Chapter XI: The Child in Earlier and Medieval Europe (1)

=Historical and Critical.= We come now to a time in Europe when there is an overturning of the greatest nation, perhaps, that has ever arisen in this world and with the highest civilization the world had reached up to its time and we enter upon a period where barbarians rule and where civilization lies stagnant for a long number of years. The question ever arises why these great civilizations should be overthrown and pass away as it would seem with their preservation the world would go on toward higher progress and better living while their tearing down leaves the world in ignorance and darkness till another civilization gradually arises.

Yet the very fact that these civilizations are overthrown would imply that the people themselves are weakened or else they could not be overcome. So it would seem that the nation has reached a place where it no longer can prove most useful to the people composing it or to the people of the world, and it must be overthrown and caused to cease to exist in order that new, fresh elements may be allowed to enter into the life of the people that stagnation may not come upon the whole race of people.

The old Romans disappear and a new race enters upon world activity, a race of barbarians, and not only a new people but likewise a youthful people, which must promise much for the race. But this new people begins at quite a lower plane of civilization than the old nations of Greece and Rome had reached and so there is entered upon a long, slow upward climbing but there is a civilization attained that not only reached to that of Greece and Rome but even surpassed these nations and it is still going upward.

It would seem that it does a world good at times to slow down and even to lie dormant for in the end it will surpass its former self. Humanity is the same always and the dominant traits, though they may be checked and held passive for a long time, in the end will show themselves, strengthened by the rest. The best things that a nation produces are not lost in the nation's passing away for the conquering people will in a slow way absorb and work over the essentials and they will come forth among the new people all the better and stronger for race progress. What if the time be long and the regeneration slow, the world can pass away its time in no better way than in getting ready for progress and it has plenty of time for such.

"The larger part of all that the ancient world had gained seemed to be lost. But it was so in appearance only. Almost, if not quite, every achievement of the Greeks and the Romans in thought, in science, in law, in the practical arts, is now a part of our civilization, either among the tools of our daily life or in the long-forgotten or perhaps disowned foundation-stones which have disappeared from sight because we have built some more complete structure upon them, a structure which never could have been built, however, had not these foundations first been laid by some one. All of real value which had been gained was to be preserved in the world's permanent civilization. For the moment it seemed lost, but it was only for the moment, and in the end the recovery was to be complete. By a long process of education, by its own natural growth, under the influence of the remains of the ancient civilization, by no means small or unimportant, which worked effectively from the very first, by widening experience and outside stimulus, the barbarian society which resulted from the conquest was at last brought up to a level from which it could comprehend the classic civilization, at least to a point to see that it had very much still to learn from the ancients, and then, with an enthusiasm which the race has rarely felt, it made itself master in a generation or two of all that it had not known of the classic work--of its thought and art and science--and from the beginning thus secured, advanced to the still more marvelous achievements of modern times."[200]

=Feudalism.= Feudalism was a form of society and government which arose during the Middle Ages and became one of the great institutions of that time, whose legal principles and social ideals are still prevalent in the fundamentals of law and society of the present. "It is itself a crude and barbarous form of government in which the political organization is based on the tenure of land; that is, the public duties and obligations, which ordinarily the citizen owes to the state, are turned into private and personal services which he owes to his lord in return for land which he has received from him."[201] The feudal system was not confined to Europe, for it existed as well in Japan and in Central Africa and among the Mohammedans, for if the conditions that underlie this system arise then human nature, whatever the place or time, is likely to take on this form of government.

The feudal system grew up from the conditions of society of the time, which caused the people to organize themselves about earlier institutions whose remains still existed among them. In Rome there had grown up a system where the great man had clients attached to him, who consulted him, who helped him and in turn were helped and directed by him. This system must have somewhat been taken up by the conquerors and carried through the years in a modified form, so that when there was no longer a strong central power able to care for the people as a whole, it was natural for them to turn to the strong men about them and to attach themselves to the ones who could bestow upon them land to hold in tenure and likewise who was strong enough to protect them in the use of this land or of their own land. The constituent elements of feudalism were those referring to land and its tenure and to the relations which existed between the protector and the one protected, or, vassalage, beneficies, and immunities.

The term vassal was originally applied to servants not free, but it gradually grew to mean a free man and a vassal was of the same condition as his lord, so that the term held an honorable meaning. The relation of the vassal to the lord was that of homage and fealty. There were two parts to the ceremony of vassalage. In the first ceremony, the man kneeled before the lord, laid his hands in those of the lord, and promised homage to him, upon which the lord lifted him up and gave him the kiss of peace. In the second ceremony, an oath of fealty to the lord was taken upon the Gospels or upon some relic or relics of saints. At the time of this ceremony the lord performed the ceremony of investiture, when he handed to the vassal some material object to symbolize that the man was invested with a fief. The vassal owed to his lord military, civil, and financial duties. He had to give military service for a certain length of time each year, usually forty days, at his own expense, which, if continued, was at the expense of the lord. The vassal was bound to attend the court of his lord and to aid him in administering justice. In cases where the lord was taken prisoner in war and a ransom was demanded or his son was knighted or his eldest daughter married, or if he went to the Crusades, the vassal was to give financial aid. The lord owed the obligation to his vassal to support him in his fief and to defend him against every enemy.

On the death of the lord the inheritance passed to his children. At first only male heirs could inherit lands, but later the daughter shared with the son all the privileges of succession except that of primogeniture.

The benefices were bestowed by the lord upon the vassal, the land to be held by tenure, and thus the vassal was placed under obligation to the lord. There were some lands that were held freely and not by tenure, such being known as allodial lands, but these freeholds decreased until finally they wholly disappeared and all the land was held by tenure.

The immunities were grants of privileges to churches or to private individuals. These included the exemption from certain dues or certain obligations.

In his domain the lord was a kind of sovereign. He administered justice, levied taxes, coined money, and declared war for himself and for his own benefit. The revenues of the lord were of various kinds. He received a certain part of the crops from his vassals and he received the judicial fees and other fees of various kinds. Property left after death where there were no heirs went to him.

=The Feudal Castle and Its Life.= As has been stated, when the central power became weak and no longer able to protect the common people, they began to cluster about strong men for protection. These men occupied places that could be defended or else they sought out places of strength and security, usually, heights and places which were difficult of access. Here they built castles and fortified them. These were at first wood, making a kind of wooden blockhouse, but gradually stone came to be used and they were built exceedingly strong, and often considered impregnable.

The feudal village lay beneath and about the castle. There was a complete social separation between the life in the castle and that in the village surrounding it. They pursued a different life, as the lord and his retainers were engaged in war or the chase or lived in idleness, while the people of the village were laborers. There became a wide separation between the village and the castle and special privileges grew up about the dwellers of the castle and, through inheritance, a nobility arose that lived in idleness and came to looking down upon and really despising the common people.

This isolation of the castle did, though, bring a closer relation between the members composing its family. However much the lord might go out for war or for adventure, in the end he must return to his castle, as it was his home. Here he found his wife and children, with whom he must spend his time, mostly alone with them, so that close relations grew. When the lord was away from the castle, his wife must, naturally, have had charge of affairs and this would produce in her characteristics which would cause her to be respected by her lord and often to be considered his equal. It thus arose that domestic life came to mean much in that time and the family became the center of social relationship. The importance of the woman increased and the value of wife and mother became to be recognized beyond what had been known up to that time.

=Chivalry.= Chivalry arose in the Middle Ages, reaching its height during the Crusades. It constituted the moral and social law and custom of the ruling classes in Europe between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries. It grew out of old Teutonic customs, was modified by the feudal system, and brought into existence a distinction between men of noble rank and the common people about them. The chivalric person was expected to devote himself to the service of God, to his feudal lord, and to his lady. The knight was trained to service and obedience. He was to give his services to the weak, especially of his own rank, to give himself over to the protection of the church, to be reverent and obedient to his superiors, and to hold womankind in high esteem.

In the training of a knight, the boy remained at home till his seventh or eighth year under the care of his mother, who began his religious education and gave him his early training in respect and obedience to his superiors. He was then placed under the care of some nobleman or churchman, in whose castle he lived and took his place with the members of the household. He was known as a _page_ and he waited upon his lord and lady. He learned to play chess and other games and in most cases to play the harp and to sing and likewise to read and write. He was trained in running, wrestling, boxing, and riding and some knightly exercises that went with the riding. At fourteen or fifteen the youth became a _squire_ and entered into more intimate relations with the knight and his lady. With other squires he played chess and walked and hunted with the lady of the castle, and they attended to the personal wants of the knight, such as caring for his bed, helping him to dress, grooming his horse, and attending upon him at the tournament and in war. During this time the youth learned the arts of war--to exercise in armor, to ride and to use the shield, and to handle the sword and lance and battle-axe. As he neared the end of his squireship, the young man chose his lady-love, to whom he was ever to be devoted. She was usually older than he and often married and he was expected to remain devoted to her even though he should marry.

At twenty-one the young man became a knight, after the ceremony of knighthood. When the time for the ceremony arrived, the candidate put in a season of fasting and purification and prayer, and then he passed the night in a church in prayer and meditation. In the morning came the confession and the absolution and the eucharist. He then placed his sword upon the altar, the priest blessed it and returned it to him, after he had taken the solemn oath of knighthood. His armor was placed upon him and his sword buckled about him and then he knelt before his lord, who laid his sword upon the candidate's shoulder and dubbed him knight. The new knight then arose and mounted his horse and displayed his skill and strength in handling his horse and in the use of his weapons.

The knight's great occupation was that of war. For this he lived and for this he trained throughout life. For practical training in war the tournament came into existence, wherein there were actual combats waged with the weapons of war, and when there were good numbers on each side it became a real battle, even to the wounding and killing. This gave opportunity for displaying knightly powers and courage, for gaining the smiles and good-will of the ladies, and likewise for the settling of private quarrels. The tournament, too, was the greatest of all amusements during feudal times and brought together the largest gatherings and the greatest displays. Fairs were held in connection with them in which there was great merry-making, where jugglers and strolling players and musicians found place and drunkenness and gambling and the like prevailed.

A level piece of ground was chosen on which an oval enclosure was made, with rows of seats and covered galleries all round. The knights who were to engage in the fights pitched their tents at either end, where they stationed themselves with their squires. Heralds had charge of affairs and arranged the ceremonies and rules of procedure. There were jousts, in which two opponents met one another on horseback with lances, and after the jousts was a general fray, in which there were a number of champions on each side who fought with swords and sometimes even with battle-axes, usually on horseback, but on some occasions some on horse and some on foot. The evening before the tournament there was a try-out of arms of squires and young knights, blunt weapons being used, the winners being allowed to enter the general fray of the next day.

All being ready, the lists were cleared and the two knights, on horseback with lances, were placed at some distance opposite each other. At a signal from the herald they lowered their lances and rushed at each other, each striving to knock the other from his horse. In case both knights kept their seats unhurt, they tried it again, till one or both were unhorsed. Then they fought on foot with swords till one was overcome. At the close of all the jousts the general fray took place. In the jousts sometimes one or the other knight was badly wounded and sometimes even killed. In the general fray the fight might have become so fierce that a number would be wounded and killed on both sides. In the evening after the close of the tournament a great feast was held, which was attended by the ladies and the knights who participated in the tournament and other members of the nobility.

The mounted knight was a great fighter and could overcome quite a number of unarmed and unarmored peasants. As long as fighting was done at close quarters no other fighter could equal him or expect to overcome him. But when the common people began to be armed with the bow and the pike an army could be raised that did not always have to fight at close quarters and so armor did not mean so much. War, too, was becoming a mercenary trade and a king could obtain an army by paying for mercenary cavalry and by arming his yeomen and peasants and forming them into pliant infantry. While the barons wasted their strength in fighting and robbing one another, the king swept down upon them with his army of infantry and mercenary cavalry and defeated them one by one, thus doing away with petty baronies and their private quarrels and uniting them under one strong power. When gunpowder came into general use, the knight and his armor vanished in smoke and the chivalry of the middle ages passed away and through the transforming influences of the printing press and steam power and the many other arts of modern times it was refined, and became the basis of the civilization of the present day. Chivalry is still extant, but it has a different meaning than that of feudal times, for where the feudal system had its _knight_ the present age has its _gentleman_.

The age of chivalry most naturally aroused poetic and musical fancies and during that time arose the trouveurs of Northern France, with whom may be placed the minstrels of the British Isles, and the troubadours of Southern France and the minnesingers of Germany. These poets and singers were from all classes--nobility, artisans, clergy--and although most of them were of noble rank, yet there were some noted ones from the common people. They would go about the country reciting and singing their poems and they were welcome everywhere. They would sing of war and of love, many of the productions being based upon heroes of the past and again others being of imaginary characters.

=The Peasantry.= During feudal times there arose a great distinction between noble and ignoble service. The noble service was that performed by the knight in armor on horseback, that of the unpaid warrior, while ignoble service was that of the field laborer. Since feudal life was mainly agricultural, the artisan, the dweller in the town, counted but little, but there came a time when he did count much for the overthrow of feudalism. The mass of the laboring people were serfs and they were treated sternly by their masters, the noblemen, and they were not much more than slaves.

Slavery, so prominent under the Roman rule, gradually disappeared during the middle ages. Yet the serf at first was but little better off, for, although he could not be sold, he could not leave the land. He did have some control of his person, for he had allotted to him a bit of land upon which he could work without being driven by an overseer. Later he was permitted to go out elsewhere for work, but for this he must possess a legal permit. This led to the custom of allowing him to pay his lord in money for his services in lieu of work upon the land or returns from the land, and then followed his being permitted to purchase his freedom, so that the serf could become a freedman.

During the early part of the period the laboring and the trading classes did not count as political, military, or social factors. They are scarcely mentioned in the records of the time. They were robbed by the nobles, their persons maltreated, and their wives and daughters dishonored. There were exactions of all kinds. They had to pay annual dues for the use of the land, they had to give a certain number of days free each year to the repair of the public roads and to the cultivation of the lord's domains, and they had to be ready, when called upon, to render military service of such an inferior kind as they could do. "He was bound to bake his bread at the lord's oven, grind his grain at the lord's mill, and press his grapes in his lord's wine-press, paying, of course, for the privilege; if he wanted to chase or cut wood in the forest, or fish in the stream, or feed his cattle in the pasture, all of which were reserved seigniorial rights, he must pay his tax. He must pay the lord for the use of his weights and measures, or for a guarantee against changes in his coinage. He may not even sell the remnant of crops which survived this accumulation of taxes until those of the lord have been sold at the highest market price. After the lord had squeezed the peasant almost to the point of extinction, came the church with its even more effectual agencies of terror and superstition. Its principal exaction was the tithe, a tax of one-tenth upon the products of agriculture, a burden sufficient, if rigidly enacted, to ruin any field industry. But not content with this, the church, like the feudal seignior, profited by every special occasion, birth, baptism, marriage, death, to collect new contributions."[202]

Even in the seventeenth century the life of the laboring man was very hard, as is shown in the following in reference to the British peasant of that time. "At the first setting out of the plough after Christmas, which was the time to begin fallowing, or breaking up the pease earth, the teams-man rose before 4 a. m., and after thanks to God for his night's rest, proceeded to the beast house. Here he foddered his cattle, cleaned out their booths, rubbed down the animals, currying the horses with cloths and wisps. Then he watered his oxen and horses. He next foddered the latter with chaff, dry pease, oat hulls, beans, or clean garbage, such as the hinder parts of rye. While they were eating their meal, he got ready his collars, hames, treats, halters, mullers, and plough gears. At 6 a. m. he received half an hour's liberty for breakfast. From seven till between two and three in the afternoon he ploughed. Then he unyoked, brought home his oxen, cleansed and foddered them, and, lastly, partook of his dinner, for which he was again granted another half hour's spell of leisure. By 4 p. m. he was again in the stable. After rubbing down his charges and re-cleansing their stalls, he went to the barns, where he prepared the fodder for the following day's bait. He carried this to the stable, and then watered his beasts and replenished their mangers. It was now close on 6 p. m. He therefore went home, got his supper, and then sat by the fireside, either mending his and the family's shoe-leather, or knocking hemp and flax, or picking and stamping apples and crabs for cider or vinegar, or grinding malt on the quern, or picking candle rushes, till 8 p. m. He then lighted his lanthorn and revisited the stable, where he again cleansed the stalls and planks, and replenished the racks with the night's fodder. Then, returning to his cottage, he gave God thanks for benefits received during the day, and went to bed."[203]

=The Town People.= In the early part of this period the artisans, like the field serfs, were grouped under a lord to whom their products belonged. Later they grouped themselves into communities and began to deal with the lord more as a body and not as separate individuals, although at first there was not much organization. There was a continuous growth, though, toward closer organization till there arose the great free city with its charter of freedom obtained from the lord for services rendered or funds furnished in a time of his great need.

The growth of commerce, too, aided in the formation of these cities, as for the carrying on of trade it was necessary to have centers where the people might come together. These places might at first have been a fair, a temporary affair, but gradually these centers became permanently established or old ones revived. For the carrying on of trade it was necessary to have a medium of exchange and the amount of money was increased by the cities through accumulation and coinage. This gave to the cities a strong means for obtaining freedom, as the lord was ever in need of funds and the cities by accumulating money and having the power to raise a general fund could from time to time buy rights from the lord as his need of money became urgent.

In Italy and Germany the cities formed themselves into corporations, the most noted perhaps being the Hanseatic League. In England, however, the cities did not join together, but each stood apart and cared for itself alone. They became really more interested in the welfare of the town itself than in that of the nation and the prosperity of the town was of the most importance. The town could not set aside the law of the land, but it could add to it as far as the government of the town itself was concerned and ordinances were passed relative to the welfare of the town. The officers of these towns considered themselves as very important personages and on occasions of state they arrayed their persons in gorgeous robes and carried themselves with great dignity. These towns erected stately churches and other public buildings and adorned them magnificently.

A striking feature of town life of the Middle Ages was the formation of guilds. This was not original with this period for, as told under the chapter on Rome, there were organizations at Rome similar to the guilds of the middle ages and likewise there were similar organizations in Greece. In the medieval period there were two kinds of guilds. The first kind was of a general nature and it was organized for mutual protection or aid, such as protection against thieves and aid in times of sickness, old age, and the like. The second kind was the trade guild, such as formed by merchants and craftsmen. Guilds formed a very important element in the town life of the Middle Ages, as almost all professions and occupations had guilds.

The craft guild embraced all the members of a craft--the apprentice, who was bound for service for a number of years to learn the trade; the journeyman, or skilled laborer, who received wages for his work; and the master, who controlled the journeyman and the apprentice. The function of the guild was to regulate and protect the craft and also to help one another and to care for the orphan and the widow and the aged. Officers from their own body were appointed to carry out the regulations and to have general oversight of the organization.

"The medieval townsman was very narrow in his aims, very selfish, and sometimes very cruel in his exclusiveness, but his whole-hearted affection for his town, his anxiety for its welfare, and his pride in its beauty are delightful: they must have made his life very real and absorbing to him, and they make it very attractive to us."[204]

=The Aristocracy.= As was stated before, during the middle ages in Europe there grew up a sharp distinction between the noble and the commoner, which was strongly emphasized by inheritance till there became the grouping of people into hard and fast classes. The nobility possessed two characteristics that distinguished them from the common people which were the right to inherit landed estate and the right to knighthood. Thus arose a class born to estate and chivalry which hardened into an aristocracy that was almost impossible for the man born of the public to enter. Yet there were two ways by which he might enter into nobility, by the purchase of an estate to which the quality of nobility was attached, which his children inherited, and through the creation of new nobles by the king, which, though, was rarely done during medieval times.

The love of show and magnificence was great during the middle ages and was greatly displayed by the aristocracy of the period. The most impressive and lavish displays were centered round the person of the king. This was shown in the gorgeous ceremonies and settings of his coronation, in court etiquette and regulations, and in the large establishment of his household. Some of the great nobles had establishments that rivaled and even excelled that of the king. The great lord had a large body of retainers who wore his livery and badge, a great number of whom were members of his household and ate at his table. These great lords were lavish in their entertainment and sometimes impoverished themselves through their hospitality, and were thereby compelled to obtain money, which, as mentioned before, gave to the cities the opportunity of securing privileges from them. In England such nobles sometimes repaired their fortunes by marrying the daughters of rich merchants or by engaging in trade, but in France the old noblesse, whose social standing depended upon their ancient origin, preferred poverty to such means of enriching themselves, which they would regard with holy horror, and they kept their respect and dignity through all the vicissitudes of misfortunes, without thus endangering their pure strain of noble blood by mixing it with that of the common herd or soiling their sacred persons with the vulgar touch of trade.

=The Home.= As time went on in the Middle Ages, the houses built as a means of defense grew less, so that the castle began to disappear and the home to take its place. The houses began to assume proportions of grandeur and forms of beauty, the outgrowth of the love of magnificence and display of the times. In England the manor houses were grouped around a courtyard with the entrance through a gate-house. In the house was a great hall, made to accommodate a large number of people. The kitchen was a large room, sometimes having three or four large fireplaces. Leading from the hall were chambers for the lord and lady and guests. There were also the bake-house, brew-house, stables, granaries, ox-stalls, pig-sties, and other buildings.

The town houses had usually been no higher than two stories, but later went up to three or four stories in height. They often had gardens about them. They were built of stone, brick, or wood, sometimes having a cellar of stone while the upper part was wood. They were thatched with straw, but often tiles were used. Thin horn, talc, and canvas were placed across windows, but glass was coming into more common use, so that many houses had glass in their windows. The rooms were lighted by candles, sometimes torches were used, the candles being set in standing or hanging candlesticks of iron, wood, or latten. The heating was done by a fire built in the center of the hall, the smoke escaping through an opening in the roof, or there was a fireplace in the corner or the side of the room. The fuel used was wood, charcoal, ling, peat, or coal.

In the hall the furniture consisted of tables, seats, and a cupboard. In the chamber was a bedstead with curtains around it and the bedding consisted of a straw mattress, a feather bed, bolster, pillows, sheets, and blankets. There were chairs in the room, a table, and a clothes chest. The walls were painted or hung with tapestry. The floors were bare or strewn with rushes or straw, some floors being of tiles, and carpets came into use late in the period.

=Women.= At the time of the beginning of Christianity women had reached a high position at Rome, having great freedom, power, and influence. At the first women played an important part in the activities of the Christians, but later they were relegated to quite a subordinate place. The old church fathers even went farther and claimed that woman was a source of evil and that she should live in continual penance on account of the curses she had brought upon the world. So it became her duty to remain at home secluded, going out into public only when visiting the sick or attending church, and then she must be veiled. Nor should she enhance her beauty, which was only a snare, by dress but such should be simple and grave and of plain color, not for the purpose of ornament but for protection alone.

"The influence of Christianity tended at once to elevate and to narrow the position of women. It elevated her position, for, while the pagan ideal of life is essentially masculine, the Christian ideal is in part feminine. Justice, energy, strength, are the pre-eminent qualities of the pagan ideal; and mercy, love, gentleness, and humility, of the Christian. The coincidence of the characteristics of Christianity with the characteristics of the female heart resulted in the elevation of woman. This result was also achieved in other ways. In the realm of the emotions, and especially of the religious emotions, woman is superior to man. If she is inferior to him in her power of apprehending a system of truth, she is his superior in respect to her loyalty to individuals. Christianity demanded personal loyalty to a personal Christ as the first and comprehensive condition of admission to its church. Thus the influence of Christianity ennobled the position of woman. This increased power was manifest in various ways. Women flocked to the Church in large numbers, and were important factors in the conversion of the Empire. They embraced martyrdom with unflagging zeal and fortitude. Although not usually admitted to the priesthood, they performed ecclesiastical functions of minor importance. As deaconesses--an order for which may justly be claimed apostolic sanction--they were of peculiar usefulness in the great and arduous work of charity and of philanthropy. Of the asceticism which so early sprang up they were ardent defenders. In their households, their influence was more pervasive than in the Church. For the conversion of their husbands and sons and daughters they labored with constancy, if not always with wisdom, and often with success. The wife of Theodosius the Great was one of the most distinguished defenders of the faith. Augustine writes of the influence of his mother in the formation of his Christian character. The mother of Constantine bore an important part in the conversion of her royal son. In dignity and in useful influence, in social rights and family prestige, Christianity tended to elevate the place of woman. For force or passion as the basis of marriage--elements which when exercised degrade the husband more than the wife--was substituted love. The New Testament teaching was the foundation of practice.

"But in one respect the position of the married woman was narrowed by Christianity. It has been already noticed, that in the civil marriage of the period of the later Republic and Empire, the wife remained in the guardianship of her own family. She did not pass into the control of her husband. The consequence of this method was that the power of her guardian became less and less, and that the power of her husband did not increase. She, therefore, came to occupy a situation of great independence as to both person and property. Against the loose marital bond of the civil marriage, which was indeed a mere species of wedlock, the Church uttered its protest. It was contrary to the teachings of the New Testament; it was opposed to Christian practice. In their repudiation of the civil marriage, the Christian moralists also repudiated that liberty and independence of the wife which were among its essential elements. Thus the legal position of the married woman was narrowed by the Church."[205]

Among the early Germans, women were greatly respected. Woman was considered man's inferior only in physical nature and this very physical weakness was the one great cause of her being so well respected. The wife was not thought inferior to the husband in morality, courage, prudence, and wisdom, but his equal. Although this was somewhat changed by contact with the Romans, yet it appears to be the basis for the building of the high honor paid to women in chivalry. During the time of feudalism the wife tended to become the husband's peer and companion. In the age of chivalry women were held in high esteem, or at least women of the noble class, and they were subjects of great devotion by the knights and squires.

During the Middle Ages many women possessed property and because of this they had a social standing they would not otherwise have had. But riches brought disadvantages as well, as heiresses were in danger of being carried off and compelled to marry their captors or to give them large sums of money. If single a woman's property was more or less under the control of her guardian and when married her husband had control of her belongings. On the other hand, the wife had a certain right in her husband's possessions and upon his death she had her portion as dower.

Women entered into industrial affairs, as they engaged in the manufacture and sale of many articles. They occupied themselves in spinning and weaving, in making ribbons and laces, in making shoes and candles, and other articles; they sold fruit, bread, fish, poultry, and wares of different kind; they were employed in farm work and in unskilled labor such as carrying clay and water, gathering moss and heath, and waiting on thatchers and masons. Women carried on foreign commerce, in England exporting goods to France, Spain, and other countries. They were permitted to become members of guilds, although they did not take a very prominent part in them.

=Marriage.= In the early Christian church marriage was made to mean a great deal. Surrounded as the Christians were by the moral rottenness of the decaying Roman state, it became necessary for the sustenance of their religion that the marriage vow should be a sacred obligation. To this end marriage became a religious ceremony. A Christian could not marry a pagan, as this vow could only be properly taken between parties of the same religious belief and could thus receive the benediction of the bishop. This idea of marriage made chastity the all-important thing in woman and thus created the home and gave to children a pure parenthood and made childhood mean more to children than the world had given before.

Among the Germans, and likewise other northern nations of earlier Europe, monogamy was prevalent and almost the universal practice. There was a kind of purchase of the wife, as the man in the presence of her parents offered a dowry to the bride, which if accepted sealed the match. The parties to the contract both had to be mature people, the bridegroom having to be old enough to be invested with arms and to become a member of the state. Before the woman could marry she had to have the consent of her father or nearest relative, and if a widow, having been purchased, she had to have the approval of the relatives of her deceased husband.

"Marriage ceremonies (among Anglo-Saxons) consisted in the assemblage of friends, the consuming of the great loaf (made by the bride as an introduction into house-keeping, and the ancestor of our wedding-cake); some special barrels of beer were brewed--the 'bride ale,' hence our modern 'bridal.' This beer was drunk to her health and to that of the bridegroom (originally _brydgumma_, bridesman). The Anglo-Saxons paid a regular sum, agreed upon beforehand, to the father before the wedding; the consent of the lady being obtained, the bridegroom then gave his promise and his 'wed.' 'Nor,' adds Sharon Turner, 'was this promise trusted to his honor merely, or to his own interest. The female sex was so much under the protection of the law that the bridegroom was compelled to produce friends who became security for his due observance of the covenant.' In this we have the origin of 'groomsman,' or 'best man,' of our time. The parties being betrothed, the next step to take was to settle by whom the _fosten-léan_, or money requisite for the care of the children, was to be supplied. The bridegroom pledged himself to do this; his friends became security for him. These preliminaries being arranged, he had to signify what he meant to give her for choosing to be his wife, and what he should give her in case she survived him. This was the _morgen gifu_, being given by the Anglo-Saxon husbands to their wives on the morning after the wedding.[206] The old law says that it is right that she should halve the property, or the whole of it should become hers if she had children, unless she married again. The friends of the bridegroom became surety for his conduct and those of the bride for hers. A priest--when Christianity was introduced--blessed the union; and after many points of law had been settled for the protection of the wife under all circumstances, 'her relations wedded her to him.' But in all these instances no mention is made of the wedding-ring, which came later. The English, regarding the wife in her capacity of ruler of the household, placed a ring upon her finger as a badge, not of servitude, but of authority, as in the case of the consort of Ethelred the Second, who before receiving the crown was anointed and distinguished by this symbolic act of adornment."[207]

There was a time during the Middle Ages when betrothal and even marriage took place at a very early age, even between quite young children. In England boys could be married at fourteen and girls at twelve, but these ages were sometimes disregarded and children were married at even younger ages. Betrothals were made by parents or guardians for children of very young age, one such case is on record as having been entered into when the little girl was but four years of age, the child having been given in charge to her future father-in-law. This custom was by far most common among the upper classes, for, as a rule, the men and women of the middle classes did not enter upon marriage till of more mature age. These early marriages or betrothals were probably the result of guardians having under their charge children who were heirs and so they arranged the marriage to their own advantage or sold their rights for a sum of money, and even parents were known to have sold the marriage of their children to gain money.

The idea of the early Christians that marriage should not be civil but religious gradually prevailed till not only was the ceremony performed by the church alone, but also breaches of marriage vows were punished not by the state but by the church. But this did not prevent marriage from becoming a business affair, where the material advantages to be gained were closely looked into and the amount of property or money to be gained on either or both sides was the most important and chief consideration. Nor did this prevent informal marriages, for men and women did join themselves together without priest or religious ceremony by a simple declaration that they would take each other as husband and wife. This was not accepted by the church nor always recognized by the state, but such unions did take place nevertheless.

"It is sometimes thought that in the Middle Ages men were always obliged to hold to their wives for better or worse to their lives' end. There are some grounds for this opinion, but it is not quite correct. The Church did not allow divorce in the modern sense of the word; that is to say, she taught that a valid marriage could not be dissolved; but marriages could be, and often were, annulled on the ground that some impediment existed which rendered them invalid."[208]

There was no regular marriage among the serfs of the earliest times. As marriage became more a church ceremony, this institution established, about the twelfth century, the legality of this ceremony among the serfs. This, of course, caused difficulties when the serf of one lord married the serf of another, and especially so when such parties had children. Sometimes money satisfied this, sometimes other marriages, and even sometimes the children were divided among the two estates.

=Dress.= The simple and beautiful dress of the Greeks and Romans was displaced during the Middle Ages by changing costumes, which sometimes were of the most fantastic designs and colors, sometimes ugly, and sometimes beautiful. It is impossible to give here in detail the dress of all the nations or even in a general way to depict the changes that took place, and but one nation, England, will be considered, and that only in a hurried way.

The early Britons used a mantle that covered the whole body, which was fastened in front with a clasp or with a belt about the waist. These mantles were of skins of animals, the hair being left on for the outside of the garment. Sometimes also they wore a woolen jacket. Their shoes were made of coarse skins, the hair being left for the outside as with the mantle. The women wore chains and rings and bracelets, and their hair was left loose upon the shoulders without braiding or tying.

The Anglo-Saxons had a linen undergarment over which they wore a linen or woolen tunic, reaching to the knees, with long, close sleeves, the tunic being fastened at the waist with a belt. Over these garments they wore a short cloak, fastened with clasps. They wrapped bands of cloth, linen, or leather about the leg from the ankle to the knee, and their shoes opened down the instep and were fastened with a thong. The women wore a long, loose garment, like a tunic, reaching to the ground, and over this a mantle. They wrapped about the head and neck a kind of veil made of a long piece of silk or linen. The men wore the hair and beard long.

The Normans made quite a display in dress. They wore a long, close gown, reaching to the feet, often embroidered with gold at the bottom, and fastened at the waist with an ornamental girdle. Over this they wore a cloak with a hood, fastened across the breast by a gold or silver brooch. The women wore a loose dress, trailing on the ground, with girdle round the waist, and a cloak over the dress. The men wore their hair long, sometimes curling it like women, but they wore no beard, shaving the face clean.

During the Middle Ages dress was a distinguishing mark of very great importance. The king needed to be arrayed in gorgeous robes of rich texture and color, as his dignity require such; the city officers, in keeping with the pride of the city, must be clothed in brilliant attire; the sign of power and greatness of the nobles was displayed in the showy livery of their retainers; and the uniform of the craft-guilds was a badge of their importance in the life of the people and of the nation. During the most of this period there was great luxury in dress among the noble and wealthy. Silks, satins, velvets, scarlet cloths, fine cloths of gold and silver, and rich furs were used in the apparel of both sexes, and not only was the finest and best of their own land used, but also fine materials were brought in from other countries. Not only was the clothing very costly, but also there was a striving for a large amount, so that the expenditure for dress was very great.

The men dressed as fanciful and elaborately as did the women and the styles changed quite as often and as differently. At one time they wore a close-fitting tunic with tight or short sleeves and a short cloak; at a later time they wore a long gown with long, full sleeves, and again their clothing was padded, the shoulders being made as broad as possible. Sometimes the colors of the garments would be of one hue or well matched, and again there would be one garment of one color and another of an entirely different color, and even the parts of the same garment would not be of the same color. "A dandy of the fourteenth century is thus described: 'He wore long pointed shoes, fastened to his knees by gold or silver chains; hose of one color on one leg, and of another color on the other. Short breeches, not reaching to the middle of the thigh; a coat, one-half white, and the other half black or blue; a long beard, a silk band buttoned under his chin, embroidered with grotesque figures of animals, dancing men, etc., and sometimes ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones.'"[209]

The women wore long dresses reaching to the ground and sometimes with long trains. At times the bodices fit closely and were low in the neck, while in another time the body was encased in whalebone to the hips and the shoulders supported an enormous ruff, as much as three feet or more in width. Men also wore the ruff. The ladies used paint on their faces and adorned them with black patches as "beauty spots."

Men and women of the working classes dressed more simply than the upper classes, usually wearing short tunics with small sleeves and with hoods for outdoors. But they, too, dressed up for special occasions and at times they were arrayed in highly-colored and costly garments and even at times vied with the upper classes, in spite of laws passed to prevent people from dressing above their stations.

Children were clothed in about the same manner and the same styles as their elders, there being no great distinguishing marks in the dress of the younger and older people.

The girdles, which were so necessarily an important part of the dress, were often highly ornamental and very costly. They were sometimes made of silk, lined with fine leather, and ornamented with gold and silver and precious stones. The garments of both men and women were at times embroidered, having armorial devices, mottoes, initials of the owners, and other designs. They were also lined and trimmed with fur, many kinds of fur being used.

The men wore their hair long and then again very short; it was cut off short at the forehead and at another time allowed to grow long till it almost fell into the eyes. Sometimes they wore a full beard and sometimes they were clean shaved. At a late time in the period wigs came into use, and they were thought to be indispensable by every man of social standing. They wore hoods and then caps and hats of various styles. The women wore their hair loose down the back or braided and coiled and put into a net of gold wire. At one time great headdresses were the fashion, one style rising up horn-like from the head, another being like a steeple, running to a high point. There were also heart-shaped erections, turban-shaped, crescent-shaped, one like an inverted lamp-shade, and still another shaped like a butterfly.

Shoes were of various styles, one style having very sharp-pointed toes and even projecting far beyond the foot and then turned up and fastened to the knee with a silver or gold chain. Then the shoes were changed from length to breadth, till Parliament passed a law limiting the width of the toes to six inches. There was one kind made of fine, soft leather cut into beautiful designs and worn over bright-colored stockings that showed through the openings.

Jewelry was used quite a great deal. Caps and girdles and other garments were sometimes decorated with precious stones. They wore chains about the neck with pendants in the shape of crosses, medallions, and the like. Reliquaries (little cases containing relics) were also sometimes hung on neck-chains. There were beads of gold and silver and ivory. Brooches and clasps and rings of gold and silver studded with jewels were quite common and other jewelry was worn.