CHAPTER XIX THE CRUSADES Section '/?>. Origin of the Crusades Of all the events of the Middle Ages, the most romantic and fascinating are the Crusades, the ad'enturous expeditions to Syria and Palestine, undertaken by devout and warlike kings and knights with the hope of permanently reclaiming the Holy Land from the infidel Turks. All through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries each generation beheld at least one great army of crusaders gathering from all parts of the W^est and starting toward the Orient. Each year witnessed the departure of small bands of pilgrims or of solitary soldiers of the cross. For two hundred vears there was a continuous stream of Europeans of eerv rank and station — kings and princes, powerful nobles, simple knights, common soldiers, ecclesias- tics, monks, townspeople, and even peasants — from England, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, making their way into western Asia. If they escaped the countless dangers which beset them on the journey, they either settled in this distant land and devoted themselves to war or commerce, or returned home, bringing with them tales of great cities and new peoples, of skill, knowledge, and luxury unknown in the West. 460
