



Produced by Al Haines








[Frontispiece: _The First Crusaders in Sight of Jerusalem_]




  THE STORY OF
  THE CRUSADES


  BY

  E. M. WILMOT-BUXTON

  F.R.Hist.S.

  AUTHOR OF
  'BRITAIN LONG AGO' 'THE BOOK OF RUSTEM'
  'TOLD BY THE NORTHMEN' ETC.



  GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO. LTD.
  LONDON BOMBAY SYDNEY




  _First published December 1910_
  _by_ GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO.
  _39-4l Parker Street, Kingsway, London, W.C.2
  Reprinted September 1913
  Reprinted in the present series:
  March 1912; May 1914; January 1919; March 1924;
  January 1927; November 1927; July 1930_



  _Printed in Great Britain by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh_




  Contents


  I.  The Story of Mohammed the Prophet
  II.  Mohammed as Conqueror
  III.  The Spread of Islam
  IV.  The Rise of Chivalry
  V.  The Story of Peter the Hermit
  VI.  The Story of the Emperor Alexios and the First Crusade
  VII.  The Siege of Antioch
  VIII.  The Holy City is won
  IX.  Bernard of Clairvaux and the Second Crusade
  X.  The Loss of Jerusalem
  XI.  The Story of the Third Crusade
  XII.  The Adventures of Richard Lion-Heart
  XIII.  The Story of Dandolo, the Blind Doge
  XIV.  The Forsaking of the High Enterprise
  XV.  The Story of the Latin Empire of Constantinople
  XVI.  The Story of the Children's Crusade
  XVII.  The Emperor Frederick and the Sixth Crusade
  XVIII.  The Story of the Seventh Crusade
  XIX.  The Crusade of St Louis
  XX.  The Story of the Fall of Acre
  XXI.  The Story of the Fall of Constantinople
  XXII.  The Effect of the Crusades

  List of Books Consulted

  Index of Proper Names




Illustrations


The First Crusaders in Sight of Jerusalem... _Frontispiece_

The Vision of Mohammed

Pilgrims of the Eleventh Century journeying to the Holy City

The Preaching of Peter the Hermit

Duke Godfrey marching through Hungary

Robert of Normandy at Dorylæum

The Storming of Jerusalem

King Louis surrounded by the Turks

Richard and Philip at the Siege of Acre

Richard of England utterly defeats the Army of Saladin

The Fleet of the Fifth Crusade sets Sail from Venice

The Children crossing the Alps

John of Brienne attacking the River Tower

The Landing of St Louis in Egypt

The Last Fight of William Longsword

The Fall of Acre


Map of the Crusades




{9}

The Story of the Crusades




CHAPTER I

The Story of Mohammed the Prophet


_A poor shepherd people roaming unnoticed in the deserts of Arabia: a
Hero-Prophet sent down to them with a word they could believe: See! the
unnoticed becomes world-notable, the small has grown world-great_.

CARLYLE: _Hero as Prophet_.


The two hundred years which cover, roughly speaking, the actual period
of the Holy War, are crammed with an interest that never grows dim.
Gallant figures, noble knights, generous foes, valiant women, eager
children, follow one another through these centuries, and form a
pageant the colour and romance of which can never fade, for the
circumstances were in themselves unique.  The two great religious
forces of the world--Christianity and Islam, the Cross and the
Crescent--were at grips with one another, and for the first time the
stately East, with its suggestion of mystery, was face to face with the
brilliant West, wherein the civilisation and organisation of Rome were
at