§ 48. CHARACTER AND CAUSES OF THE CRUSADES. 215
beyond the Western seas to the recovery of the holy sep ulchre. Before his fourth and last journey to America he wrote to Alexander VI., renewing his vow to furnish troops for the rescue of that sacred locality.1 There were seven greater Crusades, the first beginning in 1095, the last ter minating with the death of St. Louis, 1270. Between these dates and after 1270 there were other minor expe ditions, and of these not the least worthy of attention were the tragic Crusades of the children.
The most famous men of their age were identified with these movements. Emperors and kings went at the head of the armies, — Konrad III., Frederick Barbarossa, Frederick II., Richard I. of England, Louis VII., Philip Augustus and Louis IX. of France, Andrew of Hungary. Fair women of high station accompanied their husbands or went alone to the seats of war, such as Alice of Antioch, Queen Eleanor of France, Ida of Austria, Berengaria, wife of Richard, and Margaret, queen of Louis IX. Kings' sons shared the same risks, as Frederick of Swabia, Sigurd, and Edward, son of Henry III., accompanied by Eleanor, his wife. Priests, abbots, and higher ecclesiastics fought manfully in the ranks and at the head of troops.2 The popes stayed at home, but were tireless in their appeals to advance the holy project. With many of the best popes, as Honorius III. and Gregory X., the Crusades were their chief passion. Monks, like Peter the Hermit, St. Bernard, and Fulke of Neuilly, stirred the flames of enthusiasm by their eloquence. But if
1 John Fiske, Discovery of America, I. 318, 419, 505.
2 The Itinerary of Bichard /., giving an account of the Third Crusade, lays stress upon the good fighting qualities of the prelates and clergy. It speaks of one priest who was incessantly active against the enemy, hurling darts from a sling with indefatigable toil, I. 42. The archbishop of Besan§on superintended the construction of a great machine for battering down the walls of Acre and met its expense, I. 60. Two hundred knights and three hundred followers served under archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury, old man as he was, and " abbots and bishops led their own troops, fighting manfully for the faith," I. 62.
216 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
some of the best men of Europe and those most eminent in station went on the Crusades, so also did the lowest elements of European society, — thieves, murderers, perjurers, vaga bonds, and scoundrels of all sorts, as Bernard bears witness.1 So it has been in all wars.
The crusading armies were designated by such titles as the army " of the cross," " of Christ," " of the Lord," " of the faith."2 The cross was the badge of the Crusaders and gave to them their favorite name. The Crusaders were called the soldiers of Christ,3 pilgrims, peregrini, and "those signed with the cross," crucisignati or signatores. Determin ing to go on a crusade was called " taking the cross " or "taking the sign of the cross."4
Contemporaries had no doubt of the Crusades being a holy undertaking, and Guibert's account of the First Crusade is called "The Deeds of God, accomplished through the Franks," G-esta Dei per Francos.
Those who fell under Eastern skies or on their way to the East received the benefits of special indulgence for sins committed and were esteemed in the popular judgment as martyrs. John VIII. , 872-882, pressed by the Saracens who were devastating Italy, had promised to soldiers fighting bravely against the pagans the rest of eternal life and, as far as it belonged to him to give it, absolution from sins.5 This precedent was followed by Urban II., who promised the first
1 De militibus templi, V., Migne, 182, 928.
2 Roger of Wendover, Luard's ed., M. Paris, III : 35.
3 Milites Christi, Robert the Monk, VII., Sec., III. 867 ; Christi militia, Guibert, VII. , II. , Bee. , IV. 229. The army was also called crucifer exercitus, Ekkehard, Rec. V. 16.
4 The French terms were se croiser, prendre la croix, prendre le signe de la croix. See, for example, Villehardouin, 2, 8, 18, Wailly's ed. pp. 3, 7, 13. This historian of the Fourth Crusade also calls the Crusaders les croises, 38, Wailly's ed. p. 24.
5 Quoniam illi, qui cum pietate catholicce religionis in belli certamine cadunt, requies eos ceternce vitce suscipiet contra paganos atque infideles strenue dimicantes, etc., Gottlob, Kreuzablass, 25.