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 CRUSADES

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CRUSADES

brother's ambition the saint endeavoured to thwart it. Charles had tried to take advantage of the vacancy of the Holy See between 1268 and 1271 in order to attack Constantinople, the negotiations of the popes with Michael Palsologus for religious union having heretofore prevented him. St. Louis received the embassy of the Greek emperor very graciously and ordered Charles of Anjou to join him at Tunis. The crusaders, among whom was Prince Edward of Eng- land, landed at Carthage 17 July, 1270, but the plague broke out in their camp, and on 25 August, St. Louis himself was carried off by the scourge. Charles of Anjou then concluded a treaty with the Mohamme- dans, and the crusaders reimbarked. Prince Edward alone, determined to fulfil his vow, and set out for Saint- Jean d'Acre; however, after a few razzias on Saracenic territory, he concluded a truce with Bibars.

The field was now clear for Charles of Anjou, but the election of Gregory X, who was favourable to the crusade, again frustrated his plans. While the emis- saries of the King of the Two Sicilies traversed the Balkan peninsula, the new pope was awaiting the union of the Western and Eastern Churches, which event was solemnly proclaimed at the Council of Lyons, 6 July, 1274; Michael Palaeologus himself promised to take the cross. On 1 May, 1275, Gregory X effected a truce between this sovereign and Charles of Anjou. In the meantime Philip III, Iving of France, the King of England, and the King of Aragon made a vow to go to the Holy Land. L^nfortunately the death of Gregory X brought these plans to nought, and Charles of Anjou resumed his scheming. In 1277 he sent into Syria Roger of San Severino, who suc- ceeded in planting his banner on the castle of Acre and in 1278 took possession of the principality of Achaia in the name of his daughter-in-law Isabelle de Villehardouin. Michael Palaeologus had not been able to effect the union of the Greek clergy with Rome, and in 1281 Pope Martin IV excommunicated him. Ha\nng signed an alliance with Venice, Charles of Anjou prepared to attack Constantinople, and his expedition was set for April, 128.3. On .30 March, 1282, however, the revolt known as the Sicilian Vespers occurred, and once more his projects were defeated. In order to subdue his own rebellious sub- jects and to wage war against the King of Aragon, Charles was at last compelled to abandon his designs on the East. Meanwhile Michael Palaeologus re- mained master of Constantinople, and the Holy Land was left defenceless. In 1280 the Mongols attempted once more to invade Syria, but were repulsed by the Egyptians at the battle of Hims; in 1286 the inhabi- tants of Saint-Jean d'Acre expelled Charles of Anjou's seneschal and called to their aid Henry II, King of Cyprus. Kelaoun, the successor of Bibars, now broke the truce which he had concluded with the Christians, and seized Margat, the stronghold of the Hospitallers. Tripoli surrendered in 1289, and on 5 April, 1291, Malek-.4schraf, son and successor of Kelaoun, ap- peared before Saint-Jean d'Acre with 120,000 men. The 25,000 Christians who defended the city were not even under one supreme commander; neverthe- less they resisted with heroic valour, filled breaches in the wall with stakes and bags of cotton and wool, and communicated by sea with King Henry II, who brought them help from Cyprus. However, 28 May, the Mohammedans made a general attack and pene- trated into the town, and its defenders fled in their ships. The strongest opposition was offered by the Templars, the garrison of whose fortress held out ten days longer, only to be completely annihilated. In July, 1291, the last Christian towns in Syria capitu- lated, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem ceased to exist.

VIII. Tfie Fourteenth Century Cru8.\de and THE Ottom.\n Invasion. — The loss of Saint-Jean d'Acre did not lead the princes of Europe to organize a new crusade. Men'f minds were indeed, as usual,

directed towards the East, but in the first years of the fourteenth century the idea of a crusade inspired prin- cipally the works of theorists who saw in it the best means of reforming Christendom. The treatise by Pierre Dubois, law-officer of the crown at Coutances, "De Recuperatione Terrae Sanctae" (Langlois, ed., Paris, 1891), seems like the work of a dreamer, yet some of its views are truly modern. The establish- ment of peace between Christian princes by means of a tribunal of arbitration, the idea of making a French prince hereditary emperor, the secularization of the Patrimony of St. Peter, the consolidation of the Orders j of the Hospitallers and Templars, the creation of a disciplined army the different corps of which were to have a special uniform, the creation of schools for then study of Oriental languages, and the intermarriage of j Christian maidens with Saracens were the principal^, ideas it propounded (1307). On the other hand thpL writings of men of greater activity and wider expe-j, rience suggested more practical methods for effectingr- the conquest of the East. Persuaded that Christian defeat in the Orient was largely due to the mercantile '. relations which the Italian cities Venice and Genoa continued to hold with the Mohammedans, these authors sought the establishment of a commercial blockade which, within a few years, would prove the ruin of Egypt and cause it to fall under Christiai control. For this purpose it was recommended tha' a large fleet be fitted out at the expense of Christiai princes and made to do police duty on the Mediter ranean so as to prevent smuggling. These were th( projects set forth in the memoirs of Fidentius o Padua, a Franciscan (about 1291, Bibliotheque Na tionale, Latin MSS., 7247) ; in those of Iving Charle II of Naples (1293, Bib. Nat., Frankish MSS., 6049) Jacques de Molay (1307, Baluze, ed., Vitae paparun Avenion., II, 176-185); Henry II, King of Cypru' (Mas-Latrie, ed., Histoire de Chypre, II, 118); Guil laume d'Adam, Archbishop of Sultanieh (1310, Kohleij ed., Collect. Hist, of the Crusades, Armenian Docu ments, II); and Marino Sanudo, the Venetian (Bon| gars, ed., Secreta fideliumCrucis, 11). The consolida tion of the military orders was also urged by Charle II. Many other memoirs, especially that of Haj-tor King of Armenia (1307, ed. Armenian Documents, 1] considered an alliance between the Christians and th Mongols of Persia indispensable to success. In fact from the end of the thirteenth century many mission aries had penetrated into the Mongolian Empire; i Persia, as well as in China, their propaganda floui ished. St. Francis of Assisi and Raymond Lully ha^ hoped to substitute for the warlike crusade a peace able conversion of the Mohammedans to Christianitj 1 Raymund Lully, bom at Palma, on the Island c : Majorca, in 12,35, began (1275) his "Great Art' which, by means of a universal method for the stud of Oriental languages, would equip missionaries t enter into controversies with the Mohammedan dot tors. In the same year he prevailed upon the Kin of Majorca to found the College of the Blessed Trinit at Miramar, where the Friars Minor could learn th Oriental languages. He himself translated catechet cal treatises into Arabic and, after spending his lif travelling in Europe trying to win over to his idea popes and kings, suffered martyrdom at Bougie, whei he had begun his work of evangelization (1314 Among the Mohanunedans this propaganda encoui tered insunnountable difliculties. whereas the Moi gols, some of whom were still members of the Nestoria Church, received it willingly. During the pontifical of John XXII (1316 34) permanent Dominican an Franciscan missions were established in Persia, Chin; Tatary, ami Turkestan, and in 1318 the Archbishopr of Sultanieh was created in IVrsia. In China Gi< vanni de Monte Corvino, created .Vrchbishop of Can baluc (Peking), organized the religious Uierarch; founded monasteries, and converted to Christianii