THE POPULAR EDUCATOB. 



like snow under the hardships of the journey and by reason of 

 the divisions which sprang up among them. Before they reached 

 Constantinople, then the capital of the Christian Greek Empire 

 (Constantinople was not taken by the Turks under Mahomet II. 

 till 1453), they became a mere rabble, and went no farther. 

 Other hordes, under military leaders, and in numbers 700,000 

 strong, marched to the Crusades notwithstanding. Princes, 

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

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

 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 Kichard 

 the Lion-hearted in the year 1190. 



It is not surprising that such desperate enthusiasm should 

 have succeeded in doing somewhat. Jerusalem was taken by 

 the Crusaders. The Mussulmans were driven to the mountains, 

 and a Latin kingdom, based upon the feudal principle (which 

 has been explained in previous sketches), 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, 

 and 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- 

 querors, reinforced by numerous additions from home, held 

 their own, and kept up their communications with the sea ; but 

 gradually, 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 

 surmounting 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 capture 

 of Jerusalem he died suddenly, having been, it is supposed, 

 poisoned by the Emir of Caasarea. 



Pilgrims continued to journey to tlie Holy City, receiving 



as their reward 

 the assurance 

 from the priests 

 of absolution 

 even from the 

 most deadly 

 sins. And cer- 

 tainly they 

 deserved some- 

 thing substan- 

 tial, for at this 

 time they had 

 not only to bear 

 the enormous 

 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 hostility of deadly foes, well acquainted 

 with the country, and whose business in life it was to go about 

 seeking what Christians they might devour. The journey from 

 the coast to Jerusalem, no matter at what port the pilgrims 

 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 themselves wholly 

 and unreservedly to the sacred duty of shielding the pilgrims 



TOMB OP GODFREY DE BOUILLON AT JERUSALEM. 



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 Ttie poor Fellow-soldiers 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 

 brotherhood 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 thus 

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

 showing that " for sake of the party " most men were most 

 moved : 



Religion 1 



Hatred of Turks 2 



The wish of my lady-love ... 3 



Because it's the fashion 4 



Love of bloodshed 5 



For the sake of the party ... 15 



It may have been so with those who joined the brotherhood. 

 Certain it is the number of the order soon exceeded the original 

 number, and some of the "best blood" and the first military 

 talents were to be found among its members. 

 Baldwin II., King of Jerusalem in the year 1118 

 (nineteen years after the conquest of the place), 

 granted the knights a dwelling-place in the en- 

 closure of the Temple on Mount Moriah, the 

 re-edified Temple of Solomon, and from that 

 time the knights were known as the Knighthood 

 of the Temple of Solomon. 



Ten years afterwards, the knights having 

 formed themselves into a body of military 

 monks, bound by the same rules as monks, and 

 yet soldiers still, obtained recognition from the 

 Pope (Honorius), and were favoured with many 

 honours of an ecclesiastical kind. St. Bernard, 

 Abbot of Clairvaux (author, among other things, 

 of the hymn " Jerusalem the Golden"), himself 

 drew up the rules of the order, which are ex- 

 ceedingly curious and sufficiently stringent. 



Constant attendance on prayer, self-mortifica- 

 tion, complete self-surrender, fasting these 

 were the principles on which the rules were 

 framed. The twentieth rule prescribed white 

 dresses for the knights. " To all the professed 

 knights, both in winter and summer, we give, 

 if they can be procured, white garments ; that 

 those who have cast behind them a dark life, 

 may know that they are to commend themselves 

 to their Creator bv a pure and white life. For 

 what is whiteness but perfect chastity, and swo 



i i-j. -j. i J.T- l j it. FKEY DE BOUIL- 



chastity is the security of the soul, and the LON FROMTHE 

 health of the body. And unless every knight OBI e INAL PBE . 

 shall continue chaste, he shall not come to per- SERVED AT JE- 

 petual rest, nor see God, as the Apostle Paul RUSALEM. 

 witnesseth : Follow after peace with all men, 

 and chastity, without which no man shall see God." Esquires 

 and retainers were to be clothed in black cloth, or, failing that, 

 of brown or some mean colour ; " it is granted to none to wear 

 white habits, or to have white mantles, excepting the above- 

 named knights of Christ." Gold or silver was forbidden to be 

 worn on the harness and trappings of the knights simplicity 

 and unrichness were to be the order of the brotherhood. All 

 money and all gifts were to be in common. There was not to 

 be any communication with the outer world except through the 

 Master, and sporting of all kinds was strictly forbidden. For 

 the purposes of the brotherhood it was permitted the knights to 

 possess lands and husbandmen, " and the customary services 

 ought to be specially rendered unto you." Rule 66 says, " It 

 is, moreover, exceedingly dangerous to join sisters with you in 

 your holy profession, for the ancient enemy hath drawn (St. 

 Bernard spake as a monk) many away from the right path to 

 paradise through the society of women." In the last clause of 

 the rules this warning is repeated, with a prohibition : 

 " Lastly, we hold it dangerous to all religion to gaze too much 

 on the countenance of women ; and therefore no brother shall 

 presume to kiss neither widow nor virgin, nor mother nor sister, 

 nor aunt, nor any other woman. Let the knighthood of Christ 



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