History of Diploma 01 Hill

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Digitized by the Internet Archivein 2012 with funding from

University of Toronto

http://archive.org/details/historyofdiploma01hill


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A HISTOKY OF DIPLOMACYIN THEINTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

OF EUROPE

Volume I.THE STRUGGLE FOR UNIVERSAL EMPIRE


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fide- '^*0o

A HISTORY OF DIPLOMACYIN THE

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTOE EUROPE

BYDAVID JAYNE HILL, LL.D.

Volume I.THE STRUGGLE FOR UNIVERSAL EMPIRE

WITH MAPS AND TABLES

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.91 and 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

LONDON AND BOMBAY1905


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Copyright, 1905,By Longmans, Green, and Co.

All rights reserved.

105

THE UNIVERSITY TRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.


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TOMY BELOVED WIFE

JULIET LEWIS PACKER HILLTHESE VOLUMES

INSPIRED BY HER INTELLECTUAL SYMPATHY AND PROMOTEDBY HER LOVING CARE

ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED


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PEEFACEA LTHOUGH special questions and particular periods of

-*^- diplomatic history have been carefully studied and ablydiscussed by historical writers, it is a noteworthy fact thatno general history of European diplomacy exists in anylanguage.A history of diplomacy properly includes not only anaccount of the progress of international intercourse, but anexposition of the motives by which it has been inspired andthe results which it has accomplished. But even this state-ment does not fully express the scope of such a history ; foran intelligent discussion of the subject must include also aconsideration of the genesis of the entire international sys-tem and of its progress through the successive stages of itsdevelopment. Thus regarded, it becomes apparent that thewhole fabric of present international relations is the result ofpast diplomatic activity.Two practical problems have presented themselves in

the execution of this work. The first has arisen from theenormous field of research now offered by the archives ofEuropean governments and the necessity of fixing definitelimits to the plan of treatment. The rich harvest alreadygleaned by the labors of special investigators greatly facili-tates a task which would have been impossible twenty-fiveyears ago, and now seems to invite a general synthesis ofthe results attained. It is, in truth, in the wealth of ma-terials that a writer on diplomatic history finds his chiefembarrassment. With the conviction that history is of valuein proportion as it affords explanation, it has seemed best toadhere closely to the main current of causality in the de-


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Vlll PREFACEvelopment of the existing system of European relations. Itis, accordingly, as the title indicates, the history of diplomacyonly as related to the international development of Europeas a whole, which constitutes the subject of the present work.Negotiations, treaties, and conventions that fall outside ofthese lines, however important they may be to the diplomatichistory of particular countries, possess but little general in-terest ; but, by adhering to events of European importance,it is possible to thread the diplomatic labyrinth withoutconfusion and to present the results of investigation withinreasonable limits.A second problem in the preparation of this work has beento determine the proper point of departure. It is customaryto regard the Congress and Peace of Westphalia as thestarting-point of European diplomacy, but this is principallydue to the fact that so little has been known of earlier dip-lomatic activity. The truth is, that the Congress and Peaceof Westphalia, while furnishing the international code ofEurope, were the fruits of a long period of preparation whosemovements provide the only key to the meaning of thatcode. It is necessary, therefore, if one would thoroughlycomprehend the diplomacy of modern times, to return to thereal point of origin of those elements which together con-stitute the present public law and international usages ofEurope, and to trace their development step by step down tothe period of their final organization as a system.The adequate execution of this plan requires a long and

serious investigation, and cannot be discharged with meresummary statements or rapid generalizations ; for the presentinternational organization of the world strikes its roots deepinto the past, and has been determined by a multitude ofconfluent streams of influence. Europe, in particular, is stilllargely governed by its memories ; and to master the historyof European diplomacy is to dispel the illusion that the pres-ent relations of civilized states are fortuitous, arbitrary, orchangeable at will.


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PREFACE IXIt is, perhaps, at present worth the effort to point out the

fact that the fixed legal and conventional relations betweenmodern states are as firmly grounded in public needs andfundamental principles as the constitutions of the differentcountries which compose the international system. It is truethat force has been a determining element in the conflictsof nations, as it is in the maintenance of civil order withinthe State ; but it is not mere aimless or undirected force thathas produced the present international system. On the con-trary, it is due to the gradual perception of the conditions onwhich human governments can be permanently based. It isthe result of reasoned policy and deliberately formed con-ventions in restraint of force,the triumph of statesmanshipand diplomacy, not shaped and determined by military action,but controlling the movements of armies and navies whosecoercive powers are put in action only by decisions reachedafter deliberation at the council board.

More than any other form of history, perhaps, that ofdiplomacy brings into prominence in its plenitude the psy-chological element, the constructive value of human planand purpose. It reveals the mind of an individual, or thesagacity of a group of statesmen, grasping the conditionsof a situation in which vast combinations of force may bethwarted by other combinations, and the interests of a nation,or of civilization itself, secured by a sound public policy.

In a pre-eminent degree this form of history discloses theevolution of progressive ideals, not in the form of abstracttheories, but in the concrete connections of practical expe-rience; thus furnishing to the political philosopher a broadand fertile field of observation and induction. Exposing inthe process of elaboration the efforts of great minds to solvethe large problems of international peace, it becomes a usefuldiscipline in correcting the illusions of the visionary philan-thropist and in forming the mind of the statesman.The present volume, on The Struggle for Universal Em-

pire, and the following, on The Establishment of Territorial


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X PREFACESovereignty, may be regarded as indicating the foundationsof modern diplomacy. They trace the tragic history ofthe rise and conflict of two great international institutions,the Empire and the Papacy, the defeat of their ambitions,and the development of modern national states. In futurevolumes it is intended to consider the Diplomacy of the Ageof Absolutism, of the Revolutionary Era, of the ConstitutionalMovement, and of Commercial Imperialism, thus bringingthe history of international development down to the presenttime. Each volume, however, is intended to be for the periodwhich it covers a complete work in itself.An effort has been made to render the text of use andinterest to the general reader. For the benefit of thoseinterested in the sources from which the materials have beenderived, or who may wish to make a more detailed examina-tion of special questions, a list of authorities, documentaryand literary, with suggestions and comments, has been ap-pended to each chapter. The bibliography is intended,however, to be a selection rather than an inventory, and hasbeen constructed with the purpose of indicating the worksconsulted and likely to prove most useful for reference.No pains have been spared to provide such historical maps

and tables as may be needed to throw light upon the textand to resolve questions of geography and chronology. Achronological list of treaties and other public acts and aseparate index have been added to each volume.The author takes this occasion to express to all the

numerous persons, private and official, at Washington, Paris,The Hague, Pome, Berne, Geneva, and elsewhere, who havecourteously aided him, the sincere thanks which it wouldrequire many pages to acknowledge to each according to thenature of the service rendered.

DAVID JAYNE HILL.Geneva, Switzerland,

February 1, 1905.


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CONTENTS OF VOLUME ICHAPTER L THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER

THE EMPIREPage

The transformation of Europe 1I. Europe under the Roman Empire

The unity of Europe 1Extent of the Roman Empire 2The imperial power 3The Emperor as military chief 4As first magistrate 4As legislator 5As appointing power 5As pontifex maximus 5Decadence of the Senate 5The Emperor's instruments of government 6The cities 7The provinces 7The provincial assemblies 7The social classes 8Jus fetiale 8Foreign envoys in the Grecostasis 11Jus gentium 12Jus naturae 13Jus civile 13The qualities of the Roman law 14Pax Romana 15The monarchy made absolute 15The removal of the capital and division of the Empire ... 16The social crisis 17Degeneration of the Empire 17Roman religion 18The Christianization of the Empire 19The Edict of Milan 19The influence of Christianity upon the Empire 21Organization of the Church 22


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Xll CONTENTSII. The Barbarian Invasions

PageThe Barbarian world 23The tribes of the North 23The German infiltration 23Public policy regarding the barbarians 24The internment of captives 26The coloni 26The degeneration of the army 27The foederati 27The ambitions of the barbarians 28The Gothic invasions 29Invasions of Radigaisus and Alaric 30The fall of the Empire in the West 30

III. The Relations of the Barbarian Kingdomsto the Empire

The embassy of Odoacer to Zeno 31Odoacer's administration 32Significance of the transition 33The imperial idea 33The barbarian kingdoms 34Theodoric the Goth 35The diplomatic relations of Theodoric 36Diplomatic usages of the barbarian kings 38The seeds of future nationalities 41The reign of Justinian 42Codification of the Roman Law 43The Greek character of the Eastern Empire 44Authorities 46

CHAPTER H. THE REVIVAL OF THE EMPIREIN THE WEST

The influence of the Church 49I. The Relation of the Barbarians to the Church

The Goths 49The rise of the Papacy 50The struggle for primacy 50Need of a defender of the faith 51The Franks 51The conversion of Clovis 52


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CONTENTS xiiiPage

The rejoicing of the Church 53The significance of the event 53Clovis honored by the Emperor 54The mission of the Franks 55The internal development of the Frankish monarchy .... 55The Lombards in Italy 57The state of Italy after the Lombard occupation 58The spread of monasticism 58

II. The Reunification of Europe by the ChurchThe growth of the Papacy 59The administration of Gregory the Great 60The papal missions 61The conversion of Great Britain 62The conquests of the Arabs 63The relations of the Pope and the Emperor 63The conflict between the Emperor and the Pope 64The ambition of Liutprand 65The diplomacy of Gregory II 65The independence of Gregory III 67The policy of Gregory III 68Gregory's alliance with the Duke of Spoleto 68Gregory's solution of his problem 69The decay of the Merovingian dynasty 70The work of Pippin the Younger 71The victories of Charles Martel 71The work of St. Boniface for the Papacy 73The policy of Boniface 74

III. Rise of the Empire of Charles the GreatThe policy of Pope Zacharias 75The renunciation of Carlotnan 76Pippin becomes king 77The triumph of Boniface 78The new peril of the Papacy 78The negotiations of Stephen II 79Stephen's journey to Pavia 80The Franco-papal alliance 80Negotiations between Pippin and Astolf 81The siege of Rome by Astolf 83The illusions of the Emperor 84The temporal sovereignty of the Pope 84The growing independence of Rome 85


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xiv CONTENTSPageAnarchy at Rome 87

Alliance of Stephen III with Desiderius 88The marriage of Charles and Desiderata 88The diplomacy of Adrian I with Charles 89The descent of Charles into Italy 90The wars and conquests of Charles 91The invisible empire 92The flight of Leo III 93The reinstatement of Leo III 94The coronation of Charles as emperor 95Authorities 96

CHAPTER III. THE EMPIRE UNDER THECARLOV1NGIANSThe significance of the coronation of Charles the Great ... 99

I. The Genesis and Theory of the CarlovingianEmpire

The views of Charles 99The premonitions of the coronation . . 100The betrothal of Rothrude and Constantine VI 102The Council of Nicaea and the diplomatic rupture 104The embarrassment of Adrian I 105Leo's motive for the coronation 106The triumph of Leo 108Conflict between Rome and Constantinople 109The proposed marriage of Charles and Irene 109Rival claims to the Empire 110The legality of the Roman investiture IllThe acceptance of the Empire by Charles 113The new administration in the West 113Character of the Empire 114The relations of the Empire and the Papacy 115

II. The Empire of Charles the GreatThe realm of Charles the Great 117The organization of the Empire 118Relations between the East and the West 119The transfer of influence to the West 120Physical separation of the two realms 121The conflict for Venice and the Adriatic 121The tendency toward feudality 122


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CONTENTS xvPage

The partition of 806 123Views of Charles on the nature of the Empire 124The Treaty of Peace with Byzantium 125The death of Charles the Great 127

III. The Dismemberment of the Empire of Charlesthe Great

The coronation of Lewis the Pious 127The Donation of Coustantine 128Policy of Lewis toward his sons 129The later partitions of the Empire 130Lothair Emperor 131The Oath of Strasburg 131The Treaty of Verdun 132The Carolingian confraternity 134The new invasions 135The development of feudalism 135The situation of the Emperor 136The partition of Lothair's territories 137The rescue of France by the bishops 138The Peace of Coblenz 139The diplomacy of Lothair II 140The policy of Hincmar 141The conferences of Savonnieres 142The triumph of Nicholas I 143The partition of Mersen 144The imperial and papal protests 145The schemes of the Empress Engelberga 146The imperial succession 147Coronation of Charles the Bald as emperor 149The struggle for the Rhine frontier 150The disillusionment of Charles the Bald 151Charles the Fat becomes emperor 151The general dissolution 152Authorities 153

CHAPTER IV. THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE OFTHE GERMAN NATIONThe transfer of the Empire to the Germans 156

I. The State of Italy Before the TransferThe antagonism between Rome and the Empire 156The Constitution of 824 157


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XVI CONTENTSPage

The conflict of the Emperor and the Romans 159The obstinacy of the Romans 160The triumph and deception of Lewis II 161The discordant elements in Italy 162The advantage possessed by the Papacy 162The donation of Charles the Bald 164Efforts of John VIII to choose an emperor 164The double policy of John VIII 166Negotiations with Charles the Fat 167Relations of John VIII with Byzantium 168

II. The Building of the German NationThe state of Germany in 888 169The phantom popes and emperors 170The task of Conrad I 170Election of Henry I 171The policy of Henry I 171The accession of Otto I 172Otto's policy of expansion 173Otto's utilization of the Church 174Otto's discovery of his limitations 175The state of Italy under the phantom emperors 176

III. The Restoration of the Empire by theGermans

Otto's first expedition to Italy 177Otto's second expedition to Italy 178Otto's compact with John XII 179The significance of this compact 181Otto's confiscation of the Papacy 1S2The Empire of Otto the Great 183Liutprand's mission to Byzantium 1S3Liutprand's report of his mission 183The marriage of Otto II and Theophano 186The last days of Otto the Great 187Condition of the Empire at the death of Otto I 188The efforts of Otto II 188The ideals of Otto III 189The partnership of Otto III and Sylvester II 190The collapse of Otto's power 191Authorities 192


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CONTENTS xvii

CHAPTER V. THE CONFLICT OF THE EMPIREAND THE PAPACYPage

Abasement of the Empire and the Papacy 194I. The Rebuilding of the Empire

The reign of Henry II 195The election of Conrad II 196Conrad's policy with the nobles 197Conrad's coronation as emperor 198Conrad's consolidation of his power 198The accession of the Kingdom of Burgundy 199The kingship of Henry III 199Henry's efforts for peace 200The degradation of the Papacy 201Henry's work in Italy 202

II. The Regeneration of the PapacyThe influence of Cluny 203The relation of Henry III to the doctrines of Cluny .... 204The battle with the Normans and negotiations with the East . 205The failure of Leo's diplomacy in the East 206The reception of ambassadors at Constantinople 207The court ceremonial 208The Byzantine embassies 209The schism of East and West rendered final 209Death of Henry III and rise of Hildebrand 210The rescue of the Papacy by Ilildebrand 211The election of the Pope confided to the College of Cardinals . 212The alliance with the Normans 213The recovery of papal control in Lombardy 213The rivalry of Alexander II and Ilonorius II 214Ilildebrand becomes pope as Gregory VII 215

HI. The Struggle for SupremacyTheory of the Holy Roman Empire 216The attitude of Gregory VII 217Significance of the imperial office 218The investiture controversy 221The humiliation of Henry 223The administration of Gregory 224Civil war in Germany 225Embarrassment of Gregory 226


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xviii CONTENTSPage

Henry's campaign against the Pope in Italy 228Henry's negotiations with the Romans 230The coronation and triumph of Henry IV 231The deliverance of Gregory VII 231The death of Gregory VII 232The extent of Gregory's pretensions 233The breadth of Gregory's policy 234The fall of Henry IV 234The work of Urban II 235The first crusade 237The transaction of Paschal II 239The coronation of Henry V 241The extortion of the crown by Henry V 242Paschal's repudiation of his compact 243The diplomacy of Calixtus II 244The intellectual renaissance 245The Concordat of Worms 248The triumph of the Papacy 247Authorities 248

CHAPTER VI. THE AWAKENING OF CIVICCONSCIOUSNESS IN ITALYThe transitional character of the twelfth century 250

I. The Emancipation of the Italian CitiksThe cities under the Roman Empire 251The Christian communities 252Effects of the Lombard conquest 254The Italian cities under the Empire of Charles the Great . . 254The feudal origin of the communes 255The transformation of the cities 256The imperial charters 257The character of the charters 253The political significance of the cities 258The influence of Roman law on the Lombard cities 260The cities of Tuscany 261The Republic of Venice 262

II. The Relations of the Italian Cities to theEmpire and the Papacy

The independent attitude of the Lombard cities 263The pretensions of Milan 264The general confusion in Italy 2 34The appeal to Bernard of Clairvaux 266


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CONTENTS xixPage

The mission of Bernard 267The work and death of Lothair 268Guelf and Ghibelline 269Election of Conrad III and abandonment of Italy to the Papacy 270Civilizing agency of the Church 271The revival of the Roman Republic 272Arnold of Brescia 273

III. The Conflict of Frederick I with the LombardCitiesThe election of Frederick I 276

Frederick's compact with Eugenius III 276The interdict of Adrian IV 277Negotiations preliminary to Frederick's coronation 279The club of Hercules 280The coronation of Frederick I 281The projects of Frederick I 281The diplomacy of Adrian IV 283The Besancon incident 283Conflicting claims of the Pope and the Emperor 285Defection of the Romans and death of Adrian IV 286Frederick's appeal to Roman law 287The general surrender and the revolt of Milan 289The destruction of Milan 290Alexander III and the Lombard League 291Fidelity of the allies and building of Alexandria 293The armistice of Montebello 293Frederick's diplomacy of obstruction 294The Congress of Venice 295The proficiency of Venice in diplomacy 296The choice and reception of ambassadors 297The procedure of the Congress of Venice 298The surrender of Frederick 300Results of the Truce of Venice 302The Peace of Constance 803The close of Barbarossa's reign 304Authorities 306

CHAPTER VII. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ITALIANDIPLOMACYThe revived passion for dominion 308

I. The Domination of the Papacy under Innocent IIIThe plans of Henry VI for a world-monarchy 309Henry's methods of procedure 310


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XX CONTENTSPageThe death of Henry and revolt of Tuscany 311

The Tuscan League 312The operation of the League 313The accession of Innocent III 313Innocent's theory of the Papacy 314Attitude of Innocent III toward the Tuscan League .... 315The Pope's negotiations between Pisa and the League . . . 316The consolidation of papal power 317The nature of the papal monarchy 318The Papacy and the Empire 319Innocent's Italian diplomacy 320Innocent III and the fourth crusade 322The transactions with Venice 323 The Latin Empire of the East and the expansion of Venice 324Innocent III as arbiter of the Empire 325The contest in Germany and coronation of Otto IV .... 327The rupture between Otto IV and Innocent III 327The conflict of Otto IV and Innocent III 328The triumphs of Innocent III 329

II. The Supreme Struggle for the EmpireThe attitude of Frederick II toward the Papacy 331The coronation of Frederick II 333The grounds of Frederick's policy 334Frederick's plan of organization 335The rupture with the Papacy 336The battle between pope and emperor 338Frederick's departure for the East 338Frederick's negotiations with the Saracens 339Frederick's treaty with the Saracens 340Frederick's coronation as King of Jerusalem 341The Peace of San Germano 342The conflict of principles 343The Emperor's war against the cities 344Negotiations for peace 346The deposition of Frederick II 348The attitude of the princes and the end of the struggle . . . 348

III. The Organization of Diplomacy in Italy The Great Interregnum 350The policy of the Papacy 351The Electoral College of the Empire 351The state of Germany 353


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xxu CONTENTSPage

The Spanish peninsula 390The restoration of Spain to Christendom 391The inheritance of Toulouse and the adventures of Philip III inSpain 392The policy of Philip IV 393The aggressions of Philip IV and war with Edward I . . . . 394

III. The Consolidation of Royal PowerThe pontificate of Celestine V 395The policy of Boniface VIII 396The arrogance and reverses of Boniface VIII 397The Bull Clericis Laicos 398France and the Papacy 399The Bull Unam Sanctara 400The Pope and the Empire 400The outrage at Anagni 401The papal surrender 402The confiscation of the Papacy by France 403The Papacy at Avignon 404The reorganization of the monarchies 406Germany and the Empire 407The free cities of the Empire 408Origin of the Swiss Confederation 409The aspiration of Henry VII 411Dante's De Monarchia 412The expedition of Henry VII into Italy 413Henry VII at Rome 414Henry's coronation 415The last struggles of Henry VII 416Authorities 418

TABLESI. A List of Roman Emperors and Bishops of Rome to the

Fall of the Empire in the West, 27 B. C. to 476 A. D. . 421H. Principal Rulers of Europe from the Fall of the Empire in

the West to the Coronation of Charles the Great, 476 to800 426

III. Principal Rulers of Europe during the Carlovingian Period,800 to 899 432

IV. A List of Emperors and Popes from 900 to 1313 .... 436V. Kings of France, England, and Scotland from 1060 to 1313 441


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CONTENTS xxiiiTABLES Continued

PageVI. The Spanish Monarchies from 1054 to 1313 442VII. Chronological List of Treaties and other Public Acts,

A. D. 259 to 1312 443INDEX 449

MAPS AT END OF VOLUMEI. The Roman Empire at its Greatest Extent.

II. The Barbarian Kingdoms established within the Roman Empire.III. The Empire of Charles the Great and the Partitions of 843, 870,

and 888.IV. Central Europe about A. D. 1000, showing the Empire of Otto

the Great.V. The Territorial Arrangement of Western Europe in 1185.


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CHAPTER ITHE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE

EMPIRE

TT is of primary importance to the comprehension of the Thetransfor-* present political system of Europe to recall the fact that ^ where we now behold independent and sovereign states,mutually recognized as co-equal in the family of nations,there once existed an empire of universal pretensions andfalling little short of universal domination. From the frag-ments of that empire, broken and dismembered, have arisenthe modern national states, founded upon the idea of terri-torial sovereignty and united in the maintenance of a sys-tem of international law and intercourse. The story of thattransformation is a necessary preliminary to the full compre-hension of European diplomacy ; for not only was the forma-tion of independent sovereign states an essential preconditionof diplomatic activity in its modern sense, but the persistenceof the imperial idea has created many of its most importantproblems. The history of modern Europe, regarded from apolitical point of view and broadly considered, is largelycentred about the struggle between two ideas, that of impe-rial rule and that of territorial sovereignty. To understandthoroughly the character of that contest and the politicaldevelopment of Europe as a whole, it is necessary to compre-hend the nature and influence of the imperial idea.

I. Europe under the Eoman EmpireIf, when measured by the whole of humanity, Europe The unity of

seems, notwithstanding its diversity of races, languages, and ulopeinterests, to possess a unity of its own, it is because the civil-

l


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A HISTORY OF DIPLOMACYChap. Ib.c. 30-a. d. 500

Extent of theRomanEmpire

ization of the different European nations was derived fromthe same original source and was received, in the main,through the same channels. In the period of the widestexpansion of the Eoman Empire one government extendedover all that portion of Europe which had been reclaimedfrom primitive barbarism, and over that government presidedat Borne one man, clothed with the attributes of an absolutemaster. Law, religion, and administration emanated fromone centre and were directed toward one end. That centrewas the imperial will, and that end its universal domination.From the Mediterranean to the North Sea and the BritishIsles, from the shores of the Atlantic to the confines of Asia,Europe was politically one. The history of every Europeancountry, excepting ancient Greece and the Germanic andSlavic lands of the North and the East, emerging from thedim traditions of mere tribal society, begins with the marchof Boman legions and the rule of Boman laws. The imper-ishable memory of that ancient community of interests andthe common inheritance of ideas and influences which havesurvived its dismemberment have played a large role in thesubsequent development of Europe.But the Boman Empire was more than a European state,

it was an intercontinental power, holding sway over vastareas in Asia and Africa; a World Empire in which thatancient highway of nations, the Mediterranean, had becomean inland waterway, and presiding over the destinies of mennot only on the Ehine and the Danube, but on the Nile andthe Euphrates. The boundaries of the Boman dominion, evenbefore the fall of the Boman Bepublic, included all the landsof Western Europe between the Mediterranean and the Ger-man Ocean, together with the whole of the Italian andGrecian peninsulas, the greater part of Asia Minor, Syria,and a part of Northern Africa. The foreign policy of Borne,originating in the necessity of self-defence, had been stimu-lated under the Bepublic by the ambitions of Carthage andMacedonia to the conquest of the entire Mediterranean basin.With the advent of the Empire, whose territories had been


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 3greatly augmented by Julius Caesar, it became necessary to Chap. Iconfirm these new possessions ; and this entailed upon B ' c- 30~Augustus, in order to defend Gaul against the Germans andto consolidate the East and the West, still further invasionsand annexations. In pursuance of this policy, Eaetia, Nori-cum, Pannonia, Illyricum, and Moesia were subjugated,carrying the imperial frontier to the Danube. Under Clau-dius the conquest of Britain, begun by Julius Caesar, wasfinally accomplished, and in 51 A. D. that island became aKoman province. Under Trajan Dacia was occupied, carry-ing the Empire beyond the Danube. In the East, Trajan alsoacquired Mesopotamia, but Hadrian, considering them uselessto the Empire, renounced both Mesopotamia and Assyria ; acourse which Marcus Aurelius, notwithstanding his pacificdisposition, afterward reversed on account of the attacks ofthe Parthians. The Empire reached the maximum of itsterritorial area under Trajan (98-117) about the beginningof the second century of our era. At that time all that partof Asia south of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, the entireseacoast of Northern Africa, all of Europe west of the Ehineand south of the Danube, with small regions east and northof those rivers, together with Britain and the islands of theMediterranean, were included in its forty- four provinces.Its borders were almost coincident with the limits ofcivilization.On account of the highly centralized organization of the The imperial

Eoman state under the Eepublic it was not difficult for powerOctavius Caesar, who assumed the titles Tmperator, Caesar,and Augustus, to gather all the power into his own hands.All the attributes of the state, all the majesty of theEoman people, were centred in his person. The fundamentalprinciple of Koman political existence in every period wasthe absolute sovereignty of the state. Its institutions werefounded upon obedience, and submission was the primarylaw of citizenship. Derived theoretically under the Eepublicfrom the majesty of the people, the sovereign power, theimperium, lost nothing of its absolute character by the fact


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A HISTORY OF DIPLOMACYChap. Ib. c. 30-a. d. 500

The Emperoras military-chief

As first mag-istrate

that it was confided to an individual. Herein lay the tri-umphant strength of the Koman organization. When, there-fore, Augustus Caesar concentrated all the powers of thestate in his own person the only innovation was in the per-sonal centralization of power, not in its imperious quality.When, in later times, the ancient legal forms in whichauthority was exercised by the earlier emperors were disre-garded, the people had become habituated to the exercise ofpower by an absolute master, whose will had become supreme,and the government assumed the character of an absolutedespotism.As military chief, the Emperor commanded the army and

navy. He alone could levy and organize troops, or directtheir operations in the imperial provinces. He appointed theofficers, and the soldiers took an oath of allegiance to himand were paid by him. As head of the state, he not onlycommanded the military and naval forces when engaged inwar, but could declare war, make peace, and conduct allnegotiations with foreign powers. Although the Senate had,under the Eepublic, almost entire charge of foreign affairs,under the Empire it fell, in this as in other matters, tothe rank of a mere advisory body, to be consulted or not atthe Emperor's pleasure. Even the distinction between the imperial and the senatorial provinces the formerhaving originally been administered by the imperial legatesand the latter by the proconsuls of the Senate lost allpractical importance, and the Emperor acquired the right tocommand the senatorial proconsuls also.As first magistrate, the Emperor was the highest appellate

judge of the Empire. In both civil and criminal cases ap-peals were heard by him, either in person or by personsdelegated by him for the purpose, the final decision restingalways in his hands. The judicial powers originally pos-sessed by the Senate were lost in the third or fourth century,and the imperial judges became the impersonation of thehighest judicial authority, although a last appeal to theEmperor himself was not forbidden. The earlier trial by


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 5jury gradually disappeared altogether, and trial by imperial Chap. Iofficials the praefectus urbi for Eome, the praefectus prae- B - c - ^~torio for the rest of Italy, and the provincial governors for ^the provinces became universal.

Not only the interpretation of the law but both direct and As legislatorindirect legislation were within the power of the Emperor.He could issue edicts, decrees, and rescripts which not onlydetermined particular questions, but had the force of perma-nent ordinances. He had the right to convoke the Senate,to preside over it, to take part in its deliberations, to sendwritten proposals of laws, and to demand the precedence ofbusiness proposed by him. Propositions emanating from himwere promptly adopted without alteration as an act of cour-tesy, and were then considered as forming a part of the lawof the Empire.The Emperor had, further, the right not only to pass upon As appointing

the eligibility of candidates for the position of magistrate powerbefore their names were acted upon by the Senate, but manyof the imperial officials were appointed directly by him with-out senatorial confirmation ; such as the procurators offinance, the prefects of the city, the officers in command ofthe legions, and the governors of provinces. He often ac-tually revised the list of senators, making removals at hisdiscretion, and raising to senatorial rank men not strictlyeligible to election.As a member of the great priesthoods, and especially as Asponti/ex

pontifex maximus, the Emperor had the final supervision of maxt 'all religious matters, the naming of priests, the controlof the temples, and the direction of everything pertaining toreligion which could be of political importance. In addition,he possessed in the minds of the people the attributes ofdivinity itself, and was regarded as an object of worship evenwhile alive, receiving at his death the title of divus and thehonors of apotheosis.

It is not surprising, when so much depended upon imperial Decadence offavor, that the Senate, which had been the controlling power the Senatein the state, lapsed into the mere creature of the Emperor.


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b. c. 30-A. D. 500

A HISTORY OF DIPLOMACYChap. I The local character of the popular assemblies left the Senate

the sole legislative body of importance in the Empire, andits consulta had the force of law ; but its authority had passedinto the hands of its imperial master. It controlled taxation,but only on his initiative. It made appropriations of money,but it did so only at the suggestion of the Emperor, and thesources of revenue were under his control. Its chief func-tion and highest dignity was the choosing of the Emperorbut even here its office was largely perfunctory, as the choicewas usually determined either by the will of an emperor con-cerning his successor, or by the military power of a victoriouscandidate. As the Empire advanced along the path of cen-tralization of power in the person of its head, the Senatebecame the mere shadow of ancient republican forms, fromwhich all reality had faded, a degenerate body of mere hono-rary dignitaries under the control of their master.1

The Emper- All the officers of the state, whether civil or military, ulti-mVteT mately became the mere agents and instruments of thegovernment imperial power, but the organization of control had its origin

in the palace and was accomplished only in the course oftime. Nearest to Augustus and the earliest emperors stoodthe pretorian guard, formed of the elite of the army, andmodelled after the body employed by the ancient praetors,from which its name was derived. The prefects who com-manded this body were accorded a wide range of authority,extending, except at Eome itself, over criminal matters, andeven including appellate jurisdiction over the decisions ofgovernors. After the manner of the ancient Eoman magis-

1 The history of the Roman Senate in its later period has beenminutely studied by Lecrivain, Le Se'nat romain. Its degeneration asa legislative body was not the only misfortune for the state. By theirexemption from taxes and justice, the senators became an arbitraryaristocracy, absorbing the vitality of the people. En multipliant lenombre des se'nateurs, en augmentant constamment leur privileges,les empereurs se sont regies tout naturellement sur les mceurs et lespenchants d'une societe profondement aristocratique. . . . On voitalors le despotisme au centre, l'anarchie aux extre'mites. Le pouvoirs'emiette en tyrannies locales. Le Se'nat romain, pp. 210, 211.


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 7trates, the Emperor had his council, composed of senators Chap. Iand knights. For the despatch of business he had in his B - c- s~household special offices, to which were appointed his per- 'sonal servants slaves or freedmen who enjoyed his en-tire confidence. Gradually, these personal representativesbecame the principal organs of the public business, assumingin time an official character, and serving to centralize furtherthe power of the state by mediating between the person ofthe Emperor and the regular officials of the Empire.The Greco-Latin conception of a city (civitas) includes The cities

a totality of men inhabiting a certain territory under a localmunicipal government, with elective magistrates, local ad-ministration, police, and fiscal arrangements. The citieswere the political units of the ancient world, and when Eomeannexed the territories in which they were contained it leftthem free to continue their own local existence as before,supplementing their municipal arrangements with imperiallaws concerning war, justice, and taxation.Between the cities and the central government intervened The provinceslarger aggregates, the provinces, presided over by a magis-trate appointed at Eome and representing the absolute sov-ereignty of the Empire. As representatives of the Emperorthe governors of provinces possessed all his authority asregards the local population, ruling their provinces generallyin all that pertains to justice, administration, and militarydirection. Only fiscal matters were excluded from theirjurisdiction, these being under the charge of special agentsdirectly responsible to the imperial government.

Serving as a check to the personal severity or rapacity of The provincialthe governors, the provincial assemblies, nominally chosen assembhesby the cities, under the Eepublic and in the earlier centuriesof the Empire afforded a certain protection to the provincesbut in the later period, at least, these assemblies possessed nopolitical liberties and presented no obstruction to the im-perial will as regards legislation, taxation, peace, or war.They served chiefly to maintain an illusion of municipalliberty under a system of absolute imperial authority.


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8 A HISTORY OF DIPLOMACYChap. I Throughout the Empire existed a social classification whichB C

> ^oo serve(^ as tne basis of the political organization. At thebottom of the social pyramid were the slaves (servi), with-The social out civil or political rights, yet not wholly without legal

protection. To them was assigned nearly all of the manuallabor. Next above the slaves stood the freedmen (liberti),released from slavery by a public act before a magistrate, achurch ceremony, or the will and testament of their mastersyet ordinarily held to certain duties of obedience and evenof service, and not fully invested with the prerogatives ofmen born free. Next above the freedmen were the plebeians(plebes), citizens of the lowest class, usually possessing littleor no property and pursuing the occupations of industry,often associated in corporations protected by imperial laws.Those acquiring fortunes of a certain amount could enter intothe class of decuriones, by which they became eligible to themunicipal senate and local magistracies. Transition to theorders of nobility was possible to those who possessed suffi-cient wealth and had in their family no stain of infamy.Admission to the equestrian order required the possession ofa fortune of four hundred thousand sesterces ; to the sena-torial order, a fortune of at least one million sesterces.These orders of nobility opened the way to the higher honorsand offices of the Empire, civil, military, and financial,official position corresponding closely with social rank. Bothsocially and politically, therefore, the Empire became anorganized plutocracy.

jusfetiale From its very magnitude as well as from its intrinsic char-acter as a universal state, the Roman Empire during itswidest dominion could recognize no international law in itsmodern sense. Comprising the whole of civilization, andregarding the turbulent hordes of the Parthians in the East,the wild bands of the Germans in the North, and the deserttribes of Africa in the South as mere barbarians, imperialEome, having no co-equal neighbors, coidd not enter into in-ternational relations. Still, the ancient College of Fetials(collegium fetialium), which had originated when Eome was


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 9one of many Italian city-states, continued to supervise the Chap. Iceremonies relating to the declaration and termination of * ' '5Q

~

war, down to the end of the fourth century of our era.Pretending to wage no war which was not just, the Bo-

mans regarded the interests of war and peace as possessing asacred character, and it was to the scrupulous observance ofthe jus fetiale that they attributed their success in battle.According to these regulations, no war could be waged byRome until after an attempt to secure a peaceful adjustmentof the issue.1 For this purpose, the case was submitted tothe Fetials, who solemnly inquired into the cause of theprovocation and fixed the responsibility for it. If a wronghad been committed by a Eoman citizen, whatever his dig-nity, he was officially surrendered to the enemy, and theinjury, if possible, was repaired. If the wrong was on thepart of the stranger, the same reparation was demanded, anda delegation of the Fetials, under the direction of a paterpatratus, was sent, bearing the sacred herbs gathered on theCapitoline, and clad in their sacerdotal vestments, to conferwith the enemy. This ceremony consisted in a formal pres-entation of the complaint, attended with a minute ritual.If immediate satisfaction was accorded, the delinquents wereexchanged. If redress was not promised, the delegationgranted thirty-three days for reflection, renewed its protest,and reported the result to the Senate. If war was decidedupon, the pater patratus returned to the frontier, pronouncedthe declaration of war by the use of a prescribed formula,symbolizing the rupture of peace by hurling a bloody spearupon the soil of the enemy.2

1 Cicero, De Officiis, I, II, says: Ac belli quidem aequitas sanc-tissime fetiali populi Romani jure perscripta est. Ex quo intelligipotest nullum bellum esse justum nisi quod aut rebus repetitis geraturaut denuntiatum ante sit et indictum.2 The Fetial, having arrived on the foreign territory, with veiledhead, said: Audi, Jupiter, audite fines, audiat Fas. Ego sumpublicus nuntius populi Romani : juste pieque legatus venio, verbisquemeis fides sit. Next, he stated his griefs. Then, calling Jupiter towitness : Si ego injuste impieque illos homines, illasque res dedier


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 11contract, and took into his keeping a copy of the treaty to be Chap. Ideposited in the archives. The compact was then regarded B - c - 30_on both sides, not merely as an agreement between them, but -as an obligation solemnly entered into with their respectivedeities. 1

It was not by force of arms alone that Eome held her Foreign en-place of proud pre-eminence over neighboring peoples, but by ^q'^ ^.the pursuit of a policy in which justice was the prominent sisfeature. Cicero contrasts the treatment which the Eepublicaccorded to its neighbors and allies before and after the dic-tatorship of Sulla, whose militarism created an epoch in thehistory of Eome. Speaking of the earlier period, Cicerosays : The Senate had become, so to speak, the asylum ofkings, peoples, and nations. Our magistrates and our gen-erals made it their glory to protect with justice and goodfaith the provinces and the allies. It is thus that Eomemerited the name of protectress rather than mistress ofthe world. 2An open tribune, situated near the Capitol and called the Grecostasis, is mentioned by Varro as a place where theenvoys of foreign nations and the provinces awaited theiraudiences with the Senate. Toward the end of the Eepublic,a usage was established soon formally authorized by thelex Gabinia of devoting the month of February to inter-course between these deputies and the Senate, which was at

1 The pater patratus having been authorized to ratify the treaty, hesaid after it had been read aloud : Audi, Jupiter, audi, pater patratepopuli Albani, audi tu, populus Albanus (this being the people inquestion) : ut ilia palarn prima postrema ex illis tabulis cerave reci-tata sunt, sine dolo malo, utique, ea hie hodie rectissime intellectasunt, illis legibus populus Romanus prior non deficiet. Si priordefexit publico consilio, dolo malo, ut illo die, Jupiter, populumRomanum sic ferito, ut ego hunc porcum hie hodie feriam : tantomagis ferito, quanto magis potes pollesque. When he said this,he struck the animal with the sharp stone. The other party to thetreaty then ratified it in a similar manner. Livy, History of Rome,1,24.

2 Cicero, Be Legibus, III, 20 ; and De Officiis, I, 13 et seq.


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12 A HISTORY OF DIPLOMACYChap. I that time charged with the conduct of foreign affairs. AtB

' ' Vaa an unknown date, the Grecostasis was transferred to theA. D. 500 Forum, where it was located just before the Temple ofSaturn.1

It was in the Grecostasis that, in 304 b. c, CaiusFlavius wished to construct a temple to Concord ; but fundswere not voted for that purpose, and he contented himselfwith erecting a chapel in bronze with the penalties paidby usurers.

Under the Empire, we do not hear of the Grecostasis,and with the passing of power into the hands of the em-perors the institution and its usages appear to have falleninto desuetude.

Jus gentium With the progress of Rome in the direction of cosmopolitanimportance, strangers flocked to the city in ever increasingnumbers, and legal questions between natives and foreignersand between foreigners of different countries were greatlymultiplied. In the view of ancient jurists, the laws of onecity had no application to the subjects of another ; and the juscivile of Eome, administered by the praetor urbanus, was re-garded as applicable only to Roman citizens. As the foreigncolony increased it became necessary to create a new magis-trate, the praetor perigrinus, whose duty it was to judge thecauses of foreigners among themselves or with native citi-zens. Since no definite law existed for these cases, the prae-tor sought guidance by an examination of the laws of thevarious cities whose subjects were brought into controversy,and thus came into view the important fact that many ofthese laws were based upon principles that were common tothem. As a result of these lessons in comparative jurispru-dence it was seen that certain legal conceptions were practi-cally uniform and universal, and thus was developed a bodyof doctrines which came to be known as jus gentium.

1 Daremberg et Saglio, Dictionnaire des Antiquites grecques etromaines, p. 1300, which cites specific classical authorities for thecontents of the article.


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 13While this process of comparative study was still going Chap. I

on, the doctrines of the Stoic philosophy, which perceived B - c - 30~in nature a universal force pervading all things, physical, -^moral, and intellectual, a universal reason or natural law- Jus naturaegiver, became influential in Roman thought, and the prin-ciples of the jus gentium, apparently those of right reason,came to be regarded as identical with those of jus naturae.1That these great principles of natural reason afterward fur-nished to Ayala, Gentilis, Grotius, and the jurists of the seven-teenth century a basis for modern international law, has ledto the misconception that the jus gentium of the Eomans wasof an international character. On the contrary, it was essen-tially a branch of Roman private law applicable to personsof other cities than Rome, and without application to rela-tions subsisting between separate states. It was, however,destined to furnish a foundation of principles at a later timefor the Law of Nations in a wider sense, a law that shouldbe for sovereign states what the jus gentium was for the pro-vincials at Rome, a light of reason shining on the path ofjustice.But it is the Civil Law of Rome, the jus civile, which Jus civile

marks the main current of Roman jurisprudence, that greatsystem of law which ultimately extended over the wholeEmpire and became so ingrained in the thoughts and prac-tices of Europe that it has never ceased to influence humanaction. When Caracalla, in 212, extended to all free menthroughout the Empire the full rights of Roman citizenship,there was but one law for the whole western world, theCivil Law of Rome. A form of government had been brought

1 Gaius, in the middle of the second century, recognizes no dis-tinction between jus gentium and jus naturae. Ulpian, at the end ofthe second century, distinguishes between them. Jus naturae, hesays, is primordial and followed by all animated beings ; jus gentiumis developed in the common experience of all nations ; while jus civileis the definite system of a particular state. On these distinctions, seeCarlyle, Mediaeval Political Theory in the West, vol. I, pp. 36, 44 etseq.


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14 A HISTORY OF DIPLOMACYChap. Ib. c. 30-a. d. 500

The qualitiesof the Romanlaw

into existence which embraced in its conception the whole ofhumanity and embodied the wide diversity of its races andthe still greater variety of its local usages in a vast WorldState. Never before in the history of mankind had a rule souniversal been established. Greek and Spaniard, Briton andSyrian, Dacian and Numidian were equally subjects of oneimperial master and equally panoplied with the rights ofRoman citizens.

The supreme law by which this vast and varied populationwas governed had profited by centuries of penetrating analy-sis, carefully balanced decisions, and large administration.All the finer spirit of the jus gentium had been taken up intoit, and it had become the embodiment of pure reason in therealm of justice tempered by a wide and diversified applica-tion to practice. In theory the Emperor was the source oflaw, Quidquid principi placuit legis habet vigorem ; butin reality it was the experience of the Empire, in a large, im-personal sense, that became registered in the imperial legis-lation. The edicts of the Emperor had force only during hislifetime, and the mere personal ideas of the emperors had,therefore, no lasting place in the laws of the Empire. It wasthe decisions of the judges, often inspired by a deep appre-ciation of natural justice, that really created the Civil Lawof Rome. In matters pertaining to the civil order, or rela-tions of equity between man and man, it was never forgottenthat the authority of the Emperor, so absolute in matterspolitical, was in reality conferred by the people, Utpotequum lege regia populus ei et in eum suum imperium et potes-tatem conferat. l There was no theory of a divine origin ofmonarchy until a later age, but the spirit of a generous phi-

1 Digest of Justinian, I, 41. From the second century, then, tothe sixth, we have seen that the Roman law knows one, and only one,ultimate source of political power, and that is the authority of thepeople. Carlyle, A History of Mediaeval Political Theory in the West,vol. I, p. 70. While this was the theory of the Roman law, in practicethe imperial power the only real authority was obtained byevery method, but never by that of popular appointment.


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 15losophy, and even of a broad humanitarianism, entered into Chap. Imuch of the imperial legislation, and went far toward con- B - c* ~

, . ,..,.. ., A. D. 500firming the popular conception regarding the divme attributesof the Emperor. The wife, the child, and even the slavereceived legal protection, and the whole tendency of Eomanjurisprudence was to place all human rights under the aegisof the imperial power.

Perhaps the crowning benefit conferred by the Eoman Pax Romano,Empire upon its vast population was the Eoman peace.Within the imperial Emits there was little disposition torevolt, for the advantages of just laws, unrestrained inter-course, and uniform administration were highly prized.Classes continued to exist, but the ancient national andracial prejudices and antagonisms largely disappeared. Therapacities of the provincial governors were held in check bythe central power, the business of life moved on prosperously,justice reigned, and until the period of crisis came the citi-zens of the Empire were, in the main, a contented people.Military force was seldom exercised except to protect thefrontiers of the Empire, and a general feeling of securityadded to the enjoyment of existence. Far from consideringthe Emperor as a hateful despot, the people generally re-garded him as a benefactor. At Eome, where the personalvices of the bad emperors were better known to their con-temporaries, there was often reprobation and sometimes dis-gust ; but throughout the Empire as a whole the emperorswere objects of sincere veneration and patriotic devotion, asindicated by the eulogistic inscriptions upon the monumentsdedicated to them and the altars and temples erected in theirhonor. They were regarded as having rescued the worldfrom war, violence, and the petty tyranny of irresponsiblelocal despots.With the death of Marcus Aurelius, the last of the five The monarchy

good emperors, in 180, began a period of change and unrest made absolutewhich lasted till 284, when Diocletian ascended the throneand began his series of political reforms. In this century ofturbulence twenty-three emperors actually held the throne,


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16 A HISTORY OF DIPLOMACYChap. I not to mention the great multitude of pretenders, and of thisa r> 500 num^er a^ but three met a violent death. The opening ofRoman citizenship to all free men throughout the Empire wasmarked by a decline in the power of Rome, and vigorous

reforms were rendered necessary. Diocletian endeavored tocheck the tendency to decentralization. To this end, theprovinces were grouped under four prefectures, those ofGaul, Italy, Illyricum, and the East, and over each ofthese were placed separate civil and military officers, underthe direct control of the imperial authority. As the Empirehad grown so vast, Diocletian divided the imperium betweentwo emperors, one to administer the affairs of the East andanother those of the West. In order to render secure theimperial succession, each of these emperors named a succes-sor bearing the title of Caesar, who served as an assistant,and thus became prepared to bear the imperial honor andresponsibility. These reforms were of short duration, buttbey mark the beginning of a new order of things by whichthe monarchy was to become more absolute than before.

The removal With the reorganization of the Empire by Diocletian,and division Rme ceased to be the capital, and each of the four prefec-of the Empire tures became of equal importance. When, in 330, Constan-

tine founded a new capital for the whole Empire at Byzantium,to whicb he gave the name Constantinople, the traditions ofthe ancient Roman Republic, never wholly obsolete at Rome,entirely lost their significance, and the Empire tended moreand more to assume an oriental character. Henceforth, thequalities of Asiatic royalty mark the imperial office, its elec-tive origin is no longer considered of importance, and itbecomes not only an absolute but in effect a hereditarymonarchy.

Although the Empire was practically divided, and neveragain ruled by one man after the accession of Honorius andArcadius in 395, the former reigning over the West atMilan or Ravenna, and the latter over the East at Constan-tinople, the imperium was always in theory regarded asone and indivisible, the imperial office still retaining its


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 17unity as a legal conception, although administered by two Chap. I

b. c. 30-A. D. 500separate persons. Though never formally dismembered,

after 395 the East and the West pursued their ways, eachunder its own chief rider, with a difference of administra-tion which marked the practical obsolescence of the imperialunity.The social crisis of the Empire appears to have had its The social

origin in the organization of a luxurious court and the ex- crislsemption of numerous classes from taxation, which caused aprogressive impoverishment of the people. While the bar-barians were filling the army orientalism was pervading theEmpire, the sense of justice was relaxing, the frequent andsudden changes in the imperial office were devitalizing theprotection of the provinces and leaving them to local mis-management. Whole classes the ecclesiastics, the army,the senators, the professors of grammar and rhetoric, as wellas certain artisans were exempted from the payment oftaxes. The support of the state fell upon the few, and espe-cially upon those having landed possessions. To rid them-selves of this oppression, the small proprietors conveyedtheir lands to the larger, and the burden fell in turn uponthese, until finally the fields were abandoned. Men soughtrefuge in slavery, and the government was obliged to passlaws forbidding the descent of the population to the level ofirresponsibility. The difficulty of finding cultivators of thefields led to a strange provision of law. The power of themaster to sell his slave was taken away, and the slave at-tached to a little patch of soil which he was compelled tocultivate and from which he coidd not be removed. Thus acondition of serfdom was substituted for that of slavery.Although, in the course of centuries, it proved to be a tran-sition step to personal freedom and the abolition of servitude,serfdom was not intended to benefit the slave, but to enforcethe cultivation of the land.

Failing of relief through the action of the public powers, Degenerationthe miserable endeavored to put themselves under the tute- of the Em P'relage and patronage of the stronger proprietors and of the

2


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18 A HISTORY OF DIPLOMACYChai\ I imperial officers. Whole towns invited the protection ofb. c. 30- some p0Werful master who could shield them from the ex-A. D. 500 .actions of the public authority, and thus a virtually feudal

relation was sought long before the advent of the feudal age.A long endurance of control from above seems to have driedup the fouutains of social initiative aud self-dependence. Thestate had become everything, the individual nothing. Somany generations had lived without political activity thatthe moral fibre of the entire population was permanentlyweakened. The deification of the state had created amongthe people a spirit of submission to its mandates and an ex-pectation of its patronage which the degeneration of thepublic powers rendered truly pathetic. When the barbarianfinally took possession of the land, his rude strength was farsuperior as a constructive force to the enfeebled energies ofa decadent civilization. Western Europe had only two pos-sessions that the invaders did not sweep away, the Eomanlaw and the Christian religion.Roman The religion of old Eome, like that of most of the con-quered provinces, was originally a polytheistic nature wor-ship. In matters of belief, Eome was tolerant, and the localcults, which varied widely, were left undisturbed unless theywere found pernicious to the state. With the establishmentof the Empire the influence of Eome became more potent,and altars and rites intended to celebrate the divine author-ity of the Emperor multiplied throughout the Empire. Itwas not difficult for a people inheriting a polytheistic faithto admit a new deity into their pantheon, and the religiousinstinct was utilized to promote the popular reverence forthe divine head of the state and the unity of the Empire bythe inculcation of faith in his glory, his power, and his moralattributes. Even where the old local superstitions werewaning and the influence of the philosophers was felt, rev-erence for the Emperor had a substantial political reason forexistence and even served as a substitute for vanishing ordiscarded faiths. The worship of the Emperor, which gavea certain unity to the religious sentiments of the Eoman


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 19world, was, however, rather an apotheosis of the state than a Chap. Ideification of his person, until death took him to the com- B> c - ?J~A. D. 500pany of the gods.

There was one faith, humble in its origin hut potent in its The Christian-ization cEmpirenfluence, against which the imperial power, in general so 1:

tolerant, pursued a course of persecution. Between the Empire and Christianity, as it existed in the first and secondcenturies, there was an inherent and fundamental antago-nism. The teachings of Jesus, Render unto Caesar thethings that are Caesar's and unto God the things that areGod's, implied the existence of a power above the state;and, without openly inciting to rebellion, plainly imposedat least a divided, and even a superior allegiance. Thesecrecy of the Christian assemblies, the reports of their cere-monies and teachings, the refusal of the Christians to offersacrifices to the pagan deities, or to recognize the divinity ofthe Emperor himself, called forth the opposition of the im-perial officials and brought upon the humble confessors ofChrist the heavy hand of a resentful government. On theother side, the followers of Jesus experienced a profoundrevulsion in the presence of the pagan ritual, the officialpomp, the military authority, the social indulgence, the cruelspectacles, and the personal vices which to their minds theEmpire represented, and they gladly bore witness to thepurity and divinity of their belief by enduring the pains ofmartyrdom. The proscription of their faith closed to allwho survived every avenue of life except the most obscureand humble; yet, notwithstanding the imperial repression,Christianity was destined to a final triumph. By the com-mencement of the fourth century, in spite of bitter perse-cution, its secret propaganda had won great multitudes ofadherents, and through the Edict of Milan, of March, 313,it became a tolerated religion, and afterward the religion ofthe court.

Without accepting the legends concerning the conversion The Edict ofof Constantine, it is evident that the Edict of Milan, although ' anin form an edict of general toleration, was expressly intended


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 21reaction under the Emperor Julian was of short duration; Chap. Iand, renounced by the Koman Senate in 388, paganism was B c> j??7finally abolished by the authority of Theodosius the Great,about 391. Christianity had won a definitive victory andhad become the only legally recognized religion in theEmpire.The evil from which the Empire had suffered in the period The influence

of pagan decadence was the dissolution of faith in the old f on ntiamtyideals and virtues which had inspired the past. Moral dis- Empirecipline, patriotic sentiment, social contentment, all hadbeen swept away by the crumbling of the ancient faith. Theprocess of dissolution, prolonged for centuries, had relaxedand enfeebled the bonds which unite a people to theircountry, an army to its duty, and public officials to theirtasks. The freedom which the Edict of Milan accorded toChristianity introduced a new constructive principle intosociety, the fresh vigor of a fervent faith fitted to vitalizethe whole of existence. For centuries, no free assembly hadmet on the soil of the Empire, conscience had been silenced,and personal conviction had been suppressed. With thetoleration of religious teaching, a new order was instituted,and men started out anew in the pursuit of truth.

Although a new force was thus brought into action, it cametoo late to save the Empire. Before its results could besecured the barbarians entered upon their work of destruc-tion, and the political fabric was swept away; but theenergies set free by the edict of toleration created a new government of souls, as Littre has expressed it, agovernment the most difficult and the most important of all. 1Finding but little to attract them in the purely civil order,the noblest minds directed their attention toward the greatwork of social regeneration. Freed from the restrictionshitherto imposed upon it, inspired by the universality of itsown ideals, and encouraged by the misfortunes of the state,the Church began its splendid task of winning the population

1 Littre, Etudes, p. 27.


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Organizationof the Church

of the Empire to its creed and gathering the lowly and thegreat within its fold.

Thenceforth, we find Christianity, which had subsisted onlyas a personal faith, identified with an official doctrine and anorganized hierarchy. Aiming at universality, the Empirefurnished it the model of organization. The local bishops,successors of the apostolic pastors, were placed under theauthority of metropolitans, whose powers were ordained bythe Council of Nicaea. The same geographic distributionserved for the civil and the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, thecapital towns of the imperial provinces becoming the metro-politan centres of the Church, and this distribution was tocontinue down to the end of the eighteenth century. Abovethe metropolitans were ranked the patriarchates, thechurches founded directly by the apostles, as guardians offaith and discipline, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, andEome, to which Constantinople was added as the imperialcapital. Of these Eome alone was in the western part of theEmpire, and hence obtained a primacy over all the westernchurches, its bishop being regarded as the successor of St.Eeter. Thus, the old capital of the Empire rather than thenew became the seat of authority for the Western Churchand, after the rise of the barbaric kingdoms upon the ruinsof the Empire in the West, the Church became the legateeof its remnant of power and influence. By position, by tra-dition, and by its own theory of its prerogatives, Eome becamethe mother of catholicity, the source and tribunal of ortho-doxy, and the possessor of those imperial attributes in thespiritual realm which the Empire had possessed in the civiland political. Often left as the sole general authority inEome, its bishop was sometimes clothed with these latterattributes also ; and when the barbarian entered the city hefound a throne still unshaken by the shock of war, and seatedupon it a venerable and august presence claiming the rightby virtue of a power not of this world, to rule the conqueroras he had ruled the conquered.


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 23Chap. Ib. c. SO-IL The Barbarian Invasions a. d. 500

Almost encircling the Eoman Empire, as the Empire en- The Barbarianworldcircled the Mediterranean, were those vast tcrrae incognitaewhich the Eomans regarded as the world of the barbarians.Against its incursions fortified and garrisoned frontiers wereerected, but occasional efforts to advance them to points ofgreater security ended in the renunciation of extended con-quests, and after the close of the second century practicallypermanent boundaries were established. Even within theselimits were included barbarian populations allied with theEmpire for its defence, thus creating upon its frontiers aborderland of unrest and commotion.The line of least resistance to the influences of the bar- The tribes of

barian world lay along the Ehine and the Danube. Here the Norththe Germanic races the Teutons and the Goths com-posed of numerous local tribes, after beating back theadvance of the Eoman legions; finally pressed for admissioninto the lands of the Empire. Behind the Teutons and theGoths, who filled the vast spaces east of the Ehine andnorth of the Danube, including the great Scandinavian pen-insula, were the Slavs, of whom only those of the Balticthe Wends or Vandals appear to have been known to theEomans, extending to the Vistula and the Don. Farther tothe East and the North, were the Lithuanian tribes, settledalong the banks of the Niemen and extending to the Vistula.Behind them, were the Uralo-Altaic races, Finns, Huns,Avars, Magyars, Tartars, Mongols, and Turks, peoples un-known to the Eomans, and whose migratory habits made theirboundaries uncertain ; yet all destined, in the course of time,to make their influence felt upon European history.

It was the Germans who, as nearest neighbors, first bore The Germanin upon the Empire. A race of brave warriors, of sanguine innltratl0ntemperament, blond complexion, large frame, and untiringenergy, the Germans contrasted strongly with the SouthEuropean or Latin type. Habituated to the enjoyment of


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Public policyregarding thebarbarians

personal freedom, lovers of liberty, accustomed to self-defence, they had few political ambitions and little disposi-tion for conquest. Deriving their means of livelihood froma rude agriculture and the tending of their herds, they livedin village communities rather than in large towns, surroundedby their cattle, cherishing the life of the family, holding theland in common, governed by their local chiefs, whom theyfollowed and obeyed with a singular devotion, without writtenlaws, and without an extensive political organization. Thevillage community (Gemeinde) was the social unit, abovewhich was the canton (Gau), the totality of cantons consti-tuting the folk (Volk). A nobility was recognized amongthem, based originally, it would seem, upon capacity forleadership, though regarded as possessing a sacred character.Eoyalty was also recognized, but mainly in times of danger,and the king ^differed but little in mode of life from histribesmen. The chief bond was that of the local community,in which all freemen were participants. Endowed withunusual fecundity, the Germans were always outgrowingtheir environment, and by the increase of their populationwere impelled to seek new lands. As early as 113 B. c. theTeutons and the Cimbrians, with their wives, children, andcattle, entered the territory of the Eoman Eepublic in one oftheir frequent migrations, demanding lands for settlement.They were properly immigrants rather than conquerors.Driven out by Marius, they entered Northern Gaul, whencethey were expelled by Julius Caesar. Failing to exterminatethem on the other side of the Ehine, the emperors werefinally content to make that river a permanent frontier ofthe Empire ; but the public policy of the Eomans encouragedrather than prevented a constant influx of Germans, whosteadily mingled with the Eoman population.

Before becoming its masters, the barbarians served both topopulate and to defend the Empire. It was not by suddenand sanguinary attacks from without that the Eoman powerwas dissolved ; but, rather, by the long and gradual infiltra-tion of foreign elements, till at last a point was reached


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 25where assimilation was arrested and the German element Chap. Ibecame preponderant. As Montesquieu has expressed the B- c - ^~fact, It was not through a particular invasion that the -Empire was lost, it was the result of all the invasions. 1It was, as we shall see, by the defect of its foreign policy, bythe fault of its diplomacy, that the Eoman Empire fell ; forit was by its absorption of an alien population and its reli-ance upon alien defenders that the Empire at last becameunable to defend itself.What the Eomans were able to accomplish before their

fatal policy had borne its fruits, is evident from the mannerin which they met the great crisis of the invasion of theconfederated barbarians in the second century. More thantwenty powerful tribes, led by the Quades and Marcomanni,had formed a league for the destruction of Eome. Whenthe purpose of the barbarians became known, Marcus Au-relius convened the Senate, the oracles were consulted,public lustrations were made, prayers were offered, eventhe slaves and gladiators were armed, and the whole pop-ulation was converted into a military camp. To meet theexpenses of defence, the Emperor patriotically set the ex-ample of personal sacrifice by selling at public auctionat the foot of Trajan's Column the furniture and silver ofthe palace, and even the jewels of the Empress. Eor fif-teen years, Illyricum, Noricum, and Pannonia were thescene of a bloody resistance, ending in the complete rout ofthe barbarians.

Other barbarian confederations, like those of the Franksand the Goths in the third century, and that of the Saxonsin the fourth century, were defeated and destroyed by theEomans ; who, under the leadership of valiant emperors, likeAurelian, Probus, Constantine, and others, exhibited a vigo-rous power of resistance. But the policy of colonizing thebarbarians within the limits of the Empire, and of formingalliances for its protection with whole nations upon its bor-

1 Montesquieu, Grandeur et decadence des Romains, ch. XIX.


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26 A HISTORY OF DIPLOMACYChap. I ders, eventually placed the foreign element in control and* c- ^ subjected the Romans to its domination.

After his victory over the Quades and Marcomanni,The internment Marcus Aurelius, thinking to cut off his captives from con-

captives ac j. w^k foe Darbarian world, settled them in the plains ofNorthern Italy. Forts and camps were distributed alongthe Ehine and the Danube, supplied by ships on those rivers,and a gigantic wall, whose ruins still astonish the traveller,afforded protection over a space of nearly three hundredmiles.

Eetaining their native character even in the heart of Italy,the captive barbarians proved to be a dangerous elementwhen closely grouped together near the towns, and it wasfound necessary to isolate them still further by dispersingthem in the country, where there was ample room ; for thedepopulation of the fields had begun in the time of the civilwars of the Gracchi and had steadily continued, extendingeven to the provinces, through the increase of taxation andthe passion for city life.

The coioni The class known as coloni had long existed among theEomans, and now the surrendered barbarians (dedititii) weresettled upon the public lands, taking the place of the ancientnative coloni, a kind of hereditary farmers permanentlyattached to the soil. During the third century there washardly a barbarian nation which did not furnish to theEmpire its contingent of men to cultivate the fields, andthe majority of the Alamanni, Franks, Goths, and Sarmatestransplanted by the emperors entered the class of coloni.

It was not, however, merely as a means of disposing ofcaptives, nor for the development of agriculture alone, thatthe Romans converted the surrendered barbarians into coloni;they were made a source of revenue to the public treasury.Besides the annual rent paid by the colon to the proprietorof the soil (generally the state), there was imposed upon hima capitation tax, the amount of which was fixed from year toyear, according to the needs of the public revenue.

Thus incorporated in the Empire, the barbarians were not,


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THE OKGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 27as coloni, admitted to the enjoyment of those rights and pre- Chap. Iroeatives which might have created within them a sentiment B- c ' ?Tof patriotism and converted them into veritable constituentsof the imperial commonwealth ; on the contrary, they werebranded as strangers, never considered as citizens, and, beingalways prohibited from living near Eome and other largecities, were condemned to a life of rustic ignorance whichleft them in their original state of barbarism.Under the Republic and in the earlier period of the Em- The degenera-

pire, military life was regarded as a noble profession and a ^ of thepatriotic duty ; but with the decline of private interest inpublic affairs the qualities of the old republican legions werewholly lost, and the army, filled with the drift of the popu-lation and conscripts taken among the coloni, became a schoolof insubordination and a menace rather than a defence tothe security of the civil order.

In the time when Eome was extending its dominion overthe world, the legions were composed exclusively of Romancitizens, and such was the general admiration for the Romanmilitary organization that it was regarded as having a divineorigin. But the heavy arms of the legionary, the drill, thelabor, the severe fatigue, and the constant discipline to whichthe soldier was obliged to submit, became repugnant to menwho had acquired habits of self-indulgence, and those whoentered military life at all preferred the lighter service ofthe auxiliary troops. But, in time, every form of militaryduty fell into contempt, and the avoidance of service byRoman citizens was rendered easier by the presence of thebarbarian coloni. In the fourth century, a law was passedwhich fixed the conscription of soldiers as a tax on landedproperty. Each proprietor was required to furnish a numberof soldiers corresponding to the value of his lands, and theyoung coloni were thus forced into military service. Thearmy, composed of this semi-servile class, without patriotismand without a sense of responsibility, thus fell to the rank ofa purely mercenary force.

Left without faithful defenders within, the public policy of The foederati


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28 A HISTORY OF DIPLOMACYChap. I Eome committed the fatal mistake of depending for theB


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THE ORGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 29under Gratian and Valentinian II, took advantage of his in- Chap. Ifluence with the army to assume command of all the troops, B- c- 3~with the title, Master of the Soldiers. When Valentin- 'ian, who resented his arrogance, handed him his dismissal,the proud barbarian read it, tore up the paper, and left thepresence of the Emperor with the words : It is not fromyou that I hold my authority ; you have not the right to de-prive me of it. 1 Then, without waiting until Valentiniancould punish his rebellion, he resolved to rid himself of theEmperor ; and, having slain him while reviewing his troops,in order to show his power, he bestowed the purple uponthe rhetorician Eugenius.From that time forward, the barbarian element became

dominant. The barbarians ceased to be imitators of theKomans, and the Eomans began to adopt the methods of thebarbarians.

It was the attacks of the Huns, who were wandering west- The Gothicward and ravaging their country, which pushed the Visi-goths, or West Goths, in 376, to ask for asylum within theEmpire. Their embassy was received by Valens at Antioch,and two hundred thousand armed men, with their wives andchildren, were admitted. It was the prelude to the terrificcampaigns of pillage which, following in rapid succession,laid waste the Empire. Having through bribes to the Eomanofficers evaded the stipulation that they were to surrendertheir arms, soon afterward, feeling themselves oppressed,these Gothic refugees rose in revolt and fought a series ofbattles in which two-thirds of the Roman army fell and theEmperor Valens lost his life. Pillaging the country to thevery gates of Constantinople, the victorious invaders brokeup into small bands, which continued to ravage the townsand villages, until Theodosius finally made peace by settlingthem south of the Danube.

Another Gothic invasion, under Alaric, was even moreterrible in its character and more devastating in its results.

invasions

1 Zozimus, History of Rome, I, IV, 53.


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Invasions ofRadigaisusand Alaric

The fall of theEmpire in theWest

After plundering the East, Alaric crossed the Alps in 402,prepared to conquer Italy, and was not repelled until he haddriven the Emperor Honorius from Milan and forced him totake refuge in Eavenna.

In 405, Eadigaisus led a terrific onslaught by a host ofbarbarians composed of Vandals, Burgundians, Suevians, andothers. But it was Alaric's second invasion, in 409, whichrevealed the utter prostration of the imperial power andshowed how completely the Empire was at the mercy of thebarbarians. Crossing the Ehine and devastating its towns,he swept through Gaul like a tempest as far as the Pyrenees.

Descending into Italy, he passed with contempt Eavenna,among whose marshes the impotent Honorius had takenrefuge, and hastened on to Eome, where he found a richerprey for pillage. Having reduced it to famine, he forced itto pay tribute, for which its most precious monuments,among them even the statue of Courage, were melted downthen, having humbled it by forcing the Senate to decorate hiscreature, a mere prefect, with imperial honors, in 410 heturned his greedy hordes loose to plunder it at will. Eomerifled, the whole country was ravaged, and amidst the orgiesthat followed, the sons and daughters of Eoman senatorswere compelled to serve their costliest wines in golden cupsto the already intoxicated soldiers.

But the pride of Eome was destined to sink to still lowerdepths of debasement. Honorius, who had scornfully re-fused to treat with Alaric, was glad to negotiate with hissuccessor, Atolf, and even elevated him to the command ofthe imperial army. While the power of the Empire wasthus internally falling into the hands of its invaders, stillother barbarians were pressing upon it from without. TheVandals under Genseric not only stripped it of its Africanpossessions by successive treaties, but finally made an attackon Eome itself; the Huns under Attila, after receivingtribute on the Danube, in 447 plundered the East, and in452 ravaged Northern Italy. Soon afterward, Attila havingdied, the confederation he had founded in the North fell to


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THE OEGANIZATION OF EUROPE UNDER THE EMPIRE 31pieces, but its former subjects, Ostrogoths, Gepides, Hera- Chap. Ilians, Eugians, Lombards, and others, having driven the B c ' ^~remainder of the Huns to the valley of the Volga, simply took their places. Britain had been lost to the Empire sincethe Saxon invasion of 449 ; the Franks had abandoned theirformer alliance and entered the service of Egidius, who wasfounding an independent kingdom in Gaul ; Genseric, longmaster of the Mediterranean, in 455 carried the spoils ofEome to Carthage ; and from that time till the final catas-trophe a succession of shortlived, and, in the main, personallyimpotent emperors, set up by military power, barely main-tained the waning tradition of imperial rule.At last, the person of Eomulus Augustus, called Au-

gustulus, or the Little Augustus, a child of six years,was, in 475, invested with the purple by his father, Orestes,a former secretary of Attila, who had become general of thearmy, and in 474 had deposed the Emperor Julius Neposbut the mercenaries under his command having exacted astheir reward the partition of Italy and the possession of onethird of the land, Orestes, after refusal, was killed in bat-tle ; and, in consequence, in 476 Eomulus was compelled torenounce his pretensions. There being, in reality, no pub-lic authority in Italy, Odoacer, chief of the mercenaries,induced the Eoman Senate to send the imperial insignia toConstantinople, requesting Zeno, Emperor of the East, topermit him to administer Italy with the title of Patrician.

III. The Eelations of the Barbarian Kingdomsto the Empire

The sending of an embassy by Odoacer and the Eoman The embassyo ^i t, rr . -, . of Odoacer toSenate to the Emperor Zeno certainly did not imply that zenothe Empire had ceased to exist. On the contrary, it was anexplicit admission of its existence and of its authority as alegal fact. In truth, no one even thought of disputing it,least of all the barbarians themselves. To them, as to allmen of that time, it seemed that the Empire was a part of


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32 A HISTORY OF DIPLOMACYChap. I the system of nature. The ground on which Odoacer's em-a d 500 ^assy asked authority to rule in Italy was, that no lawfulemperor longer existed in the West. It is to he noticed also

that it was in the name of the Eoman Senate, that Odoacerappealed to Zeno for authority to rule. The reception andreply which Zeno accorded to this embassy confirmed thetheory which its mission implied. The diadem and purplerobe of Romulus brought by the ambassadors of Odoacerwere accepted ; but, at the sam

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