WHEN Peter the Hermit assumed the scrip and staff at Amiens, and travelled eastward on his way to Jerusalem, Christians had for centuries been in the habit of making pilgrimages to Palestine.
It was while Constantine the Great wore the imperial purple, and ere yet the seat of empire had been removed from Rome to Constantinople, that Christians began to manifest interest in the Holy City. Destroyed by the Romans under Titus, and rebuilt by the Romans under Adrian, Jerusalem enlisted the pious sympathies of Helena, widow of Constantius Chlorus; and, in 326, the Empress, then in her eightieth year, undertook a pilgrimage to the places which had witnessed the birth and crucifixion of the Redeemer of mankind, and rendered her visit memorable by founding the church of the Nativity at Bethlehem. Influenced by his mother's example, Constantine built a magnificent church on the site of the Holy Sepulchre, made explorations, which resulted in the discovery of the true cross; and so smoothed the way, that Christians freed from fear of persecution, and secure under protection of the Roman eagles, resorted eagerly to Palestine.
The privileges, however, which the pilgrims enjoyed proved temporary. Julian, the nephew of Constantine, on succeeding to the imperial throne, and abjuring the Christian faith, treated its professors as visionaries, and even attempted to weaken the authority of prophecies by rebuilding the temple. This operation entrusted to Jews, was commenced with vigor. But the death of the apostate Emperor put a stop to the work; and Christians thanking God for having confounded the designs of the Heathen, continued their pilgrimages with renewed ardor.
No sooner had the warlike nations of the West been converted from the worship of Thor and Odin to a knowledge of the truth, than they became eager to visit those places where their Redeemer had taught and suffered, made the blind to see and the lame to walk, restored life to the dead and given hope to the living. The roads to Zion were crowded with pilgrims, eager to worship at the Sepulchre; Jerusalem became the seat of a patriarch; new and splendid churches were erected; monasteries sprung up on the banks of rivers and on the sides of mountains; and thousands of Europeans remained in Palestine to devote their lives to works of beneficence and charity.
But evil days were at hand. At the beginning of the seventh century, while Heraclius occupied the throne of Constantinople, the Persians, who had long been formidable foes of the Empire, penetrated to Palestine, and under their king, Cosroes, took the Holy City by storm, and destroyed the church of the Holy Sepulchre. After shedding much blood, and doing o much mischief, they withdrew, carrying with them the true cross, the patriarch, and many of the principal inhabitants. After ten years of mourning and woe, however, the scene changed, and Heraclius, triumphing over his Pagan foes, brought back the surviving captives. Deeming the true cross by far the most glorious of his trophies, the Emperor entered the city walking barefoot, and carrying the sacred relic on his shoulders.
Heraclius now prepared to repair the sacred edifices, which the Persians had profaned and damaged. Everything, indeed, seemed prosperous, and Christians congratulated each other on their troubles being at an end. But at this period the East was astonished by the rise of the Saracens, a new race, destined as conquerors, to display a degree of energy which enabled them to influence, in a remarkable manner, the fortunes of the world.
It was at the close of the seventh decade of the sixth century, while the heirs of Adolphe the Goth were-flourishing in Spain, and the heirs of Clovis were cutting each other's throats in France, that Mahomet drew his first breath in the city of Mecca. Nothing in his birth or boyhood indicated the influence he was destined to exercise. From his earliest youth, however, he indulged in religious meditations, and ere long conceived the idea of feigning a mission and founding a faith. Every year, with this view, Mahomet retired to a cave, and, pretending to conferences with the angel Gabriel, he at length produced the Koran, and declared that there was only one God, and that Mahomet was the prophet of God.
The imposture was not perpetrated without inconvenience. Mecca became the scene of popular tumult, and the pretended prophet, at the ago of fifty-three, fled to Medina. Mahomet, however, did not deepair; and joined by Omar, a valiant soldier, he proceeded to propagate his doctrines, subdued all Arabia, and took eaareral cities of Syria.
At the age of sixty-three Mahomet expired in the midst of his successes. But the warriors who had followed his fortunes prosecuted his conquests, and Omar, elected to the caliphate, after seizing Egypt and the; whole of .Persia, wrenched Syria from the Empire of Constantinople. At an early period of their victorious career, the Saracens advanced some mysterious claim to Jerusalem; and, in 636, they appeared in hostile array before the walls. "Let us," they said, approaching the city, "enter into the holy place which God has promised."
After sustaining a siege of four months' duration, the Christians agreed to surrender; and Omar, entering Jerusalem in his garment of camel's wool, ordered the mosque bearing his name to be erected on the site of the Temple. It appears, however, that the austere Caliph exhibited forbearance, and left the vanquished liberty to exercise their religion. But Christians, prevented from ringing their bells and displaying their crosses, were perpetually reminded of lost privileges, and the Patriarch, yielding to grief, sickened and died. "Alas! alas!" exclaimed the godly man, "the abomination of desolation is in the holy place!"
The presence of Moslem rulers in Syria and Palestine did not prevent pilgrimages to the Holy Sepulchre. Indeed, when the heirs of Omar ceased to reign as caliphs, and the Abassides, Mahomet's male heirs established their throne at Bagdad, Christians found their position at Jerusalem far from intolerable. Haroun Alraschid, the great caliph of his dynasty, prompted by respect for the name of Charlemagne, regarded them with favor, and treated them with kindness. All pilgrims to the Holy City, without danger, found entertainment in an hospital, composed of twelve hostel-ries, and surrounded by gardens and vineyards, in the vale of Jehoshaphat; and many found a last resting-place in a cemetery, shaded with trees and dotted with cells, near the fountain of Shiloe.
Under protection of the black banner of the Abas-side caliphs, Christians for a time prayed in peace and worshipped in security. But, about the middle of the tenth century, events occurred to blast their hopes and destroy their comfort. The Abasside dynasty no longer produced men capable of dealing with countless difficulties; and the Fatamites, claiming the caliphate as heirs of Ali, Mahomet's son in law, fixed their throne at Cairo, and projected the conquest of Syria.
This crisis roused the Emperor of Constantinople, and an effort was made to save the Christians from impending danger. At first, fortune smiled on the enterprise; but the death of the Greek Emperor soon rendered it hopeless. Jerusalem surrendered in 960, and the black banner of the Abassides was displaced by the green flag of the Fatimites.
For a time, the Caliphs of Cairo treated the Christians with some degree of favor; indeed they felt anxious to enrich their dominions, so long desolated by war, and encouraged pilgrimages for the sake of the gold and silver received in exchange for relics and consecrated trinkets. During the first five decades of the eleventh century, saints and sinners flocked from the West to Jerusalem. A belief prevailed in Europe that the "second coming of Christ" was at hand; and the attractions of the Holy City became more irresistible than ever. People of all ranks, in hopes of atoning for their sins, rushed to the East; and a Duke of Normandy, the father of William the Conqueror, and a Count of Anjou, the ancestor of the Plantagenets, appeared among those who assumed the garb of pilgrims. The Caliphs, glad of such an opportunity to replenish the treasury, demanded a piece of gold from every one who entered the gates of Jerusalem; and, as most of the Christians left home with nothing but their scrip and staff, the exaction of this tribute proved most cruel.
But whatever their trials under the government of the Fatimites, Christians, ere long, found themselves in the power of masters still less merciful. While the luxury of Bagdad and Cairo was debilitating the descendants of men who had followed the banner of Mahomet and Omar, from the deserts beyond the Oxus came bands of fierce horsemen, with woollen caps and wooden stirrups, to continue the struggle of Moslem against Christian. These Turks after seizing the Empire of Persia, embraced the Mahometan faith, allied themselves with the Caliph of Bagdad, attacked the possessions of the Fatimites, and speedily restored the banners of the Abassides to the walls of the cities of Syria.
Jerusalem naturally excited the ambition of this new band of Moslem warriors; and, in 1065, the Holy City yielded to their impetuous assault. Entering where Roman, and Persian, and Arabian had come before them, the Turks slaughtered and devastated without the slightest distinction. Mosques and churches were given up to pillage, and the blood of Christian and Egyptian flowed in the same stream.
While one army of Moslems wrested Jerusalem from the Fatimites, another, having captured Edessa and Antioch, proceeded to wrest Nice from the Greeks. Dominant in Asia Minor, a Turk named Soliman erected his throne at Nice; and in that city, fifty miles from the capital of the Empire of the East, the Moslem warriors, occupying as it were, an advanced post, awaited a favorable opportunity to cross the Bospho-rus, possess themselves of Constantinople, and precipitate themselves on Christendom.
With ferocious foes in Jerusalem, and ferocious foes in Asia Minor, Christians in the East found their plight deplorable. Those who resided in the Holy City were exposed to cruel persecutions. Those who made pilgrimages from Europe to the Holy Sepulchre were exposed to extreme peril. When Peter the Hermit turned his thoughts towards Palestine, matters had come to the worst. Christians were beaten with rods, loaded with chains, sold as slaves, and harnessed like oxen. Never had they felt so much misery, never had they entertained so little hope, as when Peter took the cross at Amiens, and turned his steps eastward to worship at the Holy Sepulchre.
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From John G. Edgar
The Crusades and the Crusaders, 1860
