land, son of William the Conqueror, but was defeated, 1119. His son, Louis VII., continued the war against the Aristocracy; and, among others, he attacked the Count of Champagne. Whilst engaged in the contest with this Nobleman, the King burnt the town of Vitry; and 1300 people perished who had taken refuge in the church. To expiate this crime, Louis put himself at the head of the Second Crusade, 1147, and performed prodigies of valor.* Philip Augustus, his son, continued the struggle against Feudality, and vanquished the Count of Flanders and the Duke of Burgundy. He added to the domains of the Crown, the Duchy of Normandy, the Countships of Artois, Evreux, Meulan, and eight others. This remarkable man greatly increased the Royal Power in other ways also: he incorporated numerous Communes, and also created a Militia called the Ribauds, 1189.† His grandson, Louis IX., subdued several of the Lords who had revolted, and amongst the rest the Count de la Marche, 1242.‡ * After his return from the East, Louis VII. repudiated his wife Eleonore, 1152, whom he suspected of adultery. She then married Henry II. of England, grandson of William the Conqueror, and brought to him as dowry her great possessions in France-Guenne, Poitou, Auvergne, Perigord, Limousin, &c. Louis VII., enraged at this marriage, sustained the sons of Henry II., who had revolted against their father, and welcomed to his court Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, after he had quarrelled with the English king. This king greatly embellished Paris. He was the first to pave some of the streets; commenced the markets, and the hospital known as l'Hotel Dieu; continued the building Notre Dame; protected the University of Paris; made excellent laws; and encouraged commerce. + During the reign of Louis IX., in 1250, a band of marauders, called Pastoureaux, under the leadership of a Hungarian monk, wandered about the country committing great ravages. They declared themselves the enemies of the nobles and the clergy, attacking the castles and devastating the churches. They were overtaken and cut to pieces The grandson of Louis, Philip IV.,* who died 1314, devoted himself to not only breaking down the Feudal Power, but also to diminishing the ascendency of the Church. He accomplished, besides, a great deal for the cause of Centralization-that is, increasing the Royal Power at the expense of feudal rights and privileges. He made considerable additions to the Royal domains, the most notable being the city of Lyons and the diocese of Viviers. With a view to replenish the Royal Treasury, he sold charters to the Communes. Philip IV. was also the first, some writers assert, to establish a permanent or standing army. One of the earlier causes which contributed to weaken the feudal Nobles was the eagerness with which they threw themselves into those famous expeditions to Asia Minor against the Infidels. The motives of these Crusades will be considered in another place. Here it is sufficient to say, that in order to raise money to fit out their vassals for these expensive enterprises, many of them were obliged to mortgage their domains to the Crown, and were afterwards unable to redeem them. Another cause, however, which was much more. efficacious in reducing the power of the Nobles, and adding to that of the Kings, was the Invention of gunpowder. The testimony is conflicting as to the date of this in 1251. These were the forerunners of that revolution which five hundred years later swept over France. * Louis VI., in 1130, was the first who called the representatives of the Communes, which he sought to develop, to sit in council with the clergy and the nobles; but these representatives were allowed no other rôle than that of spectators of the deliberations of the two great orders. Philip IV. was the first who called the three orders-the clergy, the nobles, and the delegates of the third class (that is, the middle class)to assemble and deliberate on national affairs, in 1302. This assembly was called Les Etats Généraux-the States General. event. By some it is attributed to Roger Bacon, an English Monk, and to the year 1250; by others to B. Schwartz, a German Monk, who lived nearly half a century later.* It is certain that gunpowder came *Some authors pretend that gunpowder was used in battle against Alexander the Great, by some Hindoo tribes, 355 B.C. It is asserted by others that gunpowder artillery was employed by the Chinese in 85 A.D. Its exportation from England was prohibited by Henry V. in 1414. The following dates showing its use in artillery may be found interesting: A.D. 1118 The Moors used artillery in an attack upon Saragopal. 1156 Abdelmumem, the Moorish king, takes Mahadia from the Sicilians by means of artillery. 1308 Guzman el Bueno takes Gibraltar from the Moors by means of artillery. 1327 Edward III. uses (6 Scotland. crakeys of war in his expedition against 1331 Ibn Nason Ben Bia mentions that balls of iron thrown by means of fire were military weapons of the Moors. 1338 The French use artillery at the siege of Puy-Guillaume. 1347 Edward III. uses espringals and bombards at the siege of Calais. 1364 Small hand-cannon are constructed in large numbers at Perouse. 1366 The Venetians first used artillery at the siege of Chioggia. 1378 John of Gaunt uses 400 cannon night and day in a fruitless attack upon St Malo. 1381 Eleven pieces of ordnance are mentioned as existing in the Hotel de Ville, Bologna. 1382 Portable bombards, subsequently called culverines, are introduced in France. Field-guns are employed by the people of Ghent against Bruges. 1386 The English capture two French vessels armed with heavy artillery. 1394 The Turks use artillery at the siege of Constantinople. 1418 The English, under the Duke of Gloucester, fire red-hot balls at the siege of Cherbourg. 1460 James II. is killed by the accidental bursting of a cannon at the siege of Roxburgh Castle. 1477 Louis XI. causes twelve portable cannon to be cast to throw metal shot, and to be used as a siege train. 1488 Gun-carriages greatly improved are constructed in France. 1491 Charles VIII. of France attacks Rennes with an artillery force drawn by 3000 horses. 1498 The Portuguese find artillery much in use in India. 1521 Brass cannon are first cast in England. Pigafetta, the secretary of Magellan, states the walls of the town of Borneo are defended by six iron and fifty-six brass cannon. 1543 Large mortars to fire shells are made in England by Peter Bawd. into use in Europe in the beginning of the fourteenth century, for we find that Gibraltar was taken from the Moors in 1308 by the employment of artillery. The application of gunpowder to war led to extraordinary results, both political and social. "Up to this time," says Buckle, "it was considered the duty of nearly every man to be prepared to enter the military service, for the purpose of either defending his own country or attacking others. Standing armies were entirely unknown, and in their place there. existed a rude and barbarous militia, always ready for battle, and always unwilling to engage in those peaceful pursuits which were then universally despised. Nearly every man being a soldier, the military profession, as such, had no separate existence; or, to speak more properly, the whole of Europe composed one great army, in which all other professions were merged. "To this the only exception was the ecclesiastical profession, but even that was affected by the general tendency, and it was not at all uncommon to see large bodies of troops led to the field by bishops and abbots, 1545 The Mary Rose, man-of-war, sinks off the coast of France with 600 men on board owing to the weight of her artillery. Breechloading cannon have been recovered from the wreck. 1547 Iron cannon are first cast in England about this year. 1554 At the battle of Remi, Charles V. employs light guns with limbers drawn by two horses, and called the Emperor's pistol. 1686 The colossal brass gun "Malick è Meidan," or "lord of the plain," cast at Bejapore in commemoration of the capture of the city this year by the Emperor. Arungzebe is the largest cast cannon in existence, measuring 14 feet 1 inch in length, with a bore of 2 feet 4 inches, and requiring an iron shot weighing 1600 lbs. 1847 Major Cavalli's rifled breech-loading cannon is introduced. 1854 Mr (afterwards Sir) William Armstrong's gun is introduced. 1855 The Horsfall gun is constructed 1860 Mr Whitworth's rifled artillery is tested. 1864 The Mackay gun is tested at Liverpool. to most of whom the arts of war were, in those days, perfectly familiar. At all events, between these two pursuits men were all divided; the only avocations were war and theology; and if you refused to enter the Church, you were bound to do military duty. "As a natural consequence, everything of real importance was altogether neglected. There were, indeed, many priests and many warriors, many sermons and many battles; but on the other hand, there was neither trade, nor commerce, nor manufactures; there was no science, no literature; the useful arts were entirely unknown, and even the highest ranks of society were unacquainted, not only with the most ordinary comforts, but with the commonest decencies of civilized life. "But so soon as gunpowder came into use, there was laid the foundation of a great change. According to the old system, a man had only to possess what he generally inherited from his father, either a sword or a bow, and he was ready equipped for the field. According to the new system, very different weapons were required, and the equipment became more costly and more difficult. "First, there was the supply of gunpowder, then there was the possession of muskets, which were expensive articles, and considered difficult to manage. Then, too, there were other contrivances to which gunpowder naturally gave rise, such as pistols, bombs, mortars, shells, mines, and the like. All these things, by increasing the complication of the military art, increased the necessity of discipline and practice, whilst, at the same time, the change that was effected in the ordinary weapons deprived a great majority of men of the possibility of procuring them. |