Part 198

"The prosperity and the safety of Jerusalem appeared closely connected with the conquest of the maritime cities of Syria and Palestine; it being by them alone that it could receive succour, or establish prompt and easy communications with the West. The maritime nations of Europe were interested in seconding, in this instance, the enterprises of the king of Jerusalem. … From the period of the first crusades, the Pisans and the Genoese had constantly sent vessels to the seas of the East; and their fleets had aided the Christians in several expeditions against the Mussulmans. A Genoese fleet had just arrived in the seas of Syria when Baldwin undertook the siege of Ptolemaïs [Acre]. The Genoese were invited to assist in this conquest; but as religion was not the principle to bring them into action, they required, in return for their assistance and their labour, that they should have a third of the booty; they likewise stipulated to have a separate church for themselves, and a national factory and tribunal in the conquered city. Ptolemaïs was besieged by land and sea, and after a bloody resistance of twenty days, the inhabitants and the garrison proposed to surrender, and implored the clemency of the conquerors. The city opened its gates to the Christians, and the inhabitants prepared to depart, taking with them whatever they deemed most valuable; but the Genoese, at the sight of such rich booty, paid no respect to the capitulation, and massacred without pity a disarmed and defenceless people. … In consequence of this victory, several places which the Egyptians still held on the coasts of Syria fell into the hands of the Christians." Among those was the city of Tripoli. "Raymond, Count de St. Gilles and of Thoulouse, one of the companions of Godfrey, after having wandered for a long time about Asia, had died before this place, of which he had commenced the siege. In memory of his exploits in the first crusade, the rich territory of Tripoli was created a county, and became the inheritance of his family. This territory was celebrated for its productions. … A library established in this city, and celebrated through all the East, contained the monuments of the ancient literature of the Persians, the Arabians, the Egyptians, and the Greeks. A hundred copyists were there constantly employed in transcribing manuscripts. … After the taking of the city, a priest attached to Count Bernard de St. Gilles, entered the room in which were collected a vast number of copies of the Koran, and as he declared the library of Tripoli contained only the impious books of Mahomet, it was given up to the flames. … Bibles, situated on the smiling and fertile shores of Phoenicia, Sarepta, where St. Jerome saw still in his day the tower of Isaiah; and Berytus, famous in the early days of the church for its school of eloquence, shared the fate of Tripoli, and became baronies bestowed upon Christian knights. After these conquests, the Pisans, the Genoese, and several warriors who had followed Baldwin in his expeditions, returned into Europe; and the king of Jerusalem, abandoned by these useful allies, was obliged to employ the forces which remained in repulsing the invasions of the Saracens."

_J. F. Michaud, History of the Crusades, volume 1, book 5._

CRUSADES: A. D. 1147-1149. The Second Great Movement.

During the reign of Fulk, the fourth king of Jerusalem, the Latin power in Palestine and its neighboring territories began to be seriously shaken by a vigorous Turkish prince named Zenghi, on whom the sultan Mahmoud had conferred the government of all the country west of the Tigris. It was the first time since the coming of the Christians of the West that the whole strength of Islam in that region had been so nearly gathered into one strong hand, to be used against them, and they felt the effect speedily, being themselves weakened by many quarrels. In 1143 King Fulk died, leaving the crown to a young son, Baldwin III.,—a boy of thirteen, whose mother governed in his name. The next year Zenghi captured the important city of Edessa, and consternation was produced by his successes. Europe was then appealed to for help against the advancing Turk, and the call from Jerusalem was taken up by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the irresistible enthusiast, whose influence accomplished, in his time, whatever he willed to have done. Just half a century after Peter the Hermit, St. Bernard preached a Second Crusade, and with almost equal effect, notwithstanding the better knowledge now possessed of all the hardships and perils of the expedition. This time, royalty took the lead. King Conrad of Germany commanded a great army from that country, and another host followed King Louis VII. from France. "Both armies marched down the Danube, to Constantinople, in the summer of 1147. At the same moment King Roger [of Naples], with his fleet, attacked, not the Turks, but the Greek seaport towns of the Morea. Manuel [the Byzantine emperor] thereupon, convinced that the large armies were designed for the destruction of his empire in the first place, with the greatest exertions, got together troops from all his provinces, and entered into a half-alliance with the Turks of Asia Minor. The mischief and ill-feeling was increased by the lawless conduct of the German hordes; the Greek troops attacked them more than once; whereupon numerous voices were raised in Louis's headquarters to demand open war against the faithless Greeks. {630} The kings were fully agreed not to permit this, but on arriving in Constantinople they completely fell out, for, while Louis made no secret of his warm friendship for Roger, Conrad promised the Emperor of Constantinople to attack the Normans as soon as the Crusade should be ended. This was a bad beginning for a united campaign in the East, and moreover, at every step eastward, new difficulties arose. The German army, broken up into several detachments, and led without ability or prudence, was attacked in Asia Minor by the Emir of Iconium, and cut to pieces, all but a few hundred men. The French, though better appointed, also suffered severe losses in that country, but contrived nevertheless, to reach Antioch with a very considerable force, and from thence might have carried the project which the second Baldwin had conceived in vain, namely, the defence of the northeastern frontier, upon which, especially since Zenki [Zenghi] had made his appearance, the life or death of the Christian states depended. But in vain did Prince Raymond of Antioch try to prevail upon King Louis to take this view, and to attack without delay the most formidable of all their adversaries, Noureddin [son of Zenghi, now dead]. Louis would not hear or do anything till he had seen Jerusalem and prayed at the Holy Sepulchre. … In Jerusalem he [King Louis] was welcomed by Queen Melisende (now regent, during her son's minority, after Fulco's death), with praise and gratitude, because he had not taken part in the distant wars of the Prince of Antioch, but had reserved his forces for the defence of the holy city of Jerusalem. It was now resolved to lead the army against Damascus, the only Turkish town whose Emir had always refused to submit to either Zenki or Noureddin. Nevertheless Noureddin instantly collected all his available forces, to succour the besieged town." But he was spared further exertion by the jealous disagreement of the Christians, who began to take thought as to what should be done with Damascus when they took it. The Syrian barons concluded that they would prefer to leave the city in Turkish hands, and by treacherous manœuvres they forced king Louis to raise the siege. "The German king, long since tired of his powerless position, returned home in the autumn of 1148, and Louis, after much pressing, stayed a few months longer, and reached Europe in the following spring. The whole expedition … had been wrecked, without honour and without result, by the most wretched personal passions, and the most narrow and selfish policy."

_H. Von Sybel, History and Literature of the Crusades, chapter 3._

"So ended in utter shame and ignominy the Second Crusade. The event seemed to give the lie to the glowing promises and prophecies of St. Bernard. So vast had been the drain of population to feed this holy war that, in the phrase of an eye-witness, the cities and castles were empty, and scarcely one man was left to seven women; and now it was known that the fathers, the husbands, the sons, or the brothers of these miserable women would see their earthly homes no more. The cry of anguish charged Bernard with the crime of sending them forth on an errand in which they had done absolutely nothing and had reaped only wretchedness and disgrace. For a time Bernard himself was struck dumb: but he soon remembered that he had spoken with the authority of God and his vicegerent, and that the guilt or failure must lie at the door of the pilgrims."

_G. W. Cox, The Crusades, chapter 5._

CRUSADES: A. D. 1187. The loss of Jerusalem.

See JERUSALEM: A. D. 1149-1187.

CRUSADES: A. D. 1188-1192. The Third Great Movement.

When the news reached Europe that Saladin, the redoubtable new champion of Islam had expelled the Christians and the Cross from Jerusalem, polluting once more the precincts of the Holy Sepulchre, the effect produced was something not easily understood at the present day. If we may believe historians of the time, the pope (Urban III.) died of grief; "Christians forgot all the ills of their own country to weep over Jerusalem. … Luxury was banished from cities; injuries were forgotten and alms were given abundantly, Christians slept upon ashes, clothed themselves in haircloth, and expiated their disorderly lives by fasting and mortification. The clergy set the example; the morals of the cloister were reformed, and cardinals, condemning themselves to poverty, promised to repair to the Holy Land, supported on charity by the way. These pious reformations did not last long; but men's minds were not the less prepared for a new crusade by them, and all Europe was soon roused by the voice of Gregory VIII., who exhorted the faithful to assume the cross and take up arms."

_J. F. Michaud, History of the Crusades, book 7._

"The emperor Frederic Barbarossa and the kings of France and England assumed the cross; and the tardy magnitude of their armaments was anticipated by the maritime states of the Mediterranean and the ocean. The skilful and provident Italians first embarked in the ships of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. They were speedily followed by the most eager pilgrims of France, Normandy and the Western Isles. The powerful succour of Flanders, Frise, and Denmark filled near a hundred vessels; and the northern warriors were distinguished in the field by a lofty stature and a ponderous battle-axe. Their increasing multitudes could no longer be confined within the walls of Tyre [which the Latins still held], or remain obedient to the voice of Conrad [Marquis of Montferrat, who had taken command of the place and repelled the attacks of Saladin]. They pitied the misfortunes and revered the dignity of Lusignan [the nominal king of Jerusalem, lately captive in Saladin's hands], who was released from prison, perhaps to divide the army of the Franks. He proposed the recovery of Ptolemais, or Acre, thirty miles to the south of Tyre; and the place was first invested [July, 1189] by 2,000 horse and 30,000 foot under his nominal command. I shall not expatiate on the story of this memorable siege, which lasted near two years, and consumed, in a narrow space, the forces of Europe and Asia. … At the sound of the holy trumpet the Moslems of Egypt, Syria, Arabia, and the Oriental provinces assembled under the servant of the prophet: his camp was pitched and removed within a few miles of Acre; and he laboured, night and day, for the relief of his brethren and the annoyance of the Franks. … In the spring of the second year, the royal fleets of France and England cast anchor in the bay of Acre, and the siege was more vigorously prosecuted by the youthful emulation of the two kings, Philip Augustus and Richard Plantagenet. {631} After every resource had been tried, and every hope was exhausted, the defenders of Acre submitted to their fate. … By the conquest of Acre the Latin powers acquired a strong town and a convenient harbour; but the advantage was most dearly purchased. The minister and historian of Saladin computes, from the report of the enemy, that their numbers, at different periods, amounted to 500,000 or 600,000; that more than 100, 000 Christians were slain; that a far greater number was lost by disease or shipwreck." On the reduction of Acre, king Philip Augustus returned to France, leaving only 500 knights and 10,000 men behind him. Meantime, the old emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, coming by the landward route, through the country of the Greeks and Asia Minor, with a well-trained army of 20,000 knights and 50,000 men on foot, had perished by the way, drowned in a little Cilician torrent, and only 5,000 of his troops had reached the camp at Acre. Old as he was, (he was seventy when he took the cross) Barbarossa might have changed the event of the Crusade if he had reached the scene of conflict; for he had brains with his valor and character with his ferocity, which Richard Cœur de Lion had not. The latter remained another year in the Holy Land; recovered Cæsarea and Jaffa; threatened Saladin in Jerusalem seriously, but to no avail; and stirred up more and fiercer quarrels among the Christians than had been customary, even on the soil which was sacred to them. In the end, a treaty was arranged which displeased the more devout on both sides. "It was stipulated that Jerusalem and the holy sepulchre should be open, without tribute or vexation, to the pilgrimage of the Latin Christians; that, after the demolition of Ascalon, they should inclusively possess the sea-coast from Jaffa to Tyre; that the count of Tripoli and the prince of Antioch should be comprised in the truce; and that, during three years and three months, all hostilities should cease. … Richard embarked for Europe, to seek a long captivity and a premature grave; and the space of a few months concluded the life and glories of Saladin."

_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 59. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717_

"A halo of false glory surrounds the Third Crusade from the associations which connect it with the lion-hearted king of England. The exploits of Richard I. have stirred to enthusiasm the dullest of chroniclers, have furnished themes for jubilant eulogies, and have shed over his life that glamour which cheats even sober-minded men when they read the story of his prototype Achilleus in the tale of Troy. … When we turn from the picture to the reality, we shall see in this Third Crusade an enterprise in which the fiery zeal which does something towards redeeming the savage brutalities of Godfrey and the first crusaders is displaced by base and sordid greed, by intrigues utterly of the earthy, by wanton crimes from which we might well suppose that the sun would hide away its face; and in the leaders of this enterprise we shall see men in whom morally there is scarcely a single quality to relieve the monotonous blackness of their infamy; in whom, strategically, a very little generalship comes to the aid of a blind brute force."

_G. W. Cox, The Crusades, chapter 7._

ALSO IN: _Mrs. W. Busk, Mediaeval Popes, Emperors, Kings and Crusaders, book 2, chapter 12, and book 3, chapters 1-2._

CRUSADES: A. D. 1196-1197. The Fourth Expedition.

A crusading expedition of German barons and their followers, which went to the Holy Land, by way of Italy, in 1196, is generally counted as the Fourth Crusade, though some writers look upon it as a movement supplementary to the Third Crusade. The Germans, who numbered some 40,000, do not seem to have been welcomed by the Christians of Palestine. The latter preferred to maintain the state of peace then prevailing; but the new crusaders forced hostilities at once. Saladin was dead; his brother Saphadin accepted the challenge to war with prompt vigor and struck the first hard blow, taking Jaffa, with great slaughter, and demolishing its fortifications. But Saphadin was presently defeated in a battle fought between Tyre and Sidon, and Jaffa was recovered, together with other towns and most of the coast. But, a little later, the Germans suffered, in their turn, a most demoralizing reverse at the castle of Thoron, which they besieged, and were further disturbed, in the midst of their depression, by news of the death of their emperor, Henry VI. A great part of them, thereupon, returned home. Those who remained, or many of them, occupied Jaffa, where they were attacked, a few months later, and cut to pieces.

_G. W. Cox, The Crusades, chapter 8._

CRUSADES: A. D. 1201-1203. The Fifth Movement.- Treachery of the Venetians. Conquest of Constantinople.