Lusatia Brandenburg. Holland. Tyrol. Austria.]-10. Austrian prinses of Germany. Im. portant changes made during the reign of Maximilian. .[Worms.]-11. SWITZERLAND revolts from Austria. Long-continued wars. Switzerland independent at the close of the fificentb century. [Rutuli. William Tell. Morgarten. Sempach.]-2. ITALIAN HISTORY during the central period of the Middle Ages. The Italian republics. Genoa.] Duchy of Milan.-13. The Florentines. Contests between the Genoese and Venetiaus. [Levant.] Genoa at the close of the fifteenth century.-14. History of Venice. Her power at the end of the fifteent▷ century. [Morea.] The popes, and kings of Naples. Interference of foreign povers.-15 SPAIN. Union of the most powerful Christian States. Overthrow of the Saracen dominions in Spain. [Navarro. Aragon. Castile. Leon. Granada.]—16. History of PORTUGAL. [Farther ccount of Portugal.]

III. DISCOVERIES.

Navigation, and geographical knowledge, during the Dark Ages. Revival of commerce Fisa.] Discovery of the magnetic needle. The art of printing. Discovery of the Canaries, Portuguese discoveries. [Canáries. Cape de Verd and Azore islands.]-2. Views and objects of Prince Henry. His death. Fame of the discoveries patronized by him. Christopher Ce lumbus. The bold project conceived by him. [Lisbon. Ireland. Guinea.]-3. The trials of Columbus. His final triumph, in the discovery of America. Vasco de Gama. Closing

remarks.

I. ENGLAND AND FRANCE DURING THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES.-1. France and England occupy the most prominent place in the history of European nations during the closing period of the Middle Ages; and as their annals, during most of this period, are so intimately connected that the history of one nation is in great part the history of both, the unity of the subject will best be preserved, and repetition avoided, by treating both in connection.

2. The reign of Edward II. of England, whose defeat by the Scots in the famous battle of Bannockburn has already been mentioned, although inglorious to himself, and disastrous to the British arms, was not, on the whole, unfavorable to the progress of constitu tional liberty. The unbounded favoritism of Edward to Gaveston, a handsome youth of Gascony,' whom the king elevated in wealth and dignities above all the nobles in England, roused the resentment of the barons; and the result was the banishment of the favorite, and a reformation of abuses in full parliament. (A. D. 1313.) The Great Charter, so often violated, was again confirmed; and the im portant provision was added, that there should be an annual assem bling of parliament, for protection of the people, when "aggrieved by the king's ministers against right."

3. But other favorities supplied the place of Gaveston: the nobles rebelled against their sovereign: his faithless queen Isabella, sister of the king of France, took part with the malcontents, and

1. Gascony, before the French Revolution, was a province of France, situated between the Garonne, the sea, and the Pyrenees. The Gascons are a people of much spirit; but their exag geration in describing heir exploits has made the term gasconade proverbial. (Map No. XIII.

Edward was deposed, imprisoned, and afterwards murdered. (A D. 1327.) Edward III., crowned at fourteen years of age, unable to endure the presence of a mother stained with the foulest crimes, caused her to be imprisoned for life, and her paramour, Mortimer, to be executed. He then applied himself to redress the grievances which had proceeded from the late abuses of authority; after which be invaded Scotland, and defeated the Scots at Halidon Hill;' but on his withdrawal from the country, the Scottish arms again triumphed.

WARS.

4 On the death, in the year 1328, of Charles IV. of France, the last of the male descendants of Philip the Fair, the I. FRENCH crown of that kingdom became the object of contest be- AND ENGLISH tween Edward III. of England, the son of Philip's daughter Isabella, and Philip of Valois, son of the brother of Philip. After war had continued several years between the two nations, with only occasional intervals of truce, in the year 1346 Edward, in person, invaded France, and, supported by his heroic son Edward, called the Black Prince, then only fifteen years of age, gained a great victory over the French in the famous battle of Cressy'—slaying more of the enemy than the total number of his own army. (Aug. 26th, 1346.) A few weeks after the battle of Cressy, the Scots, who had seized the opportunity of Edward's absence to invade England, were defeated in the battle of Durham, and their king David Bruce taken prisoner. (Oct. 17, 1346.) To crown the honors of the campaign, the important seaport of Calais,* in France, surrendered to Edward, after a vigorous siege; and this important acquisition was retained by the English more than two centuries.

3

1. Halidon Hill is an eminence north of the river Tweed, not far from Berwick.

2. Cressy, or Crecy, is a small village, in the former province of Picardy, ninety-five miles north-west from Paris. It is believed that cannon, but of very rude construction, were first employed by the English in this battle. (Map No. XIII.)

3. Durham, the capital of the county of the same name, is an important city in the north of England, two hundred and thirty miles north-west from London. The field on which the bat tle was fought, some distance north of Durham, on the road to Newcastle, (Oct. 17th, 1346) was called Neville's Cross. (Map No. XVI.)

4. Calais (Eng. Cal-is, Fr. Kah-la',) a seaport of France, on the Straits of Dover, in the former province of Picardy, is Afty miles north of Cressy. In 1558 Calais was retaken by sur prise by the duke of Guise. In 596 it was again taken by the English under the archduke Albert, but in 1598 was restored to France by the treaty of Norvins.

The obstinate resistance which Calais made to Edward III. in 1347, is said to have so much ince the conqueror that he determined to put to death six principal burgesses of the town, who, to save their fellow citizens, had magnanimously placed themselves at his disposal; bul hat he was turned from his purpose only by the tears and entreaties of his queen Philippa. It is believed, however, that Froissart alone, among his cotemporaries, relates this story; and doubts ina; very reasonably be entertained of its truth. (Map No. XIII.)

was

5. After a truce of eight years, during which occurred the death of the French monarch, Philip of Valois, and the accession of his son John to the throne of France, war was again renewed, but specdily terminated by a great victory, which the Black Prince ob tained over king John in the battle of Poictiers. (Sept. 1356.) The French monarch, although taken prisoner, and conveyed in triumph to London, was treated with great moderation and kindness; but his captivity produced in France the most horrible anarchy, which was carried to the utmost extreme by a revolt of peasants, or serfs, against their lords, in most of the provinces surrounding the capital. At length, while king John was still a prisoner, the two nations concluded a treaty at Bretigny,' (A. D. 1360,) which provided that king John should be restored to liberty, and that the English monarch should renounce his claim to the throne of France, and to the possession of Normandy and other provinces in the north; but that the whole south-west of France, embracing more than a third of the kingdom, and extending from the Rhone nearly to the Loire, should be guaranteed to England. The territory obtained from France was erected into the principality of Aquitaine,' the government of which was intrusted to the Black Prince, who, during several years, kept his court at Bordeaux."

6. The treaty with France was never fully ratified; and in the year 1368 war between the two countries was commenced anew, the blame of the rupture being thrown by each nation upon the other. In the interval since the late treaty a great change had taken place in the condition of the rival powers: king Edward was now declining in age; and his son the Black Prince was enfeebled by disease; and the ceded French provinces were eager to return to their native king; while, on the other hand, France had recovered from her great losses, and the wise and popular Charles V. occupied the throne, in the place of the rash and intemperate John. France gradually recovered

1. Bretigny is a small hamlet six miles south-east from Chartres, and fifty miles south-west rom Paris, in the former province of Orleans.

2. Aquitaine (Aquitania) was the name of the Roman province in Gaul south of the Loire Since the time of the Romans it has been sometimes a kingdom and sometimes a duchy. Be fore the revolution, what remained of this ancient province passed under the name of Gui enne. Bordeaux was its capital. (Map No. XIII.)

3. Bordeaux, called by the Romans Burdigala, ar important commercial city and seaport of France, is on the west bank of the Garonne, fifty-five miles from its mouth, and three hundred and seven miles south-west from Paris. Montesquieu and Montaigne, Edward the Black Prince, pope Clement V., and Richard II. of England, were natives of this city. (Map No. XIII.)

Feb. 1358. This revolt was called La Jacquerie, from Jacques Bon. Homme, the leader of the rebels.

most of her provinces without obtainining a single victory, although the keys of the country-Bordeaux, Bayonne,' Calais, Brest, anc Cherbourg-were still left in the hands of the English.

7. On the death of Edward (A. D. 1377) the crown fell to the son of the Black Prince, Richard II., then only eleven years of age. Three years later, Charles V., by his death, left the crown of France to his son Charles VI., a youth of only twelve years. Both kingdoms suffered from the distractions attending a regal minority-in France the people were plundered by the exactions of the regents, and the Engdom harassed by the factious struggles for power between the dukes of Bur' gundy and Orleans; and in England similar results attended the contests for the regency between the king's uncles, the dukes of Lancaster,* York," and Gloucester." In the year 1381 the injustice of parliamentary taxation occasioned a famous revolt of

1. Bayonne is on the south side of the Adour, four miles from its mouth, near the south western extremity of France. Bayonne is strongly fortified, and, although often besieged, has never been taken. The military weapon called the bayonet takes its name from this city, where i is said to have been first invented, and brought into use at the siege of Bayonne, during the war between Francis I. and Charles V. (Map No. XIII.)

2. Brest and Cherbourg are small but strongly-fortified seaport towns in the north-west of France. Cherbourg was the last town in Normandy retained by the English. (Map No. XIII.) 3. Burgundy and Orleans. An account of Bur' gundy has already been given. Orleans, a city of France, and formerly capital of the province of the same name, is situated on the Loire, sixty-eight miles south-west from Paris. Orleans occupied the site of the ancient Genábum, the emporium of the Cornutes, which was taken and burned by Cæsar. (Cesar B. VII. 12.) It subsequently rose to great eminence, and was unsuccessfully besieged by At' tila and Odoacer. It became the capital of the first kingdom of Bur' gundy under the first race of French kings. Philip of Valois erected it into a duchy and peerage in favor of his son; and Orleans has since continued to give the title of duke to a prince of the blood royal. Charles VI. conferred the title of "duke of Orleans" on his younger brother, who became the founder of the Valois-Orleans line. Louis XIV. conferred it on his younger brother Philip, the founder of the Bourbon dynasty of the house of Orleans. Louis Philip was the first and only :uliug prince of the Bourbon-Orleans dynasty. (Map No. XIII.)

4. Lancaster, which has given its name to the "dukes of Lancaster," is a seaport town on the coast of the Irish Sea, forty-six miles from Liverpool, and two hundred and five miles north-west from London. Lancaster is supposed, from the urns, altars, and other antiquities found there, to have been a Roman station. The first earl of Lancaster was created in 1266 In 1351 Henry, earl of Derby, was made duke of Lancaster: John Gaunt, fourth son of Ed ward I., married Blanch, the duke's daughter, and, by virtue of this alliance, succeeded to the title. His son Henry of Bolingbroke became duke of Lancaster on his father's death in 1398, and finally Henry IV., king of England in 1399, from which time to the present this duchy has been associated with the regal dignity. (Map No. XVI.)

5. York, Sce Note, p. 209. (Map No. XVI.)

6. Gloucester is on the east bank of the Severn, ninety-three miles north-west from London. It was founded by the Romans A. D. 44; and Roman coins and antiquities are frequently dug up on the supposed site of the old encampment. Richard II. created his uncles dukes of York and Gloucester; and since that time the ducal title has remained the highest title of English nobility. The duke of Lancaster was the only one who really possessed a duchy (the county of Lancaster) subject to his government, and hat was reunited to the crown in 1461. (Mas No. XVI)

the lower classes, headed by the Blacksmith Wat Tyler, similar to the insurrection of the French peasants which raged in 1858. In both nations these events mark the advance of the serfs, in their progress toward emancipation, to that stage in which their hopes are roused, and their wrongs still unredressed. The serfs of Englan demanded equal laws, and the abolition of bondage: to the number of sixty thousand they assembled at Blackheath,'-obtained possession of London, and put to death the chancellor and primate, as evil counsellors of the crown, and cruel oppressors of the people; but the fall of their leader struck terror into the insurgents, and the re volt was easily extinguished, while the honor of the crown was sullied by a revocation of the promised charters of enfranchisement and pardon. More than fifteen hundred of the mutineers perished by the hand of the hangman.

8. It was not till the age of twenty-three that Richard escaped from the tutelage of his uncles; and then his indolence, dissipation, and prodigality, brought him into contempt; and during his absence in Ireland a successful revolution elevated his cousin, Henry of Lancaster, surnamed Bolingbroke, to the throne. (A. D. 1399.) The parliament confirmed the deposition of Richard, who was soon after privately assassinated in prison.a The accession of Henry IV. to the throne met with no opposition, although he was not the legal claimant, the hereditary right being in Edward Mortimer, who was descended from the second son of Edward III., whereas Henry was descended from the third son. The claim of Mortimer was at a later period vested by marriage in the family of the duke of York, descended from the fourth son of Edward; and hence began the contentions between the houses of York and Lancaster.

9. The discontented friends of Henry proved his most dangerous (nemies; for the Percys, who had enthroned him, dissatisfied with his administration, took up arms and involved the country in civil war; but in the great battle of Shrewsbury' (July 21, 1403) the

1. Blackheath is an elevated moory tract in the vicinity of the British metropolis, south-west of the city. The greater portion is in the parish of Greenwich.

2. Shrewsbury is situated on the Severn, one hundred and thirty-eight miles north-west from London. William the Conqueror gave the town and surrounding country to Roger de Mont gomery, who built here a strong baronial castle; but in 1102 the castle and property were for feited to the crown. Shrewsbury, from its situation close to Wales, was the scene of many border frays between the Welsh and English. In the battle of July 1403, the fall of the famous Lord Percy, surnamed Hotspur, by an unknown hand, decided the victory in the king's favor. (Ma No. XVI.)