Chapter C: Section 2 (5)

"The religious wars fostered and promoted vice; and the
failure of army after army was looked on as a clear
manifestation of God's wrath against the sins of the camp.
This feeling was roused to its highest pitch when, in the year
1212, certain priests—Nicolas was the name of one of these
mischievous madmen—went about France and Germany calling on
the children to perform what the fathers, through their
wickedness, had been unable to effect, promising that the sea
should be dry to enable them to march across; that the
Saracens would be miraculously stricken with a panic at the
sight of them; that God would, through the hands of children
only, whose lives were yet pure, work the recovery of the
Cross and the Sepulchre. Thousands—it is said fifty
thousand—children of both sexes responded to the call. They
listened to the impassioned preaching of the monks, believed
their lying miracles, their visions, their portents, their
references to the Scriptures, and, in spite of all that their
parents could do, rushed to take the Cross, boys and girls
together, and streamed along the roads which led to Marseilles
and Genoa, singing hymns, waving branches, replying to those
who asked whither they were going, 'We go to Jerusalem to
deliver the Holy Sepulchre,' and shouting their rallying cry,
'Lord Jesus, give us back thy Holy Cross.' They admitted
whoever came, provided he took the Cross; the infection
spread, and the children could not be restrained from joining
them in the towns and villages along their route. Their
miserable parents put them in prison; they escaped; they
forbade them to go; the children went in spite of prohibition.
They had no money, no provisions, no leaders; but the charity
of the towns they passed through supported them. At their rear
streamed the usual tail of camp followers. … There were two
main bodies. One of these directed its way through Germany,
across the Alps, to Genoa. On the road they were robbed of all
the gifts which had been presented them; they were exposed to
heat and want, and very many either died on the march or
wandered away from the road and so became lost to sight; when
they reached Italy they dispersed about the country, seeking
food, were stripped by the villagers, and in some cases were
reduced to slavery.
{633}
Only seven thousand out of their number arrived at Genoa. Here
they stayed for some days. They looked down upon the
Mediterranean, hoping that its bright waves would divide to
let them pass. But they did not; there was no miracle wrought
in their favour; a few of noble birth were received among the
Genoese families, and have given rise to distinguished houses
of Genoa; among them is the house of Vivaldi. The rest,
disappointed and disheartened, made their way back again, and
got home at length, the girls with the loss of their virtue,
the boys with the loss of their belief, all barefooted and in
rags, laughed at by the towns they went through, and wondering
why they had ever gone at all. This was the end of the German
army. That of the French was not so fortunate, for none of
them ever got back again at all. When they arrived at
Marseilles, thinned probably by the same causes as those which
had dispersed the Germans, they found, like their brethren,
that the sea did not open a path for them, as had been
promised. Perhaps some were disheartened and went home again.
But fortune appeared to favour them. There were two worthy
merchants at Marseilles, named Hugh Ferrens, and William
Porcus, Iron Hugh and Pig William, who traded with the East,
and had in port seven ships, in which they proposed to convey
the children to Palestine. With a noble generosity they
offered to take them for nothing, all for love of religion,
and out of the pure kindness of their hearts. Of course this
offer was accepted with joy, and the seven vessels laden with
the happy little Crusaders, singing their hymns and flying
their banners, sailed out from Marseilles, bound for the East,
accompanied by William the Good and Hugh the Pious. It was not
known to the children, of course, that the chief trade of
these merchants was the lucrative business of kidnapping
Christian children for the Alexandrian market. It was so,
however, and these respectable tradesmen had never before made
so splendid a coup. Unfortunately, off the Island of St.
Peter, they encountered bad weather, and two ships went down
with all on board. What must have been the feelings of the
philanthropists, Pig William and Iron Hugh, at this
misfortune? They got, however, five ships safely to
Alexandria, and sold all their cargo, the Sultan of Cairo
buying forty of the boys, whom he brought up carefully and
apart, intending them, doubtless, for his best soldiers. A
dozen refusing to change their faith were martyred. None of
the rest ever came back. Nobody in Europe seems to have taken
much notice of this extraordinary episode."

_W. Besant and E. H. Palmer,
Jerusalem,
chapter 18._

ALSO IN:
_J. H. Michaud,
History of the Crusades,
appendix number 28._

_G. Z. Gray,
The Children's Crusade._

CRUSADE: A. D. 1212.
Against the Moors in Spain.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1146-1232.

CRUSADE: A. D. 1216-1229.
The Sixth Movement.
Frederic II. in Jerusalem.

For six years after the betrayal of the vows of the crusaders
of 1202-1204—who sacked Constantinople instead of rescuing
Jerusalem—the Christians of Palestine were protected by a
truce with Saphadin, the brother of Saladin, who had succeeded
the latter in power. Hostilities were then rashly provoked by
the always foolish Latins, and they soon found themselves
reduced to sore straits, calling upon Europe for fresh help.
Pope Innocent III. did not scruple to second their appeal. A
new crusade was preached with great earnestness, and a general
Council of the Church—the Fourth of Lateran—was convened for
the stimulation of it. "The Fifth Crusade [or the Sixth, as
more commonly numbered], the result of this resolution, was
divided in the sequel into three maritime expeditions: the
first [A. D. 1216] consisting principally of Hungarians under
their king, Andrew; the second [A. D. 1218] composed of
Germans, Italians, French and English nobles and their
followers; and the third [A. D. 1228] led by the Emperor
Frederic II. in person. … Though the King of Hungary was
attended by the flower of a nation which, before its
conversion to Christianity, had been the scourge and terror of
Western Europe, the arms of that monarch, even aided by the
junction of numerous German crusaders under the dukes of
Austria and Bavaria, performed nothing worthy of notice: and
after a single campaign in Palestine, in which the Mussulman
territories were ineffectually ravaged, the fickle Andrew
deserted the cause and returned with his forces to Europe. His
defection did not prevent the duke of Austria, with the German
crusaders, from remaining, in concert with the King of
Jerusalem, his barons, and the knights of the three religious
orders, for the defence of Palestine; and, in the following
year, the constancy of these faithful champions of the Cross
was rewarded by the arrival of numerous reinforcements from
Germany. … It was resolved to change the scene of warfare
from the narrow limits of the Syrian shore to the coast of
Egypt, … and the situation of Damietta, at the mouth of the
Nile, pointed out that city as the first object of attack."
After a siege of seventeen months, during which both the
besieged and the besiegers suffered horribly, from famine and
from pestilence, Damietta was taken (A. D. 1219), Nine-tenths
of its population of 80,000 had perished. "Both during the
siege and after the capture of Damietta, the invasion of Egypt
had filled the infidels with consternation; and the alarm
which was betrayed in their counsels proved that the
crusaders, in choosing that country for the theatre of
operations, had assailed the Mussulman power in its most vital
and vulnerable point. Of the two sons of Saphadin, Coradinus
and Camel, who were now uneasily seated on the thrones of
Damascus and Cairo, the former, in despair of preserving
Jerusalem, had already demolished its fortifications; and the
brothers agreed in repeatedly offering the cession of the holy
city and of all Palestine to the Christians, upon the single
condition of their evacuating Egypt. Every object which had
been ineffectually proposed in repeated Crusades, since the
fatal battle of Tiberias, might now have been gloriously
obtained by the acceptance of these terms, and the King of
Jerusalem, the French and English leaders, and the Teutonic
knights, all eagerly desired to embrace the offer of the
Sultans. But the obstinate ambition and cupidity of the
surviving papal legate, Cardinal Pelagius, of the Italian
chieftains, and of the knights of the other two religious
orders, by holding out the rich prospect of the conquest and
plunder of Egypt, overruled every wise and temperate argument
in the Christian councils, and produced a rejection of all
compromise with the infidels.
{634}
After a winter of luxurious inaction, the legate led the
crusading host from Damietta toward Cairo (A. D. 1220)." The
expedition was as disastrous in its result as it was imbecile
in its leadership. The whole army, caught by the rising of the
Nile, was placed in so helpless a situation that it was glad
to purchase escape by the surrender of Damietta and the
evacuation of Egypt. The retreat of the greater part of these
crusaders did not end until they had reached home. Pope
Honorius III. (who had succeeded Innocent III. in 1216) strove
to shift responsibility for the failure from his wretched
legate to the Emperor Frederic II., who had thus far evaded
the fulfilment of his crusading promises and vows, being
occupied in struggles with the papacy. At length, in 1228,
Frederic embarked for Palestine with a small force, pursued by
the maledictions of the pope, who denounced him for daring to
assume the Cross while under the ban of the church, as much as
he had denounced him before for neglecting it. But the
free-thinking Hohenstauffen cared little, apparently, and went
his way, shunned scrupulously by all pious souls, including
the knights of Palestine, except those of the Teutonic order.
With the help of the latter he occupied and refortified Jaffa
and succeeded in concluding a treaty with the Sultan which
restored Jerusalem to the Christians, reserving certain rights
to the Mahometans; giving up likewise Bethlehem, Nazareth
and some other places to the Christians, and securing peace
for ten years. Frederic had married, a few years before, for
his second empress, Iolante, daughter and heiress of the
titular king of Jerusalem, John de Brienne. With the hand of
this princess, he received from her father a solemn transfer
of all his rights to that shadowy throne. He now claimed those
rights, and, entering Jerusalem, with the Teutonic knights (A.
D. 1229), he crowned himself its king. The patriarch, the
Templars and the Hospitallers refused to take part in the
ceremony; the pope denounced Frederic's advantageous treaty as
soon as he had news of it, and all that it gained for the
Christians of Palestine was thrown away by them as speedily as
possible.

_Major Procter,
History of the Crusades,
chapter 5, section 2._

"No Crusader, since Godfrey de Bouillon, had effected so much
as Frederick the Second. What would he not have obtained, had
the Pope, the Patriarch and the Orders given him their hearty
cooperation?"

_T. L. Kington,
History of Frederick II.,
chapter 8._

CRUSADES: A. D. 1238-1280.
Against the Bogomiles.

See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES:
9TH-16TH CENTURIES (BOSNIA, ETC.)

CRUSADES: A. D. 1242.
The Invasion of Palestine by the Carismians.

See JERUSALEM: A. D. 1242.

CRUSADES: A. D. 1248-1254.
The Seventh Movement.
Expedition of Saint Louis to Egypt.

The Seventh Crusade was undertaken, with little aid from other
countries, by the devout and wonderfully Christian-like young
king of France, Louis IX., afterwards canonized, and known in
history as St. Louis. "He carried it out with a picked army,
furnished by the feudal chivalry and by the religious and
military orders dedicated to the service of the Holy Land. The
Isle of Cyprus was the trysting-place appointed for all the
forces of the expedition. Louis arrived there on the 12th of
September, 1248, and reckoned upon remaining there only a few
days; for it was Egypt that he was in a hurry to reach. The
Christian world was at that time of opinion that, to deliver
the Holy Land, it was necessary first of all to strike a blow
at Islamism in Egypt, wherein its chief strength resided. But
scarcely had the crusaders formed a junction in Cyprus, when
the vices of the expedition and the weaknesses of its chief
began to be manifest. Louis, unshakable in his religious zeal,
was wanting in clear ideas and fixed resolves as to the
carrying out of his design. … He did not succeed in winning
a majority in the council of chiefs over to his opinion as to
the necessity for a speedy departure for Egypt; it was decided
to pass the winter in Cyprus. … At last a start was made
from Cyprus in May, 1249, and, in spite of violent gales of
wind which dispersed a large number of vessels, they arrived
on the 4th of June before Damietta. … Having become masters
of Damietta, St. Louis and the crusaders committed the same
fault there as in the Isle of Cyprus: they halted there for an
indefinite time. They were expecting fresh crusaders; and they
spent the time of expectation in quarreling over the partition
of the booty taken in the city. They made away with it, they
wasted it blindly. … Louis saw and deplored these
irregularities, without being in a condition to stop them. At
length, on the 20th of November, 1249, after more than five
months' inactivity at Damietta, the crusaders put themselves
once more in motion, with the determination of marching upon
Babylon, that outskirt of Cairo, now called Old Cairo, which
the greater part of them, in their ignorance, mistook for the
real Babylon, and where they flattered themselves they would
find immense riches, and avenge the olden sufferings of the
Hebrew captives. The Mussulmans had found time to recover from
their first fright, and to organize, at all points, a vigorous
resistance. On the 8th of February, 1250, a battle took place
twenty leagues from Damietta, at Mansourah ('the city of
victory'), on the right bank of the Nile. … The battle-field
was left that day to the crusaders; but they were not allowed
to occupy it as conquerors, for, three days afterwards, on the
11th of February, 1250, the camp of St. Louis was assailed by
clouds of Saracens, horse and foot, Mamelukes and Bedouins.
All surprise had vanished, the Mussulmans measured at a glance
the numbers of the Christians, and attacked them in full
assurance of success, whatever heroism they might display; and
the crusaders themselves indulged in no more self·illusion,
and thought only of defending themselves. Lack of provisions
and sickness soon rendered defence almost as impossible as
attack; every day saw the Christian camp more and more
encumbered with the famine-stricken, the dying, and the dead;
and the necessity for retreating became evident." An attempt
to negotiate with the enemy failed, because they insisted on
the surrender of the king as hostage,—which none would
concede. "On the 5th of April, 1250, the crusaders decided
upon retreating. This was the most deplorable scene of a
deplorable drama; and at the same time it was, for the king,
an occasion for displaying, in their most sublime and
attractive traits, all the virtues of the Christian. Whilst
sickness and famine were devastating the camp, Louis made
himself visitor, physician and comforter; and his presence and
his words exercised upon the worst cases a searching influence. …
{635}
When the 5th of April, the day fixed for the retreat, had
come, Louis himself was ill and much enfeebled. He was urged
to go aboard one of the vessels which were to descend the
Nile, carrying the wounded and the most suffering; but he
refused absolutely, saying, 'I don't separate from my people
in the hour of danger.' He remained on land, and when he had
to move forward he fainted away. When he came to himself, he
was amongst the last to leave the camp. … At four leagues
distance from the camp it had just left, the rear-guard of the
crusaders, harassed by clouds of Saracens, was obliged to
halt. Louis could no longer keep on his horse. 'He was put up
at a house,' says Joinville, 'and laid, almost dead, upon the
lap of a tradeswoman from Paris; and it was believed that he
would not last till evening.'" The king, in this condition,
with the whole wreck of his army,—only 10,000 in number
remaining to him,—were taken prisoners. Their release from
captivity was purchased a month later by the surrender of
Damietta and a ransom-payment of 500,000 livres. They made
their way to St. Jean d' Acre, in Palestine, whence many of
them returned home. But King Louis, with some of his knights
and men-at-arms—how many is not known—stayed yet in the Holy
Land for four years, striving and hoping against hope to
accomplish something for the deliverance of Jerusalem, and
expending "in small works of piety, sympathy, protection, and
care for the future of the Christian population in Asia, his
time, his strength, his pecuniary resources, and the ardor of
a soul which could not remain idly abandoned to sorrowing over
great desires unsatisfied." The good and pious but ill-guided
king returned to France in the summer of 1254, and was
received with great joy.

_F. P. Guizot,
Popular History of France,
chapter 17;
www.gutenberg.org/files/11952_

ALSO IN:
_Sire De Joinville,
Memoirs of Saint Louis,
part 2._

_J. F. Michaud,
History of the Crusades,
books 13-14._

Crusades: A. D. 1252.
The movement of "the Pastors."

On the arrival in France of the news of the disastrous failure
of Saint Louis's expedition to Egypt, there occurred an
outbreak of fanaticism as insensate as that of the children's
crusade of forty years before. It was said to have originated
with a Hungarian named Jacob, who began to proclaim that
Christ rejected the great ones of the earth from His service,
and that the deliverance of the Holy City must be accomplished
by the poor and humble. "Shepherds left their flocks, labourers
laid down the plough, to follow his footsteps. … The name of
Pastors was given to these village crusaders. … At length,
assembled to the number of more than 100,000, these
redoubtable pilgrims left Paris and divided themselves into
several troops, to repair to the coast, whence they were to
embark for the East. The city of Orleans, which happened to be
in their passage, became the theatre of frightful disorders.
The progress of their enormities at length created serious
alarm in the government and the magistracy; orders were sent
to the provinces to pursue and disperse these turbulent and
seditious bands. The most numerous assemblage of the Pastors
was fixed to take place at Bourges, where the 'master of
Hungary' [Jacob] was to perform miracles and communicate the
will of Heaven. Their arrival in that city was the signal for
murder, fire and pillage. The irritated people took up arms
and marched against these disturbers of the public peace; they
overtook them between Mortemer and Villeneuve-sur-le-Cher,
where, in spite of their numbers, they were routed, and
received the punishment due to their brigandages. Jacob had
his head cut off by the blow of an axe; many of his companions
and disciples met with death on the field of battle, or were
consigned to punishment; the remainder took to flight."

_J. F. Michaud,
History of the Crusades,
book 14._

Crusades: A. D. 1256-1259.
Against Eccelino di Romano.

See VERONA: A. D. 1236-1259.

Crusades: A. D. 1270-1271.
The last undertakings.
Saint Louis at Tunis.
Prince Edward in Palestine.

"For seven years after his return to France, from 1254 to
1261, Louis seemed to think no more about them [the crusades],
and there is nothing to show that he spoke of them even to his
most intimate confidants; but, in spite of his apparent
calmness, he was living, so far as they were concerned, in a
continual ferment of imagination and internal fever, even
flattering himself that some favorable circumstance would call
him back to his interrupted work. … In 1261, Louis held, at
Paris, a Parliament, at which, without any talk of a new
crusade, measures were taken which revealed an idea of it. …
In 1263 the crusade was openly preached. … All objections,
all warnings, all anxieties came to nothing in the face of
Louis's fixed idea and pious passion. He started from Paris on
the 16th of March, 1270, a sick man almost already, but with
soul content, and probably the only one without misgiving in
the midst of all his comrades. It was once more at
Aigues-Mortes that he went to embark. All was as yet dark and
undecided as to the plan of the expedition. … Steps were
taken at hap-hazard with full trust in Providence and utter
forgetfulness that Providence does not absolve men from
foresight. … It was only in Sardinia, after four days' halt
at Cagliari, that Louis announced to the chiefs of the
crusade, assembled aboard his ship, the 'Mountjoy,' that he
was making for Tunis, and that their Christian work would
commence there. The king of Tunis (as he was then called),
Mohammed Mostanser, had for some time been talking of his
desire to become a Christian, if he could be efficiently
protected against the seditions of his subjects. Louis
welcomed with transport the prospect of Mussulman conversions.
… But on the 17th of July, when the fleet arrived before
Tunis, the admiral, Florent de Varennes, probably without the
king's orders, and with that want of reflection which was
conspicuous at each step of the enterprise, immediately took
possession of the harbor and of some Tunisian vessels as
prize, and sent word to the king 'that he had only to support
him and that the disembarkation of the troops might be
effected with perfect safety.' Thus war was commenced at the
very first moment against the Mussulman prince whom there had
been promise of seeing before long a Christian. At the end of
a fortnight, after some fight between the Tunisians and the
crusaders, so much political and military blindness produced
its natural consequences. The re-enforcements promised to
Louis by his brother Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily, had not
arrived; provisions were falling short; and the heats of an
African summer were working havoc amongst the army with such
rapidity that before long there was no time to bury the dead;
but they were cast pell-mell into the ditch which surrounded
the camp, and the air was tainted thereby.
{636}
On the 3d of August Louis was attacked by the epidemic fever."
On the 25th of August he died. His son and successor, Philip
III., held his ground before Tunis until November, when he
gladly accepted a payment of money from the Tunisian prince
for withdrawing his army. Disaster followed him. A storm
destroyed part of his fleet, with 4,000 or 5,000 men, and sunk
all the treasure he had received from the Moslems. On the
journey home through Italy his wife met with an accident which
ended her life and that of her prematurely born child. The
young king arrived at Paris, May, 1271, bringing the remains
of five of his family for burial at St. Denis: his wife, his
son, his father, his brother, and his brother-in-law,—all
victims of the fatal crusade. While France was thus burying
the last of her crusaders, Prince Edward (afterwards King
Edward I.) of England, landed in Syria at the head of a few
hundred knights and men at arms. Joined by the Templars and
Hospitallers, he had an army of 6,000 or 7,000 men, with which
he took Nazareth and made there a bloody sacrifice to the
memory of the gentle Nazarene. He did nothing more. Being
wounded by an assassin, he arranged a truce with the Sultan of
Egypt and returned home. His expedition was the last from
Europe which strove with the Moslems for the Holy Land. The
Christians of Palestine, who still held Acre and Tyre, Sidon
and a few other coast cities, were soon afterwards
overwhelmed, and the dominion of the Crescent in Syria was
undisputed any more by force of arms, though many voices cried
vainly against it. The spirit of the Crusades had expired.

_F. P. Guizot,
Popular History of France,
chapter 17.
www.gutenberg.org/files/11952_

ALSO IN:
_J. F. Michaud,
History of the Crusades,
book 15._

CRUSADES: A. D. 1291.
The end of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem.

See JERUSALEM: A. D. 1291.

CRUSADES: A. D. 1299.
The last campaign of the Templars.

"After the fall of Acre [A. D. 1291] the headquarters of the
Templars were established at Limisso in the island of Cyprus,
and urgent letters were sent to Europe for succour." In 1295,
James de Molay, the head of the English province, became Grand
Master, and soon after his arrival in Palestine he entered
into an alliance with Ghazan Khan, the Mongol ruler of Persia,
who had married a Christian princess of Armenia and was not
unfriendly to the Christians, as against the Mamelukes of
Egypt, with whom he was at war. The Mongol Khan invited the
Templars to join him in an expedition against the Sultan of
Egypt, and they did so in the spring of 1299, at Antioch. "An
army of 30,000 men was placed by the Mogul emperor under the
command of the Grand Master, and the combined forces moved up
the valley of the Orontes towards Damascus. In a great battle
fought at Hems, the troops of the sultans of Damascus and
Egypt were entirely defeated and pursued with great slaughter
until nightfall. Aleppo, Hems, Damascus, and all the principal
cities, surrendered to the victorious arms of the Moguls, and
the Templars once again entered Jerusalem in triumph, visited
the Holy Sepulchre and celebrated Easter on Mount Zion." The
khan sent ambassadors to Europe, offering the possession of
Palestine to the Christian powers if they would give him their
alliance and support, but none responded to the call. Ghazan
Khan fell ill and withdrew from Syria; the Templars retreated
to Cyprus once more and their military career, as the
champions of the Cross, was at an end.

_C. G. Addison,
The Knights Templars,
chapter 6._

ALSO IN:
_H. H. Howarth,
History of the Mongols,
part 3, chapter 8._

CRUSADES:
Effects and consequences of the Crusades, in Europe.

"The principle of the crusades was a savage fanaticism; and
the most important effects were analogous to the cause. Each
pilgrim was ambitious to return with his sacred spoils, the
relics of Greece and Palestine; and each relic was preceded
and followed by a train of miracles and visions. The belief of
the Catholics was corrupted by new legends, their practice by
new superstitions; and the establishment of the inquisition,
the mendicant orders of monks and friars, the last abuse of
indulgences, and the final progress of idolatry, flowed from
the baleful fountain of the holy war. The active spirit of the
Latins preyed on the vitals of their reason and religion; and
if the ninth and tenth centuries were the times of darkness,
the thirteenth and fourteenth were the age of absurdity and
fable. … Some philosophers have applauded the propitious
influence of these holy wars, which appear to me to have
checked rather than forwarded the maturity of Europe."

_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 61.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717_

"The crusades may be considered as material pilgrimages on an
enormous scale, and their influence upon general morality
seems to have been altogether pernicious. Those who served
under the cross would not indeed have lived very virtuously at
home; but the confidence in their own merits which the
principle of such expeditions inspired must have aggravated
the ferocity and dissoluteness of their ancient habits.
Several historians attest the depravation of morals which
existed, both among the crusaders and in the states formed out
of their conquests."

_H. Hallam,
The Middle Ages,
chapter 9, part 1._

"It was not possible for the crusaders to travel through so
many countries, and to behold their various customs and
institutions, without acquiring information and improvement.
Their views enlarged; their prejudices wore off; new ideas
crowded into their minds; and they must have been sensible, on
many occasions, of the rusticity of their own manners when
compared with those of a more polished people. …
Accordingly, we discover, soon after the commencement of the
crusades, greater splendour in the courts of princes, greater
pomp in public ceremonies, a more refined taste in pleasure
and amusements, together with a more romantic spirit of
enterprise spreading gradually over Europe; and to these wild
expeditions, the effect of superstition and folly, we owe the
first gleams of light which tended to dispel barbarism and
ignorance. But the beneficial consequences of the crusades
took place slowly; their influence upon the state of property,
and, consequently, of power, in the different kingdoms of
Europe, was more immediate as well as discernible."

_W. Robertson,
View of the Progress of Society in Europe,
section 1._

{637}

"The crusades are not, in my mind, either the popular
delusions that our cheap literature has determined them to be,
nor papal conspiracies against kings and peoples, as they
appear to the Protestant controversialist; nor the savage
outbreaks of expiring barbarism, thirsting for blood and
plunder, nor volcanic explosions of religious intolerance. I
believe them to have been, in their deep sources, and in the
minds of their best champions, and in the main tendency of
their results, capable of ample justification. They were the
first great effort of mediæval life to go beyond the pursuit
of selfish and isolated ambitions; they were the trial-feat of
the young world, essaying to use, to the glory of God and the
benefit of man, the arms of its new knighthood. … That in
the end they were a benefit to the world no one who reads can
doubt; and that in their course they brought out a love for
all that is heroic in human nature, the love of freedom, the
honour of prowess, sympathy with sorrow, perseverance to the
last and patient endurance without hope, the chronicles of the
age abundantly prove; proving, moreover, that it was by the
experience of those times that the forms of those virtues were
realized and presented to posterity."

_William Stubbs,
Seventeen Lectures on the Study of Mediæval
and Modern History,
lecture 8._

"Though begun under the name and influence of religious
belief, the crusades deprived religious ideas, I shall not say
of their legitimate share of influence, but of their exclusive
and despotic possession of the human mind. This result, though
undoubtedly unforeseen, arose from various causes. The first
was evidently the novelty, extent, and variety of the scene
which displayed itself to the crusaders; what generally
happens to travellers happened to them. It is mere
common-place to say, that travelling gives freedom to the
mind; that the habit of observing different nations, different
manners and different opinions, enlarges the ideas, and
disengages the judgment from old prejudices. The same thing
happened to those nations of travellers who have been called
the crusaders; their minds were opened and raised by having
seen a multitude of different things, of having become
acquainted with other manners than their own. They found
themselves also placed in connexion with two states of
civilization, not only different from their own, but more
advanced—the Greek state of society on the one hand, and the
Mussulman on the other. … It is curious to observe in the
chronicles the impression made by the crusaders on the
Mussulmans, who regarded them at first as the most brutal,
ferocious, and stupid barbarians they had ever seen. The
crusaders, on their part, were struck with the riches and
elegance of manners which they observed among the Mussulmans.
These first impressions were succeeded by frequent relations
between the Mussulmans and Christians. These became more
extensive and important than is commonly believed. … There
is another circumstance which is worthy of notice. Down to the
time of the crusades, the court of Rome, the centre of the
Church, had been very little in communication with the laity,
unless through the medium of ecclesiastics; either legates
sent by the court of Rome, or the whole body of the bishops
and clergy. There were always some laymen in direct relation
with Rome; but upon the whole, it was by means of churchmen
that Rome had any communication with the people of different
countries. During the crusades, on the contrary, Rome became a
halting-place for a great portion of the crusaders, either in
going or returning. A multitude of laymen were spectators of
its policy and its manners, and were able to discover the
share which personal interest had in religious disputes. There
is no doubt that this newly-acquired knowledge inspired many
minds with a boldness hitherto unknown. When we consider the
state of the general mind at the termination of the crusades,
especially in regard to ecclesiastical matters, we cannot fail
to be struck with a singular fact: religious notions underwent
no change, and were not replaced by contrary or even different
opinions. Thought, notwithstanding, had become more free;
religious creeds were not the only subject on which the human
mind exercised its faculties; without abandoning them, it
began occasionally to wander from them, and to take other
directions. … The social state of society had undergone an
analogous change. … Without entering into the details … we
may collect into a few general facts the influence of the
crusades on the social state of Europe. They greatly
diminished the number of petty fiefs, petty domains, and petty
proprietors; they concentrated property and power in a smaller
number of hands. It is from the time of the crusades that we
may observe the formation and growth of great fiefs—the
existence of feudal power on a large scale. … This was one
of the most important results of the crusades. Even in those
cases where small proprietors preserved their fiefs, they did
not live upon them in such an insulated state as formerly. The
possessors of great fiefs became so many centres around which
the smaller ones were gathered, and near which they came to
live. During the crusades, small proprietors found it
necessary to place themselves in the train of some rich and
powerful chief, from whom they received assistance and
support. They lived with him, shared his fortune, and passed
through the same adventures that he did. When the crusaders
returned home, this social spirit, this habit of living in
intercourse with superiors continued to subsist, and had its
influence on the manners of the age. … The extension of the
great fiefs, and the creation of a number of central points in
society, in place of the general dispersion which previously
existed, were the two principal effects of the crusades,
considered with respect to their influence upon feudalism. As
to the inhabitants of the towns, a result of the same nature
may easily be perceived. The crusades created great civic
communities. Petty commerce and petty industry were not
sufficient to give rise to communities such as the great
cities of Italy and Flanders. It was commerce on a great
scale—maritime commerce, and, especially, the commerce of the
East and West, which gave them birth; now it was the crusades
which gave to the maritime commerce the greatest impulse it
had yet received. On the whole, when we survey the state of
society at the end of the crusades, we find that the movement
tending to dissolution and dispersion, the movement of
universal localization (if I may be allowed such an
expression), had ceased, and had been succeeded by a movement
in the contrary direction, a movement of centralization. All
things tended to mutual approximation; small things were
absorbed in great ones, or gathered round them. Such was the
direction then taken by the progress of society."

_F. Guizot,
History of Civilization,
lecture 8 (volume 1).
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61572

{638}

CRUSADES: A. D. 1383.
The Bishop of Norwich's Crusade in Flanders.

See FLANDERS: A. D. 1383.

CRUSADES: A. D. 1420-1431.
Crusade against the Hussites.

See BOHEMIA: A. D. 1419-1434.

CRUSADES: A. D. 1442-1444.
Christian Europe against the Turks.

See TURKS (THE OTTOMANS): A. D. 1402-1451.

CRUSADES: A. D. 1467-1471.
Crusade Instigated by the Pope against George Podiebrad, king
of Bohemia.

See BOHEMIA: A. D. 1458-1471.

----------CRUSADES: End----------

CRYPTEIA, The.

See KRYPTEIA.

CTESIPHON.

"The Parthian monarchs, like the Mogul sovereigns of
Hindostan, delighted in the pastoral life of their Scythian
ancestors, and the imperial camp was frequently pitched in the
plain of Ctesiphon, on the eastern banks of the Tigris, at the
distance of only three miles from Seleucia. The innumerable
attendants on luxury and despotism resorted to the court, and
the little village of Ctesiphon insensibly swelled into a
great city. Under the reign of Marcus, the Roman generals
penetrated as far as Ctesiphon and Seleucia. They were
received as friends by the Greek colony; they attacked as
enemies the seat of the Parthian kings; yet both cities
experienced the same treatment. The sack and conflagration of
Seleucia, with the massacre of 300,000 of the inhabitants,
tarnished the glory of the Roman triumph, Seleucia, already
exhausted by the neighborhood of a too powerful rival, sunk
under the fatal blow; but Ctesiphon, in about thirty-three
years, had sufficiently recovered its strength to maintain an
obstinate siege against the emperor Severus. The city was,
however, taken by assault; the king, who defended it in
person, escaped with precipitation; 100,000 captives and a
rich booty rewarded the fatigues of the Roman soldiers.
Notwithstanding these misfortunes, Ctesiphon succeeded to
Babylon and to Seleucia as one of the great capitals of the
East."

_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 8.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717_

In 637 A. D. Ctesiphon passed into the possession of the
Saracens.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST AND EMPIRE: A. D. 632-651.

ALSO IN:
_G. Rawlinson, Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy, chapter 6._

See, also, MEDAIN.

CUATOS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PAMPAS TRIBES.

CUBA: A. D. 1492-1493.
Discovery by Columbus.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1492; and 1493-1496.

CUBA: A. D. 1511.
Spanish conquest and occupation of the island.

"Of the islands, Cuba was the second discovered; but no
attempt had been made to plant a colony there during the
lifetime of Columbus; who, indeed, after skirting the whole
extent of its southern coast, died in the conviction that it
was part of the continent. At length, in 1511, Diego, the son
and successor of the 'admiral,' who still maintained the seat
of government in Hispaniola, finding the mines much exhausted
there, proposed to occupy the neighbouring island of Cuba, or
Fernandina, as it is called, in compliment to the Spanish
monarch. He prepared a small force for the conquest, which he
placed under the command of Don Diego Velasquez. …
Velasquez, or rather his lieutenant Narvaez, who took the
office on himself of scouring the country, met with no serious
opposition from the inhabitants, who were of the same family
with the effeminate natives of Hispaniola." After the
conquest, Velasquez was appointed governor, and established
his seat of government at St. Jago, on the southeast corner of
the island.

_W. H. Prescott,
Conquest of Mexico,
book 2, chapter 1._

ALSO IN:
_Sir A. Helps,
Spanish Conquest in America,
book 7._

CUBA: A. D. 1514-1851.
Slow development of the island.
Capture of Havana by the English.
Discontent with Spanish rule.
Conspiracies of revolution.

"Velasquez founded many of the towns of the island, the first
of which was Baracoa, then Bayamo, and in 1514 Trinidad, Santo
Espiritu, Puerto Principe; next, in 1515, Santiago de Cuba, as
also, in the same year, the town of Habana. … This period
(1511-1607) is particularly interesting to the general reader
from the fact that in it the explorations of Hernandez de
Cadoba and Grijalva to Darien, Yucatan, etc., were
inaugurated,—events which had so much to do with the spread
of Spanish rule and discovery, paving the way as they did for
the exploration of Mexico under Hernando Cortes, who, in the
early history of Cuba, figures largely as the lieutenant of
the Governor Velasquez. … In 1524, Diego Velasquez died,
—his death hastened, it is said, by the troubles brought upon
him by his disputes with his insubordinate lieutenant, Cortes.
… In the history of the improvement of the island, his
government will bear favorable comparison with many of the
later governments; and while that great evil, slavery, was
introduced into the island in his time, so also was the sugar
cane. … Up to 1538, there seems to be nothing specially
striking in the general history of the island, if we except
the constant attacks with fire and sword of the
'filibusteros,' or pirates of all nations, from which most all
the sea-coast towns suffered more or less; but in that year
there arrived at Santiago de Cuba a man destined to play an
important part in the history and discovery of the new world,
and named as Provincial Governor of Florida as well as of
Cuba,—I allude to Hernando de Soto, who brought with him 10
large vessels, prepared and fitted out expressly for the
conquest of the new Spanish territory of Florida. After much
care and preparation, this expedition started out from the
city of Habana, the 12th of May [see FLORIDA: A. D.
1528-1542]. … In this period, also, was promulgated that
order, secured, it is believed, by the noble efforts of Padre
Las Casas, prohibiting the enslaving of the aborigines; while,
also, such had become its importance as a town, all vessels
directed to and from Mexico were ordered to stop at Havana. In
the period of years that elapsed from 1607 to 1762, the island
seems to have been in a perfect state of lethargy, except the
usual changes of its many Governors, and the raids made upon
it by pirates, or by more legalized enemies in the form of
French and English men-of-war. In this latter year, however,
occurred an event of much import, from the fact that after it,
or upon its occurrence, the Government of Spain was led to see
the great importance of Cuba, and particularly Havana, as the
'Key to the New World,'—this event was the taking of Havana
by the English.
{639}
On the 6th of June, 1762, there arrived off the port of Havana
an English squadron of 32 ships and frigates, with some 200
transports, bringing with them a force of nearly 20,000 men of
all arms, under command of the Duke of Albemarle. This
formidable armament, the largest that America had ever seen,
laid siege to the city of Havana, whose garrison consisted at
that time of only about 2,700 regulars and the volunteers that
took up arms immediately for the defense of the place. … The
garrison, however, made a very gallant and prolonged defense,
notwithstanding the smallness of their numbers, and finally,
surrendering, were permitted to march out with the honors of
war, the English thus coming into possession of the most
important defences on the coast, and, subsequently, taking
possession of the town of Matanzas. Remaining in possession of
this portion of the Island of Cuba for many months (until July
6, 1763), the English, by importing negro labor to cultivate
the large tracts of wild land, and by shipping large
quantities of European merchandize, gave a start to the trade
and traffic of the island that pushed it far on its way to the
state of prosperity it has now reached; but by the treaty of
peace, at Paris, in February, 1763 [see Seven Years War], was
restored to Spain the portion of the island wrested from her
by the English. … In this period (1762-1801) the island made
rapid advances in improvement and civilization, many of the
Captains-General of this period doing much to improve the
towns and the people, beautifying the streets, erecting
buildings, etc. In 1763, a large emigration took place from
Florida, and in 1795 the French emigrants from Santo Domingo
came on to the island in large numbers. … From 1801, rapid
increase in the prosperity of the island has taken place. …
At various times insurrections, some of them quite serious in
their nature, have shown what the natural desire of the native
population is for greater privileges and freedom. … In 1823,
there was a society of 'soles,' as it was called, formed for
the purpose of freeing the island, having at its head young D.
Francisco Lemus, and having for its pretext that the island
was about to be sold to England. In 1829, there was discovered
the conspiracy of the Black Eagle, as it was called (Aguila
Negra), an attempt on the part of the population to obtain
their freedom, some of the Mexican settlers in the island
being prominent in it. The insurrection, or attempt at one, by
the blacks in 1844, was remarkable for its wide-spread
ramifications among the slaves of the island, as well as its
thorough organization,—the intention being to murder all the
whites on the island. Other minor insurrections there were,
but it remained for Narciso Lopez, with a force of some 300
men, to make the most important attempt [1851], in which he
lost his life, to free the island."

_S. Hazard,
Cuba with Pen and Pencil,
pages 547-550._

ALSO IN:
_M. M. Ballou,
History of Cuba,
chapters 1-3._

_Lord Mahon (Earl Stanhope),
History of England, 1713-1783,
chapter 38 (volume 4)._

_J. Entick,
History of the Late War,
volume 5, pages 363-386._

_D. Turnbull,
Cuba,
chapters 22-24._

CUBA: A. D. 1845-1860.
Acquisition coveted by the slave-power in the United States.
Attempted purchase.
Filibustering schemes.
The Ostend Manifesto.

"When the Spanish colonies in America became independent, they
abolished slavery. Apprehensive that the republics of Mexico
and Columbia would be anxious to wrest Cuba and Porto Rico
from Spain, secure their independence, and introduce into
those islands the idea, if they did not establish the fact, of
freedom, the slave-masters [of the United States] at once
sought to guard against what they deemed so calamitous an
event. … But after the annexation of Texas, there was a
change of feeling and purpose, and Cuba, from being an object
of dread, became an object of vehement desire. The
propagandists, strengthened and emboldened by that signal
triumph, now turned their eyes towards this beautiful 'isle of
the sea,' as the theatre of new exploits; and they determined
to secure the 'gem of the Antilles' for the coronet of their
great and growing power. During Mr. Polk's administration an
attempt was made to purchase it, and the sum of $100,000,000
was offered therefor. But the offer was promptly declined.
What, however, could not be bought it was determined to steal,
and filibustering movements and expeditions became the order
of the day. For no sooner was President Taylor inaugurated
than he found movements on foot in that direction; and, in
August, 1849, he issued a proclamation, affirming his belief
that an 'armed expedition' was being fitted out 'against Cuba
or some of the provinces of Mexico,' and calling upon all good
citizens' to discountenance and prevent any such enterprise.'
In 1851 an expedition, consisting of some 500 men, sailed from
New Orleans under Lopez, a Cuban adventurer. But though it
effected a landing, it was easily defeated, and its leader and
a few of his followers were executed. Soon afterward, a secret
association, styling itself the Order of the Lone Star, was
formed in several of the Southern cities, having a similar
object in view; but it attracted little notice and
accomplished nothing. … In August, 1854, President Pierce
instructed Mr. Marcy, his Secretary of State, to direct
Buchanan, Mason and Soulé, ministers respectively at the
courts of London, Paris and Madrid, to convene in some
European city and confer with each other in regard to the
matter of gaining Cuba to the United States. They met
accordingly, in October, at Ostend. The results of their
deliberations were published in a manifesto, in which the
reasons are set forth for the acquisition; and the declaration
was made that the Union could never enjoy repose and security 'as
long as Cuba is not embraced within its boundaries.' But the
great source of anxiety, the controlling motive, was the
apprehension that, unless so annexed, she would 'be
Africanized and become a second San Domingo,' thus 'seriously
to endanger' the Union. This paper attracted great attention
and caused much astonishment. It was at first received with
incredulity, as if there had been some mistake or imposition
practised. … But there was no mistake. … It was the
deliberate utterance of the conference, and it received the
indorsement of Mr. Pierce and his administration. The
Democratic national conventions of 1856 and of 1860 were quite
as explicit as were the authors of the Ostend manifesto 'in
favor of the acquisition of Cuba.'"

_H. Wilson,
History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America,
volume 2, chapter 47._

{640}

ALSO IN:
_H. Von Holst,
Constitutional and Political History of the United States,
volume 4, chapter 2,
and volume 5, chapter 1._

_G. T. Curtis,
Life of James Buchanan,
volume 2, chapter 6._

_M. M. Ballou,
History of Cuba,
chapter 3._

_J. J. Roche,
The Story of the Filibusters,
chapter 3._

----------CUBA: End----------

CUBIT, The.

"The length of the Egyptian foot is … shown to be equal to
1.013 English foot, or 12.16 inches (0.3086 metre) and the
cubit to 18.24 English inches, or 0.463 metre. This cubit was
identical with the Phœnician or Olympic cubit, afterwards
adopted in Greece. … The second of the two Egyptian cubits
was the royal cubit, or cubit of Memphis, of seven palms or
twenty-eight digits. … The mean length of the Egyptian royal
cubit is … ascertained to be 20.67 English inches, or 525
mm. … There is much conflict of opinion as to the actual
length of the several cubits in use by the Jews at different
periods; but the fact that Moses always mentions the Egyptian
measures … as well as the Egyptian weights … proves that
the Hebrews originally brought their weights and measures from
Egypt. … In his dissertation on cubits, Sir Isaac Newton
states grounds for his opinion that the sacred cubit of the
Jews was equal to 24.7 of our inches, and that the royal cubit
of Memphis was equivalent to five-sixths of this sacred Jewish
cubit, or 20.6 inches."

_H. W. Chisholm,
On the Science of Weighing and Measuring,
chapter 2._

CUCUTA, The Convention of.

See COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1819-1830.

CUFA.

See BUSSORAH and KUFA.

CUICIDH, The.

See TUATH, THE.

CULDEES, The.

It used to be set forth by religious historians that the
Culdees were an ardent religious fraternity in Scotland,
probably founded by Columba, the saintly Irish missionary of
the sixth century, and having its principal seat in Iona; that
they "were the lights of Scotland in a dark and superstitious
age"; that they struggled for several centuries against the
errors and the oppressive pretensions of Rome, and that "the
strength and vigor of the Reformation in Scotland, where the
Papal power received its first and most decisive check, may be
traced not indirectly to the faith, the doctrines, and the
spirit of the ancient Culdees." It was claimed for the
Presbyterian Church that its form of church government
prevailed among the Culdees, while the supporters of
Episcopacy found evidences to the contrary. But all these
views, with all the controversies fomented by them, have been
dissipated by modern historical investigation. The facts
gathered by Dean Reeves and published in 1864, in his work on
the "Culdees of the British Islands," supported by the more
recent studies of Mr. W. F. Skene, are now generally accepted.
Says Mr. Skene, (Celtic Scotland, book 2, chapter 6): "It is not
till after the expulsion of the Columban monks from the
kingdom of the Picts, in the beginning of the eighth century,
that the name of Culdee appears. To Adamnan, to Eddi and to
Bede it was totally unknown. They knew of no body of clergy
who bore this name, and in the whole range of ecclesiastical
history there is nothing more utterly destitute of authority
than the application of this name to the Columban monks of the
sixth and seventh centuries, or more utterly baseless than the
fabric which has been raised upon that assumption." Mr.
Skene's conclusion is that the Culdees sprang from an ascetic
order called Deicolæ or God-worshippers; that in Irish the
name became Ceile De, thence corrupted into Culdee; that they
were hermits, who became in time associated in communities,
and were finally brought under the canonical rule of the Roman
church, along with the secular clergy.

CULEUS, The.

See AMPHORA.

CULHUACAN.

See MEXICO, ANCIENT: THE TOLTEC EMPIRE.

CULLODEN, Battle of (1746).

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1745-1746.

CULM, OR KULM, Battle of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1813 (AUGUST).

CULTURKAMPF, The.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1873-1887.

CUMÆ. CUMÆAN SIBYL.