and they contributed more and more, in process of time, to the good order, prosperity, and general welfare of his subjects.

THE CRUSADES.

1. THE Crusades were expeditions undertaken for the recovery of the Holy Land out of the hands of the Infidels or Saracens. They derive their name from the French word croix, cross, which the adventurers in these holy wars always wore as an ensign of their cause. The Crusades began in the eleventh century, and continued about two hundred years. They are important to the historian, as involving the interests of the principal nations of Europe, at that time; and to the philosopher, as fraught with consequences intimately connected with the happiness of succeeding generations. They were also highly important, if we consider the great numbers who were engaged in them, or their long and obstinate perseverance in the same design, notwithstanding an almost uninterrupted series of hardships, losses, and defeats. 2. It is natural to the human mind, to view those places which have been distinguished by being the residence of any illustrious personage, or the scene of any great transaction, with some degree of delight and veneration. Hence Judea, or the Holy Land, has been an object of veneration with Christians from the earliest ages of the church; and, in periods of great ignorance, this veneration has nearly approached to idolatry. To visit the country which the Almighty had selected as the inheritance of his favorite people, and in which the Son of God had accomplished the redemption of mankind, was regarded as the most acceptable service that could be paid to heaven. And as this distinct pilgrimage could not be performed without considerable expense, fatigue, and danger, it appeared the more meritorious, and came to be considered as an expiation for almost every crime.

3. An opinion which spread with rapidity over Europe

What were the Crusades ?-From what did they derive their name? At what time did they commence, and how long did they continue ? -Why have Christians been in the habit of visiting Judea, or the Holy Land?

about the close of the tenth and beginning of the eleventh century, and which gained universal credit, wonderfully augmented the number of credulous pilgrims, and increased the ardor with which they undertook this perilous voyage. The thousand years mentioned by St. John were supposed to be accomplished, and the end of the world to be at hand. A general consternation seized mankind; many relinquished their possessions; and abandoning their friends and families, hurried with precipitation to the Holy Land, where they imagined that Christ would quickly appear to judge the world. But the pilgrims were exposed to outrages of every kind from the infidel Saracens; and, on their return from Palestine, they related the dangers which they had encountered, and described with exaggeration the cruelty and vexations to which they had been subjected..

4. When the minds of men were thus prepared, the zeal of a fanatic monk, who conceived the idea of leading all the forces of Christendom against the infidels, and of driving them out of the Holy Land by violence, was sufficient to give a beginning to that wild enterprise. Peter the Hermit, for that was the name of this martial apostle, ran from province to province with a crucifix in his hand, exciting princes and people to this Holy War; and wherever he came, kindled the same enthusiastic ardor for it with which he himself was animated. Others likewise engaged in this same enterprise. Some of them went clad in sackcloth, with their heads and feet bare. They flew from kingdom to kingdom with incredible speed, promising to each soldier of the cross, at least, the eternal blessing of heaven, and threatening such as remained inactive with the endless wrath of an offended Deity.

5. Their success was beyond calculation. Persons of all ranks catched the contagion, and enlisted under the banners of the cross. The flame spread, and continued to burn, from the shores of the Baltic to the straits of Gibraltar, and from the banks of the Danube to the bay of Biscay. In all places

What circumstance increased the number of pilgrimages to the Holy Land about the close of the 10th and the beginning of the 11th century? What treatment did Christians receive in their pilgrimages?-Who actively engaged in exciting Christians, at this time, to avenge the injuries they received?-Was Peter successful in enlist ing persons to go against the Infidels?

seen.

the martial trumpet was heard, and warlike preparations were Immense swarms of people thronged from all quarters to places of general rendezvous, whence, in still larger bodies, they rolled like mighty torrents into Asia. If we may believe the concurring testimony of contemporary writers, six millions of persons actually devoted themselves to this holy warfare; and so completely were the nations of Europe agitated and carried away by this general and powerful passion, that to make, preserve, and recover acquisitions in Judea and its neighborhood, was the grand and favorite object for two centuries.

6. The first efforts of valor, animated by enthusiasm, were irresistible; part of Lesser Asia, all Syria, and Palestine, were wrested from the infidels; the banner of the cross was displayed on Mount Zion; Constantinople, the capital of the Christian empire, in the East, was afterwards seized by a body of those adventurers, who had taken arms against the Mahometans; and an Earle of Flanders, and his descendants, kept possession of the imperial throne during half a century. But though the first impression of the Crusaders was so unexpected that they made their conquests with great ease, they found infinite difficulty in preserving them. Establishments so distant from Europe, surrounded by warlike nations, animated with fanatical zeal scarcely inferior to that of the Crusaders themselves, were perpetually in danger of being overturned. Before the expiration of the thirteenth century, the Christians were driven out of all their Asiatic possessions, in the acquisition of which immense sums of money had been expended, and not less than two millions of men had perished.

7. But however vain and extravagant the Crusades were, they were productive of lasting good to mankind. The general union of all Europe in one common cause, although a wild religious frenzy was at the bottom of it, prevented many wars, hushed many commotions, and caused numberless animosities to

How many persons are said to have enlisted in the Crusades ?What contributed to the success of the Crusades in their first expedi tions?What prevented their maintaining the advantage which they had thus obtained over the Saracens ?-How many persons are said to have lost their lives in them?-Why did the Crusades serve to produce refinement of manners, improvements in the arts, and ex» tension of commerce?

be forgotten-the inhabitants of different countries became acquainted with each other; and especially, when they met in the remote regions of Asia, they looked upon each other as brethren engaged in one grand cause, where life, honor, and glory, were all at stake. The Crusades may in fact be regarded as the commencement of that intercourse among the people of Europe which has been ever since increasing, and which cannot fail to assimilate and polish their manners. 8. Rude and ignorant as the Crusaders were, they could not travel through and continue in so many interesting countries with indifference; or behold their various customs and institutions, without acquiring information and improvement. Among the Greeks, they surveyed the productions of the fine arts, and the precious remains of antiquity, the magnificence of the eastern courts, and the models of extensive and curious manufactories. In Asia, they beheld the traces of knowledge and arts, which the patronage of the caliphs had diffused through their empire. Every object which struck their attention, pointed out a far higher state of improvement than their own countries had reached; every object, therefore, while it excited the wonder of them all, could not fail to excite a spirit of imitation among those who are active and ingenious. As these new scenes presented themselves, their eyes were gradually opened to a more extensive prospect of the world, and they acquired new modes of thinking, felt a sense of new wants, and a taste for new gratifications.

9. In the superior intelligence and refinements of Cairo and Constantinople, they discovered various commodities worth importing into Europe. From this period is dated the introduction of silk and sugar, which were conveyed into Italy from Greece and Egypt; and the advantages which resulted from a more enlarged and adventurous traffic to the Pisans, the Genoese, and Venetians, who laid the foundation of the modern commercial system. The Crusaders began that intercourse with the East which, under the pacific forms of commerce, has continued with little interruption ever since. On their return to Europe, they introduced a new taste in buildings, a more superb display of magnificence on public occasions, the rich manufactures of Asia, together with a more romantic spirit of enterprise, and the first improvements in learning and science.

10. The most beneficial effects of the Crusades were visi

ble in the alteration which they occasioned in the state of property, by the emancipation of vassals from the tyranny of their lords, and by increasing the growing independence of the feudal tenants. Many of the great barons, unable to support the expenses incurred by their expeditions to Palestine, sold their hereditary possessions. The monarchs of different countries took advantage of these opportunities of annexing considerable territories to their dominions, and purchased them at a small expense. The fiefs, likewise, of those barons who died in the holy wars without heirs, reverted to their respective sovereigns; and by these possessions being taken from one scale and thrown into the other, the regal power increased in proportion as that of the nobility declined.

CHIVALRY.

1. CHIVALRY arose naturally from the condition of society in those ages in which it prevailed. Among the Germanic nations, the profession of arms was esteemed the sole employment that deserved the name of manly or honorable. The initiation of the youth to this profession was attended with peculiar solemnity and appropriate ceremonies. The chief of the tribe bestowed the sword and armor on his vassals, as a symbol of their devotion to his service. In the progress of the feudal system, these vassals, in imitation of their chief, assumed the power of conferring arms on their sub-vassals, with a similar form of mysterious and pompous ceremony.

2. The candidate for this distinction, accompanied by his sponsors and his priests, passed the night previous to his initiation in watching his arms, and in the duty of prayer. The next morning he repaired to the bath, the water of which was intended to serve as an emblem of the purity of his profession. He then walked to the nearest church, clothed in white garments, and presented his sword to the minister officiating at the altar, who returned it to him with his benedic

How did they tend to produce a better distribution of power, by altering the condition of property?-With what ceremony were presons admitted to knighthood?