美国学生人类历史 第141期:封建制度(4)

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(just as the first noblemen had done in the valley of the Nile four thousand years before). （就像4000年前的埃及法老在尼罗河谷的所作所为）。

He encouraged the Troubadours who wandered from place to place telling the stories of the ancient heroes who had fought in the great wars of the migrations¹. 他赞助走村串户的行吟诗人，让他们向目不识丁的居民们朗诵赞美大迁徙时代的战争英雄的史诗。

Besides, he protected the churches and the monasteries² within his territory, 另外，他还必须保护辖区内的教堂与修道院。

and although he could neither read nor write, (it was considered unmanly to know such things,) 尽管他自己不会读书写字（当时这类事情被认为是缺乏男子气），

he employed a number of priests who kept his accounts 他却雇佣着一小撮教士为他记帐，

and who registered the marriages  and the births and the deaths which occurred within the baronial or ducal domains³. 并登记发生在所属男爵或公爵领地里的婚姻、死亡、出生等等大事。

In the fifteenth century the kings once more became strong enough to exercise those powers which belonged to them because they were "anointed of God." 到公元15世纪，国王们又重新强大起来，能够充分行使他们作为"上帝恩许"之人所应拥有的权力。

Then the feudal⁴ knights⁵ lost their former independence. 这样，封建骑士们丧失了原来的独立王国，沦为普通乡绅。

Reduced to the rank of country squires⁶, they no longer filled a need and soon they became a nuisance. 他们不再适台时势的需要，很快变成令人讨厌的怪物。

But Europe would have perished without the "feudal system" of the dark ages. 但是我想为他们说句公道话，如果没有"封建制度"，欧洲不可能安然度过那个黑暗年代。

There were many bad knights as there are many bad people to-day. 当然，如同今天存在许许多多的坏人一样，那个时代也同样有许多行为不端的骑士。

But generally speaking, the rough-fisted barons⁷ of the twelfth and thirteenth century were hard-working administrators⁸ 但总的来讲，十二、十三世纪的硬拳头男爵们大多数是些刻苦耐劳、工作勤奋的行政管理者，

who rendered a most useful service to the cause of progress. 为历史的进步事业做出过极有价值的贡献。

During that era the noble torch of learning and art which had illuminated⁹ the world of the Egyptians and the Greeks and the Romans was burning very low. 在那个年代，曾经照亮埃及人、希腊人、罗马人的文化与艺术的火炬，它的光芒已异常微弱，差点就要熄灭。

Without the knights and their good friends, the monks¹⁰, civilisation¹¹ would have been extinguished entirely¹², 如果没有骑士及他的好朋友僧侣，欧洲文明将整体灭绝，

and the human race would have been forced to begin once more where the cave-man had left off. 而欧洲人也会回到原始的穴居时代，把历史的进程从茹毛饮血开始，重新走上一遍。

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