pose to the empire, distracted by civil war. His
energetic son, Maximilian, was already meditating that political
change which should give new strength to the monarch, and which
finally raised the house of Austria to the highest point of earthly
grandeur. Hungary, Bohemia and Poland, governed by near relatives,
might almost be considered as a single power, and they were, as by
instinct, allied with Austria in endeavors to resist the encroachments
of the Turks.

Inventions and discoveries of the greatest importance were made in the
world during the reign of Ivan III. Gutenberg and Faust in Strasbourg
invented the art of printing. Christopher Columbus discovered the New
World. Until then the productions of India reached central Europe
through Persia, the Caspian Sea and the Sea of Azof. On the 20th of
November, 1497, Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, thus
opening a new route to the Indies, and adding immeasurably to the
enterprise and wealth of the world. A new epoch seemed to dawn upon
mankind, favorable at least to the tranquillity of nations, the
progress of civilization and the strength of governments. Thus far
Russia, in her remote seclusion, had taken no part in the politics of
Europe. It was not until the reign of Ivan III. that this great
northern empire emerged from that state of chaos in which she had
neither possessed definiteness of form nor assured existence.

Ivan III. found his nation in subjection to the Tartars. He threw off
the yoke; became one of the most illustrious monarchs in Europe,
commanding respect throughout Christendom; he took his position by the
side of emperors and sultans, and by the native energies of his mind,
unenlightened by study, he gave the wisest precepts for the internal
and the external government of his realms. But he was a rude, stern
man, the legitimate growth of those savage times. It is recorded that
a single angry look from him would make any woman faint; that at the
table the nobles trembled before him, not daring to utter a word.

Vassili now ascended the throne, and with great energy carried out the
principles established by his father. The first important measure of
the new monarch was to fit out an expedition against the still
powerful but vagabond horde at Kezan, on the Volga, to punish them for
some acts of insubordination. A powerful armament descended the Volga
in barges. The infantry landed near Kezan on the 22d of May, 1506. The
Tartars, with a numer