CHAP.

LXI.

vation of a fertile land, the northern conquerors of the Roman empire infenfibly mingled with the provincials, and rekindled the embers of the arts of antiquity. Their fettlements about the age of Charlemagne had acquired fome degree of order and ftability, when they were overwhelmed by new swarms of invaders, the Normans, Saracens 68, and Hungarians, who replunged the western countries of Europe into their former ftate of anarchy and barbarifm. About the eleventh century, the fecond tempeft had fubfided by the expulfion or converfion of the enemies of Chriftendom: the tide of civilization, which had fo long ebbed, began to flow with a steady and accelerated courfe; and a fairer profpect was opened to the hopes and efforts of the rifing generations.

Great was the increase, and rapid the progress, during the two hundred years of the crufades; and fome philofophers have applauded the propitious influence of thefe holy wars, which appear to me to have checked rather than forwarded the maturity of Europe ". The lives and labours of millions, which were buried in the East, would have been more profitably employed in the improvement of their native country: the accumulated flock of industry and wealth would

63 If I rank the Saracens with the Barbarians, it is only relative to their wars, or rather inroads, in Italy and France, where their fole purpofe was to plunder and destroy.

69 On this interefting fubject, the progrefs of fociety in Europe, a trong ray of philofophic light has broke from Scotland in our own times; and it is with private, as well as public regard, that I repeat the names of Hume, Robertfon, and Adam Smith.

LXI.

have overflowed in navigation and trade; and CHAP.
the Latins would have been enriched and en-
lightened by a pure and friendly correfpondence
with the climates of the Eaft. In one refpe&t I
can indeed perceive the accidental operation of
the crufades, not fo much in producing a bene-
fit as in removing an evil. The larger portion of
the inhabitants of Europe was chained to the
foil, without freedom, or property, or know-
ledge; and the two orders of ecclefiaftics and
nobles, whofe numbers were comparatively fmall,
alone deserved the name of citizens and men.
This oppreffive fyftem was fupported by the arts
of the clergy and the fwords of the barons. The
authority of the priests operated in the darker
ages as a falutary antidote: they prevented the
total extinction of letters, mitigated the fierce-
nefs of the times, fheltered the poor and defence-
less, and preserved or revived the peace and order
of civil fociety. But the independence, rapine,
and difcord, of the feudal lords were unmixed
with any femblance of good; and every hope of
industry and improvement was crushed by the
iron weight of the martial ariftocracy. Among
the causes that undermined that Gothic edifice, a
confpicuous place must be allowed to the cru-
fades. The eftates of the barons were diffipated,
and their race was often extinguished, in these
coftly and perilous expeditions. Their poverty
extorted from their pride thofe charters of free-
dom which unlocked the fetters of the flave, se- ́
cured the farm of the peafant and the fhop of the
artificer, and gradually restored a fubftance and
a foul

U 3

4

СНАР.
LXI.

Origin of

of Cour

tenay,

A. D. 1020.

a foul to the moft numerous and useful part of the community. The conflagration which deftroyed the tall and barren trees of the foreft, gave air and scope to the vegetation of the fmaller and nutritive plants of the foil.

Digreffion on the Family of Courtenay.

THE purple of three emperors, who have reigned at Conftantinople, will authorife or excufe a digreffion on the origin and fingular fortunes of the houfe of CoURTENAY 7, in the three principal branches, I. Of Edeffa; II. Of France; and, III. Of England, of which the laft only has furvived the revolutions of eight hundred years.

I. Before the introduction of trade, which the family fcatters riches, and of knowledge, which difpels prejudice, the prerogative of birth is most strongly felt and moft humbly acknowledged. In every age, the laws and manners of the Germans have difcriminated the ranks of fociety: the dukes and counts, who fhared the empire of Charlemagne, converted their office to an inheritance; and to his children, each feudal lord bequeathed

7° I have applied, but not confined, myself to A genealogical Hiftory of the noble and illuftrious Family of Courtenay, by Ezra Cleaveland, Tutor to Sir William Courtenay, and Rector of Honiton Exon. 1735. in folio. The fit part is extracted from William of Tyre; the fecond from Bouchet's French history; and the third from various memorials, public, provincial, and private, of the Courtenays of Devonshire. The rector of Honiton has more gratitude than induftry, and more induftry than criticifim.

LXI.

his honour and his fword. The proudest families CHAP. are content to lofe in the darknefs of the middle ages, the tree of their pedigree, which, however deep and lofty, muft ultimately rife from a plebeian root; and their hiftorians muft defcend ten centuries below the Chriftian æra, before they can afcertain any lineal fucceffion by the evidence of furnames, of arms, and of authentic records. With the first rays of light", we difcern the nobility and opulence of Atho, a French knight: his nobility, in the rank and title of a nameless father; his opulence, in the foundation of the castle of Courtenay in the district of Gatinois, about fifty-fix miles to the fouth of Paris. From the reign of Robert, the son of Hugh Capet, the barons of Courtenay are confpicuous among the immediate vaffals of the crown; and Jofcelin, the grandfon of Atho and a noble dame, is enrolled among the heroes of the first crufade. A domeftic alliance (their mothers were fifters) attached him to the standard of Baldwin of Bruges, the fecond count of Edeffa; a princely fief, which he 1. The was worthy to receive, and able to maintain, announces the number of his martial followers: and after the departure of his coufin, Jofcelin himself was invefted with the county of Edeffa on both fides of the Euphrates. By the œconomy in peace, his territories were replenished with Latin and Syrian fubjects; his magazines with corn,

71 The primitive record of the family, is a paffage of the continuator of Aimoin, a monk of Fleury, who wrote in the xiith century. See his Chronicle, in the Hiftorians of France (tom. xi. P. 276.).

counts of

Edeffa,
A. D.

ITOT

1152.

LXI.

CHAP. wine, and oil; his castles with gold and silver, with arms and horfes. In a holy warfare of thirty years, he was alternately a conqueror, and a captive; but he died like a foldier, in an horselitter at the head of his troops; and his last glance beheld the flight of the Turkish invaders who had prefumed on his age and infirmities. His fon and fucceffor, of the fame name, was lefs deficient in valour than in vigilance; but he fometimes forgot that dominion is acquired and maintained by the fame arts. He challenged the hoftility of the Turks, without fecuring the friendship of the prince of Antioch; and, amidst the peaceful luxury of Turbeffel, in Syria 72, Jofcelin neglected the defence of the Chriftian frontier beyond the Euphrates. In his abfence, Zenghi, the firft of the Atabeks, befieged and ftormed his capital, Edeffa, which was feebly defended by a timorous and difloyal crowd of Orientals; the Franks were oppreffed in a bold attempt for its recovery, and Courtenay ended his days in the prifon of Aleppo. He still left a fair and ample patrimony. But the victorious Turks oppreffed on all fides the weaknefs of a widow and orphan; and, for the equivalent of an annual penfion, they refigned to the Greek emperor the charge of defending, and the shame of losing, the laft relics of the Latin conqueft. The countefs-dowager of Edeffa retired to Jerufalem with her two children: the daughter, Agnes, became

72 Turbeff, or as it is now ftyled Telbefher, is fixed by d'Anville four-and-twenty miles from the great paffage over the Euphrates at Zeugma.

the