FOOTNOTES:

Crusaders Again Butcher Saracens

The Crusaders seem to have learned no permanent lesson of pity. They soon returned to the sword. Fearing the care of too many prisoners; dreading that, if released, they would have to fight them again, and feeling that they must make ready to meet an Egyptian army whose arrival was daily expected, they decreed the death of all the unbelievers who remained in the city. Passion energized policy. They compelled the Saracens to leap from the walls or into flames, and heaped up their corpses as altars on which others were sacrificed. The city was everywhere strewn with corpses, even, as one remarks, "the very place where Christ forgave His enemies." The habit of killing was now so inveterate that such sights distressed none except as the odors and dangers of pestilence. A few Mussulmans, saved chiefly from the fortress of David, were compelled to remove for burial the bodies of their kindred and people beyond the walls. The soldiers of Raymond aided them, not from motives of humanity, but because being the last to enter the city, they hoped to secure what they had missed in pillage by robbing the bodies of the dead.

Heaps of Corpses

The city was soon cleaned, and, as all respected the marks of private ownership upon which the Crusaders had agreed, they were enriched and soon contributed to the life of a most orderly city.

Exhibition of True Cross

It will be recalled that when Heraclius conquered Chosroes he claimed to have brought back the true cross to Jerusalem. During the Saracenic occupation the Christians had concealed it and now brought it forth for the adoration of the faithful. With triumph they bore it to the Church of the Resurrection.

Godfrey Refuses Crown

The question of government was settled, after debate, fasting, some ceremony and prayer, by a special Council of Ten. Godfrey of Bouillon was chosen king with acclamation, all but universal, yet he refused to receive a diadem because his Savior had in that city worn a crown of thorns, and would receive no other title beyond "Defender of the Holy Sepulcher."

The effort to organize the Church admittedlywas less successful in putting wise and holy men in high places than the attempt to elect a suitable king. The bishops of the Latin Church, then as now, took high ground, claimed to be above the civil power, and demanded that the bulk of the captured wealth be put into their hands. The Greek priests had the right of possession, but were sacrificed. Simeon, who had invited the Crusaders, and who from Cypress had repeatedly sent the Latins succor, died while a Latin bishop was claiming his patriarchate. Arnold, believed by most to be tainted, was made pastor of Jerusalem.

Arrogance of the Latin Bishops

A New Peril

The Saracens, much as they had suffered, were not ready to abandon the field. Such as were left joined the Caliph of Cairo who was advancing to attack Jerusalem. Godfrey, deserted by some of his colleagues, went out to meet him; the deserters following after when the peril became more visible and imminent. Peter led the clergy and prayed for a final success. They numbered not more than twenty thousand, yet they won a great victory, some of their enemies being driven to the mountains, others perishing in the sea. They dropped their arms in terror, and were literally mowed down. Thus ended the battle of Askalon, and it was the last victory of the first Crusade.

Peter and His End

Peter returned to Europe, resumed a quiet life in a monastery, which was built at Huy on the right bank of the Meuse, in pursuance of a vow made when in danger at sea by Peter's fellow voyager, the Count de Montaigne. It was dedicated in 1130. Peter died there at a great age, and was buried at his request outside the church on the ground of humility. One hundred and thirty years later the abbot removed (in 1242) his bones to a shrine before the Altar of the Apostles in the Abbey Church. His life was ended, "but his works followed him."

The church where he was buried was wasted and wrecked during the French Revolution and Peter's coffin destroyed. His gravestone still exists.

Other Crusades followed, of which mere mention must suffice. Their results, however, in part remain to this day, and deserve to be here recorded.

Greek and Latin Church

As we have seen, the first Crusade had in the minds of its originators, as at least a secondary object, the reconciliation of the Greek and Latin Church. But the result was directly opposite. Their relations were submitted, and the gap is as wide open to-day as then. The Saracens were less dangerous to the Eastern Church and empire than the Latins proved to be. The Latins conqueredfor themselves. It must be admitted that the treachery of Alexius gave large justification if not full warrant.

Power of Papacy Augmented

The strength and wealth of the papacy were greatly increased. It attached all who went to its authority by its dispensation, not only from purgatorial pains but from the penalty of sin here and hereafter. It made freemen of all who wore the sign of the cross, and absolved from all allegiance except to itself. By persuading departing lords to make over their sovereignty to him, the pope became the arbiter and consecrator of all sovereignty, and at length obtained the right to release from allegiance the subjects of two independent sovereigns.

No pope led an army. The shock of defeat to a "Vicar of Christ" would have been very great. So legates were sent and upheld in his name the supremacy of the Church.

Reasons for Irrevocable Vow

The vow to crusade was irrevocable, and sovereigns took it to obtain pardon, to secure glory, and propitiate favor. The pope alone could release the votary, and he took good care to make the price heavy in the acknowledgment of his authority.

By sending legates to every country to preach the Crusades, the authority of the pope was also greatly advertised and augmented. Through thesethe pope acquired a right to tax for his purposes within the domain of independent States.

How Clergy Grew Rich

Papal Ambitions

The clergy and the Church grew rich because unable to alienate their own estates, they bought in the property and domains of princes, dukes, and counts, who sold all to enter upon the Holy War. For two centuries this went on among the most fruitful of the many methods by which the Church added to her temporal substance. The Church, by the Crusade, established the principle that religious wars were just, and for five centuries the principle was indorsed with blood. Incidentally the hurling back of the Mohammedan advance occurred, but the hunger for papal dominion spurred on the popes to bless those who fought. Called defensive at first, they quickly became aggressive, and many a Crusading band hacked at the Jews before carving a path through to Mohammedans.

Chivalry took on a more religious tone through the Crusades, if indeed it was not in some countries directly born of the wars of the cross.

Principles of Chivalry

Most of the principles of chivalry were Christian in the quality of conduct, if not always of motive. To be just, generous, brave, the defender of weakness, and to be pure in life were certainly Christian duties. The Crusades gave a great fieldfor such virtues. But, alas! it was only to Christians that these virtues were obligatory. The knight often became a devil ranging over lands wrested from Saracen control.

But respect for women, undoubtedly enhanced by chivalry, took high ground in the reverence for the Virgin, and, while it did not secure chastity, gave some check to the master passion of the human race.

Debt to Arabic Learning

And, finally, the Crusade, introduced the notation, the science, the manufactures, and the medical skill of the Arabs into Europe,—all of which aided the coming of the light to the Dark Ages.

Of all these results, Peter the Hermit was the unconscious forerunner and prophet.

[1]Milman, Hist. Latin Christianity, Book VII, p. 16.

[2]Hist. Crusades, Vol. I, p. 1.

[3]Cf. Milman, Book VII, p. 17.

[4]Aubert's History of the Conquest of Jerusalem, quoted by Michaud.

[5]Milman.

[6]See Michaud.

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