Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/723

* CRUSADE. 627 CKUSADE. kept its promises, mid the long negotiations re- sulted only in a niuUial feeling of antagonism, vlu(.-h proved disaslrims to the Christian eauso. All of the Crusaders met at the siege of -Niea'a, in ilay, 1097, when the army may have num- bered 100,000, besides the women and noneom- batants. Six millions were said to have taken the eross, but undoublc'dly the number was greatly exaggerated; many, besides, who had taken the voav had turned baek or were dead. Xioa'a was taken, the Sultan of leonium was defeated at Doryheum. anil in a few months the Crusaders aeeomplished the arduous mareh to Antioch, wliieh was captured after a siege lasting from October 21, 1007, to June 2, 1098. In the meantime, Baldwin, lirother of C4odfrey, had taken possession of Edessa for himself, and Bohe- mond established himself as Prince of Antioch. The leaders became so intent on making conquests for their own prolit that the advance to .lerusa- lem was delayed for months. Finally, on .Tuiic^ 7, 1099, the remnants of the army, about 20,000 in number, reached .Jerusalem. After a siege of five weeks, the city was captured by reck- less daring, on -Tnly 15. The Crusaders vented their wrath in an indiscriminate massacre, in which neither youth nor age was spared, and men and women were slaughtered in the lioly places. The leaders wrote home exultingly, "In Solomon's Porch and in his temple our men rode in the blood of the Saracens up to the knees of their horses." Godfrey was elected 'Baron and Defender of the Holy Sepulchre,' and after the battle of Ascalon, in which the Egj-ptian army was defeated with great slaughter, almost all of the Crusaders returned home, leaving Godfrey with a small band of followers to defend .Jerusa- lem. Bohemond held Antioch with his Norman followers. Baldwin was in the distant Edessa. A large part of Asia iMinor was restored to the Greek Emperor. The news of the victories gained by the Crusaders set into motion three great armies from France, Germany, and Italy (1101- 02), but, owing to their own excesses and folly, they fell an easy prey to the ilussulmans in Asia Minor. The Second Crusade, 1147-49. In 1144 Edessa was captured by the Jlohammedans. The news of its loss aroused great alarm in the West, and a new Crusade was initiated, in which spe- cial privileges were offered to all participants. Bernard of Clairvaux was the great preacher of this movement. Conrad III. of Germany and Louis VII. of France took the cross and led great armies to the relief of the Holy Land, Conrad and Frederick Barbarossa starting from Ratisbon. in April, 1147. The march was very disorderly, and when the Crusaders entered the Byzantine Empire they came to blows with the Greeks. After much trouble, the Bosporus was crossed and the army advanced into Asia Minor, led by Greek guides. The guides proved treacherous, the troops were harassed by the Turks, and finally, threatened with famine and death, they retreated, closely pursued by the enemv, scarcely one in ten getting back to Nica?a. Louis had better fortune: his army was more orderly, and he was A-ell received by the Greek Emperor, although, when the French Kingcrossed to Asia Jlinor, the Emperor refused to furnish guides until Louis and his barons had taken llie oath of homage. Near Nicfea they met the Ger- man fugitives, with whom they joined forces and marched along the coast. Conrad soon turned baek and spent the winter in Constantinojile, but Louis went on, and, after meeting with a terrible defeat, in which the Greeks aided the Turks, he and his knights went by ships to. tioch, while the common people were loft behind to be slaugh- tered. From Antioch, Louis |)roceedcd to Jeru- salem, where he was joined by Conrad. Together they planned the renewal of hostilities on a grand scale, but their schemes miscarried, and Ibe kings went home in disgust. 'I'UE TiiiHi) CuvsADE, 11S9-91. The capture of Jerusalem liy Saladin, in 1187, caused Frederick Barbarossa." Pliilip Augustus of France, and llichard the Lion-llearted of England to take the cross. Frederick was drowned soon after he reached Syria. Richard and Philip captured Acre after" a long siege; but the two kings quar- reled so bitterly that Philip went home soon after the caiiture. Ricliard, thwarted at every turn by Sahidin (q.v.). was compelled to make a truce without accomplishing anything more. The Fourth Cru.sade, 1201-04. Innocent III. (q.v.) made every effort to bring about a neve Crusade. A great number of Latin nobles and knights vere induced to take the cross, and the enthusiasm of the people was unbounded. Among the leaders in this Crusade were Baldwin of Flanders, Boniface of Montferrat, and GeolTroy de Villehardouin, Louis of Blois, and Simon de Montfort. Arrangements were made with Venice that the republic should supply the ves- sels and provisions for the journey; but. when the Crusaders reached Venice, they could not raise the amount agreed upon for payment. After a long delay, they made a new bargain with Venice by undertaking to capture for her the city of Z'ara, in Dalmatia. The common soldiers were kept in ignorance of the infamous plan until it was too late for effectual protest. Zara was sacked, and tlu; army spent the winter there. In the meantime, a new plot was hatched by which, under pretense of reinstating the right- ful Byzantine Emperor, Isaac. gelus, the Cru- sade ' was diverted to Constantinople. Isaac Angelus was restored to his throne, but. as he was not able to fulfill the conditions to which he had been compelled to agree, the Cirusaders turned against him. Constantinople was cap- tured a second time and sacked (1204). Much of the city was burned, precious works of art were destroyed, and enormous quantities of booty were secured. The Crusaders and the Vene- tians divided their conquests, and the Latin Em- pire (q.v.) was established. The last three Cru- sades effected little permanent good for the Christian cause. The Fifth Crusade took jilace in 1228-20. The German Emperor. Frederick 11. (q.v.), who had taken the vow, went to the Holy Land and. by a treaty with the Mohammedan powers, secured Jerusalem. In 1244 the Holy City fell into the hands of the Kharesmians. The Sixth Crusade (1248-.'')4) was led by Louis IX. of France (Saint Louis). He invaded Egv'pt. and. although at first successful, was soon defeated, captured, and comiielled to pay an enor- niDUs ransom. He then went to the Holy Land, rebuilt some fortresses, but accomplislied little of importance. In 1270 he started on the .sVd- ctilh Cnisridr, but was induced to turn aside to Tunis, where he died. Edward Plantagenet as- sociated himself with Louis IX. in that Crusade. He abandoned the Holv Land in 1272, and this