for effective campaigning. In the third place, the crusaders were never numerous enough to colonize so large a country as Syria and absorb its Moslem population. They conquered part of Syria in the First Crusade, but could not hold it permanently in the face of determined resistance.

Why the crusades ceased

In spite of these and other reasons the Christians of Europe might have continued much longer their efforts to recover the Holy Land, had they not lost faith in the movement. But after two centuries the old crusading enthusiasm died out, the old ideal of the crusade as "the way of God" lost its spell. Men had begun to think less of winning future salvation by visits to distant shrines and to think more of their present duties to the world about them. They came to believe that Jerusalem could best be won as Christ and the Apostles had won it "by love, by prayers, and by the shedding of tears."

Influence of

on feudalism

The crusades could not fail to affect in many ways the life of western Europe. For instance, they helped to undermine feudalism. Thousands of barons and knights mortgaged or sold their lands in order to raise money for a cruthe crusades sading expedition. Thousands more perished in Syria, and their estates, through failure of heirs, reverted to the crown. Moreover, private warfare, that curse of the Middle Ages, also tended to die out with the departure for the Holy Land of so many turbulent feudal lords. Their decline in both numbers and influence, and the corresponding growth of the royal authority, may best be traced in the changes that came about in France, the original home of the crusading movement.

and

One of the most important effects of the crusades was on commerce. They created a constant demand for the transThe crusades portation of men and supplies, encouraged shipbuilding, and extended the market for eastern wares in Europe. The products of Damascus, Mosul, Alexandria, Cairo, and other great cities were carried across the Mediterranean to the Italian seaports, whence they

commerce

1 See page 423.

found their way into all European lands. The elegance of the Orient, with its silks, tapestries, precious stones, perfumes, spices, pearls, and ivory, was so enchanting that an enthusiastic crusader called it "the vestibule of Paradise."

The crusades

life

Finally, it must be noted how much the crusades contributed to intellectual and social progress. They brought the inhabitants of western Europe into close relations with one another, with their fellow Christians of the and Roman Empire in the East, and with the natives intellectual of Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. The intercourse between Christians and Moslems was particularly stimulating, because the East at this time surpassed the West in civilization. The crusaders enjoyed the advantages which come from travel in strange lands and among unfamiliar peoples. They went out from their castles or villages to see great cities, marble palaces, superb dresses, and elegant manners; they returned with finer tastes, broader ideas, and wider sympathies. Like the conquests of Alexander the Great, the crusades opened up a new world.

When all is said, the crusades remain one of the most remarkable movements in history. They exhibited the nations of western Europe for the first time making a united. effort for a common end. The crusaders were not of the

Significance

hired soldiers, but volunteers, who, while the crusades religious fervor lasted, gladly abandoned their homes and faced hardship and death in pursuit of a spiritual ideal. They failed to accomplish their purpose, yet humanity is the richer for the memory of their heroism and chivalry.

Studies

1. On an outline map indicate Europe and the Mediterranean lands by religions, about 1095 A.D. 2. On an outline map indicate the routes of the First and the Third Crusades. 3. Locate on the map the following places: Clermont; Acre; Antioch; Zara; Edessa; and Damascus. 4. Identify the following dates: 1204 A.D.; 1095 A.D.; 1096 A.D.; 1291 A.D. 5. Write a short essay describing the imaginary experiences of a crusader to the Holy Land. 6. Mention some instances which illustrate the religious enthusiasm of the crusaders. 7. Compare the Mohammedan pilgrimage to Mecca with the pilgrimages of Christians to Jerusalem in the Middle Ages. 8. Compare the Christian crusade with the Mohammedan jihad,

or holy war. 9. How did the expression, a "red-cross knight," arise? 10. Why is the Second Crusade often called "St. Bernard's Crusade"? 11. Why has the Third Crusade been called "the most interesting international expedition of the Middle Ages"? 12. Would the crusaders in 1204 A.D. have attacked Constantinople, if the schism of 1054 A.D. had not occurred? 13. "Mixture, or at least contact of races, is essential to progress." How do the crusades illustrate the

truth of this statement? 14. Were the crusades the only means by which western Europe was brought in contact with Moslem civilization?

CHAPTER XXI

THE MONGOLS AND THE OTTOMAN TURKS TO 1453 A.D.

175. The Mongols

attack

THE extensive steppes in the middle and north of Asia have formed, for thousands of years, the abode of nomadic peoples belonging to the Yellow race. In prehistoric The Asiatic times they spread over northern Europe, but they counterwere gradually supplanted by white-skinned IndoEuropeans, until now only remnants of them exist, such as the Finns and Lapps. In later ages history records how the Huns, the Bulgarians, and the Magyars have poured into Europe, spreading terror and destruction in their path. These invaders were followed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by the even more terrible Mongols and Ottoman Turks. Their inroads might well be described as Asia's reply to the crusades, as an Asiatic counter-attack upon Europe.

Mongolia

The Mongols, who have given their name to the entire race of yellow-skinned peoples, now chiefly occupy the high plateau bounded on the north by Siberia, on the south by China, on the east by Manchuria, and on the west by Turkestan. Although the greater part of this area consists of the Gobi desert, there are many oases and pastures available at different seasons of the year to the inhabitants. Hence the principal occupation of the Mongols has always been cattle breeding, and their horses, oxen, sheep, and camels have always furnished them with food and clothing.

Like most nomads the Mongols dwell in tents, each family often by itself. Severe simplicity is the rule of life, for property consists of little more than one's flocks and herds, clothes, and weapons. The modern Mongols are a peaceable, kindly folk,

1 See pages 241, 247, 314, 316, 334.,

Mongolia has long been a part of the Chinese Empire, but in 1912 A.D., when China became a republic, Mongolia declared its independence.

who have adopted from Tibet a debased form of Buddhism, Mongol life but the Mongols of the thirteenth century in and character religion and morals were scarcely above the level of American Indians. To ruthless cruelty and passion for

HUT-WAGON OF THE MONGOLS (RECONSTRUCTION)

On the wagon was placed a sort of hut or pavilion made of wands bound together with narrow thongs. The structure was then covered with felt or cloth and provided with latticed windows. Hut-wagons, being very light, were sometimes of enormous size.

plunder they added an efficiency in warfare which enabled them, within fifty years, to overrun much of Asia and the eastern part of Europe.

The daily life of the Mongols was a training school for war. Constant practice in riding, scouting, and the use of arms made Military every man a soldier. The words with which an prowess of ancient Greek historian described the savage the Mongols Scythians applied perfectly to the Mongols: "Having neither cities nor forts, and carrying their dwellings with them wherever they go; accustomed, moreover, one and all, to shoot from horseback; and living not by husbandry but on their cattle, their wagons the only houses that they possess, how can they fail of being irresistible?" 1

176. Conquests of the Mongols, 1206-1405 A.D.

For ages the Mongols had dwelt in scattered tribes throughout their Asiatic wilderness, engaged in petty struggles with one