_EPOCHS of HISTORY_
EDITED BY
EDWARD E. MORRIS, M.A.
THE CRUSADES.
G. W. COX, M.A.
EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY.
Edited by Rev. G. W. COX and CHARLES SANKEY, M. A. Eleven volumes, 16mo,
with 41 Maps and Plans. Price per vol., $1.00. The set, Roxburgh style,
gilt top, in box, $11.00.
TROY—ITS LEGEND, HISTORY, AND LITERATURE. By S. G. W. Benjamin.
THE GREEKS AND THE PERSIANS. By G. W. Cox.
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE. By G. W. Cox.
THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACIES. By Charles Sankey.
THE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. By A. M. Curteis.
EARLY ROME. By W. Ihne.
ROME AND CARTHAGE. By R. Bosworth Smith.
THE GRACCHI, MARIUS, AND SULLA. By A. H. Beesley.
THE ROMAN TRIUMVIRATES. By Charles Merivale.
THE EARLY EMPIRE. By W. Wolfe Capes.
THE AGE OF THE ANTONINES. By W. Wolfe Capes.
EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY.
Edited by EDWARD E. MORRIS. Eighteen volumes, 16mo, with 77 Maps, Plans,
and Tables. Price per vol., $1.00. The set, Roxburgh style, gilt top, in
box, $18.00.
THE BEGINNING OF THE MIDDLE AGES. By R. W. Church.
THE NORMANS IN EUROPE. By A. H. Johnson.
THE CRUSADES. By G. W. Cox.
THE EARLY PLANTAGENETS. By Wm. Stubbs.
EDWARD III. By W. Warburton.
THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK. By James Gairdner.
THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLUTION. By Frederic Seebohm.
THE EARLY TUDORS. By C. E. Moberly.
THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. By M. Creighton.
THE THIRTY YEARS WAR, 1618-1648. By S. R. Gardiner.
THE PURITAN REVOLUTION. By S. R. Gardiner.
THE FALL OF THE STUARTS. By Edward Hale.
THE ENGLISH RESTORATION AND LOUIS XIV. By Osmond Airy.
THE AGE OF ANNE. By Edward E. Morris.
THE EARLY HANOVERIANS. By Edward E. Morris.
FREDERICK THE GREAT. By F. W. Longman.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND FIRST EMPIRE. By W. O’Connor Morris. Appendix
by Andrew D. White.
THE EPOCH OF REFORM, 1830-1850. By Justin Macarthy.
[Illustration: General Map for the ERA OF THE CRUSADES]
THE CRUSADES
BY
GEORGE W. COX, M.A.
AUTHOR OF
‘HISTORY OF GREECE’ ‘MYTHOLOGY OF THE ARYAN NATIONS’
ETC.
_WITH A MAP_
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS,
1890.
CONTENTS.
A. D. PAGE
CHAPTER I.
CAUSES LEADING TO THE CRUSADES.
The crusades a series of popular wars 1
Distinction between the crusades and other wars of
the Middle Ages 2
Absence of local feeling in the earliest Christian
traditions 3
The Christianity of St. Paul 4
The Christianity of the Roman empire 4
Localism of heathen religions 6
Influence of these local religions on Christianity 6
Growth of local associations in Palestine 7
Growth of pilgrimage to the holy places of Palestine 8
Gradual decay of spiritual religion 9
Encouragement given to pilgrimages 9
Trade in relics 10
Stimulus given by pilgrimages to commerce with the East 10
The long struggle between Rome and Persia 10
611 Capture of Jerusalem by the Persian king Khosru II. 11
Persian invasion of Egypt 11
622-625 Campaigns of the emperor Heraclius 11
627 Battle of Nineveh 11
628 Restoration of the True Cross by the Persians 12
629 Pilgrimage of Heraclius to Jerusalem 12
637 Conquest of Palestine by Omar 12
Terms of the treaty made by Omar with the Christians
of Jerusalem 13
Omar and the patriarch Sophronios 13
Effects of Arabian conquest on pilgrimage to Jerusalem 14
Uninterrupted continuance of pilgrimage 14
1010 Ravages of the Egyptian sultan Hakem in Jerusalem 14
Persecution of Jews in Europe 15
Tax levied on pilgrims at the gates of Jerusalem 15
Expectation of the end of the world A. D. 1000 15
997 Conversion of Hungary under king Stephen 16
Advance of the Seljukian Turks 17
1092 Division of the Seljukian empire 17
Appeal of the Greek emperor Alexios to Western
Christendom 17
1076 Seljukian conquest of Jerusalem 18
Increased burdens of the Christian pilgrims 18
Decline of commerce with the East 18
Oppression of the Christians of Palestine 19
General indignation felt in Western Christendom 19
Need of a religious sanction to sustain and direct
this feeling 19
CHAPTER II.
THE COUNCIL OF CLERMONT.
Influence of Roman imperialism on the early popes 20
Schemes and motives of Gregory VII. 22
1074 His circular letter to the faithful 22
1081 The Normans in Italy 23
1095 Council of Piacenza 24
Council of Clermont 25
1093 Pilgrimage of the hermit Peter to Jerusalem 26
1094 The mission and preaching of the hermit 27
1095 Decrees of the council of Clermont prohibiting private
wars and confirming the Truce of God 29
Speech of Urban II. before the people 30
The assent of the multitude 31
The cross and the vow of the crusaders 32
Motives of the crusaders 32
Financial effects of the crusades 34
Effects of the crusades on the power of the pope and
the clergy 35
Dispensing power of the pope 35
Tendency of the crusades to break up the feudal system 35
Increasing wealth of the pope and the clergy 36
Alienation, and pledging or mortgaging, of lands 36
The crusades not national enterprises 37
1085 Condition of Europe in the time of Urban II. 38
CHAPTER III.
THE FIRST CRUSADE.
1096 Departure of the first rabble of crusaders under Peter
the Hermit and Walter the Penniless 39
Second rabble under Emico and Gotschalk 40
Bloody persecutions of the Jews 40
The Jews taken under the protection of the empire 41
March of Walter and his followers through Hungary and
Bulgaria 41
Passage of the pilgrims across the Bosporos 42
Their utter destruction by Kilidje Arslan 42
Rank and character of the leaders of the first crusade 43
Godfrey of Bouillon and his brothers Baldwin and
Eustace 43
Hugh of Vermandois 43
Robert of Normandy 44
Robert of Flanders, and Stephen of Chartres 44
Adhemar, bishop of Puy 44
Raymond of Toulouse 45
Bohemond 45
Tancred 45
Cause and effect of chivalry 46
Knighthood 47
Courtesy 48
August Departure of the main army of the crusaders under
Godfrey 49
Captivity of Hugh of Vermandois 49
Christmas Arrival of Godfrey before the walls of
Constantinople 50
Policy of the emperor Alexios 51
Compact between Alexios and the crusaders 51
Homage of the crusaders to Alexios 52
Disastrous march of Raymond of Toulouse to
Constantinople 53
Refusal of Raymond to do homage 53
1097 Conduct of Alexios to the crusaders 54
March Passage of the crusaders across the Bosporos 55
Thorough antagonism between the crusaders and the
Greeks 55
Contrast between the Greek and Latin clergy 56
Numbers of the crusaders 56
June Siege and fall of Nice (Nikaia) 57
July 4 Battle of Dorylaion 58
March to Cogni and the Pisidian Antioch 58
Quarrel between Godfrey and Tancred at Tarsus 59
Conquest of Edessa by Baldwin 59
October Arrival of the crusaders before the Syrian Antioch 60
Siege of Antioch 60
Folly of the besiegers 61
Famine in the crusading camp 62
Arrival of envoys from the sultan of Egypt 62
Their terms rejected by the crusaders 63
1098 Fierce warfare between the Christians and the Turks 63
March Plans of Bohemond for the reduction of Antioch 64
June Betrayal of Antioch to Bohemond 65
Arrival of the Persians under Kerboga 65
Desertion of Stephen of Chartres 66
Desperate straits of the crusaders in Antioch 66
Discovery of the Holy Lance 67
Fate of the discoverer 68
June 28 Battle of Antioch 68
Defeat of Kerboga 69
Antioch made a principality for Bohemond 69
Mission of Hugh of Vermandois to Constantinople 70
Death of Adhemar, bishop of Puy 70
Siege and capture of Marra 71
1099, May March of the crusaders from Antioch 71
June Siege of Jerusalem 72
July Storming of the city 74
Adoration of the crusaders in the church of the
Sepulchre 74
Exaltation of Peter the Hermit 75
Second and deliberate massacre in Jerusalem 75
Comparison of Omar and Godfrey 76
Election of Godfrey to the sovereignty of Jerusalem 76
Battle of Ascalon 77
Return of the pilgrims to Europe 77
CHAPTER IV.
THE LATIN KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
1099-1100 Reign of Godfrey 77
Daimbert, patriarch of Jerusalem 78
Assize of Jerusalem 78
Judicial courts instituted by Godfrey 79
1100-1118 Baldwin I. 80
1101 Death of Stephen of Chartres 80
1105 Death of Raymond of Toulouse 80
Sequel of the career of Bohemond 81
1112 Death of Tancred 82
Effect of the crusades on the Byzantine empire 82
Fresh swarms of pilgrims 82
1101 Death of Hugh of Vermandois 83
1118 Death of the emperor Alexios 83
1118-1131 Baldwin II., king of Jerusalem 84
1115 Conquest of Sidon 84
1124 Conquest of Tyre 84
1131-1144 Fulk, king of Jerusalem 85
1144-1162 Baldwin III. 85
1145 Fall of Edessa 85
CHAPTER V.
THE SECOND CRUSADE.
Bernard the apostle of the second crusade 86
Sources of Bernard’s influence 88
1137 Death of Louis VI. of France 88
1146 Council of Vezelai 89
Easter Speech of Bernard 89
The Knights Templars 90
Reluctance of Conrad, emperor of Germany, to join
the crusade 90
1147 Meeting of Louis VII. and the pope at St Denys 91
Whitsuntide Persecution of the Jews stirred up by the monk Rodolph 91
Suppressed by Bernard 92
March of the crusaders under Conrad and Louis 92
Refusal of Conrad to meet the emperor Manuel at
Constantinople 92
Supposed treachery of Manuel 93
Disastrous march of Conrad and Louis 93
1148 Visit of the French king to Jerusalem 94
March Resolution to attack Damascus 94
Siege of Damascus 95
Treachery of the barons of Palestine 95
Retreat of the army to Jerusalem 95
Failure of the crusade 95
Accusations against St Bernard 96
His answer 96
1153 Death of St. Bernard 97
CHAPTER VI.
THE LOSS OF JERUSALEM.
Misuse of victory by the crusaders 97
1151 Death of Joceline of Courtenay 97
1153 Siege and fall of Ascalon 97
1162 Death of Baldwin III. Almeric elected king of
Jerusalem 98
Relations of Almeric with the sultans of Egypt and
Aleppo 98
Mission of Shiracouh and Saladin to Egypt 99
Siege and surrender of Shiracouh in Pelusium 99
1163 Defeat of the Latins by Noureddin, sultan of Aleppo 99
Alliance of Almeric with the Egyptian sultan 99
1167 Operations of Almeric against Shiracouh 100
Real designs of Almeric 100
1168 Expedition of Almeric to Pelusium 101
His ignominious retreat 101
Rise of Saladin to power in Egypt 102
1169 Attempts to stir up a crusade 102
1171 Suppression of the Fatimite caliphat by Saladin 102
Quarrel between Saladin and the sultan of Aleppo 103
1173 Death of Noureddin, sultan of Aleppo 103
Character of Noureddin 103
Baldwin IV., king of Jerusalem 104
1186 Baldwin V., king of Jerusalem 104
Guy of Lusignan, king of Jerusalem 104
Preparations of Saladin for the reconquest of
Jerusalem 105
1187 Battle of Tiberias 105
July Capture of Guy of Lusignan 106
Loss of the True Cross 106
Fruits of the victory of Saladin 107
Siege and fall of Jerusalem 107
Terms of the capitulation 109
Departure of the Latins from the Holy City 109
Entry of Saladin into Jerusalem 110
Escape of Tyre under Conrad 110
Further conquests of Saladin 110
Causes of weakness in the kingdom of Jerusalem 111
(1) Bad faith in dealing with the Moslem 111
(2) Disregard of rights of property 111
(3) Lax military discipline 111
(4) Total lack of statesmanship 111
(5) General immorality 112
(6) Desultory character of the crusades 112
(7) Quarrels and feuds of the Latin chiefs 112
(8) Antagonistic jurisdictions of the civil power,
the church, and the military orders 113
CHAPTER VII.
THE THIRD CRUSADE.
Fictitious or romantic portraits of Richard I. of
England 114
Real character of the actors in the third crusade 115
Decay of the crusading spirit 115
Change in the character of the crusades 116
1174 Henry II. of England and the patriarch of Jerusalem 117
1187 Death of Urban III. 118
Pontificate of Gregory VIII. 118
1188 Assumption of the cross by Henry II. and Philip
Augustus of France 119
Saladin tax or tenth 119
Feuds in the family of Henry II. 119
1189 Death of Henry II. 121
July Preparations of Richard I. for the crusade 121
Modes of raising money 122
Persecution and massacre of Jews in England 122
Fearful tragedy in York castle 122
1190 Meeting of Richard and Philip at Vezelai 124
Poetry and influence of the troubadours 124
March of Frederick I., Barbarossa, to Constantinople 124
The popes and the empire 125
Death of Frederick I. 125
Re-occupation of Antioch 126
1189 Siege of Acre by the Latins of Palestine 126
Rise of the Teutonic order 127
1190 Death of Sibylla, queen of Jerusalem 127
Conrad, titular king of Jerusalem 128
Sept 23 Voyage of the English fleet to Lisbon and Messina 128
Conduct of Richard I. in Sicily 128
Quarrel between Richard and Philip Augustus 129
1191 March War between Richard and the Comnenian emperor of
Cyprus 130
Arrival of Richard and Philip at Acre 130
July 12 Surrender of Acre 131
Return of Philip to France 131
Massacre of five thousand Turkish hostages 131
Victory of Richard at Azotus 132
Abortive negotiations with Saladin 133
Feud between the English king and the duke of Austria 133
1192 Henry of Champagne, titular king of Jerusalem 134
March of Richard towards Jerusalem 135
Retreat of the army from Bethlehem 135
Relief of Jaffa 135
Truce between the crusaders and Saladin 136
Pilgrimage to Jerusalem 136
Results of the third crusade 136
Captivity of Richard I. in Austria 137
1193 Exertions made for the liberation of Richard 138
Richard before the diet at Hagenau 139
1194 Release of Richard 140
His return to England 140
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FOURTH CRUSADE.
Motives of the chief promoters of the fourth crusade 140
1193 Death of Saladin and its consequences 141
Encouragement given to the crusade by the emperor
Henry VI. 141
1196 Death of Henry VI. 142
Arrival of his barons with their troops in the Holy
Land 142
Capture of Jaffa by Saphadin 142
Arrival of fresh crusaders under Conrad, bishop of
Hildesheim 142
1197 Siege of the castle of Thoron 142
Complete defeat of the crusaders 143
Capture of Jaffa, and massacre of the crusaders 143
Almeric of Lusignan, king of Jerusalem and Cyprus 144
CHAPTER IX.
THE FIFTH CRUSADE.
1198 Election of Innocent III. 144
Effect of the crusades in extending the jurisdiction
of the pope 145
Weakening of the imperial power 146
Growing mistrust of the court of Rome by the peoples
of Europe 146
Effects of Innocent to remove this mistrust 147
Fulk of Neuilly 148
The mission of Fulk sanctioned by the pope 149
Efforts of his eloquence 149
1202 Death of Fulk 150
1200 The chiefs of the fifth crusade 150
1201 Mission from the French barons to Venice 150
Compact for the conveyance of the crusaders to
Palestine 151
1202 Failure of the crusaders to make up the sum agreed
on with the Venetians 152
Proposal to commute the payment by an expedition
against Zara 153
1195 Mission to Rome to ask aid for the dethroned
Byzantine emperor, Isaac Angelus 153
Determination of the Venetians to insist on the
expedition to Zara 154
1202 Siege and conquest of Zara, Nov. 15 155
Proposal to direct the crusade to the restoration of
Alexios at Constantinople 155
Resolution to accept the terms proposed by Alexios 156
Negotiations with the pope for the removal of the
interdict 157
1203 Vain attempts of Innocent to oppose the expedition 158
Easter Arrival of the fleet at Constantinople 158
Flight of the usurper Alexios 159
The crusaders are compelled to winter at
Constantinople 160
Efforts of Mourzoufle to detach Alexios from the
crusaders 160
Deposition and death of Alexios 161
Resolution to set up a Latin dynasty in Constantinople 161
1204 Siege and conquest of Constantinople 162
April Horrible excesses of the crusaders 162
Election of Baldwin, count of Flanders, as emperor
of the East 163
Election of Thomas Morosini as patriarch of
Constantinople 164
Embassies from Baldwin and the Venetians to the pope 165
Answers of Innocent III. 166
Results of the crusade to the pope and to the
Venetians 167
CHAPTER X.
THE LATIN EMPIRE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
Contrast between the Greeks and the Latins 168
Attempt to upset the civilization of the old empire 169
Conduct of the pope towards the Greek clergy 170
Opposition of the French clergy to the new patriarch 171
Partition of the empire among the crusading chiefs 172
1204 Rise of new empires at Nice, Trebizond, and Durazzo 173
1205 Massacre of the Latins in Thrace by order of the
Bulgarian Calo-John 173
April Captivity of the emperor Baldwin 174
Death of Baldwin 174
1206-1216 Henry I., brother of Baldwin, emperor of
Constantinople 175
1207 Assassination of Calo-John 175
Wise government of the emperor Henry 176
Death of Henry 176
Peter of Courtenay, emperor of Constantinople 176
1218 Captivity and death of Peter of Courtenay 177
1219 Robert, emperor of Constantinople 177
1228 John of Brienne, emperor of Constantinople 178
1235 Siege of Constantinople by Vataces 179
1237-1261 Baldwin II., emperor of Constantinople 179
Efforts to raise money 179
Sale of relics 179
1255 Death of Vataces 180
1259 The envoys of Baldwin repelled by Michael Paleologos 180
1261 Recovery of Constantinople by the Greeks 181
July Permanent alienation of the East from the West 181
CHAPTER XI.
THE SIXTH CRUSADE.
Chief features of the sixth crusade 182
Depression of the Latins in Palestine 183
1204 Truce between Saphadin and the Christians 183
1210 John of Brienne, titular king of Jerusalem 184
Zeal of Innocent III. in promoting a new crusade 184
Robert of Courcon 185
1215 Fourth council of Lateran 185
1216 Crusade of Andrew, king of Hungary 186
1218 Siege of Damietta 186
Death of Saphadin 186
Terms of peace offered by Coradin 187
Mad rejection of the terms by the crusaders 187
1219 Fall of Damietta, Nov. 5 187
1220 March of the Christians for Cairo 187
The old terms again rejected 187
Ruin of the crusaders 188
1212 Frederick II., grandson of Barbarossa 188
The popes and the emperors 188
Otho of Brunswick 189
1214 Battle of Bouvines 189
1216 Honorius III., pope 189
1221 Loss of Damietta 190
1222 Treaty of Ferentino 190
1225 Treaty of San Germano 191
Frederick, king of Naples, Sicily, and Jerusalem 191
1227 Gregory IX., pope 191
Excommunication of the emperor 193
1228 Departure of Frederick from Brundusium 195
Landing of Frederick at Ptolemais 195
1229 Treaty between Frederick and the sultan Kameel 196
Feb. 18 Frederick at Jerusalem 196
Moderation of the emperor 197
Condemnation of the treaty by Gregory IX. 198
Return of the emperor with the crusaders to Europe 198
Renewed excommunication of the emperor 199
CHAPTER XII.
THE SEVENTH CRUSADE.
Richard, earl of Cornwall, king of the Romans 199
Charges of peculation against the papal collectors 200
1230 Opposition of the pope and the emperor to the new
crusade 200
1239 Arrival of the French crusaders at Acre 201
Their complete failure 201
1240 The English crusade 201
Treaty between Richard of Cornwall and the Egyptian
sultan 201
1242 Invasion of the Korasmians 201
Alliance of the Templars with the Syrians 202
CHAPTER XIII.
THE EIGHTH CRUSADE.
1245 Council of Lyons 202
1226 Louis IX., king of France 203
Louis IX., the pope, and the emperor 205
1245 Assumption of the cross by Louis IX. 207
1248 Departure of Louis from France 208
1249 Capture of Damietta 209
March of the army towards Cairo 209
Total defeat of the forces under the count of Artois 210
1250 The king taken prisoner 211
Firmness of the king 211
Terms of ransom 211
Murder of Turan Shah 212
Release of Louis IX. 212
Pilgrimage of Louis to Nazareth 212
CHAPTER XIV.
THE NINTH CRUSADE.
Comparison of the earlier and later crusades 213
1259 Battle between the Templars and Hospitallers 214
1263 Invasion of Palestine by the Mameluke sultan Bibars 214
Loss of Antioch 214
1270 Second crusade of Louis IX. 215
Death of the king 216
1271 Capture of Nazareth by Edward, son of Henry III. of
England 216
1272 Return of Edward to Europe 217
Vain efforts of Gregory X. to stir up a crusade 217
Claims to the titular kingdom of Jerusalem 217
1291 Loss of Acre 218
CHAPTER XV.
THE SEQUEL OF THE RELIGIOUS WARS.
Gradual decay and extinction of the crusading spirit 219
Persecution and suppression of the Knights Templars 220
The Albigensian crusades 221
1212 The Children’s crusades 222
Indirect results of the crusades 224
_MAP._
GENERAL MAP FOR THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES _To face title-page._
THE CRUSADES.
CHAPTER I.
CAUSES LEADING TO THE CRUSADES.
[Sidenote: The crusades—a series of popular wars.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 1095. Nov.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 1066.]
The Crusades were a series of wars, waged by men who wore on their
garments the badge of the Cross as a pledge binding them to rescue the
Holy Land and the Sepulchre of Christ from the grasp of the unbeliever.
The dream of such an enterprise had long floated before the minds of
keen-sighted popes and passionate enthusiasts: it was realized for the
first time when, after listening to the burning eloquence of Urban II. at
the council of Clermont, the assembled multitude with one voice welcomed
the sacred war as the will of God. If we regard this undertaking as the
simple expression of popular feeling stirred to its inmost depths, we
may ascribe to the struggle to which they thus committed themselves a
character wholly unlike that of any earlier wars waged in Christendom,
or by the powers of Christendom against enemies who lay beyond its pale.
Statesmen (whether popes, kings, or dukes) might have availed themselves
eagerly of the overwhelming impulse imparted by the preaching of Peter
the Hermit to passions long pent up; but no authority of pope, emperor,
or king, could suffice of itself to open the floodgates for the waters
which might sweep away the infidel. In this sense only were men stirred,
whether at the council of Piacenza in 1094, or in that of Clermont, to
a strife of a wholly new kind. If Urban II. gave his blessing to the
missionaries who were to convert the Saracens at the point of the sword,
the papal benediction had been given nearly thirty years before at the
instigation of Hildebrand to the expedition by which the Norman William
hoped to crush the free English people and usurp the throne of the king
whom they had chosen.
[Sidenote: Distinction between the crusades and other wars of the Middle
Ages.]
But the movement of the Norman duke against England was merely the
work of a sovereign well awake to his own interest and confident in
the methods by which he chose to promote it. Under the sacred standard
sent to him by Pope Alexander II. he gathered, indeed, a motley host
of adventurers; but the religious enthusiasm by which these may have
fancied themselves to be animated had reference chiefly to the broad
acres to which they looked forward as their recompense. The great gulf
which separated such an undertaking from the crusade of the hermit Peter
lay in the conviction, deep even to fanaticism, that the wearers of the
Cross had before them an enterprise in which failure, disaster, and
death were not less blessed, not less objects of envy and longing, than
the most brilliant conquests and the most splendid triumphs. They were
hastening to the land where their Divine Master had descended from his
throne in heaven to take on Himself the form of man—where for years the
everlasting Son of the Almighty Father had patiently toiled, healing the
sick, comforting the afflicted, and raising the dead, until at length
He carried, his own Cross up the height of Calvary, and having offered
up his perfect sacrifice, put off the garments of his humiliation when
the earthquake shattered the prison-house of his sepulchre. For them
the whole land had been rendered holy by the tread of his sacred feet:
and the pilgrim who had traced the scenes of his life from his cradle at
Bethlehem to the spot of his ascent from Olivet, might sing the _Nunc
dimittis_, as having with his own eyes seen the divine salvation.
[Sidenote: Absence of local feeling in the earliest Christian traditions.]
Thus the crusade preached by Peter the Hermit, and solemnly sanctioned by
Pope Urban, was rendered possible by the combination of papal authority
with an irresistible popular conviction. That papal authority was the
necessary result of the old imperial tradition of Rome; the popular
conviction was the growth of a tendency which had characterized every
religion professed by Aryan or Semitic nations; and both these causes
were wholly unconnected with the teaching of Christ and of his disciples,
as it is set before us in the New Testament. Far from ascribing special
sanctity to any one spot over another, the emphatic declaration that
the hour was come in which men should worship the Father not merely in
Jerusalem or on the Samaritan mountain, proclaimed a gospel which taught
that all men in all places are alike near to God in whom they live, move,
and have their being. If we turn to the narrative which relates the Acts
of the Apostles, we shall find not a sign of the feeling which regards
Bethlehem, Jerusalem, or Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, or the banks of
the Jordan, as places which of themselves should awaken any enthusiastic
or passionate feeling. The thoughts of the disciples, if we confine
ourselves to this record, were absorbed with more immediate and momentous
concerns. Before their generation should pass away, the Son of Man would
return to judgment, and the dead should be summoned from their graves to
his awful tribunal. Hence any vehement longing for one spot of earth
over another was wretchedly out of place for those who held that the time
was short, and that it behooved those who had wives to be as though they
had none, those that bought as though they possessed not, and those that
wept and rejoiced as though they wept and rejoiced not. Nay, more, with
a feeling almost approaching to impatience, the great apostle of the
Gentiles could put aside the yearnings of a weaker sentiment and declare
that although he had known Christ in the flesh, yet henceforth he would
so know Him no more.
[Sidenote: The Christianity of St. Paul.]
The image, therefore, of the great founder of Christianity was for him
purely spiritual. In the letters which he wrote to the churches formed
by his converts there is not a sign that the thought or the sight of
Bethlehem or Nazareth would awaken in him any deeper feeling than places
wholly destitute of historical associations. If he speaks of Jerusalem,
he never implies that it had for him any special sanctity. His mission
was to preach a faith altogether independent of time and place, and not
only not needing but even rejecting the sensuous aid afforded by visible
memorials of the Master whom he loved.
[Sidenote: The Christianity of the Roman Empire.]
Such was the Christianity of St. Paul; and with such weapons it went
forth to assail and throw down the strongholds of heathenism. Three
centuries later we behold Christianity dominant as the religion of the
Roman Empire; but in its outward aspect and in its practical working it
has undergone a vast and significant change. It cannot be supposed that
this change was wrought at once by the mere fact of its recognition by
the temporal power. The endless debates, which fill the history of early
Christianity, on the relations of the Persons of the Trinity and on the
mystery of the Incarnation, may in some degree have helped to fix the
minds of men on the land where the Saviour had lived, and on the several
scenes of his ministry; but this alone would never have sufficed to work
the revolution which Christianity has manifestly undergone, even before
we reach the age of Constantine. The victory won over heathenism, if not
merely nominal, was at best partial. The religion of the empire knew
nothing of the One Eternal God, who demands from all men a spontaneous
submission to his righteous law, and bids them find their highest good
in his divine love. That religion rested on the might of the Capitoline
Jupiter and the visible majesty of the Emperor; but the real influences
which were at work from the first to modify the Christianity of St. Paul
lay in the lower strata of society, in the modes of thought and feeling
prevalent among the masses who furnished the converts of the first two
or three centuries. In these converts we cannot doubt that there was
wrought a real change,—a change manifest chiefly in the conviction that
the divine law is binding on all, and that the state of things in the
Roman world was unspeakably shameful. In the Jesus whom Paul preached
they beheld the righteous teacher who condemned the iniquities of godless
rulers and a corrupt people, the avenger of their unjust deeds, the
loving Redeemer in whose arms the weary and heavy-laden might find rest,
the awful Judge who should be seen at the end of the world on his great
white throne, with all the kindreds of mankind awaiting their doom before
Him. The personal human love thus kindled in them turned only into a
different channel thoughts and feelings which it would need centuries to
root out.
[Sidenote: Localism of heathen religions.]
These thoughts and feelings had been fed by that tendency to localize
incidents in the supposed history of gods or heroes which is the most
prominent characteristic of all heathen religions; and of the vast crowd
of these heathen religions or superstitions there was, if we may trust
the statements of Roman writers, scarcely one which had not its adherents
and votaries at Rome. Here were gathered the priests and worshippers of
the Egyptian Isis, the virgin mother of Osiris, the god who rose again
after his crucifixion to gladden the earth with his splendour; here might
be seen the adorers of the Persian sun-god Mithras, born at the winter
solstice, and growing in strength until he wins his victory over the
powers of darkness after the vernal equinox. But this idea of the death
and resurrection of the lord of light was no new importation brought in
by the theology of Egypt or Persia. The story of the Egyptian Osiris was
repeated in the Greek stories of Sarpedon and Memnon, of Tithonos and
Asklepios (Æsculapius), of the Teutonic Baldur and Woden (Odin). The
birthplace of these deities, the scenes associated with their traditional
exploits, became holy spots, each with its own consecrating legends, and
not a few attracting to themselves vast gatherings of pilgrims.
[Sidenote: Influence of these local religions on Christianity.]
It was not wonderful therefore that the worshippers of these or other
like gods should, on professing the faith of Christ, carry with them all
that they could retain of their old belief without utterly contradicting
the new; that his nativity should be celebrated at the time when the sun
begins to rise in the heavens, and his resurrection when the victory of
light over darkness is achieved in the spring. The worshipper of the
Egyptian Amoun, the ram, carried his old associations with him when
he became a follower of the Lamb of God; and the burst of light which
heralded the return of the Maiden to the Mourning Mother in the Greek
mysteries of Eleusis was reproduced in the miracle still repeated year by
year by the patriarch of Jerusalem when he announces the descent of the
sacred fire in the sepulchre of Christ.
[Sidenote: Growth of local associations in Palestine.]
Thus for the Christians of the third century, if not of the second,
Judæa or Palestine became a holy land; and with the growth of devotion
to the human 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 the
certainty of the verification was never questioned by the thousands who
felt that the sight of these places brought them nearer to heaven and was
in itself a purification of their souls. They could follow the Redeemer
from the cave in which He was born and where the Wise Men of the East
laid before Him their royal offerings, to the mount from which He uttered
his blessings on the pure, the merciful, and the peacemakers, and thence
to the other mount on which He offered his perfect sacrifice for the sins
of the whole world. The spots associated with his passion, his burial,
his resurrection, called forth emotions of passionate veneration which
were intensified by the alleged discovery of the cross on which He had
suffered, together with the two crosses on which the thieves had been
condemned to die. If the presence of the tablet containing the title
inscribed by Pontius Pilate still left it uncertain to which of the
crosses that tablet belonged, and to which therefore the homage of the
faithful should be paid, all doubt was removed when a woman at the point
of death on whom the touch of two of these crosses had no effect was
restored to strength and youth by the touch of the third.
[Sidenote: Growth of pilgrimage to the holy places of Palestine.]
[Sidenote: Gradual decay of spiritual religion.]
The splendid churches raised by the devout zeal of Constantine and his
mother Helena over the cave at Bethlehem and the sepulchre at Jerusalem
became for the Christians that which the sacred stone at Mecca and
the tomb of the prophet at Medina became afterwards for the followers
of Islam; nor can we be surprised if the emperor whose previous life
had been marked by special devotion to the Greek and Roman sun-god
transferred the characteristics of Apollon (Apollo) to the meek and
merciful Jesus whose teaching to the last he utterly misapprehended. The
purpose which drew to Palestine the long lines of pilgrims, which each
year increased in numbers, was not the mere aimless love of wandering
which is supposed to furnish the motive for Tartar pilgrimages in our
own as in former ages. The Aryan, so far as we know, was never a nomadic
race; but we can understand the eagerness even of a stationary population
to undertake a long and dangerous journey, if the mere making of it
should insure the remission of their sins. Nothing less than this was
the pilgrim led to expect, who had traversed land and sea to bathe in
the Jordan and offer up his prayers at the birthplace and tomb of his
Master. A few men, of keener discernment and wider culture, might see the
mischiefs lurking in this belief, and protest against the superstition.
Augustine, the great doctor whose ‘Confessions’ have made his name
familiar to thousands who know nothing of his life or teaching, might bid
Christians remember that righteousness was not to be sought in the East
nor mercy in the West, and that voyages are useless to carry us to Him
with whom a hearty faith makes us immediately present. In these protests
he might be upheld by men like Gregory of Nyssa and Jerome; but Jerome,
while he dwelt on the uselessness of pilgrimage and the absurdity of
supposing that prayers offered in one place could be more acceptable
than the same prayers offered in another, took up his abode in a cave
at Bethlehem, and there discoursed to Roman ladies, who had crossed the
sea to listen to his splendid eloquence. Heaven, he insisted, was as
accessible from Britain as from Palestine: but his actions contradicted
his words, and his example exercised a more potent influence than his
precept. The purely spiritual faith on which Jerome laid stress was
as much beyond the spirit of the age as the moral feelings of a later
age were behind those of the woman who in the crusade of St. Louis was
seen carrying in her right hand a porringer of fire, and in her left a
bottle of water. With the fire she wished, as Joinville tells us, to
burn paradise, with the water to drown hell, so that none might do good
for the reward of the one, nor avoid evil from fear of the other, since
every good ought to be done from the perfect and sincere love which man
owes to his Creator, who is the supreme good. Such a tone of thought
was in ludicrous discord with the temper which brought Jerome himself
to Bethlehem, and which soon began to fill the land with those who had
nothing of Jerome’s culture and the sobriety which in whatever degree
must spring from it.
[Sidenote: Encouragement given to pilgrimages.]
[Sidenote: Trade in relics.]
[Sidenote: Stimulus given by pilgrimages to commerce with the East.]
The contagion spread. From almost every country of Europe wanderers
took their way to Palestine, under the conviction that the shirt which
they wore when they entered the holy city would, if laid by to be used
as their winding-sheet, convey them (like the carpet of Solomon in
the Arabian tale) at once to heaven. An enterprise so laudable roused
the sympathy and quickened the charity of the faithful. The pilgrim
seldom lacked food and shelter, and houses of repose or entertainment
were raised for his comfort on the stages of his journey as well as in
the city which was the goal of his pilgrimage. Here he was welcomed
in the costly house which had been raised for his reception by the
munificence of Pope Gregory the Great. If he died during his absence,
his kinsfolk envied rather than bewailed his lot: if he returned, he
had their reverence as one who had washed away his sins, and still more
perhaps as one who had brought away in his wallet relics of value so
vast and of virtue so great that the touch of them made the journey to
Palestine almost a superfluous ceremony. Wherever these pilgrims went,
these fragments of the true cross might be found; and the happy faith
of those who gave in exchange for them more than their weight in gold
never stopped to think that the barren log which was supposed to have
produced them must in truth have spread abroad its branches wider than
the most magnificent cedar in Libanus. Nor probably, even in the earliest
ages, was the traffic consequent on these pilgrimages confined to holy
things. The East was not only the cradle of Christianity, but a land rich
in spices and silks, in gold and jewels: and the keen-sighted merchant,
looking to solid profits on earth, followed closely on the steps of the
devotee who sought his reward in heaven.
[Sidenote: The long struggle between Rome and Persia.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 611. Capture of Jerusalem by the Persian king, Khosru
II.]
[Sidenote: Persian invasion of Egypt.]
The first interruption to the peaceful and prosperous fortunes of
pilgrims and merchants was caused by one of the periodical ebbs and
flows which for nearly seven hundred years had marked the struggle
between the powers of Persia and of Rome. The kings of the restored
Persian kingdom had striven to avenge on the West the wrongs committed
by Alexander the Great, if not those even of earlier invaders; and the
enterprise which Khosru Nushirvan had taken in hand was carried on forty
years later by his grandson Khosru (Chosroes) II. Almost at the outset
of his irresistible course Jerusalem fell, nor was it the fault of the
Persians that the great churches of Helena and Constantine were not
destroyed utterly by fire. Ninety thousand Christians, it is said, were
put to death: but, according to the feeling of the age, a greater loss
was sustained in the carrying off of the true cross into Persia. From
Palestine the wave of Persian conquest spread southward into Egypt, and
the greatness of Khosru seemed to be unbounded, when from an unknown
citizen of Mecca he received the bidding to acknowledge the unity of the
Godhead and to own Mahomed as the prophet of God. The Persian king tore
the letter to pieces, and the man of Mecca, whose successors were to
carry the crescent to Jerusalem and Damascus, to the banks of the Nile
and the mountains of Spain, warned him that his kingdom should be treated
as he had treated his letter.
[Sidenote: Campaigns of the Emperor Heraclius.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 622-625.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 627. Battle of Nineveh.]
For the present the signs of this catastrophe were not to be seen. The
Roman emperor was compelled to sign an ignominious peace and to pay a
yearly tribute to the sovereign of Persia. But Heraclius (Herakleios)
woke suddenly from the sluggishness which marked the earlier years
of his reign. The Persians were defeated among the defiles of Mount
Taurus, and the destruction of the birthplace of Zoroaster offered
some compensation for the mischief done to the churches of Helena and
Constantine. Two years later the Roman emperor carried his arms into the
heart of the enemy’s land; and during the battle of Nineveh, in which he
won a splendid victory, he slew with his own hands the Persian general
Rhazates. Khosru fled across the Tigris; but he could not escape from the
plots of his son, and his death in a dungeon ended the glories of the
Sassanid dynasty, under whom the Persian power had, in the third century
of our era, revived from the death sleep into which it had sunk after the
conquests of Alexander.
[Sidenote: A. D. 628.]
[Sidenote: Restoration of the true cross by the Persians.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 629. Pilgrimage of Heraclius to Jerusalem.]
With Siroes, the son and murderer of Khosru, the Roman emperor concluded
a peace which not merely delivered all his subjects from captivity, but
repaired the loss which the church of the Holy Sepulchre had sustained
by the theft of the true cross. The great object of pilgrimage was thus
restored to Jerusalem, and thither Heraclius (Herakleios) during the
following year betook himself to pay his vows of thanksgiving. With
the pageant which marked this ceremony the splendour of his reign was
closed. Before his death the followers of Mahomed had deprived him of the
provinces which he had wrested from the Persians.
[Sidenote: A. D. 637. Conquest of Palestine by Omar.]
Eight years only had passed after the visit of Heraclius (Herakleios) to
Jerusalem, when the armies which had already seized Damascus advanced
to the siege of the Holy City. A blockade of four months convinced the
patriarch Sophronios that there was no hope of withstanding the force
of Islam: but he demanded the presence of the caliph himself at the
ratification of the treaty which was to secure a second sacred capital to
the disciples of the Prophet. After some debate his request was granted;
and Omar, who on the death of Abubekr had been chosen as the vicegerent
of Mahomed, set out from Medina on a camel, which carried for him his
leathern water-bottle, his bags of corn and dates, and his wooden dish.
[Sidenote: Terms of the treaty made by Omar with the Christians of
Jerusalem.]
The terms imposed by the caliph sufficiently marked the subjection of
the Christians, but they imposed no severe hardships and perhaps showed
a large toleration. The Christians were to build no new churches, and
they were to admit Mahomedans into those which they already had, whether
by day or by night. The cross was no longer to be seen on the exterior
of their buildings or to be paraded in the streets. The church-bells
should be tolled only, not rung. The use of saddles and of weapons was
altogether interdicted, and the Christians, distinguished from their
conquerors by their attire, were to show their respect for the latter
by rising up to them if they were sitting. On these conditions the
Christians were not only to be safe in their persons and fortunes, but
undisturbed in the exercise of their religion and in the use of their
churches.
[Sidenote: Omar and the patriarch Sophronios.]
For the observance of this last stipulation the rugged and uncouth
conqueror showed a greater care than the patriarch who regarded his
presence in the church of the Resurrection as the abomination of
desolation in the holy place. The hour of prayer came, and Omar asked
Sophronios where he might offer his devotions. ‘Here,’ answered the
patriarch; but Omar positively refused, and repeated his refusal when he
was led away into the church of Constantine. At last he knelt down on the
steps outside that church, and afterwards told the patriarch that had
he worshipped within the building, the document securing its use to the
Christians would have been worthless. His words were verified by the zeal
of his followers, who insisted on inclosing within a mosque the steps on
which he had prayed: but the mosque which bears Omar’s name rose over the
great sacrificial altar of the temple, which passed for Jacob’s stone.
[Sidenote: Effects of Arabian conquest on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.]
This second conquest may have again checked the rush of pilgrims to the
Holy Land; but the difficulties which it placed in their way only added
to the glory and the benefits of the enterprise: and, after all, the
victory of Omar did little more than share the holy city between two
races each of which acknowledged its sanctity and reverenced the relics
of the righteous men whose bodies reposed beneath its sacred soil. Nor
had the Christians any stronger ground of complaint than that the Saviour
whom they worshipped was regarded by their conquerors as a prophet only
inferior, if not equal, to the founder of Islam.
[Sidenote: Uninterrupted continuance of pilgrimage.]
Nearly four centuries had passed away after the submission of Sophronios
to Omar; and during this long series of generations the West had without
let or hindrance sent forth its troops of pilgrims, in whose train
merchants may have found sources of profit for more worldly callings.
If the palmy days during which the wanderers might regard themselves as
practically lords of the land through which they travelled had passed
away, they underwent at the worst nothing which could greatly excite
their anger or rouse the indignation of Christendom.
[Sidenote: A. D. 1010. Ravages of the Egyptian Sultan Hakem in Jerusalem.]
[Sidenote: Persecution of Jews in Europe.]
Nor was this state of things materially changed by the furious
onslaught of Hakem, the mad Fatimite sultan of Egypt, when, spurred on
by a bigotry unknown to his predecessors, he resolved to destroy the
Christian sanctuary in Jerusalem. The rule of these earlier sovereigns
of Egypt had been more beneficial to the Christians than that of the
Abbasside caliphs of Bagdad. But Hakem cared nothing for the worldly
interests of his kingdom or of the profits to be derived from trade with
the unbeliever; and his soldiers were busied on the dignified task of
demolishing the church of the Resurrection, and in attempts to destroy
with their hammers the very cave in which, as it was supposed, the body
of the Saviour had been laid. In this task they had but a very partial
success, and to Hakem probably the suspension for a single year of the
descent of the sacred fire scarcely outweighed the risks of a combined
attack from the maritime powers of Christendom. For the present no such
alliance was threatened; but a cruel persecution of the Jews in many
Christian cities was a symptom of the temper which was placing a great
gulf between men who professed nevertheless to worship the same Almighty
Father.
[Sidenote: Tax levied on pilgrims at the gates of Jerusalem.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 1000. Expectation of the end of the world.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 997. Conversion of Hungary under King Stephen.]
After this violent but transient storm the condition of the pilgrims
became much what it had been before, except that a toll was now
levied on each pilgrim before he was suffered to enter the gates of
Jerusalem; but this impost may have been rather welcomed than resented
by the Christians, as it gave to the richer among them an opportunity
of discharging it for their poorer brethren, and so of securing for
themselves a higher degree of merit. The world, too, seemed to have taken
a new lease of existence, and everything appeared to promise a long
continuance of comparative peace. Ten years before, all Christendom was
fluttering with the expectation of immediate judgment. At the close of
the millennium, which came to an end with the year 1000, a belief almost
universal looked forward to the summons which would call the dead from
their graves and cut short the course of a weary and sin-laden world. But
the tale of years had been completed, the sun continued to rise and set
as it had risen and set before, and the flood of pilgrims soon began to
stream towards the East in greater volume than ever. Men of all ranks and
classes left their homes to offer up their prayers at the tomb of Christ:
bishops abandoned their dioceses, princes their dominions, to visit the
scenes where the Redeemer had suffered and where He had achieved his
triumph. More numerous, more earnest, more zealous than all, were the
Franks or the Frenchmen, whose name became henceforth in the East the
common designation of all Europeans. For the weak and inexperienced,
for the women and the youths, who pledged themselves to the enterprise,
there might be special and grave dangers; nor were the strongest assured
against serious, if not fatal, disasters. With thirty horsemen fully
equipped, Ingulf, a secretary of William the Conqueror, set out on his
journey to the Holy Land. Of these twenty returned on foot, with no other
possessions than their wallet and their staff. But their losses had been
caused probably by no human enemies, and the men who had died could
claim the credit of martyrdom only in the sense in which it is accorded
to the Holy Innocents massacred by the decree of Herod. On the whole,
the difficulties of the enterprise were as much smoothed down as in a
rude and ill-governed age they could well be. The conversion of Hungary
opened a safe highway across the heart of Europe, and the pilgrims had a
defender, as well as a friend, in St. Stephen, the apostle of his kingdom.
[Sidenote: Advance of the Seljukian Turks.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 1092. Division of the Seljukian empire.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 325.]
[Sidenote: Appeal of the Greek Emperor Alexios to Western Christendom.]
But a change far greater than that which had been wrought by Omar was to
be effected by a power which had been working its way from the distant
East and menacing the existence of the Empire itself. From the deserts
of Central Asia the Seljukian Turks had advanced westwards, overrunning
the kingdoms of the Persian empire, and subjugating Asia Minor, the
inheritance of the Cæsars of Rome. In this task they received no slight
help from the neutrality of a great part of the Christian population,
in whom financial exactions and ecclesiastical tyranny had awakened
feelings of strong discontent, if not of burning indignation. The rulers
of Byzantium had, indeed, done all that they could to make the way smooth
for the invaders. The accumulation of land in the hands of a few owners
had dangerously diminished the number of inhabitants; nor was it long
before the Turks were in a majority throughout Cappadocia, Phrygia and
Galatia, and were enabled successfully to resist the crusading hosts
in countries which they had conquered but as yesterday. The Seljukian
sovereigns who had advanced thus far on the road to Constantinople, chose
as their abode that city of Nice (Nikaia, Nicæa) in which the first
general council of Christendom had defined the Catholic faith on the
doctrine of the Trinity in Unity. Here these fierce invaders proclaimed
the mission of Mahomet as the prophet of God, and issued the decrees
which assigned Christian churches to profanation or destruction, and
Christian youths and maidens to a disgraceful and shameful slavery.
Mountains visible from the dome of Sancta Sophia were already within the
borders of Turkish territory. The danger seemed imminent, and Alexios,
the Emperor of the East, invoked the aid of Latin Christendom: but the
fire was not yet kindled, and for the time his appeal was made in vain.
[Sidenote: A. D. 1076. Seljukian conquest of Jerusalem.]
[Sidenote: Increased burdens and sufferings of the Christian pilgrims.]
[Sidenote: Decline of commerce with the East.]
[Sidenote: Oppression of the Christians of Palestine.]
[Sidenote: General indignation felt in Western Christendom.]
[Sidenote: Need of a religious sanction to sustain and direct this
feeling.]
No long time, however, had passed before the Seljukian Toucush was master
of Jerusalem; and the Christians learnt to their cost that servitude to
the fierce wanderers from the northern deserts was very different from
submission to the rugged and uncultured Omar. The lawful toll levied on
the pilgrims gave way before a system of extortion and violent robbery
carried out in every part of the land; and the mere journey to Jerusalem
involved dangers from which the bravest might well shrink. Insults to
the persons of the pilgrims were accompanied by insults, harder to be
borne, offered to the holy places and to those who ministered in them.
The sacred offices were savagely interrupted, and the patriarch, dragged
by his hair along the pavement, was thrown into a dungeon, pending the
payment of an exorbitant ransom. For the pilgrims themselves there
might be dangers as they made their way through Europe: but these were
increased tenfold on the eastern side of the Hellespont. Thus far they
had journeyed in comparative security, and the merchants who sought to
combine profit with devotion added to that security by their numbers and
their prudence. The Easter fair of Jerusalem had drawn to the ports of
Palestine the fleets of Genoa and Pisa, and had sufficiently rewarded the
munificence of the merchants of Amalfi, the founders of the hospital of
St. John. But commerce has no liking for perils of flood and field: and
with the risk of disaster these fleets disappeared and the caravans were
confined to those for whom the sanctuary of Jerusalem was a goal to be
reached at all costs. These went forth still by hundreds; they returned
by tens or units to recount the miseries and wanton cruelties which
they had undergone, and to draw fearful pictures of the savage tyranny
exercised over the Christians of Jerusalem and of the East generally. The
church of Christ was in the iron grasp of the infidel, and the blood of
his martyrs cried aloud for vengeance. Throughout the length and breadth
of Christendom a fierce indignation was stirring the hearts of men, and
the pent-up waters needed only guidance to rush forth as a flood over the
lands defiled by the unbeliever. But unless the enterprise was to run to
waste in random efforts, it must have the solemn sanction of religion.
The people might be ready, but popular fury acting by itself will soon
spend its strength like the hurrying tempest. Princes might be willing
for a time to abandon their dominions: but the pressure of difficulties
abroad and at home would soon make them grow weary of the task. There
must be a constraining power to keep them to their vows by sanctions
which stretched beyond the present life to the life after death; and
these sanctions could come only from him who held the keys of the kingdom
of heaven, and whose seat was the rock of Peter, Prince of the Apostles.