FEUDAL EUROPE

The history of Western Europe during the three hundred years before 1492 deals for the most part with a recovery from the effects of feudal isolation and disorder. When Charlemagne's empire went literally to pieces in the ninth century, Europe was left to struggle with all the forces of disintegration. Even the authority of government itself was divided and subdivided, so that every feudal lord was as good as a king, while every king had infinitely less authority than the president of a big corporation to-day.

Nor were the western Europeans left alone in their confusion. Invaders appeared from all points of the compass, thereby increasing the burden and the variety of problems to be solved. From the northeast came the pagan Slavs, even less civilized than the Germans whom they tried to conquer. From the north, by way of the English Channel and the rivers emptying into the Atlantic, and even by way of the Mediterranean, came the Northmen, likewise pagans, though possessing within themselves the most remarkable powers of adaptability and adjustment. And as though this constant hammering on the northeast and the west were not enough, Saracens from the south were taking a hand in the general contest for plunder. No wonder that Europe was turned in upon herself for generations!

The product of this mixture of Carolingian disintegration and barbarian invasion was that curious social and political structure known as feudalism. Practically all traces of imperial power had disappeared, and not even the beginnings of the later national states could be seen. Authority was vested in, and divided among the feudal lords, to use virtually as they saw fit. And they used it as halfcivilized barbarians are wont to use it, largely in fighting their equals, and in exploiting their inferiors. Feudal warfare and serfdom were the outstanding signs of the European culture of the day.

Under these conditions agriculture was reduced to its lowest terms, while commerce almost disappeared. For the peasant there was no incentive to raise a surplus for sale, because there was no market for his produce, and with no money to spend, he was not interested in luxuries, either domestic or imported. As for the feudal lord, his standard of living was low, and his tastes, if possible, were lower, so his attitude toward the merchant was distinctly not that of

encouragement. These were the days of the robber barons, long before the time of the "brewery earls" and the soap-making lords. Steal from the traveling merchants they would, without the slightest compunction, and when robbery was so easy, why take the trouble to purchase? Naturally under these conditions, commerce failed to thrive.

DECLINE OF FEUDALISM

From the eleventh to the fifteenth century, Western Europe was occupied, among other things, in growing out of the conditions just described. In course of time certain feudal kings, such as Henry II of England and Philip Augustus of France, found themselves in a distinctly better position than the majority of their opponents; as their power increased, feudal power began to weaken. By the fifteenth century signs of the modern national states were clearly in evidence not only in the two sections named, but in Portugal and Spain as well. And even in Italy, where feudal confusion and rivalry had gone beyond all bounds, the rise of a number of city states foretold the doom of the feudal baron. In general, by various means, Europe gradually learned not only how to restore order, but how to preserve at least a semblance of it.

What was cause, and what was effect during these years of growth is not at all clear, but signs of change were visible in the field of government, and in almost every other direction. In France, Italy, Germany, and in England universities were actually at work training officials for the Church and officials for the State, and incidentally scholars who were interested in the propagation of what came to be called the new learning.

New dialects, the products of a curious development of ancient vernacular Latin, were gradually achieving the dignity of real languages, thus providing the means for the rise of a new body of literature.

Even the Church, the oldest, the most durable, and apparently the most powerful of all European institutions, could not escape the effects of the ferment at work. From the thirteenth century on, the enforcement of uniformity became steadily more difficult, and the problem of heresy always more acute. In addition to these difficulties, the rise of the national states, with their theories of absolute monarchy, constituted a new and ever more powerful threat to the absolutism of the Holy See.

MEDIEVAL COMMERCE

All these signs of a new era were important enough, in themselves, but even these were overshadowed; if that were possible, by the extraordinary commercial development during this same period. Once the prospect of a reasonable guarantee of the safety of their property and their lives was perceptible, the merchants were ready to do their part in promoting better times. Artisans in the towns found steadily growing markets for their commodities, while the peasants were encouraged to raise food for the towns. As for the feudal lords, they were introduced to luxuries in the way of food and apparel of which their immediate ancestors had never dreamed.

Whether the crusades were the cause of the commercial expansion or simply a prominent symptom of the underlying forces at work is not entirely clear, and in fact it does not greatly matter. Causes or results, these expeditions to the Holy Land furnish the setting and the background for a survey of medieval commerce. During the first three crusades the religious element perhaps was predominant, but the fourth, which began in 1202, although it was started by Pope Innocent III, was really conducted by the Venetian merchants. The crusaders in that expedition aimed at Egypt, as a base of operations against the Holy Land. The first conquests, however, were Zara, on the Dalmatian coast, an old trade rival of Venice, and Constantinople, one of the keys to commerce with the Orient. Incidentally, the Venetians drove a good bargain with the crusaders in the matter of supplies and transportation. The transition from the middle ages, with its attention focused on the next world, to the modern era, with its hunger for financial gain, has never been better epitomized than in this fourth crusade.

All the crusades opened up business opportunities for the Mediterranean merchants. Not only could they furnish transportation for troops and supplies for the armies, but they themselves were put in touch with eastern commerce. These connections, once established, were not easily lost.

Then too, the crusades civilized the crusaders themselves. In the East, uncouth feudal lords, with no knowledge beyond that required to wield a battle axe, came in contact with culture of a high order. Men who had never realized even the elemental necessity of a regular bath were suddenly introduced to some of the decencies of human

existence. Moreover, they acquired new tastes in food, and new fashions in dress, along with an appreciation of the finer weapons produced outside of Europe. All these acquisitions they carried back home, and they called upon the merchants to keep their needs and wants supplied.

For the first time since the last days of the Roman Empire, Western Europe began to buy, in large quantities, the finer products of the East: silk and linen, tapestries and rugs, jewels and precious stones. Then too, as they learned that weaknesses in the quality and shortcomings in the preparation of food could be daintily and successfully concealed by the use of spices, they bought, and consumed, all the cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, mace, and above all else, pepper, which the merchants could provide.

The sources of supply of these products range from China and India to the Spice Islands, in the Far East, and from the Levant to Egypt in the Near East. Few of the European merchants actually visited these regions. Their contacts were with the caravan drivers, who plied their trade over parts of the age-old commercial routes to the East. There were three of these. One, starting from Cairo, led to the Indian Ocean. The second, or middle route, linked Damascus and Antioch with Bagdad, and all three cities with India, by way of the Tigris River and the Persian Gulf. The northern route led from Constantinople over the Black and Caspian Sea region, and thence almost directly eastward to China. Under the system then in force, Egypt and Asia Minor were the clearing houses for European commodities going east, and for Eastern commodities destined for Europe.

The European agents for this trade were certain Mediterranean cities, among which Genoa and Venice stand out preeminently. Venice in particular was the focus for those trade lines coming down through the Alpine passes from Central Europe, and likewise the connecting link with the East.

Naturally commerce of this sort stimulated the curiosity of merchants and prospective travelers, and the steady expansion of trade was accompanied by an increasing knowledge of geography. Beazley, in his fascinating Dawn of Modern Geography, has shown how eager were the thirteenth century Europeans to find out more about the extent and the possibilities of the world in which they were living. The discovery of America by the Europeans was preceded by their

discovery of the East, another accomplishment of the marvelous thirteenth century. Before 1250, Europe was almost as ignorant of China and India as she was of North and South America. About that time, however, circumstances brought the East and the West together, in a connection that lasted for two centuries or more.

About the year 1220 the Mongols, Tartar tribes from Northern Asia, began to extend their amazing course of conquests beyond the range of China and Asia. Even before the death of Jenghiz Khan (1227) they had reached the borders of Europe, and by the time their empire was complete, it ranged from Central Europe on the west to China on the east, and to India on the south. The greater part of Russia remained in their hands until 1480.

Although at first these Tartars showed the bloodthirsty characteristics of the conquerors of that day, their rule became steadily more mild and beneficent. Moreover, although they were non-Christian, they were likewise non-Mohammedan in their religion, and were welldisposed toward Europe. With everything under their control eastward from Russia and the Balkans, they offered the best of facilities which the times afforded for trade between Europe and the East. While not extensive, perhaps, travel between the two continents was not at all uncommon, and even before 1270 there are numerous reports of European visitors to China: priests, merchants, and mere curiosity-seekers and adventurers. The most famous of these were the Polo brothers, Venetian merchants, with the young Marco. They spent about twenty years in the service of the Grand Khan in China and then returned to Venice, about 1295, bringing with them tales of wealth and splendor that made even the rich, blasé Venetians gasp with wonder and envy. And to give point to their stories-for these were by no means the product of vivid imagination alone-the returned travelers ripped open the seams of their garments, and produced tangible evidence of the fortunes they had made and kept. Naturally the sight of that array of jewels turned ambitions toward the East. Even Venice, the queen of European towns, was, so Marco Polo said, a mere collection of hovels in comparison with the splendid cities of China, and as for gold, it could be had for the taking by those willing to go after it.

These reports of wealth, waiting to be carried to Europe, were not the only significant parts of the message of the Polos. They brought with them information concerning the prices of those much