CHAPTER XIII.

_THE CRUSADERS AND PILGRIMS._

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).

In 1236, says Matthew Paris, on a warrant from the Pope, a solemn preaching was made both in England and France by the brethren of the orders of Preachers and Minorites and other famous clerks, theologians, and religious men, granting to those who would assume the cross a full remission of the sins of which they truly repented and made confession. These preachers wandered about amongst cities, castles, and villages, promising to those who assumed the cross much relief in temporal matters--namely, that interest on debts should not accumulate against them with the Jews, and the protection of his Holiness the Pope should be granted for all their incomes and property given in pledge to procure necessaries for their journey; and thus they incited an immense number of people to make a vow of pilgrimage. The Pope afterwards sent also Master Thomas, a Templar, his familiar, into England with his warrant to absolve those Crusaders whom he chose and thought expedient from their vow of pilgrimage, on receiving money from them which he considered that he could expend advantageously for the interests of the Holy Land. When the Crusaders saw this, they wondered at the insatiable greediness of the Roman Court, and conceived great indignation in their minds, because the Romans endeavoured thus impudently to drain their purses by so many devices. For the preachers also promised the same indulgence to all, whether they assumed the cross or not, if they contributed their property and means for the assistance of the Holy Land. The Pope thus accumulated an endless sum of money to defend the Church. But peace was soon after made and the project abandoned; nevertheless, the money was never restored, and thus the devotion of many became daily weakened.

ESCAPING THE CRUSADE BY PAYING MONEY (A.D. 1241).

Matthew Paris says: "In 1241, in order that the wretched country of England might be robbed and despoiled of its wealth by a thousand devices, the Preacher and Minorite brethren, supported by a warrant from the Pope in their preaching, granted full remission of sins to all who should assume the cross for the liberation of the Holy Land. And immediately, or at least two or three days after they had prevailed on many to assume the cross, they absolved them from their vow, on condition that they would contribute a large amount of money for the assistance of the Holy Land, each as far as his means would permit. And in order to render the English more ready and willing to accede to their demands, they declared that the money was to be sent to Earl Richard; and, moreover, they showed a letter of his for better security. They also granted the same indulgence to old men and invalids, women, imbeciles, and children who took the cross or purposed taking it, receiving money, however, from them beforehand for this indulgence, and showed letters testimonial from Earl Richard concerning this matter which had been obtained from the Roman Court. By this method of draining the purses of the English an immense sum of money was obtained, owing to the favour in which Earl Richard was held; but we would here ask who was to be a faithful guardian and dispenser of this money; for we do not know."

ELOQUENT ENTHUSIASM OF THE MASTER OF HUNGARY (A.D. 1251).

In 1251 a religious frenzy arose in Flanders and France under the name of the Pastoureux or Shepherds. It began among the lowest classes, who attributed the imprisonment of their king, St. Louis, by the Mussulmans to the neglect and avarice of the clergy. A champion arose, called the Master of Hungary, an aged man with a long beard and a pale emaciated face, who spoke three or four languages, boasted that he had no authority from the Pope, but he clasped in his hand a roll which he said contained instructions from the Blessed Virgin herself. He said she had appeared to him encircled by hosts of angels, and had given him this commission to summon the poor shepherds to the deliverance of their godly King. This awful personage excited the most intense interest. He was an apostate monk, who in his youth had imbibed atheism and magic from unholy sources. He it was who in his youth led a crusade of children who had plunged, following his steps, by thousands into the sea. His eloquence and mystic look attracted wondering crowds. The shepherds and peasants left their flocks, their ploughs, and their fields, and, regardless of hunger and want, roamed after their leader, till they swelled to thirty thousand, and then to one hundred thousand men. They moved in battle-array, brandishing clubs, pikes, axes, and weapons picked up at random. Provosts and mayors were panic-stricken at the swarm of banners of the cross and standards of the Virgin and angels. The Master scornfully spoke of the clergy and usurped the offices of the Church, distributing crosses and dispensing absolution. He taunted the monks and friars with hypocrisy, gluttony, and pride. It was rumoured that the mob was miraculously fed. He entered a church and declaimed eloquently on the vices of the enemy. At last riots arose, and his head was cloven by a battle-axe, and the leaders were killed like mad dogs till the multitude disappeared.

DEATHBED OF ST. LOUIS OF FRANCE, CRUSADER (A.D. 1270).

For seven years after his return from the East in 1254, St. Louis, King of France, could not rest in his mind till he had again entered on a new crusade to reconquer Jerusalem and deliver the Holy Sepulchre. But he kept his own counsel and awaited the progress of events. In 1261 he told his parliament that there should be fasts and prayers for the Christians of the East. In 1267, on convoking his parliament in Paris, having first had the precious relics deposited in the Holy Chapel set before the eyes of the assembly, he opened the session by ardently exhorting those present to avenge the insult which had so long been offered to the Saviour in the Holy Land, and to recover the Christian heritage possessed for our sins by the infidels. And next year, in 1268, he took an oath to start in May 1270, and to take his three sons, aged twenty-two, eighteen, and seventeen. He urged Joinville, his biographer, to take the cross and join him; but Joinville flatly refused, thinking the King would do far more good by remaining at home. The King was in weak health, and the plan of the expedition was long unsettled, and at the last moment he decided first to go to Tunis, as he had a notion that he might convert the King, Mohammed Mostanser, who had long been talking of becoming a Christian. But on reaching Tunis on July 17th, 1270, it was found that the French must first fight the Mussulman prince, and the army was ill provisioned and unready. On August 3rd the King was attacked with epidemic fever and kept his bed in tent. He called his son and daughter and gave them the best advice; and after giving an interview to a messenger from the Emperor sent to bespeak his good offices, the saintly King ceased to think of the affairs of this world. He kept repeating prayers for mercy on his own people, and that they might return safely to their own land. He now and then raised himself on his bed, muttering the words, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem. We will go up to Jerusalem." He retained possession of his faculties to the last, insisted on receiving out of bed extreme unction, and on lying down upon a coarse sackcloth covered with cinders with the cross before him. On Monday, August 25th, 1270, at 3 p.m., he died, uttering these last words: "Father, after the example of the Divine Master, into Thy hands I commend my spirit."

CRUSADERS ENTERTAINED ON THEIR WAY HOME.

When Earl Richard, brother of King Henry III., returned in 1241 from the Holy Land on his way to visit the Emperor, Frederick II., and the Empress, the sister of Richard, he was received with the greatest joy and honour in the various cities, the citizens and their ladies coming to meet him with music and singing, bearing branches of trees and flowers, dressed in holiday garments and ornaments. On reaching the Emperor, Richard was treated with blood-letting, baths, and divers medicinal fomentations to restore his strength after the dangers of the sea. At the end of some days, by the Emperor's orders, various kinds of games and musical instruments, which were procured for the Empress's amusement, were exhibited before him, and afforded great pleasure. Amongst other astonishing novelties there was one which particularly excited his admiration and praise. Two Saracen girls of handsome form mounted upon four round balls placed on the floor--namely, one of the two on two balls, and the other on the other two. They walked backwards and forwards, clapping their hands, moving at pleasure on these revolving globes, gesticulating with their arms, singing various tunes and twisting their bodies according to the tune, beating cymbals or castanets together with their hands, and putting themselves into various amusing postures, affording, with the other jugglers, an admirable spectacle to the lookers-on. After staying with the Emperor about two months, Earl Richard took his departure, loaded with costly presents.

A DYING KING BEQUEATHS HIS HEART AS A CRUSADER.

When Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, was on his deathbed in 1329, Froissart tells how he made this dying request to his friend Sir James Douglas: "'Sir James, my dear friend, none knows better than you how great labour and suffering I have undergone in my day for the maintenance of the rights of my kingdom, and when I was hardest beset made a vow which it now grieves me deeply that I have not accomplished. I vowed to God, that, if I should live to see an end of my wars, and be enabled to govern this realm in peace, I would carry on war against the enemies of my Lord and Saviour to the best of my power. Never has my heart ceased to bend to that point; but our Lord has not consented thereto, for I have had my hands full in my days, and now at the last I am seized with this grievous sickness, so that, as you all see, I have nothing to do but to die. And since my body cannot go thither and accomplish that which I have so much at heart, I have resolved to send my heart there in place of my body, to fulfil my vow. I entreat thee, therefore, my dear and tried friend, that for the love you bear to me you will undertake this voyage and acquit my soul of its debt to my Saviour.' On the knight promising faithfully to obey his command, 'Praise be to God,' said the King. 'I shall die in peace, since I am assured that the best and most valiant knight of my kingdom has promised to achieve for me that which I myself could never accomplish.'" When King Robert Bruce died, his heart was taken out from his body and embalmed, and the Douglas caused a case of silver to be made, into which he put the heart and wore it round his neck by a string of silk and gold. He set out to the Holy Land, attended by a gallant train of Scottish chiefs; but on touching at Spain he found the Saracen King or Sultan of Grenada, called Osmyn, then invading the realms of Alphonso, the orthodox Spanish King of Castile. The latter King received the Douglas with great honour, and persuaded him to assist in driving back these Saracens. Douglas consented; and during a battle, seeing a comrade surrounded by the Moors, he took from his neck the heart, flung it into the thick of the enemy, and rushing to the spot where it fell, was himself slain. The body of the good Lord James was found lying above the silver case, as if to defend it had been his last effort. His companions then resolved not to proceed to the Holy Land, but to return with the sacred heart to Scotland, and it was buried below the high altar in Melrose Abbey.

THE HOSPITALLERS AND KNIGHTS TEMPLARS (A.D. 1118-1313).

A monastery for the benefit of Latin pilgrims had been founded at Jerusalem about 1050 by some wealthy merchants, and a hospital of St. John the Baptist was attached to help sick pilgrims and protect them against robbers. The Hospitallers soon separated from the monastery when the Crusaders arrived, and their dress was fixed as black with a white cross. Kings and nobles came to the assistance of this charity with gifts and endowments, and Raymond du Puy, on becoming master of the hospital in 1118, drew up rules which enjoined a regular system of begging alms for the poor, and each member when travelling was to carry a light with him, which was to be kept burning all night. The order of Knights Templars began about 1118 from similar motives, the object being to protect against the robbers the highways used by pilgrims. At first the Knights Templars were very poor, and the seal of their order showed two knights riding on one horse, a symbol which some explain as indicating poverty, and others as indicating brotherly kindness. Hugh de Payens and other French knights were the first members, and soon attracted attention, especially as St. Bernard, a nephew of one of the knights, warmly commended the institution and drew up rules for them. Each knight was restricted to keep three horses only, not to hawk nor hunt, not to receive presents nor use gaudy trappings in their equipments. They were charged always "to strike the lion," which was understood to mean the infidels. They were forbidden to lock their trunks, to walk alone, or to kiss their mothers or sisters. Their habit was said to be white with a red cross on the breast. The order began modestly, but soon included three hundred knights of noble families, and these attracted wealth, and this in time gave occasion for pride, insolence, and defiance of ecclesiastical discipline. The Knights Templars by degrees became a half-monastic and half-military order, attracting all the spirited youths of Europe. St. Bernard called them a perpetual sacred militia, the bodyguard of the Kings of Jerusalem, and a standing army on the outposts of civilisation. Lands, castles, riches, were given to them. The Popes patronised them. For two hundred years they kept up their credit, and fought with consummate valour, discipline, activity, and zeal for the cause of Christianity. They then excited the enmity of Philip the Fair, who coveted their wealth, and as an excuse for attacking them said he had heard of the secret vices and depravity of the order, and accused and arrested all that were in France in 1307. They were subjected by him to fearful torture to make them confess, and many confessed anything and everything, being thereby able to escape further tortures. De Molay, the Grand Master, confessed, retracted, then confessed, and again retracted. Edward II. caused those Templars settled in England to be arrested also. In 1310 fifty-four of the French Templars who denied the charges were burnt in Paris. De Molay, after being six years in prison, was burnt in 1313, protesting his innocence and that of the order. Philip the Fair was present part of the time. Philip's avarice and desire to confiscate their property were thought to be the moving cause of this atrocious tyranny, as he had borrowed money from them to pay the dowry of his sister, the Queen of England. The ashes of the victims were carefully collected and treasured as relics. It was afterwards currently believed that Molay at the stake summoned the Pope and the King (Philip), as the authors of his death, to appear before the judgment seat of Christ within forty days and a year respectively, and that each of them died within the time assigned. Philip, at the age of forty-six in 1314, met with an accident while hunting in the forest of Fontainebleau, from which he never recovered, leaving a name detested for every kind of despotism and oppression; and his chief minister, Marigny, was hanged soon after. Pope Clement V. had acted with a mean and cowardly acquiescence in the King's acts, and died in the same year.

CRUSADERS' FAITH IN PROVIDENCE.

De Joinville, in his Memoir of St. Louis IX. of France, says that when they were returning in 1254 from the Sixth Crusade, this accident happened on board the ship of the Lord d'Argonnes, one of the most powerful lords of Provence: "Lord d'Argonnes was annoyed one morning in bed by the rays of the sun darting on his eyes through a hole in the vessel, and calling one of his esquires, ordered him to stop the hole. The esquire, finding he could not stop it inside, attempted to do it on the outside, but his foot slipping he fell into the sea. The ship kept on her way, and there was not the smallest boat alongside to succour him. We who were in the King's ship saw him; but as we were half a league off, we thought it was some piece of furniture that had fallen into the sea, for the esquire did not attempt to save himself nor to move. When we came nearer, one of the King's boats took him up and brought him on board our vessel, when he related his accident. We asked him why he did not attempt to save himself by swimming, nor call out to the other ships for help. He said he had no occasion to do so, for as he fell into the sea he exclaimed, 'Our Lady of Valbert!' and that she supported him by his shoulders until the King's galley came to him. In honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to perpetuate this miracle, I had it painted in my chapel of Joinville, and also in the windows of the church of Blecourt."

COLUMBUS VOWING ANOTHER CRUSADE (A.D. 1493).

Columbus was in spirit a crusader rather than a maritime discoverer. The moment that the terms were fairly settled, he opened his project to Queen Isabella (herself a proselytising Catholic), and suggested that the vast wealth of Kubla Khan which he expected would accrue from his discovery should be devoted to the pious purpose 'of rescuing the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem from the power of the infidels.' When he came home in triumph, he made a vow to furnish within seven years an army, consisting of five thousand horse and fifty thousand foot, for the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre, and a similar force within the five following years. How tenaciously he held to his purpose we may gather from the fact that, when he was brought home in chains to Spain and was in the deepest sorrow and distress, he prepared an elaborate appeal to the sovereigns to undertake the fulfilment of the vow which his poverty and weakness forbade him to redeem; he wrote at the same time to the Pope, affirming that his enterprise had been undertaken with the intent of dedicating the gains to the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre; and that the evidence might be complete, he reaffirmed it solemnly in death by his last testament, and committed it as the dearest object of his heart, the most sacred purpose of his life, for fulfilment to his heirs. When Columbus after his first voyage told his story to Ferdinand and Isabella, they fell on their knees, giving thanks to God with many tears, and then the choristers of the Royal Chapel closed the grand ceremonial by singing the _Te Deum_. He was created a Don, with reversion to his sons and brothers, rode by the King's side, and "All hail!" was said to him on State occasions. He brought with him nine Indians, as specimens of the wide field for future proselytes, and these natives were baptised. One of them, after being baptised, died, and the authorities of the time, as Herrera relates, were pleased then to declare that he was the first coloured person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Twelve missionaries, under charge of a Benedictine monk, were sent out to take charge of the souls of the other Indians, and bring them to a knowledge of the Holy Catholic faith. And Admiral Columbus was specially charged besides to make them presents, and to deal lovingly with them. Columbus was all his life aware of some prophecy that Jerusalem was to be rebuilt by the hand of a Christian, and he looked forward to be that Christian; and he used to say that he would try and discover the exact kingdom of Prester John, who was known to be in want of missionaries to help him.

NUMBERS OF CRUSADERS.

The First Crusade, which was led by Peter the Hermit, by Walter the Penniless, by a German priest, and by some nondescript leaders, consisted of a mob of a quarter of a million of people, and other contingents swelled the number to 880,000. When they succeeded in capturing Jerusalem, they massacred ten thousand inhabitants, including women and children. Then Godfrey, throwing aside his armour, clothed with a linen mantle, and with bare head and naked feet, went to the Church of the Sepulchre. The First Crusade captured Nice, then Antioch after a severe siege, and then Jerusalem; and then a king was elected and remained. The Second Crusade, stirred up by St. Bernard in 1144, consisted of some 1,200,000 men, including Louis VII. of France, and was a total failure. The Third Crusade, in 1189, including Richard I. of England, was also numerous, and consumed twenty-three months in besieging Acre, but it ended in small progress. The Fourth Crusade, in 1203, stopped short at and attacked Constantinople. The Fifth Crusade, in 1228, resulted in a treaty by which Palestine was left to the Crusaders. The Sixth Crusade, in 1244, including Louis IX. of France (St. Louis), was utterly defeated, and Jerusalem pillaged by the Turks. The Seventh Crusade, again including St. Louis and Edward (afterwards Edward I. of England), in 1270, ended in abortive efforts to keep possession of the Holy Land, which was at last abandoned to the Saracens.

THE MODERN GREEK CHURCH AND ITS PILGRIMAGES.

Ricaut, in his account of the modern Greek Church two centuries ago, says: "The Greeks were extremely fond of visiting their churches and chapels, especially such as were on precipices and places very difficult of access; and indeed the greatest part of their devotion consisted in such voluntary fatigues. On their first arrival at the church or chapel, they crossed themselves over and over, and made a thousand genuflexions and profound bows. They kissed the image which was erected there, and treated it with three or four grains of the choicest frankincense, and recommended themselves to the Blessed Virgin or the saint whom the image represented. But in case the saint did not incline his ear and hearken to their vows, they soon made him sensible of their resentment. Here, as in other places, these pilgrimages and peculiar foundations of chapels were looked upon as meritorious, and became the effects of mere superstition."