Chapter XIII: The Crusaders and Pilgrims (1)

A MONK HISTORIAN ON THE CRUSADES.

The old chroniclers are elated with a fine enthusiasm when narrating the exploits of the first Crusaders. Orderic the monk, who died about 1141, thus describes the situation: "Lo, the crusade to Jerusalem is entered on by the inspiration of God; the people of the West miraculously flock together from many nations, and are led in one united army to fight against the execrable Saracens, who so long had defiled with their abominations all that is sacred. Never, I think, was a more glorious subject presented to those who are well informed in military affairs than that which is divinely offered to the poets and writers of our age in the triumph of a handful of Christians, drawn from their homes by the love of enterprise, over the Pagans in the East. The God of Abraham renewed His ancient miracles when, actuated only by their zeal to visit the Messiah's tomb, and without the exercise of the authority of kings or any worldly excitement, but by the simple admonition of Pope Urban, He assembled the Christians of the West from the ends of the earth and the isles of the sea, as He brought the Hebrews out of Egypt by the hand of Moses, and led them through strange nations until He conducted them to Palestine, gave them victory over kings and princes and the assembled forces of many nations, and enabled them gloriously to conquer strongly fortified cities and to reduce towns under subjection to their arms. I, too, though the least of all the followers of the Lord in a religious rule of life, for the love I bear to the brave champions of Christ, am ambitious to celebrate their valiant achievements."

CRUSADES BENEFICIAL TO THE CHURCH.

The crusades brought the civilisation of the West in contact with that of the Arabs, who were more advanced in some respects. Literature, science, navigation, and trade benefited. Large feudal estates were sold, and citizens of towns were enriched and set up by kings as a counterpoise to overpowerful vassals. The sees and monasteries became purchasers of large estates on easy terms. But the Popes were the chief gainers by the crusades. They acquired control over Western Christendom, and over the emperors, kings, and princes who engaged in this service, and plighted their faith to carry through great enterprises. The Popes claimed sovereignty over lands wrested from the infidels. But, above all, it gave the Popes a continual pretext for sending legates to interfere in every country and levy contributions, which, at first voluntary, soon took the form of rights to perpetual tribute.

THE PRACTICE OF PILGRIMAGES TO PALESTINE.

The desire of Christians to visit the tombs of martyrs and famous saints may be considered almost natural, but it received great encouragement from the Empress Helena's discovery of the cross. The early Fathers were not emphatic in favour of the practice, for Jerome declared that heaven was as accessible from Britain as from Palestine. But in the sixth century the passion grew. Pilgrimages were projected and accomplished on a great scale. Hospitals were endowed for entertaining the pilgrims along the great highway. Pilgrims were exempted from toll. Charlemagne ordered that lodging, fire, and water be always supplied to them. In Jerusalem there were caravansaries for their reception. The pilgrim set forth amid the blessings and prayers of his kindred or community with his simple outfit--the staff, the wallet, and the scallop-shell; he returned a privileged, in some sense a sanctified, being. Pilgrimage expiated all sin. The bathing in the Jordan was, as it were, a second baptism, and washed away all the evil of the former life. The shirt which he had worn when he entered the holy city was carefully laid by as a winding-sheet, and possessed, it was supposed, the power of transporting him to heaven. The stable of Bethlehem, the garden of Gethsemane, the height where the Ascension took place, had a fascination for every eye. To gratify the pilgrims, the descent of fire from heaven to kindle the lights round the holy sepulchre had been played off from an early period before the wondering worshippers. Jerusalem also became the emporium of relics. Each pilgrim would bring back a splinter of the true cross or some special memorial of the Virgin or a famous saint. The demand for these was great, and the supply was inexhaustible. At a later period the silks, jewels, and spices of the East mingled in the mart of holy things. Down to the conquest of Jerusalem by Chosroes the Persian, in 614, the tide of pilgrimage flowed uninterruptedly to the Holy Land; and even the Saracens in 637, when the conquerors, did not prohibit them, though the dangers increased.

EARLY TRAVELS IN PALESTINE.

The earliest traveller from Western Europe to the Holy Land who has left an account was Pierre Pithou from Bordeaux in 333. But pilgrims were often going on the same journey. In 385 St. Eusebius of Cremona, and his friend St. Jerome, and a large company also visited the chief places. Soon after St. Paula and her daughter went the round, and on Mount Zion they were shown the column to which Christ was bound when scourged. In the seventh century St. Antoninus went there also. When the Saracens obtained possession of Jerusalem in 637, they soon saw that it would be to their advantage to preserve the holy places and profit by the charges so many strangers were willing to pay. The French bishop, Arculf, visited Palestine about 690, and afterwards visited Northumberland and Iona. Pilgrims thereafter up to 980 brought worse and worse accounts of their treatment and the profanations of the holy places. The celebrated Gerbert, afterwards Pope, returned from a visit in 986, and suggested that the Christian world ought in some way to interfere. Soon after pilgrims went in armed bodies, and serious quarrels occurred. The news that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had been thrown down excited great consternation in Europe about 1048. Changes in the rulers occurred at that time. At last Peter the Hermit, in 1095, raised to a frenzy all the adventurous enthusiasts till they arranged the First Crusade.

THE WAYS OF PILGRIMS.

The fashion of going on pilgrimage became noticeable in the fourth century, the Holy Land being the chief attraction. Hospitals were founded at convenient places to accommodate pilgrims. The order of Knights Templars was founded to escort the caravans and protect them in wild and dangerous places. Rome and the shrine of St. James at Compostella or Santiago were added in the Middle Ages as centres. Rich and poor joined in this desire of travel. The pilgrims repaid their entertainers with the news they carried from distant countries. Before a man went on pilgrimage he first went to his church and received the Church's blessing and prayers. He lay prostrate at the altar while the priest and choir sang over him appropriate psalms, such as the twenty-fourth, fiftieth, and ninetieth. Then his scrip and palmer-staff were blessed and sprinkled with holy water, and the Mass was celebrated. The proper costume or pilgrim's weeds were a grey woollen robe and felt hat, staff, scrip, and water-bottle. Some went barefoot as a penance, or made a vow not to cut hair or beard till the pilgrimage was accomplished. If the Holy Land was the destination, the robe was signed with the cross, as a special sign and token, and each, after accomplishing his round of holy places, was entitled to wear the palm, and hence was called palmer. The sign of the Compostella pilgrimage was the scallop-shell. The sign of the Canterbury pilgrims was an ampullar flask, so-called from the vessel in which the blood of the martyr Thomas à Becket had been collected. These flasks were at first of wood, but latterly of lead and pewter. A bell was often added to the ampulla. Besides the badge, these pilgrims had their gathering-cry, and the Canterbury pilgrims lightened their journey with song and music and sometimes the bagpipe. When the pilgrim returned home, he presented himself at church to give thanks. Often a procession would go to meet the returning pilgrim, especially as he usually brought presents of silk cloths to the churches for copes or coverings of the altars. The emblems of these pilgrimages were often depicted on the pilgrim's tomb.

PETER THE HERMIT (A.D. 1095).

When the Turks supplanted the Mohammedans as masters of Jerusalem, being a more fanatical and barbarous race they treated the Christians of Palestine as slaves, and pilgrims found it more and more dangerous to gratify their lifelong passion to visit that country. The growing indignation at this treatment found a noble champion in Peter the Hermit, who died 1115. He went the round of Christendom, and found all ready to enter into some great confederation, if they only knew how, to rescue the holy places from these accursed infidels. Peter was a Frank from Picardy, of ignoble stature, but with a quick and flashing eye; his spare, sharp person was full of fire from the restless soul within. He had himself visited the Holy Land, and his heart burned within him at the sight of the oppressions of Christian men. He told everybody he had had a vision when he was in the Temple; and the voice of the Lord Himself was heard in these very words: "Rise, Peter; go forth to make known the tribulations of My people; the hour is come for the delivery of My servants, for the recovery of the holy places!" Peter at once went forth, and had interviews with the Pope and with princes and great men, and all saw and confessed he was a true prophet. He rode round Europe on a mule with a crucifix in his hand, his head and feet bare; his dress was a long robe girt with a cord, and a hermit's cloak of the coarsest stuff. His eloquence was heart-stirring, mingled here and there with tears and groans; he preached in pulpits, in highways and market-places. He beat his breast. He appealed to every passion--to valour and shame, to indignation and pity, to the pride of the warrior, the compassion of the man, to the religion of the Christian, to the hatred of the unbeliever, to reverence for the Redeemer, to the avenging of the saints, to the hopes of eternal life. He invoked the holy angels, the saints in heaven, the Mother of God, the Lord Himself. He called on the holy places, on Zion, on Calvary, on the holy sepulchre, to give forth their voices against these infidels. He held up the crucifix, as if Christ Himself was imploring them to be ready and act at once. Peter's eloquence struck the true chord of sympathy, and electrified the crowds who listened and echoed his enthusiasm. Gifts showered upon him. All ages and both sexes crowded to touch even his garment. The very hairs that dropped from his mule were caught and treasured as relics. All Western Christendom gradually rose as one man in obedience to the spell. The Pope, Urban II., caught the contagion, and summoned and harangued the Council of Clermont in the same style. He called on all men through their bishops to rise and deliver these holy places, which were made dens of thieves and stalls for cattle, and were polluted and defiled by atrocities not to be named. While Christian blood was shed, it was time for them to gird on their swords. He assured them the Saviour Himself, the God of armies, would be their guide in battle. The wealth of their enemies would of course be theirs. He offered absolution for all sins; there was no crime which might not be redeemed by this act of obedience: absolution without penance would be granted to all who took arms in the sacred cause. Eternal life would be the portion of all who fell in battle or in the march to the Holy Land. For himself he must remain aloof; but while they were slaughtering the enemy, he would be perpetually engaged in fervent and prevailing prayer for their success. At the close of this harangue all admitted and felt the force of the enthusiasm, and exclaimed, "It is the will of God! it is the will of God!" The contagion spread. France, Germany, Italy, England, furnished wild multitudes, eager and ready to enlist in this glorious warfare. All began to sharpen their spears and collect their outfit for a grand enterprise, certain to be a success.

POPE URBAN PREACHING FOR A CRUSADE (A.D. 1095).

When Pope Urban in 1095 preached at the conclusion of the Council of Clermont, he thus urged on the faithful to join the crusade: "We see that the breadth of the whole world is now full of faithless and blaspheming Pagans, who worship stocks and stones. They have occupied as a perpetual possession the third part of the world, and that part wherein all the Apostles, except two suffered martyrdom for the Lord. They have also, with shame be it said, possession of Africa, that land which gave to mankind the Holy Scriptures and extinguished the errors of infidelity. They claim possession of our Lord's tomb, and sell to our pilgrims for money admission to the holy city. Gird yourselves then for the battle, my brave warriors, for a memorable expedition against the enemies of the cross. Let the sign of the cross decorate your shoulders; let your outward ardour declare your inward faith. Turn against the enemies of Christ those weapons which you have hitherto stained with blood in battles and tournaments among yourselves. Let your zeal in this expedition atone for the rapine, theft, homicide, fornication, and deeds of incendiarism by which you have provoked the Lord to anger. In virtue of the power which God has given us, however unworthy of it, to bind and to loose, all who engage in this expedition in their own persons and at their own expense shall receive a full pardon for all the offences which they shall repent of in their hearts and with their lips confess, and we promise to the same and to all who contribute their substance an increased portion of eternal salvation. Go then, brave soldiers, secure to yourselves fame throughout the world; disown all fear of death. Those who die will sit down in the heavenly guest chamber, and those who survive will set their eyes on our Lord's sepulchre."

THE CRUSADERS' HUNGER FOR EARTH OF PALESTINE.

At the time when the First Crusade was organised, Pope Urban harangued a vast crowd of the clergy and laity, urging them to join it, and adding: "What can be greater happiness than for any one in his lifetime to see those places where the Lord of heaven went about as a man?" All then believed the soil of Palestine to be sacred. Even its dust was adored. It was carefully conveyed to Europe in bagfuls and pocketfuls, and the fortunate possessor, whether by original acquisition or by purchase, was considered to be secured against the malevolence of demons. St. Augustine relates a story of the cure of a young man who had some of the dust of the holy city suspended in a bag over his bed. It became a fashion for each of the pilgrims to bring some home in his bag. At Pisa the cemetery of the Campo Santo was said to contain five fathoms of holy earth brought in 1218 from Palestine by the Pisans. Friends and neighbours walked with an intending pilgrim to the next town, and loaded him with their benedictions, and turned back with many tears. The village pastor delivered a staff to the pilgrim, and put round him a scarf or girdle, with a leathern scrip or wallet attached. They all believed that a prayer in Jerusalem was worth ten thousand common prayers in other places. There were hospitals and houses of rest provided for weary pilgrims on the road. In their first battles, they fancied they saw figures riding on white horses, and in white armour and cloth of gold, all in the air, helping them with celestial weapons. When they first caught sight of Jerusalem, all eyes were transfixed and bathed with tears and shining with rapture as they gazed on that hallowed spot.

HOW A PENITENTIAL CRUSADER WENT ALONG.

William, Count of Poitiers, before setting out on his crusade to the Holy Land, took his leave thus: "I wish to compose a chant, and the subject shall be that which causes my sorrow. I go into exile beyond sea, and leave my beloved Poitiers and Limousin. I go beyond sea to the place where pilgrims implore their pardon. Adieu, brilliant tournaments! adieu, grandeur and magnificence, and all that is dear to my heart! Nothing can stop me. I go to the plains where God promised remission of sins. Pardon me, all you my companions, if I have ever offended you. I implore your pardon. I offer my repentance to Jesus the Master of heaven; to Him I address my prayer. Too long have I been abandoned to worldly distractions; but the voice of the Lord has been heard. We must appear before His tribunal. I sink under the weight of my iniquities."

HOW THE CRUSADERS GOT RID OF SPIES (A.D. 1097).

In 1097, while the Crusaders were besieging Antioch, they were alarmed by the knowledge that there were spies in the camp out of every unbelieving nation in the East, who found it easy to remain undiscovered by calling themselves merchants from Greece, Syria, or Armenia, who brought provisions for sale to the army. These spies witnessed the famine and pestilence which prevailed in the camp, and the pilgrims justly feared that this intelligence would spread to their destruction. The princes were at a loss what to do; but Beaumont, who was a shrewd man, about twilight, when his comrades were all engaged throughout the camp in preparing their supper, commanded several Turkish prisoners to be put to death and their flesh to be roasted over a large fire to be prepared for table. He further instructed the servants, if asked what they were about, to reply that general orders had been given that in future all Turks who should be brought in prisoners by the scouts should be served up for food both to the princes and the people. All the army soon heard of this remarkable news, and the Turkish spies in the camp believed that it was done in earnest. Fearing, therefore, lest the same thing should happen to themselves, they left the camp and returned to their own country, where they told their employers that the men in the Crusaders' army exceeded the ferocity of beasts; and not content with plundering castles and cities, they must needs fill their bellies with the flesh and blood of their victims. This report spread throughout the most distant countries, and by this means the grievance of spies was put a stop to.

CRUSADERS DISCOVERING THE HOLY LANCE (A.D. 1098).

When the Crusaders were besieged by the Turks in Antioch in 1098, and suffering from famine and despair, and many men failing in courage and escaping by night from the walls, thence called rope-dancers, a sudden gleam of confidence came to their relief. A priest of Marseilles, named Peter Bartholomey, though known to be of cunning and loose manners, suddenly knocked at the door of the council chamber to disclose an apparition of St. Andrew, who thrice appeared to him in his sleep, and called on him under heavy threats to reveal the commands of Heaven. The saint had thus addressed Peter: "At Antioch, in the church of my brother St. Peter near the high altar, is concealed the steel head of the lance that pierced the side of our Redeemer. In three days that instrument of eternal and now of temporal salvation will be manifested to His disciples. Search and ye shall find; bear it aloft in battle, and that mystic weapon shall penetrate the souls of the miscreants." The Pope's legate, the Bishop of Puy, listened with coldness, but Count Raymond eagerly welcomed this revelation. The attempt was made, and after prayer and fasting the priest of Marseilles introduced twelve trusty spectators, and barred the doors to keep out the excited multitude. The ground was broken and dug to a depth of twelve feet and nothing found; but in the evening, when the guards were drowsy, Peter, in his shirt and without shoes, boldly descended into the pit in the dark with the head of a Saracen lance, and this he pretended with devout rapture to discover by its gleam as the genuine relic. The chiefs affected to recognise the discovery and to inspire enthusiasm. The gates were thrown open, while a procession of monks and priests chanted the psalm "Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered." The holy lance was entrusted to a faithful leader; three knights in white garments also suddenly appeared to help the Crusaders, whose spirits were roused to the highest pitch.

THE HOLY LANCE PUTS THE INFIDELS TO ROUT (A.D. 1098).

When the holy lance was discovered and the Crusaders were in the highest enthusiasm and marched out of Antioch, the Sultan Corbogha was so struck by their impassioned, stern, and indomitable aspect, that he had misgivings, and even made proposals which were haughtily rejected. The battle was long, stubborn, and at points indecisive, but at last the pious and warlike enthusiasm of the Crusaders prevailed over the savage bravery of the Turks. The Sultan soon fled away towards the Euphrates with a weak escort. Tancred pursued till nightfall the retiring hosts. The Christian chroniclers say that 100,000 infidels were slain, while only 4,000 Crusaders were left on the field of battle. The camp of the Turks was given over to pillage, and 15,000 camels and many horses were secured. The camp of the Sultan Corbogha was a rich prize and an object of admiration. It was laid out in streets, flanked by towers, as if it were a fortified town; gold and precious stones glittered in every part of it. It was capable of accommodating 2,000 persons. Beaumont sent it to Italy, where it was long preserved. After that battle, says Albert of Aix, every Crusader found himself richer than he had been when starting from Europe. Nevertheless the effect on the Crusaders was disastrous. Some abandoned themselves to the licence of victory, others to the sweets of repose. Some longed to go home; others to push for further conquests. After long debates and rivalries the majority decided to wait till the heat of summer was over before attempting to capture Jerusalem. It was eight months before the bulk of the Crusaders began to move on.

THE CRUSADERS TESTING A DOUBTFUL POINT.

In 1099 the Crusaders were at Marra, when a dissension existed between Beaumont and the Count of Toulouse, and murmurs arose among the armies as to the delays thereby caused. The Count, in order to satisfy the people, passed on to a city called Archis, and pitched their camp near the sea coast. The Christians besieged the city a long time, but without success. Here the question was again mooted concerning the lance with which our Lord's side had been pierced. Some said that it had really been appointed by Divine inspiration for the consolation of the army; whilst others maliciously contended that it was a stratagem of the Count of Toulouse, and was no discovery at all, but invented solely for gain. A large fire was therefore kindled of a size sufficient to terrify the bystanders; and when all the people were assembled together one day, the priest Peter, to whom the discovery of the lance had been made, underwent a perilous ordeal, for when he had offered up a prayer he took the lance with him and passed unhurt through the midst of the fire. But as he died a few days afterwards, the ordeal did not give entire satisfaction to the opposite party.

THE CRUSADERS' FIRST SIGHT OF JERUSALEM (A.D. 1099).

When the Crusaders, in the spring of 1099, marched from Antioch towards Jerusalem, and reached some spot sacred to history, the natural greed and jealousy among the chiefs were too apparent. A warrior-chief would rush to plant his flag first on a town or house and claim to be its possessor. Others, more earnest, marched barefooted beneath the banner of the cross, and deplored among themselves the covetous and quarrelsome temper of their leaders. On reaching Emmaus, a deputation of Christians came from Bethlehem to bespeak help, and Tancred, in the middle of the night, with a small band of a hundred horsemen, went and planted his own flag on the top of the church at Bethlehem, at the very hour at which the birth of Christ had been announced to the shepherds of Judæa. Next day, on June 10th, 1099, at dawn, the army of Crusaders from the heights of Emmaus had their first gaze at the Holy City. Tasso, in "Jerusalem Delivered," thus gives voice to the scene: "Lo! Jerusalem appears in sight! Lo! every hand points to Jerusalem. A thousand voices are heard as one in salutation of Jerusalem. After the great sweet joy which filled all hearts at this first glimpse came a deep feeling of contrition, mingled with awful and reverential affection Each scarcely dared to raise the eye towards the city which had been the chosen abode of Christ, where He died, was buried, and rose again. In accents of humility, with low-spoken words, with stifled sobs, with sighs and tears, the pent-up yearnings of a people in joy, and yet in sorrow, sent shivering through the air a murmur like that which is heard in leafy forests what time the wind blows through the leaves, or like the dull sound made by the sea which breaks upon the rocks, or hisses as it foams over the beach." It was thought at the time there were 20,000 armed inhabitants and 40,000 men in garrison of fanatical Mussulmans. About 40,000 Crusaders were outside of both sexes, of whom 12,000 were foot soldiers and 1,200 knights.

CRUSADERS PREPARING TO ASSAULT JERUSALEM (A.D. 1099).

While the crusading army were preparing their scaling towers and engines for hurling stones, one day Tancred had gone alone to pray on the Mount of Olives and to gaze upon the Holy City, when five Mussulmans sallied forth to attack him. He killed three and the other two took to flight. There was at one point of the city ramparts a ravine, which had to be filled up to make an approach, and the Count of Toulouse issued a proclamation that he would give a _denier_ to every one who would go and throw three stones into it. In three days the ravine was filled up. After four weeks' labour a day was fixed for delivering the assault; but as several of the chiefs had serious quarrels, it was resolved that before the grand attack they should all be reconciled at a general supplication with solemn ceremonies for Divine aid. After a strict fast, all the Crusaders went forth armed from their quarters, and, preceded by their priests barefooted and chanting psalms, they moved in slow procession round Jerusalem, halting at all places hallowed by some fact in sacred history, listening to the discourses of their priests, and raising eyes full of wrath at hearing the scoffs addressed to them by the Saracens, and at seeing the insults heaped upon certain crosses they had set up, and upon all the symbols of the Christian faith. "Ye see," cried Peter the Hermit, "ye hear the threats and blasphemies of these enemies of God. Now this I swear to you by your faith, by the arms ye carry, to-day these infidels are full of pride and insolence, but to-morrow they shall be frozen with fear. Those mosques which tower over Christian ruins shall serve for temples to the true God, and Jerusalem shall hear no longer aught but the praises of God." The Christians raised a great shout in answer to their apostle, and repeated the words of Isaiah: "They shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun."

THE CRUSADERS CAPTURING JERUSALEM (A.D. 1099).

On July 14th, 1099, a third assault had been made against the city of Jerusalem; the machines of the Crusaders threw millstones against the walls, while the citizens threw pots of lighted tow, which would easily break, so as to destroy the machines. The enemy during the assault brought up two witches to enchant the machines and render them useless, but while they were enchanting a large stone struck both of them dead, and then a great shout arose among the besiegers. Duke Godfrey's men threw fire on the bags of straw and cushions of the wall, then threw a bridge to one end of the tower, by which he and his men entered, and then opened the gate of St. Paul, at three o'clock on Friday, the hour when Christ had yielded up the ghost. The Turks were then put to death in such numbers that no one could walk the streets without treading on dead bodies. When Tancred learned that many Turks had fled for refuge within the courts of the Temple, his men rushed inside and slew great numbers, and it was said carried off much gold and silver. Meanwhile, horse and foot were pouring into the city, and every inhabitant met with was slain, so that the streets flowed with blood. Ten thousand Turks were said to have been slain within the precincts of the Temple alone. The Crusaders, dispersing through the streets, and searching every secret place they could find, drew out master and mistress with their children and all their family from the secret chambers, and either put them to the sword or threw them headlong and broke their necks. He who first got possession of a house or palace claimed it as his own permanent property; for it had been agreed amongst the princes that, when the city was taken, each should keep what he could get. And thus, whoever first took possession of a house fixed a banner, shield, or some kind of weapon at the door as a sign to others that the house was already occupied.

THE CRUSADERS' FIRST VISIT TO THE HOLY PLACES (A.D. 1099).

When Jerusalem was captured in 1099, and the spoils had been collected by the pilgrims, they began, with sighs and tears, with naked feet, and with every sign of humility and devotion, to visit each of the holy places which the Lord had hallowed by His presence, and in particular the Church of the Resurrection and of our Lord's Passion. It was most pleasant to behold with what devotion the faithful of both sexes, whilst their minds were exhilarated with spiritual enjoyment, approached, shedding tears, to the holy places, and gave thanks to God for having brought their pious labours and long service to the desired consummation. All thence derived hopes that it would be the earnest of a future resurrection, and these present benefits gave them a firm expectation of those which were to come, that the earthly Jerusalem which they now trod would be to them the way to the heavenly Jerusalem. The bishops too and priests, having purified the churches of the city, and especially the precincts of the Temple, consecrated to God the holy places, and celebrating Mass before the people, gave thanks for the blessings which they had received. Many men of the greatest credit affirmed that they saw their dead companions going round with the princes to visit the holy places. The venerable Peter the Hermit, by whose zeal the undertaking was commenced, was now recognised and affectionately saluted by all. When all the places had been visited, the princes returned to their houses and hostels, to enjoy the gold, silver, jewels, costly garments, corn, wine, and oil, besides plenty of water, from the want of which they had suffered so much during the siege. There was an abundance of everything that could be desired, and the market was maintained at low prices.

ST. BERNARD ROUSING A SECOND CRUSADE (A.D. 1174).

As Louis VII., in his quarrel with the Pope, had once invaded Count Theobald's dominions, and burnt alive thirteen hundred Christians, his conscience led him to restore the balance by slaughtering as many infidels, and hence he pressed the Pope to direct a second crusade. The Pope took the matter up, but was glad to devolve the burden of agitating among the nations on Bernard. This pleased Louis equally well, and at their joint solicitation meetings were arranged to be harangued by the inspired monk of Clairvaux. Pale and attenuated to a degree almost supernatural, even the glance of Bernard's eyes filled his contemporaries with wonder and awe. That he was kept alive at all appeared to them to be a standing miracle. But when the light from that thin calm face fell upon them, when those firm lips gave out words of love, devotion, and self-sacrifice, they were carried away with their feelings. A stage had been erected on the top of a hill, where a vast crowd, headed by the King and his knights, was collected. The mere sight and sound of Bernard's voice stirred up a sea of faces, and brought out a unanimous shout demanding "Crosses! crosses!" Bernard began to scatter broadcast among the people a supply of crosses, as the pledge of their wild enthusiasm. He also kept up the enthusiasm by visiting the towns of North-western Germany, and he enrolled his thousands of enthusiasts. He said at last he had scarcely left one man to seven women. All the chroniclers of the day describe a succession of miracles as attending Bernard wherever he went. Soon all the chivalry of Europe were ready to advance to the Holy Land, conquering and to conquer.

A FRENCH QUEEN AS A CRUSADER (A.D. 1147).

When Eleanor of Aquitaine was Queen of Louis VII. of France, being beautiful, a fine musician and songstress, and expert in the songs and recitations of the troubadours, she was so carried away by the eloquence of the monk Bernard when preaching for the crusade that she vowed to join her husband and go to the Holy Land. Her youth, beauty, and gaiety made the King do anything. She made her court ladies array themselves like Amazons, and act as her bodyguard. They joined in the exercises eagerly as in any frolic, and sent their distaffs as presents to the knights and nobles who had not courage to go from home. The freaks of these ladies led to many mishaps and disasters in the field; and instead of obeying orders, the Queen and her Amazons insisted on encamping in a lovely, romantic valley, which deranged all the wisest plans, and led to the loss of seven thousand of the flower of French chivalry. She then began to flirt with her uncle, a handsome old beau, whom she met for the first time at Antioch, and her vagaries caused disgust to Louis, who left her in a huff. When she entered Jerusalem, the burning object of every Crusader's dreams, she was in such a fit of temper that she saw nothing interesting, and then began a lasting quarrel between her and the King. While Louis was besieging Damascus she had to be kept in personal restraint at Jerusalem, and even started another flirtation with a handsome young Saracen. After great disasters and vexations, the King and Queen left Constantinople, and reached France in 1148. She never ceased to mock the King for his dowdy habits during the next four years while they lived together. In 1150 the young Prince Henry of England, aged seventeen, first saw the Queen, and she was fascinated by him, and took measures to marry him after securing a divorce from Louis. The celerity of her marriage to Henry in 1152, after obtaining her divorce, astonished all Europe, she being thirty-two and Henry twenty.

ST. BERNARD AFTER THE EVENT OF HIS CRUSADE.

The influence of St. Bernard in rousing the Second Crusade was due to the reputation he had acquired above all his rivals and contemporaries, who knew that he had refused all ecclesiastical dignities, and yet was the oracle of Europe, and the founder of one hundred and sixty convents. He was warned, however, by the example of Peter the Hermit, and declined any military command. After the calamitous event of his great undertaking, the Abbot of Clairvaux was loudly accused as a false prophet, the author of the public and private mourning; his enemies exulted, his friends blushed, and his apology was slow and unsatisfactory. He justified his obedience to the Pope, expatiated on the mysterious ways of Providence, imputed the misfortunes of the pilgrims to their own sins, and modestly insinuated that his own part of the mission had been approved by signs and wonders.

A PILGRIM PRINCE BRINGING RELICS FROM THE HOLY LAND (A.D. 1172).

Henry, Duke of Saxony, married Matilda, then a girl of twelve, eldest daughter of Henry II. of England, in 1168, and four years after the Duke resolved to visit the Holy Land, not as a fighting Crusader, but only as a pilgrim, so that his feet might stand and his knees bend where once the feet of the Saviour had stood. He took costly presents, and while approaching Jerusalem the clergy came forth to welcome him, chanting hymns and songs of joy. He made magnificent offerings at the Holy Sepulchre, and left money to keep three lamps perpetually burning before the holy shrine. Henry visited all the sacred places, was fêted by King Baldwin, and then by the Turkish Sultan. The Sultan, after presenting Henry with a gorgeous cloak, ordered eighteen hundred war-steeds to be brought out that the guest might choose the best, and it was then decorated with silver bits and jewelled saddles. He was also offered a lion and two leopards, as well as six camels loaded with gifts. The Emperor at Constantinople was equally liberal, and gave manuscripts of the Holy Gospels and many relics of saints and martyrs. When Henry reached his home in Brunswick and displayed his treasures before his duchess and their subjects, he found in his collection the following gems: a tooth of St. John the Baptist; a great toe of St. Mark; the arms of St. Innocent and St. Theodore; a scrap of the dresses of the Virgin Mary, of St. Stephen the protomartyr, St. Laurence, and Mary Magdalene; some of the wood of the cross; a few splinters from the crown of thorns; a piece of the column to which our Lord was bound when scourged; a part of the table used at the Last Supper; and many other rarities. The wood of the cross was enshrined in a large silver crucifix decorated with fifty-one pearls, thirty-nine corals, and ninety-six other jewels. These spoils were distributed among the different churches in Brunswick and the monastery of Hildesheim, and received with immense satisfaction and pride.

THE POPE WRITING UP ANOTHER CRUSADE (A.D. 1187).

In 1187 Pope Gregory VIII. sent a letter to the faithful, reciting that "whereas we doubt not that the disasters of the land of Jerusalem which have lately happened through the irruption of the Saracens have been caused by the sins of the whole people of Christendom, therefore we have enacted that all persons shall for the next five years on every sixth day of the week fast on Lenten fare, and wherever Mass is performed it shall be chanted at the ninth hour, also on the fourth day of the week; and on Saturday all persons without distinction who are in good health shall abstain from eating flesh. We and our brethren do also forbid to ourselves and to our households the use of flesh on the second day of the week as well, unless it shall so happen that illness, or some great calamity, or other evident cause shall seem to prevent the same, trusting that by so doing God will pardon us and leave His blessing behind Him." The princes of the earth, on receiving these mandates and exhortations of the Supreme Pontiff, exerted themselves with all their might for the liberation of the land of Jerusalem, and accordingly the Emperor, the archbishops, bishops, dukes, earls, and barons of the empire assumed the sign of the cross.

THE EMPEROR'S HYPOCRITICAL CRUSADERSHIP (A.D. 1189).

Frederick I. (Barbarossa), Emperor of Germany, was said to have joined Henry II. of England and Philip of France in a crusade from mere worldly ambition rather than any sincere devotion. An Arabian chronicler, Ibn Gouzi, thus describes his visit to Jerusalem before leaving the East: "The Emperor was ruddy and bald. His sight was weak. If he had been a slave, he would not have been worth two hundred drachmas. His discourse showed that he did not believe his Christian religion. When he spoke of it, it was to sneer at it. Having cast his eyes on the inscription in letters of gold which Saladin has placed above the venerated chapel, which said, 'Saladin purged the Holy City from those who worshipped many gods,' he had it explained to him; and then asking why the windows had gratings, he was told it was to keep out the birds. He answered, 'Yes, you have driven away the sparrows, but instead of them you have let in hogs,' meaning the Christians. When the Emir, enforcing the Sultan's order to avoid what might displease Frederick, rebuked the Mussulmans for uttering on the minarets the passages in the Koran against the Christians, Frederick, hearing of it, told him, 'You have done wrong. Why for my sake omit your duty, your law, or your religion? By heaven, if you come with me to my states----'" At this point the chronicler's account was mutilated, and the rest is unknown.

FULK OF NEUILLY, THE PREACHER OF THE THIRD CRUSADE (A.D. 1195).

As Peter the Hermit was the soul of the First Crusade and St. Bernard of the Second, so Fulk of Neuilly, who died 1202, was the missionary of the Third Crusade in 1195. He had been wild in youth, but settled down and attended the lectures of Peter the Chaunter in Paris, and took copious notes of the brilliant passages. He then poured forth Peter's eloquence in his own next Sunday's sermon, and began to be considered eloquent and stirring. One day his hearers were so overwhelmed with enthusiasm that they tore their clothes, threw away their shoes, and cast themselves at his feet, demanding rods and scourges to inflict instant penance on themselves. Usurers came and threw their gains at his feet. The Pope, Innocent III., heard of Fulk's enthusiasm and highly approved it, and suggested to him a mission to stir up the people. He did so, and went the round of France, distributing crosses, blessing wells, and working miracles. He shaved and wore a sackcloth shirt and rode on a palfrey. He received vast subsidies. But notwithstanding his zeal and success, a profound mistrust settled on mankind that these holy alms were devoted by the Pope and him to other uses. He died of fever in 1202, supposed to have been brought on by grief at these malappropriations. Other preachers, especially the Abbot Martin, had also kept up the missionary enthusiasm, and at last a crusade of Cery began in 1200, the fruit of this stirring of the people.

DEATH OF RICHARD I., A CRUSADER (A.D. 1199).

While Richard I., who had returned from Palestine in 1194, was in 1199 besieging the castle of Chalus in Limousin and was reconnoitring it on all sides, one Bertram de Gurdun aimed an arrow from the castle, striking the King in the arm and inflicting an incurable wound. A physician attempted to extract the iron head from the wound, but took out only the wood at first, and in butcher fashion had to probe again for the rest. The King, feeling that he could not survive, disposed of his wealth, and then ordered the arbalister to be called to his presence. The King asked what harm he had done that the bowman should kill him. The latter at once made answer that the King had slain his father and two brothers with his own hand, and also had intended to kill the speaker, but that he, the latter, was quite ready and willing to endure the greatest torments, being well content that one who had inflicted so many evils on the world should do so no more. The King pardoned the soldier and ordered him to be discharged; but the King's servants, notwithstanding, privily flayed him alive and then hanged him.

FRENCH AND VENETIANS PILLAGING CONSTANTINOPLE.

When the French and Venetians in 1204 besieged and pillaged Constantinople, the Emperor's wife and child had to take refuge in the house of a merchant. The patriarch escaped, riding on an ass without attendants. The conquerors entered the Cathedral of St. Sophia, tore down the veil, the altar, and all its ornaments. They made a prostitute mount on the patriarch's throne and sing and dance in the holy place, to ridicule the hymns and processions of the worshippers. The tombs were stripped of everything saleable. There were many Pagan statues which peculiarly provoked the contempt and zeal of the invaders. The statues of the victorious charioteers, the sphinx, river-horse, and crocodile, of the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, of the eagle and serpent, and other designs of Pagan heroes and goddesses, were cast down and disfigured and then burnt. The most enlightened of the invaders searched for and seized the relics of the saints; and it is said that the Abbot Martin transferred a rich cargo to his monastery of Paris. The supply of heads and bones, crosses and images, served the wants of the churches of Europe, and proved most lucrative plunder. The libraries also shared the general fate.

THE POPE TURNS ON CRUSADERS AGAINST THE HERETICS (A.D. 1208).

The southern part of France had long been noted for the variety of heresies caused amongst its mixed population. In 1145 St. Bernard went forth to preach against the heretics of Toulouse, where there were churches without flocks, flocks without priests, and Christians without Christ, where men were dying in their sins without being reconciled by penance or admitted to the Holy Communion, and their souls sent pell-mell before the awful tribunal of God. But even St. Bernard could make little impression on the ungodly population, who drowned his voice and caused him to shake the dust from his feet and to curse the town of Vertfeuil. He died in 1153, and for fifty years later the heretics of Southern France, generally called the Albigenses, vexed the orthodox souls of Popes and Church Councils. At last, about 1208, a fiery and zealous Crusader, on returning from Palestine, was enlisted by Pope Innocent III., and aided by two Spanish monks to extirpate, since they could not hope to convert, these troublesome heretics whom the Pope described as worse than the Saracens. A rally was made of all the fanatical offscourings in the world to help in this heretic hunt, and for fifteen years all the towns and strong castles of the South were taken, lost, pillaged, sacked, and massacred with unbridled ferocity. The brutal Simon de Montfort, after the massacre of chiefs, confiscated the lands and appropriated these to himself. It was a relief to Christians when that unscrupulous bandit, after besieging Toulouse for nine months, was killed by a shower of stones discharged from the walls in 1218.

CRUSADERS FEROCIOUS AGAINST HERETICS (A.D. 1209).

The Crusaders, in 1209, though zealous for their religion, scarcely showed a glimmering of its influence in the conduct of their warlike operations against the Albigenses. They spread desolation wherever they went, destroying vineyards and crops, burning villages and farmhouses, slaughtering unarmed peasants, women, and children. When La Minerve, near Narbonne, after an obstinate defence, yielded and the besieged were offered their freedom if they recanted their heresy, one of the Crusaders shouted out, "We came to extirpate heretics, not to show them favour." This voice from the crowd sharpened their fury, and one hundred and forty of both sexes were burnt to death. At a castle called Brau, De Montfort cut off the noses and tore out the eyes of one hundred of the defenders, leaving to one of them one eye only, that he might lead out the rest. At Lavaur, Almeric and eighty nobles were ordered to be hanged; but because one of the gibbets fell down in using it, they were all butchered with the sword. The sister of Almeric, being deemed an obstinate heretic, was thrown into a well and a pile of stones upon her. A chaplain of the Crusaders at one place reported that four hundred captives were burned with immense joy. One lady at Toulouse, lying on her deathbed, being charged as a heretic, was carried out in her bed and burnt amid the merriment of the orthodox. Yet Simon de Montfort, who had been chosen general of these brutal legions, after despatching so many dissenters of the period, on returning to Northern France was hailed as champion of the faith, and the clergy and people met him in procession, shouting, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." At the siege of Beziers, it is mentioned, where Catholics and heretics both joined in defending their town, Arnold of Citeaux incited the Crusaders to slaughter not only men but women and children indiscriminately, brutally adding, "Kill them all; the Lord knoweth them that are His." The series of campaigns against the Albigenses was said to give the Pope the idea of establishing the Inquisition as a more effectual way of putting down all heretics.

HOW THE ORTHODOX VIEWED THE ALBIGENSES (A.D. 1214).

In 1214 the depravity of the heretics called Albigenses, who dwelt in Gascony, Arumnia, and Alby, gained such power in the parts about Toulouse and in Aragon that they not only practised their impieties in secret, but preached their erroneous doctrine openly. The Albigenses were so called, says Roger of Wendover, from the city of Alba, where that doctrine was said to have taken its rise. At length their perversity set the anger of God so completely at defiance that they published the books of their doctrines amongst the lower order before the very eyes of the bishops and priests, and disgraced the chalices and sacred vessels in disrespect of the body and blood of Christ. Pope Innocent was greatly grieved, and enjoined the chiefs and other Christian people that whoever undertook the business of overthrowing the heretics should, like those who visited the Lord's sepulchre, be protected from all hostile attacks both in property and person. The Crusaders met in large assembly, and then marched to lay siege to the city of Beziers. The heretics there, on seeing their assailants, scornfully threw out the book of the Gospel, blaspheming the name of the Lord. The soldiers of the faith, incensed by such blasphemy, in less than three hours' time scaled the walls, and sacked and burnt the city, and a great slaughter of the infidels took place as the punishment of God, but very few of the Catholics were slain. After a few days, when the report of this miracle was spread abroad, the followers of this heretical depravity fled to the mountains, and abandoned their castles, which were stocked with all kinds of food and stores.

THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE (A.D. 1212).

While the fever for crusading against heretics was kept alive in 1212, a singular development occurred among the little children, who copied what they saw. A shepherd boy named Stephen, at the village of Cloies, near Vendome, arose, who professed to have been commanded by the Saviour in a vision to go and preach the cross. This tale at once was accepted, and he gathered children about him, who went through the towns and villages chanting, "O Lord, help us to recover Thy true and holy cross." The numbers increased as they went along, so that when they reached Paris they were computed at fifteen hundred, and at Marseilles at thirty thousand, marching under banners, crosses, and censers. Parents in vain tried to keep their children from joining in the enthusiasm, and it is related that those who resorted to locks and bars were confounded on seeing these give way and allow the little captives to go free. Stephen, like his betters, was credited with miraculous power, and the threads of his dress were treasured as precious relics. He was carried along on a triumphal car, and had a miniature bodyguard. At last some buccaneering shippers, on pretence of giving them a free passage to Egypt and Africa, kidnapped and sold them as slaves. While this juvenile army was parading through France, a like movement was set on foot by a boy, Nicolas, in Germany, but his following was less successful, and soon became scattered. The sagacious Pope Innocent, in alluding to these childish outbreaks, was pleased to observe that the children put to shame the apathy of their elders.

MORE PREACHING OF THE CRUSADE (A.D. 1236).