conquered by the Christians, and they had set up in it a king. This
was in 1099, when the crusaders elected Godfrey de Bouillon as king
of Jerusalem. But he reigned but one year and died. In the space of
one hundred and seventy-one years, from the coronation of Godfrey de
Bouillon as king of Jerusalem in 1099, to the last crusade under Louis
IX. of France, in 1270, there were seven crusades which were undertaken
by the kings of France and England, the emperors of Germany, the king
of Denmark, and various princes of Italy. They all failed in the end
of accomplishing the permanent possession of the city of Jerusalem by
the Christians; but these various crusades called forth a number of
devout and self-sacrificing monks and bishops, and gave occasion for
brave and valiant deeds by many knights and kings, and none were so
brave, and none became so famous in the annals of these holy wars as
Richard I., king of England, called by the Christians Cœur de Lion, the
Lion-hearted, on account of his valor, and for the same reason feared
among the Mohammedans, and called by them Malek-Rik; and so great a
terror did this name become, that when St. Louis, more than fifty
years after, led the French to another crusade, they heard the Saracen
mothers scolding their children, and threatening them with punishment
by the dreadful Malek-Rik, who had never been forgotten. The first of
the crusades had been inspired by a zealous monk, called Peter the
Hermit. From the earliest days of Christianity, many pious persons
had made pilgrimages to Palestine, to visit the graves of saints and
other places. After a time, these pilgrimages had been extended to
Jerusalem; and that city at length, having fallen into the hands of the
Turks, the Christian people were treated with cruelty, and many of the
clergy were imprisoned and even killed. Peter the Hermit had been
to Jerusalem, and having himself been an eye-witness of the cruelties
of the Turks towards the Christians, he obtained permission of the
Pope to go to the principal courts in Europe, and exhort all Christian
warriors to take up arms against the infidels in the Holy Land. Peter
the Hermit walked from court to court, barefoot and clothed in rags. He
was listened to as a prophet, and succeeded in inspiring many knights
and crowds of people to enlist in what they considered a sacred cause.
The symbol of this enlistment was a cross of red stuff sewed to the
shoulder of the cloak; hence the name crusade. France was at this time
roused to great excitement. The barons sold and pledged their lands to
obtain the means of joining the expedition. The Pope promised a full
remission of sins to all who assumed the cross; and as the mass of
the people were so ignorant in those days that the word of the Pope
was held to be as sacred as a voice from heaven, and his blessing or
excommunication was regarded by them as powerful enough to raise them
to Paradise, or call down upon them everlasting destruction, thousands
of wicked persons, whose sins were so many that it would have required
years of penance to have gained the much-coveted absolvance from the
Pope, eagerly seized upon this method of winning earthly glory, and,
as they supposed, heavenly honor. It is said that a crowd of more than
a million of persons, including beggars, women and children, soon
pledged themselves to this crusade. Three hundred thousand of such a
motley company started, with Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless
marching at their head. Nearly the entire number fell victims to the
fury of their assailants in the countries through which they passed.
This company of helpless beggars, women and children, were followed
by three hundred thousand fighting men, who had been preparing in the
different kingdoms, mostly in France. Of this large host, only a small
remnant under Godfrey de Bouillon, arrived at Jerusalem, and captured
that city in 1099, and planted the standard of the cross on its walls.
St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, roused the people again for the
second crusade, for it was discovered that the Turks had massacred
the Christians in Palestine, and that Jerusalem was in danger.
King Louis VII. of France, and the emperor Conrad III. of Germany,
espoused the cause. Although Louis and Conrad entered the city of
Jerusalem and determined upon the siege of Damascus, nothing permanent
was accomplished. The siege of Damascus was abandoned, and the
crusade-sovereigns returned to their respective kingdoms.
During the forty years’ interval between the end of the second and
the beginning of the third crusades, the relative positions of the
West and East, Christian Europe and Mussulman Asia, remained much the
same. But in 1187, news again reached Europe of repeated disasters to
the Christians in Asia. Egypt had become the goal of ambition, and
Saladin, the most illustrious as well as the most powerful of Mussulman
sovereigns, being sultan of Egypt and Syria, had fought against a
Christian army near Tiberias. The oriental chronicles thus describe
the conflict: “The Christian army was surrounded by the Saracens, and
also, ere long, by the fire, which Saladin had ordered to be set to
the dry grass which covered the plain. The flames made their way and
spread beneath the feet of men and horses. There the sons of Paradise
and the children of fire settled their terrible quarrel. Arrows hurtled
in the air like a noisy flight of sparrows, and the blood of warriors
dripped upon the ground like rain-water. Hill, plain, and valley
were covered with their dead; their banners were stained with dust
and blood, their heads were laid low, their limbs scattered, their
carcasses piled on a heap like stones.” Four days after the battle of
Tiberias in July, 1187, Saladin took possession of St. Jean d’Acre,
and in the following September, of Ascalon. In the same month he laid
siege to Jerusalem. The Holy City contained at that time, it is said,
nearly one hundred thousand Christians, who had fled for safety from
all parts of Palestine. Saladin’s taking of Jerusalem is thus described
by Guizot. “On approaching its walls, Saladin sent for the principal
inhabitants, and said to them, ‘I know as well as you that Jerusalem
is the house of God, and I will not have it assaulted if I can get it
by peace and love. I will give you thirty thousand byzants of gold if
you promise me Jerusalem, and you shall have liberty to go whither you
will and do your tillage, to a distance of five miles from the city.
And I will have you supplied with such plenty of provisions that in no
place on earth shall they be so cheap. You shall have a truce from now
to Whitsuntide, and when this time comes, if you see that you may have
aid, then hold on. But if not, you shall give up the city, and I will
have you conveyed in safety to Christian territory, yourselves and your
substance.’ ‘We may not yield up to you a city where died our God,’
answered the envoys, ‘and still less may we sell you.’ The siege lasted
fourteen days. After having repulsed several assaults, the inhabitants
saw that effectual resistance was impossible, and the commandant of
the place, a knight, named Balian d’Ibelin, an old warrior who had
been at the battle of Tiberias, returned to Saladin, and asked for
the conditions back again which had been at first rejected. Saladin,
pointing to his own banner already planted upon several parts of the
battlements, answered, ‘It is too late, you surely see that the city
is mine.’ ‘Very well, my lord,’ replied the knight, ‘we will ourselves
destroy our city, and the mosque of Omar, and the stone of Jacob,
and when it is nothing but a heap of ruins, we will sally forth with
sword and fire in hand, and not one of us will go to Paradise without
having sent ten Mussulmans to hell.’ Saladin understood enthusiasm and
respected it, and to have had the destruction of Jerusalem connected
with his name would have caused him deep displeasure. He therefore
consented to the terms of capitulation demanded of him. The fighting
men were permitted to retreat to Tyre or Tripolis, which cities were in
the power of the Christians, and the simple inhabitants of Jerusalem
had their lives preserved, and permission given them to purchase their
freedom on certain conditions; but, as many amongst them could not find
the means, Malek-Adhel, the sultan’s brother, and Saladin himself, paid
the ransom of several thousands of captives. All Christians, however,
with the exception of Greeks and Syrians, had orders to leave Jerusalem
within four days. When the day came, all the gates were closed except
that of David, by which the people were to go forth, and Saladin,
seated upon a throne, saw the Christians defile before him. First came
the patriarch, followed by the clergy carrying the sacred vessels and
the ornaments of the church of the Holy Sepulchre. After him came
Sibylla, queen of Jerusalem, who had remained in the city, whilst her
husband, Guy de Lusignan, had been a prisoner at Nablous since the
battle of Tiberias. Saladin saluted her respectfully, and spoke to her
kindly. He had too great a soul to take pleasure in the humiliation
of greatness.” The capture of Jerusalem again roused Europe to arms,
but the story of this third crusade will be more fully narrated, as
we proceed with the personal history of Richard the Lion-hearted, who
became the chief and most illustrious figure in the annals of this
third holy war.
Eleanor, the mother of Richard Cœur de Lion, had herself participated
in the second crusade. Eleanor’s grandfather was duke of Aquitaine, a
rich kingdom in the south of France. His son, the father of Eleanor,
had been killed in the first crusade, and the duke of Aquitaine
determined to resign his kingdom in favor of his grand-daughter, and
marry her to Prince Louis VII., then heir to the throne of France.
This was accomplished, and King Louis VI. of France, dying soon after
the marriage, Eleanor became queen of France, as well as duchess of
Aquitaine. This princess had been well educated for those times,
and was even celebrated for her learning, as she possessed the rare
accomplishments of being able to read and write, as well as to sing
the songs of the Troubadours, which was the fashionable music of the
courts. King Louis VII., her husband, was a very pious man, much more
fond of devotion than of pleasure, so he determined to go on a crusade,
and Queen Eleanor, from a gay love of adventure, resolved to accompany
him. Eleanor and her court ladies laid aside their feminine attire, and
clothed themselves as Amazons, taking good care, however, to provide a
most cumbersome amount of baggage, containing their usual rich costumes
and delicate luxuries, which proved so great a burden in transportation
that the king remonstrated against such a needless and troublesome
excess of useless finery. But the ladies carried their point, and the
crusading expedition, which should have been composed of an army
of valiant warriors, became an immense train of women and baggage,
requiring the constant care of the princes, barons, and knights, many
of them reluctant participants, who had been shamed by the taunts of
these ladies into joining an expedition which had been organized upon
so wild and heedless a plan as to insure only disaster and failure. But
the gay ladies exclaimed to any man who dared to express any thoughts
of remaining at home, “We will send you our distaffs as presents. We
have no longer any use for them, but as you are intending to stay at
home and make women of yourselves, we will send them to you, so that
you may occupy yourselves with spinning while we are gone.”
Notwithstanding this apparent zeal which Eleanor and her court ladies
displayed, their caprices and freaks continued to harass and interfere
with the expedition, during the entire crusade, and Queen Eleanor so
displeased King Louis by her gay and frivolous conduct, that a long
and serious quarrel arose between them, and he declared that he would
obtain a divorce from her. But his ministers tried to prevent this,
as Eleanor possessed the rich kingdom of Aquitaine in her own right,
which would be lost to Louis by a separation. So they returned from
the Holy Land to Paris, still as king and queen of France. But in
about two years after, Eleanor determined to be divorced from King
Louis of France, so that she might marry Prince Henry Plantagenet,
who afterwards became Henry II., of England. Prince Henry’s father
had received the name Plantagenet from a habit he had of wearing a
spray of broom blossom in his cap. The French name for this plant is
_genet_, and so he was nicknamed Plantagenet, and his son Henry II.
was the first king in that family, also called the House of Anjou.
Although Henry II. was king of England, by his marriage with Eleanor,
which took place only a short time after she obtained a divorce from
King Louis of France, Henry gained the great dukedom of Aquitaine,
and as he already possessed Normandy and Anjou, he really was lord of
nearly half of France. He ruled England well, but he cared more for
power than what was right, and he often indulged in such exhibitions
of fierce rage, that he would roll on the floor and bite the rushes
with which it was strewn. At the time of his marriage with Eleanor,
Henry was duke of Normandy, and was only twenty years of age, while
Eleanor was thirty-two; but she was very much in love with him, and as
she could bring him such a rich kingdom, and furnish him men and money
to help him secure the crown of England, which was at that time held
by King Stephen, whom Henry declared was a usurper, he was willing to
accept Eleanor as his wife, although she was nearly twice his own age,
and was also the divorced wife of King Louis. Some historians place
the blame of the divorce upon Eleanor, some upon Louis; but all unite
in condemning her previous conduct, for she occasioned many scandalous
remarks by her undignified, unwifely, and even culpable actions. After
she became queen of England, however, she changed in this respect, and
her after quarrels with Henry were occasioned by her ambitions and
his conduct regarding a lady called the Fair Rosamond, who afterwards
became a nun in a convent near Oxford. Some historians think that
Henry was in reality married to Rosamond before he was persuaded to
espouse Eleanor, in order to gain her rich possessions. Though Eleanor
had equally wronged her former husband, Louis, she made no excuse for
King Henry’s devotion to Rosamond, and when she discovered Henry’s
affection for her, she ordered that she should be shut up in a convent
out of the way. To this King Henry consented, but the jealousy of the
queen against her rival was never abated, and added great bitterness
to the other causes of discord between herself and King Henry, which
at last broke out in the open rebellion of Queen Eleanor and her sons
against the king, so that Henry would often be obliged to raise armies
to put down the various disturbances caused by first one son, then
another, then all together, encouraged by their mother Eleanor, who
however seemed to have inspired more love and devotion in the hearts
of her sons than their father. Almost all the early years of the life
of Richard were spent in wars which were waged by different members
of his father’s family against each other. These wars originated
in the quarrels between King Henry and his sons, in respect to the
family property. As Henry II. held a great many possessions which he
had inherited through his father, grandfather, and his wife Eleanor,
he was duke of one country, earl of a second, king of a third, and
count of a fourth. Henry had five sons, of whom Richard was the third,
and he was born about three years after Eleanor was crowned queen
of England, when, upon the death of King Stephen, Henry became king
of that country. Henry II. was a generous father, and as his sons
became old enough, he gave them provinces of their own. But they were
not contented with the portions allotted to them, and demanded more.
Sometimes Henry would yield, at other times resist, when the sons would
raise armies and rebel against their father, and then would follow the
shocking spectacle of husband, wife, and sons, all fighting against
each other. These wars continued for many years, the mother usually
taking sides with her sons, until King Henry shut her up in a castle,
in a sort of imprisonment, where he kept her confined for sixteen years.
It was during the reign of Henry II. that the famous archbishop, Thomas
à Becket, was murdered, under the following circumstances: Thomas
à Becket had been one of Henry’s most devoted friends and intimate
counsellors, and Henry had raised him to the office of Chancellor.
Afterwards Henry made Thomas à Becket bishop of Canterbury, but from
that time serious differences arose between them. The king made many
laws, one being, that if a priest or monk was thought to have committed
any crime, he should be tried by civil judges, like other men; whereas
Becket, in the name of the church, maintained that the clergy should
be tried only by the bishops. This quarrel was so serious that Becket
was forced to leave England and take refuge with the king of France.
After six years, a half reconciliation took place, and the archbishop
of Canterbury returned to England. Thomas à Becket soon again incurred
the king’s displeasure, and Henry exclaimed in anger, “Will no one rid
me of this turbulent priest?” Whereupon four of his knights who had
heard this remark, and thought that they would gain power over the king
by carrying out this wish, immediately went to Canterbury, and finding
the archbishop in the cathedral by the altar, they slew him. At first
Henry was secretly glad, but the people and priests considered Thomas
a martyr, and raised such an outcry of indignation, that three years
after, King Henry went to the cathedral of Canterbury, and in order to
show his penitence, he entered barefoot, and kneeling by the tomb of
Thomas à Becket, he commanded every priest to strike him with a knotted
rope upon his bare back. This he endured as an act of penance for
causing the death of the archbishop.
The first important event of Richard’s childhood was his betrothment.
When he was about four years of age he was formally affianced to
Alice, the child of Louis, king of France. Alice was three years of
age. Another of King Louis’ children had been married in the same way
to Richard’s eldest brother Henry, and the English king complained
that the dowry of the young French princess was not sufficient, and
this quarrel was settled by an agreement that King Louis should give
his other daughter Alice to Richard, and with her another province.
These infant marriages, or betrothments, were made by kings in order
to get possession of rich territories, for the father of the husbands
became the guardians of the provinces, and received any sum of money
agreed upon, which they usually appropriated to their own use. This
betrothment of Richard became the cause of future differences between
himself and Philip, the brother of Alice, when Richard had become king
of England, and Philip king of France. At length, in the midst of one
of the frequent wars between the king of England and his sons, his
eldest son Henry was taken very sick, and being at the point of death,
he sent to his father to obtain his forgiveness, and to beg that he
would come to see him. The king, fearing it was only some stratagem to
get him into the power of the rebellious young prince, who had often
broken his word, did not dare to go, but sent an archbishop to Prince
Henry, with a ring as a token of his forgiveness. The poor prince
who was really dying, and very penitent for his unfilial conduct,
pressed the ring to his dying lips with frantic tears of remorse, and
commanded his attendants to lay him upon a bed of ashes, which he had
ordered prepared, that he might die there as a sign of his sincere
repentance. When King Henry heard of the sad death of his eldest son,
he was moved to tears, and releasing his wife Queen Eleanor from her
imprisonment, he became reconciled to her for a time. But soon again
the family dissensions arose. Prince Geoffrey, the second son of King
Henry, was killed in a tournament, and Richard, who had now reached
manhood, demanded that his father should give him the Princess Alice in
marriage, and with her the lands and money intrusted to his care by the
king of France. This King Henry refused to do. Some said, because he
wished to keep the rich lands himself; others said, because he himself
loved the Princess Alice, and that he was determined to seek a divorce
from Queen Eleanor, so that he might marry the young princess. Whatever
was his motive, King Henry refused to have Richard’s marriage with
Alice consummated, and kept the princess shut up in a castle. Whereupon
Richard rebelled against his father, and persuaded his younger brother
John to espouse his cause. Of course Eleanor took sides with her sons,
so she was again shut up in a castle by King Henry, and Richard and
John set off for Paris and gained the support of Philip II., of France,
who was now king, as Louis was dead. King Henry had determined to
divide his kingdom, and as John was his favorite as well as youngest,
he resolved to have him crowned king of England, leaving his French
possessions to Richard. Whereupon Richard carried off his young
brother, and with the help of Philip, raised an army to fight against
his father. In this war King Henry, who was now old and broken-spirited
by his many sorrows, was so far defeated that he was obliged to submit
to negotiations for peace. While the terms were being arranged, King
Henry fell very ill, and when the articles of treaty were brought to
his bedside, he found that the name of his youngest son John, his
darling, who had never rebelled against him before, now headed the
list of the princes, barons, and nobles who had gone over to Richard’s
side. This quite broke his heart, and he exclaimed with tears, “Is it
possible that John, the child of my heart, he whom I have cherished
more than all the rest, and for love of whom I have drawn down on my
own head all these troubles, has verily betrayed me? Then,” said he,
falling back helplessly upon the bed, “let everything go on as it will,
I care no longer for myself, nor for anything else in the world.” The
king grew more and more excited, until at last he died in a raving
delirium, cursing his rebellious children with his last breath. Thus
Richard I. became king of England when he was about thirty-two years of
age. The sad death of his father occasioned some remorse in the heart
of Richard, and he joined in the funeral solemnities. King Henry had
died in Normandy, and was buried in an abbey there.
[Illustration: RICHARD I]
King Richard now sent at once to England, and ordered the release of
his mother Queen Eleanor, and invested her with power to act as regent
there, while he himself remained in Normandy to secure his French
possessions. Queen Eleanor was regent in England for two months, and
employed her power in a very beneficent manner. Her imprisonment and
sorrows had no doubt disposed her to kindness towards others, and
remorse for her past evil deeds prompted her to many acts of mercy.
King Richard now arranged with King Philip of France, to go upon a
crusade. Richard was brave, though he was not a good man. His greatest
delight was in fighting, and as his claims to his own kingdom were now
undisputed, he was eager to enter into a campaign in the Holy Land.
His brother Prince John was very willing that Richard should go, and
made no claims to any of the provinces of his father, for he hoped that
Richard would be killed in the Holy War, and thus the rich kingdoms of
England and Normandy would fall to him. Though Richard was brave, he
was neither wise nor provident in the administration of his government.
His one absorbing idea was how to gain fresh glory as a valiant knight
in the war with the Saracens, and he levied heavy taxes upon all his
dominions to raise the necessary funds required for the equipment of
his army.
These Holy Wars were very costly expeditions. The princes, barons, and
knights required very expensive armor, and rich trappings for their
horses, and ships were to be bought and equipped, arms and ammunition
provided, and large supplies of food purchased. Though the pretense
was religious zeal in going out to fight for the recovery of the Holy
Sepulchre, the real motive which animated most of the participants in
the several crusades, was love of glory and display.