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CHAPTER IX: Turks

Three monastic and military orders, the Hospitallers, the Templars, and Teutonic knights, were instituted at Jerusalem, to protect the pilgrims from the attacks of the Turks. In this age the sacred was so confounded with the profane, that it was thought the virtues and austerities of the monk might be united with the warlike qualities and passions of the soldier. The new orders, loaded with wealth and particular privileges, in a short time became greedy, licentious, and insolent warriors, enemies of one another, and by their mutual hatred weakened the cause of Christianity. What happened before in Europe was likewise seen in Asia: every lord wanted to erect a sovereign power; principalities were subdivided into fiefs; discord prevailed, and the Turks would soon have destroyed them, if they had not likewise been divided among themselves.

The Christian empire in the east extended at this period from the borders of Egypt to Armenia; but it was encompassed by powerful enemies, and its population, though brave, was by no means considerable. The Turks had already taken Edessa, and there was great reason to be apprehensive for the fate of Jerusalem, when Eugenius III., fifty years after the beginning of the crusades, was solicited by deputies from the east to renew them. This time the monk St. Bernard took upon himself the office of its chief advocate. He is represented as running from town to town, and though ignorant of the language of the country, yet making the people follow him and performing numberless miracles. He, accordingly, everywhere gained an influence, of which there had been no parallel; yet his success could scarcely keep pace with his zealous wishes. Under the humble habit of a monk, Bernard enjoyed a greater respect than was paid to the most powerful princes: he was as eloquent as he was enthusiastic, and obtained an unbounded influence over the minds of the people. The emperor Conrad, who first listened to him with a resolution to oppose those dangerous emigrations, concluded with enrolling himself. Neither could Louis VII., king of France, resist the appeals of the orator. The people abandoned their habitations in crowds; the nobles sold their lands, and laid the price at his feet; and nearly a million of men solicited to be enrolled among the champions of Christianity. It is said that each of the armies had 70,000 "men at arms;" these consisted of the nobility, who were heavy armed, and followed by a much more numerous body of light cavalry. The number of infantry was immense. The emperor Conrad was the first that set out: he was the brother-in-law of Manuel-Comnenus, at that time reigning in Constantinople; but the Greeks, it is said, apprehensive that similar excesses would be committed by the crusaders as in the former expedition, furnished them with treacherous guides, which led to their destruction: his army was almost annihilated; upon which he fled to Antioch, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and returned to Europe with a mere handful of men. Louis met with similar disasters, and followed the example of Conrad; so that when they were compelled to withdraw, they left the Holy Land in a much weaker condition than they had found it.

Expeditions so ill planned and ill conducted served only to animate the Turks to the destruction of the Christians of Jerusalem, and to show them the little difficulty there would be in expelling them. Noradin, whom they chose for their leader, promoted this design, and Saladin, his successor, completed the work. The latter, after having usurped Syria, triumphed over the Persians, conquered Egypt and made himself master of dominions that extended to the Oxus, returned by sea in order to strip the Europeans of the places they still retained. Damascus, Aleppo and Acre opened their gates to the conqueror, who, after having artfully drawn the Christian army into narrow defiles, where he commanded the passes, obliged them to surrender with Lusignan, their king: A. D. 1187. He then marched towards Jerusalem, which, being in a manner defenceless, was easily taken; and thus he destroyed for ever the little kingdom which had not subsisted a century, and for the acquisition of which by the Christians so much interest had been excited and so much blood had been shed.

The news of the loss of the Holy Land spread consternation in Europe. Urban III., who had exerted all his influence, spiritual and temporal, to prevent their misfortune, died of grief soon after the fatal news reached his ear. The Christian princes suspended their quarrels, and the desire of recovering Jerusulem produced a third crusade: A. D. 1189. This was infinitely better planned than the former ones, and gave the most splendid hopes. Three princes of distinguished merit, who would have excited the admiration of any age, were the leaders of this expedition. Frederic I., surnamed Barbarossa, one of the most distinguished emperors that ever governed Germany, advanced by land at the head of 150,000 men: Philip Augustus, king of France, also conducted thither a large and well-appointed army: while Richard Cœur-de-Lion, king of England, the hero of this crusade, set out with his nobles and the flower of his troops. Isaac Angelus, the emperor of Constantinople, looking upon the crusaders as intruders, had formed an alliance with Saladin and the sultan of Iconium; but Frederic triumphed over the obstacles which were opposed to him; and though he found hostile armies everywhere on his march, he obtained many signal victories. In this manner he was proceeding towards Palestine, when he was drowned in a small river of Pisidia.

Philip of France and Richard the "lion-hearted" king of England, though ambitious rivals, were apparently united in their design of carrying on the holy war; and, in order to avoid the Greeks, they prudently preferred going by sea. Philip, who arrived first, distinguished himself in several engagements with the Saracens, took many places, and having made himself master of the open country, laid siege to Acre. In the meantime, Richard was advancing to second the efforts of the French monarch; and on his arrival they found that their united forces amounted to about 300,000 men.