



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 last prevailing over the chaos of the Dark Ages.

A very special kind of interest, moreover, belongs to {10} the story of
the Crusades in that the motive of the wars was the desire to rescue
from the hands of unbelievers

        _Those holy fields
  Over whose acres walked those blessed feet
  Which, fourteen hundred year before, were nailed
  For our advantage on the bitter cross._


But we shall see, as we read the story, that this was only a part of
the real motive power which inspired and sustained the Holy War.

Even if the land of Palestine and the Holy City, Jerusalem, had never
fallen into the hands of the Saracens, some such war was inevitable.
The East was knocking at the doors of the West with no uncertain sound.
An extraordinary force had come into existence during the four
centuries that immediately preceded the First Crusade, which threatened
to dominate the whole of the Western world.  It was a religious
force--always stronger and more effective than any other; and it was
only repelled with the greatest difficulty by Christendom, inspired,
not so much by the motive of religion, as by that curious mixture of
romance and adventurous design which we call chivalry.

Let us try, then, first of all, to get some idea of these Men of the
East, the Mohammedans or Saracens, who managed to keep Europe in a
state of constant turmoil for upwards of five centuries, and to do that
we must go back to the latter years of the sixth century after Christ.

About fifty miles from the shores of the Red Sea stands the city of
Mecca, one of the few important towns to be found on the fringe of the
great sandy desert of Arabia.  During hundreds of years Mecca had been
the venerated bourne of pilgrims, for, embedded in the walls {11} of
the sacred building known as the Kaaba, was the "pure white stone,"
said to have fallen from heaven on the day that Adam and Eve took their
sorrowful way from the gates of Paradise.

The Arabs, or Saracens, of these early days were closely connected with
their neighbours, the Jews of Palestine, and claimed the same descent
from Abraham through Ishmael, the outcast son.  They believed in the
existence of God, whom, to some extent, they worshipped, under the name
of Allah.  But they were deeply interested in nature-worship: the sun,
moon, and stars were their deities.  They bowed down before the "pure
white stone" in the Kaaba, now from its frequent handling rather black
than white.  They peopled the whole realm of nature--oceans, rivers,
mountains, caves--with spirits good and evil, called "jinns" or genii,
made, not of clay, like mortal men, but of pure flame of fire.

Once upon a time these jinns were said to have lived in heaven, and to
have worshipped the Lord of Hosts; but having rebelled, under the
leadership of Iblis, against Allah, they were cast forth, and descended
to the earth, where they became sometimes a pest and annoyance to men,
and sometimes their servants.

Many legends concerning these spirits are to be found in the Koran, the
sacred book of the Mohammedans.  One of these tells how the jinns were
wont to roam round about the gates of heaven, peeping and listening and
catching here and there a little of the converse of the angels.  But
these were only isolated words, or disjointed phrases; and the
mischievous jinns, hoping that evil would come of these odds and ends
of conversation separated from their context, whispered them
industriously in the ears of the sons of men.  These the {12} latter,
always eager to know more of the Unseen World, readily accepted, and
invariably put a wrong interpretation upon them.  Hence arose
superstition, black magic, false prophecies, evil omens, and all such
things as had in them the germ of truth, but had been misunderstood and
misapplied.

From the midst of this imaginative and nature-worshipping people there
arose the prophet who was to found one of the most powerful religious
sects in the world.

In the year 570 A.D., in the city of Mecca, a boy child came to the
young mother Amina, to comfort her in her widowhood for the husband who
had died a few weeks before.  Tradition has been active regarding the
cradle of this child, the young Mohammed.  He is said to have exclaimed
at the moment of birth, "Allah is great!  There is no God but Allah,
and I am His prophet."

That same day an earthquake was reported to have overturned the
gorgeous palace of Persia; a wild camel was seen in a vision to be
overthrown by a slender Arab horse; and Iblis, the evil spirit, leader
of the malignant jinns, was cast into the depths of ocean.

What is actually known about the matter is that the babe was presented
to his tribe on the seventh day after his birth, and was named
Mohammed, the "Praised One," in prophetic allusion to his future fame.

For the first five years of his life, according to Arabian custom, the
child was sent to a foster-mother in the mountains that he might grow
up sturdy and healthy.  Soon after the end of that period, his mother
died, and he was left to the care of his uncle, Abu Talib, a wealthy
trader, who was so fond and proud of his nephew that he let the boy
accompany him on many of his long caravan {13} journeys to Yemen or
Syria.  Thus the young Mohammed became intimately acquainted with all
sorts and conditions of men.  He had no books, but he was an eager
listener to the poems recited by the bards in the market-place of each
great town.  He quickly absorbed the legends and superstitions of his
country, formed his own opinion about the idol-worship practised by
many of the Arab tribes, and was present on a great historic occasion,
when an oath was taken by his tribe in alliance with others, to be the
champions of the weak and the avengers of the oppressed.  Moreover,
since his own home was at Mecca, the "Fair of all Arabia," the centre
of trade for India, Syria, Egypt, and Italy, the boy had plenty of
chances of acquiring that knowledge of the world which subsequently
served him in good stead as a leader of men.

He grew up a silent, thoughtful youth, loved and respected by his
companions, who named him El Amin, the "Faithful One."  He was notable
too for his good looks, for his bright dark eyes, clear brown skin, and
for a curious black vein that swelled between his eyebrows when he was
moved to anger.  He had wide opportunities for thought and meditation,
since, as was the case with most Arabs, his occupation was for years
that of a shepherd on the hillsides of his native city.  Eventually, at
his uncle's wish, he became camel-driver and conductor of the caravan
of a certain rich widow named Kadija.  The long journey to Syria was
undertaken with success, and on his return the widow Kadija looked upon
the young man of twenty-five with eyes of favour.  She imagined she saw
two angels shielding him with their wings from the scorching sunshine,
and, taking this for an indication that he was under the special
protection of {14} Allah, sent her sister to him, according to a common
custom of Arabia, to intimate her willingness to be his bride.

So the poor camel-driver became the husband of the wealthy Kadija, and
a very happy marriage it turned out to be.  Six children came to
gladden the peaceful home, of whom the youngest, Fatima, was to play a
part in future history.  To all appearances these were years of calm
existence, almost of stagnation, for Mohammed; but all the time the
inner life of the man was growing, expanding, throwing out fresh
tentacles of thought and inquiry, as he brooded upon the condition, and
especially upon the religious condition, of his fellow-countrymen.  For
the Arabs of his day were a degenerate race, much given to drinking and
gaming