and the

Works of

art carried

to Venice.

56

The Literature of Constantinople.

open the eyes of Europe, surely what had thus occurred should The Pope have been enough. The Pope and the Doge-the trader in Doge divide human credulity and the trader of the Adriatic-had shared the spoil. the spoils of a crusade meant by religious men for the relief of the Holy Land. The bronze horses, once brought by Augustus from Alexandria after his victory over Antony, and transferred from Rome to Constantinople by its founder, were set before the Church of St. Mark. They were the outward and visible sign of a less obvious event that was taking place. For to Venice was brought a residue of the literary treasures that had escaped the fire and the destroyer; and while her comrades in the outrage were satisfied, in their ignorance, with fictitious relics, she took possession of the poor remnant of the glorious works of art, of letters, and of science. Through these was hastened the intellectual progress of the West.

The pun

ishment of

worthless

So fell Constantinople, and fell by the parricidal hands of Constanti Christians. The days of retribution for the curse she had nople. inflicted on Western civilization were now approaching. In these events she received a first instalment of her punishment. Three hundred years before, the historian Luitprand, who was sent by the Emperor Otho I. to the court of Nicephorus Phocas, says of her, speaking as an eye-witness, "That city, once so wealthy, so flourishing, is now famished, lying, perjured, deceitful, rapacious, greedy, niggardly, vainglorious ;" and since Luitprand's time she had been pursuing a downward career. The literary It might have been expected that the concentration of all the ness of that literary and scientific treasures of the Roman empire in Concity. stantinople should have given rise to great mental vigour—that to Europe she would have been a brilliant focus of light. But when the works on jurisprudence by Tribonian, under Justinian, have been mentioned, what is there that remains? There is Stephanus, the grammarian, who wrote a dictionary, and Procopius, the historian, who was secretary to Belisarius in his campaigns. There is then a long interval almost without a literary name, to Theophylact Simocatta, and to the 'Ladder of Paradise' of John Climacus. The mental excitement of the iconoclastic dispute presents us with John of Damascus; and the ninth century, the 'Myriobiblion' and 'Nomocanon' of Pho

tius. Then follows Constantine Porphyrogenitus, vainly and voluminously composing; and Basil II. doubtless truly expresses the opinion of the time, as he certainly does the verdict of posterity as regards the works of his country, when he says that learning is useless and unprofitable lumber. The 'Alexiad' of Anna Comnena, and the history of Byzantine affairs by Nicephorus Bryennius, hardly redeem their age. This barrenness and worthlessness was the effect of the system introduced by Constantine the Great. The long line of emperors had been consistent in one policy-the repression or expulsion of philosophy; and yet it is the uniform testimony of those ages that the Eastern convents were full of secret Platonism,-that, in stealth, the doctrines of Plato were treasured up in the cells of Asiatic monks. The Byzantines had possessed in art and letters all the best models in the world, yet in a thousand years they never produced one original. Millions of Greeks never advanced one step in philosophy or science,never made a single practical discovery, composed no poem, no tragedy worth perusal. The spirit of their superficial literature-if literature it can be called-is well shadowed forth in the story of the patriarch Photius, who composed at Bagdad, at a distance from his library, an analysis of 280 works he had formerly read. The final age of the city was signalized by the The absurdity of Baarlamite controversy respecting the mysterious light of its intelMount Tabor, the possibility of producing a beatific vision, and of demonstrating, by an unceasing inspection of the navel for days and nights together, the existence of two external principles, a visible and an invisible God!

lectual

pursuits.

all this.

What was it that produced this barrenness, this intellectual Cause of degradation in Constantinople? The tyranny of Theology over Thought.

follows li

But with the capture of Constantinople by the Latins other Heresy important events were occurring. Everywhere an intolerance terature. of Papal power was being engendered. The monasteries became infected, and even from the holy lips of monks words of ominous import might be heard. In the south of France the Spread of gay literaintellectual insurrection first took form. There the influence ture from Spain. of the Mohammedans and Jews beyond the Pyrenees began to

The Trou

badours

and Trou

vères.

58

The Troubadours of Languedoc.

:

manifest itself. The songs of gallantry; tensons, or poetical contests of minstrels; satires of gay defiance; rivalry in praise of the ladies; lays, serenades, pastourelles, redondes, such as had already drawn forth the condemnation of the sedate Mussulmans of Cordova, had gradually spread through Spain and found a congenial welcome in France. The Troubadours were singing in the langue d'Oc in the south, and the Trouvères in the langue d'Oil in the north. Thence the merry epidemic spread to Sicily and Italy. Men felt that a relief from the grim ecclesiastic was coming. Kings, dukes, counts, knights, prided themselves on their gentle prowess. The humbler minstrels found patronage among ladies and at courts; sly satires against the priests, and amorous ditties, secured them a welcome among the populace. When the poet was deficient in voice, a jongleur went with him to sing and often there was added the pleasant accompaniment of a musical instrument. The Provençal, or langue d'Oc, was thus widely diffused; it served the purposes of those unacquainted with Latin, and gave the Italians a model for thought and versification, to Europe the germs of many of its future melodies. While the young were singing, the old were thinking; while the gay were carried Commen- away with romance, the grave were falling into heresy. But, cing resistance of true to her instincts and traditions, the Church had shown her Rome. determination to deal rigorously with all such movements. Already, A.D. 1134, Peter de Brueys had been burned in Languedoc for denying infant baptism, the worship of the cross, and transubstantiation. Already Henry the Deacon, the disciple of Peter, had been disposed of by St. Bernard. Already the valleys of Piedmont were full of Waldenses. Already the Poor Men of Lyons were proclaiming the portentous doctrine that the sanctity of a priest lay not in his office, but in the manner of his life. They denounced the wealth of the Church, and the intermingling of bishops in bloodshed and war; they denied transubstantiation, invocation of saints, purgatory, and especially directed their hatred against the sale of indulgences for sin. The rich cities of Languedoc were full of misbelievers. They were given up to poetry, music, dancing. Their people, numbers of whom had been in the Crusades

The Crusade in the South of France.

59

III. alarm

or in Spain, had seen the Saracens. Admiration had taken the place of detestation. Amid shouts of laughter, the Troubadours went through the land, wagging their heads, and slyly winking their eyes, and singing derisive songs about the amours of the priests, and amply earning denunciations as lewd blasphemers and atheists. Here was a state of things demanding the attention of Innocent. The methods he took for its Innocent correction have handed his name down to the maledictions ed at the of posterity. He dispatched a missive to the Count of Tou- spread of heresy. louse-who already lay under excommunication for alleged intermeddling with the rights of the clergy,-charging him with harbouring heretics and giving offices of emolument to Jews. The count was a man of gay life, having, in emulation of some of his neighbours across the Pyrenees, not less than three wives. His offences of that kind were, however, eclipsed by those with which he was now formally charged. It chanced that, in the ensuing disputes, the Pope's legate was murdered. There is no reason to believe that Raymond was concerned in the crime. But the indignant Pope held him responsible; in- He prostantly ordered to be published in all directions his excommu- crusade against the nication, and called upon Western Christendom to engage in count of a crusade against him, offering, to whoever chose to take them, the wealth and possessions of the offender. So thoroughly was he seconded by the preaching of the monks, that half a million of men, it is affirmed, took up arms.

claims a

Toulouse,

plines him.

For the count there remained nothing but to submit. He And discisurrendered up his strong places, was compelled to acknowledge the crimes alleged against him, and the justice of his punishment. He swore that he would no longer protect heretics. Stripped naked to his middle, with a rope round his neck, he was led to the altar, and there scourged. But the immense army that had assembled was not to be satisfied by these inflictions on an individual, though the Pope might be. They had come for blood and plunder, and blood and plunder they must have. Then followed such scenes of horror as the Atrocities sun had never looked on before. The army was officered by saders in Roman and French prelates; bishops were its generals, an of France. archdeacon its engineer. It was the Abbot Arnold, the legate

of the Cru

the South

of the Pope, who, at the capture of Beziers, was inquired of by a soldier, more merciful or more weary of murder than himself, how he should distinguish and save the Catholic from the heretic. "Kill them all," he exclaimed; "God will know his own." At the church of St. Mary Magdalene 7000 persons were massacred, the infuriated Crusaders being excited to madness by the wicked assertion that these wretches had been guilty of the blasphemy of saying, in their merriment, "S. Mariam Magdalenam fuisse concubinam Christi." It was of no use for them to protest their innocence. In the town twenty thousand were slaughtered, and the place then fired, to be left a monument of Papal vengeance. At the massacre of Lavaur 400 people were burned in one pile; it is remarked that "they made a wonderful blaze, and went to burn everlastingly in hell." Language has no powers to express the atrocities that took place at the capture of the different towns. Ecclesiastical vengeance rioted in luxury. The soil was steeped in the blood of men, the air polluted by their burning. From Institution the reek of murdered women, mutilated children, and blasted quisition. cities, the Inquisition, that infernal institution, arose. Its projectors intended it not only to put an end to public teaching, but even to private thought. In the midst of these awful events, Innocent was called to another tribunal, to render his account. He died A.D. 1216.

of the In

Establishment of

It was during the pontificate of this great criminal that the mendicant mendicant orders were established. The course of ages had orders brought an unintelligibility into public worship. The old

dialects had become obsolete; new languages were forming. Among those classes, daily increasing in number, whose minds were awakening, an earnest desire for instruction was arising. Multitudes were crowding to hear philosophical discourses in the universities, and heresy was spreading very fast. But it was far from being confined to the intelligent. The lower orders furnished heretics and fanatics too. To antagonize the labours of these zealots,—who, if they had been permitted to go on unchecked, would quickly have disseminated their doctrines through all classes of society,-the Dominican and Franciscan orders were founded. They were well adapted to their