CHAPTER VI. THE LAST CRUSADES

T1he poet, As-Sahib Jemal ad-Din ben Matrub made the following verses on the failure of Saint Louis’ Crusade, his capture and ransom:

2“Bear to the king of France, when you shall see him, these words, traced by a partisan of truth: The death of the servants of the Messiah has been the reward given to you by God.

3“You have landed in Egypt, thinking to take possession of it. You have imagined that it was only peopled with cowards! you who are a drum filled with wind.

4“You thought that the moment to destroy the Mussulmans was arrived; and this false idea has smoothed, in your eyes, every difficulty.

5“By your excellent conduct, you have abandoned your soldiers on the plains of Egypt, and the tomb has gaped under their feet.

6“What now remains of the seventy thousand who accompanied you? Dead, wounded, and prisoners!

7“May God inspire you often with similar designs! They will cause the ruin of all Christians, and Egypt will have no longer to dread anything from their rage.

8“Without doubt your priests announced victories to you; their predictions were false.

9“Refer yourselves to a more enlightened oracle.

10“Should the desire of revenge urge you to return to Egypt, be assured the house of Lokman still remains, that the chain is ready prepared, and the eunuch guard awake.”

11[Sidenote: [1239-1314 A.D.]]

12The council of Spoleto decreed that fresh levies should be sent into Asia on the expiration of the truce with Kamil. The Franciscans and Dominicans were the bearers of the resolutions to the princes and people of Christendom. But it was soon apparent that the recovery of the Holy Land was not the paramount consideration in the mind of Gregory IX, for the preaching of the crusade once more became the means of filling the papal coffers. By the different engines of persuasion and compulsion, the missionaries gained numberless converts, and then allowed the unwilling, and compelled the wealthy crusaders to give the church great largesses in exchange for the vow. The once humble friars grew so rich by these exactions, that their pride and magnificence were detestable in the eyes of the people.

13These disgraceful scenes were acted in England for two years; but the indignation of society at the avarice of the pope was so strong, that the preaching ceased. Some of the English nobility were inflamed by the love of warlike praise, and took the cross with no intention of submitting to a pecuniary commutation. The earl of Chester, and also Richard, earl of Cornwall, brother to King Henry II, prepared to measure lances with the Saracens.