Chapter I: Preface

In introducing the student to the history of the development of European culture, the problem of proportion has seemed to me, throughout, the fundamental one. Consequently I have endeavored not only to state matters truly and clearly but also to bring the narrative into harmony with the most recent conceptions of the relative importance of past events and institutions. It has seemed best, in an elementary treatise upon so vast a theme, to omit the names of many personages and conflicts of secondary importance which have ordinarily found their way into our historical text-books. I have ventured also to neglect a considerable number of episodes and anecdotes which, while hallowed by assiduous repetition, appear to owe their place in our manuals rather to accident or mere tradition than to any profound meaning for the student of the subject.

The space saved by these omissions has been used for three main purposes. Institutions under which Europe has lived for centuries, above all the Church, have been discussed with a good deal more fullness than is usual in similar manuals. The life and work of a few men of indubitably first-rate importance in the various fields of human endeavor--Gregory the Great, Charlemagne, Abelard, St. Francis, Petrarch, Luther, Erasmus, Voltaire, Napoleon, Bismarck--have been treated with care proportionate to their significance for the world. Lastly, the scope of the work has been broadened so that not only the political but also the economic, intellectual, and artistic achievements of the past form an integral part of the narrative.

I have relied upon a great variety of sources belonging to the various orders in the hierarchy of historical literature; it is happily unnecessary to catalogue these. In some instances I have found other manuals, dealing with portions of my field, of value. In the earlier chapters, Emerton's admirable _Introduction to the Middle Ages_ furnished many suggestions. For later periods, the same may be said of Henderson's careful _Germany in the Middle Ages_ and Schwill's clear and well-proportioned _History of Modern Europe_. For the most recent period, I have made constant use of Andrews' scholarly _Development of Modern Europe_. For England, the manuals of Green and Gardiner have been used. The greater part of the work is, however, the outcome of study of a wide range of standard special treatises dealing with some short period or with a particular phase of European progress. As examples of these, I will mention only Lea's monumental contributions to our knowledge of the jurisprudence of the Church, Rashdall's _History of the Universities in the Middle Ages_, Richter's incomparable _Annalen der Deutschen Geschichte im Mittelalter_, the _Histoire Générale_, and the well-known works of Luchaire, Voigt, Hefele, Bezold, Janssen, Levasseur, Creighton, Pastor. In some cases, as in the opening of the Renaissance, the Lutheran Revolt, and the French Revolution, I have been able to form my opinions to some extent from first-hand material.

My friends and colleagues have exhibited a generous interest in my enterprise, of which I have taken constant advantage. Professor E.H. Castle of Teachers College, Miss Ellen S. Davison, Dr. William R. Shepherd, and Dr. James T. Shotwell of the historical department of Columbia University, have very kindly read part of my manuscript. The proof has been revised by my colleague, Professor William A. Dunning, Professor Edward P. Cheyney of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Ernest F. Henderson, and by Professor Dana C. Munro of the University of Wisconsin. To all of these I am much indebted. Both in the arduous preparation of the manuscript and in the reading of the proof my wife has been my constant companion, and to her the volume owes innumerable rectifications in arrangement and diction. I would also add a word of gratitude to my publishers for their hearty coöperation in their important part of the undertaking.

The _Readings in European History_, a manual now in preparation, and designed to accompany this volume, will contain comprehensive bibliographies for each chapter and a selection of illustrative material, which it is hoped will enable the teacher and pupil to broaden and vivify their knowledge. In the present volume I have given only a few titles at the end of some of the chapters, and in the footnotes I mention, for collateral reading, under the heading "Reference," chapters in the best available books, to which the student may be sent for additional detail. Almost all the books referred to might properly find a place in every high-school library.

J.H.R.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY,
January 12, 1903.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I THE HISTORICAL POINT OF VIEW 1

II WESTERN EUROPE BEFORE THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS 8

III THE GERMAN INVASIONS AND THE BREAK-UP OF THE
ROMAN EMPIRE 25

IV THE RISE OF THE PAPACY 44

V THE MONKS AND THE CONVERSION OF THE GERMANS 56

VI CHARLES MARTEL AND PIPPIN 67

VII CHARLEMAGNE 77

VIII THE DISRUPTION OF CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE 92

IX FEUDALISM 104

X THE DEVELOPMENT OF FRANCE 120

XI ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES 133

XII GERMANY AND ITALY IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES 148

XIII THE CONFLICT BETWEEN GREGORY VII AND HENRY IV 164

XIV THE HOHENSTAUFEN EMPERORS AND THE POPES 173

XV THE CRUSADES 187

XVI THE MEDIÆVAL CHURCH AT ITS HEIGHT 201

XVII HERESY AND THE FRIARS 216

XVIII THE PEOPLE IN COUNTRY AND TOWN 233

XIX THE CULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES 250

XX THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 277

XXI THE POPES AND THE COUNCILS 303

XXII THE ITALIAN CITIES AND THE RENAISSANCE 321

XXIII EUROPE AT THE OPENING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 354

XXIV GERMANY BEFORE THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 369

XXV MARTIN LUTHER AND HIS REVOLT AGAINST THE CHURCH 387

XXVI COURSE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT IN GERMANY, 1521-1555 405

XXVII THE PROTESTANT REVOLT IN SWITZERLAND AND ENGLAND 421

XXVIII THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION--PHILIP II 437

XXIX THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 465

XXX STRUGGLE IN ENGLAND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 475

XXXI THE ASCENDENCY OF FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XIV 495

XXXII RISE OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 509

XXXIII THE EXPANSION OF ENGLAND 523

XXXIV THE EVE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 537

XXXV THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 558

XXXVI THE FIRST FRENCH REPUBLIC 574

XXXVII NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 592

XXXVIII EUROPE AND NAPOLEON 606

XXXIX EUROPE AFTER THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA 625

XL THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY AND GERMANY 642

XLI EUROPE OF TO-DAY 671

LIST OF BOOKS 689

INDEX 691

LIST OF MAPS

PAGE
1 The Roman Empire at its Greatest Extent 8-9

2 The Barbarian Inroads 26-27

3 Europe in the Time of Theodoric 31

4 The Dominions of the Franks under the Merovingians 37

5 Christian Missions 63

6 Arabic Conquests 71

7 The Empire of Charlemagne 82-83

8 Treaty of Verdun 93

9 Treaty of Mersen 95

10 Fiefs and Suzerains of the Counts of Champagne 113

11 France at the Close of the Reign of Philip Augustus 129

12 The Plantagenet Possessions in England and France 141

13 Europe about A.D.1000 152-153

14 Italian Towns in the Twelfth Century 175

15 Routes of the Crusaders 190-191

16 The Crusaders' States in Syria 193

17 Ecclesiastical Map of France in the Middle Ages 205

18 Lines of Trade and Mediæval Towns 242-243

19 The British Isles 278-279

20 Treaty of Bretigny, 1360 287

21 French Possessions of the English King in 1424 294

22 France under Louis XI 298-299

23 Voyages of Discovery 349

24 Europe in the Sixteenth Century 358-359

25 Germany in the Sixteenth Century 372-373

26 The Swiss Confederation 422

27 Treaty of Utrecht 506-507

28 Northeastern Europe in the Eighteenth Century 513

29 Provinces of France in the Eighteenth Century 539

30 Salt Tax in France 541

31 France in Departments 568-569

32 Partitions of Poland 584

33 Europe at the Height of Napoleon's Power 614-615

34 Europe in 1815 626-627

35 Races of Austro-Hungary 649

36 Europe of To-day 666-667

FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

I PAGE FROM AN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT _Frontispiece_

II FAÇADE OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL _Facing page_ 264

III INTERIOR OF EXETER CATHEDRAL _Facing page_ 266

IV BRONZE STATUES OF PHILIP THE GOOD AND CHARLES
THE BOLD AT INNSBRUCK _Facing page_ 300

V BRONZE DOORS OF THE CATHEDRAL AT PISA }
} 342-343
VI GHIBERTI'S DOORS AT FLORENCE }

VII GIOTTO'S MADONNA }
} 346-347
VIII HOLY FAMILY BY ANDREA DEL SARTO }