3i'2 



THE POPULAE EDUCATOR. 



a dungeon, in order that he might be induced to procure the 

 large ransom demanded of him. These and other tales came to 

 Europe, brought by the wayworn and. pitiable-looking objects who 

 returned from their pilgrimage with life, and the effect of them 

 was to arouse in the minds of all men the feelings of indignation 

 and pity which have been already referred to feelings akin to 

 those, though far more ecstatic, which were felt in England when 

 the story of the Indian mutiny came over, or, in a less degree, 

 which were felt when the refusal of Abyssinian Theodore to give 

 up his captives was made known. 



Men's minds were ripe for action. They only wanted, as they 

 ever want, some master-mind to take the lead. That master- 

 mind was found in Peter the Hermit, who marched barefoot 

 ihrough Europe, preaching up a holy war, and exhorting Chris- 

 tians not to suffer infidels to crucify the Lord afresh in the 

 parsons of His children, and to put Him to an open shame. 

 Pope Urban II. backed the hermit with all his influence, and 

 Christendom roused as one man. " It is the will of God ! it is 



the will of God ! " the 



people shouted on the 

 plains of Auvergne, 

 when Peter stirred up 

 many thousands of 

 them with the burning 

 wordsof his eloquence. 

 A. vast mob, num- 

 bering over 500,000, 

 possessed with plenty 

 of enthusiasm, but 

 little military know- 

 ledge, marched forth- 

 with under the guid- 

 ance of Peter the 

 Hermit and Walter 

 the Moneyless ; but 

 they melted like snow 

 under the hardships 

 of the journey and by 

 reason of the divi- 

 sions which sprang 

 up among them. Be- 

 fore they reached 

 Constantinople, then 

 the capital of the 

 Christian Greek Em- 

 pire (Constantinople 

 was not taken by the 

 Turks under Maho- 

 met II. till 1453), 

 they became a mere 

 rabble, and went 

 no farther. Other 

 hordes, under mili- 

 tary leaders, and in 

 numbers 700,000 

 strong, marched to 

 the Crusades notwith- 

 standing. Princes, 



barons, knights, esquires, yeomen, priests, hastened to enrol 

 themselves under the banner of the Cross, and streamed cast- 

 ward, possessed with the one idea of rescuing the Holy Land 

 from the clutches of infidels, happy if only they might tread 

 the land which had been trod by holiest feet. There were 

 many of these crusades, the most notable being that led by 

 Bichard the Lion-hearted in the year 1190. 



It is not surprising that such desperate enthusiasm should 

 have succeeded in doing some'what. Jerusalem was taken by 

 the Crusaders. The Mussulmans were driven to the mountains, 

 and a Latin kingdom, based upon the feudal principle (for an 

 account of this principle see " Historic Sketches," I., p. 9), was 

 established in their place. 



The dangers surrounding this kingdom were great and peren- 

 nial. The Turks, commingled now with their Saracen brethren 

 in faith, were ever on the watch to inflict injury on the invaders, 

 anJ to play the part of the enemy who sowed the tares, if per- 

 chance at any time the Christians slept. For a while the con- 

 queror 5 ", reinforced by numerous additions from home, held their 

 own, and kept up thc:r comir anieations with the sea ; but gra- 



AR5IS AND COSTUME OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. 



dually, as zeal grew faint, these succours became less, and there 

 was considerable difficulty experienced by the Kings of Jerusalem 

 in protecting their subjects, let alone visitors. It should be 

 mentioned that the first and most renowned of the Christian 

 Kings of Jerusalem was Godfrey de Bouillon, who mortgaged 

 his Duchy of Bouillon in the Ardennes in 1095 to the Bishop 

 of Liege, to raise the funds necessary to enable him to take 

 part in the first Crusade. Following in the track of Peter the 

 Hermit, he reached Palestine after encountering and sur- 

 mounting difficulties of no ordinary nature ; and having been 

 joined by the forces that marched under Robert of Normandy, 

 Bohemond of Tarentum, and other leaders, he was unanimously 

 elected to the supreme command of the Christian hosts in the 

 Holy Land. After a long siege Antioch yielded to the repeated 

 attacks of the Crusaders in 1098, and about a year after 

 Jerusalem was taken by assault, July 15, 1099. The guardian- 

 ship of the Holy City was vested in Godfrey de Bouillon, who 

 received the title of King of Jerusalem. He did not long enjoy 



his sovereignty, for 



in a year and three 

 days after the cap- 

 ture of Jerusalem, he 

 died suddenly, hav- 

 ing been, it is sup- 

 posed, poisoned by 

 the Emir of Cajsarea. 

 Pilgrims continued 

 to journeyto the Holy 

 City, receiving as their 

 reward the assurance 

 from the priests of 

 absolution even from 

 the most deadly sins. 

 And certainly they 

 deserved something 

 substantial, for at this 

 time they had not 

 only to bear the enor- 

 mous expense which a 

 pilgrimage, say from 

 Northampton to the 

 East, cost in those 

 days, but they had to 

 incur, in addition to 

 this, to say nothing 

 of the risks of climate, 

 etc., the certain hos- 

 tility of deadly foes, 

 well acquainted with 

 the country, and 

 whose business in life 

 it was to go about 

 seeking what Chris- 

 tians they might de- 

 vour. The journey 

 from the coast to 

 Jerusalem, no matter 

 at what port the pil- 

 grims disembarked, was full of peril. Numbers of travellers 

 were cut off even in sight of the Holy City, and the King of 

 the place was not able to succour them. Afflicted beyond 

 measure at the sight of so much wrong, anxious to redress, 

 as far as in them lay, the injuries suffered by the pilgrims, 

 nine knights bound themselves by a solemn vow to devote them- . 

 selves wholly and unreservedly to the sacred duty of shielding 

 the pilgrims and of punishing their oppressors. A brotherhood 

 of arms was formed under the most solemn circumstances, and 

 vows were taken by the nine in the presence of the Patriarch, 

 to the effect that they would devote themselves to this work ; 

 that they would be chaste, poor, and obedient, and do all to 

 the glory of God. They called themselves The poor Fellow- 

 soldicrs of Jesus Christ. 



They acted as the police of the Latin King in the matter of 

 Turks, infidels, and heretics ; and the idea on which the brother- 

 hood was founded, coupled with the reputation their prowess 

 soon acquired, made the service of the Poor Fellow-soldiers 

 very popular in Europe. A humorous writer has thug 

 analysed the motives which induced men to go to the Crusades, 



