THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. masses of the people, in all the nations of Europe, were Ch. 1. depressed by heavy burdens, enslaved by varied wrongs, A. D. and paralyzed by superstitious fears. They were credulous, 1400 ignorant, and poor; they had neither liberty, nor knowledge, to nor ambition. 1500. a and Among the various evils which oppressed and degraded the people, and made the darkness in which they lived more gloomy from contrast with the light which blazed from the genius of artists, scholars, and philosophers, may be mentioned two of especial prevalence and most baneful influence—the Feudal and Papal despotisms. These two evils, the one civil Great and social, the other religious and moral, covered, as with social funereal veil, all the habitations of the people, poisoned their moral purest joys, perverted their noblest labours, and destroyed their brightest hopes. They filled Europe with mourning, despondency, and moral desolation. They defaced the image of God, made a mockery of reason, annihilated human rights, and caused religion itself, in many instances, to be an instrument in degrading, rather than in elevating, the soul of man. evils. It is true that the feudal system had received a shock from the Crusades, from the rise of commercial cities, from the centralization of monarchical power, and from fortunate discoveries and inventions. It is true that vast feudal armies were now nearly useless; that many of the mutual obligations between a lord and his vassal were dispensed with; that the power of great nobles had signally declined; that kings had become the protectors of the people; and that the peasants were no longer bound, by feudal laws, to the soil on which they were born. Nevertheless, though the rigours of feudalism Influhad been relaxed, its spirit remained in all its crushing force. ence of Absurd social distinctions, which neither humanity nor en- isin. lightened reason sanctions, continued to be recognized. The plebeian peasant was still a plebeian by birth, and few circumstances could take away the sting which aggravated his inferior condition. He could not rise to sit in courts of justice, or command armies, or be the companion of gentlemen. Even feudal 10 THE PEASANT OF THE MIDDLE AGES. Ch. 1. bravery and talent scarcely allowed him to assume a subalter A. D. position among officers in war, or among ladies in society 1400 Only in the church, or, if possessed of great talents, in the to schools, could he rise to his proper rank, or feel his true 1500. dignity as a man. A mark was upon him; a mark that all the world could see, and which no art could efface; the mark that he belonged, by birth, to an ignoble class, and hence was to be deprived, and his children after him, of the rewards of honourable toil. Oppressed with the reality of this humiliating fact, disheartened by insults and wrongs, worn down by heavy burdens, and, perhaps, brutalized by longcontinued privations, without hope of alleviation, sympathy, society. or support, he transmitted to his family his sentiments and his despair, making no effort to improve his condition. generation after generation continued the toils and perpetuated Thus the ideas of slavery, under the name of freedom. Slow pro gress of Diffi culties It could not, of course, be expected that the poor man of the fifteenth century, especially without the Gospel in his hands, could immediately rise from this ignoble state. could not acquire, in a day, rights which had not yet been He made known to him, or privileges which he had not yet learned to value. Neither sullen moroseness, nor impatience, nor revolutionary fury would, in that age, have availed. attend- steps to human liberty are at all times long, winding, and The ing the steep. The peasant of the fifteenth century was the descendant of the slave of the middle ages; and he, again, was the poor. the heir of the barbarism and anarchy which succeeded the fall of the Roman empire. He was at once the inheritor and the product of generations of misrule, ignorance, violence, and savage inhumanity. The oppression and toil he suffered were misfortunes for which even the haughty nobles, who profited by them, were not immediately responsible. eleva tion of But his sufferings and sorrows were nevertheless realities; THE PAPAL DESPOTISM. 11 A. D. develop the noblest qualities-the heroism of suffering as well Ch.1. as the heroism of acting,—but the great and sad feature in his condition was the injustice to which he was exposed. He was 1400 compelled to enlist in armies; he was obliged to submit to to grievous and unequal taxes; he had no benefit of schools; he 1300. might have merit, but could not rise. The laws afforded him no protection: he was despised and rejected by the great; he was forced to hide his face in shame for misfortune which he could not help. Such was the social and civil condition of the people in Europe at the close of the fifteenth century. Its cor The other great evil of the times was the religious despotism The which the popes exercised in Europe; and which had been papacy. gradually increasing from the downfall of the old Roman ruption empire. This subject is far too copious to be here enlarged upon. But allusion must at least be made to it. ation of The characters of the popes themselves were not, perhaps, vorse than what we might expect of absolute and irresponsible ri lers, raised to power by accidents and cabals, in times of general ignorance and wickedness. They were no more de praved than contemporaneous monarchs; while some of them were examples of moderation and virtue. Others, however, were monsters, rivalling the ancient Roman emperors in sensuality and crime, and most of them lent the whole force of their position to perpetuate evils which good men lamented. But it is the system they embodied which is chiefly worthy of Usurpthe attention of the historian. Men are everywhere infirm, the and the great are peculiarly exposed to temptation. It is popes. only when we think of the popes as the heads of the visible church that we are impressed by the apparent incongruity of their lives with their sacred calling, and feel disgust at their vices and follies. When we speak of them as temporal princes, and compare them with other monarchs, popular censures seem a little exaggerated. The peculiarity of the papal power was, that it embraced both the temporal and the spiritual. The popes were both ecclesiastics and absolute kings, aiming at equal Soverignty in the state and in the 12 FAPAL USURPATIONS. Ch. 1 church, and aspiring to the governinent of mankind in all their relations, whether political, social, or intellectual. A. D. 1400 to It is the extravagance of such a usurpation—the audacity of such claims-that fill us with indignation and amazement; 1500. claims to dominion which the divine Governor of the world never yet allowed to mortal man, under any circumstances whatever. Even among the Jews, the functions of the priest were separated from those of the ruler; nor among that nation was there ever found a Moses to encroach on the dignities of an Aaron. The pretensions of the popes were altogether unprecedented, and were maintained only by falsehood and fraud in a period of almost universal darkness and credulity. It is possible that such a usurpation, if we stoop to take a worldly and apologetic view of it, may have been overruled for good in that miserable era when the nations of Europe were ignorant, ferocious, undisciplined, and divided. It may then have served as a restraint on turbulent kings and tumultuous barons, and may have discharged many of the functions of a useful central government. But when light At first, and in a low sense, useful. began to dawn, the endurance of such a despotism filled the minds of thoughtful men with profound detestation. Yet it was not easy to destroy it. It had grown with the corruptions of centuries. It was interlinked with all the institutions of society. It was supported by all the common ideas and sentiments of the people. It had captivated their imaginations and won their hearts. It had enlisted all the Hard to great interests of the world on its side. It was defended by lestroy the most imposing hierarchy which any age has seen, or the necessities of tyrants had ever raised up. All the superstitions, and cruelties, and acts of ten centuries had contributed to strengthen it. Yet, with all this, the popes, in order to retain the powers of both religious and secular monarchs, and especially to support the pomp of station and the demands of nephews and friends, were continually compelled to resort to the most disgraceful shifts and inventions. They encouraged idolatry, ever the vice and the weakness RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES. 18 A. D. and of sensual and ignorant people. Christendom was filled with Ch. 1. images of saints and martyrs, who, by their virtues, had once excited the veneration of past ages. Even their bones and 1400 relics were supposed to have a mysterious value, which was to exaggerated by the priesthood, in order to secure contributions 1500. and alms. These were sold like articles of merchandise, and became abundantly lucrative. Though perhaps originally Relics intended to stimulate devotion, they were now shamelessly perverted to selfish purposes, and served only to degrade the popular mind. Intercessions by favourite saints. were regarded as of great efficacy in propitiating the Deity, and securing forgiveness of sins. Prayers to the Virgin were deemed of especial merit, and a mortal woman was raised by the superstitious enthusiasm of ignorant worshippers to the throne of the Eternal. images posing ceremo The worship of God was in a language the people could not Imunderstand, yet rendered imposing by innumerable ceremonies which appealed to the senses. The gorgeous dresses nies. of the priests, the rich altars, the precious vessels of silver and gold, the wax candles, and the exciting chants of the service, all diverted the minds of worshippers from the legitimate object of devotion, and made them forget their most obvious duties. Preaching was almost entirely neglected, except on great festivals, or on occasions when temporal interests were. at stake. The sermons of the clergy were generally frivolous, and ill adapted to satisfy spiritual wants. ish frauda In addition to all this, a vast number of superfluous minis- Monkters of religion were supported in idleness and pomp. There were continual additions made to the different orders of monks, who, pretending to superior sanctity, consumed the revenues of the people. They forged innumerable weapons of servitude, invented degrading legends, and stimulated a spirit of superstition. But as they were uniformly the most efficient allies and servants of the popes, they were encouraged and supported in their claims and impositions. Finally, in order to suppress inquiry and punish dissent |