the Teutons of the lands -still known as German. But with reference to the times of Caesar and -Tacitus the latter word must be taken generally. - -[172] These views are set forth brilliantly, but with exaggeration, by -Fustel de Coulanges, in _L'Invasion germanique_, vol. ii. of his -_Institutions politiques_, etc. (revised edition, Paris, 1891). - -[173] Apoll. Sid. _Epist._ viii. 6 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 58, col. 697). - -[174] See Pollock and Maitland, _History of English Law_; and Pollock, -_English Law before the Norman Conquest_, _Law Quarterly Review_. - -[175] The ancient Anglo-Saxon version is Anglo-Saxon through and through. -The considerable store of Latin (or Greek) words retained by the -"authorized" English version (for example, Scripture, Testament, Genesis, -Exodus, etc., prophet, evangelist, religion, conversion, adoption, -temptation, redemption, salvation, and damnation) were all translated into -sheer Anglo-Saxon. See Toller, _Outlines of the History of the English -Language_ (Macmillan & Co., 1900), pp. 90-101. Some hundreds of years -before, Ulfilas's fourth century Gothic translation had shown a Teutonic -tongue capable of rendering the thought of the Pauline epistles. - -[176] See the "Beowulf" translated in Gummere's _Oldest English Epic_ -(Macmillan & Co., 1909). - -[177] This is the closing sentence of Alfred's _Blossoms_, culled from -divers sources. Hereafter (Chapter IX.) when speaking of the introduction -of antique and Christian culture there will be occasion to note more -specifically what Alfred accomplished in his attempt to increase knowledge -throughout his kingdom. - -[178] See _e.g._ in Otfried's _Evangelienbuch_, _post_, Chapter IX. - -[179] For example: _skidunga_ (Scheidung), _saligheit_ (Seligkeit), -_fiantscaft_ (Feindschaft), _heidantuom_ (Heidentum). By the eighth -century the High German of the Bavarians and Alemanni began to separate -from the Low German of the lower Rhine, spoken by Saxons and certain of -the Franks. The greater part of the Frankish tribes, and the Thuringians, -occupied intermediate sections of country and spoke dialects midway -between Low German and High. - -[180] Text in Piper's _Die aelteste Literatur_ (Deutsche National Lit.). - -[181] On the Waltari poem, see Ebert, _Allgemeine Gesch. der Literatur des -Mittelalters_, Bd. iii. 264-276; also K. Strecker, "Probleme in der -Walthariusforschung," _Neue Jahrbuecher fuer klass. Altertumsgesch. und -Deutsche Literatur_, 2te Jahrgang (Leipzig, 1899), pp. 573-594, 629-645. -The author is called Ekkehart I. (d. 973), being the first of the -celebrated monks bearing that name at St. Gall. The poem is edited by -Peiper (Berlin, 1873), and by Scheffel and Holder (Stuttgart, 1874); it is -translated into German by the latter, by San Marte (Magdeburg, 1853), and -by Althof (Leipzig, 1902). - -[182] The description of Siegfried's love for Kriemhild is just touched by -the chivalric love, which exists in Wolfram's _Parzival_, in Gottfried's -_Tristan_, and of course in their French models. See _post_, Chapter -XXIII. For example, as he first sees her who was to be to him "beide lieb -und leit," he becomes "bleich unde rot"; and at her greeting, his spirit -is lifted up: "do wart im von dem gruoze vil wol gehoehet der muot." And -the scene is laid in May (_Nibelungenlied_, Aventiure V., stanzas 284, -285, 292, 295). - -[183] A convenient edition of the _Kudrun_ is Pfeiffer's in _Deutsche -Klassiker des Mittelalters_ (Leipzig, 1880). Under the name of _Gudrun_ it -is translated into modern German by Simrock, and into English by M. P. -Nichols (Boston, 1899). - -[184] _Kudrun_, viii. 558. Whatever may have been the facts of German life -in the Middle Ages, the literature shows respect for marriage and woman's -virtue. This remark applies not only to those works of the Middle High -German tongue which are occupied with themes of Teutonic origin, but also -to those--Wolfram's _Parzival_, for example--whose foreign themes do not -force the poet to magnify adulterous love. When, however, that is the -theme of the story, the German writer, as in Gottfried's _Tristan_, does -not fail to do it justice. - -Willmans, in his _Leben und Dichtung Walthers von der Vogelweide_ (Bonn, -1882), note 1{a} on page 328, cites a number of passages from Middle High -German works on the serious regard for marriage held by the Germans. Even -the German minnesingers sometimes felt the contradiction between the -broken marriage vow and the ennobling nature of chivalric love. See -Willmans, _ibid._ p. 162 and note 7. - -[185] _Kudrun_, xx. 1013. - -[186] _Kudrun_, xxx. 1632 _sqq._ - -[187] As to the _Parzival_, and Walter's poems, see _post_, Chapters XXIV. -XXVI. - -[188] _Ante_, Chapter I. - -[189] It is not known when Teutons first entered Denmark and the -Scandinavian peninsula. Although non-Teutonic populations may have -preceded them, the archaeological remains do not point clearly to a -succession of races, while they do indicate ages of stone, bronze, and -iron (Sophus Mueller, _Nordische Altertumskunde_). The bronze ages began in -the Northlands a thousand years or more before Christ. In course of time, -beautiful bronze weapons show what skill the race acquired in working -metals not found in Scandinavia, but perhaps brought there in exchange for -the amber of the Baltic shores. The use of iron (native to Scandinavia) -begins about 500 B.C. A progressive facility in its treatment is evinced -down to the Christian Era. Then a foreign influence appears--Rome. For -Roman wares entered these countries where the legionaries never set foot, -and native handicraft copied Roman models until the fourth century, when -northern styles reassert themselves. The Scandinavians themselves were -unaffected by Roman wares; but after the fifth century they began to -profit from their intercourse with Anglo-Saxons and Irish. - -[190] It is said that some twenty-five thousand Arabian coins, mostly of -the Viking periods, have been found in Sweden. - -[191] See Vigfusson and Powell, _Corpus poeticum Boreale_, i. 238. - -[192] There is much controversy as to the date (the Viking Age?) and place -of origin (Norway, the Western Isles, or Iceland?) of the older Eddic -poems; also as to the presence of Christian elements. The last are denied -by Muellenhoff (_Deutsche Altertumskunde_, Bd. v., 1891) and others; while -Bugge finds them throughout the whole Viking mythology (_Home of the Eddic -Poems_, London, D. Nutt, 1899), and Chr. Bang has endeavoured to prove -that the _Voluspa_, the chief Eddic mythological poem, was an imitation of -the Christian Sibyl's oracles (_Christiania Videnskabsselskabs -Forhanlinger_, 1879, No. 9; Muellenhoff, _o.c._ Bd. v. p. 3 _sqq._). -Similar views are held in Vigfusson and Powell's _Corpus poeticum Boreale_ -(i. ci.-cvii. and 427). These scholars find Celtic influences in the Eddic -poems. The whole controversy is still far from settlement. - -As for English translations of the _Edda_, that by B. Thorpe (_Edda -Samundar_) is difficult to obtain. Those of the _Corpus poeticum Boreale_ -are literal; but the phraseology of the renderings of the mythological -poems is shaped to the theory of Christian influence. A recent translation -(1909) is that of Olive Bray (Viking Club), _The Elder or Poetic Edda_, -Part I. The Mythological Poems. - -[193] The best account of the Sagas, in English, is the Prolegomena to -Vigfusson's edition of the Sturlunga Saga (Clarendon Press, 1878). -Dasent's Introduction to his translation of the Njals Saga (Edinburgh, -1861) is instructive as to the conditions of life in Iceland in the early -times. W. P. Ker's _Epic and Romance_ (Macmillan & Co., 1897) has -elaborate literary criticism upon the Sagas. The following is Vigfusson's: -"The Saga proper is a kind of prose Epic. It has its fixed laws, its set -phrases, its regular epithets and terms of expression, and though there -is, as in all high literary form, an endless diversity of interest and -style, yet there are also bounds which are never over-stepped, confining -the Saga as closely as the employment and restrictions of verse could do. -It will be best to take as the type the smaller Icelandic Saga, from which -indeed all the later forms of composition have sprung. This is, in its -original form, the story of the life of an Icelandic gentleman, living -some time in the tenth or eleventh centuries. It will tell first of his -kin, going back to the settler from whom he sprung, then of his youth and -early promise before he left his father's house to set forth on that -foreign career which was the fitting education of the young Northern -chief. These _wanderjahre_ passed in trading voyages and pirate cruises, -or in the service of one of the Scandinavian kings, as poet or henchman, -the hero returns to Iceland a proved man, and the main part of the story -thus preluded begins. It recounts in fuller detail and in order of time -his friendships and his enmities, his exploits and renown, and finally his -death; usually concluding with the revenge taken for him by his kinsmen, -which fitly winds up the whole. This tale is told in an earnest, -straightforward way, as by a man talking, in short simple sentences, -changing when the interest grows into the historic present, with here and -there an 'aside' of explanation put in.... The whole composition, grouped -around a single man and a single place, is so well balanced and so -naturally unfolded piece by piece, that the great art shown therein often -at first escapes the reader." - -[194] The Story of Burnt Njal (Njals Saga or Njala), trans. by Dasent (2 -vols. Edinburgh, 1861). A prose narrative interspersed with occasional -lyric verses is the form which the Icelandic Sagas have in common with the -Irish. In view of the mutual intercourse and undoubted mingling of Norse -and Celtic blood both in Ireland and Iceland, it is probable that the -Norse Saga-form was taken from the Irish. But, except in the Laxdaela Saga -(trans. by Mrs. Press in the Temple Classics, Dent, 1899), one seems to -find no Celtic strain. The Sagas are the prose complement of the poetic -_Edda_. Both are Norse absolutely: fruit of one spirit, part of one -literature, a possession of one people. As to racial purity of blood in -their authors and fashioners, or in the men of whom the tales are told, -that is another matter. Who shall say that Celtic blood and inherited -Celtic gifts of expression were not the leaven of this Norse literature? -But whatever entered into it and helped to create it, became Norse just as -vitally as, ages before, every foreign suggestion adopted by a certain -gifted Mediterranean race was Hellenized, and became Greek. In Iceland, in -the Orkneys and the Faroes, Viking conditions, the Viking spirit, and -Norse blood, dominated, assimilating, transforming and doubtless using -whatever talents and capacities came within the vortex of Viking life. - -It may be added that there is merely an accidental likeness between the -Saga and the Cantafable. In the Saga the verses are the utterances of the -heroes when specially moved. One may make a verse as a short death-song -when his death is imminent, or as a gibe on an enemy, whom he is about to -attack. In the Cantafable--_Aucassin and Nicolette_, for example--the -verses are a lyric summary of the parts of the narrative following them, -and are not spoken by the _dramatis personae_. The Cantafable (but not the -Sagas) perhaps may be traced back to such a work as Boethius's _De -consolatione_, which at least is identical in form, or Capella's _De -nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_. The _De planctu naturae_ of Alanus de -Insulis (_post_, Chapter XXXII. 1) plainly shows such antecedents. - -[195] Story of Gisli the outlaw, trans. by Dasent, chap. ix. (Edinburgh, -1866). - -[196] The Story of Burnt Njal, chap. i., trans. by Dasent. - -[197] The Story of Grettir the Strong (Grettis Saga), chaps. 32-35, trans. -by Magnusson and Morris (London, 1869). See also _ibid._ chaps. 65, 66. -These accounts are analogous to the story of Beowulf's fights with Grendal -and his dam; but are more convincing. - -[198] The stories of the Kings of Norway, called the _Round World_ -(Heimskringla), by Snorri Sturluson, done into English by Magnusson and -Morris (London, 1893). Snorri Sturluson (b. 1178, d. 1241) composed or put -together the _Heimskringla_ from earlier writings, chiefly those of Ari -the Historian (b. 1067, d. 1148), "a man of truthfulness, wisdom, and good -memory," who wrote largely from oral accounts. - -[199] The Story of Egil Skallagrimson, trans. by W. C. Green (London, -1893). - -[200] These poems are in the Saga, and will be found translated in Mr. -Green's edition. They are also edited with prose translations in _C.P.B._, -vol. i. pp. 266-280. With Egil one may compare the still more truculent, -but very different Grettir, hero of the Grettis Saga. The Story of Grettir -the Strong, trans. by Magnusson and Morris (2nd ed., London, 1869). - -[201] Bede, _Hist. Ecc._ i. 13. Moreover, the chief partisan of Pelagius -(a Briton) was Coelestinus, an Irishman whose restless activity falls in -the thirty years preceding the mission of Palladius. - -[202] As for the Irish Church in Ireland, there were many differences in -usage between it and the Church of Rome. In the matters of Easter and the -tonsure the southern Irish were won over to the Roman customs before the -middle of the seventh century, and after that the Roman Easter made its -way to acceptance through the island. Yet still the Irish appear to have -used their own Liturgy, and to have shown little repugnance to the -marriage of priests. The organization of the churches remained monastic -rather than diocesan or episcopal, in spite of the fact that "bishops," -apparently with parochial functions, existed in great numbers. Hereditary -customs governed the succession of the great abbots, as at Armagh, until -the time of St. Malachy, a contemporary of St. Bernard. See St. Bernard's -_Life of Malachy_, chap. x.; Migne 182, col. 1086, cited by Killen, _o.c._ -vol. i. p. 173. The exertions of Gregory VII. and Lanfranc, Archbishop of -Canterbury, did much to bring the Irish Church into obedience to Rome. -Various Irish synods in the twelfth century completed a proper diocesan -system; and in 1155 a bull of Adrian IV. delivered the island over to -Henry II. Plantagenet. Cf. Killen, _Eccl. Hist. of Ireland_, vol. i. pp. -162-222. - -[203] The works of St. Columbanus or Columban, usually called of Luxeuil, -are printed in Migne's _Patrologia Latina_, 80, col. 209-296. The chief -source of knowledge of his life is the _Vita_ by Jonas his disciple: -Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 87, col. 1009-1046. It has been translated by D. C. -Munro, in vol. ii. No. 7 (series of 1895) of _Translations, etc._, -published by University of Pennsylvania (Phila. 1897). See also -Montalembert, _Monks of the West_, book vii. (vol. ii. of English -translation). - -[204] The article of H. Zimmer, "Ueber die Bedeutung des irischen Elements -fuer die mittelalterliche Cultur," _Preussische Jahrbuecher_, Bd. 59, 1887, -presents an interesting summary of the Irish influence. His views, and -still more those of Ozanam in _Civilisation chretienne chez les Francs_, -chap, v., should be controlled by the detailed discussion in Roger's -_L'Enseignement des lettres classiques d'Ausone a Alcuin_ (Paris, 1905), -chaps. vi. vii. and viii. See also G. T. Stokes, _Ireland and the Celtic -Church_, Lect. XI. (London, 1892, 3rd ed.); D'Arbois de Jubainville, -_Introduction a l'etude de la litterature celtique_, livre ii. chap. ix.; -F. J. H. Jenkinson, _The Hisperica Famina_ (Cambridge and New York, 1909). -Obviously it is unjustifiable (though it has been done) to regard the -scholarship of gifted Irishmen who lived on the Continent in the ninth -century (Sedulius Scotus, Eriugena, etc.) as evidence of scholarship in -Ireland in the sixth, seventh, or eighth century. We do not know where -these later men obtained their knowledge; there is little reason to -suppose that they got it in Ireland. - -[205] See the narrative in Green's _History of the English People_. - -[206] There is no positive evidence that Augustine painted the terrors of -the Day of Judgment in his first preaching. But it was a chief part of the -mediaeval Gospel, and never absent from the soul of Augustine's master, -Gregory. The latter set it forth vividly in his letter to Ethelbert after -his baptism (Bede, _Hist. Ecc._ i. 32). - -[207] Bede, _Hist. Ecc._ iii. 22, tells how a certain noble gesith slew -his king from exasperation with the latter's practice of forgiving his -enemies, instead of requiting them, according to the principles of heathen -morality. - -[208] Bede, _Hist. Ecc._ i. 30. Well known are the picturesque scenes -surrounding the long controversy as to Easter between the Roman clergy and -the British and Irish. The matter bulks hugely in Bede's book, as it did -in his mind. - -[209] Bede ii. 13. - -[210] _E.g._ as in Bede iii. 1. - -[211] One may bear in mind that practically all active proselytizing -Christianity of the period was of a monastic type. - -[212] A.D. 709. _Hist. Ecc._ v. 19, where another instance is also given; -and see _ibid._ v. 7. - -[213] See the pieces in Thorpe's _Codex Exoniensis_, _e.g._ the -"Supplication," p. 452. - -[214] _Ecc. Hist._ iv. 22. - -[215] Bede, _Hist. Ecc._ iii. 19; v. 12, 13, 14. Of these the most famous -is the vision of Fursa, an Irishman; but others were had by Northumbrians. -Plummer, in his edition of Bede, vol. ii. p. 294, gives a list of such -visions in the Middle Ages. - -[216] On Aldhelm see Ebert, _Allegemeine Ges. des Lit. des Mittelalters_; -and Roger, _L'Enseignement des lettres classiques_, etc., p. 288 _sqq._ - -[217] This is noticeable in his Commentary on the Gospel of John, Migne, -_Pat. Lat._ 92, col. 633 _sqq._ - -[218] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 91, col. 9. In another prefatory epistle to the -same bishop Acca, Bede intimates that he has abridged the language of the -Fathers: he says it is inconvenient always to put their names in the text. -Instead he has inscribed the proper initials of each Father in the margin -opposite to whatever he may have taken from him (_in Lucae Evangelium -expositio_, Migne 92, col. 304). - -[219] Migne 90, col. 258; _ibid._ col. 422. I have not observed this -statement in Isidore. - -[220] All of these are in t. 90 of Migne. - -[221] His writings fill about five volumes (90-95) in Migne's _Patrol. -Latina_. A list may be found in the article "Bede" in the _Dictionary of -National Biography_. _Beda der Ehrwuerdige_, by Karl Werner (Vienna, 1881), -is a good monograph. - -[222] _Ante_, Chapter IV. - -[223] _The Works of King Alfred the Great_ are translated from Anglo-Saxon -in the Jubilee edition of Giles (2 vols., London, 1858). The _Pastoral -Care_ and the _Orosius_ are translated by Henry Sweet in the publications -of the Early English Text Society. W. J. Sedgefield's translation of -Alfred's version of the _Consolations of Boethius_ is very convenient from -the italicizing of the portions added by Alfred to Boethius's original. -The extracts given in the following pages have been taken from these -editions. - -[224] Boethius's words, which Alfred here paraphrases and supplements are -as follows: "Tum ego, scis, inquam, ipsa minimum nobis ambitionem -mortalium rerum fuisse dominatam; sed materiam gerendis rebus optavimus, -quo ne virtus tacita consenesceret" (_De consol. phil._ ii. prosa 7). - -[225] The substance of this bracketed clause is in Boethius--the last -words quoted in the preceding note. - -[226] Toward the close of his life Alfred gathered some thoughts from -Augustine's _Soliloquies_ and from other writings, with which he mingled -reflections of his own. He called the book _Blossoms_. He says in his -preface: "I gathered me then staves and props, and bars, and helves for -each of my tools, and boughs; and for each of the works that I could work, -I took the fairest trees, so far as I might carry them away. Nor did I -ever bring any burden home without longing to bring home the whole wood, -if that might be; for in every tree I saw something of which I had need at -home. Wherefore I exhort every one who is strong, and has many wains, that -he direct his steps to the same wood where I cut the props. Let him there -get him others, and load his wains with fair twigs, that he may weave -thereof many a goodly wain, and set up many a noble house, and build many -a pleasant town, and dwell therein in mirth and ease, both winter and -summer, as I could never do hitherto. But He who taught me to love that -wood, He may cause me to dwell more easily, both in this transitory -dwelling ... and also in the eternal home which He has promised us" -(Translation borrowed from _The Life and Time of Alfred the Great_, by C. -Plummer, Clarendon Press, 1902). These metaphors represent Alfred's way of -putting what Isidore or Bede or Alcuin meant when they spoke in their -prefaces of searching through the pantries of the Fathers or culling the -sweetest flowers from the patristic meadows. See _e.g._ _ante_, Chapter V. -and _post_, Chapter X. - -[227] Far into the Frankish period there were many heathen in northern -Gaul and along the Rhine: Hauck, _Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands_, I. Kap. -i. (second edition, Leipzig, 1898). Cf. Vacandard, "L'Idolatrie en Gaule -au VI{e} et au VII{e} siecles," _Rev. des questions historiques_, 65 -(1899), 424-454. - -[228] _Mon. Germ. hist. Auctores antiquissimi_, tom. i. Cf. Ebert, _Ges. -des Lit. des Mittelalters_, i. 452 _sqq._ - -[229] Cf. _ante_, Chapter VI. - -[230] In those of its lands which were granted immunity from public -burdens, the Church gradually acquired a jurisdiction by reason of its -right to exact penalties, which elsewhere fell to the king. - -[231] The synod of 549 declared (ineffectually) for the election of -bishops, to be followed by royal confirmation. - -[232] Hauck, _Kirchenges. Deutschlands_, Bd. I. Buch ii. Kap. ii.; Moeller, -_Kirchengeschichte_, Bd. II. p. 52 _sqq._ (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1893). - -[233] Carloman went at first to Rome, and built a monastery, in which he -lived for a while. But here his _contemptum regni terreni_ brought him -more renown than his monk's soul could endure. So, with a single -companion, he fled, and came unmarked and in abject guise to Monte -Cassino. He announced himself as a murderer seeking to do penance, and was -received on probation. At the end of a year he took the vows of a monk. It -happened that he was put to help in the kitchen, where he worked humbly -but none too dexterously, and was chidden and struck by the cook for his -clumsiness. At which he said with placid countenance, "May the Lord -forgive thee, brother, and Carloman." This occurring for the third time, -his follower fell on the cook and beat him. When the uproar had subsided, -and an investigation was called before the brethren, the follower said in -explanation, that he could not hold back, seeing the vilest of the vile -strike the noblest of all. The brethren seemed contemptuous, till the -follower proclaimed that this monk was Carloman, once King of the Franks, -who had relinquished his kingdom for the love of Christ. At this the -terrified monks rose from their seats and flung themselves at Carloman's -feet, imploring pardon, and pleading their ignorance. But Carloman, -rolling on the ground before them (_in terram provolutus_) denied it all -with tears, and said he was not Carloman, but a common murderer. -Nevertheless, thenceforth, recognized by all, he was treated with great -reverence (_Regino, Chronicon_, Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 132, col. 45). - -[234] For example, immunity (from governmental taxation and visitation) -might attach to the lands of bishops and abbots, as it might to the lands -of a lay potentate. On the other hand, the lands of bishops and abbots -owed the Government such temporal aid in war and peace as would have -attached to them in the hands of laymen. Such dignitaries had high secular -rank. The king did not interfere with the appointment and control of the -lower clergy by their lords, the bishops and abbots, any more than he did -with the domestic or administrative appointments of great lay -functionaries within their households or jurisdictions. - -[235] There are numerous editions of the _Heliand_: by Sievers (1878), by -Rueckert (1876). Very complete is Heyne's third edition (Paderborn, 1883). -Portions of it are given, with modern German interlinear translation, in -Piper's _Die aelteste Literatur_ (Deutsche Nat. Lit.), pp. 164-186. -Otfrid's book is elaborately edited by Piper (2nd edition with notes and -glossary, Freiburg i. B., 1882). See also Piper's _Die aelteste Literatur_, -where portions of the work are given with modern German interlinear -translation. Compare Ebert, _Literatur des Mittelalters_, iii. 100-117. - -[236] The _Heliand_ uses the epic phrases of popular poetry: they reappear -three centuries later in the _Nibelungenlied_. - -[237] _Ante_, Chapter I. - -[238] _Ante_, Chapter VI. - -[239] _Ante_, Chapter IX. - -[240] _E.g._ Charles Martell and Pippin drove the Saracens from -Narbonne--not Charlemagne, to whom these _chansons_ ascribe the deed. - -[241] The dates are 801 and 765. - -[242] Historical atlases usually devote a double map to the Empire of -Charlemagne, and little side-maps to the Merovingian realm, which included -vast German territories, and for a time extended into Italy. - -[243] A part of the serious historian's task is to get rid of "epochs" and -"renaissances"--Carolingian, Twelfth Century, or Italian. For such there -should be substituted a conception of historical continuity, with effect -properly growing out of cause. Of course, one must have convenient terms, -like "periods," etc., and they are legitimate; for the Carolingian period -did differ in degree from the Merovingian, and the twelfth century from -the eleventh. But it would be well to eliminate "renaissance." It seems to -have been applied to the culture of the _quattrocento_, etc., in Italy -sixty or seventy years ago (1845 is the earliest instance in Murray's -_Dictionary_ of this use of the word), and carries more false notions than -can be contradicted in a summer's day. - -[244] The architecture, sculpture, and painting of the Carolingian time -continued the Christian antique or Byzantine styles. Church interiors were -commonly painted, a custom coming from early Christian mosaic and fresco -decoration. Charlemagne's Capitularies provided for the renovation of the -churches, including their decorations. No large sculpture has survived; -but we see that there was little artistic originality either in the -illumination of manuscripts or in ivory carving. The royal chapel at Aix -was built on the model of St. Vitale at Ravenna, and its columns appear to -have been taken from existing structures and brought to Aix. - -[245] Charlemagne's famous open letters of general admonition, _de -litteris colendis_ and _de emendatione librorum_, and his _admonitio -generalis_ for the instruction of his legates (_missi_), show that the -fundamental purpose of his exhortations was to advance the true -understanding of Scripture: "ut facilius et rectius divinarum scripturarum -mysteria valeatis penetrare." To this end he seeks to improve the Latin -education of monks and clergy; and to this end he would have the texts of -Scripture emended and a proper liturgy provided; and, as touching the -last, he refers to the efforts of his father Pippin before him. The best -edition of these documents is by Boretius in the _Monumenta Germaniac -historica_. - -[246] As to the stylistic qualities of Carolingian prose and metre see -_post_, Chapters XXXI., XXXII. - -[247] Alcuin's works are printed conveniently in tomes 100 and 101 of -Migne's _Patrologia Latina_. Extracts are given, _post_, Chapter XXXI., to -indicate the place of Carolingian prose in the development of mediaeval -Latin styles. - -[248] Printed in Migne 101, col. 849-902. Alcuin adopted for his _Grammar_ -the dialogue form frequent in Anglo-Saxon literature; and from his time -the question and answer of _Discipulus_ and _Magister_ will not cease -their cicada chime in didactic Latin writings. - -[249] Migne 101, col. 857. See Mullinger, _Schools of Charles the Great_, -p. 76 (an excellent book), and West's _Alcuin_, chap. v. (New York, 1892). - -[250] As in his _Disputatio Pippini_ (the son of Charlemagne), Migne 101, -col. 975-980, which is just a series of didactic riddles: What is a -letter? The guardian of history. What is a word? The betrayer of the mind. -What generates language? The tongue. What is the tongue? The whip of the -air--and so forth. - -[251] _De orthographia_, Migne 101, col. 902-919. - -[252] Migne 101, col. 919-950. Mullinger, _o.c._ pp. 83-85. - -[253] Migne 101, col. 951-976. - -[254] Migne 101, col. 956. - -[255] Migne 101, col. 11-56. - -[256] Migne 101, col. 613-638. - -[257] Migne 100, cols. 737, 744. - -[258] An important person. He was born at Mainz about 776. Placed as a -child in the convent of Fulda, his talents and learning caused him to be -sent at the age of twenty-one to Alcuin at Tours for further instruction. -After Alcuin's death in 804, Rabanus returned to Fulda and was made -Principal of the monastery school. In 822 he was elected Abbot. His -labours gained for him the title of Primus praeceptor Germaniae. Resigning -in 842, he withdrew to devote himself to literary labours; but he was soon -drawn from his retreat and made Archbishop of Mainz. He died in 856. While -archbishop, and also while abbot, Rabanus with spiteful zeal prosecuted -that rebellious monk, the high-born Saxon Gottschalk, who, among other -faults, held too harsh views upon Predestination. His works are published -in Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 107-112. - -Rabanus has left huge Commentaries upon the books of the Old and New -Testaments, in which he and his pupils gathered the opinions of the -Fathers. He also added such needful comment of his own as his "exiguity" -of mind permitted (Praef. to _Com. in Lib. Judicum_, Migne 108, col. -1110). His Commentaries were superseded by the _Glossa ordinaria_ (Migne -113 and 114) of his own pupil, Walafrid Strabo, which was systematically -put together from Rabanus and those upon whom he drew. It was smoothly -done, and the writer knew how to eliminate obscurity and prolixity, and in -fact make his work such that it naturally became the Commentary in widest -use for centuries. The dominant interest of these commentators is in the -allegorical significance of Scripture, as we shall see (Chapter XXVII.). -On Rabanus and Walafrid, see Ebert, _Allge. Gesch. der Lit. des -Mittelalters_, ii. 120-166. - -[259] _De cleric. inst._ iii. 26 (Migne 107, col. 404). - -[260] _Ibid._ iii. 18. - -[261] _Ibid._ iii. 20 (Migne 107, col. 397). - -[262] Migne III, col. 9-614. - -[263] Raban's excruciating _De laudibus sanctae crucis_ shows what he -could do as a virtuoso in allegorical mystification (Migne 107, col. -137-294). - -[264] _De cleric. inst._ iii. 16 (Migne 107, col. 392). - -[265] _De cleric. inst._ iii. 25 (Migne 107, col. 403). - -[266] Compare his _De magicis artibus_, Migne 110, col. 1095 _sqq._ - -[267] Migne 107, col. 419 _sqq._ - -[268] Migne 120, col. 1267-1350. - -[269] Ratramnus, _De corpore, etc._ (Migne 121, col. 125-170). - -[270] On the Carolingian controversies upon Predestination and the -Eucharist, see Harnack, _Dogmengeschichte_, vol. iii. chap. vi. - -[271] Migne 119, col. 102. Florus called his tract "Libellus Flori -adversus cuiusdam vanissimi hominis, qui cognominatur Joannes, ineptias et -errores de praedestinatione," etc. Florus was a contemporary of Eriugena. - -[272] Migne 106. - -[273] Hincmar, _Ep._ 23 (Migne 126, col. 153). - -[274] Migne 122, col. 357. - -[275] _De div. nat._ i. 69 (Migne 122, col. 513). - -[276] One may say that the work of Eriugena in presenting Christianity -transformed in substance as well as form, stood to the work of such a one -as Thomas Aquinas as the work of the Gnostics in the second century had -stood toward the dogmatic formulation of Christianity by the Fathers of -the Church. With the Church Fathers as with Thomas, there was earnest -endeavour to preserve the substance of Christianity, though presenting it -in a changed form. This cannot be said of either the Gnostics or Eriugena. - -[277] See Prantl, _Ges. der Logik_, ii. 20-36. - -[278] Claudius died about 830. His works are in tome 104 of Migne. - -[279] Migne 104, col. 147-158. - -[280] Compare Agobard's Ep. _ad Bartholomaeum_ (Migne 104, col. 179). - -[281] _Liber contra judicium Dei_ (Migne 104, col. 250-268). Here the -powerful Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, is emphatically on the opposite -side, and argues lengthily in support of the _judicium aquae frigidae_, in -_Epist._ 26, Migne 126, col. 161. Hincmar (cir. 806-882) was a man of -imposing eminence. He was a great ecclesiastical statesman. The compass -and character of his writings is what might be expected from such an -archiepiscopal man of affairs. They include edifying tracts for the use of -the king, an authoritative Life of St Remi, and writings theological, -political, and controversial. As the writer was not a profound thinker, -his works have mainly that originality which was impressed upon them by -the nature of whatever exigency called them forth. They are contained in -Migne 125, 126. - -[282] _Liber de imaginibus sanctorum_ (Migne 104, col. 199-226). - -[283] These writings are also in vol. 104 of Migne. - -[284] See Wattenbach, _Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen_, i. 130-142 (5th -ed.). Writings known as _Annales_ drew their origin from the notes made by -monks upon the margin of their calendars. These notes were put together -the following year, and subsequently might be revised, perhaps by some -person of larger view and literary skill. Thus the Annals found in the -cloister of Lorsch are supposed to have been rewritten in part by Einhart. - -[285] There were two great earlier examples of such histories: one was the -_Historia Francorum_ of Gregory of Tours, the author of which was of -distinguished Roman descent, born in 540 and dying in 594; the other was -Bede's _Church History of the English People_, which was completed shortly -before its author's death in 735. In individuality and picturesqueness of -narrative, these two works surpass all the historical writings of the -Carolingian time. - -[286] In _Mon. Germ. hist. scrip._ ii.; also Migne, vol. 116, col. 45-76; -trans, in German in _Geschichtsschreiber der deutschen Vorzeit_ (Leipzig). -See also Wattenbach, _Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen_, i., and Ebert, -_Ges. der Lit._ ii. 370 _sqq._ - -[287] In both these respects a contrary condition had made possible the -endurance of the Roman Empire. Its territories in the main were civilized, -and were traversed by the best of roads, while many of them lay about that -ancient common highway of peoples, the Mediterranean. Then the whole -Empire was leavened, and one part made capable of understanding another, -by the Graeco-Roman culture. - -[288] Within his hereditary domain, Hugh had the powers of other feudal -lords; but this domain, instead of expanding, tended to shrink under the -reigns of the Capetians of the eleventh century. - -[289] In Conrad's reign "Burgundy," comprising most of the eastern and -southern regions of France, and with Lyons and Marseilles, as well as -Basle and Geneva within its boundaries, was added to the Empire. - -[290] Papal elections were freed from lay control, and a great step made -toward the emancipation of the entire Church, by the decree of Nicholas -II. in 1059, by which the election of the popes was committed to the -conclave of cardinals. - -[291] For the matter of clerical celibacy, and the part played by -monasticism in these reforms, see _post_, Chapter XV. - -[292] Gregory VII., _Ep._ iv. 2 (Migne 148, col. 455). - -[293] _Ep._ viii. 21 (Migne 148, col. 594). - -[294] Migne 148, col. 407, 408. Cf. _post_, Chapter XXXIII. - -[295] As between the Empire and the Papacy the particular struggle over -investitures was adjusted by the Concordat of Worms (1122), by which the -Church should choose her bishops; but the elections were to be held in the -presence of the king, who conferred, by special investiture, the temporal -fiefs and privileges. For translations of Gregory's Letters and other -matter, see J. H. Robinson's _Readings in European History_, i. 274-293. - -[296] See _post_, Chapter XII. The copying of manuscripts was a lucrative -profession in Italy. - -[297] Tetralogus, Pertz, _Mon. Germ, scriptores_, xi. 251. - -[298] The clerical schools were no less important than the lay, but less -distinctive because their fellows existed north of the Alps. Cathedral -schools may be obscurely traced back to the fifth century; and there were -schools under the direction of the parish priests. In them aspirants for -the priesthood were educated, receiving some Latin and some doctrinal -instruction. So the cathedral and parochial schools helped to preserve the -elements of antique education; but they present no such open cultivation -of letters for their own profane sake as may be found in the schools of -lay grammarians. The monastic schools are better known. From the ninth -century they usually consisted of an outer school (_schola exterior_) for -the laity and youths who wished to become secular priests, and an inner -school (_interior_) for those desiring to become monks. At different times -the monastery schools of Bobbio, Farfa, and other places rose to fame, but -Monte Cassino outshone them all. - -As to the schools and culture of Italy during the early Middle Ages, see -Ozanam, _Les Ecoles en Italie aux temps barbares_ (in his _Documents -inedits, etc._, and printed elsewhere); Giesebrecht, _De literarum studiis -apud Italos, etc._ (translated into Italian by C. Pascal, Florence, 1895, -under the title _L' Istruzione in Italia nei primi secoli del Medio-Evo_); -G. Salvioli, _L' Istruzione publica in Italia nei secoli VIII._, _IX._, -_X._ (Florence, 1898); Novati, _L' Influsso del pensiero latino sopra la -civilita italiana del Medio-Evo_ (2nd ed., Milan, 1899). - -[299] See _post_, Chapter XXXIII., III. - -[300] At Salerno, according to the Constitution of Frederick II., three -years' preliminary study of the _scientia logicalis_ was demanded, because -"numquam sciri potest scientia medicinae nisi de scientia logicali aliquid -praesciatur" (cited by Novati, _L' Influsso del pensiero latino, etc._, p. -220). Just as Law and Medical Schools in the United States may require a -college diploma from applicants for admission. - -[301] On Constantine see Wuestenfeld, "Uebersetzungen arabischer Werke," -etc. _Abhand. Goettingen Gesellschaft_, vol. 22 (1877), pp. 10-20, and p. -55 _sqq._ Also on the Salerno school, Daremberg, _Hist. des sciences -medicales_, vol. i. p. 254 _sqq._ - -[302] _Traube_, "O Roma nobilis," _Abhand. philos.-philol. Classe Bayer. -Akad._ Bd. 19, p. 301. This poem probably belongs to the tenth century. -"Archos" is mediaeval Greek for "The Lord." - -[303] The _Rationes dictandi_, a much-used book on the art of composing -letters, comes from the hand of one Alberic, who was a monk at Monte -Cassino in the middle of the eleventh century. He died a cardinal in 1088. -The _ars dictaminis_ related either to drawing legal documents or -composing letters. See _post_, Chapter XXX., II. - -[304] See E. Bertaux, _L'Art dans l'Italie meridionale_, i. 155 _sqq._ -(Paris, 1904). - -[305] The poems of Alphanus are in Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 147, col. 1219-1268. - -[306] "Ad Romualdum causidicum," printed in Ozanam, _Doc. inedits_, p. -259. - -[307] Printed in Giesebrecht, _De lit. stud. etc._ - -[308] Printed by Dummler in _Anselm der Peripatetiker_, pp. 94-102. See -also the rhyming colloquy between Helen and Ganymede, of the twelfth -century, printed in Ozanam, _Documents inedits, etc._, p. 19. - -[309] On Liutprand see Ebert, _Ges. der Lit._ iii. 414-427; Molinier, -_Sources de l'histoire de France_, i. 274. His works are in the _Monumenta -Ger._, also in 136 of Migne. The _Antapodosis_ and _Embassy to -Constantinople_ are translated into German in the _Geschichtsschreiber der -deutschen Vorzeit_. - -[310] See _Antapod._ vi. 1 (Migne 136, col. 893). - -[311] _Antapod._ i. 1 (Migne 136, col. 791). - -[312] Migne 136, col. 837. - -[313] _Legatio Constantinopolitana_ (Migne 136, col. 909-937). - -[314] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 136, col. 1283-1302. - -[315] See Ebert, _Allgem. Ges._ iii. 370, etc.; Novati, _L'Influsso del -pensiero latino, etc._, p. 31 _sqq._; and Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 136. - -[316] See Novati, _L'Influsso, etc._, pp. 188-191. The passage is from the -vituperative polemic of a certain Ademarus (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 141, col. -107-108). - -[317] Dummler, "Gedichte aus Abdinghof," in _Neues Archiv_, v. 1 (1876), -p. 181 (cited by Novati, p. 192). - -[318] Dummler, _Anselm der Peripatetiker_, p. 36 _sqq._; cf. Haureau, -_Singularites historiques_, p. 179 _sqq._ - -[319] The account is from Radolphus Glaber, _Historiarum libri_, ii. 12. - -[320] On Damiani's views of classical studies, see _Opusc._ xi., _Liber -qui dicitur Dominus vobiscum_, cap. i. (Migne 145, col. 232); _Opusc._ -xlv., _De sancta simplicitate_ (_ibid._ col. 695); _Opusc._ lviii., _De -vera felicitate et sapientia_ (_ibid._ col. 831). For the life and works -of this interesting man see _post_, p. 262 _sqq._, and _post_, Chapter -XVI. - -[321] _Vita Anselmi_, 1247 (cited by Ronca, p. 227). - -[322] Another great politico-ecclesiastical Italian was Lanfranc (cir. -1005-1089), whose life was almost exactly contemporaneous with that of -Hildebrand. He was born in high station at Pavia, and educated in letters -and the law. Seized with the desire to be a monk, he left his home and -passed through France, sojourning on his way, until he came to the convent -of Bec in Normandy, in the year 1042. A man of practical ability and a -great teacher, it was he that made the monastery great. Men, lay and -clerical, noble and base, came thronging to hear him: Anselm came and Ives -of Chartres, both future saints, and one who afterwards as Pope Alexander -II. rose before Lanfranc, then Archbishop of Canterbury, and said: "Thus I -honour, not the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the master of the school of -Bec, at whose feet I sat with other pupils." William the Conqueror made -Lanfranc Primate of England and prince-ruler of the land in the -Conqueror's absence. - -[323] _Petri Damiani Ep._ i. xvi. (Migne 144, col. 236). Damiani's works -are contained in Migne 144 and 145. Alexander II. was pope from 1061 to -1073, when he was succeeded by Hildebrand. - -[324] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 145, col. 961, 967. - -[325] _Opusculum_, xxxvi. (Migne 145, col. 595). It is also bad to be an -abbot, as Damiani shows in plaintive and almost humorous verses: - - "Nullus pene abbas modo - Valet esse monachus, - Dum diversum et nocivum - Sustinet negotium: - Et, quod velit sustinere, - Velut iniquus patitur - - * * * * - - "Spiritaliter abbatem - Volunt fratres vivere, - Et per causas saeculares - Cogunt illum pergere; - Per tam itaque diversa - Quis valet incedere?" - _De abbatum miseria rhythmus_ - (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 145, col. 972). - -[326] Lib. v. Ep. iv.; cf. Jer. xiii. - -[327] Ep. iv. 11 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 144, col. 313). - -[328] He died in 1072, a year before Hildebrand was made pope. - -[329] _Opusc._ xvii., _De coelibatu_; _Opusc._ xviii., _Contra -intemperantes clericos_; _Opusc._ xxii., _Contra clericos aulicos_, etc. - -[330] Lib. iv. Ep. 5 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 144, col. 300). - -[331] Lib. v. Ep. 3 (Migne 144, col. 343). - -[332] Lib. v. Ep. 2 (Migne 144, col. 340). Damiani's _Rhythmus poenitentis -monachi_ (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 145, col. 971) expresses the passionate -remorse of a sinful monk. - -[333] _Post_, Chapter XIX. - -[334] Lib. vii. Ep. 18 (Migne 144, col. 458). - -[335] Much is contained in the eighth book of his letters. The third -letter of this book is addressed to a nobleman who did not treat his -mother as Peter would have had him. The whole family situation is given in -two sentences: "But you may say: 'My mother exasperates me often, and with -her rasping words worries me and my wife. We cannot endure such -reproaches, nor tolerate the burden of her severity and interference.' But -for this, your reward will be the richer, if you return gentleness for -contumely, and mollify her with humility when you are sprinkled with the -salt of her abuse" (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 144, col. 467). Some sentences from -this letter are given _post_, Chapter XXXI., as examples of Latin style. - -The next letter is addressed to the same nobleman and his wife on the -death of their son. It gently points out to them that his migration to the -_coelestia regna_, where among the angels he has put on the garment of -immortality, is cause for joy. - -[336] _Opusc._ ix., _De eleemosyna_ (Migne 145, col. 207 _sqq._). - -[337] _Opusc._ ix., _De eleemosyna_, cap. i. - -[338] Seneca, _De vita beata_, 20. - -[339] Lib. viii. Ep. 8 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 144, col. 476). Cf. _ante_, p. -260. - -[340] Extracts will be given _post_, Chapter XVI., together with Damiani's -remarkable Life of Romuald. - -[341] Migne 158, col. 50 _sqq._ - -[342] Anselm was born in 1033 and died in 1109. His works are in Migne -158, 159. See also Domet de Vorges, _S. Anselme_ (Les grands Philosophes, -1901). - -[343] "Districtio ordinis," _Vita_, i. 6. This indicates that liberal -studies were not favoured in Cluny at this time, cir. 1060. - -[344] In a convent where there is an abbot, the prior is the officer -directly under him. - -[345] _Ante_, Chapter X. - -[346] _Cur Deus homo_, i. 1 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 158, col. 361). - -[347] In the _Cur Deus homo_, i. 2, Anselm has his approved disciple state -the same point of view: "As the right order prescribes that we should -believe the profundities of the Christian Faith, before presuming to -discuss them by reason, so it seems to me neglect if after we are -confirmed in faith we do not study to understand what we believe. -Wherefore, since by the prevenient grace of God, I deem myself to hold the -faith of our redemption, so that even if I could by no reason comprehend -what I believe, there is nothing that could pluck me from it, I ask from -thee, as many ask, that thou wouldst set forth to me, as thou knowest it, -by what necessity and reason, God, being omnipotent, should have assumed -the humility and weakness of human nature for its restoration." - -[348] There is indeed an early treatise, _De grammatico_ (Migne 158, col. -561-581), in which Anselm seems to abandon himself to dialectic concerned -with an academic topic. The question is whether _grammaticus_, a -grammarian, is to be subsumed under the category of substance or quality; -dialectically is a grammarian a man or an incident? - -[349] Cf. Kaulich, _Ges. der scholastischen Philosophie_, i. 293-332; -Haureau, _Histoire de la philosophie scholastique_, i. 242-288; Stoeckl, -_Philosophie des Mittelalters_, i. 151-208; De Wulf, _History of Medieval -Philosophy_, 3rd ed. (Longmans, 1909), p. 162 _sqq._, and authorities. - -[350] The _locus classicus_ is _Proslogion_, cap. 2. - -[351] _Cur Deus homo_, i. 12. - -[352] _Ibid._ i. 5. - -[353] _Ibid._ i. 7. - -[354] Examples of Anselm's prose are given _post_, Chapter XXXI. - -[355] On Gerbert see _Lettres de Gerbert publiees avec une introduction, -etc._, par Julien Havet (Paris: Picard, 1889; I have cited them according -to this edition); _Oeuvres de Gerbert_, ed. by Olleris (Clermont and -Paris, 1867); also in Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 139; Richerus, _Historiarum libri -IV._ (especially lib. iii. cap. 55 _sqq._); _Mon. Germ. script._ iii. 561 -_sqq._; Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 138, col. 17 _sqq._ Also Picavet, _Gerbert, une -pape philosophe_ (Paris: Leroux, 1897); Cantor, _Ges. der Mathematik_, i. -728-751 (Leipzig, 1880); Prantl, _Ges. der Logik_, ii. 53-57 (Leipzig, -1861). - -[356] _Ep._ 12. - -[357] _Mon. Germ. scriptores_, iii. 686. - -[358] _Ep._ 44. - -[359] Presumably Gerbert's German-speaking scholars are meant. - -[360] _Ep._ 45, _Raimundo monacho_. - -[361] _Ep._ 46, _ad Geraldum Abbatem_. - -[362] _I.e._ on the affairs of the monastery of Bobbio. - -[363] A Greek doctor of Augustus's time, who wrote on the diseases of the -eye. - -[364] _Ep._ 130. - -[365] _Ep._ 167 (in Migne, _Ep._ 174). - -[366] Richer, _Hist._ iii. 47, 48. - -[367] Several of his compositions are extant. - -[368] Richer, _Hist._ iii. 48-53. - -[369] Richer, _Hist._ iii. cap. 55-65. - -[370] See _post_, Chapter XXXV. If one should hesitate to find a phase of -the veritable Gerbert in Richer's report of the disputation with Otric, -one may turn to Gerbert's own philosophic or logical _Libellus--de -rationali et ratione uti_ (Migne 139, col. 159-168). It is addressed to -Otto II., and the opening paragraph recalls to the emperor the disputation -which we have been following. The _Libellus_ is naturally more coherent -than the disputation, in which Otric's questions seem intended rather to -trip his adversary than to lead a topic on to its proper end. It is -devoted, however, to a problem exactly analogous to the point taken by -Otric, that the term rational was not as broad as the term mortal. For the -_Libellus_ discusses whether the use of reason (_ratione uti_) can be -predicated of the rational being (_rationale_). The concept of the -predicate should be the broader one, but here it might seem less broad, -since all reasonable beings do not exercise reason. The discussion closely -resembles the dispute in the character of the intellectual interests -disclosed, and its arguments are not more original than those employed -against Otric. Disputation and _Libellus_ alike represent necessary -endeavours of the mind, which has reached a certain stage of tuition and -development, to adjust itself with problems of logical order and method. - -[371] _Post_, Chapter XV. - -[372] Cf. Sackuer, _Die Cluniacenser_, ii. 330 _sqq._; Pfister. _Etudes sur -le regne de Robert le Pieux_, p. 2 _sqq._ (the latter takes an extreme -view). - -[373] Aimoin's _Vita Abbonis_, cap. 7 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 139, col. 393). -The same volume contains most of Abbo's extant writings, and those of -Aimoin. On Abbo see Sackuer, _Die Cluniacenser_, ii. 345 _sqq._ - -An incredibly large number of students are said to have attended Abbo's -lectures. His studies and teaching lay mainly in astronomy, mathematics, -chronology, and grammar. The pupil Aimoin cultivated history and -biography, compiling a History of the Francs and a History of the miracles -of St. Benedict, the latter a theme worthy of the tenth century. One -leaves it with a sigh of relief, so barren was it save for its feat of -gestation in giving birth to Gerbert. - -[374] Jotsaldus, _Vita Odilonis_ (Migne 142, col. 1037). - -[375] Odilo, _Vita Maioli_ (Migne 142, col. 951). - -[376] See Taylor, _Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages_, p. 74 _sqq._ -One may compare the influence of Cicero's _De amicitia_ on the _De -amicitia Christiana_ of Peter of Blois (cir. 1200), Migne 207, col. -871-898. - -[377] _Vita Odilonis_, chaps. vi.-xiii. (Migne 142, col. 909 _sqq._). - -[378] _Bellum Gallicum_, vi. 13. - -[379] Migne 143, col. 1290. - -[380] For a description of these works, see _post_, Chapter XXX. II. - -[381] The substance of this sketch of the school of Chartres is taken -chiefly from the Abbe Clerval's exhaustive study, "Les Ecoles de Chartres -au moyen age," _Memoires de la Societe archeologique d'Eure-et-Loir_, xi., -1895. For the later fortunes of this school see _post_, Chapter XXX. - -[382] The Histories of Gerbert's pupil Richer are somewhat better, and -show an imitation of Sallust. - -[383] Cf. Molinier, _Les Sources de l'histoire de France_, v., lxix. - -[384] _Post_, Chapters XXXIV.-XLII. - -[385] Born 1078; king from 1108-1137. - -[386] _Ante_, Chapter X. - -[387] _Ante_, Chapter IX. - -[388] On Notker see Piper, _Die aelteste Litteratur_ (Deutsche Nat. Lit.), -pp. 337-340. - -[389] _Ante_, Chapter XI., where something was said of Liutprand also. -Ratherius was a restless intriguer and pamphleteer, a sort of stormy -petrel, who was born in 890 near Liege. In the course of his career he was -once bishop of that northern city, and three times bishop of Verona, where -he died, an old man of angry soul and bitter tongue. Two years and more -had he passed in a dungeon at Pavia--a sharpening experience for one -already given overmuch to hate. There he compiled his rather dreary six -books of _Praeloquia_ (Migne 136, col. 145-344), preparatory discourses, -perhaps precursive of another work, but at all events containing moral -instruction for all orders of society. It was in the nature of a -compilation, and yet touched with a strain of personal plaint, which -sometimes makes itself clearly audible in words that show this work to -have been its author's prison _consolatio_: "Think what anguish impelled -me to it, what calamity, what necessity showed me these paths of -authorship. Dread of forgetting was my first reason for writing. Buried -under all sorts of the rubbish of wickedness, surrounded by the darkness -of evil, and distracted with the clamours of affairs, I feared that I -should forget, and was delighted to find how much I could remember. Books -were lacking, and friends to talk with, while sorrow gnawed the soul; so I -used this book of mine as a friend to chat with, and was comforted by it -as by a companion. Nor did I worry, asking who will read it; since I knew -me for its reader, and as its lover, if it had none other" (_Praeloq._ vi. -26; Migne 136, col. 342). On Ratherius see Ebert, _Ges. der Lit._, iii. -375 _sqq._ - -[390] _Vita Brunonis_, caps. 4, 6. - -[391] _Vita Brunonis_, cap. 8. - -[392] Cf. _post_, Chapter XXXII., III. - -[393] Enough will be found regarding Hrotsvitha and her works in Ebert, -_Allgem. Ges. der Lit._, iii. 285-329. - -[394] _Vita Bernwardi_, 6 (Migne 140, col. 397), by Thangmar, who was -Bernward's teacher and outlived him to write his Life. - -[395] Migne 141, col. 1229. - -[396] See Froumundus, _Ep._ 9, 11, 13 (Migne 141, col. 1288 _sqq._). A -number of his poems are published by F. Seiler, _Zeitschrift fuer deutsche -Philologie_, Bd. 14, pp. 406-442. - -[397] Migne 141, col. 1292. I am not sure that I have caught Froumund's -meaning. - -[398] _Mon. Ger. Scriptores_, v. 134 _sqq._ (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 146, col. -1027 _sqq._). - -[399] _Vita Hermanni_ (Migne 143, col. 29). - -[400] The writings of Hermannus Contractus are in Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 143. -The poem is reprinted from Du Meril's _Poesies populaires_; a more -complete text is in Bd XI. of the _Zeitschrift fuer deutsches Altertum_. - -[401] _Ante_, Chapter XII., 1. - -[402] Prantl, _Ges. Logik_, ii. 83. - -[403] Cf. Endres, "Othloh's von St. Emmeram Verhaeltnis zu den freien -Kunsten," _Philos. Jahrbuch_, 1904. - -[404] _Liber visionum._ - -[405] Othloh's works are all in tome 146 of Migne's _Patrologia Latina_. - -[406] _Ante_, Chapter XII. 11. - -[407] _Ante_, Chapters VIII., IX. - -[408] Printed in Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 139, col. 871 _sqq._ and elsewhere. -For editions see Wattenbach, _Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen_, 6th ed. i. -485. - -[409] _Post_, Chapter XVI. - -[410] Cf. Taylor, _Ancient Ideals_, chaps. xv., xvi.; _Classical -Heritage_, chaps. ii., iii. - -[411] Hosea i.-iii. - -[412] Sulpicius Severus, _Epist._ iii. - -[413] These words occur in Jerome's famous letter (_Ep._ xiv.), in which -he exhorts the wavering Heliodoras to sever all ties and affections: "Do -not mind the entreaties of those dependent on you, come to the desert and -fight for Christ's name. If they believe in Christ, they will encourage -you; if they do not,--let the dead bury their dead. A monk cannot be -perfect in his own land; not to wish to be perfect is a sin; leave all, -and come to the desert. The desert loves the naked. O desert, blooming -with the flowers of Christ! O solitude, whence are brought the stones of -the city of the Great King! O wilderness rejoicing close to God! What -would you, brother, in the world,--you that are greater than the world? -How long are the shades of roofs to oppress you? How long the dungeon of a -city's smoke? Believe me, I see more of light! Do you fear poverty? Christ -called the poor "blessed." Are you terrified at labour? No athlete without -sweat is crowned. Do you think of food? Faith fears not hunger. Do you -dread the naked ground for limbs consumed with fasts? The Lord lies with -you. Does the infinite vastness of the desert fright you? In the mind walk -abroad in Paradise. Does your skin roughen without baths? Who is once -washed in Christ needs not to wash again. And in a word, hear the apostle -answering: The sufferings of the present time are not to be compared with -the glory to come which shall be revealed in us!" - -[414] In my _Classical Heritage_, pp. 136-197, I have given an account of -the origins of monasticism, and of its distinctive western features. There -I have also set out the Rule of Benedict, with sketches of the early -monastic character. - -[415] Cyprian said in the third century, addressing himself to Christian -virgins: "Dominus vester et caput Christus est ad instar ad vicem masculi" -(_De habitu virginum_, 22). To realize how near to the full human -relationship was this wedded love of Christ, one should read the -commentaries and sermons upon Canticles. Those of a later time--St. -Bernard's, for example--are the best, because they sum up so much that had -been gathering fervour through the centuries. One might look further to -those mediaeval instances that break through mysticism to a sensuousness -in which the man Christ becomes an almost too concrete husband for -ecstatic women. See _post_, Chapter XIX. - -[416] The whole Christian love, first the love of God and then the love of -man, is felt and set forth by Augustine. "Thou hast made us toward thee, -and unquiet is our heart until it rests in thee.... That is the blessed -life to rejoice toward thee, concerning thee and because of thee.... Give -me thyself, my God.... All my plenty which is not my God is need." With -his love of God his love for man accords. "This is true love, that -cleaving to truth we may live aright; and for that reason we contemn all -mortal things except the love of men, whereby we wish them to live aright. -Thus can we profitably be prepared even to die for our brethren, as the -Lord Jesus Christ taught us by His example.... It is love which unites -good angels and servants of God in the bond of holiness, joins us to them -and them to us, and subjoins all unto God." These passages are from the -_Confessions_ and from the _De Trinitate_. - -[417] Cf. _Classical Heritage_, p. 123 _sqq._ - -[418] Augustine, _Epp._ 155, c. 13. - -[419] _Ante_, Chapter V. - -[420] _Ante_, Chapter IX. - -[421] Alcuin, _Ep._ 40 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 100, col. 201). - -[422] Cf. Odo's _Collationes_, in Migne 133, and Chapter XII. II., _ante_. -Gregory was Odo's favourite author. - -[423] Before Constantine's reign there had been few Christian basilicas; -Christian art was sepulchral, drawing upon the galleries of the Catacombs, -in meagre and monotonous designs, the symbols of the soul's deliverance -from death. These designs were antique in style and poor in execution. - -[424] See Taylor, _Classical Heritage_, chap. x. sec. 2. - -[425] See _Classical Heritage_, p. 267, and cf. _ibid._ chap. ix. sec. 1. - -[426] See _post_, Chapter XXXII. II. - -[427] The account of the evolution of the hymn from the prose sequence is -given _post_, Chapter XXXII. III. - -[428] Further illustrations of the mediaeval emotionalizing of Latin -Christianity could be made from the history of certain Christian -conceptions, angels for example:--the Old and New Testaments and the -Apocrypha contain the revelation of their functions; next, their natures -are defined in the works of the Fathers and the _Celestial Hierarchy_ of -Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. The matter is gone over at great length, -and their nature and functions logically perfected, by the schoolmen of -the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But, all the while, religious -feeling, popular credences, and the imagination of poet and artist went on -investing with beauty and loveliness these guardian spirits who carried -out God's care of man. Thus angels became the realities they were felt to -be. - -[429] Hartmann belongs to that great group of courtly German poets whose -lives surround the year 1200. He was the translator of Chretien de Troye's -_Erec_ and _Ivain_. See Bech's _Hartmann von Aue_ (Deutsche klassiker). -The verses quoted can hardly be rendered; but the meaning is as follows: - -"My joys were never free from care until the day which showed me the -flowers of Christ which I wear here (_i.e._ the Crusader's cross). They -herald a summer-time leading to sweet pastures of delight. God help us -thither! The world has treated me so that my spirit yearns therefor;--well -for me! God has been good to me, so that I am released from cares which -tie the feet of many, chaining them here, while I in Christ's band with -blissful joys fare on." - -These lines carry that same yearning of the simple soul for heaven, _its -home_, which was expressed, some centuries before, in Otfried's -_Evangelienbuch_ (_ante_, Chapter IX.). The words and their connotations -(_augenweide_, _wuenneclich_) are utterly German. Yet the author lived in a -literary atmosphere of translation from the French. - -[430] _Post_, Chapter XXV. - -[431] The makers of love poems borrowed expressions from poems to the -Virgin. Cf. Wilmanns, _Leben und Dichtung Walter's Von der Vogelweide_, p. -179. Touches of mortal passion sometimes appear in the adoration of men -for the Blessed Virgin. See _Caesar of Heisterbach_, vii. 32 and 50, and -viii. 58. Of course, many suggestions were drawn also from the antique -literature. See _post_, Chapter XXXII. IV. The subject of courtly and -romantic love will come up properly for treatment in Chapter XXIII. - -[432] One will bear in mind that much mediaeval phraseology goes back to -the Fathers. For example, in monkish vilification of woman there is no -phrase more common than _janua diaboli_, and it was Tertullian's, who died -in the first part of the third century. - -[433] For the different meanings of the term _clericus_ see Du Cange, -_Glossarium_, under that word. - -[434] For the meanings of this term also see Du Cange, _Glossarium_, under -that word. - -[435] Regular clergy are the monks, who live under a _regula_. - -[436] _Dialogus miraculorum_, ed. J. Strange, iv. i. (Cologne, 1851). Of -course Caesar was a monk. - -[437] _Ante_, Chapter XIV. - -[438] See Sackur, _Die Cluniacenser, etc._, _passim_, and Bd. II. 464 -(Halle, 1892). - -[439] On the differences between Cluny and Citeaux see Vacandard, _Vie de -St Bernard_, chap. iv. (2nd ed., Paris, 1897), and Zoeckler, _Askese und -Moenchtum_, 2nd ed. pp. 406-415 (Frankfurt a. M., 1897). - -[440] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 166, col. 1377-1384. - -[441] In fact, paragraph 15 provides that at the Chapter accusations -against an abbot shall be brought only by an abbot. - -[442] It is interesting to observe how much of Stephen of Bourbon's -description of the Poor of Lyons applies to Franciscan beginnings, and how -much more of it would have applied had not St. Francis possessed the gift -of obedience among his other virtues. Stephen was a Dominican of the first -half of the thirteenth century, and himself an inquisitor. Thus he -describes these misled people: "The Waldenses are called after the author -of this heresy, whose name was Waldensis. They are also called the Poor of -Lyons, because there they first professed poverty. Likewise they call -themselves the Poor in Spirit, because the Lord says: 'Blessed are the -poor in spirit....' Waldensis, who lived in Lyons, was a man of wealth, -but of little education. Hearing the Gospels, and curious to understand -their meaning, he bargained with two priests that they should make a -translation in the vulgar tongue. This they did, with other books of the -Bible and many precepts from the writings of the saints. When this -townsman had read the Gospel till he knew it by heart, he set out to -follow apostolic perfection, just as the Apostles themselves. So, selling -all his goods, in contempt of the world, he tossed his money like dirt to -the poor. Then he presumed to usurp the office of the Apostles, and -preached the Gospels in the open streets. He led many men and women to do -the same, exercising them in the Gospels. He also sent them to preach in -the neighbouring villages. These ignorant men and women running through -villages, entering houses, and preaching in the open places as well as the -churches, drew others to the same ways." - -Up to this point we are close to the Franciscans. But now the Archbishop -of Lyons forbids these ignorant irregular evangelists to preach. Their -leader answers for them, that they must obey God rather than man, and -Scripture says to preach the Gospel to every creature. Thus they fell into -disobedience, contumacy, and incurred excommunication, says Stephen -(_Anecdotes, etc., d'Etienne de Bourbon_, edited by Lecoy de la Marche -(Soc. de l'Histoire de France, Paris, 1877), cap. 342). - -[443] The role of Franciscans and Dominicans in the spread of philosophic -knowledge in the thirteenth century will be considered _post_, Chapter -XXXVII. Chapter XVIII., _post_, is devoted to the personal qualities of -Francis. - -[444] Peter Damiani, _De contemptu saeculi_, cap. 32 (Migne 145, col. -287). - -[445] On Damiani, see _ante_, Chapter XI. IV. - -[446] Peter Damiani, _Opusc._ xi., _Dominus vobiscum_, cap. 19 (Migne 145, -col. 246). - -[447] Peter Damiani, _De contemptu saeculi_, cap. 25 (Migne 145, col. -278). - -[448] Peter Damiani, _De perfectione monachi_, caps. 2, 3 (Migne 145, col. -294). - -[449] _De perfectione monachi_, cap. 8 (Migne 145, col. 303). - -[450] _De perf. mon._ cap. 13 (Migne 145, col. 307). - -[451] _De ins. ord. eremitarum_, cap. 26 (Migne 145, col. 358). On the -distraction from the _vita contemplativa_ involved in an abbot's duties -see Damiani's verses, _De abbatum miseria_, _ante_, Chapter XI. IV. - -For such as have feeling for these matters, I give the following extracts -from Damiani's _Opusc._ xiii., _De perfectione monachi_, caps. 12, 13: -"Let the brother love fasting and cherish privation, let him flee the -sight of men, withdraw from affairs, keep his mouth from vain -conversation, seek the hiding-place of his mind wherein with his whole -strength he burns to see the face of his Creator; and let him pant for -tears, and beset God for them with daily prayer. For the dew of tears -cleanses the soul from every stain and makes fruitful the meadows of our -hearts so that they bring forth the sprouts of virtue. For often as under -an icy frost the wretched soul sheds its foliage, and, grace departing, it -is left to itself barren and stripped of its shortlived blossoms. But anon -tears given by the Tester of hearts burst forth, and this same soul is -loosed from the cold of its slothful torpor, and becomes green again with -the renewed leafage of its virtues, as a tree in spring kindled by the -south wind. - -"Tears, moreover, which are from God, with fidelity approach the tribunal -of divine hearing, and quickly obtaining what they ask, assure us of the -remission of our sins. Tears are intermediaries in concluding peace -between God and men; they are the truthful and the very wisest -(_doctissimae_) teachers in the dubiousness of human ignorance. For when -we are in doubt whether something may be pleasing to God, we can reach no -better certitude than through prayer, weeping truthfully. We need never -again hesitate as to what our mind has decided on under such conditions. - -"Tears," continues Damiani, "washed the noisomeness of her guilt from the -Magdalen, saved the Apostle who denied his Lord, restored King David after -deadly sin, added three years to Hezekiah's life, preserved inviolate the -chastity of Judith, and won for her the head of Holophernes. Why mention -the centurion Cornelius, why mention Susanna? indeed were I to tell all -the deeds of tears, the day would close before my task were ended. For it -is they that purify the sinner's soul, confirm his inconstant heart, -prepare joy out of grief, and, breaking forth from our eyes of flesh, -raise us to the hope of supernal beatitude. For their petition may not be -set aside, so mighty are their voices in the Creator's ears. Before the -pious Judge they hesitate at nothing, but vindicate their claim to mercy -as a right, and exult confident of having obtained what they implore. - -"O ye tears, joys of the spirit, sweeter than honey, sweeter than nectar! -which with a sweet and pleasant taste refresh minds lifted up to God, and -water consumed and arid hearts with a flood of penetrating grace from -heaven. Weeping eyes terrify the devil; he fears the onslaught of tears -bursting forth, as one would flee a tempest of hail driven by the fury of -all the winds. As the torrent's rush cleanses the river-bed, the flowing -tears purge the weeper's mind from the devil's tares and every pest of -sin." - -[452] _De inst. ord. er._ cap. 1 (Migne 145, col. 337). - -[453] The _Vita Romualdi_ is printed in Migne 144, col. 950-1008. - -[454] Romuald died in 1027; _lustrum_ here may mean four years, which -would bring the time of writing to 1039. - -[455] _Vita Romualdi_, caps. 8, 9. Damiani does not say this here, but -quite definitely suggests it in cap. 64. The lives of these eastern -hermits were known to Romuald; hermits in Italy had imitated them; and the -connection with the knowledge of the Orient was not severed. See Sackur, -_Die Cluniacenser, etc._, i. 324 _sqq._ Thus for their models these -Italian hermits go behind the _Regula Benedicti_ to the anchorite examples -of Cassian and the East. Cf. Taylor, _Classical Heritage_, p. 160. A good -example was St. Nilus, a Calabrian, perhaps of Greek stock. As Abbot of -Crypta-Ferrata in Agro-Tusculano, he did not cease from his austerities, -and still dwelt in a cave. He died in 1005 at the alleged age of -ninety-five. His days are thus described: from dawn to the third hour he -copied rapidly, filling a [Greek: tetradeion] (quaternion) each day. From -the third to the sixth hour he stood before the Cross of the Lord, -reciting psalms and making genuflections; from the sixth to the ninth, he -sat and read--no profane book we may be sure. When the ninth hour was -come, he addressed his evening hymn to God and went out to walk and study -Him in His works. See his _Vita_, from the Greek, in _Acta sanctorum_, -sept. t. vii. pp. 279-343, especially page 293. - -[456] _Vita Romualdi_, cap. 13. - -[457] _Ibid._ cap. 20. - -[458] _Vita Romualdi_, cap. 51. - -[459] _Vita Romualdi_, cap. 35. - -[460] _Ibid._ cap. 40. - -[461] _Ibid._ cap. 45. - -[462] _Vita_, caps. 49, 50. - -[463] The Syrian region famous for its early anchorites. - -[464] _Vita Romualdi_, cap. 64. - -[465] Cf. Sackur, _Die Cluniacenser_, i. 328 note. - -[466] _Vita Romualdi_, 69. - -[467] Peter Damiani, _Vitae SS. Rodulphi et Dominici loricati_, cap. 8 -(Migne 144, col. 1015.) - -[468] _Ibid._ cap. 10 (Migne 144, col. 1017). - -[469] This story is told in all the early lives of Bruno, the _Vita -antiquior_, the _Vita altera_, and the _Vita tertia_ (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ -152, col. 482, 493, and 525). These lives, especially the _Vita altera_, -are interesting illustrations of the ascetic spirit, which, as might be -expected, also moulds Bruno's thoughts and his understanding of Scripture. -All of which appears in his long _Expositio in Psalmos_ (Migne, _Pat. -Lat._ 152). To us, for example, the note of the twenty-third (in the -Vulgate the twenty-second) psalm is love; to Bruno it is disciplinary -guidance: the Lord guides me in the place of pasture, that is, He is my -guide lest I go astray in the Scriptures, where the souls of the faithful -are fed; I shall not want, that is an understanding of them shall not fail -me. Thy rod, that is the lesser tribulation; thy staff, that is the -greater tribulation, correct and chastise me. - -[470] Guigo was born in 1083 at St. Romain near Valence, of noble family -(like most monks of prominence). There was close sympathy between him and -St. Bernard, as their letters show. Cf. _post_, Chapter XVII. - -[471] Migne 153, col. 601-631. - -[472] A bibliography of what has been written on Bernard would make a -volume. His own writings and the _Vitae_ and _Acta_ (as edited by -Mabillon) are printed in Migne, tomes 182-185. The _Vie de Saint Bernard_, -by the abbe Vacandard, in two volumes, is to be recommended (2nd ed., -Paris, 1897). - -[473] _Vita prima_, iii. cap. 1 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 185). This _Vita_ was -written by contemporaries of the saint who knew him intimately. But one -must be on one's guard as to these apparently close descriptions of the -saints in their _vitae_; for they are commonly conventionalized. This -description of Bernard, excepting perhaps the colour of his hair, would -have fitted Francis of Assisi. - -[474] _Vita prima_, iii. 3. Bernard himself said that his aim in preaching -was not so much to expound the words (of Scripture) as to move his -hearers' hearts (_Sermo xvi. in Cantica canticorum_). That his preaching -was resistless is universally attested. - -[475] See, _e.g._, Vacandard, _o.c._ chap. i. - -[476] _Post_, Chapter XLIII. - -[477] _Vita prima_, i. cap. 11. This William became Abbot of St. Thierry -and one of Bernard's biographers. - -[478] _E.g._ _Ep._ 107. - -[479] _Ep._ 2. - -[480] _Ep._ 110 (this is the whole letter). - -[481] _Ep._ 112 (the entire letter). The Latin of this letter is given -_post_, Chapter XXXI. - -[482] _Ep._ 111. - -[483] _Ep._ 152, _ad Innocentium papam_, A.D. 1135. - -[484] _Ep._ 170, _ad Ludovicum_. Written in 1138. - -[485] _Ep._ 191. - -[486] Cf. _post_, Chapter XXXVI. I., regarding this instance of Bernard's -zeal. His position is critically set out in Wilhelm Meyer's "Die -Anklagesaetze des h. Bernard gegen Abaelard," _Goettingische gelehrte -Nachrichten, philol. hist. Klasse_, 1898, pp. 397-468. - -[487] _Ep._ 196, _ad Guidonen_; cf. _Ep._ 195 (A.D. 1140). See for the -Latin of this letter _post_, Chapter XXXI. - -[488] _Ep._ 147, to Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny (A.D. 1138). - -[489] _Ep._ 101, _ad religiosos_; cf. also _Ep._ 136. - -[490] _Ep._ 300. - -[491] _Vita prima_, lib. vii. cap. 15. - -[492] It was Bernard's third absence in Italy. - -[493] _Ep._ 144, _ad suos Clarae-Vallenses_. - -[494] _Vita prima_, lib. iii. cap. 7. - -[495] _Sermo xxvi. in Cantica._ - -[496] "Finem verborum indicunt lacrymae; tu illis, Domine, finem modumque -indixeris." - -[497] _Ante_, Chapter XVI. - -[498] As Augustine before him. Cf. Taylor, _The Classical Heritage, etc._, -pp. 129-131. - -[499] _Ep._ 11, _ad Guigonem_. Bernard adds that when Paul says that flesh -and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God, it is not to be understood -that the substance of flesh will not be there, but that every carnal -necessity will have ceased; the love of flesh will be absorbed in the love -of the spirit, and our weak human affections transformed into divine -energies. - -[500] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 182, col. 973-1000. - -[501] Love, fear, joy, sorrow. - -[502] Migne 183, col. 785-1198. - -[503] _Sermo xx. in Cantica._ - -[504] _Sermo lxxix. in Cantica._ - -[505] _Sermo lxxxiii. in Cantica._ This is nearly the whole of this -sermon. Bernard's sermons were not long. See _post_, Chapter XXXVI. II., -as to Bernard's use of the symbolism of the kiss. - -[506] _Post_, Chapter XIX. - -[507] The present chapter is intended as an appreciation of the -personality of Francis; incidents of his life are used for illustration. I -have endeavoured to confine myself to such as are generally accepted as -authentic, and to those parts of the sources which are confirmed by -corroborative testimony. The reader doubtless is aware that the sources of -Franciscan history are abundant, but that there is still much critical and -even polemic controversy touching their trustworthiness. Of the _Speculum -perfectionis_, edited by Sabatier, I would make this remark: many of its -narratives contain such wisdom and human truth as seem to me to bring them -very close to the acts and words of some great personality, _i.e._ -Francis. This is no sure proof of their authenticity, and yet is a fair -reason for following their form of statement of some of the incidents in -Francis's life, the human value of which perhaps appears narrowed and -deflected in other accounts. - -The chief sources for the life of St. Francis of Assisi are first his own -compositions, edited conveniently under the title of _Opuscula sancti -patris Francisci Assisiensis_, by the Franciscans of Quarrachi (1904). -They have been translated by P. Robinson (Philadelphia, The Dolphin Press, -1906). Next in certainty of authenticity come the two Lives by Celano, -_i.e._ _Vita prima S. Francisci Assisiensis_, auctore B. Thoma de Celano, -ejus discipulo, Bollandi _Acta sanctorum_, tome 46 (Oct. tome 2), pp. -683-723; also edited by Canon Amoni (Rome, 1880); _Vita secunda seu -appendix ad Vitam primam_, ed. by Amoni (Rome, 1880). Better editions than -Amoni's are those of Edouard d'Alencon (Rome, 1906), and H. G. Rosedale -(Dent, London, 1904). Of great importance also is the _Legenda trium -sociorum_ (_Leo, Rufinus, Angelus_), Bollandi _Acta sanctorum_, t. 46 -(Oct. t. 2), pp. 723-742; also ed. by Amoni (Rome, 1880). (Amoni's texts -differ somewhat from those of the Bollandist.) It is also edited by -Pulignani (Foligno, 1898), and edited and hypothetically completed from -the problematical Italian version, by Marcellino da Civezza and Teofilo -Domenichelli (Rome, 1899). Perhaps most vivid of all the early sources is -the so-called _Speculum perfectionis seu S. Francisci Assisiensis legenda -antiquissima auctore fratre Leone_, as edited by Paul Sabatier (Paris, -1898). It has been translated into English several times. Its date and -authenticity are still under violent discussion. One may conveniently -refer to the article "Franciscan Literature" in the _Edinburgh Review_ for -January 1904, and to P. Robinson's _Short Introduction to Franciscan -Literature_ (New York, 1907) for further references, which the student -must supplement for himself from the mass of recent literature in books -and periodicals touching the life of Francis and its sources. See also -Fierens, _La Question franciscaine, etc._ (Louvain, 1909). Among modern -Lives, that of Sabatier is probably known to all readers of this note. The -Lives by Bonghi and Le Monnier may be referred to. Gebhard's _Italie -mystique_ is interesting in connection with Francis. - -[508] Consciousness of direct authority from God speaks in the saint's -unquestionably authentic Testament: "And after the Lord gave me some -brothers, no one showed me what I ought to do, but the Most High himself -revealed to me that I ought to live according to the model of the holy -Gospel." It is also rendered with picturesque vehemence in a scene -(_Speculum perfectionis_, ed. Sabatier, ch. 68) which may or may not be -authentic. At a general meeting of the Order, certain wise brethren had -persuaded the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia to advise Francis to follow their -counsel, and had adduced certain examples from the monastic rule of -Benedict and others. "When the Cardinal had related these matters to the -blessed Francis, in the way of admonition, the blessed Francis answered -nothing, but took him by the hand and led him before the assembled -brothers, and spoke to the brothers in the fervour and power of the Holy -Spirit, thus: 'My brothers, my brothers, the Lord called me in the way of -simplicity and humility, and showed me in truth this way for myself and -for those who wish to believe and imitate me. And therefore I desire that -you will not name any rule to me, neither the rule of St. Benedict, nor -that of St. Augustine or St. Bernard, or any other rule or model of living -except that which was mercifully shown and given me by the Lord. And the -Lord said that He wished me to be a new covenant (_pactum_) in the world, -and did not wish us to live by any other way save by that knowledge.'" - -[509] These songs (none of which survive) were apparently in the _langue -d'oil_ and not in the _langue d'oc_. The phrases used by the biographers -are _lingua francigena_ (1 Cel. i. 7) and _lingua gallica_ (_III. Soc._ -iii.) or _gallice cantabat_ (_Spec. perf._ vii. 93). - -[510] In fact this is vouched for in _III. Soc._ i. - -[511] St. Martin of Tours had done the same. - -[512] _III. Soc._ v. par. 13, 14. - -[513] _III. Soc._ vi. par. 20. - -[514] "Sancta paupertas," "domina paupertas" are the phrases. The first is -used by St. Bernard. - -[515] _III. Soc._ viii.; 1 Cel. ix. - -[516] _III. Soc._ viii.; see 1 Cel. x. and 2 Cel. x. - -[517] _Spec. per._ 3, 9, 19, 122. How truly he also felt their spirit is -seen in the story of his words, at a somewhat later period, to a certain -Dominican: "While he was staying at Siena, a certain doctor of theology, -of the order of the Preachers, himself an humble and spiritual man, came -to him. When they had spoken for a while about the words of the Lord, this -master interrogated him concerning this text of Ezekiel: 'If thou dost not -declare to the wicked man his wickedness, I will require his soul of thy -hand' (Ezek. iii. 18). And he added: 'I know many indeed, good father, in -mortal sin, to whom I do not declare their wickedness. Will their souls be -required at my hand?' - -"To whom the blessed Francis humbly said that it was fitting that an -ignorant person like himself should be taught by him rather than give -answer upon the meaning of Scripture. Then that humble master replied: -'Brother, albeit I have heard the exposition of this text from a number of -the wise, still would I willingly make note of your understanding of it.' - -"So the blessed Francis said: 'If the text is to be understood generally, -I take it to mean that the servant of God ought by his life and holiness -so to burn and shine in himself, that the light of his example and the -tenor of his holy conversation would reprove all wicked men. Thus I say -will his splendour and the odour of his reputation declare their -iniquities to all,'" _Spec. perf._ 53; also 2 Cel. iii. 46. - -[518] As to the acquisition of the Portiuncula see _Spec. perf._ 55, and -on Francis's love of it see _Spec. perf._ 82-84, 124. - -[519] 1 Cel. xi. - -[520] This seems to be true of Francis's great Exemplar. - -[521] _Spec. perf._ 69; 2 Cel. iii. 124; _III. Soc._ 25. - -[522] _Francisci admonitiones_, xx. - -[523] _Spec. perf._ 62; 2 Cel. iii. 71. - -[524] _Spec. perf._ 61; see 1 Cel. 19. - -[525] 2 Cel. iii. 81; _Spec. perf._ 39. - -[526] _Spec. perf._ 50. - -[527] _Spec. perf._ 54; 2 Cel. iii. 84. - -[528] _Spec. perf._ 44. - -[529] _Spec. perf._ 64; _III. Soc._ 39; 2 Cel. iii. 83; cf. _Admon._ iii. - -[530] Cf. _Spec. perf._ 22 and 23; 2 Cel. iii. 23. - -[531] _III. Soc._ xii. 50, 51. - -[532] _Spec. perf._ 18; cf. 2 Cel. iii. 20. - -[533] _Spec. perf._ 25; 2 Cel. iii. 22. - -[534] _Spec. perf._ 95; 2 Cel. iii. 65. But Francis condemned all vain and -foolish words which move to laughter (_Admon._ xxi.; _Spec. perf._ 96). - -[535] _Spec. perf._ 93; 2 Cel. iii. 67. - -[536] _Spec. perf._ 34. - -[537] Cf. _Spec. perf._ 108; 2 Cel. 132. - -[538] _Spec. perf._ 27, 28, 33; cf. 2 Cel. i. 15; _ibid._ iii. 30 and 36. - -[539] _Spec. perf._ 101. This is one of the apparently unsupported stories -of the _Speculum_, that none would like to doubt. - -[540] 2 Cel. iii. cap. 101. - -[541] One is tempted to amuse oneself with paradox, and say: Not he of -Vaucluse, who ascended a mountain for the view and left a record of his -sentiments, but he of Assisi, who loved the sheep, the birds, the flowers, -the stones, and fire and water, was "the first modern man." But such -statements are foolish; there was no "first modern man." - -[542] _Spec. perf._ 113. - -[543] 1 Cel. xxi. 58. - -[544] 1 Cel. cap. xxviii. - -[545] 1 Cel. cap. xxix. - -[546] 2 Cel. iii. 101. These matters are set forth more picturesquely in -the _Speculum perfectionis_; if authentic, they throw a vivid light on -this wonderful person. Here are examples: - -"Francis had come to the hermitage of Fonte Palumbo, near Riete, to cure -the infirmity of his eyes, as he was ordered on his obedience by the -lord-cardinal of Ostia and by Brother Elias, minister-general. There the -doctor advised a cautery over the cheek as far as the eyebrow of the eye -that was in worse state. Francis wished to wait till brother Elias came, -but when he was kept from coming Francis prepared himself. And when the -iron was set in the fire to heat it, Francis, wishing to comfort his -spirit, lest he be afraid, spoke to the fire: 'My Brother Fire, noble and -useful among other creatures, be courteous to me in this hour, since I -have loved and will love thee for the love of Him who made thee. I also -beseech our Creator, who made us both, that He may temper thy heat so that -I may bear it.' And when his prayer was finished he made the sign of the -cross over the fire. - -"We indeed who were with him then fled for pity and compassion, and the -doctor remained alone with him. When the cautery was finished, we -returned, and he said to us: 'Fearful and of little faith, why did you -flee? I tell you truly I felt no pain, nor any heat of the fire. If it is -not well seared he may sear it better.' - -"The astonished doctor assured them all that the cautery was so severe -that a strong man, let alone one so weak, could hardly have endured it, -while Francis showed no sign of pain" (_Spec. perf._ 115). "Thus fire -treated Francis courteously; for he had never failed to treat it -reverently and respect its rights. Once his clothes caught fire, and he -would not put it out, and forbade a brother, saying: 'Nay, dearest -brother, do no harm to the fire.' He would never put out fire, and did not -wish any brother to throw away a fire or push a smoking log away, but -wished that it should be just set on the ground, out of reverence to Him -whose creature it is" (_ibid._ 116). - -"Next to fire he had a peculiar love for water, wherein is figured holy -penitence and the tribulation with which the soul's uncleanness is washed -away, and because the first washing of the soul is through the water of -baptism. So when he washed his hands he would choose a place where the -water which fell would not be trodden on. Also when he walked over rocks, -he walked with trembling and reverence for the love of Him who is called -the 'Rock'; and whenever he repeated that psalm, 'Thou hast exalted me -upon a rock,' he would say with great reverence and devotion: 'Under the -foot of the rock thou hast exalted me.'" - -"He directed the brother who cut and fetched the fire-wood never to cut a -whole tree, so that some part of it might remain untouched for the love of -Him who was willing to work out our salvation upon the wood of the cross. - -"Likewise he told the brother who made the garden, not to devote all of it -to vegetables, but to have some part for flowering plants, which in their -seasons produce Brother Flowers for love of Him who is called the 'Flower -of the field and the Lily of the valley.' He said indeed that Brother -Gardener always ought to make a beautiful patch in some part of the -garden, and plant it with all sorts of sweet-smelling herbs and herbs that -produce beautiful flowers, so that in their season they may invite men -seeing them to praise the Lord. For every creature cries aloud, 'God made -me for thy sake, O man.' We that were with him saw that inwardly and -outwardly he did so greatly rejoice in all created things, that touching -or seeing them his spirit seemed not to be upon the earth, but in heaven" -(_ibid._ 113). - -"Above all things lacking reason he loved the sun and fire most -affectionately, for he would say: 'In the morning when the sun rises every -man ought to praise God who created it for our use, because by day our -eyes are illumined by it; in the evening, when night comes, every man -ought to give praise on account of Brother Fire, because by it our eyes -are illumined by night. For all of us are blind, and the Lord through -those two brothers lightens our eyes; and therefore for these, and for -other creatures which we daily use, we ought to praise the Creator.' Which -indeed he did himself up to the day of his death" (_ibid._ 119). - -[547] Translated from the text as given in E. Monaci's _Crestomazia -italiana dei primi secoli_. Substantially the same text is given in _Spec. -perf._ 120. - -[548] The mediaeval term _apex mentis_ is not inapt. - -[549] Assurance of the soul's communion, and even union, with God is the -chief element of what is termed mysticism, which will be discussed briefly -in connection with scholastic philosophy, _post_, Chapter XXXVI. II. In -the twelfth and thirteenth centuries those who experienced the divine -through visions, ecstasies, and rapt contemplation, were not as -analytically and autobiographically self-conscious as later mystics. Yet -St. Theresa's (sixteenth century) mystical analysis of self and God (for -which see H. Delacroix, _Etudes d'histoire et de psychologie du -mysticisme_, Paris, 1908) might be applied to the experiences of St. -Elizabeth of Schoenau or St. Hildegard of Bingen. - -[550] _Ante_, Chapter XIII. II. - -[551] Neither Othloh's visions, nor those to be recounted, were narratives -of voyages to the other world. The name of these is legion. They begin in -_Bede's Ecclesiastical History_, and continue through the Middle -Ages--until they reach their apotheosis in the _Divina Commedia_. See -_post_, Chapter XLIII. - -[552] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 195. - -[553] The works of St. Hildegard of Bingen are published in vol. 197 of -Migne's _Pat. Lat._ and in vol. viii. of Pitra's _Analecta sacra_, under -the title _Analecta Sanctae Hildegardis opera Spicilegio Solesmensi -parata_ (1882). Certain supplementary passages to the latter volume are -published in _Analecta Bollandiana_, i. (Paris, 1882). These publications -are completed by F. W. E. Roth's _Lieder und die unbekannte Sprache der h. -Hildegardis_ (Wiesbaden, 1880). The same author has a valuable article on -Hildegard in _Zeitschrift fuer kirchliche Wissenschaft, etc._, 1888, pp. -453-471. See also an article by Battandier, _Revue des questions -historiques_, 33 (1883), pp. 395-425. Other literature on Hildegard in -Chevalier's _Repertoire des sources historiques du moyen age_, under her -name. - -Her two most interesting works, for our purposes at least, are the -_Scivias_ (meaning _Scito vias Domini_), completed in 1151 after ten years -of labour, and the _Liber vitae meritorum per simplicem hominem a vivente -luce revelatorum_ (Pitra, _o.c._ pp. 1-244), begun in 1159, and finished -some five years later. Extracts from these are given in the text. Other -works show her extraordinary intellectual range. Of these the _Liber -divinorum operum simplicis hominis_ (Migne 197, col. 741-1038) is a vision -of the mysteries of creation, followed by a voluminous commentary upon the -world and all therein, including natural phenomena, human affairs, the -nature of man, and the functions of his mind and body. It closes with a -discussion of Antichrist and the Last Times. The work was begun about -1164, when Hildegard finished the _Liber vitae meritorum_, and was -completed after seven years of labour. She also wrote a Commentary on the -Gospels, and sundry lives of saints, and there is ascribed to her quite a -prodigious work upon natural history and the virtues of plants, the whole -entitled: _Subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum libri IX._ (Migne -197, col. 1118-1351); and probably she composed another work on medicine, -_i.e._ the unpublished _Liber de causis et curis_ (see Pitra, _o.c._, -prooemium, p. xi.). Preger's contention (_Geschichte der deutschen -Mystik_, i. pp. 13-27, 1874) that the works bearing Hildegard's name are -forgeries, never obtained credence, and is not worth discussing since the -publication of Pitra's volume. - -[554] _Analecta Sanctae Hildegardis opera Spicilegio Solesmensi parata_, -p. 523; cf. _ibid._ p. 561; also _Ep._ 27 of Hildegard in Migne 197, col. -186. - -[555] These questions and Hildegard's solutions are given in Migne 197, -col. 1038-1054, and the letter in Pitra, _o.c._ 399-400. - -[556] Pitra, _o.c._ 394, 395. - -[557] By _visio_ as used here, Hildegard refers to the general undefined -light--the _umbra viventis lucis_, in which she saw her special visions. - -[558] Pitra, _o.c._ 332. - -[559] This is from the prologue to the _Scivias_, Pitra, _o.c._ 503, 504 -(Migne 197, 483, 484). Guibert in his _Vita_ speaks of Hildegard as -_indocta_ and unable to penetrate the meaning of Scripture _nisi cum vis -internae aspirationis illuminans eam juvaret_, Pitra, _o.c._ 413. Compare -Hildegard's prooemium to her _Life of St. Disibodus_ (Pitra, _o.c._ 357) -and the preface to her _Liber divinorum operum_ (Migne 197, 741, 742). - -[560] Guibertus to Radilfus, a monk of Villars (Pitra, _o.c._ 577) -apparently written in 1180. - -[561] Pitra, _o.c._ pp. 1-244. - -[562] Pitra, _o.c._ pp. 8-10. The translation is condensed, but is kept -close to the original. - -[563] _Ibid._ p. 13. - -[564] Pitra, _o.c._ p. 24. - -[565] _Ibid._ p. 51 _sqq._ - -[566] Pitra, _o.c._ p. 92 _sqq._ - -[567] _Ibid._ p. 131 _sqq._ Of course, one at once thinks of the -punishments in Dante's _Inferno_, which in no instance are identical with -those of Hildegard, and yet offer common elements. Dante is not known to -have read the work of Hildegard. - -[568] Pitra, _o.c._ pp. 230-240. I am not clear as to Hildegard's ideas of -Purgatory, for which she seems to have no separate region. In the case of -sinners who have begun, but not completed, their penances on earth, the -punishments described work _purgationem_, and the souls are loosed -(_ibid._ p. 42). In Part III. of the work we are considering, the -paragraphs describing the punishments are entitled _De superbiae_, -_invidiae_, _inobedientiae_, _infidelitatis_, etc., _poenis purgatoriis_ -(_ibid._ p. 130). But each paragraph is followed by one entitled _De -poenitentia superbiae_, etc., and the _poenitentia_ referred to is worked -out with penance in this life. Consequently it is not quite clear that the -word _purgatoriis_ attached to _poenis_ signifies temporary punishment to -be followed by release. - -In a vision of the Last Times (_ibid._ p. 225) Hildegard sees "black -burning darkness," in which was _gehenna_, containing every kind of -horrible punishment. She did not then see _gehenna_ itself, because of the -darkness surrounding it; but heard the frightful cries. Cf. _Aeneid_, vi. -548 _sqq._ - -[569] This is the view expounded so grandly by Hugo of St. Victor in his -_De sacramentis_, _post_, Chapter XXVIII. - -[570] Migne 197, col. 433. All this is interesting in view of the many -figures of the Church and Synagogue carved on the cathedrals, most of them -later than Hildegard's time. The "Synagogue" of sculpture has her eyes -bound, the sculpturesque expression of eyelessness. The rest of -Hildegard's symbolism was not followed in sculpture. - -[571] Migne 197, col. 437 _sqq._ Cf. St. Bernard, _Sermo xix. in Cantica_. - -[572] Migne 197, col. 449. - -[573] Notice the supra-terrestrial term, which can hardly be translated so -as to fit an actual wall. - -[574] Migne 197, col. 583. Compare this vision with the symbolic -interpretation of the cathedral edifice, _post_, Chapter XXIX. - -[575] Cf. St. Bernard's treatment of this matter, _ante_, Chapter XVII. - -[576] In a Middle High German Marienleben, by Bruder Phillips (13th -century) the young virgin is made herself to say to God: - - "Du bist min lieber priutegam (bridegroom), - Dir gib ich minen magetuom (maidenhood), - Du bist min vil schoener man. - - "Du bist min vriedel (lover) und min vriunt (ami); - Ich bin von diner minne entzundt." - -Bobertag, _Erzaehlende Dichtungen des spaeteren Mittelalters_, p. 46 -(Deutsche Nat. Litt.). - -[577] _Vita B. Mariae Ogniacensis_, per Jacobum de Vitreaco, Bollandi, -_Acta sanctorum_ t. 21 (June t. iv. pp. 636-666). Jacques had good reason -to canonize her bones, since one of them, in his saddle-bags, had saved -his mule from drowning while crossing a river in Tuscany. - -[578] Cant. ii. 5. The translation in the English Revised Version is: -"Stay me with cakes of raisins, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of -love." The phrases of Canticles, always in the words of the Latin Vulgate, -come continually into the minds of these ecstatic women and their -biographers. The sonorous language of the Vulgate is not always close to -the meaning of the Hebrew. But it was the Vulgate and not the Hebrew that -formed the mediaeval Bible, and its language should be observed in -discussing mediaeval applications of Scripture. - -[579] "Dum esset Rex in accubitu suo," Cant. i. 11, in Vulgate; Cant. i. -12, in the English version, which renders it: "While the King sitteth at -His table." - -[580] _Vita B. Mariae, etc._, par. 2-8. Since we are seeing these -mediaeval religious phenomena as they impressed contemporaries, it would -be irrelevant to subject them to the analyses which pathological -psychology applies to not dissimilar phenomena. - -[581] It is reported of St. Catharine of Siena that she would go for weeks -with no other food than the Eucharist. - -[582] I am drawing from her _Vita_ by her contemporary, Thomas of -Cantimpre, _Acta SS._, Bollandi, t. 21 (t. 3 of June), p. 234 _sqq._ - -[583] Cf. Canticles iii. 2; _Vita_, lib. iii. par. 42. - -[584] Cant. iii. 1, 7; i. 16. - -[585] _Vita_, lib. iii. pars. 9, 11. It is well known how great a love of -her Lord possessed St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and how she sent her children -away from her, that she might not be distracted from loving Him alone. The -vision which came to her upon her expulsion from the Wartburg, after the -death of her husband, King Louis of Thuringia, is given as follows, in her -own words, according to the sworn statement of her waiting-women: "I saw -the heaven open, and that sweet Jesus, my Lord, bending toward me and -consoling me in my tribulation; and when I saw Him I was glad, and -laughed; but when He turned His face, as if to go away, I cried. Pitying -me, He turned His serene countenance to me a second time, saying: 'If thou -wishest to be with me, I wish to be with thee.' I responded: 'Thou, Lord, -thou dost wish to be with me, and I wish to be with thee, and I wish never -to be separated from thee'" (_Libellus de dictis quatuor ancillarum_, -Mencken, _Scriptores Rerum Germ._ ii. 2020 A-C, Leipzig, 1728). The German -sermon of Hermann von Fritzlar (cir. 1340) tells this vision in nearly the -same words, putting, however, this phrase in Elizabeth's mouth: "Our Lord -Jesus Christ appeared to me, and when He turned from me, I cried, and then -He turned to me, and I became red (blushed?), and before I was pale" -(Hildebrand, _Didaktik aus der Zeit der Kreuzzuege_, p. 36, Deutsche Nat. -Lit.). - -[586] _Offenbarungen der Schwester Mechthild von Magdeburg oder das -fliessende Licht der Gottheit_, ed. by P. G. Morel, Regensburg, 1869. See -Preger, _Gesch. der deutschen Mystik_, i. 70, 91 _sqq._ Preger points out -that the High-German version of this work, which we possess, was made from -the Low-German original in the year 1344. Extracts from Mechthild's book -are given by Vetter, _Lehrhafte Literatur des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts_, -pp. 192-199; and by Hildebrand, _Didaktik aus der Zeit der Kreuzzuege_, pp. -6-10 (Deutsche Nat. Lit.). - -[587] We pass over these portions of Mechthild's book which exemplify the -close connection between ecstatic contemplation and the denunciation of -evil in the world. - -[588] Mechthild constantly uses phrases from the courtly love poetry of -her time. - -[589] _Das fliessende Licht, etc._, i. cap. 3. Hildebrand, _o.c._ p. 6, -cites this apposite verse from the thoughtful and knightly Minnesinger, -Reimar von Zweter: - - "Got herre unuberwundenlich, - Wie uberwant die Minne dich! - Getorste ich, so spraech ich: - Si wart an dir so sigerich." - -[590] _Das fliessende Licht, etc._, i. 38-44. - -[591] "I would gladly die of love, might that be my lot; for Him whom I -love I have seen with my bright eyes standing in my soul" (_ibid._ ii. -cap. 2). - -[592] Cf. ii. 22. - -[593] See i. 10; ii. 23. - -[594] i. 13. - -[595] ii. 4. - -[596] iii. 1, 10. - -[597] It is quite true that in the earliest Christian times the marriage -of priests was recognized, and continued to be at least connived at until, -say, the time of Hildebrand. Yet the best thoughtfulness and piety from -the Patristic period onward had disapproved of priestly marriages, which -consequently tended to sink to the level of concubinage, until they were -absolutely condemned by the Church. - -[598] _Anecdotes, etc., d'Etienne de Bourbon_, ed. by Lecoy de la Marche, -p. 249 (Soc. de l'Histoire de France, t. 185, Paris, 1877). This story -refers to the years 1166-1171. - -[599] Many bishops and abbots held definite secular rank; the Archbishop -of Rheims was a duke, and so was the Bishop of Langres and Laon; while the -bishops of Beauvais and Noyon were counts. In Germany, the archiepiscopal -dukes of Cologne and Mainz were among the chief princes of the land. - -[600] There were, however, some (naturally shocking) instances of -inheritance, as where the Bishop of Nantes in 1049 admitted that he had -been invested with the bishopric during the lifetime of his father, the -preceding bishop. See Luchaire, in vol. ii. (2), pp. 107-117 of Lavisse's -_Hist. de France_, for this and other examples of episcopal feudalism. - -[601] _Sermo in Cantica_, 33, par. 15 (Migne 183, col. 958-959). With this -passage from St. Bernard, one may compare the far more detailed picture of -the luxury and dissolute ways of the secular clergy in France given in the -_Apologia of Guido of Bazoches_ (latter part of the twelfth century). W. -Wattenbach. "Die Apologie des Guido von Bazoches," _Sitzungsberichte -Preussichen Akad._, 1893, (1), pp. 395-420. - -[602] Ed. by T. Wright (Camden Society, London, 1841). - -[603] The poem called _De ruina Romae_. It begins, "Propter Syon non -tacebo." - -[604] _Post_, Chapter XXVI. - -[605] The "Bible" of Guiot is published in Barbazan's _Fabliaux_, t. ii. -(Paris, 1808). It is conveniently given with other satirical or moralizing -compositions in Ch. V. Langlois, _La Vie en France au moyen age d'apres -quelques moralistes du temps_ (Paris, 1908). - -[606] Salimbene gives an amusing picture of our worthy Rigaud hurrying to -catch sight of the king at a Franciscan Chapter. _Post_, Chapter XXI. - -[607] _Regestrum visilationum archiepiscopi Rothomagensis_, ed. Bonnin -(Rouen, 1852). It is analyzed by L. V. Delisle, in an article entitled "Le -Clerge normand" (_Bib. de l'Ecole des Chartes_, 2nd ser. vol. iii.). - -[608] _Reg. vis._ p. 9. - -[609] _R. V._ p. 10. - -[610] _R. V._ p. 18. - -[611] _R. V._ pp. 19-20. - -[612] _R. V._ p. 222. - -[613] _R. V._ p. 379. - -[614] _R. V._ p. 154. - -[615] See _e.g._ _R. V._ pp. 159, 162, 395-396. - -[616] _R. V._ p. 109. - -[617] _R. V._ p. 73. - -[618] _R. V._ pp. 43-45. - -[619] _R. V._ p. 607. - -[620] In Pfeiffer's ed. No. 159. See also _ibid._ 162. - -[621] The above is drawn from the "Vita Sancti Engelberti," by Caesar of -Heisterbach, in Boehmer, _Fontes rerum Germanicarum_, ii. 294-329 -(Stuttgart, 1845). E. Michael, _Culturzustaende des deutschen Volkes -waehrend des 13{n} Jahrhunderts_, ii. 30 _sqq._ (Freiburg im Breisgau, -1899), has an excellent account drawn mainly from the same source. - -[622] The _Dialogi miraculorum_ of Caesar of Heisterbach, and the -_Exempla_ of Etienne de Bourbon (d. 1262) and Jacques de Vitry (d. 1240) -present a huge collection of such stories. For the early Middle Ages, the -decades just before and after the year one thousand, the mechanically -supernatural view of any occurrence is illustrated in the five books of -_Histories_ of Radulphus Glaber, an incontinent and wandering, but -observing monk, native of Burgundy. Best edition by M. Prou, in -_Collection des textes, etc._ (Paris, Picard, 1886); also in Migne, _Pat. -Lat._ 142. An interesting study of his work by Gebhart, entitled, "Un -Moine de l'an 1000," is to be found in the _Revue des deux mondes_, for -October 1, 1891. Glaber's fifth book opens with some excellent devil -stories. As there was a progressive enlightenment through the mediaeval -centuries, such tales gradually became less common and less crude. - -[623] _Anecdotes historiques d'Etienne de Bourbon_, par. 422, ed. by Lecoy -de la Marche (vol. 185 of Societe de l'Histoire de France), Paris, 1877; -cf. _ibid._ par. 383. - -[624] _Dialogus miraculorum_, iii. 2. Similar stories are told in _ibid._ -iii. 3, 15, 19. - -[625] _Exempla_ of Jacques de Vitry, ed. by T. F. Crane, pp. 110-111, vol. -26 (Folk-lore Society, London, 1890). - -[626] _Dialogus miraculorum_, vii. 34. Caesar's seventh book has many -similar tales. - -[627] Ed. in eight volumes by Gaston Paris and U. Robert for the Societe -des Anciens Textes Francais. - -[628] Etienne de Bourbon tells this same story in his Latin; _Anecdotes -historiques etc._, p. 114. - -[629] See Etienne de Bourbon, _o.c._ pp. 109-110, 120. - -[630] Etienne de Bourbon, _o.c._ p. 119. - -[631] Etienne de Bourbon, _o.c._ p. 83. - -[632] The chief part of the "Chronica Fr. Salembenis Parmensis" was -printed in 1857 in the _Monumenta Historica ad provincias Parmensem, etc._ -The manner of its truncated editing has ever since been a grief to -scholars. The portions omitted from the Parma edition, covering years -before Salimbene's time, are printed by Cledat, as an appendix to his -Thesis, _De Fr. Salimbene, etc._ (Paris, 1878). Novati's article, "La -Cronaca di Salimbene" in vol. i. (1883) of the _Giornale storico della -letteratura italiana_, pp. 383-423, will be found enlightening as to the -faults of the Parma editor. A good consideration of the man and his -chronicle is Emil Michael's _Salimbene und seine Chronik_ (Innsbruck, -1889), with which should be read Alfred Dove's _Die Doppel Chronik von -Reggio und die Quellen Salimbene's_ (Leipzig, 1873). A short translation -of some of the more or less autobiographical parts of Salimbene's -narrative, by T. L. K. Olyphant, may be found in vol. i. of the -_Translations of the Historical Society_, pp. 449-478 (London, 1872); and -much of Salimbene is translated in Coulton's _From St. Francis to Dante_ -(London, 1907). - -[633] Parma edition, p. 3. - -[634] P. 31. - -[635] The Latin is a little strong: "Non credas istis pissintunicis, idest -qui in tunicis mingunt." - -[636] These qualities led Salimbene to accept the teachings of Joachim and -the _Evangelium eternum_ (_post_, pp. 510 _sqq._). - -[637] Parma ed. pp. 37-41. This coarse story is given for illustration's -sake; there are many worse than it in Salimbene. Novati prints some in his -article in the _Giornale Storico_ that are amusing, but altogether beyond -the pale of modern decency. - -[638] This in fact became the later legend of Eccelino. - -[639] Pp. 90-93. - -[640] He whose _Regesta_ we have read, _ante_ Chapter XX. - -[641] Parma ed. pp. 93-97. - -[642] _Post_, Chapter XXII. - -[643] Cf. Tocco, _L'Eresia nel medio evo_, pp. 449-483 (Florence, 1884). - -[644] From Novati, _o.c._ pp. 415, 416. Cf. pp. 97 _sqq._ of the Parma ed. - -[645] For further interesting allusions to the prophecies of Merlin, see -Salimbene, pp. 303, 309 _sqq._ - -[646] Pp. 104-109. - -[647] Cf. Joinville's account, _post_, Chapter XXII. - -[648] P. 225. - -[649] Pp. 179, 180. - -[650] P. 324. - -[651] See Bourgain, _La Chaire francaise au XII{e} siecle_; Lecoy de la -Marche, _La Chaire francaise au XIII{e} siecle_. - -[652] Certain kinds of literature, in nature satirical or merely gross, -portray, doubtless with grotesque exaggeration, the ways and manners of -clerks and merchants, craftsmen and vile serfs, as well as those of monks -and bishops, lords and ladies. A notable example is offered by the old -French _fabliaux_, which with coarse and heartless laughter, rather than -with any definite satirical intent, display the harshness, brutality, the -degradation and hardship of the ways of living coming within their range -of interest. In them we see the brutal and deceived husband, the wily -clerk, the merchant with his tricks of trade, the _vilain_, raised above -the brute, not by a better way of life as much as by a certain native wit. -The women were reviled as coarsely as in monkish writings; but a -Rabelaisian quality takes the place of doctrinal prurience. In weighing -the evidence of these fabliaux their satirical nature should be allowed -for. Cf. Langlois, _La Vie en France au moyen age d'apres quelques -moralistes du temps_ (Paris, 1908); also the _Sermons_ of Jacques de -Vitry; Pitra, _Analecta novissima spicilegii Solesmensis_, t. ii., and -Haureau upon the same in _Journal des savants_, 1888, p. 410 _sqq._ - -[653] Such immunities were common before Charlemagne. Cf. Brunner, -_Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, ii. 243-302. - -[654] _Gesta regum Anglorum_, iii. (Migne 179, col. 1213). - -[655] Taken from the note to p. 274 of Gautier's _Chevalerie_. - -[656] See Du Cange, _Glossarium_, under "Miles," etc.; where much -information may be found uncritically put together. - -[657] Cf. Brunner, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, ii. 202-216. - -[658] The way that _miles_ came to mean knight, has its analogy in the -etymological history of the word "knight" itself. In German and French the -words "Ritter" and "chevalier" indicate one who fought on horseback. Not -so with the English word "knight," which in its original Anglo-Saxon and -Old-German forms (see Murray's _Dictionary_) as _cniht_ and _kneht_ might -mean any armed follower. It lost its servile sense slowly. "In 1086 we -read that the Conqueror _dubbade his sunu Henric to ridere_; this ... is -the next year Englished by _cniht_" (Kington-Oliphant, _Old and Middle -English_, p. 130; Macmillan, 1878). - -[659] We naturally use the term "free" with reference to modern -conditions, where law and its sanctions emanate, in fact as well as -theory, from a stable government. But in these early feudal periods where -a man's life and property were in fact and theory protected by the power -of his immediate lord, to whom he was bound by the strongest ties then -recognized, to be "free" might be very close to being an unprotected -outlaw. - -[660] In these respects it exhibits analogies to monkhood, which likewise -was recruited commonly from the upper classes of society. - -[661] See Gautier, _La Chevalerie_, p. 256 _sqq._; Du Cange, under the -word "Miles." - -[662] Cf. Gautier, _o.c._ 296-308. It must be remembered that an abbot or -a bishop might also be a knight and so could make knights. See Du Cange, -_Glossarium_, "Abbas" (_abbates miletes_). - -[663] On this blow, called in Latin _alapa_, in French _accolee_, in -English _accolade_, see Du Cange under "Alapa," and Gautier, _o.c._ pp. -246-247, and 270 _sqq._ - -[664] _Chanson de Roland_, 2344 sqq. Lines 2500-2510 speak of -Charlemagne's sword, named _Joiuse_ because of the honour it had in having -in its hilt the iron of the lance which pierced the Saviour. - -[665] Gautier, _Chevalerie_, pp. 290, 297. Examples of these ceremonies -may be found as follows: the actual one of the knighting of Geoffrey -Plantagenet of Anjou by Henry I. of England, at Rouen in 1129, in the -Chronicle of Johannis Turonensis, _Historiens de France_, xii. p. 520; -Gautier, _Chevalerie_, p. 275. Gautier gives many examples, and puts -together a typical ceremony, as of the twelfth century, in _Chev._ p. 309 -_sqq._ Perhaps the most famous account of all is that of the poem entitled -_Ordene de Chevalerie_ (thirteenth century), published by Barbazan, -_Fabliaux, etc._, i. 59-82 (Paris, 1808). It relates how a captive -Christian knight bestowed the order of chivalry, _i.e._ knighthood, upon -Saladin. See other accounts cited in Du Cange under "Miles." - -[666] Not war as we understand it, where with some large purpose one great -cohesive state directs its total military power against another; but -neighbourhood war, never permanently ended. When not actually attacking or -defending, men were anticipating attack, or expecting to make a raid. -Perhaps nothing better suggests the local and neighbourly character of -these feudal hostilities than the most famous means devised by the Church -to mitigate them. This was the "Truce of God," promulgated in the eleventh -century. It forbade hostilities from Thursday to Monday and in Lent. -Whether this ordinance was effective or not, it indicates the nature of -the wars that could stop from Thursday to Monday! - -[667] Courtly, chivalric, or romantic, love as an element of knightly -excellence is so inseverably connected with its romantic literature that I -have kept it for the next chapter. - -[668] The following remarks upon the _regula_ of the Templars, and the -extracts which are given, are based on the introduction and text of _La -Regle du Temple_, edited by Henri de Curzon for the Societe de l'Histoire -de France (Paris, 1886). - -[669] The phraseology of the Latin _regula_ often follows that of the -Benedictine rule. - -[670] Chaps. 33, 35. - -[671] Chaps. 40, 41. - -[672] Chap. 42. - -[673] Chaps. 46, 48. - -[674] Chap. 62 Latin _regula_ and chap. 14 of French _regle_. - -[675] Chap. 51. - -[676] Chap. 58 of the Latin, chap. 11 of the French. The chapters of the -French translation do not follow the order of the Latin. - -[677] Page 167 of de Curzon's edition. - -[678] See in de Curzon's edition, sections 431, 436, 448, 454, and 657 -_sqq._ - -[679] It would seem as if military discipline, as moderns understand it, -took its rise in these Templars and Hospitallers. - -[680] See _e.g._ de Curzon's edition, sections 419, 420, 574. - -[681] Raimundus de Agiles, _Hist. Francorum qui ceperunt Jerusalem_, cap. -38-39. (Migne 155, col. 659). - -[682] On these poems see Pigeonneau, _Le Cycle de la Croisade_ (St. Cloud, -1877); Paulin Paris, in _Histoire litteraire de la France_, vol. 22, pp. -350-402, and _ibid._ vol. 25, p. 507 _sqq._; Gaston Paris, "La Naissance -du chevalier au Cygne," _Romania_, 19, p. 314 _sqq._ (1890). - -[683] "Vita Ludovici noni auctore Gaufrido de Belloloco" (_Recueil des -historiens des Gaules et de la France_, t. xx. pp. 3-26). - -[684] The Testament of St. Louis, written for his eldest son, is a -complete rule of conduct for a Christian prince, and indicates St. Louis' -mind on the education of one. It has been printed and translated many -times. Geoffrey of Beaulieu gives it in Latin (chap. xv.) and in French at -the end of the _Vita_. It is also in Joinville. - -[685] One sees here the same religious anxiety which is so well brought -out by Salimbene's account of St. Louis, _ante_, Chapter XXI. - -[686] The founder of the College of the Sorbonne. - -[687] _Chroniques de J. Froissart_, ed. S. Luce (Societe de l'Histoire de -France). The opening of the Prologue. It seemed desirable to render this -sentence literally. The rest of my extracts are from Thomas Johnes's -translation, for which I plead a boyhood's affection. For a brief account -of Froissart's chief source (Jean le Bel), with excellent criticism, see -W. P. Ker, "Froissart" (_Essays on Medieval Literature_, Macmillan and -Co., 1905). - -[688] Froissart, i. 210. - -[689] Froissart, i. 220. - -[690] Froissart, i. 290. - -[691] Yet the matter was fit for legend and romance; and a late impotent -_chanson de geste_ was formed out of the career of du Guesclin. - -[692] On the _chansons de geste_ see Gaston Paris, _Litterature francaise -au moyen age_; Leon Gautier in Petit de Julleville's _Histoire de la -langue et de la litterature francaise_, vol. i.; more at length Gautier, -_Epopees nationales_, and Paulin Paris in vol. 22 of _L'Histoire -litteraire de France_; also Nyrop, _Storia dell' epopea francese nel medio -evo_. Ample bibliographies will be found in these works. - -[693] On the field of Roncesvalles, Roland folds the hands of the dead -Archbishop Turpin, and grieves over him, beginning: - - "E! gentilz hum chevaliers de bon aire, ..." - (_Roland_, line 2252). - -[694] Leon Gautier, in his _Chevalerie_, makes the _chansons de geste_ his -chief source. - -[695] 1006-1016. - -[696] 1051 _sqq._ and 1700 _sqq._ - -[697] 1851-1868. - -[698] 1940-2023. - -[699] 2164 _sqq._ - -[700] _Raoul de Cambrai_, cited by Gautier, _Chevalerie_, p. 75. - -[701] Unless indeed Oberon, the fairy king, be a romantic form of the -Alberich of the _Nibelungen_ (Gaston Paris). - -[702] See Gaston Paris, _Lit. francaise, etc._, chaps. iii. and v.; and -Emile Littre in vol. 22 of the _Histoire litteraire de la France_. For -examples of these _romans_, see Langlois, _La Societe francaise au XIII{e} -siecle d'apres dix romans d'aventure_ (2nd ed., Paris, 1904). - -[703] Chretien, _Cliges_, line 201 _sqq._ - -[704] The Old French from vol. ii. of P. Paris, _Romans de la Table -Ronde_, p. 96. One sees that the coronation is a larger knighting, and -kingship a larger knighthood. - -[705] _Romans de la Table Ronde_, iii. 96. This scene closely parallels -that between Bernier and Raoul de Cambrai, instanced above. - -[706] See the first part of vol. iii. of _Romans de la Table Ronde_, -especially pp. 113-117. - -[707] It would be easy to go on drawing illustrations of the actual and -imaginative elements in chivalry, until this chapter should grow into an -encyclopedia. They could so easily be taken from many kinds of mediaeval -literature in all the mediaeval tongues. The French has barely been -touched upon. It affords an exhaustless store. Then in the German we might -draw upon the courtly epics, Gottfried of Strassburg's _Tristan_ or the -_Parzival_ of Wolfram von Eschenbach; or on the _Nibelungenlied_, wherein -Siegfried is a very knight. Or we might draw upon the knightly precepts -(the Ritterlehre) of the Winsbeke and the Winsbekin (printed in -Hildebrand's _Didaktik aus der Zeit der Kreuzzuege_, Deutsche Nat. Litt.). -And we might delve in the great store of Latin Chronicles which relate the -mediaeval history of German kings and nobles. In Spanish, there would be -the _Cid_, and how much more besides. In Italian we should have latter-day -romantic chivalry; Pulci's _Rotta di Roncisvalle_; Boiardo's _Orlando -innamorato_; Ariosto's _Orlando furioso_; still later, Tasso's -_Gerusalemme liberata_, which takes us well out of the Middle Ages. And in -English there is much Arthurian romance; there is _Chevy Chace_; and we -may come down through Chaucer's _Knight's Tale_, to the sunset beauty of -Spenser's _Fairie Queen_. This glorious poem should serve to fix in our -minds the principle that chivalry, knighthood, was not merely a material -fact, a ceremony and an institution; but that it also was that -ultra-reality, a spirit. And this spirit's ideal creations--the ideal -creations of the many phases of this spirit--accorded with actual deeds -which may be read of in the old Chronicles. For final exemplification of -the actual and the ideally real in chivalry, the reader may look within -himself, and observe the inextricable mingling of the imaginative and the -real. He will recognize that what at one time seems part of his -imagination, at another will prove itself the veriest reality of his life. -Even such wavering verity of spirit was chivalry. - -[708] See Gaston Paris in _Journal des savants_, 1892, pp. 161-163. Of -course the English reader cannot but think of the brief secret marriage -between Romeo and Juliet. - -[709] Marriage or no marriage depends on the plot; but occasionally a -certain respect for marriage is shown, as in the _Eliduc_ of Marie de -France, and of course far more strongly in Wolfram's _Parzival_. In -Chretien's _Ivain_ the hero marries early in the story; and thereafter his -wife acts towards him with the haughty caprice of an _amie_; Ivain, at her -displeasure, goes mad, like an _ami_. The _romans d'aventure_ afford other -instances of this courtly love, sometimes illicit, sometimes looking to -marriage. See Langlois, _La Societe francaise au XIII{e} siecle d'apres -dix romans d'aventure_. - -[710] On Provencal poetry see Diez, _Poesie der Troubadours_ (2nd ed. by -Bartsch, Leipzig, 1883); _id._, _Leben und Werke der Troubadours_; Justin -H. Smith, _The Troubadours at Home_ (New York and London, 1899); Ida -Farnell, _Lives of the Troubadours_ (London). - -[711] Cf. Gaston Paris, t. 30, pp. 1-18, _Hist. lit. de la France_; Paul -Meyer, _Romania_, v. 257-268; xix. 1-62. "Trouvere" is the Old French word -corresponding to Provencal "Troubadour." - -[712] On this work see Gaston Paris, _Romania_, xii. 524 _sqq._ (1883); -_id._ in _Journal des savants_, 1888, pp. 664 _sqq._ and 727 _sqq._; also -(for extracts) Raynouard, _Choix des poesies des Troubadours_, ii. lxxx. -sqq. - -[713] On origins and sources see, generally, Gaston Paris, _Tristan and -Iseult_ (Paris, 1894), reprinted from _Revue de Paris_ of April 15, 1894; -W. Golther, _Die Sage von Tristan und Isolde_ (Munich, 1887). - -[714] Cf. generally, J. L. Weston, _The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac_ -(London, 1901, David Nutt). - -[715] See Gaston Paris, _Romania_, xii. 459-534. - -[716] Paulin Paris, _Romans de la Table Ronde_, iv. 280 _sqq._ - -[717] See Paulin Paris, _Romans de la Table Ronde_, iv. Guinevere's -woman-mind is shown in the following scene. On an occasion the lovers' -sophisticated friend, the Dame de Malehaut, laughs tauntingly at Lancelot: - -"'Ah! Lancelot, Lancelot, dit-elle, je vois que le roi n'a plus d'autre -avantage sur vous que la couronne de Logres!' - -"Et comme il ne trouvait rien a repondre de convenable, 'Ma chere -Malehaut, dit la reine, si je suis fille de roi, il est fils de roi; si je -suis belle, il est beau; de plus, il est le plus preux des preux. Je n'ai -donc pas a rougir de l'avoir choisi pour mon chevalier'" (Paulin Paris, -_ibid._ iv. 58). - -[718] Galahad's mother was Helene, daughter of King Pelles (_roi -pecheur_), the custodian of the Holy Grail. A love-philter makes Lancelot -mistake her for Guinevere; and so the knight's loyalty to his mistress is -saved. The damsel herself was without passion, beyond the wish to bear a -son begotten by the best of knights (_Romans, etc._, v. 308 _sqq._). - -[719] "For what is he that may yeve a lawe to lovers? Love is a gretter -lawe and a strengere to himself than any lawe that men may yeven" -(Chaucer, _Boece_, book iii. metre 12). - -[720] As in Chretien's _Cliges_, 6751 _sqq._, when Cliges is crowned -emperor and Fenice becomes his queen, then: _De s'amie a feite sa -fame_--but he still calls her _amie et dame_, that he may not cease to -love her as one should an _amie_. Cf. also Chretien's _Erec_, 4689. - -[721] See also Gawain's words to _Ivain_ when the latter is married--in -Chretien's _Ivain_, 2484 _sqq._ - -[722] As a matter of fact, in those parts of Wolfram's poem which are -covered by Chretien's unfinished _Perceval le Gallois_, the incidents are -nearly identical with Chretien's. For the question of the relationship of -the two poems, and for other versions of the Grail legend, see A. Nutt, -_Studies in the Legend of the Holy Grail_ (Folk-Lore Society Publications, -London, 1888); Birch-Hirshfeld, _Die Graal Sage_; _Einleitung_ to Piper's -edition of Wolfram von Eschenbach, Stuttgart, Deutsche Nat. Litteratur; -_Einleitung_ to Bartch's edition in Deutsche Klassiker des Mittelalters -(Leipzig, 1875). These two editions of the poem are furnished with modern -German glossaries. There is a modern German version by Zimmrock, and an -English translation by Jessie L. Weston (London, D. Nutt, 1894). - -[723] In other versions of the Grail legend there is much about the virgin -or celibate state, and also plenty of unchastity and no especial esteem -for marriage. - -[724] The Fisher King (_roi pecheur_) was the regular title of the Grail -kings. See _e.g._ Pauline Paris, _Romans de la Table Ronde_, t. i. p. 306. - -[725] _E.g._ the love-potion in the tale of Tristan. - - - - -BY THE SAME AUTHOR - -_Two vols. 8vo. 21s. net._ - -ANCIENT IDEALS - -A STUDY OF INTELLECTUAL AND SPIRITUAL - -GROWTH FROM EARLY TIMES TO THE - -ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY - - _SPECTATOR._--"The American people are giving to the world some of the - most thoughtful and balanced studies in history and philosophy now - being produced. Mr. Taylor's work is an admirable example of this - class of writings." - - _GUARDIAN._--"A book which stands far above anything else of the kind - that we have seen. It needs something like genius to give an account - so sympathetic and penetrating of religions so diverse; yet the author - never fails to leave in the mind a perfectly definite picture of each - system, with its essential characteristics quite distinct, and - illustrated by just so much history as is needed to make the picture - living. 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