ON THE MIDDLE OR DARK AGES. 



341 



-of Malta, or of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, as they were at 

 first called ; the Knights Templars ; the Teutonic Order ; and the Order 

 of St. Lazarus. Hence, too, that spirit of chivalry and romantic adven- 

 ture, of tilts and tournaments ; which, however, it may have laid a basis 

 for a thousand interesting tales of wild exploit and marvellous vicissitude,* 

 had a tendency to change the sober order of things ; to convert the pa- 

 triotic citizen into a champion of fortune, and to work up the temperate 

 reality of life into a fitful and visionary frenzy. 



And hence, too, among those who confined their views altogether to 

 subjects of personal devotion and still life, the extension though not the 

 rise (for they were already in existence) of rehgious orders, of pilgrim- 

 ages, and hermit solitudes ; of vows of cehbacy and fasting, of severe 

 penance and rigour ; under the preposterous idea of propitiating the Su- 

 preme Being in favour of his own cause, by directly warring with the best 

 and warmest, the most active and most benevolent passions and in- 

 stincts which he has imprinted on the human heart for the multiplication 

 of human happiness. 



The crusades were numerous, but there are only seven that are worthy 

 of particular notice. Of these, the first was led by Godfrey of Bouillon, 

 in 1096, and was the only one that proved really successful ; and that 

 -actually rescued, though only for a few years, the whole of Palestine from 

 the grasp of the Mahometans. The third is chiefly celebrated for the 

 chivalrous and enthusiastic valour with which it was prosecuted under our 

 own Richard I. in 1189 ; and for the generous magnanimity of Saladin, 

 who was at that time the Saracen king of Jerusalem. The two last were 

 headed by St. Lewis in 1248 and 1270 ; and are principally notorious for 

 the piety and valour which he displayed, and the misfortunes which at- 

 tended him. 



The scenes of havoc and barbarity to which this infatuating system gave 

 rise on both sides, are too shocking for narration, and too long to be re- 

 counted even if we had time. The wild desire of foreign expurgation led 

 to a similar desire of purging the church at home ; and hence the esta- 

 blishment of the Holy Wars led to the establishment of the Holy Inquisi- 

 tion ; — the extirpation of infidels to the extirpation of heretics. Hence 

 the crusaders under Baldwin, count of France, when advancing towards 

 Palestine, in 1204, by a sudden and delirious impulse, turned aside from 

 their attack upon the Mahometans, and attacked the Greek church in its 

 stead, on account of its supposed heterodoxies ; and took and ransacked 

 Constantinople, instead of taking and restoring Jerusalem. 



The brutal havoc which followed upon this expedition, and the destruc- 

 tion of all the finest statues and pubhc monuments erected by Constantine 

 on his founding the city, are described with much force and feeling by Ni- 

 cetas the Chroniate, who was an eye-wjitness to the transaction, and who 

 justly styles these crusading Vandals, Taxu^^a un^ecTrot Bet^Qcc^ot:] ^'Bar- 

 barians insensible to the fair and beautiful." He especially laments the 

 destruction of the inimitable figures of Hercules and Helen, which being 

 constructed of brass, were melted down to pay the soldiers. The follow- 

 ing is a part of his description of the latter statue, and 1 quote it from the 

 translation of Mr. Harris, as a proof that Constantinople, even in the 

 thirteenth century, had scholars not altogether destitute of literary taste. 



* Sainte-Palaye : Memoires sur 1' Ancienne Chevalerie, torn. i. p. 153. et seq. 

 t Fabricii BiWiotfe. p. 412. 



