Chapter Iii. the Countries of Eastern Asia.

I. CHINA.

THE TANG DYNASTY (618-907).--The confusion in China, after the establishment of the three kingdoms, was brought to an end by the Sui dynasty, which, however, was of short duration. Between the Hans and the new epoch beginning with the T'angs, diplomatic intercourse was begun with Japan; Christianity was introduced by the Nestorians; a new impulse was given to the spread of Buddhism; the first traces of the art of printing are found; and the Yang-tse and the Yellow Rivers were connected by a canal.

EVENTS IN THIS PERIOD.--Under the T'angs, the empire was united, peaceful, and prosperous. One of the most remarkable occurrences was the usurpation (649) and successful reign of a woman, the Empress Wu. Her policy was wise, and her generals were victorious. The Emperor Hiuen Tsung had a long reign (713-756), and was an ardent patron of literature, but in his later years fell into immoral ways, as was seen in the character of the poems written under his patronage. Under this dynasty, there were productions in poetry of an excellence never surpassed in China. Buddhism, although resisted by the Confucianists and Taouists, gained ground. A bone of Buddha was brought into China with great pomp and ceremony. Early in the reign of the T'angs, Mohammedanism first appeared in China. In the transition period before the accession of the next dynasty (900-960), the art of printing came more into use. The practice of cramping women's feet is said by some to have originated at this time.

THE SUNG DYNASTY (960-1280).--In the early part of this era, China was prosperous. But the Tartars began their invasions; and it was finally agreed that one of their tribes, which had helped to drive out another, should retain its conquests in the North. These Tartar conquerors, the Kins, were invaded by the Mongol Tartars under Genghis Khan (1213). After a long struggle, both the Kins and the Sungs were conquered by the Mongols, and the empire of Kublai Khan (1259-1294), the ruler of nearly all Asia except Hindustan and Arabia, was established. Under the Sungs, a system of military drill for all the citizens was ordained. Literature flourished; Buddhism and Taouism concluded to live in peace with one another; and the system of competitive examinations and literary degrees was more fully developed. After the complete conquest of China, the dominion of Kublai Khan lasted for about a century. The celebrated Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, visited his court. In this period, mathematics was more studied, and romances were first written. Three out of the "Four Wonderful Books," which are leading novels, were then composed. The Grand Canal was finished by Kublai Khan, and thus Peking was connected with Southern China. His great naval expedition against Japan failed.

THE MING DYNASTY (1368-1650).--Hung-wu, the son of a Chinese laborer, shook off the Mongol yoke, and founded a new dynasty with its capital at Nanking; whence it was afterwards transferred by the third emperor, Yung-lo (1403-1425), to Peking. He conquered and annexed Cochin China and Tonquin, and even portions of Tartary. The Tartars continued their attack; and in 1450 Ching-tung, the emperor, was taken prisoner, and held until he was released in consequence of a Chinese victory.

II. JAPAN.

CHANGES IN GOVERNMENT.--In the seventh century A.D., there began changes in Japan which resulted in a dual government, and eventually in a feudal system which continued until recent times. The Mikados retired from personal contact with their subjects; and the power by degrees fell into the hands of the families related to the Mikado, and combined into clans. Military control was exercised by the generals (Shoguns), and towards the end of the eighth century devolved on the two rival clans of Gen and Hei, or Taira and Minamoto. About the same time (770-780) the agricultural class became distinct from the military, and were compelled to labor hard for their support. One family, the Fujiwara, by degrees absorbed the civil offices. They gradually sank into luxury. From the middle to the end of the twelfth century, there was terrible civil war between the Taira clan and the Minamoto clan, in which the former were destroyed. The military power passed from one family to another; but a main fact is that the Shoguns acquired such a control as the "mayors of the palace" had possessed among the Franks. The Mikados lost all real power, and the Shoguns or Tycoons had the actual government in their hands. In recent times (1868) a revolution occurred which restored to the Mikado the power which had belonged to him in the ancient times, before the changes just related took place.

CIVIL WAR: FEUDALISM.--The final struggle of the two clans, the Hei or Taira, and the Gen or Minamoto, was in the naval battle of Dannoura, in 1185, which was followed by the extermination of the Taira. Yoritomo, the victor, was known as the Shogun after 1192. The supremacy of his clan gave way in 1219 to that of their adherents, the Hôjô family, who ruled the Shogun and the emperor both. The invasion of the Mongol Tartars failed, their great fleet being destroyed by a typhoon (1281). The Hôjô rule terminated, after a period of anarchy and civil war, in 1333. The "war of the chrysanthemums"--so called from the imperial emblem, the chrysanthemum--was between two rival Mikados, one in the North, and the other in the South (1336-1392). There ensued a period of confusion and internal war, lasting for nearly two centuries. Gradually there was developed a system of feudalism, in which the daimios, or lords of larger or smaller principalities, owned a dependence, either close or more loose, on the Shogun. But feudalism was not fully established until the days of the Tokugama dynasty, early in the seventeenth century.

III. INDIA.

MOHAMMEDAN STATES.--During the Middle Ages, India was invaded by a succession of Mohammedan conquerors. The first invasions were in the seventh and the early part of the eighth centuries. A temporary lodgment was effected in the province of Sind, on the north-west, in 711; but the Moslems were driven out by the Hindus in 750. The next invader was the Afghan sultan, Mahmud of Ghazim, a Turk, who is said to have led his armies seventeen times into India. From his time the Punjab, except for a brief interval, has been a Mohammedan province. The last of his line of rulers, Bahram, was conquered by the Afghan Allah-ud-din of Ghor (1152). Bahram's son fled to Lahore, but the Ghoride dynasty soon absorbed his dominion. One of the Ghoride rulers, Mohammed Ghori, the Shahab-ud-din of the Mohammedan writers, spread his dominion so that it reached from the Indus to the Brahmaputra. After his death, Kutab-ud-din, who had been a Turkish slave, became the founder of the "slave" dynasty (1206-1290), whose capital was Delhi. Allah-ud-din, by whom he was assassinated (1294), had a brilliant reign of twenty years, and conquered Deccan and Guzerat. Of the Togluk dynasty, which gained the throne in 1321, Mohammed Togluk (1325-1351) is said to have had the "reputation of one of the most accomplished princes and most furious tyrants that ever adorned or disgraced human nature." Desiring to remove the seat of empire to the Deccan, he compelled the inhabitants of Delhi to leave their old home, and to make the journey of seven hundred miles.

TAMERLANE.--Revolts in India made the triumph of Timour (Tamerlane) easy (1398). The Mongol leader sacked Delhi, and made a full display of his unrivaled ferocity. A half century of anarchy followed this invasion.

LITERATURE.--On Mediaeval History: The General Subject. (See list of works on Universal History, p. 16.) GIBBON'S Decline and Fall, etc.; "THE STUDENTS' GIBBON" (Smith, 1 vol.); FREEMAN, General Sketch of European History, and Historical Geography of Europe; DURUY, Histoire du Moyen Age, etc. (11th edition, 1882); Hallam. View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages; Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Generale (vols. i.-iii.); Cunningham, Western Civilization (vol. ii); Lavisse, Political History of Europe; Dunham, History of Europe during the Middle Ages (4 vols.); BRYCE, The Holy Roman Empire; Putz and Arnold, Mediaeval History; E. A. FREEMAN, Historical Essays (series 1 and 3).

Works on Church History. The Church Histories of GIESELER, NEANDER; MILMAN, History of Latin Christianity; ALZOG [a Roman Catholic], Manual, etc. (3 vols. 1874-78); Hardwick (vol. i., Middle Ages); Students' History of the Church; STANLEY'S Eastern Church; Fisher, History of the Christian Church.

On Portions of the Mediaeval Period. Froissart, Chronicles, etc.; CURTEIS, History of the Roman Empire [395-800]; R. W. CHURCH, The Beginning of the Middle Ages; A. Thierry, Histoire d'Attila, etc., St. Jerome, etc., St. Jean Chrysostome, etc.; Church, Life of Anselm; MORISON, Life and Times of St. Bernard; Gfrörer, Pabst Gregorius VII. u. sein Zeitalter (1859); Bury, The Later Roman Empire (2 vols.); Oman, The Dark Ages (476-918); TOUT, The Empire and the Papacy (918-1272); Emerton, Mediaeval Europe (800-1300); Pears, The Fall of Constantinople; Sergeant, The Franks; MULLINGER, The Schools of Charles the Great, and the Restoration of Education in the 9th Century (1877); MONTALEMBERT, The Monks of the West (7 vols.); Sartorius, Gesch. des hanseatischen Bundes (3 vols.); Mombert, Charlemagne; Sabatier, Life of Francis of Assisi; Hasse, Leben Anselm; West, Alcuin; Hodgkin, Theodoric the Goth.

General Character of the Period. ROBERTSON, A View of the Progress of Society in Europe from the Subversion of the Roman Empire, etc. (Introduction to the History of Charles V.); Kingsley, C., The Roman and the Teuton: a Series of Lectures, etc.; SULLIVAN, Historical Causes and Effects; from the Fall of the Roman Empire A.D. 476 to 1517; Ozanam, A. F., History of Civilization in the Fifth Century; LAURENT, Études, etc. (vol vii.); Sir James Stephen, Ecclesiastical Essays; Adams, Civilization during the Middle Ages. Scott's novels,--Ivanhoe, The Talisman, Anne of Geierstein: they are historically much less correct pictures than his romances which relate to Scotland.

Particular Aspects of the Period. SAVIGNY, Gesch. d. römischen Rechts im Mittelalter (7 vols.); Sismondi, Literature in the South of Europe; Hallam, Introduction to the Study of Literature, etc.; Geffchen, Church and State (2 vols.); GUIZOT, History of the Origin of Representative Government in Europe; Hecker, Epidemics of the Middle Ages; J. E. THOROLD ROGERS, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England [1259-1793] (4 vols., 1866); Amos, Roman Civil Law; Jenks, Law and Politics in the Middle Ages; Gross, The Guild Merchant; Oman, Art of War; VIOLLET-LE-DUC, Annals of a Fortress; H. C. Lea, History of Sacerdotal Celibacy, History of the Inquisition (3 vols.), and Superstition and Force; LACROIX, Works on the Middle Ages, richly illustrated (5 vols., London, 1880); Gautier, Chivalry; Cornish, Chivalry; BULFINCH, Age of Chivalry, or Legends of King Arthur; Legends of Charlemagne, or Romance of the Middle Ages (2 vols.); COX AND JONES, Popular Romances of the Middle Ages; NASSE, On the Agricultural Community of the Middle Ages (1871); Roth, Gesch. d. Beneficialwesens, etc.; Secretan, Essai sur la Feodalité; Smith, T., English Guilds (1870); WILDA, Das Gildenwesen im Mittelalter (1831); Seignobos, The Feudal Regime.

Works on the Crusades. G. W. COX, The Crusades (1878); also, art. Crusades in the Encycl. Brit.; Michaud, History of the Crusades (3 vols.); VON SYBEL, The History and Literature of the Crusades; Mills, A History of the Crusades, etc. (2 vols.); Heeren, in Vermischte historische Schriften (3 vols.); Procter's History of the Crusades; Gray's Children's Crusade; Archer and Kingsford, The Crusades.

For works on Mohammedanism and the Arabic kingdom, see p. 232.

The works here mentioned respecting the several countries either relate to their entire history, or to their history prior to the close of the Middle Ages.

I. ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.--GREEN'S History of the English People (4 vols.), and Short History of England (1 vol.); the "STUDENTS' HUME"; the histories of BRIGHT, Knight, LINGARD, Hume, GUIZOT, Traill, Social England (6 vols., two editions); GAIRDNER, Outline, etc.; Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons; Palgrave's Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth; Palgrave's History of Normandy and of England; FREEMAN'S History of the Norman Conquest (6 vols.), and History of William Rufus; Green, The Making of England, and The Conquest of England; Ramsay, Foundations of England, Angevin Empire, Lancaster and York; STUBBS, The Early Plantagenets; LONGMAN'S History of Edward III.; Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce; Cheyney, Industrial and Social History of England; Seebohm, English Village Community; Life of Wickliffe, by LECHLER, by LOSERTH, by WILSON, by Trevelyan.

Kemble's The Saxons in England; STUBBS'S Constitutional History of England in its Origin and Development (3 vols.); STUBBS'S Select Charters; CREASY'S Rise and Progress of the English Constitution; THOMPSON'S Essay on Magna Charta; Bisset, History of the Struggle for Parliamentary Government in England (1877); TASWELL-LANGMEAD'S English Constitutional History, etc.; FREEMAN'S Growth of the English Constitution, etc.; Bagehot, The English Constitution; Macy, The English Constitution.

SCOTLAND.--P. H. Brown, History of Scotland (2 vols.); Miss Macarthur, History of Scotland (1 vol.); E. M. Robertson, Scotland under her Early Kings (2 vols.).

IRELAND.--C. G. Walpole, The Kingdom of Ireland; Morris, Ireland.

II. FRANCE.--General histories by Crowe (5 vols.); DURUY (2 vols.); GUIZOT (to 1789, 5 vols.; 1789-1848, 3 vols.); and Outlines of the History of France (1 vol.); Bonnechose (to 1848); JERVIS (Hassall edition); MARTIN (17 vols.); KITCHIN, LACOMBE, MICHELET (17 vols.); Lavisse, Histoire de France; Adams, Growth of the French Nation; Grant, The French Monarchy; Wallon's St. Louis et son Temps (2 vols.); Sismondi, The French under the Carlovingians (1 vol.), France under the Feudal System (1 vol.); BARANTE'S Histoire des Ducs de Bourgogne de la Maison de Valois, 1364-1477; WALLON'S Jeanne d'Arc (2 vols.); Lowell's Joan of Arc; Jameson's Life and Times of Du Guesclin.

COULANGES' Histoire des Institutions politiques de l'Ancienne France (1877); Viollet, Institutions politiques de la France (3 vols.); Luchaire, Manuel des Institutions Françaises; Esmein, Histoire du Droit Français; GUIZOT'S History of Civilization in France (3 vols.), and Essai sur l'Histoire de France; THIERRY'S The Formation and Progress of the Third Estate in France; Sir James Stephens's Lectures on the History of France.

III. GERMANY.--Henderson, A Short History of Germany (2 vols.); Histories by C. T. LEWIS (founded on D. Müller), Kohlrausch; Kaufman, Deutsche Geschichte; Lamprecht, Deutsche Geschichte (6 vols.); Schröder, Lehrbuch der d. Rechtsgeschichte; Richter, Annalen.

GEISEBRECHT'S Geschichte d. deutschen Kaiserzeit (4 vols.); VON RAUMER'S Geschichte der Hohenstaufen und ihrer Zeit (6 vols.).

Coxe's History of the House of Austria; KRONES'S Handbuch d. Geschichte Osterreichs (3 vols.); Marlath's Geschichte Osterreichs.

ARNOLD, Ansiedelungun und Wanderungen deutscher Stämme (1875); also, Deutsche Urzeit (1879); Ozanam, Les Germains avant le Christianisme (1872); SOHM, Die altdeutsche Reichs und Gerichtsverfassung; MAURER'S histories of German local institutions (the Marks, the Villages, the Cities); WAITZ, Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte (8 vols.), Wirth, Die Geschichte der Deutschen (1853); SUGENHEIM, Geschichte d. deutschen Volkes und seiner Kultur, etc.

IV. ITALY.--Cantu, Histoire des Italiens (12 vols., 1859); HUNT'S History of Italy (in Freeman's Series); Butt's History of Italy (2 vols.); LEO'S Geschichte von Italien (5 vols.); SISMONDI'S Histoire des Republiques Italiennes du Moyen Age (10 vols.); SPALDING'S Italy and the Italians; Boscoe and Morell, Compendium of Italian History.

Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders (2 vols.); TESTA, History of the War of Frederic I. against the Communes of Lombardy; HEYD, Geschichte des Levantehandels im Mittelalter (2 vols.); C. HEGEL, Gesckichte der Städteverfassung von Italien, etc.

Daru, Histoire de la Republique de Venise (9 vols.); BROWN, Venice: an Historical Sketch; Ranke, Zur Venitianer Geschichte; Machiavelli's History of Florence; Napier's Florentine History (6 vols.); PERRENS, Histoire de Florence (4 vols.); REUMONT'S Lorenzo the Magnificent (2 vols.); Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo de' Medici; TROLLOPE'S History of Florence; Campbell's Life of Petrarch; GREGOROVIUS' History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages (8 v., from fifth to sixteenth century); Gallenga, History of Piedmont (3 vols.); Amari, History of the War of the Sicilian Vespers (3 vols.); Malleson, Studies from Genoese History (1 vol.); Oliphant, Makers of Florence, etc.; SYMONDS, Sketches and Studies in Southern Europe; TAINE, Florence and Venice, and Rome and Naples; Freeman, Historical and Architectural Studies (chiefly Italian, 1 vol.).

V. RUSSIA.--Bell's History of Russia (3 vols.); Howorth's History of the Mongols; KARAMSIN, Histoire de l'Empire de Russie (11 vols.); Histories of Russia, by Kelly, Lamartine, Levesque; RAMBAUD, History of Russia (2 vols., 1879); RALSTON, Early Russian History.

VI. POLAND.--Histories of Poland, by DUNHAM (12mo), Fletcher, JOACHIM (2 vols.), RÖPELL AND CARO.

VII. SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.--Lembke und Schäfer, Geschichte von Spanien (3 vols.); MARIANA, The General History of Spain; DUNHAM, History of Spain and Portugal; CRAWFORD, Portugal, Old and New; Burke, History of Spain (2 vols.); Stevens's Portugal; TICKNOR'S History of Spanish Literature (3 vols.); Prescott's History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella (introductory chapter).

VIII. SWITZERLAND.--History of Switzerland, in LARDNER'S CYCLOPEDIA (1832); Histories of Switzerland, by MORIN (5 vols.); J. Müller; Zschokke; Rochholz, Tell und Gessler in Sage und Geschichte (1877).

IX. SCANDINAVIA.--DUNHAM'S History of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway (3 vols.); Dahlmann's Geschichte von Danemark bis zur Reformation (with Norway and Iceland, 3 vols.); Histories of Sweden, by Fryxell, GEIJER AND CARLSON (5 vols.); Laing's History of Norway; MALLET'S Northern Antiquities; MAURER'S History of Iceland; RINK'S Danish Greenland; Sinding's Scandinavia; WHEATON'S History of the Northmen; Worsaac's Danes and Northmen in Great Britain.

X. OTTOMAN TURKS.--HAMMER-PURGSTALL'S Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches (10 vols.); CREASY'S History of the Ottoman Turks; FREEMAN, The Ottoman Power in Europe (1877); ZINKEISEN, Geschichte d. osmanisch. Reiches in Europa (7 vols.).

XI. CHINA, JAPAN, AND INDIA.--(See lists on pp. 25, 32.) Dickson, Japan, etc. (vol. i., 1869); Griffis, The Micado's Empire (1876).

XII. BIBLIOGRAPHIES.--In addition to Adams, Manual; Sonnenschein, The Best Books and A Reader's Guide; Gross, Sources and Literature of English History (to 1485); Gardiner and Mullinger, English History for Students; Monod, Bibliographie de l'Histoire de France; Dahlmann-Waitz, Quellenkunde, der Deutschen Geschichte; lists in Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Générale.