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and would not admit the excuse. They censured the authors of those compositions with great asperity. Prynne's "Histriomastyx," written in the time of Charles I. of England, and Collier, in the reign of Charles II., were not more severe against the immorality of stage-plays than Ascham, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, against the evil tendency and pernicious consequences of those old romances, performances which he terms "Enchantments of Circe, brought out of Italy to marre men's manners in England."

The taste for the tales of chivalry, and the old romance, seemed indeed to revive in the reign of Elizabeth. She inherited from her father, Henry VIII., a genius for knight-errantry, and was fond of those extraordinary fictions which became once more a prevailing passion. The Arcadia of Sir Philip Sidney and Spenser's Faery Queene, both composed in that reign, are among the last of the classical performances in the spirit of chivalry. That mode of writing, I suspect, is now for ever exploded. Those speciosa miracula would be no longer tolerable in a modern composition. Fancy is now constrained to ally herself with truth; and the generality even of the vulgar, whose passions are not easily affected unless through the medium either of realities or strong prejudices, would turn away from those compositions which their ancestors read with eager delight, and trembled while they believed.

We may congratulate ourselves, no doubt, in the main, upon the victory of reason and good sense over superstitious prejudices; but a good taste with a lively imagination, still charmed with the perusal of those remains of legendary lore, will not easily console itself for the dissolution of that ideal world, or venerate the more that increasing philosophic light for having dried up for ever the sources of romantic fiction. As Voltaire himself exclaims:

"Oh happy times of old, when sure assent
Was given to tales of airy sprites who guard
The household hearth, and earn their due reward

For labors to the careful housewife lent;

Or those kind fays by good Titania sent

To watch the just man's dream, and antedate
Elysium's bliss; such tales at evening fire
To all his listening race the hoary sire,
While mute attention reigned, could well relate,
Or vengeance fell record, of fiend's or demon's hate.

"But these are heard no more. The airy reign
Of Fancy fades away; and all the throng,
That filled creation's void, air, earth, and main,
Of forms ideal cease. To us belong
To trace with searching eye and doubtful ear
Stern Truth, and Science to her dark retreat,
To court coy Wisdom in her cloistered seat,
And Reason's empire own and laws severe.
Error exchanged for Truth, the gain how great!
Ah! Error had her charms-when lost, we own too late."

Such are the natural feelings of one who, though a philosopher, was also a poet. It will however, require genius of a very remarkable order ever to revive among the polished nations of Europe a fervid taste for the romance of chivalry.

CHAPTER XI.

State of the EUROPEAN KINGDOMS towards the End of the Crusades, and in the Age immediately following:-Constantinople recovered by the Greek Emperors-Sicilian Vespers-Crusade against the Albigenses-Rise of the House of Austria-Spirit of the Popedom-Persecution of the Knights TemplarsRise of the Helvetic Republics-Council of Constance.

CONSTANTINOPLE, taken as we have seen by the crusaders, did not remain long in the hands of its Western conquerors. The popes, however, for a while flattered themselves with the disposal of both empires. Peter de Courtenay was crowned at Rome, emperor of Constantinople, and his successor, Baldwin II., acknowledged the pope's superiority, by coming to Rome to solicit the assistance of a crusade, both against the Greeks and against the Mahometans. He solicited to no purpose, and returned to Constantinople only to see it fall into the possession of its ancient masters, the Greek emperors. Michael Paleologus, tutor to the young emperor Lascaris, retook the city; Baldwin fled; and Paleologus imprisoned and put out the eyes of his pupil, and so secured to himself the possession of the empire. He took care, however, to screen himself from vengeance by courting the favor of the pope, and once more reunited the Greeks to the Latin church.

Frederic II., surnamed Barbarossa, was at this time emperor of Cermany, and paid homage to the pope for the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, which was possessed by his son Conrad. Conrad, it is said, was poisoned by his unnatural brother, Manfred, who certainly seized on his kingdom, to the exclusion of his nephew, the younger Conradin, whose right it was by inheritance. The noly see was always jealous of the dominion of the German emperors in Italy. Pope Clement IV., who hated the family of Frederic, (the house of Swabia,) and at the same time was desirous of punishing the usurpation of Manfred, gave the investiture of the kingdom of Naples and Sicily to Charles of Anjou, brother of Lewis IX. of France, on condition of his pay.ng a large tribute, and renouncing his right after a limited period of

time

Charles accepted the condition, and gave battle to Manfred, who was killed in the engagement, and thus Charles became master of Naples and Sicily, while young Conradin, with the aid of his kinsman, the duke of Austria, prepared to vindicate his right to his father's kingdom. The pope armed in support of his vassal, Charles of Anjou. An engagement ensued, in which Conradin and the duke of Austria were totally defeated-they were taken prisoners and condemned as rebels against the supreme authority of the holy church; Charles ordered them to suffer death upon a scaffold. Thus this prince secured his claim to the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, by a deed which filled his new subjects with horror. They submitted, for awhile, with silent indignation to his tyrannical government. The Sicilians at length, to whom the authority of this usurper became every day more intolerable, formed a conspiracy to vindicate their liberty, which terminated in one of the most dreadful massacres ever known in history. In the year 1282, upon Easter Sunday, at the ringing of the bell for vespers, it was resolved to put to death every Frenchman through the whole island of Sicily, and the resolution was punctually executed. Even women and infants underwent the general fate, and such was the savage fury of the Sicilians, that the priests assisted in the murder of their brethren, and cut the throats even of their female penitents. Thus the blood of Conradin was amply revenged, and the cruelty of Charles of Anjou signally punished-but these sanguinary proceedings brought new misfortunes on the kingdom of Sicily.

Peter, king of Arragon, who had married the daughter of Manfred, now stepped forth in support of the Sicilians, against Charles of Anjou, and claimed the crown himself in right of his wife. The Sicilians received him with open arms, and the consequence was a ruinous war of several years' duration, which involved this unhappy country in the greatest calamities.

We have mentioned the crusade against the Albigenses, which happened about forty years before this period. It is proper to give a short account of this detestable persecution. The Albigenses were the inhabitants of the Pays de Vaud in Piedmont, and principally of the city of Alby. Some men among them had begun to reason about matters of religion; and in those times, when the abuses of the papal power were very glaring, it was not difficult to persuade the people to shake off a yoke which they found extremely burdensome. These people of Piedmont and Languedoc began to preach up the sacred scriptures as the only rule of conduct, and consequently the exclusion of all papal and ecclesiastical constitutions.* Innocent III. was the first who took measures to repress these dangerous heretics. He sent two

*Many of the Albigenses inclined to the Manichean heresy.-See Mosheim part ii., ch. 5

Cistertian monks, with a commission to try them and excommunicate them, and required the assistance of the temporal lords of the country to deprive them of their estates, and to punish them with the utmost severity. This ecclesiastical commission was the first origin of the horrible tribunal of the Inquisition, which has since been the scourge of the Catholic countries, and particularly of Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Their court was established at Toulouse, which gave such offence and disquiet to the count of Toulouse, that it is said he caused the first inquisitor to be assassinated. The opposition which he showed to the holy see cost him extremely dear. Pope Innocent discharged his subjects from their allegiance, and at length forgave him only on the condition of his giving up several of his castles, and promising to form a crusade himself against his countrymen. The count was compelled to obey, and under the command of Simon de Montfort, this holy campaign was begun. The city of Beziers, which harbored a great number of the heretics, was taken by storm, and all the inhabitants put to the sword; Carcassonne submitted, and implored for mercy, but the inhabitants were all driven out naked, and their goods confiscated. Massacres and public executions followed without number. Those unfortunate wretches died martyrs to their religious opinions, and numbers of them joined in hymns of triumph while they were burning at the stake. The unhappy count, compelled to be a spectator, and even an assistant in those scenes of misery, found means at length to escape, and betook himself to his brother the king of Arragon, whom he persuaded to arm in the cause of humanity. But that prince, whose forces when mustered in the field, it is said, amounted to 100,000, was, according to the incredible narrations of historians, defeated by Simon de Montfort with 1800 men. Simon, this atrocious and bloody villain, was killed soon after by a stroke of a stone, and from that period the crusade, wanting a leader wicked enough to supply his place, began to decline. His son, young de Montfort, was unable to keep the dominions of Languedoc which the pope had settled on his father. He renounced them to Lewis VIII. of France, whose death prevented his taking possession of them, and they were not annexed to the crown of France till the reign of Philip the Bold. The Inquisition, in the meantime, repressed all religious innovations, and the sect of the Albigenses, if it continued secretly to exist, created at least no more disturbance. The effects of this tribunal in quieting men's consciences were so apparent, that pope Innocent IV. established it over all Italy, except in the kingdom of Naples.

The rise and elevation of the illustrious house of Austria was attended with some remarkable circumstances, which strongly mark the spirit of the times. The first prince of the house of Austria, who sat on the imperial throne, was Rodolph, count of

Hapsburg, who was descended from the counts of Tierstiern, noble family of Switzerland. He possessed large patrimonial territories; and the honor he acquired by his military and political abilities induced some of the Swiss cantons to put themselves under his protection. Ottocarus, king of Bohemia, of whose dominions Austria then formed a part, appointed Rodolph his prime minister and steward of his household. On the death of the emperor, Henry II., the electors were so divided in their opinions whom to choose for his successor, that they agreed at length to commit the sole right of nomination to the count Palatine, Lewis, duke of Bavaria. Lewis named for emperor Rodolph of Hapsburg. It may be conceived that it should be somewhat humiliating to the king of Bohemia, who was one of the proudest princes of his time, to find the master of his household elevated to the rank of his sovereign, and as such entitled to exact homage from his dominions of Bohemia. When this demand was made by the heralds of the new emperor, Ottocarus indignantly replied, "Go tell your master that I owe him nothing, for I have paid him his wages.' But this imprudent witticism cost him very dear. Rodolph instantly declared war against him, and in one campaign deprived him of Austria, Stiria, and Carniola. The emperor bestowed Austria on his eldest son, and it has ever since remained the patrimonial inheritance of his family. He now acquainted the king of Bohemia that his dignity as emperor positively required that he, the king, should perform homage as his vassal. Ottocarus was obliged to submit: but he required, as a condition, that the homage should be privately performed in the emperor's tent, and before the officers of the empire alone. On the day appointed, he repaired in his robes of state to the camp of the emperor, who chose on that occasion to be clothed in the plainest apparel. When Ottocarus was on his knees before Rodolph, the curtains of the tent were drawn up, and the king of Bohemia was exhibited in that attitude to the whole imperial army. This provoked the king to the highest pitch of indignation. He immediately renounced his allegiance, and declared war against the emperor, in hopes of recovering his dominions of Austria; but in his first battle he was defeated and slain.

Rodolph, like his predecessors of the Swabian line, aimed at the sovereignty of Italy: he wanted power, however, to accomplish this object of ambition, and he contented himself with obtaining sums of money from the principal towns, in token of their allegiance.

The Genoese, the Venetians, and the Pisans, were at this time contributing to the wealth, improvement, and civilization of their country, while the rest of Europe (if we except England under Edward I.) was yet extremely barbarous. A dawning of liberty was, however, beginning to arise in France, at least we may term it liberty when compared to the ancient servitude.

The

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