It must be admitted that the greater portion of mediaeval history,
whatever its true character, is shrouded in an obscurity which it would
be difficult, if not impossible, to penetrate. But the same cannot be
said of the close of that period,--the transitional era that preceded
what we are accustomed to consider as the dawn of modern civilization.
For Continental Europe, at least, the fifteenth century is hardly less
susceptible of a thorough revelation than the sixteenth. The chroniclers
and memoir-writers are more communicative than those of the succeeding
age. The documentary evidence, if still deficient, is rapidly
accumulating. The conspicuous personages of the time are daily becoming
more palpable and familiar to us. Joan of Arc has glided from the
luminous haze of legend and romance into the clearer light of history.
Philippe de Comines has a higher fame than any eye-witness and narrator
of later events. Louis XI. discloses to posterity those features which
he would fain have concealed from his contemporaries. And confronting
Louis stands another figure, not less prominent in their own day, not
less striking when viewed from our day,--that of Charles the Bold, of
Burgundy.
Pages:
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379