under Walter passed safe through Hungary; but were attacked, and one-third of their number slain, in Bulgaria. Peter, who followed with 40,000 men, seeing on the walls of Semlin the clothes of sixteen crusaders who had been impaled, took a cruel revenge, massacring all the prisoners he could make. No sooner had they reached Constantinople, and recovered from their fatigues, than their riotous behaviour compelled Alexius to hasten their passage across the strait. They soon fell an easy prey to Soliman on the plains of Nice; and 300,000 perished before one single place was rescued from the infidels.

FIRST CRUSADE.—A disciplined army was now assembled under Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond of Toulouse, and Hugh the Great of Vermandois; and breaking up their encampment in 1096, they marched by three different routes for Constantinople, where they all met within nine months. Their numbers and discipline excited the fears of the emperor, who skilfully extricating himself from every difficulty, saw all of them at length passed across the Bosphorus. At a grand muster on the plains of Bithynia next year, 100,000 armed knights were counted, the flower of European chivalry; and the total number has been raised to 600,000, not including priests, women, and children. The city of Nice, after an obstinate assault, fell into their hands; and one fiercely contested battle at Dorylæum decided the fate of Asia Minor. A fatiguing march under a burning sun, during which they suffered intolerable thirst, conducted those iron-clad warriors to Antioch. The siege being formed about the middle of October, the town yielded to treachery at the end of seven months: but the victors, in their turn, were attacked at once by the garrison in the citadel and by an innumerable army of Turks or Arabians. During twenty-five days, the Christians were on the verge of destruction; till, taking courage from despair, they sallied out and annihilated the besieging host, 1098. Famine and pestilence now made deep ravages among them: the Count of Flanders was reduced to beg a dinner, and Duke Geoffrey is said to have borrowed a horse. But the fainting spirits of the army were in due time revived by the cunning of a priest and the policy of the chiefs. St Andrew had thrice appeared to Peter Bartholomew, for the purpose of revealing the place where the steel head of the lance that pierced the side of our Redeemer lay concealed. He was told to seek it and use it as a banner, and to assure the leaders of the expedition that under that mystic weapon they could not fail to march to victory. The HOLY LANCE was discovered, and dazzled the

eyes or the imagination of a fanatical multitude. After a delay of ten months, caused by intemperance and distress, the army, diminished to 40,000, began their march to Jerusalem, which was taken after a siege of six weeks, in 1099, about 460 years after its conquest by Omar. Three days were spent in promiscuous slaughter: 70,000 Moslems were put to the sword; the Jews were burnt in their synagogues; and a multitude of unfortunate captives still remained to gratify the avarice of the conquerors. "The holy sepulchre was now free; and the bloody victors prepared to accomplish their vow. Bareheaded and barefooted, with contrite hearts, and in an humble posture, they ascended the Hill of Cavalry, amidst the loud anthems of the clergy; kissed the stone which had covered the Saviour of the world; and bedewed with tears of joy and penitence the monument of their redemption."

The unanimous voice of the army elected GODFREY king of Jerusalem, 1099, but he refused to accept the title, or to wear a crown of gold in that city in which his Redeemer had been crowned with thorns. He was scarcely seated on the throne, with the title of Baron of the Holy Sepulchre, when he was summoned to the field by the approach of the Sultan of Egypt with an army of more than 300,000 men. The total rout of the latter on the field of Ascalon completely established the Latin kingdom in Syria, which, by the arms of Godfrey and the two Baldwins, soon equalled in extent the dominions of the ancient monarchs of Judah and Israel. The laws, language, and feudal jurisprudence of the Franks were introduced; the orders of the knights of the Hospital of St John, and of the Temple of Solomon, were founded-the firmest bulwarks of the Christian power.

Read Mill's History of the Crusades; or Michaud.

GENERAL TABLE OF THE CRUSADES.

Prepare: A similar table for each crusade. Particulars may be found in

Gibbon and the authors just named.

CHIVALRY.

The extravagances of chivalry long caused the institution itself to be regarded as an example of the caprice and the absurdity of the human mind. The historian of the order traces its rise to the eleventh century, and to the aggrandizement of the French barons at the commencement of the third or Capetian race. Every noble in his castle emulated the pomp of his sovereign; in each district the ceremony of a court was maintained, which became a school of manners where the high-born youth received their education. At the age of twenty-one they were eligible to the honourable distinction of knighthood. Respect for the gentler sex, and the influence of the Christian religion, contributed to form the character of the young knight. He appears as a man actuated by a daring and martial spirit, seeking his reward in the approbation of the ladies, to one of whom, as to a superior being, the object of his early choice, he was bound to communicate every thought and action. The tournaments, mock-fights between selected individuals, date from a very early period, but their latter form must be ascribed to the regulations of Geoffrey of Preuilli, 1066.

Here throngs of knights and barons bold

In weeds of peace high triumph hold,
With store of ladies, whose bright eyes
Rain influence, and judge the prize

Of wit or arms.

MILTON.

The peacock, pheasant, and swan were regarded as emblems of the parade and pride of chivalry, and reverenced with such religious veneration that the knight was sometimes bound by an oath made to his Creator, to the Virgin, to the ladies, and to one of these birds. But while the laws of chivalry breathed nothing but religion, virtue, honour, and humanity, the times were marked by profligacy, violence, and barbarism. It flourished during these centuries of returning order, having appeared when the worst period of barbarism had gone by, and society was beginning to assume a regular form. It gradually gave way to the chivalry of modern Europe, as mankind became capable of conducting themselves agreeably to reasonable principles of action.

STATE OF THE WORLD AT THE EPOCH OF THE

CRUSADES, FROM 1096 TO 1273.

ROME and GERMANY were the dominant powers of the West: both assumed the right of creating kings, to which the former added that of deposing them. The quarrel of investitures, begun by Henry IV. and Gregory VII., set Europe in flames. The nobles took this opportunity of securing their independence; anarchy reigned in the cities; and the fields were ravaged by undisciplined bands of armed men.

FRANCE began to assume a more tranquil position, the number of states being greatly diminished; but there still remained several powerful vassals. The Dukes of Normandy, become more formidable since the conquest of England, had subjected the sovereigns of Brittany; and the Dukes of Aquitaine reigned over the vast territory lying between the Loire and the Pyrenees, the Cevennes and the ocean. The greater part of Languedoc obeyed the Counts of Toulouse; those of Flanders added to their possession of that fertile country the submission of their neighbours; and the Counts of Champagne enjoyed that rich part of France which still bears the name. The dukes of Burgundy, attached to the monarchy by the closest ties of blood, governed from the banks of the Loire to the Straits of Dover.

In SPAIN two kings were the terror of the Moors: Sancho, who united Navarre to Aragon; and Alphonso of Castile, who gradually extended his southern frontier. Meanwhile, the new Count of Portugal planted the banner of Christianity on the banks of the Tagus.

ENGLAND, under the resolute conqueror William, was at once oppresse by his exactions, and strengthened by his prudence.

Bohemia, increased by the conquest of Poland, became a remarkable power, and sided with the emperor, who had conferred the regal title on its chiefs. Hungary, in a weaker state, supported the interests of the pope, who had given its princes a crown. Poland was one wide scene of confu sion, under dukes without talent and without authority. Sweden, Denmark, and Russia were still in obscurity. Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, re united under the warlike Normans, were respected in the West, being af once the terror of the Greek empire and the protectors of Italy.

THE GREEK EMPIRE, long tending towards its fall, and undermined by all the evils which can destroy a state, was still preserved by the ex treme prudence and sagacity of Alexius Comnenus.

Venice and Genoa were the only maritime powers of the West; but rivals in navigation and commerce, they began to view each other with jealousy, and to nourish in secret the seeds of those quarrels which eventually proved fatal to both.

The Caliphs of Bagdad were deprived of all but their sacerdotal power; their empire was under the dominion of the TURKS. Five thrones in Asia were filled by these warriors:-1. Persia, whose sultan reigned supreme from Armenia to the Indus;-2. Antioch and Syria;-3. Damascus and Palestine;-4. Cilicia and the adjacent provinces ;-5. Nice, the seat of Soliman, governor of Bithynia.-The Caliphs of Cairo with difficulty maintained themselves upon the throne of Egypt; the Miramolins of Africa were subdued by the kings of Morocco, who protected the Saracen power in Spain, and were the greatest obstacle to the Castilian monarchs.

Construct: A map of the world at this period, with the necessary explanations in lateral columns.

TWELFTH CENTURY.

GREEK EMPIRE.-1118, Armenia recovered.-1143, Manuel I.—1185, House of Angelo-Mourzoufle.

THE EAST.-1117, Sangiar.-1118, Knights of St John of Jerusalem— Knights Templars.-1127, Attabeks.-1171, SALADIN.-1187, Jerusalem taken by Saladin.-1191, Crusaders take Acre.-1191, Old Man of the Mountain. ITALY.-1144, Arnold of Brescia.—1158, Diet of Roncaglia-Podesta.— 1174, Battle of Legnano-Guelfs and Ghibellines.-1183, Treaty of Constance.

GERMANY.-1122, Concordat.-1138, Swabian Line.-Guelfs and Ghibellines.-1152, Barbarossa.-1194, Conquest of Naples.

FRANCE.-1108, Rise of Civil Corporations.-1113, Wars with England begun.-1180, Philip Augustus-Parliament.

SPAIN.-Alphonso VI. of Castile.-1139, Alphonso, first King of Portugal. -1150, Commoners in the Cortes, Aragon-Military Orders. BRITAIN.-1100, Henry Beauclerc- First Charter.-1135, Stephen.1138, Battle of the Standard.-1154, Plantagenets.-1164, Constitutions of Clarendon.-1172, Invasion of Ireland.-1189, Richard Cœur de Lion. CHURCH.-1154, Adrian IV.—Abbey of Fontevraud-The Carmelites.1147, Second Crusade.-1189, Third Crusade.

LITERATURE.-Anna Comnena-Eustathius-Chroniclers in England. -Abelard, d.-Bernard of Clairvaux d.-Peter the Lombard-University of Cambridge.

GREEK EMPIRE.

MANUEL I.-JOHN COMNENUS, who had recovered Armenia from the Turks and driven back the Scythians to their deserts, perished by a poisoned arrow, while meditating the extension of his empire to the Euphrates, 1143. He was succeeded by MANUEL, whose adventures resemble a tale of knight errantry, and which have caused him to be ranked with the chivalrous Richard of England and Charles of Sweden. His lance and shield could scarcely be lifted by the strongest man. At one time he cut his way alone, without a wound, through a squadron of 500 Turks; and in a battle against the Hungarians he was the first who passed the bridge which separated him from the enemy. In one day he slew forty barbarians with his own hand, and returned to the camp dragging after him four gigantic Turks, fastened to his saddle-bow. But he was wanting in sagacity to improve his victories; for though, like Alcibiades, he was in war a pattern of endurance to his soldiers, in peace he spent the time in luxury and licentious pleasure. Still he so far succeeded in maintaining the dignity of the empire as to reduce the Servians, while he supported the Crusaders in their expedition against Egypt.

ANDRONICUS.-ALEXIUS II., a minor, who succeeded in 1180, held the sceptre only three years, under the regency of his mother. The state of the frontiers required a vigorous sovereign, and ANDRONICUS was raised to the purple by a successful revolt. This emperor had signalized himself in the Turkish war by his bravery and remarkable adventures, but the more interesting part of his life begins with his imprisonment for a treasonable correspondence with the King of Hungary. Twelve years had passed, when accident discovered a long-forgotten recess into which he crept, when the guards supposed he had fled. His wife being suspected of aiding in his flight, was imprisoned in the same dungeon, and with him she shared her scanty provisions. At length, after one unsuccessful attempt, he escaped from the cell, and found an asylum in Russia. The exile was soon after pardoned and restored to his country, only to be removed to the more honourable banishment of the defence of the Cilician frontier; but, having offended Manuel, he was forced to flee, and finally settled among the Turks of Asia Minor. After a space, however, he obtained leave to throw himself at the feet of his sovereign, who was satisfied with this submission of a brave and haughty spirit. The youth and inexperience of Alexius II., Manuel's suc