The Rise of the Mediaeval Church And Its Influence on the...

The condition of Arabia at Mohammed's birth (c. 570) must be understood in order to have an intelligent comprehension of this new religion. Politically the Arabs were united in a very loose sort of confederacy. The real government was in the hands of tribal chiefs. Although a prey to Greek and Persian influences, yet the hardy Arabians had never been conquered. They were divided into wandering tribes with practices and customs characteristic of tribal relations. Few cities were found among them and many of the conveniences of civilisation known to peoples of fixed habitations were lacking. Through trading, begging, and robbing these Arabs had developed a cosmopolitan spirit and liberality. They monopolised the overland trading routes; carried on an extensive industry in raising sheep, horses, and camels; cultivated fruit-growing to some extent; and were very fond of holding great fairs at which their possessions were exhibited and bartering carried on. Educationally the Arabs were a very superior people. Arabia was the home of the alphabet and of numbers, and had developed a perfect language. The people had an intense love for poetry and the eloquence of their leaders was of high order. From the Greeks they had received a knowledge of the natural and abstract sciences. Of all the peoples therefore in western Asia the Arabs were perhaps the most highly civilised and the most progressive.

Complete religious liberty and toleration were permitted among the Arabs, hence Jews, Christians, Fire-worshippers, and Star-worshippers were found among them. The Jews were very numerous especially in Medina. The Christians found in Arabia were either the descendants of those heretical sects driven from the Roman Empire in the fierce controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries,[477:1] or monks and hermits who were still found there in large numbers.[477:2] But Christianity made little impression upon the Arabs. It appears in fact never to have fully satisfied any of the Eastern peoples—at least no branch of the Semitic race has ever taken kindly to it.

The Arabic religion was something of a mixture between monotheism and idolatrous polytheism. Every house had its own idol and every tribe had its special deity, but above all these particular gods stood the universal god, Allah, by whom the holiest oaths were sworn, in whose name treaties were made, and yet who was worshipped least and last. Mecca was the religious capital, having been selected by Hagar and Ishmael, and was the home of the Kaaba, built by Abraham and his son Ishmael, containing the famous Black Stone.[478:1] A well organised priesthood, monopolised by the Koraish tribe, conducted worship and performed the sacred rites, which were accompanied by a rather elaborate ceremony. Great religious feasts were numerous, particularly in the "holy months." By the seventh century the Arabic religion was in a very low condition. It resembled the decrepid and effete Roman and Greek religions in the later days of their existence. There arose everywhere, consequently, a cry for reformation, or for a substitution, and this demand soon crystallised into a reform party, which rejected polytheism and preached asceticism while holding fast to a belief in Allah. It is quite possible that the members of this party received both their inspiration and their ideas from the Christian hermits. They were called the Hanifs or Puritans. This wide-spread desire for reformation indicates that Arabia was ripe for a religious revolution and that the times were ready for the great work of Mohammed.

In the holy city of Mecca in 570 Mohammed was born. He was connected by blood with the Koraish tribe and from this source may have inherited certain pronounced religious tendencies. Orphaned at six and reared by an uncle, who was a trader, he made extensive travels of a business character throughout western Asia. In this way he gained a cosmopolitan education, had a wider outlook on the world than was customary, and may have come into close touch with Judaism and Christianity. At the age of twenty-five he entered the service of a rich widow, Chadijah, and later married her though she was fifteen years his senior. Her wealth brought him into prominence and gave him a commanding social and industrial position. In his own behalf, now, he made several extensive commercial trips. One of Chadijah's cousins was a Hanif and, like the Hanifs and hermits in general, he was a zealous missionary. Mohammed soon fell under the influence of him and other Puritans and soon joined these ascetic reformers. He often retired to the mountains for prayer and ascetic practices and the religious fermentation in his soul in a short time produced an explosion. He early became subject to fits,—whether epileptic, cataleptic, or hysterical is unknown,—and in these swoons professed to have had religious visions. In one of these the angel Gabriel appeared to him and communicated the new faith, the sum of which was: "There is but one God and Mohammed is his prophet."

Thus fired with a mighty mission, he began to denounce the old religion and to propagate the new (610). His first convert was his faithful wife; then his bosom friend, Abubekr, received the faith and next his adopted son, Ali. With this trio of stanch believers back of him, he continued his public preaching of the message which had come to him in Mecca, the very heart of Arabian idolatry. When his uncle and benefactor, Abu Taleb, tried to persuade him to desist the brave fanatic answered: "Spare your remonstrances; if they should place the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left they should not divert me from my course." His converts increased among his own family and friends and also among the poor of Mecca. His activity and radical statements aroused the enmity of the Koraish priests who sought to either expel him or to slay him. They soon forced him to depart from Mecca and to carry on his propagandism among the neighbouring villages. At length, realising that a price was set on his head, he escaped in 622 to Medina. This is called the Hegira, or Flight, and marks the beginning of the Mohammedan chronology.

Medina at this time was in need of a strong ruler, so Mohammed was given an enthusiastic reception and was soon recognised as the head of both church and state. With this new power came a change in the method of propagating the new religion, namely, from persuasion to the sword. Just what the reasons for this change were it is not easy to say; perhaps the leading motive was that of revenge. At first he began to lead marauding expeditions against the merchant caravans of Mecca. Soon he became the prophet warrior of the Arabs and professed to have orders from Allah to make war upon all idolators.[480:1] With this taste of blood and power Mohammed's character and religion both were changed. His military enterprises were almost invariably successful. By 630 he had captured Mecca and through the great battle of Taif he made himself master of all Arabia. He consolidated his religion and instituted laws to govern his people, and finally died at Mecca in 632.

Mohammed was one of the unique characters of earth. Agreeable, true to his friends, very simple in his domestic relations, he was deeply religious and certainly at first a sincere reformer. His soul was full of poetry and his intellect at times was frenzied and insane. When he changed his method of spreading the new faith after the Hegira, it was not due to hypocrisy, nor to the charge made that he became an impostor, but can be explained as the outcome of a new situation and new influences which changed both his views and his methods. Certain it is that neither he nor any of his devoted followers for a moment questioned the reality of the revelation which came to him, nor of the leadership to which he was called. Although influenced by many of the evils of his age such as deceit, revenge, and sensuality, still he must be viewed as an honest revolutionist whose influence has changed the history of the whole world.[481:1]

There are certainly many striking resemblances between Christianity and Mohammedanism. Both believe in the one eternal God; both accept the Old Testament; both believe in a revealed religion; both accept the historical person of Jesus; both believe in the doctrine of immortality; and both hold in common many of the highest moral virtues. Because of these resemblances to Judaism and Christianity it has been claimed that Islam is chiefly a transfusion of these two older religions into Arabian forms.[481:2] Just how far Mohammed was consciously and unconsciously influenced by these two faiths, with the chief tenets of which he was certainly acquainted, cannot be positively stated. From a Christian standpoint, however, Mohammedanism has a darker side. Polygamy is permitted, though regulated, and the marriage ties are exceedingly loose; consequently, woman occupies a very degraded position. Slavery is practised and encouraged. Islam commands war on all unbelievers and the intolerant spirit which this engenders is perhaps the darkest blot on that faith. When a comparison between the resemblances and differences is made, however, the former seem to far outnumber the latter.

The spread of Mohammedanism is one of the most remarkable things in history. The means used for this propagation was the sword and the justification is found in these words: "The sword is the key of heaven and hell; a drop of blood shed in the cause of Allah, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting or prayer; whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven and at the day of judgment his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and cherubim." Idolators were to be slain unmercifully, but Jews and Christians were given a limited toleration under tribute upon submission. Before his death (632) Mohammed had subdued all of Arabia. Under his successors a conquest was made of Palestine (637), Syria (638), and Persia (710) in Asia. To the westward in Africa Egypt was taken (647) and by 707 all northern Africa was captured; and from there the movement spread inland. Europe was invaded through Spain as early as 711 and the new faith was carried up to northern France where the Mohammedans were repulsed in 732 in the decisive battle of Tours. Meanwhile, as early as 672, an attack was made upon Constantinople, but it proved unsuccessful. Islands in the Mediterranean were taken and Italy was harassed for two centuries (9th to 11th). Sicily was seized (827), Rome invaded (846), a colony planted at Bari (871), Salerno besieged (873), Beneventum and Capua attacked (874), and the Eternal City sacked by Saracens under a Norman leader as late as 1085.

In the eleventh century the Saracens still held southern Spain and all northern Africa while the Seljukian Turks had defeated the Saracens and had taken possession of the Holy Land. Thus "Mohammed, with a sword in one hand and the Koran in the other, erected his throne on the ruins of Christianity and of Rome."[483:1] The Bible and the Koran divided the world into two parts, separated by the Mediterranean but touching at the extremities. A conflict between these two great world forces, each one imbued with a fanatical desire to spread its teaching, was inevitable.

1. The spread of Islam and the consequent terror and hatred aroused in the Christians, as shown in Spain, France, Italy, and the Eastern Empire, produced a feeling in Europe that this great foe could be checked and thrust back only by the union of all European nations in a great holy war against their oppressors. This feeling was intensified by the fact that many Christians had been captured and sold into slavery.

2. The fall of the Holy Land, with all its sacred places, into the hands of the "infidels," first the Saracens and then the Turks, called forth a cry of horror and a vow of revenge from all Christendom. Roman paganism had followed the Roman conquest to Palestine early in the Christian era. By the fourth century, however, the cross had triumphed over polytheism and Christian Emperors and pious persons erected splendid churches on the holy places. Constantine and his mother Helena built churches over the cave where Jesus was born, over the tomb where he was buried, and in other sacred spots. It was not long until the location of every place in the life of Jesus from his birth to his death was marked by a little shrine, or a chapel, or a costly church. At the same time many valuable relics were discovered such as the true cross and those of the two thieves, the lance, the sponge, the cup, the crown of thorns, the basin in which the disciples' feet were washed, the stone on which Jesus stood before Pilate, the manger in which Jesus was born, and many others. It was not long until there was a comparatively large Christian population in Palestine made up of the native Christians, the hermits and their followers, and the devout pilgrims who fairly swarmed to the Holy Land from all parts of Europe. The Persian King Chosroes II. in 611 captured Jerusalem, destroyed many churches, put ninety thousand Christians to death, and carried off the true cross. But Heraclius in 628 defeated the Persians, recovered the true cross and restored it to the Holy City (629).

The Saracens in 637 made a conquest of Palestine. These Mohammedans manifested a peculiar reverence for Jerusalem and gave the Christians perfect freedom on condition that the church bells should merely toll not ring, that converts to Islamism should be unmolested, and that the Christians should pay tribute, have a distinct name and language, acknowledge the political sovereignty of the Caliph, use no saddles and bear no arms, build no new churches, and remove the cross from the outside of the church buildings. Under these restrictions the Christians lived in comparative security until Hakam, the mad Sultan of Egypt, in 1010 attempted to destroy Christianity in Jerusalem by razing the churches, killing many of the followers of Christ, levying a tax on all pilgrims, and through these acts inciting persecutions of the Jew in Europe where it was believed that he was responsible for this change. Jerusalem was captured in 1076 by the Seljukian Turks who destroyed the churches; robbed, insulted, and killed the Christians; replaced the lawful toll by extortion; brutally interrupted the sacred services; and dragged the holy patriarch through the streets by the hair and put him in a dungeon with the expectation of securing a ransom.

3. The enthusiasm for pilgrimages rapidly increased from the fourth to the twelfth century. This manifestation of religious reverence appears to have characterised all peoples at some stage of their religious history. Jerome says that Christians began to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem directly after the ascension. The desire to visit the scenes of the Saviour's life spread like a contagion—it became the mania of the Middle Ages—so that by the eleventh century a constant stream of pilgrims was going to and from the Holy Land. The journey was made by individuals[485:1] called "Palmers" who carried a staff, wallet, and scallop shell and for whom there was a special ceremony conducted by the local priest or the bishop both at departure and home-coming; by groups of monks, or of pupils under a teacher; and by whole multitudes such as the band of three thousand in 1054 and seven thousand in 1064. Among the pilgrims were found all classes—kings and beggars, male and female, priests and laity. They went either by routes overland or by sea. They were protected by laws and were cared for in institutions along the way. Through the endowment by pious individuals hospitals were built along the more popular routes. Monasteries served as hotels. The pilgrims were free from tolls and were granted many other privileges.[486:1] Charles the Great had them protected within his Empire and had a large hotel built for their accommodation at Jerusalem. It was believed by the faithful that such a pilgrimage had the efficacy of expiating all sin as a penance.

A bath in the river Jordan was called a second baptism. The pilgrim who had braved all the hardships of a trip to the land of the Lord was upon his return a privileged character in the community. His shirt was sacredly preserved to be used for his shroud.

4. In addition to the hardships and difficulties of travel the pilgrim from the seventh to the eleventh century was subjected by the Mohammedan authorities to taxation and many indignities. Under the Turks after the eleventh century, robbery, cruelties of all sorts, and even murder with torture were common experiences. The report of these persecutions produced a marked effect on western Europe,—on the clergy, the ignorant and credulous laity, and the nobles and kings.[486:2]

5. The mercenary hope of reward offered by a Crusade against the Mohammedans was another powerful cause.[486:3] Merchants hoped to open up new fields for commerce and trade.[487:1] Kings and princes expected to win rich provinces from the Turks. The Eastern Emperor desired to drive off a dangerous foe and to regain his lost domains in Asia Minor. The Pope and the bishops hoped to subject the Eastern Church in Palestine to the See of St. Peter. Merchants wished to recover the very lucrative trade with the East which had been lost through the Turkish conquests. Debtors and criminals desired to receive relief and pardon or to obtain wealth in plundering the "infidels." Sinners thought of obtaining complete pardon for past sins[487:2] and privileges for the future.

6. The militant spirit of the age and the love of war were aroused to fever heat by an unquenchable thirst for the blood of the enemies of Christianity.[487:3] Charles Martel and Charles the Great had set an example in the relentless warfare waged by them against the Mohammedans. After their time the Spanish nobles and kings kept up the good fight in heroic military expeditions. Otto the Great followed the example of Charles the Great in subduing the heathen of his frontiers by the sword. This spirit was aroused to almost ungovernable control by the many reports of cruelty reported on all sides by the returning pilgrims.

7. The credulity and superstition of western Europe were an important factor in producing the Crusades. The wildest legends were circulated concerning the barbarities and inhumanities of the Mohammedans, the miracles and deeds of valour, as well as the shameless abuses, in the Holy Land. The "signs" of God's approbation of the Crusades, it was believed were to be seen on every hand. Out of this same atmosphere grew up the shameless traffic in relics which was rampant in Europe and approved by the Church.[488:1] Relics from the Holy Land, associated in one way or another with the career of Jesus, were very numerous and of very great value. The Turkish conquest had had the effect of reducing the quantity of relics, but of increasing the price demanded.

1. The sincere zeal manifested by the Popes to extend the true faith.[488:2] Sylvester II. in 999 sounded the first trumpet calling upon the warriors of all Christendom to recover the Holy City of Jerusalem, but Pisa alone made some predatory incursions on the Syrian coast.[488:3] Gregory VII. wrote a circular letter to "all Christians" in 1074 urging them to drive the Turks out of Palestine.[488:4] He planned to rule the Eastern Church, pledged fifty thousand troops himself, and offered to lead the army in person, but the Norman Robert's eastern excursion (1081-1085) was the only fruit.[488:5] Victor III. preached a crusade in 1087 and promised a remission of sins to all who should take part, but he apparently had not yet struck the true crusading chord, for Pisa, Genoa, and Venice alone conducted a piratical expedition against the African coast. It was left to Urban II. to successfully launch the Crusade movement in 1095. He took advantage of the crusading spirit already abroad in Europe and called the Council of Piacenza (Italy), which was attended by four thousand clergy, thirty thousand laity, and envoys from the Eastern Emperor. In an eloquent address the Pope favoured a Crusade, but although many vows were taken, the enthusiasm did not seem sufficient to warrant the beginning of the undertaking.[489:1] Consequently another council was called to meet at Clermont in France about six months later. Urban himself was a Frenchman and believed that an appeal to his own people would meet with more success. There was a mighty throng at Clermont.

After devoting seven days to Church affairs, the Pope closed the council by preaching his famous sermon in the open air to the impatient multitude. In its results this speech surpassed all others in the history of the world.[489:2] Swayed by its influence the whole multitude shouted, "God wills it! God wills it!" Then they rushed away to seize all the red cloth they could lay their hands on from which crosses were made to be sewed upon the bosoms of those who took the vow to wrest away from "The wicked race" the Holy Sepulchre. Knights and foot soldiers of all ranks now turned their attention to aid their fellow-Christians in the East and to punish the insolent Turks. August 15, 1096, was the day set for the Crusade. The Bishop of Pui, was made the Pope's legate and Raymond, Count of Toulouse, was appointed to lead the laity.[490:1] The general absolution of all sins was promised; the "Truce of God" was proclaimed and general immunity and indulgence was given to debtors, criminals, and serfs.[490:2] Urban II. continued his travels and everywhere addressed the people urging them to join in the pious movement. His work must be regarded as the immediate cause of the Crusade.

2. The intense religious enthusiasm which had possessed Europe for two centuries, touching all classes and degenerating into fanaticism, was the fundamental cause. Chivalry made the Crusade a holy duty to the Church and furnished the noblest examples of devotion. The powerful reform spirit in the Church, growing out of Clugniac asceticism and the Hildebrandine reformation, was an important factor in the movement. The personal labours of some individuals supplemented the work so well started by Pope Urban II. Conspicuous among these was Peter the Hermit, who was formerly credited with having originated the whole Crusade movement, but who was never in Palestine before the Crusades, did not incite Urban, did not speak at Clermont, and did not stir up all Europe. His work was limited to a few months and to a small part of southern France, where he rode through the country on an ass carrying before him a great crucifix and dramatically appealing to the feelings of the people. His influence upon other parts of France, however, must have been considerable and he deserves much credit for having helped to call together the first army. Another enthusiast who laboured to spread the movement was Robert d'Arbrissel.[491:1] In the Second Crusade this work was performed largely by Bernard of Clairvaux.

3. Thousands in Europe, actuated by honest motives such as the hope of securing spiritual benefits, the wish to expiate sins, the desire to extend Christianity, the yearning to convert the Mohammedans, and the determination to overthrow a grave enemy to western civilisation and progress, gave their means and their lives to this sacred undertaking. The cries for help which came from the Christians in Jerusalem and from the Eastern Emperor fell on sympathetic ears. All of these forces and causes, operating in various ways, produced the most remarkable manifestation of military power coupled with religious fervour which Europe had yet witnessed. It seemed as if Mohammedanism itself had spread the contagion of its own fanaticism to the followers of the Prince of Peace.[491:2]

In time the Crusades covered approximately two centuries from 1096 to 1291. They directly affected all Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia. They occurred in an age when Europe was decentralised politically by feudalism; imbued religiously with the ardour and ideals of Hildebrand; industrially almost wholly undeveloped; educationally ignorant and credulous; and socially controlled by monasticism and chivalry. In the Crusades there was an arrayal of pan-Christianity against pan-Mohammedanism, or European civilisation versus Asiatic civilisation. The Crusades were, broadly speaking, one great movement, with a series of waves, which held the world's destiny in its results and which was a natural manifestation of the civilisation of the day both from the Christian and the Mohammedan sides. The purpose of the movement was primarily to wrest the Holy Land from the Mohammedans and to restore it to Christianity. But a great variety of secondary purposes and motives, both good and bad, induced people to co-operate in the enterprise. The devout, the romantic, the adventurous, the discontented, the mercenary, the criminal, and the sinner, all took part but for different reasons. From the standpoint of the primary purpose, the Crusades were a failure; but viewed from their effects on civilisation they were a success. It is difficult to reduce them to any specific number, though for the sake of clearness they may be divided into four major Crusades[492:1] and four minor Crusades,[492:2] with an unclassified children's Crusade.

The idea of a Crusade had been developed by the conflict with the Moors in Spain, the heathen Saxons, the pagan Slavs, and various heretical sects; and it was employed, after the Crusades ended, in European history for some centuries to come.

The Council of Clermont met in November, 1095, and immediately thereafter enthusiastic preparations were begun for the First Crusade.[492:3] From March to June of the following year, the rabble vanguard was collecting in France and along the Rhine—a motley crowd of peasants, artisans, vagabonds, and even women and children, all fanatically intent upon rescuing the Holy Sepulchre two thousand miles away and confident that God would protect them on the way and grant them victory.[493:1] This miscellaneous throng was entirely lacking in leadership and organisation. It broke up into a number of divisions united only by their common zeal and similar purpose. Walter the Penniless at the head of fifteen thousand, among whom were only eight horsemen, appears to have led the band. After encountering many difficulties in Hungary and overcoming grave dangers in Bulgaria, they at length arrived at Constantinople. Peter the Hermit with forty thousand Crusaders separated from Walter at Cologne, and followed the course of the Danube. The Hungarians almost annihilated these pious robbers so that Peter with difficulty escaped with but one fifth of his followers and reached Constantinople only through the protection afforded them by the Eastern Emperor. Emico, Count of Leiningen, conducted twenty thousand Germans, and Gotschalk, the monk, had about fifteen thousand.[493:2] On the heels of these various advanced divisions followed a rabble of two hundred thousand among whom were three thousand mounted knights.

This unorganised vanguard was apparently well received in Constantinople by Emperor Alexius, who hurried them across the Bosphorus only to meet their destruction at the hand of Sultan David in front of Nicæa. Peter the Hermit and with him a band of three thousand were fortunate enough to escape.

Meanwhile the main body of the Crusaders was collecting, mostly in France, because the other nations of Europe were either preoccupied or had little enthusiasm for the movement. The leaders were nobles and not kings.[494:1] From the north went forth Godfrey of Bouillon, a wise and brave man who with his brothers Eustace and Baldwin led thirty thousand foot and ten thousand horse from France and Germany; Hugh the Long, brother of Philip I.; Robert of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror; Robert of Flanders, "the sword and the lance" of the Crusades; Stephen of Chartres, the richest prince of France; and a large number of minor nobles. From the south came Bohemond, the son of Robert Guiscard, already experienced in eastern warfare; Tancred, a cousin of Bohemond, the model knight and hero of the movement; Raymond of Toulouse, old in war, brave, greedy, and proud, who led one hundred and sixty thousand foot and horse; Adhemar, Bishop of Pui, the first bishop to take the cross and the official representative of the Pope; and many subordinate noblemen. This vast multitude, estimated at one million Crusaders, chiefly French, represented the flower of western Europe. Whole families, especially of the nobles, arranged to join the undertaking. This immense throng was organised on feudal lines. The dukes, counts, and barons were the overlords and rulers and divided the army into parts. Under them served the knights on horseback and clothed in their long coats of mail. They supplied the military spirit and imbued the common people with a holy zeal.

(1) Hugh, the Roberts, and Stephen went from the Alps to Apulia, where they were met and blessed by the Pope, then separated, and made a scramble by land and sea for Constantinople. Hugh was held as prisoner by Emperor Alexius until he recognised the feudal sovereignty of the Eastern Emperor.

The policy of the Eastern Emperor Alexius in dealing with the Crusaders appears to have been a double one. He had called on the West for aid against the Turks and was answered by an armed horde that threatened to sweep away his very throne. He had easily rid himself of the rabble vanguard by sending them to their doom in Asia Minor. He was determined now, if possible, to impede the march of these new forces toward Constantinople. Not succeeding in that he attempted to compel them to swear fealty to him and then to use them to drive back the Turks and to restore his lands. He was a master diplomat and politician and soon hurried the Crusaders across the Bosphorus. They laid siege to Nicæa and in June, 1097, it fell. After the battle of Dorylæum (July 4, 1097), Antioch was captured in June, 1098. In July of the following year (1099) came the storming of Jerusalem and its capture with the accompanying massacre of the Mohammedans and Jews. The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was created and Godfrey was elected Defender of the Holy Sepulchre. With him was left a guard of defence consisting of two hundred knights and two thousand archers. A comparatively small number of Crusaders, who had survived the hardships of the three years' campaign, then returned home.[496:1]

The occasion and cause of the Second Crusade was the fall of Edessa in 1145 into Mohammedan hands. Jerusalem was next threatened by the Moslems and was in grave danger of meeting a similar fate. The western Christians, inspired by thrilling accounts of the survivors of the First Crusade, and actuated by the usual variety of motives, were eager to imitate the earlier heroes. Great enthusiasm was aroused through the preaching of St. Bernard[496:2] (b. 1091-d. 1153), the son of a Burgundian knight slain in the First Crusade, and a fanatic in ascetic severities, who, when Edessa fell, had been commissioned by the Pope to preach a Crusade. His fiery addresses, kindling a crusading mania in France and Germany, were supplemented by a letter from Pope Eugenius III. to western Christendom.[496:3] The leaders of the Second Crusade were Louis VII. of France and Conrad III. of Germany, who rallied their forces at Mainz and Ratisbon. Conrad III. took the old route through Hungary and crossed to Asia without entering Constantinople, because he suspected the duplicity of the Eastern Emperor. After him came the French over the same ground. Nothing was accomplished, however, and after a miserable failure the monarchs with their few survivors returned home.

The occasion for the Third Crusade was the capture of Jerusalem in 1187 by Saladin, the bravest and most honoured of all the Saracen rulers. Once more Europe was aroused to a pitch of pious frenzy.[497:1] The leadership of the enterprise was assumed by Richard I. of England, Philip Augustus of France, and Frederick Barbarossa of Germany. In England Richard I. prepared for the undertaking by selling tithes, royal dignities, and lands; by robbing the Jews; by taxing all classes[497:2]; and by even threatening to sell the city of London. Equal zeal was shown in France and Germany. Richard and Philip with one hundred thousand men took the sea route from Marseilles and Genoa, while Frederick took the usual overland route. Frederick Barbarossa met his death in this pious undertaking and this led to the failure of the German effort. The estrangement of Richard and Philip resulted, after the fall of Acre, July 12, 1191, in the return of Philip to France. Richard alone remained and succeeded in 1192 in concluding a truce with Saladin by which Christian pilgrims were permitted to visit the holy places with safety and comfort.[497:3]