Famous Men of the Middle Ages
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Permission to use Heritage History documents or images for commercial purposes, or more information about our collection of traditional history resources can be obtained by contacting us at [email protected]. Original Copyright 1904 by John Haaren and A.B. Poland 2 Distributed by Heritage History 2010 biography should precede the study of detailed American PREFACE history in our elementary schools, The Committee of Ten recommends an eight years' course in history, beginning with the fifth year in school and continuing to the end of the The study of history, like the study of a landscape, high school course. The first two years of this course are should begin with the most conspicuous features. Not until given wholly to the study of biography and mythology, The these have been fixed in memory will the lesser features fall Committee of Fifteen recommends that history be taught in into their appropriate places and assume their right all the grades of the elementary school and emphasizes the proportions. value of biography and of general history. The famous men of ancient and modern times are The series of historical stories to which this volume the mountain peaks of history. It is logical then that the belongs was prepared in conformity with the foregoing study of history should begin with the biographies of these recommendations and with the best practice of leading men. schools. It has been the aim of the authors to make an Not only is it logical; it is also pedagogical. interesting story of each man's life and to tell these stories Experience has proven that in order to attract and hold the in a style so simple that pupils in the lower grades will read child's attention each conspicuous feature of history them with pleasure, and so dignified that they may be used presented to him should have an individual for its center. with profit as text-books for reading. The child identifies himself with the personage presented. It Teachers who find it impracticable to give to the is not Romulus or Herecules or Alexander that the child has study of mythology and biography a place of its own in an in mind when be reads, but himself, acting under similar already overcrowded curriculum usually prefer to correlate conditions. history with reading and for this purpose the volumes of Prominent educators, appreciating these truths, have this series will be found most desirable. long recognized the value of biography as a preparation for The value of the illustrations can scarcely be over- the study of history and have given it an important place in estimated. They will be found to surpass in number and their scheme of studies. excellence anything heretofore offered in a school-book. The former practice in many elementary schools of For the most part they are reproductions of world-famous beginning the detailed study of American history without pictures, and for that reason the artists' names are generally any previous knowledge of general history limited the affixed. pupil's range of vision, restricted his sympathies, and left him without material for comparisons. Moreover, it denied to him a knowledge of his inheritance from the Greek philosopher, the Roman lawgiver, the Teutonic lover of freedom. Hence the recommendation so strongly urged in the report of the Committee of Ten—and emphasized, also, in the report of the Committee of Fifteen—that the study of Greek, Roman and modern European history in the form of Original Copyright 1904 by John Haaren and A.B. Poland 3 Distributed by Heritage History 2010 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR ......................................... 62 TABLE OF CONTENTS PETER THE HERMIT ..................................................... 64 THE GODS OF THE TEUTONS ......................................... 5 FREDERICK BARBAROSSA ............................................ 66 THE NIBELUNGS ............................................................. 7 HENRY THE SECOND AND HIS SONS ............................ 68 ALARIC THE VISIGOTH ................................................ 11 LOUIS THE NINTH ......................................................... 73 ATTILA THE HUN .......................................................... 14 ROBERT BRUCE ............................................................ 76 GENSERIC THE VANDAL ............................................... 18 MARCO POLO ............................................................... 78 THEODORIC THE OSTROGOTH ..................................... 21 EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE ...................................... 80 CLOVIS.......................................................................... 24 WILLIAM TELL AND ARNOLD VON WINKELRIED ....... 82 JUSTINIAN THE GREAT ................................................. 27 TAMERLANE ................................................................. 85 MOHAMMED ................................................................. 31 HENRY V ....................................................................... 87 CHARLES MARTEL, AND PEPIN ................................... 35 JOAN OF ARC ................................................................ 90 CHARLEMAGNE ............................................................ 38 GUTENBERG .................................................................. 93 HARUN-AL-RASHID ..................................................... 42 WARWICK THE KINGMAKER ....................................... 95 EGBERT......................................................................... 44 ROLLO THE VIKING ..................................................... 47 ALFRED THE GREAT .................................................... 50 HENRY THE FOWLER ................................................... 53 CANUTE THE GREAT .................................................... 55 THE CID ........................................................................ 57 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR ........................................... 60 Original Copyright 1904 by John Haaren and A.B. Poland 4 Distributed by Heritage History 2010 Another great god of our ancestors was Tiew. He was a CHAPTER I son of Woden and was the god of battle. He was armed with a sword which flashed like lightning when he brandished it. A savage chief named Attila routed the armies of the Romans THE GODS OF THE TEUTONS and so terrified all the world that he was called "The Scourge of God." His people believed that he gained his victories In the little volume called The Famous Men of Rome because he had the sword of Tiew, which a herdsman chanced you have read about the great empire which the Romans to find where the god had allowed it to fall. The Teutons established. Now we come to a time when the power of Rome prayed to Tiew when they went into battle. was broken and tribes of barbarians who lived north of the Frija was the wife of Woden and the queen of the gods. Danube and the Rhine took possession of lands that had been She ruled the bright clouds that gleam in the summer sky, and part of the Roman Empire. These tribes were the Goths, caused them to pour their showers on meadow and forest and Vandals, Huns, Franks and Anglo-Saxons. From them have mountain. come the greatest nations of modern times. All except the Huns belonged to the same race and are known as Teutons. Four of the days of the week are named after these They were war-like, savage and cruel. They spoke the same gods. Tuesday means the day of Tiew; Wednesday, the day of language—though in different dialects—and worshiped the Woden; Thursday, the day of Thor; and Friday, the day of same gods. Like the old Greeks and Romans they had many Frija. gods. Frija's son was Baldur; who was the favorite of all the Woden, who was also called Odin, was the greatest of gods. Only Loki, the spirit of evil, hated him. Baldur's face