CONTEMPORARY FOREIGN EVENTS.

FIFTH CENTURY.

1. 451.-Attila the Hun (who had overrun Thessaly in 447) invaded Gaul, and was defeated at Chalons by the Romans and Theodoric the Visi-goth.

2. 455.-Genseric the Vandal (see 406) crossed over from Africa, with an army of Vandals and Moors, and sacked Rome.

3. 476.-Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman Emperor, yielded to Odoacer, a Visi-gothic chief, who was then proclaimed King of Italy. The Roman Senate at the same time decreed that the Eastern Emperor, Zeno, should be recognized as head of the Western Empire also. These events mark the extinction of the Western Empire, and the close of Ancient History, properly so called.

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4. 485.-Clovis, the chief of the Franks, defeated the Romans, Burgundians, and Visi-goths, at Soissons (60 miles north-east of Paris). The name Clovis " was, in Old German, Chlodwig; which became, in Modern German, Ludwig; in French, Louis; and in English, Lewis. 5. 489.-Theodoric, King of the Ostro-goths, defeated and slew Odoacer, Visi-gothic King of Italy; and founded the Ostro-gothic kingdom in Italy in 493. He had become King of the Ostro-goths in 475, and had been appointed General by the Emperor of the East in 481.

QUESTIONS.-1. When did the Huns invade Gaul? Who was their leader? Where was he defeated? By whom?2. Who was Genseric? What did he do in 455?-3. When was the Roman Empire overthrown? By whom? What title did Odoacer receive? What de

cree did the Roman Senate then pass? What do these events mark?-4. The date of the Battle of Soissons? Who won? Who were defeated?-5. By whom was the Visi-gothic kingdom in Italy overthrown? What kingdom was then founded?

SIXTH CENTURY.

1. 510.-Clovis, King of the Franks, removed his capital from Tours to Paris. Clovis was the founder of the Merovingian dynasty in France; so called from his grandfather, Merwig, or Merovaeus. On the death of Clovis (511), his kingdom was divided among his four

sons.

2. 527.-Justinian was crowned Emperor of the East. His name is memorable for the comprehensive system of laws which he promulgated between 528 and 534.

3. 533.-Belisarius, the great general of Justinian, overthrew the Vandal King in the north of Africa. Among the spoils with which he returned were the vessels of the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem carried to Rome by Titus on the taking of Jerusalem (A.D. 70). They had been taken to Carthage by Genseric when he sacked Rome (455). They were now placed in the Christian church at Jerusalem.

4. 536.-Belisarius invaded Italy, and defeated the Ostro-goths, seiz

ing Rome, Naples, and Sicily. He repelled a Gothic attack on Rome in 539, and subsequently subdued all Italy. A few years later Belisarius was disgraced for alleged treason against the Emperor. He was again sent to Italy in 544, to resist the Goths. He returned to the East in 548. Slander again overtook him (559), and he is said to have spent the evening of his days blind, poor, and in disgrace.

5. 555.—Narses, the rival and successor of Belisarius, overthrew the Ostro-gothic kingdom in Italy. Italy became, for a time, a province of the Eastern Empire, governed by Narses as Exarch of Ravenna.

6. 568.-The Longobards, or Lombards (long spears), northern barbarians, joined by the Avars, a tribe of archers, conquered the north of Italy, and for two centuries divided with the Exarchs of Ravenna the sovereignty of the Peninsula.

7. 568. The foundations of the Venetian Republic were laid by refugees from cities of Northern Italy which had been sacked by the Lombards. The marshy lagoons at the head of the Adriatic had already been partially colonized in 451, when Attila and his Huns swept over Italy, and destroyed many of the northern cities.

QUESTIONS.-1. Who made Paris | Belisarius make? Why was he disthe capital of the kingdom of the graced? Give his subsequent history. Franks? When? What dynasty did-5. By whom was the Ostro-gothic he found? What change was made at his death? 2. For what is Justinian famous? When was he crowned? 3. Who was his great general? Whom did he conquer in 533? What spoils did he carry with him? Give their history.-4. What further conquest did

kingdom in Italy overthrown? What did Italy then become? Governed by whom?-6. Who conquered Northern Italy in 568? How long did they and the Exarchs of Ravenna rule Italy?— 7. By whom were the foundations of the Venetian Republic laid? When?

CHAPTER II.

CHRISTIANITY IN ENGLAND.

1. Early Apostles of Christianity in 5. Gregory and the English Slaves. Britain.

2. Columba and Augustine.

3. Bertha and Bishop Liudhard.

4. Ethelbert's Letter to Gregory the Great.

6. Arrival of the Missionaries.

7. Their Public Reception.

8. Augustine first Archbishop of Can

terbury.

9. Paulinus first Archbishop of York.

1. It was not long until the great spiritual power, which grew on the ruins of Pagan Rome, stretched out its branches toward the British Isles. Pope Celestine sent Palladius in 430 A.D., and St. Patrick two years later, to convert the Scots in Ireland. Ninian and Kentigern laboured during the fifth and sixth centuries in the south-west of Scotland.

430

A.D.

563 A.D.

Columba of Donegal, a man of noble birth and remarkable qualities, landed with twelve monks on the Scottish coast in 563, bent on the conversion of the Picts. These, however, can hardly be regarded as Papal missionaries. Settling in Iona, a bare little island off the lower horn of Mull, Columba, the Apostle of Scotland, established there a school of teachers and preachers, who did more true missionary work in Scotland and Northumbria during those dark times than any other class of men.

2. Columba was a missionary in the true sense. Augustine was a shrewd, clever, worldly priest, who came as an ambassador from Rome at the bidding of Gregory the Great, to plant the Papal power on the shores of Britain. It is a mistake to call the landing of Augustine the introduction of Christianity into England. It was only the introduction of the authority of the Church of Rome. Christianity was there before; and its lamp was shining, though with faint and fitful gleams, by many a humble hearth, far away among the mountains of Wales.

3. Æthelbert, an Aesking1 of Kent, had married Bertha (Bercta), daughter of the Frankish King of Paris, who was a professed Christian. Within a church at Canterbury the chaplain of this lady, Bishop Liudhard, who had come with her from Gaul, held a regular Christian service, to which curiosity, rather than any deeper motive, attracted many of the Kentish people. Æthelbert went on worshipping his idols, Thor and Odin, for fully thirty years after his marriage; but he must in the meantime have grown familiar with some of the doctrines preached in that little chapel of St. Martin. The ground was therefore somewhat broken for the operations of Augustine and his monks.

4. A letter from Ethelbert to Gregory, requesting a mission to Britain, was the first move in this important transaction. The gentle words of Bertha, dropping continually on the Aesking's ear, had wrought out this result; and the Frankish chaplain was in all likelihood the scribe on the occasion.

1

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Aesking. Meaning "" son of the | who was called Aesc, or the ash-tree." ash-tree," was derived from the sur- The termination -ing is the Old English name of Eoric of Kent, Hengest's son, suffix meaning "son of."

Gladly Gregory responded to the call; for his active mind had been long ago attracted by the distant isle, in the hope of winning over it a victory more enduring than the triumphs of the Caesars.

5. He had once seen some English slaves on view in the Roman market, where their blue eyes, yellow hair, and fair complexion contrasted strongly with the dark locks and swarthy cheeks of Southern captives. On inquiring who and whence they were, his fancy was struck by the scriptural significance of the answers he received. Angles!" he exclaimed, "not Angles, but angels." "From Deira? Then they shall be de ira eruti,-snatched from wrath." "Name of their king Ælla! That is Alleluiah." Some such youths he had collected with the design of training them for a mission to England; but the project failed. The arrival of Æthelbert's letter filled his heart with joy. Selecting for the work Augustine, the prior of the convent to which he had himself belonged, he despatched that priest with forty monks to the distant shores of Kent.

6. These men, frightened by the accounts they received of the islanders, lingered in Gaul, and sent back their leader to beg for a recall. But Gregory had willed it; they must go on. Accompanied, therefore, by Frankish bishops, whose language was not unlike that of the men of Kent, they crossed the sea, and wondered to find themselves in a fair and smiling land. A message from Ethelbert reassured them yet more. Bidding them welcome, and thanking them for having come so far to do him good, he said that they might remain as long as they pleased. He then agreed to give the foreign monks an audience in the open air, in sight of the assembled men of Kent.

597

A.D.

7. The meeting must have been an impressive scene. Somewhere in the island of Thanet a double throne was set up in the open air. When the King and Queen had ascended their royal chairs, sounds of sacred music were heard in the distance. The rough Jutes stood around in silent awe. Nearer came the song, and the words of Latin psalms and litanies, chanted by the voices of the monks, grew distinct as the procession advanced. Dressed in gorgeous robes of silk and gold, with a picture of the Saviour carried aloft, and a silver crucifix flashing in every

hand, the monks reached the foot of the throne. Augustine spoke through his Frankish friends, setting forth the blessings

AUGUSTINE PREACHING BEFORE ETHELBERT.

and hopes that flowed from the faith he professed. The answer of the King was cautious; but the delighted face of Queen Bertha sufficiently rewarded the missionaries for their toils and fears. Before long, Augustine sent a letter to Gregory announcing the baptism of the Kentish King, and the conversion of ten thousand Jutes!

8. Augustine, appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, entered with zeal on the duties of his see. His grand object was to bend every man in Britain beneath Roman sway. He held a conference with the simple priests of the Cymri; but they resented the arrogance of the foreign monk, who desired to thrust on them the tenets of a distant city and an unknown man, and refused obedience to the Pope. A second meeting had the same result. Repelled by Augustine's crafty proposals, but undaunted by his violent threats, they broke off the conference, and went back to their mountains.

9. About twenty years after the arrival of Augustine, Æthel