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THE STORY OF THE CRUSADES
THE STORY OF THE CRUSADES
BY E. M. WILMOT-BUXTON F.R.Hist.S. AUTHOR OF 'BRITAIN LONG AGO' 'THE BOOK OF RUSTEM' 'TOLD BY THE NORTHMEN' ETC. GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO. LTD. LONDON BOMBAY SYDNEY First published December 1910 by GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO. 39-4l Parker Street, Kingsway, London, W.C.2 Reprinted September 1913 Reprinted in the present series: March 1912; May 1914; January 1919; March 1924; January 1927; November 1927; July 1930 Printed in Great Britain by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh Contents I.
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CHAPTER I The Story of Mohammed the Prophet
CHAPTER I The Story of Mohammed the Prophet
A poor shepherd people roaming unnoticed in the deserts of Arabia: a Hero-Prophet sent down to them with a word they could believe: See! the unnoticed becomes world-notable, the small has grown world-great . CARLYLE: Hero as Prophet . The two hundred years which cover, roughly speaking, the actual period of the Holy War, are crammed with an interest that never grows dim. Gallant figures, noble knights, generous foes, valiant women, eager children, follow one another through these centu
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CHAPTER II Mohammed as Conqueror
CHAPTER II Mohammed as Conqueror
He is come to ope The purple testament of bleeding war. SHAKESPEARE: Richard II. The year which marked Mohammed's triumphant entry into Medina is known in the Mohammedan world as the Hegira , and counts as the Year One in their calendar—the year from which all others are reckoned. For the first time the faith of Islam was preached openly, and the claim of Mohammed to be merely one of the "prophets" gave place to a demand for acknowledgment as
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CHAPTER III The Spread of Islam
CHAPTER III The Spread of Islam
Swift and resistless through the land he passed, Like that bold Greek who did the East subdue, And made to battles such heroic haste As if on wings of victory he flew. DRYDEN: On Cromwell. Of those sovereigns visited by the envoys of Mohammed and bidden to give their allegiance to the Prophet, was Khosru, King of Persia, who, in utter disdain of such a demand, tore the letter to pieces. "Beware, O king," said the messenger as he departe
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CHAPTER IV The Rise of Chivalry
CHAPTER IV The Rise of Chivalry
A knight there was, and that a worthy man, That fro the tyme that he first began To riden out, he loved chivalrie, Trouthe and honour, freedom and curteisie. CHAUCER: The Prologue. During the interval of comparative peace that followed the downfall of the mad Caliph Hakim, a new spirit of religious devotion began to awaken in Christendom. This was, to a large extent, a reaction from a truly "dark age"—the period which immediatel
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CHAPTER V The Story of Peter the Hermit
CHAPTER V The Story of Peter the Hermit
Great troops of people travelled thitherward Both day and night, of each degree and place But Jew returned, having 'scaped hard With hateful beggary or foul disgrace. SPENSER: Faery Queene. Some twenty years after the death of Hakim, the countries round about the Holy Land began to be harassed by a new and terrible foe. From far-off Turkestan had migrated a fierce fighting tribe, the descendants of one Seljuk, and known to histo
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CHAPTER VI The Story of the Emperor Alexios and the First Crusade
CHAPTER VI The Story of the Emperor Alexios and the First Crusade
Nought is more honourable to a knight Nor battle doth become brave chivalry Than to defend the feeble in their right And wrong redress in such as wend awry While those great Heroes glory got thereby. SPENSER: Faery Queene. In the August of 1096, the first great army of the Crusaders began to move towards the East, under the command of Godfrey of Boulogne, together with his brothers Eustace and Baldwin. This Godfrey, leader of the Teuton
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CHAPTER VII The Siege of Antioch
CHAPTER VII The Siege of Antioch
The faithful armies sang "Hosanna to the Highest." ... Now storming fury rose And clamour, arm on armour clashing brayed Horrible discord. MILTON: Paradise Lost. The city of Antioch, capital of Syria, towards which the faces of the Crusaders were now set, was one of the most famous and beautiful cities of the East. Behind it lay the rugged ranges of Lebanon; part of its wide girdle of walls and turrets was washe
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CHAPTER VIII The Holy City is won
CHAPTER VIII The Holy City is won
Jerusalem, through the clear atmosphere, rising out of the deep umbrageous valleys which surround it, is reflected in a fiery splendour in the morning sunlight . FARRAR: Life of Christ . Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem! PSALM cxxii. It was with high hearts that the remnant of the crusading host, now much reduced, took the road to the Holy City, the end of all their endeavours. With little difficulty they made thei
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CHAPTER IX The Story of Bernard of Clairvaux and the Second Crusade
CHAPTER IX The Story of Bernard of Clairvaux and the Second Crusade
The rhythm of their feet, The ineffable low beat Of the vast throngs pacing slowly, Floats on the sea of Time Like a musical low chime From a far Isle, mystic, holy. L. MORRIS, Marching. The First Crusade, with all its errors and shortcomings, may yet be counted as a success so far as the rescuing of Jerusalem from infidel hands was concerned. The Second Crusade is one of the great failures of history. Yet the movement is associated with the name o
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CHAPTER X The Loss of Jerusalem
CHAPTER X The Loss of Jerusalem
All Europe streaming to the mystic East: Now on their sun-smit ranks The dusky squadrons close in vulture-feast. PALGRAVE: Visions of England. Most famous of the Sons of Islam who fought against Christendom is Saladin, the Saracen general who made himself master of Egypt in the days of Amalric, King of Jerusalem, and who was destined in the near future to be the conqueror of the Holy City. The time was ripe for such a conquest, for
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CHAPTER XI The Story of the Third Crusade
CHAPTER XI The Story of the Third Crusade
A goodly golden chain wherewith yfere The virtues linked are in lovely wise And noble minds of yore allyed were In brave pursuit of chivalrous emprise. SPENSER: Faery Queene. The news of the fate of Jerusalem moved Western Europe to such horror and dismay as had never before been known. Everywhere signs of mourning were seen; a general fast was ordered, a fast which was kept to some extent, at least, by some pious souls, until the Holy City
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CHAPTER XII The Adventures of Richard Lion-Heart
CHAPTER XII The Adventures of Richard Lion-Heart
One who fought his fight has told the deeds Of that gay passage through the midland sea Cyprus and Sicily; And how the Lion-Heart o'er the Moslem host Triumphed in Ascalon Or Acre, by the tideless Syrian coast. PALGRAVE: Visions of England. Exactly two years after the siege of Acre had commenced, the army of Richard, together with the Knights of the Temple and the Hospital, set out to conquer the territory that lay between the mount
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CHAPTER XIII The Story of Dandolo the Blind Doge; or, The Fourth and Fifth Crusades
CHAPTER XIII The Story of Dandolo the Blind Doge; or, The Fourth and Fifth Crusades
Oh for one hour of blind old Dandolo! Th'octogenarian chief, Byzantium's conquering foe. BYRON: Childe Harold. Richard the Lion-Heart had returned to England in 1194. The next three years of the dying century saw an attempt at an expedition sometimes known as the Fourth, more often as the "German" Crusade. Its story contains little of interest. Saladin had died before the release of Richard, and his brother Saphadim reigned in his stead
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CHAPTER XIV The Forsaking of the High Enterprise
CHAPTER XIV The Forsaking of the High Enterprise
'Tis Greece, but living Greece no more. BYRON: Childe Harold. The Siege of Zara affords one more example of the fatal disunion which was always appearing among the ranks of the Crusaders. From the first, the Abbot de Vaux, who had to some extent taken the place of the priest Fulk (now gone to his rest), had protested against warring upon the King of Hungary, who was himself a Crusader. The Pope sent urgent messages forbidding the wh
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CHAPTER XV The Story of the Latin Empire of Constantinople
CHAPTER XV The Story of the Latin Empire of Constantinople
Greece, change thy lords, thy state is still the same, Thy glorious day is o'er, but not thy years of shame. BYRON: Childe Harold. Although the usurper had fled, the position of the Emperor Isaac, and that of his son Alexios, the virtual ruler, was by no means serene. Money had to be raised in order to pay the sum promised to the Crusaders, and the taxes levied in consequence did not endear them to the Turks. They ha
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CHAPTER XVI The Children's Crusade
CHAPTER XVI The Children's Crusade
The child spake nobly: strange to hear His infantine soft accents clear Charged with high meanings, did appear. E. B. BROWNING: A Vision of Poets. During the ten years that followed the taking of Constantinople, Pope Innocent tried to stir up another Crusade, which he hoped should actually fulfil its high ideals. But the old enthusiasm for the Holy War had died down. The chief kingdoms of Europe were too busy quarrelling with one another to have leisur
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CHAPTER XVII The Story of the Emperor Frederick and the Sixth Crusade
CHAPTER XVII The Story of the Emperor Frederick and the Sixth Crusade
Pride in their port, defiance in their eye, I see the lords of human kind pass by. GOLDSMITH: The Traveller. The story of the Sixth Crusade may be told in two parts, one dealing with failure, the other with success. It was the tardy fruit of Pope Innocent's urgent appeal for another Holy War, a war which he himself would have led, had not death cut short his career. Curiously enough, the actual leader of the first part of the Sixth Crus
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CHAPTER XVIII The Story of the Seventh Crusade
CHAPTER XVIII The Story of the Seventh Crusade
Now cluttering arms, now raging broils of war, Can pass the noise of dreadful trumpets' clang. N. GRIMALD: The Death of Zoroas , 1550. The ten years' truce made by Frederick II. with the Sultan Camhel was by no means scrupulously kept by either side. The smaller Moslem states did not hesitate to attack the Christian towns whenever they saw an opportunity of so doing, and the Templars, who had been from the first entirely against the terms of the truce, continu
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CHAPTER XIX The Crusade of St Louis (The Eighth Crusade)
CHAPTER XIX The Crusade of St Louis (The Eighth Crusade)
Some grey crusading knight austere Who bore St Louis company And came home hurt to death.... MATTHEW ARNOLD: A Southern Night. A hundred years earlier, the news of the destruction of Jerusalem would have stricken all Europe with horror and roused her to action. It was not so now. That earlier fervour of religion which had sent pilgrims rejoicing to an almost certain death had died away, and had been replaced by a more practical form of faith which found its outlet in a ze
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CHAPTER XX The Story of the Fall of Acre
CHAPTER XX The Story of the Fall of Acre
"Because the chasuble is of red serge," said he, "that signifies that this Crusade shall be of little profit." LE SIRE DE JOINVILLE: Memoirs of St Louis. During the interval between the Eighth and Ninth Crusades, affairs in the Holy Land had gone from bad to worse. The knights of the Hospital and Temple spent all their time in private quarrels and combats, and the merchants of Genoa and Pisa followed their evil example. The Moguls were continually harassing both S
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CHAPTER XXI The Story of the Fall of Constantinople
CHAPTER XXI The Story of the Fall of Constantinople
Men are we, and must grieve when even the shade Of that which once was great has passed away. WORDSWORTH: On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic. No story of the Crusades can be complete without some account of the last scene in the drama that had been played for so many years between East and West, and which was ended for the time when Constantinople fell. Since the year 1261, the Eastern Empire had passed out of the hands of Latin rulers, and once more owned an Emperor of Greek
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CHAPTER XXII The Effect of the Crusades
CHAPTER XXII The Effect of the Crusades
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till earth and sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border nor Breed nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth. RUDYARD KIPLING: Ballad of East and West. The sacred fire of enthusiasm for the "Cause of God" still flickered faintly in Europe during the years that immediately preceded th
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List of Books Consulted
List of Books Consulted
The following books have been especially useful in the compilation of this little volume. My thanks are also due to Messrs Dent for permission to use some extracts from Sir Frank Marzials' charming translation of Villehardouin's Chronicle and that of the Sire de Joinville in their "Everyman" series. Archer and Kingsford. The Crusades; the Story of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem . Chronicles of the Crusaders by Richard of Devizes, Geoffrey de Vinsauf and the Sire de Joinville . F.
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