§ 4. THE NORTH.

Denmark.

Northern historians of the Middle Age refer the conquest of the North to the Asas under Odin (p. 168), who gave Denmark to his

son.

After him came Dan the Famous, who gave a name to the kingdom. Under Frode the Peaceful, who reigned at the beginning of our era, Denmark enjoyed a Golden Age. In the eighth century the famous battle of Bravalla was fought between Harold Hildetand, king of Denmark, and Sigurd Ring, king of Sweden, and ended in favor of the Swedes.

Both

Thus far all is mythical. The true history of Denmark begins with Gorm the Old. It is clear, however, that the Danes had settled in two bands one occupying the peninsula, Jutland, Schleswig, and Holstein; the other occupying the eastern islands Zealand, Fünen, etc. divisions, between which there was scanty intercourse, were ruled by numerous petty chiefs (smaa-kongar), among the most famous of whom was the king and high-priest of Lejre in Zealand, who was at the head of a loose confederacy of the islands. When Jutes and Angles in the fifth century migrated to Britain (p. 176), Danes from the islands seem to have taken their place in the peninsula.

Godfrey, king of Jutland, was embroiled with Charles the Great, and built a Dannevirk or line of fortresses across the peninsula. Under his successor, Hemming, the Eyder was made the boundary between Denmark and the Frankish empire.

In 822 Christianity preached in Denmark by Ebbo, archbishop of Rheims. In 826 Ansgarius, “the Apostle of the North," labored in Denmark, but without lasting results.

Gorm the Old (about 860–935), the first king of all Denmark, was a devout heathen, who persecuted the new faith until forced to refrain by Henry I. of Germany. Erection of the great Dannevirke between the Sley and the Eyder. Gorm ruled the peninsula, the islands, and Skaania and Bleking, the southern provinces of Sweden. Harold Blue-tooth (Blaatand), 935–985. War with Norway. Otto II. of Germany, in 975, forced Harold to consent to the introduction of Christianity in his kingdom. Svend Forked Beard (Tveskjæd), 985–1914. Successful revolt of the tributary Wends. Svend in England (p. 205). Knut the Great (1014–1035), king of Denmark and of England. He passed most of his time in England, which led to an attempt on the part of Ulf-Jarl to make Hardeknut king in Denmark. It failed, and Knut later had Ulf killed. In 1028 Knut was proclaimed king of Norway. Hardeknut (Hathacnut) (1035–1042) succeeded his father in Denmark. His war with Magnus of Norway ended in an agreement whereby whoever should outlive the other should inherit his kingdom. Under this treaty Magnus ruled Denmark, 1042-1047. He was succeeded by Svend Estridsen, son of Ulf-Jarl and Estride, sister of Knyt (1047-1074). War for seventeen years with Harold Hardrada of Norway was brought to a close in 1064. War with the Wends. Svend raised Denmark to a position of power, which was lost under

his five sons who followed him: Harold Heyn (1077–1080), St. Knut (1080-1086), Olaf Hunger (1086–1095), Erik Ejegod (1095– 1103), Niels (1105–1135).

Sweden.

Sweden was the first of the Scandinavian kingdoms to attain power. According to tradition there were two races in the country besides the Finns, the Göta or Gauta (Goths) and the Svea. The Svea traced their origin to the followers of Odin. Njord, son of Odin, was the first king of Sweden. His son, Frey Yngve, built the temple of Upp-sala, and founded the line of the Ynglingar, which ruled the Svea until Ingjald Ill-raada so angered the petty kings by his cruelty that they revolted. The king burned himself and his family, and his son Olaf fled to Norway. Ivar Vidfadme, king of Skaania, which was independent before its conquest by Gorm of Denmark, succeeded Ingjald. This was in the seventh century.

In the eighth (?) century falls the mythical battle of Bravalla, where Sigurd Ring, king of Sweden, defeated Harold Hildetand of Denmark. Sigurd's son, Ragnar Lodbrog, is even more famous in story than his father. (Tale of his capture by Ella of Northumberland, and of his death in a pit of serpents, which his sons avenged by the slaughter of Ella. See p. 203, where the discrepancy in date is to be noted.)

cess.

In the ninth century authentic history begins. Mission of Ansgarius (829-865) to Sweden, where his preaching met with great sucErik Emundsson, king of Sweden (died in 885 ?), made important conquests in the East. At the same time bands of Swedes settled around Novgorod, subjugated the Slavs, and laid the foundation of the future empire of Russia (Varinjar, Russ.).

Olaf the Lap-king (993–1024) was the first Christian king of Sweden. War with St. Olaf of Norway. The last king of the Upsala line was Edmund Gammal (the Old), who died about 1056. Stenkil (1056-1066).

Norway.

According to tradition Norway was first settled by Olaf Trætelje of the Ynglingar line, who fled from Sweden after the death of his father Ingjald. The country was governed by numerous petty kings, and remained weak and distracted, like Sweden and Denmark, until, as in those countries, a process of consolidation set in in the ninth century. Halfdan the Black (841–863) reduced many of the petty kings to subjection, and his son, Harald Haarfager (863–932), completed the work of conquest and introduced the feudal system. Defeat of the Jarls at Hafurstfjord, 872. These changes, and the repression of freebooting which followed them, induced a great migration of the Jarls, the most famous of the vikings. Establishment of Northmen under Rolf Ganger (Rollo) in Normandy. Conquest of Dublin by Olauf in 852. Discovery and settlement of Iceland, 861-875, etc. Erik Blodöxe (930-934), Hakon (934–961), Harald Graafell, Hakon Jarl (988-995). Olaf Tryggvasson (996-1000). He disappeared at the

battle of Svold, where he was defeated by Olaf the Lap-king of Norway, Svend Tveskæg of Denmark, and Erik and Svend, sons of Hakon Jarl. The victors divided Norway between them.

Discovery and settlement of Greenland by Erik the Red (983). Vinland (America) seen by Bjarne, and visited by Leif and others, 986-1011. See p. 281.

Norway was again united under St. Olaf (II.) 1015–1030, in whose reign Christianity was introduced. Magnus the Good, son of Olaf (1035–1047), king of Denmark from 1012 to 1047. The Graagaas, or book of the law. Harald III., Hardrada, founded Opslo (Christiania), and fell at Stamford Bridge 1066 (p. 206). Magnus II. (10661069), Olaf (1069–1093), Magnus III. Barfod (1095-1103). Conquest of the Orkneys and Hebrides; of Dublin. Death of Magnus in Ireland.

§ 5. SPANISH PENINSULA.

756-1031. Caliphate of Cordova,

founded by the last Ommiade, Abd-er-Rahman (p. 183). Most brilliant period of the Moorish civilization, in the ninth and tenth centuries. Abd-er-Rahman III., Hakem II., Almazor, his general. The populous city of Cordova, the seat of science and arts. 1031. Dissolution of the caliphate of Cordova into a number of small states. The Morabethes or Almoravides (Yussuf), summoned from Mauretania, successfully opposed the Christians (1086), but made themselves masters of Mohammedan Spain.

Christian Kingdoms.

Asturia (Oviedo), since the conquest of the country as far as the Duero by Alfonso III. in the tenth century, called the kingdom of Leon, after the new residence, Leon.

Castile, so called from the castles erected against the Arabs, originally a county of Asturia.

Navarre, a border state in the Pyrenees: first a county under French supremacy, then independent. Sancho 1. assumed the title King of Navarre (905), and subjugated

Aragon, originally a Frankish county north of Navarre.

1000-1035. Sancho III. the Great, king of Navarre, and, by inheritance, king of Castile, divided at his death his kingdom among his three sons. As Leon and Castile were soon united, there existed henceforward three Christian kingdoms in Spain: 1, Castile-Leon; 2, Navarre; 3, Aragon. We must also reckon the county of Barcelona, which grew out of the Spanish mark of Charles the Great, and was independent after the time of Charles the Bald.

Wars of Ruy Diaz, called by the Arabs Cid, i. e. Lord (died 1099).

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§ 6. THE EAST.

Eastern Empire.

527-565. Justinian I., emperor of the East. Belisarius. Narses (p. 175).

Codification of the law in the form known as the corpus juris civilis (Tribonianus), comprising: 1. Institutiones. 2. Pandecta or Digesta. 3. Codex. 4. Novella, later additions.

Parties of the circus: Greens, Blues, Reds, and Whites. Bloody contests ("Nika," 532). The church of St. Sophia, built by Constantine (Hagia Sophia), burnt and rebuilt with great splendor.

Decline of the empire under Justinian's successors (cruelty, mutilations). A part of the Asiatic and African provinces conquered by the Persians and afterwards by the Arabs.

726-842. Contest over images. Image-breakers (eikovokλáσtai, iconoclasts) and image worshippers (eiкovodoûλo).

717-741. Leo the Isaurian. Image worship prohibited. 780-802. Irene, who out of love of power had her own son blinded, restored image worship. The accession of a woman to the imperial throne served as a pretext to legalize the transfer of the imperial crown from the East to the West. 842. Theodora fully restored image worship.

867-1057. Eastern emperors of the Macedonian line.

The empire, hard pressed by Arabs, Bulgarians, and Magyars. The emperors Nicephorus Phocas and John Zimisces, whom Theophano, widow of Romanus II. (died 962), placed on the throne, partially reconquered the provinces which the Arabs and Bulgarians had torn from the empire.

Caliphate of Bagdad under the Abbasides (750-1258). Immediately after the reigns of Haroun-al-Raschid and Mamun (p. 186), the power of the caliphs began to decline.

935. The Emir al Omra (i. e. prince of princes) received all the secular power; the caliph remained only spiritual head of the faithful.

1058. Seljuk Turks (Togrul Bey, Alp Arslan, Malek Shah) attained the dignity of Emir al Omra. Seljuk supremacy. 1092. The empire of the Seljuks separated into a number of small sultanates (Iran, Kerman, Aleppo, Damascus, Iconium or Roum).

India.

The early history is exceedingly uncertain, and the most important events are assigned dates differing from one another by over four centuries. The Guptas, who succeeded in power the Sahs of Suráshha (60 B. c.-235 A. d.), occupied Kanauj from 319 to about 470, when they were overthrown by Tatar invaders (Huns?), and the Valabhis, who dwelt in Cutch and the northern part of Bombay, were the principal power in India, 480–722.

Actual authentic history begins with the Arabic invasions. Sind was the first province to feel the Mohammedan attack. It was conquered in 711, but in 750 a general uprising expelled the victors. About 1000-1186. Supremacy of the Sultans of Ghazni.

The next great attack was made by a Turk, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, (in Kabul), who invaded India seventeen times, and conquered the country to the Ganges. The decisive struggle took place at Peshawar, where Mahmud was victorious. In 1024 famous expedition to Guzerat. Destruction of the idol pillar filled with jewels. (?) Mahmud was succeeded by fourteen rulers of his house, the last of whom, Bahram, was conquered by Allah-ud-din of Ghor. Bahram's son, Khusru, founded at Lahore the first Mohammedan dynasty in India proper.

1186-1206. Supremacy of the Afghans of Ghor.

In 1186, Khusru's son was made captive by Muhammed Ghori, after which the predominance exercised by the Turks of Ghazni passed into the hands of the Afghans of Ghor. Muhammed Ghori was killed in 1206.

China.

590-618. Dynasty of Suy, under whose energetic sway China was partially rescued from the confusion of the Three Kingdoms (p. 32).

618-907. Dynasty of Tang,

The

founded by the usurper, Le Yuen, who, as emperor, took the name of Kau-tsu. The first part of this period down to 718 was a brilliant time for China, and the Golden Age of literature. earlier rulers (Tai-tsung, 627–650; Kaou-tsung, 650–683; Woo How, 683-705, the wife of Kaou-tsung, who usurped the throne on her husband's death) were valiant warriors and wise rulers, who held the Tatars in check, recovered much of the former possessions of China in Central Asia, and raised the empire to a commanding position among other nations; 613, embassies from Persia and Constantinople in China.

From 718 the attacks of the Tatars increased in vehemence. From 763 to 780 their inroads were incessant.

Under Woo-tsung (841-817) temples were destroyed, monasteries and nunneries closed, and all foreign priests (Christian, Persian, Buddhist) banished. The reaction was, however, short-lived. Invention of printing.

907-960. Five dynasties (Later Leang, Later Tang, Later Tsin, Later Han, Later Chow) occupied the throne within this period, but the power of each was very limited. In Ho-nan, Sze-chuen, and other provinces independent states arose.

960-976. Chaou-kwang-yin, as emperor, Tai-tsoo, the founder

of the dynasty of the Later Sung, fought with success against the Khitan Tatars, who had occupied the whole of Manchuria, establishing there the empire of Hia. Succeeding emperors were less fortunate, and paid tribute to the Tatars (976-1101).