The History of the Crusades (vol. 3 of 3)

ATTEMPTED CRUSADES AGAINST THE TURKS.

Pope Nicholas IV. attempts to revive a fresh crusade against the East—Sends missionaries to the Tartars—Their contests with the Mussulmans revive the hopes of the Christians—Argun, the Tartar chief—Conquests of the Tartars—Cazan, the Mogul prince, sends ambassadors to the Pope—Clement IV. proclaims a crusade at the council of Vienna—Exploits of the Hospitallers—Conquests and wealth of the Templars—Accusations against them—Philip le Bel of France takes the cross—His death—Philip le Long—His death—Charles le Bel—His death—Raymond Lulli preaches a fresh crusade—Philip of Valois convokes an assembly at Paris for reviving a fresh crusade—Renewed persecutions of the Christians in Palestine—Brother Andrew of Antioch—Petrarch an apostle of the holy war—Humbert II., dauphin of Viennois, takes the cross—Hugh of Lusignan, king of Cyprus—Political troubles of France—King John taken prisoner at Poictiers—Engages in a fresh crusade—Urban V. convokes a meeting at Avignon—Peter de Lusignan, and Charles IV., emperor of Germany, engage in the crusade—Alexandria captured and burnt by the Crusaders—Barbary invaded by the Christian forces—Tripoli captured and burnt—Towns of Syria destroyed—Origin and history of the Turks and the Ottoman empire—Their conquests and invasion of Greece—Constantinople menaced by the Turks—Its tottering state—The emperors of Constantinople—Amurath, the Turkish sultan—Bajazet—Two popes at the same time—Crusade against the Turks determined on—Bajazet defeats the Christian forces with great slaughter—Defeats the Hungarians—Manuel, emperor of Constantinople, visits France—Distracted state of Europe—History and conquests of Tamerlane the Tartar—The Turks defeated, and Syria overrun by the Tartars—Bajazet raises the siege of Constantinople, and is defeated by Tamerlane—Smyrna captured and destroyed—The Ottomans reconquer the provinces overrun by Tamerlane—The Greek Church submits to papal authority—The barbarities of the Turks towards the Christians—Pope Eugenius exhorts the Christian states to another crusade—Cardinal Julian preaches in its favour—Amurath enters into a treaty of peace with the Crusaders, which being violated, they are defeated with great slaughter—Ladislaus, king of Poland, and Cardinal Julian, slain—Battle of Warna—Accession of Mahomet II. to the Ottoman throne—His extensive empire—Besieges Constantinople—Character of Constantine Palæologus, the Greek emperor—His great efforts in defence of his capital—Mahomet takes the city by storm—Death of the emperor and destruction of the Greek empire pp. 92-158.

BOOK XVII.—A.D. 1453-1481.

CRUSADES AGAINST THE TURKS.

Consternation among the Christian states at the fall of Constantinople.—Philip, duke of Burgundy, assembles his nobility at Lille—Curious festival held by—Enthusiasm in favour of a crusade against the Turks—Bishop Sylvius, John Capistran, Frederick III. of Germany, and Pope Calixtus III. endeavour to stir up the crusade—The Turks penetrate into Hungary—Valour of Hunniades—They are defeated at Belgrade—An alarming comet—Bishop Sylvius elected Pope—Extended conquests of Mahomet II.—He subdues Greece—The Pope convokes an assembly at Mantua to urge on the crusade—His negociations with Mahomet—Bosnia conquered—Pius II. engages personally in the crusade, reaches Ancona, and dies—Scanderberg defeats the Turks—Mahomet II. swears to annihilate Christianity—The king of Persia marches against the Turks, and his army is destroyed—Cardinal Caraffa commands a fleet of Crusaders—Satalia and Smyrna pillaged by the Christian forces—Possessions of the Venetians and Genoese captured by the Turks—Jacques Cœur—Cyprus subjected to the Mussulmans—Taken possession of by the Turks—Rhodes bravely defended by the knights of St. John—The Turks invade Hungary and different parts of Europe simultaneously—Defeated by Corvinus, king of Hungary—Otranto captured by the Turks, and afterwards abandoned—Pope Sextus IV. implores the aid of Christian Europe against the Turks—Distracted state of Italy—Death of Mahomet II., and divisions in his family—Zizim disputes the Turkish empire with Bajazet, and visits Europe—Charles VIII. of Naples, engages in a crusade against the Turks—Alphonso II. of Arragon—Italy invaded, and Rome possessed by the French—Andrew Palæologus sells his claims to the empire of the East—Death of Zizim—-Bajazet declares war against Venice—Negotiates a treaty—Undertakes an expedition against Portugal—Commercial ambition of Venice—Diet at Augsburgh—Helian’s speech against the Venetians—Council of Lateran convoked by Julius II.—Bajazet II. dethroned, and succeeded by Selim—Disorders of Christendom—Selim conquers the king of Persia and the sultan of Egypt—Palestine and all the rival powers of the East under the domination of the Turks—Exertions of Leo X. for reviving a crusade against them—Vida, the Italian poet—Novagero’s eulogies on Leo X.—Cultivation of Greek in Italy—Great preparations for the new crusade—Eloquence of Sadoletus, and letters of Francis I. in its favour—Sale of indulgences—Quarrels of the Augustines and the Dominicans—Preaching of Luther against indulgences—Soliman succeeds to the Ottoman empire—Belgrade and Rhodes captured by the Turks—The knights of St. John expelled from Rhodes, and transferred to Malta—Francis I. made prisoner at the battle of Pavia—The Hungarians defeated by the Turks, and Louis II. slain—Clement VII. imprisoned by Charles V.—Religious distractions of Europe—Vienna besieged by the Turks—Hungary enters into a treaty of peace—Policy of Henry VIII., of Francis I., and of Charles V.—The Barbary states taken under the protection of the Ottoman Porte—Preaching of Luther—Heroic defence of Malta—Death of Soliman, and accession of Selim—Capture of Cyprus—The Turks signally defeated at the naval battle of Lepanto—Universal rejoicings throughout Christendom—General spread of civilization in Europe—Brilliant age of Leo X.—The military power of the Turks begins to decline—Defeated by Sobieski before the walls of Vienna—Causes and history of their decline—The Moors driven from Spain—State of Christendom in Europe, and progress of the Reformation—Ignatius Loyola—Pilgrimages to the Holy Land—A spirit of resignation assumes the place of enthusiasm for the crusades pp. 159-250.

BOOK XVIII.—A.D. 1571-1685.

Reflections on the state of Europe, on the various classes of society, and on the progress of navigation, industry, arts, and general knowledge during and after the crusades pp. 251-348.

APPENDIX.

Pilgrimages—Itinerary from Bordeaux to Jerusalem—Foulque of Anjou—William of Malmesbury—Robert of Normandy—Charlemagne—Chronicle of Tours—Letters of Bohemond, of Archbishop Daimbert, and of the principal Crusaders—Council of Naplouse—Bull of Pope Eugenius III. for the second crusade—Letter from Saladin, detailing his capture of Jerusalem and the battle of Tiberias—Sermon made at Jerusalem by Mohammed Ben Zeky—Bull of Gregory VIII. A.D. 1187—Council of Paris, held in 1188—Notes on the Greek fire—Memoir on the forest of Saron, or the enchanted forest of Tasso—Ralph Dicet—Ralph of Coggershall—Trick attempted by Saladin—Imprisonment of Richard I.—Journey in Wales by Archbishop Baldwin—Jourdain’s letter on the “Assassins” of Syria—History of the Ismaëlians, or “Assassins”—Treaty entered into by the leaders of the Crusaders for the division of Constantinople and the Greek empire—On the death of the marquis of Montferrat—Fragment of Nicetas’s Chronicles on the destruction of the statues of Constantinople by the Crusaders—Jourdain’s letter on the crusade of children in 1212—Letter of Pope Innocent III. urging on the crusade to the Holy Land—Poetry of the troubadours for the crusades—Funeral ceremonies of the Prussians—Letter from Count d’Artois on the taking of Damietta—Letter of St. Louis on his captivity and deliverance—List of the great officers or knights who followed St. Louis to Tunis—Instructions of St. Louis addressed on his death-bed to Philip-le-Hardi—Edward I., king of England, and his attempted assassination—Opening of the troncs in France, and expenditure of the receipts—Memoir of Leibnitz, addressed to Louis XIV.—Capitulations between France and the Ottoman Porte—Raynouard’s note on Hanmer’s “Mysterium Baphometi Revelatum” pp. 349-500.

GENERAL INDEX p. 501.