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The Descendants of the Refugee Flemings and French still recognisable in
England Changes of Name by the Flemings-The Des Bouveries Family--
Hugessens-Houblons—Eminent Descendants of Flemish Refugees—The
Grote Family-Changes of French Names-Names still preserved—The
Queen's Descent from a Huguenot-The Trench Family-Peers descended
from Huguenots-Peerages of Taunton, Eversley, and Romilly—The
Lefevres-Family of Romilly-Baronets descended from Huguenots—
Members of Parliament-Eminent Scholars: Archdeacon Jortin, Maturin,

THE HUGUENOTS.

CHAPTER I.

INVENTION OF PRINTING-RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS.

Or all inventions, probably none has exercised a greater influence upon modern civilisation than that of printing. While it has been the mother and preserver of many other inventions which have changed the face of society, it has also afforded facilities for the intercourse of mind with mind-of living men with each other, as well as with the thinkers of past generations

- which have evoked an extraordinary degree of mental activity, and exercised a powerful influence on the development of modern history.

Although letters were diligently cultivated long before the invention of printing, and many valuable books existed in manuscript, and seminaries of learning flourished in all civilised countries, knowledge was for the most part confined to a comparatively small number of persons. The manuscripts which contained the treasured thoughts of the ancient poets, scholars, and men of science, were so scarce and dear that

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they were frequently sold for double or treble their weight in gold. In some cases they were considered so precious that they were conveyed by deed like landed estate. In the thirteenth century a manuscript copy of the Romance of the Rose was sold at Paris for over £33 sterling. A copy of the Bible cost from £40 to £60 for the writing only, for it took an expert copyist about ten months' labour to make one.* Such being the case, it will be obvious that books were then for the most part the luxury of the rich, and comparatively inaccessible to the great body of the people.

Even the most advanced minds could exercise but little influence on their age. They were able to address themselves to only a very limited number of their fellow-men, and in most cases their influence died with them. The results of study, investigation, and experience remaining unrecorded, knowledge was

*

It is difficult to form an accurate idea of the relative value of money to commodities in the thirteenth century, compared with present prices; but it may be mentioned that in 1445 (according to Fleetwood's Chronicon Pretiosum, 1707) the price of wheat was 4s. 6d. the quarter, and oats 2s. ; bullocks and heifers sold for 5s., and sheep for 2s. 54d. each. In 1460 a gallon of ale sold for a penny, which was also the ordinary day's wage of labourers and servants, in addition to meat and drink. As late as 1558, a good sheep sold for 2s. 10d. In 1414 the ordinary salary of chaplains was five or six marks a-year (the mark

being equal to 13s. 4d.), and of resident parish-priests eight marks; so that for about £5: 10s. a-year a single man was expected to live cleanly and decently. These prices multiplied by about twelve would give something approaching their equivalent in modern money. It is true, manuscripts were in many cases sold at fancy prices, as books are now. But copying had become a regular branch of business : at Milan, in the fourteenth century, about fifty persons earned their living by it. The ordinary charge for making a copy of the Bible was 80 Bologna livres, or equal to 53 gold florins.

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