CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



Empire and on Europe ; and under Bajazet's 

 great-grandson, Mohammed II. Constantinople 

 was besieged and taken (1453), and the Ottoman 

 Empire took the place of the Greek. Sultan 

 Seliin, in 1516, extended his dominion over 

 Mesopotamia and Egypt 



Discovery of the Sea-route to the East Indies. 

 Till towards the close of the fifteenth century, the 

 whole trade of Europe with the East was in the 

 hands of the Venetians and Genoese- The con- 

 veyance of the goods to the ports of the Levant 

 and of the Black Sea, where the Venetian and 

 Genoese ships received them, was chiefly by 

 caravans overland, the sea-traffic by the Indian 

 Ocean and the Red Sea being of inferior import- 

 ance. But the Portuguese had been gradually 

 extending their discoveries along the west of 

 Africa, and at last Vasco da Gama doubled the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and, crossing the Indian 

 Ocean, landed on the western coast of India 

 at Calicut (1498). To reach these same East 

 Indies, the mysterious lands of silks, gems, and 

 spices, Columbus had, in 1492, carried out the 

 bold idea of sailing westward across the Atlantic, 

 and thus discovered the New World. 



History of the Church. 



Three events of this period, more especially 

 relating to the church, deserve notice. i. The 

 establishment of Friars, a new ecclesiastical body 

 distinct from the ordinary monks. The higher 

 secular clergy were rolling in wealth, and neglect- 

 ing their office of spiritual guides ; the monas- 

 teries also had become immensely rich, and their 

 inmates were leading lazy, luxurious lives. To 

 infuse fresh life into the church, there were formed 

 communities of Friars (Yr.frere, brother) or Men- , 

 dicant orders, differing from the ordinary monks 

 in not secluding themselves, but roaming about as 

 itinerant preachers, mixing with the people, and 

 living upon their voluntary alms. They soon cast 

 the monks and secular clergy into the shade, and 

 became the zealous allies of the popes, by whom 

 they were exempted from ordinary church rule. 

 The numerous orders of this kind that sprang up at 

 first, beginning with that founded by the Spaniard, 

 Dominic de Guzman, in 1215, were in 1274 con- 

 solidated into four the Dominicans, or Black 

 Friars (from the colour of their robes) ; the Fran- 

 ciscans, or Gray Friars ; the Augustinians or 

 Austins ; and the Carmelites, or White Friars. 



2. Rise of the Inquisition. In the early ages of 



128 



the church, the duty of inquiring into and punish- 

 ing heresy devolved on the local bishops and 

 clergy. But the Crusades gave an impetus to the 

 church in this sort of work ; and the old process 

 being too slow, special inquisitorial commissions 

 were appointed by the popes. The first was 

 appointed by Innocent III. for the extermination 

 of the heretical Albigenses in the south of France 

 (1215). In this commission the most active agent 

 was St Dominic, the founder of the order of friars 

 of that name ; and the Dominicans became ever 

 after the special agents of the popes in this odious 

 function. Following the example of Innocent III. 

 his successors soon planted, with consent of the 

 civil authorities, tribunals of Dominicans in all 

 the cities and states of Italy, then full of heretics. 

 In the year 1416, no fewer than 300 persons were 

 burnt in the diocese of Como alone, the average 

 annual number being 100. The Inquisition was 

 extended into other countries ; but in some 

 such as England, where the rulers were adverse 

 to it it never took root. In Spain, it was organ- 

 ised into a permanent institution (1483), under a 

 terrible functionary appointed for life, called an 

 I nquisitor-general. 



3. Movement for a Reform in the Church. The 

 inordinate power of the popes, which had all along 

 been resisted by the civil rulers, began to press 

 upon the bishops and clergy, now that they found 

 their influence swamped by those papal emis- 

 saries, the Mendicant Friars. This begot a desire 

 to revive the authority of general councils of the 

 church, and to subordinate the popes to this 

 authority. The result was the convening of the 

 council of Constance (1414), and afterwards that 

 of Basle (1431) ; in which, however, all attempts 

 at reform were rendered abortive by a strong 

 party in the papal interest. 



But not merely was there dissatisfaction with 

 the administrative abuses of the system ; doctrines 

 and ideas began to prevail contrary to the usual 

 teaching of the church, and aiming at the very 

 foundations of the papacy. Among the chief 

 promulgators of those views were John Wycliffe 

 in England (died 1384), and his disciples, John 

 Huss, and Jerome of Prague, in Bohemia. The 

 doctrines of Wycliffe (called Lollardism) and of 

 Huss were almost identical with modern Prot- 

 estantism. Though kept down for a time by 

 persecution, they were never entirely rooted out, 

 but burst forth anew in the more successful 

 ' Reformation ' of the sixteenth century. 



