John Duns Scotus, Dante, Giotto, William Occam (Invincible Doctor), Petrarch, Boccaccio, Wycliffe, Chaucer, Froissart. ILLUSTRATIONS. IN THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. N the first half of this century began the long struggle between England and France, known as the Hundred Years' War. Edward III. laid claim to the throne of France on the ground of heredity, and invaded that country (then under Philip VI.) to vindicate his claim, beginning a contest between the two countries which lasted with varying success till the middle of the next century. During this century occurred the famous English victories of Crécy (1346) and Poitiers (1356). Poitiers and Cressy tell, When most their pride did swell, MICHAEL DRAYTON. Witness our too much memorable shame, When Cressy battle fatally was struck, And all our princes captived, by the hand Of that black name, Edward, black prince of Wales. SHAKESPEARE. Feudalism, full of pride and weakness, still survived; resembling a gigantic armor which, hanging empty against the wall, yet threatens and brandishes the lance. As soon as touched, it falls to the ground,― at Crécy and at Poitiers. MICHELET. Subsequently the greater part of Aquitaine was conquered by the French, and by the end of the century the English possessions in France were reduced to a few cities. No war had broken out in Europe, since the fall of the Roman Empire, so memorable as that of Edward III. and his successors against France, whether we consider its duration, its object, or the magnitude and variety of its events. It was a struggle of one hundred and twenty years, interrupted but once by a regular pacification, where the most ancient and extensive dominion in the civilized world was the prize, twice lost and twice recovered in the conflict, while individual courage was wrought up to that high pitch which it can seldom display since the regularity of modern tactics has chastised its enthusiasm and levelled its distinctions. There can be no occasion to dwell upon the events of this war, which are familiar to almost every reader. HALLAM. The battle of Crécy is not merely a battle, the taking of Calais is not simply the taking of a town, these two events involve a great social revolution. The entire chivalry of the most chivalrous nation in the world had been exterminated by a small band of footsoldiers. MICHELET. See also the next century. THE BLACK DEATH. For at this time there prevailed throughout the world generally a disease called epidemy, which destroyed a third of its inhabitants. - FROISSART. - DURING this century a great pestilence (deriving its name from black spots which appeared upon the body at one stage of the disease) desolated the world. It is supposed to have broken out in China, and, traversing Asia, appeared in Europe in 1348, where it prevailed until 1351. No less than 25,000,000 persons are said to have perished in Europe alone. Epochs of moral depression are those, too, of great mortality.— MICHELET. ... We first discover it in the empire of Cathai; thence we may trace its progress through different provinces of Asia to the Delta and the banks of the Nile; a south wind transported it into Greece and the Grecian islands, from which it swept the coasts of the Mediterranean, depopulated Italy, and crossed the barriers of the Alps into France; in November it reached London, and thence gradually proceeded to the north of the island. . . . When historians tell us that one half or one third of the human race perished, we may suspect them of exaggeration; but it is easy to form some idea of the mortality from the fact that all the cemeteries in London were soon filled. - LINGARD. The historians of all countries speak with horror of this pestilence. It took a wider range and proved more destructive than any calamity of that nature known in the annals of mankind. LORD HAILES. The black death, which raged in Germany in the year 1348, put a complete stop to our early literature; and the literature of Florence was manifestly affected in the same way. After the black death, the arts were for years at a perfect stand-still.-NIEBUHR. Alas! how many fine houses remained empty! how many fortunes without heirs! how many lovely ladies, how many amiable young persons, dined in the morning with their friends, who, when evening came, supped with their ancestors! - BOCCACCIO. TAMERLANE'S CONQUESTS. Timour, - he Whom the astonished people saw A diademed outlaw! POE. IN the last half of the century the famous Tamerlane, or Timour, a descendant of Genghis Khan, conquered Western Asia; and not only the Ottoman Turks, but even the Eastern Empire, paid tribute to him. He invaded India, and was preparing to invade China when he died, early in the next century (1405). Most of his acquisitions were soon lost by his successors. The fame of Timour has pervaded the East and the West, and the admiration of his subjects, who revered him almost as a deity, may be justified in some degree by the praise or confessions of his bitterest enemies. He might boast that, at his accession to the throne, Asia was the prey of anarchy and rapine, whilst, under his prosperous monarchy, a child, fearless and unhurt, might carry a purse of gold from the east to the west. By their rapine, cruelty, and discord, the petty tyrants of Persia might afflict their subjects, but whole nations were crushed under the footsteps of the reformer. The ground which had been occupied by flourishing cities was often marked by his abominable trophies, by columns or pyramids of human heads. GIBBON. He [Tamerlane] considered the happiness of every human being as a feather in the scale when weighed against the advancement of what he deemed his personal glory; and that appears to have been measured by the number of kingdoms he laid waste and the people he destroyed. SIR J. MALCOLM. How long your tribes have trembled and obeyed! CAMPBELL. In every part proportioned like the man Black are his colors, black pavilion, His spear, his shield, his horse, his armor, plumes, He razeth all his foes with fire and sword. CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE. |