OF HISTORY. Second Series: VOL. I. IV. GREEKS AND MAHOMETANS. V. HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. BY HAVILLAND LE M. CHEPMELL, D.D. LONDON: WHITTAKER AND CO. AVE MARIA LANE. 1857. 223. c. 43. PREFACE. THIS Second Series of my "Short Course is intended to be an introduction to those great works on medieval history, which their illustrious authors have written, not for beginners but for the well informed. It is therefore somewhat more diffuse than its predecessor. The affairs which have been transacted on the wider stage of the continent, though less interesting in a constitutional point of view than the events recorded in our insular annals, are far more complicated in their relations; the terms, and titles, and offices, and laws, and customs with which they are connected, being foreign, require more often to be explained; and in innumerable cases, a mere outline, a meagre summary of facts and dates would really teach nothing. In the work of which this Series forms a part, will be found few original remarks, and no original views. It is meant to supersede shallow and inaccurate educational books, unworthy of the country which has produced Gibbon and Hallam; and it aims at giving a clear, continuous, and systematic account, in chronological order, of the great political and national changes, of the wars, revolutions, conquests, and treaties which have taken place since the fall of the Western Empire. THE ENGLISH HISTORY was dealt with in the First Series, to which was prefixed, by way of introduction, a short description of the achievements of the Greeks and Romans; in the present Series, the chief and leading subject will be THE MIDDLE AGES, preceded, for similar reasons, by a concise narrative of the Decline and Fall of the Eastern Empire, of the vicissitudes of the Asiatic nations, and also of the Frank Crusades. If some knowledge of Ancient History be necessary for the full understanding of the early part of our own, not less important is it for the student of General History to be able to appreciate the influence of the Byzantine Greeks on the religion and civilization of Europe, and the causes and results of those inroads of the Eastern hordes which more than once have perilled the very existence of Christendom. To have imparted such information piecemeal, would have interrupted a narrative already not a little broken; instead of rendering it plainer to the comprehension, it would have made it more confused. It was therefore better to give it as a whole, though-as it is but an introduction-in a somewhat more condensed form than the rest of the work. Another feature in this compilation is the entire separation of the English from the continental history. Unless this is done, neither the English writer nor the English reader can keep clear from the egotistical insular tendency to look upon England as the central point of the whole system of events in this wide world. When brought into juxta-position with the annals of the foreigner, the story of our home and country cannot but attract a disproportionate share of our interest; otherwise indeed we should be thoroughly unpatriotic. Moreover, in this particular Series, the histories of the several nations will neither be mixed together into a confused mass, nor cut up into minute fragments; but they will be arranged in large divisions, as will be explained farther on. The isolation not only of provinces but even of nations in the Middle Ages, and the number of independent states which then existed, are stubborn facts which do not allow of any blending, as in the case of modern politics, into one comprehensive scheme; and this want of unity is immensely increased, if the narrative be broken up into many arbitrary periods such as centuries and portions of centuries. Not a little care has been bestowed on the Chronology. Many dates have been compared and verified; and whenever it could be done, the month as well as the year in which the transaction took place has been noted. The order of time is also kept with a methodical exactness indispensable in a work of this kind. This has been the cause of much difficulty to the author. None but those who have tried it can be aware of the trouble which it costs to avoid repetitions, to tell a connected story,-in fact, to write any thing readable,-when thus trammelled. It may be added that titles and designations are always given with due precision; and that there are full accounts, in the notes, of all the great royal and feudal houses. Much confusion is often occasioned, even in the works of such men as Sismondi, by vaguely speaking of counts of Flanders or dukes of Burgundy, without stating which |