Chapter I: Part 1

MILITARY AND RELIGIOUS

LIFE IN

THE MIDDLE AGES

AND AT THE PERIOD OF

THE RENAISSANCE

BY PAUL LACROIX
(Bibliophile Jacob)
CURATOR OF THE IMPERIAL LIBRARY OF THE ARSENAL, PARIS

Illustrated with

_UPWARDS OF FOUR HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD_

LONDON
BICKERS & SON, LEICESTER SQUARE

PREFACE.

Lately we published the “Manners, Customs, and Dress during the Middle Ages,” a necessary sequel to “The Arts of the Middle Ages.” To understand this important period of our history, we must, as was pointed out at the time, go back to the very source of art, and study society itself--the life of our forefathers. The volume of “Manners and Customs” initiated our readers into all the secrets of Civil Life; the present work treats of the Military and Religious Life of the same period.

The subject is not wanting in grandeur, and we shall endeavour to throw into relief the two parallel forces--namely, the military and the religious life--which shaped the habits of the nation in the epoch of which our work treats.

The influence of these forces was immense. Society was made up of barbarous nations and of the corrupt remnants of the heathen world. Conquerors and conquered had nothing to put in common, with a view to forming a new society, beyond their ruins and their vices. How was a state of things, higher and better than that which had gone before, to be created out of this shapeless mass? What principle of life was there powerful enough to evoke from amid this chaos modern Europe, with all its variety of forces and of glory, its influence and authority over the rest of the world? Religious life, aided by military power, has brought about such a creation, after all the misery and suffering preceding its birth. Gradually gaining a hold upon society, and elevating its ideas as the tie became closer, religious life endowed it with new manners, a new social life, a set of institutions of which it before knew nothing, and a character which raised it to a degree of moral grandeur which humanity had never as yet attained.

Christianity civilised the barbarians; by unity of faith, it established political unity amongst peoples who were split up into hostile races--a result which would only have been arrived at in former days by the annihilation of nationalities, the dominion of the sword, and the force of oppression. History presents no spectacle more worthy of our attention than the steady and deep operation of this new principle of life infused into a society in a state of decay. This principle could only succeed in remoulding and directing the world by first assimilating men as individuals, and that amidst the excesses, the violence, and the disorders of a barbarism which, even after the lapse of centuries, would not allow itself to be crushed. But it was endowed with a persevering and indomitable energy. Consider how it affected everything, how it enlisted into its service all the forces which society from time to time placed at its disposal, or, to speak more correctly, permitted it to create! By means of the monastic orders, how many necessary works did it not accomplish? The soil was transformed by cultivation; bridges, dykes, and aqueducts were constructed in every direction; manuscripts were preserved in the monasteries; education was given in numberless schools, where the poor were taught gratuitously; the universities were made learned and prosperous; architecture was raised into a science; beneficent institutions were established and liberally endowed.

“Christianity was the greatest benefactor of the Middle Ages,” said M. Benjamin Guérard; “and what is most striking in the revolutions which took place in these semi-barbarous times, is the action of the Church and of religion. The dogma of a common origin and destiny for all men alike, was an unceasing argument for the emancipation of the people; it brought together men of all stations, and opened the way for modern civilisation. Men, though they did not cease to oppress one another, began to recognise the fact that they were all members of the same family, and were led, through religious equality, up to civil and political equality; being brothers in the sight of God, they became equal before the law, the Christian became the citizen.

“This transformation took place gradually and slowly, as being necessary and inevitable, by the continued and simultaneous enfranchisement of men and of land. The slave whom paganism, as it disappeared, handed over to the Christian religion, passed first from a state of servitude to a state of bondage, from bondage he rose to mortmain, and from mortmain to liberty.”

Under the influence of the bishops, legislation was formed upon the principles of Christian morality. In the great councils of the nation, and in the royal councils, they gave a Christian direction to the government of the country, and more than once preserved national unity from being broken up. “The bishops,” says Gibbon, “constructed the French monarchy just as the bees construct the hive.”

At the same time the popes were incessant in their efforts to convert all the Christian peoples into one vast republic; and they attained their purpose in a great measure. The idea was a sublime one, springing so naturally from the unity of the doctrines which all were required to profess. As early as the twelfth century the idea was thus enunciated by Tertullian in his “Apologetica”--“We remain strangers to your factions and to your parties.... The republic of the human race is what we demand.”

Such was the work of Christianity in that society of the Middle Ages of which it was the life and soul. It is necessary to follow it in the accomplishment of this varied task, and, if we would thoroughly understand it, we must consider it in itself, in its inward life, in its form of worship and liturgy, in its monasteries, in its clergy, and in its different institutions, for herein lay its means of action.

The military power placed itself, as a general rule, at the service of the Church, and it was thus that Christianity was enabled to complete its work. Clovis, the conqueror of the Romans, the Germans, the Burgundians, and the Visigoths, was baptized at Rheims, and brought France within the fold of the Church, just when a great number of the barbarians, the new masters of the Roman empire, were embracing Arianism. In after-days the Church, represented by the sword of Joan of Arc, was instrumental in saving France and restoring her to herself. Between these two extreme points of the history of the Middle Ages, Charlemagne, Godefroi de Bouillon, St. Louis, the age of chivalry and the Crusades, prove to us that this combined action of military and religious life is a true exponent of the character of France. But when we come to consider the ordinary condition of things as they absolutely existed, we find it to be full of evils. Military life amongst the German people had produced feudalism, and with it a terrible anarchy. Royalty was powerless. Authority had not, so to speak, any centre; it was cut up and subdivided throughout the nation. Private or civil warfare became, by the mere force of things, legal for several centuries; and disorder, violence, oppression, and tyranny followed as a natural consequence. Military life, in all its manifestations, hampered and counteracted the beneficent influence of Christianity, and served as the last refuge of barbarism. The Church, however, managed to make the principle of feudalism exercise a moderating influence upon its very excesses, by the creation of chivalry, the noblest military institution which the world has ever known. Chivalry represented the Christian form of the profession of arms. The first duty was “to defend in this world the weakness of all, but especially the weakness of the Church, of justice, and of right.”

“Fais ce que dois, adviegne que peut,
C’hest commandé au chevalier.”
_Ordinances of Chivalry._

It was, in fact, an armed force in the service of truth and justice, themselves defenceless. It was at the same time a bright example, the influence of which extended beyond the most brilliant of its exploits. Even this, however, was not sufficient to check the evil and insatiable desire for fighting. Under the powerful impulse of the popes, the Crusaders served to utilise this warlike spirit, and acted as a diversion which saved Europe from the fury of its own inhabitants and from the dominion of the Koran. Internal discords were brought to an end, the Communes were enfranchised, feudal power decreased, and the royal influence gained in strength, diminishing again during the long crisis of the hundred years’ war, and being once more reinstated by Joan of Arc. Such was the part played by “Military Life in the Middle Ages.”

The development of modern habits, however, is gradually to be traced. The feudal army was replaced by mercenary troops. As military power became concentrated within the hands of the sovereign, monarchy, in the true sense of the term, succeeded to feudalism.

At the same time another and deeper movement was taking place in the moral and religious order of things. A new spirit was convulsing the world. The ideas and manners established in society by Christianity were destined to undergo a change. After the capture of Constantinople, the Grecian savants who had found a refuge in the courts of Italy inspired their Western _confrères_ with such an affection for ancient literature, that everything which was old came to be regarded with enthusiasm, while, as a natural consequence, every--thing which Christianity had produced was looked upon with contempt. The faith in and the influence of the Church diminished, and individual reason was tempted to throw off the yoke of all teaching authority. Printing, then just invented, served to accelerate this mental revolution. The principle of free examination was proclaimed by Luther, and one-half of Western Europe became Protestant. The tie, at once religious and political, which held Christian nationalities together, was thus broken, and unity amongst people who were divided in their religious doctrine became impossible. At the same period the discovery of America and of a new route to the Indies lent immense force to the development of material interests.

Thus we had the commencement of a complete revolution. The world entered upon new paths, along which it has continued to advance without interruption to our own day.

This work derives a special interest from the circumstances amidst which it is published. Ancient Europe has reached one of those solemn epochs of its history when, divided within itself and uncertain of the turn which events may take, it finds itself face to face with the problem of its future destiny, demanding an immediate solution. What will that solution be? The emotions of the present may incline us to look back regretfully upon that past which reminds us of so much that is great and noble, in spite of its many and inevitable drawbacks, and which, by showing us the origin of modern society, by revealing to us the manner of its birth and its onward progress, may give us the key to its present critical condition when a profound and universal transformation seems about to take place.

It is superfluous to say anything about the engravings contained in this volume. They have been selected with the same view that dictated the publication of those appearing in the two previous volumes--a desire to produce a living image of the past. Each volume forms a collection of archæological treasures got together after the most laborious research; they are attractive to the eye, full of interest and instruction, and we feel that our readers will have in them a complete museum such as has not hitherto been within their reach.

PAUL LACROIX.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page

FEUDALISM 1

Origin.--Barbaric Laws.--Enfeoffment.--Charlemagne and
the Church.--First Construction of Strongholds.--Vassal
and Suzerain.--Feudal Eights.--The Truce of God.--Feudal
Churches and Abbeys.--Communal Principles.--New
Townships.--Origin of the French Bourgeoisie.--The
English Magna Charta.--Alienation of Fiefs.--Liberation
of the Serfs.--Imperial Cities.--Feudal Rights of the
Bishops.--St. Louis.--Wars between France and England.--_La
Bulle d’Or._--The States-General.--Origin of the Third
Estate.

WAR AND ARMIES 38

The Invasions of the Barbarians.--Attila.--Theodoric
seizes Italy.--Organizations of Military Fiefs.--Defences
of Towns.--Totila and his Tactics.--The Military
Genius of Charlemagne.--Military Vassalage.--Communal
Militia.--Earliest Standing Armies.--Loss of Technical
Tradition.--The Condottieri.--The Gendarmerie.--The
_Lances Fournies_.--Weakening of Feudal Military
Obligations.--The French Army in the Time of Louis
XI. and his Successors.--Absence of Administrative
Arrangement.--Reforms.--Mercenary Troops.--Siege Operations
and Engines.

NAVAL MATTERS 74

Old Traditions: Long Vessels and Broad Vessels.--The
Dromon.--The Galéasse.--The Coque.--Caracks and
Galleons.--Francis I.’s Great Carack.--Caravelles.--The
Importance of a Fleet.--Hired Fleets.--Poop Guards.--Naval
Laws.--Seaport Tribunals.--Navigation in the open
Seas.--The Boussole.--Armament of Men-of-war.--Towers
and Ballistic Engines.--Artillery.--Naval
Strategy.--Decorations and Magnificent Appointments
of Vessels.--Sails and Flags.--The Galley of Don Juan
of Austria.--Sailors’ Superstitions.--Discipline and
Punishments.

THE CRUSADES 104

Arab Conquest of the Holy Land.--Swarm of Pilgrims in
the Year 1000.--Turkish Invasion of Judea.--Persecution
of the Christians.--Pope Silvester II.--Expedition of
the Pisans and the Genoese.--Peter the Hermit.--Letter
from Simeon the Patriarch to Pope Urban II.--First
Crusade.--Expedition of “Gautier sans Avoir.”--Godefroi
de Bouillon.--The Kingdom of Jerusalem.--Second
Crusade.--St. Bernard.--Third Crusade: Philip Augustus and
Richard Cœur-de-Lion.--Fourth Crusade.--Fifth and Sixth
Crusades.--Louis IX. turns Crusader.--Seventh Crusade.--St.
Louis taken Prisoner.--Eighth and last Crusade.--Death of
St. Louis.--Results of the Crusades.

CHIVALRY (DUELS AND TOURNAMENTS) 136

Origin of Chivalry.--Its different
Characteristics.--Chivalric Gallantry.--Chivalry and
Nobility.--Its Relations with the Church.--Education
of the Children of the Nobility.--Squires.--Chivalric
Exercises.--Pursuivants at Arms.--Courts and Tribunals
of Love.--Creation of Knights.--Degradation of
Knights.--Judicial Duels.--Trials by Ordeal.--Feudal
Champions.--Gages of Battle.--The Church forbids
Duels.--Tournaments invented by the Sire de
Preuilly in the Tenth Century.--Arms used in a
Tournament.--Tilt.--Lists.--The part taken by Ladies.--King
René’s Book.

MILITARY ORDERS 172

Pierre Gérard founds the Order of St. John of Jerusalem;
History of that Order.--The Siege of Rhodes.--History of
the Order of the Knights Templars.--Order of the Knights
of Calatrava.--Order of the Teuton Knights.--Order of the
Knights of the Golden Fleece.--Order of St. Maurice and St.
Lazarus.--Orders of the Star, of the Cosse de Geneste, of
the Ship, of St. Michael, and of the Holy Ghost.

LITURGY AND CEREMONIES 203

Prayer.--Liturgy of St. James, of St. Basil, and of
St. John Chrysostom.--Apostolical Constitutions.--The
Sacrifice of the Mass.--Administration of
Baptism.--Canonical Penances.--Plan and Arrangement
of Churches.--Ecclesiastical Hierarchy.--The
Ceremony of Ordination.--Church Bells.--The
Tocsin.--The Poetry of Gothic Churches.--Breviary
and Missal of Pius V.--Ceremonies used at the Seven
Sacraments.--Excommunication.--The Bull _In Cœnâ
Domini_.--Processions and Mystery Plays at the Easter
Solemnities.--Instrument of Peace.--Consecrated Bread.--The
Pyx.--The Dove.

THE POPES 245

Influence of the Papacy in the Reformation of Early
Society.--St. Leo the Great.--Origin of the Temporal
Power of the Popes.--Gregory the Great.--The Iconoclastic
Emperors.--Stephen III. delivered by France.--Charlemagne
crowned Emperor of the West.--Photius.--The Diet
of Worms.--Gregory VII.; his Plan for a Christian
Republic.--Urban II.--The Crusades.--Calixtus II.;
Termination of the Dispute as to Investiture.--Innocent
III.--Struggle of Boniface VIII. against Philippe
le Bel.--The Great Western Schism.--Council of
Florence.--Battle of Lepanto.--Council of Trent.

THE SECULAR CLERGY 274

The Minor and the Major Orders in the Early Centuries
of the Church.--Establishment of Tithes originally
voluntary, and afterwards obligatory.--Influence of
the Bishops.--Supremacy of the See of Rome.--Form of
Episcopal Oath in the Early Centuries.--Reform of Abuses
by the Councils.--Remarkable sayings of Charlemagne and
Hincmar.--Public Education created by the Church.--The
Establishment of the Communes favoured by the Bishops.--The
Beaumont Law.--Struggle with the Bourgeoisie in the
Fifteenth Century.--The Council of Trent.--Institution of
Seminaries.

THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS 299

The First Monks.--St. Anthony and his Disciples.--St.
Pachomius and St. Athanasius.--St. Eusebius and St.
Basilius.--Cenobitism in the East and in the West.--St.
Benedict and the Benedictine Code.--Monkish Dress.--St.
Columba.--List of the Monasteries in Charlemagne’s
Time.--Services rendered by the Monks to Civilisation,
Arts, and Letters.--Reform of the Religious Orders in
the Twelfth Century.--St. Norbert.--St. Bernard.--St.
Dominic.--St. Francis of Assisi.--The Carmelites.--The
Bernardines.--The Barnabites.--The Jesuits.

CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS 339

Christian Charity in the First Centuries of the
Church.--The Eastern Empresses.--The Holy Roman
Ladies.--Olympiade, Melanie, Marcella, and Paula.--Charity
at the Court of the Franks.--St. Margaret of Scotland
and Matilda of England.--Hedwige of Poland.--Origin
of the Lazar-houses.--The Lazarists in France and in
England.--Progress and Vicissitudes of the Order of St.
Lazarus.--The Foundations of St. Louis.--The Order of Mercy
founded by St. Nolasque.--St. Catherine of Sienna and St.
Francis.--Bernardin Obrégon.--Jean de Dieu.--Philippe de
Néri.--Antoine Yvan.

PILGRIMAGES 362

The first Pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Rome.--The
Worship of the Martyrs.--Pilgrims’ Hospitals.--Images of
the Virgin Mary.--Relics brought from the East by the
Crusaders.--Celebrated Pilgrimages of Early Days.--The
Roman Basilicas.--St. Nicholas de Bari.--Notre-Dame de
Tersatz.--St. Jacques de Compostella.--Notre-Dame du Puy,
de Liesse, de Chartres, de Rocamadour.--Pilgrimages in
France, Germany, Poland, Russia, and Switzerland.

HERESIES 394

The real Meaning of the word _Heresy_.--The
Heretics of the Apostolic Days.--Simon the
Magician.--Cerinthus.--The Nicolaitans.--The Gnostics.--The
Schools of Philosophy of Byzantium, Antioch, and
Alexandria.--Julian the Apostate.--The Pelagians
and the semi-Pelagians.--Nestorius.--Eutyches.--The
Iconoclasts.--Amaury.--Gilbert de la
Porrée.--Abelard.--Arnold of Brescia.--The Albigenses.--The
Waldenses.--The Flagellants.--Wickliff.--John Huss.--Jerome
of Prague.--Luther.--Henry VIII. and the Anglican
Church.--Calvin.

THE INQUISITION 423

General Principles of the Inquisition; its Existence
amongst the Greeks and Romans.--The Papal Inquisition.--The
Inquisition in France.--The Albigenses.--The Royal Spanish
Inquisition; its Political Purposes; it is opposed by
the Popes.--Inquisitors of Toledo excommunicated by Leo
X.--The Holy Hermandad.--The Spies of the Inquisition.--The
Holy Office and the Supreme.--The Prisons of the
Inquisition.--The _Auto-da-fé_.--The Inquisition in the
Netherlands.--The Protestant Inquisition in Holland,
Germany, France, England, and Switzerland.

BURIALS AND FUNERAL CEREMONIES 447

Embalming and Incineration of Bodies amongst the
Ancients.--Interment brought into practice by
Christianity.--The Wrapping of the Dead in Shrouds.--The
Direction in which the Bodies were laid.--Absolution
Crosses.--Funeral Furniture.--Coffins and Sarcophagi in
the Middle Ages.--Funereal Sculpture and Architecture,
from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century.--The Catacombs
at Rome.--Charnel-houses in the Churches.--Public
Cemeteries.--The Cemetery of the Innocents,
Paris.--Lanterns for the Dead.--Funerals of the Kings
and Queens of France.--The Rolls of the Dead.--Consoling
Thought of the Resurrection and of Eternal Life.

TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Abbatial Ring and Cross of St. Waudru, 312

Abbey of Saint-Germain des Prés, View of the, in 1361, 13

Abbey of Saint-Germain des Prés, North View of the, Seventeenth
Century, 320

Abbey of St. Riquier, The, near Abbeville, 311

Abbey-Church of the Magdalen, at Vézelai, 120

Absolution Crosses of the Eleventh Century, 453

Act of Faith and Homage, Thirteenth Century, 8

Adoration of the Lamb, The, Frontispiece

„ „ Magi, The, 241

Altar of the Cathedral of Arras, Thirteenth Century, 243

Altar-piece at Mareuil-en-Brie, 218, 219

Amaury’s Disciples burnt by order of Philip Augustus, 404

Angels praying over a Skull, Fourteenth Century, 298

Anne of Brittany, Funeral Service of, 495

Antilles, Discovery of the, by Columbus, 92

Antioch, Plan of, in the Thirteenth Century, 130

Antwerp, View of the Port of, 87

Arming a Knight, 143

Armogenes, the Magician, 383

Arquebusier of the Sixteenth Century, 61

Artois, The Count of, presenting himself at the Castle of the Count
of Boulogne, 149

Artus, King, fighting a Giant, 137

Assault on a Fortified Place, 135

“Au juste poids véritable balance”, 391

Auto-da-fé Procession, in Spain, 436

Babylon the Great, 396

Ballista, 73

Banner of St. Denis, Representations of the, 60

Banner of the City of Strasburg, Thirteenth Century, 386

Banner of a Flemish Lazaretto, 353

Baptism of the Saxons conquered by Charlemagne, 213

Barbarian (Mounted) in the Roman Service, 4

Basilius the Great, Dream of, 400

Battering-ram, 71

Battle of Auray, The, 54

„ Dreux, The, 62

„ Lepanto, Plan of the, 96

„ Tolbiac, The, 2

Beacon in the Cemetery of Antigny, Fifteenth Century, 486

Beacon in the Cemetery of Ciron, Twelfth Century, 486

Beacon in the Cemetery of Fèniou, Eleventh Century, 486

Beatrix Cornel, Tomb of, 182

Beguin, 329

„ Convent at Ghent, the Great, 328

Beheaded Knight holding his Head in his Hands, 467

Bucentaure, The, 77

Bull with which Boniface VIII. sealed his Letters, 273

Burial among the Franks, Mode of, 451

Caltrop, or Crow’s-foot, 66

Calvin, John, 419

Caricature of the Third Century, 206

Castle of Angoulême, Thirteenth Century, 6

„ Loches, Doorways of the Old, 37

„ Pierrefonds, View overlooking the, 11

Catapult, 72

Celebration of Mass, The, in an Oratory, Ninth Century, 277

Celtic Burial, 451

Champion of the Tournament, The, 166

Chandelier of the Virgin, 217

Chanter or Psalmist, The, Minor Order, 274

Chapel of Pilgrimage, Thanksgiving in a, 384

Chaplet of Beads in Carved Ivory, and Girdle, Sixteenth Century,
330

Charlemagne, Statue of, Eleventh Century, 5

Charles the Bold, Great Seal of, Fifteenth Century, 55

Charles VI. fulfilling his Vow to Our Lady of Hope, 388

Charter of William the White-handed, Commencement of the, 295

Chasuble, Mitre, and Stole of St. Thomas à Becket, Cloth and
Embroidery of the Twelfth Century, 225

Château de la Panouze (Aveyron), Feudal Castle of the Twelfth
Century, 10

Chivalry, Allegorical Figures representing, 140

Choir Candelabrum, Foot of a large, Thirteenth Century, 216

Christ descending into Hell, 498

„ risen from the Dead, 504

„ victorious after Death, Eighth or Ninth Century, 449

Christian Professor on his Death-bed, The, 497

„ Religion, The, assisting at the Death of Christ, 247

Church of St. Antony, Padua, 216

„ the Holy Sepulchre, Façade of the, 106

Clergy going in Procession before the Emperor, Fourth Century, 318

Cloister of the Chartreuse, at Pavia, 322

Clovis, Baptism of, 2

Coffer containing the Hair-cloths of St. Louis, Thirteenth Century,
371

Concordat of Cambrio, Title of the (1466), 296

Conferring Knighthood on the Field of Battle, 141

Consecration of St. Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, 283

Constantinople, Second taking of, in 1204, 123

Coque, The, 79

Coronation of an Emperor by the Pope, Sixteenth Century, 256

Cosmas and Damianus relieving a Sick Man, 343

Council held to commemorate the Second Council of Nice, Tenth
Century, 249

Council of Vienne, 190

Cross of the Bureau Family, 476

Crown of Thorns, The, brought into France, 375

„ „ „ worn by Jesus Christ, 393

Cruelties committed by the Gueux, 440

Cruet, silver-gilt, First or Second Century, 208

Crusaders at Damietta, Disembarkation of the, 126

Crypt of the Chapel of St. Agnes, in the Catacombs at Rome, 474

Daggers with Moorish Blades and Flemish Handles, 45

Dalmatic said to have belonged to Leo III., 255

Dance of Death, The, 478–483

Death of St. Benedict, 496

„ Mahomet II., 178

Dedication of the Church of the Monastery of St. Martin des Champs,
Paris, 321

Degradation of a Knight, 154

Designs of Armour, 170

Distribution of Banners and Helmets, 164

Diver, The, 91

Don Juan of Austria, 133

Doorkeeper, The, Minor Order, 275

Doria, Andrew, 88

Dove suspended above the Altar, Thirteenth Century, 244

Dresses worn by Prisoners of the Inquisition, 437

Duel concerning the Honour of Ladies, 157

Earthen Vases found at Florence in 1863, 187

Ecclesiastical Tonsure, The, 279

Edward the Confessor, Funeral of, 490

Entry of Louis VIII. and the Pope’s Legate into Avignon, 406

Eudes, Bishop, from the Bayeux Tapestry, 47

Excesses committed by the Huguenots, Allegorical Picture of the,
415

Exorcism of a Catechumen, Fourth or Fifth Century, 212

Exorcism of a Person possessed with a Demon, 414

Exorcist, The, Minor Order, 275

Farel, William, 420

Ferrand of Portugal, Count of Flanders, being taken to Paris, 22

Fight between Raymbault de Morueil and Gruyon de Losenne, 156

Flemish Warrior, from the Ruins of St. Bavon, Ghent, 26

Fortified Bridge of Lemantano, near Rome, Twelfth Century, 33

Fortified Bridge from Valentré to Cahors, 18

Fortified City of Carcassonne, Plan of the, Thirteenth Century, 18

Fortress of the Knights Hospitallers, in Syria, 174

French Caravel, Sixteenth Century, 84

„ Priory at Rhodes, Fifteenth Century, 181

Fresco in the Cemetery of St. Pretextat, 475

Funeral Service, Fourteenth Century, 453

Funereal Lamps found in the Catacombs, Third Century, 276, 424

Galley of the Sixteenth Century, 78

„ Slave, 90

„ Soldier, 90

Gallic or Gallo-Roman Pottery, 455

Gallo-Roman Lords of the Fourth Century, 3

Gate of the Town of Aigues-Mortes, 17

Gautier-sans-Avoir, Reception of, by the King of Hungary, 115

German Foot-soldiers fighting, Sixteenth Century, 57

German and Gallic Auxiliaries, Second Century, 40

German Knight, Fifteenth Century, 147

Godefroy de Bouillon, crowned with the Instruments of our Lord’s
Passion, 117

Godefroy de Bouillon, Tomb of, 118

Golden Fleece, Chapter of the Order of the, 197

Great Hospital at Milan, 357

Greek Panagia, 370

Gregory IX. handing the Decretals to an Advocate of the Consistory
(1227–1241), 266

Handbell, Romanesque perforated, Twelfth Century, 227

Harold, King, Finding the Body of, 48

Harvest of Souls, The, Twelfth Century, 450

Henry of Anjou, Coronation of, as King of Poland, 291

Henry I., Emperor of Germany, and one of his Generals, 368

Henry II. wounded by Montgomery in a Tournament, 169

Herald holding the Banners of the Referees, 164

Heresy of the Flagellants, 407

Hincmar, Bas-relief on the Tomb of, 289

Holy Bit of Carpentras, 376

Hospitality, Fifteenth Century, 340

Huguenots against the Catholics, Violence of the, 421

Huss, John, 412

Italian Warriors of the Fifteenth Century, 58

Judgement, The Day of, 502

Jerome of Prague, 412

Jewish Religion, The, assisting at the Death of Christ, 246

King-at-arms proclaiming a Tournament, 163

Knife for cutting Consecrated Bread, 242

Knight, in Complete Armour, Sixteenth Century, 61

Knight setting out for the War, 150

Knight of Death, The, 476

„ Malta, 185

„ the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, 173

„ Rhodes, 173

Knights of the Order of the Holy Ghost from Pure Intent, 358

Knights awaiting from the Marshal the Signal to commence the Fight,
159

Knights of Rhodes, Barracks of the, 180

Knox, John, 416

Last Supper, The, Eleventh Century, 209

Legend of Christmas, Fifteenth Century, 221

„ St. Martin, The, Tapestry of the Thirteenth Century, 281

Legend of the Passage of the Viaticum across a Bridge at Utrecht,
235

Luther, Martin, 418

Machine to break the Ranks of the Enemy 70

„ shoot Arrows, 70

Man-at-arms, The, 51, 91

Man-of-War, Henry VIII.’s time, 80

„ of the Sixteenth Century, 101

Margaret of York, wife of Charles the Bold, 359

Maria de Molina, Queen of Castille, handing to the Cistercian Nuns
the Charter of Foundation for their Convent, 332

Mary Magdalene, Removal of the Body of, to the Church of St.
Vézelay (Yonne), Fifteenth Century, 387

Massacre of St. Bartholomew, The, 416

Maximilian of Austria, with his Wife and Son, 36

Members of the Dominican Order, The most famous, 331

Messenger bringing a Letter to the King’s Army, 52

Messengers of the Sultan discussing with Christian Prisoners, 129

Military Costumes from the Sixth to the Tenth Centuries, 42

Miraculous Mass of St. Gregory the Great, Sixth Century, 210

Monograms of Christ, 205

Mons, Mauberge, and Nivelles, Foundation of the Abbeys of, 316

Montefrio, Surrender of the Town of, 193

Moorish Arms (Armeria Real, Madrid), 44

Mortars or Movable Carriages, 65

Mortuary Cloth from the Church of Folleville (Somme), 491

Mortuary Roll of Vital, Founder of the Abbey of Savigny, 499

Mosque of Cordova, Interior of the, Eighth Century, 434

Mourning Costumes, 493

Mystic Fountain, The, Eighth Century, 223

Nail used in the Crucifixion of Our Lord, 376

Nangasaki, The Great Martyrdom of (1622), 336

Nicæa, Taking of, by the Crusaders, 116

Norman Vessel, Eleventh Century, 76

Offering a Child to an Abbot, Thirteenth Century, 313

Orphan of the Venice Hospitals, Sixteenth Century, 356

Orthodoxy surrounded by the Snares of Heresy, 398

Our Lady of Boulogne, 390

„ Grace, Miraculous Image of, at Cambria, 389

Our Lady of Grace sheltering the Grand Masters of the Order of
Montessa, 192

Our Lady of Mountserrat, Sixteenth Century, 381

„ Vladimir, Miraculous Image of, 370

Painting symbolical of the Catacombs of Rome, First or Second
Century, 207

Pentecost, 240

Peter the Hermit delivering a Message to Pope Urban II., 112

Philip Augustus, Consecration of, 290

Philip the Bold in Royal Costume, 24

Philip II., King of Spain, 439

„ „ „ Mausoleum of, 470

Pilgrims of Emmaus, The, 374

Plaintiff and Defendant taking Oath before the Judge, Fifteenth
Century, 158

Pontifical Galley, 98

Poop of an Ancient Galley, 75

Portrait of Countess Matilda, 260

Prester-John and his Page, 109

Priory of the Benedictines, Canterbury, Twelfth Century, 314

Prize of the Tournament, The, 168

Procession of the Host, 238

„ Knights of the Order of the Holy Ghost, 200

Prows of Galleys armed with the Spur, 95

Punishments decreed by Henry VIII. against the Catholics, 443

Quintain, The Game of, 145

Raised Stone, near Poitiers, 459

Reapers of Death, The, 62

Reception of a Knight of the Order of St. Michael, 199

Refectory in the Priory of St. Martin des Champs, Thirteenth
Century, 326

Relics of St. Philip, Touching the, 378

Reliquary in chased Copper, Thirteenth Century, 372

Reliquary of the Holy Thorn, Thirteenth Century, 325

Remier, Count, bearing the Body of St. Veronica to the Church of
St. Waudru, in Mons, 366

Rhodes, Plan of, Fifteenth Century, 176

Richard Cœur-de-Lion mortally wounded while besieging the Castle of
Chalus, 50

Robert I., Duke of Normandy, on his Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 373

Robing a Bishop, The Ceremony of, Fourteenth Century, 285

Rodolph of Hapsburg, Emperor of Germany, Equestrian Statue of, 35

Rolling Tower for scaling the walls of towns, 66

Sabbat, The, 410

Sacrament of the Eucharist, The, 234

Sacramental Cup, Twelfth Century, 233

Sancha de Roxas, 195

Seal of the Abbey of St. Denis, 317

„ „ Commune of Soissons, 15

„ Conon de Béthune, Twelfth Century, 7

„ Edward, Count of Rutland, 99

„ Gérard de Saint-Amand, Twelfth Century, 9

Seal of an Imaginary Bull of Lucifer, Fifteenth Century, 422

Seal of John, Bishop of Puy and Count of Velay (1305), 28

Seal of John sans Peur, Duke of Burgundy 31

„ the Knights of Christ, Thirteenth Century, 189

Seal of La Rochelle, 103

„ the Lord of Corbeil (1196), 20

„ the Monastery of St. Louis of Poissy, 338

„ the Town of Boston, 94

„ „ Dover, 85

„ „ Poole, 93

„ „ Sandwich, 89

„ „ Yarmouth, 86

Servetus, Michael, 445

Seven Christian Virtues, The, with their Symbols, 355

Shield presented to Don Juan of Austria by Pius V., 271

Ship of Baptism, The, Sixteenth Century, 232

Siege of Toulouse, Episode in the, 404

„ a Town: Summons to surrender, 67

Single Combat to be decided by the Judgment of God, 161

Sitting of the Council of Trent, 1555, 270

Sixtus II. handing to St. Laurentius the Treasures of the Church to
be distributed among the Poor, 341

Soldier of the Time of Philippe le Bel, 51

Soldiers of the German Bands, 64

Solemn Entry of the Emperor Charles V. and Pope Clement VII. into
Bologna, in 1529, 268, 269

Solemn Procession for the Relief of the Town of Dijon, 239

Solemn Reception of a Bishop, Fifteenth Century, 286

Sovereign Pontiff, Public and Solemn Functions of the, Seventeenth
Century, 264

Spanish Caravel in which Columbus discovered America, 83

Spanish Ship, Fifteenth Century, 81

Spiritual and Temporal Powers, The, dependent upon Christ, 248

St. Anthony of Padua commanding a Mule to adore the Eucharist, 334

St. Anthony, a Statuette of the Third Century, 301

St. Barbara, 364

St. Benedict, History of, 305, 307

„ reproaching Totila, Fresco of the Thirteenth Century,
43

St. Bernard taking possession of the Abbey of Clairvaux, 327

St. Cecilia, and Valerian, her Spouse, 425

St. Cesarius, Obsequies of, 489

St. Denis carrying his head to the place of burial, 362

St. Dominic and the Albigenses, 429

St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Fifteenth Century, 348

St. George and the Dragon, 202

St. Jean des Vignes, Abbey of Regular Canons at Soissons (1076),
323

St. Jerome in the Desert, 302

St. John of Capistran, 132

St. Louis and his Brothers made Prisoners by the Saracens, 128

St. Louis at Carthage, Disembarkation of, 131

„ serving a Repast to the Poor, 351

St. Michael the Archangel offering the Symbol of the Imperial Power
to a Byzantine Emperor, 251

St. Peter, 248

St. Radegonde receiving the Religious Garb from the Bishop of
Noyon, 309

St. Savin and St. Cyprian before Maximus, 426

„ „ Martyrdom of, 427

St. Theresa, 336

St. Thomas defending the Monastic Orders, Fourteenth Century, 332

St. Vincent de Paul, 360

St. Wulfram, Bishop of Sens, 287

State Gloves formerly in the possession of Louis XIII., 201

Stone Coffins, 457

Sufferers from St. Vitus’ Dance going on a Pilgrimage, 392

Superscription upon Our Lord’s Cross, 377

Surrender of the Garrison of a Town, 68

Sword of Isabella the Catholic, 139

Symbols of the Trinity, 204

Synagogue of Toledo, the Great, Third Century, 432

Templar in Travelling Dress, 185

Teutonic Knight, 196

Thomas of Savoy granting a Charter to the Town of Cambrai, 16

Three-masted Galley, Sixteenth Century, 82

Three Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, and Penance, 231

Three Sacraments: Marriage, Orders, and Extreme Unction, 236

Tomb, Gallo-Roman, 452

„ of Adelaide or Alice, Countess of Hainault, 462

Tomb of Alexander de Berneval, Architect of the Church of St. Ouen,
at Rouen, 472

Tomb of Du Guesclin, 464

„ St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 461

„ Louis, Duke of Orleans, and Valentine of Milan, his Wife,
468

Tomb of Philip Pot, Grand Seneschal of Burgundy, 466

Tomb of St. Remigius, 469

„ Sibylle, Wife of Guy de Lusignan, 471

Torments of Hell, The, 485

Tortures inflicted by the Catholics upon the Huguenots in the South
of France, 442

Tour du Télégraphe, Narbonne, Fourteenth Century, 6

Tower of Beaucaire, Thirteenth Century, 6

„ the Castle of Fougères, Twelfth Century, 6

Tower of the Castle of Loches, Twelfth Century, 6

Tower of Notre-Dame des Bois, Eleventh Century, 487

Tower of the Wall of Provins, Twelfth Century, 6

Treaty of Arras, Conclusion of the, in 1191, 293

Tree of Battles, The, 29

Triumph of Christ, The, Seventeenth Century, 272

„ the Lamb, The, Twelfth Century, 229

Triumphal Vessel drawn in a Car at the Funeral Ceremony of the
Emperor Charles V., 492

Turreted Vessel that protected the Port of Venice, 77

Tympan in the Portico of the Church of Sémur, Eleventh Century, 346

Urban II. presiding over the Council of Clermont, in 1095, 262

Virgin of St. Luke, The so-called, 369

War Trophy of Barbarian Prisoners, Second Century, 39

Watch-tower, Fifteenth Century, 69

Wickliff, John, 409

Works of Charity, Fifteenth Century, 346

Zizim transferred to Charles VIII., 178

Zwingle, Ulrich, 416

MILITARY AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

IN

THE MIDDLE AGES,

AND AT THE

PERIOD OF THE RENAISSANCE.

FEUDALISM.

Origin.--Barbaric Laws.--Enfeoffment.--Charlemagne and the
Church.--First Construction of Strongholds.--Vassal and
Suzerain.--Feudal Rights.--The Truce of God.--Feudal Churches
and Abbeys.--Communal Principles.--New Townships.--Origin of
the French Bourgeoisie.--The English Magna Charta.--Alienation
of Fiefs.--Liberation of the Serfs.--Imperial Cities.--Feudal
Rights of the Bishops.--St. Louis.--Wars between France and
England.--The _Bulle d’Or_.--The States-General.--Origin of
the Third Estate.

Before presenting any manifestation of its existence, feudalism had long been gradually developing, and seemed to be moving forward invisibly at the head of the barbarian conquerors of Roman Gaul. From the day that their great leader, Clovis, shared amongst his _leudes_, or companions-in-arms, the lands that they had won at the price of their blood while fighting under his orders--from the day when, by his miraculous baptism after the victory of Tolbiac (Fig. 1), he himself a proud Sicamber, submitted himself to and became a vassal of the Christian Church, simultaneously sprang into existence a theocratic and a martial aristocracy. In this simultaneous double origin might have already been perceived the hidden cause of the future inevitable antagonism between the modern influence of the cross and the material power of the sword. Conspiracies, bloodthirsty executions, continual revolts, divers plots, in which were concerned at one time the king’s leudes, at another the principal clergy; ecclesiastical censures, ceaselessly threatening these blind and savage tyrants, who, while bending to the reproof, at the same time panted for revenge; curbless ambitions, terrible hatreds, the continued strife of opposing races; on one side the Gallo-Romanic (Figs. 2 and 3) and its heir the Gothic, on the other the barbarous Germanic and Slavonian, more or less christianized; all these were the endless signs by which the coming reign of feudalism, at each successive stage of modern civilisation, marked its advent. The political system which a barbarous legal code had inaugurated for the benefit of the leudes, was entirely opposed to the system sanctioned by the Roman law. It was the desire of the leudes that a seignior, the owner of the land and of the men who cultivated it, should possess the right of infeudalising, that is to say, of ceding, as an inferior freehold, a certain portion of his own estate, abandoning in so doing to the concessionary or vassal not only the rights of the soil, but the sovereignty over those who occupied it. For a vassal to forfeit his rights, he must first have failed to fulfil the engagements he undertook when he received the investiture of the fief. The cession of lands and the rights attached to it, which were the foundation of dawning feudalism, remained for more than a century in that state of oscillation which precedes a stable equilibrium.

Master of France, of Germany, and of Italy, and protector of the Church, Charlemagne (Fig. 4) enjoyed all the prerogatives of the Western emperors. On two occasions he delivered the Holy Seat from its enemies, and in Germany as well as in Italy he placed his sword at the service of the Christian faith. One of the popes, Adrian, bestowed upon him the dignity of patron; another, Adrian’s successor, Leo III., placed, in the year 800, the imperial crown upon his head. Then might have been seen, better than in the days of the Roman and Greek Emperors, the spectacle of the Church protected by the head of the State, to whom the seignorial aristocracy paid feudal obedience, and who controlled with an iron hand their tendencies to schism. Feudalism, which was gathering strength, and which already knew its own power, never retrograded; it sometimes halted and was at rest, but it was only waiting a more propitious season to continue its path. Charlemagne’s successors were, in fact, neither the kings of France nor the emperors of Germany, but the feudal lords, the great landowners; and their power waxed all the greater from the fact that, in 853, an edict of Charles the Bald ordered the reconstruction of the ancient manors, the repair of their fortifications, and the construction of new ones, so as to arrest the devastating invasions of the Normans, of the Saracens, of the Hungarians, and of the Danes. Thus Europe became dotted with fortresses, behind which both nobles and villains found a refuge against the new flood of barbarians. There was soon scarcely a stream, a mountain pass, or an important road which was left undefended either by military posts or by strong walls (Figs. 5 to 10). The invaders, formerly rendered so bold and indomitable by the fear they had succeeded in inspiring, now ceased their raids, or at most ventured no farther than the shores on which they had disembarked. Little by little a sense of security returned to the inhabitants, and the welfare of the civilised world was assured. A service of this importance, rendered by the nobles and seigniors to society at large, naturally gave them legitimate claims to the exclusive guardianship of the frontiers which they protected from the common enemy.

Towards the tenth century, every noble who desired to obtain from another noble, richer or more powerful than himself, a portion of land to be held as a fief, and who consented thus to become his vassal, personally declared in the chief’s presence that for the future he wished to be his faithful, devoted servant and his defender until death; with his sword girded to his side and his spurs on his heels, he solemnly swore this on the Holy Writ. In the subsequent ceremony of _hommage-lige_ the vassal, bareheaded, knelt on one knee, and, placing his hands within those of his seignior, swore fealty to him, and undertook to follow him to the wars (Figs. 11 and 12), an obligation not entailed by the first act of homage, namely, that of _hommage-simple_. Thenceforward the seignior ceded to him the land or the feudal domain, by _investiture_ or by _seizin_, a ceremony often accompanied by the giving of a symbolical sign, such as a clod of earth, a little stick, or a stone, according to the custom of the soil. The investiture of kingdoms was conferred with the sword, that of provinces with a standard.

The reciprocal obligations of the vassal and his suzerain were numerous, some moral, some material. The vassal was bound to loyally preserve the secrets confided to him by his suzerain (Fig. 13), to prevent and frustrate any treachery on the part of his enemies, to defend him at the risk of his own life, to resign his own horse on the battle-field should his lord have lost his, to go as a prisoner in his stead, to cause his honour to be respected, and to assist him with his advice. At the simple request of the suzerain, the vassal was bound to follow him to the field, either alone or accompanied with a specified number of armed men, according to the importance of the fief. The duration of this military service varied, in like manner, in proportion to the fief, from twenty to sixty days--a period that did not admit of very distant expeditions. The feudal seignior stood in place of the sovereign, and being invested with executive authority, had necessarily, in order to exercise it, recourse to the latent force distributed amongst his vassals, and he naturally did so in accordance with his own convenience. Justice, administered in this manner, was termed _fiance_, that is to say, public security. The seignior was wont to summon the men of his fief or fiefs to his _plaids_, or assizes, either for the purpose of assisting him with their advice, to act with him as judges, or to carry out the sentences he pronounced. He had a right to two kinds of assistance--obligatory, or _legal aids_, and voluntary, or _gracious aids_. Legal aids were due from the vassal under three sets of circumstances: when the seignior was taken prisoner and had to pay a ransom, when his eldest son was about to be made a knight, and when he gave away his eldest daughter in marriage. In feudal society these aids stood in the place of the public taxes, which in ancient times, as in our own days, were collected by the State alone; they differed, however, in this respect, that they were not due at any stated periods, nor perhaps could they ever be absolutely enforced, they were a kind of voluntary gift--from the bestowal of which, however, few vassals dared to free themselves.

The seignior, who never abdicated his sovereignty over his vassal, sometimes interfered in certain essential modifications necessary to the fief--modifications that the vassal was incompetent to undertake. These gave rise to new rights, and became a fresh source of revenue to the seignior. For instance, the seignior was entitled--first, to the right of _relief_, a sum of money payable by every person of full age who succeeded to the possession of a fief, which sum became larger as the line of succession became less direct; secondly, to the right of _alienation_, payable by those who sold or alienated the fief in any way; thirdly, to the rights of _escheat_ and of _confiscation_, in accordance with which the fief reverted to the suzerain when the vassal died without leaving an heir, or when, from some act of his own, he had incurred the penalty of being deprived of his feudatory rights; fourthly, to the right of _guardianship_, in virtue of which the seignior, during the minority of his vassals, held the ward and administration of the fief besides enjoying its revenues; fifthly, to the right of _marriage_, which consisted in finding a husband for the female inheritor of a fief; this right gave the seignior the privilege of forcing her to select one of the suitors that he chose to present to her.

As long as a vassal scrupulously fulfilled his numerous and delicate obligations he might consider himself as the absolute master of his fief, he might partially or entirely sub-feudalise it, and become in his own turn the suzerain of vassals of an inferior order termed _vavasseurs_, who were bound to render to him the same obligations that he himself paid to his own seignior. On the other hand, the suzerain was bound to respect his contract, not to dispossess his vassal without a legitimate motive, but to protect him, and to render him on all occasions substantial justice. It was, moreover, to his interest to do this, for the prosperity of the fief depended upon the security and welfare of the vassal.

Vassals of the same suzerain, residing in the same territory, and possessing fiefs of a similar value, were termed _pairs_ (_pares_), or equals. Suzerains of every rank, the king included, had their _pairs_, and all could claim the privilege of being tried by these _pairs_ in the presence of his immediate seignior. If the seignior refused to act justly, and the vassal considered himself unrighteously condemned, he had the right of making an appeal in _default of justice_ to the suzerain of his own seignior. Another right of appeal, that of arms, prevailed also in feudal society. The nobles, as a rule, preferred to carry out their own justice rather than await from others a slow and uncertain decision. This was the cause of there being so many little wars and so many desperate and bloody struggles between different seigniorships. Might made right; but custom, nevertheless, to some extent regulated the formalities that preceded these internecine conflicts, so that the seignior or the vassal who was to be attacked might be forearmed, and might put himself upon his guard (Figs. 14 and 15). Further, to remedy as much as possible the calamities ensuing from these perpetual contentions, the Church had the power of suspending and preventing them, under pain of excommunication, from sunset on Wednesday to sunrise on Monday during the festivals of Lent and Advent, and at all periods of high religious solemnity. This was the _Peace_ or the _Truce_ of God.

The seigniors possessed no right of uniform justice. In France, a superior, a middle, and an inferior judicial court were recognised. The first alone possessed the power of life and death. The more considerable fiefs had usually attached to them the right to exercise the highest justice, but there were exceptions to this rule. A _vavasseur_, for instance, might sometimes appeal against this highest justice, while a seignior, who was only entitled to exercise the inferior justiciary rights, might inflict death on all robbers caught _in flagrante delicto_ on his lands.

The privilege of coining money, always a sure index of sovereignty, together with the exclusion of all foreign jurisdiction and of all external authority from the area of each fief, also constituted two important prerogatives. Finally, the fief, with its privileges, always remained intact; it passed invariably to the eldest of the family, on the sole condition of his paying homage to the suzerain.

Most of the churches and abbeys, such as those of Saint-Denis, of Saint-Martin des Champs, and of Saint-Germain des Prés (Fig. 16), which proudly reared their towers and spires opposite the Louvre of the kings of France, exercised on their own account all the feudal rights which they had acquired by reason of the territorial possessions as well as by the concessions lavishly ceded to them by their sovereigns. The archbishops, the bishops, and the abbots thus became temporal lords, and were consequently forced to have vassals for military service, to keep up a court of justice, and to support a mint, thus uniting--in the case of bishops who enjoyed the temporal rank of count--spiritual with political authority.

A, Road leading to the River Seine; B, St. Peter’s Chapel; C, the
Close; D, Road leading to the Pré-aux Clercs; E, Place of the
Breach; F, Ditch; G, the Pope’s Gate; H, Cloister; I, Refectory;
K, Dormitory; L, the Church; M, Chapel of the Virgin; N, Road
between the Ditch and the Pré-aux-Clercs; O, space between the
Barrier to the Rue des Ciseaux; P, Great Gate of the Monastery;
Q, Road to the River; R, Barrier close to the Ditch; S, the Inn
called the Chapeau Rouge; T, the Pillory.]

This twofold power made the prelate the suzerain of all the seigniors in his diocese. Towards the end of the tenth century the feudal ecclesiastics, by reason of the permission granted to laymen to bequeath their property to the Church, as well as of the strictness of the laws which forbade the alienation of ecclesiastical property, possessed a fifth part of all French and English soil, and nearly a third of Germany; whilst the last surviving Carlovingian could only claim the town of Laon, where he resided, to such an extent had his predecessors despoiled themselves of their lands in favour of their great vassals, who still, however, recognised him as their suzerain. In the eleventh century Europe was divided into a multitude of fiefs, each having its own mode of life, its own laws, its own customs, and its ecclesiastical or lay head, who was as independent as he well could be. Around these, but under certain conditions of dependence and of subordination, was developed the much more numerous class of freedmen. Gradually manual labour and the efforts of a growing intelligence led to the political existence of the bourgeois, those worthy representatives of the labouring portion of society. The part which was taken by the latter was not always of a passive character. As early as the year 987 the villains of Normandy rebelled and leagued themselves against their feudal lords, claiming the right of fishing and of the chase, and the privilege of having an administration and a magistracy of their own; it was thus that the innate power of the people revealed itself: the towns and the boroughs were peopled with inhabitants who held their homes in tenure from the seigniors--who were the proprietors of the soil--under certain servile obligations as to the payment of taxes. As soon as the establishment of the hierarchy of fiefs had put an end to discord and anarchy, the germs of the Great Revolution--destined to restore civil liberty to the heirs of the countless inhabitants whom the misfortunes of Gaul and the tyranny of the emperors had reduced to servitude--began to show themselves. It was in this wise that the communal movement originated, and the town of Mans is generally credited with having been the first to set the example of having, through the agency of the working classes, conspired against the seignior. We find in the annals of Metz, about the year 1098, record of the election for life of a _maître-échevin_ (high-sheriff), named Millon, in place of one, by name Hennolu-Bertin, who had been elected for one year, but who, doubtless, was not the first in his office. And we find an echevinal council, termed the council of the twelve, enjoying functions at once magisterial, administrative, and military. Metz possessed at the same time, by the side of their communal organization, a count of the name of Gerald, who was succeeded in 1063 by another count named Folmar. It had also a bishop, rich, powerful, firm, full of learning, named Adalbéron, a favourite both with the Pope and with the Emperor, influential enough to obtain anything, but never asking anything but what was just. It was, therefore, under the protection of the sword of the count and of the crozier of the bishop that the municipal liberties of Metz began to grow--liberties that became within a single century so developed and powerful that Bertram, another bishop of Saxon origin, undertook the task of restricting them, and endeavoured to regulate them by a charter which restored to the Church its electoral but not its governmental influence. This first communal organization, a type of many other municipalities in France and in Germany, was inaugurated without bloodshed. But this was not everywhere the case; at Cambrai, for instance, the commune was only established after a century of open warfare between the inhabitants and the bishop, their suzerain. At Laon--that ancient feudal city where the nobility and the burgesses engaged in all kinds of brigandage, where the bishop, who was a famous warrior and huntsman, was in the habit of sharing with the dignitaries of his cathedral and with the aristocracy of the town the fruit of his exactions--the commune inaugurated itself with the blood of their bishop, who was assassinated in the midst of a terrible insurrection. The towns of Amiens, of Beauvais, of Noyon, of Saint-Quentin, of Sens, of Soissons (Fig. 17), and of Vézelay, underwent nearly the same vicissitudes that Cambrai and Laon had experienced, and finally attained, after similar trials, a similar position. Perhaps Cambrai, of all the French communes, was the most exacting towards the feudal power that it was trampling under foot. “Ni l’évêque, ni l’Empereur, ne peuvent mia asseoir ne taxe, ne tribut, et n’en peult issir la malice, fors que pour la bonne garde et défense de la ville, et ce depuis coq chantant jusques à la nuit.”[1] No vassal had ever claimed or obtained more in the exercise of his feudal rights (Fig. 18).