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 CRUSADES

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CRUSADES

men of note, possibly the great khan himself. The account of the journey of Blessed Orderic de Porde- none (Cordier, ed.) across Asia, between 1.304 and 1.330, shows us that Christianity had gained a foothold m Persia, India, Central Asia, and Southern China.

By thus leading up to an alliance between Mongols and Christians against the Mohammedans, the crusade had produced the desired effect; early in the four- teenth century the future development of Christianity In the East seemed assured. Unfortimately, how- ever, the internal changes which occurred in the West, [he weakening of the political influence of the popes, the indifference of temporal princes to what did not directly affect their territorial interests rendered un- availing all efforts towards the re-establishment of Christian power in the East. The popes endeavoured to insure the blockade of Egypt by prohibiting com- mercial intercourse with the infidels and by organizing 1 squadron for the prevention of smuggling, but the Venetians and Genoese defiantly sent their vessels to Alexandria and sold slaves and military stores to the Mamelukes. Moreover, the consolidation of the mili- tary- orders could not be effected. By causing the suppression of the Templars at the Council of Vierme in 1311, Iving Philip the Fair dealt a cruel blow to the jrusade; instead of giving to the Hospitallers the immense wealth of the Templars, he confiscated it. rhe Teutonic Order having established itself in Prus- sia in 122S, there remained in the East only the Hos- pitallers. After the capture of Saint^Jean d'Acre, Henry II, King of Cyprus, had offered them .shelter at Limasol, but there they found themselves in very straitened circumstances. In 1310 they seized the Island of Rhodes, which had become a den of pirates, jnd took it as their permanent abode. Finally, the contemplated alliance with the Mongols was never [ullj' realized. It was in vain that Argoun, Ivhan of Persia, sent the Nestorian monk, Raban Sauma, as embassador to the pope and the princes of the West (1285-88); his offers elicited but vague replies. On 23 December, 1299, Cazan, successor to Argoun, in- Bicted .■), defeat upon the Christians at Hims, and captured Damascus, but he could not hold his con- [juests, and died in 1304 just as he was preparing for 1 new expedition. Tlie princes of the West assumed the cross in order to appropriate to their own use the tithes which, for the defrayal of crusade expenses, they had levied upon the property of the clergy. For these sovereigns the crusade had no longer any but a Bscal interest. In 1336 King Philip VI of France, n'hom the pope had appointed leader of the crusade, collected a fleet at Marseilles and was preparing to go to the Ea.st when the news of the projects of Edward [II caused him to return to Paris. War then broke 3ut between France and England, and proved an insurmountable obstacle to the success of any crusade just when the combined forces of all Christendom R'ould have been none too powerful to resist the new storm gathering in the East. From the close of the thirteenth century a band of Ottoman Turks, driven 3Ut of Central .Asia by Mongol invasions, had founded 1 military state in Asia Minor and now threatened to invade Europe. They captured Ephesus in 1308, and in 1 326 Othman, their sultan, established his residence at Brou.ssa (Prusa) in Bithynia; under Ourkhan, moreover, they organized the regular foot-guards of janizaries against whom the undisciplined troops of Western knights could not hold out. The Turks en- tered Xicomedia in 1.328 and \icsea in 1.3.30; when they threatened the Emperors of Constantinople, the latter renewed negotiations with the popes with a view towards the reconciliation of the Greek and Roman Churches, for which purpose Barlaam was sent as ambassador to Avignon, in 13.39. .\t the same time the Egj'ptian Mamelukes destroyed the port of La- iazzo, commercial centre of the Kingdom of Armenia Minor, where the remnants of the Christian colonies

had sought refuge after the taking of Saint-Jean d'Acre (1337). The commercial welfare of the Vene- tians themselves was threatened ; with their support Pope Clement VI in 1344 succeeded in reorganizing the maritime league whose operations had been pre- vented by the war between France and England. Genoa, the Hospitallers, and the King of Cyprus all sent their contingents, and, on 28 October, 1.344, the crusaders seized Smyrna, which was confided to the care of the Hospitallers. In 1345 reinforcements under Humbert, Dauphin of Viennois, appeared in the Archipelago, but the new leader of the crusade was utterly disqualified for the work assigned him; unable to withstand the piracy of the Turkish ameers, the Christians concluded a truce with them in 1348. In 1356 the Ottomans captured Gallipoli and inter- cepted the route to Constantinople.

The cause of the crusade then found an unexpected defender in Peter I, King of Cyprus, who, called upon by the Armenians, succeeded in surprising and storm- ing the city of Adalia on the Cilician coast in 1361. Urged by his chancellor, Philippe de M^zieres, and Pierre Thomas, the papal legate, Peter I undertook a voyage to the West (1362-65) in the hope of reviv- ing the enthusiasm of the Christian princes. Pope Urban V extended him a magnificent welcome, as did also John the Good, King of France, who took the cross at Avignon, 20 March, 1363; the latter's example was followed by King Edward III, the Black Prince, Emperor Charles IV, and Casimir, King of Poland. Everywhere King Peter was tendered fair promises, but when, in June, 1365, he embarked at Venice he was accompanied by hardly any but his own forces. After rallying the fleet of the Hosi)itallers, he appeared unexpectedly before the Old Port of Alexandria, landed without resistance, and plundered the city for two days, but at the approach of an Egyptian army his soldiers forced him to retreat, 9-16 October, 1365. Again in 1367 he pillaged the ports of Syria, Tripoli, Tortosa, Laodicea, and Jaffa, thus destroying the commerce of Egypt. Later, in another voyage to the West, he made a supreme effort to interest the princes in the crusade, but on his return to Cyprus he was assassinated, as the result of a conspiracy. Mean- while the Ottomans continued their progress in Eu- rope, taking Philippopolis in 1363 and, in 1365, cap- turing Adrianople, which became the capital of the sultans. At the solicitation of Pope Urban V, Amadeus VII, Count of Savoy, took the cross and on 15 August, 1366, his fleet seized Gallipoli; then, after rescuing the Greek emperor, John V, held captive by the Bulgarians, he returned to the West. In spite of the heroism displayed during these expeditions, the efforts made by the crusaders were too intermittent to be productive of enduring results. Philippe de M^zieres, a friend and admirer of Pierre de Lusignan, eager to seek a remedy for the ills of Christendom, dreamed of founding a new militia, the Order of the Passion, an organization whose character was to be at once clerical and militarj', and whose members, al- though married, were to lead an almost monastic life and consecrate themselves to the conquest of the Holy Land. Being well received by Charles V, Philippe de M^zieres established himself at Paris and propagated his ideas among the French nobility. In 1.390 Louis II, Duke of Bourbon, took the cross, and at the instigation of the Genoese went to besiege el-Mahadia, an African city on the coast of Tunis. In 1392 Charles VI, who had signed a treaty of peace with England, appeared to have been won over to the crusade project just before he became deranged. But the time for expeditions to the Holy Land was now passed, and henceforth Christian Europe was forced to defend itself against Ottoman invasions. In 1.369 John V, PaL-pologus, went to Rome and abjured the schism ; thereafter the popes worked valiantly for the preservation of the remnants of the Byzantine Empire