Historical Essays, Volume 1 |
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Ælfthryth Æthelstan alike Aquitaine Austria Burgundian Burgundy Cæsar century character Charles Charles the Bold Charles the Fat Chronicles Church claim commonwealths Confederation conquest constitution County of Burgundy crown dominions doubt Duchy Duke Duke of Burgundy Eadgar Eastern Francia Edward the Third election enemy England English Ethelwald fact fief France Francia Frankish Frederick Frederick Barbarossa Frederick the Second French Gaul German King Hengest Henry hereditary honour Imperial Italian Italy King of Scots Kingdom Kingdom of Burgundy Kirk Kirk's land least legend less Lewis looked Lord matter mediæval modern monarchy mythical narrative nation never Norman Normandy Otto Paris Parisian Parliament Pertz political Pontiff Pope position President prince realm reign Roman Emperor Roman Empire Rome royal Saint Scotland Scots Scottish seems sovereign story Swiss Switzerland Teutonic theory things Thomas tion truth utterly Western whole writers
Popular passages
Page 175 - Long life and victory to Charles, the most pious Augustus, crowned by God the great and pacific emperor of the Romans!
Page 305 - ... enlightened Christianity, yearning after holiness and purity not then attainable. It was the shattered, dubious, at times trembling faith, at times desperately reckless incredulity, of a man under the...
Page 285 - Imperial kingdoms retained any practical connection with one another and with the ancient capital of all. Frederick, who sent his trophies to Rome to be guarded by his own subjects in his own city, was a Roman Caesar in a sense in which no other Emperor was after him. And he was not only the last Emperor of the whole Empire : he might almost be called the last king of its several kingdoms. After his time Burgundy vanishes as a kingdom ; there is hardly an event to remind us of its existence except...
Page 103 - His great qualities were an ardent and impetuous spirit, a practical energy which carried everything before him, an admirable versatility which could adapt itself to all circumstances and all people, and a lofty sense of duty which could support him under any amount of adversity and disappointment. His faults were chiefly the exaggeration of his virtues. His impetuosity often grew into needless and injudicious violence; his strong will continually degenerated into obstinacy. His biographers praise...
Page 159 - Paris would have us believe that the successor of Charles is to be found among a people who in the days of the great Emperor had no national being. Because certain Austrian Dukes were chosen Roman Emperors, we are called upon, sometimes to condemn the great Frederick as a forerunner of Francis Joseph, sometimes to justify Francis Joseph as a successor of the great Frederick. We will wind up with the fervid and eloquent comments of Mr. Bryce on this latter head. A more vigorous denunciation of the...
Page 136 - It was foretold, that to him should the gathering of the people be ; and that God would give him the Heathen for his inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for his possession, which was punctually fulfilled by the wonderful success of the gospel, and its universal propagation throughout the world.
Page 126 - ... came to an end in the year 476, a true understanding of the next thousand years becomes utterly impossible. No man can understand either the politics or the literature of that whole period, unless he constantly bears in mind that, in the ideas of the men of those days, the Roman Empire, the Empire of Augustus, Constantine, and Justinian, was not a thing of the past but a thing of the present.
Page 342 - How vain such guaranties are the experience of the last few years has taught us. But the kingdom which Charles dreamed of, had it been held together long enough to acquire any consistency, would have needed no guaranty, but would have stood by its own strength. Such a state would, indeed, have had two great points of weakness, its enormous extent of frontier^ and the heterogeneous character of its population. But German and Italian neighbours would hardly have been more dangerous to Burgundy than...
Page 283 - ... the man, in short, who was in all things the most unlike to all the other men who were about him. It is probable that there never lived a human being endowed with greater natural gifts, or whose natural gifts were, according to the means afforded him by his age, more sedulously cultivated, than the last Emperor of the house of Swabia. There seems to be no aspect of human nature which was not developed to the highest degree in his person. In versatility of gifts, in what we may call many-sidedness...