CRUSADES
556
CRUSADES
fided to the care of the Friars Minor. Such was the
modus Vivendi finally established between Christendom
and the Mohammedan world.
Notwithstanding these changes it may be said that, until the seventeenth century, the imagination of Western Christendom was still haunted by the idea of the Crusades. Even the least chimerical of states- men, such as Pere Joseph de Tremblay, the confiden- tial friend of Richelieu, at times cherished such hopes, while the plan set forth in the memorial which Leibniz addressed (1672) to Louis XIV on the conquest of Egypt was that of a regular crusade. Lastly, there remained as the respectable relic of a glorious past the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, which was founded in the eleventh century and con- tinued to exist until the French Revolution. Despite the valiant efforts of their grand master, Villiers de I'Isle Adam, the Turks had driven them from Rhodes in 1522, and they had taken refuge in Italy. In 1530 Charles V presented them with the Isle of Malta, ad- mirably situated from a strategic point of view, whence they might exercise surveillance over the Mediterranean. They were obliged to promise to give up Malta on the recoveiy of Rhodes, and also to make war upon the Barbary pirates. In 1565 the Ivnights of. Malta withstood a furious attack by the Turks. They also maintained a squadron able to put to flight the Barbary pirates. Recruited from among the younger sons of the noblest families of Europe, they owned immense estates in France as well as in Italy, and when the French Revolution broke out, the order quickly lost ground. The property it held in France was confiscated in 1790, and when, in 1798, the Direc- tory undertook an expedition to Egypt, Bonaparte, in passing, seized the Isle of Malta, whose knights had placed themselves under the protection of the Czar, Paul I. The city of Valetta surrendered at the first summons, and the order disbanded ; however, in 1826 it was reorganized in Rome as a charitable association.
The history of the Crusades is therefore intimately connected with that of the popes and the Church. These Holy Wars were essentially a papal enterprise. The idea of quelling all dissensions among Christians, of uniting them under the same standard and sending them forth against the Mohammedans, was conceived in the eleventh century, that is to say, at a time when there were as yet no organized states in Europe, and when the pope was the only potentate in a position to know and understand the common interests of Chris- tendom. At this time the Turks threatened to invade Europe, and the Byzantine Empire seemed unable to withstand the enemies by whom it was surrounded. Urban "ll then took advantage of the veneration in which the holy places were held by the Christians of the West and entreated the latter to direct their com- bined forces against the Mohammedans and, by a bold attack, check their progress. The result of this effort was the establishment of the Christian states in Syria. While the authority of the popes remained undisputed in Europe, they were in a position to furnish these Christian colonies the help they required ; but when this authority was shaken by dissensions between the priesthood and the empire, the crusading army lost the unity of command so essential to success. The maritime powers of Italy, whose assistance was indis- pensable to the Christian armies, thought only of using the Crusades for political and economic ends. Other princes, first the Hohenstaufen and afterwards Charles of Anjou, followed this precedent, the crusade of 1204 being the first open rebellion against the pontifical will. Finally, when, at tlu^ close of the Middle Ages, all idea of the Christian monarchy had been definitively cast aside, when state policy w;is the sole influence that actuated the Powers of Europe, the crusade seemed a respectable but troublesome survival. In the fifteenth century Europe permitted the Turks to seize Constantinoiile, and [irinces were far less con-
cerned about their departure for the East than about
finding a way out of the fulfilment of their vow as
crusaders without losing the good opinion of the pub-
lic. Thereafter all attempts at a crusade partook of
the nature of political schemes. Notwithstanding
their final overthrow, the Crusades hold a very impor-
tant place in the history of the world. Essentially the
work of the popes, these Holy Wars first of all helped
to strengthen pontifical authority; they afforded the
popes an opportunity to interfere in the wars between
Christian princes, while the temporal and spiritual
privileges which they conferred upon crusaders vir-
tually made the latter their subjects. At the same time
this was the principal reason why so many civil rulers
refused to join the Crusades. It must be said that
the advantages thus acquired by the popes were for
the common safety of Christendom. From the outset
the Crusades were defensive wars and checked the
advance of the Mohammedans who, for two centuries,
concentrated their forces in a struggle against the
Christian settlements in Syria; hence Europe is large-
ly indebted to the Crusades for the maintenance of its
independence. Besides, the Crusades brought about
results of which the popes hatl never dreamed, and
which were perhaps the most important of all. They
re-established traffic between the East and West,
which, after having been suspended for several centu-
ries, was then resumed with even greater energy; they
were the means of bringing from the depths of their
respective provinces and introducing into the most
civilized Asiatic countries Western knights, to whom
a new world was thus revealed, antl who returned to
their native land filled with novel ideas; they were
instrumental in extending the commerce of the Indies,
of which the Italian cities long held the monopoly, and
the products of which transformed the material life of
the West. Moreover, as early as the end of the
twelfth century, the development of general culture
in the West was the direct result of these Holy Wars.
Finally, it is with the Crusades that we must couple
the origin of the geographical explorations made bj'
Marco Polo and Orderic of Pordenone, the Italians
who brought to Europe the knowledge of continental
Asia and China. At a still later date, it was the spirit
of the true crusader that animated Christopher Co-
lumbus when he undertook his perilous voyage to the
then unknown America, and Vasco da Gama when he
set out in quest of India. If, indeed, the Christian
civilization of Europe has become universal culture,
in the highest sense, the glory redounds, in no small
measure, to the Crusades.
KrGLER, Gesch. der Kreuzziige in Collect. Oncken (1880); RoHRiCHT, (7r.s-c/i. der Kreuzziige im Umriss (Innsbruck, 189S); Brkhier. L'Eplise et VOrient au moyen-dge, Les croisades (Paris, 1907); Prutz, Kulturgesch. der Kreuzziige (Berlin. 1883); Uey, Essai aur la domination franeaise en Syrte pendant le moyen-f'ige (Paris, 1866); Coxder, The Latin Kingdom of Jeru- salem (London. 1897); Rohricht, Gesch. der Ktmigreichs Jeru- salem (Innsbruck, 1898); Mas-L,\trie, Hist, de Vile de'Chypre (Paris, 1852-61); Delaville-Le-roux, Le.s Hospitalicrs en Terrc Sainte et h Chypre (Paris, 1904); Prutz. Enlwickelung und Unlcrgang des Tempelherrenordens (Berlin, 1SS8); Riant, Expeditions et peterinages des Scandinaves en Terrc Sainte (Paris, 1865); Stevenson, The Crusades in the East (.Cwnhriiige, 1907).
I. Pouque^tlle, Memoire sur les itablissements francais au Levant depuis Van 500 iusqu'a la fin du XVII' siecle in Me- moires .lead, des Inscript., 2d series. X; Riant, La donation de Ungues marquis de Toscane, au Saint Sepulcre et les etablisse- menls latins de Jerusalem au X* si^cle, ibid. (1884); Idem, Invcntaire des lettres historiques des croisades in Archives de VOrient Latin, I.
II. Hagenmeyer, Chronologic de la premiere eroisade (Paris, 1902); Sybel, Gcsch. des ersten Kreuzzuges (Innsbruck, 1901); CilALANnoN, Essai sur le rtgne d' Alexis Comiune (Paris. 1900); Hagenmeyer, Peter der Eremit (I.«ipzig, IS, 9); Idem. Epis- tula- et eharttv adhistoriam primi belli spcctantes {limsY^ruckt 1901 ).
III. Nr.UMANN. Bernard von Clainwtx und die Anfiinge des zipeiten Kreuzziiges (HeidelberE, 1882); Schlumberger, Ren- aud de ChAtillon, prinet d'Antioche (Paris. 1898): Idem. Cam- pagnes du roi .imauru Ida Jerusalem en Egyple (Paris, 1906).
IV. Fischer, desch. des Kreuzziiges Kaisers Friedrichs (Leip- zig, 1870); Z1M.MERT. Der deulsch-bi/zantinische Konflikt vom Juli 11S9 bis Fchruar 1 IM in Buzantinise)ie Zeitschrift (.ISCa); Idem. Der Fnede :u .idrianapol , ibid. (1902); Stanley Lane Pole, Saladin and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (Ne'
