5. Facts and Stories Illustrative of Islam during this Period. a. The Greek Embassy to Bagdad. "In the beginning of . . . 917, two ambassadors from the Greek emperor . . . arrived in Bagdad on a mission to its caliph, bringing an abundance of costly presents. . . . The caliph, having appointed a day on which he would receive them, ordered that the courts and passages and avenues of his palace should be filled with armed men, and that all the apartments should be furnished with the utmost magnificence. A hundred and sixty thousand armed soldiers were arranged in ranks in the approach to the palace; next to these were the pages of the closets, and chief eunuchs, clad in silk and with belts set with jewels, in number seven thousand, four thousand white, and three thousand black, — besides seven hundred chamberlains; and beautifully ornamented boats of various kinds were seen floating on the Tigris hard by. The two ambassadors passed first by the palace of the chief chamberlain, and, astonished at the splendid ornaments and pages and arms which they there beheld, imagined that this was the palace of the caliph. But what they had seen here was eclipsed by what they beheld in the latter, where they were amazed by the sight of thirtyeight thousand pieces of tapestry of gold-embroidered silk brocade, and twenty-two thousand magnificent carpets. Here, also, were two menageries of beasts, by nature wild, but tamed by art, and eating from the hands of men: among them a hundred lions, each with its keeper. They then entered the palace of the Tree, enclosing a pond from which rose the Tree: this had eighteen branches, with artificial leaves of various colors, and with birds of gold and silver [or gilt and silvered] of every kind and size perched upon its branches, so constructed that each of them sang. Thence they passed into the garden, in which were furniture and utensils not to be enumerated; in the passages leading to it were suspended ten thousand gilt coats of mail. Being at length conducted before the caliph himself, they found him seated on a couch of ebony, inlaid with gold 1145 ΤΟ 1149. St. Bernard as an emissary of the pope preaches the second crusade. The king of France and the emperor lead its forces, but return unsuccess ful after a disastrous march and heavy losses in Palestine. 1149 TO 1171. 1171 ΤΟ * * * Saladin deposes the Moslem rulers at Cairo, and restores it to the caliphate at Bagdad; reconquers Jerusalem for Islam, but allows the Latins to leave the city. 1187. ΤΟ 1194. A third crusade is preached in Europe. Rich1187 ard I. the Lion-Heart, of England, Philip Augustus of France, and the Emperor Frederick I. the Red-bearded (Barbarossa) set forth for the Holy Land. In England, the Saladin tithe, a tax of a tenth, is levied on all who do not personally join the crusade. Frederick dies in Asia Minor; during the siege of Acre the soldiers die by thousands of a pestilence. Philip Augustus and Richard quarrel on the way and after their arrival at Acre. On the surrender of this town, Philip returns to France; quarrel between Richard and the Duke of Austria; the armies, too much weakened to attack Jerusalem, are broken up, and make their way as they can back to Europe. Richard, passing through Austria in disguise, is recognized and imprisoned; for a heavy ransom raised from the English people the emperor releases him. 1194 TO 1198. Unsuccessful crusading. 1198 ΤΟ Innocent III. commissions Fulk of Neuilly to preach a new crusade, the chief leaders of which 1204. are French barons; they ask the Venetians for provisioned ships; unable to pay for them in money, they agree with the Doge to pay for them by conquering Zara; the Doge himself joins the crusade, and the Venetians are to have half of all the conquests made; Zara conquered, the crusaders take up the cause of a dethroned Byzantine prince, whom they undertake to restore to the throne; the pope protests; nevertheless they depose the reigning emperor on behalf of his rival, whom they in turn dethrone, since he fails to pay the money promised to the crusaders. Baldwin, Count of Flanders, is now chosen emperor of the East, and the Latin Empire of Constantinople is founded. STUDY ON | a. What and who has the commanding force in Europe in 1095 ? What facts show this? What does the long siege of Antioch show in regard to the comparative military power of Christian and Turk? What is the cause of the third crusade? Compare the treatment of Jerusalem by the crusaders and by Omar and Saladin. What do many of the crusaders evidently consider their first Christian duty? What civilizations are brought into contact by the crusades? What new material forces do they put at the disposal of the pope? What increase of wealth do they bring to the Church? What proof can you find that the crusading zeal diminishes during this period? What reason can you assign? Why should France lead in these movements rather than Germany? Why should the French emperors of Constantinople and the kingdom of Jerusalem be called Latin? Why should Europeans still be called "Franks" throughout the East? b. Summary of Events in Empire. 1122 ΤΟ 1152. Quarrel of investitures settled by the Concordat of Worms, by which the emperor retains but onehalf his former rights. It is established that the emperor must receive his power from a conclave of German princes, temporal and spiritual. - Under Arnold of Brescia, Rome attempts to revive her old republican government, free from the rule of the pope. The Polish dukes conquer West Pomerania, whose people promise to recognize the lordship of Poland, and to become Christians. Frederic Barbarossa, of the Swabian house of Hohenstaufen, is elected emperor; the cities of Northern Italy form the Lombard League to pre 1152 ΤΟ 1190. |