Old Fuller[f] says, “At this time, the spring-tide of their mirth so drowned their souls that the Turks, coming in upon them, cut every one of their throats to the number of twenty thousand; and quickly they were stabbed with the sword that were cup-shot before. A day which the Dutch (the Germans) may well write in their calendars in red letters dyed with their own blood, when the camp was their shambles, the Turks their butchers, and themselves the Martinmasse beeves, from which the beastly drunkards differ but a little.”
About the time of the massacre at Joppa, Henry, count of Champagne, the acknowledged king of Jerusalem, died. The grand master of the Hospitallers represented to Isabella the propriety of her marriage with Almeric de Lusignan, king of Cyprus, who had lately succeeded his brother Guy. It was thought that Acre and its vicinity could not remain in the hands of the Latins unless they were governed by a king, and that, in every circumstance, Cyprus, as a place of succour and retreat, would be a valuable ally to Jerusalem. With equal truth it might have been argued that, if there were a powerful king in Palestine, faction, the great foe of the state, could not raise its head. Familiarised to the joys of royalty and love, the widowed queen embraced with rapture new prospects of happiness, and in her eyes Almeric was as estimable as she had found her divorced husband Humphry, or her deceased lords Conrad and Henry. The union was approved of by the clergy and barons, it was celebrated at Acre, and Almeric and Isabella were proclaimed king and queen of Cyprus and Jerusalem.
THE FIFTH CRUSADE (1201-1204 A.D.)
[1201-1204 A.D.]
The Third and Fourth Crusades were created by the ordinary influence of papal power and royal authority; but the Fifth sprang from genuine fanaticism. At the close of the twelfth century a hero arose in France, worthy of companionship with Bernard. Fulk, of the town of Neuilly, near Paris, was distinguished by the vehemence and ability of his preaching, and as in early life he had drank deeply of the cup of pleasure he was well qualified to describe the different states of the sinner and the saint. He did not involve himself in the speculative absurdities of the day, but declaimed against the prevailing vices of usury and prostitution. For two years he preached without success, but after that time “heaven lent its aid to the efforts of the preacher, in order that his words, like arrows from a powerful bow, might penetrate the depraved hearts of men.” Accordingly, miracles attested celestial approbation, and his sermons were received as oracles. With the extension of his fame his wishes for religious good increased, and his soul was inflamed with the desire of accomplishing the great aim of Christendom. He accordingly assumed the cross, and war with the infidels became the copious matter of his sermons.[c]
Thirteenth Century Crusader
The Fifth Crusade was an individual enterprise. Since the failure of the Third, Jerusalem was forgotten and wars between kings and Christian peoples took the place of the pious expeditions. England, Germany, and France, once united for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, were now armed one against the other. The emperor Otto IV was excommunicated; Philip Augustus had been, John was to be. All these excommunicants gave little thought to the Holy Land. The great pope Innocent III wanted to bring it back to their minds and caused a new crusade to be preached, promising the remission of all sins to those who served God for one year. Fulk the curé was the pope’s mouthpiece. He visited a tournament that was being held in Champagne, and his burning words made all the princes and knights assembled there assume the cross. This time, as on the first, the kings held aloof, and the people did also. Knighthood alone took part, and rather to show strength of arms than any deep piety, for the affair was nothing more, or little more, than a plundering expedition. Baldwin IX, count of Flanders, and Boniface II, count of Montferrat, were at its head. And it had been previously proved that the sea route was much preferable to the land, the crusaders sought ships at Venice.
That city was even then the Queen of the Adriatic. Driven by Attila’s invasion to the lagoons, the people from the mainland had prospered in that most remarkable situation in the world. None of the invasions that passed over Italy had reached them. Their trade had extended, and the islands and shores of Istria and Illyria recognised their superiority. When the crusaders appeared, the Venetians encouraged them not only through piety but the spirit of gain as well. The Mohammedans and Greeks were their rivals in the eastern Mediterranean and they found this a good opportunity to dispossess them. The interested services rendered the crusaders in 1130 had brought the Venetians the privilege of opening in each town of the new kingdom of Jerusalem a quarter exclusively their own, and at the same time they took possession of the Greek islands of Rhodes, Samos, Scio, Mytilene, and Andros. In 1173 Venice had made its dogeship elective, and established with its grand council that aristocratic government which kept its power through many ages.
Such was Venice when the crusaders put in an appearance. Geoffrey de Villehardouin,[g] seneschal to the court of Champagne, himself narrates the mission in which he took part. It was a curious sight—that of the feudal lords obliged, kneeling and in tears, to beg the people humbly for ships. “We will grant them; we will grant them,” replied the sovereign people. City of merchants and seamen, Venice could not but sell such a service, and demanded 85,000 marks or 20,230 kilograms of silver, which to-day would be equal to about £161,840 or $809,200, but in those days was worth much more. The knights could not produce such a sum, and in place of cash the Venetians offered to take in payment a hostile city if the crusaders would capture it for them. They had already taken from the Greeks the principal cities of the Dalmatian coast—Spalato, Ragusa, and Sebenico. One alone remained to prevent their complete dominion over the Adriatic—Zara, still occupied by the king of Hungary. In vain did Innocent III thunder against this detour from the crusade; the Venetians got Zara and Doge Dandolo, ninety years old, assumed the cross (1202).