The Age of the Crusades
Ten Epochs of Church History
THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES
BY
JAMES M. LUDLOW, D.D., L.H.D.
New York
The Christian Literature Co.
MDCCCXCVI
Copyright, 1896, by
THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE CO.
Printed by
J. J. Little & Co., New York, U. S. A.
CONTENTS.
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . xi
CHAP. I.—INTRODUCTORY—OUTLINE OF STUDY.—Problem of the Crusades.—Outline
of Preliminary Study . . . 1
CHAP. II.—STATE OF SOCIETY—IGNORANCE—DULNESS OF LIFE—SUPERSTITION—LOW
SENSE OF JUSTICE—CRUELTY—TASTE FOR WAR.—Sporadic Culture—Great
Men.—Budding Art.—Ignorance—Few Industries—Degradation.—Narrow
Limitation of Life.—Superstition.—Laws—Private Combat—The
Ordeal.—Hardness of Manners—Brutality.—Cruelties.—Love of War.—Cruelty
of Greeks . . . 6
CHAP. III.—CHIVALRY—RULES—EDUCATION OF KNIGHT—CEREMONIES—INFLUENCE ON
CHARACTER.—Rules of Chivalry.—Rites.—Defects . . . 26
CHAP. IV.—THE FEUDAL SYSTEM—GENERAL PRINCIPLES—INFLUENCE ON
PEOPLE.—Minute Subdivision of Europe.—Baronial Independence.—Bondage of
the Masses.—Communes.—Feudalism and the Crusades . . . 32
CHAP. V.—THE IMPOVERISHED CONDITION OF EUROPE.—Pauperism at Home.—Plenty
Abroad . . . 40
CHAP. VI.—THE PAPAL POLICY—DEMORALIZATION OF THE WORLD AND THE
CHURCH—HILDEBRAND’S PURPOSE INHERITED BY HIS SUCCESSORS.—Corruption of
the Papacy.—Hildebrand’s Plan of Reform.—Previous Prestige of the Papacy
. . . 43
CHAP. VII.—THE MOHAMMEDAN MENACE—THE RISE OF ISLAM—SARACENS—TURKS.—The
Doctrine of Islam.—Koran and Caliphate.—Rapid Conquest by the
Saracens.—Saracens among Christians.—The Turks.—Conquest by the Turks
. . . 51
CHAP. VIII.—PILGRIMAGES—ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE CUSTOM—EXTENT.—Rise of
the Custom of Pilgrimage.—Pilgrim Superstitions.—Incentives to
Pilgrimage . . . 64
THE STORY OF THE CRUSADES.
CHAP. IX.—THE STORY OF THE CRUSADES.—THE SUMMONS—PETER THE HERMIT—POPE
URBAN—POPULAR EXCITEMENT.—Peter the Hermit.—Universal Enthusiasm.—Europe
Swarms Eastward . . . 71
THE FIRST CRUSADE.
CHAP. X.—THE FIRST CRUSADE.—THE CRUSADE OF THE CROWD.—Walter the
Penniless.—Peter.—Gottschalk.—Volkman.—Emico.—General Disaster . . . 78
CHAP. XI.—THE CRUSADE UNDER THE CHIEFTAINS, GODFREY, RAYMOND,
BOHEMOND, TANCRED, HUGH, ROBERT OF
NORMANDY.—Godfrey.—Raymond.—Bohemond.—Tancred.—Hugh.—Robert of
Normandy.—Various Routes of the Chieftains.—Character of Alexius—Fear
of Latins . . . 82
CHAP. XII.—THE FALL OF NICÆA.—Contrast of Christian and Moslem
Soldier.—Capture of Nicæa—Treachery of Alexius . . . 91
CHAP. XIII.—BATTLE OF DORYLÆUM—TARSUS—DEFECTION OF BALDWIN.—Victory of
Dorylæum.—Capture of Tarsus.—Baldwin Seizes Edessa . . . 96
CHAP. XIV.—BEFORE ANTIOCH.—The Crusaders before Antioch.—Discouragement
of the Christians.—Exploits.—Battles of Children . . . 101
CHAP. XV.—THE FALL OF ANTIOCH.—Treachery of Phirous.—Capture of Antioch
. . . 108
CHAP. XVI.—THE HOLY LANCE.—Kerbogha Invests Antioch.—The Holy
Lance.—Kerbogha Routed.—The Holy Lance Discredited . . . 112
CHAP. XVII.—ON TO JERUSALEM.—The Crusaders Enter Palestine.—On to
Jerusalem . . . 120
CHAP. XVIII.—THE CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM.—Suffering before
Jerusalem.—Procession around the City.—Final Assault.—Christian
Cruelty.—Jerusalem Despoiled . . . 125
CHAP. XIX.—GODFREY, FIRST BARON OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE—CONQUEST OF THE
LAND—THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.—Godfrey’s Rule.—Victory at
Ascalon.—Return of Crusaders.—Godfrey’s Prowess.—Death of Godfrey . . .
134
CHAP. XX.—BALDWIN I., KING OF JERUSALEM.—Baldwin I., King of
Jerusalem.—Ruse of Bohemond.—Death of Tancred . . . 144
CHAP. XXI.—KING BALDWIN II.—KING FOULQUE—KING BALDWIN III.—EXPLOITS OF
ZENGHI—RISE OF NOURREDIN.—Reign of Baldwin II.—King Foulque.—King
Baldwin III.—Fall of Edessa . . . 150
CHAP. XXII.—MILITARY ORDERS—HOSPITALLERS—TEMPLARS—TEUTONIC KNIGHTS.—The
Hospitallers.—Templars.—Teutonic Knights . . . 156
CHAP. XXIII.—EUROPE BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND CRUSADES—KINGSHIP IN
FRANCE—PAPAL AGGRANDIZEMENT—ABÉLARD—ARNOLD OF BRESCIA—BERNARD.-Kingship
in France.—Abélard.—Arnold of Brescia.—Bernard’s Influence . . . 160
THE SECOND CRUSADE.
CHAP. XXIV.—THE SECOND CRUSADE.—BERNARD—CONRAD III.—LOUIS
VII.—SUGER—SIEGE OF DAMASCUS.—Bernard Preaches Crusade.—Start of French
and Germans.—Disastrous Beginning.—The Kings Reach Palestine.—Divisions
among Crusaders.—Abbé Suger . . . 166
CHAP. XXV.—NOURREDIN—RISE OF SALADIN—KING GUY—QUEEN
SIBYLLA.—Nourredin.—Baldwin.—Amaury.—Rise of Saladin.—Baldwin
IV.—Sibylla and King Guy . . . 178
CHAP. XXVI.—BATTLE OF TIBERIAS—FALL OF JERUSALEM.—The Field
of Tiberias.—Crusaders’ Overthrow at Tiberias.—Fall of
Jerusalem.—Magnanimity of Saladin . . . 186
CHAP. XXVII.—EUROPE BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THIRD
CRUSADES—SUPERSTITION—THE WALDENSES—DEGRADATION OF THE PAPACY—FRANCE
UNDER LOUIS—ENGLAND UNDER HENRY II.—RICHARD CŒUR DE
LION.—Superstition.—Waldenses.—France—England.—Richard Cœur de
Lion.—Coronation of Richard I.—Richard’s Cruelty . . . 195
THE THIRD CRUSADE.
CHAP. XXVIII.—THE THIRD CRUSADE.—WILLIAM OF TYRE—BARBAROSSA.—Call to
Crusade.—Frederick Barbarossa.—Bombast of Champions.—Death of Frederick
Barbarossa . . . 206
CHAP. XXIX.—SIEGE OF ACRE.—The Siege of Acre . . . 215
CHAP. XXX.—THE COMING OF PHILIP AUGUSTUS AND RICHARD—FALL OF ACRE.—Sea
Voyage of the English.—Richard Arrives in Palestine.—Crusaders Take
Acre.—Finesse of Richard and Saladin.—Assassins.—Richard Retreats.—Peace
with Saladin.—Captivity of Richard.—Death of Saladin . . . 219
CHAP. XXXI.—PALESTINE AFTER THE THIRD CRUSADE—HENRY VI.—SIEGE OF
THORON.—Various Minor Crusades.—Siege of Thoron.—Discouragement of
Christendom . . . 236
THE FOURTH CRUSADE.
CHAP. XXXII.—THE FOURTH CRUSADE.—HISTORY AND CONDITION OF
CONSTANTINOPLE.—Weakness of Greek Emperors.—Foreign
Aggressions.—Antipathy of Europeans.—Riches of Constantinople.—Suburban
Wealth . . . 242
CHAP. XXXIII.—THE SUMMONS TO THE FOURTH CRUSADE—CONTRACT WITH
VENICE—EGYPT THE DESTINATION—PHILIP OF SWABIA.—Fulque.—Venetian Ships
Hired.—Crusaders to Attack Egypt.—Inducement to Divert Crusade . . . 253
CHAP. XXXIV.—THE PLOT FOR THE DIVERSION OF THE CRUSADE—CAPTURE OF
ZARA.—Dandolo’s Treachery.—Fleet Sails against Zara.—Revolt of
Crusaders.—Young Alexius’s Promises . . . 260
CHAP. XXXV.—ON TO CONSTANTINOPLE—CAPTURE OF GALATA.—Voyage to
Constantinople.—Protest of the Greek Emperor.—Capture of the Golden Horn
. . . 268
CHAP. XXXVI.—CONSTANTINOPLE SECURED TO ISAAC AND YOUNG
ALEXIUS—USURPATION OF MOURTZOUPHLOS.—Assault upon the City.—Flight of
Alexius.—Isaac Restored.—Young Alexius Coemperor.—Great
Fire.—Mourtzouphlos.—Latins Attempt the Sovereignty . . . 274
CHAP. XXXVII.—CAPTURE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.—Fall of Constantinople.—Plunder
of the City.—Nicetas.—Relics Stolen . . . 284
CHAP. XXXVIII.—FOUNDING THE LATIN KINGDOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE.—Baldwin
Elected Emperor.—Fatal Influence of the Fourth Crusade . . . 291
CHAP. XXXIX.—BETWEEN THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CRUSADES—CONDITION OF EAST AND
WEST—THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE.—Eastern Disasters.—John of Brienne.—The
Children’s Crusade . . . 296
THE FIFTH CRUSADE.
CHAP. XL.—THE FIFTH CRUSADE.—DISASTER OF MARIETTA.—Start of the
Crusaders.—Assault of Mount Tabor.—Damietta.—The Affair of
Damietta.—Pelagius.—Francis of Assisi.—Disaster at Damietta . . . 301
THE SIXTH CRUSADE.
CHAP. XLI.—THE SIXTH CRUSADE.—FREDERICK II. AND POPE GREGORY IX.—Pope
Gregory IX.—Papal Anathema of Frederick.—Frederick Acquires
Jerusalem.—Return of Frederick.—Popular Discontent with the Pope . . .
313
CHAP. XLII.—BETWEEN THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH CRUSADES.—THE TARTARS.—THE
CARISMIAN INVASION.—Tartars.—Carismians.—Carismians at Jerusalem and
Gaza . . . 324
THE SEVENTH CRUSADE.
CHAP. XLIII.—THE SEVENTH CRUSADE.—ST. LOUIS.—Innocent IV.
and Frederick.—St. Louis.—Personal Qualities.—Piety of Louis.—Takes
the Cross.—Louis’s Zeal for Crusade.—Delay at Cyprus.—Victory
at Damietta.—Vice and Strife among the Victors.—Sultana
Chegger-Eddour.—Foolhardiness of D’Artois.—Disaster at
Mansourah.—Horrors of the Christian Retreat.—Heroism of Marguerite and
Louis.—Massacre of the Sultan.—Escape of Louis to Acre.—Louis Lingers in
Palestine.—Louis Returns to France . . . 328
THE EIGHTH CRUSADE.
CHAP. XLIV.—THE EIGHTH CRUSADE.—DEATH OF ST. LOUIS—FALL OF ACRE.—Bibars
Sultan.—Louis Reënlists.—Death of St. Louis.—The Fall of Acre . . . 361
RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES.
CHAP. XLV.—RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES.—KINGSHIP.—UNITY OF EUROPE.—THE
PAPACY.—LIBERAL THOUGHT.—INCREASED
KNOWLEDGE.—ARTS.—LITERATURE.—COMMERCE—THE TURKISH POWER.—Growth of
European Kingdoms.—Unity of Europe.—Prestige of the Papacy.—Lost
Prestige of the Papacy.—Popular
Liberty.—Arts.—Education.—Commerce.—Wealth.—Rise of Ottomans . . . 368
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
I. PRINTED COLLECTIONS OF THE SOURCES OF THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES.
The sources of the history of the crusades will be found collected in
the following works, to which reference is made in the entries which
follow:
JACOBUS BONGARSIUS: Gesta Dei per Francos, sive orientalium
expeditionum, et regni Francorum Hierosolimitani historia (ab a.
1095 ad 1420) a variis, sed illius ævi scriptoribus, litteris
commendata; Hanoviæ [Hanau], 1611, fol.
MARTIN BOUQUET: Rerum Gallicarum et Francicarum scriptores. Recueil
des historiens des Gaules et de la France; Paris, 1738-1876, 23
vols.
FRANÇOIS PIERRE GUILLAUME GUIZOT: Collection des mémoires relatifs à
l’histoire de France depuis la fondation de la monarchie française
jusqu’au 13. siècle; Paris, 1823-35, 31 vols., 8vo.
JACQUES PAUL MIGNE: I., Patrologiæ Latinæ, tom. i.-ccxxi.
JACQUES PAUL MIGNE: II., Patrologiæ Græcæ, tom. i.-clxi.
JACQUES PAUL MIGNE: III., Patrologiæ Græcæ Latine tantum editæ, tom.
i.-lxxxi.
Recueil des historiens des croisades, publié par les soins de
l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres; Paris, Imprimerie
nationale, 1841 sqq.; vol. xv., 1895.
PAUL E. D. RIANT: Expéditions et pèlerinages des Scandinaves en
Terre-Sainte au temps des croisades; Paris, Imprimerie Lainé et
Havard, 1865-69, 2 vols. ( vol. ii. being tables).
PAUL E. D. RIANT: Inventaire critique des lettres historiques des
croisades, ... 786-1100; Paris, 1880 (in Archives de l’Orient latin,
vol. i.; Paris, 1881).
II. THE PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES.
A. _Chronicles of Eye-witnesses._
ALBERT OF AIX (Albertus Aquensis): Historia Hierosolymitana. A.D.
1095-1121 (in Recueil. Hist. occid., iv., pp. 265-713; and in Migne,
Pat. Lat., clxvi., col. 389-716. French translation in Guizot,
Collection, xx., xxi.).
BALDRIC, Archbishop of Dol (Baldricus Andegavensis, later
archiepiscopus Dolensis): Historiæ Hierosolymitanæ libri iv. A.D.
1095-99 (in Recueil. Hist. occid., iv., pp. 1-111; and in Migne,
Pat. Lat., clxvi., col. 1057-1152).
ANNA COMNENA: Alexiadis libri xv. A.D. 1069-1118 (in Recueilt]
Histor. grecs, i., 2, pp. 65-179; and in Migne [Greek tex. and Latin
translation], Pat. Græc. cxxxi., col. 79-1212. Latin translation
also in Migne, Pat. Græc. Lat., lxviii., col. 903-1516).
EKKEHARD OF URACH (Ekkehardus Uraugiensis): Hierosolymita. A.D.
1095-1187 (in Recueil. Hist. occid., v., pp. 1-40; and in Migne,
Pat. Lat., cliv., col. 1059-62).
FOULCHER OF CHARTRES (Fulcherius Carnotensis): Gesta Francorum
Jherusalem peregrinantium. A.D. 1095-1127 (in Recueil. Hist. occid.,
iii., pp. 311-485; and in Migne, Pat. Lat., clv., col. 825-940.
French translation in Guizot, Collection, xxiv., pp. 1-275).
GILO: Historia gestorum viæ nostri temporis Hierosolymitanæ libri
iv. A.D. 1095-99 (in Migne, Pat. Lat., clv., col. 943-994).
GUIBERT OF NOGENT (Guibertus, abbas monast. s. Mariæ Novigenti):
Historia Hierosolymitana quæ dicitur Gesta Dei per Francos, libri
viii. A.D. 1095-1110 (in Recueil. Hist. occid., iv., pp. 115-263;
also in Migne, Pat. Lat., clvi., col. 679-838. French translation in
Guizot, Collection, ix., pp. 1-338).
PRINCE DE JOINVILLE: Histoire de Saint Louys, IX. du nom, roy de
France (in Bouquet, xx., pp. 191-304. Numerous other editions, e.g.,
Wailly, with translation in modern French; Paris, Didot, 1874.
English translation in Bohn’s Antiquarian Library, Chronicles of the
Crusades).
RAYMOND OF AGILES (Raimundus de Agiles): Historia Francorum qui
ceperunt Hierusalem a. 1095 ad 1099 (in Recueil. Hist. occid., iii.,
pp. 235-309; and in Migne, Pat. Lat., clv., col. 591-668. French
translation in Guizot, Collection, xxi., pp. 227-397).
TUDEBOD (Tudebodus): Historia de Hierosolymitano itinere ab a. 1095
ad 1099, libri v. (in Recueil. Hist. occid., iii., pp. 1-117; and in
Migne, Pat. Lat., clv., col. 763-823. French translation, Mémoires
de l’historien Pierre Tudebode sur son pèlerinage à Jérusalem;
Paris, Champion, 1878).
VILLEHARDOUIN: Histoire de l’empire de Constantinople sous les
empereurs françois (in Bouquet, xviii., pp. 432-514. With modern
French translation, Paris, Lemerre, 1891, 2 vols. English
translation, London, 1829).
WILLIAM OF TYRE (Guilelmus Tyrius): Historia rerum in partibus
transmarinis gestarum. A.D. 1095-1184 (in Recueil. Hist. occid., i.;
and in Migne, Pat. Lat., cci., col. 209-892. English translation by
Mary Noyes Colvin; London, Early English Text Society, 1893).
B. _Letters of the Crusaders._
ANSELM OF RIPEMONT (Anselmus de Ribodimonte): Epistolæ ad Manassem
archiepiscopum Remensem duæ. A.D. 1098 (in Recueil. Hist. occid.,
iii., pp. 890-893).
ALEXIUS I., COMNENUS: Epistola ad Robertum I., Flandriæ comitem.
A.D. 1098 (in Recueil. Histor. grecs, iv., p. 132; and in Migne,
Pat. Græc., cxxxi., col. 564-568; Pat. Lat., clv., col. 465-470.
German translation by H. Floto, Kaiser Heinrich IV., vol. ii., p.
354; Stuttgart, 1854).
GODFREY (Godefridus Bullonius): Epistolæ et diplomata (in Migne,
Pat. Lat., clv., col. 389-398).
STEPHEN OF BLOIS (Stephanus Carnotensis et Blesensis) to his wife:
Epistolæ duæ (in Recueil. Hist. occid., iii., pp. 883-893).
URBAN II.: Epistolæ (in Migne, Pat. Lat., cli., col. 283-552).
C. _Contemporary and Very Early Writers._
MATTHEW PARIS: English History from 1253 to 1273 (translation in
Bohn’s Antiquarian Library; London, Bell; New York, Macmillan).
ROGER OF HOVENDEN: Chronica; edited by William Stubbs (in Rerum
Britannicarum medii ævi Scriptores [see under Stubbs, p. viii.], No.
51, vols. i.-iv., 1868-71).
ROGER OF WENDOVER: Flowers of History (in Bohn’s Antiquarian
Library; London, Bell; New York, Macmillan).
WILLIBALD, The Travels of, A.D. 721-727 (in Bohn’s Antiquarian
Library [London, Bell; New York, Macmillan], in the vol. edited by
Thomas Wright, Early Travels in Palestine, pp. 13-22).
III. WORKS ON THE CRUSADES WRITTEN FROM THE SOURCES.
T. A. ARCHER and CHARLES L. KINGSFORD: The Crusades: The Story of
the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem; New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1895.
GEORGE WILLIAM COX: The Crusades; London, Longmans; New York,
Scribner, 1874.
HEINRICH HAGENMEYER: Peter der Eremite: ein kritischer Beitrag zur
Geschichte des ersten Kreuzzuges; Leipzig, Harrassowitz, 1879.
ARNOLD HERMANN LUDWIG HEEREN: Historische Werke; Göttingen,
Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1821-26, 14 parts.
ARNOLD HERMANN LUDWIG HEEREN: Essai sur l’influence des croisades;
French translation, Paris, 1808.
THOMAS KEIGHTLEY: The Crusaders; London, S. P. C. K., 1834, 2 vols.;
new ed., Parker, 1852, 1 vol.
BERNARD KUGLER: Geschichte der Kreuzzüge; Berlin, G. Grote, 1880; 2.
Aufl., 1891.
BERNARD KUGLER: Neue Analekten zur Geschichte des 2. Kreuzzuges;
Tübingen, Fries, 1883.
JEAN PIERRE ARMAND DE LA PORTE DES VAULX: Les croisades, et le
royaume latin de Jérusalem; Limoges, Ardant, 1863.
LOUIS MAIMBOURG: Histoire des croisades; Paris, 1675, 2 vols.; 2d
ed., 1682, 4 vols. English translation, The History of the Holy War;
London, 1686, fol.
JOSEPH FRANÇOIS MICHAUD: Histoire des croisades; Paris, 1812-22, 7
vols.; 9th ed., Paris, Vivès, 1856, 4 vols.; illustrated by Doré,
1875-76, 2 vols., fol.
JOSEPH FRANÇOIS MICHAUD: History of the Crusades; translation,
London, Routledge, 1852. New ed., with supplementary chapter by
Hamilton W. Mabie; New York, Armstrong, 1881, 3 vols.
JOSEPH FRANÇOIS MICHAUD: Bibliothèque des croisades; Paris, 1830, 4
vols.
JULES MICHELET: Les croisades, 1095-1270; Paris, Hetzel et Cie.,
1880.
CHARLES MILLS: The History of the Crusades; London, Longmans, 1828,
2 vols.
EDWIN PEARS: The Fall of Constantinople; being the Story of the
Fourth Crusade; London, Longmans & Co.; New York, Harpers, 1886.
REINHOLD RÖHRICHT: Beiträge zur Geschichte der Kreuzzüge; Berlin,
Weidmann, 1874-78, 2 vols.
REINHOLD RÖHRICHT: Quellenbeiträge zur Geschichte der Kreuzzüge. Bd.
i., Zur Geschichte Salâh-ad-dîns; Berlin, Weidmann, 1879.
REINHOLD RÖHRICHT: Studien zur Geschichte des fünften Kreuzzuges;
Innsbruck, Wagner, 1891.
RICHARD SALTER STORRS: Bernard of Clairvaux; New York, Scribner,
1892.
WILLIAM STUBBS: Chronicles and Memorials of the Reign of Richard I.
(in Rerum Britannicarum medii ævi Scriptores [No. 38, vol. i.,
1864], published by the authority of her Majesty’s Treasury, under
the direction of the Master of the Rolls [hence called the “Rolls
Series”]; London, 1858 sqq.).
HEINRICH CARL LUDOLF VON SYBEL: Geschichte des ersten Kreuzzuges;
Leipzig, Fleischer, 1841; 2. Aufl., 1881.
HEINRICH CARL LUDOLF VON SYBEL: History and Literature of the
Crusades; translated by Lady Duff-Gordon [not a translation of the
preceding, but a compilation from his writings]; London, Chapman,
1861.
FRIEDRICH WILKEN: Geschichte der Kreuzzüge nach morgenländischen und
abendländischen Berichten; Leipzig, Vogel, 1807-32, 7 parts.
IV. GENERAL HISTORIES IN WHICH THE PERIOD OF THE CRUSADES IS INCLUDED.
JAMES BRYCE: The Holy Roman Empire; London and New York, Macmillan,
1864; 8th ed., 1888.
GEORGE FINLAY: A History of Greece from its Conquest by the Romans
to the Present Time, B.C. 146 to A.D. 1864; Oxford, Clarendon Press,
1877, 7 vols.
EDWARD GIBBON: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire; London, 1776-81, 6 vols. Best completed ed. by William
Smith; London, Murray, 1854-55, 8 vols.; New York, Harpers. New ed.,
with additional notes by J. B. Bury; London and New York, Macmillan,
1896 sqq. (Chaps. lvii.-lxi., The Crusades, separately issued by A.
Murray; London, 1869.)
FRANÇOIS PIERRE GUILLAUME GUIZOT: The History of Civilization from
the Fall of the Roman Empire to the French Revolution; translation
(in Bohn’s Standard Library; London, Bell; New York, Macmillan; 3
vols.).
FRANÇOIS PIERRE GUILLAUME GUIZOT: The History of France from the
Earliest Times to the Year 1789; translation, London, Low, 1870-81,
6 vols.
HENRY HALLAM: View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages;
London, Murray, 1818, 2 vols.; 11th ed., 1855, 3 vols.; later eds.;
reprinted, New York, Armstrong, 2 vols.
DAVID HUME: The History of England; modern ed., London, Ward, Lock &
Co., 1880, 3 vols.; Amer. ed., Harpers, 6 vols.
HENRY HART MILMAN: History of Latin Christianity; London, Murray,
1854-55, 6 vols.; 4th ed., 1867, 9 vols.; reprinted, New York,
Armstrong, 8 vols.
WILLIAM ROBERTSON: The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles
V., with a View of the Progress of Society in Europe from the
Subversion of the Roman Empire to the Beginning of the Sixteenth
Century; London, 1769; reprinted, Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1857, 3
vols.; later editions.
V. POETICAL TREATMENT OF THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST CRUSADE.
TORQUATO TASSO: Gerusalemme Liberata; Venice, 1580. English
translation, Jerusalem Delivered; New York, Appleton.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY—OUTLINE OF STUDY.
After the lapse of eight hundred years the story of the crusades still
furnishes the most fascinating, if not the most instructive, pages of
Christian history. Romance has entertained the generations from the days
of the Italian Tasso to those of Walter Scott with the rude yet
chivalric characters of those mediæval times. Ponderous knights and
dashing emirs, fair women and saintly apparitions, continue to move over
the mimic stage of the imagination. Poetry, in all the tongues of modern
Europe, draws its imagery from scenes that were enacted while these
languages were being formed from their classic or barbaric originals.
The hymnology of the church is enriched by the songs of those who caught
their rhythm from the march of the crusading host. Bernard of Clugny
watched the salvation armies of the olden time as they sauntered by his
cloister window. Now catching their spirit, and anon oppressed with
their failure to express the truest prowess of the believer’s soul, he
tried to lift men’s faith to the Jerusalem above:
“O happy band of pilgrims,
If onward ye will tread
With Jesus as your fellow
To Jesus as your head!
“Thou hast no shore, fair ocean;
Thou hast no time, bright day;
Dear fountain of refreshment
To pilgrims on the way.
“Upon the Rock of Ages
They raise thy holy tower;
Thine is the victor’s laurel,
And thine the golden dower.”
Our newest songs catch the very gleam of those battle days. For example:
“Onward, Christian soldiers,
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before!”
is not unlike the chorus of a Latin hymn of Berthier of Orleans, which
was sung under the tent and on the field:
“Lignum crucis
Signum ducis
Sequitur exercitus;
Quod non cessit
Sed præcessit
In vi Sancti Spiritus.”
The student of human nature, also, will find here his most subtle and
perplexing, but at the same time his most suggestive, subjects. Never
before or since was there such exalted faith combined with such
grotesque superstition, such splendid self-sacrifice mingled with cruel
and unrestrained selfishness, such holy purpose with its wings
entangled, torn, and besmeared in vicious environments.
To the historical scholar this period is unsurpassed in importance by
any, if we except the days of the birth of Christianity. The age of the
crusades covers the eleventh and twelfth centuries. For two hundred
years, to use the vigorous language of the Greek princess Anna Comnena,
who witnessed the first crusade, “Europe was loosened from its
foundations and hurled against Asia.” As an Alpine glacier presses down
into the valley, only to melt away at the summer line, yet with renewed
snows repeals the fatal experiment from year to year, so seven times
Western Christendom replenished its mighty armaments, to see them
destroyed at the border-land of Oriental conquest.
To define the causes of these vast movements is a task which both tempts
and tantalizes the historian. It is surely unlearned to ascribe even the
first crusade to the sole influence of any man, though he were an Urban
II. and wielded the temporal and spiritual authority of the Papacy in
its most puissant days. It is puerile to say, as Michaud does, speaking
of Peter the Hermit, “The glory of delivering Jerusalem belongs to a
single pilgrim, possessed of no other power than the influence of his
character and genius.” It is equally uncritical, if not blasphemous, to
attribute these most unfortunate and ill-timed ventures to the Almighty,
as the same writer does in these words: “No power on earth could have
produced 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 invisible power.”
To even approximate an understanding of this subject, one must first
become familiar with the great racial movements which culminated in that
age; must be able to estimate the tendencies of society at a time when
it knew not the forces which were struggling within itself; must
penetrate the policies of statesmen and ecclesiastics who veiled their
ambition under the self-delusion that they were serving God or their
fellow-men; and, besides all this, he must gauge the passions and habits
of common people, their ignorance and superstition, if not the true
heavenly ardor which led them to offer themselves as fuel for the most
stupendous human sacrifice the world has known. Were one thus equipped
with information, one’s philosophical judgment might still be baffled
with the inquiry, What was the chief cause of the crusades? An
observation of Dean Milman is especially applicable to this subject:
“When all the motives which stir the human mind and heart, the most
impulsive passion and the profoundest policy, conspire together, it is
impossible to discover which is the dominant influence in guiding to a
certain course of action.” The mighty tide of events we are to consider
was not unlike a vast river which sweeps through many lands and has many
tributary streams, some of whose sources are hidden in the depth of the
unexplored wilderness.
Our preliminary study will therefore be wisely limited to an inquiry
into the conditions of life and thought in the eleventh century which
facilitated or prompted the great movement.
THESE CONDITIONS WERE PROMINENTLY:
1. The intellectual and moral state of society in the eleventh
century, especially its rudeness and warlike spirit.
2. The institution of chivalry, the awakening of better ideals of
heroism.
3. The feudal system, which provided for the easy mobilization of
men in war or adventure.
4. The impoverished condition of Europe, which forced enterprise to
seek its reward in foreign countries.
5. The papal policy to consolidate and universalize the
ecclesiastical empire.
6. The menace of Mohammedanism under the Saracenic and Turkish
powers.
7. The prevailing superstition, which credited to pilgrimage the
virtues of piety, and substituted exploits in the Holy Land for the
plainer duties of holy life.