Fourth Crusade, 1203.— In 1203 a Ibnrth expa&n was determined upon by pope Innocent III, altk^ the condition of the Christians was by no meaas ssLi as to call for it. It assembled at Yenice, the go^en- ment of which republic, from political reasons, pee- iscd to support the movement by its navy. The uaj never went to Palestine at all, but preferred to tib possession of the Byzantine empire. The kader d this host of pseudo-CruscukrSj Baldwin, count of Fbs- ders, was seated on the throne of the East is 1^ where he and his successors maintained tiMSsdw for fifty-six years. Some writers do not nambert^^ expedition among the regular cmsadea, but cout -' the fourth crusade another expedition, in 1217, vhs± king Andrew II of Hungary was prevailed cpca I5 pope Honorius III to undertake. He was evi^Mitel by the kings of Jerusalem and Cypma, oooqoo^ 1 fortress on Mount Tabor and some small forts, bet t 1218 returned home. In the same year connt W3Ei3 of Holland, being allied with the kings of Jer&i^ and Cyprus, landed in Egypt He conqnered io 1^- Damietta, but in 1221 this town and all other ces- quests were lost again.
Fifth Crusade, 1228-1229.— This waa commsttWK Frederick II, emperor of Germany. It begto in l£^. and terminated in a treaty of ten years between t^ monarch and the sultan of Egypt, by which Pkkfiise was ceded to Frederick, who, aftor being etot^ king of Jerusalem in 1229, returned to Evope,Iesr- ing his new possessions in a state of tranqmllitj.
Sixth Crusade, 1248.— In 1244 a new nice of Tcfc burst into Syria, and once more the Holy UbA ^^ into the hands of these ferocious barbarians. Jems}- lem was burned and pillaged. In 1248, Louis II ^ France (St. Louis) headed a crusade against tbrs^ At the head of 40,000 soldiers he embarked frco Ct- pms, and from there went to Egypt, conquering ^ coast and the town of Damietta, but when he idnsctJ further he was utteriy defeated, and taken priscseri? the sultan of Egypt. By the payment of a large tai- som he obtained his liberty (1250), and thatof tiie oditf prisoners. On his return to Euix^ he was regtf^ as a sort of martjrr in the cause of Christ.
Seventh Crusade, 1270.— This also was prisiin^">'
CRUSADES
595
CRUSE
trtaken by St. Louis, but he haviiig died at Tunis in r70, on hte way to Palestine, prince Edward of Eng- nd, afterwards Edward I, who had originally intcnd- l to place himself under the command of St. Louis, arched direct for Palestine, where his rank and rep- ation in arms gathered round him all who were will- g to fight for the Cross. Nothing of consequence, >wever, was accomplished, and Edward soon re- Lmed to England, the last of the Crusaders. Acre, ntioch, and Tripoli still continued in the possession ' the Christians, and were defended for some time by le Templars and other military knights ; but in 1291 ere capitulated, the other towns soon followed.its ex- nple, and the knights were glad to quit the country, id disperse themselves over Europe in quest of new nployment, leaving Palestine in the undisturbed pos- ission of the Saracens.
Since that time there have been no further crusades, ithoogh the popes have more than once attempted to scite the Christians to the undertaking. Some writ- rs do not hesitate to affirm that the popes, under this evice, aimed at universal power over the kings and rmies employed in their service, which were numer- OS, because a plenary indulgence was the reward of a irusader. The Christian princes were exhausted in \m struggle, while the pope became omnipotent both ver clergy and people. The people sold their proper- f for a mere trifle, or made a gift of it to monasteries nd abbeys. It is computed that nearly two millions f Christians lost their lives during the crusades by laughter, hunger, pestilence, etc.
It is impossible to overlook the fact that, in some espects, the crusades exercised a most beneficial in- laence on modem society. M. Gnizot, in his Leo- urea on European CivUizaHonf endeavors to show their iesign and function in the destinies of Christendom. 'To the first chroniclers," he says, **and consequently 0 the first Crusaders, of whom they are but the ex- pression, Mohammedans are objects only of hatred : it s evident that those who speak of them do not know hem. The historians of the later crusades speak imte diflferently : it is clear that they look upon them 10 longer as monsters ; that they have to a certain ex- «nt entered into their ideas ; that they have lived dth them; and that relations, and even a sort of jympathy, have been established between them." Fhos the minds of both, but particularly of the Cru- jaders, were partly delivered from those prejudices K^hich are the offspring of ignorance. " A step was taken towards the enfranchisement of the human mmd." Secondly, the Crusaders were brought into contact with two civilizations, richer and more ad- ranced than their own — ^the Greek and the Saracenic ; wd it is beyond all question that they were mightily itruck with the wealth and comparative refinement of the East. Thirdly, the close relationship between the chief laymen of the West and the Church occasioned by the crusades enabled the former "to inspect more lutnowly the policy and motives of the papal court." The result was very disastrous to that spirit of ven- eration and belief on which the Church lives, and in many cases an extraordinary freedom of judgment and hardihood of opinion were induced, such as Eu- rope had never before dreamed of. Fourthly, great social changes were brought about. A commerce be- tween the East and West sprang up, and towns--the early homes of liberty in Europe — ^began to grow great and powerftil. The crusades, indeed, " gave maritime commerce the strongest impulse it had ever received.*' As the crusades were a rising of the Christian nations of Europe for the triumph of the Church under the direct control of the popes, they naturally gave a pow- erful influence to the hierarchical plans of the popes. The emperors and kings, by following the exhortations of the popes and taking the cross, acknowledged the claims of the popes that the ecclesiastical power was higher than the secular. As the popes did not person-