BOOK XVII.

CRUSADES AGAINST THE TURKS.

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 janissaries 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 misfortune 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 Flanders, 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

and curious scenes were exhibited to the spectators, among which were

the labours of Hercules, the adventures of Jason and Medea, and the

enchantments of Melusina.[73] 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 Burgundy, 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 indifference in assisting her. Then appeared a herald-at-arms,

who carried in his hand a pheasant, a bird which chivalry 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 remembrance_. 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,[74] 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 France 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

expedition 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, he could by any means or manner learn or know that the

said 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 he 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, nephew 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, &c._ 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_.[75] The seigneur de

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.[76]

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 presented twelve ladies with twelve

knights. These ladies personated 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 themselves 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 enthusiasm and the austere devotion which

presided at the taking of the oaths of the early Crusaders; and when

we afterwards behold the brilliant solemnities of chivalry, the

half-profane and half-religious promises of the knights, in short, all

the worldly spectacles amidst which a holy war 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

piety, or the desire of obtaining heavenly crowns, than the sentiment

of gallantry with which they were animated in tournaments, that brought

knights beneath the standard of 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 multitude. 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 excited 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 Æneas Sylvius, bishop of Sienna, neglected no means that

they thought would inflame the minds of the people, and reanimate

religious enthusiasm. The first, who 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 enlightened 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.

Æneas Sylvius wrote to the sovereign pontiff, and endeavoured 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. Æneas

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 at this assembly. The orator of

the crusade, pointing out this monarch to the sovereign pontiff and the

prelates, conjured 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 Christendom. “The words that issue

from the mouth of man cannot give an idea of the calamity the Catholic

Church has just experienced, or make known the ferocity of the people

who 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

emperor, and legates were sent to the diets of Ratisbon and Frankfort.

Æneas Sylvius again preached the crusade against the Turks in these two

assemblies. The duke of Burgundy, who was present at both, renewed, in

the presence 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. Æneas 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.”

Æneas 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 haranguing the princes of Germany, the

pope was endeavouring 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 authority 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 deliverance 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 masterpieces 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 from 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 displayed the banner of St. Peter in the Archipelago, and on

the coasts of Asia Minor; Æneas 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 evangelical 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

inspired 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, except 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

indulgences 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 times.

Heaven was doubtless touched by these fervent prayers, which arose

at the same time and together, from all parts of Christian Europe.

On the 6th 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 Hunniades 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 himself. 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. Religion celebrated by its

ceremonies, a day in which its most cruel enemies had been vanquished.

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, of 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 jealousy empoisoned their last moments; and

the scarcely evangelical warmth with which each of them claimed the

honour of having saved Belgrade, left a stain upon their renown. Æneas

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 remind 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 all those

whom the reverses of the Christians had discouraged and terrified. A

fresh crusade was preached in France, 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 it, 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 than 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

Hungarians always stood in need of being succoured, the levying of the

tenths became a permanent state of things, which the 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 Rome became so serious and so numerous, that the

pope found himself obliged to reply to them. In his apology, drawn up

by Æneas 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 Mytilene; 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 victories he had gained over the enemies of the republic.

It must, however, be admitted, that that which Æneas 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 present 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 spoke 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 preaching the crusades, were no longer the interpreters of

dominant 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 afterwards reigned under the title of Louis XI., 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 remained uninterested in the war preached

against the infidels, 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 Christendom for the

Hungarians, Hungary was a prey to troubles created by the succession

of Ladislaus, who was killed at the battle of Warna. The family of

Hunniades was proscribed, and the ambition of the princes disputed

the possession 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 succeeded in reëstablishing

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, Æneas Sylvius, succeeded

Calixtus III. in the chair of St. Peter. The tiara appeared to be the

reward of his zeal for the war against the Turks, and everything gave

reason for hope that he would neglect nothing to execute himself the

projects he had conceived; and awaken among the nations of Christendom,

that warlike enthusiasm, that religious patriotism, which breathed in

his discourses.

Mahomet II. continued to follow up the course of his victories, 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 nothing 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 discord 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 Peloponnesus: 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 conquests; and

when he unfurled the banner of the cross amidst the ruins of Sparta and

Athens, he fixed his eyes 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 dangers of

Europe. He wrote to all the powers of Christendom, and convoked a

general assembly at Mantua, to deliberate 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 ambassadors 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 pontiff

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 enterprises 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 the evils 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 pretensions 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 sufficiently 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

command of this army to the emperor of Germany. These propositions,

in order to be executed, required the approbation of the sovereigns,

and most of the ambassadors made only 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 affect 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

Constantine, who obtained the empire of the world on receiving baptism,

and investing himself with that sign by which it was given to him

to conquer. The sultan had only to acknowledge 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 intercession of the court of Rome 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 Ragusa. 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 commence the holy war

he had preached. “The duke of Burgundy and the Venetian republic were

ready to second his enterprise. Whilst the Hungarians and the Poles

were preparing to fight the Ottomans on the Dniester and the Danube,

the Epeirots 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 Christians. The pontiff declared that he was resolved to march

himself 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

decease, provided he died for the cause of Christ, and for the safety

of Christendom.”

The cardinals gave a unanimous assent to the resolution 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 march 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 humanity?

“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 suspended 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? Remain in your dwellings, await

your enemies there; await there those vile Asiatics, who are not even

men, and yet have the insolent pretension to govern all the nations of

Europe. But if you possess a noble heart, an elevated mind, a generous

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 their 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. Avenge

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 war 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 north of Europe. 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 enemies. As the doge was advanced in

years, Paul reminded him that his own hair was blanched by time,[77]

and that the duke of Burgundy, who promised to accompany the Crusaders

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. God

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 sufficiently 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 of Rome. The duke of Burgundy, who had been the

first of all the Christian princes to swear to go and combat with the

infidels, showed no inclination to join the Crusaders. The pope, in his

letters, reminded him of his solemn promises, and 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., who, when he was dauphin,

was eager to fight the Turks; but having ascended the throne of France,

had no other enemies but his neighbours.

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.[78] 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

maintenance, 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 were sent to the Hungarians, the king of

Cyprus, and to all the 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

fact, what spectacle could be more interesting than that of the father

of the faithful braving the perils of war and of the seas, to go into

distant countries, 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 perfect 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. Feeling 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 conclave, 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 Lacedæmon 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 Scanderberg, 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 coming to seek

refuge in Italy, dying with hunger and in nakedness, crowded together

upon the seashore, holding their hands up to Heaven, and supplicating

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 indifference 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 nothing 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 military glory of their country; the

little province of Albania resisted during twenty years the whole power

of the Ottoman empire. The death of Scanderberg threw his companions

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 crumbled 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 Rome, 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 sufficient 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 ascendancy of

religion, to excite the bravery and the enthusiasm of the Mussulmans.

In the midst of a solemn ceremony, and in the presence of the divan

and the mufti, he swore “to renounce all pleasures, and never to turn

his countenance from the West to the East, until he had overthrown 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 Eubœa 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 Rome. 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; Negropont 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 convoked a diet at Ratisbon, and afterwards

at Nuremberg, in 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 misfortunes which menaced

Europe. In these two assemblies, several resolutions were formed for

war against the Mussulmans; 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 Germany 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 Ottomans, the only

one that did not fail, was the king of Persia, to whom Calixtus III.

had sent a missionary, and who declared himself the faithful ally

of the Christians. In his reply, the king of Persia bestowed the

greatest praises on the pope, encouraged him in his resolution of

attacking Mahomet, and announced to him that he himself would commence

hostilities. At the time his letter was received at Rome, his troops

were already crossing Armenia, and several Ottoman cities had fallen

into the hands of the Persians. 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.

Great 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 Caraffa, 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 Christian 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 _entrepôt_ 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 Caraffa returned

triumphant to Rome, followed by twenty-five captives 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 Rome, Mahomet was inflicting terrible blows upon his enemies; and

when he returned to Constantinople, he had destroyed the armies of

the king of Persia. That which gave the Turkish emperor an immense

advantage over the powers which took up arms against him, was 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 himself forgot the spirit of peace

and union he had preached; he forgot the holy war; and Venice, left

alone in the struggle against the Ottomans, was obliged to sue to

Mahomet for peace.

The Ottomans took as much advantage of peace as of war to increase

their power. There now remained nothing 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 conquests 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 Mamelukes 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 Cœur, 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 Cœur,

Captain-general of the Church against the infidels.”[79]

The kingdom of Cyprus, after having resisted the Mussulmans 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 great

interest in keeping up discord. The family of Lusignan being nearly

extinct, a daughter, the only scion of many kings, at first married

a Portuguese prince, and afterwards Louis, count of Savoy. But the

sultan of Cairo and Mahomet II. would not permit a Latin prince to

wear the crown of Cyprus, and caused a natural son of the last king to

be elected. James, whose illegitimate birth kept him from the throne,

and who had disturbed the kingdom by his ambitious 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 thousand gold

crowns for the support of the great mosques of Mecca and Jerusalem. It

was upon the Gospel 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 reigning 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 supreme

authority. His people thought the days of his life and his reign were

shortened by divine justice.

The republic of Venice, which adopted Catherine Cornaro, 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 Jerusalem. 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, always

protected pilgrims repairing to Palestine, and defended Christian

vessels against the attacks of Turks, Mamelukes, and pirates. At the

commencement of his reign, Mahomet 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 he

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 frontiers 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 army

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 Negropont, 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 terrible 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

dreaded; 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 received 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 approach 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 barbarous dances upon

the bloody carcasses of their enemies.

The war between the Christians and the Turks became every day more

cruel, and presented nothing but scenes of barbarity and destruction.

The menaces of Mahomet; the constant 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

defended 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 them sometimes as

ferocious as their enemies; and in their 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

Palæologus, 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 opportunity to repair a

great injustice committed upon one of the writers who have preceded

us. An expression, escaped from the Abbé 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.[80] After having examined with much care the historical

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 of his

knights, defending themselves amidst ruins, against a hundred thousand

Mussulmans, armed with all that the art of sieges and the genius of

war had invented. At the approach of the Turks, the grand-master of

Rhodes implored the arms and aid of the Christian princes; but all the

succours that were sent them consisted of two Neapolitan vessels, 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 population massacred or dragged away into slavery.

This invasion of the Turks, which was quite unexpected, spread terror

throughout Italy. Boufinius informs us that the pope entertained 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 France.

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 Rome. 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 IV.,

when recovered from his first terrors, implored the assistance of

Christendom. The sovereign pontiff addressed all the ecclesiastical

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; by 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 directions,

charged to appease the troubles and wars which divided 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 Gospel, 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 ordered the

galleys he had destined to succour Rhodes, to set sail for the coast of

Naples. At the same time he commanded 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’s minds, that several states and many

citizens only contemplated 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 danger, 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 France. 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 XI. 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 arms.

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 employed, 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 reason to

fear, were not able to remove the general indifference. The nations

and the princes who did not believe themselves threatened with

approximate danger, returned to their divisions and their quarrels.

They had abandoned the safety of Christendom to the care of Providence,

when they learnt the death of Mahomet II.; this 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 Rome, where the dread had been most lively, the

pope ordered prayers, festivals, and 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 Islamism. During the course of this reign,[81] 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 Rhodes

received him with great honours. He was afterwards 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 their armies. The Ottoman emperor

sent ambassadors to Charles VIII.; he informed the French monarch

that his design was to conquer Egypt, and that he would voluntarily

cede Jerusalem to 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

head 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 reëstablishing 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 to be attached

to the person of Zizim gave him the idea that he could himself derive

some advantage from him. He demanded 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 conquest

of Greece and Syria. The enterprise of Innocent VIII. reminds us of

that of Pius II., and was destined to be equally unfortunate. The

pontiff was employed in his scheme, with more zeal than success, when

he died. Alexander VI., who succeeded him, had created for himself a

name which repelled the confidence of the faithful, and left no hope

that the 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, persuaded

Charles VIII., then seated on the throne, to endeavour to establish the

rights of the house of Anjou. Their solicitations and their brilliant

promises awakened the ambition of the young king, who resolved to

conquer the kingdom of Naples, 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 devotion, 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

festivities 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 themselves 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 the court of Rome, 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 inquietude the triumphant march of the king of France,

who was advancing towards Rome 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 entertained 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 Palæologus, 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 presence of a notary, and

which could only be ratified by victory, 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 Rome, Alphonso II., abandoned

to his own resources, a prey to terror and remorse, and pursued by

the complaints of the Neapolitans, descended from his throne, and

went to bury himself in a monastery of Sicily. His son Ferdinand, who

succeeded him, although he had driven the Turks out 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. When

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 possessed 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

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 of the king of France to shake off the yoke

of the Ottomans, they 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 Byzantium 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 sorrowfully 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., which at first 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 preparations for this war were going on, there

appeared, as we have 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 to 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 sentiments

of chivalry were but the auxiliaries of unfortunate ambition. It is

particularly to this expedition that we may apply what J. J. Rousseau

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 Castile, 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

distribution 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 crusades, a simple decision of

the Faculty of Theology of Paris was at that time sufficient to stand

against all the terrible array of the menaces and thunders of Rome.

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 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 Gama and Christopher

Columbus. But these discoveries, 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 commerce 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.[82] The Portuguese monarch received the

envoy of the pope and the Oriental Christians with kindness, gave him

considerable sums for the support of the holy places, and replied to

the sovereign pontiff, that he did not at all fear seeing the threats

of the sultan 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 coöperate with him.

The sultan of Egypt, who received tribute from all pilgrims, 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

Mamelukes. The Egyptian fleet descended along the shores of the Red

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 Arsinoë, 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 navigation of

the Mediterranean 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 considerable jealousy by the

splendour of her wealth and magnificence. 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,

Hélian, the ambassador of Louis XII., pronounced 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 reproached

the Venetians with having refused to succour Constantinople 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. No, 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 understanding

with the Turks, in order to reign with them over the East and over the

West.” Hélian, 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 invoked,

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 reëstablish 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 Mahomet, the Turks seemed to have renounced all

idea of conquering Europe. Bajazet at first attacked the Mamelukes of

Egypt without success; he afterwards sunk into voluptuousness and the

pleasures of the seraglio, which gave the Christians a few years of

repose and safety. But as an indolent and effeminate prince did not

fulfil 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 empire before he 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

reëstablishing the empire of Constantine, 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 inconstancy 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 forming 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 exhorting 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 conquered the king of Persia, attacked the army

of the Mamelukes, dethroned the sultan of Cairo, and united to his

vast dominions all the countries that the Franks 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.[83]

Palestine only fell under a 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

on, the news of the conquests of Selim spread consternation and grief

everywhere. It appeared to Christendom as if the holy city passed for

the first time under the yoke of the infidels; 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 threatened Christendom,

and resolved to arm the principal powers of Europe against the

Turks. The sovereign pontiff announced his project to the college of

cardinals. The prelates most distinguished for their learning and their

skill in negotiations, 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 beforehand 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 preparations

for a crusade, the poets and orators, whose labours he encouraged,

represented him as already the liberator of the Christian world. The

celebrated Vida, 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 warriors who had never known fear.

Vida, in his ode, speaks of neither Christ nor the cross, but of

Bellona and Apollo. His verses appear to be much less an inspiration of

the Gospel 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. Whilst Vida,

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. Novagero took delight in

celebrating beforehand those days of glory in which the pope would

return in triumph to the eternal city, after 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.