View of the State of Europe During the Middle Ages, Volume 1 |
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afterwards Alfonso ancient appear Aragon authority barons became benefices bishops Burgundy Cange Castile century Charlemagne Charles Charles the Bald Charles VII charter church civil clergy conquest consent constitution cortes council count court crown crusade death dominions Du Cange duke duke of Burgundy ecclesiastical election emperor empire enemies England established Europe favour feudal fief Florence Frederic French Germany Ghibelin granted Gregory Guelf Guienne Henry Henry II Hist historians imperial Italian Italy jurisdiction king of Aragon king of France kingdom Languedoc liberty Lombard lord Louis magistrates ment Milan monarchy Muratori Naples nobility nobles Ordonnances Otho papal party perhaps Philip Philip Augustus Philip the Fair pope possessed princes principal privileges provinces reign republic Roman Rome royal Schmidt seems Sismondi sovereign sovereignty spirit succession temporal tenure territory tion towns treaty usurpation vassals Velly Venice Villani Villaret writers Zurita
Popular passages
Page 366 - Many churches possessed seven or eight thousand mansi ; one with but two thousand passed for only indifferently rich. But it must be remarked, that many of these donations are of lands uncultivated and unappropriated. The monasteries acquired legitimate riches by the culture of these deserted tracts, and by the prudent management of their revenues, which were less exposed to the ordinary means of dissipation than those of the laity. Their wealth, continually accumulated, enabled them to become the...
Page 105 - We lose a good deal of our sympathy with the spirit of freedom in Greece and Rome, when the importunate recollection occurs to us, of the tasks which might be enjoined, and the punishments which might be inflicted, without control either of law or opinion, by the keenest patriots of the Comitia, or the Council of Five Thousand.
Page 405 - The noonday of papal dominion extends from the pontificate of Innocent III. inclusively to that of Boniface VIII. ; or, in other words, through the thirteenth century. Rome inspired during this age all the terror of her ancient name. She was once more the mistress of the world, and kings were her vassals.
Page 153 - But in the French wars of Edward III., the whole, I think, of his army served for pay, and was raised by contract with men of rank and influence, who received wages for every soldier according to his station and the arms he bore. The rate of pay was so remarkably high, that, unless we imagine a vast profit to have been intended for the contractors, the private lancers and even archers must have been chiefly taken from the middling classes, the smaller gentry, or rich yeomanry, of...
Page 202 - Disorders of every kind, tumult and robbery, prevailed in the streets. The Roman nobility were engaged in perpetual war with each other. Not content with their own fortified palaces, they turned the sacred monuments of antiquity into strongholds, and consummated the destruction of time and conquest. At no period has the city endured such irreparable injuries ; nor was the downfall of the western empire so fatal to its capital, as the contemptible feuds of the Orsini and Colonna families. Whatever...
Page 348 - O prophet, I am the man : whosoever rises against thee, I will dash out his teeth, tear out his eyes, break his legs, rip up his belly. O prophet, I will be thy vizir over them.
Page 205 - Florentine polity was a division of the citizens exercising commerce into their several companies or arts. These were at first twelve, seven called the greater arts, and five lesser ; but the latter were gradually increased to fourteen. The seven greater arts were those of lawyers and notaries, of dealers in foreign cloth, called sometimes Calimala, of bankers or money-changers, of woollen drapers, of physicians and druggists, of dealers in silk, and of furriers.
Page 234 - AD] judicature, not only from the investigation of treasonable charges but of several other crimes of magnitude, they inquired, they judged, they punished, according to what they called reason of state. The public eye never penetrated the mystery of their proceedings ; the accused...
Page 156 - ... characteristic than others, they were falsehood, treachery, and ingratitude. In slowly purging off the lees of this extreme corruption, the feudal spirit exerted its ameliorating influence. Violation of faith stood first in the catalogue of crimes, most repugnant to the very essence of a feudal tenure, most severely and promptly avenged, most branded by general infamy. The feudal lawbooks breathe throughout a spirit of honourable obligation.
Page 82 - During the tenth and eleventh centuries it appears that alodial lands in France had chiefly become feudal : that is, they had been surrendered by their proprietors, and received back again upon the feudal conditions ; or more frequently, perhaps, the owner had been compelled to acknowledge himself the man or vassal of a suzerain, and thus to confess an original grant which had never existed (1).