389 



CRUSADES. 



CRUSADES. 



330 



the figures is formed by the metal itself, which has been hollowed out 

 to receive the enamel ; but all the details of the design are traced out 

 with fine fillets or gold by the process already described. The flesh 

 tints are in rose-coloured enamel ; the colours employed in the draperies 

 and accessories are deep and light blue, red and white." (Labarte, 

 ' Arts of the Middle Ages.') The iron; crown of Lombardy owes its 

 name to a ring of iron incrusted in the interior, which is reputed to 

 have been formed from a nail of the true cross. " It is composed of a 

 kind of collar of gold of about from 2} to 3 inches wide, and loaded 

 with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones uncut, 

 interspersed with flowers of gold. Apart from its antiquity, it pos- 

 sesses no other merit than the richness of the materials of which it is 

 formed, and does not manifest any great artistic talent in the Lombard 

 or Italian goldsmiths of the 6th century." (Labarte.) This crown 

 gives its name to a famous order of knighthood, the crosses of which 

 have, up to the present time (1859), been distributed by the Emperor 

 of Austria. In France Louis XII. wore a single bar arched over his 

 crown, about 1500 ; before, only a cap, till he married Henry VIII. 's 

 sister. Till Francis I. an open flowery border, somewhat like our 

 ducal coronet, was generally used. In Spain, Philip II., after he 

 married Queen Mary, used a barred crown. In Germany, Maximilian, 

 grandfather of Charles V., first wore an arch over a ducal coronet. In 

 Denmark, Christian III, after he came into England, used the barred 

 crown. James IV., on his marriage with Margaret, daughter of 

 Henry VII., introduced it into Scotland. John Duke of Braganza was 

 the first who used it in Portugal. 



Among the Romans there were various kinds of crowns distributed 

 as rewards for military and' other achievements. The principal were 

 the Civic, presented to a soldier who had saved the life of a citizen ; 

 the Mural, awarded to the soldier who first scaled the walls of a 

 besieged city ; the Obsidional, presented by the garrison of a beleaguered 

 city to the commander who relieved them; the Naval or Rostral 

 crown, given to the commander who won a naval victory; the 

 Triumphal, worn by the general during his triumph ; the Olive, con- 

 ferred upon soldiers and officers by whose services a triumph had been 

 obtained. 



CROWN SOLICITOR. In state prosecutions in England the 

 solicitor to the treasury acts as solicitor for the crown in preparing the 

 prosecution. In Ireland there are officers called crown solicitors 

 attached to each circuit, whose duty it is to get up every case for the 

 crown in criminal prosecutions. They are paid by salaries. There is 

 no such system in England, where prosecutions are conducted by 

 solicitors appointed by the parish or other persons bound over to pro- 

 secute by the magistrates on each committal ; but in Scotland the still 

 better plan exists of a crown prosecutor in every county, who prepares 

 every criminal prosecution whatever. 



CRUCIBLE, a chemical vessel in which substances are exposed to 

 high temperatures. Crucibles are made of various materials, forms, 

 and sizes, and are often called melliny pots. Earthen crucibles are 

 used for the purpose of assaying ores, as those of lead, copper, and tin. 

 For these purposes the refractory kind, called Hessian or Cornish 

 crucibles, are prepared ; they cannot however be employed for heating 

 saline, alkaline, or earthy matters, as these would act upon them. 

 Sometimes they are made of commoner and more fusible clays, when 

 not required to withstand a high temperature. Crucibles made of 

 porcelain are occasionally used, but they are extremely apt to crack. 



Black-lead crucibles, formed of about three parts of finely-powdered 

 plumbago, and one of good clay, are also much employed, especially in 

 melting metals ; they are more expensive than earthen crucibles, but 

 are less liable to crack. 



Glass-makers' crucibles are usually made of Stourbridge clay. 



In fusing the alkalies, potash and soda, silver crucibles are used ; but 

 aa they readily melt, or at least become very porous, they are not 

 much employed for other purposes. 



For chemical uses, platinum crucibles are principally employed ; 

 they withstand a high temperature, and are not in general easily acted 

 upon. The alkalies however, and the alkaline nitrates/and the alkaline 

 earths, act upon them ; and those metals which readily fuse, such as 

 bismuth, lead, and tin, immediately destroy them when heated in 

 them. Care must also be taken not to expose platinum crucibles to 

 the direct action of fuel, otherwise they become brittle and useless. 

 They should be placed inside a common Hessian crucible, with a layer 

 of magnesia inserted between the two crucibles. IE gas be used as fuel, 

 this precaution is unnecessary. 



CRUSADES. Under this name are designated the religious wars 

 carried on for two centuries between the Christians and Mohamme- 

 dans at a time when diplomatic negotiations were unknown, and the 

 word decided all matters in dispute between one nation and another. 

 The cause was ultimately lost by the Christians, who sacrificed in the 

 struggle the lives of several millions of their brethren, though then- 

 claim wag originally a reasonable one. In the beginning the Christians 

 demanded only a free pilgrimage to the holy sepulchre, but after- 

 wards the contest was for the possession of Jerusalem. The crusades 

 however were by no means wars of conquest or of royal caprice ; man 

 fought against man for some higher yet mistaken principle. Hence 

 their struggle offers something more honourable than the generality 

 of wars, and deserves particular attention on account of its influence 

 upon the civilisation of Europe. 



As long as the caliphs of Bagdad and after them the Fatemides of 

 Egypt possessed Palestine, the Christians were not checked in the 

 exercise of the religious practice of visiting the holy sepulchre, which 

 was in harmony with the opinions of that age : the Caliph Harun-al- 

 Rashid had even the keys of the holy sepulchre forwarded to Char- 

 lemagne as a present. But when the Turks had effected the conquest 

 of Palestine, the hospitality of the Arabs gave way to the brutality of 

 the new possessors ; the Christians were subjected to so many vexa- 

 tions, that the whole of Europe re-echoed with the complaints of 

 the pilgrims; who instead of returning to their homes loaded with 

 holy relics, brought back only wonderful tales of their insults and 

 sufferings. 



In consequence of this, Pope Sylvester II. (who died in 1003) began 

 to preach a crusade against the Seljuk Turks for the conquest of the 

 Holy Sepulchre. Sixty years afterwards, when only 2000 pilgrims had 

 returned to Germany out of 7000, who had been sent to Palestine by 

 their bishops, and the possession of Jerusalem had fallen into the 

 hands of the Turkish chief Ortok, this untoward event filled Europe 

 with consternation, and a desire to revenge the wrongs of the pilgrims. 

 A single spark only was wanting to inflame the whole of the western 

 empire to a contest with the sword for that privilege which Harun-al- 

 Rashid had acknowledged. 



Thirty years however elapsed before Pope Urban II. decreed the 

 first crusade. First at the council of Piacenza (March, 1095), after- 

 wards at that of Clermont in Auvergne (November, 1095), supported 

 by the ambassador of the Emperor of Constantinople and numerous 

 powerful lords, he proclaimed the sacred war, and appointed the 15th of 

 August (1096), the Day of Assumption, for the departure of the army. 

 The minds of the Christian warriors had been previously excited by 

 the preaching of Peter of Amiens (the Hermit), and by the loud com- 

 plaints of the patriarch of Jerusalem, who, provided with letters of 

 credit from the pope, travelled through Europe, and filled all classes of 

 society with enthusiasm for this holy warfare. Those who determined 

 to set out for the Holy Land wore on their breast the figure of a red 

 cross, and hence the name of Crusaders. 



Pint Cruiade. The departure of the army having been deferred for 

 a year, Peter of Amiens, Walter Habenichts, Count Emiko of Leinin- 

 gen, and the priest Gottschalk, impatient of delay, and prompted by 

 religious fanaticism, set out with an immense multitude, which is 

 stated at 80,000 or 100,000 men, besides women and children, and a 

 crowd of followers. This army, after having ill-treated and robbed the 

 Jews in their own country, was reduced to one-third of its number in 

 Hungary ; the remainder was cut to pieces at Nicjca, in Asia Minor. 



The east was now threatened with a national migration from the 

 west. The bulk of the army was twice as numerous as that of their 

 forerunners. It was headed by the noblest knights of those times, 

 Godefroy of Bouillon, duke of Lower Lorraine ; Baldwin his brother ; 

 Hugo the Great, brother of the king of France ; Robert, duke of Nor- 

 mandy, son of William the Conqueror ; Raymond of St. Gilles, duke of 

 Toulouse ; and Bohemond, prince of Tarentum. The general indul- 

 gence proclaimed at Clermont, the feudal system, which led the vassals 

 to join in the sentiments of their sovereigns, combined with the religious 

 fanaticism of the many and the interested views of the few, created 

 thin formidable army. The pope had the address to dispose the heads 

 of the Crusaders to acknowledge him formally as the sovereign of all 

 the lands which they intended to conquer. The results of this expe- 

 dition were of great importance. After crossing the sea into Asia, the 

 Crusaders took possession of Nictca in Asia Minor, and Laodiesea and 

 Antiochia in Syria. Bohemond obtained the principality of Antiochia ; 

 Baldwin that of Edessa. New Christian principalities arose also in 

 Tripolis, Sidon, Tyre, and other places. In the mean time Jerusalem 

 was no longer in possession of the Turks. The Caliph Mostaali had 

 taken it from the successors of Ortok (1096), and had again united it 

 to Egypt, making a rival caliphat. [FATEMIDES.] 



The Crusaders, however, did not allow themselves to be stopped in 

 then: victorious march by this change of circumstances : they advanced 

 with 60,000 men, the relics of their army, against Jerusalem, besieged 

 the town, took it (1099 June 7, July 15), and preserved it, together 

 with all their conquests, in the great battle of Ascalon, against the 

 Caliph of Egypt and the Seljuk chieftains. It is said that the number 

 of slain in the conquered town amounted to 70,000. The Jews were 

 burnt in their synagogues. 



Consequences of the First Crusade. Kingdom of Jerusalem. Godefroy 

 of Bouillon was elected king of Jerusalem a new state, with a con- 

 siderable territory. The constitution of this new kingdom was regu- 

 lated by a statute called " Les Assizes de Jerusalem." Godefroy died 

 one year after his accession to the throne ; his brother Baldwin was his 

 successor, who was followed by Baldwin II. (1118), Fulk (1131), 

 Baldwin III. (1148), Almerich (1162), Baldwin IV. (1173), Baldwin V. 

 (1186), who was followed by Guido of Lusignano, who reigned till 

 1187, when Saladin put an end to the Christian kingdom. These kings 

 of Jerusalem were compelled to fight with a force of only about 12,000 

 regular troops against the power of two mighty enemies, the Turks and 

 the Fatemide caliph of Egypt. 



Crusaders' Reliyious Military Orders. The first Crusade brought 

 two military religious orders into existence the Knights of Jerusalem, 

 instituted .by Baldwin I., and the Knights Templars, established by 

 the joint efforts of Hugo de Payens, Godefroy of St. Adhemar, an<t. 



