the origin of the serious drama; in the fourth century we find that Latin versions of the "Mimes" and the "Atellanes" were enacted, just as in Rome for centuries. There is a certain work "Querolus," written in rhythmical prose, imitated from Plautus, which very likely dates from this period or the beginning of the fifth century. In the fifth and sixth centuries the monks gave representations of Terence, probably for their school performances. There is a certain " Prologue" of the sixth century consisting of a dialogue between Terence and a jester, a kind of gracioso (delusor). In the tenth century this fashion was undoubtedly still in vogue, or if it disappeared for a period, it reappeared, for we have a regular series of plays a collection of comedies by the Abbess Hroswitha--modelled on Terence. There are seven plays written in a mixture of rhythmic prose and rhyme "Gallicanus," "Dulcitius," "Callimachus," "Abrahamus," "Paphnutius," "Sapientia vel Fides," "Spes et Charitas." The title of the collection is "Liber dramatica serie contextus." Probably Hroswitha, who was Abbess of Gandersheim, in Saxony, wrote these little dramas for the diversion of her nuns, and perhaps she made the latter take part in the performances. According to the freedom of those times, she has not scrupled to introduce anecdotes and episodes which are somewhat peculiar and sometimes coarse. It is worthy of notice that "Sapientia vel Fides" and "Spes et Charitas," with their abstract characters, are really "Moralities," almost identical with those of the fourteenth century.

In the twelfth century, which, relatively speaking, is a century of humanism, we find many imitations or adaptations from the Latin drama: there is "Geta," by Vital de Blois; an "Aulularia," a "Miles Gloriosus," a "Milo," a "Lydia," a "Tobie," by Mathieu de Vendôme; an “Alda,” a "Flora," by Guillaume de Blois. Moreover, there are "Debates" and "Disputes" which have a true dramatic character, and could well be acted if it were desired, and indeed were, at entertainments and love-feasts.

Then, too, we must not forget the pieces for carnival orgies, clownish dances performed with masks and burlesque dress,

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nocturnal dances in the cemeteries, sacrilegious performances which were condemned by Church Councils, but which evidently exercised an influence over the later development of comic drama.

In the thirteenth century, between 1240 and 1280, appeared the "Hunchback" of Arras, that Adam de la Halle of whom we have spoken before in connection with another kind of literary production. He, indeed, is the author of the first genuine French comedy which we know, the "Jeu de la Feuillée." It is a kind of autobiography, dealing with his own life of adventure and suffering, and a very remarkable and entertaining play. A little later, about the year 1285, he wrote the "Jeu de Robin et de Marion," which is the simple story of a shepherdess who prefers her fellow-shepherd to her lord. It is graceful, witty, and has a touch of tender feeling; it might almost be called a little "comedy-ballet," for it contains lyrics and was accompanied by music.

Attention must again be called to an important point the comic representations of the Middle Ages must neither be called farces nor comedies. There were no farces, nor moralities, nor soties, in the Middle Ages all these developments only came into existence in the fourteenth century.

CHAPTER X

HISTORY AND LEARNING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

HISTORY in the Middle Ages was at first merely legendary-a chanson de geste in prose. However, in time, among the shadows of the cloisters or the great religious houses, history—or rather the material for writing history-was silently and diligently compiled. The "History of the Franks," by Gregory of Tours, in Latin, and covering the period 397 to 591, is of the utmost value. In the eighth century, under the title of Frédégaire, we have a Latin Chronicle which claims to begin at the creation of the world and goes down to 768. It is a compilation made by ancient ecclesiastical authors and continued by Gregory of Tours, and is extremely interesting where it deals with the period to which the authors themselves belong. In the ninth century we have the Annals of Eginhard, which deal with the years 741 to 829, and in the eleventh century the Chronicle of Glaber, which starts at 900 and goes down to 1046. By the beginning of the thirteenth century it had become a custom in the monasteries to store up with care Latin Chronicles which were imitations of the Annals of the Popes at Rome. There are continuous Chronicles of this kind to be found in the monasteries of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Saint-Rémi, Rheims, Saint-Victor, and Saint-Germain des Prés. In the thirteenth century the "Grandes Chroniques de France," or "Grandes Chroniques de Saint-Denis," began. This work was done by the monks of Saint-Denis, who gathered together all the Latin Chronicles they could find which had been written before this time, and translated them into French, making one vast collection. A fresh edition of

this was brought out in the time of Philippe le Bel, under the title of "Grandes Chroniques de France selon qu'elles sont conservées en l'Abbaye de Saint-Denis." In the time of Charles V., a new edition, carried right down to the reign of that king, appeared with the title, "Grandes Chroniques de France."

This edition, the most authoritative and the most complete, is still consulted; it is the edition sacramentelle, as Paulin Paris said. After this time the great work was carried on by laymen, and continued till the reign of Louis XI., at which period it came to an end.

Besides this monastic work, there is another historical production; in the twelfth century we find that Baldwin IX., Count of Flanders (afterwards King of Constantinople and Emperor of the East), ordered a universal history to be written for his own special use. But the first of our genuine historians, both on the score of his accuracy and power of writing, is Geoffroi de Villehardouin. He was born at Villehardouin, near Troyes, about 1155, was Seneschal of Champagne under Count Thibaut V., when the latter organised the Fourth Crusade, and it was he who negotiated in Venice the transport of the Crusaders in Venetian vessels. He played a brilliant part throughout the expedition, in which he was one of the chief leaders, and at the end of the operations he retired to Roumania, of which country he had been made Marshal by the Emperor Baldwin. Later on, in 1206, when Baldwin had been defeated by the Bulgarians, Villehardouin saved his army from annihilation. Then he served with great zeal Henri, the brother and successor of Baldwin, and died about 1213, probably at Messinopolis in Thessalonia.

He wrote an account of the Crusade in which he had taken part. The manuscript which is considered the best, and is the authoritative one, is at Venice, and belongs to the fourteenth century; consequently it is about one hundred and fifty years later than the author's death, and is certainly very different from the original text. A complete edition was printed for the first time at the end of the sixteenth century (in 1585), and in 1657 Du Cange made a translation of it into modern

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French. But Villehardouin can be read easily enough in the Old French version, even by one who has made no special study of him. He is dignified, clear, and vivid, and has often been compared to Xenophon in his "Anabasis," and not unjustly. The likeness to the Chanson de Geste is shown by the division of the work into five hundred chapters, which are almost the usual length of the epic "Laisses." "If he has not the charming and piquant naïveté of Joinville," says Daunon, "he attracts his readers by his simplicity, sincerity, and by the reality of his narrative.”

He has the gifts of the observer, and although he never gives any disquisitions nor "universal truths"-things which need not be feared from a twelfth-century historian-he gives us some keen reflections in the course of his recital which reveal the moralist, or rather the student of men. He is not lacking in the picturesque element, as can be seen from this extract concerning the oath of alliance between the Venetians and the barons (from the text of Du Cange) :

"Then he assembled all the people of Venice on one Sunday, which was a very great feast-day in honour of St. Mark, and there came most of the barons of the land, and our pilgrims. Before they began to chant the High Mass, the Duke of Venice ascended into the reading-desk to speak to the assemblage, and he said as follows: Seigneurs, I know that we are united for the greatest and noblest thing there is in all Christendom to-day. I am but an old man, weak and feeble of body, therefore in future I have need of rest; but I do not at this moment know of any other man among our company who can lead you forth or wage war better than myself. Now, if you will grant that my son may remain in the land and protect and rule it in my stead, I will herewith take the cross, and will go with you to live or die according as God shall decree.""

His style can also be judged by the description given of Constantinople, seen from afar by the approaching Crusaders :

". . . Then they quitted the port of Abydos, and straightway it was possible to see the Saint George's Channel all alive with boats, ships, galleys and vessels of transport. It was pleasing and marvellous to behold this beauty. And they made such speed going up the Channel that by the eve of St. John the Baptist in June, they came to Saint