1202 Arrival at Venice of Alexius, son of the deposed emperor Isaac, with whom the crusaders agree to restore Isaac. In spite of Innocent’s protests the fleet sails for Zara, which is taken and handed over to Venice.
1203 The crusaders proceed to Constantinople. Alexius III, the reigning emperor, tries in vain to treat with them. Flight of Alexius. The crusaders enter Constantinople. Isaac II and Alexius IV restored. Constant friction between the emperor and crusaders leads
1204 to the second capture of Constantinople. The reigning family driven out. Foundation of the Latin Empire of Romania and other states. (See “History of the Eastern Empire.”)
THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE (1212 A.D.)
Seems to have arisen from the idea that the main cause of the failure of the Crusades was the sinfulness of the pilgrims. None but the innocent and pure could accomplish the mission. In 1212, thirty thousand boys and girls set out under the boy, Stephen, and twenty thousand from Germany, under Nicholas, a peasant boy. Most of them perish on the way; and others are sold into slavery.
THE SIXTH CRUSADE (1217-1229 A.D.)
When Innocent III crowns Frederick II emperor, in 1215, he extracts a promise from Frederick to conduct a crusade, but the latter, seeing in the pope’s action a plan to outwit him in the then imminent struggle between emperor and pope, defers his departure.
1217 Andrew II of Hungary, incited by Honorius III, Innocent’s successor, sets out for Jerusalem. He is joined by the king of Cyprus. The crusaders visit Tyre, Sidon, Acre, and Tripolis, but the Saracens make such havoc in their numbers that Andrew returns to Hungary.
1218-1221 Jean de Brienne’s expedition to Damietta. (See “Kingdom of Jerusalem”).
1228 Frederick II, after many disputes with the pope, sets out for Jerusalem, the throne of which he claims through his marriage to Yolande.
1229 Frederick makes treaty with the sultan Kamil, receiving Jerusalem and other places. Frederick crowns himself king of Jerusalem, and returns to Europe.
THE SEVENTH CRUSADE (1239-1240 A.D.)
Gregory IX preaches a new crusade (1238). The sultan Kamil dies that year.
1239 King Thibaut of Navarre leads an army to Palestine to break the truce made between Kamil and the Templars. The sons of Kamil defeat him and capture Jerusalem.
1240 Richard, earl of Cornwall, proceeds to Acre, and receives offers of peace from the sultan of Egypt. Jerusalem, and other places in Palestine, are restored to the Christians. Richard returns to England.
THE EIGHTH CRUSADE (1248-1254 A.D.)
In 1244, Jerusalem is taken by the Khwarizmians, who have been driven from their own country by Jenghiz Khan. This leads to a new crusade. Louis IX of France, in a fit of illness, vows to lead an army against the Khwarizmians.
1248 Departure of Louis and his crusaders. He winters in Cyprus.
1249 Louis proceeds to Egypt, and takes Damietta. He then sets out for Cairo.
1250 Battle of Mansura. Defeat and capture of Louis by Turan Shah, sultan of Egypt. Louis is released by the restoration of Damietta, and the promise to abstain from further hostilities. The crusaders return to St. Jean d’Acre. Louis remains four years in Syria, fortifying Acre and other cities, and
1254 returns to France.
THE NINTH CRUSADE (1270-1272 A.D.)
In 1260, the mamelukes, on the death of their sultan, Ibeg, choose Bibars as his successor. This vigorous warrior at once drives the Khwarizmians out of Syria, and takes Damascus and Jerusalem from them. He then proceeds to exterminate the Christians in Syria; in consequence of which, by 1267, a new crusade has been planned. Louis IX of France, and Prince Edward of England, are among those who assume the cross.
1268 Antioch surrenders to Bibars without a siege.
1270 After many difficulties in raising an army, the crusaders sail for the Holy Land. Stopping at Sardinia, Louis changes his plans, and proceeds against the king of Tunis. Shortly after reaching there, the plague breaks out, and Louis dies. King Charles of Naples arrives and makes a truce with the Tunisians, who pay him tribute. The whole fleet returns to Europe, and is wrecked on the Sicilian coast. Charles plunders the French and Genoese vessels. Prince Edward leaves the French in Tunis, and proceeds to Acre.
1271 Edward besieged at Acre by Bibars. Edward drives the mamelukes away and seizes Nazareth. An attempt is made to assassinate Edward.
1272 Edward concludes a ten years’ truce with Bibars, and returns to Europe.
1274 Gregory X fails in an attempt to start a new crusade. Bibars and his successors, Kalaun and Khalil, continue the process of exterminating the Christians.
1289 Tripolis is taken. Acre is the last important possession of the Christians. The mamelukes make a treaty with the king of Cyprus.
1291 Capture of Acre by Khalil. Tyre, Berytus, and other towns, submit. The last possessions of the Christians in the Holy Land are abandoned. Other crusades are planned, but they are never carried to execution. The military orders are eventually suppressed.
FOOTNOTES
[45] [From The Revolutions of Europe: being an historical view of the European nations from the subversion of the Roman Empire in the West to the abdication of Napoleon. By Christopher W. Koch, formerly professor of Public Jurisprudence at Strasburg. Translated from the French by Andrew Crichton. Second edition, London, 1839.]
CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF THE CRUSADES
“God willeth it,” the whole assembly cry;
Shout which the enraptured multitude astounds!
The Council roof and Clermont’s towers reply;—
“God willeth it!” from hill to hill rebounds,
And, in awe-struck countries far and nigh,
Through “Nature’s hollow arch” that voice resounds.
—Wordsworth.
[306-1096 A.D.]
The history of the Middle Ages presents no spectacle more imposing than the Crusades, in which are to be seen the nations of Asia and of Europe armed against each other, two religions contending for superiority, and disputing the empire of the world. After having been several times threatened by the Moslems, and a long time exposed to their invasions, all at once the West arouses itself, and appears, according to the expression of a Greek historian (Anna Comnena), to tear itself from its foundation, in order to precipitate itself upon Asia. All nations abandon their interests and their rivalries, and see upon the face of the earth but one single country worthy of the ambition of conquerors. One would believe that there no longer exists in the universe any other city but Jerusalem, or any other habitable spot of earth but that which contains the tomb of Jesus Christ. All the roads which lead to the Holy City are deluged with blood, and present nothing but the scattered spoils and wrecks of empires.
In this general confusion we may contemplate the sublimest virtues mixed with all the disorders of the wildest passions. The Christian soldiers have at the same time to contend against famine, the influence of climate, and enemies the most formidable; in the greatest dangers, in the midst of their successes and their constant discords, nothing can exhaust either their perseverance or their resignation. After four years of fatigue, of miseries, and of victories, Jerusalem is taken by the crusaders; but as their conquests are not the work of wisdom and prudence, but the fruit of blind enthusiasm and ill-directed heroism, they create nothing but a transient power.
The banner of the cross soon passes from the hands of Godfrey de Bouillon into those of his weak and imbecile successors. Jerusalem, now a Christian city, is obliged again to apply for succour to the West. At the voice of St. Bernard, the Christians take arms. Conducted by an emperor of Germany and a king of France, they fly to the defence of the Holy Land; but they have no longer great captains among them, they have none of the magnanimity or heroic resignation of their fathers. Asia, which beholds their coming without terror, already presents a new spectacle. The disciples of Mohammed awaken from their apathy; they are at once seized with a frenzy equal to that which had armed their enemies; they oppose enthusiasm to enthusiasm, fanaticism to fanaticism, and in their turn burn with a desire to shed their blood in a religious war.