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THE 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CRUSADES 


BY 

JOSEPH   FRANCOIS   MlCHAUD. 

TRANSLATED  BY   W.   BOBSON. 

a  Nzm  (EMtion, 


WITH    PREFACE    AND    SUPPLEMENTARY    CHAPTER    BY 
HAMILTON  W.    MABIE. 


IN   THREE    VOLUMES. 


VOL.   Ill, 


NEW  YORK  : 

A.  C.  ARMSTRONG  &  SON, 
714    Broadway. 


OCT  241949 

I5Z65 


CONTENTS  TO  VOL.  III. 


BOOK  XV.— A.D.  1255-1270. 
EIGKHTH   CRUSADE. 

Christian  cities  of  Palestine  fortified  by  Louis  IX. — Quarrels  among 
the  Crusaders — Divisions  among  the  Saracens — Aibek,  sultan  of  Egypt, 
assassinated — Chegger-Adour,  the  sultana,  assassinated — The  Moguls,  o* 
Tartars,  capture  Bagdad — Koutouz  elected  sultan  of  Egypt — The  Moguls 
capture  the  principal  cities  of  Syria — The  general  terror  inspired  among 
the  Mussulmans  and  Christians — Apprehensions  of  Bela  IV.,  king  oi 
Hungary — Assassination  of  Koutouz — The  Mamelukes  of  Egypt — 
Bibars  proclaimed  sultan  of  Egypt — Declares  war  against  the  Christians 
of  Palestine — The  Mamelukes  defeat  and  expel  the  Tartars  from  Pales- 
tine—  Constantinople  recaptured  by  the  Greeks,  and  the  Latins  expelled 
— The  Christians  defeated  by  the  Mamelukes,  and  Palestine  laid  waste — 
Caesarea,  Arsouf,  and  Sefed  besieged  and  captured — Slaughter  of  the 
Christians — Mohammedanism  not  a  religion  of  the  sword — Charlemagne's 
career — Capture  of  Jaffa  by  the  sultan  of  Egypt — Bohemond  forms  a 
treaty  with  Bibars — Antioch  captured  and  destroyed,  and  the  inhabitants 
slaughtered — Quarrels  of  the  popes  with  the  sovereigns  of  Europe — 
Royal  family  of  Swabia — Charles,  count  of  Anjou,  crowned  by  the  pope 
as  king  of  Sicily — Mainfroy — Conraddin  disputes  the  crown  of  Sicily — 
Louis  IX.  determines  upon  a  fresh  crusade  to  the  Holy  Land — The  illus- 
trious personages  who  take  the  cross  in  his  support — Joinville  declines  to 
accompany  him — Abaga,  khan  of  the  Tartars,  sends  ambassadors  to 
Rome — Pope  Clement  IV.  supports  the  new  crusade — The  clergy  oppose 
the  levying  of  contributions — A  council  held  at  Northampton  for  aiding 
Aie  crusade— James  king  of  Arragon,  and  Edward  prince  of  England, 
engage  in  the  crusade — Death  of  Clement  IV. — The  Crusaders  arrive  at 
Tunis — Historical  notice  of  Tunis — The  Mohammedans  resist  the  Cru- 
saders— Sickness  and  mortality  among  the  Crusaders — Death  of  the 
duke  de  Nevers — Illness  and  fervent  devotion  of  Louis — His  death — 
Charles  of  Anjou  lands  at  Tunis,  and  takes  the  command  of  the  Crusaders 
— Returns  to  France  with  the  bodies  of  his  father,  wife,  and  brother — 
The  — '•  *ge  and  piety  of  Louis  IX. — Prince  Edward  of  England  arrives 
in  Palestine — Nazareih  captured  by  the  Crusaders — Prince  Edward  re- 


>f  CONTENTS. 

turns  to  England — Thibault  elected  pope,  under  the  title  of  Gregc  ry  X. 
— He  convokes  the  council  of  Lyons  for  reviving  a  new  crasade — Curious 
document  issued  by  Humbert  de  Romanis — Three  pretenders  to  the 
throne  of  Jerusalem — The  continued  victories  of  Bibars — His  death  and 
character — Death  of  Gregory  X. — Revolt  in  Sicily — The  Sicilian  vespers 
— Kealaoun,  the  sultan  of  Egypt,  concludes  a  treaty  with  the  Christians 
of  Ptolema'is,  and  enters  into  treaties  with  European  princes — Fort  of 
Margat  captured  by  the  Mussulmans — Sieur  Barthelemi  becomes  a  Mo- 
hammedan renegade — Tripoli  captured  and  destroyed,  and  the  Christians 
slaughtered — Description  of  Ptolema'is — Chalil  elected  sultan  of  Egypt 
— The  Mussulman  sect  of  Chages — Ptolemai's  captured  and  destroyed  by 
Chalil — Virgins  of  St.  Clair  self- mutilated  and  destroyed — Death  of 
William  de  Clermont — Devoted  heroism  of  the  Templars — Capture  and 
destruction  of  Tyre,  Berytus,  Sidon,  and  all  the  Christian  cities  along  the 
coast  of  Palestine pp.  1-91. 


BOOK  XVI.— A.D.  1291-1396. 
ATTEMPTED    CBUSADES   AGAINST   THE    TUEKS. 

Pope  Nicholas  IV.  attempts  to  revive  a  fresh  crusade  against  the  East 
— Sends  missionaries  to  the  Tartars — Their  contests  with  the  Mussul- 
mans revive  the  hopes  of  the  Christians — Argun,  the  Tartar  chief — Con- 
quests of  the  Tartars — Cazan,  the  Mogul  prince,  sends  ambassadors  to 
the  Pope — Clement  IV.  proclaims  a  crusade  at  the  council  of  Vienna — 
Exploits  of  the  Hospitallers — Conquests  and  wealth  of  the  Templars — 
Accusations  against  them — Philip  le  Bel  of  France  takes  the  cross — His 
death — Philip  le  Lony — His  death — Charles  le  Bel — His  death — Ray- 
mond Lulli  preaches  a  fresh  crusade — Philip  of  Valois  convokes  an 
assembly  at  Paris  for  reviving  a  fresh  crusade — Renewed  persecutions  of 
the  Christians  in  Palestine — Brother  Andrew  of  Antioch — Petrarch  an 
apostle  of  the  holy  war — Humbert  II.,  dauphin  of  Viennois,  takes  the 
cross — Hugh  of  Lusignan,  king  of  Cyprus — Political  troubles  of  France 
— King  John  taken  prisoner  at  Poictiers— Engages  in  a  fresh  crusade — 
Urban  V.  convokes  a  meeting  at  Avignon — Peter  de  Lusignan,  and 
Charles  IV.,  emperor  of  Germany,  engage  in  the  crusade — Alexandria 
captured  and  burnt  by  the  Crusaders — Barbary  invaded  by  the  Christian 
forces — Tripoli  captured  and  burnt — Towns  of  Syria  destroyed — Origin 
and  history  of  the  Turks  and  the  Ottoman  empire — Their  conquests  and 
invasion  of  Greece — Constantinople  menaced  by  the  Turks — Its  tottering 
state — The  emperors  of  Constantinople — Amurath,  the  Turkish  sultan — ■ 
Bajazet — Two  popes  at  the  same  time— Crusade  against  the  Turks  deter- 
mined on — Bajazet  defeats  the  Christian  forces  with  great  slaughter — 
Defeats  the  Hungarians — Manuel,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  visits 
France — Distracted  state  of  Europe — History  and  conquests  of  Tamer- 
lane the  Tartar — The  Turks  defeated,  and  Syria  overrun  by  the  Tartars 
— Bajazet  raises  the  siege  of  Constantinople,  and  is  defeated  by  Tamer- 
lane— Smyrna  captured  and  destroyed — The  Ottomans  reconquer  the 


CONTENTS.  * 

provinces  overrun  by  Tamerlane — The  Greek  Ci^rch  submits  to  papal 
authority — The  barbarities  of  the  Turks  towards  the  Christians— Pope 
Eugenius  exhorts  the  Christian  states  to  another  crusade — Cardinal 
Julian  preaches  in  its  favour — Amurath  enters  into  a  treaty  of  peace 
with  the  Crusaders,  which  being  violated,  they  are  defeated  with  great 
slaughter — Ladislaus,  king  of  Poland,  and  Cardinal  Julian,  slain — Battle 
of  Warna — Accession  of  Mahomet  II.  to  the  Ottoman  throne — His 
extensive  empire — Besieges  Constantinople — Character  of  Constantine 
Palseologus,  the  Greek  emperor — His  great  efforts  in  defence  of  his 
capital — Mahomet  takes  the  city  by  storm — Death  of  the  emperor  and 
destruction  of  the  Greek  empire pp.  92—158. 


BOOK  XVII.— A.D.  1453-1481. 
CBTJSADES    AGAINST    THE     TUBES. 

Consternation  among  the  Christian  states  at  the  fall  of  Constantinople. 
— Philip,  duke  of  Burgundy,  assembles  his  nobility  at  Lille — Curious 
festival  held  by — Enthusiasm  in  favour  of  a  crusade  against  the  Turks — 
Bishop  Sylvius,  John  Capistran,  Frederick  III.  of  Germany,  and  Pope 
Calixtus  III.  endeavour  to  stir  up  the  crusade — The  Turks  penetrate 
into  Hungary — Valour  of  Hunniades — They  are  defeated  at  Belgrade— 
An  alarming  comet — Bishop  Sylvius  elected  Pope — Extended  conquests 
of  Mahomet  II. — He  subdues  Greece — The  Pope  convokes  an  assembly  at 
Mantua  to  urge  on  the  crusade — His  negociations  with  Mahomet — Bosnia 
conquered — Pius  II.  engages  personally  in  the  crusade,  reaches  Ancona, 
and  dies — Scanderberg  defeats  the  Turks — Mahomet  II.  swears  to  anni- 
hilate Christianity — The  king  of  Persia  marches  against  the  Turks,  and 
his  army  is  destroyed — Cardinal  Caraffa  commands  a  fleet  of  Crusaders— 
Satalia  and  Smyrna  pillaged  by  the  Christian  forces — Possessions  of  the 
Venetians  and  Genoese  captured  by  the  Turks — Jacques  Coeur — Cyprus 
subjected  to  the  Mussulmans — Taken  possession  of  by  the  Turks — Rhodes 
bravely  defended  by  the  knights  of  St.  John — The  Turks  invade  Hun- 
gary and  different  parts  of  Europe  simultaneously — Defeated  by  Corvinus, 
king  of  Hungary — Otranto  captured  by  the  Turks,  and  afterwards  aban- 
doned— Pope  Sextus  IV.  implores  the  aid  of  Christian  Europe  against 
the  Turks — Distracted  state  of  Italy — Death  of  Mahomet  II.,  and 
divisions  in  his  family — Zizim  disputes  the  Turkish  empire  with  Bajazet, 
and  visits  Europe — Charles  VIII.  of  Naples,  engages  in  a  crusade 
against  the  Turks — Alphonso  II.  of  Arragon — Italy  invaded,  and  Rome 
possessed  by  the  French — Andrew  Palseologus  sells  his  claims  to  the 
empire  of  the  East — Death  of  Zizim— -Bajazet  declares  war  against 
Venice — Negotiates  a  treaty — Undertakes  an  expedition  against  Portugal 
*  Commercial  ambition  of  Venice — Diet  at  Augsburgh — Helian's  speech 
against  the  Venetians — Council  of  Lateran  convoked  by  Julius  II. — Baja- 
ret  II.  dethroned,  and  succeeded  by  Selim — Disorders  of  Christendom — 
Selim  conquers  the  king  of  Persia  and  the  sultan  of  Egypt — Palestins 
Hid  all  the  rival  powers  of  the  East  under  the  domination  of  the  Turk* 


D 
157 


n  CONTENTS. 

— Exertions  of  Leo  X.  for  reviving  a  crusade  against  them-  Vida,  the 
Italian  poet — Novagero's  eulogies  on  Leo  X. — Cultivation  of  Greek  in 
Italy — Great  preparations  for  the  new  crusade — Eloquence  of  Sadoletus, 
and  letters  of  Francis  I.  in  its  favour — Sale  of  indulgences — Quarrels  of 
the  Augustines  and  the  Dominicans — Preaching  of  Luther  against  indul- 
gences— Soliman  succeeds  to  the  Ottoman  empire — Belgrade  and  Rhodes 
captured  by  the  Turks — The  knights  of  St.  John  expelled  from  Rhodes, 
and  transferred  to  Malta — Francis  I.  made  prisoner  at  the  battle  of 
Pavia — The  Hungarians  defeated  by  the  Turks,  and  Louis  II.  slain — 
Clement  VII.  imprisoned  by  Charles  V. — Religious  distractions  of  Europe 
—Vienna  besieged  by  the  Turks — Hungary  enters  into  a  treaty  of  peace 
—  Policy  of  Henry  VIII.  of  Francis  I.,  and  of  Charles  V. — The  Barbary 
states  taken  under  the  protection  of  the  Ottoman  Porte — Preaching  of 
Luther — Heroic  defence  of  Malta — Death  of  Soliman,  and  accession  of 
Selim — Capture  of  Cyprus — The  Turks  signally  defeated  at  the  naval 
battle  of  Lepanto  —  Universal  rejoicings  throughout  Christendom  — 
General  spread  of  civilization  in  Europe — Brilliant  age  of  Leo  X. — 
The  military  power  of  the  Turks  begins  to  decline — Defeated  by  So- 
bieski  before  the  walls  of  Vienna — Causes  and  history  of  their  decline 
— The  Moors  driven  from  Spain — State  of  Christendom  in  Europe,  and 
progress  of  the  Reformation — Ignatius  Loyola — Pilgrimages  to  the  Holy 
Land — A.  spirit  of  resignation  assumes  the  place  of  enthusiasm  for  the 
crusades pp.  159-250. 


BOOK  XVIIL— A.D.  1571-1685. 

Reflections  on  the  state  of  Europe,  on  the  various  classes  of  society, 
and  on  the  progress  of  navigation,  industry,  arts,  and  general  knowledge 
during  and  after  the  crusades pp.  251-348. 


APPENDIX. 

Pilgrimages — Itinerary  from  Bordeaux  to  Jerusalem — Foulque  of  Anjou 
— William  of  Malmesbury — Robert  of  Normandy — Charlemagne  — 
Chronicle  of  Tours — Letters  of  Bohemond,  of  Archbishop  Daimbert,  and 
of  the  principal  Crusaders — Council  of  Naplouse — Bull  of  Pope  Euge- 
nius  III.  for  the  second  crusade — Letter  from  Saladin,  detailing  his 
capture  of  Jerusalem  and  the  battle  of  Tiberias — Sermon  made  at  Jeru- 
salem by  Mohammed  Ben  Zeky — Bull  of  Gregory  VIII.  a.d.  1187 — 
Council  of  Paris,  held  in  1188 — Notes  on  the  Greek  fire — Memoir  on  the 
forest  of  Saron,  or  the  enchanted  forest  of  Tasso — Ralph  Dicet — Ralph 
of  Coggershall — Trick  attempted  by  Saladin — Imprisonment  of  Richard  I. 
— Journey  in  Wales  by  Archbishop  Baldwin — Jourdain's  letter  on  the 
"Assassins"  of  Syria — History  of  the  Ismaelians,  or  "Assassins" — 
Treaty  entered  into  by  the  leaders  of  the  Crusaders  for  the  division  Oi 


CONTENTS. 


▼ii 


Constantinople  and  the  Greek  empire— On  the  draifb  nf  *\,a  •      i 

Montferrat— Fragment  of  Nicetas's  rh™£i«  ?u  I  the  manluls  °* 
statues  of  Constantinople  by  Se  CrusadTr  To  f  ^f^0*  °f  «" 
crusade  of  children  in  1212  T  ,1  f  S  TJourdain  «  letter  on  the 
the  crusade  to  ^Cjl^^foFtS  ,      °kT  "I'  Urgi^  °» 

Memoir  rf  I^M^Tlo"?.  xT^M  ^  '****- 
Franceand  the  Ottoman  Porte     L„!      £ IV--Cap.tulations  between 

terium  Baphometi  Revela W'~     "     "^  S  DOte  °a  H™mer'l  "  M?s- 
pp.  349-500. 


General  Index ' 

».p.WI 


HISTORY 

OF 

THE    CRUSADES. 

BOOK    XV. 

EIGHTH   CEUSADE. 
A.D.  1255—1270. 

Louis  IX.,  during  his  sojourn  in  Palestine,  had  not  only- 
employed  himself  in  fortifying  the  Christian  cities  ;  he  had 
neglected  no  means  of  establishing  that  union  and  harmony 
among  the  Christians  themselves,  which  he  felt  would  create 
their  only  security  against  the  attacks  of  the  Mussulmans  : 
unhappily  for  this  people,  whom  he  would  have  preserved  at 
the  peril  of  his  life,  his  counsels  were  not  long  in  being  for- 
gotten, and  the  spirit  of  discord  soon  displaced  the  generous 
sentiments  to  which  his  example  and  discourses  had  given  a 
momentary  life. 

It  may  have  been  observed  in  the  course  of  this  history, 
that  several  maritime  nations  had  stores,  counting-houses, 
and  considerable  commercial  establishments  at  Ptolemais, 
which  had  become  the  capital  of  Palestine.  Among  these 
nations,  Genoa  and  Venice  occupied  the  first  rank :  each  of 
these  colonies  inhabited  a  separate  quarter,  and  had  different 
laws,  besides  interests,  which  kept  them  at  constant  variance  ; 
the  only  thing  they  possessed  in  common,*  was  the  Church  of 

*  We  find  copious  details  upon  these  disputes,  and  their  origin,  in 
Sanuti,  which  we  have  thought  it  best  to  abridge 

1* 


2  HISTORY   OF   THE   CRUSADES, 

Si.  Sabbas,  in  which  the  Venetians  and  the  Genoese  assem- 
bled together  to  celebrate  the  ceremonies  of  their  religion. 

This  common  possession  had  often  been  a  subject  of 
quarrel  between  them;  a  short  time  after  the  departure 
of  St.  Louis,  discord  broke  out  anew,  and  roused  all  the 
passions  that  the  spirit  of  rivalry  and  jealousy  could  give 
birth  to  between  Wo  nations  which  had  so  long  contended 
for  the  empire  of  the  sea  and  pre-eminence  in  commerce. 
Amidst  this  struggle,  in  which  the  very  object  of  the  con- 
test ought  to  have  recalled  sentiments  of  peace  and  charity 
to  their  hearts,  the  G-enoese  and  Venetians  often  came  to 
blows  in  the  city  of  Ptolemais,  and  more  than  once,  the 
sanctuary,  which  the  two  parties  had  fortified  like  a  place  of 
war,  resounded  with  the  din  of  their  sacrilegious  battles. 

Discord  very  soon  crossed  the  seas,  and  carried  fresh 
troubles  into  the  West.  Genoa  interested  the  Pisans  in 
her  cause,  and  sought  allies  and  auxiliaries  even  among  the 
Greeks,  at  that  time  impatient  to  repossess  Constantinople. 
Venice,  in  order  to  avenge  her  injuries,  courted  the  alliance 
of  Manfroi,  who  had  been  excommunicated  by  the  head  of 
the  Church.  Troops  were  raised,  fleets  were  armed,  and  the 
parties  attacked  each  other  both  by  land  and  sea  ;  and  this 
war,  which  the  sovereign  pontiff  was  unable  to  quell,  lasted 
more  than  twenty  years,  sometimes  to  the  advantage  of  the 
Venetians,  as  frequently  to  that  of  the  Genoese ;  but  always 
fatal  to  the  Christian  colonies  of  the  East. 

This  spirit  of  discord  likewise  extended  its  baneful  influ- 
ence to  the  rival  orders  of  St.  John  and  the  Temple ;  and  the 
blood  of  these  courageous  defenders  of  the  Holy  Land 
flowed  in  torrents  in  cities  of  which  they  had  undertaken 
the  defence ;  the  Hospitallers  and  Templars  pursued  and 
attacked  each  other  with  a  fury  that  nothing  could  appease 
or  turn  aside,  both  orders  invoking  the  aid  of  the  knights 
that  remained  in  the  West.  Thus  the  noblest  families  of 
Christendom  were  dragged  into  these  sanguinary  quarrels, 
and  it  was  no  longer  asked  in  Europe  whether  the  Franks 
had  conquered  the  Saracens,  but  if  victory  had  been  favour- 
able to  the  knights  of  the  Temple  or  to  those  of  the  Hos- 
pital. 

The  brave  Sergines,  whom  Louis  IX.  had  at  his  departure 
left  at  Ptolemais,  and  the  wisest  of  the  other  defenders  of 


HISTOKT   OF    THE    CKUSADES.  8 

the  Holy  Land,  had  neither  authority  enough  to  reestablish 
tranquillity,  nor  troops  enough  to  resist  the  attacks  of  the 
Mussulmans.  The  only  hope  of  safety  which  appeared  to 
be  left  to  the  Christians  of  Palestine,  arose  from  the  divi- 
sions which  also  troubled  the  empire  of  the  Saracens  ;  every 
day  new  revolutions  broke  out  among  the  Mamelukes  ;  but, 
by  a  singular  contrast,  feuds,  that  weakened  the  power  of 
the  Franks,  often  seemed  only  to  increase  that  of  their  ene- 
mies. If,  from  the  feeble  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  we  pass 
into  Egypt,  we  there  behold  the  strange  spectacle  of  a 
government  founded  by  revolt,  and  strengthening  itsell 
amidst  political  tempests.  The  Christian  colonies,  since  the 
taking  of  Jerusalem  by  Saladin,  had  no  longer  a  common 
centre  or  a  common  tie  ;  the  kings  of  Jerusalem,  in  losing 
their  capital,  lost  an  authority  which  served  at  least  as  a 
war-cry,  by  which  to  rally  ardent  spirits  around  them. 
Nothing  was  preserved  of  royalty  but  the  name,  nothing 
was  gained  from  republicanism  but  its  license.  As  to  the 
Mamelukes,  they  were  less  a  nation  than  an  army,  in  which 
they  at  first  quarrelled  for  a  leader,  and  in  which  they  after- 
wards obeyed  him  blindly.  From  the  bosom  of  each  of  their 
revolutions  sprang  a  military  despotism,  armed  with  all  the 
passions  that  had  given  birth  to  it,  and,  what  must  have 
redouble^  the  alarm  of  the  Christians,  this  despotism  breathed 
nothing  but  war  and  conquest. 

"We  have  said,  in  the  preceding  book,  that  Aibek,  after 
having  espoused  the  sultana  Chegger-Eddour,  had  mounted 
the  throne  of  Saladin ;  but  it  was  not  long  before  his  reign 
was  disturbed  by  the  rivalries  of  the  emirs.  The  death  of 
Phares-Eddin  Octhai,  one  of  the  leaders  opposed  to  the  new 
sultan,  disconcerted  the   projects  of  the  faction,  but  the 

1'ealousy  of  a  woman  did  that  which  neither  faction  nor 
icense  had  been  able  to  effect.  Chegger-Eddour  could  not 
pardon  Aibek  for  having  asked  the  hand  of  a  daughter  of 
the  prince  of  Mossoul,  and  the  faithless  husband  was  assas- 
sinated in  the  bath  by  slaves.  The  sultana,  after  having 
gratified  her  woman's  vengeance,  called  in  the  ambition  01 
the  emirs  and  the  crimes  of  policy  to  her  aid.*     She  sent 

*  We  have  adopted  the  version  of  M.  Deguignes  as  the  most  probable. 
(See  Hi*iory  of  the  Huns.) 


%  HISTORY   OF   THE    CRUSADES 

for  the  emir  Saif-Eddin,  to  ask  his  advice,  ai  d  to  offer  him 
her  hand  and  empire.  Upon  being  introduced  into  the 
palace,  Saif-Eddin  found  the  Sultana  seated,  with  the  bleed- 
ing body  of  her  husband  at  her  feet :  at  this  spectacle,  the 
emir  was  seized  with  horror,  and  the  calmness  which  the 
sultana  displayed,  together  with  the  sight  of  the  bloody 
throne,  upon  which  she  proposed  to  him  to  take  his  seat 
with  her,  added  to  his  fright ;  Chegger-Eddour  summoned 
two  other  emirs,  who  could  not  endure  her  presence,  but 
fled  away,  terrified  at  what  they  saw  and  heard.  This  scene 
passed  during  the  night.  At  break  of  day,  the  news  of  it 
was  spread  throughout  Cairo,  and  the  indignation  of  the 
people  and  the  army  was  general  and  active :  the  mother  of 
Aibek  amply  revenged  the  death  of  her  son.  Chegger- 
Eddour,  in  her  turn,  perished  by  the  hands  of  slaves,  and 
her  body,  which  was  cast  into  the  castle  ditch,  might  teach 
all  the  ambitious  who  were  contending  for  the  empire,  that 
revolutions,  likewise,  sometimes  have  their  justice. 

Amidst  the  tumult,  a  son  of  Aibek,  fifteen  years  of  age, 
was  raised  to  the  throne ;  but  the  approach  of  a  war  soon 
caused  a  new  revolution  to  break  out,  and  precipitated  the 
youth  from  his  giddy  eminence  :  great  events  were  ripening 
in  Asia,  and  a  storm  was  brewing  in  Persia,  which  was  soon 
to  burst  over  both  Syria  and  Egypt.* 

The  Moguls,  under  the  command  of  Oulagon,  had  laid 
siege  to  Bagdad,  at  a  moment  when  the  city  was  divided 
into  several  sects,  all  more  earnest  in  their  conflicts  with 
each  other  than  in  their  preparations  to  repulse  a  formidable 
enemy.  The  caliph,  as  well  as  his  people,  was  sunk  deep  in 
voluptuous  effeminacy,  and  the  pride  created  by  the  vain 
adulation  of  the  Mussulmans,  made  him  neglect  true  and 
available  means  of  defence.  The  Tartars  took  the  city  by 
storm,  and  gave  it  up  to  all  the  horrors  of  war.  The  last 
and  thirty-seventh  of  the  successors  of  Abbas,  dragged  away 

*  One  of  the  principal  difficulties  that  an  historian  of  this  epoch  expe- 
riences, is,  to  preserve  the  connection  in  his  narrative,  from  having  to 
speak  at  the  same  time  of  the  West  and  of  the  East,  of  the  Christians, 
the  Mamelukes,  and  the  Tartars.  Here  a  new  people  start  up  upon  the 
stage,  there  an  old  empire  falls  to  decay :  all  the  events  are  hurried  and 
confounded  together,  and  the  march  of  history  is  embarrassed  among  so 
many  ruins.     We  endeavour  to  be  as  clear  as  possible. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  ft 

like  the  vilest  captive,  lost  his  life  in  the  n  adst  of  such 
tumult  and  disorder,  that  history  *  is  unable  to  say  whether 
he  died  of  despair,  or  whether  he  fell  beneath  the  sword  of 
hia  enemies. 

This  violence,  committed  upon  the  head  of  the  Mussulman 
religion,  with  the  march  of  the  Moguls  towards  Syria,  threw 
the  Mamelukes  into  the  greatest  consternation.  They  then 
deemed  it  necessary  to  displace  the  son  of  Aibek,  and  elect 
a  leader  able  to  guide  them  amidst  the  perils  that  threatened 
them,  and  their  choice  fell  upon  Koutouz,  the  bravest  and 
most  able  of  the  emirs. 

Whilst  Egypt  was  earnestly  engaged  in  preparations  to 
resist  the  Moguls,  the  Christians  appeared  to  expect  their 
deliverance  from  this  war  against  the  Mussulmans ;  the 
khan  of  Tartary  had  promised  the  king  of  Armenia  to  carry 
his  conquests  as  far  as  the  banks  of  the  Nile ;  and  oriental 
chronicles  relate  that  the  Armenian  troops  were  united  with 
those  of  the  Moguls. f  The  latter,  after  having  crossed  the 
Euphrates,  took  possession  of  Aleppo,  Damascus,  and  the 
principal  cities  of  Syria.  On  all  sides,  the  Mussulmans 
fled  before  the  Tartars,  and  the  disciples  of  Christ  were  pro- 
tected by  the  victorious  hordes ;  from  that  time  the  Chris- 
tians only  beheld  liberators  in  these  redoubtable  conquerors. 
In  the  churches,  and  even  upon  the  tomb  of  Christ,  prayers 
were  put  up  for  the  triumph  of  the  Moguls,  and  in  the 
excess  of  their  joy,  the  Christians  of  Palestine  abandoned 
their  general  practice  of  imploring  aid  from  the  powers  of 
Europe. 

In  the  mean  time  Europe  itself  entertained  a  very 
different  idea  of  this  war ;  the  progress  of  the  Moguls 
created  the  greatest  terror  in  all  the  nations  of  the  West ; 
they  not  only  dreaded  the  Mogul  arms  on  account  of  the 

*  Many  chronicles  say  that  Oulagon  shut  the  caliph  up  in  the  midst  of 
all  his  treasures,  and  left  him  to  die  of  hunger :  this  circumstance  is  not 
at  all  probable,  and  has  not  been  acknowledged  by  M.  Deguignes. 

f  Most  historians  have  taken  their  accounts  of  this  war  of  the  Moguls 
from  an  esteemed  work,  entitled  Fragmentum  de  Statu  Saraccenorum ; 
it,  however,  contains  many  errors,  and  ought  to  be  rectified  in  several  places 
by  the  study  of  the  Oriental  historians  Some  valuable  information 
respecting  this  war  of  the  Tartars  may  also  be  found  in  the  Armenian 
Hayton,  and  in  Sanuti ;  but  these  authors  must  be  read  with  precautioc 
snd  suspicion. 


©  lilSTORY    OF    THE    CEUSADES. 

Christian  colonies  of  the  East;  the}7  trembled  for  themselves  ;• 
for  whilst  the  hordes  of  Oulagon  were  ravaging  Syria,  other 
armies  of  the  same  nation  were  desolating  the  banks  of  the 
Dniester  and  the  Danube.  Pope  Alexander,  addressing  the 
princes,  prelates,  and  all  the  faithful,  exhorted  tliem  to  unite 
against  the  barbarians.  Councils  were  assembled  in  France, 
England,  Italy,  and  Germany,  to  deliberate  upon  the  dangers 
of  Christendom  ;  the  head  of  the  Church  ordered  prayers  to 
be  offered  up  and  processions  to  be  made,  blasphemies  to  be 
punished,  and  luxury  to  be  suppressed  at  the  table  and  in 
dress, — measures  which  might  be  conceived  proper  to  miti- 
gate the  anger  of  Heaven,  but  very  insufficient  to  stop  the 
invasion  of  the  Moguls. 

The  hordes,  however,  which  ravaged  Hungary  and  Poland 
were  dispersed,  and  terror  again  took  possession  of  the 
Christians  of  the  East,  whose  hopes  had  been  so  sanguine. 
Oulagon,  recalled  into  Persia  by  civil  wars,  left  his  lieutenant, 
Ketboga,  in  Syria,  with  directions  to  follow  up  his  conquests. 
The  Christians  were  still  applauding  the  victories  of  the 
Moguls,  when  a  quarrel,  provoked  by  some  German 
Ci'usaders,  all  at  once  changed  the  state  of  things,  and 
made  enemies  of  those  who  had  been  considered  as  auxiliaries. 
Some  Mussulman  villages  which  paid  tribute  to  the  Tartars, 
having  been  pillaged,  Ketboga  sent  to  demand  a  reparation 
of  the  Christians,  which  they  refused.  In  the  course  of  the 
dispute  raised  on  this  subject,  the  nephew  of  the  Mogul 
commander  was  killed.  From  that  time  the  Tartar  leader 
declared  open  war  against  the  Christians,  ravaged  the 
territory  of  Sidon,  and  menaced  that  of  Ptolemais.  At  the 
aspect  of  their  desolated  plains,  all  the  hopes  of  the  Chris- 
tians vanished ;  they  had  had  no  bounds  to  their  hopes  and 

*  Bela  IV.,  king  of  Hungary,  wrote  to  the  pope,  that  if  he  were  m>t 
speedily  succoured  he  should  form  an  alliance  with  the  Tartars.  The 
pope  reproved  him  warmly.  Alexander  IV.  wrote  to  all  Christian 
princes,  prelates,  and  communities,  to  consult  apon  the  means  of  resisting 
the  barbarians,  as  well  in  the  East  as  in  the  West.  In  Raynaldi — the 
year  1262,  Nos.  29  and  30 — his  letter  may  be  seen,  in  which  he  enters 
into  many  details  upon  the  levy  of  soldiers,  and  upon  subsidies.  This 
letter  has  been  preserved  by  Matthew  Paris,  who  speaks  of  the  councils 
held  on  this  subject ;  some  facts  relative  to  the  invasion  of  the  Tartars 
may  likewise  be  found  in  William  of  Nangis  and  Matthew  of  Westmin^ 
Bter,  as  well  as  in  the  Collection  of  Councils. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CEUSADES.  | 

their  joy,  they  had  now  none  to  their  grief  or  their  feara. 
The  alarm  created  in  them  by  a  barbarous  people,  made 
them  forget  that  most  of  their  misfortunes  came  from  Egypt, 
and  as  they  had  given  over  all  idea  of  succours  from  thfc 
West,  many  of  them  now  placed  all  their  confidence  in  the 
arms  of  the  Mamelukes. 

A  great  portion  of  Palestine  had  already  been  invaded  by 
the  Moguls,  when  the  sultan  of  Cairo  set  out  on  his  march 
to  meet  them  at  the  head  of  his  army  ;  he  remained  three 
days  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ptolema'is,  where  he  renewed 
a  truce  with  the  Christians.  Soon  after,  a  battle  was  fought 
in  the  plain  of  Tiberias ;  Ketboga  lost  his  life  in  the  middle 
of  the  conflict,  and  the  army  of  the  Tartars,  beaten  and 
scattered,  abandoned  Syria. 

To  whichever  side  victory  might  have  inclined,  the  Chris- 
tians had  nothing  to  hope  from  the  conqueror  ;  the  Mussul- 
mans could  not  pardon  them  for  having  sought  the  support 
of  the  victorious  Moguls,  and  having  taken  advantage  of  the 
desolation  of  Syria,  to  insult  the  disciples  of  Mahomet, 
The  churches  were  demolished  at  Damascus ;  the  Christiana 
were  persecuted  in  all  the  Mussulman  cities,  and  these 
persecutions  were  the  presage  of  a  war  in  which  fanaticism 
exercised  all  its  furies.  On  all  sides  complaints  and  menaces 
arose  against  the  Pranks  of  Palestine ;  the  cry  of  war  with 
the  Christians  resounded  through  all  the  provinces  in  the 
power  of  the  Mamelukes ;  the  animosity  was  so  great,  that 
the  sultan  of  Cairo,  who  had  just  triumphed  over  the  Tartars, 
was  the  victim  to  his  fidelity  in  observing  the  last  truce  con- 
cluded with  the  Pranks.  Bibars,  who  had  killed  the  last 
sultan  of  the  family  of  Saladin,  took  advantage  of  this 
effervescence  of  the  public  mind  to  endeavour  to  raise  a 
party  against  Koutouz,  by  affecting  great  hatred  for  the 
Christians,  and  by  reproaching  the  sultan  with  a  criminal 
moderation  towards  the  enemies  of  Islamism. 

When  the  fermentation  had  been  worked  up  to  the  highest 
point,  Bibars,  having  assembled  his  accomplices,  surprised 
the  sultan  whilst  hunting,  struck  him  several  mortal  blows, 
then,  all  stained  as  he  was  with  the  blood  of  his  master,  he 
hastened  to  the  Mameluke  army,  at  that  time  collected  at 
Sallhie  ;  he  presented  himself  to  th  ?  atabek  or  lieutenant  of 
he  prince,  announcing    the  death  (     Koutouz      Upon  being 


&  HISTOEY    OF   THE    CE  tSADES. 

asked  who  killed  the  sultan.  "  It  was  I,"  answered  he.  "  In 
that  ease,"  said  the  atabek,  "reign  in  his  place."*  Strange 
words,  which  characterize  at  a  single  stroke  the  spirit  of  the 
Mamelukes,  as  well  as  of  the  government  they  had  founded  \ 
The  army  proclaimed  Bibars  sultan  of  Egypt,  and  the  cere- 
monies prepared  at  Cairo  for  the  reception  of  the  con- 
queror of  the  Tartars,  served  to  celebrate  the  coronation  of 
his  murderer. 

This  revolution  gave  the  Mussulmans  the  sovereign  most 
to  be  dreaded  by  the  Christians.  Bibars  was  named  the 
pillar  of  the  Mussulman  religion  and  the  father  of  victories  ; 
and  he  was  destined  to  merit  these  titles  by  completing  the 
ruin  of  the  Franks.  He  had  scarcely  mounted  the  throne 
before  he  gave  the  signal  for  war. 

The  Christians  of  Palestine  being  totally  without  means 
of  resisting  the  Mameluke  forces,  sent  deputies  to  the  West 
to  solicit  prompt  and  efficient  succour.  The  sovereign 
pontiff  appeared  affected  by  the  account  of  the  perils  of  the 
Holy  Land,  and  exhorted  the  faithful  to  take  the  cross  ;  but 
the  tone  of  his  exhortations,  and  the  motives  that  he  named 
in  his  circulars,  only  too  plainly  evinced  his  desire  to  see 
Europe  take  up  arms  against  other  enemies  than  the 
Mussulmans.  "The  Saracens,"  said  he,  "know  that  it  will 
be  impossible  for  any  Christian  prince  to  make  a  long  abode 
in  the  East,f  and  that  the  Holy  Land  will  never  have  any 
but  transient  succour  from  distant  countries." 

Alexander  IV.  was  much  more  sincere  and  far  more 
eloquent  in  his  manifestoes  against  the  house  of  Swabia ;  the 
interest  he  took  in  the  contest  he  was  carrying  on  in  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  could  not  be  diverted  by  the  undertaking 
of  a  holy  war.  Clement  IV.,  who  succeeded  him,  made 
some  few  demonstrations  of  zeal  to  engage  the  European 
nations  to  take  arms  against  the  Mussulmans  ;  but  the  policy 
of  his  predecessors  had  left  too  many  germs  of  discord  and 
trouble,  in  Italy,  to  allow  him  to  give  much  attention  to  the 

*  This  singular  fact  is  related  by  the  Arabian  historian  Aboulfeda,  and 
repeated  by  M.  Deguignes,  vol.  iv.  p.  133. 

f  This  circular  is  reported  by  Raynaldi,  Nos.  68  and  69.  The  motives 
alleged  by  the  pope,  in  his  letter,  astonish  the  wise  Fleuri,  who  observes 
upon  the  spirit  of  contradiction  which  we  have  mentioned. 


HISTORY    OF    TIIE    CRUSADES.  9 

East.  On  one  side,  Germany,  still  without  an  emperoi, 
though  with  three  pretenders  to  the  empire,  could  spare  no 
warriors  for  the  Holy  Land.  England  was  a  prey  to  a  civil 
war,  in  which  the  barons  wore  a  white  cross  as  their  badge 
of  union  against  the  king,  and  in  which  priests  exhorted 
them  to  the  fight,  pointing  to  heaven  as  the  reward  of  their 
bravery  and  their  rebellion.  This  strange  crusade  precluded 
all  thoughts  of  one  beyond  the  seas.  France  was  the  only 
kingdom  from  which  the  prayers  of  the  Christians  of  Pales- 
tine were  not  repulsed  ;  some  French  knights  took  the  cross, 
and  chose  Eudes,  count  of  Nevers,  son  of  the  duke  of 
Burgundy,  as  their  leader  ;  and  these  were  all  the  succours 
Europe  could  afford  to  send  to  the  East. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  afflicting  news  arrived  from  the 
Holy  Land,  an  event  was  announced  which  would  have 
plunged  the  whole  West  in  mourning,  if  the  conquests  of 
the  Crusaders  had  then  excited  anything  like  the  interest  to 
which  they  had  given  birth  in  former  ages.  We  have  fre- 
quently had  occasion  to  deplore  the  rapid  decline  of  the 
Latin  empire  of  Constantinople ;  for  a  length  of  time, 
Baldwin  had  had  no  means  for  supporting  the  imperial 
dignity,  or  paying  his  scanty  troop  of  soldiers,  but  the  alms 
of  Christendom,  and  some  loans  obtained  from  Venice,  for 
which  he  was  obliged  to  givf»  his  own  son  as  a  hostage,  or, 
more  properly,  a  pledge.  Il  pressing  moments  of  want,  he 
sold  the  relics,  he  tore  the  lead  from  the  roofs  of  the  churches, 
and  the  timber  of  public  edifices  was  used  for  heating  the 
fires  of  the  imperial  kitchens.  Towers  half-demolished, 
ramparts  without  defences,  palaces  smoky  and  deserted, 
houses  and  whole  streets  abandoned,  such  was  the  spectacle 
presented  by  the  queen  of  eastern  cities. 

Baldwin  had  concluded  a  truce  with  Michael  Palseologus. 
The  facility  with  which  this  truce  was  made  ought  to  have 
inspired  the  Latins  with  some  suspicion ;  but  the  deplorable 
state  of  the  Franks  did  not  prevent  them  from  despising 
their  enemies  or  dreaming  of  fresh  conquests.  In  hopes  of 
pillage,  and  forgetful  of  the  perfidious  character  of  the 
Greeks,  a  Venetian  fleet  bore  such  as  remained  of  the  de- 
fenders of  Byzantium  in  an  expedition  against  Daphnusia, 
situated  at  the  embouchure  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  Greeks 
bf  !Nice,  informed  by  some  peasants  from  the  shores  of  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

Bosphorus,  did  not  hesitate  to  take  advantage  of  the  oppoi* 
tnnity  fortune  thus  presented.  These  peasants  pointed  out 
to  the  general  of  Michael  Pala?ologus,  who  was  about  to 
make  war  in  Epirus,  an  opening  that  had  been  made  under 
the  ramparts  of  Constantinople,  close  to  the  Golden  Gate, 
by  which  more  troops  might  be  introduced  than  would  be 
necessary  for  the  conquest  of  the  city.  Baldwin  had  none 
with  him  but  children,  old  men,  women,  and  traders ;  among 
the  latter  of  whom  were  the  Genoese  newly  allied  to  the 
Greeks.  When  the  soldiers  of  Michael  had  penetrated  into 
the  city,  they  were  surprised  to  find  no  enemy  to  contend 
with  ;  whilst  they  preserved  their  ranks,  and  advanced  with 
precaution,  a  troop  of  Comans,  whom  the  Greek  emperor 
had  in  his  pay,  traversed  the  city,  sword  and  fire  in  hand. 
The  smaM,  terrified  crowd  of  the  Latins  fled  towards  the 
port ;  whilst  the  Greek  inhabitants  hastened  to  meet  the 
conqueror,  shouting,  "Long  life  to  Michael  Pakeoiogus, 
emperor  of  the  Bomans  !"  Baldwin,  awakened  by  these 
cries  and  the  tumult  that  drew  near  to  his  palace,  hastened 
to  quit  a  city  that  no  longer  was  his.  The  Venetian  fleet, 
returning  from  the  expedition  to  Daphnusia,  arrived  in  time 
to  receive  the  fugitive  emperor  and  all  that  remained  of  the 
empire  of  the  Franks  upon  the  Bosphorus.  Thus  the  Latins 
were  deprived  of  that  city  that  it  had  cost  them  such  pro- 
digies of  valour  to  obtain  ;  the  Greeks  reentered  it  without 
striking  a  blow,  seconded  only  by  the  treachery  of  a  few 
peasants  and  the  darkness  of  night.  Baldwin  II.,  after  having 
reigned  in  Byzantium  during  thirty-seven  years,  resumed 
the  mendicant  course  he  had  practised  in  his  youth,  and  wan- 
dered from  one  court  to  another,  imploring  the  assistance  of 
Christians.  Pope  Urban  received  him  with  a  mixture  of 
compassion  and  contempt.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  Louis  IX., 
the  pontiff  deplored  the  loss  of  Constantinople,  and  groaned 
bitterly  over  the  obscured  glory  of  the  Latin  Church. 
Urban  expressed  a  desire  that  a  crusade  should  be  under- 
taken for  the  recovery  of  Byzantium  ;  but  he  found  men's 
minds  but  very  little  disposed  to  undertake  such  an  enter- 
prise :  the  clergy  of  both  England  and  Prance  refused  sub- 
sidies for  an  expedition  which  they  pronounced  useless. 
The  pope  was  obliged  to  content  himself  with  the  submission 
and  presents  of  Michael  Pakeoiogus,  who,  still  in  dread  ia 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  11 

the  bosom  of  his  new  conquest,  promised,  in  order  to  appease 
the  Holy  See,  to  recognise  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  te 
succour  the  holy  places. 

In  the  mean  time  the  situation  of  the  Christians  of 
Palestine  became  every  day  more  alarming,  and  more  worthy 
of  the  compassion  of  the  nations  and  princes  of  the  West. 
The  new  sultan  of  Cairo,  after  having  ravaged  the  country 
of  the  Franks,  returned  a  second  time,  with  a  more  for- 
midable army  than  the  former.  The  Franks,  alarmed  at  his 
progress,  sent  to  him  to  sue  for  peace  ;  his  only  reply  was  to 
give  up  the  church  of  Nazareth  to  the  flames ;  the  Mussul- 
mans ravaged  all  the  country  situated  between  JNTain  and 
Mount  Thabor,  and  then  encamped  within  sight  of  Ptolemais. 

The  most  distinguished  of  the  Christian  warriors  had 
attempted  an  expedition  towards  Tiberias ;  but  this  gallant 
troop,  the  last  resource  of  the  Franks,  had  just  been  de- 
feated and  dispersed  by  the  infidels  ;  fifty  knights  had  arrived 
in  Palestine  with  the  duke  of  JNevers ;  but  what  could  such 
a  feeble  reinforcement  do  to  arrest  the  progress  of  a  vic- 
torious army. 

The  country  was  laid  waste,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the 
cities  kept  themselves  closely  shut  up  behind  their  ramparts, 
in  the  constant  apprehension  of  beholding  the  enemy  under 
their  walls.  After  threatening  Ptolemais,  Bibars  threw  him- 
self upon  the  city  of  Csesarea ;  the  Christians,  after  a  spirited 
resistance,  abandoned  the  place,  and  retired  into  the  castle, 
which  was  surrounded  by  the  waters  of  the  sea.  This  for- 
tress, which  appeared  inaccessible,  was  only  able  to  resist 
the  attacks  of  the  Mussulmans  a  few  days.*  The  city  of 
Arsouf  was  the  next  object  of  the  Mussulman  leader.  The 
inhabitants  defended  themselves  with  almost  unexampled 
bravery;  several  times  the  machines  of  the  besiegers  and 
the  heaps  of  wood  which  they  raised  to  the  level  of  the  walls, 
were  consigned  to  the  flames.  After  having  fought  at  the 
foot  of  the  ramparts,  the  besieged  and  the  besiegers  dug  out 

*  These  expeditions  of  Bibars  are  related  with  all  their  details  in  the 
chronicles  of  Ibn-Ferat  and  in  Makrizi.  Although  we  have  much 
abridged  our  account,  we  fear  we  shall  be  accused  of  tediousness.  We 
have  yielded  to  our  inclination  of  filling  up  the  deficiencies  which  exist  iu 
all  the  chronicles  of  the  West  in  their  accounts  of  this  period.  The  life 
of  Bibars  has  likewise  been  of  great  service  to  us. 


l2  HISTOBT   OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

the  earth  beneath  the  walls  of  the  city,  and  sought  each 
other,  to  fight  in  the  mines  and  subterranean  passages; 
nothing  could  relax  the  ardour  of  the  Christians  or  the  im- 
patient activity  of  Bibars.  Religious  fanaticism  animated 
the  courage  of  the  Mamelukes ;  the  imauns  and  doctors  oi 
the  law  flocked  to  the  siege  of  Arsouf,  to  be  present  at  the 
triumph  of  Islamism :  at  length  the  sultan  planted  the 
standard  of  the  prophet  upon  the  towers  of  the  city,  and 
the  Mussulmans  were  called  to  prayers  in  the  churches  at 
once  converted  into  mosques.  The  Mamelukes  massacred  a 
great  part  of  the  inhabitants  ;  the  remainder  were  condemned 
to  slavery.  Bibars  distributed  the  captives  among  the 
leaders  of  his  army ;  he  then  ordered  the  destruction  of  the 
city,  and  the  Christian  prisoners  were  compelled  to  demolish 
their  own  dwellings.  The  conquered  territory  was  divided 
and  shared  among  the  principal  emirs,  according  to  an  order 
of  the  sultan,  which  the  Arabian  chronicles  have  preserved 
as  an  historical  monument.  This  liberality  towards  the  con- 
querors of  the  Christians,  appeared  to  the  Mussulmans 
worthy  of  the  greatest  praise,  and  one  of  the  historians  of 
Bibars  exclaims,  in  his  enthusiasm,  "  That  so  noble  an  action 
was  written  in  the  book  of  G-od,  before  being  inscribed  upon 
the  book  of  the  life  of  the  sultan." 

Such  encouragements  bestowed  upon  the  emirs,  announced 
that  Bibars  still  stood  in  need  of  their  valour  to  accomplish 
other  designs.  The  sultan  returned  into  Egypt,  to  make 
fresh  preparations  and  recruit  his  army.  During  his  sojourn 
at  Cairo,  he  received  ambassadors  from  several  kings  of  the 
Pranks,  from  Alphonso,  king  of  Arragon,  the  king  of 
Armenia,  and  some  other  princes  of  Palestine.  All  these 
ambassadors  demanded  peace  for  the  Christians ;  but  their 
pressing  solicitations  only  strengthened  the  sultan  in  his 
project  of  continuing  the  war ;  the  more  earnest  their  en- 
treaties, the  greater  reason  he  had  to  believe  they  had 
nothing  else  to  oppose  to  him.  He  answered  the  envoys  of 
the  count  of  Jaffa :  "  The  time  is  come  in  which  we  will 
endure  no  more  injuries ;  when  a  cottage  shall  be  taken 
from  us,  we  will  take  a  castle  ;  when  you  shall  seize  one  of 
our  labourers,  we  will  consign  a  thousand  of  your  warriors 
to  chains." 

Bibars  did  not  delay  putting  his  threats  into  execution ; 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES.  14 

he  returned  t„  Palestine,  and  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Jeru- 
salem, to  implore  the  protection  of  Mahomet  for  his  arms. 
His  army  immediately  received  the  signal  for  war,  and 
ravaged  the  territory  of  Tripoli.  If  some  Oriental  chronicles 
may  be  believed,  the  project  of  Bibars  then  was  to  attack 
Ptolema'is  ;  and  in  so  great  an  enterprise,  he  did  not  disdain 
the  assistance  of  treachery.  The  prince  of  Tyre,  says  Ibn- 
Ferat,  united  with  the  Genoese,  was  to  attack  Ptolema'is 
with  a  numerous  fleet  on  the  sea  side,  whilst  the  Mamelukes 
attacked  it  by  land.  Bibars  in  fact  presented  himself 
before  Ptolema'is,  but  his  new  auxiliaries  no  doubt  repented 
of  the  promises  they  had  made  him  ;  and  did  not  second  his 
designs.  The  sultan  retired  filled  with  fury,  and  threatened 
to  avenge  himself  upon  all  the  Christians  whom  war  should 
place  in  his  power. 

He  first  went  to  discharge  his  anger  upon  the  fortress  of 
Sefed,  which  was  situated  in  lower  Galilee,  fifteen  leagues 
from  Ptolemais.  This  fortress  had  to  defend  itself  against 
all  the  forces  that  the  sultan  had  gathered  together  for  his 
great  enterprise.  When  the  siege  had  begun,  Bibars 
neglected  no  means  of  forcing  the  garrison  to  surrender  ;  he 
was  constantly  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  and  in  one  con- 
flict, his  whole  army  burst  into  a  loud  cry  to  warn  him  of  a 
danger  that  threatened  him.  To  inflame  the  ardour  of  the 
Mamelukes,  he  caused  rones  of  honour  and  purses  of  money 
to  be  distributed  on  the  field  of  battle ;  the  great  cadi  of 
Damascus  had  come  to  the  siege  to  animate  the  combatants 
by  his  presence  ;  and  the  promises  he  addressed,  in  the  name 
of  the  prophet,  to  all  the  Mussulman  soldiers,  added  greatly 
to  their  warlike  enthusiasm. 

The  Christians,  however,  defended  themselves  valiantly. 
This  resistance  at  first  astonished  their  enemies,  and  soon 
produced  discouragement;  in  vain  the  sultan  endeavoured 
to  reanimate  his  soldiers,  in  vain  he  ordered  that  all  who 
fled  should  be  beaten  back  with  clubs,  and  placed  several 
emirs  in  chains  for  deserting  their  posts  ;  neither  the  dread 
of  chastisements,  nor  the  hopes  of  reward,  could  revive  the 
courage  of  the  Mussulmans.  Bibars  would  have  been 
obliged  to  raise  the  siege,  if  discord  had  not  come  to  his 
assistance.  He  himself  took  great  pains  to  give  birth  to  it 
among  the  Christians  ;  in  the  frequent  messages  sent  to  the 


a%  HISTOET    OF   THE    CKUSADES. 

garrison,  perfidious  promises  and  well-directed  threats  sowed 
the  seeds  of  suspicion  and  mistrust.  At  length  the  divisions 
burst  forth  ;  some  were  anxious  that  they  should  surrender, 
others  that  they  should  hold  out  to  death  :  from  that  moment 
the  Mussulmans  met  with  a  less  obstinate  resistance,  and 
renewed  their  own  attacks  with  greater  ardour ;  whilst  the 
Christians  accused  each  other  of  treacherous  proceedings  or 
intentions,  the  war-machines  made  the  walls  totter,  and  the 
Mamelukes,  after  several  assaults,  were  upon  the  point  of 
opening  themselves  a  road  into  the  place.  At  length,  one 
Friday  (we  quote  an  Arabian  chronicle),  the  cadi  of  Damascus 
was  praying  for  the  combatants,  when  the  Franks  were 
heard  to  cry  from  the  top  of  their  half-dismantled  towers, 
"0  Mussulmans,  spare  us,  spare  us!"  The  besieged  had 
laid  down  their  arms,  and  fought  no  longer — the  gates  were 
immediately  opened,  and  the  standard  of  the  Mussulmans 
floated  over  the  walls  of  Sefed. 

A  capitulation  granted  the  Christians  permission  to  retire 
wherever  they  wished,  upon  condition  that  they  should  take 
away  with  them  nothing  but  their  clothes.  Bibars,  when 
seeing  them  defile  before  him,  sought  for  a  pretext  to  detain 
them  in  his  power.  Some  were,  by  his  orders,  arrested  and 
accused  of  carrying  away  treasures  and  arms  ;  and  the  com- 
mand was  instantly  issued  to  stop  all.  They  were  reproached 
with  having  violated  the  treaty,  and  were  threatened  with 
death  if  they  did  not  embrace  Islamism.  They  were  loaded 
with  chains  and  crowded  together  in  a  mass  upon  a  hill, 
where  they  expected  nothing  but  death.  A  commander  of 
the  Temple  and  two  Cordeliers  exhorted  their  companions 
in  misfortune  to  die  like  Christian  heroes.  All  those  war- 
riors, whom  discord  had  divided,  now  reunited  in  one  common 
evil,  had  only  one  feeling  and  one  thought  ;*  they  wept  as 
they  embraced  each  other,  they  encouraged  each  other  to 
die  becomingly ;  they  passed  the  night  in  confessing  their 
sins  towards  Cod,  and  in  deploring  their  errors  and  their 
differences.  On  the  morrow,  two  only  of  these  captives 
were  set  at  liberty;  one  was  a  brother  Hospitaller,  whom 

*  The  Arabian  chronicles  describe  this  event  in  a  very  obscure  and 
equivocal  manner ;  they  scarcely  mention  the  massacre  of  the  prisoners, 
and  say  but  little  of  the  capitulation ;  they  accuse  the  Franks  of  having 
taken  Mussulman  prisoners  away  with  them,  which  is  not  very  probable. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES.  15 

Bibars  sent  to  Ptolema'is,  to  announce  to  the  Christians  the 
taking  of  Sefed ;  the  other  was  a  Templar,  who  abandoned 
the  faith  of  Christ,  and  attached  himself  to  the  fortunes  of 
the  sultan  ;  all  the  others,  to  the  number  of  six  hundred, 
fell  beneath  the  sword  of  the  Mamelukes.  This  barbarity, 
committed  in  the  name  of  the  Mussulman  religion,  appears 
the  more  revolting,  from  the  Franks  never  having  given  an 
example  for  it,  and  that  amidst  the  furies  of  war,  they  were 
never  known  to  require  the  conversion  of  infidels,  sword  in 
hand.* 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  despair  and  consternation 
of  the  Christians  of  Palestine,  when  they  learnt  the  tragical 
end  of  the  defenders  of  Sefed.  Their  superstitious  grief 
invented  or  blindly  received  the  most  marvellous  accounts, 
which  the  Western  chroniclers  have  not  disdained  to  repeat ; 
it  was  said  that  a  celestial  light  shone  every  night  over  the 
bodies  of  the  Christian  warriors  that  remained  unburied.f 
It  was  added  that  the  sultan,  annoyed  by  this  prodigy,  which 
was  every  day  renewed  before  his  eyes,  gave  orders  that  the 
martyrs  of  the  Christian  faith  should  be  buried,  and  that 
around  their  place  of  sepulture  high  walls  should  be  built, 
in  order  that  nobody  might  witness  the  miracles  operated  in 
favour  of  the  victims  he  had  immolated  to  his  vengeance. 

After  the  taking  of  Sefed,  Bibars  returned  into  Egypt, 
and  the  Franks  hoped  for  a  few  days  of  repose  and  safety : 
but  the  indefatigable  sultan  never  gave  his  enemies  much 
time  to  rejoice  at  his  absence.  He  only  remained  in  Egypt 
till  he  had  recruited  his  army  with  fresh  troops,  and  soon 
brought  back  additional  desolation  to  the  states  of  the 
Christians.     Iu  this  campaign,  Armenia  wo ;  t-^p  point  to 

*  We  are  afraid  M.  Michaud  carries  the  partialities  of  Biography  into 
the  pages  of  History :  in  the  former,  such  are  sometimes  ezcusable ;  in 
the  latter,  never.  Our  readers  who  look  back  to  the  taking  of  Jerusalem 
or  Ptolemais,  will  at  once  see  how  weak  is  the  claim  of  the  Christians  to 
a  superiority  over  their  adversaries  in  mercy  As  to  the  religious  portion 
of  the  account,  history  teems  with  wholesale  conversions  of  conquered 
armies  and  nations.  See  Charlemagne  and  our  own  Alfred,  for  instance. 
We  thought  that  the  idea  of  Mahometanism  being  a  religion  of  the 
tword  was  exploded.  Gibbon  positively  denies  it  to  be  so,  and  asserts 
that  no  precept  or  passage  of  the  Koran  inculcates  it. — Trans. 

f  Sanuti  is  almost  the  only  Christian  writer  that  affords  information  OH 
the  taking  of  Sefed. 


*6  history  or  the  crusades. 

which  his  anger  and  the  power  of  his  arms  were  directed 
he  reproached  the  Armenian  monarch  with  forbidding  Egyp- 
tian merchants  to  enter  his  dominions,  and  could  not  pardon 
him  for  preventing  Ins  own  subjects  from  obtaining  mer- 
chandise from  Egypt.  These  differences  were  quickly  set- 
tled on  the  field  of  battle ;  one  of  the  sons  of  the  king  of 
Armenia  lost  his  liberty,  and  the  other  his  life  :  the  army  of 
Bibars  returned  loaded  with  booty,  and  followed  by  an  innu- 
merable multitude  of  captives. 

As,  after  each  of  his  victories,  the  sultan  presented  him- 
self before  Ptolemais,  the  capital  of  the  Christian  states, 
he  did  not  fail  on  his  return  from  this  last  expedition, 
to  exhibit  before  the  walls  of  this  city  the  spoils  of  the 
people  of  Armenia,  together  with  his  own  machines  of  war ; 
but  the  moment  was  not  yet  arrived  in  which  such  a  great 
undertaking  as  the  capture  of  Ptolemais  could  be  attempted. 
After  terrifying  the  inhabitants  by  his  appearance,  he  sud- 
denly departed,  for  the  purpose  of  surprising  Jaffa.  This 
city,  the  fortifications  of  which  had  cost  Louis  IX.  a  consi- 
derable sum,*  after  a  very  slight  resistance,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Bibars,  who  caused  all  the  walls  to  be  levelled  with  the 
ground.  During  this  excursion,  the  sultan  of  Cairo  obtained 
possession  of  the  castle  of  Carac  and  several  other  forts,  and 
then  marched  towards  Tripoli.  Bohemond  having  sent  to 
demand  of  him  what  the  purpose  of  his  coming  was  :  "  I  am 
come,"  replied  he,  "to  gather  in  your  harvests ;  in  my  next 
campaign  I  will  besiege  your  capital."  Nevertheless,  he 
concluded  a  truce  with  Tripoli,  in  the  midst  of  these  hos- 
tilities ;  foreseeing  that  a  treaty  of  peace  would  serve  as  a 
veil  for  the  project  of  another  war,  and  that  he  should  soon 
find  an  opportunity  of  violating  the  truce  with  advantage. 

The  author  of  the  life  of  Bibars,  who  was  sent  to  Bohe- 

*  '*  I  cairnot  tell  the  amount,"  says  Joinville,  "  of  what  the  king  laid 
out  for  the  fortification  of  Jaffa,  it  was  so  great.  He  closed  the  canal 
batween  the  two  seas,  he  built  twenty -four  towers,  and  cleansed  the 
ditches  without  and  within.  There  were  three  gates,  of  which  the  legate 
built  one,  and  likewise  part  of  the  walls.  And  in  order  to  show  you 
what  the  king  must  have  expended,  I  will  tell  you  what  the  legate  said 
when  I  asked  him  how  much  that  gate  and  the  wall  had  cost  him.  I  had 
reckoned  that  the  first  cost  him  five  hundred  livres,  and  the  latter  three 
hundred  livres  ;  but  he  told  me,  as  God  might  help  him,  that  the  gate 
and  the  wall  had  cost  him  thirty  thousand  livres." 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  17 

mond,  count  of  Tripoli  and  prince  of  Antioch,  says  that  the 
sultan  was  in  the  train  of  the  ambassador,  in  the  character 
of  a  herald-at-arms.  His  project  was  to  examine  the  forti- 
fications and  the  means  of  defence  of  the  city  of  Tripoli. 
In  drawing  up  the  treaty,  the  Mussulman  deputies  only 
gave  Bohemond  the  title  of  count,  whilst  he  claimed  that  of 
prince  ;  the  discussion  becoming  warm,  the  envoys  of  Bibara 
naturally  turned  their  eyes  towards  their  master,  who  made 
them  a  sign  to  yield.*  On  his  return  to  his  army,  the  sul- 
tan laughed  heartily  with  his  emirs  at  this  adventure,  saying, 
"  The  time  is  come  in  which  God  will  curse  the  prince  and 
the  count." 

By  this,  Bibars  alluded  to  his  project  of  conquering  and 
ruining  the  principality  of  Antioch.  The  Egyptian  army 
received  orders  to  march  towards  the  banks  of  the  Orontes ; 
and  but  very  few  days  had  passed  away  before  this  same 
array  was  encamped  under  the  walls  of  Antioch,  badly 
defended  by  its  patriarch,  and  abandoned  by  most  of  its  in- 
habitants. Historians  say  very  little  of  this  siege,  in  which 
the  Christians  made  but  a  feeble  resistance,  and  appeared 
more  frequently  as  suppliants  than  as  warriors :  their  sub- 
mission, their  tears,  their  prayers,  however,  made  no  impres- 
sion upon  a  conqueror  whose  sole  policy  was  the  destruction 
of  the  Christian  cities. 

As  the  Mussulmans  entered  Antioch  without  a  capitula- 
tion, they  gave  themselves  up  to  all  the  excesses  of  license 
and  victory.  In  a  letter  which  Bibars  addressed  to  the 
count  of  Tripoli,  the  barbarous  conqueror  takes  a  pleasure 
In  describing  the  desolation  of  the  subdued  city,  and  all  the 
evils  which  his  fury  had  caused  the  Christians  to  undergo.f 
"Death,"  says  he,  "came  among  the  besieged  from  all  sides 

*  This  little  incident  is  quite  dramatic,  and,  in  good  hands,  would  not 
took  badly  on  canvass.  Would  it  not  assist  art,  if  historians,  when  for- 
cibly struck  by  the  scenes  they  describe,  would  suggest  to  painters,  who 
bo  frequently  prove  they  are  at  a  loss  for  subjects  by  their  injudicious 
choice,  events,  persons,  and  passions  fit  for  the  pencil  ? — Trans. 

+  This  letter  of  Bibars,  which  was  written  by  his  secretary,  the  author 
of  the  life  we  have  of  this  sultan,  does  not  only  speak  of  the  taking  and  the 
destruction  of  Antioch,  but  of  the  ravages  committed  by  the  Mamelukes 
in  the  territory  of  Tripoli.  This  letter  is  of  great  length,  but  we  find  in 
it  more,  declamatory  sentences  and  Oriental  figures  than  facts  for  the  pen 
of  the  historian. 

Vol.  III.— 2 


xH  HISTOltT    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

and  by  all  roads  :  we  killed  all  that  thou  hadst  appointed  to 
guard  the  city  or  defend  its  approaches.  If  thou  hacst 
seen  thy  knights  trampled  under  the  feet  of  the  horses,  thy 
provinces  given  up  to  pillage,  thy  riches  distributed  by  mea- 
sures-full, the  wives  of  thy  subjects  put  to  public  sale  ;  if 
thou  hadst  seen  the  pulpits  and  crosses  overturned,  the 
leaves  of  the  Gospel  torn  and  cast  to  the  winds,  and  the 
sepulchres  of  thy  patriarchs  profaned ;  if  thou  hadst  seen 
thy  enemies,  the  Mussulmans,  trampling  upon  the  taber- 
nacle, and  immolating  in  the  sanctuary,  monk,  priest,  and 
deacon  ;  in  short,  if  £ hou  hadst  seen  thy  palaces  given  up  to 
the  names,  the  dead  devoured  by  the  fire  of  this  world,  the 
Church  of  St.  Paul  and  that  of  St.  Peter  completely  and 
entirely  destroyed,  certes,  thou  wouldst  have  cried  out: 
Would  to  Heaven  that  I  were  become  dust  /" 

Bibars  distributed  the  booty  among  his  soldiers,  the 
Mamelukes  reserving  as  their  portion,  the  women,  girls,  and 
children.  At  that  time,  says  an  Arabian  chronicle,  "  there 
was  not  the  slave  of  a  slave  that  teas  not  the  master  of  a  slave.'''' 
A  little  boy  was  worth  twelve  dirhems,  a  little  girl,  five  dir- 
hems.  In  a  single  day  the  city  of  Antioch  lost  all.  its  inha- 
bitants, and  a  conflagration,  lighted  by  order  of  Bibars,  com- 
pleted the  work  of  the  barbarians.  Most  historians  agree  in 
saying  that  seventeen  thousand  Christians  were  slaughtered, 
and  a  hundred  thousand  dragged  away  into  slavery. 

When  we  recall  to  our  minds  the  first  siege  of  this  city 
by  the  Crusaders,  and  the  labours  and  the  exploits  of  Bohe- 
mond,  Godfrey,  and  Tancred,  who  founded  the  principality 
of  Antioch,  we  are  afflicted  at  beholding  the  end  of  all  that 
which  the  glory  of  conquerors  had  produced.  When,  on 
the  other  side,  we  see  a  numerous  population,  inclosed 
within  ramparts,  making  but  a  feeble  defence  against  an 
enemy,  and  allowing  themselves  to  be  slaughtered  without 
resistance,  we  cannot  help  asking  what  can  have  become  of 
the  posterity  of  so  many  brave  warriors  as  had  defended 
Antioch,  during  almost  two  centuries,  against  all  the  Mus- 
sulman powers. 

Complaints  were  made  among  the  Christians  against 
William,  the  patriarch,  whom  they  accused  <<f  having  at 
least  favoured  the  invasion  and  conquest  of  the  Mvssulmans, 
by  a  weak   pusillanimity.      Without   offering   a:l   opinion 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CEUSADES.  19 

upon  the  accusation,  we  content  ourselves  with  saying,  that 
the  timid  prelate  did  not  long  enjoy  the  fruit  of  his  base 
conduct ;  for  the  Mamelukes,  after  having  permitted  him  to 
retire  to  Cosseir,  with  all  his  treasures,  dragged  him  from 
his  retreat  by  violence ;  and  the  faithless  pastor,  despoiled 
of  his  wealth,  and  plunged  in  ignominy,  underwent  at  last  a 
much  more  cruel  death  than  lie  might  have  expected  amidst 
his  nock,  and  upon  the  ramparts  of  a  Christian  city. 

After  the  taking  of  Antioch,  the  Christians  had  nothing 
left  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  Mussulmans,  but  the 
cities  of  Tripoli  and  Ptolemais.  JBibars  was  impatient  to 
attack  these  last  bulwarks  of  the  Franks ;  but  he  did 
not  dare  to  put  trust  in  his  fortune,  and  aim  the  last  fatal 
blow  at  that  power  before  which  the  Mussulman  nations  so 
lately  trembled.  The  sultan  of  Cairo  could  not  forget  that 
the  dangers  of  the  Christians  had  often  roused  the  whole 
"West,  and  this  thought  alone  was  sufficient  to  keep  him  in 
inaction  and  dread.  Thus  the  sad  remains  of  the  Christian 
colonies  of  the  East,  were  still  protected  by  the  warlike  re- 
putation of  the  nations  of  Europe,  and  by  the  remembrance 
of  the  wonders  of  the  early  crusades. 

Fame  had  not  failed  to  carry  the  news  of  so  many  dis- 
asters across  the  seas.  The  archbishop  of  Tyre,  the  grand 
masters  of  the  Temple  and  the  Hospital,  passed  over  into 
the  West,  to  repeat  the  groans  of  the  Christian  cities  of 
Syria ;  but  on  their  arrival,  Europe  seemed  but  little  disposed 
to  give  ear  to  their  complaints.  In  vain  a  crusade  was 
preached  in  Germany,  Poland,  and  the  more  remote  coun- 
tries of  the  North ;  the  inhabitants  of  northern  Europe 
evinced  nothing  but  indifference  for  events  that  were  passing 
at  such  a  distance  from  them.  The  king  of  Bohemia,  the 
marquis  of  Brandenburg,  and  some  other  lords  that  had 
taken  the  cross,  seemed  in  no  hurry  to  perform  their  oath. 
No  army  set  forward  on  its  march ;  everything  was  reduced 
to  preachings  and  vain  preparations. 

The  misfortunes  of  the  Holy  Land  were  deeply  deplored 
in  the  kingdom  of  France ;  in  a  sirvente*  composed  on  this 
subject,  a  contemporary  troubadour  appears  to  reproach 
Providence  with  the  defeats  of  the  Christians  of  Palestine, 

*  Sirvente  is  a  kind  of  poem  oeculiar  to  the  troubadours. 


20  HISTORY    OF    THE    CEUSADES. 

and  in  his  poetical  delirium,  abandons  himself  to  .in  impiov  • 
despair: — "  Sadness  and  grief,"  cried  he,  "  hare  taken  pos- 
session of  my  soul  to  such  a  degree,  that  little  is  wanting  to 
bring  me  to  instant  death;  for  the  cross  is  disgraced, — that 
cross  which  we  have  taken  in  honour  of  him  who  died  upon 
the  cross.  Neither  cross  nor  faith  protects  us  longer,  or 
guides  us  against  the  cruel  Turks, — whom  God  curse !  But 
it  appears,  as  far  as  man  can  judge,  that  it  is  God's  will  to 
support  them  for  our  destruction.  And  never  believe  that 
the  enemy  will  stop  in  his  career  after  such  success ;  on  the 
contrary,  he  has  sworn  and  publicly  announced  that  not  a 
single  man  who  believes  in  Jesus  Christ  shall  be  left  alive  in 
Syria ;  that  the  temple  even  of  the  holy  Mary  will  be  con- 
verted into  a  mosque.  Since  the  son  of  Mary,  whom  this 
affront  ought  to  afflict,  wills  it  to  be  so,  since  this  pleases 
him,  does  it  follow  that  it  should  please  us  likewise? 

"  He  is  then  mad  who  seeks  a  quarrel  with  the  Saracens, 
when  Jesus  Christ  opposes  them  in  nothing,  as  they  have 
obtained  victories,  and  are  gaining  them  still  (which  grieves 
me)  over  the  Franks,  the  Armenians,  and  the  Persians. 
Every  day  we  are  conquered';  for  he  sleeps, — that  God  that 
was  accustomed  to  be  so  watchful  :*  Mahomet  acts  with  all 
his  power,  and  the  fierce  Bibars  seconds  him." 

We  cannot  believe  that  these  exceedingly  remarkable 
words  expressed  the  feelings  of  the  faithful ;  but  at  a  time 
when  poets  ventured  to  speak  in  this  manner,  we  may  well 
suppose  that  men's  minds  were  not  favourable  to  a  crusade. 
The  troubadour  we  have  quoted  does  not  advise  the  making 
of  any  war  against  the  Saracens,  and  inveighs  bitterly 
against  the  pope,  who  sold  God  and  indulgences  to  arm  the 
French  against  the  house  of  Swabia.  In  fact,  the  dissen- 
sions raised  by  the  disputed  succession  of  the  kingdom  of 
Naples  and  Sicily,  then  occupied  the  entire  attention  of  the 
Holy  See,  and  France  was  not  quite  free  from  party  spirit 
on  the  occasion. 

*  This  sirvente,  which  is  attributed  to  a  knight  of  the  Temple,  has  been 
translated  by  the  Abbe  Millot,  who  appears  to  have  altered  the  sense  of  it. 
It  is  printed  in  the  fourth  volume,  p.  131,  of  the  Choix  des  Poesies 
des  Troubadours,  by  M.  Raynouard,  perpetual  secretary  to  the  French 
Academy.  We  make  use  of  a  literal  translation  that  M.  Raynouard  has 
kindly  communicated  to  us. 


HISTOEI    OF   THE    CKUSADES.  2J 

Not  satisfied  with  lauDching  excommunications  and  eccle- 
siastical thunders  against  Frederick  and  his  family,  the  sove- 
reign pontiffs  -wished  to  add  the  force  of  arms  to  the  authority 
conferred  upon  them  by  the  Church,  and  the  right  of  con- 
quest to  that  which  they  thought  they  possessed  over  a 
kingdom  so  near  to  their  own  capital.  As  they  had  no 
experience  in  war,  and  their  lieutenants  were  equally  defi- 
cient in  capacity  and  courage,  their  armies  were  defeated. 
The  court  of  Rome,  thus  conquered  in  the  field  of  battle, 
was  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  ascendancy  of  victory, 
and  in  this  profane  struggle  lost  some  of  that  spiritual  power 
which  alone  rendered  it  formidable. 

With  the  exception  of  Mainfroy,  a  natural  son  of  Fre- 
derick, and  Conradin,  his  grandson,  the  family  of  Swabia 
was  extinct.  Mainfroy,  who  possessed  both  the  abilities  and 
courage  of  his  father,  had  recently  elevated  the  German 
cause  in  Italy,  and  braved  both  the  arms  and  the  power  of 
the  pontiffs.  The  court  of  Rome,  upon  finding  it  could  not 
retain  the  kingdom  of  Sicily  for  itself,  offered  it  to  any  one 
who  would  undertake  the  conquest  of  it.  The  crown  to 
which  Mainfroy  pretended  was  first  offered  to  Richard  of 
Cornwall,  and  upon  his  prudent  refusal,  to  Edmund,  younger 
son  of  the  king  of  England ;  but  the  English  parliament 
would  not  grant  the  subsidies  necessary  for  so  great  an 
undertaking.  It  was  then  offered  to  Louis  IX.  for  his  bro- 
ther, the  count  of  Anjou ;  and  although  the  scruples  of  the 
pious  monarch  for  a  moment  checked  the  projects  of  Pope 
Urban,  Clement  IV.,  on  his  accession,  used  fresh  persua- 
sions, and  Louis  at  length  suffered  himself  to  be  overcome 
by  the  prayers  of  Charles ;  at  the  same  time  entertaining  a 
secret  hope  that  the  conquest  of  Sicily  would  some  day  prove 
instrumental  to  the  defence  of  the  Holy  Land. 

Charles,  after  being  crowned  by  the  pope  in  the  church  of 
St.  John  of  the  Lateran,  entered  the  kingdom  of  Naples  at 
the  head  of  a  considerable  force,  preceded  by  the  fulmina- 
tions  of  the  court  of  Rome.  The  soldiers  of  Charles  wore 
a  cross,  ana  fought  in  the  name  of  the  Church ;  priests  ex- 
horted the  combatants,  and  promised  them  the  protection  of 
Heaven.  Mainfroy  succumbed  in  this,  miscalled,  holy  war, 
and  lost  both  his  life  and  his  crown  at  the  battle  of  Cosenza. 

The  pope  being  delivered  from  the  cares  of  this  political 


22  HISTOEF    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

crusade,  turned  his  attention  to  the  holy  one  beyond  the 
seas ;  his  legates  solicited  various  princes,  some  to  take  the 
cross,  others  to  accomplish  their  vows.  Clement  did  not 
neglect  to  press  Michael  Palseologus  to  prove  the  sincerity 
of  his  promises.  Charles,  who  was  the  acknowledged  vassal 
of  the  pope,  and  who  owed  his  kingdom  to  him,  received 
many  messages,  representing  the  dangers  of  the  Holy  Land, 
and  reminding  him  of  what  he  owed  to  Jesus  Christ,  who 
was  outraged  by  the  victories  of  the  Mussulmans.  The  new 
king  of  Sicily  contented  himself  with  sending  an  embassy 
to  the  sultan  of  Cairo,  and  with  commending  the  unfortu- 
nate inhabitants  of  Palestine  to  the  mercy  of  Bibars.  The 
sultan  replied  to  Charles,  that  he  did  not  reject  his  inter- 
cessions; but  the  Christians  were  destroying  themselves 
with  their  own  hands ;  that  no  one  among  them  had  the 
power  to  enforce  the  observance  of  treaties,  and  that  the 
most  contemptible  of  them  were  constantly  undoing  that  ivhich 
the  greatest  had  done.  Bibars,  in  his  turn,  sent  ambassadors 
to  Charles,  less  for  the  purpose  of  following  up  any  nego- 
tiations, than  to  obtain  information  upon  the  state  and  views 
of  Christendom.* 

Young  Conradin,  who  was  preparing  to  dispute  the 
crown  of  Sicily  with  Charles  of  Anjou,  in  order  to  avail 
himself  of  every  means  of  supporting  his  claim,  sent  depu 
ties  to  the  sultan  of  Cairo,  in  the  character  of  king  of  Jeru- 
salem, conjuring  him  to  protect  his  rights  against  his  rival. 
Bibars,  in  his  reply,  pretended  to  endeavour  to  console 
Conradin,  but,  doubtless,  received  with  joy  these  proofs  of 
the  divisions  that  existed  amoug  the  princes  of  Europe. 

In  the  state  in  which  Europe  then  was,  one  monarch  alone 
took  serious  interest  in  the  fate  of  the  Christian  colonies  of 
Asia.  The  remembrance  of  a  land  in  which  he  had  so  long 
dwelt,  and  the  hope  of  avenging  the  honour  of  the  French 
arms  in  Egypt,  f  once  more  directed  the  thoughts  of  Louis  IX. 

*  These  details,  as  well  as  the  most  of  those  that  precede  them,  con- 
cerning the  Mussulmans,  are  taken  from  the  valuable  chronicle  of  Ibn- 
Ferat. 

f  "He  was  of  opinion,"  says  William  de  Nangis,  "  that  the  kingdom 
of  France  had  undergone  great  disgrace  in  the  first  pilgrimage."  Le  pere 
Maimbourg  expresses   himself  thus   upon  the   king's   determination :— 


HISTOEY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  23 

to  a  new  crusade.  He  however  concealed  his  purpose,  and 
this  great  project,  says  one  of  his  historians,*  was  formed, 
so  to  say,  between  God  and  himself.  Louis  consulted  the 
pope,  who  hesitated  to  answer  him,  reflecting  upon  the 
dangers  that  his  absence  might  bring  upon  France,  and 
even  upon  Europe.  The  first  letter  of  Clementf  aimed  at 
diverting  the  French  monarch  from  so  perilous  an  enter- 
prise ;  but,  upon  being  consulted  again,  the  sovereign  pontic 
showed  none  of  the  same  scruples,  and  declared  it  to  be  his 
duty  to  encourage  Louis  in  his  design,  as  he  was  persuaded, 
he  said,  that  this  design  came  from  God. 

The  purpose,  however,  of  this  negotiation  remained  still 
buried  in  profound  mystery.  Louis,  no  doubt,  was  fearful 
of  prematurely  announcing  his  designs,  lest  reflection  might 
weaken  the  enthusiasm  of  which  he  must  stand  in  so  much 
need,  or  that  a  powerful  opposition  to  the  undertaking  of  a 
crusade  might  be  formed  in  both  his  court  and  his  kingdom  ; 
he  thought  that,  by  announcing  his  project  unexpectedly,  at 
the  moment  of  its  being  ripe  for  execution,  he  should  affect 
men's  minds  more  forcibly,  and  induce  them  more  easily  to 
follow  his  example.  An  assembly  of  the  barons,  nobles,  and 
prelates  of  the  kingdom  was  solemnly  convoked  at  Paris 
towards  the  middle  of  Lent.  The  faithful  Joinville  was  not 
forgotten  in  this  convocation  ;  the  seneschal  foresaw,  he  says 
in  his  Memoirs,  that  Louis  was  about  to  take  the  cross,  and 
the  cause  of  his  having  this  presentiment  was,  that  in  a 
dream  he  had  seen  the  king  of  France  clothed  in  a  chasuble 
of  a  bright  red  colour,  made  of  Rheims  serge,  which  signified 
the  cross.  His  almoner,  when  explaining  this  dream  to 
him,  added,  that  the  chasuble  being  of  Hheims  serge,  de- 
noted that  the  crusade  would  be  but  a  trifling  or  small 
exploit. 

On  the  twenty-third  dav  of  March,  the  great  parliament 
of  the  kingdom  being  assembled  in  a  hall  of  the  Louvre,  the 
king  entered,  bearing  in  his  hand  the  crown  of  thorns  ol 
Christ.  At  sight  of  this,  the  whole  assembly  became  aware 
of  the  monarch's  intentions.     Louis,  in  a  speech  delivered 

"  St.  Louis,  great  saint  as  he  was,  could  not  help  thinking  that  much 
Bharae  lay  upon  him  for  having  succeeded  so  ill  in  Egypt." 

*  Hist    de  St.  Louis,  by  Filleau  de  la  Chaise. 

t  See  tne  letters  of  Clement,  in  Duchesne,  epist.  269. 


24  HISTORY    OF    T1IE   OEUSADES. 

with  great  animation,  described  the  misfortunes  of  the  Holy 
Land,  and  proclaimed  that  he  was  resolved  to  go  and  sue 
eour  it ;  he  then  exhorted  all  who  heard  him  to  take  the 
cross.  When  '-\e  ceased  to  speak,  a  sad  but  a  profound 
silence  expressed  at  once  the  surprise  and  grief  of  the  barons 
and  prelates,  with  the  respect  that  all  entertained  for  the 
will  of  the  holy  monarch. 

Cardinal  de  St.  Cecilia,  the  pope's  legate,  spoke  after  him, 
and  in  a  pathetic  exhortation,  called  upon  the  French  war- 
riors to  take  arms.  Louis  received  the  cross  from  the  hands 
of  the  cardinal,  and  his  example  was  followed  by  three  of 
his  sons.  Among  these  princes,  the  assembly  was  affected 
at  beholding  John,  count  of  Nevers,  who  was  born  at  Da- 
mietta  amidst  the  calamities  of  the  preceding  crusade.  At 
the  same  time  the  legate  received  the  oath  of  John,  count  of 
Brittany,  of  Alphonso  de  Brienne,  count  of  Eu,  of  Margue- 
rite, the  ancient  countess  of  Flanders,  and  of  a  great  number 
of  prelates,  nobles,  and  knights. 

The  determination  of  St.  Louis,  of  which  a  sad  presenti- 
ment had  been  entertained,  spread  deep  regret  throughout 
his  kingdom ;  his  people  could  not  behold  without  sorrow 
the  departure  of  a  prince  whose  presence  alone  preserved 
peace,  and  maintained  order  and  justice  everywhere.  The 
health  of  the  king  was  very  much  weakened,  and  there  was 
great  reason  to  fear  that  he  would  not  be  able  to  support  the 
dangers  and  fatigues  of  a  crusade ;  he  took  his  sons  with 
him  ;  which  circumstance  added  greatly  to  the  public  grief. 
The  disasters  of  the  first  crusade  were  still  fresh  in  the 
memory  of  his  subjects,  and  whilst  they  thought  of  the  cap- 
tivity of  the  whoie  of  the  royal  family,  they  dreaded  greater 
misfortunes  in  the  future.  Joinville  does  not  fear  to  say, 
"  that  they  who  had  advised  the  king  to  undertake  this  voyage 
beyond  the  seas,  had  sinned  mortally." 

Notwithstanding  the  general  regret,  there  were  neither 
complaints  nor  murmurs  against  the  king ;  the  spirit  of  re- 
signation, which  was  one  of  the  virtues  of  the  monarch, 
appeared  to  have  passed  into  the  minds  of  all  his  subjects, 
and,  to  employ  the  very  expressions  of  the  pope's  bull,  "  the 
French  people  saw  in  the  devotion  of  their  king  nothing  but 
a  noble  and  painful  sacrifice  to  the  cause  of  the  Christians, 
to  that  cause  for  which  Grod  had  not  spared  his  only  Son." 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  25 

The  greater  that  was  the  affection  for  the  king,  the  greater 
was  the  general  grief;  but  the  zeal  to  partake  his  perils 
more  than  kept  pace  with  these.*  Louis  alone  thought  of 
delivering  the  tomb  of  Christ  and  the  Christian  colonies  j 
the  warlike  nobility  of  the  kingdom  only  thought  of  fol- 
lowing their  king  in  an  expedition  which  was  already  looked 
upon  as  unfortunate. 

Among  those  who  took  the  cross  after  the  assembly  of  the 
Louvre,  history  names  Thibault,  king  of  Navarre ;  Henry, 
count  of  Champagne,  and  his  brother,  the  count  d'Artois, 
son  of  Eobert,  killed  at  Mansourah ;  the  counts  of  Flanders, 
de  la  Marche,  St.  Pol,  and  Soissons  ;  the  seigneurs  de  Mont- 
morency, de  Nemours,  de  Pienne,  &c.  The  sieur  de  Join- 
vihe  was  warmly  pressed  to  take  the  cross,  but  he  resisted 
all  the  persuasions  that  could  be  made  to  him,  alleging  the 
vast  injuries  sustained  by  his  vassals  during  the  last  expedi- 
tion. The  good  seneschal  also  was  not  forgetful  of  the  pre- 
dictions of  his  almoner ;  he  earnestly  wished  to  accompany 
the  king,  whom  he  loved  sincerely  ;  but  he  was  not  yet  reco- 
vered from  the  terrors  he  had  experienced  in  Egypt,  and 
no  earthly  motive  could  induce  him  to  revisit  the  land  of  the 
Saracens. 

The  determination  of  the  king  of  France  created  a  lively 
sensation  throughout  Europe,  and  revived  in  men's  minds 
the  little  that  remained  of  the  old  enthusiasm  for  the  cru- 
sades. As  he  was  the  chief  of  the  enterprise,  most  of  the 
warriors  were  ambitious  of  fighting  under  kis  immediate 
banners  ;  the  confidence  entertained  for  his  wisdom  and 
virtues,  in  some  sort  fortified  minds  that  dreaded  distant 
expeditions,  and  restored  hopes  to  the  Christian  nations,  that 
they  appeared  to  have  forgotten.  The  remembrance,  even, 
of  the  misfortunes  of  the  first  voyage  added  to  the  security 
of  the  future,  and  created  a  belief  in  many  that  the  triumph 
of  the  Christian  armies  would  at  length  be  the  reward  of 
past  labours  and  calamities,  and  the  fruit  of  a  salutary 
experience. 

*  Joinville,  when  present  at  the  mass  in  the  chapel,  heard  two  knights 
conferring  ;  one  said,  that  if  the  king  took  the  cross,  it  would  be  one  of 
the  most  fatal  days  ever  seen  in  France  ;  for  if  we  take  the  cross,  we  shall 
ruin  the  king  ;  and  again,  if  we  take  the  cross,  we  shall  lose  God's  grace, 
because  we  do  not  take  the  cross  for  the  sake  of  him. 


26  HISTORY   OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

Clement  IY.  wrote  to  the  king  of  Armenia  to  console  him 
for  the  evils  he  had  suffered  by  the  invasion  of  the  Mame- 
lukes, and  to  announce  to  him  that  the  Christians  of  tha 
East  were  about  to  receive  powerful  succours.  Abaga,  khan 
of  the  Tartars,  who  was  then  prosecuting  a  war  against  the 
Turks  of  Asia  Minor,  sent  ambassadors  to  the  court  of 
Kome,  and  to  several  princes  of  the  West,  proposing  to 
attack  the  Mamelukes  in  concert  with  the  Franks,  and  drive 
them  from  Syria  and  Egypt.  The  pope  received  the  Mogul 
ambassadors  with  great  solemnity ;  he  told  them  that  an 
army,  led  by  a  powerful  monarch,  was  about  to  embark  for 
the  East,  that  the  hour  fatal  to  the  Mussulmans  was  come, 
and  that  God  would  bless  his  nation,  and  all  the  allies  of  his 
nation. 

Louis,  constantly  occupied  by  his  expedition,  fixed  the 
period  of  his  departure  for  1270 ;  so  that  three  long  years 
must  pass  away  before  the  assistance  promised  by  the  sove- 
reign pontiff  could  arrive  in  the  East.  "Vessels  to  transport 
the  Crusaders  were  demanded  of  the  republics  of  Genoa  and 
Venice :  the  Venetians  at  first  refused ;  but  upon  learning 
that  applications  were  being  made  to  the  Genoese,  they  sent 
ambassadors  to  offer  a  fleet.  After  protracted  negotiations, 
in  which  Venice  evinced  more  jealousy  of  the  Genoese  than 
zeal  for  the  crusade,  she  again  refused  to  concur  in  the  em- 
barkation of  the  Christian  army,  being  in  less  dread  of  the 
anger  of  Louis  IX.  than  of  that  of  the  sultan  of  Cairo,  who 
had  it  in  his  power  to  ruin  her  mercantile  establishments  in 
the  East.  At  length  the  Genoese  engaged  to  furnish  vessels 
for  the  expedition. 

But  the  greatest  difficulty  was  to  find  the  money  necessary 
for  the  preparations  of  the  war.  Up  to  this  period,  the 
tenths  levied  upon  the  clergy  had  supplied  the  expenses  of 
the  crusades  ;#  and  an  opinion  generally  prevailed,  that  a 
holy  war  ought  to  be  paid  for  by  men  attached  to  the  Church 
and  devoted  to  the  altars  of  Jesus  Christ.     Urban  IV.,  the 

*  When  our  readers  look  back  to  the  means  employed  in  former  cru- 
sades to  extort  money  from  all  classes,  as  well  as  from  the  clergy,  we 
think  they  will  partake  of  our  surprise  at  this  assertion.  The  clergy  had 
been,  in  most  cases,  the  recipients  of  the  taxes  upon  the  laity,  and 
according  to  our  author  himself,  had  not  always  proved  trustworthy 
collectors. — Trans. 


HISTOET    OF    THE    CETJSADES.  27 

predecessor  of  Clement,  had  already  ordered  throughout  the 
West,  that  a  levy  of  a  hundredth  should  be  made  upon  the 
revenues  of  the  clergy ;  and,  what  might  be  considered  a 
traffic  in  holy  things,  the  court  of  Eome  permitted  the  dis- 
tributing of  indulgences,  which  faculty  was  granted  in  pro- 
porti  m  with  what  was  given  beyond  the  tribute  required. 
The  French  clergy  had  addressed  several  petitions  to  the 
pope  upon  this  subject ;  but  these  petitions  always  remained 
unnoticed. 

"When  the  late  determination  of  Louis  IX.  became  known, 
the  Holy  See  had  recourse  to  the  customary  means,  and, 
without  the  least  attention  to  complaints,  which  were  not 
without  foundation,  the  order  was  issued  to  levy  again  a 
tenth  during  three  years.  Upon  this  the  clergy  redoubled 
their  opposition,  and  were  much  more  earnest  in  the  defence 
of  their  own  revenues  than  in  the  defence  of  the  Holy  Land. 
They  complained  to  the  king,  and  they  sent  deputies  to 
Eome,  to  show  the  depth  of  the  misery  into  which  the 
Church  of  France  was  plunged  by  the  burdens  imposed 
upon  it  ;#  these  deputies  represented  to  the  sovereign  pontiff 
that  the  exactions  of  latter  times  became  every  day  more 
intolerable,  and  that  the  property  of  the  clergy  was  no 
longer  sufficient  to  support  the  altars  and  feed  the  poor  of 
Jesus  Christ.  They  added,  that  injustice  and  violence  had 
formerly  separated  the  Greek  Church  from  that  of  Eome; 
giving  his  holiness  to  understand,  that  new  rigours  would 
not  fail  to  produce  new  schisms.  They  further  said,  that  if 
most  crusades,  particularly  the  expedition  of  Louis  IX.  into 
Egypt,  had  been  unfortunate,  it  no  doubt  arose  from  the 
sanctuary  having  been  plundered,  and  the  churches  ruined 
for  the  sake  of  them ;  as  a  last  reason,  they  prognosticated 
much  greater  calamities  for  the  future  than  any  that  had 
been  experienced. 

Such  an  address  necessarily  inflamed  the  anger  of  the 
sovereign  pontiff.  Clement,  in  his  reply,  warmly  reproached 
the  deputies,  and  they  who  had  sent  them,  with  their  indil- 

*  All  these  details  upon  the  tenths  are  of  great  importance  for  the  his- 
tory of  the  crusades  :  for  this  negotiation  the  following  authorities  may  be 
consulted  :  Raynaldi,  No.  59  ;  the  Spicilege,  vol.  xiii.  p.  221  ;  the  Sup- 
plement to  Raynaldi,  book  lxix.  No.  42  ;  Fleury's  Ecclesiastical  History, 
and  the  Act&  of  Rymer. 


28  HISTORY    OP   THE    CRUSADES. 

ference  for  the  cause  of  all  Christians,  and  for  tl*eir  avarice, 
which  made  them  deny  their  superfluous  wealth  for  the  pro- 
secution of  a  war  in  which  so  many  princes  and  illustrious 
warriors  perilled  their  lives.  He  pointed  to  the  excommu- 
nication ready  to  fall  upon  their  heads,  and,  what  must  have 
much  more  terrified  them,  he  threatened  to  deprive  them  oi 
their  property  and  their  benefices.  Such  was  then  the 
power  of  Borne,  that  nothing  could  be  possessed  without  its 
pleasure :  the  clergy  were  obliged  to  submit,  and  pay  the 
tenth  during  four  years.  The  pope  further  empowered  the 
king  to  dispose  of  all  the  sums  bequeathed  by  will  for  the 
assistance  of  the  Holy  Land ;  he  equally  abandoned  to  him 
the  money  that  might  be  drawn  from  those  who,  having 
taken  the  cross,  were  desirous  of  redeeming  their  vows; 
which  latter  means  must  have  produced  a  considerable  sum, 
as  the  clergy  gave  the  cross  to  everybody,  and  refused 
dispensation  to  nobody. 

Louis  IX.  neglected  none  of  the  resources  that  his  posi- 
tion as  king  of  France  placed  in  his  hands  ;  at  this  period  no 
regular  impost  was  known,  and,  to  support  the  splendour  of 
their  thrones,  kings  had  nothing  to  depend  upon  but  the 
revenues  of  their  domains.*  In  order  to  provide  for  all  the 
expenses  he  was  obliged  to  incur  on  this  occasion,  the  king 
had  recourse  to  the  impost  called  the  capitation-tax,  which 
suzerain  lords,  according  to  feudal  customs,  required  of  each 
of  their  vassals  in  any  extraordinary  circumstances.  Usage 
authorized  him  to  levy  this  contribution  on  account  of  the 
crusade,  but  he  had  also  the  right,  on  the  occasion  of  a  cere- 
mony, at  that  time  very  important,  in  which  his  eldest  son 
Philip  was  to  be  received  as  a  knight.  Thus,  the  impost  was 
demanded  in  the  name  of  chivalry  and  in  the  name  of  reli- 
gion ;  it  was  paid  without  a  murmur,  because  Louis  confided 
the  gathering  of  it  to  men  of  acknowledged  integrity. 

When  Philip  received  the  sword  of  knighthood,  the 
French,  and  particularly  the  Parisians,  expressed  their  love 
for  Louis  IX.  and  his  family  by  public  rejoicings ;  all  the 
nobility  hastened  from  the  provinces  to  be  present  at  the 
festivities  and  spectacles  that  were  celebrated  in  the  capital 

*  As  historians,  we  should  hesitate  to  assert  this,  and  should  advisa 
our  readers  to  adopt  it  with  much  caution,  and  many  limitations.— 
Trans. 


HISTOEY    OP    THE  CEUSADES.  2C 

on  this  occasion.  Amidst  the  tournaments,  the  exercises  ot 
the  tilt-yard,  and  the  sports  in  which  the  skill  and  courage 
cf  the  preux  and  the  paladins  were  displayed,  the  crusade 
was  not  forgotten.  The  pope's  legate  pronounced  a  dis- 
course, in  the  isle  of  St.  Louis,  upon  the  misfortunes  of  the 
Holy  Land ;  all  the  people  appeared  to  be  deeply  moved  by 
the  exhortations  of  the  prelate ;  a  crowd  of  knights,  and 
warriors  of  all  classes,  took  the  cross  ;  thus  Louis  IX.  found 
in  this  circumstance  an  opportunity  of  raising  money  for 
the  support  of  his  army,  and  of  procuring  recruits  for  the 
hohr  war. 

Whilst  all  France  was  engaged  in  preparing  for  the  expe- 
dition beyond  the  seas,  the  crusade  was  preached  in  the 
other  countries  of  Europe.  A  council  was  held  at  North- 
ampton, in  England,  in  which  Ottobon,  the  pope's  legate, 
exhorted  the  faithful  to  arm  themselves  to  save  the  little 
that  remained  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem ;  and  Prince 
Edward  took  the  cross,  to  discharge  the  vow  that  his  father 
Henry  III.  had  made  when  the  news  reached  Europe  of  the 
captivity  of  Louis  IX.  in  Egypt.  After  the  example  of 
Edward,  his  brother  Prince  Edmund,  with  the  earls  of  Pem- 
broke and  Warwick,  and  many  knights  and  barons,  agreed 
to  take  arms  against  the  infidels.  The  same  zeal  for  the 
deliverance  of  the  holy  places  was  manifested  in  Scotland, 
where  John  Baliol  and  several  nobles  enrolled  themselves 
under  the  banners  of  the  cross. 

Catalonia  and  Castile  furnished  a  great  number  of  Cru- 
saders :  the  king  of  Portugal,  and  James,  king  of  Arragon, 
took  the  cross.  Dona  Sancha,  one  of  the  daughters  of  the 
Arragonese  prince,  had  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  and 
had  died  in  the  hospital  of  St.  John,  after  devoting  many 
years  to  the  service  of  pilgrims  and  the  sick.  James  had 
several  times  conquered  the  Moors  ;  but  neither  his  exploits 
against  the  infidels,  nor  the  remembrance  of  a  daughter  who 
had  fallen  a  martyr  to  Christian  charity,  could  sustain  his  piety 
against  the  attacks  of  his  earthly  passions,  and  his  shameful 
connection  with  Berengaria  scandalized  Christendom. 

Tke  pope,  to  whom  he  communicated  his  design  of  going 
to  the  Holy  Land,  replied  that  Jesus  Christ  could  not  accept 
the  services  of  a  prince  who  crucified  Mm  every  day  by  his 
tins.     The  king  of  Arragon,  by  a  strange  combination  of 


80  HISTOET    OF    THE    CEUSADES. 

opposito  sentiments,  would  neither  renounce  Berengaria  no? 
give  up  his  project  of  going  to  fight  against  the  infidels  in 
the  East.  He  renewed  his  oath  in  a  great  assembly  at 
Toledo,  at  which  the  ambassadors  of  the  khan  of  Tartary 
and  of  the  king  of  Armenia  were  present.  We  read  in  a 
Spanish  dissertation*  upon  the  crusades,  that  Alphonso  the 
Wise,  who  was  not  able  to  go  to  the  East  himself,  furnished 
the  king  of  Arragon  with  a  hundred  men  and  a  hundred 
thousand  marvedis  in  gold ;  the  order  of  St.  James,  and 
other  orders  of  knighthood,  who  had  often  accompanied  the 
conqueror  of  the  Moors  in  his  battles,  supplied  him  also 
with  men  and  money.  The  city  of  Barcelona  offered  him 
eighty  thousand  Barcellonese  sols,  and  Majorca  fifty  thou- 
sand silver  sols,  with  two  equipped  vessels.  The  fleet,  com- 
posed of  thirty  large  ships  and  a  great  number  of  smaller 
craft,  in  which  were  embarked  eight  hundred  men-at-arms 
and  two  thousand  foot-soldiers,  set  out  from  Barcelona  on 
the  4th  of  September,  1268.  When  they  arrived  off  Ma- 
jorca, the  fleet  was  dispersed  by  a  tempest ;  one  part  of  the 
vessels  gained  the  coasts  of  Asia,  another  took  shelter  in  the 
ports  of  Sardinia;  the  vessel  the  king  of  Arragon  was  on 
board  of  was  cast  upon  the  coast  of  Languedoc. 

The  arrival  at  Ptolemais  of  the  Arragonese  Crusaders, 
commanded  by  a  natural  son  of  James,  restored  some  hopes 
to  the  Franks  of  Palestine.  An  envoy  from  the  king  of 
Arragon,  according  to  the  Oriental  chronicles,  repaired  to 
the  khan  of  the  Tartars,  to  announce  to  him  that  the  Spanish 
monarch  would  soon  arrive  with  his  army.  But  whether  he 
was  detained  by  the  charms  of  Berengaria,  or  whether  the 
tempest  that  dispersed  his  fleet  made  him  believe  that 
Heaven  was  averse  to  his  pilgrimage,  James  did  not  arrive. 
His  departure,  in  which  he  appeared  to  despise  the  counsels 
of  the  Holy  See,  had  been  severely  censured  ;  and  his  return, 
which  was  attributed  to  his  disgraceful  passion,  met  with  an 

*  This  dissertation,  which  has  been  sent  to  us  by  the  author,  bears  for 
title,  An  Historical  Dissertation  upon  the  Part  the  Spaniards  took  in 
the  Wars  beyond  the  Seas,  and  upon  the  Influence  of  these  Expeditions, 
from  the  Eleventh  to  the  Fijteenth  Century,  by  Don  Fernandez  de  Cre- 
varette.  This  work,  in  which  a  learned  criticism  and  a  sound  erudition 
prevail,  contains  many  valuable  document?  we  shall  often  have  occasion 
to  quote  it. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CllUSADES.  31 

equal  share  of  blame.  Murmurs  likewise  arose  against  the 
king  of  Portugal,  who  had  levied  the  tenths,  but  did  not 
leave  his  kingdom. 

All  those  who  in  Europe  took  an  interest  in  the  crusadf 
had,  at  this  time,  their  eyes  directed  towards  the  kingdom  o' 
Naples,  where  Charles  of  Aujou  was  making  great  prepa- 
rations to  accompany  his  brother  into  the  East ;  but  thia 
kingdom,  recently  conquered,  was  doomed  again  to  be  the 
theatre  of  a  war  kindled  by  vengeance  and  ambition.  There 
fell  out  in  the  states  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  which  had  so 
often  changed  masters,  that  which  almost  always  takes 
place  after  a  revolution :  deceived  hopes  were  changed  into 
hatreds :  the  excesses  inseparable  from  a  conquest,  the  pre- 
sence of  an  army  proud  of  its  victories,  with  the  too  violent 
government  of  Charles,  animated  the  people  against  their 
new  king.  Clement  IV.  thought  it  his  duty  to  give  a  timely 
and  salutary  warning :  "Your  kingdom,"  he  wrote  to  him, 
"  at  first  exhausted  by  the  agents  of  your  authority,  is  now 
torn  by  your  enemies ;  thus  the  caterpillar  destroys  what 
has  escaped  the  grasshopper.  The  kingdom  of  Sicily  and 
Naples  has  not  been  wanting  in  men  to  desolate  it ;  where 
now  are  they  that  will  defend  it  ?"  This  letter  of  the  pope 
announced  storms  ready  to  break  forth.  Many  of  those  who 
had  called  Charles  to  the  throne,  regretted  the  house  of 
Swabia,  and  directed  their  new  hopes  towards  Conradin, 
heir  of  Erederick  and  of  Conrad.  This  young  prince  quitted 
Germany  with  an  army,  and  advanced  towards  Italy, 
strengthening  himself  in  his  march  with  the  party  of  the 
Ghibellines,  and  with  all  those  whom  the  domination  of 
Charles  had  irritated.  All  Italy  was  in  flames,  and  the 
pope,  Charles's  protector,  retired  to  Yiterbo,  had  no  defence 
to  afford  him,  except  the  thunders  of  the  Church. 

Charles  of  Anjou,  however,  assembled  his  troops,  and 
marched  out  to  meet  his  rival.  The  two  armies  met  in  the 
plain  of  St.  Valentine,  near  Aquila ;  the  army  of  Conradin 
was  cut  to  pieces,  and  the  young  prince  fell  into  the  power 
of  the  conqueror.  Posterity  cannot  pardon  Charles  for 
having  abused  his 'victory  even  so  far  as  to  condemn  and 
decapitate  his  disarmed  and  vanquished  enemy.*     After  this 

*  Migeray  thus  describes  the  murder  of  Conradin  : — "  As  Charles  had 
determined  to  go  /into  Africa  with  the  king,  St.  Louis,  not  knowing  what 


82  nisxoET  or  the  crusades. 

execution,  Sicily  and  the  country  of  Naples  were  given  up 
to  all  the  furies  of  a  jealous,  suspicious  tyranny ;  for  violence 
produces  violence,  and  great  political  crimes  never  come 
alone.  It  was  thus  that  Charles  got  ready  for  the  crusade ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  Providence  was  preparing  terrihlo 
catastrophes  for  him:  "So  true  it  is,"  says  an  historian, 
"  that  God  as  often  gives  kingdoms  to  punish  those  he 
elevates,  as  to  chastise  those  whom  he  brings  low." 

Whilst  these  bloody  scenes  were  passing  in  Italy,  Louis  IX. 
was  following  up  the  establishment  of  public  peace  and  his 
darling  object,  the  crusade,  at  the  same  time.  The  holy 
monarch  did  not  forget  that  the  surest  manner  of  softening 
the  evils  of  war,  as  well  as  of  his  absence,  was  to  make  good 
laws ;  he  therefore  issued  several  ordinances,  and  each  of 
these  ordinances  was  a  monument  of  his  justice.  The  most 
celebrated  of  all  is  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  which  Bossuet 
called  the  firmest  support  of  Grallican  liberties.  He  also 
employed  himself  in  elevating  that  monument  of  legislation 
which  illustrated  his  reign,  and  which  became  a  light  for 
following  ages. 

The  count  of  Poictiers,  who  was  to  accompany  his  brother, 
was  in  the  mean  time  engaged  in  pacifying  his  provinces, 
and  established  many  regulations  for  maintaining  public 
order.  He,  above  everything,  endeavoured  to  abolish  slavery; 
having  for  a  maxim,  "  That  men  are  born  free,  and  it  is 
always  wise  to  bring  back  things  to  their  origin."  This 
good  prince  drew  upon  himself  the  benedictions  of  his 
people ;  and  the  love  of  his  vassals  assured  the  duration  ot 
tY -3  laws  he  made. 

We  have  said  that  Prince  Edward,  son  of  Henry  III.,  had 
taken  the  oath  to  combat  the  infidels.  He  had  recently 
displayed  a  brilliant  valour  in  the  civil  war  that  had  so  long 
desolated  England ;  and  the  deliverance  of  his  father  and 
the  pacification  of  the  kingdom  had  been  the  reward  of  his 
exploits.  It  was  his  esteem  for  the  character  of  Louis  IX., 
more  than  the  spirit  of  devotion,  that  induced  him  to  set  out 
fcr  the  East.     The  king  of  France,  who  himself  exhorted 

to  do  with  Conradin  and  Frederick,  whom  it  was  dangerous  to  keep,  and 
still  more  to  release,  in  a  kingdom  filled  with  faction  and  revolt,  he 
ordered  them  to  be  brought  to  trial  before  the  syndics  of  the  cities  of  the 
kingdom." 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CBUSADES.  38 

him  to  take  the  cross,  lent  him  seventy  thousand  livrea 
tournois  for  the  preparations  for  his  voyage.  Edward  was 
to  follow  Louis  as  his  vassal,  and  to  conduct  under  his  ban- 
ners the  English  Crusaders,  united  with  those  of  Gruienne. 
Gaston  de  Beam,  to  whom  the  French  monarch  advanced 
the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  livres,  prepared  to  follow 
Prince  Edward  to  the  Holy  Land. 

The  period  fixed  upon  for  the  departure  of  the  expedition 
was  drawing  near.  By  order  of  the  legate,  the  cures  in 
every  parish  had  taken  the  names  of  the  Crusaders,  in  order 
to  oblige  them  to  wear  the  cross  publicly,  and  all  had  notice 
to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  embark  in  the  month  of 
May,  1270.  Louis  confided  the  administration  of  his  king? 
dom,  during  his  absence,  to  Matthew,  abbot  of  St.  Denis, 
and  to  Simon,  sieur  de  JNTesle ;  he  wrote  to  all  the  noble3 
who  were  to  follow  him  into  the  Holy  Land,  to  recommend 
them  to  assemble  their  knights  and  men-at-arms.  As  reli- 
gious enthusiasm  was  not  sufficiently  strong  to  make  men 
forget  their  worldly  interests,  many  nobles  who  had  taken 
the  cross  entertained  great  fears  of  being  ruined  by  the  holy 
war,  and  most  of  them  hesitated  to  set  out.  Louis  undertook 
to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  their  voyage,  and  to  maintain 
them  at  his  own  cost  during  the  war, — a  tiling  that  had  not 
been  done  in  the  crusades  of  Louis  VII.  or  Philip  Augustus, 
in  which  the  ardour  of  the  Crusaders  did  not  allow  them  to 
give  a  thought  to  their  fortunes,  or  to  exercise  so  much  fore- 
sight. We  have  still  a  valuable  monument  of  this  epoch  in 
a  charter,  by  which  the  king  of  Prance  stipulates  how  much 
he  is  to  pay  to  a  great  number  of  barons  and  knights  during 
the  time  the  war  beyond  the  seas  should  last. 

Early  in  the  month  of  March,  Louis  repaired  to  the  church 
of  St.  Denis,  where  he  received  the  symbols  of  pilgrimage, 
and  placed  his  kingdom  under  the  protection  of  the  apostles 
of  Prance.*  Upon  the  day  following  this  solemn  ceremony, 
a  mass  for  the  crusade  was  celebrated  in  the  church  of  Notre 
Dame,  at  Paris.  The  monarch  appeared  there,  accompanied 
by  his  children  and  the  principal  nobles  of  his  court ;  he 
walked  from  the  palace  barefooted,  carrying  his  scrip  and 

*  For  the  preparations  for  the  voyage  of  Louis  IX.,  William  of  Nangis, 
Geoffrey  de  Beaulieu,  the  Gestes  of  St.  Louis,  the  continuator  of  Mat- 
thew Paris,  and  Joinville,  may  be  consulted. 


34  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

staff.  The  same  day  he  went  to  sleep  at  Vineennes,  and 
beheld,  for  tiie  last  time,  the  spot  on  which  he  had  enjoyed  so 
much  happiness  in  administering  justice  to  his  people.  Ana 
it  was  here  too  that  he  took  leave  of  Queen  Marguerite, 
whom  lie  had  never  before  quitted, — a  separation  rendered 
so  mu^h  the  more  painful  by  the  sorrowful  reflection  it  re- 
called of  past  events,  and  by  melancholy  presentiments  for 
the  future. 

Both  the  poople  and  the  court  were  affected  by  the  deepest 
regret,  and  that  which  added  to  the  public  anxiety  was  the 
circumstance  that  every  one  was  ignorant  of  the  point  to 
which  the  expedition  was  to  be  directed :  the  coast  of  Africa 
"was  only  vaguely  conjectured.  The  king  of  Sicily  had  taken  the 
cross  without  having  the  least  inclination  to  embark  for  Asia  ; 
and  when  the  question  was  discussed  in  council,  he  gave  it 
as  his  opinion  that  Tunis  should  be  the  object  of  the  first 
attack.  The  kingdom  of  Tunis  covered  the  seas  with  pirates, 
who  infested  all  the  routes  to  Palestine ;  it  was,  besides,  the 
ally  of  Egypt,  and  might,  if  subdued,  be  made  the  readiest 
road  to  that  country.  These  were  the  ostensible  reasons 
put  forth ;  the  true  ones  were,  that  it  was  of  importance  to 
the  king  of  Sicily  that  the  coasts  of  Africa  should  be  brought 
under  European  subjection,  and  that  he  did  not  wish  to  go 
too  far  from  Italy.  The  true  reason  with  St.  Louis,  and 
that  which,  no  doubt,  determined  him,  was,  that  he  believed 
it  possible  to  convert  the  king  of  Tunis,  and  thus  bring  a 
vast  kingdom  under  the  Christian  banners.  The  Mussulman 
prince,  whose  ambassadors  had  been  several  times  in  France, 
had  himself  given  birth  to  this  idea,  by  saying,  that  be  asked 
nothing  better  than  to  embrace  the  religion  oi  Jesus 
Christ  :*  thus,  that  which  he  had  said  to  turn  aside  an  in- 
vasion, was  precisely  the  cause  of  the  war  being  directed 

*  "  It  is  true  that  before  the  king  Louis  took  the  cross,  he  had  had  severa. 
messages  from  the  king  of  Tunis,  and  at  divers  times,  and  many  had  been 
sent  to  him  ;  these  messages  gave  Louis  to  understand  that  the  king  ot 
Tunis  was  willing  to  become  a  Christian,  and  that  he  would  the  more 
willingly  change  his  faith  if  an  opportunity  should  occur  in  which  his  own 
honour  and  the  welfare  of  his  people  would  be  secured.  The  gooc1 
Christian  king  believed  that  if  he  and  his  renowned  hosts  should  comt 
to  Tunis  suddenly,  scarcely  could  the  king  of  Tunis  refuse  or  excuse  such 
ft  reasonable  opportunity  for  receiving  holy  baptism,''  &c. — Annals  oj 
t&e  Reigi  of  St.  Louis,  by  Williain  of  Nan^is. 


HISTORY    OE    THE    CIttSADES.  35 

•gainst  his  territories.  Louis  IX.  often  repeated  that  he 
would  consent  to  pass  the  whole  of  his  life  in  a  dungeon, 
without  seeing  the  snn,  if,  by  such  a  sacrifice,  the  conversion 
of  the  king  of  Tunis  and  his  nation  could  be  brought  about ; 
an  expression  of  ardent  proselytism  that  has  been  blamed 
with  much  bitterness,  but  which  only  showed  an  extreme 
desire  to  see  Africa  delivered  from  barbarism,  and  marching 
with  Europe  in  the  progress  of  intelligence  and  civilization, 
which  are  the  great  blessings  of  Christianity. 

As  Louis  traversed  his  kingdom  on  his  way  to  Aigues- 
Mortes,  where  the  army  of  the  Crusaders  was  to  embark, 
he  was  everywhere  hailed  by  the  benedictions  of  his  people, 
and  gratified  by  hearing  their  ardent  prayers  for  the  success 
of  his  arms ;  the  clergy  and  the  faithful,  assembled  in  the 
churches,  prayed  for  the  king  and  his  children,  and  all  that 
should  follow  him.  They  prayed  also  for  foreign  princes 
and  nobles  who  had  taken  the  cross,  and  promised  to  go  into 
the  East ;  as  if  they  would,  by  that  means,  press  them  to 
hasten  their  departure. 

Very  few,  however,  responded  to  this  religious  appeal. 
The  king  of  Castile,  who  had  taken  the  cross,  had  preten- 
sions to  the  imperial  crown,  nor  could  he  forget  the  death  of 
his  brother  Frederick,  immolated  by  Charles  of  Anjou.  It 
was  not  only  that  the  affairs  of  the  empire  detained  the 
German  princes  and  nobles ;  the  death  of  young  Conradin 
had  so  shocked  and  disgusted  men's  minds  in  Germany,  that 
no  one  from  that  country  would  have  consented  to  fight 
under  the  same  banners  as  the  king  of  Sicily.  So  black  a 
crime,  committed  amidst  the  preparations  for  a  holy  war, 
appeared  to  presage  great  calamities.  In  the  height  of  their 
grief  or  indignation,  people  might  fear  that  Heaven  would 
be  angry  with  the  Christians,  and  that  its  curse  would  fall 
upon  the  arms  of  the  Crusaders. 

When  Louis  arrived  at  Aigues«  Mortes,  he  found  neither 
the  Genoese  fleet  nor  the  principal  nobles  who  were  tc 
embark  with  him ;  the  ambassadors  of  Palaeologus  were  the 
only  persons  who  did  not  cause  themselves  to  be  waited  for ; 
for  a  great  dread  of  the  crusade  was  entertained  at  Constan- 
tinople, and  lMs  fear  was  more  active  than  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  Crusaders.  Louis  might  have  asked  the  Greek 
emperor  why,  after  having  promised  to  send  soldiers,  he  had 


86  HISTOEY   OJf    THE    CEUSADES. 

only  sent  ambassadors ;  but  Louis,  who  attached  great  im- 
portance to  the  conversion  of  the  Greeks,  contented  himseli 
with  removing  the  apprehensions  of  the  envoys,  and,  as 
Clement  IV.  died  at  that  period,  he  sent  them  to  the  con- 
clave of  the  cardinals,  to  terminate  the  reunion  of  the  two 
churches. 

At  length  the  unwilling  Crusaders,  stimulated  by  repeated 
exhortations,  and  by  the  example  of  Louis,  set  forward  on 
their  march  from  all  the  proviuces,  and  directed  their  course 
towards  the  ports  of  Aigues-Mortes  and  Marseilles.  Louis 
soon  welcomed  the  arrival  of  the  count  of  Poictiers,  with  a 
great  number  of  his  vassals ;  the  principal  nobles  brought 
with  them  the  most  distinguished  of  their  knights  and  their 
most  brave  and  hardy  soldiers ;  many  cities  likewise  con- 
tributed their  supply  of  warriors.  Each  troop  had  its  ban- 
ner, and  formed  a  separate  corps,  bearing  the  name  of  a  city 
or  a  province;  the  battalions  of  Beaucaire,  Carcassonne, 
Chalons,  Perigord,  &c,  attracted  observation  in  the  Chris- 
tian army.  These  names,  it  is  true,  excited  great  emulation, 
but  they  also  gave  rise  to  quarrels,  which  the  wisdom  and 
firmness  of  Louis  had  great  difficulty  in  appeasing.  Cru- 
saders arrived  from  Catalonia,  Castile,  and  several  other 
provinces  of  Spain;  five  hundred  warriors  from  Priesland 
likewise  ranged  themselves  with  full  confidence  under  the 
standard  of  such  a  leader  as  Louis,  saying,  that  their  nation 
had  always  been  proud  to  obey  the  kings  of  Prance. 

Before  he  embarked,  the  king  wrote  once  more  to  the 
regents  of  the  kingdom,  to  recommend  them  to  watch  care- 
fully over  public  morals,  to  deliver  Prance  from  corrupt 
judges,  and  to  render  to  everybody,  particularly  to  the  poor, 
prompt  and  perfect  justice,  so  that  He  who  judges  the 
judgments  of  men  might  have  nothing  to  reproach  him  with. 

Such  were  the  last  farewells  that  Louis  took  of  Prance. 
The  fleet  set  sail  on  the  fourth  of  July,  1270,  and  in  a  few 
days  arrived  in  the  road  of  Cagliari.  Here  the  council  of 
the  counts  and  barons  was  assembled  in  the  king's  vessel,  to 
deliberate  upon  the  plan  of  the  crusade.  Those  who  advo- 
cated the  conquest  of  Tunis,  said  that  by  that  means  Jie 
passages  of  the  Mediterranean  would  be  opened,  and  the 
power  of  the  Mamelukes  would  be  weakened  ;  and  that  after 
that  conquest  the  army  would  go  triumphantly  into  either 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CE79ADES.  53 

Egypt  or  Palestine.  Many  of  the  barons  were  not  of  this 
opinion ;  they  said,  if  the  Holy  Land  stood  in  need  of 
prompt  assistance,  they  ought  to  afford  it  without  delay , 
whilst  they  were  engaged  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  in  a  country 
with  which  they  were  unacquainted,  the  Christian  cities  ot 
Syria  might  all  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Saracens ;  the  most 
redoubtable  enemy  of  the  Christians  was  Bibars,  the  terrible 
sultan  of  Cairo ;  it  was  him  they  ought  first  to  attack ;  it 
was  into  his  states,  into  the  bosom  of  his  capital,  that  the 
war  should  be  carried,  and  not  to  a  place  two  hundred 
leagues  from  Egypt.  They  added  to  this,  remembrances  of 
the  defeats  of  the  French  army  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile, — 
defeats  that  07ght  to  be  avenged  upon  the  very  theatre  of 
so  many  disasters. 

Contemporary  history  does  not  say  to  what  extent  Louis 
was  struck  with  the  wisdom  of  these  last  opinions ;  but  the 
expedition  to  Tunis  flattered  his  most  cherished  hopes.  It 
had  been  proposed  by  the  king  of  Sicily,  whose  concurrence 
was  necessary  to  the  success  of  the  crusade.  It  was,  there- 
fore, decided  that  the  G-enoese  fleet  should  direct  its  course 
towards  Africa;  and  two  days  after,  on  the  twentieth  of 
July,  it  arrived  in  sight  of  Tunis  and  Carthage. 

On  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  opposite  Sicily,  is  a  penin- 
sula, described  by  Strabo,  whose  circumference  is  three 
hundred  and  forty  stadii,  or  forty-two  miles.  This  peninsula 
advances  into  the  sea  between  two  gulfs,  one  of  which,  on 
the  west,  offers  a  commodious  port ;  the  other,  on  the  south- 
east, communicates,  by  means  of  a  canal,  with  a  lake  which 
extends  three  leagues  into  the  land,  and  which  modern  geo- 
graphers term  the  Grullet.  It  was  upon  this  spot  was  built 
the  great  rival  of  Rome,  whose  site  extended  over  the  two 
shores  of  the  sea.  Neither  the  conquests  of  the  Romans, 
nor  the  ravages  of  the  Vandals,  had  been  able  to  entirely 
destroy  this  once  flourishing  city ;  but  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury, after  being  invaded  and  laid  waste  by  the  Saracens,  it 
became  nothing  but  a  mass  of  ruins ;  a  moderate-sized  vil- 
lage upon  the  port,  called  Marsa,  a  tower  on  the  point  of 
the  cape,  a  pretty  strong  castle  on  the  hill  of  Byrsa. — these 
were  all  the  remains  of  that  city  whose  power  so  long 
dominated  over  the  Mediterranean  and  the  coasts  of  Africa 
and  Asia. 


OO  niSTORT    OE    THE    CRUSADES. 

At  five  leagues'  distance,  towards  the  south-east,  a  little 
beyond  the  gulf  and  the  lake  of  the  Gullet,  arose  a  city, 
called  in  ancient  times  Tynis  or  Tunissa,*  of  which  Scipio 
made  himself  master  before  he  attacked  Carthage.  Tunis 
had  thriven  by  the  fall  of  other  cities,  and  in  the  thirteenth 
century  she  vied  in  wealth  and  population  with  the  most 
flourishing  cities  of  Africa.  It  contained  ten  thousand 
houses,  and  had  three  extensive  suburbs;  the  spoils  of 
nations  and  the  produce  of  an  immense  commerce  had  en- 
riched it ;  and  all  that  the  art  of  fortification  could  invent 
had  been  employed  to  defend  the  access  to  it. 

The  coast  on  which  Tunis  stood  wTas  the  theatre  of  many 
revolutions,  of  which  ancient  history  has  transmitted  accounts 
to  us  ;  but  modern  history  has  not,  in  the  same  manner, 
consecrated  the  revolutions  of  the  Saracens.  We  can 
scarcely  follow  the  march  ol  the  barbarians  who  planted  the 
standard  of  Islamism  upon  so  many  ruins.  All  that  we 
positively  know  is,  that  Tunis,  for  a  long  time  united  to  the 
kingdom  of  Morocco,  was  separated  from  it  under  a  warlike 
prince,  whose  third  successor  was  reigning  in  the  time  of 
St.  Louis. 

At  the  sight  of  the  Christian  fleet,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
coast  of  Africa  were  seized  with  terror,  and  all  who  were 
upon  the  Carthage  shore  took  flight  towards  the  mountains 
or  towards  Tunis.  Some  vessels  that  were  in  the  port  were 
abandoned  by  their  crews ;  the  king  ordered  Florent  de 
Varennes,  who  performed  the  functions  of  admiral,  to  get 
into  a  boat  and  reconnoitre  the  coast.  Varennes  found 
nobody  in  the  port  or  upon  the  shore ;  he  sent  word  to  the 
king  that  there  was  no  time  to  be  lost,  he  must  take  imme- 
diate advantage  of  the  consternation  of  the  enemy.  But  it 
was  remembered  that  in  the  preceding  expedition  the  descent 
upon  the  coast  of  Egypt  had  been  too  precipitate ;  in  this  it 
was  determined  to  risk  nothing.  Inexperienced  youth  had 
presided  over  the  former  war ;  now  it  was  directed  by  old 
age  and  ripe  manhood:  it  was  resolve  1  to  wait  till  the 
morrow. 

The  next  day,  at  dawn,  the  coast  appeared  covered  with 
Saracens,  among  whom  were  many  men  on  horseback.     The 

*  Some  classical  authorities  name  't  Tunetum ;  others,  Tunes.— 
Trans. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CllUSADES.  39 

Crusaders,  nob  the  less,  commenced  their  preparations  for 
landing.  At  the  approach  of  the  Christians,  the  multitude 
of  infidels  disappeared;  which,  according  to  the  account  of 
an  eye  witness,  was  a  blessing  from  Heaven,  for  the  disorder 
was  so  great,  that  a  hundred  men  would  have  been  sufficient 
to  stop  the  disembarkation  of  the  whole  army. 

"When  the  Christian  army  had  landed,  it  was  drawn  up  in 
order  of  battle  upon  the  shore,  and,  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  war,  Pierre  de  Conde,  almoner  to  the  king,  read, 
with  a  loud  voice,  a  proclamation,  by  which  the  conquerors 
took  possession  of  the  territory.  This  proclamation,  which 
Louis  had  drawn  up  himself,  began  by  these  words  :  "  I  pro- 
claim, in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  Louis, 
king  of  France,  his  sergeant,"  &c* 

The  baggage,  provisions,  and  munitions  of  war  were 
landed ;  a  vast  space  was  marked  out,  and  the  Christian  sol- 
diers pitched  their  tents.  Whilst  they  were  digging  ditches 
and  raising  intrenchments  to  protect  the  army  from  a  sur- 
prise, they  took  possession  of  the  tower  built  on  the  point 
of  the  cape ;  and  on  the  following  day,  five  hundred  sailors 
planted  the  standard  of  the  lilies  upon  the  castle  of  Carthage. 
The  village  of  Marsa,  which  was  close  to  the  castle,  fell 
likewise  into  the  hands  of  the  Crusaders ;  the  women  and 
the  sick  were  placed  here,  whilst  the  army  remained  beneath 
their  tents. 

Louis  still  hoped  for  the  conversion  of  the  king  of  Tunis, 
but  this  pious  illusion  was  very  quickly  dissolved.  The 
Mussulman  prince  sent  messengers  to  the  king,  to  inform 
him  that  he  would  come  and  meet  him  at  the  head  of  a 
hundred  thousand  men,  and  would  require  baptism  of  hiri 
on  the  field  of  battle ;  the  Moorish  king  added,  that  he  had 
caused  all  the  Christians  in  his  dominions  to  be  seized,  and 
that  every  one  of  them  should  be  massacred  if  the  Christian 
army  presumed  to  insult  his  capital. 

The  menaces  and  vain  bravadoes  of  the  prince  of  Tunis 

*  Louis  makes  use  of  the  expression:  "Je  vous  dis  le  ban,"  &c. 
which  word  cannot  be  used  in  this  sense  in  English,  but  is  very  effective 
in  French,  and  was  employed  in  many  legal  proclamations  connected  with 
royal  or  seignorial  rights, — as,  for  instance  :  ban  is  a  proclamation  by 
which  all  who  held  lands  of  the  crown  of  France  were  summoned  to  servi 
the  king  in  his  wars. — Trans. 


40  BISTOEY    OF   THE    CEUSADES. 

effected  no  change  in  the  plans  of  the  crusade ;  the  Moors, 
besides,  inspired  no  fear,  and  they  themselves  could  not 
conceal  the  terror  which  the  sight  only  of  the  Christiana 
created  in  them.  Not  daring  to  face  their  enemy,  their 
scattered  bands  sometimes  hovered  around  the  Christian 
army,  seeking  to  surprise  any  stragglers  from  the  camp  ;  and 
at  others,  uniting  together,  they  poured  down  towards  the 
advanced  posts,  launched  a  few  arrows,  showed  their  naked 
swords,  and  then  depended  upon  the  swiftness  of  their 
horses  to  secure  them  from  the  pursuit  of  the  Christians. 
They  not  unfrequently  had  recourse  to  treachery:  three 
hundred  of  them  came  into  the  camp  of  the  Crusaders,  and 
said  they  wished  to  embrace  the  Christian  faith,  and  a  hun- 
dred more  followed  them,  announcing  the  same  intention.* 
After  being  received  with  open  arms,  they  waited  for  what 
they  deemed  a  favourable  opportunity,  and  fell  upon  a  body 
of  the  Christians,  sword  in  hand ;  but  being  overwhelmed 
by  numbers,  most  of  them  were  killed,  and  the  rest  were 
allowed  to  escape.  Three  of  the  principals  fell  on  their 
knees,  and  implored  the  compassion  of  the  leaders.  The 
contempt  the  Pranks  had  for  such  enemies  obtained  their 
pardon,  and  they  were  driven  out  of  the  camp. 

At  length  the  Mussulman  army,  emboldened  by  the  in- 
action of  the  Christians,  presented  itself  several  times  on 
the  plain.  Nothing  would  have  been  more  easy  than  to 
attack  and  conquer  it ;  but  Louis  had  resolved  to  act  upon 
the  defensive,  and  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  king  of  Sicily 
for  beginning  the  war, — a  fatal  resolution,  which  ruined 
everything :  the  Sicilian  monarch,  who  had  advised  this  ill- 
starred  expedition,  was  destined  to  complete,  by  his  delays, 
the  evil  he  had  begun  by  his  counsels. 

The  Mussulmans  nocked  from  all  parts  of  Africa  to  defend 
the  cause  of  Islamism  against  the  Christians.  Preparations 
were  carried  on  in  Egypt  to  meet  the  invasion  of  the  Franks, 
and  in  the  month  of  August,  Bibars  announced  by  messen- 
gers, that  he  was  about  to  march  to  the  assistance  of  Tunis. 
The  troops  which  the  sultan  of  Cairo  maintained  in  the 
province  of  Barka  received  orders  to  set  forward.     Thus, 

*  William  of  Nangis  says  on  this  subject :  — "  This  was  great  treachery 
on  the  part  of  the  Saracens,  and  great  simplicity  on  the  part  of  the 
Christians." 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CllUSADES.  41 

the  Moorish  army  was  about  to  become  formidable ;  but  it 
was  not  this  host  of  Saracens  that  the  Crusaders  had  most 
to  dread.  Other  dangers,  other  misfortunes  threatened 
them  :  the  Christian  army  wanted  water ;  they  had  none  bat 
salted  provisions ;  the  soldiers  could  not  endure  the  climate 
of  Africa ;  winds  constantly  prevailed,  which,  coming  from 
the  torrid  zone,  appeared  to  the  Europeans  to  be  the  breath 
of  a  devouring  fire.  The  Saracens  upon  the  neighbouring 
mountains  raised  the  sand  with  certain  instruments  made 
for  the  purpose,  and  the  dust  was  carried  by  the  wind  in 
burning  clouds  down  upon  the  plain  upon  which  the  Chris- 
tians were  encamped.  At  last,  dysentery,  that  fatal  malady 
of  warm  climates,  began  to  commit  frightful  ravages  among 
the  troops ;  and  the  plague,  which  appears  to  be  born  of 
itself  upon  this  burning,  arid  sand,  spread  its  dire  contagion 
through  the  Christian  army. 

They  were  obliged  to  be  under  arms  night  and  day ;  not 
to  defend  themselves  from  an  enemy  that  always  fled  away 
from  them,  but  to  guard  against  surprise.  A  vast  number 
of  the  Crusaders  sunk  under  fatigue,  famine,  and  disease. 
The  French  had  soon  to  regret  the  loss  of  Bouchard,  count 
de  Vendome,  the  count  de  la  Marche,  Gautbier  de  Nemours, 
the  lords  de  Montmorency,  de  Pienne,  de  Bressac,  Guy 
d'Aspremont,  and  E-aoul,  brother  of  the  count  de  Soissons. 
It  became  impossible  to  bury  the  dead ;  the  ditches  of  the 
camp  were  filled  with  carcases,  thrown  in  in  heaps,  which 
added  to  the  corruption  of  the  air  and  to  the  spectacle  of 
the  general  desolation. 

At  length  Olivier  de  Termes,  a  Languedocian  gentleman, 
coming  from  Sicily,  announced  that  King  Charles  was  quite 
ready  to  embark  with  his  army.  This  news  was  received 
with  joy,  but  had  no  power  to  alleviate  the  evils  the  Crusa- 
ders were  ifhen  exposed  to.  The  heats  became  excessive ; 
the  want  of  water,  bad  food,  disease,  which  continued  its 
ravages,  and  the  grief  at  being  ehat  up  in  a  camp  without 
the  power  to  fight,  completed  the  despondency  that  had 
taken  possession  of  the  minds  of  leaders  and  soldiers, 
Louis  endeavoured  to  cheer  them  both  by  his  words  and  his 
example ;  but  he  himself  fell  ill  with  dysentery.  Prince 
Philip,  the  duke  de  Nevers,  the  king  of  Navarre,  and  the 
legate  also  felt  the  effects  of  the  contagion.     The  duke  de 

Vol.  III.— 3 


42  nisTOiiY  or  the  orusades. 

Nevers,  surnamed  Tristan,  was  born  at  Damietta  during  the 
captivity  of  the  king,  and  was  particularly  the  object  of  his 
father's  love.  The  young  prince  remained  in  the  royal  tent; 
but  as  he  appeared  to  be  sinking  under  the  effects  of  the 
disease,  it  was  judged  best  to  convey  him  on  board  one  of 
the  vessels.  The  monarch  incessantly  demanded  news  of  his 
son ;  but  all  who  surrounded  him  preserved  a  melancholy 
silence.  At  length  they  were  obliged  to  inform  him  that 
the  duke  de  Nevers  was  dead ;  the  feelings  of  the  father 
prevailed  over  the  resignation  of  the  Christian,  and  he  wept 
bitterly.  A  short  time  afterwards,  the  pope's  legate  died, 
deeply  regretted  by  the  clergy  and  the  soldiers  of  the  cross, 
who  regarded  him  as  their  spiritual  father. 

In  spite  of  his  sufferings,  in  spite  of  his  griefs,  Louis  IX. 
was  constantly  engaged  in  endeavours  to  alleviate  the  situ- 
ation of  his  army.  He  gave  orders  as  long  as  he  had  any 
strength  left,  dividing  his  time  between  the  duties  of  a 
Christian  and  those  of  a  monarch.  The  fever,  however, 
increased ;  no  longer  able  to  attend  either  to  his  cares  for 
the  army  or  to  exercises  of  piety,  he  ordered  the  cross  to  be 
placed  before  him,  and  stretching  out  his  hands,  he  in  silence 
implored  Him  who  had  suffered  for  all  men. 

The  whole  army  was  in  a  state  of  mourning ;  the  soldiers 
walked  about  in  tears,  demanding  of  Heaven  the  preserva- 
tion of  so  good  a  prince.  Amidst  the  general  grief,  Louis 
turned  his  thoughts  towards  the  accomplishment  of  the 
divine  laws  and  the  destinies  of  France.  Philip,  who  was 
his  successor  to  the  throne,  was  in  his  tent ;  he  desired  him 
to  approach  his  bed,  and  in  a  faltering  voce  gave  him  coun- 
sels in  what  manner  he  should  govern  the  kingdom  of  his 
fathers.  The  instructions  he  gave  him  comprise  the  most 
noble  maxims  of  religion  and  loyalty ;  and  that  which  will 
render  them  for  ever  worthy  of  the  respect  of  posterity  is, 
that  they  had  the  authority  of  his  example,  and  only  recalled 
the  virtues  of  his  own  life.  After  having  recommended 
Philip  to  respect,  and  cause  to  be  respected,  religion  and  its 
ministers,  and  at  all  times,  and  above  al?  things,  to  fear  to 
offend  Grod:*  "  My  dear  son,"  added  he,  '  be  charitable  and 

*  Geoffrey  de  Beaulieu  has  given  an  account  of  the-e  instructions  in 
Latin.  They  are  in  old  French  in  Joinville  and  in  the  Annals  of  the 
Reign  of  St.  Louis.     These  three  authors  give  them  with  remarkable 


history:  of  the  crjsa-ES.  43 

merciful  towards  the  poor  and  all  who  suffer.  If  thou 
attainest  the  throne,  show  thyself  worthy,  by  thy  conduct, 
of  receiving  the  holy  unction  with  which  the  kings  of  France 
are  consecrated.  "\Vhen  thou  shalt  be  king,  show  thyself  just 
in  all  things,  and  let  nothing  turn  thee  aside  from  the  path 
of  truth  and  rectitude.  If  the  widow  and  orphan  contend 
before  thee  with  the  powerful  man,  declare  thyself  of  the 
party  of  the  feeble  against  the  strong,  until  the  truth  shall 
be  known  to  thee.  In  affairs  in  which  thou  thyself  shalt  be 
interested,  support  at  first  the  cause  of  the  other;  for  if 
thou  dost  not  act  in  that  sort,  thy  counsellors  will  hesitate 
to  speak  against  thee,  which  thou  oughtest  not  to  desire. 
My  dear  son,  above  all  things  I  recommend  thee  to  avoid 
war  with  every  Christian  nation ;  if  thou  art  reduced  by 
necessity  to  make  it,  at  least  take  care  that  the  poor  people, 
who  are  not  in  the  wrong,  be  kept  safe  from  all  harm.  Give 
all  thy  efforts  to  appease  the  divisions  that  may  arise  in  thy 
kingdom,  for  nothing  is  so  pleasing  to  God  as  the  spectacle 
of  concord  and  peace.  Neglect  nothing  to  provide  good 
lieutenants  (baillis)  and  provosts  in  thy  provinces.  Give 
power  freely  to  men  who  know  how  to  use  it,  and  punish  all 
who  abuse  it;  for  if  it  is  thy  duty  to  hate  evil  in  another, 
much  greater  reason  hast  thou  to  hate  it  in  them  who  hold 
their  authority  of  thee.  Be  just  in  the  levying  of  thy  public 
taxes,  and  be  wise  and  moderate  in  the  expenditure  of  them; 
beware  of  foolish  expenses,  which  lead  to  unjust  imposts ; 
correct  with  prudence  all  that  is  defective  in  the  laws  of  thy 
kingdom.  Maintain  with  loyalty  the  eights  and  franchises 
that  thy  predecessors  have  left,  for  the  happier  that  thy 
subjects  shall  be,  the  greater  thou  wilt  be ;  the  more  irre- 
proachable thy  government  shall  be,  the  riore  thy  enemies 
will  fear  to  attack  it." 

Louis  gave  Philip  several  more  counsels  upon  the  love  he 
owed  to  God,  his  people,  and  his  family ;  then  pouring  out 
his  full  heart,  he  uttered  nothing  but  t\e  language  of  a 

differences.  Moreau,  in  the  twentieth  volume  of  his  Discours  sur  V His- 
toire  de  France,  gives  another  new  version,  which  he  declares  to  have 
been  copied  from  one  of  the  registers  of  the  Chamber  of  Accounts,  in 
which,  probably,  Philip  le  Hardi  was  desirous  this  monument  should  be 
preserved.  It  is  ibis  version  we  have  principally  followed  in  the  extract 
we  have  here  given. 


44  HISTOET    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

parent  whe  is  about  to  be  separated  frotr.  a  son  be  loves  ten- 
derly. "  I  bestow  upon  thee,"  said  he,  "  all  the  benedictions 
that  a  father  can  bestow  upon  a  dear  son.  Aid  me  by 
masses  and  prayers,  and  let  me  have  a  part  in  all  the  good 
actions  thou  shalt  perform.  I  beseech  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  by  his  great  mercy,  to  guard  thee  from  all  evils,  and 
to  keep  thee  from  doing  anything  contrary  to  his  will ;  and 
that  after  this  mortal  life  we  may  see  Him,  love  Him,  and 
praise  Him  together  in  a  life  everlasting.'" 

When  we  reflect  that  these  words  were  pronounced  on 
the  coast  of  Africa  by  a  dying  king  of  France,  we  experience 
a  mixture  of  surprise  and  emotion,  which  even  the  coldest 
and  most  indifferent  hearts  can  scarcely  fail  to  partake  of. 
Judge,  then,  of  the  effect  they  must  have  produced  upon  the 
feelings  of  a  desolate  son !  Philip  listened  to  them  with 
respectful  sorrow,  and  commanded  them  to  be  faithfully 
transcribed,  in  order  that  he  might  have  them  before  his 
eyes  all  the  days  of  his  life.* 

Louis  then  turned  to  his  daughter,  the  queen  of  Navarre, 
who  sat,  drowned  in  tears,  at  the  foot  of  his  bed :  in  a  pre- 
cept which  he  had  prepared  for  her,  he  laid  before  her  all  the 
duties  of  a  queen  and  a  wife.  Above  all,  he  recommended 
her  to  take  the  greatest  care  of  her  husband,  who  was  then 
sick  ;  and,  never  forgetful  of  even  the  smallest  circumstances, 
he  advised  the  king  of  Navarre,  on  his  return  to  Champagne, 
to  pay  all  his  debts  before  he  began  to  rebuild  the  convent 
of  the  Cordeliers  of  Provins. 

These  instructions  were  the  last  words  that  Louis  addressed 
to  his  children ;  from  that  time  they  never  saw  him  again. 
The  ambassadors  of  Michael  Paheologus  arriving  in  the 
camp,  the  king  consented  to  receive  them.  In  the  state  in 
which  Louis  then  was,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  see 
through  the  false  promises  of  the  Greeks,  or  the  alarms  and 
deceitful  policy  of  their  emperor ;  he  no  longer  gave  atten- 

*  Details  upon  the  death  of  St.  Louis  may  be  found  in  Geoffrey  de 
Beaulieu,  William  of  Chartres,  William  of  Nangis,  and  in  a  letter  from 
the  bishop  of  Tunis,  reported  by  Martenne ;  Joinville  relates  a  few  cir- 
cumstances of  it ;  but  it  is  very  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  good 
seneschal  was  not  present  at  the  last  moments  of  St.  Louis  ;  how  touching 
would  his  relation  have  been !  and  how  much  better  would  it  have  been 
than  that  which  is  given  to  us  by  eyewitnesses,  who  have  written  with 
inch  unfeeling  dryness  and  conciseness  ! 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  45 

fcion  to  the  things  of  this  world.  He  confined  himself  o  the 
expression  of  his  earnest  wishes  that  the  reunion  of  the  two 
churches  might  at  length  he  effected,  and  promised  the  am- 
bassadors that  his  son  Philip  would  do  everything  in  his 
power  to  bring  it  about.  These  envoys  were  Meliteniote, 
archdeacon  of  the  imperial  chapel,  and  the  celebrated  Vechus, 
chancellor  of  the  church  of  Constantinople.  They  were 
both  so  much  affected  by  the  wo;  Js  and  the  virtues  of  St. 
Louis,  that  they  afterwards  gave  their  most  zealous  endea- 
vours to  promote  the  reunion,  and  both  ended  by  becoming 
victims  to  the  policy  of  the  Greeks. 

After  this  interview  Louis  thought  of  nothing  but  his 
God,  and  remained  alone  with  his  confessor.  His  almoners 
recited  before  him  the  prayers  of  the  Church,  to  which  he 
responded.  He  then  received  the  Viaticum  and  extreme 
unction.  "  From  Sunday,  at  the  hour  of  nones,"  says  an 
ocular  witness,  "till  Monday,  at  the  hour  of  tierce,  his 
mouth  never  ceased,  either  day  or  night,  to  praise  our  Lord, 
and  to  pray  for  the  people  he  had  brought  to  that  place." 
He  was  heard  to  pronounce  these  words  of  the  prophet-king : 
"  Grant,  Lord,  that  we  may  despise  the  prosperities  of  this 
world,  and  know  how  to  brave  its  adversities."  He  likewise 
repeated,  as  loudly  as  his  feeble  state  would  permit,  this 
verse  of  another  psalm :  "  Oh,  God !  deign  to  sanctify  thy 
people,  and  to  watch  over  them."  Sometimes  he  invoked 
St.  Denis,  whom  he  was  accustomed  to  invoke  iii  battle,  and 
implored  him  to  grant  his  heavenly  support  to  this  army  he 
was  about  to  leave  without  a  leader.  In  the  night  between 
Sunday  and  Monday  he  was  heard  to  pronounce  the  word 
Jerusalem  twice,  and  then  he  added :  "  We  will  go  to  Jeru- 
Baien:."  His  mind  was  constantly  occupied  with  the  idea  of 
the  holy  war.  Perhaps,  likewise,  he  saw  nothing  then  but 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  the  last  country  of  the  just  man. 

At  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Monday,  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  August,  he  lost  his  speech  ;  but  he  still  looked  upon 
all  who  were  round  him  kindly  (debonnaire^ient).  His 
countenance  was  calm,  and  it  was  evident  that  his  mind  was, 
at  the  same  time,  divided  between  the  purest  of  earthly 
affections  and  the  thoughts  of  eternity.  Feeling  that  death 
was  approaching  fast,  he  made  signs  to  his  attendants  to 
place   bin:,    cov^ed   by  hair-cloth,  upon  a   bed   of  ashes. 


4(>  HISTORY    OF    TILE    CRUSADES. 

Between  the  hours  of  tierce  and  mid-day  he  appeared  to 
sleep,  and  lay  with  his  eyes  closed  for  more  than  half  an  hour 
at  a  time.  He  then  seemed  to  revive,  opened  his  eyes,  and 
looking  towards  heaven,  exclaimed  :  "  0  Lord !  I  shall  enter 
into  thy  hoMse,  and  shall  worship  thee  in  thy  holy  taber- 
nacle!"    Hi  died  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

"We  have  spoken  of  the  profound  grief  which  prevailed 
among  the  Crusaders  when  Louis  fell  sick.  There  was  not 
a  leader  or  a  soldier  that  did  not  forget  his  own  ills  in  his 
anxiety  for  the  king.  At  every  hour  of  the  day  and  night 
these  faithful  warriors  crowded  round  the  monarch's  tent, 
and  when  they  beheld  the  sad  and  apprehensive  air  of  all 
who  came  out  of  it,  they  turned  away,  with  their  eyes  cast 
to  the  earth,  and  their  souls  filled  with  the  most  gloomy 
thoughts.  In  the  camp,  the  soldiers  scarcely  durst  ask  each 
other  a  question,  for  they  heard  none  but  sorrowful  tidings. 
At  length,  when  the  event  that  all  had  dreaded  was  announced 
to  the  army,  the  French  warriors  abandoned  themselves  to 
despair ;  they  saw  in  the  death  of  Louis  a  signal  for  all  sorts 
of  calamities,  and  anxiously  inquired  of  each  other  what 
leader  was  to  conduct  them  back  to  their  homes.  "With  the 
general  groans  and  tears  were  mingled  many  bitter  reproaches 
against  those  who  had  advised  this  fatal  expedition,  particu- 
larly the  king  of  Sicily,  whom  all  accused  of  being  the  cause 
of  the  disasters  of  the  war. 

On  the  very  day  of  the  king's  death  Charles  of  Anjou  and 
his  army  landed  near  Carthage  ;  trumpets  and  other  warlike 
music  resounded  along  the  shore,  but  a  profound  and  melan- 
choly silence  was  preserved  in  the  camp  of  the  Crusaders, 
and  not  a  man  went  forth  to  meet  the  Sicilians,  whom  they 
had  looked  for  with  so  much  impatience.  Sad  forebodings 
rushed  into  the  mind  of  Charles  ;  he  galloped  forward,  and 
flying  to  the  tent  of  the  king,  found  his  royal  brother  dead, 
and  stretched  upon  his  bed  of  ashes.  The  features  of  Louis 
were  scarcely  altered,  his  death  had  been  so  calm.  Charles 
prDstrated  himself  at  his  feet,  watering  them  with  his  tears, 
and  calling  him  sometimes  his  brother,  sometimes  his  lord. 
He  remained  a  long  time  in  this  attitude,  without  seeing 
any  of  those  who  surrounded  him,  continuing  to  address 
Louis  as  if  he  had  been  still  living,  and  reproaching  himself, 
in   accents    of   despair,  with   not   having   heard,   with   not 


HISTOltY    Oi^    THE    CKUSADE3.  4? 

having  received,  the  last  words  of  the  most  affectionate  of 
brothers  and  best  of  kings. 

The  mortal  remains  of  Louis  were  deposited  in  two 
funereal  urns.  The  entrails  of  the  hoi}'  monarch  were 
granted  to  Charles  of  Anjou,  who  sent  them  to  the  abbey 
of  Montreal,  where  these  precious  relics,  for  a  length  of 
time,  attracted  the  devotion  and  respect  of  the  faithful. 
The  bones  and  the  heart  of  Louis  remained  in  the  hands  of 
Philip.  This  young  prince  was  desirous  of  sending  them  to 
Trance,  but  the  leaders  and  soldiers  would  not  consent  to 
be  separated  from  all  that  was  left  to  them  of  their  beloved 
monarch.  The  presence  of  this  sacred  deposit  amongst  the 
Crusaders  appeared  to  them  a  safeguard  against  new  mis- 
fortunes, and  the  most  sure  means  of  drawing  down^the 
protection  of  Heaven  upon  the  Christian  army. 

Philip  was  still  sick,  and  his  malady  created  great  anxiety. 
The  armf|  considered  him  the  worthy  successor  of  Louis, 
and  the  affection  that  had  been  felt  for  the  father  descended 
to  the  son :  he  received,  amidst  the  public  grief,  the  homage 
and  oaths  of  the  leaders,  barons,  and  nobles.  His  first  care 
was  to  confirm  the  regency,  and  all  that  his  father  had  esta- 
blished in  Prance  before  his  departure.  Geoffrey  de  Beau- 
lieu,  William  de  Chartres,  and  John  de  Mons,  confessors 
and  almoners  to  the  king,  were  directed  to  carry  these  orders 
of  Philip's  into  the  AVest.  Among  the  letters  which  these 
ecclesiastics  took  with  them  into  Prance,  history  has  pre- 
served that  which  was  addressed  to  the  clergy  and  to  all 
people  of  worth  in  the  kingdom.*  After  having  described 
their  labours,  the  perils  and  the  death  of  Louis  IX.,  the 
young  prince  implored  God  to  grant  that  he  might  follow 
the  steps  of  so  good  a  father,  might  accomplish  his  sacred 
commands,  and  put  in  practice  all  his  counsels.  Philip  con- 
cluded hi'-  letter,  which  was  read  aloud  in  all  churches,  by 
supplicating  the  ecclesiastics  and  the  faithful  "to  put  up  to 
the  King  of  Kings  their  prayers  and  their  offerings  for  that 
prince,  with  whose  zeal  for  religion,  and  tender  solicituds 
for  the  kingdom  of  Prance,  which  he  loved  as  ine  apple  of 
his  eye,  they  were  so  well  acquainted." 

*  This  letter,  which  has  been  translated  into  Latin,  may  be  found  in 
the  collection  of  Martenne.  We  will  give  an  extract  from  it  in  on* 
Appendix. 


48  HISTORY      F    THE    CRUSADES. 

The  death  of  Louis  had  greatly  raised  the  confidence  of 
the  Saracens.  The  mourning  and  grief  which  they  observed 
in  the  Christian  army  were,  by  them,  mistaken  for  discou- 
ragement, and  they  flattered  themselves  they  should  obtain 
a  triumph  over  their  enemies  ;  but  these  hopes  were  speedily 
dispelled.  The  king  of  Sicily  took  the  command  of  the 
Christian  army  during  the  sickness  of  Philip,  and  resumed 
the  war.  The  troops  he  had  brought  with  him  were  eager 
for  fight,  and  all  the  French  seemed  anxious  to  seek  a  dis- 
traction from  their  grief  in  the  field  of  battle.  The  disease 
which  had  desolated  their  army  appeared  to  have  suspended 
its  ravages,  and  the  soldiers,  a  long  time  imprisoned  in  their 
camp,  felt  their  strength  revive  at  the  sight  of  the  perils  of 
war.  Several  conflicts  took  place  arouud  the  lake  of  the 
G-ullet,  of  which  the  Christians  wished  to  get  possession,  to 
facilitate  their  approach  to  Tunis.  The  Moors,  who,  but  a 
few  days  before,  threatened  to  exterminate  or  make  slaves  of 
all  the  Crusaders,  were  not  able  to  sustain  the  shock  of  their 
enemies ;  the  cross-bowmen  alone  were  frequently  sufficient 
to  disperse  their  numberless  multitude.  Horrible  bowlings, 
with  the  noise  of  kettle-drums  and  other  instruments,  an- 
nounced their  approach  ;  clouds  of  dust  descending  from  the 
neighbouring  heights  announced  their  retreat,  and  screened 
their  flight.  In  two  encounters  they  were  overtaken,  and 
left  a  great  many  of  their  host  stretched  upon  the  plain. 
Another  time  their  camp  was  carried,  and  given  up  to  pil- 
lage. The  sovereign  of  Tunis  could  not  reckon  upon  his 
army  for  the  defence  of  his  states,  and  he  himself  set  them 
no  example  of  bravery,  for  he  remained  constantly  shut  up 
in  his  subterranean  grottoes,  to  avoid  at  the  same  time  the 
burning  rays  of  the  sun  and  the  perils  of  fight.  Pressed  by 
his  fears,  he  at  length  could  see  no  hopes  of  safety  but  in 
peace,  and  he  resolved  to  purchase  it,  even  at  the  cost  of  all 
his  treasures.  His  ambassadors  came  repeatedly  to  the 
Christian  army  with  directions  to  make  proposals,  and, 
above  all,  to  endeavour  to  seduce  the  king  of  Sicily  by 
brilliant  promises.* 

*  We  read  in  the  life  of  Bibars  and  in  the  chronicle  of  Ibn-Ferat,  that 
the  sultan  of  Cairo  was  much  dissatisfied  with  the  conduct  of  the  king  of 
Tunis.  The  peace  which  the  latter  made,  left  the  Crusaders  at  liberty  tc 
carry  their  arma  into  Egypt.     Bibars  would  have  wished  the  Christian 


HISTOEY    OF    THE   CEUSADES.  49 

When  the  report  of  these  negotiations  was  spread  through 
the  camp  of  the  Crusaders,  it  gave  birth  to  very  different 
opinions.  The  soldiers,  to  whom  the  plunder  of  Tunis  had 
boen  promised,  wished  to  continue  the  war ;  some  of  the 
leaders,  to  whom  other  hopes  had  been  given,  did  not  evince 
the  same  ardour  as  the  soldiers.  By  the  death  of  Louis  IX. 
and  the  apostolic  ogate,  the  crusade  had  lost  both  its  prin- 
cipal motive  and  that  moral  force  which  had  animated  every- 
thing. The  spirit  of  the  Crusaders,  which  nobody  directed, 
worked  upon  by  a  thousand  various  passions,  floated  in  un- 
certainty, and  this  uncertainty  was  likely,  in  the  end,  to 
keep  the  army  in  a  state  of  inaction,  and*  bring-  about  the 
abandonment  of  the  war.  Philip  was  desirous  of  returning 
to  France,  whither  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom  peremptorily 
called  him.  Most  of  the  barons  and  French  nobles  began 
to  sigh  for  their  country.  At  length  it  was  agreed  that  the 
pacific  proposals  of  the  king  of  Tunis  should  be  deliberated 
upon. 

In  the  council,  those  to  whom  no  promise  had  been  held 
out,  and  who  were  not  so  impatient  as  the  others  to  quit  the 
coast  of  Africa,  were  of  opinion  that  they  ought  to  prose- 
cute the  war.  "  It  wTas  for  the  conquest  of  Tunis  that 
Louis  IX.  had  embarked  at  Carthage,  and  that  the  Christian 
army  had  undergone  so  many  evils.  How  could  they  pay 
higher  honour  to  the  memory  of  Louis  and  so  many  French- 
men, like  him,  martyrs  to  their  zeal  and  their  faith,  than  by 
carrying  on  and  completing  their  work  ?  All  Christendom 
knew  that  the  Crusaders  threatened  Tunis,  that  the  Moors 
fled  at  the  sight  of  them,  and  that  the  city  was  ready  to 
open  its  gates.  What  would  Christendom  say  on  learning 
that  the  Crusaders  had  fled  before  the  vanquished,  and 
robbed  themselves  of  their  own  victory  ?" 

Those  who  were  of  opinion  that  the  peace  should  be  con- 
cluded, answered,  that  the  question  wras  not  only  to  enter 
Tunis,  but  to  conquer  the  country,  which  could  only  be  done 
by  exterminating  the  population.  "  Besides,  a  prolonged 
siege  would  very  much  weaken  the  Christian  army.  Winter 
was  approaching,  in  which  they  could  procure  no  provisions, 

army  to  have  been  detained  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  He  threatened  to 
dethrone  his  ally,  and  told  the  ambassadors  of  the  king  of  Tunis,  tfoat 
■uch  a  prince  as  he  was  not  worthy  to  reign  over  Mussulmans. 

3* 


50  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

and  in  which  continual  rains  would,  perhaps,  cause  more 
diseases  than  excessive  heat  had  done.  The  taking  of  Tunis 
was  not  the  principal  object  of  the  cmsade ;  it  was  neces- 
sary to  make  peace  upon  advantageous  conditions,  to  obtain 
means  to  carry  the  war  afterwards  where  circumstances 
might  require."  The  leaders  who  spoke  thus  were  them- 
selves the  same  that  had  promoted  the  expedition  against 
Tunis :  the  king  of  Sicily  was  at  their  head ;  they  no  longer 
urged  the  necessity  for  c.  taring  the  Mediterranean  of  pirates 
who  infested  the  route  of  pilgrims  ;  they  said  no  more  about 
uoprviug  the  sultan  of  Egypt  of  his  most  powerful  ally. 
The  reason'*  they  gave  for  putting  an  end  to  the  war  were 
precisely  the  same  as  they  had  given  for  commencing  it. 
Their  opinion,  however,  prevailed ;  not  because  others  were 
convinced  by  what  they  heard,  Out,  as  it  often  happens  in 
the  most  important  deliberations,  the  majority  decide  rather 
from  motives  they  do  not  avow,  than  from  those  they  appear 
to  support.* 

On  the  thirty-first  of  October  a  truce  of  ten  years  was 
concluded  between  the  king  of  Tunis  and  the  leaders  of  the 
Christian  army.  All  the  prisoners  were  to  be  given  up  on 
both  sides,  and  Christians  who  had  been  previously  captives 
were  to  be  set  at  liberty.  The  sovereign  of  Tunis  engaged 
not  to  require  of  the  Franks  any  of  the  dues  imposed  in  his 
kingdom  upon  foreign  commerce.  The  treaty  granted  all 
Christians  liberty  to  reside  in  the  states  of  Tunis,  to  build 
churches  there,  and  even  to  preach  their  faith  there.  The 
Mussulman  prince  was  bound  to  pay  to  the  king  of  Sicily 
an  annual  tribute  of  forty  thousand  crowns,  and  two  hun- 
dred and  ten  thousand  ounces  of  gold  to  the  leader  of  the 
Christian  army  for  the  expenses  of  the  war. 

It  was,  doubtless,  the  last  condition  that  decided  the 
question :  the  two  hundred  and  ten  thousand  ounces  of  gold 
exceeded  the  sum  that  Louis  IX.  had  paid  in  Epypt  for  the 
ransom  of  his  army ;  but  a  part  of  it  only  was  received  at 
first.  Who  could  assure  the  payment  of  the  rest  when  the 
Christian  army  had  quitted  the  coast  of  Africa  ?  The  king 
of  Sicily  alone  could  derive  any  advantage  from  this  treaty, 
so  disgraceful  to  the  French  arms ;  he  had  not  only  found 

*  For  the  events  that  followed  the  death  of  St.  Louis,  see  Duchesne, 
lad  ie  Spicileye,  vol.  i. 


HISTOEY    OF    TIIE   CRUSADES.  51 

means  of  making  a  Mussulman  prince  pay  the  tribute  of 
iorty  thousand  gold  crowns,  which  he  owed  the  Pope  as 
vassal  of  the  Holy  See ;  but  the  peace  which  they  had  con- 
cluded, in  some  sort,  placed  at  his  disposal  an  army  capable 
of  undertaking  much  greater  conquests  than  that  of  Tunis. 
Thus,  complaints  immediately  arose  reproaching  the  king  of 
Sicily  with  having,  at  his  pleasure,  changed  the  aim  of  the 
crusade,  in  order  to  make  the  Christian  army  subservient  to 
his  ambition. 

A  few  days  after  the  signing  of  the  truce,  Prince  Edward 
arrived  off  the  coast  of  Carthage,  with  the  English  and 
Scotch  Crusaders.  Having  sailed  from  Aigues-Mortes,  he 
directed  his  course  towards  Palestine,  and  came  to  tako 
orders  from  the  king  of  Erance.  The  Erench  and  Sicilians 
were  prodigal  in  their  expressions  of  sincere  friendship  for 
the  English.  Edward  was  received  with  great  honours,  but 
when  he  learned  they  had  made  peace,  he  retired  into  his 
tent,  and  refused  to  be  present  at  any  of  the  councils  of  the 
Christian  army. 

The  Crusaders  became  impatient  to  quit  an  arid  and  mur- 
derous land,  which  recalled  to  them  nothing  but  misfortunes, 
without  the  least  mixture  of  glory.  The  Christian  army 
embarked  on  the  eighteenth  of  November  for  Sicily ;  and, 
as  if  Heaven  had  decreed  that  this  expedition  should  be 
nothing  but  a  series  of  misfortunes,  a  frightful  tempest 
assailed  the  fleet  just  as  it  was  about  to  enter  the  port  of 
Trapani.  Eighteen  large  ships  and  four  thousand  Crusaders 
were  submerged,  and  perished  in  the  waves.  Most  of  the 
leaders  and  soldiers  lost  their  arms,  equipments,  and  horses. 
If  one  historian  is  to  be  believed,  the  money  received  from 
the  king  of  Tunis  was  lost  in  this  shipwreck. 

After  so  great  a  misfortune,  the  king  of  Sicily  neglected 
no  means  of  succouring  the  Crusaders.  We  may  believe  in 
the  generous  sentiments  which  he  expressed  upon  the  occa- 
sion ;  but  there  is  little  doubt  that,  with  his  feelings  a  hope 
was  mixed  of  deriving  something  favourable  to  his  projects 
from  this  deplorable  circumstance.  "When  all  the  leaders 
were  arrived,  several  councils  were  held  to  ascertain  what 
remained  to  be  done.  As  every  one  deplored  his  own  losses, 
Charles  proposed  a  sure  means  o"  repairing  them,  which  was 
the  conquest  of  Greece.    This  was  the  plan  he  had  arranged ; 


62  HISTORY    OF    THE    vTLUSADES. 

in  the  first  place,  all  the  Crusaders  should  pass  the  winter  in 
Sicily ;  in  the  spring,  the  count  of  Poictiers  should  set  out 
for  Palestine  with  a  part  of  the  army,  the  rest  was  to  follow 
Charles  to  Epirus,  and  from  thence  to  Byzantium.  This 
project  had  something  adventurous  and  chivalric  in  it,  very 
likely  to  seduce  the  French  barons  and  nobles ;  but  letter* 
to  the  young  king  arrived  from  France,  in  which  the  regents 
represented  in  strong  colours  the  grief  and  alarms  of  Iwg 
people.  Philip  declared  that  he  coidd  not  stay  in  Sicily, 
but  should  immediately  return  to  his  own  dominions.  This 
determination  destroyed  all  Charles's  hopes ;  the  French 
lords  would  not  abandon  their  young  monarch,  and  the 
princes  and  all  the  leaders  of  the  Christian  army  laid  aside 
the  cross.  An  Italian  chronicle  reports  that  Charles,  in  his 
vexation,  confiscated  to  his  own  profit  all  the  vessels  and  all 
the  effects  which,  after  the  late  shipwreck,  were  thrown  upon 
the  coasts  of  Sicily.  He  had  profited  by  the  misfortunes  of 
the  army  before  Tunis,  and  he  now  enriched  himself  with 
the  spoils  of  his  companions  in  arms.  This  act  of  injustice 
and  violence  completed  the  dislike  that  most  of  the  Crusa- 
ders had  conceived  for  him ;  this  was  particularly  the  case 
with  the  Genoese,  to  whom  the  fleet  belonged  in  which  the 
Christian  army  had  embarked. 

It  was,  however,  decided  that  they  should  resume  the 
crusade  four  years  later.  The  two  kings,  the  princes,  and 
the  most  influential  leaders,  engaged  themselves  by  oath  to 
embark  for  Syria  with  their  troops  in  the  month  of  July  of 
the  fourth  year ;—  a  vain  promise,  that  not  one  of  them  was 
destined  to  keep,  and  which  they  only  made  then  to  excuse 
in  their  own  eyes  the  inconsistency  of  their  conduct  in  this 
war.  Edward,  who  had  announced  his  resolution  of  passing 
the  winter  in  Sicily,  and  setting  out  for  Palestine  in  the 
spring,  was  the  only  one  that  did  not  break  his  promises. 

The  French  warriors  abandoned  all  thoughts  of  the  cru- 
sade ;  but  they  were  yet  far  from  seeing  the  closing  of  that 
ab)  ss  of  miseries  which  it  had  opened  beneath  their  feet. 
The  king  of  Navarre  died  shortly  after  landing  at  Trapani, 
and  his  wife  Isabella  was  so  deeply  affected  by  his  death, 
that  she  immediately  followed  him  to  the  tomb.  Philip  set 
out  on  his  return  to  France  in  the  month  of  January,  and 


HISTOltY    OF    THE    CUUSADES.  53 

tin  young  queen,  who  had  accompanied  him,  became  another 
victim  of  the  crusade.  In  crossing-  Calabria,  whilst  fording 
a  river  near  Cosenza,  her  horse  fell,  and  she  being  pregnant, 
this  fall  caused  her  death.  Thus  Philip  pursued  his  journey, 
bearing  with  him  the  bodies  of  his  father,  his  brother,  and 
his  wife.  He  learnt  on  his  march  that  the  count  and 
countess  of  Poictiers,  returning  to  Languedoc,  had  both 
died  in  Tuscany  from  the  effects  of  the  contagious  malady 
of  the  coast  of  Africa.  Passing  by  Yiterbo,  Philip  witnessed 
the  tragical  end  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  his  com- 
panions in  arms ;  Henry  d'Allemagne  was  attacked  by  the 
sons  of  the  earl  of  Leicester,  pursued  into  a  church,  and 
massacred  at  the  toot  of  the  altar.  Thus,  great  crimes  were 
joined  with  great  calamities,  to  add  to  the  cruel  remem- 
brances that  this  crusade  was  destined  to  leave  behind  it. 

Philip,  after  crossing  Mount  Cenis,  returned  to  Paris 
through  Burgundy  and  Champagne.  What  days  of  mourning 
for  France !  At  the  departure  of  Louis  IX.  for  the  East, 
the  whole  nation  had  been  impressed  by  the  most  melan- 
choly presentiments  ;  and,  alas !  all  these  presentiments  were 
but  too  fully  realized ! 

It  was  not  the  flag  of  victory,  but  a  funeral  pall  that  pre- 
ceded the  French  warriors  in  their  march.  Funereal  urns, 
the  wreck  of  an  army  but  lately  so  flourishing,  a  young  sick 
prince,  who  had  only  escaped  by  a  miracle  the  death  that 
had  swept  away  his  family — this  was  all  that  came  back  from 
the  crusade !  The  people  came  from  all  parts  to  meet  the 
melancholy  train ;  they  surrounded  the  young  king,  they 
strove  to  approach  the  remains  of  St.  Louis,  and  it  was 
made  evident,  by  their  pious  propriety  and  their  religious 
sadness,  that  the  sentiments  which  led  them  there  were  not 
such  as  generally  precipitate  the  multitude  upon  the  steps 
of  the  masters  of  the  earth. 

On  the  arrival  of  Philip  in  his  capital,  the  bones  and  the 
heart  of  St.  Louis  were  conveyed  to  the  church  of  Notre 
Dame,  where  ecclesiastics  sang  the  hymns  of  the  service  of 
the  dead  during  the  whole  night.  On  the  following  day  the 
funeral  of  the  royal  martyr  was  celebrated  in  the  church  of 
St.  Denis.  In  the  midst  of  an  immense  assemblage  of  all 
classes  of  the  people,  deeply  affected  by  what  they  saw,  the 


54  HISTOEl    OF    THE    CRUSADE&. 

young  monarch  advanced,  bearing  on  his  shoulders  the 
mortal  remains  of  his  father.  He  stopped  several  times  on 
his  way,  and  crosses,  which  were  placed  at  every  station, 
recalled,  up  to  the  last  century,  this  beautiful  picture  of 
filial  piety. 

Louis  IX.  was  deposited  near  his  grandfather  Philip 
Augustus,  and  his  father  Louis  Till.  Although  he  had 
forbidden  his  tomb  to  be  ornamented,  it  was  covered  with 
plates  of  silver,  which  were  afterwards  carried  away  by  the 
English.  At  a  later  period  a  more  terrible  revolution  broke 
into  his  tomb  and  scattered  his  ashes ;  but  this  revolution 
has  not  been  able  to  destroy  his  memory. 

No,  posterity  will  never  cease  to  praise  that  passion  for 
justice  which  filled  the  whole  life  of  Louis  IX.,  that  ardour 
in  search  of  truth,  so  rare  even  among  the  greatest  kings ; 
that  love  of  peace,  to  which  he  sacrificed  even  the  glory  he 
had  acquired  in  arms ;  that  solicitude  for  the  good  of  all ; 
that  tender  consideration  for  poverty ;  that  profound  respect 
for  the  rights  of  misfortune  and  for  the  lives  of  men : — 
virtues  which  astonished  the  middle  ages,  and  which  our 
own  times  still  perceive  in  the  descendants  of  so  good  a 
prince.* 

The  ascendancy  which  his  virtue  and  piety  gave  him  he  only 
employed  in  defending  his  people  against  everything  that  was 
unjust.  This  ascendancy,  which  he  preserved  over  his  age, 
gave  to  his  laws  an  empire,  which  laws,  whatever  they  may 
be,  rarely  obtain  but  with  time.  A  few  years  after  his  reign, 
provinces  demanded  to  be  united  to  the  crown,  under  the 
sole  hope  and  the  sole  condition  of  enjoying  the  wise  ordi- 
nances of  the  king,  who  loved  justice.  Such  were  the  con- 
quests of  St.  Louis.  It  is  well  known,  that  after  his  victories 
over  the  English  he  restored  Guienne  to  them,  in  spite  of 
the  advice  of  his  barons,  who  considered  this  act  of  genero- 
sity to  be  contrary  to  the  interests  of  the  kingdom.  Perhaps 
it  only  belongs  to  elevated  minds  like  his  to  know  how  much 
wisdom  there  is  in  the  counsels  of  moderation !  An  illus- 
trious writer  of  the  last  age  has  said,  when  speaking  of 
Louis  IX.,    that  great   moderate  men  ure  rare,    and   it  i3 

*  We  hope  our  readers,  while  they  peruse  the  latter  part  of  thi* 
otherwise  good  paragraph,  will  not  forget  that  we  are  only  translator*.— 
Trans. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CEUSADES.  55 

doubtless  od  that  account  that  the  world  does  not  under- 
stand them. 

In  the  position  in  which  France  at  that  time  was  placed, 
a  vulgar  genius  would  have  fomented  divisions ;  whereas 
Louis  only  sought  to  appease  them ;  and  it  was  this  spirit  of 
conciliation  which  rendered  him  the  arbitrator  of  kings  and 
nations,  and  gave  him  more  strength  and  power  than  could 
have  been  procured  by  the  combinations  of  the  wisest  policy. 
Among  the  contemporaries  of  St.  Louis  persons  were  not 
wanting  who  blamed  his  moderation,  and  many  who  pride 
themselves  upon  being  skilful  politicians  blame  him  even 
now.  Strange  skill,  which  tends  to  create  a  belief  that 
morality  is  foreign  to  the  happiness  of  nations,  and  which 
cannot  afford  to  the  leaders  of  empires  the  same  virtues 
that  God  has  bestowed  upon  man  for  the  preservation  of 
society ! 

The  more  we  admire  the  reign  of  Louis  IX.  the  greater  is 
our  astonishment  at  his  having  twice  interrupted  the  course 
of  its  blessings,  and  quitted  a  people  he- rendered  happy  by 
his  presence.  But,  whilst  beholding  the  passions  which 
agitate  the  present  generation,  who  will  dare  to  raise  his 
foice  for  the  purpose  of  accusing  past  ages !  If  at  the 
moment  in  which  I  write  this  history  all  Europe  is  moved 
by  the  rumour  of  a  general  rising  against  the  Mussulmans, 
now  masters  of  Byzantium  ; — if  the  most  ardent  disciples  of 
the  modern  school  of  philosophy  are  putting  up  vows  for  the 
triumph  of  the  Gospel  over  the  Koran,  for  the  deliverance 
of  the  Greeks,  and  the  resurrection  of  Athens  and  Lace- 
dsemon,  how  can  we  believe  that  in  the  middle  ages  princes 
and  Christian  nations  would  not  be  affected  by  the  horrible 
state  of  slavery  of  Jerusalem,  and  all  those  boly  regions 
from  which  the  light  first  broke  upon  Christendom  ?  Con- 
sistently with  the  character  which  Louis  IX.  displayed  in 
all  the  circumstances  of  his  life,  how  could  he  remain  in 
different  to  the  calamities  of  the  Christian  colonies,  which 
were  principally  peopled  by  Frenchmen,  and  which  were 
considered  as  another  France, — the  France  of  the  east  ? 
We  must  not  forget,  likewise,  that  the  great  aim  of  his 
policy  was  to  unite  the  nations  of  the  east  and  west  by  the 
ties  of  Christianity ;  and  that  this  aim,  if  he  had  succeeded 
in  it,  would  have  been  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  humanity. 


6tt  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

Ambition  itself  has  been  sometimes  pardoned  for  pro- 
jects much  more  chimerical,  and  wars  much  more  unfor- 
tunate.* 

However  it  may  be,  we  can  venture  to  say  that  the  cap- 
tivity and  death  of  St.  Louis  in  distant  regions  did  not  at  all 
lessen  the  respect  in  which  his  name  and  his  virtues  were 
held  in  Europe.  Perhaps  even  such  extraordinary  misfor- 
tunes, suffered  in  the  name  of  religion  and  of  all  that  was 
then  reverenced,  added  something  to  the  splendour  of  the 
monarchy ;  for  the  times  we  have  seen  were  then  far  distant 
in  which  the  misfortunes  of  kings  have  only  served  to  despoil 
royalty  of  that  which  makes  it  respected  among  men.  The 
death  of  Louis  IX.  was  a  great  subject  of  grief  for  the 
French ;  but  with  the  regret  which  his  loss  created,  there 
was  mingled,  for  the  whole  people,  the  thoughts  of  the 
happy  future  which  Louis  had  prepared,  and  for  pious  minds 
the  hope  of  having  a  guardian  and  a  support  in  heaven. 
Very  shortly  the  death  of  a  king  of  France  was  celebrated 
as  a  fresh  triumph  for  religion, — as  a  fresh  glory  for  his 
country  ;  and  the  anniversary  of  the  day  on  which  he  expired 
became  thereafter  one  of  the  solemn  festivals  of  the  Christian 
Church  and  of  the  French  monarchy. 

A  beautiful  spectacle  was  that  canonical  inquiry  in  which 
the  common  father  of  the  faithful  interrogated  the  contem- 
poraries of  Louis  IX.  upon  the  virtues  of  his  life  and  the 
benefits  of  his  reign !  Frenchmen  of  all  classes  came  for- 
ward to  attest,  upon  the  Gospel,  that  the  monarch  whose 
death  they  lamented  was  worthy  of  all  the  rewards  of 
heaven.  Among  them  were  many  of  his  old  companions  in 
arms,  who  had  shared  his  chains  in  Egypt,  and  beheld  him 
dying  on  his  bed  of  ashes  before  Tunis.  The  whole  of 
Europe  confirmed  their  religious  testimony,  and  repeated 
these  words  of  the  head  of  the  Church  : — "  House  of  France, 
rejoice  at  having  given  to  the  world  so  great  a  prince  ;  rejoice, 
people  of  France,  at  having  had  so  good  a  king  /"  t 

The  death  of  Louis  IX.,  as  we  have  already  said,  had  s*id- 

*  Among  the  numerous  panegyrics  of  Louis  IX.  there  are  few  that 
have  stood  the  test  of  time.  Voltaire  has  drawn  a  fine  portrait  of  the 
good  king.  M.  Damp  martin,  in  his  work  upon  the  kings  of  France,  has 
epoken  of  this  great  prince  with  ability  and  truth. 

f  "Words  of    \e  Bull  of  Canonization. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRCS.VDES.  57 

denly  suspended  all  enterprises  beyond  the  seas.  Edward 
only,  accompanied  by  the  count  of  Brittany,  his  brother 
Edmund,  and  three  hundred  knights,  had  gone  into  Syri;\ 
at  the  head  of  a  small  army  of  five  hundred  Crusaders  from 
Eriesland.  All  these  Crusaders  together  only  formed  a  body 
of  a  thousand  or  twelve  hundred  combatants  ;  and  this  was 
all  that  reached  Asia  of  those  numberless  armies -that  had 
been  raised  in  the  AVest  for  the  deliverance  of  the  Holy 
Land.  So  feeble  a  reinforcement  was  not  calculated  to  in- 
spire confidence  or  restore  security  to  the  Christians  of 
Palestine,  not  yet  recovered  from  their  consternation  at 
hearing  of  the  retreat  of  the  Crusaders  from  before  Tunis, 
and  their  return  into  Europe. 

Most  of  the  princes  and  Christian  states  of  Syria,  in  the 
fear  of  being  invaded,  had  concluded  treaties  with  the  sultan 
of  Cairo ;  many  must  have  hesitated  at  engaging  in  a  war 
from  which  the  slender  succours  from  Europe  could  allow 
them  no  hopes  of  great  advantages,  and  in  which  likewise  they 
had  to  dread  being  abandoned  by  the  Crusaders,  ever  eager 
to  return  to  the  AVest.  Nevertheless,  the  Templars  and  the 
Hospitallers,  who  never  missed  an  opportunity  of  fighting 
with  the  Saracens,  united  themselves  with  Prince  Edward, 
whose  fame  had  preceded  him  into  the  East.  Bibars,  who 
■was  then  ravaging  the  territories  of  Ptolemais,  drew  his 
forces  off  from  a  city  which  he  had  filled  with  alarm,  and 
appeared  for  a  moment  to  have  abandoned  the  execution  of 
his  projects. 

The  little  army  of  the  Christians,  composed  of  from  six  to 
seven  thousand  men,  advanced  upon  the  Mussulman  terri- 
tories, directing  its  course  towards  Phoenicia,  in  order  to 
re-establish  the  communication  that  had  been  interrupted 
between  the  Christian  cities.  In  this  expedition  the  Cru- 
saders had  much  to  suffer  from  excessive  heat ;  many  died 
from  indulging  in  fruits  and  honey,  which  the  country  pro- 
duced in  abundance.  They  marched  afterwards  towards  the 
city  of  Nazareth,  upon  the  walls  of  which  they  planted  the 
standard  of  Christ.  The  soldiers  of  the  cross  could  not 
remember  without  indignation  that  Bibars  had  completely 
destroyed  the  church  of  this  city,  consecrated  to  the  Virgin. 
Nazareth  was  given  up  to  pillage,  and  all  the  Mussulmans 
found  in  the  citv  exDiated.  bv  being  put  to  the  sword,  the 


58  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

burning  and  destruction  of  one  of  the  most  beautiful  monu- 
ments raised  by  the  Christians  in  Syria. 

After  this  victory,  for  which  we  cannot  praise  the  Cru- 
saders, the  Christian  army  had  to  combat  the  Mussulman 
troops,  who  were  impatient  to  avenge  the  excesses  com- 
mitted at  Nazareth.  Whether  he  had  learnt  to  respect  the 
superiority  of  his  enemies,  or  whether  he  had  cause  to  com- 
plain of  the  warriors  of  Palestine,  Edward  returned  within 
the  walls  of  Ptolemais,  and  sought  for  no  more  contests. 
The  frequent  excursions  of  the  Saracens  could  not  provoke 
him  to  take  up  arms ;  but  whilst  he  remained  thus  safe  from 
the  perils  of  war,  he  was  on  the  point  of  perishing  by  the 
hand  of  a  Mussulman  whom  he  had  taken  into  his  service. 
Some  of  the  chronicles  of  the  time  tell  us  that  the  emir  of 
Jaffa  armed  the  hand  of  the  assassin ;  others  say  that  the 
blow  was  directed  by  the  sect  of  the  Ismaelians,  who  still 
subsisted,  notwithstanding  the  war  declared  against  them 
by  both  the  Tartars  and  the  Mamelukes. 

After  having  thus  run  the  danger  of  losing  his  life, 
Edward,  cured  of  his  wounds,  only  thought  of  concluding  a 
truce  with  Bibars ;  and  being  recalled  into  England  by  the 
prayers  of  Henry  III.,  whose  successor  he  was,  he  quitted 
the  East  without  having  done  anything  important  for  the 
cause  he  had  sworn  to  defend.  Thus  all  the  results  of  this 
crusade,  which  had  so  much  alarmed  the  Mussulmans,  were 
reduced,  on  one  side,  to  the  massacre  of  the  unarmed  popu- 
lation of  Nazareth,  and  on  the  other,  to  the  vain  conquest 
of  the  ruins  of  Carthage.  Another  result  of  this  war,  and 
the  only  one  it  had  for  Europe,  was  to  entirely  discourage 
the  Christian  warriors,  and  make  them  forget  the  East. 
After  Edward,  no  prince  from  the  West  ever  crossed  the 
«5eas  to  combat  with  the  infidels  in  Asia,  and  the  crusade  in 
which  he  took  a  part  so  little  glorious,  was  the  last  of  those 
which  had  for  object  the  deliverance  or  recovery  of  the  Holy 
Land. 

Among  the  circumstances  that  produced  the  failure  of 
this  crusade,  history  must  not  forget  the  protracted  vacancy 
of  the  papal  throne,  during  which  no  voice  was  raised  to 
animate  the  Crusaders,  in  which  there  was  no  authority 
powerful  enough,  particularly  after  the  death  of  St.  Louis, 
to  direct  their  enterprise.     After  a  lapse  of  two  years,  how- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   CRUSADES.  Ob 

ever,  the  conclave  chose  a  successor  of  St.  Peter ;  and,  fortu- 
nately for  the  eastern  Christians,  the  suffrages  fell  upon 
Thibault,  archdeacon  of  Liege,  who  had  followed  the  Prisons 
into  Asia,  and  whom  the  intelligence  of  his  elevation  found 
still  in  Palestine.  The  Christians  of  Syria  had  reason  to 
hope  that  the  new  pontiff,  for  so  long  a  time  a  witness  of 
their  perils  and  their  miseries,  would  not  fail  to  employ 
all  his  power  to  succour  them.  Thibault  gave  them  an 
assurance  of  it  before  he  quitted  Pfcolemais,  and  in  a  dis- 
course which  he  addressed  to  the  assembled  people,  he  took 
for  his  text  this  verse  of  the  hundred  and  thirty-seventh 
Psalm  :  "  If  I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem,  may  I  myself  bo 
forgotten  among  men!" 

The  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  grand  masters  of  the 
Temple  and  the  Hospital  accompanied  Gregory  X.  into  the 
West.  On  his  return,  the  pontiff  applied  himself  at  once 
to  the  re-establishment  of  peace  in  Italy  and  Germany.  He 
engaged  the  princes,  particularly  the  king  of  Prance,  to 
unite  their  efforts  in  assisting  the  Holy  Land.  Philip  con- 
tented himself  with  sending  a  few  troops  into  the  East,  and 
with  advancing  thirty-six  thousand  silver  marks  to  the  Pope, 
for  which  sum  he  held  as  security  all  the  possessions  of  the 
Templars  in  his  kingdom.  Pisa,  Genoa,  and  Marseilles  fur- 
nished several  galleys,  and  five  hundred  warriors  were 
embarked  for  Ptolemais,  at  the  expense  of  the  sovereign 
pontiff. 

This  assistance  was  fiar  from  answering  the  hopes  or  the 
wants  of  the  Christian  colonies.  Gregory  resolved  to  inte- 
rest all  Christendom  in  his  project,  and  for  that  purpose 
convoked  a  council  at  Lyons,  in  1274.  This  council  was 
much  more  numerous  and  more  solemn  than  that  which 
Innocent  IV.  had  assembled  thirty  years  before  in  the  same 
city.  At  this  were  present  the  patriarchs  of  Jerusalem  and 
Constantinople,  more  than  a  thousand  bishops  and  arch- 
bishops, the  envoys  of  the  emperors  of  the  East  and  of  the 
West,  those  of  the  kings  of  Prance  and  Cyprus,  and  of  all 
the  princes  of  Europe  and  beyond  the  seas.  In  this  nu- 
merous assembly,  no  persons  attracted  so  much  attention 
as  the  Tartar  princes  and  ambassadors,  sent  by  the  powerful 
head  of  the  Moguls,  to  form  an  alliance  with  the  Christians 
against  the  Mussulmans;   several  of  these  Tartar  princea 


60  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

received  baptism  from  the  hands  of  the  Pope,  and  Christiana 
who  were  v>  itnesses  of  this  ceremony  saw  in  it  an  assured 
pledge  of  the  Divine  promises. 

All  admired  the  power  of  God  who  had  chosen  the  instru- 
ments of  his  designs  from  remote  and  little  known  regions ; 
the  crowd  of  the  faithful  looked  upon  the  supreme  head  of 
the  hordes  of  Tartary  as  another  Cyrus,  whom  Providence 
had  charged  with  the  destruction  of  Babylon  and  the  de- 
liverance of  Jerusalem.  At  the  last  sitting,  the  Council  of 
Lyons  decreed  that  a  new  crusade  should  be  undertaken, 
and  that  during  ten  years  a  tenth  should  be  levied  upon  all 
ecclesiastical  property.  Palasologus,  who  at  length  sub- 
mitted to  the  Latin  church,  promised  to  send  troops  for  the 
deliverance  of  the  heritage  of  Christ ;  the  Pope  recognized 
Rodolph  of  Hapsbourg  as  emperor  of  the  "West,  upon  con- 
dition that  he  would  go  into  Palestine  at  the  head  of  an 
army. 

But  notwithstanding  the  grand  spectacle  of  such  a  council, 
the  decisions  and  the  exhortations  of  the  Pope  and  the  pre- 
lates could  not  arouse  the  enthusiasm  of  the  faithful,  which 
was  no  longer  anything,  to  borrow  an  expression  from 
Scripture,  "  but  the  smoking  remains  of  a  burnt  cloth." 
Gregory  X.  had  succeeded  in  re-establishing  peace  among 
the  Italian  republics,  and  in  terminating  all  the  discords  of 
Germany  relative  to  the  succession  to  the  empire :  no  war 
interfered  with  the  crusade ;  but  the  minds  of  both  princes 
and  nations  had  taken  a  fresh  direction.  We  still  possess  a 
written  document  of  this  period,  which,  doubtless,  obtained 
the  approbation  if  not  the  encouragement  of  the  pope,  and 
which  appears  to  us  well  calculated  to  throw  a  light  upon 
the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  show  us  what  was  then  the  general 
opinion  of  expeditions  to  the  East.  In  this  document,  which 
will  be  considered  whimsical,  at  least  in  its  form,  the  author, 
Humbert  de  Romanis,  endeavours  to  revive  the  zeal  of 
Christians  for  the  holy  war,  and,  while  deploring  the  indif- 
ference of  his  contemporaries,  he  points  out  eight  obstacles 
to  the  eifects  of  his  preaching :  1st.  A  sinful  habit ;  2nd.  The 
dread  of  fatigue;  3rd.  Repugnance  to  quit  their  native  country, 
4th.  An  excessive  love  of  family  ;  5th.  The  evil  discourses  of 
men  ;  6th.  A  weakness  of  mind  that  creates  a  belief  that  every 
thing  is  impossible  ;  7th.  Bad  examples  ;  Sth.  A  faith  without 


HISTORY    OF   1HE    CRUSADES.  61 

warmth.  To  all  these  motives  for  indifference  the  author 
might  have  added  other  reasons  drawn  from  the  policy  and 
the  new  interests  of  Europe  ;  but  without  allowing  himself  to 
be  stopped  by  so  many  obstacles,  the  intrepid  defender  of  the 
crusades,  proceeding  always  by  enumerations  and  categories, 
hastens  to  denote  seven  powerful  passions,  which,  according 
to  him,  ought  to  cause  the  partisans  of  the  holy  to  triumph  ; 
these  reasons  were  :  1st.  Zeal  for  the  glory  of  God ;  2nd.  Zeal 
for  the  Christian  faith ;  3rd.  Brotherly  charity;  4th.  Devo- 
tional respect  for  the  Holy  Land ;  5th.  The  war  commenced 
by  the  Mussulmans;  6th.  The  example  of  the  first  Cru- 
saders; 7th.  The  blessings  of  the  Church.  After  these  enu- 
merations, Humbert  de  Bomanis  repeats  the  objections  that 
were  made  in  his  time  against  undertaking  crusades.  Some 
said  that  wars,  of  whatever  kind  they  might  be,  only  served 
to  promote  the  shedding  of  blood,  and  that  there  were  quite 
enough  of  those  that  could  not  be  avoided,  and  of  those  that 
people  were  obliged  to  make  in  self-defence  ;  others  said  that 
it  was  tempting  God  to  quit  a  land  in  which  his  will  had 
caused  us  to  be  born,  and  in  which  his  goodness  heaped 
blessings  upon  us,  to  go  into  a  country  which  God  had 
given  to  other  nations,  and  in  which  we  were  constantly 
abandoned  by  him  to  all  the  miseries  of  exile.  It  was  fur- 
ther said,  that  it  was  not  permissible  to  invade  the  territories 
of  the  Saracens,  that  there  was  no  more  reason  for  pursuing 
the  Mussulmans  than  the  Jews,  that  the  wars  made  against 
them  would  never  eifect  their  conversion,  and  in  short,  that 
this  war  did  not  appear  to  be  agreeable  to  God,  since  he 
permitted  so  many  misfortunes  to  overwhelm  the  Crusaders. 
Humbert  de  Eomanis,  in  his  book,  answers  all  these  and 
many  other  objections  ;  but  these  objections  themselves  were 
founded  upon  the  spirit  of  the  age,  which  could  not  be 
changed  by  reasoning.  He  in  vain  repeated  that  the  Holy 
Land  originally  belonged  to  the  Christians,  and  that  they 
had  the  right  to  endeavour  to  reconquer  it ;  that  the  vine  of 
the  Lord  ought  to  be  defended  by  the  sword  against  those 
who  wished  to  root  it  up ;  that  if  they  extirpate  i  the  bram- 
bles from  a  barren  soil,  they  were  much  more  strongly  bound 
to  drive  from  a  holy  land  a  rude  and  barbarous  nation.  He 
in  vain  repeated  what  had  been  so  often  said  before,  that  the 
*nisfortunes  of  the  crusades  did  not  happen  because  thoss 


62  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRtSADES. 

crusades  were  displeasing  to  G-od,  but  because  it  was  God's 
will  to  punish  the  Crusaders,  and  try  their  constancy  and 
faith.  All  this  display  of  ecclesiastical  erudition  and  argu- 
mentation persuaded  nobody  ;  not  because  people  were  more 
enlightened  than  they  had  been  some  years  before,  but 
because  they  entertained  other  thoughts :  similar  discourses 
would  have  succeeded  admirably  in  the  preceding  century, 
when  addressed  to  dominant  passions ;  but  they  produced 
no  effect  when  addressed  to  indifference. 

This  European  indifference  was  fatal  to  the  Christian 
colonies  of  the  East ;  it  gave  them  up  without  defence  to 
the  mercy  of  an  enemy  who  every  day  became  more  power- 
ful, and  whose  fanaticism  was  inflamed  by  victory.  On 
the  other  hand,  fresh  symptoms  of  decay,  and  new  signs  of 
approaching  ruin,  were  observable  in  the  confederation  of 
the  Franks  of  Syria.  All  those  petty  principalities,  all  those 
cities  scattered  along  the  Syrian  coasts  were  shared  among 
them ;  and  all  the  passions  which  the  spirit  of  rivalry  gives 
birth  to  became  the  auxiliaries  of  the  Saracens.  Every  one 
of  these  petty  states,  in  a  constant  state  of  fear,  eagerly 
purchased  a  few  days  of  peace,  or  a  few  months  of  existence, 
by  treaties  with  Bibars,  treaties  in  which  the  common 
honour  and  interests  of  the  Christians  were  almost  always 
sacrificed.  The  sultan  of  Cairo  did  not  disdain  to  conclude 
a  treaty  of  alliance  with  a  single  city,  or  even  with  a  town ; 
and  nothing  is  more  curious  than  to  see  figuring  in  these 
acts  of  policy,  on  the  one  side  the  sovereign  of  Egypt, 
Syria,  Mesopotamia,  and  twenty  other  provinces ;  and  on 
the  other  a  little  city  like  Sidon*  or  Tortosa,  with  its  fields, 
its  orchards,  and  its  mills  :  a  deplorable  contrast,  which  must 
have  made  the  Christians  feel  the  extent  of  their  humilia- 
tion, and  proved  to  them  all  they  had  to  fear.  In  all  these 
treaties  it  was  the  Mussulman  policy  to  promote  division 
among  the  Franks,   and   to   hold  them  in  a  state  of  de- 


*  The  Arabian  chroniclers  have  preserved  several  of  these  treaties :  we 
find  in  the  extracts  from  Oriental  manuscripts,  a  treaty  between  the 
sultan  of  Cairo  and  the  little  city  of  Tortosa.  When  reading  the  titles 
and  the  dependencies  of  the  masters  and  the  inhf  bitants  of  Tortosa,  we 
may  fancy  ws  read  the  lease  of  a  bailiwick  or  a  farm,  made  before  a 
notary. 


HISTOEY    OF    THE    CRUSADES,  63 

pendence,*  never  considering  them  as  allies,  out  as  vassals, 
farmers  or  tributaries. 

Such  was  the  peace  enjoyed  by  the  Christian  states  in 
Syria  ;  and  a  further  matter  to  be  deplored  was,  that  there 
were  then  three  pretenders  to  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem : 
■ —  the  king  of  Cyprus,  the  king  of  Sicily,  and  Mary  of 
Antioch,  who  was  descended  from  the  fourth  daughter  of 
Isabella,  the  wife  of  Amaury.  Parties  disputed,  and  even 
fought  for  a  kingdom  half  destroyed ;  or  rather  they  con- 
tended for  the  disgrace  of  ruining  it  entirely,  and  giving  it 
up,  rent  by  discord,  to  the  domination  of  the  Saracens. 

Bibars,  in  the  meanwhile,  steadily  pursued  the  course  of 
Ins  conquests ;  every  day  fame  spread  abroad  an  account  of 
some  fresh  triumph  ;  at  one  time  he  re-entered  Cairo, 
dragging  in  his  train  a  king  of  Nubia,  whom  he  had  just 
conquered  ;  at  another,  he  returned  from  Armenia,  whence 
he  brought  thirty  thousand  horses  and  ten  thousand  children 
of  both  sexes.  These  accounts  spread  terror  among  the 
Christian  cities,  a  terror  that  was  very  little  mitigated  by 
their  treaties  with  the  sultan  of  Egypt ;  no  one  could  tell 
what  might  be  the  next  conquest  Bibars  contemplated,  and 
every  city  was  trembling  lest  it  should  be  the  next  object  of 
his  ambition  or  his  fury,  when  the  death  of  this  fierce  con- 
queror afforded  the  Christians  a  few  moments  of  security 
and  joy. 

The  end  of  Bibars  is  related  after  various  manners  ;  we 
will  follow  the  account  of  the  historian  Ibn-Ferat,  with 
whose  expressions  even  we  shall  sometimes  make  free. 
Bibars  was  about  to  set  out  for  Damascus,  to  fight  the 
Tartars  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Euphrates ;  but  before 
his  departure  he  demanded  an  extraordinary  impost.  The 
imaun  M ohyeddin  Almoury  addressed  remonstrances  to  him 
on  the  subject ;  but  the  sultan  replied  :  "  Oh  !  my  master,  I 
will  abolish  this  tax  when  I  shall  have  conquered  our 
enemies."  When  Bibars  had  triumphed  over  the  Tartars, 
he  wrote  in  the  following  terms  to  the  chief  of  the  divan  at 
Damascus  :  "  We  will  not  dismount  from  our  horse  until 

*  In  Ibn-Ferat  we  may  read  the  letter  which  the  sultan  of  Cairo  wrote 
on  the  subject  of  the  princess  of  Berouth,  who  had  left  her  little  princi- 
pality without  the  consent  of  the  sultan.  (See  the  extracts  from  Arabic 
manuscripts.) 


$4  HISTORY    OP  THE    CRUSADES. 

thou  hast  levied  an  impost  of  two  hundred  thousand  dirhenia 
upon  Damascus,  one  of  three  hundred  thousand  upon  its 
territories,  one  of  three  hundred  thousand  upon  its  towns, 
and  one  of  ten  hundred  thousand  dirhemg  upon  the  south- 
ern provinces."  Thus  the  joy  created  by  the  victory  of 
Bibars  was  changed  into  sadness,  and  the  people  prayed  for 
the  death  of  the  sultan.  Complaints  were  carried  to  the 
cheick  Mohyeddin,  a  pious  and  respected  man ;  *  and 
scarcely  was  the  levy  of  the  tribute  begun  when  Bibars  was 
razed  from  the  roll  of  the  living — he  died  poisoned. 

The  Arabian  historians  place  Bibars  among  the  great 
princes  of  the  dynasty  of  the  Baharite  Mamelukes.  He 
was  originally  sold  as  a  slave,  and  although  he  only  lived 
among  soldiers,  a  penetrating  sagacity  of  mind  supplied  the 
place  of  education.  When  afterwards,  he  had  become  familial 
with  war,  and  had  been  cast  among  the  factions  *rf  the  arrny, 
he  had  acquired  all  the  knowledge  that  was  necessary  to 
enable  him  to  reign  over  the  Mamelukes.  The  quality 
which  was  of  most  service  to  him  in  the  career  of  his  am- 
bition was  his  incredible  activity  ;  during  the  seventeen 
years  of  his  reign,  he  did  not  allow  himself  one  day  of  repose ; 
he  was  present,  almost  at  the  same  time,  in  Syria,  in  Egypt, 
and  upon  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  :  the  chronicles  relate 
that  he  was  frequently  perambulating  the  streets  of  Da- 
mascus, whilst  his  courtiers  were  awaiting  the  moment  of 
his  waking  at  the  gates  of  the  palace  of  Cairo.  As  two  sul- 
tans of  Egypt  had  perished  beneath  his  hands,  and  as  he  had 
arrived  at  empire  by  means  of  violent  revolutions,  that  which 
he  most  dreaded  was  the  influence  of  his  own  example  ;  all 
those  whose  ambition  he  feared,  or  whose  fidelity  he  doubted, 
were  immediately  sacrificed.  The  most  simple  communica- 
tions between  man  and  man  were  sufficient  to  alarm  his 
fierce  aad  suspicious  temper  ;  if  oriental  historians  may  be 
credited,  during  the  reign  of  Bibars,  friends  shunned  each 

*  This  account  is  much  longer  in  Ibn-Ferat ;  whilst  endeavouring  to 
preserve  the  tone  and  the  Oriental  colouring  of  it,  we  have  felt  it  neces- 
sary to  abridge  it.  The  chronicle  of  Ibn-Ferat,  which  Ss  a  collection  of 
many  other  chronicles,  contains  several  different  versions  ;  this  appears  to 
us  the  most  probable,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  one  best  calculated  to 
show  what  were  the  resources  of  the  nations  of  Asia  against  the  excesses 
of  despotism. 


HISTORY    OE    THE    CRUSADES.  G5 

other  in  the  streets,  and  no  man  durst  enter  into  the  house 
of  another.  "When  it  was  important  to  him  to  conceal  his 
designs,  to  cast  a  veil  over- his  proceedings,  or  himself  to 
avoid  the  public  eye,  woe  to  him  who  should  divine  his 
thought,  pronounce  his  name,  or  salute  him  on  his  way. 
Severe  with  his  soldiers,  a  flatterer  with  his  emirs,  entertain- 
ing no  repugnance  for  artifice,  preferring  violence,  sporting 
with  treaties  and  oaths,  practising  a  dissimulation  that 
nobody  could  penetrate,  possessed  by  an  avarice  that  made 
him  pitiless  in  the  levying  of  tributes ;  having  never  re- 
treated before  an  enemy,  before  an  obstacle,  or  before  a 
crime,  his  genius  and  character  seemed  made  for  the  govern- 
ment, which  he  had  in  some  sort  founded,  a  monstrous 
government,  which  sustained  itself  by  vices  and  excesses, 
and  which  could  not  possibly  have  subsisted  in  conjunction 
with  moderation  and  virtue. 

His  enemies  and  his  subjects  trembled  equally  before  him  ; 
they  trembled  still  around  that  litter  which  transported  his 
remains  from  Damascus  to  Cairo.  But  so  many  excesses, 
so  many  violences,  so  many  triumphs,  which  only  ministered 
to  his  personal  ambition,  were  not  able  to  fix  the  crown  in 
his  family ;  his  two  sons  only  ascended  the  throne  to  descend 
from  it  again.  Kelaoun,  the  bravest  of  the  emirs,  soon 
usurped  the  sovereign  power ;  a  uniform  line  of  succession 
to  the  throne  was  not  at  all  likely  to  be  preserved  in  an 
army  constantly  exposed  to  sedition.  Every  Mameluke 
believed  himself  born  for  empire,  and  in  this  republic  of 
slaves  it  appeared  permissible  for  every  one  to  dream  of 
tyranny.  A  thing  almost  incredible, — that  which  appeared 
most  calculated  to  ruin  this  band  of  turbulent  soldiery,  was 
precisely  that  which  saved  it ;  weakness  or  incapacity  could 
never  support  itself  long  upon  the  throne,  and  amidst  the 
tumult  of  factions,  it  almost  always  happened  that  the  most 
brave  and  the  most  able  was  chosen  to  direct  the  govern- 
ment, and  lead  in  war. 

Bibars  had  commenced  the  ruin  of  the  Christians ;  Ke- 
laoun was  destined  to  complete  it.  In  the  West,  Gregory 
in  vain  prosecuted  the  preparations,  or  rather  the  preachings 
of  the  crusade ;  he  several  times  renewed  his  intreaties  to 
Bodolph  of  Hapsburg,  but  Eodolph  had  an  empire  to  pre- 
serve ;  it  was  useless  for  <  he  pope  to  threaten  to  deprive 
Vol.  III.— 4 


Q6  HISTORY    OF    THE    CttUSAUES. 

him  of  his  crown;  the  new  emperor  saw  much  less  dai.gcr 
for  him  in  the  anger  of  the  sovereign  pontiff  than  in  an 
expedition  which  would  lead  him  so  far  from  his  states.  At 
'ength  Gregory  died,  without  having  been  able  to  fulfil  the 

frromises  he  had  made  to  the  Christians  of  the  East.  Pa- 
estine  received,  from  time  to  time,  some  succours  from 
Europe ;  but  these  succours,  scarcely  ever  arriving  sea- 
sonably, appeared  less  likely  to  increase  than  to  compromise 
its  safety.  The  king  of  Sicily,  who  had  caused  himself  to 
be  proclaimed  king  of  Jerusalem,  sent  some  soldiers  and  a 
governor  to  Ptolemais;  he  was  preparing  to  make  a  for- 
midable expedition  into  Syria,*  and  his  ambition,  perhaps, 
might,  in  this  circumstance,  have  been  serviceable  to  the 
cause  of  the  Christians,  if  a  revolution  had  not  suddenly 
put  an  end  to  his  projects. 

The  discontent  of  the  people  in  his  states,  particularly  in 
Sicily,  continually  increased.  The  people  had  been  burdened 
with  a  heavy  tax  for  the  last  crusade,  and  the  publication  of 
a  new  one  was  received  with  many  murmurs ;  the  enemies 
of  Charles  saw  nothing  in  the  assumption  of  the  cross  but  a 
signal  for  violence  and  brigandage :  it  is  under  this  sacred 
banner,  they  said,  that  he  is  accustomed  to  shed  innocent 
blood :  they  further  remembered  that  the  conquest  of  Naples 
had  been  made  under  the  standard  of  the  cross.  At  length 
the  signal  of  revolt  being  given,  eight  thousand  Frenchmen 
were  immolated  to  the  manes  of  Conradin,  and  the  Sicilian 
vespers  completed  the  destruction  of  all  Charles's  Eastern 
projects. 

Kelaoun  from  that  time  had  it  in  his  power  to  attack  the 
Christians ;  but  busied  in  establishing  his  authority  among 
the  Mamelukes,  and  in  repulsing  the  Tartars,  who  had  ad- 
vanced towards  the  Euphrates,  he  consented  to  conclude  a 
truce  with  the  Franks  of  Ptolemais.  It  may  plainly  be 
perceived  by  this  treaty,  which  the  Arabian  authors  have 

*  Many  historians  think  that  Charles's  preparations  were  intended  to 
be  directed  against  Constantinople.  Without  contradicting  this  opinion, 
we,  may  believe  that  the  king  of  Sicily  thought  likewise  of  the  king- 
dom of  Jerusalem.  Charles  was  always  very  secret  in  his  political  pro- 
jects ;  and  very  frequently  the  dissimulation  of  princes  causes  as  much 
embarrassment  to  historians  as  it  could  have  done  ill  to  the  countries 
exposed  to  its  attempts. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CltUSADES.  67 

preserved,  what  were  the  designs  of  the  sultans  of  Cairo, 
and  the  extent  of  the  ascendancy  they  assumed  over  their 
feeble  enemies.*  The  Christians  engaged,  in  the  event  of 
any  prince  of  the  Franks  making  an  expedition  into  Asia,  to 
warn  the  infidels  of  the  coming  of  Christian  armies  from  the 
"West.  This  was  at  the  same  time  signing  a  dishonourable 
condition,  and  renouncing  all  hopes  of  a  crusade. 

The  armies  of  the  West,  besides,  were  fighting  for  other 
interests  than  those  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  there  was  no 
reason  to  believe  they  would  be  seen  in  Asia  for  a  length 
of  time.  Most  of  the  princes  of  Europe  at  that  time  never 
bestowed  a  thought  upon  the  Mussulmans  or  their  victories ; 
such  princes  or  states  as  had  any  interests  to  guard  in  the 
East,t  not  only  allied  themselves  without  scruple  with  the 
sultan  of  Egypt,  but  promised  by  treaties,  and  swore  upon 
the  Gospel,  to  declare  themselves  the  enemies  of  all  the 
Christian  powers  that  should  attack  the  states  of  their 
Mussulman  ally. 

Thus  all  these  treaties,  dictated  sometimes  by  ambition 
and  avarice,  and  sometimes  by  fear,  raised  every  day  a  new 
barrier  between  the  Christians  of  the  East  and  those  of  the 
West.  Besides,  these  treaties  were  no  checks  upon  tho 
sultan  of  Cairo,  who  always  found  some  pretext  for  breaking 

*  The  text  of  this  treaty  may  be  read  in  the  life  of  Kelaoun. 

•f  M.  de  Sacy  has  translated  a  treaty  concluded  between  the  sultan  of 
Egypt  and  the  kings  of  Sicily  and  Arragon.  The  following  is  one  of  the 
clauses  of  this  treaty: — "  If  the  case  should  happen  that  the  pope  of 
Rome,  the  kings  of  the  Franks,  of  the  Greeks,  of  the  Tartars,  or  others, 
should  ask  the  king  of  Arragon  or  his  brothers,  or  should  cause  to  be 
asked  in  the  states  of  their  dominions,  auxiliary  troops  or  any  succour, 
whether  of  cavalry,  infantry,  money,  vessels,  clothing,  or  arms,  the  said 
princes  would  give  no  consent  to  it,  either  openly  or  in  secret ;  they  would 
grant  them  no  succour,  and  would  consent  to  nothing  of  the  kind.  If 
the  king  of  Arragon  should  learn  that  one  of  the  above-named  kings 
should  have  any  intention  of  carrying  war  into  the  states  of  the  sultan, 
or  to  cause  him  any  prejudice,  he  will  send  and  advise  the  sultan  of  it, 
and  will  inform  him  on  what  side  his  enemies  propose  to  attack  him,  and 
that  with  the  shortest  delay  possible,  before  they  shall  be  put  in  motion, 
and  he  will  conceal  nothing  concerning  it  from  him."  This  treaty  is 
very  long,  and  provides  against  all  difficulties.  We  may  here  make  a 
general  remark,  which  is,  that  most  of  the  treaties  made  between  the 
Orientals  and  the  Christians  surpass,  in  some  sort,  the  sagacity  of  modern 
diplomacy  ;  so  much  mistrust  gave  foresight  to  the  negotiators  and  the 
contracting  powers. 


68  HISTORY    Or   THE    CRUSADES. 

them,  when  <var  presented  more  advantages  than  peace.  It 
was  thus  with  the  fortress  of  Margat,  situated  upon  tha 
river  Eleuctera,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Tripoli.  The 
Hospitallers  who  guarded  this  castle  were  accused  of  making 
incursions  upon  the  lands  of  the  Mussulmans ;  and  this 
accusation,  which  was  not  perhaps  without  foundation,  was 
soon  followed  by  the  siege  of  the  place.  The  towers  and 
ramparts  for  a  long  time  resisted  the  shock  of  the  machines 
of  war ;  the  garrison  repulsed  every  attack ;  but  whilst  they 
were  fighting  upon  the  walls,  and  at  the  foot  of  the  walls, 
miners  were  digging  away  the  earth  from  beneath  them. 
At  length  the  fortress,  undermined  on  all  sides,  was  ready 
to  fall  to  pieces  at  the  first  signal.  The  Hospitallers  made 
an  honourable  capitulation,  and  Margat  opened  its  gates 
to  the  Mussulman  army. 

Upon  the  seacoast,  between  Margat  and  Tortosa,  stood 
another  castle,  to  which  a  Frank  nobleman  had  retired, 
whom  some  of  the  Arabian  chroniclers  call  the  sieur  de 
Telima,  and  others,  the  sieur  Barthelemi.  This  Frank 
lord  never  ceased  ravaging  the  lands  of  his  neighbourhood, 
and  every  day  returned  home  to  his  fortress  loaded  with  the 
spoils  of  the  Saracens.  Kelaoun  was  desirous  of  attacking 
the  castle  of  the  sieur  Barthelemi,  but  thinking  it  impreg- 
nable, he  wrote  to  the  count  of  Tripoli, — "  It  is  thou  who 
hast  built,  or  hast  allowed  to  be  built,  this  castle ;  evil  be  to 
thee,  evil  be  to  thy  capital,  evil  be  to  thy  people,  if  it  be 
not  promptly  demolished."  *  The  count  of  Tripoli  was  the 
more  alarmed  at  these  menaces,  from  the  Mussulman  troops 
being,  at  the  moment  he  received  the  letter,  in  his  terri- 
tories :  he  offered  the  seigneur  Barthelemi  considerable 
lands  in  exchange  for  his  castle  ;  he  made  him  the  most 
brilliant  promises  and  offers,  but  all  in  vain.  At  length  the 
son  of  Barthelemi  interfered  in  the  negotiation,  and  set  out 
to  implore  the  compassion  of  the  sultan  of  Cairo.  The 
enraged  old  man  flew  after  his  son,  overtook  him  in  the  city 
of  Ptolemais,  and  poniarded  him  before  the  assembled 
people.  This  parricide  disgusted  all  the  Christians;  and 
Barthelemi  was  at  last  abandoned  by  his  own  soldiers,  who 
held  his  crime  in  great  horror.     The  castle,  which  was  left 

*  We  can  find  no  document  on  this  subject  in  the  chronicles  of  the 
West ;  our  guide  has  been  Ibn-Ferat. 


HISTORY   OF    THE    CItUSADES.  68 

unprotected,  was  shortly  after  demolished.  From  that  t:m« 
the  sieur  Barthelemi  became  the  most  inveterate  enemy  ol 
the  Christians ;  and,  retired  among  the  infidels,  was  con- 
stantly employed  in  associating  them  with  his  vengeance, 
and  in  urging  the  destruction  of  the  Christian  cities. 

His  pitiless  hatred  had  but  too  many  opportunities  of 
being  satisfied.  The  sultan  of  Cairo  pursued  the  war  against 
the  Christians,  and  everything  seemed  to  favour  his  enter- 
prizes.  He  had  for  a  long  time  entertained  the  project  of 
gaining  possession  of  Laodicea,  whose  port  rivalled  that  of 
Alexandria ;  but  the  citadel  of  that  city,  surrounded  by  the 
waters  of  the  sea,  was  inaccessible ;  an  earthquake,  which 
shook  the  towers  of  the  fortress,  facilitated  his  conquest  of 
it.  The  castle  of  Carac  and  some  other  forts,  built  on  the 
coast  of  Phoenicia,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Mussulmans. 
After  having  thus  laid  open  all  the  avenues  to  Tripoli,  the 
sultan  turned  the  whole  of  his  attention  to  the  siege  of  that 
city.  Neither  the  faith  of  treaties,  nor  the  recent  submis- 
sions of  Bohemond,  were  able  to  retard  for  a  moment  the 
fall  of  a  flourishing  city  :  no  Christian  city,  no  prince  of 
Palestine  offered  the  least  assistance  to  Tripoli.  Such  in- 
deed was  the  spirit  of  division  that  always  reigned  among 
the  Franks,  that  the  Templars,  in  conjunction  with  the 
seigneur  de  Giblet,  had  entertained  the  project  of  intro- 
ducing some  Christian  soldiers  into  Bohemond' s  city,  and 
taking  it  by  surprise.  They  were  not  able,  it  is  true,  to 
execute  their  design ;  but  what  evils  must  not  these  odious 
jealousies,  these  black  treacheries,  have  brought  upon  the 
feeble  remains  of  the  Christian  colonies  ! 

A  formidable  army  appeared  before  the  walls  of  Tripoli, 
and  a  great  number  of  machines  were  erected  against  the 
ramparts  :  after  a  siege  of  thirty-five  days,  the  Mussulmans 
penetrated  into  the  city,  fire  and  sword  in  hand.  Seven 
thousand  Christians  fell  under  the  arms  of  the  conqueror  ; 
the  women  and  children  were  dragged  away  into  slavery,  and 
the  terrified  crowd  vainly  sought  an  asylum  fmm  the  blood- 
thirsty Mamelukes  in  the  island  of  St.  Nicholas.  Aboulfeda 
relates,  that  having  occasion  to  go  to  that  island,  a  few  days 
after  the  taking  of  Tripoli,  he  found  it  covered  with  dead 
bodies.  Some  of  the  inhabitants  having  succeeded  in  getting 
on  board  ships,  fled  away  from  their  desolate  country ;  but 


70  HISTOET    OF    THE    CEJSADES. 

the  sea  drove  them  back  again  upon  the  shore,  where  thejf 
were  massacred  by  the  Mussulmans.  Not  only  the  pecula- 
tion of  Tripoli  was  almost  exterminated,  but  the  sultan  gave 
orders  that  the  city  should  be  burnt  and  demolished.  The 
port  of  Tripoli  attracted  a  great  part  of  the  commerce  of  the 
Mediterranean  ;  the  city  contained  more  than  four  thousand 
silk-looms ;  its  palaces  were  admired,  its  towers  and  its 
fortifications  appeared  impregnable.  So  many  sources  of 
prosperity,  all  that  could  cause  peace  to  flourish  or  serve  for 
defence  in  war,  all  perished  under  the  flame,  the  axe,  and 
the  hammer !  The  principal  aim  of  the  Mussulman  policy 
in  this  war,  was  to  destroy  all  that  the  Christians  had  done  ; 
to  leave  no  traces  of  their  power  upon  the  coasts  of  Syria ; 
nothing  which  could  afterwards  attract  thither  the  princes 
and  warriors  of  the  West,  nothing  that  could  yield  them  the 
means  of  maintaining  themselves  there  if  ever  they  should 
be  tempted  again  to  unfurl  their  standards  in  the  East. 

Ptolemais,  which  remained  neuter  in  this  cruel  war,  learnt 
the  fall  and  destruction  of  a  Christian  city  from  some  fu- 
gitives, who,  having  escaped  the  sword  of  the  Mussulmans, 
came  to  intreat  an  asylum  within  its  walls.  From  this  sad 
intelligence,  it  might  easily  predict  the  misfortunes  that 
awaited  it.  Ptolemais  was  then  the  capital  of  the  Christian 
colonies,  and  the  most  considerable  city  of  Syria.  Most  of 
the  Pranks,  upon  being  driven  from  the  other  cities  of  Pales- 
tine, had  taken  refuge  there,  bringing  with  them  all  their 
portable  wealth.  In  its  port  anchored  all  the  warlike  fleets 
that  came  from  the  AYest,  with  the  richest  trading  vessels 
from  most  countries  of  the  world.  The  city  had  not  less 
increased  in  extent  than  population  ;  it  was  constructed  of 
square-cut  stones  ;  all  the  walls  of  the  houses  rose  to  an 
equal  height,  and  a  platform  or  terrace  surmounted  most  of 
the  buildings.*  The  interior  of  the  principal  houses  was 
ornamented  with  paintings,  and  they  received  light  by  the 
means  of  glass  windows,  which  was  at  that  time  an  extra- 
ordinary luxury.  In  the  public  places,  coverings  of  silk  or 
transparent  stuffs  screened  the  inhabitants  from  the  ardours 

*  All  these  curious  details  upon  Ptolemais,  its  morals,  and  the  mode 
of  living  of  its  inhabitants,  are  furnished  by  Herman  Cornarius  (Ekard's 
Collection).  A  more  extensive  extract  will  be  found  in  our  analysis  of 
the  German  authors. 


HISTOEY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  7i 

of  the  sun.  Between  the  two  ramparts  which  bounded  th« 
city  on  the  east,  were  built  castles  and  palaces,  the  residences 
of  the  great;  the  artizans  and  traders  occupied  the  interioi 
of  the  city.  Among  the  princes  and  nobles  who  had  man- 
sions in  Ptolemais,  were  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  his  brothers 
and  his  family,  the  princes  of  Galilee  and  Antioch,  the  lieu- 
renants  of  France  and  Sicily,  the  duke  of  Caesarea,  the  counts 
of  Tripoli  and  Jaffa,  the  lords  of  Barouth,  Tyre,  Tiberias, 
Ibelin,  Arsaph,  &c.  We  read  in  an  old  chronicle  that  all 
these  magnates  were  accustomed  to  walk  in  the  public  places, 
wearing  crowns  of  gold  like  kings,  whilst  the  vestments  of 
their  numerous  trains  glittered  with  gold  and  precious  stones. 
Every  day  was  passed  in  festivity,  spectacles  or  tournaments  ; 
whilst  the  port  was  a  mart  of  exchange  for  the  treasures  of 
the  East  and  the  AVest,  exhibiting  at  all  times  an  animated 
picture  of  commerce  and  industry. 

Contemporary  history  deplores  with  severity  the  corrup- 
tion of  morals  that  prevailed  in  Ptolemais,  the  crowds  of 
strangers  bringing  with  them  the  vices  of  all  countries. 
Effeminacy  and  luxury  pervaded  every  class,  the  clergy  them- 
selves being  unable  to  escape  the  general  contagion:  the 
inhabitants  of  Ptolemais  were  esteemed  the  most  voluptuous 
and  dissolute  of  all  the  nations  of  Syria.  Ptolemais  was  not 
only  the  richest  city  of  Syria,  it  was  further  supposed  to  be  the 
best  fortified.  St.  Louis,  during  his  abode  in  Palestine,  had 
neglected  nothing  to  repair  and  increase  its  fortifications. 
On  the  land  side,  a  double  wall  surrounded  the  city,  com- 
manded at  distances  by  lofty  battlemented  towers ;  and  a 
wide  and  deep  ditch  prevented  access  to  the  ramparts. 
Towards  the  sea,  the  city  was  defended  by  a  fortress  built 
at  the  entrance  of  the  port,  by  the  castle  of  the  temple  on 
the  south,  and  by  the  tower  called  the  King's  Tower,  on  the 
east. 

Ptolemais  appears  then  to  have  possessed  much  better 
means  of  defence  than  at  the  period  at  which  it  stood  out 
for  three  years  against  all  the  forces  of  Europe.  No  power 
could  have  subdued  it  if  it  had  been  inhabited  by  true 
citizens,  and  not  by  foreigners,  pilgrims,  and  traders,  at  all 
times  ready  to  transport  themselves  and  their  wealth  from 
one  place  to  another.  The  persons  who  represented  the 
king  of  Naples,  the  lieutenants  of  the  king  of  Cyprus,  the 


72  HISTORY    OF    THE   CRUSADE* 

French,  the  English,  the  pope's  legate,  the  yatriarch  of 
Jerusalem,  the  prince  of  Antioch,  the  three  mLitary  orders, 
the  Venetians,  the  Genoese,  the  Pisans,  the  Armenians,  the 
Tartars,  had  all  and  each  their  separate  quarter,  their  juris- 
diction, their  tribunals,  their  magistrates — all  independent 
of  each  other,  and  all  enjoying  the  right  of  sovereignty. 
All  these  quarters  were  as  so  many  different  cities,  opposed 
to  each  other  by  customs,  by  language,  by  manners,  and 
above  all,  by  rivalries  and  jealousies.  It  was  impossible  to 
preserve  order  in  a  city  in  which  so  many  sovereigns  made 
laws,  which  had  no  uniform  government,  and  in  which  the 
crime  pursued  in  one  part,  was  protected  in  another.  Thus 
all  the  passions  were  without  a  check,  and  often  gave  birth 
to  sanguinary  and  disgraceful  scenes :  in  addition  to  the 
quarrels  that  took  their  rise  in  the  country,  there  was  not 
a  feud  in  Europe,  particularly  in  Italy,  that  was  not  felt 
in  Ptolemais.  The  discords  of  the  G-uelphs  and  the  Grhi- 
belines  were  here  carried  on  with  warmth,  and  the  rivalries 
of  Venice  and  Grenoa  had  caused  torrents  of  blood  to  flow. 
Each  nation  had  fortifications  in  the  quarter  it  inhabited, 
against  the  others ;  and  the  churches  even  were  fortified. 
At  the  entrance  to  each  division  was  a  fortress,  with  gates 
and  iron  chains ;  it  was  plainly  to  be  perceived  that  all  these 
means  of  defence  had  been  employed  less  for  the  purpose  of 
stopping  the  progress  of  an  enemy,  than  as  a  barrier  against 
neighbours  and  rivals. 

The  leaders  of  all  the  quarters  and  the  principal  inha- 
bitants of  the  city  sometimes  assembled ;  but  they  seldom 
agreed,  and  were  at  all  times  mistrustful  of  each  other: 
these  assemblies  never  laid  down  any  settled  plan  of  con- 
duct, never  established  any  wholesome  fixed  role,  and,  above 
all,  never  showed  the  least  foresight. 

The  city  at  the  same  time  demanded  succours  from  the 
"West,  and  solicited  a  truce  with  the  Saracens.  When  a 
treaty  was  concluded,  no  one  had  sufficient  power  to  secure 
its  observance;  on  the  contrary,  every  one  had  it  in  his 
power  to  violate  it,  and  thus  bring  upon  the  city  all  the  ills 
that  this  violation  would  produce. 

After  the  taking  of  Tripoli,  the  sultan  of  Cairo  menaced 
the  city  of  Ptolemais  ;  nevertheless,  whether  he  dreaded  the 
despair  of  the  inhabitants,  or  thought  that  the  favourable 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSJ-)E3.  73 

moment  was  not  vet  arrived,  he  yielded  to  their  solicita- 
tions, and  renewed  a  truce  with  them  for  two  years,  two 
months,  two  weeks,  two  days,  and  two  hours.  According 
to  a  chronicle,  the  pope's  legate  disapproved  of  the  treaty, 
and  caused  some  Mussulman  traders,  who  came  to  Ptolemais, 
to  be  insulted :  the  Templars  and  the  other  military  orders 
were  desirous  of  making  reparation  to  the  sultan  of  Egypt ; 
but  the  legate  opposed  them,  and  threatened  to  excom- 
municate all  who  should  have  the  least  intercourse  with  the 
infidels.* 

An  Arabian  author  assigns  another  motive  for  the  vio- 
lences committed  against  the  Mussulmans.  He  relates  that 
the  wife  of  a  rich  inhabitant  of  Ptolemais,  being  deeply 
enamoured  of  a  young  Mussulman,  had  appointed  a  meeting 
with  him  in  one  of  the  gardens  that  surround  the  city ;  the 
husband,  warned  of  this  outrage  against  conjugal  fidelity, 
gathers  together  some  friends,  goes  out  from  Ptolemais  with 
them,t  surprises  his  wife  and  her  seducer,  and  immmolates 
them  both  to  his  injured  honour.  Some  Mussulmans  are 
drawn  to  the  spot ;  the  Christians  come  up  in  still  greater 
numbers  ;  the  quarrel  becomes  angry  and  general ;  and  every 
Mussulman  is  massacred. 

These  violences,  which  fame  did  not  fail  to  exaggerate 
whilst  narrating  them,  might  give  the  sultan  of  Egypt  a 
pretext  for  renewing  the  war;  and  the  Christians,  who 
plainly  perceived  their  new  perils,  implored  the  assistance 
of  the  sovereign  pontiff.  The  pope  engaged  Venice  to  fur- 
nish twenty-five  galleys,  and  this  fleet  transported  to  Ptole- 
mais a  troop  of  sixteen  hundred  men,  levied  in  haste  in 
Italy.  This  reinforcement,  which  was  sent  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Palestine  for  their  defence,  provoked  their  ruin ; 
the  soldiers  of  the  Holy  See,  levied  among  adventurers  and 
vagabonds,   gave   themselves   up   to   all   sorts  of  excesses. 

*  We  find  this  fact  in  two  Austrian  chronicles,  which  have  for  title, 
one,  Chronicon  Anonymi  Leobensis ;  the  other,  Thomce  Ebendorfeiri  de 
Haselbach  Chronicon.  The  first  says  that  the  legate  called  together  the 
people  of  Ptolemais,  that  he  launched  against  them  the  anathemas  of  the 
Church,  and  then  embarked  to  return  to  Rome.  This  last  circumstance 
appears  to  us  improbable,  and  we  have,  therefore,  passed  it  over  in 
silence. 

\  This  circumstance  is  related  in  the  life  of  the  sultan  Kelaoun.  (Sc 
the  extracts  from  Arabian  manuscripts  in  our  Appendix.) 

4* 


74  HISTORY     ^F   THE    CRUSADES. 

Having  no  regular  pay,  they  plundered  Christians  aud  Mus« 
sulmans  indiscriminately ;  at  last,  this  undisciplined  trocp 
marched  out  of  the  city  in  arms,  and  made  an  incursion 
upon  the  lands  of  the  Saracens.  Everything  was  laid  waste 
on  their  passage  ;  towns  and  villages  were  pillaged,  the  inha- 
bitants insulted,  and  many  of  them  massacred.  The  sultan 
of  Cairo  sent  ambassadors  to  the  Christians  to  complain  of 
these  outrages,  committed  in  a  time  of  peace.  On  the  arrival 
of  the  Mussulman  envoys  several  councils  were  held  in 
Ptolemais.  Opinions  were  at  first  divided;  some  were 
willing  to  take  the  part  of  those  who  had  broken  the  truce ; 
others  thought  it  more  just  and  prudent  to  give  satisfaction 
to  the  sultan,  and  solicit  the  continuation  of  the  treaty.  In 
the  end,  it  was  determined  to  send  a  deputation  to  Cairo, 
commissioned  to  make  excuses  and  offer  presents.  Upon 
being  admitted  to  an  audience  of  Kelaoun,  the  deputation 
alleged  that  the  offences  had  been  committed  by  some  sol- 
diers who  had  come  from  the  West,  and  in  no  case  by  the 
inhabitants  of  Ptolemais.  The  deputies,  in  the  name  of 
their  city,  offered  to  punish  the  authors  of  the  disorders ; 
but  their  submission  and  prayers  produced  no  effect  upon 
the  sultan,  who  reproached  them  severely  with  making  a  jest 
of  the  faith  of  treaties,  and  with  giving  an  asylum  to  dis- 
turbers of  peace  and  foes  to  the  laws  of  nations.  He  was  the 
more  inflexible,  from  thinking  the  opportunity  a  favourable 
one  for  carrying  out  his  projects ;  he  was  aware  that  no 
crusade  was  in  preparation  in  Europe,  and  he  knew  that  all 
the  succour  from  the  West  was  reduced  to  this  band  of  ad- 
venturers who  had  just  broken  the  truce.  Kelaoun  sent 
back  the  ambassadors,  threatening  the  city  of  Ptok  jnais 
with  the  whole  weight  of  his  anger :  his  orders  were  already 
given  for  preparations  for  war  throughout  all  his  provinces. 
Immediately  after  the  return  of  the  ambassadors*  a  grand 

*  For  the  siege  of  Ptolemais  we  have  consulted  Sanuti,  Herman,  and 
a  manuscript  relation.  This  relation,  written  in  the  French  of  the  time, 
appears  to  have  been  drawn  from  a  letter  from  John  de  Vile,  marshal  of 
the  hospital  of  St.  John,  who  wrote  to  his  brother,  AVilliam  de  Vile,  prior 
of  St.  Gilles,  in  Provence.  Either  John  de  Vile  was  at  Ptolemais,  or  he 
wrote  from  the  evidence  of  some  Hospitallers  who  had  est?ped  the  swords 
of  the  Mussulmans,  and  had  retired  to  the  isle  of  Cyprus.  This  manu- 
script chronicle,  which  we  often  use,  is  divided  into  twenty-two  chapters 
It  is  in  the  Kiug's  Library,  No.  1290. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  75 

council  was  called,  at  which  were  present  tl  e  patriarch  of 
Jerusalem,  John  de  Gresli,  who  commanded  for  the  king  of 
.France,  Messire  Oste  de  Granson  for  the  king  of  England,  the 
grand  masters  of  the  Temple  and  the  Hospital,  the  principal 
persons  of  the  city,  and  a  great  number  of  citizens  and 
pilgrims.  When  the  deputies  had  rendered  an  account  of 
their  mission,  and  repeated  the  threats  of  the  sultan,  the 
patriarch  addressed  the  assembly ;  his  virtues,  his  gray  hairs, 
his  zeal  for  the  cause  of  the  Christians,  all  inspired  confi- 
dence and  respect.  This  venerable  prelate  exhorted  all  who 
heard  him  to  arm  themselves  for  the  defence  of  the  city,  to 
remember  that  they  were  Christians,  and  that  it  was  their 
duty  to  die  for  the  cause  of  Christ;  he  conjured  them  to 
forget  their  discords,  to  have  no  other  enemies  but  the  Mus- 
sulmans, and  to  show  themselves  worthy  of  the  holy  cause 
for  which  they  were  about  to  fight.  His  eloquence  awakened 
the  generous  feelings  of  his  audience,  and  all  swore  to  obey 
the  exhortations  of  the  patriarch  :  happy  would  it  have  been 
for  the  city  of  Ptolemais  if  its  inhabitants  and  its  defenders 
had  preserved  the  same  dispositions  and  the  same  enthusiasm 
amidst  the  perils  and  mischances  of  war ! 

They  asked  for  succour  in  all  quarters ;  a  few  pilgrims 
arrived  from  the  West,  and  a  few  warriors  from  the  isles  of 
the  Mediterranean:  the  king  of  Cyprus  landed  with  five 
hundred  men.  These  new  auxiliaries  and  all  who  were  able 
to  bear  arms  in  the  city,  amounted  to  nine  hundred  horse- 
men and  ten  thousand  foot  soldiers.  They  were  divided  into 
four  bodies,  charged  with  the  defence  of  the  towers  and  the 
ramparts.  The  first  of  these  divisions  was  under  the  com- 
mand of  Oste  de  Granson  and  John  de  Gresli,  the  one  with 
the  English  and  the  Picards,  the  other  with  the  Erench ; 
the  second  division  was  commanded  by  the  king  of  Cyprus, 
in  conjunction  with  the  grand  master  of  the  Teutonic  order; 
the  third  by  the  grand  master  of  St.  John,  and  the  grand 
master  of  the  knights  of  Canterbury ;  the  fourth  by  the 
grand  masters  of  the  Temple  and  of  St.  Lazarus :  a  council 
of  eight  leaders  was  to  govern  the  city  during  the  siege. 

The  Mussulmans  were  preparing  for  the  war  in  all  quar- 
ters ;  everything  was  in  motion  from  the  banks  of  the  Nile 
to  those  of  the  Euphrates.  The  sultan  Kelaoun  having 
fallen  sick  on  leaving  Cairo/  sent  before  him  seven  principal 


76  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

emirs,  each  "having  four  thousand  horse  and  twenty  thousand 
foot  under  his  command.  On  their  arrival  upon  the  terri- 
tories of  Ptolema'is,  gardens,  country-houses,  the  vines  *<vhich 
covered  the  hills — everything  was  destroyed.  The  sight  of 
the  conflagration  which  arose  on  all  sides,  the  distracted 
crowd  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbourhood,  who  fled 
from  their  homes,  with  their  goods,  their  flocks,  and  their 
families,  warned  Ptolema'is  of  the  execution  of  the  threats 
and  the  sinister  projects  of  the  Saracens:  there  were  several 
battles  fought  on  the  plain,  but  nothing  remarkable  or  de- 
cisive ;  the  Mussulmans  waited  the  arrival  of  the  sultan  to 
commence  the  labours  of  the  siege. 

In  the  meanwhile,  Kelaoun  was  still  detained  in  Egypt  by 
sickness,  and  feeling  his  end  approach,  the  sultan  sent  for 
his  son  and  his  principal  emirs ;  he  recommended  to  the 
.atter,  to  serve  his  son  as  they  had  served  himself;  and  to 
the  former,  to  follow  up  the  war  against  the  Christians 
without  any  intermission,  conjuring  him  not  to  grant  his 
remains  the  honour  of  sepulture  before  he  had  conquered 
the  city  of  Ptolemais.  Chalil  swore  to  accomplish  the  last 
wishes  of  his  father ;  and  when  Kelaoun  had  closed  his  eyes, 
the  ulemas  and  the  imauns  assembled  in  the  chapel  in  which 
his  remains  were  deposited,  and  read  during  the  whole  night 
verses  from  the  Koran,  never  ceasing  to  invoke  their  pro- 
phet against  the  disciples  of  Christ.  Chalil  did  not  delay 
setting  forward  on  his  march  with  his  army.  The  Pranks 
hoped  that  the  death  of  Kelaoun  would  give  birth  to  some 
disorders  among  the  Mamelukes ;  but  hatred  for  the  Chris- 
tians was  a  sufficient  bond  of  union  for  the  Mussulman 
soldiers ;  the  siege  even  of  Ptolemais,  the  hope  of  annihi- 
lating a  Christian  city,  stifled  all  the  germs  of  discord,  and 
consolidated  the  power  of  Chalil,  whom  they  proclaimed 
beforehand  the  conqueror  of  the  Franks,  and  the  'pacificator 
of  the  Mussulman  religion. 

The  sultan  arrived  before  Ptolemais ;  his  army  covering  a 
space  of  several  leagues,  from  the  sea  to  the  mountains. 
More  than  three  hundred  machines  of  war  were  ready  to 
batter  the  ramparts  of  the  city.  Aboulfeda,  who  was 
present  at  this  siege,  speaks  of  one  of  these  machines  which 
a  hundred  chariots  were  scarcely  sufficient  to  transport. 

This  formidable  preparation  spread  consternation  among 


DISTORT    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  77 

the  inhabitants  of  Ptolemais.  The  grand  master  of  the  tem- 
plars, despairing  of  the  defence  or  of  the  salvation  of  the 
city,  assembled  the  leaders  to  consult  if  there  were  any 
means  of  renewing  the  truce,  and  thus  escaping  inevitable 
runt-*  Repairing  to  the  tent  of  the  sultan,  he  demanded 
peace  of  him  ;  and  seeking  to  produce  an  effect  upon  his 
mind,  he  exaggerated  the  strength  of  Ptolemais ;  the  sultan, 
dreading  doubtless  the  difficulties  of  the  siege,  and  hoping 
to  find  another  opportunity  of  making  himself  master  of  the 
city,  consented  to  a  truce  upon  condition  that  every  inha- 
bitant should  pay  him  a  Venetian  denier.  The  grand 
master  on  his  return  convoked  an  assembly  of  the  people 
in  the  church  of  the  Holy  Cross,  and  laid  before  them  the 
conditions  the  sultan  placed  upon  the  conclusion  of  a  fresh 
truce.  His  advice  was,  that  they  should  comply  with  these 
conditions,  provided  there  were  no  other  means  of  saving 
Ptolemais.  Scarcely  had  he  expressed  his  opinion,  when  the 
multitude  rushed  in  in  fury,  uttering  loud  cries  of  treachery  ! 
and  very  nearly  did  the  grand  master  expiate  on  the  spot  his 
foresight  and  zeal  for  the  salvation  of  the  city.  From  that 
time  the  only  thought  of  this  generous  warrior  was  to  die 
arms  in  hand  for  an  ungrateful  and  frivolous  people,  inca- 
pable of  repelling  war  by  war,  and  not  enduring  to  be  saved 
by  peace. 

The  presence  of  the  sultan  had  redoubled  the  ardour  of 
the  Mussulman  troops.  From  the  day  of  his  arrival  the 
siege  was  prosecuted  with  incredible  vigour.  The  army  of 
the  besiegers  amounted  to  sixty  thousand  horse  and  a  hun- 
dred and  forty  thousand  foot,  who  constantly  relieved  each 
other,  and  left  the  besieged  not  a  moment  of  repose.  The 
machines  hurled  stones  and  enormous  pieces  of  wood,  the 
fall  of  which  shook  the  palaces  and  houses  of  the  city  to 
their  foundation.  A  shower  of  arrows,  darts,  fire-pots,  and 
leaden  balls  was  poured  night  and  day  upon  the  ramparts 
and  towers.  In  the  first  assaults,  the  Christians  killed  a 
great  number  of  the  infidels  who  approached  the  walls  with 
arrows  and  stones ;  they  made  many  sorties,  in  one  of  which 
they  penetrated  to  the  tents  of  the  Saracens.  Being  at 
length  repulsed,  some  of  them  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 

*  This  fact  is  related  in  the  chronicle  we  have  before  quoted. 


78  IIISTORT    OF    THE    CBTJSADES. 

Mussulmans,  and  the  Syrian  horsemen,  who  had  fastened 
the  heads  of  the  vanquished  to  the  necks  of  their  horses, 
went  to  display  before  the  sultan  of  Cairc  the  barbarous 
trophies  of  a  dearly -bought  victory. 

Danger  at  first  united  all  the  inhabitants  of  Ptolemais, 
and  animated  them  with  the  same  sentiments.  In  the  early 
combats  nothing  could  equal  their  ardour ;  they  were  sus- 
tained by  the  expectation  of  receiving  succours  from  the 
"West,  and  they  hoped,  also,  that  some  advantages  gained 
over  the  Saracens  would  force  the  besiegers  to  retreat ;  but 
in  proportion  as  these  hopes  vanished,  their  zeal  diminished  ; 
most  of  them  were  incapable  of  supporting  lengthened 
fatigue ;  the  sight  of  a  peril  which  unceasingly  returned 
exhausted  their  courage ;  the  defenders  of  the  ramparts  per- 
ceived that  their  numbers  were  lessened  daily  ;  the  port  was 
covered  with  Christians  departing  from  the  city,  and  bearing 
their  treasures  with  them.  The  example  of  those  who  thus 
fled  completed  the  discouragement  of  those  who  remained ; 
and  in  a  city  which  numbered  a  hundred  thousand  inhabi- 
tants, and  which,  at  the  commencement  of  the  siege,  had 
furnished  nearly  twenty  thousand  warriors,  only  twelve 
thousand  could  at  length  be  mustered  under  arms. 

To  desertion,  another  evil  was  soon  added,  which  was  dis- 
sension among  the  leaders ;  several  of  them  disapproved  of 
the  measures  that  were  adopted  for  the  defence  of  the  city, 
and  because  their  opinions  did  not  prevail  in  the  council, 
they  remained  inactive,  forgetful  of  the  perils  and  evils  which 
threatened  both  the  city  and  themselves. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  May,  after  the  siege  had  lasted 
nearly  a  month,  the  sultan  of  Cairo  gave  the  signal  for  an 
assault.  Erom  daybreak,  all  the  drums  of  the  army,  placed 
upon  three  hundred  camels,  spread  a  fearful  and  stunning 
noise.  The  most  formidable  of  the  machines  of  war  were 
employed  in  battering  the  ramparts  towards  the  gate  and 
tower  of  St.  Antony,  on  the  east  side  of  the  city.  This  post 
was  guarded  by  the  soldiers  of  the  king  of  Cyprus  ;  the 
Mussulmans  planted  their  ladders  at  the  foot  of  the  walls  ; 
the  defence  was  not  less  spirited  than  the  attack  ;  the  con- 
flict lasted  during  the  whole  day,  and  night  alone  forced  the 
Saracens  to  retreat.  After  this  severe  struggle,  the  king  of 
Cyprus  became  more  anxious  for  safety  than  glory,  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  79 

determined  to  abandon  a  city  which  he  had  now  no  hopes  ol 
saving.  He  retired  with  his  troop  in  the  evening,  under 
the  pretence  of  taking  some  necessary  repose,  and,  confiding 
the  post  of  peril  to  the  Teutonic  knights,  promised  to  return 
with  daylight ;  but  when  the  sun  arose,  the  king  of  Cyprus 
had  embarked  with  all  his  knights  and  three  thousand  soldiers. 
What  were  the  surprise  and  indignation  of  the  Christian 
warriors  at  the  news  of  this  dastardly  desertion  !  "  Would 
to  heaven,"  says  the  author  of  an  account  that  lies  before  us,* 
—  "  would  to  heaven  that  a  whirlwind  had  arisen,  had  sub- 
merged these  base  fugitives,  and  that  they  had  sunk  like 
lead  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea  !  " 

On  the  morrow,  the  Mussulmans  gave  a  fresh  assault ; 
covered  by  their  long  bucklers,  they  advanced  in  good  order 
towards  their  machines,  carrying  a  vast  number  of  ladders. 
The  Christians  defended  the  approach  to  the  walls  for  some 
time;  but  when  the  besiegers  perceived  that  the  towers,  occu- 
pied on  the  preceding  day  by  the  Cypriots,  were  abandoned, 
their  audacity  increased,  and  they  made  incredible  efforts  to 
fill  up  the  ditch,  by  casting  into  it  stones,  earth,  and  the 
carcases  of  their  dead  horses.  Contemporary  historians 
relate  a  circumstance  of  this  part  of  the  siege  to  which  it  is 
very  difficult  to  give  credit :  a  troop  of  sectaries,  who  were 
called  Chages,  followed  the  army  of  the  Mamelukes  ;  the 
devotion  of  these  sectaries  consisted  in  suffering  all  sorts  of 
privations,  and  even  in  immolating  themselves  for  the  sake 
of  Islamism  :  the  sultan  ordered  them  to  fill  up  the  ditch  ; 
they  filled  it  up  with  their  living  bodies,  and  the  Mussulman 
cavalry  marched  over  them,  to  gain  the  foot  of  the  walls !  t 

The  besiegers  fought  with  fury ;  some  planted  their  lad- 
ders and  mounted  in  crowds  to  the  ramparts ;  whilst  others 
continued  to  batter  the  walls  with  the  rams,  and  brought 
every  available  instrument  into  play  to  demolish  them.  At 
length  a  large  breach  opened  a  passage  into  the  city,  and 
this  breach  soon  became  the  scene  of  a  bloody  and  obstinate 

*  A  manuscript  account  of  the  siege  and  taking  of  Acre  by  the 
Saracens. 

f  This  extraordinary  fact  is  related  in  a  discourse  addressed  to  Pope 
Nicholas  IV.  by  Brother  Arsene,  a  Greek  priest,  who  had  been  on  a  pil- 
grimage to  Jerusalem  in  the  time  of  the  siege  of  Ptolemais.  This  account 
is  found  in  Muratori;  we  have  translated  it  entirely,  as  will  be  seen  in 
eur  Appendix. 


80  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

contest.  Stones  and  arrows  were  abandoned,  they  now 
fought  man  to  man,  with  lance,  sword,  and  mace.  The  mul- 
titude of  Saracens  increased  every  instant,  whilst  no  fresh 
succours  were  received  by  the  Christians.  After  a  long 
and  brave  resistance,  the  defenders  of  the  rampart,  worn  out 
with  fatigue  and  overwhelmed  by  numbers,  were  obliged  to 
retreat  into  the  city ;  the  Saracens  rushed  forward  in  pur- 
suit of  them,  and,  what  is  scarcely  to  be  believed,  most  of 
the  inhabitants  remained  idle  spectators,  not  because  their 
courage  was  subdued  by  the  sight  of  danger,  but  because 
the  spirit  of  rivalry  and  jealousy  was  not  stilled  even  by  th6 
feelings  of  a  public  and  general  calamity.  "  When  the  news 
of  the  entrance  of  the  Saracens  [we  borrow  the  expressions 
of  a  contemporary  historian]  was  spread  through  the  city, 
many  of  the  citizens,  from  malice  towards  each  other,  enter- 
tained not  near  so  much  pity  for  the  common  calamity  as 
they  ought  to  have  done,  and  took  no  account  of  what  might 
happen  to  them,  thinking  in  their  hearts  that  the  sultan  would 
do  them  no  harm,  because  they  had  not  consented  to  the 
violation  of  the  truce."  In  their  infatuation  they  preferred 
owing  their  safety  to  the  clemency  of  the  conqueror,  rather 
than  to  the  bravery  of  the  Christian  warriors ;  *  far  from 
lending  assistance  to  their  neighbours,  every  one  rejoiced  in 
secret  at  their  losses ;  the  principal  leaders  of  each  quarter, 
or  of  each  nation,  were  sparing  of  their  soldiers,  not  in  order 
to  preserve  their  means  of  contending  with  the  Saracens, 
but  for  the  sake  of  having  more  empire  in  the  city,  and  of 
husbanding  their  strength,  so  as  to  be  on  a  future  day  the 
most  powerful  and  formidable  in  the  public  dissensions. 

True  bravery,  however,  did  not  allow  itself  to  be  misled 
by  such  base  passions ;  the  troops  of  the  Temple  and  the 
Hospital  were  found  wherever  danger  called  them.  "William 
de  Clermont,  marshal  of  the  Hospitallers,  hastened  with  his 
knights  to  the  spot  where  peril  was  most  imminent  and  the 
carnage  the  greatest.  He  met  a  crowd  of  Christians  flying 
before  their  enemies  ;  this  brave  warrior  checked  their  flight 
and  reanimated  their  courage,  rushing  among  the  Saracens, 
and  cutting  down  all  that  came  in  his  way  ;  the  Mussulmans, 
says  an  old  chronicle,  "  fled  away  at  his  approach,  like  sheep 

*  This  fact  is  likewise  attested  b^  the  chronicle  of  Herman  Cornamsj 
n-hich  we  have  already  quoted. 


HISTORY   CE   THE   CBUSADES.  8 

before  a  wolf."  Then  most  of  those  who  had  turned  then 
backs  on  the  enemy  returned  to  the  fight ;  the  shock  was 
terrible,  the  slaughter  frightful :  towards  evening  the  trum- 
pets of  the  Saracens  sounded  a  retreat,  and  all  who  had 
escaped  from  the  swords  of  the  Christians  retired  in  dis- 
order through  the  breach  they  had  made.  This  unexpected 
advantage  had  a  wonderful  effect  upon  the  spirits  of  the 
besieged.  Such  as  had  taken  no  part  in  the  contest,  but 
remained  quietly  in  their  dwellings,  began  to  fear  that  they 
should  be  accused  of  betraying  the  Christian  cause.  They 
set  forward,  with  banners  displayed,  and  directed  their 
course  towards  the  gate  of  St.  Antony.  The  sight  of  the 
field  of  battle,  still  covered  with  traces  of  carnage,  must 
have  awakened  in  them  some  generous  feelings,  and  if  they 
had  not  exhibited  their  bravery,  their  brother  warriors, 
stretched  upon  the  earth,  who  implored  them  to  help  them 
and  dress  their  wounds,  at  least  offered  them  an  opportunity 
of  exercising  their  humanity.  The  wounded  were  attended 
to,  the  dead  were  buried,  and  they  then  set  about  repairing 
the  walls  and  placing  the  machines :  the  whole  of  the  night 
was  employed  in  preparing  means  of  defence  for  the  day 
which  was  to  follow. 

Before  sunrise  the  next  morning,  a  general  assembly  was 
convoked  in  the  house  of  the  Hospitallers.  Sadness  was 
depicted  on  every  countenance  ;  they  had  lost  two  thousand 
Christian  warriors  in  the  battle  of  the  preceding  day ;  there 
now  were  only  seven  thousand  combatants  left  in  the  city ; 
these  were  not  enough  to  defend  the  towers  and  the  ramparts  ; 
they  were  no  longer  sustained  by  the  hope  of  conquering 
their  enemies  ;  the  future  presented  nothing  but  one  terrible 
prospect  of  perils  and  calamities.  "When  all  were  met,  the 
patriarch  of  Jerusalem  addressed  the  melancholy  assembly. 
The  venerable  prelate  directed  no  reproaches  against  them 
who  had  not  assisted  in  the  fight  of  the  preceding  day ;  the 
past  must  be  forgotten ;  he  did  not  praise  them  who  had 
signalized  their  bravery,  for  fear  of  awakening  jealousy ; 
in  his  discourse  he  did  not  venture  to  speak  of  country,  for 
Ptolemais  was  not  the  country  of  most  of  those  who  listened 
to  him.  The  picture  of  the  misfortunes  which  threatened 
the  city  and  every  one  of  its  inhabitants,  was  presented  in 
the  darkest  colours ;  there  was  no  hope,  no  asylum  for  the 


82  HISTORY    OF    THE    CETJ3ADES. 

vanquisher  l ;  nothing  was  to  be  expected  from  the  clemency 
of  the  Saracens,  who  always  accomplished  their  threats,  and 
never  fulfilled  their  promises.  It  was  but  too  certain  that 
Europe  would  send  them  no  succour ;  they  had  not  vessels 
enough  to  enable  them  to  think  of  flying  by  sea :— thus  the 
patriarch  took  less  pains  to  dissipate  the  alarms  of  his  audi- 
tors than  to  animate  them  by  despair.  He  terminated  his 
speech  by  exhorting  them  to  place  all  their  confidence  in 
God  and  their  swords,  to  prepare  for  fight  by  penitence,  to 
love  each  other,  to  help  each  other,  and  to  endeavour  to 
render  their  lives  or  their  death  glorious  for  themselves  and 
serviceable  to  Christianity. 

The  speech  of  the  patriarch  made  the  deepest  impression 
upon  the  assembly ;  nothing  was  heard  but  sobs  and  sighs ; 
every  person  present  was  in  tears  ;  the  religious  sentiments 
which  are  generally  awakened  by  the  aspect  of  a  great  peril, 
filled  all  their  hearts  with  an  ardour  and  an  enthusiasm  they 
had  never  before  experienced ;  most  of  them  embraced  each 
other,  and  exchanged  reciprocal  exhortations  to  brave  every 
danger;  they  mutually  confessed  their  sins,  and  even  ex- 
pressed a  hope  for  the  crown  of  martyrdom ;  those  who  had 
meditated  desertion  the  day  before,  swore  that  they  would 
never  abandon  the  city,  but  would  die  on  the  ramparts  with 
their  brethren  and  companions. 

The  leaders  and  soldiers  then  went  to  the  posts  entrusted 
to  their  bravery.  Such  as  were  not  employed  in  the  defence 
of  the  ramparts  and  towers,  made  themselves  ready  to  con- 
tend with  their  enemies,  if  they  should  gain  access  to  the 
city ;  barriers  were  erected  in  all  the  streets,  and  heaps  of 
stones  were  collected  on  the  roofs,  and  at  the  doors  of 
houses,  to  crush  the  Mussulmans,  or  impede  them  on  their 
march. 

Scarcely  were  these  preparations  finished,  than  the  air 
resounded  with  the  notes  of  trumpets  and  the  beating  of 
drums ;  a  horrible  noise,  proceeding  from  the  plain,  an- 
nounced the  approach  of  the  Saracens.  After  \aving  dis- 
charged a  multitude  of  arrows,  they  advanced  confidently 
towards  the  wall  they  had  broken  through  the  day  before. 
But  they  met  with  a  resistance  they  did  not  expect ;  many 
were  slain  at  the  foot  of  the  ramparts ;  but  as  their  number 
momentarily  increased,  their  constantly  renewed  attacks 


HISTORY    OF    THE    C1UJSADES.  90 

necessarily  exhausted  the  strength  of  the  Christians,  at  first 
in  small  numbers,  and  receiving  no  reinforcements.  To- 
wards the  end  of  the  day,  the  Christians  had  scarcely  the 
power  to  hurl  a  javelin  or  handle  a  lance.  The  wall  began 
again  to  give  way  beneath  the  strokes  of  the  rams ;  then  the 
patriarch,  ever  present  at  the  point  of  danger,  exclaimed  in  a 
supplicating  tone, — "  Oh,  God !  surround  us  with  a  rampart 
that  men  cannot  destroy,  and  cover  us  with  the  aegis  of  Thy 
power!"  At  hearing  this,  the  soldiers  appeared  to  rally 
and  make  a  last  effort ;  they  precipitated  themselves  upon 
the  enemy,  calling  upon  the  blessed  Jesus,  with  a  loud  voice. 
The  Saracens,  adds  our  chronicler,  called  upon  the  name  of 
their  Mahomet,  and  uttered  the  most  fearful  threats  against 
the  defenders  of  the  Christian  faith. 

Whilst  this  conflict  was  going  on  upon  the  ramparts,  the 
city  awaited  in  great  dread  the  issue  of  the  battle ;  the 
agitation  of  men's  minds  gave  birth  to  a  thousand  rumours, 
w7hich  were  in  turn  adopted  and  rejected.  It  was  reported 
in  the  most  remote  quarters,  that  the  Christians  were  vic- 
torious, and  the  Mussulmans  had  fled;  it  was  likewise 
added,  that  a  fleet  with  an  army  on  board  had  arrived  from 
the  West.  To  these  news,  which  created  a  momentary  joy, 
succeeded  the  most  disheartening  intelligence;  and  in  all 
these  reports  there  was  nothing  true  but  that  which  an- 
nounced something  inauspicious. 

It  was  soon  known  that  the  Mussulmans  had  entered  the 
city.  The  Christian  warriors  who  defended  the  gate  of  St. 
Antony,  had  not  been  able  to  resist  the  shock  of  the  enemy, 
and  fled  into  the  streets,  imploring  the  assistance  of  the 
inhabitants.  These  latter  then  remembered  the  exhortations 
of  the  patriarch ;-  reinforcements  hasten  from  all  quarters ; 
the  knights  of  the  Hospital,  with  the  valiant  William  at 
their  head,  reappear.  A  storm  of  stones  falls  from  the  t  )ps 
of  the  houses ;  iron  chains  are  stretched  across  the  passage 
of  the  Mussulman  cavalry ;  such  as  have  been  exhausted  by 
fight  recover  their  strength,  and  rush  again  into  the  melee  ; 
they  who  have  come  to  their  assistance  follow  their  steps, 
break  through  the  Mussulman  battalions,  disperse  them  and 
pursue  them  beyond  the  ramparts.  In  every  one  of  these 
combats  was  exhibited  all  that  valour  can  accomplish  when 
united  with  despair.     On  contemplating,  on  one  side  the 


84  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES* 

inevitable  ruin  of  a  great  city,  and  on  the  other  the  eflbrta 
of  a  small  number  of  defenders  who  put  off,  day  after  day, 
scenes  of  destruction  and  death,  we  cannot  help  feeling  both 
compassion  and  surprise.  The  assaults  were  renewed  with- 
out ceasing,  and  always  with  the  same  fury.  At  the  end  of 
every  day's  conflict,  the  unfortunate  inhabitants  of  Ptolemais 
congratulated  themselves  upon  having  triumphed  over  their 
enemies ;  but  on  the  morrow,  when  the  sun  appeared  above 
the  horizon,  what  were  their  thoughts  when  they  beheld 
from  the  top  of  their  ramparts  the  Mussulman  army  still 
the  same,  covering  the  plain  from  the  sea  to  the  foot  of 
Karenba  and  Carmel ! 

The  Saracens,  on  their  part,  became  astonished  at  the 
resistance  which  all  their  attacks  met  with;  so  many  com- 
bats, in  which  their  innumerable  multitude  had  not  been 
able  to  obtain  a  decided  advantage,  began  to  give  them 
discouragement.  In  the  infidel  army  it  was  impossible  to 
explain  the  invincible  bravery  of  the  Christian  soldiers  with- 
out assigning  miraculous  causes  for  it.  A  thousand  extra- 
ordinary tales  flew  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  struck  the 
imagination  of  the  gross  crowd  of  the  Mussulmans.  They 
believed  they  saw  two  men  in  every  one  of  those  with  whom 
they  fought ;  *  in  the  excess  of  their  astonishment,  they  per- 
suaded themselves  that  every  warrior  who  fell  beneath  their 
stroke  was  reborn  of  himself,  and  returned  stronger  and 
more  terrible  than  ever  to  the  field  of  battle.  The  sultan 
of  Cairo  appeared  to  have  lost  all  hope  of  taking  the  city 
by  assault.  It  is  asserted  that  the  renegadoes,  whose  apos- 
tacy  made  them  desirous  of  the  ruin  of  the  Christian  name, 
sought  every  means  to  revive  his  courage ;  the  sieur  Bar- 
thelemi,  who  had  sworn  an  eternal  hatred  to  the  Franks, 
ibllowed  the  Mussulman  army;f   this  implacable  deserter 

*  A  German  chronicle  of  Thomas  Ebendorft  relates  the  miraculous 
stories  that  were  circulated  among  the  Saracens.  According  to  this 
cr.Jonicle,  when  a  Christian  expired,  another  issued  from  his  mouth,  ex 
ore.  There  were  two  souls  in  every  body ;  in  uno  corpore  duo  fuerunt 
hominis. 

t  The  Arabian  chronicles  speak  of  the  sieur  de  Telema  or  Barthelemi, 
who  never  ceased  to  provoke  the  fury  of  the  Saracens.  The  Western 
chronicles  say  nothing  of  him  ;  one  of  them  merely  says  that  a  Frank, 
banished  from  Ptolema'is  on  account  of  murder,  took  refuge  with  tha 
Miltan  of  Egypt,  and  pointed  out  to  him  the  means  of  taking  the  city. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CllUSADES.  86 

negli-ctcd  nothing  to  encourage  the  leaders,  to  reanimate 
them  for  battle,  and  awaken  in  their  hearts  the  furious 
passions  that  constantly  devoured  his  own.  In  addition  to 
these,  the  imauns  and  sheiks,  who  were  numerous  in  the 
Mameluke  camps,  pervaded  the  ranks  of  the  army  to  inflame 
the  fanaticism  of  the  soldiers :  the  sultan  threatened  all  who 
flew  before  the  enemy  with  punishment,  and  offered  im- 
mense rewards  for  those  who  should  plant  the  standard  of 
the  Prophet,  not  upon  the  walls  of  Ptolemais,  but  in  the 
centre  of  the  city. 

On  the  4th  of  May,  a  day  fatal  to  the  Christians,  the 
signal  for  a  fresh  assault  was  given.  At  dawn  the  Mussul- 
man army  was  under  arms,  the  sultan  animating  the  soldiers 
by  his  presence.  Both  the  attack  and  the  defence  were 
much  more  animated  and  obstinate  than  they  had  been  for 
some  days  before.  Among  those  who  fell  on  the  field  of 
battle,  there  were  seven  Mussulmans  for  one  Christian ;  but 
the  Mussulmans  could  repair  their  losses;  those  of  the 
Christians  were  irreparable.  The  Saracens  still  directed  all 
their  efforts  against  the  tower  and  the  gate  of  St.  Antony. 

They  were  already  upon  the  breach,  when  the  knights  of 
the  Temple  formed  the  rash  resolution  of  making  a  sortie, 
and  attacking  the  camp  of  the  Mussulmans.  They  found  the 
enemy's  army  drawn  up  in  order  of  battle ;  after  a  bloody 
conflict,  the  Saracens  repulsed  the  Christians,  and  pursued 
them  to  the  foot  of  the  ramparts.  The  grand  master  of  the 
Temple  was  struck  by  an  arrow  and  fell  in  the  midst  of  his 
knights.  The  grand-master  of  the  Hospital,  at  the  same 
time  received  a  wound  which  disabled  him.  The  rout  then 
became  general,  and  all  hope  of  saving  the  city  was  lost. 
There  were  scarcely  a  thousand  Christian  warriors  left  to 
defend  the  gate  of  St.  Antony  against  the  whole  Mussul- 
man army. 

The  Christians  were  obliged  to  yield  to  the  multitude  of 
their  enemies ;  they  directed  their  course  towards  the  house 
of  the  Templars,  situated  on  the  seacoast.  It  was  then  that 
a  death-pall  seemed  stretched  over  the  whole  city  of  Ptole- 
mais :  the  Saracens  advanced  full  of  fury ;  there  was  not  a 
street  that  did  not  become  the  theatre  of  carnage ;  a  battle 
was  fought  for  every  tower,  for  every  palace,  and  at  the 
entrance  of  every  public  building ;  and  in  all  these  combats; 


66  HISTORY    OF    THE    CKHSADES. 

bo  many  men  were  killed,  that,  according  to  the  report  of 
an  historian,  they  walked  upon  the  dead  as  upon  a  bridge. 

As  if  augry  heaven  gave  the  signal  for  destruction, 
a  violent  storm,  accompanied  by  hail  and  rain,  burst  over 
the  city ;  the  horizon  was  all  at  once  covered  with  such 
impenetrable  darkness,  that  the  combatants  could  scarcely 
distinguish  the  colours  they  fought  under,  or  see  what 
standard  floated  over  the  towers ;  all  the  scourges  con- 
tributed to  the  desolation  of  Ptolemais  ;  the  flames  appeared 
in  several  quarters,  without  any  one  making  an  effort  to 
extinguish  them ;  the  conquerors  only  thought  of  destroying 
the  city,  the  only  object  of  the  conquered  was  to  escape. 
A  multitude  of  people  fled  away  at  hazard,  without  knowing 
where  they  could  hope  to  find  an  asylum.  Whole  families 
took  refuge  in  the  churches,  where  they  were  stifled  by  the 
flames,  or  cut  to  pieces  at  the  foot  of  the  altars ;  nuns  and 
timid  virgins  mixed  with  the  multitude  which  wandered 
through  the  city,  or  disfigured  with  wounds  their  faces  and 
their  bosoms,*  to  escape  the  brutality  of  the  conquerors : 
what  was  most  deplorable  in  the  spectacle  then  presented 

*  Wadin,  the  author  of  a  chronicle  entitled  Annates  Minorum,  torn.  ii. 
p.  585,  quotes  a  circumstance  which  St.  Antonine  relates  in  the  third 
part  of  his  Somrne  Historique.  After  having  said  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  French  Cordeliers  were  killed  by  the  Saracens  he  adds  these 
words  :  "  But  not  one  of  the  virgins  of  St.  Claire  escaped."  The  abbess 
of  this  order,  who  possessed  a  masculine  spirit,  having  learnt  that  the 
enemy  had  entered  the  city,  called  all  her  sisters  together  by  the  sound  of 
the  bell,  and  by  the  force  of  her  words  persuaded  them  to  hold  the 
promise  they  had  made  to  Jesus  Christ,  their  spouse,  to  preserve  their 
chastity:  "My  dear  daughters,  my  excellent  sisters,"  said  she,  "we 
must,  in  this  certain  danger  of  life  and  modesty,  show  ourselves  above 
our  sex.  The  enemies  are  near  to  us ;  not  so  much  to  our  bodies  as  to 
our  souls  ;  these  barbarians,  whn,  after  having  satisfied  their  brutal  lusts 
upot.  all  they  meet,  slay  them  with  their  swords.  In  this  crisis  we  cannot 
hope  to  escape  their  fury  by  flight,  but  we  can  by  a  resolution,  painful  it 
is  true,  but  sure.  Most  men  are  seduced  by  the  beauty  of  women ;  let 
us  deprive  ourselves  of  this  attraction,  let  us  seek  a  preservative  for  our 
modesty  in  that  which  serves  as  a  cause  for  its  violation.  Let  us  destroy 
our  beauty  to  preserve  our  virginity  pure.  I  will  set  you  the  example ; 
let  those  who  desire  to  meet  their  heavenly  spc  «se  imitate  their  mistress." 
At  these  words  she  cut  her  nose  off  with  a  razor  ;  the  others  did  the  same, 
and  boldly  disfigured  themselves,  to  present  themselves  more  beautiful 
before  Jesus  Christ.  By  these  means  they  preserved  their  purity,  for  the 
Saracens,  on  beholding  their  bleeding  faces,  conceived  a  disgust  for  them, 
and  killed  them  all,  without  sparing  one. 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    CKUSADES.  87 

in  Ptolemais,  was  the  desertion  of  the  leaders,  who  aban- 
doned a  people  in  the  height  of  its  despair.  John  de  Gresly 
and  Oste  de  Granson,  who  had  scarcely  shown  themselves 
upon  the  ramparts  during  the  siege,  lied  away  at  the  very 
commencement  of  the  battle.  Many  others,  who  had  taken 
the  oath  to  die,  at  the  aspect  of  this  geneial  destruction, 
only  thought  of  saving  their  lives,  and  threw  away  their 
arms  to  facilitate  their  flight.  History  however  is  able  to 
contrast  some  acts  of  true  heroism  with  these  base  deser- 
tions. Our  readers  cannot  have  forgotten  the  brilliant 
actions  of  William  de  Clement.  Amidst  the  ruins  of  Ptole- 
mais, amidst  the  universal  destruction,  he  still  defied  the 
enemy  ;  attempting  to  rally  some  Christian  warriors,  he  rode 
to  the  gate  of  St.  Antony,  which  the  Templars  had  just 
abandoned ;  though  alone,  he  wished  to  renew  the  fight ; 
he  pierced  through  the  ranks  of  the  Saracens  several  times, 
and  returned,  still  fighting ;  when  he  came  back  to  the 
middle  of  the  city,  his  war-horse  (we  copy  a  relation  of  the 
time)  was  much  fatigued,  as  was  he  himself  also  ;  the  war- 
horse  no  longer  answered  to  the  spur,  and  stopped  in  the 
street,  as  unable  to  do  any  more.  The  Saracens  shot  Brother 
William  to  the  earth  with  arrows  ;  and  thus  this  loyal  cham- 
pion of  Jesus  Christ  rendered  up  his  soul  to  his  creator.* 

We  cannot  refuse  our  highest  praise  to  the  patriarch  of 
Jerusalem,  who,  during  the  whole  siege,  shared  all  the 
dangers  of  the  combatants;  when  he  was  dragged  away 
towards  the  port  by  his  friends,  to  evade  the  pursuit  of  the 
Mussulmans,  the  generous  old  man  complained  bitterlv  at 
being  separated  from  his  flock  in  the  hour  of  peril.  *  He 
was  induced  at  last  to  embark,  but  as  xe  insisted  upon 
receiving  on  board  his  vessel  all  that  presented  themselves, 
the  boat  was  sunk,  and  the  faithful  pastor  died  the  victim 
of  his  charity. 

The  sea  was  tempestuous,  the  vessels  could  not  approach 
close  to  land  ;  the  shore  presented  a  heart-rending  spectacle  : 
here  a  mother  called  upon  her  son,  there  a  son  implored  the 

*  Quand  il  fat  revenu  au  milieu  de  la  cite,  son  dextrier  fut  molt  las.  et 
lui-meme  aussi  ;  le  dextrier  resista  en  contre  !es  esp^rons,  et  e'arresta  dans 
la  rue  cpmme  qui  n'en  pent  pins.  Les  Sarrasins,  a  coups  de  flSchee, 
ruerent  a  terre  frSre  Guillaume;  ainsi  ce  loyal  champion  de  Jesus-Christ 
rendit  lame  a  son  Createur. 


88  HISTORY   OF   THE   CRUSADES. 

assistance  of  his  father ;  many  precipitated  themselves  into 
the  waves,  in  despair;  the  mass  of  people  endeavoured  to 
gain  the  vessels  by  swimming  ;  some  were  drowned  in  the 
attempt,  others  were  beaten  otl"  with  oars.  Several  women 
of  the  noblest  families  flew  in  terror  to  the  port,  bringing 
with  them  their  diamonds  and  their  most  valuable  effects; 
they  promised  the  mariners  to  become  their  wives,  to  give 
themselves  and  all  their  wealth  up  to  them,  if  they  would 
bear  them  away  from  this  horrid  scene  ;  most  of  them  were 
conveyed  to  the  Isle  of  Cyprus:  no  pity  was  shown  but  to 
such  as  had  treasures  to  bestow  in  return  ;  thus,  when  tears 
had  no  effect  upon  hearts,  avarice  assumed  the  place  of 
humanity,  and  saved  some  few  victims.  At  length  the 
Mussulman  horsemen  came  down  upon  the  port,  and  furi- 
ously pursued  the  Christians  even  into  the  waves  :  from  that 
moment  no  one  was  able  to  escape  the  carnage. 

Still,  amidst  the  city  given  over  to  pillage,  and  a  prey 
to  the  flames  and  the  barbarity  of  the  conquerors,  several 
fortresses  remained  standing,  and  were  defended  by  some 
Christian  soldiers;  these  unfortunate  warriors  died  sword  in 
hand,  without  any  other  witnesses  of  their  glorious  end  but 
their  implacable  enemies. 

The  castle  of  the  Templars,  in  which  all  the  knights  who 
had  escaped  the  steel  of  the  Saracens  had  taken  refuge,  was 
soon  the  only  place  in  the  city  that  held  out.  The  sultan 
having  granted  them  a  capitulation,  sent  three  hundred 
Mussulmans  to  execute  the  treaty.  Scarcely  had  these  en- 
tered one  of  the  principal  towers,  the  tower  of  the  grand- 
master, than  they  began  to  outrage  the  wome^  who  had 
taken  refuge  there.  "  This  violation  of  the  rights  of  war 
irritated  the  Christian  warriors  to  such  a  degree,  that  all 
the  Saracens  who  had  entered  the  tower  were  instantly 
immolated  to  their  too  just  vengeance.  The  angry  sultan 
ordered  the  siege  to  be  prosecuted  against  the  Christians  in 
their  last  asylum,  and  that  all  should  be  put  to  the  sword. 
The  knights  of  the  Temple  and  their  companions  defended 
themselves  for  several  days  :  at  length  the  tower  of  the  grand 
master  was  undermined,  and  fell  at  the  very  moment  the 
Mussulmans  were  mounting  to  an  assault  :  they  who  at- 
tacked it  and  they  who  defended  it  were  equally  crushed  by 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  89 

its  fall ;  women,  children,  Christian  warriors,  all  who  had 
come  to  seek  refuge  in  the  house  of  the  Templars,  perished, 
buried  beneath  the  ruins.  Every  church  of  Ptolemais  was 
plundered,  profaned,  and  then  given  up  to  the  flames.  The 
sultan  ordered  all  the  principal  edifices,  with  the  towers  and 
lamparts,  to  be  demolished. 

The  Mussulman  soldiers  expressed  their  joy  by  ferocious 
clamours ;  which  joy  formed  a  horrible  contrast  with  the 
desolation  of  the  conquered.  Amidst  the  tumultuous  scenes 
of  victory  were  mingled  the  screams  of  women,  upon  whom 
the  barbarians  were  committing  violence  in  their  camp,  and 
the  cries  of  little  children,  borne  away  into  slavery.  A  dis- 
tracted multitude  of  fugitives,  driven  from  ruin  to  ruin,  and 
finding  no  place  of  refuge,  directed  their  course  to  the  tent 
of  the  sultan,  to  implore  his  mercy  ;  Chalil  distributed  these 
Christian  supplicants  among  his  emirs,  who  caused  them  all 
to  be  massacred.  Macrisi  makes  the  number  of  these  un- 
happy victims  amount  to  ten  thousand. 

After  the  taking  and  the  destruction  of  Ptolemais,  the 
sultan  sent  one  of  his  emirs  with  a  body  of  troops  to  take 
possession  of  the  city  of  Tyre  ;  this  city,  seized  with  terror, 
opened  its  gates  without  resistance.  The  conquerors  like- 
wise possessed  themselves  of  Berytus,  Sidon,  and  all  the 
Christian  cities  along  the  coast.  These  cities,  which  had 
not  afforded  the  least  succour  to  Ptolemais,  in  the  last  great 
struggle,  and  which  believed  themselves  protected  by  a 
truce,  beheld  their  population  massacred,  dispersed,  and  led 
into  slavery  ;  the  fury  of  the  Mussulmans  extended  even  to 
the  stones,  they  seemed  to  wisli  to  destroy  the  very  earth 
which  the  Christians  had  trod  upon;  their  houses,  their 
temples,  the  monuments  of  their  piety,  their  valour  and 
their  industry,  everything  was  condemned  to  perish  with 
them  by  the  sword  or  by  lire. 

Most  of  the  contemporary  chronicles  attribute  such  great 
disasters  to  the  sins  of  the  inhabitants  of  Palestine,  and  in 
the  scenes  of  destruction  only  behold  the  effect  of  that 
divine  anger  which  fell  upon  Nineveh  and  Babylon.  His- 
tory must  not  reject  these  easy  explanations ;  but  it  is, 
doubtless,  permitted  to  penetrate  deeper  into  human  afMrs, 
and  whilst  recognising  the  intervention  of  Heaven  in  the 
Vol.  III.— 5 


00  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

political  destinies  of  nations,  it  is  bound  at  least  to  endeavour 
to  discover  the  means  which  Providence  has  employed  to  raise, 
to  maintain  for  a  time,  and  at  length,  to  destroy  empires. 

We  have  shown,  in  the  course  of  our  recital,  to  what  point 
the  ambition  of  the  leaders,  the  want  of  discipline  among 
the  soldiers,  the  turbulent  passions  of  the  multitude,  the 
corruption  of  morals,  the  spirit  of  discord  and  dissension, 
with  egotism  and  selfishness,  had  urged  on  the  kingdom  of 
Jerusalem  towards  its  decline  and  its  destruction,  we  shall 
here  offer  but  one  general  observation  which  belongs  to  our 
subject,  and  which  ought  not  to  be  omitted  in  a  history  of 
the  crusades. 

This  power  of  the  Franks  had  been  cast  upon  Asia,  as  by 
a  tempest,  and  could  not  support  itself  there  by  its  own 
strength.  The  true  support  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem 
remained  in  the  West,  and  the  principle  of  its  preservation, 
the  source  of  its  power  was  foreign  to  itself;  its  safety 
depended  upon  a  crowd  of  circumstances  which  its  leaders 
could  not  possibly  foresee,  upon  a  crowd  of  events  which 
passed  far  from  it ;  it  depended  above  all  upon  feelings  and 
opinions  which  prevailed  among  distant  nations.  Whilst 
the  enthusiasm  which  had  founded  the  Christian  colonies 
was  kept  up  in  Europe,  these  colonies  might  hope  to  prolong 
their  existence;  the  greatest  of  their  calamities*  was  the 
indifference  of  the  nations  wliich  dwelt  beyond  the  seas  ;  the 
kingdom  of  Jerusalem  began  with  the  crusades,  it  was 
destined  to  terminate  with  them. 

A  Mussulman  chronicler,  after  having  described  the 
desolation  of  the  coasts  of  Syria,  and  the  expulsion  of  the 
citizens,  terminates  his  account  by  this  singular  reflection : 
"  Things,  if  it  please  God,  will  remain  thus  till  the  last 
judgment."  The  wishes  of  the  Arabian  historian,  have 
nitherto  been  but  too  completely  fulfilled ;  the  Mussulmans, 

*  Among  the  marvellous  accounts  to  which  the  destruction  of  the 
Christian  colonies  in  Syria  gave  birth,  history  has  preserved  the  follow- 
ing:  —  "  In  the  year  1291,  the  house  of  the  holy  Virgin  at  Nazareth, 
in  which  she  conceived  the  Son  of  God,  was  transported  by  angels  to  the 
top  of  a  little  mountain  in  Dalmatia,  on  the  shore  of  the  Adriatic  Sea  • 
three  years  afterwards  it  was  transported  to  another  shore  of  the  same 
sea,  in  a  wood  which  belonged  to  a  widow  named  Loretto.  There  have 
been  since  built  upon  this  spot  a  small  ciiy  and  a  magnificent,  church, 
which  still  preserve  the  name  of  this  widow." 


HISTORY   OF   THE    CRUSADES.  91 

foi  more  than  five  centuries,  have  reigned  over  the  countries 
occupied  by  the  Christians,  and  with  them  has  reigned  the 
genius  of  destruction  which  presided  over  the  wars  we  have 
described.  The  philosopher  who  contemplates  the&e  de- 
solated regions,  these  fields  uncultivated  and  deserted,  these 
towns  in  ruins,  these  cities  without  industry,  without  laws, 
and  almost  without  inhaoitants,  and  who  compares  them 
with  what  they  were  in  the  times  of  the  crusades,  cannot 
avoid  being  deeply  impressed  by  regret  and  compassion. 
"Without  dwelling  upon  the  motives  which  governed  the 
actions  of  the  Crusaders,  without  approving  all  that  a  fre- 
quently blind  enthusiasm  inspired,  he  must  at  least  acknow- 
ledge that  these  distant  expeditions  did  some  good,  and  that 
if  they  sometimes  carried  desolation  to  the  coasts  of  Syria, 
they  also  carried  thither  the  germs  of  prosperity  and  civili* 
■ation.. 


BOOK    XVI. 


ATTEMPTED    CRUSADES. 

CBTXSADES    AGAINST    THE     TURKS. 

A.D.  1291—1396. 

We  are  now  arrived  at  the  end  of  the  brilliant  epoch  oi 
the  crusades,  but  our  task  is  not  yet  completed ;  for,  as  the 
curiosity  of  readers  attaches  a  high  value  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  causes  of  events,  in  the  same  degree  must  it  be  de- 
sirous of  knowing  the  influence  that  these  events  have  had 
upon  the  laws,  manners,  and  destinies  of  nations.  After 
having  witnessed  the  kindling  of  so  many  passions,  which 
inflamed  Europe  and  Asia  during  two  centuries,  who  but 
must  be  curious  to  see  in  what  manner  these  passions  were 
progressively  extinguished  ;  what  were  the  political  com- 
binations that  weakened  this  universal  enthusiasm  ;  and 
what  were  the  interests,  the  opinions,  and  the  institutions 
which  ^ok  place  of  the  spirit  of  the  holy  wars.  Here  the 
philosophy  of  history  comes  at  our  wish  to  enlighten  us 
with  its  lamp,  and  make  clear  to  us  the  eternal  course  of 
human  things.  The  end  of  a  great  revolution  may  be  com- 
pared, in  some  sort,  to  the  decline  of  the  life  of  man,  it  is 
then  that  the  fruits  of  long  experience  may  be  gathered,  it 
is  then  that  the  past,  with  its  remembrances  and  its  lessons. 
is  reflected  as  in  a  faithful  mirror. 

"We  will  pursue,  then,  with  confidence  the  work  we  have 
begun  ;  if,  in  the  career  we  have  still  to  go  through,  we  may 
have  little  to  say  that  will  awaken  the  curiosity  of  common 
minds,  enlightened  spirits  will,  doubtless,  find  some  interest, 
in  following  with  us  all  these  long  reverberations  of  a  revo- 
lution which  deeply  agitated  the  world,  and  whose  conse- 
quences will  be  felt  by  remotest  posterity. 


HTSTORT    OT    TIIE    CRTJ3ADES.  93 

'When  the  newa  of  the  taking  of  Ptolemais  arrived  in  the 
West,  Pope  Nicholas  IV.  gave  his  whole  attention  to  the 
preaching  of  a  crusade.  A  bull  addressed  to  all  the  faithful, 
deplored  in  pathetic  terms  the  late  disasters  of  the  Christians; 
and  the  greater  that  these  misfortunes  were,  the  more  fully 
did  the  pope  offer  the  treasures  of  divine  mercy  and  pon- 
tifical indulgences  to  new  Crusaders.  An  indulgence  of  a 
hundred  days  was  granted  to  those  who  would  attend  the 
sermons  of  the  preachers  of  the  crusade,  or  would  come  to 
the  churches  to  listen  to  the  groans  of  the  city  of  God. 
The  holy  orators  had  permission  to  preach  the  war  of  the 
East  in  forbidden  places  ;  and,  that  great  sinners  might  be 
induced  to  become  soldiers  of  the  cross,  the  preachers  re- 
ceived the  faculty  of  granting  certain  absolutions  that  had 
till  that  time  been  reserved  for  the  supreme  authority  of  the 
Holy  See. 

In  many  provinces,  the  clergy  assembled  in  consequence 
of  the  directions  of  the  pope,  to  deliberate  upon  the  means 
of  recovering  Palestine.  The  prelates  employed  themselves 
in  this  pious  mission  with  much  zeal,  and  in  order  to  secure 
the  success  of  the  enterprise,  all  united  in  conjuring  the 
sovereign  pontiff  to  labour  without  intermission  in  bring- 
ing about  the  reestablishment  of  peace  among  Christian 
princes. 

Several  monarchs  had  already  taken  the  cross ;  and  Ni- 
cholas sent  legates  to  press  them  to  accomplish  the  vow  they 
appeared  to  have  forgotten.  Edward,  king  of  England, 
although  he  had  levied  the  tenths  upon  the  clergy  for  the 
expenses  of  the  crusade,  showed  very  little  inclination  to 
quit  his  states  for  the  purpose  of  returning  into  Asia.  The 
emperor  Rodolph,  who,  in  the  conference  of  Lausanne,  had 
promised  the  pope  to  make  the  voyage  beyond  the  seas, 
died  at  this  period,  much  more  deeply  engaged  in  the  affairs 
of  Germany,  than  in  those  of  the  Christians  of  the  East. 
Nicholas  IV.  gave  Philip  to  understand  that  the  whole  West 
had  its  eyes  fixed  upon  him,  and  that  his  example  might 
influence  all  Christendom  ;  the  sovereign  pontiff  at  the  same 
time  exhorted  the  prelates  of  the  Church  of  Prance  to  join 
with  him  in  persuading  the  king,  the  nobles,  and  the  people, 
to  take  arms  against  the  infidels. 

The  father  of  the  Christian  world  did  not  confine  his 


94  HISTORY   OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

endeavours  to  awakening  the  zea..  of  the  princes  a  ad  nations 
of  the  West ;  he  sent  apostolic  messages  to  the  Greek  em 
peror,  Andronicus  Paheologus,  the  emperor  of  TrebizoncL 
and  the  kings  of  Armenia,  Georgia,  and  Cyprus,  in  which 
he  announced  to  them  the  approaching  deliverance  of  the 
holy  places.  As  the  Christians  in  their  distress  had  some- 
times turned  their  looks  towards  the  Tartars,  two  mis- 
sionaries  were  sent  to  the  coast  of  Argun,  with  directions 
to  offer  the  Mogul  emperor  the  benedictions  of  the  sove- 
reign pontiff,  and  to  solicit  his  powerful  aid  against  the 
Mussulmans. 

The  exertions  and  exhortations  of  the  pope  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  arming  Europe  against  the  Saracens ;  contemporary 
chronicles  say  that  Nicholas  was  not  able  to  endure  this 
indifference  of  the  Christians,  and  that  he  died  in  despair. 
After  his  death,  the  conclave  could  not  agree  in  the  nomi- 
nation of  a  head  of  the  Church,  and  the  Holy  See  remained 
vacant  during  twenty-seven  months.  In  this  long  interval, 
the  pulpits  which  had  resounded  with  the  complaints  of  the 
faithful  of  the  East,  remained  mute,  and  Europe  forgot  the 
last  calamities  of  the  Holy  Land. 

In  the  East,  the  affairs  of  the  Christians  took  a  not  more 
favourable  turn.  The  discord  that  had  arisen  between  the 
princes  of  the  family  of  Hayton  desolated  Armenia,  and  gave 
it  up  to  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians.  The  kingdom  of 
Cyprus,  the  last  asylum  of  the  Eranks  established  in  Asia, 
only  owed  a  transitory  security  to  the  sanguinary  divisions 
of  the  Mamelukes  of  Egypt,  and  appeared  to  be  fully  engaged 
by  its  own  dangers. 

But  whilst  Christendom  gave  up  all  thoughts  of  the  de- 
liverance of  Jerusalem,  the  Tartars  of  Persia,  to  whom  the 
pope  had  sent  missionaries,  all  at  once  revived  the  hopes  of 
the  Christians,  by  forming  a  project  for  wresting  Syria  and 
Palestine  from  the  hands  of  the  Mussulmans  ;  an  enterprize 
which  only  wanted  to  be  a  crusade,  to  have  been  proclaimed 
by  the  head  of  the  Church. 

The  Tartars,  for  a  long  time,  threatened  the  Mussulman 
powers,  whom  the  Christians  regarded  as  their  most  cruel 
enemies.  Argun,  when  he  died,  was  busied  in  preparations 
for  a  formidable  war.  These  preparations  had  spread  such 
serious  alarm  among  his  enemies,  that  the  disciples  of  Ma» 


HISTOItY    OF    THE    CKT7SADES.  95 

hornet  considered  his  death  as  one  of  the  number  of  miracles 
operated  in  favour  of  Islamism. 

Among  the  successors  of  Argun,  who  were  by  turns  the 
enemies  and  the  friends  of  the  Mussulmans,  there  was  one 
able  leader,  who  was  warlike,  and  more  animated  by  thfc 
thirst  for  conquests  than  the  others.  The  Greek  historian 
Pachymerus,  and  the  Armenian  Hayton,  lavish  the  highest 
praises  upon  the  bravery,  the  virtue,  and  even  the  piety  of 
Cazan.  This  Mogul  prince  considered  the  Christians  as 
his  most  faithful  allies  ;  and  in  his  armies,  in  which  the 
Georgians  served,  the  standard  of  the  cross  floated  by  the 
side  of  the  imperial  standard.  The  conquest  of  the  banks 
of  the  Nile  and  the  Jordan  engaged  all  his  thoughts.  "When 
new  cities  were  built  in  his  states,  he  took  a  delight  in 
bestowing  upon  them  the  names  of  Aleppo,  Damascus, 
Alexandria,  and  of  several  other  places  in  Egypt  and  Syria. 

Cazan  quitted  Persia  at  the  head  of  an  army  ;  and  the 
king  of  Cyprus  with  the  orders  of  St.  John  and  the  Temple, 
being  made  aware  of  his  projects,  joined  his  standards.  A. 
great  battle  was  fought  near  Emessa,  which  was  decided 
against  the  sultan  of  Egypt,  who  lost  the  greater  part  of  his 
army,  and  was  pursued  by  the  Armenian  cavalry  to  the 
verge  of  the  desert.  Aleppo  and  Damascus  opened  their 
gates  to  the  conquerors  ;  and  if  we  may  believe  the  historian 
Hayton,  Christians  once  more  entered  Jerusalem,  and  the 
emperor  of  the  Tartars  visited  in  their  company  the  tomb  of 
Christ. 

It  was  from  that  place  Cazan  sent  ambassadors  to  the 
pope  and  the  sovereigns  of  Europe,  to  solicit  their  alliance, 
and  to  offer  them  possession  of  the  Holy  Land.  Among 
the  singularities  of  this  period,  our  readers  will  no  doubt  be 
astonished  to  find  a  Mogul  emperor  endeavouring  to  revive 
the  spirit  of  the  crusades  among  the  princes  of  Christendom ; 
and  to  see  barbarians  from  the  banks  of  the  Irtis  and  the 
Jaxartes  waiting  upon  Calvary  and  Mount  Sion  for  the 
warriors  of  Prance,  Germany,  and  Italy,  in  order  to  combat 
the  enemies  of  Christ.  The  sovereign  pontiff  received  the 
ambassadors  of  Cazan  with  distinction ;  but  could  only 
answer  their  demands  and  propositions  by  promises  doomed 
to  remain  unexecuted.  The  haughtiness  with  which  Boni- 
face VIII.,  the  successor  of  Nicholas,  spoke  to  the  Christian 


96  HISTORY    OF    TEE    CRUSADES. 

princes,  together  with  his  exhortations,  which  resembled 
commands  more  than  entreaties,  disgusted  the  sovereigns, 
particularly  the  king  of  France.  Genoa,  which  then  lay 
under  an  interdict,  was  the  only  city  of  Europe  in  which  a 
crusade  was  seriously  spoken  of;  and  by  a  whimsical  cir- 
cumstance, it  was  the  ladies  who  gave  the  signal  and  set  the 
example. 

We  are  still  in  possession  of  a  brief  of  the  pope's,  in 
•which  the  holy  father  felicitates  the  ladies  who  had  taken 
the  cross,  upon  their  following  the  steps  of  Cazan,  the  em- 
peror of  the  Tartars,  ivho,  although  a  pagan,  had  conceived 
the  generous  resolution  of  delivering  the  Holy  Land.  His- 
tory has  preserved  two  other  letters  of  the  pope,  one 
addressed  to  Porchetto,  archbishop  of  Genoa,  and  the  other 
to  four  Genoese  nobles,  who  had  undertaken  to  direct  the 
expedition.  "  Oh,  prodigy !  oh,  miracle!"  says  he  to  Por- 
chetto ;  "  a  weak  and  timid  sex  takes  the  advance  of  warriors 
in  this  great  enterprise,  in  this  war  against  the  enemies  of 
Christ,  in  this  fight  against  the  workers  of  iniquity.  The 
kings  and  princes  of  the  earth,  regardless  of  all  the  solicita- 
tions that  have  been  made  to  them,  refuse  to  send  succours 
to  the  Christians  banished  from  the  Holy  Land,  and  here 
are  women  who  come  forward  without  being  called !  Whence 
can  this  magnanimous  resolution  come,  if  not  from  God,  the 
source  of  all  strength  and  all  virtue ! ! !  "  The  pope  termi- 
nated his  letter  by  directing  the  archbishop  to  call  together 
the  clergy  and  the  people,  and  proclaim  the  devotion  of  the 
noble  Genoese  ladies,  in  order  that  their  example  may  cast 
seeds  of  good  works  into  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

This  crusade,  notwithstanding,  never  took  place ;  it  was 
doubtless  only  preached  to  rouse  the  emulation  of  the 
knights,  and  the  pope  only  directed  his  attention  to  it  to 
give  a  lesson  to  the  princes  of  Christendom,  by  wrhich  they 
did  not  at  all  profit.  The  letters  written  upon  this  occasion 
by  Boniface  VIII.  were  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the 
republic  of  Genoa  for  a  long  time.  Even  in  the  last  cen- 
tury, the  helmets  and  cuirasses  which  were  to  have  been 
worn  by  the  Genoese  ladies  in  this  expedition  were  exhi- 
bited in  the  arsenal  of  that  city. 

The  Tartars,  in  spite  of  their  victories,  were  uot  able  to 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES.  97 

triumph  over  the  constancy  and  discipline  of  the  Mame- 
lukes, who,  like  themselves,  had  issued  from  the  deserts  of 
Scythia.  That  which  had  so  often  happened  to  the  Franks 
in  the  height  of  the  crusades,  now  happened  to  the  Moguls ; 
they  at  first  obtained  great  advantages,  but  events  foreign 
to  the  Holy  War  recalled  them  into  their  own  country,  and 
forced  them  to  abandon  their  conquests.  Cazan  was  obliged 
to  quit  Syria  and  return  into  Persia ;  he  attempted  a  second 
expedition,  which  he  again  abandoned ;  and  he  died  in  the 
third,  amidst  his  triumphs,  bearing  with  him  to  the  tomb 
the  last  hopes  of  the  Christians. 

The  Armenian  and  Cyprian  warriors  left  the  holy  city, 
the  ramparts  of  which  they  had  begun  to  re-erect,  and  which 
Mas  doomed  never  again  to  see  the  standard  of  the  cross 
unfurled  within  its  walls.  This  last  reverse  of  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  East  was  scarcely  known  in  Europe,  where  the 
name  of  Jerusalem  was  still  pronounced  in  the  congrega- 
tions of  the  faithful,  but  had  no  longer  the  power  to  awaken 
the  enthusiasm  of  knights  and  warriors.  At  the  Council  of 
Vienna,  Pope  Clement  V.  proclaimed  a  crusade ;  but  in  this 
assembly,  in  which  the  abolition  of  the  Templars  was  deter- 
mined upon,  Christians  were  exhorted  very  feebly  to  take 
up  arms  against  the  infidels. 

The  sovereign  pontiff  was  then  much  more  busy  in  levying 
tenths  than  in  preparations  for  a  holy  war.  One  thing 
worthy  of  remark  is,  that  Clement  found  himself  obliged  on 
this  occasion  to  recommend  moderation  to  the  collectors  oi 
the  tenths,  and  forbade  them  to  seize  the  chalices,  the  boohs, 
or  the  ornaments  of  the  churches.  This  prohibition  of  the 
pope's  proves  to  us  that  violence  had  often  been  committed 
in  collecting  the  tributes  destined  to  the  expenses  of  the 
holy  wars ;  this  violence  must  have  assisted  in  relaxing  the 
zeal  and  ardour  of  nations  for  distant  enterprises,  as  the 
results  of  which,  Christian  cities  were  ruined,  and  the  altars 
of  Christ  plundered. 

Europe  at  that  time  awaited  with  great  impatience  the 
issue  of  an  expedition  undertaken  by  the  knights  of  St.  John 
of  Jerusalem.  A  great  number  of  warriors,  excited  by  the 
relation  of  the  adventures  of  chivalry,  and  by  a  passion  for 
military  glory,  followed  the  Hospitallers  in  their  enterprise; 


98  HISTORY    OF    THE    CEJSAHES. 

women  even  were  desirous  of  taking  a  part  n  this  expedi- 
tion, and  sold  their  diamonds  and  jewels  to  provide  for  the 
expenses  of  the  war. 

This  army  of  new  crusaders  embarked  at  the  port  of 
Brendisi,  and  it  soon  became  known  in  the  AVest  that  the 
knights  of  the  Hospital  had  taken  possession  of  the  isle  of 
Rhodes. 

Renown  published  everywhere  the  exploits  of  the  Hos- 
pitallers and  their  companions  in  arms ;  and  these  exploits, 
and  the  admiration  they  inspired  throughout  Christendom, 
naturally  turned  the  attention  and  remembrances  of  the 
faithful  to  the  Templars,  who  were  reproached  with  the 
disgraceful  repose  in  which  they  forgot  both  the  Holy  Land 
and  the  tomb  of  Christ. 

The  knights  of  the  Temple,  after  having  been  received  in 
the  Isle  of  Cyprus,  had  returned  to  Sicily,  where  they  were 
employed  by  the  king  in  an  expedition  against  Greece. 
United  with  the  Catalans  and  some  warriors  from  Italy, 
this  warlike  body  took  possession  of  Thessalonica,  made 
themselves  masters  of  Athens,  advanced  towards  the  Hel- 
lespont, and  ravaged  a  part  of  Thrace.  After  this  expe- 
dition the  Templars  disdained  the  possession  of  the  cities 
which  had  fallen  into  their  power,  and  leaving  the  conquered 
provinces  to  their  companions  in  arms,  they  kept  for  them- 
selves the  riches  of  the  people  they  had  subdued.  It  was 
then  that,  loaded  with  the  spoils  of  Greece,  they  came  to 
establish  themselves  in  the  West,  particularly  in  .France, 
where  their  opulence,  their  luxury,  and  their  idleness,  scan- 
dalized the  piety  of  the  faithful,  awakened  envy,  and  pro- 
voked the  hatred  of  both  the  people  and  the  great. 

It  does  not  enter  into  the  plan  of  this  work  to  dilate  upon 
the  process  instituted  against  the  Templars  ;  but  if  we  have 
followed  these  noble  knights  in  all  their  wars  against  the 
Mussulmans, — if  we  have  been  so  long  witnesses  of  their 
exploits,  and,  as  it  were,  companions  of  their  labours,  we 
shall  perhaps  have  acquired  the  right  of  expressing  our 
opinion  upon  the  accusations  directed  against  them.  We 
must  at  once  declare  that  we  have  found  nothing  up  to  the 
period  of  the  process,  either  in  the  chronicles  of  the  East, 
or  those  of  the  West,  which  can  give  birth  to  or  establish 
an  idea,  or  even  a  suspicion,  of  the  crimes  imputed  to  them- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CItUSADES.  99 

How  can  it,  in  fact,  be  believed,  that  a  warlike  and  neigioua 
order,  which  twenty  years  before  had  seen  three  hundred  of 
its  knights  sacrifice  themselves  upon  the  ruins  of  Saphet, 
rather  than  embrace  the  Mussulman  faith,  that  this  order 
which  had  almost  entirely  buried  itself  under  the  ruins  of 
Ptolemais,  could  possibly  have  contracted  an  alliance  with 
infidels,  outraged  the  Christian  religion  with  horrible  blas- 
phemies, and  given  up  to  the  Saracens  that  Holy  Land  filled 
with  its  military  glory. 

And  at  what  period  were  all  these  odious  reproaches 
addressed  to  the  Templars  ?  at  a  time  when  Christendom 
seemed  to  have  forgotten  Jerusalem,  and  in  which  the  name 
of  Christ  was  not  sufficient  to  awaken  the  bravery  of  a 
Christian  warrior.  No  doubt  the  order  of  the  Templars 
had  degenerated  from  the  austerity  of  early  times,  and  that 
it  was  no  longer  animated  by  that  spirit  of  humility  and 
religion  of  which  St.  Bernard  so  much  boasted ;  no  doubt 
some  of  the  knights  had  brought  with  them  that  corruption 
which  was  then  the  reproach  of  all  the  Christians  of  the 
East,  and  of  which  Europe  itself  could  offer  them  numerous 
examples ;  no  doubt,  in  short,  some  among  them  might 
have  wounded  morality  by  their  conduct,  and  offended  the 
religion  of  Christ  by  their  irregularities ;  but  we  do  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  it  was  not  the  province  of  men  to  judge 
them,  and  that  upon  this  occasion  the  merciful  God  of  the 
Christians  had  not  deputed  his  vengeance  to  human  laws. 

The  real  error  of  the  Templars  was  having  quitted  the 
East,  and  renounced  the  spirit  of  their  institution,  which 
was  to  receive  and  protect  pilgrims,  and  to  combat  with  the 
enemies  of  the  Christian  faith.  This  order,  richer  than  the 
most  powerful  monarchs,  and  whose  knights  were  as  a 
regular  army,  always  ready  for  fight,  became,  naturally, 
dreaded  by  the  princes  who  granted  them  an  asylum.  The 
Templars  had  not  been  free  from  all  reproach  during  their 
abode  in  Cyprus;  accustomed  to  rule  in  Palestine,  they 
must  have  contracted  a  habit  of  obedience  with  difficulty. 
The  example  of  the  Teutonic  knights,  who,  after  quitting 
the  East,  founded  a  power  in  the  north  of  Europe  which 
was  dreaded  by  the  neighbouring  states,  was  not  likely  to 
reassure  princes  who  mistrusted  the  warlike  spirit,  and  the 
active  and  enterprising  genius,  of  the  knights  of  the  Temple. 


100  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

SuiA,  probably,  were  the  motives  which  armed  the  policy 
rather  than  the  justice  of  sovereigns  against  them  ;  nothing 
so  clearly  proves  the  fear  they  inspired  as  the  rancour  with 
which  they  were  pursued,  and  the  care  that  was  taken  to 
render  them  odious.  As  soon  as  their  persecution  began, 
they  were  only  considered  as  enemies  whom  it  was  neces- 
sary to  treat  as  criminals.  As  rigours  without  example 
preceded  their  abolition,  it  was  necessary  to  justify  that 
measure  by  fresh  rigours.  Vengeance  and  hatred  finished 
that  which  the  policy  of  princes  had  begun ;  a  policy  which 
had,  perhaps,  reasons  for  being  suspicious,  but  which  had 
none  for  proving  itself  barbarous.  It  is  thus  we  must  ex- 
plain the  tragical  issue  of  this  process,  in  which  all  the  forms 
of  justice  were  so  violated,  that  even  if  the  accusations  be  con- 
sidered proved,  we  must  still  regard  the  Templars  as  victims 
and  their  judges  as  executioners.* 

Philip-le-Bel  had  promised  the  council  of  Vienna  to  go 
into  the  East  to  combat  the  infidels,  without  doubt  to  pro- 
cure pardon  for  having  pursued  the  knights  of  the  Temple 
with  so  much  inveteracy.  Amidst  the  festivals  that  wel- 
comed the  arrival  of  Edward  in  Paris,  the  Erench  monarch 
and  the  princes  of  his  family  took  the  cross.  Most  of  the 
nobles  of  his  court  followed  his  example,  and  the  ladies  pro- 
mised to  accompany  the  knights  to  the  holy  war ;  but  no 
one  took  any  measures  for  setting  out.  Promises  were  then 
made  to  cross  the  seas  by  persons  who  hau  not  any  serious 
intention  of  leaving  their  homes.  The  vow  to  combat  the 
Saracens  appeared  to  be  a  vain  ceremony,  which  engaged 
the  swearer  to  nothing.  It  was  taken  wii/u  perfect  indiffer- 
ence, and  violated  in  the  same  manner ;  considered  as  not 
more  sacred  than  the  vows  the  knights  made  to  the  ladies. 

Philip-le-Bel  died  without  ever  having  thought  of  accom- 
plishing his  vow.  Philip-le-Long,  who  succeeded  him,  enter- 
tained for  a  moment  the  project  of  going  into  the  East. 
Edward,  who  had  already  several  times  sworn  to  fight  the 
Saracens,  at  the  same  time  renewed  hxh  promise.  But  the 
sovereign  pontiff,  whether  that  he  douV.ed  their  sincerity,  or 
whether  that  he  stood  in  need  of  the  concurrence  of  these 

*  We  are  not  able  to  add  anything  to  th**  'ja-med  researches  of  M 
Rayuouard  upon  the  condemnation  of  the  Templars.  We  refer  out 
readers  to  his  work,  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  101 

two  monarchs  to  reestablish  tranquillity  in  Europe,  and  to 
resist  the  emperor  of  Germany,  against  whom  he  had  armed 
him  self  with  the  thunders  of  the  Church,  or  whether,  in 
short,  he  thought  the  moment  an  unfavourable  one,  did  not 
approve  of  their  expedition  into  Syria.  "  Before  thinking  oi 
the  voyage  beyond  the  seas,"  wrote  he  to  the  king  of  England, 
"  we  would  wish  you  to  establish  peace,  first  in  your  own 
conscience,  then  in  your  kiugdom."  The  father  of  the  faith- 
ful represented  to  the  king  of  France  that  the  peace,  so 
necessary  to  be  firm  before  a  crusade  should  be  undertaken, 
was  almost  banished  from  Christendom.  England  and  Scot- 
land were  at  war ;  the  states  of  Germany  were  divided 
against  each  other ;  the  king  of  Sicily  and  the  king  of  Naple* 
were  only  bound  by  a  truce  of  short  duration ;  reciproea, 
mistrust  prevented  the  kings  of  Cyprus  and  Armenia  from 
uniting  their  forces  against  the  common  enemy ;  the  kings 
of  Spain  were  quite  sufficiently  employed  in  defending  their 
states  against  the  Moors ;  the  republics  of  Lombardy  were 
all  in  arms  against  each  other;  all  the  cities  of  Italy  were 
torn  by  factions,  the  provinces  a  prey  to  tyrants,  the  sea 
impracticable,  the  route  by  land  thickly  strewed  with 
dangers.  After  having  given  this  picture  of  the  deplorable 
state  of  Christendom,  the  pope  pressed  Philip  to  inquire 
seriously  how  he  could  provide  for  the  expenses  of  the  war 
without  ruining  his  people,  or  without  attempting,  he  added, 
to  do  that  which  is  impossible,  as  has  been  done  before. 

The  paternal  advice  of  the  sovereign  pontiff,  and  some 
troubles  which  arose  in  the  bosom  of  his  kingdom,  deter- 
mined Philip  to  postpone  the  execution  of  his  project.  A 
multitude  of  herdsmen  and  shepherds,  of  adventurers  and 
vagabonds,  setting  up,  as  in  the  time  of  the  captivity  of 
St.  Louis,  the  pilgrims'  cross,  assembled  in  many  places, 
persecuted  the  Jews,  and  committed  most  culpable  excesses. 
Force  of  arms  and  the  full  severity  of  the  laws  were  obliged 
to  be  resorted  to,  in  order  to  quell  these  disorders,  of  whicli 
the  crusade  was  only  a  pretext.  At  the  same  time  several 
provinces  of  France  suffered  greatly  from  an  epidemic  dis- 
ease ;  the  Jews  were  accused  of  having  poisoned  the  wells, 
with  the  design  of  suspending  the  preparations  for  the  holy 
war.  They  were  accused  of  all  sorts  of  plots  against  the 
Christians ;  and  the  general  fermentatioi   was  the  greater 


102  HISTORY    OF    THE    4RUSADE8. 

from  the  suspicions  being  vague,  and  from  the  impossibility 
of  proving  or  contradicting  the  crimes  alleged.  Policy  could 
discover  no  other  means  of  dissipating  the  troubles  than 
that  of  entering  into  the  passions  of  the  multitude,  and 
driving  all  the  Jews  out  of  the  kingdom.  Amidst  these 
unhappy  circumstances,  Philip  fell  ill,  and  died  regretting 
his  not  having  accomplished  the  vow  he  had  made  of  warring 
against  the  Saracens. 

In  the  state  of  abandonment  to  which  the  crusades  had 
fallen,  we  are  surprised  at  seeing  the  minds  of  the  French 
still  occasionally  directed  towards  the  delivery  of  the  holy 
places.  This  last  flickering  of  enthusiasm,  which  our  an- 
cestors kept  alight  amidst  the  general  indifference,  was  not 
confined  to  religious  sentiments,  but  extended  to  a  feeling 
of  patriotism  and  national  glory.  It  was  Prance  which  had 
given  the  first  impulsion  to  the  holy  wars,  as  we  have  several 
times  observed.  The  name  of  Palestine,  the  names  of 
St.  Jean  d'Acre  or  Ptolemais,  and  that  of  Jerusalem  appealed 
no  less  to  patriotism  than  to  piety.  Although  the  two  ex- 
peditions of  Louis  IX.  had  been  unsuccessful,  the  example 
of  the  holy  monarch  was  a  great  authority  for  the  princes  of 
his  family,  and  often  carried  their  thoughts  to  the  places 
where  he  had  suffered  the  glory  of  martyrdom.  The  memory 
of  his  exploits  and  even  of  his  misfortunes,  the  memory  of 
the  heroes  who  had  died  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile  and  the 
Jordan,  interested  all  the  families  of  the  kingdom ;  and  the 
city  in  which  reposed  the  ashes  of  Godfrey  and  Baldwin  of 
Bouillon,  those  distant  regions  in  which  so  many  glorious 
battles  had  been  fought,  could  not  be  forgotten  by  French 
warriors. 

After  the  death  of  Philip-le-Long,  ambassadors  arrived  in 
Earope  from  the  king  of  Armenia ;  this  prince,  abandoned 
by  the  Tartars,  and  threatened  by  the  Mamelukes  of  Egypt, 
requested  the  assistance  of  the  West.  The  pope  wrote  to 
Charl  ^s-le-Bel,  the  successor  of  Philip-le-Long,  and  conjured 
him  to  take  up  arms  against  the  infidels.  Charles  received 
with  respect  the  counsels  and  the  exhortations  of  the  sove- 
reign pontiff,  and  was  engaged  in  preparations  for  a  crusade 
when  the  succession  of  the  county  of  Flanders  caused  a  war 
to  break  out  in  the  Low  Countries.     From  that  time  Franc© 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES.  103 

became  attentive  only  to  the  events  that  were  passing  before 
her  eyes,  and  in  which  her  own  independence  and  safety 
were  deeply  interested.  At  the  approach  of  death,  and  at  a 
time  when  the  kingdom  had  no  longer  anything  to  fear, 
Charles-le-Bel  remembered  his  oath,  and  his  last  thoughts 
were  directed  towards  the  deliverance  of  Jerusalem.  "  I 
bequeath,"  says  he  in  his  will,  "to  the  Holy  Land  fifty 
thousand  livres,  to  be  paid  and  delivered  when  the  general 
passage  shall  be  made  ;  and  it  is  my  intention,  if  the  passage 
be  made  in  my  lifetime,  to  go  thither  in  person."*  It  was 
thus  that  at  this  period  the  spirit  of  the  crusades  still  occa- 
sionally showed  itself;  most  of  the  testamentsf  then  made 
by  princes  and  rich  men  (these  words  designated  the  nobi- 
lity) contained  some  dispositions  in  favour  of  the  Holy 
Land ;  but  we  must  add,  also,  that  the  facility  of  purchasing 
the  merit  of  pilgrimage  for  money  must  necessarily  have 
greatly  diminished  the  number  of  pilgrims  and  Crusaders. 

Whilst  dying  people  were  thus  prodigal  of  their  treasure 
for  the  holy  war,  nobody  took  up  arms.  There  still,  how- 
ever, remained  some  men  endowed  with  a  vivid  imagination 
and  an  ardent  temperament,  who  made  incredible  efforts  to 
rekindle  an  enthusiasm  on  the  point  of  being  extinguished. 
The  greater  the  indifference  of  nations,  the  greater  were  the 
ardour  and  zeal  displayed  by  these  men  in  their  preachings. 
Among  these  latter  apostles  of  the  crusades,  history  cites 
the  name  of  Raymond  Lulli,  one  of  the  luminaries  of  the 
schools  of  the  middle  ages. % 

Lulli  was  possessed  during  his  life  but  by  one  thought, 

*  This  article  of  the  will  of  Charles-le-Bel  is  related  by  Ducange.  It 
has  been  remarked  that  it  is  dated  the  24th  of  October,  1324,  and  that 
Charles  died  in  1327  :  we  may  suppose  that  the  date  is  incorrect,  or  that 
Charles-le-Bel  did  not  perform  his  vow. 

f  We  have  before  us  a  will  made  at  this  period,  in  which  a  gentleman 
of  the  name  of  Castellen,  already  illustrious  in  the  times  of  the  crusades, 
gives  a  sum  for  the  expenses  of  the  holy  war.  We  regret  we  are  not  able 
to  publish  the  text  of  this  document,  which  has  been  communicated  to  us 
by  the  family  of  the  testator. 

%  A  memoir  on  the  part  which  the  Spaniards  took  in  the  crusades,  read 
at  the  Academy  of  Madrid,  describes  the  labours,  the  adventures,  and 
wanderings  of  Raymond  Lulli.  The  Histoire  Ecclesiastigue  of  Fleury 
may  likewise  be  consulted. 


104  IIISTOIIT    OE    THE    CltUSADES. 

and  that  was,  to  combat  and  convert  the  infidels*  It  was 
upon  the  proposition  of  this  zealous  missionary  that  the 
council  of  Vienna  decided  that  chairs  should  be  established 
in  the  universities  of  Rome,  Bologna,  Paris,  and  Salamanca, 
for  instruction  in  the  languages  of  the  East.  He  presented 
to  the  pope  several  memorials  upon  the  means  of  annihilating 
the  worship  of  Mahomet  and  the  domination  of  his  disciples. 
Lulli,  constantly  occupied  with  his  project,  made  a  pil- 
grimage into  Palestine,  travelled  through  Syria,  Armenia, 
and  Egypt,  and  came  back  to  Europe  to  describe  the  mis- 
fortunes, the  captivity,  and  the  disgraces  of  the  Christians 
beyond  the  seas.  On  his  return,  he  visited  all  the  courts  of 
the  West,  seeking  to  communicate  to  sovereigns  the  senti- 
ments by  which  he  was  animated.  Einding  his  efforts  were 
vain,  his  zeal  carried  him  to  the  coast  of  Africa,  where  he 
endeavoured  to  convert  by  his  eloquence  those  same  Saracens 
against  whom  he  had  invoked  the  arms  of  Christian  war- 
riors. He  returned  to  Europe,  passed  through  Italy, 
Erance,  and  Spain,  preaching  everywhere  the  necessity  for 
another  crusade.  He  embarked  again  for  Jerusalem,  and 
brought  back,  as  the  fruit  of  his  pilgrimage,  some  useful 
notions  upon  the  best  manner  of  attacking  the  countries  of 
the  infidels.  All  his  labours,  all  his  researches,  all  his 
prayers,  produced  no  effect  upon  the  indifference  of  kings 
and  nations.  Lulli,  at  length  despairing  of  seeing  his  pro- 
iects  realised,  and  deploring  the  blindness  of  his  contem- 
uoraries,  retired  to  the  island  of  Majorca,  which  was  his  native 
country.  Erom  the  depth  of  his  retreat  he  still  issued  me- 
morials upon  an  expedition  to  the  East ;  but  solitude  soon 
wearied  his  ardent  and  restless  spirit,  and  he  quitted 
Majorca,  no  more  to  waste  his  words  upon  the  princes  of 
Europe,  who  would  not  listen  to  him,  but  to  return  to  the 
Mussulmans,  whom  he  still  hoped  to  lead  to  the  Gospel  by 
his  eloquence.  He  repaired  a  second  time  to  Africa,  and  at 
length  suffered,  as  the  reward  of  his  preachings,  the  torments 
and  the  death  of  martyrs. 

Whilst  Lulli  was  striving  to  direct  the  efforts  of  the 
faithful  to  the  deliverance  of  the  holy  places,  a  noble  Vene- 

*  We  have  taken  these  particulars  of  Raymond  Lulli  from  the  Spanish 
dissertations  upon  the  crusades,  which  we  have  already  quoted  in  thf 
preceding  book. 


HISTORY    Of    TILE    CRUSADES  105 

fcian  likewise  consecrated  his  life  and  his  talents  to  the  revival 
of  the  spirit  of  the  crusades.  Sanuti  thus  describes  the 
first  audience  he  obtained  of  the  sovereign  pontiff:  "  I  am 
not  sent  hither,"  said  he,  "  by  any  king,  any  prince,  or  any 
republic ;  it  is  from  the  impulse  of  my  own  mind  that  I 
come  to  throw  myself  at  the  feet  of  your  holiness,  and  to 
propose  to  you  an  easy  means  of  crushing  the  enemies  of 
the  true  faith,  of  extirpating  the  sect  of  Mahomet,  and 
of  recovering  the  Holy  Land.*  My  voyages  in  Cyprus, 
Armenia,  and  Egypt,  together  with  a  long  sojourn  in  Ro- 
mania, have  furnished  me  with  knowledge  and  information 
that  may  be  turned  to  the  profit  of  Christianity."  On 
finishing  these  words,  Sanuti  presented  two  books  to  the 
pope,  one  covered  with  red  and  the  other  with  yellow,  and 
four  geographical  charts,  the  first  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 
the  second  of  the  earth  and  of  the  sea,  the  third  of  the 
Holy  Land,  the  fourth,  of  Egypt.  The  two  books  of  the 
noble  Venetian  contained  the  history  of  the  Christian  esta- 
blishments in  the  East,  and  wise  counsels  respecting  the 
undertaking  of  another  crusade.  His  zeal,  enlightened  by 
experience,  did  not  allow  him  to  neglect  the  least  detail 
upon  the  route  that  was  to  be  followed,  upon  the  point  that 
it  would  be  best  to  attack,  upon  the  number  of  troops,  and 
upon  the  fitting  out  and  provisioning  of  the  vessels.  He 
advised  that  operations  should  commence  by  landing  in 
Egypt,  and  weakening  the  power  of  the  sultans  of  Cairo. 
The  most  certain  means  of  effecting  this  latter  purpose  was 
to  obtain  directly  from  Bagdad  the  Indian  merchandises 
which  European  commerce  was  accustomed  to  get  by  the 
cities  of  Alexandria  and  Damietta.  Sanuti,  at  the  same 
time,  advised  the  sovereign  pontiff  to  redouble  the  severity 
of  his  censures  against  those  who  carried  into  Egypt  arms, 
metals,  timber  for  building,  or  anything  that  could  assist  in 
equipping  fleets  or  arming  the  Mameluke  soldiery. 

The  pope  bestowed  great  praises  upon  Sanuti,  and  fur- 
nished him  with  introductions  to  several  sovereigns  of 
Europe.  The  Christian  princes,  particularly  the  king  of 
Erance,  received  him  with  kindness,  lauded  his  piety,  and 
admired  his  talents — but  took  care  not  to  follow  his  advice. 

*  See  what  Sanuti  himself  relates  in  his  book,  from  which  we  shall  take 
jaaany  extracts. 


L06  HISTORY    OF    THE    CHIJSADES. 

Sanuti  addressed  himself  likewise  to  the  emperor  of  Con- 
stantinople, to  engage  him  in  an  expedition  against  the 
infidels  ;  he  sought  everywhere,  and  by  every  means,  to  raise 
up  enemies  against  the  Mussulmans,  and  passed  his  life  in 
preaching  a  crusade,  without  obtaining  any  more  success 
than  Raymond  Lulli  had  done. 

The  zeal  of  the  two  men  of  whom  we  have  just  spoken 
can  only  be  compared  to  that  of  Peter  the  Hermit ;  they 
were  both  much  more  enlightened  than  the  cenobite  Peter, 
but  they  could  get  no  one  to  listen  to  them,  and  the  fruit- 
lessness  of  their  efforts  proves  how  much  the  times  were 
changed.  Peter  preached  in  cities  and  in  public  places,  and 
the  multitude,  inflamed  by  his  discourses,  led  away  and 
awakened  the  feelings  of  the  great.  In  the  times  of  Lulli 
and  Sanuti,  sovereigns  alone  could  be  addressed,  and  sove- 
reigns, occupied  by  their  own  affairs,  showed  very  little 
interest  for  projects  which  only  concerned  Christendom  in 
general.  In  the  early  times  of  the  crusades,  the  deliverance 
of  the  holy  places  was  a  matter  of  importance ;  simply  to 
pronounce  the  name  of  Jerusalem  was  sufficient  to  appease 
differences  among  princes ;  later,  the  least  interest  of  jea- 
lousy, ambition,  or  self-love  had  the  power  to  arrest  the 
progress  of,  or  completely  put  an  end  to,  a  holy  enterprise. 
Frequently,  in  the  twelfth  century,  popes  and  simple 
preachers,  arming  themselves  with  the  authority  of  Christ, 
commanded  princes  to  take  up  the  cross  and  set  out  for  the 
East ;  in  the  thirteenth,  but  more  particularly  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  it  was  necessary  to  pray  and  solicit ;  and, 
generally,  the  most  humble  prayers  produced  no  effect.* 

Thus,  the  groans  of  Sion  no  longer  melted  hearts,  and 
Christian  eloquence  was  powerless  against  infidels.  In  order 
to  awaken  attention,  it  was  necessary  to  mingle  something 
of  profane  grandeur  with  the  pathetic  exhortations  of  reli- 
gion ;  *  thus,  Europe,  which  scarcely  listened  to  the  mission- 

*  It  appears  almost  incomprehensible  that  our  author  should,  in  these 
reflections,  omit  that  which  must  strike  every  one  else  as  the  principal 
cause  of  the  change  he  affects  to  lament.  In  the  days  of  Peter  the 
Hermit,  a  crusade  was  a  golden  day-dream,  in  which  ambition  and  cupi- 
dity indulged  as  strongly  as  piety  or  superstition.  But  experience  had 
not  only  proved  it  to  be  "a  baseless  fabric,"  but  a  cruel  and  a  bitter 
scourge  to  all  who  had  embarked  in  one.  The  first  Crusaders  were  visionarj 
—later  ones  must  have  been  mad. — Trans. 


HISTOTtY    OF    THE    CEE2ADES.  107 

aries  of  the  cross,  appeared,  all  at  once,  to  be  aroused  by 
the  arrival  of  tlie  king  of  Cyprus,  soliciting,  in  person,  the 
assistance  of  Christian  princes.  The  pope,  who  was  then 
at  Avignon,  eagerly  announced  to  the  faithful  that  an 
Eastern  king  was  come  to  his  court,  and  conjured  the  war- 
riors of  the  West  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Saracens. 
The  king  of  Cyprus  and  Jerusalem  described  the  invasions 
of  the  Mamelukes,  the  progress  of  the  Turks,  the  dangers 
which  surrounded  his  kingdom,  that  of  Armenia,  and  the 
isle  of  Rhodes,  and  omitted  no  instance  of  the  numerous 
persecutions  endured  by  the  Christians  who  remained  in 
Syria  and  Egypt.  These  sad  recitals,  coming  from  a  royal 
mouth,  awakened  some  generous  sentiments  in  men's  minds  ; 
a  league  was  formed  between  the  sovereign  pontiff,  the  king 
of  France,  and  the  republic  of  Venice ;  and  the  pope  pub- 
lished a  bull  by  which  he  ordered  the  bishops  to  cause  a 
crusade  to  be  preached. 

Philip  of  Valois  convoked  an  assembly  at  Paris,  in  the 
Holy  Chapel,  at  which  were  present  John,  king  of  Bchemia, 
the  king  of  Navarre,  the  dukes  of  Burgundy,  Brittany, 
Lorraine,  Brabant,  and  Bourbon,  with  most  of  the  prelates 
and  barons  of  the  kingdom.  Peter  de  la  Palue,  named 
patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and  who  had  recently  passed  through 
Egypt  and  Palestine,  harangued  the  auditory  upon  the 
necessity  for  attacking  the  infidels,  and  stopping  the  pro- 
gress of  their  domination  in  the  East.  Philip,  who  had 
already  taken  the  cross,  renewed  the  vow  he  had  made,  and 
as  he  was  preparing  to  quit  his  kingdom,  the  barons  took 
the  oath  of  obedience  to  his  son  Prince  John,  by  raising 
their  hands  towards  the  crown  of  thorns  of  Christ.  John 
of  Bohemia,  the  king  of  Navarre,  and  a  great  number  of 
princes  and  nobles,  received  the  cross  from  the  hands  of  the 
archbishop  of  Rouen.  The  crusade  was  preached  throughout 
the  kingdom,  "and  gave  to  all  noble  lords,"  says  Eroissart, 
"  great  delight,  particularly  to  those  who  wished  to  pass 
their  time  in  arms,  and  knew  no  means  then  of  employing  it 
otherwise  more  reasonably."* 

The  king  of  Erance  sent  to  the  pope  the  archbishop  of 

*  Et  venoist  a  tous  seigneurs  moult  grande  plaisance,  et  specialement 
t  ceux  qui  vouloient  le  temps  dispenser  en  armes,  et  qui  adonc  ne  la 
eavoient  mie  bien  raisonnablement  employer  ailleurs. — Froissart. 


108  HISTOEY    OF    THE    CEUSADES. 

Rouen,  who  afterwards  ascended  the  chair  of  St.  Peter 
under  the  name  of  Clement  VI.  The  archbishop,  in  full 
consistory,  pronounced  a  discourse  upon  the  crusade,  and 
declared,  in  the  presence  of  divine  majesty,  to  the  holy 
father,  to  the  church  of  Rome  and  all  Christendom,  that 
Philip  of  Valois  would  set  out  for  the  East  in  the  month  of 
August,  in  the  year  1336.  The  pope  felicitated  the  French 
monarch  upon  his  resolution,  and  granted  him  the  tenths 
during  six  years.  These  circumstances  are  related  by  Philip 
Villain,  who  was  at  Avignon  at  the  time,  and  who,  after 
having  spoken  in  his  history  of  the  promise  made  in  the 
name  of  the  king  of  Prance,  exclaims : — "  And  I,  the 
historian,  I  heard  the  oath  pronounced  which  I  have  just 
related." 

Philip  gave  orders  that  a  fleet,  assembled  in  the  port  ot 
Marseilles,  should  be  made  ready  to  receive  forty  thousand 
Crusaders.  Edward  III.,  to  whom  the  crusade  offered  an 
easy  means  of  imposing  taxes,  promised  to  accompany  the 
king  of  Prance  with  an  army  in  the  pilgrimage  beyond  the 
seas.  Most  of  the  republics  of  Italy,  with  the  kings  of 
Arragon,  Majorca,  and  Hungary,  engaged  to  supply  money, 
troops,  and  vessels  for  the  expedition.  In  the  midst  of  their 
preparations,  the  Crusaders  lost  him  who  directed  and  was 
the  soul  of  the  enterprise.  Everything  was  interrupted  by 
the  death  of  Pope  John  XXL,  and  in  this  place  it  becomes 
necessary  to  point  out  one  of  the  causes  which  rendered 
abortive,  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  so  many 
attempts  to  carry  the  war  into  the  East.  As  the  successors 
of  St.  Peter  scarcely  ever  succeeded  to  the  pontifical  chair 
before  they  were  of  an  advanced  age,  they  were  wanting  in 
the  energy  and  activity  necessary  for  exciting  the  Christian 
world,  directing  distant  wars,  and  kindling  an  enthusiasm, 
formerly  so  difficult  to  be  restrained,  now  so  difficult  to  be 
revived.  Each  crusade  requiring  long  preparations,  the  life 
of  one  sovereign  pontiff  scarcely  sufficed  for  the  completion 
of  such  great  enterprises.  It  most  frequently  happened, 
that  he  who  had  preached  a  holy  war  could  not  behold  the 
departure  of  the  Crusaders  ;  and  that  he  who  saw  the  Chris* 
tian  armies  set  out,  never  lived  long  enough  to  follow  them 
through  their  expeditions,  conduct  them  in  their  triumphs, 
or  succour  them  in  their  reverses.     Thus  we  never  find  in 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  109 

the  projects  which  circumstances  had  formed,  that  spirit  of 
sequence  and  wholeness  necessary  to  secure  execution  and 
success.  Add  to  this,  that  since  the  popes  had  been  esta- 
blished at  Avignon,  and  their  apostolic  seat  was  no  longer  in 
the  centre  of  Christendom,  they  did  not  exercise  the  same 
ascendancy  over  the  distant  provinces,  and  their  authority 
every  day  lost  something  of  that  influence  attached  to  the 
name  only  of  Rome,  considered,  during  so  many  centuries, 
the  capital  of  the  world. 

The  news  of  a  fresh  crusade  having  reached  the  East,  the 
Christians  who  dwelt  in  Syria  or  Egypt,  with  pilgrims  and 
European  merchants,  were  exposed  to  all  sorts  of  persecu- 
tions. The  sultan  of  Cairo  and  several  Mussulman  princes 
assembled  armies  for  the  purpose  of  resisting  the  Crusaders, 
or  to  go  and  attack  the  Christians  in  the  West.  A  de- 
scendant of  the  Abassides,  who  resided  in  Egypt,  and 
assumed  the  title  of  caliph,  sent  letters  and  messages  in 
every  direction  to  engage  all  true  believers  to  take  up  arms ; 
promising  the  martyrs  of  the  Mussulman  faith  that  they 
should  be  present  at  delicious  banquets,  and  that  each  of 
them  should  have  seven  virgins  for  wives. 

The  aim  of  this  crusade,  preached  in  the  name  of  the 
prophet  of  Mecca,  was  to  penetrate  into  Europe  by  the  way 
of  Gibraltar ;  the  Mussulman  warriors  swore  to  annihilate 
Christianity,  and  to  convert  all  the  Christian  temples  into 
stables.  In  proportion  as  the  Saracens  were  thus  becoming 
inflamed  for  an  expedition,  which  they  also  called  a  holy 
war,  Europe  beheld  the  zeal  of  the  princes  and  warriors  who 
had  sworn  to  combat  the  enemies  of  Christ,  grow  fainter 
and  fainter,  and  at  length  die  away.  When  Benedict  XI. 
succeeded  John  XXL,  he  found  the  minds  of  all  changed ; 
hatreds,  mistrusts  and  jealousies  had  taken  place  of  a  tran- 
sitory and  insincere  enthusiam  ;  it  was  in  vain  that  Christian^ 
from  the  East  described  the  persecutions  th^y  had  under- 
gone and  the  preparations  of  the  infidels  against  the  nations 
of  the  West ;  it  was  in  vain  that  the  pope  continued  his 
exhortations  and  his  prayers ;  the  greater  that  t^ie  reason 
was  for  undertaking  a  crusade,  the  more  indifferent  people 
became,  and  the  more  all  ranks  seemed  to  shun  the  idea  of 
contending  with  the  Saracens.  It  was  at  this  period  that 
Brother  Andrew  of  Antioch  came   to  Avignon  with   the 


110  HISTORY   OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

design  of  imploring  the  aid  of  the  pope  and  the  princes  of 
Christendom.  Philip  of  Valois  had  come  to  the  court  of 
the  sovereign  pontiff,  to  inform  him  that  he  should  defer 
his  voyage  into  the  East,  and  had  mounted  his  horse  to 
return  to  Paris,  when  Brother  Andrew  presented  himself 
before  him.  and  said :  "  Art  thou  Philip  king  of  Prance, 
who  promised  God  and  his  Church  to  deliver  the  Holy 
Land?"  The  king  answered,  "Yes."  Then  the  monk  re- 
sumed :  "  If  thy  intention  is  to  perform  that  which  thou 
hast  promised,  I  implore  Jesus  Christ  to  direct  thy  steps., 
and  grant  thee  the  victory ;  but  if  the  enterprise  thou  hast 
commenced  is  only  to  turn  to  the  shame  and  misfortunes  of 
Christians,  if  thou  art  not,  with  the  help  of  God,  determined 
to  finish  it,  if  thou  hast  deceived  the  holy  Catholic  Church, 
divine  justice  will  fall  heavily  on  thy  family  and  on  thy 
kingdom,  aud  the  blood  which  the  news  of  thy  expedition 
has  caused  to  flow  will  rise  up  against  thee."  The  king 
surprised  at  this  strange  appeal,  answered :  "  Brother  An- 
drew, come  with  us:"  and  Brother  Andrew  replied  without 
being  moved,  and  in  an  inspired  tone  :  "  If  thou  wast  going 
into  the  East,  I  would  go  before  thee,  but  as  thou  art  going 
to  the  West,  go  on ;  I  will  return  to  perform  penance  for 
my  sins  in  the  land  thou  hast  abandoned." 

Such  was  even  then  the  authority  of  the  orators  who 
spoke  in  the  name  of  Jerusalem,  that  the  last  words  of 
Brother  Andrew  left  trouble  and  uneasiness  in  the  mind 
of  a  powerful  monarch ;  but  fresh  political  storms  had  re- 
cently broken  out.  Edward  III.  had  laid  claim  to  the 
throne  of  the  Capets,  and  his  ambition  was  the  signal  for  a 
war  which  lasted  more  than  a  century,  and  brought  the 
greatest  calamities  upon  Prance.  Philip,  attacked  by  a 
formidable  enemy,  was  obliged  to  renounce  his  expedition 
beyond  the  seas,  and  employ,  for  the  defence  of  his  own 
kingdom,  the  troops  and  fleets  that  he  had  collected  for  the 
deliverance  of  the  heritage  of  Christ. 

The  pope  did  not,  however,  abandon  the  project  of  the 
holy  war.  The  poet  Petrarch,  who  was  then  at  Avignon, 
proved  one  of  the  most  ardent  apostles  of  the  crusade.  This 
illustrious  poet,  whom  we  are  now  accustomed  to  consider 
only  as  the  ingenious  singer  of  the  praises  of  the  fair  Laura, 
and  who  was  then  deemed  the  most  worthy  interpreter  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  Ill 

the  wisdom  of  the  ancients,  and  one  of  the  great  spirits  of 
his  age,  addressed  an  eloquent  letter  to  the  Doge  of  Venice, 
to  induce  him  to  enter  into  a  war  against  the  Mussulmans. 
Some  of  the  states  of  Italy  united  their  forces  to  make  an 
expedition  into  the  East.  A  chronicle  of  the  counts  of 
Ason  relates  that  a  great  number  of  Crusaders,  clothed  in 
white,  with  a  red  cross,  marched  out  of  Milan ;  and  that  a 
fleet,  equipped  by  the  sovereign  pontiif,  passed  through  the 
Archipelago,  and  surprised  the  city  of  Smyrna,  in  which  the 
Crusaders  were  themselves  quickly  besieged  by  the  Turks. 
The  pope's  legate  and  several  knights  perished  in  a  sortie, 
which  circumstance  determined  the  sovereign  pontiff  to 
employ  new  efforts  to  revive  a  zeal  for  the  crusade.  It  was 
at  this  period  that  the  dauphin  of  Viennois,  Humbert  II. , 
resolved  to  take  the  cross,  and  came  to  Avignon,  to  sup- 
plicate the  pope  to  allow  him  to  be  the  captain  of  the  holy 
voyage  against  the  Turks,  and  against  the  faithless  vassals 
of  the  church  of  Koine.  Humbert  easily  obtained  all  he 
asked,  and  returned  to  his  states  to  make  preparations  for 
his  expedition.  He  alienated  his  domains,  he  sold  privileges 
to  the  nobility,  and  immunities  to  his  cities ;  he  levied  con- 
siderable sums  upon  the  Jews,  and  upon  the  Italian  mer- 
chants established  in  the  Viennois ;  he  exacted  a  tribute 
from  all  his  subjects  who  would  not  accompany  him  to  the 
crusade,  and  having  embarked,  with  a  hundred  men-at-arms, 
he  went  to  seek  in  Asia  either  the  fortune  of  a  conqueror  or 
the  glory  of  a  martyr.  He  found  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other,  and  returned  to  Europe  without  renown  and  bur- 
dened with  debts.  History  represents  Humbert  as  a  weak, 
inconstant  and  irresolute  prince.  He  ruined  himself,  in  the 
first  place,  by  his  dissipation,  then  by  the  expenses  of  the 
crusade ;  weary  of  the  world  and  its  affairs,  he  finished  by 
abandoning  to  the  crown  of  France  his  principality,  which 
he  had  pledged  to  Philip  of  Valois,  and  retired  to  a  monas- 
tery of  Dominican  Eriars  In  order  to  console  him  for  not 
having  conquered  Egypt  _r  any  other  country,  the  pope 
bestowed  upon  him  the  title  of  patriarcli  of  Alexandria  ;  and 
the  king  of  Erance,  to  make  him  forget  Dauphiny,  named 
him  archbishop  of  Hheims. 

Such  were  the  events  and  the  consequences  of  the  crusade 
occasioned  in  Europe  by  the  arrival  of  Hugh  of  Lusignan, 


112  HISTORY    OF    THE    CBUSADES. 

king  of  Cyprus.  Some  years  having  glided  away,  tHs  prince 
came  again  to  solicit  the  aid  of  the  sovereign  pontiff;  at  thia 
period  most  of  the  sovereigns  were  in  a  state  of  war,  and  the 
pope  not  being  able  to  do  anything  for  the  king  of  Cyprus, 
conceived  the  singular  idea  of  naming  him  tribune  of  Home. 
Hugh  of  Lusignan  accepted  this  function,  and  died  in  Italy, 
Without  having  been  able  to  send  any  succour  to  the  East. 

War  was  not  then  the  only  scourge  that  ravaged  the 
world ;  the  horrors  of  the  plague  were  added  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  arms ;  this  contagion  which  was  called  the  black 
plague,  and  which  took  its  rise  upon  the  great  level  plain  of 
Tartary,  extended  its  devastations  over  all  the  countries  of 
the  East  and  West,  and  in  a  few  years  carried  off  more  than 
thirteen  millions  of  men.  Historians  have  remarked  that 
this  scourge  in  its  funeral  march  followed  the  footsteps  of 
the  merchants  who  brought  into  Europe  the  productions  of 
India,  and  of  the  pilgrims  who  returned  from  Palestine. 

As  soon  as  pestilence  had  ceased  its  ravages,  war  resumed 
all  its  fury.  The  deplorable  state  in  which  discord  had 
plunged  Europe  at  that  time,  and  particularly  France,  must 
have  made  people  regret  the  periods  when  the  preaching  of 
a  crusade  imposed  silence  upon  all  passions  and  suspended 
all  hostilities.  The  pope  had  several  times  undertaken  to 
reestablish  peace :  he  at  first  addressed  supplications  to  the 
English  monarch ;  he  afterwards  threatened  him  with  the 
thunders  of  the  Church,  but  the  voice  of  the  father  of  the 
faithful  was  lost  in  the  din  of  arms. 

Philip  of  Yalois  died  amidst  the  terrible  struggle  he  had 
to  maintain  against  England.  The  loss  of  the  battle  of 
Poictiers  and  the  captivity  of  King  John  became  the  signal 
for  the  greatest  troubles  that  afflicted  the  kingdom  of 
France  in  the  middle  ages.  The  plots  of  the  king  of 
Navarre,  the  intrigues  of  the  great,  the  disorders  of  the 
people,  the  fury  of  factions,  the  sanguinary  scenes  of  the 
Jacquerie,  spread  terror  and  desolation  in  the  capital  and 
through  the  provinces.  "When  France  had  completed  the 
exhaustion  of  her  treasures  by  paying  the  ransom  of  King 
John,  the  presence  of  her  monarch  was  not  able  to  restore 
to  her  the  repose  she  required  to  repair  her  misfortunes. 
The  soldiers  of  both  nations,  who  were  disbanded  without 
pay,  and  who  found  themselves  without  an  asylum,  formed 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES.  HA 

themselves  into  armed  bands,  and  under  the  name  of  white 
companies,  pervaded  the  kingdom,  braving  the  orders  of  the 
king  and  the  excommunications  of  the  pope,  and  carrying 
wherever  they  went  license,  murder  and  devastation.  All 
that  had  escaped  the  sword  of  the  English,  and  the  avidity 
of  the  collectors  of  the  imposts,  became  the  prey  of  these 
brigands,  whose  numbers  increased  in  proportion  with  their 
impunity  and  their  excesses.  The  fields  remained  uncul- 
t  ivated ;  all  commercial  pursuits  were  interrupted ;  and  ter- 
ror and  misery  reigned  in  the  cities.  Thus  the  suspension 
of  hostilities  had  brought  no  relief  to  the  evils  of  nations, 
and  the  disorders  which  broke  out  during  the  peace  were 
more  insupportable  than  those  which  had  been  endured 
during  the  war. 

It  was  in  these  unfortunate  circumstances  that  Peter, 
the  son  of  Hugh  of  Lusignan,  came,  after  the  example  of  his 
father,  to  solicit  the  assistance  of  the  Christian  princes 
against  the  infidels,  and  caused  Urban  V.  to  adopt  the  project 
of  a  new  crusade.  Perhaps  he  hoped  that  the  state  of  con- 
fusion in  which  Prance  was  plunged  offered  him  a  means  of 
raising  troops,  and  that  he  might  turn  against  his  enemies  of 
the  East,  all  the  furies  of  wrar  which  desolated  the  kingdom. 

Peter  of  Lusignan  proposed  to  attack  the  power  of  the 
sultans  of  Cairo,  whose  dominions  extended  to  Jerusalem. 
Christendom  had  at  that  time  more  redoubtable  enemies 
among  the  Mussulman  nations  than  the  Mamelukes  of 
Egypt.  The  Turks,  who  had  become  masters  of  Asia 
Minor,  had  recently  passed  the  Hellespont,  pushed  their 
conquests  as  far  as  Mount  Hemus,  and  placed  the  seat  of 
their  empire  at  Adrianople.  That  was  the  enemy  that 
doubtless  ought  to  have  been  attacked,  but  the  Turks  did 
not  as  yet  inspire  serious  alarm,  except  in  the  countries 
they  had  invaded  or  menaced.  At  the  court  of  Avignon,  at 
which  were  assembled  the  king  of  Cyprus,  the  king  of 
France,  and  the  king  of  Denmark,  there  was  no  mention 
made  of  the  invasion  of  Romania,  or  of  the  dangers  of  Con- 
stantinople, but  of  the  loss  of  the  Christian  colonies  in  Syria, 
and  of  the  captivity  in  which  the  city  of  Christ  was  stiU  held. 

Peter  of  Lusignan  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  the  war 
against  the  infidels,  and  of  the  deliverance  of  the  holy 
places ;  King  John  did  not  listen  to  him  without  emotion, 

Vol.  Ill— 6 


114  HISTORY   OF    THE    CKUSADES. 

and  finished  by  forgetting  his  own  misfortunes,  to  interest 
himself  about  those  of  the  Christians  beyond  the  seas. 
Waldemar  III.,  king  of  Denmark,  was  equally  affected  by 
the  discourse  and  the  accounts  of  the  king  of  Cyprus.  The 
pope  preached  the  crusade  before  the  three  monarchs :  it 
was  holy  week ;  the  remembrance  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ 
appeared  to  add  authority  to  the  words  of  the  pontiff,  and 
when  he  deplored  the  misfortunes  of  Jerusalem,  the  princes 
who  listened  to  him  could  not  refrain  from  shedding  tears, 
and  swore  to  go  and  fight  the  Saracens. 

We  may,  doubtless,  believe  that  the  king  of  France  was 
led  to  take  the  cross  by  a  sentiment  of  piety,  and  by  the 
eloquence  of  the  pope ;  but  we  must  likewise  suppose  that 
the  counsels  of  policy  were  not  entirely  foreign  to  this 
determination.  The  spirit  of  the  holy  war,  if  once  really 
awakened,  would  necessarily  go  far  to  appease,  if  not  ex- 
tinguish, the  discords  and  passions  kindled  by  revolution 
and  civil  war.  King  John  might  entertain  the  hope  of 
uniting  under  the  standard  of  the  crusade,  and  seducing  to 
follow  him  beyond  the  seas,  the  white  companies,  over  whom 
he  could  exercise  no  authority;  and  the  sovereign  pontiff 
was  no  less  anxious  to  get  rid  of  these  bands  of  brigands, 
who  braved  his  spiritual  power,  and  threatened  to  make  him 
a  prisoner  in  Avignon. 

Several  great  nobles,  John  of  Artois,  the  count  of  Eu,  the 
count  Damirartin,  the  count  de  Tancarville,  and  Marshal 
Boucicault,  followed  the  example  of  King  John.  The  Car- 
dinal Talleyrand  de  Perigord  was  named  legate  of  the  pope 
in  the  crusade.  The  king  of  Denmark  promised  to  unite 
his  forces  with  those  of  the  Trench.  To  encourage  his  zealj 
the  sovereign  pontiff  gave  him  a  fragment  of  the  true  cross, 
and  several  other  relics,  the  sight  of  which  would  constantly 
remind  him  of  the  holy  cause  he  had  sworn  to  defend. 
Waldemar  III.  had  come  to  \  he  court  of  Avignon  to  place 
his  kingdom  under  the  protection  of  the  Holy  See ;  he  took 
all  the  oaths  required  of  him ;  but  the  oulls  he  obtained  from 
Urban,  as  the  price  of  his  submission,  had  no  efficacy  in 
restoring  peace  to  his  dominions,  and  the  troubles  which 
followed  his  return  soon  made  him  forget  his  promises 
regarding  the  holy  war. 

The  king  of  Cyprus,  with  most  pressing  recommer  dationa 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CllUSADEis.  115 

from  the  pope,  visited  all  the  courts  of  Europe ;  the  zeal 
and  the  cnivalric  eloquence  of  the  hero  of  the  cross  were 
universally  admired;  but  he  derived  nothing  but  vague 
promises  from  his  enterprise,  and  received  nothing  but  vain 
felicitations  for  a  devotion  which  found  no  imitators. 

The  king  of  France  was  the  only  one  of  all  the  Christian 
princes  who  appeared  to  engage  himself  earnestly  in  the 
crusade.  Urban  V.,  however,  showed  but  little  confidence 
in  the  firmness  of  his  resolution,  as  he  felt  it  necessary  to 
threaten  with  excommunication  all  who  should  seek  to 
divert  him  from  the  holy  enterprise.  But  all  these  pre- 
cautions of  the  pope,  with  the  example  of  the  king  and  the 
indulgences  of  the  crusade,  were  powerless  in  inducing  the 
nation  to  take  arms,  or  in  persuading  the  white  companies 
to  leave  the  chamber,  as  they  called  the  kingdom  they  deso- 
lated with  their  brigandages.  The  time  fixed  for  the  expe- 
dition was  very  near  at  hand,  and  nothing  was  ready ;  there 
was  neither  an  army  nor  a  fleet.  It  was  at  this  period  King 
John  died  in  London,  whither  he  had  returned  to  offer 
himself  as  an  hostage  for  the  duke  of  Anjou,  who  had 
escaped  from  prison;  and  perhaps  also  to  get  rid  of  the 
cares  of  an  enterprise  which  he  had  no  means  of  executing 
or  directing  with  success. 

The  pope  trembled  in  Avignon,  and  was  compelled  to  use 
his  utmost  efforts  to  free  himself  from  these  formidable 
bands,  whose  leaders  styled  themselves  the  friends  of  God 
and  the  enemies  of  all  the  ivorld.  History  says  that  he  em- 
ployed in  his  contests  with  them  the  small  quantity  of  money 
which  had  been  raised  for  the  crusade,  and  that  this  excited 
violent  murmurs.  In  this  state  of  things,  Charles  IV.,  em- 
peror of  Germany,  in  concert  with  the  king  of  Hungary, 
proposed  to  take  the  companies  into  their  pay,  and  send 
them  against  the  Turks.  If  this  project  had  been  executed, 
we  should  have  been  able  to  join  the  name  of  Bertrand 
Puguesclin  to  the  glorious  names  that  adorn  the  pages  of 
this  history ;  the  Breton  hero  was  to  have  been  the  leader 
of  the  troops  destined  to  contend  with  the  Mussulmans  on 
the  banks  of  the  Danube.  The  sovereign  pontiff  himself  wrote 
several  letters  to  him  to  induce  him  to  take  part  in  this 
crusade  ;  but  the  project  of  Charles  1Y.  was  in  the  end  aban- 
doned, and  Duguesclin  led  the  white  companies  into  Spain. 


116  HISTOEY    OF    THE    CEUSaDES, 

The  king  of  Cyprus,  however,  had  suceeeded  in  enrolling 
under  his  banners  a  great  number  of  adventurers  of  all  sorts 
and  conditions,  men  who  were  accustomed  to  live  amidst 
perils,  and  who  were  attracted  by  the  hope  of  pillaging  the 
richest  countries  of  the  east.  The  republic  of  Venice  did 
not  disdain  to  take  part  in  an  expedition  from  which  her 
commerce  was  likely  to  derive  great  advantages.  Peter  of 
Lusignan  likewise  received  succours  from  the  brave  knights 
of  Rhodes,  and,  on  his  return  to  the  isle  of  Cyprus,  he  em- 
barked at  the  head  of  ten  thousand  men  to  realize  his  pro- 
jects of  conquests  over  the  infidels.  The  Crusaders,  to 
whom  the  pope  sent  a  legate,  went  to  attack  Alexandria, 
which  they  found  almost  without  defence.  When  the  place 
had  fallen  into  their  power,  the  king  of  Cyprus  wished  that 
they  should  fortify  themselves  in  it,  and  there  await  the 
armies  of  Cairo ;  but  his  soldiers  and  allies  could  not  resist 
their  inclination  to  plunder  a  flourishing  city,  and  fearing  to 
be  surprised  by  the  Mamelukes,  they  set  fire  to  Alexandria, 
and  abandoned  it  on  the  fourth  day  after  the  conquest. 
Without  subduing  the  Mussulmans,  they  irritated  them. 
After  the  precipitate  departure  of  the  Crusaders,  the 
Egyptian  people,  listening  to  nothing  but  hatred  and  ven- 
geance, indulged  in  all  sorts  of  violence  against  the  unfor- 
tunate Christians  who  dwelt  in  Egypt.  By  the  orders  of 
the  sultan  of  Cairo,  everything  was  seized  that  belonged  to 
the  Venetians  ;  and  the  Mamelukes,  having  prepared  a  fleet, 
threatened,  in  their  turn,  to  make  descents  upon  the  isles  of 
Khodes  and  Cyprus.  Again  the  nations  of  the  West  were 
applied  to  ;  the  pope  intreated  all  Christian  princes  to  take 
arms  against  the  infidels  ;  but  not  one  of  them  would  assume 
the  cross,  and  the  king  of  Cyprus  was  left  alone,  to  fight  out 
the  war  he  had  provoked. 

To  the  ardour  for  crusades,  in  the  minds  of  European 
warriors,  had  succeeded  a  passion  for  distinguishing  and 
enriching  themselves  by  chivalric  enterprizes  and  adven- 
turous expeditions,  in  which,  however,  some  remembrances 
of  the  holy  wars  were  always  mingled.  The  Grenoese  having 
formed  the  project  of  making  war  upon  the  coasts  of  Barbary, 
whose  piratical  inhabitants  infested  the  Mediterranean, 
demanded  a  leader  and  troops  of  the  king  of  France.  On 
the  report  alone  of  such  an  enterprize,  a  crowd  of  warriors, 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CRt3ADES.  117 

eager  to  signaliz  ?  their  bravery,  issued  from  all  the  pro* 
vinces ;  the  count  d'  Auvergne,  the  sieur  de  Coucy,  Guy  do 
la  Trimouille,  and  Messire  Jean  de  Vienne,  admiral  of  France, 
solicited  the  honour  of  combating  the  infidels  in  Africa ; 
fourteen  hundred  knights  and  nobles,  under  the  orders  of 
the  duke  of  Bourbon,  repaired  to  Genoa,  and  embarked  on 
board  the  fleet  of  that  republic  ;  the  French  and  the  Ge« 
noese,  the  first  led  by  a  desire  for  booty  and  the  love  o5 
glory,  the  latter  by  the  more  positive  interests  of  their  com- 
merce, went  to  this  war  beyond  the  sea  as  to  a  banquet. 
"Beautiful  and  pleasant,"  says  Froissart,  "was  it  to  behold 
the  order  of  their  departure,  and  how  those  banners,  pen- 
nons, and  streamers,  fairly  and  richly  wrought  with  the  arms 
of  the  noble  knights,  floated  to  the  wind  and  glistened  in  the 
sun;  and  to  hear  those  trumpets  and  clarions  sound  and 
resound,  and  other  musicians  performing  their  parts,  with 
pipes,  flutes,  and  macaires,  as  well  as  the  sound  and  the 
voice  which  isssued  from  them,  reverberate  over  all  the  sea." 
After  a  few  days'  sailing,  the  Christian  army  arrived  on  the 
coast  of  Barbary,  and  laid  siege  to  the  city  of  Africa.  The 
inhabitants  offered  some  resistance,  and  not  being  able  to 
conceive  why  they  were  thus  attacked  by  an  enemy  they  did 
not  know,  and  of  whom  they  had  never  heard,  they  sent 
deputies  to  the  camp  of  the  Christians  to  demand  of  them 
what  motive  had  brought  them  beneath  their  walls.  The 
Genoese,  doubtless,  reminded  the  deputies  of  the  piracies 
carried  on  in  the  Mediterranean  and  upon  the  coasts  of 
Italy :  but  the  knights  could  not  allege  any  grievance,  and 
must  have  felt  considerably  embarrassed  how  to  answer  the 
questions  of  the  besieged.  Froissart,  who  gives  an  account 
of  this  expedition,  informs  us  that  the  duke  of  Bourbon 
called  a  council  of  the  principal  leaders,  and  after  thty  had 
deliberated  upon  the  question  proposed  by  the  Saracens,  he 
addressed  this  reply  to  them,  which  we  shall  report  m  the 
old  language  as  near  that  of  the  times  as  we  are  rhle : 
"  They  who  demand  why  war  is  made  against  them,  muit 
know  that  their  lineage  and  race  put  to  death  and  crucified 
the  son  of  God  named  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  we  wish  to 
avenge  upon  them  this  fact  and  evil  deed.  Further,  they  do 
not  believe  in  the  holy  baptism,  nor  in  the  Virgin  Mary,  the 
mother  of  Jesus  Christ ;    and  all  these  things  being  con 


118  HISTORY    OF    THE    CEUSADE8. 

sidered  is  why  we  hold  the  Saracens  and  all  their  sect  as 
enemies."  The  besieged  were  not  likely  to  be  convinced  by 
this  explanation,  "so,"  adds  the  good  Froissart,  "they  onlj 
laughed  at  it,  and  said  it  was  neither  reasonable  nor  proved, 
for  it  was  the  Jews  who  put  Christ  to  death,  and  not  they." 

The  French  knights  had  more  bravery  than  knowledge, 
and  were  much  more  expert  in  fighting  than  in  reasoning. 
They  prosecuted  the  siege  and  made  several  assaults,  but  in 
all  their  attacks  met  with  a  determined  resistance.  They 
were,  however,  persuaded  that  Heaven  declared  in  their 
favour,  and  performed  miracles  to  assure  them  the  victory. 
It  was  said  in  the  camp,  that  a  battalion  of  ladies  in  white 
had  appeared  amidst  the  combatants,  a^d  created  great 
terror  among  the  Saracens.  They  likewise  told  of  a  mi- 
raculous dog  which  Grod  had  sent  to  the  Christian  soldiers 
as  a  vigilant  sentinel,  and  which  had  several  times  prevented 
their  being  surprised  by  the  Mussulmans.  We  repeat  these 
marvellous  stories,  in  order  to  exhibit  the  spirit  of  the 
knights,  who  saw  nothing  but  ladies  under  circumstances  in 
which  the  early  Crusaders  would  have  seen  saints  and  angels. 
The  story  of  the  miraculous  dog  serves  to  prove  that  the 
French  warriors  kept  but  a  bad  watch  around  their  camp, 
and  that  they  carried  on  the  siege  with  more  bravery  than 
prudence.  Several  battles  were  fought,  in  which  the  most 
rash  lost  their  lives.  The  heat  of  the  climate  and  the  season 
gave  birth  to  contagious  diseases.  In  proportion  as  obstacles 
multiplied  around  them,  the  ardour  of  the  besiegers  inclined 
daily  towards  depression.  Discord,  likewise,  broke  out  in 
the  Christian  army,  in  which  the  French  and  the  Genoese 
mutually  reproached  each  other  with  their  miseries  :  winter 
was  drawing  near,  and  they  despaired  of  reducing  the  place  ; 
the  duke  of  Bourbon  resolved  to  raise  the  siege,  and  to 
return  to  Europe  with  his  knights  and  soldiers. 

During  several  months  no  news  of  this  expedition  had 
arrived  in  France  ;  processions  were  made  and  public  prayers 
were  put  up  in  all  the  provinces  to  ask  of  Heaven  the  safe 
return  of  the  Crusaders.  Old  chrouicles  inform  is, — "  that 
the  lady  of  Coucy,  the  lady  of  Sully,  the  dauphiness  of 
Auvergne,  and  all  the  ladies  of  France  whose  lords  and  hus- 
bands were  engaged  in  this  voyage,  were  in  great  dismay  for 
them  whilst  the  voyage  lasted ;  and  when  the  news  came  to 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  119 

fchein  that  they  had  already  passed  the  sea,  they  were  all 
much  rejoiced." 

This  exoedition,  which  the  Genoese  had  promoted  with  the 
intention  pf  defending  ti.i  3ir  commerce  against  the  brigand- 
ages of  pirates,  only  served  to  increase  the  evil  they  wished 
to  remedy  ;  vengeance,  indignation,  and  fear  armed  the  in- 
fidels against  the  Christians  in  every  direction.  Vessels 
issued  from  all  the  coasts  of  Africa,  covered  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  intercepted  the  communications  with  Europe  ; 
the  merchandizes  which  had  been  accustomed  to  flow  from 
Damascus,  Cairo,  and  Alexandria,  no  lunger  appeared ;  and 
the  historians  of  the  times  deplore,  as  a  calamity,  the  im- 
possibility of  procuring  spices  in  either  France  or  Grermany. 

The  war  which  had  begun  between  Egypt  and  the  king- 
dom of  Cyprus  wTas  prosecuted  with  equal  animosity  on  both 
sides.  Whilst  the  sultan  of  Cairo  threatened  the  poor 
remains  of  the  Christian  colonies  of  the  East,  the  king  of 
Cyprus  and  the  knights  of  Rhodes  spread  terror  along  all 
the  coasts  of  Syria ;  in  one  incursion  they  took  possession  of 
Tripoli,  and  gave  the  city  up  to  the  flames.  Tortosa,  Laodi- 
cea,  and  Belinas  met  with  the  same  fate :  this  manner  of 
making  war  in  a  country  that  they  professed  to  wish  to  con- 
quer for  the  sake  of  delivering  it,  excited  everywhere  the 
fury  of  the  Mussulmans,  without  raising  the  hopes  or  the 
courage  of  the  Christians  who  dwelt  there.  Pilgrimage  to 
the  Holy  Land  became  impracticable,  and,  during  several 
years,  no  European.  Christians  were  able  to  visit  Jerusalem. 

The  sultan  of  Egypt,  however,  after  many  fruitless  efforts 
to  avenge  the  expedition  against  Alexandria,  made  peace  with 
the  king  of  Cyprus  and  the  knights  of  Rhodes.  It  was 
agreed  that  the  prisoners  should  be  liberated  on  both  sides, 
and  that  the  king  of  Cyprus  should  receive  half  of  the  dues 
levied  upon  the  merchandize  which  entered  at  Tyre,  Berouth, 
Sidon,  Alexandria,  Jerusalem,  and  Damascus.  The  treaty 
regulated  the  tribute  which  pilgrims  should  pay  in  those 
places  of  the  Holy  Land  to  which  their  devotion  called  them. 
The  sultan  of  Egypt  restored  to  the  knights  of  St.  John  the 
house  they  had  formerly  possessed  in  Jerusalem,  and  the 
knights  had  permission  to  cause  the  churches  of  the  holy 
sepulchres  of  Bethlehem,  of  Nazareth,  &c.  to  be  repaired. 

Europe  at  this  period  turned  its  eyes  from  countries  which 


120  HISTORY    OF    THE    JRUSADES. 

had  so  long  excited  its  veneration  and  enthusiasm  to  direct 
them  towards  regions  invaded  or  threatened  by  the  Turks. 
"We  have  seen,  towards  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century, 
hordes  from  this  nation  spread  themselves  as  conquerors 
over  the  whole  of  Asia.  It  may  be  remembered  that  it  was 
their  invasion  of  Palestine,  and  their  violent  domination  over 
the  holy  city,  which  roused  Christendom,  and  provoked  tie 
first  crusade.  Their  power,  which  then  extended  as  far  as 
Nice,  and  which,  even  at  that  time,  alarmed  the  Greeks,  was 
checked  by  the  victorious  armies  of  the  West.  The  Turks 
of  whom  we  are  now  speaking,  and  of  whom  Christendom, 
towards  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century,  began  to  be  very 
much  in  dread,  like  those  who  had  preceded  them,  drew 
their  origin  from  the  Tartars.  Their  warlike  tribes,  formerly 
established  in  Carismia,  had  been  driven  thence  by  the  suc- 
cessors of  Gengiskhan ;  and  the  remains  of  this  conquering 
nation,  after  ravaging  Syria  and  Mesopotamia,  came,  a  few 
years  before  the  first  crusade  of  St.  Louis,  to  seek  an  asylum 
in  Asia  Minor. 

The  weakness  of  the  Greeks  and  the  division  of  the 
Mussulman  princes  enabled  them  to  conquer  several  pro- 
vinces, and  to  found  a  new  state  among  the  ruins  of  several 
empires.  The  terror  inspired  by  their  fierce  and  brutal 
valour  facilitated  their  progress,  and  opened  for  them  the 
road  to  Greece.  Countries  which  had  been  the  cradle  of 
civilization,  of  the  arts,  and  of  knowledge,  soon  succumbed 
beneath  the  laws  of  Ottoman  despotism. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  despotism,  such  as  it  was 
known  then  in  Asia,  and  as  it  is  seen  in  our  days,  is  the 
most  fragile  of  human  institutions.  The  violent  measures 
which  it  took  to  preserve  itself,  showed  plainly  that  it  itse.f 
felt  a  consciousness  of  its  own  fragility.  When  we  see  it 
immolate  all  the  laws  of  nature  to  its  own  laws,  hold  the 
sword  constantly  suspended  over  all  that  approach  it,  and 
itself  experience  more  fear  than  it  inspires,  we  are  tempted 
to  believe  that  it  has  no  veritable  support.  Whilst  reading 
the  oriental  history  of  the  middle  ages,  we  are  astonished 
to  see  all  those  empires  which  the  genius  of  despotism 
raised  in  Asia,  fall  almost  without  resistance,  and  disappear 
from  the  scene  of  the  world.  But  we  must  admit,  when 
this  monstrous  gDvernment   supports  itself  upon  religious 


HISTORY      F    THE    CEUSADES.  121 

ideas,  and  upon  the  prejudices  and  passions  of  a  great 
nation,  it  has  also  its  popular  ascendancy  ;  it  is  also,  to  em« 
ploy  a  mode  of  speaking  very  common  at  present,  the  expres- 
sion of  all  its  wills,  and  nothing  can  resist  its  action,  or 
arrest  the  development  of  its  power. 

Thus  arose  the  Ottoman  empire,  which  had  for  its  springs 
of  action  a  hatred  o:*  the  Christians,  and  the  conquest  of  the 
Greek  empire,  and  which  sustained  itself  by  the  double 
fanaticism  of  religion  and  victory.  The  Turks  had  but  two 
ideas,  or  rather  two  ever-acting  passions,  which  with  them 
supplied  the  place  of  patriotism, — to  extend  their  dominions 
and  propagate  the  Mussulman  faith.  The  ambition  which 
led  the  sovereign  to  conquer  Christian  provinces,  was  found 
to  be  that  of  the  whole  nation,  accustomed  to  enrich  them- 
selves by  all  the  violences  of  war,  and  who  believed  they 
obeyed  the  most  sacred  precept  of  the  Koran,  by  exter- 
minating the  race  of  infidels.  If  the  prince  was  unceasingly 
obliged  to  animate  the  religious  enthusiasm  and  the  warlike 
ardour  of  his  subjects,  the  subjects,  in  their  turn,  kept  the 
prince  as  constantly  in  exercise.  The  absolute  leader  of  the 
Ottomans  might  commit  all  sorts  of  crimes  with  impunity  ; 
but  he  could  not  live  long  in  a  state  of  peace  with  his 
neighbours,  without  risking  his  authority  and  his  life.  The 
Turks  could  not  endure  either  a  pacific  prince,  or  a  prince 
unfortunate  in  war  ;  so  thoroughly  were  they  persuaded 
that  they  ought  to  be  always  fighting,  and  that  they  ought 
always  to  conquer.  The  Ottoman  people,  to  whom  nothing 
was  good  or  right  but  conquest,  would  obey  none  but  a  con- 
queror; and  if  they  consented  to  be  slaves,  and  tremble 
beneath  the  frown  of  a  master,  it  wras  upon  the  sole  con- 
dition that  this  all-powerful  master  should  carry  abroad  the 
terror  of  his  arms,  and  should  give  chains  to  other  nations. 

The  Ottoman  dynasty  which  began  with  the  Turkish 
nation  and  gave  its  name  to  it,  that  dynasty,  always  the 
object  of  veneration,  and  respected  by  revolt  itself,  has  pre- 
sented by  its  stability  a  new  spectacle  in  the  East.  It  has 
exhibited  to  the  world  a  succession  of  great  princes,  who 
have  in  history  almost  all  the  same  physiognomy,  and  re- 
semble each  other  in  their  pride,  their  ambition  and  their 
militarjr  genius  :  which  proves  that  all  these  barbarian  heroes 
Were  formed  by  their  national  manners,  and  that  among  the 

6* 


122  HIST0R1     OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

Turks,  there  is  but  one  single  road  to  greatness.  "We 
may  judge  what  advantages  this  harmony  between  subjects 
and  sovereign  must  have  given  to  the  Ottoman  nation,  in 
its  wars  against  the  Christians,  or  even  against  other  Mus- 
sulman people. 

Whilst  the  only  defence  of  Europe  consisted  in  feudal 
troops  which  were  assembled  at  certain  periods,  and  could 
not  be  held  beneath  their  banners  for  any  length  of  time 
together,  the  Ottomans  were  the  only  people  who  had  a 
regular  army  always  under  arms.  Their  warriors,  always 
animated  by  one  same  spirit,  had  moreover  the  advantage  of 
discipline  over  the  insubordinate  chivalry  of  the  Franks, 
who  were  constantly  agitated  by  discord,  and  were  put  in 
action  by  a  thousand  different  passions. 

As  the  population  of  the  Turks  w<as  not  always  sufficient 
for  their  armies,  they  forced  each  family  of  the  countries 
they  conquered  to  give  up  a  fifth  part  of  its  male  children 
for  the  military  service.  They  thus  levied  a  tribute  upon 
the  population  of  the  Christians,  and  the  sons  of  the  effemi- 
nate Greeks  became  those  invincible  janissaries  who  wrere 
one  day  to  besiege  Byzantium,  and  destroy  even  the  ruins 
of  the  empire  of  the  Caesars.  Such  were  the  new  people 
who  were  about  to  place  themselves  between  the  East  and 
the  West,  and  engross  all  the  attention  of  Christian  Europe, 
until  that  time  occupied  with  the  deliverance  of  the  holy- 
places. 

When  we  are  acquainted  with  the  power  and  the  charac- 
ter of  the  Ottomans,  we  are  astonished  at  seeing  what 
remained  of  the  Greek  empire  subsist  a  long  time  in  their 
vicinity.  We  must  here  resume  from  a  past  period,  the 
history  of  the  feeble  successors  of  Constantine,  sometimes 
forming  alliances  with  the  Turks  ready  to  plunder  them,  at 
others,  imploring  the  assistance  of  the  Latins,  whom  they 
hated,  and  seeking  to  awaken  the  spirit  of  the  crusades 
whose  consequences  they  dreaded. 

At  the  period  of  the  first  invasions  of  Greece  by  the 
Turks,  the  emperor  Andronicus  sent  an  embassy  to  the 
Pope,  to  promise  him  to  obey  the  Bomish  Church,  and  to 
request  of  him  apostolic  legates,  with  an  army  capable  of 
driving  away  the  infidels  and  opening  the  route  to  the  Holy 
Sepulchre.     Cantacuzenes,   who   followed  the   exanple   of 


HISTORY    OF    THE  CRUSADES.  123 

Andronicus,  said  to  the  envoys  from  the  sovereign  pontiff: 
"  I  shall  consider  it  my  glory  to  serve  Christendom ;  my 
states  shall  aiford  the  Crusaders  a  free  and  safe  passage ; 
my  troops,  my  vessels,  my  treasures  shall  be  devoted  to  the 
common  defence,  and  my  fate  will  be  worthy  of  envy  if  7 
obtain  the  crown  of  martyrdom."  Clement  VI.,  to  whom 
Cantacuzenes  addressed  himself,  died  without  having  been 
able  to  interest  the  Christian  warriors  in  the  fate  of  Con- 
stantinople. A  short  time  afterwards,  the  emperor  buried 
himself  in  a  cloister ;  and  the  brother  Josaphat  Christodulus, 
confounded  among  the  monks  of  Mount  Athos,  troubled 
himself  no  longer  with  a  crusade  among  the  Latins. 

Under  the  reign  of  John  Palaeologus,  the  progress  of  the 
Turks  became  more  alarming.  The  emperor  himself  went 
to  solicit  the  aid  of  the  sovereign  pontiff.  After  having,  in 
a  public  ceremony,  kissed  the  hands  and  feet  of  the  pope,  he 
acknowledged  the  double  procession  *  of  the  Holy  Grhost,  and 
the  supremacy  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  Touched  by  this 
humble  submission,  the  pope  protested  he  would  come  to 
the  succour  of  the  Greeks ;  bnt  when  he  applied  to  the 
sovereigns  of  Europe,  he  could  obtain  nothing  from  them 
but  vain  promises.  At  the  moment  at  which  Palaeologus 
was  about  to  embark  on  his  return  to  the  East,  he  was 
arrested  by  his  creditors,  and  remained  thus  during  several 
months,  without  the  pope  or  the  princes  he  had  come  to 
solicit,  and  who  had  promised  to  assist  him  in  the  deliver- 
ance of  his  empire,  making  the  least  attempt  to  deliver  him 
himself.  Palaeologus  returned  to  Constantinople,  to  his 
divided  family  ;  and  his  subjects,  who  despised  him,  waited  in 
vain  for  the  performance  of  the  promises  of  the  pope  and 
the  European  monarchs.  In  his  despair,  he  at  length 
formed  the  resolution  of  imploring  the  clemency  of  the 
sultan  Amurath,  and  of  purchasing  by  a  tribute,  permission 
to  continue  to  reign  over  the  wreck  of  his  empire.  He 
complained  of  this  hard  necessity  to  the  pontiff  of  Rome, 
who  caused  a  new  crusade  to  be  preached ;  but  the  Chris- 
tian monarch  beheld  with  indifference,  a  prince  who  had 
returned  to  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic  Church,  condemned 
to  declare  himself  the  vassal  of  infidels.     The  emperor  of 

*  The  eternal  production  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  proceeds  from  the 
Father  and  th*  Son. — Tr/  ns. 


124*  HISTOET    OF    THE    CEUSADES. 

Byzantium  and  the  head  of  the  Church,  by  promising,  the 
one,  to  arm  the  West  in  the  cause  of  Greece,  and  the  other, 
to  subject  the  Greeks  to  the  Boman  Church,  had  formed 
engagements  that  they  every  day  found  it  more  difficult  to 
fulfil.  Whilst  they  were  reciprocally  upbraiding  each  other 
with  not  having  kept  their  word,  Amurath,  who  accom- 
plished his  threats  better  than  the  pope  and  the  Christian 
princes  did  their  promises,  added  new  rigours  to  the  fate  of 
Palseologus,  and  interdicted  even  the  repairing  of  the  ram- 
parts of  his  capital.  Again  the  supplications  to  the  sovereign 
were  renewed,  and  again  these  supplications  were  passed  on 
to  the  monarchs  of  Christendom ;  but  they  made  no  reply, 
or  at  most  contented  themselves  with  expressing  pity  for 
the  emperor  and  people  of  Byzantium. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Greek  emperors  stood  in  great 
need  of  succour  from  the  Latins,  but  this  pusillanimous 
policy,  which  unceasingly  invoked  the  assistance  of  other 
nations,  only  proclaimed  the  weakness  of  the  empire,  and 
necessarily  deprived  the  Greeks,  in  the  hour  of  peril,  of  all 
confidence  in  their  own  strength.  On  the  other  side,  these 
cries  of  alarm,  which  constantly  resounded  throughout 
Europe,  met  with  nothing  but  incredulous  minds  and  in- 
different hearts.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  warriors  of  the 
"West  heard  it  for  ever  repeated  that  Constantinople  was 
the  barrier  of  Christendom ;  they  could  not  consider  a  city 
which  was  unable  to  provide  for  its  own  defence,  and  was 
always  in  want  of  succour,  as  a  barrier  capable  of  arresting 
the  course  of  a  powerful  enemy.  When  Gregory  XI.  soli- 
cited the  emperor  of  Germany  to  assist  Constantinople,  that 
prince  replied  sharply  that  the  Greeks  had  opened  the  gates 
of  Europe  to  the  Turks,  and  let  the  wolf  into  the  sheep-fold. 

At  this  time  the  miserable  remains  of  the  empire  of  the 
Caesars  was  comprised  within  the  extent  of  less  than  twenty 
leagues,  and  in  this  narrow  space  there  was  an  empire  of 
Byzantium,  and  an  empire  of  Bodesto  or  Selivrea;  the 
princes,  whom  ties  of  blood  ought  to  have  united,  quarrelled 
with  inveterate  fury  for  the  rags  of  the  imperial  purple. 
Brother  was  armed  against  brother,  and  father  ano.  son  de- 
clared open  war  ;  all  the  crimes  that  had  formerly  been 
inspired  by  the  ambition  of  obtaining  the  sceptre  of  the 
Eomau  wovld,  were  still  committed  for  the  advantage  oi 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  125 

reigning  over  a  few  miserable  cities.  Such  was  the  empire 
of  the  East,  upon  which  the  Ottoman  dominions  continued 
on  all  sides  to  encroach. 

At  the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking,  all  the  princes  ol 
the  family  of  Palseologus  having  been  commanded  to  repair 
to  the  court  of  Bajazet,  obeyed  his  supreme  order  trem- 
blingly ;  and  if  they  came  out  safe  and  sound  from  the 
{>alace  of  the  sultan,  which  was  for  them  the  den  of  the 
ion,  it  was  because  pity  disarmed  the  executioner,  and 
because  the  contempt  they  inspired  among  the  Mussulmans 
wa*r  th  3ir  safeguard.  The  Ottoman  emperor  contented  him- 
self wi,b  commanding  Manuel,  the  son  and  successor  of  John 
Paheologus,  not  to  deliver  Constantinople  up  to  him,  but  to 
remain  shut  up  in  it  as  in  a  prison,  under  the  penalty  of 
losing  both  his  crown  and  his  life. 

Whilst  the  Greeks  were  thus  trembling  in  the  presence 
of  the  Turks,  the  janissaries  passed  through  the  straits  of 
Thermopylae  without  obstruction,  and  advanced  into  the 
Peloponnesus.  On  the  other  side,  Bajazet,  for  whom  the 
rapidity  of  his  conquests  procured  the  surname  of  Tberim, 
or  Lightning,  invaded  the  country  of  the  Servians,  afterwards 
that  of  the  Bulgarians,  and  was  preparing  to  carry  the  war 
into  Hungary. 

A  deplorable  schism  then  divided  Christendom.  Two 
popes  shared  the  empire  of  the  Church,  and  the  European 
republic  had  no  longer  a  head  that  could  warn  it  of  its  dan- 
gers, an  organ  that  could  express  its  wishes  and  its  fears,  or 
a  tie  that  could  bind  together  its  forces  ;  religious  opinions 
had  no  longer  sufficient  influence  to  bring  about  a  crusade, 
and  Christendom  had  nothing  left  to  defend  it  but  the  spirit 
of  chivalry,  and  the  warlike  character  of  some  of  the  nations 
of  Europe. 

The  ambassadors  whom  Manuel  sent  into  the  "West,  re- 
peating the  eternal  lamentations  of  the  Greeks  over  the 
barbarities  of  the  Turks,  solicited  in  vain  the  piety  of  the 
faithful.  The  envoys  of  Sigismund,  king  of  Hungary,  were 
more  fortunate  in  their  appeal  to  the  bravery  of  the  knights 
and  barons  of  France.  Charles  VI.  had  not  renounced,  if 
the  historians  of  the  time  may  be  believed,  the  idea  of  un- 
dertaking some  great  enterprise  against  the  enemies  of  the 
true  faith :  "  in  order,"  says  Eroissart,  "  to  free  the  souls  oi 


128  HISTOUT    OF   THE    CUTTSADES. 

his  predecessors,  E  .ng  Philip,  of  excellent  memory,  and 
King  John,  his  grandfather."  The  Hungarian  envoys  took 
care  to  insinuate  in  their  speeches,  that  the  sultan  of  the 
Turks  held  Christian  chivalry  in  contempt ;  nothing  more 
was  wanting  to  inflame  the  ardour  of  the  French  warriors ; 
and  when  their  monarch  declared  his  intention  of  entering 
into  the  league  against  the  infidels,  every  gallant  knight  in 
the  kingdom  flew  to  arms.  This  brave  band  was  commanded 
by  the  duke  de  Nevers,  son  of  the  duke  of  Eurgundy,  a 
young  prince  whose  rash  courage  afterwards  procured  for 
him  the  surname  of  Jean-sans-Peur  (John  the  Fearless). 
Among  other  leaders  were  the  count  de  la  Marche,  Henry 
and  Philip  de  Bar,  relations  of  the  king  of  France,  Philip  of 
Artois,  constable  of  the  kingdom  ;  John  of  Vienne,  admiral ; 
the  sieur  de  Coucy,  Guy  de  la  Tremouille,  and  the  marshal 
de  Boucicault,  whose  name  is  mixed  with  the  history  of 
every  war  of  his  time.  > 

All  ideas  of  glory,  all  sentiments  of  religion  and  chivalry 
were  bound  up  with  this  expedition.  The  leaders  ruined 
themselves  to  make  preparations  for  their  voyage,  and  to 
astonish  the  East  by  their  magnificence  ;  the  people  implored 
the  protection  of  Heaven  for  the  success  of  their  arms.  The 
enterprise  of  the  new  Crusaders  was  already  compared  to 
that  of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  and  the  poets  of  the  times 
celebrated  the  near  deliverance  of  the  Holy  Land. 

The  French  army,  in  which  were  fourteen  hundred  knights 
and  as  many  squires,  traversed  Germany,  and  was  increased 
on  its  way  by  a  crowd  of  warriors  from  Austria  and  Bavaria. 
When  they  arrived  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  they  found 
the  entire  nobility  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia  under  arms. 
Whilst  reviewing  the  numerous  soldiers  thus  assembled  to 
oppose  the  Turks,  Sigismund  exclaimed  with  delight :  "  If 
heaven  were  to  fall,  the  lances  of  the  Christian  army  would 
stop  it  in  its  descent." 

Never  was  a  war  begun  under  more  happy  auspices ;  not 
only  had  the  spirit  of  chivalry  drawn  together  a  great  number 
of  warriors  beneath  the  banners  of  the  cross,  but  several 
maritime  nations  of  Italy  had  taken  up  arms  for  the  defence 
of  their  eastern  commerce.  A  Venetian  fleet,  commanded 
by  the  noble  Mocenigo,  joined  the  vessels  of  the  Greek  em- 
peror and  of  the  knights  of  Ehodes  near  the   mouth  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  127 

the  Danube,  to  procure  the  triumph  of  the  standard  of  the 
Franks  in  the  Hellespont,  whilst  the  Christian  army  should 
march  against  Constantinople. 

As  soon  as  the  signal  for  war  was  given,  nothing  could 
resist  the  impetuous  valour  of  the  Crusaders  ;  they  beat  the 
Turks  everywhere ;  they  took  several  towns  of  Bulgaria  and 
Servia,  and  laid  siege  to  Nicopolis :  happy  had  it  been  ii 
these  first  advantages  had  not  given  them  a  blind  confidence 
in  victory ! 

The  French  knights,  who  were  always  found  at  the  head 
of  the  Christian  army,  could  not  believe  that  Bajazet  would 
dare  to  attack  them ;  and  when  it  was  announced  to  them 
that  the  sultan,  with  his  army,  was  drawing  near,  they  chas- 
tised the  bold  scout  who  gave  them  the  first  intelligence  of 
it.  The  Mussulman  army,  however,  had  crossed  Mount 
Hemus,  and  was  advancing  towards  Nicopolis.  When  the 
two  armies  were  in  presence  of  each  other,  Sigismund  con- 
jured his  allies  to  moderate  their  warlike  ardour,  and  to  wait 
for  a  favourable  opportunity  of  attacking  an  enemy  with 
whom  they  were  totally  unacquainted.  The  duke  de  Nevers 
and  the  young  nobles  who  accompanied  him,  listened  with 
impatience  to  the  advice  of  the  Hungarians,  and  believed 
that  they  were  desirous  of  disputing  with  them  the  honour 
of  beginning  the  fight.  Scarcely  had  the  standard  of  the 
crescent*  met  their  eyes,  than  they  rushed  out  of  the  camp 
and  fell  upon  the  enemy  ;  the  Turks  retreated,  and  appeared 
to  fly ;  the  French  pursued  them  in  a  disorderly  manner, 
and  soon  became  separated  from  the  Hungarian  army.  All 
at  once,  clouds  of  spahia  and  janissaries  poured  down  from 
the  neighbouring  forests,  in  which  they  had  been  placed  in 
ambush.  All  about  the  country,  pikes  had  been  planted  to 
impede  the  march  of  cavalry.  The  French  warriors  being 
unable  either  to  advance  or  retreat,  and  surrounded  by  an 
enumerable  army,  no  longer  fought  to  conquer,  but  to  die 
with  glory,  and  sell  their  lives  dearly.  After  having,  during 
several  hours,  carried  slaughter  into  the  enemy's  ranks,  all 
the  French  engaged  in  the  conflict  either  perished  by  the 
swords  of  the  Mussulmans,  or  were  made  prisoners. 

*  Our  readers  will  observe  by  tbis,  that  the  crescent,  which  has  gene- 
rally, but  falsely,  been  taken  as  the  standard  of  all  Saracens,  belongs  to  the 
Ottomans :  it  has  never  been  mentioned  in  this  history  before. — TaAX", 


128  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

Bajazet,  after  this  first  victory,  directed  all  bis  forces 
against  the  Hungarian  army,  which  terror  had  already  seized, 
and  which  was  dispersed  at  the  first  shock.  Sigismund, 
who,  on  the  morning  of  that  day,  had  counted  a  hundred 
thousand  men  beneath  his  banners,  threw  himself  into  a 
lisbing-boat,  and  coasting  along  the  shores  of  the  Euxine, 
found  refuge  in  Constantinople,  where  his  mere  presence 
annovnced  his  defeat,  and  spread  consternation. 

Such  were  the  fruits  of  the  presumption  and  want  of  dis- 
cipline of  the  French  warriors.  History  has  lamented  their 
reverses  more  than  it  has  blamed  their  conduct ;  it  has 
satisfied  itself  with  saying,  that  in  order  to  conquer  the 
Turks,  the  Hungarians  should  have  shown  the  valour  of  the 
French,  or  the  French  should  have  imitated  the  prudence  of 
the  Hungarians. 

Bajazet,  who  was  wounded  in  the  battle,  proved  barbarous 
after  victory.  Some  historians  have  said  that  the  sultan  had 
to  avenge  the  death  of  many  Mussulman  captives,  who  had 
been  massacred  by  the  Christian  army.  He  commanded  all 
the  prisoners,  many  of  whom  were  wounded  and  plundered 
of  their  clothes,  to  be  brought  before  him,  and  then  gave 
order  to  his  janissaries  to  slaughter  them  before  his  eyes. 
Three  thousand  French  warriors  were  immolated  to  his  ven- 
geance ;  but  he  spared  the  duke  de  JNevers,  the  count  de  la 
Marche,  the  sieur  de  Coucy,  Philip  of  Artois,  the  count  de 
'Bar,  Marshal  Boucicault,  and  some  other  leaders,  on  account 
of  the  ransom  he  hoped  to  procure  for  them. 

When  fame  carried  the  news  of  so  great  a  disaster  into 
France,  the  first  who  spoke  of  it  were  threatened  with  being 
thrown  into  the  Seine  :  many  were  imprisoned  in  the  chatelet 
of  Paris  by  the  king's  orders.  At  length  the  most  sinister 
reports  were  confirmed  by  the  account  of  messire  de  Hely, 
"whom  Bajazet  sent  into  France  to  announce  the  defeat  of 
the  Christians  and  the  captivity  of  their  leaders.  This 
intelligence  spread  desolation  through  both  the  court  of 
Charles  VI.  and  the  kingdom  of  France.  Froissart  adds, 
in  his  natural  style,  "that  the  high  dames  of  France  were 
much  enraged,  and  had  good  cause,  for  this  affected  their 
hearts  too  closely." 

In  order  to  mitigate  the  wrath  of  the  Tuiirish  emperor, 
Charles  YI.  sent  him   magnificent   presents.     Messengers 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  129 

passing  through  ITungaj  T  and  the  territory  of  Constanti- 
nople, bore  to  the  sultan,  white  falcons  from  Norway,  fine 
scarlet  cloths,  white  and  red  linens  from  Eheims,  draps  de 
hautes-lices,  or  tapestries,  worked  at  Arras,  in  Picardy,  repre- 
senting the  history  of  Alexander,  "  which  thing,"  add  contem- 
porary chronicles,  "  was  very  agreeable  to  all  persons  of  worth 
and  honour  to  look  upon."  At  the  court  of  France  means 
could  not  be  devised  for  sending  into  Turkey  the  money 
required  for  the  liberation  of  the  princes  and  nobles  detained 
in  the  prisons  of  Bajazet.  A  banker  of  Paris  performed 
that  which  no  sovereign  of  Europe  could  then  have  done  ;  in 
concert  with  some  merchants  of  Genoa,  he  negotiated  for  the 
ransom  of  the  prisoners,  and  undertook  to  pay  for  this 
ransom  the  sum  agreed  upon,  of  two  hundred  thousand 
ducats. 

The  noble  captives,  whom  the  sultan  had  dragged  in  his 
train  as  far  as  Brusa,  at  length  were  allowed  to  return  to 
Europe.  Of  the  number,  all  regained  their  native  country, 
with  the  exception  of  two :  Guy  of  Tremouille  died  in  the 
isle  of  Bhodes.  The  lady  de  Coucy,  who  was  incapable  of 
consolation,  sent  a  faithful  knight  among  the  Turks,  to  learn 
the  fate  of  her  husband,  and  the  knight  returned  with  the 
fatal  intelligence  that  the  sieur  de  Coucy  had  died  in  his 
prison. 

When  the  duke  de  Nevers,  with  his  companions  in  mis- 
fortune, quitted  the  camp  of  Bajazet,  the  sultan  addressed 
the  following  words  to  him,  as  reported  by  Froissart : — 
'^Count  de  Nevers,  I  know  right  well  and  am  informed  that 
thou  art  in  thine  own  country  a  great  lord,  and  the  son  of  a 
great  lord.  Thou  art  young  ;  thou  mayest,  perchance,  take 
as  an  injury  that  requires  vengeance  that  which  has  befallen 
thee  in  thy  first  chivalry,  and  wouldst  willingly,  to  recover 
thy  honour,  assemble  forces  to  come  and  give  me  battle ;  i 
I  suspected  this,  and  if  it  were  my  will,  I  would  make  thee 
swear  upon  thy  faith  and  upon  the  law  that  thou  shouldst 
never  arm  thyself  against  me,  nor  any  of  those  that  are  in 
thy  company  ;  but  no,  I  will  neither  require  thee  nor  them 
to  take  this  oath ;  but  I  wish  to  tell  thee  that  if,  when  thou 
shalt  have  returned,  it  may  please  thee  to  assemble  a  pDwer 
to  come  against  me,  thou  wilt  find  me  always  ready  and  pre- 
pared for  both  thee  and  thy  people." 


130  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

This  speech,  which  exhibited  all  th  Ottoman  pride,  must, 
without  doubt,  have  been  a  lesson  fop  young  warriors,  whose 
mad  presumption  had  brought  on  all  the  evils  of  the  war. 
They  despised  Bajazet  before  their  defeat ;  and  his  haughty 
disdain  after  victory  could  not  appear  in  their  eyes  a  vain 
bravado.  "  So,"  says  Froissart,  "  they  remembered  it  well  as 
tong  as  they  lived." 

On  their  return  to  France,  the  noble  knights  were  re- 
ceived with  the  interest  that  unfortunate  bravery  inspires. 
The  court  of  Charles  VI.  and  that  of  Burgundy  were  never 
tired  of  hearing  them  recount  their  exploits,  their  tragical 
adventures,  and  the  miseries  of  their  captivity ;  they  told 
wonders  of  the  magnificence  of  Bajazet ;  and  when  they 
repeated  the  speeches  of  the  sultan,  who  was  accustomed 
to  say  that  he  would  be  lord  over  all  the  world,  that  he  would 
yet  come  to  Rome,  and  make  his  horse  eat  his  oats  on  the  altar 
of  St.  Peter;  when  they  spoke  of  the  armies  which  the  em- 
peror raised  daily  to  accomplish  his  menaces,  what  fear 
must,  doubtless,  have  been  mixed  in  the  minds  of  his  auditors 
witli  feelings  of  curiosity  and  surprise. 

The  accounts  of  the  duke  de  Nevers  and  his  companions 
awakened,  however,  the  emulation  of  the  warriors,  and  their 
misfortunes  in  Asia  inspired  less  compassion  than  a  desire 
to  avenge  their  defeat.  A  new  expedition  against  the  Turks 
was  soon  announced  in  France,  and  a  crowd  of  young  nobles 
and  knights  eagerly  took  up  arms.  The  duke  of  Orleans, 
the  brother  of  the  king,  was  inconsolable  at  not  being  able 
to  obtain  permission  to  place  himself  at  their  head,  and  go 
with  them  to  combat  the  infidels.  It  was  the  Marshal 
Boucicault,  scarcely  returned  from  captivity,  wrho  led  these 
new  Crusaders  into  the  East.  Their  arrival  on  the  shores 
of  the  Bosphorus  delivered  Byzantium,  which  was  then  be- 
sieged by  Bajazet.  Their  exploits  raised  the  courage  of  the 
Greeks,  and  redeemed  the  honour  of  the  soldiers  of  the 
"West  among  the  Turks.  When,  after  a  year  of  labours  and 
glorious  combats,  they  returned  to  their  own  country,  the 
Cxreek  emperor  Manuel  believed  he  saw  fresh  evils  ready  to 
overwhelm  him,  and  he  resolved  to  follow  Marshal  Bouci- 
cault and  solicit  more  assistance  from  Charles  VI. ;  thus 
placing  all  the  hopes  of  his  empire  in  the  French  warriors. 
He  was  receit  .'d  with  great  honours  on  his  passage  through 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  131 

Italy;  when  he  had  crossed  the  Alps,  brilliant  festivities 
awaited  him  in  all  the  great  cities.  At  two  leagues  from 
Paris  he  found  Charles  VI.,  who,  with  all  his  nobles,  hae 
come  out  to  meet  him.  He  made  his  public  entry  into  the 
capital,  clothed  in  a  robe  of  white  s'lk,  and  mounted  on  a 
white  horse,  marks  of  supreme  rank  among  the  Franks.  It 
was  gratifying  to  see  a  successor  of  the  Caesars  imploring 
the  arms  of  chivalry ;  and  the  confidence  which  he  placed  in 
the  bravery  of  the  French,  flattered  the  pride  of  the  nation  ; 
but  in  the  condition  of  France  at  that  period,  it  was  much 
more  easy  to  offer  Manuel  the  spectacle  of  tournaments,  and 
the  brilliant  ceremonies  of  courts,  than  to  furnish  him  with 
the  treasures  and  armies  of  which  he  stood  in  need. 
Charles  VI.  began  to  feel  the  approach  of  that  fatal  malady 
which  left  the  field  open  to  factions,  and  threw  the  kingdom 
into  the  greatest  misfortunes.  England,  wrhose  assistance 
the  emperor  of  Constantinople  likewise  solicited,  was  dis- 
turbed by  the  usurpation  of  Henry  of  Lancaster ;  and  if  the 
English  monarch  then  took  the  cross,  it  was  less  with  the 
intention  of  succouring  the  Greeks  than  to  divert  attention 
from  his  own  injustice,  and  to  haye  a  pretext  for  levying 
imposts  upon  his  people.  At  the  same  time,  the  deposition 
of  Winceslaus  set  the  whole  German  empire  in  motion  ;  and 
the  nascent  heresy  of  John  Huss  already  gave  the  signal  for 
the  disorders  that  were  destined  to  trouble  Bohemia  during 
the  fifteenth  century.  Amidst  all  these  agitations  in  Chris- 
tendom, the  only  power  that  could  have  reestablished  har- 
mony was  itself  divided,  and  the  Catholic  Church,  still  a 
prey  to  the  rival  pretensions  of  two  pontiffs,  could  neither 
give  its  attention  to  promote  peace  among  the  Christians, 
nor  war  against  the  Turks. 

This  state  of  France  and  Europe  completely  destroyed  all 
the  hopes  of  the  Greek  emperor.  After  passing  two  years 
in  Paris,  without  obtaining  anything,  he  determined  to  leave 
the  West,  and  having  embarked  at  Venice,  he  stopped  in  the 
Peloponnesus,  where  he  waited  patiently  till  Fortune  should 
herself  take  charge  of  the  entire  ruin  or  the  deliverance  of 
his  empire. 

This  deliverance,  which  could  no  longer  be  expected  from 
the  Christian  powers,  arrived  all  at  once  by  means  of  a 
people  still  more  barbarous  than  the  Turks,  whose  conquests 


132  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

made  the  entire  East  tremble.  Tamerlane,  or  Tim  our, 
from  the  bosom  of  civil  wars,  had  been  elevated  to  the 
throne  of  the  Moguls,  and  revived  in  the  north  of  Asia  the 
formidable  empire  of  Gengishan.  History  is  scarcely  able 
to  follow  this  new  conqueror  in  his  gigantic  expeditions. 
The  imagination  is  terrified  at  the  rapidity  with  which,  to 
make  use  of  an  expression  of  Timour  himself,  he  carried  "  the 
destroying  wind  of  desolation"  from  Zagathai  to  the  Indus, 
and  from  the  Indus  to  the  icy  deserts  of  Siberia.  Such  was 
the  scourge  that  Heaven  sent  to  destroy  the  menacing  pride 
of  Bajazet.  The  historians  of  the  times  are  not  agreed  as 
to  the  motives  which  armed  the  leader  of  the  Moguls  against 
the  Ottoman  emperor;  some  attribute  Tamerlane's  deter- 
mination to  the  complaints  of  the  Mussulman  princes  of 
Asia  Minor,  whom  the  sultan  of  the  Turks  had  driven  from 
their  states  ;  others,  faithful  to  the  spirit  of  their  age,  and 
seeking  the  causes  of  great  events  in  celestial  phenomena, 
explain  the  invasion  of  the  Tartars  by  the  appearance  of  a 
comet,  which  was  visible  during  two  months  to  affrighted 
Asia.  Disdaining  marvellous  explanations,  we  will  confine 
ourselves  to  saying  that  peace  could  not  last  between  two 
men  urged  on  by  the  same  ambition,  and  who  were  not  likely 
to  pardon  each  other  for  having  at  the  same  time  enter- 
tained the  thought  of  conquering  the  world.  Their  character, 
as  well  as  their  policy,  is  plainly  enough  indicated  in  the 
violent  threats  they  reciprocally  addressed  to  each  other 
before  hostilities,  and  which  became  the  signal  for  the  most 
sanguinary  catastrophes. 

Tamerlane,  having  set  out  from  Samarcand,  first  reduced 
Seborto,  and  as  if  he  wished  to  give  Bajazet,  before  he 
attacked  him,  the  spectacle  of  the  ravages  which  accom- 
panied his  arms  everywhere,  he  all  at  once  directed  the 
course  of  his  Tartar  hordes  towards  Syria  and  the  provinces 
governed  by  the  Mamelukes  of  Egypt.  The  valour  of  his 
soldiers,  the  discords  of  his  enemies,  the  treachery  and  per- 
fidy which  he  never  disdained  to  call  in  to  the  assistance  of 
his  power,  opened  for  him  the  gates  of  Aleppo,  Damascus, 
and  Tripoli.  Torrents  of  blood  and  pyramids  of  human 
heads  marked  the  passage  of  the  Mogul  conqueror.  His 
approach  spread  terror  everywhere,  as  well  among  the 
Christians  as  among  the    Mussulmans ;    and   although  h» 


HISTORY    OF     THE    CRUSADES.  133 

boasted  in  his  discourses  of  avenging  the  cam* 3  of  the 
oppressed,  Jerusalem  might,  on  this  occasion,  be  grateful 
that  he  did  not  think  of  delivering  her. 

At  length  the  Tartars  advanced  towards  Asia  Minor. 
Timour  traversed  Anatolia  with  an  army  of  eight  hundred 
thousand  men.  Bajazet,  who  raised  the  siege  of  Constan- 
tinople to  come  to  meet  his  redoubtable  adversary,  encoun- 
tered him  in  the  plains  of  Ancyra.  At  the  end  of  a  battle 
which  lasted  three  days,  the  Ottoman  emperor  lost  at  once 
his  empire  and  his  liberty.  The  Greeks,  to  whom  fame 
soon  brought  the  news  of  this  victory,  tremblingly  returned 
thanks  to  their  fierce  liberator ;  but  the  indifference  with 
which  he  received  their  embassy,  proved  that  he  had  had  no 
intention  of  meriting  their  gratitude.  Arrived  on  the  shores 
of  the  Bosphorus,  the  conqueror  of  Bajazet  directed  his 
looks  and  his  projects  towards  the  West ;  but  the  master 
of  the  vast  kingdoms  of  Asia  had  not  a  single  barque  in 
which  to  transport  himself  to  the  other  side  of  the  canal. 
Thus  Constantinople,  after  having  escaped  the  yoke  of  the 
Ottomans,  had  the  good  fortune  to  escape  also  the  presence 
of  the  Tartars,  and  Europe  saw  this  violent  tempest  dissipate 
itself  at  a  distance  from  her. 

The  conqueror  vented  his  anger  upon  the  city  of  Smyrna, 
which  was  defended  by  the  Knights  of  Rhodes.  This  city 
was  carried  by  assault,  delivered  up  to  pillage,  and  reduced 
to  ashes ;  the  Mogul  emperor  returned  to  Samarcand  in 
triumph,  dragging  the  sultan  Bajazet  in  his  train,  and 
meditating  by  turns  the  conquest  of  Africa,  the  invasion  of 
the  West,  and  a  war  against  China. 

After  the  battle  of  Ancyra,  several  princes  of  the  family 
of  Bajazet  disputed  the  ravaged  provinces  of  the  Ottoman 
empire.  If  the  Franks  had  then  appeared  in  the  Strait  of 
Galliopoli  and  in  Thrace,  they  mipht  have  profited  by  the 
defeat  and  discords  of  the  Turks,  and  have  driven  them 
back  beyond  the  Taurus ;  but  the  indifference  r£  the  Chris- 
tian states,  with  the  perfidy  and  cupidity  of  some  of  the 
maritime  nations  of  Europe,  allowed  the  Ottoman  dynasty 
time  and  means  to  renovate  its  depressed  power. 

The  Greeks  derived  no  more  advantage  from  the  v'ctory 
of  Tamerlane  than  the  Latins.  Twenty  years  after  the 
battle  of  Ancyra;  the  Ottomans  had  retaken  all  their  pro 


134  HISTOET    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

vinces ;  their  armies  again  environed  Constantinopl  l,  and  ii 
is  at  this  point  we  may  apply  to  the  power  of  the  Tmks  the 
oriental  comparison  of  that  serpent  of  the  desert  which  an 
elephant  had  crushed  in  its  passage,  which  joins  its  dispersed 
rings  together  again,  raises  its  head  by  degrees,  reseizes  the 
prev  it  had  abandoned,  and  clasps  it  within  its  monstrous 
folds. 

As  long  as  the  Greek  emperors  were  in  no  fear  for  the 
safety  of  their  capital,  they  kept  up  very  little  intercourse 
with  the  Christian  princes  of  Europe ;  but  upon  the  appear- 
ance of  danger,  the  court  of  Byzantium  renewed  its  suppli- 
cations and  its  promises  of  obedience  to  the  Church  of 
Home.  A  conversation  of  Manuel,  reported  by  Phrantza, 
throws  a  light  upon  the  situation  of  the  Greeks,  and  upon 
the  policy  of  the  timid  successors  of  Constantine.  "  The 
only  resource  we  have  left  against  the  Turks,"  said  this 
prince  to  his  son,  "  is  their  fear  of  our  union  with  the  Latins, 
and  the  terror  with  which  the  warlike  nations  of  the  West 
inspire  them.  Whenever  you  are  pressed  by  the  infidels, 
send  to  the  court  of  Rome,  and  prolong  the  negotiations, 
without  ever  taking  a  decisive  part."  Manuel  added,  that 
the  vanity  of  the  Latins  and  the  obstinacy  of  the  Greeks 
would  always  prevent  any  real  or  durable  harmony;  and 
that  a  union  of  any  kind  with  the  pope,  by  arousing  the 
passions  of  both  parties,  would  only  give  Byzantium  up  to 
the  mercy  of  the  barbarians. 

Such  counsels,  which  announce  but  little  frankness  in  the 
policy  of  the  Greeks,  could  not  be  long  followed  up  with 
success.  The  dangers  became  more  pressing,  the  circum- 
stances more  imperative ;  as  Christendom  only  replied  to 
vain  negotiations  by  vain  promises,  the  successor  of  Manuel 
found  himself  obliged  to  give  pledges  of  his  faith  and  sin- 
cerity. The  idea  of  a  council  was  at  length  adopted,  in 
which  the  two  churches  should  come  to  an  understanding, 
and  sho'ild  approximate.  The  emperor  John  Palaeologus 
and  the  doctors  of  the  Greek  Church  repaired  to  Ferrara, 
and  afterwards  to  Florence.  After  long  it  bates,  the  union 
was  sworn  to  on  both  sides,  and  solemnly  proclaimed.  In 
the  West  this  event  was  celebrated  as  a  \ictory ;  at  Con- 
stantinople it  raised  cries  of  blasphemy,  apostasy,  and 
impiety.    Thus  was  the  prediction  of  Manuel  accomplished  j 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES.  135 

all  the  efforts  employed  to  unite  opinions,  on.y  served  to 
raise  a  new  barrier  between  the  Greeks  and  the  Latins. 

At  the  councils  of  Ferrara  and  Florence,  the  deputies  0/ 
the  Armenians,  the  Maronites,  the  Jacobites  of  Syria  and 
Egypt,  the  Nestorians,  and  the  Ethiopians  submitted,  as  well 
as  the  Greeks,  to  the  pontifical  authority,  and  without  doubt 
also,  in  the  same  hope  of  being  succoured  by  the  Latins, 
and  delivered  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Mussulmans.  This 
solemn  proceeding  was  less  a  submission  to  the  Holy  See 
than  a  homage  rendered  to  the  bravery  of  the  Franks,  in 
whom  all  the  Christians  of  Asia  and  Africa  beheld  liberators. 

Pope  Eugenius,  however,  on  receiving  the  submission  of 
the  Greeks,  had  promised  to  send  succours  to  Constan- 
tinople and  to  the  Christians  of  the  East.  The  pontiff 
hoped  that  the  union  of  the  two  churches  and  the  preaching 
of  a  crusade  would  fix  upon  him  the  eyes  of  the  Christian 
world,  and  restore  to  the  pontifical  authority  the  confidence 
and  power  of  which  the  schisms  of  the  West  and  the 
seditious  decrees  of  the  council  of  Bale  had  deprived  it.  He 
wrote  to  all  the  princes  of  Christendom,  exhorting  them  to 
unite  to  put  a  stop  to  the  invasions  of  the  Mussulmans. 
Eugenius,  in  his  letter,  described  all  the  evils  which  the 
faithful  suffered  in  the  countries  under  the  domination  of 
the  barbarians.  "  The  Turks  tied  troops  of  men  and  women 
together,  and  dragged  them  along  in  their  train.  All  the 
Christians  whom  they  condemned  to  slavery,  were  con- 
founded with  the  vilest  booty,  and  sold  like  beasts  of  burden. 
In  their  barbarity,  they  separated  the  son  from  the  father, 
the  brother  from  the  sister,  and  the  husband  from  the  wife. 
Those  whom  age  or  infirmities  prevented  from  walking  were 
killed  upon  the  high  roads  or  in  the  middle  of  cities.  Even 
infancy  could  not  excite  their  pity ;  they  put  to  death  -nno- 
cent  victims  that  had  scarcely  begun  to  exist,  and  who, 
being  yet  ignorant  of  fear,  smiled  upon  their  executioners 
whilst  receiving  the  mortal  blow.  Every  Christian  family 
was  compelled  to  give  up  its  own  sons  to  the  Ottoman 
empire,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  people  of  Athens  had 
been  formerly  forced  to  send  as  a  tribute  the  flower  of  thei* 
youth  to  the  monster  of  Crete.  "Wherever  the  Turks  had 
penetrated,  the  fields  were  cursed  with  barrenness,  and  the 
cities  were  without  laws  or  industry ;  the  Christian  religion 


136  HISTORY    OF   THE   CRUSADES. 

Had  no  longer  either  priests  or  altars ;  humanity  no  longel 
either  support  or  asylum."  In  fact,  the  father  of  the  faith- 
ful forgot  none  of  the  cruelties  committed  by  the  enemies 
of  Christ ;  he  could  not  restrain  the  sadness  which  so  many 
painful  images  caused  him,  and  conjured  princes  and  nations 
to  send  assistance  to  the  kingdom  of  Cyprus,  the  isle  of 
Rhodes,  and  particularly  to  Constantinople,  as  these,  were 
the  last  bulwarks  of  the  West. 

The  exhortations  of  the  sovereign  pontiff  were  addressed 
to  none  but  indifferent  hearts  in  the  nations  of  England, 
France,  and  Spain.  Neither  the  sentiment  of  humanity, 
nor  that  of  patriotism,  had  power  to  revive  the  enthusiasm 
to  which  the  spirit  of  religion  and  chivalry  had  in  past  times 
given  birth.  Distant  crusades,  whatever  was  their  object, 
began  to  be  considered  as  only  the  work  of  a  jealous  policy, 
the  springs  of  which  were  set  in  motion,  to  banish  the 
princes  and  nobles  whose  power  and  wealth  were  coveted. 
In  the  state  in  which  Europe  then  was,  such  as  loved  war, 
had  but  too  many  opportunities  for  exercising  their  bravery, 
without  quitting  their  homes.  The  Germans,  who  had  set 
on  foot  forty  thousand  men  to  combat  the  heretics  of 
Bohemia,  remained  motionless,  when  the  Turks  were  repre- 
sented to  them  as  ready  to  carry  the  standard  of  Islamism  to 
the  extremities  of  the  West. 

The  pope,  however,  was  not  satisfied  with  exhorting  the 
faithful  to  take  up  arms,  he  was  desirous  of  setting  them  the 
example ;  the  pontiff  levied  soldiers  and  equipped  vessels  to 
make  war  against  the  Turks.  The  maritime  cities  of  Flan- 
ders, and  the  republics  of  Genoa  and  Venice,  which  had 
great  interests  in  the  East,  made  some  preparations  ;  their 
fleets  united  under  the  standard  of  St.  Peter,  and  directed 
their  course  towards  the  Hellespont.  The  fear  of  an  ap- 
proaching invasion  awakened  the  zeal  of  the  nations  inha- 
biting the  shores  of  the  Dneister  and  the  Danube.  The 
crusade  was  preached  in  the  diets  of  Poland  and  Hungary. 
Upon  the  frontiers  threatened  by  the  barbarians,  the  people, 
the  clergy,  and  the  nobility  obeyed  the  voice  of  religion  and 
patriotism. 

The  sovereign  pontiff  named,  as  legate  with  the  Cru- 
saders, Cardinal  Julian,  a  prelate  of  an  intrepid  character 
&nd  of  an  ardent  genius,  arming  himself  by  turns  with  the 


HISTOJtY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  137 

iword  of  fight  and  with  that  of  speech  ;  as  redoubtable  in  the 
field  of  battle  as  in  the  learned  contests  of  the  schools.  After 
having  obtained  the  confidence  of  the  council  of  Bale,  Car- 
dinal Julian  distinguished  himself  in  the  council  of  Florence, 
by  defending  the  dogmas  of  the  Latin  church.  His  eloquence 
had  roused  up  all  Germany  against  the  Hussites ;  now  he 
burr\ed  to  rouse  up  all  Christendom  against  the  Turks.  The 
army  collected  under  the  banners  of  the  cross  had  for 
leaders  Hunniades  and  Ladislaus  ;  the  first,  the  waywode  of 
Transylvania,  was  celebrated  among  Christian  warriors,  and 
the  epithet  of  the  brigand,  which  the  Turks  attached  to  his 
name,  denoted  the  hatred  and  terror  he  inspired  among  the 
iufidels.  Upon  the  head  of  Ladislaus  were  united  the  two 
crowns  of  Poland  and  Hungary,  and  he  merited,  by  the 
brilliant  qualities  of  his  youth,  the  love  of  both  Poles  and 
Hungarians.  The  Crusaders  assembled  on  the  Danube,  and 
quickly  received  the  signal  for  war.  The  fleets  of  the 
sovereign  pontiff,  of  Venice,  and  Genoa  cruised  in  the 
Hellespont.  The  inhabitants  c$  Moldavia,  Servia,  and  Greece 
promised  to  join  the  Christian  army ;  the  sultan  of  Cara- 
mania,  the  implacable  enemy  of  the  Ottomans,  was  to  attack 
them  in  Asia.  The  Greek  emperor,  John  Palaeologus,  an- 
nounced great  preparations,  and  got  ready  to  march  at  the 
head  of  an  army  to  meet  his  liberators. 

Hunniades  and  Ladislaus  advanced  as  far  as  Sophia,  the 
capital  of  the  Bulgarians.  Two  battles  opened  for  them  the 
passages  of  Mount  Hemus  and  the  road  to  Byzantium. 
The  rigours  of  winter  alone  arrested  the  victorious  march  of 
the  Christian  warriors ;  and  the  army  of  the  Crusaders  re- 
turned into  Hungary,  to  await  the  favourable  season  for 
renewing  the  war.  They  returned  to  Buda  in  triumph, 
amidst  the  acclamations  of  an  immense  population.  The 
clergy  celebrated,  by  hymns  and  thanksgivings,  the  first 
victories  of  the  Christians',  and  Ladislaus  repaired,  bare- 
footed, to  the  church  of  Notre  Dame,  in  which  he  hung  up. 
the  standards  taken  from  the  infidels. 

Before  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  Mussulmans  had 
been  persuaded  that  the  destruction  of  the  Christians  was 
written  in  the  book  of  destiny.  "  When  att  the  enemies  of 
the  prophet,"  said  they  among  themselves,  "  shall  be  de- 
stroyed, each  of  us  will  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  guide  hia 
Vol.  III.— 7 


138  HISTOET    OF    THE    CEUSADJl'S. 

plough,  and  look  at  his  war-horse  in  his  stable.''  This 
opinion,  the  offspring  of  pride  and  victory,  had  proved  suffi- 
cient to  relax  the  zeal  of  the  Ottoman  warriors ;  and  most 
of  them  remained  in  their  homes,  whilst  the  Christians 
marched  towards  Adrianopolis. 

When  fame  informed  them  of  the  victories  of  the  Franks 
upon  the  Danube,  this  blind  security  all  at  once  gave  place 
to  fear.  The  sultan  Amurath  immediately  sent  ambassadors 
to  sue  for  peace.  History  is  silent  as  to  the  means  of  seduc- 
tion employed  by  the  Ottoman  envoys  to  win  the  victorious 
Crusaders  ;  but  it  is  well  known  that  they  succeeded  in 
obtaining  a  favourable  heariug  for  their  proposals.  Peace 
was  determined  upon  in  the  council  of  the  leaders  of  the 
Christian  army.  The  parties  swore,  the  one  upon  the 
Koran,  and  the  other  upon  the  Gospel,  to  a  truce  of  ten 
years.  This  unexpected  resolution  irritated  the  pride  and 
zeal  of  Cardinal  Julian,  whose  mission  was  to  stimulate  the 
Christians  to  war.  When  he  saw  the  leaders  of  the  crusade 
unite  in  a  desire  for  peace,  he  preserved  a  haughty  silence, 
and  refused  to  sign  a  treaty  he  disapproved  of.  The  in- 
flexible legate  waited  for  an  opportunity  in  which  he  might 
give  vent  to  his  discontent,  and  force  the  Crusaders  to 
resume  their  arms.  This  opportunity  was  not  long  in  pre- 
senting itself. 

Amurath,  satisfied  with  having  restored  peace  to  his 
states,  and  fatigued  with  earthly  grandeur,  renounced  the 
cares  of  empire,  and  buried  himself  iu  a  retreat  at  Mag- 
nesia. The  sultan  of  Caramania  informed  the  Christians 
that  their  most  redoubtable  enemy  had  lost  his  senses,  and 
had  just  exchanged  the  imperial  crown  for  the  cap  of  a 
cenobite.  He  added  that  Amurath  had  left  the  supreme 
authority  in  the  hands  of  a  child,  and  in  his  message  com- 
pared this  child  to  a  young  plant  which  the  slightest  wind 
might  tear  up  by  the  roots. 

■  The  same  sultan  was  so  thoroughly  persuaded  that  the 
Ottoman  empire  was  in  its  decline,  that  he  entered  Ana- 
tolia at  the  head  of  an  army.  About  the  same  time  reports 
vrere  spread  that  the  emperor  of  Constantinople  was  ad- 
vancing towards  Thrace  ;  that  the  Greeks  of  the  Peloponne- 
sus had  taken  up  arms,  and  that  the  confederate  fleets  still 
awaited  a  fresh  signal  for  war  in  the  Hellespont.     Another 


UlSlvRY    OP    THJ5    (.  RUSADES.  139 

circumstance,  not  less  important,  seemed  calculated  to 
awaken  the  warlike  ard  jur  of  the  Crusaders  ;  the  victory 
gained  near  Sophia  had  given  them  a  powerful  ally  in 
Greece.  In  this  battle,  the  son  of  John  Castuct,  who  com- 
manded the  van  of  the  Ottoman  army,  suddenly  abandoned 
the  banners  and  the  religion  of  the  Turks,  to  defend  the 
worship  and  the  heritage  of  his  ancestors  in  Albania.  The 
messengers  of  Seanderberg  announced  to  the  leaders  of  the 
Christian  army,  that  he  was  ready  to  join  them  at  the  head 
of  twenty  thousand  Albanians,  assembled  under  the  standard 
of  the  cross. 

All  these  news,  arriving  at  once,  had  an  immediate  effect 
in  changing  men's  minds  as  well  as  the  face  of  affairs.  A 
fresh  council  was  called ;  Cardinal  Julian  arose  among  the 
leaders,  and  reproached  them  with  having  betrayed  both 
their  fortune  and  their  glory ;  he  reproached  them  in  severe 
terms,  with  having  signed  a  disgraceful  peace,  which  was 
sacrilegious,  fatal  to  Europe,  and  fatal  to  the  Church. 
"  You  had  sworn,"  said  he,  "  to  combat  the  eternal  enemies 
of  Christendom,  and  now  you  have  sworn  upon  the  Gospel, 
to  lay  down  your  arms.  To  which  of  these  two  oaths  will 
you  be  faithful  ?  You  have  just  thought  proper  to  conclude 
a  treaty  with  the  Mussulmans ;  but  have  you  not  also 
treaties  with  your  allies  ?  Will  you  abandon  these  generous 
allies  at  the  moment  that  they  are  flying  from  all  parts  to 
your  assistance,  and  are  coming  to  share  the  perils  of  a  war 
in  which  God  has  so  visibly  protected  your  first  labours  ? 

"  But,  what  do  I  say  ?  You  not  only  abandon  your  allies, 
you  leave,  without  support  and  without  hope,  that  crowd  of 
Christians  whom  you  have  promised  to  deliver  from  an 
insupportable  yoke,  and  who  must  now  remain  a  prey  to  all 
the  outrages  of  the  Mussulmans  whom  your  victories  have 
irritated.  The  groans  of  so  many  victims  will  pursue  you 
into  your  retreat,  and  will  accuse  you  before  God  and 
before  men. 

"  You  close  for  ever  the  gates  of  Asia  against  the  Chris- 
tian phalanxes,  and  you  restore  to  the  Mussulmaus  the 
hopes  they  had  lost  of  invading  the  countries  of  Christen- 
dom. To  what  interests,  answer  me,  have  you  sacrificed 
your  own  glory  and  the  safety  of  the  Christian  world? 
Had  not  war  already  given  you  all  that  the  sultan  Amuratb 


I4iO  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRTJSa^ES. 

promises?  "Would  he  not  have  already  given  you  stil 
more ;  and  do  not  the  pledges  obtained  by  victory  inspire 
more  confidence  than  the  promises  of  infidels  ? 

"  What  shall  I  say  to  the  sovereign  pontiff  who  has  sent 
me  to  you,  not  to  treat  with  Mussulmans,  but  to  drive  them 
beyond  the  seas  ?  What  shall  I  say  to  all  the  pastors  of  the 
Christian  Churches,  and  to  all  the  faithful  of  the  West,  who 
are  now  offering  up  prayers  to  Heaven  for  the  success  of 
your  arms  ? 

"  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  barbarians,  whom  we  have 
twice  conquered,  would  never  have  consented  to  a  peace,  if 
they  had  had  the  means  of  carrying  on  the  war.  Do  you 
believe  they  will  observe  the  truce,  when  fjrtune  shall  be- 
come more  favourable  to  them  ?  No ;  Christian  warriors 
cannot  remain  bound  by  an  impious  compact  which  gives 
up  the  Church  and  Europe  to  the  disciples  of  Mahomet. 
Learn  that  there  is  no  peace  between  Grod  and  his  enemies, 
between  truth  and  falsehood,  between  Heaven  and  Hell. 
There  is  no  necessity  for  me  to  absolve  you  from  an  oath 
evidently  contrary  to  religion  and  morality,  to  all  that 
which  constitutes,  among  men,  the  sanctity  and  faith  of 
promises.  I  exhort  you  then,  in  the  name  of  Grod,  in  the 
name  of  the  Grospel,  to  resume  your  arms  a:  d  follow  me  in 
the  road  of  salvation  and  glory." 

The  safety  of  Christendom  may,  no  doubt,  be  pleaded  in 
extenuation  of  the  violence  of  this  discourse ;  but  impartial 
history,  whatever  may  be  the  reasons  alleged,  cannot  approve 
of  this  open  violation  of  the  faith  of  oaths.  The  leaders  of 
the  crusade  might  merit  the  reproaches  of  the  apostolic 
legate,  who  accused  them  of  having  made  a  peace  disgraceful 
in  itself  and  dangerous  to  Christian  Europe ;  but  they  cer- 
tainly also  deserve  the  contempt  of  posterity  for  violating 
treaties  they  had  so  recently  concluded.  When  Cardinal 
Julian  began  to  speak,  the  minds  of  his  auditors  were  already 
wavering ;  when  he  had  finished  his  discourse,  the  warlike 
ardour  which  animated  him  seized  upon  the  whole  assembly, 
and  manifested  itself  by  the  loud  acclamations  of  a  general 
approbation.  With  one  unanimous  voice  they  all  swore  to 
recommence  the  war,  on  the  same  spot  where  they  had  just 
sworn  to  maintain  peace. 

The  enthusiasm  of  most  of  the  leaders  was  at  its  height 


DISTORT    OY    THE    CRUSADE?!.  141 

it  scarcely  allowed  them  to  observe  that  they  had  lost  half 
their  army.  A  great  number  of  the  Crusaders  had  quitted 
their  colours,  some  impatient  to  return  to  their  homes,  but 
by  far  the  greater  part  dissatisfied  with  a  treaty,  which  ren- 
dered their  bravery  and  their  exploits  useless.  The  prince 
of  Servia,  a  near  neighbour  of  the  Turks,  and  in  dread  of 
their  vengeance,  did  not  dare  to  run  the  risk  of  a  new  war, 
and  sent  no  troops  to  the  army  of  Hunniades  and  Ladislaus. 
They  waited  in  \ain  for  the  reinforcements  promised  by 
Scanderberg,  who  was  obliged  to  defend  Albania.  There 
remained  not  more  than  twenty  thousand  men  under  the 
banners  of  the  cross.  A  chief  of  the  Wallachians,  on  joining 
the  Crusaders  with  his  cavalry,  could  not  refrain  from  ex- 
pressing his  surprise  to  the  king  of  Hungary,  at  the  small- 
ness  of  his  numbers  ;  and  told  him  that  the  sultan  they  were 
going  to  contend  with,  was  frequently  followed  to  the  chase 
by  more  slaves  than  the  Christian  warriors  amounted  to. 

The  principal  leaders  were  advised  to  defer  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war  till  the  arrival  of  fresh  Crusaders,  or  the 
return  of  those  that  had  left  them;  but  Ladislaus,  Hun- 
niades, and  particularly  Julian,  were  persuaded  that  God 
protected  the  defenders  of  the  cross,  and  that  nothing  coidd 
resist  them.  They  set  forward  on  their  march,  and  crossing 
the  deserts  of  Bulgaria,  encamped  at  Warna,  on  the  shores 
of  the  Black  Sea. 

It  was  there  the  Crusaders,  instead  of  finding  the  fleet 
which  was  to  second  them,  learned  that  Amurath  had  left 
his  retreat  at  Magnesia,  and  was  hastening  to  meet  them 
at  the  head  of  sixty  thousand  combatants.  At  this  intelli- 
gence all  the  extravagant  confidence  infused  by  the  Cardinal 
Julian  faded  away,  and  in  their  despair  they  accused  the 
Greeks  of  having  betrayed  or  abandoned  them  ;  and  the 
Genoese,  with  the  nephew  of  the  Pope,  who  commanded  the 
Christian  fleet,  of  having  yielded  the  passage  of  Galliopoli 
to  the  Turks.  This  accusation  is  repeated  in  all  the  chro- 
nicles of  the  West;  but  the  Turkish  historians  make  no 
mention  of  it ;  they,  on  the  contrary,  say  that  Amurath 
crossed  the  Hellespont  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the 
places  occupied  by  the  Christian  fleet ;  and  that  the  grand 
vizier,  who  was  upon  the  European  shore,  protected  the 
passage  of  the  Ottoman  army  by  a  hi  ttery  of  cannon.    u  A* 


142  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

soon  as  the  troops  of  Amurath,"  adds  the  Turkish  historian 
Coggia  Effendi,  "  gained  the  shore,  they  offered  up  prayers 
and  thanks  to  the  God  of  Mahomet,  and  the  zephyr  of  vie* 
tory  breathed  upon  the  Mussulman  banners."  The  siutan 
pursued  his  march,  swearing  by  the  prophets  of  Islamism, 
bo  punish  its  enemies  for  the  violation  of  treaties.  If  some 
autho  ?a  may  be  believed,  the  emperor  of  the  Turks  suppli- 
cated Jesus  Christ  himself  to  avenge  the  outrage  committed 
upon  his  name  by  the  perjured  warriors.  At  the  approach 
of  the  Ottomans,  Hunniades  and  the  legate  advised  retreat ; 
but  retreat  became  impossible,  and  Ladislaus  determined  to 
conquer  or  die.  The  battle  began :  and  it  was  then,  says 
the  Ottoman  historian,  "  that  an  infinite  number  of  valiant 
men  were  borne  to  the  valley  of  shadows  by  torrents  of  blood." 
At  the  commencement  of  the  battle  both  the  right  and  left 
wings  of  the  Mussulman  army  were  broken.  Some  authors 
say  that  Amurath  thought  of  flying,  and  that  he  was  stopped 
by  a  janissary,  who  retained  him  by  the  bridle  of  his  horse ; 
others  celebrate  the  firm  courage  of  the  sultan,  and  compare 
him  to  a  rock  which  resists  all  the  blasts  of  the  tempest. 
Coggia  Effendi,  whom  we  have  already  quoted,  adds  that 
the  Ottoman  emperor  addressed,  upon  the  field  of  battle,  a 
prayer  to  the  God  of  Mahomet,  and  conjured  him  with  tears 
to  remove  from  the  Mussulmans  the  bitter  cup  of  contempt 
and  affliction. 

Eortune  appeared  to  favour  the  arms  of  the  Crusaders. 
A  great  part  of  the  Ottoman  army  fled  before  twenty-four 
thousand  Christian  soldiers,  and  nothing  could  resist  the 
impetuous  courage  of  the  king  of  Hungary.  A  crowd  of 
prelates  and  bishops,  armed  with  cuirasses  and  swords,  ac- 
companied Ladislaus,  and  intreated  him  to  direct  his  attacks 
towards  the  point  at  which  Amurath  still  fought,  defended 
by  the  bravest  of  his  janissaries.  He  listened  but  too  wil- 
lingly to  their  imprudent  advice,  and  having  rushed  among 
the  enemy's  battalions,  he  was  instantly  pierced  by  a 
thousand  lances,  and  fell  with  all  who  had  been  able  to 
follow  him.  His  head,  fixed  upon  the  point  of  a  lance,  and 
shown  to  the  Hungarians,  spread  consternation  through 
their  ranks.  It  was  in  vain  Hunniades  and  l\e  bishops  en- 
deavoured to  revive  the  courage  of  the  Crusaders,  by  telling 
theif   they  were  not  fighting  for  an  earthly  king,  but  for 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  143 

Jesus  Christ;  the  whole  Christian  army  disbanded,  and  fled  in 
Urn  greatest  disorder.  Hunniades  himself  was  carried  away 
with  the  rest :  ten  thousand  soldiers  of  the  cross  k  st  their 
lives,  and  the  Turks  made  a  great  number  of  prisoners, 
Cardinal  Julian  perished  either  in  the  battle  or  the  flight. 

After  his  victory,  Amurath  traversed  the  fie3d  of  battle ; 
and  as  he  observed  he  did  not  see  among  the  Christian 
bodies  one  with  a  gray  beard,  his  vizier  replied  that  men 
arrived  at  the  age  of  reason  would  never  have  attempted 
such  a  rash  enterprize.  These  words  were  nothing  more 
than  a  piece  of  flattery  addressed  to  the  sultan;  but  they 
might,  nevertheless,  serve  to  characterize  a  war  in  which  the 
leaders  of  the  Christian  armies  obeyed  rather  the  impulses 
of  the  imprudent  passions  of  youth,  than  the  cooler  dictates 
of  experience  and  matured  age. 

The  expeditions  of  the  Christians  against  the  Turks  began 
almost  all,  like  this,  by  brilliant  successes,  and  finished  by 
great  disasters.  Most  frequently  a  crusade  was  terminated 
at  the  first  or  the  second  battle,  because  the  Crusaders  had 
only  valour,  and  were  totally  deficient  in  qualities  which 
could  improve  a  victory  or  repair  reverses.  "When  con- 
querors, the}-  quarrelled  for  the  glory  of  the  fight  or  the 
spoils  of  the  enemy ;  when  conquered,  they  were  at  once 
depressed  and  discouraged,  and  returned  to  their  homes, 
accusing  each  other  reciprocally  of  their  defeats. 

The  battle  of  Warna  secured  to  the  Turks  the  European 
provinces  they  had  invaded,  and  permitted  them  to  make 
fresh  conquests.  Amurath,  after  having  triumphed  over  his 
enemies,  again  renounced  the  imperial  crown,  and  the  soli- 
tude of  Magnesia  once  more  beheld  the  conqueror  of  the 
Hungarians  clothed  in  the  humble  mantle  of  a  hermit ;  but 
the  janissaries,  whom  he  had  so  often  led  to  victory,  would 
not  permit  him  to  renounce  the  world  or  enjoy  the  repose 
he  was  so  anxious  for.  Forced  to  resume  the  command  of 
armies  and  the  reins  of  empire,  he  directed  hits  views  against 
Albania ;  and  he  afterwards  returned  to  fight  with  Hunni- 
ades on  the  shores  of  the  Danube.  He  passed  the  remainder 
of  his  days  in  making  war  against  the  Christians,  and  with 
his  last  breath  recommended  his  successor  to  direct  his  arms 
against  Constantinople. 

Mahomet  IT.,  to  whom  Amurath  bequeathed  the  conquest 


144  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

of  Byzantium,  did  not  succeed  his  father  till  six  years  aftel 
the  battle  of  Warna.  It  was  then  that  began  the  days  of 
mourning  and  calamity  for  the  Greeks  ;  and  it  is  at  this 
period  that  history  oifers  us,  as  a  spectacle,  a  last  and  terrible 
conflict ;  on  the  one  side,  an  old  empire  whose  glory  had 
filled  the  universe,  and  which  had  no  defence  or  limits  left 
but  the  ramparts  of  its  capital ;  and  on  the  other,  a  new  em- 
pire, the  name  of  which  was  scarcely  known,  and  which  already 
threatened  the  whole  world  with  invasion. 

Constantine  and  Mahomet,  elevated  almost  at  the  same 
time, — the  one  to  the  throne  of  Otman,  the  other  to  that  of 
the  Caesars,  presented  no  less  difference  in  their  characters 
than  in  their  destinies.  The  moderation  and  piety  of  Con- 
stantine were  admired,  and  historians  have  celebrated  his 
calm  and  prudent  valour  in  the  field  of  battle,  with  his 
heroic  patience  in  reverses.  Mahomet  brought  to  the 
throne  an  active  and  enterprising  spirit,  an  ardent  and 
passionate  policy,  and  an  indomitable  pride.  It  is  asserted 
that  he  loved  letters  and  the  arts ;  but  these  peaceful  pur- 
suits were  not  able  to  soften  his  savage  ferocity.  In  war, 
he  neither  spared  the  lives  of  his  enemies  nor  of  his  sol- 
diers ;  and  the  violences  of  his  character  often  ensanguined 
even  peace.  Whilst  in  Constantine  a  monarch  could  be 
recognized  brought  up  in  the  school  of  Christianity,  in 
Mahomet  was  as  easily  known  a  prince  formed  by  the  war- 
like and  intolerant  maxims  of  the  Koran.  The  last  of  the 
Caesars  had  all  the  virtues  that  can  honour  and  teach  the 
endurance  of  a  great  misfortune.  The  son  of  Amurath 
exhibited  the  dark  qualities  of  a  conqueror,  with  all  the 
passions  which,  in  the  day  of  victory,  must  leave  nothing 
but  despair  to  the  vanquished. 

When  Mahomet  succeeded  to  the  empire,  his  first  thought 
was  the  conquest  of  Byzantium.  In  the  negotiations  which 
preceded  the  rupture  of  the  peace,  Constantine  did  not 
conceal  the  weakness  of  the  Greek  empire,  and  displayed 
all  the  resignation  of  a  Christian.  "  My  confidence  is  in 
G-od,"  said  he  to  the  Ottoman  prince ;  "  if  it  should  please 
him  to  soften  your  heart,  I  shall  rejoice  at  that  happy 
change ;  if  it  should  please  him  to  deliver  up  Constantinople 
to  you,  I  shall  submit  to  his  will  without  a  murmur." 

The  siege  of  Byzantium  was  fixed  to  begin  in  the  spriag 


HISTOEY    OF    THE    CItUSADES.  145 

of  the  year  1453  ;  and  the  Greeks  and  the  Turks  passed  th« 
winter  in  preparation  for  the  defence  and  the  attack.  Ma- 
homet entered  with  ardour  upon  an  enterprise  to  which,  for 
a  length  of  time,  all  the  wishes  of  the  Turkish  nation  and 
all  the  Ottoman  policy  has  been  directed.  In  the  middle 
of  a  night,  having  sent  for  his  vizier :  "  Thou  seest,"  saitf 
Mahomet,  "  the  disorder  of  my  couch.  I  have  carried  to  it 
the  trouble  which  agitates  and  devours  me  ;  henceforth  there 
will  be  neither  repose  nor  sleep  for  me  but  in  the  capital  of 
the  Greeks." 

AVhilst  Mahomet  was  getting  together  all  his  forces  to 
commence  the  war,  Constantine  Palaeologus  implored  assist- 
ance from  the  nations  of  Europe.  Cries  of  alarm  had  so 
often  been  heard  from  Constantinople,  that  some  regarded 
the  dangers  of  the  Greek  empire  as  imaginary,  and  others, 
its  ruin  as  inevitable.  In  vain  Constantine  promised,  as  all 
his  predecessors  had  done,  to  unite  the  Greek  Church  with 
the  Roman  Church  ;  the  remembrance  of  so  many  promises, 
made  in  the  hour  of  peril  and  forgotten  in  times  of  safety, 
added  to  the  antipathy  of  the  Latins  for  the  people  of 
Greece.  The  Pope  exhorted  feebly  the  warriors  of  the  West 
to  take  arms,  and  satisfied  himself  with  sending  to  the  Greek 
emperor  a  legate  and  some  ecclesiastics  versed  in  the  art  of 
argumentation  and  in  the  study  of  theology.  Although 
the  Cardinal  Isidore  brought  with  him  a  considerable  trea- 
sure, and  had  in  his  suite  some  Italian  soldiers,  his  arrival 
at  Constantinople  must  have  spread  discouragement  among 
the  Greeks,  who  expected  other  succours,  and  appeared  to 
have  attached  a  very  high  value  to  their  submission  to  the 
Church  of  Rome. 

The  princes  of  the  Morea  and  the  Archipelago,  with  those 
of  Hungary  and  Bulgaria,  some,  in  dread  of  being  them- 
selves attacked,  the  others,  restrained  by  indifference  or  the 
spirit  of  jealousy,  refused  to  take  any  part  in  a  war  in  which 
victory  would  decide  their  own  fate.  As  Genoa  and  Venice 
had  counting-houses  and  commercial  establishments  at  Con- 
stantinople, two  thousand  Genoese  soldiers  and  five  or  six 
hundred  Venetians  presented  themselves  to  assist  in  defend- 
ing the  city.  A  troop  of  Catalans  also  arrived,  an  intrepid 
soldiery,  by  turns  the  scourge  and  hope  of  Greece,  whom  a 
love  of  wrar  and  peril  brought  to  the  imperial  city.     And 

7* 


145  HISTORY    OF    THE    CWUSAUES. 

this  was  all  that  was  to  represent  warlike  Europe  at  the 
siege  of  Byzantium. 

At  this  period,  several  Christian  powers  were  at  war  with 
each  otVier:  the  continuator  of  Baronius  remarks  on  this 
subject,  that  the  soldiers  who  then  perished  in  battles  fought 
in  the  bosom  of  Christendom,  would  have  been  sufficient 
to  disperse  the  Turks,  and  drive  them  back  to  the  outward 
verge  of  Asia.  But  if  history,  on  this  occasion,  accuses  the 
nations  of  the  West  of  indifference,  what  ought  it  to  say  of 
that  of  the  Greeks  for  their  own  defence  ?  The  efforts  of 
Constantine  to  unite  the  two  Churches  had  weakened  the 
confidence  and  zeal  of  his  subjects,  who  prided  themselves 
upon  being  orthodox.  Among  the  Greeks,  some,  in  order 
to  owe  nothing  to  the  Latins,  declared  that  God  himself 
had  undertaken  to  save  his  people,  and  upon  the  faith  of 
some  prophecies  they  had  made,  they  awaited  in  inaction  a 
miraculous  deliverance.  Others,  more  dark  in  their  scho- 
lastic reveries,  were  not  willing  that  Constantinople  should 
be  saved,  because  they  had  predicted  that  the  empire  must 
perish  to  expiate  the  crime  of  the  union.  Every  hope  of 
victory  had  in  their  eyes  something  impious  and  contrary  to 
the  will  of  Heaven.  When  the  emperor  spoke  of  the  means 
of  safety  that  still  remained,  and  of  the  necessity  for  taking 
arms,  these  atrabilarious  doctors  drew  back  with  a  kind  of 
horror,  and  the  multitude  they  had  misled  ran  after  the 
monk  Genadius,  who,  from  the  depth  of  his  cell,  cried  out 
constantly  to  the  people,  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  done, 
and  that  all  was  lost. 

When  we  study  the  whimsicalities  of  the  human  mind, 
that  which  most  affects  the  enlightened  observer  is,  to  see 
there  are  men  whose  passion  is  words,  whom  self-love 
attaches  to  vain  subtleties,  and  for  whom  the  ruin  of  the 
world  would  be  a  less  painful  spectacle  than  the  triumph  of 
an  opinion  they  have  opposed.  On  ;he  eve  of  the  greatest 
perils,  Constantinople  was  tilled  with  people  whom  hatred 
for  the  Latins  made  forgetful  of  even  the  approach  and 
menaces  of  the  Turks.  The  grand  duke  Notares  went  so 
far  as  to  say  that  he  would  like  better  to  see  in  Byzantium  the 
turban  of  Mahomet  than  the  tiara  of  the  pontiff  of  Rome. 

It  is  not  use  ess  to  remind  our  readers  here,  that  in  all  these 
debates  there  was  no  question  that  affected  the  truths  of 


HISTORY    OF    TIIE    CRUSADES.  147 

Christianity, — nothing  but  some  points  of  ecclesiastical  dis» 
cipline:  celebrating  the  mass  in  the  Latin  tongue,  conse« 
crating  unleavened  bread,  mixing  some  cold  water  in  the 
chalice,  communicating  with  azymites — these  were  things 
that  were  to  be  hated,  things  that  were  to  be  feared  much 
more  than  I  si  am  ism.  Such  were  the  motives  for  which  the 
(Ireeks  repulsed  the  Franks,  their  natural  allies,  loaded  them 
with  anathemas,  and  invoked  the  maledictions  of  Heaven 
upon  their  own  city. 

Amidst  these  deplorable  disputes  the  voice  of  patriotism 
was  never  listened  to,  and  indifference,  selfishness,  and 
cowardice  were  able  to  conceal  themselves  under  the  respect- 
able appearance  of  religion  and  orthodoxy.  A  great  part  of 
the  population  of  Constantinople  had  abandoned  the  city; 
among  those  that  remained,  the  richest  had  buried  their 
treasures,  which  they  might  have  employed  in  the  general 
defence,  and  which  they  soon  lost,  with  their  liberty  and 
their  lives.  The  imperial  city  only  contained  within  its 
bosom  four  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventy  defenders, 
and  the  emperor  was  obliged  to  plunder  the  churches  to 
support  them.  Thus,  from  eight  to  nine  thousand  combat- 
ants formed  the  entire  garrison  of  Byzantium,  and  the  last 
hope  of  the  empire  of  the  East. 

Mahomet  had  completed  his  immense  preparations.  As 
the  conquest  of  Byzantium  and  the  pillage  of  Constantinople 
were  the  richest  recompense  that  could  be  offered  to  the 
valour  of  the  Ottomans,  all  the  soldiers  were,  in  some  sort, 
associated  with  the  ambition  of  their  leader.  The  warlike 
ardour  and  fanaticism  which  had  distinguished  the  compa- 
nions of  Omar  and  the  first  champions  of  Islamism  were 
now  revived.  From  all  the  regions  which  extend  from  the 
chain  of  Taurus  to  the  banks  of  the  Ebro  and  the  Danube 
came  crowds  of  warriors,  attracted  to  the  arr  y  by  the  hopes 
of  booty  or  the  desire  of  distinguishing  themselves  in  a  re- 
ligious and  national  war.  In  order  at  once  to  give  a  clear 
idea  of  the  decay  and  weakness  of  the  Greeks,  and  of  the 
strength  and  power  of  the  Ottomans,  it  will  suffice  to  say, 
that  Constantinople  and  all  that  remained  of  the  territory  of 
the  empire  contained  a  smaller  number  of  inhabitants  of 
ail  kinds  tnau  Mahomet  mustered  soldiers  beneath  hia 
banners. 


14)8  HISTORY    Of    THE    CKUSADES. 

The  Ottoman  army  set  out  from  Adriauople  at  the  begin- 
ning of  March ;  and  on  the  sixth  of  April  Mahomet  pitched 
ais  tent  before  the  gate  of  St.  Eomanus.  The  signal  for  battle 
was  speedily  given  on  both  sides.  In  the  "early  days  of  the 
Biege,  the  Greeks  and  the  Turks  displayed  all  that  the  art  of 
war  had  invented  or  perfected  among  the  ancients  and 
moderns.  Among  his  formidable  preparations,  Mahomet 
had  not  neglected  artillery,  the  use  of  which  was  then  spread 
through  the  West.  One  of  his  cannons,  founded  under  his 
own  eyes  at  Adrianople,  was  of  such  gigantic  proportions, 
that  three  hundred  oxen  dragged  it  along  with  difficulty,  and 
it  launched  a  ball  of  seven  hundred  quintals  (seven  hun- 
dred pounds  weight)  to  a  distance  of  more  than  six  hundred 
toises  (six  hundred  fathoms).  Almost  all  the  historians  of 
the  time  speak  of  this  terrible  instrument  of  war,  but  say 
very  little  of  the  effect  it  produced  in  the  field  of  battle.  On 
examining  with  care  the  accounts  of  contemporaries,  and  par- 
ticularly the  descriptions  they  have  left  us  of  these  enormous 
machines  of  bronze,  which  they  had  so  much  trouble  to 
move,  we  feel  persuaded  that  at  the  siege  of  Byzantium  the 
Ottoman  artillery  inspired  more  fright  and  surprise  than  it 
did  execution. .  The  Turks  showed  very  little  skill  or  zeal  in 
seconding  the  Frank  engineers  and  artillerymen  whom  Ma- 
homet had  taken  into  his  service  ;  and  it  was  a  great  blessing 
for  Christendom  that  so  powerful  a  discovery  was  not  per- 
fected at  once  in  the  hands  of  barbarians,  whom  Europe 
could  not  have  resisted  if  they  had  joined  this  new  force  to 
the  advantages  they  already  possessed  in  war. 

The  Turks  employed  other  arms  and  other  means  of 
attack  with  much  more  success ;  such  as  mines  dug  under 
the  ramparts,  rolling  towers,  which  were  brought  close  up  to 
the  walls,  rams  which  battered  the  walls,  balistae,  which 
launched  beams  and  stones,  arrows,  javelins,  and  even  the 
Greek  fire,  which  still  rivalled  gunpowder,  although  the 
latter  was  destined  soon  to  make  it  neglected  and  forgotten. 
All  these  means  of  destruction  were  employed  at  the  same 
time,  and  assaults  were  renewed  unceasingly.  The  besieged 
could  not  avail  themselves  of  all  their  machines,  from  the 
want  of  hands  to  work  them ;  and  when  we  reflect  or.  the 
smallness  of  the  number  of  the  defenders  of  Constanti- 
nople, we  are  ast  ^uished  that  they  were  able  to  resist,  for 


HISTOUY    OF    THE    CKUS3ADES.  149 

more  than  fifty  days,  the  innumerable  host  of  the  Ottomans. 
This  generous  soldiery  occupied  a  line  of  more  than  a  league 
in  length,  repelling,  night  and  day,  the  assaults  of  the 
enemy,  repairing* the  breaches  in  the  walls,  and  making  sor* 
ties ;  they  appeared  to  be  everywhere  at  the  same  time,  and 
to  be  equal  to  everything,  animated  by  the  presence  of  their 
leaders,  and  particularly  by  the  example  of  Constantine. 
Several  times  fortune  favoured  the  efforts  of  this  heroic 
troop,  and  -tingled  a  few  gleams  of  hope  with  the  sentiment 
of  sadness  and  terror  which  prevailed  in  Constantinople, 
The  besieged  preserved  one  advantage,  the  city  was  inac- 
cessible tc^ards  the  Propontis  and  on  the  side  of  the  port. 
Mahomet  had  assembled  a  numerous  fleet  in  the  canal  of 
the  Black  Sea;  but  it  only  served  for  the  transmission  of 
provisions  and  warlike  stores.  The  Ottoman  marine  could 
not  contend  with  the  marine  of  the  Greeks,  particularly 
with  that  of  the  Franks ;  and  the  Turks  themselves  acknow- 
ledged that  they  must  yield  the  empire  of  the  seas  to  the 
Christian  nations. 

About  the  middle  of  the  siege,  five  vessels  from  the  coasts 
of  Italy  and  Greece  arrived  in  the  canal.  The  whole  Otto- 
man fleet  was  immediately  in  motion,  and  advanced  to 
meet  them  ;  from  their  numbers  they  surrounded  them,  and 
attacked  them  several  times,  with  the  view  of  getting  posses- 
sion of  them,  or  of  turning  them  from  their  course.  Ma- 
homet encouraged  the  combatants  with  voice  and  gesture 
from  the  shore.  When  the  Ottomans  appeared  to  be  failing 
in  their  attempt,  he  could  not  restrain  hir  anger ;  urging  his 
horse  into  the  sea,  he  seemed  to  threaten  /he  elements,  and, 
like  a  barbarian  king  of  antiquity,  to  accuse  the  waves  of 
being  obstacles  to  his  conquests.  On  the  other  side,  tho 
Greeks,  collected  on  the  ramparts  of  the  city,  awaited  the 
issue  of  the  combat  in  great  anxiety.  At  length,  after  an 
obstinate  and  bloody  conflict,  all  the  Turkish  ships  were  dis- 
persed or  cast  upon  the  shore ;  and  the  Christian  fleet, 
laden  with  provisions  and  soldiers,  sailed  in  triumph  into  the 
port  of  Constantinople. 

The  sultan  burned  to  avenge  this  disgrace  to  his  arms, 
and  resolved  to  make  a  last  effort  to  render  himself  master 
of  the  port  of  Constantinople.  As  the  entrance  of  it  was 
guarded  by  several  large  vessels,  and  closed  by  a  chain  o! 


*50  history  of  thj=;  crusades. 

iron  that  could  neither  be  broken  nor  passed,  the  Ottoman 
monarch  employed  an  extraordinary  method,  which  the  be- 
sieged had  not  foreseen,  and  the  success  of  which  displayed 
the  force  of  his  will  and  the  extent  of  his  power.  In  a 
single  night,  between  seventy  and  eighty  vessels,  which  were 
at  anchor  in  the  canal  of  the  Black  Sea,  were  transported  by 
land  to  the  gulf  of  Ceras.  The  road  was  covered  with 
planks,  plastered  with  grease,  along  which  a  multitude  of 
soldiers  and  workmen  made  the  vessels  slide.  The  Turkish 
fleet,  commanded  by  pilots,  with  sails  unfurled,  as  if  upon  a 
maritime  expedition,  advanced  over  a  hilly  country,  and  tra- 
versed a  space  of  two  miles  by  the  light  of  torches  and 
flambeaux,  to  the  sound  of  clarions  and  trumpets,  without 
the  Genoese,  who  inhabited  Galata,  daring  to  offer  any 
opposition  to  its  passage.  The  Greeks,  fully  occupied  in 
guarding  their  ramparts,  had  no  suspicion  of  the  designs  of 
the  enemy.  They  could  not  comprehend  what  could  be  the 
cause  or  the  object  of  all  the  tumult  that  was  heard  during 
the  whole  night  from  the  sea-shore,  until  the  dawn  of  day 
showed  them  the  Mussulman  standards  floating  in  their 
port. 

We  naturally  here  inquire  what  resistance  was  made  by 
the  vessels  which  guarded  the  iron  chain,  and  by  those  which 
had  entered  the  port,  after  having  dispersed  the  Ottoman 
fleet.  We  may  suppose  that  every  warrior  who  had  fought 
in  the  Christian  ships  was  then  employed  in  defending  the 
ramparts  of  the  city ;  or,  it  is  probable,  that  the  part  of  the 
gulf  in  which  the  Turkish  ships  descended,  was  not  deep 
enough  to  be  accessible  to  large  vessels.  However  this  may 
have  been,  the  Mussulmans  lost  no  time  in  taking  advantage 
of  their  success.  Scarcely  were  the  Turkish  boats  launched, 
when  a  multitude  of  workmen  were  busily  engaged  in  con- 
structing floating  batteries  on  the  same  spot  where  the 
Venetians  made  their  last  assault  in  the  fifth  crusade. 

This  bold  enterprise,  carried  out  with  such  audacity  and 
success,  spread  trouble  and  consternation  among  the  be- 
sieged. They  made  several  attempts  to  burn  the  fleet  and 
destroy  the  works  the  enemy  had  begun ;  but  they  in  vain 
nad  recourse  to  the  Greek  fire,  which  had  so  often  saved 
Constantinople  from  the  attacks  of  the  barbarians.  Forty 
of  their  most  intrepid  warriors,  betrayed  by  their  imprudent 


HISTOET    OF    THE    CRtSADES.  151 

valour,  and  perhaps  also  by  the  Genoese,  fell  into  the  handa 
of  the  Turks,  and  a  death  amidst  tortures  was  the  reward  of 
their  generoiu  devotion. 

Constantine  used  reprisals,  and  exposed  the  heads  of 
seventy  of  his  captives  upon  the  ramparts.  This  mode  ot 
making  war  announced  that  the  combatants  no  longer 
listened  to  anything  but  the  inspirations  of  despair  or  the 
furies  of  vengeance.  The  Mussulmans,  who  daily  received 
supplies  of  all  kinds,  prosecuted  the  siege  without  inter- 
mission. The  certainty  of  victory  redoubled  their  ardour ; 
Constantinople  was  assaulted  on  several  sides  at  once,  and 
the  garrison,  already  weakened  by  the  conflicts  and  labours 
of  a  long  siege,  were  obliged  to  divide  their  forces  to  defend 
all  the  points  attacked. 

The  repairs  of  the  fortifications  on  the  side  of  the  port  had 
been  neglected.  Towards  the  west,  several  of  the  towers, 
particularly  that  of  St.  Homanus,  were  falling  into  ruins. 
In  this  almost  desperate  situation,  what  wras,  if  possible, 
still  more  deplorable,  the  garrison  of  Byzantium  was  pos- 
sessed by  the  spirit  of  discord.  Violent  debates  arose 
between  the  grand  duke  Notares  and  Justiniani,  who  com- 
manded the  Genoese  troops.  The  Venetians  and  the  Ge- 
noese w'ere  several  times  on  the  point  of  coming  to  blows  ; 
and  yet  history  can  scarcely  point  out  the  subjects  of  these 
unfortunate  quarrels.  Such  was  the  blindness  produced  by 
the  spirit  of  jealousy,  or  rather  by  despair,  that  in  this 
chosen  band  of  warriors,  who  were  every  day  sacrificing 
their  lives  in  the  noble  cause  they  had  embraced,  it  was  not 
uncommon  to  hear  mutual  accusations  of  cowardice  and 
treachery. 

Constantine  endeavoured  to  appease  them ;  and  himself, 
always  calm  in  the  midst  of  discord,  appeared  to  be  ac- 
tuated by  no  other  feeling  than  a  love  of  country  and  a 
thirst  for  glory.  The  character  he  exhibited  wrhen  sur- 
rounded by  dangers,  ought  to  have  procured  him  the  con- 
fidence  and  the  affection  of  the  people  ;  but  the  turbulent 
and  seditious  spirit  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  vanity  of  their 
disputes  would  not  permit  them  to  appreciate  true  great- 
ness. They  reproached  Palreologus  with  misfortunes  which 
were  not  his  work,  and  which  his  virtue  alone  could  have 
repaired.     They  accused  him  of  completing  the  ruin  of  au 


152  HISTOEY    OF    THE    CltUSADES. 

empire  which  all  the  world  abandoned,  and  which  he  alone 
was  willing  to  defend.  They  not  only  no  longer  respected 
the  authority  or  the  intentions  of  the  prince  ;  but  every  one 
who  was  exalted  either  by  rank  or  character,  became  an  ob- 
ject of  reprobation  or  mistrust.  By  a  consequence  of  that 
restless  spirit  which,  in  public  disorders,  urges  the  multitude 
to  seek  obscure  supports,  certain  predictions,  fully  credited 
by  the  people,  announced  that  the  city  of  the  Caesars  could 
only  be  saved  by  a  miserable  mendicant,  in  whose  hand  God 
would  place  the  sword  of  his  wrath. 

As  the  day  of  their  great  calamities  approached,  the  con- 
gregations of  the  churches  proportionately  increased.  The 
image  of  the  holy  Virgin,  the  patroness  of  Constantinople, 
was  solemnly  exhibited,  and  carried  in  procession  through 
the  streets.  These  pious  ceremonies,  doubtless,  presented 
something  edifying,  but  they  did  not  inspire  the  bravery 
necessary  for  the  defence  of  a  country  and  a  religion  in 
extreme  danger ;  and  Heaven,  amidst  the  perils  of  war,  did 
not  listen  to  the  prayers  of  an  unarmed  trembling  people. 

During  the  siege,  capitulation  had  been  several  times 
spoken  of.  Mahomet  required  that  the  capital  of  an  empire, 
of  which  he  already  possessed  all  the  provinces,  should  be 
given  up  to  him,  and  he  would  permit  the  Greeks  to  retire 
with  their  treasures.  Pala)ologus  was  willing  to  consent  to 
pay  a  tribute,  but  he  would  not  give  up  Constantinople. 
At  length,  in  a  last  message,  the  sultan  threatened  to  im- 
molate the  Greek  emperor  with  his  family,  and  scatter  his 
captive  people  throughout  the  earth,  if  he  persisted  in  de- 
fending the  city.  Mahomet  offered  his  enemy  a  principality 
in  the  Peloponnesus  ;  Constantine  rejected  this  proposition, 
and  preferred  a  glorious  death.  From  that  moment  peace 
was  no  more  mentioned,  and  Byzantium  was  left  to  the 
chances  of  an  implacable  war. 

The  sultan  announced  to  the  army  an  approaching  general 
assault  :  the  wealth  of  Constantinople,  the  captives,  the 
Greek  women,  were  to  be  the  rewards  of  the  valour  of  the 
soldiers ;  he  for  himself,  only  reserved  the  city  and  the  edi- 
fices. To  add  religious  enthusiasm  to  that  of  war,  dervises 
pervaded  the  ranks  of  the  Ottoman  army,  exhorting  the  sol- 
diers to  purify  their  bodies  by  ablutions,  and  their  souls  by 
prs^er;  and  promising  the  delights  of  paradise  to  the  de- 


HISTORY    OF     THE    CRUSADES.  153 

enders  of  the  Mussulman  faith.  At  the  end  of  the  day, 
great  fires,  lighted  by  the  orders  of  the  sultan,  spread  a  lurid 
splendour  over  all  the  shores  of  the  sea,  from  the  point  ol 
Galata  to  the  G-olden  Grate.  The  Ottoman  emperor  then 
appeared  in  the  midst  of  his  army,  promising  again  the 
plunder  of  Byzantium  to  his  soldiers ;  and,  to  render  his 
promise  more  solemn,  he  swore  to  it  by  the  soul  of  Amurath, 
by  four  thousand  proph ets,  by  his  children,  and  lastly  by  his 
eimeter.  The  whole  army  burst  forth  in  exclamations  of 
joy,  and  repeated  several  times  :  God  is  God,  and  Mahomet 
is  the  messenger  of  God.  When  this  warlike  ceremony  was 
finished,  the  sultan  ordered,  under  pain  of  death,  that  pro- 
found silence  should  be  observed  throughout  the  camp ;  and 
from  that  moment  nothing  was  to  be  heard  around  Constan- 
tinople but  the  confused  tumult  of  an  army  in  which  every- 
thing was  in  motion,  preparing  for  a  terrible  and  decisive 
combat. 

In  the  city,  the  garrison  kept  watch  upon  the  ramparts, 
and  observed  with  anxiety  the  movements  of  the  Ottoman 
army.  They  had  heard  with  affright  the  noisy  exclamations 
of  the  Turks  ;  but  the  sudden  silence  which  followed  them 
redoubled  their  alarm.  The  light  from  the  enemy's  fires 
was  reflected  from  the  summits  of  the  towers  and  from  the 
domes  of  the  churches,  and  rendered  the  darkness  which 
covered  the  city  more  awful.  Constantinople,  in  which  the 
labours  of  industry  and  all  the  ordinary  cares  of  life  were 
suspended,  was  plunged  in  a  profound  calm,  which,  how- 
ever, afforded  neither  sleep  nor  repose  to  any  one ;  it  was 
the  dismal  aspect  of  a  city  which  some  great  scourge  has 
rendered  desolate.  Only  around  the  temples  seme  few 
plaintive  sounds  were  heard,  imploring  with  the  voice  of 
prayer  the  mercy  of  heaven.  Already  might  the  words  of 
the  Persian  poet  be  applied  to  that  unfortunate  city,  which 
the  conqueror  repeated  on  the  morrow  in  the  pride  of  his 
triumph :  The  spider  silently  spins  his  web  beneath  the  roofs 
of  the  'palaces,  and  the  bird  of  darkness  utters  his  mournful 
cries  upon  the  towers  of  Efrasiab. 

Constantine  called  together  the  principal  leaders  of  the 
garrison  to  deliberate  upon  the  dangers  which  threatened  the 
empire.  In  a  pathetic  discourse,  he  endeavoured  to  revive  the 
courage  and  the  hopes  of  his  companions  in  arms ;  speaking  ta 


154  HISTORY   OF   THE    CRUSADES. 

the  Greeks  of  patriotism,  and  to  the  Latin  auxiliaries  of  reli« 
gion  aud  humanity,  he  exhorted  them  all  to  have  patience, 
but  above  all  to  preserve  concord.  The  warriors  who  were 
present  at  this  last  council,  listened  to  the  emperor  in  me- 
lancholy silence ;  they  did  not  dare  to  interrogate  each  other 
upon  the  means  of  defence,  which  all  knew  to  be  useless. 
They  embraced  each  other  with  tears,  and  returned  to  the 
ramparts,  filled  with  the  most  sinister  forebodings. 

The  emperor  entered  the  church  of  St.  Sophia,  where  he 
received  the  sacrament  of  the  communion  ;  the  sadness 
which  was  observable  on  his  countenance,  the  pious  humility 
with  which  he  solicited  forgetfulness  of  injuries,  pardon  for 
his  faults,  the  touching  words  which  he  addressed  to  the 
people,  which  resembled  eternal  adieus,  redoubled  the 
general  consternation.  The  sun  of  the  last  day  of  the 
lioman  empire  arose  :  it  was  the  29th  of  May ;  the  signal 
for  assault  was  given  to  the  Turkish  army  before  dawn : 
the  multitude  of  Mussulman  soldiers  rushed  towards  the 
walls  of  the  city.  The  attack  was  made  at  the  same  time 
on  the  side  of  the  port,  and  near  the  gate  of  St.  Bomanus. 
In  the  first  charge,  the  assailants  everywhere  met  with  a 
firm  resistance ;  the  Catalans  and  the  Genoese  did  all  that 
the  courage  of  Franks  could  effect.  Palaeologus  fought-  at 
the  head  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  sight  alone  of  the  imperial 
banner  filled  the  Ottoman  soldiers  with  terror.  Three  hun- 
dred archers  from  the  isle  of  Crete,  sustained  gloriously  the 
ancient  renown  of  the  Cretans  for  their  skill  with  the  bow. 
Among  this  brave  band  it  is  but  just  to  point  out  Cardinal 
Isidorus,  who  had  caused  the  fortifications  he  was  charged  to 
protect  to  be  repaired  at  his  own  expense,  and  who  fought 
till  the  end  of  the  siege,  at  the  head  of  the  soldiers  he  had 
brought  from  Italy.  History  likewise  owes  great  praise  to 
the  monks  of  St.  Basil,  who  had  no  doubt  adopted  the  party 
of  the  union,  and  whose  valour  and  glorious  death  expiated 
the  blind  and  fatal  obstinacy  of  the  Byzantine  clergy. 

The  historian  Phrantza  compares  the  close  ranks  of  the 
Mussulmans  to  an  extended  tightened  cord,  which  might 
have  been  placed  round  the  city.  The  towers  which  de- 
fended the  gate  St.  Bomanus  crumbled  away  beneath  the 
blows  of  the  rams  and  the  discharges  of  the  Ottoman  artil- 
lery.    The  exterior  walls  were  carried ;  the  dead  and  the 


HISTORY    OF   THE   CRUSADES.  155 

bounded,  confounded  with  the  ruins,  filled  up  the  ditches. 
And  yet  upon  this  horrible  field  of  battle  the  defenders  of 
Byzantium  t}ught  still ;  nothiug  could  weary  their  constancy 
nothing  cou-d  shake  their  courage. 

After  two  hours  of  frightful  conflict,  Mahomet  advanced 
with  his  chosen  troops  and  ten  thousand  janissaries.  He 
appeared  in  the  midst  of  them,  with  his  mace  in  his  hand, 
like  the  angel  of  destruction ;  his  threatening  looks  animated 
the  ardour  of  his  soldiers,  and  he  pointed  out  to  them  by  his 
gestures  the  points  that  were  to  be  attacked.  Behind  the 
battalions  he  led,  a  troop  of  those  men  whom  despotism 
charges  with  the  execution  of  its  vengeance,  punished  01 
constrained  all  who  wished  to  fly,  and  forced  them  forward 
to  the  carnage.  The  dust  which  arose  from  the  steps  of  the 
combatants,  with  the  smoke  of  the  artillery,  covered  both 
the  army  and  the  city.  The  clang  of  the  trumpets,  the 
crash  of  the  ruins,  the  explosion  of  the  cannons,  and  the 
shock  of  arms  completely  drowned  the  voices  of  the  leaders. 
The  janissaries  fought  in  disorder;  and  Constantine,  who 
had  remarked  it,  was  exhorting  his  soldiers  to  make  one 
last  effort,  when  the  aspect  of  the  fight  became  all  at  once 
changed.  Justinian  having  been  struck  by  an  arrow,  the 
pain  of  the  wound  was  so  intense  as  to  force  him  to  quit 
the  field  of  battle.  The  Genoese  and  most  of  the  Latin 
auxiliaries  followed  his  example.  The  Greeks,  left  alone, 
are  soon  overwhelmed  by  numbers ;  the  Turks  pass  the 
ramparts,  get  possession  of  the  towers,  and  break  open  the 
gates.  Constantine  fought  still ;  but  soon,  covered  with 
wounds,  he  fell  among  the  heap  of  dead,  and  Constantinople 
was  without  a  head  and  without  defenders. 

"What  a  spectacle  is  that  of  an  empire  which  has  but  one 
moment  of  existence  left,  and  which  is  about  to  finish  amidst 
the  furies  of  war,  and  beneath  the  sword  of  barbarians  !  All 
at  once  every  tie  of  society  is  broken ;  religion,  patriotism, 
nature  have  no  longer  laws  that  can  be  invoked ;  even  wis- 
dom and  experience  can  yield  none  but  useless  counsels. 
All  the  ascendancy  and  splendour  of  virtue,  genius,  or  even 
valour,  have  no  longer  power  to  distinguish  or  protect  the 
citizens.  Those  magnificent  palaces  which  constituted  the 
pride  of  princes,  nobody  possesses  them  now.  Among  all 
the  numerous  edifices  of  a  great  capital,  no  one  can  find  an 


156  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRTTS  &.DES. 

asylum  or  an  abode.  The  city  has  no  longer  warriors  01 
magistrates,  r.obles  or  plebeians,  poor  or  rich;  the  whole 
population  is  but  a  troop  of  slaves,  who  await  with  terror 
the  presence  of  an  irritated  master.  Such  was  Constanti- 
nople at  the  moment  the  conquerors  were  preparing  to 
enter  it. 

"When  some  of  those  who  had  defended  the  ramparts  re- 
treated into  the  city,  announcing  the  coming  of  the  Turks, 
they  could  not  obtain  belief;  when  the  Turkish  battalions 
came  pouring  in,  the  people,  says  the  Greek  historian  Ducas, 
"  were  half  dead  with  fear,  and  could  scarcely  breathe." 
The  multitude  rushed  about  the  streets,  without  knowing 
whither  to  go,  and  uttering  piercing  cries.  Women, 
children,  and  old  people  nocked  to  the  churches,  as  if  the 
altars  of  Christ  could  prove  an  asylum  against  the  savage 
disciples  of  Mahomet ! 

It  is  not  our  task  to  describe  the  disasters  which  followed 
the  taking  of  Constantinople.  The  massacre  of  the  unarmed 
inhabitants,  the  city  given  up  to  pillage,  holy  places  pro- 
faned, virgins  and  matrons  overwhelmed  with  outrages,  an 
entire  population  loaded  with  chains ;  such  are  the  horrible 
pictures  that  are  to  be  found  in  the  annals  of  the  Turks,  the 
Greeks,  and  the  Latins.  Such  was  the  fate  of  that  city 
which  frequent  revolutions  had  covered  with  ruins,  and 
which  became  at  length  the  ridicule  and  the  prey  of  a  nation 
it  had  long  despised.  If  there  be  anything  consolatory 
amidst  so  many  distressing  scenes,  it  is  the  virtue  of  Con- 
stantine,* who  would  not  survive  his  country,  and  whose 
death  was  the  last  glory  of  the  empire  of  the  East.f 

"When  we  consider  the  weakness  of  the  Greek  empire  and 

*  The  character  of  Constantine  was  worthy  of  being  celebrated  by  the 
epic  muse.  One  of  our  most  distinguished  statesmen  has  undertaken 
this  glorious  task. — See  the  poem  of  The  Last  Constantine,  by  M.  de 
Vaublanc.  [We  wonder  our  author  is  not  here  struck  by  the  very  pal- 
pable reflection,  that  empires,  kingdoms,  and  other  institutions,  which 
have  richly  merited  their  fall,  frequently  expire  under  the  immediate  rule 
of  men  who  have  not  been  instrumental  in  bringing  about  their  ruin — 
they  are  but  the  last  step  of  a  headlong  declivity, — if  they  are  of  adamant 
they  must  yield.  The  history  of  his  own  country  and  of  ours  might  have 
supplied  him  with  hints  for  such  a  reflection.— Trans.] 

f  For  the  siege  of  Constantinople,  the  very  detailed  account  of  Gibbon, 
and  the  rapid  but  complete  picture  of  M.  Salabury,  in  his  History  of  the 
Turkish  Empire,  may  be  consulted. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES.  157 

the  power  of  its  enemies,  we  are  astonished  it  was  able  to 
resist  so  long.  The  Ottomans  were  governed  by  all  the 
passions  which  favour  conquests;  the  Greeks  had  not  one 
of  the  qualities  which  are  useful  in  defence :  to  be  convinced 
of  this,  we  have  but  to  see  how  the  two  nations  acted.  When 
Mahomet  proclaimed  his  enterprise,  the  Ottomans  flocked 
to  his  army  from  all  parts  of  his  empire  ;  whilst  at  the  first 
report  of  the  siege,  a  great  part  of  the  population  of  Con- 
stantinople deserted  the  city.  We  have  seen  that  the  der- 
vises  encouraged  the  Mussulman  soldiers,  and  held  up  to 
them  the  war  against  the  Greeks  as  a  holy  war.  The 
Greek  priests,  on  the  contrary,  discouraged  the  defenders 
of  Byzantium,  and  were  not  far  from  considering  the  resist- 
ance of  Constantine  as  a  sacrilegious  action.  During  the 
assaults  made  upon  the  imperial  city,  the  Turkish  soldiers, 
to  fill  up  the  ditches,  cast  into  them  their  tents  and  their 
baggage,  preferring  victory  to  all  they  possessed.  It  is 
well  known  that  at  the  same  time  the  richest  Greeks  were 
employed  in  burying  their  wealth,  preferring  treasures  to 
patriotism.  We  could  add  other  remarkable  features,  but 
these  quite  sufficiently  show  on  which  side  the  strength 
was.  What  most  strongly  foretold  the  ruin  of  Byzantium, 
was  the  small  degree  of  confidence  the  Greeks  had  in  the 
duration  of  their  empire.  Never  did  the  ancient  Romans 
more  clearly  show  the  power  and  ascendancy  of  their  pa- 
triotism, than  when  they  designated  Rome,  the  eternal  city. 
Constantinople  saw  the  number  of  its  defenders  diminish, 
and  their  courage  became  weaker,  in  proportion  with  the 
facility  with  which  the  sinister  predictions  of  its  approaching 
ruin  found  credit  among  the  people. 

When  Byzantium,  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Latins,  the  empire  still 
possessed  great  means  of  defence,  and  yet  twenty  thousand 
Crusaders  achieved  the  conquest  of  it ;  which  places  the 
valour  of  the  Franks  much  above  that  of  the  Turks.  This 
would  perhaps  be  the  best  place  to  examine  what  was  the 
influence  of  the  crusades  over  the  destiny  of  the  empire  of 
the  East.  In  the  first  expedition  of  the  Latins,  Asia  Minor 
was  delivered  from  the  Turks,  who  were  already  masters  of 
Nice,  and  threatened  Constantinople ;  but  the  Crusaders 
sold  the  services  they  had  rendered  at  too  high  a  price :  on 


158  HISTORY   OF    THE    CKUSADES. 

the  one  part,  violence,  on  the  other,  perfidy,  disturbed  the 
harmony  that  ought  to  have  subsisted  between  the  Greeks 
and  the  Latins.  At  length  the  taking  of  Constantinople 
by  the  Franks  was  a  mortal  blow  to  the  empire  of  Byzan- 
tium. Amidst  the  war,  schism  became  enlarged  by  hatred ; 
and  schism,  in  its  turn,  doubled  the  reciprocal  hatred.  This 
division  favoured  the  progress  of  the  Turks,  and  opened  the 
gates  of  Constantinople  to  them. 

What  is  most  unfortunate  in  the  conquest  of  the  Otto- 
mans is,  that  they  preserved  nothing,  not  even  the  name  of 
Byzantium.  The  barbarians  who  overthrew  the  empire  of 
the  West,  adopted  the  religion  and  manners  of  the  con- 
quered nations ;  which,  by  degrees,  caused  the  traces  of 
invasion  and  conquest  to  disappear.  The  Turks,  on  the 
contrary,  were  resolved  to  make  the  Koran  triumph  wherever 
they  carried  their  arms.  As  soon  as  they  were  masters  of 
Constantinople,  the  altars  of  Christ  were  overturned,  and 
everything  changed  with  religion.  The  city  of  Constantine 
became  more  widely  than  ever  separated  from  Christendom ; 
and  as  it  was  for  the  infidels  the  gate  of  the  West,  Chris- 
tian Europe,  which  during  nearly  three  centuries  had  sent 
its  fleets  and  its  armies  into  Asia,  had  reason  at  last  to 
tremble  for  itself.  From  that  period  crusades  took  &  new 
character,  and  were  nothing  but  defensive  wars. 


BOOK   XVIi. 


CRUSADES     AGAINST     THE     TTJEKS. 
A.D.  1453—1481. 

The  West  had  heard  of  the  dangers  which  threatened  the 
Greek  empire  with  indifference  ;  but  on  learning  the  last 
triumph  of  the  arms  of  Mahomet,  all  the  Christian  nations 
were  seized  with  terror ;  and  it  was  believed  that  the  janis- 
saries were  already  overturning  the  altars  of  the  Gospel  in 
the  richest  provinces  of  Germany.  People  trembled  at  the 
idea  of  one  day  hearing  the  Koran  preached  in  the  churches 
of  Rome,  changed  into  mosques.  Murmurs  arose  on  all 
sides  against  the  Pope,  Nicholas  V.,  who  was  reproached 
with  not  having  preached  a  crusade,  to  prevent  the  misfor- 
tune which  all  Christendom  deplored.  Assistance  sent 
before  the  siege  might,  in  fact,  have  saved  Constantinople ; 
but  the  city  once  in  the  power  of  the  barbarians,  the  evil 
became  irreparable.  A  union  of  all  the  Christian  powers 
alone  could  wrest  their  conquests  from  the  hands  of  the 
Turks,  and  against  this  union  fresh  obstacles  arose  daily. 

In  vain,  to  excite  the  West  once  more,  the  eloquence  of 
Christian  orators  was  addressed  sometimes  to  the  grief, 
and  at  others  to  the  piety,  of  the  faithful ;  in  vain,  by  turns, 
the  ascendancy  of  religious  ideas  and  that  of  chivalry  were 
employed :  everybody  deplored  the  progress  of  the  Turks, 
but  a  blind  resignation,  or  rather  a  cruel  indifference,  soon 
took  place  of  the  general  consternation. 

A  short  time  after  the  taking  of  Constantinople,  Philip 
the  Good,  duke  of  Burgundy,  assembled  at  Lille,  in  Flan- 
ders, all  the  nobility  of  his  states  ;  and  in  a  festival  of  which 
history  has  preserved  a  faithful  account,  he  endeavoured  to 
awaken  the  zeal  and  valour  of  the  knights,  by  the  spectacle 
of  everything  that  could  at  that  period  affect  their  chivalric 
imagination.     In  the  first  place,  a  great  number  of  pictures 


160  HISTORY    OP    THE    CRUSADES. 

and  curious  scenes  were  exhibited  to  the  spectatois,  among 
which  were  the  labours  of  Hercules,  the  adventures  of  Jason 
and  Medea,  and  the  enchantments  of  Melusina.*  After 
these,  an  elephant  was  led  into  the  banquetting-hall  by  a 
Saracen  giant ;  on  the  back  of  the  elephant  was  a  tower, 
from  which  issued  a  lady  clothed  in  mourning,  representing 
the  Christian  Church.  The  elephant  having  arrived  in 
front  of  the  table  of  the  duke  of  Burgandy,  the  lady  recited 
a  long  complaint,  in  verse,  upon  the  evils  with  which  she 
was  afflicted ;  and  addressing  herself  to  the  princes,  dukes, 
and  knights,  she  complained  of  their  tardiness  and  their 
indiiference  in  assisting  her.  Then  appeared  a  herald-at- 
arms,  who  carried  in  his  hand  a  pheasant,  a  bird  which  chi- 
valry had  adopted  as  the  symbol  and  the  prize  of  bravery. 
Two  noble  demoiselles,  and  several  knights  of  the  order  of 
the  Golden  Fleece,  approached  the  duke,  and  presented  to 
him  the  bird  of  the  brave,  praying  him  to  hold  them  in  re- 
onemhrance.  Philip  the  Good,  who  knew,  says  Oliver  de  la 
Marche,  with  what  intention  he  held  this  banquet,  cast  a 
look  of  compassion  upon  the  Lady  Holy  Church,f  and  drew 
from  his  bosom  a  writing,  which  the  herald-at-arms  read 
with  a  loud  voice.  In  this  writing,  the  duke  vowed  in  the 
first  'place  by  God  his  Creator,  and  by  the  holy  Virgin,  and 
next  by  the  ladies  and  the  pheasant,  "  that  if  it  pleased  the 
king  of  Trance  to  expose  his  body  for  the  defence  of  the 
Christian  faith,  to  resist  the  damnable  enterprize  of  the 
Grand  Turk,  he  would  serve  him  with  his  person  and  his 
power  in  the  said  voyage,  in  the  best  manner  that  God 
would  give  him  grace  ;  if  the  said  king  committed  this  expe- 
dition to  any  prince  of  his  blood,  or  other  great  lord,  he 
swore  to  obey  him  ;  and  if,  on  account  of  his  great  affairs, 
he  was  nut  disposed  to  go  or  to  send,  and  other  potent 
princes  would  take  the  cross,  he  offered  to  accompany  them 
as  soon  as  he  possibly  could.     If,  during  the  holy  voyage, 

*  Olivier  de  la  Marche,  after  giving  a  description  of  the  festival  and  of 
the  divers  spectacles  offered  to  the  eyes  of  the  guests,  adds  :  '  Such  were 
the  dainty  mundane  dishes  of  this  festival,  of  which  I  will  leave  others  to 
speak,  to  give  an  account  of  a  pitiable  portion  of  it,  which  appears  to  ma 
of  more  consequence  than  the  others,"  &c. 

f  Olivier  de  la  Marche  says,  that  the  duke  of  Burgundy  had  already 
undertaken,  three  years  before,  to  make  a  crusade  against  the  Turks,  in 
an  assembly  held  at  Mons. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  161 

he  could  by  any  means  or  manner  learn  or  know  that  thfl 
Baid  Grand  Turk  would  be  willing  to  meet  him  body  to 
body,  he,  Philip,  for  the  sake  of  the  said  Christian  faith, 
would  willingly  fight  with  him,  with  the  help  of  the  all- 
powerful  God,  and  of  his  very  sweet  Virgin  Mother,  whom 
ne  always  called  upon  to  aid  him." 

The  Lady  Holy  Church  thanked  the  duke  for  the  zeal  he 
showed  for  her  defence.  All  the  lords  and  knights  who  were 
present,  invoked,  in  their  turns,  the  names  of  God  and  the 
Virgin,  without  forgetting  the  ladies  and  the  pheasant,  and 
swore  to  consecrate  their  wealth  and  their  lives  to  the  service 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  their  very  redoubtable  lord  the  duke 
of  Burgundy.  All  expressed  the  most  ardent  enthusiasm. 
Some  distinguished  themselves  by  the  whimsicality  and  the 
singularity  of  their  promises.  The  count  d'Etampes,  ne- 
phew to  Philip  the  Good,  engaged  himself  to  offer  a  challenge 
to  any  of  the  great  princes  and  lords  of  the  Grand  Turk's 
company,  and  promised  to  fight  them  body  to  body,  two  to  two, 
three  to  three,  four  to  four,  five  to  five,  Sfc.  The  bastard  of 
Burgundy  swore  to  fight  with  a  Turk  in  any  manner  he 
might  please,  and  engaged  to  have  his  challenge  sent  to 
the  hostel  of  the  Turk.  The  lord  of  Pons  swore  never  to 
sojourn  in  any  city  till  he  had  met  with  a  Saracen  with 
whom  he  might  fight  body  to  body,  by  the  help  of  our  Lady, 
for  the  love  of  whom  he  would  never  sleep  in  a  bed  on  a 
Saturday,  before  the  entire  accomplishment  of  his  vow. 

Another  knight  undertook,  from  the  day  of  his  departure, 
never  to  eat  anything  on  a  Friday  that  had  been  killed, 
until  he  had  exchanged  blows  with  one  or  many  enemies  of 
the  faith ;  if  the  banner  of  his  lord  and  that  of  the  Saracens 
were  unfurled  as  the  signal  for  fight,  he  made  a  vow  to  go 
straight  to  the  banner  of  the  Grand  Turk,  and  to  strike  it  to 
the  earth,  or  die  in  attempting  to  do  so*     The  seigneur  de 

*  Some  modern  historians  who  have  spoken  of  these  vows  of  the 
knights,  have  exaggerated  the  fantasticalness  of  them.  I  find,  among 
others,  in  one  of  these  historians,  this  sentence  :  "In  short,  what  gives  the 
best  idea  of  the  devotion  of  these  new  Crusaders  is,  that  one  vowed  that 
if.  up  to  the  moment  of  his  departure,  he  could  not  obtain  the  favours  of 
his  mistress,  he  would  many  the  first  demoiselle  he  should  meet  with 
having  twenty  thousand  croirns."  We  have  found  nothing  like  this  in 
either  Montstrelet  or  Olivier  de  la  Marche,  who  are  the  only  authors  of 
the  times  who  speak  of  this  festival. 

Vol.  III.— 8 


1(52  HISTOKY   OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

Toulongeon,  on  his  arrival  in  the  country  of  the  infidels, 
vowed  to  challenge  one  of  the  men-at-arms  of  the  Grand 
Turk,  and  fight  him  in  the  presence  of  his  lord,  the  duke  of 
Burgundy ;  or  if  the  Saracen  were  not  willing  to  come,  he 
proposed  to  go  and  fight  him  in  the  presence  of  the  Grand 
Turk,  provided  he  might  have  good  assurance  of  safety. 

All  these  promises,  which  were  never  accomplished,  serve 
at  least  to  show  us  the  spirit  and  the  manners  of  chivalry. 
The  simple  confidence  which  the  knights  had  in  their  arms, 
proves  how  little  they  were  acquainted  with  the  enemies 
against  whom  they  declared  war  in  this  fashion.* 

When  each  one  had  pronounced  his  vows,  a  lady  clothed 
in  white,  bearing  upon  her  back  this  inscription  in  letters  of 
gold, —  Grace-Dieu,  came  and  saluted  the  assembly,  and  pre- 
sented twelve  ladies  with  twelve  knights.  These  ladies  per- 
sonated twelve  virtues  or  qualities,  the  name  of  which  each 
wore  upon  her  shoulder: — Faith,  Charity,  Justice,  Reason, 
Prudence,  Temperance,  Strength,  Truth,  Bounty  (largesse), 
Diligence,  Hope,  Valour, —  such  were  the  chivalric  virtues 
that  were  to  preside  over  the  crusade. 

After  this  ceremony,  says  the  chronicler  we  have  quoted, 
the  ladies  began  to  dance  like  mummers,  and  to  give  them- 
selves up  to  gaiety,  in  order  to  carry  on  the  festival  more 
joyously. 

The  details  of  this  chivalric  feast  make  us  perceive  a  great 
change  in  the  spirit  and  the  manners  of  Europe.  When  we 
call  to  our  minds  the  Council  of  Clermont,  the  preachings 
of  Peter  the  Hermit  and  of  St.  Bernard,  with  the  grave  en- 
thusiasm and  the  austere  devotion  which  presided  at  the 
taking  of  the  oaths  of  the  early  Crusaders ;  aid  when  we 
afterwards  behold  the  brilliant  solemnities  of  chivalry,  the 
half-profane  and  half-religious  promises  of  the  knights,  hi 
short,  all  the  worldly  spectacles  amidst  which  a  holy  wsjr 
was  proclaimed,  we. can  fancy  ourselves  transported  not  only 
into  another  age,  but  amongst  new  nations.  The  religion 
which  had  precipitated  the  West  upon  Asia  had  no  longer  an 
empire,  unless  the  ladies  were  its  interpreters.     It  was  less 

*  We  smile  when  reading  this  strange  scene  of  safe  and  ignorant 
boasting  ;  but  if  a  Grand  Turk  ever  indulges  in  mirth,  we  should  think 
it  would  have  excited  the  laughter  of  Mat  jmet,  if  "e  chanced  to  hear  of 
it.— Trans. 


HISTORY   OF    THE    CRUSADES.  163 

piety,  or  the  desire  of  obtaining  heavenly  crowns,  "ban  the 
sentiment  of  gallantry  with  which  they  were  animated  in 
tournaments,  that  brought  knights  beneath  the  standard  o/ 
the  cross. 

We  likewise  know  that  this  kind  of  preaching  produced 
only  a  transient  effect  upon  the  minds  of  the  warriors ;  and 
that  they  had  not  any  influence  whatever  upon  the  multi- 
tude. This  observation  must  convince  us  of  one  truth, 
which  is,  that  the  most  active  and  powerful  motive  among 
men  will  always  be  the  spirit  of  religion,  and  that  no  other 
motive,  emanating  from  human  passions,  could  have  ex- 
cited the  world  like  that  which  produced  and  kept  up  the 
crusades. 

Some  pious  men,  however,  made  incredible  efforts  to 
revive  the  spirit  of  the  early  times  of  the  holy  wars.  John 
Capistran,  a  monk  of  St.  Francis,  and  ^Eneas  Sylvius,  bishop 
of  Sienna,  neglected  no  means  that  they  thought  would 
inflame  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  reanimate  religious 
enthusiasm.  The  first,  wiio  passed  for  a  saint,  travelled 
through  the  cities  of  Germany  and  Hungary,  describing  to 
the  assemblies  of  the  people,  the  perils  of  the  faith,  and  the 
threats  of  the  wicked.  The  second,  one  of  the  most  en- 
lightened bishops  of  his  age,  versed  in  Greek  and  Latin 
literature,  an  orator  and  a  poet,  exhorted  princes  to  take  up 
arms  to  keep  off  invasion  from  their  own  states,  and  save 
the  Christian  republic  from  approaching  destruction. 

JSneas  Sylvius  wrote  to  the  sovereign  pontiff,  and  en- 
deavoured to  rouse  his  zeal  by  telling  him,  that  the  loss  of 
Constantinople  would  weaken  his  credit  and  tarnish  his 
name,  if  he  did  not  use  every  effort  to  destroy  the  power  of 
the  Turks.  The  pious  orator  repaired  to  Rome,  and  preached 
the  crusade  in  a'consistory ;  and  to  show  the  necessity  for  a 
holy  war,  he  quoted  by  turns,  before  the  pope  and  cardinals, 
the  authority  of  Greek  philosophers,  and  that  of  fathers  of 
the  Church.  He  deplored  the  captivity  of  Jerusalem,  the 
cradle  of  Christianity  ;  and  the  slavery  of  Greece,  the  mother 
of  the  sciences  and  the  arts.  iEneas  celebrated  the  heroic 
courage  of  the  Germans,  the  noble  devotion  of  the  French, 
the  generous  pride  of  the  Spaniards,  and  the  love  of  glory 
which  animated  the  nations  of  Italy.  The  king  of  Hungary, 
whose  kingdom  was  threatened  by  Mahomet,  was  present 


164  HISTORY    OJf    laE    CltUSADES. 

at  this  assembly.  The  orator  of  the  crusade,  pointing  out 
this  monarch  to  the  sovereign  pontiff  and  the  prelates,  con- 
jured them  to  have  pity  on  his  tears. 

Frederick  III.,  emperor  of  Germany,  at  the  same  time 
wrote  to  Pope  Nicholas  V.,  to  implore  him  to  save  Christen- 
dom. "  The  words  that  issue  from  the  mouth  of  man  can- 
not give  an  idea  of  the  calamity  the  Catholic  Church  has 
just  experienced,  or  make  known  the  ferocity  of  the  people 
whe  are  now  desolating  Greece,  and  who  menace  the  West." 
The  emperor  pressed  the  pope  to  unite  all  the  Christian 
powers  against  this  formidable  enemy ;  announcing  that  he 
himself  was  about  to  convoke  the  princes  and  states  of 
Germany.  The  pope  applauded  the  intentions  of  the  em- 
peror, and  legates  were  sent  to  the  diets  of  Ratisbon  and 
Frankfort.  iEueas  Sylvius  again  preached  the  crusade 
against  the  Turks  in  these  two  assemblies.  The  duke  of 
Burgundy,  who  was  present  at  both,  renewed,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  princes  and  states  of  the  German  empire,  the 
vow  he  had  made  to  God,  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to  the  ladies, 
and  to  the  pheasant.  Hungarian  deputies  came  to  announce 
that  the  banks  of  the  Danube  and  the  frontiers  of  Germany 
were  about  to  be  invaded  by  the  Turks,  if  Christians  did 
not  hasten,  in  all  parts,  to  take  up  arms  to  repel  them. 

The  diet  decreed  that  ten  thousand  horse  and  thirty 
thousand  foot  should  be  sent  against  the  Turks  ;  but  as 
nothing  was  decided  as  to  the  manner  of  levying  this  army, 
or  as  to  how  it  should  be  maintained,  the  enthusiasm  for 
the  crusade  soon  declined,  and  nobody  put  himself  forward 
to  oppose  the  progress  of  the  Ottomans.  JGneas  Sylvius 
explains  to  us,  in  one  of  his  letters,  the  causes  of  this 
indifference  and  inaction  of  Christendom.  "  The  Christian 
republic  was  nothing  but  a  body  without  a  head ;  they  who 
ought  to  have  been  the  leaders  had  nothing  great  about 
them  but  the  name ;  Europe  was  divided  into  a  crowd  of 
inimical  or  rival  states  ;  discords  that  could  not  be  appeased, 
diversity  of  interests,  languages,  and  customs,  left  no  hope 
of  raising  a  common  army,  Or  of  carrying  on  an  active  and 
regular  war  against  the  Turks." 

^Eneas  Sylvius  thus  demonstrated  the  impossibility  of  a 
crusade,  and  yet,  carried  away  by  his  zeal,  he  passed  his 
whole   life   in    preaching   one.     Whilst   he   was   uselessly 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  165 

haranguing  the  princes  of  Germany,  the  pope  was  endea- 
vouring to  establish  concord  among  the  states  of  Italy. 
The  ascendancy  of  the  pontifical  authority  was  not  sufficient 
to  calm  angry  spirits,  and  peace  was  the  work  of  a  poor 
hermit,  whose  words  exercised  a  supreme  autlority  over  the 
hearts  of  the  faithful.  Brother  Simon  issued  all  at  once 
from  his  retreat,  perambulated  the  cities,  and  addressing 
both  princes  and  people,  exhorted  them  to  unite  against  the 
enemies  of  Jesus  Christ :  at  the  voice  of  the  holy  orator, 
Venice,  Florence,  and  the  duke  of  Milan,  laid  down  their 
arms,  and  a  league  was  formed,  into  which  most  of  the 
republics  and  principalities  of  Italy  entered. 

Advantage  might  have  been  taken  of  this  union  to  declare 
war  against  the  Turks.  But  the  confederation  had  no 
leader  capable  of  directing  it.  Two  men  were  able  to  set 
both  Germany  and  Italy  in  motion, — the  Emperor  Frederick 
and  Pope  Nicholas.  They  alone  could  have  insured  success 
to  a  crusade  which  they  themselves  had  preached :  but  the 
one  was  restrained  by  the  avarice  and  indolence  of  his 
character;  the  other,  passionate  in  the  pursuit  of  learned 
antiquity,  always  surrounded  by  scholars,  employed  himself 
much  more  earnestly  in  collecting  the  literary  treasures  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  than  in  promoting  attempts  for  the  de- 
liverance of  the  city  of  Constantine.  When  the  Turks  took 
Byzantium,  he  was  causing  translation  to  be  made,  at  great 
expense,  of  the  most  celebrated  Greek  authors ;  and  it 
would  not  be  harsh  to  believe  that  the  tenths  levied  for  the 
crusade,  were  sometimes  employed  in  the  acquisition  of  the 
master-pieces  of  Plato,  Herodotus,  or  Thucydides. 

Nicholas  confined  himself  to  a  few  exhortations  addressed 
to  the  faithful,  and  died  without  having  removed  any  of  the 
difficulties  which  opposed  themselves  to  the  undertaking  of 
a  holy  war.  Calixtus  III.,  who  succeeded  him,  showed  more 
zeal,  and  at  the  very  commencement  of  his  pontificate,  he 
sent  legates  and  preachers  throughout  Europe,  to  proclaim 
a  crusade  and  levy  tenths.  An  embassy  frc:n  the  pontiff 
went  to  solicit  the  kings  of  Persia  and  Armenia,  and  the 
khan  of  the  Tartars,  to  unite  with  the  Christians  of  the 
West,  to  make  war  against  the  Turks.  Sixteen  galleys, 
constructed  with  the  produce  of  the  tenths,  put  to  sea 
under  the  command  of  the  patriarch  of  Aquileia,  and  dis- 


166  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

played  the  manner  of  St.  Peter  in  the  Archipelago,  and  ou 
the  coasts  )f  Asia  Minor;  iEneas  Sylvius  harangued  the 
pope  in  the  name  of  the  emperor  of  Germany,  and  promised 
him  the  concurrence  of  all  the  powers  of  Christendom,  if  his 
holiness  opened  the  treasures  of  the  Church,  and,  by  his  evan- 
gelical exhortations,  called  all  the  workmen  to  the  harvest. 
Calixtus  III.  thanked  the  head  of  the  empire  for  his  advice, 
and  pressed  him  to  set  the  example.  But  the  indolent 
Frederick  contented  himself  with  renewing  his  promises ; 
and  whilst  the  emperor  was  thus  exhorting  the  pope  to 
maintain  a  crusade,  and  that  the  pope,  on  his  side,  was 
urging  the  emperor  to  take  arms,  the  Ottomans  penetrated 
into  Hungary,  and  advanced  against  Belgrade. 

This  city,  one  of  the  bulwarks  of  the  "West,  received  no 
succour  from  Christendom.  There  remained  no  hope  for  it 
but  in  the  valour  of  Hunniades,  and  in  the  apostolic  zeal  of 
John  of  Capistran.  The  one  commanded  the  troops  of  the 
Hungarians,  and  excited  them  by  his  example ;  the  other, 
who,  by  his  preachings  had  got  together  a  great  number  of 
German  Crusaders,  animated  the  Christian  soldiers,  and  in- 
spired them  with  an  invincible  ardour. 

Contemporary  chronicles  inform  us,  that  at  this  period  a 
hairy  comet  appeared  blazing  in  the  east.  The  Christian 
nations  believed  they  saw  in  this  phenomenon  a  prophetic 
signal  of  the  greatest  evils ;  and  as  the  evil  then  most  to  be 
dreaded  was  the  invasion  of  the  Turks,  Calixtus  was  desirous 
of  profiting  by  this  feeling  of  the  people,  to  revive  the  idea 
of  a  crusade.  He  exhorted  the  Christians  to  penitence ; 
and  pointed  out  the  holy  war  as  a  means  by  which  they 
might  expiate  their  sins  and  appease  the  anger  of  Heaven. 

In  no  country,  notwithstanding,  did  the  people  arm,  ex- 
cept in  those  that  were  immediately  menaced  by  the  Turks. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  the  pope  ordered  that  every  day  at 
noon,  the  bells  should  be  rung  in  all  parishes,  to  call  upon 
the  faithful  to  pray  for  the  Hungarians,  and  for  those  who 
were  contending  with  the  Turks.  Calixtus  granted  indul- 
gences to  all  Christians  who,  at  this  signal,  would  repeat 
the  Dominical  prayer  and  the  angelic  salutation  three  times. 
Such  was  the  origin  of  the  Angelus,  which  the  customs  of 
the  Church  have  consecrated,  and  continued  to  modern 
feimea. 


HISTORY    JF    THE    CRUSADES.  167 

Heaven  was  doubtless  touched  by  these  fervent  Drayers, 
which  arose  at  the  same  time  and  together,  from  all  parts  of 
Christian  Europe.  On  the  Gth  of  August,  1456,  the  Turks 
were  defeated  under  the  walls  of  Belgrade,  which  they  had 
besieged  forty  days,  and  which  they  had  threatened  to  treat 
in  the  same  manner  as  they  had  treated  the  Greek  capital. 
The  presence  of  ITunniades  and  the  ardent  zeal  of  John 
Capistran  had  so  excited  the  valour  of  the  Hungarians,  that 
they  destroyed  the  Ottoman  fleet,  which  covered  the  Danube 
and  the  Save,  and  the  army  commanded  by  Mahomet  him- 
self. More  than  twenty  thousand  Mussulmans  lost  their 
lives  in  the  battle ;  the  sultan  was  wounded  amidst  his 
janissaries,  and  escaped  the  pursuit  of  the  victors  with  much 
difficulty.  All  Europe  returned  Heaven  thanks  for  a  victory, 
for  the  obtaining  of  which  it  had  only  concurred  by  its 
prayers,  and  which  it  must  have  considered  a  miracle.  The 
tent  and  the  arms  of  Mahomet  were  sent  to  the  pope, 
as  a  trophy  of  the  holy  war,  and  as  a  homage  rendered  to 
the  father  of  the  faithful.  Eeligion  celebrated  by  its  cere- 
monies, a  day  in  which  its  most  cruel  enemies  had  been  van- 
quished. The  festival  of  the  Transfiguration,  instituted  by 
a  bull  of  the  pope,  and  marked  to  take  place  on  the  6th  of 
August,  reminded  the  universal  Church,  every  year,  :>f  the 
defeat  of  the  Turks  before  Belgrade. 

Hunniades  and  Capistran  did  not  long  survive  their 
triumphs  ;  but  both  died  whilst  Christendom  was  still  mixing 
their  names  with  hymns  of  gratitude.  The  passion  of  jea- 
lousy empoisoned  their  last  moments  ;  and  the  scarcely  evan- 
gelical warmth  with  which  each  of  them  claimed  the  honour 
of  having  saved  Belgrade,  left  a  stain  upon  their  renown. 
iEneas  Sylvius,  when  commending  their  memory  to  the 
esteem  of  posterity,  celebrates  the  virtues  of  Capistran,  and 
expresses  astonishment  that  an  humble  cenobite,  who  had 
trampled  under-foot  all  the  riches  of  this  world,  should  not 
have  had  sufficient  strength  to  resist  the  charms  of  glory. 

"Whilst  the  Hungarians  were  beating  the  Turks  before 
Belgrade,  the  pope's  fleet  gained  some  advantages  in  the 
Archipelago.  Calixtus  took  care  not  to  neglect  to  rem  nd 
the  faithful  of  the  exploits  and  triumphs  of  the  patriarch  of 
Aquileia ;  persuaded  that  the  news  of  victories  gained  over 
the  Mussulmans  would   restore   hope   and  courage  to  al 


168  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

those  whom  the  reverses  of  the  Christians  had  discouraged 
and  terrified.  A  fresh  crusade  was  preached  in  Trance, 
England,  Germany,  and  even  in  the  kingdoms  of  Castile, 
Arragon,  and  Portugal.  The  people  everywhere  listened 
with  pious  seriousness  to  the  preachers  of  the  crusade  ;  but 
murmurs  generally  arose  against  the  levying  of  the  tenths. 
The  clergy  of  Rouen,  with  the  university  and  parliament  of 
Paris,  opposed  the  impost  openly.  In  Germany  complaints 
were  more  violent  than  elsewhere.  In  proportion  as  the 
spirit  of  the  holy  wars  cooled,  the  means  employed  by  the 
popes  to  renew  these  distant  expeditions  were  judged  with 
greater  severity.  It  must  likewise  be  admitted,  that  there 
were  great  abuses  in  the  collection  and  the  employment  of 
the  tenths.  An  open  traffic  of  the  indulgences  of  the  court 
of  Rome  for  the  crusade  was  carried  on,  and  the  tribunal  of 
penitence,  on  certain  occasions,  seemed  to  be  nothing  but  a 
means  of  levying  taxes  upon  the  faithful.  It  was  only  by 
money  that  the  favours  of  the  Church  and  the  mercies  of 
Heaven  could  be  obtained ;  the  sins  of  Christians  might  be 
said,  in  some  sort,  to  have  a  tariff ;  and  we  find  in  the 
history  of  Arragon,  that  disobedience  to  the  decrees  of  the 
pope  even  had  become  the  source  of  a  new  tribute.  It  may 
be  remembered  that  the  sovereign  pontiffs  had  frequently 
forbidden  Christians  to  convey  munitions  or  arms  to  the 
infidels.  The  trade  of  the  maritime  cities  often  braved  the 
menaces  of  the  Holy  See,  and  avarice  led  the  merchants  to 
transgress  the  severest  orders  on  this  point.  A  sum  of 
money  was  then  required,  in  the  name  of  the  pope,  of  all 
who  were  accused  of  this  offence.  They  were  condemned 
to  pay  the  fourth  or  the  fifth  of  the  profits  arising  from 
their  illicit  commerce.  Commissaries  were  appointed  to 
levy  this  impost,  and  decrees  regulated  the  collection  of  :t, 
as  in  that  of  all  other  public  revenues. 

But  that  which  most  completely  exposes  the  spirit  of  this 
age,  and  particularly  that  of  the  court  of  Rome,  is,  that  in 
the  preachings  of  the  crusades,  the  faithful  were  much  less 
earnestly  exhorted  to  take  arms  han  to  pay  a  tribute  in 
money.  The  levies  raised  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  See, 
were  termed  succours  for  the  Hungarians ;  and  as  the  Hun- 
garians always  stood  in  need  of  being  succoured,  the  levying 
of  the  tenths  becaru  *  a  permanent  state  of  things,  which  the 


HISTOET    OF    TIIE    CRUSADES.  169 

people  and  the  clergy  endured  every  day  with  less  patience 
and  resignation. 

We  ought  likewise  to  add,  that  the  Holy  See  did  not 
always  receive  the  produce  of  the  tribute  it  imposed  upon 
the  Christians.  Princes,  under  pretence  of  making  war 
against  the  Turks,  sometimes  took  possession  of  it ;  and  the 
tenths  destined  for  the  holy  war  were  too  often  employed  in 
carrying  out  the  quarrels  of  ambition. 

At  length  the  complaints  of  the  Germans  against  the 
commissaries  and  agents  of  the  court  of  Home  became  so 
serious  and  so  numerous,  that  the  pope  found  himself 
obliged  to  reply  to  them.  In  his  apology,  drawn  up  by 
JEneas  Sylvius,  he  declared  that  Scanderberg  and  the  king 
of  Hungary  had  received  numerous  succours ;  that  fleets 
had  been  armed  against  the  infidels,  and  that  vessels  and 
munitions  of  war  had  been  sent  to  Rhodes,  Cyprus,  and 
Mvtilene  ;  that,  in  a  word,  the  money  levied  for  the  defence 
of  the  faith  and  of  Christendom  upon  the  faithful,  had  never 
been  otherwise  employed.  The  apologist  of  the  pope,  after 
having  thus  justified  him,  felicitated  him  with  having  saved 
Europe. 

This  apology,  which  explains  nothing,  and  which  finishes 
with  an  eulogy,  too  strongly  resembles  that  of  the  ancient 
Roman,  who,  upon  being  accused  of  having  embezzled  the 
public  money,  as  his  only  reply,  proposed  that  they  should 
go  to  the  Capitol,  and  give  thanks  to  the  gods  for  the  vic- 
tories he  had  gained  over  the  enemies  of  the  republic.  It 
must,  however,  be  admitted,  that  that  which  .iEneas  Sylvius 
said  was  not  totally  void  of  truth  ;  and  history  can  but 
applaud  the  zeal  which  the  sovereign  pontiff  displayed,  in 
order  to  arrest  the  progress  of  Mahomet,  and  save  a  crowd 
of  victims  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Ottomans. 

Calixtus  never  ceased  soliciting  the  Christian  princes  to 
unite  with  him,  and  was  particularly  anxious  to  kindle  the 
warlike  enthusiasm  of  the  French  against  the  Turks.  "  If  I 
were  but  seconded  by  the  French,"  said  he,  "  we  would 
destroy  the  race  of  the  infidels."  He  spared  neither  prayers 
nor  promises  to  induce  Charles  VII.  to  succour  Hungary, 
and  defend  the  barriers  of  Europe.  He  sent  him  that 
golden  rose  which  the  popes  were  accustomed  to  bless  on 
the  fourth  Sunday  of  Lent,  and  of  which  they  made  a  pre- 

8* 


170  HISTOET   OF    THE    CKtJSAJDES. 

sent  to  Christian  princes,  as  a  particular  mark  of  esteem  and 
affection.  These  caresses  and  these  civilities  of  the  pontiff 
were  a  great  change  from  the  times  in  which  the  heads  of 
the  Church  only  spol  i  to  monarchs  in  the  name  of  irritated 
Heaven ;  and  only  exhorted  them  to  take  the  cross  whilst 
reproaching  them  with  their  sins,  and  recommending  them 
to  expiate  them  by  the  holy  war.  The  popes,  when  preach- 
ing the  crusades,  were  no  longer  the  interpreters  of  domi- 
nant opinions  ;  their  wishes  were  no  longer  laws,  and 
princes  made  ample  use  of  the  faculty  they  possessed  of  not 
obeying.  Charles  VII.,  who  was  in  constant  dread  of  the 
enterprises  of  the  English,  resisted  the  reiterated  entreaties 
of  Calixtus.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  dauphin,  who  after- 
wards reigned  under  the  title  of  Louis  XL,  and  was  then 
living  at  the  court  of  Burgundy,  openly  declared  himself 
favourable  to  the  crusade,  and  wished  to  create  a  party  for 
himself  in  the  kingdom,  by  taking  the  cross  ;  France  re- 
mained uninterested  in  the  war  preached  against  the  infi- 
dels, and  Charles  contented  himself  with  permitting  the 
levy  of  the  tenths  in  his  states,  upon  the  express  condition 
that  he  should  superintend  the  employment  of  them. 

Whilst  the  pope  was  imploring  the  assistance  of  Chris- 
tendom for  the  Hungarians,  Hungary  was  a  prey  to  trou- 
bles created  by  the  succession  of  Ladislaus,  who  was  killed 
at  the  battle  of  AVarna.  The  family  of  Hunniades  was  pro- 
scribed, and  the  ambition  of  the  princes  disputed  the  posses- 
sion of  the  provinces  threatened  by  the  Turks.  Calixtus 
employed  the  paternal  authority  of  the  Holy  See  to  appease 
the  furies  of  discord,  and  to  reconcile  the  pretensions  of  the 
emperor  of  Germany  with  the  rights  of  justice  and  with  the 
rights  of  nations  ;  and  these  generous  efforts  at  length  suc- 
ceeded in  reestablishing  peace.  His  conduct  appeared  less 
praiseworthy,  and  particularly  less  disinterested,  when  the 
succession  of  Alphonso,  king  of  Naples,  brought  fresh  wars 
upon  Italy.  History  relates  that  the  sovereign  pontiff,  on 
this  occasion,  forgot  the  perils  of  Christianity,  and  employed 
the  treasures  collected  for  the  holy  war  in  the  defence  of  a 
cause  which  certainly  was  not  that  of  religion. 

But  the  indefatigable  orator  of  the  crusades,  JEneas 
Sylvius,   succeeded   Calixtus  III.  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter. 


HISTOTiY   OF   THE    CKUSi^  ES.  171 

The  tiara  appeared  to  be  the  reward  of  his  zeal  for  the  war 
against  the  Turks,  and  everything  gave  reason  for  hope  that 
lie  would  neglect  nothing  to  execute  himself  the  projects  he 
.had  conceived  ;  and  awaken  among  the  nations  of  Christen- 
dom, that  warlike  enthusiasm,  that  religious  patriotism, 
which  breathed  in  his  discourses. 

Mahomet  II.  continued  to  follow  up  the  course  of  his  vic- 
tories, and  his  power  every  day  became  more  redoubtable. 
He  was  then  employed  in  despoiling  all  the  Greek  princes 
who  had  escaped  his  first  invasions,  and  whose  weakness 
was  concealed  under  the  pompous  titles  of  emperor  of 
Trebizond,  king  of  Iberia,  and  despot  of  the  Morea.  All 
these  princes,  to  whom  acts  of  submission  cost  nothing, 
provided  they  enabled  them  to  reign  a  few  days  longer,  had 
been  eager,  a  short  time  after  the  taking  of  Constantinople, 
to  send  ambassadors  to  the  victorious  sultan,  to  congratulate 
him  upon  his  triumphs  ;  and  the  fierce  conqueror  saw  no- 
thing in  them  but  a  prey  which  it  would  be  easy  for  him  to 
devour, — enemies  that  he  could  subdue  at  leisure.  Most  of 
them  dishonoured  the  last  moments  of  their  reign  or  their 
existence,  by  all  that  ambition,  jealousy,  and  the  spirit  of  dis- 
cord could  inspire  that  was  perfidious,  cruel,  or  treacherous. 
When  the  Mussulmans  penetrated  into  the  Greek  provinces, 
stained  with  all  the  crimes  of  civil  war,  it  might  have  been 
believed  that  they  were  sent  to  accomplish  the  menaces  of 
heavenly  anger. 

Mahomet  did  not  deign  to  put  forth  all  his  strength 
against  the  pusillanimous  tyrants  of  Greece.  Other  enemies 
were  worthy  of  employing  his  arms  ;  he  had  but  to  speak  a 
word,  to  pull  the  throne  from  under  the  prince  of  Synope  or 
the  emperor  of  Trebizond  ;  and  if  all  that  remained  of  the 
family  of  the  Comnenas  were  massacred  by  his  orders,  he, 
in  this  circumstance,  was  less  obedient  to  the  fears  of  a  dark 
policy  than  to  his  natural  ferocity.  Seven  years  after  the 
taking  of  Byzantium,  he  led  his  janissaries  into  the  Pelopon- 
nesus :  at  his  approach,  all  the  princes  of  Achaia  either  took 
to  flight,  or  became  his  slaves.  Meeting  with  scarcely  any 
resistance,  he  gathered  with  disdain  the  fruits  of  an  easy 
conquest.  He  meditated  projects  more  vast  than  such  con- 
quests ;  and  when  he  unfurled  the  banner  of  the  cross 
amids'  vhe  ruins  of  Sparta  and  Athens,  he  fixed  his  eyes 


172  HISTORY   OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

earnestly  upon  the  Sea  of  Sicily,  and  wished  to  find  a  route 
that  might  conduct  him  to  the  shores  of  Italy. 

The  first  care  of  Pius  II.  was  to  proclaim  the  fresh  dan- 
gers of  Europe.  He  wrote  to  all  the  powers  of  Christen- 
dom, and  convoked  a  general  assembly  at  Mantua,  to  deli- 
berate upon  the  means  of  arresting  the  progress  of  the 
Ottomans.  The  bull  of  the  pontiff  reminded  the  faithful, 
that  the  Church  of  Christ  had  often  been  beaten  by  the 
tempest,  but  that  He  who  commands  the  winds  was  ever 
watchful  over  its  safety.  "  My  predecessors,"  added  he, 
"  have  declared  war  against  the  Turks,  both  by  land  and  by 
sea ;  it  is  for  us  now  to  carry  it  on  ;  we  will  spare  neither 
labour  nor  expense  for  a  war  so  useful,  so  just,  and  so  holy." 

All  the  states  of  Christendom  promised  to  send  ambas- 
sadors to  Mantua.  Pius  II.  went  thither  himself;  and  in 
his  opening  discourse,  he  expatiated  with  strength  against 
the  indifference  of  princes  and  sovereigns.  He  pointed  to 
the  Turks  then  ravaging  Bosnia  and  Greece,  and  ready  to 
extend,  like  a  rapid  conflagration,  their  devastations  over 
Italy,  Germany,  and  all  the  countries  of  Europe.  The  pon- 
tiff declared  he  would  not  quit  Mantua  before  the  Christian 
princes  and  states  had  given  him  pledges  of  their  devotion 
to  the  cause  of  Christendom  ;  and  at  length  protested,  that 
if  he  were  abandoned  by  the  Christian  powers,  he  would 
alone  maintain  this  glorious  struggle,  and  would  die  in 
defending  the  independence  of  Europe  and  of  the  Church. 

The  language  of  Pius  II.  was  full  of  religion,  and  his 
religion  was  full  of  patriotism.  When  Demosthenes  and 
the  Greek  orators  mounted  the  tribune  to  press  their  fellow- 
citizens  to  defend  the  liberties  of  Greece  against  the  enter- 
prises of  Philip,  or  the  invasions  of  the  great  king,  they 
spoke,  without  doubt,  with  more  eloquence ;  but  never  were 
they  inspired  by  greater  interests  or  nobler  motives. 

Cardinal  Bissarion,  to  whom  Greece  had  given  birth,  and 
whom  the  Church  of  Rome  had  adopted,  spoke  after 
Pius  II.,  and  declared  that  the  whole  college  .of  cardinals 
was  animated  by  the  same  zeal  as  the  father  of  the  faithful. 
The  deputies  of  Rhodes,  Cyprus,  Epirus  ;  those  of  Illyria, 
Peloponnesus,  and  of  several  of  the  countries  the  Turks  had 
invaded,  made,  before  the  council,  a  lamentable  recital  of  all 


HISTOU?    OE    TILE    CIUSADES.  173 

the  evila  the  Christians  were  suffering  under  the  domination 
of  the  Mussulmans  ;  but  the  ambassadors  of  the  great  powers 
of  Europe  were  not  yet  arrived ;  and  this  delay  announced 
but  too  plainly  the  indifference  of  the  Christian  monarchs 
for  the  crusades.  The  debates  which  afterwards  arose 
relative  to  the  prel  .-asions  of  the  families  of  Anjou  and 
Arragon  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples ;  and  then  the  disputes 
upon  etiquette  and  precedence,  which  occupied  the  council 
during  several  days,  completely  proved  that  the  minds  of 
the  assembly  were  not  sufhciently  impressed  by  the  dangers 
of  Christian  Europe,  and  that  no  generous  resolution  would 
be  there  taken  to  prevent  them. 

The  pope  proposed  to  levy  for  the  crusade  a  tenth  upon 
the  revenues  of  the  clergy,  a  twentieth  upon  the  Jews,  and 
a  thirtieth  upon  princes  and  seculars.  He  proposed  at 
the  same  time,  to  raise  an  army  of  a  hundred  thousand  men 
in  the  different  states  of  Europe,  and  to  intrust  the  com- 
mand of  this  army  to  the  emperor  of  Germany.  These 
propositions,  in  order  to  be  executed,  required  the  approba- 
tion of  the  sovereigns,  and  most  of  the  ambassadors  made 
cnly  vague  promises.  A  great  number  of  conferences  were 
held ;  the  council  lasted  many  months,  and  the  pope  quitted 
Mantua  without  having  done  anything  decisive  for  the 
enterprise  he  meditated.  He  returned  to  Rome,  whence  he 
wrote  again  to  the  Christian  princes,  conjuring  them  to  send 
ambassadors,  to  deliberate  afresh  upon  the  war  against  the 
Turks. 

Constantly  pursued  by  the  thought  of  delivering  the 
Christian  world,  and  losing  hope  daily  of  being  able  to  affeafc 
the  West,  he  conceived  the  strange  idea  of  addressing 
Mahomet  II,  himself,  and  of  employing  all  the  powers  of 
reasoning  and  eloquence  to  convert  the  Mussulman  prince  to 
Christianity.  His  letter,  which  we  still  possess,  presents  a 
complete  treatise  of  the  philosophy  and  the  theology  of  the 
time.  The  pontiff  opposes  to  the  apostles  of  Islamism,  the 
authority  of  the  prophets  and  the  fathers  of  the  Church, 
and  the  profane  authority  of  Lycurgus  and  Solon.  Aiming 
particularly  at  interesting  the  ambition  of  the  Ottoman 
emperor,  he  proposes  to  him  the  example  of  the  great  Con- 
stantine,  who  obtained  the  empire  of  the  world  on  receiving 
baptism,  and  investing  himself  with  that  sign  by  which  it 


174  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

was  given  to  him  to  conquer.  The  sultan  had  only  to  ac- 
knowledge the  God  from  whom  all  authority  comes,  to  have 
the  Abyssinians,  the  Arabs,  the  Mamelukes,  the  Persians, 
with  all  the  nations  of  Asia,  submit  to  his  domination ;  and 
if  the  intercessioi  ?f  the  court  of  Borne  were  necessary  for 
him  to  reign  over  the  East,  the  head  of  the  Church  promised 
him  the  assistance  of  his  prayers,  and  the  support  of  the 
pontifical  sovereignty. 

In  this  singular  negotiation  with  Mahomet  II.,  the  pope 
was  not  more  fortunate  than  with  the  Christian  princes. 
The  latter,  when  he  urged  them  to  defend  their  own  states, 
answered  by  vain  protestations.  Mahomet,  to  whom  he 
offered  the  conquest  of  the  world,  contented  himself  with 
replying,  that  "  he  was  innocent  of  the  death  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  that  he  thought  with  horror  of  those  who  had 
fastened  him  to  the  cross." 

The  Ottoman  emperor  had  just  obtained  possession  of 
Bosnia,  and  had  caused  the  king  of  that  unfortunate  country, 
who  had  submitted  to  his  arms,  to  perish  in  the  midst  of 
tortures.  Ottoman  troops  ravaged  the  frontiers  of  Illyria, 
and  threatened  the  city  of  Bagusa.  The  dangers  of  Italy 
became  every  day  more  pressing.  The  pope  assembled  his 
consistory,  and  represented  to  the  members,  that  the  time 
was  come  to  stop  the  progress  of  the  Turks,  and  to  com- 
mence the  holy  war  he  had  preached.  "  The  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy and  the  Venetian  republic  were  ready  to  second  his 
enterprise.  Whilst  the  Hungarians  and  the  Poles  were  pre- 
paring to  fight  the  Ottomans  on  the  Dniester  and  the 
Danube,  the  Epirots  and  the  Albanians  were  about  to  raise 
the  standard  of  liberty  among  the  Greeks :  in  Asia,  the 
sultan  of  Caramania  and  the  king  of  Persia  would  attack 
the  Turks,  and  second  the  united  efforts  of  the  Christian  s. 
The  pontiff  declared  that  he  was  resolved  to  march  himse]  f 
against  the  infidels.-  When  the  Christian  princes  should 
behold  the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ  setting  out  for  the  holy  war. 
would  they  not  be  ashamed  to  remain  inactive  ?  Loaded 
with  years  and  infirmities,  he  had  but  a  few  moments  to 
live ;  it  would  be  hastening  to  an  almost  certain  death ;  but 
of  what  consequence  was  the  hour  or  the  place  of  his  de- 
cease, provided  he  died  for  the  cause  cf  Christ,  and  for  the 
safety  of  Christendom.' * 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRTTS^DES.  175 

The  cardinals  gave  a  unanimous  assent  to  the  esolutiou 
of  Pius  II.  From  that  time  the  pope  employed  himself  in 
preparations  for  his  departure,  and  addressed  an  exhortation 
to  the  faithful  to  engage  them  to  second  his  designs.  After 
having,  in  this  apostolic  exhortation,  retraced,  with  lively 
eloquence,  the  misfortunes  and  the  perils  of  the  Christian 
Church,  the  pontiff  expressed  himself  thus : — 

"  Our  fathers  lost  Jerusalem  and  all  Asia ;  we  have  lost 
Greece  and  a  great  part  of  Europe.  Christendom  is  now 
nothing  but  a  corner  of  the  world.  In  this  extreme  peril,  the 
common  father  of  the  faithful  is  himself  going  to  meet  the 
enemy.  Doubtless,  war  is  ill  suited  to  the  weakness  of  old 
age.  or  to  the  character  of  pontiff;  but  when  religion  is 
ready  to  succumb,  who  could  restrain  us  ?  We  will  take 
our  place  during  fight,  either  upon  the  poop  of  a  vessel,  or 
upon  a  lofty  hill,  pouring  our  benedictions  upon  the  soldiers 
of  Christ,  and  invoking  for  them  the  God  of  armies.  Thus 
the  patriarch  Moses  prayed  upon  the  mountain,  and  raised 
his  hands  towards  heaven,  whilst  Israel  combated  with  the 
nations  whom  God  had  reproved.  We  shall  be  followed  by 
our  cardinals,  and  by  a  great  number  of  bishops ;  we  will 
inarch  with  the  standard  of  the  cross  displayed,  with  the 
relics  of  saints,  with  Jesus  Christ  himself  in  his  eucharist. 
What  Christian  will  refuse  to  follow  the  vicar  of  God,  going 
with  his  holy  senate,  and  all  the  revered  train  of  the  Church, 
to  the  defence  of  religion  and  humanhVy  ? 

"  What  war  was  ever  more  just  or  more  necessary  ?  The 
Turks  attack  all  that  we  hold  most  dear,  all  that  Christian 
society  considers  most  holy.  If  you  are  men,  can  you  be 
wanting  in  compassion  for  your  fellow-men  ?  If  you  are 
Christians,'  religion  commands  you  to  carry  succour  to  your 
brethren.  If  the  misfortunes  of  others  touch  you  not, 
think  of  your  own  safety — have  pity  on  yourselves.  You 
imagine  yourselves  to  be  in  safety,  because  you  are  as  yet  at 
a  distance  from  peril :  to-morrow  the  sword  will  be  sus- 
pended over  your  heads.  If  you  convey  not  assistance  to 
those  who  are  before  you,  those  who  are  behind  you  will, 
in  like  manner,  abandon  you  in  the  hour  of  danger. 

"  Do  you  feel  yourselves  strong  enough  to  support  the 
opprobrium  and  the  humiliation  of  a  barbarous  domination  ? 
Kemain  in  your  dwellings,  await  your  enemies  there ;  await 


176  H1ST0ET    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

there  those  vile  Asiatics,  who  are  not  even  men,  and  vet  have 
the  insolent  pretension  to  govern  all  the  nations  of  Europe. 
But  if  you  possess  a  noble  heart,  an  elevated  mind,  a  gene- 
rous character,  a  Christian  soul,  you  will  follow  the  banners 
of  the  Church  ;  you  will  send  us  succours  ;  you  will  aid  the 
army  of  the  Lord. 

"  Such  as  will  aid  us,  God  will  bless  them ;  but  such  as 
remain  indifferent  shall  have  no  part  in  the  treasures  of 
divine  mercy.  May  the  wicked  and  the  impious,  who  shall 
trouble  the  public  peace,  be  accursed  of  God !  May  Heaven 
pour  upon  them  the  scourges  of  its  wrath !  Let  them  live 
in  unceasing  fear,  and  may  their  life  be  as  if  suspended  by  a 
thread  !  Neither  power  nor  riches  shall  defend  them  ;  the 
arrows  of  remorse  shall  reach  them  everywhere ;  the  flames 
of  the  abyss  shall  consume  their  hearts." 

The  pontiff  addressed  this  exhortation  to  the  princes,  the 
nobility,  and  the  people  of  all  nations.  He  fixed  upon  the 
city  and  port  of  Ancona  as  the  place  of  meeting  for  the 
Crusaders.  He  promised  the  remission  of  their  sins  to  all 
who  would  serve,  during  six  months,  at  their  own  expense, 
or  who  would  maintain  one  or  two  soldiers  of  the  cross 
during  the  same  space  of  time.  He  had  nothing  to  bestow 
in  this  world  upon  the  faithful  who  should  take  part  in  the 
crusade  ;  but  he  conjured  Heaven  to  direct  all  their  steps,  to 
multiply  their  days,  to  preserve  and  increase  then  kingdoms, 
their  principalities,  and  their  possessions.  On  terminating 
his  apostolical  discourse,  he  addressed  the  Omnipotent  God : 
"  Oh  thou,  who  searchest  reins  and  hearts,  thou  knowest  if 
we  have  any  other  thought  than  that  of  combating  for  thy 
glory,  and  for  the  safety  of  the  flock  thou  hast  committed  to 
our  charge.  A  venge  the  Christian  blood  which  flows  beneath 
the  sword  of  the  Turks,  and  which  on  all  sides  rises  up 
towards  thee  Turn  a  favourable  eye  upon  thy  people  ;  guide 
us  in  the  wai  undertaken  for  the  triumph  of  thy  faith.  Do 
so,  that  Greece  may  be  restored  to  thy  worship,  and  that  all 
Europe  may  bless  thy  name  !" 

This  bull  of  the  pope  was  sent  throughout  all  the  West, 
and  read  publicly  in  the  churches.  The  assembled  faithful 
shed  tears  at  the  recital  of  the  misfortunes  of  Christendom. 
The  cross  and  arms  were  taken  in  countries  apparently  most 
secure  from  the  invasions  of  the  Turks,  even  in  the  remotest 


HISTOEY    OF   TEE    CRUSADES.  17? 

north  of  Eu  ope.  Some  repaired  to  Ancona ;  others  directed 
their  course  towards  Hungary,  to  join  the  army  of  Matthias 
Corvinus,  ready  to  set  out  on  its  march  against  the  Turks. 

The  pope  wrote  to  the  doge  of  Venice,  to  entreat  him  to 
assist  in  person  in  the  war  about  to  be  made  against  the 
infidels.  He  told  him  that  the  presence  of  princes  in  armies 
inspired  confidence  in  the  soldiers  and  terror  in  their  ene- 
mies. As  the  doge  was  advanced  in  years,  Paul  reminded 
him  that  his  own  hair  was  blanched  by  time,*  and  that  the 
duke  of  Burgundy,  who  promised  to  accompany  the  Cru- 
saders to  the  East,  had  attained  the  days  of  old  age.  "  We 
shall  be,"  added  the  holy  father,  "  three  old  men  at  the  head 
of  an  army  of  Christians.  Grod  takes  delight  in  the  number 
three,  and  the  Trinity  which  is  in  heaven,  will  not  fail  to 
protect  this  trinity  upon  earth." 

These  singular  expressions  of  the  pope  belonged  to  the 
bad  taste  of  the  age.  But  in  presenting  old  age  as  the  only 
mover  and  the  last  hope  of  the  crusade,  they  painted  suffi- 
ciently clearly  the  spirit  of  the  times  with  regard  to  holy 
wars,  and  might  be  believed  to  presage  the  little  success  of 
an  enterprise,  which,  in  order  to  succeed,  stood  in  need  of 
the  ardour  and  activity  that  are  only  to  be  found  in  youth. 
The  doge  of  Venice  hesitated  to  embark  ;  but  as  the  republic 
was  at  war  with  Mahomet  II.,  and  as  it  was  of  importance 
to  mix  its  interests  with  those  of  the  crusade,  it  threatened 
to  employ  force,  in  order  to  compel  the  doge  to  follow  the 
pontiff  ol  Some.  The  duke  of  Burgundy,  who  had  been  the 
first  of  aJ.  the  Christian  princes  to  swear  to  go  and  combat 
with  the  infidels,  showed  no  inclination  to  join  the  Crusa- 
ders. The  pope,  in  his  letters,  reminded  him  :f  his  solemn 
promises,  ana  reproached  him  with  having  deceived  men, 
— with  having  deceived  God  himself.  He  added,  that  his 
breach  of  faith  would  throw  the  whole  of  Christendom  into 
mourning,  and  might  bring  about  the  entire  failure  of  the 
enterprise.  Philip,  in  spite  of  the  severe  remonstrances  of 
Pius  II.,  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to  leave  his  states, 
but  contented  himself  with  sending  two  thousand  men-at- 
arms  to  the  Christian  army.  He  was  at  that  time  in  dread 
of  the  crooked  policy  of  Louis  XI.,  whc,  when   he  waa 

*  He  should  have  reminded  him  of  glorious  old  Henry  Dandolo.— 
Trans. 


178  HISTOEY    OF    THE    OIIUSADES. 

dauphin,  was  eager  to  fight  the  Turks  ;  but  having  ascended 
the  throne  of  France,  had  no  other  enemies  but  his  neigh- 
bours. 

Pius  II.,  after  having  implored  the  protection  of  God,  in 
the  basilic  of  the  holy  Apostles,  left  Rome  in  the  month  of 
June,  1464.  Being  attacked  by  a  slow  fever,  and  fearing 
that  the  sight  of  his  infirmities  might  discourage  the  soldiers 
of  the  cross,  he  concealed  his  sufferings,  and  desired  his 
physician  to  be  silent  on  the  subject  of  his  malady.  All 
along  his  route  the  people  put  up  prayers  for  the  success  of 
his  enterprise.  The  city  of  Ancona  received  him  in  triumph, 
and  saluted  him  as  the  liberator  of  the  Christian  world. 

A  great  number  of  Crusaders  had  arrived  in  this  city ;  but 
most  of  them  were  without  arms  or  stores,  and  were  almost 
naked.  The  earnest  exhortations  of  the  pope  had  had  no 
effect  upon  the  knights  and  barons  of  Christendom.  The 
poor,  and  men  of  the  lowest  class  of  the  people,  appeared  to 
have  been  more  struck  with  the  dangers  of  Europe  than  the 
rich  and  the  great  of  the  earth.*  The  crowd  of  Crusaders 
collected  at  Ancona  resembled  a  troop  of  vagabonds  and 
mendicants  much  more  than  an  army.  Every  day,  want  and 
disease  made  martyrs  of  them.  Pius  II.  was  touched  with 
their  misery ;  but  as  he  could  not  provide  for  their  main- 
tenance, he  retained  such  as  were  in  a  condition  to  go  to  the 
war  at  their  own  expense,  and  dismissed  the  others  with  the 
indulgences  of  the  crusade. 

The  Christian  army  was  to  direct  its  course  to  the  coasts 
of  Greece,  and  join  Scanderberg,  who  had  recently  beaten  the 
Ottomans  in  the  plains  of  Ocrida.  Deputies  w^re  sent  to 
the  Hungarians,  the  king  of  Cyprus,  and  to  all  tne  enemies 
of  the  Turks  in  Asia,  without  forgetting  the  king  of  Persia, 
to  warn  them  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  commence 
the  war  against  the  followers  of  Mahomet. 

The  little  city  of  Ancona  attracted  the  attention  of  all 
Europe.  In  met,  what  spectacle  could  be  more  interesting 
than  that  of  the  father  of  the  faithful  braving  the  perils  of 

*  Nothing  can  be  more  unaccountable  than  such  reflections  !  Wnat 
did  these  wretched  outcasts  know  or  care  about  the  dangers  of  Europe  ? 
What  they  sought  was  relief  from  the  destitution  hey  suffered  ;  and  if 
the  Turks  had  been  in  Europe,  they  would  have  enlisted  with  them. — 
Trans. 


HISTOET    OF    THE    CKUSADES.  179 

war  and  of  the  seas,  to  go  into  distant  couu.  ries,  for  the 
purposes  of  avenging  outraged  humanity,  breaking  the 
chains  of  Christian  captives,  and  visiting  his  children  in  their 
affliction  ?  Unfortunately,  the  physical  strength  of  Pius  II. 
was  not  equal  to  his  zeal,  and  would  not  permit  him  to  per- 
fect his  sacrifice.  The  fleet  was  ready  to  set  sail,  when  the 
fever  which  he  had  had  on  leaving  Rome,  aggravated  by  the 
fatigues  of  the  voyage  and  his  subsequent  anxiety,  became  a 
mortal  malady.  Peeling  his  end  approach,  he  called  the 
cardinals  around  him,  and  made  them  swear  to  prosecute 
the  war  against  the  infidels.  He  died  whilst  commending 
the  Christians  of  the  East  to  their  care ;  and  the  last  looks 
he  cast  upon  earth  were  directed  towards  Greece,  then 
labouring  under  the  oppression  of  the  enemies  of  Christ. 

Paul  II.,  who  was  elected  pope,  promised,  amidst  the  con- 
clave, to  follow  the  example  of  his  predecessor.  But  the 
Crusaders  assembled  by  Pius  II.  were  already  returned  to 
their  homes.  The  Venetians,  left  alone,  carried  the  war 
into  the  Peloponnesus,  without  being  able  to  obtain  any 
great  advantages  over  the  Turks.  They  devastated  the 
country  they  went  to  deliver ;  and  the  most  remarkable  of 
their  trophies  was  the  pillage  of  Athens.  The  Greeks  of 
the  canton  of  Lacedsemon  and  some  other  cities,  who,  in  the 
hope  of  being  succoured,  had  raised  the  standard  of  liberty, 
could  not  stand  against  the  janissaries,  and  fell  victims  to 
their  devotion  to  the  cause  of  religion  and  patriotism. 
Scanderberg,  whose  capital  the  Turks  besieged,  came  himself 
to  solicit  the  assistance  of  the  pope.  Being  received  by 
Paul  II.  in  presence  of  the  cardinals,  he  declared  before  the 
sacred  college,  that  there  was  no  longer  in  the  East  any  place 
but  Epirus,  and  in  Epirus  only  his  little  army,  that  still 
fought  for  the  cause  of  the  Christians.  He  added,  that  if  he 
succumbed,  nobody  would  be  left  to  defend  the  routes  to 
Italy.  The  pope  bestowed  the  greatest  praises  upon  Scan- 
derberg, and  made  him  a  present  of  a  sword  which  he  had 
blessed.  He  at  the  same  time  wrote  to  the  princes  of 
Christendom,  to  persuade  them  to  assist  Albania.  In  a 
letter  addressed  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  Paul  II.  lamented 
the  fate  of  the  nations  of  Greece,  driven  from  their  country 
by  the  barbarians ;  he  deplored  the  exile  and  the  misery  of 
the  Greek  families  coining  to  seek  refuge  in  Italy,  dying 


180  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

with  hunger  and  in  nakedness,  crowded  together  upon  the 
sea-shore,  holding  their  hands  up  to  Heaven,  and  suppli- 
cating their  brothers  the  Christians  to  succour  them  or  to 
avenge  them.  The  head  of  the  Church  reminded  them  of 
all  that  his  predecessors  had  done,  and  of  all  he  himself  had 
done,  to  avert  such  great  misfortunes.  He  blamed  the  in- 
difference of  both  monarchs  and  nations ;  and  menaced 
Europe  with  the  same  calamities,  if  they  did  not  speedily 
take  up  arms  against  the  Turks.  The  exhortations  of  the 
pope  remained  without  effect;  Scanderberg,  carrying  no- 
thing back  with  him  but  some  sums  of  money  which  he  had 
obtained  from  the  Holy  See,  returned  to  his  kingdom,  then 
ravaged  by  the  Ottomans,  and  a  short  time  afterwards  died 
at  Lissa,  covered  with  glory,  but  despairing  of  the  noble 
cause  for  which  he  had  fought  all  his  life. 

Such  was  the  ascendancy  of  one  great  man,  that  under  his 
banners  the  Greeks,  for  such  a  length  of  time  degenerate, 
recalled  the  remembrance  of  the  brightest  days  of  the  mili- 
tary glory  of  their  country  ;  the  little  province  of  Albania 
resisted  during  twenty  years  the  whole  power  of  the  Otto- 
man empire.  The  death  of  Scanderberg  threw  his  com- 
panions in  arms  into  despair.  "  Hasten,  brave  Albanians," 
cried  they  in  the  public  places,  "  redouble  your  courage ;  for 
the  ramparts  of  the  empire  and  of  Macedon  are  now  crum- 
bled into  dust."  These  words  were  at  once  the  funeral 
oration  of  a  hero  and  that  of  his  people.  Two  years  had 
scarcely  passed  away  before  most  of  the  cities  of  Epirus  fell 
into  the  power  of  the  Turks ;  and,  as  Scanderberg  himself 
had  foretold  to  the  pontiff  of  Home,  not  a  soldier  of  Christ 
remained  east  of  the  Adriatic  Sea. 

All  enterprises  against  the  infidels  were  from  that  time 
confined  to  a  few  maritime  expeditions  of  the  Venetians  and 
the  Knights  of  Rhodes.  These  expeditions  were  not  suffi- 
cient to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  Ottomans.  Mahomet  II. 
never  ceased  to  meditate  an  invasion  of  Germany  and  Italy. 
Resolved  to  aim  one  last  blow  at  his  enemies,  he  determined, 
after  the  example  of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  to  employ  the  as- 
cendancy of  religion,  to  excite  the  bravery  and  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  Mussulmans.  In  the  midst  of  a  solemn  cere- 
mony, and  in  the  presence  of  the  divan  and  the  mufti,  he 
swore  "to  renounce  all  pleasures,  and  never  to  turn  hia 


H1ST011T    OP    TILE    (JiiUSADES.  181 

countenance  from  the  West  to  the  East,  until  lie  had  over* 
thrown  and  trampled  under  the  feet  of  his  horses  the  gods 
of  the  nations, — those  gods  of  wood,  brass,  silver,  gold,  and 
painting,  that  the  disciples  of  Christ  made  with  their  hands." 
He  swore  "to  exterminate  the  iniquity  of  the  Christians 
from  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  to  proclaim,  from  the  rising 
to  the  setting,  the  glory  of  the  God  of  Sabaoth  and  of 
Mahomet."  After  this  threatening  declaration,  the  Turkish 
emperor  pressed  all  the  circumcised  nations  that  followed 
his  laws  to  join  him,  in  order  to  obey  the  command  of  God 
and  his  prophet. 

The  oath  of  Mahomet  II.  was  read  in  all  the  mosques  of 
the  empire,  at  the  hour  of  prayer.  The  Ottoman  warriors 
flocked  to  Constantinople  from  all  parts.  An  army  of  the 
sultan's  was  already  ravaging  Croatia  and  Carniola;  and 
soon  a  formidable  fleet  issued  from  the  canal,  and  attacked 
the  island  of  Eubcea  or  Negropont,  separated  by  the  Euripus 
from  the  city  of  Athens,  which  the  Turkish  historians  call 
the  city  or  the  country  of  the  philosophers.  At  the  first 
news  of  the  danger,  the  pope  ordered  public  prayers  in  the 
city  of  Eome.  He  himself  walked  barefooted  in  procession 
before  the  image  of  the  Virgin  ;  but  Heaven,  says  one  of  the 
annalists  of  the  Church,  did  not  deign  to  listen  to  the  prayers 
of  the  Christians;  JNegropont  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Turks,  and  the  entire  population  of  the  island  was  either 
exterminated  or  dragged  into  slavery.  A  great  number  of 
those  who  had  defended  their  country  with  courage  expired 
in  tortures.  Fame  soon  carried  to  Europe  an  account  of  the 
excesses  of  Ottoman  barbarity,  and  all  Christian  nations 
were  filled  with  horror  and  fright. 

After  the  last  victories  of  the  Turks,  Germany  had  reason 
to  dread  a  prompt  invasion,  and  the  coasts  of  Italy  were  at 
the  same  time  threatened.  Cardinal  Bessarion  addressed  an 
eloquent  exhortation  to  the  Italians,  and  conjured  them  to 
unite  against  the  common  enemy.  The  pope  did  everything 
in  his  power  to  appease  discord,  and  at  length  succeeded  in 
forming  a  league  among  the  Italian  states,  similar  to  that 
which  was  entered  into  after  the  taking  of  Constantinople. 
His  legates  solicited  the  assistance  of  the  kings  of  France 
and  England.  Upon  his  pressing  request,  Frederick  con- 
roked  a  diet  at  Eatisbon,  and  afterwards  at  Nuremberg,  in 


182  IIISTOltY    OF    THE    CBU3ADES. 

which  appeared  the  deputies  of  Venice,  Sienna,  Naples, 
Hungary,  and  Carniola,  who  described  the  ravages  of  the 
Turks,  and  painted  in  the  most  striking  colours  the  misfor- 
tunes which  menaced  Europe.  In  these  two  assemblies, 
several  resolutions  were  formed  for  war  against  the  Mussul- 
mans ;  but  not  one  of  them  was  executed.  Such  was  the 
general  blindness,  that  neither  the  exhortations  of  the  pope, 
nor  the  frightful  progress  of  the  Turks,  were  able  to  awaken 
the  zeal  of  princes  or  people.  The  chronicles  of  the  times 
speak  of  several  miracles  by  which  God  manifested  his  power 
in  these  unfortunate  days ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  greatest  miracle  of  Providence  was,  that  Italy  and  Ger- 
many did  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Ottomans,  when  not 
a  human  hand  was  raised  to  defend  them. 

After  the  death  of  Paul  II.,  who  had  not  time  to  achieve 
his  work,  and  did  not  witness  the  effect  of  his  preachings, 
his  successor,  Sextus  IV.,  neglected  nothing  for  the  defence 
of  Christendom.  When  scarcely  seated  on  the  pontifical 
throne,  he  deputed  cardinals  to  several  states  of  Europe,  to 
preach  peace  among  Christians  and  war  against  the  Turks. 
The  legates  were  specially  intrusted  to  press  the  levying  of 
the  tenths  for  the  crusade.  They  were  authorized  to  launch 
the  thunders  of  excommunication  against  those  who  should 
oppose  this  impost,  or  who  misapplied  the  produce  of  it. 
This  severity,  which  occasioned  troubles  in  England,  and 
still  more  in  Germany,  succeeded  in  other  countries,  and 
furnished  the  sovereign  pontiff  with  means  for  preparing  for 
war.  But  none  of  the  princes  of  the  West  took  up  arms, 
and  Christendom  was  still  exposed  to  the  greatest  perils, 
when  fortune  sent  succour  it  had  no  reason  to  look  for 
from  the  depths  of  Asia. 

Of  all  the  powers  that  had  promised  to  combat  the  Otto- 
mans, the  only  one  that  did  not  fail,  was  the  king  of  Persia, 
to  whom  Calixtus  III.  had  sent  a  missionary,  and  who  de- 
clared himself  the  faithful  ally  of  the  Christians.  In  his 
reply,  the  king  ot  Persia  bestowed  the  greatest  praises  on 
the  pope,  encouraged  him  in  his  resolution  of  attacking 
Mahomet,  aud  announced  to  him  that  he  himself  would 
commence  hostilities.  At  the  time  his  letter  was  received  at 
Koine,  his  troops  were  already  crossing  Armenia,  and  seve* 
ral  Ottoman  cities  had  fallen  into  t\«  hands  of  the  Persians. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CKUSADES.  1S3 

Mahomet  was  obliged  to  abandon  or  to  suspend  his  projects 
of  conquest  on  the  side  of  Europe,  to  march  against  these 
new  enemies,  with  the  greater  part  of  the  strength  of  his 
empire. 

Crreat  advantage  might  have  been  taken  of  this  powerful 
diversion  of  the  Persians.  But  the  Venetians,  the  king  of 
Naples,  and  the  pope,  alone  put  themselves  forward  to  make 
war  against  the  Ottomans.  The  sovereign  pontiff  had 
caused  twenty-four  galleys  to  be  built  with  the  produce  of 
the  tenths  levied  for  the  crusade.  This  fleet,  commanded 
by  Cardinal  Caraifa,  and  collected  in  the  Tiber,  after  having 
been  blessed  by  Sextus  IV.,  went  to  join  that  of  Venice  and 
Naples,  and  cruised  along  the  coasts  of  Ionia  and  Pamphylia, 
to  the  great  terror  of  all  the  maritime  Ottoman  cities.  The 
Venetians  did  not  fail  to  direct  the  operations  of  the  Chris- 
tian fleet  against  the  cities  whose  wealth  and  commerce 
gave  them  any  cause  for  jealousy.  Satalia  and  Smyrna  were 
given  up  to  the  horrors  of  war :  the  first  of  these,  situated  on 
the  coast  of  Pamphylia,  was  the  entrepot  for  the  productions 
and  the  merchandise  of  India  and  Arabia.  The  second, 
situated  in  the  Ionian  Sea,  possessed  rich  manufactures  and 
a  flourishing  trade.  The  Christian  soldiers  committed  in 
these  two  cities  all  the  kinds  of  excess  with  which  the  Turks 
were  then  reproached.  After  this  piratical  expedition,  the 
fleet  regained  the  ports  of  Italy,  and  Cardinal  Caraft'a  re- 
turned triumphant  to  Home,  followed  by  twenty-five  cap- 
tives mounted  upon  superb  horses,  and  by  twelve  camels, 
loaded  with  the  spoils  of  the  enemy.  The  ensigns  taken 
from  the  Mussulmans,  and  the  chain  of  the  port  of  Satalia, 
were  solemnly  suspended  over  the  gate  and  in  the  vaulted 
roof  of  the  Vatican. 

"Whilst  these  poor  advantages  over  the  Mussulmans  were 
being  celebrated  at  Home,  Mahomet  was  inflicting  terrible 
blows  upon  his  enemies ;  and  when  he  returned  to  Constan- 
tinople, he  had  destroyed  the  armies  of  the  king  j£  Persia. 
That  which  gave  the  Turkish  emperor  an  immense  advan- 
tage over  the  powers  which  took  up  arms  against  him,  waa 
that  they  never  acted  in  concert,  either  for  defence  or  attack. 
Discord  was  not  long  in  being  revived  among  the  Christian 
princes,  and  particularly  among  the  states  of  Italy.  The 
pope  himae  -  forgot  th?  sphi4-  of  peace  and  union  he  had 


184  HISTOllT    OF   THE    CRUSADES. 

preached ;  he  forgot  the  holy  war ;  and  Venice,  left  alone  in 
the  struggle  against  the  Ottomans,  was  obliged  to  sjie  to 
Mahomet  for  peace. 

The  Ottomans  took  as  much  advantage  of  peace  as  of  war 
to  increase  their  power.  There  now  remained  ncthing  of 
the  sad  wreck  of  the  Greek  empire.  Venice  had  lost  all  its 
possessions  in  the  Archipelago  and  Greece ;  Genoa  at  length 
lost  the  rich  colony  of  Caffa,  in  the  Crimea.  Of  all  the  con- 
quests of  the  Crusaders,  the  Christians  had  only  preserved 
the  kingdom  of  Cyprus  and  the  isle  of  Rhodes. 

During  more  than  a  century,  the  kings  of  Cyprus  had 
implored  the  assistance  of  the  West,  and  contended  with 
some  successes  against  the  Saracens,  particularly  the  Mame- 
lukes of  Egypt.  The  maritime  cities  of  Italy  protected  a 
kingdom  from  which  trade  and  navigation  derived  great 
advantage.  Every  day  fresh  warriors  from  Europe  afforded 
it  the  support  of  their  arms.  A  few  years  after  the  taking 
of  Constantinople,  history  remarks  Jacques  Cceur,  who  had 
obtained  the  restitution  of  his  wealth,  establishing  himself 
in  the  isle  of  Cyprus,  and  consecrating  his  fortune  and  his 
life  to  the  defence  of  the  Christians  of  the  East.  After  his 
death,  there  was  to  be  seen,  in  a  church  at  Bourges  which  he 
had  founded,  this  inscription : — "  The  Seigneur  Jacques 
Cceur,  Captain-general  of  the  Church  against  the  infidels.*'* 

The  kingdom  of  Cyprus,  after  having  resisted  the  Mus- 
sulmans for  a  long  time,  became  at  last  the  theatre  and 
the  prey  of  revolutions.  Abandoned,  in  some  sort,  by  the 
Christian  powers,  and  obliged  to  defend  itself  against  the 
Turks,  it  placed  itself  under  the  protection  of  the  Mamelukes 
of  Egypt.  In  time  of  trouble,  the  malcontents  retired  to 
Cairo,  and  procured  the  protection  of  a  power  which  had  a 

*  Jacques  Cceur  was  condemned  to  death,  and  his  property  was  con- 
fiscated. Charles  VII.  contented  himself  with  banishing  Jacques  Cceur; 
but  his  property  was  not  restored  for  a  long  time.  Sixty  of  the  clerks  of 
Jacques  Cceur  subscribed  together,  and  made  up  a  sum  of  60,000  crowns, 
with  which  he  retired  to  the  isle  of  Cyprus  and  reestablished  his  trade.  He 
founded  an  hospital  for  pilgrims  there,  and  a  Carmelite  convent,  in  which 
he  was  buried.  Jacques  Cceur  built  many  houses  at  Marseilles,  Mont- 
pellier,  and  Bourges  :  among  others,  the  beautiful  house  which  is  now  the 
municipality.  It  was  Louis  XI  who  reinstated  the  memory  of  Jacques 
Coeur.  The  inscription  which  is  here  mentioned  must  have  been  also  in 
the  hospital  for  pilgrims  at  Cyprus. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  185 

great  interest  in  keeping  up  discord.  The  family  of  Lusig* 
nan  being  nearly  extinct,  a  daughter,  the  only  scion  of  man) 
kings,  at  first  married  a  Portuguese  prince,  and  afterwards 
Louis,  count  of  Savoy.  But  the  sultan  of  Cairo  and  Maho- 
met II.  would  not  permit  a  Latin  prince  to  wear  the  crown 
01  Cjprus,  and  caused  a  natural  son  of  the  last  king  to  be 
elected.  James,  whose  illegitimate  birth  kept  him  from  ^he 
throne,  and  who  had  disturbed  the  kingdom  by  his  am- 
bitious pretensions,  was  crowned  king  of  Cyprus  in  the  city 
of  Cairo,  under  the  auspices  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
Mamelukes.  That  which  must  have  greatly  added  to  the 
scandal  of  this  coronation  was,  that  the  new  king  promised 
to  be  faithful  to  the  sultan  of  Egypt,  and  to  pay  five  thou- 
sand gold  crowns  for  the  support  of  the  great  mosques  of 
Mecca  and  Jerusalem.  It  was  upon  the  Grospel  that  he 
swore  to  keep  this  promise,  and  to  omit  nothing  that  the 
Mamelukes  required.  "  If  I  break  my  word,"  added  he,  "  I 
shall  be  an  apostate  and  a  forger  ;  I  shall  deny  the  existence 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  virginity  of  his  mother ;  I  shall  slay 
a  camel  upon  the  font  of  baptism,  and  I  shall  curse  the 
priesthood."  Such  were  the  words  which  a  desire  of  reign- 
ing placed  in  the  mouth  of  a  prince  who  was  about  to  govern 
a  kingdom  founded  by  the  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ.  He 
died  a  short  time  after  having  taken  possession  of  the  su- 
preme authority.  His  people  thought  the  days  of  his  life 
and  his  reign  were  shortened  by  divine  justice. 

The  republic  of  Venice,  which  adopted  Catherine  Cor- 
naro,  the  widow  of  James,  then  took  possession  of  Cyprus, 
which  it  defended  against  the  Mamelukes  and  against 
the  Turks,  and  held  it  till  the  middle  of  the  following 
century. 

The  eyes  of  the  whole  Christian  world  were  fixed  upon  the 
isle  of  Rhodes.  This  isle,  defended  by  the  Knights  of  St.  John, 
recalled  to  the  faithful  the  remembrance  of  the  Holy  Land, 
and  prevented  the  extinction  of  the  hope  of  one  day  seeing 
the  standard  of  Christ  again  floating  over  the  walls  of  Jeru- 
salem. The  martial  youth  of  all  the  countries  of  the  West 
unceasingly  flocked  thither,  and,  in  some  sort,  revived  the 
ardour,  the  zeal,  and  the  exploits  of  the  first  crusades.  The 
order  of  the  Hospitallers,  faithful  to  its  first  institution,  al- 
ways protected  pilgrims  repairing  to  Palestine,  and  defended 
Vol.  III.— 9 


±86  HISTORY   OF    THE    CUTSXDES. 

Christian  vessels  against  the  attacks  of  Turks,  Mamelukes, 
and  pirates.  At  the  commencement  of  his  reign,  Maho- 
met II.  summoned  the  grand-master  to  pay  him  a  tribute, 
as  to  his  sovereign.  The  latter  contented  himself  with 
answering:  "  We  only  owe  the  sovereignty  of  Rhodes  to  God 
and  our  swords.  It  is  our  duty  to  be  the  enemies,  and  not 
the  tributaries,  of  the  Ottomans !"  This  reply  wounded  the 
pride  of  the  sultan  ;  but  lie  dissembled  his  anger,  persuaded 
that  victory  would  soon  give  that  which  was  refused,  and 
at  the  same  time  avenge  him  for  the  noble  disdain  of  the 
Knights  of  St.  John. 

The  Ottoman  emperor,  after  having  triumphed  over  the 
Persians,  returned  to  Constantinople  with  fresh  projects  for 
conquests  in  Europe,  and  with  increased  animosity  against 
the  Christians  ;  and  the  whole  of  his  empire  prepared  to 
minister  to  his  ambition  and  his  anger.  If  the  Turks  had 
not  till  that  period  carried  their  invasions  into  the  West,  it 
was  because  the  difference  of  religion  and  manners  kept 
them  from  all  communication  with  the  Christian  nations ; 
and  because  they  were  entirely  ignorant  of  the  state  and 
dispositions  of  Christendom,  of  the  forces  that  might  be 
opposed  to  them,  and  even  of  the  best  routes  for  them  to 
pursue.  They  became  gradually  acquainted  with  the  fron- 
tiers of  Europe,  and  with  the  sea-coasts ;  and,  like  the  lion 
of  Holy  Writ,  which  prowls  constantly  about  in  search  of 
its  prey,  were  ever  on  the  watch  for  favourable  opportunities. 
They  secured  advanced  posts,  and  marched  with  precaution 
towards  the  country  they  wished  to  conquer,  as  an  ariTjy 
draws  round  a  place  it  is  about  to  besiege.  By  frequently- 
repeated  incursions,  they  spread  terror  among  the  nations 
they  intended  to  attack  ;  and  by  the  ravages  they  exercised, 
they  weakened  the  means  of  resistance  of  their  enemies. 
Mahomet  at  first  made  himself  master  of  Scutari  and  Xegro- 
pont,  in  order  to  dominate,  in  a  manner,  over  the  coasts  of 
the  Adriatic  and  the  Sea  of  Naples ;  on  the  other  side, 
several  of  his  armies  directed  their  course  towards  the 
Danube,  to  lay  open  the  routes  to  Germany ;  and  Ottoman 
troops  had  penetrated,  with  fire  and  sword,  as  far  as  Friuli, 
to  terrify  the  republic  of  Venice,  and  reconnoitre  the  avenues 
that  lead  to  Italy. 

When  everything  was  ready  for  the  execution  of  his  ter* 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  187 

rible  designs,  the  leader  of  the  Ottoman  empire  resolved  to 
attack  Christendom  at  several  points  at  once.  A  numerous, 
army  set  out  on  its  march  to  invade  Hungary,  and  all  the 
countries  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Danube.  Two  numerous 
■fleets,  with  a  vast  number  of  troops  on  board,  were  despatched, 
one  against  the  Knights  of  Rhodes,  whose  bravery  Mahomet 
dieaded;  and  the  other  against  the  coast  of  Naples,  the 
conquest  of  which  would  open  the  way  towards  Rome  and 
southern  Italy.  In  such  a  pressing  danger,  the  hopes  of  the 
Germans,  and  even  of  a  portion  of  the  Italian  states,  reposed 
entirely  upon  the  Hungarians.  The  king  of  Hungary  was 
then  considered  as  the  guardian  of  the  frontiers  of  Europe ; 
and  to  be  always  in  a  condition  to  meet  the  Turks,  he  re- 
ceived every  year  succours  in  money  from  the  republic  of 
Venice  and  the  emperor  of  Germany.  The  pope  added  to 
these  succours  a  part  of  the  tenths  levied  for  the  crusade, 
and  his  legates  and  missionaries  were  always  present  to 
excite  the  valour  of  the  Hungarian  soldiers. 

At  the  approacli  of  the  Ottoman  army,  all  Hungary, 
governed  by  Matthias  Corvinus,  son  of  Hunniades,  flew  to 
arms.  The  Hungarian  army  met  the  Turks  in  the  plains  of 
Transylvania,  and  gave  them  battle.  Victory  was  obtained 
by  the  Christians,  who,  in  a  single  battle,  destroyed  the 
enemy's  army.  Contemporary  chronicles  take  less  pains  to 
describe  this  terrible  conflict,  than  to  exhibit  the  joy  of  the 
conquerors  after  their  triumph.  The  entire  victorious  army 
assisted  at  a  banquet  prepared  upon  the  field  of  battle,  still 
covered  with  dead,  and  all  smoking  with  carnage.  The 
leaders  and  the  soldiers  mingled  their  songs  of  joy  with  the 
cries  of  the  wounded  and  the  dying,  and  in  the  intoxication 
of  victory  and  festivity  performed  barbarc  us  dances  upon  the 
bloody  carcasses  of  their  enemies. 

The  war  between  the  Christians  and  ihe  Turks  became 
every  day  more  cruel,  and  presented  nothing  but  scenes  of  bar- 
barity and  destruction.  The  menaces  of  Mahomet ;  the  con- 
stant violation  by  the  Turks,  in  peace  as  well  as  in  war,  of 
the  rights  of  nations  and  the  faith  of  oaths  ;  many  thousands 
of  Christians  condemned  to  die  in  tortures  for  having  de- 
fended their  country  and  their  religion,  with  twenty  years 
of  combats  and  misfortunes,  had  altogether  excited  the  hatred 
of  the  soldiers  of  the  cross  ;  the  thirst  of  vengeance  rendered 


188  HISTORY    OF    THE    CKwSADES. 

them  sometimes  as  ferocious  as  their  enemies ;  and  in  tlieii 
triumphs  they  too  frequently  forgot  that  they  were  fighting 
in  the  cause  of  the  Gospel. 

Whilst  the  Turkish  army  experienced  a  sanguinary  defeat 
upon  the  Danube,  the  fleet  of  Mahomet,  which  was  directed 
against  the  isle  of  Rhodes,  was  destined  to  find,  in  the 
Knights  of  St.  John,  enemies  not  less  intrepid  or  less  to  be 
dreaded  than  the  Hungarians.  The  pacha  who  commanded 
this  expedition,  belonged  to  the  imperial  family  of  Palaeologus, 
whose  humble  prayers  had  so  frequently  solicited  the  aid  of 
Christian  Europe.  After  the  taking  of  Constantinople,  he 
embraced  the  Mussulman  religion,  and  from  that  time  only 
sought  to  second  Mahomet  in  his  project  of  exterminating 
the  race  of  the  Christians  in  the  East. 

Several  historians  have  related  at  great  length  the  events 
of  the  siege  of  Rhodes  ;  and  this  is,  perhaps,  a  fitting  oppor- 
tunity to  repair  a  great  injustice  committed  upon  one  of  the 
writers  who  have  preceded  us.  An  expression,  escaped  from 
the  Abbe  de  Vertot,  and  with  which  criticism  has  armed 
itself,  has  proved  sufficient  to  deprive  him  of  the  noblest 
reward  of  the  labours  of  an  historian, — the  reputation  for 
veracity.*  After  having  examined  with  much  care  the  his- 
torical monuments  we  possess,  and  according  to  which  the 
author  of  the  History  of  the  Knights  of  Malta  has  described 
the  siege  of  Rhodes,  we  feel  great  pleasure  in  rendering 
homage  to  the  fidelity  of  his  account,  and  we  do  not  hesitate 
to  refer  our  readers  to  it.  In  this  elegant  historian  will  be 
found  the  heroic  constancy  of  Aubusson,  grand-master  of 
the  order  of  St.  John,  and  the  indefatigable  intrepidity  ot 
his  knights,   defending  themselves  amidst  ruins,  against  a 

*  The  saying  of  the  Abbe  de  Vertot  was  but  an  expression  of  politeness 
addressed  to  somebody  who  offered  him  documents,  not  in  the  interests  of 
truth,  but  in  the  interest  of  some  families,  who  wished  that  their  names 
should  be  mentioned.  In  fact,  if  the  documents  they  offered  him  con- 
cerned the  truth,  they  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  publish  them  ;  now,  we 
see  nothing  that  has  been  published  upon  the  siege  of  Rhodes  that  proves 
that  the  Abbe  de  Vertot  was  mistaken,  or  forgot  anything  of  importance. 
It  has  not  even  been  attempted  to  attack  the  authenticity  of  the  facts  he 
relates  by  any  criticism  that  has  survived  to  our  times.  There  only  remaina 
the  famous  expression,  my  siege  is  completed,  without  any  one  having 
sought  to  explain  in  what  sense  and  upon  what  subject  this  expression  ras 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  189 

hundred  thousand  Mussulmans,  armed  with  all  that  the  art 
of  sieges  and  the  genius  of  war  had  invented.  At  the  ap- 
proach of  the  Turks,  the  grand-master  of  Rhodes  implored 
the  arms  and  aid  of  the  Christian  princes ;  but  all  the  suc- 
cours that  were  sent  them  consisted  of  two  Neapolitan  ves- 
sels, which  did  not  arrive  till  after  the  siege  was  raised,  and 
some  sums  of  money  which  were  the  produce  of  a  jubilee 
ordered  by  the  pope  at  the  request  of  Louis  XI. 

The  third  expedition  of  Mahomet,  and  the  most  important 
for  his  projects  of  conquest,  was  that  which  was  to  have  been 
directed  against  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  The  Ottoman  fleet 
stopped  before  Otranto.  After  a  siege  of  a  few  days,  this 
city  was  taken  by  assault,  given  up  to  pillage,  and  its  popu- 
lation massacred  or  dragged  away  into  slavery.  This  inva- 
sion of  the  Turks,  which  was  quite  unexpected,  spread  terror 
throughout  Italy.  Boufinius  informs  us  that  the  pope  en- 
tertained for  a  moment  the  thought  of  quitting  the  city  of 
the  Apostles,  and  of  going  beyond  the  Alps,  to  seek  an 
asylum  in  the  kingdom  of  Trance. 

It  is  probable  that  if  Mahomet  II.  had  united  all  his 
forces  in  an  invasion  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  he  might 
have  pushed  his  conquests  as  far  as  Home.  But  the  loss  of 
his  army  in  Hungary,  and  the  check  experienced  by  his  best 
troops  before  the  city  of  Rhodes,  must  have  suspended  or 
stopped  the  execution  of  his  projects.  Sextus  IY.,  when 
recovered  from  his  first  terrors,  implored  the  assistance  of 
Christendom.  The  sovereign  pontiff  addressed  all  the  eccle- 
siastical and  secular  powers,  as  well  as  the  Christians  of  all 
conditions ;  he  conjured  them,  by  the  mercy  and  sufferings 
of  Christ ;  by  the  last  judgment,  in  which  every  one  would 
be  placed  according  to  his  works  ;  by  the  promises  of  baptism ; 
hy  the  obedience  due  to  the  Church, — he  supplicated  them 
to  preserve  among  themselves,  at  least  during  three  years, 
charity,  peace,  and  concord.  He  sent  legates  in  all  direc- 
tions, charged  to  appease  the  troubles  and  wars  which  di- 
vided the  Christian  world.  These  legates  were  instructed 
to  act  with  moderation  and  prudence ;  to  lead  nations  and 
kings,  by  means  of  persuasion,  to  the  true  spirit  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  to  resemble,  in  their  pious  courses,  the  dove  which 
came  back  to  the  ark,  bearing  the  pacific  olive-branch.  In 
order   to   encourage   princes  by  his   example,   the   pontiff 


190  HISTORY    OF    THE    CEl'SADES. 

ordered  the  galleys  lie  had  destined  to  succour  Rhodes,  to 
set  sail  for  the  coast  of  Naples.  At  the  same  time  he  com. 
manded  public  prayers  to  be  put  up ;  and,  to  draw  down  the 
blessings  of  Heaven  upon  the  arms  of  the  Christians,  and 
excite  the  piety  of  the  faithful,  he  directed  that  the  octave 
of  All  Saints  should  be  celebrated  in  the  universal  Church, 
to  begin  with  the  year  1480,  which  he  called  in  his  bull  the 
"  Octave  of  the  age." 

Previously  to  the  taking  of  Otranto,  Italy  had  been  more 
divided  than  ever.  The  heat  of  factions  and  the  animosities 
which  were  created  by  jealousy  had  so  perverted  men' a 
minds,  that  several  states  and  many  citizens  only  contem- 
plated in  an  invasion  of  the  Turks  the  ruin  of  a  neighbouring 
state  or  of  a  rival  faction.  Venice  was  accused  of  having 
drawn  the  Ottoman  troops  into  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 
We  must,  however,  in  justice,  say  that  the  presence  of  dan- 
ger, and  particularly  the  account  of  the  cruelties  practised 
by  the  fierce  conquerors  of  Otranto,  awakened  generous 
sentiments  in  all  hearts ;  and  when  the  sovereign  pontiff, 
addressing  the  Italians,  said  that  the  moment  was  come  to 
rise  in  arms,  if  they  wished  to  defend  their  lands,  their 
families,  their  faith,  their  liberty,  all  Italy  listened  to  his 
exhortations,  and  united  as  one  man  against  the  common 
enemy. 

The  discourses  and  the  prayers  of  the  head  of  the  Church 
did  not  produce  the  same  effect  in  England,  Germany,  or 
Prance.  The  legates  were  everywhere  received  with  respect, 
but  they  could  not  put  an  end  to  the  war  between  England 
and  Scotland,  or  stifle  the  germs  of  a  quarrel  always  ready 
to  break  out  between  Louis  XL  and  the  emperor  Maximilian. 
In  a  Germanic  diet  which  was  convoked,  as  usual,  pathetic 
speeches  were  made  upon  the  calamities  which  threatened 
Christian  Europe ;  but  no  one  took  up  arn.s. 

The  Ottomans,  shut  up  in  Otranto,  had  not,  it  is  true, 
strength  enough  to  advance  into  Italy  ;  but  they  might  every 
day  expect  reinforcements.  After  having  raised  three  armies, 
the  Turkish  emperor  levied  a  fourth  in  Bithynia,  to  be  em- 
ployed, according  to  circumstances,  against  the  Mamelukes 
of  Egypt,  or  against  the  Christians  of  the  West.  But  even 
these  preparations,  or  the  fresh  invasions  which  they  had  rea« 
son  to  fear,  were  not  able  to  remove  the  general  indifference. 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  191 

The  nations  and  the  princes  who  did  not  believe  themselves 
threatened  with  approximate  danger,  returned  to  their  divi- 
sions and  their  quarrels.  They  had  abandoned  the  safety  of 
Christendom  to  the  care  of  Providence,  when  they  learnt  the 
death  of  Mahomet  II. :  tins  news  appeared  to  be  spread 
everywhere  at  once,  and  was  received  like  the  announcement 
of  a  great  victory,  particularly  in  the  countries  which  were 
in  dread  of  the  Ottoman  invasions.  At  Koine,  where  the 
dread  had  been  most  lively,  the  pope  ordered  prayers,  festi- 
vals, a  ad  processions,  which  lasted  three  days ;  and  during 
those  three  days,  the  pacific  artillery  of  the  castle  of  St. 
Angelo  never  ceased  to  thunder  forth  the  intelligence  of  the 
deliverance  of  Italy. 

This  joy  of  the  Christians  paints  better  than  the  long 
recitals  of  history  the  ambition,  the  genius,  the  fortune, 
and  the  policy  of  the  barbarous  hero  of  Islamisin.  During 
the  course  of  this  reign,*  five  pontiffs  had  succeeded  to  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter ;  all  had  employed  the  ascendancy  of  their 
spiritual  and  temporal  power  in  endeavouring  to  check  the 
progress  of  his  arms,  and  all  died  with  the  grief  of  seeing 
the  growth  and  extension  of  that  empire,  before  which  all 
the  East  trembled,  and  of  whose  invasions  the  West  was  in 
constant  dread. 

A.D.  1481—1571. 

The  Turks  abandoned  Otranto,  and  the  divisions  which 
arose  in  the  family  of  Mahomet  suspended  for  a  time  the 
projects  of  Ottoman  policy.  Jem-Jem,  whom  the  Latin 
chronicles  call  Zizim,  disputed  the  empire  with  Bajazet,  and 
being  conquered,  came  into  the  West  to  await  a  favourable 
opportunity  for  recommencing  the  war.  The  Knights  of 
lihodes  received  him  with  great  honours.  He  was  after- 
wards sent  into  France,  and,  by  one  of  the  whimsical  sports 
of  fortune,  an  obscure  commandery  in  the  province  of 
Auvergne  became  for  a  moment  the  asylum  of  a  prince  who 
pretended  to  the  vast  empire  of  the  Crescent.  His  presence 
among  the  Christian  powers  gave  serious  uneasiness  to 
Bajazet.  The  king  of  Hungary  and  the  king  of  Naples  had 
already  promised  to  give  the  fugitive  prince  the  support  of 

*  Mahomet  II.  took  Constantinople  in  1453,  and  died  in  1481. — 
Trans. 


792  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

their  armies.  The  Ottoman  emperor  sent  ambassadors  tc 
Charles  VIII. ;  he  informed  the  French  monarch  that  his 
design  was  to  conquer  Egypt,  and  that  lie  would  voluntarily 
cede  Jerusalem  i>o  him  if  he  would  place  Zizim  in  his  hands. 
At  the  same  time,  the  sultan  of  Cairo  sent  one  of  the  Latin 
fathers  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  to  the  pope,  and  requested 
also  that  the  brother  of  Bajazet  should  be  delivered  up  to 
him,  as  he  wished  to  show  him  at  the  bead  of  his  army  in  a 
war  against  the  Turks.  He  offered  the  sovereign  pontiff,  in 
exchange  for  such  a  great  service,  a  hundred  thousand  gold 
ducats,  the  possession  of  the  holy  city,  and  even  of  the  city 
of  Constantinople,  if  they  succeeded  in  driving  the  Turks 
from  it.  Charles  VIII.  had  not  arrived  at  the  age  for 
reigning,  and  the  queen  regent,  engaged  in  reestablishing 
peace  in  the  kingdom,  did  not  listen  to  the  proposition  of 
Bajazet.  Neither  did  the  pope  accept  the  splendid  offers  of 
the  sultan  of  Egypt ;  but  the  importance  that  appeared  tc 
be  attached  to  the  person  of  Zizim  gave  him  the  idea  that 
he  could  himself  derive  some  advantage  from  him.  He  de- 
manded and  obtained  that  the  brother  of  Bajazet  should  be 
given  up  to  him,  and  then  he  exhorted  the  Christian  princes 
to  unite  with  him,  and  promised  to  go  in  person  to  the  con- 
quest of  Greece  and  Syria.  The  enterprise  of  Innocent  VIII. 
reminds  us  of  that  of  Pius  IT  ,  and  was  destined  to  be 
equally  unfortunate.  The  pontiff  was  employed  in  hia 
scheme,  with  more  zeal  than  success,  when  he  died.  Alex- 
ander VI.,  who  succeeded  him,  had  created  for  himself  a 
name  which  repelled  the  confidence  of  the  faithful,  and  left 
no  hope  that  tbo  preparations  for  a  holy  war  would  ever  be 
able  to  divert  him  from  the  cares  of  his  personal  ambition, 
or  tear  him  away  from  his  profane  affections. 

The  kingdom  of  Naples,  however,  which  had  occasioned 
so  many  wars,  begun  and  carried  on  under  the  banners  of 
the  cross,  gave  rise,  under  these  circumstances,  to  the  idea 
of  an  enterprise  which  resembled  a  crusade.  The  duke  of 
Milan,  and  several  other  small  states,  constantly  occupied  in 
disturbing  Italy,  and  in  calling  thither  foreign  arms,  for  the 
purpose  of  increasing  or  preserving  their  own  power,  per- 
suaded Charles  VIII. ,  then  seated  on  the  throne,  to  endea- 
vour to  establish  the  rights  of  the  house  of  Anjou.  Their 
solicitation*  and  their*  brilliant  promises  awakened  the  am 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CllUSAHES.  19b 

bition  of  the  young  king,  who  resolved  to  conquer  the  king- 
dom of  JNTaples,  and  proclaimed  the  design  of  extending  his 
views  to  the  territories  of  the  infidels. 

The  passion  for  arms,  the  spirit  of  chivalry,  and  the  little 
that  remained  in  men's  hearts  of  the  ancient  ardour  for 
crusades  and  distant  expeditions,  seconded  the  enterprise  of 
the  French  monarch.  Public  prayers  were  offered  up,  and 
processions  were  formed  throughout  the  kingdom,  for  the 
success  of  an  expedition  against  the  Turks.  The  preachings, 
or  rather  the  poetical  inspirations  of  some  writers  of  the 
time,  announced  to  all  Europe  the  deliverance  of  the  East. 

When  Charles  VIII.  had  passed  the  Alps  with  his  army, 
all  the  nations  of  Italy  received  him  with  the  most  lively 
demonstrations  of  joy  ;  the  love  of  liberty,  the  spirit  of  devo- 
tion, the  sentiment  of  gallantry,  all  the  passions  which  then 
prevailed,  appeared  to  attach  some  hope  to  the  issue  of  this 
expedition.  The  nations  looked  to  the  king  of  France  and 
his  knights  for  their  independence.  Amidst  the  brilliant  fes- 
tivities of  chivalry,  the  French  warriors  were  received  as  the 
champions  of  the  honour  of  ladies.  They  gave  Charles  VIII. 
the  titles  of  envoy  of  God,  of  liberator  of  the  Romish  Church, 
and  of  defender  of  the  faith.  All  the  acts  of  the  king  gave 
reason  to  believe  that  his  expedition  had  for  its  object  the 
glory  and  safety  of  Christendom.  He  wrote  to  the  bishops 
of  France  to  demand  of  them  the  tenths  of  a  crusade. 
"  Our  intention,"  said  he  to  them  in  his  letters,  "  is  not 
only  to  recover  our  kingdom  of  Naples,  but  to  secure  the 
welfare  of  Italy,  and  to  effect  the  deliverance  of  the  Holy 
Land." 

Whilst  the  nations  on  both  sides  of  the  Alps  gave  them- 
selves up  to  hope  and  joy,  terror  reigned  in  the  kingdom  of 
Naples.  Alphonso  addressed  himself  to  all  his  allies ;  he, 
in  particular,  implored  the  succour  of  the  Holy  See,  and,  by 
a  singular  contrast,  whilst  he  placed  his  greatest  hopes  in 
th.3  court  of  Home,  he  sent  ambassadors  to  Constantinople, 
to  warn  Bajazet  of  the  projects  of  Charles  VIII.  respecting 
Greece,  and  to  conjure  the  Mussulman  emperor  to  assist 
him  in  defending  his  kingdom  against  the  invasion  of  the 
French.  Alexander  VI.,  who  had  embraced  the  cause  of 
the  princes  of  Arragon,  beheld  with  the  most  lively  in- 
quietude the  triumphant  march  of  the  king  of  France,  whc 

9* 


I9i  HIST0R1    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

was  advancing  towards  Borne  without  encountering  any 
obstacles.  In  vain  he  called  to  his  aid  both  the  states  of 
Italy  and  the  Mussulman  masters  of  Greece ;  in  vain  he 
employed  the  ascendancy  of  his  spiritual  power;  he  soon 
found  himself  obliged  to  submit,  and  to  open  the  gates  of 
his  capital  to  a  prince  whom  he  regarded  as  his  enemy,  and 
whom  he  had  by  turns  threatened  with  the  anger  of  Heaven 
and  with  that  of  Bajazet. 

Thus  the  war  which  the  king  of  France  had  sworn  to 
make  against  the  infidels  began  by  a  victory  obtained  over 
the  pope.  According  to  one  of  the  conditions  imposed 
upon  the  sovereign  pontiff,  the  brother  of  Bajazet  was 
placed  in  the  hands  of  Charles  VIII.  The  unfortunate 
Jem- Jem,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  policy  of  which  he  was 
soon  to  become  the  victim,  thanked  the  pope  for  having 
restored  him  to  liberty.  He  congratulated  himself  upon 
being  'protected  by  the  great  king  of  the  West,  and  enter- 
tained no  doubt  that  the  victorious  arms  of  the  Christians 
would  replace  him  on  the  Ottoman  throne.  Charles  VIII., 
however,  appeared  but  very  little  disposed  to  restore  to  him 
the  empire  of  Constantinople,  which  he  had  just  purchased 
for  himself.  In  the  course  of  the  last  century,  an  act  was 
found  in  the  chancery  of  Rome,  by  which  Andrew  Palaeolo- 
gus,  the  despot  of  Achaia,  and  nephew  of  Constantine,  sold 
to  the  king  of  France  all  his  claims  to  the  empire  of  the 
East,  for  the  sum  of  four  thousand  three  hundred  gold 
ducats  !  This  act,  by  which  an  empire  was  sold  in  the  pre- 
sence of  a  notary,  and.  which  could  only  be  ratined  by  vic- 
tory, appears  to  us  a  very  curious  historical  monument ;  and 
serves  to  enlighten  us  upon  the  spirit  and  policy  of  these 
remote  times.  We  must  admit,  however,  that  the  French 
monarch  seemed  even  then  to  attach  very  little  value  to  this 
kind  of  treaty,  and  fulfilled  none  of  the  conditions  of  it. 
His  attention  was  principally  directed  towards  the  kingdom 
of  Naples,  which  fortune  was  about  to  place  in  his  hands; 
without  requiring  him  to  fight  a  single  battle. 

Whilst  Charles  prolonged  his  sojourn  at  Home,  Alphonsc 
II.,  abandoned  to  his  own  resources,  a  prey  to  terror  and 
remorse,  and  pursued  by  the  complaints  of  the  JNeapo^ 
litans,  descended  from  his  throne,  and  went  to  bury  him- 
self  in  a  monastery  of  Sicily.     His  son  Ferdinand,  who  sun- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  195 

needed  him,  although  he  had  driven  the  Turks  oat  of  the 
city  of  Otranto,  and  had  been  proclaimed  liberator  of  Italy, 
could  neither  revive  the  courage  of  his  army  nor  the  fidelity 
of  his  subjects.  From  the  moment  the  arrival  of  the  French 
was  announced,  the  yoke  of  the  house  of  Arragon  appeared 
to  become  every  day  more  insupportable.  AVhen  Charles 
quitted  the  Roman  states,  instead  of  encountering  the  armies 
of  an  enemy,  he  only  met  on  his  road  with  deputations 
which  came  to  offer  him  the  crown  of  Naples.  The  capital 
soon  received  him  in  triumph,  and  the  whole  kingdom  placed 
itself  under  his  subjection. 

Fame  was  not  long  in  carrying  into  Greece  the  news  of 
the  marvellous  conquests  of  Charles  VIII.  The  Turks  of 
Epirus,  struck  with  terror,  dreaded  every  instant  to  see  the 
French  arrive.  Nicolas  Vignier  adds,  that  Bajazet  was  pos- 
sessed by  such  fear,  that  he  caused  all  his  navy  to  come  to 
the  Straits  of  St.  George,  to  enable  him  to  escape  into  Asia. 

The  presence  of  Zizim  in  the  Christian  army  particularly 
excited  the  alarms  of  the  Mussulmans ;  but  fortune  had 
exhausted  all  her  prodigies  in  favour  of  the  French.  Jem- 
Jem,  whom  the  king  of  France  hoped  to  exhibit  to  the 
enemies  of  the  faith,  died  almost  suddenly  on  arriving  in 
the  kingdom  of  Naples.  Alexander  VI.  was  accused  of 
bringing  about  this  death ;  Bajazet  having  promised  him 
three  hundred  thousand  gold  ducats,  if  he  would  aid  his 
brother  in  escaping  from  the  miseries  of  this  life.  Turkish 
historians  relate  this  event  after  a  different  manner:  they 
say  that  a  barber  of  Constantinople,  named  Mustapha,  was 
sent  to  poison  Zizim  ;  and,  what  paints  with  a  single  stroke 
the  spirit  and  the  character  of  the  Ottoman  despotism,  when 
the  barber  returned  to  announce  that  the  brother  of  the 
sultan  was  dead,  Bajazet  raised  him  to  the  post  of  vizier ; 
so  important  did  the  service  appear,  and  so  worthy  of  reward 
was  the  crime. 

The  conquests  of  Charles  VIII.,  which  gave  the  Turks  so 
much  alarm,  began  to  create  lively  inquietudes  in  several 
Christian  states.  A  league  was  formed  against  the  French, 
into  which  entered  the  pope,  the  emperor  Maximilian,  the 
king  of  Spain,  and  the  principal  states  of  Italy.  After  the 
example  of  Charles  VIII. ,  this  league  assumed  as  a  pretext 
a  war  against  the  Turks ;  but  its  real  design  did  not  remain 


196  HISTOltY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

long  concealed  ;  for  it  solicited  the  approbation  and  the 
assistance  of  Bajazet.  Policy,  on  this  occasion,  did  not 
hesitate  to  sacrifice  Christian  victims,  to  cement  an  alliance 
with  the  disciples  of  the  Koran.  As  the  Greeks  of  Epirus 
and  the  Peloponnesus  were  eager  to  profit  by  the  enterprise 
3f  the  king  of  France  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of  the  Ottomans, 
:hey  sent  deputies  into  Italy.  The  senate  of  Venice  caused 
these  deputies  to  be  arrested,  and  gave  up  their  papers  to 
the  envoys  of  the  sultan.  Fifty  thousand  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Greece  perished  victims  to  this  base  act  of  treachery. 

On  another  side,  the  inconstancy  of  the  people,  who  had 
at  first  been  favourable  to  the  arms  of  the  king  of  France, 
and  the  discontent  which  is  always  inspired  by  the  presence 
of  a  victorious  army,  all  at  once  changed  the  state  of  things 
in  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  The  French,  who  had  been 
received  with  so  much  enthusiasm,  became  odious,  and  the 
hopes  of  all  were  directed  towards  the  family  of  Arragon,  so 
recently  abandoned.  Charles,  instead  of  directing  his  looks 
towards  Greece,  turned  them  towards  France.  Whilst  he  was 
in  the  act  of  causing  himself  to  be  crowned  emperor  of  By- 
zantium and  king  of  Sicily,  his  thoughts  were  fixed  upon  the 
abandonment  of  his  conquests.  It  was  a  singular  contrast 
which  the  spectacle  presented,  of  preparations  for  a  retreat, 
and  a  triumphal  ceremony,  going  on  at  the  same  time. 
Whilst  the  nobility,  the  clergy,  and  all  the  public  bodies  of 
the  state,  came  to  congratulate  the  victorious  prince,  the 
people  were  invoking  the  protection  of  Heaven  against  him, 
and  the  French  awaited  in  silence  the  order  and  signal  for 
its  departure.  On  the  day  following  his  coronation,  and 
as  if  he  had  only  come  to  Naples  for  the  sake  of  this  vain 
ceremony,  Charles  VIII.  set  out,  accompanied  by  the  most 
distinguished  of  his  knights,  and  resumed  sorrowful^  the 
road  to  his  own  kingdom.  On  his  arrival  in  Italy,  he  had 
heard  nothing  in  his  march  but  benedictions  and  songs  of 
triumph.  On  his  return,  he  heard  only  the  maledictions  of 
the  people  and  the  threats  of  his  enemies.  In  the  first 
place  he  had  crossed  Italy  without  opposition ;  in  order  to 
leave  it,  he  was  forced  to  give  battle ;  and  considered  as  a 
victory  the  liberty  which  was  left  to  him  to  drag  back  the 
wreck  of  his  army  over  the  Alps. 

Thus  terminated  this  enterprise  of  Charles  VIII.,  whidt 


HIST011Y    OF    THE    .ItUSADES.  197 

nt  fiisl  was  pretended  to  be  a  holy  war,  which  was  directed 
by  a  short-sighted  policy,  and  the  consequences  of  which 
became  so  fatal  to  France  and  Italy.  Whilst  the  prepara- 
tions for  this  war  were  going  on,  there  appeared,  as  we  havd 
said  above,  several  writings  in  prose  and  verse,  in  which  great 
victories  were  predicted.  The  aim  of  these  predictions  was 
not  only  to  excite  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people,  but  tc 
strengthen  a  weak  and  irresolute  prince  in  his  undertaking. 
When  we  read  the  prophetic  songs  and  hymns  of  the  poets, 
we  may  fancy  we  see  the  French  setting  out  for  the  conquest 
of  the  holy  places.  But  the  scene  changes  when  we  turn 
our  eyes  to  the  pages  of  history.  Everything  leads  us  to 
conclude,  that  on  this  occasion  religious  opinions  and  sen- 
timents of  chivalry  were  but  the  auxiliaries  of  unfortunate 
ambition.  It  is  particularly  to  this  expedition  that  we  may 
apply  what  J.  J.  Bousseau  somewhere  says  of  the  crusades : 
"  The  intrigues  of  cabinets  embroiled  affairs,  and  religion 
was  the  pretext." 

The  policy  of  Venice  did  not  preserve  her  from  the  anger 
of  Bajazet,  who  declared  war  against  her.  Alexander  VI. 
published  a  jubilate,  and  demanded  tenths  of  the  clergy  of 
Europe  for  the  preparations  for  a  crusade  against  the  Turks. 
The  emperor  Maximilian,  Louis  XII.,  and  the  kings  of  Cas- 
tile, Portugal,  and  Hungary,  appeared  to  listen  for  a  moment 
to  the  propositions  of  the  pope.  But  reciprocal  mistrust 
speedily  dissolved  this  Christian  league:  in  vain  the 
preachers  of  the  crusade  repeated  in  their  discourses  the 
menaces  of  Bajazet;  they  could  not  overcome  the  indifference 
of  the  people ;  and  the  sovereign  pontiff  found  everywhere 
equal  obstacles  to  the  levying  of  the  tenths  and  the  distri- 
bution of  indulgences.  The  French  clergy  on  this  occasion 
braved  ecclesiastical  censures ;  and  what  shows  the  decline 
of  the  pontifical  power,  at  least  as  far  as  regards  the  cru- 
sades, a  simple  decision  of  the  Faculty  of  Theology  of  Paris 
was  at  that  ^.ime  sufficient  to  stand  against  all  the  terrible 
array  of  the  menaces  and  thunders  of  Borne. 

we  have  shown  how  and  by  what  causes  the  spirit  of  the 
crusades  had  become  enfeebled.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century  and  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth, 
two  great  events  completed  the  diversion  of  attention  from 
the  East.     America  had  recently  been  revealed  to  the  ancient 


i98  HISTOEV    OF   THE    CBUSADES. 

world,  and  the  Portuguese  had  doubled  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  progress  of  navigation 
during  the  holy  wars  had  contributed  to  the  discoveries  of 
Vasco  de  Grama  and  Christopher  Columbus.  But  these  dis- 
coveries, when  they  once  became  known  in  Europe,  entirely 
occupied  that  active,  enterprising,  and  adventurous  spirit 
which  had  so  long  kept  up  the  ardour  for  expeditions  against 
the  infidels.  The  direction  of  men's  minds,  views  of  policy, 
speculations  of  commerce,  all  were  changed ;  and  the  great 
revolution  of  the  crusades  on  its  decline,  was  seen,  in  some 
sort,  to  clash  with  the  new  revolution  which  was  born  of  the 
discovery  and  conquest  of  a  new  world. 

The  Venetians,  masters  of  the  ancient  routes  and  com- 
merce of  India,  were  the  first  to  be  aware  of  the  changes 
that  were  in  operation,  the  consequences  of  which  must 
prove  so  injurious  to  them.  They  secretly  sent  deputies  to 
the  sultan  of  Cairo,  as  much  interested  as  themselves  in 
opposing  the  interests  of  the  Portuguese.  The  deputation 
from  Venice  advised  the  sultan  of  Egypt  to  ally  himself  with 
the  king  of  Calcutta  and  other  Indian  powers,  to  attack  the 
fleets  and  troops  of  Portugal.  The  republic  undertook  to 
send  into  Egypt  and  to  the  coasts  of  Arabia  artisans  to 
found  cannon,  and  carpenters  to  construct  vessels  of  war. 
The  Egyptian  monarch,  whose  interests  were  the  same  as 
those  of  Venice,  readily  entered  into  the  plan  proposed  to 
him ;  and  in  order  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  Portuguese 
in  India,  he  endeavoured  to  inspire  a  fear  with  regard  to  the 
holy  places,  which  had  so  long  been,  and  still  were,  objects 
of  veneration  for  the  faithful  of  the  "West.  He  threatened 
to  raze  to  the  ground  the  church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  to 
cast  the  ashes  and  monuments  of  the  martyrs  to  the  winds, 
and  to  force  all  the  Christians  of  his  states  to  abjure  the 
faith  of  Christ.  A  Cordelier  of  Jerusalem  came  to  Rome 
to  express  the  alarms  of  the  Christians  of  Palestine,  and  of 
the  guardians  of  the  holy  tomb.  The  pope  was  seized  with 
terror,  and  hastened  to  send  the  Cordelier  to  the  king  of 
Portugal,  whom  he  conjured  to  make  the  sacrifice  of  his 
new  conquests  to  God  and  Christendom.*     The  Portuguese 

*  The  reflections  this  passage  gives  birth  to  might  fill  pages ;  but 
almost  the  most  striking  is,  to  observe  how  the  operations  of  men's  minda 
and  industry,  in  their  progress,  obliterate  that  which  is  gone  before,  and 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    CEUSADES.  19ft 

monarch  received  the  envoy  of  the  pope  and  the  Oriental 
Christians  with  kindness,  gave  him  considerable  sums  fo/ 
the  support  of  the  holy  places,  and  replied  to  the  Sovereign 
pontiff,  that  he  did  not  at  all  fear  seeing  the  threats  of  the 
eultan  carried  out,  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  hoped  to  burn 
both  Mecca  and  Medina,  and  bring  vast  regions  under  the 
law  of  the  Gospel,  if  the  princes  of  Christendom  were  willing 
to  cooperate  with  him. 

The  sultan  of  Egypt,  who  received  tribute  from  all  pil- 
grims, did  not  destroy  the  churches  of  Jerusalem  but  he 
attempted  an  expedition  against  the  Portuguese,  in  concert 
with  the  king  of  Cambay  and  Calcutta.  They  equipped  at 
Suez  a  fleet  composed  of  six  galleys,  a  galleon,  and  four 
store-ships,  in  which  were  embarked  eight  hundred  Mame- 
lukes. The  Egyptian  fleet  descended  along  the  shores  of 
the  lied  Sea,  coasted  Arabia,  doubled  the  Gulf  of  Persia, 
and  cast  anchor  at  the  island  and  in  the  port  of  Diu,  one  of 
the  most  important  points  for  the  commerce  of  India.  It 
is  of  this  expedition  the  author  of  the  Lusiad  speaks  in  his 
ninth  book :  "  With  the  help  of  the  fleets  from  the  port  of 
Arsinoe,  the  Calicutians  hoped  to  reduce  those  of  Emanuel 
to  ashes ;  but  the  arbiter  of  heaven  and  earth  always  finds 
means  to  execute  the  decrees  of  his  profound  wisdom." 

The  expedition  of  the  Mamelukes,  notwithstanding  the 
success  it  at  first  obtained,  produced  not  the  results  that  the 
sultan  of  Cairo  and  the  republic  of  Venice  expected.  The 
Portuguese,  in  their  despair,  endeavoured  to  persuade  the 
king  of  Ethiopia  to  divert  the  course  of  the  Nile.  A  project 
for  shutting  up  the  new  routes  of  commerce  and  the  passage 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  scarcely  more  reasonable. 
Instead  of  having  recourse  to  arms,  the  sultans  of  the 
Mamelukes  would  have  much  better  served  the  interests  of 
Venice,  and  those  of  their  own  power,  if  they  had  multiplied 
canals  in  their  provinces,  and  opened  a  commodious,  quick, 
and  safe  passage  for  the  commerce  of  India :  by  that  means 
they  would  have  preserved  for  the  navigat'on  of  the  Medi- 

then  again,  after  a  season,  which  season  has  done  it*  work  in  spreading 
civilization  and  intelligence,  return  to  old  courses.  Though  science  is 
bringing  us  back  to  the  old  route  to  India,  what  wonders  the  discovery  o 
Vasco  de  Gama  has  effected  for  the  progress  of  the  Great  Scheme  !— « 
Trans. 


200  HISTORY    OF   THE    CEUSADES. 

terranean  the  advantage  it  had  enjoyed  for  ages  over  the 
navigation  of  the  ocean ;  and  the.  maritime  cities  of  Egypt 
and  Italy  would  not  have  seen  the  sources  of  their  prosperity 
suddenly  dried  up. 

Whilst  the  republic  of  Venice  contemplated  with  terror 
the  causes  of  her  future  decline,  she  still  inspired  consider- 
able jealousy  by  the  splendour  of  her  wealth  and  magnifi- 
cence. Many  complaints  arose  against  the  Venetians,  who 
were  universally  accused  of  sacrificing  everything  to  the 
interests  of  their  commerce,  and  of  betraying  or  serving  the 
cause  of  the  Christians,  as  fidelity  or  treachery  became  most 
profitable  to  them.  In  a  diet  which  Maximilian  convoked 
at  Augsburg,  Helian,  the  ambassador  of  Louis  XII.,  pro- 
nounced a  vehement  discourse  against  the  Venetian  nation. 
He  reproached  them,  in  the  first  place,  with  having  thwarted, 
by  their  hostility  and  their  intrigues,  a  league  formed  by  the 
pope,  the  emperor  of  Germany,  the  king  of  France,  and 
the  king  of  Arragon,  against  the  Turks.  The  orator  then  re- 
proached the  Venetians  with  having  refused  to  succour  Con- 
stantinople when  besieged  by  Mahomet  II.  "  Their  fleet 
was  in  the  Hellespont  during  the  siege  ;  they  could  hear  the 
groans  of  a  Christian  people,  sinking  under  the  sword  of 
the  barbarians.  Nothing  could  excite  their  pity.  They 
remained  unaffected  and  motionless,  and  when  the  city  was 
taken,  they  purchased  the  spoils  of  the  vanquished,  and  sold 
to  the  Mussulmans  the  unfortunate  inhabitants  of  Greece, 
who  had  taken  refuge  beneath  their  banners.  At  a  later 
period,  when  the  Ottomans  were  besieging  Otranto,  not 
only  cities  and  princes,  but  the  mendicant  orders,  sent 
assistance  to  the  besieged.  The  Venetians,  whose  fleet  was 
then  at  anchor  before  Corfu,  beheld  with  indifference, 
perhaps  with  joy,  the  dangers  and  the  misfortunes  of  a 
Christian  city.  ]N"o,  God  cannot  pardon  a  nation,  which,  by 
its  avarice,  its  jealousy,  and  its  ambition,  has  betrayed  the 
cause  of  Christendom,  and  appears  to  maintain  an  under- 
standing with  the  Turks,  in  order  to  reign  with  them  over 
the  East  and  over  the  West."  Helian,  on  terminating  his 
discourse,  pressed  the  states  and  the  princes  to  combine 
their  efforts,  to  execute  the  decrees  of  divine  justice,  and 
complete  the  ruin  of  the  republic  of  Venice. 

This  discourse,  in  which  the  name   of   Christianity  was 


HISTORV    OF    THE  CItUSADES.  201 

ynvoked,  but  which  breathed  nothing  but  vengeance  and 
hatred,  made  a  lively  impression  upon  the  assembly-  The 
passions  which  inflamed  the  diet  of  Augsburg,  and  which 
left  no  room  for  a  thought  of  a  war  against  the  Turks,  but 
too  plainly  showed  the  state  of  agitation  and  discord  in 
which  Christendom  was  then  plunged.  It  is  not  consistent 
with  our  purpose  to  speak  of  the  league  formed,  in  the  first 
place,  against  Venice,  or  of  the  league  afterwards  formed 
against  Louis  XII.,  or  of  the  events  which  brought  trouble 
Into  Italy,  and  even  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  then 
threatened  with  a  schism. 

At  the  council  of  the  Lateran,  convoked  by  Julius  II., 
the  disorders  of  Christendom  were  deplored,  without  the 
least  remedy  being  proposed  for  them.  They  touched  upon 
the  war  with  the  Turks,  without  bestowing  any  attention 
upon  the  means  for  carrying  it  on.  The  exhortations  of  the 
pope,  which  were  supposed  to  be  animated  by  an  ambitious 
policy,  inspired  no  confidence.  The  pontiff,  whom  Voltaire 
represents  as  a  bad  priest  but  a  good  prince,  entered  in  an 
active  manner  into  the  wars  between  Christian  powers. 
Since  war  was  carried  on  in  his  name,  he  could  not  fill  the 
honourable  part  of  a  conciliator,  and  enjoyed  no  longer  the 
consideration  attached  to  the  title  of  Father  of  the  Faithful. 
He  was  not  able  to  reestablish  the  peace  he  had  himself 
broken,  and  found  it  impossible  to  direct  an  enterprise 
against  the  infidels. 

The  preaching  for  a  crusade,  so  often  repeated,  no  longer 
made  any  impression  on  men's  minds ;  misfortunes  which 
never  arrived  had  been  so  often  announced  to  nations,  that 
they  ceased  to  awaken  any  alarm.  After  the  death  of  Ma- 
homet, the  Turks  seemed  to  have  renounced  all  idea  of  con- 
quering Europe.  Bajazet  at  first  attacked  the  Mamelukes 
of  Egypt  without  success ;  he  afterwards  sunk  into  volup- 
tuousness and  the  pleasures  of  the  seraglio,  which  gave  the 
Christians  a  few  years  of  repose  and  safety.  But  as  an  in- 
dolent and  effeminate  prince  did  not  fulfL1  the  first  condition 
of  Ottoman  despotism,  which  was  war,  he  irritated  the  army, 
and  his  pacific  tastes  brought  about  his  fall  from  the  throne. 
Selim,  who  succeeded  him,  more  ambitious  and  more  cruel 
than  Mahomet,  accused  of  poisoning  his  father,  and  covered 
with  the  blood  of  his  family,  had  scarcely  attained  empirfl 


202  HISTOItT    OF    THE    0RUSADE3. 

before  lie  promised  to  the  janissaries  the  conquest  of  the 
world,  and  threatened,  at  the  same  time,  Italy,  Germany, 
Persia,  and  Egypt. 

In  the  twelfth  and  last  sitting  of  the  fifth  council  of  the 
Lateran,  Leo  X.  took  upon  him  to  preach  a  crusade  against 
the  redoubtable  emperor  of  the  Ottomans.  He  ordered  to 
be  read  before  the  fathers  of  the  council  a  letter  from  the 
emperor  Maximilian,  who  expressed  great  grief  at  seeing 
Christendom  always  exposed  to  the  invasions  of  a  barbarous 
nation. 

At  the  same  time  the  emperor  of  Germany,  writing  to  his 
counsellor  at  the  diet  of  Nuremberg,  expressed  the  desire 
he  had  always  felt  of  reestablishing  the  empire  of  Constan- 
tine,  and  delivering  Greece  from  the  domination  of  the 
Turks.  "We  would  willingly,"  said  he,  "have  employed 
our  power  and  even  our  person  in  this  enterprise,  if  the 
other  leaders  of  Christendom  had  assisted."  When  reading 
these  letters  of  Maximilian,  we  might  be  led  to  believe  that 
this  prince  was  touched  more  than  others  by  the  misfortunes 
of  the  Greeks  and  the  perils  of  Christendom.  But  the  in- 
constancy and  levity  of  his  character  would  not  allow  him 
to  carry  on  with  ardour  an  enterprise  to  which  he  appeared 
to  attach  so  much  importance.  He  passed  his  life  in  form- 
ing projects  against  the  Turks,  and  in  making  war  against 
Christian  powers  ;  and  in  his  old  age  consoled  himself  by 
thinking  that  the  glory  of  saving  Europe  might  perhaps  one 
day  belong  to  a  prince  of  his  family. 

Whilst  the  Christian  princes  were  thus  reciprocally  ex- 
horting each  other  to  take  arms,  without  any  one  of  them 
renouncing  the  interests  of  his  own  ambition,  or  offering  an 
example  of  a  generous  devotion,  Selim,  after  having  con- 
quered the  king  of  Persia,  attacked  the  army  of  the  Mame- 
lukes, dethroned  the  sultan  of  Cairo,  and  united  to  his  vast 
dominions  all  the  countries  that  the  Pranks  had  inhabited  or 
possessed  in  Asia.  Jerusalem  then  beheld  the  standard  of 
the  crescent  floating  over  its  walls,  and  the  son  of  Bajazet, 
after  the  example  of  Omar,  profaned  by  his  presence  the 
church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.*     Palestine  only  feh.  under  a 

*  To  what  extent  this  sort  of  profanation  is  carried,  even  by  so-ce  'J*,d 
nvklized  nations,  may  be  seen  by  the  story  (we  hope  not  a  true  one)  of  Sir 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CEUSADES.  203 

fresh  domination,  and  no  change  took  place  in  the  fate  of  the 
Christians.  But  as  Europe  dreaded  the  Turks  more  than 
the  Mamelukes,  against  whom  war  had  ceased  to  be  carried 
011,  the  news  of  the  conquests  of  Selim  spread  consternation 
and  grief  everywhere.  It  appeared  to  Christendom  as  if  tho 
noly  city  passed  for  the  first  time  under  the  yoke  of  the  in- 
fidels; and  the  sentiments  of  grief  and  mourning  that  the 
Christians  then  experienced,  necessarily  revived  the  idea  of 
delivering  the  tomb  of  Christ. 

"We  must  add  that  the  late  victories  of  Selim  completed 
the  overthrow  of  all  the  powers  in  the  East  that  had  rivalled 
the  Turks,  and  that  whilst  increasing  in  a  fearful  manner  the 
strength  of  the  Ottoman  empire,  they  left  it  no  other  enemies 
to  contend  with  but  the  nations  of  the  West. 

Leo  X.  contemplated  seriously  the  dangers  which  threat- 
ened Christendom,  and  resolved  to  arm  the  principal  powers 
of  Europe  against  the  Turks.  The  sovereign  pontiff  an- 
nounced his  project  to  the  college  of  cardinals.  The  prelates 
most  distinguished  for  their  learning  and  their  skill  in  nego- 
tiations, were  sent  into  England,  Spain,  and  Germany,  with 
the  mission  of  appeasing  all  quarrels  that  divided  princes, 
and  forming  a  powerful  league  against  the  enemies  of  the 
Christian  republic.  Leo  X.,  who  declared  himself  before- 
hand the  head  of  this  holy  league,  proclaimed  a  truce  of  five 
years  among  all  the  states  of  Europe,  and  threatened  those 
who  disturbed  the  peace  with  excommunication. 

"Whilst  the  pope  was  thus  giving  all  his  attention  to  pre- 
parations for  a  crusade,  the  poets  and  orators,  whose  labours 
he  encouraged,  represented  him  as  already  the  liberator  of 
the  Christian  world.  The  celebrated  Yida,  in  a  Sapphic  ode 
addressed  to  Leo  X.,  sang  the  future  labours  and  conquests 
of  the  pontiff.  Carried  away  by  his  poetical  enthusiasm,  he 
swore  to  go,  clad  in  shining  steel,  to  the  extremities  of  the 
world,  and  to  drink  from  a  brazen  helmet  the  waters  of  the 
Xanthus  and  the  Indus.  He  boasts  of  cutting  down  with 
his  sword  the  barbarous  heroes  of  Asia,  and  fancies  that  he 
already  sees  posterity  placing  his  name  among  those  of  war- 
riors who  had  never  known  fear.     Yida,  in  his  ode,  speaka 

Sidney  Smith  and  a  party  of  English  sailors,  after  the  siege  of  Acre, 
singing  "God  save  the  king,"  in  full  chorus,  in  the  great  mosque  Oi 
Omar,  at  Jerusalem. — Trans, 


204  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

of  neither  Christ  nor  the  cross,  but  of  Bellona  and  Apollo 
His  verses  appear  to  be  much  less  an  inspiration  of  the  Gos- 
pel than  an  imitation  of  Horace  ;  and  the  praises  he  addresses 
to  the  head  of  the  Christian  Church  resemble,  both  in  tone 
and  form,  those  which  the  bard  of  the  Tiber  addressed  to 
Augustus.  AYhilst  Villa,  in  profane  verses,  thus  felicitated 
Leo  X.  upon  the  laurels  he  was  about  to  gather  amidst  the 
labours  and  perils  of  a  holy  war,  another  writer  not  less 
celebrated,  in  a  prose  epistle  printed  at  the  head  of  the 
Orations  of  Cicero,  addressed  the  sovereign  pontiff  with  the 
same  congratulations  and  the  same  eulogies.  JNovagero  took 
delight  in  celebrating  beforehand  those  days  of  glory  in  which 
the  pope  would  return  in  triumph  to  the  eternal  city,  aftei 
having  extended  the  limits  of  the  Christian  world, — those 
happy  days  in  which  all  Italy,  in  which  all  nations,  should 
revere  him  as  a  divinity  descended  from  heaven  for  their 
deliverance. 

Italy  was  then  filled  with  fugitive  Greeks,  amongst  whom 
were  some  illustrious  scholars,  who  exercised  a  great  influence 
over  men's  minds,  and  never  ceased  to  represent  the  Turks 
as  a  barbarous  and  ferocious  people.  The  Greek  tongue 
was  taught  with  success  in  the  most  celebrated  schools,  and 
the  new  direction  of  studies,  with  the  admiration  which  the 
masterpieces  of  Greece  inspired,  added  greatly  to  the  hatred 
of  the"  people  for  the  fierce  dominators  of  Byzantium,  Athens, 
and  Jerusalem.  Thus  all  the  disciples  of  Homer  and  Plato 
associated  themselves,  in  some  sort,  by  their  wishes  and  their 
discourses,  with  the  enterprise  of  the  sovereign  pontiff.  It 
may  have  been  remarked,  that  the  manner  of  preaching  the 
crusades,  and  the  motives  alleged  to  excite  the  ardour  of  the 
Christians,  differed  according  to  circumstances,  and  were 
almost  always  analogous  to  the  prevailing  ideas  of  each 
period.  In  the  times  of  which  we  now  speak,  everything 
naturally  bears  the  character  and  stamp  of  the  great  age  of 
Leo  X. ;  and  if  the  crusade  had  been  able  to  contribute  to 
the  restoration  of  letters,  it  was  just  that  letters  in  their  turn 
should  do  something  in  a  war  undertaken  against  the  enemies 
of  civilization  and  intelligence. 

The  envoys  of  the  court  of  Rome  were  received  with  dis- 
tinction in  all  the  states  of  Europe,  and  neglected  neither 
evangelical  exhortations,  nor  seductions,  nor  promises,  nor 


HISTORY    OF    THE     fRUSADES.  205 

any  of  the  resources  of  profane  pclicy,  to  induce  Christian 
princes  to  join  the  crusade  proclaimed  by  the  pope.  The 
sacred  college  rejoiced  at  the  success  of  their  mission,  antf 
the  pope.  i;o  prove  his  gratitude  to  Heaven,  and  to  draw 
down  divine  blessings  upon  his  enterprise,  ordered  that  pro- 
cessions should  be  made  and  prayers  put  up,  during  three 
days,  in  the  capital  of  the  Christian  world.  lie  him  sell 
celebrated  the  divine  office,  distributed  alms,  and  walked 
barefooted  and  with  his  head  uncovered  to  the  church  of  the 
Holy  Apostles. 

Sadoletus,  secretary  to  the  Holy  See,  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished favourites  of  the  Muses,  and  who,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  Erasmus,  possessed  in  his  writings  the  copiousness 
and  the  manner  of  Cicero,  pronounced,  in  the  presence  of 
the  clergy  and  the  Roman  people,  a  discourse,  in  which  he 
celebrated  the  zeal  and  the  activity  of  the  sovereign  pontiff, 
the  eagerness  of  the  Christian  princes  to  make  peace  with 
each  other,  and  the  desire  they  evinced  to  unite  their  powers 
against  the  Turks :  the  orator  reminded  his  auditory  of  the 
emperor  of  Germany  and  the  king  of  France,  glorious  pillars 
of  Christendom  ;  of  the  army  of  Charles,  king  of  Castile, 
whose  youth  exhibited  all  the  virtues  of  ripened  age ;  of  the 
king  of  England,  the  invincible  defender  of  the  faith ;  of 
Emanuel,  king  of  Portugal,  always  ready  to  sacrifice  his  own 
interests  to  those  of  the  Church  ;  of  Louis  II.,  king  of  Hun- 
gary ;  and  Sigismund,  king  of  Poland  ;  the  firbt,  a  young 
prince,  the  hope  of  Christians ;  the  second,  worthy  to  be 
their  leader ;  of  the  king  of  Denmark,  with  whose  devotion 
to  religion  Europe  was  well  acquainted  ;  and  of  James,  king 
of  Scotland,  the  examples  of  whose  family  must  keep  him  in 
the  road  of  virtue  and  glory.  Among  the  Christian  states, 
upon  which  humanity  and  religion  must  build  their  hop,  s, 
Sadoletus  did  not  forget  the  Helvetians,  a  powerful  and 
warlike  nation,  which  burned  with  such  zeal  for  the  war 
against  the  T  arks,  that  its  numerous  bands  of  soldiers  were 
already  prepared  to  march,  and  only  waited  for  the  signal  of 
the  head  of  the  Church.  The  holy  orator  finished  by  a  vehe- 
ment apostrophe  against  the  race  of  the  Ottomans,  whom 
he  threatened  with  the  united  forces  of  Europe,  and  by  an 
invocation  to  God,  whom  he  conjured  to  bless  the  arms  of  so 
many  princes,   of  so  many  Christian  nations,  in  order  that 


206  I11STOET    OF    THE    CEUSADES. 

tlic  empire  of  the  world  might  be  wrested  from  Mahomet, 
and  that  the  praises  of  Jesus  Christ  might  at  length  re- 
sound from  the  south  to  the  north,  and  from  the  west  to  the 
east. 

Leo  X.  was  constantly  engaged  with  the  crusade  he  had 
preached.  He  consulted  with  able  captains,  and  acquired 
information  concerning  the  strength  of  the  Turks,  and  upon 
the  means  of  attacking  them  with  advantage  :  the  most  cer- 
tain means  was  to  raise  numerous  armies.  In  his  letters  to 
the  princes  and  the  faithful,  he  exhorted  Christians  not  to 
neglect  prayers  and  the  austerities  of  penitence  ;  but  he 
recommended  them  above  ail  things  to  prepare  their  arms, 
and  to  oppose  their  redoubtable  enemies  with  strength  and 
valour.  In  concert  with  the  principal  states  of  Christen- 
dom, he  laid  down  the  plan  of  the  holy  war.  The  emperor 
of  Germany  was  to  furnish  an  army  to  which  the  Hungarian 
and  Polish  cavalry  should  be  united.  The  king  of  Trance, 
with  all  his  forces,  all  those  of  the  Venetians,  and  several 
states  of  Italy,  and  sixteen  thousand  Swiss,  was  to  embark 
at  Brindisi,  and  make  a  descent  upon  the  coast  of  Greece ; 
whilst  the  fleets  of  Spain,  Portugal,  and  England,  should 
set  sail  from  Carthagena  and  the  neighbouring  ports,  to 
transport  Spanish  troops  to  the  shores  of  the  Hellespont. 
The  pope  proposed  to  embark  himself  at  the  port  of  An- 
cona,  to  repair  to  Constantinople,  under  the  walls  of  which 
city  all  the  forces  of  the  Christian  powers  were  to  meet. 

This  plan  was  gigantic,  and  never  would  the  Ottoman 
empire  have  been  in  greater  danger,  if  such  vast  designs 
could  have  been  carried  into  execution.  But  the  Christian 
monarchs  were  only  able  to  observe  the  truce  proclaimed 
by  the  pope,  and  which  they  had  accepted  for  a  very  few 
months ;  each  of  them  had  engaged  to  furnish  for  the  crusade 
troops  which  every  day  became  more  necessary  to  them  in 
their  own  states,  and  which  they  wished  to  aggrandize  or 
defend.  The  old  age  of  Maximilian,  and  the  approaching 
vacancy  of  the  imperial  throne,  at  that  time  held  all  the 
ambitious  in  a  state  of  expectation  :  very  shortly  the  rivalry 
of  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I.  rekindled  war  in  Europe,  and 
Christendom,  disturbed  by  the  quarrels  of  princes,  no  longe? 
thought  it  probable  they  should  be  invaded  by  the  Turks. 

But  these  political  dissensions  were  not  the  only  obstacles 


HISTORY    OF    TH"»    CRUSADES.  207 

to  the  execution  of  the  projects  of  Leo  X.  Another  diiTi- 
culty  arose  from  the  levy  of  the  tenths.  The  clergy  every- 
where appeared  to  have  the  same  indifference  for  the  wars 
which  ruined  them.  The  people  dreaded  to  see  their  alms 
employed  in  enterprises  which  had  not  for  object  the  tri- 
umph of  religion.  The  legate  of  the  pope  in  Spain  addressed 
himself  first  to  the  Arragonese,  who  replied  by  a  formal 
refusal,  expressed  in  a  national  synod.  Cardinal  Ximenes 
declared,  in  the  name  of  the  king  of  Castile,  that  the  Spa- 
niards did  not  believe  in  the  threats  of  the  Turks,  and  that 
they  would  not  give  their  money  until  the  pope  had  posi- 
tively announced  how  he  would  employ  it.  If  the  disposi- 
tions and  the  will  of  the  court  of  Rome  found  less  resistance 
and  occasioned  no  troubles  in  England  or  France,  it  was 
because  Cardinal  Wolsey,  minister  of  Henry  VIII.,  was 
associated  in  the  mission  of  the  apostolic  legate,  and  that 
Leo  X.  abandoned  the  tenths  of  his  kingdom  to  Francis  1. 

We  have  before  us  several  historical  documents  which 
have  never  been  printed,  and  which  throw  a  great  light  upon 
the  circumstances  of  which  we  are  speaking.  The  first  is  a 
letter  from  Francis  I.,  dated  from  Amboise,  the  16th  of 
December,  1516,  by  which  Master  Josse  de  Lagarde,  doctor 
in  theology,  vicar-general  of  the  cathedral  church  ofTJwulouse, 
is  named  commissary,  touching  the  fact  of  the  crusade  in  the 
diocese.  The  king  of  France  exposes  in  another  letter  the 
aim  of  the  jubilate  that  is  about  to  be  opened :  it  was  to 
implore  means  to  make  war  against  the  infidels,  and  conquer 
the  Holy  Land  and  the  empire  of  Greece,  detained  and 
usurped  by  the  said  infidels.  To  these  letters  patent  are 
joined  instructions  given  by  the  king,  in  concert  with  the 
legate  of  the  pope,  for  the  execution  of  the  bull  which 
orders  the  preaching  of  the  crusade  in  the  kingdom  of 
France  during  the  two  years  1517  and  1518.  These  instruc- 
tions, in  the  first  place,  recommend  the  choice  of  good 
preachers,  charged  to  make  good  and  devout  sermons  to  the 
people,  and  to  explain  the  faculties  and  dispensations  ichich 
are  contained  in  the  lull,  as  well  as  why  the  just  and  holy 
causes  for  ichich  it  is  ordered,  that  during  two  years  all  other 
indulgences,  all  other  general  and  particular  pardons,  are 
suspended  and  revoked. 

After  having  spuien  of  the  choice  of  preachers,  and  of  the 


208  HISTORY    OF    TILE    CRUSADES. 

manner  in  which  they  ought  to  preach,  the  letters  patent  of 
the  king  give  some  instructions  upon  the  choice  of  con- 
fessors. The  commissary-general  of  the  crusade  could  ap- 
point as  many  as  seemed  necessary  to  him  for  every  church 
in  which  were  troncs  et  questes  (poor-boxes  and  gatherings) 
for  the  jubilee.  He  was  commanded  to  name  six  for  the 
cathedral  of  the  diocese,  gens  de  bonne  conscience,  hors  de 
suspicion  (worthy  people,  above  suspicion).  The  ecclesi- 
astics thus  chosen  by  the  commissary  had  the  mission  to 
confess  all  such  as  were  desirous  of  indulgences  ;  and  to  avoid 
the  disorders  that  might  arise  from  the  spirit  of  rivalry,  they 
had,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others,  the  power  to  make  com- 
positions and  restitutions,  and  give  absolution,  &c.  &c. 

In  short,  the  royal  ordinance  omitted  none  of  the  circum- 
stances which  accompanied  the  preaching  of  a  crusade,  or  of 
the  forms  which  ought  to  be  adopted  in  the  distribution  of 
indulgences.  It  goes  so  far  as  to  regulate  the  shape  of  the 
troncs  placed  in  the  churches  to  receive  the  offerings  of  the 
faithful,  and  the  religious  ceremonies  that  were  to  be  ob- 
served during  the  jubilee.*  Among  other  orders,  one  com- 
manded that  a  great  number  of  confessionals,  or  bills  of 
absolution  and  indulgence,  should  be  made  ;  that  these  bills, 
signed  by  a  notary,  should  be  sent  to  the  commissary- 
general,  who  would  seal  them  with  the  seal  sent  by  the 
king,  and  that  there  should  be  left  upon  them  a  blank  space 
for  the  name  of  him  or  her  who  wished  to  procure  them. 
The  rov&l  instruction  added,  that  the  commissary  should 
cause  his  ironc  to  be  properly  and  handsomely  set  up,  and 
that  thare  should  be  in  the  centre  of  it  a  large  handsome 
cioss,  upon  which  should  be  written,  in  great,  fair  letters, 
if  iroo  ai&NO  vinces.  In  order  that  nothing  might  be 
wanting  to  excite  the  people  to  devotion,   it  was   besides 

*  This  is  the  passage  of  the  ordinance  that  relates  to  the  banners  that 
were  to  be  carried  in  procession  : — "  There  shall  be  made,  at  the  same 
time,  a  handsome  banner,  upon  which  shall  be  painted  our  holy  father  the 
pope,  in  his  full  pontificals,  accompanied  by  several  cardinals  and  other 
prelates,  being  in  pontificals,  and  mitred  with  white  mitres  ;  the  pope 
shall  be  on  the  dexter,  the  king  on  the  sinister,  armed  completely  in  white 
except  his  armour  of  state,  which  shall  be  borne  by  his  squire,  accom- 
panied by  several  princes  and  other  lords,  all  armed  ;  on  the  other  side  of 
the  said  banner,  histories  and  other  pictures,  full  of  Turks  and  othei 
infidels." 


aiSTOEY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  209 

ordered,  that  solemn  processions  should  be  made,  and  that  in 
them  a  handsome  banner  should  be  carried,  upon  which  should 
be,  on  one  side,  the  portraits  of  the  pope  and  the  king  of 
France,  and  on  the  other,  paintings  full  of  Turks  and  other 
infidels. 

In  this  ordinance,  of  which  it  gives  us  great  pleasure 
fco  recall  the  spirit  and  the  expressions,  that  which  history 
particularly  observes,  is  the  numerous  precautions  against 
infidelity  and  fraud.  The  distributors  of  the  indulgences 
were  obliged  to  consult  an  assessment  for  their  government; 
in  all  expenses  and  reinstatements.  The  troncs,  in  which 
the  money  of  the  faithful  was  deposited,  had  three  locks  and 
three  ke}rs,  and  were  only  to  be  opened  in  the  presence  of 
witnesses  ;  among  the  documents  we  have  quoted,  is  one 
which  is  the  legal  order  for  the  opening  of  the  troncs*  with 
m  account  rendered  of  the  receipts  and  expenditure,  in 
which  the  most  minute  details  are  not  neglected,  and  which 
shows  to  what  a  degree  exactitude  and  watchfulness  were 
carried.  These  rigorous  precautions  were  the  more  neces- 
sary, from  the  people  being  led  to  be  suspicious  by  the 
examples  of  past  times  ;  it  was  pretty  well  known  that  many 
of  the  collectors  of  the  money  for  the  crusades  were  not 
'people  of  worth,  and  above  suspicion.  The  more  sacred  the 
motive  for  levying  this  tribute  was  said  to  be,  the  more 
promptly  was  suspicion  awakened ;  and  the  more  anxious  did 
charity  itself  appear  as  to  the  manner  in  which  its  offerings 
might  be  expended.  Upon  this  point,  as  upon  others, 
authority  had  so  much  the  more  necessity  for  keeping  a 
severe  watch,  from  there  always  being  among  the  orators  of 
the  crusades  some  who  showed  more  zeal  than  wisdom,  and 
whose  preachings  were  really  a  subject  of  scandal.  As  most 
of  them  received  a  salary  proportionate  with  the  amount  of 
money  dropped  into  the  troncs  of  the  churches,  many  did 
not  hesitate  to  exaggerate  the  promises  of  the  sovereign 
pontiff  and  the  privileges  attached  to  gifts  of  charity.  His- 
tory gives  us  the  example  of  a  preacher  who  put  forth  from 
the  evangelical  pulpit  the  following  culpable  maxim  :  When 
apiece  of  money  shall  be  placed  in  the  tronc  of  the  crusade 

*  All  these  documents  are  unpublished,  and  very  voluminous  ;  we  wiJl 
give  some  extracts  from  them  in  our  Appendix. 

Vol.  III.— 10 


210  HISTORY    OP    THE    CRUSaDES. 

for  the  deliverance  of  a  soul  from  purgatory,  imrudiatety  that 
soul  will  be  delivered,  and  will  fly  away  towards  heaven.  The 
Faculty  of  Theology  of  Paris  censured  this  proposition  as 
contrary  to  the  dogmas  of  the  Church.  The  prudence  of 
the  heads  of  the  Gallican  Church,  and  the  wise  measures 
adopted  by  the  king  of  France,  thus  prevented  great  dis- 
orders. It  was  not  so  in  Germany,  where  the  greatest 
excitement  and  dissatisfaction  prevailed,  and  where  seeds  of 
heresy  and  trouble  began  to  spring  up  even  in  the  bosom  of 
the  clergy. 

It  may  have  been  observed,  how  much  more  easy  the 
court  of  Eome  had  hitherto  daily  made  the  opening  of  the 
treasury  of  pontifical  indulgences.  In  the  early  expeditions 
to  the  East,  these  indulgences  were  only  granted  to  the 
pilgrims  of  the  Holy  Land.  They  were  afterwards  granted 
to  all  who  contributed  to  the  support  of  the  Crusaders. 
StiJl  later,  they  were  granted  to  the  faithful  who  listened  to 
the  sermons  of  the  preachers  of  the  crusades ;  sometimes 
even  to  those  who  were  present  at  the  mass  of  the  pope's 
legates.  As  the  distribution  or  sale  of  indulgences  was  an 
inexhaustible  source  of  wealth,  Leo  X.  took  upon  him  to 
grant  them  not  only  to  those  who,  by  their  alms,  were 
willing  to  aid  in  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  war  against 
the  Turks,  but  to  all  the  faithful  whose  pious  liberality 
should  contribute  to  the  amount  necessary  for  the  com- 
pletion of  the  building  of  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  which 
had  been  begun  by  his  predecessor  Julius  II.  Although 
this  destination  might  have  something  noble  and  truly  use- 
ful in  it ;  although  it  might  be  worthy,  in  some  sort,  of  an 
age  in  which  the  arts  burst  forth  with  great  splendour,  many 
Christians,  particularly  in  Germany,  saw  nothing  in  it  but 
an  actual  profanation,  and  a  new  means  by  which  the  court 
of  Home  sought  to  enrich  itself  at  the  expense  of  the 
faithful. 

Albert,  archbishop  of  Mayence,  charged  with  appointing 
the  preachers  of  the  jubilee  and  the  distributors  of  papal 
indulgences,  named  for  Saxony,  Do-iinicans,  to  the  exclusion 
of  Cordeliers  or  Augustines,  who  had  sometimes  filled  these 
kinds  of  missions.  The  latter  showed  themselves  jealous 
of  this  preference ;  and  as  no  precaution  had  been  taker: 
either  to  avert  the  effects  of  this  species  of  rivalry,  or  put  a 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CHUSADES.  211 

stop  to  the  abuses  which  might  be  committed,  it  happened 
that  the  Augustines  censured  severely  the  conduct,  man* 
ners,  and  opinions  of  the  Dominicans,  and  that  the  hitter 
but  too  well  justified  the  complaints  of  their  adversaries. 

Luther,  an  Augustine  monk,  put  himself  forward  in  these 
violent  quarrels,  and  distinguished  himself  by  his  fervid 
eloquence;*  he  spoke  strongly  against  the  preachers  that 
had  been  selected  to  receive  the  contributions  of  the  faith- 
ful ;  and  among  the  propositions  he  put  forth  from  the 
pulpit,  history  has  preserved  the  following,  which  was  cen- 
sured by  Leo  X. :  "  It  is  a  sin  to  resist  the  Turks,  seeing  that 
Providence  makes  use  of  this  faithless  nation,  to  visit  the 
iniquities  of  his  people."  This  strange  maxim  obtained  faith 
amongst  the  partisans  of  Luther ;  and  when  the  pope's  legate 
demanded,  at  the  diet  of  Ratisbon,  the  levy  of  the  tenths 
destined  for  the  crusade,  he  met  with  a  warm  opposition. 
Murmurs  and  complaints  arose  in  all  parts  of  Germany. 
The  court  of  Home  was  reproached  with  putting  holy  things 
up  to  sale :  it  was  compared  to  the  unfaithful  shepherd,  who 
shears  the  sheep  confided  to  his  care ;  it  was  accused  of 
despoiling  credulous  people  ;  of  ruining  nations  and  kings  ; 
and  of  accumulating  upon  Christians  more  miseries  than 
the  domination  of  the  Turks  could  cause  them. 

For  more  than  a  century,  these  kinds  of  accusations 
resounded  throughout  Germany,  every  time  that  money  was 
raised  for  crusades ;  or  that  any  tribute  whatever  was  im- 
posed upon  the  Christians  by  the  sovereign  pontiff.  The 
reformers  took  advantage  of  this  disposition  of  men's  minds 
to  circulate  new  ideas,  and  to  attempt  a  revolution  in  the 
Church.  Among  a  nation  led  by  its  genius  and  character 
to  speculative  ideas,  philosophic  and  religious  novelties  were 
sure  to  find  more  warm  partisans  and  ardent  apostles  than 
elsewhere.  It  must  likewise  be  added,  that  Germany  was 
one  of  the  countries  of  Christendom  that  Rome  had,  in  its 
omnipotence,  spared  the  least ;  and  that  the  spirit  of  oppo- 

*  Some  writers  have  pretended,  against  the  opinion  of  Bossuet  and 
David  Hume,  that  Luther  was  not  drawn  into  his  opposition  by  a  motive 
of  jealousy,  and  by  a  sentiment  of  self-love.  In  spite  of  their  objections- 
the  fact  is  demonstrated.  The  learned  Mosheim,  in  his  history,  hai 
not  thought  proper  to  justify  Luther  on  this  head ;  which  is  besides  of 
very  little  importance. 


212  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

sitiou  bad  there  taken  rise,  amidst  long  quarrels  between  the 
priesthood  and  the  empire.  When  once  the  tie  that  united 
the  minds  of  people  was  broken,  and  the  yoke  of  an  autho- 
rity consecrated  by  time  was  shaken  off,  opposition  knew  no 
bounds  ;  there  was  no  longer  a  limit  to  opinions  :  the  Church 
was  attacked  on  all  sides  at  once,  and  by  a  thousand  dif- 
ferent sects,  all  opposed  to  the  court  of  liome,  and  most 
of  them  opposed  to  each  other.  From  that  period  burst 
forth  that  revolution  which  was  destined  to  separate  for 
ever  many  nations  of  Christendom  from  the  Romish  com- 
munion. 

It  is  not  our  task  to  describe  the  events  which  accom- 
panied the  schism  of  Luther ;  but  it  is  curious  to  observe, 
that  the  origin  of  the  Reformation  should  be  connected,  not 
directly  with  the  crusades,  but  with  the  abuse  of  the  in- 
dulgences promulgated  for  the  crusades. 

Like  all  who  begin  revolutions,  Luther  was  not  at  all 
aware  of  the  extent  to  which  his  opposition  to  the  court  of 
Rome  might  be  carried :  he  at  first  began  by  attacking  some 
abuses  of  the  pontifical  authority,  and  soon  finished  by  at- 
tacking the  authority  itself.  The  opinions  he  had  kindled 
by  his  eloquence,  the  passions  he  had  given  birth  to  among 
his  disciples,  led  him  himself  much  further  than  he  could 
possibly  have  foreseen :  those  who  had  the  greatest  reason 
to  combat  the  doctrines  of  the  reformers  saw,  no  more  than 
he  did,  what  those  doctrines  were  to  bring  with  them.  Grer- 
many,  divided  into  a  thousand  different  states,  and  given  up 
to  all  kinds  of  disorders,  had  no  authority  sufficiently  strong 
and  sufficiently  prescient  to  anticipate  the  effects  of  a  schism. 
At  the  court  of  Rome  nobody  could  have  believed  that  a  sim- 
ple monk  could  ever  shake  the  pillars  of  the  Church.  Amidst 
the  pomp  and  the  splendour  of  the  arts  which  he  patronized, 
and  diverted  by  the  cares  of  am  ambitious  policy,  Leo  X. 
perhaps  was  too  neglectful  of  the  progress  of  Luther.  Above 
all,  he  was  wrong  in  entirely  abandoning  the  expedition 
against  the  Turks,  which  he  had  announced  to  the  Christian 
world,  and  which  might,  at  least  at  the  first,  have  offered  a 
useful  distraction  to  minds  agitated  by  ideas  of  reformation. 
The  undertaking  of  a  holy  war  which  he  had  followed  up 
with  so  much  warmth  at  the  beginning  of  his  pontificate 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  21? 

and  for  which  the  poets  promised  him  eternal  glory, — this 
enterprise,  at  his  death,  no  longer  engaged  his  thoughts,  or 
those  of  his  contemporaries. 

In  the  mean  time  Soliman,  the  successor  of  Selim.  had 
recently  taken  possession  of  Belgrade,  and  threatened  the 
isle  of  Rhodes.  This  isle  was  then  the  last  colony  of  the 
Christians  in  Asia.  As  long  as  the  Knights  of  St.  John 
remained  masters  of  it,  the  sultan  of  the  Turks  had  reason 
to  fear  that  some  great  expedition  might  be  formed  in  the 
"West  for  the  recovery  of  Palestine  and  Syria,  or  even  for 
the  conquest  of  Egypt,  which  had  lately  been  united  to  the 
Ottoman  empire. 

The  grand-master  of  the  Hospitallers  sent  to  solicit  the 
assistance  of  Christian  Europe.  Charles  V.  had  just  united, 
in  his  own  person,  the  imperial  crown  with  that  of  the 
Spains.  Entirely  occupied  -  with  opposing  the  power  of 
Prance,  and  anxious  to  draw  Pope  Adrian  VI.  into  a  war 
against  the  most  Christian  king,  the  emperor  was  very  little 
affected  by  the  danger  which  threatened  the  Knights  of 
Rhodes  The  sovereign  pontiff  did  not  dare  to  succour 
them,  or  solicit  for  them  the  support  of  Christendom. 
Francis  I.  exhibited  more  generous  sentiments ;  but  in  the 
situation  in  which  his  kingdom  was  then  placed,  he  was 
unable  to  send  them  the  assistance  he  had  promised. 

The  Knights  of  Rhodes  were  left  to  their  own  resources. 
History  has  celebrated  the  labours  and  the  prodigies  of 
heroism  by  which  the  order  of  the  Hospitallers  illustrated 
its  defence.  After  many  months  of  combats,  Rhodes  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Soliman.  It  was  a  sad  spectacle  to  behold 
the  grand-master  L' Isle- Adam,  the  father  of  his  knights 
and  of  his  subjects,  dragging  with  him  the  sad  remains  cf  the 
order,  and  all  the  people  of  Rhodes,  who  had  determined  to 
follow  him.  He  landed  at  first  upon  the  coast  of  .Naples, 
not  far  from  the  spot  where  Virgil  makes  the  pious  JEneas 
land,  with  the  glorious  wreck  of  Troy.  If  the  spirit  of  the 
crusades  could  have  revived,  what  heart  could  have  remained 
unmoved,  at  seeing  this  venerable  old  man,  followed  by  his 
faithful  companions  in  misfortune,  seeking  an  asylum,  im- 
ploring compassion,  and  soliciting,  as  a  reward  of  their  past 
services,  a  little  corner  3f  earth  upon  which  he  and  his  wai> 


214  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

riors  might  still  unfurl  the  standard  of  religion,  and  combat 
the  infidels. 

"When  the  grand-master  set  forward  on  his  march  fcoward.fi 
Borne,  Adrian  VI.  had  declared  war  against  the  king  of 
France ;  a  league  was  formed  by  the  sovereign  pontiff,  the 
emperor,  the  king  of  England,  and  the  duke  of  Milan.  In 
this  state  of  aflairs,  the  Christian*  }f  the  East  could  not 
hope  for  any  succour.  After  the  death  of  Adrian,  Pope 
Clement  VII.  showed  himself  more  favourable  to  the  order 
of  the  Hospitallers.  He  received  the  grand-master  with  all 
the  demonstrations  of  a  paternal  tenderness.  When  the 
chancellor  of  the  order  related,  in  the  consistory,  the  exploits 
and  the  reverses  of  the  knights,  the  sovereign  pontiff  and 
the  Romish  prelates  shed  tears,  and  promised  to  interest  all 
the  powers  of  the  Christian  world  for  such  noble  sufferers. 
Unfortunately  for  the  order  of  St.  John,  the  powers  of 
Europe  were  more  than  ever  divided  among  themselves. 
Erancis  I.  was  made  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Pavia.  The 
pope,  who  had  wished  to  resume  the  old  papal  title  of  the 
conciliator,  only  drew  down  upon  himself  the  hatred  and 
the  anger  of  Charles  V.  Amidst  these  divisions,  the  Knights 
of  Ehodes  were  forgotten  ;  and  it  was  not  till  ten  years  after 
the  conquest  of  Soliman,  that  these  noble  warriors  were  able 
to  obtain  from  the  emperor,  the  rock  of.  Malta,  where  they 
became  again  the  terror  of  the  Mussulmans. 

"Whilst  Europe  was  thus  troubled,  the  conqueror  of  Rhodes 
and  Belgrade  reappeared  in  a  threatening  attitude  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Danube.  Louis  II.  endeavoured  to  reanimate 
the  patriotism  of  the  Hungarians,  and  caused  the  old  custom 
of  exposing  in  public  a  bloody  sabre  to  be  revived,  as  a  signal 
of  war  and  of  danger  for  the  country.  But  neither  the  ex- 
hortations of  the  monarch,  nor  those  of  the  clergy,  nor  even 
the  approach,  of  the  enemy,  were  able  to  appease  the  discords, 
born  of  feudal  anarchy  and  the  lengthened  misfortunes  of 
Hungary,  The  Hungarian  monarch  was  only  able  to  get 
together  an  army  of  twenty-two  thousand  men,  to  oppose  to 
that  of  Soliman.  Louis,  a  young  prince  without  experience, 
who  allowed  himself  to  be  led,  even  in  war,  by  ecclesiastics, 
named,  as  general  of  his  army,  Paul  Temory,  lately  issued 
from  a  convent  of  Cordeliers,  to  become  archbishop  of  Co- 
lotza.     We  are  unable  to  ascertain  whether,  in  this  circum* 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  215 

stance,  the  king  of  Hungary  was  obliged  to  put  himself  in 
the  hands  of  the  clergy,  because  he  was  abandoned  by  the 
nobility ;  or,  if  the  nobility  abandoned  him,  because  he  had 
pui;  himself  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy.  As  the  pope  con- 
stantly excited  the  Hungarians  to  defend  their  own  country, 
the  ecclesiastics  of  Hungary,  who  were  his  interpreters  tt 
the  faithful,  and  even  to  the  king,  must  naturally  have  exer- 
cised a  great  influence  in  all  that  concerned  the  crusade. 

In  this  war  twenty-two  thousand  Christians  had  to  con- 
tend with  an  army  of  a  hundred  thousand  Ottomans ;  and 
this  was  the  Hungarian  army  which,  according  to  the  advice 
of  the  bishops,  offered  battle  to  the  infidels.  What  is  very 
remarkable  in  holy  wars  is,  that  the  clergy  may  almost  always 
be  recognised  by  the  rashness  of  the  enterprises.  The  per- 
suasion of  the  ecclesiastics,  that  they  were  fighting  for  the 
cause  of  God,  with  their  ignorance  of  the  art  of  war,  pre- 
vented them  from  seeing  perils,  did  not  allow  them  to  doubt 
of  victory,  and  made  them  often  neglect  the  means  of  human 
prudence.  It  was  then,  in  the  confidence  of  a  miraculous 
success,  that  the  archbishop  of  Colotzn  did  not  hesitate  to 
venture  upon  a  decisive  battle.  The  clergy  who  accompanied 
him  animated  the  combatants  by  their  discourses,  and  set  an 
example  of  bravery ;  but  religious  and  warlike  enthusiasm 
cannot  triumph  over  numbers,  and  most  o"  the  prelates  re- 
ceived the  palm  of  martyrdom  in  the  meUr.  Eighteen  thou- 
sand Christians  were  left  upon  the  field  of  battle  ;  and  what 
added  greatly  to  the  misfortune,  Louis  II.  disappeared,  and 
perished  in  the  general  rout,  leaving  his  kingdom  torn  by 
factions  and  ravaged  by  the  Turks. 

The  defeat  of  the  Hungarians  brought  despair  to  the  mind 
of  Clement  VII.  The  pontiff  wrote  to  ail  the  sovereigns  of 
Europe  ;  he  even  formed  the  project  of  visiting  them  in  per- 
son, and  to  engage  them  by  his  prayers  and  his  tears  to  de- 
fend Christendom.  Neither  the  touching  exhortations  of 
the  pope,  nor  his  suppliant  attitude,  were  able  to  move  the 
princes  ;  and  it  is  here  that  we  can  plainly  perceive  the  rapid 
decline  of  the  pontifical  power,  which  we  have  so  lately  seen 
armed  irith  all  the  terrors  of  the  Church,  and  whose  deci- 
sions were  considered  as  the  decrees  of  Heaven.  War  "uas 
about  to  be  rekindled  in  Italy,  and  the  pope  was  not  long  in 
becoming  himself  the  victim  of  the  disorders  he  wonld  wil- 


216  HISTORY    OF    THE    CEUSADES. 

lingly  have  prevented.  The  imperial  troops  entered  Rome 
as  into  an  enemy's  city.  The  emperor,  who  assumed  the 
title  of  temporal  head  of  the  Church,  did  not  fear  to  offer  to 
Europe  the  scandal  of  the  captivity  of  a  pontiff. 

Although  the  authority  of  the  head  of  the  Church  no 
longer  inspired  the  same  veneration,  or  exercised  the  same 
ascendancy  over  men's  minds,  nevertheless  the  violences  of 
Charles  V.  excited  general  indignation.  England  and  France 
flew  to  arms.  All  Europe  was  troubled:  some  wished  to 
avenge  the  pope,  others  to  take  advantage  of  the  disorder ; 
but  none  thought  of  defending  Christendom  against  the 
invasion  of  the  Turks. 

Clement  VII.,  however,  from  the  depths  of  the  prison 
in  which  the  emperor  detained  him,  still  watched  over 
the  defence  of  Christian  Europe :  his  legates  went  to 
exhort  the  Hungarians  to  fight  for  their  God  and  their 
country.  As  the  pontiff  had  been  ruined  by  the  calami- 
ties of  war,  he  implored  the  charity  of  the  faithful ;  he 
ordered  that  the  plate  should  be  sold  in  all  the  churches 
of  Italy  ;  he  solicited  the  assistance  of  several  Italian  states  ; 
and  he  ordered  that  indulgences  might  be  distributed  and 
the  tenths  collected  to  support  the  expenses  of  the  holy 
war. 

The  active  solicitude  of  the  pope  went  so  far  as  to  seek 
enemies  against  the  Turks  even  in  the  East  and  among 
the  infidels.  Acomath,  who  had  in  Egypt  shaken  off  the 
yoke  of  the  Porto,  received  encouragement  from  the  court 
of  Rome.  A  legate  of  the  pope  went  to  promise  him  the 
support  of  the  Christians  of  the  West.  The  sovereign  pon- 
tiff kept  up  continual  relations  on  all  the  frontiers  and  in  all 
the  provinces  of  the  Turkish  empire,  in  order  to  be  made 
aware  of  the  designs  and  preparations  of  the  sultans  of  Con- 
stantinople. It  is  not  out  of  place  to  say  here,  that  most  of 
the  predecessors  of  Clement  had  taken,  as  he  did,  the  greatest 
care  in  watching  the  projects  of  the  infidels.  Thus  the  heads 
of  the  Church  did  not  confine  themselves  to  exciting  the 
Christians  to  defend  themselves  upon  their  own  territories ; 
but,  like  vigilant  sentinels,  they  constantly  kept  their  eyes 
fixed  upon  the  enemies  of  Christendom,  to  warn  Europe  of 
the  perils  which  threatened  it. 

When  the  emperor  broke  the  chains  of  Clement  VII.,  the 


DISTORT    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  21? 

holy  pontiff  forgot  the  outrages  he  had  received,  to  give  al? 
his  eare3  to  the  danger  of  the  German  empire,  which  was 
about  to  be  attacked  by  the  Turks.  The  capital  of  Austria 
was  soon  besieged,  and  only  owed  its  safety  to  the  bravery 
of  its  garrison.  In  the  diets  of  Augsburg  and  Spire,  the 
pope's  legate  endeavoured,  in  the  name  of  religion,  to  rouse 
the  ardour  of  the  people  of  Germany  for  their  own  defence. 
A  physician,  named  lliccius,  spoke  in  the  name  of  the  em- 
peror, and  added  his  exhortations  to  those  of  the  apostolic 
legate ;  he  made  an  appeal  to  the  ancient  virtue  of  the  Ger- 
mans, and  reminded  his  auditors  of  the  example  of  their  an- 
cestors, who  had  never  endured  a  foreign  domination.  He 
pressed  princes,  magistrates,  and  people,  to  fight  for  their 
own  independence  and  safety.  Ferdinand,  king  of  Bohemia 
and  Hungary,  urged  the  princes  and  states  of  the  empire  to 
adopt  prompt  and  effective  measures  against  the  Turks. 
These  exhortations  and  counsels  met  with  but  little  success, 
but  had  to  encounter  a  strong  opposition  from  the  still  too 
active  spirit  of  the  new  doctrines.  All  the  cities,  all  the 
provinces,  were  occupied  by  questions  agitated  by  the  Re- 
formation. We  may  at  this  time  compare  the  nations  of 
Germany,  menaced  by  the  Turks,  to  the  Greeks  of  the 
lower  empire,  whom  history  represents  as  given  up  to  vain 
disputes,  when  the  barbarians  were  at  their  gates.  As 
among  the  Greeks,  there  was  a  crowd  of  men  among  the 
Germans,  who  entertained  less  dread  of  seeing  in  their  cities 
the  turban  of  Mahomet  than  the  tiara  of  the  pontiff  of  Rome  ; 
some,  governed  by  a  spirit  of  fatalism  scarcely  to  be  equalled 
in  the  Koran,  asserted  that  God  had  judged  Hungary,  and 
that  the  safety  of  that  kingdom  was  not  in  the  power  of  men ; 
others  (the  Millenarians)  announced  with  a  fanatical  joy  the 
approach  of  the  last  judgment;  and  whilst  che  preachers  of 
the  crusades  were  exhorting  the  Germans  to  defend  their 
country,  the  jealous  pride  of  an  impious  sect  called  for  the 
days  of  universal  desolation. 

The  paternal  proceedings  and  counsels  &f  the  pope  were 
neither  able  to  calm  men's  minds,  nor  to  rekindle  an  enthu- 
siasm for  the  holy  war,  in  Germany,  or  even  among  the 
Hungarians.  Ferdinand,  brother  of  Charles  V.,  whom  the 
imperial  power  had  caused  to  be  declared  king  of  Hungary ; 
tnd  the  vaiwode  of  Transylvania,  who,  with  permission  of 

10* 


§18  H  ^TORY    OF    THE    CIUJSADES. 

the  Turks,  reigned  over  the  ruins  of  his  country  were  con* 
tending  for  this  unfortunate  kingdom,  oppressed  at;  the  same 
time  by  its  enemies  and  its  allies.  When  Soliman  returned, 
for  the  third  time,  to  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  called  thither 
by  a  party  of  the  Huugarian  nobility,  he  found  no  army  to 
oppose  his  march.  The  Ottomans  advanced  towards  the 
capital  of  Austria,  and  prepared  to  invade  the  richest  pro- 
vinces of  Germany.  So  pressing  a  danger  determined  the 
head  and  the  princes  of  the  empire  to  unite  their  forces 
against  the  common  enemy.  But  when  the  Turks  retired 
in  disorder,  no  one  thought  of  either  fighting  with  them,  or 
pursuing  them  in  their  precipitate  retreat.  The  king  of 
Hungary,  abandoned  all  at  once  by  the  Germans,  and  fear- 
ing fresh  attacks,  had  no  resource  but  to  sue  to  his  enemies 
for  peace.  It  is  a  circumstance  worthy  of  remark,  that  the 
pope  was  comprised  in  the  treaty :  Soliman  gave  the  title  of 
father  to  the  Roman  pontiff,  and  that  of  brother  to  the  king 
of  Hungary.  Clement  VII.,  after  so  many  useless  attempts 
to  interest  the  princes  of  Christendom,  appeared  to  entertain 
no  hope  but  in  Providence ;  and  exclaimed  with  bitterness, 
when  approving  the  issue  of  the  pacific  negotiations,  "  We 
have  nothing  left  but  to  supplicate  Heaven  to  watch  itself 
over  the  Christian  world." 

It  might  be  believed  that  the  holy  wars  were  drawing 
towards  an  end,  when  the  head  of  the  Church  had  laid  down 
his  arms,  and  made  peace  with  the  infidels.  But  this  treaty 
of  peace,  like  others  that  had  preceded  it,  could  only  be 
considered  as  a  truce,  and  war  would  most  likely  break  out 
again  when  either  the  Christians  or  the  Mussulmans  saw 
any  hopes  of  carrying  it  on  with  advantage.  Such  was  the 
policy  of  the  time3 ;  particularly  that  which  governed  the 
Christian  and  Mussulman  powers  in  their  mutual  relations. 
Soliman  had  abandoned  his  projects  upon  Germany  and 
Hungary,  less  out  of  respect  for  treaties,  than  because  he 
was  employing  bis  forces  against  the  Persians,  or  that  \e 
required  his  army  to  quell  some  revolts  which  had  broken 
out  in  Asia  against  his  authority.  On  the  other  side,  Chris- 
tendom left  the  Ottomans  in  peace,  because  it  was  a  prey  to 
discord ;  and  because  most  Christian  princes,  occupied  by 
their  own  interests,  listened  to  nothing  but  the  counsels  of 
their  ambition. 


HISTOEY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  219 

Europe  had  at  that  time  three  great  monarchs,  whose 
United  strength  would  have  been  quite  sufficient  to  crush 
the  power  of  the  Turks ;  but  these  three  princes  were  as 
much  opposed  to  each  other  by  their  policy  as  by  their  cha* 
racter  and  their  genius.  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  who  had 
refuted  Luther,  and  leagued  himself  with  the  king  of 
France,  to  deliver  the  captive  pope,  had  just  separated  him- 
self from  the  Romish  Chinch.  Sometimes  allied  with 
France,  sometimes  allied  with  the  emperor,  occupied  in 
bringing  about  the  triumph  of  the  schism  of  which  he  was 
the  apostle  and  the  head,  he  had  no  time  to  bestow  upon 
war  with  the  infidels.  Francis  I.  had,  in  the  first  place, 
made  pretensions  to  the  imperial  crown,  and  afterwards  to 
the  duchy  of  Milan  and  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  These 
pretensions,  which  were  a  source  of  misfortunes  to  -himself 
and  France,  disturbed  the  whole  of  his  reign,  and  never 
allowed  him  an  opportunity  for  seriously  undertaking  a 
crusade  against  the  Turks,  a  crusade  which  he  himself  had 
preached  in  his  states.  The  feeling  of  vengeance  and  jea- 
lousy which  animated  him  against  a  fortunate  and  powerful 
rival,  inspired  him  twice  with  the  idea  of  seeking  an  alliance 
with  Soliman.  To  the  great  scandal  of  Christendom,  an 
Ottoman  fleet  was  received  in  the  port  of  Marseilles,  and 
the  standard  of  the  lilies  was  mingled  with  the  crescent 
under  the  walls  of  Nice.  Charles  V.,  master  of  all  the 
Spains,  head  of  the  German  empire,  sovereign  of  the  Low 
Countries,  and  possessor  of  several  empires  in  the  new 
world,  was  much  more  anxious  to  humble  the  French  mo- 
narchy, and  establish  his  domination  in  Europe,  than  to 
defend  Christendom  against  the  invasion  of  the  Turks. 
During  the  greater  part  of  his  reign,  this  monarch  con- 
ciliated the  Protestants  of  Germany,  on  account  cf  the 
Ottomans  ;  and  avoided  collision  with  the  Ottomans,  on 
account  of  his  enemies  in  the  Christian  republic.  He  satis- 
fied himself  with  protecting,  by  his  arms,  the  capital  of 
Austria,  when  threatened  by  the  Turks ;  but  when  the 
pope  conjured  him  to  employ  his  forces  for  the  deliverance 
of  Hungary,  he  preferred  attempting  an  expedition  to  the 
coast  of  Africa.  A  war  against  the  Moors  of  Africa  was 
more  popular  in  Spain  than  an  expedition  upon  the  Danube ; 
and   Charles   was    more   desirous   of  acquiring   popularity 


220  HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES. 

among  the  Spaniards,  than  of  meriting  the  gratitude  of 
Christendom.  The  Barbary  powers  were  recently  formed, 
under  the  protection  of  the  Ottoman  Porte,  and  began  to 
render  themselves  formidable  in  the  Mediterranean.  Charles 
carried  his  arms  twice  to  the  coast  of  Africa :  in  the  first 
expedition,  he  got  possession  of  Tunis,  planted  his  standards 
upon  the  ruins  of  Carthage,  and  delivered  twenty  thousand 
captives,  who  went  to  publish  his  victories  in  every  part  of 
the  Christian  world;  in  the  second  expedition,  he  would 
have  annihilated  the  Barbary  powers,  so  destructive  to  the 
navigation  of  the  Franks ;  but  a  hurricane,  which  destroyed 
his  fleet  and  his  army,  dispersed  the  hopes  of  commerce  and 
navigators. 

At  the  time  Charles  experienced  so  great  a  disaster  whilst 
combating  the  Mussulmans  of  Africa,  the  Ottomans,  invited 
by  Francis  I.,  were  ravaging  the  coasts  of  Italy,  and  had 
recently  entered  Hungary,  from  whence  they  threatened 
Germany. 

Then  fresh  cries  of  alarm  resounded  all  over  Europe,  and 
among  those  who  exhorted  the  nations  to  oppose  the  Turks, 
the  voice  of  Martin  Luther  was  heard.  In  a  book  entitled 
Prayer  against  the  Turk,  the  reformer  condemned  the  indif- 
ference of  people  and  kings,  and  advised  the  Christians  to 
resist  the  Mussulmans,  if  they  did  not  wish  to  be  led  into 
captivity,  as  the  children  of  Israel  had  formerly  been.  In  a 
formula  of  prayer  which  he  had  composed,  he  expressed 
himself  thus :  "  Arise,  Lord,  great  Grod,  and  sanctify  thy 
name,  which  thy  enemies  outrage ;  strengthen  thy  reign, 
which  they  wish  to  destroy,  and  suffer  us  not  to  be  trampled 
under-foot  by  those  who  are  not  willing  that  thou  shouidst 
be  our  God." 

Murmurs  had  several  times  arisen  against  Luther,  who 
was  accused  of  having,  by  his  doctrines,  weakened  the 
courage  of  the  Germans.  Some  time  before  the  period  of 
which  we  are  speaking,  he  published  an  apology,  in  which, 
without  disavowing  the  famous  proposition  censured  by  the 
pope,  he  gave  to  his  words  a  different  sense  from  that  which 
the  court  of  Eome  gave  them,  and  which  he  himself,  no 
doubt,  had  given  them  in  the  first  instance.  All  his  expla- 
nations, which  it  is  not  very  easy  to  analyze,  were  reduced  to 
this  idea : — "  That  it  was  allowable  to  tight  with  the  Turks. 


HISTOET    OP   THE    CEUSADES.  223 

but  that  it  was  not  allowable  to  fight  with  them  under  the 
banners  of  Christianity."  Although  the  leader  of  the  Be- 
forniation  required  all  the  qualities  of  a  perfect  Christian  in 
the  warriors  called  upon  to  fight  the  Mussulmans,  and 
although  he  drew  all  the  principles  of  his  preaching  from 
the  religion  of  Christ ;  the  standard  of  the  cross  in  a  Chris- 
tian  army,  caused  him,  he  said,  more  horror  than  the  sight  of 
the  demon.  The  true  motive  for  his  repugnance  for  a  cru- 
sade may  be  easily  guessed  ;  a  crusade  appeared  necessarily 
to  require  the  concurrence  of  the  pope  ;  and  the  concurrence 
of  the  pope,  in  a  war  which  interested  Christendom,  was  the 
thing  in  the  world  most  dreaded  by  Luther.  He  had  so  strong 
an  aversion  to  the  court  of  Borne,  that  in  his  writings  he  asks 
himself  if  war  ought  not  to  be  made  against  the  Pope  as 
well  as  the  Turk ;  and  in  the  excess  of  his  hatred,  does  not 
hesitate  to  answer,  against  the  one  as  against  the  other. 

We  will  not  repeat  here  the  declamations  and  the  sophisms 
of  Luther.  Through  the  puerile  subtleties  and  the  con- 
trary reasonings  which  he  employs  for  his  justification,  Ave 
must,  however,  remark  the  distinction  he  has  made  between 
civil  authority  and  ecclesiastical  authority :  it  is  to  the  first, 
says  the  reformer,  that  it  belongs  to  combat  the  Turks ; 
the  duty  of  the  second  is  to  wait,  to  submit,  to  pray,  and 
to  groan.  He  adds,  that  war  was  not  the  business  of 
bishops,  but  of  magistrates ;  that  the  emperor,  in  this  cir- 
cumstance, ought  to  be  considered  as  the  head  of  the  Ger- 
man confederation,  and  not  as  the  protector  of  the  Church, 
nor  as  the  support  of  the  Christian  faith ;  a  title  which  can 
only  properly  be  given  to  Jesus  Christ.  All  these  arguments, 
doubtless,  had  something  reasonable  in  them;  and  the  opinion 
of  Luther  upon  the  civil  authority,  although  he  might  have 
adopted  it  only  out  of  opposition  to  the  papal  power,  would 
have  obtained  the  approbation  of  enlightened  minds,  if  he 
had  not  employed,  in  supporting  it,  all  the  passion  of  irri- 
tated pride ;  and  if  his  apology,  in  particular,  had  not  been 
stained  by  abuse  which  decency  will  not  allow  historv  to 
repeat. 

2*ot  content  with  this  apology,  which  had  for  title,  Of  the 
War  against  the  Turks,  Luther,  two  years  after  the  siege  of 
Yienna,  published  another  work,  entitled,  A  Military  Dis<- 
course,  in  which  he  also  urges  the  Germans  to  take  arms. 


222  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES, 

This  second  discourse  begins,  as  Lhe  first  had  done,  bt 
theological  distinctions  and  subtleties ;  by  declamations 
against  the- pope  and  the  bishops;  by  predictions  upon  the 
approaching  end  of  the  world ;  and  upon  the.  power  of  the 
Turks ;  which  the  author  finds  clearly  announced  in  Darnel. 
Although  he  endeavours  to  prove,  as  in  his  first  writing,  that 
the  war  against  the  Mussulmans  is  not  at  all  a  religious  war, 
but  an  enterprise  entirely  political ;  he  promises,  not  the  less, 
the  palms  01  martyrdom  to  those  who  shall  die  with  arms 
in  their  hands  He  represents  this  war  as  agreeable  to  the 
Divinity,  and  as  the  duty  of  a  true  disciple  of  the  Gospel. 
"  Thy  arm  and  thy  lance,"  says  he  to  every  Christian  soldier 
who  shall  take  arms  against  the  infidels,  "  shall  be  the  arm 
and  the  lance  of  God.  In  immolating  Turks,  thou  wilt  not 
shed  innocent  blood,  and  the  world  will  consider  thee  as  the 
executioner  of  the  decrees*  of  divine  justice ;  for  thou  wilt 
but  kill  those  whom  G-od  has  himself  condemned.  The 
Turk,"  adds  he,  "  ravishes  terrestrial  life  from  Christians,  and 
procures  them  eternal  life :  lie  at  the  same  time  kills  him- 
self, and  precipitates  himself  into  hen."  Luther  appears  to 
be  so  penetrated  with  this  idea,  that  he  is  on  the  point  of 
deploring  the  fate  of  the  Mussulmans  ;  and  to  chastise  indif- 
ferent Christians,  and  pusillanimous  Germans,  he  has  no 
punishment  to  wish  them,  unless  it  be  that  they  should 
become  Turks,  and  thus  be  tbe  property  of  the  devil. 

A  short  extract  is  not  sufficient  to  show  what  whimsical 
and  singular  ideas  are  contained  in  Luther's  discourse;  it 
may,  however,  be  easily  perceived  how  much  this  kind  of 
preaching  differs  from  that  of  the  orators  who  preached  the 
crusade  in  preceding  ages.  In  the  second  part  of  his 
discourse,  the  leader  of  the  Reformation  addressed  himself 
to  the  various  classes  of  society ;  to  the  nobility,  who  are 
immersed  in  luxury  and  pleasures,  but  for  whom  the  hour  of 
fight  is  at  length  come ;  to  the  citizens  and  merchants,  for 
too  long  a  time  addicted  to  usury  and  cupidity;  to  the 
labourers  and  peasants,  whom  he  accuses  of  deceiving  and 
robbing  their  neighbours.  The  tone  of  the  preacher  is  full 
of  an  excessive  severity;  he  speaks  like  a  man  who  foels>nc 
sorrow  at  the  misfortunes  which  are  about  to  nappen,  be- 
cause he  has  foretold  them,  and  his  warnings  and  prophecies 
have  been  despised.     He  says,  with  a  sort  of  satisfaction, 


HISTOET   OF   THE    CRUSADES.  223 

that  after  days  of  joy  and  debauchery,  after  seasons  offes* 
tivity  and  pleasures,  comes  the  time  of  tears,  miseries,  and 
alarms.  He  finishes  by  n  vehement  apostrophe,  addressed 
to  all  who  shall  remain  deaf  to  his  voice,  and  whom  the 
enemy  shall  find  without  defence  :  "  Listen  now,  then,  to  the 
devil  in  the  Turk,  you  who  are  not  willing  to  listen  to  God 
in  Jesus  Christ ;  the  Turk  will  burn  your  dwellings  ;  he  will 
bear  away  your  cattle  and  your  harvests ;  he  will  outrage 
and  slaughter  your  wives  and  your  daughters  before  your 
eyes  ;  he  will  impale  your  little  children  upon  the  very 
stakes  of  the  hedge  which  serves  as  an  inclosure  to  your 
heritage ;  he  will  immolate  you  yourselves,  or  will  carry  you 
away  into  Turkey,  to  expose  you  in  the  market,  like  unclean 
animals  ;  it  is  he  who  will  teach  you  what  you  will  have 
lost,  and  what  you  ought  to  have  done.  It  is  to  the  Turk 
belongs  the  task  to  humble  the  haughty  nobility,  to  ren- 
der citizens  docile,  and  to  chastise  and  tame  the  gross 
multitude." 

Luther  then  gives  his  advice  upon  the  manner  of  making 
war  against  the  Turks  r  he  is  desirous  that  all  should  defend 
themselves  even  to  death,  and  that  ali  the  countries  through 
which  the  enemy  was  about  to  pass  should  be  laid  waste ; 
he  terminates  his  discourse  by  addressing  consolations  to 
them  who  shall  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks,  and  traces 
out  for  them  a  plan  of  conduct  for  the  time  of  their  captivity 
among  the  infidels. 

This  language,  of  which  we  are  far  from  exaggerating  the 
singularity,  was  not  at  all  calculated  to  warm  and  rally 
men's  minds  for  a  struggle  against  the  enemies  of  Germany 
and  Christendom.  At  this  period,  the  princes  and  the 
states  of  the  empire  frequently  met  to  deliberate  on  their 
own  dangers.  It  was  more  easy  to  convoke  diets  than  to 
get  together  armies.  The  Protestants  were  not  willing  to 
take  arms  against  the  Turks,  for  fear  of  strengthening  their 
adversaries ;  and  the  Catholics  were  restrained  by  their  fear 
of  the  Protestants :  amidst  the  violent  debates  that  agitated 
Germany,  the  Church,  and  even  the  civil  authority  which 
Luther  had  proelaimed,  lost  all  that  unity  of  action,  without 
which  it  is  impossible  to  combat  a  formidable  enemy  with 
advantage.  Among  the  Germans,  the  spirit  of  sect  weak- 
ened by  degrees  the  spirit  of  patriotism  ;  among  Christians, 


224  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

the  hatred  they  conceived  for  one  another  caused  them  to 
lose  that  pious  ardour  which  had  animated  them  against  the 
Mussulmans.  In  proportion  as  the  Reformation  proceeded, 
Germany  became  divided  into  two  parties,  which  were  like 
two  enemies  face  to  face.  Both  parties  soon  had  recourse 
to  arms,  and,  in  the  fury  of  civil  wars,  the  invasions  of  the 
Turks  were  forgotten.  It  was  thus  that  the  Reformation, 
which  took  its  birth  at  the  end  of  the  crusades,  completely 
extinguished  the  enthusiasm  for  holy  wars,  and  no  longer 
permitted  the  nations  of  Christendom  to  unite  against  the 
infidels. 

The  name  of  the  Turks  was  still  pronounced  in  the  diets 
of  Germany,  and  even  in  the  council  of  Trent ;  but  no  mea- 
sures were  adopted  for  making  war  against  them.  From 
that  time  there  passed  nothing  in  either  Hungary  or  the  East 
which  was  able  to  fix  the  attention  of  the  Christian  world. 
The  only  event  upon  which  Europe  seemed  interested  was 
the  defence  of  Malta  against  all  the  forces  of  Soliman.  This 
defence  iu creased  the  reputation  of  the  military  order  of 
St.  John.  The  port  of  Malta  became  the  only  place  of  shelter 
for  Christian  vessels  on  the  route  to  Egypt,  Syria,  or  Greece. 
The  corsairs  of  Tunis  and  Algiers,  and  all  the  pirates  who 
infested  the  Mediterranean,  trembled  at  the  sight  of  the  rock, 
and  of  the  galleys  over  which  floated  the  standard  of  the  cross. 
This  military  colony,  always  armed  against  the  infidels,  and 
constantly  recruited  from  the  warlike  nobility  of  Europe, 
offered,  up  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  living 
image  of  ancient  chivalry,  and  of  the  heroic  epoch  of  the 
crusades.  We  have  described  the  origin  of  this  illustrious 
order, — we  have  followed  it  in  its  days  of  triumph,  and  in  its 
reverses,  still  more  glorious  than  its  victories.  We  will  not 
say  by  what  revolution  it  is  fallen,  nor  how  it  has  lost  that 
Tsh  which  was  given  to  it  as  the  reward  of  its  bravery,  and 
which  it  defended,  during  more  than  two  hundred  years, 
against  the  Ottoman  forces  and  the  barbarians  of  Africa. 

Whilst  the  Turks  miscarried  in  their  expedition  against 
Malta,  Soliman  was  pursuing  the  war  in  Hungary,  and  still 
threatening  Germany.  He  died  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube, 
in  the  midst  of  victories  obtained  over  the  Christians. 
Christendom  must  have  rejoiced  at  his  death,  as  it  had 
rejoiced  at  the  death  of  Mahomet  II.     Under  the  reign  oi 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CKUSADES.  225 

Soliman,  who  was  the  greatest  prince  of  the  Ottoman 
dynasty,  the  Turks  not  only  invaded  a  part  of  the  Grerman 
empire,  but  their  marine,  seconded  by  the  genius  of  Barbe- 
rossa  and  Dragut,  made  a  progress  that  must  have  alarmed 
all  the  maritime  powers  of  Europe.  Selim  II.,  who  suc- 
ceeded him,  had  neither  his  qualities  nor  the  genius  of  most 
of  his  predecessors  ;  but  he  followed  not  the  less  their  pro- 
jects of  aggrandizement,  or  the  views  of  their  ambitious 
policy.  The  Ottomans,  masters  of  the  coasts  of  Greece, 
Syria,  and  Africa,  were  desirous  of  adding  to  their  conquesta 
the  kingdom  of  Cyprus,  which  was  then  possessed  by  thi* 
Venetians. 

After  a  siege  of  several  months,  the  Ottoman  army 
obtained  possession  of  the  cities  of  Famagousta  and  Nicosia. 
The  Turks  stained  their  victory  by  cruelties  without  ex- 
ample. The  bravest  of  the  defenders  of  Cyprus  expiated  in 
tortures  the  glory  of  an  obstinate  resistance ;  and  it  may  be 
said,  it  was  the  executioners  that  finished  the  war.  The 
barbarity  of  the  Turks  disgusted  the  Christian  nations 
afresh  ;  and  the  maritime  countries  of  the  V»rest  beheld  with 
terror  an  invasion  which  threatened  to  exclude  Europeans 
from  every  road  to  the  East. 

At  the  approach  of  bhe  danger,  Pope  Pius  V.  exhorted 
the  Christian  powers  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Ottomans. 
A  confederation  was  formed,  consisting  of  the  republic  of 
Venice,  Philip  II.,  king  of  Spain,  and  the  pope  himself, 
always  ready  to  add  the  authority  of  his  example  to  his 
preaching.  A  numerous  fleet,  equipped  for  the  defence  of 
the  isle  of  Cyprus,  arrived  too  late  in  the  eastern  seas,  and 
was  only  able  to  repair  the  disgrace  of  the  Christian  arms. 
This  fleet,  commanded  by  Don  John  of  Austria,  met  that  of 
the  Ottomans  in  the  Gulf  of  Lepanto.  It  was  in  this  sea 
Antony  and  Augustus  disputed  the  mastership  of  the  Roman 
world.  The  battle  which  took  place  between  the  Christians 
and  the  Turks  reminds  us  in  some  degree  of  the  spirit  an  I 
enthusiasm  of  the  crusades.  Before  ;ne  commencement  of 
the  conflict,  Don  John  hoisted  onboard  his  ship  the  standard 
of  St.  Peter,  which  he  had  received  from  the  pope,  and  the 
army  saluted  with  cries  of  joy  this  religious  signal  of  vic- 
tory. The  leaders  of  the  Christians  passed  along  the  line  of 
barques,  exhorting  the  soldiers  to  fight  for  the  cause  of  Christ. 


226  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

All  the  warriors,  falling  upon  their  knees,  implored  divine 
protection,  and  arose  full  of  confidence  in  their  own  bravery 
and  the  miracles  of  heaven. 

!No  naval  battle  of  antiquity  can  be  compared  to  this  of 
Lepanto,  in  which  the  Turks  fought  for  the  empire  of  the 
world,  and  the  Christians  for  the  defence  of  Europe.  The 
courage  and  skill  of  Don  John  and  the  other  leaders,  the 
intrepidity  and  ardour  of  the  soldiers,  and  the  superiority  of 
the  Franks  in  manoeuvring  their  vessels,  and  in  their  artillery, 
procured  for  the  Christian  fleet  a  decisive  victory.  Two 
hundred  of  the  enemy's  ships  were  taken,  burnt,  or  sunk. 
The  wreck  of  the  Turkish  fleet,  whilst  announcing  the  vic- 
tory of  the  Christians,  carried  consternation  to  the  coasts  of 
Greece  and  to  the  capital  of  the  Ottoman  empire. 

Terrified  by  the  results  of  this  battle.  Selim  caused  the 
famous  castle  of  the  Dardanelles  to  be  built,  which  to  the 
present  day  defends  the  entrance  to  the  canal  of  Constanti- 
nople. At  the  time  of  the  battb,  the  roof  of  the  temple  of 
Mecca  fell  in,  and  the  Turks  believed  they  saw  in  this  acci- 
dent a  sign  of  the  anger  of  Heaven.  The  roof  was  of  wood  ; 
and  that  it  might  become,  says  Cantemir,  a  more  solid 
emblem  of  the  empire,  the  son  of  Soliman  ordered  it  to  be 
reconstructed  of  brick. 

Whilst  the  Turks  deplored  the  first  reverse  their  arms  had 
met  with,  the  whole  of  Christe'Ldom  learnt  the  news  of  the 
victory  of  Lepanto  with  the  greatest  joy.  The  Venetians, 
who  had  awaited  in  terror  the  issue  of  the  battle,  celebrated 
the  triumph  of  the  Christian  fleet  by  extraordinary  festivities. 
In  order  that  no  feeling  of  sadness  should  be  mingled  with 
the  universal  joy,  the  senate  set  all  prisoners  at  liberty,  and 
forbade  the  subjects  of  the  republic  to  wear  mourning  for 
their  relations  or  friends  who  had  been  killed  fighting  against 
the  Turks.  The  battle  of  Lepanto  was  inscribed  upon  coins, 
and  as  the  infidels  were  defeated  on  the  day  of  St.  Justin, 
the  seigneury  ordered  that  this  happy  day  should  be  every 
year  a  festival  for  the  whole  population  of  Venice. 

At  Toledo,  and  in  all  the  churches  of  Spain,  the  people 
and  the  clergy  offered  up  hymns  of  gratitude  to  Heaven  for 
the  victory  it  had  granted  to  the  valour  of  the  Christian 
soldiers.  No  nation,  no  prince  of  Europe,  was  indifferent 
to  the  defeat  of  the  Turks ;  and,  if  one  historian  may  be 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CKUSADES.  227 

believed,  the  king  of  England,  James  I.,  celebrated  in  a  poeiv 
the  glorious  day  of  Lepanto. 

As  the  pope  had  effectively  contributed  to  the  success  of 
the  Christian  arms,  it  was  at  Some  that  the  strongest 
symptoms  of  delight  were  exhibited.  Mark  Antony  Co- 
lonna,  who  had  commanded  the  vessels  of  the  sovereign 
pontiff,  was  received  in  triumph,  and  conducted  to  the  Capi- 
tol, preceded  by  a  great  number  of  prisoners  of  war.  The 
ensigns  taken  from  the  enemy  were  suspended  in  the  church 
of  Ara-Cceli.  After  a  solemn  mass,  Mark  Antony  Mureti 
pronounced  the  panegyric  of  the  triumphant  general.  Thus 
the  ceremonies  of  ancient  Home  were  mingled  with  those  of 
the  modern,  to  celebrate  the  valour  and  exploits  of  the  de- 
fenders of  Christendom.  I1  he  Church  itself  was  desirous  of 
consecrating  a  victory  gained  over  its  enemies  among  its 
festivals  ;  Pius  V.  instituted  one  in  honour  of  the  Virgin,  by 
whose  intercession  it  was  believed  the  Mussulmans  had  been 
conquered.  This  festival  was  celebrated  on  the  7th  October, 
the  day  of  the  battle  of  Lepanto,  under  the  denomination  of 
"  Our  Lady  of  Victories." 

Thus  a  unanimous  concert  of  prayers  and  thanksgivings 
arose  towards  heaven,  and  all  Christians  at  the  same  time 
showed  their  gratitude  to  the  God  of  armies  for  having  de- 
livered Europe  from  the  invasion  of  the  Mussulmans.  But 
it  was  not  long  before  this  happy  harmony  was  disturbed : 
ambition,  reciprocal  mistrusts,  diversity  of  interests,  all  that 
had  till  that  time  favoured  the  progress  of  the  Turks,  pre- 
vented the  Christians  from  deriving  the  proper  advantages 
from  their  victory.  The  Venetians  were  anxious  to  pursue 
the  war,  in  order  to  recover  the  isle  of  Cyprus  ;  but  Philip  II., 
dreading  any  increase  in  the  power  of  Venice,  withdrew 
from  the  confederation.  The  Venetian  republic,  abandoned 
by  its  allies,  hastened  to  make  peace.  It  obtained  it  by 
sacrificing  all  the  possessions  it  had  lost  during  the  war,—  a 
strange  result  of  victory  ;  by  which  the  vanquished  dictated 
laws  to  the  conqueror,  and  which  plainly  shows  us  to  what 
extent  the  pretensions  of  the  Turks  would  have  been  carried 
if  fortune  had  favoured  their  arms. 

The  war  which  was  terminated  by  the  battle  of  Lepanto, 
was  the  last  in  which  the  standard  of  the  cross  animated  of 
rallied  Christian  warriors. 


228  HISTORY    OF    THE    CEUSADES. 

Tbe  spirit  of  the  holy  wars  at  first  arose  from  popula* 
opinions.  When  these  opinions  became  weakened  and  great 
powers  were  formed,  all  that  relates  to  war  or  peace  became 
concentrated  in  the  councils  of  monarchs.  No  more  projects 
for  distant  expeditions  were  formed  in  public  councils ;  no 
more  warlike  enterprises  were  recommended  from  the  pulpito 
of  the  churches,  or  before  assemblies  of  the  faithful.  States 
and  princes,  placed  at  the  head  of  human  affairs,  even  when 
they  made  war  against  the  Mussulmans,  obeyed  much  less 
the  influence  of  religious  ideas  than  interests  purely  political. 
From  that  period  the  enthusiasm  of  the  multitude,  and  all 
the  passions  that  had  given  birth  to  the  crusades,  were 
reckoned  as  nothing. 

The  alliance  of  Francis  I.  with  Soliman  was  at  first  a  great 
scandal  for  all  Christendom.  The  king  of  France  justified 
himself  by  accusing  the-  ambition  and  the  perfidy  of 
Charles  V.  His  example  Mas  quickly  followed  by  Charles 
himself,  and  by  other  Christian  states.  Policy,  disengaging 
itself  more  and  more  from  that  which  was  religious  in  it, 
came  at  last  to  consider  the  Ottoman  Porte,  no  longer  an 
enemy  against  whom  it  was  a  duty  always  to  be  fighting, 
but  as  a  great  power,  whom  it  was  sometimes  necessary  to 
conciliate,  and  whose  support  might  be  sought  without  out- 
raging the  Deity,  or  affecting  the  interests  of  the  Church. 

As  the  voice  of  the  sovereign  pontiff  was  always  the  in- 
strument to  summon  Christians  to  take  arms  against  the 
infidels,  the  spirit  of  the  crusades  necessarily  grew  weaker 
as  the  authority  of  the  popes  declined.  It  may  be  added, 
that  the  political  system  of  Europe  was  making  its  develop- 
ment, and  the  ties  and  springs  which  were  to  found  the 
equilibrium  of  the  Christian  republic  had  an  increasing  ten- 
dency to  their  establishment.  Each  state  had  its  plan  of 
defence  and  aggrandisement,  which  it  followed  with  a  con- 
stant activity ;  all  were  employed  in  endeavouring  to  attain 
the  degree  of  power,  force,  and  influence  to  whim  their 
position  and  the  fortune  of  their  arms  entitled  them.  Hence 
those  restless  ambitions,  those  mutual  mistrusts,  that  ever 
active  spirit  of  rivalry,  winch  scarcely  ever  permitted  sove- 
reigns to  turn  their  attention  towards  distant  wars. 

Whilst  ambition  and  the  desire  of  increasing  and  defending 
their  power  detained  pi'inces  in  their  own  states,  the  people 


HISTORY    OF    THE  CRUSADES.  229 

oecame  attached  to  their  homes  by  the  blessings  and  the 
enjoyments  of  a  rapidly-rising  civilization.  In  the  eleventh 
century,  the  Franks,  the  Normans,  and  other  barbarians 
from  the  north,  had  not  quite  lost  the  character  and  habits 
of  nomadic  races,  which  iavoured  the  rise  and  the  progress 
of  that  warlike  enthusiasm  which  had  precipitated  the  Cru- 
saders upon  the  East.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  institu- 
tions consecrated  by  time,  the  precepts  of  Christianity  better 
understood,  respect  for  ancestry,  love  of  settled  property, 
the  constantly  increasing  wealth  of  cities,  with  the  progress 
of  industry  and  of  agriculture,  had  changed  the  character  of 
the  Pranks,  destroyed  their  partiality  for  a  wandering  life, 
and  had  become  so  many  tie3  to  attach  them  to  their 
country. 

In  the  preceding  century  the  genius  of  navigation  had 
discovered  America  and  the  passage  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  The  results  of  this  discovery  effected  a  great  revolu- 
tion in  commerce,  attracted  the  attention  of  all  nations,  and 
gave  a  new  direction  to  the  human  mind.  All  the  specula- 
tions of  industry,  for  so  long  a  time  founded  upon  the  cru- 
sades, were  directed  towards  America  or  the  East  Indies. 
Great  empires,  rich  climates,  offered  themselves  all  at  once 
to  the  ambition  or  the  cupidity  of  all  who  sought  for  glory, 
fortune,  or  adventures — the  wonders  of  a  new  world  made 
men  forgetful  of  those  of  the  East. 

At  this  so  memorable  epoch,  a  general  emulation  arose  in 
Europe  for  the  Cultivation  of  arcs  and  of  letters.  The  age 
of  Leo  X.  produced  masterpieces  of  all  kinds.*  Prance, 
Spain,  and  still  more  Italy,  turned  the  newly- discovered  art 
of  printing  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  knowledge.  The 
splendid  geniuses  of  Greece  and  Rome  were  everywhere 
revived.  In  proportion  as  men's  minds  became  enlightened, 
the  new  career  opened  before  them  expanded.  Another  en- 
thusiasm succeeded  to  that  of  religious  enterprises  ;  and  the 
exploits  of  the  heroic  times  of  our  history  excited  much  more 

*  The  fruit  became  ripe  in  the  age  of  Leo,  and  therefore  he  generally 
has  the  merit  of  the  cultivation.  Nicholas  V.  promoted  the  growth  of 
intelligence  and  the  arts  quite  as  earnestly  as  Leo,  and  with  more  pru- 
dence and  less  pretension.  But  this  is  a  common  error  :  no  age  was  ever 
more  forgetful  that  all  knowledge  is  progressive,  than  the  present ;  w« 
enjoy  much,  and  claim  all  the  merit  of  it ;  but  very  unjustly. — Tkaxs. 


230  HISTORY    OF    THE    CKUSADES. 

admiration  in  our  romances  and  poets,  than  they  created  de» 
sire  in  people  of  the  world  to  imitate  them.  Then  the  Epk 
Muse,  whose  voice  only  celebrates  distant  events,  sang  the 
heroes  of  the  holy  wars ;  and  the  crusades,  for  the  same 
reason  that  Tasso  became  at  liberty  to  adorn  the  recital  of 
them  with  all  the  wealth  of  his  imagination, — the  crusades, 
we  say,  were  no  longer  anything  for  Europe  but  a  poetical 
remembrance. 

One  fortunate  circumstance  for  Christendom  is,  that  at 
the  period  when  the  crusades,  which  had  for  their  object  the 
defence  of  Europe,  drew  near  to  their  end,  the  Turks  began 
to  lose  some  part  of  that  military  power  which  they  had  dis- 
played in  their  contests  with  the  Christian  nations.  The 
Ottomans  had  at  first  been,  as  we  have  already  said,  the 
only  nation  that  kept  on  foot  a  regular  standing  army,  which 
gave  it  a  vast  superiority  over  powers  that  it  was  desirous 
of  subduing.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  most  of  the  great 
states  of  Europe  had  likewise  armies  which  they  could  at 
any  time  bring  against  their  enemies.  Discipline  and  mili- 
tary tactics  had  made  great  progress  in  Christendom ;  artil- 
lery and  marine  became  more  perfect  in  the  West  every  day, 
whilst  the  Turks,  in  all  that  concerns  the  art  of  war,  or  that 
of  navigation,  gathered  no  advantage  from  cither  the  lessons 
of  experience,  or  from  the  knowledge  to  which  time  and  cir- 
cumstances had  given  birth  among  their  neighbours.  We 
ought  to  add,  that  the  spirit  of  superstition  and  intolerance 
which  the  Turks  associated  with  their  wars,  was  very  injurious 
to  the  preservation  and  extent  of  their  conquests.  When 
they  took  possession  of  a  province,  they  insisted  upon  making 
their  laws,  their  customs,  p„nd  their  worship  paramount. 
They  must  change  everything,  they  must  destroy  everything, 
in  the  country  in  which  they  wished  to  establish  themselves  ; 
they  must  either  exterminate  the  population,  or  reduce  it  to 
the  impossibility  of  disturbing  a  foreign  domination.  Thus 
it  may  be  remarked,  that,  although  several  times  masters  of 
Hungary,  they  retired  from  it  after  every  campaign,  and 
were  never  able,  amidst  all  their  victories,  to  found  a  colony 
or  make  any  durable  establishment  there.  The  Ottoman 
population  which  had  sufficed  for  occupying  and  enslaving 
the  Greek  empire,  could  not  people  and  preserve  more  dis- 
tant countries.     It  was  this,  above  everything,  which  saved 


HISTOSY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  231 

G-ermany  and  Italy  from  the  invasion  of  the  Turks.  The 
Ottomans  might,  perhaps,  have  conquered  the  world  if  they 
aad  been  able  to  impose  their  manners  upon  it,  or  furnish  it 
with  inhabitants. 

After  the  battle  of  Lepanto,  although  they  had  preserved 
the  isle  of  Cyprus,  and  dictated  laws  to  the  republic  of 
Venice,  the  Turks  not  the  less  lost  the  idea  of  their  being 
invincible,  or  that  all  the  world  must  submit  to  their  arms. 
It  was  observed  that  from  that  time  most  of  the  leaders  of 
Turkish  armies  or  fleets  became  more  timid,  and  felt  less 
assured  ot  victory,  when  in  the  presence  of  an  enemy.  As- 
trologers, who  had  till  then  beheld  in  the  phenomena  of  the 
heavens  the  increase  and  the  glory  of  the  Ottoman  empire, 
saw  nothing  during  the  reign  of  Soliman  and  following 
reigns  but  sinister  auguries  in  the  aspects  of  the  celestial 
bodies.  We  mention  astrologers,  because  their  predictions 
have  considerable  influence  upon  the  policy  of  the  Turks, 
it  is  not  improbable  that  these  pretended  conjurers  did  not 
confine  their  observations  to  the  celestial  bodies,  but  that 
they  watched  the  manners  and  the  opinions  of  the  people, 
and  the  march  of  events  and  affairs.  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  their  prophecies  were  found  true,  and  that  they  belong, 
in  some  sort,  to  history. 

The  spirit  of  conquest,  however,  which  had  so  long  ani- 
mated the  nation,  still  subsisted,  and  sometimes  fortune 
favoured  the  Ottoman  banner  with  victory. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Turks 
carried  war  to  both  the  banks  of  the  Danube  and  to  the 
frontiers  of  Persia.  Among  the  Christian  warriors  who 
flew  to  the  aid  of  Germany,  the  duke  of  Mercosur,  brother 
of  the  duke  of  Mayenne,  must  not  be  forgotten  ;  he  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  crowd  of  French  soldiers,  who  had  fought  against 
Henry  IV.,  and  who  went  to  expiate  the  crimes  of  civil  war 
by  lighting  the  infidels.  The  duke  of  Mercceur,  to  whom 
the  emperor  Eodolph  II.  gave  the  command  of  the  im- 
perial army,  gained  several  advantages  over  the  Ottomans. 

Whilst  the  war  was  being  carried  on  in  Hungary,  the 
king  of  Persia  sent  an  embassy  to  the  emperor  of  Germany 
and  the  princes  of  the  AVest,  to  persuade  them  to  form  an 
alliance  with  him  against  the  Turks.  The  Persian  ambas- 
sadors repaired  to  the  court  of  the  sovereign  pontiff,  and  tc 


232  HISTORY   OF   THE    CEUSA.DES. 

those  of  several  Christian  powers,  conjuring  them  to  declare 
war  against  the  Ottomans.  This  embassy  of  the  kin/j  ot 
Persia,  and  the  exploits  of  the  French  on  the  Danube,  created 
great  uneasiness  in  the  Divan,  and  an  ambassador  was  sent 
to  the  king  of  France,  as  the  most  to  be  feared  of  the 
Christian  princes.  The  letters  of  credit  of  the  Turkish 
envoy  bore  this  title :  "  To  the  most  glorious,  magnanimous, 
and  greatest  lord  of  the  faith  of  Jesus,  pacificator  of  the 
differences  which  arise  among  Christian  princes,  lord  of 
greatness,  majesty,  and  riches,  and  glorious  guide  of  the 
greatest,  Henry  IV.,  emperor  of  France."  The  sultan  of 
the  Turks  conjured  the  French  monarch,  in  his  letter,  to 
bring  about  a  truce  between  the  Porte  and  the  emperor  of 
Germany,  and  to  recall  from  Hungary  the  duke  of  Mercceur, 
whose  valour  and  skill  brought  victory  to  the  banners  of  the 
Germans.  Henry  IV.  interrogated  the  Ottoman  ambas- 
sador, and  asked  him  why  the  Turks  dreaded  the  duke  of 
Mercceur  so  much.  The  ambassador  replied,  that  a  pro- 
phecy, credited  by  the  Turks,  declared  that  the  sword  of  the 
French  would  drive  them  from  Europe,  and  overthrow  their 
empire.  Henry  IV.  did  not  recall  the  duke  of  Mercceur : 
this  able  captain  continued  to  beat  the  Ottomans,  and 
having  covered  himself  with  glory  in  the  war  against  t_e 
infidels,  he  was  seized,  whilst  on  his  return  to  France,  by  a 
purple  fever,  "which,"  says  Mezerai,  "  sent  him  to  triumph 
in  heaven." 

In  their  wars  against  the  Christians,  the  Turks  often 
found  themselves  on  the  defensive,  which  was  for  them  a 
sign  of  decline.  History  remarks  that  at  no  period  did  their 
reverses  cause  them  more  alarm,  or  their  victories  more  sur- 
prise and  joy.  Their  defeats  were  almost  always  a  signal 
for  sedition  and  revolt,  which  the  decline  of  power  rendered 
bold. 

And  yet  the  Ottoman  empire  still  carried  on  war,  and 
advanced  like  a  storm  ready  to  burst.  In  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  isle  of  Chio,  which  had  belonged 
to  the  Genoese,  was  added  to  its  maritime  possessions,  and 
the  Turks  directed  their  victorious  arms  towards  Candia,  an 
important  colony  of  the  Venetians.  At  the  same  time  an 
Ottoman  army  entered  Transylvania,  and  greatly  alarmed 
Austria. 


HISTORY    OF   TIIE   CRTTSASES.  233 

Pope  Alexander  VII.,  pressed  by  the  emperor  Leopold  L 
and  by  the  Venetian  senate,  endeavoured  to  form  a  league 
among  the  princes  and  states  of  Christendom,  and  addressed 
the  king  of  Poland,  the  king  of  Spain,  and  more  particu* 
larly  the  king  of  Prance,  to  implore  their  succour  against 
the' Turks. 

Louis  XIV.  yielded  to  the  prayers  of  the  sovereign  pon- 
tiff, and  sent  to  Home  an  ambassador  charged  to  announce 
to  his  holiness,  that  he  entered  into  the  confederation  of 
the  Christian  princes.  On  the  other  side,  the  states  of  the 
Germanic  empire,  which  were  the  allies  of  France,  assembled 
at  Frankfort,  and  engaged  to  raise  money  and  troops,  pro- 
mising to  unite  their  efforts  with  those  of  the  French 
monarch,  for  the  defence  of  Christendom. 

This  generous  forwardness  on  the  part  of  the  king  of 
France  and  his  allies  merited,  no  doubt,  the  gratitude  of 
Leopold ;  but,  what  is  difficult  to  be  believed,  the  zeal  they 
showed  for  the  c  nnmon  cause,  and  which  exceeded  what  was 
first  hoped  for,  only  awakened  the  jealous  uneasiness  of  the 
emperor.  We  have  even  reason  to  think  that  this  uneasi- 
ness extended  to  the  sovereign  pontiff;  for  his  holiness 
welcomed  the  propositions  of  Louis  XIV.  very  coldly;  and 
when  the  resolutions  of  the  Germanic  body  reached  Rome, 
Alexander  received  with  indifference  news  for  which  any 
other  pope,  say  the  memoirs  of  the  time,  would  not  have 
failed  to  go  and  return  solemn  thanks  in  the  church  of 
St.  Peter  or  of  8t.  John  of  the  Lateran.  The  king  of 
France  could  not  dissemble  his  surprise ;  and  in  a  letter, 
which  he  caused  to  be  written  to  his  ambassador,  are  these 
remarkable  words :  "  For  the  rest,  it  is  more  an  affair  of  his 
holiness  than  ours ;  it  will  suffice  for  his  majesty,  for  his 
own  satisfaction  and  his  duty  towards  God,  to  have  made 
all  the  advances  with  respect  to  this  league,  that  a  king,  the 
eldest  son  of  the  Church,  and  the  principal  defender  of 
religion,  could  do  in  a  danger  imminent  for  Christendom." 

It  was  soon  known  that  the  Turks  were  making  progress, 
and  had  penetrated  into  Moravia.  The  emperor  Leopold, 
at  their  approach,  quitted  his  capital.  The  pope  then  con- 
sented to  resume  the  suspended  negotiations.  But  they 
were  resumed  with  a  sentiment  of  jealousy  and  reciprocal 
mistrust,  that  left  no  hope  of  a  happy  result.     Louis  XIV, 

Vol.  TIT— 11 


234  HISTORY   OF    THE    CRUSADJlS. 

nevertheless,  omitted  nothing  to  prove  the  frankness  of  his 
intentions,  or  to  forward  the  formation  of  a  league.  It  ,vas 
then  believed  that  an  enterprise  against  the  Turks  Mas  the 
business  of  all  Christendom,  and  that,  in  this  case,  one  Chris* 
tian  power  alone,  ought  not  to  decide  for  peace  or  war. 

We  enter  into  some  details  here,  because  these  details 
have  not  been  hitherto  generally  known,  and  that  present 
circumstances  may  give  them  additional  interest.  We  know, 
likewise,  in  the  days  in  which  we  live,  we  must  search  for 
examples  in  old  remembrances,  and  often  for  our  true  titles 
to  glory  likewise. 

The  emperor  could  not  be  reassured  by  the  demonstra- 
tions of  the  French  monarch ;  and  the  rancour  which  he 
retained  on  account  of  the  treaty  of  Westphalia,  made  him 
forgetful  of  his  own  dangers  and  of  those  of  the  Germanic 
body.  Louis  XIV.  engaged  to  set  on  foot  an  army  of 
twenty  thousand  men,  and  the  confederates  of  Germany 
offered  as  many.  Leopold  feared  this  army  on  his  own 
account.  In  the  end,  Louis  satisfied  himself  with  furnishing 
six  thousand  soldiers,  under  the  command  of  the  count  de 
Coligny  and  i:he  marquis  de  la  Feuillade.  The  pope,  not 
to  remain  neuter  in  a  war  against  the  Mussulmans,  granted 
the  emperor  a  subsidy  of  70,000  florins,  and  the  faculty  ot 
levying  tenths  upon  all  the  ecclesiastical  property  in  the 
Austrian  states.  All  the  united  succours  of  Germany,  the 
king  of  France,  and  the  other  confederate  states,  formed  an 
army  of  thirty  thousand  men.  This  army  marched  to  Hun- 
gary. When  united  to  the  troops  of  the  emperor,  they 
gained  many  advantages  over  the  Turks,  and  defeated  them 
completely  at  the  battle  of  St.  Gothard.  The  Ottomans 
solicited  a  suspension  of  arms,  and  the  jealous  passions 
which  had  at  first  prevented  the  war  being  carried  on  with 
vigour,  allowed  the  Divan  to  conclude  an  advantageous 
peace. 

The  Ottomans,  thus  delivered  from  a  formidable  war,  were 
able  to  direct  all  their  strength  against  Candia,  which 
Venice,  now  left  alone,  was  not  strong  enough  to  defend. 
A  great  number  of  French  warriors  then  flew  to  the  succour 
of  a  Christian  city  besieged  by  the  infidels :  among  the 
knights  whom  the  love  of  glory  led  to  this  perilous  and 
distant  war,  history  takca  pleasure  in  naming  the  marquis 


HISTORY    OF    THE    JRUSAT.ES.  235 

de  Fenelon,  whose  care  had  brought  up  the  archbishop  c& 
Cambrai,  and  whom  his  age  considered  as  the  model  of  gal- 
lant gentlemen.  His  young  son,  whom  he  took  with  him, 
was  wounded  in  an  affair  against  the  Turks,  and  died  of  his 
wounds.  France,  in  the  same  expedition,  had  to  lament 
another  hero,  the  young  duke  of  Beaufort;  Mascaron,  who 
pronounced  the  funeral  oration  of  this  new  Maccabeus,  thus 
describes  his  death :  "  After  the  flight  of  all  the  others, 
yielding  rather  to  number  than  to  strength,  he  fell  upon  his 
own  trophies,  and  died  the  most  glorious  death  that  a  Chris- 
tian hero  could  wish,  sword  in  hand  against  the  enemies  of 
his  God  and  his  king,  in  the  sight  of  Europe,  Asia,  and 
Africa ;  and  more  than  all  that,  in  the  sight  of  God  and  his 
angels."  Louis  XIV.,  always  considering  it  consistent  with 
his  glory  to  protect  the  Christian  states,  sent  fresh  succours 
to  Candia:  four  French  vessels  appeared  before  the  isle;  but 
they  arrived  too  late ;  the  city  of  Candia,  after  a  siege  of  two 
years  and  four  months,  had  just  capitulated. 

This  conquest  revived  the  courage  of  the  Turks,  and  their 
power,  sustained  by  the  genius  of  Kiouprouli,  whom  the 
Mussulmans  called  the  great  destroyer  of  the  bells  of  im- 
piety, might  have  still  rendered  themselves  formidable  to 
the  Christian  nations,  if  their  policy  had  not  been  governed 
by  a  foolish  pride.  Intoxicated  with  some  trifling  successes, 
the  Turks  resumed  their  project  of  invading  Germany.  To- 
wards the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  they  made  a  last 
attempt,  and  the  capital  of  Austria  beheld  beneath  its  walls 
an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand  infidels. 

Germany  was  exhausted  by  the  thirty  years'  war.  The 
king  of  Poland,  urged  by  the  pope  to  come  to  the  succour 
of  the  Germanic  empire,  hastened  with  his  Polish  cavalry  to 
the  seene  of  action,  and  revived  the  courage  of  the  Germans 
and  the  garrison  of  Vienna.  The  Turks,  upon  being  attacked 
with  impetuosity,  abandoned  their  camp,  their  artillery,  and 
their  baggage.  The  wreck  of  the  Ottoman  army  did  not 
rally  till  they  reached  the  banks  of  the  Raab,  where  they 
encamped  around  the  tent  of  the  grand  vizier,  the  only  one 
that  had  not  Allien  into  the  hands  of  the  conquerors.  John 
Sobieski  entered  in  triumph  into  the  city  he  had  saved  by 
his  courage.  This  happy  event  was  celebrated  throughout 
Germany  by  public  rejoicings ;  and,  as  had  been  done  after 


230  HISTOET    OF    TBE    CRUSADES. 

the  victory  gained  by  Don  John  of  Austria,  amidst  the  cere- 
monies of  the  Church,  these  words  from  Scripture  were 
repeated  :  "  There  was  a  man  sent  from  God,  named  John." 

The  defeat  of  Vienna  was  for  the  Turks  a  signal  for  the 
greatest  reverses.  The  vengeance  of  the  people  and  the 
army  pursued  the  grand  vizier,  who  had  conducted  the  war ; 
and  the  sultan,  Mahomet  IV.,  fell  from  the  throne  at  the 
report  of  these  sanguinary  disasters,  the  effects  of  which 
were  felt  to  the  very  heart  of  the  empire.  The  famous  treaty 
of  Carlowitz  testifies  the  losses  that  the  Ottoman  nation  had 
undergone,  and  the  incontestable  superiority  of  its  enemies. 
The  decline  of  Turkey,  as  a  maritime  power,  had  commenced 
at  the  battle  of  Lepanto;  its  decline  as  a  military  or  conquering 
power,  dates  from  the  defeat  of  Vienna.  History  has  two 
things  to  remark  in  the  negotiations  of  Carlowitz.  Hungary, 
which  had  for  so  long  a  time  resisted  the  Turks,  weakened 
at  length  by  civil  discords  and  foreign  wars,  and  given  up  at 
the  same  time  to  the  emperors  of  Germany  and  the  sultane 
of  Constantinople,  then  lost  its  national  independence,  and 
became  united  to  the  possessions  of  the  house  of  Austria. 
Among  the  states  and  princes  who  signed  the  treaty,  the 
czars  of  Muscovy,  who  were  destined,  at  a  later  period,  to 
inflict  such  terrible  blows  upon  the  Ottoman  empire,  ap- 
peared for  the  first  time  as  a  power  interested  in  the 
Christian  struggle  against  the  infidels. 

We  have  described  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  Turks;  it 
only  remains  for  us  now  to  speak  of  the  causes  of  their  decline. 

The  Turks  were  only  constituted  to  contend  with  a  bar- 
barous people,  like  themselves,  or  with  a  degenerate  people, 
like  the  Greeks.  When  they  met  with  nations  that  were 
not  corrupted,  and  were  not  deficient  in  bravery  or  patriot- 
ism, their  career  was  checked.  It  is  a  circumstance  worthy 
of  remark,  that  they  were  never  able  to  make  an  impression 
upon  any  of  the  nations  of  the  Latin  Church:  the  only 
nation  that  was  separated  from  Christendom  by  the  con- 
quests of  the  Turks  was  one  that  had  separated  itself  from 
it.  When  the  Ottomans  were  no  longer  able  to  prosecute 
their  scheme  of  general  invasion,  all  the  passions  which  had 
stimulated  them  to  conquest  only  served  to  disturb  their 
own  empire ;  which  is  the  ordinary  destiny  oi  mere  conquer- 
ing nati<  ns. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CE4JSADES.  2S7 

The  wars  they  prosecuted  at  the  same  time  against  Chris- 
tian Europe  and  Persia,  were  the  principal  causes  of  the 
decay  of  the  military  power  of  the  Turks.  The  efforts  they 
made  against  the  Persians,  diverted  their  forces  from  their 
expeditions  against  the  Christians ;  and  their  expeditions 
against  the  Christians  crippled  their  means  for  the  wars  in 
Asia.  In  these  two  kinds  of  war  they  had  a  very  different 
manner  of  lighting.  After  having  for  any  length  of  time 
contended  with  the  warriors  of  the  Oxus  or  Caucasus,  they 
were  incapacitated  for  making  war  in  Europe.  They  were 
never  able  to  triumph  completely  over  either  Persia  or  the 
Christian  nations  ;  and  remained  at  last  pressed  between  two 
enemies,  equally  interested  in  their  ruin,  and  equally  ani- 
mated by  religious  passions. 

The  Turks,  like  all  the  hordes  from  the  north  of  Asia, 
brought  with  them  the  feudal  government.  The  first  thing 
to  be  done  by  all  nomadic  nations,  who  established  themselves 
in  conquered  countries,  was  the  division  of  the  lands,  with 
certain  conditions  of  protection  and  obedience.  From  this 
division  naturally  emanated  feudalism.  The  difference, 
however,  which  existed  between  the  Turks  and  the  other 
barbarians  who  conquered  the  West,  was,  that  the  jealous 
despotism  of  the  sultans  never  allowed  fiefs  to  become  here- 
ditary, or  that  an  aristocracy  should  grow  up  round  it,  as  in 
the  monarchies  of  Christendom.  Thus  in  the  Turkish  em- 
pire nothing  was  to  be  seen  on  one  side,  but  the  authority 
of  an  absolute  master  ;  and  on  the  other,  nothing  but  a  mili- 
tary democracy.  The  Ottoman  monarchy  was  thus  built 
upon  that  which  is  weakest  in  political  societies — the  will  of 
a  single  man,  or  that  of  the  multitude. 

The  Turks  have  been  compared  to  the  Romans.  Both 
nations  began  in  the  same  manner  ;  for  both  were  nothing 
bit  bands  of  brigands.  What  distinguishes  them  in  history 
is,  that  the  Turks  have  remained  the  same  as  they  were  in 
their  origin ;  whilst  the  Eomans,  in  their  conquests,  never 
rejected  the  knowledge,  the  customs,  or  even  the  gods  of 
the  people  they  conquered.  The  Turks,  on  the  contrary, 
took  nothing  from  other  nations,  and  made  it  their  pride  to 
continue  barbarians. 

AVe  have  said  above,  that  hereditary  aristocracy  has  never 
been  established  by  the  side  of  despotism  ;  and  this  is,  per« 


238  HISTOllY    OF   THE    CRUSADES. 

haps,  the  reason  why  the  Ottoman  nation  has  remained  in  a 
state  of  barbarism.  They  who  have  studied  the  march  of 
human  societies  know  that  it  is  by  the  aristocracy  that  the 
manners  and  morals  of  a  people  are  formed,  and  that  it  is  in 
the  middle  classes  that  knowledge  has  its  birth,  and  civiliza- 
tion begins.*  The  absence  of  an  aristocracy  in  oriental 
governments,  not  only  explains  to  us  the  fragility  of  those 
governments,  but  it  assists  us  also  in  explaining  why  pro- 
gress has  not  been  made  in  a  country  where  nothing  dis- 
tinguished the  men  from  each  other,  where  no  one  had  suffi- 
cient influence  to  guide  the  crowd,  or  was  sufficiently  elevated 
to  serve  as  an  example  or  model. 

In  consequence  of  the  indifference  of  the  Turks  for  the 
arts  and  sciences,  the  labours  of  industry,  agriculture,  and 
navigation,  were  confided  to  their  slaves,  who  were  their 
enemies.  As  they  held  in  horror  everything  new,  or  that 
they  had  not  brought  from  Asia  with  them,  they  were 
obliged  to  have  recourse  to  foreigners  for  everything  that 
was  invented  or  perfected  in  Europe.  Thus  the  sources  of 
prosperity  and.  power,  the  strength  of  their  armies  and  their 
fleets,  were  not  at  all  in  their  own  hands.  Every  one  knows 
what  the  Turks  have  lost  by  neglecting  to  learn  or  to  fol- 
low the  progress  of  the  military  tactics  of  the  Europeans. 
At  the  battle  of  Lepanto,  disorder  was  introduced  into  their 
fleet  entirely  from  their  having  promised  liberty  to  their 
sailors,  who  were  all  Christians. 

Some  modern  writers,  seeking  everywhere  for  similitudes, 
have  compared  the  janissaries  to  the  pretorian  cohorts.  This 
comparison  has  nothing  exact  in  it :  among  the  Romans,  the 
empire  was  elective,  and  the  pretorians  got  possession  of  it 
for  the  purpose  of  putting  it  up  to  sale.  Among  the  Turks, 
the  idea  of  choosing  their  prince  never  suggested  itself  to 
the  minds  of  either  the  people  or  the  soldiery.     The  janis- 

*  This  question,  we  think,  will  admit  of  another  decision.  M.  Michaud 
confounds  the  aristocracy  with  the  middle  class.  When  a  class  becomes 
raised,  by  any  means,  to  an  hereditary  superiority,  not  purchased  by  indi- 
vidual merit  of  any  other  kind,  manners  are  too  frequently  set  at  defiance, 
and  morals  become  corrupt.  What  he  says  of  the  middle  class  is  quite 
correct.  The  whole  history  of  the  world  cannot  furnish  such  an  instance 
of  stability  and  prosperity,  as  is  now  offered  in  England  by  the  influence 
of  an  intelligent,  prudent,  moral  middle  class. — Trans. 


HISTORY    OF    THE   CKUSADES.  239 

sanes  contented  themselves  with  dirturbing  the  government, 
and  keeping  it  in  such  a  state  of  disorder,  that  they  could 
never  be  dismissed,  and  might  always  remain  masters.  All 
their  opposition  consisted  in  preventing  any  amelioration 
whatever  in  discipline  or  military  usages.  The  abuses  and 
prejudices  the  most  difficult  to  be  destroyed  in  a  nation,  are 
those  which  adhere  to  a  body  or  a  class  in  which  power  hap- 
pens to  be  placed.  All-powerful  despotism  was  never  able 
to  overcome  the  opposition  of  the  janissaries  and  spa-his  ; 
and  these  redoubtable  corps,  which  had  so  effectively  con- 
tributed to  ancient  conquests,  became  the  greatest  obstacle 
to  the  making  of  new  ones. 

The  Turks  established  in  Greece  had  more  respect  for  old 
usages  and  old  prejudices,  than  they  had  of  love  for  the 
country  they  inhabited.  Masters  of  Stamboul,  they  had 
their  eyes  constantly  fixed  upon  the  places  of  their  origin, 
tmd  appeared  to  be  but  travellers,  or  passing  conquerors  of 
Europe.  They  preserved  the  manners  of  Asia,  the  laws  of 
Asia,  the  remembrances  of  Asia ;  and  the  West  was,  in  their 
estimation,  less  a  country  than  a  theatre  for  their  exploits. 

Amidst  their  decline,  nothing  was  more  fatal  to  the  Turks 
than  the  memory  of  their  past  glory  ;  nothing  was  more 
injurious  to  them  than  that  national  pride  which  was  no 
longer  in  harmony  with  their  fortune,  or  in  proportion  with 
their  strength.  The  illusions  of  a  power  that  no  longer 
existed  prevented  them  from  foreseeing  the  obstacles  they 
were  likely  to  meet  with  in  their  enterprises,  or  the  dangers 
with  which  they  were  threatened.  When  the  Ottomans 
made  an  unsuccessful  war,  or  an  unfavourable  treaty,  they 
never  failed  to  lay  the  blame  on  their  leaders,  whom  popu- 
lar vengeance  devoted  to  death  or  exile  ;  and  whilst  they 
thus  immolated  victims  to  their  vanity,  the  r  reverses  became 
the  more  irreparable,  from  their  persisting  in  mistaking  the 
true  causes  of  them. 

Tacitus  somewhere  expresses  the  joy  he  felt  in  seeing  bar- 
barians making  war  upon  one  another ;  and  we  experience 
something  of  this  joy  when  we  see  despotism  threatened  by 
its  own  institutions,  and  tormented  by  the  very  instruments 
of  its  power.  Another  spectacle,  no  less  consoling  to  all 
who  love  humanity  and  justice,  is  to  behold  this  family  ot 
fierce  despots,  before  whom  the  entire  East  trembled,  devour- 


240  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

ing  itself.  It  is  well  known  what  victims  each  sultan,  on 
ascending  the  throne,  was  compelled  to  offer  to  the  suspicious 
genius  of  despotism.  But  Heaven  does  not  permit  the  most 
sacred  laws  of  nature  to  be  constantly  violated  with  impunity ; 
and  ;he  Ottoman  dynasty,  in  expiation  of  so  many  crimes 
agal  .19 1  family  ties,  sunk  at  last  into  a  species  of  degradation. 
The  Ottoman  princes,  brought  up  in  subjection  and  fear,  lost 
the  energy  and  the  faculties  necessary  for  conducting  the 
government  of  a  great  empire.  Soliman  II.  only  increased 
the  evil  by  decreeing  a  constitutional  law,  that  no  son  of  the 
sultan's  should  command  armies  or  govern  provinces.  Prom 
that  time  none  but  effeminate  princes,  timid  and  senseless 
men,  occupied  the  Ottoman  throne. 

If  the  will  of  the  prince  became  corrupt,  it  was  quite  suffi- 
cient to  render  the  corruption  general.  In  proportion  as 
the  character  of  the  sultans  degenerated,  everything  de- 
generated around  them.  A  universal  apathy  displaced  the 
noisy  activity  of  war  and  victory.  To  the  passion  for  con- 
quests succeeded  cupidity,  ambition,  selfishness,  and  all  the 
vices  that  signalize  and  complete  the  decline  of  empires. 
When  states  rise  and  march  on  towards  prosperity,  there  is 
an  emulation  to  increase  their  powers  ;  when  they  decline, 
there  is  also  an  emulation  to  urge  on  their  destruction,  and 
take  advantage  of  their  ruin. 

The  empire  had  always  a  numerous  army  ;  but  that  army, 
in  which  discipline  every  day  degenerated,  was  only  for- 
midable in  time  of  peace.  A  crowd  of  Thimariots,  or  pos- 
sessors of  fiefs  for  life,  having  nothing  to  leave  to  their 
families,  passed  over  the  lands  that  were  given  to  them  like 
locusts,  which,  in  the  plains  where  the  winds  have  wafted 
them,  de.-i  vow  even  to  the  germs  of  the  harvests.  The  pachas 
governed  the  provinces  as  conquerors.  The  wealth  of  the 
people  was  for  them  like  the  booty  which  conquerors  dis- 
tributed among  themselves  on  the  day  of  victory.  Such  as 
could  amass  treasures  were  able  to  purchase  impunity. 
Such  as  had  arnnes  proclaimed  their  independence.  Subal- 
terns everywhere  followed  the  example  of  ihe  leaders.  In 
the  government,  as  well  as  in  the  army,  everything  was  put 
up  to  sale,  everything  was  subject  to  pillage.  Thus  this 
empire,  which  had  displayed  such  energy,  fell  like  a  prey 
into  the  hands  of  all  those  whom  fortune  or  the  favour  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  241 

die  prince  called  to  authority  ;  and  if  we  may  be  permitted 
to  employ  a  not  very  elevated  comparison  to  express  the 
degree  of  abasement  of  a  nation,  the  Ottoman  power  no 
longer  presented  any  aspect  but  t  aat  of  those  lifeless  bodies 
in  which  we  can  perceive  no  motion  but  in  the  insects  that 
are  devouring  them. 

The  sultans  of  Constantinople,  while  slumbering  in  their 
seraglios,  were  often  awakened  by  the  thunder  of  popular 
revolts.  Violences  of  the  army  or  the  people  were  the  only 
justice  able  to  reach  despotism.  But  this  justice  itself  was 
one  calamity  the  more,  and  only  assisted  in. precipitating  the 
general  decline. 

Although  the  successors  of  Othman,  after  the  reign  of 
Selim,  were  the  pontiffs  of  the  national  faith,  this  important 
dignit}r  added  nothing  to  their  power.  The  Mussulman 
faith,  which  commanded  with  severity  the  observance  of 
many  minute  practices,  did  not  at  all  repress  the  passions  of 
the  multitude.  A  religious  belief  which  permitted  a  prince 
to  commit  fratricide  could  be  no  safeguard  for  either  the 
authority  or  the  life  of  the  prince.  A  religion  always  ready 
to  consecrate  the  triumph  of  force,  could  find  no  motives  in 
its  moral  code  for  the  condemnation  of  revolt,  particularly 
when  the  revolt  happened  to  be  crowned  with  success.* 

But  what  is  remarkably  singular,  the  Turks,  when  they 
rose  against  a  prince  of  the  Ottoman  dynasty,  preserved  a 
profound  veneration  for  that  dynasty.  They  immolated  the 
tyrant  to  their  vengeance,  and  were  ready  to  immolate  them- 
selves for  the  tyranny.  Thus  license,  in  its  greatest  excesses, 
always  respected  despotism ;  and  what  carried  disorder  to 
its  highest  pitch  was,  that  despotism  in  its  turn  respected 
license. 

The  Turks  lived  in  this  state  of  decline  as  in  their  natural 
condition.  Nothing  is  more  remarkable  in  history  than  the 
carelessness  of  a  nation  in  the  midst  of  a  revolution  that  is 
dragging  it  down  to  its  ruin ;  and  this  revolution  with  the 

•  Will  not  much  of  this  apply  to  all  religions,  all  times,  and  all  coun- 
tries ?  Success  hallows  everything — it  makes  rebellion,  revolution  ;  assas- 
sination, patriotism;  crimes,  virtues.  The  Jesuits  are  said  to  be  tha 
warmest  religionists  in  the  world.  Could  Mussulman  priests  have  ex- 
pressed more  delight  in  the  advent  and  success  of  the  strongest  despotism 
that  Europe  ever  witnessed,  than  they  have  done  recently  ? — Trans. 

11* 


242  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

Turks  was  not  brought  about  by  new  ideas,  but  by  c'.-d  idea? 
not  by  love  of  liberty,  but  by  habits  of  slavery.  They 
respected  the  causes  of  their  ruin,  because  these  causes  were 
connected  with  the  history  of  barbarous  times  ;  and  religion, 
by  constantly  repeating  to  them  that  "  he  who  is  in  the  fire 
ought  to  be  resigned,"  prevented  them  from  seeking  a  remedy 
for  the  ills  they  suffered. 

Among  nations  which  incline  towards  destruction,  in  the 
very  bosom  of  corruption  a  certain  politeness,  a  certain 
polish  or  elegance  of  manners,  may  be  observed.  The  Turks, 
on  the  contrary,  had  a  brutal  and  savage  corruption,  and 
their  empire  grew  old  without  the  nation's  losing  anything 
of  that  fierceness  of  character,  of  that  proud  roughness,  which 
belong  to  the  infancy  of  society. 

We  shall  be  asked  why  Christendom  did  not  take  advan- 
tage of  this  decline  of  the  Turks  to  drive  them  back  again 
into  Asia.  We  have  seen  in  this  history,  that  the  nations 
of  Christian  Europe  were  never  able  to  combine  and  agree 
for  the  defence  of  Constantinople,  when  it  was  attacked  by 
the  Turks  ;  and  they  showed  no  more  inclination  to  com- 
bine to  deliver  it  after  it  was  taken.  We  may  add  that 
the  less  redoubtable  the  Turks  became,  the  fewer  were 
the  efforts  made  to  conquer  them.  They  inspired,  besides, 
no  jealousy  in  the  commercial  nations  of  Christendom.  It 
was  in  vain  that  fortune  placed  them  between  the  East  and 
the  West ;  that  she  rendered  them  masters  of  the  Archi- 
pelago, of  the  coasts  of  Africa,  of  the  ports  of  the  Black  Sea 
and  the  E-ed  Sea :  their  finest  provinces  were  deserts,  their 
cities  were  abandoned.  Everything  perished  in  the  hands 
of  an  indolent  and  unpolished  people.  The  Turks  were 
spared,  because  they  made  no  use  of  their  advantages  •  and 
because  they  were,  to  employ  an  expression  of  Montes- 
quieu's, the  men  tfhe  most  fit  to  hold  great  empires  care- 
lessly. 

Before  we  terminate  this  rapid  sketch  of  the  Turkish  em- 
pire in  the  seventeenth  century,  we  beg  to  be  allowed  to  add 
some  reflections  which  circumstances  may  cause  to  be  appre- 
ciated. Nothing  was  more  monstrous  than  the  presence, 
upon  the  same  territory,  of  two  nations  and  two  religions 
that  hated  and  cursed  each  other  reciprocally.  Spain  had 
presented  a  similar  spectacle ;  but  the  energy  and  the  mag- 


HISTOET    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  243 

nanimous  constancy  of  the  Spaniards  triumphed  over  aA 
adverse  people  and  an  adverse  religion  ;  and  at  the  very  time 
at  which  the  Turks  established  themselves  in  Greece,  tha 
Moors,  carrying  with  them  their  foreign  worship,  abandoned 
their  conquests  and  returned  to  Africa,  from  whence  they 
came.  The  Greeks,  after  the  invasion  of  the  Ottomans, 
neither  showed  the  same  energy  nor  the  same  courage ; 
although  their  patriotism  ought  to  have  been  constantly 
animated  by  the  soil  they  trod  on,  and  by  their  very  name, 
of  which  the  conqueror  had  not  been  able  to  deprive  them. 

^Nevertheless,  amidst  their  abasement  and  their  misery, 
they  were  still  able  to  place  their  hope  in  the  ascendancy  of 
religious  ideas,  and  in  the  wish  for  civilization,  which  acted 
as  a  tie  between  all  Christian  societies.  Whilst  the  man- 
ners and  the  worship  of  Islamism  rendered  the  Turks 
foreign  and  even  odious  to  Christendom,  the  religion  of 
Christ  and  the  remembrances  of  history  placed  the  Greeks 
in  relation  with  the  other  nations  of  Europe. 

In  proportion  as  the  knowledge  derived  from  antiquity 
made  progress  among  the  Franks,  Greece  became  for  them 
a  sacred  country.  The  language  of  Plato  and  Demosthenes, 
in  which  the  charms  of  liberty  had  been  celebrated  with  so 
much  eloquence,  became  more  dear  to  them  than  their  own 
maternal  tongue.  The  poetical  sites  of  Greece,  which  the 
love  of  letters  rendered  so  familiar  to  the  studious  class, 
were  for  us  like  places  in  which  we  had  passed  our  infancy. 
Europe  had  not  a  scholar  in  whom  the  city  of  Aristotle, 
that  of  Lycurgus,  or  that  of  Epaminondas,  did  not  inspire 
something  resembling  the  sentiments  we  feel  for  our  own 
country.  If  the  Greeks  were  degenerated ;  if  they  viewed, 
with  indifference  the  ruins  of  their  country,  tncient  Greece 
still  lived  for  every  enlightened  man,  and  was  ever  present, 
wherever  a  taste  for  the  arts  or  a  love  of  learning  existed. 

The  warmer  that  the  interest  for  the  Greeks  became,  the 
more  barbarous  the  Turks  appeared.  The  Ottoman  nation 
came  and  established  itself  in  the  richest  countries  of 
Europe,  and  remained  in  sight  of  all  European  people,  with- 
out becoming  acquainted  with  their  languages,  their  laws, 
or  their  policy;  like  those  troops  of  wild  animals  which 
lometimes  stop  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  dwellings  of 
man,  ignorant  of  that  which  is  going  on  in  these  places,  and 


24)4  HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES. 

having  no  means  to  seize  their  prey  or  defeud  themselves, 
but  their  activity,  their  natural  strength,  and  the  means 
which  a  gross  instinct  gives  them.  This  state  of  things  was 
opposed  both  to  the  laws  of  society  and  the  laws  of  nature, 
which  do  not  permit  men  or  nations  to  live  together  and  in 
the  same  place,  except  when  they  possess  similar  qualities, 
and  are  able  to  employ  their  faculties  in  common.  The 
Turks  may  have  been  protected,  at  first  by  the  fortune  oi 
their  own  arms,  and  afterwards  by  the  policy  of  certain 
cabinets  ;  but  what  real  support  could  they  have  in  the  IV  est, 
when  they  were  repulsed  by  the  manners,  feelings,  and 
opinions  of  the  European  nations,  to  whom  they  became 
every  day  more  foreign  ? 

On  one  side,  the  antipathy  entertained  for  a  barbarous 
people ;  on  the  other,  the  relations  which  united  nations 
civilized  by  Christianity,  were  likely,  sooner  or  later,  to 
revive  that  spirit  of  fraternity  which  produced  the  crusades  ; 
and  Grod  has  willed  that  this  spirit,  from  which  the  holy 
wars  were  born,  should  manifest  itself  in  the  same  century 
which  had  for  a  long  time  refused  to  acknowledge  the  effects 
or  to  admire  the  prodigies  of  them. 

At  the  moment  in  which  we  are  finishing  this  history,  the 
Greeks  have  thrown  forth  a  cry  of  alarm,  and  this  cry  has 
resounded  throughout  the  Christian  world.  Is  the  moment 
of  their  deliverance  arrived  r  When  we  examine  the  pre- 
sent state  of  Europe,  we  find  a  much  greater  force  than 
would  be  necessary  to  conquer  Byzantium  ;  but  on  the  other 
side,  the  diversity  of  interests  and  opinions  will  not  permit 
the  Christian  republic  to  unite  for  this  great  enterprise. 
"We  have  seen  that  the  Turks  really  possess  nothing  but  the 
soil  of  their  vast  empire  ;  the  riches  that  are  there  produced 
belong  to  the  nations  of  Christendom,  and  these  nations  are 
for  the  Turkish  provinces,  which  they  cultivate  to  their 
profit,  that  which  an  active  and  industrious  farmer  is  for  the 
fields  he  ploughs  and  reaps.  Add  to  this,  that  most  of  the 
Christian  powers  appear  to  fear  that  the  displacing  of  a 
great  empire  may  break  the  ties  of  the  European  confedera- 
tion ;  they  do  not,  as  formerly,  dread  the  strength  of  the 
Ottomans,  but  the  difficulties  and  divisions  that  the  conquest 
would  produce.  That  which  may  add  to  their  fears  is  that 
impatience  for  change,  that  ardent  passion  for  novelty,  which 


HISTORY    OF    TILE    C  IUSA.DES.  245 

js  spread  all  at  once  among  the  nations  like  a  contagious 
fever ;  whilst  the  Greeks  are  imploring  Europe  for  their 
liberty,  restless  and  dissatisfied  spirits  look  to  the  East  for  I 
do  not  know  what  signal  for  a  revolution  in  Europe.  Thus 
Christendom,  divided  by  its  various  interests,  tormented  by 
a  thousand  different  passions,  and  fearing  for  its  own  repose, 
awaits  with  anxiety  the  events  that  are  preparing,  and 
appears  to  recoil  from  victories  which  the  superiority  of  hot 
intelligence  and  her  armies  hold  out  to  her. 

What  will  be  the  issue  of  all  the  warlike  demonstrations 
and  all  the  pacific  negotiations  of  which  fame  informs  us 
every  day  ?  There  is  no  doubt  the  cross  will  again  arise  in 
the  East,  and  the  fate  of  Christians  residing  there  will 
receive  some  amelioration ;  but  are  we  arrived  at  the  mo- 
ment which  is  to  render  Europe  entirely  Christian  ?  Will 
the  Ottoman  empire,  whose  weakness  now  appears  so  great, 
yield  to  the  power  of  its  enemies,  or  will  it  hasten  its  own 
ruin  ?  Will  Greece,  so  long  enslaved,  resume  that  rank 
among  nations  from  which  she  formerly  descended  so  inglo- 
riously,  or  will  she  fall  into  the  hands  of  her  liberators  ?  A 
thousand  other  questions  present  themselves  to  the  mind  ; 
but  we  will  not  forestall  events ;  above  all,  we  will  avoid 
multiplying  conjectures  and  hypotheses,  or  producing  here 
the  brilliant  reveries  of  philosophers  and  poets,  which  the 
severity  of  history  rejects.  When  we  set  a  high  value  upon 
truth,  and  have  sought  it  for  a  length  of  time  in  all  that  the 
remembrances  of  the  past  contain  that  is  most  positive,  we 
learn  to  speak  of  the  future  with  much  circumspection  and 
reserve. 

It  may  be  thought  that  we  have  dwelt  too  long  upon  the 
Ottoman  empire  ;  but  the  origin  of  that  empire,  its  progress 
and  its  decline,  are  connected  with  all  the  events  we  have 
had  to  describe.  The  sketch  we  have  traced  of  it  may  have 
been  sometimes  serviceable  in  making  our  readers  acquainted 
with  the  spirit  and  the  character  of  the  wars  against  the  infi- 
dels; and  in  this  view  our  labour  has  not  been  useless. 

At  the  period  we  have  now  gained,  tlxe  passions  which  had 
given  birth  to  the  prodigies  of  the  crusades  had  become  spe- 
culative opinions,  which  occupied  the  attention  of  writers 
rather  than  that  of  kings  or  nations.  Thus  the  holy  wars, 
with  their  causes  and  effects,  became  the  objects  of  the  dis- 


246  HISTOKT    OF    THE    CEUSADES. 

cussions  of  doctors  and  philosophers.  "We  may  remember 
the  opinion  of  Luther  ;  and  although  he  had  partly  dis- 
avowed or  retracted  his  first  opinion  upon  the  war  against 
the  Turks,  most  of  his  partisans  continued  to  evince  a  great 
aversion  for  the  crusades. 

The  minister  Jurieu  goes  much  further  than  Luther. 
That  ardent  apostle  of  the  .Reformation,  far  from  thinking 
that  war  ought  to  be  made  against  the  Mussulmans,  did  not 
hesitate  to  consider  the  Turks  as  auxiliaries  of  the  Pro- 
testants, and  said  that  the  fierce  sectaries  of  Mahomet  were 
sent  to  "  labour  with  the  Reformers  in  the  great  work  of 
God,"  which  was  the  ruin  of  the  papal  empire.  After  the 
raising  of  the  last  siege  of  Vienna,  in  1683,  and  the  revoca- 
tion of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  the  same  Jurieu  was  afflicted  at 
the  disgrace  of  the  Reformers  and  the  defeat  of  the  Turks ; 
adding,  at  the  same  time,  "  that  Grod  had  only  abased  them, 
in  order  to  raise  them  together  again,  and  make  them  the 
instruments  of  his  vengeance  against  the  popes."  Such  is 
the  excess  of  blindness  to  which  the  spirit  of  party  or  sect 
has  power  to  carry  us,  when  misled  by  hatred,  and  irritated 
by  persecution. 

Other  writers,  however,  celebrated  for  their  genius,  and 
who  also  were  connected  with  the  Reformation,  maintained 
that  wars  against  the  infidels  ought  to  be  carried  on  :  they 
deplored  the  indifference  of  Christendom,  and  the  wars  that 
were  breaking  out  daily  among  Christian  nations,  whilst 
they  left  in  peace  a  people,  a  foe  to  all  other  peoples. 
Chancellor  Bacon,  in  his  dialogue  de  hello  sacro,  employs  all 
his  logic  to  prove  that  the  Turks  are  excluded  from  the  law 
of  nations.  He  invokes,  by  turns,  natural  right,  the  rights 
of  nations,  and  divine  right,  against  the  barbarians,  to  whom 
he  refuses  the  name  of  a  people,  and  maintains  that  war 
should  be  carried  on  against  them  as  against  pirates,  anthro- 
pophagi, or  wild  animals.  The  illustrious  chancellor  quotes, 
in  support  of  his  opinion,  maxims  from  Aristotle,  maxims 
from  the  Bible,  Avith  examples  from  history,  and  even  from 
fable.  His  manner  of  reasoning  savours  a  little  of  the  policy 
and  philosophy  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  we  do  not  feel 
ourselves  called  upon  to  repeat  arguments,  of  which  many 
would  not  be  of  a  nature  to  convince  minds  of  the  present 
century. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    JltUSADES.  247 

We  prefer  developing  some  of  the  ideas  of  Leibnitz,  who* 
in  order  to  revive  the  spirit  of  distant  expeditions,  addressed 
himself  to  the  ambition  of  princes,  and  whose  political  view? 
have  received  a  memorable  application  in  modern  times. 
At  the  moment  in  which  Louis  XIV.  was  preparing  to  carry 
his  arms  into  the  Low  Countries,  the  German  philosopher 
sent  him  a  long  memorial,  to  persuade  him  to  renew  the 
expedition  of  St.  Louis  into  Egypt.  The  conquest  of  that 
rich  country,  which  Leibnitz  calls  the  Holland  of  the  East, 
would  favour  the  triumph  and  the  propagation  of  the  faith  ; 
it  would  procure  for  the  Most  Christian  king  the  renown  of 
Alexander,  and  for  the  Erench  monarchy  vast  means  of 
power  and  prosperity.  After  the  occupation  of  Alexandria 
and  Cairo,  fortune  would  offer  the  conquerors  some  happy 
opportunity  for  restoring  the  empire  of  the  East ;  the 
Ottoman  power,  attacked  by  the  Poles  and  the  Germans, 
and  troubled  by  internal  divisions,  was  ready  to  sink  into 
ruin ;  Muscovy  and  Persia  were  already  preparing  to  take 
advantage  of  i'ts  fall ;  if  France  put  forth  her  strength, 
nothing  would  be  more  easy  than  to  gather  together  again 
the  immense  heritage  of  Constantine,  to  dominate  over  the 
Mediterranean,  to  extend  her  empire  over  the  Eed  Sea,  over 
the  Sea  of  Ethiopia,  over  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  obtain  pos- 
session of  the  commerce  of  India;  everything  the  most 
brilliant  in  the  glory  and  grandeur  of  empires  then  pre- 
sented itself  to  the  imagination  of  Leibnitz  ;  and  this  exalted 
genius,  dazzled  by  his  own  idea,  and  allying  his  policy  with 
the  prejudices  of  his  age,  could  see  nothing  greater  than  the 
conquest  of  Egypt,  but  the  discovery  of  the  philosopher's 
stone :  he  beheld  already,  in  a  shortly  distant  futurity,  the 
Christian  religion  flourishing  again  in  Asia,  the  empire  and 
the  commerce  of  the  East  and  the  West  divided  between 
the  king  of  Prance  and  the  house  of  Austria  and  Spain,  the 
world  rendered  peaceful,  and  governed  by  these  two  con- 
quering powers ! 

After  having  developed  the  advantages  of  the  vast  enter- 
prise lie  proposed,  Leibnitz  neglected  none  of  the  means 
that  would  be  likely  to  secure  the  success  or  facilitate  the 
execution  of  it.  It  was  in  this  part  of  his  memorial  that 
he  showed  all  the  superiority  of  his  genius ;  and  when  we 
read  the  account  of  the  last  war  of  the  French  in  Egypt, 


248  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

we  cannot  but  feel  persuaded  that  Buonaparte  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  plan  of  campaign  addressed  by  Leib- 
nitz to  Louis  XIV.  But  certainly  this  gigantic  enter- 
prise, whose  result  was  likely  to  be  more  brilliant  than  either 
solid  or  durable,  was  less  suited  to  a  monarch  guided  in  his 
policy  by  the  sentiments  of  real  greatness,  than  to  the 
modern  hero,  always  enamoured  of  an  adventurous  and 
romantic  glory.  Nevertheless,  the  ideas  of  Leibnitz,  al- 
though not  favourably  received  by  the  cabinet  of  Versailles, 
did  not  fail  to  produce  a  lively  impression  upon  the  states- 
men of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  is  known  likewise,  that 
the  king  of  France  had  already  thought  seriously  of  a  war 
against  the  Turks  ;  and  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  Boileau 
alluded  to  all  these  projects  of  distant  conquests,  when  he 
said  in  his  epistle  to  the  king : 

Je  t'attends  dans  six  mois  aux  bords  de  l'Hellespont.* 

The  eloquence,  or  even  the  flattery  of  authors,  could  not 
induce  princes  to  take  up  arms  against  the  infidels ;  and  the 
Crusaders  finished,  as  they  began,  with  pilgrimages.  Among 
the  celebrated  pilgrims  who  repaired  to  the  East  after  the 
holy  wars,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  was  Ignatius  Loyola. 
lie  visited  the  holy  places  twice,  and,  like  St.  Jerome,  would 
have  ended  his  days  in  Palestine,  if  the  Latin  priests  had 
not  advised  him  to  return  into  Europe,  where  he  established 
the  order  of  the  Jesuits.  As  was  the  case  before  the  cru- 
sades, princes  mixed  with  the  crowd  of  Christians  who  went 
to  the  Holy  Land.  Frederick  III.,  before  he  ascended  the 
imperial  throne,  went  on  a  pilgrimage  to  the  holy  city.  We 
still  possess  an  account  of  the  voyages  which  were  made 
successively  into  Palestine  by  a  prince  of  Radziwil,  a  duke 
of  Bavaria,  a  duke  of  Austria,  and  three  electors  of  Saxony, 
among  whom  was  he  who  was  the  protector  of  Luther. 

Pilgrims  from  the  "West  were  no  longer  received  at  Jeru- 
salem, as  in  the  early  times,  by  the  Knights  of  St  John,  but 
bv  the  Latin  fathers  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi, 
who  devoted  themselves  to  the  guardianship  of  the  holy 
sepulchre.  Preserving  the  hospitable  manners  of  ancient 
times,  the  guardian  father  himself  washed  the  feet  of  tra- 

*  I  look  for  you  six  months  %^nce  on  the  shores  of  the  Hellespont. 


HISTOUY    OF    TEE   CltUSADES.  240 

vellers,  and  furnished  them  with  the  necessary  assistance 
for  their  pilgrimage.  Pilgrims  embarked  at  Venice,  where 
vessels  were  always  ready  to  transport  them  to  the  coast  of 
Syria.  People  could  obtain  all  the  benefits  attached  to  the 
pilgrimage  of  the  Holy  Land,  without  quitting  their  homes; 
either  by  commissioning  pious  men  who  were  sent  beyond 
the  seas,  or  cenobites  who  resided  on  the  spot. 

The  greater  part  of  the  sovereigns  of  Christendom,  after 
the  example  of  Charlemagne,  thought  it  consistent  with 
their  glory,  not  only  to  deliver,  but  to  protect  the  city  of 
Jesus  Christ  from  the  outrages  of  the  Mussulmans.  The 
capitulations  of  Francis  I.,  renewed  by  most  of  his  succes- 
sors, contain*  several  conditions  which  contribute  to  secure 
peace  to  the  Christians,  with  the  free  exercise  of  their  reli- 
gion in  the  East.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  Deshayes, 
the  ambassador  from  Prance  to  Constantinople,  weut  to  visit 
the  faithful  at  Jerusalem,  and  conveyed  to  them  the  conso- 
lations of  a  charity  worthy  of  royalty.  The  count  of 
Nointel,  who  represented  Louis  XIV.  at  the  court  of  the 
sultan  of  Turkey,  also  went  into  the  Holy  Land;  and  Jeru- 
salem received  in  triumph  the  envoy  of  the  powerful  mo- 
narch, whose  credit  and  renown  were  employed  to  protect 
the  Christians  beyond  the  seas. 

Most  of  the  princes  of  Christendom  every  year  sent  their 
tributes  to  the  holy  city ;  and  in  solemn  ceremonies,  the 
church  of  the  Resurrection  displayed  the  treasures  offered 
by  the  kings  of  the  West.  The  guardians  of  the  holy  places, 
who  entertained  and  took  charge  of  pilgrims,  possessed 
nothing  on  earth  ;  but  the  gifts  of  the  faithful  were  for  them 
like  the  manna  of  the  desert,  sent  every  day  from  heaven. 
By  a  species  of  miracle  constantly  renewed,  the  holy  monu- 
ments of  the  Christian  religion,  for  a  long  time  defended  by 
the  armies  of  the  West,  having  no  longer  any  defence  but 
religious  remembrances,  preserved  themselves  amidst  the 
barbarous  sectaries  of  Islamism:  the  security  enjoyed  by 
the  city  of  Jerusalem  made  its  deliverance  less  thought 
of.  That  which  produced  the  spirit  of  the  crusades  in  the 
eleventh  century  was,  above  all  other  causes,  the  persecu- 
tion directed  against  pilgrims,  and  the  state  of  misery  in 

*  The  last  capitulations  are  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XV. 


250  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES, 

which  the  Christians  of  the  East  existed.  When  they  ceased 
to  be  persecuted,  and  had  fewer  miseries  to  endure,  lament- 
able accounts  no  longer  awakened  the  pity  and  indignation 
of  the  western  nations  ;  and  Christendom  satisfied  itself  with 
addressing  prayers  to  God  for  the  preservation  of  peace  in 
the  places  he  had  sanctified  by  his  miracles.  There  was 
then  a  spirit  of  resignation*  "which  took  place  of  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  crusades ;  the  city  of  David  and  of  Godfrey 
became  confounded  in  the  minds  of  Christians  with  the 
heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  as  sacred  orators  said,  "  it  was 
necessary  to  pass  through  Heaven  to  arrive  at  the  Holy 
Land,1'  it  was  of  no  use  appealing  to  the  bravery  of  warriors, 
but  to  the  devotion  and  charity  of  the  faithful. 

*  This  resignation  is  expressed  in  a  very  singular  manner  in  an  extract 
from  the  manuscript  of  the  library  of  Berne, — "  Upon  the  cause  why  the 
Saracens  possess  the  Holy  Land." 

Brother  Vincent,  in  a  sermon  which  he  made,  and  which  had  for  its 
text,  "  Ecce  ascendimus  Hierosoleman,"  gives  three  reasons  for  it : — 
"  The  first,"  said  he,  "is  to  excuse  the  Christians  ;  the  second  is  for  the 
contusion  of  the  Saracens  ;  and  the  third  is  for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews. 
As  to  the  first  reason,  we  ought  all  to  know  that  there  is  no  Christian, 
however  holy,  who  does  not  sin,  and  has  not  sinned,  except  Jesus  and  his 
mother,  the  glorious  Virgin  Mary  ;  and  God  is  not  willing  that  Christians 
should  sin  in  the  land  in  which  Jesus  Christ,  his  son,  suffered  the  passion 
for  the  sins  of  men  ;  and  would  account  it  a  great  offence.  But  He  is  not 
thus  offended  by  the  Saracens  ;  for  they  are  dogs.  It  would  displease  the 
king  if  his  children  or  his  knights  should  make  water  in  his  chamber ;  but 
when  a  dog  makes  water  there,  Lj  takes  no  account  of  it." 

See  Catalogue  Codicum  MSS.  Bibliotheca  Bernemky  &c.  torn.  L 
p.  79. 


BOOK    XVIII 


MTITLECTIONS  UPON  THE  STATE  OF  EUROPE,  UPON  THB 
VAE-tOUS  CLASSES  OE  SOCIETY,  AND  UPON  THE  PROGRESS 
OF  NAVIGATION,  INDUSTRY,  ARTS,  AND  GENERAL  KNOW- 
LEDGE,   DURING  AND   AFTER   TDE    CRUSADES. 

A.D.  1571—1685. 

We  have  made  known  the  origin,  the  spirit,  and  the  cha- 
racter of  the  crusades ;  it  is  now  our  task  to  show  their 
influence  on  the  state  of  society.  Before  giving  our  opinion 
upon  the  results  of  the  holy  wars,  it  has  appeared .  to  us 
desirable  to  lay  befor.e  our  readers,  in  a  few  words,  the  judg- 
ments that  others  have  passed  upon  them.  In  the  seven- 
teenth century,  so  abounding  in  men  of  genius,  the  heroic 
bravery  of  the  Crusaders  was  admired,  their  reverses  were 
deplored,  and,  without  a  question  as  to  the  good  or  evil 
which  these  distant  expeditions  had  brought  about,  the 
pious  motives  which  had  made  the  warriors  of  the  West  take 
arms  were  respected.  The  eighteenth  century,  which  had 
adopted  all  the  opinions  of  the  Reformation,  and  exaggerated 
them, — the  eighteenth  century  did  not  spare  the  crusades, 
and  did  not  fail  to  accuse  the  ignorance,  barbarity,  and 
fanaticism  of  our  ancestors  as  the  causes  of  them.  *Vol- 
taire  published  a  history  of  the  crusades,  in  1753  ;  the  sub- 
ject he  had  chosen  was  at  that  time  so  low  in  public  opinion, 
and  he  himself  c^st  so  much  ridicule  upon  the  events  he 
described,  that  his  book  created  no  curiosity,  and  found  no 
readers.  Nothing  can  equal  the  violence  with  which  the 
authors  of  the  Encyclopedic,  a  short  time  afterwards,  sur- 

*  This  account  of  the  crusades  at  first  appeared  in  the  Mercury,  and 
was  afterwards  printed  in  a  little  volume.     It  is  now  merged  in  Voltaire' 
Histoire  Generate. 


252  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

passed  even  the  acerbity  of  Voltaire.  This  manner  of  judg- 
ing the  crusades  became  so  general,  that  the  panegyrists  o-l 
St.  Louis  allowed  themselves  to  be  drawn  into  it,  and  seve- 
ral among  them,  in  their  discourses,  were  scarcely  inclined 
to  pardon  the  pious  monarch  for  his  exploits  and  his  misfor- 
tunes in  Egypt  and  before  Tunis. 

A  philosophy,  however,  enlightened  by  the  spirit  of  re- 
search and  analysis,  traced  events  to  their  causes,  studied 
their  effects,  and,  from  holding  truth  as  the  only  object 
worthy  of  inquiry,  neglected  declamation  and  despised 
satire.  The  judicious  Robertson,  in  his  introduction  to  the 
History  of  Charles  V.,  gave  iz  as  his  opinion,  that  the 
crusades  had  favoured  the  progress  of  liberty  and  the  deve- 
lopment of  the  human  mind.  "Whether  this  perception 
nattered  some  of  the  opinions  of  the  time,  or  whether  it 
exercised  over  the  public  the  natural  ascendancy  of  truth,  it 
met  with  a  sufficient  number  of  partisans ;  and  from  that 
time  the  expeditions  of  the  Crusaders  into  the  East  have 
been  judged  with  less  severity. 

A  few  years  ago  the  Institute  of  France  proposed  a  ques- 
tion, by  which  they  invited  the  learned  to  point  out  all  the 
advantages  society  had  derived  from  the  crusades  ;  and  if  we 
may  judge  by  the  memorials  which  obtained  the  prize  in  this 
learned  contest,*  the  holy  wars  brought  more  benefits  for 
posterity  in  their  train,  than  they  produced  calamities  for 
the  generations  contemporary  with  them.  Thus,  opinions 
upois.  the  crusades  had  changed  several  times  in  less  than 
two  centuries  ;  a  great  lesson  for  those  who  pronounce  with 
so  much  assurance  upon  the  revolutions  which  we  have 
seen  begin,  but  which  we  shall  not  see  end ;  when  there  is 
so  much  difficulty  in  judging  of  revolutions  long  ago  accom- 
plished, and  whose  results  are  all  before  our  eyes ! 

Perhaps  we  are  arrived  at  the  favourable  moment  for 
appreciating  with  some  truth  the  influence  of  the  crusades, 
and  the  opinions  of  those  who  have  reflected  upon  them  be- 
fore us :  we  may  say,  that  the  revolutions  of  the  present  age 
are  for  us  a  torch  which  enlightens  the  history  of  past  times  ; 

*  Two  memorials  obtained  prizes  ;  one  was  by  M.  Hercen,  toe  other 
by  M.  Choisseul  d'Aullecourt.  Both  are  remarkable  for  erudition  and 
spirit  of  criticism  ;  they  marked  out  the  way  we  have  followed.  %nd  wa 
take  pleasure  in  acknowledging  all  we  owe  them. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  253 

none  of  the  lessons  which  are  afforded  by  great  political 
concussions  have  been  wanting  for  the  present  generation, 
and  on  that  account,  no  doubt,  our  age  will  some  day  merit 
the  title  of  the  age  of  enlightenment. 

We  may  safely  say,  that  that  which  the  crusades  were  de- 
ficient in,  in  order  to  have  found  more  indulgent  judges,  was 
success ;  let  us  suppose  for  a  moment  that  the  crusades  had 
succeeded,  as  they  who  undertook  them  hoped  they  would, 
and  let  us  see,  in  that  case,  what  would  have  been  their 
results.  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Greece  would  have  become  Chris- 
tian colonies;  the  nations  of  the  East  and  the  West  would 
have  pursued  together  the  great  march  of  civilization  ;  the  lan- 
guages of  the  Franks  would  have  penetrated  to  the  extremes 
of  Asia;  the  Barbary  coast,  now  inhabited  by  pirates,  would 
have  received  the  morals  and  the  laws  of  Europe ;  and  the 
interior  of  Africa  would  not  have  been  for  a  long  time  a 
land  impenetrable  to  the  relations  of  commerce  and  the 
researches  of  learned  men  and  travellers.  In  order  to  judge 
what  nations  under  the  same  laws  and  the  same  religion 
would  have  gained  by  this  union,  we  have  but  to  remember 
the  state  of  the  Roman  world  under  the  successors  of  Au- 
gustus, forming,  as  it  were,  one  people,  living  under  the 
same  law,  speaking  the  same  language.  All  the  seas  were 
free,  and  the  most  distant  provinces  communicated  with 
each  other  by  easy  and  commodious  routes  ;  cities  exchanged 
the  objects  of  their  arts  and  their  industry,  climates  their 
various  productions,  nations  their  knowledge.  If  the  cru- 
sades had  subdued  the  East  to  Christianity,  it  is  fair  to 
believe  that  this  grand  spectacle,  which  the  human  race 
had  only  once  beheld,  would  have  been  repeated  in  modern 
times,  and  opinions  would  not  now  be  divided  as  to  the 
advantages  of  the  holy  wars.  Unfortunately,  the  Crusaders 
were  unable  to  extend  or  preserve  their  conquests.  The 
results  of  the  crusades  are  thus  more  difficult  to  seize,  and 
the  good  attributed  to  them  does  not  strike  all  minds  with 
equal  force. 

Among  the  results  of  the  crusades,  impartial  history  can- 
not pass  over  the  evils  they  caused  humanity  to  undergo ; 
but  these  evils  were  felt  in  the  time  itself  of  the  holy  wars ; 
and  the  faithful  picture  of  that  period  has  been  quite  suf- 
ficient to  make  us  acquainted  with  them.    As  to  the  good  the 


254  HISTORY  or  THE  crusades. 

crusades  produced,  it  has  been  like  the  germ,  which  remains 
a  long  time  concealed  in  the  earth,  and  develops  itself  slowly, 
After  the  account  of  each  crusade,  our  readers  will  remem- 
ber that,  in  a  short  summary,  we  have  pointed  out  the  im- 
mediate results  of  it.  Now  we  will  embrace  all  the  epochs 
of  the  Eastern  expeditions  in  a  general  review.  When  the 
ages  to  which  the  events  of  which  we  have  spoken  belonged 
become  better  knowD,  the  spirit  of  these  events  and  their 
consequences  will  be  better  understood  and  better  judged 
of:  we  are  about  to  exhibit  societies  such  as  ttey  were  in 
the  middle  ages,  and  the  progress  they  have  made  towards 
civilization  ;  leaving  to  enlightened  readers  the  care  of  appre- 
ciating that  which  belongs  to  the  crusades. 

We  will  in  the  first  place  examine  the  state  of  the  dif- 
ferent powers  of  Europe,  and  will  begin  with  France. 

When  we  remember  the  state  of  weakness  and  decay  in 
which  the  commencement  of  the  twelfth  century  found  the 
Erench  monarchy,  we  are  astonished  at  the  degree  of  pros- 
perity and  splendour  it  attained  in  subsequent  ages.  Skil- 
ful negotiations,  successful  wars,  useful  alliances,  the  decay 
of  the  feudal  system,  and  the  progressive  enfranchisement 
of  the  commons,  favoured  the  dynasty  of  the  Capets,  in  the 
aggrandizement  of  their  states,  and  in  the  increase  of  their 
authority.  Several  centuries  were  employed  in  consum- 
mating this  great  work  of  fortune  and  policy  ;  and  the  more 
slowly  that  this  revolution  was  operated,  the  more  durable 
proved  its  effects.  One  plan  of  conduct,  followed  up  by  all 
the  princes  of  one  same  family,  and  the  success  it  obtained 
in  the  prosperity  and  aggrandizement  of  the  kingdom,  and 
the  glory  and  independence  of  the  nation,  at  the  present 
day,  merit  all  the  attention  of  history.  Frenchmen  cannot 
help  feeling  both  gratitude  and  admiration  when  they  reflect 
that  the  union  of  so  many  rich  provinces — that  this  French 
monarchy,  which  has  grown  from  age  to  age,  and  which 
finished  by  extending  from  the  Rhine  to  the  Pyrenees ;  that 
this  beautiful  France,  in  a  word,  such  as  we  see  it,  is  the 
work  of  the  august  family  which  governs  it  at  the  preseni  day.* 

*  When  a  person  moderately  read  in  French  history  remembers  the 
selfish,  sensual,  wicked  characters  here  so  unduly  eulogized,  he  may  for- 
give himself  for  the  smile  with  which  he  must  read  the  "  impotent  con- 
clusion."— Trans. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  255 

The  policy  of  our  kings  was  no  doubt  seconded  by  the 
great  events  of  the  crusades  ;  it  was  natural  that  the  nation 
which  took  the  greatest  share  in  these  events  should  profit 
more  than  others  by  it,  in  the  increase  of  its  power  and  the 
amelioration  of  its  social  condition.  The  glory  which  the 
French  arms  acquired  beyond  the  seas  gave  a  new  lustre  to 
the  monarchy ;  royal  authority  profited  equally  by  the  ex- 
ploits and  the  reverses  of  the  numerous  warriors  whom  the 
holy  wars  attracted  into  Asia ;  the  absence,  the  death,  or 
the  ruin  of  the  great  vassals  permitted  royalty  to  rise  from 
the  bosom  of  feudal  anarchy,  and  establish  order  in  the 
kingdom. 

More  than  a  century  before  the  first  crusade,  the  barons 
and  prelates  had  ceased  to  meet  in  general  assembly  to 
vegulate  the  forms  of  justice,  and  lend  to  the  acts  of  royal 
authority  the  support  of  their  political  influence.  At  the 
second  crusade,  there  were  several  assemblies  of  the  great 
men  of  the  kingdom,  in  which  preparations  for  the  expe- 
dition, and  measures  for  the  maintenance  of  public  order 
and  the  execution  of  the  laws  during  the  absence  of  Louis 
VII.,  were  deliberated  upon.  In  these  meetings,  which  were 
very  numerous,  the  French  might  trace  at  least  a  faint  image 
Df  those  assemblies,  so  celebrated  under  the  first  races,  in 
which  the  kings  and  their  subjects  deliberated  together  upon 
the  means  of  securing  the  independence  of  the  nation  and 
the  safety  of  the  throne. 

Thus  the  crusades  aided  the  kings  of  France  in  resuming 
their  legislative  power,  and  the  most  enlightened  part  of  the 
nation,  in  recovering  those  ancient  prerogatives  which  they 
had  exercised  under  the  children  of  Clovis  and  Charlemagne. 

It  may  be  remembered,  that  after  the  accession  of  Hugh 
Capet,  the  great  vassals  not  only  did  no  longer  assemble 
around  their  prince,  but  had  entirely  separated  their  cause 
from  that  of  the  crown  ;  several  even  scarcely  acknowledged 
a  king  of  France,  and  covering  their  opposition  with  a  pious 
pretext,  they,  ia  their  public  acts,  designated  the  year  of  the 
reign  of  Jesus  Christ,  instead  of  that  of  the  king.  This 
opposition,  which  lasted  more  than  a  century,  at  last  gave 
way  to  other  feelings,  when  they  saw  the  French  monarchs 
at  the  head  of  those  expeditions  which  attracted  the  atten- 
tion- of  a-    Christendom,  and  in  wl  ieh  the  cause  of  Jesus 


256  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

Christ  himself,  as  well  as  of  all  Christian  nations,  seemed 
interested.  In  order  to  perceive  clearly  what  the  kings  of 
France  owed  to  the  holy  wars,  and  what  in  particular  they 
gamed  by  taking  part  in  them,  it  would  suffice  to  compare 
Philip  I.,  shut  up  in  his  palace,  in  a  melancholy  manner, 
during  the  Council  of  Clermont,  excommunicated  by  Urban, 
condemned  by  the  bishops,  and  abandoned  by  his  nobles, 
with  Philip  Augustus,  in  the  first  place  conqueror  of  Saladin 
in  Syria,  and  afterwards  triumphant  at  Beauvines,  over  the 
enemies  of  his  kingdom ;  or  with  Louis  IX.,  surrounded  in 
his  reverses  by  a  faithful  nobility,  ever  respected  by  the 
clergy  and  the  people,  revered  as  the  firmest  supnort  of 
the  Church,  and  proclaimed  by  his  own  age  the  arbiter  of 
Europe. 

"We  will  speak  hereafter  of  the  changes  which  were  then 
effected  in  the  different  classes  of  society ;  we  will  confine 
ourselves  here  to  saying  that  the  crusades  were  the  signal 
for  a  new  order  of  things  in  France,  and  that  this  new  order 
of  things  cast  solid  foundations  during  the  holy  wars. 

If  royalty  in  France  was  weak  at  the  period  of  the  first 
crusade,  in  England  it  was  strong  and  powerful ;  royalty  and 
feudalism  oppressed  England  with  all  the  weight  of  the  con- 
quests of  William  ;  but  an  authority  founded  upou  victory, 
and  sustained  by  violence,  created  afc  an  early  period  in  men'a 
mmds  a  feeling  of  opposition,  which  time  and  circumstances 
were  destined  to  develop.  Military  despotism  had  been 
able  to  impose  silence  upon  opinions  ;  but  it  had  not  entirely 
changed  the  manners  of  the  English,  or  destroyed  their 
attachment  to  old  customs.  Passions  suppressed  by  the 
sword  broke  out  with  greater  violence  in  the  end. 

An  all-powerful  monarchy  exhibited  a  tendency  to  decline, 
and  in  England  was  seen  the  contrary  of  that  which  had 
been  seen  in  France.  Liberty  made  advances  at  the  expense 
of  royal  authority.  It  does  not  enter  into  our  plan  to  ex- 
plain in  detail  the  causes  of  this  revolution.  Several  English 
monarchs  allowed  themselves  to  be  led  away  by  an  imprudent 
and  passionate  policy,  which  threw  them  into  fatal  extrava- 
gances ;  their  excesses,  their  violences,  and  particularly  the 
crimes  of  John  Lack-land,  alienated  the  minds  of  their  sub- 
jects, and  united  the  whole  nation  in  one  feeling  of  resistance 
to  absolute  power.     Another  cause   if  decline  not  less,  re- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  257 

markable,  and  to  which  history  has  not  sufficiently  drawn 
attention,  was  the  ambition  of  the  English  princes,  which 
inspired  them  with  the  senseless  project  of  conquering  the 
kingdom  of  France.  The  ruinous  wars  which  they  main- 
tained against  an  enemy  they  could  not  subdue,  placed  them 
at  the  discretion  of  the  barons  and  the  English  people,  who 
furnished  them  with  subsidies  and  fought  under  their 
banners. 

The  crusades  had,  perhaps,  less  influence  upon  the  civil- 
ization of  England  than  upon  that  of  several  other  states  of 
Europe.  They  might,  however,  concur  with  many  circum- 
stances of  that  period  in  effecting  the  changes  which  the 
English  monarchy  underwent. 

Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  was  more  anxious  to  acquire  the 
renown  of  a  great  captain  than  the  reputation  of  a  great 
king;  the  glory  of  arms  made  him  forget  the  cares  of  his 
kingdom.  It  may  be  remembered  that  before  his  departure 
he  sold  the  charges,  the  prerogatives,  and  the  domains  of  the 
crown  ;  he  would  have  sold,  as  he  himself  said,  the  city  of 
London,  if  he  could  have  found  a  purchaser  ;  his  reverses 
and  his  captivity  ruined  his  people,  and  his  long  absence 
kept  up  the  spirit  of  faction  among  his  nobles,  and  more 
especially  in  his  own  family. 

The  English  barons  were  several  times  desirous  of  going 
into  the  East,  against  the  will  of  the  king  ;  and  the  idea  of 
opposing  a  monarch  they  did  not  love,  often  added  to  their 
impatience  to  embark  for  Palestine.  Kings  likewise  took 
advantage  of  the  opinions  of  their  times,  and  engaged  them- 
selves to  set  out  for  the  crusades,  with  the  sole  view  of  ob- 
taining subsidies,  which  they  employed  in  other  enterprises. 
These  means,  too  often  employed,  drew  contempt  upon  the 
policy  of  princes,  and  only  served  to  increase  the  public 
mistrust. 

But  that  which  completed  the  overthrow  of  the  founda- 
tions of  an  absolute  monarchy  in  England,  was  the  violent 
enterprises  of  the  popes  against  the  English  kings;  enter- 
prises which  the  spirit  of  religious  wars  favoured.  In  the 
league  of  the  barons  against  Henry  III.,  the  rebels  wore  a 
cross,  as  in  the  wars  beyond  the  seas ;  and  the  priests  pro- 
mised the  palms  of  martyrdom  to  those  who  should  die  in 
the  cause  of  liberty.     One  very  curious  circumstance  is,  that 

Vol.  III.  —12 


258  HISTOET    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

the  head  of  the  league  formed  for  the  independence  of  the 
English  nation,  was  a  French  gentleman,  the  son  of  that 
count  de  Montfort  so  renowned*  in  the  crusade  against 
the  Albigeois. 

But  the  long  efforts  of  England  to  obtain  liberty  deserve 
bo  much  the  more  to  fix  the  attention  of  history,  from  their 
having,  in  the  end,  attained  a  positive  and  durable  result. 
So  many  other  nations,  after  having  contended  for  a  long 
time,  sometimes  against  license,  sometimes  against  tyranny, 
have  only  met  with  misery,  shame,  and  slavery.  If  the 
English  revolution  produced  in  the  end  salutary  effects,  it 
was  because  all  classes  of  society  concurred  together  in  it ; 
because  it  was  made  in  the  interests  of  all,  according  to  the 
character  and  the  manners  of  the  nation,  and  according  to 
the  spirit  of  Christianity,  which  then  presided  over  all  which 
ought  to  last  among  men.  Unanimity  of  opinions  and  sen- 
timents, the  accordance  of  manners  and  laws,  of  policy  and 
religion,  founded  from  that  time  that  public  spirit  of  which 
England  still  offers  us  the  model;  and  this  public  spirit 
became  in  the  end  the  most  firm  support  and  the  most  sure 
safeguard  of  liberty. 

Whilst  England  was  wresting  liberty  from  its  kings,  and 
France  was  requiring  hers  back  again  of  royalty,  Germany 

Presented  another  spectacle ;   the  German   empire,  which 
ad  thrown  out  great  splendour  up  to  the  eleventh  century, 
declined  rapidly  during  the  crusades. 

The  emperors,  in  order  to  resist  the  great  vassals,  granted 
several  advantages  to  the  clergy,  and  bestowed  privileges 
upon  the  cities.  The  clergy  employed  these  advantages  in 
favour  of  the  popes,  who  attacked  the  imperial  power ;  the 
cities  profited  by  the  concessions  which  were  made  to  found 
their  independence.  All  the  efforts  of  the  emperors  had 
proved  unable  to  prevent  the  crown  continuing  elective, 
whilst  the  great  fiefs  became  hereditary.  Thus  the  heads  of 
the  empire  depended  for  their  election  upon  the  princes  and 
nobles  whom  they  themselves  had  freed  from  all  dependence. 
In  the  competition  of  the  pretenders  to  the  throne,  in  a 
competition  which  was  almost  always  decided  by  fortune, 
intrigue,  or  victory,  it  may  easily  be  supposed  that  ambition 

*  Say,  rather— rendered  so  infamous  by  his  cruelties. — Trans. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  259 

wa3  often  more  successful  than  moderation  Mid  virtue 
Anung  the  princes  who  ascended  the  imperial  throne,  many 
were  men  of  great  character ;  but  their  active  and  restless 
genius  led  them  into  adventurous  and  gigantic  enterprises, 
which  exhausted  their  strength  and  hastened  the  decline  of 
the  empire. 

The  memories  of  ancient  Rome  and  of  the  power  of  the 
Caesars  were  always  present  to  their  imagination.  One  of 
the  greatest  errors  of  their  policy  was  turning  their  views 
towards  Italy;  they  encountered  on  their  way  thither  the 
popes,  who  declared  a  war  of  extermination  against  them ; 
two  families  of  emperors  succumbed  beneath  the  thunders 
of  Rome ;  they  were  never  able  to  reign  over  Italy,  and 
whilst  they  exhausted  themselves  in  vain  efforts  to  establish 
their  domination  there,  they  completed  the  loss  of  their  in- 
fluence in  Germany. 

It  is  a  cousoling  remark  for  humanity,  that  most  of  the 
conquerors  of  the  middle  ages  weakened  themselves  by  their 
undertakings,  victory  itself  only  serving  to  bring  about  the 
ruin  of  their  power.  The  kings  of  France  of  this  period 
evinced,  perhaps,  less  talent  and  genius  than  the  emperors 
of  Germany  ;  but  their  policy  was  wiser  and  more  fortunate  ; 
they  confined  themselves  to  conquering  their  own  kingdom  ; 
their  conquests  only  tended  to  unite  the  scattered  members 
of  a  kirge  family  ;  and  their  authority  became  more  popular 
in  proportion  with  their  being  considered  as  a  natural  tie 
between  the  French  of  all  the  provinces. 

The  glory  which  the  emperors  of  Germany  acquired  by 
their  conquests  was  but  a  personal  glory,  and  did  not  at  all 
interest  the  German  people.  This  manifestation  of  their 
power  had  nothing  in  common  with  the  nations  of  which 
they  were  the  head.  As  soon  as  this  power  was  no  longer  a 
bond  or  a  support  for  the  people,  they  separated  themselves 
from  it,  and  every  one  sought  his  safety  or  his  aggrandize- 
ment in  his  own  strength. 

A  state  of  things  arose  from  this  which  was,  perhaps, 
more  fatal  to  Germany  than  the  absolute  authority  of  the 
emperors ;  upon  the  ruins  of  the  imperial  grandeur  arose  a 
crowd  of  states,  opposed  to  each  other  by  diversity  of  laws 
and  the  spirit  of  rivalry.  All  those  ecclesiastical  and  secular 
principalities  in  which  the  spirit  of  monarchy  prevailed ;  those 


200  HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES. 

cities  in  which  the  spirit  of  liberty  fermented ;  that  nobility 
animated  by  the  pretensions  of  aristocracy,  could  not  possibly 
have  the  same  interests  or  the  same  policy  to  direct  their 
efforts  towards  one  common  and  salutary  aim. 

The  popes,  after  having  weakened  the  power  of  the  em- 
perors, wished  to  dispose  of  the  broken  sceptre  of  Charle- 
magne, and  offered  it  to  all  who  appeared  likely  to  promote 
their  scheme  of  vengeance.  A  crowd  of  princes  then  started 
up  as  pretenders  to  the  empire  thus  held  out  by  the  popes, 
and  the  greater  the  number  of  these,  the  more  rapidly  the 
empire  declined.  Amidst  civil  discords,  Germany  completed 
the  loss  of  its  political  unity,  and  at  last  its  religious  unity. 

In  order  to  judge  to  what  a  degree  it  was  difficult  to  put 
in  motion  that  enormous  mass  called  the  German  confedera- 
tion, it  is  only  necessary  to  contemplate,  in  the  history  of 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  those  numerous  diets 
which  assembled  to  deliberate  upon  the  war  against  the 
Turks,  in  which  the  presence  of  imminent  peril  even  was 
never  able  to  produce  one  energetic  decision  for  the  safety 
of  Germany. 

The  popes  sometimes  made  use  of  the  pretext  of  the  cru- 
sades to  drive  the  emperors  to  a  distance,  and  to  precipitate 
them  into  disastrous  expeditions  ;  thus  the  enthusiasm  for 
the  holy  wars,  which  had  a  tendency  to  establish  union 
among  Christian  nations,  had  no  power  to  bring  together 
the  members  of  the  German  nation,  and  only  served  to  keep 
up  trouble  and  disorder  in  the  bosom  of  the  empire.  We 
must,  however,  repeat  here  what  has  been  read  in  this  his- 
tory ;  it  was  under  the  auspices  and  by  the  influence  of  the 
court  of  Rome,  when  occupied  seriously  by  a  crusade,  that  the 
family  of  Eodolph  of  Hapsburg  arose,  a  family  whose  power 
restored  the  empire  to  something  of  its  ancient  splendour, 
and  saved  Europe  from  the  invasion  of  the  Turks. 

We  have  likewise  to  add  that,  at  the  period  of  the  cru- 
sades, Germany  augmented  its  territories  and  its  population, 
The  expeditions  against  the  infidels  of  the  East  gave  birth  tc 
the  idea  of  attacking  the  pagans  and  idolaters,  whose  hordes 
inhabited  the  banks  of  the  Vistula  and  the  coasts  of  the 
Baltic.  These  races,  when  subdued  by  the  Crusaders,  en- 
tered into  the  Christian  republic,  and  formed  part  of  th6 
German  confederation.     At  the  aspect  of  the  cross,  suet 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CjIUSADES.  261 

cities  as  Dantzic,  Thorn,  Elbing,  Kcenigsberg,  &c,  sprang 
up  from  the  bosom  of  forests  and  deserts.  Finland,  Lithu- 
ania, Pomerania,  and  Silesia  became  nourishing  provinces ; 
new  nations  arose,  new  states  were  formed,  and,  to  complete 
these  prodigies,  the  arms  of  the  Crusaders  marked  the  spot 
in  which  a  monarchy  was  to  appear  that  did  not  exist  in  the 
middle  ages,  but  which  the  present  age  has  seen  all  at  once 
take  its  place  in  \he  rank  of  the  great  powers  of  Europe. 
At  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  provinces  from 
which  the  Prussian  monarchy  derives  both  its  name  and  its 
origin,  were  separated  from  Christendom  by  idolatry  and 
savage  manners  ;  the  conquest  and  the  civilization  of  these 
provinces  were  the  work  of  the  holy  wars. 

If  from  Germany  we  pass  into  Italy,  we  there  meet  with 
other  forms  of  government,  and  other  revolutions. 

When  the  last  columns  of  the  Roman  empire  crumbled 
away,  Italy  was  covered  with  ruins.  The  Huns,  the  Pranks, 
the  Yandals,  the  Goths,  the  Germans,  and  the  Lombards, 
held  over  this  beautiful  country,  in  turns,  the  scourge  of 
their  domination,  and  all  left  behind  them  traces  of  their 
manners,  their  legislation,  and  their  character. 

In  the  tenth  century,  the  emperors  of  Constantinople 
being  unable  any  longer  to  retain  Italy,  other  powers  arose, 
some  from  conquests,  others  by  good  fortune,  and  others 
from  circumstances  which  history  has  much  difficulty 
in  indicating.  The  influence  of  the  popes  sometimes  de- 
fended the  independence  of  Italy  against  the  invasions  and 
the  yoke  of  the  German  emperors ;  but  the  struggle  was  so 
long,  and  the  war  between  the  two  powers  exhibited  so 
many  vicissitudes,  that  it  only  served  to  perpetuate  trouble 
and  discord  ;  during  several  centuries,  the  Guelphs  and  the 
Ghibellines  desolated  Italy  without  defending  it. 

In  every  nation  of  Europe  there  was  then  a  power,  or 
rather  a  preponderating  authority,  which  was  as  a  rallying- 
point,  or  centre,  around  which  societv  formed  and  united  its 
forces  to  defend  its  political  existence. 

Italy  had  not,  like  Prance  and  other  countries,  this  pre- 
cious means  of  conservation.  Nothing  proves  better  the 
dissolution  in  which  this  rich  country  was  plunged,  than  the 
manner  by  which  it  endeavoured  to  establish  its  indepen- 
dence in  the  middle  ages.    That  division  into  many  states 


262  HISTORY   OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

that  parcelling  out  of  territory,  that  numerous  population 
split  into  a  '.^ousand  fractions,  all  announced  the  absence  oi 
any  tie,  01  any  common  centre.  Italy  comprised  many 
nations  ;  twenty  republics  had  each  their  own  laws,  their 
own  interests,  and  their  own  history.  Those  perpetual  wars 
between  the  citizens  of  the  same  cities ;  those  animosities 
between  republic  and  republic ;  that  necessity  of  the  inha- 
bitants for  calling  in  strangers  in  their  internal  quarrels ;  those 
mistrusts  which  bore  harder  upon  the  citizens  than  upon  the 
stipendiary  adventurers,  tended  to  efface  the  true  sentiment 
of  patriotism,  and  at  length  caused  even  the  name  of  the 
Italian  nation  to  be  forgotten. 

The  feudal  system  was  abolished  earlier  in  Italy  than 
elsewhere  ;  but  with  feudalism  departed  the  ancient  honour 
of  brave  knights,  and  the  virtues  of  chivalry.  In  republics 
defended  by  mercenaries,  bravery,  and  all  the  generous  sen- 
timents that  accompany  it,  ceased  to  be  esteemed.  "Violent 
passions  had  no  longer  any  check,  either  in  the  laws  or  in 
the  opinions  of  men ;  it  was  at  this  unhappy  period  that 
those  hatreds  and  vengeances  displayed  themselves  which 
appear  so  improbable  to  us  in  our  tragedies  ;  no  spectacle 
can  be  more  afflicting  than  that  of  Italy  in  the  fourteenth 
century  ;  and  we  may  safely  say  that  Dante  had  but  to  look 
around  him  to  find  the  model  for  his  Hell. 

Societ}^,  always  ready  to  split  to  pieces,  appeared  to  have 
no  other  motive  but  the  fury  of  parties,  no  other  principle 
of  life  but  discord  and  civil  war ;  there  was  no  other  guarantee 
against  license  but  tyranny  ;  or  against  tyranny,  but  the 
despair  of  factions,  and  the  poniard  of  conspirators.  As  the 
strength  of  most  of  the  little  states  which  covered  Italy  was 
seldom  equal  to  their  ambition ;  and  as  princes  and  citizens, 
by  the  same  reason  that  they  were  weak,  wanted  both  mo- 
deration and  courage  ;  they  sought  their  elevation  or  their 
safety  in  all  the  means  that  treachery  and  perfidy  could  sug- 
gest. Plots,  political  stratagems,  odious  crimes,  everything 
appeared  right  to  them  ;  everything  seemed  properly  avail- 
able that  could  sustain  their  quarrels,  and  satisfy  their  am- 
bition or  their  jealousy.  At  length,  all  morality  disappeared ; 
and  it  was  then  that  school  of  policy  was  formed,  which  is  to 
be  fou  id  in  the  lessons,  or  rather  in  the  satire,  of  Machiavel's 
book. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  263 

It  is  said  that  the  Italians  were  the  first  to  form  the  idea 
.of  what  publicists  call  the  balance  of  power.  We  do  not  think 
that  Italy  merits  such  a  g  xry ;  that  which  is  understood  by 
the  balance  of  power  is  not  an  invention  :  it  is  nothing  but 
the  natural  resource  of  the  weakness  which  seeks  a  support. 
If  we  follow  the  progress  of  events,  we  shall  find  that  this 
system,  so  long  boasted,  became  fatal  to  Italy,  by  calling 
thither  conquerors,  who  made  it,  even  up  to  our  own  days, 
the  theatre  of  most  sanguinary  wars. 

At  the  period  of  the  crusades,  the  cities  of  Lombardy,  and 
the  republics  of  Grenoa,  Pisa,  and  Venice,  had  attained  great 
prosperity  ;  and  that  which  gave  them  this  prosperity  was 
the  commerce  of  the  East,  which  Italy  carried  on  before  the 
crusades,  and  persevered  in,  with  all  the  advantages  accruing 
from  the  expeditions  beyond  the  seas. 

But  these  republics,  which  contended  for  the  empire  of 
the  sea,  and  only  occupied  a  little  corner  of  land  upon  the 
Mediterranean, — which  had  their  eyes  constantly  fixed  upon 
Syria,  Egypt,  and  Greece, — which  left,  to  strangers  the  care 
of  defending  their  territories,  and  only  armed  their  citizens 
for  the  defence  of  their  commerce, — these  mercantile  repub- 
lics were  much  better  calculated  to  enrich  Italy  than  to  keep 
up  the  sentiment  of  a  true  independence  among  the  Italian 
nations'. 

"We  cannot,  however,  refrain  from  admiring  that  republic 
of  Venice,  whose  power  everywhere  preceded  the  arms  of  the 
Crusaders,  and  which  the  nations  of  the  middle  ages  looked 
upon  as  the  queen  of  the  East.  The  decline  of  this  great 
republic  did  not  begin  before  the  period  at  which  the  pro- 
gress of  navigation,  that  it  had  so  much  contributed  to,  at 
length  opened  the  route  to  India,  and  led  to  the  discovery 
of  a  new  world.  Most  of  the  other  republics  of  Italy  nei- 
ther displayed  the  same  splendour  nor  enjoyed  the  same 
duration  ;  many  among  them  —  particularly  those  in  which 
democracy  prevailed  —  had  disappeared  at  the  end  of  the 
crusades,  in  the  chaos  and  tumult  of  discords  and  civil  wars. 
In  their  place  arose  dukes  and  princes,  who  substituted  the 
intrigues  of  policy  for  popular  passions,  and  sometimes  made 
it  their  ambition  to  favour  the  revival  of  arts  and  letters,  the 
true  glory  of  Italy. 

The  kingdom  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  situated  at  the  ex« 


264  HISTORY    OF    THE    CEUSADES. 

tremity  of  Italy,  was  for  the  Crusaders  the  road  to  Greece  and 
the  East.  The  riches  of  this  country,  which  appeared  never 
to  have  any  guardians, — a  territory  which  its  inhabitants 
were  never  able  to  defend,  must  have  often  tempted  the 
cupidity  and  the  ambition  of  the  princes  and  even  of  the 
knights  who  went  to  seek  their  fortunes  in  Asia.  The  history 
of  this  fine  country  is  mixed  up  during  two  centuries  with 
that  of  the  holy  wars,  the  crusades  often  furnishing  a  pretext 
or  an  opportunity  for  the  conquest  of  it.  The  wars  under- 
taken for  the  kingdom  of  Naples, — those  wars  which  produced 
more  monstrous  crimes  than  glorious  exploits,  more  revolts 
than  battles,  completed  the  corruption  of  the  Neapolitan 
character,  in  which  has  always  been  remarked,  on  the  one 
part,  an  inclination  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of  present  domi- 
nation, and,  on  the  other,  an  extreme  resignation  in  sub- 
mitting to  the  yoke  of  victory. 

W  hilst  glancing  thus  at  the  principal  states  of  Europe,  we 
are  particularly  struck  with  the  great  diversity  that  exists 
in  the  mauners,  the  institutions,  and  the  destinies  of  nations. 
How  is  it  possible  to  follow  the  march  of  civilization  amidst 
so  many  republics  and  monarchies,  some  bursting  with 
splendour  from  the  bosom  of  barbarism,  others  sinking  into 
ruins  ?  And  how  is  it  possible  to  point  out  the  influence 
of  the  crusades  through  so  many  revolutions,  which  have 
often  the  same  causes,  but  whose  effects  are  so  different,  and 
sometimes  so  opposite  ?  Spain,  to  which  we  are  now  about 
to  turn  our  attention,  will  present  us  with  other  pictures, 
and  must  furnish  fresh  subjects  for  meditation. 

During  the  course  of  the  crusades,  we  see  Spain  occupied 
in  its  own  boundaries  with  defending  itself  against  those 
same  Saracens  whom  the  other  nations  of  Europe  went  to 
contend  with  in  the  East ;  in  the  north  of  the  Peninsula, 
some  Christian  sovereignties  had  maintained  themselves, 
which  began  to  be  formidable  under  Sancho  the  Great,  king 
of  Castile  and  Arragon.  The  valour  of  the  Castiliana,  sus- 
tained by  the  example  of  the  Cid,  and  by  the  influence  of 
chivalric  manners,  and  seconded  by  warriors  from  all  the 
provinces  of  Erarce,  took  Toledo,  before  the  end  of  the 
eleventh  century.  Lut  the  conquests  of  the  Spaniards  did 
not  afterwards  correspond  with  the  splendour  of  their  early 
triumphs;  as  feat  ae  they  retook  provinces  from  the  Moors 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CETJSADES.  265 

they  made  separate  kingdoms  of  them ;  and  the  Spanish 
power,  thus  divided,  became,  in  some  sort,  weakened  by  its 
own  victories. 

The  invasion  of  the  Moors  in  Spain  bore  some  resemblance 
to  that  of  the  Franks  in  Asia.  It  was  the  religion  of  Ma- 
homet that  animated  the  Saracen  warriors  to  the  fight,  a» 
the  Christian  religion  inflamed  the  zeal  and  ardour  of  the 
soldiers  of  the  cross.  Africa  and  Asia  often  answered  to  the 
appeal  of  the  Mussulman  colonies  in  Spain,  as  Europe  did 
to  the  cries  of  alarm  of  the  Christian  colonies  in  Syria.  En- 
thusiasm gave  birth  on  both  sides  to  prodigies  of  heroism, 
and  held  fortune  for  a  long  time  suspended  between  the  two 
inimical  nations  and  the  two  inimical  religions. 

A  spirit  of  independence  naturally  grew  up  among  the 
Spaniards,  during  a  war  in  which  the  state  had  need  of  all 
its  citizens,  and  in  which  every  citizen,  by  that  means,  ac- 
quired a  great  degree  of  importance.  It  has  been  remarked, 
with  reason,  that  a  people  that  has  done  great  things,  that 
an  entire  people  called  to  the  defence  of  its  country,  expe- 
riences an  exaggerated  sentiment  of  its  rights,  shows  itself 
more  exacting,  sometimes  more  unjust  towards  those  who 
govern,  and  often  feels  tempted  to  employ  against  its  sove- 
reigns the  strength  it  had  employed  against  its  enemies. 
Thus  we  may  see  in  the  Spanish  annals,  that  the  nobility 
and  the  people  were  more  turbulent  than  in  other  countries, 
and  that  monarchy  was  there  at  first  more  limited  than 
among  the  other  nations  of  Europe. 

The  institution  of  the  Cortes,  the  enfranchisement  of  the 
commons,  and  a  crowd  of  privileges  granted  to  cities,  sig- 
nalized very  early,  among  the  Spaniards,  the  decay  of  the 
feudal  system  and  of  the  absolute  authority  of  the  monarchs. 
If  we  may  judge  by  public  acts  of  legislation,  we  might 
believe  that  the  Spanish  people  enjoyed  liberty  before  all 
the  other  nations  of  Europe.  But,  in  times  of  trouble,  we 
must  be  guarded  in  judging  of  the  liberty  of  a  nation  by 
that  which  is  said  in  political  rostrums,  or  in  charters  and 
institutions,  by  turns  obtained  by  violence  and  destroyed 
by  power,  always  placed  between  two  rocks, — anarchy  and 
despotism.  The  history  of  Spain,  at  tins  period,  is  full  of 
crimes  and  monstrous  deeds,  that  stain  the  cause  of  princes 
as  well  as  that  of  the  people :  which  proves  at  least  that 

12* 


266  HISTORY   OF   THE    CRTTSADES. 

morals  did  not  keep  pace  with  laws,  and  that  institutions, 
created  among  public  discords,  did  not  soften  the  national 
character. 

Amidst  the  revolutions  which  agitated  Spain,  political 
passions  sometimes  caused  even  the  domination  of  the 
Moors  to  be  forgotten.  "When  at  the  end  of  the  thirteentl? 
century,  the  Mussulmans,  conquered  by  James  of  Arragon, 
abandoned  the  Balearic  isles  and  the  kingdom  of  Valencia 
and  Murcia,  the  Spaniards  all  at  once  suspended  the  pro- 
gress of  their  arms.  Whilst  in  the  East,  the  victorious 
Mamelukes  redoubled  their  efforts  to  completely  drive  the 
Franks  from  the  coast  of  Syria ;  in  the  West,  the  Moors 
remained,  during  two  centuries,  in  possession  of  a  part  of 
Spain,  without  the  Spaniards  ever  seriously  attempting  to 
complete  the  conquest  of  their  own  country.  The  standard 
of  Mahomet  floated  over  the  cities  of  Granada,  up  to  the 
reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  It  was  only  at  this  period 
that  the  Spanish  monarchy  issued  all-powerful  from  the  chaos 
of  revolutions,  and  revived  in  the  people  the  warlike  and 
religious  enthusiasm  which  completed  the  expulsion  of  the 
Moors.  Then  terminated  ^be  struggle  which  had  lasted 
during  eight  centuries,  and  in  which,  according  to  Spanish 
authors,  three  thousand  seven  hundred  battles  were  fought. 
So  many  combats,  which  were  nothing  but  one  long  crusade, 
must  have  been  a  school  of  bravery  and  heroism ;  thus  the 
Spaniards,  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  were 
considered  the  most  brave  and  warlike  nation  of  Europe. 
Philosophers  have  sought  to  explain  by  the  influence  of 
climate  that  spirit  of  haughtiness  and  pride,  that  grave  and 
austere  character  which  to  this  day  distinguish  the  Spanish 
nation.  It  appears  to  us  that  a  much  more  natural  expla- 
nation of  this  national  character  is  to  be  found  in  a  war  at 
once  patriotic  and  religious,  in  which  twenty  successive 
generations  were  engaged,  the  perils  of  which  must  have 
inspired  serious  thoughts  as  well  as  noble  sentiments. 

The  aversion  for  the  yoke  and  the  religion  of  the  Moors, 
redoubled  the  attachment  of  the  people  for  tl  ;ir  religion 
and  their  ancient  customs.  The  remembrance  of  that  glo- 
rious struggle  has  not  failed  to  animate  the  ardour  and 
courage  of  the  Spaniards  at  a  recent  period ; — fortunate  had 


HISTORY   CF   THE    CRUSADES.  267 

it  been  for  Spain  if,  at  the  moment  at  which  I  am  speaking, 
she  had  not  forgotten  her  own  examples  ! 

Towards  the  end  of  the  war  against  the  Moors,  Spain 
adopted  the  InqmV.tion  with  more  warmth  than  the  other 
Christian  nations.  I  will  not  attempt  to  repel  the  reproaches 
which  modern  philosophers  have  addressed  to  her;  but  it 
appears  to  me  that  sufficient  account  has  not  been  taken  of 
the  motives  which  would  render  more  excusable  in  Spain 
than  elsewhere,  those  suspicions  and  those  dark  jealousies 
for  all  which  was  not  the  national  religion.  How  could  they 
forget  that  the  standard  of  a  foreign  worship  had  so  long 
floated  over  the  Peninsula,  and  that  during  many  ages, 
Christian  warriors  had  fought,  not  only  for  the  faith  of  their 
fathers,  but  for  the  very  soil  of  their  country  against  the 
infidels  ?  According  to  my  opinion,  may  it  not  be  believed, 
that  among  the  Spaniards,  religious  intolerance,  or  rather 
a  hatred  for  all  foreign  religion,  had  something  in  itself 
which  was  less  a  jealous  devotion  than  an  ardent,  restless 
patriotism  ? 

Spain  took  no  part  in  the  crusades,  till  the  spirit  of  these 
wars  began  to  die  away  in  the  rest  of  Europe.  We  must, 
however,  remark,  that  this  kingdom  derived  some  advantages 
from  the  Eastern  expeditions.  In  almost  all  the  enterprises 
of  Christendom  against  the  Mussulmans  of  Asia,  a  great 
number  of  the  Crusaders  stopped  on  the  coast  of  Spain  to 
combat  the  Moors  Many  crusades  were  published  in  the 
West  against  the  infidels  who  were  masters  of  the  Peninsula. 
The  celebrated  victory  of  Tolosa  over  the  Moors  was  the 
fruit  of  a  crusade  preached  in  Europe,  and  particularly  in 
Prance,  by  order  of  the  sovereign  pontiff.  Expeditions  be- 
yond the  sea  were  likewise  favourable  to  the  Spaniards,  by 
retaining  in  their  own  country  the  Saracens  of  Egypt  and 
Syria,  who  might  have  joined  those  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 
It  has  been  shown  in  this  history  that  the  kingdom  of  Por- 
tugal was  conquered  and  founded  by  Crusaders.  The  cru- 
sades gave  the  idea  of  those  orders  of  chivalry,  which,  in 
imitation  of  those  of  Palestine,  were  formed  in  Spain,  and 
without  the  succour  of  which  the  Spanish  nation  would  no  . 
perhaps  have  triumphed  over  the  Moors. 

We   'nay  add,  that  Spain  is  the  country  in  which  tlu 


268  HISTORY  OF  THE  crusades. 

memory  of  the  crusades  was  preserved  the  longest.  In  the 
last  century,  the  bull  called  Crusada  was  there  published 
every  year  in  all  the  provinces.  This  solemn  publication 
reminded  the  Spaniards  of  the  triumphs  they  had  forn  eriy 
obtained  over  the  Mussulmans. 

We  have  shown  the  state  of  the  principal  powers  of 
Europe  during  the  crusades ;  it  now  remains  for  us  to  speak 
of  a  power  which  dominated  over  all  the  others,  and  which 
was  as  a  tie  or  centre  to  all  the  powers ; — we  mean  the  au- 
thority of  the  heads  of  the  Church. 

The  popes,  as  a  temporal  power  and  as  a  spiritual  power, 
presented  a  singular  contrast  in  the  middle  ages.  As  sove- 
reigns of  Borne,  they  had  almost  no  authority,  and  were  often 
banished  from  their  own  states :  as  heads  of  Christendom, 
they  exercised  an  absolute  empire  to  the  extremities  of  the 
world,  and  their  name  was  revered  wherever  the  Grospel  was 
preached. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  popes  made  the  crusades ;  they 
who  maintain  this  opinion  are  far  from  being  acquainted 
with  the  general  movement  which  then  affected  the  Chris- 
tian world ;  no  power  on  earth  could  have  been  able  to  pro- 
duce such  a  great  revolution  ;  it  only  belonged  to  Him  whose 
will  gives  birth  to  and  disperses  tempests,  to  throw  all  at 
once  into  human  hearts  that  enthusiasm  which  silenced  all 
other  passions,  and  drew  on  the  multitude  as  if  by  an  in- 
visible power.  In  the  first  book  of  this  volume  we  have 
shown  how  the  enthusiasm  for  the  holy  wars  developed 
itself  by  degrees,  and  how  it  broke  forth  towards  the  end  of 
the  eleventh  century,  without  any  other  influence  but  that 
of  the  dominant  ideas  :  it  led  away  the  whole  of  society,  and 
the  popes  were  led  "away  as  nations  of  people  were ;  one 
proof  that  the  sovereign  pontiffs  did  not  produce  this  extra- 
ordinary revolution  is,  that  they  were  never  able  to  revive 
the  spirit  of  the  crusades,  when  that  spirit  became  extinct 
among  Christian  nations. 

It  has  likewise  been  said  that  the  crusades  very  much 
increased  the  authority  of  the  popes ;  we  shall  soon  see  what 
truth  there  is  in  that  assertion.  Among  the  causes  which 
contributed  to  the  growth  of  the  pontifical  authority,  we 
may  name  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians  of  the  North,  whe 
overthrew  the  empire  of  the  West,  and  the  progress  of  th« 


HISTOHY  of   THE   CKU8ADES.  2G9 

Saracens,  who  would -not  allow  the  emperors  of  the  East 
leisure  to  turn  their  attention  towards  Italy,  or  even  to 
preserve  any  domination  over  that  country.  The  popes  thus 
found  themselves  freed  from  two  powers  upon  which  they 
depended;  and  remained  in  possession  of  the  city  of  Rome, 
which  appeared  to  have  no  other  master.  Other  circum- 
stances added  from  that  time  to  the  authority  of  the  suc- 
cessors of  St.  Peter.  However  it  may  be,  everybody  knows 
that  this  authority  had  already  made  immense  progress  be- 
fore the  crusades ;  the  head  of  the  most  powerful  monarchs 
had  already  bowed  before  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican ;  and 
Christendom  seemed  to  have  already  adopted  the  maxim  of 
Gregory  VII.,  that  "  the  pope,  in  quality  of  Vicar  of  Jesus 
Christ,  ought  to  be  superior  to  everv  human  power." 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  a  religious  war  was  calculated 
to  favour  the  development  of  the  pontifical  authority.  But 
this  war  itself  produced  events,  and  gave  rise  to  circum- 
stances which  were  less  a  means  of  aggrandizement  for  the 
power  of  the  popes,  than  a  rock  against  which  that  power 
was  dashed  and  injured.  But  it  is  positive,  that  the  end  of 
the  crusades  left  the  sovereign  pontiffs  less  powerful  than 
they  had  been  at  the  commencement  of  the  holy  wars. 

Let  us,  in  the  first  place,  say  a  few  words  of  the  advan- 
tages which  the  heads  of  the  Church  derived  from  the  expe- 
ditions against  the  infidels.  Recourse  was  always  had  to 
the  sovereign  pontiffs  when  the  question  of  a  crusade  was 
agitated ;  the  holy  war  was  preached  in  their  name,  and  car- 
ried on  under  their  auspices.  Warriors  enrolled  under  the 
banners  of  the  cross,  received  from  the  pope  privileges  which 
freed  them  from  all  other  dependence  but  that  of  the 
Church;  the  popes  were  the  protectors  of  the  Crusaders, 
the  support  of  their  families,  the  guardians  of  their  proper- 
ties ;  it  was  to  the  popes  the  Crusaders  submitted  all  their 
differences,  and  confided  all  their  interests. 

The  sovereign  pontiffs  were  not  at  first  aware  of  the 
advantages  they  might  derive  from  the  crusades.  In  the  first 
crusade,  Urban,  who  had  enemies  to  contend  with,  did  not 
think  of  asking  the  assistance  of  the  warriors  he  had  per- 
suaded to  take  the  cross ;  it  was  not  till  the  second  crusade 
that  the  popes  perceived  the  ascendancy  the  holy  wars  must 
give  them.    At  this  period  a  king  of  France  and  an  emperoi 


270  HISTORY   OF   THE    CRUSADES. 

of  Gem  any  were,  in  a  manner,  lieutenants  of  the  Holy  See ; 
in  the  third  crusade,  the  pope  compelled  Henry  II.  to  take 
the  cross,  to  expiate  the  murder  of  Thomas  a  Becket.  After 
the  death  of  Henry,  his  son  Richard  set  out  for  the  East,  at 
the  signal  of  the  sovereign  pontiff.  In  consequence  of  this 
crusade,  great  disorders,  as  we  have  related,  disturbed  the 
kingdom  of  England  ;  the  popes  took  advantage  of  them  to 
give  laws  to  the  English  people,  and  a  few  years  after  the 
death  of  Richard,  his  brother  and  successor  acknowledged 
himself  the  vassal  of  the  court  of  Rome. 

The  crusades  were  for  the  popes  a  pretext  to  usurp,  in  all 
the  states  of  Europe,  the  principal  attributes  of  sovereignty  ; 
they  became  possessed,  in  the  name  of  the  holy  war,  of  the 
right  of  levying  everywhere  both  armies  and  imposts  ;  the 
legates  they  employed  in  all  the  countries  of  Christendom 
exercised  supreme  authority  in  their  name  ;  the  presence  of 
these  legates  inspired  respect  and  fear ;  their  wills  were 
laws.  Armed  with  the  cross,  they  commanded  all  the  clergy 
as  masters ;  and  as  the  clergy,  among  all  Christian  nations, 
had  the  greatest  ascendancy,  the  empire  of  the  popes  had  no 
longer  any  opposition  or  limits. 

It  may  be  perceived  that  we  have  forgotten  none  of  the 
advantages  the  heads  of  the  Church  found  in  trie  crusades  : 
here  are  the  obstacles  and  the  rocks  they  met  with  in  the 
exercise  of  their  power. 

It  must  be  allowed  that  the  empire  of  the  popes  received 
but  very  little  increase  in  Asia  during  the  holy  wars ;  the 
quarrels  and  disputes  which  constantly  disturbed  the  Chris- 
tian colonies  in  the  East,  and  in  which  they  were  obliged  to 
interfere,  multiplied  their  embarrassments,  without  adding 
to  their  power. 

Their  voice  was  not  always  listened  to  by  the  multitude  of 
the  Crusaders ;  sometimes  even  the  soldiers  of  the  cross 
resisted  the  will  and  despised  the  counsels  of  the  pontiffs. 
The  legates  of  the  Holy  See  were  frequently  in  opposition  to 
the  leaders  of  the  army,  and  their  character  was  not  always 
respected  in  camps.  As  the  popes  were  supposed  to  direct 
the  crusades,  they  were,  in  some  sort,  responsible  for  the 
misfortunes  and  disorders  they  had  no  power  to  prevent  : 
this   moral   responsibility   exposed  them  sometimes  to  ba 


HISTORY   OF    THE    CRUSADES.  271 

judged  with  rigour,  and  was  injurious  to  their  reputatioc 
for  wisdom  and  ability. 

By  an  abuse  of  the  spirit  of  the  crusades,  the  popes  were 
dragged  into  wars  in  which  their  ambition  was  often  more 
interested  than  religion  ;  they  then  thought  of  their  temporal 
power,  and  that  was  their  weakest  point ;  they  were  never 
strong  but  when  they  depended  upon  a  higher  support ;  the 
crusades  became  for  them  as  a  lever,  which  they  employed 
to  elevate  themselves  ;  but  it  must  be  allowed  that  they 
depended  upon  it  too  much,  and  when  this  lever  failed  them, 
their  authority  trembled.  Seeking  to  regain  what  they  had 
lost,  the  popes  made,  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  cen- 
turies, incredible  efforts  to  revive  the  spirit  of  the  crusades  ; 
the  question  then  being  no  longer  to  go  and  fight  the  Saracens 
in  Asia,  but  to  defend  Europe  against  the  invasion  of  the 
Turks.  Amidst  the  perils  of  Christendom,  the  conduct  of 
the  popes  merited  the  greatest  praise,  and  the  zeal  they  dis- 
played has  not  been  sufficiently  appreciated  by  historians. 
But  the  time  of  the  fervour  for  crusades  was  past.  The  suc- 
cess obtained  by  the  sovereign  pontiffs  was  never  propor- 
tionate with  their  efforts,  and  the  uselessness  of  their  attempts 
necessarily  weakened  the  idea  entertained  of  their  ascendancy 
and  their  power. 

The  crusade  against  the  Albigeois  procured  them  very 
little  advantage  ;  the  intolerance  which  gave  birth  to  that 
war  proceeded  from  the  crusades ;  the  Inquisition,  which 
arose  from  it,  s-wakened  more  passions  than  it  suppressed. 
By  the  Inquisition,  the  Church  assumed  in  this  world  a  juris- 
diction which  partook  too  strongly  of  humanity  ;  her  decrees 
were  much  more  respected  when  they  were  referred  to  heaven 
or  to  a  future  life. 

Nothing  can  equal  the  enormity  of  the  tributes  that  were 
imposed  upon  the  clergy  for  carrying  on  the  holy  wars. 
The  tenths  were  not  only  levied  for  the  crusades,  but  for 
3very  attempt  at  a  crusade ;  not  only  for  expeditions  to  the 
East,  but  for  every  enterprise  against  the  enemies  of  the 
court  of  Borne.  They  were  at  length  levied  under  the 
most  vain  pretexts  ;  all  Europe  addressed  warm  remon- 
strances to  the  popes  ;  at  first  the  rigour  with  which  tha 
agents  collected  the  tributes  was  complained  of;  and  after- 


272  HISTORY    OF    THE    CEUS-kDES. 

wards  their  infidelity  in  the  application  of  the  treasures 
extorted  from  the  faithful  became  equally  a  subject  of 
scandal.  Nothing  could  be  more  injurious  to  the  pontifical 
authority  than  these  complaints,  which  arose  from  all  quar- 
ters, and  which,  in  the  end,  furnished  weapons  for  the  for- 
midable heresy  of  Luther. 

The  history  of  the  popes  in  the  middle  ages  completes  the 
proof  of  that  which  we  have  said.  Their  domination  went 
on  constantly  increasing  during  a  century  up  to  Inno- 
cent III. ;  it  after  that  period  declined  during  another  cen- 
tury, down  to  Boniface  VIIL,  at  which  time  crusades  beyond 
the  seas  ended. 

In  latter  days,  publicists  have  said  a  great  deal  about  the 
power  of  the  heads  of  the  Church;  but  they  have  judged 
rather  according  to  systems  than  according  to  facts, — more 
after  the  spirit  of  our  own  age  than  that  of  the  middle  ages. 
The  genius  of  the  sovereign  pontiffs  has  been  much  lauded, 
particularly  for  the  purpose  of  placing  their  ambition  in  a 
stronger  light.  But  if  the  popes  really  had  the  genius  and 
the  ambition  attributed  to  them,  we  must  believe  they  would 
have  been  principally  employed  in  aggrandizing  their  states, 
and  increasing  their  authority  as  sovereigns.  Nevertheless, 
they  did  not  succeed  in  this,  or  else  they  never  attempted  it. 
In  fact,  what  could  men  do,  who  were  mostly  arrived  at  the  age 
of  decrepitude? — what  could  princes  do,  who  merely  passed 
over  the  throne,  to  strengthen  their  authority,  and  master 
the  passions  belonging  to  the  infancy  and  the  youth  of 
societies  ?  Among  the  crowd  of  popes  who  succeeded  each 
other,  many  were  endowed  with  a  superior  genius,  whilst 
others  only  possessed  a  moderate  capacity  ;  men  of  all  cha- 
racters and  all  turns  of  mind  occupied,  in  succession,  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter ;  nevertheless,  these  men,  so  different  by 
their  tastes,  their  passions,  and  their  talents,  all  aimed  at 
and  all  did  the  same  thing  ;  they  had,  therefore,  an  impul- 
sion which  was  not  in  themselves,  the  motive  of  which  must 
be  sought  elsewhere  than  in  the  vulgar  policy  of  princes. 

That  would  be  a  curious  history  which  would  trace,  in  the 
same  picture,  the  spiritual  empire  and  the  temporal  empire 
of  the  popes.  Who  would  not  be  surprised  at  seeing  in  it, 
on  one  side,  a  force  which  nothing  could  resist,  which  moves 
tlLeyery  world, — a  will  always  the  same,  which  is  transmitted 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRTJSADES.  2?8 

from  pontiff  to  pontiff,  like  a  deposit,  or  like  a  sacred  heri 
tape  ;  on  the  other,  a  policy  weak  and  changeable,  like  man, 
—  a  power  which  can  scarcely  defend  itself  against  the  low- 
est of  its  enemies,  and  which  at  every  moment  the  breath  of 
revolutions  has  power  to  shake  ?  In  this  parallel,  the  imagi- 
nation would  be  dazzled  when  such  an  empire  should  be 
presented  to  it  as  has  never  been  seen  upon  earth,  and  which 
would  lead  to  the  belief  that  the  popes  did  not  belong  to  this 
fragile  and  transitory  world,  —  a  power  which  hell  cannot 
pull  down, — which  the  world  cannot  corrupt, — which,  with- 
out the  help  of  any  army,  and  by  the  simple  ascendancy  of 
a  few  words,  subdues  things  sooner,  and  proves  itself  more 
formidable,  than  ancieat  Rome,  with  all  her  victories. 
What  more  magnificent  spectacle  can  the  history  of  empires 
present  to  us  ?  But,  in  the  other  part  of  the  picture,  who 
would  not  be  moved  to  pity  at  beholding  a  government 
without  vigour,  an  administration  without  foresight, — that 
people,  descended  from  the  king  people,  led  by  an  indolent, 
timid  old  man,  the  eternal  city  falling  into  ruins,  and  as 
hidden  beneath  the  grass  ?  When  we  see — so  near  to  a 
power  almost  supernatural — weakness,  uncertainty,  the  fra- 
gility common  to  things  below,  and  humanity  with  all  its 
miseries,  why  may  we  not  be  permitted  to  compare  the  double 
power  of  the  popes  to  Jesus  Christ  himself,  of  whom  they 
were  the  vicars  and  images  upon  earth,  —  to  Jesus  Christ, 
whose  double  nature  presents  us,  on  one  side,  a  God  beam- 
ing with  splendour,  and  on  the  other  a  simple  mortal,  loaded 
with  the  cross,  and  crowned  with  thorns  ? 

If  the  principal  features  of  this  picture  are  not  wanting  in 
truthfulness,  how  can  we  believe  in  the  policy  of  the  popes  as 
it  is  represented  to  us  ? — is  it  not  more  natural  to  think  that 
the  sovereign  pontiffs,  in  all  they  did  that  was  great,  followed 
the  spirit  of  Christianity  ?  In  the  middle  ages,  which  was 
the  period  of  their  power,  they  were  much  more  directed  by 
this  spirit  than  they  directed  it  themselves ;  later,  and  when 
popes  entertained  projects  like  those  that  are  attributed  to 
their  genius  and  ambition,  their  power  declined.  We  have 
but  to  compare  Gregory  VII.,  giving  himself  up  to  the 
spirit  of  his  age,  and  supporting  himself  by  the  ascendancy  ol 
khe  Church,  with  Julius  II.,  whom  Voltaire  calls  a  great  prince, 
and  who  only  employed  the  known  combinations  of  policy. 


274  HISTORY    OF   THE    CBI  SADES. 

The  pontifical  authority  was  the  only  one  that  had  ita 
bases  and  roots  in  opinions  and  beliefs.  This  power  gave 
the  world,  or,  rather,  the  world  asked  of  it,  laws,  knowledge, 
and  a  support.  The  popes  were  right  in  the  famous  com- 
parison of  the  two  great  luminaries.  The  authority  of  the 
heads  of  the  Church  was  much  more  in  advance  towards 
civilization  than  the  authority  of  princes.  In  order  that  the 
world  miglf4  be  civilized,  it  was  important  for  the  popes  to 
have  great  p^wer ;  and  the  need  that  was  felt  for  their  power 
favoured  the  progress  of  it. 

As  long  as  the  world  was  governed  by  opinions  and  beliefs, 
rather  than  by  civil  laws  and  political  authorities,  the  popes 
exercised  the  greatest  influence  ;  when  the  interests  and 
rights  of  princes  and  nations  became  better  regulated  ;  when 
the  world  passed  from  the  empire  of  opinions  to  that  of 
laws ;  when,  in  a  word,  temporal  power  was  well  established 
in  Europe,  and  prevailed  over  the  spiritual  of  society,  the 
pontiffs  necessarily  lost  their  ascendancy.  Such  is  the 
history  of  the  origin,  of  the  progress,  and  of  the  decay  of  the 
pontifical  power  in  the  ages  which  have  preceded  us. 

That  which  we  have  said  of  the  popes  clearly  shows  what 
influence  the  Church  exercised  over  the  society  of  Europe  in 
the  middle  ages ;  but  gross  minds  were  not  yet  prepared  to 
receive  all  the  benefits  of  Christianity.  The  alliance  of  bar- 
barism with  superstition  retarded  the  progress  of  true  know- 
ledge. The  passions  and  customs  of  barbarians  were  still 
mingled  with  some  salutary  institutions. 

The  Pranks,  the  Germans,  and  Goths,  when  obtaining 
possession  of  the  richest  countries  of  Europe,  had  employed 
all  the  rights  of  conquest,  and  these  rights  bad  become  the 
laws  of  European  society.  We  may  form  an  idea  of  the 
government  of  the  middle  ages  by  representing  to  ourselves 
a  victorious  army,  which  disperses  itself  throughout  the  con- 
quered country,  shares  the  territory  and  those  who  inhabit 
it,  and  is  always  ready  to  march  at  the  signal  of  its  officers 
and  its  supreme  general,  to  combat  the  common  enemy,  and 
defend  its  possessions. 

As  long  as  discipline  and  subordination  subsisted  in  this 
military  colony,  public  order  was  not  entirely  disturbed  ; 
and  this  kind  of  government  might  supply  the  place  of  wiser 
institutions.     But  as  soon  as  the  relations  of  assistance  and 


HlSTOlir    OF    THE    CKUSADSS.  275 

fidelity,  obedience  and  protection,  became  weakened,  society 
— or  rather  the  feudal  government  —  no  longer  presented 
anything  but  the  aspect  of  an  army  given  up  to  license, — of 
an  army  whose  officers  and  soldiers  no  longer  acknowledged 
a  head,  were  no  longer  subject  to  direction,  and  fought  at 
hazard  under  a  thousand  different  standards. 

The  vassals  depended,  in  the  first  place,  on  the  prince, 
because  they  held  their  lands  and  their  offices  of  him. 
These  lands  and  these  offices  becoming  hereditary,  their 
holders  soon  desired  to  render  themselves  independent,  and 
to  arrogate  to  themselves  privileges  which  only  belonged 
to  the  sovereign ;  such  as  coining  money,  holding  a  juris- 
diction, and  making  war  in  their  own  name.  From  that 
time  there  remained  scarcely  any  trace  of  subordination. 

This  decline  of  society,  or,  rather,  this  corruption  of  the 
feudal  system,  is  referrible  to  the  end  of  the  second  race. 
Charlemagne,  in  his  endeavours  to  reestablish  the  empire  of 
the  Caesars,  committed  violence  upon  the  social  compact, 
and  nis  extraordinary  efforts  exhausted  the  powers  of  roy- 
al±}\  The  bow  which  he  had  too  strongly  bent,  broke  in 
the  hands  of  his  successors,  and  his  empire  crumbled  away, 
when  no  longer  sustained  by  the  ascendancy  of  a  great  cha- 
racter. Charlemagne  wished  to  emancipate  himself  from 
the  laws  of  feudalism  ;  under  his  feeble  successors,  feudalism, 
in  its  turn,  was  desirous  of  emancipating  itself  from  the 
crown.  The  greatest  evil  of  the  feudal  system  was  that  it 
destroyed  all  protective  power,  all  tutelary  legislation,  which 
could  watch  over  the  order  and  safety  of  society. 

The  monarch,  despoiled  of  all  authority,  could  neither  be 
the  support  of  innocence  nor  the  avenger  of  crime  ;  nor  the 
mediator  in  war,  nor  the  arbitrator  in  disputes  that  dis- 
turbed peace.  Sovereignty,  exercised  by  every  mark  who 
wore  a  sword,  was  spread  everywhere,  without  any  one 
acknowledging  its  power  anywhere ;  such  was  the  disorder 
and  confusion  among  those  who  disputed,  sword  in  hand,  for 
the  wreck  of  sovereign  power. 

Nothing  is  more  afflicting  than  this  picture ;  the  excesses 
which  accompanied  feudal  anarchy  no  one  is  ignorant  of  It 
does  not  form  part  of  our  plan  to  speak  of  it  to  any  extent ; 
the  task  we  have  to  perform  is  a  less  painful  one  :  if  we  turn 
our  looks  towards  old  times,  it  is  only  in  order  to  discover 


C7G  JISTOItY    OF    THS    CRUSADES. 

the  origin  of  our  institutions  ;  and  among  the  revolutions  oi 
a  barbarous  age,  we  have  only  to  make  known  what  they 
produced  that  is  salutary  and  durable.  Before  we  proceed 
further,  and  in  order  to  mix  a  few  consolatory  ideas  with 
sad  and  painful  images,  we  will  show,  by  the  side  of  the 
abuses  of  feudalism,  the  advantages  contemporary  society 
received  from  the  feudal  system,  and  the  happy  germs  of 
civilization  which  grew  from  it  for  the  benefit  of  following 
ages. 

If  the  feudal  government  contained  sources  of  disorder,  it 
prevented  disorder  being  carried  to  its  height,  and  the  evil 
from  remaining  without  remedy.  If  it  favoured  anarchy 
and  civil  wars,  it  preserved  Europe  from  the  fury  of  con- 
querors, and  from  that  of  despotism.  Vassals  did  not  will- 
ingly consent  to  leave  their  lands ;  they  were  only  bound 
to  follow  their  sovereign  to  war  for  a  stipulated  time.  This 
condition  of  the  feudal  compact,  which  was  general  in  Eu- 
rope, was  found  favourable  for  the  defence  of  territory,  and 
placed  obstacles  in  the  way  of  every  project  of  invasion. 
Eorces,  spread  about  in  all  parts,  served  to  protect  every 
country  against  a  foreign  enemy,  and  could  not  be  collected 
anywhere  to  assist  the  designs  of  an  ambitious  leader. 

At  a  time  in  which  passions  did  everything  and  laws  were 
nothing,  in  which  no  political  interest  bound  people  together, 
what  could  have  prevented  a  prince  from  assembling  armies 
and  ravaging  Europe  ?  What  could  have  prevented  a  con- 
queror from  subduing  several  kingdoms,  and  subjecting  the 
people  to  all  the  excesses  of  tyranny,  supported  by  the  force 
of  arms  alone  ?  It  was  then  to  the  spirit  of  resistance  of  the 
feudal  nobility  that  European  society  owed,  in  the  midst  of 
barbarism,  the  advantage  of  not  becoming  a  prey  to  Eastern 
despotism,  and  security  from  wars  of  invasion. 

Feudalism  had  rights  and  privileges  to  defend  ;  the  defence 
of  these  rights  and  privileges  naturally  led  to  ideas  of  inde- 
pe  nice,  and  these  ideas  of  independence  spread  in  the  end 
through  all  classes  of  society.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  English  barons  established  liberty  in  their  country,  whilst 
defending  the  privileges  and  rights  of  the  feudal  compact. 

The  reciprocity  of  obedience  and  protection,  of  services 
and  duties,  kept  alive  some  generous  sentiments.  Erom 
feudal  relations  was  born  that  spirit  of  devotion  and  respect 


HISTOTtT    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  277 

for  the  sovereign  which  is  neither  rhe  blind  submission  of 
the  slave,  nor  the  reasonable  submission  of  the  republican, 
This  sentiment,  which  was  considered,  up  to  modern  times, 
as  the  conservative  principle  of  society  in  monarchies,  be- 
came particularly  the  distinctive  character  of  the  French 
nobility. 

The  history  of  the  crusades  presents  us  with  several 
examples  of  this  devotion  of  the  barons  and  knights  to  their 
monarch.  When  the  kings  of  France  who  took  the  cross, 
were  in  any  dangers  in  the  East,  what  proofs  of  respect  and 
love  did  they  not  receive  from  the  gallant  knights  who 
accompanied  them  ?  What  spectacle  can  be  more  touching 
than  that  of  the  imprisoned  army  in  Egypt,  forgetting  its 
own  captivity  to  deplore  that  of  Louis  IX.!  Who  is  not 
affected  at  seeing,  upon  the  coast  of  Africa,  the  French 
warriors  overwhelmed  with  evils,  but  finding  no  tears  in 
their  miseries  but  to  weep  for  the  death  of  a  king  of  France  ? 

These  ties  of  fidelity,  which  arose  from  feudal  relations, 
were  so  powerful  over  men's  minds,  that  the  preachers  of 
the  crusades  sometimes  invoked  them  in  their  exhortations. 
They  preached  the  duties  of  feudalism  concurrently  with 
the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  and  in  order  to  excite  Christian 
warriors  to  take  the  cross,  they  called  them  "  the  vassals  of 
Jesus  Christ." 

It  is  to  the  times  of  the  feudal  government  we  must  go 
back,  to  find  in  all  its  purity,  that  susceptibility  upon  the 
point  of  honour,  that  inviolable  fidelity  to  the  wrord,  which 
then  supplied  the  absence  of  laws,  and  which  in  polished 
societies  often  render  men  better  than  laws  themselves. 
All  our  ideas  of  military  glory,  that  boundless  esteem  which 
we  accord  to  bravery,  that  profound  contempt  which, 
amongst  us,  is  attached  to  falsehood  or  felony,  are  to  be 
traced  to  this  remote  period.  Feudalism  was  so  completely 
mixed  up  with  the  spirit  and  character  of  nations,  that 
modern  societies  have  no  institutions  that  have  not  some 
relation  writh  it ;  and  we  have  everywhere  traces  of  it  in  our 
habits,  our  manners,  and  even  in  our  speech. 

Let  me  be  allowed  to  add  here  one  single  observation. 
It  is  in  vain  we  protest  against  our  origin  by  our  wort7 -3 ; 
we  are  incessantly  reminded  of  it  by  our  tastes,  by  our  sen- 
timents, and  sometimes  by  our  pleasures.     In  fact,  if,  on 


278  UISTOBY    OF   THE    CRUSADES. 

one  side,  our  reason,  formed  in  the  school  of  new  ideas,  finda 
nothing  that  is  not  revolting  in  the  middle  ages,  why,  on 
the  other,  does  our  imagination,  moved  by  the  spectacle  of 
generous  passions,  delight  in  representing  to  itself  olden 
times,  and  mingling  with  gallant  knights  and  paladins  ? 
Whilst  a  severe  philosophy  heaps  measureless  blame  upon 
the  barbarous  customs  of  feudalism,  and  the  gothic  manners 
af  our  ancestors,  how  is  it  that  the  remembrances  which 
these  manners  and  these  customs  have  left  us  inspire  still 
our  poets  with  pictures  which  appear  to  us  so  full  of  charms  ? 
Why  are  these  remembrances  revived  every  day  with  the 
same  success,  in  our  poems,  in  our  romances,  and  upon  our 
stage  ?  Would  it  be  true  to  say  that  there  is  more  patriotism 
in  our  imagination  than  in  our  reason,  since  the  one  would 
make  us  forget  the  history  of  our  country,  and  the  other 
unceasingly  reminds  us  of  it  ? 

The  crusades  assisted  in  destroying  the  abuses  of  the 
feudal  system ;  they  served  to  preserve  all  that  the  system 
inspired  of  generous  sentiments,  and  concurred  at  the  same 
time  in  developing  that  which  it  contained  that  was  favour- 
able to  civilization.  We  will  finish  our  sketch  of  the  man- 
ners of  feudalism  and  the  salutary  effects  of  the  crusades, 
by  describing  the  revolution  which  operated  at  this  time 
upon  the  different  classes  of  society.  The  nobility  will  fix 
our  attention  in  the  first  place. 

Nobles  are  found  in  every  nation  where  the  memory  of 
ancestors  is  reckoned  for  anything.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  nobility  was  common  among  the  Franks  and  other  bar- 
barous people  who  invaded  Europe.  But  in  what  point  of 
view  was  this  nobility  looked  upon  before  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries  ?  How  was  it  at  first  constituted  ?  Kow 
was  the  illustration  of  races  transmitted  ?  We  are  in  pos- 
session of  very  few  monuments  to  assist  in  deciding  these 
questions  ;  and  when  we  have  thoroughly  studied  the  history 
of  the  middle  ages,  we  have  nothing  better  to  do  than  to 
imitate  the  genealogists,  who,  whk  u  embarrassed  in  explain- 
ing the  origin  of  the  most  ancient  families,  content  them- 
selves with  assigning  it  to  the  night-time  of  the  past. 

When  we  reflect  upon  the  rapidity  with  which  generations 
pass  away,  and  how  difficult  it  is,  even  in  civilized  times,  for 
most  families  to  make  out  their  own  history  during  a  single 


HISTOEY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  279 

century,  can  we  be  astonished  that,  in  times  of  ignorance 
and  barbarism,  there  have  been  so  few  means  cf  preserving 
the  memory  of  the  most  illustrious  families  ?  In  addition  to 
the  almost  entire  absence  of  written  documents,  the  idea  of 
true  grandeur,  the  idea  of  that  which  constitutes  heroic 
illustration,  did  nof  yet  strike  men's  minds  sufficiently  for- 
cibly to  make  them  preserve  a  long  remembrance  of  it.*  In 
these  barbarous  times,  men,  and  even  princes,  were  most 
frequently  only  distinguished  by  their  physical  qualities  or 
their  bodily  defects.  To  be  convinced  of  this  truth  we  have 
but  to  glance  at  the  list  of  kings  of  the  middle  ages,  in 
which  we  find  the  names  of  Pepin-le-Bref  (Pepin  the  Short), 
Charles-le-Chauve  (Charles  the  Bald),  "William-le-Roux 
(William  Bufus,  or  the  Bed),  Louis-le-Grcs  (Louis  the 
Pat),  Frederick-Barbereusse  (Frederick  Barbarossa,  or  Bed 
Beard),  and  many  others,  whom  their  age  only  designated 
by  that  which  struck  their  eyes  and  was  obvious  to  the 
grossest  perception.  There  are  few  things  more  curious  for 
an  observer,  than  to  see  how  old  chronicles  make  us  ac- 
quainted with  the  personages  whose  actions  they  give  an 
account  of.  They  never  omit  in  their  pictures,  either  the 
colour  of  the  hair,  or  the  stature,  or  the  countenance  of  the 
princes  and  heroes ;  and  their  historical  portraits  (may  I  be 
allowed  the  comparison  ?)  bear  much  less  resemblance  to  a 
passage  of  history,  than  to  those  descriptions  which  are  now- 
a-d?ys  written  upon  the  passports  of  travellers. 

If,  as  a  writer  has  said,  entire  man  was  not  yet  under- 
stood, it  cannot  be  said  that  virtue  was  not  known,  as  at 
any  other  period;  but  the  idea  of  virtue  was  then  "lost  in 
that  of  duty,  and  with  the  single  sentiment  of  duty,  which 
was  but  the  voice  of  conscience  or  the  modest  instinct  of 
habit,  they  dreamt  not  of  living  in  the  memory  of  men.f 
The  desire  for  illustrating  a  name   belongs  to   a  nascent 


*  The  chronicle  of  Tours  tells  us,  with  the  greatest  simplicity,  that 
Charlemagne  was  called  the  Great  on  account  of  his  great  good  luck;  thus 
historians  confounded,  as  the  vulgar  do,  glory  with  fortune. 

+  These  must  be  exceedingly  remote  times,  indeed  ;  such  as  we  have  no 
Account  of.  The  oldest  poems,  the  oldest  histories,  describe  no  such 
state;  the  savage  tribes  of  the  forest  and  the  desert  have  something  of  a 
pride  of  ancestry,  and  are  known  as  the  sons  of  their  fathers,  as  well  as 
A  lilies  waa  known  as  Pelides,  or  Gaul  as  the  son  of  Morni. — Trans. 


280  HISTORY   OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

civilization.  "When  civilization  threw  forth  its  first  rays, 
moral  ideas  of  greatness  were  attached  to  the  name  of 
ancient  families ;  and  it  may  be  safely  said  that  nobility  was 
not  truly  instituted  before  the  value  of  glory  began  to  be 
felt.  But  what  is  very  certain  is,  that  in  the  crusades 
nobility  acquired  an  eminence  that  it  had  never  before  en- 
joyed. The  exploits  of  nobles  in  the  cause  of  Christianity, 
were  very  different  affairs  from  those  wars  of  castle  against 
castle,  with  which  they  employed  themselves  in  Europe. 
JN'obility  from  that  time  found  its  archives  in  history,  aud 
the  opinion  the  world  entertained  of  its  valour  became  its 
loftiest  title. 

If  we  consult  the  most  authentic  facts  and  the  most  pro- 
bable opinions,  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  distinc- 
tions of'  nobility  were  at  first  founded  upon  great  offices, 
but  principally  upon  property.  It  was  for  the  land  or  estate 
that,  in  the  feudal  system,  the  oath  of  fealty  or  homage  was 
taken,  and  the  protection  of  the  sovereign  claimed.  For  the 
man  who  was  not  a  proprietor  there  was  no  contract,  no 
privilege ;  he  had  nothing  to  give,  nothing  to  receive ;  in  the 
times  of  JoinviHe,  nobles  were  called  rich  men.  Tn  France. 
a  great  proprietor  was,  by  right,  noble ;  if  he  was  ruined  or 
despoiled,  his  descendants  sank  into  the  crowd  again :  thus 
had  the  customs  of  a  barbarous  age  established  it.  A. 
strange  thing  it  is,  that  there  are  times  in  which  extreme 
civilization  can  make  a  nation  revert  to  the  same  estate  as 
extreme  barbarism.  When  political  illusions  shall  be  dis- 
persed, and  there  shall  remain  nothing  but  the  mere  sub- 
stance of  society,  it  is  still  property,  it  is  the  estate  which 
will  establish  pre-eminence  and  denote  ranks.  Lands  will 
no  longer  furnish  soldiers,  but  they  will  pay  taxes  for  the 
support  of  them ;  they  will  no  longer  be  held  by  the  tenure 
of  complying  with  the  duty  of  feudal  aid ;  but  they  will  still 
owe  the  sovereign  the  support  of  their  influence,  in  exchange 
for  the  protection  they  shall  receive  from  the  sovereign 
authority. 

If,  in  the  middle  ages,  aristocracy  was  founded  upon  land, 
society  derived  a  great  advantage  from  the  circumstance; 
for  territorial  property,  which  does  not  change,  whicL  is 
always  the  same,  preserves  the  institutions  and  manners  of 
a  people  better  than  industrial  property,  which  most  fre- 


HISTOKT   OF    THE    CHUSADES.  281 

quently  belongs  no  more  to  one  country  than  another,  and 
which,  on  that  account,  bears  within  itself  the  germs  of  cor- 
ruption. If  it  was  for  this  reason  that  formerly  nobility 
was  degraded  by  giving  itself  up  to  the  speculations  of  com* 
merce  and  industry,  it  must  be  agreed  that  the  usage  thus 
established,  had  at  least  a  respectable  aim,  and  arose  from 
&  salutary  principle. * 

Territorial  property  had  then  such  an  influence  over  the 
iiocial  state,  that  it  is  quite  enough  to  be  acquainted  with 
the  changes  it  experienced,  to  judge  of  the  changes  to  which 
society  was  subjected.  "  As  soon  as  the  state  of  the  pro- 
perty of  a  certain  period  is  discovered,"  says  Robertson, 
"  we  may  determine  with  precision  what  was  at  the  same 
time  the  degree  of  power  then  enjoyed  by  the  king  or  the 
nobility."  During  the  crusades,  ecclesiastical  and  civil  laws 
permitted  nobles  to  alienate  their  domains.  A  great  num- 
ber of  them  availed  themselves  of  this  fatal  privilege,  and 
did  not  hesitate  to  sell  their  lands ;  which  displaced  pro- 
perty, and  consequently  power.  The  nobility  thus  lost  its 
power,  and  the  crown  gained  that  which  the  aristocracy  lost. 

The  crusades,  however,  were  not  unproductive  of  good 
fruit  for  the  nobility ;  gentlemen  acquired  principalities  in 
the  East ;  most  of  the  cities  of  Greece  and  Syria  became 
so  many  lordships,  which  recognised  as  masters  counts  and 
barons  enrolled  under  the  banners  of  the  holy  wars ;  some, 
still  more  fortunate,  ascended  the  throne  of  David,  or  that 
of  Constantine,  and  took  place  among  the  greatest  monarchs 
of  Christendom. 

The  military  orders  likewise  presented  the  nobility  with 
amends  for  the  losses  they  experienced  in  ruinous  wars. 
These  orders  had  immense  possessions  in  both  the  West  and 
the  East ;  they  were  for  the  European  nobility,  an  asylum  in 
peace,  and  a  school  of  heroism  in  war. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  use  of  surnames  was  intro- 

*  It  does  not  become  us,  as  translators,  to  enter  into  controversy  with 
our  original,  otherwise,  much  might  be  said  in  reply  to  this  truly  conser- 
vative paragraph.  But,  as  readers  of  history,  we  think  we  may  be  per- 
mitted to  observe,  that  the  advantages  pointed  out  in  the  first  lines  of  it 
do  not  appear  in  the  history  of  Venice.  She  was  never  so  great  or  so 
prosperous  as  when  purely  mercantile.  When  territory  was  acqui"ed,  and 
nobility  arose,  corruption  and  decay  soon  followed. — Trans. 

Vol.  III.— 13 


282  HISTOET    OF    THE    CETJSADE3. 

duced,  and  coats  of  arms  were  assumed.  Every  gentleman 
added  to  his  own  name  the  name  of  his  estate,  or  the  title 
of  the  lordship  he  possessed ;  he  placed  in  his  coat  of  arms 
a  sign  which  distinguished  his  family  and  marked  his  no- 
bility ;  genealogy  became  a  science,  and  consecrated,  by  its 
researches,  the  illustration  of  races.  "Whatever  value  may 
be  now-a-days  attached  to  this  science,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  it  often  threw  a  great  light  upon  the  history  of  illus- 
trious families,  and  sometimes  upon  the  general  history  of  a 
country  to  which  these  families  belonged. 

Everything  leads  us  to  believe  that  the  origin  of  sur- 
names,* but  more  particularly  of  coats  of  arms,  is  due  to  the 
Crusaders.  The  lord  stood  in  no  need  of  a  mark  of  dis- 
tinction when  he  did  not  go  off  his  own  manor;  but  he 
became  aware  of  the  necessity  for  distinguishing  himself 
from  others  when  he  found  himself  at  a  distance  from  home, 
and  confounded  in  the  crowd  of  the  Crusaders :  a  great 
number  of  families  ruined  themselves,  or  became  extinct,  in 
the  holy  wars.  Such  as  were  ruined  attached  themselves 
more  strongly  to  the  remembrance  of  their  nobility,  the 
only  wealth  that  was  left  them ;  after  the  extinction  of 
families,  the  necessity  for  replacing  them  was  felt ;  it  was 
under  Philip-le-Hardi  that  the  practice  of  creating  nobles 
was  introduced. t  As  soon  as  there  were  new  nobles,  it 
became  of  more  consequence  to  be  considered  ancient 
ones.  Property  did  not  appear  sufficient  to  preserve  and 
transmit  a  name  which  itself  became  a  property,  conse- 
crated by  history  and  acknowledged  by  society.  It  was 
then  that  nobility  attached  more  value  to  marks  of  distinc- 
tion. 

*  And  yet  we  cannot  think  that  the  custom  of  the  Scotch  lairds,  who 
assume  the  name  of  their  estates,  can  be  traced  to  this  source,  although 
they  do  it  in  the  same  way.  It  seems  probable  that  the  French  de,  gene- 
rally admitted  as  a  proof  of  gentility,  at  least,  was  adopted  upon  such  an 
occasion  ;  but  even  this  de  is  subject  to  doubt,  as  implying  the  lord  of  the 
estate,  country,  or  city,  or  the  man  who  raised  himself  into  note  from  the 
country  or  city. — Trans. 

f  How  was  it,  then,  that  William  of  Normandy,  on  his  conquest  of 
England,  two  centuries  before,  created  so  many  of  his  knights,  earls  and 
barons,  giving  them  titles  of  the  places  and  estates  he  at  the  same  time 
bestowed?  Phiiip-le-Hardi,  no  doubt,  gave  the  newly-created  nobles 
means  to  support  their  honours  and  nobility  was  connected  with  uroperty, 
as  it  had  been. — Trans. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES,  283 

At  the  end  of  the  feudal  government,  the  nobility,  it  ia 
true,  still  constituted,  in  a  great  degree,  the  strength  of  the 
army ;  but  it  served  the  state  in  a  new  character ;  it  con- 
formed more  with  the  spirit  of  chivalry  than  with  that  of 
feudalism.  A  gentleman  no  longer  pail  homage  to  hia 
sovereign  for  his  estate,  but  he  swore  upon  his  sword  to  be 
faithful  to  him. 

As  soon  as  feudal  services  ceased  to  be  required,  tne 
nobility  increased  in  zeal  for  personal  service:  Kings  eagerly 
welcomed  them  when  they  were  no  longer  formidable  ;  thus 
they  recovered  in  the  favour  of  courts  a  great  portion  of  the 
advantages  they  had  lost.  As  they  still  held  the  first  rank 
in  society,  and  preserved  a  great  ascendancy  over  the  other 
classes,  they  continued,  by  their  example,  to  polish  the  spirit 
and  the  manners  of  the  nation  ;  and  it  is  by  their  means  par- 
ticularly, that  those  elegant  manners  were  formed  which 
have  so  long  distinguished  the  French  among  all  the  nations 
of  Europe. 

It  is  di^cult,  however,  to  say  with  precision  what  the 
nobility  gained  and  what  they  lost  by  the  changes  that  were 
effected.  Their  existence,  doubtless,  had  something  more 
brilliant  in  it,  but  also  something  less  solid.  The  honorary- 
prerogatives  which  they  retained,  without  giving  them  any 
real  strength,  armed  more  jealous  passions  against  them 
than  territorial  power  had  done ;  for  it  may  be  remarked, 
that  man's  self-love  endures  riches  and  power  in  others,  with 
a  better  grace  than  it  endures  distinctions. 

We  must  add,  likewise,  that  as  society  progressed,  new 
i  teans  of  illustration,  new  kinds  of  notability  arose ;  the 
moral  power  of  opinion,  which  had  been  attached  exclusively 
to  nobility,  communicated  itself  by  degrees  to  those  who 
contributed  to  the  prosperity  of  society  by  their  talents, 
their  knowledge,  or  their  industry. 

"We  have  seen  the  brilliant  side  of  feudalism ;  we  have 
now  to  speak  of  the  state  in  which  the  inhabitants  of  the 
cities  and  the  country  groaned.  Most  of  the  villages  and 
cities  depended  upon  some  baron,  whose  protection  they 
purchased,  and  who  exercised  an  arbitrary  jurisdiction  over 
them.  Man,  reduced  to  servitude,  or  rather  slavery,  had  no 
law  which  guarded  him  against  oppression ;  the  produce  of 
his  labour,  the  wages  of  his  sweat,  did  not  belong  to  him  j 


284  HISTOltY    OF    THE    CEUSAIES. 

he  was  hhtself  a  property  which  could  be  claimed  anywhere, 
if  he  fled  away  from  his  home.  Chained  to  the  glebe,  he 
must  often  have  envied  the  animal  who  helped  him  to  trace 
the  furrow,  or  the  palfrey,  the  noble  companion  of  his 
master.  The  serf  had  no  other  hope  but  that  which  reli- 
gion afforded  him,  and  left  nothing  to  his  children  but  the 
example  of  his  patience  in  suffering.  He  could  neither 
make  a  contract  during  his  lifetime,  nor  a  testament  av  the 
hour  of  death.  His  last  will  was  not  recognised  by  law ;  it 
died  with  him.  To  excuse  the  barbarity  of  this  gross  age, 
we  must  remember  the  still  more  frightful  fate  of  slaves 
among  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  We  have  no  need  to  point 
out  the  obstacles  this  state  of  things  must  have  opposed  to 
the  development  of  the  industry  and  the  social  faculties  of 
man.  Thus  the  country  was  covered  with  forests,  and  most 
of  the  cities  presented  nothing  but  an  aspect  of  poverty 
and  misery. 

The  cities  of  Lombardy,  and  a  great  part  of  Italy,  were 
the  first  places  that  shook  off  the  yoke  of  feudalism.  The 
emperors  of  Germany,  as  we  have  seen,  were  almost  always 
at  variance  with  the  popes.  The  cities  took  advantage  of 
these  quarrels,  to  arrogate  rights  which  no  one  disputed. 
Others  purchased  them  of  the  emperors,  who  believed  they 
made  a  good  bargain  when  they  sold  that  which  they  had  not 
the  power  to  refuse.  Towards  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 
century,  the  clergy  and  nobility  had  already  no  more  influ- 
ence in  the  cities  of  Italy.  According  to  the  evidence  of 
Otho  of  Freisengen,  a  contemporary  author,  Italy  was  full 
of  free  cities,  all  of  which  had  obliged  their  bishops  to  re- 
side within  their  walls ;  there  was  scarcely  a  noble  who  was 
not  subject  to  the  laws  and  government  of  a  city.  In  Ger- 
many the  cities  obtained  their  freedom  at  a  later  period. 
These  Germans,  who,  according  to  Tacitus,  considered 
dwelling  in  cities  as  a  mark  of  servitude,  not  only  in  the 
end  built  cities,  but  sought  liberty  in  them.  The  cities  of 
the  Rhine  appear  to  have  been  made  free  by  the  emperors 
in  the  eleventh  century.  But  most  of  these  cities  were 
poor,  they  contained  but  few  inhabitants,  and  were  not  able 
to  defend  themselves  against  the  German  oligarchy.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  fourteenth  century,  several  free  cities. 
enriched  by  the  commerce  of  the  East,  and  by  the  commu« 


HISTOEY    OF   THE    CEUSADES.  2c5 

nieations  opened  by  the  crusades,  formed  a  confederation, 
and  by  that  means  made  their  independence  respected. 

In  England,  the  spirit  of  liberty  did  not  take  its  spring 
before  the  holy  wars ;  the  cities,  with  the  exception  of  that 
of  London,  which  had  obtained  several  privileges,  scarcely 
dreamt  of  independence ;  the  Britons,  as  in  the  times  of 
Virgil,  appeared  still  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  world, 
It  may  be  said  that  liberty  in  the  English  nation  was  not 
an  affair  of  locality,  but  a  general  affair,  which  was  to  be 
decided  at  a  later  period. 

In  Spain,  the  war  against  the  Moors,  as  we  have  already 
said,  favoured  the  independence  of  the  commons.  We  are 
in  possession  of  historical  documents  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, which  prove  that  several  Spanish  cities  enjoyed  certain 
immunities  at  this  period.  But  the  first  of  these  cities  which 
were  summoned  to  the  Cortes,  urged  by  a  spirit  of  jealousy, 
refused  to  admit  the  others,  which  was  very  injurious  to  the 
development  and  progress  of  liberty  in  Spain. 

In  the  south  of  France,  the  archives  of  the  communes 
present  us  with  some  traces  of  liberty,  a  long  time  before 
the  period  of  the  crusades.  The  influence  of  a  fine  climate, 
the  vivacity  which  animated  the  inhabitants,  with  some  tra- 
ditions of  the  Roman  law,  preserved,  in  the  provinces  which 
border  on  Spain  and  Italy,  habits  of  independence  which 
might  serve  as  models  or  examples.  When  the  kings  of 
France  thought  of  enfranchising  some  communes,  it  was 
from  the  south  of  the  kingdom  they  must  have  taken  the 
idea. 

These  enfranchisements  of  the  southern  cities,  however, 
were  rather  consecrated  by  custom  than  by  positive  laws. 
According  to  the  best  opinions,  the  formal  and  legal  enfran- 
chisement of  communes  in  France  dates  from  Louis-le-Gros, 
who  granted  privileges  to  some  cities  situated  within  the 
domains  of  the  crown.  The  example  of  Louis-le-Gros  was 
followed  by  Louis  VII.  and  Philip  Augustus.  A  great 
number  of  'cities  saw  all  sorts  of  slavery  excluded  from  their 
walls,  chose  their  own  magistrates,  levied  their  own  taxes, 
kept  up  a  military  force,  and  had  a  jurisdiction  entirely  their 
own.  Such  was  the  first  blow  given  in  France  to  the  feudal 
government. 

Before  this  period  it  was  customary  to  implore  the  aid  c4 


2C3  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

the  barons  against  violence  and  robbery.  This  support  wai 
abandoned  as  soon  as  another  tutelary  power  arose.  The 
serfs,  and  even  the  freemen,  who  had  at  first  sought  safety 
in  castles,  soon  sought  it  in  cities,  against  their  former 
protectors,  the  castellans ;  the  first  engagements  of  the 
inhabitants  of  cities  were  mutual  defence  and  reciprocal 
protection. 

The  liberty  of  cities  began  by  the  corporations ;  men  could 
only  be  strong  when  united.  This  necessity  for  union  in 
moments  of  crisis  or  peril  is  so  natural,  that  when  society 
is  disturbed,  factions  and  parties  are  formed  which  are  like 
corporations.  The  spirit  of  a  public  body,  or  the  spirit  of 
party,  in  whatever  way  it  may  be  considered,  holds  essen- 
tially with  the  social  character.  Liberty  was  much  more 
considered  in  relation  with  the  community  than  in  relation 
with  individual  man ;  it  was  considered  a  benefit  that  could 
only  be  enjoyed  in  common.  Thus  society  did  not  find 
itself  subordinate  to  the  individual,  but  the  individual  to 
society.  Isolated  man  could  do  nothing ;  strength  lay  with 
the  association,  which  effectually  protected  the  rights  of  all, 
and  watched  over  the  conservation  of  individual  liberty  and 
public  liberty. 

When  cities  situated  within  the  royal  domains  had  ob- 
tained their  franchises,  the  spirit  of  independence  soon  pos- 
sessed the  other  cities  of  the  kingdom.  The  communes 
which  succeeded  in  gaining  their  enfranchisement,  did  not 
all  obtain  the  same  advantages ;  they  were,  more  or  less, 
favoured  by  circumstances.  Here,  liberty  was  purchased  of 
the  lord ;  there,  the  yoke  was  shaken  off  by  force ;  in  other 
places,  treaties  were  effected,  in  which  the  spirit  of  Liberty 
and  feudal  power  made  mutual  concessions. 

During  the  crusades,  the  long  absence  of  the  barons  must 
have  multiplied,  for  the  communes,  opportunities  of  enfran- 
chising themselves.  Most  of  the  lords  who  ruined  them- 
selves for  the  holy  wars,  exchanged,  for  the  money  of  which 
they  stood  in  need,  all  their  rights  over  the  cities  which 
depended  upon  them — rights  which  they  yielded  the  more 
willingly  from  hoping  to  win  principalities  in  Asia. 

This  enfranchisement  of  communes  produced  a  very  dif- 
ferent effect  for  the  great  vassals  and  the  crown.  It  weak- 
ened the  authority  of  the  lords,  because  the  spirit  of  liberty 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  287 

was  against  them  ;  it  increased  the  royal  authority,  because 
the  cities  which  were  free,  or  had  a  desire  to  be  so,  looked 
to  the  king.  Cities,  when  their  independence  was  threatened, 
implored  the  king's  protection.  We  find  in  old  chronicles, 
that  Philip  Augustus  granted  letters  of  protection  to  cities 
dependent  upon  barons.  Thus  kings  became  the  hope  of 
all  the  communes  of  the  kingdom,  and  liberty  supported 
itself  by  royalty.  This  is  why  the  cities  of  France,  to  de- 
fend their  franchises,  formed  no  league,  as  they  did  in  other 
countries  ;  for  they  found  a  natural  defence  in  royal  power. 

The  revolution  which  was  destined  to  destroy  feudalism, 
appeared  to  act  as  of  itself.  There  is,  in  the  possession  of  a 
newly-acquited  good,  a  restlessness,  an  anxiety,  a  fear  of 
losing  it,  which  kept  the  communes  always  on  the  alert ; 
there  is,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  possession  of  an  anciently- 
acquired  good,  an  indolent  security,  which  did  not  permit 
the  barons  to  see  the  true  state  of  things.  The  lords  only 
opposed  new  ideas  by  a  short-sighted  disdain,  and  believed 
they  had  lost  nothing  as  long  as  they  retained  their  swords 
by  their  sides. 

If,  however,  we  may  judge  by  the  complaints  of  Gruibert, 
abbot  of  Nogent,  a  contemporary  historian,  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  communes  met  with  some  opposition.  There 
was  no  want  of  sour  spirits,  who  considered  it  a  dangerous 
and  destructive  innovation.  But  we  may  believe  that  these 
complaints  were  only  inspired  by  that  natural  repugnance 
which  the  greater  part  of  men  entertain  for  seeing  anything 
change  which  is  consecrated  by  time,  and  by  that  vague  mis- 
trust which  novelty  produces,  under  whatever  form  it  may 
appear.  The  truth  is,  that  nobody  knew,  or  could  possibly 
judge,  of  the  extent  of  the  changes  that  were  then  in  opera- 
tion. Re  volutions,  whatever  may  be  their  object  or  their 
character,  are  never  thoroughly  understood  before  they  have 
finished  their  course,  and  never  reveal  their  secret  at  their 
commencement. 

A  century  after  Louis-le-Gros,  Louis  VIII.  pretended  to 
have  the  right  of  immediate  sovereignty  over  all  the  com- 
munes. This  was  a  signal  for  all  the  cities  to  complete  their 
emancipation  from  the  barons ;  this  was  the  mortal  blow  to 
the  feudal  aristocracy.  This  great  revolution  of  the  social 
state  went  on  so  rapidly,  that  history  can  with  difficulty 


288  history  or  THE  crusades. 

follow  its  progress,  and  cannot  assign  the  part  which  the 
crusades  bore  in  it. 

Happy  had  it  been  for  society  if  that  spirit  of  liberty 
which  then  set  it  in  motion,  and  which  advanced  without 
ceasing,  sowing  blessings  and  evils  on  its  route,  had  pro- 
duced none  but  wise  institutions ;  if,  always  confined  within 
just  bounds,  it  had  not  frequently  kindled  bloody  discords, 
and  had  not  at  last  mingled  itself  with  the  blind  passions  of 
the  multitude !  What  a  picture  were  that  which  should 
exhibit  the  consequences  of  this  revolution  up  to  modern 
times,  which  should  represent  monarchy  rising  from  the 
ruins  of  feudalism  and  then  itself  succumbing  in  a  new 
revolution  !  What  a  subject  for  serious  thoughts  in  the  his- 
torian, when,  embracing  with  a  rapid  gianoe  ancient  and 
modern  times,  he  sees  the  two  most  active  forces  of  society, 
at  the  revival  of  civilization, — royalty  and  liberty,  marching 
constantly  one  towards  the  other,  demanding  of  each  other 
reciprocal  support,  overthrowing  all  the  barriers  that  sepa- 
rated them,  destroying  all  they  found  in  their  passage ;  at 
last,  after  several  ages  of  endeavours,  meeting  face  to  face 
upon  the  ruins  accumulated  round  them,  taking  each  other 
at  first  sight  for  enemies,  declaring  war  against  each  other, 
and  falling  together  on  the  same  field  of  battle  !# 

God  forbid  that  I  should  here  be  thought  to  present  dis- 
couraging images  !  I  have  only  wished  to  show  the  fragility 
of  human  affairs,  and  the  want  of  foresight  in  those  who 
direct  societies.  The  revolution  we  have  beheld  is,  perhaps, 
l^ss  the  work  of  liberty  than  of  the  equality  which  is  seen 
to  figure,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  political  world. 

This  equality,  such  as  the  moderns  have  constituted  it, 
was  scarcely  known  in  the  ancient  republics,  of  which  the 
language  had  no  word  to  express  it.     The  first  book  that 

*  In  this  suggestive  passage  we  are  sorry  to  find  the  prejudices  of  our 
original  inducing  him  to  give  a  false  colouring  to  his  picture.  Monarch3 
granted  no  immunities  to  the  people  out  of  love  for  either  liberty  or  the 
people,  but  to  gain  their  assistance  against  their  enemies,  the  great  vassals 
or  barons — thence  the  consequences ;  the  principle  was  carried  so  far, 
that  the  monarch  was  elevated  into  the  despot ;  and  then  another  change 
ensued  ;  when  his  power  was  so  complete  that  his  old  enemies  looked  upon 
him  as  the  source  of  all  honours  and  riches,  they  united  with  him  ;  both 
joined  in  their  endeavours  to  oppress  and  plunder  the  peopie ;  and  thev 
came  the  last  phase. — Trans. 


HISTORY    OF    T11E    CRUSADES.  289 

spoke  of  equality  was  the  Gospel.  Christianity  constantly 
represents  all  men  as  equal  before  God.  The  object  of  the 
Gospel  was  to  lower  the  pride  of  the  great ;  which  was  salu- 
tary. I  know  not  what  false  philosophy  made  use  of  equality 
to  raise  the  pride  of  the  low ; — -and  then  society  was  shaken 
to  its  very  foundations. 

The  great  revolution  which  has  been  effected  in  the  man- 
ners and  laws  of  Europe,  and  which  began  at  the  times  oi 
the  crusades,  may  be  divided  into  two  principal  epochs.  At 
first  it  was  desirable  to  wrest  from  the  feudal  lords  a  power 
which  they  abused:  that  was  the  first  epoch, —  that  wras  the 
revolution  of  liberty.  When  the  feudal  lords  had  nothing 
left  but  distinctions,  these  distinctions  irritated  pride  and 
jealousy,  which,  in  the  end,  persuaded  themselves  that  every 
political  superiority  was  a  tyranny,  which  must  be  brought 
low.  This  was  the  second  epoch, — the  revolution  of 
equality ;  much  more  terrible  than  the  first,  because  it  had 
for  motive,  passions  much  more  difficult  to  satisfy  than  the 
love  of  liberty. 

But  the  peasants  and  serfs  of  the  country,  whilst  the 
cities  were  in  the  enjoyment  of  liberty,  still  groaned  in 
slavery.  Up  to  the  fourteenth  century,  this  numerous  class 
found  no  abatement  in  the  rigours  of  their  servitude.  The 
greatest  advantage  the  crusades  could  have  bestowed  upon 
the  peasants,  was  the  momentary  cessation  of  brigandage, 
and  the  peace  which  reigned  in  the  country,  all  the  time  the 
wars  against  the  Saracens  were  being  carried  on. 

It  is  probable  that  serfs  in  Europe  were  not  better  treated, 
according  to  the  legislation  and  customs  of  the  West,  than 
they  were  in  the  Holy  Land,  according  to  the  Assizes  of 
Jerusalem.  There  is  no  doubt  that  peasants  taken  from  the 
glebe  for  the  crusade  became  free  men ;  but  most  of  them 
perished  by  misery  or  by  the  swords  of  the  Mussulmans. 
What  became  of  the  few  who  revisited  their  homes  cannot 
be  ascertained. 

A  population  dispersed  and  scattered  about  a  countr}r  did 
not  present,  as  in  cities,  a  formidable  mass,  capable  of  re- 
sistance. Peasants  rarely  communicated  with  each  other, 
and  could  not  support  any  demand,  or  establish  any  common 
right.  Man  requires  some  intelligence  to  make  him  sensible 
of  the  advantages  of  liberty,  and  the  peasant  class  was  then 

13* 


290  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

brutified  by  ignorance.  We  must  likewise  add,  th;,fc  the  love 
of  independence  came  with  riches ;  and  this  is  why  it  arose 
earlier  in  cities  than  in  the  country,  and  earlier  in  nourishing 
cities  than  in  poorer  ones.  The  serfs  of  the  country  were 
poor;  they  would  not  have  known  what  use  to  make  of 
liberty.  Liberty  is  of  little  value  to  him  who  is  in  want  of 
the  first  necessaries  of  life.  Among  warlike  and  barbarous 
hordes,  who  entertained  a  repugnance  for  labour,  it  was 
natural  that  they  should  be  despised  who  gave  themselves 
up  to  the  painful  toil  of  cultivating  the  earth.  This  repug- 
nance was  necessarily  more  strong  among  nomad  nations, 
like  those  that  conquered  Europe.  The  contempt  felt  in  the 
middle  ages  for  the  peasantry  was  injurious  to  their  liberty ; 
and  this  .contempt  even  survived  their  servitude.  People 
felt,  in  some  sort,  forced  to  treat  as  slaves  men  who  per- 
formed a  task  which  was  considered  necessary,  but  which 
every  free  man  disdained. 

The  inhabitant  of  the  country,  abandoned  to  his  own  re- 
sources, did  not  aspire  to  independence  ;  the  only  good  he 
could  pretend  to  was  the  choice  of  slavery.  As  the  Church 
inspired  more  confidence  than  the  nobles,  a  crowd  of  unfor- 
tunate beings  took  refuge,  in  a  manner,  at  the  foot  of  the 
altars,  and  devoted  their  liberty  and  that  of  their  children 
to  this  church  or  that  monastery,  to  which  they  looked  for 
protection.  Nothing  is  more  curious  than  the  formulaB  by 
which  the  clergy  received  this  sacrifice  of  individual  liberty. 
They  congratulated  the  new  serfs  with  having  preferred 
"the  domination  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  liberty  of  the  age  ;" 
they  added,  that  "to  serve  Grod  was  to  reign,"  and  tuai  'a 
holy  servitude  was  true  independence."  These  words  must 
have  been  in  harmony  with  the  manners  and  ideas  of  tie 
times,  since  a  multitude  of  men  and  women  wei  e  seen  every 
day  flocking  to  the  monasteries,  and  conjuring  the  Church 
to  admit  them  among  "the  serfs  of  Jesus  Christ."  That 
they  should  believe  themselves,  on  that  account,  much  more 
free  than  other  men,  we  may  at  the  present  day  be  asto- 
nished ;  but  was  there  not  a  sort  of  liberty  in  wearing  chains 
they  had  chosen,  and  with  which  they  had  fettered  them- 
selves ? 

Some  free  cities  of  Germany  contributed  to  the  enfran- 
chisement  of  the  peasants  of  their  territory.     The  same 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  291 

thing  happened  in  Italy  and  in  Spain,  where  the  territory 
of  cities  was  considerable  ;  in  England,  the  peasantry  waited 
a  long  time  for  any  amelioration  of  their  fate.  But  nothing 
is  more  difficult  than  to  ascertain  with  certainty  the  destiny 
which,  during  many  ages,  this  multitude  of  men  who  covered 
the  plains  of  Europe  underwent ;  in  the  darkness  of  the 
middle  ages,  n  imberless  generations  of  serfs  passed  over  the 
earth,  withoul  "leaving  any  traces  in  history.  We  can  with 
difficulty  catch,  in  old  chronicles  and  acts  of  administration, 
here  and  there  a  few  scattered  gleams  to  throw  a  light  upon 
our  researches. 

In  France,  it  is  not  till  the  commencement  of  the  four- 
teenth century  that  any  ordinances  of  the  kings  upon  the 
enfranchisement  of  the  serfs  are  to  be  found.  In  an  ordi- 
nance ol  1315,  Louis  X.  made  use  of  these  remarkable 
words :  "  Many  persons  among  our  common  people  are 
enchained  in  the  bonds  of  servitude,  which  displeases  ua 

greatly Our   kingdom,"    he    added,    "is    called  and 

named  the  kingdom  of  the  Franks ;  we  are  desirous  that  the 
thing  should  in  truth  be  in  accordance  with  its  name,"  &c. 
In  this  ordinance,  made  only  for  the  royal  domains,  the  king 
of  France  pressed  the  nobles  to  follow  his  example.  We 
are  in  possession  of  a  letter-patent  of  the  same  king,  by 
which  commissaries  were  commanded  to  transport  them- 
selves to  the  bailiwick  of  Senlis,  and  "  to  give  freedom  to  all 
who  required  it,"  on  condition,  nevertheless,  of  paying  a 
sum  for  the  rights  of  servitude,  which  reverted  to  the  crown. 

All  the  historical  documents  of  this  period  prove,  more 
and  more,  that  the  kings  had  placed  themselves  at  the  head 
of  the  general  movement  of  society.  In  all  they  then  did, 
their  motive,  doubtless,  was  to  reestablish  order  in  the  king- 
dom, and  to  found  their  authority  upon  the  protection 
granted  to  those  who  suffered  from  the  violences  and  ex- 
cesses of  feudal  anarchy.  If,  however,  we  may  judge  by  the 
ordinance  just  quoted,  and  by  many  other  similar  ones,  their 
policy  was  not  always  disinterested,  and,  like  most  of  the 
barons,  they  sometimes  sold  rather  than  granted  the  freedom 
of  the  serfs  and  the  communes. 

Many  peasants  showed  themselves  but  little  disposed  tc 
receive  a  liberty  which  was  tc  be  sold  to  them.  Some  from 
poverty,  others  from  mistrust,  a  great  number  from  unwil 


292  HISTORY    OF    THE    CBUSAJDES. 

lingness  to  change  their  condition,  refused  the  benefit  that 
was  offered  to  them.  Such  is  the  spirit  of  man,  that  they 
resolved  to  remain  serfs,  because  they  were  condemned  to  be 
such  no  longer.  In  several  provinces,  even  disorders  were 
created  by  their  resistance.  This  was  slaves  fighting,  with 
their  chains,  against  Liberty  herself.  At  a  later  period,  the 
jaquerie  proved  that  it  was  more  easy  to  kindle  the  passions 
of  a  gross  people,  than  to  make  them  free ;  and  that  it  was 
far,  as  regarded  the  serfs,  from  impatience  under  the  yoke 
and  hatred  for  their  masters,  to  the  true  love  of  liberty. 

When  we  are  desirous  of  breaking  the  chains  of  the  mul- 
titude, it  is  never  to  the  multitude  that  we  must  address 
ourselves ;  in  order  that  the  fate  of  the  lower  classes  should 
be  ameliorated,  the  amelioration  must  come  from  the  superior 
classes,  by  whom  knowledge  is  spread  and  institutions  are 
established.  This  is  what  happened  at  the  period  of  which 
we  are  speaking.  The  servitude  of  the  country  was  much 
softened  by  the  maxims  of  the  clergy,  but  more  particularly 
by  the  influence  of  that  French  magistracy  which  had  arisen 
contemporaneously  with  civilization. 

In  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  some  serfs  of 
Catalonia,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  France,  being  claimed  by 
their  lords,  the  parliament  of  Thoulouse  declared  that  every 
man  who  entered  fnto  the  kingdom  crying  France  !  became 
free.  Mezerai,*  who  relates  this  fact,  adds :  "  Such  is  the 
kingdom  of  France,  that  its  air  communicates  liberty  to 
those  who  breathe  it,  and  our  kings  are  so  august  that  they 
only  reign  over  free  men." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  scarcely  a  trace 
of  servitude  could  be  found  in  the  cities  or  the  country. 
History  could  but  applaud  this  revolution,  if  the  fall  even  of 
feudalism,  whilst  destroying  ancient  abuses,  had  not  placed 
governments  in  antagonism  with  difficulties  which  had  not 
been  foreseen,  and  whose  consequences  were  destined  to  be 
deplorable.  When  the  feudal  government,  which  cost  the 
people  nothing,t  was  quite  overthrown,  it  became  necessary 

*  And  yet  he  lived  under  Richelieu,  in  the  nominal  reign  of  Louis  XIII., 
and  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  ! — Trans. 

f  Most  political  economists  cail  man's  labour  property;  M.  Michaud 
has  shown  that  the  bulk  of  the  people,  under  the  feudal  system,  paid 
society  labour,  life,  and  liberty ;  and  yet  lie  calls  these  nothing .' — Trans- 


HISTOKr    OF    THE  CKUSADES.  293 

fco  provide  for  the  expenses  of  a  new  administration ;  when 
the  state  had  lost  the  defenders  which  the  feudal  laws  pro- 
vided for  it,  others  were  to  be  sought,  and  their  services  t<* 
be  remunerated.  Thence  came  the  necessity  for  stipendiary 
armies  and  regular  and  permanent  taxes.  To  provide  tho 
money  wanted,  the  coinage  was  debased,  the  Jews  were  per- 
secuted, violence  was  had  recourse  to,  and  justice  was  sold, — 
all  of  which  tended  to  corrupt  both  the  government  and  the 
nation.  The  embarrassment  of  the  finances,  and  the  dis- 
orders it  produced,  have  only  increased  up  to  the  present 
day.  To  remedy  this,  the  moral  strength  and  life  of  society 
have  often  been  neglected,  and  means  of  raising  money  have 
constituted  the  whole  policy  of  states.  To  have  credit,  or 
not  to  have  it,  that  is,  now-a-days,  life  or  death  for  govern- 
ments. Credit,  deficit,  bankruptcy,  are  three  words,  of  which 
the  ancients  and  the  middle  ages  were  quite  ignorant ;  but 
which  are  now  constantly  present  to  the  restless,  uneasy 
minds  of  kings  and  ministers.  These  three  words  will  per- 
haps one  day  be  sufficient  to  explain  the  decline  and  fall  of 
empires. 

Whatever  was  the  weight  of  the  public  impositions,  it 
must  be  allowed  that  the  taxes  gave  rise  to  more  frequent 
relations  between  governments  and  the  people,  which  proved 
advantageous  to  liberty.  People  gave  more  attention  to  the 
administration  which  they  paid  for  with  the  fruit  of  their 
industry  and  labour.  Sovereigns  had  more  consideration  for 
the  different  classes  of  citizens  of  whom  they  demanded  tri- 
bute ;  and  were  constrained  to  consult  them  in  certain  cir- 
cumstances, in  order  that  the  people,  says  Pasquier,  might 
not  have  occasion  to  be  dissatisfied  or  murmur.  The  origin 
of  representative  government,  as  it  exists  in  many  European 
nations  in  our  days,  has  been  sought  for  in  remote  times  ; 
but  everj'thing  leads  us  to  believe  that  it  owed  its  birth  to 
the  relations  which  the  wants  of  states  and  the  necessity  for 
taxes  naturally  established  between  peoples  and  govern- 
ments. 

That  which  most  increased  the  embarrassments  of  tho 
majority  of  European  monarchies,  after  the  fall  of  feudal- 
ism, was  the  excessive  enlargement  of  their  military  esta- 
blishments. At  the  moment  I  am  writing,  there  is  na 
necessity  to  point  out  this  fearful  re  :k  of  modern  societies 


294  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

It  is  not  a  century  since  Montesquieu  predicted  that  Europe 
would  perish  by  its  armies.*  God  grant  that  this  prophecy 
be  not  about  to  be  accomplished!  The  military  force  of 
Europe  has  given  us  reason  to  dread  all  the  evils  it  was 
intended  to  prevent.  It  was  to  defend  every  kingdom  from 
foreign  invasions ;  and  yet  there  is  not  a  kingdom  in  Europe 
that  has  not  been  invaded,  or  threatened  with  invasion.  It 
was  deemed  necessary  to  restrain  the  multitude  by  means 
of  armies ;  and  armies  have  been  raised  to  such  numbers  of 
men,  that  they  have  become  the  multitude  itself  under  arms. 
Can  it  be  true,  as  has  been  said,  that  there  is  no  remedy  for 
this  evil  ?  Deplorable  state  of  things,  without  which  society 
cannot  last,  with  which  it  cannot  exist ! 

The  crusades  have  been  reproached  with  having  given 
birth  to  the  idea  of  imposts ;  this  idea  is  too  simple  not  to 
have  arisen  without  the  help  of  the  crusades.f  It  is  pro- 
bable that  the  manner  in  which  the  tenths  were  collected 
for  the  holy  war,  might  serve  as  a  model  for  those  who  after- 
wards established  regular  contributions.  As  to  regular 
armies,  the  expeditions  to  the  East  might  furnish  the  first 
idea  of  them.  It  is  certain  that  these  distant  expeditions 
changed  the  conditions  of  the  feudal  service,  and  accustomed 
people  to  see  permanent  armies  maintained  and  commanded 
by  princes. 

Among  the  institutions  which  contended  with  the  bar- 
barism of  the  middle  ages,  wre  will,  in  the  first  place,  consider 
chivalry,  the  exploits  of  which  are  much  better  known  than 
its  origin.  At  a  time  when  everything  was  decided  by  force, 
and  everything  was  determined  by  the  sword ; — in  which,  as 
Montesquieu  says,  to  judge  was  to  fight — women,  children, 
and  orphans  were  not  able  to  defend  their  rights,  and  were 
abandoned  a  prey  to  iniquity.  Generous  warriors  came 
forward  to  defend  them  ;  their  devotion  was  applauded, — 
their  example  was  followed.  Shortly  the  order  of  Paladins 
was  formed,  who  perambulated  the  world,  seeking  for  wrongs 
to  redress,  and  felons  to  combat  with.  Such  was,  doubtless, 
the  origin  of  chivalry,  which  is  so  uselessly  sought  for  in  the 

*  I  do  not  recollect  this  prediction  ;  but  I  perfectly  remember  Montes- 
quieu foretells  that  France  will  perish  by  the  sword. — Trans. 

t  What  can  this  mean  ?  Taxation  is  as  old  as  governments  of  an? 
kind. — Trans. 


HISTORY    OE    THE    CRUSADES.  295 

forests  of  Germany.  This  institution  sprang  from  the  ex- 
treme disorder  of  society,  and  arose  like  a  bulwark,  which 
human  generosity  opposed  to  the  irruptions  of  license,  and 
the  passions  of  a  barbarous  age. 

Chivalry  was  known  in  the  West  before  the  crusades. 
These  wars,  which  appeared  to  have  the  same  aim  as  chivalry, 
— that  of  defending  the  oppressed,  serving  the  cause  of  God, 
and  combating  with  infidels, — gave  this  institution  more 
splendour  and  consistency, — a  direction  more  extended  and 
salutary. 

Religion,  which  mingled  itself  with  all  the  institutions  anc? 
all  the  passions  of  the  middle  ages,  purified  the  sentiments 
of  the  knights,  and  elevated  them  to  the  enthusiasm  of 
virtue.  Christianity  lent  chivalry  its  ceremonies  and  its 
emblems,  and  tempered,  by  the  mildness  of  its  maxims,  the 
asperities  of  warlike  man:  ers. 

Piety,  bravery,  and  modesty  were  the  distinctive  qualities 
of  chivalry  :  "  Serve  God,  and  he  will  help  you  ;  be  mild  and 
courteous  to  every  gentleman,  by  divesting  yourself  of  all 
pride  ;  be  neither  a  flatterer  nor  a  slanderer,  for  such  people 
seloom  come  to  great  excellence.  Be  loyal  in  words  and 
deeds  ;  keep  your  word ;  be  helpful  to  the  poor  and  to 
orphans,  and  God  will  reward  you."*  Thus  said  the  mother 
of  Bayard  to  her  son ;  and  these  instructions  of  a  virtuous 
mother  comprised  the  whole  code  of  chivalry. 

The  most  admirable  part  of  this  institution  was  the  entire 
abnegation  of  self, — that  loyalty  which  made  it  the  duty  of 
every  knight  to  forget  his  own  glory,  and  only  publish  the 
lofty  deeds  of  his  companions  in  arms.  The  deeds  of  valour 
of  a  knight  were  his  fortune,  his  means  of  living ;  and  he 
who  was  silent  upon  them  was  a  robber  of  the  property  of 
others.  ^  Nothing  appeared  more  reprehensible  than  for  a 
knight  to  praise  himself.  "  If  the  squire,"  says  le  Code 
des  Preux,  "  be  vain-glorious  of  what  he  has  done,  he  is  not 
worthy  to  become  a  knight."  An  historian  of  the  crusades 
offers  us  a  singular  example  of  this  virtue,  which  is  not 

*  Servez  Dieu,  et  il  vous  aidera  :  soyez  doux  et  courtois  a  tout  gentil 
homme  en  otant  de  vous  tout  orgueil ;  ne  soyez  flatteur  ne  rapporteur  \ 
car  telles  manieres  de  gens  ne  viennent  pas  a  gran  le  perfection.  Sovcjk 
loyal  en  faits  et  en  dits ;  tenez  votre  parole ;  soyez  secourables  a  pauviet 
et  orphelins,  et  Dieu  vous  le  guerdonnera. 


296  HISTOBY    OF    THE    CKUSADES. 

entirely  humility,  and  might  be  called  the  false  modesty  of 
glory,  when  he  describes  Tancred  checking  his  career  in 
the  field  of  battle,  to  make  his  squire  swear  to  be  for  ever 
silent  upon  his  exploits. 

The  most  cruel  insult  that  could  be  offered  to  a  knight, 
was  to  accuse  him  of  falsehood.  Want  of  truth,  and  perjury, 
were  considered  the  most  shameful  of  all  crimes.  If  op- 
pressed innocence  implored  the  succour  of  a  knight,  woe  to 
him  who  did  not  respond  to  the  appeal !  Sham*  followed 
every  offence  towards  the  weak,  and  every  aggression  towards 
an  unarmed  man. 

The  spirit  of  chivalry  kept  up  and  strengthened  among 
warriors  the  generous  sentiments  which  the  military  spirit 
of  feudalism  had  given  birth  to  :  devotion  to  his  sovereign 
was  the  first  virtue,  or  rather  the  first  duty,  of  a  knight. 
Thus  in  overy  state  of  Europe  grew  up  a  young  military 
power,  always  ready  for  fight,  and  always  ready  to  sacrifice 
itself  for  prince  or  for  country,  as  for  the  cause  of  justice 
and  innocence. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  characteristics  of  chivalry, 
and  that  which  at  the  present  day  most  strongly  excites  our 
surprise  and  curiosity,  was  the  alliance  of  religious  senti- 
ments with  gallantry.  Devotion  and  love,  —  such  was  the 
principle  of  action  of  a  knight :  God  and  the  ladies, — such 
was  his  device. 

To  form  an  idea  oS  the  manners  of  chivalry,  we  have  but 
to  glance  at  the  tournaments,  which  owed  their  origin  to  it, 
and  which  were  as  schools  of  courtesy  and  festivals  of  bravery. 
At  this  period,  the  nobility  were  dispersed,  and  lived  isolated 
in  their  castles.  Tournaments  furnished  them  with  oppor- 
tunities for  assembling  ;  and  it  was  at  these  brilliant  meet- 
ings  that  the  memory  of  ancient  gallant  knights  was  revived, 
— that  youth  took  them  for  models,  and  imbibed  chivairio 
virtues  by  receiving  rewards  from  the  hands  of  beauty. 

As  the  ladies  were  the  judges  of  the  actions  and  the  bra- 
very of  the  knights,  they  exercised  an  absolute  empire  over 
the*  minds  of  the  warriors ;  and  I  have  no  occasion  to  say 
that  this  ascendancy  of  the  softer  sex  threw  a  charm  over 
the  heroism  of  the  preux  and  the  paladins.  Europe  began 
to  escape  fr  )m  barbarism  from  the  moment  the  most  weak 
commanded  the  most  strong, — from  the  moment  when  th© 


HISTOET    OF   THE   CRUSADE8.  297 

lore  of  glory,  when  the  noblest  feelings  of  the  heart,  th6 
fcenderest  affections  of  the  soul,  everything  that  constitutes 
the  moral  force  of  society,  was  able  to  triumph  over  every 
other  force. 

Louis  IX.,  a  prisoner  in  Egypt,  replies  to  the  Saracens, 
that  he  will  do  nothing  without  Queen  Marguerite,  "  who  is 
his  lady."  The  orientals  could  not  comprehend  such  defer- 
ence ;  and  it  is  because  they  did  not  comprehend  this  defer- 
ence, that  they  have  remained  so  far  in  the  rear  of  the  nations 
of  Europe,  in  nobleness  of  sentiment,  purity  of  morals,  ana 
elegance  of  manners. 

Heroes  of  antiquity  wandered  over  the  world  to  deliver  it 
from  scourges  and  monsters  ;  but  these  heroes  were  not 
actuated  by  religion,  which  elevates  the  soul,  nor  by  that 
courtesy  which  softens  the  manners.  They  were  acquainted 
with  friendship,  as  in  the  cases  of  Theseus  and  Pirithous, 
and  Hercules  and  Lycas ;  but  they  knew  nothing  of  the 
delicacy  of  love.  The  ancient  poets  take  delight  in  repre- 
senting the  misfortunes  of  certain  heroines  abandoned  by 
their  lovers  ;  but,  in  their  touching  pictures,  there  never 
escapes  from  their  plaintive  muse  the  least  expression  of 
blame  against  the  hero,  who  thus  caused  the  tears  of  beauty 
to  now.  In  the  middle  ages,  or  according  to  the  manners  of 
chivalry,  a  warrior  who  should  have  imitated  the  conduct  of 
Theseus  to  Ariadne,  or  that  of  the  son  of  Anchises  towards 
Dido,  would  not  have  failed  to  incur  the  reproach  of 
treachery. 

Another  difference  between  the  spirit  of  antiquity  and 
the  sentiments  of  the  moderns  is,  that  among  the  ancients 
love  was  supposed  to  enervate  the  courage  of  heroes ;  and 
that  in  the  days  of  chivalry,  the  women,  who  were  the 
judges  of  valour,  constantly  kept  alive  the  love  of  glory  and 
an  enthusiasm  for  virtue,  in  the  hearts  of  trie  warriors.  We 
find  in  Alain  Chartier,  a  conversation  of  several  ladies,  who 
express  their  opinions  upon  the  conduct  of  their  knights, 
who  had  been  present  at  the  battle  of  Agincourt.  One  ol 
these  knight  had  sought  safety  in  flight,  and  the  lady  of  his 
thoughts  exclaims  :  "  According  to  the  law  of  love,  I  should 
have  loved  him  better  dead  than  alive."  In  the  first  cru- 
sade, Adela,  countess  of  Blois,  wrote  to  her  husband,  who 
waj»  gone  to  the  East  with  Godfrey  of  Bouillon :  "  Beware 


298  HISTOET  or  THE  cbusades. 

of  meriting  the  reproaches  of  the  brave."  As  the  count  oi 
~b\ois  returned  to  Europe  before  the  taking  of  Jerusalem, 
his  wife  made  him  blush  at  his  desertion,  and  forced  him  to 
return  to  Palestine,  where  he  fought  bravely,  and  found  a 
glorious  death.  Thus  the  spirit  and  the  sentiments  of 
chivalry  gave  birth  to  prodigies  equally  with  the  most  ardent 
patriotism  of  ancient  Lacedaemon ;  and  these  prodigies  ap- 
peared so  simple,  so  natural,  that  the  chroniclers  only  repeat 
them  in  passing,  and  without  testifying  the  least  surprise  at 
them. 

This  institution,  so  ingeniously  called  "  Fountain  of 
courtesy,  which  comes  from  God,"  is  still  much  more  ad- 
mirable when  considered  under  the  all-powerful  influence  of 
religious  ideas.  Christian  charity  claimed  all  the  affections 
of  the  knight,  and  demanded  of  him  a  perpetual  devotion 
for  the  defence  of  pilgrims  and  the  care  of  the  sick.  It  was 
thus  that  were  established  the  orders  of  St.  John,  of  the 
Temple,  of  the  Teutonic  Knights,  and  several  others,  all 
instituted  to  combat  the  Saracens  and  solace  human  miseries. 
The  infidels  admired  their  virtues,  as  much  as  they  dreaded 
their  bravery.  Nothing  is  more  touching  than  the  spectacle 
of  these  noble  warriors,  who  were  seen  by  turns  in  the  field 
of  battle  and  in  the  asylum  of  pain ;  sometimes  the  terror 
of  the  enemy,  and  as  frequently  the  consolers  of  all  who 
suffered.  That  which  the  paladins  of  the  West  did  for 
beauty,  the  knights  of  Palestine  did  for  poverty  and  mis- 
fortune. The  former  devoted  their  lives  to  the  ladies  of 
their  thoughts ;  the  latter  devoted  theirs  to  the  poor  and  the 
infirm.  The  grand-master  of  the  military  order  of  St.  John 
took  the  title  of  "  Guardian  of  the  poor  of  Jesus  Christ," 
and  the  knights  called  the  sick  and  the  poor  "  Our  lords." 
It  appears  almost  an  incredible  thing,  but  the  grand-master 
of  the  order  of  St.  Lazarus,  instituted  for  the  cure  and  the 
relief  of  leprosy,  was  obliged  to  be  chosen  from  among  the 
lepers.*     Thus  the  charity  of  the  knights,  in  order  to  be 

*  Le  Pere  Helyct,  in  his  Histoire  des  Ordres  Monastiques,  vol.  i. 
p.  263,  expresses  himself  thus,  when  speaking  of  the  order  of  St.  Laza- 
rus: — "  What  is  very  remarkable  is,  that  they  could  only  elect  as  grand- 
master, a  leprous  knight  of  the  hospital  of  Jerusalem,  which  lasted  up  tc 
the  time  of  Innocent  IV.,  that  is  to  say,  about  the  year  1253,  when, 
having,  been  obliged  to  abandon  Syria,  they  addressed  the  pontiff,  and 


H.IST011Y    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  299 

fche  better  acquainted  with  human  miseries,  in  a  manner 
ennobled  that  which  is  most  disgusting  in  the  diseases  of 
man.  Did  not  this  grand-master  of  St.  Lazarus,  who  wai 
obliged  himself  to  be  afflicted  with  the  infirmities  he  was 
called  upon  to  alleviate  in  others,  imitate,  as  much  as  is 
possible  on  earth,  the  example  of  the  Son  of  God,  who 
assumed  a  human  form  in  order  to  deliver  humanity  ? 

It  may  be  thought  that  there  was  ostentation  in  so  great 
a  charity ;  but  Christianity,  as  we  have  said,  had  subdued 
the  pride  of  the  warriors,  and  that  was,  without  doubt,  one 
of  the  noblest  miracles  of  the  religion  of  the  middle  ages. 
All  who  then  visited  the  Holy  Land  could  but  admire  in 
the  knights  of  St.  John,  the  Temple,  and  St.  Lazarus,  their 
resignation  in  suffering  all  the  pains  of  life,  their  submis- 
sion to  all  the  rigours  of  discipline,  and  their  docility  to  the 
least  wish  of  their  leader.  During  the  sojourn  of  St.  Louis 
in  Palestine,  the  Hospitallers  having  had  a  quarrel  with 
some  Crusaders  who  were  hunting  on  Mount  Carmel,  the 
latter  brought  their  complaint  before  the  grand-master. 
The  head  of  the  Hospital  ordered  before  him  the  brothers 
who  had  outraged  the  Crusaders,  and  to  punish  them,  con- 
represented  to  him,  that  always  having  had,  from  their  foundation,  a 
leprous  knight  for  grand-master,  they  found  themselves  in  the  impossi- 
bility of  electing  one,  because  the  infidels  had  killed  all  the  leprous 
knights  of  their  hospital  at  Jerusalem.  For  this  reason,  they  prayed  the 
pontiff  to  allow  them  to  elect,  for  the  future,  as  grand-master,  a  knight 
who  had  not  been  attacked  by  leprosy,  and  who  might  be  in  good  health ; 
and  the  pope  referred  them  to  the  bishop  of  Trascate,  that  he  might  accord 
them  this  permission,  after  having  examined  if  that  could  be  done  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  God.  This  is  reported  by  Pope  Pius  IV.,  in  his  bull  of 
•he  year  15G5,  so  extended  and  so  favourable  to  the  order  of  St.  Lazarus, 
by  which  he  renews  all  the  privileges  and  all  the  gifts  that  his  predecessors 
had  granted  to  it,  and  gives  it  fresh  ones.  Here  is  what  he  says  of  the 
election  these  knights  ought  to  make  of  a  leprous  grand-master : — Et 
Innocentius  IV.,  per  eum  accepto,  quod  licet  de  antiqua  approbata,  et 
•iaeterius  pacifice  observata  consuetudine  obtentum  esset,  ut  miles  lepro- 
jus  domus  Sancti-Lazari  Hierosolymitani  in  ejus  magistrum  assumeretur ; 
■•erum  quia  fere  omnes  milites  leprosi  dictse  domus  ab  inimicis  fidei 
wiserabiliter  interfecti  fuerant,  et  hujusmodi  consuetudo  nequiebat  com- 
mode observari :  ideirco  tunc  episcopo  Tusculano  per  quasdam  commi- 
srrat,  ut,  si  sibi  secundum  Deum  visum  foret  expeiiire  fratribus  ipsia 
lic?ntiam,  aliquem  militem  sanum  et  fratribus  prsedictae  domus  Sancti- 
Lazari  in  ejus  magistrum  (non  obstante  consuetudine  hujusmodi  de 
csevu-o  eligendi)  auctoritate  apostolica  concederet. 


300  HISTOEY    Of    THE    CEUSAJES. 

denmed  then?  to  eat  their  food  on  the  ground  upon  theif 
mantles.  "  It  happened,"  says  the  sieur  de  Joinville,  "  that 
I  was  present  with  the  knights  who  had  complained,  and 
we  requested  the  master  to  allow  the  brothers  to  arise  from 
their  mantles,  which  he  refused."  Thus  the  rigour  of  the 
cloisters  and  the  austere  humility  of  cenobites  had  nothing 
repulsive  for  these  warriors.  Such  were  the  heroes  that 
religion  and  the  spirit  of  the  crusades  had  formed.  I  know 
that  this  submission  and  humility  in  men  accustomed  to 
arms  may  be  turned  into  ridicule ;  but  an  enlightened  phi- 
losophy takes  pleasure  in  recognising  the  happy  influence 
of  religious  ideas  upon  the  manners  of  a  society  given  up  to 
barbarous  passions.  In  an  age  when  all  power  was  derived 
from  the  sword,  in  which  passion  and  anger  might  have  car- 
ried warriors  to  all  kinds  of  excesses,  what  more  agreeable 
spectacle  for  humanity  could  there  be  than  that  of  valour 
humbling  itself,  and  strength  forgetting  itself? 

We  are  aware  that  the  spirit  of  chivalry  was  sometimes 
abused,  and  that  its  noble  maxims  did  not  govern  the 
conduct  of  all  knights.  We  have  described  in  the  history 
of  the  crusades,  the  lengthened  discords  which  jealousy 
created  between  the  two  orders  of  St.  John  and  the  Temple. 
We  have  spoken  of  the  vices  with  which  the  Templars  were 
reproached  towards  the  end  of  the  holy  wars.  We  could 
speak  still  more  of  the  absurdities  of  knight-errantry ;  but 
our  task  is  here  to  write  the  history  of  institutions,  and  not 
that  of  human  passions.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the 
corruption  of  men,  it  will  always  be  true  that  chivalry, 
allied  with  the  spirit  of  courtesy  and  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity, awakened  in  human  hearts  virtues  and  sentiments 
of  which  the  ancients  were  ignorant. 

That  which  proves  that  everything  was  not  barbarous  in 
the  middle  ages  is,  that  the  institution  of  chivalry  obtained, 
from  its  birth,  the  esteem  and  admiration  of  all  Christen- 
dom. There  was  no  gentleman  who  was  not  desirous  of 
being  a  knight.  Princes  and  kings  took  honour  to  them- 
selves for  belonging  to  chivalry.  In  it  warriors  came  to 
take  lessons  of  politeness,  bravery,  and  humanity.  Admira- 
ble school,  in  which  victory  laid  aside  its  pride,  and  grandeur 
it?  haughty  disdain;  to  which  those  who  had  riches  aad 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  301 

power  came  to  learn  only  to  make  use  of  them  with  modera- 
tion and  generosity. 

As  the  education  of  the  people  was  formed  upon  the 
example  of  the  higher  classes  of  society,  the  generous  sen- 
timents of  chivalry  spread  themselves  by  degrees  through 
all  ranks,  and  mingled  with  the  character  of  the  European 
nations  ;  gradually,  there  arose  against  those  who  were  want- 
ing in  their  duties  of  knighthood,  a  general  opinion,  more 
severe  than  the  laws  themselves,  which  was  as  the  code  of 
honour,  as  the  cry  of  the  public  conscience.  What  might 
not  be  hoped  from  a  state  of  society,  in  which  all  the  dis- 
courses held  in  camps,  in  tournaments,  in  meetings  of  war- 
riors, was  reduced  to  these  words :  "  Evil  be  to  him  who 
forgets  the  promises  he  has  made  to  religion,  to  patriotism, 
to  virtuous  love ;  evil  be  to  him  who  betrays  his  God,  his 
king,  or  his  lady?" 

When  the  institution  of  chivalry  fell  by  the  abuse  that 
was  made  of  it,  or  rather  in  consequence  of  the  changes  in 
the  military  system  of  Europe;  there  remained  still  in 
European  society  some  of  the  sentiments  it  had  inspired, 
in  the  same  manner  as  there  remains  with  those  who  have 
forgotten  the  religion  in  which  they  were  born,  something 
of  its  precepts,  and  particularly  of  the  profound  impressions 
which  they  received  from  it  in  their  infancy.  In  the  times 
of  chivalry,  the  reward  of  good  actions  was  glory  and 
honour.  This  coin,  which  is  so  useful  to  nations,  and  which 
costs  them  nothing,  did  not  fail  to  have  some  currency  in 
following  ages.  Such  is  the  effect  of  a  glorious  remem- 
brance, that  the  marks  and  distinctions  of  chivalry  serve 
still  in  our  days  to  recompense  merit  and  bravery. 

Since  it  can  with  truth  be  said  that  the  crusades  added 
some  lustre  and  gave  some  ascendancy  to  chivalry,  it  must 
be  agreed  that  they  rendered  essential  service  to  humanity. 

If  the  institution  of  chivalry  was  a  barrier  against  license 
and  barbarism,  the  institution  of  the  clergy,  founded  upon 
more  fixed  and  durable  principles,  ought  to  have  rendered 
still  greater  services  to  civilization. 

The  ascendancy  and  wealth  of  the  clergy  placed  them  on 
an  equality  with  the  nobility,  in  the  feudal  system ;  but  it 
must  be  allowed  that  the  rank  assigned  them  in  this  ordei 


302  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

of  tilings  was  repugnant  to  their  character  and  to  the  statb 
of  society.  AVe  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  feudal  system 
had  a  tendency  to  corrupt  the  institution  of  the  clergy,  as 
the  clergy  corrupted  the  feudal  system.  The  clergy,  in- 
structed in  principles  of  peace,  were  not  fit  to  carry  out  the 
conditions  of  the  military  regime ;  on  the  other  side,  the 
military  regime  was  sure  to  change  the  pacific  manners  of 
the  clergy.  It  was  not  at  all  uncommon  to  see  prelates 
clad  in  cuirass  and  helmet.  Sometimes  country  priests  led 
to  battle  the  flock  which  a  religion  of  peace  had  confided  to 
them.  This  military  spirit  in  ecclesiastics  was  much  in- 
creased by  the  crusades,  in  which  their  arms  were  sanctified 
by  the  object  of  the  war.  The  clergy,  however,  never  be- 
came sufficiently  warlike  to  fulfil  all  the  feudal  engage- 
ments ;  and  we  may  add  likewise,  that  they  were  not  always 
sufficiently  pacific  to  fulfil  all  their  religious  duties. 

It  may  be  concluded,  from  what  we  have  just  said,  that 
the  ecclesiastical  order  and  the  feudal  government  would,  in 
the  long  run,  repel  each  other.  If  we  consult  the  history 
of  the  middle  ages,  we  shall  see  that  the  barons  and  nobles 
often  showed  themselves  jealous  of  the  power  of  the  clergy, 
and  that  the  clergy,  in  the  end,  contributed  to  the  ruin  of 
the  foundations  of  feudalism. 

The  existence  of  the  clergy  underwent  many  modifications, 
according  to  times,  places,  and  circumstances.  In  Italy, 
they  enjoyed  but  very  little  credit,  and  took  part  in  most 
popular  tactions.  In  Germany,  the  high  clergy  shared  with 
the  nobility  the  wrecks  of  imperial  power.  In  Spain,  they 
contributed  greatly  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors,  and  the 
spoils  of  the  vanquished  added  to  their  wealth.  In  England, 
the  clergy  associated  themselves  with  the  barons,  and  con- 
tended with  the  crown.  In  France,  they  attached  them- 
selves to  royalty,  and  favoured  the  constantly  increasing 
power  of  the  monarchs. 

If  we  may  judge  by  the  councils  which  were  held  during 
the  crusades,  most  of  which  were  occupied  with  reforming 
ecclesiastical  discipline,  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  the 
morals  of  the  clergy  had  then  a  strong  tendency  to  corrup- 
tion. Old  chronicles  are  particularly  severe  against  the 
Crusaders  and  the  clergy  of  the  East,  whom  they  un- 
ceasingly accuse  of  outraging  morality  and  religion  by  their 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  303 

excesses.  Some  of  the  chroniclers  even,  like  James  of  Vitry, 
draw  such  hideous  pictures,  that  they  are  suspected  of  in- 
justice, or  at  least  of  exaggeration.  It  is  not  useless,  for 
the  sake  of  historical  truth,  to  remark  here,  that  most  of  the 
historians  of  whom  we  now  speak,  belonged  to  the  class  of 
preachers  charged  with  the  task  of  censuring  their  age,  and 
who  were  often  obliged  to  darken  their  colours  in  order  to 
move  the  multitude.  In  all  times,  sacred  orators  have  been 
seen  exaggerating  the  vices  it  was  their  object  tc  combat ; 
and  if  we  were  not  aware  of  the  charity  which  animates 
them,  we  might  sometimes  mistake  their  discourses  for 
violent  satires.  This  is  an  observation  of  which  we  ought 
not  to  lose  sight  whilst  reading  the  chronicles  of  the  middle 
ages,  which  are  almost  all  drawn  up  by  ecclesiastics,  accus- 
tomed by  their  profession  to  judge  their  contemporaries 
with  severity.  Another  observation  proved  by  history  is, 
that  corruption  is  spoken  of  with  more  bitterness  in  times 
in  which  it  is  scarcely  known,  than  in  times  in  which  it  has 
become  general.  In  ages  in  which  some  ideas  of  virtue  still 
prevail,  people  accuse  themselves ;  and  in  ages  quite  cor- 
rupted, they  praise  themselves. 

A  chronicle  of  the  time  of  the  first  crusades  tells  us,  that 
the  iniquities  of  men  had  then  reached  their  height ;  and, 
what  at  once  characterizes  the  spirit  of  the  chronicler  and 
that  of  his  age,  he  adds  that  these  iniquities  would  have 
shortened  the  duration  of  the  world,  "  if  it  had  not  been 
that  some  new  monastic  congregations  were  formed."  In 
fact,  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  more  mo- 
nasteries were  founded  than  in  all  the  other  centuries  of  the 
middle  ages.  The  enthusiasm  for  the  holy  wars,  by  exalting 
the  imaginations  of  nations,  had  produced  a  mental  revolt 
tion ;  prodigies  were  everywhere  seen  that  had  never  been 
observed  till  that  time  ;  devotion  itself  believed  that  it  could 
no  longer  attain  salvation  by  ordinary  ways :  whilst  a  crowd 
of  warriors  precipitated  themselves  upon  the  East,  many 
pious  souls,  to  perform  penance,  sought  for  private  morti- 
fications, and  devoted  themselves  to  the  rigours  of  a  volun- 
tary exile,  or  buried  themselves  in  deserts. 

At  the  head  of  the  monastic  congregations  which  were 
formed  at  this  period,  we  must  place  that  of  the  Brothers  of 
Mercy,  which  had  its  birth  in  the  third  crusade,  and  was  in- 


304  HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES. 

stituted  for  the  purpose  of  delivering  captives.  These  vene- 
rable cenobites,  after  the  example  of  the  heroes  of  chivalry, 
sought  for  victims  to  console,  and  for  the  miserable  to  suc- 
cour. Like  knights,  they  exposed  themselves  to  a  thousand 
dangers,  and  braved  death  in  the  exercise  of  beneficence  and 
charity.  It  was  during  the  sixth  crusade  that  the  two  orders 
of  St.  Dominic  and  St.  Francis  arose,  orders  which,  according 
to  the  expression  of  the  abbot  of  Usberg,  renewed  the  youth 
of  the  Church.  From  the  thirteenth  century  these  two 
orders  sent  missions  into  the  East,  and  into  the  north  of 
Asia.  Whilst  the  Tartar  hordes  were  overturning  empires, 
ravaging  Europe,  and  threatening  all  Christendom,  poor 
priests  traversed  the  solitudes  of  Tartary,  penetrated  even 
into  China ;  and,  peaceful  conquerors,  armed  with  the  Gos- 
pel, extended  the  empire  of  Christianity,  and  planted  the 
standard  of  the  cross  at  the  extremities  of  the  known  world. 
The  religious  colonies  wrhich  they  then  founded  in  Asia 
lasted  much  longer  than  the  colonies  founded  by  the  Cru- 
saders. 

"We  will  not  attempt  to  enumerate  all  the  services  which 
religious  communities  rendered  society.  They  had  regula- 
tions which  might  serve  for  models  in  the  infancy  of  political 
legislation.  They  were  in  all  respects  like  the  corporations 
of  cities.  Whilst  anarchy  disturbed  cities,  the  woods  had 
their  legislation ;  and  the  germs  of  civilization  developed 
themselves  in  silence  and  in  solitude. 

It  was  in  monasteries  that  were  found  the  only  schools  in 
which  letters  were  taught,  and  that  the  Latin  language,  and 
the  wonders  it  produced,  were  preserved.  It  was  in  them 
that  studious  men  kept  a  faithful  register  of  events,  and 
employed  themselves  in  transmitting  to  us  those  historical 
documents  without  which  the  glory  and  the  manners  of  our 
ancestors  would  be  unknown  to  us. 

Besides  that  the  clergy  contributed  greatly  to  the  fer- 
tilizing of  uncultivated  lands,  they  protected  the  labourers 
with  the  whole  power  of  the  Church.  The  Truce  of  God, 
which  was  the  work  of  the  clergy,  placed  under  the  safe- 
guard of  Heaven,  the  inhabitants  of  the  fields,  the  cxen,  the 
companions  of  their  labours,  and  even  the  instruments  of 
their  tillage.  The  Church  went  still  further ;  it  multiplied 
the  festivals  of  the  calendar,  for  the  sake  af  the  people.     By 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ORCSADES.  305 

augmenting  the  number  of  religious  solemnities,  the  Church 
had  two  motives :  the  first,  to  bring  more  frequently  to  the 
foot  of  the  altar  an  ignorant  and  gross  multitude,  who  thero 
found  the  instruction  necessary  for  the  amelioration  of  their 
morals  and  the  consolation  of  their  evils  ;  the  second,  to  pro- 
cure some  days  of  repose  for  that  crowd  of  serfs,  condemned 
by  the  avarice  of  their  masters  to  labours  which  had  no  end, 
and  of  which  they  did  not  gather  the  fruit.* 

Amidst  wars  which  revived  without  ceasing,  the  peasantry 
often  found  an  asylum  near  a  monastery  inhabited  by  peace- 
ful men,  and  protected  by  the.  opinions  of  the  times.  No- 
thing can  prove  better  the  ascendancy  of  the  Church,  than 
seeing,  on  one  side,  the  nobility  shut  up  in  their  strong 
castles,  and  on  the  other,  cenobites  dwelling  in  cloisters 
scarcely  closed,  and  defended  only  by  faith  and  confidence. 
As  might  be  expected,  the  peace  which  reigned  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  monasteries  attracted  a  numerous  population 
around  them.  Many  towns,  and  even  cities,  owed  their 
origin  to  the  vicinity  of  a  monastery,  whose  name  they  still 
preserve. 

The  maxims  of  the  clergy,  more  perhaps  than  their  exam- 
ple, contributed  to  the  enfranchisement  of  serfs.  Gregory 
the  Great,  when  giving  liberty  to  some  slaves,  said  that  the 
Redeemer  came  upon  earth  to  release  men  from  slavery,  and 
to  substitute  the  rights  of  the  people  for  the  code  of  servi- 
tude.    In  the  middle  ages,  many  charters  of  liberty  were 

*  For  serfs  this  might  be  a  blessing,  but  for  free  labour  it  was  com- 
plained of  as  an  evil.  La  Fontaine's  Cobbler,  when  describing  his  state 
to  the  Financier,  says  : — 

•'  Chaque  jour  amene  son  pain, 

Tantot  plus,  tantot  moins  :  le  mal  est  que  toujours 

(Et  sans  cela  nos  gains  seraient  assez  honnetes), 

Le  mal  est  que  dans  Tan  s'entremelent  des  jours 

Qu'il  faut  chomer  ;  on  nous  ruine  en  fetes  ; 

L'une  fait  tort  a  l'autre ;  et  monsieur  le  cure 

De  quelque  nouveau  saint  charge  toujours  son  prone." 

[Every  day  brings  its  bread  ;  sometimes  more,  sometimes  sss :  the 
worst  is  that  always  (and  without  that  our  gains  would  be  very  tolerable), 
the  evil  is,  that  in  the  year  so  many  days  creep  in  in  which  we  must  be 
idle — we  are  ruined  in  festivals  ;  one  treads  upon  the  heels  of  another; 
and  master  curate  is  always  introducing  some  new  saint  into  his  sermon.] 
—Trans. 

Vol.  III.— 14 


306  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

granted  for  "  the  love  of  God, — for  the  salvation  of  the  so  il, — 
for  the  remission  of  sins."  It  was  at  the  hour  of  death,  and 
by  testamentary  dispositions,  that  most  enfranchisements 
were  granted ;  from  which  we  may  conclude  that  it  was  the 
work  of  the  priests  who  assisted  the  dying.  The  clergy  re- 
presented the  enfranchisement  of  slaves  as  a  t~ing  agreeable 
to  God  ;  the  ceremony  of  manumission  was  performed  in  the 
church  as  a  solemn  religious  act.  It  was  at  the  foot  of  the 
altars  that  the  holy  words  were  pronounced  which  broke  the 
bonds  of  slavery.  Thus  everything  announced  that  the 
spirit  of  the  Gospel  was  everywhere  mingled  with  the  pro- 
gress of  civilization,  and  that  the  liberty  of  modern  nations 
was  to  be  one  of  the  blessings  of  Christianity. 

There  was  another  mode  of  gaining  liberty,  which  was  by 
entering  into  holy  orders,  or  to  take  vows  in  a  monastery. 
So  great  a  number  of  slaves  escaped  by  that  means  from  the 
yoke  of  their  masters,  that  this  custom  was  obliged  to  be 
restrained,  and  at  last  entirely  abolished,  in  almost  all  the 
states  of  Europe.  The  crusades  often  bestowed  upon  the 
serfs  the  same  privileges  that  the  clergy  did.  Beneath  the 
banners  of  the  cross,  serfs  found  the  enfranchisement  they 
had  before  found  in  monasteries.  This  facility  which  peasants 
possessed,  of  breaking  their  chains  by  going  to  the  Holy 
Land,  would  have  depopulated  the  plains,  if  new  regulations 
had  not  placed  restrictions  and  limits  to  it. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  clergy  became  enriched  by  the 
crusades.  This  assertion,  which  has  been  so  often  repeated 
by  the  writers  of  the  last  century,  requires  to  be  examined 
by  the  impartiality  of  history.  The  clergy  were  rich  at  the 
period  of  the  first  crusade.  Their  enemies  accused  them  for 
a  long  time  of  having  usurped  immense  properties.  In 
France,  under  the  two  first  races,  their  wealth  bad  given 
umbrage  to  the  barons,  who  had  several  times  despoiled 
them,  under  the  pretext  that  they  did  not  defend  the  state, 
and  that  the  property  they  held  belonged  to  them  whose 
bravery  watched  over  the  safety  of  the  kingdom. 

If  the  crusades  enriched  the  clergy,  it  might  be  supposed 
that  the  clergy  would  be  most  rich  in  countries  which  took 
the  greatest  part  in  the  crusades.  Now,  the  clergy  of  Ger- 
many, and  several  other  states  of  Europe,  surpassed  in  wealth 
the  clergy  of  the  kingdom  of  Erance,  where  the  crusadea 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  307 

excited  so  much  enthusiasm,  and  caused  so  many  warriors 
to  take  arms.  The  clergy,  it  is  true,  found  new  possessions 
in  the  East ;  but,  after  the  crusades,  nothing  of  them  was 
}.eft  but  vain  titles. 

The  first  crusade  must  have  been,  as  we  have  said,  very 
profitable  to  the  clergy  ;  they  were  not  obliged  to  pay  the 
expenses  of  it;  the  zeal  of  the  faithful  furnished  them. 
Nevertheless  they  did  take  part  in  this  crusade  ;  and  the 
priests  who  set  out,  with  the  other  Crusaders,  certainly 
did  not  enrich  themselves  in  their  pilgrimage.  Many,  no 
doubt,  shared  the  fate  of  Robert,  abbot  of  St.  Remi,  the  his- 
torian of  the  first  crusade,  who,  on  his  return  from  Jeru- 
salem, was  expelled  by  his  monks  for  having  ruined  his 
convent. 

At  the  second  crusade,  contributions  were  levied  upon  the 
churches,  without  any  regard  to  the  warm  remonstrances  of 
the  ecclesiastics.  Erom  that  time  an  opinion,  which  became 
very  injurious  to  the  clergy,  was  established  throughout  the 
Christian  world,  which  was,  that  wars  undertaken  for  the 
glory  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  deliverance  of  the  holy  places, 
ought  to  be  paid  for  by  the  Church.  Tributes  were  at  once 
levied  upon  the  clergy,  without  consulting  any  other  autho- 
rity, or  following  any  other  regulations  than  those  of  neces- 
sity and  circumstances.  To  reckon  from  the  third  crusade, 
after  the  publication  of  the  Saladin  tenth,  more  regular  im- 
posts were  established,  which  were  fixed  by  the  popes  or 
councils,  and  which  were  collected  with  such  rigour,  that 
churches  were  despoiled  of  their  ornaments,  and  some- 
times the  sacred  vases  were  put  up  to  sale.  It  is  true  that 
the  clergy  sometimes  received  offerings  and  bequests  from 
those  who  went  to  the  Holy  Land,  or  had  made  a  veto'  to 
go  ;  but  what  did  such  tributes  of  piety  amount  to  when 
compared  to  the  tributes  they  themselves  were  compelled  to 
pay  ?  We  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that,  in  the  space  of  two 
hundred  years,  the  clergy  paid  towards  the  holy  wars  more 
money  than  would  have  been  required  to  purchase  all  their 
property :  and  thus  the  zeal  of  ecclesiastics  for  the  deliver- 
ance of  the  holy  places  was  observed  perceptibly  to  cool ; 
and  it  may  be  said  that  the  indifference  which  followed 
among  Christian  nations  the  ardour  for  the  crusades,  began 
by  the  clergy.     In  Germany,   and  many  other  countries, 


308  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

their  discontent  was  carried  so  far,  that  at  last  the  popes 
did  not  dare  to  trust  the  preaching  of  crusades  to  the 
bishops,  and  only  gave  this  mission  to  the  mendicant  orders, 
who  possessed  nothing,  and  had  nothing  to  pay  for  the  ex- 
peditions against  the  infidels.* 

It  has  been  said  that  the  clergy  took  advantage  of  the 
crusades  to  buy  at  low  prices  the  property  of  the  nobility, 
as,  in  our  days,  we  have  seen  many  people  take  advantage  of 
a  revolution,  to  purchase  at  a  moderate  price  the  property 
of  the  clergy  themselves.  We  find,  in  fact,  examples  of  such 
acquisitions  in  the  first  crusades  ;  but  these  examples  must 
have  been  more  rare  in  the  holy  wars,  of  which  the  clergy 
were  obliged  to  pay  the  expenses. f  The  great  advantage 
that  the  clergy  had  over  the  nobility  was,  that  the  nobles 
were  able  to  pawn  or  alienate  their  possessions,  and  that 
ecclesiastics  were  never  allowed  to  pledge  or  alienate  their 
property.  Another  advantage  the  clergy  possessed  was,  that 
they  formed  a  body  always  animated  by  the  same  spirit,  and 
always  governed  by  the  same  laws.  Whilst  everything 
changed  around  them,  they  never  changed.  It  was  thus 
they  resisted  the  revolution  which  was  effected  in  property. 

We  have  seen,  that  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies a  great  number  of  monasteries  were  established. 
By  that  means  wild,  uncultivated  places  became  fertile 
lands ;  and  these  conquests  made  over  the  desert  added  to 
the  domains  of  the  clergy.  We  must  likewise  add,  that  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  clergy,  which  every  day  made  fresh  pro- 
gress, was  for  them  a  source  of  wealth.  It  was  in  the 
nature  of  things,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  that  the  most 

*  We  are  constantly  withheld,  by  the  respect  due  from  translators  to 
originals,  from  making  remarks  in  opposition  to  our  author,  when  he  lays 
down  the  historian's  pen  to  get  into  the  philosopher's  chair.  In  the  course 
of  this  chapter,  our  readers  must  have  observed  much  reflection  that  is 
net  deep,  and  some  passages  that  are  contradictory  of  others ;  but  all  has 
one  great  merit — it  is  extremely  suggestive. — Trans. 

f  How  could  the  clergy  be  said  to  pay  for  these  wars  ?  What  became 
of  the  vast  sums  raised  by  the  sale  of  indulgences  of  all  kinds  ?  The 
clergy  had  the  collecting  of  the  offerings  of  the  faithful,  which  we  have 
seen  was  sometimes  profitable.  Besides,  the  barons  and  knights  paid  for 
their  own  and  their  vassals'  equipments  as  long  as  they  had  a  coin  left  j 
then  the  king  or  leader,  as  Louis  IX.  did,  sometimes  helped  them.-— 
Trans. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  309 

enlightened  class  should  become  the  richest.  The  clergy 
had  therefore  no  need  of  profiting  by  the  ruin  of  the  Cru- 
saders in  order  to  become  rich ;  their  knowledge,  their  spirit 
of  order  and  economy,  with  the  ascendancy  they  possessed  over 
the  people,  offered  them  ample  means  for  increasing  or  pre- 
serving their  possessions. 

Everybody,  besides,  had  reason  to  rejoice  at  seeing  the 
clergy  acquire  wealth  ;  for  this  wealth  belonged  to  everybody. 
In  fact,  every  man  could  enter  into  the  clergy,  and  the  clergy 
belonged  to  all  families.  This  order,  so  powerful  in  the 
middle  ages,  was  as  a  natura.  liuk,  as  an  intermediate  point, 
which  drew  together  and  united  all  the  classes  of  society. 
In  the  quarrels  which  jealousy  sometimes  raised  between  the 
clergy  and  the  nobility,  the  great  vassals  reproached  the 
ecclesiastics  with  being  the  children  of  serfs.  It  was  not 
uncommon  to  see  men  who  had  issued  from  the  lowest  class 
of  the  people,  in  the  highest  functions  of  the  Church ;  a  cer- 
tain proof  that  the  clergy  offered  every  one  a  way  by  which 
he  might  elevate  himself,  and  that  they  thus  assisted  in 
reestablishing  the  harmony  destroyed  by  feudal  inequality. 

The  clergy — such  as  our  fathers  saw  it — only  now  exists  in 
the  memory  of  men.*  In  proportion  as  this  institution, 
with  all  the  advantages  we  have  spoken  of,  shall  be  further 
removed  from  us,  we  shall  perhaps  become  the  more  aware 
of  its  value.  There  are  things  of  which  we  judge  more 
favourably  when  memory  recalls  them  to  us,  than  when  they 
are  present. 

After  a  revolution  which  has  ruined  so  many  families,  in 
which  so  many  hopes  have  been  deceived, — at  a  time  in 
which  a  numerous  youth  is  crowded  in  the  confined  circle  of 
public  employments, — in  which  the  divers  professions,  among 
the  enlightened  class,  by  no  means  suffice  for  the  vast  number 
of  the  candidates, — let  me  ask  whether  the  Church,  with  its 
riches  and  its  consolatory  morality,  would  not  be  as  a  port  in 
the  storm, — as  a  refuge  always  open  for  those  to  whom  the 
world  has  nothing  to  give  ?  At  a  time  in  which  everything 
is  uncertain,  moving,  and  transitory,  —  in  which  no  man  is 

*  This  is  one  of  innumerable  instances  in  the  course  of  the  work,  in 
which  the  reader  must  regret  that  M.  Michaud  was  not  aware  he  was 
writing  lor  the  world  ;  his  views,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  his  biasses,  an 
exclusively  French. — Trans. 


310  HIS10RY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

sure  of  his  destiny,  who  but  must  envy  those  men  whose 
fate  never  changed, — who  lived  always  in  the  same  manner 
— who  saw  the  present  without  complaining, — to  whom  the 
future  gave  no  uneasiness,  and  who  might  justly  be  compared 
to  the  young  ones  of  the  birds,  of  which  Scripture  speaks  r 
If  I  durst  utter  all  my  thought  —  and  I  speak  less  in  the 
name  of  religion  than  m  the  names  of  philosophy  and 
humanity — I  should  even  regret  those  austere  retreats,  open 
to  piety,  and  consecrated  by  peace  and  prayer.  There,  at 
least,  a  shelter  was  found  from  the  passions  which  disturb 
society,  as  they  trouble  the  heart  of  man.  Why,  in  fact, 
should  there  not  be  hospitals  for  the  rnseries  of  the  soul,  as 
there  are  for  other  human  infirmities  ?  Why  are  not  they 
who  have  suffered  from  the  storms  of  life,  and  whose  heart  is 
torn  by  deep  wounds,  to  find  a  refuge  against  their  ills,  as 
well  as  those  whom  indigence  overtakes,  or  as  well  as  the 
war-mutilated  soldier?  Who  does  not  know  that  great 
revolutions,  like  great  griefs,  inspire  a  desire  for  concealing 
existence,  and  seeking  repose  in  solitude  ?  "  When  the 
storm  growls,"  says  Pythagoras,  "  worship  echo."  Let  us 
look  back  to  the  times  which  preceded  the  middle  ages, — to 
those  times  in  which  the  world  was  ready  to  fall  to  pieces 
with  the  Roman  empire  :  it  was  at  this  deplorable  epoch  that 
the  deserts  of  the  Thebais  were  peopled  with  pious  cenobites, 
who  were  no  longer  able  to  support  the  spectacle  of  human 
passions.  It  was  not  only  simple  and  vulgar  men  who  flocked 
to  the  solitudes  of  Cetteus  and  Memphis,  but  learned  men, 
warriors, — men  who  had  been  seen  in  the  courts  of  emperors. 
Whilst  society  was  shaken  to  its  foundations,  —  whilst  dis- 
order and  corruption  spread  their  baneful  influence  every- 
where, elevated  minds,  whom  this  state  of  things  drove  to 
despair,  went  to  bury  themselves  in  retirement,  embracing 
the  altars  of  that  Christian  religion  which  was  the  only  sup- 
port left  to  unfortunate  virtue,  and  was  the  last  hope  of 
civilization. 

The  swords  of  knights  and  the  maxims  of  the  clergy,  as 
we  have  seen,  contended  with  advantage  against  the  excesses 
of  barbarism ;  but  no  institution  had  yet  attained  sufficient 
consistence  to  guarantee  the  security  of  European  societies. 
In  spite  of  all  efforts  for  the  reestablishment  of  order, 
anarchy  still  subsisted.     In  order  to  know  what,  either  in  an 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES.  311 

age  or  a  people,  is  the  spirit  of  civilization,  it  is  sufficient  to 
be  acquainted  with  the  progress  that  has  been  made  in  that 
same  age,  or  among  that  same  people,  in  the  administration 
of  justice.  Of  all  the  monuments  the  human  mind  can 
raise,  a  civil  and  criminal  code  is  that  which  requires  the 
most  extensive  knowledge,  and  the  profoundest  acquaintance 
with  the  passions  of  man. 

In  the  middle  ages,  society,  immersed  in  darkness,  had 
lost  the  lessons  and  examples  of  antiquity  in  all  which  con- 
cerned judicial  order ;  and  found  itself,  in  a  manner,  reduced 
to  the  experience  of  the  barbarians. 

When  the  barons  usurped  from  the  crown  the  right  of 
administering  justice,  there  were  as  many  jurisdictions  in 
France  as  there  were  lordships.  Judicial  administration 
then  lost  that  spirit  of  wholeness,  that  uniformity,  which 
gives  weight  and  rectitude  to  its  decisions.  Judgment  was 
no  longer  given  but  according  to  local  customs,  or  uncertain 
traditions.*  When,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  judicial 
customs  and  traditions  which  had  been  found  in  preceding 
ages  were  collected,  there  were  found  two  hundred  and 
eighty-five  of  them  ;  a  certain  proof  that  in  the  times  of 
which  we  speak,  there  could  be  no  fixed  rule,  and  that 
anarchy  had  invaded  the  sanctuary  of  justice. 

lioyalty  could  not  watch  over  seignorial  jurisdictions,  and 
the  ordinances  of  the  kings  were  powerless  out  of  the 
domains  of  the  crown.  The  great  vassals  had  no  mutual 
understanding  that  might  modify  or  regulate  legislation. 
It  is  a  remarkable  thing  that  France,  after  the  decline  of  the 
empire  of  Charlemagne,  remained  more  than  two  centuries 
without  recognising  any  authority  to  which  it  could  carry  its 
griefs  and  its  complaints, — without  having,  either  in  the 
person  of  the  monarch  or  the  assemblies  of  the  great,  a  power 
which  could  establish  regulations,  repair  injustices,  correct 
abuses,  and  consecrate  the  maxims  of  experience.  If  the 
kingdom  was  able  to  subsist  for  so  long  a  time  in  this  state, 
have  we  not  reason  to  believe  that  there  is  in  every  society 
an  unknown  force,  which  defends  that  society  against  its  own 
excesses,  and  saves  the  people  in  spite  of  their  passions, — in 
spite  of  all  which  seems  calculated  to  bring  on  their  ruin  ? 

*  Surely  he  should  have  added  to  these,  the  human  passions  and  mun. 
4ont  interests  of  these  ignorant,  independent  tyrants. — Tkans. 


812  HISTORY   OF   THE    CRUSADES. 

To  decide  in  civil  and  criminal  causes,  there  was  .10  othef 
guide,  no  other  intelligence,  but  the  instincts  and  the  con- 
science of  the  judges.  These  feeble  means  were  not  com- 
petent, in  complicated  cases,  to  assign  to  actions  their  true 
intention,  or  to  appreciate  the  language  of  innocence  or  the 
denegations  of  crime.  All  matters  were  then  treated  accord- 
ing to  verbal  conventions,  and  judged  according  to  unwritten 
testimonies.  Words,  often  ill-interpreted,  sometimes  par- 
tially effaced  from  the  memory,  frequently  contradicted  or 
falsified,  could  not  enlighten  justice.  Grood  faith  was  im- 
plored ;  the  consciences  of  witnesses  and  parties  were 
appealed  to  ;  but  it  was  too  frequently  perjury  that  an- 
swered, and  which  commanded  the  decisions  of  the  judges. 
At  length,  it  was  believed  that  an  infallible  means  was  dis- 
covered for  detecting  falsehood  and  fraud  ;  an  appeal  was 
made  from  the  consciences  of  men  to  the  justice  of  Heaven. 
He  who  was  accused,  he  whose  evidence  was  contradicted, 
submitted  to  the  ordeals  of  fire,  boiling  water,  or  red-hot 
iron.  It  was  believed  that  Heaven  would  not  permit  in- 
justice, and  that  it  would  rather  suspend  the  laws  of  nature 
than  the  laws  of  society. 

These  proofs,  however,  were  abandoned  to  the  vulgar; 
judicial  combat  was  the  ordeal  of  nobles  or  of  freemen. 
This  species  of  justice,  in  which  every  warrior  had  only  his 
own  valour  as  the  arbiter  of  his  destiny,  conformed  exceed- 
ingly well  with  the  military  spirit  of  the  age. 

So  barbarous  a  custom  was  generally  adopted :  not  satis- 
fied with  having  recourse  to  judicial  combat  in  criminal 
cases,  civil  questions  were  subject  to  its  decisions.  A  gen- 
tleman had  not  only  a  right  to  defy  his  adversary,  he  might 
also  challenge  the  witnesses  themselves,  and  force  sometimes 
even  the  judges  to  descend  with  him  into  the  arena.  Jus- 
tice was  then  only  seen  in  victory,  or  rather  victory  became 
the  sole  justice.  Thus  the  Franks,  in  the  crusades,  often 
expressed  their  astonishment  that  God  should  sometimes 
allow  the  Mussulmans  to  conquer  the  Christians. 

The  sword  decided  everything;  the  places  where  justice 
pronounced  her  decrees  resounded  with  the  cries  of  fury  and 
hatred.  They  were  stained,  by  turns,  with  the  blood  of  the 
innocent  or  with  the  blood  of  the  guilty,  as  skill,  strength, 
or  fortune  favoured  the  arms  of  the  combatants.     In  the 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSA.DES.  313 

face  of  such  combats,  how  was  ifc  possible  to  preserve  the 
idea  of  justice  or  injustice?  Must  not  ferocity  of  manners 
have  increased,  and  education  become  unnatural  ? 

We  ought,  however,  to  remember  the  circumstances  which 
brought  about  this  custom,  and  which  may  render  it  excusa- 
ble in  the  eyes  of  enlightened  philosophy.  In  the  impos- 
sibility in  which  the  judges  often  found  themselves  of  ascer 
taining  the  truth  or  pronouncing  with  certainty,  fraud,  per 
jury,  and  falsehood  triumphed  over  the  laws,  and  threatened 
to  invade  the  whole  of  society.  No  better  means  could  be 
discovered  to  prevent  this  misfortune  than  to  territy  impos- 
ture and  perfidy,  by  the  preparations,  "  pomp,  and  circum- 
stance," of  a  judicial  combat.  Justice,  being  unable  to 
reveal  herself  amidst  the  darkness  of  barbarism,  surrounded 
herself  with  terrible  images,  and  would  only  allow  her  sanc- 
tuary to  be  approached  with  mistrust  and  fear.  The  terror 
which  the  idea  even  of  a  judicial  combat  inspired,  the  uncer- 
tainty of  such  a  judgment,  must  have  prevented  many  con- 
tests, and  that  was  a  great  advantage.  No  other  more  cer- 
tain means,  besides,  were  to  be  found  to  appease  quarrels, 
which  could  not  be  prolonged  without  perilling  the  whole  of 
society.  In  an  age  in  which  the  passions  were  mixed  with 
everything,  it  was  doubtless  important  for  society  that  jus- 
tice should  terminate  debates  in  an  equitable  manner ;  but  it 
was  likewise  important  that  these  debates  should  terminate 
promptly. 

At  the  first  aspect,  we  only  see  in  this  custom  a  privilege 
and  a  monstrous  employment  of  physical  force.  But  without 
this  employment  of  physical  force,  the  world  was  perhaps 
likely  to  become  the  prey  of  perjured,  faitliless  men.  We 
ought  then  to  sigh  less  over  this  revolting  abuse  than  over 
the  state  of  society  in  which  it  appeared  necessary,  in  order 
to  prevent  abuses  still  more  revolting.  It  required  much 
trouble  afterwards  to  reform  the  judicial  combat.  The  pre- 
judices most  difficult  to  be  destroyed  are  those  in  which 
bravery  and  the  point  of  honour  believe  themselves  interested. 
Neither  the  power  of  kings,  nor  religion,  nor  philosophy, 
have  been  able  to  abolish  duels  among  modern  nations ;  and 
duels,  in  some  respects,  are  nothing  but  the  justice  which 
was  rendered  by  the  sword  in  the  middle  ages. 

We  have  not  yet  made  known  all  the  obstacles  which  the 
14* 


314  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

triumpn  of  justice  met  with  in  the  manners  and  customs  oi 
these  remote  times.  The  absence  of  laws  caused  great  dis- 
orders ;  but  the  yoke  of  the  laws  was  more  insupportable  to 
the  barons  than  anarchy  itself.  The  confidence  which  the 
barons  felt  in  their  arms,  rendered  them  at  least  indifferent 
to  all  kinds  of  legislation.  In  any  society  whatever,  the 
men  who  have  power  or  force  in  their  hands  are  seldom  the 
first  to  appeal  to  laws  ;  because  nobody  can  be  unjust  towards 
them  with  impunity,  and  they  have  always  the  means  of 
doiiw  themselves  justice.* 

Juaiciai  order,  as  we  understand  it  now-a-days,  could  be 
nothing,  in  the  twelfth  century,  but  an  abstraction  which 
did  not  enter  into  men's  minds.  The  warlike  nobility  of 
Europe  would  have  had  nothing  to  do  with  any  kind  of  jus- 
tice which  did  not  present  an  image  of  war.  The  barons 
could  not  form  an  idea  that  legislation  might  be  a  safeguard 
for  themselves  as  well  as  society.  They  only  felt  an  injus- 
tice as  they  felt  a  wound  in  the  field  of  battle ;  and  personal 
resentment  was  the  only  motive  which  animated  them  to  the 
pursuit  of  the  guilty.  Equity  then  scarcely  passed  for  a 
virtue,  but  revenge  was  a  duty.  There  were  no  laws  against 
those  who  were  unjust,  but  there  were  laws  against  those 
who  did  not  avenge  themselves. 

With  these  manners  and  this  character,  the  barons  were 
not  able  to  renounce  the  practice  of  private  wars,  which  the 
Franks  and  other  barbarians  had  brought  with  them  into 
Europe.  Every  noble  who  fancied  himself  attacked  in  either 
his  honour  or  his  property,  took  arms  to  defend  his  rights  or 
avenge  his  quarrel.  All  the  relations  and  vassals  of  the  bel- 
ligerent parties  were  obliged  to  take  part  in  the  quarrel. 
Fields  were  ravaged,  towns  and  villages  were  burnt,  and  it 
was  thus  they  demanded  or  rendered  justice.  During  many 
centuries  Europe  was  desolated  by  these  intestine  wars. 
Sanguinary  discords,  which  were  transmitted  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  became  an  habitual  state,  for  which  cus- 
toms and  regulations  were  invoked ;  and  whilst  society  was 
without  laws,  civil  war  had  its  jurisprudence. 

It  was  not  easy  to  remedy  such  vast  disorders.     How 

*  Is  not  there  always  some  such  dominant  principle  in  society  ?  Is 
not  money  now  as  powerful  as  brute  force  or  skill  in  arms  were  in  tb« 
middle  ages  ? — Trans. 


HISTORY    OF     THE    CRUSADES.  315 

could  force  be  disarmed,  and  despoiled  of  a  prerogative  it 
seemed  to  prefer  to  all  other  privileges  ?  Society,  such  as  it 
then  was,  had  but  one  single  power  capable  of  counter- 
balancing that  of  the  warlike  passions  which  desolated 
Europe  ;  this  was  the  force  of  religious  ideas  and  the  as- 
cendancy of  Christianity.  The  authority  of  councils  was 
invoked  against  private  wars ;  the  saints  were  made  to 
speak  ;  superstition  itself  was  called  in  ;  visions,  revelations, 
and  prodigies  were  had  recourse  to.  The  Church  put  forth 
all  its  threats  and  launched  all  its  thunders.  These  means 
sometimes  suspended  the  progress  of  the  evil,  but  the  prin- 
ciple of  discord  always  subsisted.  It  was  not  possible  to 
put  an  end  to  private  wars,  but  they  were  at  length  sup- 
pressed during  certain  days  of  the  week;  and  all  the  good 
that  such  a  powerful  religion  could  do  was  to  bring  about 
the  adoption  of  the  Truce  of  God.  It  was  here  the  crusades 
wonderfully  seconded  the  zeal  of  the  clergy.  "Whenever 
war  was  declared  against  the  Saracens,  discords  were  all  at 
once  appealed,  as  if  by  miracle,  and  Europe  remained  in 
profound  silence  before  the  standard  of  the  cross. 

The  efforts  of  the  clergy,  however,  in  conjunction  with 
some  other  favourable  circumstances,  were  destined  in  the 
end  to  bring  about  the  triumph  of  justice  and  humanity. 
Before  civil  justice  was,  established,  the  Church  possessed  a 
holy  jurisdiction  which  judged  the  faithful.  This  justice 
stood  in  no  need  of  pursuing  the  guilty  ;  the  guilty  came  to 
give  themselves  up  to  its  judgments  :  it  was  not  blind,  like 
human  justice ;  the  most  secret  folds  of  the  conscience  de- 
veloped themselves  before  it :  it  met  with  no  resistance,  it 
excited  no  murmurs ;  those  whom  it  condemned,  condemned 
themselves.  To  cause  its  laws  to  be  executed,  and  to  sanc- 
tion its  decisions,  it  had  the  power  of  remorse,  the  fear  of  an 
avenging  Gk)d,  the  promises  of  heaven,  the  menaces  of  hell. 
Such  was  the  tribunal  of  penitence,  which,  in  the  absence  of 
civil  laws,  held  the  place  sometimes  of  other  tribunals,  and 
watched  over  public  order,  as  a  triumph  of  religion.  A 
tribunal  so  formidable  necessarily  increased  the  influence  of 
the  clergy,  and  contributed,  no  doubt,  to  extend  their  juris- 
diction even  to  affairs  in  which  evangelical  morality  was 
not  at  all  interested.  People,  persuaded  that  all  justice 
comes  from  Grod,  were  likely  to  be  led  to  believe  that  Gk><J 


316  HISTOEl    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

pronounced  his  least  judgments  by  the  organs  of  his  minis- 
ters upon  earth.  When  the  popes  were  reproached  with 
interfering  in  the  policy  of  princes,  they  answered  that  the 
acts  of  that  policy  might  be  sins,  and  thence  these  acts  came 
under  the  pontifical  jurisdiction.  The  clergy  usurped  judi- 
cial authority  in  civil  affahs,  as  the  sovereign  pontiffs  had 
usurped  temporal  authority.*  In  the  middle  ages  the  clergy 
declared  themselves  arbiters  of  the  just  and  the  unjust ;  and 
as  their  jurisdiction  was  much  more  favourable  to  humanity, 
more  conformable  to  reason  than  that  of  the  barons,  it  made 
rapid  progress.  Among  the  privileges  which  the  popes 
granted  to  the  Crusaders,  that  of  being  judged  by  the  eccle- 
siastical laws  was  placed  in  the  first  rank.  The  clergy  took 
advantage  of  the  absence,  the  death,  or  the  ruin  of  the 
nobles  who  were  gone  to  the  crusades,  to  extend  their  juris- 
diction, as  the  commons  availed  themselves  of  this  circum- 
stance to  obtain  their  liberty,  and  kings  to  increase  their 
power.  At  last  this  jurisdiction  became  so  powerful  that  it 
awakened  the  jealousy  of  the  feudal  nobility.  Towards  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  nobles  formed  a  league 
against  the  clergy,  and  in  a  manifesto,  which  we  still  pos- 
sess, they  demanded  that  "  they  should  render  to  Caesar  that 
which  belonged  to  Caesar."  They  forbade  their  vassals  to 
appeal  to   the  ecclesiastical  tribunals,   except   in  cases  of 

*  Nothing  has  been  better  said  upon  the  influence  of  the  clergy  and 
religion,  in  the  middle  ages,  than  that  which  we  read  in  a  work  entitled 
Des  Interets  et  des  Opinions,  by  M.  Fievee  : — "  At  a  time  in  which  the 
Church  imposed  public  penitences,  whilst  the  tribunals  only  ordered 
judgments  by  arms,  we  cannot  see  how  the  high  police  could  not  have 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  ecclesiastics ;  and  it  was  because  they  alone 
exercised  it,  that,  in  the  civil  wars,  fortunate  princes  confided  to  the 
monks  the  guarding  cf  princes,  from  whom  the  fate  of  battle  or  treachery 
took  the  rights  they  possessed  to  share  the  kingdom.  It  was  necessary 
that  the  void  left  by  the  laws  should  be  filled  up,  or  the  state  would 
perish  ;  and  the  priests  alone  enjoyed  a  moral  authority  sufficiently  great 
to  supply  the  weakness  of  legislation  ; — exalted  passions,  more  powerful 
virtues,  great  crimes,  great  remorse ;  a  proud  independence,  salutary 
fears;  ar.  excess  of  force,  ana  no  regulations  ;  cocvage  in  everything  and 
everywhere  :  such  was,  at  this  period,  the  state  of  society  ; — it  is  easy  to 
perceive  that  religion  alone  contended  with  barbarism."  "We  regret  not 
to  be  able  to  quote  more  than  a  fragment  of  a  work  filled  with  ingenious 
perceptions  and  profound  views,  upon  the  march  of  civilization  in  the 
middle  ages. 


niSTORT    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 


317 


heresy,  marriage,  and  usury,  and  threatened  delinquents 
with  the  loss  of  their  property  and  the  mutilation  of  a  mem- 
ber. "  The  clerks,"  added  they,  "  enriched  at  our  expense, 
shall  be  brought  back  to  the  state  of  the  primitive  church 
and  to  a  contemplative  life,  leaving  to  us  the  action  which 
becomes  us,  and  presenting  to  us  the  miracles  which  we  have 
not  seen  for  a  long  time." 

As  the  influence  of  the  clergy  arose  from  Christianity,  the 
nobles,  in  their  manifesto,  wished  to  claim  the  advantage  of 
having  alone  converted  the  Gauls  by  their  arms.  All  that 
they  said  in  support  of  this  assertion  gave  reason  to  predict 
that  they  would  not  triumph  in  a  contest  in  which  Victory 
would  range  herself  on  the  side  of  knowledge  and  intel- 
ligence. 

This  was  not  an  ordinary  war,  but  a  veritable  war  of 
opinions ;  and  as  the  lords  had,  to  sustain  it,  nothing  but 
their  swords,  they  were  at  last  obliged  to  renounce  their 
pretensions. 

The  society  of  Europe,  however,  arrived  at  that  period  so 
fatal  to  nations,  at  that  crisis,  almost  always  a  sanguinary 
one,  in  which  new  opinions  and  old  opinions  declare  an 
obstinate  war  against  each  other ;  in  which  all  that  is  new 
ferments,  and  is  agitated  violently ;  in  which  all  that  is  an- 
cient resists,  and  falls  to  pieces  with  a  crash.  For  a  lengtj 
of  time  old  laws  were  powerless ;  and  the  laws  which  were 
endeavoured  to  be  established,  had,  in  their  execution, 
neither  the  force  that  is  acquired  by  habit,  nor  that  which  is 
conferred  by  experience.  A  universal  crisis  was  experienced 
throughout  Europe ;  and  the  West,  troubled  by  revolutions 
and  civil  wars,  was,  for  a  moment,  upon  the  point  of  falling 
back  into  the  darkness  and  chaos  of  the  tenth  century. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  was  established  in  Germany  the 
imperial  chamber,  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  appeasing 
discoras  and  repressing  brigandage.  In  Arragon  the  tutelary 
authority  of  the  justiza  was  created,  who  was  armed  against 
license  with  all  the  power  of  a  dictator.  In  all  countries 
brotherhoods  and  associations  were  formed  against  the  ex- 
cesses of  anarchy.  It  was  -in  France,  above  all,  that  the 
necessity  was  felt  to  call  in  justice  to  the  support  of  shaken 
social  order,  and  to  place  it  under  the  safeguard  of  royalty. 
Boyal  power  was  born,  in  some  sort,  amongst  the  perils  and 


318  HISTORY    OF    1HE    CRUSADES. 

fears  of  society.  There  is  an  instinct  which,  in  moments  of 
crisis,  guides  people  towards  the  authority  which  is  to  pro- 
tect them  ;  and  this  authority  becomes  all-powerful,  from  the 
reason  that  its  assistance  is  implored,  and  that  it  is  the 
object  of  all  hopes. 

Ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  had  already  dealt  a  mortal  blow 
to  feudal  justice.  The  study  of  the  Horn  an  law  caused 
something  of  the  experience  of  the  ancients  to  re^  ive  among 
nations  scarcely  escaped  from  barbarism.  A  new  judicial 
order  sprang  up  in  Europe,  particularly  in  Erance.*  This 
judicial  order  was  at  first  very  complicated,  in  consequence 
of  that  natural  disposition  of  men  of  the  pen  and  of  the 
robe  to  multiply  forms  in  all  affairs.  To  follow  the  clue 
through  the  labyrinth  of  the  new  laws,  the  barons  were 
deficient  in  knowledge,  and  more  particularly  in  patience. 
If  it  be  true  that  lawyers  complicated  legislation  in  order 
to  remain  the  sole  interpreters  of  it,  their  hopes  were  not 
deceived ;  for  they  in  the  end  took  the  places  of  the  feudal 
nobles  in  judicial  functions. 

It  is  true  that  seignorial  justices  were  not  abolished ;  but 
an  appeal  was  permitted  from  their  decisions  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  crown.  There  were,  besides,  cases  in  which 
the  justice  of  the  barons  was  found  incompetent,  and  as  this 
incompetence  was  almost  always  judged  of  by  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  king,  the  latter  finished  by  attracting  to  itself 
most  of  the  causes  of  any  weight  or  importance.  As  it  is 
otherwise  important  that  justice  should  be  protected  by  a 
force  that  can  make  it  respected,  as  the  power  of  the  barons 
declined,  and  as  that  of  the  king  increased  daily,  the  royal 
jurisdiction  prevailed,  and  custom  sanctioned  the  maxim  that 
all  justice  emanates  from  the  king.  When  once  this  maxim 
was  recognised  and  proclaimed  in  all  the  provinces,  Beau- 
manier  was  right  in  saying,  "  that  the  king  was  sovereign 

*  The  author  of  A  Memoir  to  serve  as  a  Neio  History  of  Louis  XII. 
carries  the  first  appearance  of  judicial  reform  in  France  to  the  reign  of 
that  nr.onarch.  tie  has  prosecuted  on  this  subject  learned  researches,  and 
his  work  has  given  us  much  information  upon  the  spirit  and  the  march  of 
our  legislation  in  the  middle  ages.  Although  we  do  not  always  agree  as 
to  the  consequences  of  the  principles  he  develops,  particularly  as  to  their 
application  to  that  which  is  passing  at  present,  we  take  pleasure  in  ren- 
dering justice  to  the  rare  sagacity  with  which  he  has  cleared  up  questions 
whirb  have  been  scarcely  perceived  by  our  best  historians. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  319 

over  everything,  and  that  he  had  by  right  the  general 
guardianship  of  the  kingdom." 

It  was  at  this  period  arose  that  French  magistracy  which 
afterwards  became  so  eminent.  The  parliaments  exhibited 
the  frankness  and  loyalty  of  old  times,  united  with  the  in- 
telligence of  modern  times.  They  sometimes  defended  the 
rights  of  the  people  against  the  crown,  and  were  often  a 
buckler  for  the  crown  against  factions.  Perhaps  their  roots 
did  not  strike  deeply  enough  into  the  society  whose  rights 
they  defended.  The  fundamental  laws  of  the  kingdom  had 
neither  regulated  their  rights,  nor  fixed  .with  precision  the 
limits  of  their  power.  Their  authority  was  due  less  to 
written  constitutions  than  to  that  want  of  justice  which  is 
felt  among  civilized  people,  than  to  that  supreme  ascendancy 
which  they  almost  always  obtain  whose  function  it  is  to  be 
exponents  of  the  law.  We  have  seen  parliaments  perish 
amidst  public  disorders,  for  which  they  themselves  gave  the 
imprudent  signal.  They  saw  the  faults  of  administration, 
but  they  were  deficient  in  positive  knowledge  to  point  out 
the  proper  remedy  :  they  appealed  to  the  people,  and  factions 
answered ;  they  invoked  liberty,  and  the  revolution  burst 
forth.  Now,  when  this  magistracy  no  longer  exists  among 
us,  and  that  it  can  have  no  place  in  the  order  of  things 
which  events  have  given  birth  to,  it  appears  to  us  the  moment 
is  come  for  everybody  to  be  just  towards  it,  and  to  praise 
that  noble  disinterestedness,  that  enlightened  firmness,  that 
inflexible  probity,  which  formed  its  principal  character.  "It 
is  for  the  observer  of  the  present  period,"  says  an  English 
writer,  "  and  not  for  the  historian  of  past  times,  to  decide  if 
those  virtues  which  distinguished  the  ancient  French  magis- 
tracy are  sufficiently  common  now-a-days,  not  to  be  remem- 
bered with  great  praise,  and  exhibited  to  our  contemporaries 
as  useful  examples." 

In  the  revolution  which  was  effected,  we  are  astonished 
that  the  barons  showed  so  little  foresight ;  they  opposed  the 
•  privileges  of  an  order  of  tilings  which  no  longer  existed, 
when,  without  their  intervention  and  without  their  concur- 
rence, a  new  order  of  things  was  established ;  the  greater 
that  was  their  need  of  union  to  defend  themselves,  the  more 
obstinacy  they  showed  for  maintaining  the  too  fatal  privilege 
of  making  war  upon  each  other.     The  habit  of  warlike  and 


320  H'ISTOKY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

feudal  manners  made  them  prefer  to  all  other  functions  the 
occupation  of  arms,  which  they  considered,  with  reason,  aa 
the  most  glorious  career ;  but  which  ruined  them,  kept  them 
in  their  ignorance,  and  drove  them  from  affairs,  whilst  others 
enriched  themselves  in  peaceful  employments,  exercised  their 
faculties  usefully,  and  employed  themselves  exclusively  with 
power.  In  the  end,  the  nobility,  after  the  most  generous 
sacrifices,  became  nothing  but  an  aristocracy  without  action 
in  the  government,  whilst  those  who  lent  a  hand  to  the 
administration  became  really  the  masters. 

The  revolutions  we  have  just  described  have  made  us  for 
a  moment  forget  the  crusades  ;  the  holy  wars,  however,  may 
be  reckoned  among  the  causes  which  ameliorated  legislation. 
The  departure  of  the  Crusaders  gave  occasion  for  a  number 
of  actions  ;  precautions  against  fraud  were  multiplied  ;  public 
notaries  were  called  in  ;  the  use  of  charters, — called  chartres 
chirographaires,  or  chartres  parties, — was  adopted,  or  rather 
revived.  We  have  already  said  that  many  regulations  were 
made  to  limit  the  numbers  of  the  Crusaders,  and  these  regu- 
lations were  so  many  laws  added  to  those  which  existed. 
The  Crusaders,  whilst  passing  through  distant  countries, 
might  remark  many  wise  customs,  which  they  brought  back 
into  their  own  country.  Yillehardouin  informs  us  with 
what  astonishment  the  French  nobles,  on  their  arrival  at 
Venice,  beheld  the  senate,  the  doge,  and  the  people  deli- 
berating in  their  presence.  This  spectacle  could  not  fail  to 
enlighten  them.  When  the  Latins  were  masters  of  Con- 
stantinople, they  there  became  acquainted  with  the  legisla- 
tion of  Greece ;  in  Palestine,  the  Assizes  of  Jerusalem  gave 
them  an  idea  of  a  legislation  less  imperfect  than  their 
own ;  the  code  which  for  a  long  time  governed  the  Christian 
colonies  led  Louis  IX.  to  think  of  making  a  collection  of 
laws,  which  he  did  not,  it  is  true,  put  in  practice,  but  whicn 
no  doubt  spread  much  useful  information.  The  example  of 
St.  Louis,  and  the  encouragement  that  jurisconsults  received 
on  his  return  from  Egypt,  contributed  to  create  among  the 
people  the  love  of  justice ;  and  this  love  of  justice,  which 
began  to  be  felt  among  all  classes,  was  the  best  guarantee 
of  a  nascent  civilization. 

Skilful  writers  have  gone  over  before  us  this  epoch,  so 
abundant  in  great  events  and  in  lessons  of  policy.   They  have 


HI8TOKY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  82i 

shown  how  royalty  rose  from  the  bosom  of  disorder ;  how 
legislation  progressively  prevailed  over  anarchy  ;  and  how 
several  states  of  Europe — particularly  France — attained  that 
degree  of  strength  and  splendour  in  which  we  have  seen  them 
during  the  eighteenth  century.  There  would  remain  but 
very  little  for  us  to  say,  after  the  great  publicists  who  have 
preceded  us,  if  recent  revolutions  had  not  broken  forth  t , 
enlighten  us.  The  experience  of  the  present  times  ha^ 
thrown  a  new  light  over  past  ages ;  and  we  are  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  nature  and  origin  of  old  institutions,  since 
we  have  seen  them  sink  into  ruins.  The  tree  of  our  ancient 
monarchy  has  not  been  able  to  resist  the  concussions  which 
have  shaken  society ;  its  branches  have  strewed  the  earth, 
and  its  roots  have  been  laid  bare.  It  then  became  easy  for 
us  to  see  by  what  secret  conduits  strength  and  life  had  been 
circulated ;  how  had  grown,  and  how  had  fallen, — 

"  That  tree  whose  head  approached  to  heaven, 

And  whose  feet  touched  the  empire  of  the  dead."* 

After  having  gone  through  the  different  classes  of  society, 
and  shown  the  origins  of  our  institutions  during  the  crusades, 
we  are  about  to  see  what  was,  at  the  same  period,  the  progress 
of  navigation,  commerce,  industry,  the  sciences,  letters,  the 
arts,  and  general  knowledge. 

Before  the  twelfth  century,  the  seas  of  Europe  and  Asia, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Mediterranean,  were  scarcely 
frequented  even  by  the  nations  who  dwelt  upon  their  shores. 
At  the  period  of  the  first  crusades,  that  which  formed  the 
kingdom  of  Prance  had  but  two  or  three  ports  upon  the 
coast  of  Normandy,  and  had  not  a  single  one  upon  the 
ocean,  or  the  Mediterranean,  when,  in  the  seventh  crusads, 
Louis  IX.  caused  that  of  Aigues-Mortes  to  be  dug.f 
England  was  scarcely  more  advanced ;  that  kingdom  aban- 
doned the  navigation  of  the  seas  which  surrounded  it  to 
pirates.  It  appeared  that  the  world  was  not  yet  large 
enough  for  the  ambition  and  genius  of  the  English  nation, 
which  at  the  present  day  dominates  over  all  the  known  seas. 
Some  cities  on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  of  Holland,  Flanders, 

*  La  Fontaine. 

f  And  yet  Marseilles  had  been  a  flourishing  port  for  ages.  In  th« 
early  crusades  it  did  not  belong  to  the  French  monarehj , — Trans. 


322  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

and  Spain,  made  maritime  expeditions,  but  which  scarcely 
deserve  to  be  described  in  the  history  of  the  crusades. 
When  the  crusades  began,  the  spirit  of  devotion,  united 
with  that  of  commerce,  gave  a  new  and  more  extended 
direction  to  the  voyages  and  labours  of  navigators.  The 
inhabitants  of  Denmark  appeared  in  the  seas  of  Syria  ;  and 
Norwegians,  who  came  by  sea,  assisted  at  the  taking  of 
Sidon.  Citizens  of  Lubeck  and  Bremen  were  present  at  the 
siege  of  Ptolema'is.  From  all  the  coasts  of  the  West,  vessels 
and  fleets  transported  pilgrims,  provisions,  and  arms  into  the 
kingdom  of  Jerusalem  and  the  other  Christian  principalities 
established  in  Asia  by  the  victories  of  the  Crusaders. 

Thus  navigators  from  all  countries  met  in  the  seas  of  the 
East.  It  was,  in  some  sort,  under  the  auspices  of  the  cross, 
that  advantageous  relations  began  to  be  established  among 
the  maritime  nations  of  Europe.  At  the  commencement  of 
the  twelfth  century,  a  fleet  of  Pisans,  joined  with  some  other 
Italians,  came  to  assist  the  Arragonese  in  conquering  the 
Balearic  Isles.  The  navigators  of  Italy  were  so  little  ac- 
quainted with  the  seas  of  Spain,  that  they  took  the  coasts  of 
Arragon  for  the  country  of  the  Moors.  This  first  alliance 
between  distant  nations  was  the  work  of  a  crusade  preached 
by  Pope  Pascal  III.,  and  seconded  by  a  great  number  of 
knights  of  Provence  and  Languedoc. 

The  navigators  of  Lubeck,  Bremen,  and  Denmark,  after 
having  tried  their  strength  in  long  voyages,  took  advantage 
of  the  experience  they  had  gained,  to  visit  the  unknown  seas 
of  the  Baltic.  These  new  enterprises  presented  to  their 
pious  zeal  and  their  ambition  a  nearer  sea,  and  savage  peoples 
which  they  might  bring  under  their  faith,  and  make  sub 
servient  to  their  commercial  views.  Maritime  expeditions 
were  mixed  with  the  crusades  preached  against  nations  still 
living  in  a  state  of  paganism. ,  At  the  aspect  of  the  cross 
and  the  flag  of  navigators,  rich  cities  sprang  up,  and  bar- 
barous regions  began  to  be  acquainted  wuth  the  bkssings  oi 
civilization. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  navigation  opened  for  itself  a 
new  career,  and  saw  the  theatre  of  its  useful  labours  expand. 
Nothing  could  have  favoured  its  progress  like  the  communi- 
cation that  was  then  established  between  the  Baltic,  the 


HISTORY    OF    TILE    CRUSADES.  323 

Mediterranean,  the  Spanish  Ocean,  and  the  seas  of  the 
north.  By  uniting  nations  in  pursuit  of  the  same  advan- 
tages, it  multiplied  their  relations,  their  ties,  and  their  in- 
terests, and  redoubled  their  emulation.  In  this  career  thus 
opened  to  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  practical  knowledge 
became  rectified,  was  much  increased,  and  spread  every- 
where ;  the  configuration  of  coasts,  the  position  of  capes,; 
ports,  bays,  isles,  &c.  &c,  were  all  ascertained ;  the  depth 
of  the  ocean  was  fathomed  ;  the  direction  of  winds,  currents, 
and  tides  was  observed ;  much  information  was  gained  upon 
all  the  points  of  hydrography,  and  very  soon  that  ignorance  of 
the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  was  dispersed,  which  had 
occasioned  so  many  shipwrecks,  that  the  chroniclers  of  the 
times  of  the  first  crusades,  as  they  tremblingly  recount 
them,  can  only  ascribe  them  to  the  anger  of  Heaven. 

We  would  here  speak  of  the  mariner's  compass,  if  the 
period  of  its  invention  could  be  ascertained  clearly.  A 
passage  of  James  of  Vitry,  which  we  have  elsewhere  given, 
does  not  permit  us  to  doubt  that  the  properties  of  the  load- 
stone were  known  in  the  time  of  the  crusades,  and  that 
navigators  derived  great  assistance  from  it  in  their  long 
voyages ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  nothing  to  prove 
that  the  use  of  the  mariner's  compass  was  then  general. 
We  may  believe  that  so  valuable  a  discovery  was  still  a 
secret  for  the  vulgar,  and  that  those  who  were  in  possession 
of  this  secret,  only  sought  to  profit  by  it  for  their  own 
interest,  without  thinking  of  the  advantages  that  might  be 
drawn  from  it  for  the  progress  of  navigation.  We  will  add 
that  that  which  has  happened  to  the  mariner's  compass,  has 
happened  also  to  most  of  the  inventions  of  industry,  of 
which  history  can  rarely  assign  the  epochs,  because  their 
authors,  from  a  spirit  of  cupidity  or  jealousy,  have  not  only 
not  promulgated  them,  but  have  concealed  them  carefully 
from  the  knowledge  of  their  contemporaries. 

Naval  architecture  was  much  improved  during  the  cru- 
sades. The  vessels  were  greatly  enlarged,  to  enable  them  to 
contain  the  multitudes  of  pilgrims  to  be  transported.  The 
dangers  incidental  to  long  voyages,  caused  the  ships  destined 
for  the  East  to  be  constructed  in  a  more  solid  manner.  The 
art  of  setting  up  several  masts  in  the  same  vessel,  the  art  of 


324  HISTOItY    OF    T±£E    CEUSADE8. 

multiplying  the  sails,  and  of  disposing  them  so  as  to  enable 
the  ship  to  sail  against  the  wind,  were  the  happy  fruit  of 
the  emulation  which  then  animated  navigators. 

Thus  the  activity  and  the  genius  of  man  triumphed  over 
all  obstacles,  commanded  the  elements,  and  took  possession 
of  the  empire  of  the  sea.  But  this  empire,  like  that  of  the 
land,  was,  in  the  middle  ages,  a  prey  to  brigandage  and 
violence;  tempests,  contrary  winds,  shipwrecks,  wrere  not 
the  only  evils  to  be  apprehended  in  long  voyages.  On  every 
sea  no  right  was  known  but  the  right  of  the  strongest,  and 
the  absence  of  a  maritime  code  added  greatly  to  the  perils 
of  distant  navigation. 

The  necessity  for  a  legislation  that  might  assure  the  in- 
terests and  the  freedom  of  navigators  was  strongly  felt.  It 
was  Spain  that  furnished  the  first  model  of  one.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  twelfth  century  a  code  of  maritime 
rights  was  drawn  up  by  the  ancient  prudhommes*  of  the 
Sea  of  Barcelona.  The  Venetians  adopted  it  in  an  assembly 
held  at  St.  Sophia,  in  1255.  This  code  was  afterwards 
adopted  by  the  Pisans  and  Genoese,  and,  under  the  name 
of  the  Consulat  of  the  Sea,  became  the  common  law  or  right 
of  the  eastern  seas.  Another  code,  published  at  first  by 
Eleanor  of  Guienne,  and  afterwards  by  Richard  Coeur-de- 
Lion,  under  the  title  of  "  Rolls  of  Oleron,"  obtained  the 
assent  of  several  maritime  nations,  and  was  at  last  accepted 
in  all  the  seas  of  the  West. 

Protected  by  this  code,  navigators  were  enabled  to  gather 
the  fruit  of  their  long  labours,  and  soon  disputed  advan- 
tageously the  empire  of  the  Mediterranean  with  the  infidels. 
If  Italy  and  several  other  countries  of  the  West  escaped  the 
yoke  of  the  Saracens,  they  owed  their  safety  more  to  the 
superiority  of  their  fleets  than  to  that  of  their  armies. 

I  have  spoken  in  the  preceding  book  of  the  discovery  o 
America,  and  of  the  passage  to  India  by  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  It  is  probable  that,  without  the  crusades,  the  genius 
of  navigators  would,  although  later,  have  surmounted  the 
immense  space  and  numberless  dangers  that  separated  the 
Baltic  and  the  Mediterranean  from  the  Indian  Ocean,  anj 

*  "  A  skilful  man,  appointed  to  view  and  make  a  report  of  a  thing," 
in  this  case ;  but  it  has  several  other  meanings ;  as  a  man  of  worth, 
probity,  or  even  valour. — Trans. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CEUSADES.  825 

the  Old  World  from  the  New.  We  may  at  least  say  that 
the  distant  expeditions  and  the  perilous  enterprises  under 
taken  beneath  the  banners  of  the  cross,  prepared  the  way 
for  the  last  prodigies  of  navigation,  by  opening  everywhere 
new  routes  for  industry,  and,  above  all,  by  favouring  the 
progress  of  commerce,  the  natural  and  necessary  link  be- 
tween the  divers  nations  and  the  different  countries  of  the 
globe. 

Each  climate  has  its  productions ;  and  this  diversity  of 
riches  creates  for  men  an  obligation  for  exchanges.  This 
obligation  for  exchanges  produces  communication  among  all 
nations,  so  that  in  time  the  most  widely-separated  regions 
cannot  remain  unknown  to  each  other.  It  may  truly  be 
said,  that  Providence  has  thus  placed  various  productions  in 
different  climates,  that  it  has  denied  to  some  countries  what 
it  has  granted  to  others,  to  create  for  men  dispersed  over 
the  face  of  the  earth,  the  necessity  for  reciprocally  seeking 
each  other,  for  trading  to  supply  their  mutual  wants,  for 
communicating  their  knowledge,  and  for  marching  together 
towards  civilization. 

In  the  middle  ages,  the  indolent  and  effeminate  Greeks 
neglected  to  bring  into  the  West  the  merchandises  of  Asia. 
The  Saracens  only  anchored  on  the  coasts  of  Europe,  to 
bring  thither  the  scourges  of  war.  The  commerce  of  the 
West  went  to  seek  that  which  was  not  brought  to  it ;  and 
frequent  voyages  to  the  East  were  all  for  the  profit  of  the 
West. 

A  long  time  before  the  crusades,  the  merchandises  of 
India  and  Asia  had  arrived  in  Europe,  sometimes  by  land? 
crossing  the  Greek  empire,  Hungary,  and  the  country  of 
the  Bulgarians ;  but  more  frequently  by  the  Mediterranean, 
in  which  were  all  the  ports  of  Italy.  These  routes  were 
both  made  more  familiar  by  the  holy  wars,  and  from  that 
time  nothing  could  stop  the  rapid  progress  of  commerce, 
protected  in  its  march  by  the  standard  of  the  cross. 

Most  of  the  maritime  cities  of  the  West  not  only  got 
rich  by  furnishing  Europe  with  the  productions  of  the  East, 
but  they  found  further  a  considerable  advantage  in  the 
transport  of  pilgrims  and  Christian  armies.  Fleets  followed 
along  the  coasts  of  the  countries  in  which  the  Crusaders 
were  fighting,  and  sold  them  the  munitions  of  war  and  the 


326  HISTORY    OF    •„  HB    CRUSADES. 

provisions  of  which  they  always  stood  in  need.  Thus  commerce 
brought  back  into  Europe  a  part  of  the  treasures  which  the 
princes  and  barons,  who  ruined  themselves  to  go  and  fight 
the  infidels,  carried  into  Asia. 

All  the  wealth  of  the  maritime  cities  of  Syria,  and  even  of 
Greece,  belonged  to  merchants  of  the  West.  They  were 
the  masters  of  a  great  part  of  the  Christian  cities  of  Asia ; 
we  know  what  was  the  share  of  the  Venetians  after  the 
taking  of  Constantinople.  They  possessed  all  the  isles  of 
the  Archipelago,  and  half  of  Byzantium.  The  Greek  empire 
was  as  another  Venice,  with  its  laws,  its  fleets,  and  its  armies. 

The  Latins  soon  lost  Constantinople,  Jerusalem,  and  most 
of  the  countries  which  submitted  to  their  arms.  Commerce, 
more  fortunate,  preserved  its  conquests  after  the  crusades. 
The  city  of  Tana,  built  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tanais,  became 
for  Venice  a  colony,  which  opened  for  her  useful  relations 
with  Persia  and  Tartary,  and  which  dominated  in  the  mar- 
kets of  Tauiis,  Trebizond,  Bagdad,  and  Bassora.  Some 
Genoese,  assembled  in  a  little  city  of  the  Crimea, — Caffa, 
at  the  time  even  when  the  Turks  were  threatening  Europe, 
employed  themselves  in  working  the  mines  of  the  Caucasus, 
and  receiving  the  treasures  of  India  by  way  of  Astracan. 
European  commerce  established  stores  even  among  nations 
that  made  cruel  war  against  the  Christians.  The  terror 
which  the  Mamelukes  inspired  did  not  prevent  colonies 
of  merchants  establishing  themselves  in  Egypt.  Africa, 
particularly  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  was  all  sub- 
servient to  their  mercantile  ambition,  and  the  places  which 
St.  Louis  had  not  been  able  to  conquer,  became  tributaries 
to  their  industry. 

"Whilst  the  commerce  of  all  parts  of  the  world  was  thus 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  few  maritime  cities,  many  of  the 
great  kingdoms  of  Europe  were  still  strangers  to  it.  Eng- 
land, which  had  no  other  wealth  but  its  wools,  gladly  re- 
ceived in  its  capital  the  merchandises  of  Asia,  brought 
thither  by  Italian  and  Spanish  merchants.  The  cities  of 
France  took  but  little  part  in  the  commerce  of  the  East 
The  crusades  were  the  work  of  the  Erench  ;  others  gathered 
the  fruits  of  them.  Marseilles  was,  in  the  middle  ages,  the 
only  Erench  city  which  kept  up  any  relation  with  distant 
nations.     This  city  founded  by  the  Phocians,  for  the  sake 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  327 

of  the  commerce  with  the  Gauls,  had  never  ceased  to  turn 
it?  eves  towards  the  places  of  its  origin,  and  have  com- 
mercial relations  with  Syria  and  Greece.  Spain,  whose 
industry  developed  itself  early,  took  more  advantage  from 
the  crusades,  and,  towards  the  end  of  the  holy  wars,  the 
Spaniards  had  warehouses  upon  all  the  coasts  of  Asia. 

No  country,  however,  derived  more  advantage  from  the 
trade  of  the  East  than  Italy.  This  country,  which  dominated 
over  the  Mediterranean,  aud  which  lay  open  to  all  parts  ol 
the  known  world,  was  placed  in  the  most  favourable  posi- 
tion. This  position,  which  had  formerly  facilitated  the  con- 
quests of  the  Romans,  assisted  the  nations  of  Italy  in  their 
new  enterprises,  and  subdued  the  world  to  their  speculations, 
as  it  had  subdued  it  to  their  arms.  "Whilst  their  fleets  set 
out  for  the  East,  they  sent  into  Europe,  not  legions  and  pro- 
consuls, as  Home  had  done,  but  caravans  of  merchants,  who 
subdued  the  provinces  they  passed  through  to  the  calcula- 
tions and  the  wants  of  commerce.  These  merchants  dis- 
posed of,  by  their  industrious  traffic,  all  the  money  which 
then  circulated  in  the  "West.  In  all  countries  they  had 
numerous  colonies  and  considerable  establishments.  Europe 
has  no  great  cities  in  which  the  name  of  the  Lombards, 
given  to  a  street,  to  a  quarter,  does  not,  even  at  the  present 
day,  attest  the  long  sojourn  of  the  ItaFan  merchants. 

We  cannot  help  admiring  this  power  of  commerce ;  but  it 
had  likewise  its  principle  of  destruction.  What  rivalries, 
what  jealous  passions,  did  it  not  give  birth  to  daily  !  Pacific 
conquests  were  contended  for  without  ceasing,  swords  in 
hand.  In  this  struggle  many  cities  succumbed ;  Pisa  was 
destroyed  by  Genoa ;  Genoa,  in  her  turn,  could  not  maintain 
its  rivalry  against  Venice.  Another  rock  for  these  commer- 
cial powers,  was  the  mobility  of  the  commerce  which  had 
elevated  them,  and  which  carried  unceasingly  its  favours 
and  its  gifts  from  one  place  to  another.  If  commerce 
changed  its  route  or  its  direction,  that  was  quite  enough  to 
make  a  city  prosper,  or  to  precipitate  its  fall.  In  the  middle 
ages,  a  crowd  of  cities  disappeared,  without  discord  or  war 
having  at  all  contributed  to  their  ruin.  It  appeared  as  if 
fortune  took  a  pleasure  in  destroying  her  own  work,  and  as 
if  she  disdained  on  that  account  to  associate  herself'  with 
human  passions. 


828  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

It  is  not  possible  to  separate  the  progress  of  industry  and 
even  of  agriculture  from  that  of  commerce.  To  ascertain 
what  industry  and  agriculture  could  gain  by  relations  with 
the  East,  it  would  perhaps  be  sufficient  to  ascertain  in  wrhat 
state  these  two  sources  of  prosperity  then  were  among  the 
Orientals.  Among  so  many  travellers,  there  were,  doubt- 
less, some  who  had  an  interest  in  observing  the  usages  and 
practices  of  the  distant  countries  they  visited.  We  know 
that  in  the  expeditions  of  the  Crusaders,  such  as  were  mas- 
ters of  a  trade,  or  were  skilful  in  a  mechanical  art,  were  en- 
rolled in  preference  to  others.  These  industrious  pilgrims 
did  not  always  make  a  voyage  barren  of  advantages  for  their 
country ;  and  in  those  holy  wars,  in  which  the  knights  of  the 
cross  only  sought  victory  and  renown,  industry,  if  I  may 
venture  to  say  so,  had  also  its  crusade,  whose  peaceful 
trophies  consisted  in  precious  discoveries,  stolen  from  the 
Greeks  or  the  Saracens,  and  in  the  happy  imitation  of  that 
which  they  had  admired  in  the  arts  of  the  East. 

The  Saracens  had  manufactures  of  stuffs  before  the  cru- 
sades. At  Damascus,  and  in  the  cities  of  Egypt,  metals 
were  wrorked  with  greater  perfection  than  in  the  West. 
Old  chronicles  inform  us  that  the  Christians  of  Palestine 
went  sometimes  to  Damascus  to  purchase  arms.  Joinville 
relates  that,  being  on  a  pilgrimage  to  our  lady  of  Tortosa,  he 
bought  at  Tripoli  some  camlets,  fabricated  in  that  city.  He 
sent  some  pieces  of  them  to  Queen  Marguerite,  who,  he  tells 
us,  at  first  took  them  for  relics,  and  fell  on  her  knees  to 
receive  them ;  but  upon  discovering  her  mistake  arose,  saying, 
"  Mischief  upon  the  seneschal !  who  has  made  me  kneel  to  his 
camlets."  *  Joinville  was  directed  by  Louis  IX.  to  purchase 
a  quantity  of  this  stuff,  which  proves  that  the  manufactory 
in  which  it  was  fabricated  had  some  reputation. 

There  were  at  this  period,  in  the  same  city  of  Tripoli,  and 
in  several  cities  of  Greece,  a  great  number  of  silk-looms,  the 
produce  of  which  must  have  excited  great  attention  in  the 

*  Hotspur  says  to  his  lady— 

"  Swear  me,  Kate,  like  a  lady,  as  thou  art, 
A  good  mouth-filling  oath  !" 

The  queen's  anathema  upon  Joinville,  is,  in  the  original,  something  <* 
thU  character. — Trans. 


HISTORY    OF    TIIE    CRUSADES.  329 

merchants  and  pilgrims  who  visited  the  East.  About  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  Roger  II.,  king  of  Sicily, 
caused  several  of  these  looms  to  be  transported  to  Palermo ; 
this  was  the  fruit  of  an  expedition  to  the  coasts  of  Greece. 
The  mulberry-tree  nourished  and  multiplied  under  the  beau- 
tiful sky  of  Italy,  as  well  as  under  that  of  the  Morea,  and 
this  useful  conquest  gave  the  Sicilians  the  means  of  soon 
surpassing  the  industry  of  the  Greeks.  The  principal  work- 
shop was  placed  in  the  palace  of  the  kings,  as  if  to  display 
the  richness  and  magnificence  of  this  new  art. 

Many  useful  inventions  came  to  us  at  this  period  from  the 
countries  of  the  East.  Some  writers  affirm  that  windmills 
were  known  in  Europe  before  the  crusades ;  but  we  should 
remember  that  they  might  have  been  due  to  the  early  pil- 
grimages into  Asia,  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  separate,  upon 
such  matters,  from  the  holy  wars.* 

Tyre  was  at  this  time  famous  for  its  glass.  The  sand 
found  in  its  vicinity  gave  to  the  fabrication"  of  glass  a  per- 
fection unknown  in  other  countries.  The  use  of  glass  was 
much  more  common  in  Palestine  than  in  the  West.  The 
Venetians  obtained  from  Tyre  the  idea  of  their  beautiful 
works  in  glass,  so  celebrated  in  the  middle  ages. 

The  Crusaders,  as  has  been  seen  in  this  history,  always 
evinced  great  surprise  at  witnessing  the  explosion  of  the 
Greek  fire.  But  what  appears  very  strange,  they  never 
seemed  to  envy  the  Saracens  this  great  advantage.  The 
Frank  warriors,  in  the  field  of  battle,  preferred  the  sword  and 
lance  to  a  means  of  fighting  which,  in  their  minds,  took  away 
something  from  personal  bravery.  It  is  not  at  all  impro- 
bable, however,  that  the  Greek  fire,  in  the  end,  furnished 
the  idea  of  gunpowder ;  an  invention  fatal  to  humanity,  but 
which  placed  a  formidable  weapon  in  the  hands  of  European 
society,  when  threatened  by  the  Turks  and  Tartars. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  maize,  or  Turkish  wheat, 
sent  into  Italy  by  Boniface  of  Montferrat,  in  the  fourth 
crusade.  The  Damascus  plum  was  brought  at  the  same 
time  into  Europe  by  a  duke  of  Anjou,  who  visited  Jeru- 
salem.    Our  gardens  owe  to  the  holy  wars  the  ranunculus, 

*  M.  de  Choiseul  d'Aillecourt  gives  in  his  Memoire  a  very  extended 
nomenclature  of  the  inventions  brought  from  the  East  into  Europe  bj 
the  Crusaders. 

Vol.  III.— lo 


330  HISTORY    OF   THE    CRUSADES. 

so  prized  by  Orientals,  and  shalots,  which  take  the  r  name 
from  Ascalon  ;  the  knowledge,  or  rather  the  use  of  saffron, 
alum,  and  indigo,  in  Europe,  may  be  traced  to  the  limes  of 
the  crusades. 

We  may  remember  with  what  delight  the  Crusaders 
saw  for  the  first  time  the  sugar-canes  of  the  territory  of 
Tripoli.  The  plant  was  transported  to  Sicily,  about  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century.  It  is  not  correct,  however, 
to  say  that  it  passed  from  thence  into  the  new  world.  If 
the  Spaniards  afterwards  transported  the  sugar-cane  to  the 
island  of  Madeira,  we  may  believe  they  found  it  in  the  king- 
dom of  Granada,  whither  the  Moors  had  brought  it  from 
Africa.  But  it  is  also  probable  that  notice  was  only  taken 
of  this  plant  because  the  taste  for  sugar  was  widely  spread, 
and  that  the  substance,  which  was  brought  from  Egypt, 
became  an  important  branch  of  commerce.  It  is  thus  we 
may  render  honour  to  the  crusades. 

Natural  history,  which  is  connected  with  the  progress  of 
industry  and  agriculture,  was  enriched  likewise  by  some 
useful  notions.  Distant  climates  not  only  exchanged  their 
vegetable  productions,  but  the  crusades  procured  for  Europe 
an  acquaintance  with  several  animals  of  Africa  and  Asia. 
We  have  mentioned  that  the  Mamelukes  of  Egypt  sent 
Louis  IX.  an  elephant,  of  which  the  French  monarch  made 
a  present  to  the  king  of  England.  A  short  time  after  the 
first  expedition  of  Louis  IX.,  Bibars  sent  to  Mainfrey,  son 
of  Frederick  II.,  several  Mogul  prisoners,  with  their  horses, 
which  were  of  Tartar  breed.  Among  the  Oriental  produc- 
tions which  the  Egyptian  ambassadors  were  directed  to  pre- 
sent to  the  king  of  Sicily,  was  a  giraffe,  an  animal  that  had 
never  till  that  time  been  seen  in  the  West. 

The  curious  circumstances  which  we  could  further  pro- 
duce, would  add  nothing  to  the  opinion  that  must  be  already 
entertained  of  the  happy  influence  of  the  crusades  upon  the 
progress  of  agriculture  and  industry.  The  riches  of  Asia, 
when  brought  into  Europe,  soon  gave  birth  to  a  desire  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  arts  which  embellish  life,  and  of  the 
eciences  which  double  the  faculties  of  man. 

In  the  tenth  century,  architecture  consisted  in  the  con- 
struction of  towers,  ramparts,  and  fortresses.  In  the  habi- 
tations of  the  great,  everything  was  sacrificed  to  the  neces* 


HISTOEY    OF   THE    CRUSADES.  331 

§ity  of  providing  defences  against  an  enemy ;  nothing  could 
be  afforded  to  comfort  or  magnificence.  The  dwellings  of 
the  people,  even  in  cities,  scarcely  protected  them  from  the 
injuries  of  weather  or  the  intemperance  of  seasons.  The 
only  architectural  monuments  were  those  which  devotion 
ra:sed  to  ancestors.  Before  magnificent  palaces  for  princes, 
or  convenient  houses  for  the  rich  were  thought  of,  edifices 
consecrated  to  religion  were  constructed.  It  is  scarcely 
possible  to  enumerate  the  churches  and  monasteries  built  in 
the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries.  According  to  the  opinion 
of  the  time,  the  most  certain  mode  of  expiating  sins,  was  to 
build  a  church  or  a  monastery.  Thus  architectural  monu- 
ments arose  at  the  voice  of  repentance,  and  religious  inspira- 
tions revived,  in  some  sort,  the  prodigies  which  fabulous 
antiquity  attributed  to  the  lyre  of  Amphion. 

In  every  city,  in  every  town,  the  inhabitants  made  it  their 
pride  to  ornament  their  cathedral,  and  the  altars  at  which 
they  invoked  the  saint  whom  the  parish  had  chosen  for  its 
patron.  It  may  be  said  that  there  was  something  like 
patriotism  in  this  pious  zeal;  for  the  basilic,  or  paternal 
church,  was  then  the  most  noble  and  the  most  sensible 
image  of  the  country. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  crusades,  there  existed  a 
religious  confraternity  composed  of  men  practised  in  the 
labours  of  building ;  they  travelled  about  the  world,  offering 
their  services  to  the  faithful  to  build  or  repair  churches. 
Another  confraternity  was  formed  with  the  useful  design  of 
constructing  bridges  for  pilgrims  and  travellers.  A  chapel 
or  an  oratory  reminded  passengers  that  the  bridge  they  were 
crossing  was  the  work  of  charity. 

The  clergy,  who  were  rich,  and  covild  only  display  their 
opulence  in  buildings,  made  it  their  glory  to  erect  churches. 
To  complete  their  work,  they  called  in  the  aid  of  painting 
and  sculpture,  which,  like  architecture,  owed  their  first  en- 
couragement to  piety,  and  whose  earliest  master-pieces  were 
consecrated  to  the  ornamenting  of  the  altars  ol  the  Chris- 
tian religion. 

Nothing  was  more  common  than  to  see  noble  Crusaders, 
on  their  departure  for  Palestine,  or  on  their  return  to  the 
West,  found  a  monastery  or  a  church.  Several  pilgrims 
are  named,  who,  on  coming  back  from  Jerusalem,  employed 


332  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

their  treasures  in  constructing  churches,  the  form  of  whicl 
Hiight  offer  them  an  image  of  the  holy  sepulchre  they  had 
visited.  The  treasures  conquered  from  the  infidels  were 
often  appropriated  to  such  buildings.  Before  the  first  cru- 
sade, some  cities  of  Italy  undertook  an  expedition  into 
Africa,  and  the  spoils  were  reserved  for  the  ornamenting  of 
churches.  "We  read  in  an  Italian  chronicle,  that  the  Pisana 
ceded  to  the  Greek  emperor  Calo- John  several  cities  which 
belonged  to  them  in  Asia  Minor,  upon  the  condition  that 
this  emperor  would  defray  the  expenses  necessary  for  the 
building  of  the  archbishop's  palace  at  Pisa,  and  ornamenting 
the  cathedral  of  Palermo. 

During  the  crusades,  the  sight  of  the  monuments  of  archi* 
tecture  which  were  admired  in  the  East,  must  have  awakened 
the  emulation  of  the  western  pilgrims.  Nothing  could  ex- 
ceed the  surprise  of  the  Crusaders  at  beholding  the  city  of 
Constantine.  Toucher  de  Chartres  exclaimed  in  his  enthu 
siasm :  "  Oh,  what  a  vast  and  beautiful  city  is  Constan- 
tinople ! "  The  German  historian  Gunther  likewise  ex- 
presses his  admiration,  and  says  that  such  magnificence 
could  not  be  believed  if  it  were  not  seen.  The  marshal  of 
Champagne  relates  that  the  French  knights,  on  seeing  the 
beautiful  towers  and  the  superb  palaces  of  Byzantium,  could 
not  persuade  themselves  that  there  could  be  such  a  rich  city 
in  all  the  world  ! 

Italy,  which  derived  such  advantages  from  its  relations 
with  the  East,  profited  greatly  by  the  masterpieces  of  Greece. 
The  inhabitants  of  Bome,  and  of  several  other  cities  funded 
and  embellished  by  the  Bomans,  had  before  them  remains  of 
antiquity  that  might  serve  them  as  models.  The  riches 
which  their  commerce  brought  them  furnished  them  with 
the  means  of  encouraging  industry  and  the  arts,  which  assist 
in  the  embellishment  of  cities.  The  cities  of  Italy, — Venice 
in  particular, — had  palaces  and  sumptuous  edifices  before  the 
crusades.  In  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  the 
taste  for  beautiful  architecture  changed  the  face  of  Italy, 
and  spread  by  degrees  throughout  the  rest  of  Europe. 

AVe  must  add,  however,  that  the  fine  arts,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  architecture,  owed  very  little  to  the  frequent  commu- 
nications with  the  East.  Painting  was  despised  among  the 
Mussulmans,  to  whom  the  Koran  forbade  the  reproduction 


HISTOUT    OF    THE    CITCSADES.  333 

ot  the  images  of  man  or  of  animated  beings.  The  Latin* 
likewise,  as  our  readers  may  remember,  after  the  taking  oi 
Constantinople,  destroyed  most  of  the  monuments  raised  by 
the  genius  of  sculpture,  and  converted  the  masterpieces  of 
Phidias  and  Praxiteles  into  pieces  of  coin. 

The  indolent  and  silent  character  of  the  orientals  was  not 
calculated  to  carry  music  to  perfection,  as  this  art  bespeaks 
a  lively  and  warm  imagination  in  a  people  ;  and  the  Greeks 
had  for  a  long  time  lost  the  secret  of  those  melodious  songs 
which,  in  the  times  of  Linus  and  Orpheus,  charmed  the 
heights  of  Rhodope  and  the  woods  of  Maenalus.  The  his- 
tory of  music,  then,  has  very  little  to  do  with  that  of  the 
holy  wars.  When  Italy  saw  the  fine  arts  revive,  they  sprang 
up  as  a  natural  production  of  the  soil,  as  plants  indigenous 
to  the  climate  ;  they  owed  their  splendour  to  the  prosperous 
state  of  society,  and  followed,  as  a  consequence  of  the  opu- 
lence and  luxury  which  commerce  and  industry  had  pro- 
duced.* 

The  revival  of  the  fine  arts  announced  that  of  letters. 
But  if  it  be  true  that  letters  owed  a  part  of  their  progress  to 
the  influence  of  the  crusades,  it  must  be  confessed  that  the 
Crusaders  did  not  always  show  themselves  disposed  to  profit 
by  them  for  themselves  :  nothing  can  exceed  the  ignorance 
of  the  Crusaders  who  then  set  out  for  the  East.  History 
informs  us  that  after  the  taking  of  Jerusalem,  they  burnt  at 
Tripoli  a  library  which  contained  the  most  precious  monu- 
ments of  oriental  literature  :  at  the  taking  of  Constantinople, 
a  conflagration  devoured  the  literary  treasures  of  ancient 
Greece.  The  Crusaders  beheld  this  misfortune  with  so 
much  indifference,  that  not  one  of  their  chronicles  makes 
mention  of  it,  and  posterity  would  have  been  ignorant  of  it 
but  for  the  eloquent  complaints  of  Nicetas. 

The  science  wrhich  gained  most  by  these  distant  expedi- 
tions was  doubtless  geography.  Before  the  crusades,  this 
science  was  quite  unknown.  Countries,  the  least  distant 
from  each  other,  had  no  intercommunication.  Burgundy 
was  scarcely  known  at  Paris ;  in  Burgundy  Paris  was  con- 

*  And'has  not  this  been  the  case  with  all  rich  and  prosperous  nations  ? 
What  invariably  follows  this  higl  state  of  opulence,  of  the  line  arts,  and 
their  attendant  sensuality,  is  a  question  for  every  great  nation  that  is  s« 
circumstanced  to  ask  itself. — Trans. 


331  HISTORY    OP    THE    CJiUtiADEB. 

sidered  as  a  very  remote  place.  The  Crusaders  who  followed 
Peter  the  Hermit  were  not  acquainted  with  ihe  names  of 
the  cities  of  Germany  and  Hungary  which  they  passed 
through.  They  experienced  a  defeat  at  Mersbourg,  and  the 
contemporary  chronicles  that  speak  of  it  content  themselves 
with  calling  the  Hungarian  city  Malleville,  or  the  city  of 
misfortune. 

If  the  Franks  scarcely  knew  their  own  country,  what  must 
have  been  their  ignorance  of  the  countries  of  the  East? 
"We  may  judge  by  the  necessity  they  felt  for  taking  their 
guides  from  among  the  Greeks,  whom  they  mistrusted,  and 
by  their  extreme  embarrassment  whenever  these  guides 
abandoned  them.  Several  armies  perished  from  want  of 
knowing  the  places  to  which  victory  conducted  them.  Most 
of  the  chroniclers  knew  no  more  about  the  matter  than  the 
Crusaders  ;  and  this  it  is  that  renders  it  so  difficult  to  follow 
them  in  Asia  Minor  and  Syria. 

One  most  remarkable  circumstance  is,  that  out  of  more 
than  two  hundred  chronicles  that  speak  of  Egypt,  we  have 
not  been  able  to  find  more  than  one  that  makes  mention  of 
the  Pyramids.  James  of  Vitry,  who  sojourned  for  a  long 
time  in  Syria,  and  who  appears  to  have  possessed  as  much 
knowledge  as  was  then  common  to  the  learned,  repeats,  in 
his  descriptions  of  the  East,  the  fables  of  Herodotus  ;  such  as 
the  history  of  the  Amazons  and  that  of  the  phoenix.  We  can 
scarcely  forbear  laughing  at  the  simple  credulity  of  Joinville, 
who  tells  us  gravely,  in  his  memoirs,  that  the  trees  of  the 
terrestrial  paradise  produce  cinnamon,  ginger,  and  cloves, 
and  that  these  spices  are  fished  out  of  the  waters  of  the 
Nile,  whither  they  have  been  carried  by  the  winds. 

The  Crusaders,  constantly  engaged  in  fig\ting, 'never  en- 
tertained the  idea  of  making  themselves  acquainted  with  the 
countries  subdued  by  their  arms.  Nevertheless,  in  conse- 
quence of  them,  religion  and  commerce, — the  one  led  by  the 
desire  of  spreading  the  Grospel,  the  other  by  the  hopes  of 
gaining  wealth,  opened  some  new  routes,  and  gained  useful 
notions  concerning  the  East  during  the  crusades.  The  mis- 
sionaries sent  by  the  court  of  Home  and  by  St.  Louis  tra- 
velled over  the  vast  regions  of  Asia,  and  commerce  either 
followed  or  went  before  them  in  these  distant  journeys, 
The  accounts  of  Eubruquis,  Asselin,  John  Plan  Carpin,  and 


HISTOltY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  335 

Marco  Paolo,  contain  observations  of  which  the  truth  and 
correctness  are  recognised  at  the  present  day. 

We  may  add  that  the  Crusaders,  who  went  from  all  the 
countries  of  Europe,  became  acquainted  with  each  other 
beneath  the  standard  of  the  cross.  Nations  were  no  longer 
foreign  to  each  other ;  which  dissipated  the  ignorance  in 
which  they  had  been  regarding  the  names  of  the  cities  and 
provinces  of  the  West. 

The  geographical  charts  of  this  period  neither  give  the 
configuration  of  the  globe,  nor  the  extent  of  countries,  nor 
the  position  or  limits  of  emperors  ;  they  merely  trace,  by 
vague  designations,  that  which  struck  travellers  most  forci- 
bly,— such  as  the  curiosities  of  each  country,  the  animals, 
the  buildings,  and  the  various  dresses  of  men.  We  have 
seen  a  map  of  the  world,  which  is  attached  to  the  chronicle 
of  St.  Denis,  and  which  appears  to  have  been  made  in  the 
thirteenth  century :  we  do  not  find,  as  in  modern  maps,  the 
names  of  the  four  cardinal  points  set  down,  but  on  the  four 
sides  are  written  the  names  of  the  principal  winds,  to  the 
number  of  twelve.  Jerusalem,  according  to  the  opinion  of 
the  time,  is  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  three  parts  of  the 
known  world;  a  large  edifice  surmounted  by  a  cross  repre- 
sents the  holy  city.  Around  this  queen  of  cities,  the  author 
of  the  map  has  figured,  by  other  edifices,  the  cities  of  Palestine, 
Syria,  Egypt,  &c. :  the  distances  are  marked  without  any 
attention  to  exactness  :  all  appears  thrown  at  random  on  the 
paper :  this  confused  mass  of  edifices  or  houses,  seems  to  be 
less  a  representation  of  the  universe  than  the  shapeless  pic- 
ture of  a  great  city,  built  without  plan  or  regularity. 

We  may  judge  by  this  how  completely  geography  was 
then  in  its  infancy ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  renders  it 
evident  that  it  was  not  quite  neglected,  as  till  that  time  it 
had  been.  Thus,  we  have  a  right  to  believe  they  would  not 
stand  still  there,  and  that  geographical  knowledge  would 
soon  advance.  In  the  fourteenth  century,  the  countries  ot 
the  East  were  already  much  better  known,  if  we  may  judge 
by  the  chart  which  Sanuti  presented  to  the  pope,  and  which 
may  be  seen  in  the  collection  of  the  historians  of  the  crusades 
by  Bengars. 

The  sciences  most  useful  to  man,  such  as  medicine,  might 
have  made  some  progress  durirg  the  crusades,  if  the  Crusa- 


336  HISTORY  or  THE  crusades. 

ders  had  profited  by  the  knowledge  of  the  Orientals.     Ir 

medicine  particularly,  the  Arabians  had  more  positive  know- 
ledge than  the  Latins.  At  the  siege  of  Ptoleinais,  we  have 
seen  that  Saladin  sent  his  physicians  to  Biclnrd;  but  we  do 
?aot  learn  that  the  king  of  England  sent  his  to  Saladin,  when 
he  fell  ill.  In  the  first  crusade  of  St.  Louis,  the  physicians 
who  accompanied  the  army  of  the  Crusaders  understood 
nothing  of  the  scurvy  and  other  epidemic  diseases,  which 
exercised  such  ravages  in  the  camp  of  the  Christians.  Their 
ignorance  was  not  less  fatal  than  the  contagion :  when 
Louis  IX.  and  his  warriors  became  the  prisoners  of  the 
Mussulmans,  the  diseases  which  desolated  them  ceased  all 
at  once,  because  they  were  no  longer  attended  by  their  own 
physicians,  but  were  placed  under  the  care  of  the  Arabians. 

The  East  then  furnished  Europe  with  several  processes 
and  remedies  from  which  modern  medicine,  for  a  length  of 
time,  derived  great  advantage.  Cassia  and  senna  came  from 
Asia,  and  became  known  in  the  West  at  the  period  of  the 
crusades.  Theriaca,  which  played  so  great  a  part  in  the 
medicine  of  the  middle  ages,  was  brought  from  Antioch  to 
Venice.  Robert  of  Normandy,  on  his  return  from  the  Holy 
Land,  after  the  taking  of  Jerusalem,  obtained  from  the 
school  of  Salerno  a  collection  of  Hygeian  precepts,  which 
became  proverbs  among  all  the  nations  of  Europe. 

And  yet  these  discoveries,  and  this  knowledge  of  the 
Orientals,  did  not  much  enlighten  the  West  in  the  art  of 
curing.  Properly  to  receive  lessons  of  experience  of  this 
kind,  preliminary  studies  were  necessary,  and  the  physicians 
of  Europe  were  then  too  ignorant  to  profit  by  the  learning 
of  the  Arabians.  At  this  period,  religious  charity  raised  a 
great  number  of  open  asylums  for  suffering  humanity.  But 
this  charity,  however  admirable,  when  its  object  was  to 
attend  the  sick,  and  comfort  them  in  their  sufferings,  knew 
but  very  little  of  the  symptoms  or  the  character  of  the  num- 
berless diseases  which  attack  the  life  of  man.  It  may  be 
safely  said,  that  during  the  crusades,  we  received  from  the 
East  many  more  serious  diseases  than  true  instruction  in 
medicine.  We  know  that  there  were  numerous  lazar-houses 
established  in  Europe  in  the  time  of  the  crusades ;  but  we 
know  nothing  of  the  remedies  employed  for  the  cure  of 
leprosy.     Isolation  appears  to  have  been  the  only  curatire 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSA.DES.  337 

av  preservative  means  known  for  this  malady,  which  many 
learned  physicians  now  look  upon  as  mere  prejudice  The 
spirit  of  devotion  richly  endowed  lepers,  without  doing 
anything  for  their  cure.  Leprosy,  in  the  end,  disappeared 
without  the  assistance  of  medicine,  and  the  property  be- 
stowed upon  lazar-houses  was  transferred  to  the  hospitals  j 
which  was  advantageous  to  humanity,  and  may  be  set  down 
as  one  of  the  benefits  of  the  crusades.* 

We  will  say  nothing  of  the  other  sciences,  which  ow&*> 
still  less  than  geography  and  medicine  to  the  holy  wars. 

The  Saracens  of  Syria  were  very  little  enlightened  m  the 
middle  ages.  In  the  East,  the  state  of  knowledge,  like 
everything  else,  depended  upon  the  reign  of  a  great  prince ; 
whilst  this  prince  reigned,  knowledge  nourished  by  his  in- 
fluence ;  at  his  death,  everything  returned  to  darkness,  as 
the  natural  state  of  countries  governed  by  Islamism.t 

The  Franks  gained  more  by  their  commerce  with  the 
Greeks  than  by  that  with  the  Saracens.  The  Crusaders 
established  continual  relations  between  the  cities  of  Italy 
and  the  empire  of  Byzantium.  Some  sparks  of  the  genius  of 
the  Greeks  were  glimmering  in  Italy  before  the  taking  of 
Constantinople  by  the  Turks. 

A  college  for  young  Greeks  was  established  at  Paris  in 
the  reign  of  Philip  Augustus.  In  the  thirteenth  century 
universities  flourished  at  Bologna,  Paris,  and  Salamanca,  in 
which  the  Greek  language  was  taught ;  and  later,  the  Oriental 
languages  were  added,  by  a  decree  of  the  council  of  Vienna. 

We  find  in  a  chronicle  of  St.  Denis  these  remarkable 
words : — "  This  year,  1257,  William,  a  physician,  brought 
some  Greek  books  from  Constantinople."  Thus,  the  arrival 
of  some  volumes  from  Greece  was  an  event  worthy  of  being 
recorded,  and  the  importance  attached  to  it,  already  an- 
nounced the  disposition  of  men's  minds. 

*  We  are  not  positive  whether  the  small-pox  was  known  in  Europe 
previously  to  the  Crusaders.  Its  introduction  amongst  us  is  frequently- 
attributed  to  them;  and  we  observe,  in  reading  the  history  of  Mahomet 
and  his  successors,  many  persons  were  marked  with  the  scars  left  by  thia 
disease.     We  wonder  Michaud  does  not  mention  it. — Trans. 

f  The  Moors  of  Spain  may  be  adduced  as  an  example  against  this 
opinion.  It  is  true  that  the  Moors  of  Granada  cultivated  the  arts  and 
sciences  for  a  long  time,  and  with  much  success;  but  what  became  of 
them  when  they  returned  to  the  coast  of  Africa  ? 

15* 


338  HISTOET    OF    TIIE    CEUSADIB. 

When  the  Turks  became  masters  of  Constantinople,  the 
learned,  exiled  from  their  country,  came  to  establish  them- 
selves in  Italy,  where  the  Greek  muses  formed  an  alliance 
with  the  Latin  muses.  The  venerable  interpreters  of  anti- 
quity were  hailed  everywhere  with  eagerness,  and  the  com- 
munication of  their  knowledge  was  repaid  by  generous  hos- 
pitality. Among  the  distinguished  men  to  whom  the  muses 
of  ancient  Greece  owed  an  honourable  protection,  we  must 
not  forget  Nicholas  V.,  who,  as  the  head  of  the  Christians  of 
the  West,  excommunicated  the  Greek  Church,  and,  as  a 
scholar,  seemed  to  have  vowed  a  worship  to  the  genius  of 
Homer  and  Plato.*  Printing,  which  had  then  recently 
been  invented,  was  employed  to  preserve  the  literary  trea- 
sures brought  from  the  East,  and  made  them  for  ever  safe 
from  the  scythe  of  Time,  the  furies  of  war,  or  the  hands  of 
barbarians.  The  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  found  readers  in 
places  which  had  inspired  the  iEneid ;  the  orations  of  Pe- 
mosthenes  were  again  read  amid  the  wrecks  of  the  forum, 
where  the  learned  might  believe  they  still  listened  to  the 
voice  of  Cicero.  The  genius  of  the  Italians,  kindled  by  the 
master-pieces  of  ancient  Rome  and  of  old  Athens,  produced 
fresh  master-pieces ;  and  Italy  presented  a  phenomenon 
which  the  world  will,  perhaps,  never  see  again, — that  of  a 
nation  which,  in  the  space  of  a  few  centuries,  obtained  twice 
the  palm  of  literature  in  two  different  languages. 

It  was  from  Constantinople  we  received  the  philosophy  of 
Aristotle.  We  can  scarcely  say  to  what  extent  t  e  true 
friends  of  intelligence  ought  to  congratulate  themselves  on 
this  head.  Aristotle  had  disciples,  partisans,  and  martyrs..; 
the  philosopher  of  Stagyra  was  very  nrar  being  preferred  to 
the  Bible ;  the  contemners  of  Aristot  e  were  called  Bihlici. 
At  that  period  a  mania  for  subtleties  was  introduced  into 
the  schools,  which  dishonoured  the  teaching  of  philosophy. 
Reason  was  no  longer  studied  in  the  mind  of  man,  but  in  a 
book ;  nature  was  no  longer  studied  in  the  universe,  but  in 
Aristotle.  The  schools  became  like  fencing-matches.  In 
an  age  in  which  everything  was  decided  by  violence,  the 
human  mind  wished  to  have  its  species  of  warfais ;  so  that 

*  Lord  Bolingbroke  said:  "After  all,  it  is  Nicholas  V.  to  whoa 
Europe  is  obliged  for  its  present  state  of  learning"  ^Spence). — Trans. 


HISTOEY    OF    THE  CEUSADES.  339 

victory  in  most  affairs  was  considered  justice ;  and  became, 
m  the  schools,  the  only  reason.  We  may  believe  that  this 
philosophy  did  not  much  assist  the  march  of  true  wisdom ; 
but  we  must  admit,  that  if  it  did,  for  a  moment,  lead  the 
human  mind  astray,  it  did  not  quite  arrest  its  progress.  It 
exercised  the  faculties  of  man,  and  by  that  means  assisted  in 
their  development.  At  the  commencement  of  societies,  it 
is  less  the  errors  of  the  mind  than  its  inaction  that  retains 
nations  in  the  darkness  of  barbarism. 

Universities  had  never  been  so  attended  as  at  this  period. 
The  number  of  students  in  the  schools  of  Paris,  Bologna, 
and  Oxford  were  said  to  amount  to  ten  thousand.  The 
great  privileges  granted  to  universities,  prove  the  esteem  in 
which  learning  was  then  held.  The  doctors  disputed  for 
precedency  with  knighthood  itself.  If  Bartholo  is  to  he 
believed,  ten  years'  teaching  of  the  Roman  law  conferred  the 
title  of  knight.  This  dignity  was  called  the  knighthood  of 
learning,  and  they  who  attained  it  were  called  knights-clerks. 

Among  all  the  productions  of  mind,  those  which  ought  to 
be  ranked  first,  were  such  as  had  for  object  the  preservation 
of  the  memory  of  events.  At  all  periods  of  the  middle  ages, 
chronicles  appeared,  to  which  were  consigned  the  important 
facts  of  history.  In  many  monasteries  were  kept  registers 
or  journals,  in  which  was  inserted  everything  remarkable 
that  happened  in  the  various  parts  of  the  world.  Monks, 
in  the  general  assemblies,  sometimes  communicated  these 
registers  to  each  other,  and  this  communication  assisted  them 
in  rendering  their  chronicles  more  complete.  In  ages  less 
remote  from  us,  other  cenobites  have  collected,  with  labo- 
rious care,  these  same  chronicles,  concealed  in  the  solitude 
of  cloisters,  and  have  transmitted  them  to  posterity  as  the 
*nost  precious  monuments  of  old  times. 

The  ancient  chroniclers  were  simple  and  pious  men  ;  they 
considered  the  least  falsehood  as  a  mortal  sin ;  they  were 
scrupulous  in  telling  the  truth,  when  they  were  acquainted 
with  it.  Most  of  them  would  have  thought  themselves  de- 
ficient in  the  duties  of  an  historian,  if  they  had  not  gone 
back  to  the  creation  of  the  world,  or  at  least  to  the  deluge. 
Among  the  events  which  they  relate,  they  never  forgot 
such  as  would  strike  the  vulgar,  and  which  struck  them- 
selves ;  as  the  ^evolutions  of  nature,  famines,  prodigies,  &i 


340  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

According  to  the  spirit  of  their  age,  the  foundation  of  a 
monastery  holds  a  more  conspicuous  place  in  their  recitals 
than  that  of  a  kingdom  or  of  a  republic.  Politics  are  quite 
unknown  to  them ;  and  everything  which  astonishes  them, 
everything  they  do  not  easily  comprehend,  they  rarely  fail 
to  account  for  by  a  miracle. 

Such  is  the  character  of  our  old  chroniclers ;  and  even 
when  they  do  not  inform  us  of  that  which  we  desire  to 
know,  their  simplicity  touches  us,  and  their  ingenuousness 
interests  us.  When  they  tell  us  of  wonderful  things  which 
were  believed  in  their  times,  and  of  which  they  appear 
fully  persuaded,  they  do  nothing  but  paint  themselves  and 
their  age. 

But  we  must  beware  of  fancying  the  Oriental  chronicles 
of  the  same  period  more  perfect  than  our  own.  We  find  in 
them  the  same  spirit  of  superstition  and  credulity,  united  to 
that  spirit  of  fatalism  which  characterizes  the  Mussulman 
faith. 

It  is  quite  in  vain  for  us  to  seek  in  Arabian  historians 
any  of  those  thoughts  that  instruct  us  in  the  knowledge  of 
human  passions  or  political  revolutions.  They  almost  always 
neglect  the  most  important  circumstances  of  events,  in  order 
to  describe  whimsical  particularities,  or  to  enter  into  insig- 
nificant details ;  thus,  obeying  the  spirit  of  oriental  despot- 
ism, which  wills  that  man  should  be  always  occupied  with 
little  things.  When  they  relate  the  fall  of  an  empire,  if 
asked  why  it  has  fallen,  they  reply :  "  God  knows,  God  has 
willed  it  so."  In  all  their  chronicles  whicli  we  have  con- 
sulted, whenever  the  Mussulmans  triumph  over  the  Chris- 
tians, we  never  find  any  other  reflection  but  this :  "  God  is 
God,  and  Mahomet  is  his  prophet."  When  the  Christians 
gain  a  victory,  the  Mussulman  chronicles  preserve  a  perfect 
silence,  contenting  themselves  with  saying :  "  May  God 
curse  them!" 

Oriental  historical  productions  are  very  far  from  redeem- 
ing this  absence  of  remark  by  another  merit,  such  as  order, 
clearness,  or  elegance ;  most  of  their  accounts  are  nothing 
but  a  nomenclature  of  facts  confusedly  arranged.  Quota- 
tions from  the  Koran,  verses  made  upon  the  occurrence  of 
an  event,  some  comparisons  whicli  belong  rather  to  poetry 
than  history, — such  are  the  only  ornaments  of  Oaeir  narrations. 


HISTOEY    OF    TILE    CEV8ADES.  34^ 

We  see  by  this  that  our  chronicles  of  the  middle  agea 
have  nothing  to  envy  in  those  of  the  East.  Most  of  them, 
it  is  true,  are  of  an  extreme  dryness,  and  have  neither  pre- 
cision nor  method.  But  still  some  few  of  them  do  not  ap- 
pear unworthy  of  attracting  the  attention  of  scholars  and 
men  of  taste.  As  their  authors  wrote  in  Latin,  we  hav« 
reason  to  believe  that  the  great  works  of  antiquity  were  not 
unknown  to  them,  and  in  many  of  their  recitals,  we  may 
easily  perceive  they  have  had  models. 

History  must  have  made  some  progress  during  the  cru- 
sades. These  long  wars  between  the  Christians  and  the 
Mussulmans  were  like  a  great  spectacle  at  which  Europe 
and  Asia  were  present.  The  importance  of  the  events,  and 
the  lively  interest  which  Christendom  took  in  them,  inspired 
several  writers  with  the  desire  of  retracing  the  history  of 
them.  A  crowd  of  chroniclers  arose  in  the  West,  among 
whom  some  were  not  unworthy  of  the  name  of  historians. 
Everybody  is  acquainted  with  William  of  Tyre,  who  may  be 
called  the  Livy  of  the  crusades,  Albert  d'Aix,  Baudry,  arch- 
bishop of  Dol,  Odo  of  Deuil,  and  particularly  James  of 
Vitry,  in  whom  we  meet  with  vivid  and  animated  descrip- 
tions, a  rapid  and  flowing  style,  and  a  narration  almost 
always  elegant : — and,  though  last,  not  least,  Villehardouin 
and  Joinville,  who  wrote  in  the  French  language,  and  whose 
memoirs  are  the  earliest  monuments  of  French  literature. 

But  all  these  events  which  presented  to  historians  such 
rich  pictures,  the  wonders  of  nascent  institutions,  the  pro- 
digies of  the  social  world  issuing  from  the  chaos  of  bar- 
barism, must  not  only  have  awakened  the  curiosity,  they 
must  have  struck  vividly  the  minds  of  new  generations. 
This  grand  spectacle,  without  doubt,  contributed  to  the 
development  of  the  faculties  connected  with  the  imagina- 
tion. After  having  seen  the  simple  and  faithful  relations  of 
events,  the  genius  of  poets  was  called  upon  to  add  some- 
thing to  the  truthful  pictures  of  the  chroniclers.  The 
troubadours  who  flourished  during  the  crusades  were  not 
likely  to  neglect  the  exploits  of  so  many  gallant  knights. 
We  hear  their  voices  constantly  mingling  with  those  of  the 
preachers  of  the  holy  wars,  and  find  their  poetical  fictions 
everywhere  confounded  with  the  narrations  of  history. 

Among  th i  warriors  wb )  went  into  the  East  to  combat 


342  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

the  infidels,  a  great  number  of  troubadours  ai  .1  trouverea 
distinguished  themselves.  We  have  seen  the  romance  ot 
Raoul  de  Couci,  and  the  verses  of  Thibault.  count  of  Cham- 
pagne. We  may  add  to  these  names  known  in  the  fasti  ot 
the  French  muses,  those  of  the  count  of  Poictiers,  the  count 
of  Anjou,  the  duke  of  Brittany,  Frederick  II.,  and  Richard 
Co3ur-de-Lion.  Often  would  these  princely  and  lordly 
Crusaders  charm  the  tediousness  of  a  long  pilgrimage  by 
poetical  relaxations  and  remembrances.  The  count  of 
Soissons,  when  a  prisoner  with  St.  Louis,  sang  the  praises  of 
the  dames  of  France,  in  the  presence  and  beneath  the  very 
swords  of  the  Saracens.  One  chronicle  relates  that  at  the 
end  of  the  third  crusade,  the  duke  of  Burgundy  made  a 
satire  against  Rictj.rd,  and  that  Richard  replied  by  a  poem. 
The  example  of  these  princes  was  enough  to  arouse  the 
emulation  of  the  poets ;  and  as  they  composed  their  verses 
in  the  French  language,  this  language,  which  was  then 
spoken  at  Jerusalem,  Constantinople,  and  many  other  places 
in  the  East,  must  have  prevailed  over  all  contemporary 
idioms. 

The  muse  of  the  troubadours  celebrated  chivalry,  love, 
and  beauty ;  that  of  the  trouveres,  who  dwelt  on  the  banks 
of  the  Loire,  and  in  the  provinces  situated  beyond  that 
river,  delighted  in  songs  of  a  more  serious  kind.  The 
trouveres  had  rivals  in  England  and  Germany.  These 
poets  had  created  for  themselves  an  heroic  and  new  world, 
which  inspired  them  with  noble  actions.  They  celebrated 
the  lofty  deeds  of  Arthur  and  Binaldo,  the  knights  of  the 
Round  Table,  Charlemagne,  Roland,  and  the  twelve  peers 
of  France.  They  added  to  these  names  those  of  Godfrey, 
Tancred,  Richard,  and  Saladin,  the  remembrance  of  whom 
vividly  interested  all  the  Christian  nations  of  the  middle 
ages. 

The  marvellous,  among  a  people,  belongs  to  their  habits, 
to  the  effects  of  climate,  and  to  the  great  revolutions  of 
society.  In  consequence  of  the  mixture  and  confusion  of 
divers  nations  in  the  middle  ages,  the  wonderful  traditions 
of  the  North  became  confounded  with  those  of  tV*e  South, 
and  produced  a  semi-barbarous  mythology,  which  differed 
widely  from  the  laughing  mythology  of  the  Greeks.  But 
the  labours,  the  perils,  the  exploits  of  a  religious  war,  of  a 


HISTORY   OF   THE    CRUSADES.  34? 

distant  war,  like  those  of  the  crusades,  must  have  given  a 
more  noble  direction  to  the  imagination  of  poets,  and  pre- 
served it  from  that  which  was  common  and  whimsical  in  the 
romantic  conceptions  of  a  gross  age.  That  which  was  then 
passing  upon  the  real  theatre  of  events,  was  more  extraordi- 
nary than  the  inventions  of  poetry ;  and  the  marvellous  of 
that  period  was  tin  more  easy  to  be  seized,  from  being  all  to 
be  found  in  actual  history. 

A  new  literature  then  was  born,  conforming  with  the 
genius  of  a  new  state  of  society.  If  this  literature,  which, 
to  employ  the  expression  of  the  learned  Heren,  bore  a  cha- 
racter of  national  and  contemporary  originality,  had  pro- 
duced great  works  like  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey,  the  muses 
would  have  opened  for  themselves  a  career  unknown  to  the 
ancients  ;  language  would  have  been,  from  that  time  en- 
riched, perfected,  fixed  by  the  masterpieces  themselves  ;  and 
history  would  have  spoken  of  the  age  of  the  crusades,  as  it 
speaks  to  us  of  the  age  of  Augustus  or  Pericles. 

Unfortunately,  our  literature  of  the  middle  ages  only  pro- 
duced indifferent  poems,  which  were  not  able  to  make  us 
forget  the  great  works  of  antiquity.  There  were  none  but 
romantic  productions,  in  which  the  interest  of  the  subject 
was  not  at  all  raised  by  talent,  and  poems  whose  authors, 
though  witty  and  ingenious,  had  none  of  that  authority  of 
genius  which  carries  away  the  opinions  of  an  age,  and  even 
of  posterity. 

We  have  more  than  one  reason  for  regretting  that  the 
human  mind  did  not  open  for  itself  a  new  career  at  the 
period  of  the  crusades.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  ancients 
offer  us  the  more  perfect  models  of  taste ;  but  in  proportion 
as  people,  in  the  end,  became  impassioned  for  the  Greeks 
and  the  Latins,  modern  nations  disdained  their  own  antiqui- 
ties for  those  of  Athens  and  Rome.  With  the  stucty  of 
masterpieces  which  had  nothing  to  do  with  our  own  glory, 
the  remembrance  of  our  own  ancestors  was  not  at  all  mixed  ; 
and  the  knowledge  they  have  given  us  has  added  nothing  to 
our  patriotism.  What  an  interest  and  what  a  value  would 
the  remembrances  of  our  country  have  had  for  us,  if  they 
had  been  traced  by  a  literature,  formed  according  to  the 
manners  of  the  i.ation,  and  which  would,  in  some  sort,  have 
commenced  u  \th  the  nation  itself ! 


344  HISTCEY    OF    THE    CBUSADES. 

Most  of  the  romancers,  and  even  the  poets  of  these  times, 
who  had  no  models  and  wanted  taste,  found  no  other  means 
of  interesting  their  readers,  than  by  exaggerating  the  senti- 
ments of  chivalry.  Imitation,  pushed  to  the  extreme,  was 
taken  for  reality,  and  there  were  found  knights  who  wished 
to  do  that  which  they  saw  in  romances  and  poems.  Thence 
came  knight-errantry.  Thus,  in  all  times,  the  state  of  society 
has  acted  upon  literature,  and  literature,  in  its  turn,  has  re- 
acted upon  the  state  of  society. 

The  romances  which  were  consecrated  to  chivalry  and  the 
crusades,  underwent  the  modifications  that  maimers  and 
customs  received ;  and  this  species  of  composition  has  come 
down  to  our  days,  expressing,  by  turns,  the  tastes,  senti- 
ments, and  opinions  of  each  age.  This  was  quite  unknown 
to  antiquity.  It  was  born  with  the  Romance  language,  whose 
name  if;  took;  and  they  who  now  derive  pleasure  from  it 
ought  to  be  thankful  for  it  to  the  age  of  the  crusades. 

These  kinds  of  productions,  which  attracted  the  curiosity 
and  attention  of  the  vulgar,  contributed  to  form  the  national 
language,  which  then  appeared  to  be  scorned  by  the  learned. 
The  Latin  language  still  remained  the  language  of  the 
sciences  and  of  learning.  But  it  lost  its  correctness  and  its 
purity.  The  Latin  of  the  fifteenth  century  was  more  cor- 
rupt than  that  of  the  twelfth.  The  Eomance  language  and 
the  Latin  language  had  a  tendency  to  corrupt  each  other,  by 
their  mixture  and  their  reciprocal  borrowings. 

Knowledge,  however,  continued  to  increase  and  spread, 
and  assisted  greatly  in  polishing  the  manners  of  the  nations 
of  Europe.  One  proof  that  the  crusades  were  not  uncon- 
nected with  these  first  steps  of  civilization  is,  that  knowledge 
and  letters  first  flourished  among  the  peoples  enriched  by 
the  commerce  which  the  holy  wars  favoured,  as  in  Italy ; 
and  with  the  peoples  who  had  most  communication  with  the 
Orientals,  as  the  Spaniards.  Two  inventions  were  destined 
to  complete  this  happy  revolution,  aud  mark  the  commence- 
ment and  the  end  of  the  period  of  the  crusades.  The  first 
was  the  invention  of  paper,  which  became  known  in  Europe 
just  before  the  first  expedition  into  the  East ;  the  second, 
the  invention  of  printing,  which  took  place  towards  the  end 
r»f  the  holy  wars. 

There  remains  but  little  for  us  to  say  upon  t:  e  results  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES.  34£ 

the  crusades.  Several  distinguished  writers  have  spoken  oi 
them  before  us,  and  the  information  they  have  given  upon 
this  important  subject,  whilst  it  facilitates  our  labour,  only 
leaves  us  the  advantage  of  expressing  an  opinion  which  their 
authority  has  consecrated,  and  which  has  no  longer  any  need 
of  being  defended. 

The  better  to  explain  and  make  clear  all  the  good  that 
the  holy  wars  brought  with  them,  we  have  elsewhere  ex- 
amined what  would  have  happened  if  they  had  had  all  the 
success  they  might  have  had.  Let  us  now  attempt  another 
hypothesis,  and  let  our  minds  dwell  for  a  moment  upon  the 
state  in  which  Europe  would  have  been,  without  the  expedi- 
tions which  the  AVest  so  many  times  repeated  against  the 
nations  of  Asia  and  Africa.  In  the  eleventh  century,  seve- 
ral European  countries  were  invaded,  and  others  were  threat- 
ened by  the  Saracens.  AVhat  means  of  defence  had  the 
Christian  republic  then,  when  most  of  the  states  were  given 
up  to  license,  troubled  by  discords,  and  plunged  in  bar- 
barism ?  If  Christendom,  as  M.  De  Bonald  remarks,  had 
not  then  gone  out  by  all  its  gates,  and  at  repeated  times,  to 
attack  a  formidable  enemy,  have  we  not  a  right  to  believe 
that  this  enemy  would  have  profited  by  the  inaction  of  the 
Christian  nations,  and  that  he  would  have  surprised  them 
amidst  their  divisions,  and  subdued  them  one  after  another  ?  * 
Which  of  us  does  not  tremble  with  horror  at  thinking  that 
France,  Germany,  England,  and  Italy  might  have  experienced 
the  fate  of  Greece  and  Palestine  "i 

We  have  said,  when  commencing  our  history,  that  the 
crusades  offered  the  spectacle  of  a  sanguinary  and  terrible 
struggle  between  two  religions  which  contended  for  the  em- 
pire of  the  world  ;  the  victory  to  belong  to  that  one  of  these 
two  religions  which  would  inspire  its  disciples  and  defenders 
with  the  most  generous  sentiments,  and  which,  favouring 
among  them  the  progress  of  civilization,  would  give  them 
the  greater  force  and  power  to  defend  their  territories  and 
assure  their  conquests. 

*  The  best  answer  to  this  is,  that  the  too  widely  extended  Mussulman 
power  was  as  much  split  into  sections  by  discord  and  ambition  as  Europe 
was.  At  the  time  of  the  first  crusade  there  was  no  dread  of  invasion 
from  the  East ;  and  the  invasion  of  the  Christians  produced  unanimity 
in  defence  of  Mahomedanism. — Trans. 


346  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

In  this  formidable  struggle,  the  true  means  of  defence 
consisted  in  superiority  of  knowledge  and  of  social  qualities. 
As  long  as  the  ignorance  of  barbarism  reigned  over  the 
nations  of  the  West  as  well  as  over  those  of  Asia,  victory 
continued  uncertain  ;  perhaps  even  the  greater  strength  was 
then  on  the  side  of  the  more  barbarous  people,  for  they  were 
already  possessed  of  all  the  conditions  of  their  political  exist- 
ence. But  when  the  dawn  of  civilization  rose  over  Europe, 
she  became  aware  of  her  own  security,  and  her  enemies  be- 
gan to  be  sensible  of  fear. 

The  Mussulman  religion,  by  its  doctrine  of  fatalism,  ap- 
peared to  interdict  all  foresight  to  its  disciples,  and  in  days 
of  mischance  contained  nothing  to  revive  the  courage  of  its 
warriors.  The  Christians,  on  the  contrary,  lost  none  of 
their  faculties  in  reverses  :  reverses  often  even  redoubled  their 
energy  and  activity.  What  is  most  astonishing  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  crusades,  is  to  observe  that  the  defeats  of  the 
Christians  in  Asia,  excited,  among  the  warlike  populations  of 
Europe,  much  more  enthusiasm  than  their  victories.  The 
preachers  of  the  holy  wars,  to  persuade  Christian  warriors 
to  take  up  arms  against  the  infidels,  said  nothing  of  the 
glory  and  the  power  of  Jerusalem  ;  but  endeavoured,  in 
their  pathetic  lamentations,  to  exaggerate  the  perils,  the 
misfortunes,  and  the  decline  of  the  Christian  colonies. 

"We  see  by  this  what  advantage  Christianity  had  over  the 
worship  of  Mahomet,  in  the  war  between  the  East  and  the 
West. 

Another  vice  of  the  Koran  is,  that  it  has  a  tendency  to 
isolate  men ;  which  is  injurious  to  the  development  of  their 
social  qualities.  Under  the  empire  of  Islamism,  there  is 
nothing  strong  but  despotism  ;  but  the  strength  of  despotism 
*s,  almost  always,  nothing  but  the  weakness  of  the  nation 
it  rules  over.  The  Christian  religion  has  another  aim,  when 
it  says  to  its  disciples,  Love  one  another  as  brothers.  One  of 
its  most  admirable  characteristics  is  the  spirit  of  sociability 
with  which  it  inspires  men.  By  all  its  maxims,  it  orders 
them  to  unite,  to  help  one  another,  to  enlighten  one  another. 
It  thus  doubles  their  strength,  by  placing  them  constantly 
in  community  of  labours  and  dangers,  fears  and  hopes,  opi- 
nions and  feelings.  It  was  this  spirit  of  sociability  which 
gave  birth  to  the  crusades,  and  sustained  them  during  two 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CHUSAHBS.  347 

centuries.  If  this  spirit  was  unable  to  assure  success,  it  at 
.east  prepared  the  Christian  republic,  at  a  later  period,  to 
defend  itself  with  advantage.  It  made  the  nations  of 
Europe  like  fasces  that  cannot  be  broken.  It  created,  in 
the  midst  of  d.sorders  even,  a  moral  force  which  nothing 
could  conquer ;  and  Christianity,  defended  by  this  moral 
fo^ce,  was  at  length  able  to  say  to  the  barbarians,  roasters  of 
Constantinople,  that  which  God  said  to  the  waves  of  the 
sea  :    You  shall  go  no  further. 

Thus  Christianity,  and  the  heroic  virtues  with  which  it 
inspired  its  disciples,  were,  in  the  middle  ages,  an  invincible 
buckler  for  Christian  Europe.  When  the  enthusiasm  for 
crusades  beyond  the  seas  began  to  die  away,  the  heads  of 
the  Church  still  invoked  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  to  animate 
the  nations  against  the  Mussulmans,  on  the  point  of  invad- 
ing Germany  and  Italy  ;  and,  still  holding  up  to  Christian 
warriors  the  cross  of  Christ,  sometimes  succeeded  in  awaken- 
ing iu  hearts  sentiments  of  a  religious  and  patriotic  heroism. 
It  cannot  then  be  denied  that  the  crusades  contributed  to 
save  European  societies  from  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians  ; 
and  this  was,  without  doubt,  the  first  and  greatest  of  the 
advantages  which  humanity  derived  from  them. 

Here  I  am,  then,  arrived  at  the  termination  of  my  labour. 
To  resume  my  opinions  and  render  a  last  homage  to  truth, 
I  must  say,  that,  among  the  results  of  the  crusades,  there 
are  some  which  appear  incontestable,  others  which  cannot 
be  determined  with  precision.  I  ought  to  add,  that  many 
circumstances  concurred  with  the  civil  wars  in  assisting  the 
progress  of  knowledge  and  civilization.  Nothing  can  be 
more  complicated  than  the  springs  which  set  modern  so- 
cieties in  motion ;  and  he  who  would  desire  to  explain  the 
march  of  things  by  one  single  cause,  must  fall  into  great 
error.  The  same  events  do  not  produce  always  or  every- 
where similar  effects ;  as  may  be  seen  by  the  picture  we 
have  traced  of  Europe  in  the  middle  ages.  The  holy  wars 
assisted,  in  Erance,  in  abasing  the  great  vassals,  whilst 
feudal  power  received  scarcely  any  injury  from  it  in  Ger- 
many and  other  countries.  During  this  period  so.  le  states 
were  enlarged,  others  marched  rapidly  towards  their  fall. 
Among  some  nations,  liberty  took  deep  root,  and  presided 
over  y  3ung  institutions  ;  among  others,  the  power  of  princes 


848  HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

was  elevated,  at  times  freeing  itself  from  all  restraints,  at 
others,  being  limited  by  wise  laws.  Here  nourished  com- 
merce, the  arts  and  sciences ;  elsewhere  industry  made  no 
progress,  and  the  human  mind  remained  immersei  in  dark- 
Bess.  The  germs  of  civilization,  in  the  times  of  the  crusades, 
were  like  those  seeds  which  the  storm  carries  with  it,  and 
scatters,  some  in  barren  places,  where  they  remain  unknown 
and  unproductive ;  others,  upon  propitious  land,  where,  the 
action  of  the  sun,  a  happy  temperature,  and  the  fecundity 
of  the  soil,  favour  their  development,  and  cause  them  to 
bear  good  fruits. 

Every  age  has  its  dominant  opinions ;  and  when  these 
opinions  are  connected  with  great  events,  they  leave  their 
impress  upon  the  institutions  of  societies.  Other  events, 
other  opinions  come,  in  their  turn,  to  give  a  new  direction 
to  human  affairs,  and  to  modify,  ameliorate,  or  corrupt  the 
morals  and  the  laws  of  nations.  Thus,  the  political  world 
is  unceasingly  renewed;  by  turns,  disturbed  by  violent 
shocks,  and  ruled  by  generally-spread  truths  or  errors.  If, 
in  the  future,  societies  assume  still  another  new  face,  there 
is  no  doubt  their  institutions  will,  one  day,  be  explained  by 
the  influence  of  the  revolutions  we  have  seen,  as  we  now 
explain  the  institutions  of  times  past,  by  the  influence  of 
the  crusades.  May  posterity  gather  and  preserve  the  fruit 
of  our  misfortunes,  better  than  we  ourselves  have  gathered 
and  preserved  the  fruit  of  the  experience  and  of  the  misfor- 
tunes of  our  fathers  !* 

*  It  is  somewhat  remarkable,  that  in  this  very  interesting  summary, 
Michaud  makes  no  mention  of  the  exact  sciences.  We  are  genera  Jy  sup- 
posed to  be  indebted  to  the  Arabians  for  great  Improvement,  if  not  for 
entire  knowledge  of  mathematics  ;  and  although  that  knowledge  may  have 
come  to  us  through  Spain,  we  cannot  think  mention  of  the  circumstance 
irould  have  been  out  of  its  place  here. — Trans. 

See  Supplementary  Chapter,  at  page  549. 


APPENDIX, 


No.  1.— Page  2,  Vol  I. 

In  the  third  and  fourth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  pj« 
grimages  to  the  Holy  Land  became  so  frequent,  that  they  led 
to  many  abuses.  St.  Augustine,  Serm.  3,  de  Martyr.  Verb., 
expresses  himself  thus  :  "  Dominus  non  dixit,  Vade  in  Orientem 
et  quaere  justitiam :  naviga  usque  ad  Occidentem,  ut  accipias 
indulgentiam."  The  same  saint  says  elsewhere,  Serm.  1,  de 
Verb.  Apost.  Petri  ad  Christum  :  "  Noli  longa  itinera  meditari ; 
ubi  credis,  ubi  venis  ;  ad  eum  enim,  qui  ubique  est,  amando 
venitur,  non  navigando."  St.  Gregory  of  Nyssus,  in  a  letter 
which  bears  for  title,  "  De  Euntibus  Hierosolymam,"  speaks 
with  still  greater  vehemence  against  pilgrimages :  he  thinks 
that  women,  in  particular,  would  meet  on  their  route  with  fre- 
quent opportunities  for  sinning ;  that  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  were  not  in  one  place  more  than  another ;  he  censures 
bitterly  the  morals  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  who  com- 
mitted the  greatest  crimes,  although  they  had  constantly  before 
their  eyes  Calvary  and  all  the  places  visited  by  pilgrims.  St. 
Jerome  endeavoured  to  divert  St.  Paulinus  from  the  pilgrimage 
to  Jerusalem,  by  a  letter  which  is  still  preserved :  "  De  Hiero- 
solymis,"  said  he,  "  et  de  Britannia  equaliter  patet  aula  coelestis." 
He  added,  that  an  innumerable  crowd  of  saints  and  doctors 
enjoyed  eternal  life  without  ever  having  seen  Jerusalem  ;  that 
from  the  reign  of  Hadrian  to  that  of  Constantine,  an  image  of 
Jupiter  received  the  adorations  of  the  pagans  upon  the  rock  of 
Calvary,  and  that  fervent  worship  was  paid  to  Venus  and  Adonis 
within  the  walls  of  Bethlehem. 

"We  add  an  extract  from  the  pilgrimage  of  St.  Eusebius  of 
Cremona,  and  his  friend  St.  Jerome,  taken  from  a  notice,  written 
by  Francis  Ferrarius,  vol.  i.  of  the  Bollandists,  of  the  month  of 
April,  p.  276. 


350  APPENDIX. 

"  (A.D.  390—423.)  According  to  St.  Jerome,  St.  Eusebiua 
was  born  at  Cremona,  of  distinguished  parents,  who  spared 
neither  pains  nor  expense  for  his  education.  They  were  rewarded 
by  the  rapid  progress  of  their  son  in  knowledge,  but  particularly 
by  the  rare  virtues  which  he  showed  from  his  earliest  childhood. 
Solely  occupied  with  religious  ideas,  Eusebius,  when  still  youngs 
abandoned  his  parents,  his  country,  and  all  the  advantages 
which  his  birth  and  wealth  promised  him,  to  go  to  Rome,  and 
visit  the  sacred  monuments  contained  in  that  city.  Very  soon 
becoming  united  in  a  strict  friendship  with  St.  Jerome,  who 
dwelt  in  Rome,  Eusebius  determined  to  accompany  him  in  a 
voyage  which  the  latter  intended  to  make  to  Jerusalem. 

"  Having  embarked,  they  visited  the  isle  of  Cyprus  in  their  pas- 
sage, passed  through  Antioch,  where  they  were  received  by  St. 
Paulinus,  who  was  bishop  of  that  city,*  and  arrived  safely  at  Jeru- 
salem. After  having  performed  their  devotions  in  the  spots  sanc- 
tified with  the  presence  of  Christ,  they  visited  Bethlehem,  Calvary, 
Mount  of  Olives,  and  Mount  Tabor,  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  the 
castle  of  Emmaiis,  and  extended  their  pilgrimage  as  far  as  Egypt, 
to  witness  the  fasts  and  austerities  to  which  the  pious  solitaries 
of  the  Thebais  abandoned  themselves.  Returning  into  Judsea,  the 
city  of  Bethlehem  particularly  fixed  their  attention,  and  they 
resolved  to  found  a  monastery  there,  which  was  soon  filled  with 
religious  men  disposed  to  follow  the  rules  established  by  St. 
Jerome  himself.  But  the  crowd  of  pilgrims  becoming  daily  more 
considerable,  and  not  knowing  how  to  feed  and  lodge  them,  the 
two  friends  were  obliged  to  return  to  Italy,  to  sell  the  property 
they  had  there,  which  they  destined  for  these  pious  purposes. 
St.  Jerome,  compelled  by  his  affairs  to  go  to  Rome,  there  met 
with  St.  Paulina,  descended  from  the  ancient  family  of  the 
Gracchi.  This  lady,  learning  the  project  that  had  brought  him 
into  Italy,  determined  to  follow  his  example  :  she  abandoned  her 
fortune,  her  country,  and  her  children,  and  accompanied  him  to 
Bethlehem,  where  she  founded  a  monastery  for  maidens,  which 
she  governed  herself  to  the  time  of  her  death.  St.  Jerome, 
after  having  employed  the  large  sums  he  brought  back  in  the 
construction  of"  an  hospital  for  pilgrims,  terminated  his  pious 
career  at  Bethlehem,  at  an  advanced  age.  Eusebius,  who  was 
named  abbot  after  the  death  of  his  friend,  only  survived  him 
two  years.  Deeply  regretted  by  his  monks,  of  whom  he  had 
constantly  been  the  benefactor  and  the  father,  he  was  interred, 
according  to  his  desire,  with  St.  Jerome,  close  to  the  stable  in 

*  Although  we  cannot  pretend  to  be  perfectly  acquainted  with  all  the 
saints  of  these  ages,  we  think  this  may  be  the  same  Paulinus  who  had  been 
bishop  of  Nola,  and  who,  if  not  the  first  inventor  of  bells,  was  the  first 
who  applied  them  to  sacred  purposes. — Trans. 


APPENDIX.  351 

which  the  Saviour  was  born.  Thus  were  united  in  the  tomb,  as 
they  had  been  in  life,  and  as  they  are,  without  doubt,  in  heaven; 
where  their  virtues  have  placed  them,  two  men  who  renounced 
all  they  held  most  dear  to  strengthen  the  faith  of  the  faithful, 
aud  to  become  in  a  distant  country  the  consolers  of  the  unfor- 
tunate." 


No.  2.— Page  3,  Vol.1. 
The  Itinerary  from  Bordeaux  to  Jerusalem,. 

Although  we  do  not  think  it  necessary,  at  this  time  of  day,  to 
give,  as  Mr.  Michaud  has  done,  in  his  "  Pieces  Justificatives," 
the  whole  of  this  celebrated  Itinerary,*  with  remarks  upon  the 
places  passed  through  or  by ;  we  think  we  shall  gratify  the 
praiseworthy  curiosity  of  many  of  our  readers  by  so  far  present- 
ing the  details,  as  to  show  the  route  by  which  early  pilgrims  tra- 
velled to  the  Holy  Land. 

This  Itinerary  is  deemed  by  learned  men  the  most  exact  and 
correct  that  has  come  down  to  modern  times  ;  it  was  printed  for 
the  first  time,  in  1588,  by  the  care  of  the  celebrated  Pierre 
Pithon,  from  a  manuscript  upon  vellum  in  his  own  library  \  and 
which,  when  M.  Michaud  wrote  this  history,  was  in  the  Imperial 
Library  at  Paris.  This  Itinerary  was  composed  about  the  year 
333  of  the  Christian  era.  In  fact,  the  author  of  it  informs  us 
that  he  went  from  Constantinople  to  Chalcedon,  and  that  he  re- 
turned to  Constantinople  under  the  consulship  of  Dalmatius  and 
Xenophilus,  who,  we  learn  from  Cassiodorus  and  other  autho- 
rities, were  consuls  together  in  the  year  333.  The  author  was 
a  Christian  of  Bordeaux,  whose  aim,  in  this  work,  was  to  facili- 
tate for  his  compatriots  the  voyage  to  the  Holy  Land,  which  he 
himself  had  performed. 

The  example  of  the  empress  Helena,  and  the  magnificence 
with  which  she  had  ornamented  the  humble  spot  which  gave  our 
Saviour  birth,  singularly  excited,  at  this  period,  the  zeal  and 
curiosity  of  Christians  for  such  voyages.  A  passage  from  the 
Psalms,  badly  interpreted  in  the  Greek,  was  considered  as  a  pro- 
phecy, and  a,  commandment  to  all  the  faithful  to  visit  the  holy 
places.     In  the  Psalms  was  read:  "Let  us  adore  the  Lord,  in 

*  M.  Michaud  says,  we  must  consider  this  Itinerary  as  the  first  account 
of  the  voyage  to  the  Holy  Land  that  we  are  in  possession  of. 

Bordeaux,  at  the  time  of  the  pilgrims'  departure,  was  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal cities  of  the  Gauls.  It  is  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Garonne,  in 
the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and  is  strongly  associated  with  Em  lish  history,  aa 
having  been  for  a  long  time  the  residence  of  the  Black  Prince,  and  the 
birth-place  of  the  unfortunate  Richard  II. — TRANS. 


352  '  appe:nt>ix. 

the  spot  where  his  feet  were  placed,"  and  the  bishops  of  that 
time  unceasingly  repeated  :  "  The  psalmist  has  prophesied,  an  J 
has  said  ;  Let  us  adore  the  Lord  on  the  spot  where  his  feet  were 
placed."  This  is  in  the  132nd  Psalm,  and  Jerome,  Eusebius, 
and  others  did  not  understand  it  otherwise  ;  the  Vulgate  trans- 
lates it:  Adorabimus  in  loco  ubi  steterunt  pedes  ejus ;  but  the 
Hebrew  only  says,  We  will  prostrate  ourselves  before  thy  fooU 
ttool,  that  is  to  say,  before  the  holy  ark  ;  and  this  is  the  version 
ir.  the  English. 

On  leaving  this  famous  city,  our  pilgrim  directed  his  course 
towards  Thoulouse,  passing  by  Aucli — from  Thoulouse  to  Nar- 
bonne,  passing  by  Carcassonne — and  from  Narbonne  to  Aries, 
passing  by  Beziers  and  Nimes.  Aries  was  then  a  city  of  great 
note,  being  called  the  Little  Rome  of  the  Gauls.  He  continues 
his  route  towards  Italy,  and  after  having  passed  through  the 
cities  of  Avignon,  Orange,  Valence,  Die,  Gap,  and  Embrun,  he 
arrives  at  the  foot  of  the  Cottian  Alps  (Alpes  Cottise)  ;  at 
Briancon  he  begins  to  climb  Mount  Genevre,  and  soon  finds 
himself  at  Susa  in  Italy.  He  afterwards  enters  Turin,  follows 
the  Po,  traverses  the  beautiful  plains  of  Piedmont,  which  are 
north  of  that  river,  till  he  gains  Pavia  ;  he  re-ascends  towards 
the  north,  and  arrives  at  Milan,  then  the  city  of  Italy  second 
only  to  Rome.  Continuing  his  route  towards  the  East,  the  pil- 
grim passes  through  Bergamo,  Brescia,  Verona,  Vicenza,  and 
arrives  at  Aquileia,  then  a  great  city,  but  afterwards  destroyed 
by  Attila.  He  then  ascends  the  Julian  Alps,  which  separate 
Friuli  from  Carniola.  He  arrives  at  JEmona  (Laybaek),  and  at 
twenty-three  miles  beyond  that  place,  marks  the  limits  of  Italy 
and  Norica ;  which  limits  were  at  that  time  the  boundaries  of 
the  Western  and  the  Eastern  empires. 

Our  pilgrim,  after  quitting  the  vicariat  of  Italy,  or  the  ancient 
Cisalpine  Gaul,  enters  the  diocese  of  Illyria,  goes  on  to  Cilley, 
and  reaches  the  city  of  Petau,  in  modern  Styria.  Crossing  the 
river  Drave,  he  enters  Lower,  or  Second  Pannonia  ;  but  continues 
to  follow  the  northern  banks  of  the  Drave,  or  the  southern  fron- 
tiers of  modern  Hungary,  and  traversing  Pannonia  Superior,  he 
directs  his  course  to  the  south,  and  gains  the  banks  of  the  Save 
at  Cibalis,  which  was  placed  where  now  the  modern  village  of 
Svilai  stands,  to  the  east  of  Brod.  Proceeding  towards  the 
East,  he  enters  Sirmium,  then  one  of  the  most  considerable 
cities  of  the  Eastern  empire,  but  of  which  there  are  now  scarcely 
any  vestiges.  At  a  short  distance  from  Sirmium  our  pilgrim 
comes  to  the  confluence  of  the  Save  and  the  Danube,  at  Singi- 
dunum,  where  Belgrade  is  at  present,  which  city,  he  informs  us, 
terminates  Pannonia  Superior.  Crossing  the  Save,  he  finds  him- 
self in  Mcesia,  now  Servia,  and  follows  the  course  of  the  Danube. 


APPENDIX.  oJ3 

At  Viminacium,  now  in  ruins,  near  Vi-Palanka  and  Earn,  our 
pilgrim  does  not  neglect  to  remark  that  it  was  at  this  place 
Diocletian  killed  Carinus,  which  agrees  with  the  account  cf 
Eutropius  of  this  event.  After  leaving  the  banks  of  the  Danube 
at  Viminacium,  he  directs  his  course  towards  the  south-east, 
following  the  Koman  way,  which  deviates  little  from  the  banks' 
of  the  Morava,  and  at  about  fifty  miles  before  he  comes  to  Nissa, 
he  points  co  a  station  called  Mansio  Oromago,  as  the  limits  cf 
Mccsia  and  Dacia ;  but  which  we  must  observe  is  the  Daeia  of 
Aurelian,  and  not  that  of  Trajau,  of  which  he  speaks.  After 
having  traversed  Nissa  into  Servia,  he  arrives  at  the  city  of 
Sardica,  whose  ruins  are  now  to  be  seen  near  Sophia,  or  Tri- 
aditza.  Continuing  to  follow  the  same  route,  which  is  that  of 
the  present  day,  from  Belgrade  to  Constantinople,  he  sets  down 
the  limits  between  Dacia  and  Thrace,  just  beyoud  the  Mutatio 
Senclo.  FromPhilippopolis,  or  Felibra,  our  pilgrim  journeys  to 
Heraclia,  now  Erekil,  on  the  coast  of  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  and, 
at  length  to  Constantinople.  From  Constantinople,  says  our 
traveller,  you  cross  the  Bosphorus,  you  arrive  at  Chalcedon,  and 
go  through  Bithynia.  At  Libyssa,  near  Gebyzeh,  on  the  coast 
of  the  Propontis,  our  pilgrim  remarks,  is  the  tomb  of  Hannibal ; 
which  is  confirmed  by  Pliny,  Plutarch,  Eusebius,  &c.  Tourne- 
fort  and  Belo,  among  the  moderns,  say  they  have  seen  the  tomb 
in  this  place.  After  arriving  in  Nicomedia  (Isuikmid),  our  pil- 
grim continues  his  route,  and  passing  through  Nice  (Isnik) 
marks  near  Ceratse  the  limits  of  Bithynia  and  Galatia.  Then 
On  to  Anryra,  near  Angora — then  to  Andrapa,  where  he  places 
the  limits  of  Galatia  and  Cappadocia.  Proceeding  still  towards 
the  south-east,  into  the  Karismania  of  the  moderns,  he  gains 
Tvana,  which  he  tells  us  is  the  country  of  the  magician  Apol- 
lonius.  Next  is  a  place  called  Pilas,  and  soon  after  Tarsus, 
which  he  does  not  fail  to  tell  us  is  the  country  of  the  apostle 
Paul.  He  then  enters  Cilicia  Secunda,  which  formed  one  of  the 
divisions  of  the  empire  of  the  East.  At  nine  miles  beyond 
Alexandria  (or  Scanderoun)  he  marks  the  limits  of  Cilicia  and 
Syria,  and  arrives  at  length  at  the  city  of  Antioch  (Antakia). 
Our  traveller  then  continues  his  route  along  the  Roman  way 
which  ran  along  the  const  of  Syria,  and  at  Balnea  (Belnia), 
indicates  the  limits  of  Syria  and  Phoenicia.  On  passing  by  a 
small  place  called  Antaradus  (Centre- Aradus),  which  is  the 
Tortosa  of  the  time  of  the  crusades,  he  takes  care  to  observe 
that  the  city  of  Aradus  itself  is  only  *  wo  miles  from  the  coast. 
This  powerful  city  was  built  in  the  little  island  called  Euad  by 
the  moderns  Our  traveller  crosses  Tripolis  (Taraboles),  then 
Berytus  (Berouth),  and  arrives  at  Sidona  (Saide).  Next  to 
Tyre  (now  the  little  village  of  Sour) ;  thence  to  Ptolemais  (St. 
Vol.  III. — 1G 


354  APPESDIX. 

Jean  d'Acre),  and  at  Sycamenes  he  finds  himself  at  the  fcot 
of  Mount  Carmel.  At  eight  miles  from  that  place  he  indicates 
the  confines  of  Syria  and  Palestine,  and  arrives  at  Caesarea 
(Qaiaarieh).  On  leaving-  Caesarea,  our  pilgrim  quits  the  direct 
road  that  leads  to  Jerusalem,  In  order  the  better  to  fulfil  the 
object  of  his  voyage,  and  visit  Palestine,  he  directs  his  course  to 
the  East,  towards  the  revered  waters  of  the  Jordan.  After  in- 
terrupting his  Itinerary  to  make  several  Biblical  remarks,  he 
proceeds  to  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  at  a  place  called  Scythopolis 
or  Bethsan,  named  by  the  moderns  Bisan  ;  then  going  after- 
wards to  the  south  of  the  side  of  Jerusalem,  he  passes  Aser, 
"  in  which  was  the  house  of  Job,"  and  at  fifteen  miles  thence 
enters  Neapolis  or  Sichem,  the  Naboles  of  the  moderns.  Here 
he  ceases  to  follow  any  direct  route,  but  visits  every  place  that 
the  Old  or  New  Testament  has  rendered  memorable  ;  and  gives 
an  account  of  them  in  his  journey  from  Neapolis  to  Jerusalem. 
After  seeing  everything  that  could  attract  the  attention  of  a 
pious  and  well-informed  Christian,  he  returns  to  Jerusalem,  and 
resumes  his  Itinerary  with  as  much  exactness  as  at  first.  As  his 
homeward  journey  begins  by  the  same  route  he  arrived,  we  will 
join  company  with  him  at  Erekil,  on  the  coast  of  Marmora,  where 
he  begins  to  deviate.  He  proceeds  to  the  south  of  Mount 
Rhodope,  the  Despeto-dag  of  the  moderns  ;  he  passes  through 
the  city  of  Apris,  which,  after  Theodosius,  took  the  name  of 
Theodosiopolis.  At  a  short  distance  from  Apris,  our  pilgrim  in- 
dicates the  limits  of  the  province  of  Europa,  and  that  of  Hho- 
dope.  To  understand  this,  we  must  remember  that  at  the  period 
at  which  the  Aquitain  pilgrim  wrote,  the  diocese  of  Thrace  was 
divided  into  six  provinces,  amongst  which  were  those  of  Europa 
and  E-hodope  ;  the  cities  of  Constantinople,  Heraclea,  and  Apris 
were  in  the  province  of  Europa.  Our  pilgrim  reaches  Trajano- 
polis,  which  the  Turks  call  Orichovo,  and  keeping  to  the  west, 
through  Macedonia,  or  the  Romania  of  the  moderns,  and 
along  the  northern  shores  of  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  and  of  the 
Archipelago,  he  points  out,  near  a  place  called  Pardis,  the  bound- 
ary of  the  provinces  of  Ehodope  and  Macedon — he  crosses  Nea- 
polis,  now  Cavale,  and  Philippi,  which  is  in  ruins.  Shortly 
afterwards  he  visits  the  celebrated  Amphipolis  on  the  Strymon, 
the  ruins  of  which  are  now  near  a  little  village  called  Jeni-Keni. 
Twenty  miles  farther  our  pilgrim  contemplates  the  tomb  of  the 
poet  Euripides,  at  a  station  named  Arethusa,  situated  in  a  valley 
of  the  same  name.  He  passes  by  Thessalonica  (Saloniki),  which 
is  still  one  of  the  most  considerable  cities  of  these  countries. 
He  arrives  at  Pella,  the  celebrated  capital  of  Macedon,  which 
presents  nothing  at  the  present  day  but  ruins,  known  by  the 
name  of  Palatise,  or  the  Palaces.     Our  pilgrim  does  not  omit  to 


APi^NDlT.  355 

show  his  erudition  by  remarking  that  Alexander  the  Great  was 
of  this  city — civitas  Pelli,  wide  fait  Alexander  Magnus  Macedo 
Here  the  pilgrim,  directing  his  course  towards  the  north-west, 
follows  the  famous  Egnatian  way,  constructed  by  the  Romans 
through  Macedon.  This  way  passes  to  Edessa,  to  Heraclea  in 
Macedon,  and  there,  discontinuing  its  northward  direction,  it 
goes  straight  to  the  west  to  Dyrrachium ;  but  one  branch  of 
this  way,  before  arriving  at  Dyrrachium,  now  Durazzo,  re-de- 
scends towards  Apollonia,  now  in  ruins  under  the  name  of  Polina  ; 
and  it  was  this  last  that  the  pilgrim  took.  At  thirty-three  miles 
from  Heraclea,  near  a  station  called  Brucida,  he  points  out  the 
limits  of  Macedon  and  Epirus,  two  provinces  which  were  then 
only  subdivisions  of  the  great  diocese  of  Macedon.  At  twenty- 
four  miles  from  Apollonia,  the  Aquitain  traveller  gains  the  coast 
at  Aulona  (Valena),  at  a  place  where  Epirus,  or  the  coast  of 
Albania  of  the  moderns,  comes  nearest  to  Italy.  He  then  crosses 
the  strait  between  Aulona  and  Hydruntum,  near  Otranto. 
Upon  his  arrival  in  Italy,  our  pilgrim  goes  to  Brindisi,  and 
afterwards  takes  the  Appian  way,  of  all  the  ways  the  best  and 
the  most  frequented.  It  led  him  first  to  Capua.  From  Capua 
he  continues,  by  the  same  way,  to  Borne,  crossing  the  Pontine 
marshes.  He  quits  Home,  and  follows  the  Flaminian  way,  which 
crosses  the  Apennines,  and  which  leads  out  at  Ariminum  (Rimini), 
by  Spoleto,  Fano,  and  Pesaro. 

From  Rimini  our  pilgrim  takes  the  Emilian  way,  which  traced 
and  still  does  trace  a  straight  line ;  and  traversing  Bologna, 
Modena,  Parma,  and  Placentia,  he  arrives  at  last  at  Mediolanum 
(Milan) ;  from  whence  he  returns  to  Bordeaux  by  the  same 
route  he  took  at  starting. 


No.  3.— Page  25,  Vol.  I. 

There  is  so  much  sameness,  accompanied  by  such  incredible 
marvels,  in  the  numerous  pilgrimages  described  by  M.  Michaud, 
that  we  are  certain  our  readers  will  willingly  dispense  with  them. 
The  incident  which  he  promises  to  give  of  Foulque,  count  of 
Anjou,  is  this : — "  Then  the  count  approached  to  kiss  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  and  then  the  divine  clemency  showed  that  the  gooa 
zeal  of  the  count  was  acceptable,  for  the  stone,  which  is  hard  and 
solid,  at  the  kiss  of  the  count  became  soft  and  flexible  as  was 
warmed  at  the  fire.  The  count  bit  it,  and  took  away  a  large  piece 
in  his  mouth,  without  the  infidels  perceiving  it ;  and  he  then, 
quite  at  his  ease,  visited  the  other  holy  places." 

There  is,  indeed,  another  incident  to  which  we  fear  M.  Micnaud 
alludes ;  but  as  the  amusement  or  instruction  it  could  afford  would 
not  compensate  for  its  indecency,  we  do  not  give  it 


356  APPENDIX. 


No.  *.—Page  53,  Vol.  I. 

Among  the  chroniclers  who  give  an  account  Oi'  this  very 
memorable  event,  one  of  the  most  esteemed  is  William  of 
Malmesbury,  a  monk  of  the  order  of  St.  Bennet.  From  his 
learning  he  was  called  the  Librarian,  and  his  particular  study- 
was  history.  He  lived  in  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  century. 
Our  author  having  transferred  the  spirit  of  all  the  chronicles  to 
his  text,  we  deem  it  quite  unnecessary  to  offer  the  whole  that  he 
has  quoted  from  them  in  his  Pieces  Jicstijicatives ;  but  there  is  a 
curious  passage  of  William  of  Malmesbury,  which  shows  the 
character  of  the  writer  and  his  times,  that  we  shall  not  hesitate 
to  give. 

Having  said  that,  after  the  council,  every  one  retired  to  his 
home,  he  continues  thus  : — "Immediately  the  fame  of  this  great 
event  being  spread  through  the  universe,  penetrated  the  minds 
of  Christians  with  its  mild  breath,  and  wherever  it  blew,  there 
was  no  nation,  however  distant  or  obscure  it  might  be,  that  did 
not  send  some  of  its  people.  This  zeal  not  only  animated  the  pro- 
vinces bordering  on  the  Mediterranean,  but  all  who  had  ever 
even  heard  of  the  name  of  a  Christian  in  the  most  remote  isles, 
and  among  barbarous  nations.  Then  the  Welshman  abandoned 
his  forests  and  neglected  his  hunting  ;  the  Scotchman  deserted 
the  fleas  with  which  he  is  so  familiar ;  the  Dane  ceased  to  swallow 
his  intoxicating  draughts  ;  and  the  Norican  turned  his  back  upon 
his  raw  fish.*  The  fields  were  left  by  the  cultivators,  and  the 
houses  by  their  inhabitants  ;  all  the  cities  were  deserted.  People 
were  restrained  neither  by  the  ties  of  blood  nor  the  love  of 
country ;  they  saw  nothing  but  God.  All  that  was  in  the 
granaries  or  destined  for  food,  was  left  under  the  guardianship  of 
the  greedy  agriculturist.  The  voyage  to  Jerusalem  was  the  only 
thing  hoped  for  or  thought  of.  Joy  animated  the  hearts  of  aU 
who  set  out ;  grief  dwelt  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  remained. 
Why  do  I  say,  of  those  who  remained  ?  You  might  have  seen 
the  husband  setting  forth  with  his  wife,  with  all  his  family  ;  you 

*  Our  readers  will  judge,  by  two  or  three  humorous  traits  in  this  de- 
scription, that  our  monk  of  Malmesbury  had  no  objection  to  a  joke.  The 
national  characteristics  here  mentioned  are  curious,  as  proving  how  long 
our  northern  Mends  have  been  jeered  at  for  their  scratching  propensities, 
and  that  the  love  of  drinking  was  peculiar  to  the  Dane  before  it  waa 
reprobated  by  Hamlet : — 

"  This  heavy-headed  revel,  east  and  west, 
Makes  us  traduced,  and  taxed  of  other  nations  : 
They  clepe  us  drunkards,  and  with  swinish  phrase 
Soil  our  addition" 


APPENDIX.  357 

would  have  laughed  to  see  all  the  penates  put  in  motion  an« 
.oaded  upon  cars.  The  road  was  too  narrow  for  the  passengers, 
more  room  was  wanted  for  the  travellers,  so  great  and  numeroul 
was  the  crowd." 


No.  h.—T-ige  8%  Vol.  I. 
Robert  of  Normandy. 

Robert  had,  before  the  crusades,  long  and  serious  quarrels 
with  his  father,  William  II.  of  Normandy  and  I.  of  England. 
In  1080,  he  quitted  his  country  and  sought  the  protection  of  his 
uncles,  Robert,  count  of  Flanders,  Udo,  archbishop  of  Treves, 
and  several  other  princes  of  the  houses  of  Lorraine,  Germany, 
Aquitain,  and  Gascony.  He  made  his  complaints  to  them, 
mingling  falsehood  with  truth,  and  received  great  assistance 
from  them  But  he  squandered  their  gifts  among  actors,  para- 
sites, and  courtezans.  He  was  so  prodigal  that  he  soon  became 
straitened  again,  and  was  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  usurers. 
"  Every  one,"  says  the  chronicler  Orderic  Vital,  "  knew  Duke 
Robert  for  an  indolent,  weak  prince.  So  the  ill-intentioned, 
despising  him,  took  advantage  of  his  character  to  excite  trouble 
and  factions.  The  duke  was  bold,  valiant,  worthy  of  praise  in 
many  respects,  and  naturally  eloquent ;  but  he  was  inconsi- 
derate, prodigal  in  his  bounty,  free  of  promises,  light  and  im- 
prudent in  his  falsehoods,  allowing  himself  to  be  easily  prevailed 
upon  by  prayers ;  mild  in  character  and  slow  to  punish  crime ; 
changeable  in  his  decisions,  too  familiar  in  his  conversation,  and  by 
that  means  drawing  upon  himself  the  contempt  of  the  ill-disposed. 
He  was  stout,  and  short  of  stature,  whence  his  father  named  him 
Courte-Heuse.  He  was  anxious  to  please  everybody,  and  gave, 
or  promised,  or  granted,  all  that  was  asked  of  him.  Prodigal  of 
his  patrimony,  he  diminished  it  daily  by  giving  imprudently  to 
every  one  what  be  desired.  Thus  he  became  poor,  and  furnished 
others  with  means  to  act  against  him."  When  the  first  crusade 
took  place,  Normandy,  ill-governed  by  such  a  prince,  was  in  the 
most  deplorable  condition.  Duke  Robert,  in  fear  of  the  greatest 
evils,  saw  no  better  means  of  avoiding  them,  than  by  pledging 
his  duchy  with  his  brother  William  Rufus,  for  five  years,  for  the 
sum  of  ten  thousand  marks,  and  setting  out  for  Jerusalem. 
With  his  exploits  in  the  Holy  Land  our  readers  are  acquainted. 
In  the  year  1100,  Robert,  on  his  return  from  Palestine,  landed 
in  Apulia,  where  he  fell  in  love  with  Sibylla,  daughter  of  Geoffrey 
of  Conversana,  nephew  of  Duke  Guiscard.  He  married  her,  and 
took  her  into  Normandy,  obtaining  from  his  father-in-law  the 
means  of  redeening  his  duchy.     He  lived  there  eight  years* 


358  APPENDIX. 

much  in  the  same  fashion  as  before  his  pilgrimage.  At  the  end 
of  that  period,  and  in  consequence  of  events  foreign  to  our  object, 
he  was  made  prisoner  at  Tinchebray  in  Normandy,  by  his  brother 
Henry,  who  carried  him  to  London,  where  he  remained  confined 
twenty  seven  ye**-^  but  always  living  amidst  the  enjoymenta 
of  life. 


No.  6. 

OrJ"/;le,rxigne. 

Whilst  searching  the  Chronicles  for  passages  illustrative  of 
our  work,  we  met  with  a  portrait  of  Charlemagne  so  exceedingly 
interesting,  that  although  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  crusades, 
we  cannot  refrain  from  presenting  it  to  our  readers,  begging 
them  to  remember  that  Charlemagne  was  considered,  even  in 
Asia,  as  the  most  powerful  prince  of  Europe. 

"  Charlemagne,  who  attained  the  highest  degree  of  celebrity 
and  glory,  of  a  scrupulous  and  profound  piety,  was  well  informed 
in  letters  and  philosophy,  was  the  avenger  and  ardent  propagator 
of  the  Christian  religion,  and  the  defender  and  supporter  of 
justice  and  truth.  Charlemagne's  face  was  very  white  (at  the 
time  he  was  crowned  by  the  pope,  Leo),  his  countenance  was 
cheerful,  and  whether  standing  or  sitting,  his  carriage  was  equally 
majestic.  Although  his  neck  was  thick  and  rather  short,  and  his 
belly  too  protuberant,  all  his  limbs  were  well  proportioned.  On 
days  of  festivity  he  wore  a  mantle  of  gold  tissue,  and  a  chaussure 
ornamented  with  precious  stones.  His  sagum,  or  cloak,  was 
fastened  with  a  golden  clasp,  and  his  diadem  was  enriched  with 
gold  and  jewels.  Towards  the  end  of  his  career,  he  was  seized, 
on  his  return  from  Spain,  with  a  fever,  which  lasted  four  years, 
and  rendered  him  lame.  He  followed  rather  his  own  inclinations 
than  the  advice  of  his  physicians,  for  whom  he  had  a  kind  of 
aversion,  because  they  wished  him  to  abstain  from  roast  meat,  of 
which  he  was  very  fond,  and  to  accustom  himself  to  live  on  boiled 
meats.  Charles  was  called  great  on  account  of  his  great  good 
fortune,  in  which  he  was  not  inferior  to  his  father,  but  was,  on 
the  contrary,  more  frequently  a  conqueror  and  more  illustrious. 
In  his  youth  his  hair  was  brown,  and  his  complexion  ruddy ;  he 
was  handsome,  and  had  much  dignity  in  his  carriage ;  he  was 
very  generous,  very  equitable  in  his  judgments,  eloquent,  and 
very  well  informed.  He  enjoyed  every  day  the  sports  of  the 
chase  and  the  exercise  of  riding  on  horseback  ;  he  was  exceedingly 
fond  of  tepid  baths,  to  which  he  invited  not  only  his  children  but 
the  lords  of  his  court  his  friends,  and  his  guards,  so  that  there 
were  often  more  than  a  hundred  persons  in  the  bath  witli  him 


APPENDIX.  359 

He  was  moderate  in  his  eating,  and  still  more  so  in  his  drinking  ,* 
nevertheless  he  often  complained  that  fasts  were  injurious  to  him. 
He  rarely  gave  great  banquets,  except  upon  solemn  occasions. 
There  were,  ordinarily,  not  more  than  four  dishes  on  his  table, 
besides  the  roast  meat  which  he  so  greatly  preferred.  Whilst 
he  ate,  a  person  read  to  him  histories  and  accounts  of  the  actions 
cf  the  ancients,  or  else  the  book  of  the  City  of  God,  by  Saint 
Augustine,  for  which  he  had  a  great  predilection.  During  the 
repast  he  never  drank  more  than  three  times.  In  summer,  ho 
took  fruit  after  dinner,  and  slept  two  or  three  hours,  undressed 
as  if  at  night.  His  dress  was  that  of  the  Franks,  and  he  con- 
stantly wore  a  sword  ;  the  sword-belt  and  baldric  being  of  gold 
or  silver.  Sometimes  he  wore  two  swords.  He  spoke  several 
languages.  He  had  around  him  doctors  of  the  seven  liberal  arts, 
who  instructed  him  daily ;  that  is  to  say,  a  deacon  of  Pisa,  in 
grammar  ;  a  Saxon,  in  rhetoric,  dialectics,  and  astronomy  ;  and 
Albin,  surnamed  Alouin,  in  the  other  arts.  He  himself  made 
some  reforms  in  the  art  of  reading  and  in  that  of  singing, 
although  he  never  read  in  public  aloud,  and  never  sang  but  with 
the  choir.  He  caused  all  the  laws  of  his  kingdom  to  be  written, 
that  were  not  so  before.  He  himself  wrote  the  actions  and  the 
wars  of  the  ancients,  and  began  a  grammar  of  the  language  ot 
his  country.  He  had  every  night  a  hundred  and  twenty  guards 
around  his  bed.  Ten  were  placed  at  his  head,  ten  at  his  feet, 
and  ten  on  each  side  of  him,  and  each  of  these  forty  held  a  naked 
«word  in  one  hand  and  a  lighted  torch  in  the  other." 


No.  7.— Page  227,  Vol.  I. 
The  Chronicle  of  Tours. 

We  think  it  our  duty  to  give  here  the  passage  from  Albert 
d'Aix  in  its  entirety,  which  contains  the  motives  for  the  sentence 
of  death  pronounced  by  the  leaders  of  the  Christian  army  against 
the  Mussulmans  found  in  Jerusalem.  At  the  end  is  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  massacres  which  followed  the  taking  of  the  city.  For 
all  who  wish  to  appreciate  the  spirit  of  the  times,  this  document 
is  important. 

"  Jerusalem  civitas  Dei  excelsi,  ut  universi  nostis,  magna  dif- 
ficultate,  et  non  sine  damno  nostrorum,  recuperata,  propriis 
filiis  hodie  restituta  est,  et  liberata  de  manu  regis  Babylonia 
jugoque  Turcorum.  Sed  modo  cavendum  est,  ne  avaritia,  aut 
pigritia  vel  misericordia  erga  inimicos  habita,  hanc  amittamus, 
eaptivis  et  adhuc  residuis  in  urbe  gentilibus,  parcentes.  Nam  si 
ibrte  a  rege  Babylonia?  in  multitudine  gravi  occupati  fuimus. 


36C  APPENDIX. 

iubito  ab  intus  et  extra  impugn abimur,  sicque  in  perpetutoM 
exilium  transportabimur.  Unde  priratim  et  fi  lele  nobis  videtul 
consilium,  quatenus  universi  Saraceni  et  Q-entJiles,  qui  eaptivi 
tenentur,  pecunia  redimendi,  aut  redempti,  sine  dilatione  in 
gladio  corruant,  ne  fraude  aut  ingenio  illorum  nobis  aliqua 
occurrant  adversa.  Consilio  hoc  accepto,  tertlo  die  post  victo- 
riam  egressa  est  sententia  a  majoribus ;  et  ecce  universi  arma 
rapiunt,  et  miserabili  ca?di  in  omne  vulgus  gentilium,  quod 
adhuc  erat  residuum,  exagunt,  alios  producentes  a  vinculis, 
et  decollantes ;  alios  per  vicos  et  plateas  civitatis  inventos 
truciclantes,  quibus  antea  pecuniae  causa,  aut  humana  pietate 
pepercerant.  Puellis  tenellis  detruncabant,  aut  lapidibus  obrue- 
bant,  in  nulli«  aliquam  considerantes  setatem.  E  contra  pu- 
ellse,  mulieres,  matronae,  metu  momentaneae  mortis  angustatae 
^t  horrere  gravissimse  necis  concussae,  Cliristianos,  in  jugulum 
utriusque  sexus  debaccbantes  ac  saevientes,  medios  pro  liberanda 
vita  amplexabantur,  qua3dam  pedibus  eorum  advolvebantur,  de 
vita  et  salute  sua  illos  mirum  miserando  fletu  et  ejulatu  sollici- 
tantes.  Pueri  vero  quinquennes  aut  triennes  matrum  patrum- 
que  crudelem  casum  intuentes,  una  miserum  clamorem  et  fletum 
multiplicabant ;  sed  frustra  haec  pietatis  et  misericordiae  signa 
fiebant.  Nam  Christiani  sic  neci  totum  laxaverunt  animum,  ut 
non  sugens  masculus  aut  fcemina,  nedum  infans  unius  anni 
vivens  manum  percussoris  evaderet.  Unde  plateas  totius  civitatis 
Jerusalem,  corporibus  extinctis  virorum,  mulierum,  lacerisque 
membris  infantium  adeo  stratee  et  opertae  fuisse  referuntur,  ut 
non  solum  in  vicis,  soliis,  et  palatiis,  sed  etiam  in  locis  desertse 
solitudinis,  copia  occisorum  reperiebatur  innumerabilis." — Alb. 
Aq.  lib.  6,  cap.  30,  ap.  Bong.  pp.  282,  283. 


No.  8. 


Letter  from  Bohemond,  Godfrey,  Raymond,  and  Hugh  the  Great,  upon  th$ 
Peace  concluded  with  the  Emperor,  and  the  Victory  gained  over  the 
Infidels  (anno  1097,  ex  Manuscript.  St.  Albani). 

Bohemond,  son  of  Guiscard ;  Raymond,  count  of  St.  Gilles ; 
Duke  Godfrey,  and  Hugh  the  Great ;  to  all  of  the  sect  of  the 
Catholic  faith :  may  they  attain  the  eternal  felicity  which  we 
wish  them. 

In  order  that  the  peace  concluded  between  us  and  the  em- 
peror, as  well  as  the  events  that  have  happened  to  us  since  we 
have  been  in  the  lands  of  the  Saracens,  be  known  to  all  the 
world,  we  despatch  to  you,  very  dear  brethren,  an  envov,  who 
will  inform  you  of  all  it  can  interest  you  to  know.     We  have  to 


APPENDIX.  361 

tell  you,  that  in  the  month  of  May,  the  emperor  promised  ul 
that  from  that  time,  pilgrims  who  came  from  the  West  to  visit 
the  Holy  Sepulchre,  should  be  protected  from  all  insults  on  the 
iands  of  his  dominions  ;  pronouncing  pain  of  death  against  who- 
ever should  transgress  against  his  orders,  and  giving  us  at  the 
same  time,  as  hostages,  his  son-in-law  and  his  nephew,  as  gua- 
rantees of  his  word.  But  let  us  return  to  events  more  capable 
of  interesting  you.  At  the  end  of  the  same  month  of  May,  we 
gave  battle  to  the  Turks,  and,  by  the  grace  of  God,  we  con- 
quered them.  Thirty  thousand  were  left  upon  the  field  of  battle. 
Our  loss  amounted  to  three  thousand  men,  who,  by  that  glorious 
death,  have  acquired  felicity  without  end.  It  is  impossible  to 
value  correctly  the  immense  quantity  of  gold  and  silver,  as  well 
as  precious  vestments  and  arms,  that  fell  into  our  hands ;  Nice, 
a  city  of  importance,  with  the  forts  and  castles  which  surround 
it,  immediately  surrendered.  We  likewise  fought  a  bloody  battle 
in  Antioch  ;  sixty-nine  thousand  infidels  were  killed  in  the  place, 
whilst  only  ten  thousand  of  us  had  the  good  fortune  to  obtain 
eternal  life  upon  this  occasion.  Never  was  a  joy  equal  to  that 
which  animates  us,  beheld ;  for,  whether  we  live,  or  whether  we 
die,  we  belong  to  the  Lord.  On  this  subject  learn  that  the  king 
of  Persia  has  sent  us  a  message,  by  which  he  warns  us  of  his 
intention  of  giving  us  battle  towards  the  festival  of  All-Saints. 
If  he  should  prove  the  conqueror,  his  design  is,  he  says,  with 
the  help  of  the  king  of  Babylon  and  many  other  infidel  princes, 
to  make  incessant  war  upon  the  Christians  ;  but  if  he  should  be 
conquered,  he  will  be  baptized  with  all  those  he  can  persuade  to 
follow  his  example.  We  beg  you,  then,  very  dear  brethren,  tc 
redouble  your  fasts  and  your  alms,  particularly  the  third  daj 
before  the  festival,  which  will  be  on  a  Friday,  the  day  of  triumph 
of  Jesus  Christ,  in  which  we  shall  fight  with  much  more  hope  of 
success,  by  preparing  ourselves  by  prayers  and  other  acts  of 
devotion. 

P.S.  —  I,  bishop  of  Grenoble,*  send  these  letters,  which 
kave  been  brought  to  me,  to  you  archbishops  and  canons  of  the 
church  of  Tours,  in  order  that  they  may  be  known  by  all  those 
who  will  repair  to  the  festival,  and  by  those  of  the  different 
parts  of  the  earth  into  which  they  shall  return  ;  and  that  some 
may  favour  this  holy  enterprise  by  alms  and  prayers,  whilst 
others,  taking  up  arms,  will  hasten  to  take  a  part  in  it. 

*  This  was  St.  Hugh,  consecrated  in  the  year  1081,  by  Pope  Gre- 
gory VII.,  the  same  who,  a  short  time  after,  received  St.  Bruno  and  his 
companions,  and  gave  them  the  solitude  of  the  Chartreuse,  to  found  a  nw 
order  there.     The  church  of  Tcurs  was  then  governed  by  Rodolph  II. 

16* 


362  APPENDIX. 


No.  9. 


Letter  from  Daimhert,  Archbishop  of  Pisa,  Godfrey  oj  Bouillon  and 
Raymond,  Count  of  St.  Gil''*.  They  announce  the  Victories  gained  by 
the  Christian  Armies  in  th.  Jloly  Land  (anno  1100,  ex  Manuscript. 
Signiensis  Monasterii). 

I,  archbishop  of  Pisa,  and  the  other  bishops  ;  Godfrey,  by  the 
grace  of  God  now  defender  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  all  the 
army  of  the  Lord,  at  present  in  the  land  of  Israel,  to  our  holy 
father  the  pope,  to  the  Romish  Church,  to  all  bishops,  and  to  all 
Christians,  health  and  benediction  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

God  has  manifested  his  mercy  by  accomplishing  by  means  of 
us,  that  which  he  promised  in  ancient  times.  After  the  taking 
of  Nice,  our  army,  three  hundred  thousand  men  strong,  covered 
the  whole  of  Eomania.  The  Saracen  princes  and  kings  having 
risen  up  against  us,  with  the  help  of  God  were  easily  conquered 
and  annihilated  ;  but  as  some  of  us  became  vain-glorious  upon 
these  advantages,  the  Lord,  to  prove  us,  opposed  Antioch  to  us, 
a  city  against  which  human  efforts  could  do  nothing,  which 
stopped  us  nine  months,  and  the  resistance  of  which  so  humbled 
our  pride,  that  it  compelled  us  to  have  recourse  to  penitence. 
God.  touched  by  our  repentance,  allowed  a  ray  of  his  divine 
mercy  to  shine  upon  us,  introduced  us  into  the  city,  and  gave 
the  Turks  with  all  their  possessions  up  to  us. 

In  our  ingratitude,  having  a  second  time  imputed  this  success 
to  our  own  courage,  and  not  to  the  Omnipotent  who  had  caused 
us  to  obtain  it,  he  permitted,  for  our  chastisement,  that  an  innu- 
merable multitude  of  Saracens  should  come  and  besiege  us,  so 
that  nobody  durst  go  out  of  the  city ;  we  were  soon  given  up  to 
so  cruel  a  famine,  that  some  of  us,  in  their  despair,  did  not 
appear  averse  to  nourishing  themselves  upon  h  iman  flesh.  It 
would  be  too  long  to  make  the  recital  of  all  we  suffered  in  this 
respect.  At  length  the  anger  of  the  Lord  became  appeased,  and 
he  so  inflamed  the  courage  of  our  warriors,  that  even  they  who 
were  weakened  by  disease  and  famine  took  up  arms  and  fought 
valiantly.  The  enemy  was  conquered ;  and  as  our  army  was 
fruitlessly  consuming  itself  within  the  walls  of  Antioch,  we 
entered  Syria,  and  took  from  the  Saracens  the  cities  of  Barra 
and  Marra,  as  well  as  several  castles  and  strong  places.  A  hor- 
rible famine  wh\,  ih  assailed  our  army  here,  placed  us  under  the 
cruel  necessity  o'  feeding  upon  the  dead  bodies  of  the  Saracens, 
already  in  a  state  of  putrefaction.  Happily,  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  aided  us  again,  and  opened  to  us  the  gates  of  the  cities  and 
fortresses  of  the  countries  we  passed  through.     At  our  approach, 


APPENDIX.  363 

tfcey  hastened  to  send  us  messengers  loaded  with  rrovisions  and 
presents  ;  they  offered  to  surrender  and  accept  the  laws  we  might 
please  to  dictate  ;  but  as  Ave  were  few  in  number,  and  as  the 
general  desire  of  the  army  was  to  march  to  Jerusalem,  we  con- 
tinued our  route,  after  having  required  hostages  of  the  cities, 
the  smallest  of  which  contained  more  inhabitants  than  we  had 
soldiers. 

The  news  of  these  advantages  induced  a  great  number  of  our 
people  who  had  remained  at  Antioch  and  Laodicea,  to  join  us  at 
Tyre,  so  that,  under  the  all-powerful  aegis  of  the  Lord,  we  arrived 
at  Jerusalem.  Our  troops  suffered  much  in  the  siege  of  this 
place  from  the  want  of  water.  The  council  of  war  being  assem- 
bled, the  bishops  and  principal  leaders  ordered  that  the  army 
should  make  a  procession  barefooted  around  the  city,  in  order 
that  He  who  formerly  humiliated  himself  for  us,  touched  by  our 
humility,  might  open  the  gates  to  us,  and  give  up  his  enemies  to 
our  anger.  The  Lord,  appeased  by  our  action,  gave  up  Jeru- 
salem to  us  eight  days  atYerwards,  precisely  at  the  period  at 
which  the  Apostles  composing  the  primitive  Church  separated  to 
spread  themselves  over  the  different  parts  of  the  earth,  an  epoch 
which  is  celebrated  as  a  festival  by  a  great  number  of  the  faithful. 
If  you  desire  to  know  what  we  did  to  the  enemies  we  found  in 
the  city,  learn  that  in  the  portico  of  Solomon,  and  in  the  temple, 
our  horses  walked  up  to  their  knees  in  the  impure  blood  of  the 
Saracens.  We  already  marked  out  those  who  were  to  guard  the 
place,  and  we  had  already  granted  to  those  whom  a  love  of 
country  or  a  desire  to  see  their  families  again  recalled  into 
Europe,  permission  to  return  thither,  when  we  were  informed 
that  the  king  of  Babylon  was  at  Ascalon,  with  an  innumerable 
army,  announcing  haughtily  his  project  of  leading  away  into 
captivity  the  Franks  who  guarded  Jerusalem,  and  then  rendering 
himself  master  of  Antioch.  It  was  thus  he  spoke  ;  but  the  God 
of  heaven  had  ordained  otherwise.  This  news  being  confirmed 
to  us,  we  marched  to  meet  the  Babylonians,  after  leaving  in  the 
mty  our  wounded  and  our  baggage,  with  a  sufficient  garrison. 
The  two  armies  being  in  presence  of  each  other,  we  bent  our 
knees,  and  invoked  in  our  favour  the  God  of  armies,  that  it 
might  please  Him,  in  His  justice,  to  annihilate  by  our  hands  the 
power  of  the  Saracens  and  that  of  the  demon,  and  by  that  means 
extend  his  Church  and  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  from  one  sea 
to  the  other.  God  granted  our  prayers,  and  gave  us  such  courage 
that  those  who  could  have  seen  us  rush  upon  the  enemy,  would 
have  taken  us  for  a  herd  of  deer  going  to  quench  the  thirst  that 
devours  them  in  a  clear  fountain  which  they  perceive.  Our  army 
consisted  o£  little  more  than  five  thousand  horsemen  and  fifteen 
thousand  foot ;  the  enemy,  on  the  contrary,  had  more  than  a 


364  APPENDIX. 

hundred  thousand  horse  and  forty  thousand  foot  sexliers.  Bui 
God  manifested  his  power  in  favour  of  his  servants.  Ox.x  first 
charge  alone  put  to  night,  even  without  fighting,  this  immense 
multitude.  It  might  be  said  they  feared  to  offer  the  least 
resistance,  and  that  they  had  not  arras  upon  which  they  could 
depend  to  defend  themselves  with.  All  the  treasures  of  the  king 
of  Babylon  fell  into  our  hands.  More  than  a  hundred  thousand 
Saracens  fell  beneath  our  swords  ;  a  great  number  were  drowned 
in  the  sea,  and  fear  was  so  strong  upon  them,  that  two  thousand 
were  stifled  in  the  gates  of  Ascalon,  by  pressing  to  get  in. 

If  our  soldiers  had  not  been  occupied  in  pillaging  the  camp  of 
the  enemies,  scarcely,  of  such  a  number,  enough  would  have 
escaped  to  announce  their  defeat.  We  cannot  pass  by  in  silence 
a  very  extraordinary  event.  On  the  day  before  that  of  the 
battle,  we  took  possession  of  several  thousands  of  camels,  oxen, 
and  sheep.  The  leaders  commanded  the  soldiers  to  leave  them, 
in  order  to  march  towards  the  enemy.  A  wonderful  thing  to 
relate,  these  animals  accompanied  us  still,  stopping  when  we 
stopped,  advancing  when  we  advanced ;  the  clouds  even  sheltered 
us  from  the  ardour  of  the  sun,  and  the  zephyrs  blew  to  refresh 
us.  We  offered  up  thanks  to  the  Lord  for  the  victory  he  had 
enabled  us  to  gain,  and  we  returned  to  Jerusalem.  The  count 
of  St.  Gilles,  Robert  duke  of  Normandy,  and  Robert  count  of 
Flanders,  left  Duke  Godfrey  there,  and  came  back  to  Laodicea. 
A  perfect  concord  having  been  reestablished  between  Bohemond 
and  our  leaders  by  the  archbishop  of  Pisa,  the  Count  Raymond 
prepared  to  return  to  Jerusalem  for  the  service  of  God  and  his 
brethren.  In  consequence  we  wish  for  you,  heads  of  the  Catholic 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  first  of  the  Latin  people  ;  and  you 
all,  bishops,  clerks,  monks,  and  laymen,  that  in  favour  of  the 
courage  and  admirable  piety  of  your  brethren,  it  may  please  the 
Lord  to  pour  his  blessings  upon  you,  to  grant  you  the  entire 
remission  of  your  sins,  and  to  make  you  sit  at  the  right  hand  of 
God,  who  lives  and  reigns  with  the  Father  in  the  unity  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  from  all  eternity.     So  be  it. 

We  pray  you  and  supplicate  you  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
who  was  always  with  us,  and  who  has  preserved  us  through  all 
our  tribulations,  to  show  gratitude  towards  our  brethren  who 
return  to  you,  to  do  them  kindness,  and  pay  them  that  which 
you  owe  them,  in  order  by  that  means  to  render  yourselves 
agreeable  to  the  Lord,  and  to  obtain  a  put  in  the  favours  thej 
have  merited  from  divine  goodness. 


APPENDIX.  365 


No.  10, 


fatter  of   the  principal   Crvjsaders  <?   rope    Urba-x.      'See  Fou*cher  <* 
Chartres,  pages  394,  395,  of  i\i  Collection  of  Bongars.) 

We  are  all  desirous  that  you  sliould  know  how  great  the  mercy 
of  God  has  been  towards  us,  and  by  what  all-powerful  help  we 
have  taken  Antioch ;  how  the  Turks,  who  had  loaded  with  out- 
rages our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  have  been  conquered  and  put  to 
death,  and  how  we  have  avenged  the  injuries  done  to  our  God  ; 
how  we  have  at  last  been  besieged  by  the  Turks  from  Corasan, 
Jerusalem,  Damascus,  and  many  other  countries  ;  and  how  at 
length,  by  the  protection  of  Heaven,  we  have  been  delivered 
from  a  great  danger. 

When  we  had  taken  Nice,  we  routed,  as  you  have  learnt,  a 
great  multitude  of  Turks  who  came  out  against  us.  We  beat 
the  great  Soliman  (Kilidge-Arslan),  we  made  a  considerable 
booty,  and  being  masters  of  all  Homania,  we  laid  siege  to  An- 
tioch. We  suffered  much  in  this  siege,  both  on  the  part  of  the 
Turks  shut  up  in  the  city,  and  on  the  part  of  those  who  came  to 
succour  the  besieged.  At  length,  the  Turks  being  conquered  in 
all  the  battles,  the  cause  of  the  Christian  religion  triumphed  in 
the  following  manner.  I,  Bohemond  {ego  Bohemundus),  after 
having  made  an  agreement  with  a  certain  Saracen,  who  agreed 
to  give  up  the  city  to  me,  I  applied  ladders  to  the  walls  towards 
the  end  of  the  night,  and  we  thus  made  ourselves  masters  of  the 
place  which  had  so  long  resisted  Jesus  Christ.  We  killed  Accien, 
the  governor  of  Antioch,  with  a  great  number  of  his  people,  and 
we  had  in  our  power  their  wives,  their  children,  their  families, 
and  all  that  they  possessed.  We  could  not,  however,  get  pos- 
session of  the  citadel ;  and  when  we  were  about  to  attack  it,  we 
saw  an  infinite  number  of  Turks  arrive,  whose  approach  had  been 
announced  to  us  for  some  time  ;  we  saw  them  spread  over  the 
country,  covering  all  the  plains.  They  besieged  us  on  the  third 
day  ;  more  than  a  hundred  of  them  penetrated  to  the  citadel,  and 
threatened  to  invade  the  city  from  within. 

As  we  were  placed  upon  a  hill  opposite  to  that  on  which  the 
fort  stood,  we  guarded  the  road  which  led  into  the  city,  and 
forced  the  infidels,  after  several  combats,  to  reenter  the  citadel. 
As  they  saw  they  could  not  execute  their  project,  they  sur- 
rounded the  place  in  such  a  manner  that  all  communication  was  cut 
off;  at  which  we  were  greatly  afflicted  and  desolated.  Pressed 
by  hunger  and  all  sorts  of  miseries,  many  among  us  killed  their 
horses  and  their  asses  which  they  brought  with  them,  and  ate 
them ;  but  at  last  the  mercy  of  God  came  to  our  assistance  ;  the 


3GG  APPENDIX. 

apostle  Andrew  revealed  to  a  servant  of  God  the  place  m  which 
the  lance  was  with  which  Longinus  pierced  the  side  of  the  Saviour. 
We  found  this  holy  lance  in  the  church  of  the  apostle  Peter. 
This  discovery,  and  several  other  divine  revelations,  restored  our 
strength  and  courage  to  such  a  degree,  that  those  who  were  full 
of  despair  and  fright  became  full  of  ardour  and  audacity,  and 
exhorted  each  other  to  the  fight.  After  having  been  besieged 
during  three  weeks  and  four  days,  on  the  day  of  the  festival  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  full  of  confidence  in  God,  having  con- 
fessed all  our  sins,  we  marched  out  of  the  city  in  order  of  battle. 
We  were  in  such  small  numbers,  in  comparison  with  the  army  of 
the  Saracens,  that  the  latter  might  well  believe  we  meant  to  fly, 
instead  of  to  provoke  them  to  fight.  Having  made  our  dispo- 
sitions, we  attacked  the  enemy  wherever  they  appeared  in  force. 
Aided  by  the  divine  lance,  we  put  them  at  once  to  flight.  The 
Saracens,  according  to  their  custom,  began  to  disperse  on  all 
sides,  occupying  the  hills  and  roads,  with  the  design  of  surround- 
ing us  and  destroying  the  whole  Christian  army ;  but  we  had 
learnt  their  tactics.  By  the  grace  and  mercy  of  God,  we  suc- 
ceeded in  making  them  unite  at  one  point,  and  when  they  were 
united,  the  right  hand  of  God  fought  with  us ;  we  forced  them 
to  fly  and  abandon  their  camp,  with  all  that  -was  in  it.  After 
having  conquered  them  and  pursued  them  the  whole  day,  we 
returned  full  of  joy  into  Antioch.  The  citadel  surrendered  ;  the 
commander  and  most  of  his  people  being  converted  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  Thus  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  beheld  all  the  city  of 
Antioch  restored  to  his  law  and  his  religion  ;  but  as  something 
sorrowful  is  always  mixed  with  the  joys  of  this  world,  the  bishop 
of  Puy,  whom  you  gave  us  for  your  apostolic  vicar,  died  after  the 
conquest  of  the  city,  and  after  a  war  in  which  he  had  gained  much 
glory.  Now  your  children,  deprived  of  the  father  you  gave  them, 
address  themselves  to  you  who  are  their  spiritual  father.  We 
pray  you,  you  who  have  opened  to  us  the  way  we  are  following, 
you,  who  by  your  discourses  have  made  us  quit  our  homes  and 
all  we  held  dearest  in  our  own  countries,  who  have  made  us  take 
the  cross  to  follow  Jesus  Christ  and  glorify  his  name,  we  conjure 
you  to  complete  your  work  by  coming  into  the  midst  of  us,  and 
by  bringing  with  you  all  you  can  bring.  It  was  in  the  city  of 
Antioch  that  the  name  of  Christian  took  its  origin  ;  for  when 
St.  Peter  was  installed  in  that  church  which  we  see  every  day, 
those  who  had  called  themselves  Galileans  named  themselves 
Christians.  What  can  be  more  just  or  more  suitable  than  to  see 
him  who  is  the  head  of  the  Church  come  to  this  city,  which  may 
be  regarded  as  the  capital  of  Christendom  ?  Come,  then,  and 
help  us  to  finish  a  war  which  is  yours.  We  have  conquered  the 
Turks  and  the  Pagans ;  we  cannot  in  the  same  way  combat  heretics, 


APPENDIX.  367 

Greeks,  Armenians,  Syrians,  and  Jacobites ;  we  conjure  you  to 
do  so ;  we  conjure  you,  holy  Father,  with  earnestness.  You, 
who  are  the  father  of  the  faithful,  come  amongst  your  children  ; 
you,  who  are  the  vicar  of  St.  Peter,  come  and  take  your  seat  in 
his  church ;  come  and  mould  our  hearts  to  submission  and 
obedience  ;  come  and  destroy  by  your  supreme  and  sole  authority 
all  kinds  of  heresies ;  come  and  lead  us  in  the  road  you  have 
marked  out  for  us,  and  open  to  us  the  gates  of  the  one  and  the 
other  Jerusalem ;  come,  and  with  us  deliver  the  tomb  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  make  the  name  of  Christian  prevail  over  all  other 
names.  If  you  yield  to  our  wishes,  if  you  come  amongst  us, 
every  one  will  obey  you.  May  He  who  reigns  in  all  ages  bring 
you  amongst  us,  and  make  you  sensible  to  our  prayers.     Amen. 


No.  11. 


Council  of  Naplouse,  held  by  the  Authority  of  Garamond,  Patriarch  q) 
Jerusalem,  to  reform  the  Morals  of  the  Christians  of  Palestine,  in  the 
Presence  of  Baldwin,, King  of  Jerusalem,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1120, 
in  the  Pontificate  of  Calixtus  II. 

This  is  the  manner  in  which  William  of  Tyre,  book  xii.  of  the 
Holy  War,  chap.  xiii.  relates  summarily  the  cause  and  the  acts 
of  the  council. 

The  same  year,  that  is  to  say  the  year  1120  of  the  incarna- 
tion of  the  Word,  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  being  tormented, 
on  account  of  its  sins,  with  many  troubles,  and  in  addition  to 
the  calamities  inflicted  by  their  enemies,  a  multitude  of  locusts 
and  gnawing  rats  destroying  the  harvests  to  such  a  degree  that 
it  was  feared  bread  would  be  wanting ;  the  seigneur  Garamond, 
patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  a  man  religious  and  fearing  God ;  the 
king  Baldwin,  the  prelates  of  the  churches,  and  the  great  men 
of  the  kingdom,  repaired  to  Naplouse,  a  small  city  of  Samaria, 
and  held  a  public  assembly  and  a  general  court.  In  a  sermon 
addressed  to  the  people,  it  was  said,  that  as  it  appeared  plain  that 
it  was  the  sins  of  the  people  which  had  provoked  the  Lord,  it  was 
necessary  to  da\iberate  in  common  upon  the  means  of  correcting 
and  repressing  excesses,  in  order  that,  returning  to  a  better  life. 
and  worthily  satisfying  for  their  remitted  sins,  the  people  might 
render  themselves  acceptable  to  Him  who  desireth  not  the  death 
J)f  a  sinner,  but  rather  that  he  should  turn  from  his  wickedness 
and  live.  Terrified,  then,  by  the  menacing  signs  of  Heaven,  by 
frequent  earthquakes,  by  successive  defeats,  by  the  pangs  of 
famine,  by  perfidious  and  daily  attacks  of  their  enemies  ;  seeking 
to  win  back  the  Lord  by  works  of  piety,  they  have,  to  rcstort 


368  APPENDIX. 

and  preserve  discipline  in  morals,  decreed  twenty-five  acts,  which 
shall  have  the  force  of  laws.  If  any  one  be  desirous  of  reading 
them,  they  will  be  easily  found  in  the  archives  of  many  churches. 

Present  at  this  council,  Garamond,  patriach  of  Jerusalem ; 
the  logician  Baldwin,  second  king  of  the  Latins ;  Ekmar,  arch- 
bishop of  Caesarea  ;  Bernard,  bishop  of  Nazareth  ;  the  bishop  of 
Liddes  ;  Gildon,  abbot  elect  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Valley  of  Je- 
hoshaphat ;  Peter,  abbot  of  Mount  Tabor ;  Achard,  prior  of 
Mount  Sion  ;  Payen,  chancellor  of  the  king;  Eustace  Granier; 
William  de  Buret ;  Batisan,  constable  of  Jaffa ;  and  many 
others  of  the  two  orders,  of  whom  we  forget  the  number  and  the 
names. 

"  The  synod,"  says  Baronius,  "  towards  the  end  of  1120  suc- 
ceeded in  effecting  such  a  reformation  in  morals,  that  by  the 
mercy  of  Heaven,  in  the  following  year,  1121,  the  leader  of  the 
Turks,  coming  against  Antioch  with  considerable  strength,  was 
struck  with  apoplexy  and  died." 

Chap.  1. — As  it  is  necessary  that  things  which  commence  by 
God  should  finish  in  him  and  by  him,  with  the  intention  of 
beginning  this  holy  council  and  terminating  it  by  the  Lord,  I, 
Baldwin,  second  king  of  the  Latins  at  Jerusalem,  opening  this 
holy  assembly  by  God,  I  render  and  I  grant,  as  I  have  ordered, 
to  the  holy  Church  of  Jerusalem,  and  to  the  patriarch  here  pre- 
sent, Garamond,  as  well  as  to  his  successors,  the  tenths  of  all 
my  revenues,  as  far  as  concerns  the  extent  of  this  diocese ;  that 
is  to  say,  the  tenths  of  my  revenues  of  Jerusalem,  Naplouse,  and 
Ptolemais,  which  is  further  called  Accon.  They  are  the  benefits 
of  my  royal  munificence,  in  order  that  the  patriarch,  charged 
with  the  duty  of  praying  the  Lord  for  the  welfare  of  the  state, 
may  have  wherewithal  to  subsist  on.  And  if,  one  day,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  progress  of  the  Christian  religion,  he,  or  one  of 
his  successors,  should  ordain  a  bishop  in  one  of  these  cities,  he 
may  dispose  of  the  tenths  as  well  for  the  king  as  for  the  Church. 

Chap.  2. — I,  Bohemond,  in  the  presence  of  the  members  of 
this  council,  with  the  consent  of  the  personages  of  the  assembly 
and  of  my  barons,  who  will  do  the  same  by  their  tenths,  according 
to  the  extent  of  their  ecclesiastical  powers,  I  make  restitution  of 
the  tenths,  as  I  have  said ;  and  agreeing  with  them  as  to  the 
injustice  with  which  they  and  I  have  retained  them,  I  ask  pardon. 

Chap.  3. — I,  Patriarch  Garamond,  on  the  part  of  the  ill- 
powerful  God,  by  my  power  and  that  of  all  the  bishops  and 
brethren  here  present,  I  absolve  you  upon  the  said  restitution  of 
the  tenths,  and  I  accept  charitably  with  them  the  tenths  you 
acknowledge  to  owe  to  God,  to  me,  and  to  your  other  bishops, 
according  to  the  extent  of  the  benefices  of  the  brethren  presen* 
or  absent. 


APPENDIX.  369 

Chap.  4 — If  any  one  fears  being  ill-treated  by  his  wife,  let 
him  go  and  find  him  whom  he  suspects,  and  let  him  forbid  him, 
before  legal  witnesses,  entrance  to  his  house  and  all  colloquy 
with  his  wife.  If,  after  this  prohibition,  he  or  any  one  of  his 
friends  should  find  them  in  colloquy  in  his  house  or  elsewhere, 
let  the  man,  without  any  cutting  off  of  his  members,  be  sub- 
mitted t.v  the  justice  of  the  Church  ;  and  if  he  purges  himself  by 
ardent  fire,  let  him  be  dismissed  unpunished.  But  when  he 
shall  have  undergone  some  disgrace  for  being  surprised  in  col- 
loquy, let  him  be  dismissed  unpunished  and  without  vengeance 
for  having  violated  the  prohibition. 

M.  Michaud  inserts  the  whole  of  these  laws ;  but  we  omit  the 
next  twelve,  as  more  likely  to  create  disgust  than  to  afford 
instruction  or  amusement. 

Chap.  16. — The  male  or  female  Saracen  who  shall  assume  the 
dress  of  the  Franks  shall  belong  to  the  state. 

Chap.  17. — If  any  man,  already  married,  has  married  another 
woman,  he  has,  to  the  first  Sunday  of  Lent  of  our  year,  to  con- 
fess himself  to  the  priest  and  perform  penance ;  afterwards  he 
has  but  to  live  according  to  the  precepts  of  the  Church.  But  if 
he  conceals  his  crime  longer,  his  goods  will  be  confiscated ;  he 
will  be  cut  off  from  society  and  banished  from  this  land. 

Chap.  18. — If  any  man,  without  knowing  it,  marries  the  wife 
of  another,  or  if  a  woman  marries,  without  knowing  it,  a  man 
already  married,  then  let  the  one  that  is  innocent  turn  out  the 
guilty  one,  and  be  in  possession  of  the  right  of  marrying  again. 

Chap.  19. — If  any  man,  wishing  to  get  rid  of  his  wife,  says  he 
has  another,  or  that  he  has  taken  her  during  the  lifetime  of  the 
first,  let  him  submit  to  the  ordeal  of  red-hot  iron,  or  let  him 
bring  before  the  magistrates  of  the  Church,  legal  witnesses,  who 
will  affirm  by  oath  that  it  is  so.  What  is  here  said  of  men  is 
applicable  to  women. 

Chap.  20. — If  a  clerk  take  up  arms  in  his  own  defence,  there 
is  no  harm  in  it ;  but  if,  from  a  love  of  war,  or  to  sacrifice  to 
worldly  interests,  he  renounces  his  condition,  let  him  return  to 
the  Church  within  the  time  granted,  let  him  confess  and  conform 
afterwards  with  the  instructions  of  the  patriarch. 

Chap.  21. — If  a  monk  or  regular  canon  apostatize,  let  him  re- 
turn to  his  order  or  go  back  to  his  country. 

Chap.  22. — Whoever  shall  accuse  another  without  being  able 
to  prove  the  fact,  shall  undergo  the  punishment  due  to  the  crime 
he  has  accused  him  of. 

Chap.  23. — If  any  one  be  convicted  of  robbery  above  the 
value  of  six  sous,  let  him  be  threatened  with  the  loss  of  his  hand, 
his  foot,  or  his  eyes.  If  the  theft  be  below  six  sous,  let  him  be 
marked  with  a  hot  iron  on  the  forehead,  and  be  whipped  through 


370  APPENDIX. 

the  city.  If  the  thing  stolen  be  found,  let  it  be  restored  tc  him 
to  whom  it  belongs.  If  the  thief  has  nothing,  let  his  body  be 
given  up  to  him  he  has  ir.^red.  If  he  repeats  the  offence,  let 
him  be  deprived  of  all  his  members,  and  of  his  life. 

Chap.  24. — If  any  one  under  age  commits  a  theft,  let  him  be 
kept  until  the  King's  court  shall  decide  what  shall  be  done  with 
him. 

Chap.  25. — If  any  baron  surprises  a  man  of  his  own  class  in 
the  act  of  theft,  the  latter  is  not  to  be  subject  to  the  loss  of  his 
members,  but  let  him  be  sent  to  be  judged  in  the  King's  court. 


No.  12. 
Bull  of  Pope  Eugenius  III.  for  the  Second  Crusade. 

We  here  give  a  translation  of  the  bull  of  Eugenius  III., 
published  in  1145,  for  the  second  crusade.  It  is  taken  from 
"  Bullarum  Eomanum  Novissimum,"  the  first  volume. 

"  The  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  his  dear  son  Louis, 
illustrious  and  glorious  king  of  the  Trench,  to  his  dear  sons  the 
princes,  and  to  all  the  faithful  of  the  kingdom  of  France,  health 
and  apostolic  benediction. 

"  We  know  by  the  history  of  times  past,  and  by  the  traditions 
of  our  fathers,  how  many  efforts  our  predecessors  made  for  the 
deliverance  of  the  Church  of  the  East.  Our  predecessor,  Urban, 
of  happy  memory,  sounded  the  evangelic  trumpet,  and  employed 
himself  with  unexampled  zeal,  in  summoning  the  Christian 
nations  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  the  defence  of  the  Holy 
Land.  At  his  voice,  the  brave  and  intrepid  warriors  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Franks,  and  the  Italians,  inflamed  with  a  holy 
ardour,  took  arms,  and  delivered,  at  the  cost  of  their  blood,  the 
city  in  which  our  Saviour  deigned  to  suffer  for  us,  and  which 
contains  the  tomb,  the  monument  of  His  passion.  By  the  grace 
of  God,  and  by  the  zeal  of  our  fathers,  who  defended  Jerusalem, 
and  endeavoured  to  spread  the  Christian  name  in  those  distant 
countries,  the  conquered  cities  of  Asia  have  been  preserved  up  to 
our  days,  and  many  cities  of  the  infidels  have  been  attacked  and 
their  inhabitants  have  become  Christians.  Now,  for  our  sins, 
and  those  of  the  Christian  people  (which  we  cannot  repeat  with- 
out grief  and  lamentation),  the  city  of  Edessa, — which  in  our  own 
language  is  called  Hohas,  and  which,  if  wTe  can  believe  the  his- 
tory of  it,  when  the  East  was  subjected  to  the  Pagan  nations, 
alone  remained  faithful  to  Christianity, — the  city  of  Edessa  is 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemies  of  the  cross. 

"  Several  other  Christian  cities  have  shared  the  same  fate  :  the 


APPENDIX.  371 

archbishop  of  that  city  with  his  clergy,  and  many  other  Christians 
have  been  killed ;  relies  of  saints  have  been  given  up  to  tli6 
insults  of  the  infidels,  and  dispersed.  The  greatest  danger 
threatens  the  Church  of  God  and  all  Christendom.  We  are 
persuaded  that  your  prudence  and  your  zeal  will  be  conspicuous 
on  this  occasion  ;  you  will  show  the  nobleness  of  your  sentiments 
and  the  purity  of  your  faith.  If  the  conquests  made  by  the 
valour  of  the  fathers  are  preserved  by  the  valour  of  the  sons,  I 
hope  you  will  not  allow  it  to  be  believed  that  the  heroism 
of  th?  French  has  degenerated.  We  warn  you,  we  pray  you, 
we  command  you,  to  take  up  the  cross  and  arms.  I  warn  you 
foi  the  remission  of  your  sins, — you  who  are  men  of  God, — 
to  clothe  yourselves  with  power  and  courage,  and  stop  the 
invasions  of  the  infidels,  who  are  rejoicing  at  the  victory  gained 
over  you ;  to  defend  the  Church  of  the  East,  delivered  by  our 
ancestors ;  to  wrest  from  the  hands  of  the  Mussulmans  many 
thousands  of  Christian  prisoners  who  are  now  in  chains.  By 
that  means  the  holiness  of  the  Christian  name  will  increase  in 
the  present  generation,  and  your  valour,  the  reputation  of  which 
i3  spread  throughout  the  universe,  will  not  only  preserve  itself 
without  stain,  but  will  acquire  a  new  splendour.  Take  as  your 
example  that  virtuous  Mattathias,  who,  to  preserve  the  laws  of 
his  ancestors,  did  not  hesitate  to  expose  himself  to  death  with 
his  sons  and  his  family ;  did  not  hesitate  to  abandon  all  he  held 
dear  in  the  world,  and  who,  with  the  help  of  Heaven,  after  a 
thousand  labours,  triumphed  over  his  enemies.  We,  who  watch 
over  the  Church  and  over  you,  with  a  parental  solicitude,  we 
grant  to  those  who  will  devote  themselves  to  this  glorious  enter- 
prise the  privileges  which  our  predecessor  Urban  granted  to  the 
soldiers  of  the  cross.  We  have  likewise  ordered  that  their  wives 
and  their  children,  their  worldly  goods,  and  their  possessions, 
should  be  placed  under  the  safeguard  of  the  Church,  of  the 
archbishops,  the  bishops,  and  the  other  prelates.  We  order,  by 
our  apostolic  authority,  that  those  who  shall  have  taken  the 
cross  shall  be  exempt  from  all  kinds  of  pursuit  on  account  of 
their  property,  until  their  return,  or  until  certain  news  be 
received  of  their  death.  We  order,  besides,  that  the  soldiers  of 
Jesus  Christ  should  abstain  from  wearing  rich  habits,  from  hav- 
ing great  care  in  adorning  their  persons,  and  from  taking  with 
them  dogs  for  the  chase,  falcons,  or  anything  that  may  corrupt 
the  manners  of  the  warriors.  We  warn  them,  in  the  name  of 
the  Most  High,  that  they  should  only  concern  themselves  with 
their  war-horses,  their  arms,  and  everything  that  may  assist 
them  in  contending  with  the  infidels.  The  holy  war  calls  ior  all 
their  efforts,  and  for  all  the  faculties  they  have  in  them ;  they 
who  undertake  the  holy  voyage  with  a  right  and  pure  heart    and 


372  APPENDIX. 

who  shall  have  contracted  debts,  shall  pay  no  interest.  If  they 
themselves,  or  others  for  them,  are  under  obligations  to  pay 
usurious  interest,  we  release  them  from  them  by  our  apostolic 
authority.  If  the  lords  of  whom  they  hold,  will  not,  or  cannot 
iend  them  the  money  necessary,  they  shall  be  allowed  to  engage 
their  lands  or  possessions  to  ecclesiastics,  or  any  other  persons. 
As  our  predecessor  has  done,  by  the  authority  of  the  all-power- 
ful God,  and  by  that  of  the  blessed  St.  Peter,  prince  of  the 
apostles,  we  grant  absolution  and  remission  of  sins,  we  promise 
life  eternal  to  all  those  who  shall  undertake  and  terminate  the  said 
pilgrimage,  or  who  shall  die  in  the  service  of  Jesus  Christ,  after 
having  confessed  their  sins  with  a  contrite  and  humble  heart." 
Given  at  Viterbo,  in  the  month  of  December,  1145. 


Ni.  13. 


A  Letter  from,  Saladin,  drawn  up  by  the  Cdi  Alfadhel,  to  the  Imaum  Nassir 
Del-din-illah  About  Abbas  Ahmed,  containing  the  account  of  the  Conquest 
of  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  Battle  of  Tiberias. 

After  devout  wishes  for  the  caliph,  he  enters  thus  on  his 
subject  : — 

"The  servant  (that  is  Saladin)  has  written  this  letter,  which 
contains  the  account  of  the  auspicious  events  of  which  he  is  the 
author.  The  inscription  of  this  letter  is  the  description  of  divine 
goodness,  which  is  a  sea  for  pens,  a  sea  in  which  they  may  swim 
for  ages.  It  is  a  blessing  for  which  the  gratitude  should  be 
measureless.  Let  thanks  then  be  rendered  to  God  for  this  bless- 
ing of  to-day ;  it  is  a  blessing  which  will  last  for  ever ;  let  no 
one  say  :  The  like  has  been  seen.  The  affairs  of  Islamism  are  in 
the  happiest  condition  ;  the  faith  of  those  who  believe  in  it  is 
strengthened.  The  Mussulmans  have  destroyed  the  error  which 
infidels  had  spread  over  these  places.  God  has  faithfully  ful- 
filled, with  regard  to  his  religion,  the  compact  he  entered  into. 
Religion  was  exiled  and  a  stranger  ;  she  now  inhabits  her  natural 
dwelling :  the  reward  is  received,  that  reward  purchased  at  the 
price  of  life.  The  commandment  of  the  truth  of  God,  which 
was  powerless,  is  now  in  vigour ;  his  house  is  re-peopled,  though 
it  was  abandoned  after  it  had  been  destroyed.  The  order  of 
God  is  arrived,  and  the  noses  of  the  polytheists  are  abased, 
Swords  advanced  by  night,  and  the  sick  were  asleep.  (That  is 
to  say,  I  believe,  that  Saladin  surprised  the  Crusaders,  and  that 
the  Christians  did  not  expect  what  happened  to  them  on  his  part.) 
God  has  performed  the  promise  he  made  to  raise  his  religion 
above  all  religions.  Its  light  is  more  brilliant  than  that  of  the 
morning  ;  the  Mussulmans  are  restored  to  their  heritage,  which 


APPENDIX.  373 

had  been  wrested  from  them.  They  have  been  awakened,  the} 
have  conquered  that  which  they  could  not  have  hoped  to  con- 
quer, even  in  their  dreams  ;  their  feet  are  firmly  fixed  upon  the 
hill ;  their  standards  have  floated  over  the  mosque  ;  they  have 
prayed  upon  the  black  stone.  In  acting  thus,  the  servant  pro- 
posed to  himself  nothing;  short  of  these  great  results  ;  he  only 
confronted  this  evil  (the  evils  of  this  war)  in  the  hope  of  this 
great  blessing  ;  he  only  made  war  on  those  who  opposed  him, 
that  the  word  of  God  might  be  spread ;  for  the  word  of  God  is 
exalted  ;  he  has  only  fought  that  he  might  by  that  means  merit 
eternal  life,  and  not  the  wealth  of  this  world.  Perhaps,  tongues 
may  have  accused  him  of  having  a  contemptible  object,  and  men's 
thoughts  have  calumniated  him;  but  he  has  extinguished  these 
thoughts  by  means  of  time  and  patience.  He  who  sought  a  pre- 
cious thing  placed  himself'  in  danger.  He  who  exerted  himself 
to  render  his  life  illustrious,  exposed  himself.  Otherwise,  the 
servant  has  only  acted  after  having  consulted  with  the  wisest  of 
his  doctors.  The  servant  has  written  this  letter,  and  already 
God  has  caused  him  to  triumph  over  his  enemies.  The  towers 
of  the  infidel  are  cast  down ;  he  drew  his  sword,  and  it  became 
a  wand  ;  his  attacks  became  wtak  ;  he  turned  his  bridle  ;  and, 
as  a  chastisement  from  God,  he  has  not  found  hands  to  act  with. 
His  swords  have  slept  in  their  scabbards,  his  lances  have  lost 
their  noses  (points),  and  for  a  long  time  they  were  raised  to  in- 
flict death.  The  land  of  Jerusalem  is  become  pure ;  it  was  as  a 
woman  who  has  her  rules.  God  is  become  one  God,  and  he  was 
trinary  (or  three).  The  houses  of  the  infidel  are  destroyed,  the 
dwellings  of  polytheism  are  cast  down.  The  Mussulmans  have 
taken  possession  of  the  fortified  castles.  Our  enemies  will  not 
return  to  them  again,  for  they  are  branded  with  the  seal  of  weak- 
ness and  degradation.  God  has  placed  beauty  where  deformity 
was.  *##*##'* 

The  first  time  the  servant  attacked  them,*  God  came  to  hia 
succour,  and  assisted  him  with  his  angels ;  he  broke  them  with 
a  rupture  past  remedy  ;  he  precipitated  them  with  a  fall  which 
would  not  allow  the  infidels  to  rise  up  again.  He  made  a  great 
number  of  prisoners,  and  killed  many  of  their  people.  The  field 
of  battle  was  covered  with  dead,  arms,  and  horses.  How  many 
swords  became  like  saws,  with  striking !  How  many  horsemen 
rushed  towards  the  destiny  which  destroyed  them !  The  king 
himself  (of  Jerusalem)  advanced  and  cleared  all  before  him. 
That  day  was  a  day  of  testimony  (of  the  favour  of  God  and  the 
valour  of  the  Mussulmans).  The  angels  were  witnesses.  Error 
was  at  bay  ;  Islamism  took  birth.     The  ribs  of  the  infidels  were 

*  Saladiu  here  speaks  of  the  battle  of  T  berias. 


374  APPENDIX, 

materials  for  the  fire  of  hell.  The  king  was  taken,  and  he  held 
in  his  hand  the  most  firm  of  his  ties,  the  most  strong  of  the 
bonds  of  his  religion  and  of  his  belief.  That  was  the  cross,  the 
leader,  the  guide  of  the  partisans  of  pride  and  tyranny.  They 
(the  Christians)  never  advanced  towards  a  peril  without  having 
this  in  the  midst  of  them ;  they  flew  round  it  as  moths  fly  round 
a  light.  Their  hearts  gathered  together  under  its  shade ;  they 
fought  under  this  light  with  the  greatest  courage.  They  con- 
sidered it  as  the  strongest  tie  that  could  bind  them  together ; 
they  believed  it  to  be  a  wall  which  would  defend  them  on  this 
day.  On  that  day  the  greater  part  of  the  infidels  were  taken. 
Not  one  of  them  turned  his  back,  except  the  Count.*  May 
God  curse  him !  He  was  eager  for  carnage  in  the  day  of  victory, 
and  full  of  base  tricks  in  the  day  of  degradation ;  he  saved  him- 
self! but  how?  he  stole  away  for  fear  of  being  struck  by  the 
lance  or  the  sword ;  God  afterwards  took  him  in  his  own  hands, 
caused  him  to  die  according  to  his  promise,  and  sent  him  from 
the  kingdom  of  death  to  hell.  After  the  defeat,  the  servant 
passed  through  the  province  (Palestine),  and  gathered  together 
the  Abassides  subjects  that  were  scattered  about  it ; — those  sub- 
jects who  carried  terror  to  the  hearts  of  their  enemies ;  and  he 
conquered  by  their  aid  such  and  such  places.  * 

This  province  (Palestine)  is  full  of  wells,  lakes,  islands,  mosques, 
minarets,  population,  armies.  The  servant  will  change  the  tares 
of  error  for  the  good  seed  of  the  true  faith ;  he  will  cast  down 
the  crosses  of  the  churches,  and  will  cause  the  izan  (the  sum- 
mons of  the  Mussulmans  to  prayers)  to  be  heard.  He  will 
change  into  pulpits  the  places  on  which  the  infidels  immolated 
(altars),  and  of  churches  he  will  make  mosques. 

"  There  remained  nothing  but  Jerusalem  ;  every  banished  man, 
every  fugitive  had  here  taken  refuge  ;  those  from  afar  as  well  as 
those  near  had  here  shut  themselves  up ;  they  considered  them- 
selves as  there  protected  by  the  favour  of  God ;  they  believed 
that  their  Church  would  intercede  for  them.  Then  the  servant 
arrived  before  the  city ;  he  beheld  a  city  well  peopled  ;  he  beheld 
troops  who  had  agreed  to  die ;  for  whom  death  would  be  sweet 
if  their  city  was  doomed  to  fall.  He  came  to  one  side  of  the 
city,  but  he  found  that  the  valleys  (or  the  gardens)  were  deep ; 
that  bad  passages  were  numerous ;  that  the  walls,  like  a  neck- 
lace, surrounded  it,  and  that  towers,  like  large  beads,  f  were 
placed  along  the  middle  of  the  walls.  Then  he  directed  his 
course  to  another  side,  where  there  was  such  an  ascent  as  he 
desired,  a  place  and  an  asylum  for  the  cavalry ;  he  surrounded 

*  The  count  of  Tripoli. 

+  To  understand  this  phrase,  we  must  remember  that,  the  author  of  the 
tetter  compares  the  fortifications  of  Jerusalem  to  a  necklace. 


A.PPUNDIX.  87$ 

this  side  and  made  his  approaches  to  it ;  he  caused  his  tent  to  b%- 
pitched  in  a  spot  exposed  to  the  attempts  of  the  enemy ;  lie 
attacked  the  walls  vigorously,  and  at  length  got  possession  of 
them.  The  besieged  sent  to  him,  offering  to  pay  him  a  tribute 
for  a  certain  time ;  they  wished  to  obtain  a  cessation  of  their 
distress,  and  wait  for  reinforcements.  The  servant  deferred  his 
answer,  and  drew  his  machines  nearer ;  the  machines  that  are 
the  sticks  and  cords  that  punish  castles  for  their  resistance. 
Their  strokes  prepared  the  victory.  Possession  was  taken  of 
the  towers  ;  the  walls  were  void  of  combatants  ;  stone  crumbled 
away  into  dust  again,  as  it  had  been  at  first.  The  gates  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  army  of  the  servant.  Then  the  infidels 
despaired ;  the  leader  of  the  impiety  came  out  then :  this  was 
Ben  or  Bezbar-ran ;  he  requested  that  the  city  should  be  taken 
by  capitulation  and  not  by  storm ;  the  abjection  of  ruin  and 
distress  was  imprinted  upon  his  countenance,  which  before 
bhone  with  the  glory  of  royalty  ;  he  prostrated  himself  in  the 
dust,  he  before  whom  nobody  had  dared  to  raise  their  eyes,  and 
said :  '  There  (pointing  to  the  city)  are  thousands  of  captive 
Mussulmans  ; — this  is  the  determination  of  the  Franks  :  if  you 
take  the  city  by  force,  if  you  place  the  burden  of  war  heavily  on 
their  backs,  they  will  immediately  kill  their  captives  ;  they  will 
afterwards  kill  their  wives  and  children ;  then  they  will  have 
nothing  to  wish  for  but  death;  but  not  one  of  them  will  die 
without  having  sacrificed  many  of  your  people.'  The  officers 
were  of  opinion  that  the  city  should  be  taken  by  capitulation ; 
for,  said  they,  if  it  is  taken  by  storm,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that 
the  besieged  will  rush  headlong  into  danger,  and  will  sacrifice 
their  lives  for  a  thing  they  have  so  well  defended.  In  the 
sorties  they  had  precedingly  made,  they  had  displayed  incredible 
courage,  and  their  attacks  had  been  terrible.  *  *  * 

But  God  has  driven  them  out  of  this  territory,  and  has  cast 
them  down ;  he  has  favoured  the  partisans  of  the  truth,  and  has 
shown  his  anger  against  the  infidels.  These  had  protected  this 
city  by  the  sword  ;  they  had  raised  buildings  at  the  point  of  the 
sword  and  with  columns  of  soldiers.  These  (the  infidels)  have 
placed  churches  there,  and  houses  of  the  Diweieh,  Peuiourjeh, 
&c,  and  of  the  Hospitallers.  In  these  houses  are  precious  things 
in  marble. 

"  The  servant  has  restored  the  mosque  Alasca  to  its  ancient 
destination.  He  has  placed  imauns  in  it,  who  will  there  cele- 
brate the  true  worship.  The  kliothbeh  (or  sermon)  was  made 
there  on  Friday,  the  14th  of  Chaaban.  Little  was  wanting  to 
make  the  heavens  open  with  joy,  and  the  stars  dance.  The  word 
of  God  has  been  exalted ;  the  tombs  of  the  prophets  which  tli« 
infidels  had  stained,  have  beer   purified,  &c.  &c." 


376  APPENDIX. 

Towards  the  end  of  his  letter,  Saladin  says  that  his  troops  are 
spread  all  over  the  province  ;  he  boasts  of  the  fertility  and  rich- 
ness of  it,  and  says  he  is  going  to  complete  the  conquest  of  it. 
He  adds  that  the  fleet  has  put  to  sea ;  and  that  he  is  about  to 
r  "store  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 


No.  14. 


Khothbeh,  or  Sermon  made  at  Jerusalem,,  the  first  Fiiday  after  Saladin  had 
taken  Possession  of  that  City,  ly  Zzohammed  Ben  Zehy. 

Mohammed  Ben  Zeky  ascended  the  mimber,  or  pulpit, 
and  commenced  the  khothbeh,  or  sermon,  by  reciting  the 
surate  Falchah  (the  first  of  the  Koran)  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end.  Then  he  said:  "  May  the  crew  of  the  unjust  perish! 
Praises  be  to  God,  the  master  of  worlds ! "  Then  he  read,  1st, 
the  commencement  of  the  surate  Alinam:  "  Praise  to  God  who 
has  created  the  Heavens ;"  2nd,  a  verse  of  the  surate  Soubhana: 
"  Praise  to  God  who  has  no  son  ; "  3rd,  three  verses  of  the  surate 
Alkehef:  "  Praises  to  God  who  has  sent  the  book  to  his  servant." 
Then  he  read,  1st,  the  verse :  "  Praise  to  God,  and  salvation  to 
his  servants  ;"  2nd,  a  verse  of  the  surate  Seba:  "  Praises  to  God 
to  whom  belongs  all  that  is  in  heaven  or  earth ; "  3rd,  several 
verses  of  the  surate  Falhr:  "  Praises  to  God  the  creator  of  the 
Heavens."  His  intention  was  to  bring  together  all  the  Temeh- 
houdah  (praises  which  are  contained  in  the  Koran).  After  this, 
he  commenced  the  khothbeh  in  these  terms  : — 

"  Praise  to  God,  who  has  raised  Islamism  into  glory  by  his 
aid  ;  who  has  abased  polytheism  by  his  power ;  who  rules  worldly 
things  by  his  will ;  who  prolongs  his  blessings  according  to  the 
measure  of  our  gratitude  ;  who  defeats  infidels  by  his  stratagems  ; 
who  gives  power  to  dynasties,  according  to  his  justice  ;  who  has 
reserved  future  life  for  those  who  fear  him,  by  an  effort  of  his 
goodness ;  who  extends  his  shadow  over  his  servants ;  who  has 
caused  his  religion  to  triumph  over  all  others ;  who  gains  the 
victory  over  his  servants  without  any  one  being  able  to  oppose 
him  ;  who  triumphs  in  his  caliph,  without  any  one  being  able  to 
resist  him  ;  who  orders  what  he  wills,  without  any  being  able  to 
make  objections  to  it ;  who  judges  according  to  his  will,  without 
any  one  being  able  to  avert  the  execution  of  his  decrees.  I 
praise  this  God  for  having  by  his  assistance  rendered  his  elect 
victorious  ;  for  the  glory  he  has  given  them ;  for  the  aid  he  has 
granted  to  his  defenders ;  I  praise  him  for  having  purified  the 
house  filled  with  pollution,  from  the  impieties  of  polytheism. 
I  praise  him  invardly  and  outwardly.     I  give  testimony  tltai 


APPENDIX.  377 

there  is  no  other  God  but  this  God ;  that  he  is  the  only  one,  and 
has  no  associate ;  the  only  one,  the  eternal  one,  who  begets  not, 
neither  is  he  begotten,  and  has  no  equal.  I  give  testimony  that 
Mahomet  is  his  servant  and  his  messenger,  this  prophet  who 
has  removed  doubts,  confounded  polytheism,  extinguished 
falsehood ;  who  travelled  by  night  from  Medina  to  Jerusalem ; 
who  ascended  into  the  heavens,  and  reached  even  the  cedar 
Almontehy.  May  the  eternal  felicity  of  God  be  with  him,  with 
his  successor  Abou  Bekr  Alsadic,  &c. 

"  O  men  !  publish  the  extraordinary  blessing  by  which  God  has 
made  easy  to  you  the  recapture  and  deliverance  of  this  city 
which  we  had  lost,  and  has  made  it  again  the  centre  of  Islamism, 
after  having  been  during  nearly  a  hundred  years  in  the  hands  of 
the  infidels.  #=*##### 
This  house  was  built  and  its  foundations  laid  for  the  glory  of 
God  and  in  the  fear  of  Heaven.  For  this  house  is  the  dwelling 
of  Abraham ;  the  ladder  of  your  prophet  (peace  be  with  him  !) ; 
the  kiblah  towards  which  you  prayed  at  the  commencement  of 
Islamism,  the  abode  of  prophets,  the  aim  of  saints,  the  place  of 
revelation,  the  habitation  of  order  and  defence  ;  it  is  situated  in 
the  land  of  the  gathering,  the  arena  of  the  meeting ;  it  is  of  this 
blessed  land  of  which  God  speaks  in  his  sacred  book.  It  was  in 
this  mosque  that  Mahomet  prayed  with  the  angels  who  approach 
God.  It  was  this  city  to  which  God  sent  his  servant,  his  mes- 
senger, the  word  which  he  sent  to  Mary.  The  prophet  he 
honoured  with  a  mission  did  not  stray  from  the  rank  of  hi3  ser- 
vant. For  God  said,  the  Messiah  will  not  deny  that  he  is  the 
servant  of  God  ;  God  has  no  son,  and  has  no  other  God  with  him. 
Certes,  they  have  been  in  impiety,  they  who  have  said  that  the 
Messiah,  the  son  of  Mary,  was  God. 

"  This  house  is  the  first  of  the  two  kiblah,  the  second  of  the 
mosques,  the  third  of  the  heramein ;  it  is  not  towards  it  that  the 
people  come  in  crowds  after  the  two  mesdjed ;  it  is  towards  it 
that  the  fingers  are  pointed  after  the  two  places.  [I  suppose 
Mecca  and  Medina.]  If  you  were  not  of  the  number  of  the  ser- 
vants whom  God  has  chosen,  certes  he  would  not  have  favoured 
you  particularly  by  this  advantage  which  has  been  granted  to  no 
other  brave  men,  the  honour  of  which  no  one  can  dispute  with 
you  ;  how  fortunate  you  are  in  being  the  soldiers  of  an  army 
which  has  made  manifest  the  miracles  of  the  prophet,  which  has 
made  the  expeditions  of  Abou  Bekr,  the  conquests  of  Omar, 
&c.  God  has  rewarded  you  by  the  best  of  rewards  in  that 
which  you  have  done  for  his  prophet.  He  has  been  grateful  for 
the  courage  you  have  shown  in  punishing  rebels ;  the  blood 
which  you  have  shed  for  him  has  been  acceptable  to  him  ;  it  has 
introduced  you  into  the  Paradise  which  is  the  abode  of  the  blessed  j 

Vol.  III.— 17 


378  AJPPEXDIX. 

acknowledge,  then,  the  value  of  this  blessing,  offer  np  to  him 
necessary  thanksgivings  ;  for  God  has  shown  for  you  a  marked 
beneficence  in  granting  you  this  blessing,  in  selecting  you  for 
this  expedition.  For  the  gates  of  Heaven  have  been  opened  for 
this  conquest ;  its  splendour  has  cast  a  light  which  has  penetrated 
even  to  the  deepest  darkness ;  the  angels  who  approach  the 
Divine  Majesty  have  rejoiced  at  it ;  the  eye  of  the  prophets  and 
the  messengers  has  beheld  it  with  joy.  Since,  by  the  favour  of 
God,  you  are  the  army  which  will  conquer  Jerusalem  at  the  end 
of  time,  the  troop  which  will  raise  the  standards  of  the  faith  after 
the  destruction  of  the  prophecy,  #  #  #  # 

This  house,  is  it  not  that  of  which  God  spoke  in  his  book  ?  for  he 
says,  '  Be  he  praised  who  made  his  servant  travel  by  night,'  &c. ; 
is  this  not  the  house  which  the  nations  have  revered ;  towards 
which  the  prophets  came,  in  which  the  four  books  sent  from  God 
have  been  read  ?  Is  this  not  the  house  for  which  God  stopped 
the  sun,  under  Joshua,  and  retarded  the  march  of  day,  in  order 
that  his  conquest  should  be  easy,  and  should  be  accelerated  ?  Is 
this  not  the  house  which  God  committed  to  Moses,  and  which  he 
commanded  his  people  to  save ;  but,  with  the  exception  of  two 
men,  these  people  would  not ;  God  was  an^ry  against  these 
people,  and  cast  them  into  the  desert,  to  punish  them  for  their 
rebellion. 

M  I  praise  the  God  who  has  conducted  you  to  the  place  from 
which  he  banished  the  children  of  Israel ;  and  yet  these  were 
distinguished  above  other  nations.  God  has  seconded  you  in  an 
enterprise  in  which  he  had  abandoned  other  nations  that  had 
preceded  you ;  which  has  caused  there  to  be  but  one  opinion 
amongst  you,  whilst  formerly  opinions  differed ;  rejoice  that  God 
has  named  you  among  those  who  are  near  him,  and  has  made  of 
you  his  own  army,  after  you  became  his  soldiers  by  your  own 
free  wiil.  The  angels  (who  were  sent  towards  this  house)  have 
thanked  you  for  having  brought  hither  the  doctrine  of  the  unity. 
*****  Now  the  powers  of  the  hea- 
vens pray  for  you,  and  pour  benedictions  upon  you.  Preserve 
this  gift  in  you,  by  the  fear  of  God.  Whoever  possesses  it  is 
saved.  Beware  of  the  passions,  of  disobedience,  of  falling  back, 
of  flying  from  an  enemy.  Are  you  eager  to  take  advantage  of 
the  opportunity  to  destroy  what  anguish  remains  ?  Fight  for 
God  as  you  ought ;  sacrifice  yourselves  to  please  him,  you  his 
servants,  since  you  are  of  the  number  of  the  elect.  Beware 
that  the  devil  do  not  come  down  among  you  again,  and  that 
irreligion  introduce  not  itself  into  your  hearts.  Did  you  figure 
to  yourselves  that  your  swords  of  steel,  your  chosen  horses,  your 
untiring  perseverance,  have  gained  you  this  victory  P  No.  it  was 
trod ;  it  was  fr  ~>m  him  alone  that  your  success  came.     Beware, 


KPPE1NDIX.  379 

servants  of  God  after  having  obtained  this  victory,  of  becoming 
disobedient  and  rebellious  ;  for  then  you  will  be  like  her  who 
cut  to  pieces  that  which  she  had  spun,  or  like  him  to  whom  we 
have  sent  our  verses,  and  who  has  rejected  them  ;  the  devil  has 
laid  hold  of  him,  and  he  has  wandered  from  the  faith.  The  holy 
Avar !  the  holy  war !  that  is  the  best  of  your  worships,  the  most 
noble  of  your  customs  ;  help  God,  and  he  will  help  you  ;  hold  t  J 
God,  and  he  will  hold  to  you ;  remember  him,  and  he  will  re* 
member  you  ;  do  good  towards  him,  and  he  will  do  good  towards 
you ;  endeavour  to  cut  off  every  diseased  member,  to  destroy 
even  to  the  last  enemy ;  purify  the  rest  of  the  earth  of  those 
nations  with  whom  God  and  his  messenger  are  angry.  Lop  ofl 
the  branches  of  impiety,  and  fear,  for  already  the  days  have 
grown.  Vengeance  of  Mussulman  attacks,  of  the  Mahometan 
nation.  God  is  great :  he  gives  conquests,  he  degrades  impiety  ; 
learn  that  this  is  a  great  opportunity — seize  it ;  it  is  a  prey,  cast 
yourselves  upon  it ;  it  is  a  booty,  get  possession  of  it.  It  is  an 
important  business,  apply  your  whole  means  to  it,  give  your- 
selves up  to  it  entirely ;  put  the  battalions  of  your  tribes  on  the 
march  for  it.  For  this  business  draws  towards  its  end,  and  the 
treasuries  are  filled  with  wealth.  God  has  already  given  you 
the  victory  over  these  vile  enemies.  These  enemies  were  equal 
to  you,  or  perhaps  more  numerous  than  you ;  but  however  that 
might  be,  he  has  manifested  that  one  of  you  is  worth  twenty 
other  men.  God  will  aid  you  as  you  cause  his  orders  to  be 
obeyed,  and  abstain  from  that  which  he  has  prohibited.  He  will 
strengthen  all  us  Mussulmans  by  a  victory ;  if  God  helps  you, 
you  have  no  other  conqueror  to  fear ;  but  if  he  withdraw  his 
help  from  you,  who  will  be  he  that  shall  help  you  after  him  ?" 

Then  the  preacher  prayed  for  the  Imaun  Alnassir,  the  caliph, 
and  said :  "  O  God !  eternalize  the  sultan,  thy  servant,  who 
humbles  himself  before  thy  majesty,  who  is  grateful  for  thy 
blessings,  who  cherishes  the  remembrance  of  thy  favcur.  Pre- 
serve thy  keen  sword,  thy  brilliant  star,  who  protects  and  de- 
fends thy  religion,  who  defends  the  harem !  the  seid,  the  tri- 
umphant prince,  the  reunitcr  of  the  word,  of  the  faith  (that  is 
to  say,  who  has  so  acted  that  the  Mussulman  princes,  with  one 
accord,  with  one  unanimous  feeling,  marched  against  the  infi- 
dels) ;  the  exterminator  of  the  cross,  the  good  of  the  state  and 
of  religion  (salah  eddounia  wa  eddyn).  The  sultan  of  the  Mus- 
sulmans, the  purifier  of  the  sacred  house,  Aboul  Modhafi'er  Yous- 
ben-Ayoub,  the  verifier  of  the  power  of  the  emir  of  the  believers  ; 
O  God  !  grant  that  thy  angels  may  surround  his  throne  ;  make 
good  the  reward  due  to  that  which  he  has  done  for  the  religion 
of  Abraham ;  reward  his  actions  for  the  sake  of  the  Mussulman 
religion.     O  God !  prolong  for  Islamism,"  &c. 


580  APPENDIX. 


No.  15. 
Bull  of  Gregory  VIII.,  A.D.  1187. 

Gregory,  bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God  ;  to  all  thoge 
of  the  worshippers  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  whom  these 
letters  shall  come,  health  and  the  apostolic  benediction. 

Having  learnt  the  terrible  severity  of  the  judgments  which  the 
divine  hand  has  exercised  over  Jerusalem  and  the  Holy  Land, 
we  have  been,  we  and  our  brethren,  penetrated  with  such  horror, 
afflicted  with  such  lively  grief,  that,  in  the  painful  uncertainty 
of  what  it  would  be  best  for  U3  to  do  on  this  occasion,  we  have 
only  been  able  to  partake  the  sorrows  of  the  psalmist,  and  to  ex- 
claim with  him,  "  Lord,  the  nations  have  invaded  thy  heritage, 
they  have  profaned  thy  holy  temple ;  Jerusalem  is  no  more  than 
a  desert,  and  the  bodies  of  the  saints  have  served  as  pasture  to 
the  beasts  of  the  earth,  and  to  the  birds  of  the  heavens."  For  in 
consequence  of  the  intestine  dissensions  which  the  wickedness  of 
men,  by  the  suggestion  of  the  demon,  had  given  birth  to  in  the 
Holy  Land,  behold  Saladin,  without  any  warniug,  at  the  head  of 
a  formidable  army,  comes  pouring  down  upon  the  city.  The 
king  and  the  bishops,  the  Templars  and  the  Hospitallers,  the 
barons  and  the  people,  hasten  to  the  rescue,  bearing  with  them 
the  cross  of  the  Lord,  that  cross  which,  in  memory  of  the  pas- 
sion of  Christ,  who  was  nailed  to  it,  and  which  thus  purchased 
the  redemption  of  the  human  race,  was  regarded  as  the  most 
secure  rampart  to  be  opposed  to  the  attacks  of  the  infidels.  The 
conflict  begins  ;  our  brethren  are  conquered,  the  holy  cross  falls 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemies ;  the  king  is  made  prisoner,  the 
bishops  are  massacred,  and  such  of  the  Christians  as  escape 
death,  cannot  avoid  slavery.  Flight  saves  a  few,  and  very  few  ; 
and  these  tell  us  that  they  saw  the  whole  of  the  Templars  and 
Hospitallers  perish  before  their  eyes.  "We  think  it  useless, 
beloved  brethren,  to  inform  you  how,  after  the  destruction  of  tho 
army,  the  enemies  spread  themselves  over  the  whole  kingdom, 
and  rendered  themselves  masters  of  most  of  the  cities,  with  the 
exception  of  a  small  number,  which  still  resist.  It  is  here  we  are 
compelled  to  say  with  the  prophet,  "  Who  will  change  my  eyes 
into  a  fountain  of  tears,  that  I  may  weep  night  and  day  the 
massacre  of  my  people  !"  Nevertheless,  far  from  allowing  our- 
selves to  be  cast  down,  or  to  be  divided,  we  ought  to  be  per- 
suaded that  these  reverses  are  only  to  be  attributed  to  the  anger 
of  God,  against  the  multitude  of  our  sins  ;  that  the  most  effica- 
cious manner  of  obtaining  the  remission  of  them  is  by  tears  and 
groans,  and  thai  at  last,  appeased  by  our  repentance,  the  mercy  o/ 


APPENDIX-  381 

the  Lord  will  raise  us  up  again,  more  glorious  for  the  abasement 
into  which  he  has  plunged  us.  Who  could,  I  say,  withhold  bis 
tears  in  s;  great  a  disaster,  not  only  according  to  the  priuciplea 
of  our  divine  religion,  which  teaches  us  to  weep  with  the  afflicted, 
Sut  further,  from  simple  motives  of  humanity,  when  considering 
the  greatness  of  the  peril,  the  ferocity  of  the  barbarians,  thirst- 
ing for  the  blood  of  Christians,  their  endeavours  to  profane  holy 
things,  and  to  annihilate  the  name  of  the  true  God,  in  a  land  in 
which  he  was  born  ;  pictures  which  the  imagination  of  the  reader 
will  represent  to  him  better  than  we  can  paint  them.  No  ;  the 
tongue  cannot  express,  the  senses  cannot  comprehend  what  our 
affliction  has  been,  what  that  of  the  Christian  people  must  be,  at 
learning  that  this  land  is  now  suffering  as  it  suffered  under  its 
ancient  inhabitants  ;  this  land  illustrated  by  so  many  prophets, 
from  which  issued  the  lights  of  the  world ;  and,  what  is  still 
greater  and  more  ineffable,  where  was  incarnate  God  the  creator 
of  all  things  ;  where,  by  an  infinite  wisdom,  and  an  incomprehen- 
sible mercy,  he  consented  to  subject  himself  to  the  infirmities  of 
the  flesh,  to  suffer  hunger,  thirst,  the  punishment  of  the  cross, 
and  by  his  death  and  glorious  resurrection,  effected  our  salva- 
tion. "We  ought  not  then  to  attribute  our  disasters  to  the  injus- 
tice of  the  judge  who  chastises,  but  rather  to  the  iniquity  of  the 
people  who  have  sinned  ;  since  we  see  in  Scripture  that,  when 
the  Jews  returned  to  the  Lord,  he  put  their  enemies  to  flight, 
and  that  one  of  his  angels  was  sufficient  to  annihilate  the  formid- 
able army  of  Sennacherib.  But  this  land  has  devoured  its  inha- 
bitants ;  it  has  not  been  able  to  enjoy  a  long  tranquillity,  and 
the  transgressors  of  our  divine  law  have  not  preserved  it  long  ; 
all  thus  giving  this  example  and  this  instruction  to  such  as  sigh 
after  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  that  it  is  only  by  the  practice  of 
good  works,  and  amidst  numerous  temptations,  that  they  can 
attain  it.  The  people  of  these  countries  had  beforehand  reason 
to  fear  that  which  has  now  happened  to  them,  when  the  infidels 
got  possession  of  a  part  of  the  frontier  cities.  "Would  to  God 
that  they  had  then  had  recourse  to  penitence,  and  that  they  had 
appeased,  by  a  sincere  repentence,  the  God  they  had  offended  ! 
for  the  vengeance  of  that  God  is  always  only  delayed.  He  does 
not  surprise  the  sinner  ;  he  gives  him  time  for  repentance,  until 
at  length  his  exhausted  mercy  gives  place  to  his  justice.  But  we 
who,  amidst  the  dissolution  spread  over  this  country,  ought  to 
give  our  attention,  not  only  to  the  iniquities  of  it3  inhabitants, 
out  to  our  own,  and  to  those  of  all  Christvin  people,  and  who 
ought,  still  further,  to  dread  the  loss  of  those  of  the  faithful  that 
still  remain  in  Judaea,  and  the  ravages  with  which  the  neigh- 
bouring countries  are  threatened,  amidst  dissensions  which  pre- 
vail between  Christian  kings  and  princes,  and  between  villagea 


382  APPENDIX. 

and  cities  ;  we  who  see  nothing  on  all  sides  but  scandals  and 
disorders,  we  ought  to  weep  with  the  prophet,  and  repeat  with 
him,  "  Truth  and  the  knowledge  of  God  are  not  upon  earth  ;  I 
see  nothing  reign  in  their  place  but  falsehood,  homicide,  adultery, 
and  thirst  for  blood."  It  is  everywhere  urgent  to  act,  to  efface 
our  sins  by  voluntary  penance,  and,  by  the  help  of  true  piety, 
to  return  to  the  Lord  our  God,  in  order  that,  corrected  of  our 
vices,  and  seeing  the  malice  and  ferocity  of  the  enemy,  we  may 
do  for  the  support  of  the  cause  of  the  Lord,  as  much  as  the 
infidel  does  not  fear  to  attempt  to  do  every  day  against  him. 
Think,  my  beloved  brethren,  for  what  purpose  you  came  into 
this  world,  and  how  you  ought  to  leave  it ;  reflect  that  you  will 
thus  pass  through  all  that  concerns  you.  Employ,  then,  the  time 
you  have  to  dispose  of  in  good  actions,  and  in  performing 
penance ;  give  that  which  belongs  to  you,  because  you  did  not 
make  yourself,  because  you  have  nothing  which  is  yours  alone, 
and  because  the  faculty  of  creating  a  hand-worm  is  above  all  the 
powers  of  the  earth.  We  will  not  say,  reject  us,  Lord,  but  per- 
mit us  to  enter  into  the  celestial  granary  that  you  possess ;  place 
us  amidst  those  divine  fruits,  which  dread  neither  the  injuries  of 
time  nor  the  attempts  of  thieves.  We  will  labour  to  reconquer 
that  land  upon  which  the  truth  descended  from  heaven,  and 
where  it  did  not  refuse  to  endure  the  opprobrium  of  the  cross  for 
our  salvation.  We  will  not  hold  in  view  either  a  love  of  riches 
or  a  perishable  glory,  but  your  holy  will,  O  my  God !  you  who 
have  taught  us  to  love  our  brothers  as  ourselves,  and  to  con- 
secrate to  you  those  riches,  the  disposal  of  which,  with  us,  is  so 
often  independent  of  thy  will.  It  is  not  more  astonishing  to  see 
this  land  struck  by  the  hand  of  God,  than  it  is  to  see  it  after- 
wards delivered  by  his  mercy.  The  will  of  the  Lord  alone  can  save 
it ;  but  it  is  not  permitted  to  ask  him  why  he  has  acted  thus.  Per- 
haps it  has  been  his  will  to  prove  us,  and  to  teach  us  that  he 
who,  when  the  time  of  repentance  is  come,  embraces  it  with  joy, 
and  sacrifices  himself  for  his  brothers,  although  he  may  die 
young,  his  life  comprises  a  great  number  of  years.  Behold  with 
what  zeal  the  Maccabees  were  inflamed  for  their  holy  law,  and 
the  deliverance  of  their  brethren,  when  they  precipitated  them- 
selves, without  hesitation,  amidst  the  greatest  perils,  sacrificing 
their  wealth  and  their  lives,  and  exhorting  each  other,  mutually, 
by  such  speecnes  as  these:  "Let  us  prepare  ourselves,  let  us 
show  ourselves  courageous,  because  it  is  better  to  perish  in  fight 
than  to  behold  the  evils  of  our  nation,  and  the  profanation  of 
holy  things."  And  they  only  lived  under  the  law  of  Moses, 
whilst  you  have  been  enlightened  by  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  by  the  example  of  so  many  martyrs,  S^how 
couj-age,  then ;  do  no*  fear  to  sacrifice  these  terrestrial  posses 


APPENDIX.  38S 

sions  which  can  last  but  so  short  a  time,  and  in  exchange  for 
which  we  are  promised  eternal  ones,  above  the  conception  of  the 
senses,  and  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  apostle,  are  worthy  of 
all  the  sacrifices  we  can  make  to  obtain  them. 

We  promise,  then,  to  all  those  who,  with  a  contrite  heart  and 
an  humble  mind,  will  not  fear  to  undertake  this  painful  voyage* 
and  who  will  be  determined  so  to  do  by  motives  of  a  sincere 
faith,  and  with  the  view  of  obtaining  the  remission  of  their  sins, 
a  plenary  indulgence  for  their  faults,  and  the  life  everlasting 
which  will  follow. 

Whether  they  perish  there,  or  whether  they  return,  let  them 
know  that,  by  the  mercy  of  the  all-powerful  God,  and  by  the 
authority  of  the  holy  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  and  by  our  own, 
they  are  liberated  from  all  other  penance  that  may  have  been 
imposed  upon  them,  provided  always  that  they  may  have  made 
an  entire  confession  of  their  sins. 

The  property  of  the  Crusaders  and  their  families  will  remain 
under  the  special  protection  of  the  archbishops,  bishops,  and 
other  prelates  of  the  Church  of  God. 

No  examination  shall  be  made  as  to  the  validity  of  the  righta 
of  possession  of  a  Crusader,  with  regard  to  any  property  what- 
ever, until  his  return  or  his  decease  be  certain ;  and  till  that 
time  his  property  shall  be  protected  and  respected. 

He  cannot  be  compelled  to  pay  interest,  if  he  owe  any  to 
anybody. 

The  Crusaders  are  not  to  march  clothed  in  sumptuous  habits, 
with  dogs,  birds,  or  other  such  objects,  which  only  display  luxury 
and  ostentation  ;  but  they  are  to  have  what  is  necessary,  are  to 
be  clothed  simply,  and  are  rather  to  resemble  men  who  are 
performing  a  penance,  than  such  as  are  in  search  of  a  vain  glory. 

Given  at  Ferrara,  the  4tth  of  the  calends  of  November. 

[Then  follows  the  ordinance  for  a  general  fast,  to  appease  the 
anger  of  God,  in  order  that  he  may  enable  them  to  recover 
Jerusalem.] 

The  anger  of  the  Supreme  Judge  being  never  so  effectively 
appeased  as  when  we  seek  to  subdue  our  carnal  desires, — 

Consequently,  as  we  make  no  doubt  that  the  misfortunes 
which  have  recently  fallen  upon  Jerusalem  and  the  Holy  Land 
from  the  invasion  of  the  Saracens,  have  been  produced  by  the 
crimes  of  the  inhabitants  and  those  of  the  Christian  people  ;  wc, 
with  the  unanimous  advice  of  our  brethren,  and  the  approbation 
of  a  great  number  of  bishops,  order  that,  from  this  day,  for  five 
years,  the  fast  of  Lent  shall  be  observed  every  Friday,  during 
the  whole  day. 

We  further  order,  that  in  all  places  where  divine  service  ift 


884  APPENDIX. 

celebrated,  it  shall  be  at  nine  o'clock,  and  that  from  the  Advent 
of  the  Lord  to  his  Nativity. 

Every  one,  without  distinction,  abstaining  from  eating  flesh 
on  the  Friday  and  Saturday  of  each  week,  we  and  our  brethren 
further  interdict  the  use  of  it  on  Tuesdays  among  ourselves, 
unless  personal  infirmities,  a  festival,  or  some  other  good  cause 
excuse  us  ;  hoping  by  this  means  that  the  Lord  will  be  appeased, 
and  will  lea^eus  his  benediction. 

Such  are  our  regulations  on  this  subject,  and  whoever  shall 
infringe  them  shall  be  considered  as  a  transgressor  of  the  fast  of 
Lent, 

Given  at  Ferrara,  the  4th  of  the  calends  of  November. 


No.  16. 


The  Council  of  Paris,  held  in  1188,  under  the  Pontificate  of  Pope  Cle- 
ment III.  The  Tenths,  called  Saladin  Tenths,  were  then  decreed,  to  provide 
for  the  Expenses  of  the  War  against  Saladin,  King  of  the  Turks. 

In  the  month  of  March  of  the  year  of  grace  1188,  towards 
Mid-Lent,  a  general  council,  to  which  were  summoned  the  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  abbots,  and  barons  of  the  kingdom,  was  con- 
voked at  Paris  by  King  Philip.  An  infinite  number  of  soldiers 
and  people  there  took  the  cross.  It  was  resolved,  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  clergy  and  the  people,  that,  considering  the  urgent 
wants  then  experienced  (the  king  having  nothing  more  at  heart 
than  the  undertaking  of  the  voyage  to  Jerusalem),  a  general 
tenth,  from  which  no  one  should  be  exempt,  which  was  named 
the  Saladin  tenth*  should  be  pre-levied  for  that  year  only. 

Establishment  of  the  Tenth. — In  the  name  of  the  holy  and 
indivisible  Trinity,  greeting.  It  is  ordered  by  us,  Philip,  king 
of  France,  with  the  advice  of  tne  archbishops,  bishops,  and 
barons  of  our  dominions,  thai;  the  bishops,  prelates,  and  clerks 
of  the  churches  convoked,  and  the  soldiers  who  have  taken  the 
<rosp,  sha  J.  not.  .«  ^i?\nibled  for  the  repayment  of  the  debts  they 
may  have  before  contracted,  with  Jews  or  Christians,  until  two 
jfears  have  revolved,  reckoning  from  the  first  festival  of  All  Saints 
which  shall  follow  the  decree  of  our  said  lord  the  king  :  so  that 
at  the  following  All  Saints  the  creditors  shall  receive  a  third  of 
that  which  is  due  to  them,  and  thus,  from  year  to  year,  at  the 

*  This  is  a  most  extraordinary  circumstance  and  proclaims  to  us  not 
only  the  fame  of  Saladin,  the  monarch  of  such  a  distant  country,  but  like- 
wise the  fear  in  which  he  was  held  in  Europe.  Notwithstanding  his  greater 
proximity,  we  did  not  call  car  Laooiae-tax  the  Buonaparte  tax,  as  wfl 
ought  have  done. — Trans. 


APPENDIX.  385 

§ame  period,  until  the  entire  acquittal  of  the  debt.  The  interests 
for  anterior  debts  shall  run  no  longer,  dating  from  the  day  on 
which  the  debtor  shall  have  taken  the  cross.  The  Crusader  who 
is  a  legitimate  heir,  son  or  son-in-law  of  a  soldier  not  a  Crusader, 
or  of  a  widow,  shall  procure  for  his  father  or  his  mother  the 
advantage  granted  hy  the  present  decree,  provided  he  be  not  in 
the  enjoyment  of  other  revenues  than  that  arising  from  the 
labour  of  his  father  and  mother  ;  but  if  their  son  or  son-in-law 
was  not  at  their  charge,  or  even  if  he  did  not  bear  arms  and  the 
cross,  they  shall  not  enjoy  the  said  advantage ;  but  the  debtors 
who  shall  have  lands  and  revenues,  within  the  fortnight  which 
follows  the  approaching  festival  of  John  the  Baptist,  shall  point 
out  to  his  creditors  the  lands  and  revenues  upon  which  they  shall 
be  able  to  recover  their  debts,  on  the  terms  above  expressed,  and 
according  to  the  form  prescribed,  by  means  of  the  lords  in  the 
jurisdiction  of  whom  these  lands  shall  be.  The  lords  shall  have 
no  power  to  oppose  this  consignment,  short  of  satisfying  the 
creditor  themselves.  Those  who  shall  not  have  lands  or  re- 
venues enough  to  form  such  a  consignment,  shall  furnish  their 
creditors  guarantees  and  securities  for  the  acquittal  of  their 
debts  at  the  term  fixed  ;  if  within  the  fortnight  after  the  festival 
of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  they  have  not  satisfied  their  creditors 
by  a  consignment  of  lands,  or  by  guarantees  and  securities,  if 
they  have  no  property,  as  it  has  been  ordered,  they  shall  not 
enjoy  the  privilege  granted  to  others.  If  a  clerk  or  a  crusade 
soldier  be  the  debtor  of  a  clerk  or  of  a  crusade  soldier,  he  shall 
not  be  troubled  before  the  next  All  Saints,  provided  he  can 
furnish  him  with  a  good  guarantee  for  payment  at  that  time. 

If  one  of  the  Crusaders,  eight  days  before  the  Purification  of 
the  Virgin,  or  later,  consign,  in  favour  of  his  creditor,  some 
money,  some  work,  or  some  bill,  the  creditor  cannot  be  forced 
on  that  account  to  consider  him  liberated.  The  bargain  by  which 
a  man  has  bought  of  another  Crusader  the  annual  produce  of  an 
estate  is  good  and  valid.  If  a  soldier  or  a  clerk  has  engaged  or 
consigned  his  lands  or  his  revenue  for  some  years  to  another 
Crusader,  or  to  a  clerk  or  a  soldier  not  crossed,  the  debtor,  for 
that  year,  shall  collect  the  produce  of  the  lands  or  the  revenues  ; 
but  the  creditor,  after  the  expiration  of  the  years  during  which 
he  has  enjoyed  the  consignment  or  the  guarantee,  shall  continue 
to  enjoy  it  a  year  longer,  to  compensate  for  the  loss  of  the  first 
vear  ;  so  that,  however,  the  creditor  shall  have  for  that  first  year 
half  of  the  revenue  for  the  cultivation,  if  he  has  cultivated  the 
vines  and  the  lands  which  were  consigned  to  him  as  security. 
All  bargains  which  shall  have  been  lade  eight  days  before  the 
Purification  of  the  Virgin,  or  which  shall  be  made  after,  shall 
be  authentic.     It  will  be  necessary   for  all  the  debts  coming 

17* 


886  APPENDIX. 

within  the  favour  of  the  present  decree,  that  the  del  tcr  shall 
give  a  guarantee  as  good,  or  even  better  than  that  which  he  had 
given  before.  If  the  parties  are  not  agreed  upon  the  goodness 
of  the  guarantee,  it  shall  be  referred  to  the  lord  of  the  creditor ; 
if  he  do  not  answer  to  this  demand,  the  afi'air  shall  be  taken 
before  the  suzerain.  If  the  lords  or  princes  under  whose  direc- 
tion the  creditors  or  the  debtors  may  be,  refuse  to  give  their 
hand  to  the  execution  of  that  which  is  ordered  by  the  present 
decree,  on  account  of  the  privileges  given  to  the  debtor,  or  of 
the  consignments  to  be  made,  and  if,  warned  by  the  metropolitan 
or  the  bishop,  they  have  not  done  it  within  forty  days,  they  will 
be  liable  to  excommunication ;  but  if  the  lord  or  the  suzerain 
make  it  his  duty  to  show,  in  presence  of  the  metropolitan  or 
the  bishop,  that  he  has  not  failed  in  this  formality  towards  the 
creditor,  or  even  the  debtor,  and  that  he  is  ready  to  execute  what 
is  ordered,  the  metropolitan  or  the  bishop  cannot  excommunicate 
him.  No  Crusader,  whether  clerk,  soldier,  or  other,  shall  be 
held  responsible  but  for  debts  already  demanded  legally  at  the 
time  at  which  they  shall  have  taken  the  cross  ;  he  shall  not  be 
passible  to  others  before  his  return  from  the  Holy  Land.  They 
who  are  not  Crusaders  shall  pay,  at  least  this  year,  the  tenth  of 
all  their  property  and  revenues,  except  the  monks  of  the  order 
of  Citeaux,  of  the  Chartreux,  of  Fontevraud,  and  the  lazar- 
houses,  with  regard  to  the  property  which  belongs  to  them. 
Nobody  shall  meddle  with  the  property  of  the  communes,  unless 
it  be  the  lord  of  whom  they  hold.  For  the  rest,  every  one  shall 
retain  the  rights  he  had  before  in  the  commune.  The  grand 
justiciary  of  an  estate  shall  always  levy  the  tenths  of  it.  Let  it 
be  observed,  that  they  who  are  subject  to  pay  the  tenth,  shall 
pay  it  upon  all  their  goods  and  revenues,  without  beforehand 
subtracting  their  debts.  It  is  not  till  after  they  have  paid  the 
tenth  that  they  may  pay  their  creditors  from  the  remainder  of 
their  property ;  all  laymen,  as  well  soldiers  as  those  that  are 
subject  to  the  taille  (poll-tax,  or  something  like  land-tax),  upon 
taking  the  oath,  under  pain  of  anathema,  and  clerks  under  pain 
of  excommunication,  shall  pay  the  tenth.  The  soldier  who  is 
not  crossed  shall  pay  to  his  lord  who  is  crossed,  and  of  whom  he 
holds,  the  tenth  of  his  own  property  and  of  the  fief  which  he 
holds  of  him.  If  he  holds  no  fief  of  him,  he  will  pay  him  the 
tenth  of  his  own  property,  and  will  pay  the  tenth  to  those  of 
whom  he  holds  directly.  If  he  holds  of  no  lord,  he  will  pay  the 
tenth  of  his  own  property  to  him  upon  whose  fief  he  lives.  If  a 
man  possessing  an  estate  in  proper,  finds  upon  his  estate  tenths 
belonging  to  another  than  to  him  to  whom  he  owes  them,  and  if 
the  proprietor  can  prove  that  they  legitimately  belong  to  him, 
the  former  cannot  retain  these  tenths.     The  crossed  soldier,  a 


appendix.  38* 

legitimate  heir  or  son-in-law  of  a  non- crossed  soldier,  or  of  a 
widow,  will  receive  the  tenth  of  his  father  or  mother.  Nobody 
shall  lay  hands  on  the  property  of  archbishops,  bishops,  chap- 
ters, or  churches  that  depend  upon  them,  but  the  archbishops, 
bishops,  chapters,  or  churches  themselves.  If  the  bishops  collect 
the  tenths,  they  shall  remit  them  to  those  who  are  appointed  to 
receive  them.  The  Crusader  subject  to  the  taille,  or  to  the 
tenth,  and  who  shall  refuse  to  pay  them,  shall  be  arrested,  and 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  him  to  whom  he  is  indebted.  He  who 
nas  arrested  him  cannot  be  excommunicated  for  doing  so.  He 
who  shall  pay  his  tenth  with  readiness,  according  to  the  law  and 
without  constraint,  shall  be  recompensed  by  God. 


No.  17. 


Note  upon  the  Greek  Fire,  taken  from  Ike  Manuscript  Life  of  Saladin, 
by  Renaudot. 

It  is  certain  that  the  artificial  fire  called  Greeh  fire,  sea  fire, 
or  liquid  fire,  the  composition  of  which  is  found  in  the  Greek 
and  Latin  historians,  was  very  different  from  that  which  the 
Orientals  began  at  this  time  to  make  use  of,  and  the  effect  of 
which  was  the  more  surprising,  from  the  cause  of  it  being  en- 
tirely unknown ;  for  whereas  the  first  was  prepared  of  wax, 
pitch,  sulphur,  and  other  combustible  materials,  there  was  nothing 
in  this  but  naphtha  or  petrol,  of  which  there  were  springs  near 
Bagdad,  like  those  of  which  the  ancients  speak,  near  Ecbatana 
and  on  the  frontiers  of  Media.  All  naturalists  agree  that  this 
bituminous  matter  takes  fire  very  easily,  and  that  it  is  impossible 
to  extinguish  it  wi+h  anything  but  sand,  vinegar,  and  urine.  An 
experiment  was  made  with  it  before  Alexander,  by  lighting  a 
great  quantity  of  it  by  trains,  which  burnt  for  a  long  time 
without  being  able  to  be  extinguished ;  a  buffoon,  even,  having 
been  rubbed  with  it,  the  fire  injured  him  s»  seriously  that  there 
was  great  difficulty  in  saving  his  life.  And  yet,  notwithstanding 
the  ancients  were  acquainted  with  it,  it  is  not  known  that  they 
frequently  employed  it  in  w  ar,  nor  that  it  entered  into  the  com- 
position of  the  true  Greek  fire,  invented,  according  to  common 
opinion,  by  Callinichus,  under  Constantine  Pogonatus,  but  which 
is,  notwithstanding,  more  ancient  by  many  centuries.  Thus  it 
is  very  probable  that  the  Orientals,  not  having  made  any  use  of 
it  before  this  siege,  Ebn-el-Meja<=  employed  it  successfully  as  a 
new  invention ;  and  that  the  Christians,  on  account  of  the  re- 
semblance, cahed  it  the  Greek  fire,  from  the  idea  they  conceived 
that  it  might  be  the  same  as  that  with  which  the  whole  Levant 


388  APPENDIX. 

was  acquainted.  This  fire  having  been  in  use  for  the  defence  Oi 
besieged  places,  was  called  oleum  incendiarium,  oleum  medicum; 
and  it  was  employed  in  the  time  of  Valentinian,  under  whom 
Vegetius,  a  military  author,  who  gives  the  composition  of  it, 
wrote  his  work.  iEneas,  an  ancient  author  quoted  by  Polybius, 
also  speaks  of  it  in  his  Treatise  upon  the  Defence  of  Cities,  and 
Callinichus  added  nothing  new  to  it,  except  the  machines,  or 
copper  pipes,  by  means  of  which  they  employed  it  for  the  first 
time  at  sea,  and  burnt  the  Arabian  fleet  near  Cyzicus.  The 
Greeks  continued  afterwards  to  use  these  machines,  with  which 
they  armed  their  fire-ships,  and  never  communicated  the  know- 
ledge of  it  to  any  other  nation ;  any  more  than  did  the  Maho- 
metans their  naphtha  fire,  when  they  had  once  learned  the 
practice.  Thus  the  names  became  confounded  by  the  ignorance 
of  the  two  nations ;  the  Greeks  calling,  with  much  reason,  the 
artificial  fire  of  the  .Mussulmans,  Media  fire,  and  the  Latins 
comprising  both  under  the  name  of  Greek  fire  ;  as  the  Orientals 
afterwards  called  gunpowder  naphtha,  from  the  relation  they 
found  between  it  and  that  fire  which  it  made  them  abandon. 


No.  18. 
Memoir  upon  the  Forest  of  Saron,  ort  he  Enchanted  Forest  of  Tasso. 

Most  of  the  places  in  Palestine,  in  which  battles  were  fought 
between  the  Franks  and  the  Saracens,  were,  towards  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  the  theatre  of  many  conflicts  between 
the  French  and  the  Mussulmans.  The  French,  in  1799,  put  the 
Syrians  to  flight  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Arsur,  on  the  same 
spot  where  Richard  gained  a  great  victory  over  Saladin.  We 
feel  pleasure  in  presenting  to  our  readers  the  very  interesting 
Memoir  of  M.  Paultre,  who  made  the  campaign  in  Syria,  and 
who  identified  the  forest  of  Saron,  or  the  enchanted  forest  of 
Tasso. 

"  The  24  Ventose,  an  7  (14th  of  March,  1799),  our  army, 
leaving  Jaffa  to  march  upon  St.  Jean  dAcre,  after  an  hour  and 
a  half's  progress,  arrived  on  the  edge  of  a  torrent,  which  flowed 
from  Lidda,  and  fell  into  the  sea  at  a  short  distance  on  our  left ; 
the  crossing  of  this  torrent  presented  many  difficulties  to  our 
artillery. 

"  Before  us  was  a  plain  of  about  a  league  in  width,  but  which, 
on  our  left,  extended  to  the  sea,  where  it  was  inclosed  by  dunes, 
or  small  sand-hills,  covered  with  verdure ;  whilst  on  our  right,  it 
extend ad  for  two  or  three  leagues,  and  was  lost  in  the  declivities 


APPENDIX.  389 

of  the  mountains  of  Gofna  and  Naplouse,  calied  by  the  Hebrews* 
Mount  Garizim.  The  torrent  we  had  just  passed  was  the  ancient 
boundary  between  the  tribes  of  Dan  and  Benjamin  with  that  ol 
Ephraim,  on  the  territory  of  which  we  were  about  to  march. 

"  The  plain  appeared  to  be  closed  before  us  by  a  wooded 
ascent,  extending  from  the  principal  chain  which  ran  along  the 
plains  of  Palestine,  on  our  left,  quite  to  the  seashore ;  our  route 
was  through  these  woods,  and  it  would  have  been  dangerous  to 
approach  them  without  having  reconnoitred  them ;  the  more  so 
from  our  knowing  the  Syrian  army  to  be  at  a  small  distance 
from  us,  and  it  might  be  expected  they  had  thrown  some  parties 
into  them,  to  oppose  our  passage,  and  take  the  advantage  which 
difficult  and  covered  places  might  offer  them.  This  forest, 
placed  upon  a  very  elevated  hill,  presented  to  us  a  picturesque 
aspect,  which  pleasingly  recalled  the  sites  of  our  beautiful  wooded 
countries  of  France. 

"  The  French  general  availed  himself  of  the  moment  which 
the  passage  of  the  torrent  retarded  the  march  of  the  army,  to 
have  the  different  issues  of  this  forest  reconnoitred  by  our  van- 
guard, and  to  assure  himself  that  the  roads  were  practicable. 
At  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  general  who  commanded  the 
cavalry  informed  him  that  the  route  was  free,  that  there  was 
no  party  of  the  enemy  in  the  woods,  and  that  the  army  might 
advance  with  safety.  According  to  this  advice,  the  march  was 
resumed,  and  after  proceeding  for  an  hour  over  a  level  plain,  we 
began  to  enter  the  wood,  and  ascend  a  hill,  where  the  road 
became  very  difficult  for  our  pieces  and  our  carriages.  The 
route  we  followed  appeared  to  be  very  little  frequented,  although 
our  guides  assured  us  it  was  the  high  road  to  Jaffa,  St.  Jean 
d'Acre,  and  Damascus.  Sands,  rocks,  bushes,  ravines,  and  steep 
hills,  rendered  our  march  very  painful ;  it  might  have  been  said 
that  routes  had  never  been  traced  in  these  cantons  ;  and  I  cannot 
better  compare  that  which  we  followed  than  to  the  cross-roads 
of  our  least-frequented  forests  in  France.  Branches  of  trees, 
whole  trunks,  fallen  from  age  or  accident,  with  enormous  rocks, 
at  every  step  barred  the  way,  and  our  sappers  had  infinite  trouble 
to  clear  a  passage  for  our  carriages  and  loaded  camels.  If  the 
enemy  had  known  how  to  take  advantage  of  the  circumstance, 
and  had  augmented  our  difficulties  by  some  redoubts  or  barricades 
of  trees,  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  us  to  have  forced  the 
passage  ;  some  parties  of  infantry,  or  only  some  armed  peasants, 
would  have  been  able  to  do  us  much  injury,  and  entirely  have 
stopped  the  march  of  our  army,  in  places  already  nearly  impas- 
sable by  their  nature.  But  happily,  we  had  to  do  with  enemies 
who  had  no  suspicion  of  even  the  first  elements  of  military 
tactics ;  for,  whilst   ->ur  columns  traversed  with  so  much  difficulty 


890  APPEKDIX. 

these  woody  and  rocky  mountains,  where  it  would  have  been  sc 
easy  to  stop  us,  and  fight  us  with  advantage,  they  awaited  us 
peaceably,  four  leagues  further  on,  in  a  clear  plain,  where  our 
artillery  and  our  manoeuvres  gave  us  every  advantage  over  them ; 
as  they  had  good  reason  to  know  on  the  morrow.  After  a  pain- 
ful march  of  two  leagues,  across  the  forest,  the  army  halted  on 
ssuing  from  the  wood,  and  took  up  a  position  on  the  northern 
side  of  the  hill,  near  the  village  of  Meski,  where  our  head- 
quarters were  established.  A  torrent  flowed  at  a  small  distance 
in  front  of  our  position ;  and  our  light  troops,  who  had  already 
passed  it,  informed  us  that  they  could  perceive,  in  a  vast  plain 
which  extended  from  the  side  of  St.  Jean  d'Acre,  parties  of 
Syrian  and  Mameluke  cavalry,  which  indicated  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  enemy's  army.  Dispositions  were  then  taken  to  keep 
us  in  readiness,  in  case  they  should  march  to  attack  us ;  but  the 
evening  and  the  night  passed  without  a  blow  being  struck ;  and, 
on  the  morrow,  after  having  crossed  the  torrent  without  oppo- 
fc.tion,  we  presented  ourselves  before  them  in  battle-array  in  the 
plain  of  Quoquoun,  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains  of  Naplouse, 
and,  after  a  slight  affair,  we  drove  them  back  to  the  plain 
of  Esdrelon,  whence  they  effected  their  retreat  upon  St.  Jean 
d'Acre. 

"  Description  of  the  Forest  of  Saron.  —  The  woods  we  had 

i'ust  crossed  are  known  in  the  country  under  the  name  of  the 
^orest  of  Saron ;  they  extend  over  a  vast  hill,  which  is  one  of 
the  western  counterforts  of  the  chain  which  separates  the  valley 
of  the  Jordan  from  the  plains  of  Palestine,  and  which  is  itself  a 
prolongation  of  Mount  Libanus.  This  hill,  designated  by  the 
Hebrews,  Mount  Saron,  is  detached  from  the  principal  chain 
below  the  city  of  Naplouse,  and  extends  to  the  sea,  where  it  ter- 
minates by  low  rocks  and  hills,  between  Jaffa  and  Arsouf,  the 
ancient  Apollonius ;  it  may  be  of  eight  or  nine  leagues  in 
length,  from  Mount  G-arizim,  where  it  quits  the  principal  chain, 
to  the  seashore ;  its  mean  width  is  between  two  and  three 
leagues,  and  its  height  is  progressive,  from  Naplouse  to  the 
shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  where  it  terminates  in  rocks  and 
hills  of  a  moderate  height.  It  is  bordered  on  the  north  by  the 
torrent  of  Arsouf  (Naher-el-Hadder),  which  has  its  source  below 
JSTaplouse,  in  Mount  G-arizim ;  passes  near  the  ruins  of  ancient 
Antipatris,  and  falls  into  the  sea  near  Arsouf,  after  a  course  of 
seven  or  eight  leagues.  To  the  south,  it  is  parallel  with  the 
torrent  of  Lidda,  the  ancient  Disopolis,  which  rises  in  Mount 
Acrabatene,  off  Jericho,  near  Gofna  and  Gazer,  passes  Lidda, 
and  falls  into  the  sea  at  about  a  league  north  of  Jaffa,  after  a 
course  of  from  eight  to  ten  leagues.  These  two  torrents  flow 
parallel  with  each  other,  and  make  almost  the  same  turns,  being 


APPENDIX.  391 

directed  by  the  declivity  of  the  same  hill.  The  mean  distance 
between  their  beds  is  from  five  to  six  leagues,  which  was  the 
width  of  the  land  of  the  ancient  tribe  of  Ephraim,  upon  the 
centre  of  which  extended  Mount  Saron,  whose  base,  two  or 
three  leagues  wide,  terminates  at  these  torrents,  by  two  little 
lateral  plains,  of  a  league  in  width,  or  thereabouts. 

"  The  forest  covers  the  side  of  the  hill,  from  the  principal 
chain  to  within  three-quarters  of  a  league  of  the  seashore} 
which  gives  it  a  length  of  from  seven  to  ten  leagues,  and  from 
two  to  three  in  width.  The  chain  of  Mounts  Acrabatene  and 
Garizim  appeared  to  me  barren,  or  covered  only  with  brush- 
wood. The  declivities  of  Mount  Saron  are  more  steep  and 
broken  on  the  north  than  on  the  south  side ;  its  base  is  a  lime- 
stone rock,  which,  in  many  places  of  the  forest,  rises  above  the 
surface  in  great  blocks,  heaped  one  upon  another.  In  general, 
I  cannot  better  compare  the  sites  of  this  part  of  Palestine,  than 
o  those  of  the  environs  of  Fontainebleau.  The  forest  of  Saron 
is  composed  solely  of  oaks,  of  the  species  designated  by  the 
ancients,  Quercus  cerrus ;  its  leaves  are  more  smooth  and  less 
indented  than  those  of  our  common  oaks.  The  capsule  of  the 
acorns  is  of  very  large  dimensions ;  I. have  seen  many  of  from 
ten  to  twelve  lines  in  diameter,  at  their  opening,  and  which  had 
contained  acorns  of  that  size ;  the  scales  or  shells  which  cover 
this  capsule  were  not  rouuded  and  placed  one  upon  another,  as 
with  that  of  the  oaks  of  Burgundy,  but  were  terminated  in 
points,  and  bent  outwards  in  a  volute  form,  or  like  little  hooked 
points,  which  has  obtained  for  this  oak  the  name  of  Quercus 
cunita ;  the  leaves  were  covered  with  those  tubercles,  known  in 
commerce  as  gall-nuts.  These  oaks  did  not  appear  to  me  to  be 
susceptible  of  gaining  any  considerable  size ;  most  of  them, 
although  announcing  great  age,  might  be  embraced  by  a  singio 
man,  and  had,  at  most,  a  square  of  from  seven  to  eight  inches. 
The  trunk  was  knotty  and  not  very  straight,  and  in  few  cases 
was  more  than  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  high ;  their  top 
was  rather  orbicular  than  pyramidal,  like  that  of  our  apple  and 
chestnut-trees  of  Europe.  Their  bark  was,  however,  more 
smooth  and  less  furrowed  than  that  of  our  oaks  of  the  samt 
age.  In  general,  the  growth  of  these  trees  was  nearly  like  that 
in  the  gravelly  woods  of  the  dry  and  elevated  coasts  of  Lower 
Burgundy,  and  I  believe  that  the  same  cause,  want  of  depth  of 
vegetable  earth  and  moisture,  may  produce  this  resemblance, 
although  under  different  climates.  And  yet  I  suspect  the  wood 
to  be  very  hard,  and  of  good  quality ;  but  being  knotty,  twisted, 
and  of  small  size,  it  can  be  of  very  little  use  for  building  purposes : 
thus,  Solomon,  to  build  his  temple,  was  obliged  to  get  his  timbei 
from  Libanus,  whilst  the  forest  of  Saron  was  at  the  very  gates 


392  APPENDIX. 

of  Jerusalem.  Our  first  Crusaders,  at  the  time  of  the  siege  of 
the  holy  city,  being  obliged  to  bring  thither  the  wood  for  the 
construction  of  their  machines  and  towers  of  attack,  complained 
that  this  forest  could  only  furnish  them  with  pieces  of  small 
dimension,  which  rendered  their  building  labours  long  and  dif- 
ficult. Pei haps,  since  that  period,  there  has  been  no  occasion 
for  having  recourse  to  this  forest,  which  now  is  only  used  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  neighbourhood,  who  cut,  on  its  outskirts,  the 
wood  they  stand  in  need  of.  The  government  takes  no  notice  of 
a  property  which  can  be  turned  to  no  public  profit ;  considering 
the  difficulty  of  transporting  squared  timber,  in  a  country  where 
carriages  are  not  used,  and  where  everything  is  carried  upon  the 
backs  of  camels ;  besides,  so  little  wood  is  used  for  firing  in 
hot  climates,  that  this  forest  cannot  have  much  value  for  that 
purpose  even. 

"  I  have  now  to  prove  that  this  forest  of  Saron  was  that  in 
which  our  first  Crusaders,  at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  in  1099, 
went  to  cut  their  timber  for  the  construction  of  the  machines 
and  towers  they  employed  in  the  attack  of  the  city. 

"  According  to  William  of  Tyre,  it  was  a  Syrian  who  pointed 
it  out  to  the  duke  of  Normandy  and  the  count  of  Flanders. 
This  historian  places  it  at  a  distance  of  seven  or  eight  miles  from 
Jerusalem,  and  remarks  that  the  trees  of  this  forest  being  of 
small  growth,  and  not  capable  of  furnishing  the  strong  timber  of 
which  they  stood  in  need,  the  difficulty  of  procuring  any  other 
in  a  country  in  which  woods  were  very  rare,  obliged  them  to 
form  these  machines  of  pieces  fa*t  I  together,  which  required 
much  time  and  labour. 

"  Casu  affuit  quidam  fidelis  indigena  natione  Syrus,  qui  in 
valles  quasdam  secretiores,  sex  aut  septem  ab  urbe  distantes  mil- 
liaribus  quosdam  de  principibus  direxit,  ubi  arbores,  etsi  non  ad 
conceptum  opus  aptas  penitus,  tamen  ad  aliquem  modum  bonas 
invenerunt  plures." 

William  of  Tyre  is  mistaken  in  the  distances,  when  stating 
this  forest  to  be  six  or  seven  miles  from  Jerusalem,  whilst  it  is 
really  ten  or  eleven  leagues  from  it.  He  places  it  likewise  in  a 
deep  valley,  which  could  only  be  correct  if  considered  with 
reference  to  the  mountains  of  Gosna  and  Naplouse,  from  which 
the  Crusaders  might  have  descended  to  cut  the  wood  of  which 
they  stood  in  need. 

"Raoul  of  Caen,  equally  a  contemporary  historian,  is  more 
exact  in  the  placing  of  this  forest,  and  proves  to  us  in  an  irre- 
futable manner,  that  it  was  that  of  Saron  in  which  the  Crusaders 
went  to  cut  the  timbers  for  the  siege ;  for  he  places  it  at  the  foot 
of  the  mountains  of  JNaplouse,  exactly  where  it  now  exists. 


APrENDix.  393 

"  Lucus  erat  in  montibus,  et  montes  ad  Hyeruwilem  remoti  ei, 
qua  modo  Neapolis,  olim  Sebasta,  ante  Sychar  dictus  est,  pr  r 
piores,  adhuc  ignota  nostiatibus  via,  nunc  Celebris  et  ferine  pere- 
grinatium  unica." — Had.  Cad.  cap.  121. 

"  In  fact,  to  come  from  St.  Jean  d'Acre  to  Jerusalem,  it  ia 
necessary  to  pass  through,  this  forest ;  and  I  do  not  know  how 
the  Crusaders  could  pass  it  without  observing  it,  in  their  march 
from  Antioch  to  the  holy  city.  Apparently  having  followed 
the  shores  of  the  sea  from.  Csesarea  to  Jaffa,  and  the  high  hills 
that  were  on  their  left,  prevented  their  seeing  it. 

"  Le  Pere  Maimbourg  does  better  ;  knowing  that  Palestine  is 
a  country  in  which  woods  have  at  all  times  been  rare,  in  his 
1  History  of  the  Crusades,'  he  doubts  the  existence  of  this  forest, 
which  is,  to  the  best  of  my  belief,  the  only  one  in  these  cantons. 

"  Tasso,  whose  poetical  and  rich  imagination  delighted  in 
creating  so  many  wonderful  things,  was  not  stopped  by  such 
trifling  considerations,  and  in  his  Jerusalem  Delivered,  the  forest 
of  Saron  has  supplied  him  with  one  of  the  finest  episodes  of  his 
poem. 

"  I  must  here  hazard  some  ideas  upon  the  origin  of  the 
name  of  the  forest,  of  the  city,  and  of  the  country  of  Saron. 
M.  D'Anville,  in  his  map  of  Palestine,  gives  to  the  part  of  the 
territory  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  comprised  between  the  torrent 
of  Lidda  and  that  of  Apollonias,  the  name  of  Saronas,  which 
he  writes  as  the  name  of  the  country ;  and  it  is  precisely  on 
this  spot  that  the  forest  of  Saron  exists,  of  which,  perhaps, 
M.  D'Anville  had  no  kind  of  knowledge.  He  likewise  places 
between  these  two  torrents  above  Lidda,  a  city  called  Thamnath 
Sara,  in  a  country  which  he  denominates  Tamnitica,  which  now 
forms  part  of  the  forest  where  Mount  Saron  again  unites  with 
the  principal  chain. 

"In  the  map  of  the  Holy  Land,  by  M.  Robert,  after  the 
manuscripts  of  the  Sieurs  Sanson,  there  is  a  city  of  Sarona, 
situated  between  Lidda  and  Antipatris,  towards  the  centre  of  the 
present  forest.  He  makes  this  city  a  royal  city  of  the  Hebrews. 
He  places,  as  M.  D'Anville  does,  the  city  of  Thamnath  Sara ; 
and  at  a  short  distance  to  the  north,  a  city  of  Ozensara. 

"  The  resemblance  of  thesv.  different  names  leads  me  to  think 
they  may  be  all  formed  from  the  primitive  Sar,  which,  in  many 
languages,  signifies  oaks,  woods,  forests  as  Diodorus  points  out, 
in  book  v.,  when  saying  that  tne  Gauls  gave  the  name  of 
Saronides  to  certain  philosophers  of  their  country,  because  they 
dwelt  in  forests  of  oaks,  and  taught  under  the  shade  of  those 
trees.  We  have  preserved  this  sar  in  the  word  sarman,  the 
wood  of  the  vine ;  in  strpe  (or  sarpe,  low  Breton),  an  instrument 


394  vpi  endix. 

to  cut  wood ;  surbacane,  a  perforated  stick,  to  throw  smaii 
arrows  or  other  projectiles  ;  sarse,  a  wooden  cask  ;  esserter,  01 
essarter,  to  pull  up  bushes  in  a  place  about  to  be  cultivated. 

"  I  leave  it  to  pens  more  versed  than  mine  in  the  science  of 
etymology,  to  follow  this  subject  in  a  more  learned  and  certain 
manner. 


No.  19. 
Ralph  Dicet. 

Ralph  Dicet  was  of  London,  and  lived,  as  it  is  said,  in 
the  reign  of  John  ;  he  was  a  man  remarkable  for  his  piety  and 
learning. 

He  says:  "In  1185,  the  king  of  England  (Henry  II.)  con- 
voked the  conventual  abbots,  the  counts  and  barons,  near  the 
Fountain  of  the  Clerks,*  at  London. 

"  After  having  heard  the  patriarch,  and  the  master  of  the  Hos- 
pitallers, the  king  entreated  all  who  were  present  to  send  to 
Jerusalem  all  the  assistance  in  their  power.  They  then  delibe- 
rated whether  it  was  proper  for  the  king  to  go  in  person  to  Pales- 
tine, or  whether  he  ought  to  remain  in  England,  to  govern  it,  as 
he  had  engaged  to  do,  before  the  assembled  church.  The  king 
promised  to  furnish  succours,  in  men  and  money,  to  repress  all 
violences  and  iniquities  of  every  kind,  and  that  equity  and  mercy 
should  preside  over  all  judgments.  It  appeared  most  prudent 
for  the  king  to  govern  his  kingdom  with  suitable  moderation, 
and  to  defend  it  from  the  irruptions  of  the  barbarians. 

"  In  the  same  year,  the  kings  of  France  and  England  had  an 
interview  at  Gisors,  where  they  received  the  cross  from  the 
hands  of  the  archbishop  of  Tyre  It  was  agreed  that  all  the 
French  Crusaders  should  wear  a  red  cross,  those  of  England  a 
white  cross,  and  those  of  the  counts  of  Flanders  a  green  one."f 

Ralph  says  that  when  the  cross  was  taken  in  England,  a 
general  tenth  upon  all  property  was  levied,  for  the  assistance  of 
Jerusalem.  This  levy  was  made  with  so  much  violence  as  to 
terrify  both  the  clergy  and  the  people.  Under  the  title  of  alms, 
it  was  enforced  with  a  spirit  o^  exaction  and  rapacity. 

After  this  observation,  the  historian  places  the  letters  patent 
of  Philip,  king  of  France,  and  Richard,  king  of  England, 
which  order  that  the  Crusaders  should  set  out  from  both 
countries  in  the  octave  of  Easter,  under  pain  of  excommunica- 

*  Here  is  a  little  bit  for  the  antiquaries  of  Clerkenwell,  which  is,  x*4 
doubt,  meant  by  this. — Trans. 

f  This  is  a  valuable  hint  V  poets,  painters,  and  novelists. — TRANS. 


APPENDIX.  396 

fcion  and  interdiction ;  md  forbid  any  one  to  do  injury  to  the 
Crusaders  during  their  absence.  These  letters  are  dated  30tb 
December. 

Ralph  Dicet's  work  terminates  in  the  year  1199.     It  is  excel- 
lent for  dates,  and  for  many  passages  of  it. 


No.  20. 
Ralph  of  Coggershall. 

Ralph  of  Coggershall,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  nourished  about 
the  year  1220,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  son  of  John.  He 
was  of  the  order  of  Citeaux.  His  merit  and  his  learning  raised 
him  to  the  dignity  of  abbot  of  the  monastery  of  Coggershall,  in 
the  county  of  Essex.     He  is  the  author  of  many  works. 

D.  Martenne,  when  publishing  Ralph's  "  Chronicon  Anglica- 
num,"  is  astonished,  and  apparently  with  reason,  that  the 
English,  who  are  so  jealous  of  the  glory  of  their  country,  have 
shown  such  neglect  for  the  works  of  this  author,  whom  their 
scholars  value  so  highly. 

Ralph,  like  the  other  chroniclers,  is  dry  and  brief,  and  it  is  not 
before  the  invasion  of  Palestine  by  Saladin  that  he  abandons  the 
style  of  the  chronicler  to  assume  that  of  the  historian. 

After  having  spoken  of  the  arrival  of  the  kings  of  France  and 
England  in  Sicily,  of  that  which  Richard  did  in  the  isle  of 
Cyprus,  of  the  victory  which  this  prince  gained  over  the  Saracen 
vessels  before  landing  at  Acre,  of  the  siege  and  reduction  of  that 
place,  of  the  divisions  which  broke  out  between  Philip  Augustus 
and  Richard,  of  the  taking  of  several  maritime  cities  by  Richard, 
and  of  the  death  of  the  marquis  of  Montferrat,  Ralph  of  Cog- 
gershall relates  that  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  left  in  Palestine  by 
Philip  Augustus,  who  had  returned  home,  came  to  join  Richard, 
in  order  to  fight  together  against  the  enemies  of  Christ ;  and  that 
it  was  resolved  to  go  and  besiege  Jerusalem.  He  describes  the 
victory  which  Richard  gained  over  a  rich  caravan  which  was  on 
its  way  to  that  city.  He  says,  that  while  this  prince  was  in  his 
camp,  before  the  castle  of  Ernald,  and  the  duke  of  Burgundy, 
with  his  troops,  was  in  the  fortress  of  Betenoble,  a  spy  came  to 
warn  the  king  that  in  the  night  he  had  heard  some  men  and 
camels  come  down  from  the  mountains,  and  that  he  had  followed 
them.  He  added,  that  he  had  discovered  they  were  sent  by 
Saladin  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  and  that  the  camels,  to  the 
number  of  five,  were  loaded  with  gold,  silver,  and  silken  vest* 
ments.  The  spy  had  orders  from  the  king  to  take  with  him  soma 


396  APPEK.UX. 

of  the  king's  guards,  and  lie  in  ambush  for  the  messengers  of 
Saladin  on  their  return.  All  which  he  did  ;  he  surprised  them, 
took  them,  and  brought  them  to  the  king.  Richard  drew  from 
one  of  them  by  torture  the  secret  intrusted  to  them.  He  acknow- 
ledged that  the  sultan  had  sent  them  to  the  duke.  On  the  fol- 
lowing day  Richard  sent  for  the  duke,  the  patriarch,  and  the 
prior  of  Bethlehem.  He  had  a  private  conference  with  them, 
and  swore,  before  them,  on  the  Gospel,  that  he  was  ready  to  go 
with  his  army  and  besiege  Jerusalem,  or  Babylonia,  or  Berytus, 
without  the  possession  of  which  places  the  king  could  not  be 
crowned.  Richard,  after  having  taken  this  oath,  desired  the 
duke  to  take  his.  The  duke  refused,  because  the  Templars  and 
the  French  had  assured  him  he  should  incur  the  anger  of  Philip, 
if  Richard,  by  their  means,  triumphed  in  Jerusalem.  Richard 
flew  into  a  great  rage,  treated  the  duke  as  a  traitor,  and  re- 
proached him  with  receiving  presents  from  Saladin.  The  duke 
denied  all  he  was  accused  of.  Then  Richard  sent  for  the  mes- 
sengers of  Saiadin.  When  they  had  been  introduced,  and  had 
revealed  their  secret,  the  king  ordered  his  guards  to  shoot  them 
to  death  with  arrows  in  presence  of  the  whole  army  ;  which  was 
done,  without  the  troops  of  Richard  or  of  the  duke  knowing  the 
cause  of  this  severity,  or  whence  these  messengers  came,  or  what 
they  had  done.  The  duke  of  Burgundy,  much  ashamed,  imme- 
diately retired  with  his  troops,  and  took  the  road  to  Acre. 
Richard,  upon  hearing  of  this  retreat,  instantly  sent  messengers 
to  the  guards  of  the  city,  forbidding  them  to  allow  any  French- 
man to  enter.  The  duke  encamped  without  the  walls.  The  king 
struck  his  camp  on  the  following  day ;  and,  following  the  duke, 
he  also  pitched  his  tents  on  the  outside  of  the  city. 

Ralph  then  gives  long  details  of  the  battle  of  Jaffa,  which  took 
place  soon  after.  As  this  battle  is  one  of  those  in  which  the 
valour  and  skill  of  Richard  were  displayed  with  the  greatest  ad- 
vantage, and  as  the  historians  we  have  followed  in  our  account  of 
the  third  crusade,  have  only  presented  us  with  inexact  details 
of  this  event,  we  think  it  but  justice  to  the  lion-hearted  king  to 
give  an  extract  from  that  which  Ralph  says  of  it. 

Richard  had  been  reposing  with  his  army  three  days  before 
Ptolemais,  when  he  was  informed  that  Saladin  was  besieging 
»5  affa  with  all  his  troops ;  and  that  the  city  would  soon  be  taken, 
and  the  garrison  slaughtered,  if  he  did  not  afford  the  besieged 
prompt  assistance.  Richard,  afflicted  with  this  news,  endea- 
voured to  bring  back  the  duke  of  Burgundy  to  sentiments  of 
concord  ;  but  this  prince  rejected  all  his  advances,  and  set  out 
with  his  troops  that  same  night  for  Tyre.  Shortly  after  arriving 
there,  he  finished  his  life  miserably  in  the  deliri  im  of  a  fever ; 
which  Ralph  considers  as   a  just    chatisement    from  heaven 


AiPENi)IX.  S&# 

Richard  embarks  with  &  part  of  his  army,  and  trusts  himself  to 
the  seas  ;  but  the  vessels  were  driven  towards  the  isle  of 
Cyprus,  by  contrary  winds  and  the  fury  of  the  waves,  so  that 
they  who  remained  on  land  believed  that  the  king  had  retreated 
secretly.  This  likewise  accounts  for  some  authors  having  said 
that  Richard  went  to  the  isle  of  Cyprus.  The  king,  and  those 
who  accompanied  him,  after  having  struggled  against  the  winds 
and  waves  for  three  days,  at  length  succeeded,  by  rowing 
obliquely,  in  anchoring  with  three  vessels  in  the  port  of  Jaffa. 

Saladin,  by  repeated  assaults,  had  already  rendered  himself 
master  of  the  city,  and  had  put  to  death  all  the  infirm  and  the 
wounded.  The  garrison  had  retired  into  the  castle,  and  were 
already  thinking  of  surrendering  by  capitulation,  when  the 
patriarch,  who  went  freely  from  one  army  to  the  other,  told 
them  that  Saladin's  soldiers  had  resolved  to  kill  them  all,  to 
avenge  their  relations  and  friends,  whom  Richard  had  put  to 
death  without  pity  on  several  occasions  ;  and  that  they  would 
not  escape  death,  if  even  Saladin  should  grant  them  permission 
to  retire.  In  spite  of  this  information,  the  garrison  hesitated, 
and  saw  no  hope  of  avoiding  the  fate  which  awaited  them,  when 
the  vessels  of  the  king  appeared  in  the  port.  This  sight  restored 
their  courage.  On  his  part,  Richard,  perceiving  that  the  fortress 
of  the  city  was  not  taken,  jumped  on  shore  fully  armed,  followed 
by  his  troops,  and  like  a  furious  lion,  rushes  amidst  the  hosts  of 
enemies  that  cover  the  shore.  He  advances  audaciously,  through 
the  arrows  which  pour  upon  him  from  all  sides,  cutting  down  all 
in  his  way.  The  Turks,  unable  to  stand  against  such  an  attack, 
and  believing  that  Richard  had  brought  a  more  numerous  army 
with  him,  precipitately  abandoned  the  siege,  and  not  without 
experiencing  a  great  loss.  They  were  so  terrified,  that  nothing 
could  stop  them  before  they  had  got  safely  within  the  walls  of 
Roemula.  The  king,  after  this  encounter,  went  boldly  and 
pitched  his  tents  under  the  walls  of  the  city,  in  a  plain  near  to 
Saint  Abacue,  for  the  Crusaders  could  not  remain  in  the  city  on 
account  of  the  odour  arising  from  the  dead  killed  on  both  sides, 
which  had  been  placed,  by  mistake,  by  the  side  of  a  number  of 
carcasses  of  pigs. 

When  it  was  announced  to  Saladin,  on  the  following  day,  that 
Richard  had  arrived  with  only  eighty  soldiers,  and  the  four  hun- 
dred cross-bowmen  who  formed  his  guard,  he  broke  into  a  great 
rage  with  his  army,  for  having  fled  before  so  small  a  number.  He 
immediately  ordered  his  cavalry  to  return  to  Jaffa,  and  to  bring 
him,  the  next  day,  the  king  alive  and  a  captive. 

That  night  Richard  reposed  tranquilly  in  his  camp,  suspecting 
nothing  ;  when,  at  daybreak,  the  infidels  surrounded  his  camp 
bo  completely,  that  there  was  no  passage  by  which  he  could  take 


398  APPENDIX. 

refuge  in  the  city.  Three  thousand  Saracens  entered  Jaffa ;  and 
he  Christians,  awakened  by  noise  and  cries,  were  struck  with 
rerror  at  finding  themselves  enveloped  on  all  sides. 

At  the  sight  of  such  a  sudden  danger,  Richard  quickly  assumes 
his  armour,  mounts  on  horseback,  and  banishing  all  fear,  appears, 
on  the  cc  ntrary,  more  bold  in  proportion  with  the  number  of  his 
enemies.  He  animates  his  men  to  the  fight ;  he  tells  them  they 
ought  not  to  fear  death  when  they  have  to  defend  their  religion, 
and  avenge  the  insults  offered  to  Christ ;  that  it  would  be  more 
glorious  for  them  to  fall  for  the  law  of  Christ,  and  in  falling, 
courageously  to  strike  down  his  enemies,  than  to  give  themselves 
basely  up  to  them,  or  to  seek  safety  in  a  flight  which  was 
become  impossible.  Whilst  addressing  them  thus,  Richard 
ranged  his  companions  in  a  close  battalion,  so  that,  during  the 
combat,  the  enemy  might  be  able  to  find  no  open  space  through 
which  to  break  them.  He  then  caused  to  be  planted,  at  the 
foot  of  every  one,  tent-poles,  which  served  them  for  a  rampart. 
Whilst  they  were  thus  employed,  as  well  as  the  time  permitted, 
and  that,  on  their  side,  the  infidels,  armed  and  waited,  talking 
among  themselves,  one  of  the  chamberlains  of  the  king  rushed 
from  the  city,  and  arrived  at  the  camp,  crying  out  with  a 
lamentable  voice,  as  it  has  been  reported  to  us  by  Hugh  de 
Nevil,  who  was  in  this  battle,  "  Alas  !  my  lord,  we  shall  all 
perish ;  we  have  no.  resource  left.  A  numberless  multitude  of 
pagans  have  got  possession  of  the  city,  and  we  have  before  us 
troops  as  uncountable,  who  threaten  us  with  death."  The 
king,  in  great  anger,  commanded  him  to  be  silent ;  and  swore  lie 
would  strike  off  his  head  if  he  dared  to  speak  such  words  before 
any  one  of  the  soldiers.  Richard  immediately  harangued  his 
troop  afresh  ;  he  exhorted  them  not  to  be  terrified  by  the  num- 
bers of  the  pagans  ;  he  told  them  he  would  go  into  the  city  to 
ascertain  what  was  passing  ;  and,  taking  with  him  six  determined 
warriors  and  the  royal  standard,  he  intrepidly  enters  Jaffa, 
opens  himself  a  road  with  sword  and  lance,  precipitates  himself 
upon  the  enemies,  who  are  assembled  in  the  public  places, 
attacks  them,  cuts  them  down,  kills  them.  The  warriors  who 
accompany  him  overturn  all  they  meet,  and  slaughter  them 
without  mercy.  The  irruption  of  the  king  was  so  sudden  and 
so  violent,  that  most  who  fell  were  ignorant  what  power  it 
was  that  destroyed  them.  The  enemies  fled  before  the  king, 
who  pursued  them  as  flocks  fly  before  a  lion  inflamed  by  hunger. 

Richard  having,  by  his  incomparable  valour,  cut  down  or  put 
to  flight  the  infidels  who  were  in  the  city,  made  some  of  the 
soldiers  of  the  garrison,  who  had  retired  into  the  castle,  come 
and  take  charge  of  the  gates  and  walls  of  the  place. 

After  this  incredible  victory,  tb«  king  returned  with  his  six 


APPENDIX.  399 

warriors  to  the  army.  Nevertheless,  he  was  m  ch  afflicted  at 
having  ••-  few  horses  ;  for  there  were  but  six  and  a  mule  in  al 
the  camp.  To  animate  his  soldiers  still  further,  Hichard  related 
to  them  what  the  Lord  had  done  in  the  city,  by  means  of  his 
arm,  and  how  so  small  a  number  had  triumphed  over  such  a  host 
of  enemies  :  "  For  this  reason,"  exclaimed  he,  "  let  us  invoke  the 
aid  of  the  all-powerful  God,  in  order  that  he  may  to-day  crush 
our  enemies.  Be  sure  to  resist  the  first  shock,  and  sustain 
courageously  the  violence  of  the  first  blows.  Beware  of  break- 
ing ;  for  if  separated,  you  will  be  torn  to  pieces  like  sheep,  with- 
out strength  and  without  defence.  If,  on  the  contrary,  you  can 
sustain  the  first  charge  without  breaking,  you  will  have  nothing 
to  fear  from  the  courage  of  your  enemies.  You  will  triumph, 
with  the  help  of  God,  over  the  enemies  of  Christ.  But  if  I  see 
any  one  of  you  show  the  least  fear,  or  leave  a  passage  for  the 
enemy,  or  turn  aside,  I  swear,  by  the  all-powerful  God,  I  will 
myself  strike  off  his  head." 

When  the  king  had  thus  exhorted  and  animated  his  men  to 
the  fight,  all  raised  their  lances,  and,  by  their  prayers,  invoked 
the  assistance  of  God  ;  but  whilst  many  among  them,  no  doubt, 
were  reflecting  that  they  had  nothing  but  a  cruel  death  before 
them,  the  sound  of  trumpets  and  the  noise  of  clarions  announced 
the  approach  of  the  infidels,  who  came  down  upon  the  Christians 
like  a  torrent,  with  their  lances  directed  towards  them,  and 
uttering  loud  and  frightful  cries.  The  Turks  expected  that  the 
Christians  would  give  way  at  the  first  charge ;  that  they  would 
disperse  over  the  plain  ;  that  their  ranks  wouid  be  broken  ;  and 
that  they  would  allow  themselves  to  be  cut  to  pieces  almost 
without  resistance.  But  the  Christian  battalion  remained  firm 
and  motionless,  without  yielding  a  foot  to  either  the  terror  or 
the  violence  of  the  assault.  The  Turks  wondered  at  this  unheard 
of  audacity  in  so  small  a  number,  and  reining  up  their  horses, 
retired  backwards  some  distance,  yet  not  so  far  but  that  they 
might  touch  each  other  with  their  lances  on  both  sides.  Not  an 
arrow  was  discharged,  not  a  javelin  was  thrown  ;  they  only 
threatened  each  other  with  gesture,  voice,  and  countenance. 
The  Turks  remained  thus  for  half  an  hour,  and  then  returned  to 
their  first  position,  murmuring  and  talking  to  themselves.  They 
drew  back  from  the  Christians  nearly  half  a  stadium.  Upon 
seeing  this,  the  king  broke  into  loud  laughter,  crying,  "  Bravo 
soldiers  of  Christ !  did  not  I  tell  you  so  ?  Did  not  I  tell  you 
they  would  not  dare  to  measure  themselves  with  you,  unless  we 
attacked  them  first  ?  They  have  shown  us  all  their  courage, 
and  everything  that  they  thought  could  inspire  us  with  fear  and 
terror.  They  thought  to  frighten  us  by  their  numbers,  and  that 
we  should  not  dare  to  resist  their  first  charge.     They  expected 


400  APPENDIX. 

us  to  submit,  like  women,  to  their  blows,  and  fly  here  and  there 
over  the  plain.  Cursed  be  he  now  who  would  seek  to  avoid  their 
charge,  or  who  would  fear  to  measure  himself  with  them.  Sus- 
tain their  assaults  with  courage,  as  you  have  just  done,  until, 
with  the  help  of  God,  we  triumph  over  them." 

Richard  had  scarcely  ceased  to  speak,  when  the  infidels 
advanced  afresh,  uttering  their  cries,  and  sounding  their  trum- 
pets ;  they,  however,  halted  at  a  short  distance  from  the  Chris- 
tians. The  latter  remaining  motionless  as  before,  and  showing, 
if  possible,  greater  intrepidity,  the  infidels  returned  a  second 
time  to  their  position,  without  venturing  to  strike  a  blow.  They 
repeated  this  five  or  six  times,  from  the  first  hour  of  the  day 
to  the  ninth.  Richard,  who  began  to  be  tired  of  such  long  in- 
activity, and  whose  courage  increased  proportionately  with  the 
intrepidity  of  those  around  him,  ordered  his  troop,  when  tne 
infidels  came  down  again,  to  launch  some  arrows  and  darts  at 
them,  and  let  them  feel  the  points  of  their  lances,  so  as  to  pro- 
voke them  to  fight.  He  commanded  his  cross -bowmen  to  march 
before  the  soldiers,  and  discharge  their  arrows,  bolts,  and  javelins 
at  the  enemy,  which  was  done  ;  and  when  the  Turks,  according 
to  their  custom,  advanced  uttering  hideous  cries,  and  appeared 
ready  to  overwhelm  the  Christians,  the  latter  attacked  them  with 
their  lances,  their  swords,  and  all  sorts  of  weapons,  overthrow- 
ing them  and  killing  them.  The  carnage  soon  produced  cries 
of  agony  and  disorder  in  the  ranks  of  the  enemy.  Some  were 
run  through  with  lances,  others  were  cast  headlong  from  their 
horses ;  these  were  wounded  in  the  head,  those  were  pierced  by 
arrows ;  and  a  vast  number  were  slain  by  darts  and  javelins. 
The  intrepid  Richard,  whose  resplendent  arms  glittered  like 
fire,  and  who  had  till  that  moment  neither  given  nor  received  a 
wound,  now  all  at  once  dashed  amidst  the  infidel  ranks,  with  his 
sword  in  one  hand,  and  his  lance  in  the  other,*  striking  sparks 
from  the  helmets  and  armour  of  all  he  encountered,  right  and 
left.  He  rushed  among  the  thickest  of  the  enemy's  battalions, 
without  seeking  to  avoid  their  blows,  and  without  ceasing  to 
deal  mortal  ones.  At  one  time  he  was  surrounded  by  a  hundred 
Saracens,  who  attacked  him  alone.  He  falls  upon  them  ;  he 
strikes  off  the  head  of  one  at  a  blow  ;  he  divides  the  shoulders 
from  the  body  of  another ;  he  cuts  off  the  hand  of  this  one,  and 
the  arm  of  that  one  ;  others  he  overthrows,  and  renders  in- 
capable of  defence.     The  rest  disperse,  and  seek  to  avoid  his 

*  This  may  appear  improbable  ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  Richard  was  a  perfect 
horseman  ;  and  we  very  well  remember  Mr.  Goldham,  of  the  London  and 
Westminster  volunteer  light-horse,  performing  the  broad  sword  exercis* 
with  a  sword  in  each  hand,  and  his  horse  at  sr>eed,  before  Georgo  III,  in 
Hyde  Park.—  Tbans. 


APPENDIX.  4-01 

blows.  Richard  inspires  such  terror  that  no  one  dares  to  wait 
for  him,  do  one  dares  encounter  him.  The  soldiers  of  Richard 
follow  their  king  as  they  would  have  followed  their  standard ; 
they  penetrate  the  enemy,  slaughtering  without  compunction, 
all  who  either  resist  or  fall  in  their  way.  The  infidels  fall  with 
lamentable  cries ;  striking  the  earth  with  head  and  feet,  and 
their  lives  gush  out  with  their  blood.  Although  they  attacked 
the  Christians  with  vigour,  and  hurled  a  shower  of  darts,  it 
pleased  God,  however,  that  not  one  of  their  blow  s  should  be 
mortal,  and  that  in  this  fight  not  a  single  Christian  should 
perish,  with  the  exception  of  one  soldier,  who,  separating  him- 
self from  his  comrades,  met  with  the  death  he  wished  to  avoid 
by  flight.  The  soldiers  to  whom  Richard  had  confided  the 
guarding  of  Jaffa,  admiring  the  invincible  courage  of  the  king 
and  his  companions,  issued  in  a  body  from  the  city,  and  fell  with 
vigour  upon  the  Turks.  The  latter,  pursued  without  any  inter- 
mission by  Richard  and  his  little  army,  took  to  flight,  after 
losing  a  great  number  of  their  men,  and  concealed  themselves  in 
holes  and  caves.* 

Ralph,  of  Coggershall,  after  describing  this  astonishing 
victory,  says  that  Richard  being  attacked  by  the  plague,  deter- 
mined to  return  into  Europe.  He  gives  an  account,  in  a  few 
words,  of  the  treaty  made  with  Saladin.  He  says  that  that 
which  confirmed  the  king  of  England  in  the  resolution  of  leaving 
Asia,  was  the  news  he  received  of  his  brother  John's  attempts  to 
usurp  his  authority  in  his  kingdom.  The  battle  of  Jaffa  was 
fought  in  the  dog-days,  and  it  was  in  the  autumn  that  Richard 
set  sail  for  Europe.  The  account  which  the  author  gives  of  the 
mann3r  in  which  the  king  was  made  prisoner  in  Germany,  is 
sufficiently  curious  to  be  repeated  here.  Ralph  is  the  only  one 
of  the  chroniclers  we  have  analysed  who  f  irnishes  minute  details 
on  this  subject. 

King  Richard,  says  he,  with  some  of  his  people,  was  annoyed 
during  six  weeks,  by  a  tempestuous  sea.  When  he  arrived 
within  three  leagues  of  Marseilles,  and  learnt  that  the  Count  de 
St.  Gilles,  and  some  other  nobles,  through  whose  states  he  must 
pass,  had  agreed  to  place  ambushes  for  him,  he  resolved  to 
return  to  England  through  Germany.  He  went  back,  and 
landed  at  the  isle  of  Corfu.  He  found  there  two  pirate  vessels, 
■which  had  had  the  audacity  to  attack  his,  and  which  his  pilot 
recognised.  Richard,  on  account  of  the  courage  and  hardihood 
they  had  shown,  made  a  bargain  with  the  pirates,  and  agreed  to 

*  Although  our  chronicler  does  not  tell  us  so,  we  may  presume  that  when 
one  of  Richard's  troop  cut  down  a  Turkish  horseman,  he  did  not  leave  hia 
saddle  long  empty,  and  that  such  accessions  enabled  *:he  Christians  to 
make  an  effective  pursuit. — Trans. 

Vol.  III.— 18 


402  APPENDIX. 

go  on  board  their  vessels.  He  only  took  sv  ih.  him  {  small  num« 
ber  of  his  people.  These  were  Baldwin  de  Betune ;  Master 
Pliilip,  the  kind's  clerk ;  Anselm,  kis  chaplain,  who  himself 
related  to  us  all  he  saw  and  heard ;  and  some  knights  of  the 
Temple.  They  landed  on  the  coast  of  Sclavonia,  at  a  city  named 
Gazara.  They  immediately  sent  a  messenger  to  the  neighbour- 
ing castle,  to  request  of  the  lord,  who  was  master  of  the  pro- 
vince, and  nephew  to  the  marquis  of  Montferrat,  liberty  to  pass 
through  his  states.  The  king,  on  his  return,  had  purchased 
three  rubies  of  a  Pisan,  for  which  he  gave  nine  hundred  byzants. 
He  had  Lad  one  of  these  rubies  set  in  a  gold  ring  ;  and  he 
charged  the  messenger  to  offer  this  ring  to  the  lord  of  the 
castle.  The  latter  inquired  the  names  of  those  who  demanded 
the  passage.  The  messenger  replied  that  they  were  pilgrims 
returning  from  Jerusalem,  and  he  named  Baldwin  de  Betune, 
adding  that  it  was  a  merchant  called  Hugh,  who  sent  him  the 
ring.  The  lord  of  the  castle,  after  having  for  a  long  time 
examined  the  present,  replied  to  the  messenger,  "  His  name  is  not 
Hugh,  but  Richard,  king  of  England.  I  have  sworn,"  added  he, 
"  that  I  will  make  prisoners  of  all  pilgrims  who  come  into  this 
country,  and  that  I  will  not  receive  any  present  from  them ;  but 
on  account  of  the  value  of  this,  and  of  the  dignity  of  him  who 
sends  it,  and  who  has  honoured  me  thus  without  knowing  me,  I 
return  you  the  ring,  and  I  grant  free  liberty  of  passage."  The 
messenger  went  and  reported  this  answer  to  the  king.  The 
pilgrims,  very  little  satisfied  with  the  message,  left  the  city 
secretly  in  the  night,  mounted  upon  horses  they  had  purchased, 
and  made  the  best  of  their  way  across  the  country.  But  the 
lord  sent  a  spy  after  them,  to  follow  their  steps  and  arrest  the 
king.  When  Bichard  entered  a  city  in  which  dwelt  the  brother 
of  the  lord,  the  latter  called  to  him  a  trustworthy  person,  named 
Roger  d'Argenten,  a  Norman  by  birth,  who  had  been  with  him 
twenty  years,  and  to  whom  he  had  given  his  niece  in  marriage  ; 
and  ordered  him  to  go  to  all  the  houses  in  which  pilgrims  lodged, 
and  endeavour  to  discover,  by  language,  or  by  some  other  sign, 
if  the  king  were  not  among  them.  He  promised  him  half  the 
city  if  he  could  arrest  the  prince.  Roger,  after  a  long  search, 
discovered  the  king,  who  for  a  considerable  time  dissembled, 
and  was  only  induced  to  reveal  himself  by  the  prayers  and  tears 
of  Roger.  The  latter  immediately  advised  Richard  to  steal 
away,  and  gave  him  the  best  horse  he  could  procure.  He  then 
went  to  his  master,  and  told  him  that  the  news  of  the  arrival  of 
Richard  was  false,  and  that  it  was  only  Baldwin  de  Betune  and 
his  companions,  who  were  returning  from  pilgrimage.  But  the 
master  flew  into  a  great  rage,  and  ordered  them  all  to  be  arrested. 
The  king  had  left  the  city  secretly  with  William  de  l'Etang,  and 


APPENDIX .  403 

a  servant  who  understood  the  German  language.  He  Travelled 
three  days  and  three  nights  without  taking  any  food.  At  las* 
pressed  by  hunger,  he  turned  from  his  road,  to  enter  a  city 
called  Ginana,  in  Austria,  on  the  Danube.  To  complete  his  ill 
fortune,  the  duke  of  Austria  was  then  at  Ginana.  The  king's 
servant,  on  going  to  the  market,  displayed  several  byzants,  and 
created  suspicions  by  his  discourse  ;  he  Mas  arrested  and  interro- 
gated. He  answered  that  he  served  a  rich  merchant,  whom  he 
expected  in  three  days.  He  was  then  released ;  aiid  he  we:it 
instantly  to  the  king,  relating  to  him  what  had  happened,  and 
advising  him  to  depart  without  delay.  But  the  king,  who  was 
fatigued,  determined  to  rest  for  a  few  days.  The  servant,  after 
going  to  the  market  to  buy  provisions,  had  one  day  the  impru- 
dence to  carry  with  him  the  king's  gloves,  stuck  in  his  girdle. 
These  gloves  were  very  remarkable,  and  the  servant  was  again 
arrested.  Being  taken  before  a  magistrate  of  the  city,  he  was 
put  to  the  torture,  and  threatened  with  having  his  tongue  cut 
out  if  he  did  not  at  once  reveal  the  truth.  The  servant  yielding 
to  the  agony  of  the  question,  made  the  confession  demanded  of 
him.  Information  was  instantly  sent  to  the  duke  ;  the  house  in 
which  the  king  lodged  was  surrounded,  and  he  was  summoned 
to  surrender.  The  king  declared  he  would  only  surrender  to  the 
duke  himself.  The  latter  arrived,  and  the  king,  making  a  few 
steps  to  meet  him,  gave  up  his  sword  to  him  *  The  duke,  highly 
elated,  led  away  the  king,  whom  he  treated  honourably.  He 
afterwards  placed  guards  about  him,  who  never  left  him,  night 
or  day,  but  kept  watch,  with  drawn  swords  in  their  hands. 

After  this  recital,  Balph  makes  many  sad  reflections  upon  the 
captivity  of  Richard,  which  he  can  only  explain  as  a  secret 
judgment  of  God,  so  astonishing  and  deplorable  does  it  appear 
to  him,  that  a  king  who  had  escaped  so  many  dangers  in  Syria, 
should  become  the  prisoner  of  a  Chrisf  Ian  prince,  without  having 
an  opportunity  to  defend  himself  or  give  battle.  He  follows  the 
king  through  his  captivity,  and  describes  his  deliverance  and 
return  to  his  dominions.  He  gives  an  account  of  what  happened 
to  this  prince  when  he  had  regained  his  kingdom,  and  pursues 
nis  history  to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  was  in  1229.  Balph. 
has  drawn  such  a  portrait  of  Bichard  as  cannot  fail  to  interest 
our  readers,  on  account  of  the  prominent  part  which  that  king 
has  played  in  the  history  of  the  crusades. 

"  We  had  reason  to  hope,"  says  he,  "  that  Bichard,  consider- 
ing the  liberality  of  his  excellent  mind  and  his  great  skill  in  the 

*  If  any  limner  had  the  skill  to  paint  Richard's  countenance  at  parting 
with  such  a  friend  as  his  "good  sword,"  this  would  make  a  fine  picture. 
The  feelings,  which  must  have  nearly  suffocated  bis  lion  heart,  would 
furnUh  matter  for  a  poem. — Traxs. 


404  APPENDIX. 

art  of  war,  would  be  the  model  of  Norman  kings.  In  the  earij 
days  of  his  reign  he  was  affable  to  everybody ;  being  well  dis- 
posed in  religious  affairs,  and  inclined  to  listen  to  just  demands ; 
he  immediately  filled  up  the  vacant  bishoprics  and  abbeys.  He 
promised  to  render  justice  to  all.  He  restored  to  many,  for 
sums  of  money,  their  charters,  privileges,  and  liberties,  or  else 
renewed  them.  The  money  he  thus  obtained  served  as  means 
for  his  voyage  to  Jerusalem.  He  quitted  his  kingdom  almost 
immediately  afterwards,  and  commenced  his  expedition  with 
much  devotion,  great  preparation,  and  infinite  expense.  God 
protected  him  throughout,  and  caused  him  to  escape  all  the 
dangers  of  this  war ;  and,  by  his  help,  the  king  wrested  from  the 
hands  of  the  infidels  a  great  portion  of  the  Holy  Land.  God 
still  evidently  watched  over  him  during  his  return  and  his  cap- 
tivity, and  preserved  him  from  the  hands  of  new  and  numerous 
enemies.  But  when  Richard  was  restored  to  his  subjects,  he 
forgot  the  victorious  hand  that  had  preserved  him :  in  the  ma- 
turity of  age  he  took  no  pains  to  correct  the  vices  which  had 
disfigured  his  youth.  He  displayed  so  much  harshness  and 
obstinacy,  that  he  tarnished  by  excessive  severity  all  the  virtues 
that  had  graced  the  commencement  of  his  reign.  He  always 
turned  a  threatening  eye  upon  those  who  talked  to  him  of  state 
affairs  ;  he  made  reproaches  or  censures  with  a  terrible  air,  and 
showed  a  furious  countenance  to  those  who  did  not  satisfy  his 
demands  for  money,  or  perform  the  promises  they  had  made  to 
pay  him  some.  In  private  he  was  affable  and  winning,  and  even 
condescended  to  play  or  to  joke.  He  was  so  greedy  of  money 
that  he  wished  to  empty  every  purse.  He  pressed  the  English 
to  such  a  degree,  in  order  to  discharge  the  amount  of  his 
ransom,  that  he  spared  no  order  and  no  condition.  Neverthe- 
less, Hubert,  archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  justiciary  of  the 
kingdom,  mitigated,  as  much  as  he  could,  the  effects  of  the  cruel 
edicts  of  the  king." 

Ralph,  in  another  part  of  his  works,  after  having  praised  the 
new  king  of  England  for  having  restored  to  the  ecclesiastical 
benefices  their  revenues  and  their  titularies,  adds,  that  Richard 
took  great  delight  in  the  divine  service,  and  particularly  in  the 
solemnities  of  religion.  He  says  that  his  chapel  was  richly 
ornamented ;  that  he  accompanied,  with  his  sonorous  voice,  and 
encouraged  by  presents,  the  singers  of  the  church ;  but  that 
from  the  secrete  of  the  mass  to  the  post-communion,  he  prayed 
in  silence,  and  with  an  earnestness  which  nothing  could  disturb. 
He  afterwards  names  two  abbeys  which  he  founded  or  repaired, 
both  of  the  order  of  Citeaux  ;  one  was  that  of  Bon-Port,  in  Nor- 
mandy, in  the  diocese  of  Rouen ;  the  other,  that  of  the  Pine,  in 
the  diocese  of  Poictiers. 


APPENDIX.  405 


No.  21. 


The  continuator  of  the  history  of  William  of  Tyre  relate* 
i  -thing  which  is  not  found  in  the  text,  except  a  little  trick 
which  Saladin  attempted  to  play  off  upon  Richard,  at  the  time 
of  the  battle  of  Jaffa,  and  which  we  think  worthy  of  being  pre- 
sented to  our  readers.     We  quote  the  chronicle  : — 

"  Saladin  asked  where  the  king  of  England  was.  They  an- 
swered him,  '  Sire,  see  him  yonder  on  the  ground,  on  foot,  with 
his  men.'  '  How,'  said  Saladin,  '  is  the  king  on  foot  among  his 
men ;  is  he  not  ashamed  ? '  Then  Saladin  sent  him  a  horse,  and 
charged  the  messenger  to  say,  that  such  a  one  as  he  should  not 
be  on  foot  among  his  men  in  such  danger.  The  sergeant  per- 
formed the  commands  of  his  lord.  He  came  to  the  king  and 
E resented  to  him  the  horse  sent  by  Saladin.  The  king  thanked 
im  for  it,  and  ordered  one  of  his  own  sergeants  to  mount  it  and 
show  its  paces  before  him.  After  the  sergeant  had  spurred  the 
horse  into  a  gallop,  and  wished  to  return  towards  his  master,  he 
found  he  could  not ;  for  the  horse,  in  spite  of  all  he  could  do, 
carried  him  away  to  the  Saracen  host.  Saladin  was  much 
ashamed  of  this." 

This  chronicle,  when  speaking  of  the  deliverance  of  Richard 
from  his  captivity,  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  it  was  by  the 
advice  of  Philip  Augustus,  that  such  an  enormous  ransom  was 
required,  and  that  the  king  of  France  had  a  good  share  of  it. 

Another  chronicler,  Gauthier  Vinisauf,  says  that  Hichard  gave 
eight  noble  Turkish  prisoners  in  exchange  for  William  de  Pro- 
telles  (others  name  him  Porcelot),  who  had  saved  his  master, 
when  taken  by  surprise,  by  throwing  himself  in  the  way  of  the 
Saracens,  exclaiming,  "  I  am  King  Richard." 


No.  22. 


Extract  from  an    anonymous   Chronicle  contained  in  the  MSS.   of  ikt 
Sorbonne,  No.  454,  of  the  Thirteenth  Century  * 

Then  the  king  Hichard  turned  back,  and  directed  his  course 
as  straight  and  as  well  as  he  was  able  towards  Germany,  where 
he  landed,  and,  with  a  small  train,  wandered  about  till  he  came 

*  We  give  a  translation  of  this  extract  because  it  is  very  curious  ;  but  we 
have  no  faith  in  it  with  respect  to  the  date  ;  it  appears  to  us  to  be  much 
more  modem,  and  some  parts  of  the  language  inconsistent  with  others. — 
Trans. 


406  APPENDIX. 

to  Austria  (Osterriclie),  where  he  was  watched  by  spies,  am* 
known.  When  he  fancied  he  was  discovered,  he  took  the  dress 
of  a  servant,  and  set  to  work  in  the  kitchen  to  turn  the  capons ; 
but  the  spy  knew  him,  and  t  ~.nt  and  informed  the  duke ;  and 
when  the  duke  heard  it,  he  sent  so  many  knights  and  people 
that  they  were  much  the  stronger,  and  the  king  was  taken 
and  sent  away  to  a  fortress,  and  his  companions  to  another ;  and 
the  king  was  sent  from  castle  to  castle,  so  that  no  one  knew 
whsre  he  was,  nor  did  the  soldiers  who  guarded  him  know  who 
he  was.  *  *##### 

Sow  Rhhard  the  King  loas  taken,  out  of  Prison  by  3londel 
the  Minstrel. — We  have  told  you  how  King  Richard  was  put  in 
prison  by  the  duke  of  Austria,  and  that  no  one  knew  where  he 
was  except  the  duke  and  those  he  trusted.  It  happened  that  the 
king  had  for  a  long  time  entertained  a  minstrel,  born  near  Artois, 
whose  name  was  Blondel.  This  person  declared  to  himself  that 
he  would  seek  his  lord  over  the  whole  earth  till  he  had  found 
him ;  and  set  out,  and  wandered  about  from  day  to  day,  by  land 
and  water,  until  he  had  sought  for  a  year  and  a  half  without 
hearing  anything  of  the  king.  And  it  so  happened  that  he 
entered  into  Austria,  and  chance  led  him  straight  to  the  castle 
where  the  king  was  confined.  And  the  Aubergiste,  near  the 
castle  was  a  widow  woman,  and  he  asked  her  to  whom  that 
castle  belonged,  which  was  so  fine,  so  strong,  and  well  placed. 
The  hostess  replied  that  "  it  belonged  to  the  duke  of  Austria." 
"  Pretty  hostess,"  said  Blondel,  "  is  there  any  prisoner  confined  in 
it?"  "  Certes,"  said  she,  "there  is  one,  who  has  been  confined 
nearly  four  years,  but  we  do  not  know  who  he  is ;  they  guard 
him  very  carefully,  and  we  have  no  doubt  he  is  a  gentleman 
— somebody  of  high  quality."  When  Blondel  heard  this  he 
was  infinitely  delighted,  and  his  heart  whispered  him  that  he 
had  at  length  found  him  he  sought ;  but  he  was  careful  not  to 
allow  the  hostess  to  know  this.  That  night  he  slept  soundly,  for 
his  mind  was  at  rest ;  and  when  the  cock  announced  the  day,  he 
arose  and  went  to  the  church  to  pray  God  to  assist  him.  He 
then  came  to  the  castle,  and  addressed  himself  to  the  castellan, 
telling  him  he  was  a  minstrel,  and  played  upon  the  lute,  and 
that  he  would  willingly  remain  with  him  if  it  were  agreeable  to 
him.  The  castellan  was  a  young  and  handsome  knight,  and  said 
he  would  gladly  retain  him.  Then  Blondel  was  delighted,  and 
went  to  fetch  his  lute  and  his  wallet ;  and  he  exerted  himself  so 
that  he  greatly  pleased  the  castellan,  and  became  a  favourite 
with  his  household.  Here  he  remained  all  the  winter  without 
being  able  to  make  out  who  the  prisoner  was.  At  length,  near 
the  festival  of  Easter,  as  he  was  one  day  walking  in  the  garden 
which  surrounded  the  tower,  examining  it  in  all  directions,  ia 


APPENDIX.  40r' 

the  hope  of  seeing  the  prisoner,  whilst  his  thoughts  were  thus 
engaged,  the  king  perceived  Blondel,  and,  wishing  to  make  him* 
self  known  to  him,  called  to  his  mind  a  song  which  they  had 
made  together,  and  which  no  one  knew  but  the  king  and  Blondel. 
So  he  began  to  sing  the  first  verse  of  it  in  a  loud  and  clear  voice, 
for  he  sang  very  well.  And  when  Blondel  heard  it,  he  became 
certain  it  was  his  lord ;  and  his  heart  had  never  experienced 
such  joy  as  that  day.  And  he  went  from  the  orchard  to  the 
chamber  in  which  he  slept,  and  fetched  his  lute  ;  then  he  began 
to  play,  and  in  his  playing  expressed  his  pleasure  at  having 
found  his  lord.  Thus  Blondel  remained  till  Pentecost,  and  per- 
formed his  part  so  well  that  nobody  suspected  him.  Then 
Blondel  went  to  the  castellan,  and  said  to  him :  "  Sir,  if  agree- 
able to  you,  I  would  willingly  return  to  my  own  country,  for  it 
is  a  long  time  since  I  left  it."  "  Blondel,  good  brother,"  said 
the  castellan,  "you  will  not  do  so  if  you  will  take  my  advice; 
but  remain  where  you  are,  and  I  will  advance  your  fortunes." 
"  Certes,  sir,"  said  Blondel,  "I  cannot  remain  on  any  account." 
"When  the  castellan  found  that  he  could  not  detain  him,  he  bade 
him  farewell,  and  gave  him  a  good  new  horse.  Having  left  the 
castellan,  Blondel  travelled  so  quickly  that  he  soon  arrived  in 
England,  and  informed  the  barons  and  the  friends  of  the  king 
where  and  how  he  had  found  him.  When  they  heard  this  news 
they  were  much  delighted,  for  the  king  was  the  bravest  knight 
that  ever  wore  spur.  They  then  determined  among  themselves 
that  they  would  send  into  Austria,  to  the  duke,  to  procure  the 
deliverance  of  the  king ;  and  selected  two  of  the  moso  valiant 
and  prudent  knights  for  the  purpose.  They  travelled  so  quickly 
that  they  soon  reached  the  duke  of  Austria,  whom  they  found 
in  his  castle.  They  saluted  him  on  the  part  of  the  barons  of 
England,  and  said :  "  Sire,  they  pray  and  beseech  you  to  take 
ransom  for  their  lord ;  they  will  give  you  as  much  as  you  may 
require."  The  duke  replied  that  he  would  consider  of  it.  And 
when  he  had  taken  advice  upon  the  matter,  he  said :  "  If  you 
wish  to  recover  your  lord,  you  must  bring  two  hundred  thousand 
marks  sterling ;  if  not,  say  no  more  about  it,  for  it  will  be  time 
and  trouble  thrown  away."  Having  received  the  answer,  they 
bade  farewell  to  the  duke,  and  said  they  would  report  it  to  the 
barons.  They  then  returned  to  England,  and  told  the  barons 
what  the  duke  had  said;  and  the  barons  replied  that  he  should 
never  be  detained  for  that.  Then  they  got  together  the  ransom, 
and  sent  it  to  the  duke,  and  the  duke  delivered  the  king  to 
them ;  but  not  before  he  had  given  him  good  security  that  he 
would  never  molest  h  31. 


408  APPENDIX. 


No.  23. 


Extract  from  a  Journey  made  into  the  country  of  Wales  by  Baldwin, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

We  have  spoken,  in  the  seventh  book,  of  the  preaching  of 
Archbishop  Baldwin,  and  of  the  account  written  by  Gerald  the 
"Welshman  (Giraldus  Cambrensis),  known  also  under  the  name 
of  JBarri.  We  think  we  shall  gratify  our  readers  by  giving  an 
extract  from  this  relation,  which  will  furnish  some  idea  of  the 
manners  of  the  inhabitants  of  Wales  in  the  twelfth  century. 
The  preachers  went  first  to  Hereford  and  Radnor.  In  this  latter 
city  a  bishop  of  the  country  and  a  monk  of  the  order  of  Cluni 
took  the  cross ;  at  the  same  time  was  enrolled  Rhys,  son  of 
Gruffydh,  prince  of  the  southern  part  of  Wales.  Their  example 
was  followed  by  Eineon,  son  of  Eineon  Clyd,  prince  of  Ekenia, 
and  by  several  other  inhabitants.  Giraldus  relates  what  had 
happened  to  the  lord  of  Radnor,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  This 
nobleman  entered  a  church,  where,  without  respect  to  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  place,  he  passed  the  night  with  his  horses  and  hounds. 
Rising  early,  according  to  the  custom  of  hunters,  he  found  that 
he  was  struck  blind,  and  was  told  that  all  his  hounds  were  dead. 
He  was  conducted  back  to  his  castle  by  the  hand,  and  when  he 
had  for  a  long  time  led  a  sad  and  an  unhappy  life,  he  determined 
to  go  to  Jerusalem,  in  order  that  the  light  of  the  faith  might  not 
be  extinguished  within  him.  When  arrived  in  Palestine,  he 
proceeded  to  fight  with  the  Saracens,  and  mounting  a  fiery 
horse,  he  rushed  amidst  the  enemies'  ranks,  and  expired  with 
glory. 

In  the  province  of  Warthrenion,  near  Radnor,  an  adventure 
no  less  miraculous  was  related  among  the  people.  Einon,  son- 
in-law  of  Rhys,  lord  of  the  country,  was  one  day  hunting  in  the 
forests.  One  of  his  people  struck  a  hind  with  an  arrow.  This 
hind,  contrary  to  custom,  had  horns  of  twelve  years,  and  as 
large  as  those  of  the  male.  This  animal  was  considered  as  a  pro- 
digy of  nature ;  but  the  hunter  who  had  killed  it  instantly  lost 
his  right  eye,  was  struck  with  paralysis,  and  remained  during 
the  rest  of  his  life  in  a  languishing  state. 

The  people  of  this  province  held  in  reverence  a  stick  which 
had  belonged  to  St.  Cyricus ;  this  stick  was  crooked  at  both 
ends,  in  the  shape  of  a  cross,  and  was  ornamented  with  gold  and 
silver.  It  possessed  the  special  virtue  of  curing  the  evil  and 
humours  of  the  neck.  Those  who  were  attacked  by  this  sort  of 
complaint,  touched  the  stick,  after  having  paid  a  denier.  "  [t 
happened  in  our  time  "  says  Giraldus,  "  that  a  man  sufferuig 


APPENDIX  40S 

from  the  evil  only  placed  a  single  obole  before  the  stick,  and  the 
evil  was  only  half  cured  ;  upon  this  the  sick  man  offered  a 
second  obole,  and  was  quite  cured.  Another  man  obtained  his 
cure  by  promising  a  denier,  but  as  he  did  not  perform  his  pro- 
mise, his  evil  returned,  and  did  not  entirely  disappear  until  he 
had  offered  three  deniers." 

Near  E-Ieiven,  in  the  church  of  Glascum,  was  a  bell,  which 
was  said  to  have  been  that  of  St.  David's.  A  woman,  to  liberate 
her  husband,  who  was  shut  up  in  a  neighbouring  castle,  carried 
thither  the  bell,  which  she  had  secretly  taken  from  St.  David's 
church ;  bu*t  the  castellans  would  not  deliver  the  husband,  and 
retained  the  bell :  the  castle  was  consumed  during  the  night  by 
a  miraculous  fire,  which  spared  nothing  but  the  wall  against 
which  the  bell  was  suspended.  An  almost  similar  miracle  hap- 
pened at  the  little  village  of  Luel.  The  church,  which  had  been 
set  fire  to,  was  entirely  consumed,  with  all  it  contained,  with  the 
exception  of  the  box  which  contained  the  host. 

In  the  province  of  Elevein  two  great  lakes  burst  their  banks, 
one  of  which  was  constructed  by  nature,  and  the  other  by  the 
hand  of  man.  The  natural  dyke  changed  its  place,  and  the  lake 
appeared  two  thousand  paces  off,  in  a  valley,  where  it  preserved 
its  fish.  Giraldus,  when  relating  this  singular  circumstance, 
adds,  "  that  in  Normandy,  some  time  before  the  death  of 
Henry  II.  all  the  fish  in  a  lake  were  beheld  fighting  during  a 
whole  night,  and  that  crowds  were  drawn  together  to  witness 
this  strange  spectacle.  The  next  morning,  not  a  single  fish  was 
left  alive." 

In  the  country  of  Haga  and  Brecknock,  in  a  lake  across  which 
the  river  Wye  passes,  before  Glastonbury,  the  water  all  at  once 
appeared  of  a  green  colour.  Old  men  said  this  phenomenon 
took  place  at  the  time  when  the  country  was  desolated  by  Noel, 
son  of  Meredith.  It  happened  in  the  same  country,  that  a  little 
boy,  endeavouring  to  take  a  nest  of  doves,  in  the  church  of  St. 
David,  his  hand  remained  fastened  to  a  stone,  which  was  con- 
sidered as  a  miracle  wrought  by  the  saint,  who  wished  to  pre- 
serve the  birds  of  his  church.  This  boy,  followed  by  his  parents 
and  friends,  came  and  threw  himself  at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  and 
passed  three  nights  fasting  and  praying  :  the  stone  was  detached 
from  his  hand,  and  he  was  delivered.  Giraldus  says  that  he  saw 
this  boy,  then  become  an  old  man,  in  the  course  of  his  journey, 
and  that  he  related  this  prodigy  to  him.  The  stone  was  pre- 
served in  the  church  of  St.  David,  and  the  impression  of  the 
five  fingers  of  the  boy  was  still  visible. 

A  miracle  not  less  incredible  happened  near  St.  Edmondsbury, 
A  poor  woman,  with  the  appearance  of  devotion,  approached  the 
box  or  tronc  of  a  holy  personage,  and  instead  of  placing  an 

18* 


4X0  APPENDIX. 

offering  in  it,  found  means  to  steal  from  it  every  day  some  por- 
tion of  ^he  alms  of  the  faithful.  She  kissed  the  tronc  in  such  a 
manner,  that  a  piece  of  money  stuck  to  her  tongue,  which  she 
conveyed  to  her  mouth  without  being  observed.  One  day, 
whilst  kissing  the  tronc  in  her  customary  manner,  her  lips 
became  fixed  to  it ;  she  spit  out  the  money  which  she  had  in  her 
mouth,  but  could  not  release  her  lips  from  the  box,  during  a 
whole  day.  A  great  number  of  Christians,  and  even  Jews, 
came  to  behold  this  miracle,  and  were  struck  with  surprise  and 
admiration. 

Archbishop  Baldwin  and  his  train  preached  the  crusade  in  the 
fields  where  they  found  the  labourers  and  shepherds.  They  gave 
the  cross  to  a  great  number  of  men,  who  joined  them  in  a  state 
of  perfect  nudity  ;  their  wives  having  concealed  their  clothes  to 
prevent  their  enrolling  themselves  in  the  crusade. 

Whilst  crossing  the  territory  of  Brecknock,  Giraldus  heard 
that  in  the  church  of  Heveden,  the  concubine  of  the  rector  of 
the  church  imprudently  sat  down  on  the  wooden  coffin  of  St. 
Orsana,  sister  of  King  Ofred.  This  coffin  was  more  elevated 
than  the  altar.  When  the  concubine  wished  to  rise  up,  she 
could  not  release  her  thighs  from  the  wood,  to  which  they  were 
firmly  fixed.  The  people  crowded  in,  she  was  overwhelmed  with 
blows,  her  clothes  were  torn  off  her  back,  and  she  was  only  re- 
lieved by  the  help  of  the  Divinity,  who,  at  length,  was  moved  to 
pity  by  her  tears  and  prayers. 

The  psalm-book  of  Quindreda,  sister  of  St.  Kenelmus,  like- 
wise operated  great  prodigies.  On  the  eve  of  the  festival  of  St. 
Kenelmus,  at  Winchelcumbe,  a  crowd  of  women  came  from  all 
the  neighbouring  places  to  be  present  at  the  festivities  given  by 
the  monks.  The  subcellarius  for nicationem  incurrit  with  one  of 
those  in  the  corridors  of  the  cloister.  On  the  following  day,  in 
the  procession,  he  carried  the  book  of  psalms  of  which  we  have 
spoken ;  but  when  he  wished  to  lay  it  down,  the  book  remained 
attached  to  his  hands.  He  then  remembered  the  sin  he  had 
committed  the  night  before ;  he  confessed,  performed  penance, 
and,  seconded  by  the  prayers  of  his  brethren,  at  length  suc- 
ceeded in  breaking  the  chains  the  Divinity  had  imposed  upon 
him.  This  book  of  psalms  possessed  admirable  and  frequently 
tried  virtues.  When  the  body  of  Kene^-ims  was  bemg  carried 
to  the  cemetery,  and  the  people,  on  the  way,  cried  out,  "  He  is 
a  martyr ! "  Quindreda,  who  was  suspected  of  having  killed  her 
brother,  answered,  "  It  is  as  true  that  he  has  been  assassinated 
as  it  is  true  that  my  eyes,  drawn  from  my  head,  are  fastened  to 
this  psalter."  At  these  words  the  two  eyes  of  Quindreda  fell 
from  their  sockets  upon  the  open  book,  and  left  the  stains  of 
blood  upon  the  leaves. 


APPENDIX.  411 

They  likewise  exliibited,  in  the  same  country,  a  collar  01 
crown,  which  they  said  had  belonged  to  St.  Canaucus.  A  thief 
having  endeavoured  to  steal  it,  was  deprived  of  sight,  and  spent 
his  life  in  darkness. 

Giraldus  related  many  other  prodigies  no  less  extraordinary. 
We  repeat  some  of  them  in  his  own  words.  A  soldier  named 
Gilbert  Hagernill,  was  delivered,  per  fenestram  ejectionis,  of  f. 
foal,  in  the  presence  of  a  great  number  of  witnesses.  He  had 
been  ill  three  years  before  the  event.  A  mare  produced  ai). 
animal  of  extraordinary  swiftness,  which  in  its  fore  quarters 
resembled  a  horse,  and  in  its  hind  quarters  a  stag. 

Near  the  rivers  Avon  and  Neth  Giraldus  was  told  of  an  ad- 
venture which  had  happened  to  a  curate  named  Elidore.  This 
curate,  when  twelve  years  of  age,  had  fled  from  the  paternal 
roof.  After  having  remained  two  days  in  a  cavern,  he  perceived 
two  little  men,  who  came  towards  him,  and  said  :  "  Will  you  come 
with  us  H  We  will  take  you  to  a  land  of  delights."  The  youth 
followed  the  pigmies  along  a  subterraneous  and  dark  road,  and 
discovered  a  beautiful  country  which  was  intersected  by  woods, 
meadows,  and  rivers,  but  which  was  not  lighted  by  the  sun. 
Young  Elidore  was  conducted  before  the  king  of  this  dark  coun- 
try, who,  after  admiring  him  for  a  long  time,  gave  him  to  the 
prince,  his  son.  The  subjects  of  this  prince  were  of  very  small 
stature  ;  they  had  light  curly  hair,  which  flowed  over  their 
shoulders.  They  had  little  horses,  as  big  as  our  hounds.  They 
ate  neither  meat  nor  fish,  and  lived,  for  the  most  part,  upon 
milk.  They  never  swore  or  took  oaths,  and  detested  falsehood. 
When  any  of  them  went  upon  the  earth,  they  could  not  at  all 
comprehend  the  inconstancy,  perfidy,  and  ambition  of  the  men 
whom  the  sun  enlightened.  They  appeared  to  have  no  exterior 
worship,  no  religious  observances,  but  confined  themselves  en- 
tirely to  the  love  of  truth. 

Young  Elidore  sometimes  reascendedto  the  earth,  and  came  to 
see  his  mother,  to  whom  he  related  his  discovciiea  and  adventures. 
His  mother  advised  him  to  bring  with  him  a  little  of  the  gold 
which  he  described  as  being  so  plentiful  in  that  wonderful  country. 
He  wished  to  obey  her,  and  stole  a  golden  ball,  with  which  the 
king's  son  was  accustomed  to  play.  As  he  entered  the  paternal 
dwelling,  his  foot  remained  fixed  to  the  sill  of  the  door;  the 
golden  ball  he  had  brought,  rolled  to  the  feet  of  his  mother,  but 
was  immediately  picked  up  by  two  pigmies,  who  loaded  Elidore 
with  jeers  and  raillery.  The  latter,  quite  ashamed  of  his  fault, 
wishing  to  return  to  the  country  of  the  Gnomes,  in  vain  endea- 
voured to  find  the  road  ;  and  although  he  continued  his  search 
for  more  than  a  year,  he  never  succeeded.  He  finished  by  seek- 
ing cons©latioi    in  study,  and  became  a  priest.     He  had  learnt, 


412  APPENDIX. 

Bays  Giraldus,  the  language  of  tli  pigmies,  and  retained  several 
words  of  it :  this  language  very  much  resembled  Greek. 

This  story,  which  is  very  like  one  of  the  Thousand  and  One 
Nights,  may  have  furnished  Swift  with  the  idea  of  Gulliver  ;  it 
is  given  at  great  length  by  Giraldus.  The  curate,  Elidore,  adds 
our  traveller,  related  these  marvellous  adventures  in  his  old  age, 
and  could  not  repeat  them  without  shedding  tears. 

In  the  country  of  Haverford  and  Ross,  an  innumerable  mul- 
titude of  people  followed  Archbishop  Baldwin,  and  took  the 
cross.  The  orators  of  the  holy  war  preached  in  Latin  and  in 
French,  and  although  the  people  did  not  understand  a  word  they 
spoke,  they  were  moved  to  tears.  An  old  woman,  who,  during 
three  years,  had  been  blind,  sent  her  son  to  Archbishop  Baldwin, 
in  order  to  obtain  a  morsel  of  the  robe  of  that  holy  pontiff.  The 
young  man  not  having  been  able  to  penetrate  the  crowd  which 
surrounded  the  archbishop,  brought  back  to  his  mother  a  clod  of 
earth  upon- which  the  archbishop  had  trodden,  and  left  his  foot- 
mark ;  the  blind  woman  pressed  this  clod  to  her  mouth,  then 
applied  it  to  her  eyes,  and  recovered  her  sight. 

The  preachers  of  the  crusade  appeared  in  the  isle  of  Mona, 
or  Anglesea.  In  this  isle,  Roderick,  the  youngest  of  the  sons  of 
Awen,  took  the  cross  with  a  great  number  of  his  subjects.  The 
inhabitants  of  this  isle  pointed  out,  with  great  respect,  a  stone 
which  bore  the  shape  of  a  man's  thigh,  and  which,  by  a  miracu- 
lous virtue,  when  it  was  displaced,  returned  of  itself,  to  the  spot 
it  had  at  first  occupied.  Count  Hugh,  of  Chester,  caused  it  to 
be  fastened  with  strong  chains  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea ;  but  on 
the  next  day,  it  was  again  found  in  the  place  from  which  it  had 
been  taken. 

The  archbishop  finished  his  tour  by  visiting  the  environs  of 
Deva,  or  Chester  ;  these  countries  were  not  less  rich  in  mar- 
vels than  the  others.  Many  of  the  princes  and  nobles  of  thia 
country  took  the  cross. 

When  crossing  the  river  Conway,  Giraldus  informs  us  that 
at  the  source  of  that  river  the  enchanter  Merlin  lived  ;  he  gives, 
on  this  subject  (chap,  viii.),  a  curious  notice  upon  the  two  Mer- 
lins ;  the  one  was  of  Scotland  and  the  other  of  Wales  ;  the 
latter  was  named  Ambrose,  and  was  born  of  a  demon,  in  the 
city  of  Caermardyn,  which  owes  its  name  to  1:  un. 


4.PPEND1X.  413 


No.  2-1. 


Lettei  vo  M.  Midland  wpon  the  Assassins,  hy  Am.  •>  <:urda'~n. 

In  the  course  of  your  labours,  you  must  often,  Monsieur,  have 
met  with  the  names  of  these  sectaries,  known  by  the  appellation 
of  Assassins,  whose  religious  principle  consisted  in  blind  obe- 
dience to  that  Old  Man  of  the  Mountains,  who  reigned  only  by 
murder,  and  the  most  horrible  crimes.  More  than  once  per- 
haps you  will  have  attributed  to  the  love  of  the  marvellous 
which  prevails  in  ages  of  ignorance,  barbarism,  and  credulity, 
the  accounts  of  Western  authors,  contemporaries  of  the  cru- 
sades, respecting  their  perseverance,  and  their  imperturbable 
audacity  in  the  pursuit  and  execution  of  crime.  Nevertheless, 
we  must  confess,  to  the  disgrace  of  our  species,  these  accounts 
are  even  below  the  truth,  and  are  confirmed  by  the  unanimous 
concurrence  of  Arabian  and  Persian  writers. 

I  will  not  describe  these  sectaries  to  you  according  to  William 
of  Tyre,  James  of  Vitry,  and  an  infinite  number  of  historians 
with  whom  you  are  well  acquainted  ;  I  should,  if  I  did  so,  teach 
you  nothing  you  did  not  know  before.  But  I  will  devote  this 
letter  to  presenting  you  with  a  short  sketch  of  the  origin,  the 
dogmas,  and  history  of  the  Assassins,  even  of  their  present 
state ;  for  some  remains  of  them  still  exist  in  the  mountains  of 
Syria.  I  shall  be  highly  gratified  if  I  can  add  any  interest  to 
your  work,  or  give  you  at  least  a  proof  of  the  pleasure  I  receive 
in  being  serviceable  to  you. 

Before  entering  on  the  matter,  it  will  not  be  useless  to  recall 
to  your  mind  the  origin  of  the  two  great  religious  sects  which 
divide  the  Mussulmans — the  Sunnites  and  the  Chutes. 

Mahomet  dying  without  naming  his  successor,  there  arose  two 
factions  among  the  people,  one  of  which  wished  to  elevate  to  the 
caliphat,  Ali,  the  son-in-law  of  this  false  prophet,  and  the  other 
the  pious  Abou-Bekr.  The  courageous  firmness  of  Omar  cut 
the  difficulties  short,  and  the  party  of  Abou-Bekr  triumphed. 
Omar  governed  after  him,  and  had  Othman  for  his  successor.  It 
was  not  till  the  death  of  this  weak  prince,  that  Ali  obtained  pos- 
session of  the  throne,  always  regarded  by  his  partisans  as  his 
heritage. 

Nevertheless,  scarcely  had  his  reign  begun,  than  factions  arose 
on  all  sides,  whose  aim  it  was  to  deprive  him  of  the  sceptre.  Ali 
had  contributed  to  this  state  of  things,  by  disdaining  the  arts  of 
policy,  and  by  offending  by  refusals  and  even  by  disgraces,  some 
of  the  officers  of  Mahomet,  whose  credit  was   great.     One  of 


*14  APPENDIX. 

these  facticas  persons,  Moaviah,  an  ambitious  and  powerful 
rival,  aided  by  the  cunning  of  Ibn-el-Ass,  the  famous  conqueror 
of  Egypt,  sustained  by  Ayesha,  the  widow  of  Mahomet,  who 
could  not  pardon  the  husband  of  Fatima,  for  having  suspected 
her  conjugal  fidelity,  and  profiting  skilfully  by  the  faults  of  Ali, 
succeeded  at  length  iu  wresting  an  authority  from  him  whose 
legitimacy  could  not  be  contested  ;  at  the  same  time  terminated 
by  murder  the  course  of  a  life  which  was  about,  probably,  to  end 
in  humiliation  and  troubles  of  all  kinds.  His  two  sons  expe- 
rienced a  fate  not  in  any  way  more  fortunate  ;  they  perished, 
victims  of  the  ambition  of  the  Ommiades,  a  house  of  which 
Moaviah  was  the  first  prince. 

From  that  time  there  existed  in  the  Mussulman  empire  two 
parties,  wmose  opposition  had  religion  for  its  basis,  and  which 
exist  even  at  the  present  day:*  these  are  the  Sunnites  and  the 
Chutes.  The  first  recognised  the  legitimacy  of  the  succession 
in  the  persons  of  Abou-Bekr,  Omar,  and  Othman,  and  placed 
Ali  in  the  same  rank  with  these  three  caliphs.  The  second,  on 
the  contrary,  treat  the  first  vicars  of  Mahomet  as  usurpers,  and 
maintain  that  Ali  was  his  only  and  veritable  successor. 

The  numbers  of  the  partisans  of  Ali  became  very  great,  par- 
ticularly in  Persia  ;  but  these  partisans  were  not  long  before 
they  themselves  were  divided  into  several  parties,  united  in  their 
veneration  for  Ali  and  his  posterity,  but  divided  with  regard  to 
the  prerogatives  they  attached  to  this  noble  origin,  and  to  the 
branch  which  possessed  the  rights  of  the  Imamat,  that  is  to  say, 
the  spiritual  and  temporal  power.  Of  all  the  sects  to  which  this 
difference  of  opinions  gave  birth,  the  most  powerful  was  that  of 
the  Ismaelians.  It  was  thus  called  because  it  pretended  that 
the  dignity  of  Imaun  had  been  transmitted  by  an  uninterrupted 
line  of  the  descendants  of  Ali,  to  a  prince  named  Ismael,  and 
that  after  his  death  the  Imamat  had  reposed  upon  persons  un- 
known to  men,  up  to  the  moment  at  which  the  triumph  of  the 
house  of  Ali  was  to  be  effected ;  to  this  sect  belonged  the  Car- 
mates  and  the  Fat-imite  caliphs,  who  wrested  Egypt  and  Syria 
from  the  Abasside  caliphs  of  Bagdad,  after  having  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  their  power  in  Africa,  and  formed  a  great  empire,  to 
the  period  when  Saladin  overturned  their  throne  to  erect  one  for 
a  descendant  of  Abbas.  But  as  the  Fatimites  acknowledged  no 
other  legitimate  authority  but  their  own,  they  employed  a  great 


*  But.  as  in  most  such  cases,  religion  was  rather  the  cloak  than  the  1 
of  ambition.  The  Mussulman  empire,  after  the  three  first  caliphs,  became 
too  large  and  too  complicated  to  be  governed  by  a  simple  Arab  ;  and  the 
miraculous  conquests  of  the  sect  naturally  m;  de  the  generals  who  achieved 
them  ambitious  of  governing  what  they  conquered.  The  religious  fei  d 
was  but  an  excuse. — Trans. 


APPE^DTX.  41? 

number  of  missionaries  in  spreading  their  dogmas,  and  gaining 
proselytes  in  secret. 

Such  is,  Monsieur,  the  sketch  I  have  deemed  it  necessary  to 
make,  before  proceeding  with  the  founder  of  the  sect  which  is 
the  object  of  my  letter. 

This  founder  was  named  Hassan,  son  of  Sabbah.  He  was 
born  in  the  environs  of  Thous,  a  city  of  Korassan,  celebrated  for 
having  given  birth  to  several  great  men.  His  father  lived  in  the 
practices  of  a  mortified  life  and  of  an  austere  doctrine,  but  he 
followed  in  secret  the  sect  of  the  liafedhites,  or  the  partisans  of 
Ali.  To  divert,  however,  all  suspicion  from  his  opinions,  he 
intrusted  the  education  of  his  son  to  a  famous  doctor,  Movaffec- 
eddin,  of  Nichapour,  who  was  a  virtuous  Sunnite.  He  pretended 
to  an  Arabian  origin,  and  gave  himself  out  as  descended  from 
the  family  of  Sabbah-Homairi ;  but  this  was  a  fable  to  which  no 
one  gave  faith,  and  it  was  very  well  known  that  his  ancestors 
inhabited  some  villages  in  the  dependence  of  Thous. 

Hassan  speaks  thus  of  his  first  years  of  conversion  to  the  sect 
of  the  Ismaelians  : — "  From  the  age  of  seven  years  I  laboured 
to  acquire  knowledge  and  talents.  I  made,  as  my  fathers  had 
done,  profession  of  that  sect  of  Chutes  who  recognise  the  succes- 
sion of  the  twelve  Imauns.  *  *  *  I  had  occasion  to  become 
acquainted  with  a  refik,  named  Amireh-Zanab,  and  a  most  in- 
timate friendship  grew  up  between  us.  I  believed  that  the 
dogmas  and  opinions  of  the  Ismaelians  were  only  those  of  phi- 
losophers, and  I  imagined  that  the  sovereign  of  Egypt  (that  is 
to  say,  the  Fatimite  caliph)  was  a  sectary  of  this  philosophy. 
This  persuasion  engaged  me  in  warm  discussions  with  Amireh ; 
whenever  he  wished  to  defend  his  own  doctrines,  we  had  dis- 
putes and  controversies  respecting  the  dogmas  of  them.  It  was 
in  vain  for  him  to  attack  the  doctrines  of  my  sect,  I  did  not 
yield  at  all  to  his  arguments,  and  yet  he  insensibly  made  an 
impression  on  my  mind.  Whilst  things  were  in  this  state  we 
separated,  and  I  was  afflicted  with  a  long  illness.  I  then  said 
inwardly  to  myself:  "  The  doctrine  of  the  Ismaelians  is  conform- 
able with  truth,  and  it  is  only  obstinacy  that  prevents  me  from 
adhering  to  it.  If  then,  as  God  forbid !  the  fatal  moment  is  come 
for  me,  I  shall  die  without  having  embraced  the  truth."  I  was, 
however,  restored  to  health,  and  soon  after  made  acquaint- 
ance with  another  Ismaelian,  named  Abou-Nedjm-Sanadj.  I 
questioned  him  upon  the  true  system  of  Ismaelian  belief :  he  ex- 
plained it  to  me  clearly,  and  I  very  soon  penetrated  all  the  depths 
of  it.  I  afterwards  met  with  an  Ismaelian  Dai,  named  Moumen, 
to  whom  the  cheik  Abdelmelik-ben -Attach,  dai  of  Irac,  had 
given  permission  to  exercise  the  functions  of  missionary.  I 
informed  him  of  the  wish  I  had  to  make  my  profession  of  faith 


416  APPENDIX. 

to  him,  and  lie  acceded  to  my  request.  At  the  time  that  th« 
cheik  Abdelmelek  came  to  Rey,  I  accompanied  him,  and  my 
conduct  having  pleased  him,  he  confided  to  me  the  ministry  of  a 
dai.  '  You  must  go  into  Egypt,'  said  he,  '  in  order  to  render 
your  homage  to  the  Imaun  Mostanser,  and  may  that  be  a 
blessing  to  you!'  Mostanser-billah,  a  descendant  of  Ali,  then 
occupied  the  caliphat  of  Egypt  and  the  Imamat.  When,  there- 
fore, the  cheik  left  Eey  for  Ispahan,  I  set  out  for  Egypt." 

Hassan  was  received  in  Egypt  with  great  distinction,  for  the 
fame  of  his  merit  had  preceded  him  thither,  and  the  Imaun 
Mostanser  admitted  him  to  the  most  familiar  intimacy.  This 
high  degree  of  favour  ruined  him.  The  courtiers,  jealous  of  his 
credit,  laboured  to  procure  his  disgrace,  and  a  difference  having 
arisen  between  him  and  the  celebrated  Bedr-Al-djemali,  gene- 
ralissimo of  the  caliph's  troops,  Hassan  succumbed.  His  enemies 
seized  him  and  threw  him,  with  some  Franks,  into  a  vessel  about 
to  sail  to  Africa.  Scarcely  was  he  on  the  sea  when  a  horrible 
tempest  arose  and  placed  the  ship  in  great  danger ;  all  the  pas- 
sengers were  overcome  by  terror,  expecting  nothing  but  death ; 
Hassan  alone  preserved  his  self-possession  and  tranquillity. 
When  interrogated  upon  this  extraordinary  conduct,  "  Our 
lord,"  answered  he,  "  has  promised  me  that  no  harm  should 
happen  to  us  ;"  and,  in  effect,  at  the  end  of  a  short  time,  the  sea 
resumed  its  calm.  The  cry  of  miracle  soon  arose,  and  Hassan 
made  so  many  disciples  of  the  companions  of  his  voyage.  Ano- 
ther time,  the  vessel  was  driven  into  the  port  of  a  Christian 
city,  the  governor  of  which  allowed  our  pious  doctor  to  reim- 
bark,  after  having  treated  him  with  hospitality.  At  length,  the 
vessel  being  cast  upon  the  coast  of  Syria,  Hassan  abandoned 
it,  and  directed  his  course  towards  Persia,  by  land.  He  passed 
through  Aleppo  and  Bagdad,  and  went  from  thence  to  Konsistan, 
Ispahan,  Yezd,  and  Carmania,  preaching  his  doctrine  every- 
where. From  Carmania  he  returned  to  Ispahan,  where  he 
sojourned  more  than  four  months,  at  the  end  of  which  he  set 
out  for  Konsistan.  He  remained  here  three  months,  and  then 
went  to  Damegan,  where  he  dwelt  for  three  years,  making  a 
great  number  of  proselytes.  Hassan,  after  various  other  wan- 
derings, took  possession  of  Altamont,  a  strong  castle,  situated  in 
the  Roudbard,  a  country  near  Casbin.  Mirkhond,  a  Persian 
historian,  relates,  that  he  proposed  to  Mehdi,  a  descendant  of 
Ali,  who  possessed  this  place,  to  purchase  as  much  land  of  him 
as  could  be  comprised  within  the  skin  of  an  ox,  for  the  sum  of 
3,000  dinars.  Medlii  having  consented  to  this  bargain,  Hassan 
took  the  skin  of  an  ox,  of  which  he  made  thongs,  and  tying 
these  together,  passed  the  line  all  round  the  castle.  It  was  by 
means  of  this  trick  that  he  made  himself  master  of  Altamont, 


APPENDIX.  417 

which  afterwards  became  the  central  point  of  tht  power  of  th" 
Ismaelians. 

This  power,  by  the  ability  and  activity  of  Hassan,  made  a 
rapid  progress  ;  it  was  already  established  throughout  the  pro- 
vince of  Koudbar,  in  which  his  sectaries  built  n  number  of 
strong  castles  ;  nobody  was  talked  of  in  Persia  but  Hassan,  whi 
threatened  to  bring  the  whole  of  that  great  country  under  his 
domination.  Melik-chah,  alarmed  at  what  he  heard,  ordered 
one  of  his  generals  to  destroy  Hassan  and  his  partisans,  and  tr. 
raze  his  fortresses  ;  but  in  vain  ;  and  death  overtook  Melik-chah 
before  his  troops  had  obtained  the  least  advantage. 

The  troubles  which  followed  his  death,  and  the  division 
which  arose  among  the  children  of  this  prince,  on  the  subject  of 
the  succession  to  the  throne,  left  the  field  free  for  Hassan  to 
augment  the  number  of  his  proselytes.  The  best-fortified  castles 
of  the  north-west  of  Persia  fell  into  his  hands.  At  length,  the 
sultan  Sindjar.  having  made  himself  master  of  this  kingdom,  set 
seriously  about  the  destruction  of  the  Ismaelians.  Hassan,  by 
artifice,  got  rid  of  this  dangerous  enemy.  He  seduced  one  of 
the  servants  of  the  prince  ;  who,  whilst  he  slept,  placed  a  sharp 
stiletto  near  his  head.  When  the  sultan,  on  awaking,  saw  this 
poniard,  he  was  seized  with  great  fear ;  but  as  he  was  ignorant 
of  the  hand  that  placed  it  there,  he  preserved  silence  upon  the 
circumstance.  At  the  end  of  some  days  he  received  the  follow- 
ing letter  from  the  head  of  the  Ismaelians  : — "  If  good  intentions 
were  not  entertained  towards  the  sultan,  the  poniard  which  he 
found  near  his  head  would  have  been  plunged  into  his  heart." 
Sindjar  was  so  terrified,  that  he  consented  to  make  peace  with 
the  Ismaelians  upon  three  conditions  :  the  first  was,  that  they 
should  add  no  new  constructions  to  their  castles ;  the  second, 
that  they  should  purchase  neither  arms  nor  machines  of  war ; 
and  the  third,  that  he  should  make  no  new  proselytes.  He  even 
granted  Hassan,  by  the  title  of  pension,  a  portion  of  the  revenues 
of  the  country  of  Coumcs. 

From  that  time  Hassan  lived  peaceably  in  the  castle  of  Alta- 
mont, in  the  greatest  seclusion,  practising  the  exercises  of  austere 
piety,  and  employing  himself  in  the  composition  of  dogmatic 
treatises  upon  his  doctrine.  It  is  said  that  he  only  ascended  to 
the  terrace  of  his  palace,  at  Altamont,  twice  during  thirty  years. 
He  required  of  his  sectaries  the  most  rigid  exactitude  in  the  ob- 
servances of  religion.  Even  paternal  tenderness  could  not  lead 
him  to  deviate  from  this  severity.  Hossein,  his  son,  having 
killed  the  da'i  of  Couhestan,  he  punished  him  with  death  ;  another 
son,  for  having  drunk  wine,  met  with  the  same  fate.  A  mail 
having  played  upon  the  flute,  in  the  castle  of  Altamont,  he  com- 
manded  him  to  be  turned  out  of  the  place,  and  resisted  all  the 


aS  APPENDIX. 

Drayer3  that  were  made  to  him  to  obtain  his  ptx;doi~..  Some 
authors  pretend,  that  by  sacrificing  his  sons  thus,  he  wished  to 
prove  to  the  Ismaelians  that  he  had  no  intention  of  fixing  the 
sovereign  power  in  his  own  family  ;  I  doubt  whether  such  a 
reason  can  justify  Hassan  in  his  barbarity.  And  yet  it  would 
not  be  the  first  time  that  policy  has  sacrificed  the  feelings  of  the 
heart  to  state  interests. 

The  ability  of  this  man  in  the  management  of  affairs  equalled 
his  fanaticism.  History  has  preserved  several  proofs  of  this,  of 
which  I  shall  only  quote  the  following.  Hassan  had  studied 
under  the  imaun  Movassek-eddin,  in  company  with  Nizam- 
el-Moulk,  one  of  the  greatest  statesmen  Islamism  ever  produced  ; 
and  community  of  labours  established  the  strictest  friendship 
between  them.  They  entered  into  a  mutual  promise  that  the 
first  of  the  two  that  should  obtain  honours  should  share  them 
with  the  other,  and  that  fortune  should  not  affect  their  attach- 
ment. Hassan,  after  having  for  a  long  time  led  a  miserable  life, 
went  to  Nichapour,  where  he  found  Nizam-el-Moulk  minister 
of  the  great  Melik-chah  ;  this  was  about  the  year  1073  of  the 
Christian  era.  JMizam-el-Moulk,  faithful  to  his  promise,  received 
Hassan  with  great  kindness,  and  procured  him  a  post  at  the 
court.  Endowed  with  an  expansive  mind,  rare  cunning,  and 
great  talents  for  administration,  this  aspirant  was  not  long  in 
insinuating  himself  into  the  good  graces  of  the  Sultan,  and  ac- 
quiring his  confidence.  One  day,  Melik-chah  having  conceived 
some  doubt  of  the  probity  of  his  first  minister,  asked  him  in  how 
short  a  time  he  could  draw  out  a  clear  statement  of  the  receipts 
and  expenses  of  the  provinces.  We  should  observe,  that  at  that 
period  the  dominions  of  this  prince  extended  from  Antioch,  in 
Syria,  to  Kachkar,  in  Turkistan.  JN"izam-el-Moulk  said  it  would 
require  two  years  ;  Hassan  offered  to  perform  the  labour  in  forty 
days,  provided  the  Sultan  would  place  at  his  disposal  all  the 
writers  of  the  court ;  and  his  offer  being  accepted,  he  realized 
his  promise.  He  was  preparing  to  present  the  result  of  his 
researches  to  the  prince,  when  Nizam-el-Moulk,  who  saw  his 
ruin  approach,  found  means  to  get  the  statements  into  his 
hands,  and  to  mutilate  them.  When  Hassan  appeared  before 
the  Sultan,  the  prince  put  several  questions  to  him  relative  to 
the  situation  and  finances  of  the  empire.  Hassan  had  recourse 
to  his  papers,  and  found  them  incomplete  ;  he  hesitated,  stam- 
mered, and  could  not  answer.  Nizam-el-Moulk  skilfully  took 
advantage  of  his  tergiversations  to  degrade  Hassan  in  the  mind 
of  Melik-chah.  "Wise  and  prudent  men,"  said  he.  "required 
two  years  to  perform  the  work  commanded  by  your  majesty ; 
an  ignorant  man,  who  has  pretended  to  terminate  it  in  forty 
days,  is  un&ble  to  give  satisfactory  answers  to  the  questions  put 


APPENDIX.  41&. 

to  him."  The  prince,  in  his  anger,  was  desirous  of  punishing 
Hassan ;  but,  as  he  was  a  creature  of  his  court,  he  allowed  the 
aS'air  to  drop,  and  satisfied  himself  with  despising  him.  This 
anecdote,  which  does  little  honour  to  the  character  of  JNfizam- 
cl-Moulk,  and  shows  no  delicacy  on  the  part  of  Hassan,  towards 
the  man  to  whom  he  owed  his  fortune,  proves  at  least  that  th«» 
latter  possessed  great  aptitude  for  business. 

Such  was  the  man  whom  the  Ismaelians,  or  rather  the  Assassins 
of  the  Crusaders,  recognised  as  their  chief,  and  to  whom  they 
gave  the  name  of  Seidouna, — Our  Lord.  But  before  we  proceed, 
it  is  necessary  to  enter  into  some  details  upon  the  principles  of 
this  sect,  upon  the  denominations  that  it  bore,  and  upon  its 
organization. 

You  have  seen,  sir,  the  origin  of  the  denomination  of  Ismaolian, 
given  to  the  branch  of  the  partisans  of  Ali  to  which  Hassan 
belonged.  This  name  is  not,  however,  the  only  one  under  which 
these  heretics  were  known  by  orthodox  Mussulmans.  They  were 
likewise  called  Bathenians,  Nezzarians,  J-folaAcd>,  and  If.ach- 
ichens ;  but  the  two  last  epithets  alone  applied  to  the  proselytes 
of  Hassan. 

The  title  of  Bathenian  designated  the  principles  established  by 
the  Ismaelians.  One  of  the  characters  of  their  rehgicn  was  to 
explain,  in  an  allegorical  manner,  all  the  precepts  of  the  Mussul- 
man law ;  and  this  allegory  was  carried  so  far  by  some  of  their 
doctors,  that  it  tended  to  nothing  less  than  the  destruction  of  all 
public  worship  ;  and  to  the  elevation  of  a  purely  philosophical 
doctrine,  and  a  very  licentious  morality,  upon  the  ruins  of  all 
revelation  and  all  divine  authority.  Tine  is  why  they  were 
called  Bathenis,  or  Bathenians ;  which  is  to  say,  partisans  of 
interior  worship. 

Molahed,  the  plural  of  the  Arabian  word  Molhed,  signifies 
impious ;  the  partisans  of  Hassan  did  not  receive  this  epithet 
till  towards  the  year  1164  of  Christ,  and  under  the  reign  of  one 
of  his  successors,  named  Hassan,  the  son  of  Mohammed.  This 
prince,  from  his  youth,  gave  himself  up  to  the  study  of  the  dog- 
matic books  of  the  sect ;  and  as  his  father,  to  whom  he  succeeded. 
Mas  unacquainted  with  science,  he  appeared  in  the  eyes  of  the 
people  a  very  profound  scholar,  and  an  extraordinary  man.  This 
good  opinion,  with  respect  to  his  person,  increased  daily,  and  the 
Ismaelians  became  more  blindly  willing  to  execute  his  orders. 
Ha3san,  rendered  bold  by  this  success,  put  forth  some  extrava- 
gant opinions,  and  gave  himself  out  to  be  the  Imaun  of  the  age. 
His  father  was  still  living;  and,  in  his  ignorance,  scrupulously 
followed  the  doctrines  of  his  sect.  The  pretensions  of  his  son 
disgusted  him,  and  he  put  to  death  two  hundred  and  fifty  of 
those  who  favoured  them.  As  long  as  Mohammed  lived,  Hassan 


420  APPEKBIX. 

suppressed  his  real  intentions ;  but  he  resumed  them  thl 
moment  the  death  of  his  father  put  him  in  possession  of  the 
throne.  He  permitted  everything  that  religion  prohibited, 
abolished  the  exterior  practices  of  the  Mussulman  faith,  allowed 
his  subjects  to  drink  wine,  and  dispensed  with  all  the  obligations 
which  the  law  of  Mahomet  imposes  on  its  sectaries  ;  he  declared 
that  the  knowledge  of  the  allegorical  sense  of  the  precepts  dis- 
penses with  the  observance  of  the  literal  sense,  and  at  length 
caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed  son  of  JSTezzar,  son  of  the  caliph 
Mostanser,  and  the  caliph  of  God  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.* 
This  heretical  conduct  procured  for  the  Ismaelians  the  denomi 
nation  of  MolaJicd,  impious. 

The  surname  of  ."Nezzarians  is  derived  from  that  Nezzar,  of 
whom  I  have  spoken,  and  was  given  to  those  Ismaelians  who 
adhered  to  the  party  of  that  prince,  the  eldest  son  of  Mostanser. 
caliph  of  Egypt.  The  sectarians  of  Hassan  were  of  the  party  of 
JNezzar. 

I  now  come  to  the  epithet  of  Assassins.  The  origin  of  this 
word  had  been  the  object  of  numerous  researches,  which  still 
remained  without  any  satisfactory  result,  when  an  illustrious 
scholar  proved,  ir  an  evident  manner,  supporting  all  he  advanced 
upon  various  Arabian  texts,  that  it  was  a  corruption  of  the  word 
hachichen  ;  and  that  it  was  given  to  the  Ismaelians,  because  they 
made  use  of  an  intoxicating  liquor  called  hachich.  This  hachich 
is  a  preparation  of  the  leaves  of  hemp,  or  some  other  part  of  that 
vegetable,  which  they  employ  in  different  manners ;  as  a  liquor, 
under  the  form  of  confections ;  or  as  pastilles,  sweetened  with 
saccharine  substances  ;  and  even  as  fumigations.  "  The  intoxica- 
tion produced  by  the  hachich,"  says  M.  Silvestre  de  Sacy,  "  throws 
the  person  who  takes  it  into  an  ecstasy  similar  to  that  which  the 
Orientals  experience  in  the  use  of  opium  ;  and  according  to  the 
testimony  of  a  great  many  travellers,  we  may  be  satisfied  that 
men  in  this  state  of  delirium  imagine  that  they  enjoy  the  ordi- 
nary objects  of  their  wishes,  and  taste  of  a  felicity,  the  acquisi- 
tion of  which  costs  them  little,  but  the  use  of  which,  too  often 
repeated,  changes  the  animal  organization,  and  leads  to  marasma 
and  death.  Some  of  them,  in  this  state  of  transient  insanity, 
losing  the  consciousness  of  their  weakness,  commit  actions  of  a 
brutal  nature,  capable  of  disturbing  public  order.  It  cannot  be 
forgotten  that,  during  the  sojourn  of  the  French  army  in  Egypt, 
the  general-in-chief  Mas  obliged  strictly  to  prohibit  the  sale  and 
use  of  these  pernicious  substances,  the  indulgence  in  which  lias 
become  a  necessity  for  the  inhabitants  of  Egypt,  particularly  the 

*  This  doctrine  prevailed  among  the  Ismaelians  of  Persia  dur  ng  nearly 
fifty  years  ;  but  Djelah-ed  Din,  grandson  of  Hassan,  reestablished  the 
vorshiu  in  its  purity. 


APPENDIX.  421 

lower  classes  of  the  people.  Those  who  give  themselves  up  tl 
this  custom,  arc  still  called  Hachichin,  Sachachin ;  and  these 
two  expressions  plainly  show  why  the  Ismaelians  hare  been 
called  by  the  Latin  historians  of  the  crusades,  sometimes 
'Assissini,  and  sometimes  Assassini. 

With  a  small  acquaintance  with  the  Arabic  tongue,  and  an 
observation  upon  the  alterations  certain  words  of  that  language 
nave  experienced  in  being  transferred  to  the  works  of  Latin,  and 
Greek  authors,  it  is  impossible  to  raise  any  objection  to  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  etymology  advanced  by  M.  Silvestre  de  Sacy. 
We  may,  however,  believe  that  all  Ismaelians  did  not  employ 
the  hachich ;  that  their  chief  alone  was  acquainted  with  this  pre- 
paration, and  that  he  only  administered  it  to  those  whom  he 
destined  to  exercise  the  infamous  trade  of  fedai,  or  assassins  ; 
for  there  prevailed  among  the  partisans  of  this  sect  a  remark- 
able hierarchy :  the  dai,  the  refik,  and  the  fedai,  formed 
three  perfectly  distinct  classes. 

The  chief  of  the  sect  dwelt,  as  I  have  said,  in  the  castle  of 
Altamont,  placed  amidst  mountains.  It  was  the  situation  of  this 
abode  which  gave  him  the  title  of  Cheik  Aldjebal, — Lord  of  the 
Mountain;  but  as  cheik  signifies  equally  lord  and  old  man,  our 
historians  of  the  crusades  took  it  in  the  latter  sense,  and  called 
the  prince  of  the  Assassins  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain. 

The  dais  formed  the  first  class  of  the  sect ;  it  was  reserved  to 
them  to  propagate  the  doctrine.*  They  exercised  the  functions 
of  missionaries,  spreading  themselves  throughout  the  provinces, 
preaching  the  dogmas  of  their  worship,  aud  receiving  the  pro- 
fession of  faith  of  such  as  were  converted.  There  were,  still 
further,  degrees  among  these.  They  called  dai  aldoat, — dai  of 
dais,  him  who  had  several  missionaries  under  his  orders,  and 
whose  jurisdiction  comprised  several  provinces.  The  Ismaelians 
had  dais  aldoat  in  Syria,  Irac,  Dilem,  Korassan,  &c. 

Under  the  name  refik,  it  appears,  the  body  of  the  sectaries 
was  comprised. 

The  feda'is  w  ere  the  blind  ministers  of  the  Old  Man  of  the 
Mountain  ;  it  was  in  their  hands  he  placed  the  knife  under  which 
were  to  fall,  without  pity,  all  who  opposed  the  establishment  of 
his  doctrine,  or  combated  it  by  dangerous  arguments  ;  princes, 
generals,  doctors, — nobody  was  safe  from  their  blows  ;  and  they 
showed  in  the  execution  of  the  crime,  a  perseverance  equalled 
only  by  their  fanaticism. 

The  word  fedai,  in  its  proper  signification,  means   \  devoted 

*  Dai,  an  Arabian  participle,  signifies  properly  him  who  calls, — advocans; 
and  by  extension  it  designates  a  person  who  preaches  to  men,  and  invites 
them  to  embrace  some  doctrine.  The  title  of  dai  was  common  in  the  first 
ccrtury  of  Islamism.     Eve^'  sect  had  its  own. 


422  APPENDIX. 

ma)},  and  the  application  of  it  was  very  just,  since  this  class  of 
the  Ismaelians  had  for  the  orders  of  their  prince  a  devoted neea 
without  example.  It  is  true  this  blind  obedieDce  was  purchased 
by  stratagem  ;  for  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  we  must  apply 
to  the  fedais  that  which  Marco  Paolo  relates  of  the  young 
people  brought  up  by  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountains.  "  This 
traveller,  whose  veracity  is  generally  acknowledged,"  says 
M.  de  Sacy,  "  informs  us  that  this  prince  caused  young  people  to 
be  brought  up,  chosen  from  amongst  the  most  robust  cf  the  inha- 
bitants of  the  places  over  which  he  ruled,  to  make  of  them  the 
executioners  of  his  barbarous  decrees.  All  their  education  had 
for  object  to  convince  them  that  by  blindly  obeying  the  orders 
of  their  chief,  they  would  secure  themselves,  after  their  death, 
the  enjoyment  of  all  the  pleasures  which  delight  the  senses.* 
To  attain  this  aim,  this  prince  caused  delicious  gardens  to  be 
made  round  his  palace.  There,  in  pavilions,  decorated  with  all 
that  Asiatic  luxury  can  imagine  that  is  rich  and  brilliant,  dwelt 
young  beauties,  consecrated  solely  to  the  pleasures  of  those  for 
whom  these  enchanting  places  were  destined.  It  was  to  this 
spot  the  Ismaelian  princes  caused  to  be  transported,  from  time 
to  time,  the  young  men  of  whom  they  meant  to  make  the  blind 
instruments  of  their  will.  After  having  caused  them  to  swallow 
a  draught  which  plunged  them  into  a  profound  sleep,  and  de- 
prived them  for  some  time  of  the  use  of  all  their  faculties,  they 
had  them  conveyed  to  these  pavilions,  worthy  of  the  gardens  of 
Armida.  Upon  awaking,  everything  which  struck  their  ears  01 
their  eyes  threw  them  into  a  ravishment  of  delight,  which  left 
reason  no  empire  in  their  minds.  Uncertain  if  they  had  already 
entered  upon  the  enjoyment  of  the  felicity  of  which  a  picture 
had  so  often  been  held  up  to  their  imagination,  they  abandoned 
themselves  with  transport  to  all  the  various  seductions  by  which 
they  were  surrounded.  After  they  had  passed  some  days  in 
these  gardens,  the  same  means  as  had  been  employed  to  bring 
them  there,  w-ithout  their  knowledge,  were  again  had  recourse  to 
to  remove  them  from  them.  Advantage  was  carefully  taken  of 
the  first  moments  of  an  awakening,  which  for  them  had  put  an 
end  to  the  charm  of  so  much  enjoyment,  to  cause  them  to  de- 
scribe to  their  young  companions  the  wonders  of  which  they  had 
been  witnesses,  and  to  convince  them  that  the  happiness  of 
which  they  had  during  several  fast-flitting  days  partaken,  was  but 

*  A  passage  of  the  historian  Mirkhoud  supports  this  account ;  he  informs 
^is  that  Hassan,  after  getting  possession  of  the  castle  of  Altam  ~nt,  caused 
a  canal  to  be  dug,  and  brought  water  from  a  great  distance  to  the  foot  of 
his  castle.  Fruit-trees  were  planted  round  it,  and  he  encocra^od  the 
inhabitants  to  sow  the  land.  It  was  thus  that  the  air  of  this  j  Vxs.,  vhido 
had  been  "aiwholesome,  became  pure  and  salubrious. 


APPENDIX.  423 

the  prelude  or  foretaste  of  what  they  could  secure  an  eternal 
possession  of  by  their  submission  to  the  orders  of  their  prince." 

This  draught,  endowed  with  such  wonderful  powers,  was  no- 
thing but  the  hachich,  with  the  virtues  of  which  the  chief  of 
the  sect  was  acquainted,  and  the  use  of  which  was  not  spread 
till  some  centuries  after. 

This,  sir,  is  what  Oriental  historians  furnish  us  with  respecting 
the  origin,  dogmas,  and  political  organization  of  the  sect  of  the 
Assassins.  As  to  its  history,  the  extent  of  its  dominions,  and  its 
power,  these  are  points,  for  the  development  of  which  a  much 
greater  space  would  be  requisite  than  that  to  which  I  am  obliged 
to  limit  myself.  Nevertheless,  I  will  devote  a  few  lines  to  these 
articles,  for  the  gratification  of  your  curiosity. 

Mirkhoud  has  left  us,  in  his  work  entitled  Bouzat  Alsafa,  a 
history  of  the  Ismaelians  of  Persia.  This  piece  is  the  more 
valuable  and  authentic,  from  having  been  extracted  word  for 
word,  from  a  history  written  by  the  celebrated  vizier  Atha-el- 
Mulk,  who  was  sent  by  Ilolagon,  after  the  ruin  of  the  Ismaelians, 
into  the  castle  of  Altamont,  and  had  an  opportunity  of  consult- 
ing their  original  historical  memoirs.  Mirkhoud,  or  rather 
Atha-el-Mulk,  informs  us,  then,  that  the  Persian  dynasty  of  the 
Ismaelians  ^furnished  eight  princes,  including  Hassan-ben- 
Sabbah,  and  that  it  subsisted  during  a  space  of  160  years,  to  the 
time  at  which  Holagon,  at  the  instigation  of  several  princes  who 
detes'ted  the  Ismaelians  on  account  of  their  excesses,  conquered 
Persia,  destroyed  the  castles  of  the  sect,  and  sent  Rokn-eddin- 
Karchar,  the  last  sovereign  of  Altamont,  to  the  other  side  of 
the  Oxus.     This  great  event  took  place  in  1256. 

But  this  principal  branch,  or  rather  this  stock  of  the  Ismael- 
ians, is  not  that  of  which  such  frequent  mention  is  made  in 
our  crusades;  Hassan  Sabbah,  after  having  laid  the  foundation 
of  his  power  in  Persia,  sent  missionaries,  of  both  the  first  and 
second  order,  into  all  parts  of  the  Mussulman  world ;  and  these 
missionaries  were  particularly  active  in  Syria.  A  certain  very 
celebrated  Seljoukide  emir,  who  governed  Aleppo,  seconded 
their  designs  wonderfully.  Redoun  (that  was  the  name  of  this 
prince)  formed  a  friendship  with  the  Ismaelians,  embraced  their 
principles  even,  and  granted  them  open  protection.  From  that 
period,  that  is  to  say  501  of  the  Hegyra,  dates  the  origin  of  the 
great  power  they  exercised  in  Syria,  which  subsisted  nearly  two 
hundred  years;  but  these  Ismaelians  were  subject  to  the  sove- 
reign  of  Altamont,  and  were  directed  by  dais:  it  is  even  re- 
markable that  most  of  the  fecials,  employed  in  committing  mur- 
der in  Syria,  were  Persians  by  nation,  and  had  doubtless  been 
educated  for  that  execrable  profession  in  the  delicious  gardens 
of  Altamont,  and  by  the  virtue  of  the  chich. 


424  APPEXDIX. 

Europe  has  taken  too  little  interest  in  the  history  of  the 
Ismaelians,  as  obtained  from  Oriental  writers,  to  be  certain  of 
the  extent  of  country  occupied  by  these  sectaries.  The  geo- 
graphy of  Persia,  likewise,  is  enveloped  in  too  much  obscurity  to 
allow  us  to  assign  an  exact  position  to  the  various  castles  they 
inhabited.  But  what  1  can  affirm  is,  that  the  province  of 
Roudbar,  in  which  was  placed  the  seat  of  their  empire,  is,  accord- 
ing to  the  Ferlienk  Choouri, — the  Persian  dictionary,  explained  in 
Turkish,  a  large  district,  comprising  many  villages,  and  situated 
between  Casbin  and  Guilan,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Theheran, 
the  present  capital  of  Persia. 

William  of  Tyre  informs  us  that  the  Ismaelians  possessed 
ten  fortresses  in  Syria,  and  reckons  them  at  sixty  thousand  souls. 
Their  principal  establishment  was  at  Massiat,  an  important,  well- 
fortified  place,  situated  to  the  west  of  Hamah,  at  the  distance 
of  a  day's  march.  They  obtained  possession  of  it  in  505  of  the 
Hegyra,  after  having  assassinated  the  emir  who  governed  it ;  and 
have  kept  it  even  up  to  our  times.  In  addition  to  Massiat,  they 
held  seven  fortresses  in  the  parallel  of  Hamah,  from  Hemes  to 
the  Mediterranean,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Tripoli.  They 
began  to  appear  in  Syria  towards  the  end  of  the  fifth  century  of 
the  Hegyra.  Their  power  increased  rapidly  under  the  Seljoukide 
Redevan,  who  embraced  their  doctrine.  During  the  whole 
course  of  his  reign,  they  had  a  house  in  Aleppo,  in  which  they 
exercised  their  worship.  They  were  so  much  dreaded,  that  they 
carried  oil  women  and  children  out  of  the  open  streets  in  mid- 
day, without  any  one  daring  to  oppose  their  violences.  They 
publicly  plundered  people  of  a  sect  opposed  to  their  own ;  gave 
asylum  to  the  greatest  criminals,  and  gathered  from  impunity 
fresh  audacity  for  the  commission  of  new  crimes.  These  barba- 
rians carried  their  insolence  so  far  as  to  seize,  by  force  of  arms, 
cities  and  strong  castles  ;  it  was  thus  they  entered  Apamea, 
from  which  place  Tancred  drove  them. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  extent  of  the  dominions  pos- 
sessed by  the  Ismaelians,  either  in  Persia  or  Syria,  it  cannot  be 
compared  with  then*  power,  established  by  fanaticism,  and  main- 
tained by  the  fear  they  inspired.  Spread  throughout  the  whole 
of  the  Mussulman  world,  from  the  extremities  of  Asia  Minor  to 
the  depths  of  Turkistan.  they  were  everywhere  dreaded.  In 
presenting  you  with  a  few  instances  of  their  fanaticism  and 
audacity,  if  I  do  not  afford  you  a  precise  idea  of  their  power,  I 
shall  at  least  make  you  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  it,  and 
with  what  it  may  be  presumed  to  have  been.  Let  us  begin  with 
devotedness  and  fanaticism. 

History  informs  us  that  Henry,  count  of  Champagne,  having 
made  a  journey  into  Lesser  Armenia,  paid  a  visit,  on  his  return, 


■LPPENDIX  425 

to  the  king1  of  the  Assassins,  and  was  received  with  the  most 
distinguished  honours.  The  prince  led  him  to  all  parts  of  his 
abode,  and  having  conducted  him  up  a  very  lofty  tower,  upon 
every  step  of  which  stood  men  clothed  in  white  :  "I  do  not 
suppose,"  said  he  to  his  guest,  "  that  you  have  any  subjects  as 
obedient  as  mine  ?"  At  the  same  time  he  made  a  sign  with  hia 
hand,  when  two  of  these  men  precipitated  themselves  from  the 
top  of  the  tower,  and  expired  instantly.  The  head  of  the 
Ismaelians  added :  "  If  you  desire  it,  at  the  least  signal  on  my 
part,  those  whom  you  see  will  precipitate  themselves  in  the  same 
manner."  When  taking  leave  of  Henry,  he  made  him  rich  pre- 
sents, and  said:  "If  you  have  any  enemy  who  aims  at  your 
crown,  address  yourself  to  me,  and  my  servants  shall  soon 
relieve  you  from  your  anxiety,  by  poniarding  him." 

Melik-chah,  alarmed  at  the  progress  of  Hassan-ben-Sabbah, 
sent  one  of  his  officers  to  him  to  require  him  to  desist  from  his 
views,  and  to  surrender  his  castles.  Hassan  ordered  one  of  his 
servants  into  his  presence,  and  commanded  him  to  kill  himself, 
which  the  servant  instantly  did.  He  then  told  another  to  throw 
himself  from  the  summit  of  a  high  tower,  and  his  orders  were 
equally  promptly  obeyed.  "  Report  to  your  master,"  then  said 
he  to  the  ambassador,  "  what  you  have  seen,  and  tell  him  that  I 
have  sixty  thousand  men  at  my  command,  whose  devotedness 
and  obedience  are  like  that  which  you  have  seen." 

In  1120,  some  Bathenians  having  assassinated  Boursiki,  prince 
of  Mossoul,  they  were  cut  to  pieces  on  the  spot.  The  mother  of 
one  of  these  Ismaelians  having  learnt  the  death  of  the  emir  and 
the  fate  of  the  assassins,  gave  herself  up  to  transports  of  joy ; 
but  her  satisfaction  was  changed  into  as  lively  a  grief  when  she 
learnt  that  her  son,  by  some  fortunate  chance,  had  escaped  the 
destiny  of  his  companions.  Thus  fanaticism  produced  the  same 
effect  upon  this  woman  as  was  produced  by  national  honour  and 
patriotism  in  the  case  of  the  Spartan  mother,  whom  history  has 
immortalized  as  sinking  under  her  grief  when  she  heard  that 
her  son  had  escaped  from  the  massacre  of  Thermopylae.  What 
becomes  of  the  charm  and  j-.c  wer  of  virtue,  if  blind  fanaticism, 
the  disgrace  of  our  nature,  can  rival  her  in  the  noblest  actions 
she  inspires  ? 

The  Ismaelians  were  the  more  dangerous  and  redoubtable, 
from  their  practice  of  insinuating  themselves  into  the  courts  of 
most  princes,  and  their  skill  in  adopting  such  disguises  as  cir- 
cumstances required.  They  assumed  the  Syrian  dress,  in  ordei 
to  get  rid  of  that  Ahmed  Bal,  of  whom  I  have  just  spoken  ;  the} 
entered  the  service  of  Tadjelmouth  Bouri,  prince  of  Damascus, 
in  the  quality  of  grooms  of  Korassan,  and  attacked  him  with 
impunit}'.  The  murderers  of  Bouriski  took  the  dress  of  dervises. 
Vol.  III.— 19 


426  .         APPENDIX. 

to  avert  all  suspicion.  The  Ismaelians  deputed  to  poniard  the 
marquis  of  Montferrat,  embraced  Christianity,  wore  religious 
habits,  affected  the  most  austere  piety,  gained  the  friendship 
and  esteem  of  the  clergy,  acquired  the  good-will  of  their  victim^ 
and,  after  having  killed  him.  endured  the  1-ortures  in  which  they 
perished  with  admirable  resignation.  The  imaun  Fakr-eddin,  a 
very  celebrated  Persian  doctor,  having  keen  accused  of  prac- 
tising the  Ismaelian  doctrines  in  secret,  in  order  to  clear  himself 
from  the  calumny,  ascended  the  pulpit,  and  pronounced  male- 
dictions against  the  sect.  This  news  reaching  Altamont,  Mo- 
hammed, who  then  reigned,  charged  a  fedai  with  the  execution 
of  his  vengeance.  This  man  repaired  to  the  dwelling  of  the 
imaun,  and  told  him  that  he  was  a  jurisconsult,  that  he  was 
desirous  of  being  instructed  by  so  able  a  master,  and  with  his 
caresses  and  flattery,  played  his  part  so  well,  that  he  was  admitted 
into  the  family  of  the  doctor  ;  he  passed  seven  months  with  him 
without  obtaining  an  opportunity  to  execute  his  purpose.  At 
length,  finding  himself  one  day  alone  with  the  imaun,  he  shut 
the  doors  of  the  house,  drew  his  poniard,  rushed  upon  the 
doctor,  struck  him  to  the  ground,  and  seated  himself  upon  his 
chest.  "  I  will  rip  you  up,"  said  he,  "  from  the  navel  to  the 
breast."  ':  What  for  ?"  replied  the  imaun.  Then  the  fedai  re- 
proached him  with  having  cursed  the  Ismaelians  from  the  pulpit. 
The  imaun  swore  several  times  never  to  speak  ill  of  that  sect  in 
future  ;  upon  which  the  fedai  released  him.,  saying  :  "  I  have  no 
orders  to  kill  you,  otherwise  I  should  not  delay  the  execution  of 
those  orders,  or  hesitate  in  performing  them ;  know,  then,  that 
Mohammed  salutes  you,  and  desires  that  you  would  do  him  the 
honour  of  visiting  him  at  his  castle.  You  will  become  an  all- 
powerful  governor,  for  we  shall  obey  you  blindly."  And  he 
added,  "  We  take  no  account  of  the  discourse  of  common  people  : 
their  insults  have  no  effect  upon  us.  But  you,  you  ought  never 
to  permit  your  tongue  to  utter  anything  against  us,  or  to  censure 
our  conduct:  because  your  words  sink  into  the  people's  hearts  as 
the  strokes  of  the  engraver  penetrate  the  stone  '  The  imaun 
said :  "  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  go  to  the  castle,  but  I  will, 
henceforward,  never  pronounce  a  word  that  may  be  displeasing 
to  the  sovereign  of  Altamont."  After  this  conversation,  the 
fedai  took  from  his  girdle  three  hundred  and  sixty  pieces  of  gold, 
and  said  to  the  imaun  :  "  Here  is  your  salary  for  one  year,  and 
it  has  been  ordered  by  the  sublime  divan,  that  you  should 
receive  every  year  a  similar  sum  from  the  reis  Modhaffer.  I 
nave  in  my  chamber  two  Yeman  robes :  when  I  am  gone  your 
servants  must  take  them,  for  our  master  has  sent  them  to  you." 
The  fedai  instantly  disappeared.     The  imaun  took  the  pieces  of 


APPENDIX  427 

gold  and  the  robes,  and  during  five  years  I  eceived  the  appointed 

salary. 

This  miraculous  devotedness,  this  confidence  in  an  after-life, 
the  felicity  of  which  was  beyond  description,  produced  the 
audacity  and  perseverance  in  the  execution  of  the 'orders  of  the 
prince,  and  the  imperturbable  courage  which  led  the  Ismaelians 
to  endure  death,  without  allowing  the  most  severe  tortures  to 
draw  a  confession  from  them.  Caliphs  and  emirs  fell  beneath 
their  blows,  in  mosques,  in  streets,  within  the  walls  of  palaces, 
amidst  crowds  of  people  and  courts  of  nobles.  If  they  were 
taken  with  the  fatal  knife  in  their  hands,  they  thanked  heaven 
for  bringing  them  nearer  to  the  goal  of  their  desires,  and  hailed 
death  as  leading  them  the  first  step  towards  felicity.  Moudoud 
and  Ac  Sancar  Albourski,  princes  of  Mossoul,  were  assassinated 
as  they  were  coming  out  of  the  great  mosque  of  the  city,  although 
surrounded  by  their  officers  and  domestics.  Ahmed  Bal,  governor 
of  some  castles  of  the  Azerbaidjan,  had  several  times  declared 
himself  an  enemy  to  the  Lord  of  the  Mountain ;  he  was  struck 
dead  in  the  midst  of  the  hall  of  audience  of  the  sultan  Moham- 
med at  Bagdad.  The  great  Saladin  refused  to  embrace  or  pro- 
tect the  Ismaelian  doctrine,  and  announced  his  intention  of 
destroying  it.  Whilst  he  was  carrying  on  the  siege  of  Akka,  or 
Ptolemais,  a  fedai  threw  himself  upon  him,  and  dealt  him  a  blow 
of  a  poniard  upon  his  head.  Saladin  seized  him  by  the  arm,  but 
the  murderer  never  ceased  striking  till  he  was  killed.  A  second 
and  a  third  fedai  continued  the  attack,  but  without  obtaining 
better  success.  Nevertheless,  says  the  historian,  Saladin  retired 
to  his  tent  in  great  fear. 

I  have  told  you,  sir,  that  the  irruption  of  Holagon  into  Persia, 
and  the  expeditions  of  Biban  into  Syria,  ruined  the  Ismaelian 
power.  But,  whilst  destroying  their  castles,  these  two  great 
warriors  were  not  able  to  completely  exterminate  the  sect.  When 
Tamerlane  penetrated  into  Mezinderan,  he  found  a  great  number 
of  Ismaelians.  Mention  is  often  made  of  these  sectaries  in  the 
history  of  the  conquest  of  Yemen  by  the  Turks.  We  know  that 
they  are  at  present  scattered  through  many  parts  of  Persia,  and 
that  the  government  tolerates  them.  They  even  pretend  that 
they  have  preserved  their  imaun  to  this  moment ;  that  he  is 
descended  from  Ismael  himself,  the  son  of  Djafar  Elasdie,  and  is 
named  Chah  Xalil.  He  dwells  in  the  city  of  Khekh,  near  to 
Kom.  This  imaun  is  almost  venerated  as  a  god,  among  his 
proselytes,  who  attribute  to  him  the  gift  of  miracles,  and  often 
decorate  him  with  the  title  of  caliph.  The  Ismaelians  are  found 
as  far  as  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  and  the  Indus,  whence  they 
piously  come  every  year  to  receive  the  blessings  of  their  lord 


i28  APPENDIX 

in  return  for  the  magnificent  olicnugs  they  tiuog  him.  There 
likewise  still  exist  many  families  of  them  in  the  mountains  of 
Libanus,  upon  whom  M.  Rousseau,  consul-general  of  France  to 
Aleppo,  has  given  us  some  valuable  information. 

The  Ismaelians  of  Syria  are  divided  into  two  classes, — the 
Soueidanis  anil  the  Khedhrewis.  The  latter,  who  form  the  most 
numerous  part  of  the  sect,  have  for  chief  the  emir  Ali  Zoghbi, 
successor  of  the  emir  Mustapha  Edris.  Their  principal  place  of 
abode  is  at  Messias,  which  JVI.  de  Sacy  thinks  ought  to  be  called 
Mesiat.  This  ancient  fortress  is  situated  at  twelve  leagues  west 
of  Hamah,  upon  an  isolated  rock.  At  three  leagues  west  of 
Messias,  the  Ismaelians  possess  another  fortress,  named  Kad- 
mous,  of  not  less  consequence  than  the  other. 

The  second  class,  which  comprises  the  Soueidanis,  is  much  less 
numerous  than  the  preceding  one,  and  is  concentrated  in  the 
village  of  Feudara,  of  the  district  of  Messias.  Its  poverty  has 
drawn  upon  it  the  contempt  of  the  Khedhrewis  ;  its  present 
chief  is  named  Cheilch  Soleiman. 

The  sect  of  the  Ismaelians  at  the  present  moment  only  con- 
sists of  some  wretched  families  scattered  here  and  there,  whom 
the  persecutions  of  the  Turks  are  daily  annihilating.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  sinister  event  which  has  plunged  them  into  these 
circumstances.  We  will  leave  M.  Rousseau  to  speak : — "  The 
Reslans,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  families  of  the  sect  of  the 
Nosa'iris,  possessed  from  time  immemorial  the  fortress  and  terri- 
tory of  Messias,  when  the  Ismaelians,  having  become  sufficiently 
powerful  to  encroach  upon  their  domains,  suddenly  attacked 
them,  and  drove  them  from  the  country,  in  which  they  established 
themselves.  This  manifest  usurpation  increased  the  inveterate 
hatred  which  all  the  neighbouring  peoples  entertained  for  them. 
The  Nosairis,  after  having  uselessly  attempted,  by  several  means, 
to  regain  their  possessions,  at  length  had  recourse  to  stratagem. 
They  sent  some  of  their  people  to  Messias,  who,  under  borrowed 
names,  and  without  creating  any  suspicion  of  their  designs, 
entered  the  service  of  the  Chich  emir,  Mustafa  Edris,  who  then 
commanded  in  the  fortress. 

"  Abou  Ali  Hammour  and  Ali  Bacha,  chief  of  the  conspirators, 
had  not  long  to  wait  for  the  opportunity  they  wished  for.  One 
day  when  the  emir  remained  alone  in  his  dwelling,  they  assailed 
him,  and  slew  him  with  several  dagger-wounds.  This  unexpected 
murder- was  the  signal  for  great  misfortunes  for  the  Ismaelians. 
Measures  were  so  well  concerted  among  their  enemies,  that  at  a 
given  signal,  a  numerous  band  of  Nosairis,  posted  in  the  avenues 
of  Messias,  were  to  precipitate  themselves  upon  it  on  a  sudden, 
and  massacre  all  the  inhabitants  who  attempted  to  defend  them- 
selves   This  project  was  completely  carried  out.  The  Ismaelians, 


APPENDIX.  426 

attacked  sharply,  terrified,  and.  for  the  most  part,  killed  in  the 
open  streets,  offered  but  weak  resistance  to  their  enemies,  to 
whom  they  were  compelled  to  swear  submission  and  obedience 
for  the  future.  The  booty  made  on  this  day  was  valued  at  more 
than  a  million  piastres,  reckoning  the  plunder  of  the  villages  and 
the  country.    This  event  took  place  in  the  year  1809." 

These  Ismaelians  hav^  a  book  which  contains  the  dogmas  of 
their  present  belief,  the  practices  of  their  worship,  &c.  Its 
author  was  a  certain  Cheikh  Ibrahim,  who  seems  to  have  been 
one  of  the  visionaries  of  the  sect ;  it  was  made  public  after  the 
pillage  of  Messias.  It  is  an  assemblage  of  absurd  reveries  and 
incoherent,  ridiculous,  insignificant  principles,  in  which  the 
primitive  doctrine  of  these  sectaries  is  joined  to  a  crowd  of  dog- 
mas which  are  foreign  to  it,  and  which  time,  communication  with 
other  sects,  and  ignorance,  have  introduced  into  their  belief. 
Nevertheless,  the  study  of  them  ought  not  to  be  entirely  neg- 
lected, as  they  serve  to  prove  to  what  a  degree  the  human  mind 
may  deceive  itself. 

To  avoid  fatiguing  your  patience,  I  will  pass  over  that  which 
relates  to  mystic  theology,  and  the  different  incarnations  of  the 
Imaun  or  Messiah,  who  was  manifested  in  the  persons  of  Adam, 
Noah,  Abraham,  Moses,  Jesus,  and  Ali,  fourth  caliph,  according 
to  orthodox  Mahometans.  I  will  likewise  be  silent  upon  the 
mysteries  of  the  alphabetical  letters,  which  are  divided  into  the 
luminous  and  the  obscure,  the  substantial  and  the  corporeal ; 
were  at  first  twenty-two  in  number,  were  augmented  by  six,  at 
the  time  of  the  revelation  of  the  Koran ;  are  connected  with  the 
houses  of  the  moon,  with  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  with  the 
planets,  and  the  elements  ;  designate  sometimes  a  prophet,  some- 
times a  holy  personage  ;  in  short,  are  susceptible  of  an  infinity  of 
allegorical  applications  ;  but  I  will  give  in  its  entirety  the 
description  of  Paradise. 

"  I  have  reserved  an  abode  more  permanent,  and  filled  with 
eternal  delights  for  those  who  follow  my  law,  and  fear  the  effects 
of  my  justice.  This  abode  is  paradise,  to  which  entrance  may  bo 
obtained  by  eight  different  gates,  which  lead  to  the  same  num- 
ber of  inclosures ;  there  are  m  each  inclosure  or  division,  70,000 
meadows  of  saffron,  and  70,000  abodes  of  mother-of-pearl  and 
coral ;  in  each  dwelling-place  or  abode,  there  are  70,000  palaces 
and  70,000  galleries  of  topaz  ;  in  each  gallery  there  are  70,000 
golden  saloons ;  in  each  saloon,  70,000  silver  tables ;  upon  each 
table,  70,000  exquisite  dishes,  &c.  &c.  Each  of  these  70,00C 
palaces  contains  70,000  springs,  or  streams  of  milk  and  honey 
with  as  many  purple  pavilions,  occupied  by  beautiful  young 
women.  Still  further,  each  saloon  is  surmounted  by  70,00C 
domes  of  amber,  and  upon  each  dome  ire  set  forth  70,000  won* 


430  APPENDIX. 

dors  from  the  hand  of  Omnipoten  je.  The  inhabitants  of  these 
enchanted  places  are  immorta1  and  are  unacquainted  with  in- 
firmities, tears,  laughter,  prayer,  or  fasting." 

I  ought  to  tell  you,  with  regard  to  this  passage,  that  in  the 
true  doctrine  of  the  Ismaelians,  paradise  is  the  true  religion, 
and  the  epoch  of  its  manifestation,  and  that  this  description,  or 
any  other  like  it,  must  be  considered  as  an  allegory. 

To  this  quotation  I  cannot  refrain  from  adding  two  others  : 
one  upon  the  duties  of  man,  the  other  upon  the  metaphysical 
ideas  of  this  sect . 

"  Oh !  son  of  Adam,  the  empire  of  the  universe  belongs  to 
me  ;  all  that  you  possess  comes  from  me ;  but  learn  that  the 
aliments  which  nourish  you,  will  not  preserve  you  from  death, 
nor  the  clothes  which  cover  you  from  the  infirmities  of  the  flesh  ; 
you  will  advance  or  go  back,  as  you  employ  your  tongue  in 
falsehood  or  in  truth.  Thy  being  is  composed  of  three  parts : 
the  first  is  mine,  the  second  is  thine ;  and  the  third  belongs  to 
us  in  common.  That  which  is  mine,  is  thy  soul ;  that  which  is 
thine,  is  thy  actions  ;  and  that  which  we  share  between  us,  is  the 
prayers  which  thou  addressest  to  me.  Thou  oughtest  to  im- 
plore me  in  thy  wants  ;  my  delight  is  to  listen  to  the  prayers 
of  the  good.  Oh  !  son  of  Adam,  honour  me,  and  thou  wilt  know 
me ;  fear  me,  and  thou  wilt  see  me  ;  adore  me,  and  thou  wilt 
draw  near  to  me.  Oh  !  son  of  Adam,  if  kings  are  cast  into 
flames  for  their  tyranny,  magistrates  for  their  treachery,  doctors 
for  their  jealousies,  artisans  for  their  frauds,  the  great  for  their 
pride,  the  low  for  their  hypocrisy,  the  poor  for  their  falsehoods, — 
where  will  they  be  found  who  can  aspire  to  enter  into  paradise  ? 
#  #  #  *  #  There  are  three  sorts  of  existence :  the  first, 
usual  and  relative,  exposed  to  the  influence  of  the  stars,  subject 
to  alterations,  and  susceptible  of  being  and  not  being  at  the 
same  time  ;  that  is  matter  :  the  second,  intellectual,  which  has 
been  preceded  by  non-existence,  but  which  becomes  permanent 
from  the  moment  it  begins  ;  that  is  the  soul,  upon  which  the 
celestial  bodies  cannot  act :  the  third,  necessary,  absolute,  and 
eternal,  superior  by  its  nature  to  the  two  others,  that  is  the 
Supreme  Being,  by  whom  everything  has  been  produced,  who 
has  always  subsisted,  and  will  subsist  for  ever. 

"  The  Being  whose  existence  is  eternal,  the  first  principle,  is 
unlimited,  One,  and  without  companions. 

•"  Man  exists  then  doubly, — by  his  soul  and  by  his  body  ;  his 
spiritual  existence  survives  his  bodily  existence,  which,  sooner  o* 
later,  is  dissolved. 

"  The  soul  is  a  simple  substance,  homogeneous  and  imma- 
terial, an  indestructible  breath  of  the  Divinity.  The  body  is  a 
compound   of  material   parts    heterogeneous  and  destructible, 


APPENDIX.  431 

which  only  exists  as  long  as  its  parts  remain  united  together. 
The  soul  is  not  essentially  inherent  to  the  body  ;  the  latter  ia 
not  the  subject  of  it ;  we  only  know  that  it  is  present  in  it,  as  we 
are  aware  of  the  splendour  of  the  sun  upon  the  surface  of  any 
object  whatever. 

"  The  soul  is  immortal.  *  *  *  *  Souls  were  created 
before  bodies :  they  resided,  whilst  waiting  for  them,  in  the  in- 
tellectual world,  the  abode  of  true  essences. 

"  After  their  union  with  the  body,  they  constantly  endeavour 
to  preserve  the  reminiscence  of  their  productive  cause ;  and  if, 
in  their  new  state,  they  do  not  forget  this  first  essence,  they 
return  to  their  former  dwelling  ;  otherwise  they  continue  wan- 
dering and  unhappy  in  the  material  world,  there  to  perpetually 
experience  the  vicissitudes  and  pains  of  the  present  life. 

"  In  order  not  to  deteriorate,  or  lose  its  rights  to  proximity 
with  its  author,  the  soul  must  be  constantly  hlled  with  the  idea 
of  that  first  cause  which  is  disposed  to  attract  it,  unceasingly, 
towards  it.  It  is  its  true  state  of  perfection,  that  in  which  it 
maintains  itself  by  becoming  insensible  to  all  terrestrial  affec- 
tions. 

"  In  addition  to  his  immaterial  and  reasonable  soul,  man  has 
still  another,  which  is  the  natural  soul;  this  is  born  and  dies 
with  the  body ;  it  is  a  certain  inexplicable,  but  active  and  actual 
force,  which  is  common  to  him  and  animals  devoid  of  reason, 
and  which  elevates  him  above  these  ;  it  is  the  immortal  breath 
which  the  Divinity  has  communicated  to  him,  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  other  beings  of  the  universe."* — Receive,  monsieur,  I 
beg,  &c.  &c. 


No.  25. 

Treaty  made  under  the  Walls  of  Constantinople, 

This  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  documents  we 
have  ever  seen.  A  handful  of  warriors,  in  a  strange  and  foreign 
country,  without  any  certainty  of  reinforcements,  are  before  the 
second  city  of  the  world,  well  peopled,  completely  fortified,  and 
prepared  for  defence  ;  and  yet  they,  before  giving  an  assault, 
coolly  draw  up  a  treaty,  by  which  the  city  and  its  empire  are 
divided  amongst  them  ;  and  what  completes  the  wcnder  is,  that 

*  M.  Jourdain,  who  addressed  this  interesting  letter  tc  jie,  has  pub- 
lished a  work  entitled  La  Perse,  ou  le  Tableau  de  VHistoire  du  Gov/eerne- 
ment,  de  la  Litterature,  de  cet  Empire,  des  Moeurs  et  Coutumes  des  HaCitants. 
This  work,  in  five  vols,  in  18mo.,  contains  many  new  notions  and  curious 
details,  and  does  honour  to  the  talent  as  well  as  to  the  erudition  of  the 
Orientalist. 


432  APPENDIX. 

they  succeeded,  and,  for  a  while,  obtained  what  they  contem- 
plated. 

"  We,  Henry  Dandolo,  by  the  grace  of  God  doge  of  Venice, 
Dalmatia,  and  Croatia,  and  the  very  illustrious  lords,  Boniface, 
marquis  of  Montferrat ;  Baldwin,  count  of  Flanders  and  Hain- 
ault ;  Louis,  count  of  Blois  and  Clermont ;  and  Henry,  count  of 
St.  Pol ;  each  on  his  own  part,  in  order  to  maintain  among  us 
union  and  concord,  and  to  avoid  every  subject  of  offence,  with 
the  co-operation  of  Him  who  is  our  peace,  who  made  everything, 
and  for  whose  glory  we  have  thought  fit  to  establish  the  following 
order,  after  having  reciprocally  engaged  ourselves  with  the  bonds 
of  an  oath.  In  the  first  place,  we  all  agree  (after  having  invoked 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ)  to  cause  the  city  to  be  attacked ;  and 
if,  by  the  aid  of  divine  power,  we  succeed  in  entering  it,  we  will 
remain  and  serve  under  the  command  of  those  who  shall  be 
established  leaders  of  the  army,  and  follow  them  as  it  shall  be 
ordered.  All  the  wealth  that  shall  be  found  in  the  city,  shall 
by  every  one  be  deposited  in  a  common  place,  which  shall  be 
chosen  for  this  purpose,  we  reserving  always,  as  well  as  for  our 
Venetians,  three  parts  of  this  wealth,  which  are  to  be  remitted 
to  us  as  an  indemnity  for  that  which  the  Emperor  Alexius  was 
bound  to  pay  to  us,  as  well  as  to  you.  On  your  side,  you  will 
retain  a  fourth  part,  until  we  have  all  obtained  equal  satisfaction; 
and  if  there  should  be  anything  left,  we  will  share  it  equally 
between  us  and  you,  so  that  all  may  be  satisfied.  And  if  the 
said  wealth  should  not  prove  sufficient  to  discharge  that  which  is 
due  to  us,  this  wealth,  from  whatever  source  it  may  arise,  shall 
be  shared  in  the  same  manner  between  you  and  us,  as  it  has 
been  thereupon  agreed,  except  the  provisions  and  forage,  which 
shall  be  set  aside  and  divided  equally  among  your  people  and 
ours,  in  order  that  all  may  subsist  in  a  suitable  manner ;  and  all 
that  may  be  found  besides  shall  be  shared  with  the  other  booty, 
according  as  it  has  been  agreed  thereupon.  We  and  our  Vene- 
tians are  to  enjoy,  throughout  the  empire,  in  a  free  and  absolute 
manner,  and  without  any  kind  of  contradiction,  all  the  prero- 
gatives and  possessions  which  we  have  been  accustomed  to  enjoy, 
as  well  in  spiritual  as  in  temporal  matters ;  as  well  as  all  privi- 
leges and  usages,  written  or  not  written.  There  shall  also  be 
chosen  six  members  on  our  part,  and  six  on  yours,  who,  after 
having  taken  an  oath,  shall  choose  in  the  army  and  raise  to  the 
empire,  him  whom  they  shall  believe  to  be  most  fit  to  exercise 
it,  and  to  command  in  this  land  for  the  advantage  and  glory 
of  God,  of  the  holy  Romish  church,  and  of  the  empire.  If 
they  agree  among  themselves,  we  will  recognise  as  emperor  him 
whom  they  shall  have  elected  with  one  common  voice.  But  if  it 
should  happ°u  that  six  shall  be  on  oue  side  and  six  on  the  other, 


APPENDIX.  433 

ft  shall  be  left  to  chance,  and  him  upon  whom  the  lot  shall  fall  we 
will  acknowledge  as  emperor.  If  there  should  be  a  majority  on 
one  side,  we  will  acknowledge  as  emperor  him  in  favour  of  whom 
this  majority  shall  be  declared.  If  the  council  should  be  divided 
into  more  than  two  parts,  we  will  acknowledge  for  emperor  him 
w  horn  the  most  numerous  party  shall  have  elected.  The  person 
vho  may  be  chosen  emperor,  shall  have  the  quarter  of  all  that 
shall  be  conquered  from  the  empire,  the  palace  of  Blachernse, 
and  the  Lion's  Mouth.  The  three  other  quarters  shall  be  shared 
equally  among  you  and  us.  As  to  the  clerical  members  who 
shall  be  of  the  side  on  which  the  emperor  shall  not  have  been 
chosen,  they  shall  have  the  privilege  of  composing  the  clergy  of 
the  Church  of  St.  Sophia,  and  to  eiect  a  patriarch  for  the  glory 
of  God,  of  the  holy  Roman  church,  and  the  empire.  But  as 
regards  the  clerical  members  on  one  side  and  the  other,  they 
shall  compose  the  clergy  of  the  churches  which  shall  fall  to  their 
share.  As  to  the  wealth  of  the  churches,  care  will  be  taken  to 
distribute  to  the  ecclesiastics  as  much  as  will  be  sufficient  to 
provide  honourably  for  them,  and  to  the  churches  as  much  as 
will  be  requisite  to  maintain  them  properly.  Whatever  may 
remain  of  this  wealth  shall  be  divided  and  shared  as  above 
directed.  We  will,  in  addition,  make  oath,  on  both  sides,  that, 
dating  from  the  last  day  of  the  present  month  of  March,  we  will 
remain  during  the  space  of  an  entire  year  in  the  service  of  the 
emperor,  in  order  to  contribute  to  and  strengthen  his  power,  for 
the  glory  of  God,  the  holy  Romish  church,  and  the  empire  ; 
and  that  all  those  who  shall  have  previously  sojourned  in  the 
empire,  shall  swear  fidelity  to  the  emperor,  according  to  the 
good  and  praiseworthy  custom.  Thus  then,  all  those  who  now 
dwell  in  the  empire,  as  has  been  mentioned,  shall  swear  they 
will  hold  as  good  and  authentic  the  regulations  and  treaties 
which  have  been  made.  It  is  also  proper  to  observe  that,  as 
well  on  your  side  as  on  ours,  there  shall  be  chosen  twelve  mem- 
bers, at  most,  as  it  may  be  convenient,  who,  after  having  taken 
the  oath,  shall  be  charged  with  the  duty  of  distributing  the 
fiefs  and  honours  among  individuals,  and  of  regulating  the  rights 
of  service  to  which  these  same  individuals  shall  be  subjected  as 
regards  the  emperor  and  the  empire,  according  to  what  these 
members  shall  think  suitable ;  that  the  fief  which  shall  be 
assigned  to  any  one  shall  be  possessed  freely  and  without  any 
obstacle,  by  his  posterity,  as  well  masculine  as  feminine,  and 
that  the  possessor  shall  have  entire  power  to  execute  whatever 
to  him  may  seem  good,  saving  his  obedience  to  the  laws  and  the 
duty  he  shall  owe  to  the  service  of  the  emperor  and  the  empire. 
There  shall  be  likewise  done  for  the  emperor  all  the  service 
necessary,  independently  of  that  to  which  the  possessors  of  fiefi 

19* 


iZ4l  APPENDIX. 

and  privileges  shall  be  bound,  according  to  the  order  that  shall 
be  assigned  to  them.  It  is  further  enacted,  that  no  inhabitant 
of  a  nation  which  shall  be  at  war  with  us  or  our  successors,  or 
the  Venetians,  shall  be  admitted  into  the  empire  until  that  war 
shall  be  entirely  terminated.  Moreover,  each  party  is  held  to 
labour  sincerely  to  obtain  from  our  holy  father  the  pope,  that  if 
any  one  shall  attempt  to  contravene  the  present  constitution,  he 
shall  be  struck  by  excommunication.  O  .  his  side,  the  emperor 
is  bound  to  swear  that  he  will  hold  the  acts  and  gifts  which 
shall  be  made,  irrevocable,  conformably  with  all  which  has  here- 
upon been  named.  That  if  the  present  treaty  should  require 
any  addition  or  suppression,  it  will  be  within  our  power  and 
liberty  to  make  it,  assisted  by  our  six  counsellors,  conjointly 
with  the  said  lord  marquis,  assisted  equally  by  his  six  counsel- 
lors. On  the  other  side,  the  above-named  lord  doge  cannot  take 
the  oath  to  the  emperor  for  any  service,  for  any  fief  or  privilege 
that  may  be  granted  to  him  ;  but  he  or  they  whom  he  shall 
delegate  in  that  which  concerns  him,  shall  take  the  oath  to  do, 
towards  the  emperor  and  towards  the  empire,  all  services  re- 
quired, conformably  with  all  which  has  been  thereupon  men- 
tioned. 

Given,  in  the  year  of  grace  1204,  the  7  th  day  of  the  month  oj 
March. 


No.  26. 


In  the  year  1195,  Walter  Hemingford,  an  English  chronicler, 
says  that  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain  sent  to  all  the  princes 
of  Europe  a  letter,  in  which  he  exculpates  the  illustrious  king 
Richard  from  the  death  of  the  marquis  of  Montferrat.  Although 
this  letter  may  be  a  little  apocryphal,  we  publish  it,  to  show  our 
readers  how  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain  was  then  spoken  of. 

"  The  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain  to  the  princes  and  all  the 
people  of  the  Christian  religion,  salutation.  As  we  do  not  wish  ill 
to  him  who  is  innocent  and  merits  it  not,  we  will  not  allow  that 
the  innocence  of  another  should  be  compromised  by  any  act  that 
we  have  done.  We  will  never  suffer,  with  the  permission  of 
God,  that  they  who  have  offended  us  shall  rejoice  long  in  the 
injuries  inflicted  on  our  simplicity.  We  signify  then  to  you  all, 
and  we  take  as  witness  him  by  whom  we  ho^e  to  be  saved,  that 
it  was  not  by  any  machinations  of  the  king  of  England  that  the 
marquis  was  killed.  He  was  justly  killed,  by  our  will  and  by 
our  order,  by  our  satellites,  because  he  had  offended  us,  and  had 
neglected,  in  spif  i  our  warnings,  to  make  us  reparation:  for 
\  is  our  custom    *.       Ao  warn  those  who  have  offended  us  in  any- 


APPENDIX.  435 

thing,  either  us  or  our  friends,  in  order  that  they  may  give  ua 
satisfaction  ;  and  it  is  our  custom,  if  they  despise  our  warning, 
to  avenge  ourselves  by  the  hands  of  our  ministers,  who  obey  us 
with  the  greater  devotion  from  being  convinced  they  shall  be 
gloriously  recompensed  by  God,  if  they  fall  whilst  executing 
our  orders.  We  have  learnt  likewise  that  it  is  said  of  the  same 
king  that  he  had  engaged  us,  as  less  incorruptible  than  others, 
to  send  some  one  of  our  people  to  lay  an  ambush  for  the  king  ot 
Franco.  This  is  false,  and  the  effect  of  a  vain  suspicion.  God 
is  our  witness,  that  he  never  proposed  anything  of  the  kind  to 
us,  and  that  our  honesty  would  not  permit  us  to  allow  anything 
evil  to  be  attempted  against  a  person  who  had  not  merited  it. 
Fare  ye  well." 


No.  27. 

Fragment  from  Nicetas  Choniates,  concerning  the  Statues  of  Constantinople 
destroyed  by  the  Crusaders* 

The  Latins  manifested  that  love  of  gold  which  characterizes 
their  nation,  by  thinking  of  a  new  species  of  plunder,  till  that 
time  unknown  to  all  the  former  spoilers  of  this  city  of  cities. 
After  opening  the  coffins  of  the  emperors  which  are  in  the 
Heroiim,  erected  near  the  magnificent  church  of  the  disciples  of 
Jesus  Christ,  they  pillaged  them  all  during  the  night ;  and,  in 
violation  of  the  laws  of  equity,  they  took  away  all  the  orna- 
ments in  gold,  pearls,  and  precious  transparent  stones,  which  had 
so  long  remained  untouched  in  that  sacred  place. 

Having  found,  likewise,  the  body  of  the  emperor  Justinian, 
still  perfect  and  undecomposcd,  after  the  lapse  of  so  many  years, 
this  spectacle  struck  them  with  admiration ;  but  they  paid  no 
more  respect,  on  that  account,  to  the  ornaments  with  which  the 
body  had  been  buried. 

It  may  be  affirmed  that  the  Occidentals  spared  neither  the 
living  nor  the  dead,  and  beginning  with  God  and  his  servants, 
they  made  all,  indifferently,  sensible  to  the  effects  of  their 
impiety.  A  short  time  after,  they  bore  away  from  the  great 
church  that  veil  which  was  valued  at  many  thousand  silver  mina3, 
and  which  was  ornamented  with  thick  golden  embroidery.  But 
as  even  all  these  riches  could  not  satisfy  the  boundless  cupidity 
of  these  barbarians,  they  cast  their  eyes  upon  the  bronze  statues, 
and  consigned  them  to  the  flames.  The  Juno  of  bronze,  which 
stood  in  the  Square  of  Constantine,  was  taken  to  pieces  and  sent 

*  The  original  of  this  fragment  is  in  the  Bill.  Gra'C.  of  Fabricius,  vol.  vi, 
ii.  405,  and  in  the  first  volume  of  the  hnperiunx  OrientiaU  of  Bandiere.  It 
is  not  in  the  editions  of  Nicetas. 


436  APPENDIX. 

to  the  melting-house,  to  be  transformed  into  staters  ;*  so  large 
was  this  statue  that  the  head  was  as  much  as  four  pairs  of  oxen 
could  draw  to  the  palace. 

After  the  Juno,  they  took  down  from  its  base  a  group  of  Paris 
and  Venus  ;  the  shepherd  offering  the  goddess  the  golden  apple 
of  discord. 

Whoever  beheld  without  admiration  that  square  obelisk  of 
bronze,  the  height  of  which  was  almost  equal  to  that  of  the 
loftiest  columns  ?  Upon  it  were  sculptured  all  the  birds  which, 
in  spring,  make  the  air  resound  with  their  melodious  concerts, 
the  labours  of  husbandmen,  musical  instruments,  bleating  sheep, 
and  bounding  lambs.  The  sea  there  spread  forth  its  waves,  with 
vast  numbers  of  fish,  part  of  which  were  taken  alive,  and  the  rest, 
bursting  through  the  nets,  were  plunging  back  into  their  watery 
home.  Naked  cupids,  sporting  by  twos  and  threes,  pelting  each 
other  with  apples,  and  indulging  in  the  wildest  gambols.  At 
the  top  of  this  square  obelisk,  which  terminated  in  a  pyramidal 
form,  was  placed  a  female  figure,  which  turned  with  the  least 
breath  of  wind ;  whence  she  was  called  Anemodoulos  (that  is  to 
say,  the  slave  of  the  winds).  This  work,  of  admirable  beauty, 
was  likewise  melted,  as  was  a  colossal  statue,  which  stood  in 
the  Place  of  Taurus,  and  represented  a  man  on  horseback  in 
heroic  costume.  This  figure,  whose  base  was  a  trapezium,  was 
said  by  some  to  be  Joshua,  because  his  hand  was  extended  to- 
wards the  declining  sun,  and  that  he  seemed  to  be  commanding 
it  to  stay  its  course.  But  most  persons  thought  it  was  intended 
for  Bellerophon,  the  hero  born  and  brought  up  in  the  Pelopon- 
nesus, mounted  upon  Pegasus  ;  for  the  horse  had  no  bridle,  and 
it  is  thus  Pegasus  is  represented,  striking,  at  will,  the  plain  with 
his  hoof,  and,  whether  flying  or  running,  disdaining  to  submit  to 
his  rider.  There  was  an  ancient  tradition,  which  was  preserved 
to  our  times,  and  known  to  everybody,  that  under  the  left  fore- 
foot of  this  horse  was  concealed  the  figure  of  a  man,  represent- 
ing, according  to  some,  a  Venetian,  and  according  to  others, 
some  other  enemy  from  the  West,  bearing  a  Roman  name,  or 
else  it  was  a  Bulgarian.  Efforts  had  often  been  made  to  render 
this  foot  so  firm  and  so  solid  that  it  might  not  be  possible  to 
discover  what  was  said  to  be  hidden  beneath  it.  When  this 
horse  and  his  rider  were  taken  to  pieces  to  be  melted,  the  figure 
was  really  found  concealed  under  the  foot  of  the  horse ;  it  was 
clothed  in  a  mantle,  much  in  appearance  like  one  of  wool ;  but 
the  Latins,  troubling  themselves  very  little  about  the  predictions 
concerning  it,  cast  it  also  into  the  fire.  Many  other  statues  and 
admirable  works,  standing  in  the  Hippodrome,  shared  th*  s*me 

*  Coins  wn*tli  two  shillings  and  fourf  ence  each* 


A.PIJBNDIX.  437 

fate,  and  were  destroyed  by  these  barbarians,  who,  incapable  01 
admiration  for  the  beautiful,  converted  all  these  master- pieces 
into  coin,  and  annihilated  monuments  which  had  cost  so  much, 
for  the  sake  of  such  an  inconsiderable  amount  of  money.  They 
broke  to  pieces  a  Hercules,  reclining  upon  an  osier-basket  (or 
mattress),  covered  by  a  lion's  skin,  the  head  of  which  had,  even 
in  the  bronze,  so  terrible  an  aspect,  that  it  appeared  about  to 
roar,  and  spread  terror  among  the  idle  multitude  who  stopped 
to  look  at  it.  The  hero  was  seated,  without  quiver,  bow,  or 
club ;  his  right  arm  and  leg  were  stretched  out  to  their  full 
length,  whilst  his  left  leg  was  bent ;  placing  his  left  elbow  on  his 
knee,  he  raised  his  fore-arm,  and  with  an  air  of  sadness,  reposed 
his  head  upon  the  palm  of  his  hand.  He  appeared  to  deplore 
his  destiny,  and  to  be  thinking  over  with  indignation  the  troubles 
to  which  Eurystheus  constrained  him,  from  jealousy,  and  not 
from  necessity.  His  chest  and  shoulders  were  broad,  his  hair 
curly,  his  thighs  large,  his  arms  muscular,  and  his  height  was 
such  as  Lysimaehus  might,  upon  conjecture,  have  assigned  to 
the  true  Hercules.  This  bronze  Hercules  was  his  first  and  last 
work :  it  was  so  large  that  the  cord  which  went  round  his  thumb 
was  long  enough  for  a  common  man's  girdle,  and  that  with 
which  his  leg  was  measured  was  equal  in  length  to  the  height  of 
a  man.  They  did  not,  however,  fail  to  annihilate  such  a  Her- 
cules ;  these  men  who  had  separated  courage  from  the  virtues 
allied  to  it,  who  attributed  it  to  themselves  particularly,  and 
professed  to  esteem  it  above  everything !  They  took  away  the 
ass  with  his  pack-saddle,  walking  and  braying,  with  the  ass- 
driver  following  him,  which  Casar  Augustus  had  caused  to  be 
placed  at  Actium  or  Nicopolis,  in*  Greece,  to  perpetuate  the 
remembrance  of  his  having  gone  out  one  night  to  observe  the 
army  of  Antony,  and  having  met  with  this  man,  of  whom  he 
asked  who  he  was,  and  whither  he  was  going,  the  man  answered 
his  name  was  Nico,  and  that  of  his  ass  Nicander,  and  that  he 
was  going  to  Caesar's  army.  Neither  could  they  keep  their 
hands  from  the  hyena,  and  the  wolf  which  suckled  Remus  and 
Romulus  ; — they  melted  this  precious  monument  of  the  Roman 
nation  for  the  sake  of  some  paltry  pieces  of  copper  coin.  They 
destroyed,  in  the  same  manner,  the  man  contending  with  a  lion ; 
an  hippopotamus  of  the  Nile,  the  body  of  which  ended  in  a  tail 
covered  with  scales ;  the  elephant  shaking  his  trunk ;  the 
sphvnxes,  whose  upper  parts  were  those  of  women  of  rare 
beauty,  but  who ,  below,  resembled  fearful  and  horrid  animals ; 
these  sphynxes  were  the  more  admirable  from  appearing  to  be 
able  to  walk,  and  at  the  same  time  to  fly,  and  to  dispute  the  palm 
of  swiftness  with  the  largest  birds.  A  horse  without  a  bridle, 
pricking  up  his  ears  aid  neighing ;  a  tamed  bull,  walking  with 


438  APPENDIX. 

slow,  heavy  steps  ;  and  Seylla,  that  ancient  monstet,  a  "woman  to 
the  Maist,  with  her  long  neck,  her  large  breasts,  and  an  air  full 
of  cruelty ;  her  inferior  parts  divided,  to  form  those  animals 
which  attacked  the  vessels  of  Ulysses,  and  devoured  several  of 
hjs  companions. 

There  was,  likewise,  in  the  Hippodrome,  a  bronze  eagle,  a 
wonderful  monument  of  the  magic  art  of  Apollonius  of  Tyana. 
Being  at  Byzantium,  he  was  implored  to  put  an  end  to  the 
trouble  the  inhabitants  endured  from  the  bites  of  serpents. 
Having  recourse  to  his  criminal  arts,  in  which  he  had  been 
instructed  by  demons  and  men  initiated  in  their  wicked  mys- 
teries, he  placed  upon  a  column  an  eagle  which  could  not  be 
looked  upon  without  pleasure,  and  which  drew  passers-by  to 
stop  and  contemplate  it,  as  the  songs  of  the  Syrens  fascinated 
those  who  listened  to  them.  His  wings  were  extended  as  if 
he  were  about  to  fly ;  but  the  folds  of  a  serpent,  which  he  held 
in  his  talons,  impeded  his  eflbrts.  The  reptile  stretched  out 
its  head  as  if  to  reach  the  wings  of  the  bird ;  but  its  efforts 
were  in  vain ;  for,  pierced  by  the  claws  of  the  eagle,  its  ardour 
relaxed,  so  that  it  appeared  rather  to  be  about  to  sleep  or  die 
than  to  fasten  on  the  wings  of  the  eagle.  Thus  the  serpent 
was  breathing  its  last  sigh,  and  its  venom  was  exhaling  with  it ; 
whilst  the  eagle,  with  a  haughty  glance,  and  actually  appearing 
to  utter  cries  of  victory,  endeavoured  to  raise  the  serpent,  and 
bear  it  away  into  the  heavens  with  him  *  all  which  was  expressed 
by  the  eagle's  superb  look,  and  the  death  of  the  serpent.  It 
might  almost  be  said,  in  seeing  the  serpent  thus  forced  to  slacken 
its  flexible  folds,  and  forego  its  venomous  bites,  that  it  drove 
away,  by  its  example,  other  serpents  from  Byzantium,  and  ex- 
horted them  to  conceal  themselves  in  their  holes.  And  this  was 
not  all  that  rendered  the  figure  of  this  eagle  admirable ;  for  it 
indicated,  very  correctly  to  the  eye  of  an  instructed  spectator, 
the  twelve  hours  of  the  day,  by  twelve  lines  traced  upon  ita 
wins:s,  when  the  rays  of  the  sun  were  not  veiled  by  clouds. 

What  shall  I  say  of  the  Helen,  with  arms  whiter  than 
enow,  with  small  delicate  feet,  and  a  bosom  of  alabaster  ?  Of 
Helen,  who  brought  all  Greece  together  against  Troy,  who 
occasioned  the  ruin  of  that  city,  who  from  the  Trojan  shores, 
passed  to  those  of  the  Nile,  and  thence  at  length  returned  to 
Lacedaemon  ?  Was  she  able  to  subdue  these  inexorable  men,  and 
soften  these  hearts  of  iron  ?  She  had  not  the  power  ;  she,  whoso 
beauty  charmed  every  spectator,  whose  robing  was  magnificent, 
who,  although  of  bronze,  was  full  of  delicious  languor,  and  who, 
even  to  her  tunic,  her  veil,  her  diadem,  and  her  elegantly 
arranged  hair,  appeared  to  respire  the  very  spirit  of  voluptuous- 
ness.    Her  tunic  was  of  a  fabric  more  delicate  than  the  tissues 


APPENDIX.  43$ 

of  Arachne  ;  her  veil  was  of  the  most  admirable  workmanship  « 
the  diadem  which  encircled  her  brow,  glittered  with  the  bril- 
liancy of  gold  and  precious  stones  ;  and  her  floating  tresses, 
agitated  by  the  wind,  •  were  gathered  together  behind,  and 
descended  to  her  legs.  Her  lips,  slightly  separated,  like  the  cup 
of  a  rose,  appeared  ready  to  breathe  soft  and  pleasant  words, 
whilst  her  inexpressibly  sweet  smile  seemed,  in  a '  manner,  to 
meet  the  spectator,  and  fill  him  with  delicious  emotion.  But 
language  cannot  describe  or  transmit  to  posterity  the  charm  of 
her  look,  the  arch  so  exquisitely  marked  of  her  eyebrows,  or  the 
graces  which  adorned  her  person.  But  thou,  Helen,  daughter 
of  Tyndarus,  lovely  with  natural  beauty,  work  of  the  Loves, 
object  of  the  cares  of  Venus,  the  most  admirable  gift  of 
nature,  the  prize  of  victory  proposed  to  Greeks  and  Trojans, 
where  is  the  Nepenthe,  that  remedy  against  sadness,  which  the 
wife  of  Thoas  remitted  to  thee?  Where  are  those  philters 
which  none  can  resist  ?  Why  didst  thou  not  employ  them  as 
formerly  ?  But  I  see  how  it  was.  Thy  inevitable  destiny  was 
to  become  the  prey  of  the  flames,  thou,  whose  image  alone  had 
power  to  kindle  the  flames  of  love  in  the  hearts  of  all  who 
beheld  thee.  Perhaps  I  may  say,  that  these  descendants  of 
iEneas  condemned  thee  to  the  fire,  to  avenge  in  thy  own  person 
Ilium,  consumed  by  the  fires  which  thy  loves  had  created.  But 
the  fury  of  gold  which  possessed  the  Latins,  and  led  them  tc 
annihilate  in  every  spot  the  most  beautiful  master-pieces  of  art, 
is  beyond  my  power  of  imagining  or  describing.  But  I  may 
venture  to  say  this  ;  they  separate  themselves  from  their  wives, 
and  yield  them  to  the  embraces  of  others  for  a  few  oboles ;  they 
are  incessantly  occupied  in  plunder,  or  in  games  of  chance  ;  they 
put  on  armour,  and  fight  with  each  other,  with  a  senseless  and 
furious  ardour,  and  not  with  a  prudent,  regulated  valour ;  ex- 
pose all  they  possess  as  the  prize  for  victory,  without  excepting 
the  young  brides  who  have  given  them  the  pleasures  of  pater- 
nity, or  even  their  own  lives,  a  treasure  so  dear  and  valuable  to 
all  other  men,  and  for  the  preservation  of  which  there  is  nothing 
they  will  not  undertake.  —  Barbarians  even,  without  letters, 
know  and  repeat  these  verses  upon  thee,  Helen  : — "  It  is  just 
that  both  Greeks  and  Trojans  should  undergo  long  misfortunes 
for  the  woman  whose  beauty  equals  that  of  immortal  god- 
desses." 

There  stood  upon  a  column  another  woman  of  singular  beauty, 
apparently  in  the  period  of  brilliant  youth,  whose  hair  descended 
in  tresses  on  each  side  of  her  face,  and  was  fastened  behind  ;  she 
occupied  a  situation  but  slightly  elevated,  so  that  she  could  be 
touched  by  the  hand.  In  the  right  hand,  although  the  arm  had 
tto  support,  this  statue  bore  a  horseman,  whose  hcrse  she  held  by 


iiO  APPENDIX. 

one  foot,  and  that  apparently  as  easily  as  a  cup  of  wine  is  car- 
ried. This  horseman,  of  a  manly,  noble  bearing,  clothed  in  his 
cuirass,  and  with  booted  legs,  seemed  actually  to  breathe  war. 
The  horse's  ears  were  raised  as  if  he  heard  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet,  his  head  elevated,  his  look  fiery,  and  the  ardour 
painted  in  his  eyes  denoted  his  impatience  for  the  course ;  his 
feet,  prancirg  in  the  air,  seemed  springing  forward  with  a  war- 
like bound. 

After  this  statue,  next  to  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  Quad, 
riges,  called  of  the  yellow  faction,  were  placed  statues  of  chario- 
teers, examples  and  models  of  the  art  of  skilfully  driving  a 
chariot.  They  appeared  almost,  by  the  disposition  of  their 
hands,  to  warn  charioteers,  not  to  loosen  the  reins  on  approach- 
ing the  boundary  ;  but  to  hold  the  horses  with  a  tight  hand 
whilst  turning,  and  to  make  a  sharp  and  continual  use  of  the 
whip,  so  as  to  keep  as  close  to  the  boundary  as  possible,  and 
leave  the  unskilful  rival  charioteer,  to  make  too  wide  a  sweep, 
and  lose  the  advantage,  even  with  the  best  horses. 

I  will  only  add  one  particularity,  for  I  have  not  undertaken  to 
describe  everything.  That  which  excited  remarkable  pleasure 
and  admiration,  was  a  stone  basis,  upon  which  was  placed  an 
animal  in  bronze,  which  might  have  been  taken  for  an  ox,  but 
that  its  tail  was  too  small ;  like  the  oxen  of  Egypt,  it  had 
not  long  dewlaps,  and  its  hoofs  were  not  cloven.  It  crushed 
within  its  jaws,  almost  to  the  point  of  stifling  it,  another  animal, 
whose  body  was  bristling  with  scales,  so  pointed,  that  although 
of  bronze,  they  would  wound  those  who  ventured  to  touch 
them  :  this  animal  was  supposed  to  be  a  basilisk,  and  the  crea- 
ture it  had  seized,  an  aspick  ;  but  by  others  one  was  said  to  be 
an  ox  from  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  and  the  other  a  crocodile.  For 
my  part,  I  will  not  undertake  to  reconcile  these  opinions  ;  I  will 
content  myself  with  saying  that  they  were  engaged  in  a  most 
astonishing  contest,  and  inflicted  serious  wounds  upon  ei:cb 
other ;  for  sometimes  the  more  strong,  sometimes  the  mere 
weak,  they  were  at  the  same  time  conquerors  and  conquered. 
The  animal,  which  many  supposed  to  be  a  basilisk,  was  all  swollen 
fr  >  ii  head  to  feet,  and  the  poison  circulating  throughout  its 
body,  and  flowing  through  all  its  members,  gave  it  a  colour 
greener  than  that  of  frogs, — a  colour  of  death.  It  was  upon  its 
knees,  with  languishing  ej  3S,  and  appeared  to  have  lost  all 
strength  and  vigour.  It  might  have  been  believed  even,  that  it 
had  long  been  dead,  had  not  its  hind  legs,  at  least,  still  stood 
firmly  under  it.  The  other  animal  which  it  held  in  its  jaws,  still 
waved  its  tail  a  little,  and  opened  its  long  mouth  under  the  pr<  'fi- 
gure of  the  teeth  which  held  and  stifled  it.  It  appeared  to  use 
its  utmost  efforts  to  escape  from  the  teeth  and  jaws  which  held 


APPENDIX.  441 

it  bo  tenaciously,  but  could  not  succeed ;  for  its  body  was  fast 
between  the  jaws,  and  transpierced  by  the  teeth  of  its  enemy 
from  the  shoulders  and  the  fore-feet  to  the  part  next  to  the  tail. 
It  was  thus  they  died,  the  one  by  the  other ;  the  combat  was 
mutual,  the  vengeance  reciprocal,  the  victory  equal,  and  the 
ieath  common.*  For  my  part,  I  believe  I  may  remark  on  this 
subject,  that  it  is  not  only  in  effigy,  or  among  fierce  and  strong 
animals,  that  beings  wicked  and  fatal  to  man  thus  inflict  a 
mutual  death  upon  each  other ;  but  that  we  often  see  nations, 
which  bring  war  to  the  Romans,  destroy  each  other  ;  which  is  an 
effect  of  the  power  of  Christ,  who  disperses  nations  that  are 
friends  to  war,  who  holds  blood  in  horror,  and  shows  the  just 
marching  against  the  aspick  and  the  basilisk,  and  trampling 
under  foot  the  lion  and  the  dragon. 


No.  28. 


Letter  to  M.  Micliaud  upon  the  Crusade  of  Children  of  1212,  oy 
M.  Am.  Jourdain. 

The  expedition  beyond  the  seas,  undertaken  about  1212,  and 
composed  entirely  of  children,  if  not  one  of  the  most  striking 
events  of  the  crusades,  certainly  appears  to  me  to  be  not  one  of 
the  least  extraordinary.  That  institutions  dictated  by  the  spirit 
of  religion,  and  destined  either  to  propagate  our  religion,  or  to 
elevate  its  splendour,  have  not  always  found  in  their  object  a 
preservative  against  the  corruption  attached  to  human  beings,  is 
a  truth  established  by  numberless  examples  ;  but  that  fanaticism 
or  the  genius  of  evil,  should  be  sufficiently  powerful  to  extinguish 
in  childhood  the  natural  sentiment  of  its  weakness,  and  draw  it 
away  from  its  natural  supports,  to  inspire  it  with  this  train  of 
ideas,  this  perseverance  in  resolutions,  this  accordance  required 
by  every  enterprise  formed  by  a  numerous  concourse  of  indivi- 
duals, is  what  we  can  scarcely  believe,  although  the  memory  of 
the  fact  is  preserved  by  several  historians.  Whoever  is  ac- 
quainted with  the  taste  of  the  middle  ages  for  the  marvellous, 
and  has  only  read  the  incomplete  account  of  the  modern 
historians  of  the  crusades,  is  at  first  tempted  to  range  this  expe- 
dition among  fabulous  adventures  ;  and  to  procure  it  any  credit, 
it  is  necessary  to  produce  evidences  worthy  of  our  confidence. 

*  This  is  an  extraordinary  description  of  what  must  have  been  a  ror* 

t)rising  work  of  art. ;  but  we  cannot  reconcile  the  idea  we  entertain  of  a 
nisilisk  with  that  of  the  animal  mentioned — we  thought  a  basifok  was  a 
kind  of  serpent.   -Trans. 


442  APPENDIX. 

In  my  first  incredulity,  I  employed  myself  in  collecting  these 
evidences  ;  I  offer  them  to  you  in  this  letter,  monsieur,  in  order 
to  furnish,  if  possible,  one  trait  more  for  the  varied  picture  of 
the  errors  of  the  human  mind. 

We  must  distinguish  various  circumstances  in  this  strange 
event ;  its  date,  the  means  which  prepared  it,  the  places  that 
witnessed  it,  and  its  issue.  Although  criticism  has  not  sufficient 
data  tc  determine  each  of  these  points  with  precision,  neverthe- 
less the  chronicles  of  the  middle  ages  furnish  us  with  documents 
sufficiently  extensive  to  satisfy  a  prudent  curiosity. 

With  regard  to  the  date,  contemporary  historians  all  place 
this  crusade  under  the  year  1212,*  or  1213  at  the  latest.f  It  is 
only  by  an  error  very  easy  to  be  reconciled,  that  others  advance 
it  twelve  years, J  or  put  it  back  ten.§ 

As  to  the  places  that  witnessed  the  birth  and  growth  of  such 
an  enterprise,  it  appears  that  the  Crusaders  belonged  to  two 
lations,  and  formed  two  troops,  which  followed  different  routes  : 
one,  leaving  Germany,  traversed  Saxony  and  the  Alps,  and 
arrived  on  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic  Sea  ;||  France  furnished 
the  others,  who,  after  collecting  in  the  environs  of  Paris, 
crossed  Burgundy,  and  arrived  at  Marseilles,  the  place  of 
embarkation.^" 

Prestiges,  fanaticism,  the  announcement  of  prodigies,  were  all 
employed  to  rouse  the  youth  of  these  countries,  and  put  them 
in  motion.  It  was  reported,  according  to  Vincent  de  Beauvais 
that  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain,  who  was  accustomed  to 
educate  arsacides  from  the  tenderest  age,  detained  two  clerks 
captives,  and  would  only  grant  them  their  liberty  upon  condition 
that  they  brought  him  back  some  young  boys  from  Prance.  The 
opinion  then  was,  that  these  children,  deceived  by  false  visions, 
and  seduced  by  the  promises  of  these  two  clerks,  marked  them- 
selves with  the  sign  of  the  cross. 

The  promoter  of  the  crusade  in  Germany  was  a  certain  Nico- 

*  Vincent  Bellev.  Specul.  Hist,  book  xxx.  chip.  5  •  Albert  Stad.  Chron. 
fol.  202;  Godefr.  Monach.  Annal.  ap.  Frch.  Col^i.  Alberici,  p.  489; 
Sicard.  Chron.  ap.  Murat.  vol.  vii.  p.  623. 

*t*  Thomas  de  Cantipr.  De  Apibus. 

%  Chron.  Argent,  ap.  Urtii,  Collect,  vol.  i.  p.  . 

§  Jacob  de  Vorrag.  Chron.  Januense,  ap.  Murat.  vol.  ix.  p.  46.  What 
proves  the  error  of  this  date  is,  that  Bizarre  (Hist.  Genuens.),  who  has 
copied  this  chronicle,  places  the  event  under  the  year  1212.  I  do  not  know 
by  what  authority  John  Massey  places  it  in  his  chronicle  in  1210. 

||  See  the  Chron.  Anon,  of  Strasburg,  Goc  rey  the  Monk,  James  of 
Varagine,  and  Bishop  Sicard. 

"||  Alberic  enters  into  copious  details  ;  and  though  this  historian  generally 
Bins  on  the  side  of  exti-avagant  credulity,  his  evidence  cannot,  in  this  case, 
be  doubted. 


A.P±£NDIX.  443 

las,  a  German  by  nation.*  "  This  multitude  of  children,"  says 
Bezarre,  "  were  persuaded,  by  the  help  of  a  false  revelation,  that 
the  drought  would  be  so  great  that  year,  that  the  abysses  of  the 
sea  would  be  dry  ;  and  they  went  to  Genoa,  with  the  intention 
of  passing  over  to  Jerusalem,  across  the  arid  bed  of  the  Medi- 
terranean." 

The  composition  of  these  troops  corresponded  with  the  means 
employed  to  seduce  them.  There  were  children  of  all  ages  and 
conditions,  and  of  both  sexes ;  some  of  them  were  not  more 
than  twelve  years  old ;  they  set  out  from  villages  and  towns, 
without  leaders,  without  guides,  without  provisions,  and  with 
empty  purses.  It  was  in  vain  their  parents  or  friends  thought 
to  dissuade  them  by  showing  them  the  folly  of  such  an  expedi- 
tion :  the  captivity  to  which  they  condemned  them  redoubled 
their  ardour ;  breaking  through  doors,  or  opening  themselves 
passages  through  walls,  they  succeeded  in  escaping,  and  went  to 
rejoin  their  respective  bands.  If  they  were  questioned  upon  the 
object  of  their  voyage,  they  answered  that  they  were  going  to 
visit  the  holy  places.  Although  a  pilgrimage  commenced  under 
such  auspices,  and  stained  with  all  sorts  of  excesses,  must  have 
been  an  object  of  scandal  rather  than  of  edification,  there  were 
people  senseless  enough  to  see  in  it  an  act  of  the  all-powerful 
God ;  men  and  women  quitted  their  houses  and  their  lands  to 
join  these  vagabond  troops,  believing  they  pursued  the  way  of 
salvation :  others  furnished  them  with  money  and  food,  thinking 
they  aided  souls  inspired  by  God,  and  guided  by  sentiments  of 
divine  piety.  The  pope,  when  informed  of  their  proceedings, 
exclaimed,  with  a  groan  :  "  These  children  reproach  us  with 
being  buried  in  sleep,  whilst  they  are  flying  to  the  defence  of 
the  Holy  Land."f  If  some  few  of  the  clergy,  endowed  with  a 
little  foresight,  openly  blamed  this  expedition,  their  censures 
were  at  once  attributed  to  motives  of  avarice  and  incredulity ; 
and,  in  order  to  avoid  public  contempt,^  wisdom  and  prudence 
were  condemned  to  silence. 

The  event,  however,  proved  that  all  which  man  undertakes 
without  employing  the  balance  of  reason  and  earnest  reflection, 
does  not  come  to  a  fortunate  issue ;  "  for  soon,"  says  Bishop 
Sicard,  "this  multitude  entirely  disappeared: — quasi  evanuit 
universa" 

But  we  must  carefully  distinguish  between  the  fate  of  the 
German  and  that  of  the  French  Crusaders,  although  a  part  ot 
the  latter  directed  their  course  towards  Italy. 

It  required  nothing  beyond  wearing  the  cross  to  be  admitted 

*  Jacques  de  Vorrag.  t  Albert  de  Stadt. 

X  Anonymous  Chronicle  of  Strasburg. 


444  APPENDIX. 

into  the  crusade  ;  if  the  watchful  care  of  princes  and  prelates  in 
expeditions  directed  by  ecclesiastical  and  secular  power  could  not 
succeed  in  excluding  from  them  men  of  bad  morals,  what  sort  of 
people  must  have  been  mixed  with  a  host  got  together  without 
the  least  care,  and  under  the  eye  of  no  superior  intelligence,  the 
greater  part  of  whom  fled,  like  the  prodigal  son,  from  the  pater- 
nal dwelling,  in  order  to  give  themselves  up,  without  restraint, 
to  their  vicious  inclinations  ?  The  account  of  Godfrey  the  ModIc, 
therefore,  does  not  at  all  astonish  us  when  he  says  that  thieves 
insinuated  themselves  among  the  German  pilgrims,  and  disap- 
peared after  having  plundered  them  of  their  baggage  and  the 
gifts  the  faithful  had  bestowed  upon  them.  One  of  these  thieves 
being  recognised  at  Cologne,  ended  his  days  on  the  rack.  To 
this  first  misfortune  a  crowd  of  evils  quickly  succeeded,  the 
necessary  result  of  the  want  of  foresight  of  the  Crusaders.  The 
fatigue  of  a  long  journey,  heat,  disease,  and  want,  swept  away  a 
great  number  of  them.  Of  those  who  arrived  in  Italy,  some, 
dispersing  themselves  over  the  country,  and  plundered  by  the 
inhabitants,  were  reduced  to  servitude  ;  others,  to  the  amount  of 
seven  thousand,  presented  themselves  before  Genoa.  At  first 
the  senate  gave  them  permission  to  remain  six  or  seven  days  in 
the  city  ;  but  reflecting  afterwards  upon  the  folly  of  the  expedi- 
tion, fearing  that  such  a  multitude  would  produce  famine,  and, 
above  all,  apprehending  that  Frederick,  who  was  then  in  a  state 
of  rebellion  against  the  Holy  See  and  at  war  with  Genoa,  might 
take  advantage  of  the  circumstance  to  excite  a  tumult,  they 
ordered  the  Crusaders  to  depart  from  the  city.  Nevertheless,  it 
was  a  received  opinion  in  the  time  of  Bizarre,  that  the  republic 
granted  the  rights  of  citizenship  to  several  of  the  young  Ger- 
mans of  this  formidable  body,  who  were  distinguished  by  birth ; 
they  acquired  afterwards  so  much  consideration,  that  they  were 
admitted  into  the  order  of  patricians  ;  "  and  it  is  from  them," 
adds  the  same  historian,  "  that  several  of  the  great  families  of 
the  present  day  derive  their  origin ;  among  waom  may  be  re- 
marked that  of  the  Vivaldi."  The  others,  finding  their  error, 
turned  back  towards  their  own  country  again ;  and  these  Cru- 
saders, who  had  been  seen  advancing  in  numerous  troops,  and 
singing  animating  songs,  returned  singly,  robbed  of  everything, 
walking  barefooted,  undergoing  the  pangs  of  hunger,  and  sub- 
jected to  the  scoffs  and  derision  of  the  population  of  the  cities 
and  countries  they  passed  through :  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
that  in  such  circumstances  many  young  girls  lost  the  chastity 
which  had  been  their  ornament  in  their  homes. 

The  Crusaders  from  France  experienced  a  nearly  similar  fate : 
A  very  slender  portion  of  them  returned :  the  i*est  either  perished 
in  the  waves  or  became  an  obiect  of  sp<  culatioD  for  two  Mar« 


APPENDIX.  445 

geilles  merchants.  Hugh  Ferrers  and  William  Porcus,  so  were 
they  named,  carried  on  n  trade  with  the  Saracens,  of  which  the 
asle  of  young  boys  formed  a  considerable  branch.  No  oppor- 
tunity for  an  advantageous  speculation  could  be  more  favourable  ; 
they  offered  to  transport  to  the  East  all  the  pilgrims  who  arrived 
at  Marseilles,  without  any  kind  of  charge  for  the  voyage  ;  assign- 
ing piety  as  the  motive  for  this  act  of  generosity.  This  propo- 
sition was  joyfully  accepted  ;  and  seven  vessels,  laden  with  these 
pilgrims,  set  sail  for  the  coast  of  Syria.  At  the  end  of  two  days, 
when  the  ships  were  off  the  isle  of  St.  Peter,  near  the  rock  of 
the  Recluse,  a  violent  tempest  arose,  and  the  sea  swallowed  up 
two  of  them,  with  all  the  passengers  on  board.  The  other  live 
arrived  at  Bugia  and  Alexandria,  and  the  young  Crusaders  were 
all  sold  to  the  Saracens  or  to  slave-merchants.*  The  caliph 
bought  forty  of  them,  all  of  whom  were  in  orders,  and  caused 
them  to  be  brought  up  with  great  care  in  a  place  set  apart  for 
the  purpose :  twelve  of  the  others  perished  as  martyrs,  being 
unwilling  to  renounce  their  religion.  None  of  the  clerks  pur- 
chased by  the  caliph,  according  to  the  account  of  one  of  them 
who  afterwards  obtained  his  liberty,  embraced  the  worship  of 
Mahomet :  all  faithful  to  the  religion  of  their  fathers,  practised 
it  constantly  in  tears  and  slavery.  Hugh  and  William  having  at 
a  later  period  formed  the  project  of  assassinating  Frederick, 
were  discovered,  and  perished  in  an  ignominious  manner,  with 
three  Saracens,  their  accomplices,  receiving,  in  this  miserable 
end,  the  wages  due  to  their  treachery. 

Pope  Gregory  IX.  afterwards  caused  a  church  to  be  built  in 
the  island  of  St.  Peter,  in  honour  of  those  who  were  shipwrecked, 
and  instituted  twelve  canonships  to  provide  for  the  duties  of  it. 
In  the  time  of  Alberic  the  spot  was  still  pointed  out  where  the 
bodies  cast  up  by  the  waves  were  buried. 

As  for  the  Crusaders  who  survived  so  many  calamities,  and 
remained  in  Europe,  with  the  exception  of  some  old  and  infirm 
persons,  the  pope  would  not  release  them  from  their  vows ;  they 
were  obliged  either  to  perform  the  pilgrimage  at  a  maturer  age, 
or  to  redeem  it  by  alms. 

Such  was  the  issue  of  this  crusade,  so  justly  designated  by  two 
chronicles,  expeditio  nugatoria,  expeditio  derisoria.f 

Two  facts  strike  us  as  extraordinary  in  this  account :  the  con- 
dition attached  by  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain  to  the  liberty 
of  the  clerk  of  whom  Vincent  of  Beauvais  speaks,  and  the  trade 
in  children  carried  on  by  the  merchants  of  Marseilles. 

Upon  the  first  point  we  can  offer  nothing  but  the  opinion  re- 

*  This  account  is  furnished  by  Alberic,  and  is  confirmed  by  Thorvjaa  ci 
Champre"  and  Roger  Bacon. 
f  CJm-oii,  Angus.  ;  Chron.  Argent. 


446  APPENDIX. 

ceived  among  the  nations  of  the  West.  It  was  generally  believed 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  that  the  Old  Man  of  the  'Mountain 
kept  up  a  connection  with  Christian  Europe :  several  princes 
were  even  accused  of  having  had  recourse  to  the  daggers  of  hie 
assassins  to  get  rid  of  their  enemies.  Frederick  received  am- 
bassadors from  him  in  Sicily.*  Roger  Bacon  complains  bitterly 
of  the  fascinations  secretly  employed  by  the  Saracens  to  seduce 
the  young  servants  of  Christ  ;f  the  name  of  Assassins  had  already 
passed  into  the  vulgar  tongue  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  was 
the  object  of  general  terror.  In  spite,  then,  of  the  opinion  of 
some  critics,  a  more  extended  examination  than  comes  within  the 
scope  of  this  letter  is  necessary,  before  we  reject  the  account  of 
Vincent  of  Bauvais. 

As  to  the  trade  in  young  boys,  that  is  not  at  all  a  new  fact ; 
many  traces  of  it  are  to  be  found  much  anterior  to  this  period. 
The  Greeks  and  Venetians  practised  it  openly  enough.  Pope 
Zacharias  repurchased,  in  748,  many  Christian  slaves,  who  had 
been  taken  away  from  Rome  by  Venetian  merchants ;  the  people 
of  Verdun,  as  witnessed  by  Lilprand,  were  about  to  sell  to  the 
Arabs  of  Spain  some  young  boys  they  had  mutilated,  and  who 
were  to  serve  as  guards  to  the  women  of  seraglios. |  Besides, 
the  fate  of  the  young  Crusaders  who  embarked  at  Marseilles, 
and  found  degradation  and  slavery  instead  of  the  sacred  soil 
promised  to  their  blind  zeal,  is  attested  by  two  contemporary 
writers,  worthy  of  perfect  confidence  :  these  are  the  illustrious 
Th  >mas  de  Champre§  and  Roger  Bacon. ||  I  do  not  then  per- 
ceive any  reasonable  doubt  that  can  be  raised  against  this  fact, 
but  1  find  in  it  a  fresh  example  of  human  cupidity,  which  sacri- 
fices, in  order  to  satisfy  its  cravings,  that  which  nature  and 
religion  hold  most  sacred. — Receive,  Monsieur,  &c.  &c. 

*  Godfrey  the  Monk.  f  Opus  Majus.  p.  264.  ed.  in  foi. 

J  See  .Marin,  Storia  Civile  e  Pohtica  del  Cornmercio  de'  Veneziani,  vol.  i.  p.  206  ;  Do 
Giugnes,  Memoires  sur  le  Commerce  des  Francs  dans  le  Levant,  &C.  ;  vol.  xxxvii.  ot 
Les  Memoires  de  I'Acad.  des  Inscr. 

§  Videnms  anno  incarn.  Di.  1213,  infinitam  puerorum  multitudinem  spiritu  de- 
ceptionis  arreptos,  cum  signaculo  crucis  iter  Hierosolymitanum  agressos  fuisse, 
periisseque  diversis  in  locis  ;  et  maximam  ex  eis  multitudinem  per  malefices 
quosdam  Sarracenis  in  mari  venditos  extitisse. — Lib.  de  Apibus. 

U  Forsan  vidistis  aut  audivistis  pro  certo  quod  pueri  de  regno  Franciae  semel 
occurrebant  in  infinita  multitudine  post  quemdem  malignum  hominem,  ita  quod 
Etc  a  patribus,  nee  a  matribus,  nee  ab  amicis  poterant  detineri,  et  positi  sunt  in 
DJtvibus  et  Sarracenis  venditi,  et  non  sunt  adliue  64  annis. — Opus  Majut,  p.  254 


APPENDIX. 


No.  29. 

A  Letter  from  Pope    nnocent  III* 

Now  that  motives  more  pressir  g  than  ever  call  Christians  to 
the  assistance  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  that  we  \&xe  reason  to 
expect,  from  the  present  aid,  more  fortunate  results  than  have 
been  hitherto  obtained,  we  again  raise  our  voice,  and  make  you 
to  hear  our  cries  in  the  name  of  Him  who,  when  dying,  criec 
with  a  loud  voice  from  the  cross,  and  who  carried  obedience 
towards  God,  his  father,,  so  far  as  to  die  upon  the  cross,  crying 
in  order  to  drag  us  from  the  torments  of  an  eternal  death ; 
who  cried  also  by  himself,  and  said :  "  If  any  one  desires  to 
come  with  me,  let  him  entirely  renounce  himself,  let  him  take 
up  his  cross,  and  follow  me."  This  is  as  if  he  said  in  a 
more  manifest  manner,  Let  him  who  desires  to  follow  me  to  the 
crown,  follow  me  also  to  the  fight,  which  is  now  proposed  to 
all  to  serve  as  a  trial.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Omnipotent 
God  was  able,  if  it  had  been  his  will,  to  prevent  this  land  fall- 
ing into  the  hands  of  the  enemies ;  he  is  able  even  now,  if  it 
were  his  will,  to  wrest  it  from  them  easily ;  since  nothing 
can  resist  his  will.  But  as  iniquity  was  carried  almost  to  its 
height,  and  as  the  zeal  of  charity  was  chilled  in  most,  to  arouse 
his  faithful  servants  from  the  sleep  of  death,  and  to  recall  to 
them  the  desire  of  life,  he  offers  this  conflict  to  them,  in  order 
to  prove  their  faith,  like  gold  in  the  crucible  ;  offering  to  them 
in  this,  an  opportunity,  nay  more,  an  assured  pledge  of  obtaining 
salvation.  For  this,  they  who  shall  have  fought  valiantly  for 
him,  shall  obtain  of  him  a  crown  of  happiness ;  but  they  who, 
in  such  a  pressing  necessity,  shall  have  drawn  back  from  the  ser- 
vice they  owed  to  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  will  deserve  to  hear,  at 
the  great  day  of  judgment,  their  just  condemnation  pronounced. 
What  happy  effects  will  this  holy  enterprise  produce  !  How 
many,  turning  towards  penitence,  will  range  themselves  under 
the  standard  of  the  cross,  and  will  merit,  by  their  efforts,  a 
crown  of  glory,  who  perhaps  would  have  perished  in  their 
iniquity,  after  having  passed  a  life  entirely  consecrated  to  carnal 
voluptuousness  and  to  the  frivolities  of  "this  world.  This  is  an 
old  artifice  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  he  has  deigned  to  repeat  in 
our  days  for  the  salvation  of  his  faithful  servants.  In  fact,  if 
any  earthly  monarch  were  driven  by  his  enemies  from  his  states, 
would  not,  when  he  should  have  recovered  them,  such  of  his 

*  We  promised  to  give  in  the  Appendix  some  letters  and  the  Bull  oi 
this  pope  relative  to  the  crusade  of  1197 ;  but  as  the  contents  of  these 
pieces  are  all  alike,  with  the  exception  of  some  trifling  expressions,  we  shall 
confine  ourselves  to  this  one. 


448  \ppenuix 

vassals  be  condemned  as  infidels,  and  destined  to  all  the  punish- 
ments which  the  greatly  guilty  deserve,  as  had  not  exposed  for 
his  sake,  not  only  their  lives  but  their  persons  ?  In  the  same 
manner  the  King  of  Kings,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  given 
you  a  body  and  a  soul,  and  all  the  other  blessings  you  enjoy,  will 
condemn  you  as  guilty  of  black  ingratitude,  and  of  the  crime  of 
infidelity,  if  you  fail  to  march  to  his  succour  at  a  time  when  he 
is  in  a  manner  driven  from  the  kingdom  he  has  acquired  by  his 
blood.  Let  whoever  then  shall  refuse,  in  this  pressing  necessity, 
to  hasten  to  the  help  of  his  lledeemer,  know  that  he  will  exhibit 
a  criminal  hardness,  and  that  he  will  be  grievously  guilty.  If  any 
one  should  be  unjustly  deprived  of  a  portion,  however  small,  of 
the  heritage  of  his  fathers,  soon,  according  to  the  usages  of  the 
world,  he  would  labour  with  all  his  strength  to  have  this  injus- 
tice repaired,  and  to  repel  this  violence ;  and  would  spare  neither 
his  person  nor  his  property,  until  he  had  succeeded  in  regaining 
all  that  he  had  lost.  What  excuse,  then,  can  he  bring  who  shall 
have  declined  some  trifling  labours  to  punish  offences  committed 
against  his  Redeemer,  and  avenge  the  outrages  he  has  received  ; 
and  who,  by  sparing  his  person  and  his  goods,  prevents  the 
recovery  of  the  places  which  witnessed  the  passion  and  the 
resurrection  of  our  Lord,  in  which  God,  our  king,  deigned,  some 
centuries  ago,  to  operate,  upon  the  earth,  the  salvation  of  men  ? 
How,  also,  according  to  the  divine  precept,  can  he  love  his 
neighbour  as  himself  (as  it  is  written),  who  knows  that  his  bre- 
thren, Christians  in  belief  and  in  name,  are  groaning  in  the  pri- 
sons of  the  perfidious  Saracens,  and  are  suffering  all  the  horrors 
of  the  hardest  captivity,  and  shall  refuse  to  labour  in  an  effective 
manner  for  their  deliverance,  transgressing  by  .this,  this  precept 
of  the  natural  law,  which  God  has  made  known  in  his  Gospel : 
"Do  unto  other  men  that  which  you  wish  they  should  do  unto 
you."  Are  you  ignorant,  that  among  these  people,  many  thou- 
sands of  Christians  groan  in  slavery  and  in  chains,  and  are  con- 
stantly subject  to  the  most  cruel  tortures  ?  All  the  provinces 
now  in  the  power  of  the  Saracens  were  inhabited  by  Christian 
nations  till  after  the  time  of  St.  Gregory ;  but  towards  that 
period,  there  arose  a  child  of  perdition,  a  false  prophet,  named 
Mahomet,  who,  by  the  attractions  of  the  joys  of  this  world,  and 
by  the  bait  of  carnal  voluptuousness,  found  means  to  seduce  a 
great  number  and  turn  them  aside  from  he  path  of  truth.  Al- 
though his  perfidy  may  have  triumphed  up  to  the  present  day, 
we  place,  nevertheless,  our  confidence  in  the  Lord,  who  has 
hitherto  so  well  inspired  us,  and  we  hope  that  we  shall  soon  see 
the  end  of  this  beast,  of  which,  according  to  the  Apocalypse  of 
St.  John,  "  the  number  is  included  in  six  hundred  and  sixty-six." 
He  will  soon  end  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  wilJ 


APPENDIX.  449 

revive,  with  the  fire  of  charity,  the  chilled  hearts  of  the  faithful; 
and  of  these  years,  nearly  six  hundred  have  already  passed  away. 
In  addition  to  the  other  grave  and  considerable  insults  that  the 
perfidious  Saracens  have  inflicted  on  our  Redeemer  on  account 
of  our  sins,  lately,  upon  Mount  Tabor,  where  he  revealed  to  his 
disciples  the  image  of  future  glory,  these  same  perfidious  Sara- 
cens have  erected  a  fortress  for  the  confusion  of  the  Christian 
name.  They  hope,  by  means  of  this  fortress,  easily  to  obtain 
possession  of  the  city  of  Acre,  which  is  near  to  it,  and  afterwards 
invade,  without  the  least  obstacle,  the  rest  of  the  Holy  Land, 
almost  entirely  destitute  of  strength  and  means  of  defence.  For 
this,  then,  my  dear  children  in  Christ,  change  into  sentiments  of 
peace  and  love  your  brotherly  dissensions  and  discords,  and  let 
every  one  of  you  hasten  to  range  himself  under  the  standard  of 
the  cross,  without  hesitating  to  expose  his  person  and  his  wealth 
for  Him  who  offered  up  his  soul  for  you,  and  shed  his  blood  for 
you.  March  with  security,  upon  this  holy  expedition,  certain 
that  if  you  are  truly  repentant,  this  short  and  transient  labour 
will  be  for  you  a  certain  means  of  obtaining  life  eternal.  For 
us,  depositaries  of  the  Divine  mercy,  and  to  whom  has  been 
transmitted  the  authority  of  the  blessed  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul, 
according  to  the  power  which,  although  we  were  unworthy  of  it, 
God  has  given  us  to  bind  and  unbind,  we  grant,  to  all  who  shall 
undertake  in  person  and  at  their  own  expense  this  meritorious 
labour,  the  absolute  pardon  of  their  sins,  after  they  shall  heartily 
have  repented  of  them,  and  shall  have  confessed  them  by  word  of 
mouth,  and  we  give  them  the  certain  hope,  by  this  means,  of  obtain- 
ing more  easily  life  everlasting.  As  for  those  who,  without  assist- 
ing in  person  in  the  expedition,  shall  contribute  to  it  by  sending, 
according  to  their  rank  and  their  means,  men  fit  for  the  purpose, 
in  the  same  manner  to  those  who  shall  go  in  person,  although  at 
the  expense  of  others,  we  grant  to  all  pardon  for  their  sins. 
We  grant  the  same  pardon,  in  proportion  with  the  extent  of  their 
sacrifices  and  the  fervour  of  their  devotion,  to  those  who  shall 
deprive  themselves  of  a  part  of  their  worldly  goods  to  provide 
for  the  expenses  of  the  enterprise.  We  equally  take  under  the 
protection  of  Saint  Peter  and  of  ourselves,  the  persons  and  the 
property  of  the  faithful,  from  the  moment  they  shall  receive  the 
sign  of  the  cross ;  we  place  them  under  that  of  the  archbishops 
and  bishops,  and  all  the  prelates  of  the  Church  ;  and  we  declare 
that  no  infringement  shall  be  made  upon  the  possessions  of  the 
absent,  until  certain  intelligence  be  obtained  of  their  death  or  of 
their  return.  If  any  one  shall  make  an  attempt  to  do  so,  he 
shall  be  cited  before  the  prelates  of  the  Church,  and  shall  bo 
subjected  to  ecclesiastical  censure.  If  it  should  happen,  more- 
over, that  any  one  of  those  who  are  disposed  to  set  out  for  the 
Vol.  111.— 20 


450  APPENDIX. 

Holy  Land,  should  be  obliged,  by  oath  to  pay  any  usurious 
amounts,  we  enjoin  the  prelates  of  the  Church,  to  employ  the 
same  means  to  force  their  creditors  to  liberate  them  from  their 
oath,  and  to  desist  from  their  usurious  demands ;  and  if.  it 
should  happen  that  any  one  of  these  creditors  should  undertake 
to  force  his  debtor  to  the  payment  of  the  usuries,  let  him  incur 
the  same  censure,  and  be  forced  to  make  restitution.  As  for  the 
Jews,  we  order  that  they  be  forced,  by  the  secular  power,  to 
make  remission  of  all  usury  to  them  who  are  going  to  the  Holy 
Land ;  and,  until  they  have  made  that  remission,  they  shall  be 
deprived,  by  means  of  excommunication,  of  all  kinds  of  com- 
merce with  Christians.  But  in  order  that  the  succour  furnished 
to  the  Holy  Land  should  become  less  burdensome  and  more 
easy,  from  being  levied  upon  a  greater  number,  we  beg  all  the 
faithful  in  general,  and  every  one  individually,  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  only  true,  the  only 
Eternal  God,  demanding  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  and  for 
Jesus  Christ,  of  all  archbishops,  bishops,  abbots,  and  priors ;  of 
all  chapters  of  churches,  whether  cathedral  or  conventual ;  of  all 
clerks,  as  well  as  of  all  cities,  towns,  and  villages,  to  furnish  each, 
according  to  their  faculties,  the  required  number  of  warriors, 
with  everything  necessary  for  their  support  for  three  years.  If, 
for  this  purpose,  each  individual  contribution  should  appear  in- 
sufficient, several  should  be  joined  together ;  for  we  entertain 
no  doubt  that  enough  persons  will  present  themselves,  if  the 
means  be  not  wanting.  We  particularly  request  kings,  princes, 
counts,  barons,  and  other  wealthy  men  who  do  not  assist  in  the 
expedition  in  person,  to  contribute  their  part  according  to  their 
means.  As  to  maritime  cities,  we  require  of  them  the  assistance 
of  vessels.  And  for  fear  that  we  should  appear  to  impose  heavy 
and  serious  burdens  upon  others,  which  we  are  unwilling  to  put 
our  hand  to  ourselves,  we  declare  in  our  conscience,  and  before 
God,  that  all  which  we  require  of  others  we  will  eagerly  do  our- 
selves. We  have  thought  it  our  duty  to  state,  with  respect  to 
the  clerks  who  shall  form  part  of  the  expedition,  that,  all  contes- 
tation ceasing,  they  may,  to  that  effect,  pledge  the  revenues  of 
their  benefices  for  three  jears.  But  as  the  succour  which  the 
Holy  Land  requires  may  meet  with  many  obstacles  and  delays, 
if,  before  conferring  the  cross  upon  every  one,  it  were  necessary 
to  stop  to  examine  if  he  were  capable  of  performing  personally 
all  the  obligations  imposed  by  such  a  vow,  we  consent  that,  regu- 
lars excepted,  all  who  desire  it  shall  take  the  cross  ;  and  that,  if 
reasons  of  a  pressing  necessity,  or  of  an  evident  utility  require 
it,  their  vow  may  be,  in  virtue  of  an  apostolic  mandatory  letter, 
changed,  redeemed,  or  deferred  ;  and,  for  the  same  reason,  we 
revoke  the  pardons  and  indulgences  granted  by  us,  up  to  this  day, 
to  those  who  offered  to  march  against  the  Moors  in  Spain,  or  against 


APPENDIX  451 

the  heretics  of  Provence  ;  particularly  as  tl  ey  were  granted  to 
them  for  a  time  which  is  now  entirely  passed  away,  and  for  reasons 
which,  in  a  great  degree,  have  ceased  to  exist.  For,  with  the  grace 
of  God,  these  affairs  have  so  progressed,  that  they  no  longer 
require  active  measures ;  and  if,  by  chance,  they  should  again 
require  them,  we  should  take  care  quickly  to  turn  our  attention 
towards  them.  We  grant,  however,  that  the  Provencals  and 
Spaniards  should  still  enjoy  these  indulgences.  Moreover,  as 
corsairs  aud  pirates  greatly  impede  the  measures  taken  for  the 
succour  of  the  Holy  Land,  by  seizing  and  plundering  those  who 
are  going  thither,  we  excommunicate  them,  as  well  as  their 
principal  accomplices  and  abettors  ;  forbidding  under  pain  of 
anathema,  any  person,  wittingly,  to  treat  with  them  for  any  sale 
or  any  purchase,  and  enjoining  the  governors  of  cities  and  places 
which  they  inhabit,  to  reclaim  them  from  this  trade  of  iniquity, 
and  put  an  end  to  their  brigandages.  Besides,  as  not  being  will- 
ing to  trouble  the  wicked  is  nothing  else  but  encouraging  them  ; 
and  as  this  is  not  foreign  to  the  manoeuvres  of  a  secret  society 
which  neglects  to  oppose  these  manifest  crimes,  we  cannot 
refrain  from  employing  ecclesiastical  severity  against  the  persons 
and  the  property  of  those  who  shall  be  in  this  condition  ;  because 
they  would  become  no  less  dangerous  to  the  Christian  name 
than  the  Saracens  themselves.  Moreover,  we  renew  the  sen- 
tence of  excommunication,  passed  in  the  Council  of  the  Lateran, 
against  those  who  supply  the  Saracens  with  armour  and  weapons, 
or  serve  as  pilots  to  the  corsairs  of  those  nations ;  we  declare 
also  that  they  shall  be  deprived  of  all  they  possess,  and  shall 
remain  in  slavery,  if  they  chance  to  fall  into  it.  "We  order 
that  this  sentence  be  published  in  all  maritime  cities,  every  Sun- 
day and  festival.  But  as  we  have  much  more  to  look  for  from 
divine  clemency  than  from  human  power,  we  must,  in  such  a 
conjuncture,  contend  less  with  corporeal  arms  than  with  spiritual 
arms  ;  therefore  we  order  and  decree,  that  once  in  every  month 
there  shall  be  made,  separately,  a  general  procession  of  men,  and 
in  the  same  manner  separately,  as  much  as  possible,  one  of 
women,  during  which,  with  minds  filled  with  the  spirit  of  humi- 
lity, all  will  ask,  with  fervent  prayers,  that  it  may  please  the 
divine  mercy  to  uemove  from  us  opprobrium  and  confusion,  by 
delivering  from  the  hands  of  pagans,  that  land  upon  which  all 
the  mysteries  of  our  redemption  were  effected,  and  by  restor- 
ing it,  for  the  glory  of  the  Omnipotent,  to  the  Christian  people. 
Care  must  always  be  taken,  in  these  processions,  to  make  a  fer- 
vent exhortation  to  the  people,  and  to  repeat  to  them  the  name 
of  the  sign  of  our  salvation.  To  prayer  must  be  added  fasting 
and  charity,  in  order  that  they  may  be  like  wings  to  prayer,  and 
carry  it  more  easily  and  more  promptly  to  the  pious  ears  of  the 


452  APPENDIX. 

Eternal,  who  will  listen  to  us  with  kindness  in  his  cwn  good  ♦ime, 
Erery  day,  likewise,  at  the  solemn  mass,  after  the  kiss  of  peace, 
at  the  moment  in  which  the  salutary  host,  offered  for  the  sins  of 
the  world,  is  upon  the  point  of  being  consumed,  all  present,  men 
as  well  as  women,  shall  prostrate  themselves  humbly  to  the  earth, 
and  the  clerks  shall  sing  with  a  loud  voice,  the  psalm,  Deus 
venerunt  gentes  in  h&reditatem  tuam  ;  to  which  they  shall  add : 
Eocurgat  Deus  et  dissipentur  inimici  ejus  ;  et  fugiant  a  facie 
ejus  qui  oderunt  eum.  Then  the  officiating  priest  shall  sing  with 
a  loud  voice  upon  the  altar,  the  prayer,  Deus  qui  admirabile, 
Sfc.  In  churches  in  which  the  general  procession  shall  assemble, 
care  shall  be  taken  to  place  a  tronc,  which  shall  be  fastened  with 
three  keys,  one  of  which  shall  remain  in  the  hands  of  an  honest 
priest,  another  in  those  of  a  devout  layman,  and  the  third  in 
those  of  a  monk,  that  they  may  be  faithfully  taken  care  of.  It 
is  in  these  troncs  that  clerks,  laymen,  men,  and  women  shall 
deposit  the  alms  destined  for  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Land,  accord- 
ing to  the  dispositions  of  those  to  whom  these  cares  shall  have 
been  confided.  As  to  the  departure  and  the  voyage,  which 
should  be  made  with  modesty  and  order,  we  will,  as  yet,  state 
nothing  regarding  them  until  the  army  of  the  Lord  shall  have 
taken  the  cross.  But  as  all  the  circumstances  are  now  prepared 
for,  we  will  make  all  the  arrangements  which  may  appear  neces- 
sary, aided  by  the  counsels  of  wise  and  prudent  men.  To  this 
effect,  we  have  chosen  our  beloved  son  De  Sales,  the  late  abbots 
of  Novo  Castro,  C.  dean  of  Spire,  and  the  guardian  of  the 
Augustines,  all  men  of  probity  and  known  fidelity,  who,  after 
having  associated  themselves  with  other  worthy  and  honest  men, 
shall  regulate  and  dispose,  in  our  name,  all  that  they  shall  deem 
necessary  for  the  success  of  this  enterprise,  causing  their  orders 
to  be  faithfully  and  carefully  executed  by  men  fit  for  the  busi- 
ness and  specially  appointed  to  it.  This,  therefore,  is  why  we 
pray  you  all,  we  supplicate  and  conjure  you,  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  command  you  by  this  present  apostolic  letters,  and  enjoin 
you  by  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  take  care  to  prove, 
on  every  occasion,  to  these  legates  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  your 
eagerness  to  furnish  them  with  all  things  necessary,  that  they 
will  find,  by  you  and  in  you,  the  means  of  attaining  the  so  much 
dusired  end. 


No.  30. 

Poetry  of  the  Troubadours  for  the  Crusades. 

See  how  great  is  the  folly  of  him  who  remains  here !   Doei 
Dot  Jesus  command  his  apostles  to  follow  him,  and  that  he  who 


APPENDIX.  453 

should  follow  him  should  leave  his  friends  and  his  wealthy 
abode  ?  The  time  is  come  to  obey  this  order :  he  who  dies  be* 
yond  the  seas  is  more  happy  than  if  he  lived ;  and  he  who  livei 
on  this  side  of  them  is  more  unfortunate  than  if  he  died.  What 
is  a  cowardly,  shameful  life  worth  ?  Ah !  he  who  dies  generously 
triumphs  over  death  itself,  and  lives  again  in  felicity.  *  *  * 
Let  him  cease  to  boast  of  being  brave,  the  knight  who  does  not 
arm  to  succour  both  the  cross  and  the  sacred  tomb  !  Yes,  with 
rich  equipments,  with  valour,  with  courtesy,  and  with  all  that  is 
fair  and  irreproachable,  we  cannot  obtain  glory  and  happiness  in 
paradise.  What  more  could  counts  and  kings  require,  if,  by 
honourable  deeds,  they  could  redeem  themselves  from  hell  and 
from  fire  eternal,  in  which  so  many  wretches  would  live  tor- 
mented for  ever  ? 

Whoever  is  forced  by  old  age  or  sickness  to  remain  at  home, 
let  him  give  his  money  to  those  who  are  willing  to  take  arms :  it 
is  a  good  deed  to  send  another  in  your  place  ;  particularly  when 
you  are  not  kept  back  by  cowardice.  Ah !  at  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, what  will  they  answer  who  have  remained  at  home  P  God 
will  appear,  and  will  say  :  "  False  men !  men  full  of  cowardice  ! 
for  your  sakes  I  died,  for  your  sakes  I  was  scourged."  Then, 
the  just  man  himself,  will  he  be  without  fearP — (Pons  de  Cap- 
ducil :  Er  nos  sia.) 

I  would  that  the  king  of  France  and  the  king  of  England 
were  at  peace !  Certes,  God  would  greatly  honour  him  of  the 
two  who  should  consent  the  first,  and  would  never  forget  his 
merits.  Yes,  that  king  would  be  crowned  in  heaven.  Ah !  why 
are  the  king  of  Apulia  and  the  emperor  not  friends  and  brothers, 
until  the  holy  tomb  be  recovered  ?  Are  they  ignorant  that  the 
pardon  they  grant  here,  they  themselves  shall  obtain  at  the  day 
of  the  great  judgment  ? — (Pons  de  Capducil :  JEn  honor.) 

What  mourning !  what  despair !  what  tears  !  when  God  shall 
say,  "  Go,  wretches,  go  into  hell,  where  you  shall  be  tormented 
for  ever  in  tortures,  in  agonies.  This  is  your  punishment  for 
not  having  believed  that  I  underwent  a  cruel  passion  :  I  died  for 
you,  and  you  have  forgotten  it."  But  they  who,  in  the  crusade, 
shall  meet  with  death,  will  be  able  to  say,  "  And  we,  Lord,  we 
died  for  thee." — (Folquet  de  Romans :   Quan  lo  dous.) 

To-day  will  the  brave,  the  galLnt,  and  the  courageous  show 
themselves ;  it  will  be  their  audacity  and  their  bravery  that 
will  distinguish  them :  this  is  the  moment  to  display  skill  and 
valour.  God  calls,  he  himself  calls,  he  chooses  true  knights,  he 
who  knows  them,  and  he  rejects  the  base  who  are  wanting  in 
courage  and  faith :  it  is  the  valiant  alone  whom  his  mercy  will 
distinguish. — (Pierre  d'Auvergne :  Lo  Senhor.) 


454  APPENDIX. 

The  time  is  come,  the  day  is  arrived,  in  which  it  will  be  put 
to  the  test  who  are  the  men  worthy  of  serving  the  Eternal :  he 
calls,  but  he  only  calls  upon  the  gallant  and  the  brave.  They 
shall  be  ever  his,  who,  knowing  faithfully  how  to  suffer,  devote 
themselves,  and  fight,  shall  be  full  of  frankness,  generosity, 
courtesy,  and  loyalty.  Let  the  cowardly  and  the  avaricious 
remain  where  they  are ;  God  only  wants  the  good :  he  is  willing 
that  they  should  save  themselves  by  their  own  high  deeds. 
"What  a  worthy  and  glorious  salvation ! 

If  ever  William  Malespine  appeared  brave  among  us,  he  has 
now  furnished  God  himself  with  the  proof  of  it ;  he  took  the 
cross  the  first,  he  took  the  cross  voluntarily,  to  deliver  the  holy 
sepulchre  and  the  sacred  heritage.  What  shame!  how  wrong 
it  is  of  the  kings  and  the  emperor  that  they  do  not  deign  to 
conclude  treaties  and  truces  with  one  another,  in  order  to  be 
able  to  succour  the  kingdom  of  the  law,  the  holy  light,  and  the 
tomb  and  the  cross  which  the  Turks  have  so  long  retained.  The 
repetition  alone  of  this  disaster  overwhelms  us  with  profound 
sadness — (Aimerie  de  Peguilhan :  Evas  jpana.) 

It  will  soon  be  known  what  gallant  men  entertain  the  noble 
ambition  of  meriting  the  glory  of  this  world  and  the  glory  of 
God.  Yes,  they  may  obtain  the  one  and  the  other,  they  who 
devote  themselves  to  the  pious  pilgrimage  to  deliver  the  holy 
tomb.  Great  God,  what  grief!  the  Turks  have  assailed  and 
profaned  it !  Let  us  be  sensible,  even  to  the  depths  of  our  hearts, 
of  this  mortal  disgrace  ;  let  us  clothe  ourselves  with  the  sign  of 
the  Crusaders,  let  us  pass  over  the  seas ;  we  have  a  safe  and 
courageous  guide,  the  sovereign  pontiff  Innocent  himself. 

Yes,  every  one  is  invited  thither,  every  one  is  required ;  let 
every  one  march  forward  and  cross  himself  in  the  name  of  that 
God  who  was  crucified  between  two  thieves,  when  he  was  so 
unjustly  condemned  by  the  Jews.  If  we  still  set  a  value  on 
loyalty  and  bravery,  we  must  fear  the  opprobrium  of  leaving 
Christ  thus  disinherited ;  but  we  love,  we  wish  for  that  which 
is  evil,  and  despise  that  which  would  be  good  and  useful.  But 
what !  life,  in  our  countries,  is  for  us,  nothing  but  a  continual 
danger ;  and  death,  in  the  Holy  Land,  is  for  us  eternal  happiness. 

Ah !  ought  we  to  hesitate  to  suffer  death  in  the  service  of 
God,  of  that  God  who  deigned  to  suffer  for  our  deliverance ! 
Yes,  they  shall  be  saved  with  St.  Andrew,  they  who  shall  march 
towards  Mount  Tabor :  let  no  one  feel  dread  in  the  passage  of 
this  fleshly  death.  That  which  is  to  be  feared  is  spiritual  death, 
which  delivers  us  up  to  the  place  where  there  shall  be  weeping 
and  gnashing  of  teeth,  as  St.  Matthew  shows  and  assures  us. 


APPENDIX.  456 

Signor,  saciez-tu  or  ne  s'en  ira 

En  cele  terre  u  diex  fa  mors  et  vis, 

Et  ki  la  crois  d'outre  mer  ne  prendra 

A  paines  mais  ira  en  Paradis  : 

Ki  a  en  soi  pitie  et  ramembrance 

Au  haut  Seignor,  doit  guerre  sa  vergeanoa^ 

Et  delivrer  sa  terre  et  son  pays  .... 

Or  s'en  iront  cil  vaillant  baclieler 

Ki  aiment  Dieu  et  l'oneur  de  cest  mont 

Ki  sagement  voilent  a  Dieu  aler, 

Et  li  morveux,  li  cendreus  demourront : 

Avugle  sunt,  de  ce  ne  dont  je  mie, 

Ki  au  secours  ne  font  Dieu  en  sa  vie 

Et  por  si  poc  pert  la  gloire  del  mont. 

Diex  se  laissa  per  nos  en  crois  pener  ; 

Et  nous  dira  au  jour  ou  tuit  venront : 

"  Vos,  ki  ma  crois  m'aidates  a  porfer, 

Vos  en  irez  la  oil  li  angele  sont ; 

La  me  verrez,  et  ma  Mere  Marie  ; 

Et  vos,  par  qui  je  n'oi  onques  aie, 

Descendez  tuit  en  enfer  le  parfont."  * 

— Thibault,  king  of  Navarre.     He  took  the  cross  in  1236^  ne  set  ooft 
from  Marseilles  in  the  month  of  August,  1238  or  1239. 


No.  31. 

Upon  the  Funeral  Ceremonies  of  the  Prussians. 

When  a  man,  particularly  a  noble,  died,  he  was  placed  upon 
a  seat  in  the  midst  of  his  family  and  his  friends,  who  said  to 
him,  "  Hilloa!  hadst  thou  not  a  comfortable  house  and  a  hand* 
some  wife,  why  didst  thou  die?  Hadst  thou  not  large  flocks, 
horses  of  speed,  and  dogs  of  sure  scent  ?  What  has  driven  thee 
from  the  world?"  They  then  spread  out  the  riches  of  the  dead 
man,  asking  him  the  same  questions ;  and  as  he  made  them  no 
answer,  those  who  were  present  charged  him  with  messages  to 

*  Lord,  know  that  he  who  shall  not  go  to  that  land  where  God  was  both 
living  and  dead,  and  who  shall  not  take  the  cross  beyond  the  seas,  shall 
have  no  chance  of  going  into  Paradise  :  he  who  has  pity  and  remembrance 
of  the  Lord,  ought  from  war  and  vengeance  to  deliver  his  land  and  his 
country  ....  Now,  every  valiant  bachelor  will  go  who  loves  God  and 
honours  the  holy  mountain  ;  they  who  act  wisely  will  go  to  God,  the  base 
and  the  vile  will  stay  behind  :  they  are  blind,  as  I  think,  who  in  their  lives 
offer  no  assistance  to  God,  and  lose  the  glory  of  the  mount  for  such  a  trifle. 
God  suffered  for  us  on  the  cross  ;  and  will  say  to  us  on  the  day  to  which  all 
will  come  : — "  You  who  helped  me  to  bear  my  cross,  you  shall  go  where 
angels  dwell,  and  shall  there  see  both  me  and  my  mother  Mary  ;  and  you 
from  whor    t  have  received  nothing,  descend  all  into  the  depths  of  hell }  ' 


456  APPENDIX. 

their  deceased  friends  and  relations.*  They  made  the  defunct 
funeral  presents :  for  the  men,  this  was  a  sword,  to  defend  them 
against  their  enemies  ;  for  the  women,  it  was  a  needle  and  thread, 
with  which  they  might  mend  their  clothes  during  their  long 
voyage.  The  poor  were  buried,  the  rich  were  consumed  upon  a 
funeral  pile.f  The  relations  accompanied  the  convoy  on  horse- 
back, sword  in  hand,  uttering  cries  to  drive  away  evil  spirits. 
When  arrived  at  the  place  of  the  ceremony,  the  cortege  went 
three  times  round  the  pile,  repeating  these  words :  "  Hilloa  1 
why  hast  thou  quitted  life?"  With  the  dead  they  burnt  house- 
hold goods,  horses,  dogs,  falcons,  everything  which  had  minis- 
tered to  the  wants  or  pleasures  of  the  deceased  upon  earth ; 
sometimes  even  the  wives,  and  the  slaves  who  were  attached  to 
him,  were  cast  into  the  lighted  pile.  Panegyrists,  whom  they 
called  ^talissons  and  ligastons,  pronounced  the  eulogy  of  the 
dead ;  and  whilst  the  flames  ascended  towards  the  heavens,  they 
fancied  they  beheld  him  in  the  clouds,  mounted  upon  a  white 
horse,  clad  in  brilliant  armour,  holding  three  stars  in  the  right 
hand,  a  falcon  on  the  left  hand,  aud  advancing  towards  another 
world  in  all  the  splendour  of  power  and  glory. 


No.  32. 

Letter  from  the  Count  of  Artois  upon  ike  taking  of  Damietta. 

To  his  very  excellent  and  very  dear  mother,  Blanche,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  illustrious  queen  of  France,  Robert,  Count 
d'Artois,  her  devoted  son,  salutation,  filial  piety,  and  a  will 
always  obedient  to  hers.  As  you  take  much  interest  in  our 
prosperity,  in  that  of  ours  and  of  the  Christian  people,  when  you 
shall  learn  them  with  certainty,  your  excellence  will  no  doubt 
rejoice  to  know  that  the  lord,  our  brother  and  king,  the  queen 

*  Mrs.  Hemans'  beautiful  poem,  Message*  '.o  the  Dead,  is  upon  this  sub- 
ject ;  and  in  a  note,  quoted  from  Mr.  Brunton's  Discipline,  she  says  that 
the  custom  was  not  uncommon  in  the  Highlands. — Trans. 

f  In  the  regulations  which  were  made  for  the  Prussian  converts,  the 
popes  particularly  condemned  the  funeral  customs  of  these  pecple.  "The 
neophytes,"  say  these  regulations,  "promise  not  to  burn  the'r  dead,  and 
not  to  bury  with  them  men,  or  horses,  arms,  clothes,  or  valuable  things. 
They  will  no  longer  have  those  impostors  called  ligastons,  who  re?emblo 
pagan  priests,  and  who,  at  funerals,  praise  the  dead  for  robberies,  impieties, 
and  other  sins,"  &c.  These  regulations  enable  us  to  become  acquainted 
with  many  of  the  ancient  customs  of  the  Prussians. 

J  This  it  a  most  remarkable  resemblance  to  the  word  signifying  bard 
ir  "Welsh,  an  .1  to  the  name  of  the  Welsh  bard,  par  excellence. — Trans. 


APPENDIX.  457 

and  her  sister,  and  ourselves  also,  are  enjoying,  shanks  to  God, 
perfect  health  We  ardently  desire  that  you  may  be  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  like.  Our  dear  brother,  the  Count  of  Anjou, 
is  still  afflicted  with  his  quartan  fever,  but  it  is  less  violent  than 
it  was.  The  lord,  our  brother,  with  the  barons  and  pilgrims  who 
massed  the  winter  in  the  isle  of  Cyprus,  assembled  on  board  their 
vessels,  at  the  port  of  Limisso,  on  the  evening  of  the  Ascension, 
in  order  to  proceed  against  the  enemies  of  the  Christian  faith. 
After  much  labour,  and  much  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  winds, 
they  arrived,  under  the  guardianship  of  God,  on  the  Friday  after 
Trinity,  and  towards  mid-day,  upon  the  coast,  where,  having  cast 
anchor,  they  assembled  in  the  king's  vessel,  to  deliberate  upon 
what  was  to  be  done.  As  they  saw  before  them  Damietta,  and 
the  port  guarded  by  a  great  multitude  of  barbarians,  on  horseback 
as  well  as  on  foot,  and  the  mouth  of  the  river  covered  with  a 
great  number  of  armed  vessels,  it  was  resolved  that  on  the  fol- 
lowing day,  all  should  land  with  our  lord  the  king. 

On  the  morrow,  the  Christian  army,  leaving  the  large  vessels, 
descended  into  the  galleys  and  small  boats.  Full  of  confidence 
in  the  mercy  of  God,  and  in  the  succour  of  the  holy  cross,  which 
the  legate  carried  near  the  king,  they  directed  their  course 
towards  the  shore  and  against  the  enemy,  who  launched  a  great 
number  of  arrows  against  them.  Nevertheless,  as  the  small 
boats,  on  account  of  the  too  great  depth  of  the  sea,  could  not 
gain  the  shore,  the  Christian  army,  leaving  their  boats  to  the 
care  of  Providence,  threw  themselves  into  the  sea,  and  gained 
land,  although  loaded  with  their  armour.  Although  a  multitude 
of  Turks  defended  the  shores  against  the  Christians,  never- 
theless, thanks  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  latter  made  them- 
selves masters  of  it  without  loss,  and  killed  a  great  number  of 
the  horse  and  foot  soldiers,  and  some,  as  we  hear,  of  great  name. 
The  Saracens  retreated  into  the  city,  which  was  well  fortified  by 
the  river,  its  walls  and  strong  towers  ;  but  the  All-Powerful  Lord 
gave  it  up,  on  the  next  day,  which  was  the  octave  of  the  Trinity, 
to  the  Christian  army ;  the  Saracens  flying  away,  after  having 
abandoned  it.  This  was  done  by  the  favour  of  God  alone. 
Know  that  these  same  Saracens  have  left  the  city  full  of  pro- 
visions of  all  kinds,  and  of  machines  of  war.  'The  Christian 
army,  after  having  fully  supplied  itself,  left  half  for  the  pro- 
visioning of  the  city.  The  king,  our  lord,  has  sojourned  there 
with  his  army,  and,  during  his  sojourn,  has  caused  to  be  brought 
from  the  vessels  all  he  requires.  We  have  thought  it  best  to 
remain  here  till  the  retreat  of  the  waters  of  the  Nile,  which  will, 
as  we  hear,  inundate  the  country,  and  would  cause  great  losses 
in  the  Christian  army. 

20* 


458  APPENDIX. 

The  countess  of  Anjou  was  confined  in  the  isle  of  Cyprus,  oi 
a  fine  well-made  boy,  whom  she  has  left  at  nurse  there.  Given 
at  the  camp  of  Jamas,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1249,  in  the 
month  of  June,  and  on  the  eve  of  St.  John  the  Baptist. 


No.  33. 

Letter  of  St.  Louis  upon,  his  Captivity  and  Deliverance. 

Louis,  by  the  grace  of  God,  king  of  the  French,  to  hia 
beloved  and  faithful  prelates,  barons,  warriors,  citizens,  bur- 
gesses, and  all  the  other  inhabitants  of  his  kingdom,  to  whom 
these  present  letters  may  come,  salutation ! 

For  the  honour  and  glory  of  the  name  of  God,  desiring,  with 
all  our  soul,  to  pursue  the  enterprise  of  the  crusade,  we  have 
thought  proper  to  inform  you  all  that  after  the  taking  of  Damietta, 
which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  his  ineffable  mercy,  as  by 
miracle,  gave  up  to  the  power  of  the  Christians,  as  you  have  no 
doubt  learnt,  by  the  advice  of  our  council,  we  set  out  from  that 
city  the  20th  day  of  the  month  of  November  last.  Our  armies  of 
land  and  sea  were  united ;  we  marched  against  that  of  the 
Saracens,  which  was  gathered  together,  and  encamped  in  a 
place  vulgarly  called  Mansourah.  During  our  march,  we  sus- 
tained the  attack  of  the  enemy,  who  constantly  experienced  con- 
siderable loss.  Upon  one  day  among  others,  many  men  belong- 
ing to  the  Egyptian  army,  who  came  to  attack  ours,  were 
killed.  We  learnt  by  the  way  that  the  Sultan  of  Cairo  had  just 
terminated  his  unhappy  life ;  that  before  dying  he  sent  for  his 
son,  who  was  in  the  eastern  provinces,  and  made  all  the  officers 
of  his  army  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  this  prince ;  and  that  he 
had  left  the  command  of  all  his  troops  to  one  of  his  emirs, 
named  Fakreddin.  Upon  our  arrival  at  the  spot  I  have  named, 
we  found  the  news  true:  It  was  on  the  Thursday  before  the 
festival  of  Christmas  that  we  arrived  there ;  but  we  were  not 
able  to  approach  the  Saracens,  on  account  of  a  stream  of  water, 
which  was  between  the  two  armies,  called  the  river  Thanis,  a 
stream  which  separates  itself  at  this  spot  from  the  great  river  of 
the  Nile.  We  placed  our  camp  between  t^ese  two  rivers,  and 
;t  extended  from  the  greater  to  the  lesser  one.  We  had  there 
some  engagements  with  the  Saracens,  who  had  many  of  their 
men  killed  by  the  swords  of  ours,  but  a  great  number  of  them 
were  drowned  in  the  waters.  As  the  Thanis  was  not  fordable,  on 
account  of  the  deepness  of  its  waters,  and  the  height  of  its 
hanks,  we  began  to  throw  a  causeway  across  it,  in  order  to  opec 
a  passage  for  the  Christian  army ;  we  worked  at  it  for  many 


APPENDIX  459 

aaya  with  great  labour,  dangers,  and  expense.  The  Saracens 
opposed  all  the  efforts  of  our  tori :  they  built  machines  to  act 
against  cur  machines ;  and  they  broke  to  pieces  with  stones,  and 
burned  with  their  Greek  fire  the  towers  and  timbers  which  we 
placed  upon  the  causeway.  We  had  almost  lost  all  hope  of  pass- 
ing Qver  by  means  of  the  causeway,  when  a  Saracen  fugitive  in- 
formed us  of  a  ford  by  which  the  Christian  army  might  cross  the 
river.  Having  called  together  our  barons,  and  the  principal 
leaders  of  the  army,  on  the  Monday  before  Ash- Wednesday,  it 
was  resolved  that  on  the  following  day,  that  is  to  say,  the  day  of 
Carenie  penant  (three  days  before  Lent),  we  should  repair  early 
in  the  morning  to  the  place  pointed  out  for  crossing  the  river, 
leaving  a  small  part  of  the  army  to  guard  the  camp.  The  next 
day,  having  ranged  our  troops  in  order  of  battle,  we  proceeded 
to  the  ford,  and  crossed  the  river,  not  without  incurring  great 
dangers  ;  for  the  ford  was  deeper  and  more  difficult  than  it  had 
been  represented  to  us.  Our  horses  were  obliged  to  swim,  and 
it  was  not  easy  to  get  out  of  the  river,  on  account  of  the  ele- 
vation of  the  banks,  which  were  besides  very  muddy.  When 
we  had  crossed  the  river,  we  arrived  at  the  place  where  the 
Saracens  had  raised  machines  in  face  of  our  causeway.  Our 
vanguard,  attacking  the  enemy,  killed  a  vast  many  people,  and 
spared  neither  sex  nor  age.  Among  the  number,  the  Saracens 
lost  a  general  and  several  emirs.  Our  troops  having  afterwards 
dispersed  themselves  over  the  country,  some  of  our  soldiers 
passed  through  the  camp  of  the  enemy,  and  arrived  at  the  vil- 
lage named  Mansourah,  killing  all  they  met  with ;  but  the 
Saracens  perceiving  the  imprudence  of  our  men,  resumed  their 
courage,  and  fell  upon  them,  surrounding  them  on  all  sides,  and 
overwhelming  them  with  numbers.  A  great  carnage  ensued  of 
our  barons  and  warriors,  ecclesiastics  as  well  as  others,  whom  we 
have  with  reason  deplored,  and  whose  loss  we  still  continue  to 
deplore.  There  we  lost  also  our  brave  and  illustrious  brother, 
the  count  d'Artois,  worthy  of  eternal  remembrance.  It  is  with 
bitterness  of  heart  we  recall  the  memory  of  that  painful  loss, 
although  we  ought  to  rejoice  at  it ;  for  we  belie\e  and  hope  that 
having  received  the  crowa  of  martyrdom,  he  ia  gone  into  the 
heavenly  country,  and  that  he  there  enjoys  the  reward  accorded 
to  holy  martyrs.  On  that  day  the  Saracens  pouring  down  upon 
us  from  all  parts,  and  piercing  our  troops  with  showers  of 
arrows,  we  withstood  their  fierce  assaults  till  the  ninth  hour, 
although  we  were  entirely  without  the  assistance  of  our  cross- 
bownen.*    In  the  end,  after  having  a  great  number  rsf  our  war- 

*  The  reader  may  remember  they  were  Left  in  the  camp  with  the  duke  erf 
Burgundy. 


460  jlppendix. 

riors  and  horses  killed  and  wounded,  with  the  help  of  our  Lord, 
we  preserved  our  position,  find  having  rallied,  we  went  that  same 
day  and  pitched  our  tents  close  to  the  machines  of  the  Saracens, 
We  remained  there  with  a  small  number  of  our  people,  and  made 
a  bridge  of  boats,  that  those  who  were  on  the  other  side  of  tho 
river  might  come  to  us.  The  next  day  many  of  them  crossed, 
and  encamped  near  us.  Then  the  machines  of  the  Saracens 
being  destroyed,  our  soldiers  were  able  to  go  and  come  freely, 
and  safely,  from  one  army  to  the  other,  over  the  bridge  of 
boats.  On  the  following  Friday,  the  children  of  perdition 
having  collected  their  forces  from  all  parts,  with  the  intention  of 
exterminating  the  Christian  army,  came  to  attack  our  lines,  with 
much  audacity,  and  with  infinite  numbers.  The  shock  was  so 
terrible  on  both  sides,  that  it  is  said  never  was  such  a  one  beheld 
on  these  shores.  With  the  help  of  God,  we  stood  our  ground  on 
all  sides  ;  we  repulsed  the  enemy,  and  made  a  great  number  of 
them  fall  beneath  our  blows.  At  the  end  of  a  few  days,  the  son 
of  the  late  Sultan,  returning  from  the  eastern  provinces,  arrived 
at  Mansourah.  The  Egyptians  received  him  as  their  master, 
and  with  transports  of  joy.  His  arrival  redoubled  their  courage  ; 
but  from  that  moment,  we  know  not  by  what  judgment  of  God, 
everything  on  our  side  went  contrary  to  our  desires.  A  con- 
tagious disease  broke  out  in  our  army,  and  carried  off  men  and 
animals,  in  such  a  manner  that  there  were  very  few  who  had  not  to 
regret  companions  or  attend  upon  the  sick.  The  Christian  army 
was,  in  a  very  short  time,  much  diminished.  There  was  such  a 
scarcity  of  food,  that  many  died  of  want  and  hunger;  for  the 
boats  of  Damietta  could  not  bring  to  the  army  the  provisions 
embarked  upon  the  river,  because  the  vessels  of  pirates  and  of 
the  enemy  cut  off  the  passage.  They  even  captured  many  of  our 
boats,  and  afterwards  took,  successively,  two  caravans,  which  were 
bringing  us  provisions,  and  killed  a  great  number  of  sailors  and 
others  who  formed  part  of  it.  The  extreme  scarcity  of  food  and 
forage  spread  desolation  and  terror  throughout  the  army,  and 
with  the  losses  we  had  experienced,  forced  us  to  quit  our  posi- 
tion, and  to  return  to  Damietta,  if  it  were  the  will  of  God ;  but 
as  the  ways  of  man  are  not  within  himself,  but  in  Him  who 
directs  his  steps,  and  disposes  all  things  according  to  his  will, 
whilst  we  were  on  the  road,  that  is  to  say,  the  5th  of  the  month 
of  April,  the  Saracens,  having  got  together  all  their  forces, 
attacked  the  Christian  army,  and  by  the  permission  of  God,  and 
on  account  of  our  sins,  we  fell  into  the  power  of  the  enemy.  We 
and  our  dear  brothers,  the  counts  of  Anjou  and  Poictiers,  and 
the  others  who  were  returning  with  us  by  land,  were  all  taken 
prisoners.  The  greater  part  of  those  who  were  returning  by  the 
mer  were,  in  the  same  manner,  either  taken  prisoners  or  killed. 


APPENDIX.  461 

The  vessels  on  which  they  were  aboard  wc:e  mostly  burnt  with 
the  sick  who  were  in  them.  Some  days  after  our  captivity,  the 
sultan  proposed  a  truce  to  us  ;  he  demanded  earnestly,  but 
without  threats,  that  Damietta  and  all  that  it  contained  should 
be  given  up  to  him  without  delay  ;  and  that  he  should  be  indem- 
nified for  all  the  losses  and  all  the  expenses  he  had  incurred  up 
to  that  day,  from  the  moment  the  Christians  entered  Damietta. 
After  many  conferences,  we  concluded  a  truce  with  him  for  ten 
years,  on  the  following  conditions: — 

The  sultan  will  deliver  from  prison,  and  allow  to  go  whither 
we  will,  ourselves  and  all  that  have  been  made  prisoners  since 
our  arrival  in  Egypt,  and  ah  Ahev  Christians,  of  whatever 
country  they  may  be,  who  have  been  made  prisoners  since  the 
sultan  Kamel,  grandfather  of  the  present  sultan,  made  a  truce 
with  the  emperor  ;  the  Christians  retaining  in  peace  all  the  lands 
they  possessed  in  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  at  the  time  of  our 
arrival.  On  our  part,  we  consent  to  give  up  Damietta,  with 
eight  hundred  thousand  Saracen  byzants,  for  the  liberty  of  the 
prisoners,  and  for  the  losses  and  expenses  of  which  we  have  just 
spoken  (we  have  already  paid  four  hundred),  and  to  deliver 
all  Saracen  prisoners  which  the  Christians  have  made  since  we 
have  been  in  Egypt,  as  well  as  those  who  had  been  made  cap- 
tives in  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  since  the  truce  concluded 
between  the  aforesaid  sultan  and  the  aforesaid  emperor.  All 
our  household  goods,  and  those  of  all  others  who  were  at 
Damietta,  shall  be,  after  our  departure,  placed  under  the  care  of 
the  sultan,  and  be  transported  into  the  countrv  of  the  Christians 
when  an  opportunity  shall  offer  itself.  All  the  Christian  sick, 
and  those  who  shall  remain  at  Damietta  to  sell  what  they  pos- 
sess there,  shall  be  in  equal  safety,  and  shall  depart  either 
by  land  or  by  sea,  when  they  shall  please,  without  obstacle  or 
molestation. — The  sultan  was  bound  to  give  safe  conduct  to  the 
countries  of  the  Christians  to  those  who  should  wish  to  depart 
by  land. 

This  truce,  concluded  with  the  sultan,  had  just  been  sworn  to 
on  both  sides,  and  the  sultan  had  already  set  forward  on  his 
march  to  go  with  his  army  to  Damietta,  and  fulfil  the  conditions 
which  had  been  stipulated,  when,  by  a  judgment  of  God,  some 
Saracen  warriors,  doubtless  with  the  connivance  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  army,  rushed  upon  the  sultan  at  the  moment  he  was 
rising  from  table,  and  wounded  him  severely.  The  sultan,  in 
spite  of  this,  came  out  of  his  tent,  hoping  to  be  able  to  escape  by 
flight ;  but  he  was  killed  by  sword-cuts,  in  presence  of  almost  all 
the  emirs,  and  of  a  multitude  of  other  Saracens.  After  this 
many  Saracens,  in  tl  j  first  moments  of  their  fury,  came  with 
arms  in  their  hands  to  our  tent,  as  if  they  wished,  and  as  many 


4-62  APPENDIX. 

among  us  feared,  to  slay  both  us  and  the  cthe?  Christians  ;  but 
divine  clemency  having  calmed  their  fury,  they  pressed  us  to 
execute  the  conditions  of  the  truce.  Their  words  and  their  re- 
quests were,  however,  mingled  with  terrible  threats  :  at  last,  by 
the  will  of  God,  who  is  the  father  of  mercies,  the  consoler  of  the 
afflicted,  and  who  listens  to  the  lamentations  of  his  servants,  we 
confirmed  by  a  new  oath  the  truce  which  we  had  made  with  the 
sultan.  We  received  from  all,  and  from  each  one  in  particular 
of  them,  a  similar  oath,  sworn  according  to  their  law,  to  observe 
the  conditions  of  the  truce.  The  time  was  fixed  for  the  giving  up 
of  the  prisoners  and  the  city  of  Damietta.  It  had  not  been  with- 
out difficulty  that  we  agreed  with  the  sultan  for  the  giving  up  of 
that  place ;  it  was  not  without  difficulty  again  that  we  agreed 
afresh  with  the  emirs.  As  we  could  have  no  hopes  of  holding 
it,  after  what  we  were  told  by  those  who  came  back  from 
Damietta,  and  who  knew  the  true  state  of  things  ;  by  the  advice 
of  the  barons  of  France,  and  of  many  others,  we  judged  it  would 
be  better  for  Christendom,  that  we  and  the  other  prisoners 
should  be  delivered  by  means  of  a  truce,  than  to  retain  that  city 
with  the  remains  of  the  Christians  that  were  in  it,  ourselves  and 
the  others  remaining  prisoners,  exposed  to  all  the  dangers  of 
such  a  captivity.  For  this  reason,  on  the  day  fixed,  the  emirs 
received  the  city  of  Damietta,  after  which  they  set  us  at  liberty, 
ourselves,  our  brothers,  the  counts  of  Flanders,  Brittany,  and 
Soissons,  and  many  other  barons  and  warriors  of  the  kingdoms 
of  France,  Jerusalem,  and  Cyprus.  "We  had  then  a  firm  hope 
that  they  would  render  up  and  deliver  all  the  other  Christians, 
and  that,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  treaty,  they  would  keep 
their  oaths. 

This  done,  we  quitted  Egypt ;  after  having  left  the  persons 
charged  to  receive  the  prisoners  from  the  hands  of  the  Saracens, 
and  to  take  care  of  the  things  we  could  not  bring  away,  for  want 
of  vessels  to  convey  them  in.  Upon  our  arrival  here,  we  sent 
vessels  and  commissaries  into  Egypt,  to  bring  away  the  prisoners  ; 
for  the  deliverance  of  these  prisoners  is  the  object  of  all  our 
solicitude  ;  and  the  other  things  which  we  had  left  behind,  such 
as  the  machines,  arms,  tents,  a  certain  number  of  horses,  and 
several  other  articles  ;  but  the  emirs  detained  our  commissaries 
a  long  time  at  Cairo,  to  whom  they  have,  at  length,  only  delivered 
four  hundred  prisoners  out  of  twelve  thousand  that  there  are  in 
Egypt.  Some  of  these  were  only  liberated  upon  the  payment  of 
money.  As  to  the  other  things,  the  emirs  would  restore  nothing ; 
but  what  is  most  odious,  after  the  truce  concluded  and  sworn  to, 
according  to  the  account  of  our  commissaries  and  captives  worthy 
of  credit,  who  have  returned  from  that  country,  they  have  chosen 
from  among  their  prisoners  some  yourg  men,  whom  they  have 


APPENDIX  463 

forced,  the  sword  held  over  their  heads,  to  abjure  the  Catholu 
faith,  and  embrace  the  law  of  Mahomet,  which  many  have  had 
the  weakness  to  do  ;  but  others,  like  courageous  athletes,  rooted 
in  their  faith,  and  constantly  persisting  in  their  firm  resolution, 
have  not  been  moved  by  either  the  threats  or  the  blows  of  the 
enemies,  and  have  received  the  crown  of  martyrdom.  Their  blood, 
we  do  not  doubt,  cries  to  the  Lord  for  the  Christian  people  ; 
they  will  be,  in  the  heavenly  court,  our  advocates  before  the 
Sovereign  Judge ;  and  they  will  be  more  useful  to  us  in  that 
country  than  if  we  had  been  able  to  keep  them  upon  earth.  The 
Mussulmans  likewise  slaughtered  many  Christians  who  were  left 
sick  in  Damietta.  Although  we  should  have  observed  the  con- 
ditions of  the  treaty  that  we  have  made  with  them,  and  were 
always  ready  to  observe  them,  we  nad  no  certainty  of  seeing  the 
Christian  prisoners  delivered,  or  of  having  that  restored  which 
belonged  to  us.  When  the  truce  was  concluded,  and  our 
deliverance  had  taken  place,  we  had  a  firm  confidence  that  the 
country  beyond  the  sea,  occupied  by  the  Christians,  would  re- 
main in  a  state  of  peace  until  the  expiration  of  the  truce  ;  and  we 
had  both  the  desire  and  the  intention  to  return  to  France.  We 
were  already  making  preparations  for  our  passage  ;  but  when  we 
clearly  perceived,  by  that  which  we  have  just  related,  that  the 
emirs  were  openly  violating  the  truce,  and,  in  contempt  of  their 
oath,  did  not  fear  to  make  a  sport  of  us  and  Christendom,  we 
assembled  the  barons  of  France,  the  prelates,  the  knights  of  the 
Temple,  of  the  Hospital,  of  the  Teutonic  order,  and  the  barons 
of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  and  we  consulted  with  them  upon 
what  was  best  to  be  done.  The  greater  number  were  of  opinion 
that  if  we  were  to  return  at  this  moment,  and  abandon  this 
country,  which  we  "n  ere  upon  the  point  of  losing,  it  would  be 
exposing  it  entirely  to  the  attacks  of  the  Saracens,  particularly 
in  the  state  of  misery  and  weakness  to  which  it  was  reduced, 
and  we  might  consider  the  deliverance  of  the  Christian  prisoners 
now  in  the  power  of  the  enemy,  as  lost  and  hopeless.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  we  remained,  we  had  hopes  that  time  would  bring 
about  something  favourable,  such  as  the  deliverance  of  the  cap- 
tives, the  preservation  of  the  castles,  and  the  fortresses  of  the 
kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  and  other  advantages  for  Christendom  ; 
particularly  as  discord  had  sprung  up  between  the  sultan  of 
Aleppo  and  those  wh  governed  at  Cairo.  The  sultan  has 
already,  after  gathering  .ogether  his  armies,  got  possession  of 
Damascus,  and  some  castles  belonging  to  the  sovereign  of  Cairo. 
It  is  said  he  is  about  to  come  into  Egypt,  to  avenge  the  death  of 
the  sultan,  whom  the  emirs  killed,  and  to  make  himself  master, 
if  he  can,  of  all  the  country.  In  consequence  of  these  considera- 
tions and  compassionating  the  miseries  and  degradation  of  the 


164  APPENDIX. 

Holy  Land,  we  who  Come  to  succour  it,  pitying  the  captivity 
and  the  sorrows  of  our  prisoners,  although  many  dissuade  ua 
from  remaining  longer  beyond  the  seas,  we  have  preferred  put- 
ting off  our  passage,  and  continuing  still  some  time  in  Syria,  to 
abandoning  entirely  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  leaving  our 
prisoners  exposed  to  so  many  and  such  great  dangers.  But  we 
have  determined  upon  sending  back  into  France  our  dear 
brothers,  the  counts  of  Poictiers  and  Anjou,  for  the  consolation 
of  our  dear  lady  and  mother,  and  of  the  whole  kingdom.  As  all 
those  wl.o  bear  the  name  of  Christian  ought  to  be  filled  with 
zeal  for  the  enterprise  we  have  formed,  and  you  in  particular, 
who  are  descended  from  the  blood  of  those  whom  the  Lord  chose 
as  a  privileged  people,  for  the  conquest  of  the  Holy  Land,  which 
you  ought  to  look  upon  as  your  property,  we  invite  you  all  to 
serve  Him  who  served  you  upon  the  cross,  shedding  his  blood 
for  your  salvation ;  for  this  criminal  nation,  in  addition  to  the 
blasphemies  they  vomited  in  the  presence  of  Christian  people 
against  the  Creator,  beat  the  cross  with  rods,  spat  upon  it.  and 
trampled  it  under-foot,  in  hatred  of  the  Christian  faith. 

Courage,  then,  soldiers  of  Christ !  arm,  and  be  ready  to  avenge 
these  outrages  and  these  affronts.  Take  example  of  your  ances- 
tors, who  distinguished  themselves  among  all  nations  by  their 
devotion,  by  the  sincerity  of  their  faith,  and  filled  the  universe 
with  the  fame  of  their  noble  actions.  We  have  gone  before  you 
in  the  service  of  God.  Come  and  join  us.  Although  you  arrive 
late,  you  will  receive  from  the  Lord  the  recompense  which  the 
father  of  the  family,  in  the  Gospel,  accorded  without  distinction 
to  the  labourers  who  came  to  labour  in  the  vineyard  at  the  end 
of  the  day,  as  to  the  labourers  who  came  at  the  beginning  of  it. 
They  who  shall  come,  or  who  shall  send  succour  whilst  we  are 
here,  will  obtain,  in  addition  to  the  indulgences  promised  to 
Crusaders,  the  favour  of  God  and  of  man.  Make,  then,  your 
preparations,  and  let  them  whom  the  virtue  of  the  Most  High 
shall  inspire  to  either  come  themselves  or  send  assistance,  be 
ready  by  the  month  of  April  or  of  May  next.  As  for  such  as 
-jannot  be  prepared  for  the  first  passage,  let  them  at  least  be  in 
a  situation  to  make  that  which  will  take  place  about  the  festival 
of  St.  John.  The  nature  of  the  enterprise  requires  promptness, 
and  every  delay  must  produce  fatal  consequences.  For  you, 
prelates  and  others,  faithful  servants  of  Christ,  help  our  cause 
with  the  Most  High  by  the  fervour  of  your  prayers  ;  order  it  so 
that  this  be  done  in  all  places  under  your  direction,  so  that  they 
may  obtain  for  us  from  divine  clemency  the  blessings  of  which 
our  sins  render  us  unworthy. 

Done  at  Acre,  the  year  of  our  Lord  1250,  in  the  month  07 
August 


APPENDIX.  465 


No.  34. 


A  List  of  the  Great  Officers  or  Knights  who  followed  St.  Lot  is  to  1  unis, 
according  te  Agr-cements  entered  into  between  them  and  the  King,  in  tht 
year  1269,  cs  set  forth  in  the  Manuscript  from  which  this  List  is  taken  ; 
•shich  Manuscript  was  inherited  by  M.  Malet  de  Graville,  formerly 
Admiral,  and  was  printed  at  the  end  of  the  Preface  to  the  History  of  St. 
Louis,  by  Joinville,  edition  of  the  Louvre. 

Monseigneur  de  Valery  is  to  go  himself,  and  thirty  knights, 
and  the  king  is  to  give  him  eight  thousand  livres  Tournois,  and 
he  is  to  have  food  for  his  horses  of  the  king  during  the  passage ; 
but  they  shall  not  be  fed  at  court  {nauront  pas  louche  a  court), 
and  shall  remain  a  year,  he  and  his  people,  which  year  shall 
commence  as  soon  as  they  shall  have  arrived  on  dry  land  ;  and 
if  it  should  so  happen  that  by  agreement  or  by  the  accidents  of 
the  sea  they  should  sojourn  in  some  island  with  the  king,  by 
which  they  should  remain  with  the  sea  behind  them,  the  year 
shall  commence  with  their  sojourn,  and  the  knights  must  be  paid 
half  of  their  dues  when  the  year  begins,  and  the  other  half  when 
the  first  half  shall  have  passed  away ;  and  if  it  be  required  to 
know  what  shall  bo  allowed  to  each  banneret,  it  is  to  be  two 
horses  ;  and  to  each  knight  not  a  banneret,  one  horse  ;  and  the 
horses  to  carry  the  groom  who  shall  take  care  of  them ;  so  that 
grooms  have  six  horses  each  in  charge.*  The  constable  shall  go 
likewise,  he  and  fifteen  knights,  upon  the  same  condition  as  the 
sieur  de  Valery,  but  he  shall  only  receive  four  thousand  livres 
Tournois  of  the  king. 

Monseigneur  Florent  de  Varannes,  the  admiral,  shall  go  also 
upon  the  same  conditions,  himself  and  twelve  knights,  and  shall 
receive  of  the  king  three  thousand  two  hundred  livres  Tournois. 

Monsieur  Raoul  d'Estrees,  the  marshal,  shall  go  also  on  the 
same  conditions,  himself  and  six  knights,  and  shall  receive 
sixteen  hundred  livres  Tournois. 

Monseigneur  Launcelot  de  St.  Marc,  marshal,  shall  go  on  the 
same  conditions,  himself  and  five  knights,  and  shall  have  fourteen 
hundred  livres  Tournois. 

Monsieur  Pierre  de  Moleines  shall  go,  himself  and  five 
knights,  on  the  same  conditions,  except  that  he  and  his  com- 
panions shall  eat  at  court,  and  shall  receive  of  the  king  fourteen 
hundred  livres  Tournois,  and  four  hundred  livres  as  a  gift. 

Monsieur  Coilart  de  Moleines,  his  brother,  shall  go  on  the 
same  conditions,  and  in  the  same  manner  as  Monsieur  Pierre, 
his  brother. 

*  This  passage  is  very  obscure. 


1>6G  APPENDIX. 

Monsieur  Gilles  de  la  Tournerelle  shall  go,  himself  and  four 
knights,  on  the  same  conditions,  and  shall  eat  at  court. 

Monsieur  Malry  de  Roie  shall  go,  himself  and  eight  knights, 
on  these  same  conditions,  and  shall  eat  at  court,  and  shall  have  two 
thousand  livres,  and  two  hundred  livres  separately  for  himself. 

Monsieur  Gerard  de  Mortroise  shall  go,  himself  and  ten 
knights,  to  receive  three  thousand  livres  Tournois. 

Monsieur  Raoul  de  Neele,  himself  and  fifteen  knights,  tc 
receive  four  thousand  livres  Tournois,  and  shall  eat  at  their  own 
expense  (a  son  hostel). 

Monseigneur  Almaury  de  Meulane,  himself  and  fifteen 
knights,  four  thousand  livres  Tournois,  and  shall  eat  at  their 
own  expense. 

Monsieur  Ausoat  d'OfFemont,  himself  and  ten  knights,  twenty- 
six  hundred  livres  Tournois,  and  shall  eat  at  the  expense  of  the 
king  (en  V hostel  du  roy). 

Eaoul  de  Flamant,  six  knights ;  Baldwin  de  Longueval,  four 
knights ;  Louis  de  Beangen,  ten  knights  ;  Jean  de  Ville,  four 
knights  ;  Malry  de  Tournelle,  four  knights  ;  William  de  Courte- 
nay,  ten  knights ;  William  de  Patay,  himself  and  his  brother, 
with  many  others,  all  receiving  pay  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  their  knights,  and  all  eating  at  the  king's  expense  (en  Vhostel 
du  roy). 

The  archbishop  of  Eheims  to  receive  1,111  m.  1. 

The  bishop  of  Lengres  to  receive  1,111m.  1.,  with  a  vessel  for 
his  thirty-two  knights. 

Monsieur  Robert  de  Bois-Gencelin,  quite  alone,  one  hundred 
and  sixty  livres,  to  eat  at  the  king's  expense.  Pierre  de  Sanz, 
Etienne  Gauche,  Macy  Delene,  all  the  same,  that  is,  quite  alone, 
one  hundred  and  sixty  livres,  or,  as  the  text  is,  eight  twenty 
livres  each,  and  eat  at  the  king's  expense. 

Monsieur  Gilles  de  Mailley,  himself  and  ten  knights,  three 
thousand  livres,  and  passage  and  return  for  his  horses ;  eat  at 
court. 

Monsieur  Ytien  de  Morignac,  himself  and  five  knights,  twelve 
hundred  livres,  and  passage  and  return  for  his  horses ;  eat  at 
court. 

The  Fourrier  de  Vernail,  for  himself  and  four  knights,  twelve 
hundred  livres,  and  eat  at  the  king's  expense. 

Monsieur  Guillaume  de  Fresne,  ten  knights,  twenty-six  hun- 
dred livres,  and  eat  at  the  king's  expense.  The  count  de  Guynes, 
exactly  the  same. 

The  count  de  St.  Pol,  himself  and  thirty  knights,  fur  passage 
and  return  of  horses,  for  eating  and  for  all  other  things,  twelve 
thousand  livres,  and  two  thousand  private  gift 

Monsieur  Lambert  des  Limons,  himself  and  ten  knights  in 


A.PPEKDIX.  407 

the  pay  of  the  king,  that  is  to  say,  to  each,  ten  sols  Tomnois  per 
diem,  and  shall  not  eat  at  court, — amounts  to  eighteen  hundred 
and  twenty-five  livres. 

Monsieur  Gerard  de  Campandu,  himself  and  fifteen  knights  in 
the  king's  pay,  shall  not  eat  at  court,  as  with  M.  Lambe/t,  tw 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty-seven  livres  ten  sols  Tournois. 

Monsieur  Eaymond  Alan,  himself  and  five  knights,  at  the 
king's  pay,  amounts  to  nine  hundred  and  twelve  livres  ten  sols 
Tournois. 

Monsieur  Jehan  de  Debeines,  himself  and  ten  knights,  three 
thousand  livres,  and  passage  and  return  for  six  horses,  shall  eat 
at  court. 

The  mareschal  de  Champagne  shall  go,  with  ten  knights,  and 
shall  receive  nothing  of  the  king. 

Monsieur  Gaillard  Darle,  himself  and  five,  in  the  king's  pay, 
nine  hundred  and  twelve  livres  ten  sols. 

Monsieur  Guillame  de  Flandres,  himself  and  twenty  knights, 
six  thousand  livres,  and  passage  and  return  for  his  horses,  and 
shall  eat  at  court. 

Monsieur  Aubert  de  Longueval,  himself  and  five  knights, 
eleven  hundred  livres,  passage  and  return  for  horses,  and  eat 
at  court. 


No.  35. 
Instructions  of  St.  Louis,  addressed,  on  his  Death-led,  to  Philip-le-Hardi* 

Dear  Son, — As  it  is  the  most  earnest  desire  of  my  heart  that 
thou  shouldst  be  well  informed  on  all  subjects,  I  think  thou 
mayest  derive  much  instruction  from  this  writing ;  often  having 
heard  thee  say  that  thou  retainest  better  that  which  proceeds 
from  me  than  from  any  other  person. 

Dear  Son,  my  first  instruction  to  thee  is,  that  thou  shouldst 
love  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  power,  for  without 
that  all  that  thou  doest  is  nothing  worth :  thou  shouldst  avoid 
all  things  that  thou  thinkest  may  displease  him,  and  which  are 
within  thy  power,  and  particularly  thou  shouldst  have  so  strong 
a  resolution  that  thou  wouldst  not  commit  a  mortal  sin  for  any- 
thing that  could  happen  to  thee,  and  that  thou  wouldst  suffer 
all  thy  members  to  be  hacked  off,  and  thy  life  taken  away  by 
the  most  crue7  martyrdom,  rather  than  knowingly  commit  a 
mortal  sin. 

If  our  Lord  should  afflict  thee  wit^i  any  persecution,  malady, 

*  These  instructions  were  inscribed  in  a  register  of  the  Chamber  of 
Accounts.  To  facilitate  the  reading  jf  them  to  the  public,  some  impres- 
sions have  been  modernized. 


168  APPENDIX. 

or  other  thing,  thou  shouldst  suffer  cheerfully,  and  thank  hjn 
for  it  and  be  pleased ;  for  thou  must  think  that  he  hath  done  it 
for  thy  good,  and  thou  must  further  think  that  thou  hast  merited 
it,  and  more  still  if  it  be  his  will;  because  thou  hast  but  too  little 
served  him,  or  too  little  loved  him,  and  because  thou  hast  done 
many  things  against  his  will. 

If  our  Lord  shall  please  to  send  thee  any  prosperity,  health  of 
body,  or  other  thing,  thou  shouldst  thank  him  humbly,  and 
shouldst  take  great  care  not  debase  thyself  by  pride,  or  any 
other  offence ;  for  it  is  a  great  sin  to  wage  war  against  the  Lord 
with  his  own  gifts. 

Dear  Son,  I  advise  thee  to  confess  frequently,  and  always  to 
choose  a  confessor  of  holy  life  and  sufficient  knowledge,  by 
whom  thou  mayest  be  instructed  upon  the  things  thou  shouldst 
shun  and  upon  the  things  thou  shouldst  do  ;  and  bear  thyself  in 
such  a  manner  that  thy  confessors  and  friends  may  dare  boldly 
to  instruct  and  reprove  thee. 

Dear  Son,  I  advise  thee  to  hear  willingly  the  service  of  the 
Holy  Church,  and  when  thou  art  in  the  chapel,  beware  of 
daring  to  utter  vain  words.  Repeat  thy  orisons  with  earnest 
attention,  either  by  mouth  or  by  thought,  and  be  particularly 
observant  when  the  body  of  our  Lord  shall  be  present  at  the 
mass. 

Dear  Son,  have  a  compassionate  heart  for  the  poor,  and  for 
those  whom  thou  thinkest  are  enduring  sufferings  of  either  heart 
or  body,  and  according  to  thy  power  comfort  them  willingly  with 
consolation  or  with  alms.  If  thou  art  sick  at  heart,  tell  it  to  thy 
confessor,  or  any  other  person  whom  thou  thinkest  to  be  loyal 
and  can  keep  thy  secret :  in  order  that  thou  mayest  be  ever  at 
peace,  never  do  anything  that  thou  canst  not  tell  of 

Dear  Son,  entertain  willingly  the  company  of  good  men,  whe- 
ther religious  or  secular,  but  eschew  the  company  of  the  wicked  ; 
hold  willingly  good  conversation  (parlements)  with  the  good, 
and  willingly  hear  our  Lord  spoken  of  in  sermons ;  and  in 
private  seek  earnestly  for  pardon.  Love  good  in  others,  and 
hate  evil,  and  never  suffer  words  to  be  spoken  in  thy  presence 
that  may  lead  people  to  sin,  never  hear  willingly  others  spoken 
ill  of,  or  any  words  that  may  disparage  our  Lord,  or  our  Lady, 
or  the  saints.  Never  suffer  any  such  speech  without  reproving 
it ;  and  if  it  should  proceed  from  a  clerk,  or  so  great  a  person 
that  thou  canst  not  punish  him,  cause  it  to  be  told  to  him  who 
can  inflict  justice  for  it. 

Dear  Son,  take  care  that  thou  beest  so  good  in  everything, 
that  it  may  appear  thou  art  grateful  for  the  blessings  and 
honours  that  God  has  heaped  upon  thee,  so  that  if  it  please  our 
Lord  that  thou  shouldst  come  to  the  honour  of  governing  the 


APPENDIX.  469 

kingdom,  thou  may  est  be  worthy  to  receive  the  holy  unction 
with  which  the  kings  of  France  are  consecrated. 

Dear  Son,  if  thou  shouldst  attain  the  kingdom,  take  care  tc 
possess  the  qualities  which  belong  to  kings ;  that  is  to  say,  be  sft 
just  as  never  to  swerve  from  justice,  whatever  may  happen  to 
thee.  If  a  quarrel  should  arise  between  a  poor  man  and  a  rich 
man,  take  the  part  of  the  poor  man  against  the  rich  man,  until 
thou  shalt  ascertain  the  truth,  and  wlien  thou  shalt  know  it,  do 
justice.  If  it  should  so  happen  that  thou  shouldst  have  a  dispute 
with  another  person,  maintain  the  cause  of  the  stranger  before 
thy  council:  do  not  appear  to  be  too  forward  in  thy  quarrel, 
until  thou  shalt  be  certain  of  the  truth  ;  for  those  of  thy  council 
might  fear  to  speak  against  thee,  which  thou  oughtest  not  to 
desire. 

Dear  Son,  if  thou  learnest  that  thou  art  possessed  of  anything 
wrongfully,  either  in  thy  own  time  or  in  that  of  thy  ancestors, 
immediately  restore  it,  however  great  the  matter  may  be,  in, 
land,  money,  or  other  property.  If  the  affair  be  obscure,  so 
that  thou  canst  not  arrive  at  the  truth,  make  such  peace,  accord- 
ing to  the  advice  of  worthy  men,  that  thy  soul  or  that  of  thy 
ancestors  may  be  entirely  freed  from  it :  and  if  ever  thou  hearest 
that  thy  ancestors  have  made  any  restitution,  take  great  pains 
to  learn  whether  nothing  still  remains  to  be  restored ;  and  if  thou 
finde3t  there  is,  make  restitution  instantly,  for  the  good  of  thy 
soul  and  that  of  thy  ancestors.  Be  diligent  to  protect  in  thy 
territories  all  kinds  of  people,  particularly  persons  belonging  to 
the  holy  Church ;  defend  them  from  injury  both  in  their  persons 
and  their  property,  and  I  hereupon  remind  thee  of  a  saying  of 
King  Philip,  one  of  my  ancestors,  as  one  of  his  council  has  told 
me  he  heard  him  speak  it.  The  king  was  one  day  with  his  privy 
council,  and  some  of  his  counsellors  said  that  the  clerks  did 
him  great  wrong,  and  they  wondered  that  he  suffered  it.  He 
replied  :  "  I  believe  that  they  do  me  great  wrong  ;  but  when  I 
think  of  the  honours  our  Lord  has  conferred  on  me,  I  by  far 
prefer  suffering  my  loss  or  injury,  to  doing  anything  which 
might  create  a  misunderstanding  between  me  and  the  holy 
Church."  I  repeat  this  to  thee,  that  thou  mayest  not  lightly  be- 
lieve those  who  speak  against  persons  connected  with  the  holy 
Church.  In  such  a  way  honour  and  protect  them,  that  they 
may  be  able  to  perform  the  service  of  our  Lord  in  peace.  I 
teach  thee  this,  in  order  that  thou  mayest  principally  love 
religious  people,  and  mayest  succour  them  in  their  wants  ;  and 
those  by  whom  thou  shalt  think  our  Lord  is  best  honoured  and 
served,  such  love  better  than  others. 

Dear  Son,  I  desire  that  thou  shouldst  love  and  honour  thy 
mother,  and  that  thou  shouldst  willingly  receive  and  observe 


470  APPENDIX. 

her  good  instructions,  and  be  inclined  to  place  faith  in  her  good 
counsels  ;  love  thy  brothers,  and  always  watch  over  their  good 
and  their  advancement ;  be  to  them  in  the  place  of  a  father,  tc 
lead  them  to  all  that  which  is  good  ;  but  take  care,  that  for  the 
love  of  any  one,  thou  dost  not  fall  off  from  acting  rightly,  or  do 
anything  that  ought  not  to  be  done. 

Dear  Son,  I  advise  thee,  that  all  the  benefices  of  the  holy 
Church  which  thou  shalt  have  to  bestow  shall  be  given  to 
persons  judged  worthy  by  the  great  council  of  prud  hommes ; 
and  it  appears  better  to  me  that  thou  shouldst  give  to  them  who 
have  nothing,  and  will  employ  thy  gifts  well,  if  thou  searchest 
for  them  diligently. 

Dear  Son,  I  advise  thee  to  avoid,  as  much  as  it  shall  be  pos- 
sible, to  enter  into  war  with  any  Christian ;  and,  if  any  one  do 
thee  wrong,  try  by  every  means  to  learn  if  there  be  no  way  of 
maintaining  thy  right  without  going  to  war,  observing  that  this 
is  to  avoid  the  sins  that  are  committed  in  war.  And  if  it  should 
happen  that  it  be  proper  for  thee  to  make  it,  or  that  any  one  of 
thy  men  fail  in  his  duty,  or  commit  wrong  against  any  church, 
or  any  poor  person  whatever,  and  will  not  make  amends,  foi 
which,  or  for  any  reasonable  cause,  it  be  proper  for  thee  to  make 
war,  carefully  give  orders  that  the  poor  people,  who  have  com- 
mitted neither  crime  nor  offence,  be  protected,  let  no  injury  fall 
upon  them  either  by  fire  or  other  means ;  for  it  will  be  much 
better  for  thee  to  contend  with  the  evil-doer,  and  take  his  castles 
by  storm  or  siege :  but  be  sure  to  be  well  advised  before  thou 
movest  in  any  war ;  be  sure  that  the  cause  be  perfectly  just, 
that  thou  hast  summoned  the  evil-doer,  and  hast  waited  as  long 
as  thy  duty  will  permit. 

Dear  Son,  I  advise  thee,  that  when  wars  shall  arise  in  thy 
dominions  among  thy  men,  that  thou  shouldst  take  all  possible 
pains  to  appease  them  ;  for  that  is  a  thing  which  is  pleasing  to 
our  Lord  ;  and  Messire  Saint  Martin  has  given  a  very  great  ex- 
ample of  it,  for  he  went  to  restore  concord  among  the  clerks  whs 
were  in  the  archbishop's  palace,  although  at  the  time  he  knew 
from  our  Lord  that  he  must  die  ;  and  it  appeared  to  him  that  by 
doing  so  he  ended  his  life  worthily. 

Dear  Son,  be  sure  that  thou  hast  good  judges  and  provosts  in 
thy  dominions,  and  frequently  examine  whether  they  are  doing 
justice,  and  whether  they  are  doing  wrong  to  nobody,  and  are 
acting  as  they  ought ;  in  the  same  manner  be  sure  that  they 
who  live  in  thy  court  (ton  hostel),  commit  no  injustice  ;  for  how- 
ever thou  mayest  hate  doing  ill  to  others,  thou  oughtest  still 
more  to  hate  the  ill  which  should  come  from  those  who  rt  ceive 
the  power  from  thee,  and  shouldst  take  great  heed  that  this 
never  should  happen 


APPENDIX.  471 

Dear  Son,  I  advise  thee  to  be  always  devoted  to  the  Church  of 
ttome,  and  to  our  holy  father  the  pope,  and  to  pay  him  the 
respect  and  honour  due  to  thy  spiritual  father. 

Dear  Son,  confer  power  freely  upon  well-intentioned  people 
who  know  how  to  employ  it  properly,  and  take  great  pains  to 
remove  all  sins  from  thy  territories, — that  is  to  say,  profane  swear- 
ing and  everything  that  may  be  said  or  done  in  contempt  of 
God,  our  Lady,  or  the  saints ;  carnal  sins,  gaming  with  dice, 
tavern-drinking  and  other  vices.  Suppress,  in  thy  dominions, 
wisely  and  prudently,  all  rebels  and  traitors  against  thy  power  ; 
drive  them  and  all  ill-disposed  persons  from  the  land,  until  it  be 
quite  purged  of  them.  When,  by  the  sage  counsel  of  worthy 
people,  thou  shalt  hear  of  any  good  thing  to  be  done,  forward 
it  by  every  means  in  thy  power,  giving  proofs  that  thou  acknow- 
ledgest  the  blessings  our  Lord  has  bestowed  upon  thee,  and  that 
thou  art  willing  to  return  him  thanks  for  them. 

Dear  Son,  I  advise  tbee  to  take  great  care  that  the  money  thou 
shalt  spend  shall  be  properly  expended,  and,  moreover,  that  it  be 
justly  levied:  this  i3  a  thing  of  which  I  should  wish  thee  to  be 
particularly  heedful  ;  that  is  to  say,  avoid  extravagant  expenses 
and  unjust  extortion,  let  thy  money  be  justly  received  and  well 
employed  ;  and  this  may  our  Lord  teach  thee,  with  everything 
that  may  be  profitable  and  suitable  to  thee  ! 

Dear  Son,  I  pray  thee,  if  it  shall  please  our  Lord  that  I  should 
quit  this  life  before  thee,  that  thou  wilt  help  me  with  masses  and 
prayers,  and  that  thou  wilt  send  to  the  congregations  of  the  king- 
dom of  France,  to  make  them  put  up  prayers  for  my  soul,  and  that 
thou  wilt  desire  that  our  Lord  may  give  me  part  in  all  the  good 
deeds  thou  shalt  perform. 

Dear  Son,  I  give  thee  every  blessing  that  a  father  can  and  ought 
to  give  to  a  son,  and  I  pray  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  by  his 
great  mercy,  and  by  the  prayers  and  the  merits  of  his  blessed 
mother  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  of  the  angels  and  archangels,  and 
of  all  the  male  and  female  saints,  that  he  will  keep  and  defend 
thee  from  committing  anything  that  may  be  against  his  will,  and 
that  he  will  give  thee  grace  to  perform  his  will,  and  that  he  may 
be  served  and  honoured  by  thee  :  and  may  he  grant  to  thee  and 
to  me,  by  his  unbounded  generosity,  that  after  this  mortal  life, 
we  may  come  to  him  for  life  everlasting,  there  where  we  may 
see  him,  may  love  him,  and  may  praise  him  without  end.    Amen. 

To  him  be  all  glory,  hciour,  and  praise,  who  is  one  God  with 
the  Father  and  the  Holy  xhost,  without  beginning  \nd  without 
end.     Amen. 


472  APPENDIX. 


No.  36. 
Edward  I.,  King  of  England, 

As  our  author  has  said  but  little  to  show  English  readers  what 
part  this,  one  of  their  greatest  kings,  played  in  the  holy  wars, 
we  offer  an  extract  from  the  chronicler  Walter  Hemingford, 
canon  of  Gisseburne,  of  whom  Michaud  speaks  highly. 

Edward,  son  of  Henry  III.,  took  part  in  the  crusade  of 
Louis  IX.  He  set  out,  about  the  feast  of  St.  Michael,  to 
Aigues-Mortes,  where  he  embarked,  and  at  the  end  of  ten  days, 
landed  at  Carthage,  and  was  received  with  much  joy  by  the 
Christian  princes  who  were  then  there ;  that  is  to  say,  Philip  of 
Erance,  who  had  just  succeeded  Louis  IX.,  his  father ;  Charles 
king  of  Sicily,  and  the  king  of  Navarre.  Walter  relates  that 
Edward  was  disgusted  with  the  treaty  made  between  the  Chris- 
tian kings  and  the  king  of  Tunis,  and  would  take  no  part  in  it. 
The  English  prince  went  to  Acre  with  a  thousand  picked  men, 
and  reposed  for  a  month,  in  order  to  refresh  his  troops,  and  become 
acquainted  with  the  country.  At  the  end  of  the  month,  many 
Christians  joined  him,  and  leaving  Acre,  at  the  head  of  seven 
thousand  men,  he  marched  to  a  distance  of  twenty  leagues  from 
that  city,  took  Nazareth,  and  killed  a  great  number  of  Saracens. 
The  army  then  returned  towards  Acre,  but  were  followed  by  the 
enemy,  who  hoped  to  surprise  them  in  some  valley,  or  confined 
place.  The  Christians,  upon  becoming  aware  of  their  intentions, 
faced  about,  killed  many,  and  put  the  others  to  flight. 

Towards  the  feast  of  St.  John,  Edward,  'earning  that  the 
Saracens  were  within  fifteen  miles  of  Acre,  marched  out,  fell 
upon  them,  at  break  of  day,  killed  about  a  thousand  of  them, 
and  put  the  rest  to  flight.  The  name  of  Edward  was  soon  spread 
among  the  enemies  of  Christ,  and  beginning  to  dread  him,  they 
devised  means  to  get  rid  of  him.  The  great  emir  of  Jaffa,  feign- 
ing a  wish  to  be  converted  to  the  Christian  faith,  sent  to  him 
several  times  a  slave,  bearing  letters,  but  charged  secretly  with 
the  commission  of  assassinating  the  king,  which  the  slave 
executed.  But  fortunately  Edward  escaped  the  consequences 
by  the  assistance  of  skilful  leeches.  As  soon  as  he  was  cured, 
he  concluded  a  true-?  for  ten  years,  and  returned  to  Europe  with 
his  Crusaders. 


APPENDIX.  473 


No.  37. 

The  Openings  of  the  Troncs. 

M.  Michaud  has  given  a  very  long  account  of  the  openings  of 
the  troncs,  of  which  we  only  think  it  necessary  to  offer  our 
readers  a  small  portion,  to  show  them  the  nature  of  the  thing. 
The  continued  repetition  of  the  names  of  French  towns,  &c, 
with  the  amount  of  money  found  in  the  troncs,  can  be  interesting 
to  nobody. 

On  Low  Sunday,  the  19th  day  of  April,  in  the  year  1517, 
between  the  hours  of  eight  and  nine  after  mid-day,  was  raised 
and  carried  away  the  tronc  of  the  metropolitan  church  of  St. 
Stephen  of  Thoulouse,  closed  and  fastened  with  three  keys, 
and  sealed  with  two  seals,  and  placed  in  the  archiepiscopal 
house  of  the  said  Thoulouse,  by  the  said  commissary,  trea- 
surer, or  receiver  and  comptroller,  in  the  presence  of  Messire 
Jehan  de  Verramino,  canon  and  chancellor  of  the  said  church ; 
Thomas  le  Franc,  rector  of  the  said  church  ;  Domengo  Vausse- 
net,  burgess,  and  several  others  ;  and  on  the  next  day,  in  the 
presence  of  as  above,  the  said  commissary,  receiver,  and  comp- 
troller opened  the  said  tronc,  where  they  took  and  found  for 
the  confessionals  the  sum  of  six  hundred  and  fifty-one  livres, 
six  sols,  six  deniers  in  full,  for  one  thousand  one  hundred 
and  fifteen  confessions,  which  have  been  distributed ;  for 
this         6  c.  51  liv.  6s.  4d.  (sic) 

Of  other  money  found  in  the  said  tronc  on  the  day  and  year 
aforesaid,  arising  from  the  pardons  and  jubilee  of  the  crusade, 
the  sum  of  four  hundred  and  ninety-nine  livres,  fifteen  sols, 
four  deniers  Tournois        ...         ...         ...     ci.  499  iiv.  15s.  4d. 

From  another  opening  of  the  trone  of  Thoulouse,  at  the 
feast  of  the  following  Christmas,  in  the  said  year  1517,  the 
sum  of  twenty-seven  livres,  three  sols,  nine  denier  Tournois. 

27  hv.  3s.  9d. 

From  another  opening  of  the  said  trone  of  Thoulouse,  made  the 
first  day  of  May,  1518,  which  is  the  second  of  the  year  1518, 
in  which  there  was  found,  as  well  for  money  for  the  jubilee  as 
for  confessionals,  the  sum  of  two  hundred  and  five  livres,  ten 
sols,  six  deniers  Tournois  ;  for  this  . . .     205  liv.  10s.  6d. 

From  another  opening  made  the  7th  day  of  June,  of  the  said 
year,  there  was  found,  as  well  for  jubilee  as  for  confessionals, 
the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  livrea>   two  sols 

Tournois  ;  for  this 127  liv.  2s 

Vol.  III.— 21 


474  APPENDIX. 

From  an  opening  of  the  tronc  of  Castai  net,  in  the  diocese  of 
Thoulouse,  there  was  found,  as  well  for  confessionals  as  for  the 
jubilee,    the   sum   of  fourteen  livres,    one    sol,    live   denier  3 
Tournois ;  for  this  ...         ...         ...         ...     141iv.  Is.  5d. 

&c.  &c.  &c. 

From  the  opening  of  the  various  troncs  in  the  diocese  of 
Thoulouse,  withm  and  without  the  city,  in  the  years  1517  and 
1518,  many  being  opened  several  times,  they  collected  an 
amount  which  stands  thus  at  the  end  :  Summa  Totalis  re- 
ceptee presentis  computi       ...         ...         ...     3,700  liv.  18s.  6cL 

The  expenditure  of  this  money  is  detailed  equally  minutely ; 
of  which  we  will  offer  a  few  examples. 

EXPENDITURE 

OP    TBIS     PRESENT    ACCOUNT, 

AND,    IV   THE    FIRST    PLACE, 

Moneys  paid  to  People  who  are  to  account  for  them. 

To  Master  Jehan  Grossier,  notary  and  secretary  of  the  king 
our  lord,  and  by  him  commissioned  to  keep  the  account,  and 
receive  the  moneys  for  the  crusade  granted  by  our  holy 
father  the  pope  to  the  king  our  lord,  in  his  kingdom  and 
other  lands  and  lordships  owing  allegiance  to  him,  the  sum  of 
fifteen  hundred  and  thirty-two  livres,  seventeen  sols,  four 
deniers  Tournois,  which  the  present  receiver  owes  on  account 
of  the  said  receipt  which  he  has  made  of  the  moneys  for  the 
said  crusade  to  the  said  city  of  Thoulouse,  which  sum  has 
been  paid  to  the  said  Grossier,  in  virtue  of  the  letters  missive 
of  our  lord  the  king,  given  at  Amboise,  the  25th  day  of 
January,  there  rendered,  as  by  his  quittance,  signed  by  his 
hand,  the  26th  day  of  February,  in  the  year  1517,  thus  so 
rendered,  as  appears  ;  and  for  this  ...     1,532  liv.  17s.  4d. 

To  the  said  Master  Jehan  Grossier,  by  his  written  quittance,  the 
10th  day  of  June,  in  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
eighteen,  the  sum  of  two  hundred  and  forty-eight  livres,  three 
sols  Tournois,  which  the  said  receiver  ought,  upon  receiving  the 
said  receipt,  pay  him,  by  virtue  of  the  letters  missive  of  the 
king  our  lord,  given  at  Amboise,  the  last  ».  ay  of  April,  as  by 
said  quittance,  here  rendered,  as  appears ;  for  this... 248 liv.  3s. 

To  the  same  Master  Jehan  Grossier,  for  another  written  quit- 
tance on  the  20th  day  of  May,  1520,  the  sum  of  six  hundred 
and  twenty-five  livres,  fourteen  sols,  five  deniers  Tournois, 
which  the  said  receiver  ought  to  pay  him,  as  by  his  said  quit 
tance,  here  rendered,  as  appears ;   for  this         625  liv.  14s  5d 


APPENDIX. 


Vih'T  Expenses  made  by  the  said  Master  J'han  C7%c.\c ,  by  the  order  of 
Messire  Josse  de  la  Garde,  Doctor  of  Tkeolojy,  Vice:  -General  of  the  Very 
Revererd  Father  in  God,  Mbnseigneur  the  Archbishop  of  Thoulouse, 
Commissary,  ordered  by  the  King  our  Lord,  07i  the  matter  of  the  Crusade, 
and  according  o  the  Letters  Missive  and  Instructions  signed  by  the  hand 
of  the  King,  transcribed  and  rendered  at  the  commencement  of  'Jcis 
Account. 

For  the  expenses  of  the  commissaries,  receiver,  comptroller,  and 
notary,  for  having  been,  with  seven  horses,  setting  oat  on  the 
22nd  day  of  April,  in  the  year  151 7,  through  the  diocese  of  the 
archbishopric  of  Thoulouse,  to  collect  the  troncs  and  boxes, 
in  which  they  were  engaged  for  the  space  of  thirteen  days, 
the  sum  of  twenty  livres,  nine  sols,  five  deniers  Tournois, 
which  has  been  paid  by  the  present  receiver  by  order  of  the 
said  commissary,  as  appears  by  the  papers  signed  and  certified 
by  his  hand,  and  by  Monsieur  Raymond  Raffin,  canon  in  the 
metropolitan  church  of  Thoulouse,  comptroller,  deputed  by 
our  lord  the  king  to  assist  in  collecting  the  money  for  the 
said  crusade,*  containing  the  expense  of  this  account  rendered, 
and  containing  likewise  a  certification  of  the  payment  of  all 
the  said  expense,  instead  of  quittance  (receipt) ;  for  this  the 
sum  of      ...  ...         ...  ...         ...  ...     201iv.  9s.  5d. 

To  Pierre  Langiere,  the  sum  of  sixteen  sols  Tournois,  for  having 
pasted  up  four  hundred  articles,  and  for  having  placed  and 
fixed  about  two  hundred  of  them  at  the  doors  and  cross-ways 
of  the  said  Thoulouse,  for  the  feast  of  Easter ;  for  this       16s. 

To  Messire  Pierre  Ferrestiere,  Anthoine  Chassantre,  and  Durant 
Veissiere,  priests,  for  having  carried  the  said  articles,  at  the 
said  time,  to  Montastruc,  Versveil,  and  Carmaing,  the  sum  of 
sixty  sols  Tournois ;  this  ...         ...  ...         ...         ...     60s. 

To  Georges  Ruveres,  for  having  made  two  tin  cases  to  put  over 
the  tronc,  the  sum  of  ten  sols  Tournois ;  this     ...  ...     10s. 

To  Thomas  Noel,  for  having  made  the  tronc  for  the  said  crusade, 
at  Thoulouse,  the  sum  of  sixty-three  sols,  four  deniers  Tour- 
nois ;  this  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  ...     63s.  4d. 

To  Jehan  Dement,  for  having  bound  about  with  iron  the  coffer 
of  the  said  tronc,  and  made  the  padlock  for  the  same,  the  sum 
of  eleven  livres,  T. ;  this  ...  ...  ...  ...     llliv. 

To  Master  Stephen  Fabry  and  Jehan  G-almart,  for  haying  car- 
ried the  said  articles  into  several  places,  and  for  writing-paper 
and  packthread  to  tie  up  the  packets,  the  sum  of  four  livres, 
two  sols,  nine  deniers  Tournois  ;  this    ...  ...     41iv.  2s.  9\1. 

*  That  is,  the  papers  or  accounts.  We  have  given  it  exactly  as  it  stands, 
vhat  our  readers  may  the  more  plainly  perceive  the  nature  of  these  docu- 
ments.— Trans. 


476  APPENDIX. 

To  William  Perolle,  for  having  cnrried  some  confessionals  to 
Cluriac,  the  sum  of  twelve  sols  Tournois  ;  this  ...         ...     12s, 

To  Lion  de  Veausclera,  for  four  padlocks  for  the  said  tronc,  the 
sum  of  forty  sols  Tournois ;  this  ...         ...         ...     40s. 

To  the  bell-ringers  of  St.  Stephen  of  Thoulouse,  for  what  may 
be  due  to  them  for  having  rung  the  Pardon,  at  the  late  festival 
of  Easter,  the  sum  of  sixty  sols  Tournois;  this  ...     00s. 

To  la  Boussignolle,  for  twelve  cloth  bags  to  put  the  money  into, 
the  sum  of  eight  sols,  six  deniers  Tournois  ;  this     ...     8s.  6d. 

To  Master  Jehan  Galmar,  for  having  been  to  fix  the  troncs  in 
various  places,  and  having  furnished  nails  for  the  padlocks, 
the  sum  of  twenty-seven  sols,  six  deniers    ...         ...     27s.  6d. 

To  Bertrand  Beix,  for  having  served,  or  waited  at,  the  tronc  of 
St.  Stephen  of  Thoulouse,  for  the  space  of  fifteen  days,  the 
sum  of  seventeen  sols,  six  deniers  Tournois  . . .     17s.  6d. 

For  the  dinner*  which  was  made  for  those  who  were  present  to 
see  the  money  counted  from  the  tronc  of  the  said  St.  Stephen 
of  Thoulouse,  and  for  the  cook,  the  sum  of  seventy-two  sols 
Tournois       72s. 

To  the  preachers  of  Thoulouse,  for  having  preached  the  said 
pardons,  the  sum  of  eighteen  livres  Tournois;  this  ...     18 liv. 

To  Master  Jehan  Bourlier,  notary,f  for  having  attended  the 
placing  and  removing  of  the  said  troncs,  in  the  said  diocese 
of  Thoulouse,  for  the  space  of  fifteen  days,  at  the  period  of 
Easter,  the  sum  of  fifteen  livres  Tournois      ...         ...     15  liv 

To  Master  Jehan  Terrein,  of  Thoulouse,  the  sum  of  a  hundred 
sols  Tournois,  for  having  superintended  the  giving  out  of  the 
letters,  and  obtaining  the  names  and  surnames  of  those  who 
took  them  to  the  church  of  Thoulouse,  at  Easter,  this      100s. 

To  the  bell-ringers  of  the  said  St.  Stephen,  for  ringing  the  bells 
and  cleaning  the  church,  the  sum  of  forty  sols  Tournois ; 
this 40s. 

To  those  who  sealed  the  confessionals  of  the  said  crusade  and 
jubilee,  the  sum  of  six  livres  Tournois,  this      6 liv. 

To  Messire  Jehan  Bonissent,  secretary  of  Monseigncur  de 
Thoulouse,  for  having  made  eight  mandatory  letters  on  parch 
ment,  and  having  signed  four  hundred  articles  to  be  posted 
upon  the  doors  of  churches,  the  sum  of  six  livres  Tournois, 
this 6  liv. 

To  Jehan  Grant,  printer,  for  having  printed  a  thousand  small 
articles,  and  a  hundred  confessionals,  on  parchment,  the  sum 
of  one  hundred  and  ten  livres  Tournois ;  this  . . .     110  liv. 

*  By  which  we  may  perceive  that  dining  at  parish  meetings  is  not  a 
custom  confined  to  modern  times. 
•|*  By  which  we  learn  that  the  charge  of  a  notary  was  one  livre  per  diem. 


APPENDIX.  477 

To  Jehan  Bodret,  apothecary,  of  Thoulouse,  for  thirty-one  pounds 
of  red  wax,  and  also  for  four  quires  of  paper,  the  sum  of  ten 
livres,  seventeen  sols,  six  deniers  Tournois  ;  this  10  liv.  17s.  6d 

To  Master  Guillaume  de  ViUano,  notary,  for  having  signed  ana 
filled  up  the  confessionals  and  commissions,  and  having  made 
the  other  acts  of  the  said  crusade,  the  sum  of  ten  livres  Tour- 
nois ;  this  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...     10  liv. 

To  the  Receiver  of  the  said  crusade,  for  having  been  to  place 
the  troncs  and  collect  the  money,  for  the  attendance  of  thir- 
teen days,  the  sum  of  twenty-eight  livres  Tournois  , . .     28  liv. 

To  Monsieur  the  Comptroller  of  the  said  crusade,  for  the  same 
cause,  the  sum  of  twenty-eight  livres  Tournois ;  this  ...  28  liv. 

To  Monsieur  the  Commissary  of  the  said  crusade,  with  three 
horses,  for  the  same  cause,  the  sum  of  forty  livres  Tournois ; 
this 401iv. 

To  Master  Jehan  Bourlier,  for  having  made  two  duplicates  of 
the  receipt  and  expense  of  the  said  crusade,  the  sum  of  thirty 
sols  Tournois ;  this  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  ...     30s. 

To  Raymond  de  Vlino,  for  having  made  three  hundred  and  fifty 
coats  of  arms,  at  twelve  deniers  Tournois  each,  amounting  to 
the  sum  of  seventeen  livres,  ten  sols  Tournois ;  this  17  liv.  10s. 

To  those  who  sealed  the  said  confessionals,  both  on  parchment 
and  on  paper,  and  for  having  folded  them,  the  sum  of  four 
livres  Tournois       ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...     4  liv. 

Then  follows  a  list  of  amounts  paid  to  preachers  of  the  crusade, 
which  is  far  too  long  for  insertion,  but  all  tending  to  prove  that 
the  task  was  not  performed  gratuitously.  We  have  extracted 
the  above  articles  from  the  interminable  account  to  show  our 
readers  something  of  the  nature  of  the  charges  made  by  various 
classes  for  work  done  early  in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  more 
particularly  to  point  out,  after  the  money  had  been  extorted  from 
the  pious  or  the  charitable,  how  many  hands  were  dipped  into 
the  troncs  before  their  contents  were  applied  to  their  destined 
purpose.  The  preachers,  as  appears  by  the  following  items  and 
many  others  of  the  account,  took  a  fifth  part  of  what  was  found 
in  the  troncs  at  the  time  of  opening  them. 

To  the  preachers  who  have  preached  in  the  city  of  Thoulouse, 
for  the  fifth  part  of  four  hundred  and  nine  livres,  sixteen  sols, 
eight  deniers  Touriioi'j,  which  have  been  found  in  the  said 
tronc,  opened  at  several  festivals,  has  been  paid  over  the  sum 
of  eighty-one  livres,  nineteen  sols,  four  deniers  Tournois ; 
this  81  liv.  19s.  4d. 

To  the  preacher  of  Lisle  en  Jourdain,  for  his  fifth  part  of  one 
hundred  and  ninety-eight  livres,  three  sols,  seven  deniers 
Tournois;  this 39  liv.  3s.  7d. 


478  APPENDIX. 

Nobody  seems  to  have  touched  the  tronc  without  benefit; 
thus  there  are  sixty  sols  to  Jehan  Turein  for  taking  charge  of 
the  tronc,  at  Easter ;  and  fifteen  sols  to  a  child  who  cried  at  the 
tronc.  The  high  officials  took  each  one  hundred  livres  per 
annum  whilst  the  crusade  was  being  preached,  and  their  under- 
lings did  nothing  without  remuneration. 


No.  38. 

Memoir  of  Leibnitz,  addressed  to  Louis  XIV. 

After  t-i«  example  of  M.  Michaud,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  lay 
before  our  readers  the  following  paper,  although  it  bears  little 
relation  to  our  history.  A  document  passing  between  two  such 
men  as  Leibnitz  and  Louis  XIV.,  upon  a  speculative,  yet  an 
important  question,  cannot  be  without  interest ;  besides  which, 
there  is  very  little  doubt  that  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Buona- 
parte before  he  undertook  his  expedition  to  Egypt.  It  is  gene- 
rally believed  that  this  Memoir  of  Leibnitz,  upon  the  expedition 
to  Egypt,  was  preserved,  up  to  the  period  of  the  revolution,  in 
the  archives  of  Versailles,  and  that  this  historical  document 
disappeared  during  the  political  troubles  of  France.  Ah  extract 
from  it  was  published  in  an  English  pamphlet  in  1805 ;  and 
another  extract  was  made  in  a  book  entitled  Voyage  en  LTanovre, 
published  in  1805.  M.  Michaud  has  made  more  use  of  the  English 
pamphlet  than  of  the  latter  publication.  M.  Mangourit,  the 
author  of  the  Voyage,  saw  in  the  library  of  Hanover  a  copy  of 
the  Memoir  addressed  to  Louis  XIV.,  written  by  the  hand  of 
Leibnitz;  it  had  for  title,  De  JEJjr]?editione  Egypt-.atica,  Epistola 
ad  Regem  Francice  scrijpta.  M.  Mangourit  informs  us  that 
Marshal  Mortier  ordered  a  copy  to  be  made  of  it,  to  be  sent  to 
Paris,  where  it  was  placed  in  the  library  of  the  king.  It  appears 
that  the  Memoir  was  sent  a  short  time  before  the  famous  passage 
of  the  Rhine  and  the  war  against  Holland.  M.  Mangourit  is 
persuaded  that  Leibnitz,  whom  he  represents  as  the  instrument 
of  some  cabinet,  had  no  other  motive  in  persuading  Louis  tc 
invade  Egypt  but  to  divert  him  from  his  threatened  attack  upon 
the  Batavian  republic.  M.  Michaud  says  that  this  opinion 
appears  improbable,  and  that  the  author  gives  no  satisfactory 
proof  of  it.  We  think  some  of  our  readers,  at  least,  will  incline 
to  the  opinion  of  M.  Mangourit. 

Leibnitz  commences  his  Memoir  by  declaring  that  the  fame  of 
his  majesty's  wisdom  has  induced  him  to  present  to  him  some 
reflections  upon  a  subject  familiar  to  preceding  ages,  but  recently 
neglected  and  forgotten ;  it  concerns  an  enterprise,  "  the  greatest 


APPENDIX.  479 

that  can  be  attempted,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  easy  of 
Auch  as  are  considered  great.  I  venture  to  add,"  continues  he, 
"  that  it  is  the  most  holy,  the  most  just  {addere  audeo,  sanctis- 
simum  justissimumque),  and  that  it  is  not  accompanied  by  any 
danger,  even  should  it  be  attempted  in  vain.  It  agrees  likewise 
so  well  with  the  kind  of  preparations  already  made,  that  it  would 
appear  to  have  been  a  long  time  in  contemplation,  and  would 
thus  increase  the  admiration  of  those  who  justly  call  the  coa- 
ceptions  of  your  majesty  the  miracle  of  secrecy.  It  would  do 
more  harm  to  Holland  than  could  be  hoped  for  from  the  most 
brilliant  success  of  an  open  war,  without  leaving  them  the  power 
of  opposing  any  obstacle  to  it.  It  would  accomplish  the  object 
of  the  present  armament,  by  procuring  for  France  the  empire 
of  the  seas  and  of  commerce.  In  short,  all  hatreds  and  all 
jealousies  being  thus  extinguished  at  a  single  blow,  your  majesty 
would  find  yourself  raised  by  it,  with  general  assent,  to  the  rank 
of  supreme  arbiter  of  Christendom — the  highest  possible  to  be 
conceived,  and  it  would  cover  your  name  with  an  immortal  glory, 
for  having  cleared,  whether  for  yourself  or  your  descendants, 
the  route  for  exploits  similar  to  those  of  Alexander." 

After  having  made  it  plain  that  the  present  moment  was  ex- 
ceedingly favourable,  that  there  was  no  sovereign  more  powerful 
than  the  king  of  France,  or  one  more  beloved  by  his  subjects ; 
"lam  persuaded,"  says  he,  "that  there  is  not  in  the  known 
world  any  country  the  conquest  of  which  deserves  so  much  to 
be  attempted,  or  which  would  be  so  likely  to  give  supremacy,  as 
the  Egypt  which  I  delight  in  calling  the  Holland  of  the  East,  as 
I  call  France  the  China  of  the  West." 

"  The  marriage  between  this  prince  and  this  country,  that  is 
to  say,  between  the  king  of  France  and  Egypt,  appears  to  me 
to  interest  equally  the  human  race  and  the  Christian  religion." 

Leibnitz  afterwards  says,  that  upon  examining  the  motives 
which  determined  Louis  IX.  to  attempt  the  conquest  of  Egypt 
rather  than  that  of  Jerusalem,  he  had  become  convinced  that 
they  merit  the  greatest  attention. 

"  After  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa,  Philip, 
surnamed  Augustus,  and  Richard,  king  of  England,  besieged 
and  took  St.  Jean  d'Acre.  There  was  among  the  prisoners  an 
Arabian  named  Caracous,  whom  history  represents  as  a  prophet. 
This  man,  hearing  Philip  frequently  speak  of  the  aim  the  Christian 
powers  proposed  to  themselves  in  this  war,  declared  that  they 
could  never  retain  Jerusalem  and  the  Christian  sovereignty  in 
Asia,  unless  the  Egyptian  monarchy  were  overthrown ;  and"  for 
that  purpose  it  was  of  the  greatest  importance  to  get  possession 
of  Damietta.  From  this  arose  a  dissension  between  Philip  and 
Richard,  &c.     Richard  himself,  after  having  failed  in  Palestine, 


430  A.PPENDIX 

wished  to  undertake  an  expedition  against  Egypt,  but  deaf% 
prevented  him. 

"  The  Christian  powers  at  length  became  aware  of  their  error> 
and  Pope  Innocent  III.  promoted  an  expedition  against  Egypt, 
the  issue  of  which  was  unfortunate.  Then  came  the  expedition 
of  St.  Louis,  which  failed  from  the  imprudence  and  want  of  skill 
in  the  leaders.  Louis  exposed  his  army  in  the  interior  of  the 
country,  between  two  branches  of  the  Nile,  with  his  rear  and 
the  course  of  the  river  in  the  power  of  the  enemy.  Instead  of 
getting  possession  of  the  coasts  and  securing  the  Nile  for  his 
fleet,  the  only  means  of  establishing  his  conquest,  provisioning 
his  army,  and  making  himself  safe  from  all  attacks,  he  allowed 
himself  to  be  surrounded  ;  the  Saracens  intercepted  his  supplies, 
and  finished  by  destroying  the  Christian  army. 

"  Afterwards,  the  wars  between  France  and  England,  as  well  as 
those  which  broke  out  between  France  and  the  house  of  Austria, 
put  an  end  to  all  idea  of  invading  Egypt,  till  the  time  of  Ximenes, 
who  was  the  author  of  a  league,  formed  for  the  conquest  of  this 
country,  by  Ferdinand  of  Castile,  Emanuel  of  Portugal,  and 
Henry  VIII.  of  England.*  Three  princes,"  says  Leibnitz, 
"  of  whom  it  may,  with  reason,  be  said,  that  each  of  them  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  power  and  commerce  of  their  respective 
people  ;  and  that  it  is  which  France  now  expects  from  Louis 
XIV. 

"  This  project  was  defeated  by  the  death  of  Ferdinand,  which 
caused  the  crown  of  Spain  to  pass  to  the  house  of  Austria." 

Leibnitz  then  gives  a  sketch  of  the  revolutions  of  Egypt, 
from  the  earliest  ages  to  the  time  it  was  subdued  by  the  Turks ; 
to  show  the  importance  that  has  always  been  attached  to  the 
possession  of  Egypt,  and  to  prove  that  it  has  never  opposed 
much  resistance  to  a  skilful  and  powerful  conqueror. 

"  Egypt,  now  become  a  province  of  the  Turkish  empire,  will  be, 
on  that  account,  more  easily  subdued ;  not  only  from  the  difficulty 
the  Port  will  have  in  throwing  in  succours,  and  the  inclination 
the  inhabitants  always  have  for  revolt,  but  still  more  from  its 
being  no  longer  the  seat  of  an  empire." 

After  this  preamble,  Leibnitz,  developing  his  plan,  argues  that 
the  conquest  of  Egypt  is  the  most  certain  road  to  supremacy  in 
Europe ;  or,  in  other  terms,  that  it  will  strengthen  the  best 
interests  of  France, — that,  considering  the  magnitude  of  the 
object,  the  enterprise  is  very  easy ; — that  there  is  no  risk  ; — that 
it  is  in  accordance  with  sound  policy ; — that  it  should  not  be 
delayed  ; — in  short,  that  it  is  great,  just,  and  pious. 

*  This  must  be  Henry  VII.  from  the  dates,  the  contemporary  prince^ 
and  £he  character  given  of  the  monarch. — Trans. 


APPENDIX.  48i 

"  This  supremacy,  which  it  is  so  important  foi  France  to  obtain, 
consists  in  the  possession  of  as  much  power  as  can  be  reasonably 
hoped  for ;  for  it  cannot  look  tr  a  universal  monarchy,  but  only 
the  general  direction  or  arbitration  of  affairs.  Universal  mo- 
narchy is  an  absurdity  ;  the  history  of  Europe  proves  it.  By 
making  war  upon  Christian  states,  weak  aggrandisements  can 
alone  be  obtained,  and  a  small  accession  of  territory  acquired. 
Such  means  are  not  suitable  for  a  most  Christian  king,  or  a  great 
monarch  : — marriages,  elections,  and  successions  produce  more. 

"  War  should  alone  be  directed  against  barbarous  nations  :  and 
among  these,  it  is  incontestable  that  by  a  single  fortunate  blow 
(and  the  French  are  particularly  formed  to  strike  such),  empires 
may  be  in  an  instant  overthrown  and  founded.  In  such  wars 
are  found  the  elements  of  high  power,  and  of  an  exalted  glory. 

"  It  is  certain  that  the  power  of  France  must  increase  with  the 
peace  of  Europe,  and  that  it  must  be  weakened  by  ill-timed 
wars.  Let  it  then  be  employed  against  the  barbarians,  and  for 
the  restoration  of  Egypt.  In  America,  the  Spaniards,  the  Eng- 
lish, and  the  Dutch  would  render  every  enterprise  impossible  ; 
but,  directed  towards  Turkey,  no  one  would  dare  to  oppose  it ; 
Egypt  being  once  invaded,  the  war  that  we  should  then  make 
would  be  rendered  sacred  by  universal  approbation  ;  and  instead 
of  the  deserted  countries  of  Palestine,  only  celebrated  by  its 
ruins,  we  should  have,  as  the  rewards  of  our  efforts,  that  eye  of 
countries,  that  mother  of  grain,  that  seat  of  commerce.  (Non 
deserta  ilia,  minis  tantum  nobilis Palcestina,sed  oculus  regionum, 
mater  frugum,  sedes  commerciorum  acquiretur.) 

"  Of  all  the  regions  of  the  earth,  Egypt  ought  to  be  considered, 
after  China,  as  the  first.  It  possesses  so  many  advantages,  that 
the  imagination  can  add  nothing  to  them.  It  is  the  principal 
isthmus  of  the  globe,  the  seas  of  which  it  divides  in  such  a  man- 
ner, as  to  create  the  necessity  for  passing  round  Africa.  It  is 
at  the  same  time  the  barrier  and  the  passage  between  Africa 
and  Asia.  It  is  the  point  of  communication,  and  the  general 
entrepot  of  the  commerce,  on  one  side,  of  India,  and  on  the  other, 
of  Europe.  It  is  in  some  sort  the  eye  of  the  adjacent  countries, 
rich  by  the  fertility  of  its  soil,  and  by  its  great  population,  amidst 
the  deserts  which  surround  it  It  unites  the  wonders  of  nature 
and  of  art,  which,  after  so  many  ages,  ever  appear  to  furnish 
subjects  for  fresh  admiration." 

After  having  supported  his  opinions  by  numerous  quotations 
upon  the  resources  Egypt  possesses,  Leibnitz  continues  thus  : — 

"  Suppose  Egypt  should  be  occupied  by  an  army  of  the  most 
Christian  king,  we  shall  see  how  much  this  event  must  contri- 
bute to  political  supremacy.  (Pars  melior  Francice  cedet ;  hac 
maris  Mediter ratrei  domina,  imperium  Orientals  resuscitabit.) 

21* 


£82  APPENDIX. 

"  It  is  evident  that  the  Turkish  empire  might  be  overthrown  by 
the  attacks  of  the  Germans  and  the  Poles,  if  the  germs  of  rebei» 
lion,  which  are  there  now  forming,  were  developed  generally  ; 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  Muscovy  and  Persia  would  take  ad- 
vantage of  that  circumstance.  Then,  the  most  valuable  portion 
of  that  monarchy  would  fall  to  France ;  which,  becoming  thua 
mistress  of  the  Mediterranean,  would  reestablish  the  Eastern 
empire.  From  Egypt  -t  would  extend  its  empire  over  the  ocean, 
and  would  take,  without  difficulty,  possession  of  the  Red  Sea, 
and  the  isles  near  Madagascar.  It  would  not  be  long  in  gaining 
the  Sea  of  Ethiopia,  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  the  isle  of  Ormuz, 
which  commands  it. 

"  The  conquest  of  Egypt  would  likewise  be  followed  by  great 
and  important  changes  in  Europe.  The  king  of  France  could 
then,  by  incontestable  right,  and  with  the  consent  of  the  pope, 
assume  the  title  of  emperor  of  the  East ;  he  could  add  to  his 
title  of  eldest  son,  that  of  patron  (advocatus)  of  the  Church, 
and  by  the  great  advantages  procured  to  the  Holy  See,  hold  the 

Pontiffs  much  more  in  his  power  than  if  they  resided  at  Avignon, 
taly  and  Germany  would  be  definitively  delivered  from  the  fear 
of  the  Turks,  and  Spain  from  that  of  the  Moors.  The  com- 
merce of  the  world  would  be  shared  between  France  and  the 
house  of  Austria ;  at  length,  the  reconciliation  between  the  most 
powerful  families  would  be  cemented  to  the  satisfaction  of  both, 
France  having  for  its  share  the  East,  and  Spain  the  "West.*  And 
if  they  should  wish  to  be  united  by  the  indissoluble  tie  of  their 
common  interest,  they  would  gain  the  object  which  the  wisest  of 
ministers  have  endeavoured  to  attain  in  the  conferences  of  the 
Pyrenees ;  they  would  become  the  arbitrators  between  other 
powers ;  they  would  prepare  the  happiness  of  the  human  race, 
and  they  would  create  an  everlasting  reverence  for  the  memory 
of  the  great  king,  to  whom  so  many  miracles  were  due. 

"  With  Egypt,  the  Dutch  might  easily  be  deprived  of  the  com- 
merce of  India,  upon  which  great  part  of  their  power  depends., 
and  they  would  by  that  be  more  directly  and  necessarily  injured 
than  by  the  most  brilliant  success  in  an  open  war.  The  Chris- 
tian religion  would  again  flourish  in  Asia ;  the  world  would  obey 
the  same  laws,  and  the  whole  human  race  would  be  united  by 
the  same  ties  ;  so  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  philosopher 's 
stone,  I  know  nothing  that  can  be  imagined  of  more  importance 
than  the  conquest  of  Egypt" 

When  discussing  the  facility  of  the  execution,  Leibnitz  con- 

*  How  amusing,  and,  at  the  same  time,  wonderfully  instructive  it  is,  to 
read  these  schemes  of  philosophers  and  statemen  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
after  they  have  occupied  their  thoughts  by  day  and  tr  eir  viaions  by  night  1 
—Trans. 


APPENDIX.  483 

aiders — "  The  forces  to  be  employed — the  means  of  transport- 
ing the  troops — the  climate  of  the  country — its  fortifications  and 
military  strength — the  manner  of  making  war  there — the  interior 
troubles  of  Egypt — the  dispositions  of  the  neighbouring  nations 
— and  the  allies  and  auxiliaries,  as  well  of  the  aggressors  as  of 
the  invaded  country." 

With  respect  to  the  forces  of  France,  Leibnitz  refers  to 
Louis,  who  must  be  better  acquainted  with  their  numbers  than 
he ;  he  however  believes  that  there  is  in  fact  already  more 
strength  than  would  be  required. 

Francis,  duke  of  Urbino,  demanded  50,000  men  to  overturn 
the  Ottoman  empire.  For  the  conquest  of  Egypt,  thirty  thou 
sand  picked  men  would  be  sufficient.  Emanuel  the  Wise,  king 
of  Portugal,  flattered  himself  that  he  could  succeed  with  a  much, 
smaller  number.  "  There  is  no  doubt,"  adds  Leibnitz,  "  thatoui 
numbers  would  prodigiously  increase  in  a  short  time,  by  the 
accession  of  Arabs  and  JSTumidians,  whilst  the  Turkish  forces  in 
that  province  must  be  very  inconsiderable. 

"But  suppose,"  continues  Leibnitz,  "we  were  compelled  to 
embark  50,000  men ;  that  is  a  force  which  France  would  easily 
provide.  For,  although  I  am  persuaded  that  20,000  would 
amply  suffice  to  occupy  and  guard  the  coast  of  Egypt,  it  would 
be  prudent  to  draw  advantage  from  the  forces  now  assembled, 
and  to  effect  by  one  stroke,  by  one  vigorous  operation,  the  con- 
quest of  the  whole  of  Egypt."  Leibnitz  further  advises  that  the 
troops  should  be  encouraged  by  speeches,  indulgences,  rewards, 
honours,  &c.  &c. ;  thinks  it  of  much  less  importance  to  employ 
a  great  number  of  troops  than  it  is  to  select  them  well. 

"  Some  persons  are  averse  to  the  transporting  of  large  armies 
by  sea ;  but  wiser  persons  are  of  a  contrary  opinion,  and  think 
that  the  trifling  inconveniences  of  this  mode  of  transport  are 
more  than  compensated  by  very  great  advantages.  The  first 
inconveniences  to  which  they  are  subject  on  board,  are  neither 
dangerous  nor  of  long  duration  ;  they  may  be  considered  even 
as  evacuations  favourable  to  health.  Scorbutic  affections  appear 
only  in  long  voyages,  and  acute  diseases  are  occasioned  by 
intemperance,  which  discipline  may  prevent,  or  by  a  change  of 
climate,  which  cannot  be  experienced  in  the  Mediterranean.  No 
mutiny  need  be  apprehended,  because  the  soldiers  are  in  some 
sort  in  the  power  of  the  sailors." 

The  memorial  of  Leibnitz  here  presents  an  historical  sum- 
mary of  the  armies  embarked  at  different  periods,  from  the 
Punic  wars  to  the  last  conquests  made  in  Asia  and  America,  by 
the  Spaniards,  the  Portuguese,  the  English,  &c.  ;  and  whilst  re- 
commending that  the  vessels  should  not  be  too  heavily  laden  as 
regards  troops,  he  remarks  that  the  navigation  of  the  Mediter- 


484  APPENDIX. 

ranean  has,  for  a  lon^  time,  become  familiar  to  French  sailors, 
and  that  there  could  be  no  danger,  if  proper  attention  were  paid 
to  seasons.  French  and  Venetian  vessels  constantly  visit  Candia, 
and  from  that  island  to  Egypt  the  passage  is  not  difficult.  Let 
us  add,  that  the  isle  of  Malta  is  a  secure  station  for  the  fleet,  that 
isle  being  united  to  France  by  an  infinite  number  of  ties,  since 
the  major  part  of  the  knights  and  the  grand  master  of  the  order 
are  French. 

"  After  the  port  of  Alexandria  shall  have  been  taken  by  a 
coup-de-main  (which  cannot  fail  of  succeeding),  the  coasts  of 
Syria,  as  well  as  the  isles  of  Cyprus  an^l  Candia,  will  necessarily 
fall,  provided  that  the  Turks  are  not  able  to  undertake  anything 
by  sea  to  oppose  it." 

The  memorial  of  Leibnitz  then  rejects  all  fear  of  the  insalu- 
brity of  the  climate  of  Egypt ;  he  expatiates  upon  the  healthy 
qualities  of  the  waters  of  the  Nile,  gives  dietic  rules,  recom- 
mends abstinence  from  wine,  and  points  out  the  variations  in 
the  weather  in  the  different  months  of  the  year. 

Then  he  speaks  of  the  saltpetre  which  Egypt  produces  in  such 
abundance,  and  continues  :  "  The  means  of  the  natural  defences 
of  Egypt  are  the  deserts  and  seas  that  surround  it,  and  the 
Nile  ;  its  artificial  means  are  its  castles  and  its  cities.  The  sea 
and  the  Nile,  far  from  injuring,  facilitate  the  employment  of 
naval  forces,  and  the  deserts  will  interrupt  communications  with 
the  other  parts  of  the  Ottoman  empire,  and  will  prevent  the 
Turks  from  throwing  imposing  succours  into  the  Egyptian  ter- 
ritory. The  strong  places  are  either  upon  the  Red  Sea  or  upon 
the  Mediterranean."  Here  Leibnitz  describes  Alexandria,  B,o- 
setta,  and  Damietta,  with  the  Bozag,  pointing  out  the  weakness 
of  these  places.  "  The  coast  of  the  Jled  Sea  is  still  more  neg- 
lected, and  would  fail  quickly  into  the  power  of  a  Portuguese 
fleet,  acting  in  concert  with  a  French  force  from  Madagascar ; " 
for  Leibnitz  supposes  that  the  Portuguese  would  be  more  dis- 
posed to  second  the  views  of  the  French  than  to  oppose  them. 

The  memorial  describes  very  minutely  the  Arabian  Gulf  and 
the  Strait  of  Bab-el-Mandel ;  he  affirms  that  all  places  on  the 
coast  want  fortifications ;  he  speaks  particularly  of  Suez,  Cos- 
sier,  Souakem,  and  at  length  of  Cairo,  which  would  not  offer, 
any  more  than  the  rest,  a  strong  resistance. 

"  Could  the  resistance  of  Cairo,"  says  Leibnitz,  "  alone  prevent 
France  from  raising  itself  above  all  glory  past  or  present?  It 
would  be  disgraceful  for  so  powerful  a  nation,  when  engaged  in 
such  a  mighty  enterprise,  to  entertain  a  moment's  doubt  of  final 
success  in  presence  of  this  last  obstacle.  For  France  woi^d 
not  be  fighting  then  for  either  Dunkirk  or  Gravelines,  or  for 
Maastricht ;  uut  for  the  dominion  of  the  seas,  for  the  empire  of 


APPENDIX.  485 

the  East,  for  the  overthrow  of  the  Port,  and  for  universal  6U 
premacy ; — all  results  from  the  conquest  of  Egypt." 

Then  follow  some  geographical  details  upon  the  coast  of 
Syria,  and  the  ports  and  cities  of  that  country  ;  that  is  to  say, 
El-Aresch,  Byblos,  Tripoli,  Alexandretta,  Aleppo,  and  Damascus 

"  Alexandretta  commands  the  defiles  of  Cilicia.  By  the  pos 
session  of  this  place,  an  army  marching  from  Asia  Minor  upon 
Palestine  could  be  forced  to  make  a  long  and  painful  circuit, 
across  a  country  half  desert,  and  across  portions  of  Cilicia, 
Armenia,  and  Mesopotamia. 

"  Aleppo  and  Damascus  are  the  only  cities  capable  of  resisting 
for  a  moment  our  ulterior  operations  after  the  reduction  of 
Cairo.  Although  they  are  distant  from  the  sea,  they  must  be 
secured,  since  then  we  shall  command  all  the  country  on  this 
side  of  Mount  Amanus. 

"  The  Turks  may,  it  is  true,  if  they  are  warned,  place  reinforce- 
ments in  Egypt,  and  even  fortify  Alexandria  and  render  Egypt 
nearly  inaccessible.  It  will  therefore  be  essential  to  preserve 
the  most  profound  secrecy  upon  the  project,  and  accelerate  the 
departure  of  the  armament  for  its  destination.  When  the  expe- 
dition shall  be  once  made,  it  will  be  no  longer  in  the  power  of 
the  Turks  to  place  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  its  success,  since 
the  departure  of  so  formidable  a  fleet  will  give  alarm  for  the 
seat  of  government  itself.  Under  this  point  of  view  it  will  be 
even  useful  to  spread  a  report  that  it  is  in  fact  destined  against 
Constantinople,  in  order  that  the  Port  should  unite  and  concen- 
trate, for  the  protection  of  the  capital,  its  divided  forces,  and  thus 
render  the  distant  provinces  the  weaker.  The  French  army 
being  thus  suddenly  thrown  into  Egypt,  it  would  require  six 
months  for  the  Turks  to  assemble  an  equal  force,  or  even  a 
much  longer  time,  if  Turkey  were  at  the  same  time  engaged  in 
a  Polish  or  Hungarian  war.  Moreover,  as  soon  as  the  expe- 
dition should  have  succeeded,  Persia,  which  cannot  declare  itself 
upon  our  promises  alone,  will  not  fail  to  rise  likewise.  And  if 
the  expedition  took  place  in  that  season  of  the  year  which, 
according  to  the  opinion  of  experienced  persons,  would  appear 
the  most  suitable,  it  would  be  absolutely  impossible  for  the 
Turks  to  arrive  in  any  useful  time,  if  even  they  had  100,000 
disposable  forces  ;  because  Egypt  would  be  then  inundated  with 
the  waters  of  the  Nile,  in  which  our  fleet  would  dominate  ;  and 
because  the  Turkish  army  could  not  set  out  on  its  march  before 
the  following  winter.  &c. 

"  Suppose  now  that  Egypt  should  be  in  our  power,  and,  which 
is  not  at  all  improbable,  the  Turks  should  find  themselves  at 
peace  with  all  their  neighbours,  that  there  should  be  no  trouble 
among  themselves,  and  that  they  should  be  in  a  condition  tc 


§86  APPENDIX. 

advance  with  100,000  effective  men ;  suppose,  on  the  other  side, 
that  we  were  only  able  to  oppose  this  force  with  30,000  men, 
since  we  must  leave  20,000  behind,  to  maintain  our  position  in 
Egypt,  and  reduce  the  places  not  yet  subdued :  I  affirm  that 
these  30,000  men  would  be  sufficient  to  repulse  the  Turks :  let 
us  add,  that  if  measures  be  well  taken,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
considerable  reinforcements  might  arrive  from  Europe,  and  that 
the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Port,  as  well  as  the  natives,  would 
flock  eagerly  to  range  themselves  under  our  fanners.  But  sup- 
pose our  force  did  not  exceed  30,000  men,  this  troop  would 
be  perfectly  in  a  state  to  resist  the  Turks  by  two  different 
manoeuvres,  whether  by  waiting  for  them  in  the  plains  of  Egypt, 
between  Suez  and  Cairo ;  or  whether  in  marching  forward  to 
meet  them  in  Arabia  Petra?a,  between  Gaza  and  the  mountains, 
or  in  Syria  between  Alexandretta  and  Mount  Amanus,  called 
now  the  mount  of  Scanderoun,  or  El  Lucan. 

"  There  are  in  Arabia  Petraea  three  narrow  defiles,  through 
which  the  caravans  pass  on  their  way  from  Egypt  into  Asia. 
One  of  these  defiles  is  on  the  right,  when  we  are  coming  from 
Egypt,  and  leads  to  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Red  Sea ;  another 
passage  is  on  the  left,  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean, — it 
leads  into  Palestine  and  Syria ;  the  third,  situated  between  the 
two  preceding  ones,  comes  out  at  Mount  Horeb,  and  at  the 
monastery  of  St.  Catherine.  The  two  first  passages  lead  into 
Arabia,  where  no  army  could  penetrate  without  great  difficulty. 
There  only  remains  then  the  third  route,  which  goes  from  Egypt 
into  Palestine,  across  Idumea.  But  this  passage  is  so  narrowed 
on  one  side  by  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  on  the  other  by  the 
foot  of  the  mountains  of  Arabia  Petrsea,  that  the  sultan  of  Egypt 
would  easily  have  expelled  the  army  of  Selim  from  his  country, 
if  he  had  taken  care  to  secure  the  passage  between  Syria  and 
Cilicia :  it  was  by  neglecting  this  precaution  that  Darius  very 
much  facilitated  the  conquest  of  Asia  by  Alexander.  If  the 
sultan  of  the  Mamelukes,  abandoning  Palestine,  had  taken  up  a 
position  in  the  narrow  strait  near  Gaza,  or  near  Sihor  (called  in 
Scripture  the  river  of  Egypt),  which  is  a  species  of  hollow  ravine, 
running  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea,  and  if  he  had  there 
awaited  his  enemy,  it  is  certain  that  in  that  position,  30,000 
men  would  have  been  able  to  resist  hundreds  of  thousands. 

"  Suppose  the  Turks  were  able  to  force  not  only  the  passage 
of  Alexandretta,  but  likewise  that  of  Gaza,  they  yet  could  not 
recover  Egypt;  for,  in  this  case,  our  army  would  keep  in  its 
rear  the  Nile  and  a  very  fertile  country,  whilst  the  enemy 
would  have  nothing  in  their  rear  but  the  deserts  of  Arabia.  Ana 
if,  in  this  position,  we  were  to  avoid  a  pitched  battle,  which 
would  be  easy  from  the  nature  of  the  country,  the  Turkish 


APPENDIX.  487 

army  would  necessarily  waste  away,  and  would  be  forced,  by 
*-ant  of  provisions,  to  retire  into  Syria,  and  leave  us  in  the 
tranquil  enjoyment  of  our  conquests." 

Leibnitz  brings  several  historical  facts  to  the  support  of  his 
opinion  ;  he  proves  that  the  Turks  are  much  less  formidable, 
less  warlike,  less  numerous  than  they  formerly  were  ;  he  enters 
into  details  upon  the  seraglio,  the  revenues,  and  the  military  and 
maritime  establishments  of  the  Ottoman  empire. 

The  author  assigns  reasons  for  hoping  that,  after  the  first  news 
of  the  success  of  Louis  XIV.,  there  would  ensue  partial  revolts, 
and  then  a  general  insurrection  of  the  pachas,  the  civil  func- 
tionaries, the  soldiers,  the  Christians,  and  finally  of  the  whole 
people.  "  I  venture  to  atiirm,"  says  he,  "  that  all  the  subjects  of 
the  Ottoman  empire  are  unhappy,  discontented,  anxious  for 
change,  and  that  at  this  moment  they  are  only  restrained  by  the 
disheartening  remembrance  of  their  former  attempts  to  throw  off 
the  yoke. 

"  A  French  author,  very  well  acquainted  with  the  affairs  of 
Turkey,  and  who  is  surprised  that  an  empire  so  constituted  sub- 
sists so  long,  forms  the  conjecture  that  God,  '  who  does  every- 
thing for  the  best,  had  raised  and  sustained  this  powerful  nation 
for  the  good  of  his  Church,  and  to  punish  Christians  for  their 
sins  and  vices ;'  but  I,"  continues  Liebnitz, — "  I  am  convinced  that 
the  time  approaches  in  which  the  Omnipotent  will  visit  his 
people,  in  which  the  fury  of  barbarians  will  be  at  an  end,  in 
which  a  far  happier  epoch  will  open  on  the  Christian  world. 
Much  might  be  said  with  regard  to  prophecies  ;  upon  periods  in 
human  affairs  ;  upon  the  inevitable  catastrophes  of  empires ; 
even  upon  the  traditions  of  the  Turks  themselves,  which  make 
them  look  for  their  destruction  from  a  country  between  two 
seas.  This  prediction  has  been  commonly  applied  to  Constanti- 
nople, and  sometimes  to  the  Morea  j  but  no  one  has  hitherto 
thought  of  Egypt. 

"  Let  us,  however,  without  presuming  to  penetrate  the  secrets 
of  destiny,  draw  our  conclusions  from  the  ordinary  course  of 
affairs.  It  is  notorious  that  the  Sultan  has  entirely  lost,  in  the 
opinion  of  his  subjects,  his  character  of  inviolability,  and  this 
circumstance  must  necessarily  facilitate  his  defeat." 

All  that  follows  this  is  but  a  picture  of  the  disorder  which 
reigns  in  the  political  organization  of  the  Turkish  empire. 
Therefore,  Leibnitz  thinks  that  the  conquest  of  Egypt  would 
shake  the  Port  to  its  foundation.  He  adds :  "  Audaciter  dico, 
jiagrablt  Turcia  seditionibus,  si  volumus  ;  and  if  the  Port  were 
at  the  same  time  engaged  in  a  war  with  Poland  or  Hungary, 
jam  ruina  ipsa,"  says  he,  "  et  totius  corporis  paralysis  univer* 
talis  indubitata  est." 


488  APPENDIX. 


No.  39. 
Capitulations  between  France  and  the  Ottorx&n  Port. 

Francis  I.  was  the  first  of  our  kings  who  made  treaties  with 
the  Port.  He  obtained  in  1535,  from  Soliman  the  Canonist,  the 
first  capitulations  in  favour  of  commerce  and  of  the  Catholic 
religion,  in  the  states  of  the  Grand  Seignor ;  in  1604,  Henry  IV. 
obtained  from  the  Sultan  Ahmid  I.  the  renewal  of  them  with 
some  additions  ;  in  1675  they  were  renewed  and  augmented 
under  the  reign  of  the  Sultan  Mehemed  IV.,  at  the  demand  of 
Louis  XIV. ;  in  1740,  Louis  XV.  obtained  from  the  Sultan 
Mahmoud  the  renewal  of  the  ancient  treaties,  with  considerable 
additions. 

France  has  had  since  that  period  other  negotiations  with  the 
Port ;  but  these  negotiations  have  not  produced  any  treaty,  the 
dispositions  of  which  are  either  new  or  important.  The  docu- 
ments necessary  for  the  history  of  the  relations  of  France  with 
the  Ottoman  empire  have  always  been  carefully  preserved  in  the 
chancery  of  the  French  embassy  at  Constantinople.  It  is  there 
we  must  search  for  exact  notices  to  add  to  that  which  we  have 
been  able  to  advance  upon  this  question. 

We  will  give,  from  these  capitulations,  as  much  as  particularly 
concerns  the  subject  of  our  history,  or  which  may  throw  a  light 
upon  the  Ottoman  policy. 

"  The  Emperor  Sultan  Mahmoud,  son  of  Sultan  Moustapha, 
ever  victorious.* 

"  Here  is  that  which  ordains  this  glorious  and  imperial  signa- 
ture, conqueror  of  the  world,  this  noble  and  sublime  mark, 
whose  efficacy  proceeds  from  divine  aid. 

"  I,  who  by  the  excellence  of  the  favours  of  the  Most  High,  and 
by  the  eminence  of  the  miracles  filled  with  blessings  from  the 
chief  of  the  prophets  (to  whom  be  the  most  ample  salutations,  as 
well  as  to  his  family  and  his  companions),  am  the  Sultan  of 
glorious  sultans,  the  emperor  of  puissant  emperors,  the  distri- 
butor of  crowns  to  the  Cosroes,  who  are  seated  on  thrones,  the 
shadow  of  God  upon  earth,  the  servant  of  the  two  illustrious 
cities  of  Mecca  and  Medina,  august  and  holy  places,  to  which 
Mussulmans  address  their  vows  ;  the  protector  and  master  of  the 
holy  Jerusalem  ;  the  sovereign  of  the  three  great  cities  of  Con- 
stantinople, Adrianople,  and  Broussa,  as  well  as  of  Damascus, 
the  odour  of  Paradise  ;  of  Tripoli,  of  Syria,  of  Egypt,  the  wondei 

*  Words  intertwined  with  the  letters  of  the  cipher  of  the  Grand  Seignor. 


APPENDIX.  189 

of  ages,  and  renowned  for  its  delights  ;  of  all  Arabia  ;  of  Africa, 
of  Cairovan,  of  Aleppo,  of  Irak,  Arab,  and  Adgen  ;  of  Bassora. 
j>f  Lahra,  of  Dilem,  and  particularly  of  Bagdad,  capital  of  till, 
caliphs;  of  Rakka,  of  Mossoul,  of  Chehregour,  of  Diarbeker,  of 
Zulkadric,  of  Ergerum  the  Delightful ;  of  Sebarta,  of  Adana,  of 
Caramenia,  of  Kars,  of  Ichidder,  of  Van,  of  the  ieles  of  the 
Morea,  of  Candia,  of  Cyprus,  Chio,  and  Rhodes  ;  of  Barbary,  of 
Ethiopia ;  of  the  places  of  war,  Algiers,  Tripoli,  and  Tunis ;  of 
the  isies  and  the  coasts  of  the  White  Sea  and  of  the  Black  Sea ; 
of  the  countries  of  Natolia,  and  the  kingdom  of  Eomelia  ;  of  all 
Kurdestan,  of  Greece,  of  Turkomania,  of  Tartary,  of  Circa9sia, 
of  Cabarta,  and  of  Georgia ;  of  the  noble  tribes  of  the  Tartars, 
and  of  all  the  hordes  which  depend  upon  them ;  of  Caffa,  and 
other  surrounding  places  ;  of  all  Bosnia  and  its  dependencies  ;  of 
the  fortress  of  Belgrade,  a  place  of  war ;  of  Servia,  as  well  as  of 
the  fortresses  and  castles  existing  in  it ;  of  the  countries  of 
Albania,  of  all  Wallachia,  of  Moldavia,  and  of  the  forts  and  holds 
which  are  in  these  cantons ;  possessor  besides  of  a  number  of 
cities  and  fortresses,  of  which  it  is  superfluous  to  repeat  or 
boast  the  names.  I,  who  am  emperor,  asylum  of  justice  and 
king  of  kings,  the  centre  of  victory,  Sultan,  son  of  the  Sultan, 
Emperor  Mahmoud  the  conqueror,  son  of  Sultan  Mustafa,  son  of 
Sultan  Muhammed :  I,  who  by  by  my  power,  the  origin  of 
facility,  am  adorned  with  the  title  of  emperor  of  the  two  lands, 
and  as  a  crowning  grandeur  to  my  caliphate,  am  illustrated  by 
the  title  o^  emperor  of  the  two  seas. 

"  The  glory  of  the  great  princes  of  the  faith  of  Jesus,  the  elect 
of  the  great  and  the  magnificent  of  the  religion  of  the  Messiah, 
the  arbitrator  and  mediator  in  the  affairs  of  Christian  nations, 
clothed  with  true  marks  of  dignity  and  honour,  filled  with  gran- 
deur, with  glory  and  majesty,  the  emperor  of  France,  and  of 
other  vast  kingdoms  which  depend  upon  it,  our  very  magnificent, 
very  honoured,  sincere,  and  ancient  friend,  Louis  XV.,  to  whom 
God  grant  all  success  and  felicity,  having  sent  to  our  august 
court,  which  is  the  seat  of  the  caliphate,  a  letter  containing 
evidences  of  the  most  perfect  sincerity,  and  of  the  most  particu- 
lar affection,  candour,  and  uprightness,  and  the  same  letter 
being  destined  for  our  Sublime  Port  of  felicity,  which,  by  the 
infinite  goodness  of  the  incontestably  majestic  Supreme  Being, 
is  the  abode  of  sultans  the  most  magnificent,  of  emperors  the 
most  respectable  ;  the  model  of  Christian  nobles,  skilful,  pru- 
dent, esteemed,  and  honoured  minister,  Louis  Sauveur,  marquis 
de  Villeneuve,  your  present  counsellor  of  state,  and  your  am- 
bassador to  our  Port  of  felicity  (may  the  end  of  which  be  crowned 
with  good  fortune),  having  demanded  permission  to  present  and 
remit  the  said  letter,  which  has  been  granted  to   him  by  oui 


490  APPENDIX. 

imperial  consent,  conformably  with  the  ancieri  usages  of  ouf 
court ;  and  consequently  the  said  ambassador  having  been 
admitted  to  the  foot  of  our  imperial  throne,  surrounded  with  the 
light  of  glory,  he  has  there  delivered  the  said  letter,  and  has 
been  the  representative  of  your  majesty,  in  participating  our  im- 
perial grace  and  favour ;  ;he  translation  of  its  friendly  tenor  was 
afterwards  presented  and  reported,  according  to  the  ancient 
customs  of  the  Ottomans,  at  the  foot  of  our  sublime  throne,  by 
the  channel  of  the  very  honoured  Elhadjy  Mehemed  Pacha,  our 
first  minister,  the  absolute  interpreter  of  our  ordinances,  tht 
ornament  of  the  world,  the  support  of  the  good  order  of  nations, 
the  orderer  of  the  grades  of  our  empire,  the  instrument  of  the 
glory  of  our  crown,  the  channel  for  the  favours  of  royal  majesty, 
the  very  virtuous  Grand  Vizier,  my  venerable  and  fortunate 
minister  and  lieutenant-general,  of  whose  power  and  prosperity 
may  God  perpetuate  the  triumph ! 

"  A.nd  as  the  expressions  of  this  friendly  letter  make  known  the 
desire  and  eagerness  of  your  majesty  to  preserve,  as  heretofore, 
all  the  honours  and  ancient  friendsip,  hitherto  maintained  from 
time  immemorial  between  our  glorious  ancestors  (may  the  light 
of  God  be  upon  them),  and  the  very  magnificent  emperors  of 
France ;  and  as  in  the  said  letter  there  is  question,  in  considera- 
tion of  the  sincere  friendship  and  the  particular  attachment  that 
France  has  always  evinced  towards  our  imperial  house,  again  to 
renew,  during  the  happy  period  of  our  glorious  reign,  and  to 
strengthen  and  enlighten,  by  the  addition  of  some  articles,  the 
imperial  capitulations,  already  renewed  in  the  year  of  the 
Hegyra  1084,  under  the  reign  of  the  late  Sultan  Mehemed,  our 
august  grandfather,  noble  and  generous  during  his  life,  and 
happy  in  his  death  ;  which  capitulations  had  for  object,  that  the 
ambassadors,  consuls,  interpreters,  merchants,  and  other  subjects 
of  France,  should  be  protected  and  maintained  in  all  peace  and 
tranquillity*  and  it  has  at  length  arrived  at  our  imperial  know- 
ledge that  these  points  have  been  conferred  upon  by  the  said 
ambassador  and  the  minister  of  the  Sublime  Port :  the  founda- 
tions of  the  friendship  which,  from  time  immemorial.,  has  sub- 
sisted with  firmness  between  the  court  of  France  and  our  Sub- 
lime Port,  and  the  convincing  proofs  which  your  majesty  has 
given  of  it,  particularly  during  our  glorious  reign,  giving  reason 
to  hope  that  the  ties  of  such  a  friendship  can  only  be  drawn 
closer,  and  become  stronger  from  day  to  day  ;  these  motives 
have  inspired  us  with  sentiments  conformable  with  your  desires  ; 
and  wishing  to  procure  activity  in   commerce,  and  security  to 

*  This  passage  being  the  basis  of  all  the  privileges  of  the  Freach  in 
Turkey,  it  often  serves  as  a  motive  in  the  requests  of  ambassadors,  and  sj 
a  fou»  dation  for  the  firmans  of  the  Grand  Seignor. 


ArPENDIX.  49i 

goers  and  comers,  which  are  the  fruits  such  a  friendship  ought  to 
produce  ;  we  not  only  confirm  by  these  presents  in  their  full  ex- 
tent, the  ancient  and  renewed  capitulations,  as  well  as  the  articles 
concerted  at  the  above  date,  but  to  procure  more  ease  for  our 
merchants  and  greater  vigour  in  commerce,  we  have  granted 
them  exemption  from  the  right  of  Mezeterie,  which  they  have 
paid  at  all  times,  as  well  as  several  other  points  concerning  com- 
merce, and  the  safety  of  comers  and  goers,  which  have  been 
discussed,  treated  of,  and  regulated,  in  good  and  due  form,  in 
the  divers  conferences  which  have  been  held  upon  the  subject, 
between  the  said  ambassador,  furnished  with  sufficient  power, 
and  the  persons  deputed  on  the  part  of  our  Sublime  Port. 
After  the  entire  conclusion  of  all,  my  supreme  and  absolute 
Grand  Vizier,  having  rendered  an  account  of  it  to  our  imperial 
Stirrup,  and  it  being  our  will  to  show  specially  on  this  occasion 
the  value  and  esteem  that  we  entertain  for  the  ancient  and  con- 
stant friendship  of  the  emperor  of  France,  who  has  just  given  us 
fresh  and  particular  marks  of  the  sincerity  of  his  heart,  we  have 
granted  our  sign  imperial  for  the  execution  of  the  articles  newly- 
concluded,  and  consequently  of  the  ancient  and  renewed  capi- 
tulations ;  having  been  transcribed  and  reported  exactly,  word 
for  word  from  the  commencement,  and  followed  by  the  articles 
newly  regulated  and  granted  ;  these  present  imperial  capitula- 
tions have  been  placed  and  consigned,  in  the  above-said  order, 
in  the  hands  of  the  aforesaid  ambassador." 

Articles  32,  33,  34,  35,  and  36  of  the  capitulations  contain 
what  follows: — "As  inimical  nations,  who  have  no  positive  ambas- 
sadors at  my  Port  of  felicity,  formerly  went  and  came  in  our 
states,  under  the  banner  of  the  emperor  of  France,  whether  for 
commerce,  whether  for  pilgrimage,  according  to  the  imperial 
permission  they  had  had  for  it  under  the  reigns  of  our  ancestors 
of  glorious  memory,  as  likewise  it  was  granted  by  the  ancient 
capitulations  accorded  to  the  French  :  and  as  afterwards,  for  cer- 
tain reasons,  the  entrance  to  our  states  was  positively  prohibited 
to  these  same  nations,  and  they  were  even  withdrawn  from  the 
said  capitulations  ;  nevertheless,  the  emperor  of  France  having 
evinced  by  the  letter  he  has  sent  to  our  Port  of  felici  y,  that  he 
should  wish  that  the  inimical  nations,  to  whom  trading  in  our 
states  has  been  forbidden,  might  have  liberty  to  come  and  go  to 
Jerusalem,  in  the  same  manner  as  they  were  accustomed  to  go 
and  come,  without  being  in  any  way  interrupted  ;  and  that  if 
consequently  it  were  permitted  them  to  come  and  traffic  in  our 
states,  it  should  be  under  the  banner  of  France,  as  formerly,  the 
demand  of  the  emperor  of  France  has  been  complied  with,  in 
consideration  of  the  ancient  friendship,  which  from  the  times  of 
my  glorious  arcestors  has  subsisted,  from  father  to  son,  between 


492  APPENDIX. 

your  majesty  and  the  Sublime  Port,  and  we  have  issued  an  impe- 
rial edict,  of  which  the  following  is  the  tenor  ; — That  the  Chris- 
tian and  inimical  nations  which  are  at  peace  with  the  emperor  of 
France,  and  who  shall  desire  to  visit  Jerusalem,  may  go  thither 
and  return,  within  the  boundaries  of  their  state,  in  the  customary 
manner,  and  in  full  liberty  and  security,  without  any  person 
causing  them  trouble  or  impediment ;  and  if  it  should  afterwards 
prove  convenient  to  grant  to  the  said  nations  the  liberty  of 
trading  in  our  states,  they  will  then  go  and  come  under  the 
banner  of  the  emperor  of  France  as  formerly,  without  being 
allowed  to  go  and  come  under  any  other  banner. 

"  The  ancient  imperial  capitulations,  which  have  been  in  the 
hands  of  the  French  since  the  reigns  of  my  magnificent  ancestors 
to  the  present  day,  and  which  have  just  been  reported  in  detail 
above,  having  been  now  renewed  with  an  addition  of  some  new 
articles,  conformably  with  the  imperial  order,  issued  in  virtue  of 
my  khatt-cherif ;  the  first  of  these  articles  declares,  that  the 
bishops  dependent  upon  France,  and  the  other  ecclesiastics  who 
profess  the  French  religion,  of  whatever  nation  or  race  they  may 
be,  as  long  as  they  shall  keep  within  the  limits  of  their  state, 
shall  not  be  troubled  in  the  exercise  of  their  functions  in  those 
parts  of  our  empire  where  they  have  been  long  settled. 

"  The  French  ecclesiastics  who,  according  to  ancient  custom, 
are  established  within  and  without  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  in  the 
church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  called  Kamama,  shall  not  be 
disturbed  in  the  places  of  visitation  which  they  inhabit,  and 
which  are  in  their  hands,  which  shall  remain  still  in  their  hands 
as  formerly,  without  being  disturbed  in  that  respect,  or  by  the 
imposition  of  tributes  ;  and  should  any  dispute  arise,  which 
cannot  be  decided  on  the  spot,  it  shall  be  sent  to  my  Sublime 
Port. 

"  The  French,  or  those  who  depend  upon  them,  of  whatever 
nation  or  quality  they  may  be,  who  desire  to  go  to  Jerusalem, 
shall  not  be  molested  either  in  going  or  returning. 

"  The  two  religious  orders  which  are  at  Galata,  that  is  to  say, 
the  Jesuits  and  the  Capuchins,  having  two  churches  there,  which 
have  been  in  their  hands  ab  antiquo,  they  shall  remain  in  their 
hands,  and  they  shall  retain  the  possession  and  the  advantages 
of  them :  and  as  one  of  these  churches  has  been  burnt,  it  shall 
be  rebuilt  as  justice  requires,  and  it  shall  remain,  as  formerly,  in 
the  hands  of  the  Capuchins,  without  molestation  or  disturbance. 
There  shall  be  no  uneasiness  entertained  with  regard  to  the 
ehurches  the  French  have  at  Smyrna,  Seyda,  Alexandria,  and 
other  JSchelles ;  and  no  money  shall  be  required  of  them  under 
any  pretence. 

"  The  French  shall  not  be  disturbed,  when,  within  the  boundi 


APPENDIX.  493 

of  their  own  quarter,  they  read  the  Gospe  in  their  hospital  of 
Galata." 

Several  of  these  dispositions  not  having  been  strictly  executed, 
the  Port  renewed  them  in  1740  ;  this  is  the  renewal,  as  it  is  ex- 
pjessed  in  article  82. 

"  When  the  places,  of  which  the  ecclesiastics  dependent  upon 
France  have  possession  at  Jerusalem,  as  has  been  mentioned  in 
the  articles  solemnly  granted  and  now  renewed,  shall  be  in  want 
of  repair,  to  prevent  the  ruin  to  which  they  would  be  exposed 
by  the  course  of  time,  it  shall  be  permitted  to  grant,  at  the 
request  of  the  ambassador  of  France,  residing  at  my  Port  or 
felicity,  orders  for  their  being  repaired  in  a  way  conformable  to 
justice ;  and  the  cadis,  commandants,  and  other  officers,  shall 
not  be  allowed  to  throw  any  impediment  in  the  way  of  the 
things  granted  by  order ;  and  as  it  has  happened  that  our  officers, 
under  pretext  of  having  made  secret  repairs  in  the  said  places, 
made  many  visits  in  the  course  of  the  year,  and  extorted  money 
from  the  ecclesiastics,  we  command  that,  on  the  part  of  the 
cadis,  commandants,  and  other  officers  who  may  be  there,  there 
shall  be  only  one  visit  made  in  the  year  to  the  church  of  the 
place  that  is  called  the  Sepulchre  of  Jesus  ;  and  the  same  in  the 
other  churches  and  places  of  visitation.  The  bishop  and  eccle- 
siastics dependent  upon  the  emperor  of  France,  who  are  in  my 
empire,  shall  be  protected  as  long  as  they  confine  themselves  to 
the  limits  of  their  own  state,  and  nobody  shall  prevent  them 
f»om  performing  their  rites  according  to  their  own  customs,  in 
the  churches  which  are  in  their  hands,  as  well  as  in  the  other 
places  in  which  they  dwell:  and  when  our  tributary  subjects 
and  the  French  shall  go  and  come  among  one  another,  for  the 
purpose  of  buying,  selling,  or  other  affairs,  they  shall  not  be 
molested,  against  the  same  laws,  on  account  of  this  intercourse ; 
and  as  it  is  decreed  in  the  preceding  stipulated  articles  that  they 
shall  be  allowed  to  read  the  Scriptures  in  the  hospital  of  Galata, 
and  this  has,  nevertheless,  not  been  done,  we  order,  that  in 
whatever  place  that  hospital  may  for  the  future  be,  in  a  juridical 
form,  they  may  be  allowed  to  read  the  Scripture  there,  as  is  their 
duty,  without  any  inquietude  upon  the  subject." 

The  capitulations  or  treaties  with  the  Port  are  too  extensive 
to  allow  us  to  give  them  entirely  here.  The  articles,  which 
amount  to  eighty-five,  regulate  the  rights  of  persons  and  the 
commercial  privileges  of  which  the  Port  has  granted  the  enjoy- 
ment to  all  the  French  established  or  travelling  in  the  countries 
of  its  domination ;  they  regulate  also  the  diplomatic  relations 
between  the  two  powers,  and  the  prerogatrv  es  of  the  ambas- 
sadors of  the  king  of  France. 


494  APPENDIX. 


No.  40. 


Noit  b$  M.  Raynouard  upon  the  Work  by  M.  Hammer,  entit'.od  Mysterhna 
Baphometi  Revelatum,  etc. 

Since  the  proscription  of  the  knights  of  the  Temple  and  the 
abolition  of  the  order,  five  hundred  years  had  passed  away, 
when  accusations,  evidences,  and  judgments,  were  again  sub- 
mitted to  the  revision  of  history  ; — the  renown  of  the  order  and 
the  memory  of  the  knights  are  again  reestablished  in  the  opinion 
of  impartial  persons 

A  new  adversary  of  the  Templars  presented  himself,  and 
setting  aside  the  accusations  which  contemporary  persecutors 
had  imagined,  invented  other  crimes.  In  spite  of  the  interval 
of  time,  he  boasted  of  being  able  to  produce  material  proofs : 
"  There  is  no  need  of  words,"  says  M.  Hammer,  "  when  stones 
serve  as  witnesses." 

What  are  these  monuments  with  which  the  persons  who  pre- 
pared and  achieved  the  ruin  of  the  Templars  were  unacquainted, 
or  which  they  neglected  ?  How  did  they  escape  the  industrious 
perquisitions  of  the  envy,  hatred,  and  sagacity  of  the  inquisitors  ? 
Why  did  not  the  divers  apostates,  who,  from  ambition  or  fear, 
gave  evidence  against  the  order,  point  out  monuments  which 
then  would  have  been  more  numerous  and  more  striking,  and 
whose  existence  might  have  justified  their  shameful  desertion? 
And  when  the  churches  and  houses  of  the  Templars  were  occu- 
pied by  successors  who  had  so  much  interest  in  procuring  pardon 
for  the  rigour  of  the  spoliation,  how  was  it  that  none  of  these 
successors  discovered  these  material  proofs,  which,  according  to 
M.  Hammer,  proclaim  to  the  present  day  the  apostasy  of  the 
Templars  ? 

The  work  of  this  scholar  is  entitled,  Le  Mystere  du  Bap  hornet 
revele ;  or,  the  Brothers  of  the  Military  Order  of  the  Temple 
convicted,  by  their  own  Memorials,  of  sharing  the  Apostasy, 
Idolatry,  and  Impiety  of  the  Gnostics,  and  ever,  Sfthe  Ophianites. 

The  following  contains  the  exposition,  the  analysis,  and  the 
recapitulation  of  M.  Hammer. 

"  We  read,  in  the  procedure  undertaken  against  the  order  or 
the  Temple,  that  the  knights  worshipped  an  idol  of  Bafomet 
form — in  figuram  Bafometi*     The  decomposition  of  this  word 

*  Much  more  is  wanting  to  show  that  the  informations  received  against 
the  Templars  furnished  either  moral  or  legal  proof  of  the  existence  of  the 
Bafometic  figures.  The  act  of  accusation  says  not  one  word  of  it.  Thera 
is  no  mention  of  it  in  the  great  procedure  instituted  at  Paiis,  or  in  th« 


APPENDIX.  495 

furnishes  bafo  and  meti.  Bafo,  in  Greek,  signifies  dyeing,  or 
dipping,  and,  by  extension,  baptism;  meti,  signifies  spirit. 
The  Bafomet  of  the  Templars  was  then  the  baptism  of  the  spirit 
' — the  Gnostic  baptism,  which  was  not  performed  by  the  waters 
of  redemption,  but  which  was  a  spiritual  lustration  by  fire. 
Bafomet  signifies,  then,  the  illumination  of  the  spirit. 

"  As  the  Gnostics  had  furnished  the  Templars  with  Bafometic 
ideas  and  images,  the  word  meti  (metis)  became  venerated 
among  the  Templars  :  I  shall,  therefore,"  adds  M.  Hammer, 
"  furnish  proofs  of  this  decisive  circumstance. 

"  The  Gnostics  were  accused  of  infamous  vices.  The  metis 
was  represented  under  symbolical  forms,  principally  under  that 
of  serpents,  and  of  a  truncated  cross  in  the  shape  of  Tau — T. 

"  The  Gnostics,"  continues  M.  Hammer,  "  did  not  always 
employ  the  word  meti  in  their  monuments ;  they  likewise  made 
use  of  the  word  gnosis,  which  is  synonymous,  and  is  found 
among  the  Templars." 

Developing  his  system  of  accusation,  M.  Hammer  constantly 
maintains  that  it  is  proved  by  the  proceedings  instituted  against 
the  Templars,  that  they  adored  Bafometic  figures ;  he  produces 
medals  which  bear  these  pretended  Bafometic  figures,  and  par- 
ticularly some  medals  upon  which  may  be  read,  meti,  with  a 
trincated  cross,*  and  others  which  represent  a  temple,  with  the 
legend.  Sanctissima  Quinosis,  that  is  to  say,  Gnosis.  He  indi- 
cates likewise  Gnostic  vases  and  chalices  ;  and  attributing  them 
to  the  Templars,  advances,  that  the  romance  of  the  Saint  Graal, 
or  holy  cup,  is  a  symbolic  romance,  which  at  the  same  time 
conceals  and  proves  the  apostasy  of  the  knights ;  and  believes 
that  he  recognises  in  churches  which  formerly  belonged  to  the 
Templars,  or  which  he  pretends  to  have  belonged  to  them,  Bafo- 
metic figures,  and  Gnostic  and  ophitic  symbols. 

M.  Hammer  expends  much  erudition  in  describing  the  various 

nu.nercus  depositions  of  the  witnesses  whom  the  inquisitor  and  the  com 
missaries  of  the  pope  questioned.  Of  the  six  witnesses  heard  at  Carcas- 
sonne, who  declared  that  an  idol  was  presented  to  them,  only  two  designated 
it  in  F^OURAM  Bafometi.  One,  Gaucerand  de  Montpesat,  when  brought 
to  Paris,  retracted  all  preceding  confession  ;  there  only  then  remained  one 
single  witness,  of  whose  ulterior  conduct  and  end  nothing  is  known.  It  is 
proved,  that  of  the  other  four  persons  interrogated  at  Carcassonne,  Jean 
Cassaubas  and  Peter  de  Mossi  retracted  their  first  deposition,  and  Jean 
Cassauhas  was  burnt  in  that  city. 

*  The  pretended  truncated  cross,  which  M.  Hammer  believed  he  recog- 
nised upon  the  medals,  which  otherwise  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  Tem- 
plars, is  nothing  but  the  effect  of  the  superposition  of  a  hand  upon  the  upper 
part  of  an  ordinary  cross  ;  this  hand,  which  holds  the  cross  by  the  top,  ia 
found  upon  many  medals  rnd  coins  which  M.  Hammer  himself  would  not 
dare  to  attribute  to  the  Templars 


496  APPENDIX, 

and  numerous  systems  which  preceded  and  produced  the  sect  of 
the  Gnostics ;  at  length  he  comes  to  the  Bafometic  figures ;  he 
produces  twenty-four  of  them,  which  appear  to  him  to  bear  the 
characters  of  the  Bafomet ;  they  are  covered  with  astrological 
signs  ;  many  are  encircled  by  a  serpent,  and  hold  this  cross  by  a 
handle,  which  was  called  key  of  the  Nile  by  the  Egyptians,  and 
which  has  been  considered  the  symbol  of  fecundity ;  they  bear 
inscriptions,  some  in  Latin,  some  in  Greek,  which  denote  nothing 
but  proper  names  ;  and  others  in  Arabic  would  be  unintelligible, 
if  we  had  not  the  means  of  comparing  them  with  those  upon  the 
vases.  The  principal  vase  bears  an  Arabic  inscription,  which  re- 
fers to  the  worship  of  a  divinity  named  Mete ;  it  has  the  title  of 
Teala — all-powerful,  and  ofNasch — producer.  M.  Hammer  pre- 
tends that  the  Mete  was  the  same  as  the  Sophia  and  Achamet  of 
the  various  sects  of  Gnostics. 

But  no  relation  presents  itself,  either  near  or  remote,  with  the 
Templars. 

It  was  M.  Nicolai  who,  in  a  German  work,  entitled,  An  Essay 
upon  the  Secret  of  the  Templars,  first  employed  this  word  Bafo- 
met, and  who  attached  to  it  the  idea  of  the  image  of  the  supreme 
God,  in  the  state  of  quietude  attributed  to  him  by  the  Mani- 
chean  Gnostics  ;  it  was  this  learned  man  who  first  supposed  that 
the  Templars  had  a  secret  doctrine  and  initiations  of  several 
grades ;  and  he  pretends  that  the  Saracens  had  communicated 
this  doctrine  to  them. 

In  order  to  destroy  all  these  systems,  it  is  sufficient  te  prove 
that  it  is  impossible  to  prove  that  the  word  Bafometi,  which  is 
reported  in  the  proceedings  against  the  Templars,  signified  any- 
thing but  Mahomet. 

M.  le  Baron  Sylvestre  de  Sacy  had  already  condemned  this 
explanation  of  M.  Hammer ;  and  if  the  latter  persisted  in  not 
recognising  in  Bafomet  the  name  of  Mahomet,  it  would  be  easy 
to  prove  to  him  that  authors  of  the  middle  ages  often  wrote 
Bafomet  for  Mahomet : — authorities  are  not  wanting. 

If  the  word  even  of  the  Bafometic  or  Gnostic  sect  does  not 
exist,  if  it  never  has  existed,  the  entire  system  is  without  a  basis. 

But  even  if  it  could  be  proved  that  a  Bafometic  sect  had 
existed,  if  we  were  in  possession  of  certain  details  upon  its 
opinions  and  mysteries,  how  could  M.  Hammer  prove  that  the 
Templars  belonged  to  this  sect  ? 

M.  Hammer  has  collected  and  caused  to  be  engraved  as  many 
as  a  hundred  medals  and  other  monuments  which  he  attributes 
to  the  Templars,  because  he  fancies  he  finds  upon  them  the  Mete 
and  the  Tau  of  the  Gnostics. 

The  medals  he  produces  are  not  even  proofs  of  the  existence 
of  a  sect  of  Gnostics  ;  and  even  if  this  existence  could  be  demon- 


APPENDIX.  49? 

grated.  Ihese  medals  and  these  monuments  being  entirely  foreign 
to  ihe  Templars,  why  should  they  be  applied  to  them?* 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  M.  Hammer  tries  to 
prove,  by  the  medals,  that  the  Templars  were  Gnostics,  I  will 
cite  only  these  upon  which  this  savant  fancies  he  reads  the  word 
Qvinosis  or  Gnosis. 

In  the  coin  80,  we  see,  according  to  M.  Hammer,  the  temple 
of  Jerusalem  with  four  towers;  the  inscription  is:  -\-  S.  S. 
SIMOON  JU  c^A;  but  reading  it  the  reverse  way,  and  beginning, 
not  by  the  final  A,  but  by  the  prostrate  d,  which  M.  Hammer 
has  taken  for  a  Q,  whilst  other  savants,  who  have  quoted  this 
medal,  have  thought  it  a  D,  he  reads  SSTA  QUINOMIS,  al- 
though there  is  no  T  in  the  inscription  ;  and  considering  the  M 
as  a  sigma  reversed,  M.  Hammer  has  found  Quinosis  ;  then 
Qui  into  G-,  and  only  making  a  single  O  of  the  two,  he  obtains 
Gnosis  ;  which,  according  to  his  account,  reveals  and  proves  the 
secret  of  the  Gnostic  Templars. 

M.  Hammer  not  only  reads  it  backwards,  but  he  begins  by 
the  penultimate  letter,  and  leaves  the  A,  after  which  is  a  + 
which  separates  the  beginning  of  the  inscription  from  its  end. 
He  adds  a  T,  and  supposes  a  Greek  letter  mixed  with  the  Latin 
inscription ;  and  yet,  after  all  these  changes,  he  cannot  produce 
the  word  Gnosis. 

And  what  prevented  him  from  seeing  in  this  inscription  what 
it  really  is,  SS.  SIMON  JUDA? 

In  the  medal  99  we  read  in  the  same  manner,  S.  Simon  vel 
Juda  ;  in  the  93rd,  S.  Simon  Juda,  &c.  Nothing  was  more 
common  in  the  middle  ages  than  coins  which,  on  one  side  bear 
the  name  of  a  saint,  and  on  the  other  side  the  name  of  a  city 
or  prince. 

Two  of  the  coins  upon  which,  instead  of  St.  Simon  and  St. 
Jude,  M.  Hammer  records  Saint  Gnostic,  bear  also  the  name 
of  Otto,  or  Otto  Maechio.  This  circumstance  is  embarrassing 
for  M.  Hammer ;  he  explains  it  by  saying  that  this  Marquis 
Otho  was  a  Gnostic,  a  protector  of  the  Templars,  and  initiated 
into  their  secret  doctrines. 

Seelander  only  reads  St.  Simon  and  St.  Jude  upon  these  coins  ; 
he  believes  that  this  Otho  might  be  Otho  II.,  marquis  of  Bran- 
denburg, who  lived  about  the  year  1200.  If  the  opinion  of 
Seelander  will  not  induce  M.  Hammer  to  adept  this  simple, 
natural,  and  evident  explanation,  he  may  find  in  Otto  Sperlingius 
the  explanation  of  a  similar  coin,  with  the  inscription  of  St. 

*  Raimundus  de  Agiles  says  of  the  Mahometans :  In  ecclesiis  autem 
magnis  Bafumarias  faciebant  ....  habebant  monticulum  ubi  duae  erant 
Bafumarise.     The  troubadours  employ  Baformaria  for  mosque,  and  Bafomet 

for  Mahomet. 

Vol.  III.— 22 


498  APPENDIX. 

Simon  and  St.  Jude.  The  heads  of  t  le  two  saints  are  :lose 
together,  under  the  same  crown.  A.  Melen  thought  that  this 
coin  was  struck  at  Goslar,  and  Sperlengius  adopts  his  opinion. 

But  even  if  it  were  allowed  that  these  coins  belonged  to  a  sect 
of  Gnostics,  I  should  continue  to  assert  that  M.  Hammer  does 
not  at  all  prove  that  the  Templars  made  use  of  them.  The 
reasoning  of  this  savant  is  reduced  almost  to  this : — "  These 
monuments  are  Gnostic,  therefore  they  relate  to  the  Templars ;" 
and  to  this  : — "  These  monuments  relate  to  the  Templars,  there- 
fore they  are  Gnostic." 

But  let  me  be  permitted  to  say  once  more,  if  the  Templars 
had  had  amongst  then  such  Gnostic  signs,  how  was  it  that  these 
signs  were  not  made  known  and  denounced  when  the  question 
was  to  destroy  the  order  ?  How  is  it  that  they  are  never  found 
anywhere  but  in  Germany  ? 

I  should  obtain  the  same  result  if  I  were  to  examine  in  this 
manner  in  detail  all  that  relates  to  the  cups  and  chalices  in  which 
M.  Hammer  believes  he  sees  Gnostic  emblems ;  not  only  is 
there  nothing  upon  them  concerning  the  Templars,  but  M.  Ham- 
mer has  only  collected  them  in  places  and  upon  monuments  quite 
foreign  to  the  order  of  the  Templars. 

As  to  the  Gnostic  sculptures  which  M.  Hammer  persists  in 
seeing  in  some  churches,  is  it  not  well  known  that  we  nnd  in  the 
churches  of  the  middle  ages  sculptures  and  monuments  which  it 
is  very  difficult  to  explain,  either  on  account  of  the  moral  and 
religious  ideas  which  the  artists  of  the  time  expressed  under  very 
unsuitable  images ;  or  on  account  of  the  pious  allegories,  the 
tradition  of  which  is  not  come  down  to  us  ? 

The  relievos  of  the  capitals  of  the  church  of  St.  Germaine 
des  Pres  have  embarrassed  antiquaries,  and  if  M.  Hammer  had 
found  such  in  a  church  of  the  Templars,  he  would  not  have  failed 
to  magnify  by  them  his  act  of  accusation. 

He  cites  seven  churches  in  Germany,  in  which  he  pretends  to 
recognise  Gnostic  emblems :  but  he  offers  no  proof  that  these 
churches  belonged  to  the  Templars ;  and,  even  if  the  Order  had 
built  them,  is  it  to  be  conceived,  that  if  there  existed  a  secret 
doctrine  among  them,  the  leaders  would  have  exposed  the  sym- 
bols of  it  in  public  in  their  churches  ?  And  how  is  it  that  they 
selected  seven  German  churches  to  receive  these  irreligious 
signs,  whilst  they  did  nothing  of  the  same  kind  in  the  three 
thousand  churches  they  possessed  in  Christendom  ? 

M.  Hammer  is  not  more  fortunate  when  he  seeks  in  romances,  3  7  2-J 
which  speak  of  the  Saint  Gkaal,  the  emblematic  history,  or  the 
symbol  of  the  order  of  the  Temple. 

These  romances  present  nothing  contrary  to  religion;   the 


APPENDIX.  499 

knights,  who  are  the  personages,  promise  fic.t  iity  to  God  and  tbi 
ladies;  they  arm  and  fight  for  religion  and  beauty.  Canute 
then  be  astounded  that  at  the  period  when  these  romances  were 
composed,  the  search  for  the  St.  Graal,  or  holy  cup,  was  con- 
sidered an  exploit  worthy  of  chivalry  P 

M.  Hammer  fancies  he  finds  something  very  favourable  to 
him  in  the  following  passage: — "As  the  St.  Graal  came  to 
Tramelet  on  the  day  of  Pentecost," — he  remarks  that  the  fes- 
tival of  St.  Graal  was  not  celebrated  on  Christmas-day,  but  at 
Pentecost ;  "  if  by  this  cup,"  says  he,  "  had  been  meant,  as  some 
people  suppose,  the  Lord's  cup,  the  festival  would  have  been 
celebrated  either  on  Christmas-day  or  Holy  Thursday,  and  not 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  which  the  Gnostics  regarded  as  very 
holy,  as  the  day  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  was  for  the  Gnostics 
Sophia,  and  for  the  Templars  Mete." 

The  reply  to  this  is  very  easy  : — 1st.  King  Artus  held  his 
plenary  court  on  the  great  festivals  of  the  year ;  it  is  not,  then, 
surprising  that  the  St.  Graal  should  arrive  at  Pentecost.  2nd. 
The  author  of  the  romance  could  not  choose  the  day  of  Christ- 
mas-day, which  festival  was  not  appointed  in  the  time  of  King 
Artus.  3rd.  It  is  even  probable  that  the  romance  in  question 
was  composed  before  the  institution  of  that  festival  by  Urban  IV., 
in  1264. 

M.  Hammer  has  been  sensible  that  it  was  strange  to  form, 
after  a  lapse  of  five  centuries,  an  accusation  against  the  Tem- 
plars quite  different  from  that  which  served  as  a  pretext  for  the 
contemporary  oppressors.  Therefore  he  advances  that  the  pope, 
by  the  sentence  which  was  pronounced  against  the  Templars, 
was  willing  to  conceal  the  knowledge  of  their  true  crimes  ;  but 
he  maintains,  that  when  the  archives  of  Rome  shall  come  to 
light,  as  everything  does  sooner  or  later,  we  shall  there  find  the 
proof  of  the  crimes  he  now  denounces. 

How  is  it  possible  to  be  believed,  that  if  the  knights  had  been 
guilty  of  the  crimes  M.  Hammer  attributes  to  them,  the  pope 
and  kings  would  have  preferred  the  absurd  system  of  accusation 
which  they  employed,  to  a  system  such  as  that  which  M.  Hammer 
puts  forth  ? 

But,  besides,  it  is  very  certain  that  all  the  pieces  which  the 
archives  of  Home  contained  are  now  known :  they  are  all 
marked  with  their  numbers  in  the  notice  of  the  unpublished 
pieces  which  have  assisted  in  the  composition  of  Les  Monuments 
Historig-ues  relatifs  a  la  Condemnation  cles  Chavaliers  du  Temple, 
etc.  M.  Hammer  has  nothing,  therefore,  to  hope  from  the 
archives  of  the  Vatican. 

This  distinguished  savant  will  some  day  acknowledge  that  he 


600  APPENDIX. 

ought  not  to  have  yielded  to  the  desire  of  putting  forth  a  netf 
system  of  denunciation  against  the  order  and  the  knights  of  the 
Temple.  Their  terrible  and  celebrated  catastrophe  imposes  the 
obligation  of  being  very  circumspect  and  very  severe  in  the 
choice  of  the  means  by  which  we  may  allow  ourselves  to  endea- 
rour  to  deprive  them  of  the  just  pity  which  posterity  has  not 
se&sed  to  their  fate. 


INDEX. 


Abaga,  khan  of  the  Tartars,  sends  ambassadors  to  Rome,  iii.  26. 
Abassides  persecute  the  Christians,  i.  8.     Decline  of  their  empire,  13. 
Aboubeker,  his  interview  with  Richard  I.  of  England,  i.  498. 
Abou-bekr,  founder  of  one  of  the  Mohammedan  sects,  iii.  413. 
Accien,  sovereign  of  Antioch,  i.  129. 
Achard  de  Montmerle,  i.  83. 
Adel,  the  son  of  Saladin,  ii.  3n. 
Adhemar  de  Monteil,  bishop  of  Puy,  engages  in  the  first  crusade,  i.  52 

87.     His  enthusiastic  bravery,  170,  173. 
Adonis,  the  river,  i.  306. 
Adrianople,  besieged  by  the  Latins,  ii.  166.      Battle   of,    167.     Siege 

raised,  168. 
./Eneas  Sylvius,  bishop  of  Sienna,  preaches  a  crusade  against  the  Turks, 

iii.  163  et  seq.     Elected  pope,  under  the  title  of  Pius  II.,  170.     See 

Pius  II. 
Afdhal,  son  of   Saladin,  and  commander  of  the  Mussulman  forces  of 

Egypt,   i.   238.     His  extensive  empire,  ii.  3.     Civil  contests  of,  4  et 

seq.     Oath  taken  by  the  emirs  of,  3  n.     Rebellion  against,  4. 
Africa  invaded  by  the  Christian  forces,  iii.  117  et  seq. 
Agriculture,  products  of,  introduced  into  Europe  during  the  middle  ages, 

iii.  329,  330. 
Aibek,  assassinated,  iii.  3.     His  son  raised  to  the  throne  of  Egypt,  4 ; 

and  dethroned,  5. 
Alaziz,    sultan  of  Egypt,  ii.  2,  3  n.     Takes  arms  against  his  brother, 

4  et  seq. 
Alberic,  son  of  Hugh  de  Grandmenil,  i.  83. 
Alberon,  archdeacon  of  Metz,  slain,  i.  131. 
Albert,  count  of  Blandras,  i.  249. 
Albigeois,  religious  principles  of  the,  ii.  196,  197.     Papal  crusades  and 

cruel  wars  against  the,  199,  267,  310. 
Alemar  of  Selingar  engages  in  the  holy  war,  ii.  465. 
Aleppo,  states  of,  i.  127. 

Alexander  of  Macedon,  amount  of  his  forces,  and  his  victories,  i.  255,  257. 
Alexandretta  taken  possession  of  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  119. 
Alexandria  captured  and  burnt  by  the  Crusaders,  iii.  116. 


502  INDEX. 

Alexius  Comnei  "is  I.,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  seeks  the  assistance 
of  the  Latins  against  the  Turks,  i.  44  and  n.,  45.  Alarmed  at  th» 
vast  number  of  Crusaders  from  the  West,  88.*  His  character,  89. 
His  treatment  of  the  Crusaders,  90.  His  alliance  with  Godfrey  de 
Bouillon,  92.  His  reception  of  the  French  chiefs,  93,  94.  His  sus- 
picious treatment  of  the  Crusaders,  104.  He  perfidiously  takes  pos- 
session of  Nice,  in  opposition  to  the  Latins,  ib.  His  insidious  policy, 
105,  168,  282.  He  sends  an  embassy  to  the  Crusaders  at  Archas, 
194.  Opposes  the  second  body  of  them,  250.  The  limits  of  his 
empire  extended  by  the  victories  of  the  Crusaders,  and  Constantinople 
rendered  safe  from  the  attacks  of  the  Saracens,  260. 

■  Angelus,    emperor   of    Constantinople,    dethrones    his   brother 

Isaac,  ii.  62.     His  character,  75,  158.     Expelled  by  the  Crusaders, 
93.     His  death,  158. 

nephew  of  Alexius  Angelus,  and  son  of  Isaac,  the  dethroned 


emperor,  ii.  62,  69.  Aided  by  the  Crusaders,  75.  His  military  ope- 
rations and  conquests,  79,  80.  Enters  Constantinople  in  triumph  with 
the  besieging  Crusaders,  95.  Crowned  as  joint  emperor  with  his 
father,  97.  His  peculiar  position,  101,  113.  His  proposals  to  the 
Crusaders,  102.  His  contentions  with  the  Bulgarians,  105.  His  cha- 
racter, 107,  118.     His  dethronement  and  violent  death,  118. 

Ali,  founder  of  one  of  the  Mohammedan  sects,  iii.  413,  414. 

Alides,  party  of  the,  i.  8. 

Alise,  of  Antioch,  i.  311. 

Al-Mahadia,  city  of,  captured  and  burnt,  i.  40  and  n. 

Almamon,  caliph  of  Bagdad,  i.  9. 

Almoadam  elected  to  the  throne  of  Egypt,  ii.  417.  Enters  into  a  treaty 
for  the  ransom  of  Louis  IX.,  438.  Revolt  of  the  Mamelukes  against, 
439,  440.  His  assassination,  441 ;  with  whom  terminated  the  Ayoubite 
dynasty,  445. 

Alp-Arsland,  reign  of,  i.  32. 

Alphonse,  count,  of  Poictiers,  engages  in  the  holy  war,  ii.  393,  395. 
Arrives  at  Damietta,  396. 

Alphonso,  prince  of  Burgundy,  i.  375. 

II.,  of  the  house  of  Arragon,  iii.  193,  194. 

Mtamont  castle,  the  seat  of  the  "  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain,"  iii.  416, 
41?. 

Amadeus,  duke  of  Turin,  i.  338. 

Amalfi,  city  of,  i.  85,  86. 

Amaury,  count  of  Jaffa,  elected  king  of  Jerusalem,  i.  386.  His  expedi- 
tion to  Egypt,  388.  He  allies  himself  with  the  Egyptians  to  resist  the 
Syrians,  390.  The  Egyptians  agree  to  pay  him  an  annual  tribute, 
391.  Marries  the  daughter  of  the  emperor  Manuel,  392;  and  makes 
war  on  Egypt,  394  et  seq.  His  projects  against  Egypt,  399.  Death 
of,  ib. 

■  II.,  king  of  Jerusalem,  death  of,  ii.  190. 

A.murath,  the  Turkish  sultan,  iii.  123.  He  enters  into  a  treaty  of  peace 
with  the  Crusaders,  138  ;  and  afterwards  defeats  them  with  great 
slaughter,  142, 

*  The  uame  in  this  and  a  few  of  the  following  pages  is  printed 


INDEX.  503 

A-naclet,  the  anti-pope,  i.  76. 

A-ncona,  the  Crusaders  under  Pius  II.  collected  at,  iii.  178. 

Ancyra,  city  of,  taken  by  assault,  i.  251.  Battle  of,  between  Tamerlane 
and  Bajazet,  iii.  133. 

Andre  de  Brienne,  slain,  i.  461. 

Andrew,  Brother,  of  Antioch,  his  strange  address  to  Philip  of  France, 
iii.  110. 

— — —  II.,  king  of  Hungary,  engages  in  the  sixth  crusade,  ii.  217,  224. 
He  arrives  in  Palestine,  225.     Returns  to  Europe,  230. 

Andronicus,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  iii.  122. 

,  the  "  Nero  of  the  Greeks,"  dethroned,  i.  446. 

Angelli,  Peter,  author  of  a  poem  on  the  first  crusade,  i.  171  n. 

Angelram,  death  of,  i.  190. 

Anjou,  duke  of,  his  heroism,  ii.  413. 

Anselm,  archbishop  of  Milan,  i.  249. 

Ansreltne  de  Ribemont,  death  and  character  of,  i.  190. 

Antioch  captured  by  Nicephorus,  i.  13.  Renaud  de  Chatillon  raised  by 
marriage  to  the  throne  of,  103.  The  Crusaders  arrive  at  the  city  of, 
127.  Its  ancient  celebrity,  128.  Described,  ib.  Protracted  siege  of, 
129  et  seq.  Betrayed  by  Phirous,  147,  et  seq. ;  and  captured,  155- 
157.  Sufferings  of  the  Crusaders  at,  159,  160.  They  march  out  of, 
and  defeat  the  Saracens,  170-174.  Miraculous  prodigies  seen  at, 
173,  183.  Fatal  epidemic  at,  178,  179.  The  Crusaders  take  their 
departure  from,  187,  188.  Distresses  of,  285.  Flourishing  state  of, 
306.  Disputes  respecting  the  sovereignty,  311.  Raymond  of  Poictiera 
appointed  governor,  312.  Louis  VII.  arrives  at,  with  a  portion  of  the 
Crusaders,  360.  His  splendid  retinue,  ib.  Bohemond  III.  governor 
of,  ii.  8.  At  war  with  Armenia,  9.  Territory  of,  ravaged  by  the 
Turcomans,  372.  Captured  and  destroyed  by  the  sultan  of  Cairo,  and 
all  the  inhabitants  slaughtered  or  led  into  captivity,  hi.  17,  18. 

Antiochetta,  capital  of  Pisidia,  the  Crusaders  arrive  at,  i.  114. 

Antoninus,  St.,  of  Plaisance,  voyage  of,  i.  7  n. 

Apostoliques,  their  religious  principles,  ii.  197. 

Arabians,  their  conquests,  i.  10.  Their  knowledge  of  medicine,  iii. 
336. 

Archambaud  de  Bourbon,  i.  359. 

Archas,  city  of,  described,  i.  187,  188  and  n.     Siege  of,  189. 

Architecture,  progress  of,  during  the  crusades,  iii.  330—332. 

Arculphus,  St.,  pilgrimage  of,  i.  7. 

Argun,  the  Tartar  chief,  iii.  94,  95. 

Aristocracy,  on  the  origin  of,  iii.  280  et  seq. 

Aristotle,  philosophy  of,  introduced  into  Europe,  iii.  338. 

Armenians,  slaughter  of  the,  ii.  169. 

Arm.5  of  the  Crusaders,  i.  99. 

Arnold,  a  priest,  elected  pastor  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  i.  236. 

a  Flemish  preacher,  his  account  of  the  siege  of  Lisbon  noticed 

i.  375  n. 

de  Rohes,  chaplain  to  the  duke  of  Normandy,  i.  191.     His  in- 


credulitv  in  prodigies,  l')2.     His  address  to  the  Crusaders,  214. 
of'  Bressia,  i.  332. 


504  INDEX. 

Irpin,  count  de  Berri,  dies  in  slavery,  i.  254  and  n. 

Arsouf,  city  if,  i.  244.     Besieged  and  captured  by  the  Mamelukes,  iii. 

11,  12. 
Arsur,  rebe  lion  and  siege  of,  i.  267,  268.     Captured  by  Baldwin,  277. 

Battle  of,  fought  between  Richard  I.  and  Saladin,  487. 
Art,  works  ot,  destroyed  at  Constantinople  by  the  Latins,  iii.  438-440 

(APP.). 
Artesia  captured  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  127. 
Artois,  count  de,  ii.  396.     His  rash  bravery,  403.     Is  slain,  408.     His 

letter  on  the  taking  of  Damietta,  iii.  456  (App.). 
\rts,   emulation  in  Europe  for  their  cultivation,  iii.  229.     Progress  of 

during  the  period  of  the  crusades,  251,  328  et  seq. 
Ascalon,  great  battle  on  the  plain  of,  between  the  Egyptians  and  the 

Crusaders,  i.  240-242.    Siege  of,  244.    The  Saracens  defeated  on  the 

plains  of,  297,   298,   402.     Destroyed  by  fire,  490.     Rebuilt  by  the 

Crusaders,  ib.     Surrendered  to  Saladin,  426.     Siege  and  capture  of 

by  Baldwin  III.,    384. 
Aschmoum,  canal  of,  military  operations  on  the  banks  of,  ii.  399  et  seq. 
Asia  subdued  by  the  Turks,  i.  32. 
"  Assassins"  of  Syria,  origin  and  history  of  the,  iii.  413,  420  et  seq. 

See  Ishma'elites. 
*'  Assizes  of  Jerusalem,"  collected  by  John  d'Ibelin,  i.  271  n.     Laws 

and  spirit  of  the,  272,  273,  488. 
Atabecks,  dynasty  of  the,  i.  306.     Decline  of  the  empire  of  the,  399. 
Atheling,  Edgar,  commander  of  the  English,  i.  205. 
Attalia,  the  Crusaders  arrive  at,  i.  357  ;  and  suffer  great  hardships,  358. 
Aubusson,  grand  master  of  the  knights  of  St.  John,  iii.  188. 
Augsburg,  diet  at,  iii.  200. 

Augustines,  their  quarrels  with  the  Dominicans,  iii.  210. 
Avignon,  assembly  of  Christian  sovereigns  at,  to  promote  a  fresh  crusade, 

iii.  113,  114. 
Ayoub,  the  father  of  Saladin,  i.  369. 
Ayoubites,  princely  race  of  the,  ii.  3,  and  n.    Their  empire,  ib.    Decline 

of  their  empire,  237.     Discord  among  the  family,  376.     Extinction  of 

the  dynasty,  445. 
Aymeristes,  religious  principles  of  the,  ii.  197. 

B. 

Bacon,  Chancellor,  his  dialogue  "  de  Bello  Sacro,"  iii.  246. 

Bagdad,  the  seat  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  i.  9.  Degeneracy  of  the 
caliphs  of,  12,  13.  The  caliphs  of,  the  chiefs  of  Islamism,  383.  Cap- 
tured by  the  Mogul  Tartars,  iii.  4. 

Baghisian,  the  sovereign  of  Antioch,  i.  129. 

Bajazet  I.,  the  Turkish  sultan,  iii.  125.  Defeats  the  Christian  forces, 
127,  128.  His  speech  to  the  duke  de  Nevers,  129.  Raises  the  siege 
of  Constantinople,  and  being  defeated  at  Ancyra  by  Tamerlane,  is  take"n 
prisoner,  133. 

—  -■  ■  II.  succeeds  Mahomet  II.,  iii.  191.  Declares  war  against  Venice, 
197.     Dethroned,  and  succeeded  by  Selim,  201. 


rffDEX.  505 

fialac,  the  emir,  slain,  i.  302. 

Baldoukh,  the  emir,  defeated,  i.  .23. 

Baldwin,  brother  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  engages  in  the  first  crusade, 
i.  78.  His  dissensions  with  the  leaders,  116,  117.  Massacres  the 
Turks,  118.  Joined  by  corsairs,  ib.  His  hostile  encounter  with 
Tancred,  119.  His  succ<sses,  121,  122.  Founds  the  principality  of 
Edessa,  124.  Sends  magnificent  presents  to  the  leaders  of  the  Cru- 
saders, 146.  Visits  Jerusalem,  269.  Elected  king  of  Jerusalem  on 
the  death  of  Godfrey,  275.  Defeats  the  Saracens,  275,  276.  His 
quarrel  with  Tancred,  276,  277.  Carries  on  vigorous  hostilities  against 
the  infidels  of  Palestine,  Egypt,  &c,  277  et  seq.  Anecdote  of  his 
humanity,  279.  His  singular  preservation,  280.  Lamentations  for 
his  supposed  death,  ib.  His  quarrels  with  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem, 
285,  286.  Captures  Ptolemais,  286.  His  hostilities  against  Egypt, 
293.     His  death  and  character,  294.     His  funeral,  295. 

-  de  Bourg,  cousin  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  engages  in  the  first 

crusade,  i.  78.  Defeated  and  taken  prisoner,  283.  His  release,  and 
great  poverty,  285.  Elected  king  of  Jerusalem,  296.  Made  prisoner 
by  the  Turks,  ib.  Released,  302.  His  death  and  character,  310,  311. 
III.,  king  of  Jerusalem,  i.  316.     Form  of  his  coronation,  317 


and  n.     Urges  on  the  war  against  the  Saracens,  363.     His  military 
character,  384.     Death  of,  by  poison,  ib. 

IV.,  king  of  Jerusalem,  i.  401.     His  wars  with  Saladin,  402  et 


seq.     Death  of,  412. 

V.,  crowned  king  of  Jerusalem,  i.  407.     Death  of,  412. 

-,  count  of  Flanders,  engages  in  the  fifth  crusade,  ii.  47.     Elected 


emperor  of  Constantinople,  148.  Quarrels  with  Boniface,  marquis  of 
Montferrat,  150-161.  His  letter  to  the  pope,  152.  Defeated,  and 
taken  prisoner  by  the  Bulgarians,  168.  Romantic  incidents  of  his 
life,  171  and  n.     His  mysterious  death,  172. 

-,  son-in-law  of  John  of  Brienne,  successor  to  the  throne  of  Con- 


stantinople, ii.  289.     His  expulsion  and  great  poverty,  ib. 

II.,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  his  distressing  situation,  iii.  9. 


Driven  from  his  throne  by  Michael  Palaeologus,  10. 

-,  count  de  Hainault,  engages  in  the  first  crusade,  L  78.     Perishei 


in  Asia  Minor,  177. 

•,  Archbishop,  preaches  the  crusade  in  England,  i.  441  and  n. 


His  journey  into  Wales,  iii.  408  (App.). 
Baleau  d'Ibelin  defends  Jerusalem  against  Saladin,  i.  427. 
Bar,  count  de,  refuses  the  command  of  the  Crusaders,  ii.  54. 
Barbarossa,  Frederick,  engages  in  the  holy  war,  i.  444   et  seq.     Hit 

victorious  career,  448.     His  death,  449. 
Barbary  invaded  by  the  Christian  forces,  iii.  117  et  seq.     The  states  of, 

taken  under  the  protection  of  the  Ottoman  Porte,  220. 
Barland,  Adrian,  his  notices  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  i.  41  n. 
Barons  of  England,  contests  of  the,  with  their  sovereigns,  iii.  257. 
Barthelemi,  Peter,  a  priest,  pretended  revelation  of,  i.  165.     Fanaticism 

of,  191,  192.     Submits  to  the  ordeal  of  fire,  and  loses  his  life,  193. 
,  Sieur,  anecdote  of,  iii.  68.     Becomes  a  Mohammedan  renegade, 

69,  84. 

22* 


606  INDEX. 

Batheniaro,  a  title  given  to  the  Ishmaelites,  Li.  419. 

Battle,  wager  of,  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  312. 

Bavaria,  diet  convoked  in,  i.  338. 

Baysy,  the  birth-place  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  i.  76  n. 

Beard,  pledging  and  redeeming  of  the,  i.  285  and  n. 

•'  Beansrs  of  the  cross/'  title  assumed  by  the  first  Crusaders,  i.  52   "4  a. 

Bedouin  A  abs,  Vieir  bravery,  ii.  391. 

Bela  IV.,  king  of  Hungary,  his  fear  of  the  Tartars,  iii.  6  n. 

Belgrade  besieged  by  the  Turks,  iii.  166.  The  Turks  defeated,  167 
Taken  by  the  Turks,  213. 

11  Belial,  children  of."  i.  65. 

Belinas,  in  Syria,  pillaged  by  the  Crusaders,  ii.  475. 

Bcllerophon,  statue  of,  at  Constantinople,  ii.  138  and  n. 

Berengaria  of  Navarre,  i.  475.     Married  to  Richard  I.  of  England,  476. 

Berenger  II.,  count  of  Barcelona,  penitential  pilgrimage  of,  i.  27. 

Bernard,  count  of  Carinthia,  i.  338. 

Bernard.     See  St.  Bernard. 

Bernicles,  punishment  of  the,  ii.  434. 

Bertrand,  son  of  Raymond  de  St.  Gilles,  i.  287. 

Berytus,  plain  of,  i.  198.  Wealth  and  importance  of  the  city  of,  ii.  18 
Besieged  by  the  Crusaders,  ib.  Captured  and  destroyed  by  the  Sara, 
cens,  iii.  89. 

Bethlehem,  i.  21.     The  Crusaders  take  possession  of,  201. 

Bethonopolis,  city  of,  i.  492. 

Bibars  Bendocdar,  the  Mameluke  chief,  ii.  404  and  n.  Slays  Almoa- 
dam,  the  sultan,  440.  Assassinates  Koutouz,  iii.  7.  Is  proclaimed 
sultan  of  Egypt,  8.  Declares  war  against  the  Christians  of  Palestine, 
ib.  His  continued  victories  over  them,  11  et  seq.,  63.  His  death  and 
character,  64,  65. 

Biblies  taken  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  288. 

Bilbeis,  city  of,  i.  388.  Besieged  and  captured  by  the  king  of  Jerusalem, 
394. 

Bissarion,  Cardinal,  speech  of,  iii.  172. 

Bithynia,  hostilities  in,  between  the  Crusaders  and  the  Turks,  i.  99  et 
seq. 

Blanche,  queen-regent  of  France,  ii.  350.  Accompanies  her  son, 
Louis  IX.,  on  the  outset  of  his  crusade,  368.  Death  of,  and  grief 
of  Louis  IX.,  475. 

Blois,  count  of,  obtains  possession  of  Bithynia,  ii.  162.  Is  slain,  167. 
Anecdote  of  his  devoted  heroism,  iii.  298. 

Blondel,  the  minstrel,  emancipates  Richard  I.  from  imprisonment,  iii. 
406  (App.). 

Bohemond,  prince  of  Tarentum,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Crusaders,  i. 
84.  His  character,  85,  86.  Embarks  for  Greece,  86.  Reception  of, 
by  Alexius  of  Constantinople,  93.  Defeats  the  Turks  in  Phrygia, 
108-111.  His  barbarous  treatment  of  the  Turkish  spies,  137.  His 
ambitious  views,  147.  His  defence  of  Antioch,  163.  Made  prince  of 
the  city  and  territory,  186.  Visits  Jerusalgm,  269.  Surprised  and 
captured  in  an  expedition  against  the  infidels,  275.  Regains  his 
liberty,  and  at  Antioch  resists  the  aggressions  of  Alexius,  282.     De- 


lira  ex.  507 

feated  at  Charan,  and  escapes  to  Italy,  282,  283.  Arouses  Europe 
against  the  infidels,  283,  284.  Embarks  with  a  large  army  against  the 
Emperor  Alexius,  284.  Returns  to  Tarentum,  where  he  dies,  ib.  Letter 
from  him  "fid  otiers  detailing  their  victory  over  the  infidels,  iii.  360 
(App.). 

Bohemond,  prince  of  Antioch  and  Tripoli,  a  descendant  of  the  prince  of 
Tarentum,  treacherously  taken  prisoner  by  the  Armenians,  ii.  8.  His 
death,  190. 

■ ,  count   of  Tripoli,    enters   into   a   treaty   with    Ribars,  iii.   17. 

Bibars's  insulting  letter  to,  on  the  capture  of  Antioch,  ib.  His  city  of 
Tripoli  captured,  69. 

Boniface,  marquis  of  Montferrat,  elected  commander  of  the  fifth  crusade, 
ii.  55.  Captures  Constantinople,  131.  Elected  sovereign  of  Thes- 
salonica,  150.  Shares  the  spoils  of  the  Greek  empire,  152.  Quar- 
rels with  Baldwin,  159-161.  Invades  Greece,  162,  163.  Is  slain, 
173. 

Bosnia  conquered  by  Mahomet  II.,  iii.  174. 

Basra,  city  of,  i.  317.  Expedition  against,  318.  Disastrous  retreat 
from,  319. 

Bouibons,  Archambault  de,  death  of,  ii.  371. 

Bordeaux,  itinerary  from,  to  Jerusalem,  iii.  351  et  seq.  Notices  of, 
ib.  and  n. 

Bouvines,  battle  of,  ii.  210. 

Brienne,  John  of,  city  of  Damietta  assigned  to,  ii.  251.  His  speech 
against  the  invasion  of  Egypt,  254.  Revisits  Europe,  264.  Called 
to  the  throne  of  Constantinople,  288.     Death  of,  289. 

Brittany,  duke  of,  his  bravery,  ii.  408. 

"  Brothers  of  Mercy,"  origin  of  the,  iii.  303. 

Bulgarians,  notices  of  the,  i.  62.  Oppose  the  progress  of  the  Crusaders 
63  et  seq.     Their  victories  over  the  Latins,  ii.  166—171. 

Burbotte,  a  fish  of  the  Nile,  ii.  418  n. 

Burgundy,  duke  of,  his  death,  i.  501. 

Byzantium.     See  Constantinople. 

C. 

Cesarea  besieged  and  captured- by  Baldwin,  king  of  Jerusalem,  i.  277, 
278  and  n.  Capitulation  of,  316.  Captured  by  the  Egyptians,  iii. 
11. 

Cairo,  caliph  of,  treats  the  Christians  as  allies,  i.  16.  Maintains  relationa 
with  the  Crusaders.  194.  His  object,  ib.  His  propositions  rejected, 
195,  196.  Sultan  of,  carries  on  war  against  the  sultan  of  Damascus, 
ii.  468,  473.     Treaty  of  peac3  between,  474.     See  Egypt. 

Caliphs,  degeneracy  of  the,  i.  12,  13. 

Calixtus  III.  endeavours  to  stir  up  a  crusade  against  the  Tu*ks,  iii.  165, 
169. 

Camlets,  manufacture  of,  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  328. 

Candia  capitulates  to  the  Turks,  iii.  £35. 

Cannon  of  enormous  size  used  against  Constantinople  iii.  148. 

CsntacuzeiiJt,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  iii.  123. 


508  INDEX. 

Capistran,  John,  preaches  a  crusade  against  the  Turks,  iii.  163.  Deatk 
of,  167. 

Carac,  heroic  defence  of,  i.  453. 

Caraffa,  Cardinal,  commands  a  crusading  fleet,  iii.  183. 

Cardinals  first  clothed  in  scarlet  at  the  council  of  Lyons,  ii.  343. 

Carismia  captured  by  Gengiskhan,  ii.  320.  The  warriors  of,  coram?; 
extensives  ravages  in  Syria.  325.  Defeat  the  Christian  and  Mussulman 
united  forces,  326.  Join  the  sultan  of  Egypt,  and  capture  Jerusalem, 
ib.  Capture  Damascus,  332 ;  but  rebelling  against  the  sultan  of 
Cairo,  are  defeated  and  dispersed,  ib. 

Carlowitz,  treaty  of,  iii.  236. 

Cassia  brought  from  Asia,  iii.  336. 

Cassin,  Mount,  i.  21. 

Cassius,  his  dispute  with  Dolabella,  i.  117  n. 

Cazan,  the  Mogul  prince,  conquests  of,  iii.  95.  Sends  ambassadors  to 
the  pope,  ib.     Death  of,  97. 

Celestine  III.,  Pope,  instigates  Christendom  to  undertake  the  fourth  cru- 
sade, ii.  11. 

•  IV.,  Pope,  short  reign  of,  ii.  296. 

Cemetery  for  the  pilgrims  at  Jerusalem,  i.  10,  11. 

Cenis,  Mount,  hospital  of,  i.  22. 

Centius,  prefect  of  Rome,  pilgrimage  of,  i.  25. 

Chages,  a  Mussulman  sect,  their  fanatical  devotion,  iii.  79. 

Chalcis  captured  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  127. 

Chalil  elected  sultan  of  Cairo,  iii.  76.  Besieges  Ptolema'is,  77.  Capture! 
it,  85  ;  and  takes  several  other  Christian  cities,  89. 

Charan,  Christians  defeated  at,  i.  283. 

Charlemagne,  magnificent  court  of,  i.  8.  His  amicable  relations  with 
Aroun  al  Raschid,  9.  Promulgates  religion  by  the  sword,  iii.  15  n. 
Attempts  to  destroy  the  feudal  system,  275.  Portraiture  of,  358 
(App.). 

Charles  IV.,  emperor  of  Germany,  projects  a  fresh  crusade,  iii.  115. 

V.,  his  violence  to  the  pope,  iii.  216.     Policy  of,  219. 

VIII.,  of  Naples,  engages  in  a  crusade  against  the  Turks,  iii.  193. 

Receives  the  crown  of  Naples,  195.     His  army  disbanded,  196. 

count  of  Anjou,  crowned  by  the  pope  as  king  of  Sicily,  iii.  21. 


Defeats  his  rival  Conraddin,   31.     Lands  at  Tunis,  46;    and  take* 

the  command  of  the  Crusaders,  48-52. 
Charles-le-Bel,  of  France,  iii.  102.     His  death,  103  and  n. 
Charters,  use  of,  adopted,  iii.  320. 

Charts,  geographical,  imperfect  state  of,  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  335. 
Chatelain  de  Coucy,  chivalry  of,  i.  500  and  n. 
Chaver,  vizier  of  Egypt,  i.  387.     Resists  the  military  preparations  against 

Egypt,  390  et  seq. 
Chegger-Eddour,  beauty  and  genius  of.  ii.  397.     Incites  the  Mameluket 

to  revolt,  439.     Elected  sultana  of  Egypt,  445.     Marries  Ezz-Eddin, 

and  yields  her  regal  authority,  459.     Assassinates  her  husband,  iii.  3. 

Is  sacrificed  by  her  slaves,  4. 
Children,  Jourdain's  letter  on  the  crusade  "»f,  in  1212,  iii.  441  (App.). 
China  conquered  bv  Gengiskhan,  ii.  319. 


index.  509 

Chio  captured  by  the  Turks,  iii.  232. 

Chirkou,  the  emir,  i.  387.    Invades  Egypt,  389  et  seq.     Death  of,  397. 

Chirkoah,  family  of,  ii.  3. 

Chivalry,  spirit  of,  in  favour  of  the  crusades,  i.  55.  Origin  and  history 
of,  iii.  294  et  seq. 

"  Christ  lives  !  "  &c,  the  war-cry  of  the  Christian  soldiers,  i.  281  and  n. 

Christendom,  distracted  state  of,  iii.  201,  202,  217.  Fears  of,  allayed  by 
the  victory  of  Lepanto  over  the  Turks,  226.  Improving  position  of, 
230,  245. 

Christian  army  at  Jerusalem,  pious  fervour  of  the,  i.  226,  227.  Enthu- 
siasm and  valour  of,  ii.  36,  37. 

reMgion,    its   tendency  to  soften  the   manners  of   the  Eastern 

conquerors,  i.  38.     Influence  of,  on  the  Crusaders,  56. 

Christianity,  power  cf  the  popes  augmented  by  the  progress  of,  i.  39. 
On  the  sanguinary  wars  in  support  of,  ii.  310;  iii.  15  n.  Overthrown 
at  Constantinople  by  the  Turks,  iii.  158.  Extended  to  China,  304. 
Its  superiority  over  Mohammedanism,  346,  347. 

Christians  of  the  East  respected  by  the  northern  barbarians,  i.  3.  Per- 
secuted by  the  Mussulmans,  7,  8,  16, 17, 19,  32,  33.  Defeat  the  Mus- 
sulmans, 15.  Favoured  by  the  caliphs  of  Cairo,  16.  Driven  from 
Jerusalem,  19.  Their  rejoicings  at  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem  by 
the  Crusaders,  236.  Quit  Jerusalem  on  its  capture  by  Saladin, 
431.  Their  great  sufferings,  433,  ii.  7.  War  declared  against,  by  the 
sultan  of  Egypt,  and  Palestine  ravaged,  11. 

of  the  West,  their  early  attention  directed  to  the  East,   i.   3. 

Excited  to  resistance  by  Archbishop  Gerbert,  17.  Their  various 
pilgrimages,  20  et  seq.  Welcomed  everywhere,  22.  See  Crusades 
and  Crusaders. 

Chronicle  of  Tours,  extract  from,  iii.  359. 

Chronicles,  ancient,  what  is  fabulous  and  what  not,  i.  xxiii.    Of  the  middle 

ages,  iii.  339-342. 
"  Chronicon  Anglicanum,"  by  Ralph  of  Coggershall,  iii.  395. 
Churches,  building  of,  during  the  period  of  the  crusades,  iii.  331. 
Chutes,  sect  of  the,  iii.  413. 
Cities  abandoned  by  the  infidels,  i.  201.     Enfranchisement  of,  in  Europe 

during  the  crusades,  iii.  284-287. 
Civilization  weakens  the  spirit  of  fanaticism,  i.  xxi.     Increasing  spread 

of,  in  Europe,  iii.  229.     Progress  of,  during  and  after  the  crusades, 

251  et  seq. 
Crement  IV.  supports  the  second  crusade  undertaken  by  Louis  IX.,  iii. 

26,  27.     Death  of,  36. 

■ V.,  Pope,  proclaims  a  crusade  at  the  council  of  Vienna,  iii.  97. 

— — —  VII.,  his  abortive  attempts  to  arouse  Christendom  against  the 

Turks,  iii.  215,  218.    Imprisoned  by  Charles  V.,  216. 
Clergy  assume  arms  in  the  crusades,  i.  55.     Oppose  the  levying  of  con- 
tributions to  the  second  crusade  of  Louis  IX.,  iii.  27.     Ascendancy 

and  wealth   of,  during   the   age   of  the  crusades,    301,    302   et   seq. 

Their  influence  in  the  administration  of  justice  during  the  middle  age*, 

315,  316  and  n. 
Clermont,  council  at,  held  by  Urban  II.,  i.  44  et  seq. 


510  ISDEX. 

Cotur,  Jacques,  biographical  notices  of,  iii.  184  and  n. 

Colonna,  Mark  Antony,  his  triumphal  entry  into  Rome  after  the  battle 
of  Lepanto,  iii.  227. 

Comans  defeat  the  Latins,  ii.  166.     The  barbarous  hordes  of,  333. 

Comet,  alarm  caused  by  the  sight  of  one,  iii.  166. 

Commerce  of  the  East,  i.  11.  State  of,  and  progress  during  the  period 
of  the  crusades,  iii.  326  et  seq. 

Comnena,  Anna,  the  historian,  and  daughter  of  Alexius  Comnenus  of 
Constantinople,  i.  41  n.,  73,  75,  85,  88,  89,  147  et  passim. 

Comnenus,  John,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  attacks  Antioch,  i.  312. 

,  Manuel,  his  hypocritical  policy,  i.  347  et  seq. 

,  Michael-Angelus.  gains  the  kingdom  of  Epirus,  ii.  156. 

Conon  de  Bethune,  his  speech  in  reply  to  the  Emperor  Alexius,  ii.  84. 

Conrad  III  ,  emperor  of  Germany,  i.  337.  Determines  on  the  second 
crusade,  338.  Leaves  Germany  at  the  head  of  the  Crusaders,  346. 
Arrives  at  Constantinople,  348.  Defeated  by  the  Turks,  351,  352. 
Returns  to  Constantinople,  353.  Arrives  at  Jerusalem,  363.  His 
heroism  before  Damascus,  366. 

,  son  of  the  marquis  of  Montferrat,  and  marquis  of  Tyre,  engages 

in  the  holy  war,  i.  451.  Defends  Tyre,  and  repulses  Saladin,  452. 
Fits  out  a  fleet  for  the  Holy  Land,  457.  His  pretensions  to  the 
throne  of  Jerusalem,  470.  Ill-treated  by  Richard  I.  of  England, 
491.  Insidiously  enters  into  an  alliance  with  Saladin,  493.  Assassina- 
tion of,  494. 

Bishop,   leader   of  the  German  crusades,  ii.  21,  22.     Assas- 


sinated, 34. 

Conraddin  disputes  the  crown  of  Sicily,  iii.  22.  Is  defeated  and  exe- 
cuted, 31. 

,  sultan  of  Damascus,  death  of,  ii.  275. 

Constantine  the  Great,  the  promoter  of  Christian  zeal,  i.  1. 

,  the  Armenian  prince,  i.  122. 

Constantinople  besieged  by  the  Saracens,  i.  5,  9.  Popular  traditions 
of  its  future  liberation  by  the  Latins,  9.  Eleven  of  its  emperors  put 
to  death,  35.  The  emperor,  Alexius  Comnenus,  seeks  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Latins,  44  and  n.  The  Crusaders  arrive  at,  67.  Excesses 
committed,  73.  Reception  of  the  French  leaders,  92-95.  Seductions 
of,  95,  96.  State  of,  at  the  time  of  the  second  crusade,  347.  Isaac 
Angelus  the  emperor  of,  445.  Contentions  between  the  Greeks  and  the 
Latins,  446,  ii.  114-125.  The  emperor  dethroned,  ii.  62.  Description 
of,  81.  Besieged  by  the  Crusaders,  82.  Captured,  93.  Conflagration 
in,  105,  106.  Mourzouffle  dethroned,  129.  Lascaris  chosen  emperor, 
130.  Captured  and  plundered  by  the  Latins,  131—133.  Destruction 
of  its  works  of  art,  137-140.  Relics  sought  for,  141-143.  Amount 
of  plunder  obtained,  144,  145.  Baldwin,  count  of  Flanders,  elected 
emperor,  148.  Decline  of  the  Latin  empire  in,  288.  John  of  Brienne 
called  to  the  throne  of,  ib.  Wrested  from  the  Latins  by  the  Greek 
troops  of  Michael  Paheologus,  iii.  10.  Insurrectionary  spirit  in,  111, 
113,  116,  117.  Tottering  state  of,  when  menaced  by  the  Turks, 
123  et  seq.    Besieged  by  Mahomet  II.,  145,  148  et  seq.    Sanguinary 


INDEX.  611 

conflicts,  154,155.  Capture  of,  15G.  Destruction  of  the  empire  of, 
158.  The  stores  of  ancient  learning  and  philosophy  brought  from, 
338. 

Constantinople,  treaty  between  the  Crusaders  for  dividing  the  city  and 
empire  of,  iii.  431  (App.).  Statues  of,  destroyed  by  the  Crusaders,  aj 
related  by  Nicetas  Choniates,  435  (App.). 

Corfu  surrenders  to  the  Crusaders,  ii.  77.     Fertility  of,  78. 

Corsairs,  a  band  of,  join  the  Crusaders,  i.  118. 

Flemish,  released  from  imprisonment,  i.  188. 

Cosroes,  king  of  Persia,  i.  3. 

Coucy,  Sieur  de,  death  of,  iii.  129. 

Courcon,  Cardinal  de,  preaches  the  sixth  crusade,  ii.  206,  207.  Accu- 
sations against,  208.     Death  of,  240. 

Courtenay,  Peter  of,  assassinated,  ii.  288. 

,  Robert  of,  his  losses  and  death,  ii.  288. 

,  family  of.     See  Josselin. 

Courts  of  Justice  established  in  Europe  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  S17 
et  seq. 

Co-xon  and  Marash,  or  "  mountain  of  the  devil,"  i.  126. 

Creton,  Reimbault,  origin  of  the  noble  family  of,  i.  222  n. 

Cross,  the  badge  of  the  Crusaders,  i.  52. 

of  Christ  found  at  Jerusalem,  i.  230. 

CRUSADES,  and  CRUSADERS.  Introduction  to  the  history  of  the, 
i.  xix.  No  spectacle  more  imposing  in  the  history  of  the  middle  age, 
ib.  Disasters  of  the,  xx,  xxi.  "  A  right  regal  history,"  xxii.  On 
the  justice  of  the,  xxiii.  Causes  of,  ib.  Their  effects,  xxiv.  Their 
early  history,  from  a.d.  300  to  1095,  1  et  seq. 

The  First  Crusade,  a.d.  1095. — The  numerous  pilgrimages  of 
the  eleventh  century  the  forerunner  of  the,  i.  24-30.  Instigated  by 
Peter  the  Hermit,  42  et  seq.  Determined  on,  and  the  name  first 
assumed,  at  the  council  of  Clermont,  52.  Enthusiasm  inspired  thereby, 
53  et  seq.  Miracles  and  supernatural  wonders  alleged  to  be  mani- 
fested, 57,  81.  Large  armies  collected,  61.  Their  departure,  ib. 
Opposed  by  the  Hungarians  and  Bulgarians,  63  et  seq.,  71,  72. 
Progress  of,  65.  The  Crusaders  assail  Nissa,  ib.  Their  disastrous 
defeat,  66.  Enter  Thrace,  and  reach  Constantinople,  67.  Elect 
Gotschalk,  a  priest,  as  their  general,  68.  Their  progress,  69  et  seq. 
Rapacity  tad  cruelties  perpetrated  by  the,  70  et  seq.  Signal  defeats 
and  gecersl  slaughter  of,  72  et  seq.  Fresh  armies  sent  from  various 
parts  of  Europe,  and  the  names  of  their  most  distinguished  leaders, 
76—88.  Wafje  war  against  the  Greeks,  90,  91.  Wretched  situation 
of  the  remains  of  Peter's  army  in  Bithynia,  96.  Opposed  by  the 
Seljoucide  Turks  in  Bithynia,  97.  Their  various  contests,  99  et  seq. 
Their  arms  and  accoutrements,  99.  Thev  besiege  and  capture  Nice, 
100-105.  They  enter  Phrygia,  106;  and  defeat  the  Turks,  107-111. 
Their  sufferings  in  "burning  Phrygia,"  113,  114.  They  arrive  at 
Antiochetta,    114.      Dissensions   among   the   leaders,    116—118,    191. 


512  INDEX. 

They  reach  Mesopotamia,  121 ;  and  are  everywhere  triumphant,  126. 
Their  sufferings  in  Mount  Taurus,  ib.  They  enter  Syria,  and  capture 
Antioch,  127.  Their  sufferings,  133  et  seq.,  159-161.  Their  vices 
and  debaucheries,  135.  Their  valorous  deeds,  140-142.  The  sultan 
of  Persia  sends  an  immense  army  against  them,  158.  They  are 
besieged,  and  exposed  to  famine  and  desertion,  159—164.  They  march 
out  of  Antioch,  and  defeat  the  invading  Saracens  with  great  slaughter, 
170-174.  Disputes  among  the  leaders,  179  et  seq.  Their  conquests 
in  Syria,  183-186.  Their  departure  for  the  Holy  Land,  187,  188. 
They  besiege  Archas,  Tortosa  &c,  189  et  seq.  Their  reliance  on 
prodigies  and  visions,  191,  192.  Their  march  through  Palestine,  196 
et  seq.  The  immense  losses  sustained,  197.  Their  enthusiasm  on  the 
first  view  of  Jerusalem,  202.  Besiege  the  city,  205  et  seq. ;  and  take 
it  by  storm,  221-225.  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  elected  king,  234.  Great 
victory  over  the  Egyptian  forces  on  the  plain  of  Ascalon,  240—242. 
Many  of  the  leaders  return  to  Europe,  246,  247.  Fresh  bodies  of 
Crusaders  leave  Europe  for  the  East,  249,  250.  Their  leaders,  249, 
251.  Take  the  city  of  Ancyra,  ib.  Defeated  with  great  slaughter  by 
the  Turks,  252,  253.  Reflections  on  their  heroism  and  exploits,  257 
et  seq.  Kingdom  founded  by  their  victories,  265  et  seq.  Death  of 
their  great  leader,  Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  king  of  Jerusalem,  274.  His 
brother  Baldwin  elected  as  his  successor,  on  whose  family  the  sove- 
reignty devolves,  275  et  seq.  Hostilities  carried  on  against  the  infidels 
of  Palestine  and  Egypt,  with  alternate  success  and  defeat,  277  et  seq. 
Their  conquests  and  high  state  of  prosperity  under  Baldwin  du  Bourg, 
306.  Their  military  orders  of  knighthood,  307-309.  Their  calamitous 
defeat  at  Edessa  by  the  armies  of  Zengui  and  Noureddin,  321—327. 
Their  consternation  and  despair,  328. 

—  The  Second  Crusade,  a.d.  1142-1148. — The  Christian  colonies 
of  the  East  being  threatened  by  the  Mussulmans,  call  upon  the  princes 
of  Europe  to  assist  them,  i.  329.  All  Christendom  aroused  by  St. 
Bernard  to  the  impending  dangers  of  the  Holy  Land,  139  et  seq. 
Louis  VII.,  king  of  France,  and  Pope  Eugenius  III.,  determine  on  a 
second  crusade,  331.  The  multitudes  assembled  for  the  occasion, 
342,  343.  The  cities  of  Metz  and  Ratisbon  the  general  rendezvous, 
344.  Measures  for  raising  money  to  defray  the  expenses,  345.  The 
crusaders  depart  from  Europe,  headed  by  Louis  VII.  and  the  Emperor 
Conrad,  346.  Arrive  at  Constantinople,  348,  349.  Treacherous 
jolicy  of  the  Greeks,  348  et  seq.  The  German  Crusaders  defeated 
i.earNice,  351,  382.  The  French  Crusaders  march  through  Phrygia, 
and  are  defeated  by  the  Turks,  355,  356.  Their  distress  and  sufferings, 
357,  359,  et  seq.  Besiege  Damascus,  and  are  defeated,  365  et  seq. 
Insufficient  means  of  defence,  372.  General  characteristics  of,  373. 
Other  Crusaders  pursue  their  operations  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  374, 
375.  Reproachei  against  St.  Bernard  for  the  misfortunes  of  the  Cru- 
saders of  the  East;  37C,  377. 

The  Third  Crusax*,  a.d.  1148-1188.— Causes  of,  i.  382  et  seq. 

The  Christian  army  marches  again  t  Egypt,  and  commences  vigorous 
hostilities,  389  et  seq      The  Siciliai      rusaders  lay  siege  to  Alexandria, 


INDEX.  513 

400.  The  calamitous  war  of  the  Crusaders  with  Saladin,  402,  417  et 
seq.  Discord  amongst  them,  409  et  seq.  They  send  deputies  to  the 
kings  of  France  and  England  to  solicit  aid,  411.  They  are  defeated  by 
Saladin  with  immense  slaughter,  and  the  king  of  Jerusalem  made  pri- 
soner, 418-423.  The  holy  city  delivered  up  to  Saladin,  after  being 
eighty  years  in  possession  of  the  Christians,  429.  William,  archbishop 
of  Tyre,  incites  the  courts  of  France  and  England  to  renew  the  holy 
war,  436  et  seq.  Richard  I.  of  England,  Philip  of  France,  Frederick 
Barbarossa,  and  other  illustrious  potentates  and  knights,  engage  in  the 
holy  war,  441  et  seq.  The  victorious  career  and  death  of  Barbarossa, 
448,  449.  The  Crusaders  invade  Ptolemais  under  Guy  de  Lusignan, 
and  are  opposed  by  Saladin  in  numerous  conflicts.  454  et  seq.  Arrival 
of  Richard  I.  of  England,  Philip  of  France,  and  other  illustrious  per- 
sonages, 476.  Discord  in  the  camp,  and  quarrels  between  the  two 
potentates,  476,  477.  Anecdotes  of  heroic  bravery  before  the  walls  of 
Ptolemais,  478^180.  Ptolemais  taken  by  the  Christians,  and  num- 
bers slain,  481.  Manners  and  characteristics  of,  483,  484.  Richard  I. 
defeats  Saladin  at  the  battle  of  Arsur,  487,  488  ;  and  takes  possession 
of  Jaffa,  489.  The  Crusaders  march  upon  Jerusalem,  492.  Civil 
dissensions  among,  493,  498.  They  ratify  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Sala- 
din, 500,  501.  Immense  losses  sustained,  501.  General  reflections, 
502.     Advantages  to  Europe  and  civilization,  506  et  seq. 

—  The  Fourth  Crusade,  a.d.  1195-1198. — Retrospective  view,  ii.  1 
et  seq.  Civil  commotions  of  Palestine  among  the  successors  of  Saladin 
at  the  time  of,  4-7.  Instigated  by  the  exhortations  of  Pope  Celes- 
tine  III.  and  Henry  IV.  of  Germany,  11  et  s^q.  The  illustrious  men 
who  engage  in  it,  14,  15.  The  archbishop  of  Mayence  and  Valeran  de 
Valeran  take  the  command,  and  arrive  in  Palestine,  15.  Engage  in 
hostilities  with  the  Mussulmans,  16  et  seq.  Signal  defeat  of  the  Sara- 
cens before  Berytus,  and  its  important  consequences  19.  Progress  of 
the  German  Crusaders  under  Henry  IV.,  20,  21.  Dissensions  among 
the  leaders,  28-30.  Their  departure  from  Palestine,  31.  A  truce 
concluded  between  the  duke  de  Montfort  and  the  Saracens,  32.  Causes 
of  the  failure  of  this  crusade,  and  its  mischievous  consequences, 
33-35. 

■ — The  Fifth  Crusade,  a.d.  1198-1204. — General  remarks,  ii.  36. 
Causes  which  led  to  it,  38,  39.  Instigated  by  Pope  Innocent  III.,  ib. 
Preaching  of  Foulkes  in  its  favour,  42,  43.  The  illustrious  leaders 
engaged  in  it,  45-47,  58.  .Aided  by  Venice,  50,  53  n.  Boniface,  mar- 
quis of  Montferrat,  elected  the  commander,  55.  Quarrels  between  the 
Venetians  and  the  French,  64  e?  seq.  Besiege  and  capture  Constan- 
tinople, 82-93.  Defeated  by  ti>o  Saracens,  112.  Contests  between 
the  Greeks  and  the  Crusaders  at  Constantinople,  114  et  seq.  The 
Crusaders  capture  and  plunder  tbe  city,  131  et  seq.  Their  veneration 
for  relics  and  images,  141.  Baldwin,  count  of  Flanders,  elected  em- 
peror of  C\  'istantinople,  148.  The  conquered  lands  of  the  Greek 
empire  distributed  among  the  leaders,  149,  150.  The  Greeks,  Bul- 
garians, &.c.  take  arms  against  and  almost  annihilate  them,  165—173 
Reflect  ons  on  the  consequences  of  the  fifth  crusade,  179  et  seq. 


514  INDEX. 

The  Sixth  (  rusade,  a.d.  1200-1215. — Innocent  III.  stimulates 

the  Western  world  to  the  deliverance  of  the  Holy  Land,  ii.  :.9  •  et  seq. 
Hostilities  with  the  Saracens  renewed,  195.  50,000  children  engage  in 
the  crusade,  and  perish,  202.  The  pope  assembles  the  council  of 
Lateran,  and  issues  decrees  for  supporting  the  holy  war,  210,  211.  His 
death,  214.  His  successor,  Honorius  III.,  urges  the  crusade,  216. 
Indifference  of  the  kings  of  France  and  England,  ib.  Enthusiasm  of 
the  German  states  in  its  favour,  217.  Andrew  II.,  king  of  Hungary, 
engages  in  the  holy  war,  217,  224.  The  Crusaders  arrive  in  Palestine, 
225,  231.  March  into  Egypt,  and  capture  the  city  of  Damietta, 
232-235.  Numbers  return  to  Europe,  237.  Names  of  illustrious 
warriors  engaged,  238.  Skirmishes  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  243. 
Capture  of  Damietta,  249.  Fresh  Crusaders  arrive  from  Germany, 
Milan,  Genoa.  &c,  253.  March  against  the  capital  of  Egypt,  256. 
Their  fleet  burnt  on  the  Nile,  258.  Capitulate  with  the  Saracens,  260. 
Distresses  of  the  Christian  army,  261.  Surrender  of  Damietta,  260. 
Preparations  of  Frederick  II.,  emperor  of  Germany,  to  aid  the  Crusa- 
ders. 264,  267,  269.  He  arrives  at  Ptolemais,  275;  and  concludes  a  treaty 
with  the  sultan  of  Cairo,  by  which  he  is  confirmed  in  the  sovereignty 
of  Jerusalem,  278.  Gregory  IX.  determines  to  renew  the  holy  war, 
283.  Council  of  Tours  for  promoting  the  cause  of,  287.  Thi- 
bault  V.,  king  of  Navarre,  engages  in  the  crusade,  290.  The  pope 
prohibits  his  departure,  291.  Agitated  state  of  Palestine,  and  weakness 
of  the  Christian  power  in,  293,  294.  Richard,  duke  of  Cornwall, 
joins  the  Crusaders  at  Ptolemais,  295  ;  but  soon  returns  to  Italy,  and 
leaves  the  Christians  of  Palestine  to  themselves,  296.  Reflections  on 
the  ill  success  of  this  crusade,  and  the  causes  which  led  to  it,  297  et 
seq. 

The  Seventh  Crusade,  a.d.  1242—1245 The  Tartars  of  the 

middle  ages,  ii.  312  et  seq.  State  of  Palestine,  326.  Jerusalem 
captured  by  the  Carismian  hordes,  and  *he  Christians  slaughtered,  ib. 
The  united  Mussulman  and  Christian  forces  defeated  by  the  Carismians, 
330.  Distress  of  the  Christians,  334.  Innocent  IV.,  at  the  council 
of  Lyons,  determines  on  a  new  crusaoe,  338.  Louis  IX.  engages  to 
assist,  345—347.  The  distinguished  individuals  of  France  who  enter 
into  it,  347,  348.  Preparations  of  Louis  IX.,  358  etseq.  He  arrives  at 
Cyprus,  369.  Lands  at  Damietta,  and  defeats  the  Mohammedan  forces, 
385.  Advances  on  Cairo,  399.  Defeats  the  Egyptians,  403.  His  san- 
guinary contests  with  the  Mamelukes,  405.  Slaughter  of  the  Christians 
at  Mansourah,  408.  Sanguinary  contests  with  the  Mussulmans,  and 
their  severe  losses,  413-416.  Exposed  to  disease,  pestilence,  and  famine, 
417  et  seq.  Louis  IX.  captured,  and  his  army  destroyed,  ii.  428  et 
seq.  30,000  Crusaders  massacred,  430  ;  and  numbers  taken  into 
slavery,  435.  Louis  enters  into  °.n  abject  treaty  with  the  sultan  of 
Cairo,  438,  447.  The  Christian  forces  evacuate  Damietta,  44£ .  Heavy 
ransom  paid  for  the  liberation  of  Louis  IX.,  who  quits  Egypt  for  Syria, 
450.  A  fresh  crusade  preached  in  Europe,  464.  Numbers  of  Chris- 
tians in  Syria  and  Egypt  embrace  the  Mohammedan  relig'on,  469. 
Hostilities   resumed   in    Palestine,   474.     Louis   quits   Palestbe.   and 


INDEX.  51 8 

arrives  at  Paris  in  1254,  47S,  480.  General  reflections  on  the  crusade, 
and  its  unhappy  termination,  481  et  seq.  Desolating  crusades  against 
the  idolaters  of  Lithuania,  Prussia,  &c,  493. 

The    Eighth    Crusade,  a.d.   1255-1270. — Dangerous  position 

of  the  Christians  of  Palestine,  iii.  7.  War  declared  against,  8.  Cool- 
ness of  Pope  Alexander  IV.  and  Clement  IV.,  8,  20.  The  crusade 
supported  only  by  a  few  French  knights  under  Eudes.  son  of  the  duke 
of  Burgundy,  9.  The  Latin  Crusaders  lose  Constantinople,  10.  Mis- 
fortunes of  the  Christians  in  Palestine,  11  et  seq.  Louis  IX.  of 
France  undertakes  another  crusade  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  after  exten- 
sive preparations  he  sails  with  a  powerful  armament,  and  lands  at  Tunis, 
23—37.  England,  Scotland,  Spain,  Portugal,  &c.  engage  to  assist,  29. 
Great  mortality  at  Tunis,  41.  Death  of  Louis  IX.,  46.  The  Crusa- 
ders conclude  a  ten  years'  truce  with  the  king  of  Tunis,  49.  Theii 
fleet  is  nearly  destroyed  by  a  tempest,  51.  The  ancient  spirit  of  the 
Crusaders  suspended,  57.  Prince  Edward  of  England  arrives  in  Pales- 
tine, ib. ;  but  soon  returns,  58.  Causes  of  the  failure  of  this  crusade, 
58  et  seq.  Gregory  X.  convokes  the  council  of  Lyons,  and  endea- 
vours, but  in  vain,  to  revive  a  new  crusade,  59.  Severe  losses  and 
sanguinary  contests  of  the  Christians  of  Palestine  with  the  Saracens, 
69,  80  et  seq.  The  slaughter  of,  at  the  capture  of  Ptolema'is,  85  et 
seq.  Abandoned  by  their  leaders,  87.  Capture  and  destruction  of  all 
the  Christian  cities  along  the  coast  of  Syria,  89.  Indifference  of  the 
Western  world  to  the  melancholy  fate  of  the  Christian  inhabitants,  90. 

• Attempted  Crusades  against  the  Turks,  a.d.  1291-1396. 

— Pope  Nicholas  IV.  directs  his  attention  to  the  preaching  of  another 
crusade,  iii.  93.  The  hopes  of  the  West  revived  by  the  successes  of 
the  Tartars  against  the  Mussulmans,  94  et  seq.  Proclaimed  by  Cle- 
ment V.  at  the  council  of  Vienna,  97.  Philip,  king  of  France,  Edward 
III.  of  England,  and  other  illustrious  personages,  prepare  for  a  formi- 
dable crusade,  which  is  checked  by  the  death  of  Pope  John  XXI.  107, 
108.  Persecutions  of  the  Christians  of  the  East  in  consequence  of 
these  attempts,  109.  Benedict  XI.  endeavours  to  stir  up  a  crusade, 
110,  111.  Assembly  of  sovereigns  and  nobles  at  Avignon,  113, 
114.  They  capture  and  burn  Alexandria,  116.  Invade  the  coast  of  Bar- 
bary,  117.  Miraculous  interpositions  related,  118.  Treaty  with  the 
feultan  of  Egypt,  119.  A  crusade  against  the  Turks  determined  on, 
125.  Its  illustrious  leaders,  126.  Their  fatal  contests  with  Bajazet, 
127,  128.  Pope  Eugenius  exhorts  to  a  fresh  crusade,  135 ;  and  large 
armies  are  collected,  137.  The  Christians  enter  into  a  treaty  with 
Amurath,  which  they  violate,  138  ;  and  undertaking  another  crusade  are 
defeated  and  annihilated,  1 12.  The  Crusaders  full  of  bravery  but 
deficient  in  qualities,  143.  European  crusades  terminate  with  the  cap- 
ture of  Cons' antinople,  and  the  destruction  of  the  Greek  empire  by 
the  Ottoman  forces,  in  1453,  156. 

•—  Defensive  Crusades  against  the  Turks,  a.d.  1453-1481, 
iii.  159.  Meeting  of  Philip  of  Burgundy,  John  Capistran,  ^Eneaa 
Sylvius,  Frederick  III.  of  Germany,  Pope  Nicholas  V.,  Calixtis  III.. 


516  INDEX. 

and  others,  to  endeavour  to  stir  up  a  crusade  against  tie  Turks,  159- 
166.  The  crusade  preached  in  France,  England,  Germany,  Spain,  and 
Portugal,  168.  General  assembly  at  Mantua,  convoked  by  Pius  II,, 
172.  His  holiness  endeavours  to  arouse  the  Christian  states  against 
the  victorious  career  of  the  Turks,  174  et  seq.  Accompanies  the 
crusade,  and  dies  at  Ancona,  178,  179.  Paul  II.  and  Sextus  V. 
preach  the  crusade,  179,  182.  Partial  successes  of  the  Crusaders, 
and  the  discord  attending  them,  183.  The  Christians  lose  all  their 
previous  conquests,  except  Cyprus  and  Rhodes,  184.  Charles  VIII. 
of  Naples  engages  in  a  pretended  crusade  against  the  Turks,  192, 
193.  Pope  Alexander  VI.  endeavours  in  vain  to  stir  up  the  crusade, 
197.  The  crusading  spirit  becomes  enfeebled,  197,  201.  Exertions  of 
Leo  X.  for  its  revival,  202  et  seq.  Great  preparations  for,  206. 
Curious  historical  documents  respecting,  207.  Clement  VII.  renounces 
all  further  hopes,  218.  Career  of  the  Turks  checked  by  their  signal 
defeat  in  the  Gulf  of  Lepanto,  227  ;  and  before  the  walls  of  Vienna, 
235.  General  review  of  the  holy  wars,  228.  Their  influence  on  the 
various  classes  of  society  in  Europe,  as  regards  the  progress  of  the 
arts  and  of  general  knowledge,  251  et  seq.  Concluding  remarks,  345- 
348. 

Appendix. — Bull  of  Pope  Eugenius  in  favour  of  the  second 

crusade,  hi.  370.  Bull  of  Gregory  VIII.,  380.  Ralph  of  Coggershall's 
account  of  the  crusade  under  Richard  I.,  395.  Treaty  among  the 
Crusaders  for  dividing  the  city  and  empire  of  Constantinople,  431. 
Jourdain's  letter  on  the  crusade  of  children  in  1212,  441.  Letter 
of  Innocent  III.  exhorting  the  Christians  to  a  fresh  crusade,  447. 
List  of  the  great  officers  who  followed  St.  Louis  in  his  crusade  to  Tunis, 
465.  Receipts  of  the  troncs  in  France  for  the  expenses  of  the  cru- 
sades, 473  ;  and  their  expenditure,  474  et  seq. 

Cydnus,  the  river,  i.  449  n. 

Cyprus,  captured  by  Richard  I.  of  England,  i.  475.  Disputes  respecting 
the  sovereignty  of,  ii.  177.  Arrival  of  Louis  IX.  at,  369.  Intem- 
perance of  the  Crusaders  'at,  370,  371.  Political  distractions  of, 
iii.  184.  Subjected  to  the  Mussulmans,  185.  Taken  possession  of 
by  the  Venetians,  ib.     Captured  by  the  Turks,  225. 

,  king  of,  flies  from  Ptolemais,  iii.  79. 

,  Peter  de  Lusignan,  king  of,  engages  in  a  fresh  crusade,  iii.  313 

et  seq. 

D. 

Daimbert,  archbishop  of  Pisa,  appointed  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  i.  269. 
His  disputes  with  Baldwin,   king  of  Jerusalem,    285,   286.     Letters 
from    him    and    others   detailing    their  victories  over    the   Saracens, 
362-364  (App.). 

Dais,  a  class  of  Ishmaelians,  iii.  421. 

Damascus,  principality  of,  i.  127.  The  sultan  of,  attacks  the  principality 
of  Tancred,  and  is  defeated  by  Godfrey,  273.  He  defeats  the  Chris- 
tians, 290,  291.  Description  and  history  of,  364,  365.  Besieged  by 
the  Crusaders,  who  are  defeated  through  treachery,  366  et  seq.     Cap* 


rtTDEX.  51? 

tared  by  the  Carismians,  ii.  332.     Sultan  of,   rarries  on  war  againsl 
the  Egyptians,  468,  473.     Treaty  of  peace  between,  474. 

Damietta,  city  of,  described,  ii.  231,  232.  Tower  of,  taken  by  the 
Crusaders,  232—235.  Sanguinary  conflicts  before  the  walls  of,  243. 
Captured  by  the  Christians,  the  inhabitants  having  perished  by  famine, 
249,  250.  Great  wealth  of,  ib.  Surrendered  to  the  Saracens,  260. 
Besieged  and  captured  by  the  Crusaders  under  Louis  IX.,  380-385. 
Delivered  up  to  the  Mussulmans  by  treaty,  448.  Mussulman  re- 
joicings at,  and  Arab  poem  on,  451.  Destroyed  by  the  Mussulmans, 
485.  Letter  from  the  count  of  Artois  on  the  taking  of,  iii.  456  (App.). 
Letter  from  St.  Louis  respecting,  461  (App.). 

^ancolo,  the  doge  of  Venice,  ii.  49  and  n.  Engages  to  assist  the  Cru- 
saders, 50,  51.  His  address  to  the  Venetians  in  favour  of  the  Crusaders, 
61.  Virtues  of,  146.  Death  of,  172.  His  treaty  with  the  Crusaders 
for  dividing  Constantinople  and  the  empire,  iii.  431  (App.). 

Daphnusia,  expedition  against,  iii.  9. 

Darcum,  castle  of,  i.  495. 

Dardanelles,  castle  of,  built  by  Selim  II.,  iii.  226. 

Dargan,  vizier  of  Egypt,  defeated  and  slain,  i.  387. 

Despotism,  the  most  fragile  of  human  institutions,  iii.  120. 

Dicet,  Ralph,  extract  from  his  history,  iii.  394. 

Dipsada,  serpents  so  called,  i.  199  n. 

Dogs,  a  river  in  "  burning  Phrygia"  discovered  by  the  sagacity  of, 
i.  114. 

Dol,  archbishop  of,  i.  56  n. 

Dolabella,  his  dispute  with  Cassius,  i.  117  n. 

Dorylaeum,  plain  of,  i.  106. 

Ducas,  Michael,  excites  the  Christians  to  take  arms  against  the  infidels, 
i.  3-!,  39. 

Duelling,  origin  of,  in  the  middle  ages,  iii.  313. 

Durazzo,  siege  of,  i.  284. 

E. 

Earthquake  visits  Palestine,  and  destroys  several  cities,  i.  291,  292. 
«In  Egypt,  ii.  188. 

East,  anarchy  of  the,  i.  4,  5.  Subject  to  the  invasions  of  the  wild  hordes 
ofTartary,  31.  Subdued  by  the  Turks,  32.  Empire  of,  approach- 
ing to  its  fall,  36,  37.     State  of,  at  the  time  of  the  third  crusade,  382. 

Ecalthai,  the  Tartar  prince,  sends  an  embassy  to  Louis  IX.  at  Cyprus, 
ii.  373. 

Eccelino  de  Romano,  papal  crusade  against,  ii.  422.     His  death,  493. 

Eclipses,  alarm  caused  by,  i.  201,  351. 

Edessa,  occupied  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  121.  Governed  by  Baldwin,  124. 
The  principal  bulwark  of  the  Christians,  125.  Flourishing  state  of, 
306.  Captured  and  destroyed  by  the  infidels,  and  the  Christians 
slaughtered,  321-327. 

■ ,  Matthew  of,  i.  101. 

Edma,  daughter  of  Baldwin,  i.  302. 

Edward  I.  of  England,  his  expedition  to  the  Hoi)  Land,  and  defeat  of 
the  Saracens,  iii.  472  (App.). 


618  INDEX. 

Edward,  Prince,  of  England,  engages  in  the  crjsade  to  the  Holy  Land, 
iii.  29,  32.  Arrives  in  Syria,  and  captures  Nazareth,  57.  Returns  to 
England,  58. 

Egypt,  ambassadors  from,  received  at  the  camp  of  the  Crusaders,  i.  138. 
Their  offers  rejected,  139.  Mussulman  forces  from,  under  Afdhal, 
237—242.  The  armies  of,  defeated  by  Baldwin,  king  of  Jerusalem, 
278,  286,  287,  293.  Several  of  her  cities  captured,  303.  Distracted 
state  of,  386  et  seq.  Warlike  preparations  against,  389  et  seq.  De- 
position and  death  of  the  caliph,  396.  Possessed  by  Malek-Adel, 
509.  Famine  and  plague  in,  ii.  186,  187.  Terrible  earthquake  in, 
188.  The  sultan  of,  joined  by  the  warriors  of  Carismia,  326.  Malek- 
Saleh  Negmeddin,  the  sultan  of,  376.  Military  and  political  state  of, 
when  invaded  by  Louis  IX.,  377,  378,  379.  The  Saracens  defeated 
by  Louis,  403.  The  Christian  forces,  in  their  turn,  defeated  with 
great  slaughter,  408,  428.  Almoadam  raised  to  the  throne  of,  417. 
Louis  IX.  taken  prisoner  in,  428.  Civil  commotions  in,  459.  Sultan 
of,  negotiates  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Venice,  iii.  199.  Undertakes 
an  expedition  against  the  Portuguese,  ib.  Memoir  of  Leibnitz, 
addressed  to  Louis  XIV.,  on  the  conquest  of,  478-493  (App.). 

Eleanor  of  Guienne,  the  queen  of  Louis  VIL,  i.  343,  346.  Accom- 
plishments of,  360.  Her  irregular  conduct,  361,  362.  Repudiated  by 
her  husband,  362.     Results  of  her  divorce,  378,  472. 

Eleactra,  river,  venomous  serpents  of,  i.  198. 

Elevein,  province  of,  in  Wales,  iii.  409. 

Elidore,  miraculous  adventure  of,  iii.  411. 

Eloi,  St.,  at  the  court  of  Dagobert,  i.  10. 

Emad-eddin,  his  conspiracy  for  dethroning  the  sultan  of  Cairo,  ii.  242. 

Emaiis,  captured  by  Saladin,  i.  427. 

Emicio,  Count,  instigates  the  Crusaders  to  the  greatest  cruelties,  i.  70. 

Emirs  of  Egypt,  power  of,  ii.  444. 

Emmaus,  the  Crusaders  arrive  at,  i.  201. 

England,  her  resistance  to  the  pretensions  of  the  popes,  ii.  303,  341.  In- 
crease of  liberty  in,  iii.  285.  State  of,  and  changes  in,  during  the  age 
of  the  crusades,  256  et  seq. 

Erard  de  Severy,  his  heroic  death,  ii.  410. 

Eude,  duke  of  Burgundy,  i.  249.     Killed  in  battle,  254  and  n. 

III.,  death  of,  ii.  55. 

Eugenius  III.,  Pope,  warmly  urges  on  the  second  crusade,  i.  331.  His 
bull  in  its  favour,  iii.  370  (App.). 

IV.  receives  the  submission  of  the  Greek  Church,  iii.  135.  Ex- 
horts the  Christian  states  to  a  fresh  crusade,  135,  136. 

Euphrosyne,  wife  of  the  Emperor  Alexius,  ii.  94. 

Europe,  aspect  of,  changed  by  advancing  civilization,  i.  xxi.  Political 
and  religious  distractions  of,  ii.  19?,  196  ;  iii.  131,  217,  220.  General 
state  of,  ii.  304,  305.  Great  preparations  for  undertaking  a  crusade 
against  the  Turks,  iii.  206.  Curious  historical  documents  respecting, 
207.  Divisions  among  the  powers  of,  214.  Policy  of  the  sovereigns 
of,  219.     General  emulation  in,  for  the  cultivation  of  the  arts,  229. 

Eutychians,  sect  of  the,  i.  4. 

Eveiard  de  Puysaie,  bravery  of,  at  Jerusalem,  i.  224. 


! 


INDEX.  519 

Evrard  des  Barres,  grand  master  of  the  Templars,  i.  356. 

Ezervmm,  kingdom  of,  i.  97. 

Ezz-Eddin  Aybek,  surnamed  Turcoman,  made  governor  of  Egypt  undei 

Chegger-Eddour,    ii.    445.     Marries   Cbegger-Eddour,   and  becomei 

sultan,  459.     Is  assassinated  by  his  wife,  ill.  3. 

F. 

Fair  held  on  Mount  Calvary,  i.  11. 

Fakr-eddin,  Imaum,  anecdote  of,  hi.  426. 

Fakreddin,  the   leader   of  the   Egyptian  army,   ii.  381.     Defeated  by 

Louis  IX.,  385.     Takes  the  command  of  Egypt,  397.     His  letter  to 

the  Mussulmans,  398.     Is  slain  in  battle,  403. 
Falcandus,  the  Sicilian  historian,  ii.  20  and  n. 
Famine  in  Europe,   ii.   56  and  n.     In  Egypt,   56,   112.     Its  frightful 

effects,  186,  187. 
Fanaticism,  spirit  of,  weakened  by  civilization,  i.  xxi.    Rage  of,  481,  482. 
Fatimite  caliphs  recapture  Jerusalem,  i.  16. 
Fatimites,  dynasty  of  the,  extinguished,  i.  396. 
Fayel,  lady  de,  i.  503. 
Fedais,  a  sect  of  assassins  in  Syria,  iii.  421.     Curious  anecdote  of  one, 

426. 
Fergant,  the  Breton,  i.  183. 
Feristha,  the  historian,  i.  31. 
Feudalism  established  at  Jerusalem,  i.  271-273.     Its  yoke  first  shaken  off 

in  Lombardy  and  Italy,  iii.  284.     Evils  of,  275  et  seq.     Its  fall,  292, 

293. 
Flanders,  nobility  of,  engage  in  the  fifth  crusade,  ii.  47,  83.     Bravery  of 

the  soldiers  of,  415. 

,  count  of,  his  speech  to  the  Christian  army  at  Jerusalem,  i.  230. 

Florence  rejoices  at  the  defeat  of  the  French  Crusaders,  ii.  453. 

Florine,  daughter  of  Eude  I.,  slain,  i.  134  andn. 

Foulke,  a  French  knight,  and  his  beautiful  wife,  fate  of,  i.  181. 

,  count  of  Anjou,  and  son  of  Foulque  le  Rechin,  engages  in  the 

holy  wars,  i.  310.     Marries  the  daughter  of  Baldwin  du  Bourg,  ib. 

Crowned  king  of  Jerusalem,  311.     His  death,  316. 
Foulque-Nerra,    count  of  Anjou,    penitential  pilgrimages  of,  i.  25,  26. 

Death  of,  26.     Miraculous  incident  relative  to,  iii.  355  (App.). 
Fculkes,  cur£  of  Neuilly,  preaches  in  favour  of  the  fifth  crusade,  ii.  42-45, 

Death  of,  57.     Tomb  of,  ib.  n. 
11  Fountain  of  the  Clerks,"  London,  iii.  384. 
France,  enthusiasm  of,  for  the  Christian  crusades  against  the  infidels  of 

Palestine,  i.  53,  79.     The  Crusaders  of,  and  their  most  distinguished 

leaders,  i.  87,  88.     Louis  IX.  engages  in  the  second  crusade,  337  et 

seq.     Ruled  by  the  minister  Suger,  376.     Lamentations  of,  for  the 

fate  of  the  Crusaders,  376,  377. 
• ,  placed  under  the  papal  interdict,  ii.  42.    Political  contentions  in, 

195,  208.     Engages  in  the  sixth  crusade,  207.     Louis  IX.  and  several 

distinguished  personages  engage  in  the  seventh  crusade,  347,  348.  Thi 

nobles  of,  form  a  league  to  resist  the  exactions  of  the  pope,  358.     Eb^ 


£20  INDEX. 

thusiasm  of,  for  the  seventh  crusade,  362,  363,  365.  Improved  state 
of  society  in,  364.  Innocent  IV.  takes  charge  of  the  kingdom  during 
the  absence  of  Louis  IX.,  368.  State  of  her  navy,  369.  Consterna- 
tion of,  on  receiving  the  news  of  the  defeat  and  capture  of  Louis  IX. 
by  the  Egyptians,  452. 

Prance  undertakes  a  second  crusade  under  Louis  IX.,  assisted  by  various 
powers,  iii.  24  et  seq.  Invades  the  coast  of  Barbary,  where  Louis 
dies,  117.  Her  troops  take  possession  of  Rome,  194.  Political 
troubles  of,  112,  113.  The  Crusaders  of,  defeated  and  slaughtered  by 
Bajazct,  128.  Consternation  of  the  French,  ib.  Important  changes 
in,  during  the  age  of  the  crusades,  254  et  seq.  Extension  of  liberty 
in,  285,  291,  292.  Receipts  of  the  troncs  for  the  expenses  of  the  cru- 
sades, 473  ;  and  their  expenditure,  474  (App.).  Her  treaties  with  the 
Ottoman  Port,  488  (App.). 

Francis  I.  of  France,  his  letters  respecting  the  crusade  against  the  Turks, 
iii.  207.  His  injunctions,  209.  Made  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Pavia, 
214.     Policy  of,  219. 

Francis  of  Assise,  or  St.  Francis,  piety  of,  ii.  244.  His  address  to 
Melik-Kamel,  245.     Founds  the  religious  order  of  Cordeliers,  246. 

Franks,  military  valour  of  the,  i.  37  ;  ii.  87.  Carry  on  their  hostilities 
against  the  infidels,  i.  282  et  seq.  Attack  Constantinople,  ii.  87. 
Character  of  the,  174.     See  France. 

Frederick  II.,  emperor  of  Germany,  enters  into  vows  to  fight  against  the 
infidels  of  Palestine,  ii.  263.  His  extensive  preparations,  265.  Sets 
sail,  and  returns  to  Otranto,  270.  His  marriage  at  Rome  with  the 
heiress  of  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  266.  Acknowledged  to  be  the  sove- 
reign of  the  holy  city,  267.  .  His  quarrel  with  the  pope,  270  et  seq. 
Opposed  by  the  clergy,  280.  Quits  Palestine  for  Europe,  281.  His 
victories  in  Lombardy,  281.  Excommunicated  by  Gregory  IX.,  ib. 
Treaty  with  his  holiness,  282.  Renewed  rupture  with  the  pope,  292. 
Excommunicated,  292,  341.  His  indignation,  344.  Is  deposed  by  the 
pope,  353.  His  protracted  contests  with,  354  et  seq.  Enters  into 
negotiations  with  Melik-Kamel,  273,  276.  Arrives  at  Ptolemais,  275. 
Concludes  a  treaty,  278.     Death  of,  461.     His  character,  490. 

III.  of  Germany  endeavours  to  stir   up  a  crusade  against  the 

Turks,  iii.  164. 

,  duke  of  Swabia,  joins  the  Crusaders,  i.  468.     Death  of,  470. 

,  king  of  the  Romans,  ii.  209,  217. 


G. 

Galata,  fortress  of,  captured  by  the  Latins,  ii.  87. 

Gargan,  Mount,  i.  21. 

Gamier,  count  de  Grai,  i.  78. 

Gaston   de   Beam,  i.    88,    212.     Dies  in  Spain,  247.     Ordinances  of, 

262  n. 
Gaucher  de  Chatillon,  his  heroic  death,  ii.  427. 
Gauthier  de  Brienne  lays  claim  to  the  kingdom  of  Sicily,  ii.  53,  178. 

Engages  in  the  holy  wars,  78.     Captured  and  put  to  death  bj  th« 

Carismians,  331,  332. 


INDEX  521 

Saza,  capture  of,  by  Saladin,  i.  426.     The  Crusaders  surprised  and  cut  t« 

pieces  at,  ii.  295. 
Gecko,  the  serpent  of  Egypt,  i.  199  n. 
Gelaleddin,  sultan  of  Carismia,  death  of,  ii.  326. 
Gemaleddin,  the  historian,  i.  175  n. 
Gengiskhan,  the  Tartar  chief,  historical  notices  and  conquests  of,  ii.  317 

et  seq.     Death  of,  321. 
Genoese,   their  fleets  and  victories,  i.  40.     They  relieve  and  assist  thft 

Crusaders  at  Antioch,  145  ;  at  Jaffa,  211 ;  and  at  Arsur,  277.     Their 

contests  with  the  Venetians,  iii.  2.     They  lose  the  colony  of  Caffa,  184. 
Geoffrey  dela  Tour,  anecdote  of,  i.  180. 
de  Lusignan,  i.  413.     Defeated  and  made  prisoner  by  Saladin, 

422. 

de  Rancon,  i.  354.     Commits  a  fatal  blunder,  355. 


Geography,  progress  of,  during  the  period  of  the  crusades,  iii.  333-335. 

Georgians,  a  warlike  people,  ii.  265. 

Gerard  of  Avesnes,  heroic  death  of,  i.  268. 

Geraud,  St.,  Baron  d'Aurillac,  i.  19  n. 

Gerbert,  Archbishop,  excites  resistance  to  the  Saracens,  i.  17. 

Germany,  state  of,  at  the  time  of  the  second  crusade,  i.  337.  Enthusiasm 
of,  in  its  favour,  339.  The  Crusaders  of,  defeated  by  the  Turks,  353. 
The  fourth  crusade  preached  and  undertaken  by,  ii.  14-16.  The  Cru- 
saders return  from  Palestine,  31.  Political  and  religious  contentions 
in,  209,  353.  Changes  in,  during  the  age  of  the  crusades,  iii.  258-260. 
Extension  of  liberty  in,  284. 

Gertrude,  wife  of  Andrew  II.  of  Hungary,  ii.  217. 

Gervais,  count  of  Tiberias,  taken  prisoner  and  put  to  death,  i.  290. 

Ghibellines,  faction  of  the,  ii.  269. 

Gibel,  besieged  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  189  and  n. 

Gilbert,  a  leader  of  the  crusades,  i.  356. 

Giraffe,  its  first  introduction  into  Europe,  iii.  330. 

Giselbert,  prophetic  vision  of,  i.  234. 

Gisors,  assembly  convoked  at,  by  the  kings  of  France  and  England,  i.  436. 

Glaber  the  monk,  chronicle  of,  i.  19,  20,  23. 

Glass,  manufacture  of,  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  329. 

Gnostics,  sect  of  the,  iii.  495  et  seq. 

Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  duke  of  Lorraine,  the  distinguished  leader  of  the 
first  crusade,  i.  xx.  xxi.,  76  and  n.,  77—79.  Wages  war  against  the 
Greeks,  90.  His  alliance  with  Alexis  of  Constantinople,  92.  Defeats 
the  Turks  in  Phrygia,  110,  111.  Dangerously  wounded  by  a  bear, 
115.  His  quarrel  with  Boheraond,  146,  147.  His  heroic  bravery, 
172.  Forms  an  alliance  with  the  emir  of  Hezas,  and  defeats  the  sultan 
of  Aleppo,  182.  Takes  Jerusalem  by  storm,  221.  Elected  king,  231. 
Defeats  the  Egyptian  forces  on  the  plain  of  Ascalon,  240—242.  His 
quarrel  with  Raymond,  244.  Political  measuies  and  conquests  of, 
267.  Besieges  Arsur,  268.  Extraordinary  prowess  of,  269.  He 
concedes  political  power  to  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  ib.  Divides 
the  conquered  lands  among  the  companions  of  his  victories,  270.  Hi* 
legislative  code,  271-273.     His  death  and  character,  274. 

«--  abbot  of  Clairvaux,  i.  329  n. 

Vol.  III.— 23 


522  INDEX. 

Godfrey,  bishop  of  Langres,  i.  331. 

Gorgoni,  valley  of,  in  Phrygia,  i.  106  and  n.     Battle  of,  107-111. 

Goths,  monarchy  of  *he,  overturned,  i.  5. 

Gotschalk,  a  priest,  elected  general  of  the  Crusaders,  i.  68.     His  pro 
gress,  69  et  seq. 

Greece,  invaded  by  Boniface,  king  of  Thessalonica,  ii.  162,  163.  By  tht 
Turks,  iii.  122.  Humiliated  condition  of,  134.  Conquered  by  Ma- 
hornet  II.,  171.  Her  want  of  energy  to  resist  the  Turkish  domination, 
243.     Her  probable  emancipation,  245. 

Greek,  knowledge  of,  diffused  and  cultivated  in  the  West,  ii.  181  and  n. , 
iii.  204.     Brought  from  Constantinople,  iii.  338. 

Greek  Church  submits  to  papal  authority,  iii.  135. 

Greek  empire,  its  weakened  condition,  i.  4,  5.  The  conquered  lands  of, 
distributed  among  the  Crusaders,  ii.  149,  150.  Its  approaching  fall, 
iii.  144.  Capture  of  its  capital  by  Mahomet  II.,  156.  Destruction 
of  the,  156-158. 

Greek  fire,  i.  5.  Destructive  properties  and  terrific  appearance  of,  ii.  14, 
401.     Use  of,  iii.  .'^29.     Note  upon,  by  Renaudot,  387  (App.). 

Greeks,  on  the  rising  energies  of  the,  i.  13.  The  cool  indifference  of 
their  prelates,  ib.  They  are  defeated  by  the  Saracens,  14.  Ziraisces, 
their  emperor,  gains  a  signal  victory,  15.  Opposed  to  the  formidable 
tyranny  of  'he  Turks,  34,  35  Their  moral  condition  and  character, 
35-37;  ii.  100  et  seq  ,  174.  Their  contests  with  the  Crusaders,  and 
hostility  to  the  Latins,  i.  90,  91,  93,  446,  447.  Their  perfidious  policy 
to  the  Crusaders,  348  et  seq.,  356.  Are  defeated  by  Barbarossa,  448. 
Their  contentions  with  the  Latins,  ii.  103,  113—115.  Their  reverence 
for  relics  and  images,  141.  Rebel  against  the  Latins,  165.  Defeat 
and  massacre  them,  168,  169.  Their  different  historians,  175.  Dis- 
possess the  Latins  of  Constantinople,  iii.  10.     See  Constantinople. 

"  Green  Knight,"  distinguished  bravery  of  the,  i.  452. 

Gregory  VII.,  Pope,  his  character,  i.  39. 

> VIII.,  bull  of,  in  favour  of  a  crusade  against  Saladin,  iii.  380 

(App.). 

IX.,  Pope,  character  of,  ii.  269.     His  rage  against  Frederick  II. 


of  Germany,  270,  271.  Hostilities  with,  272,  281.  Treaty  with,  282. 
Determines  to  renew  the  holy  war,  283.  Quarrels  with  and  excom- 
municates  Frederick,  292.     His  death,  296. 

X.   convokes  a  council  at  Lyons  for  reviving  a  new  crusade, 


iii.  59.     His  dearth,  66. 

,  Cardinal,  T.  52. 

St.,  ot'Nyssen,  i.  2. 


Grenier,  Eustache,  regent  of  Jerusalem,  i.  297. 

Guelphs,  faction  of  the,  ii.  269. 

Guibert,  Abbe,  i.  56  n. 

Guichenon,  the  historian  of  the  house  of  Savoy     .  250 

Guicher,  a  French  knight,  i.  180. 

Guienne.     See  Eleanor  of. 

Guillebard,  St.,  pilgrimage  of,  i.  24  n. 

Guis  de  Trusselle,  i.  83. 

Guiscard,  Robert,  the  NormaD,  i.  b4. 


INDEX.  623 

Gundechilde,  wife  of  Pancratius,  i.  120. 

Gunther,  the  monk,  his  history  of  the  Greeks,  ii.  175,  176. 

Guy,  abbot  of  Vaux  de  Cernay,  ii.  64. 

de  Lusignan,  i.  403.     His  rebellion  against  Baldwin  IV.,  i.  407. 

Selected  by  Sibylla,  his  wife,  as  the  sovereign  of  Jerusalem,  413.  His 
contentions  with  Saladin,  417  et  seq.  Defeated  and  made  prisoner, 
422.  Released  from  captivity,  453.  Besieges  Ptolema'is,  454.  His 
conflicts  with  Saladin,  458.     Obtains  the  sovereignty  of  Cyprus,  501. 

■  de  Malvoisin,  bravery  of,  ii.  408,  415. 

: du  Chatel,  slain,  ii.  426. 

de  Chatillon,  slain,  ii.  481. 

of  Tremouille,  death  of,  iii.  129. 

Guymer,  the  corsair  chief,  i.  118. 

H. 

Haco,  king  of  Norway,  engages  in  the  seventh  crusade,  ii.  361.  Hia 
political  motives,  ib. 

Hafiz,  the  Persian  poet,  his  description  of  Jerusalem,  i.  202. 

Hakim,  Caliph,  fanatical  excesses  of,  i.  16,  17.     Inconstancy  of,  20. 

Halys,  defeat  of  the  Crusaders  on  the  banks  of  the,  i.  252. 

Haman  Eddin,  secretary  of  Saladin,  i.  397. 

Hammer,  M.  Raynouard's  notes  on  his  "  Mysterium  Baphometi  Reve- 
latum,"  iii.  494-500. 

Hapsburg,  family  of,  their  origin,  iii.  260. 

Harem,  city  of,  taken  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  140. 

Haroun  al  Raschid,  glorious  reign  of,  i.  8.  His  amicable  relations  with 
Charlemagne,  9. 

Hassan,  founder  of  the  Ismaelians,  his  origin  and  history,  iii.  415  et  seq. 
(App.). 

Hegira,  first  age  of  the,  i.  5. 

Helen,  statue  of,  at  Constantinople,  ii.  140. 

Helena,  St.,  her  piety,  i.  2.     Pious  pilgrimage  of,  27. 

Helian,  his  speech  against  the  Venetians,  iii.  200. 

Hemingford,  Walter,  the  chronicler,  iii.  472. 

Henry  II.,  king  of  England,  urged  to  join  the  Crusaders,  i.  411.  De- 
termines on  renewing  the  holy  war,  438.  His  quarrels  with  the  king 
of  France,  440.  His  convocation  at  the  Fountain  of  the  Clerks, 
London,  iii.  394  (App.). 

III.,  ascends  the  throne  of  England,  ii.  216.     Refuses  to  assist 


the  Crusaders,  352.     His  opposition  to  the  pope  and  his  barons,  394. 
VI.  of  Germany  engages  in  the  fourth  crusade,  ii.  13  et  seq. 


Conquers  Naples  and  Sicily,  20.     Progress  of  his  armies  in  Palestine, 
22  et  seq.     Death  of,  31 ;  and  character,  34  and  n. 

VIII.  of  England,  policy  of,  iii.  219. 

count  of  Champagne,  Palestine  ceded  to,  i.  501.     Accidental 


death  of,  ii.  17. 

,  landgrave  of  Thuringia,  crowned  emperor  of  Germany,  ii.  353 

of  Hainault,  his  bravery,  ii.  169,  170. 


Heracle,  count  de  Polignac,  i.  88. 


fi24  index. 

Heraclius  captures  Jerusalem,  i.  4.  His  interview  with  Henry  II.,  king 
of  England,  411. 

Hercules,  statue  of,  at  Constantinople,  ii.  130. 

Heresies  of  the  thirteenth  century,  ii.  198.     Papal  crusade  against,  199. 

Hezas,  emir  of,  i.  181.  Allies  himself  with  the  Crusaders,  and  defeats 
the  sultan  of  Aleppo,  182. 

Hezelon  de  Kintzveiler,  prophetic  vision  of,  i.  234. 

Hildebrand,  Pope,  pretensions  of,  i.  39. 

History,  writers  of,  i.  xxii.  Difficulties  of  reconciling,  xxiii.  Progress 
of,  during  the  period  of  the  crusades,  iii.  341. 

Holy  Land,  pilgrimages  to  the,  i.  1-3  ;  iii.  248,  249,  349  et  seq.  Letter 
of  Innocent  III.  exhorting  Christians  to  the  aid  of,  iii.  447  (App.). 
See  Palestine. 

See,   political    contentions   with    the,  ii.   208,   209.     Its  quarrels 

with  Frederick,  emperor  of  Germany,  270,  281,  292.     See  Popes. 

■ Sepulchre,  veneration  for  the,   i.  1.     Melancholy  spectacle  of  its 

ruins,  20.     Pilgrimages  to  the,  21.     Knights  of  the,  308. 

Honorius  III.,  Pope,  ii.  215.  Urges  the  sixth  crusade,  216.  Death  of, 
269. 

Horses,  four,  of  bronze,  carried  to  Venice,  ii.  182. 

Hospitals  for  pilgrims  of  the  Latin  Church,  i.  10,  16,  22,  23. 

Hospitallers,  possessions  and  power  of,  ii.  9.  Their  quarrels  with  the 
Templars,  9,  10;  iii.  2.     Their  exploits,  98.     Anecdote  of  the,  299. 

Hugh  of  Lusignan,  king  of  Cyprus,  iii.  Ill,  112. 

,  count  of  Jaffa,  i.  313.     Death  of,  315. 

Humbert  II. ,  count  of  Savoy,  departs  for  the  Holy  Land,  i.  249.  His- 
torical notices  of,  250. 

II.,  dauphin  of  Viennois,  takes  the  cross  for  the  holy  war,  iii.  111. 

de  Romanis,  curious  document  issued  by,  iii.  60,  61. 

Humphrey  de  Thoron,  i.  413.  His  pretensions  to  the  throne  of  Jeru- 
salem, 470. 

Hungarians,  their  origin,  i.  62.  Oppose  the  progress  of  the  Crusaders, 
65  et  seq.,  68,  71.     Conquered  by  the  Tartars,  ii.  323. 

Hungary,  political  state  of,  ii.  230.  The  Crusaders  of,  defeated  by  Baja- 
zet,  ii'i.  128.  Invaded  by  the  Turks,  166,  187.  The  Turks  defeated, 
187.  Invaded  by  Soliman,  214  ;  and  the  Hungarians  defeated,  215. 
Weakened  condition  of,  218.  Enters  into  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the 
Turks,  ib. 

Hunniades,  the  Hungarian,  a  leader  of  the  Crusaders,  iii.  137.  Is  de- 
feated by  Amurath,  142.     Valour  of,  166,  167.     His  death,  167. 

I. 

Ibu-Ferat,  the  Arabian  historian,  iii.  63,  64  n. 
Iconium,  city  of,  i.  116.     Taken  by  Barbarossa,  i.  448. 
Ida,  countess  of  Hainauit,  heroic  devotion  of,  i.  246. 

■ ,  margravine  of  Austria,  i.  249. 

Iftikhar-Eddanlah,  governor  of  Jerusalem,  his  hostilities  against  tha 
Crusaders,  i.  204. 


INDEX.  525 

Imamat,  rights  of  the,  iii.  114. 

Irabert  de  Beaujeu,  constable  of  France,  ii.  402. 

Indulgences,  sale  of,  iii.  210. 

Industry,  progress  of,  during  the  period  of  the  crusades,  iii.  251,  328 
et  seq. 

Infidels.     See  Mohammedans,  Saracens,  and  Turks. 

Ingulfus,  the  monk,  his  account  of  the  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  i.  30 
and  n. 

Innocent  III.,  the  great  instigator  of  the  fifth  crusade,  ii.  38  et  seq. 
His  quarrel  with  Philip  of  France,  42.  His  reproaches  against  the 
Crusaders  at  Zara,  73.  His  letter,  153.  His  efforts  to  stimulate  the 
Crusaders,  191,  203,  213.  His  crusade  against  the  Albigeois,  199 
and  n.  His  political  domination,  208,  209.  Assembles  the  council  of 
Lateran,  210.  His  sermon  on  the  occasion,  211.  His  death  and  cha- 
racter, 214,  215.  Letter  from,  exhorting  Christians  to  the  aid  of  the 
Holy  Land,  iii.  447  (App.). 

IV.,  disturbances  under  his  reign,  ii.  296.     ConvoVes  the  council 

of  Lyons,  335.  Determines  on  the  seventh  crusade  ^od.  Excommu- 
nicates Frederick,  emperor  of  Germany,  341.  Deposes  him,  353. 
Protracted  contests  between  them,  354  et  seq.  Levies  excessive  con- 
tributions on  Europt ,  358.  Encourages  the  preaching  of  a  fresh  cru- 
sade, 464.     His  character,  490,  491. 

Inquisition  established  in  Spain,  iii.  267.     Its  power,  271. 

Isaac  Angelus,  the  emperor  of  Constantinople,  i.  445.  Forms  an  alliance 
with  Saladin,  446.  Deposed  by  Alexius  Angelus,  ii.  63—65.  Re- 
instated by  the  Crusaders,  93.  His  imbecility  and  bigotry,  108. 
His  death,  119. 

Comnenus,  dispossessed  of  Cyprus,  i.  475. 

Isabella  of  Constantinople,  death  of,  ii.  192. 

Isidorus,  Cardinal,  bravery  of,  iii.  154. 

Islamism.     See  Mohammedanism. 

Ismaelians,  the  assassins  of  Syria  and  Persia,  their  dangerous  character, 
i.  304-306  ;  iii.  425.  Account  of  their  origin  and  history,  414- 
431  (App.).  Their  possessions,  424.  Various  sects  and  classes  of, 
420,  421,  428.     Their  religious  dogmas,  429. 

Italy,  zeal  of,  awakened  in  favour  of  the  crusades,  i.  84.  War  of  fac- 
tions in,  ii.  269  ;  iii.  190.  Invaded  by  Frederick,  emperor  of  Ger- 
many, and  devastated  by  civil  war,  ii.  293,  296.  State  of,  and  changes 
during  the  age  of  the  crusades,  iii.  261.  Republics  of,  263.  The 
clergy  and  nobility  lose  their  influence  in  the  cities,  284.  Her  exten- 
sive commerce  during  the  middle  ages,  327.  Progress  of  architecture 
in,  332.     Literature  of  Greece  introduced  into,  338. 

"  Itinerary"  of  the  early  pilgrims  from  Bordeaux  to  Jerusalem,  composed 
a.d.  333,  iii.  351  et  seq. 

J 

Jacob  of  Hungary  instigates  the  Crusaders,  ii.  462.     Is  killed,  463. 

Jacques  d'Avesnes  slain,  i.  487. 

• de  Maille,  his  bravery  and  death,  i.  415,  416. 


526  index. 

Jaffa,  entrance  of  the  Genoese  fleet  into  the  port  of,  i.  211.  Captured  b, 
Richard  I.,  489.  Taken  by  the  Mussulmans,  ii.  17.  The  garrisoc 
surprised  and  massacred  by  the  Saracens,  31  and  n.  Captured  by  tha 
sultan  of  Cairo,  iii.  16.  Great  expense  of  fortifying  by  Louis  IX., 
ib.  n.     Battle  of,  396  (App.). 

Jago,  the  patron  saint  of  Gnlicia,  i.  21. 

James,  king  of  Arragon,  engages  in  the  holy  war,  iii.  29,  30. 

of  Vitri  preaches  the  sixth  crusade,  ii.  207. 

Jane,  queen  of  Sicily,  i.  475. 

Jebusees,  Jerusalem  the  ancient  capital  of  the,  i.  203. 

Jehoshaphat,  valley  of,  i.  21. 

Jem-jem.     See  Zizim. 

Jericho,  palms  of,  i.  21. 

Jerusalem,  taken  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  xx.  Retaken  by  the  infidels,  ih. 
Reverence  for,  by  the  early  Christians,  2.  A  peaceful  asylum  for 
them,  3.  Captured  and  profaned  by  the  Fire  Worshippers,  ib.  Re» 
captured  b)  rj«raclius,  4.  Conquered  by  the  Saracens,  6.  Christian 
cemetery  at,  10,  11.  Retaken  by  the  Fatimite  caliphs,  16.  Christians 
driven  from,  19.  Pious  pilgrimages  to,  21,  24,  29,  30.  Hospitals  at, 
23.  Possessed  by  the  Turks,  32.  The  Chr'^tians  commence  their 
march  towards,  196.  Antiquity  and  early  hist  >ry  of,  203.  Descrip- 
tion of,  204.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  Crusaders  on  the  first  view  of, 
102.  Besieged,  205  et  seq.  Indignities  heaped  upon  the  Christian 
inhabitants  of,  207.  Obstinate  defence  of,  218  et  seq.  The  Crusaders 
take  it  by  storm,  221-225.  Great  slaughter,  224,  225.  Pious  fervour 
of  the  Christian  army  at,  226,  227.  Wealth  found  in,  229.  Godfrey 
de  Bouillon  elected  king,  234.  Rejoicings  of  the  Christians  of  the 
East,  and  despair  of  the  Mussulmans  at  the  conquest  of,  236,  237. 
State  of  the  kingdom  of,  at  the  time  of  the  Crusaders,  266.  The  various 
authorities  for  compiling  the  history  of,  267  n.  Visited  by  numerous 
p.igrims,  269.  Legislative  code  for  governing  the  kingdom  of,  271-273. 
Death  of  its  king,  Godfrey,  and  election  of  his  brother  Baldwin,  274. 
Quarrels  between  Baldwin  and  the  patriarch,  285.  Death  of  Baldwin, 
294.  Baldwin  du  Bourg  elected  his  successor,  296.  Death  of  Baldwin 
du  Bourg,  310.  Foulque  of  Anjou  crowned  king,  311.  His  death, 
316.  Baldwin  III.  ascends  the  throne  of,  316.  Threatened  by 
Noureddin,  328.  Sinister  prognostics  respecting,  ib.  Christendom 
aroused  to  a  second  crusade  by  the  impending  danger  of,  329.  Visited 
by  numerous  pilgrims,  269.  Death  of  Baldwin  III.,  384.  Amaury, 
his  brother,  elected  king,  386.  His  death,  399.  Distracted  state  of, 
407  et  seq.  Deaths  of  Baldwin  IV.  and  V.,  412.  Guy  de  Lusignan 
elected  king,  413.  Civil  contests  and  tottering  state  of,  414  et  seq. 
The  king  made  prisoner,  422.  Besieged  by  Saladin,  426.  Surrender 
of,  429,  432.  Prognostics  of  its  fall,  435.  Disputes  respecting  the 
sovereignty  of,  470,  476,  477.  Treaty  between  Richard  I.  and 
Saladin,  500. 

»  ,  governed  by  the  successors  of  Saladin,  ii.  3  and  n.     Political 

state  of,  192,  193.  Frederick,  emperor  of  Germany,  acknowledged  to 
be  king  of,  267,  278.  Agitations  of,  279,  282.  Quarrels  with  the 
patriarch,  279.     Religious  worship  suspended,  280.     Captured  by  th« 


INDEX.  527 

Carismian  hordes,  and  the  Christians  slaughtered,  326,  327.    Possessed 
by  the  Egyptians,  331. 

Jerusalem,  three  pretenders  to  the  throne  of,  iii.  63.  Pilgrimages  to,  and 
various  treaties  for  protecting  the  Christians  of,  249.  A  spirit  of  re- 
signation takes  the  place  of  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Crusaders,  250 
and  n.  "  Itinerary"  to,  from  Bordeaux,  351  (App.).  Massacres  on 
the  taking  of,  by  the  Christians,  359.  Acts  of  the  council  of  Naplouse 
for  reforming  the  Christians  of,  367.  Letter  from  Saladin,  detailing 
his  conquest  of,  372.     Sermon  made  at,  by  Mohammed  BenZeky,  376. 

' ,  "Assizes  of,"  i.  271—273. 

"Jerusalem  delivered"  of  Tasso,  more  wonderful  than  that  of  the 
"Iliad,"  i.  258. 

Jesus  Christ,  pretended  visions  respecting,  i.  191.  Alleged  miraculous 
communication  to  the  Crusaders,  164,  165.  The  "true  cross"  of, 
found  at  Jerusalem,  230. 

Jews,  massacred  and  persecuted  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  19,  70,  341.  De- 
struction of,  at  Jerusalem,  228. 

Joannice,  the  Tartar  leader,  ii.  166.     Defeats  the  Latins,  167,  169. 

John,  king  of  England,  engages  in  the  sixth  crusade,  ii.  209. 

,  king  of  France,  taken  captive  at  the  battle  of  Poictiers,  iii.  112. 

Engages  in  a  fresh  crusade,  113,  114. 

of  Austria  defeats  the  Turks  at  the  naval  battle  of  Lepanto,  iii.  226. 

■ of  Brienne,  ii.  193.     Accepts  the  young  queen  of  Jerusalem  in 

marriage,  194,  195. 

Joinville,  seneschal  de,  the  historian  of  the  seventh  crusade,  ii.  371,  et 
passim.  Bravery  of,  410.  Taken  prisoner,  429.  Excellence  and  style 
of  his  narration,  481.  Anecdote  of,  483.  Declines  to  join  the  second 
crusade  undertaken  by  Louis  IX.,  iii.  25. 

Jordan,  waters  of  the,  i.  21. 

Josselin  de  Courtenay,  family  of,  i.  282.  Defeated  and  taken  prisoner, 
283.  His  release,  285.  Notices  of,  295,  296.  As  count  of  Edessa  he 
supports  the  election  of  Baldwin  du  Bourg  to  the  kingdom  of  Jerusa- 
lem, ib.  Made  prisoner  by  the  Turks,  296.  His  escape,  297.  Death 
of,  320. 

,  son  of  the  preceding,  succeeds  to  the  county  of  Edessa,  i.  321. 

Loses  Edessa,  324.     Dies  a  prisoner  at  Aleppo,  379. 
de  Montmorency  slain,  i.  481. 


Josseraut  de  Brancon,  bravery  of,  ii.  416.     His  death,  ib. 

Jourdain,  M.,  his  letter  on  the  "Assassins"  of  Syria,  iii.  413.     On  the 

crusade  of  children  in  1212,  441. 
Judsea,  the  promised  land,  i.  1.     See  Palestine. 
Judicial  comhat  in  the  middie  ages,  iii.  313. 
Julian,  emperor,  undertakes  to  rebuild   he  temple,  i.  2. 
,  cardinal,  preaches  in  favour  of  a  fresh  crusade,  iii.  137,  139.     Is 

slain,  143. 
Julius  II.,  his  speech  at  the  council  of  Lateran,  iii.  201. 
Jurieu,  the  Reformer,  considers  the  Turks  as  auxiliaries  to  the  Protestants, 

iii.  246. 
Justice,  administration  of,  in  Europe  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  311  el 

■eq. 


528  ixdex. 


Karacoush,  minister  of  Saladin,  i.  456  n. 

Karaites,  khan  of  the,  ii.  318. 

Kelaoun,  the  sultan  of  Cairo,  Hi.  65.  Concludes  a  truce  with  the  Chris* 
tians  of  Ptolemais,  66.  Enters  into  treaties  with  European  princes, 
6/  and  n.     Captures  and  destroys  Tripoli,  iii.  69.     His  death,  76. 

Kerbogha,  sultan  of  Mossoul,  his  siege  of  Antioch,  i.  158  et  seq.  Hig 
haughty  reply  to  the  deputies  of  the  Crusaders,  168.  Defeated,  173, 
174.  His  magnificent  encampment,  175.  Defeats  the  Crusaders, 
252,  253. 

Ketboga,  the  Mogul  chief,  iii.  6.     Slain,  7. 

Khedhrewis,  a  class  of  Ismaelians,  iii.  428. 

Khnthbeh,  a  sermon  made  at  Jerusalem  after  its  capture  by  Saladin,  iii. 
376. 

Kilidj-Arslan,  the  Turkish  chief,  i.  97,  100,  106.  His  bravery  before 
Antioch,  173.     Defeats  the  Crusaders,  252,  253. 

Knighthood  of  learning  conferred  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  339. 

Knights  in  the  army  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  i.  64  n. 

■ of  chivalry  engage  in  the  crusades,  i.  55.  Called  "  The  Cham- 
pions of  God  and  of  Beauty,"  ib.  Spirit  and  devotedness  of  the,  iii. 
295,  296.     Their  deference  to  the  fair  sex,  297. 

Knowledge,  state  of,  during  the  period  of  the  crusades,  iii.  337  et  seq. 

Koran,  doctrines  of  the,  iii.  346. 

Koutouz  elected  sultan  of  Egypt,  iii.  5.     Assassinated  by  Bibars,  7. 

L. 

Ladislas,  duke  of  Bohemia,  i.  338. 

Ladislaus,  king  of  Poland  and  Hungary,  engages  in  a  fresh  crusade, 
iii.  137.     Is  defeated  and  slain  by  Amurath,  142. 

Lance,  sacred,  which  pierced  the  side  of  the  Redeemer,  pretended 
discovery  of  the,  i.  165,  166  and  n.  Borne  to  battle  by  Raymond 
d'Agiles,  169,  170.  Doubts  entertained  of  its  miraculous  influence, 
176.      Offerings  made  to  the,  192. 

Langres,  bishop  of,  his  speech  against  the  treachery  of  the  Greeks,  i.  349. 

Lascaris  chosen  emperor  of  Constantinople,  ii.  130.  His  address  to  the 
Greeks,  ib.  Abandons  the  city,  131.  Proclaimed  emperor  at  Nice, 
156. 

Lateran,  council  of,  convoked  by  Julius  II.,  iii.  201.  By  Leo  X.,  202. 
By  Pope  Innocent  III.,  210. 

Latins  of  the  West,  their  hostility  to  the  Greeks,  and  their  hatred  of  the 
emperor  Alexius,  i.  89-92,  194.  Their  violent  disputes,  ii.  113-115. 
They  capture  Constantinople,  131.  The  Greeks  rebel  against  their 
domination,  165,  166.  Decline  of  their  empire  in  Greece,  288.  Dis- 
possessed of  Constantinople,  iii.  10.  See  Constantinople  and  Cru- 
saders. 

Laws,  the  administration  of,  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  311  et  seq. 


INDEX.  52S 

Lazar-houses,  establishment  of,  iii.  336. 

Lazarus,  St.,  order  of,  historical  notices  of,  iii.  298  and  n. 

Lebrun,  Hugh,  count  of  Angouleme,  engages  in  the  crusades,  ii.  393. 

Leibnitz,  his  ideas  in  favour  of  the  crusades,  iii.  247.  Memoir  of,  ad- 
dressed to  Louis  XIV.  on  the  conquest  of  Egypt,  478-493  (App.). 

Leo  X.,  his  exertions  for  reviving  a  crusade  against  the  Turks,  iii.  202 
et  seq  Allows  the  sale  of  indulgences,  210.  After  the  preaching  of 
Luther,  the  crusades  cease  to  engage  his  attention,  213.  The  distin- 
guished age  of,  229. 

■ —  Sguerre,  conquests  of,  ii.  156, 

Lropold,  duke  of  Austria,  his  treatment  by  Richard  I.,  i.  484.  His 
caustic  reply  to  Richard,  490.     Detains  him  a  prisoner  in  Austria,  507. 

Lepanto,  naval  battle  of,  in  which  the  Turks  are  signally  defeated,  iii. 
225.     Great  rejoicings  throughout  Christendom,  226,  227. 

Leprosy  in  the  West,  ii.  308. 

Lethal,  pilgrimage  and  fanaticism  of,  i.  28,  29  and  n. 

Lewenstein,  virgin  of,  miraculous  vision  of  the,  i.  444. 

Liberty,  progress  of,  in  England,  iii.  256—258.  Increasing  spirit  of,  in 
Europe,  during  the  crusades,  284—292. 

Lion,  curious  anecdote  of  its  docility,  i.  180. 

Lisbon  taken  from  the  Moors,  i.  375. 

L'Isle-Adam,  grand  master  of  the  knights  of  St.  John,  iii.  213. 

Litbert,  bishop  of  Cambray,  his  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  i.  29. 

Literature,  state  of,  during  the  period  of  the  crusades,  iii.  333  et  seq. 

Litz,  Martin,  preaching  of,  ii.  44,  45  and  n.  His  possession  of  relics  and 
images,  141,  142. 

Livre  Tournois,  explanation  of,  ii.  389. 

Lombardy,  confederacy  in,  ii.  269. 

Louis  II.  of  Hungary,  slain  by  the  Turks,  iii.  215. 

VII.  of  France,  resists    the  encroachments  of  the  pope,  i.  330. 

Destroys  Vitri,  ib.  Repents,  and  determines  on  a  crusade  against 
the  infidels,  331.  His  measures  for  raising  money  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  the  war,  345.  His  devotion,  346.  Leaves  France  at 
the  head  of  the  Ciusaders,  ib.  Arrives  at  Constantinople,  349. 
Marches  through  Phrygia,  353  ;  and  defeats  the  Turks,  ib.  Is  sur- 
prised and  defeated,  355.  Report  of  his  death,  ib.  His  piety  and 
determination,  357,  358.  Arrives  at  Antioch,  with  a  part  of  his 
army,  360.  Repudiates  his  queen,  Eleanor  of  Guienne,  362.  Leaves 
Antioch,  and  proceeds  to  Jerusalem,  363.  His  unsuccessful  military 
operations,  366  et  seq.  Leaves  Palestine,  and  returns  to  Europe, 
378.  The  unfortunate  results  of  his  crusade,  378  et  seq.  He  revokes 
his  promise  of  revisiting  the  Holy  Land,  379. 

*——  IX.  (or  St.  Louis),  bis  recovery  from  a  dangerous  malady,  ii. 
345  and  n.  He  determines  on  prosecuting  a  seventh  crusade  against 
the  infidels  of  the  Holy  Land,  346  et  seq.  Makes  extensive  prepa- 
rations, 358  et  seq.  Quits  France,  368  ;  and  arrives  at  Cyprus,  369. 
Conciliates  the  Christian  litigants,  371,  372.  Receives  an  embassy 
from  the  Tartar  prince  Ecalthai,  373.  Arrives  before  Damietta,  379. 
His  address,  380.  His  speech  to  the  Crusaders,  381.  Defeats  the 
Mohammedan  forces,  382.  Captures  Damietta,  385.  His  severe  loss 
23* 


o30  INDEX. 

at  the  battle  of  Monsurah,  408.  His  continued  ontests  with  the  Egyp 
tians,  413  etseq.  The  sufferings  of  his  army,  413-422.  He  attempt! 
to  regain  Damietta,  but  is  defeated,  and  surrenders  as  a  prisoner,  428. 
Religious  resignation  of,  433.  Enters  into  a  treaty  with  Almoadaa 
for  his  ransom,  438,  447.  Departs  from  Egypt,  450.  Consternation 
throughout  France  at  his  capture,  452.  His  arrival  at  Ptolemais,  453. 
Deliberations  and  speeches  of  his  knights  respecting  their  future  opera- 
tions, 455,  456.  His  negotiations  with  the  Mohammedans  of  Egypt 
and  Damascus,  459.  Singular  message  to,  from  the  "  Old  Man  of  the 
Mountain,"  467.  He  fortifies  the  cities  of  Palestine,  470,  474,  476. 
Negotiates  a  treaty  with  the  emirs  of  Egypt,  472.  Treaty  violated, 
and  hostilities  resumed  against  him,  474.  Anecdotes  of  his  pious 
devotedness,  476,  479.  Quits  Palestine,  and  arrives  at  Paris,  478,  480. 
Reflections  on  his  character  and  misfortunes,  484  et  seq.  He  deter- 
mines upon  another  crusade  to  the  Holy  Land,  iii.  23,  24.  The  illus- 
trious names  who  take  the  cross  in  his  support,  25.  His  extensive 
preparations,  27  et  seq.  His  expedition  to  the  coast  of  Tunis,  38. 
His  illness  and  fervent  devotion,  42-45.  His  death,  46.  His  virtues 
and  piety,  54-56.  Letter  of,  on  his  captivity  and  deliverance,  458 
(App.).  List  of  the  great  officers  who  followed  him  to  Tunis,  465 
His  death-bed  instructions,  467. 

Louis  XIV.  joins  a  Christian  confederation  against  the  Turks,  iii.  233,  234. 
Memoir  of  Leibnitz,  addressed  to,  on  the  conquest  of  Egypt,  478—493 
(App.). 

,  count  of  Chartres,  engages  in  the  fifth  crusade,  ii.  45. 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  his  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  iii.  248. 

Lulli,  Raymond,  preaches  a  fresh  crusade,  iii.  103-106. 

Lusignan.     See  Guy  de. 

Luther,  his  preaching  against  indulgences  and  the  crusades,  iii.  211.  Its 
important  consequences,  212.  He  preaches  against  the  Turks,  220  ; 
but  denounces  a  Christian  crusade,  221-223. 

Lyons,  council  of,  ii.  335.  Determines  on  the  seventh  crusade,  and 
excommunicates  Frederick  II.  of  Germany,  338,  34 J.  Council  at, 
convoked  by  Gregory  X.,  for  reviving  a  new  crusade,  iiv.  59. 

1      M. 

Maarah,  siege  and  capture  of,  i.  183-186. 

Machines  used  at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  i.  217—219. 

Magi,  worship  of  the,  i.  4.     Annihilated  by  Mohammedanism,  5. 

Magicians  among  the  Saracens,  i.  220  and  n. 

Magistracy  in  France  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  319. 

Mahomet,  frenzy  of  his  followers,  i.  xx.  Spread  of  his  religion,  4,  5. 
The  empire  of,  12.  New  sectaries  of,  ib.  Principks  of  the  religion 
of.  382.     See  Mohammedans. 

-— — —  II.  his  accession  to  the  Ottoman  throne,  iii.  143,  144.  His 
powerful  empire,  144.  Besieges  Constantinople,  148  et  seq.  His 
fleet  defeated,  149.  His  extraordinary  land  fleet,  150.  Captures  th« 
city,    156.     Defeated    at    Belgrade,    167.     His   extended   conquests, 


INDEX.  531 

171,  174,  180,  184.  His  negotiations  with  Pius  II.,  174.  He  swears 
to  annihilate  Christianity,  180,  181.  Invades  Hungary  and  different 
parts  of  Europe  simultaneously,  187-189.  Defeated  by  the  Hunga- 
rians, ib.     Death  of,  191.     Divisions  in  his  family,  it. 

Mainfroy,  of  the  house  of  Swabia,  slain,  iii.  21. 

Malek-Adel,  brother  of  Saladin,  i.  491.  Takes  possession  of  Egypt,  &c. 
509.  His  ambitious  policy,  ii.  5,  71  n.  Opposes  the  Crusaders,  16 
Defeated  by  the  Christians  before  Berytus,  18,  19.  Renews  hostilities, 
195.  The  throne  of  Syria  abdicated  by,  22G.  His  death  and  charac- 
ter, 236. 

Malek  Saleh  Negmeddin,  sultan  of  Egypt,  extent  of  his  conquests, 
ii.  376,  377.  His  preparations  for  resisting  the  Crusaders  under 
Louis  IX.,  377. 

Malek-Scha,  conquests  of,  i.  32.     Court  of,  34. 

Malleville,  assailed  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  64. 

Malta,  knights  of  St.  John  transferred  to,  iii.  214.  Heroic  defence  of, 
against  the  Turks,  224. 

Mamelukes,  first  established  by  Saladin,  i.  402.  Their  bravery,  459. 
Their  treachery,  ii.  398.  Defeat  the  Crusaders,  405.  Revolt  against 
Almoadan,  439,  440.  The  Syrians  refuse  to  acknowledge  their 
authority,  459.  Their  rise  and  fall,  486.  They  defeat  and  expel  the 
Tartars  from  Palestine,  iii.  8.  Their  victories  against  the  Christians, 
11  et  seq.  Capture  Tripoli,  69 ;  Ptolemais,  85;  and  several  other 
Christian  cities,  89. 

Mamouh,  sultan  of  Persia,  uncalculating  policy  of,  in  encouraging  the 
Turks,  i.  31. 

Mansourah,  sanguinary  battle  at,  ii.  404  and  n.  And  death  of  many 
illustrious  Crusaders,  408. 

Mantua,  general  assembly  at,  to  incite  resistance  to  the  Turks,  iii. 
172. 

Manuel,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  visits  France,  iii.  ?30. 

Manufactures,  progress  of,  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  328  et  seq. 

Marcel,  treachery  of,  ii.  428. 

Margarit,  Admiral,  sent  to  the  defence  of  Tripoli,  i.  453. 

Margat,  fort  of,  captured  by  the  Mussulmans,  iii.  48. 

Marguerite  of  Flanders,  wife  of  Baldwin,  death  of,  ii.  155. 

-  of  Provence,  wife  of  Louis  IX.,  ii.  369.     Her  agonizing  situ- 

ation during  the  misfortunes  of  Louis,  432. 

"  Market  of  the  Franks"  at  Jerusalem,  i.  11. 

Markets  of  the  Franks  established,  i.  16. 

Maronites,  sect  of,  i.  4. 

Martel,  Charles,  victories  of,  i.  6. 

Matthew  of  Edessa,  the  historian,  i.  14  n.,  147  n.  et  passim. 

Matthias  Corvinus,  king  of  Hungary,  iii.  187. 

Maudoud,  prince  of  Mossoul,  assassinated,  i.  292. 

Maximilian,  emperor  of  Germany,  letters  of,  iii.  202. 

Mecca,  temple  of,  destroyed  and  rebuilt,  iii.  226. 

Medicine,  state  of,  and  progress  during  the  period  of  the  crusades,  iii 
335,  336. 


532  INDEX. 

Mehallah,  canal  of,  fatal  to  the  Crusaders,  ii.  420,  425. 

Melik-Kamel,  the  sultan  of  Cairo,  ii.  226.  Conspiracy  against,  242 
His  speech  respecting  the  Crusaders,  260.  Signs  a  treaty  of  peace,  ib. 
Enters  into  negotiations  with  Frederick  II.,  emperor  of  Germany,  £73, 
276.  Concludes  a  treaty,  278.  Death  of,  294.  Political  contest! 
thence  arising,  ib. 

Melisende,  queen  of  Jerusalem,  i.  313,  315. 

Memphis,  solitude  of,  i.  21. 

Mercoeur,  duke  of,  defeats  the  Turks,  iii.  231,  232. 

Mersbourg,  assailed  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  70,  71.     Described,  70  n. 

Merwan  II.,  cruelty  of,  i.  8. 

Mesopotamia,  entered  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  121. 

Mezerai,  the  historian,  ii.  484. 

Michaud,  M.  Jourdain's  letters  to,  iii.  413,  441. 

Middle  Age,  reflections  on  the  state  of  society  from  1571  to  1685,  iii 
251  et  seq. 

Military  orders  of  Christendom,  i.  307-309. 

Minerva,  statue  of,  at  Constantinople,  destroyed,  ii.  108. 

Minieh,  town  of,  ii.  427. 

Miracles,  pretended,  i.  164,  165. 

Modhaffer  Abyverdy,  his  elegy  on  the  taking  of  Jerusalem,  i.  236. 

Moguls,  sovereign  of  the,  his  conquests,  ii.  317  et  seq.  Historical 
notices  of,  48*7.  They  capture  Bagdad,  iii.  4.  Their  warlike  opera- 
tions against  the  Mussulmans,  5.  Take  the  principal  cities  of  Syria, 
ib.  General  terror  of  the,  6.  History  and  conquests  of,  under  Tamer- 
lane, 132,  133.     See  Tartars. 

Mohammedanism,  victorious  career  of,  i.  33  et  seq.  Not  a  religion  oi 
the  sword,  iii.  15  n.  Triumph  of,  under  Mahomet  II.,  158.  Its 
inferiority  to  Christianity,  346.  The  two  leading  sects  of,  413.  Evil 
principles  of,  241. 

Mohammedans,  conquests  of  the,  i.  5  et  seq.  Contests  with  the  Cru- 
saders before  Antioch,  158  et  seq.  Manners  and  characteristics  of  the, 
183.  The  cities  of  Palestine  abandoned  by  the,  209.  Number  slain  at 
Jerusalem,  228.  Their  despair  on  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem  by  the 
Christians,  236,  237.  Sustain  various  defeats  by  Baldwin,  king  of 
Jerusalem,  277.  Their  continued  hostilities  with  the  Christians  in 
Palestine,  Egypt,  &c,  278-328.  Their  prayers  and  exhortations 
against  the  Crusaders,  474.  Arouse  themselves  against  the  Crusaders, 
ii.  240.  Panic  amongst  the,  242.  Propose  conditions  of  peace,  247, 
257.  Their  alarm,  251,  252.  They  burn  the  fleet  of  the  Crusaders  on 
the  Nile,  258  ;  and  compel  them  to  capitulate,  260.  Defeated  by  the 
Carismians,  330.  Political  quarrel  among  the,  376.  See  Saracens 
and  Turks. 

of  Tuois  encounter  the  Crusaders,  iii.  40. 

Mohyeddin  Almoury,  the  imaum,  iii.  63,  64., 

M<>lahed,  epithet  of,  explained,  iii.  419. 

Monasteries  founded  during  the  middle  ages,  i.  22  ;  iii.  303,  304. 

Montes  Jovis,  monastery  of,  i.  22. 

Montferrat,  marquis  of,  i.  338.     Visits  the  Holy  Land,  452. 

Montfort,  Philip  de,  pays  the  ransom  for  Louis  IX.,  iii.  450. 


INDEX.  533 

Moors,  expelled  from  Lisbon,  i.  375.  Their  contests  and  defeats  i» 
Spain,  ii.  201,  2b'8.     Their  expulsion,  iii.  243,  266,  375. 

Morosini,  Thomas,  elected  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  ii.  151. 

Moslems.     See  Turks. 

Mossoul,  sultan  of,  attacks  and  defeats  the  Christians,  i.  290,  291.  See 
Kerbogha. 

Mourzoufle,  of  Constantinople,  stirs  up  insurrection  against  the  Latins, 
ii.  Ill,  112.  Insidious  poiicy  of,  118.  Destroys  Alexius,  and  ascends 
the  throne,  ib.  Treachery  of,  119.  His  contests  with  the  Latins, 
119-128.    Dethroned,  129.    Captured  and  executed,  ii.  157. 

Music,  rise  of,  in  Italy,  iii.  333. 

Mussulmans.     See  Mohammedans,  &c. 

'"  Mysterium  Baphometi  Revelatum,"  Raynouard's  notes  upon,  iii. 
494-500. 

Mythology  during  the  period  of  the  crusades,  iii.  342. 

N. 

Naccaire,  the  name  of  a  kettledrum,  ii.  381. 

Naples,  conquered  by  Henry  VI.,  ii.  20.     Invaded  by  the  Turks,  189. 

Agitations  of,  192,  193.     State  of,  during  the  age  of  the  crusades,  iii. 

263. 
Naplouse,  city  of,  pillaged,  i.  291.     Decrees  of  the  council  of,  311  and 

n.     Acts  of   the  council  for  reforming  the   Christians   of  Palestine, 

iii.  367. 
Nasr-allah,  vizier  of  the  sultan  Afdhal,  ii.  4  and  n. 
Natural  history,  knowledge  of,  increased  during  the  crusades,  iii.  330. 
Navigation,  progress  of,  during  and  after  the  period  of  the  crusades,  iii. 

251,  321  et  seq.     Codes  of  maritime  rights  established,  324. 
Nazareth,  bishop  of,  miracle  imputed  to,  i.  319.     Captured  by  the  Cru- 
saders, iii.  57. 
Negmeddin,  his  negotiations  with  Louis  IX.,  ii.  388.     Death  of,  397. 
Nestorians,  sect  of,  i.  4. 

Neufmontier,  abbey  of,  founded  by  Peter  the  Hermit,  i.  247  n. 
Nevers,  count  de,  i.  341,  342. 
Nezzarians,  a  sect  of  Ismaelians,  iii.  420. 
Nice,  the  capital  of  Bithynia,  besieged,  i.  99-105.     Sultan  of,  desolates 

the  country,  112. 
Nicea,  possessed  by  the  Mussulmans,  i.  33.     The  sultan  of,  defeats  the 

Crusaders,  75. 
Nicephoras  Phocas  heads  the  Greeks,  and  captures  Antioch,  i.  13.     His 

assassination,  14,  36. 
Nicetas,  his  account  of  the  sacking  of  Constantinople  by  the  Latins,  ii. 

133-137.     His  history  of  the  contests  between  the  Greeks  and  the 

Latins,  174,  175.     Fragment  from,  iii.  435. 
Nicholas  IV.,  Pope,  attempts  to  revive  a  fresh  crusade  against  the  East, 

iii.  93. 
Nicopolis,  the  modern  name  of  Emmaiis,  i.  201. 
Nile,  battles  on  the  banks  of  the,  ii.  243.     Mouth  of,  filled  with  heaps  of 

•tones,  485. 


534  index. 

Nissa  assailed  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  65,  66. 

Nobility,  historical  notices  of,  iii.  278  et  seq. 

Normans  join  in  the  crusades,  i.  82. 

Northampton,  a  council  held  at,  for  aiding  the  second  crusade  of  Louis  IX. 
iii  29.* 

Nosairis,  sect  of  the,  iii.  428. 

Noureddin,  son  of  Zenguis,  and  sultan  of  Aleppo  and  Damascus,  defeats 
and  slaughters  the  Christians  of  Edessa,  i.  326,  327.  Threatens  Jeru- 
salem, 328.  Extensive  power  of,  361,  396.  His  conquests,  379. 
Heroic  character  and  benevolent  sentiments  of,  383—385.  His  warlike 
preparations  against  Egypt,  389.  Conquers  Egypt,  and  deposes  the 
caliph,  396.     His  death,  399. 

Novagero,  his  eulogies  on  Leo  X.  iii.  204. 


Octai',  khan  of  the  Tartars,  ii.  321.     His  extensive  conquests,  322. 

,  chief  of  the  Mamelukes,  anecdote  of,  ii.  442. 

Oderic  Vital,  the  chronicler,  i.  41  n.,  82,  250  n.  et  passim. 

Odo,  bishop  of  Bayeux,  i.  83. 

Odoacer,  marquis  of  Syria,  i.  338. 

"Old  Man  of  the  Mountain,"  i.  304-306.      His  singular  message  to 

Louis  IX.,  ii.  467.     Visit  to  the  court  of,  468.     Origin  and  history  of 

his  party,  iii.  413  et  seq.  (App.).     Curious  letter  of,  434. 
Oleron,  rolls  of,  established,  iii.  324. 
Olives,  Mount  of,  i.  21,  214. 
Olivia,  bishop  of  Paderborn,  ii.  233  and  n. 
Omar,  Caliph,  captures  Jerusalem,  i.  6.    Mosque  of,  wealth  found  in  the, 

224,  229. 
Ommiades,  dynasty  of  the,  i.  8  ;  iii.  414. 
Ordeal  by  fire,  i.  193. 
Ordeals  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  312. 
Ores,  explanation  of,  ii.  404. 
Orifiamme,  or  royal  standard,  i.  354. 
Orpin,  count  of  Bourges,  i.  249. 
Ortock,  the  Turkish  general,  conquests  of,  i.  33. 
Otho  of  Savoy,  excommunicated,  ii.  209.     Makes  war  against  the  pope, 

209. 
Otranto,  captured  by  the  Turks,  iii.  189.     Abandoned,  191. 
Otto  of  Frisingen,  i.  352. 

Ottoman  Port,  her  treaties  with  France,  iii.  488. 
Ottoman  empire,  its  origin  and  history,  iii.  120  et  seq. 
Ottomans,  defeated  by  Tamerlane  the  Tartar,  iii.  132,  133.     Reconquer 

the  provinces  overrun  by  Tamerlane,  133,  134.     Their  power  undei 

Mahomet  II.,  144.     Capture  Constantinople,  and  overturn  the  Greek 

empire,  156.     See  Turks. 
Oulagon,  commander  of  the  Moguls,  iii.  4,  6. 
Outtroman,  the  Jesuit,  i.  41  n. 
Owlli.,  valley  of,  in  Phrygia,  i.  106  and  n.     Battle  of,  107-111* 


ini>ex  535 


P. 


Paganism  annihilated  by  Mohammedanism,  i.  5.    State  of  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  219  ;  ii.  218-223. 

Paladins,  the  order  of,  iii.  294. 

Palaeologus,  Michael,  bis  troops  recapture  Constantinople,  iii.  10. 

— — — ,  John,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  his  vacillating  policy,  iii.  123. 

,  Constantine,   character   of,   iii.    144,    156  n.     Prepares  for  the 

defence  of  Constantinople,  and  appeals  in  vain  to  western  Europe  for 
aid,  145.     His  great  efforts,  151,  154.     His  death,  156. 

Andrew,  sells  his  claims  to  the  empire  of  the  East,  iii.  194. 


Palestine,  visited  by  the  early  Christians,  i.  2.  The  Crusaders  march 
through  the  country  of,  196  et  seq.  State  of,  at  the  period  of  the 
crusades,  265,  266.  Ravaged  by  the  infidels,  devastated  by  locusts,  and 
visited  by  an  earthquake,  291.  Continued  hostilities  in,  292-328. 
Victories  of  Saladin  in,  425.  Its  capital,  Jerusalem,  taken  from  the 
Christians,  429.     Ceded  to  Henry,  count  of  Champagne,  501. 

,  governed  by  the  successors  of  Saladin,  ii.  3n.     Civil  contests  in, 

previous  to  the  fourth  crusade,  4-7.  Agitated  and  discordant  state  of, 
4-7,  189,  192,  194,  293,  294.  Earthquake  and  famine  in,  189.  State 
of,  at  the  time  of  the  sixth  crusade,  225.  Oppressions  of  the  Chris- 
tians of,  265.  No  longer  considered  a  place  of  blessedness,  but  of 
exile,  300,  301.  Subdued  by  the  Carismians  and  Egyptians,  330. 
Distress  of  the  Christians  of,  334.  Cities  of,  fortified  by  Louis  IX., 
470,  474. 

,  on  the  Christian  cities  fortified  by  Louis  IX.,  iii.  1.     Quarrels 

among  the  Christians  of,  2,  3.  Among  the  Saracens,  3.  Alarm  of  the 
Christians  at  the  power  of  the  Moguls,  6.  Increasing  difficulties  of, 
11  et  seq.  The  Christians  defeated,  and  the  country  laid  waste,  ib» 
Divisions  among  the  Christians,  and  conquests  of  the  Mamelukes,  69, 
85,  89.  Destruction  of  all  the  Christian  cities  along  the  coast  of,  89. 
Renewed  persecutions  of  the  Christians,  109.  Subjected  to  the  absolute 
domination  of  the  Turks,  202.  Acts  of  the  council  of  Naplouse,  foi 
reforming  the  Christians  in,  367  (App.). 

Pancratius,  an  Armenian  prince,  joins  the  Crusaders,  i.  120. 

Paphlagouin,  the  Crusaders  pass  through,  i.  251. 

Papyrus  Masson,  i.  250. 

Paris,  council  of,  held  in  1188  ;  decree  of  the,  for  providing  Saladin 
tenths,  iii.  384  (App.). 

"  Pastors,"  the  name  given  to  certain  Crusaders,  ii.  462. 

Paul  II.,  Pope,  instigates  the  crusade  against  the  Turks,  iii.  179.  Death 
of,  182. 

Paultre,  M.,  memoir  of,  on  the  Forest  of  Saron,  iii.  38c  (App.). 

Pelagius,  Cardinal,  instigates  the  prosecution  of  the  sixth  crusade,  and 
proceeds  to  Egypt,  ii.  239.  His  obstinacy  in  carrying  on  the  war  in 
Egypt,  256,  257.     Negotiates  for  peace,  259. 

Persia,  empire  of,  torn  by  intestine  wars,  i.  4.  Sends  an  immense  army 
against  the  Crusaders,  15  %  158;  which  marches  against  the  Turks, 
iii.  182;  and  is  destroyed,  183.  Sends  an  embassy  to  the  princes  O; 
the  West,  231. 


536  INDEX. 

Peter  the  Hermit,  character  of,  i.  40.  His  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  41, 
42.  His  different  appellations,  41  n.  His  visit  to  Pope  Urban  II.,  42 
His  interview  with  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and  his  enthusiasm,  ib. 
Traverses  all  Europe  to  arouse  the  Christians  against  the  infidels,  43. 
Attends  the  council  of  Clermont,  48.  His  inciting  speech,  ib.  Choset 
general  of  the  crusade,  61.  Introduced  to  Alexis  Comnenus,  at  Con- 
stantinople, 68.  Loses  his  authority,  75.  Wretched  situation  of  the 
remains  of  Peter's  army,  96.  Deserts  the  camp  of  the  Crusaders,  and 
is  retaken,  135.  Sent  to  treat  with  the  Saracen  leaders,  165.  Hia 
speech,  ib.  Arouses  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Christian  army  by  his  ad- 
dress, 215.  Returns  to  his  own  country  after  the  conquest  of  Jerusa- 
lem, 247.     Death  of,  ib.  n. 

of  Lusignan,  king  of  Cyprus,  proposes  a  fresh  crusade,  iii.  113  et  seq. 

of  Blois  preaches  the  crusade,  i.  442  and  n. 

de  Salviac,  notices  of,  i.  246. 

Petrarch,  an  apostle  of  the  holy  war,  iii.  110. 

Pharamia,  captured  by  Baldwin,  i.  293 

Pharescour,  insurrection  of  the  Mamelukes  at,  ii.  440. 

Philip  I.,  king  of  France,  excommunicated,  i.  47.  State  of  his  kingdom, 
79,  80. 

Augustus,  king  of  France,  determines  on  renewing  the  boly  war, 

i.  438.  His  quarrels  with  the  king  of  England,  440.  Arrives  at 
Palestine,  473.  Quits  Palestine,  and  returns  to  France,  485.  His 
quarrel  with  Pope  Innocent  III.,  ii.  42.  Largely  contributes  to  the 
sixth  crusade,  207.     Death  of.  264. 

III.,  son  of  Louis  IX.,  iii.  42,  47.     Returns  to  France,  with  the 

dead  bodies  of  his  father,  wife,  and  brother,  53. 

le  Bel  of  France,  takes  the  cross,  iii.  100.     His  death,  ib. 

le  Long  of  France,  iii.  100.     His  death,  102. 

,  duke  of  Burgundy,    assembles    his    nobility    at    Lille,    iii.   169. 

Curious  festival  held,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  his  nobility  in  favour  of  a 
fresh  crusade,  160,  161. 

of  Swabia,  his  address  to  the  French  barons,  ii.  68. 

,  count  of  Flanders,  i.  402.     Slain,  481. 

of  Valois  convokes  an  assembly  at  Paris  for  reviving  a  fresh  crusade, 

iii.  107.     Compelled  to  renounce  his  intentions,  110.     Death  of,  112. 

Philosophy  of  the  ancients  brought  from  Constantinople,  iii.  338. 

Phirous  betrays  the  city  of  Antioch  to  the  Crusaders,  i.  147-157.  Mur- 
ders his  brother,  153. 

Phoenicia,  the  Crusaders  pass  through,  i.  196.     Richness  of,  ib 

Phrygia,  the  country  desolated  by  the  sultan  of  Nice,  i.  112. 

Physicians,  ignorance  of,  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  336. 

Pierre  de  Dreux  engages  in  the  holy  war,  ii.  216. 

Pigeons,  letters  conveyed  by,  i.  182  and  n. 

Pilgrimages,  ardour  for,  to  the  Holy  Land,  i.  1,  2.  Interrupted  by  the 
Goths,  &c,  3.  Undertaken  by  St.  Arculphus,  St.  Antoninus,  and 
Peter  the  Hermit,  7.  By  St.  Bernard,  10.  During  the  eleventh 
century,  20  et  seq.  They  assume  the  character  of  an  armed  crusade, 
54.  Number  of,  on  the  termination  of  the  crusade*,  iii.  24?  S49  et 
seq.  (App.). 


INDEX.  537 

Pilgrimages  of  penance  by  distinguished  personages  to  the  Holy  Land,  &c, 
i.  24-31. 

Pilgrims,  hospitals  built  for  the  reception  of,  i.  22,  23.  Kind  treat 
ment  of,  23.  Arrival  of,  at  Jerusalem,  269.  Buy  off  their  vows,  iL 
298. 

Pisans,  conquests  of  the,  i.  40.     Aid  the  Crusaders  by  their  fleets,  145,286 

Pius  II.,  Pope,  exhorts  the  Christian  states  to  a  crusade  against  th€ 
Turks,  iii.  172.  Convokes  an  assembly  at  Mantua,  ib.  His  negoti- 
ations with  Mahomet  II.,  173,  174.  His  zealous  endeavours  to  re- 
sist the  advance  of  tha  Turks,  174  et  seq.  Engages  in  the  crusade 
178  ;  and  dies  at  Ancona,  179. 

Plague  in  Egypt,  ii.  187. 

Plaisance,  papal  council  at,  i.  44. 

Poictiers,  count  of,  his  capture  and  release,  ii.  415,  416. 

Poitevins,  their  severe  conflicts  with  the  Saracens,  ii.  415,  416. 

Pons,  abbot  of  Vezelai,  preaches  in  favour  of  the  second  crusade,  i.  335 

de  Balasu,  death  and  character  of,  i.  190. 

Popedom,  contests  for  the,  i.  84  ;  iii.  125. 

Popelicains,  religious  principles  of  the,  ii.  197. 

Popes,  increase  of  their  power  during  the  progress  of  Christianity,  i 
39.  Their  political  pretensions  and  quarrels,  ii.  302,  303,  306,  342, 
353  ;  iii.  20,  268.  Their  domination  during  the  age  of  the  crusades, 
iii.  268  et  seq.     See  Rome. 

Portugal  submits  to  Alphonso,  i.  375.  The  sultan  of  Egypt's  expedi.. 
tion  against,  iii.  199. 

Pourcelet,  Wm.,  his  heroic  self-sacrifice,  i.  489. 

Prester  John,  notices  of,  ii.  318. 

Printing,  instrumental  in  preserving  the  literary  treasures  of  the  East, 
iii.  338.  ' 

Prodigies,  miraculous,  seen  at  Antioch,  i.  173,  183. 

Provencalex,  origin  of  the  name,  i.  94  n. 

Provisions,  scarcity  and  dearness  of,  i.  134  and  n. 

Prudhommes,  maritime  code  drawn  up  by  the,  iii.  324. 

Prussia,  paganism  of,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  ii.  218.  Manners  and 
customs  of  the  inhabitants,  219,  220.  Their  religious  belief,  and 
festivals,  221,  222.  Subdued  and  converted  by  the  Holy  See,  223. 
Reflections  on  the  papal  crusade  against,  309.  Funeral  ceremonies  of, 
iii.  455  (App.). 

Ptolemais,  the  Crusaders  march  through  the  country  of,  i.  199.  Deceit 
of  the  emir  of,  200.  Besieged  and  captured  by  Baldwin,  286.  Cap- 
tured by  Saladin,  425.  Description  of,  i.  454;  iii.  70,  71.  Besieged 
by  Guy  de  Lusignan,  who  is  opposed  by  Saladin,  i.  454  et  seq.  Re- 
taken by  the  Christians,  481.  Hostilities  at,  commenced  by  the  Chris- 
tians, ii.  16.  Possessed  by  John  of  Brienne,  196.  Arrival  of  the  sixth 
crusade  at,  224  ;  of  Frederick  of  Germany,  275.  The  commercial 
capital  of  Palestine,  iii.  1.  Discords  between  the  Venetian  and 
Genoese  residents  of,  2.  Quarrels  between  the  Mussulmans  and  the 
Christians  of,  73,  74.  Besieged  by  the  sultan  of  Cairo,  76  et  seq. 
Dissensions  among  the  citizens,  80.  After  many  s&nguinary  contest! 
the  city  is  captured  and  destroyed,  85  et  seq. 


538  INDEX. 

Puy,  bishop  of,  named  as  the  apostolic  legate,  i.  53.     Death  of,  179. 
Puyset,  castle  of,  i.  313  n. 

Q. 

Quinze-Vingts,  hospital  of,  ii.  487. 


Radnor,  the  lord  of,  anecdote  of,  iii.  408  (App.). 

Ralph  of  Coggershall,  his  "  Chronicon  Anglicanum,"  iii.  395. 

Ramla,  city  of,  besieged  and  captured  by  the  Saracens,  i.  280. 

Raoul  de  Caen,  the  historian,  i.  86  n.,  163,  192,  et  passim. 

de  Coucy,  slain,  ii.  408. 

Ravendel.  capture  of,  i.  121. 

Raymond,  count  of  Thoulouse,  engages  in  the  first  crusade,  i.  52. 
Marches  at  the  head  of  100,000  Crusaders,  88.  Defeats  the  Turks  in 
Phrygia,  111.  Miraculous  recovery  from  illness,  115.  Enters  Jeru- 
salem by  storm,  223.  Returns  to  Constantinople,  and  receives  from 
the  emperor  the  city  of  Laodicea,  246.  Revisits  Jerusalem  as  a  pilgrim, 
269.  Appointed  regent  of  Jerusalem,  407.  His  speech  against 
Saladin,  417,  418.  Suspected  of  treachery,  419,  422  n.  Death  of, 
423. 

,  the  last  count  of  Thoulouse,  character  and  death,  ii.  394,  395. 

,  count  de  St.  Gilles,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  crusades,  i.  87,  251, 

252.     His  quarrel  with  Godfrey,  244. 

of  Poictiers,  appointed  governor  of  Antioch,  i.  312.     His  interest 


in  the  crusades,  361.     Is  slain,  379. 

d'Agiles,  the  historian,  i.  88  n.,  190,  et  passim. 


Raynouard,  M.,  his  notes  on  Hammer's  "  Mysterium  Baphometi  Reve- 
l'atam,"  iii.  494-500. 

Redemption,  mystery  of  the,  celebrated  at  Jerusalem,  i.  24. 

Reformation,  first  dawnings  of  the,  in  Europe,  ii.  196,  197.  The  Turkish 
hostilities  favourable  to  its  principles,  iii.  246. 

Relics,  veneration  for,  among  the  Crusaders,  ii.  141,  142. 

Religion,  sanguinary  wars  in  the  name  of,  ii.  310.  Despotic  principles  of, 
noticed,  111,  241  and  n.  Mingled  with  the  institutions  of  the  middle 
age,  111,  295,  299. 

Renaud  de  Chatillon,  biographical  notices  of,  i.  403.  Raised  by  marriage 
to  the  throne  of  Antioch,  ib.  Makes  war  on  the  emperor  of  Constan- 
tinople, 404.  Defeats  the  Saracens,  ib.  His  various  military  adven- 
tures, 404-415.     Taken  prisoner  by  Saladin,  422.     Put  to  detth,  424. 

Renaudot,  M.,  his  description  of  the  Greek  fire,  iii.  387  (App.). 

Rephraim,  valley  of,  i.  213. 

Reslans,  family  of  the,  iii.  428. 

Resurrection,  church  of  the,  i.  1. 

Rhamnus,  the  shrub,  i.  212. 

Rhodes,  defended  by  the  knights  of  St.  John,  iii.  **85.  Besieged  by  the 
Turks,  188,  189.     Captured,  213. 

Richard  I.,  king  of  England,  his  quarrels  with  the  king  of  France,  i.  440, 
441.     Prepares  for  the  holy  war,  441  et  seq.     Captures  Cyprus,  475. 


INDEX.  539 

Harried  to  Berenga  ia  of  Navarre,  476.  His  arrival  before  the  walla 
of  PtolemaTs,  and  his  quarrels  with  Philip  of  France,  476,  477.  Defeats 
Saladin  at  Arsur,  487,  488.  Surprised  by  the  Mussulmans,  489. 
Rebuilds  Ascalon,  and  negotiates  with  Saladin,  491,  499.  Marches  on 
Jerusalem,  492.  Retreats,  497.  His  personal  exploits,  498.  His 
interview  with  Aboubeker,  498  n.  Enters  into  a  treaty  of  peace  with 
Saladin,  500,  501.  Character  of,  504  ;  Hi.  257.  Detained  as  a  prisoner 
in  Austria  and  Germany,  i.  507.  Returns  to  England,  508.  Death 
of,  ii.  42.  Anecdote  of,  43  n.  His  adventures  in  the  Holy  Land,  and 
his  contests  with  Saladin,  Hi.  395  et  seq.  (App.).  Account  of  his  im- 
prisonment in  Germany,  405  et  seq. 

Richard,  duke  of  Cornwall,  joins  the  Crusaders  at  Ptolemais,  H.  295. 
Returns  to  Italy,  296. 

• ,  prince  of  Salerno,  i.  86. 

Rinaldo,  a  leader  of  the  Crusaders,  i.  74  and  n. 

Rion  de  Loheac,  notices  of,  i.  245  n. 

Robert,  king  of  Scotland,  pilgrimage  of,  i.  21. 

,  duke  of  Normandy,  father  of  William  the  Conqueror,  undertakes 

a  penitential  pilgrimage,  i.  27.     Dies,  28. 

-,  son  of  William  the  Conqueror,  a  leader  of  the  Crusaders,  i.  82. 


Defeats  the  Turks  in  Phrygia,  111.     Returns  home,  and  dies  in  prison, 
248.     Historical  notices  of,  iii.  357  (App.). 

-,  count  of  Flanders,  a  leader  of  the  Crusaders,  i.  83.     Surnamed 


"  The  Lance  and  the  Sword,"  ib.     Returns  to  his  own  country,  and  ia 
killed  by  a  fall  from  his  horse,  247  and  n. 

count  of  Paris,  i.  83.     His  reception  by  Alexius  of  Constanti- 


nople, i.  94.     Mortally  wounded,  108. 
"         de  Vair,  slain,  ii.  408. 

de  Trils,  death  of,  ii.  165. 

le  Frison,  count  of  Flanders,  penitential  pilgrimage  of,  i.  27. 


Anecdote  of  his  son,  56  n. 

Robert  the  Monk,  the  chronicler,  i.  49  n. 

Rodolphe,  chancellor  of  Jerusalem,  i.  328. 

de  Rhenfield,  duke  of  Swabia,  i.  76. 

Romances  during  the  period  of  the  middle  ages,  Hi.  342-344. 

Romanus-Diogenes,  death  of,  i.  36. 

Rome,  early  pilgrimages  to,  i.  21.  A  second  time  the  capital  of  the  world, 
39.  Besieged  by  Frederick  II.,  emperor  of  Germany,  ii.  293.  Agitated 
state  and  desolation  of,  296.  Its  alarm  at  the  threatened  invasions  of 
the  Turks,  Hi.  189.     Possessed  by  the  French,  194.     Se*  Popes. 

Rosnay,  prior  of,  u.  409. 

Rossi,  his  speech  to  the  Crusaders,  ii.  84. 

Rousseau,  J.  J.,  his  remarks  on  the  Crusaders,  H.  36. 

S. 

Saadi,  the  Persian  poet,  H.  189  and  n. 
Sabeans,  sect  of,  i.  4. 

Sadoletus,  his  eloquent  exhortation  in  favour  of  a  crusade  against  *h# 
Turks,  Hi.  206. 


540  INDEX. 

St.  Ambrose,  pretended  revelation  of,  i.  164. 

St.  Bernard,  abbot  of  Clairvaux,  incites  the  nations  of  Christendom  to  tbt 
second  crusade,  i.  329  et  seq.  Miracles  imputed  to,  339  and  n.  Hil 
great  influence,  343.  Reproaches  against,  for  the  misfortunes  of  th« 
Crusaders,  376,  377.     His  death  and  character,  380,  381. 

,  monastery  of,  i.  22  n. 

St.  Clair,  virgins  of,  self- mutilated  and  slaughtered,  iii.  86  n. 

St.  Dominic,  order  of,  its  origin,  iii.  304. 

St.  Eusebius,  his  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  iii.  350. 

St.  Francis,  order  of,  its  origin,  iii.  304. 

St.  George,  his  miraculous  appearance  to  the  Christian  army,  i.  221. 

St.  Jerome,  his  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  iii.  350. 

St.  John,  knights  of,  i.  281,  307.  Heroic  devotion  of  the,  308.  Their 
noble  reply  to  Mahomet  II.,  iii.  186.  Their  bravery  in  the  defence  of 
Rhodes,  188,  189.  Driven  from  Rhodes,  213.  Transferred  to  Malta, 
214.     Their  brave  defence  of  Malta,  224. 

St.  Kenelmus,  miracles  attributed  to,  iii.  409. 

St.  Martin,  the  patron  saint  of  Germany,  ii.  31,  32  and  n. 

St.  Paulina,  her  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  iii.  350. 

St.  Simeon,  port  of,  i.  140. 

Saladin,  genius  and  fortunes  of,  i.  xx.  Account  of,  397  and  n.  Ap- 
pointed vizier  of  Egypt,  ib.  His  character,  398.  His  wars  with  the 
Christians  of  Syria,  401,  402  et  seq.,  417  et  seq.  Defeats  the  Chris- 
tians at  Tiberias,  418—423.  His  barbarous  executions  of  the  Christian 
knights,  424.  His  further  victories,  and  capture  of  numerous  cities 
in  Palestine,  425  et  seq.  Besieges  and  captures  Jerusalem,  426,  429, 
432.  His  victorious  career,  451  et  seq.  Defeats  the  Crusaders  at 
Ptolemais,  460,  466.  His  conflicts  with  Richard  I.  and  Philip  of 
France,  478.  Is  defeated  by  Richard  at  Arsur,  487,  488.  Destroys 
Ascalon  by  fire,  490.  Negotiates  with  Richard,  491,  499.  Enters 
into  a  treaty  of  peace,  500,  501  Character  of,  504,  505  and  n.  His 
death,  508.  Dissolution  of  his  empire,  509.  His  dominions  divided 
among  his  successors,  ii.  2,  3  and  n.  The  civil  wars  thence  arising, 
4  et  seq. 

,  letter  of,  detailing  his  conquest  of  Jerusalem,  iii.  372  (App.). 

Sermon  made  on  the  occasion,  376.     His  contests  with  Richard  I., 
395  et  seq.,  405. 

tenths,  decree  of  the  council  of  Paris  for  raising  the,   iii.  384 


(APP.). 

Salisbury,  earl  of,  engages  in  the  seventh  crusade,  ii.  360.     Slain,  408. 

,  William  of,  joins  Louis  IX.,  ii.  379. 

Samosata,  city  of,  i.  123. 

Saracens,  their  fanaticism  and  bravery,  i.  5.  Their  conquests,  5,  6. 
Capture  Jerus?\em,  6.  Defeated  by  Zimisces,  15.  Hostile  spirit 
against  the,  17.  Their  contests  with  the  Crusaders  before  Antioch, 
158  et  seq.  Reply  of  their  general  to  the  deputies  of  the  Crusaders, 
168.  Their  order  of  battle  before  Antioch,  170.  Defeated  by  the 
Crusaders,  173,  174.  Insults  to  the  Christian  army  before  Jerusalem, 
214.  Their  preparations  for  resistance,  215,  216.  Advance  fiotn 
Cairo,   237  ;    and  are  defeated  with  great  slaughter  on  the  plaiu  oi 


INDEX.  541 

As^alon,  240-242.  Defeat  the  Christians,  291.  Their  dynasty  almost 
annihilated,  382.  Defeat  the  Christians  at  Tiberias  with  immense 
slaughter,  418-423. 
Saracens,  defeated  by  the  Crusaders,  ii.  18,  29.  Attacked  by  Louis  IX., 
383;  and  defeated,  403.  Their  severe  conflicts  with  Louis,  413  et 
seq.  Everywhere  victorious,  424  et  seq.  Capture  the  king,  428  ^ 
and  annihilate  his  army,  429  et  seq. 

,  divisions  among  the,  iii.  3.  Letter  from  Daimbert,  archbishop 
of  Pisa,  and  others,  detailing  their  victories  over  them,  362—364  (App.). 
Letter  from  St.  Louis  respecting  them,  461.  Defeated  by  Edward  I. 
of  England,  472.     See  Mohammedans. 

• of  Africa,  invaded  by  the  Christian  forces,  iii.  117. 

Sarepta,  taken  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  288. 

Saron,  forest  of,  memoir  on  (he,  iii.  388  (App.). 

Satalia,  pillaged  by  the  Christian  forces,  iii.  183. 

Sauria,  in  Phrygia,  miseries  of  the  Crusaders  in,  i.  113. 

Scanderberg  of  Albania  defeats  the  Turks,  iii.  178.     Death  of,  180. 

Scharmesah,  in  Egypt,  captured  by  the  Crusaders,  ii.  397. 

Sclaves,  notices  of  the,  i.  374. 

Scete,  solitude  of,  i.  21. 

Scurvy,  disease  of,  among  the  Crusaders,  ii.  418  n. 

Sefed,  besieged  and  captured  by  the  Mamelukes,  iii.  13,  14.     The  in- 

habitants  slaughtered,  15. 
Seldjouc,  Turkish  dynasty  of  the,  i.  31,  32.     Tribes  of,  34.     Their  mili- 
tary ardour,  34,  35.     Dynasty  of,  almost  annihilated,  382. 
Selim  ascends  the  Ottoman  throne,  iii.  201.     His  warlike  disposition, 
202.     Conquers  the  king  of  Persia  and  the  sultan  of  Egypt,  ib.     Suc- 
ceeded by  Soliman,  213. 
Selim  II.  ascends  the  Ottoman  throne,  iii.  225. 
Semlin,  assailed  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  64. 
Senna,  brought  from  Asia,  iii.  336. 
Sepulchre.     See  Holy  Sepulchre. 

Serfage,  under  the  feudal  system,  iii.  283,  284,  289  et  seq. 
Sergines,  bravery  of,  ii.  426. 

Serpents  of  the  river  Eleuctra,  i.  198.     Various  names  of,  19-9  n. 
Sextus  IV.  implores   the   aid  of  Christian  Europe   against  the  Turks, 

iii.  189. 
Sibila,  city  of,  captured  and  burnt,  i.  40  and  n. 
Sibylla,    daughter   of  King   Amaury,    and   wife   of  Guy   de  Lusignan, 

ambition  of,  i.  413.     Death  of,  470. 
Sicilian  vespers,  iii.  66. 
Sicily,  conquered  by  Henry  VI.,  ii.  20.     Crown  of,  granted  by  the  pope 

to  Charles,  count  of  Anjou,  iii.  21.     Discontents  and  revolts  in,  66. 
Sidon  surrenders  to  the  Christians,  i.  289.     Captured  by  the  Moham- 
medans, ii.  392.    Surprised  by  the  Turcomans,  who  slaughter  the  Chris- 
tians, 474.     Fortified  by  Louis  IX.,  476.     Captured  and  destroyed 
by  the  Saracens,  iii.  66. 
Sigismund  of  Hungary,  defeated  by  Bajazet,  iii.  128. 
Sigur,  prince  of  Norway   arrives  at  Jerusalem,  with  large  forces  to  assist 
Baldwin,  i.  289. 


542  INDEX. 

Silk  of  the  East,  i.  11 ,  Manufacture  of,  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  328, 
329. 

Siloe,  fountain  of,  i.  10,  209. 

Simeon,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  i.  42. 

Sins  to  be  expiated  by  visiting  the  Holy  Land,  ii.  191. 

Sirvente,  a  poem  of  the  Troubadours,  iii.  19,  20  n. 

Smyrna,  pillaged  by  the  Christian  forces,  iii.  103.  Captured  and  de- 
stroyed by  Bajazet,  133. 

Sobieski,  king  of  Poland,  defeats  the  Turks  at  Vienna,  iii.  235. 

Soliman,  the  Turkish  chief,  extensive  conquests  of,  i.  33. 

■ ,  the  Ottoman  sultan,  takes  possession  of  Belgrade  and  Rhodes, 

iii.  213.     Invades  Hungary,  and  defeats  the  Hungarians,   214,  215. 
Besieges  Vienna,  217.     Death  of,  224. 

Soneidanis,  a  class  of  Ismaelians,  iii.  428. 

Sophronius,  patriarch,  death  of,  i.  6. 

Sophia,  victory  of,  iii.  137,  139. 

Souliers,  family  of  the,  i.  41  n. 

Spain,  crusades  in,  i.  375.  War  with  the  Saracens  and  Moors,  ii.  201, 
268.  Emancipated  from  Moorish  domination,  iii.  243.  State  of,  and 
changes  in,  during  the  age  of  the  crusades,  264  et  seq.  Expels  tha 
Moors,  266  ;  and  establishes  the  Inquisition,  267.  Increase  of  liberty 
in,  285. 

Spies,  Turkish,  barbarous  treatment  of,  i.  137. 

Statuary  destroyed  at  Constantinople  by  the  Latins,  iii.  438-440. 

Stellion,  serpent  so  named,  i.  199. 

Stephen,  duke  of  Burgundy,  slain  at  Ramla,  i.  282. 

,  count  of  Blois,  a  leader  of  the  Crusaders,  i.  83.    Letter  of,  95. 

,  count  of  Chartres,  slain  at  Ramla,  i.  282. 

de  Salviac,  notices  of,  i.  246. 


Sugar,  introduced  into  Europe  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  330. 

Suger,  prime  minister  of  France,  styled  the  "  father  of  bis  country," 
i.  376.     Death  of,  and  character,  380,  381. 

,  Abbot,  i.  330.     His  advice  to  Louis  VII. ,  341. 

Sunnites,  Mohammedan  sect  of  the,  iii.  413. 

Surnames,  on  the  origin  of,  ii.  282. 

Swabia,  royal  family  of,  nearly  extinct,  iii.  21. 

Sweno,  king  of  Denmark,  a  leader  of  the  Crusaders,  i.  133.  Slain,  134 
and  n. 

Syria,  the  cities  and  territories  of,  i.  126.  The  Crusaders  enter,  127. 
Conquests  in,  by  the  Crusaders,  183  et  seq.  Invade  Egypt,  390  et 
seq.  Political  state  of,  at  the  sixth  crusade,  ii.  226.  Possessed  by 
the  Egyptians  and  Carismians,  331.  By  the  sultan  of  Egypt,  377. 
Principal  cities  captured  by  the  Moguls,  iii.  5.  Towns  of,  destroyed 
by  the  Crusaders,  119.  Overrun  by  Tamerlane,  132.  Geographical 
details  respecting,  485  (App.).     See  Palestine. 


Tabor,  Mount,  churches  built  on,  i.  1.     Described,  ii.  227.     Attacked 
by  the  Crusaders,  ib. 


INDEX.  543 

Tamerlane,  history  and  extensive  conquests  of,  iii.  132,  133.  Defeats 
Bajazei;  at  Ancyra,  133. 

Tancred  "  the  Brave,"  character  of,  i.  86,  87.  His  inflexible  virtue,  96. 
Hostile  encounter  with  Baldwin,  118,  119.  "  Tower  of,"  217  and  n. 
Enters  Jerusalem  by  storm,  222.  Takes  possession  of  Tiberias  and 
various  other  cities,  267.  Attacked  by  the  sultan  of  Damascus,  who  is 
defeated  by  Godfrey,  273.  His  quarrel  with  Baldwin,  276.  277.  Hia 
death  and  character,  290. 

Tarenta,  remedy  for  the  bite  of  a,  i.  199  n. 

Tarentum,  principality  of,  i.  85. 

Tarsus,  city  of,  i.  116.  Disputes  among  the  leaders  of  the  Crusaders  at, 
117.     Taken  possession  of  by  Baldwin,  118. 

Tartars,  invasions  of  the,  i.  255  ;  ii.  265.  Defeat  the  Latins,  ii.  166,  167. 
Their  manners  and  customs,  313.  History  and  conquests  of,  316  et 
seq.,  322,  487  ;  iii.  8,  95,  132.  Government  of  the,  ii.  321.  Capture 
Bagdad,  iii.  4.  Their  conquests  in  Syria,  6.  Beaten  and  expelled  by 
the  Mamelukes,  7.  The  pope  sends  missionaries  to  them,  94.  Their 
contests  with  the  Mussulmans  revive  the  hopes  of  the  Christians,  ib. 
They  send  ambassadors  to  the  pope,  95.  Conquests  of  Tamerlane, 
their  great  leader,  132,  133. 

Tasso,  his  "Jerusalem  delivered,"  i.  202  n.,  205.  His  account  of  the 
battle  of  Ascalon,  243  n.  His  heroes  more  wonderful  than  those  of 
Homer,  258.     Memoir  of  his  enchanted  forest,  iii.  388  (App.). 

Tatius  quits  the  camp  of  the  Crusaders,  i.  135. 

Taurus,  Mount,  sufferings  of  the  Crusaders  in  passing,  i.  126. 

Taxation,  created  on  the  fall  of  feudalism,  iii.  293. 

Temeblcus,  defeated  by  the  Saracens,  i.  14. 

Temory,  Paul,  Archbishop  of  Colotza,  is  appointed  commander  against 
the  Turks,  and  defeated,  hi.  214,  215. 

Templars,  the,  i.  307.  Their  devoted  bravery,  308;  ii.  414;  iii.  88. 
Defeat  and  slaughter  of,  i.  415,  416.  Their  grand  master  taken 
prisoner  by  Saladin,  422.  Their  conquests  and  possessions,  ii.  9 ; 
iii.  98.  Their  quarrels  with  the  Hospitallers,  ii.  9,  10  ;  iii.  2.  Accu- 
sations against,  iii.  99.  Hammer's  notes  on  their  apostasy,  494-500 
(App.). 

Temugin,  the  Tartar  chief,  notices  of,  ii.  317  et  seq.     Death  of,  321. 

Thaher,  governor  of  Aleppo,  ii.  3. 

Themal,  bravery  of,  i.  13  n. 

Theodore,  governor  of  Edessa,  i.  121  and  n. 

Theodosius,  column  of,  at  Constantinople,  ii.  157  and  n. 

Theopolis,  the  ancient  name  of  Antioch,  i.  128. 

Theriaca,  a  medicine  brought  from  Antioch,  iii.  336. 

Thessalonioa,  possessed  by  Boniface,  ii.  150;  by  Baldwin,  160. 

Thevet,  Andre,  i.  41  n. 

Thibault  III.,  count  of  Champagne,  engages  in  the  second  crusade,  i.  330. 

IV.,  count  of  Champagne,  engages  in  the  fifth  crusade,  ii.  45. 

His  death  and  character,  54. 

V.,  king  of  Navarre,  engages  in  the  holy  war,  ii.  286,  290. 


Thierri,  coun"  of  Flanders,  i.  359. 
Thimariots  of  Turkey,  iii   240. 


544  INDEX. 

Thoron,  castle  of,  besieged,  ii.  23—28. 

Thrace  entered  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  67. 

Tiberias,  taken  possession  of  by  Tancred,  i.  267.  Captured  by  Saladin, 
407.  Battle  of,  disastrous  to  the  Christians,  418—423.  Letter  from 
Saladin,  detailing  the  battle  of,  iii.  372  (App.). 

Togrul-Beg,  elected  king  of  the  Turks,  i.  31.  His  victorious  career, 
31,  32. 

Tolosa,  victory  of,  over  the  Moors,  ii.  201. 

Tortosa,  successful  attack  on  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  189.  Capture  of,  254. 
Retaken  by  the  Mussulmans,  453. 

Toucy,  Chevalier  de,  ii.  466. 

Tournaments  of  the  middle  age,  iii.  296. 

Tours,  council  of,  for  promoting  the  cause  of  the  Crusaders,  ii.  287. 

Toutousch,  the  Turkish  general,  conquests  of,  i.  33. 

Traconite,  the  country  of,  i.  318. 

Tripoli,  emir  of,  defeated  by  the  Crusaders,  i.  196.  The  city  of,  cap- 
tured by  them,  287.  Riches  of,  288.  Flourishing  state  of,  306.  Be- 
sieged by  Saladin,  453.  Taken  by  storm,  and  the  Christians  slaugh- 
tered, iii.  69.  The  city  destroyed,  70.  Recaptured  and  bu  it  by  the 
Crusaders,  119. 

Tristan,  duke  of  Nevers,  death  of,  iii.  42. 

Troncs,  receipts  of,  in  France,  for  the  expenses  of  the  crusades,  iii.  473; 
and  their  expenditure,  474  et  seq. 

Troubadours,  songs  of,  during  the  middle  ages,  ii.  306,  307  ;  iii.  342. 
Their  poetry  for  the  crusades,  iii.  452  (App.). 

Trouveres  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  342. 

"True  cross,"  a  piece  of,  placed  in  the  church  of  Drontheim,  i.  289. 
Captured  by  Saladin,  422.  Fragment  of  it  taken  from  Constantinople, 
ii.  142  and  n. 

Tunis,  the  Crusaders  under  Louis  IX.  arrive  at,  iii.  37.  Historical 
notices  of,  37,  38.  Captured,  39.  Great  mortality  among  the  Cru- 
saders at.  41.     Death  of  Louis  IX,  at,  46.     A  truce  concluded,  50. 

Turbes:>el,  capture  of,  i.  121. 

Turcoman,  the  surname  of  Ezz-Eddin  Aybek,  governor  of  Egypt,  ii.  445. 

Turks,  or  Turcomans,  their  victorious  and  sanguinary  career,  i.  31 
et  seq.  Embrace  the  Mussulman  faith,  31.  Their  social  barbarism, 
37.  Their  power  at  the  time  of  the  first  crusade,  97  ;  and  the  con- 
tests with  them,  100  et  seq.  Cruel  treatment  of,  by  the  Crusaders, 
137.  Their  defeat  before  Antioch,  140,  141.  Defeat  the  Crusaders, 
252,  253.  Cause  of  their  victories,  255  n.  Their  incursions  in  Pales- 
tine, 303.  Defeat  the  Germans,  351  ;  and  are  beaten  by  the  French, 
353.  Dynasties  of,  almost  annihilated,  382.  Capture  Sidon,  and 
slaughter  the  inhabitants,  ii.  474. 

— •  -,   renewal   of    the   crusades   against,   attempted,  iii.   93.     Their 

conquest  of  Asia  Minor,  113.  The  seat  of  their  empire  at  Adrianople, 
ib.  Their  origin  from  the  Tartars,  120.  Their  history  and  con- 
quests, 121  et  seq.  Their  invasion  of  Greece,  122.  A  crusade  against, 
determined  on,  125,  126.  Contests  with,  127.  Defeated  by  Tamer- 
lane, 132,  133.  Their  barbarities  to  the  Christians,  135.  Besiege 
Constantinople  under  Mahomet  II.,  148  et  seq.     Capture  it,  and  an 


INDEX.  545 

nihilate  the  Greek  empire,  156.  Crusades  against,  undertaken,  a.d 
1438—1481,  159.  They  penetrate  into  Hungary,  166.  And  are  de- 
feated at  Belgrade,  167.  Their  extensive  conquests,  171,  174,  lfeO, 
225.  Invade  Hungary  and  different  parts  of  Europe  simultaneously, 
187-189.  Defeated  by  the  Hungarians,  187.  Besiege  Rhodes,  188, 
189.  Capture  Otranto,  ib.  Complete  the  overthrow  of  all  the  rival 
powers  of  the  East,  203.  Defeat  the  Hungarians,  215.  Capture 
Cyprus,  225.  Defeated  at  the  naval  battle  of  Lepanto,  226.  Succours 
against  implored  by  Pope  Alexander  VII.,  and  a  Christian  confederation 
formed,  233,  234.  Their  military  power  begins  to  decline,  230,  231, 
236.  General  review  of  their  conquests,  231  et  seq.  Conclude  a  peace 
with  the  Christian  forces  in  Hungary,  234.  Defeated  by  Sobieski  at 
Vienna,  235.  Causes  and  history  of  their  decline,  236  et  seq.  Theii 
present  political  poeition,  244  et  seq. 

Turks,  letter  of  Bohemond  and  others,  detailing  the  defeat  of  the  Turks, 
iii.  360  (App.).  Letter  to  Pope  Urban,  detailing  the  victories  of  the 
Crusaders  over  them,  iii.  365. 

Tyre,  commercial  greatness  of,  i.  300.  Siege  and  capture  of,  300, 
301.  Besieged  by  Saladin,  451.  Its  heroic  defence,  452.  Captured 
and  destroyed  by  the  Saracens,  iii.  89. 

U. 

Universities  of  Europe  during  the  middle  ages,  iii.  337,  339. 

Urban  II.,  Pope,  his  interview  with  Peter  the  Hermit,  i.  42.     Receives 

the  ambassadors  of  Alexis  Comnenus,  44.     Convokes   a   council   at 

Plaisance,  45.     At  Clermont,  46  et  seq.     His  inciting  speech  in  favour 

of  the  crusades,  48—50. 
•  V.  adopts  the  project  of  a  new  crusade,  iii.  113.     And  convokes 

a  meeting  at  Avignon,  113-114. 


Valeran,  bishop  of  Berytus,  ii.  334. 

Varangians,  account  of  the,  ii.  83  n. 

Vaudois,  religious  principles  of  the,  ii.  197.  Papal  crusade  against,  199 
and  n. 

Venetians  embark  for  the  Holy  Land,  and  destroy  the  fleet  of  the 
Saracens,  i.  298.  Enter  Jerusalem,  299.  Conquer  Tyre,  301.  Return 
to  Italy,  302.  Refinement  of  the,  ii.  182.  Their  contests  with  the 
Genoese,  iii.  2. 

Venice  forbids  intercourse  with  the  Mussulmans,  i.  15.  Commercial 
greatness  of,  ii.  48.  Dandolo,  the  doge,  49.  Engages  to  assist  the 
Crusaders,  50,  51.  Sums  advanced  by,  53.  Pecuniary  exactions  of, 
59.  Her  wealth  and  greatness,  183,  184.  Her  possessions  captured 
by  the  Turks,  iii.  184.  Bajazet  II.  declares  war  against,  197.  Her 
active  preparations  for  defence,  198.  Her  commercial  ambition,  200 
Hclian's  diatribe  against,  ib.  Rejoicings  at,  after  the  victory  of 
Lepanto,  226.     State  of,  during  the  age  of  the  crvsade*,  263. 

Ve  tiandois,  Crusaders  of  the,  i.  81. 
lrOL.  III.— 24 


546  INDEX. 

I 

Vermandois,  count  de,  i.  83.  Led  a  prisoner  to  Constantinople,  89.  Hii 
treatment  avenged,  90.  His  bravery  before  Antioch,  170,  174.  Re- 
turns to  Europe,  177.     Dies  of  his  wounds,  254. 

Vertot,  abbe  de,  the  historian,  hi.  188. 

Victor  III.,  Pope,  incites  the  Christians  to  take  arms  against  the  infidels, 
i.  39,  40. 

Vida,  the  Italian  poet,  his  enthusiasm  for  the  crusades,  iii.  203 

Vienna,  council  of,  convoked  by  Clement  V.  to  promote  a  crusade, 
iii.  97.  Besieged  by  the  Turks,  217,  218,  235.  Relieved  by  Sobieski, 
king  of  Poland,  ib. 

Villehardouin,  Geoffrey,  marshal  of  Champagne,  ii.  46  and  n.  His 
address  to  the  Venetians,  50,  51  and  n.  His  history  of  the  contest* 
between  the  Greeks  and  Latins,  175. 

- ,  William  of,  prince  of  Achaia,  engages  in  the  seventh  crusade, 

ii.  379. 

Visions  and  prodigies,  reliance  of  the  Crusaders  on,  i.  192. 

Vitri  destroyed  by  Louis  VII.  of  France,  i.  330. 

Volkmar,  a  priest,  instigates  the  Crusaders  to  the  greatest  cruelties,  i.  70. 

W. 

Walcknaer's  "  Itinerary,"  i.  3,  n.,  199  n. 

Wales,  journey  through,  relating  the  manners  of  the  inhabitants  in  the 
twelfth  century,  iii.  408  (App.). 

Walter  the  Penniless,  general  of  the  Crusaders,  i.  62. 

,  count  of  Csesarea,   his  accusations  against  the  count  of  Jaffa, 

i.  313. 

Warna,  battle  of,  iii.  143. 

West,  Christians  of  the,  aroused  against  the  East,  i.  xix.  ;  3,  20,  21. 
Institutions  of  the,  in  their  infancy,  36,  37,  Enthusiasm  in  favour  of 
the  crusades,  54.  Agitated  state  of  the,  ii.  195.  Alarm  among  the 
Christian  nations,  at  the  fall  of  Constantinople,  iii.  159  et  seq. 

William,  king  of  Sicily,  engages  in  the  holy  war,  i.  453. 

IX.,  count  of  Poictiers,  sets  out  for  the  East,  i.  249  and  n. 

Rufus,  duke  of  Normandy,  i.  82. 

,  count  de  Nevers,  i.  249.     Defeated  by  the  Turks,  253. 

,  archbishop  of  Tyre,  preaches  in  support  of  the  holy  war,  1.  436, 

444.     His  speech,  437,  438. 

viscount  de  Melun,  deserts  the  camp  of  the  Crusaders,  and  is 


retaken,  i.  135. 

de  Clermont,  bravery  of,  iii.  80.     Slain,  87. 

of  Maimesbury,  the  chronicler,  iii.  356. 

of  Tyre,  the  historian,  i.  17,  41,  54,  62,  65,  147  n.  et  passim. 


Wine  of  Gaza,  celebrated,  i.  11. 
Wolf  IX.,  duke  of  Bavaria,  a  leader  of  the  Cru*»4er*,  i    249.     De- 
feated, 253. 
Worms,  diet  at,  convoked  by  Henry  VI.  of  Germany,  ii.  ^5.  14. 


INDEX.  547 


Yemen,  a  province  of  Arabia,  ii.  3  n. 
Yve,  son  of  Hugh  de  Grandmenil,  i.  83. 

Z. 

Zara,  city  of,  revolts  against  the  domination  of  Venice,  ii.  60.     Siege  of 

63. 
Zengui,    prince  of  Mossoul,  conquests  of,   i.   306,   320.      Attacks  th« 

Christian  fortresses,   315.      Besieges  and  captures  Edessa,   321-325 

Assassinated,  326. 
Zimisces,  emperor  of  the  Greeks,  i.  14.     Conquests  of,  15.     His  violent 

death,  36. 
Zizim,   disputes  the  Turkish  empire  with  Bajazet,  and  visits  Europe,  iii. 

191.      Joins   the   Christian  crusade   against  the   Turks,    195.      Hii 

death,  U. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTER. 

M.  Michaud  has  told  the  story  of  the  crusades 
with  such  fulness  and  accuracy  that,  so  far  as  these 
religious  pilgrimages  iu  arms  are  concerned,  nothing 
need  be  added.  The  movement  of  the  West  upon  the 
East  is  traced  and  described  in  minute  detail,  with 
every  accessory  of  personal  incident  and  achievement, 
and  the  work  has  been  done  so  thoroughly  that  proba- 
bly no  later  historian  will  feel  drawn  to  the  same  field. 
It  may  be  profitable,  however,  to  supplement  this 
trustworthy  and  spirited  narrative  by  a  rapid  survey 
of  the  wide  and  fruitful  changes  which  the  crusades 
directly  and  indirectly  introduced  into  the  social  and 
political  life  of  Europe.  It  is  one  of  the  gains  of  time 
that  its  lapse  discloses  those  larger  relations  of  great 
events  which  are  hidden  from  the  observation  of  an 
earlier  age  ;  and  while  the  earlier  historian  has  the  ad- 
vantage of  being  near  the  historical  movement  which 
he  describes,  and  of  collecting  at  first  hand  the  fullest 
information  of  its  origin,  direction,  and  personality, 
the  later  writer  is  far  more  fully  equipped  for  the  work 
of  setting  the  movement  in  right  relation  to  its  social 
and  political  environment.  Thucydides  must  remain 
preeminently  the  historian  of  the  Peloponnesian  War  ; 
but  Grote  and  Curtius,  largely  deriving  their  facts  from 
him,  are  able  to  discuss  the  decisive  struggle  between 
Athens  and  Sparta  with  wider  grasp  of  the  elements 
of  Greek  character  and  politics  which  brought  about 
the  conflict,  and  to  trace  its  influence  in  later  Greek 
history.  This  chapter  will  add  no  newly  discovered 
facts  concerning  the  crusades  ;  but,  taking  advantage 
of  later  studies  in  this  important  field,  it  will  indicate 
some  of  the  results  of  these  expeditions  as  they  have 
disclosed  themselves  in  the  subsequent  political  develop- 
ment of  Europe. 

549 


550  HISTORY   OF   THE   CRUSADES. 

The  Council  of  Clermont  in  1095  found  the  feudal 
system  fully  developed  in  Western  Europe.  The  Holy 
Roman  Empire  which,  in  the  person  of  Charlemagne, 
had  given  brief  promise  of  a  restoration  of  authority 
to  government,  and  of  cohesion  to  society,  had  become 
a  mere  shadow  among  the  warring,  aggressive  factions 
of  feudalism.  The  tremendous  energy  of  Charles  was 
potent  enough  to  drive  back  the  boundaries  of  barbar- 
ism, and  make  for  a  little  time  a  comparatively  clear 
field  for  efforts  toward  an  organized  and  stable  society  ; 
but  the  task  of  subduing  the  social  and  political  an- 
archy about  him  was  too  great  even  for  a  ruler  of  his 
genius.  The  time  was  not  ripe,  and  when  the  labori- 
ously gathered  lines  of  power  fell  from  the  strong 
hand,  there  was  no  successor  to  grasp  them.  Anarchy 
became  well-nigh  universal.  The  royal  authority  was 
everywhere,  with  here  and  there  a  passing  exception, 
a  vague  and  indefinite  thing,  hemmed  in  and  jealously 
watched  by  barons,  more  powerful  than  the  king  in 
everything  but  name.  Society  was  broken  up  into 
small  communities,  with  apparently  no  common  direc- 
tion of  movement  or  impulse  of  progress.  Every  cas- 
tle was  a  centre  of  power,  which  might  be  hostile  to 
every  other  authority  about  it.  There  were  no  com- 
mon ties  binding  races  into  the  larger  fellowship  of 
kindred  aims  and  aspirations.  Men  of  the  same  blood 
were  arrayed  in  more  deadly  hostility  to  each  other 
than  were  men  of  alien  races. 

No  large  enterprises  were  possible,  because  the  com- 
munity of  sentiment  and  the  harmony  of  action  which 
made  them  possible,  were  alike  absent.  The  princi- 
ple of  individualism — the  greatest  contribution  of  the 
northern  races  to  the  political  development  of  Europe — 
had  reached  its  fullest  growth,  and  everywhere  asserted 
itself  in  the  most  aggressive  forms.  Western  Europe 
had  gone  so  far  in  this  direction  that  no  further  prog- 
ress in  the  arts,  industries,  and  institutions  of  civili- 
zation was  possible  without  the  introduction  of  a  new 
element  into  the  problem.  What  was  needed  was  the 
cohesive  influence  of  some   common  purpose,  which 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CRUSADES.  551 

should  give  a  new  unity  by  disclosing  to  men  the 
larger  possibilities  of  organized  social  and  political 
life.  Organization  is  the  necessary  condition  of  prog- 
ress, and  so  long  as  Europe  remained  without  the 
conception  of  government  with  well-defined  powers, 
regularity  of  administration,  and  ability  to  suppress 
opposition  and  impress  its  authority,  in  all  sections  of 
its  territory,  with  a  firm  and  steady  hand,  no  forward 
movement  was  possible. 

This  spell  of  political  aud  social  impotence  was 
broken  by  the  crusades.  Peter  the  Hermit  was  a 
voice  crying  in  the  wilderness,  the  forerunner  of  a 
historical  movement  which  was  to  be  the  salvation  of 
Europe.  Returning  from  Syria  with  a  heart  hot  with 
indignation  at  the  insults  and  persecutions  which 
beset  the  pilgrim  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  his  call  to 
arms  had  all  the  authority  which  a  genuine  religious 
conviction  could  give  it,  and  all  the  persuasive  elo- 
quence of  a  call  for  which  men  had  been  longing  and 
waiting  in  silence  and  despair.  No  one  will  deny 
the  strength  of  the  religious  sentiment  which,  in  an- 
swer to  that  message,  speedily  marshalled  the  hosts  of 
the  first  crusade  ;  but  the  restless  life  of  oppressed  and 
burdened  races  found  in  the  new  enterprise  an  outlet 
through  which  it  poured  itself  like  a  rising  tide.  For 
the  first  time  in  its  history  Western  Europe  had  a 
common  purpose  and  united  in  a  common  under- 
taking. In  the  farthest  hamlet  the  overshadowing 
power  of  the  feudal  lord  became  for  the  time  being 
tributary  to  the  authority  of  the  Church,  summoning 
Europe  to  fight  its  battles  and  protect  its  sacred  places. 
Europe  awoke  to  the  fact,  unsuspected  before,  that  it 
was  larger  than  its  warring  feudatories,  that  the  pos- 
sibilities of  its  life  were  far  more  varied  and  rich  than 
men  had  dreamed  under  the  iron  pressure  of  the  feudal 
system,  and  thus  the  needed  element  of  association 
and  cooperation  asserted  itself. 

Like  all  great  social  and  political  changes,  the  tran- 
sition from  feudal  communities  to  national  organiza- 
tion was  unconscious  and  undiscovered.     In  the  minds 


552  HISTORY  OF  THE  CRUSADES. 

of  the  crusaders  and  of  the  communities  whose  faKh 
they  represented  and  whose  impulse  they  carried  inco 
action,  no  clearly  denned  ideal  of  national  life  an- 
swered the  call  of  Peter.  That  ideal  grew  slowly,  but 
its  roots  were  planted  in  this  movement.  Spaniards, 
Germans,  Italians,  Englishmen,  and  Frenchmen 
found  themselves  acting  in  harmony  for  a  common 
purpose.  They  bore  different  banners,  they  marched 
under  different  leaders,  they  took  different  roads  ;  but 
a  common  impulse  sent  them  forth  and  a  common 
goal  drew  them  on.  Their  community  of  sentiment 
was  often  marred  by  mutual  jealousies,  and  their  unity 
of  action  impaired  by  mutual  antagonisms  ;  but  the 
substantial  harmony  which  underlay  these  disorders 
and  which  secured  the  positive  results  of  the  earlier 
crusades,  gave  Europe  a  conception  of  life  which  it 
had  thoroughly  learned  before  the  last  crusaders  re- 
turned from  their  fruitless  quest. 

That  which  drew  together  various  nationalities  and 
races,  disclosing  to  them  the  religious  and  social  aims 
and  tastes  which  they  possessed  in  common,  brought 
about  a  similar  result  through  the  widely  separated 
ranks  of  society.  European  society  had  no  homo- 
geneity when  the  first  crusade  was  preached.  It  was 
divided  into  ranks  sharply  discriminated  from  each 
other,  bound  together  by  the  pressure  of  external 
force,  rather  than  by  the  cohesive  power  of  organic 
structure.  There  was  no  mutuality  of  interest  or 
feeling.  King,  baron,  burgher,  and  peasant  were  so 
widely  apart  by  virtue  of  the  education  of  their  cir- 
cumstances that  they  could  not  understand  each  other. 
That  common  language  of  experience  and  aspiration, 
which  to-day  finds  a  response  among  men  of  all  social 
ranks,  would  have  been  incomprehensible  in  the  age  of 
the  first  crusade.  Baron  and  peasant  had  indeed  acted 
together  in  feudal  warfare ;  but  only  as  the  lower  was 
forced  to  serve  the  higher,  the  weaker  to  do  the  work 
of  the  stronger.  No  common  impulse  had  ever  before 
stirred  the  common  humanity  of  all  classes  ;  no  call 
had  ever  before  summoned  them  as  individuals  to  a 


HISTORY  OP  TIIE   CRUSADES.  553 

service  in  which  each  stood  in  a  spiritual  equality  with 
every  other.  Men  had  moved  in  classes  before,  but 
they  moved  as  classes  and  not  as  men. 

The  Church  had  seen  its  early  dream  of  an  imperial 
power  with  which  it  could  keep  itself  in  friendly  and 
influential  alliance  fade  like  a  mist  before  the  iron  in- 
dividualism of  feudalism,  and  had  been  compelled  to 
begin  almost  anew  its  conquest  over  the  governing 
powers  of  Europe.  The  work  which  a  few  skilful 
ecclesiastics  could  have  done  at  the  courts  of  kings  in 
a  few  capital  cities  was  relegated  for  centuries  to  an 
army  of  priests  attached  to  baronial  households,  and 
conducting  the  sacred  offices  of  their  religion  in  the 
chapels  of  castles  over  the  vast  territory  of  Western 
Europe.  The  Church  and  feudalism  were  in  radical 
antagonism  ;  they  represented  ideas  which  could  not, 
in  the  extremes  in  which  each  held  them,  be  harmon- 
ized in  practical  life.  The  Church  had  yielded  to 
feudalism,  as  in  an  earlier  age  she  had  yielded  to  the 
barbarian  conquest  of  Southern  Europe,  because  sur- 
render, in  form  at  least,  was  inevitable.  But,  in  the 
latter  case,  as  in  the  former,  the  struggle  was  renewed 
at  once  upon  a  new  plan  of  action.  The  orderly  cam- 
paign by  massing  of  forces  at  a  few  strategic  points 
was  abandoned  for  incessant  watchfulness  and  a  per- 
petual skirmish  along  an  immensely  extended  frontier. 
Every  barony  became  a  scene  of  action,  every  castle  a 
stronghold  to  be  won  by  the  most  skilful  devices  of 
the  spiritual  warfare.  The  Church  was  the  only  rep- 
resentative of  the  idea  of  universal  authority  and 
order,  but  as  yet  no  occasion  had  arisen  by  which  it 
might  profit  to  make  that  conception  an  active  princi- 
ple in  society.  It  was  in  deadly  antagonism  to  the 
system  which  broke  society  up  into  small,  hostile  com- 
munities ;  but  the  time  had  not  come  when  it  could 
bring  to  bear  a  force  powerful  enough  to  destroy  its 
antagonist,  or  to  set  at  work  an  influence  which  would 
inevitably  result  in  the  disintegration  of  the  feudal 
order. 

The  preaching  of  the  first  crusade  was  an  oppor- 
24* 


554  HISTORY   OP   THE   CRUSADES. 

tunity  which  the  Church  was  quick  to  recognise  and 
to  follow  up  with  that  persistent  and  consummate 
ability  which  characterized  all  its  earlier  and  much  of 
its  later  history.  It  was  possible  now  to  call  not  only 
separate  feudatories  but  all  Europe  to  arms.  Feudal- 
ism would  keep  men  divided  into  fixed  classes,  and 
society  broken  up  into  permanent  groups  ;  the  Church, 
on  the  other  hand,  would  prevent  the  oppression  of 
one  class  by  another  by  binding  all  in  a  universal  alle- 
giance to  herself,  and  would  impress  upon  society  the 
unity  of  a  common  service  and  a  common  faith. 

The  crusades  sprang  out  of  a  feeling  which  was  as 
strong  in  the  heart  of  the  peasant  as  in  that  of  the 
noble.  A  great  cause  and  a  universal  sentiment  gave 
the  Church  the  opportunity  for  which  it  sought.  A 
solemn  council  made  the  preaching  of  Peter  the  Her- 
mit the  voice  of  the  Church  herself.  Feudal  distinc- 
tions were  forgotten  in  the  enthusiasm  of  a  service 
which  transcended  in  its  sanctions  and  its  aims  all 
earthly  duties,  and  in  which  earthly  differences  were 
for  the  moment  laid  aside.  The  power  of  the  feudal 
nobility,  hitherto  the  domin  ant  authority  in  Western 
Europe,  became,  for  the  time  being,  secondary  to  that 
of  the  Church.  Men  were  summoned  no  longer  to  the 
service  of  their  lords,  but  to  the  service  of  their  Church. 
The  change  was  radical.  It  was  the  introduction  of  a 
principle  which  is  still  struggling  to  assert  itself  in 
practical  legislation  and  political  action.  Its  develop- 
ment has  been  slow,  but  it  has  revolutionized  society, 
and  what  its  ultimate  outcome  is  to  be  no  man  can 
predict.  King,  baron,  burgher,  and  peasant  found 
themselves  side  by  side  in  the  same  cause,  one  class 
serving  another,  not  by  virtue  of  a  feudal  but  of  a 
spiritual  authority  ;  comrades  in  arms  in  an  enterprise 
which  addressed  what  was  common  and  eternal  in  them 
all  rather  than  what  was  distinctive  and  conventional. 
Not  suddenly,  but  by  the  slow  processes  of  growth 
which  belong  to  great  moral  changes,  men  forgot  their 
abasement  and  slavery  under  feudalism  in  the  dawn- 
ing light  of  a  liberty  conferred  by  a  superior  and  a 


HISTORY   OF   THE    CRUSADES.  555 

spiritual  power.  A  conception  of  a  higher  authority 
than  that  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  feudal  lord  took 
root  in  the  mind  of  Europe  and  became  fruitful  of  vase 
change.  In  Syria  the  leaders  of  the  crusades  were  not 
able  to  keep  their  followers  in  subjection  when  they 
attempted  to  follow  their  personal  ambitions.  The 
commanding  purpose  which  drew  them  thither  over- 
mastered all  private  designs  and  made  insubordination 
a  virtue.  An  influence  more  powerful  than  feudalism 
entered  into  European  life  with  the  crusades,  and  was 
perhaps  the  most  far-reaching  and  potential  effect 
which  they  produced  upon  the  world. 

The  crusades  found  Europe  stationary  and  without 
the  power  of  progress.  Society  had  crystallized  into 
forms  so  rigid  and  fixed  that  strong  pressure  from 
without  was  essential  to  any  movement  toward  libera- 
tion. Not  only  were  communities  circumscribed  and 
reduced  in  numbers,  and  individuals  held  in  their 
places  by  a  power  against  which  it  was  hopeless  to 
strive  ;  but  the  whole  population  was  bound  to  the 
soil  by  a  system  of  servitude  the  most  exacting  and  the 
most  pervasive  known  in  history.  Contiguous  com- 
munities spoke  dialects  differing  so  widely  as  to  make 
communication  between  men  of  the  same  race  almost 
as  difficult  as  between  men  of  widely  separated  na- 
tionalities. 

There  was  almost  no  interchange  of  knowledge,  no 
commerce  of  ideas.  Where  men  were  born  they  spent 
their  lives,  and  were  buried  with  no  sense  of  any 
larger  relationships  in  life  than  those  of  the  locality 
which  formed  their  little  sphere  of  action.  Feudalism, 
in  disintegrating  society  and  reducing  the  individual 
to  an  unimportant  factor  in  a  vast  system,  had  para- 
lyzed the  power  of  development,  which  comes  only 
t Ji rough  interchange  and  combination  of  energy.  The 
Chinese  Empire  of  a  century  ago  was  hardly  mor 
securely  wailed  in  from  external  influence  and  con- 
demned to  absolute  stagnation  than  were  the  countries 
over  which  feudalism  had  spread  its  iron  network. 
Into  this  close,  dense  atmosphere  the  crusades  sent  a 


556  HISTORY   OF   THE   CRUSADES. 

rigorous  current  of  new  thought.  The  hopeless  and 
weary  routine  to  which  great  populations  were  con- 
demned explains  much  of  that  enthusiasm  with  which 
multitudes  rushed  into  a  dangerous  and  laborious  ser- 
vice. Men  were  stifled  in  an  air  which  they  and  their 
fathers  before  them  had  breathed  without  any  possi- 
bility of  change.  In  the  crusade  epoch  the  religious 
impulse  was  strong,  but  the  impulse  toward  freedom 
was  doubtless  the  sentiment  next  in  importance. 

Between  1095  a.d.  and  1291  A.D.,  there  was  an 
immense  change.  The  first  crusade  found  men  of  all 
nationalities  eager  to  follow  its  leaders,  the  preachers 
of  the  last  crusade  appealed  to  deaf  ears.  Europe  was 
indifferent  to  the  cause  which  for  two  centuries  had 
found  orators  as  eloquent  as  Bernard  of  Clairvauxand 
leaders  as  pure  as  Godfrey,  as  daring  as  Richard,  as 
devoted  as  St.  Louis,  and  yet  religious  zeal  was  not 
dead,  nor  had  the  sanctions  of  religion  lost  their 
sacredness.  The  secret  of  the  change  in  European  sen- 
timent lay  in*  the  enlargement  and  liberation  of  Euro- 
pean life  which  the  crusades  had  secured.  There 
was  a  comparatively  free  interchange  between  the 
different  sections.  The  incessant  movements  of  the 
crusading  hosts,  the  intermingling  of  so  many  dif- 
ferent races  had  broken  down  many  barriers  and  set 
many  unifying  influences  at  work.  The  German  knew 
the  Frenchman,  and  the  Frenchman  the  Englishman, 
and  this  mutual  knowledge  was  fruitful  in  quickened 
and  stimulated  life  everywhere.  Men  began  to  better 
their  condition  by  a  change  of  location.  Emigration, 
which  in  the  earlier  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  had 
changed  the  face  of  Europe  and  then  had  been  checked 
by  feudalism,  began  once  more  in  ways  so  small  and 
insignificant  as  to  remain  long  unnoticed,  but  of  im- 
mense importance  in  the  light  of  subsequent  history. 

The  modification  and  disintegration  of  the  feudal 
system  is  unquestionably  the  greatest  contribution  of 
the  crusades  to  the  development  of  humanity.      This  5"'  37 
result  was  brought  about,  as  has  been  shown,  by  the 
liberation   of  thought  and  life  throughout  Western 


BISTORT   OF   THE    CRUSADES.  557 

Europe;  but  there  were  other  and  important  elements 
which  entered  into  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  Eu- 
ropean progress. 

The  expeditions  to  the  East  were,  for  that  age,  enor- 
mously expensive.  Very  many  of  the  great  feudal 
lords  who  fitted  out  expeditions  were  not  able,  out  of 
their  ordinary  resources,  to  meet  the  necessary  outlay. 
Money  was  raised  by  all  kinds  of  expedients.  Cities 
took  advantage  of  the  needs  of  their  feudal  lords  to 
purchase  their  freedom,  great  estates  that  for  centuries 
had  increased  by  continued  accumulation  and  conquest 
were  encumbered  or  sold.  There  was  an  interchange 
of  landed  property  altogether  unprecedented  in  Euro- 
pean history.  Many  great  fiefs  disappeared  entirely 
during  the  two  centuries  which  saw  the  gathering  of 
the  successive  expeditions  for  the  East.  By  purchase 
and  by  escheat  and  confiscation,  which  the  disorder  of 
the  times  made  possible,  the  royal  authority  made  im- 
mense inroads  into  the  territory  of  feudalism,  and 
when  the  last  hopeless  struggle  in  Syria  was  over,  the 
principle  of  centralization,  represented  everywhere  by 
the  royal  power,  had  gained  vastly  upon  the  extreme 
individualism  of  feudalism. 

The  advance  of  the  Church  in  influence  and  authority 
was,  however,  the  most  immediate  and  marked  result 
of  the  crusades.  Religious  ideas,  Guizot  declares,  had 
experienced  no  change,  but  power  had  changed  hands 
no  less  than  property.  The  Church,  quick  to  profit  by 
every  opportunity  which  the  troubled  age  and  the 
vicissitudes  of  war  afforded,  had  pushed  steadily  for- 
ward, occupying  every  defenceless  position  and  fortify- 
ing every  exposed  point.  The  authority  which  Urban 
had  exercised  at  the  Council  of  Clermont,  in  calling  all 
men  to  arms  as  subjects  of  the  Church,  was  asserted 
upon  every  occasion  with  that  steadiness  and  universal- 
ity of  policy  which  is  one  of  the  secrets  of  papal  power. 
A  new  principle  of  allegiance  was  substituted  for  feudal 
subordination.  Differences  between  great  barons  were 
settled  by  the  voice  of  the  Church,  and  in  the  councils 
of  kings  the  pope  spoke  by  his  personal  representatives. 


558  HISTORY   OF  THE   CRUSADES. 

Legates  from  Eome  became  familiar  figures  in  every 
capital,  and  the  persistence  with  which  they  made 
themselves  heard  in  all  public  matters  rapidly  and 
continually  enlarged  the  popular  conception  of  the 
scope  and  weight  of  the  authority  of  Eome. 

In  the  East  results  of  equal  moment  were  brought 
about  by  the  campaigns  of  the  crusaders.  Communi- 
cation was  reopened  between  the  East  and  the  West. 
The  rude  hand  of  war  threw  open  the  doors,  which 
were  never  again  to  remain  permanently  closed. 

The  fierce  struggles  of  the  contending  parties  did 
not  blind  them  to  the  fact  that  each  had  much  to  learn 
from  the  other.  Oriental  magnificence  and  culture 
had  charms  even  for  the  warriors  whose  mailed  hands 
were  sworn  to  destroy  the  civilization  under  which  they 
were  developed.  The  positive  and  immediate  gain  to 
Western  knowledge  was  doubtless  less  than  was  for- 
merly believed,  but  the  ulterior  gain  is  incalculable.  If 
the  West  is  not  indebted  to  the  East  for  the  art  of 
printing  and  the  compass,  it  is  indebted  for  a  substan- 
tial enrichment  of  thought,  for  a  great  enlargement  of 
mental  horizon.  The  interchange  of  thought  which 
was  set  in  motion  by  the  crusades  is  still  to  work  out 
its  richest  results  ;  and  in  contemporaneous  history 
there  is  no  more  impressive  feature  than  the  confluence 
of  these  two  ancient  civilizations. 


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The  History  of  Christianity,  2  Vols. 

History  of  Latin  Christianity,  4  Vols. 

Dr.  Milman  has  won  lasting  popularity  as  a  historian  by  his  three 
great  works,  History  of  the  Jews,  History  of  Christianity,  and 
History  of  Latin  Christianity.  These  works  link  on  to  each 
other,  and  bring  the  narrative  down  from  the  beginning  of  all  history  to 
the  middle  period  of  the  modern  era.  They  are  the  work  of  the  scholar, 
a  conscientious  student,  and  a  Christian  philosopher.  Dr.  Milman 
prepared  this  new  edition  so  as  to  give  it  the  benefit  of  the  results  of 
more  recent  research.  In  the  notes,  and  in  detached  appendices  to  the 
chapters,  a  variety  of  very  important  questions  are  critically  discussed. 

The  author  is  noted  for  his  calm  and  rigid  impartiality,  his  fearless 
exposure  of  the  bad  and  appreciation  of  the  good,  both  in  institutions 
and  men,  and  his  aim  throughout,  to  utter  the  truth  always  in  charity. 
The  best  authorities  on  all  events  narrated  have  been  studiously  sifted 
and  their  results  given  in  a  style  remarkable  for  its  clearness,  force  and 
animation. 

MILMAN'S  WORKS  HAVE  TAKEN  THEIR  PLACE  AMONG 
THE  APPROVED  CLASSICS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE.  The 
general  accuracy  of  his  statements,  the  candcr  ot  his  criticisms  and 
the  breadth  of  his  charity  are  everywhere  apparent  in  his  writings. 
His  search  at  all  times  seems  to  have  been  for  truth,  and  that  which 
he  finds  he  states  with  simple  clearness  and  with  fearless  honesty. 
HIS  WORKS  ARE  IN  THEIR  DEPARTMENT  OF  HISTORY  AS 
VALUABLE  AS  THE  VOLUMES  OF  G  BBON  ARE  IN  SECULAR 
HISTORY.  THEY  DESERVE  A  PLACE  IN  EVERY  LIBRARY  IN 
THE  LAND.  THIS  NEW  EDITION,  in  8  vols.,  contains  AN  AVERAGE 
OF  OVER  900  PAGES  per  volume.  PRICE,  $12.00  PER  SET. 
(Formerly  published  in  14  vols,  at  $24.50 ) 

Sent  on  receipt  of  price,  charges  prepaid^  by 

A«  C.  ARMSTRONG  &  SON,  714  Broadway,  New  York. 

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