EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

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[Illustration: "MOSQUE OF OMAR," JERUSALEM
More correctly called the Dome of the Rock. It was erected in 691 A.D.,
but many restorations have taken place since that date. The walls
enclosing the entire structure were built in the ninth century, and the
dome is attributed to Saladin (1189 A.D.). This building, with its
brilliant tiles covering the walls and its beautiful stained glass, is a
fine example of Mohammedan architecture.]

CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM, 1099 A.D.

Reduced now to perhaps one-fourth of their original numbers, the crusaders
advanced slowly to the city which formed the goal of all their efforts.
Before attacking it they marched barefoot in religious procession around
the walls, with Peter the Hermit at their head. Then came the grand
assault. Godfrey of Bouillon and Tancred were among the first to mount the
ramparts. Once inside the city, the crusaders massacred their enemies
without mercy. Afterwards, we are told, they went "rejoicing, nay for
excess of joy weeping, to the tomb of our Savior to adore and give
thanks."

171. CRUSADERS' STATES IN SYRIA

LATIN KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM

After the capture of Jerusalem the crusaders met to elect a king. Their
choice fell upon Godfrey of Bouillon. He refused to wear a crown of gold
in the city where Christ had worn a crown of thorns and accepted, instead,
the modest title of "Protector of the Holy Sepulcher." [8] Godfrey died
the next year and his brother Baldwin, who succeeded him, being less
scrupulous, was crowned king at Bethlehem. The new kingdom contained
nearly a score of fiefs, whose lords made war, administered justice, and
coined money, like independent rulers. The main features of European
feudalism were thus transplanted to Asiatic soil.

OTHER CRUSADERS' STATES

The winning of Jerusalem and the district about it formed hardly more than
a preliminary stage in the conquest of Syria. Much fighting was still
necessary before the crusaders could establish themselves firmly in the
country. Instead of founding one strong power in Syria, they split up
their possessions into the three principalities of Tripoli, Antioch, and
Edessa. These small states owed allegiance to the Latin Kingdom of
Jerusalem.

MILITARY-RELIGIOUS ORDERS

The ability of the crusaders' states to maintain themselves for many years
in Syria was largely due to the foundation of two military-religious
orders. The members were both monks and knights; that is, to the monastic
vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience they added a fourth vow, which
bound them to protect pilgrims and fight the infidels. Such a combination
of religion and warfare made a strong appeal to the medieval mind.

HOSPITALERS AND TEMPLARS

The Hospitalers, the first of these orders, grew out of a brotherhood for
the care of sick pilgrims in a hospital at Jerusalem. Many knights joined
the organization, which soon proved to be very useful in defending the
Holy Land. Even more important were the Templars, so called because their
headquarters in Jerusalem lay near the site of Solomon's Temple. Both
orders built many castles in Syria, the remains of which still impress the
beholder. They established numerous branches in Europe and, by presents
and legacies, acquired vast wealth. The Templars were disbanded in the
fourteenth century, but the Hospitalers continued to fight valiantly
against the Turks long after the close of the crusading movement. [9]

[Illustration: EFFIGY OF A KNIGHT TEMPLAR
Temple Church, London. Shows the kind of armor worn between 1190 and 1225
A.D.]

CHRISTIAN AND INFIDEL IN THE HOLY LAND

The depleted ranks of the crusaders were constantly filled by fresh bands
of pilgrim knights who visited Palestine to pray at the Holy Sepulcher and
cross swords with the infidel. In spite of constant border warfare much
trade and friendly intercourse prevailed between Christians and Moslems.
They learned to respect one another both as foes and neighbors. The
crusaders' states in Syria became, like Spain [10] and Sicily, [11] a
meeting-place of East and West.

172. SECOND CRUSADE, 1147-1149 A.D., AND THIRD CRUSADE, 1189-1192 A.D.

ORIGIN OF THE SECOND CRUSADE

The success of the Christians in the First Crusade had been largely due to
the disunion among their enemies. But the Moslems learned in time the
value of united action, and in 1144 A.D. succeeded in capturing Edessa,
one of the principal Christian outposts in the East. The fall of the city,
followed by the loss of the entire county of Edessa, aroused western
Europe to the danger which threatened the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and
led to another crusading enterprise.

PREACHING OF ST. BERNARD

The apostle of the Second Crusade was the great abbot of Clairvaux, St.
Bernard. [12] Scenes of the wildest enthusiasm marked his preaching. When
the churches were not large enough to hold the crowds which flocked to
hear him, he spoke from platforms erected in the fields. St. Bernard's
eloquence induced two monarchs, Louis VII of France and Conrad III of
Germany, to take the blood-red cross of a crusader.

FAILURE OF THE SECOND CRUSADE

The Second Crusade, though begun under the most favorable auspices, had an
unhappy ending. Of the great host that set out from Europe, only a few
thousands escaped annihilation in Asia Minor at the hands of the Turks.
Louis and Conrad, with the remnants of their armies, made a joint attack
on Damascus, but had to raise the siege after a few days. This closed the
crusade. As a chronicler of the expedition remarked, "having practically
accomplished nothing, the inglorious ones returned home."

SALADIN

Not many years after the Second Crusade, the Moslem world found in the
famous Saladin a leader for a holy war against the Christians. Saladin in
character was a typical Mohammedan, very devout in prayers and fasting,
fiercely hostile toward unbelievers, and full of the pride of race. To
these qualities he added a kindliness and humanity not surpassed, if
equaled, by any of his Christian foes. He lives in eastern history and
legend as the hero who stemmed once for all the tide of European conquest
in Asia.

CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM BY SALADIN, 1187 A.D.

Having made himself sultan of Egypt, Saladin united the Moslems of Syria
under his sway and then advanced against the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The Christians met him in a great battle near the lake of Galilee. It
ended in the rout of their army and the capture of their king. Even the
Holy Cross, which they had carried in the midst of the fight, became the
spoil of the conqueror. Saladin quickly reaped the fruits of victory. The
Christian cities of Syria opened their gates to him, and at last Jerusalem
itself surrendered after a short siege. Little now remained of the
possessions which the crusaders had won in the East.

THIRD CRUSADE ORGANIZED, 1189 A.D.

The news of the taking of Jerusalem spread consternation throughout
western Christendom. The cry for another crusade arose on all sides. Once
more thousands of men sewed the cross in gold, or silk, or cloth upon
their garments and set out for the Holy Land. When the three greatest
rulers of Europe--Philip Augustus, [13] king of France, Richard I, king of
England, and the German emperor, Frederick Barbarossa [14]--assumed the
cross, it seemed that nothing could prevent the restoration of Christian
supremacy in Syria.

DEATH OF FREDERICK BARBAROSSA, 1190 A.D.

The Germans under Frederick Barbarossa were the first to start. This great
emperor was now nearly seventy years old, yet age had not lessened his
crusading zeal. He took the overland route and after much hard fighting
reached southern Asia Minor. Here, however, he was drowned, while trying
to cross a swollen stream. Many of his discouraged followers at once
returned to Germany; a few of them, however, pressed on and joined the
other crusaders before the walls of Acre.

[Illustration: RICHARD I IN PRISON
From an illuminated manuscript of the thirteenth century. King Richard on
his return from the Holy Land was shipwrecked off the coast of the
Adriatic. Attempting to travel through Austria in disguise, he was
captured by the duke of Austria, whom he had offended at the siege of
Acre. The king regained his liberty only by paying a ransom equivalent to
more than twice the annual revenues of England.]

ACRE CAPTURED BY PHILIP AND RICHARD, 1191 A.D.

The expedition of the French and English achieved little. Philip and
Richard, who came by sea, captured Acre after a hard siege, but their
quarrels prevented them from following up this initial success. Philip
soon went home, leaving the further conduct of the crusade in Richard's
hands.

RICHARD IN THE HOLY LAND, 1191-1192 A.D.

The English king remained for fourteen months longer in the Holy Land. His
campaigns during this time gained for him the title of "Lion-hearted,"
[15] by which he is always known. He had many adventures and performed
knightly exploits without number, but could not capture Jerusalem.
Tradition declares that when, during a truce, some crusaders went up to
Jerusalem, Richard refused to accompany them, saying that he would not
enter as a pilgrim the city which he could not rescue as a conqueror. He
and Saladin finally concluded a treaty by the terms of which Christians
were permitted to visit Jerusalem without paying tribute. Richard then set
sail for England, and with his departure from the Holy Land the Third
Crusade came to an end.

173. FOURTH CRUSADE AND THE LATIN EMPIRE OF CONSTANTINOPLE, 1202-1261 A.D.

INNOCENT III AND THE FOURTH CRUSADE

The real author of the Fourth Crusade was the famous pope, Innocent III.
[16] Young, enthusiastic, and ambitious for the glory of the Papacy, he
revived the plans of Urban II and sought once more to unite the forces of
Christendom against Islam. No emperor or king answered his summons, but a
number of knights (chiefly French) took the crusader's vow.

THE CRUSADERS AND THE VENETIANS

The leaders of the crusade decided to make Egypt their objective point,
since this country was then the center of the Moslem power. Accordingly,
the crusaders proceeded to Venice, for the purpose of securing
transportation across the Mediterranean. The Venetians agreed to furnish
the necessary ships only on condition that the crusaders first seized Zara
on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. Zara was a Christian city, but it
was also a naval and commercial rival of Venice. In spite of the pope's
protests the crusaders besieged and captured the city. Even then they did
not proceed against the Moslems. The Venetians persuaded them to turn
their arms against Constantinople. The possession of that great capital
would greatly increase Venetian trade and influence in the East; for the
crusading nobles it held out endless opportunities of acquiring wealth and
power. Thus it happened that these soldiers of the Cross, pledged to war
with the Moslems, attacked a Christian city, which for centuries had
formed the chief bulwark of Europe against the Arab and the Turk.

SACK OF CONSTANTINOPLE, 1204 A.D.

The crusaders--now better styled the invaders--took Constantinople by
storm. No "infidels" could have treated in worse fashion this home of
ancient civilization. They burned down a great part of it; they
slaughtered the inhabitants; they wantonly destroyed monuments, statues,
paintings, and manuscripts--the accumulation of a thousand years. Much of
the movable wealth they carried away. Never, declared an eye-witness of
the scene, had there been such plunder since the world began.

THE LATIN EMPIRE OF CONSTANTINOPLE, 1204-1261 A.D.

The victors hastened to divide between them the lands of the Roman Empire
in the East. Venice gained some districts in Greece, together with nearly
all the Aegean islands. The chief crusaders formed part of the remaining
territory into the Latin Empire of Constantinople. It was organized in
fiefs, after the feudal manner. There was a prince of Achaia, a duke of
Athens, a marquis of Corinth, and a count of Thebes. Large districts, both
in Europe and Asia, did not acknowledge, however, these "Latin" rulers.
The new empire lived less than sixty years. At the end of this time the
Greeks returned to power.

DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES OF THE FOURTH CRUSADE

Constantinople, after the Fourth Crusade, declined in strength and could
no longer cope with the barbarians menacing it. Two centuries later the
city fell an easy victim to the Turks. [17] The responsibility for the
disaster which gave the Turks a foothold in Europe rests on the heads of
the Venetians and the French nobles. Their greed and lust for power turned
the Fourth Crusade into a political adventure.

THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE, 1213 A.D.

The so-called Children's Crusade illustrates at once the religious
enthusiasm and misdirected zeal which marked the whole crusading movement.
During the year 1212 A.D. thousands of French children assembled in bands
and marched through the towns and villages, carrying banners, candles, and
crosses and singing, "Lord God, exalt Christianity. Lord God, restore to
us the true cross." The children could not be restrained at first, but
finally hunger compelled them to return home. In Germany, during the same
year, a lad named Nicholas really did succeed in launching a crusade. He
led a mixed multitude of men and women, boys and girls over the Alps into
Italy, where they expected to take ship for Palestine. But many perished
of hardships, many were sold into slavery, and only a few ever saw their
homes again. "These children," Pope Innocent III declared, "put us to
shame; while we sleep they rush to recover the Holy Land."

END OF THE CRUSADES

The crusading movement came to an end by the close of the thirteenth
century. The emperor Frederick II [18] for a short time recovered
Jerusalem by a treaty, but in 1244 A.D. the Holy City became again a
possession of the Moslems. They have never since relinquished it. Acre,
the last Christian post in Syria, fell in 1291 A.D., and with this event
the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem ceased to exist. The Hospitalers, or
Knights of St. John, still kept possession of the important islands of
Cyprus and Rhodes, which long served as a barrier to Moslem expansion over
the Mediterranean.

174. RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES

FAILURE OF THE CRUSADES

The crusades, judged by what they set out to accomplish, must be accounted
an inglorious failure. After two hundred years of conflict, after a vast
expenditure of wealth and human lives, the Holy Land remained in Moslem
hands. It is true that the First Crusade did help, by the conquest of
Syria, to check the advance of the Turks toward Constantinople. But even
this benefit was more than undone by the weakening of the Roman Empire in
the East as a result of the Fourth Crusade.

WHY THE CRUSADES FAILED

Of the many reasons for the failure of the crusades, three require special
consideration. In the first place, there was the inability of eastern and
western Europe to cooperate in supporting the holy wars. A united
Christendom might well have been invincible. But the bitter antagonism
between the Greek and Roman churches [19] effectually prevented all unity
of action. The emperors at Constantinople, after the First Crusade, rarely
assisted the crusaders and often secretly hindered them. In the second
place, the lack of sea-power, as seen in the earlier crusades, worked
against their success. Instead of being able to go by water directly to
Syria, it was necessary to follow the long, overland route from France or
Germany through Hungary, Bulgaria, the territory of the Roman Empire in
the East, and the deserts and mountains of Asia Minor. The armies that
reached their destination after this toilsome march were in no condition
for effective campaigning. In the third place, the crusaders were never
numerous enough to colonize so large a country as Syria and absorb its
Moslem population. They conquered part of Syria in the First Crusade, but
could not hold it permanently in the face of determined resistance.

WHY THE CRUSADES CEASED

In spite of these and other reasons the Christians of Europe might have
continued much longer their efforts to recover the Holy Land, had they not
lost faith in the movement. But after two centuries the old crusading
enthusiasm died out, the old ideal of the crusade as "the way of God" lost
its spell. Men had begun to think less of winning future salvation by
visits to distant shrines and to think more of their present duties to the
world about them. They came to believe that Jerusalem could best be won as
Christ and the Apostles had won it--"by love, by prayers, and by the
shedding of tears."

INFLUENCE OF THE CRUSADES ON FEUDALISM

The crusades could not fail to affect in many ways the life of western
Europe. For instance, they helped to undermine feudalism. Thousands of
barons and knights mortgaged or sold their lands in order to raise money
for a crusading expedition. Thousands more perished in Syria and their
estates, through failure of heirs, reverted to the crown. Moreover,
private warfare, that curse of the Middle Ages, [20] also tended to die
out with the departure for the Holy Land of so many turbulent feudal
lords. Their decline in both numbers and influence, and the corresponding
growth of the royal authority, may best be traced in the changes that came
about in France, the original home of the crusading movement.

THE CRUSADES AND COMMERCE

One of the most important effects of the crusades was on commerce. They
created a constant demand for the transportation of men and supplies,
encouraged ship-building, and extended the market for eastern wares in
Europe. The products of Damascus, Mosul, Alexandria, Cairo, and other
great cities were carried across the Mediterranean to the Italian
seaports, whence they found their way into all European lands. The
elegance of the Orient, with its silks, tapestries, precious stones,
perfumes, spices, pearls, and ivory, was so enchanting that an
enthusiastic crusader called it "the vestibule of Paradise."

THE CRUSADES AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE

Finally, it must be noted how much the crusades contributed to
intellectual and social progress. They brought the inhabitants of western
Europe into close relations with one another, with their fellow Christians
of the Roman Empire in the East, and with the natives of Asia Minor,
Syria, and Egypt. The intercourse between Christians and Moslems was
particularly stimulating, because the East at this time surpassed the West
in civilization. The crusaders enjoyed the advantages which come from
travel in strange lands and among unfamiliar peoples. They went out from
their castles or villages to see great cities, marble palaces, superb
dresses, and elegant manners; they returned with finer tastes, broader
ideas, and wider sympathies. Like the conquests of Alexander the Great,
the crusades opened up a new world.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CRUSADES

When all is said, the crusades remain one of the most remarkable movements
in history. They exhibited the nations of western Europe for the first
time making a united effort for a common end. The crusaders were not hired
soldiers, but volunteers, who, while the religious fervor lasted, gladly
abandoned their homes and faced hardship and death in pursuit of a
spiritual ideal. They failed to accomplish their purpose, yet humanity is
the richer for the memory of their heroism and chivalry.

STUDIES

1. On an outline map indicate Europe and the Mediterranean lands by
religions, about 1095 A.D.

2. On an outline map indicate the routes of the First and the Third
Crusades.

3. Locate on the map the following places: Clermont; Acre; Antioch; Zara;
Edessa; and Damascus.

4. Identify the following dates: 1204 A.D.; 1095 A.D.; 1096 A.D.; 1291
A.D.

5. Write a short essay describing the imaginary experiences of a crusader
to the Holy Land.

6. Mention some instances which illustrate the religious enthusiasm of the
crusaders.

7. Compare the Mohammedan pilgrimage to Mecca with the pilgrimages of
Christians to Jerusalem in the Middle Ages.

8. Compare the Christian crusade with the Mohammedan _jihad_, or holy war.

9. How did the expression, a "red-cross knight," arise?

10. Why is the Second Crusade often called "St. Bernard's Crusade"?

11. Why has the Third Crusade been called "the most interesting
international expedition of the Middle Ages"?

12. Would the crusaders in 1204 A.D. have attacked Constantinople, if the
schism of 1054 A.D. had not occurred?

13. "Mixture, or at least contact of races, is essential to progress." How
do the crusades illustrate the truth of this statement?

14. Were the crusades the only means by which western Europe was brought
in contact with Moslem civilization?

FOOTNOTES

[1] Webster, _Readings in Medieval and Modern History_, chapter xii,
"Richard the Lion-hearted and the Third Crusade"; chapter xiii, "The
Fourth Crusade and the Capture of Constantinople."

[2] See page 412.

[3] See pages 333, 380.

[4] See page 235.

[5] Hence the name "crusades," from Latin _crux_, old French _crois_, a
"cross".

[6] For the routes followed by the crusaders see the map between pages
478-479.

[7] See page 412.

[8] The emperor Constantine caused a stately church to be erected on the
supposed site of Christ's tomb. This church of the Holy Sepulcher was
practically destroyed by the Moslems, early in the eleventh century. The
crusaders restored and enlarged the structure, which still stands.

[9] The order of Hospitalers, now known as the "Knights of Malta," still
survives in several European countries.

[10] See page 383.

[11] See page 413.

[12] See pages 449-450.

[13] See page 513.

[14] See page 460.

[15] In French _Coeur-de-Lion_.

[16] See page 461.

[17] See page 492.

[18] See page 462.

[19] See pages 362-363.

[20] See page 423.

CHAPTER XXI

THE MONGOLS AND THE OTTOMAN TURKS TO 1463 A.D.

175. THE MONGOLS

THE ASIATIC COUNTER-ATTACK

The extensive steppes in the middle and north of Asia have formed, for
thousands of years, the abode of nomadic peoples belonging to the Yellow
race. In prehistoric times they spread over northern Europe, but they were
gradually supplanted by white-skinned Indo-Europeans, until now only
remnants of them exist, such as the Finns and Lapps. In later ages history
records how the Huns, the Bulgarians, and the Magyars have poured into
Europe, spreading terror and destruction in their path. [1] These invaders
were followed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by the even more
terrible Mongols and Ottoman Turks. Their inroads might well be described
as Asia's reply to the crusades, as an Asiatic counter-attack upon Europe.

MONGOLIA

The Mongols, who have given their name to the entire race of yellow-
skinned peoples, now chiefly occupy the high plateau bounded on the north
by Siberia, on the south by China, on the east by Manchuria, and on the
west by Turkestan. [2] Although the greater part of this area consists of
the Gobi desert, there are many oases and pastures available at different
seasons of the year to the inhabitants. Hence the principal occupation of
the Mongols has always been cattle breeding, and their horses, oxen,
sheep, and camels have always furnished them with food and clothing.

MONGOL LIFE AND CHARACTER

Like most nomads the Mongols dwell in tents, each family often by itself.
Severe simplicity is the rule of life, for property consists of little
more than one's flocks and herds, clothes, and weapons. The modern Mongols
are a peaceable, kindly folk, who have adopted from Tibet a debased form
of Buddhism, but the Mongols of the thirteenth century in religion and
morals were scarcely above the level of American Indians. To ruthless
cruelty and passion for plunder they added an efficiency in warfare which
enabled them, within fifty years, to overrun much of Asia and the eastern
part of Europe.

[Illustration: HUT-WAGON OF THE MONGOLS (RECONSTRUCTION)
On the wagon was placed a sort of hut or pavilion made of wands bound
together with narrow thongs. The structure was then covered with felt or
cloth and provided with latticed windows. Hut-wagons, being very light,
were sometimes of enormous size.]

MILITARY PROWESS OF THE MONGOLS

The daily life of the Mongols was a training school for war. Constant
practice in riding, scouting, and the use of arms made every man a
soldier. The words with which an ancient Greek historian described the
savage Scythians applied perfectly to the Mongols: "Having neither cities
nor forts, and carrying their dwellings with them wherever they go;
accustomed, moreover, one and all, to shoot from horseback; and living not
by husbandry but on their cattle, their wagons the only houses that they
possess, how can they fail of being irresistible?" [3]

176. CONQUESTS OF THE MONGOLS, 1206-1405 A.D.

JENGHIZ KHAN

For ages the Mongols had dwelt in scattered tribes throughout their
Asiatic wilderness, engaged in petty struggles with one another for cattle
and pasture lands. It was the celebrated Jenghiz Khan, [4] chief of one of
the tribes, who brought them all under his authority and then led them to
the conquest of the world. Of him it may be said with truth that he had
the most victorious of military careers, and that he constructed the most
extensive empire known to history. If Jenghiz had possessed the ability of
a statesman, he would have taken a place by the side of Alexander the
Great and Julius Caesar.