584 FOUKTH PERIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
Comp. also L&ON MAITRE : Les ecoles episcopates et monastiques de V acci dent depuis Charlemagne jusqu' a Philippe- Auguste, 1866. H. Jos. SCHMITZ: Das Volksschulwesen im Mittelalter. Frankf. a. M., 1881.
(3) For Italy: MUBATOBI: Antiquitates italicce medii cevi (JVIediol., 1738- '42, 6 vols. fol.), and Eerum italicarum /Scriptores prcecipui ab anno D. ad MD. (Mediol., 1723-'51, 29 vols. fol.). TIBABOSCHI (a very learned Jesuit): Storia della letteratura italiana, antica e moderna. Modena, 1771-82, and again 1787-'94; another ed. Milan, 1822-26, 16 vols. GREGOROVIUS : Geschichte der Stadt Rom. im Mittelalter. Stuttgart, 1859 sqq., 3rd ed. 1874 sqq., 8 vols.
(4) For France : the Benedictine Histoire litteraire de la France. Paris; 1733-'63, 12 vols. 4to., continued by members of the Academic des inscriptions et belles-lettres, 1814 sqq. — BOUQUET : Recueil des historiens des Oaules et de la France. Paris, 1738-1865, 22 vols. fol.; new ed. 1867 sqq. GUIZOT: Histoire g&nerale de la civilisation en Europe et en France depuis la chute de F empire romain jusqu1 a, la revolution franqaise. Paris, 1830, 6 vols., and many editions, also two English translations. — OZANAM: La civilisation chretienne chez les Francs. Paris, 1849.
(5) For Spain: The works of ISIDORE OF SEVILLE. Comp. BALMEZ: European Civilization, in Spanish, Barcelona, 1842-'44, in 4 vols. ; transl. into French and English (against Guizot and in the interest of Romanism).
(6) For England: The works and biographies of BEDE, ALCUIN, AL
FRED. Monumenta Historica Brittannica, ed. by PETRIE, SHARPE, and HARDY. Lond., 1848 (the first vol. extends to the Norman conquest). Rerum Britannicarum medii cevi Scriptores, or Chronicles and Memorials o/ Great Britain. London, 1858-1865, 55 vols. 8vo. Comp. J. R. LUMBY : Greek Learning in the Western Church during the Seventh and Eighth Centuries. Cambridge, 1878.
(7) For Germany : The works and biographies of BONIFACIUS, CHARLE
MAGNE, RABANUS MAURUS. The Scriptores in the Monumenta Ger manics Jiistorica, ed. PERTZ and others, Han., 1826 sqq. (from 500 to 1500); also in a small ed. Scriptores rer. Germ, in usum scholarum, 1840-1866, 16 vols. 8vo. WILHELM WATTENBACH: Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter bis zur Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts. Berlin, 1858, 4th ed., 1877-78, 2 vols.
(8) On the era of Charlemagne in particular: J. J. AMPERE: Histoire
litteraire de la France avant Charlemagne (second ed., 1867, 2 vols.), and Histoire litteraire de la France sous Charlemagne et durant les X* et XI* siecles. Paris, 1868. — BAHR: De litter, studiis a Carolo M. revocatis ac schola Palatina. Heidelb., 1856. — J. BASS MULLIN- GER : The Schools of Charles the Great, and the Restoration of Educa tion in the Ninth Century. London, 1877. — EBERT : Die liter. Bewe-
{ 135. LITERARY. CHARACTER OF EARLY MIDDLE AGES. 585
gung zur Zeit Karh des Gr., in "Deutsche Rundschau," XL 1877. Comp. also RETTBERG: Kirchengcschichtc Deutschlands, I. 427 sqq., and the works quoted on p. 230. The poetry of the Carolingian age is collected in two magnificent volumes by E. DUMMLER: J'ucUe Latini ^Evi Carolini. Berlin, 2 vols. in 3 parts, 1880-'84 (in the Scriptorum series of the Man. Germarda}.
§ 135. Literary Character of the Early Middle Ages.
The prevailing character of this period in sacred learning is a faithful traditionalism which saved the remains of the ancient classical and Christian literature, and transferred them to a new soil. The six centuries which intervene between the downfall of the West Roman Empire (476) and the age of Hildebrand (1049-1085), are a period of transition from an effete heathen to a new Christian civilization, and from patristic to scholastic theology. It was a period of darkness with the signs of ap proaching daylight. The fathers were dead, and the schoolmen were not yet born. The best that could be done was to pre serve the inheritance of the past for the benefit of the future. The productive power was exhausted, and gave way to imita tion and compilation. Literary industry took the place of independent investigation.
The Greek church kept up the connection with classical and patristic learning, and adhered closely to the teaching of the Niccne fathers and the seven oecumenical councils. The Latin church bowed before the authority of St. Augustin and St. Je rome. The East had more learning ; the West had more practical energy, which showed itself chiefly in the missionary field. The Greek church, with her head turned towards the past, tenaciously maintains to this day the doctrinal position of the eighth century; the Latin church, looking to the future, passed through a deep night of ignorance, but gathered new strength from new blood. The Greek church presents ancient Christianity at rest; while the Latin church of the middle ages is Christianity in motion towards the modern era.