subjecting Ireland to the jurisdiction of the Romish church that a bull was issued, granting Henry permission to invade the country. The bitter feuds in the Plantagenet family, and the state of his continental dominions, long prevented the English monarch from availing himself of this permission. At length Dermod, king of Leinster, driven from nis dominions by a rival sovereign, sought English aid, and was permitted to engage the services of Strongbow, and some other military adventurers, on condition of doing homage for his kingdom to Henry The rapid successes of Strongbow awakened Henry's jealousy; he went to Ireland in person, and received the submission of its principal Sovereigns (A. D. 1172). He returned without completing the conquest of the country, a circumstance productive of much misery and bloodshed through several successive centuries.

The reign of Richard I. was a period of little importance in English history; but that of his brother and successor, the profligate John, led to the most important results. The barons, provoked by his tyranny and his vices, took up arms, and compelled him to sign the Great Charter, which laid the first permanent foundation of British freedom; the pope forced him to resign his crown, and to receive it back again, only on condition of vassalage to the holy see, while Philip Augustus took dvantage of these circumstances to deprive the English monarchs of nost of their continental possessions. John's death saved England from becoming a province of France: absolved by Pope Innocent III. from his oath, he ventured to abrogate the Great Charter, upon which the English barons proffered the crown to Louis, the eldest son of Philip Augustus, who invaded England with the fairest prospects of success. John was completely defeated (A. D. 1216); he fled toward Scotland, but died upon the road. The English, already disgusted, with their French allies, embraced this opportunity of rallying round Prince Henry, and Louis was glad to conclude a treaty for abandoning the island.

Henry III. was a monarch wholly void of energy; it was his misfortune to fill the throne at one of the most turbulent periods of English history, without talents to command respect, or resolution to enforce obedience. During his long reign, England was engaged in few foreign wars, but these were generally unfortunate. On the other hand, the country was agitated by internal commotions during the greater part of the fifty years that he swayed the sceptre. The discontent of the prelates and barons at the favor that the king showed to foreigners induced them to form an association, by which the king was virtually deposed, and the supreme authority vested in a committee of peers, with the earl of Leicester at its head. Leicester introduced an important change into the constitution, by summoning representatives of counties, cities, and boroughs, to unite with the barons in the great council of the nation (A. D. 1265). This innovation laid the basis for the house of commons, which henceforth had an increasing share in English legislation. The tyranny of the barons being found less endurable than that of the king, Henry was restored to his former power; and his authority seemed fixed so permanently, that Prince Edward led an armament to the Holy Land, in aid of the last crusade of St. Louis Henry died during his son's absence (A. D. 1272); but though twe

years elapsed before Edward's return home, the tranquillity of the country continued undisturbed.

The chief object of Edward's ambition was to unite the whole of Great Britain under one sovereignty. Under the pretext of the Welsh prince, Llewelyn, having refused homage, he invaded the country, and completely subdued it, but not without encountering a desperate resistance. The English monarch stayed more than a year in Wales to complete its pacification, and during that time his queen, Eleanor, gave birth to a son in the castle of Carnarvon (A. D. 1284). The Welsh claimed the child as their countryman, and he was declared Prince of Wales, a title which has ever since been borne by the eldest sons of the English kings.

The failure of the direct heirs to the crown of Scotland gave Edward a pretence for interfering in the affairs of that kingdom. Three competitors, Baliol, Bruce, and Hastings, laid claim to the crown; to avert the horrors of civil war, they agreed to leave the decision to Edward; and he pronounced in favor of the first, on condition of Baliol's becoming a vassal to the king of England. Baliol soon grew weary of the authority exercised over him by Edward, and made an effort to recover his independence; but being defeated and taken prisoner, he abdicated the throne (A. D. 1296), and was confined in the Tower of London. The Scottish nation, though vanquished, was not subdued; several insurrections were raised against the English yoke; but after the defeat and capture of the Scottish hero, Sir William Wallace, all hope of independence seemed to have vanished. At length, Robert Bruce raised the standard of revolt, and was crowned king at Scone (A. D. 1306). Edward once more sent an army into Scotland, and soon followed in person to subdue that obstinate nation. His death on the border (A. D. 1307) freed Bruce from his most dangerous foe; and in the following reign the independence of Scotland was established by the decisive battle of Bannockburn (A. D. 1314).

The northren kingdoms of Europe, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, offer little to our notice but scenes of horror and carnage. The natural ferocity and warlike spirit of the Northmen, the want of fixed rules of succession, and the difficulty of finding employment for turbulent spirits in piratical expeditions when the increase of civilization had given consistency to the governments of the south, and enabled them to provide for the protection of their subjects, multiplied factions, and produced innumerable civil wars. Crusades, however, were undertaken against the Sclavonian and other pagan nations, by which the kings of Denmark and Sweden added considerably to their dominions, and gave them a high rank among the states of Europe. Prussia and Livonia were subdued by the knights of the Teutonic order; and Hungary, after having been almost ruined by the Mongolian hordes, began gradually to recover its importance after the retreat of these barbarians (A. D. 1244).

SECTION XV.-Revolutions in the East in consequence of the Mongolian

Invasion

THERE is no phenomenon more remarkable in history than the rise, progress, and extent of the Mongolian empire. Jenghiz Khan, in a

single reign, issuing from a petty principality in .he wilds f Tartary, acquired an empire stretching about six thousand miles from east to west, and at least half that space from north to south, including within its limits the most powerful and wealthy kingdoms of Asia.

The Mongols were first raised into eminence by Jenghiz Khan; his original name was Temujín, and he was the chief of a small horde which his father's valor had elevated above the surrounding tribes. At an early age he was invited to the court of Vang Khan, the nominal head of the tribes of the Tartarian deserts, and received the hand of that potentate's daughter in marriage. Mutual jealousy soon led to a war between Temujín and his father-in-law; the latter was slain in battle, and Temujín succeeded to his authority. On the day of his installation, a pretended prophet named Kokza, addressing the new sovereign, declared that he was inspired by God to name him Jenghiz Khan, that is, supreme monarch, and to promise him the empire of the universe.

Inspired by this prophecy, which, however, he is suspected of having suggested, Jenghiz zealously labored to establish military discipline among the vast hordes that flocked to his standard; and when he had organized an army, he invaded those provinces of northern China called Khatai by the oriental writers, and Cathay by our old English authors. In five years this extensive country was subdued, and Jenghiz directed his arms westward, provoked by an outrage of the sultan of Kharasın. This kingdom of Kharasm was among the most flourishing in central Asia; the literary eminence of Bokhara, and the commercial prosperity of Samarcand, were celebrated throughout the East. The sultans Mohammed and his son and successor, Jalaloddín, were monarchs of dauntless bravery, but nothing could withstand the fury of the Mongols, and not only Kharasm, but the greater part of northern and eastern Persia, full under the sway of Jenghiz. Astrachan was taken by a Mongolian detachment, and some of the hordes pushed their incursions as far as the confines of Russia. Jenghiz died in his seventy-sixth year (A. D. 1227), continuing his career of conquest alnost to the last hour of his life. Few conquerors have displayed greater military abilities, none more savage ferocity. He delighted in slaughter and devastation his maxim was to slaughter without mercy, all that offered him the least resistance.

The successors of the Mongolian conqueror followed the course he had traced. They completed the subjugation of China, they overthrew the khaliphate of Bagdad (A. D. 1258), and rendered the sultans of Iconium tributary. Oktaï Khan, the immediate successor of Jenghiz, sent two armies from the centre of China, one against the peninsula of Corea, the other to subdue the countries north and east of the Caspian. This latter army, under the guidance of Batú Khan, penetrated and subdued the Russian empire (A. D. 1237); thence the Mongols spread into Hungary, Poland, and Silesia, and even reached. the coasts of the Adriatic sea. The dutchy of Wladimir was the only native Russian dynasty that preserved its existence; it owed its good fortune to Alexander Newski, whose prudent measures conciliated the favor of the conquerors, and secured him a tranquil reign. After the death of Kublai Khan, the grandson of Jenghiz, the Mongolian empire

was partitioned by the provincial governors, and graduall sank into decay.

The overthrow of the Seljúkian sultans and the Fatimits knaliphs, by Noureddin and Saladin, has been already mentioned. The dynasty of the Ayúbites was founded by Saladin's descendants in Syria and Egypt, and this, after having been divided into several states, was overthrown by the Mamelukes in the thirteenth century.

The Mamelukes were Turkish captives, whom the ferocious Mongols sold into slavery; great numbers of them were imported into Egypt in the reign of Sultan Saleh, of the Ayúbite dynasty. This prince purchased multitudes of the younger captives, whom he formed into an army and kept in a camp on the seacoast, where they received instruction in military discipline. From this they were removed to receive the charge of the royal person, and the superintendence of the officers of state. In a short time, these slaves became so numerous and so powerful that they were enabled to usurp the throne, having murdered Túran Shah, the son and successor of Saleh, who had vainly endeavored to break the yoke which the Mamelukes had imposed upon their sultan (A. D. 1250). This revolution took place in the presence of St. Louis, who had been taken prisoner at the battle of Mansurah, and had just concluded a truce for ten years with Túran Shah. The Mameluke insurgent, named at first regent or atta-beg, was finally proclaimed sultan of Egypt.

The dominion of the Mamelukes over Egypt lasted for more than two centuries and a half. Their body, constantly recruited by Turkish and Circassian slaves, disposed of the throne at its pleasure; the boldest of their chiefs, provided he could prove his descent from Turkestan, was chosen sultan. Notwithstanding the frequent wars and revolutions necessarily resulting from the licentiousness of military election, the Mamelukes made a successful resistance to the Mongols, and after the death of Jenghiz Khan's immediate heirs, conquered the kingdoms of Aleppo and Damascus, which the Mongolian khans had taken from the Ayúbites (A. D. 1260). The surviving princes of the Ayúbite dynasty in Syria and Arabia tendered their submission to the Mamelukes, who were thus masters of all the ancient Saracenic possessions in the Levantine countries, with the exception of the few forts and cities which were still retained by the Franks and western Christians. The Mamelukes soon resolved to seize these last memorials of the crusades. They invaded the principalities of Antioch and Tripoli, which were subdued without much difficulty. A fierce resistance was made by the garrison of Acre, but the town was taken by assault and its gallant defenders put to the sword. Tyre soon after surrendered by capitulation (A. D. 1291), and thus the Christians were finally expelled from Syria and Palestine.

⚫Hence they were called the Baharite or Maritime Mamelukes, to distinguish them from the Borjite or Garrison Mamelukes, another body of this militia, formed by the Baharite sultan, Kelaún, to counterbalance the authority usurped by the Turkish emirs. The Borjites derived their name from the forts which they garrisoned; they soon increased in power, and made the Baharite dynasty undergo the fate it inflicted on the Ayúbite sultans. They rose against their masters (A. D. 1382), gained possession of the supreme authority, and placed one of their chiefs on the throne of Egypt. The Borjites in their turn were overthrown by the Ottomans (A. D. 1517).

CHAPTER V.

THE REVIVAL OF LITERATURE; THE PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION AND INVENTION.

SECTION I. Decline of the Papal Power.-The Great Schism of the West.

CLEMENT V., elevated to the papacy by the influence of the French king, Philip the Fair, to gratify his patron, abstained from going to Rome, had the ceremony of his coronation performed at Lyons, and fixed his residence at Avignon (A. D. 1309).

Philip further insisted that the memory of Boniface should be stigmatized, and his bones disinterred and ignominiously burned. Clement was afraid to refuse; but, at the same time, he dreaded the scandal of such a proceeding, and the danger of such a precedent; he therefore resolved to temporize, and persuaded Philip to adjourn the matter until a general council should be assembled. But some sacrifice was necessary to appease the royal thirst for vengeance, and the illustrious order of the Templars was sacrificed by the head of that church it had been instituted to defend. On the 13th of October, 1307, all the knights of that order were simultaneously arrested; they were accused of the most horrible and improbable crimes; evidence was sought by every means that revenge and cupidity could suggest; the torture of the rack was used with unparalleled violence to extort confession; and sentence of condemnation was finally pronounced on these unfortunate men, whose only crime was the wealth of their order, and their adherence to the papal cause in the reign of Boniface.

The assassination of the emperor Albert inspired Philip with the hope of procuring the crown of Charlemagne for his brother, and he hastened to Avignon to claim the promised aid of the pope. But though Clement had abandoned Italy to tyrants and factions, he had not resigned the hope of re-establishing the papal power over the peninsula, and he shuddered at the prospect of a French emperor reconciling the Guelphs and Ghibellines, crushing opposition by the aid of his royal brother, and fixing the imperial authority on a permanent basis; he therefore secretly instigated the German princes to hasten the election, and Henry VII. of Luxemburg was chosen at his suggestion. Though Henry possessed little hereditary influence, his character and talents secured him obedience in Germany; he had thus leisure to attend to the affairs of Italy, which no emperor had visited during the preceding half century. He crossed the Alps with a band of faithful followers; the cities and their tyrants, as if impressed by magic with anusual respect for the imperial majesty, tendered him their allegiance