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 the Tartar hordes, and the barbarian inroads had reached Austria, the emperor, Frederic II., had very plainly pointed out to the kings of Europe and to the German princes the expediency of uniting their arms against the common enemy. Before the chivalry of France and Germany the savage multitude fell back into the remote wilds of Russia, and Western Europe was saved. It could hardly be said that the present peril was less pressing. Should the Turk wrest Constantinople from the Greeks, he would at once be entrenched in a position from which he would be able at any time to disquiet and alarm Christendom, and from which it would be next to impossible to dislodge him. But from Germany little was to be expected. It had a head no way fitted for the occasion. The emperor, Frederic III., was himself as tame and peace-loving as the Roman pontiff. Indeed, his chief claim to distinction is that he was the last of the German emperors who, by being crowned at Rome, acknowledged the pope's right to confirm the imperial title.

Bordering on Germany were the kingdoms of Poland and Hungary. These had a clear interest in making a stand against Turkish encroachment and they proved an effectual barrier. But for their resolute resistance, the Turk might have considerably enlarged his dominions in Europe, and have established himself for at least a long period in Southern Germany. No people could be braver and more warlike than the Poles and Hungarians, who in this respect justified their affinity to the ancient Scythians; but their country was very poor, and a well