at the head of an army, whereupon Zamasp voluntarily resigned the

crown.

501-531. Kobad (second reign).

Withdrawal of support from Masdak. The refusal of the Eastern Empire to fulfil its agreement to contribute to the defence of the pass of Derbend in the Caucasus, which was the usual route of the nomadic tribes in their invasions of Persia or the Eastern Empire, caused Kobad to declare war. Sack of Amida (502). An Ephthialite invasion induced peace in 507. Erection of the fortress of Daras, twelve miles from Nisibis by Anastasius, emperor of the East. Second war with the Eastern Empire (524–531), wherein the Persians, at first successful, were defeated by Belisarius in the battle of Daras (528). Kobad was succeeded by his son,

531-579. Chosroës I. Anushirwan (“The Just ") perhaps the greatest of the Sassanid kings.

Peace with Rome (533): 1. Rome paid 11,000 lbs. of gold toward the fortification of the Caucasus. 2. Daras retained its fortifications, but was not to be the Roman headquarters. 3. Reciprocal surrender of recent conquests. 4. Eternal friendship and alliance, whence this is known as the "endless peace.' It endured for seven peace years, at the end of which time Chosroës, jealous of the great victories of Justinian in the West, listened to the prayers of the East Goths and declared war.

540. Capture of Antioch.

Chosroës extorted ransom from the principal cities of western Asia Minor; returned home. A truce, concluded in 545, was broken in 549 by Rome, who sent assistance to the Lazi (inhabitants of ancient Colchis) in their war with Persia.

551. Capture of Petra by the Romans and Lazi. 563. Definite peace between Persia and Rome.

1. Lazica ceded to Rome. 2. Rome to make a yearly payment to Persia. 3. Exercise of their faith secured to the Christians in Persia. 4. Commercial intercourse between the empires restricted to certain roads and marts. 5. Free diplomatic intercourse. 6. Daras to retain its fortifications. 7. Disputes to be settled by arbitration. 8. Allies of either party included in the peace. 9. Persia undertook the maintenance of the Caspian Gates alone. 10. The peace was concluded for fifty years.

Successful wars with the Ephthialites and Khazars.

562. Expedition of Chosroës to Arabia, against the Christian kingdom founded there by Abyssinians early in the sixth century. Chosroës expelled the Abyssinians and left the country under the control of Saïf, leader of the native Homerites; after his murder Arabia was made a Persian province.

The expedition to India ascribed to Chosroës is doubtful. Dezabul, Khan of the Turks, who had recently subjugated the Ephthialites and entered into alliance with the Eastern Empire, invaded Persia, but met with no success.

572. Justin, Emperor of the East, declared war on Persia. Chosroës ravaged Syria. Fall of Daras (573).

Chosroes died, 579, in Mesopotamia.

Improved administration in Persia under Chosroës. Empire divided into four governments: East, Khorassan, Seistan, Kirman; North, Armenia, Azerbizan, Ghilan, Koum, Isfahan; South, Fars, Ahwaz; West, Irak, or Babylonia, Assyria, Mesopotamia. Frequent progresses of the king. Substitution of a fixed land tax for the former variable tax on produce. Tax collectors placed under the supervision of the priests. Reform in the army. Improved irrigation. Protection of foreigners. Encouragement of learning. Laws of Artaxerxes revised. Collection of the Shah-na-meh, or Book of the Kings, the basis of Firdusi's epic. Introduction of the Fables of Pilpay, and of the game of chess from India. Toleration extended to Christians. Chosroes was succeeded by his son, 579-589. Hormisdas IV. (Hormazd).

At first a wise ruler, afterwards the worst of Persian kings. 579. Invasion of Persia by the Eastern Emperor Maurice. 581. Defeat of the Persians at Constantia. The war continued with

alternate defeat and victory until in 589. Persia was invaded by Arabs, Khazars, and above all by the great Khan of the Turks. He was defeated by the Persian general Bahram and fell in the battle. In the same year Hormisdas provoked a war with Rome by invading Lazica. Bahram was defeated on the Araxes. An insult offered him by the king caused his revolt and the deposition and murder of Hormisdas, who was succeeded by his son,

who was at once involved in war with Bahram, who drove him from the kingdom and assumed the crown. The reign of Bahram (Varahran VI.) was short (590–591). Chosroës had taken refuge at Constantinople, and a Roman force restored him to his throne. Bahram, defeated, fled to the Turks.

The second reign of Chosroes II. was marked by a wonderful increase of Persia's power, and by its sudden fall.

603-610. War with Phocas, murderer of Maurice.

Capture of

Daras. Syria, Armenia, Galatia, Phrygia, ravaged. Sack of Antioch. The accession of Heraclius to the throne of the Eastern Empire did not end the war. 612. Invasion of Cappadocia. 614. Capture of Damascus.

615. Sack of Jerusalem.

616. Capture of Pelusium and Alexandria by the Persian general Shahr-Barz. Submission of Egypt.

617. Fall of Chalcedon. The Persians encamped within a mile of Constantinople.

620. Capture of Âncyra and of Rhodes. Persia restored to the

limits which it attained under Darius I.

So nearly had chosroës driven Heraclius to despair that he prepared to take refuge in Carthage, but his design was prevented by the citizens of Constantinople. Thus driven to bay, the emperor formed the desperate resolve of attacking his enemy in his own country.

622. Landing of the Romans in the Gulf of Issus. Defeat of

Shahr-Barz.

623. Heraclius sailed to Lazica, and invaded Armenia.

treated, and the Romans wintered in Albania.

Chosroës re

625. Battle of the Sarus. Defeat of Shahr-barz. Chosroës allied himself with the Avars, and placed two armies in the field: one against Heraclius in Asia Minor, one destined for a direct attack on Constantinople. The latter attempt failed, Constantinople held out, although attacked also by hosts of Bulgarians and other barbarians from the west.

Winter campaign of Heraclius.

627. Dec. 12. Battle of Nineveh.

Defeat of the Persians. Flight

of Chosroës. Heraclius advanced to Ctesiphon, but returned without assaulting the city.

Mutiny of the Persian troops at Ctesiphon under two of the king's sons. Seizure and murder of Chosroës. He was succeeded by his son,

628-629 (?). Kobad II. (Siroës),

who concluded peace with Rome on a basis of exchange of conquests and captives. Death of Kobad (of the plague ?). Usurpation of Shahr-barz, who before two months were over was murdered by his own troops. Reigns of Purandocht and Azermidocht, daughters of Chosroës II., followed by a period of anarchy, during which nine or ten nobles held the throne successively.

632-641 (651). Isdigerd, grandson of Chosroës II., last Sassanid king of Persia.

His whole reign was a struggle against the growing power of the Caliphs Abu-Bekr and Omar (p. 182).

633. Expedition of Kaled (the "sword of God") to Hira. Defeat of the Persians. The whole region west of the Euphrates fell into the hands of the Arabs, who, however, suffered a temporary check by the loss of the "Battle of the Bridge." Their ravages were soon renewed, and extended throughout Mesopotamia. Great exertions of the Persians. Levy of an army of 120,000 men, which was defeated in the four days'

636. Battle of Cadesia,

by Sa'ad Ibu Abi Wakas.
royal standard of Persia.

Loss of the Durufsh-kawani, or

637. Invasion of Mesopotamia by Sa'ad. Capture of Ctesiphon. Defeat of the Persians in the battle of Jalula.

639. Invasion of Susiana and Persia proper by the Arabs. Capture of Hormuzan, a Persian general, who, being brought before Omar, asked for a cup of water, which he hesitated to taste until assured by the Caliph that he should not be harmed until he had drunk the water, whereupon he dashed the water on the ground before the astonished Caliph, who respected his promise and spared the Persian's life.

The recall of Sa'ad emboldened Isdigerd to make a final effort. Collection of an army of 150,000 men, which was totally defeated in the

641. Battle of Nehavend ("victory of victories").

Fall

of the Sassanid power. Persia henceforward governed by the caliphs. Isdigerd III. lived for ten years a fugitive, and was at last murdered (651).

SECOND PERIOD.

FROM THE TREATY OF VERDUN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE CRUSADES (843-1096).

§ 1. ITALY AND GERMANY.

843-875. Carolingians in Italy.

After the death of two sons of Lothar I., Ludwig the German and Charles the Bald divided Lothar's inheritance by the treaty of Mersen on the Meuse (870). The German portion (Friesland, Lotharingia or Lothringen (Lorraine), so called after Lothar II.) was annexed to the kingdom of the East Franks, the Romance portion (Burgundy, Provence) to the kingdom of the West Franks. Boundary, the Meuse.

After the death of Ludwig II., who was the eldest son of Lothar I. (875), Charles the Bald became Emperor († 877).

843-911. Carolingians in Germany.

843-876. Ludwig the German.

Wars with the Slavs, with Charles the Bald, and especially with the Northmen, i. e. the Scandinavian sea warriors (Vikings), by whose ferocious energy the west of Europe was during this epoch harassed almost beyond belief. In 845 simultaneous attack by the Northmen upon all three of the Frankish kingdoms. Ludwig the German's son,

876-887. Charles the Fat,

at first in conjunction with his brothers, Karlmann († 880) and Ludwig († 882). Successful resistance to the claims of Charles the Bald on the Rhine (battle of Andernach, 876) and Italy. Charles the Fat became Emperor in 881, and in 884 was elected king of the West Franks. He united once more under one sceptre the Monarchy of Charles the Great, with the exception of cisjurane Burgundy (Dauphiné, Provence, part of Languedoc), which became a separate kingdom under Boso. Charles the Fat was deposed by East and West Franks on account of his cowardice (siege of Paris by the Northmen), abdicated the throne at Tribur (887), and died almost immediately thereafter. The East Franks elected 887-899. Arnulf of Carinthia, grandson of Ludwig the

German, illegitimate son of Karlmann. He defeated the Northmen upon the Dyle (at Löwen, 891), and in alliance with the Magyars, a nomadic Finnish tribe, which had gradually made its way from the Ural region towards Europe, and under guidance of

Arpad had invaded Hungary, conquered Svatopluk II. (893), the founder of the kingdom of Moravia. Arnulf went twice to Italy, and was crowned Emperor (896). His son,

899-911. Ludwig the Child (six years old),

was completely under the influence of Hatto, archbishop of Mainz. Terrible devastation of Germany by the Magyars. In 908 they traversed Bavaria, Franconia, and penetrated into Thuringia and Saxony. Lewis, defeated in the neighborhood of the Lech (910), was obliged to pay them tribute. Internecine feuds in Franconia: Adalbert of Babenberg against Rudolf, bishop of Würzburg, of the family of Conrad of Hesse. Victory of the Conradines. Adalbert executed in front of his castle. Weakness of the young king. The monarchy seemed about to break up into duchies: Saxony, Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia, Lotharingia. After Ludwig's death the aged Otto the Illustrious, duke of Saxony, refused the crown, and secured the election of

911-918. Conrad I. of Franconia,

by the nobles. Invasions of Danes, Slavs, and Magyars. Conrad was constantly at war with the West Franks and with his own subjects in a vain endeavor to obtain recognition of his sovereignty, especially from Henry, son of Otto the Illustrious and duke of Saxony, since 912. Lotharingia, with the exception of Alsace, became a part of the kingdom of the West Franks.

919-1024. Kings and Emperors of the Saxon house. In obedience to the wish of Conrad, expressed on his deathbed, and seconded by his brother, Eberhard, the Saxons and Franks elected at Fritzlar on the Eder

919-936. Henry I. the Fowler, founder of the German monarchy.

Henry compelled Burkhard, duke of Alamannia (Swabia), and Arnulf, duke of Bavaria, to acknowledge his supremacy. 924. The Magyars (Hungarians) made a new inroad. Henry concluded a nine years' truce with them, and secured immunity for Saxony and Thuringia by payment of tribute.

925. Henry regained Lotharingia.

Enlargement and better fortification of old fortresses (Merseburg) and construction of new ones (Quedlinburg, Goslar), which at a later period became cities. There was no wide-spread founding of cities by Henry himself, but in his reign the Saxons were gradually accustomed to city life and to cavalry service in war.

Successful wars with the Wends, against whom a great mark was established along the middle Elbe, out of which at a later time (after the retirement of margrave (Markgraf) Gero, 963) were formed the Altmark or Northmark, Meissen, and the Ostmark (later Mark Lausitz), lying between the two. Victory at Lenzen (929). Wars with the Bohemians (recognition of the duty of feudal service), and with the Danes (Gorm the Old). Creation of a mark between the Eider and Sley (934), afterwards called Mark Schleswig.