Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/426

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

JERUSALEM


364


JERUSALEM


hundreds of them being knights. To tliese regular resources already mentioned we must add the liaiuls of crusaders constantly arriving from Europi', Imt wIkisc turbulence and lack of discipline often rendered tlicm more of an encumbrance than a help; besides, many considered that, having once engaged in combat with the Mussulmans, they had accomplished their vow and therefore returnetl to Europe, thus making continu- ous warfare wellnigh impossible. This explains why, with the well-organized Mussulman states arraye<l against it, the Kingdom of Jerusalem could only dis- pute the ground foot by foot for two centuries.

Nevertheless, despite its imperfect organization, the economic prosperity of the Latin kingdom attained an extraordinary height of development in the twelfth century. In order to repopulate the country, Baldwin I held out inducements to the Christian communities dwelling beyond the Jordan; in 1182 the Maronites of the Lebanon abjured their Monothelite heresy Most of the natives did likewise, and constituted the influ- ential middle class or burgesses of the various cities, having the right to own land and an autonomous administration under magistrates called reis. In the ports, the Italian cities of Genoa, Venice, and Pisa, and the French cities of Marseilles, Narbonne, etc., re- ceived grants of houses and even of districts independ- ently administered by their own consuls. Each of these colonies had lands or casaux on the outskirts of the city, where cotton and sugar-cane were cultivated; the colonial merchants had the monopoly of commerce between Europe and the East, and fi'eighted their out^ going ships with costly merchandise, spices, China silk, precious stones, etc., which the caravans brought from the interior of Asia. Industries peculiar to Syria, the manufacture of silk and cotton materials, the dye-works and glass factories of Tyre, etc., all helped to feed this commerce, as did also the agricul- tural products of the land. In exchange, the Western ships brought to Palestine such European products as were necessary to the colonists; two flotillas sailed yearly from Western ports, at Easter and about the feast of St. John, thus ensuring communication be- tween Palestine and Europe. Thanks to tliis com- merce, during the twelfth century the Kingdom of Jerusalem became one of the most prosperous states in Christendom. In the castles, as in the cities, the Western knights loved to surround themselves with gorgeous equipments and choice furniture, the latter often of Arabian workmanship. In Palestine there was a marked development along artistic lines, and churches were erected in the towns according to the rules of Roman architecture. Even now, the cathe- dral of St. John at Beirut, built about 1130-1140 and transformed into a mosque, shows us the style of edifice reared by Western architects, its structure recalling that of the monuments of Limousin and Languedoc. The specimen of ivory used as a binding for the Psalter of Melisende, daughter of Baldwin II, and preserved in the British Museum, displays a curi- ous decoration in which are combined designs of Byzantine and Araliian art. But it was military architecture that reached the greatest development and probably furnished models to the West; even to- day the ruins of the Crac of the Knights, built by the Hospitallers, astonish the beholder by their double gallery, their ma.ssive towers, and elegant halls. The Kingdom of Jerusalem, established as a result of the First Crusade, was thus one of the first attempts made by Europeans at colonization.

Rey, Leu colonies franqiiea de Syrie aux 12' et JS" sil'cles (Paris, 1883); Idem, JStudea sur Irs monuments de I'archilecture militaire dea croises (Paris, 1871); Douu. llisloire des institu- tions monarchiquea dans le royoume lulin de Ji'rusalem (Paris, 1894): ROhricht, GescJiichte des Kuniyreirfis Jerusalem (Inns- bruck, 1898). Sec also Chusadeh. LouI.S BrI^HIER.

IV. From thp: End op the Latin Kingdom to the Present Time.— (1) PnlilimI //jK(»n/.— The Latin


dominion over Jerusalem really came to an end on 2 October, 1187, when the city opened its gates to Saladin (Yusuf ibn Ayyub, Salah-ed-din, Emir of Egypt, 1169-9:3), although fragments of the Latin kingdom in Palestine lasted for another century. Frederick II acquired a short possession of Jerusalem itself by treaty later, and the title "King of Jeru.sa- lem" added an empty splendour to the styles of vari- ous European sovereigns almost to our own time. Nevertheless after 1187 the episode of Christian and Latin rule over the Holy City is closed. From that time it falls liack again into its former state of a city under Moslem government, in which Christian pil- grims are at best only tolerated.

As soon as Saladin's army entered the city they set about to destroy all traces of the Christian rule. They tore the great gilt cross from the Dome of the Rock, broke up the bells, plundered churches antl convents, restored all the buildings that had been mosques (notably the Dome of the Rock and the El-Aqsa mosque), turned other churches into stables or grana- ries, founded Moslem schools, hospitals, and all the pious institutions that go by the general name of waqf. While Europe was thunderstruck at the loss of the Holy City, and was preparing a new crusade to recapture it, letters were sent to all parts of the Mos- lem world announcing the glad tidings that El-Quds was now purified and restored to the true believers. But — true to the promise made by Omar (see above) — Saladin left the Holy Sepulchre, as well as a few other churches, to the Christians (the Orthodox). For the use of these they had to pay a heavy tribute. The church of the Knights of St. John was turned into a hospital (at the place still called Muristan, where the German Protestant church now stands). Saladin further strengthened the walls of the city when the Third Crusade (with King Richard of Eng- land) approached and threatened it (1191). In 1219 the Sultan Malik-el-Mu'azzam (d. 1227, viceroy at Damascus for El-Mansur) ordered these walls to be destroyed, lest they should Ijecome a protection for the Franks. In 1229 another short interlude began. Emperor Frederick II (1212-50) came on his (the Fifth) Crusade. He obtained by treaty with the Sultan of Egypt, El-Kamil (1219-38), possession of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and the pilgrin" roads from Jaffa and 'Akka for ten years and a half. The city was not to be fortified, and the Haram esh- shenf (the Temple area) was to remain in exclusive possession of the Moslems. In 1239 the Emir of Kerak, En-nasir Daud, conquered Jerusalem again and destroyed the Tower of David. But in 1243 he made over the city to the Latins without any stipula- tions. This led to the final loss of the city. For Es- salih Ayyub, Caliph of Egypt (1238-49), then called on the savage Khwarizmian tril)es from Mesopotamia to recapture it. They poured over Syria phuulcring and murdering, and in September, 1244, stormed Jerusalem. In the massacre that followed 7000 Christians perished; Jerusalem was restored once more, and finally, to the Empire of the Caliph. From this time the remaining Latin possessions in Palestine were lost one by one in ((uick succession. The last town, 'Akka (Saint-Jean d'Acre), fell in 1291.

The title "King of Jerusalem" went from Guy of Lusignan (King of Jerusalem and Cyprus, 11S6-92) to Henry of Champagne (1192-7), to whom it was al- ready only a title of pretence, since the Moslems ruled in the city. Amaury (Amalric) of Lusignan (brother of Guy), King of ("yprus (1194-120.5), was elected king liy the crusading army at Tyre, and married Isaliel, 'daughter of Aniuury I of Jerusalem (1102-73). He then ad. led the title of Jerusalem to that of Cyprus (.^maury II). From his time th(? Lusignan kings of Cyprus used the title of Jeru.salem and (|Uartered its arms (argent, a cross potent between four erosslets or) with their paternal coal (barry of ten azure and ar-