§ 59. EFFECTS OF TFIE CRUSADES. 293
although it may not be possible to weigh that influence in exact balances. It was a matter of great importance that men of all classes, from the emperor to the poorest serf, came into personal contact on the march and in the camp. They were equals in a common cause, and learned that they possessed the traits of a common humanity, of which the isolation of the baronial hall kept them ignorant. The emancipating effect which travel may always be expected to exert, was deeply felt.1 The knowledge of human customs and geography was enlarged. Richard of Hoveden is able to give the distances from place to place from England to the Holy Land. A respectable collection of historical works grew out of the expeditions, from the earliest annalists of the First Crusade, who wrote in Latin, to Villehardouin and John de Joinville who wrote in French. The fountains of story and romance were struck, and to posterity were con tributed the inspiring figures of Godfrey, Tancred, and St. Louis — soldiers who realized the ideal of Christian chivalry. As for commerce, it would be hazardous to say that the enterprise of the Italian ports would not, in time, have de veloped by the usual incentives of Eastern trade and the impulse of marine enterprise then astir. It cannot be doubted, however, that the Crusades gave to commerce an immense impetus. -The fleets of Marseilles and the Italian ports were greatly enlarged through the demands for the transportation of tens of thousands of Crusaders ; and the Pisans, Genoese, and Venetians were busy in traffic at Acre, Damietta, and other ports.2
1 This is clearly apparent from the English and other mediseval chronicles, such as the Chronicles of M. Paris, Hoveden, etc.
2 The ships of the two great Military Orders alone carried great numbers of pilgrims. In 1182 one of their ships was wrecked on the Egyptian coast with 1500 pilgrims. In 1180 several vessels met the same fate, 2500 pil grims were drowned and 1500 sold into slavery. In 1246 their ships carried from the port of Marseilles alone 6000 pilgrims. See Prutz in Essays, p. 54. This author, in laying weight upon the economic influences of the Crusades, says properly, that they "had only in part to do with religion, and particu-
294 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
In these various ways the spell of ignorance and narrow ing prejudice was broken, and to the mind of Western Europe a new horizon of thought and acquisition was opened, and remotely within that horizon lay the institutions and ambitions of our modern civilization.
After the lapse of six centuries and more, the Crusades still have their stirring lessons of wisdom and warning, and these are not the least important of their results. The elevating spectacle of devotion to an unselfish aim has sel dom been repeated in the history of religion on so grand a scale. This spectacle continues to be an inspiration. The very word " crusade " is synonymous with a lofty moral or religious movement, as the word " gospel " has come to be used to signify every message of good.
The Crusades also furnish the perpetual reminder that not in localities is the Church to seek its holiest satisfaction and not by the sword is the Church to win its way; but by the message of peace, by appeals to the heart and conscience, and by teaching the ministries of prayer and devout worship is she to accomplish her mission. The Crusader kneeling in the church of the Holy Sepulchre learned the meaning of the words, " Why seek ye the living among the dead ? He is not here, He is risen." And all succeeding generations know the meaning of these words better for his pilgrimage and his mistake.
Approaching the Crusades in enthusiasm, but differing from them as widely as the East is from the West in methods and also in results, has been the movement of modern Protestant missions to the heathen world which has witnessed no shedding of blood, save the blood of its own Christian emissaries, men and women, whose aims have
larly with the church," p. 77. Arabic words, such as damask, tarif, and bazar, were introduced into the vocabularies of European nations, and prod ucts, such as saffron, maize, melons, and little onions, were carried back by the Crusaders. The transfer of money made necessary the development of the system of letters of credit.