obated by Leo, who commanded all the ges in his dominions to be broken in pieces. Pope, relying upon the powerful superstition he people, opposed these commands; and the rch of Ravenna, who was subject to the emor, was therefore ordered to force him to a mpliance; and, in case of refusal, was authorized seize or even assassinate him. The distressed ndition of the Pope excited the compassionate and us zeal of Luitprand, though he had before reved upon his conquest. This prince now anged his designs, and, joining with the partins of his holiness, great numbers of the Iconoasts, or image-breakers, were barbarously mascred; the exarch, and also the duke of Naples, ere first excommunicated, then torn in pieces by he pious fury of the people; and the subjects of he exarchate were instigated by Gregory to renounce their allegiance to the emperor.

Leo raised a powerful army, resolving on vengeance. The Pope, alarmed at these formidable preparations, sued for protection to the French, who were hostile to the emperor's edict, and the only people of all the surrounding nations who were in a condition to oppose him. Application was therefore made to Charles Martel, then mayor of Paris, and a treaty proposed; but before it could be concluded all the parties concerned died. Constantine Copronymus, the successor of Leo, followed the example of his predecessor in his opposition to image-worship, and moreover prohibited the invocation of saints. Zachary, who succeeded Gregory III. in the pontificate, inherited also his enmity to the emperor. Charles Martel was succeeded in the sovereignty of France by Pepin, who equally with his father-favoured

I 3

the

In

the side of the Pope. The state of things therefore had not changed, though the agents in the subsequent events were different. The Roman people, in furious zeal, expelled all the officers of the emperor; and the Lombards, awed by France, suffered the Pope for a time to govern the exarchate; till in the year 752 Astolphus, king of Lombardy, was so successful in reducing the papal territories, that he even endangered Rome. this emergency the Pope applied to Pepin, who obliged Astolphus to restore the places he had taken, which were given to the Pope, or rather to St. Peter, and were hence styled St. Peter's patrimony. His holiness thus obtained considerable possessions in Italy. Charlemagne, by annihilating the kingdom of the Lombards, secured 774: him in his dominions, and was crowned king of Italy. Not long after. Charlemagne conquered all the Low Countries, GerA.D. many, and part of Hungary; and in the 800. year 800 was crowned by the Pope emperor of the West.

A. D.

The state of the world at this time may be thus exhibited in miniature. The empire of the Arabs or Saracens comprehended the greater part of Asia and Africa, extending from the river Ganges to Spain. The Eastern or Constantinopolitan empire was much circumscribed, consisting only of Greece, Asia Minor, and the provinces adjoining to Italy. France, Germany, and the greatest part of Italy, composed the Western Empire, under Charlemagne. By far the greater part of the known world was therefore divided into three great empires. Britain, however, at this period was possessed by the Saxons, and divided into seven kingdoms (called the Saxon Heptarchy),

between

between which, though unmolested by foreign enemies, there existed perpetual animosities and wars. The Venetians also retained a small portion of independence: the Picts and Scots enjoyed an unrestrained freedom: the Scandinavians, now known under the names of Danes and Normans, were equally in a state of liberty, and preparing to infest their southern neighbours. The great empires of China and Japan, by reason of their remoteness, lived unconcerned in the continental revolutions of the West. But what is most remarkable at this period is, that the authority of the Popes had become supreme; Charlemagne consented to receive his crown at the hands of his holiness and the differences of his successors were submitted to papal arbitration.

But the state of the world is perpetually fluctuating-an observation particularly exemplified at the period of which we treat. On the death of Lewis, the son of Charlemagne, the Western Empire was divided among his three children. Endless contests ensued; of which the final issue was, that Hugh Capet obtained the sovereign power.

In 827 the Saxon Heptarchy was dissolved, and Egbert crowned sole monarch of England. The Danes now invaded Britain, and, having subdued it, seized upon the government. These were expelled by the Normans, who, under William the Conqueror, obtained possession A. D. of the kingdom of England, by the battle 1066. of Hastings.

The whole world exhibited but one great field of battle. In Europe, Germany and Italy were distracted by incessant contests between the Pope end the emperors; the interior of every European kingdom was torn in pieces. by the contending

ambition

ambition of the powerful barons; in the Maho metan empire, the caliphs, sultans, emirs, &e. waged continual war; new sovereignties were daily arising and daily destroyed; and amidst this universal slaughter and devastation, the whole earth seemed in danger of being laid waste, and the human race to suffer a total annihilation. The dangerous activities now abroad in the world, urging their mad career in a thousand various and opposing directions, at length met at a point; whence they set out again with accumulated force and fury, but all towards the same object. The Crusades, by concentring the passions of mankind to one object, prevented the continuance of domestic slaughters.

ELEVENTH PERIOD,

From the Crusades to the Peace of 1801.

THE caliphs, while Palestine and the adjacent countries continued subject to them, had encouraged the resort of European pilgrims to Jeru salem; but on the decline of their power, these holy vagrants were exposed to outrages of every kind, from the insults and attacks of the Turkish banditti. From an opinion that the end of the world was at hand, which became popular about the close of the tenth century, these pilgrimages were wonderfully augmented. There were therefore continually flocking home indignant witnesses of the danger which attended the visiting of the holy city, from the cruelty of the Turks. The hearts of men thus charged with the com

bustible

bustible materials of superstition and revenge, exploded at the touch of Peter the Hermit. This mad yet eloquent enthusiast ran from province to province, with a crucifix in his hand, and infected all ranks with the fierce contagion of religious warfare. Deeply affected by the insults which had been offered to the holy Sepulchre, he bad ten times ten thousand swords leap from their scabbards to avenge its cause. Six millions of persons, raging with hatred and thirsting for blood, assumed the image of that cross, affixed to which, in the agonies of death, the author of their religion had exclaimed for his persecutors"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" It seemed as if the giant hand of phrensy had torn up all Europe from its foundation, and precipitated the vast mass upon Asia. The first efforts of their enthusiastic valour wrested from the infidels part of the Lesser Asia, all Syria and Palestine. Jerusalem was taken; and after a massacre which outraged humanity, the holy adventurers proceeded in long procession, and wept prostrate at the tomb of their Saviour. But the crusaders found it less difficult to make than to preserve their conquests. In five successive expeditions, Europe poured forth her mad myriads to recover or keep possession of the Holy Land. Yet before the expiration of the thirteenth Century, the Christians were expelled from all their Asiatic possessions; and this enterprise, to which, impelled by religious and political resentment, almost all the nations of Europe had leaped forward, ended in their common disgrace. The civil and ecclesiastical powers vied with each other; and proclamations, were issued from the throne, and incendiary sermons were thundered

from