Cameos from English History, from Rollo to Edward II | Page 2

which the endeavor has been to take either
individual characters, or events bearing on our history, and work them
out as fully as materials permitted, so that each, taken by itself, might
form an individual Cameo, or gem in full relief, and thus become
impressed upon the mind.
The undertaking was first begun sixteen years ago, for a periodical for
young people. At that time, the view was to make the Cameos hang, as
it were, on the thread furnished by ordinary childish histories, so as to

leave out what might be considered as too well-known. However, as the
work made progress, this was found to be a mistake; the omissions
prevented the finished parts from fitting together, and the characters
were incomplete, without being shown in action. Thus, in preparing the
Cameos for separate publication, it has been found better to supply
what had previously been omitted, as well as to try to correct and alter
the other Cameos by the light of increasing information.
None of them lay claim to being put together from original documents;
they are only the attempt at collecting, from large and often not easily
accessible histories, the more interesting or important scenes and facts,
and at arranging them so that they may best impress the imagination
and memory of the young, so as to prepare them for fuller and deeper
reading.
Our commencement is with the Dukes of Normandy. The elder
England has been so fully written of, and in such an engaging manner
for youthful readers, in the late Sir Francis Palgrave's "History of the
Anglo-Saxons," that it would have been superfluous to expand the very
scanty Cameos of that portion of our history. The present volume, then,
includes the history of the Norman race of sovereigns, from Rollo to
Edward of Carnarvon, with whose fate we shall pause, hoping in a
second volume to go through the French wars and the wars of the
Roses. Nor have we excluded the mythical or semi-romantic tales of
our early history. It is as needful to a person of education to be
acquainted with them, as if they were certain facts, and we shall content
ourselves with marking what come to us on doubtful authority.

CAMEO I.
ROLF GANGER. (900-932.)
Kings of England. 901. Edward the Elder. 924. Athelstan.
Kings of France. 898. Charles the Simple. 923. Rudolf.
Emperors of Germany. 899. Ludwig IV. 912. Konrad.
If we try to look back at history nine hundred years, we shall see a
world very unlike that in which we are now moving. Midway from the
birth of our Lord to the present era, the great struggle between the new

and old had not subsided, and the great European world of civilized
nations had not yet settled into their homes and characters.
Christianity had been accepted by the Roman Emperor six hundred
years previously, but the Empire was by that time too weak and corrupt
to be renewed, even by the fresh spirit infused into it; and, from the 4th
century onward, it had been breaking up under the force of the fierce
currents of nations that rushed from the north-east of Europe. The
Greek half of the Empire prolonged its existence in the Levant, but the
Latin, or Western portion, became a wreck before the 5th century was
far advanced. However, each conquering tribe that poured into the
southern dominions had been already so far impressed with the wisdom
and dignity of Rome, and the holiness of her religion, that they paused
in their violence, and gradually allowed themselves to be taught by her
doctrine, tamed by her manners, and governed by her laws. The
Patriarch of Rome--_Papa_, or Father--was acknowledged by them, as
by the subjects of Rome of old; they accepted the clergy, who had
already formed dioceses and parishes, and though much of horrible
savagery remained to be subdued in the general mass, yet there was a
gradual work of amelioration in progress.
This was especially the case with the Franks, who had overspread the
northern half of Gaul. Their first race of kings had become Christians
simultaneously with their conquest; and though these soon dwindled
away between crime and luxury, there had grown up under them a
brave and ambitious family, whose earlier members were among the
most distinguished persons in history.
Charles Martel turned back the Saracens at Tours, and saved Europe
from Mahometanism, and his grandson, Charles the Great, rescued the
Pope from the Lombards, and received from him in return the crown of
a new Empire of the West--the Holy Roman Empire, which was
supposed to be the great temporal power. As the Pope, or Patriarch, was
deemed the head of all bishops, so the Emperor was to be deemed the
head of all kings of the West, from