52 ' TRANSACTIONS. 1906-7. 



of one universal empire, and one Pope of one universal church) is 

 giving place to the opposing idea of separate nationalistic aggre- 

 gations. 



It is the period of discovery and invention — the Copernican 

 astronomy; the compass; the discovery of America; the passage 

 round the Cape; paper and printing; better use of gunpowder; 

 and the explosion of many very absurd notions. 



It is the period of the Italian Renaissance, that wonderful 

 (many people yet think sinful) revolt against ecclesiasticism 

 and thought-bondage; that extraordinary assertion of the dignity 

 and freedom of the individual intellect; that surprising recrudes- 

 cence of art, and learning, and all the humanities — the renaissance 

 has already commenced its labors, and the mind of man is once 

 more a seething furnace, from which are thrown off fierce thoughts 

 for good and for evil. 



It is the period of the entrance of the Mohammedan power 

 at the eastern end of Europe ; and its expulsion at the western end 

 (Granada having fallen before Ferdinand and Isabella in 1491). 

 Henceforth the Turk is to be reckoned with in Italian and other 

 politics. 



It is the period of fighting and embroglios everywhere, Louis 

 XII of France at the time of our central date has entered the 

 European melee with much energy; and has busied himself (and 

 everybody else)with his alliances, and treaties, and wars — inglorious 

 and disastrous wars, aiming sometimes consciously at supremacy, 

 but frequently unconsciously" at what afterwards became known 

 as the balance of power. 



Ferdinand and Isabella have united Spain. Their soldiers 

 are the best in the world, and are given plenty of employment. 



Germany is as yet but a loose aggregation of petty states, 

 Prescott describes its conditions : 



"From the accession of Rudolph of Hapsburg to the reign 

 of Maximillian * * * * ^^g empire felt every calamity 

 which a state must endure. * * * * The causes of dissen- 

 sion among the vast number of members which composed the 

 Germanic body, were infinite and unavoidable. These gave rise 

 to private wars which were carried on with all the violence that 

 usually accompanies resentment when unrestrained by superior 

 authority. Rapine, outrage, exactions, became universal. Com- 

 merce was interrupted, industry suspended, and every part of 

 Germany resembled a country which an enemj^ had plundered 

 and left desolate. " 



