We should notice that a very great impetus was {36} given to that study of Greek literature, which Petrarch and Boccaccio in particular had revived, by the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in the middle of the fifteenth century; for it had the effect of scattering the Greeks far and wide, seeking new homes and bringing their books and their traditions with them. And further, we ought to observe how this learning had been carried into every country and corner of Europe by the establishment of colleges and universities where it now became possible for every student to read "the classics." Their establishment was the work of the Church or of wealthy men acting under the advice of the Church. Moreover, for what we may call elementary education the teaching of the children of the poorer classes, so far as they received any teaching at all, was also the Church's work, for it was done by the members of the monasteries and convents all over Christendom. It is well that we should bear this in mind, to the Church's credit, at this moment, for the time is close at hand when we shall have to see that same Church accused, and in large measure convicted, of acts very greatly to her discredit. All the while that the love of letters and of art was growing within the walls of the fortified cities of Italy, the cities were constantly at variance with one another, and even within their walls civic strife seems to have been the rule rather than the exception; but apart from these small local fights there were two principal causes of unrest. The first was the fact that the kings of France were not at all disposed to regard the Alps as forming a natural boundary of their possessions--they were constantly coveting the fertile land of Northern Italy--and a second cause of unrest was the desire, which was strong enough to unite for a time most of the other states, to cripple the excessive power of Venice. {37} [Sidenote: The decline of Venice] Several circumstances combined to make possible the curbing of that power. The Turks were strong enough at sea to demand the full attention of the naval force of Venice, and her resources were vastly diminished by the diversion of that Eastern trade, for which she had held the gate into Europe, to the newly found sea-way round Africa. The Pope took the lead against her. He formed a league which was joined by the Emperor and by the kings of France and Spain. The alliance was too strong for the single state, and after the first battle Venice resigned nearly all her possessions on the mainland. She ceased to be a danger to the neighbouring states.