HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



nominal monarchs are styled in history the Rois 

 Faine"ans or 'Sluggard Kings.' Pepin was suc- 

 ceeded (714) in power by his son Charles, sur- 

 named Martel. Charles's son, Pepin le Bref (' the 

 Short'), put an end to the anomalous rule of the 

 mayors of the palace, by shutting the puppet-king 

 up in a monastery, and causing himself to be form- 

 ally invested with the title of ' King of the Franks' 

 (752). The dynasty founded by Pepin is known 

 as that of the Carlovingian kings. 



Before proceeding to sketch the occurrences 

 that took place under that dynasty, it will be 

 necessary to cast a retrospective glance at certain 

 important events that had in the meantime altered 

 le face of other parts of the conquered Roman 

 vorld. 



Lombard Invasion of Italy. The Empire of 

 le West had been extinguished in 476 by the 

 ^isigoths, who had left their settlements on the 

 )anube, and penetrated into Italy as early as the 

 jeginning of the fourth century. Odoacer, who 

 ieposed the last emperor, had continued since 

 that time to rule Italy, pretending, however, to 

 derive his authority from the emperor of the East. 

 In the meantime, the Ostrogoths had penetrated 

 from the northern borders of the Black Sea, and, 

 under their young hero-king, Theoderic or Die- 

 trich, had established an Ostrogothic kingdom 

 between the Black Sea and the Adriatic. Insti- 

 gated by the Greek emperor Zeno, who wished to 

 jet rid of so powerful a neighbour, Theoderic now 

 ivaded Italy, took Ravenna, Odoacer's capital, 

 jut that monarch to death, and became himself 

 cing of Italy (493). Though illiterate, he was a 

 lan of large and enlightened views, and his con- 

 duct, during his long reign of thirty-three years, 

 earned for him the name of ' Great.' But under 

 his worthless successors, Italy fell into anarchy, 

 and the Greek emperor sending his great general 

 3elisarius, and then Narses, succeeded in wresting 

 le country from its Gothic masters, and annexing 

 it to the Empire of the East (553). Eighteen 

 ears before, Africa had shared the same fate, 

 iving been wrested from the Vandals by Beli- 

 irius. Thus, three of the ancient dioceses of the 

 itin Empire Italy, Western Illyricum, and 

 frica were incorporated with the Eastern Em- 

 pire ; while Gaul, Spain, and Britain remained in 

 the hands of the barbarians. 



It was while Italy was thus a dependency of 

 Tonstantinople, and governed by an exarch resid- 

 ig at Ravenna, that it was invaded by the Lom- 

 irds,* a German nation, settled since 527 in 

 *annonia on the Danube. Under their king 

 Uboin, they took possession (568), with little 

 ssistance, of the northern part of the peninsula, 

 md made Pavia their capital. The dominion 

 they established was of the nature of a confederacy 

 of dukedoms presided over by an elective sover- 

 eign. The centre and south of Italy remained 

 subject to the exarchs of Ravenna ; but the Lom- 

 bards continued gradually to extend their sway 

 southward at the expense of the exarchate. Among 

 the Lombard kings may be mentioned Rothari 

 (638-654), who caused a code of laws for Lombardy 

 to be composed; and Luitprand (713-744), the 

 most illustrious of all, eminent both in peace and 

 war, and the friend of Charles Martel. 



* Lango-bards, which may mean either Long-beards, or having 

 long battle-axes ; in the latter case the root, bard or tart, is the 

 same as appears in hMert and/arrisan. 



The Arabic Conquests. Arabia had never 

 formed part of the Roman Empire, and though 

 the Arabs were and are in every way a fine race 

 of men, they had, about six centuries after Christ, 

 sunk into a comparatively degraded condition. 

 Suddenly, however, a man appeared, who was 

 destined to restore the Arabic name, and to lead 

 the Arabs into a career of unexampled glory. 

 This was the famous Mahomet, or Mohammed 

 Ibn Abdallah. Born at Mecca in 570 or 571, of 

 the highest branch of the noble tribe of Koreish, 

 to whom belonged the government of Mecca, and 

 the guardianship of the Kaaba, or central temple 

 of all Arabian worship, Mohammed lived to the 

 age of forty without exciting much remark. It 

 was in the year 613, that, at a meeting of his kins- 

 men, the chiefs of Mecca, he made the startling 

 announcement that he had received a divine com- 

 mission to reform the faith and practice of the 

 whole Arabian nation. His account was, that, 

 three years before, while he was holding the fast 

 of the sacred Arabic month Ramadhan, alone in 

 the desert, an angel had appeared to him, and 

 told him that God had chosen him to be the 

 prophet of the Arabs. This miraculous call he 

 had kept secret at first ; but gradually convinced 

 of its genuineness, he had at length communicated 

 it to his most intimate friends. His wife, Kadi- 

 jah, had been his first convert ; his relatives, Ali 

 and Abubeker, had followed ; and now he called 

 upon all his other kinsmen and friends to acknow- 

 ledge his authority, forsake their idols and their 

 habits of unbelief and profligacy, and worship the 

 one only true God, who had made the heavens 

 and the earth, and who would judge the world at 

 the last day. 



The kinsmen of Mohammed laughed at him, 

 and the Meccans denounced him as either a mad- 

 in or an impostor. But he persevered in his 

 design, and daily preached to all who would hear 

 him the doctrines of a future life and of the unity 

 of God. These doctrines, written down from time 

 to time, were collectively known as the Koran 

 that is, the ' Reading,' and the religion itself was 

 called Islam that is, ' Resignation ' or ' Sub- 

 mission,' i.e. to the will of God. (See MOHAM- 

 MEDANISM, HINDUISM, &c.) 



Islam had made but little progress in Mecca, 

 when Mohammed was obliged to flee from the 

 city to save his life. He betook himself, with his 

 disciples, to what is now Medina. The date of 

 this flight, or hejira, as the Arabians call it the 

 i6th of July 622 has ever since been recognised 

 in all Mohammedan countries as the commence- 

 ment of the Mohammedan era. 



At Medina, Mohammed was received with open 

 arms. He was invested with the supreme com- 

 mand ; and adapting his conduct to his new 

 position, he began to propagate his religion with 

 the sword. Tribe after tribe was subdued ; and 

 before the lapse of ten years, the whole peninsula 

 acknowledged the sovereignty of Mohammed, and 

 could boast of an unmixed population of Moslems 

 or True Believers. Mohammed was preparing to 

 disseminate Islam beyond the bounds of Arabia, 

 when he was cut off by a fever at Medina (632). 



The impulse communicated to the Arabian race 

 by the enthusiasm of Mohammed did not cease 

 with his death. The whole nation had been 

 roused to an unexampled pitch of religious zeal, 

 and were ea^rer to continue the work which 



