[185] Ordre of Chyualry, foll. 13 b. 32 b.
[186] See Mills, History of Chivalry, i. 140 sq.
[187] Scott, Essay on Chivalry, p. 31.
[188] Ordre of Chyualry, fol. 14 b.
[189] Gautier, op. cit. p. 33.
[190] Sainte-Palaye, Mémoires sur l’ancienne Chevalerie, ii. 72.
[191] Pike, History of Crime in England, i. 264 sq.
[192] Paris, La poésie du moyen age, p. 107. M. Gautier says (op. cit. p. 61) that Roland is “la France faite homme.”
Besides feudalism and the want of political cohesion, there were other factors that contributed to hinder the development of national personality and patriotic devotion. This sentiment presupposes not only that the various parts of which a country is composed shall have a vivid feeling of their unity, but also that they, united, shall feel themselves as a nation clearly distinct from other nations. In the Middle Ages national differences were largely obscured by the preponderance of the Universal Church, by the creation of the Holy Roman Empire, by the prevalence of a common language as the sole vehicle of mental culture, and by the undeveloped state of the vernacular tongues. To make use of the native dialect was a sign of ignorance, and to place worldly interests above the claims of the Church was impious. When Macchiavelli declared that he preferred his country to the safety of his soul, people considered him guilty of blasphemy; and when the Venetians defied the Papal thunders by averring that they were Venetians in the first place, and only Christians in the second, the world heard them with amazement.[193]
[193] ‘National Personality,’ in Edinburgh Review, cxciv. 133.