 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES, CHAPTER XIV one thing about the life of the knights and squires has not yet been explained, that is, how they were supported. They neither cultivated the fields nor manufactured articles for sale, nor engaged in commerce. How then were they fed and clothed, and furnished with their expensive armor and horses? How, in short, was all this life of the castle kept up, with its great buildings, its constant wars, its costly festivals, and its idleness? We may find the explanation of this in the saying of a bishop who lived in the early part of the Middle Ages. God, said he, divided the human race from the beginning into three classes. There were the priests, whose duty it was to pray and serve God, the knights, whose duty it was to defend society, and the peasants, whose duty it was to till the soil and support, by their labour, the other classes. This indeed was the arrangement as it existed during the whole of the Middle Ages. The serfs and villains who tilled the soil, together with the merchants and craftsmen of the towns, bore all the burden of supporting the more picturesque classes above them. The peasants were called serfs and villains, and their position was very curious. For several miles about the castle, all the land belonged to its lord, and was called, in England, his manor. He did not own the land outright, for, as you know, he did homage and fealty for it to his lord, or suzerain, and the latter in turn owed homage and fealty to his suzerain, and so on up to the king. Neither did the lord of the castle keep all of the manor lands in his own hands. He did not wish to till the land himself, so most of it was divided up and tilled by peasants, who kept their shares as long as they lived, and passed them on to their children after them. As long as the peasants performed the services, and made the payments which they owed to the lord, the latter could not rightfully turn them out of their land. The part of the manor which the lord kept in his own hands was called his domain, and we shall see presently how this was used. In addition there were certain parts which were used by the peasants as common pastures for their cattle and sheep, that is, they all had joint rights in this. Then there was the woodland to which the peasants might each send a certain number of pigs to feed upon the beach nuts and acorns. Finally there was the part of the manor which was given over to the peasants to till. This was usually divided into three great fields, without any fences, walls, or hedges about them. In one of these we should find wheat growing, or some other grain that is sown in the winter. In another we should find a crop of some grain, such as oats, which requires to be sown in the spring. While in the third we should find no crop at all. The next year the arrangement would be changed, and again the next year. In this way each field bore winter grain one year, spring grain the next, and the third year it was plowed several times, and allowed to rest to recover its fertility. While resting it was said to lie fallow. Then the round was repeated. This whole arrangement was due to the fact that people in those days did not know as much about fertilizers and rotation of crops, as we do now. The most curious arrangement of all was the way the cultivated land was divided up. Each peasant had from ten to forty acres of land which he cultivated, and part of this lay in each of the three fields. But instead of lying all together it was scattered about in long narrow strips, each containing about an acre, with strips of unplowed sod separating the plowed strips from one another. This was a very unsatisfactory arrangement because each peasant had to waste so much time in going from one strip to his next, and nobody has ever been able to explain quite clearly how it ever came about. But this is the arrangement which prevailed in almost all civilized countries throughout the whole of the Middle Ages, and indeed in some places for long afterward. In return for the land which the peasant held from his Lord he owed the latter many payments and many services. He paid fixed sums of money at different times during the year, and if his Lord or his Lord's suzerain knighted his eldest son, or married off his eldest daughter, or went on a crusade, or was taken captive and had to be ransomed, then the peasant must pay an additional sum. At Easter and at other fixed times the peasant brought a gift of eggs or chickens to his Lord, and he also gave the Lord one or more of his lambs and pigs each year for the use of the pasture. At harvest time the Lord received a portion of the grain raised on the peasant's land. In addition the peasant must grind his grain at his Lord's mill, and pay the charge for this. He must also bake his bread in the great oven which belonged to the Lord, and use his Lord's presses in making cider and wine, paying for each. These payments were sometimes burdensome enough, but they were not nearly so burdensome as the services which the peasants owed their Lord. All the labour of cultivating the Lord's domain land was performed by them. They plowed it with their great clumsy plows and ox-teams. They harrowed it, and weeded it, and reaped it, and finally they carted the sheaves to the Lord's barns, and thrashed them by beating with great jointed clubs or flails. And when the work was done the grain belonged entirely to the Lord. About two days a week were spent this way, in working on the Lord's domain, and the peasants could only work on their own lands between times. In addition, if the Lord decided to build new towers or a new gate, or to erect new buildings in the castle, the peasants had to carry stone and mortar for the building, and help the paid masons in every way possible. And when the demands of their Lord were satisfied, there were still other demands made upon them. For every tenth sheaf of grain, and every tenth egg, lamb, and chicken, had to be given to the church as tithes. The peasants did not live scattered about the country as our farmers do, but dwelt all together in an open village. If we should take our stand there on a day in spring, we should see much to interest us. On the hilltop above is the Lord's castle, and nearby is the parish church with the priest's house. In the distance are the green fields cut into long, narrow strips, and in them we see men plowing and harrowing with teams of slow-moving oxen, while women are busy with hooks and tongs weeding the growing grain. Close at hand in the village we hear the clang of the blacksmith's anvil, and the miller's song as he carries the sacks of grain and flour to and from the mill. Dogs are barking, donkeys are braying, cattle are lowing, and through it all we hear the sound of little children at play, or women singing at their work. The houses themselves were often little better than wooden huts thatched with straw or rushes, though sometimes they were of stone. Even at the best they were dark, dingy, and unhealthful. Chimneys were just beginning to be used in the Middle Ages for the castles of the great lords, but in the peasants' houses the smoke was usually allowed to escape through the doorway. The door was often made so that the upper half could be left open for this purpose, while the lower half was closed. The cattle were usually housed under the same roof with the peasants' family, and in some parts of Europe this practice is still followed. Within the houses we should not find very much furniture. Here is a list of the things which one family owned in the year 1345. Two feather beds, fifteen linen sheets, and four stripe-it-yellow counterpains, one hand mill for grinding grain, a pestle and mortar for pounding grain, two grain chests, a kneading trough, and two ovens over which coals could be heaped for baking, two iron tripods on which to hang kettles over the fire, two metal pots, and one large kettle, one metal bowl, two brass water jugs, four bottles, a copper box, a tin wash tub, a metal warming pan, two large chests, a box, a cupboard, four tables on trestles, a large table, and a bench, two axes, two lances, a crossbow, a scythe, and some other tools. The food and clothing of the peasant were coarse and simple, but were usually sufficient for his needs. At times, however, war or a succession of bad seasons would bring famine upon a district. Then the suffering would be terrible, for there were no provisions saved up, and the roads were so bad, and communication so difficult, that it was hard to bring supplies from other regions where there was plenty. At such times the peasants suffered most. They were forced to eat roots, herbs, and the bark of trees, and often they died by hundreds for want of even such food. Thus you will see that the lot of the peasant was a hard one, and it was often made still harder by the cruel contempt which the nobles felt for those whom they looked upon as base-born. The name villains was given the peasants because they lived in villages, but the nobles have handed down the name as a term of reproach. In a poem which was written to please the nobles, no doubt, the writer scolds at the villain because he was too well-fed, and as he says, makes faces at the clergy. Aught he to eat fish, the poet asks, let him eat the soles, briars, thorns, and straw, on Sunday, for fodder, and pea husks during the week. Let him keep watch all his days and have trouble. Thus ought villains to live. Aught he to eat meats? He ought to go naked on all fours, and crop herbs with the horned cattle in the fields. Of course there were many lords who did not feel this way towards their peasants. Ordinarily the peasant was not nearly so badly off as the slave in the Greek and Roman days, and often perhaps he was as well off as many of the peasants of Europe today. But there was this difference between his position and that of the peasant now. Many of them could not leave their lords' manners and move elsewhere without their lords' permission. If they did so, their lord could pursue them and bring them back, but if they succeeded in getting to a free town, and dwelt there for a year and a day without being recaptured, then they became freed from their lord and might dwell where they wished. This brings us to consider now the towns during the Middle Ages. The Germans had never lived in cities in their old homes, so when they came into the Roman Empire they preferred the free life of the country to settling within the town walls. The old Roman cities which had sprung up all over the Empire had already lost much of their importance, and under these country-loving conquerors they soon lost what was left. In many places the inhabitants entirely disappeared, other places decreased in size and all lost the right which they had had of governing themselves. The inhabitants of the towns became no better off than the peasants who lived in the little villages. In both the people lived by tilling the soil. In both the lord of the district made laws, appointed officers, and settled disputes in his own court. There was little difference indeed between villages and towns, except a difference in size. This was the condition of things during the early part of the Middle Ages, while feudalism was slowly arising and the nobles were beating back the attacks of the Saracens, the Hungarians, and the Northmen. At last in the 10th and 11th centuries, as we have seen, this danger was overcome. Now men might travel from place to place without constant danger of being robbed or slain. Commerce and manufacturers began to spring up again, and the people of the towns supported themselves by these as well as by agriculture. With commerce and manufacturers, too, came riches. This was especially true in Italy and southern France, where the townsmen were able, by their position, to take part in the trade with Constantinople and Egypt, and also to gain money by carrying pilgrims and crusaders in their ships to the Holy Land. With riches, too, came power, and with power came the desire to free themselves from the rule of their Lord. So, all over civilized Europe, during the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries, we find new towns arising, and old ones getting the right to govern themselves. In Italy the towns gained power first, then in southern France, then in northern France, and then along the valley of the river Rhine, and the coasts of the Baltic Sea. Sometimes the towns bought their freedom from their lords. Sometimes they wanted after long struggles and much fighting. Sometimes the nobles and clergy were wise enough to join with the townsmen and share in the benefits which the town brought. Sometimes they fought them foolishly and bitterly. In Germany and in Italy the power of the kings was not great enough to make much difference one way or the other. In France the kings favored the towns against their lords, and used them to break down the power of the feudal nobles. Then when the kings' power had become so strong that they no longer feared the nobles, they checked the power of the towns, lest they in turn might become powerful and independent. Thus in different ways and at different times there grew up the cities of medieval Europe. In Italy there sprang up the free cities of Venice, Florence, Pisa, Genoa, and others, where scholars and artists were to arise and bring a new birth to learning and art, where also daring seamen were to be trained like Columbus, Cabot, and Vespucius to discover in later times the new world. In France the citizens showed their skill by building those beautiful gothic cathedrals which are still so much admired. In the towns of Germany and Holland clever workmen invented and developed the art of printing, and so made possible the learning and education of today. The civilization of modern times, indeed, owes a great debt to these old towns and their sturdy inhabitants. Let us see now what those privileges were which the townsmen got, and which enabled them to help on the world's progress so much. To us these privileges would not seem so very great. In hundreds of towns in France the lords granted only such rights as the following. 1. The townsmen shall pay only small fixed sums for the rent of their lands, and as a tax when they sell goods, etc. 2. They shall not be obliged to go to war for their lord unless they can return the same day if they choose. 3. When they have lawsuits the townsmen shall not be obliged to go outside the town to have them tried. 4. No charge shall be made for the use of the town oven, and the townsmen may gather the dead wood in the lord's forest for fuel. 5. The townsmen shall be allowed to sell their property when they wish, and leave the town without hindrance from the lord. 6. Any peasant who remains a year and a day in the town, without being claimed by his lord, shall be free. In other places the townsmen got in addition the right to elect their own judges, and in still others they got the right to elect all their officers. Towns of this latter class were sometimes called communes. Over them the lord had very little right except to receive such sums of money as it was agreed should be paid to him. In some places, as in Italy, these communes became practically independent, and had as much power as the lord's themselves. They made laws, coined money, and had their vassals, and waged war just as the lord's did. But there was this important difference. In the communes the rights belonged to the citizens as a whole, and not to one person. This made all the citizens feel an interest in the town affairs, and produced an enterprising determined spirit among them. At the same time the citizens were trained in the art of self-government in using these rights. In this way the world was being prepared for a time when governments like ours—of the people, for the people, and by the people—should be possible. But this was to come only after many, many years. The townsmen often used their power selfishly, and in the interest of their families and their own class. Often the rich and powerful townsmen were as cruel and harsh toward the poorer and weaker classes as the feudal lords themselves. Fierce and bitter struggles often broke out in the towns between the citizens who had power and those who had none. Often, too, there were great family quarrels, continued from generation to generation, like the one which is told of in Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet. In Italy there came in time to be two great parties called the Guelphs and the Gibalinis. At first there was a real difference in views between them, but by and by they became merely two rival factions. Then Guelphs were known from Gibalinis by the way they cut their fruit at table, by the colour of roses they wore, by the way they yawned and spoke and were clad. Often the struggles and brawls became so fierce in a city that to get a little peace the townsmen would call in an outsider to rule over them for a while. With the citizens so divided among themselves it will not surprise you to learn that the communes everywhere at last lost their independence. They passed under the rule of the king, as in France, or else as happened in Italy they fell into the power of some tyrant or local lord. But let us think not of the weaknesses and mistakes of these old townsmen, but of their earnest busy life and its quaint surroundings. Imagine yourself a peasant lad fleeing from your lord or coming for the first time to the market in the city. As we approach the city gates we see that the walls are strong and crowned with turrets and the gate is defended with drawbridge and portcullis like the entrance to a castle. Within are narrow winding streets with rows of tall roofed houses each with its garden attached. The houses themselves are more like our houses today than like the Greek and Roman ones, for they have no courtyard in the interior and are several stories high. The roadway is unpaved and full of mud and there are no sewers. If you walk the streets after nightfall you must carry a torch to light your footsteps, for there are no street lamps. There are no policemen, but if you are out after dark you must beware the city watch who take turns in guarding the city, for they will make you give a strict account of yourself. Now however it is day and we need have no fear. Presently we come into the business parts of the city and there we find the different trades grouped together in different streets. Here are the goldsmiths and there are the tanners, here the cloth merchants and there the butchers, here the armor smiths and there the money changers. The little shops are all on the ground floor with their wares exposed for sale in the open windows. Let us look in at one of the goldsmiths' shops. The shopkeeper and his wife are busily engaged waiting on customers and inviting passers by to stop and examine their goods. Within we see several men and boys at work making the goods which their master sells. There the gold is melted and refined, the right amount of alloy is mixed with it, then it is cast, beaten and filed into the proper shape. Then perhaps the article is enameled and jewels are set in it. All of these things are done in this one little shop and so it is for each trade. The workmen must all begin at the beginning and start with the rough material and the apprentices, as the boys are called, must learn each of the processes by which the raw material is turned into the finished article. Thus a long term of apprenticeship is necessary for each trade lasting sometimes for ten years. During this time the boys are fed, clothed and lodged with their master's family above the shop and receive no pay. If they misbehave he has the right to punish them and if they run away he can pursue them and bring them back. Their life, however, is not so hard as that of the peasant boys and through it all they look forward to the time when their apprenticeship shall be completed. Then they will become full members of the guild of their trade and may work for whatever master they please. For a while they may wander from city to city working now for this master and now for that. In each city they will find the workers at their trade all united together into a guild with a charter from the king or other lord which permits them to make rules for carrying on of that business and to shut out all persons from it who have not served a regular apprenticeship. But the more ambitious boys will not be content with a mere workman's life. They will look forward still further to a time when they shall have saved up money enough to start in business for themselves. Then they too will become masters with workmen and apprentices under them and perhaps in course of time if they grow in wealth and wisdom they may be elected rulers over the city. So we find the apprentices of the different trades working and dreaming. We leave them to their dreams and pass on. As we wander about we find many churches and chapels and perhaps we come after a while to a great cathedral or bishops church rearing its lofty roof to the sky. No pains have been spared to make this as grand and imposing as possible and we gaze upon its great height with awe and wonder at the marvelously quaint and clever patterns in which the stone is carved. We leave this also after a time and then we come to the bell free or town hall. This is the real center of the life of the city. Here is the strong square tower like the dungeon of a castle where the townsmen may make their last stand in case an enemy succeeds in entering their walls and they cannot beat him back in their narrow streets. On top of the tower is the bell with watchmen always on the lookout to give the signal in case of fire or danger. The bell is also used for more peaceful purposes as it gives the signal each morning and evening for the workmen all over the city to begin and to quit work and it also summons the citizens from time to time to public meetings. Within the tower are dungeons for prisoners and meeting rooms for the rulers of the city. There also are strong rooms where the city money is kept together with the city seal. Lastly there is the charter which gives the city its liberties. This is the most precious of all the city possessions. Even in ordinary times the city presents a bustling busy appearance. If it is a city which holds a fair once or twice a year what shall we say of it then? For several weeks at such times the city is one vast store. Strange merchants come from all parts of the land and set up their booths and stalls along the streets and the city shops are crowded with goods. For miles about the people throng in to buy the things they need. Take a look at the picture of the streets of a city during fair time in the 13th century. In the middle of the picture we see a townsman and his wife returning home after making their purchases. Behind them are a knight and his attendant on horseback picking their way through the crowd. On the right hand side of the street is the shop of a cloth merchant and we see the merchant and his wife showing goods to customers while workmen are unpacking a box in the street. Next door is a tavern with its sign hung out and near this we see a cross which some pious person has erected at the street corner. On the left hand side of the street we see a cripple begging for alms. Back of him is another cloth merchant shop and next to this is a money changers table where a group of people are having money weighed to see that there is no cheating in the payment. Beyond this is an elevated stage on which a company of tumblers and jugglers are performing with a crowd of people about them. In the background we see some tall roofed houses topped with turrets and beyond these we can just make out the spire of a church rising to the sky. This is indeed a busy scene and it is a picture which we may carry away with us. It well shows the energy and the activity which during the later Middle Ages made the towns the starting place for so many important movements. End of Chapter 14. Read by Kara Schellenberg on March 27th 2007 in Oceanside, California. The Story of the Middle Ages Chapter 15. 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 15. Life of the Monastery. In the last two chapters we have studied the life of the castle, of the village and of the town. We must now see what the life of the monastery was like. In the Middle Ages men thought that storms and lightning, famine and sickness, were signs of the wrath of God or were the work of evil spirits. The world was a terrible place to them and the wickedness and misery with which it was filled made them long to escape from it. Great numbers therefore abandoned the world and became monks to serve God and save their souls. In this way monasteries arose on every hand and in every Christian land. It was not long before men began to feel the need of rules to govern the monasteries. If the monks were left each to do what he thought best, there would be trouble of all sorts. A famous monk named Benedict drew up a series of rules for his monastery and these served the purpose so well that they were adopted for many others. In course of time the monasteries of all western Europe were put under the Benedictine rule, as it was called. The dress of the monks was to be of course woolen cloth with a cowl or hood which could be pulled up to protect the head, and about the waist a cord was worn for a girdle. The gown of the Benedictines was usually black, so they were called black monks. As the centuries went by new orders were founded with new rules, but these usually took the rule of Saint Benedict and merely changed it to meet new conditions. In this way arose white monks and monks of other names. In addition orders of friars were founded who were like the monks in many ways but lived more in the world, preaching, teaching, and caring for the sick. These were called black friars, gray friars, or white friars according to the color of their dress. Besides the orders for men too there were orders for women who were called nuns, and in some places nunneries became almost as common as monasteries. Let us try now to see what a Benedictine monastery was like. One of the Benedict's rules provided that every monastery should be so arranged that everything the monks needed would be in the monastery itself, and there would be no need to wander about outside. For this, said Benedict, is not at all good for their souls. Each monastery therefore became a settlement complete in itself. It not only had its halls where the monks ate and slept, but its own church. It also had its own mill, its own bake oven, and its own workshops where the monks made the things they needed. The better to shut out the world and to protect the monastery against robbers, the buildings were surrounded by a strong wall. Outside this lay the fields of the monastery where the monks themselves raised the grain they needed, or which were tilled for them by peasants in the same way that the lands of the lords were tilled. Finally there was the woodland where the swine were herded, and the pasture lands where the cattle and sheep were sent to graze. The amount of land belonging to a monastery was often quite large. Nobles and kings frequently gave gifts of land and the monks in return prayed for their souls. Often when the land came into the possession of the monks it was covered with swamps or forests, but by unwarying labour the swamps were drained and the forests felled, and soon smiling fields appeared where before there was only a wilderness. Above is the picture of a German monastery at the close of the Middle Ages. There we see the strong wall, surrounded by a ditch, enclosing the buildings and protecting the monastery from attack. To enter the enclosure we must cross the bridge and present ourselves at the gate. When we have passed this we see to the left stables for cattle and horses, while to the right are gardens of herbs for the cure of the sick. Nearby is the monks' graveyard with the graves marked by little crosses. In the centre of the enclosure are workshops where the monks work at different trades. The tall building with the spires crowned with the figures of saints is the church, where the monks hold services at regular intervals throughout the day and night. Adjoining this in the form of a square are the buildings in which the monks sleep and eat. This is the cloister and is the principal part of the monastery. In southern lands this inner square or cloister was usually surrounded on all sides by a porch or piazza, the roof of which was supported on long rows of pillars, and here the monks might pace to and fro in quiet talk, when the duties of worship and labour did not occupy their time. In addition to these buildings there are many others which we cannot stop to describe. Some are used to carry on the work of the monastery. Some are for the use of the abbot, who is the ruler of the monks. Some are hospitals for the sick and some are guest chambers, where travellers are lodged overnight. In the guest chambers the travellers might sleep undisturbed all the night through, but it was not so with the monks. They must begin their worship long before the sun was up. Soon after midnight the bell of the monastery rings, the monks rise from their hard beds and gather in the church to recite prayers, read portions of the Bible and sing Psalms. Not less than twelve of the Psalms of the Old Testament must be read each night at this service. At daybreak again the bell rings, and once more the monks gather in the church. This is the first of the seven services which are held during the day. The others come at seven o'clock in the morning, at nine o'clock, at noon, at three in the afternoon, at six o'clock, and at bedtime. At each of these there are prayers, reading from the scriptures, and chanting of Psalms. Latin was the only language used in the church services of the West in the Middle Ages, so the Bible was read, the Psalms sung, and the prayers recited in this tongue. The services are so arranged that in the course of every week the entire Psalter or Psalm book is gone through. Then at the Sunday night service they begin again. Besides these services there are many other things which the monks must do. Idleness, wrote St. Benedict, is the enemy of the soul. So it was arranged that at fixed hours during the day the monks should labor with their hands. Some plowed the fields, harrowed them, and planted and harvested the grain. Others worked at various trades in the workshops of the monasteries. If any brother showed too much pride in his work and put himself above the others because of his skill, he was made to work at something else. The monks must be humble at all times. A monk, said Benedict, must always show humility, not only in his heart, but with his body also. This is so whether he is at work or at prayer, whether he is in the monastery, in the garden, in the road, or in the fields. Everywhere, sitting, walking, or standing, let him always be with head bowed, his looks fixed upon the ground, and let him remember every hour that he is guilty of his sins. One of the most useful labours which the monks performed was the copying and writing of books. At certain hours of the day, especially on Sundays, the brothers were required by Benedict's rule to read and to study. In the Middle Ages of course there were no printing presses. And all books were manuscript, that is, they were copied a letter at a time by hand. So in each well-regulated monastery there was a writing room, or scriptorium, where some of the monks worked copying manuscripts. The writing was usually done on skins of parchment. These the monks cut to the size of the page, rubbing the surface smooth with pumice stone. Then the margins were marked and the lines ruled with sharp alls. The writing was done with pens made of quills or of reeds, and with ink made of soot mixed with gum and acid. The greatest care was used in forming each letter, and at the beginning of the chapters a large initial was made. Sometimes these initials were really pictures, beautifully illuminated in blue, gold, and crimson. All this required skill and much pains. He who does not know how to write, wrote one monk at the end of a manuscript. Imagines that it is no labour, but though only three fingers hold the pen, the whole body grows weary. And another one wrote, I pray you good readers who may use this book, do not forget him who copied it. It was a poor brother named Louis who, while he copied the volume, which was brought from a foreign country, endured the cold, and was obliged to finish in the night what he could not write by day. The monks, by copying books, did a great service to the world, for it was in this way that many valuable works were preserved during the Dark Ages, when violence and ignorance spread, and the love of learning had almost died out. In other ways also the monks helped the cause of learning. At a time when no one else took the trouble, or knew how, to write a history of the things that were going on, the monks in most of the great monasteries wrote annals, or chronicles, in which events were each year set down. And at a time when there were no schools except those provided by the church, the monks taught boys to read and to write, so that there might always be learned men to carry on the work of religion. The education which they gave, and the books which they wrote, were of course in Latin, like the services of the church, for this was the only language of educated men. The histories which the monks wrote were no doubt very poor ones, and the schools were not very good, but they were ever so much better than none at all. Here is what a monk wrote in the annals of his monastery, as the history of the year 807. It will show us something about both the histories and the schools. 807. Grimoire, Duke of Beneventum, died, and there was great sickness in the monastery of St. Boniface, so that many of the younger brothers died. The boys of the monastery school beat their teacher and ran away. That is all we are told. Were the boys just unruly and naughty? Did they rebel at the tasks of school at a time when Charlemagne was waging his mighty wars? And did they long to become knights and warriors, instead of priests and monks? Or was it on account of the sickness that they ran away? We cannot tell. That is the way it is with many things in the Middle Ages. Most of what we know about the history of that time we learn from the chronicles kept by the monks, and these do not tell us nearly all that we should like to know. The three most important things which were required of the monks were that they should have no property of their own, that they should not marry, and that they should obey those who were placed over them. A monk, said Benedict, should have absolutely nothing, neither a book, nor a tablet, nor a pen. Even the clothes which they wore were the property of the monastery. If any gifts were sent them by their friends or relatives, they must turn them over to the abbot for the use of the monastery as a whole. The rule of obedience required that a monk, when ordered to do a thing, should do it without delay, and if impossible things were commanded, he must at least make the attempt. The rule about marrying was equally strict, and in some monasteries it was counted a sin even to look upon a woman. Other rules forbade the monks to talk at certain times of the day and in their sleeping halls. For fear they might forget themselves at the table, St. Benedict ordered that one of the brethren should always read aloud at meals from some holy book. All were required to live on the simplest and plainest food. The rules, indeed, were so strict that it was often difficult to enforce them, especially after the monasteries became rich and powerful. Then, although the monks might not have any property of their own, they enjoyed vast riches belonging to the monastery as a whole, and often lived in luxury and idleness. When this happened there was usually a reaction, and new orders arose with stricter and stricter rules. So we have times of zeal and strict enforcement of the rules, followed by periods of decay, and these, in turn, followed by new periods of strictness. This went on to the close of the Middle Ages, when most of the monasteries were done away with. When anyone wished to become a monk, he had first to go through a trial. He must become a novice, and live in the monastery under its rules for a year. Then, if he was still of the same mind, he took the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. From that day forth, says the rule of St. Benedict, he shall not be allowed to depart from the monastery, nor to shake from his neck the yoke of the rule, for after so long delay he was at liberty either to receive it or to refuse it. When the monasteries had become corrupt some men no doubt became monks in order that they might live in idleness and luxury. But let us think rather of the many men who became monks because they believed that this was the best way to serve God. Let us think in closing of one of the best of the monasteries of the Middle Ages, and let us look at its life through the eyes of a noble young novice. The monastery was in France, and its abbot, St. Bernard, was famous throughout the Christian world in the 12th century for his piety and zeal. Of this monastery the novice writes, I watched the monks at their daily services and at their nightly vigils from midnight to the dawn, and as I hear them singing so holily and unwaryingly, they seem to me more like angels than men. Some of them have been bishops or rulers or else have been famous for their rank and knowledge. Now all are equal and no one is higher or lower than any other. I see them in the gardens with the hoe, in the meadows with fork and rake, in the forests with the axe. When I remember what they have been, and consider their present condition and work, their poor and ill-made clothes, my heart tells me that they are not the dull and speechless beings they seem, but that their life is hid with Christ in the heavens. Farewell! God willing, on the next Sunday after ascension day, I too shall put on the armour of my profession as a monk. Read by Kara Schellenberg on March 28, 2007, in Oceanside, California. 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 16 Papacy and Empire We have seen, in another chapter, how the Bishop of Rome became the head of the Western Church, with the title of Pope, and we have seen how Charlemagne restored the position of Emperor as ruler of the West. We must now follow the history of these two great institutions, the Papacy and the Empire, and see how they got along together. After Gregory the Great died it was long before the Church had a Pope who was so able and good, and after Charlemagne was dead it was long before there was another Emperor as great as he had been. Charlemagne's Empire was divided by his grandsons, as we have seen, into three kingdoms, and though the oldest of them received the title of Emperor, he had little of Charlemagne's power. Afterwards the descendants of Charlemagne grew weaker and weaker, and finally their power came entirely to an end. In Italy and Germany, as well as in France, the rule of the Carolingians ceased, and new rulers arose. In Germany it was the Saxons, whom Charlemagne had conquered with so much difficulty, who now took the leading part in the government. A new and stronger German kingdom was established, and then of these Saxon kings, Otto the First, who was rightly called Otto the Great, revived the Empire which Charlemagne had founded. This was in the year 962, and Otto had already been king for twenty-six years. After he became Emperor, Otto ruled over Italy as well as over Germany, and he proved to be as good a ruler as Emperor as he had been as king. One of the first things he did in Italy was to put the papacy in a better condition. During the troubled times that had followed the fall of Charlemagne's Empire, Italian nobles had controlled the papacy for selfish ends. After many efforts it was taken from their control, and soon the position of the Popes was higher than it had ever been. Then the question arose as to what their position should be towards emperors. Just one hundred years after the death of Otto the First, a man became Pope who had very decided opinions on this subject. His name was Hildebrand. He was the son of a poor carpenter, and was born in Italy, but he was of German origin. His uncle was the head of a monastery of Rome, and it was there that the boy was brought up and educated. When he became a man he too became a monk. Circumstances soon led him to France, and therefore a while he was a member of the most famous monastery of Europe, the one at Cluny, in Burgundy. Not only the papacy, but the whole church had fallen into a bad condition at this time. Monks had ceased to obey the rules made for their government, and lived idly and often wickedly. Priests and bishops, instead of giving their attention to the churches which were under their care, spent their time like the nobles of that day in hunting, in pleasure, and in war. There were three evils which were especially complained of. First, priests, bishops, and even popes often got their offices by purchase, instead of being freely elected or appointed. This was called Simoni. Second, the greater part of the clergy had followed the example of the Eastern Church and married, so breaking the rule of celibacy, which required that they should not marry. This was especially harmful because the married clergy sought to provide for their children by giving them lands and other property belonging to the church. The third evil was the investiture of clergymen by laymen. When a bishop, for example, was chosen, he was given the staff and the ring, which were the signs of his office, by the emperor or king, instead of by an archbishop, and this investiture by laymen made the clergy look more to the rulers of the land than to the rulers of the church. The monastery of Clooney took the leading part in fighting against these evils. Its abbots joined to it other monasteries which were purified and reformed, and in this way Clooney became the head of a congregation or union of monasteries numbered many hundreds. Every where it raised the cry, no Simoni, celibacy, and no lay investiture. When Hildebrand came to Clooney this movement had been going on for some time, and much good had already been done, but it was through the efforts of Hildebrand himself that the movement was to win its greatest success. After staying at Clooney for some months, Hildebrand returned to Rome. There for almost a quarter of a century, under five successive popes, he was the chief advisor and helper of the papacy. Several times the people of Rome wished to make Hildebrand pope, but he refused. At last, when the fifth of these popes had died, he was forced to submit. In the midst of the funeral services a cry arose from the clergy and the people. Hildebrand is pope, Saint Peter chooses Hildebrand to be pope. When Hildebrand sought again to refuse the office, his voice was drowned in cries. It is the will of Saint Peter, Hildebrand is pope. So he was obliged at last to submit. Unwillingly it is said, and with tears in his eyes, he was led to the papal throne. There he was clothed with the scarlet robe and crowned with the papal crown. Then at length he was seated in the chair of Saint Peter, where so many popes had sat before him. In accordance with the custom he now took a new name, and as pope he was always called Gregory VII. The emperor at this time was Henry IV, who had been ruler over Germany ever since he was six years old. One of his guardians had let the boy have his own way in everything, so, although he was well-meaning, he had grown up without self-control, and with many bad habits. Gregory was determined to make the emperor give up the right of investiture, and also tried to force him to reform his manner of living. Henry for his part was just as determined never to give up any right which the emperors had had before him, and complained bitterly of the pride and haughtiness of the pope. A quarrel was the result, which lasted for almost fifty years. The question to be settled was not merely the right of investiture. It included also the question whether the emperor was above the pope, or the pope above the emperor. Charlemagne and Otto I and other emperors had often come into Italy to correct popes when they did wrong, and at times they had even set aside evil popes, and named new ones in their place. Gregory now claimed that the pope was above the emperor, that the lay power had no rights over the clergy, and that the pope might even depose an emperor and free his subjects from the obedience which they owed him. The pope, he said, had given the empire to Charlemagne, and what one pope had given another could take away. The popes relied in such struggles on the power which they possessed to excommunicate a person. Excommunication cut the person off from the church, and no good Christian thenceforth might have anything to do with him. They could not live with him, nor do business with him, and if he died unforgiven his soul was believed to be lost. This was the weapon which Gregory used against the emperor Henry when he refused to give up the right of investiture. He excommunicated him, and forbade all people from obeying him as emperor, or having anything to do with him. Henry's subjects were already dissatisfied with his rule, so they took this occasion to rise in rebellion. Soon Henry saw that unless he made his peace with the pope he would lose his whole kingdom. So with his wife and infant son and only one attendant he crossed the Alps in the depth of winter. After terrible hardships he arrived at Canossa where the pope was staying on January 25th 1076. There for three days with bare feet and in the dress of a penitent he was forced to stand in the snow before the gate of the castle. On the fourth day he was admitted to the presence of the pope and crying, Holy Father, spare me! He threw himself at Gregory's feet. Then the pope raised him up and forgave him, and after promising that henceforth he would rule in all things as the pope wished, Henry was allowed to return to Germany. This, however, did not end the quarrel. Henry could not forgive the humiliation that had been put upon him. The German people and clergy, too, would not admit the rights which the pope claimed. Gradually Henry recovered the power which he had lost, and at last he again went to Italy, this time with an army at his back. All Gregory's enemies now rose up against him, and the pope was obliged to flee to the Normans in southern Italy. There the gray-haired old pope soon died, saying, One thing only fills me with hope. I have always loved the law of God and hated evil. Therefore I die in exile. Even after the death of Gregory the struggle went on. New popes arose who claimed all the power that Gregory had claimed, and everywhere the monks of Clooney aided the pope and opposed the emperor. Henry's son, too, rebelled against him, and at last, twenty years after the death of Gregory, Henry IV died broken-hearted and deprived of power. When once Henry's son had become emperor, he found that he must continue the struggle, or his power would be nothing. At last it was seen that each side must give up something, so a compromise was agreed to. The emperor, it was settled, should surrender his claim to give the bishops the ring and the staff. On the other hand, the pope agreed that the emperor might control the election of bishops, and bind them to perform the duties which they owed as a result of the lands which they received from him. The whole trouble had arisen from the fact that the bishops were not only officers of the church, but that they held feudal benefits of the emperor, and this compromise was acceptable to both sides. This, however, did not settle the question whether the pope was above the emperor or the emperor above the pope. On this point there continued to be trouble throughout the Middle Ages. Everybody agreed that there must be one head to rule over the church, and one head, above all kings and princes, to rule over the states of Europe, but they could not settle the relations which these two should bear to each other. Some said that the power of the pope in the world was like the soul of a man, and the power of the emperor was like his body. But when the popes claimed that because the soul was above the body, the papacy was above the emperor, the emperors would not agree. In one passage in the Bible the apostles said to Christ, Behold, here are two swords, and Christ answered, It is enough. By the swords it was said, was meant the power of the pope, and the power of the emperor. Those in favor of the papacy tried to explain that both the swords were in Peter's hands, and that as Peter was the founder of the papacy, Christ meant both powers to be under the pope. To this those who favored the empire would not agree. When Frederick Barbarossa was emperor, there was another long quarrel, and one of the pope's officers tried to show that Frederick held the empire as a benefit from the pope, just as a vassal held his land as a benefit from his lord. This claim raised such an outburst of anger from the Germans, that the pope was obliged to explain it away. The last great struggle between the papacy and empire came when Frederick II, the grandson of Frederick Barbarossa, was emperor. Frederick II ruled not only over Germany and northern Italy, but over southern Italy as well. His mother was the heiress of the last of the Norman kings in Italy, and from her Frederick inherited the kingdom of the two Sicilies. The pope was afraid that the emperor might try to get Rome also, so a quarrel soon broke out. Frederick had taken the cross and promised to go on a crusade. When he delayed doing this, the pope excommunicated him for not going. Frederick at last was ready and went to the Holy Land. Then the pope excommunicated him a second time for going without getting the excommunication removed. In the Holy Land Frederick had great trouble with the pope's friends, because he was excommunicated. At last he made a treaty by which he recovered Jerusalem from the and returned home. Then he was excommunicated a third time. It seemed as if there was nothing that he could do that would please the pope. For a while peace was made between the pope and emperor, but it did not last long. The papacy could never be content so long as the emperor ruled over southern Italy. A new quarrel broke out, and this time it lasted until Frederick's death in the year 1250. After that the struggle continued until the papacy was completely victorious, and Frederick's sons and grandson were slain, and southern Italy was ruled by a king who was not, also the ruler of Germany. Thus the papacy was left completely victorious over the empire. For nearly a quarter of a century there was then no real emperor in Germany, and when at last one was chosen he was careful to leave Italy alone. Italy, said he, is the den of the lion. I see many tracks leading into it, but there are none coming out. From this time on the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire comes more and more to be merely the ruler over Germany. At about the same time the popes began to make greater claims than ever. One pope, Boniface VIII, clothed himself in the imperial cloak, and with the scepter in his hand, and a crown upon his head, cried, I am pope, I am emperor. This could not last long. The empire was gone, but there were now new national governments arising in France, England, and elsewhere, which were conscious of their strength. Boniface soon got into a quarrel with Philip IV of France about some money matters, and the way he was treated by the servants of the king showed that the old power of the popes was gone, equally with the power of the emperors. Boniface was seized at the little town in Italy where he was staying, was struck in the face with the glove of one of his own nobles, and was kept prisoner for several days. Although he was soon released the old pope died in a few weeks. Of shame and anger it was said. Nor was this the end of the matter. Within a few months the seat of the papacy was changed from Rome to Avignon on the river Rome. There for nearly seventy years the popes remained under the influence of the kings of France. When at last a pope sought to remove the papacy back to Rome, this led to new trouble. A great division or schism now arose, so that there were two popes instead of one, and all the nations of Europe were divided as to whether they should obey the pope at Rome or the one at Avignon. All our west land, wrote an Englishman named Wycliffe, is with that one pope or the other, and he that is with the one hateth the other, with all his. Some men say that here is the pope at Avignon, for he was well chosen, and some men say that he is yonder at Rome, for he was first chosen. A council of the church tried to end the schism, but it only made matters worse by adding a third pope to the two that already existed. At last another and greater council was held and there, after the schism had lasted for nearly forty years, all three popes were set aside, and a new one chosen, whom all the nations accepted. So at last the papacy was reunited and restored to Rome, but it never recovered entirely from it stay at Avignon and from the great schism. The power of the popes was never again as great as it had been before the quarrel between Boniface VIII and the King of France. The papacy had triumphed over the empire, but it could not triumph over the national kingdoms. We look on, pope and emperor alike, said a writer in the fifteenth century, who soon became pope himself, as names in a story or heads in a picture. Thenceforth there was no ruler whom all Christendom would obey. The end of the Middle Ages, indeed, was fast approaching. The modern times, when each nation obeys its own kings, and follows only its own interests, were close, at hand. The story of the Middle Ages by Samuel B. Harding Chapter 17 THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR One of the signs that the Middle Ages was coming to an end was the long war between France and England. It lasted altogether from 1337 to 1453, and is called the Hundred Years' War. When William the Conqueror became King of England, he did not cease to be Duke of Normandy. Indeed, as time went on, the power of the English kings in France increased, until William's successors ruled all the western part of that land, from north of the River Seine to the Pyrenees Mountains, and from the Bay of Biscay almost to the River Rhône. They held all this territory as fiefs of the kings of France, but the fact that they were also independent kings of England made them stronger than their overlords. This led to frequent wars, until at last the English kings had lost all their land in France, except Aquitaine, in the south west. These, however, were merely feudal wars between the rulers of the two countries. They did not much concern the people of either France or England, for in neither country had the people come to feel that they were a nation, and that one of their first duties was to love their own country and support their own government. In Aquitaine, indeed, the people scarcely felt that they were French at all, and rather preferred the kings of England to the French kings who dwelt at Paris. During the Hundred Years' War, all this was to change. In fighting with one another in this long struggle, the people of France and of England came gradually to feel that they were French and English. The people of Aquitaine began to feel that they were of nearer kin to those who dwelt about Paris than they were to the English, and began to feel love for France and hatred for England. It was the same, too, with the English. In fighting the French, the descendants of the old Saxons and of the conquering Normans came to feel that they were all alike Englishmen. So although the long war brought terrible suffering and misery, it brought also some good to both countries. In each patriotism was born, and in each the people became a nation. There were many things which led up to the war, but the chief was the fact that the French king, who died in 1328, left no son to succeed him. The principal claimants for the throne were his cousin Philip, who was Duke of Valois, and his nephew Edward III of England. The French nobles decided in favour of Duke Philip, and he became king as Philip VI. Edward did not like this decision, but he accepted it for a time. After nine years, however, war broke out because of other reasons, and then Edward claimed the throne as his of right. During the first eight years, neither country gained any great advantage, though the English won an important battle at sea. In the ninth year, the English gained their first great victory on land. This battle took place at Cressy, in the northernmost part of France, about one hundred miles from Paris. The French army was twice as large as the English, and was made up mainly of mounted knights, armed with lance and sword, and clad in the heavy armour of the Middle Ages. The English army was made up chiefly of archers on foot. Everywhere in England, boys were trained from the time they were six or seven years old, at shooting with the bow and arrow. As they grew older, stronger and stronger bows were given them, until at last they could use the great long bows of their fathers. The greatest care was taken in this teaching, and on holidays grown men as well as boys might be seen practising shooting at marks on the village commons. In this way the English became the best archers in Europe, and so powerful were their bows, that the arrows would often pierce armour, or slay a knight's horse at a hundred yards. So the advantage was not so great on the side of the French as it seemed. Besides, King Edward placed his men very skillfully, while the French managed the battle very badly. Edward placed his archers at the top of a sloping hillside with the knights behind. In command of the first line he placed his fifteen-year-old son, the Black Prince, while the King himself took a position on a little windmill hill in the rear. The French had a large number of crossbowmen with them. Although the crossbowmen could not shoot so rapidly as the English archers, because the crossbow had to be rested on the ground, and wound up after each shot, they could shoot to a greater distance and with more force. Unluckily a shower wet the strings of the crossbows, while the English were able to protect their bows and keep the strings dry. So when the French King ordered the crossbowmen to advance, they went unwillingly, and when the English archers, each stepping forward one pace, let fly their arrows, the crossbowmen turned and fled. At this King Philip was very angry, for he thought they fled through cowardice, so he cried, Slay me those rascals! At this command the French knights rode among the crossbowmen, and killed many of their own men. All this while the English arrows were falling in showers about them, and many horses and knights as well as archers were slain. Then the French horsemen charged the English lines. Some of the knights about the young prince now began to fear for him, and sent to the King, urging him to send assistance. Is my son dead, asked the King, or so wounded that he cannot help himself? No, Sire, please God! answered the messenger. But he is in a hard passage of arms, and much needs your help. Then, said King Edward, return to them that sent you, and tell them not to send to me again so long as my son lives. I command them to let the boy win his spurs. If God be pleased, I will that the honour of this day shall be his. On the French side was the blind old King of Bohemia. When the fighting began he said to those about him, You are my vassals and friends. I pray you to lead me so far into the battle that I may strike at least one good stroke with my sword. Two of his attendants then placed themselves on either side of him, and, tying the bridles of their horses together, they rode into the fight. There the old blind King fought valiantly, and when the battle was over, the bodies of all three were found, with their horses still tied together. The victory of the English was complete. Thousands of the French were slain, and King Philip himself was obliged to flee to escape capture. But though the Black Prince won his spurs right nobly, the chief credit for the victory was due to the English archers. It was many years after this before the next great battle was fought. This was due in part to a terrible sickness which came upon all Western Europe, soon after the Battle of Cressy. It was called the Black Death, and arose in Asia, where cholera and the plague often arise. Whole villages were attacked at the same time, and for two years the disease raged everywhere. When at last it died out, half of the population of England was gone, and France had suffered almost as terribly. Ten years after the Battle of Cressy, in 1356, the war broke out anew. The Black Prince, at the head of an army, set out from Aquitaine, and marched northward into the heart of France. Soon, however, he found his retreat cut off near the city of Poitiers by the French King John, who had succeeded his father Philip, with an army six or seven times the size of the English force. The situation of the English was so bad that the Prince offered to give up all the prisoners, castles, and towns which they had taken during this expedition, and to promise not to fight against France again for seven years, if the French King would grant them a free retreat. But King John felt so sure of victory that he refused these terms. Then the battle began. Just as at Cressy the English were placed on a little hill, and again they depended chiefly on their archers. From behind a thick hedge they shot their arrows in clouds as the French advanced. Soon all was uproar and confusion. Many of the French lay wounded or slain, and many of their horses, feeling the sting of the arrow-heads, reared wildly, flung their riders and dashed to the rear. When once dismounted a knight could not mount to the saddle again without assistance, so heavy was the armour which was then worn. In a short time this division of the French was overthrown, then a second, and finally a third division met the same fate. To the war cries, Mount Joy, Saint Denis, the English replied with the shouts of Saint George, Guyane. The ringing of spear-heads upon shields, the noise of breaking lances, the clash of hostile swords and battle-axes, were soon added to the rattle of English arrows upon French breast-plates and helmets. At last the French were all overthrown, or turned in flight, except in one quarter of the field. There King John, with a few of his bravest knights, fought valiantly on foot. As he swung his heavy battle-axe, now at this foe, and now at that, his son Philip, a brave boy of thirteen years, cried unceasingly, Father, guard right! Father, guard left! At last even the king was obliged to surrender, and he and his son Philip were taken prisoners to the tent of the English Prince. There they were courteously entertained, the Prince waiting upon them at table with his own hands. But for several years they remained captives, awaiting the ransom which the English demanded. The battle of Portiers was a sad blow indeed to France. Many hundreds of her noblest knights were there slain, and all sorts of disorders arose during the captivity of her King. The peasants rose in rebellion against their masters, and civil war broke out. And when, after four years of comfortable captivity, King John was set free, he was obliged to pay a heavy ransom, and sign a peace, in which he surrendered to the English in full right, all of aquitaine. Soon after this, good King John, as he was called, died, leaving his kingdom in great disorder. He was a good knight, and a brave man, but he was a poor general, and a weak king. His eldest son Charles, who was styled Charles the Fifth, or Charles the Wise, now became king. He was very different from his father, and though he was not nearly so nightly a warrior, he proved a much better king. He improved the government and the army, and when the war with the English began again, he at once began to be successful. The Black Prince was now broken in health, and died in the year 1376. The old English King Edward III died the next year, and then Richard II, the twelve-year-old son of the Black Prince, became King of England. Troubles, too, broke out in England, so the English were not able to carry on the war as vigorously as they had done before. At the same time the French King found a general named Dugasclin, who proved to be the best general that the Middle Ages ever saw. One trouble with the French had been that they scorned the base-born foot-soldiers, and thought that war should be the business of the heavy-armed knights alone. And another was that the knights thought it disgraceful to retreat, even when they knew they could not win. With Dugasclin all this was different. He was willing to use peasants and townsmen if their way of fighting was better than that of the nobles, and he did not think it beneath him to retreat if he saw he could not win. So, by caution and good sense, and the support of wise King Charles, he won victory after victory, and, though no great battles were fought, almost all of the English possessions in France came into the hands of the French once more. Then the French successes stopped for a time. Dugasclin died, and after him King Charles V, and now it was the French who had a boy king. When this king, Charles VI, grew to be a man, he became insane, and his uncles quarreled with one another, and with the king's brother for the government. Soon the quarrel led to murder, and the murder to civil war, and again France was thrown into all the misery and disorder, from which it had been rescued by Charles the Wise. In England about this time King Henry V came to the throne. He was a young and war-like prince, and he wished, through a renewal of the war, to win glory for himself. Besides he remembered the old claim of Edward III to the French crown, and he thought that now, when the French nobles were fighting among themselves, was a fine opportunity to make that claim good. So in the year 1415 King Henry landed with an army in France, and began again the old, old struggle. And again after a few months the English found their retreat cut off near a little village called Agincourt by a much larger army of the French. But King Henry remembered the victories of Cressy and Poitiers, and did not despair. When one of his knights wished that the thousands of warriors then lying idle in England were only there, King Henry exclaimed, I would not have a single man more. If God gives us the victory, it will be plain that we owe it to his grace. If not, the fewer we are, the less lost to England. At Agincourt there was no sheltering hedge to protect the English archers. To make up for this King Henry ordered each man to provide himself with tall stakes, sharpened at each end. These they planted slant-wise in the ground, as a protection against French horsemen. Most of the English force was again made up of archers with the longbow, while most of the French were knights in full armour. The French indeed seemed to have forgotten all that Dugasclin and Charles V had taught them. To make matters worse, their knights dismounted, and sought to march upon the English position on foot. As the field through which they had to pass was newly plowed and wet with rain, the heavy-armed knights sank knee-deep in mud at every step. For the third time the English victory was complete. Eleven thousand Frenchmen were left dead upon the field, and among the number were more than a hundred great lords and princes. In after-years Englishmen sang of the wonderful victory in these words. Agincourt, Agincourt, no ye not Agincourt, when English slew and hurt all their French foemen, with our pikes and bills brown, how the French were beat down, shot by our bowmen. Agincourt, Agincourt, no ye not Agincourt, English of every sort, highmen and lowmen, fought that day wondrous well, as all our old stories tell us, thanks to our bowmen. Agincourt, Agincourt, no ye not Agincourt, when our fifth Harry taught Frenchmen to know men, and when the day was done, thousands then fell to one good English bowmen. Even so great a defeat as this could not make the French princes cease their quarrels. Again the leader of one party was murdered by the follower of another, and the followers of the dead prince became so bitterly hostile, that they were willing to join the English against the other party. In this way the Burgundians, as the one party was called, entered into a treaty with Henry of England against the Arminyaks, as the other party was called, and it was agreed that Henry should marry Catherine, the daughter of the insane king, and Henry should become king of France when the old king died. No one seemed to care for the rights of the Dauphin, the French king's son, except the Arminyaks, they of course were opposed to all that the Burgundians did. Both Henry V of England and poor old Charles VI of France died within two years after this treaty was signed. Henry had married Catherine, as agreed, and though their son, Henry VI, was a mere baby, only nine months old, he now became king of both England and France. In neither country, however, was his reign to be a happy or a peaceful one. In England the little king's relatives fell to quarreling about the government just as had happened in France, and when he grew up, like his French grandfather, he became insane. At the same time the English found their hold upon France relaxing, and the land slipping from their grasp. Only the Arminyaks at first recognized the Dauphin as king, and for seven years after the death of his father he had great difficulty in keeping any part of France from the hands of the English. In the year 1429, however, a great change took place. A young peasant girl, named Joan of Arc, appeared at the king's court in that year, and under her inspiration and guidance the French cause began to gain, and the English and Burgundian to lose ground. Joan's home was in the far northeastern part of France, and there she had been brought up in the cottage of her father, with her brothers and sisters. There she helped to herd the sheep, assisted her mother in household tasks, and learned to spin and to sow. She never learned to read and write, for that was not thought necessary for peasant girls. Joan was a sweet good girl, and was very religious. Even in her far-off village the people suffered from the evils which the wars brought upon the land, and Joan's heart was moved by the distress which she saw about her. When she was thirteen she began to hear the voices of saints and angels, of Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, and of the angel Gabriel. When she was eighteen her voices told her that she must go into France, aid the Dauphin, and cause him to be crowned king at Rhimes, where the kings of France had been crowned before him. The cause of the Dauphin at this time was at its lowest ebb. The English were besieging the city of Orleans, on the Loire River, and if that was taken all France would be lost. So the first work of Joan must be to raise the siege of Orleans. With much difficulty she succeeded in reaching the Dauphin. When she was brought into the room where he was she picked him out from among all, though she had never seen him, and many of the courtiers were more richly dressed than he. After many weeks she succeeded in persuading his counsellors that her voices were from God and not the evil one. Then at last she was given a suit of armour, and mounted on a white horse with a sword at her side and a standard in her hand she rode at the head of the Dauphin's troops to Orleans. When once Joan had reached that place she so encouraged the citizens that within eight days the English were forced to raise the siege and retire. It seemed to the French a miracle of God while the English dreaded and feared her as a witch or sorceress. From this time Joan is called the maid of Orleans. Nor did her success stop with the relief of that city. Within a few months the Dauphin was taken to Rhimes and crowned as true king of France. After this many flocked to his standard who before had taken no part in the war. From that time on the French began to get the advantage of the English, and it was mainly the enthusiasm and faith aroused by the maid that caused the change. Joan's work was now almost done. Twice she was wounded while fighting at the head of the king's troops. At last she was taken prisoner by a party of Burgundians and turned over to the English. By them she was put on trial for heresy and sorcery. She showed much courage and skill before her judges, but she was condemned and sentenced to be burned to death at the stake. The next day the sentence was carried out. To the last she showed herself brave, kind, and womanly. As the flames mounted about her and Englishmen cried out, We are lost, we have burned a saint. Such indeed she was if a saint was ever made by purity, faith, and noble suffering. The English burned the maid and threw her ashes in the river Sain, but they could not undo her work. The French continued to gain victory after victory. Soon the old breach between the Arminyaks and Burgundians was healed, and the Burgundians abandoned the English. Then Paris was gained by the French king. Some years later Normandy was conquered, and finally Aquitaine. In the year 1453 the long, long war came to an end. Of all the wide territories which the English had once possessed in France, they now held only one little town in the north, and the shadows of a civil war, the War of the Roses, were arising in England to prevent them from ever regaining what they had lost. Down to the time of George III the English kings continued to style themselves kings of France, but this was a mere form. The French now felt themselves to be a nation, and only a national king could rule over them. That this was so was mainly due to the maid of Orleans. She was the real savior of France, and remains its greatest national hero. For more information or to volunteer please visit Librevox.org. This reading by Kara Schellenberg. The Story of the Middle Ages by Samuel B. Harding Chapter 18 End of the Middle Ages Writers of histories are not agreed as to just when the Middle Ages came to an end, but all unite in saying that the change had come by about the year 1500. If we ask what this change was, the question is easy to answer, though perhaps hard to understand. When men had come to think different thoughts, and live under different institutions, in the Church and in the State, from those we have been describing, then the end of the Middle Ages had come. Feudalism ceased to be a sufficient tie to bind men together in society, and national states arose. Chivalry ceased to be the noble institution its founders had hoped to make of it, and became a picturesque mimicry of high sentiment, without real hold on the life of the time. Men came to rely less upon their guilds and communes, their orders and classes, and act more for themselves as individuals. Ignorance too became less dense, and as men learned more of the world and of themselves, superstition became less universal and degrading. It was such changes as these that marked the close of the Middle Ages and the beginning of a new time. Many of the events of which we have been reading helped to bring on these changes and put an end to this period of history. The Crusades did a great deal by bringing the different peoples of Europe into contact with one another and broadening their minds, while at the same time they helped to develop the commerce which kept the nations in touch. The long struggle between the papacy and the empire, as we have seen, broke down the power of each, and so prepared the way for the rise of new institutions. And the Hundred Years War between France and England, by making these nations feel that they were French and English, helped to complete the breakup of the old system, and bring in a time when all Europe was divided into a number of national states, each with its own interests and government, and owing obedience to no emperor or other superior. The capture of Constantinople by the Turks and the fall of the Eastern Empire was another event which helped bring the Middle Ages to a close. After the Crusades had come to an end a new branch of Turks called the Ottomans had risen to power. In the course of a century and a half they made themselves masters of all Asia Minor and Palestine, and of a good part of southeastern Europe as well. At Adrianople, where the Goths had won their first great victory, they fixed their capital, and their horsetail standards were thence born far up into the valley of the Danube, into Hungary and Austria. But for many years the walls of Constantinople proved too much for them, and there the Eastern Empire prolonged its feeble existence. When the Hundred Years War was just coming to an end a new sultan came to the throne whose entire energies were devoted to the capture of that city, and the making it his capital. In 1453 the attack began. Great cannons, the largest the world had ever seen, now thundered away, along with catapults, battering rams, and other engines which the Middle Ages used. After 53 days the city was taken, then the Christian churches became Mohammedan mosques, and the standard of the sultans, floated where for a thousand years had hung the banner of the Eastern emperors. In this way was established the Ottoman Empire, the continued existence of which causes some of the hardest problems which the Christian nations have to face today. All these events which we have been recounting helped to bring the Middle Ages to a close, but other things helped even more than these. One was what we call the revival of learning, another was certain great inventions which the later Middle Ages produced, and a third was the discovery of new lands and new peoples across the seas. Although the monks had done much for learning during the Middle Ages, nevertheless a great deal of the knowledge and literature of the olden time had disappeared. Many of the most famous works of the old Greek and Latin authors had been lost site of altogether. Others also which the monks had they did not understand, and still others they almost feared to read because they were full of the stories of the old gods whom the Middle Ages regarded as evil spirits. The Latin too, which the monks spoke and wrote, was very incorrect and corrupt, and practically no one outside of the Eastern Empire understood Greek at all. About the beginning of the 14th century however, men began to take a new interest in the old literature. They began to write more correct Latin. They searched for forgotten manuscripts, which might contain some of the lost works. They corrected and edited the manuscripts they had, and began to make dictionaries and grammars to aid them in understanding them. Soon some began even to learn Greek, and collect Greek manuscripts, as well as Latin ones. Above all scholars tried to put themselves back in the place of the old Greeks and Romans, and look at the world through their eyes, and not through the eyes of the medieval monks. The result was that many things began to seem different to them. They no longer feared this world as the monks had done. They took delight in its beauty, and no longer thought that everything which was pleasant was therefore sinful. And because they believed that man's life as a human being was good in itself, the new scholars were called humanists, and their studies and ways of thinking, humanism. This change in the way of thinking came only gradually, and it was a hundred years before humanism began to spread from Italy, where it first arose, to the countries north of the Alps. But then the Germans contributed something which helped to spread humanism more rapidly. This was the invention of printing. The making of books, by forming each letter in each copy separately with the pen, was so slow that men had long hunted for some means of lessening the labour. They found that by engraving the page upon a block of wood, and printing from this, they could make a hundred copies almost as easily as one. So in the 15th century, block books, as they were called, began to be made. But the trouble with these was that every page had to be engraved separately, and this proved such a task that only books of very few pages were made in this way. Then it occurred to John Gutenberg of Strasburg that if he made the letters separate, he could use the same ones over and over again to form new pages, and if instead of cutting the letters themselves he made molds to produce them, then he could cast his type in metal, which would be better than wood anyway, and from the one mold he could make as many of each letter as was necessary. In this way printing from movable metal types was invented by Gutenberg about the year 1450. It seems like a very small thing when we tell about it, but it was one of the most important inventions that the world has ever seen. The first book that was printed was the Bible. Soon presses and printing offices were established all over western Europe, printing Bibles and other books, and selling them so cheaply that almost everyone could now afford to buy. The invention of printing thus served to spread humanism and the knowledge of the Bible throughout Europe, and these two together brought on the Reformation and helped put an end entirely to the Middle Ages. The introduction of gunpowder was also in the end of very great importance. Nobody knows just when or by whom gunpowder was invented, but it was used to make rockets and fireworks in India and China long before it was known in Europe. In the 14th century the Moors of Spain introduced the use of the cannon into Europe, and by the date of the Battle of Cressy, 1346, cannon were to be found in most of the western countries. These, however, were usually small, and were often composed merely of iron staves, roughly hooped together, or even of wood or of leather, and the powder used was weak and without sufficient force to throw the ball any great distance. It was not gunpowder, as is sometimes said, that first overthrew the armoured night of the Middle Ages, it was the archers, and the foot-soldiers armed with long pikes for thrusting, and with hollabirds hooked at the end by means of which the night might be pulled from his horse. As the cannon were improved, however, they became of great service in breaking down the walls of feudal castles and of hostile cities, and so in the end they helped greatly to change the mode of making war. But it was not until the Middle Ages had quite come to an end that gunpowder had become so useful in small handguns that the old long bows and crossbows completely disappeared. Two other inventions that came into use in the Middle Ages were also of great importance in bringing in the new time. These were the compass, or magnetic needle, and the cross-staff used by sailors for finding latitude. Like gunpowder the compass came from Asia where it was used by the Chinese long before the birth of Christ. It was introduced into Europe as a guide to sailors about the beginning of the fourteenth century. It enabled them to steer steadily in whatever direction they wished, even when far from land, but it could not tell them where they were at any given time. The cross-staff did this in part, for it could tell them their latitude by measuring the height of the north star above the horizon. The astrolabe was another instrument which was used for the same purpose. These were very ancient instruments, but they did not begin to be used by sailors until some time in the fifteenth century. Even then the sailor had to trust to guess work for his longitude for the watches and chronometers by which ship captains now measure longitude were not invented, and sailing maps were only beginning to be made. Yet in spite of these disadvantages and in spite of the smallness of the vessels and the terrors of unknown seas great progress was made in the discovery of new lands before the close of our period. The commerce of the Italian cities made their citizens skillful sailors voyaging up and down the Mediterranean, and even beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. The Normans and certain of the Spanish peoples early sailed boldly into the northern and western seas, but it was the little state of Portugal that led the way in the discovery of new worlds. A prince of that state gave so much attention to discovery in the first half of the fifteenth century that he was called Prince Henry the Navigator. Under his wise direction Portuguese seamen began working their way south along the coast of Africa. In this way the Madeira and Canary Islands, the Azores, and Cape Verde were discovered one after another before 1450, and after Prince Henry's death a Portuguese captain succeeded in 1486 in reaching the southern most point in Africa to which the Portuguese king gave the name Cape of Good Hope. Twelve years later in 1498 Vasco da Gama realized this hope by reaching the East Indies and so opened up communication by sea with India. Six years before, as we all know, Columbus, while trying to reach the same region by sailing westward, discovered the new world of America, though he died thinking that he had reached Asia and the East Indies. So we come to a time when Europe had emerged from the darkness of the Middle Ages and was preparing first to make a reformation in religion and then to go forth and found new Europe's across the seas. But the details of these events belong to the story of modern times and not to the Middle Ages. To complete our story we need only tell what was the condition of each of the principal states of Europe at this time and point out the part it was to play in the new period. Germany was the country which was to take the lead in bringing about the reformation in religion. Its people were more serious-minded than the people's south of the Alps and felt more keenly the evils in the church. Above all it was there that the great reformer, Martin Luther, was born. But Germany was split up into a great many little states, each with its own prince or king, and each practically independent of the emperor. So there was no national strength in Germany, and when the movement began to establish colonies and take possession of the New World, Germany took no part. Italy also was too much split up among rival cities and warring principalities to take any part in colonization, and the Eastern nations, such as Russia and Poland, were not used to the sea. Sweden for a while became very powerful in the seventeenth century, owing to the ability of its great king, Gustavus Adolfus, and it established colonies on the river Delaware. The Dutch also for a time became a great seafaring people, and established colonies on the banks of the Hudson. Both these countries, however, soon lost their strength, and their colonies, for the most part, passed into the hands of larger and stronger nations. It was the nations of western Europe, England, France, and Spain, that were to take the lead in building up new Europe across the water. England at the close of the Middle Ages was just coming out of the long War of the Roses, which was mentioned in the last chapter. That war had brought Henry the Seventh, the grandfather of the great Queen Elizabeth to the throne, and under him England was strong, united, and prosperous. Thus when the Venetian, John Cabot, asked King Henry for ships to sail westward to the lands newly found by Columbus, his request was granted. In that way the beginning was made of a claim which, after many years, gave the English the possession of all the eastern part of North America. France also was strong, united, and prosperous at the close of the Middle Ages. Through several centuries the kings had been busy breaking down the influence of the great nobles and gathering the power into their own hands. So France was ready to take part in the exploration and settlement of the new world, and the result was that the French got Canada and Louisiana, and for a while it seemed as though the whole of the great Mississippi basin was about to pass into their hands also. But it was Spain that was to take the chief part in the work of making known the new world to the old, and in establishing there the first colonies. From the days when the Moors came into Spain in 711 the Spanish Christians had been occupied for nearly eight hundred years in defending themselves in the mountains against the Mohammedans, and in winning back bit by bit the land which the Goths had lost. Little by little new states had there arisen, Castile, León, Aragon, and Portugal. Next these states began to unite, León with Castile, and then, by the marriage of Isabella to Ferdinand, Castile with Aragon. In the year 1492 the last of the Moors were overcome, and the whole peninsula, except Portugal alone, was united under one king and queen. So Spain too was made strong, united, and prosperous, and was prepared, with the confidence of victory upon it, to send forth Columbus, Vespucias, De Soto, Cortes, and Magellan to lay the foundations of the first great colonial empire. All this was made possible by the middle ages. It was the blending of the old Germans with the peoples of the Roman Empire that made the Spaniards the French and, to a certain extent, the English people. It was the events of the middle ages that shaped their development, and formed the strong national monarchies which alone could colonize the New World. And it was the institutions and ideas which had been shaped, formed, and reshaped, and reformed in the middle ages, that the colonists brought with them from across the sea. So, in a way, the story of the middle ages is a part of our own history. The New World influenced the Old World a very great deal, but it was itself influenced, yet more largely, by the older one. End of Chapter 18, read by Kara Schellenberg on March 29th, 2007, in Oceanside, California, and this is the end of The Story of the Middle Ages by Samuel B. Harding, published originally in 1906.