Richard England, Philip Augustus of France, and several minor. princes,ned the cross, while the maritime states of Italy, by sending immediate reinforcements to the garrisons on the coasts of he Mediterranean, arrested the progress of Saladin. Frederic advanced through the Byzantine territories, harassed at every step by Greek fraud and treachery. Having wintered at Adrianople, he crossed the Hellespont, defeated the Turks in several engagements, and stormed the city of Iconium. But in the midst of his glorious career he was drowned in the river Cydnus (A. D. 1190). The army persevered, and joined the eastern Christians in the famous siege of Acrc.

While Acre was closely pressed by the Christians, the oesiegers were, in their turn, so strictly blockaded by Saladin, that they suffered more than the garrison. The kings of England and France, however, followed by the flower of their dominions, appeared together as companions in arms, and reached Palestine by sea. The siege of Acre was so vigorously prosecuted after the arrival of the English that the town was soon forced to surrender, and the Christians began to indulge the hope of recovering Jerusalem. Their expectations were frustrated by the jealousy which arose between the French and the English; Philip, unable to brook the superiority which Richard acquired by his military prowess, and perhaps, in some degree, by his wealth, returned home, leaving a part of his army under the command of the duke of Burgundy, for the defence of the Holy Land. But the animosity between the French and English parties was increased rather than abated by the departure of Philip; the envy of his companions rendered the valorous exertions of Richard unavailing; he entered into a treaty with Saladin, obtaining for the Christians free access to Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre, and then hasted home to defend his dominions from the attacks of his ancient rival (A. D. 1192). On his return, the English monarch was seized and imprisoned by the duke of Austria, whom he had grievously insulted in Palestine; he was subsequently resigned to the custody of the emperor of Germany, from whom he had to purchase his liberation by the payment of a large ransom. The illustrious Saladin did not long survive the departure of the royal crusader; he died at Damascus, and the disputes that arose respecting his inheritance, prevented the Mohammedans from completing the destruction of the Latin kingdom of Palestine.

The fourth crusade was undertaken at the instigation of Innocent III. (A. D. 1202), aided by a fanatic preacher, Foulke of Neuilly. The fervor of enthusiasm was now abated; no great sovereign joined in the enterprise, but several of the most potent feudatories offered their services, and Boniface, marquis of Montferrat, was chosen commander-inchief. The crusaders obtained transports from the Venetians, by conquering Zara, in Dalmatia, for the republic of Venice, in spite of the threats and remonstrances of the pope, who was justly indignant at seeing their first efforts directed against a Christian city. But this departure from their original design was followed by a still more remarkable deviation; instead of proceeding to Palestine, they sailed against Constantinople, to dethrone the usurper, Alexius Angelus. The crusaders succeeded in restoring the lawful emperor, Isaac, to his empire; but the reward they claimed for their services was extravagant, and

Isaac's efforts to comply with the stipulations provoked such resent ment, that he was deposed by his subjects, and put to death, together with his son. The crusaders instantly proclaimed war against the usurper, Mourzoufle, laid siege to Constantinople, took the city by storm, pillaged it with remorseless cruelty, and founded a new Latin empire on the ruins of the Byzantine (A. D. 1204). Baldwin, count of Flanders, was chosen sovereign of the new state, which, under five Latin emperors, lasted little more than half a century. Constantinople was recovered by the Greeks (A. D. 1261), and the hopes of uniting the eastern and western churches, which the possession of the Byzantine capital had inspired, were blighted for ever.

The fifth crusade was conducted by the king of Hungary. Two hundred thousand Franks landed at the eastern mouth of the Nile, persuaded that the conquest of Egypt was a necessary preliminary to the recovery and safe possession of Palestine (A. D. 1218). After having obtained some important successes, their cause was ruined by the arrogance and presumption of the papal legate, who assumed the direction of the army. They purchased some trivial concessions, by evacuating all their conquests; and the pope, who at first proposed to come in person to their assistance, was too busily engaged in checking the progress of heresy, to venture on an expedition to Pales

tine.

Frederic II., emperor of Germany, led a formidable army to Palestine, after having been excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX. for delaying his expedition, a sentence which was renewed because he ventured to sail without waiting for the papal orders (A. D. 1228). This war exhibited the strange anomaly of a champion of the cross exposed to the bitterest hostility of the church. Frederic was everywhere victorious, but the papal legates and the priests harassed him by constant opposition; a crusade was preached against him in Italy, and efforts were made to weaken his authority in his own hereditary dominions. On receiving this intelligence, Frederic concluded an equitable treaty with the sultan Melek Kamel, crowned himself at Jerusalem, for no ecclesiastic would perform the ceremony, and returned to Europe, after having effected more for the Christians of Palestine than any of their former protectors. Gregory again hurled anathemas against a prince who had made a treaty with the infidels; but Frederic's vigorous exertions soon changed the aspect of affairs, he reduced those who had rebelled during his absence, dispersed the papal and Lombard troops, and won absolution by his victories.

Tranquillity, which endured fifteen years, raised the Latins of Palestine to a prosperous condition; but a new and more formidable enemy, issuing from the deserts of Tartary, subverted the kingdom which had been founded at such an expense of blood and treasure. The Khorasmian Turks, driven from their native deserts by the Mongols, threw themselves upon Palestine, stormed Jerusalem, subverted the Latin principalities, and the small Turkish states in Syria. Jerusalem, and the greater part of Palestine, was subsequently annexed to the sultany of Egypt.

Louis IX., of France, commonly called St. Louis, led the ninth crusade. Egypt was the scene of his operations; after obtaining some

important triumphs, he was defeated, made prisoner, and forced to purchase his freedom by the payment of a large ransom (A. D. 1250). The pope's inveterate hostility to Frederic was one of the chief causes that led to the ruin of this crusade. At the moment that Louis sailed, Innocent was preaching a crusade against the emperor in Europe, and the Dominicans were stimulating their hearers to rebellion and assassination. The lamentable loss of the French army, the captivity of the "most Christian king," and the utter ruin of the Latin kingdom in Palestine, failed to shake the obstinacy of the pontiff. It seemed even that the death of Frederic redoubled his fury, as if his prey had escaped from his hands. "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad," was his address to the clergy of Sicily, "for the lightning and the tempest, wherewith God Almighty has so long menaced your heads, have been changed, by the death of this man, into refreshing zephyrs and fertilizing dews."

Untaught by calamity, he prepared for a second crusade; on his voyage to the place of rendezvous, he was induced to steer to Tunis, in the wild hope of baptizing its king (A. D. 1270). Instead of a proselyte, Louis found a tedious siege, and a mortal disease. On his death, the remnant of his army was led back to Europe without making any further effort. The fate of Palestine was for a time delayed by the valor of Edward I., of England, who extorted a three years' truce from the Mohammedans. At length, some excesses of the Latins provoked the resentment of the Mameluke sultan, Khalil; he resolved to expel them completely from Palestine, and laid siege to their last stronghold, Acre (A. D. 1291). The city was taken after a tedious siege, and after its fall the title of King of Jerusalem, still preserved by the Christian princes, became an empty name.

SECTION VIII.-The Crusade against the Albigenses.

IT has been already mentioned that the growth of heresy was beginning to alarm the advocates of papal supremacy in the reign of Alexander III., and that a general council had pronounced a solemn decree against the Albigenses. But the feudal lords of France and Italy were slow in adopting an edict which would have deprived them of their best vassals, and the new opinions, or rather the original doctrines of Christianity, were secretly preached throughout the greater part of Europe. It may be conceded to the defenders of the papal system that there were some among the preachers of a reformation who had given too great a scope to their imaginations, and revived many of the dangerous errors of the Manichæans and Paulicians. There seems no just cause for doubting that a few enthusiasts ascribed the Old Testament to the principle of Evil; because, as they asserted, "God is there described as a homicide, destroying the world by water Sodom and Gomorrah by fire, and the Egyptians by the overflow of the Red sea." But these were the sentiments of a very small minority; the bulk of the Albigensian reformers protested simply against the doctrine of transubstantiation, the sacraments of confirmation, confes. sion, and marriage, the invocation of saints, the worship of images, and the temporal power of the prelates. Their moral character was

confessed by their enemies, but while they acknowledged its externa purity, they invented the blackest calumnies respecting their secret practices, without ever bringing forward a shadow of proof, and consequently without incurring the hazard of refutation. The progress of reform was silent; for the efforts of the paterins, or Albigensian teach ers, were directed rather to forming a moral and pure society within he church, than to the establishment of a new sect. They seemed anxious to hold the same relation to the Romish establishment that John Wesley designed the Methodists to keep toward the church of England. Their labors generated an independence of spirit and freedom of judgment which would probably have led to an open revolt, had not Innocent III. discerned the danger to which the papal system was exposed, and resolved to crush freedom of thought before its exercise would subvert his despotism.

Innocent's first step was to enlist cupidity and self-interest on his side; he abandoned to the barons the confiscated properties of heretics, and ordered that the enemies of the church should be for ever banished from the lands of which they were deprived. He then sent commissioners into the south of France, to examine and punish those suspected of entertaining heretical opinions, and thus laid the first foundation of the Inquisition. The arrogance and violence of these papar emissaries disgusted every class of society; finding that their persecutions were unpopular, they resolved to support their power by force of arms, and they were not long in discovering the materials of an army.

Raymond VI., count of Toulouse, was engaged in war with some of the neighboring barons, and Peter de Castelnau, the papal legate, offered to act as mediator. He went to the barons, and obtained from them a promise that, if Raymond would consent to their demands, they would employ all the forces they had assembled to extirpate heresy. Castelnau drew up a treaty on these conditions, and offered it to Raymond for his signature. The count was naturally reluctant to purchase the slaughter of his best subjects, by the sacrifice of his dominions, and the admission of a hostile army into his states. He peremptorily refused his consent, upon which Castelnau excommunicated Raymond, placed his dominions under an interdict, and wrote to the pope for a confirmation of the sentence.

Innocent III. confirmed the legate's sentence, and began to preach a crusade; but his violence transcended all bounds, when he learned that Castelnau had been slain by a gentleman of Toulouse whom he had personally insulted (A. D. 1208). Though Raymond appears to have had no share in this murder, it was against him that the papal vengeance was principally directed: he was excommunicated, his subjects absolved from their oath of allegiance, and the French king was invited to despoil him of his estates.

Philip Augustus was too busily engaged in wars with the king of England and the emperor of Germany to turn his attention to the extirpation of heresy; but he permitted a crusade against the Albigenses to be preached throughout his dominions, and the monks of Citeaux be came the chief missionaries of this unholy war; they promised the pardon of all sins committed from the day of birth to death, to those who fell in the war, unlimited indulgence, the protection of the church

and a large share of spoil to all who survived. While the monks were enlisting ferocious bands of wretches, who believed that they might expiate their former crimes by the perpetration of fresh atrocities, Innocent was preparing a new mission to Languedoc, whose savage brutalities exceeded even those of the crusaders. A new monastic order was instituted, at the head of which was placed a Spaniard named St. Dominic, whose special object was to extirpate heresy, by preaching against the doctrines of those who dissented from the church, and punishing with death those who could not be convinced by argument. This institution, too well known by the dreaded name of the Inquisition, appears to have been originally planned by the bishop of Toulouse, who introduced it into his diocese about seven years before it was formally sanctioned by Pope Innocent at the council of Lateran.

Raymond VI., and his nephew Raymond Roger, viscount of Albí, alarmed at the approaching danger, presented themselves before the papal legate, Arnold, abbot of Citeaux, to avert the coming storm by explanations and submissions. They protested that they had never sanctioned heresy, and that they had no share in the murder of Castelnau. The severity with which they were treated by the legate, convinced the young viscount that nothing was to be hoped from negotiation, and he returned to his states, resolved to defend himself to the last extremity: the count of Toulouse showed less fortitude; he prom. ised to submit to any conditions which the pope would impose.

Raymond's ambassadors were received by the pope with apparent indulgence; but the terms on which absolution were offered to the count could scarcely have been more severe, He was required to make common cause with the crusaders, to aid them in the extirpation of heretics—that is, his own subjects-and to give up seven of his best castles as a pledge of his intentions. Innocent declared that, if Raymond performed these conditions, he would not only be absolved, but taken into special favor; yet, at the very same moment, the pope was inflexibly resolved on the count's destruction.

In the spring of the year 1209, all the fanatics who had taken arms at the preaching of the monks of Citeaux, began to assemble on the borders of Languedoc; the land was spread in beauty before themere long it was to be a howling wilderness. Raymond VI. sank into abject cowardice; he yielded up his castles, he promised implicit submission to the legate, he even allowed himself to be publicly beaten with rods before the altar, as a penance for his errors. As a reward for his humiliation, he was permitted to serve in the ranks of the crusaders, and to act as their guide in the war against his nephew.

Raymond Roger showed a bolder spirit; finding the papal legate implacable, he summoned his barons together, and having stated all his exertions to preserve peace, made a stirring appeal to their generosity and their patriotism. All resolved on an obstinate defence; even those who adhered to the church of Rome justly dreaded the excesses of a fanatical horde eager to shed blood, and gratify a ruffian thirst for plunder. The crusaders advanced: some castles and fortified towns were abandoned to them; others not subject to the imputation of heresy were allowed to ransom themselves; Villemur was burned, and Chasseneuil, after a vigorous defence, capitulated. The garrison was per