Orusade.—In 1144, the principality of Edessa was conquered by the emir of Mosul, and the Christians slaughtered. His son, Noureddin. advanced to destroy the Latin kingdoms of Syria and Palestine. Europe once more trembled with excitement. A second crusade was preached by the famous St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux. in Champagne; and early in 1147, two enormous armies, under the command of Louis VII., king of France, and Conrad III., emperor of Germany, marched for the Holy Land. Their united numbers were estimated at 1,200,000 fighting men. The expedition never theless, proved a total failure. The Greek emperor, Manuel Comnenus, was hostile; and through the treachery of his emissaries, the army of Conrad was all but destroyed by the Turks near Iconium, while that of Louis was wrecked in the defiles of the Pisid ian mountains. After a vain attempt to reduce Damascus, the relies of this mighty host returned to Europe.
Third Crusade.—The death-blow, however, to the kingdom of Jerusalem, and the power of the crusaders, was given, not by Noureddin, but by Salah-Eddin, commonly called Saladin, a young Kurdish chief, who had made himself sultan of Egypt, and who aspired to the presidency of the Mohammedan world. He invaded Palestine, took town after town, and finally, in Oct., 1187, compelled Jerusalem itself to capitulate, after a siege of 14 days. The news of this led to a third crusade, the chiefs of which were Frederick I. (13arbarossa), emperor of Germany, Philippe Auguste, king of France, and Richard Cceur-de-Lion, king of England. I3arbarossa took the field first in the spring of 1189, but accidentally lost his life by fever caught from bathing in the Orontes. his army, much reduced, joined the forces of the other two monarchs before Acre, which important city was immediately besieged. In vain did Saladin attempt to relieve the defenders; and after a beleagurement of 23 months, the place surrendered. But the crusaders were not united among themselves. Philippe soon after returned to France; and Richard, after accomplishing prodigies of valor, which excited the admiration of the Saracens, concluded a treaty with Saladin, by which " the people of the west were to be at liberty to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem, exempt from the taxes which the Saracen princes had in former times imposed." This, as has been previously noticed, was all that had been claimed by the first crusaders. On the:25th of Oct., 1192, Richard set sail for Europe.
Fourtla Crusade.—Crusading unfortunately now became a constituent of the papal policy; and in 1203, a fourth expedition was determined upon by pope Innocent III., although the condition of the Christians was by no means such as to call for it. It assembled at Venice; but how entirely secular crusading had become, will be seen from the fact, that the army never went to Palestine at all,. but preferred to take possession of the Byzantine empire. The leader of this host of pseudo-crusaders, Baldwin, count of Flanders, was seated on the throne of the east in 1204, where he and his successors maintained themselves for 50 years.
Fifth Crusade.—This was commanded by Frederick II., emperor of Germany. It began in 1228, and terminated in a treaty between that monarch and the sultan of Egypt, by which Palestine was ceded to Frederick, who, after being crowned king of Jerusalem, returned to Europe, leaving his new possessions in a state of tranquillity.
Sixth Crusade.—In 1244, a new race of Turks burst into Syria, and once more the Holy Land fell into the hands of these ferocious barbarians. Jerusalem was burned and pillaged. In 1249, Louis IX. of France (St. Louis) headed a crusade against them, but was utterly defeated, and taken prisoner by the sultan of Egypt. By the payment
of a large ransom he obtained hiS liberty and that of the other prisoners. On his return to Europe lie was regarded as a sort of martyr in the cause of Christ.
Strewth, Crusade.—This also was primarily undertaken by St. Louis, but he having died at Tunis in 1270, on his way to Palestine, prince Edward of England, afterwards Edward I., who had originally intended to place himself under the command of St. Louis, marched direct for Palestine, where his rank and reputation in arms gathered round him alt who were willing to fight for the cross. Nothing of consequence, how ever, was accomplished; and Edward soon returned to England, the last of the crusad ers. Acre, Antioch, and Tripoli still continued in the possession of the Christians, and were defended for some time by the Templars and other military knights; but in 1291, Acre capitulated, the other towns soon followed its example, and the knights were glad to quit the country, and disperse themselves over Europe in quest of new employ ment, leaving Palestine in the undisturbed possession of the Saracens.
_Erects of the Crusades.—While we cannot help deploring the enormous expenditure of human life which the C. occasioned, it is impossible to overlook the fact that they indirectly exercised a most beneficial influence on modern society. They secured for humanity certain advantages which it is difficult to see could have been otherwise obtained. M. Guizot, in his Lectures on European Civilization, endeavors to show their design and function in the destinies of Christendom. " To the first chroniclers," he says, " and consequently to the first crusaders, of whom they are but the expression, Moham medans are objects only of hatred: it is evident that those who speak of them do not know them. The historians of the later crusades speak quite differently: it is clear that they look upon them no longer as monsters; that they have to a certain extent entered into their ideas; that they have lived with them; and that relations, and even a sort of sympathy, have been established between them." Thus the minds of both, but particu larly of the crusaders, were partly delivered from those prejudices which are the off spring of ignorance. "A step was taken towards the enfranchisement of the human mind." Secondly, the crusaders were brought into contact with two civilizations. richer and more advanced than their own—the Greek and the Saracenic; and it is beyond all question that they were mightily struck with the wealth and comparative refinement of the east. Thirdly, the close relationship between the chief laymen of the west and the church occasioned by the C., enabled the former "to inspect more nar rowly the policy and motives of the papal court." The result was very disastrous to that spirit of veneration and belief on which the church lives, and in many cases an extraordinary freedom of judgment and hardihood of opinion were induced—such as Europe had never before dreamed of. Fourthly, great social changes were brought about. A commerce between the east and west sprang up, and towns—the early homes of liberty in Europe—began to grow great and powerful. The C., indeed, "gave mari time commerce the strongest impulse it had ever received." The united effect of these things, again, in predisposing the minds of men for a reformation in religion, has often been noticed. Other causes undoubtedly co-operated, and in a more direct and decisive manner, but the influence of the C. in procuring an audience for Luther, cannot be overlooked by the philosophic historian.