Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/621

 CRUSADES

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CRUSADES

I-Tvliarail, the Sultan of Egypt, who was at war with he Priiico of Damusciis, and concluded a treaty with lim at JalTa, Fobiuary, 1229, according to the terms if which Jerusalem. Bethlehem, and Nazareth were estored to the Cliristians. On 18 March, 1229, with- lut any religious ceremony, Frederick assumed the oyal crown of Jerusalem in the church of the Holy iepulchre. Returning to Europe, he became recon- iled to Gregory IX, August, V2'.)0. The pontilT ratified he Treaty of Jaffa, and Frederick sent knights into iyria to take possession of the cities and compel all eudatories to do him homage. A struggle occurred letween Richard Filangieri, the emperor's marshal, iid the barons of Palestine, whose leader was Jean I'Ibelin, Lord of Beirut. Filangieri vainly at- empted to obtain possession of the Island of Cyprus, nd, when Conrad, son of Frederick II and Isabelle of Jriemie, came of age in 1243, the High Court-, de- cribed above, named as regent .\lix of Champagne, Jueen of Cyijrus. In this way German power was boli.shed in Palestine.

In the meantime Count Thibaud IV of Champagne i.ad been leading a fruitless cru.sade in Syria (1239). Similarly the Duke of Burgundy and Richard of Corn- rail, brother of the King of England, who had under- ukcii to recover Ascalon, concluded a truce with Cgypt (1241). Europe was now threatened with a iiost grievous disaster. After conquering Russia, the longdls under Jenghiz Khan appeared in 1241 on lie frontiers of Poland, routed the army of the Duke if Silesia at Liegnitz, annihilated that of Bela, King if Hungary, and reached the Adriatic. Palestine felt he consequences of this invasion. The Mongols had lestroyed the Mussulman Empire of Ivharizm in Cen- ral Asia. Fleeing before their conquerors, 10,000 \liarizmians offered their services to the Sultan of igypt, meanwliile seizing Jerusalem as they passed by, n .September, 1244. The news of this catastrophe ireated a great stir in Europe, and at the Council of ^yons (June-July, 1245) Pope Innocent IV pro- ilairaed a crusade, but the lack of harmony betw-een lim and the Emperor Frederick II foredoomed the )ontiff to disappointment. Save for Louis IX, King if France, who took the cross in Decemljer, 1244, no tne .showed any willingness to lead an expedition to i'alestine. On being informed that the Mongols were veil-disposed towards Christianity, Innocent IV sent h(>ni Giovanni di Pianocarpini, a Franciscan, and 'Jicola.s .•Vscolin, a Dominican, as ambassadors. Piano- ■arpini was in Karakorum 8 April, 1246, the day of the 'lectiiHi of the great khan, but nothing came of this first itliiiipt at an alliance with the Mongols against the Jolianunedans. However, when St. Louis, who left I'aris 12 June, 1248, had reached the Island of Cyprus, le received there a friendly embassy from the great Lhan and, in return, sent him two Dominicans. En- louraged, perhaps, by this alliance, the King of France lecided to attack Egypt. On 7 June, 1249, he took )amictta, but it was only si.x months later that he narched on Cairo. On 19 December, his advance- )egan imprudently to fight in the streets of Mansurah md were destroyed. The king himself was cut off rom communication with Damietta and made pris- (ner!i April, 12.50. At the same time, the Ajoubite lyiiasty founded by Saladin was overthrown by the Jaiiiiluke militia, whose ameers took pos.session of igypt. St. Louis negotiated with the latter and was ct at liberty on condition of .surrendering Damietta ind paying a ran.som of a million gold bez.ants. He •eniained in Palestine until 12.54; bargained with the Sgj-ptian ameers for t!ie deliverance of prisoners; mproved the equipment of the strongholds of the cingdom, Saint-Jean d'.\cre, t'a^sarea, Jaffa, .and 3iili>n; and .sent Friar William of Rul)ruquis as am- )a.ssador to the great khan. Then, at the news of the leath of iiis mother, Blanche of Castile, who had been
 * uard, commanded by his brother, Robert, of Artois,

acting as regent, he returned to France. Since the enisade .-i^iainst Sainl-.Je.'in tl'.Vcre, a new Prankish sliilc, I III' Kinniloin i>f ( vpnis, had been formed in the Miiiiiii i;in(':in .i|ip.isllc Syria and became a valuable )juiul iif .support fur the crusades. By lavish distribu- tion of lands and franchises, Guy de Lusignan suc- ceeded in attracting to the island colonists, knights, men-at-arms, and civilians; his successors established a government modelled after that of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The king's power was restricted by that of the High Court, composed of all the knights, vas- sals, or under-vassals, with its seat at Nicosia. However, the fiefs were Ie.ss extensive than in Pales- tine, and the feudatories could inherit only in a direct line. The Island of Cyprus was soon populated with French colonists who succeeded in winning over the Greeks, upon whom they even imposed their language. Churches built in the French style and fortified castles appeared on all sides. The Cathedral of St. Sophia in Nicosia, erected between 1217 and 1251, was almost a copy of a church in Champagne. Finally, commer- cial activity became a pronovmced characteristic of the cities of Cyprus, and Famagusta developed into one of the busiest of Mediterranean ports.

VII. Final Lcs-s of the Christi.in Colonie.s of THE East (1254-91). — No longer aided by funds from the West, and rent by internal disorders, the Christ ian colonies owed their temporary salvation to the changes in Mu.ssulman policy and the intervention of the Mon- gols. The Venetians drove the Genoese from Saint- Jean d'Acre and treated the city as conquered terri- tory; in a battle where Christians fought against Christians, and in which Hospitallers were pitted against Templars. 20,000 men perished. In revenge the Genoese allied themselves with Michael Pala?olo- gus, Emperor of Niciea, whose general, Alexius Stra- tegopulos, had now no trouble in entering Constanti- nople and overthrowing the Latin Emperor, Baldwin II, 25 July, 1261. The conquest of the Caliphate of Bagdad by the Mongols (1258) and their invasion of Syria, where they seized Alepjio and Damascus, terri- fied both Christians and Mohanunedans; but the Mameluke ameer, Bibars tlir Arbelcstcr, defeated the Mongols and wrested Syria from them in Sei.itember, 1260. Proclaimed sultan in consequence of a con- spiracy, in 12(!0, Bibars began a merciless war on the remaining Christian states. In 1263 he destroyed the church at Nazareth; in 1265 took Csesarea and Jaffa, and finally captured Antioch (May, 1268). The ques- tion of a crusade was always being agitated in the West, but except among men of a religious turn of mind, like St. Louis, there was no longer any earnest- ness in the matter among European princes. They looked upon a crusade as a political instrument, to be used only when it .served their own interests. To pre- vent the preaching of a crusade against Constantinople, Michael Pala>ologus promised the pope to work for the union of the Clnirches; but Charles of Anjou, brother of St. Louis, whom the contpiest of the Two Sicilies had rendered one of the most powerful princes of Christendom, undertook to carry out for his own bene- fit the Eastern designs hitherto cherished by the Ilohenstaufen. While Marj- of Antiocli. granddaugh- ter of Amaury II, beqvieuthed him the rights she claimed to have to the crown of Jerusalem, he signed the treaty of Viterbo with Baldwin II (27 May, 1267), which assured him eventually the inheritance of Con- stantinople. In no w ise troubled by these diplomatic combinations, St. Louis thought only of the crusade. In a parliament held at Paris, 24 March, 1267, he and his three sons took the cross, but, despite his example, many knights resisted the exhortations of the preach- er Humbert de Romans. On hearing the reports of the missionaries, Louis resolved to land at Tunis, whose prince he hoped to convert to Christianity. It has been .'usserted that St. Louis was led to Tunis by Charles of Anjou, but instead of encouraging his