RELIC-WORSHIP, PILGRIMAGES AND CRUSADES.
GROWTH OF RELIC-WORSHIP--SCHEMES OF THE ROMAN PONTIFFS--MANUFACTURE
OF RELICS--THEIR GREAT VARIETY--VALUE OF RELICS--INSULTS OFFERED TO
PILGRIMS--PETER THE HERMIT--CRUSADES--DISORDERLY RABBLE--TERRIBLE
SUFFERING--CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM--TERRIBLE MASSACRE--CAPTURE
OF CONSTANTINOPLE--CRUSADES OF THE CHILDREN--RESULT OF THE
CRUSADES--REVIVAL OF LEARNING.
In previous chapters has been traced the apostasy of the early church,
also the career of Mahomet, and the conquests and achievements of the
Saracens. While these events were transpiring, other causes were at
work which led eventually to the elevation of mankind, the history of
which plainly indicates the workings of an All-wise Providence.
{54} At this period there were no printed books, and the only means
of religious instruction to which the masses had access, were the
pictures and images to be found in the churches, together with the
explanations of them given by the priests. By means of these practical
object-lessons much useful information was imparted. The principal
events in the life of our Savior were thus depicted, and, though the
people did not fully understand the grandeur of His mission, they at
least learned something of His history, their duties to each other and
their own future destiny.
Thus there came to be associated in their minds a reverence for the
picture or image itself, and this idea extended until it included the
localities where the great events of the Savior's life, death and
resurrection transpired.
With the growth of devotion to the person of Christ, grew the feeling
of reverence for every place which He had visited and every memorial
which He had left behind Him. The impulse once given, soon became
irresistible. Every incident of the gospel narratives was associated
with some particular spot, and millions believed that the sight of
these places brought them nearer to heaven. The cave or excavation in
which it was said the Redeemer was born, and where the wise men of the
East laid before Him their royal gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh,
the mount from which He uttered His blessings on the meek, the merciful
and the pure in heart, in short, every spot connected with his life,
death and resurrection called forth emotions of passionate veneration.
These feelings were greatly intensified by the alleged discovery of the
cross on which the Savior died, together with the two crosses on which
the thieves were crucified.
The splendid churches raised by the Emperor Constantine and his mother
Helena over the supposed spot of our Savior's birth at Bethlehem, and
His sepulchre at Jerusalem, became for the Christian of that day what
the tomb of the prophet at Medina became afterwards to the followers of
Mahomet.
The remission of sins and eternal rewards in the world to come were
the blessings promised to the weary pilgrim when he should tread the
classic soil of Judea, bathe in the river Jordan, chant his quiet
anthem of praise in the cave at Bethlehem, {55} walk in the quiet
shades of Gethsemane and kneel in reverence at the Savior's tomb.
No wonder then that a hundred thousand pilgrims might have been seen
each year wending their way across the plains of Asia Minor, destined
for Jerusalem.
The Roman pontiffs, owing to the ignorance of the times, had already
built up a wide-spread system of superstition.
[Image: Church of the Holy Sepulchre.]
They held almost imperial sway over the countless hordes of central and
northern Europe. Even kings and emperors paid tribute, and sovereigns
dared not disobey their commands. As an instance, might be mentioned
Henry IV., of Germany, who having displeased Pope Gregory VII., was
obliged, under penalty of losing his kingdom, to stand as a penitent at
the pope's castle gate during three dreary winter {56} days, seeking
pardon and reconciliation of the inexorable pontiff.
It is not surprising that the popes, who had long trafficked in human
credulity, saw, in the growth of relic-worship, an opportunity to
increase their own power and the revenues of the church of Rome.
Accordingly an understanding was made with the monks of Palestine and
relics were manufactured in untold numbers.
An amusing and instructive chapter might be written on this subject:
amusing because of its absurdity, and instructive as it shows to what
extremes of folly men will go when left without the guidance of the
Holy Spirit.
The crimes and corruptions of the papacy had destroyed public
confidence. The devout instinctively turned with reverence towards
every object that recalled the memories of the pure and good who once
lived upon the earth.
No sooner had the wild rage for relics fairly set in than each
monastery in the vicinity of Jerusalem made a specialty of some
particular relic. The monks at Bethlehem sold thousands of pounds of
half rotten rags, each fragment purporting to be a portion of the
swaddling cloths of the infant Savior. The monks who guarded the
supposed sepulchre of Christ, sold hundreds of thousands of little
chips of stone said to have been broken off from the very walls of
the tomb where the body of Jesus had lain. It does not seem to have
shaken the credulity of the pilgrims in the least, that the tomb still
remained in as good repair as ever, and showed no marks of demolition.
The monks who inhabited the monasteries on the banks of the Jordan
could point to at least twenty places where it was said the Savior had
been baptized, and each monastery possessed numerous pebbles which
the monks claimed had been touched by His feet. No less than seven
monasteries claimed to have the true cross in their possession, and
thousands of pieces, of wood amounting to many tons in weight, were
sold to devout pilgrims. Each of these pieces, it was claimed, was a
part of the true cross.
But it would require a long and tedious list to even enumerate the
various articles comprised in this relic-worship. In {57} order to get
some faint idea of their extent and variety, the relics which the Abbot
Martin obtained for his monastery in Alsace might be mentioned. These,
among other things, included "a piece of the true cross, a fragment
of the infant Savior's swaddling cloths, some pebbles from the river
Jordan which the Savior's feet had touched, a branch of the tree under
which He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, a piece of the Savior's
robe, for which the Roman soldiers cast lots," (see Matthew, 27th
chapter), "a tooth of St. Mark, seven hairs of the martyr, Stephen, a
thigh bone of the animal which Jesus rode into Jerusalem," (see Luke,
19th chapter), and (I hesitate to write such blasphemy) "a bottle of
the milk of the mother of God."
In connection with this relic-worship, an amusing anecdote is related:
It so happened that about thirty pilgrims were traveling homeward
from Palestine together. Being somewhat weary, they concluded to
rest and refresh themselves. Having partaken of some wine too freely
they commenced to boast of the various relics which each had in his
possession. One claimed that he had actually the identical piece of
money which Peter took out of the fish's mouth (see Matthew, 17th
chapter, 27th verse). But, to their mutual surprise, they soon found
that each had made a similar purchase. It was plain that at least
twenty-nine of them had been defrauded. But they reasoned that if it
was not wrong for the monks to defraud them, it would not be wrong for
them to defraud others. So they quietly sold the pieces of money as
soon as possible.
No doubt one reason why relic-worship became so extensive, was the
encouragement given to it by the Roman pontiffs. It was boldly asserted
that the possession of a relic was a specific against evil spirits,
accidents, disease, and, in short, nearly every evil to which humanity
is heir. Hence the great demand for relics by the ignorant and
superstitious, and the vast sums of money which were thus poured into
the treasury of the church of Rome.
For example, a tooth of an apostle was valued at a sum equal
commercially to one hundred dollars of our money, and a thousand
dollars would scarcely buy a piece of the true cross {58} as large as a
common friction match. Of course these prices varied according to the
wealth and the credulity of the purchaser.
When, in A. D. 637, Jerusalem was captured by the Saracens, the
Christians and pilgrims were treated with much consideration. They were
not only to be safe in their persons, but undisturbed in the exercise
of their religion and in the use of their churches.
The yearly influx of at least one hundred thousand pilgrims, however,
aroused suspicion among the great mass of Mahometans, who failed to
comprehend the purport of their extraordinary journey, but perceived
the necessity of putting some restraint on this annual rush of such
countless multitudes. The consequence was that wrongs were inflicted
and retaliated until the mere journey to Jerusalem involved dangers
from which even the bravest might shrink. Insults offered to the
pilgrims were accompanied by insults offered to the holy places and to
those who ministered in them.
Still the pilgrims went forth by thousands, and occasionally hundreds
and frequently only tens returned to recount the miseries and wanton
cruelties they had undergone.
Throughout the length and breadth of Christendom a fierce indignation
was stirring the hearts of men, and their rage, like pent up waters,
needed only an opportunity to rush forth as a flood over the lands
under the control of the Mahometans. That opportunity was not long
wanting. Peter, the hermit, who had witnessed the barbarities to which
the pilgrims were exposed, roused Europe to a frantic state by his
preaching.
Dwarfish in stature and mean in person, he was yet filled with a zeal
that knew no bounds. The horrors which fired his soul were those which
would most surely stir the conscience and arouse the wrath of his
hearers. His fiery appeals carried everything before him. Wherever he
went, the rich and the poor, the aged and the young, the nobles and
the peasants thronged in thousands around the emaciated stranger. He
traveled with his head and feet bare, calling on all classes to deliver
from the unbeliever the land which was the cradle of their faith.
{59} The vehemence which choked his own utterance became contagious.
His sobs and groans called forth the tears and cries of the vast crowds
who hung upon his words and greedily devoured the harrowing accounts of
the pilgrims, whom Peter brought forward as witnesses of the truth of
his picture. The excitement and frenzy of the moment threw, no doubt,
a specious coloring over an enterprise of doubtful morality, and which
eventually pandered to the basest passion of humanity.
These wars are known in history by the name of Crusades, from the
Latin term _crux_, a cross, which emblem was painted on the breasts or
shoulders of all who engaged in them.
When the masses were thoroughly excited, Pope Urban gave the enterprise
his sanction, and promised to all who would enlist a full remission of
their sins. This encouraged innumerable desperadoes to assume the badge
of the cross. Fanaticism and hypocrisy, lust and avarice strangely
urged their several votaries to pursue one path, and all under the
sacred and now woefully profaned name of Christian zeal!
Yet the hand of Providence was in all this. Even the rage of men worked
out His purpose, and, as the sequel will show, produced results which,
under the controlling hand of God led to the elevation of the race.
To give a detailed description of the Crusades would alone require a
volume. It is enough to say that the first Crusade failed, not only
disastrously, but hideously, so far as the ignorant rabbles under
Peter, the hermit, and Walter, the penniless, were concerned. The long
and ghastly line of bones whitening the roadside all the way from
Hungary to Judea, showed how different a thing it was for a peaceable
and solitary pilgrim with his staff and wallet and scallop-shell to beg
his way, and the disorderly rabble of thousands upon thousands to rush
forward without any organization, and gathering their daily supplies
by robbing and killing the helpless peasants on their route. This, in
their ignorance or blasphemy, they called "trusting in the providence
of God."
The van of the Crusades consisted of two hundred and seventy-five
thousand men. Behind these came a rabble of {60} two hundred thousand
men, women and children, preceded by a goat and a goose, into which
some blasphemous lunatic had told them that the Holy Ghost had entered.
When at length these animals died, a representation of them was painted
on their banner.
In this vile horde no pretense was kept up of order or of decency.
Driven to madness by disappointment and famine, and expecting, in
their ignorance, that every town they came to must be Jerusalem, they
laid hands on whatever they could in their extremity. Their track was
marked by robbery, fire and bloodshed. In the first Crusade alone, more
than five hundred thousand human beings perished. However, a better
organized expedition soon followed, commanded by Godfrey de Bouillon,
Duke of Lorraine. By him Jerusalem was captured July 15th, A. D. 1099.
As might be expected, its siege and capture were attended by the
perpetration of cruelties almost surpassing belief.
What a contrast to the conduct of the Arabs, when the Caliph Omar
took Jerusalem, A. D. 637! He rode into the city by the side of the
patriarch, Saphronius, conversing with him on its antiquities. When the
time of evening prayer arrived, he declined to pay his devotions in the
church of Constantine, fearing that his followers might wish to imitate
his example, and thus render it practically useless to the Christians;
but he knelt outside in the yard near the entrance gate. What a supreme
act of religious toleration! When will free-born Americans learn to act
thus nobly?
But in the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders the brains of young
children were dashed out against the walls, infants were thrown over
the battlements, men and women were tortured that they might be
compelled to disclose hidden wealth, the Jews were driven into their
synagogue and there burnt. A massacre of seventy thousand persons took
place, and the pope's especial ambassador was seen "partaking in the
triumph."
Such were the exploits of the first Crusade. The second was barren of
results except the inhuman butchery of thousands of unoffending Jews.
The third produced no permanent effects, but a halo of false glory
is shed around it, from the {61} exploits of Richard the Lion-heart,
king of England, who was connected with it, and whose adventures have
stirred to enthusiasm even the dullest of historians. With great
difficulty, Pope Innocent III., succeeded in preparing the fourth
Crusade, A. D. 1202. The government of Venice agreed to furnish ships
to carry them to Palestine, but, actuated by a love of plunder, and a
desire to gratify the bitter feeling which existed between the popes of
Rome and the bishops of Constantinople, they turned aside to vent their
rage on their fellow-Christians. Constantinople was taken by storm A.
D. 1204. On the night of its capture more houses were burned than could
be found in any three of the largest cities of France. The treasures
of the churches were carried away, and even the tombs of the ancient
emperors were rifled in the mad search for relics.
Thus, Crusade followed Crusade for more than one hundred and fifty
years, until nine armies, comprising more than three millions of men,
laid their bodies down to decay and their bones to whiten on the plains
and hill-sides of the East.
Among all the enterprises, none were more wild and wicked than those
which are called the "Crusades of the children." Emissaries from Rome
went throughout Western Europe, preaching and declaring that God would
only give the Holy Land into the hands of innocent children. Pope
Innocent III. applauded their wild enthusiasm. "These children," said
he, "are a reproach to us of riper age. While they hurry to Palestine,
we are asleep."
{62}
[Image: Ancient Vessels.]
A few words will suffice to tell the story how twenty thousand
children, under the boy Stephen, encamped around Vendome. In less
than a month ten thousand of them had perished or strayed away. When
they reached Marseilles, they lingered near the shore, expecting the
Mediterranean to divide, and, like the Red Sea in ancient times, give
them a dry passage to Palestine. At length two merchants offered to
convey them there in ships, without charge; but at the end of their
journey they found themselves, not in Palestine, but in the slave
markets of Alexandria and Algiers.
A sequel to this "o'er true tale" is found in the sufferings of another
rabble of thirty thousand boys and girls, who, under {63} the peasant
lad, Nicholas, in crossing the Alps lost nearly half their number. Five
thousand reached Genoa, and, being invited by the senate, concluded
to settle there. The rest marched to Brindisi, and, setting sail for
Palestine, were never heard of more.
Worthless in themselves and wholly useless as a means for founding any
permanent dominion in Palestine or elsewhere, these enterprises were a
means in the overruling hand of God of effecting the nations of Europe
in a way which the promoters never dreamed of.
Their results were many and various. One was that they drew away many
of the warlike and turbulent, and gave, as it were, a resting time
for the states of Western Europe, during which, learning, science and
general culture, among the quietly-disposed, made rapid advances, and
many cities and smaller states rose from obscurity to opulence and
power.
Another was the change of feeling which took place in the Crusaders
themselves. What a surprise awaited these religious barbarians--for
such they really were--when for the first time they gazed on the
splendors of Constantinople in its palmiest days! What a contrast to
their own rude homes, when they passed into Asia Minor, that garden
of the world, presenting well-cultivated fields, orchards, vineyards,
palaces and schools, the civilization of a thousand years! How
unexpected the character of those Saracens, whom they had been taught
to regard as no better than bloodthirsty fiends, but whom they found to
be valiant, merciful and just!
When Richard the Lion-heart, king of England, lay in his tent consumed
by a fever, there came into the camp camels laden with snow, from Mount
Lebanon, to assuage his disease. It was a present from his enemy, the
great Mahometan Saladin--the homage of one brave soldier to another.
But when Richard was returning to England it was by a Christian prince,
who should have aided him, that he was treacherously seized and
secretly confined.
This was doubtless only one of many such incidents. Every Crusader
must have recognized the difference between what they had anticipated
and what they had found. They had seen undaunted courage, chivalrous
bearing, intellectual culture and {64} religious toleration far greater
than their own. When the Crusaders returned to their native lands, they
carried with them the memory of their experiences, and a relish for
more polished manners and a higher civilization than that to which they
had been accustomed at home. Hence, immediately after the Crusades the
arts and sciences began to be sedulously cultivated in Europe. They had
departed with the intent of conquering, aye even exterminating their
enemies; but by contact with those enemies they had learned in some
things "a more excellent way." The words of the Koran inscribed on the
banner of Saladin are true: "There is no conqueror but God!" Equally
true the words written by the Prophet Esdras, as he sat by the side
of the willow-fringed river of Babylon more than twenty-three hundred
years ago: "As for truth, it endureth and is always strong; it liveth
and conquereth for evermore," (see Apocrypha, I. Esdras, iv., 38).