SECT. I. Decline of the Papal Power.-The Great Schism of the West.. II. First Revival of Literature, and Inventions in Science.. V. The State of England and the Northern Kingdoms in the Fourteenth VI. Rise and Progress of the Ottoman Empire..... CHAPTER VI.-The Reformation, and Commencement of the States- III. History of the Negotiations and Wars respecting Italy. IV. The History of Burgundy under the Princes of the House of Valois...502 X. Administration of the Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarine.............540 XI. Formation of the States-System in the Northern Kingdoms of Europe..546 VI. Peter the Great of Russia.-Charles XII. of Sweden.. CHAPTER VIII.-Growth of the Mercantile aud Colonial System. SECT. I. Establishment of the Hanoverian Succession in England..... II. The Colonial Struggle between France and Great Britain... CHAPTER XI.-History of the Peace. SECT. I. State of Europe at the Close of the War..... II. History of Europe during the Reign of George IV.... III. History of Europe during the Reign of William IV... CHAPTER XII.-History of Colonization. SECT. I. The Establishment of the Spaniards in Mexico..... II. The Establishment of the Spaniards in Peru III. The Portuguese Colonies in South America.. IV. The English in America........ V. Colonization of the West Indies. VI. The Portuguese in India... VII. The Spaniards in the East Indies.. VIII. The Dutch in the East Indies.... IX. The Danes in the East Indies.. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL ОР MODERN HISTORY. CHAPTER I. CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL OF THE WEST. ERN EMPIRE. SECTION I.-The Gothic Kingdom of Italy. THERE is no period in the annals of the human race which presenta to the historical student a greater scene of confusion than the century succeeding the overthrow of the Western Empire. The different hordes of barbarians, following no definite plan, established separate monarchies in the dismembered provinces, engaged in sanguinary wars that had no object but plunder, and were too ignorant to form anything like a political system. There is consequently a want of unity in the narrative of a time when nations ceased to have any fixed relations toward each other, and history must appear desultory and digressive until some one state, rising into command, assume such importance, that the fate of all the rest may be connected with its destinies. It is necessary, before entering on the various incidents of this calamitous time, to take a geographical survey of the places occupied by the principal nations who succeeded the Romans in the sovereignty of Europe. The Visigoths, after their establishment in Spain, began gradually to adopt the refinement of their new subjects; that peninsula had advanced rapidly in civilization under the Roman dominion, and had escaped from much of the corruption which had degraded Italy; the conquerors, more advanced than any other of the barbarians, soon learned to appreciate the advantages of social order, and began to cultivate the higher arts of life. In Pannonia, the Ostrogoths derived great improvement from their vicinity to Italy on the one side, and the court of Constantinople on the other; they were thus gradually trained to civilization, and their early adoption of Christianity secured them the benefits of literature, which was sedulously cultivated by the clergy. Tribes of a very different character pressed into the empire from the German forests-the Burgundians, the Lombards, and the Franks, of whom the last were long distinguished for their hostility to all refinements, and their exclusive attention to the military virtues. Still more barbarous were the Saxons and Angles; they were not only strangers to the civilization and religion of the empire, but were kept in their rude state by the practice of piracy, for which their maritime situation afforded them great facilities; their government, divided among several petty chiefs, was favorable to personal independence, and furnished a striking contrast to the absolute despotism that had been established in the Roman empire. All the Germanic tribes were remarkable for the respect which they showed to the delicacy of the female character; they neither treated their women like slaves, as most other barbarians have done, nor did they degrade them into mere objects of sensual gratification, like the Romans and Byzantines. The German woman was the companion and counsellor of her husband; she shared his labors as an equal, not as a servant. It was from the sanctity of the domestic circle among the northern nations that races of conquerors derived the firmness and courage which ensured them victory. The northeastern part of Europe was occupied by Sclavonic tribes, differing from the Germans in language, manners, and tactics; like the Tartars of more modern times, they placed their chief reliance on their cavalry; and they were more opposed to civilization than any of the Germanic nations. Their form of government was a kind of aristo cratic republic. but in war the tribes generally united under a single leader. They were very averse to fixed residences, and when they occupied a country they rarely entered the cities, but remained in their camps or in rude circular fortifications called rings. The Sclavonians hated the Germans, and could rarely be induced to unite with them against their common enemy, the Romans. After the fall of the Western Empire, the court of Constantinople sunk into obscurity, from which it did not emerge for half a century, when its supremacy was restored during the memorable reign of Justinian. The Isaurian Zeno, raised to the purple by his marriage with the princess Ariadne, was forced to fly into the mountains by a fierce revolt which his mother-in-law Verina had instigated. He was restored to the throne chiefly by the aid of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, who had been carefully educated as a hostage at the court of Constantinople. The turbulence of the Goths, and the faithlessness of the Byzantines, soon destroyed the amity of the two sovereigns; a desultory, but sanguinary warfare harassed the Eastern Empire, until Zeno purchased peace by ceding to Theodoric his right over Italy, or rather stimulated the Goth to undertake the conquest of that peninsula. The march of Theodoric was the emigration of an entire people; the Goths were accompanied by their wives, their children, and their aged parents, a vast multitude of wagons conveyed their most precious ef fects, and their store of provisions for a toilsome march undertaken in the depth of winter. Odoacer boldly prepared to meet this formidable invasion; he took post on the river Sontius (Isonzo) with a powerful nost; but he was unable to resist the daring energy of the Goths, and his defeat gave Theodoric possession of the Venetian province as fai as the walls of Verona (A. D. 489). Italy, however, was not wor |