Greek Gods- Rome- Middle Ages- England
- Автор: Harding Samuel B.
- Год: 1909
- Язык: английский
- Год: Heritage History
- Жанр: История
Электронная книга - «Greek Gods- Rome- Middle Ages- England». Краткое содержание книги:
Greek Gods and Heroes
City of the Seven Hills
The Story of the Middle Ages
The Story of England
Richard's life and character were in keeping with the ideals of his time, and his training must have been similar to that followed by all noble youths who wished to become knights.
At about seven years of age, a boy of high birth was usually sent away from home to be trained in the castle of some noble lord. There he spent some years in attendance upon the lord and lady of the castle, and was taught how to bear himself politely. When older, he attended his lord, learning to ride, to hunt, and to use the arms of nobility—the shield, the sword, and the lance. When skilled in these things, he became a "squire"; his duty thenceforth was to accompany his lord to the tournament or to battle, to help him put on his armor, to provide him with a fresh lance or a fresh horse in the combat, and in case of need to give him aid. After several years of such service, having proved his skill and his courage, the young squire was ready to become a "knight."
Often the ceremony of conferring "knighthood" was not performed until the squire had "won his spurs" by some heroic deed. The highest ambition of the young man was to be knighted on the field of battle, as a reward for bravery. When that was done the ceremony was simple. Some famous knight would strike the kneeling youth upon the shoulder and say, "I dub thee knight."
The ordinary ceremony was much more elaborate. The first step in this was a bath, signifying purification. Then the squire put on garments of red, white, and black—red, for the blood he must shed in defense of the church; white, for purity of mind; black, in memory of death, which comes to all. Then came "the vigil of arms" in the church, where he watched and prayed all night, either standing or kneeling before the altar, on which lay his sword. At daybreak the priest came, the squire confessed his sins, heard mass, and partook of the holy sacrament. Then perhaps he listened, with the other candidates for knighthood, to a sermon on the proud duties of a knight. Later in the morning he appeared before his lord, or some other well-known knight, and his spurs were fastened on his feet and his sword was girt about him. Then he knelt before his lord, and the latter gave him the "accolade"; that is, he struck the squire a blow upon the neck with his fist, or with the flat of his sword, and said:
"In the name of God, and Saint Michael, and Saint George, I dub thee knight. Be brave and loyal."
After this, the new knight gave an exhibition of his skill in riding and in the use of weapons, and the day ended with feasting and merry-making. As a true knight, he was expected to be loyal to his lord and to the Church, to be just and pure in his life, and to be kind to all in need of his help, especially to defenceless women. The church sought to ennoble warfare by giving religious aims and ceremonies to knighthood. But often the practice of chivalry, or knighthood, fell far below these ideals, and was marked by a narrow caste spirit and a brutal indifference to human suffering.
Richard I. did not have the gentler virtues of a knight, because of the fierce, wild temper of his family. But in courage he was so famed that men called him Richard "the Lion-Hearted" (Cœur de Lion). His love of warfare, his fondness for adventure, and his devotion to the Church were all appealed to by a great movement which occurred in his reign, known as the Third Crusade.
Shield of Richard I
The Crusades were a series of wars between the Christian peoples of western Europe and the Mohammedan peoples of Asia Minor and Syria. The name comes from the Latin word crux (cross), because of the "cross" of white or red cloth which the Christian soldiers in these wars wore on their mantles. The purpose of the Crusades was to recover Jerusalem and Palestine from the Mohammedans. A century before Richard's time these people, who then possessed the lands where Christ had lived and died, began oppressing the Christian pilgrims who came to visit Jerusalem. At the same time, the Greek Emperor of Constantinople appealed to the Christian knights of the West for aid against the Mohammedan Turks, who were conquering his territories. The Pope took up the cause, and at a great meeting held in France, in the year 1095, he preached a sermon using the knights to make war upon the Mohammedans, and recover the Holy Land. His plea moved his hearers so greatly that they cried out with one accord—
"It is the will of God!"
In this way began the movement toward Asia which we call the First Crusade. The common people would not wait to gather supplies or to form an army, but marched at once—men, women and children—in vast throngs under the lead of a monk called "Peter the Hermit," and other rash leaders. They knew nothing of the country to which they were going, and but little of the road by which it should be reached. They made no provision for fighting the Turks, or to sustain themselves on the way, but trusted to the power of God to overcome the "infidels." The result was that they were destroyed on the way, by Turkish horsemen, or by starvation, and failed to even reach Palestine.
Religious enthusiasm, and a desire for conquest and worldly gain, led many thousand trained and equipped knights to set out in their turn. They were under capable leaders, and their armies were well supplied. They reached Asia, and they fought the Turks with such success that they captured Jerusalem and a portion of Palestine, where they set up a Christian kingdom in the year 1099. Thus the object of the First Crusade was partly accomplished, and the Holy Land was freed from the rule of Mohammedans.
Forty-eight years later occurred the Second Crusade (1147-1149), which was caused by the news that the Turks had conquered part of the kingdom of Jerusalem. Two Kings—Conrad III. of Germany and Louis VII. of France—took part in this Crusade, but very little was accomplished by it.
Two years before Richard became King of England, the Turkish leader Saladin recaptured Jerusalem. This again stirred up the religious zeal of Europe, and many of the great nobles "took the cross"—that is, vowed to engage in a new war against the Turks. Among the first to do this was Richard the Lion-Hearted, and his part in the Third Crusade is the chief interest which we have in his reign.
As soon as Richard was crowned he began preparations for the Crusade. He took the money which his father had left, and in addition sold estates and offices. He even sold the office of Archbishop of York, with the estates belonging to it; and for a large sum of money he released the King of Scotland from the "homage" which Henry II. had compelled him to give.
By these means, Richard gathered a great fleet, with which he set out for the Holy Land, in company with Philip Augustus, the King of France. The two Kings stopped at Messina, where they spend many months, quarrelling with each other, and with the ruler of Sicily. When at last they re-embarked, Richard again turned aside—this time to punish the King of Cyprus for abusing shipwrecked pilgrims.
Meanwhile, in Palestine, the Christians were besieging the city of Acre, and were sorely in need. When Richard at last reached Acre, his fame as a warrior revived the spirit of the Christians. He would ride along before the walls of the city, and defy the Mohammedans. He set up great machines to batter down the walls, and in a short time Acre surrendered. Thus was recovered one of the important cities which the Mohammedans had conquered, but Jerusalem itself was yet to be taken. Soon after this, King Philip returned to France, leaving Richard to carry on the war without his aid. But the quarrels among the leaders continued, and they could not agree on anything. It is said that Richard one day rode up a hill within sight of Jerusalem, but held his shield before his face that he might not look upon the sacred city which he could not rescue. The army was obliged to retreat, and the Holy City was left in the hands of the "infidels."