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verned by the Catapan of the eastern emperors: the republics of Amalfi and Naples acknowledged their supremacy; and Salerno and Capua were under their own princes.

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When the Carlovingian princes had lost their power, the dukes of Spoleto and Friuli contended for the kingdom of Italy. Berenger of Friuli governed with the title of king, but amidst continual factions, for thirtysix years. His adversaries called in Rudolf II., king of Burgundy. In a battle Berenger defeated him; but in the pursuit, Boniface of Spoleto, Rudolf's nephew, 923. fell on him; and Rudolf turning, Berenger was defeated, and soon after murdered. Rudolf was now made king of Italy, but did not long enjoy his crown. Hugh, count of Provence, who had driven the grandson of Boson out of the kingdom of Arles, laid claim to Italy; and, supported by the clergy and the great, he forced Rudolf to resign, and accept a part of the kingdom of 926. Arles in exchange. Hugh reigned over and oppressed the nobles of Italy sixteen years. Berenger II., of the house of Ivrea, succeeded, and was nearly as tyrannical; and, as we have seen, the aid of Otho the Great was invoked against his oppression, and the German monarchs 945. became kings of Italy.

The dukes of Spoleto and Tuscany generally directed the election of the popes. Virtue and piety were little considered in the candidates: political motives and female influence decided each election. The infamous Theodora and her daughter Marozia disposed of the chair of St. Peter at their pleasure: mere boys were chosen sons succeeded their fathers: scandalous vices disgraced the heads of the church; and some suffered shameful deaths. Among the charges against John XII. were his having drunk the health of the devil, invoked Venus, emasculated a bishop, and slept with his father's concubine.

The duchy of Benevento had been greatly diminished by the formation of the states of Salerno and Capua; and at this time the Normans established themselves at

A. D.

828.

Aversa, a town given to them by the duke of Naples.
The Saracens possessed Sicily, and had settlements in
Calabria.

England.

Egbert had united all England under one sceptre; and, internal warfare being thus checked, the country might have advanced in civilisation and the arts of peace; but 832. the Danes now began to visit the coasts with large fleets, carrying havoc and desolation wherever they appeared. The reigns of his successors are chiefly marked by their 871. struggles with these formidable foes. When Alfred mounted the throne, they were masters of the greater part of England. This monarch, one of the ablest that ever adorned a diadem, spent a great part of his reign in doubtful conflict with them, which ended by the Danes embracing Christianity, and Alfred ceding to them Northumbria and East Anglia. Peace being restored, the wise king turned all his thoughts to the formation of such institutions and regulations as might increase the power, the wealth, and the civilisation of his subjects. He established schools, regulated the police, built ships of war, and encouraged trade and navigation. Three able princes, Edward, Athelstan, and Edmund, pursued the victories of Alfred: under them the monarchy became co-extensive with the present England; and Edgar the Peaceable was the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kings.

The Danes still continued their hostilities. The successors of Edgar were feeble, the great subjects intractable, the Danes in the kingdom numerous: the custom was introduced of buying them off, and then of employing the Normans against them. In the reign of Ethelred II. the savage and fatal measure of murdering the Danes throughout England was adopted. Filled with rage at this base treachery, Sueno, king of Denmark, invaded and conquered the kingdom. His son Canute (Knut) was king of both Denmark and England, and he is justly placed in the list of great princes.

He was succeeded by his sons Hardicanute and Harold. On the death of the last, the English nation returned to the Anglo-Saxon line, in the person of Edward, surnamed the Confessor, an amiable but feeble prince.

An injudicious practice had been introduced of giving the government of large provinces, the former kingdoms, to particular noblemen. Hitherto each shire had been governed by its alderman, and the moderate size of a shire prevented its governor acquiring any very formidable power. But a man who wielded the forces of such a state as Mercia or Wessex, might easily defy his sovereign. Godwin, a man of ability, had gained for himself and his sons the government of several provinces; and on the death of Edward, his son Harold, a man of many noble qualities, had himself chosen king by the Witena-gemot, or great council of the nation, to the exclusion of the lawful heir. He was opposed by his own brother Tosti, by the king of Norway, and by a still more formidable rival, William duke of Normandy. The former two he vanquished: in the battle of Hastings he lost to the latter both life and crown.

Russia.

Russia under her Scandinavian princes became known to Europe. The Russians appeared at Constantinople at first as traders, exchanging the furs, hides, bees'-wax and honey of the North for the productions and manufactures of the empire. Their cupidity was excited, and they sought to take by force the wealth of which they got but scanty supplies by trade. Their fleets repeatedly assailed Constantinople, and their armies invaded the empire and Bulgaria. Nicephorus fought in vain against them, but the heroic John Zimisces vindicated the honour of the empire and the wrongs of Bulgaria, and the Russian grand duke Svatoslof and his army, surrounded by A. D. the galleys and the legions, was forced to surrender, and 973. retire on honourable terms.

Olga, the mother of Svatoslof, a princess of mind as 955. masculine as the Catherines or Elizabeths, had come to

Constantinople and received baptism.

At Kiov and
Her grand-

A. D. Novogorod she persisted in her new faith. 980. son Vladimir, at first a zealous votary of the gods of his country, at length embraced the religion of his grandmother, and a marriage with Anna, sister of Theophano, wife of Otho II., confirmed him in his new faith. Olga had sought to improve her country: she made roads, built bridges, and introduced social order. Vladimir erected schools, opened new sources of trade, had relations with foreign courts, was active in the introduction of the Christian religion, -was, in fact, the Peter of the tenth century.

1015.

829.

842.

Yaroslof, son of Vladimir, was the legislator of Russia. He caused books to be translated from the Greek. He was the ally of the German emperors against the Hungarians, and his daughter Anna was married to Henry I. of France. Alexius Comnenus, the Byzantine emperor, sent the imperial insignia to the grandson of Yaroslof, Vladimir Monomachus, and Kiov swore always to choose the Tsar from his house.

Constantinople.

Theophilus, son of Michael the Stammerer, was a virtuous prince, and an enemy to the images. On his death his widow Theodora, like Irene, during the minority of her son Michael III. finally re-established them. Michael was a weak prince; but his uncle Cæsar Bardas adminis867. tered the empire with prudence and ability. Basilius murdered them both, and mounted the throne. His 886. government was vigorous and active. His son Leo fol911. lowed his maxims. The sceptre passed to the infant son of Leo, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, under whose name first his uncle Alexander and then his mother Zoe go919. verned. By perjury Romanus Lacopenus obtained the direction of affairs; but he guided them with ability. Constantine, apparently devoted to books and wine, managed to deprive Romanus of his power, and became 959. sole ruler. Romanus II. reigned after him with little credit.

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Nicephorus Phocas distinguished himself in war against the Persians, the Saracens of Crete, and the Russians. His successor, John Zimisces, was the conqueror 969. of the Russian duke Svatoslof. The sons of Romanus II., Basil II. and Constantine VIII., reigned in conjunction, 975. with reputation. Basil completely broke the power of the Bulgarians, and dying after a reign of fifty years, left the sole dominion to his brother, who left it to his 1025 daughter Zoe and her husband, the patrician Romanus Argyrus, a man of some ability. Romanus was unfor- 1028. tunate in a battle against the Saracens at Aleppo. The empress fell in love with a handsome youth. Romanus 1034. was murdered, and her favourite raised to the throne under the name of Michael IV.; but, goaded by remorse, he abandoned the palace to shut himself up in a convent. The empress then placed his cousin Michael Calaphates 1041. on the throne. Finding him disobedient to her will, she dethroned and blinded him, and then gave the dignity to Constantine Monomachus, who had been her first love, 1042. who governed with order and regularity. On his death, 1054. Theodora, the sister of Zoe (now dead) seized the reins of government, and held them for a short time with no steady hand. With her ended the dynasty of Basil I., 1056. which had occupied the throne nearly two centuries. Michael VI., a soldier, was chosen emperor, and gave one among the many examples there are of the unfitness of a man for the supreme station who may have been distinguished in an inferior one. He was dethroned, and Isaac Comnenus put in his place. Isaac ruled with wis- 1057. dom, vigour, and justice; but bodily infirmity made him retire after a short reign. Constantine Ducas, his suc- 1059. cessor, was just, but no soldier. His widow married 1068. and raised to the throne Romanus Diogenes, a man of noble mind and military talent. He warred against the Seljookian Turks; but by the treachery of his nobles he fell into the hands of the sultan Alp Arslan, by whom he was honourably treated and set at liberty. On his return he found treachery, revolt, and murder awaiting him. Michael VII., the son of Ducas, was weak and 1071.

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