Their progress in the II. In the year 714, the Saracens crossed the sea which separates Spain from Africa, dispersed the army of Roderic, king of the Spanish Goths," whose defeat was principally due to the treachery of west. their general Julian, and made themselves masters of the greatest part of the territories of this vanquished prince. About the same time the empire of the Visigoths, which had subsisted in Spain above three hundred years, was totally overturned by these fierce and savage invaders, who also took possession of all the maritime coasts of Gaul, from the Pyrenean mountains to the river Rhone, from whence they made frequent incursions, and ravaged the neighbouring countries with fire and sword. The rapid progress of these bold invaders was, indeed, checked by Charles Martel, who gained a signal victory over them in a bloody action near the city of Poitiers, A. D. 732. But the vanquished spoilers soon recovered their strength and their ferocity, and returned with new violence to their devastations. This engaged Charlemagne, to lead a formidable army into Spain, with a design to deliver that whole country from the oppressive yoke of the Saracens; but this grand enterprise, though it did not entirely miscarry, was not however attended with the signal success that was expected from it. The inroads of this warlike people were felt by many of the western provinces, beside those of France and Spain. Several parts of Italy suffered from their incursions; the island of Sardinia was reduced under their yoke; and Sicily was ravaged and oppressed by them in the most inhuman manner. Hence the Christian religion in Spain and Sardinia sufered inexpressibly under these violent usurpers. In Germany, and the adjacent countries, the Christians were assailed by another sort of enemies; for all such as adhered to the pagan superstitions beheld them with the most inveterate hatred, and persecuted them with the most unrelenting violence and fury. Hence, in several places, castles and fortresses were erected to restrain the incursions of these barbarian zealots. p Jo. Mariana, Rerum Hispanicarum, lib. vi. cap. xxi. Eusebe Renaudot, Historia Patriarch. Alexandrin, p. 253. Jo. de Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. ii. p. 425. q Paulus Diaconus, De gestis Longobard. lib. vi. cap. xlvi. liii. Jo. Mariana, Rerum Hispan. lib. vii. cap. iii. Bayle's Dictionary, at the article Abderamus. Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. ii. p. 463. r Henr. de Bunau, Teutsche Keyser und Reich's Histoire, tom. ii. p. 392. Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. ii. p. 506. s Servati Lupi vita Wigberti, p. 304. PART II INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. CONCERNING THE STATE OF LETTERS AND PHILOSOPHY DURING THIS CENTURY. The state of learning among the Greeks. 1. THERE were not wanting among the Greeks men of genius and talents, who might have contributed to prevent the total decline of literature; but their zeal was damped by the tumults and desolations that reigned in the empire; and while both church and state were menaced with approaching ruin, the learned were left destitute of that protection which gives both vigour and success to the culture of the arts and sciences. Hence few or none of the Greeks were at all famous either for elegance of diction, true wit, copious erudition, or a zealous attachment to the study of philosophy, and the investigation of truth. Frigid homilies, insipid narrations of the exploits of pretended saints, vain and subtile disputes about unessential and trivial subjects, vehement and bombastic declamations for or against the erection and worship of images, histories composed without method or judgment, such were the monuments of Grecian learning in this miserable age. The progress phy. II. It must, however, be observed, that the Aristotelian philosophy was taught every where in the public of the Aristo- schools, and was propagated in all places with considerable success. The doctrine of Plato had lost all its credit in the schools, after the repeated sentences of condemnation that had been passed upon the opinions of Origen, and the troubles which the Nestorian and Eutychian controversies had excited in the church; so that Platonism now was almost confined to the solitary retreats of the monastic orders. Of all the writers in this century, who contributed to the illustration and progress of the Aristotelian philosophy, the most eminent was John Damascenus, who composed a concise, plain, and comprehensive view of the doctrines of the stagirite, for the instruction of the more ignorant, and in a manner adapted to common capacities. This little work excited numbers, both in Greece and Syria, to the study of that philosophy, whose proselytes increased daily. The Nestorians and Jacobites were also extremely diligent in the study of Aristotle's writings, from whence they armed themselves with sophisms and quibbles, which they employed against the Greeks in the controversy concerning the nature and person of Christ. The revival of learning among Latins by Charlemagne. III. The literary history of the Latins exhibits innumerable instances of the grossest ignorance," which will not however appear surprising to such as consider with attention the state of Europe in this century. If we except some poor remains of learning which were yet to be found at Rome, and in certain cities of Italy," the sciences seemed to have abandoned the continent, and fixed their residence in Britain and Ireland. Those therefore of the Latin writers, who were distinguished by their learning and genius, were all, a few French and Italians excepted, either British or Scotch, such as Alcuin, Bede, Egbert, Clemens, Dungallus, Acca, and others. Charlemagne, whose political talents were embellished by a considerable degree of learning, and an ardent zeal for the culture of the sciences, endeavoured to dispel the profound ignorance that reigned in his dominions; in which excellent undertaking he was animated and directed by the counsels of Alcuin. With this view he drew, first from Italy, and afterward from Britain and Ireland, by his liberality, eminent men who had distinguished themselves in the various branches of literature; and excited the several orders of the clergy and monks by various encouragements, and the nobility, and others of eminent rank, by his own example, to the pursuit of knowledge in all its branches, human and divine. Cathedral tic schools IV. In the prosecution of this noble design, the greatest part of the bishops erected, by the express order of the emperor, cathedral schools, so called from and monastheir lying contiguous to the principal church in erected. each diocess, in which the youth which were set apart for the service of Christ, received a learned and religious education. Those also of the abbots, who had any zeal for. the cause of Christianity, opened schools in their monas a Vid. Steph. Baluz. Observat. ad Reginonem Prumiensem, p. 540. teries, in which the more learned of the fraternity instructed such as were designed for the monastic state, or the sacerdotal order, in the Latin language, and other branches of learning suitable to their future destination. It was formerly believed, that the university of Paris was erected by Charlemagne; but this opinion is rejected by such as have studied with impartiality the history of this age; though it is undeniably evident that this great prince had the honour of laying, in some measure, the foundation of that noble institution, and that the beginnings from which it arose were owing entirely to him. However this question be decided, it is undeniably certain, that the zeal of this emperor, for the propagation and advancement of letters, was very great, and manifested its ardour by a considerable number of excellent establishments; nor among others must we pass with silence the famous palatine school, which he erected with a view to banish ignorance from his court; and in which the princes of the blood, and the children of the nobility, were educated by the most learned and illustrious masters of the times." the desired success. v. These excellent establishments were not, however, But not at attended with the desired success; nor was the tended with improvement of the youth, in learning and virtue, at all proportioned to the pains that were taken, and the bounty that was bestowed to procure them a liberal education. This indeed will not appear surprising, when we consider that the most learned and renowned masters of these times were men of very little genius and abilities, and that their system of erudition and philosophy was nothing more than a lean and ghastly skeleton, equally unfit for ornament and use. The whole circle of the sciences was composed of what they called, the seven liberal arts, viz. grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy; the three former of which they distinguished by the title of trivium, and the four latter by that of quadrivium. Nothing can be conceived more wretchedly barbarous than the manner in which these sciences were d The reasons that have been used to prove Charlemagne the founder of the university of Paris, are accurately collected in Du Boulay, Historia Academiæ Paris. tom. i. p. 91. But they have been refuted by the following learned men in a victorious manner, viz. Mabillon, Act. Sanct. Ord. Benedict. tom. v. Præf. § 181, 182, Launoy, Claud. Joly, De Scholis. e Boulay, Historia Academiæ Paris. tom. i. p. 281. Mabillon, 1. c. § 179. f Herm. Conringii Antiquitat. Academica, Diss. iii. p. 80. Jac. Tomasii Programmata, p. 368. Observation. Halensium, tom. vi. Observ. xiv. p. 118. taught, as we may easily perceive from Alcuin's treatise concerning them; and the dissertations of St. Augustin on the same subject, which were in the highest repute at this time. In the greatest part of the schools, the public teachers ventured no farther than the trivium, and confined their instructions to grammar, rhetoric, and logic; they, however, who, after passing the trivium and also the quadrivium, were desirous of rising yet higher in their literary pursuits, were exhorted to apply themselves to the study of Cassiodore and Boethius, as if the progress of human knowledge was bounded by the discoveries of those two learned writers. CHAPTER II. CONCERNING THE DOCTORS AND MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH, AND ITS FORM OF GOVERNMENT DURING THIS CENTURY. 1. That corruption of manners which dishonoured the clergy in the former century, increased, instead The vices of of diminishing, in this, and discovered itself un- the clergy. der the most odious characters, both in the eastern and western provinces. In the east there arose the most violent dissensions and quarrels among the bishops and doctors of the church, who, forgetting the duties of their stations, and the cause of Christ in which they were engaged, threw the state into combustion by their outward clamours, and their scandalous divisions, and even went so far as to imbrue their hands in the blood of their brethren who differed from them in opinion. In the western world, Christianity was not less disgraced by the lives and actions of those who pretended to be the luminaries of the church, and who ought to have been so in reality, by exhibiting examples of piety and virtue to their flock. The clergy abandoned themselves to their passions without moderation or restraint; they were distinguished by their luxury, their gluttony, and their lust; they gave themselves up to dissipations of various kinds, to the pleasures of hunting, and what was still more remote from their sacred g Alcuini Opera, pars ii. p. 1245, edit. Quercetani. It is, however, to be observed, that the treatise of Alcuin here referred to, is not only imperfect, but is almost entirely transcribed from Cassiodore. |