History of Civilization in England, Vol. 1 of 3

469

The Javanese civilization is examined at great length by William Humboldt, in his celebrated work, Ueber die Kawi Sprache, Berlin, 1836. From the evidence supplied by some early Chinese writings, which have only recently been published, there are good grounds for believing that the Indian Colonies were established in Java in the first century after Christ. See Wilson on the Foe Kue Ki, in Journal of Asiat. Soc. vol. v. p. 137; compare vol. vi. p. 320.

470

Crawfurd's Hist. of the Indian Archipelago, vol. ii. p. 297. Compare with this the exactness with which, even in the island of Celebes, the dates were preserved ‘before the introduction of Mahomedanism.’ Crawfurd, vol. i. p. 306. For similar Footnote: instances of royal genealogies being obscured by the introduction into them of the names of gods, see Kemble's Saxons in England, vol. i. pp. 27, 335.

471

Asiatic Researches, vol. x. p. 191, vol. xiii. p. 128. In the Appendix to Raffles' Hist. of Java, vol. ii. p. cxlii., it is said, that ‘in Bali not more than one in two hundred, if so many, are Mahomedans.’ See also p. 65, and vol. i. p. 530.

472

Indeed, the Javanese appear to have no other means of acquiring the old Kawi traditions than by learning them from natives of Bali. See note to an Essay on the Island of Bali, in Asiatic Researches, vol. xiii. p. 162, Calcutta, 1820, 4to. Sir Stamford Raffles (Hist. of Java, vol. i. p. 400) says, ‘It is chiefly to Bali that we must look for illustrations of the ancient state of the Javans.’ See also p. 414.

473

Respecting the corruption of Druidical traditions in Gaul by Christian priests, see Villemarqué, Chants Populaires de la Bretagne, Paris, 1846, vol. i. pp. xviii. xix.

474

The injury done to the traditions handed down by Welsh and Irish bards, is noticed in Dr. Prichard's valuable work, Physical Hist. of Mankind, vol. iii. p. 184, 8vo, 1841. See also Warton's Hist. of English Poetry, vol. i. p. xxxvii. note.

475

See the remarks on Beowulf, in Wright's Biog. Brit. Lit. vol. i. p. 7, 8vo, 1842. See also pp. 13, 14: and compare Kemble's Saxons in England, vol. i. p. 331.

476

Talvi's Language and Literature of the Slavic Nations, 8vo, 1850, p. 231. The Pagan songs of the Slovaks, in the north-west of Hungary, were for a time preserved; but even they are now lost. Talvi, p. 216.

477

The monkish chroniclers neglected the old Finnish traditions; and allowing them to perish, preferred the inventions of Saxo and Johannes Magnus. Prichard's Physical Hist. vol. iii. pp. 284, 285.

478

For an instance in which the monks have falsified the old Icelandic traditions, see Mr. Keightley's learned book on Fairy Mythology, 8vo, 1850, p. 159.

479

The Rev. Mr. Dowling, who looks back with great regret to this happy period, says, ‘Writers were almost universally ecclesiastics. Literature was scarcely anything but a religious exercise; for everything that was studied, was studied with a reference to religion. The men, therefore, who wrote history, wrote ecclesiastical history.’ Dowling's Introduction to the Critical Study of Ecclesiastical History, 8vo, 1838, p. 56; a work of some talent, but chiefly interesting as a manifesto by an active party.

480

Thus, for instance, a celebrated historian, who wrote at the end of the twelfth century says of the reign of William Rufus: ‘Ejusdem regis tempore, ut ex parte supradictum est, in sole, luna, et stellis multa signa visa sunt, mare quoque littus persæpe egrediebatur, et homines et animalia submersit, villas et domos quamplures subvertit. In pago qui Barukeshire nominatur, ante occisionem regis sanguis de fonte tribus septimanis emanavit. Multis etiam Normannis diabolus in horribili specie se frequenter in silvis ostendens, plura cum eis de rege et Ranulfo, et quibusdam aliis locutus est. Nec mirum, nam illorum tempore ferè omnis legum siluit justitia, causisque justitiæ subpositis, sola in principibus imperabat pecunia.’ Rog. de Hoveden Annal. in Scriptores post Bedam, p. 268. See also the same work, pp. 356–358; and compare Matthæi Westmonast. Flores Historiarum, part i. pp. 266, 289, part ii. p. 298.

481

Even the descriptions of natural objects which historians attempted in the Middle Ages, were marked by the same carelessness. See some good observations by Dr. Arnold, on Bede's account of the Solent Sea. Arnold's Lectures on Modern History, pp. 102, 103.

482

In Le Long's Bibliothèque Historique de la France, vol. ii. p. 3, it is said, that the descent of the kings of France from the Trojans was universally believed before the sixteenth century: ‘Cette descendance a été crue véritable près de huit cents ans, et soutenue par tous les écrivains de notre histoire; la fausseté n'en a été reconnue qu'au commencement du seizième siècle.’ Polydore Vergil, who died in the middle of the sixteenth century, attacked this opinion in regard to England, and thereby made his history unpopular. See Ellis's Preface to Polydore Vergil, p. xx. 4to, 1844, published by the Camden Society. ‘He discarded Brute, as an unreal personage.’ In 1128, Henry I., king of England, inquired from a learned man respecting the early history of France. The answer is preserved by an historian of the thirteenth century: ‘Regum potentissime, inquiens, sicut pleræque gentes Europæ, ita Franci a Trojanis originem duxerunt.’ Matthæi Paris Hist. Major, p. 59. See also Rog. de Hov. in Scriptores post Bedam, p. 274. On the descent of the Britons from Priam and Æneas, see Matthæi Westmonast. Flores Historiarum, part i. p. 66. Indeed, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, their Trojan origin was stated as a notorious fact, in a letter written to Pope Boniface by Edward I., and signed by the English nobility. See Warton's Hist. of English Poetry, vol. i. pp. 131, 132; and Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors, vol. i. p. 185.

483

The general opinion was, that Brutus, or Brute, was the son of Æneas; but some historians affirmed that he was the great-grandson. See Turner's Hist. of England, vol. i. p. 63, vol. vii. p. 220.

484

In the Notes to a Chronicle of London from 1089 to 1483, pp. 183–187, edit. 4to, 1827, there is a pedigree, in which the history of the bishops of London is traced back, not only to the migration of Brutus from Troy, but also to Noah and Adam. Thus, too, Goropius, in his history of Antwerp, written in the sixteenth century: ‘Vond zoowell de Nederlandsche taal als de Wysbegeerte van Orpheus in de ark van Noach.’ Van Kampen, Geschiedenis der Letteren, 8vo, 1821, vol. i. p. 91; see also p. 86. In the thirteenth century, Mathew Paris (Historia Major, p. 352) says of Alfred, ‘Hujus genealogia in Anglorum historiis perducitur usque ad Adam primum parentem.’ See, to the same effect, Matthæi Westmonast. Flores Historiarum, part i. pp. 323, 324, 415. In William of Malmesbury's Chronicle (Scriptores post Bedam, p. 22 rev.) the genealogy of the Saxon kings is traced back to Adam. For other, and similar, instances, see a note in Lingard's History of England, vol. i. p. 403. And Mr. Ticknor (History of Spanish Literature, vol. i. p. 509) mentions that the Spanish chroniclers present ‘an uninterrupted succession of Spanish kings from Tubal, a grandson of Noah.’

485

Monteil, in his curious book, Histoire des divers Etats, vol. v. p. 70, mentions the old belief ‘que les Parisiens sont du sang des rois des anciens Troyens, par Paris, fils de Priam.’ Even in the seventeenth century this idea was not extinct; and Coryat, who travelled in France in 1608, gives another version of it. He says, ‘As for her name of Paris, she hath it (as some write) from Paris, the eighteenth king of Gallia Celtica, whom some write to have been lineally descended from Japhet, one of the three sons of Noah, and to have founded this city.’ Coryat's Crudities, 1611, reprinted 1776, vol. i. pp. 27, 28.

486

‘Erat ibi quidam Tros nomine Turonus Bruti nepos… De nomine ipsius prædicta civitas Turonis vocabulum nacta est; quia ibidem sepultus fuit.’ Galfredi Monumet. Hist. Briton. lib. i. cap. xv. p. 19. And Mathew of Westminster, who wrote in the fourteenth century, says (Flores Historiarum, part i. p. 17): ‘Tros nomine Turnus… De nomine verò ipsius Turonorum civitas vocabulum traxit, quia ibidem, ut testatur Homerus, sepultus fuit.’

487

‘On convient bien que les Troyens de notre Troyes sont du sang des anciens Troyens.’ Monteil, Divers Etats, vol. v. p. 69.

488

Monconys, who was in Nuremberg in 1663, found this opinion still held there; and he seems himself half inclined to believe it; for, in visiting a castle, he observes, ‘Mais je ne sçai si c'est un ouvrage de Néron, comme l'on le dit, et que même le nom de Nuremberg en vient.’ Voyages de Monconys, vol. iv. p. 141, edit. Paris, 1695.

489

‘Deinceps regnante in ea Jebusæo, dicta Jebus, et sic ex Jebus et Salem dicta est Jebussalem. Unde post dempta b littera et addita r, dicta est Hierusalem.’ Matthæi Paris Historia Major, p. 43. This reminds me of another great writer, who was one of the fathers, and was moreover a saint, and who, says M. Matter, ‘dérive les Samaritains du roi Samarius, fils de Canaan.’ Matter, Hist. du Gnosticisme, vol. i. p. 41.

490

‘Humber rex Hunnorum … ad flumen diffugiens, submersus est intra ipsum, et nomen suum flumini reliquit.’ Matthæi Westmonast. Flores Historiarum, part i. p. 19.

491

These two opinions, which long divided the learned world, are stated in Le Long, Bibliothèque Historique de la France, vol. ii. pp. 5, 49.

492

See a curious allusion to this in De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. viii. p. 160; where, however, it is erroneously supposed to be a Russian invention.

493

‘The Silesians are not without voluminous writers upon their antiquities; and one of them gravely derives the name and descent of his country from the prophet Elisha.’ Adams's Letters on Silesia, p. 267, Lond. 8vo, 1804.

494

In 1608, Coryat, when in Zurich, was ‘told by the learned Hospinian that their city was founded in the time of Abraham.’ Coryat's Crudities, vol. i. Epistle to the Reader, sig. D. I always give the most recent instance I have met with, because, in the history of the European intellect, it is important to know how long the spirit of the Middle Ages survived in different countries.

495

They were ‘seuls enfants légitimes’ of Abraham and Sarah. Monteil, Divers Etats, vol. v. p. 19.

496

Mathew Paris, who is apprehensive lest the reputation of Sarah should suffer, says, ‘Saraceni perversé se putant ex Sara dici; sed veriùs Agareni dicuntur ab Agar; et Ismaelitæ, ab Ismaele filio Abrahæ.’ Hist. Major, p. 357. Compare a similar passage in Mezeray, Histoire de France, vol. i. p. 127: ‘Sarrasins, ou de la ville de Sarai, ou de Sara femme d'Abraham, duquel ils se disent faussement légitimes héritiers.’ After this, the idea, or the fear of the idea, soon died away; and Beausobre (Histoire Critique de Manichée, vol. i. p. 24) says: ‘On dérive vulgairement le nom de Sarrasins du mot arabe Sarah, ou Sarak, qui signifie effectivement voleur.’ A good example of a secular turn given to a theological etymology. For a similar case in northern history, see Whitelocke's Journal of the Swedish Embassy, vol. i. pp. 190, 191.

497

Early in the fourteenth century, this was stated, in a letter to the Pope, as a well-known historical fact. See Lingard's Hist. of England, vol. ii. p. 187: ‘They are sprung from Scota the daughter of Pharaoh, who landed in Ireland, and whose descendants wrested, by force of arms, the northern half of Britain from the progeny of Brute.’

498

Mr. Wright (Narratives of Sorcery, 8vo, 1851, vol. i. p. 115) says, ‘The foundation of the city of Naples upon eggs, and the egg on which its fate depended, seem to have been legends generally current in the Middle Ages;’ and he refers to Montfaucon, Monumens de la Mon. Fr. vol. ii. p. 329, for proof, that by the statutes of the order of the Saint Esprit, ‘a chapter of the knights was appointed to be held annually in castello ovi incantati in mirabili periculo.’

499

‘The order of Saint Michael, in France, pretends to the possession of a regular descent from Michael the Archangel, who, according to the enlightened judgment of French antiquarians, was the premier chevalier in the world; and it was he, they say, who established the earliest chivalric order in Paradise itself.’ Mills's Hist. of Chivalry, vol. i. pp. 363, 364.

500

The etymology of Tartars from Tartarus is ascribed to the piety of Saint Louis in Prichard's Physical History, vol. iv. p. 278; but I think that I have met with it before his time, though I cannot now recover the passage. The earliest instance I remember is in 1241, when the saint was twenty-six years old. See a letter from the emperor Frederick, in Matthæi Paris Historia Major, p. 497: ‘Pervenissent dicti Tartari (imo Tartarei),’ &c; and on the expression of Louis, see p. 496: ‘Quos vocamus Tartaros ad suas Tartareas sedes.’ Since the thirteenth century, the subject has attracted the attention of English divines; and the celebrated theologian Whiston mentions ‘my last famous discovery, or rather my revival of Dr. Giles Fletcher's famous discovery, that the Tartars are no other than the ten tribes of Israel, which have been so long sought for in vain.’ Memoirs of the Life and Writings of William Whiston, p. 575. Compare, on the opinions held respecting the Tartars, Journal Asiatique, Ie série, vol. vi. p. 374, Paris, 1825.

501

Peignot (Dict. des Livres, vol. ii. p. 69, Paris, 1806) says, that Rigord, in his history of Philip Augustus, assures his readers ‘que depuis que la vraie croix a été prise par les Turcs, les enfans n'ont plus que 20 ou 23 dents, au lieu qu'ils en avaient 30 ou 32 auparavant.’ Even in the fifteenth century, it was believed that the number of teeth had diminished from 32 to 22, or at most 24. See Sprengel, Hist. de la Médecine, vol. ii. pp. 481, 482, Paris, 1815. Compare Hecker on the Black Death, pp. 31, 32, in his learned work, Epidemics of the Middle Ages, published by the Sydenham Society.

502

In the sacred books of the Scandinavians, pork is represented as the principal food, even in heaven. See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 105. It was the chief food of the Irish in the twelfth century: Ledwich, Antiquities of Ireland, Dublin, 1804, p. 370; and also of the Anglo-Saxons at an earlier period: Turner's Hist. of England, vol. iii. p. 22. In France it was equally common, and Charlemagne kept in his forests immense droves of pigs. Note in Esprit des Lois, in Œuvres de Montesquieu, p. 513. In Spain those who did not like pork were tried by the Inquisition as suspected Jews: Llorente, Hist. de l'Inquisition, vol. i. pp. 269, 442, 445. Late in the sixteenth century, there was a particular disease, said to be caused by the quantity of it eaten in Hungary. Sprengel, Hist. de la Médecine, vol. iii. p. 93; and even at present, the barbarous Lettes are passionately fond of it. Kohl's Russia, pp. 386, 387. In the middle of the sixteenth century, I find that Philip II., when in England, generally dined on bacon; of which he ate so much, as frequently to make himself very ill. See Ambassades de Messieurs de Noailles en Angleterre, vol. v. pp. 240, 241, edit. 1763. The ambassador writes, that Philip was ‘grand mangeur oultre mesure,’ and used to consume large quantities ‘de lard, dont il faict le plus souvent son principal repas.’ In the Middle Ages, ‘les Thuringiens payaient leur tribut en porcs, la denrée la plus précieuse de leur pays.’ Œuvres de Michelet, vol. ii. p. 389.

503

Sismondi (Hist. des Français, vol. vii. pp. 325, 326) passes a high eulogy upon him; and Mosheim (Ecclesiast. History, vol. i. p. 313) says: ‘Among the historians (of the thirteenth century), the first place is due to Mathew Paris; a writer of the highest merit, both in point of knowledge and prudence.’

504

Matthæi Paris Historia Major, p. 362. He concludes his account by saying, ‘Unde adhuc Saraceni sues præ cæteris animalibus exosas habent et abominabiles.’ Mathew Paris obtained his information from a clergyman, ‘quendam magni nominis celebrem prædicatorem,’ p. 360. According to Mathew of Westminster, the pigs not only suffocated Mohammed, but actually ate the greater part of him: ‘In maxima parte a porcis corrosum invenerunt.’ Matthæi Westmonast. Flores Historiarum, part i. p. 215.

505

By a singular contradiction, the African Mohammedans now ‘believe that a great enmity subsists between hogs and Christians.’ Mungo Park's Travels, vol. i. p. 185. Many medical authors have supposed that pork is peculiarly unwholesome in hot countries; but this requires confirmation: and it is certain, that it is recommended by Arabian physicians, and is more generally eaten both in Asia and in Africa than is usually believed. Comp. Sprengel, Hist. de la Médecine, vol. ii. p. 323; Volney, Voyage en Syrie, vol. i. p. 449; Buchanan's Journey through the Mysore, vol. ii. p. 88, vol. iii. p. 57; Raffles' Hist. of Java, vol. ii. p. 5; Ellis's Hist. of Madagascar, vol. i. pp. 201, 403, 416; Cook's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 265; Burnes's Travels into Bokhara, vol. iii. p. 141. As facts of this sort are important physiologically and socially, it is advisable that they should be collected; and I therefore add, that the North-American Indians are said to have ‘a disgust for pork.’ Journal of the Geog. Society, vol. xv. p. 30; and that Dobell (Travels, vol. ii. p. 260, 8vo, 1830) says, ‘I believe there is more pork eaten in China than in all the rest of the world put together.’

506

This idea, which was a favourite one in the Middle Ages, is said to have been a Rabbinical invention. See Lettres de Gui Patin, vol. iii. p. 127: ‘que Mahomet, le faux prophète, avait été cardinal; et que, par dépit de n'avoir été pape, il s'étoit fait hérésiarque.’

507

See the ample details in Matthæi Westmonast. Flores Historiarum, part i. pp. 86, 87; and at p. 88, ‘Judas matrem suam uxorem duxerat, et quòd patrem suum occiderat.’

508

This took place in the year 798. Matthæi Westmonast. Flores Historiarum, part i. p. 293. The historian thus concludes his relation: ‘Et statutum est nunc quòd numquam extunc manus Papæ ab offerentibus deoscularetur, sed pes. Cùm ante fuerat consuetudo quòd manus, non pes, deoscularetur. In hujus miraculi memoriam reservatur adhuc manus abscissa in thesauro lateranensi, quam dominus custodit incorruptam ad laudem matris suæ.’

509

‘… Ita ut Nero se puero gravidum existimaret… Tandem dolore nimio vexatus, medicis ait: Accelerate tempus partus, quia languore vix anhelitum habeo respirandi. Tunc ipsum ad vomitum impotionaverunt, et ranam visu terribilem, humoribus infectam, et sanguine edidit cruentatam… Unde et pars illa civitatis, ut aliqui dicunt, ubi rana latuerat, Lateranum, à latente rana, nomen accepit.’ Matthæi Westmonast. part i. p. 98. Compare the account given by Roger of Hoveden, of a woman who vomited two toads. Script. post Bedam, p. 457 rev. In the Middle Ages there were many superstitions respecting these animals, and they appear to have been used by heralds as marks of degradation. See Lankester's Memorials of Ray, p. 197.

510

‘… Ego Turpinus in valle Caroli loco præfato, astante rege,’ &c. De Vita Caroli Magni, p. 74, edit. Ciampi.

511

Turner (History of England, vol. vii. pp. 250–268) has attempted to prove that it was written by Calixtus II.; but his arguments, though ingenious and learned, are not decisive. Warton (Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. i. p. 128) says it was composed about 1110.

512

The pope ‘statuit historiam Sancti Caroli descriptam a beato Turpino Remensi Archiepiscopo esse authenticam.’ Note in Turner, vol. vii. p. 250.

513

In his famous Speculum, ‘il recommande spécialement les études historiques, dont il paraît que la plupart de ses contemporains méconnaissaient l'utilité; mais lorsqu'il indique les sources où il puisera ce genre d'instruction, c'est Turpin qu'il désigne comme le principal historien de Charlemagne.’ Histoire Littéraire de la France, vol. xviii. p. 474, Paris, 1835, 4to; see also p. 517; and on its influence in Spain, see Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature, vol. i. pp. 222, 223.

514

Caroli Magni Historia, edit. Ciampi, pp. 3–5.

515

‘… Muri collapsi funditus corruerunt.’ De Vita Caroli, p. 5. On this, Ciampi, in his notes on Turpin, gravely says (pp. 94, 95): ‘Questo fatto della presa di Pamplona è reso maraviglioso per la subitanea caduta delle mura, a somiglianza delle mura di Gerico.’ This reminds me of a circumstance mentioned by Monconys, who, on visiting Oxford in 1663, was shown a horn which was preserved in that ancient city, because it was said to be made in the same way as that by which the walls of Jericho were blown down: ‘Les Juifs tiennent que leurs ancêtres se servirent de pareilles pour abbattre les murailles de Jérico.’ Voyages de Monconys, vol. iii. p. 95, edit. Paris, 1695.

516

De Vita Caroli, cap. v. pp. 11, 12; is headed ‘De ecclesiis quas Carolus fecit.’

517

‘Gigas nomine Fenacutus, qui fuit de genere Goliat.’ De Vita Caroli, p. 39.

518

‘Vim xl. fortium possidebat.’ p. 39.

519

‘Erat enim statura ejus quasi cubitis xx., facies erat longa quasi unius cubiti, et nasus illius unius palmi mensurati, et brachia et crura ejus quatuor cubitorum erant, et digiti ejus tribus palmis,’ p. 40.

520

De Vita Caroli, p. 40.

521

Ibid. pp. 43–47.

522

De Vita Caroli, p. 52. On the twelve peers of Charlemagne, in connexion with Turpin, see Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. v. pp. 246, 537, 538, vol. vi. p. 534.

523

The Welsh, however, accused Gildas of having thrown his history ‘into the sea.’ Palgrave's Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth, vol. i. p. 453. The industrious Sharon Turner (Hist. of England, vol. i. pp. 282–295) has collected a great deal of evidence respecting Arthur; of whose existence he, of course, entertains no doubt. Indeed, at p. 292, he gives us an account of the discovery, in the twelfth century, of Arthur's body!

524

In Turner's Hist. of England, vol. vii. pp. 269, 270, it is said to have appeared in 1128; but Mr. Wright (Biog. Brit. Lit. vol. ii. p. 144) seems to have proved that the real date is 1147.

525