Cyrus Townsend Brady - "The Eagle of the Empire"

John Esten Cooke - "Mohun, or, The Last Days of Lee"

Sophie May - "Dotty Dimple at Her Grandmother's"

Virginia Bennett - "The Pigeon Tale"

Editorial
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

A General History for Colleges and High Schools

P >> P. V. N. Myers >> A General History for Colleges and High Schools




The intention of Pope Leo was, by a sort of reversal of the act of
Constantine, to bring back from the East the seat of the Imperial court;
but what he really accomplished was a restoration of the line of emperors
in the West, which 324 years before had been ended by Odoacer, when he
dethroned Romulus Augustus and sent the royal vestments to Constantinople
(see p. 348). We say this was what he actually effected; for the Greeks of
the East, disregarding wholly what the Roman people and the Pope had done,
maintained their line of emperors just as though nothing had occurred in
Italy. So now from this time on for centuries there were two emperors, one
in the East, and another in the West, each claiming to be the rightful
successor of Caesar Augustus. [Footnote: From this time on it will be
proper for us to use the terms _Western_ Empire and _Eastern_ Empire.
These names should not, however, be employed before this time, for the two
parts of the old Roman Empire were simply administrative divisions of a
single empire; we may though, properly enough, speak of the Roman empire
_in_ the West, and the Roman empire _in_ the East, or of the Western and
Eastern emperors. See Bryce's _Holy Roman Empire_. The Eastern Empire was
destroyed by the Turks in 1453; the line of Western Teutonic emperors was
maintained until the present century, when it was ended by the act of
Napoleon in the dismemberment of Germany (1806).]

CHARLEMAGNE'S DEATH; HIS WORK.--Charlemagne enjoyed the Imperial dignity
only fourteen years, dying in 814. Within the cathedral at Aachen, in a
tomb which he himself had built, the dead monarch was placed upon a
throne, with his royal robes around him, his good sword by his side, and
the Bible open on his lap. It seemed as though men could not believe that
his reign was over; and it was not.

By the almost universal verdict of students of the mediaeval period,
Charles the Great has been pronounced the most imposing personage that
appears between the fall of Rome and the fifteenth century. His greatness
has erected an enduring monument for itself in his name, the one by which
he is best known--Charlemagne.

Charlemagne must not be regarded as a warrior merely. His most noteworthy
work was that which he effected as a reformer and statesman. He founded
schools, reformed the laws, collected libraries, and extended to the
Church a patronage worthy of a Constantine. In a word, he laid "the
foundation of all that is noble and beautiful and useful in the history of
the Middle Ages."

DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE; TREATY OF VERDUN (843).--Like the kingdom of
Alexander, the mighty empire of Charlemagne fell to pieces soon after his
death. "His sceptre was the bow of Ulysses which could not be drawn by any
weaker hand." After a troublous period of dissension arid war, the empire
was divided, by the important Treaty of Verdun, among Charlemagne's three
grandchildren,--Charles, Lewis, and Lothair. To Charles was given France;
to Lewis, Germany; and to Lothair, Italy and the valley of the Rhone,
together with a narrow strip of land extending from Switzerland to the
mouth of the Rhine. With these possessions of Lothair went also the
Imperial title.

[Illustration: THE WESTERN EMPIRE As Divided at Verdun (843)]

This treaty is celebrated, not only because it was the first great treaty
among the European states, but also on account of its marking the
divergence from one another, and in some sense the origin, of three of the
great nations of modern Europe,--of France, Germany, and Italy.

CONCLUSION.--After this dismemberment of the dominions of Charlemagne, the
annals of the different branches of the Carolingian family become
intricate, wearisome, and uninstructive. A fate as dark and woeful as that
which, according to Grecian story, overhung the royal house of Thebes,
seemed to brood over the house of Charlemagne. In all its different lines
a strange and adverse destiny awaited the lineage of the great king. The
tenth century witnessed the extinction of the family.




CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE NORTHMEN.


THE PEOPLE.--Northmen, Norsemen, Scandinavians, are different names
applied in a general way to the early inhabitants of Denmark, Norway, and
Sweden. These people formed the northern branch of the Teutonic family. We
cannot be certain when they took possession of the northern peninsulas,
but it is probable that they had entered those countries long before Caesar
invaded Gaul.

THE NORTHMEN AS PIRATES AND COLONIZERS.--For the first eight centuries of
our era the Norsemen are hidden from our view in their remote northern
home; but with the opening of the ninth century their black piratical
crafts are to be seen creeping along all the coasts of Germany, Gaul, and
the British Isles, and even venturing far up their inlets and creeks.
Every summer these dreaded sea-rovers made swift descents upon the exposed
shores of these countries, plundering, burning, murdering; then upon the
approach of the stormy season, they returned to winter in the sheltered
fiords of the Scandinavian peninsula. After a time the bold corsairs began
to winter in the lands they had harried during the summer; and soon all
the shores of the countries visited were dotted with their stations or
settlements.

These marauding expeditions and colonizing enterprises of the Northmen did
not cease until the eleventh century was far advanced. The consequences of
this wonderful outpouring of the Scandinavian peoples were so important
and lasting that the movement has well been compared to the great
migration of their German kinsmen in the fifth and sixth centuries. Europe
is a second time inundated by the Teutonic barbarians.

The most noteworthy characteristic of these Northmen was the readiness
with which they laid aside their own manners, habits, ideas, and
institutions, and adopted those of the country in which they established
themselves. "In Russia they became Russians; in France, Frenchmen; in
England, Englishmen."

COLONIZATION OF ICELAND AND GREENLAND.--Iceland was settled by the
Northmen in the ninth century, [Footnote: Iceland became the literary
centre of the Scandinavian world. There grew up here a class of scalds, or
bards, who, before the introduction of writing, preserved and transmitted
orally the sagas, or legends, of the Northern races. About the twelfth
century these poems and legends were gathered into collections known as
the Elder, or poetic, Edda, and the Younger, or prose, Edda. These are
among the most interesting and important of the literary memorials that we
possess of the early Teutonic peoples. They reflect faithfully the
beliefs, manners, and customs of the Norsemen, and the wild, adventurous
spirit of their Sea-Kings.] and about a century later Greenland was
discovered and colonized. In 1874 the Icelanders celebrated the thousandth
anniversary of the settlement of their island, an event very like our
Centennial of 1876.

America was reached by the Northmen as early as the beginning of the
eleventh century: the Vineland of their traditions was possibly some part
of the New England coast. It is believed that these first visitors to the
continent made settlements in this new land; but no certain remains of
these exist.

THE NORSEMEN IN RUSSIA.--While the Norwegians were sailing boldly out into
the Atlantic and taking possession of the isles and coasts of the western
seas, the Swedes were pushing their crafts across the Baltic and troubling
the Slavonian tribes that dwelt upon the eastern shore of that sea. Either
by right of conquest or through the invitation of the contentious
Slavonian clans, the renowned Scandinavian chieftain Ruric acquired, in
the year 862, kingly dignity, and became the founder of the first royal
line of Russia, the successive kings of which family gradually
consolidated the monarchy which was destined to become one of the foremost
powers of Europe.

THE DANISH CONQUEST OF ENGLAND.--The Danes began to make descents upon the
English coast about the beginning of the ninth century. These sea-rovers
spread the greatest terror through the island; for they were not content
with plunder, but being pagans, they took special delight in burning the
churches and monasteries of the now Christian Anglo-Saxons, or English, as
we shall hereafter call them. After a time the Danes began to make
permanent settlements in the land. The wretched English were subjected to
exactly the same treatment that they had inflicted upon the Celts. Much
need had they to pray the petition of the Litany of those days, "From the
fury of the Northmen, Good Lord, deliver us." Just when it began to look
as though they would be entirely annihilated or driven from the island by
the barbarous intruders, the illustrious Alfred (871-901) came to the
throne of Wessex.

For six years the youthful king fought heroically at the head of his brave
thanes; but each succeeding year the possessions of the English grew
smaller, and finally Alfred and his few remaining followers were driven to
take refuge in the woods and morasses.

After a time, however, the affairs of the English began to brighten. The
Danes were overpowered, and though allowed to hold the northeastern half
of the land, still they were forced nominally to acknowledge the authority
of the English king.

For a full century following the death of Alfred, his successors were
engaged in a constant struggle to hold in subjection the Danes already
settled in the land, or to protect their domains from the plundering
inroads of fresh bands of pirates from the northern peninsulas. In the
end, the Danes got the mastery, and Canute, king of Denmark, became king
of England (1016). For eighteen years he reigned in a wise and parental
way.

Altogether the Danes ruled in England about a quarter of a century (from
1016 to 1042), and then the old English line was restored in the person of
Edward the Confessor.

The great benefit which resulted to England from the Danish conquest, was
the infusion of fresh blood into the veins of the English people, who
through contact with the half-Romanized Celts, and especially through the
enervating influence of a monastic church, had lost much of that bold,
masculine vigor which characterized their hardy ancestors.

SETTLEMENT OF THE NORTHMEN IN GAUL.--The Northmen began to make piratical
descents upon the coasts of Gaul before the end of the reign of
Charlemagne. Tradition tells how the great king, catching sight one day of
some ships of the Northmen, burst into tears as he reflected on the
sufferings that he foresaw the new foe would entail upon his country.

The record of the raids of the Northmen in Gaul, and of their final
settlement in the north of the country, is simply a repetition of the tale
of the Danish forays and settlement in England. At last, in the year 918,
Charles the Simple did exactly what Alfred the Great had done across the
Channel only a very short time before. He granted the adventurous Rollo,
the leader of the Northmen that had settled at Rouen, a considerable
section of country in the north-west of Gaul, upon condition of homage and
conversion.

In a short time the barbarians had adopted the language, the manners, and
the religion of the French, and had caught much of their vivacity and
impulsiveness of spirit, without, however, any loss of their own native
virtues. This transformation in their manners and life we may conceive as
being recorded in their transformed name--_Northmen_ becoming softened
into _Norman_. As has been said, they were simply changed from heathen
Vikings, delighting in the wild life of sea-rover and pirate, into
Christian knights, eager for pilgrimages and crusades.




CHAPTER XXXIX.

RISE OF THE PAPAL POWER.


INTRODUCTION.--In an early chapter of our book we told how Christianity as
a system of beliefs and precepts took possession of the different nations
and tribes of Europe. We purpose in the present chapter to tell how the
Christian Church grew into a great spiritual monarchy, with the bishop of
Rome as its head.

It must be borne in mind that the bishops of Rome put forth a double
claim, namely, that they were the supreme head of the Church, and also the
rightful, divinely appointed suzerain of all temporal princes, the
"earthly king of kings." Their claim to supremacy in all spiritual matters
was very generally acknowledged throughout at least the West as early as
the sixth century, and continued to be respected by almost every one until
the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, when the nations of
Northern Europe revolted, denied the spiritual authority of the Pope, and
separated themselves from the ancient ecclesiastical empire.

The papal claim to supremacy in temporal affairs was never fully and
willingly allowed by the secular rulers of Europe; yet during a
considerable part of the Middle Ages, particularly throughout the
thirteenth century, the Pope was very generally acknowledged by kings and
princes as their superior and suzerain in temporal as well as in spiritual
matters.

EARLY ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH.--The Christian Church very early in its
history became an organized body, with a regular gradation of officers,
such as presbyters, bishops, metropolitans or archbishops, and patriarchs.
There were at first four regular patriarchates, that is, districts
superintended by patriarchs. These centred in the great cities of Rome,
Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch. Jerusalem was also made an
honorary patriarchate.

PRIMACY OF THE BISHOP OF ROME.--It is maintained by some that the
patriarchs at first had equal and coordinate powers; that is, that no one
of the patriarchs had preeminence or authority over the others. But others
assert that the bishop of Rome from the very first was regarded as above
the others in dignity and authority, and as the divinely appointed head of
the visible Church on earth.

However this may be, the pontiffs of Rome began very early to _claim_
supremacy over all other bishops and patriarchs. This claim of the Roman
pontiffs was based on several alleged grounds, the chief of which was that
the Church at Rome had been founded by St. Peter himself, the first bishop
of that capital, to whom Christ had given the keys of the kingdom of
heaven, and had further invested with superlative authority as a teacher
and interpreter of the Word by the commission, "Feed my Sheep;... feed my
Lambs," thus giving into his charge the entire flock of the Church. This
authority and preeminence conferred by the great Head of the Church upon
Peter was held to be transmitted to his successor in the holy office.

ADVANTAGE TO THE ROMAN BISHOPS OF THE MISFORTUNES OF THE EMPIRE.--The
claims of the Roman bishops were greatly favored from the very first by
the spell in which the world was held by the name and prestige of imperial
Rome. Thence it had been accustomed to receive its commands in all
temporal matters; how very natural, then, that thither it should turn for
command and guidance in spiritual affairs. The Roman bishops in thus
occupying the geographical and political centre of the world enjoyed a
great advantage over all other bishops and patriarchs.

Nor was this advantage lost when misfortune befell the imperial city. Thus
the removal by Constantine the Great of the seat of government to the
Bosporus (see p. 332), instead of diminishing the power and dignity of the
Roman bishops, tended powerfully to promote their claims and authority. In
the phrase of Dante, it "gave the Shepherd room." It left the pontiff the
foremost personage of Rome.

Again, when the barbarians came, there came another occasion for the Roman
bishops to increase their influence, and to raise themselves to a position
of absolute supremacy throughout the West. Rome's extremity was their
opportunity. Thus it will be recalled how, mainly through the intercession
of Leo the Great, the fierce Attila was persuaded to turn back and leave
Rome unpillaged; and how, through the intercession of the same pious
bishop, the savage Genseric was prevailed upon to spare the lives of the
inhabitants of the city at the time of its sack by the Vandals (see pp.
346, 347). So when the emperors, the natural defenders of the capital,
were unable to protect it, the unarmed pastor was able, through the awe
and reverence inspired by his holy office, to render services that could
not but result in bringing increased honor and dignity to the Roman See.

But if the misfortunes of Rome tended to the enhancement of the reputation
and influence of the Roman bishops, much more did the final downfall of
the capital tend to the same end. Upon the surrender of the sovereignty of
the West into the hands of the emperor of the East, the bishops of Rome
became the most important persons in Western Europe, and being so far
removed from the court at Constantinople, gradually assumed almost
imperial powers. They became the arbiters between the barbarian chiefs and
the Italians, and to them were referred for decision the disputes arising
between cities, states, and kings. It is easy to understand how directly
and powerfully these things tended to strengthen the authority and
increase the influence of the Roman See.

THE MISSIONS OF ROME.--Again, the early missionary zeal of the church at
Rome made her the mother of many churches, all of whom looked up to her
with affectionate and grateful loyalty. Thus the Angles and Saxons, won to
the faith by the missionaries of Rome, conceived a deep veneration for the
Holy See and became her most devoted children. To Rome it was that they
made their most frequent pilgrimages, and thither they sent their offering
of "St. Peter's penny." And when the Saxons became missionaries to their
pagan kinsmen of the continent, they transplanted into the heart of
Germany these same feelings of filial attachment and love. Thus was Rome
exalted in the eyes of the children of the churches of the West, until
Gregory II. (715-731), writing the Eastern emperor, could say that to
these peoples the very statue of the founder of the Roman church seemed "a
god on earth."

THE ICONOCLASTS.--The dispute about the worship of images, known in church
history as the Iconoclastic controversy, which broke out in the eighth
century between the Greek churches of the East and the Latin churches of
the West, drew after it far-reaching consequences as respects the growing
power of the Roman pontiffs.

Even long before the seventh century, the churches both in the East and in
the West had become crowded with images or pictures of the apostles,
saints, and martyrs, which to the ignorant classes at least were objects
of adoration and worship. A strong party opposed to the use of images
[Footnote: The so-called images of the Greek Church were not statues, but
mosaics, or paintings. The Eastern Church has at no period sanctioned the
use of sculptures in worship.] at last arose in the East. These reformers
were given the name of Iconoclasts (image-breakers).

Leo the Isaurian, who came to the throne of Constantinople in 717, was a
most zealous Iconoclast. The Greek churches of the East having been
cleared of images, the emperor resolved to clear also the Latin churches
of the West of these symbols. To this end he issued a decree that they
should not be used.

The bishop of Rome not only opposed the execution of the edict, but by the
ban of excommunication cut off the emperor and all the iconoclastic
churches of the East from communion with the true Catholic Church. Though
images were permanently restored in the Eastern churches in 842, still by
this time other causes of alienation had arisen, and the breach between
the two sections of Christendom could not now be closed. The final outcome
was the permanent separation, about the middle of the eleventh century, of
the churches of the East from those of the West. The former became known
as the Greek, Byzantine, or Eastern Church; the latter as the Latin,
Roman, or Catholic Church.

The East was thus lost to the Roman See. But the loss was more than made
good by fresh accessions of power in the West. In this quarrel with the
Eastern emperors the Roman bishops cast about for an alliance with some
powerful Western prince. We have already told the story of the friendship
of the Carolingian kings and the Roman pontiffs, and of the favors they
exchanged (see ch. xxxvii). Never did friends render themselves more
serviceable to each other. The Popes made the descendants of Charles
Martel kings and emperors; the grateful Frankish princes defended the
Popes against all their enemies, imperial and barbarian, and dowering them
with cities and provinces, laid the basis of their temporal sovereignty,
which continued for more than a thousand years (until 1870).

ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION: APPEALS TO ROME.--Charlemagne had recognized
the principle, held from early times by the Church, that ecclesiastics
should be amenable only to the ecclesiastical tribunals, by freeing the
whole body of the clergy from the jurisdiction of the temporal courts, in
criminal as well as civil cases. Gradually the bishops acquired the right
to try all cases relating to marriage, trusts, perjury, simony, or
concerning widows, orphans, or crusaders, on the ground that such cases
had to do with religion. Even the right to try all criminal cases was
claimed on the ground that all crime is sin, and hence can properly be
dealt with only by the Church. Persons convicted by the ecclesiastical
tribunals were subjected to penance, imprisoned in the monasteries, or
handed over to the civil authorities for punishment.

Thus by the end of the twelfth century the Church had absorbed, not only
the whole criminal administration of the clergy, but in part that of the
laity also. [Footnote: Hallam, _Middle Ages_, ch. vii.] Now the particular
feature of this enormous extension of the jurisdiction of the Church
tribunals which at present it especially concerns us to notice, is the
establishment of the principle that all cases might be appealed or cited
from the courts of the bishops and archbishops of the different European
countries to the Papal See, which thus became the court of last resort in
all cases affecting ecclesiastics or concerning religion. The Pope thus
came to be regarded as the fountain of justice, and, in theory at least,
the supreme judge of Christendom, while emperors and kings and all civil
magistrates bore the sword simply as his ministers to carry into effect
his sentences and decrees.

THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE.--We must now speak of the relation of the Popes
to the Emperors. About the middle of the tenth century Otto the Great of
Germany, like a second Charlemagne, restored once more the fallen Imperial
power, which now became known as the Holy Roman Empire, the heads of which
from this on were the German kings (see p. 502). Here now were two world-
powers, the Empire and the Papacy, whose claims and ambitions were
practically antagonistic and irreconcilable.

There were three different theories of the divinely constituted relation
of the "World-King" and the "World-Priest." The first was that Pope and
Emperor were each independently commissioned by God, the first to rule the
spirits of men, the second to rule their bodies. Each reigning thus by
original divine right, neither is set above the other, but both are to
cooperate and to help each other. The special duty of the temporal power
is to maintain order in the world and to be the protector of the Church.

The second theory, the one held by the Imperial party, was that the
Emperor was superior to the Pope. Arguments from Scripture and from the
transactions of history were not wanting to support this view of the
relation of the two world-powers. Thus Christ's payment of tribute money
was cited as proof that he regarded the temporal power as superior to the
spiritual; and again, his submission to the jurisdiction of the Roman
tribunal was held to be a recognition on his part of the supremacy of the
civil authority. Further, the gifts of Pepin and Charlemagne to the Roman
See made the Popes, it was maintained, the vassals of the Emperors.

The third theory, the one held by the Papal party, maintained that the
ordained relation of the two powers was the subordination of the temporal
to the spiritual authority. This view was maintained by such texts of
Scripture as these: "But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he
himself is judged of no man;" [Footnote: 1 Cor. ii. 15.] "See, I have this
day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to
pull down, and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant."
[Footnote: Jer. i. 10.] The conception was further illustrated by such
comparisons as the following. As God has set in the heavens two lights,
the sun and the moon, so has he established on earth two powers, the
spiritual and the temporal; but as the moon is inferior to the sun and
receives its light from it, so is the Emperor inferior to the Pope and
receives all power from him. Again, the two authorities were likened to
the soul and body; as the former rules over the latter, so is it ordered
that the spiritual power shall rule over and subject the temporal.

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