50 THE INFLUENCE OF THE EAST ON EUROPEAN HISTORY 
and Ptolemy were held in great veneration. During the Caliphate 
of Al Mamun they even calculated the length of a degree of longitude, 
and so were able to determine the Earth’s diameter. The Saracen 
Dominion extended from Spain, through Northern Africa, almost to 
India, and there was frequent communication between Spain and 
the eastern part and, consequently, the fruits of Greek and Hindu 
learning were brought into Europe. During the Dark and Middle 
Ages the Moorish Kingdom of Spain was the bright intellectural 
Spot of Europe. ‘The period from 800 to 1000 a.p. is known 
as “The Dark Ages.’ Europe was then troubled with three 
pests—the Vikings in the North, Saracens in the South, and 
from the East came an Asiatic people, the Magyars, the ancestors 
of the present people of Hungary The Magyars settled in Hungary, 
and from this point ravaged Germany and Italy. The people of the 
North had then an extra intercession in the Litany, ‘‘ From the rage 
of the Vikings, Good Lord deliver us,’ and the people of Italy had 
a similar intercession beginning with, ‘ From the arrows of the 
Hungarians, &c.” 
About this time the Seljukian Turks, who are a Tartar people, 
migrated from somewhere near Mongolia into Persia, and ultimately 
founded a dynasty there. They overthrew the Saracen power in the 
East, and became masters of Syria, including the Holy places of 
Palestine. Under the Saracens the pilgrims to Jerusalem had been 
weil treated, and were a source of income. This was now changed. 
The clergy and pilgrims were plundered and very roughly handled 
by the Turks, and a pilgrimage was both uncertain and «langerous. 
It was at this time that Peter the Hermit made his pilgrimage, and 
the sight of the indignities which the Christians had to undergo at 
the very shrine of Christianity so filled him with rage and resent- 
ment that he forthwith started to preach a Crusade, and by the eloquent 
pictures he drew of the distress of the Christians, and the indignities 
to which they were subjected, he aroused the enthusiasm of the 
whole of Christian Europe. In these crusades millions of Europeans 
directed their course to the East, and, although the crusades were a 
failure, they were very effective in stimulating the intelligence of 
Europe, and sometimes results were brought about which were never 
anticipated. In those days, for example, a lord was wealthy in his 
land and feudal dues, and money was scarce; the great lords took 
the lead in the crusades, and were often in want of money for their 
great expenses of arms, transport, and provisions. To meet these 
