S8 Mr. W. S. L. Szyrma on the Relation of the 
Byzantium, and rode the Euxine in triumph, in the Xth and 
Xlth centuries. 
Novogrod, somewhat later, seemed to restore, in the frozen North^ 
he republican systems of Greece, Pier people united the maritime 
energy of the Scandinavian with the Slavonic character. Her fleets 
traversed every sea, her merchants, protected by the Hanseatic 
league, were found in every European land. 
Cracow, Gnezno, Posen, and Prague were probably as ancient, 
(dating from the Xth century ;) but became later of importance. 
Under Casimir the Great, in the XlVth century, Cracow was one of 
the wealthiest and most populous cities of Europe, Much of the 
commerce of Kiow was directed to it. The treasures of the Orient 
were there bartered for Northern furs and woollens. Venice, 
Flanders, Constantinople, and the Hanse towns contributed their 
merchandize. By Eastern caravans, by boats on the Vistula, in 
w^aggons from Germany the goods of the world there met. The 
University of Cracow was pronounced one of the first in Europe. 
It was founded by Casimir on the model of the University of Paris, 
and chartered for Theology by Urban V. (A.D. 1347 — 64.) 
Cracow found two powerful rivals in Warsaw and Prague, The 
former city arose mainly from the Vistula trade. The latter, Prague, 
first took a lead in European civilization under the Emperor 
Charles IV. That patriotic Prince founded there, in 1348, a rival 
Academy to Cracow. The freedom and intellectual energy of the 
Bohemians soon drew thither the youth of all Eastern Europe. 
Prague was the learned capital of the German Empire. The arts 
and sciences flourished amid her churches and palaces. Thus, at 
the end of the fourteenth century, the Slavonians were almost at the 
head of European civilization. In the impetuosity of their Slavonic 
nature, the Czechs rushed beyond their age. The Hussite con- 
troversy doomed the greatness of Prague, The German nobles fled 
the capital of free-thought. The anathema of Kome fell on the 
devoted Academy. A war of independence opened a new field for 
