Chapter XXIX: Book I: The Crusades

_PREFATORY ESSAY_

THE VALUE OF THE CRUSADES IN THE LIGHT OF MODERN HISTORY

BY THE REV. WILLIAM DENTON, M.A.[44]

The interest with which we continue to regard the Crusades is, in its way, as significant as the enthusiasm which led to their being undertaken. It is easy now to underrate the dangers which they averted, and to forget the obligations which the civilised world is under to Charles Martel, to the crusaders, to Don John of Austria, and to John Sobieski; yet to these men we owe it that Europe is not now Bulgaria; and that Italy, France, and England--that the whole of the countries from the Black Sea to the Atlantic, from Archangel to Sicily, are not trampled upon and desolated as Syria is at this moment. It is not easy for us to comprehend how recently the terror once inspired by the Turk has ceased. We need to be reminded that down to the time of the Stuarts the English and Irish channels were infested with Turkish corsairs, and our ports blockaded by Turkish ships of war in quest of slaves.

It is only indeed since the eighteenth century that collections of money to redeem English captives from the intolerable evils of Turkish slavery have ceased to be made in our churches. That such captivity is not national, and only occasional and individual, is one of the inestimable fruits of the Crusades. At the time when these were undertaken, the whole of Asia, from the borders of China to the Bosporus, was subject to the Turks; and had these people been able to cross into Europe, and to hold the countries on the south of the Danube as a basis for military operations four hundred years earlier than they succeeded in doing, or indeed at any time whilst the Moors of Spain and of Sicily were in their full career of victory, the whole of Europe would inevitably have fallen under the dominion of the Moslems, and industrial progress had been stayed and civilisation extinguished. So recently has this danger disappeared that, at the close of the seventeenth century, a statesman as calm and unenthusiastic as Richelieu seriously meditated the renewal of the Crusades, in order to avert the evil which even then threatened to overwhelm the civilised world. That he did so is sufficient to remove from the leaders and projectors of the Crusades the charge of being moved by blind, unreflecting fanaticism.

In the eighteenth century, indeed, the school of historians represented by Voltaire and Gibbon, which discredited all great efforts of past times when prompted by religious zeal, treated the Crusades with unphilosophical ridicule. It was an easy task to do this. We are arrested in every page of their history with the lamentable consequences of popular ignorance, with the selfishness of many of the leaders, with the record of personal ambition and unworthy jealousy which too frequently hindered the success of these expeditions. The whole, however, is not heard when we have listened to accounts of popular fanaticism, of royal insincerity, of military ambition, and of papal selfishness, which chequer the history of the crusaders, as these faults chequered the history of Europe at the time when the Crusades were undertaken. The great, the imminent danger of Turkish conquest inspired the minds of the people with fear before it induced the chieftains to combine in averting the danger. The anarchy which pervaded Europe in the ages of feudalism was, indeed, the chief source of danger in any advance of the Turkish forces, and this was in a great measure cured by the enthusiasm communicated from the people to the great landed proprietors, who, more jealous of their independence than careful of their obligations to their sovereign, yet felt the necessity of union and of submission to military discipline in the hour of peril.

The First Crusade was one undertaken without sufficient leaders, with but little preparation, and with smaller knowledge of the countries to be traversed and the difficulties to be overcome. It was a spontaneous effort of terror and of zeal, in which we can at least satisfy ourselves of the reality of the fear which pervaded all men, and which we know to have been warranted by the merciless character of the horde which, having subjugated Asia, was on its way to attempt the subjugation of Europe. Men have come to see that the Turk is now what he always has been; it is well to bear in mind the correlative truth that essentially he always was what he is now; and when we recall the massacres of the last century, the bloody scenes of Scio and Aleppo, of Jiddah and of Lebanon, of Bosnia and Bulgaria, we may without effort understand what he was when Asia lay at his feet, and Europe was terrified at the rumours of his attempt to cross the Bosporus.

It is too much the practice of those who would deprecate our obligation to those who strove to arrest the progress of the Turks, to dwell upon some instances of magnanimity or of mercy, of justice or chivalrous conduct which lighten up the pages of the history of the Saracens, and to insinuate from these instances that the Turks possess the same claim to our admiration. The Turks, however, are not Arabs, neither have they ever manifested any of that care for intellectual pursuits which has thrown a lustre on the career of the Saracens of Asia and the Moors of the Spanish peninsula. On the contrary, the career of the Osmanli has been marked by deeds of savage atrocity, by an indifference to the obligations of oaths, as well as by his brutal ignorance and hatred of all intellectual progress; and at the present day his inferiority to the Arab in statesmanship, in honesty, and in intelligence is acknowledged.

In estimating the effects of the Crusades the reader will do well to consider the calm judgment and weighty words of a modern historian, who thus expresses our obligation to the devotion and bravery of those men whose deeds are here briefly recorded. “By arresting the progress of the Turks,” says Mr. Sharon Turner, “by stunning them with blows which a less hardy, fanatic, and profuse population could not have survived, and by protracting their entry into Europe until its various states had grown up into compacted kingdoms--until the feudal system had been substantially overthrown; until free government and humanising law had blended and concentrated individual energy and self-will into national unity and co-operating strength; until polity had begun to be a science, and that order of men whom we both venerate and revile (statesmen and politicians) had everywhere arisen--the crusaders preserved Europe from Turkish desolation, if not from conquest. And when the Ottoman power, recovering from its alarms by their discontinuance, arose in renovated vigour to a new struggle for the sovereignty of Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries--though it conquered Greece, overran Hungary, Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia, attempted Russia and Poland, and endangered Vienna--yet the rest of Europe had then become prepared to resist its further progress; and has hitherto successfully kept it at bay, notwithstanding its mighty population and desperate fanaticism, until its political infirmity has become decided, the period of its decrepitude arrived, and its political dissolution has commenced.”

Since these words were written the decrepitude of the Turks has increased, though their cruelty has not diminished; nay, in some instances, the periodical massacres of their Christian subjects, which have ever marked the rule of this race, have been carried out more systematically and with circumstances of greater horror than of old. We are, indeed, no longer alarmed at the progress of their arms, and have no fear for our own safety. We may gather, however, from the accounts of the suffering of the Christians dwelling in our own days among the Turks, how natural it was for Europe to be terrified at the prospect of their invasion; and from the generous indignation which thrilled the heart of England at the time of the Armenian massacres, we may faintly understand why it was that Europe was so moved at the rude eloquence of Peter the Hermit, as he detailed the sufferings of the Christians of Asia Minor when first subjected to the yoke of the Turk.

FOOTNOTES

[44] [Reprinted by permission from _A History of the Crusades_ by W. E. Dutton, to which work it is an introduction.]

HISTORY IN OUTLINE OF THE CRUSADES

[Sidenote: [1096-1291 A.D.]]

Pilgrimages to Jerusalem, which were in use from the earliest ages of Christianity, had become very frequent about the beginning of the eleventh century. The opinion which then very generally prevailed, that the end of the world was at hand, induced vast numbers of Christians to sell their possessions in Europe, in order that they might set out for the Holy Land, there to await the coming of the Lord. So long as the Arabs were masters of Palestine, they protected these pilgrimages, from which they derived no small emoluments. But when the Seljukian Turks, a barbarous and ferocious people, had conquered that country (1075), under the caliphs of Egypt, the pilgrims saw themselves exposed to every kind of insult and oppression. The lamentable accounts which they gave of these outrages on their return to Europe excited the general indignation, and gave birth to the romantic notion of expelling these infidels from the Holy Land.

Gregory VII was the projector of this grand scheme. He addressed circular letters to all the sovereigns of Europe, and invited them to make a general crusade against the Turks. Meantime, however, more pressing interests, and his quarrels with the emperor Henry IV, obliged him to defer the projected enterprise; but his attention was soon recalled to it by the representation of a pilgrim, called Peter the Hermit, a native of Amiens in Picardy. Furnished with letters from the patriarch of Jerusalem to the pope and the princes of the West, this ardent fanatic traversed the whole of Italy, France, and Germany; preaching everywhere, and representing, in the liveliest colours, the profanation of the sacred places, and the miserable condition of the Christians and poor pilgrims in the Holy Land. It proved no difficult task for him to impart to others the fanaticism with which he was himself animated. His zeal was powerfully seconded by Pope Urban II, who repaired in person to France, where he convoked the council of Clermont (1095), and pronounced, in full assembly, a pathetic harangue, at the close of which they unanimously resolved on the Holy War. It was decreed that all who should enrol their names in this sacred militia should wear a red cross on their right shoulder; that they should enjoy plenary indulgence, and obtain remission of all their sins.

From that time the pulpits of Europe resounded with exhortations to the Crusades. People of every rank and condition were seen flocking in crowds to assume the signal of the cross; and, in the following year, innumerable bands of crusaders, from the different countries of Europe, set out, one after another, on this expedition to the East. The only exception was the Germans, who partook but feebly of this universal enthusiasm, on account of the disputes which then subsisted between the emperor and the court of Rome. The three or four first divisions of the crusaders [comprising about 273,000 men, under the leadership of Peter the Hermit, Walter de Pexejo, and Walter the Penniless] marched without order and without discipline; pillaging, burning, and wasting the countries through which they passed. Most of them perished from fatigue, hunger, or sickness, or by the sword of the exasperated nations whose territories they had laid desolate. [The four thousand that crossed the Bosporus were annihilated by Kilidj Arslan, the sultan of Rum, or Iconium.] To these unwarlike and undisciplined troops succeeded regular armies, commanded by experienced officers, and powerful princes: the Crusades proper were inaugurated.[45]

THE FIRST CRUSADE (1096-1099 A.D.)

1096 A well-organised military force of 200,000-300,000 men
sets out by different routes. Its leaders are:

(1) Godfrey de Bouillon--Duke of Lower Lorraine, with his
brothers (2) Baldwin, (3) Eustace.

(4) Robert, Duke of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror.

(5) Robert, Count of Flanders.

(6) Stephen, Count of Chartres.

(7) Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse.

(8) Hugh of Vermandois.

(9) Bohemond, Duke of Tarentum.

(10) Tancred, his nephew.

Arriving at Constantinople, all except Raymond do homage to
Alexius Comnenus, the emperor. Crossing the Bosporus they
invade the territory of Kilidj Arslan, sultan of Rum, or
Iconium.

1097 With the help of the crusaders, Alexius recovers Nicæa.
Victory of the crusaders at Dorylæum. Siege of Antioch is
begun. Baldwin and Tancred attempt a private war over question
of precedence of their banners. Baldwin withdraws his troops
from the army, and answering an appeal for help from the Greek
or Armenian ruler of Edessa, marches thither, makes himself its
master, and founds the Latin county Edessa (_q.v._).

1098 Surrender of Antioch, betrayed to Bohemond by the
Armenian, Firuz. Kerboga, emir of Mosul besieges the crusaders
in Antioch but is defeated and driven off. The crusaders rest
in Antioch and quarrel among themselves.

1099 Siege and capture of Jerusalem. Foundation of the kingdom
of Jerusalem (_q.v._). The county of Antioch founded (_q.v._)
with Bohemond at its head.

THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM (1099-1291 A.D.)

1099 =Godfrey de Bouillon= elected king of the Latin kingdom of
Jerusalem. He makes laws for its government. The military order
of the Knights Hospitallers founded. He defeats the Fatimites
at Askalon.

1100 Death of Godfrey. His brother, =Baldwin I=, summoned from
Edessa and made king.

1101 A large body of crusaders, headed by Welf of Bavaria and
William of Aquitaine arrives in Asia Minor, but is destroyed
and dispersed by Kilidj Arslan before it can reach Jerusalem,
together with another one that arrived the previous year. Death
of Stephen of Chartres at Ramla.

1104 Baldwin captures Acre (Ptolemais) from the Turks. The
Turks fail in an attempt to regain Jerusalem. Death of Raymond
of Toulouse.

1109 Baldwin, with the assistance of a Venetian fleet, captures
Tripolis. He afterwards takes Berytus and Sidon.

1118 Death of Baldwin. His cousin, =Baldwin (II) de Bourg=, of
Edessa succeeds. The order of Knights Templar founded by Sir
Hugh de Pagano.

1119 Baldwin defeats the Turks at Antioch. The Emperor Joannes
Comnenus wins a victory over the Knights Hospitaller on the
Mæander.

1122 The Saracens take Baldwin prisoner.

1124 Conquest of Tyre by the crusaders, assisted by the
Venetians. The latter have a third of the city allotted them.

1127 Baldwin ransomed. He attacks Aleppo and is defeated.

1131 Death of Baldwin, after being defeated near Damascus. He
bequeaths the kingdom to his son-in-law, Fulk of Anjou.

1144 Death of Fulk, by accident. His young son, =Baldwin III=,
succeeds, under the regency of Queen Melusina.

1148 The Second Crusade besieges Damascus and Askalon, but is
unable to take them.

1149 Defeat of the Christians by Nur ad-Din, near the Orontes.

1153 Capture of Askalon by Baldwin III. Nur ad-Din takes
Jerusalem.

1162 Death of Baldwin. His brother, =Almeric= or =Amaury I=,
succeeds.

1168 Almeric invades Egypt. Capture and sack of Heliopolis. He
is defeated by the generals Shirkuh and Saladin.

1173 Death of Almeric. His young son, =Baldwin IV=, a leper,
succeeds under the guardianship of Count Raymond III, of
Tripolis.

1183 Baldwin IV is compelled by his disease to resign his
crown in favour of his infant nephew, =Baldwin V=, still under
regency of Raymond.

1186 Death of Baldwin V. His mother, =Sybilla=, sister of
Baldwin IV, inherits the crown, which she shares with her
husband, =Guy de Lusignan=.

1187 Saladin attacks the kingdom of Jerusalem. Great defeat and
capture of Guy at Tiberias. Saladin takes Jerusalem and then
besieges Tyre, whence he is repelled by Conrad of Montferrat.

1188 Liberation of Guy, who renounces his title to Saladin.
Conrad defends Tripolis.

1189 The Third Crusade arrives. Guy besieges Acre, assisted by
a fleet of Danes, Frisians, and Flemings.

1191 Conquest of Cyprus by Richard Cœur de Lion, on his way
to the Holy Land. He adds it to the kingdom of Jerusalem.
Surrender of Acre. Defeat of Saladin at Azotus. Joppa and
Askalon surrender to the Christians. Murder of Conrad of
Montferrat, who by marriage with Sybilla’s sister, Isabella,
has acquired right of succession to the kingdom. Foundation of
the order of Teutonic Knights.

1192 Isabella marries =Henry of Champagne=, to whom Guy
relinquishes his title, retaining that of king of Cyprus.

1193 On death of Saladin, his sons give Acre to the Knights of
St. John--hence called St. John d’Acre.

1194 Death of Guy de Lusignan. His brother, Almeric succeeds as
king of Cyprus.

1196 Death of Henry. His widow marries =Almeric (II) de
Lusignan=, who reunites the kingdoms of Cyprus and Jerusalem.

1206 Death of Almeric. His son, Hugo I, succeeds in Cyprus.
Jerusalem falls to =Mary=, daughter of Isabella and Conrad of
Montferrat.

1210 Mary marries =Jean de Brienne=, who becomes king of
Jerusalem.

1217 The Turks take Jerusalem from the Saracens.

1218 Jean de Brienne leads the Christians into Egypt and

1219 captures Damietta.

1221 Destruction of the Christian army in Egypt. The Turks
regain Damietta.

1225 The emperor Frederick II declares that Jean de Brienne
has, since Mary’s death, no claim to his title, and that it
belongs to himself, since he has married Yolande, the daughter
of Mary.

1228 After many delays, Frederick starts for the Holy Land.

1229 =Frederick II= makes a treaty with the sultan Malik
al-Kamil, by which he recovers Jerusalem and other cities. He
is the recognised king of Jerusalem.

From this time on (see Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Crusades) the
Christian kingdom in Palestine may be considered a part of the
Holy Roman Empire until 1291, when the sultan Khalil takes Acre
and drives the last of the Christians out of Syria.

THE COUNTY OF ANTIOCH (1099-1268 A.D.)

A vassal state of the kingdom of Jerusalem founded 1099 by the
crusaders with =Bohemond of Tarentum= at its head. Bohemond
is captured by the Turks (1105) and Tancred goes to Antioch
to govern. Bohemond released the following year. The emperor
Alexius claims Antioch, but Bohemond successfully resists him.
He goes to Europe, and after various adventures dies there in
1111. Tancred dies the following year. For eight years the
principality is united to the kingdom of Jerusalem, but in 1126
Baldwin II of Jerusalem gives it to =Bohemond II=. =Bohemond
III= rules 1162 to 1201. Some of the princes of Antioch rule in
virtue of their wives’ right to the throne. In 1268 Bibars, the
sultan of Egypt, captures Antioch and the principality comes to
an end.

THE COUNTY OF TRIPOLIS (1109-1289 A.D.)

A vassal state or county of the kingdom of Jerusalem from 1109,
when the city of Tripolis is captured by the crusaders and
=Raymond of Toulouse= placed at its head. The Christians rule
until 1289, when it falls into the hands of Kalaun, the sultan
of Egypt, who destroys the city.

THE COUNTY OF EDESSA (1097-1146 A.D.)

In 1097 =Baldwin I=, brother of Godfrey de Bouillon, in
consequence of a quarrel with Tancred, leaves the main body of
the crusaders, conquers Edessa, and founds the vassal state of
that name.

1100 Baldwin, made king of Jerusalem, gives Edessa to his
cousin, =Baldwin (II) de Bourg=.

1118 Baldwin II is made king of Jerusalem and =Jocelyn (I) de
Courtenai= takes his place in the county of Edessa. He wins
many victories over the Saracens.

1131 =Jocelyn II= succeeds.

1144 Capture of Edessa by Zenki, emir of Mosul.

1146 Jocelyn regains Edessa, but the same year Nur ad-Din,
Zenki’s son and successor, retakes and destroys it. End of the
county of Edessa. On account of this event Bernard of Clairvaux
preaches.

THE SECOND CRUSADE (1147-1149 A.D.)

1146 In the council of Vézelay, Louis VII of France assumes the
cross; the emperor, Conrad III, follows his example some months
later.

1147 The armies of Conrad and Louis start from Ratisbon and
Metz respectively, marching through Hungary to Asia Minor. The
German army in advance is nearly annihilated in Phrygia through
the treachery of the Byzantine emperor, Manuel, by Masud I, the
sultan of Rum. Conrad, with the remnant of his force, joins the
French army along the seacoast.

1148 Unsuccessful attempt of the Second Crusade to capture
Damascus and Askalon. Conrad, in ill health, returns to
Constantinople and thence to Germany.

1149 Louis returns to France. Bernard is reproached for the
failure of the crusade.

THE THIRD CRUSADE (1189-1192 A.D.)

The disastrous defeat and capture of Guy de Lusignan at
Tiberias by Saladin, and the latter’s capture of Jerusalem
(1187), reawakens the crusading spirit. Gregory VIII urges a
new crusade.

1188 William, archbishop of Tyre, induces Henry II of England
and Philip Augustus of France to assume the cross.

1189 Death of Henry. Richard (I) Cœur de Lion eagerly pursues
his father’s project. The emperor, Frederick (I) Barbarossa,
sets out with an army through Hungary. He spends the winter at
Hadrianopolis.

1190 Frederick reaches Asia Minor with assistance of Isaac
Angelus, and takes Iconium. Sudden death of Frederick. His son,
Frederick of Swabia, leads the crusaders to Acre, which Guy de
Lusignan, having regained his liberty, is besieging. Richard
and Philip Augustus start by sea for the Holy Land. They spend
the winter in Sicily, quarrel and are reconciled.

1191 Richard stops at and conquers Cyprus on his way to
the Holy Land. Richard and Philip arrive at Acre. Death of
Frederick of Swabia during the siege. Surrender of Acre.
Compact with Saladin, binding him to surrender the true cross
and pay a large sum. Philip quarrels with Richard and returns
to France.

1192 Richard makes unsuccessful attempt to take Jerusalem. He
relieves Joppa and makes truce with Saladin entitling pilgrims
to visit Jerusalem unmolested, for a short time. Richard sails
for England. Is shipwrecked near Aquileia. Seized near Vienna
by Leopold, duke of Austria, who surrenders him (1193) to the
emperor, Henry VI. Henry imprisons him, and he is released for
a large ransom in 1194 and returns to England.

THE FOURTH CRUSADE (1195-1198 A.D.)

The Knights of St. John start in 1193 to organise a crusade.
They are encouraged by Pope Celestine III, who hopes that the
troublesome emperor Henry VI will be induced to take part in
it. Henry also promotes the project, but has no idea of taking
part in it.

1195 Henry makes use of one division of the crusaders to
conquer the kingdom of Sicily. Two other divisions proceed to
Syria.

1196 Defeat of the Turks between Tyre and Sidon.

1197 The crusaders besiege the fortress of Thoron, but make a
disgraceful retreat on hearing of the approach of an army from
Egypt.

1198 The Saracens capture Joppa. The count of Montfort
concludes a three years’ truce with the Saracens. The crusade
leaders return to Europe.

THE FIFTH CRUSADE (1201-1204 A.D.)

Pope Innocent III, on his elevation (1198), with the assistance
of Fulk of Neuilly, preaches a new crusade.

1201 The company is organised by Simon de Montfort, Walter de
Brienne, and Geoffrey de Villehardouin. Boniface of Montferrat
chosen leader. The party proceeds to Venice. Treaty between
Venice and the leaders for transportation. Unable to pay sum
demanded, the doge, Dandolo, agrees to remit the sum lacking if
the crusaders will capture for him the town of Zara, taken from
Venice by the king of Hungary.

1202 Arrival at Venice of Alexius, son of the deposed emperor
Isaac, with whom the crusaders agree to restore Isaac. In spite
of Innocent’s protests the fleet sails for Zara, which is taken
and handed over to Venice.

1203 The crusaders proceed to Constantinople. Alexius III, the
reigning emperor, tries in vain to treat with them. Flight
of Alexius. The crusaders enter Constantinople. Isaac II and
Alexius IV restored. Constant friction between the emperor and
crusaders leads

1204 to the second capture of Constantinople. The reigning
family driven out. Foundation of the Latin Empire of Romania
and other states. (See “History of the Eastern Empire.”)

THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE (1212 A.D.)

Seems to have arisen from the idea that the main cause of the
failure of the Crusades was the sinfulness of the pilgrims.
None but the innocent and pure could accomplish the mission.
In 1212, thirty thousand boys and girls set out under the boy,
Stephen, and twenty thousand from Germany, under Nicholas, a
peasant boy. Most of them perish on the way; and others are
sold into slavery.

THE SIXTH CRUSADE (1217-1229 A.D.)

When Innocent III crowns Frederick II emperor, in 1215, he
extracts a promise from Frederick to conduct a crusade, but the
latter, seeing in the pope’s action a plan to outwit him in
the then imminent struggle between emperor and pope, defers his
departure.

1217 Andrew II of Hungary, incited by Honorius III, Innocent’s
successor, sets out for Jerusalem. He is joined by the king of
Cyprus. The crusaders visit Tyre, Sidon, Acre, and Tripolis,
but the Saracens make such havoc in their numbers that Andrew
returns to Hungary.

1218-1221 Jean de Brienne’s expedition to Damietta. (See
“Kingdom of Jerusalem”).

1228 Frederick II, after many disputes with the pope, sets
out for Jerusalem, the throne of which he claims through his
marriage to Yolande.

1229 Frederick makes treaty with the sultan Kamil, receiving
Jerusalem and other places. Frederick crowns himself king of
Jerusalem, and returns to Europe.

THE SEVENTH CRUSADE (1239-1240 A.D.)

Gregory IX preaches a new crusade (1238). The sultan Kamil dies
that year.

1239 King Thibaut of Navarre leads an army to Palestine to
break the truce made between Kamil and the Templars. The sons
of Kamil defeat him and capture Jerusalem.

1240 Richard, earl of Cornwall, proceeds to Acre, and receives
offers of peace from the sultan of Egypt. Jerusalem, and other
places in Palestine, are restored to the Christians. Richard
returns to England.

THE EIGHTH CRUSADE (1248-1254 A.D.)

In 1244, Jerusalem is taken by the Khwarizmians, who have been
driven from their own country by Jenghiz Khan. This leads to a
new crusade. Louis IX of France, in a fit of illness, vows to
lead an army against the Khwarizmians.

1248 Departure of Louis and his crusaders. He winters in Cyprus.

1249 Louis proceeds to Egypt, and takes Damietta. He then sets
out for Cairo.

1250 Battle of Mansura. Defeat and capture of Louis by Turan
Shah, sultan of Egypt. Louis is released by the restoration of
Damietta, and the promise to abstain from further hostilities.
The crusaders return to St. Jean d’Acre. Louis remains four
years in Syria, fortifying Acre and other cities, and

1254 returns to France.

THE NINTH CRUSADE (1270-1272 A.D.)

In 1260, the mamelukes, on the death of their sultan, Ibeg,
choose Bibars as his successor. This vigorous warrior at once
drives the Khwarizmians out of Syria, and takes Damascus and
Jerusalem from them. He then proceeds to exterminate the
Christians in Syria; in consequence of which, by 1267, a new
crusade has been planned. Louis IX of France, and Prince Edward
of England, are among those who assume the cross.

1268 Antioch surrenders to Bibars without a siege.

1270 After many difficulties in raising an army, the crusaders
sail for the Holy Land. Stopping at Sardinia, Louis changes his
plans, and proceeds against the king of Tunis. Shortly after
reaching there, the plague breaks out, and Louis dies. King
Charles of Naples arrives and makes a truce with the Tunisians,
who pay him tribute. The whole fleet returns to Europe, and is
wrecked on the Sicilian coast. Charles plunders the French and
Genoese vessels. Prince Edward leaves the French in Tunis, and
proceeds to Acre.

1271 Edward besieged at Acre by Bibars. Edward drives the
mamelukes away and seizes Nazareth. An attempt is made to
assassinate Edward.

1272 Edward concludes a ten years’ truce with Bibars, and
returns to Europe.

1274 Gregory X fails in an attempt to start a new crusade.
Bibars and his successors, Kalaun and Khalil, continue the
process of exterminating the Christians.

1289 Tripolis is taken. Acre is the last important possession
of the Christians. The mamelukes make a treaty with the king of
Cyprus.

1291 Capture of Acre by Khalil. Tyre, Berytus, and other towns,
submit. The last possessions of the Christians in the Holy
Land are abandoned. Other crusades are planned, but they are
never carried to execution. The military orders are eventually
suppressed.

FOOTNOTES

[45] [From _The Revolutions of Europe: being an historical view of the European nations from the subversion of the Roman Empire in the West to the abdication of Napoleon_. By Christopher W. Koch, formerly professor of Public Jurisprudence at Strasburg. Translated from the French by Andrew Crichton. Second edition, London, 1839.]