68. The Great Schism and the Councils of Pisa and Constance 389 69. The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (1438) 393 CHAPTER XXIV.--THE EMPIRE IN THE TWELFTH, THIRTEENTH, AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES 70. The Peace of Constance (1183) 398 71. Current Rumors Concerning the Life and Character of Frederick II. 402 72. The Golden Bull of Charles IV. (1356) 409 CHAPTER XXV.--THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 73. An Occasion of War between the Kings of England and France 418 74. Edward III. Assumes the Arms and Title of the King of France 421 75. The Naval Battle of Sluys (1340) 424 76. The Battle of Crecy (1346) 427 77. The Sack of Limoges (1370) 436 78. The Treaties of Bretigny (1360) and Troyes (1420) 439 CHAPTER XXVI.--THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 79. Dante's Defense of Italian as a Literary Language 445 80. Dante's Conception of the Imperial Power 452 81. Petrarch's Love of the Classics 462 82. Petrarch's Letter to Posterity 469 CHAPTER XXVII.--FORESHADOWINGS OF THE REFORMATION 83. The Reply of Wyclif to the Summons of Pope Urban VI. (1384) 474 A SOURCE BOOK OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY CHAPTER I. THE EARLY GERMANS 1. A Sketch by Caesar One of the most important steps in the expansion of the Roman Republic was the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar just before the middle of the first century B.C. Through this conquest Rome entered deliberately upon the policy of extending her dominion northward from the Mediterranean and the Alps into the regions of western and central Europe known to us to-day as France and Germany. By their wars in this direction the Romans were brought into contact with peoples concerning whose manner of life they had hitherto known very little. There were two great groups of these peoples--the Gauls and the Germans--each divided and subdivided into numerous tribes and clans. In general it may be said that the Gauls occupied what we now call France and the Germans what we know as Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Germany, and Austria. The Rhine marked a pretty clear boundary between them.