 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES, CHAPTER VIII. THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES by Samuel B. Harding, CHAPTER VIII, Charlemagne. Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, became king of the Franks when his father Pippin died. He was the greatest ruler of his time, and for hundreds of years after his death his influence continued to be felt in western Europe. If Columbus had never been born America would have been discovered just the same, and if Luther had never lived there would nevertheless have been a reformation in the church. But if Charlemagne had never been king of the Franks and made himself emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, as we shall see that he did, the whole history of the Middle Ages would have been very different from what it actually was. At first Charlemagne's brother ruled with him as king, but within three years the brother died, and then Charlemagne ruled as sole king of the Franks. He owed the power which he had largely to his father and to his grandfather, Charles Martel, but Charlemagne used his power wisely and well, and greatly increased it. He put down the rebellions of the people who rose against the rule of the Franks. He defended the land against the Mohammedans of Spain and the heathen Germans of the North. He conquered new lands and new peoples. In addition he set up an improved system of government, and he did all that he could to encourage learning and make his people more civilized than they had been before. When we read of all the things that Charlemagne did we wonder that he was able to do so much. In the forty-six years that he was king he sent out more than fifty expeditions against different enemies, and in more than half of these he took the command himself. Charlemagne's wars, however, were not simply for plunder, or for more land, as so many of the earlier wars of the Franks had been. They were fought either to keep down the peoples whom the Franks had already conquered, or else to keep out new peoples who were seeking to conquer the Franks. In both of these objects Charlemagne was successful. The net result of his wars was that almost all those lands, which had formerly been under the emperors of the West, were now brought under the rule of the King of the Franks, and the peoples who lived in these lands, both the old inhabitants and the German newcomers, were allowed peaceably to live together and work out their own destiny. The most stubborn enemy that Charlemagne had to fight was the Saxons. A portion of this people had settled in the island of Britain about three hundred years before, but many Saxon tribes still dwelt in the northern part of Germany. In Charlemagne's time they still worshipped Woden and Thor, and lived in much the same way that the Germans had done before the Great Migrations. It was part of Charlemagne's plan to make himself ruler of all the German nations, besides there were constant quarrels along the border between the Saxons and the Franks. The result was that war was declared, and Charlemagne started out to conquer, to Christianize, and to civilize these heathen kinsmen. But it was a hard task, and the war lasted many years before it was ended. Again and again the Franks would march into the Saxon lands in summer and conquer the Saxon villages, but as soon as they withdrew for the winter the young warriors of the Saxons would come out from the swamps and forests to which they had retreated, and next year the work would have to be done over again. After this had occurred several times Charlemagne determined to make a terrible example. Forty-five hundred of the Saxon warriors who had rebelled and been captured were put to death by his orders, all in one day. This dreadful massacre was the worst thing that Charlemagne ever did, and it did not even succeed in terrifying the Saxons. Yet it led to the hardest and bloodiest war of all, in which a chief named Vidukind led on his countrymen to take vengeance for their murdered relatives and friends. But in the end Charlemagne and his Franks proved too strong for the Saxons. Vidukind, at last, was obliged to surrender and be baptized with all his followers. After that the resistance of the Saxons died away, and Charlemagne's treatment of the land was so wise that it became one of the strongest and most important parts of the kingdom. Charlemagne also fought a number of times against the Arabs in Spain. He not only prevented them from settling in southern France, as they had tried to do in the time of Charles Martel, but he won from them a strip of their own country south of the Pyrenees Mountains. In one of these wars the rear guard of Charlemagne's army was cut off and slain by the mountain tribes in the narrow pass of Rencefal. The leader of the Franks was Roland, while the leader of the enemy was called Bernardo. Long after that day strange stories grew up and poets sang of the brave deeds of Roland and of the mighty blasts which he gave on his hunting-horn to warn Charlemagne of the danger to his army. Three blasts he blew, each so loud and terrible, but the birds fell dead from the trees, and the enemy drew back in alarm. Charlemagne, many miles away, heard the call and hastened to the rescue, but he came too late. An old song says, The day of Rencefal's was a dismal day for you, ye men of France, for there the lands of King Charles was broken too. The well may curse that rueful field, for many a noble peer in fray or fight the dust did bite beneath Bernardo's spear. In most of his wars Charlemagne was successful, and the stories about him told rather of his glory and his might than of his defeats. One of his most important conquests was that of the Lombards in northern Italy. Nearly a century afterward an old monk wrote the story of this war as he had heard it from his father. The king of the Lombards had offended the pope, and the pope appealed to Charlemagne for aid. When Charlemagne marched his army over the Alps into Italy, the Lombard king shut himself up in his capital, Pavia. There he had with him, according to the story, one of Charlemagne's nobles named Otker, who had offended the dreaded king and fled from him. Now when they heard of the approach of the terrible Charles, writes this old monk, they climbed up into a high tower, whence they could see in all directions. When the advance guard appeared, Desiderius said to Otker, Is Charles with this great army do you think? And he answered, Not yet. When he saw the main army gathered from the whole broad empire, Desiderius said with confidence. Only the victorious Charles is with these troops. But Otker answered, Not yet, Not yet. Then Desiderius began to be troubled, and said, What shall we do if still more come with him? Otker answered, You will soon see how he will come, but what will become of us I know not. And behold, while they were speaking, appeared the servants of Charles's household a never-resting multitude. That is Charles, said the terrified Desiderius. But Otker said, Not yet, Not yet. Then appeared the bishops and the abbots and the chaplains with their companions. When he beheld these the Lombard prince, tased with fear and longing for death, stammered out these words, Let us go down and hide in the earth before the wrath of so terrible an enemy. But Otker, who in better times had known well the power and the arms of the great Charles, answered, When you see a harvest of steel waving in the fields, and the rivers dashing steel black waves against the city walls, then you may believe Charles is coming. Scarcely had he spoken when there appeared in the north and west a dark cloud, as it were, which wrapped the clear day in most dreadful shadow. But as it drew nearer there flashed upon the besieged, from the gleaming weapons, a day that was more terrible for them than any night. Then they saw him, Charles, the man of steel, his arms covered with plates of steel, his iron breast and his broad shoulders protected by steel armor. His left hand carried aloft the iron lance, for his right was always ready for the victorious sword. His thighs, which others leave uncovered in order more easily to mount their horses, were covered on the outside with iron scales. The leg pieces of steel were common to the whole army. His shield was all of steel and his horse was iron in color, and in spirit. This armor all who rode before him by his side or who followed him, in fact the whole army had tried to imitate as closely as possible. Steel filled the fields and roads, the rays of the sun were reflected from gleaming steel. The people, paralyzed by fear, did homage to the bristling steel. The fear of the steel pierced down deep into the earth. "'Alas, the steel! Alas, the steel!' cried the inhabitants, confusedly. The mighty walls trembled before the steel, and the courage of youths fled before the steel of the aged. And all this which I have told with all too many words the truthful seer Otker saw with one swift look, and said to Desiderius, "'There you have Charles, whom you have so long desired!' And with these words he fell to the ground like one dead. In this war Charlemagne was completely victorious. Desiderius ceased to be the king of the Lombards, and Charlemagne became king in his place. For centuries after that Charlemagne's successors continued to wear the iron crown of Italy, which the great king of the Franks had won from Desiderius. One of the results of the conquest of the Lombards was that Charlemagne was brought into closer relations with the pope. The emperor of the east still claimed to rule over Italy, but his rule was feeble, and only a small part of the peninsula was now in the hands of his officers. The real power in Italy had passed into the hands of the king of the Franks, and the question now was whether the pope should be under his rule as he had been under that of the eastern emperors. Two things made this question harder to decide. One was that Charlemagne, following the example of his father, Pippin, had given to the pope a large number of the cities and villages which he had conquered in Italy. The other was that the pope, on Christmas day of the year eight hundred, placed a crown on Charlemagne's head, as he knelt in prayer in St. Peter's Church at Rome, and proclaimed him emperor. These two things helped to make it very hard to decide just what powers the pope and the king of the Franks should each have. When Charlemagne gave those cities and villages to the pope, did it mean that he gave up the right to rule there, and turned the power over to the pope, so that the latter became the prince in these places? And when the pope crowned Charlemagne as emperor, did that mean that the pope could not set up and pull down emperors whenever he wanted to? These you see are very hard questions to answer, but they are very important questions to understand. Upon the answers given to them would depend the decision whether the pope was above the emperor, or the emperor above the pope, and this was a question about which men fought for hundreds of years. We may also ask, what was this empire of which Charlemagne became emperor on that Christmas morning? The name which men give to it is the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. They thought of it as a revival of the Old Roman Empire of the East, which had come to an end more than three hundred years before. They called it the Holy Roman Empire, to show how great a part the church, and especially the pope, played in it, and they added the words of the German Nation because it was the new and vigorous peoples who had come from the north who now supplied its strength. Though Charlemagne as emperor ruled only over the peoples who had obeyed him as king, still men felt that his position now was higher and his authority greater than it had been before. For now his power was linked with the majestic history of Rome and was given a more solemn sanction by the church. In this way the crowning of Charlemagne as emperor was an event of very great importance. For a thousand years after that day the office of emperor in the west continued to exist, and for a good part of this time it was one of the most powerful means of holding peoples of western Europe together in one family of nations, and preventing them from growing wholly unlike and hostile to one another. We may truly say that a new age commences in Europe when force alone no longer rules, and when great ideas, such as the idea of the church and of the empire, begin to play a part amid the strife of nations. To govern the wide territories which were under his rule Charlemagne kept up the counts, or local rulers, that he found established in different parts of his empire. Over these he set higher rulers, who were to travel about the country seeing everything, and reporting everything to the king. Twice a year, in the spring and in the autumn, the nobles of the land were called together to consult with him, and assist him in making laws for the kingdom. These assemblies would continue for several days, according to the importance of the business. While they lasted, messengers would come and go from the king's palace, proposing laws to the assembly and carrying back answers, and no stranger might approach until the business was completed. If the weather was fine, the assembly met in the open air, but if it was not, then the meetings took place in churches and other buildings. The king, meanwhile, was busy receiving presents, talking with the most important men, especially those who dwelt at a distance from his court, and hearing what his nobles and officials had to report to him concerning any part of the kingdom. This last Charlemagne considered very important. As an old writer says, the king wished to know whether, in any part, or any corner of the kingdom, the people murmured, or were troubled, and what was the cause of their troubles. Also he wished to know if any of the conquered people thought of rebelling, or if any of those who were still independent threatened the kingdom with an attack. And upon all these matters, wherever a danger or a disturbance arose, his chief questions were concerned with its motives, or its cause. Besides being a great warrior and a great ruler, Charlemagne was also a great friend of learning and education. He loved to gather about him learned men from all parts of the world. In this palace school, as it was called, the king and his wise men discussed learned questions. Charlemagne himself learned to read only after he was a grown man, and in spite of all his efforts he never succeeded in learning to write. This made him all the more anxious that the bright lads of his kingdom should have the advantages which he lacked. So he founded schools in the monasteries and bishoprics. In this way he hoped to get learned men for offices in the church and state. The rude fighting men of that day however looked upon learning with contempt, and many noble youths in the schools neglected their books for hawking and warlike exercises. The old monk who tells us how Charles overcame king Desiderius also tells us of the emperor's wrath when he found the boys of one school going on in this fashion. The boys of Low and Middle Station had been faithful, and when they presented their compositions and poems to the king he said, Many thanks, my sons, that you have taken such pains to carry out my orders to the best of your ability. Try now to do better still, and I will give you as reward splendid bishoprics, and make you rulers over monasteries, and you shall be highly honoured in my sight. But to the high-born boys, who had played while the others worked, he cried out in wrath. You sons of princes, you pretty and dainty little gentleman who count upon your birth and your wealth. You have disregarded my orders and your own reputations. You have neglected your studies, and spent your time in games and idleness or in foolish occupations. I care little for your noble birth and your pretty looks, though others think them so fine. And let me promise you this, if you do not make haste to recover what you have lost by your neglect, you need never think to get any favours from Charles. In many other ways, besides those which we have mentioned, Parliament did a great work for the peoples over whom he ruled, and laid the foundations on which the ages that came after builded. In the troubled times that followed his death much of his work seemed to be swept away, but this was only in seeming, for the most important parts of it lived, and still live, in the governments and civilisation of the world. Before taking leave of this great king, perhaps you would like to know what he looked like and how he lived. One of the learned men of his court has left a good description of him. "'He was tall and stoutly built,' he says, his height being just seven times the length of his own foot. His head was round, his eyes large and lively, his nose somewhat above the common size, and his expression bright and cheerful. Whether he stood or sat his form was full of dignity, for the good proportion and grace of his body prevented the observer from noticing that his neck was rather short, and his person rather too fleshy. "'He was very active,' this same writer tells us, and delighted in riding and hunting, and was skilled in swimming. It was indeed because of its natural warm baths, that he made his favourite residence and capital at Aachen.' The Frank Aix-la-Chapelle. He always wore the Frankish dress, but on days of state he added to this an embroidered cloak and jeweled crown, and carried a sword with a jeweled hilt. The name, Charlemagne, by which we know him, is French, but the king himself, in speech, dress, and habits, was a thoroughly German king, and ruled over a thoroughly German people. End of Chapter 8. Read by Kara Schellenberg on March 21st, 2007, in Oceanside, California. The Story of the Middle Ages, Chapter 9. Upon the death of Charlemagne, his empire passed to his son Louis. This ruler is sometimes called Louis the Pious, because he was so friendly to the church, and sometimes Louis the Good-Natured, because he was so easygoing, and allowed himself to be guided by his wife and his favourites. Under his rule the empire lost much of the strength that it had possessed under Charlemagne, and after Louis's death it was still further weakened. His sons had begun fighting for the kingdom even while their father lived. After his death they fought a great battle in which troops of all the Frankish lands took part. The Old Writers described this as a terrible struggle, more terrible than any since Attila and his Huns were driven back by the Romans and the Goths, or the Moors were defeated by Charles Martel. Those battles had been fought by the Christians against peoples who were not Christians, but now Christians fought against Christians Franks against Franks. May the day of that battle be accursed, wrote a writer who himself took part in the struggle. May it never more be counted among the days of the year, but be wiped out from all remembrance. May it lack the light of the sun, and have neither dawning nor twilight. May that night also be accursed, that terrible night in which so many brave and skillful warriors met their deaths. Never was there a worse slaughter. Then fell in lakes of blood, and the garments of the dead whitened the whole field. As a result of this battle the three sons of Louis agreed to divide the kingdom among them. Charles the youngest son got the western part, and this in course of time grew into the kingdom of France. Ludwig the second son got the land lying east and north of the Rhine River and Alps Mountains, and this region in time became the kingdom of Germany. Lothair the eldest son got Italy, and a long narrow strip which lay between Charles's portion on the west and Ludwig's portion on the east, and with it he received the title of Emperor. This middle strip was long and awkwardly shaped, and there was so little to bind the people together that it never grew into a permanent kingdom. Before many years had gone by it passed into the hands of the rulers of France and Germany, and the only thing that remained to show its former rule was the name Lotharingia, or Lorraine, which is still given to the northern part of it. This division of the kingdom tended, of course, to make the Frankish power weaker. Other things, too, contributed to this end. The Carolingian princes, as the descendants of Charles are called, were not nearly as strong rulers as their grandfather had been. New enemies, moreover, had now arisen to trouble the land, and make the task of governing it more difficult. The moors of Spain and Africa were going far into the heart of France and Italy in their search for plunder and slaves. On the north and west, fleets of Viking ships, laden with fierce northmen from Denmark and Norway, were landing upon the coast or ascending in their light vessels far up the rivers, plundering, killing, and burning. And from the east, the Hungarians, a new race of close kin to the old Huns, were now advancing year after year up the Danube valley into Germany, into Italy, into France, carrying everywhere terror and dismay. Since the kings of this period were too weak to protect the land against attack, the people were obliged to look after their own defence. The result was that rich and powerful landowners began to build great gloomy towers and castles as a protection against these raids. In course of time every lofty hill-top, every cliff, every island in the great rivers came to have a castle, where the lord and his followers might find protection against their enemies. There was now no power in the state either to protect or to punish its subjects, so these lords not only used their castles as a defence against the Hungarians and other enemies, but often themselves oppressed their neighbours. From their strongholds they would sally forth to misuse the peasants of the country around, or to plunder merchants travelling from town to town. Everything was fallen into confusion, and it seemed as if the time told of in the Bible, when every man did that which seemed good in his own eyes, had again come upon earth. There seemed to be only one remedy against these evils for the ordinary freemen. This was to give up his independence and get the lord of some castle to agree to protect him against all other enemies. That, in fact, is just what we find going on in this period. Men everywhere were giving up their independence and becoming dependents of some great man who took them under his protection. When a freeman wished to commend himself, as it was called, to the protection of the lord, he went down on his knees before him, put his hands between the hands of the lord, and swore to be his man, that is, to serve him. Then the lord raised his vassal, as the man was then sforth called, and gave him the kiss of peace. This was called doing homage to the lord. The vassal swore to be faithful to his lord in all things. This was the oath of fealty. If the man had land in his own right, he usually gave it up to the lord, and the lord then gave him back the use of it. If he had no land before, the lord granted him the use of some of his own land, and a lance, or a twig, was given him at the time he did homage, in sign of this. This forth the lord was the real owner of the land, but the vassal had the use of it till his death. When he died, his son would do homage and swear fealty to the lord, and then he would be given the land his father held. Such a piece of land was called a benefice, or a fief, and the name which is given to the whole system was feudalism, or the feudal system. As a result of this system, the ordinary free men gained the protection which they so much needed, and the state could no longer furnish. Thenceforth they had a place of refuge in the lord's castle to which they could flee when robber bands appeared, and they also had a powerful protector to defend them against the attacks of other lords. But, you may ask, what good was all this to the lord of the castle? Why was he willing to admit these men to become his vassals, and even grant them parts of his own lands as benefices? That is a question which is easily answered. The lord needed men to help him guard his castle, and fight his battles, and that was what the vassals supplied. Every year they might be called upon to serve their lord as armoured knights for forty days in the field, besides rendering him other services. In this way the lord obtained military followers, who were closely bound to him by ties of homage and fealty, and the more vassals he had, the more powerful he became. The lords themselves, in turn, often became the vassals of some greater lord above them, and bound themselves to bring all of their followers to serve him, when called upon to do so. In the completed system the king of the land stood at the head. Then under him were his vassals, and under them were their vassals, and so on until we come down to the peasants. They were not looked upon as worthy to be the vassals of anybody. They were called serfs, or villains, and had to till the soil and raise the food which supported all the classes above them. From what you have been told you might think that feudalism was an organization only for fighting, but it was something more than this. It came to be an organization for governing the land as well. The power of the kings became so weak that the feudal nobles were able finally to take into their own hands most things that the head of the state ought to have done. In this way it came about that the feudal lords had the right to make war, coin money, make laws, and hold courts in their fiefs. Sometimes they had their own gallows on which to hang offenders. The power that ought to have been in the hands of the head of the state was thus split up into many bits, and each of these great lords had part of it. The growth of the feudal system was going on everywhere in Western Europe from about the eighth to the eleventh centuries. It grew slowly, but it grew surely, for in the weakened condition of the state it was the form of organization that best met the needs of the people. So everywhere, in Spain, in France, in England, in Germany, and in Italy, we find the feudal castles arising, and men everywhere gave up their free land, received it back as fiefs, and became the vassals of lords above them. The existence of feudalism is one of the most important facts about the Middle Ages. It is this which makes the government of that period so different from the governments of Greece and Rome, and also from the governments of today. Feudalism, moreover, led to other important changes. In the church it made the abbots and bishops the vassals of the kings and nobles for the land which the church held, and since vassals owed military service, the bishops and abbots often became more like feudal warriors than mild and holy servants of Christ. As the chief business of vassals and lords was fighting, much attention was paid to arms and armour, and to training for war. In this way arose the wonderful coats of mail, and suits of armour of the Middle Ages. In this way also arose the long training which one had to go through to become a knight, and the exciting tournaments in which the knights tried their skill against one another. In another chapter is an account of the life of the castle. We tell you of these things here only that you may see how truly we may say of this period that it was indeed the feudal age, as it is sometimes called. Especially is this true of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. It is in those centuries preeminently that we find feudalism grown into a complete system, and ruling the whole life of the lands which the German conquerors had won from the Roman empire. End of chapter nine. Read by Kara Schellenberg on March 24, 2007, in Oceanside, California. The Story of the Middle Ages, chapter 10. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, this reading by Kara Schellenberg. The Story of the Middle Ages by Samuel B. Harding, chapter 10. Deeds of the Northmen. One of the things which helped the growth of feudalism was the coming of the Northmen into southern Europe. The Northmen were a sturdy people who dwelt about the Baltic Sea, in the lands which their descendants, the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes, still occupy. There they had dwelt as long as we have any record of them. While the other Germans were seeking new homes in the fifth and sixth centuries, the Northmen had remained quietly at home, worshipping the old gods, and gaining a scanty living from their herds and fields and from the sea. They were so far away from Rome that only faint reports reached them of the stirring events that were taking place in the Roman lands. For four hundred years after the Goths had crossed the frontier, the Northmen remained quiet. But at last Charlemagne's conquest of the Saxons brought Christianity and the Frankish rule close to their doors. Traders and missionaries now began to come among them. From them they learned of the rich and beautiful lands which lay to the south, and their minds were dazzled by the thought of the easy victories which were to be won there. When finally the Northmen came into the southern lands, they came not by land, as the earlier invaders had done, but by sea. The rocky islands, the bold cliffs, and the narrow valleys of the Scandinavian lands did not tempt men to agriculture. On the other hand the sea invited them to voyage forth and seek adventures on its waters. The Northmen, therefore, had become bold sailors, and in their long, many-orged ships they now dared the storms of heaven and the wrath of man to sail wherever there was booty to be had, or glory to be gained. Even in Charlemagne's time the Northmen had begun to trouble the southern lands. One day, while Charlemagne tarried in a city of southern Gaul, says an old writer, a few Scandinavian boats came to plunder even within the harbour of the city. Some thought at first that they were Jewish merchants, others believed that they were from northern Africa, or were traders from Brittany, but Charlemagne recognized them by the fleetness of their ships. "'These are not merchants,' he said, but cruel enemies. When the ships were pursued they quickly disappeared. Then the emperor, rising from the table where he sat, went to the window which looked towards the east, and remained there a long time, his eyes filled with tears. No one ventured to question him, but at last he said, "'Do you know, my faithful friends, why I weep so bitterly? It is not because I fear that these men should annoy me by their wretched acts of piracy. But I am deeply afflicted because during my lifetime they have come so near these shores, and I am tormented by a great grief, when I think of the woes they will inflict upon my successors, and the whole nation. Before Charlemagne was dead indeed these hardy wanderers began to fulfill his prophecy, and after he was gone the evil increased rapidly. Now the Viking ships came by scores and hundreds, where before they had come singly and in dozens. The whole of Christendom suffered from them. They plundered the shores alike of Germany, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, and Italy. With their light vessels they would enter the river-mouths, and row as far into the heart of the country as they could. Then they would seize horses, and on these ride far and wide. They loved most of all to attack the churches and monasteries. They cared nothing for the Christian God, for they were still heathen, and in the churches were rich gold and silver vessels, and fine embroidered cloths. It was easier also to capture a church or a monastery than it was a castle, for the priests and monks were not fighting men. And if any resisted these fierce heathen they were pierced with arrows, or cloven with their swords. One of the most famous Vikings was named Hastings. Some say that he was not a Northman at all but a French peasant who had joined the sea rovers. At all events he was very strong, brave, and cunning, and became one of their most famous leaders. We first meet with him while Louis the Pious was king. For nearly fifty years after this he was busy plundering towns and wasting the country in different lands. Now we find him in France. Now he is in Frisia, just north of France. Now he is in England. Now he is on the shores of Spain. In one voyage Hastings sailed around the Spanish peninsula and entered the Mediterranean Sea. There he plundered southern France, Africa, and Italy. He wished especially to plunder Rome, as Alaric and the Vandal King had done before him, but he knew more about fighting than he did about geography. On the coast of Italy, north of Rome, lay a little city called Luna, and Hastings mistook its marrable palaces and churches for the buildings of Rome. Even the walls of Luna, however, were too strong to be taken by force, so he was obliged to use a trick. He sent a messenger into the city, saying that he had not come to make war, but was dying, and wished to be baptized a Christian. The bishop and rulers of the city were pleased at this, and Hastings was baptized as he wished. Then the next day word was brought from the ships that their leader was dead, and they wished him to be buried in the church of the city. There seemed no harm in this request, so the rulers gave their consent. Hastings, with his weapons lying by his side, was brought within the walls, and with him came some of his best warriors, as mourners. While the people of the city went with the funeral party to the church, the rest of the Northmen landed from their ships, and slipped through the unguarded gate. Then Hastings suddenly seized his weapons and sprang from the couch where he lay, and once his followers fell upon the people, and in this way the town was soon won. At first the Northmen came only during the summer season, sailing home when the winter storms were due. Before long, however, they began to spend the winter also in Christian lands. They would seize upon an island lying off the coast at a river's mouth, and from this as headquarters they would go forth at all times of the year to ravage the land. For many years this prayer was regularly used in the churches. From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord, deliver us. The struggle lasted for a long time. In France, within fifty years after Charlemagne's death, Paris had fallen three times. At first the weak kings tried to buy off the Northmen with gifts of money, but such gifts only made them greedy for more, and payment had to be made again and again. Then the nobles and the cities took defence into their own hands. In addition to the castles which the nobles were building, the cities began to fortify bridges over the rivers, so that they could keep the pirate ships from ascending the streams. The most famous struggle of all came at Paris in the year 886. This city was not yet the capital of France, but its situation already made it important. It was built on a low island in the Seine, with a fortified bridge connecting it with each bank. When the Northmen came up the river in that year, the governor of the city, Count Otto, and the bishop encouraged the people to resist. The Viking ships numbered seven hundred, and they carried an army of forty thousand men. But for eleven months the city held out, and in spite of the weakness and cowardice of the king, the Northmen at last were obliged to withdraw. The family of this Count Otto had already won great honour in warring against the Northmen. For his father, Robert the Strong, had fallen, after many victories, fighting against the pirate Hastings. The brave defence of Paris now made Otto more powerful than ever, and men began to think how much worthier he was of the crown than the weak Carolingians. Still the cowardly king, who was then ruling, was set aside, and Count Otto was chosen king. It was too soon, however, for his family to get the throne permanently. Nevertheless, the crown did pass at last in the year 987 to a member of his family, and from that date, for more than eight hundred years, all the kings of France were numbered among his descendants. Twenty-five years after the great siege of Paris, a band of Northmen secured such a footing in France that it was never possible afterwards to drive them forth. Their leader was a man of enormous size, strength, and courage. His name was Rolf, or Rolo, and they called him the Ganger, which meant the Walker. Like Hastings he was for nearly fifty years a sea king plundering Frisia, England, Scotland, and France. At the great siege of Paris he was one of the chiefs. Unlike Hastings, however, Rolf was something more than a mere pirate and robber. When he captured a town he strengthened its walls and rebuilt its churches, and sought to rule over it as a conquering prince. In this way he came to possess a number of towns which lay north and south of the mouth of the river Seine. At last in the year 911 he secured a grant from the King of France to a wide stretch of country in that region with the title of Duke. This grant was made on three conditions. First he must settle his Northmen there and leave the rest of the country at peace. Second he must become a Christian, and third he must do homage to the French king as his feudal lord. This last condition was very distasteful to Duke Rolf, and he could scarcely be induced to place his hands between the hands of the king as was required. When he was told to kneel down and kiss the foot of the king, as was the custom, he refused, and calling one of his followers commanded him to do it. This bold Northman, however, had no more liking for the deed than his chief, and when he raised the king's foot to touch it to his lips, he toppled the king over on his back. In Normandy, as his land was called, Duke Rolf speedily showed that he was as good of ruler as he was a fighter. His followers settled down quietly under his stern rule and became landlords and cultivators of the soil. Before he died it is said that gold rings could be hung on the limbs of the trees, and no one would touch them. The Northmen learned rapidly in other ways, too. They followed the lead of their Duke in being baptized, and soon all were Christians. They also laid aside their old speech and law, and in less than a hundred years the fierce sea rovers had become as good Frenchmen, in speech and everything else, as could be found in the kingdom. About the only thing to mark the difference between these Normans, as they were called, and the rest of the French, was their greater energy, their skill in governing, and their fondness for the sea and adventure. Proof that they had not lost their energy or military skill was given in events which took place in the eleventh century. Within a little more than a hundred years after Duke Rolf and his followers were established in France, their descendants began to send forth new bands of conquerors. By accident their attention was turned to Sicily and the southern part of Italy. Soon the greater part of these lands was conquered from the Greeks and Saracens, and a Norman kingdom was established there, called the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. About the same time the Normans conquered England also. The old Northmen, or Danes as they were called in England, had conquered the northern half of that country nearly two hundred years before. But the great English king, Alfred, and after him his son and grandsons fought so bravely against the invaders that the land was gradually reconquered. Then after a time a new swarm of Danes had come as an organized and powerful army, and for a while the Danish king Canute ruled over all England together with Norway and Denmark. But after his death, and the death of his two sons, the English once more had a king of their own, named Edward the Confessor. This king died in the year 1066, and at once William, the Duke of Normandy, gathered together an army to conquer England. He claimed that King Edward had promised him the throne, and also that King Harold, who had taken Edward's place, had sworn never to become king. So with a great army of Normans and Frenchmen, and a banner blessed by the Pope, William landed on the shores of England. At Sennlach, or Hastings, not far from the place where they landed, the Normans found King Harold and his Englishmen awaiting them. There the great battle took place. For a while it looked as though the Normans would be defeated, but Duke William ordered his men to pretend to flee, in order to draw the English from their strong position. This move succeeded in part, but still the battle went on. At last Harold was struck in the eye, and slain by an arrow shot up into the air, and the Normans won the battle. After this William soon got possession of all England. He was known as William the Conqueror, and became the founder of the line of kings and queens, who have ruled that country down to the present day. This is not merely all of the great deeds the Northmen and their descendants performed at this time, but we can only mention a few of the others. As every American boy and girl knows, the Northmen settled Iceland and Greenland, and discovered America long before Columbus was born. Twice bands of them attacked the city of Constantinople, and after that they entered the service of the Greek emperor, and for centuries made up his faithful bodyguard. In the far north they made settlements in Russia, and gave a line of rulers to the great Russian Empire. And when the Crusaders set out to win Jerusalem from the infidels, the Normans of France, England and Sicily took the leading part in these movements also. These old Northmen were truly a wonderful people, and their coming into the Christian lands did much to make the southern nations stronger and more energetic than they would otherwise have been. End of Chapter 10 Read by Kara Schellenberg on March 24th, 2007, in Oceanside, California. The Story of the Middle Ages, Chapter 11 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Kara Schellenberg. The Story of the Middle Ages by Samuel B. Harding Chapter 11 The First Crusade The period of the Crusades lasts from the year 1095 to the year 1270. In the great movement included between these dates we find, for the first time, practically the whole of Europe acting together for one end. And it was not only the rulers who were concerned, priests and kings, nobles, townsmen and peasants alike took arms against the infidel. The story of the Crusades, therefore, is one of the most important and interesting parts of medieval history. Nothing can better show what the Middle Ages were like, and nothing helped more than they did to bring the Middle Ages to their end. The object of this movement was to bring Palestine, where Christ had lived and died, again under the rule of Christians. Until the Arabs began their conquests in the seventh century, the land had been ruled by the Eastern emperors. Even after the religion of Muhammad was established side-by-side with that of Christ, the Christians did not at first feel so badly about it. They were too busy at home, fighting Northmen and Hungarians, and settling the institutions under which they were to live, to give much attention to things so far away. Besides, the Arabs respected the holy places of the Christians, and allowed pilgrims to Jerusalem to come and go without harm or hindrance. But about thirty years before William the Norman conquered England, a new race appeared in the East. The Turks, who were a rude fierce people from Central Asia, of close kin to the old Huns, conquered the Arabs, and the treatment of the Christian was thus forth very different. The Turks were Mohammedans also, but they did not have the same respect for the religion of the Jews and Christians that the Arabs did. Besides, they were fiercer and more bloodthirsty, and in a short time they won from the Eastern Empire lands which the Arabs had never been able to conquer. Even Constantinople was not safe from them. From Jerusalem to the Aegean Sea, wrote the Emperor of the East to a Western ruler. The Turkish hordes have mastered all. Their galleys sweep the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and threaten the Imperial City itself. In the West, two quieter times had now come, and rulers and people could turn their attention abroad. Finally there was now more enthusiasm for religion among all classes, so when pilgrims returned from Jerusalem, telling of outrages committed against Christian persons and against Christian holy places, it was felt to be a shame that this thing should be. When, therefore, the Emperor of the East wrote to the Pope asking for aid against the Turks, the people of the West were in a mood to grant it. At a great council held at Clermont, in France, in the year 1095, Pope Urban II laid the matter before the clergy and princes. Most of those present were French, and Urban, who was himself a Frenchman, spoke to them in their own tongue. They told them of the danger to Constantinople and of the sad state of Jerusalem, while the Western peoples were quarreling and fighting among themselves. In all that region he said Christians had been led off into slavery, their homes laid waste, and their churches overthrown. Then he appealed to his hearers to remember Charlemagne and the victories which he was believed to have won over the Arabs, and urged them to begin anew the war with the Mohammedans. Christ himself, he cried, will be your leader when you fight for Jerusalem, let your quarrels cease and turn your arms against the accursed Turks. In this way you will return home victorious and laden with the wealth of your foes, or, if you fall in battle, you will receive an everlasting reward. To this appeal the council, with one accord, made answer. It is the will of God, it is the will of God. From all sides they hastened to give in their names for the Holy War. Each person promising to go was given a cross of red cloth, which he was to wear upon his breast going to the Holy Land, and on his back returning. To those who took the cross the name Crusaders was given from the Latin word which means cross. The winter following the council was spent in getting ready. All classes showed the greatest seal. Preachers went about among the people calling upon rich and poor, noble and peasant alike, to help free the Holy Land, and whole villages, towns, and cities were emptied of their inhabitants to join the Crusade. Many sold all they had to get the means to go, and thieves, robbers, and wicked men of all kinds promised to leave their wickedness, and aid in rescuing the tomb of Christ Jesus from the infidels. The time set for the starting of the Crusade was the early summer of the year 1096. But the common people could not wait so long. Under a monk named Peter the Hermit, and a poor knight called Walter the Penelous, great companies from Germany and France set out before that time. They had almost no money, they were unorganized, and there was no discipline or obedience in the multitude. The route which they took was down the River Danube, through the kingdoms of the Hungarians and Bulgarians, and so to Constantinople. Few of the people or their leaders had any idea of the distance, and as each new city came in sight many cried out, Is this Constantinople? In Hungary and Bulgaria the people attacked them, because they were forced to plunder the country as they passed through, and many were slain. When they reached Constantinople some of the unruly companies set fire to buildings near the city, while others stripped off sheets of lead from the ruse of churches to sell them to Greek merchants. The emperor hastened to get rid of his unwelcome guests by sending them across into Asia Minor. There within a few months Walter and most of his followers were slain by the Turks, and the expedition came to a sorrowful end. Meanwhile the princes from France, Germany and Italy were making ready their expeditions. While the Norman chiefs of southern Italy were engaged in one of their many wars, a messenger came to them with the news that countless warriors of France had started on the way to Jerusalem, and invited them to join the expedition. What are their weapons? What their badge? What their war cry? Asked one of the Normans. Our weapons, replied the messenger, are those best suited to war. Our badge, the cross of Christ, our war cry, it is the will of God, it is the will of God. When he heard these words the Norman tore from his shoulders the costly cloak, and with his own hands he made crosses from it for all who would follow him to the Holy Land. There he became one of the most famous and renowned of the Crusaders, and his followers showed that they could be as brave as enterprising and as skillful in fighting for the Holy Land as they had been before in fighting for lands and goods in France, in England, and in Italy. The Crusaders set out at last in five different companies. The first started in August 1096. The last did not join the others near Constantinople until the next summer. The companies were made up of trained and armed knights, with chosen leaders, who had made many preparations for the expedition. They did not suffer so severely, therefore, as did the poor ignorant people under Walter the Penulus. Still they encountered many hardships. It was already winter when the men of south France toiled over the mountains near Constantinople. For three weeks, writes one of their number, we saw neither bird nor beast. For almost forty days did we struggle on through mists so thick that we could actually feel them and brush them aside with a motion of the hand. At last this stage of their journey came to an end, and the Crusaders arrived at Constantinople. In the lands north of the Alps there were at that time none of the vast and richly ornamented churches and other buildings which later arose. All was poor and lacking in statelyness and beauty. Constantinople, however, was the most beautiful city in the world, so the sight of it filled the Crusaders with awe and admiration. Oh, how great a city it is! wrote one of their number. How noble and beautiful! What wondrously wrought monasteries and palaces are therein! What marvels everywhere in street and square! It would be tedious to recite its wealth in all precious things, in gold and silver, in cloaks of many shapes, and saintly relics. For to this place ships bring all things that man may require. Now that these sturdy warriors of the west were actually at Constantinople the Greek Emperor began to fear lest they might prove more troublesome to his empire than the Turks themselves. Some of the Crusaders wrote the Emperor's daughter. Were guileless men and women marching in all simplicity to worship at the Tomb of Christ? But there were others of a more wicked kind. Such men had but one object, and this was to get possession of the Emperor's capital. After much suspicion on both sides and many disputes the Emperor got the Franks, as the Crusaders were called, safely away from the city and over into Asia Minor. There at last they met the Turks. At first the latter rushed joyously into battle, dragging ropes with which to bind the Christians captive, but soon they found that the Franks were more than a match for them. Nicaea, the city where Constantine held the first Church Council, was soon taken, and the Crusaders then pressed on to other and greater victories. Letter writing was not nearly so common in those days as it is now, but some of the Crusaders wrote letters home telling of their deeds. A few of these have come down to us across the centuries, and in order that you may learn what the Crusaders were thinking and feeling, as well as what they were doing, one of them is given here. The writer was a rich and powerful noble, and the letter was written while the army was laying siege, with battering rams and siege-towers, to the strongly walled city of Antioch. Count Stephen to Adele, his sweetest and most amiable wife, to his dear children, and to all his vassals of all ranks, his greeting and blessing. You may be very sure, dearest, that the messenger, whom I send to give you pleasure, left me before Antioch safe and unharmed, and through God's grace in the greatest prosperity. Already at that time we had been continuously advancing for twenty-three weeks toward the home of our Lord Jesus. You may know for certain, my beloved, that of gold, silver, and many other kinds of riches I now have twice as much as your love had wished for me when I left you. For all our princes, with the common consent of the whole army and against my own wishes, have made me, up to the present time, the leader, chief, and director of their whole expedition. You have certainly heard that, after the capture of the city of Nicaea, we fought a great battle with the faithless Turks, and by God's aid conquered them. Next we conquered for the Lord all Romania, and afterwards Cappadocia. Thence, continually following the wicked Turks, we drove them through the midst of Armenia, as far as the great river Euphrates. Having left all their baggage and beasts of burden on the bank, they fled across the river into Arabia. Some of the bolder of the Turkish soldiers, however, entered Syria and hastened by forced marches night and day to enter the royal city of Antioch before our approach. The whole army of God, learning this, gave due praise and thanks to the all-powerful Lord. Hastening with great joy to Antioch, we besieged it, and had many conflicts there with the Turks. Seven times we fought with the fiercest courage and under the leadership of Christ against the citizens of Antioch and the innumerable troops which were coming to its aid. In all these seven battles, by the aid of the Lord God, we conquered and assuredly killed an innumerable host of them. In those battles, indeed, and in very many attacks made upon the city, many of our brethren and followers were killed, and their souls were born to the joys of paradise. In fighting against these enemies of God and of our own, we have by God's grace endured many sufferings and innumerable evils up to the present time. Many have already exhausted all their resources in this very holy expedition. Very many of our Franks, indeed, would have met death from starvation if the mercy of God and our money had not helped them. Before the city of Antioch and indeed throughout the whole winter we suffered for our Lord Christ from excessive cold and great torrents of rain. What some say about the impossibility of bearing the heat of the sun throughout Syria is untrue, for the winter here is very similar to our winter in the west. When the emir of Antioch, that is, its prince and lord, perceived that he was hard-pressed by us, he sent his son to the prince who holds Jerusalem, and to the prince of Damascus, and to three other princes. These five emirs, with twelve thousand picked Turkish horsemen, suddenly came to aid the inhabitants of Antioch. We, indeed ignorant of this, had sent many of our soldiers away to the cities and fortresses, for there are one hundred and sixty-five cities and fortresses throughout Syria which are in our power. But a little before they reached the city we attacked them at three leagues' distance, with seven hundred soldiers. God surely fought for us against them, for on that day we conquered them and killed an innumerable multitude, and we carried back to the army more than two hundred of their heads, in order that the people might rejoice on that account. These things which I write to you are only a few, dearest, of the many deeds which we have done, and because I am not able to tell you, dearest, what is in my mind, I charge you to do right, to carefully watch over your land, to do your duty as you ought to your children and your vassals. You will certainly see me just as soon as I can possibly return to you. Farewell. The capture of Antioch was the hardest task that the Crusaders had to perform, and it was not until three months later that the city was finally safe in their hands. Many of the Crusaders became discouraged, meanwhile, and started home. At this trying time a priest declared that it had been revealed to him in a dream, Thrice repeated, that the head of the spear which had pierced our Lord's side lay buried near one of the altars of a church nearby, and it was further revealed, he said, that if this was found, and born at the head of the army, victory would surely follow. After long search and much prayer and fasting the Holy Lance was found. Then there was great joy and new courage among the Christians, and when next they marched against the Turks the Crusaders fought more fiercely than ever. Thanks to the Lord's Lance, writes one of their number, none of us were wounded, no not so much as by an arrow. I, who speak these things, saw them for myself, since I was bearing the Lord's Lance. The Crusaders continued to fight valiantly until Antioch was theirs, and the armies which had marched to its relief were defeated and scattered. The Crusaders were now free to march on to Jerusalem. There men and animals suffered much from lack of food and water. Many, an old writer says, lay near the dried-up springs unable to utter a cry because of the dryness of their tongues, and there they remained with open mouths and hands stretched out to those whom they saw had water. Again the priests saw visions and it was promised to the Crusaders that if the army marched barefoot around the city for nine days the city would fall. So a procession was formed and the Crusaders marched around the city with white-robed priests and bishops cross in hand at their head chanting hymns and crying as they went. As the procession passed by the Mohammedans mocked at them from the walls and some beat across crying out, Look, Franks, it is the Holy Cross on which your Christ was slain. After this the chiefs ordered an attack on the city from two sides. The Mohammedans were now beaten back from the walls by the showers of stones thrown by the hurling machines, while blazing arrows carried fire to the roofs of the buildings in the city. Battering rams too were at work breaking great holes in the solid walls and scaling ladders were placed by which the Christians swarmed over the ramparts. So at last the city fell. Jerusalem, the Holy Jerusalem which held the tomb of Christ, was now once more in the hands of the Christians. But what a terrible day was that. How little of the meek and just spirit of Christ did his followers show. When our men had taken the city with its walls and towers, writes one of the crusaders, There were things wondrous to be seen. For some of the enemy—and this is a small matter—were deprived of their heads. Others, riddled through with arrows, were forced to leap down from the towers, and others after long torture were burned in the flames. In all the streets and squares there were to be seen piles of heads and hands and feet, and along the public ways foot and horse alike made passage over the bodies of the slain. In this way the crusaders fulfilled their vow to rest the holy sepulchre from the infidel. How many hundreds of thousands of lives, both Christian and Mohammedan, were lost to gain this end. What agonies of battle, what sufferings on the way, what numbers of women made widows, and children left fatherless. All this that the tomb of Christ might not remain in the hands of a people who did not accept his religion. How pittingly the Christ must have looked down upon this struggle with his mild, sweet eyes. How far away this bloodshed and war seems from the teachings of him whose birth was heralded by the angels' cry. Peace on earth, goodwill towards men. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy, said Christ. But this teaching, alas, the crusaders seemed not to know. End of Chapter 11 Read by Kara Schellenberg on March 25, 2007, in Oceanside, California. The Story of the Middle Ages. Chapter 12 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Kara Schellenberg. The Story of the Middle Ages by Samuel B. Harding. Chapter 12 Later Crusades After the Holy Land was won, a government had to be organized to prevent the land from slipping back into the hands of the infidels. The crusaders knew only one way to rule a land, namely the feudal way. That was the way Western Europe was ruled, so that was the form of government set up in Palestine. The land was divided into a number of fiefs, and each of these was given to a crusading chief. In each fief, the feudal law and a feudal government was then introduced. Jerusalem, with the country about, was formed into the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and was given to Godfrey of Bullion, one of the most famous of the crusaders. The rest of the land was formed into three principalities, each with its own feudal head, and with many vassal crusaders. The peasants who tilled the soil before the crusaders came were not driven off. They had long been Christians, though they worshipped more like the Greeks than like the Latins. The only difference in their position was that now they were to pay rent and taxes to Christian masters, and not to Turks and Saracens. As soon as Jerusalem had fallen, most of the crusaders began to make preparations for returning home. Soon Godfrey and his fellow rulers were left with mere handfuls of men to resist the attacks of the Mohammedans. If the latter had been united, they could easily at this time have driven the Franks into the sea. But the Mohammedans were quarreling among themselves, and besides had learned to fear the male-clad Franks, so the Christians were given time to prepare their defence. Huge castles were everywhere built to protect the lands they had won. New companies of crusaders, too, were constantly arriving to take the place of those who had returned home, and merchants from the Italian cities were coming to settle for the purpose of carrying on trade. Soon two, three special orders of knights were formed to protect the Holy Land and care for the Christians. The first of these was the Knights of the Hospital, or the Knights of St. John. Its chief purpose was to care for and protect sick pilgrims. The second was the Order of the Temple, or Knights Templar. They got their name because their headquarters were in the temple at Jerusalem. The third was the Order of the Teutonic Knights, which received its name because its members were Germans, while the members of the other orders were mostly French. The members of these orders were both monks and knights. They were bound, like monks, by vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, but they were also knights engaged in a perpetual crusade against the infidel. The hospitalers wore a white cross on a black mantle, the Templars a red cross on a white mantle, and the Teutonic Knights a black cross on a mantle of white. These military orders became very powerful and wealthy and helped a great deal to keep the Holy Land in the hands of the Christians. For nearly half a century after Jerusalem was recovered there was no very great danger to the rule of the Franks. Then all Europe was startled by the news that one of the four Christian principalities had been conquered by the Saracens and the Christians put to the sword. At once there was great fear lest the other states should fall also and preparations were made for sending out a large number of crusaders to the Saracens. This expedition started in the year 1147 and is known as the Second Crusade. The kings of two of the leading countries of Europe conrad the third of Germany and Louis the 7th of France led the forces. Their armies took the same route down the River Danube and across to Constantinople that the first crusade had followed. Again there was terrible suffering on the way. The German army was almost entirely destroyed in Asia Minor and although the French reached Palestine in safety very little was accomplished in the way of strengthening the Christians there. After the failure of this crusade there was no great change for forty years. Twice a year, in the spring and autumn a number of vessels would sail from the cities of Italy and southern France carrying pilgrims and adventurers to Palestine. In this way the strength of the Christian states was kept up in spite of the number who were constantly returning. Then towards the end of the period rumors began to come of a great Mohammedan leader who had arisen in Egypt and was threatening Palestine with new danger. He was called Saladin and was one of the greatest rulers the Mohammedans ever had. He was foremost in battle and wise and far-sighted in council. When he was victorious he dealt generously with his enemies and when defeated he was never cast down. He was ever simple in his habits just and upright in his dealings and true to his promises. He was, in short, as chivalrous a warrior and as sincere a believer in his faith as any of the Christian knights against whom he fought. For Saladin, as well as for the crusaders the war for Palestine was a holy war and soon his power was grown so great that he could attack them from all sides. So great is the multitude of the Saracens and Turks wrote one of the crusaders in speaking of his armies that from the city of Tyre which they are besieging they cover the face of the earth as far as Jerusalem like an innumerable army of ants. When the Christians marched out to battle they were overthrown with terrible slaughter and the king of Jerusalem and the grand master of the Templars were among the captives taken. Three months after this Saladin laid siege to Jerusalem itself. For two weeks only the city held out at the end of that time it was forced to sue for peace. The mercy which Saladin now showed to the conquered Christians was in strange contrast when the crusaders had displayed when the city fell into their hands. There was no slaughter such as had occurred ninety years before and the greater number of the defeated party were allowed to go free on paying a ransom. But the crosses on the churches were torn down the bells were destroyed and the churches themselves were changed into Mohammedan mosques. Once more the holy land was in the hands of the unbeliever. The views of these events reached Europe it caused great excitement. The three most powerful rulers Frederick of Germany Philip of France and Richard the Lionhearted of England took the cross and in the years 1189 and 1190 they led forth their followers to the third crusade. The Emperor Frederick of Germany who was called Barbarossa on account of his red beard had been one of those who followed King Conrad in the second crusade. Now although he was seventy years old he was the first to start on the third. He led his army by the old land route but his forces were better organized and there was not so much hardship as there had been before. Except for one battle which they had to fight with the Greek Emperor all went well until the army reached Asia Minor. There alas the old emperor was drowned while swimming a river one hot day to refresh himself and shorten his way. After that the German army went to pieces and most of its members lost their lives in the mountains and deserts of Asia Minor or were cut down by Turkish soldiers. In Germany the people refused to believe that their king was dead. Long after this stories were told of the good Barbarossa who slept from year to year in a rocky cavern high up on a lonely mountainside with his head resting on his hand and his long red beard grown round the granite blocks by his side. There the people said he lay sleeping throughout the ages but when the ravens should cease to fly about the mountain the emperor would wake to punish the wicked and bring back the golden age to the world. When at last Philip of France and Richard of England were ready they took ship to avoid the hard ships of the journey by land. From the beginning however things went wrong. Richard and Philip were very jealous of each other and could not get along together. Philip was only half hearted in the crusade and longed to be back in France while Richard allowed himself to be turned aside for a while to other things. When they reached the Holy Land they found the Christians laying siege to Acre one of the seaports near Jerusalem. The siege had already lasted more than a year and for several months longer it dragged on. It was a dreary time for the Christians. The Lord is not in the camp wrote one of their number there is none that doeth good the leaders strive with one another while the lesser folks starve and have none to help. The Turks are persistent in attack while our knights skulk within their tents. The strength of Saladin increases daily but daily does our army wither away. At last Acre was taken mainly through the skill and daring of King Richard who was one of the best warriors of that day and knew well how to use the battering rams stone throwers movable towers and other military engines to batter down walls and take cities. Philip was already weary of the crusade and soon after returned to France. Richard remained for more than a year longer in this time he won some military successes but he could not take Jerusalem. Finally news came to Richard from England that his brother John was plotting to make himself king. Richard was now obliged to return home. The only advantage he had gained for the Christians was a truce for three years permitting pilgrims to go to the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem without hindrance. Before he left Richard warned Saladin that he would return to renew the war but he never did. On his way home he was shipwrecked and was obliged to pass by land through Germany. There he was recognized by his enemies and kept prisoner till he paid a heavy ransom. Then after his release he found himself engaged in troubles with his brother John and in war with King Philip and at last in the year 1199 he died from an arrow wound while fighting in France. The remaining crusades are not of so much importance as the first and the third. On the fourth crusade the crusaders were persuaded by the Venetians to attack the Christian city of Constantinople. In this way the Greek empire passed for fifty years into the hands of the Latin Christians. As a result of the fifth crusade Jerusalem was recovered for a while but this was accomplished through a treaty and not as the result of victories won by arms. The sixth crusade was led by the good king Saint Louis of France. The crusaders now sought to attack the Saracens in Egypt but they were defeated and the French king himself was captured and forced to pay a heavy ransom. The last crusade was the seventh which was also led by Saint Louis of France. Now the crusaders attacked the Saracens in Tunis. Again the crusade was a failure and this time the French king lost his life through a sickness which broke out in the army. After this for more than a century popes and kings talked of crusades and raised taxes and made preparations for them. But though they fought the heathen in Prussia and the Mohammedans in Spain and in Hungary, no more crusades went to the Holy Land to win the sepulchre of Christ from the infidel. Men no longer thought that this was so important as it had once seemed to them and no doubt they were right. It doesn't make so much difference who rules the land where Christ lived and died. The great question is whether Christ lives and rules in the hearts and lives of those who follow him. Although the crusades failed in what they were intended to accomplish they had some very important results. For nearly two hundred years men were going and coming in great number to and from the Holy Land seeing strange countries and strange peoples and learning new customs. Before the crusades each district lived by itself and its inhabitants scarcely ever heard of the rest of the world. During the crusades this separation was broken down and the people from all parts of Christendom met together. In this way men came to learn more of the world and of the people who dwelt in it and their minds were broadened by this knowledge. Never after the crusades, as a result, was the life of man quite so dark so dreary and so narrow as it had been before. From this time on the Middle Ages gradually changed their character for influences were now at work to bring this period to an end and bring about the beginning of modern times. End of Chapter 12 read by Kara Schellenberg on March 26, 2007 in Oceanside, California The Story of the Middle Ages Chapter 13 This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this reading by Kara Schellenberg. The Story of the Middle Ages by Samuel B. Harding Chapter 13 Life of the Castle Before we consider what the influences were which brought the Middle Ages to a close, we must see more clearly what the life of that period was like. We will first read about the life of the castle where lordly knights and gentle ladies dwelt. Then we will see what was the manner of life of the peasants who dwelt in the villages, and the merchants and craftsmen who dwelt in the cities and towns. Finally we will visit the monasteries and see what was the life of the monks and nuns who gave their lives to the service and praise of God. If you visit France, Germany and other European countries today you will find everywhere the ruins of massive stone castles rearing their tall towers on the hill-tops and commanding the passage of roads and rivers. At the present time these are mostly tumbled down and overgrown with moss and ivy, and nobody cares to live within their dark walls. But in the Middle Ages it was not so. Then they were the safest places in which to live, so in spite of their cold and gloom they became the centers of the life of the time. It was from the castles that the feudal barons ruled their lands. It was there that the people found refuge from the attacks of the Northmen and Hungarians. It was from the castles that the crusaders set out for the holy land. In them chivalry was born and flourished at their gates, tournaments, jousts, and other nightly festivals took place, and in their halls the wandering singers who were in new literature found the readyest welcome and the most eager and appreciative listeners. Let us fancy ourselves back in the 11th or 12th century and examine a castle. We shall find the country very different, we may be sure from what it is today. Great thick forests stand where now there are flourishing towns and everything has a wilder, more unsettled look. Here is a castle in France that will suit our purpose. It was built by one of the vassals of William the Conqueror and has been the scene of many sieges and battles. See how everything is arranged so as to make easy its defense. It is built on the top of a steep hill and around its walls a deep ditch or moat is dug. At the outer edge of the moat we see a strong fence or a palisade of heavy stakes set in the ground. Just inside this is a path along which the centuries march in time of war. The gate, too, is doubly and triply guarded. In front of it is a drawbridge across the moat. Indeed, there are two and the space between is guarded by a protecting wall. In later days these drawbridges were made stronger and more complicated and heavy towers with walls of masonry were built, the better to protect the entrance. When we have passed these outer works we come to a heavy wooden door between two tall towers which mark the entrance to the walls. We pass through this and find ourselves within the gateway. But we are still far from being in the castle. In the narrow vaulted passageway before us we see suspended a heavy iron grating called the Port Cullis which may come rattling down our passage. And beyond this is another door and beyond this another Port Cullis. The entrance to the castle is indeed well guarded and the porter who keeps watch at the gate and has to open and shut all these barriers is at times a busy man. At last we are past the gateway and find ourselves in an open courtyard. The thick walls of the castle surround us on all sides at the top we see the battlements and loopholes through which arrows may be shot at the enemy. Here and there the wall is protected by stone towers in which our stairways leading to the battlements above. In the first courtyard we find the stables where the lord of the castle keeps his horses. Here too is space for the shelter of the villagers in time of war and here perhaps is the great brick oven in which bread to feed the lord and all his followers. Going on we come to a wall or palisade which separates the courtyard we are in from one lying beyond it. In later times this wall too was made much stronger than we find it here. Passing through a gateway we come into the second courtyard. Here again we find a number of buildings used for different purposes. In one are the storerooms and cellars where provisions are kept to enable the dwellers in the castle to stand a siege. Next to this is a building shaped like a great jug with a large chimney at the top and smaller ones in a circle round about. This is the kitchen in which the food is cooked for the lord of the castle and his household. The cooking we may be sure is usually simple. Most of the meats being roasted on spits over open fires and elaborate dishes with sauces being unknown. Most castles have in addition a small church or chapel in this courtyard in which the inhabitants may worship. The most important building of all is still to be described. There at the end of the courtyard we see the tall keep of the castle which the French call donjon and in whose basement there are dungeons indeed for traitors and captured enemies. This is the true stronghold of the Baron and it is a secure retreat. Think of all the hard fighting there must be before the enemy can even reach it. The drawbridges must be crossed, the gates must be battered down and the portcullis is pried up. The first courtyard must be cleared, the dividing wall must be carried, the second courtyard also must be cleared of its defenders. And when the enemy, bruised and worn at last arrive at the keep their work is just begun. There the lord and his followers will make their last stand and the fighting will be fiercer than ever. The walls of the keep are of stone eight to ten feet thick and from the loopholes in its frowning sides pierce skilled archers and crossbowmen ready to let fly their bolts and arrows at all in sight. A long, long siege will be necessary to carve out its defenders. If this is not done movable towers must be erected battering rams placed stone hurling machines brought up blazing arrows shot at the roof and windows and tunnels dug to undermine the walls. In this way the castle may be burned or an entrance at last be gained. But even then there will be fierce fighting in the narrow passageways in the dimly lighted halls and on the winding stairways which lead from story to story. It will be long indeed before our lord's banner is torn from the summit of the tower and his enemies is placed in its stead. And even when all is lost there still remain hidden stairways in the castle walls underground passages opening into the moat and the gate in the rear through which the lord and his garrison may yet escape to the woods and open fields and so continue the battle another day. But let us inquire rather concerning the life of the castle in time of peace where and how does the lord and his household live? How are his children educated? And with what do they amuse themselves in the long days when there is no enemy to attack their walls and no distant expedition in which to engage? Sometimes the lord and his family live in the upper stories of the huge dungeon where arms and supplies are always stored. But this is so gloomy with its thick walls and narrow windows that many lords build more comfortable halls in their courtyards and prefer to live in these. Let us look in upon such a hall whether it is in the dungeon or in a separate building. There we find a great wide room large enough to hold all of the inhabitants of the castle when the lord gather them about him. This is the real center of the life of the castle. Here the lord eats and sleeps. Here the great banquets are given. Here he receives his vassals to do homage. Here he plays chess and backgammon with his companions. And here in the evening the inmates gather, perchance to listen to the songs and tales of wandering minstrels. Within the castle are many people occupying themselves in many ways. In the courtyards are servants and dependents caring for the horses, cooking in the kitchen, and busily engaged in other occupations. Elsewhere are those whose duty it is to guard the castle, the porter at the gate, the watchman on the tower, and the men at arms to defend the walls in case of attack. Besides these we see many boys and young men who are evidently noble birth to be servants, and yet are too young to be warriors. Who can they be? These are the sons of the lord of the castle and of other lords who are learning to be knights. Their training is long and careful. Until he is seven years old the little noble is left to the care of his mother and the women of the castle. At the age of seven his nightly education begins. A boy is sent away from home to the castle of his father's lord or some famous knight, there to be brought up and trained for knighthood. From the age of seven till he reaches the age of fourteen the boy is called a page or violet, which means little vessel. There he waits upon the lord and lady of the castle. He serves them at table and he attends to them from them he learns lessons of honor and bravery, of love and chivalry. Above all he learns how to ride and handle a horse. When the young noble has become a well grown lad of fourteen or fifteen he is made a squire. Now it is his duty to look after his lord's horses and arms. The horses must be carefully groomed every morning and the squire must see that their shoes are all right. He must also see that his lord's arms are kept bright and free from rust. When the lord goes forth to war his squire accompanies him riding on a big strong horse and carrying his lord's shield and lance. When the lord goes into battle his squire must stay near leading a spare steed and ready to hand his master fresh weapons at any moment. After several years of this service the squire may himself be allowed to use weapons and fight at his lord's side and he may even be allowed to ride forth alone in search of adventures. In this manner the squire learns the business of a knight which is fighting but he also learns his amusements and accomplishments. Let us approach a group of squires in the castle hall when their work is done and they are tired of chests and backgammon. They are discussing perhaps as to which is the more interesting, hunting or falconry and we may like it featured squire hold forth in this way. What can be prettier than a bright-eyed, well-trained falcon-hawk? And what can be pleasanter than the sport of flying it at the birds? Take some fine September morning when the sky is blue and the air is fresh and our lord and lady ride forth with their attendants. Each carries his falcon on his gloved left hand and we hurry forward in pursuit of cranes, ducks and other birds. When one is sighted a falcon is unhooded and let fly at it. The falcon's bells tinkle merrily as it rises. Soon it is in the air above the game and swift as an arrow it darts upon the prey, plunging its talons into it and crouching over it until the hunter gallops up to recover both falcon and prey. This is the finest hunting and what skill is necessary too in rearing and training the birds? Ah, falconry is the sport for me. But this does not seem to be the opinion of most of the group. Their views are expressed by a tall, strongly built squire who says falconry is all right for women and boys, but it is not the sport for men. What are your falcons to my hounds and harriers? The education of one good boar hound, I can tell you, requires as much care as all your falcons and when you are done the dog loves you and that is more than you can say for your hawks. And the chase itself is far more exciting. The hounds are uncoupled and set yelping upon the scent, and away we dash after them, plunging through the woods, leaping glades and streams in our haste. At last we reach the spot where the game has turned at bay and find an enormous boar defending himself stoutly and fiercely against the hounds. Right and left he rolls the dogs. With his back bristling with rage he charges straight for the huntsman. Look out now for his sharp tusks cut like a knife, but the huntsman are skilled and the dogs play well their part. Before the beast can reach man or horse he is pierced by a dozen spears and is nailed to the ground dead. Isn't this a nobler sport than hawking? So we may be sure most knights and squires will agree, but the ladies and many of the squires and knights will still love best the sport of falconry. In this way the squire spends his days until he reaches the age of twenty or twenty-one. He has now proved both his courage and his skill, and at last his lord says that he has earned his spurs. So the squire is to be made a knight, and this is the occasion for great festivities. In company with other squires who are candidates for knighthood, he must go through a careful preparation. First comes the bath, which is the mark of purification. Then he puts on garments of red, white, and black. The red means the blood he is willing to shed in defense of the church and of the oppressed. The white means that his mind is pure and clean and the black is to remind him of death, which comes to all. Next comes the watching of the arms. All night the squires keep watch, fasting and praying before the altar in the church on which their arms have been placed, and though they may stand or kneel, they must on no account sit or lie down. At the break of day the priest comes. After they have each confessed their sins to him, they hear mass and take the holy sacrament. Perhaps, too, the priest preaches a sermon on the proud of a knight, and the obligations which they owe to God and the church. At last the squires assemble in the courtyard of the castle or in some open place outside the walls. There they find great numbers of knights and ladies who have come to grace the occasion of their nighting. Each squire in turn now takes his place on a carpet which is spread on the ground, and his friends and relatives assist in girding on his armor and his sword. Then comes the most trying moment of all. His father or his lord advances and gives him what is called the accolade. At first this was a heavy blow with the fist given upon the squire's neck, but later it was with the flat of a sword upon his shoulder. At the same time the person who gives the accolade cries out in the name of God and Saint Michael and Saint George I dub thee knight. Be brave and loyal. The squire is now a knight but the festival is not yet over. The new-made knights must first give an exhibition of their skill in riding and handling their horses and in striking with their lances marks which are set up for them to ride at. Then comes fencing with their swords on horseback. The day is wound up with a great feast and music and the distribution of presents. Then at last the guests depart and the new-made knights go off to bed to dream of Saracens to be fought in the Holy Land and dragons to be slain and wicked knights to be encountered, and above all of beautiful maidens to be rescued and served with loyalty and love. So they dream the dreams of chivalry and when they awaken the better ones among them will seek to put their dreams into action. End of chapter 13 Read by Kara Schellenberg on March 26, 2007 in Oceanside, California.