The Historians' History of the World 08 [Parthians, Sassanids and Arabs; The Crusades and the Papacy]
- Автор: Gutenberg
- Год: 1905
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: История
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Pope Gregory IX afterwards caused a church to be built in the island of St. Peter, in honour of those who were shipwrecked, and instituted twelve canonships to provide for the duties of it. In the time of Alberic the spot was still pointed out where the bodies cast up by the waves were buried. As for the crusaders who survived so many calamities, and remained in Europe, with the exception of some old and infirm persons, the pope would not release them from their vows; they were obliged either to perform the pilgrimage at a maturer age, or to redeem it by alms.
Such was the issue of this crusade, so justly designated by two chronicles, expeditio nugatoria, expeditio derisoria.
Two facts strike us as extraordinary in this account; the condition attached by the Old Man of the Mountain to the liberty of the clerk of whom Vincent de Beauvais speaks, and the trade in children carried on by the merchants of Marseilles. Upon the first point we can offer nothing but the opinion received among the nations of the West. It was generally believed in the thirteenth century, that the Old Man of the Mountain kept up a connection with Christian Europe; several princes were even accused of having had recourse to the daggers of his Assassins to get rid of their enemies. Frederick received ambassadors from him in Sicily. Roger Bacon complains bitterly of the fascinations secretly employed by the Saracens to seduce the young servants of Christ; the name of Assassins had already passed into the vulgar tongue in the thirteenth century, and was the object of general terror. In spite, then, of the opinion of some critics, a more extended examination is necessary, before we reject the account of Vincent de Beauvais. As to the trade in young boys, that is not at all a new fact; many traces of it are found much anterior to this period. The Greeks and Venetians practised it openly enough. Pope Zacharias repurchased, in 748, many Christian slaves, who had been taken away from Rome by Venetian merchants; the people of Verdun, as witnessed by Liutprand, were about to sell to the Arabs of Spain some young boys they had mutilated, and who were to serve as guards to the women of seraglios. Besides, the fate of the young crusaders who embarked at Marseilles, and found degradation and slavery instead of the sacred soil promised to their blind zeal, is attested by two contemporary writers, worthy of perfect confidence: Thomas de Champré and Roger Bacon.e
THE SIXTH CRUSADE (1217-1229 A.D.)
[1210-1215 A.D.]
The successful heroism of the French adventurers before Constantinople alarmed the Mussulmans, and Saphedin had gladly concluded a treaty for six years’ peace with the Christians. Palestine soon again became the theatre of ambition and of glory. Almeric and his wife died, and Mary, the daughter of Isabella and Conrad of Tyre, was the new ideal queen of Jerusalem, while Hugh de Lusignan, son of Almeric by his first wife, was proclaimed king of Cyprus. Hugh had married the princess Alice, half sister of the young queen, and daughter of Henry count of Champagne, and Isabella. There was not at that time any nobleman of rule or influence in Palestine capable of governing the state; and the ecclesiastical and civil potentates resolved that Philip Augustus of France should provide a husband for Mary. Philip Augustus fixed his eyes on Jean de Brienne, son of the count of Brienne in Champagne. Though the sovereignty over Jerusalem was titular, yet the command of the Christian army in Palestine, and the possession of a young queen so desirable as the ambassadors painted the daughter of Almeric, were circumstances so flattering to the imagination of an aspiring cavalier, that Jean de Brienne received the gift with joy; and the deputies were dismissed with the promise that in two years he would join them in Palestine with a powerful band. The truce of six years was on the point of expiring, and Saphedin offered to renew it, and to resign to the regency any ten castles or towns they might select, to be retained by them in perpetuity if the Saracens broke their faith. The knights of St. John, and those of the Teutonic order, argued strenuously for the acceptance of this offer; but the spirit of party was always the enemy of Palestine, and the Templars and clergy declared for war.
Thirteenth Century Crusader
At the appointed time Jean de Brienne arrived at Acre; the next day he received the hand of Mary, and shortly afterward was crowned, and received the oaths of allegiance of the barons. Only three hundred knights had participated in his hopes of restoring the fortunes of the Holy Land, for the enthusiasm and love of glory of the western chivalry were diverted into new channels. England and Germany were torn by internal disturbances, the court of France was watching the turn of events, and Pope Innocent employed the penitents in putting an end to the heresy of the Albigenses. The destroyers of heretics and of infidels were alike praiseworthy; and a crusade into the south of France was less dangerous than a voyage to Syria. From these various causes the Mussulmans in Asia were forgotten or disregarded.[69] As peace had been refused, Saphedin marched an army to the country round Tripolis. The king displayed his valour in many a fierce encounter; and though he never conquered his foes, yet he broke the impression of the enemy, and saved his states from utter annihilation. He foresaw the approaching ruin of the holy cause; every day the Saracens made some acquisition; and the Latin barons, by every opportunity, and for every pretext, returned to Europe. He wrote, therefore, to the pope that the kingdom of Jerusalem consisted only of two or three towns, and that the civil wars between the sons of Saladin alone suspended its fate.
[1215-1217 A.D.]
Every project of ambition which the daring genius of Gregory VII had formed was embraced by the ardent spirit of Innocent III. In raising a fabric of ecclesiastical policy on the ruins of gospel liberty, the importance of guiding the military arm of Europe was not lost sight of. The commands of the Vatican were hurled upon every part of Europe, calling men to exterminate infidelity. The protection of St. Peter was promised to the families and fortunes of the pilgrims. They who had bound themselves to pay usury were released from their oaths; and secular power should compel the Jews to remit their claims. The indulgences were revoked which had been granted to those who quitted their homes in order to exterminate heresy in Provence, and infidelity in Spain.