this juvenile Crusade were such as have been stated, for, upon being
informed that numbers of them had taken the Cross, and were marching to
the Holy Land, he exclaimed, "These children are awake, while we
sleep!" He imagined, apparently, that the mind of Europe was still bent
on the recovery of Palestine, and that the zeal of these children
implied a sort of reproach upon his own lukewarmness. Very soon
afterwards, he bestirred himself with more activity, and sent an
encyclical letter to the clergy of Christendom, urging them to preach a
new Crusade. As usual, a number of adventurous nobles, who had nothing
else to do, enrolled themselves with their retainers. At a council of
Lateran, which was held while these bands were collecting, Innocent
announced that he himself would take the Cross, and lead the armies of
Christ to the defence of his sepulchre. In all probability he would
have done so, for he was zealous enough; but death stepped in, and
destroyed his project ere it was ripe. His successor encouraged the
Crusade, though he refused to accompany it; and the armament continued
in France, England, and Germany. No leaders of any importance joined it
from the former countries. Andrew, King of Hungary, was the only
monarch who had leisure or inclination to leave his dominions. The
Dukes of Austria and Bavaria joined him with a considerable army of
Germans, and marching to Spalatro, took ship for Cyprus, and from
thence to Acre.
The whole conduct of the King of Hungary was marked by pusillanimity
and irresolution. He found himself in the Holy Land at the head of a
very efficient army; the Saracens were taken by surprise, and were for
some weeks unprepared to offer any resistance to his arms. He defeated
the first body sent to oppose him, and marched towards Mount Tabor,
with the intention of seizing upon an important fortress which the
Saracens had recently constructed. He arrived without impediment at the
Mount, and might have easily taken it; but a sudden fit of cowardice
came over him, and he returned to Acre without striking a blow. He very
soon afterwards abandoned the enterprise altogether, and returned to
his own country.
Tardy reinforcements arrived at intervals from Europe; and the Duke of
Austria, now the chief leader of the expedition, had still sufficient
forces at his command to trouble the Saracens very seriously. It was
resolved by him, in council with the other chiefs, that the whole
energy of the Crusade should be directed upon Egypt, the seat of the
Saracen power in its relationship to Palestine, and from whence were
drawn the continual levies that were brought against them by the
Sultan. Damietta, which commanded the river Nile, and was one of the
most important cities of Egypt, was chosen as the first point of
attack. The siege was forthwith commenced, and carried on with
considerable energy, until the crusaders gained possession of a tower,
which projected into the middle of the stream, and was looked upon as
the very key of the city.
While congratulating themselves upon this success, and wasting in
revelry the time which should have been employed in pushing the
advantage, they received the news of the death of the wise Sultan
Saphaddin. His two sons, Camhel and Cohreddin, divided his empire
between them. Syria and Palestine fell to the share of Cohreddin, while
Egypt was consigned to the other brother, who had for some time
exercised the functions of Lieutenant of that country. Being unpopular
among the Egyptians, they revolted against him, giving the crusaders a
finer opportunity for making a conquest than they had ever enjoyed
before. But, quarrelsome and licentious as they had been from time
immemorial, they did not see that the favourable moment had come; or,
seeing, could not profit by it. While they were revelling or fighting
among themselves, under the walls of Damietta, the revolt was put down,
and Camhel firmly established on the throne of Egypt. In conjunction
with his brother, Cohreddin, his next care was to drive the Christians
from Damietta, and, for upwards of three months, they bent all their
efforts to throw in supplies to the besieged, or draw on the besiegers
to a general engagement. In neither were they successful; and the
famine in Damietta became so dreadful, that vermin of every description
were thought luxuries, and sold for exorbitant prices. A dead dog
became more valuable than a live ox in time of prosperity. Unwholesome
food brought on disease, and the city could hold out no longer, for
absolute want of men to defend the walls.
Cohreddin and Camhel were alike interested in the preservation of so
important a position, and, convinced of the certain fate of the city,
they opened a conference with the crusading chiefs, offering to yield
the whole of Palestine to the Christians, upon the sole condition of
the evacuation of Egypt. With a blindness and wrong-headedness almost
incredible, these advantageous terms were refused, chiefly through the
persuasion of Cardinal Pelagius, an ignorant and obstinate fanatic, who
urged upon the Duke of Austria and the French and English leaders, that
infidels never kept their word; that their offers were deceptive, and
merely intended to betray. The conferences were brought to an abrupt
termination by the crusaders, and a last attack made upon the walls of
Damietta. The besieged made but slight resistance, for they had no
hope, and the Christians entered the city, and found, out of seventy
thousand people, but three thousand remaining: so fearful had been the
ravages of the twin fiends, plague and famine.
Several months were spent in Damietta. The climate either weakened the
frames or obscured the understandings of the Christians; for, after
their conquest, they lost all energy, and abandoned themselves more
unscrupulously than ever to riot and debauchery. John of Brienne, who,
by right of his wife, was the nominal sovereign of Jerusalem, was so
disgusted with the pusillanimity, arrogance, and dissensions of the
chiefs, that he withdrew entirely from them, and retired to Acre.
Large bodies also returned to Europe, and Cardinal Pelagius was left at
liberty to blast the whole enterprise whenever it pleased him. He
managed to conciliate John of Brienne, and marched forward with these
combined forces to attack Cairo. It was only when he had approached
within a few hours' march of that city, that he discovered the
inadequacy of his army. He turned back immediately, but the Nile had
risen since his departure; the sluices were opened, and there was no
means of reaching Damietta. In this strait, he sued for the peace he
had formerly spurned, and, happily for himself, found the generous
brothers, Camhel and Cohreddin, still willing to grant it. Damietta was
soon afterwards given up, and the Cardinal returned to Europe. John of
Brienne retired to Acre, to mourn the loss of his kingdom, embittered
against the folly of his pretended friends, who had ruined where they
should have aided him. And thus ended the sixth Crusade.
The seventh was more successful. Frederic II, Emperor of Germany, had
often vowed to lead his armies to the defence of Palestine, but was as
often deterred from the journey by matters of more pressing importance.
Cohreddin was a mild and enlightened monarch, and the Christians of
Syria enjoyed repose and toleration under his rule: but John of Brienne
was not willing to lose his kingdom without an effort; and the Popes in
Europe were ever willing to embroil the nations for the sake of
extending their own power. No monarch of that age was capable of
rendering more effective assistance than Frederic of Germany. To
inspire him with more zeal, it was proposed that he should wed the
young Princess, Violante, daughter of John of Brienne, and heiress of
the kingdom of Jerusalem. Frederic consented with joy and eagerness.
The Princess was brought from Acre to Rome without delay, and her
marriage celebrated on a scale of great magnificence. Her father, John
of Brienne, abdicated all his rights in favour of his son-in-law, and
Jerusalem had once more a king, who had not only the will, but the
power, to enforce his claims. Preparations for the new crusade were
immediately commenced, and in the course of six months the Emperor was
at the head of a well-disciplined army of sixty thousand men. Matthew
Paris informs us, that an army of the same amount was gathered in
England; and most of the writers upon the Crusades adopt his statement.
When John of Brienne was in England, before his daughter's marriage
with the Emperor was thought of, praying for the aid of Henry III. and
his nobles to recover his lost kingdom, he did not meet with much
encouragement. Grafton, in his Chronicle, says, "he departed again
without any great comfort." But when a man of more influence in
European politics appeared upon the scene, the English nobles were as
ready to sacrifice themselves in the cause as they had been in the time
of Coeur de Lion.
The army of Frederic encamped at Brundusium; but a pestilential disease
having made its appearance among them, their departure was delayed for
several months. In the mean time the Empress Violante died in
child-bed. John of Brienne, who had already repented of his abdication,
and was besides incensed against Frederic for many acts of neglect and
insult, no sooner saw the only tie which bound them, severed by the
death of his daughter, than he began to bestir himself, and make
interest with the Pope to undo what he had done, and regain the
honorary crown he had renounced. Pope Gregory the Ninth, a man of a
proud, unconciliating, and revengeful character, owed the Emperor a
grudge for many an act of disobedience to his authority, and encouraged
the overtures of John of Brienne more than he should have done.
Frederic, however, despised them both, and, as soon as his army was
convalescent, set sail for Acre. He had not been many days at sea, when
he was himself attacked with the malady, and obliged to return to
Otranto, the nearest port. Gregory, who had by this time decided in the
interest of John of Brienne, excommunicated the Emperor for returning
from so holy an expedition on any pretext whatever. Frederic at first
treated the excommunication with supreme contempt; but when he got
well, he gave his Holiness to understand that he was not to be outraged
with impunity, and sent some of his troops to ravage the Papal
territories. This, however, only made the matter worse, and Gregory
despatched messengers to Palestine, forbidding the faithful, under
severe pains and penalties, to hold any intercourse with the
excommunicated Emperor. Thus between them both, the scheme which they
had so much at heart bade fair to be as effectually ruined as even the
Saracens could have wished. Frederic still continued his zeal in the
Crusade, for he was now King of Jerusalem, and fought for himself, and
not for Christendom, or its representative, Pope Gregory. Hearing that
John of Brienne was preparing to leave Europe, he lost no time in
taking his own departure, and arrived safely at Acre. It was here that
he first experienced the evil effects of excommunication. The
Christians of Palestine refused to aid him in any way, and looked with
distrust, if not with abhorrence, upon him. The Templars, Hospitallers,
and other knights, shared at first the general feeling; but they were
not men to yield a blind obedience to a distant potentate, especially
when it compromised their own interests. When, therefore, Frederic
prepared to march upon Jerusalem without them, they joined his banners
to a man.
It is said, that previous to quitting Europe, the German Emperor had
commenced a negotiation with the Sultan Camhel for the restoration of
the Holy Land, and that Camhel, who was jealous of the ambition of his
brother Cohreddin, was willing to stipulate to that effect, on
condition of being secured by Frederic in the possession of the more
important territory of Egypt. But before the crusaders reached
Palestine, Camhel was relieved from all fears by the death of his
brother. He nevertheless did not think it worth while to contest with
the crusaders the barren corner of the earth which had already been
dyed with so much Christian and Saracen blood, and proposed a truce of
three years, only stipulating, in addition, that the Moslems should be
allowed to worship freely in the Temple of Jerusalem. This happy
termination did not satisfy the bigoted Christians of Palestine. The
tolerance they fought for themselves, they were not willing to extend
to others, and they complained bitterly of the privilege of free
worship allowed to their opponents. Unmerited good fortune had made
them insolent, and they contested the right of the Emperor to become a
party to any treaty, as long as he remained under the ecclesiastical
ban. Frederic was disgusted with his new subjects; but, as the Templars
and Hospitallers remained true to him, he marched to Jerusalem to be
crowned. All the churches were shut against him, and he could not even
find a priest to officiate at his coronation. He had despised the Papal
authority too long to quail at it now, when it was so unjustifiably
exerted, and, as there was nobody to crown him, he very wisely crowned
himself. He took the royal diadem from the altar with his own hands,
and boldly and proudly placed it on his brow. No shouts of an
applauding populace made the welkin ring, no hymns of praise and
triumph resounded from the ministers of religion; but a thousand swords
started from their scabbards, to testify that their owners would defend
the new monarch to the death.
It was hardly to be expected that he would renounce for any long period
the dominion of his native land for the uneasy crown and barren soil of
Palestine. He had seen quite enough of his new subjects before he was
six months among them, and more important interests called him home.
John of Brienne, openly leagued with Pope Gregory against him, was
actually employed in ravaging his territories at the head of a papal
army. This intelligence decided his return. As a preliminary step, he
made those who had contemned his authority feel, to their sorrow, that
he was their master. He then set sail, loaded with the curses of
Palestine. And thus ended the seventh Crusade, which, in spite of every
obstacle and disadvantage, had been productive of more real service to
the Holy Land than any that had gone before; a result solely
attributable to the bravery of Frederic and the generosity of the
Sultan Camhel.
Soon after the Emperor's departure a new claimant started for the
throne of Jerusalem, in the person of Alice, Queen of Cyprus, and
half-sister of the Mary who, by her marriage, had transferred her right
to John of Brienne. The grand military orders, however, clung to
Frederic, and Alice was obliged to withdraw.
So peaceful a termination to the Crusade did not give unmixed pleasure
in Europe. The chivalry of France and England were unable to rest, and
long before the conclusion of the truce, were collecting their armies
for an eighth expedition. In Palestine, also, the contentment was far
from universal. Many petty Mahomedan states in the immediate vicinity
were not parties to the truce, and harassed the frontier towns
incessantly. The Templars, ever turbulent, waged bitter war with the
Sultan of Aleppo, and in the end were almost exterminated. So great was
the slaughter among them that Europe resounded with the sad story of
their fate, and many a noble knight took arms to prevent the total
destruction of an order associated with so many high and inspiring
remembrances. Camhel, seeing the preparations that were making, thought
that his generosity had been sufficiently shown, and the very day the
truce was at an end assumed the offensive, and marching forward to
Jerusalem took possession of it, after routing the scanty forces of the
Christians. Before this intelligence reached Europe a large body of
crusaders was on the march, headed by the King of Navarre, the Duke of
Burgundy, the Count de Bretagne, and other leaders. On their arrival,
they learned that Jerusalem had been taken, but that the Sultan was
dead, and his kingdom torn by rival claimants to the supreme power. The
dissensions of their foes ought to have made them united, but, as in
all previous Crusades, each feudal chief was master of his own host,
and acted upon his own responsibility, and without reference to any
general plan. The consequence was that nothing could be done. A
temporary advantage was gained by one leader, who had no means of
improving it, while another was defeated, without means of retrieving
himself. Thus the war lingered till the battle of Gaza, when the King
of Navarre was defeated with great loss, and compelled to save himself
from total destruction by entering into a hard and oppressive treaty
with the Emir of Karac.
At this crisis aid arrived from England, commanded by Richard Earl of
Cornwall, the namesake of Coeur de Lion, and inheritor of his valour.
His army was strong, and full of hope. They had confidence in
themselves and in their leader, and looked like men accustomed to
victory. Their coming changed the aspect of affairs. The new Sultan of
Egypt was at war with the Sultan of Damascus, and had not forces to
oppose two enemies so powerful. He therefore sent messengers to meet
the English Earl, offering an exchange of prisoners and the complete
cession of the Holy Land. Richard, who had not come to fight for the
mere sake of fighting, agreed at once to terms so advantageous, and
became the deliverer of Palestine without striking a blow. The Sultan
of Egypt then turned his whole force against his Moslem enemies, and
the Earl of Cornwall returned to Europe. Thus ended the eighth Crusade,
the most beneficial of all. Christendom had no further pretence for
sending her fierce levies to the East. To all appearance, the holy wars
were at an end: the Christians had entire possession of Jerusalem,
Tripoli, Antioch, Edessa, Acre, Jaffa, and, in fact, of nearly all
Judea; and, could they have been at peace among themselves, they might
have overcome, without great difficulty, the jealousy and hostility of
their neighhours. A circumstance, as unforeseen as it was disastrous,
blasted this fair prospect, and reillumed, for the last time, the
fervour and fury of the Crusades.
Gengis Khan and his successors had swept over Asia like a tropical
storm, overturning in their progress the landmarks of ages. Kingdom
after kingdom was cast down as they issued, innumerable, from the far
recesses of the North and East, and, among others, the empire of
Korasmin was overrun by these all-conquering hordes. The Korasmins, a
fierce, uncivilized race, thus driven from their homes, spread
themselves, in their turn, over the south of Asia with fire and sword,
in search of a resting place. In their impetuous course they directed
themselves towards Egypt, whose Sultan, unable to withstand the swarm
that had cast their longing eyes on the fertile valleys of the Nile,
endeavoured to turn them from their course. For this purpose, he sent
emissaries to Barbaquan, their leader, inviting them to settle in
Palestine; and the offer being accepted by the wild horde, they entered
the country before the Christians received the slightest intimation of
their coming. It was as sudden as it was overwhelming. Onwards, like
the simoom, they came, burning and slaying, and were at the walls of
Jerusalem before the inhabitants had time to look round them. They
spared neither life nor property; they slew women and children, and
priests at the altar, and profaned even the graves of those who had
slept for ages. They tore down every vestige of the Christian faith,
and committed horrors unparalleled in the history of warfare. About
seven thousand of the inhabitants of Jerusalem sought safety in
retreat; but before they were out of sight, the banner of the Cross was
hoisted upon the walls by the savage foe to decoy them back. The
artifice was but too successful. The poor fugitives imagined that help
had arrived from another direction, and turned back to regain their
homes. Nearly the whole of them were massacred, and the streets of
Jerusalem ran with blood.
The Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic knights forgot their long and
bitter animosities, and joined hand in hand to rout out this desolating
foe. They intrenched themselves in Jaffa with all the chivalry of
Palestine that yet remained, and endeavoured to engage the Sultans of
Emissa and Damascus to assist them against the common enemy. The aid
obtained from the Moslems amounted at first to only four thousand men,
but with these reinforcements Walter of Brienne, the Lord of Jaffa,
resolved to give battle to the Korasrains. The conflict was as deadly
as despair on the one side, and unmitigated ferocity on the other,
could make it. It lasted with varying fortune for two days, when the
Sultan of Emissa fled to his fortifications, and Walter of Brienne fell
into the enemy's hands. The brave knight was suspended by the arms to a
cross in sight of the walls of Jaffa, and the Korasminian leader
declared that he should remain in that position until the city
surrendered. Walter raised his feeble voice, not to advise surrender,
but to command his soldiers to hold out to the last. But his gallantry
was unavailing. So great had been the slaughter, that out of the grand
array of knights, there now remained but sixteen Hospitallers,
thirty-three Templars, and three Teutonic cavaliers. These with the sad
remnant of the army fled to Acre, and the Korasmins were masters of
Palestine.
The Sultans of Syria preferred the Christians to this fierce horde for
their neighbours. Even the Sultan of Egypt began to regret the aid he
had given to such barbarous foes, and united with those of Emissa and
Damascus to root them from the land. The Korasmins amounted to but
twenty thousand men, and were unable to resist the determined hostility
which encompassed them on every side. The Sultans defeated them in
several engagements, and the peasantry rose up in masses to take
vengeance upon them. Gradually their numbers were diminished. No mercy
was shown them in defeat. Barbaquan, their leader, was slain, and after
five years of desperate struggles they were finally extirpated, and
Palestine became once more the territory of the Mussulmans.
A short time previous to this devastating irruption, Louis IX. fell
sick in Paris, and dreamed in the delirium of his fever that he saw the
Christian and Moslem hosts fighting before Jerusalem, and the
Christians defeated with great slaughter. The dream made a great
impression on his superstitious mind, and he made a solemn vow that if
ever he recovered his health, he would take a pilgrimage to the Holy
Land. When the news of the misfortunes of Palestine, and the awful
massacres at Jerusalem and Jaffa, arrived in Europe, St. Louis
remembered him of his dream. More persuaded than ever, that it was an
intimation direct from Heaven, he prepared to take the Cross at the
head of his armies, and march to the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre.
From that moment he doffed the royal mantle of purple and ermine, and
dressed in the sober serge becoming a pilgrim. All his thoughts were
directed to the fulfilment of his design, and although his kingdom
could but ill spare him, he made every preparation to leave it. Pope
Innocent IV. applauded his zeal and afforded him every assistance. He
wrote to Henry III. of England to forward the cause in his dominions,
and called upon the clergy and laity all over Europe to contribute
towards it. William Longsword, the celebrated Earl of Salisbury, took
the Cross at the head of a great number of valiant knights and
soldiers. But the fanaticism of the people was not to be awakened
either in France or England. Great armies were raised, but the masses
no longer sympathized. Taxation had been the great cooler of zeal. It
was no longer a disgrace even to a knight if he refused to take the
Cross. Rutebeuf, a French minstrel, who flourished about this time
(1250), composed a dialogue between a crusader and a non-crusader,
which the reader will find translated in "Way's Fabliaux." The crusader
uses every argument to persuade the non-crusader to take up arms, and
forsake every thing, in the holy cause; but it is evident from the
greater force of the arguments used by the noncrusader, that he was the
favourite of the minstrel. To a most urgent solicitation of his friend,
the crusader, he replies,