LIX. Safadin, 1193, March 4 and dishonour. Richard embarked for Europe CHA P. to feek a long captivity and a premature grave; and the space of a few months concluded the life and glories of Saladin. The Orientals defcribe Death of his edifying death, which happened at Damafcus; but they feem ignorant of the equal diftribution. of his alms among the three religions", or of the display of a fhroud, inftead of a ftandard, to admonish the East of the inftability of human greatness. The unity of empire was diffolved by his death; his fons were oppreffed by the ftronger arm of their uncle Saphadin; the hoftile interests of the fultans of Egypt, Damafcus, and Aleppo *2, were again revived; and the Franks or Latins stood, and breathed, and hoped, in their fortreffes along the Syrian coast. 82 III. A. D. 1216. The noblest monument of a conqueror's fame, Innocent and of the terror which he inspired, is the Saladine tenth, a general tax, which was impofed 1198on the laity, and even the clergy, of the Latin church for the fervice of the holy war. The practice was too lucrative to expire with the occafion; and this tribute became the foundation of all the tithes and tenths on ecclefiaftical benefices, which have been granted by the Roman pontiffs to Catholic fovereigns, or referved for the imme 81 Even Vertot (tom. i. p. 251.) adopts the foolish notion of the indifference of Saladin, who profeffed the Koran with his laft breath. 82 See the fucceffion of the Ayoubites, in Abulpharagius (Dynaft. p. 277, &c.), and the tables of M. de Guignes, l'Art de Verifier les Dates, and the Bibliotheque Orientale, CHAP. diate ufe of the apoftolic fee 3. LIX. This pecuniary emolument must have tended to encrease the interest of the popes in the recovery of Palestine; after the death of Saladin they preached the crufade, by their epiftles, their legates, and their miflionaries; and the accomplishment of the pious work might have been expected from the zeal and talents of Innocent the third $4. Under that young and ambitious priest, the fucceffors of St. Peter attained the full meridian of their greatnefs; and in a reign of eighteen years, he exercifed a defpotic command over the emperors and kings, whom he raised and depofed; over the nations, whom an interdict of months or years. deprived, for the offence of their rulers, of the exercise of Chriftian worship. In the council of the Lateran he acted as the ecclefiaftical, almoft as the temporal, fovereign of the Eaft and Weft. It was at the feet of his legate that John of England furrendered his crown; and Innocent may boaft of the two moft fignal triumphs over fenfe and humanity, the establishment of tranfubftantiation, and the origin of the inquifition. At his voice, two crufades, the fourth and the fifth, were undertaken; but except a king of Hungary, the 83 Thomaffin (Difcipline de l'Eglife, tom. iii. p. 311-374.) has copiously treated of the origin, abuses, and restrictions of these tenths. A theory was started, but not purfued, that they were rightfully due to the pope, a tenth of the Levites' tenth to the high priest (Selden on Tithes; fee his Works, vol. iii. p. ii, p. 1083.). 84 See the Gefta Innocentii III, in Muratori, Script. Rer. Ital. (tom. iii. p. i. p. 486-568.). princes 85 LIX. The fourth A. D. 1203. The fifth, A. D. 1218. princes of the fecond order were at the head of CHAP. the pilgrims; the forces were inadequate to the defign; nor did the effects correfpond with the hopes and wishes of the pope and the people. The fourth crufade was diverted from Syria to Conftantinople; and the conqueft of the Greek or crufade, Roman empire by the Latins will form the proper and important fubject of the next chapter. In the fifth $5, two hundred thousand Franks were landed at the eastern mouth of the Nile. They reasonably hoped that Palestine must be fubdued in Egypt, the feat and storehouse of the fultan; and, after a fiege of fixteen months, the Moflems deplored the lofs of Damietta. But the Chriftian army was ruined by the pride and infolence of the legate Pelagius, who, in the pope's name, affumed the character of general: the fickly Franks were encompaffed by the waters of the Nile and the Oriental forces; and it was by the evacuation of Damietta that they obtained a fafe retreat, fome conceffions for the pilgrims, and the tardy reftitution of the doubtful relic of the true cross. The failure may in fome measure be afcribed to the abuse and multiplication of the crufades, which were preached at the fame time against the Pagans of Livonia, the Moors of Spain, the Albigeois of France, and the kings of Sicily of the 85 See the vth crufade, and the fiege of Damietta, in Jacobus à Vitriaco (1. iii. p. 1125-1149. in the Gefta Dei of Bongarlius), an eye-witness, Bernard Thefaurarius (in Script. Muratori, tom. vii. p. 825-846. c. 190-207.), a contemporary, and Sanutus (Secreta Fidel. Crucis, 1. iii. p. xi. c. 4-9.), a diligent compiler; and of the Arabians, Abulpharagius (Dynaft. p. 294.), and the Extracts at the end of Joinville (p. 533. 537. 540. 547, &c.). Imperial LIX. 86 CHAP. Imperial family 36: In these meritorious fervices, the volunteers might acquire at home the fame fpiritual indulgence, and a larger measure of temporal rewards; and even the popes, in their zeal against a domeftic enemy, were fometimes tempted to forget the diftrefs of their Syrian brethren, From the laft age of the crufades they derived the occafional command of an army and revenue; and fome deep reafoners have suspected that the whole enterprise, from the first synod of Placentia, was contrived and executed by the policy of Rome. The fufpicion is not founded, either in nature or in fact. The fucceffors of St. Peter appear to have followed, rather than guided, the impulse of manners and prejudice; without much forefight of the feafons, or cultivation of the foil, they gathered the ripe and spontaneous fruits of the fuperftition of the times. They gathered these fruits without toil or perfonal danger: in the council of the Lateran, Innocent the third declared an ambiguous refolution of animating the crufaders by his example; but the pilot of the facred veffel could not abandon the helm; nor was Palestine ever bleffed with the presence of a Roman pontiff $7, 87 86 To thofe who took the crofs against Mainfroy, the pope Fi D. 1255) granted pleniffimam peccatorum remiffionem. (A. deles mirabantur quod tantum eis promitteret pro fanguine Chriftianorum effundendo quantum pro cruore infidelium aliquando (Matthew Paris, p. 785.). A high flight for the reafon of the xiiith century. 87 This fimple idea is agreeable to the good fenfe of Mosheim (Inftitut. Hift. Ecclef. p. 332.) and the fine philofophy of Hume (Hift. of England, vol. i. p. 339.), The The perfons, the families, and estates of the pilgrims, were under the immediate protection of the popes; and these spiritual patrons foon claimed the prerogative of directing their operations, and enforcing, by commands and cenfures, the accomp lishment of their vow. Frederic the fecond $5, the grandfon of Barbaroffa, was fucceffively the pupil, the enemy, and the victim, of the church. At the age of twenty-one years, and in obedience to his guardian Innocent the third, he affumed the cross; the fame promife was repeated at his royal and imperial coronations; and his marriage with the heiress of Jerufalem for ever bound him to defend the kingdom of his fon Conrad. But as Frederic advanced in age and authority, he repented of the rash engagements of his youth: his liberal fenfe and knowledge taught him to de spise the phantoms of fuperftition and the crowns of Afia: he no longer entertained the fame reverence for the fucceffors of Innocent; and his ambition was occupied by the restoration of the Italian monarchy from Sicily to the Alps. But the fuccefs of this project would have reduced the popes to their primitive fimplicity; and, after the delays and excufes of twelve years, they urged the emperor, with intreaties and threats, to fix the time and place of his departure for Palestine. In 88 The original materials for the crufade of Frederic II. may be drawn from Richard de St. Germano (in Muratori, Script. Rerum Ital. tom. vii. p. 1002-1013.) and Matthew Paris (p. 286. 291. 300. 302. 304.). The moft rational moderns are, Fleury (Hist. Ecclef. tom. xvi.), Vertot (Chevaliers de Malthe, tom. i. 1. iii.), Giannone (Iftoria Civile di Napoli, tom. ii. 1. xvi.), and Muratori (Annali d'Italia, tom. x.) the CHAP. LIX. The emFrederic leftine, peror Il. in Pa A. D. 1228. |