and English soldiers, amounting in all to 30,000, Richard performed feats of valour which have not been surpassed in the history of any time or nation. On the plains of Ascalon, a tremendous battle was fought with Saladin, and that brave and great man was defeated, and 40,000 of his soldiers are said to have been left dead upon the field of battle. But this conquest was unavailing, and the followers of Richard began to fear that there would be no end to their struggles. The zeal which had brought so many of them from their homes, and sustained them so long in absence, at last abated. Saladin readily concluded a treaty by which Christians might still be permitted to visit the tomb of Christ unmolested, and Richard left the Holy Land for ever. It is due to the memory of Saladin (who did not long survive this period) to state that, after he made himself master of Jerusalem, he never molested the Christians in their devotions-a circumstance which, by contrast, reflects infinite disgrace on the cruel barbarities of the first Crusaders. In his last will he ordered alms to be distributed among the poor, without distinction of Jew, Christian, or Mohammedan; intending by this bequest to intimate that all men are brethren, and that when we would assist them, we ought not to inquire what they believe, but what they feel-an admirable lesson to Christians, though from a Mohammedan. But the advantages in science, in moderation, and humanity, seem at this period to have been all on the

ance of every soft and tender sentiment. So inconsistent is human nature with itself, and so easily does the most effeminate superstition ally both with the most heroic courage and with the fiercest barbarity!' With a becoming foresight, the Crusaders established a Christian kingdom in the heart of Palestine; and at the head of it, by universal consent, was placed Godfrey, whose goodness and justice had signalised him, and gained him respect in the midst of the general wickedness. The pope, however, was too eager to enjoy the triumph to which he had looked forward, and sending an ignorant and obtruding ecclesiastic to assume this command, Godfrey retired; and thus was lost undoubtedly the best chance that Europeans ever had of really possessing the Holy Land. The Turks had now time to recover their strength and renew their attacks: they did so: many of the Crusaders had in the meantime returned home, and those of them who remained, surrounded and menaced by such foes, at last implored aid from Christendom. There the spirit which had been raised by Peter the Hermit was far from being extinguished; and another, more eloquent and more learned than Peter-namely, St Bernard-had arisen to keep alive the flame of devotion. Roused by his preachings, Europe sent forth a second Crusade (1147). It consisted of 200,000 French, Germans, and English, in two divisions, the first led on by Conrad III. of Germany, and the second by Louis VII. of France. Strangely enough, both these leaders permitted them-side of the Saracens. selves to be drawn into a snare by false guides, fur- There were no more great Crusades. Considerable nished by the Greek emperor; and both armies, one bands of private adventurers still continued to move after another, were withdrawn amidst the rocks of eastward; but disaster and disgrace attended every Laodicea, and after being nearly starved by famine, effort, and Europe at last became disheartened when they were cut to pieces by the Sultan of Iconium. the bones of two millions of her sons lay whitened on This Crusade proved the most disastrous of them all. the plains of Asia, and so little had been accomplished. 'Thousands of ruined families,' says Russell, ex- Nevertheless, in the year 1202, Baldwin, Count of claimed against St Bernard for his deluding prophecies: Flanders, was able to raise another considerable army he excused himself by the example of Moses, who, like for the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre; but having him, he said, had promised to conduct the Israelites reached Constantinople at a time when there was a into a happy country, and yet saw the first generation dispute in the succession to the throne, he readily laid perish in the desert.' aside the project of the Crusade, took part in the quarrel, and in the course of five months he was himself the emperor. The citizens of Venice in Italy, who had lent their vessels for this enterprise, shared in the triumphs of the piratical Crusaders: they obtained the Isle of Candia, or Crete. Baldwin, however, was soon driven from the throne, and murdered; though the Latins, as his successors from the West were called, kept possession of Constantinople for fifty-seven years.

It was shortly after this period that the illustrious Saladin appeared (1180). Born among an obscure Turkish tribe, this individual fixed himself by his bravery and conduct on the throne of Egypt, and began to extend his conquests in the East. The still existing, though wretchedly-supported kingdom of the Christians in Palestine, proving an obstacle to the progress of his arins, Saladin directed his power against it, and assisted by the treachery of the Count of Tripoli, he completely overcame the Christians in battle (1187). The holy city itself fell into his hands after a feeble resistance; and except some cities on the coast, nothing remained to the Christians of all that, a century before, it had cost Europe so much to acquire. The followers of the cross, however, were not yet wholly disheartened; and a third great Crusade was entered into before the end of the twelfth century.

The three greatest sovereigns of Europe-Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, Philip Augustus of France, and Richard Coeur de Lion of England-all took part in the scheme. The forces of Frederick were earliest in the field. He had passed through the unfriendly territories of the Greek empire, crossed the Hellespont, and defeated the infidels in several battles, before Richard or Philip had stirred from home. The Christians of the East were beginning to look with hope and pride on so great assistance; but they seemed fated to be unfortunate. Frederick died (1190) from having thrown his body, heated by exertion, into the cold river of Cydnus; and his army, like the others that had gone before it, dwindled into nothing. The united armies of Richard and Philip followed. In their progress, the feelings of envy and national hatred rose above the object which had brought them together. Philip returned, disgusted or dismayed, shortly after they reached their destination; and Richard was thus left alone to uphold the glory of European arms. He did it nobly. With a mixed army of French, German,

At this period (1227) a great revolution took place in Asia. Ghenghis Khan, at the head of a body of Tartars, broke down from the north upon Persia and Syria, and massacred indiscriminately Turks, Jews, and Christians, who opposed them. The European settlements in Palestine must soon have yielded to these invaders, had not their fate been for a while retarded by the last attempt at a Crusade under Louis IX. of France. This prince, summoned, as he believed, by Heaven, after four years' preparation set out for the Holy Land with his queen, his three brothers, and all the knights of France (1248). His army began their enterprise, and we may say ended it also, by an unsuccessful attack on Egypt. The king went home, and reigned prosperously and wisely for thirteen years; but the same frenzy again taking possession of him, he embarked on a Crusade against the Moors in Africa, where his army was destroyed by a pestilence, and he himself became its victim (1270).

Before the end of the thirteenth century (1291) the Christians were driven out of all their Asiatic possessions. The only common enterprise,' says Robertson, in which the European nations were engaged, and which they all undertook with equal ardour, remains a singular monument of human folly.'

INSTITUTION OF CHIVALRY-STATE OF EUROPE DURING
AND AFTER THE CRUSADES.

Among the most remarkable institutions of the middle ages was that of Chivalry. The institution was certainly not the result of caprice, nor a source of

their feudal subservience to enjoy independent citizenship. Villeins, or labourers, joyfully escaped, to take their place on a footing of equality with freemen; and sovereigns found means to pass a law that, if a slave should take refuge in any of the new cities, and be allowed to remain there unclaimed for a twelvemonth, he had thereby become free, and was henceforth a member of the community. Another improvement which kings were able to introduce about this time was the gradual abolition of minor courts of justice, which barons had previously held in their several domains, and their getting public and universal law administered by judges of their own appointment. Even single combat, the practice most inveterately adhered to of any among the ancient nobles, became less frequent and less honourable. The more revolting and absurd features of it were wholly abolished, though the great absurdity, and indeed the great crime itself, cannot be said to have become totally extinct, even up to our own day, when we recollect that the barbarous practice of duelling is still permitted to exist.

unmixed extravagance, as it has been represented, but | now found that, by a union among themselves, they an effort of human nature to express its feelings of might secure bread by industry, and protection and love, honour, and benevolence, at a time when the spirit liberty by mutual aid. Multitudes, therefore, forsook of liberty was extinguished, and religion had become debased. The feudal state was a state of perpetual war, rapine, and anarchy, during which the weak and unarmed were often exposed to injuries. Public protective law scarcely had an existence; and in these circumstances assistance came oftenest and most effectually from the arms of private friends. It was the same feeling of courage, united to a strong sense of duty, which both gave rise to chivalry, and led such multitudes to join the Crusades. Chivalry existed before them, and it survived them. Those who devoted themselves to a life of chivalry were called knights, and sometimes knight-errants, in allusion to their habits of wandering from one country to another in search of helpless objects, which their generosity might find a pleasure in relieving and defending, Admission to the order of knighthood was long reckoned an honour of the highest sort; and to fulfil the vows which entrants took upon them might well be considered so. They were bound, by God, by St Michael, and St George,' to be loyal, brave, and hardy; to protect the innocent, to redress the injuries of the wronged; and, above all, to uphold and defend the characters of women. The institution of chivalry is sometimes thought to have thrown an air of ridiculousness upon everything connected with the softer sex, and some of the vagaries of knight-errantry gave sufficient countenance to such a supposition; but on the whole we are bound to rate its beneficial influences in elevating the female character high indeed, when we contrast the gross and grovelling situation held by the sex in former times with the high and virtuous emotions that we have learned to associate in modern times with the name of woman. If the whole of this effect is not to be ascribed to chivalry, not a little of it must certainly be so; nor do its beneficial effects end here. The feelings of honour, courtesy, and humanity, which distinguished it, spread themselves into other parts of conduct. War, in particular, was conducted with less ferocity, and humanity came to be deemed as necessary to an accomplished soldier as courage. The idea of a gentleman is wholly the production of chivalry; and during the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, a sense of honour and a refinement of manners towards enemies sprung up, which have extended to modern times, and form a distinguishing feature of them.

The history of the Crusades has carried us over nearly two centuries of the history of Europe. But Europe might be said, almost without exaggeration, to have been then in Asia. It was certainly not the scene of any transaction of importance during all that period. The numerous quarrels, both public and private, which had before agitated the several countries, and had constituted all their history, gave way, by mutual consent, as well as by the orders of the church, to the one idea which then reigned supreme among them. Society was thus unconsciously the means of permitting some of those powerful and pacific principles to come into play, which were soon to give it a new destiny. The absence of so many great barons during the time of the Crusades, was a means of enabling the common people, who had hitherto lived as their slaves, to raise themselves in public standing and estimation; while the possessions of many of these barons, by sale or the death of their owners without heirs, reverted to the sovereigns. In this way the power of the people and of royalty advanced together, and both at the expense of the class of nobility. The people were not unwilling to exchange the mastery of inferiors for that of a superior; and the kings, on their part, looked on this rising power of the people with pleasure, as it offered a shield to protect them from the insolence of the nobles. In these circumstances boroughs began to flourish. This was a new element in the progress of civilisation. Men who had hitherto skulked in castles, and had sacrificed their liberties and their lives for bread and protection from isolated chiefs,

The effect, however, produced by the Crusades, which proved greatest in its consequences, though perhaps it was the most unlooked for at the time, was the rise of commerce. The first of these expeditions had journeyed to Constantinople by land; but the sufferings were so great, that all the rest were induced to go by sea. The Italian cities of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, furnished the vessels which conveyed them; and the sums of money obtained for the freight of so many and so great armies were immense. This, however, was but a small part of what the Italian citizens gained by the expeditions to the Holy Land. The Crusaders contracted with them for military stores and provisions; and any of the Asiatic possessions of value, which came temporarily into the hands of the Christians, became emporiums of commerce for them. The sweet reward of labour was thus first felt for ages in Europe. New arts were brought from the East, and many of those natural productions of the warmer climates were first introduced into the West, which have since afforded the materials of a lucrative and extended commerce. We will allude in a separate section to the brilliant career of several of the Italian Republics-(see p. 124).

In these views we represent the fairest side of the picture. There were yet many obstacles in the way of a complete and harmonious evolution of the principles of civilisation. But the elements all seemed now to have acquired existence, and time only was required to consolidate and strengthen them.

FROM THE CRUSADES TO THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY-RISE OF SOME NEW POWERS.

The most remarkable general feature of European
society about the time of the Crusades was the papal
influence. Between the pontiffs and the German em-
perors there was kept up a perpetual struggle for power;
but for a long time the advantage was almost always
with the popes. The treatment which some of the
emperors received from them was extremely humi-
liating. Frederick Barbarossa was compelled to kiss
the feet of his holiness, Alexander III., and to appease
him by a large cession of territory, after having indig-
nantly denied his supremacy, and refused the custo-
mary homage. Henry VI., while doing homage on his
knees, had his imperial crown kicked off by Pope Celes-
tinus, who, however, made some amends for this indig-
nity by the gift of Naples and Sicily. Henry had ex-
pelled the Normans from these territories, which now
became appendages of the German empire (1194). In
the beginning of the thirteenth century, Pope Innocent
III. was imagined to have permanently established the
powers of the Holy See, and its right to confer the im-
perial crown; but this proved far from being the case.
In the time of Frederick II., who succeeded Otho IV.
(1212), the old contentions rose to more than the usual-

height, and two factions sprung up in Italy, known by | thirteenth century is memorable in English history, as the names of Guelphs and Ghibellines, the former having witnessed the granting of the Magna Charta by maintaining the supremacy of the popes, and the latter King John; and towards the conclusion of it appeared that of the emperors. Frederick maintained the con- Edward I., whose name is associated with the first test which now arose between himself and the popes great attempts to subdue the Scots on the part of Engwith much spirit; but on his death (1250) the land. The bravery of Wallace and of others averted splendour of the empire was for a considerable time that calamity for ever. Wales was not so fortunate; obscured. At length Rodolph of Hapsbourg, a Swiss and Ireland had already become a conquered province. baron, was elected emperor (1274). Rodolph became The grandson of Edward I., named Edward III., proved the founder of the House of Austria, and ruled with himself as ambitious and as sagacious as his predecesboth vigour and moderation. His son Albert I. was sor. His attention, however, was greatly diverted from the means of causing the inhabitants of Switzerland to the kingdom of Scotland to that of France, with which assert and obtain their liberty, by his attempting to country he commenced a war, that proved greater in bind them in subjection to one of his children, and then duration and extent than any that had occurred in using force to compel them. In the pass of Morgarten, Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire. The proa small army of four or five hundred of these brave posal of subduing so great a country as France, and mountaineers defeated an immense host of Austrians seating himself upon the throne of it, seemed at first to (1315). Sixty pitched battles, it is said, were fought be the proposal of a madman; but in less than twenty between the contending parties; but the spirit of Wil-years, Edward had so effectually dismembered the difliam Tell, who appeared at this time, and of his patriot ferent provinces, alienating some of the nobility and countrymen, rose above all attempts to enslave them; overawing others, that his attaining the object of his and the Swiss cantons secured a freedom which their desires seemed by that time no improbable nor distant descendants enjoy to this day. The further history of reality. His son, known in history as Edward the Germany, for nearly a century, is not politically im- Black Prince, named so from the colour of his armour, portant. Disputes between the emperors and the contributed much by his presence and his valour to the papacy still continued, though the balance of advantage success of the English arms. In the battle of Cressy, was now oftener against the church. fought in 1346, with numbers greatly on the side of France, and in that of Poictiers, fought ten years later, under similar circumstances, the English were completely victorious. John, king of France, was taken prisoner, and the conduct of young Edward to his fallen enemy was generous and delicate in the highest degree; so that the French prisoners are said to have been overcome by the display of such an elevation of mind on the part of their conqueror, and to have burst into tears. This refinement was the result of chivalry, which both the Edwards attached themselves to, and rendered respectable by their virtues.

About the beginning of the fifteenth century, the great papal schism, as it has been called, took place. It arose from there being no fewer than three different claimants for the chair of St Peter-Gregory XII., who was owned pope by the Italian states; Benedict XIII., by France; and Alexander V., a native of Candia, by a number of the cardinals. This schism proved very hurtful to the authority of the church, though in that respect it benefited the interests of society, and contributed to open men's eyes. The appearance of John Huss at this time aided in producing that effect. Huss proclaimed the same opinions as the great English reformer Wickliffe. He was branded of course by the clergy as a heretic and propagator of sedition. The general council of the church, held at Constance (1414), concocted no fewer than thirty-nine articles in which Huss is said to have erred. Some of the points he denied having professed, and others he offered to support by argument; but his voice was drowned by the clamours of bigotry. His hair was cut in the form of a cross; upon his head was put a paper mitre, painted with the representation of three devils; and he was delivered over to the secular judge, who condemned both him and his writings to the flames. A similar fate shortly after befell his disciple, Jerome of Prague, who is said to have exhibited the eloquence of an apostle and the constancy of a martyr at the stake (1416). In revenge for these cruelties, the Hussites of Bohemia kept up a war with the empire for twenty years; and it was only after having their right to express their opinions acknowledged that they desisted. The great schism lasted for many years. A Neapolitan archbishop, named Bari, was elected and deposed by the resident cardinals at Rome within a few months. Boniface IX. and Innocent VI. were each temporarily his successors. The result of the lengthened dispute may be stated to be, that papal authority was greatly weakened; the government of the church was brought down among a class of ecclesiastics that had never before tasted the sweets of power; and future popes were obliged to resort to such questionable practices for the maintenance of their dignity, that men in general began to lose respect for their sanctity, and a foundation was laid for changes which it fell to the lot of Luther and others to effect.

The period which witnessed these transactions was remarkable for the continued wars between France and England. In the beginning of the twelfth century, the famous dispute for supremacy arose between Thomasà-Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, and Henry II., which ended in the death of the prelate (1171), but in the triumph of his principles. The beginning of the

France was at this time in a deplorable state. A foreign enemy in the heart of the kingdom, the king a prisoner, the capital in sedition, and civil war raging over and above all-these were some of her accumulated misfortunes; and as if nature meant to conspire with man for her destruction, a plague broke out at this time among the people, and consummated the work of famine and the sword. This plague, however, was not confined to France, though, from the dilapidated state of that country, it proved perhaps in it most disastrous. It invaded every kingdom of Europe, and the English historian, Hume, computes that it swept away about one-third of the inhabitants of every country that it attacked. The origin of the disease is not well known; but there can be no doubt that it could only have made the ravages which it did among nations uncivilised and ignorant, heedless of all the cleanliness and comforts which we know in modern times to be necessary to the preservation of health. According to the ordinary account, this pestilence took its rise in the Levant about the year 1346, from whence Italian traders brought it to Sicily, Pisa, and Genoa. In 1348 it passed the Alps, and spread over France and Spain. In the next year it reached Britain, where, in London alone, 50,000 persons are said to have become its victims; and in 1350, it laid waste Germany and other northern states, lasting generally in each country about five months. At Florence, more than three out of every five of the inhabitants were swept away. It is well known to those acquainted with Italian literature, that the time of Boccaccio's Decameron is laid during this pestilence.

While the plague lasted, a temporary truce had been agreed upon between the French and English. At that time the balance of advantage was greatly in favour of the English. Not to mention less important gains, all Guienne, Gascony, Poitou, Saintonge, the Limousin, and the Angoumois, as well as Calais, and the county of Pointhieu, were ceded in full sovereignty to Edward, and the empty title of King of France was all that he became bound to give up (1360). But it was found

6

Meloria; thirty-five of their vessels were lost, five | or arts. These were at first twelve-seven called the thousand persons perished in battle, and eleven thou- greater arts, and five the lesser; but the latter were sand became prisoners of the Genoese. After a few gradually increased to fourteen. The seven greater further ineffectual struggles, Pisa lost its standing. arts were those of lawyers and notaries, of dealers in The greatest commercial, and altogether the most foreign cloth (called sometimes calimala), of bankers or remarkable city of the Italian republics, was Venice. money-changers, of woollen-drapers, of physicians and Secluded from the world, on a cluster of islands in the druggists, of dealers in silk, and of furriers. The inAdriatic, the inhabitants of this city had taken up their ferior arts were those of retailers of cloth, butchers, abode in the course of the fifth century, and they boasted smiths, shoemakers, and builders. It was in the thirthemselves to have been independent of all the revo- teenth century that Florence became a republic, and lutions which Europe had been undergoing since the it maintained its independence for two hundred years. fall of the Roman Empire. This might be true to a In the beginning of the fifteenth century it became great extent, though for long it was certainly more the peculiarly distinguished by the revival of Grecian literesult of their obscurity than their power. By the rature and the cultivation of the fine arts. Cosmo de tenth century, however, the descendants of those fisher- Medici, who lived a citizen of Florence at this time, men that had first taken refuge here, were able to send and was known by the name of the Grand Duke of fleets abroad which could encounter and overawe both Tuscany-descended from a long line of ancestors, Saracens and Normans. The Venetians had all along whose wealth had been honourably acquired in the kept up a correspondence with Constantinople during prosecution of the greater arts-possessed more riches the darkest periods of the middle ages. This was greatly than any king in Europe, and laid out more money on renewed and extended about the time of the Crusades. works of learning, taste, and charity, than all the When Constantinople was taken by the Latins (1204), princes of his age. The same liberality and munifithe Venetians, under their doge, or chief magistrate, cence distinguished his family for several generations. Henry Dandalo, became possessed of three-eighths of The commercial success of the states of Italy induced that great city and of the provinces, and Dandalo as- the inhabitants of northern Europe to attempt similar sumed the singularly accurate title of Duke of Three- enterprises. In the thirteenth century the seaports on Eighths of the Roman Empire. The Venetians greatly the Baltic were trading with France and Britain, and increased their share of the spoil by making advanta- with the Mediterranean. The commercial laws of Olegeous purchases from the more needy of the Crusaders. ron and Wisbuy (on the Baltic) regulated for many ages Among the most important of these was the Isle of the trade of Europe. To protect their trade from piracy, Candia, which they retained till the middle of the Lubec, Hamburg, and most of the northern seaports, seventeenth century. The idea of a bank took its rise joined in a confederacy, under certain general reguin this city, and an establishment of that nature, simply lations, termed the League of the Hanse Towns; a union for the receipt of deposits, is said to have existed in it so beneficial in its nature, and so formidable in point so soon as the year 1157. But it was not till about a of strength, as to have its alliance courted by the precentury later that banking, as the term is now under-dominant powers of Europe. For the trade of the stood, began at all to be practised. The merchants of Hanse Towns with the southern kingdoms, Bruges on Lombardy and of the south of France began at that the coast of Flanders was found a convenient entrepôt, time to remit money by bills of exchange, and to make and thither the Mediterranean merchants brought the profit upon loans. The Italian clergy who had bene- commodities of India and the Levant, to exchange for fices beyond the Alps, found the new method of trans- the produce and manufactures of the north. mitting money exceedingly convenient; and the system Flemings now began to encourage trade and manuof exacting usury or interest, after experiencing every factures, which thence spread to the Brabanters; but obstruction from ignorance and bigotry, became a legal their growth being checked by the impolitic sovereigns part of commerce. In the thirteenth century the go- of those provinces, they found a more favourable field vernment of Venice was entirely republican; but con- in England, which was destined thence to derive the tinued wars with Genoa reduced both cities. These great source of its national opulence.' wars were all conducted on the seas, and the display of naval strength on both sides seems prodigious, when we reflect on the poor condition of Italy at the present day. Besides these wars for objects of ambition, there were continual jealousies which rose above enlightened views of self-interest, and led to the most disgraceful broils. At the middle of the fourteenth century a battle took place between the rival citizens, in which the Genoese were defeated. Their loss was immense, and in distress and in revenge they gave themselves up to John Visconti, Lord of Milan, then the richest and among the most ambitious of the petty tyrants of Italy, hoping that he would give them the means to re-establish their fleet and continue the war with the Venetians. He did so, and in another naval engagement, fought in 1354, in the Gulf of Sapienza, the Venetians were entirely defeated. But the Genoese had sacrificed their liberty in their thirst for revenge. Visconti became their master instead of friend. Venice was able to rise above its temporary discomfiture, and during the fifteenth century its fame and power became greater than they had ever been before. In the beginning of the fifteenth century the Venetians captured the town of Padua, and gradually lost their empire of the sea while they acquired possessions on the continent.

Among the most famous of the Italian states at this period was Florence; and its fame was founded, not on arms, but on literature. Like the other Italian cities, however, it owed its first elevation to the commercial industry of its inhabitants. There was a curious division of the Florentine citizens, subsisting about the beginning of the thirteenth century, into companies |

THE TURKS-FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

The

We have already seen the weakness of the empire of Constantinople at the time of the Crusades; we have seen the city sacked and the government seized by the champions of the cross. The Greeks regained their empire in the year 1261, but in a mangled and impoverished condition. For nearly two centuries it continued in a similar state. Andronicus, son of Michael Palæologus, who had restored the Greek empire, allowed himself to be persuaded that, as God was his protector, all military force was unnecessary; and the superstitious Greeks, regardless of danger, employed themselves in disputing about the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, when their unfortunate situation made it necessary that they should have been studying the art of war, and training themselves to military discipline.

In the meantime, the Turks had become a powerful people. They had embraced the Mohammedan religion long before the time of the Crusades, and proved powerful obstacles to the success of those expeditions. About the beginning of the fourteenth century they established an empire of their own in Asia Minor, under Othman or Ottoman, and to this day the Ottoman Empire is a name given to the dominions of their descendants. By degrees they encroached on the borders of the empire of Constantinople, and they were only prevented from subverting it at a much earlier period than they did, by being called upon to defend themselves from the arms of an Eastern conqueror who arose at this time. Tamerlane, otherwise called Timerbek, was a prince of the Usbek Tartars, and a descendant from Ghenghis Khan.