Red River Settlement.— In 1811 the fifth earl of Selkirk (1771-1820), who had devoted special attention to emigration as a means of providing for the surplus population of the Scottish Highlands, obtained from the Hudson’s Bay Company a grant of land in what was then called the district of Ossiniboia (Assiniboia). In 1813 a settlement was founded by his agent, Mr Miles Macdonell, on the banks of the Red River, the first fort (Fort Daer) being at Pembina. By 1814 the settlers numbered 200. The North-West Fur-Traders of Manchester (a company which was the bitterest rival of the Hudson’s Bay Company till the two amalgamated in 1821) did all they could by force and fraud to break up the colony, which, by 1816, had taken up its headquarters at Fort Douglas, on the site of the present town of Winnipeg. The French-Indian half-breeds (Bois-Brûlés) were incited against it, and its mills and houses were burned. The earl of Selkirk, arriving on the scene, succeeded in reorganizing the community, to which the name of Kildonan was now given, after Kildonan in Helmsdale, Sutherland-shire. He found himself personally involved in a very network of hostile intrigue; but the colony was saved, and after his premature death it continued to be more or less supported by his heirs till 1824. In 1835 Lord Selkirk’s territorial claims were transferred to the Hudson’s Bay Company, who undertook to pay the expenses incurred by the family. At that date the population of the settlement consisted of about 5000 Highlanders, Bois-Brûlés, English half-breeds, and retired company officials. At the transfer of territorial jurisdiction to the Canadian Government in 1869 the Bois-Brûlés, under a certain Louis Riel (son of a Frenchman who had built the first mill on the Red river), revolted and declared an independent republic. Colonel (now Lord) Wolseley was despatched with a force of 1400 men, and without bloodshed took possession of Fort Garry on 24th August 1870. The only striking feature of the expedition was the remarkable energy with which the difficulties of transport were overcome. Riel in 1885 became the leader of another unsuccessful insurrection of half-breeds in the same region.

See Halkett, Statement respecting the Earl of Selkirk’s Settlement upon the Red River, London, 1817; G. Bryce, Manitoba, 1882 (which contains previously unpublished documents); “Narrative of the Red River Expedition,” in Blackwood’s Magazine, vols, cviii. and eix. (1871).

The Arabian coast (see Arabia) is generally a narrow sandy plain backed by ranges of barren mountains abrupt in outline and of moderate height. Enormous coral reefs run along the coast in broken lines, parallel to the shore but not connected with it. They usually rise out of deep water to within a few feet of the surface; and a navigable channel of from 2 to 3 miles in width, in which the water is always calm, extends between them and the land. The Farisan Archipelago in 17* N. lat. is the largest and most important of the island groups of the eastern reef. It is entirely of organic formation. The most important harbours of Arabia on the Red Sea are Mokha in 13° 30׳ N. lat. (now nearly deserted for those of Aden and Hodeida, the port of San'a), Lokeyyali about 200 miles farther north, Jiddah in 21° 20׳ N. lat. (the only well protected harbour), and Yenbo' in 24° N. lat. The western coast is flat and desert in the north, but gives place farther south to high tablelands rising at some distance from the shore, and then to the lofty Abyssinian mountains (see Abyssinia, Africa, Egypt). The parallel system of coral reefs is not so extensive as on the east coast, and being nearer the land the inshore channel is narrower. The large and curiously shaped coral-rock island of Dahlak, lying off Annesley Bay, is the most important on the reef. There are seven or eight harbours, of which the best known are Massowah, a little to the north of Annesley Bay (the largest inlet on the sea), and the port of disembarkation of the British troops in the Abyssinian War of 1868, Klior Nowarat, which, though small, is the best bay in the Red Sea, and Sawakin (Suakim) in 19’ 30' N. lat., the chief port of the Soudan trade.

The only islands of importance not already mentioned are those of the volcanic group in 14° N. lat., one of which, Jebel Zugur, 10 miles long and 7 wide, rises in a series of bare hills to the altitude of 2074 feet, and the islet Jebel Teir in 15° 30' N. lat., on which a volcano has only recently become inactive. A dangerous reef named the Daedalus in 24’ 26' N. lat. lies right in the way of steamships traversing the sea; it is covered with a few feet of water or uncovered, according to the season, and, like most of the reefs and islands on the usual track of vessels, is furnished with a lighthouse.

The Red Sea area is in a state of gradual upheaval, the former seaport of Adulis on Annesley Bay is now 4 miles from the shore, and at Suez the former limits of the sea can be traced for several miles northwards; whereas the north coast of Egypt is undergoing gradual subsidence.

Tides .—The tides are imperceptible at many places on the fled Sea, and where observable they are extremely uncertain, varying both as to time and to amount of rise with the direction and force of the wind. At Suez, where they are most regular, the rise varies from 7 feet at spring to 4 feet at neap tides. The surface-currents of the sea are also variable and perplexing; they are chiefly produced by the wind, and change in velocity and direction accordingly.

Traffic .—From the decline of the old Indian trade with Egypt till the formation of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company and the overland route to India in 1840, traffic in the Red Sea was almost entirely confined to small native vessels trading with grain and fruit between Egypt and Arabia, and carrying pilgrims to Jiddah, the port of Mecca. Since 1840 passenger traffic, and since the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 trade of all kinds in European vessels, have greatly increased. A telegraphic cable was laid from Bombay to Suez in 1859.

Meteorology .—The climate of the Red Sea region is one of the hottest in the world. The altitude of the sun, the almost continually cloudless skies, the arid rainless character of the shores, and the complete absence of rivers combine to make the mean temperature high. That of the air usually ranges from 70° to 94° Fain־., though it has been frequently observed as high as 105° in the shade on board ship, and in the northern part of the sea the clearness of the nights promotes radiation, so that by morning the thermometer may fall to the freezing-point on shore. The atmosphere over the land is very dry; the difference between the readings of the wet and dry bulb thermometers is frequently as much as 25°, and sometimes, during the prevalence of the desert wind, it rises to 40°. The evaporation from the Red Sea is naturally excessive; the humidity of the air over the water is always great in summer, and when the wind blows off the sea the atmosphere is frequently saturated on shore. From the direction of the prevailing winds, precipitation takes place chiefly on the mountains of Abyssinia. North-north-west winds prevail on shore all the year round with very slight exception; but in the middle of the sea they are only universal from June to September, and are confined to the northern half from October to May. During the latter season south-south-east winds prevail in the southern part of the sea, while a belt of calms and light variable breezes occupies a changing position near the centre. The southerly winds are often accompanied with rain squalls, and in September there are frequently calms and hazy weather. Hurricanes and heavy storms seldom occur in the sea, but moderate gales are common and sandstorms not unusual. From the admiralty temperature charts it appears that the mean temperature of the surface-water at the four typical seasons of the year, taking all available data into account, is as follows :—

Gulf of About South Adjacent

Suez. 20' N. lat. End. Indian Ocean.

February..............65° 75° 78° 84°

May..................76° 80° 87° 85’

August ..............79° 85° 89° 79°

November............76° 86° 82° 82°

The temperature of the water at the south end of the sea is usually in excess of that of the air, and it is on record that on four consecutive days the temperature of the surface-water was 100°, 106°, 100°, and 96°, while at the same time that of the air was 80°, 82°, 83°, and 82°. The surface-temperature varies from 70° to 90°, according to the position and the season. The winter mean of the northern part is about 71°, and this temperature continues to the bottom at that season. When the temperature on the surface is higher than 71° it gradually falls as the depth increases, until at about 200 fathoms it becomes uniform in all parts of the sea as 71°, a temperature which is maintained from that depth to the bottom all the year round. This is in consonance with all observations made on enclosed seas, the water below the point to which the barrier reaches being of uniform temperature. According to some authorities this is the isoclieimal or mean winter temperature of the surface; but the researches of the “Challenger” seem to indicate that the temperature of the external ocean at the summit of the barrier is that which extends to the bottom of the enclosed sea.

Physical Conditions .—The greatest depth, which occurs in 21° N. lat., is about 1200 fathoms, and from this point the sea shoals to each end. The general conformation of the bottom is that of a series of gradually sloping rounded elevations with rounded basins between them. The water is shallow in the Gulf of Suez and also at the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, where the depth in the centre if the large channel is a little under 200 fathoms. The Red Sea basin is cut off from the general oceanic circulation by a barrier rising to within 200 fathoms of the surface in a channel that has a much smaller average depth and is only 13^ miles wide. As no rivers discharge into it and little rain falls, it must be viewed as a purely evaporational area, and as such it is of extreme scientific interest. It reproduces and exaggerates all the special physical conditions of the Mediterranean; but on account of the extremely trying nature of the climate it has not been so thoroughly investigated. The average amount of evaporation at Aden is variously estimated at from 025־ to 075־ inch per day, or from 8 to 23 feet per year; in the Red Sea generally it must be at least equal to the smaller figure, and probably exceeds it. As the level of the Red Sea is not subject to any permanent change it is evident that water must flow in through the Strait of Bab-el-Mandcb—the slight current through the Suez Canal need not be considered—to replace loss by evaporation. If there were no return current it is estimated that the Red Sea would become a mass of solid salt in one or two thousand years. Although the salinity of the water is higher than that of the water of the oceau it does not appear to be on the increase. The density of Red Sea water at 60° Fahr. is about 1030־, corresponding to 4 0־ per cent, of total salts, while that of average ocean water is 1026־, which corresponds to 35־ per cent, of salts. In order to account for the constancy of salinity in the Red Sea it is necessary to assume the existence of strong undercurrents of salt water passing out of the sea, beneath the opposite entering current of fresher water. These undercurrents have not yet been observed, but there are indirect proofs of their existence. During the hottest months (July to September), when there is most evaporation, the prevalence of northerly winds drives the water out of the Red Sea as a rapid surface-drift; the south-west monsoon is blowing in the Indian Ocean at the same time, and the general level in the Red Sea is from 2 to 3 feet higher than during the cooler months, when evaporation is less, and when the north-east monsoon forces water into the funnel-shaped Gulf of Aden, and thence through the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. This is held by Dr W. B. Carpenter to be a proof of the existence of an undercurrent, for the north-east wind forms a head of water at the strait, which to equalize pressure over the area produces an under-return-current, and this greatly accelerates the flow of the regular undercurrent of the Red Sea, and so lowers the general level. In summer the outflow of dense salt water is slower, and this more than neutralizes the effect of the outward surface-drift, which to some extent reduces the volume of the entering fresher water at that season. In the Red Sea there is a constant and regular sub-surface circulation of water due solely to evaporation; the surface-drifts caused by wind, although they form rapid currents and render navigation dangerous at times, are minor agents in the system and modify it only to a slight extent. The Red Sea and the Persian Gulf serve as concentration areas for maintaining the salinity of the deep water in the Indian Ocean, in opposition to the currents of comparatively fresh water flowing northwards from the Antarctic Ocean.

Deposits .—In a sea so nearly landlocked and so narrow the deposits which cover the bottom are naturally of the order classed as terrigenous. The large quantity of sand blown into the sea, the immense abundance of corals and other calcareous organisms in the water, and the entire absence of rivers with their suspended sediments produce deposits more nearly resembling in some of their characteristics those of the open ocean than those of inland seas. But the sand and ooze from the bottom of the Red Sea have not yet been thoroughly examined.

Fauna .—Animal life in all its forms is extremely abundant in the Red Sea, which, however, cannot be said to have been any more completely surveyed from a biological than from a physical point of view, although several eminent zoologists have studied special types. Great numbers of new species have been discovered by each investigator, and it has been ascertained that the Red Sea fauna differs considerably from that of the Mediterranean, not more than twenty species being common, it is stated, to both, thus indicating that the separation of the two seas must have taken place at a remote epoch, which appears from geological evidence to be the Eocene period. It exhibits affinities with the fauna of the Pacific, particularly with that of the coast of Japan. Corals are more plentiful and more active in the Red Sea than in almost any other piece of water of its size, a result probably due equally to the high temperature, the great salinity of the water, and the abundance of food.

But, although the contest which Luther initiated had, long before his death, resulted in complete and irreparable rupture between the contending parties, it is certain that in order to understand the true nature and origin of that contest we must go back to events long anterior to 1517; while in order fully to estimate its effects we must follow the history of events long after 1545. In Germany, for example, the Reformation can hardly be regarded as finding even a formal consummation before the peace of Augsburg (1555); in Switzerland the movement went on with important modifications down to the death of Calvin in 1564; in France the onward progress was not materially checked before the massacre on the eve of St Bartholomew (1572); in Bohemia its independent and peculiar fortunes found a final solution only with the battle of the White Hill in 1620; while in England and in Scotland, in the Netherlands, in Scandinavia, in Italy and in Spain, the movement assumed so much variety of character, and was decided by circumstances of time and ¡)lace of so different a kind, that its essential features often become merged and almost lost in their combination with other and altogether extraneous elements, e Nor are the considerations arising out of diversities of race, divergencies of political interests, and varied issues the only difficulties which attach to any attempt to treat the movement as a whole. We must also bear in mind the very different conceptions of the end to be attained which at successive stages of its history have modified its teaching and its organization, and eventually in a great measure determined its geographical limits. These conceptions may be distinguished as those involving (1) a reform of discipline, (2) a reform of doctrine, (3) a modification of the current dogmatic teaching. Of these three distinct conceptions the first, taking its rise in the generally admitted corrupt practice of the Roman Church, aimed at little more than a restoration of discipline,—a reform of morals, that is to say, among the clergy and the monastic orders, and the abolition of those various abuses which had grown up under the lax administration and baneful examples of successive popes and of the Curia; the second, although demanding a reform of doctrine as well as of discipline, sought simply to restore what was believed to be the teaching of the primitive as opposed to the mediaeval church; while the third, guided in the first instance rather by an only half-conscious instinct than by any avowed standard of belief, sought eventually to establish the right of private judgment, to the almost entire repudiation of authority, whether as expressed in the decrees of councils, in the confessions of the Reformed churches, or in the creed of Trent. And it is from this last point of view that the Reformation has gradually come to be regarded as a new commencement rather than as a restoration of belief,—as a point of departure towards a higher and more enlightened faith rather than as a return to an ancient, imperfectly ascertained, and possibly obsolete standard.

But, by whichever of these aims the movement in favour of reformation was guided, the dominant conception has not unfrequently operated quite independently of the other two. Demands for reform of discipline not unfrequently resulted in disunion w r here disagreement with respect to doctrine did not exist. The further definition of already accepted doctrine, again, even when made in connexion with some minor article of belief and involving but an almost imperceptible divergence of interpretation, often proved productive of a serious schism where in questions of discipline there was perfect unanimity. The right of private judgment, when urged in contravention of any of the newly formulated standards of discipline or belief, involved an equally decisive rupture with those who recognized only the traditional sources of doctrine. It is evident, therefore, that the Reformation, when regarded from a fairly comprehensive point of view, must appear as a highly complex movement carrying in itself the elements of further controversy and conflict. Even the theory which would seem to afford the most satisfactory solution of its varied phenomena—that which teaches us to look upon it as a Teutonic revolt, intellectual no less than religious, against the traditions which the Latin Church in the course of centuries had invented and imposed on the faith and habits of thought of Western Christendom— often fails us as a clue to its widely different manifestations, and other disturbing causes seem to forbid the effort to refer them to any general principle. The character and policy of the reigning Roman pontiff, the jealousies and divergent interests of the several European states and the special aims of their several rulers, the spell winch imperial institutions and traditions long continued to exercise over the minds of all but the most advanced and independent thinkers, are all important factors in the movement. If, however, w r e endeavour to assign the causes which prevented the Reformation from being carried even to but partial success long prior to the 16th century, we can have no difficulty in deciding that foremost among them must be placed the manner in which the mediaeval mind was fettered by a servile regard for precedent. To the men of the Middle Ages, whether educated or uneducated, no measure of reform seemed defensible which appeared in the light of an innovation. Precedent was the standard whereby every authority, lay or clerical, was held to be bound; and to this rule the only exceptions were a general council and the supreme pontiff. Even Gregory IX. or Clement V., when he assumed to promulgate additions to the existing code of the Universal Church, was understood to do so simply in his capacity of infallible expounder of essential and unalterable doctrine; while no reform, how-ever seemingly expedient or however recommended by its abstract merits, was held to be justifiable if it could be shown to be in conflict with ancient and authoritative tradition. The Reformers themselves always maintained that the doctrines which they enforced rested on Scriptural precedent and primitive example. Their assertion w r as frequently challenged by their antagonists; and it may reasonably be doubted whether even Luther or Calvin could have commanded any considerable following had not their doctrinal teaching been combined with a demand for a reformation of discipline which rested on undeniable precedent, and to - which the circumstances of the time imparted new and irresistible force,—a force, however, which had been long accumulating and had been derived in no small measure from the blind obstinacy of the Roman see in times long antecedent.

The existence long before the 16th century of a strong] desire to bring about a reformation of discipline within thechurch itself is attested by evidence which it will suffice j to pass by with little more than an allusion. Among the j most notable instances are those afforded by the rise of the Dominican and Franciscan orders in the 13th century and of the Brethren of St Jerome (or the Brethren of the Common Life) in the 14th century,—efforts based upon general conviction, which resulted in spontaneous combinations. Similar in origin, though more strictly ecclesiastical in character, were the designs of the great councils which successively assembled at Pisa (1409), at Constance (1414), and at Basel (1431). Among those who were distinguished in these assemblies by their strenuous advocacy of reform, Pierre d’Ailly and his pupil Jean Charlier de Gerson, both successively chancellor of the university of Paris, and Nicholas de CRmenges, archdeacon of Bayeux, were especially conspicuous. Each alike upheld in the plainest language the superiority of a general council to the pope, and the obligation that rested on such a body to address itself to the task of church reform whenever the necessity might arise, and the supreme pontiff himself be found either incapable of such a labour or unwilling to initiate it. Of the widespread necessity for such reform, as shown by the condition of the clergy and the monasteries, the remarkable treatise by Nicholas de Clemenges, De Corrupto Ecelesix Statu , affords alone sufficient evidence. By Michelet this powerful tractate has been compared, for its vigour and the effect which it produced, to the De Captivitate Ecelesix Babylonica of Luther; and it is a striking proof of the deep-rooted corruption of the whole church that such flagrant abuses should have continued to exist for another century with little or no abatement.

Clemenges deplores in the strongest terms the state of the church in his day,—a condition of appalling degeneracy, which he ascribes mainly to the increase in wealth and luxury that had followed upon the development of a worldly spirit in its midst. His strictures leave no order or degree of either the ecclesiastical or the monastic life untouched,—the overwhelming ostentation of the Curia; the pride and rapacity of the cardinals, their immorality and addiction to simony; the prevalence of the same vices among the episcopal order, filled with beardless youths, who, scarcely liberated from the dread of the schoolmaster’s ferule, hastened to assume the pastoral office; the lower clergy in general so sunk in vice and sloth that scarcely one in a thousand (“vix inter mille unus ”) was to be found living a godly and sober life; the nunneries, which he declares were brothels rather than sanctuaries (“non dico Dei sanctuaria, sed Veneris execranda prostibula ”). We can feel no surprise at finding that in the 16th century Clement VII. thought it necessary to place this burning diatribe by a great doctor of the church in the Index Expurgatorius. A few years later we find the evils to which Clemenges called attention emphasized by one of the most eminent ecclesiastics of the age, — the cardinal Julian Cesarini, when he was endeavouring to dissuade Pope Eugenius IV. from his design of dissolving the council of Basel (see Popedom, vol. xix. p. 502). In this letter he affirms that so strongly is popular feeling stirred against the clergy by their neglect of their duties and scandalously immoral lives that there is reason to fear that, if some remedy be pot devised, the whole fabric of the Roman Church may be overturned.

The complete failure of these successive efforts to bring about any comprehensive measure of church reform is a familiar fact in European history. And not only were the evils which it was sought to abolish suffered to continue with but little abatement, but dissent even from the recognized discipline of the church was placed under a ban, and made, in common with dissent from doctrine, an offence punishable with the severest penalties. The mediaeval theory of the Roman hierarchy had indeed been reaffirmed by Eugenius IV. and his successors with a success which seemed almost to preclude the possibility of its ever being again challenged. But the main point here to be noted is that in none of these several efforts in the direction of reform, whether resulting from conciliar or popular action, was the doctrine of the church once called in question. The fate that overtook John Huss and Jerome of Prague appears to have been very generally regarded as a necessary example of just rigour in the suppression of heresy. We find, accordingly, that, when in the following century it was sought to associate the efforts of the reformers in the direction of doctrinal change with the efforts of a party within the church itself in the direction of disciplinary reform, the defenders of the traditional Catholic faith challenged the assumed precedent and altogether denied the parallel. “It is,” wrote Bossuet in the 17th century, “an obvious illusion; for among all the passages which they adduce there is not one in which those teachers have ever dreamed of changing the belief of the church, of amending its worship, which consisted chiefly in the sacrifice of the mass, or of overthrowing the authority of her prelates and especially that of the pope, all which was the primary design of this new reformation of which Luther was the architect.” It is not easy to gainsay the reasonableness of Bossuet’s criticism. It was the fundamental theory of ' the Reformation that it involved the setting aside of the development given in mediaeval times to the doctrines and teaching of the early church, and proposed to substitute for these a totally different interpretation, which rejected the successive decisions of councils and popes as arbitrary and erroneous. Such a theory, however, necessarily imposed on the Reformers the task of proving the validity of their own position, by showing that their repudiation of a practice and of precedents which had been accepted for so many centuries was justified by an appeal to yet more ancient and unquestionable authority. If indeed they failed in so doing, they must look forward to sinking in the estimation of Christendom to the level of heretics, and be prepared to stand before posterity in the same category as the Arians, the Albigenses, the Lollards, and the Hussites, and those other sects which, by their unwarranted assertion of the right of private interpretation, had provoked and incurred the formal condemnation of the church. It is not within the scope of this article to attempt to estimate the justice of the theological arguments by which the Reformers sought to vindicate their position; but there is good reason for concluding that the argumentative powers and personal influence of Luther and Calvin would have failed, just as the efforts of preceding reformers had failed, in effecting the desired result, had not the conditions and circumstances of the age been such as to lend new force to the arguments which they urged in favour of a fundamental change in the standpoint of religious faith.

The most notable feature in connexion with traditional belief which challenges our attention at the commencement of the 16th century is the manner in which the popedom was becoming less and less in harmony with the spirit of the age, and with those new forces which were now developing in the midst of Teutonism. The intolerance of the church in the repression of heresy had become more pronounced and was pressing with increasing rigour on free thought, when, owing to the influences of the New Learning, that thought was everywhere on the point of seeking to break through the traditional trammels; the corruption of the Curia and of both the regular and the secular clergy, the extension of the temporal power of the pontiffs in Italy, and the extortion of their emissaries in other countries had reached a climax just as, owing to the more independent spirit generated by the consolidation of the nationalities, the ruler and the people in each kingdom or principality were becoming increasingly impatient of the existence of such abuses. A brief consideration of these several features becomes, accordingly, quite indispensable, if we wish rightly to comprehend the forces at work in Europe at the time when the Reformers arose to combine them and give them more definite direction.

Not a few, and some very memorable, efforts had been made before the 16th century to bring about a reformation of doctrine, but these had almost invariably been promptly visited with the censure of the church. Long after the “heresies” of the 4th century had died away and after the controversies of the turbulent 9th century—such as those on the Eucharist between Paschasius Radbertus and Ratramnus, and on predestination between John Scotus Erigena and Gottschalk—had been silenced by the decisions of the pontiffs, we find movements arising, which, however much they differ in other characteristics, all attest the existence of a widespread desire among large sections of the community to revert to a simpler form of i־eligious belief and practice. The Paulicians (or Manichaeans of the East), the Albigenses (or Manichaeans of the West), the Waldenses, the Cathari, and the Leonists (or Poor Men of Lyons)—sects which made their appearance mainly in the 12th and 13th centuries, and for the most part in Switzerland, Languedoc, and northern France—the Lollards in England and the Hussites in Bohemia, may be looked upon as the ancestors in faith of the Huguenots and the Puritans of after-times, and were all more or less characterized by an aversion to the Roman ritual, to splendid churches, to crosses and crucifixes, combined with a more definite denial of such doctrines as that of baptismal regeneration, of transubstantiation, of masses for the dead, and of the obligation to observe Lent. The ultimate fate of these different sects was singularly similar. Of their earlier history, indeed, we have but few memorials, for their records, if any existed, have mostly perished; and, as with their prototypes in the earlier Christian centuries, it became almost necessarily their policy to avoid all external demonstrations which would be likely to arrest the attention of the world. An inquisitor of the 13th century, when describing the Leonists (c. 1250), whom he speaks of as both the most ancient and the most widely spread of the sects then existing, represents them as by no means guilty, to all external appearance, of practices which could fairly be stigmatized as blasphemous, but as wearing a great semblance of piety, as being of good repute among their neighbours, and chiefly blamable as given to speaking against the Roman Church and its clergy and thus gaining, only too easily, the ears of the laity at large. To such characteristics, however, the Albi-genses in the 12th century had presented a remarkable exception. At the commencement of the pontificate of Innocent III. (1198) his legates had found nearly the whole of the rich and prosperous territory extending from Carcassonne to Bordeaux dominated by this powerful heresy,—a form of doctrine associated, moreover, not with austerity but with voluptuousness of life, with a profound contempt for the priestly profession, and with a warm admiration for the conceptions of chivalry and the poetry of the troubadour,—a heresy enriched by the devotion of its adherents to an extent which made it far wealthier than the church itself in those regions, and before which the representatives of the Roman orthodoxy seemed threatened almost with extinction. The suppression of this heresy by Simon de Montfort is a well-known episode, and would seem to have formed the point of departure for a new and more rigorous policy on the part of the church in its dealings Avith like manifestations of disobedience. In the year 1229 the statutes of the council of Toulouse formulated, as it were, the code of persecution, and, aided by the Inquisition, which probably took its rise about the same time, supplied a new machinery for the detection and suppression of heresy. To the terrorism thus established, after the sword of De Montfort had done its work, we may fairly refer the changed characteristics of the adherents of the heresies in France, as above described, in the middle of the 13th century.

! But, the suspicions of the church having once been thoroughly roused and the secular power incited and guided to its task, external conformity and inoffensive life, the mountain hamlet and the secluded valley, proved alike unavailing to avert the cruelty of the persecutor. The Cathari in Italy did not long survive the fall of the Holien-staufens, from whom they had received effective protection and support; and it added not a little to the offence of the doctrines proclaimed by the Spiritual Franciscans, whose tenets were condemned by the council of Vienne in 1311, that, while the order had taken its rise in a spirit of protest against the corruptions of the Curia, its members were known to be ready to favour and aid by all the means in their power the restoration of the imperial ascendency in Italy. The Spiritual Franciscans were the forerunners of the Apostolic Brethren, one of the most widely spread of the new sects, and must also be looked upon as the precursors...