Part 1203

"The pious legend according to which Peter the Hermit is supposed to have been miraculously chosen by God Himself to call Christendom to arms for the purpose of freeing the Holy Sepulchre has long since been proved unhistorical by scientific investigators. That account of the matter may have given suitable expression to the religious enthusiasm which the crusades called forth in those circles that were especially strongly influenced by the church; but it is entirely without any actual foundation in fact, nay, more; the religious element altogether did not play nearly so important a part in the origin of the crusades as it would seem to have done to judge by the later character of the great movement. For if in those days church influences and the religious impulses on which they were based made a mighty impression and in many ways produced an almost overwhelming effect; nevertheless the reason for all this lay essentially herein that the whole age, more than any other, was in a condition, through crying agricultural, social and political needs, to give itself up without reserve to the influence of similar impelling forces, and that just for this reason it took up with such enthusiasm the impulse furnished by the church. In its most general form the thought which lies at the base of the crusades springs from the idea of the calling of Christendom to have and to hold the rule of the world. The desire to practically carry out this idea was especially active whenever the Christian ideal of world-rule, incorporated as it was in a double form in the empire and in the papacy, seemed near to realization; then it was that its inherent magic unfolded most irresistibly its animating and at the same time ensnaring power. Thus did Otto II, already, plan a great undertaking for the protection of Christendom against the Arabs. Thus did the fantastic mind of his immature son busy itself with plans for a great crusade. Neither one nor the other carried out his intention. But, little more than two generations later, the commanding position which the empire had at that time held, passed into the holding of the hierarchical papacy. The creator of this hierarchical papacy, who was beyond a doubt a reformer of genius, but revolutionary in his means and hostile to the state as regarded his final ends, was far from contenting himself with the spiritual power which belongs uncontestedly to the church, but strove for an actual, secular rule of the world. He thought to bring into his own hands the complete political guidance of Christendom as well as the command over its war-forces. … Plans for widening his political and ecclesiastical sphere of power formed the pith of Gregory VIIth's crusading plans. … Already the victorious course had come to a stand-still in which the Arabs up to the beginning of the eleventh century had threatened to flood southwestern Europe. It was to rid themselves of their troublesome enemies and their deeds of violence, but not, however for the sake of the Faith, that those who were threatened had determined to help themselves. This led to the rapid rise of the naval power of Pisa and Genoa, which soon won brilliant victories on the north coast of Africa, and at the same time the brave Normans struggled with growing success against the Arabs for the possession of fair Sicily. There and not in Rome was the thought of a holy war against the power of the Crescent first taken hold of; it sprang from the knightly zeal for action and the political genius of Robert Guiscard. … About the same time, moreover, the Christians of the Pyrenean peninsula had energetically roused themselves to a new attack against the Mohammedans. Along the whole line therefore, in southwestern Europe, the Christian arms were already victoriously pressing forward against the followers of the prophet when the call from Rome to the crusades first sounded out. Regarded as a whole, therefore, the crusades cannot simply be looked upon as the exclusive work of the church. The movement was already in full progress and had, independently of the church, most successful results to show, when that church's head undertook through a skillful act to concentrate the separate movements and to unite and organize them under his own guidance. This policy was cleverly carried out by Urban. The church succeeded effectually in bringing under her own undivided direction the undertakings which different peoples of the Occident had separately begun against their Mohammedan adversaries. For on the one hand the empire, to which even then the opinion of the world ascribed the first right of leadership in such a struggle, lay prostrate in abject weakness and degradation; it was incapable of fulfilling its calling. The whole age on the other hand was so thoroughly roused to its depths and so exhausted through the mighty spiritual struggles by which church-life especially was shaken to its very foundation that it submitted without opposition and even willingly to a churchly right of guidance emphatically asserted; the more so as this new guide promised to show the individual the way to inward rest and peace of soul. The deeply sunken church had been reformed by Cluny ideas; in place of the worldly doings and sensual pleasures which had formerly engrossed her servants and dignitaries, stern asceticism and saintly enthusiasm ruled the day. Although it was among the clergy of the eleventh century that the effect of this was primarily to be seen, yet it was not without influence on the great body of laymen. {3740} Not seldom do princes and nobles emulate each other in strict ecclesiasticism, in monkish practices and pilgrimages. An age without a parallel began of founding monasteries and churches. Was it to be wondered at that the people also, otherwise bound fast by the barren monotony of toilsome existence, turned their thoughts often in the same direction? The more frequent coming forward of popular saints and popular preachers, the overwhelmingly rapid increase in the worship of relics, which assumed a hitherto unheard-of significance for the catholic system of religious observance, and the astonishing renewal of life which came about in the matter of pilgrimages and sacred undertakings customary though they had been of old: all these show clearly how the enthusiastic frame of mind which had been aroused by Cluny won for itself wider and wider circles even beyond the pale of the clergy. And in an age like this, so deeply excited about church matters, fell now the world-rousing struggle between the papacy and the empire. It appeared to annihilate the foundations on which church and state had hitherto been reared. With bitterness men saw those powers in conflict with each other on whose concord they had believed the peace and happiness of the world to depend. … Most impressively of all, as far as the uneducated masses were concerned, was the wretchedness of the age betokened by the outward evils and ravagings which the termination of the reign of Henry IV brought about: by the vanishing of discipline and order, the utter prostration of law, the loosing even of the holy ties of family. The vassal broke faith with the feudal lord, the subject warred with the authorities, the son rose up against the father. Heavily did the chastening hand of God rest upon land and people. Everywhere did men suffer from feuds, robbery and violence; everywhere did the common man find himself in a position which he felt that he could no longer endure. In France the rural population was utterly prostrated under the galling oppressions of the nobles who were their landlords. In Germany, to add to similar evils, came the loosing of all bonds of order through the civil war which had sprung from the conflict concerning the investiture. … In short, wherever in the Occident one turns his gaze, everywhere did dissatisfaction and an impulse towards improvement, or at least towards change, rule the day; everywhere an eager desire with one stroke to break free from the uncomfortable, indeed in many cases unbearable, present! The dissatisfied and revolutionary mood which possessed high and low in almost all parts of occidental Christendom is one of the essential reasons why the call to the crusade at once set hundreds of thousands in motion and called forth a very wandering of the nations. … Hierarchical ideas and asceticism ruled the spirit of the age; in mind and in mood they had prepared Europe for the crusades. Most emphatically was this made evident by the fact that the crusaders marched out under the banner of the hierarchical papacy—that same red cross which Erlembald Cotta, the 'knight of the church' had borne on his white standard during the religious civil war in Lombardy, and which in 1066 had been bestowed by the pope on the conqueror of England. But on the other hand the political, social and agricultural needs, which were not to be put off and which kept calling for speedy change, were no less effective agents in the same direction. Not religious enthusiasm alone was it that ever anew, at the end of the eleventh century, impelled hundreds of thousands towards the Orient; how many would have staid at home quietly if they had had enough to eat and had otherwise rejoiced in an existence fit for a human being. But for years one bad harvest had succeeded another; almost everywhere there was want almost bordering on famine; to eke out their scanty existence countless of those of the lower classes had had to squander their possessions. They stood there now utterly without means; they were forced to emigrate if they would not starve at home. From all such oppressions, however, he was released who obeyed the call to the crusade. Brilliant gains seemed assured to him so soon as he allowed the red cross to be affixed to his garment. The serf became free, the debtor shook off his creditor or at any rate needed to pay him no interest. The monk escaped from the strict discipline of the monastery, he who had been under the ban was received again into the communion of the church. What wonder then if countless numbers hastened to join the adventurous expedition to the East which promised them such blessings; and to the outward advantages that allured the crusaders, to the expectation of the toilless acquisition of land and subjects, of money and possessions, must be added still the rich spiritual blessings and ecclesiastical rewards which were solemnly assured to the warriors of Christ. … Human nature at that time would have had to be actually raised out of itself, to have become to a certain extent untrue to itself if, in contrast to the misery at home, the alluring prospects which began to show themselves in the unknown distance had not worked an irresistible charm on the great masses of the people. Nor did the church have any scruples in putting in motion exactly these incentives to action; she declared that the prevailing misery arose from the thickness of the population in an impoverished land; she unchained the popular greed by representing what riches would be captured from the infidels, and even roused the sensual passions by the seductive praise of Greek female beauty. That such language should fairly carry away the great masses may easily be imagined. For we may surely not regard the people as of better moral fibre, and therefore more susceptible to ideal motives, than the princes and commanders who led the crusading armies. Of these, however, only the hot-blooded nobles of southern France can primarily pass for representatives of that churchly enthusiasm with which, according to the tradition well-tinged with legend, the crusaders as a whole are said to have been seized. And it is well known that their churchly narrow-mindedness brought the people of southern France, under Raymond of Toulouse, soon enough into direct opposition to the other participants in the first crusade. For the majority of the princes who had taken the cross were by no means willing to work for the sole advantage of the church, but wished to further their own worldly interests at least as much as they did those of the pope. Indeed the Norman princes whose race had been the first to take up the idea of a holy war against the infidels had joined the crusade without religious enthusiasm, after sober consideration and entirely following out their own selfish, world]y plans. And it was exactly into their hands that the leadership of the great undertaking primarily came: the more completely therefore did the worldly, political and dynastic points of view weigh down the churchly intentions of the pious fanatics who, under the influence of asceticism, wished only to serve the hierarchy."

_Hans Prutz, Kulturgeschichte der Kreuzzüge, (translated from the German) pages 12-17._

See, also, CRUSADES, page 626.

{3741}

CUMBERLAND ROAD, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1806-1812 (page 3335).

CURIA REGIS.

See LAW (page 1957).

CY PRES DOCTRINE.

See LAW, EQUITY: A. D. 1601 (page 1991).

CYRUS, King, and the Jews.

See JEWS: B. C. 604-536, and 537 (pages 1908-1910).

D.

D'ALBUQUERQUE, Afonso, and the domination of the Portuguese in the East.

See (in this Supplement) COMMERCE, MODERN.

DARNLEY, Lord, The murder of.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1561-1568 (page 2857).

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CASE, The.

"Dartmouth College … was originally a charity school for the instruction of Indians in the Christian religion, founded by the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, D. D., about the year 1754, at Lebanon, in Connecticut. Its success led Dr. Wheelock to solicit private subscriptions in England, for the purpose of enlarging it, and of extending its benefits to English colonists. Funds having been obtained for this purpose from various contributors, among whom the Earl of Dartmouth, Secretary for the Colonies, was a large donor, Dr. Wheelock constituted that nobleman and other persons trustees, with authority to fix the site of the college. The place selected was on the Connecticut River, at what is now the town of Hanover, in New Hampshire, where large donations of land were made by the neighboring proprietors. A charter for the college was obtained from the crown, in 1769, creating it a perpetual corporation. The charter recognized Dr. Wheelock as founder, appointed him to be the president, and empowered him to name his successor, subject to the approval of the trustees; to whom was also imparted the power of filling vacancies in their own body, and of making laws and ordinances for the government of the college, not repugnant to the laws of Great Britain or of the province, and not excluding any person on account of his religious belief. Under this charter, Dartmouth College had always existed, unquestioned and undisturbed in its rights as a corporation, down to the Revolution, and subsequently until the year 1815. Whether from political or personal motives springing up outside of the board of trustees of that period, or from some collisions arising within the body itself, it appears that … legislative interference with the chartered rights of this college was threatened. … In the following year (1816), the difficulties, which had become mixed with political interests, culminated in a direct interference by the Legislature. In that year an act was passed, changing the corporate name from 'The Trustees of Dartmouth College' to 'The Trustees of Dartmouth University;' enlarging the number of trustees, vesting the appointment of some of them in the political bodies of the State, and otherwise modifying the ancient rights of the corporation as they existed under its charter derived from the crown of England. A majority of the existing trustees refused to accept or to be bound by this act, and brought an action of trover in the Supreme Court of the State, in the name of the old corporation, against a gentleman, Mr. W. H. Woodward, who was in possession of the college seal and other effects, and who claimed to hold them as one of the officers of the newly-created 'university.' The argument in this case was made in the State court, for the college, by Mr. Mason and Mr. Jeremiah Smith, assisted by Mr. Webster. The decision was against the claim of the college. It was then determined to remove the cause, by writ of error, to the Supreme Court of the United States, under the provisions of the Federal Constitution and laws creating in that tribunal an appellate jurisdiction in cases which, although originating in a State court, involved the construction and operation of the Federal Constitution. This was supposed to be such a case, because it was claimed by the college that the act of the Legislature, modifying its charter, impaired the obligation of a contract; an exercise of power which the Constitution of the United States prohibits to the Legislature of a State. As soon as it was known in New Hampshire that this very interesting cause was to come before the Supreme Court of the United States, the friends of the college, including their other counsel in the State court, unanimously desired to have it committed to the hands of Mr. Webster. He consented to take charge of it in the autumn of 1817; but the cause was not argued at Washington until February, 1818. … Before the case of Dartmouth College vs. Woodward occurred, there had been no judicial decisions respecting the meaning and scope of the restraint in regard to contracts, excepting that it had more than once been determined by the Supreme Court of the United States that a grant of lands made by a State is a contract within the protection of this provision, and is, therefore, irrevocable. These decisions, however, could go but little way toward the solution of the questions involved in the case of the college. … Was the State of New Hampshire—a sovereign in all respects after the Revolution, and remaining one after the Federal Constitution, excepting in those respects in which it had subjected its sovereignty to the restraints of that instrument—bound by the contracts of the English crown? Is the grant of a charter of incorporation a contract between the sovereign power and those on whom the charter is bestowed? If an act of incorporation is a contract, is it so in any case but that of a private corporation? Was this college, which was an institution of learning, established for the promotion of education, a private corporation, or was it one of those instruments of government which are at all times under the control and subject to the direction of the legislative power? All these questions were involved in the inquiry whether the legislative power of the State had been so restrained by the Constitution of the United States that it could not alter the charter of this institution, against the will of the trustees, without impairing the obligation of a contract. … {3742} On the conclusion of the argument, the Chief Justice intimated that a decision was not to be expected until the next term. It was made in February, 1819, fully confirming the grounds on which Mr. Webster had placed the cause. From this decision, the principle in our constitutional jurisprudence, which regards a charter of a private corporation as a contract, and places it under the protection of the Constitution of the United States, takes its date."

_G. T. Curtis, Life of Daniel Webster, volume 1, chapter 8._

See, also, LAW, COMMON: A. D. 1819 (page 1976).

DAVY, Sir Humphrey, and the discovery of the electric arc light.

See ELECTRICAL DISCOVERY: A. D. 1810-1890 (page 772).

DENMARK: Libraries.

See LIBRARIES, MODERN (page 2013).

DENMARK: Schools.

See EDUCATION (page 710).

DESCARTES, and modern physiological Science.

See MEDICAL SCIENCE: 17TH CENTURY (page 2134).

DIPHTHERIA, Appearance of.

See PLAGUE: 18TH CENTURY (page 2543).

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST.

"This body, often called also Christians, was one of the results of the great revival movement which began in Tennessee and Kentucky in the early part of the present century. Rev. Barton W. Stone, a Presbyterian minister who was prominent in the revival movement, withdrew from the Presbyterian Church, and in 1804 organized a church with no other creed than the Bible and with no name but that of Christian. One of his objects was to find a basis for the union of all Christian believers. A little later Thomas and Alexander Campbell, father and son, who came from Ireland, where the former had been a Presbyterian minister, organized union societies in Pennsylvania. Changing their views as to baptism, they joined the Redstone Association of Baptists. Shortly after, when Alexander Campbell was charged with not being in harmony with the creed, he followed the Burch Run Church, of which he was pastor, into the Mahoning Baptist Association, which, leavened with his teachings, soon ceased to be known as a Baptist association. In 1827, after some correspondence with Rev. B. W. Stone and his followers of the Christian Connection, there was a union with a large number of congregations in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and the organization variously known as 'Disciples of Christ' and 'Christians' [also, popularly designated 'Campbellites'] is the result."

_H. K. Carroll, Religious Forces of the United States, chapter 18._

DUNKARDS, The.

"The Dunkards, or German Baptists, or Brethren, are of German origin, and trace their beginning back to Alexander Mack, of Schwartzenau, Germany. Early in the 18th century Mack and several others formed a habit of meeting together for the study of the New Testament. They were convinced that its doctrines and principles of church order were not being faithfully followed, either by the Lutheran or the Reformed Church. They therefore resolved to form a society of their own. Alexander Mack was chosen as their pastor. Persecution soon arose, and they were scattered. In 1719 most of them got together and came to the United States, settling in Pennsylvania, where their first church was organized about 1723."

_H. K. Carroll, Religious Forces of the United States, chapter 19._

DUTCH, Commerce of the.

See (In this Supplement) COMMERCE, MEDIÆVAL, and MODERN.

DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES, The invention of.

See ELECTRICAL DISCOVERY AND INVENTION: A. D. 1831-1872 (page 774).

E.

EBENEZER AND AMANA COMMUNITIES.

See SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: 1843-1874 (page 2945).

ECCLESIASTICAL LAW.

See LAW, ECCLESIASTICAL (page 1986).

EDISON, Electrical Inventions of.

See ELECTRICAL DISCOVERY AND INVENTION: A. D. 1841-1880, and 1876-1892 (pages 775-776).

EDMUNDS ACT, The.

See UTAH: A. D. 1882-1893 (page 3591).

EDUCATION.