EXERCISES 1. Learn and tell one of the King Arthur stories and a part of the story of the Niebelungs. Find a story about Charlemagne, Frederick the Redbeard, St. Louis, or St. Stephen. 2. Collect pictures of war vessels, those of old times and those of to-day, and explain their differences. 3. Find out how men nowadays decide whether an accused man is guilty. 4. What is the name of the assembly in your state which makes the laws? What assembly at Washington makes the laws for the whole country? CHAPTER XII THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES WHAT THE ENGLISH OWED TO THEIR EUROPEAN NEIGHBORS. If the English succeeded better than other Europeans in learning how to govern themselves, one reason was that the Channel protected them from attack, and they could quarrel with their king without running much risk that their enemies in other countries would take advantage of the quarrel to seize their lands or attempt to conquer them. The French were not so well placed. France also was not united like England, and whole districts called counties or duchies were almost independent of the king, being ruled by their counts and dukes. In France it would not have been wise for the people to quarrel with the king, for he was their natural protector against cruel lords. Germany and Italy were even more divided, with not only counties and duchies, but also cities nearly as independent as the ancient cities of Greece. The Europeans on the Continent did many things which the English were doing, and some of these were so well done that the English were ready to accept these Europeans as their teachers. The memory of what the Greeks and the Romans had done remained longer in southern France and Italy because so many buildings were still standing which reminded Frenchmen and Italians of the people who built them. [Illustration: A MONK COPYING MANUSCRIPT BOOKS] CLASSES OF PEOPLE. The people of Europe, as well as of England, were divided into two classes, nobles and peasants. The clergy seemed to form another class because there were so many of them. Besides the parish priests and the bishops there were thousands of monks, who were persons who chose to dwell together in monasteries under the rule of an abbot or a prior, rather than live among ordinary people where men were so often tempted to do wrong or were so likely to be wronged by others. The monks worked on the farms of the monasteries, or studied in the libraries, or prayed and fasted. For a long time the men who knew how to read were nearly always monks or priests. Outside of the monasteries or the bishops' houses there were few books.