5. Feudalism held men apart, and individually subject to the refining influence of Christian precepts, from the fifth to the ninth century, when the romantic practice of chivalry became popular as a relief from the tedium of isolation, and a channel for the flow of the softer sentiments of respect for woman, of compassion for weakness, and, at the same time, a vent for the martial spirit which the constant conflicts of the time cultivated. The age of chivalry indicates that Christianity was powerfully moulding the character of the new nations. Working on qualities as stern and rude as those of the old Roman of the Republic, its partial control, the beginnings of its power, were manifested in a romantic way. The isolation of feudal life, and a sense of wrong in employing all their energies in unceasing contests of ambition produced the chivalric outbreak and the crusades. The knights of chivalry were feudal lords and gentlemen, trained in all the warlike arts of the period and in all the courtesies which the new influence of female society produced. When starting forth as knight-errants, they were exhorted by the stern feudal warrior to valor, and by the Christian priest to gentleness toward the weak and defenseless, and they made it the business of life to wander about on horseback incased in armor, displaying their warlike accomplishments and combatting petty tyranny. There was little power in the king to right the wrongs of his subjects, and brutal violence in the feudal lords had no other effectual punishment. Chivalry flourished for more than five hundred years; but its most useful days were from 1000 to 1200. It was the first, and seems to later times a somewhat amusing indication of a more humane social state than the world had ever known. 6. The crusades commenced about 1100, the object being to rescue the sepulcher of the founder of Christianity from unbelievers. It first engaged the sympathy of the people at large, then of the feudal nobility and finally interested the ambition of kings. For two hundred years a large part of the best blood of Europe was poured out in Palestine in a vain effort to expel the Saracens from it. The transportation of armaments and supplies to that country from various parts of Europe gradually led to commerce and skill in navigation; so much of ancient civilization and knowledge as still existed in the Eastern, or Greek Empire at Constantinople, was introduced into modern Europe, which at the same time was relieved of its more turbulent and adventurous elements; and a heavy blow was given to the smaller feudal proprietors by the expense incurred in a distant expedition where they died without issue, reduced their families to poverty, or whence they returned penniless to mortgaged estates. It rapidly hastened the movement, begun by other influences, to reduce the number of feudal proprietors, and render government more vigorous over increasingly large territories. SECTION XV.