but was forced to humbly sue at the feet of Adrian II for pardon and absolution. The law also added to the force of the papal authority a disqualification of the excommunicated person to testify as a witness in a court of justice, or even to bring an action. A yet more severe weapon wielded by the head of the church was the interdict, by which not only the offender, but all his subjects, were deprived of religious privileges. The churches throughout his dominions were closed, the bells silenced and the dead left unburied. No rites but those of baptism and extreme unction could be performed. The penalty fell on the unoffending subjects with the same severity as on the guilty ruler. Though the power of the church was sometimes successfully resisted, and though kings sometimes in turn ruled the weaker popes and used them as instruments for their own aggrandisement, in an age when all learning was the property of the church and superstitious veneration of pope and clergy was so general, the interdict was an effectual weapon for the execution of papal commands. From the anarchistic conditions which prevailed when feudalism was at its height modern European society has been evolved. The political map of that continent has been subject to many and sweeping changes, and still shows many small states, constantly armed and expectant of war. No firm bond yet binds the people of different nations to each other. Narrowness, distrust and inherited hatreds, still bar the way to sensible combination and the acceptance by rival states of mutual good-will and good deeds. Yet from the disorganized and chaotic mass of the dark ages states with larger territory, more varied popular elements, and better principles have grown up. These we must examine separately and in detail.

Authorities

Henry Hallam: History of Europe during the Middle Ages. H. M. Gwatkin: The Cambridge Mediaeval History.

Michaud's History of the Crusades.

Oman: The Dark Ages.

Continental Legal History Series, vol. I.

CHAPTER XVI

RUSSIA

Our earliest introduction to the inhabitants of that vast territory now designated as Russia comes through the Greeks, and exhibits many tribes with varied characteristics. The name Scythians was applied quite generally to the nomads of the great plains, and also to those who tilled the soil in the rich valley of the Dnieper. Many early tribes are mentioned by Herodotus and other ancient writers, the relationship of which to each other or to modern people it is not our purpose to trace. From the earliest times central and northwestern Asia has been a breeding ground, from which has issued barbaric hordes that have pushed their way in all directions and especially across the flat grassy Russian plains into Europe. Their movements have been in main migrations of tribes with all their families, cattle and belongings, seeking to escape enemies or searching for pasturage or pillage. Among the characteristics of most of these people, when first mentioned in history, are bravery, cruelty, superstition and ignorance. They scalped prisoners, drank the blood of enemies killed in battle, sacrificed slaves and horses at the funerals of dead kings, and had other horrible customs, yet it would hardly be safe to give this as a general statement of the manners which prevailed for any long period of time. It can be said however that cruelty and indiscriminate slaughter of conquered enemies has generally attended the conquests made by the swarms which from time to time have issued from this breeding ground. The peculiarities of southern Russia have rendered it possible for Asiatic hordes to pass quickly with horses, cattle and all their households from their Asiatic seats. into the heart of Europe. Level plains with ample pasturage, unobstructed by mountains or great forests, have afforded a broad highway, open to all who might choose to travel it.

Pastoral tribes, moving with herds and tents, might be equally at home anywhere from the mountain slopes of central Asia to the Dnieper. The prevalence of periodical droughts and resulting failure of vegetation have compelled frequent migrations, and the necessities of their situations have driven tribe after tribe along this highway. It was the people dwelling in, or who passed through this grass land, that came in contact with Greeks and Romans and successively invaded western Europe. The dwellers in the wooded country lying to the north never came in contact with either ancient Greeks or Romans.

The foundations of the government which has since extended from the Baltic to the Pacific and from the Arctic beyond the Black Sea, were laid in the forest regions from which the great rivers flowing into the Baltic, Black and Caspian seas have their sources. The dominant race of Russia is the Slav, classed as Aryans and allied to the Germans. The next most important elements are Finns and Tartars. Intermixture has produced a composite of which the prevailing characteristics are Slavic.

The Slavs as first made known to us were at a very low stage of social development. The family was the political and social unit with the father as its patriarchal head. Polygamy was allowed, and wives were captured, with or without their consent, as a part of the marriage ceremony. The mir was an expansion of the family and under the direction of a council of elders called vetche. In its deliberations there was little of order, and a decision required the concurrence of all. The idea of the right of a majority to rule did not obtain, but the majority were forced to make such concessions to the minority as would induce them to concur, or to use some other effectual means of enforcing acquiescence. The village lands were owned in common, except the door or inclosure immediately about the house. A group of mirs was called a volost or pagost and was governed by a council of elders of the mirs. A chief of the volost chosen by the elders was leader in war but with little or no power in peace. Any further union of different volosts was temporary, and no estab

lished authority over tribe or race was recognized. They tilled the soil, used coined money of other nations, and had considerable commerce. They were workers of iron and made swords for export.

The foundation of the Russian state starts from the accepted date of 862, when the Variagi came to rule over the Slavs of Novgorod and vicinity, by invitation of the people it is said. Rurik, his two brothers and their military following came to establish order and defend the Slavs. Rurik first settled at Lake Ladoga, and at Novgorod after the death of his brothers. Two other Variagi went down to Kief and became leaders of the Poliane. After the death of Rurik his brother Oleg subdued Kief, extended his dominion over most of the Russian Slavs and in 907 attacked Constantinople and imposed tribute on it. Igor, son of Rurik, succeeded Oleg, and on his death his widow Olga became regent during the minority of her son Sviatoslaf. She began her reign with barbarous massacres of the Drevliane, by some of whom her husband had been assassinated, and was afterward converted to Christianity, but her son refused to follow her example and but few of her subjects accepted her faith. On the death of Sviatoslaf the empire was divided among his three sons, who ruled respectively at Kief, Novgorod and over the Drevliane. Civil wars followed, resulting in the death of two of the brothers and the consolidation of the whole under Vladimir. He was a cruel, sensual despot, who took five wives and kept concubines by the hundreds. He became dissatisfied with the old religion and made war on Constantinople to conquer the Greek Christianity. As terms of peace he demanded the daughter of the Greek emperor in marriage and accepted baptism. He then proceeded in a truly autocratic manner to throw down the ancient idols and march the people into the rivers to be baptized. His conversion is said to have been followed by a radical reformation of character, by the founding of schools and many other works for the good of the people. Vladimir partitioned his dominions among his sons and even gave a portion to a nephew. They, as usual, fought among themselves, and Iaroslaf became master of all. His reign

from 1015 to 1054 was a brilliant one and placed Russia among the leading states of Europe. He promulgated the first code of Russian laws. It recognized the avengers of blood and fixed the amount of money to be paid for crime; allowed judicial duels, trial by ordeal of red hot irons and boiling water, by oath with compurgators, and also provided for trial by a judge and jury of twelve men. Punishment by death, whipping or imprisonment was unknown. The rule of the Variagi was not of autocrats with firmly established authority, exercised through a system of subordinate officials. The prince occupied relations similar to the Norse and Frank leaders with their bands of military companions and followers called the drujina. They were his council of state and his guard. From them he chose governors of towns and constituted courts of justice. They ate at his table and exercised a powerful influence on his policy. Sviatoslaf answered his mother Olga's exhortations to become a Christian by saying that his drujina would mock him. He owed his strength

to them and in order to retain it was forced to consult their wishes. They were free to transfer their allegiance to another when they chose. Prince and drujina were engaged in a common enterprise and lived from the tribute they extorted. This was fixed arbitrarily, and Igor lost his life by attempting to force further tribute from the Drevliane, after he had fleeced them once. The drujina was divided into three classes, of whom the boyars were the highest. What commerce there was was carried on by the prince and his armed warriors. The mass of the population were peasants-muzhiks, and slaves. The leading city in the time of Rurik and for a considerable period thereafter was Novgorod, which is said to have then had 100,000 inhabitants. It was a republic with ruling power in the assembly of citizens, the vetche, which was convoked by ringing the bell. They dictated terms to princes and received such rulers as they pleased and on their own conditions. Iaroslaf confirmed and defined the privileges of Novgorod, which subsequent princes were required to take an oath to observe. The revenues he might exact were strictly limited, as also were his judicial and political functions. He