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CHAPTER X: Innocent

It appears that notwithstanding the blood which had been fruitlessly shed in the "holy" cause, the zeal of the popes was not lessened. But Innocent III., who foresaw much greater advantages to the tiara in the taking of Constantinople than in the deliverance of Jerusalem, readily pardoned the leaders of the crusade for having broken through their engagements, and was resolved to reap all the advantages he could from an event so unexpected. Up to a recent period the armies of the cross had no other view but to attack the infidels. That confederacy was now about to be directed against their fellow-christians. In the south of France and elsewhere, the ostentations, pomp and ambition of the clergy had given great offence to many of the laity; who publicly complained that in the members of the sacred profession they could not discover the ministers of a religion founded on humility and peace, and had formed a resolution not to consider them as their pastors. Under the name of Patarins, Cathares and Vaudois, they had spread themselves in the southern provinces, and particularly in Languedoc, contiguous to Alby, which they seemed to have made their headquarters. Innocent, who was too sagacious not to see the future ill consequences to the papal power if the daring principles of these sectarians were permitted to extend, resolved on their extermination. By the assistance of the clergy, who were equally interested in their destruction, he preached up a crusade and formed a powerful army, the command of which he entrusted to Simon de Montfort. At the same time he erected a bloody tribunal, by which unhappy victims were dragged to the stake on the testimony of the vilest informer. It was in every respect as iniquitous as the Inquisition, of which it was in fact the origin. Two religious orders, lately established under the auspices of Innocent and entirely devoted to his interest, were commissioned to preside at these executions. Thousands of the inhabitants of Alby (whom we know by the name of Albigenses), persecuted by the soldiers of the cross and the members of the Inquisition, perished by the swords of the former or expired in the flames kindled by the latter.

After the inhuman persecution, carried on under the banners of the God of mercy, Innocent resumed his project of conquering the Holy Land; but he could not persuade the emperor to join in the design, because his throne was too much disturbed; nor the kings of France and England, as they were too deeply engaged in their mutual quarrels. Andrew, king of Hungary, and John de Brienne, titular sovereign of Jerusalem, commanded this crusade, and Cardinal Julien, legate of the pope, accompanied them. As the Christian leaders perceived that Egypt was the support of the Turks of Palestine, they formed a new plan of attack, and directed their first operations against that kingdom. In this they were successful. The enemy, after having sustained several severe defeats, abandoned the flat country to the Christians, and took refuge in the mountains. The generals, sensible of the great danger of marching in a country to which they were strangers, thought it necessary to secure the heights, and reconnoitre the places through which they were to pass, before they proceeded any farther. The cardinal, consulting only the dictates of impetuous ardor, treated their prudence as timidity, and declared for pursuing the barbarians immediately. Finding the two kings opposed his opinion, he assumed the style of a superior, showed them the pope's order, and being supported by the Knights of St. John and the Templars, obliged them to pay a blind obedience to his will. The army thus governed by this ecclesiastic, daily committed new blunders, and at length was hemmed in between two branches of the Nile. The Saracens then opened their sluices, and were preparing to drown the Christians, who thought themselves happy to preserve their lives, by supplicating the mercy of the enemy, and being allowed to return to Europe, though covered with disgrace.

The crusades seemed now to be at an end; for the dire misfortunes which attended these distant expeditions had quite extinguished the zeal of Christian warriors; and the ferment which pervaded all Europe would not allow sovereigns, however martial or ambitious, to leave their respective countries. But there was yet another struggle to be made for the possession of the Holy Land, the relation of which, although it carries us too forward in our attempt at chronological order in this outline of general history, must be given here. Louis IX. of France better known by the name of St. Louis, having recovered from a dangerous illness, made a vow to take the cross; and, with all the zeal of one who was desirous to signalize himself in the places that had been sprinkled with the blood of the Redeemer, he invited his people to follow his example, and effect the deliverance of Palestine from the power of the infidels. His consort, Margaret of Provence, marched at his side in order to share his dangers ; his brothers and the principal nobility of the kingdom accompanied him. Nor was the French monarch left to contend with the enemy single-handed. Prince Edward, the valiant son of the king of England, followed with a large train of English noblemen. Having arrived on the coast of Egypt, the army made good their landing, and marched for Damietta, A. D. 1246. Margaret led the troops in person, and the city was carried by storm. The intrepid conduct of the leaders, and the success which had hitherto crowned their arms, seemed to show that the decisive moment was now at hand when the subjection of Egypt was to secure the conquest of Judea. But a sudden and dreadful pestilence which raged in the Christian camp, a dearth of provisions, and the imprudent ardor of the count of Artois, who was surrounded by the enemy, and perished with the flower of the nobility, gave a most unhappy turn to its prosperous commencement. Louis was attacked near Massoura, and, notwithstanding his heroic behavior, his army sustained a signal discomfiture, and he himself was made prisoner: A. D. 1250. Such was the fate of the last crusade for the recovery of Palestine.