ized nations. These were the same who in our
English history are called Danes, with whom the great Alfred had a long
struggle, and who afterwards, under Canute, got possession of our
country for a time. They had light vessels,--_serpents_, as they were
called,--which could sail up rivers; and so they carried fire and sword
up every river whose opening invited them, making their way to places so
far off the sea as Mentz, on the Rhine; Treves, on the Moselle; Paris,
on the Seine; and even Auxerre, on the Yonne. They often sacked the
wealthy trading cities which lay open to their attacks; they sailed on
to Spain, plundered Lisbon, passed the Straits of Gibraltar, and laid
waste the coasts of Italy.

After a time they grew bolder, and would leave their vessels on the
rivers, while they struck across the country to plunder places which
were known to be wealthy. They made fortified camps, often on the
islands of the great rivers, and did all the mischief they could within
a large circle around them. These Northmen were bitter enemies of
Christianity, and many of them had lost their homes because they or
their fathers would not be converted at Charlemagne's bidding; so that
they had a special pleasure in turning their fury against churches and
monasteries. Wherever they came, the monks ran off and tried to save
themselves, leaving their wealth as a prey to the strangers. People were
afraid to till the land, lest these enemies should destroy the fruits of
their labours. Famines became common; wolves were allowed to multiply
and to prey without check; and such were the distress and fear caused by
the invaders, that a prayer for the deliverance "from the fury of the
Northmen" was added to the service-books of the Frankish church.

Another set of enemies were the Mahometan Saracens, who got possession
of the great islands of the Mediterranean and laid waste its coasts. It
is said that some of them sailed up the Tiber and carried off the altar
which covered the body of St. Peter. One party of Saracens settled on
the banks of a river about halfway between Rome and Naples; others in
the neighbourhood of Nice, and on that part of the Alps which is now
called the Great St. Bernard; and they robbed pilgrims and merchants,
whom they made to pay dearly for being let off with their lives.

Europe also suffered much from the Hungarians, a very rude, heathen
people, who about the year 900 poured into it from Asia. We are told
that they har