England was distracted by incessant civil wars, caused by the absence of a central government.

In 772 Charles the Great led a great army against the Saxons of Northern Germany. He advanced accompanied not only by "Frankish soldiers, but by bishops, abbots and presbyters-a numerous train of the tonsured ones." Thus commenced a war which lasted thirty-two years and ended in the complete defeat of the Saxons. The trees and groves which the Saxons held sacred were destroyed, and those Saxons who would not abandon their religion and race were forced, with their chieftain, Widukind, to seek refuge in Denmark. In 782 Charles thought that fire and sword had done their work so thoroughly that it was safe to promulgate a law punishing with death Saxons who failed to obey the rules of the Catholic Church or hid in order to escape baptism. Widukind then returned and the Saxons rose in rebellion. In the merciless campaign which followed, Charles massacred 4500 Saxon prisoners by the banks of the Aller. In 785 Widukind submitted and was baptised.

In 799 Charles transported Saxons to distant parts of his empire, and repeopled Saxonia with Franks. When the Saxons were completely subdued Charles attacked the Danes, but after a short campaign this new missionary enterprise was happily ended by a peace in 810.

In the intervals between his Saxon campaigns Charles completed the destruction of the Lombard kingdom, and endowed the Pope with land. In return he was, in 800, crowned Emperor by the Pope. It is recorded that Charles did not seek this honour but

was surprised into allowing the ceremony to be performed. The coronation was an assertion of Rome's right to grant what had been won by the sword. The long struggle between ecclesiastic and temporal rule over Europe dates from the coronation of Charles the Great. This contest, was reproduced in miniature in every country in the West of Europe. Charles's son, Louis the Pious, was crowned by his father without any reference to Rome; but, after the death of Charles, Louis undid the work of his father by submitting to the Pope. The civil wars of Louis' reign weakened the Frankish Empire. There was great slaughter in the battle which preceded the Treaty of Verdun in 843. The Frankish army was destroyed and the empire permanently divided.

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Like Napoleon, Charles the Great was successful in extending his empire than in carrying out his commercial designs. When he tried to seize Venice, the gate through which Eastern products entered Europe from Constantinople, a Byzantine fleet sailed up the Adriatic and Venice retained her independence. The attempt to open up a trade route to the East by way of the Danube also failed. The commanding position of the Jews in the commercial world is shown by Charles' choice of a Jew as his ambassador to the court of Caliph Haroun al Raschid at Bagdad. West of the Caspian there was a Jewish colony in the eighth century. It is even supposed that the Khazars, who lived in that region, embraced Judaism. These Jews were able to facilitate commerce between the East and Wisby on the island of Gothland, the commercial centre of the Scandinavians

The extent and character of the trade which passed up the long Russian rivers to the Baltic is proved by the finding in Gothland of German, Hungarian, and Anglo-Saxon coins, together with Arabian coins issued by eleven different Caliphs. The Scandinavians were beginning that career which made them masters of Normandy, Sicily, and England, which led them to discover America, and all but gave them Constantinople, the commercial metropolis of the European world. For two centuries England and Western Europe paid dearly for Charles' attempt to add this trade route to his possessions by conquering the Danes.

III

SAXON ENGLAND

779-1016

DURING the reign of Charles the Great, Offa, King of Mercia, established a sort of supremacy over the other English kings. Alcuin, the English monk who advised Charles the Great, was probably the mediator who smoothed over the one commercial quarrel which disturbed the otherwise peaceful relations between England and Frankland. Small duties on imports and exports were levied in the Frankish Empire as they had been in the days of imperial Rome. In England, also, prises, or small portions of the cargoes of incoming and outgoing ships, were taken at the ports in return for the king's peace which traders enjoyed. Like modern English customs they were levied for revenue. The idea of protecting the work of the poor was a much later conception. Pilgrimages to Rome were popular in England, and traders “under the guise of holiness transacted a profitable business in the transport of specie and merchandise." These English merchant-pilgrims evaded Charles' duties; he therefore forbade all intercourse with England, and England replied to these old-world Berlin Decrees by primitive Orders in Council. A compromise was

ultimately arranged by which bona-fide English pilgrims were exempted from tolls, whilst Charles reserved the right of levying duties on impostors.

Alcuin, to whose counsel the compromise is attributed, gave Charles excellent advice during the Saxon wars. The Emperor was urged to purify Rome and to deal gently with the conquered Saxons; in particular, to abstain from exacting tithes from these recent converts. This advice was not followed, and the Danes made use of their sea power to deliver a counterattack when Charles threatened to destroy their homes and their faith. Whilst the Frankish Empire was united, its fleet was able to preserve Frankland and England from actual invasion; but the Northmen established themselves in neighbouring islands and attacked the coasts. After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, which definitely divided the Frankish Empire, the Normans began to invade Frankland and England.

In the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" it is written that, probably about 790, "first came three ships of North

And then the reeve rode thereto and would fain drive them to the king's vill, for he knew not what they were, and there they slew him." The reeve wished either to collect the customary prise or to learn the king's wishes with regard to these strange visitors. The Northmen found the English Saxons very unlike their allies whom Charles the Great had been slaughtering at the Aller. Monks, priests, and Christian buildings proved that the English were in close touch with the Franks. When they returned to their homes the Northmen told their neighbours that vengeance could be wreaked on Christian foes, and a rich reward