It was not until the spring of 1099 that an army of 20,000 Crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon reached Jerusalem. The Holy City was stormed and taken 15 July 1099. Elected Icing of Jerusalem Godfrey refused that title in deference to the higher ICing whose spirit reigned over the world from there, and chose the simple designation of Protector of the Holy Sepulchre. He completed the conquest of the Holy Land by defeating the sultan of Egypt in the plain of Ascalon, 12 Aug. 1099. Godfrey had been wounded during the siege of Jerusalem and died just a year later, 11 July 1100. He was succeeded by his brother Bald win. Altogether four principalities were cre ated by the Crusaders in Mohammedan terri tories, the capitals of which were Edessa, Anti och, Tripoli and Jerusalem. Baldwin succeeded in talcing possession of Acre, Sidon and some other important towns along the coast of Asia Minor. The news of the fall of Jerusalem caused great rejoicing throughout Europe and brought many accessions to the armed forces of the city's ruler. Unfortunately many of these were lost at sea and many were cut off in various ways by the Turks so that the consolidation of the recent conquests became very difficult. LucIcily the Mohammedans were engaged in fighting among themselves and could not combine against the Franks as they called the Crusaders generally. Altogether at the end of the 1 1th century the Crusaders occupied a small strip of rand not 50 miles wide and some 500 miles long from which the Turks were for long unable to displace them.
This was the beginning of the great move ment, the Crusades, which was destined to in fluence Europe so deeply for the next two centuries. There was scarcely a generation until the end of the 13th century that did not witness the going out from some part of Europe of large bodies of men who- had nobly talcen up the task of securing the possession of the Holy Places to the Christians. In the end they failed of that object and the Holy Land fell once more under the domination of the Turks, but in the meantime an immense amount of good was accomplished. The loss of men in battle and by disease so far from draining the human resources of the countries rather added to them. Men developed new energies. A great surgeon said during the Great War that for every man killed two men were being made. Something like this happened in the Crusades. They aroused men's energies, brought the East and West in contact, broadened men's interests, lessened the power of the nobles, strengthened national feeling and accomplished great good for the race which was manifest in the achieve ments of the 13th century.
The character of the 1 1th century most dis puted about in history is Pope Gregory VII, whose name Hildebrand has been translated "a bright flame° by those who felt that he ac complished wonderful work for Christendom and "a brand of Hell" by those who declared that he was an influence for evil. There is no doubt at all that he exerted a deep influence over his own and succeeding generations. He
was a self-made man of lowly birth, one of those who in President Wilson's words make it clear "why government did not suffer dry rot in the Middle Ages under the aristocratic systems which then prevailed . . . there was no peasant so humble, that he might not become a priest and no priest so obscure that he might not become Pope of Christendom and every Chancellory in Europe was ruled by those learned, trained and accomplished men." As Pope he took up at once the reform of Church matters and the definite regulation of the relations of the Church to the State. By abuse bishops had come to be almost more state officials than Church dignitaries. Gregory labored to have them independent in their ecclesiastical functions except of the head of the Church, but it was difficult to correct long standing abuses. The most serious contest in this matter is between Pope Gregory and the Emperor Henry IV of Germany. Hildebrand dissolved the oath of allegiance of Henry's subjects and the nobility, glad of the opportunity to put down a tyrant, fell away from him and made Henry realize that unless he regularized his relations with the Church he could not hope to continue as a ruler. After many attempts to avoid the humiliation Henry made the famous journey to Canossa to be reconciled with the Pope, when he was required to do penance so severe that Hildebrand's conduct in this matter has often been censored. But Hildebrand maintained the rights of the Church as he saw them and continued to purify the Church itself of abuses of various kinds and to uphold the moral law as binding upon rulers as well as the people. Reformers are not likely to be popular and Gregory was in constant trouble. His own last words sum up his life better than any others. He had been compelled to leave Rome and was dying in Salerno when he said "I have loved justice and hated iniquity, there fore I die in exile." Hildebrand both before and after his election as Pope did more than anyone else to lay that foundation of the ascendency of the Papacy in Europe which culminated a century later in the pontificate of Pope Innocent III. During the time when popes were looked up to as guardians of the moral conscience of Europe, the best historians admit that there was a mag nificent development of culture in the best sense of that word., Few if any epochs in the whole history of manlcind present achievements higher than those of the 12th and 13th cen turies. The loftiest aspirations of mankind were finely fostered. Beautiful architecture, painting that has never lost its interest, mag nificent hospitals and great literature, charming arts and crafts all developed at this time and have come to be the loving study and reverent admiration of our generation. If a career is to be judged by its fruits, Hildebrand's in fluence in making the popes a moral centre as well as ecclesiastical power in Europe must be considered one of the great factors for a great era of human development.