France . typical, intheir juxtaposition, of the temporal and spiritual powerswhich divided the sway of the land ; for throughout theMiddle Ages, side by side with the persistent power ofthe Bishops and their train of clergy and serfs, persisted COXJNTS AND BISHOPS 61 also, but waxing and waning with varying fortune, thepower of the Counts. From the vassals and dependentsof these two powers was destined to spring the modernbourgeoisie. The Counts pass before us in the vista ofhistory, for ever raising levies, waging wars, and exactingtolls of merchandise. Sometimes they are in accord withthe cl
France . typical, intheir juxtaposition, of the temporal and spiritual powerswhich divided the sway of the land ; for throughout theMiddle Ages, side by side with the persistent power ofthe Bishops and their train of clergy and serfs, persisted COXJNTS AND BISHOPS 61 also, but waxing and waning with varying fortune, thepower of the Counts. From the vassals and dependentsof these two powers was destined to spring the modernbourgeoisie. The Counts pass before us in the vista ofhistory, for ever raising levies, waging wars, and exactingtolls of merchandise. Sometimes they are in accord withthe clergy, sometimes in opposition ; at one momentthey make large donations to the Church, at anotherrob it. To-day they fight for their King abroad and ontheir Crusades, while Viscounts represent them, some-what feebly as a rule, at home. To-morrow they arehome again, fighting among themselves, or trying tothrow off their allegiance to their King. War andbrigandage are mainly their business. They pillage the. PLOUGHING IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Bishops, and the Bishops excommunicate the raise troops, and the Bishops call their parishionersto arms. They war with the sword only, but the Bishopswin with the aid of their pens also, the cunning of theircounsel, and the power of the Church. But during thisperiod of disorder the serf waged with his master thesame struggle as the vassal was waging with his lord,the lord with the King. The result was similar in aUcases. Usurpation of servile tenures accompanied thatof liberal tenures, and territorial appropriation havingtaken place in every rank of society, it was as difficultto dispossess a serf of his manse as a seigneur of hisbenefice. The serf, therefore, emerged from the condition 62 FRANCE of almost absolute slavery in which he was at the fall ofthe Western Empire, and from the condition of servitudethat had been his up to the end of the reign of Charlesthe Bald. Servitude was transformed into serfage. Theserf, having withdra
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1913
