CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



began on the 7th of June 1099. The city was 

 obstinately defended for six weeks by a garri- 

 son of 40,000 Turks, in the employment of the 

 Fatimite califs of Egypt, into whose power Tales- 

 tine had reverted three years before. A terrible 

 massacre followed the capture of the city. 



The Crusades are usually reckoned seven in 

 number, and extend over a period of two centuries, 

 the first and greatest, now sketched, beginning in 

 1096, and the last and least terminating in 1291. 

 One result of the First Crusade was to restore the 

 best part of Asia Minor to the Greek Empire. ; 

 Out of the Syrian territories conquered from the 

 Turks and Egyptian califs, there were formed 

 three feudal sovereignties the kingdom of Jeru- 

 '.-, conferred on Godfrey of Bouillon ; the/r/- 

 tipulity of Antioch, conferred on Bohemond of 

 Tarentum ; and the principality of Edessa, in 

 Mesopotamia, conferred on Baldwin, the brother 

 of Godfrey. Such of the Crusaders as resolved to 

 remain in the East, attached themselves to one or 

 other of these princes, receiving lands from them, 

 and yielding them feudal allegiance ; while thou- 

 sands of immigrants and merchants from the 

 various countries of Europe, arrived by sea to 

 partake of the same benefits. 



During a period of fifty years, the three Latin 

 principalities in the East maintained themselves 

 against the attacks of the surrounding Moham- 

 medans, and even increased their power, Jeru- 

 salem being naturally the most important. It was 

 at Jerusalem, and during the generation that suc- 

 ceeded the First Crusade, that the two famous 

 orders of the Knights Hospitallers of St John and 

 the Knights Templars took their origin. Their 

 object was to deliver Palestine from the bands of 

 Mohammedans to whose inroads it was still liable. 

 The Hospitallers had their name from the Hos- 

 pital of St John, which had been converted from 

 a monastic foundation into a military institution ; 

 the Templars, from having their quarters near the 

 Temple. 



But after the lapse of fifty years, dangers began 

 to arise, threatening the very existence of the 

 Latin kingdoms in the East, and calling for a 

 Second Crusade. The empire of the Seljukian 

 Turks had passed away ; but in the emirs or 

 governors of provinces there was always a fresh 

 source of conquering adventurers ready to raise 

 a new structure of power on the ruins of the old. 

 One of these, named Zenghi, emir of Mosul, took 

 Edessa (1144), slaughtered the Christian inhab- 

 itants, and extinguished the principality. His son, 

 Noureddin, a man of extraordinary abilities and 

 noble character, from being simple emir of Aleppo, 

 became sultan of a kingdom extending from the 

 Tigris to the Nile. The Christians of Syria were 

 trembling for their safety ; and to arrest the pro- 

 gress of Noureddin, Europe sent 1,200,000 men 

 (1147) under her two most powerful monarchs, 

 Louis VII. of France, and Conrad III. emperor 

 of Germany. Yet the Crusade was a total failure. 

 The Greek emperor was hostile ; his emissaries 

 misled the Western armies on their way through 

 Asia Minor, and they were either cut to pieces 

 by the Turks or perished among the mountains. 

 The relics that made their way into Syria in 

 no way arrested the activity of Noureddin, who 

 pressed upon the kingdom of Jerusalem as much 

 as ever. But the death-blow came from another 

 quarter. Salah-Eddin, generally called Saladin, 

 m 



a young Kurdish chief, sent by Noureddin on a 

 political mission into Egypt, contrived to get the 

 power into his own hands, put an end to the 

 dynasty of the Fatimite califs, and aspired to the 

 presidency of the Mohammedan world. Taking 

 advantage of the distracted state of the kingdom 

 of Jerusalem, arising from a disputed succession 

 to the throne, Saladin invaded Palestine, took 

 town after town, and lastly Jerusalem, after a siege 

 of fourteen days (1187). The only place that 

 remained to the Christians in Palestine was Tyre, 

 which was defended by Conrad, Marquis of Mont- 

 ferrat. 



The news of the extinction of the kingdom 

 of Jerusalem called forth a Third Crusade, led 

 by Frederick I. (Barbarossa) of Germany, King 

 Philip- Augustus of France, and King Richard I. 

 of England. Barbarossa led his army through 

 Asia Minor, but was himself drowned while ford- 

 ing a river in Syria, and only a wreck of his army 

 reached Tyre. The kings of France and England 

 conveyed their forces by sea. The Christians in 

 Syria had in the meantime rallied, and were laying 

 siege to Acre, a town of such importance, that its 

 capture was regarded as almost equivalent to a 

 reconquest of the country. In vain Saladin now 

 attempted to raise the siege and relieve Acre. 

 Numerous battles were fought in the plains around 

 between the chivalry of the West and the Moslem 

 myriads ; and after a siege of twenty-three months, 

 Acre surrendered to the Crusaders. But this was 

 the sole result of the Crusade. Rivalries and 

 jealousies sprang up among the Christian leaders, 

 and especially between the kings of France and 

 England ; and the progress of the war against 

 Saladin was impeded. At length, Philip aban- 

 doned the Crusade, and returned to France. The 

 Lion-hearted Richard remained, and continued the 

 struggle for some time with various success ; but 

 at last he agreed to a truce with Saladin, the terms 

 of which were on the whole favourable to the 

 Christians, and creditable to the liberality and 

 tolerance of the Mohammedan. He took his 

 departure from the East in October 1192 ; but 

 being detained on the way as a prisoner of the 

 Duke of Austria at Vienna, did not reach Eng- 

 land till March 1194. His great antagonist, 

 Saladin, between whom and Richard there had 

 been established a mutual admiration and regard, 

 died in 1193. 



Of the remaining Crusades, the only one that 

 produced any result was that undertaken in 1228 

 by the German emperor, Frederick II. who 

 entered Jerusalem in triumph, and compelled the 

 sultan of Egypt to cede that city and several 

 others to the Christians. But the fruits of this 

 and of the Crusades in general were once more 

 lost by the irruption of a new race of conquering 

 Turks, who established themselves in Syria in 

 alliance with the sultans of Egypt, defeated the 

 Christian forces, and burned and pillaged Jeru- 

 salem (1244). Palestine thus again relapsed into 

 the dominion of the infidel. The unfortunate ex- 

 pedition of St Louis of France (1249), usually con- 

 sidered the Seventh and Last Crusade, in which 

 the king himself and the relics of his army were 

 made prisoners in Egypt, had no other effect than 

 to produce a revolution in that country. The 

 Mamalukes that is, the Turkish or Tatar slaves 

 who served as the officers and body-guards of the 

 sultans offended that the French invaders 



