Part 37

At the commencement of the Second Crusade, when the attention of Manuel was anxiously directed to the movements of Louis VII of France, and Conrad, Emperor of Germany, Roger, who had collected a powerful fleet at Brindisi, for the purpose either of attacking the Byzantine empire or transporting the crusaders to Palestine, availed himself of an insurrection in Corfu to conclude a convention with the inhabitants, who admitted a garrison of one thousand Norman troops into their citadel. The Corfutes complained with great reason of the intolerable weight of taxation to which they were subjected; of the utter neglect of their interests by the central government, which consumed their wealth, and of the great abuses which prevailed in the administration of justice; but the remedy they adopted, by placing themselves under the rule of foreign masters, was not likely to alleviate these evils.

The Sicilian admiral, after landing the Norman garrison at Corfu, sailed to Monembasia, then one of the principal commercial cities in the East, hoping to gain possession of it without difficulty; but the maritime population of this impregnable fortress gave him a warm reception and easily repulsed his attack. After plundering the coasts of Euboea and Attica, the Sicilian fleet returned to the West, and laid waste Acarnania and Etolia; it then entered the Gulf of Corinth, and debarked a body of troops at Crissa. This force marched through the country to Thebes, plundering every town and village on the way. Thebes offered no resistance and was plundered in the most deliberate and barbarous manner. The inhabitants were numerous and wealthy. The soil of Boeotia is extremely productive, and numerous manufactures established in the city of Thebes gave additional value to the abundant produce of agricultural industry.

A century had elapsed since the citizens of Thebes had gone out valiantly to fight the army of Slavonian rebels in the reign of Michael IV (the Paphlagonian), and that defeat had long been forgotten. But all military spirit was now dead, and the Thebans had so long lived without any fear of invasion that they had forgotten the use of arms. The Sicilians found them not only unprepared to offer any resistance, but so surprised that they had not even adopted any effectual measures to secure or conceal their movable property. The conquerors, secure against all danger of interruption, plundered Thebes at their leisure. Not only gold, silver, jewels, and church plate were carried off, but even the goods found in the warehouses, and the rarest articles of furniture in private houses, were transported to the ships. Bales of silk and dyed leather were sent off to the fleet as deliberately as if they had been legally purchased in time of peace. When all ordinary means of collecting booty were exhausted, the citizens were compelled to take an oath on the Holy Scriptures that they had not concealed any portion of their property; yet many of the wealthiest were dragged away captive, in order to profit by their ransom; and many of the most skilful workmen in the silk manufactories, for which Thebes had long been famous, were pressed on board the fleet to labor at the oar.

From Boeotia the army passed to Corinth. Nicephorus Caluphes, the governor, retired into the Acro-Corinth, but the garrison appeared to his cowardly heart not strong enough to defend this impregnable fortress, and he surrendered it to George Antiochenus, the Sicilian admiral, on the first summons. On examining the fortress of which he had thus unexpectedly gained possession, the admiral could not help exclaiming that he fought under the protection of heaven, for if Caluphes had not been more timid than a virgin, Corinth should have repulsed every attack.

Corinth was sacked as cruelly as Thebes; men of rank, beautiful women, and skilful artisans, with their wives and families, were carried away into captivity. Even the relics of St. Theodore were taken from the church in which they were preserved; and it was not until the whole Sicilian fleet was laden with as much of the wealth of Greece as it was capable of transporting that the admiral ordered it to sail. The Sicilians did not venture to retain possession of the impregnable citadel of Corinth, as it would have been extremely difficult for them to keep up their communications with the garrison. This invasion of Greece was conducted entirely as a plundering expedition, having for its object to inflict the greatest possible injury on the Byzantine empire, while it collected the largest possible quantity of booty for the Sicilian troops. Corfu was the only conquest of which Roger retained possession.

The ruin of the Greek commerce and manufactures has been ascribed to the transference of the silk trade from Thebes and Corinth to Palermo, under the judicious protection it received from Roger; but it would be more correct to say that the injudicious and oppressive financial administration of the Byzantine emperors destroyed the commercial prosperity and manufacturing industry of the Greeks; while the wise liberality and intelligent protection of the Norman kings extended the commerce and increased the industry of the Sicilians.

When the Sicilian fleet returned to Palermo, Roger determined to employ all the silk manufacturers in their original occupations. He consequently collected all their families together, and settled them at Palermo, supplying them with the means of exercising their industry with profit to themselves, and inducing them to teach his own subjects to manufacture the richest brocades and to rival the rarest productions of the East.

Roger, unlike most of the monarchs of his age, paid particular attention to improving the wealth of his dominions by increasing the prosperity of his subjects. During his reign the cultivation of the sugar-cane was introduced into Sicily. The conduct of Manuel was very different; when he concluded peace with William, the son and successor of Roger, in 1158, he paid no attention to the commercial interests of his Greek subjects; the silk manufactures of Thebes and Corinth were not reclaimed and reinstated in their native seats; they were left to exercise their industry for the profit of their new prince, while their old sovereign would have abandoned them to perish from want. Under such circumstances it is not remarkable that the commerce and the manufactures of Greece were transferred in the course of another century to Sicily and Italy.

CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY

EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME

A.D. 843-1161

JOHN RUDD, LL.D.

Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals following give volume and page.

Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume and page references showing where the several events are fully treated.

A.D.

843. Messina in Sicily captured by the Saracens.

Feudalism may be said to become an actuality from about this time. See "FEUDALISM: ITS FRANKISH BIRTH AND ENGLISH DEVELOPMENT," v, 1.

The Danes--called by Arabian writers "_Magioges_," people of Gog and Magog--land at Lisbon from fifty-four ships and carry off a rich booty.

The treaty of Verdun, between the three sons of Louis _le Débonnaire_. See "DECAY OF THE FRANKISH EMPIRE," v, 22.

844. Lothair gives the title king of Italy to his son Louis, who is crowned at Rome.

Abderrahman fits out a fleet to resist the Danes who have infested the neighborhood of Cadiz and Seville.

845. Paris is pillaged for the first time by the Danes or Northmen. See "DECAY OF THE FRANKISH EMPIRE," v, 22.

Hamburg is looted and destroyed by the Danes.

846. Rome is attacked by the Saracens, who, after plundering the country, lay siege to Gaeta.

Spain afflicted by a great drought and swarms of locusts.

847. A violent storm drives the Saracens from the siege of Gaeta. The distress in Spain is relieved by Abderrahman, who remits the taxes and constructs aqueducts and fountains.

848. Louis, King of Italy, drives the Saracens out of Beneventum.

Bordeaux is assailed by the Northmen, but they are vigorously repulsed. See "DECAY OF THE FRANKISH EMPIRE," v, 22.

Pope Leo IV adds a new quarter to the city of Rome by surrounding the Vatican with walls.

849. Birth of Alfred the Great. See "CAREER OF ALFRED THE GREAT," v, 49.

Gottschalk, a German bishop who preached the doctrine of twofold predestination, sentenced by the Council of Quincy to be flogged and suffer perpetual imprisonment.

The Saracens range at will through the Mediterranean; they are defeated at the mouth of the Tiber by the combined fleets of Naples, Gaeta, and Amalphi.

On Gallic soil the _benificium_ and practice of commendation is specially fostered. See "FEUDALISM: ITS FRANKISH BIRTH AND ENGLISH DEVELOPMENT," v, 1.

850. Roric, a nephew of Harold, collects a piratical armament in Friesland and attacks adjacent coasts; Lothair grants Durstadt to him to secure his own lands.

Pépin strengthens himself in Aquitaine by leagues with the Northmen. See "DECAY OF THE FRANKISH EMPIRE," v, 22.

851. Danes ascend the Rhine with 252 ships and plunder Ghent, Cologne, Treves, and Aix-la-Chapelle.

Roric, with 350 sail, proceeds up the Thames and pillages Canterbury and London, after defeating the King of Mercia; he is at last defeated by Ethelwulf, with great slaughter, at Ockley.

852. A revolt against the Moslems in Armenia.

853. Hastings' (the Danish chief) ruse at Tuscany. See "DECAY OF THE FRANKISH EMPIRE," v, 22.

855. Death of Lothair, Emperor of the Franks; civil war between his sons.

A band of Danes keep the Isle of Sheppey through the winter; their first foothold in England.

860. Iceland discovered by the Northmen.

862. Rurik, the Varangian chief, conquers Novgorod and Kiov and lays the foundation of the Russian empire.

863. Cyril and Methodius, the "apostles of the Slavs," undertake the conversion of the Moravians.

Pope Nicholas deposes Photius and declares Ignatius to be the patriarch of Constantinople; Photius in turn excommunicates the Pope.

Charles the Bald founds the County of Flanders.

864. Pope Nicholas asserts his exclusive right to appoint and depose bishops; the sovereigns and prelates of France and Germany resist his claim.

Christianity first introduced into Russia; it makes little progress.

865. First naval expedition of the Varangians or Russians against Constantinople; their fleet is dispersed by a storm.

866. East Anglia invaded by a numerous body of Danes.

Accession of Alfonso the Great of Asturias.

868. Nottingham captured by the Danes; they are besieged by Burhred, Alfred, and his brother, who allow them to return to York with their booty. See "CAREER OF ALFRED THE GREAT," v, 49.

869. Eighth general council held at Constantinople; the deposition of Photius confirmed and all iconoclasts anathematized.

870. Malta captured by the Saracens.

East Anglia captured by the Danes; Edmund, titular king of the country, is treacherously slain by them; is afterward canonized.

871. Hincmar, a French prelate, encourages Charles the Bald to resist the authority assumed by the Pope over the church of France.

Bari, a Saracen fortress in Southern Italy, is surrendered to the Franks and Greeks.

Alfred ascends the throne of Wessex. See "CAREER OF ALFRED THE GREAT," v, 49.

872. Louis of Germany relinquishes to Emperor Louis his portion of Lorraine.

873. On the approach of Emperor Louis with an army the Saracens, who were besieging Salerno, retire; they land in Calabria and commit great depredations.

Locusts lay waste Italy, France, and Germany.

Organs introduced into the churches of Germany.

874. Mercia is conquered by the Danes, who set up Ceolwulf as their king.

Iceland is settled by the Danes.

875. Death of Emperor Louis; Charles the Bald and Louis of Germany contend for the succession. The former, by granting new privileges to the Church of Rome, obtains the support of the Pope, and is acknowledged as the king of Italy and emperor of the West.

Alfred, King of Wessex, fits out a fleet and conquers the Danes in a great sea battle. See "CAREER OF ALFRED THE GREAT," v, 49.

876. Death of Louis of Germany; division of his kingdom among his three sons: Bavaria to Carloman; Saxony to Louis the Stammerer; and East France (Franconia and Swabia) to Charles the Fat. Their uncle, Charles the Bald, attempts to dispossess them, but is defeated by Louis at Andernach.

Rollo, at the head of the Northmen, enters the Seine and makes his first settlement in Normandy. See "DECAY OF THE FRANKISH EMPIRE," v, 22.

877. No emperor of the West for three years.

Carloman acquires the crown of Italy; the Pope, who opposes him, is driven from Rome by Lambert, Duke of Spoleto, and takes refuge in France.

A large traffic in slaves carried on by the Venetians.

Count Boso founds the kingdom of Florence.

878. Alfred defeats a great host of the Danes at Eddington. See "CAREER OF ALFRED THE GREAT," v, 49.

Syracuse captured by the Saracens, who become the masters of Sicily.

879. Methodius forbidden by the Pope to perform the services of the Church for the Slavonians in their own language.

The kingdom of Cisjurane, Burgundy, founded; it included Provence, Dauphiné, and the southern part of Savoy.

880. Germany is ravaged by the Northmen.

Alfred, the English King, defeats the Danes at the battle of Ethandun; by treaty he gives them equal rights, and they acknowledge his supremacy. See "CAREER OF ALFRED THE GREAT," v, 49.

881. Methodius gets leave to use the Slavonic tongue in the churches. Charles the Fat ascends the throne of Italy and Germany; is emperor of the West.

882. Albategni, the Arabian astronomer, observes the autumnal equinox, September 19th.

883. Alfred sends Singhelm and Athelstan on missions to Rome and the Christian church in India.

884. Charles the Fat reunites the Frankish empire of Charlemagne.

885. Siege of Paris by the Northmen. See "DECAY OF THE FRANKISH EMPIRE," v, 22.

886. Alfred the Great said to have founded the University of Oxford.

887. Deposition of Charles the Fat; Arnulf, natural son of Carloman of Bavaria, elected by the nobles.

888. Death of Charles the Fat; final disruption of the Frankish empire; the crown of France in dispute between the Count of Paris, Eudes, and Charles the Simple. See "DECAY OF THE FRANKISH EMPIRE," v, 22.

Founding of the kingdom of Transjurane, Burgundy, which includes the northern part of Savoy and all Switzerland between the Reuss and the Jura.

Alfred the Great begins his translations from Latin into Anglo-Saxon. See "AUGUSTINE'S MISSIONARY WORK IN ENGLAND," iv, 182.

890. Southern Italy constituted a province of the Greek empire and called Lombardia.

891. King Arnulf, of Germany, defeats the Northmen or Danes at Louvain.

894. Arnulf becomes emperor of Germany.

Hungarians (Magyars) cross the Carpathians and occupy the plains of the Theiss.

895. Rome is captured by Emperor Arnulf of Germany; he is crowned emperor of the West.

896. Pope Stephen VII declares the election of his predecessor, Formosus, invalid; disinters his body and has it thrown in the Tiber.

897. Pope Stephen imprisoned and strangled.

Alfred constructs a powerful navy and defeats Hastings the Dane. See "CAREER OF ALFRED THE GREAT," v, 49.

899. Accession of Louis the Child, on the death of Arnulf, to the German throne.

900. Hungarians ravage Northern Italy.

901. Death of Alfred the Great, King of England; his son, Edward the Elder, succeeds.

904. Russians, with a large naval force, attack Constantinople, and the Saracens Thessalonica.

907. Bavaria desolated by the Hungarians.

909. Founding of the Fatimite caliphate in Africa. See "CONQUEST OF EGYPT BY THE FATIMITES," v, 94.

911. End of the Carlovingian line in Germany. See "HENRY THE FOWLER FOUNDS THE SAXON LINE OF GERMAN KINGS," v, 82.

912. Rollo, converted to Christianity, takes the name of Robert and receives from Peter the Simple the province afterward called Normandy, of which he is the first duke. See "DECAY OF THE FRANKISH EMPIRE," v, 22.

913. Igor, son of Rurik, by the death of his guardian, Oleg, is invested with the government of Russia.

Bodies of Hungarians and Slavs make inroads on German territory. See "HENRY THE FOWLER FOUNDS THE SAXON LINE OF GERMAN KINGS," v, 82.

914. John X elected pope through the intrigues of Theodora.

916. Berengar is crowned emperor of the West, in Italy.

918. Death of Conrad, the King of Germany. See "HENRY THE FOWLER FOUNDS THE SAXON LINE OF GERMAN KINGS," v, 82.

919. Founding of the Danish kingdom of Dublin, Ireland. "HENRY THE FOWLER FOUNDS THE SAXON LINE OF GERMAN KINGS." See v, 82.

923. Rudolph of Burgundy disputes with Charles the Simple for the crown of France.

924. Germany is overrun and devastated by the Hungarians. Death of Berengar, upon which the imperial title lapses.

925. Edward the Elder is succeeded by his son Athelstan, in England.

926. Henry the Fowler conquers the Slavonians; he establishes the margravate of Brandenburg.

928. Guido and Marozia usurp supreme temporal power in Rome and confine Pope John X in prison, where he dies. (Date uncertain.)

929. Charles the Simple dies in captivity at Péronne.

Abu Taher, the Carmathian leader, plunders Mecca and massacres the pilgrims.

930. Prague is besieged by Henry the Fowler, who becomes superior lord of Bohemia; his son, Otho, marries Eadgith, sister of Athelstan, King of England.

931. Marozia still rules in Rome; she makes her son pope John XI.

932. Hugh marries Marozia and is expelled from Rome by her son Alberic, who confines his mother, and his brother, Pope John, in St. Angelo and governs the city.

933. Henry the Fowler is victorious over the Hungarians at Merseburg. See "HENRY THE FOWLER FOUNDS THE SAXON LINE OF GERMAN KINGS," v, 82.

Union of Cis- and Transjurane Burgundy into one realm, the kingdom of Arles.

Saracens invade Castile and are defeated at Uxama.

936. Death of Henry the Fowler; accession of Otho the Great in Germany and of Louis _d'Outre-Mer_ in France. Louis was given the surname for having been in exile in England, whence he was recalled to the crown.

From this time chivalry may be said to arise. See "GROWTH AND DECADENCE OF CHIVALRY," v, 109.

937. Confederation of Scots and Irish with the Danes of Northumberland, totally defeated by Athelstan, at Brunanburh.

France is invaded by the Hungarians.

939. The Marquis of Istria levies imposts on Venetian merchants, the repeal of which is enforced by the Doge suspending all intercourse between the two states.

940. Death of King Athelstan; his brother Edmund succeeds to the English throne.

941. Constantinople attacked by the Russians under Igor; they are repelled by Romanus.

945. Death of Igor; his widow, Olga, governs the Russians during the minority of their son Swatoslaus.

Cumberland and Westmoreland, England, granted as a fief to Malcolm, King of Scotland.

946. Edmund, who had conquered Mercia and the "Five Boroughs" of the Danish confederacy, England, slain by an outlaw; his brother Edred succeeds.

951. Otho the Great marches an army in to Italy; he dethrones Berengar for cruelly ill-treating Adelaide.

952. Otho restores Italy to Berengar and his son; they do homage to him at the Diet of Augsburg.

955. Otho vanquishes the Hungarians on the Lech; he afterward conquers the Slavonians.

Olga, the Russian Princess, baptized at Constantinople; she carries back into her own country some beginnings of civilization.

956. Many provinces, including Armenia, recovered from the Saracens by the Eastern Empire.

959. St. Dunstan made archbishop of Canterbury on the accession of Edgar.

961. Berengar finally dethroned by Otho the Great; the sovereignty of Italy passes from Charlemagne's descendants to German rulers.

962. Otho the Great, master of Italy; his coronation as emperor of the Romans by Pope John XII; establishment of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation.

963. Nicephorus Phocas defeats the Saracens and recovers the former provinces of the empire as far as the Euphrates.

Al Hakem, Caliph of Cordova, famous as a patron of literature and learning, and who is said to have collected a library of 600,000 volumes, employs agents in Africa and Arabia to purchase or copy manuscripts.

King Edgar, England, defeats the Welsh and exacts an annual tribute of three hundred wolves' heads.

964. Pope Leo VIII is expelled; John XII reinstated, he dies soon after; Rome is besieged and captured by the Emperor, after a revolt encouraged by Berengar.

966. After 328 years' subjection Antioch is recovered from the Saracens.

Bulgaria invaded by the Russians, who also extend their dominion to the Black Sea.

Miecislas, ruler of Poland, embraces Christianity.

969. Kahira (now Cairo) built by the Fatimites, who establish a caliphate in Egypt. See "CONQUEST OF EGYPT BY THE FATIMITES," v, 94.

Nicephorus Phocas, Emperor of the East, murdered by John Zimisces, who succeeds.

971. All munitions of war and arms are by the Venetians forbidden to be sold by their merchants to the Saracens.

973. On the death of his father, Otho the Great, Otho II ascends the throne of the German empire. His Empress, Theophania, introduces Greek customs and manners into Germany.

976. Henry, Duke of Bavaria, defeated by Otho II and deposed, takes refuge in Bohemia.

Death of Al Hakem; his reign the most glorious of the Saracenic dominion in Spain.

Commotion in Venice; the Doge attempts to introduce mercenary troops and is slain; his palace, St. Mark's, and other churches burned.

978. Otho II makes a victorious movement into France.

979. King Edward the Martyr assassinated by command of his mother-in-law, Elfrida; Ethelred the Unready succeeds. (Date uncertain.)

980. Theophania urges her husband, Otho II, to claim the Greek provinces in Italy; he advances with his army to Ravenna.

Vladimir obtains the assistance of the sea-kings, defeats his brother, Jaropolk, puts him to death, and becomes sole ruler of Russia.

982. Saracens of Africa are invited by the Greek emperors to join them in opposing Otho; battle of Basientello, total defeat of Otho; he is taken prisoner, but escapes by swimming.

983. Eric the Red, a Norseman, first visits Greenland, which he thus names, and afterward settles. See "LEIF ERICSON DISCOVERS AMERICA," v, 141.

Death of Otho II; Otho III succeeds to the throne of Germany under the regency of his mother, Theophania.

987. Death of Louis V, the last of the Carlovingian line; Hugh Capet is elected king of France; this inaugurates the Capetian dynasty.

988. Vladimir the Great of Russia embraces Christianity. See "CONVERSION OF VLADIMIR THE GREAT," v, 128.

989. Sedition in Rome; Empress Theophania arrives there and suppresses it.

In Germany rural counts and barons commence their depredations on the properties of their neighbors.

Learned men from all parts of the East flock to Cordova, Almansor, the Saracen regent, having set apart a fund to promote literature.

991. Archbishop Gerbert, of Rheims, introduces the use of Arabic numerals, which he had learned at Cordova.

Ipswich and Maldon, England, ravaged by the Danes; a tribute raised for them by means of the "Danegild" tax.

994. Hugh Capet maintains Gerbert in the see of Rheims, against the opposition of the Pope.

With a fleet of ninety-four ships the kings of Norway and Denmark attack London; they are beaten off by the citizens.

996. Death of Hugh Capet; his son Robert succeeds.

997. Venetians conquer the coast and islands of the Adriatic as far as Ragusa; their Doge styles himself duke of Dalmatia.

Death of Gejza, first Christian prince of Hungary.

Insurrection of peasants in Normandy.

998. Crescentius, having usurped power in Rome and expelled the Pope, is defeated, captured, and put to death by Otho III.

1000. Leif Ericson and Biorn discover America. See "LEIF ERICSON DISCOVERS AMERICA," v, 141.