A General History for Colleges and High Schools

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The battle once joined, the conflict was long and terrific. The day
finally went against the English. Harold fell, pierced through the eye by
an arrow; and William was master of the field (1066).

The conqueror now marched upon London, and at Westminster Abbey, on
Christmas Day, 1066, was crowned and anointed king of England.

[ILLUSTRATION: BATTLE OF HASTINGS. (From the Bayeux Tapestry.)]

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE LAND.--Almost the first act of William after he
had established his power in England was to fulfil his promise to the
nobles who had aided him in his enterprise, by distributing among them the
unredeemed [Footnote: "When the lands of all those who had fought for
Harold were confiscated, those who were willing to acknowledge William
were allowed to redeem theirs, either paying money at once, or giving
hostages for the payment."--Stubbs, Const. Hist. I. 258.] estates of the
English who had fought at Hastings in defence of their king and country.
Large as was the number of these confiscated estates, there would have
been a lack of land to satisfy all, had not subsequent uprisings against
the authority of William afforded him an opportunity to confiscate almost
all the soil of England as forfeited by treason.

Profiting by the lesson taught by the wretched condition of France, which
country was kept in a state of constant turmoil by a host of feudal chiefs
and lords many of whom were almost or quite as powerful as the king
himself, William took care that in the distribution no feudatory should
receive an entire shire, save in two or three exceptional cases. To the
great lord to whom he must needs give a large fief, he granted, not a
continuous tract of land, but several estates, or manors, scattered in
different parts of the country, in order that there might be no dangerous
concentration of property or power in the hands of the vassal. He also
required of all the sub-vassals of the realm, in addition to their oath of
allegiance to their own lord, an oath of fealty to the crown. This was a
most important modification of feudal custom. On the Continent, the sub-
tenant swore allegiance to his own lord simply, and was in duty bound to
aid him in all his wars, even in one against the sovereign. But the oath
of allegiance to himself exacted by William of all holders of fiefs, just
reversed this, and made it the first duty of the sub-vassal, even in the
case of a war between his lord and the king, to follow and obey the king.
Furthermore, William denied to his feudatories the right of coining money
or making laws; and by other wise restrictions upon their power, he saved
England from those endless contentions and petty wars that were
distracting almost every other country of Europe.

THE NORMAN SUCCESSORS OF THE CONQUEROR.--For nearly three-quarters of a
century after the death of William the Conqueror, England was ruled by
Norman kings. [Footnote: William II., known as Rufus "the Red" (1087-
1100); Henry I., surnamed Beauclerc, "the good scholar" (1100-1135); and
Stephen of Blois (1135-1154). William and Henry were sons, and Stephen a
grandson, of the conqueror.] The latter part of this period was a
troublous time. The succession to the crown coming into dispute, civil war
broke out. The result of the contention was a decline in the royal power,
and the ascendency of the Norman barons, who for a time made England the
scene of the same feudal anarchy that prevailed at this time upon the
Continent. Finally, in 1154, the Norman dynasty gave place to that of the
Plantagenets. Under Henry II., the first king of the new house, and an
energetic and strong ruler, the barons were again brought into proper
subjection to the crown, and many castles which had been built without
royal permission during the preceding anarchical period, and some of which
at least were little better than robbers' dens, were destroyed.

ADVANTAGES TO ENGLAND OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST.--The most important and
noteworthy result of the Norman Conquest of England, was the establishment
in the island of a strong centralized government. England now for the
first time became a real kingdom.

A second result of the Conquest was the founding of a new feudal
aristocracy. Even to this day there is a great preponderance of Norman
over English blood in the veins of the nobility of England.

A third result was the bringing of England into more intimate relations
with the nations of continental Europe, by which means her advance in art,
science, and general culture was greatly promoted.

[Illustration: CRUSADERS ON THE MARCH.]

CHAPTER XLII.

THE CRUSADES.
(1096-1272.)

1. INTRODUCTORY: CAUSES OF THE CRUSADES.

GENERAL STATEMENT.--The Crusades were great military expeditions
undertaken by the Christian nations of Europe for the purpose of rescuing
from the hands of the Mohammedans the holy places of Palestine. They were
eight in number, the first four being sometimes called the Principal
Crusades, and the remaining four the Minor Crusades. Besides these there
were a Children's Crusade, and several other expeditions, which, being
insignificant in numbers or results, are not usually enumerated.

CAUSES OF THE CRUSADES.--Among the early Christians it was thought a pious
and meritorious act to undertake a journey to some sacred place.
Especially was it thought that a pilgrimage to the land that had been trod
by the feet of the Saviour of the world, to the Holy City that had
witnessed his martyrdom, was a peculiarly pious undertaking, and one which
secured for the pilgrim the special favor and blessing of Heaven.

The Saracen caliphs, for the four centuries and more that they held
possession of Palestine, pursued usually an enlightened policy towards the
pilgrims, even encouraging pilgrimages as a source of revenue. But in the
eleventh century the Seljukian Turks, a prominent Tartar tribe, zealous
proselytes of Islam, wrested from the caliphs almost all their Asiatic
possessions. The Christians were not long in realizing that power had
fallen into new hands. Pilgrims were insulted and persecuted in every way.
The churches in Jerusalem were destroyed or turned into stables.

Now, if it were a meritorious thing to make a pilgrimage to the Holy
Sepulchre, much more would it be a pious act to rescue the sacred spot
from the profanation of infidels. This was the conviction that changed the
pilgrim into a warrior,--this the sentiment that for two centuries and
more stirred the Christian world to its profoundest depths, and cast the
population of Europe in wave after wave upon Asia.

Although this religious feeling was the principal cause of the Crusades,
still there was another concurring cause which must not be overlooked.
This was the restless, adventurous spirit of the Teutonic peoples of
Europe, who had not as yet outgrown their barbarian instincts. The feudal
knights and lords, just now animated by the rising spirit of chivalry,
were very ready to enlist in an undertaking so consonant with their
martial feelings and their new vows of knighthood.

PREACHING OF PETER THE HERMIT.--The _immediate_ cause of the First
Crusade was the preaching of Peter the Hermit, a native of Picardy, in
France. Having been commissioned by Pope Urban II. to preach a crusade,
the Hermit traversed all Italy and France, addressing everywhere, in the
church, in the street, and in the open field, the crowds that flocked
about him, moving all hearts with sympathy or firing them with
indignation, as he recited the sufferings of their brethren at the hands
of the infidels, or pictured the profanation of the holy places, polluted
by the presence and insults of the unbelievers.

THE COUNCILS OF PLACENTIA AND CLERMONT.--While Peter the Hermit had been
arousing the warriors of the West, the Turks had been making constant
advances in the East, and were now threatening Constantinople itself. The
Greek emperor (Alexius Comnenus) sent urgent letters to the Pope, asking
for aid against the infidels, representing that, unless assistance was
extended immediately, the capital with all its holy relics must soon fall
into the hands of the barbarians.

Urban called a great council of the Church at Placentia, in Italy, to
consider the appeal (1095), but nothing was effected. Later in the same
year a new council was convened at Clermont, in France, Urban purposely
fixing the place of meeting among the warm tempered and martial Franks.
The Pope himself was one of the chief speakers. He was naturally eloquent,
so that the man, the cause, and the occasion all conspired to achieve one
of the greatest triumphs of human oratory. He pictured the humiliation and
misery of the provinces of Asia; the profanation of the places made sacred
by the presence and footsteps of the Son of God; and then he detailed the
conquests of the Turks, until now, with all Asia Minor in their
possession, they were threatening Europe from the shores of the
Hellespont. "When Jesus Christ summons you to his defence," exclaimed the
eloquent pontiff, "let no base affection detain you in your homes; whoever
will abandon his house, or his father, or his mother, or his wife, or his
children, or his inheritance, for the sake of my name, shall be
recompensed a hundred-fold, and possess life eternal."

Here the enthusiasm of the vast assembly burst through every restraint.
With one voice they cried, _Dieu le volt! Dieu le volt!_ "It is the
will of God! It is the will of God!" Thousands immediately affixed the
cross to their garments, [Footnote: Hence the name Crusade given to the
Holy Wars, from old French _crois_ cross.] as a pledge of their sacred
engagement to go forth to the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre. The fifteenth
day of August of the following year was set for the departure of the
expedition.

2. THE FIRST CRUSADE (1096-1099).

MUSTERING OF THE CRUSADERS.--All Western Europe now rang with the cry, "He
who will not take up his cross and follow me, is not worthy of me." The
contagion of enthusiasm seized all classes; for while the religious
feelings of the age had been specially appealed to, all the various
sentiments of ambition, chivalry, love of license, had also been skilfully
enlisted on the side of the undertaking. The council of Clermont had
declared Europe to be in a state of peace, and pronounced anathemas
against any one who should invade the possessions of a prince engaged in
the holy war. By further edicts of the assembly, the debtor was released
from meeting his obligations while a soldier of the Cross, and during this
period the interest on his debt was to cease; and the criminal, as soon as
he assumed the badge of the crusader, was by that act instantly absolved
from all his sins of whatever nature.

Under such inducements princes and nobles, bishops and priests, monks and
anchorites, saints and sinners, rich and poor, hastened to enroll
themselves beneath the consecrated banner. "Europe," says Michaud,
"appeared to be a land of exile, which every one was eager to quit."

THE VANGUARD.--Before the regular armies of the crusaders were ready to
move, those who had gathered about Peter the Hermit, becoming impatient of
delay, urged him to place himself at their head and lead them at once to
the Holy Land. Dividing command of the mixed multitudes with a poor
knight, called Walter the Penniless, and followed by a throng of about
80,000 persons, among whom were many women and children, the Hermit set
out for Constantinople by the overland route through Germany and Hungary.
Thousands of the crusaders fell in battle with the natives of the
countries through which they marched, and thousands more perished
miserably of hunger and exposure. Those that crossed the Bosporus were
surprised by the Turks, and almost all were slaughtered. Thus perished the
forlorn hope of the First Crusade.

MARCH OF THE MAIN BODY.--Meanwhile there were gathering in the West
disciplined armies composed of men worthy to be champions of the holy
cause they had espoused. Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine, and
Tancred, "the mirror of knighthood," were among the most noted of the
leaders of the different divisions of the army. The expedition numbered
about 700,000 men, of whom fully 100,000 were mailed knights.

The crusaders traversed Europe by different routes and reassembled at
Constantinople. Crossing the Bosporus, they first captured Nicaea, the
Turkish capital, in Bithynia, and then set out across Asia Minor for
Syria. The line of their dreary march between Nicaea and Antioch was
whitened with the bones of nearly one-half their number. Arriving at
Antioch, the survivors captured that place, and then, after some delays,
pushed on towards Jerusalem. When at length the Holy City burst upon
their view, a perfect delirium of joy seized the crusaders. They embraced
one another with tears of joy, and even embraced and kissed the ground on
which they stood. As they passed on, they took off their shoes, and
marched with uncovered head and bare feet, singing the words of the
prophet: "Jerusalem, lift up thine eyes, and behold the liberator who
comes to break thy chains."

The first assault made by the Christians upon the walls of the city was
repulsed; but the second was successful, and the city was in the hands of
the crusaders (1099). A terrible slaughter of the infidels now took place.
For seven days the carnage went on, at the end of which time scarcely any
of the Moslem faith were left alive. The Christians took possession of the
houses and property of the infidels, each soldier having a right to that
which he had first seized and placed his mark upon.

FOUNDING OF THE LATIN KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.--No sooner was Jerusalem in
the hands of the crusaders than they set themselves to the task of
organizing a government for the city and country they had conquered. The
government which they established was a sort of feudal league, known as
the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. At its head was placed Godfrey of
Bouillon, the most valiant and devoted of the crusader knights. The prince
refused the title and vestments of royalty, declaring that he would never
wear a crown of gold in the city where his Lord and Master had worn a
crown of thorns. The only title he would accept was that of "Defender of
the Holy Sepulchre."

Many of the crusaders, considering their vows fulfilled, now set out on
their return to their homes, some making their way back by sea and some by
land. Godfrey, Tancred, and a few hundred other knights, were all that
stayed behind to maintain the conquests that had been made, and to act as
guardians of the holy places.

3. THE SECOND CRUSADE (1147-1149).

ORIGIN OF THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD.--In the interval between the
Second and the Third Crusade, the two famed religious military orders,
known as the Hospitallers and the Templars, [Footnote: The Hospitallers,
or Knights of St. John, took their name from the fact that the
organization was first formed among the monks of the Hospital of St. John,
at Jerusalem; while the Templars, or Knights of the Temple, were so called
on account of one of the buildings of the brotherhood occupying the site
of Solomon's Temple.] were formed. A little later, during the Third
Crusade, still another fraternity, known as the Teutonic Knights was
established. The objects of all the orders were the care of the sick and
wounded crusaders, the entertainment of Christian pilgrims, the guarding
of the holy places, and ceaseless battling for the Cross. These
fraternities soon acquired a military fame that was spread throughout the
Christian world. They were joined by many of the most illustrious knights
of the West, and through the gifts of the pious acquired great wealth, and
became possessed of numerous estates and castles in Europe as well as in
Asia.

PREACHING OF ST. BERNARD; FAILURE OF THE CRUSADE.--In the year 1146, the
city of Edessa, the bulwark of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem on the side
towards Mesopotamia, was taken by the Turks, and the entire population was
slaughtered, or sold into slavery. This disaster threw the entire West
into a state of the greatest alarm, lest the little Christian state,
established at such cost of tears and suffering, should be completely
overwhelmed, and all the holy places should again fall into the hands of
the infidels.

The scenes that marked the opening of the First Crusade were now repeated
in all the countries of the West. St. Bernard, an eloquent monk, was the
second Peter the Hermit, who went everywhere, arousing the warriors of the
Cross to the defence of the birthplace of their religion. The contagion of
the holy enthusiasm seized not only barons, knights, and the common
people, which classes alone participated in the First Crusade, but kings
and emperors were now infected with the sacred frenzy. Conrad III.,
emperor of Germany, was persuaded to leave the affairs of his distracted
empire in the hands of God, and consecrate himself to the defence of the
sepulchre of Christ. Louis VII., king of France, was led to undertake the
crusade through remorse for an act of great cruelty that he had
perpetrated upon some of his revolted subjects. [Footnote: The act which
troubled the king's conscience was the burning of thirteen hundred people
in a church, whither they had fled for refuge.]

The strength of both the French and the German division of the expedition
was wasted in Asia Minor, and the crusade accomplished nothing.

4. THE THIRD CRUSADE (1189-1192).

THE THREE LEADERS.--The Third Crusade was caused by the capture of
Jerusalem (1187) by Saladin, the sultan of Egypt. Three of the great
sovereigns of Europe, Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, Philip Augustus of
France, and Richard I. of England, assumed the Cross, and set out, each at
the head of a large army, for the recovery of the Holy City.

The English king, Richard, afterwards given the title of _Coeur de
Lion_, the "Lion-hearted," in memory of his heroic exploits in Palestine,
was the central figure among the Christian knights of this crusade. He
raised money for the enterprise by the persecution and robbery of the
Jews; by the imposition of an unusual tax upon all classes; and by the
sale of offices, dignities, and the royal lands. When some one
expostulated with him on the means employed to raise money, he declared
that "he would sell the city of London, if he could find a purchaser."

DEATH OF FREDERICK BARBAROSSA: SIEGE OF ACRE.--The German army, attempting
the overland route, was consumed in Asia Minor by the hardships of the
march and the swords of the Turks. The Emperor Frederick, according to the
most probable accounts, was drowned while crossing a swollen stream, and
the most of the survivors of his army, disheartened by the loss of their
leader, returned to Germany.

The English and French kings finally mustered their forces beneath the
walls of Acre, which city the Christians were then besieging. It is
estimated that 600,000 men were engaged in the investment of the place.
After one of the longest and most costly sieges they ever carried on in
Asia, the crusaders at last forced the place to capitulate, in spite of
all the efforts of Saladin to render the garrison relief.

RICHARD AND SALADIN.--The knightly adventures and chivalrous exploits
which mark the career of Richard in the Holy Land read like a romance. Nor
was the chief of the Mohammedans, the renowned Saladin, lacking in any of
those knightly virtues with which the writers of the time invested the
character of the English hero. At one time, when Richard was sick with a
fever, Saladin, knowing that he was poorly supplied with delicacies, sent
him a gift of the choicest fruits of the land. And on another occasion,
Richard's horse having been killed in battle, the sultan caused a fine
Arabian steed to be led to the Christian camp as a present for his rival.

For two years did Richard the Lion-hearted vainly contend in almost daily
combat with his generous antagonist for the possession of the tomb of
Christ. He finally concluded a truce of three years and eight months with
Saladin, which provided that the Christians during that period should have
free access to the holy places, and remain in undisturbed possession of
the coast from Jaffa to Tyre.

5. THE FOURTH CRUSADE (1202-1204).

CAPTURE OF CONSTANTINOPLE BY THE LATINS.--None of the Crusades after the
Third effected much in the Holy Land; either their force was spent before
reaching it, or they were diverted from their purpose by different objects
and ambitions.

The crusaders of the Fourth expedition captured Constantinople instead of
Jerusalem. The circumstances were these: A usurper had seized upon the
Byzantine throne. The rightful claimant, Alexius, besought the aid of the
Frankish warriors to regain the sceptre. The Christian knights listened
favorably to his appeals. The Venetians, in consideration of a share of
the conquests that might be made, also joined their forces to those of the
crusaders. Constantinople was taken by storm, and Alexius was invested
with the Imperial authority.

Scarcely was Alexius seated upon the throne, before the turbulent Greeks
engaged in a revolt which resulted in his death. The crusaders now
resolved to take possession of the capital, and set a Latin prince on the
throne of Constantine. The determination was carried out. Constantinople
was taken a second time by storm, and sacked, and Baldwin, Count of
Flanders, was crowned Emperor of the East.

The Latin empire thus established lasted only a little over half a century
(1204-1261). The Greeks, at the end of this period, succeeded in regaining
the throne, which they then held until the capture of Constantinople by
the Turks in 1453.

6. CLOSE OF THE CRUSADES: THEIR RESULTS.

THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE (1212).--During the interval between the Fourth and
the Fifth Crusade, the epidemical fanaticism that had so long agitated
Europe seized upon the children, resulting in what is known as the
Children's Crusade.

The preacher of this crusade was a child about twelve years of age, a
French peasant lad, named Stephen, who became persuaded that Jesus Christ
had commanded him to lead a crusade of children to the rescue of the Holy
Sepulchre. The children became wild with excitement, and flocked in vast
crowds to the places appointed for rendezvous. Nothing could restrain them
or thwart their purpose. "Even bolts and bars," says an old chronicler,
"could not hold them."

The movement excited the most diverse views. Some declared that it was
inspired by the Holy Spirit, and quoted such Scriptural texts as these to
justify the enthusiasm: "A child shall lead them;" "Out of the mouth of
babes and sucklings thou hast ordained praise." Others, however, were
quite as confident that the whole thing was the work of the Devil.

The great majority of those who collected at the rallying places were boys
under twelve years of age, but there were also many girls. The German
children, 50,000 in number, crossed the Alps, and marched down the Italian
shores, looking for a miraculous pathway through the Mediterranean. From
Brundusium 2000 or 3000 of the little crusaders sailed away into oblivion.
Not a word ever came back from them.

The French children--about 30,000 in number--set out from the place of
rendezvous for Marseilles. Those that sailed from that port were betrayed,
and sold as slaves in Alexandria and other Mohammedan slave markets.

This remarkable spectacle of the children's crusade affords the most
striking exhibition possible of the ignorance, superstition, and
fanaticism that characterized the period. Yet we cannot but reverence the
holy enthusiasm of an age that could make such sacrifices of innocence and
helplessness in obedience to what was believed to be the will of God.

The children's expedition marked at once the culmination and the decline
of the crusading movement. The fanatic zeal that inspired the first
crusaders was already dying out. "These children," said the Pope,
referring to the young crusaders, "reproach us with having fallen asleep,
whilst they were flying to the assistance of the Holy Land."

THE MINOR CRUSADES: END OF THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.--The last four
expeditions--the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth--undertaken by the
Christians of Europe against the infidels of the East, may be conveniently
grouped as the Minor Crusades. They were marked by a less fervid and holy
enthusiasm than that which characterized the first movements, and exhibit
among those taking part in them the greatest variety of objects and
ambitions. [Footnote: The _Fifth Crusade_ (1216-1220) was led by the
kings of Hungary and Cyprus. Its strength was wasted in Egypt, and it
resulted in nothing The _Sixth Crusade_ (1227-1229), headed by Frederick
II. of Germany, succeeded in securing from the Saracens the restoration of
Jerusalem, together with several other cities of Palestine. The _Seventh
Crusade_ (1249-1254) was under the lead of Louis IX. Of France, surnamed
the Saint. The _Eighth Crusade_ (1270-1272) was incited by the fresh
misfortunes that, towards the close of the thirteenth century, befell the
Christian kingdom in Palestine. The two principal leaders of the
expedition were Louis IX. of France, and Prince Edward of England,
afterwards Edward I. Louis directed his forces against the Moors about
Tunis, in North Africa. Here the king died of the plague. Nothing was
effected by this division of the expedition. The division led by the
English prince, was, however, more fortunate. Edward succeeded in
capturing Nazareth, and in compelling the sultan of Egypt to agree to a
treaty favorable to the Christians (1272).] The flame of the Crusades had
burned itself out, and the fate of the little Christian kingdom in Asia,
isolated from Europe, and surrounded on all sides by bitter enemies,
became each day more and more apparent. Finally the last of the places
(Acre) held by the Christians fell before the attacks of the Mamelukes of
Egypt, and with this event the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem came to an end
(1291). The second great combat between Mohammedanism and Christianity was
over, and "silence reigned along the shore that had so long resounded with
the world's debate."

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