XIII. If we may depend upon the accounts given by certain writers, Amalric and his followers received with the utmost docility and faith the predictions, attributed to Joachim, abbot of Flora, concerning the reformation that was soon to be brought about in the church by the power of the sword,-the approaching Age of the Holy Ghost, that was to succeed those of the Father and the Son,and other things of that nature, which raised the hopes and occupied the thoughts of the Spiritual Franciscans. Whether these accounts may be depended upon or not, we shall not determine. To us they appear extremely

had abjured his errors before his death,) and a || affect and gain the multitude; but he was at considerable number of whose disciples and length obliged to save himself by flight.* The followers were committed to the flames on ac- bishops, assembled in council at Paris, in 1209, count of their absurd and pernicious doctrine, considered the philosophy of Aristotle as the was undoubtedly of the same way of thinking source of these impious doctrines, and, on that with the sect whose opinions we have been account, prohibited all persons from reading now considering;* for, though the writers of or explaining, either in public or private, the this barbarous age have given very different metaphysical and other productions of the and confused accounts of his opinions, and even Grecian sage. attributed some doctrines to him which he never maintained, it is nevertheless certain, that he taught, that all things were the parts of one substance, or, in other words, that the universe was God, and that not only the forms of all things, but also their matter or substance, proceed from the Deity, and must return to the source from which they were derived.† From these absurd and blasphemous principles he deduced that chimerical system of fanatical devotion, which we have already exposed to the view of the reader, pretended to demon- || strate the possibility of incorporating or translating the human nature into the divine, and rejected all kinds of external worship, as in-doubtful. It is, however, true, that certain significant and useless. The disciples of this enthusiast were men of exemplary piety, were distinguished by the gravity and austerity of their lives and manners, and suffered death in the most dreadful forms with the utmost resolution and constancy. David of Dinant, a Parisian doctor, was one of the most eminent among these; and he usually expressed the fundamental principle of his master in the following proposition; "God is the primary matter or substance of all things." He composed a work entitled Quaternarii, with several other productions, which were chiefly designed to

persons were so far deluded by these pretended prophecies, as to form new sects with a view to their accomplishment, and to declare war against the established church, its system of doctrine, and its forms of worship. Among other fanatical sectaries, there arose one of a most extraordinary kind, a Bohemian woman, named Wilhelmina, who resided in the territory of Milan. This delirious and wrongheaded woman, having studied with attention the predictions concerning the age of the Holy Ghost, was so extravagant as to persuade herself, and (what is still more amazing) had sufficient influence to persuade others, that *This did not escape the notice of the enemies of the Holy Ghost had become incarnate in her the Beghards or Brethren of the free spirit in Ger-person, for the salvation of a great part of many, much less that of the inquisitors, who, in mankind. According to her doctrine," None could be saved by the blood of Jesus, but true and pious Christians; while the Jews, Saracens, and unworthy Christians, were to obtain salvation through the Holy Spirit which dwelt in her; and, in consequence thereof, all that had happened to Christ, during his appearance upon earth in the human nature, was to be exactly renewed in her person, or rather in that of the Holy Ghost which was united to her.' This mad woman died at Milan, in 1281, in the most fragrant odour of sanctity; and her

their Refutation of the 89 sentences of the Beg.

hards, mentioned in the preceding note, express themselves thus: (sent. 68.) "Dicere quod omnis creatura est Deus, hæresis Alexandri* est, qui dixit, materiam primam et Deum et hominem, hoc est mentes, esse in substantia, quod postea quidam Da vid de Dinanto sequutus est, qui temporibus nostris de hac hæresi de Francia fugatus est, et punitus fuisset, si deprehensus fuisset."

The account given by Fleury, in his Ecclesiastical History, of the opinions of Amalric, is very different from that which is here given by Dr. Mosheim. The former observes, that Amalric, or Amauri, taught that every Christian was obliged to believe himself a member of Jesus Christ, and that without this belief none could be saved;' and he ob-memory was not only holden in the highest serves also, that his disciples introduced errors still veneration by her numerous followers and the more pernicious, such as the following: "That the ignorant multitude, but was also honoured 'power of the Father had continued only during the Mosaic dispensation, that of the Son 1200 years with religious worship both in public and in after his entrance upon earth, and that, in the thir-private. Her sect was at length discovered by teenth century, the age of the Holy Spirit com- the curious eye of persecution, in 1300, and menced, in which the sacraments and all external fell under the cognizance of the inquisitors, worship were to be abolished; that there would be no resurrection; that heaven and hell were mere fic-who destroyed the magnificent monument that tions;" and many more sentiments of that nature, had been erected to her honour, ordered her which, as the learned Spanheim imagines, were bones to be committed to the flames, and in falsely imputed to Amalric, in order to render his memory odious, because he had opposed the worship the same fire consumed the leaders of this of saints and images. See Fleury, Hist. Eccles. livre 1xxvi. sect. lix.-Dr. Mosheim considered Amalric as a Pantheist; and many men of eminent learning are of this opinion. See, among others, Joh. Gerson apud Jac. Thomasium, and also Brucker's Hist. Philosoph. tom. iii. p. 688.

*The person here mentioned is Alexander, the Epicurean, of whom Plutarch speaks in his Symposium.

*See Martenne's Thesaur. Anecd. tom. iv. p. 163, where there is an account of the heresies for which several priests were burned at Paris in 1209.-Natal, Alexander, Hist. Eccl. Sæc. xiii. cap. iii. art. ii. p. 76.-Du Bois, Hist. Eccl. Paris. t. ii. p. 244.-Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris. t. iii. p. 24, 48, 53.-Jac. Thomasius, de Exustione Mundi Stoica, p. 199.

Launoy, de varia Aristot. fortuna in Acad. Paris.

p. 127.

wretched faction, among whom were persons || according to the custom of his sect. of both sexes.

The ter

rible end of Dulcinus was not immediately XIV. It was upon predictions similar to followed by the extinction of his sect, which those mentioned in the preceding section, that still subsisted in France, Germany, and other the sect of the Apostles founded its discipline. countries, and stood firm against the most veThe members of this sect made little or no al- hement efforts of its enemies, until the beginteration in the doctrinal part of the public re-ning of the 15th century, when, under the ligion; what they principally aimed at, was, to pontificate of Boniface IX., it was totally ex introduce among Christians the simplicity of tirpated.* the primitive times, and more especially the XV. This famous Joachim, abbot of Flora, manner of life that was observed by the apos-whose fanatical predictions turned the heads tles. Gerard Sagarelli, the founder of this of so many well-meaning people, and excited sect, obliged his followers to go from place to them to attempt reforming the church by the place as the apostles did, to wander about sword, and to declare open war against the clothed in white, with long beards, dishevelled Roman pontiffs, did not fall under the suspihair, and bare heads, accompanied with womencion of heresy on account of these predictions, whom they called their Sisters. They were but in consequence of a new explication he had also obliged to renounce all kinds of property given of the doctrine of a Trinity of persons in and possessions, and to preach in public the the Godhead. He had in an elaborate work necessity of repentance, while in their more attacked very warmly Peter Lombard, the private assemblies they declared the approach-master of the sentences, on account of the dising destruction of the corrupt church of Rome, tinction which this writer had made between and the establishment of a purer service, and a the divine essence and the three persons in the more glorious church, which, according to the Godhead; for Joachim looked upon this docprophecies of the abbot Joachim, would cer- trine as introducing a fourth object, even an tainly arise from its ruins. No sooner was the essence, into the Trinity. But the good man ill-fated leader of this faction committed to the was too little versed in metaphysical matters, to flames,† than he was succeeded in that charac- carry on a controversy of such a subtle nature; ter by a bold and enterprising fanatic, named and he was betrayed by his ignorance so far Dulcinus, a native of Novara, who published as to advance inconsiderately the most rash his predictions with more courage, and main- and most exceptionable tenets. For he denied tained them with more zeal, than his prede- that there was any thing, or any essence, that cessor had done, and who did not hesitate to belonged in common to the three persons in declare that, in a short time, pope Boniface the Trinity, or was jointly possessed by them; VIII., the corrupt priests, and the licentious by which doctrine the substantial union, among monks, were to perish by the hand of the em- the three persons, was taken away, and the peror Frederic III., son of Peter, king of Ar- union of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, ragon, and that a new and most holy pontiff was reduced from a natural, simple, and numeriwas to be raised to the head of the church. cal unity, to a moral one only; that is, to such These visionary predictions were, no doubt, an unity as reigns in the counsels and opinions drawn from the dreams of Joachim, who is of different persons, who embrace the same said to have declared, among other things, that notions, and think and act with one accord. an emperor called Frederic III., was to bring This explication of the Trinity was looked to perfection what Frederic II. had left unfin- upon by many as very little different from the ished. Be that as it may, Dulcinus appeared Arian system; and therefore pope Innocent III. with intrepid assurance at the head of the pronounced, in 1215, in the Lateran council, apostles; and acting, not only in the character a damnatory sentence against the doctrine of of a prophet, but also in that of a general, he Joachim; not extending, however, to the perassembled an army to maintain his cause, and son or fame of the abbot himself. Notwithperhaps to accomplish, at least in part, his standing this papal sentence, Joachim has at predictions. He was opposed by Raynerius, this day a considerable number of adherents bishop of Vercelli, who defended the interests and defenders, more especially among those of the Roman pontiff, and carried on, above Franciscans who are called Observants. Some two years, a most sanguinary and dreadful of these maintain that the book of this abbot war against this chief of the apostles. The was corrupted and interpolated by his enemies, issue of this contest was fatal to the latter, while the rest are of opinion that his doctrine who, after several battles fought with obstinate courage, was at length taken prisoner, and put to death at Vercelli in a most barbarous manner, in 1307, together with Margaret, whom he had chosen for his spiritual sister,

*The Milanese historians, such as Bernardinus Corius, and others, have related the adventures of this odd woman; but their accounts are very different from those given by the learned Muratori, in his Antiq. Italicæ medii Ævi, tom. v., and which he has drawn from the judicial proceedings of the court, where the extraordinary case of this female fanatic was examined. We are informed by the same excellent author, that a learned writer, named Puricelli, composed a history of Wilhelmina, and of her sect. †This unhappy man was burned alive at Parma, in 1300.

* I composed in the German language an accurate history of this famous sect, which is very little known in our times; and I have in my hands materials, that will furnish an interesting addition to that history. That this sect subsisted in Germany, and in some other countries, until the pontificate of Boniface IX., is evident from the Chronicle of Her man Cornerus, published by Jo. George Echard, in his Corpus Historicum medii Ævi, tom. ii., and may be sufficiently demonstrated by other authentic testimonies. In 1402, a certain member of this apostolic sect, whose name was William, or Wilhelmus, was burned alive at Lubec. The Germans, who were accustomed to distinguish by the name of Beghards all those who pretended to extraordinary piety, and sought, by poverty and begging, an eminent reputa tion for sanctity and virtue, gave this title also to the sect of the Apostles.

was not thoroughly understood by those who || Actis Sanctorum, Maii, tom. vi. p. 486, which conopposed it.*

*See Dan. Papebrochius, Disquis. Histor. de Florensi Ordine, Prophetiis, Doctrina, B. Joachimi, in

tains the life of Joachim, written by Syllanæus, and several other pieces of consequence. See also Natal. Alexander, Hist. Eccles. sæc. xiii. dis. ii. D. 331.Luc. Wadding, Annal. Minor. tom. iv.

THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

PART I.

THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.

CHAPTER I.

Concerning the prosperous Events that happened

to the Church during this Century.

they composed a numerous army under the command of Guido, or Guy, dauphin of Vienne; but the want of provisions soon obliged this army to return with the general into Europe. This disappointment did not, however, damp the spirits of the restless pontiffs; for another formidable army was assembled in 1363, in consequence of the zealous exhortations of Urban V., and was to be employed in a new expedition against the infidels, with John, king of France, at its head; but the unexpected death of that prince blasted the hopes that many had entertained from this grand project, and occasioned the dispersion of that numerous body which had repaired to his standard.‡

with a view, as was said, to attempt the deliwhen he was ready to embark his troops, the verance of the Christians in Palestine;* but, apprehension of an invasion from England I. SEVERAL attempts were made by the obliged him to lay aside this weighty enterprinces of the west, at the instigation of the prise. In 1345, Clement VI., at the request Roman pontiffs, to renew the war in Palestine of the Venetians, engaged, by the persuasive against the Turks and Saracens, and to deli- power of indulgences, a prodigious number of ver the whole province of Syria from the op-adventurers to embark for Smyrna, where pressive yoke of those despotic infidels. The succession of pontiff's that resided in Avignon, evinced the greatest zeal for the renovation of this religious war, and left no artifice, no methods of persuasion unemployed, that could have the least tendency to engage the kings of England and France in an expedition to the Holy Land. But their success was not answerable to their zeal; and, notwithstanding the powerful influence of their exhortations and remonstrances, something still happened to prevent their producing the desired effect. Clement V. urged the renewal of this holy war with the greatest ardour in the years 1307 and 1308, and set apart a very large sum of money for prosecuting it with alacrity and vigour.* John XXII. ordered ten ships to be fitted out II. The missionaries who had been sent by in 1319, to transport an army of pious adven- the Roman pontiffs into China, Tartary, and turers into Palestine,† and had recourse to the the adjacent countries, in the preceding cenpower of superstition, that is, to the influence tury, found their labours crowned with the deof indulgences, for raising the funds necessary sired success, and established a great number to the support of this great enterprise. These of Christian churches among those unenlightindulgences he offered to such as contributed ened nations. In 1307, Clement V. erected generously to the war, and appointed legates Cambalu (which at that time was the celebratto administer them in all the European coun-ed metropolis of Cathay, and is, undoubtedly, tries that were subject to his spiritual jurisdiction. But, under this fair show of piety and zeal, John is supposed to have covered the most selfish and grovelling views; and we find Louis of Bavaria, who was at that time emperor, and several other princes, complaining loudly that this pontiff made use of the holy war as a pretext to disguise his avarice and ambition; and indeed the character of this pope was of such a stamp as tended to accredit such complaints. Under the pontificate of Benedict XII., a formidable army was raised, in 1330, by Philip de Valois, king of France, * Baluzii Vitæ Pontif. Avenion. tom. i. p. 15, 594; tom. ii. p. 55, 374, &c. Ant. Matthæi Analecta veteris Ævi, tom. ii. p. 577.

Baluzii Vitæ Pontif. Avenion. tom. i. p. 125; tom. ji. p. 515.

Baluzius, tom. i. p. 175, 786. Matthæi Analecta vet. Evi, tom. ii. p. 595.

the same with Pekin, the capital city at present of the Chinese empire,) into an archbi shopric, which he conferred upon John de Monte Corvino, an Italian friar who had been employed in propagating the Gospel in that country for many years. The same pontiff sent soon after, to assist this prelate in his pious labours, seven other prelates of the Franciscan order.§ John XXII. exerted in this

* Baluzius, tom. i. p. 200. Ital. medii Evi, tom. iii. p. 368. Fragmenta Histor. Romanæ. in Murator. Antiq

Baluzii Vitæ Pontif. Avenion. tom. i. p. 366, 368, 371, 401.

§ Wadding, Anual. Ordin, Minor. tom. vi. ad an. 1305, sect. xii. p. 69. ad an. 1307, p. 91, 368; tom. vii. p. 53, 221; tom. viii. p. 235.-J. S. Asseman. Biblioth. Orient. Vatican. tom. iii. sect. ii. p. 521.-J. Echard, Scriptor. Prædicator. tom. i. p. 537.-Acta Sanctor. tom. i. Januarii, p. 984 -Mosheim, Historia Eccles. Tartar.

been industriously spread abroad, of their poisoning the public fountains, of their killing infants and drinking their blood, of their profaning, in the most impious and blasphemous manner, the consecrated wafers that were used in the celebration of the eucharist, with other accusations equally enormous, excited every where the resentment of the magistrates and the fury of the people, and brought the most terrible sufferings, that unrelenting vengeance could invent, upon that wretched and devoted nation.

good cause the same zeal which had distin- || false or true, we shall not determine) that had guished the pontificate of his predecessors. On the death of John de Monte Corvino, in 1333,|| he sent Nicolas of Bentra to fill the vacant archbishopric of Cambalu, and charged him with letters to the emperor of the Tartars, who, at that time, was in possession of the Chinese dominions. In 1338, Benedict XII. sent new legates and missionaries into Tartary and China, in consequence of a solemn embassy with which he was honoured at Avignon from the kahn of the Tartars. During the time that the princes of the latter nation maintained themselves in the empire of China, the Christian religion flourished in those vast regions; and both Latins and Nestorians not only made a public profession of their faith,|| but also propagated it, without any apprehension of danger, through the northern provinces of Asia.

IV. The Saracens still maintained a considerable footing in Spain. The kingdoms of Granada and Murcia, with the province of Andalusia, were subject to their dominion; and they carried on a perpetual war with the kings of Castile, Arragon, and Navarre, in which, however, they were not always victorious. The African princes, and particularly the emperors of Morocco, became their auxiliaries against the Christians. On the other hand, the Roman pontiffs left no means unemployed to excite the Christians to unite their forces against the Moslems, and to drive them out of the Spanish territories; presents, exhortations, promises,-in short, all allurements that religion, superstition, or avarice, could render powerful,-were made subservient to the execution of this arduous project. The Christians, accordingly, united their counsels and efforts for this end; and though for some time the difficulty of the enterprise rendered their progress inconsiderable, yet even in this century their affairs wore a promising aspect, and gave them reason to hope that they might one day triumph over their enemies, and become sole possessors of the Spanish dominions.*

III. There remained in this century scarcely any European prince unconverted to Christianity, if we except Jagellon, duke of Lithuania, who continued in the darkness of paganism, and worshipped the gods of his idolatrous ancestors, until 1386, when he embraced the Christian faith, received in baptism the name o. Ladislaus, and persuaded his subjects to open their eyes upon the divine light of the Gospel. We shall not pretend to justify the purity of the motives that first engaged this prince to renounce the religion of his fathers, as they were accompanied, at least, with views of policy, interest, and ambition. On the death of Louis, king of Poland, which happened in 1382, Jagellon was named among the competitors who aspired to the vacant throne; and, as he was a rich and powerful prince, the Poles beheld his pretensions and efforts with a favourable eye. His religion was the only obstacle to the accomplishment of his views. Hedwige, the youngest daughter of the deceased monarch, who, by a decree of the senate, was declared heiress of the kingdom, was as little disposed to espouse, as the Poles I. THE Turks and Tartars, who extended were to obey, a Pagan; and hence Jagellon their dominions in Asia with an amazing rawas obliged to make superstition yield to roy-pidity, and directed their arms against the alty. On the other hand, the Teutonic knights and crusaders extirpated by fire and sword all the remains of paganism that were to be found in Prussia and Livonia, and effected, by force, what persuasion alone ought to have produced.

We find also in the annals of this century many instances of Jews converted to the Christian faith. The cruel persecutions they suffered in several parts of Europe, particularly in France and Germany, vanquished their obstinacy, and bent their intractable spirits under the yoke of the Gospel. The reports (whether

* Baluzii Vitæ Pontificum Avenionensium, tom. i. p. 242. † Odor. Raynaldus, Annal. Eccles. ad an. 1386, sect. iv. Wadding, Annal. Minor. tom. ix. p. 71.Solignac, Histoire de Pologne, tom. iii. p. 241.

It seems more than probable that these reports were insidiously forged out of animosity against the Jews, who had long been the peculiar objects of general odium. This will appear still more evidently to have been the case, when we consider that the popes Gregory IX. and Innocent IV. published, in the thirteenth century, declarations alculated to destroy the effect of several calumnies

CHAPTER II.

Concerning the calamitous Events that happened to the Church during this Century.

Greeks, as well as against the Saracens, destroyed wherever they went the fruits that had sprung up in such a rich abundance from the labours of the Christian missionaries, extirpated the religion of Jesus in several provinces and cities where it had flourished, and substituted the impostures of Mohammed in its place. Many of the Tartars had formerly professed the Gospel, and still more had tolerated the exercise of that divine religion; but, from the beginning of this century, things put on a new face; and that fierce nation renounced

which had been invented and dispersed to the disadvantage of the Jews, and in the fourteenth century, we find Benedict XII. and Clement VI. giving similar proofs of their equity toward an injured people. We find, in history, circular letters of the dukes of Milan and Venice, and imperial edicts of Frederic III. and Charles V., to the same purpose; and all these circumstances materially detract from the credibility of the reports mentioned by Dr. Moshiem.

*See J. de Ferreras, Histoire d'Espagne, tom. iv. v. vi.-Fragmenta Histor. Romanæ, in Muratorii Antiq. Ital. medii Ævi, tom. iii. p. 319, in which, how. ever, there is a considerable mixture of falsehood with truth.-Baluzii Miscellan. tom. ii. p. 267.

every other religious doctrine, except that of || suffered death in the most barbarous forms, the Koran. Even Timur-Bec, commonly call-while others were condemned to perpetual sla ed Tamerlane, their mighty emperor, embraced very.* the doctrine of Mohammed, though under a form different from that which was adopted by the Tartars in general.* This formidable || warrior, after having subdued the greatest part of Asia, having triumphed over Bajazet (or Bayezid) emperor of the Turks, and even filled Europe with terror at the approach of his victorious arms, made use of his authority to force multitudes of Christians to apostatise from their holy faith. To the dictates of authority he added the compulsive power of violence and persecution, and treated the disciples of Christ with the utmost barbarity. Persuaded, as we learn from the most credible writers of his life and actions, that it was incumbent upon the true followers of Mohammed to persecute the Christians, and that the most ample and glorious rewards were reserved for such as were most instrumental in converting them to the religion of that supposed prophet,† he employed the most inhuman acts of severity to vanquish the magnanimous constancy of such as persevered in their attachment to the Christian religion, of whom some

*This great Tamerlane, whose name seemed to strike terror even when he was no more, adhered to the sect of the Sonnites, and professed the greatest enmity against their adversaries, the Shiites. See Petit Croix, Histoire de Timur-Bec, tom. ii. p. 151; tom. iii. p. 228. It is, however, extremely doubtful, what was, in reality, the religion of Tamerlane, though he professed the Mohammedan faith. See Mosheim, Hist. Eccles. Tartaror. p. 124.

† Petit de la Croix, Histoire de Timur-Bec, tom. ii. p. 329; tom. iii. p. 137, 243, &c.

II. In those parts of Asia, which are inhabited by the Chinese, Tartars, Moguls, and other nations still less known, the Christian religion not only lost ground, but seemed to be totally extirpated. It is, at least, certain, that we have no account of any members of the Latin church residing in those countries, later than the year 1370; nor could we ever learn the fate of the Franciscan missionaries sent thither from Rome. We have, indeed, some records, from which it would appear that there were Nestorians residing in China so far down as the sixteenth century; but these records are not so clear as to remove all doubt. However that may be, the abolition of Christianity in those remote parts of the world may, without hesitation, be imputed to the wars that were carried on by the Tartars against the Chinese and other Asiatic nations; for, in 1369, the last emperor of the race of Genghiz-Khan was driven out of China, and his throne filled by the Mim family, who, by a solemn law, refused to all foreigners the privilege of entering that country.

*Many instances of this we find in the History of Timur-Bec, written by a Persian named Sherefeddin; published at Delft, in 1723.-See also Herbelot, Biblioth. Oriental. at the article Timur, p. 877.-[The work of Sherefeddin is the same with that of M. de la Croix, who only professed himself, in this instance, a translator. EDIT.]

† Nicol. Trigautius, de Christ. Exped. apud Sinas, lib. i. c. xi.-Jos. Sim. Assemani Bib. Orien. Vatic. t. iii.-Du Halde, Descrip. de la Chine, t. i.

PART II.

THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.

CHAPTER I.

of superstition, is highly useful on account of illustration of many important facts.

Concerning the State of Letters and Philosophy its

during this Century.

II. As no sage of this century had the presumption to set up for a leader in philosophy, I. THE Greeks, though dejected by the fo- such of the Greeks as had a taste for philosoreign and intestine calamities in which they phical researches adhered to Aristotle, as their were involved, were far from withdrawing conductor and guide; but we may learn from their attention and zeal from the cause of lite- the tracts of Theodorus Metochita in what rature, as is evident from the great number of manner they explained the principles and telearned men who flourished among them dur- nets of the Stagirite. Plato also had his foling this period. In this honourable class we lowers, especially among those who were fond may reckon Nicephorus Gregoras, Manuel of mysticism, which had for many ages been Chrysoloras, Maximus Planudes, and many holden in the highest veneration by the Greeks others, who, by their indefatigable application In the sublime sciences of mathematics and asto the study of history, antiquities, and the tronomy, Nicolas Cabasilas surpassed all his belles lettres, acquired considerable reputation. contemporaries. Balaam adopted the sentiOmitting the mention of writers of inferior ments and precepts of the Stoics with respect note, we may observe, that Theodorus Meto-to the obligations of morality and the duties chita, John Cantacuzenus, and Nicephorus of life, and digested them into a work which Gregoras, applied themselves to the composi- is known by the title of Ethica ex Stoicis.* tion of history, though with different success. Nor ought we to pass over in silence Nicephorus Callistus, who compiled an ecclesiastical history, which, notwithstanding its being debased with idle stories and evident mark

III. In all the Latin provinces, schemes were carried into execution with considerable success, for promoting the study of letters, im*Henrici Canisii Lectiones Antiqua tom. iv. p., 405.