that was preparing. But they were only snubbed for their pains; and the Pope, far from remonstrating, rather gave people to understand that he considered the juvenile zeal highly laudable. "These children," said he, on being informed of their proceedings, "reproach us with our indifference to Christ's cause. While men are asleep, they are hurrying to rescue the Holy Land." In order to account for the enthusiasm which was on the occasion displayed by the juveniles of France and Germany, it ought to be remembered that, though princes and nobles were sick of enterprises which ruined so many great houses, the crusades were by no means out of favour with the populace; nor had time destroyed the impressions that had, more than a century earlier, been produced by the descriptions of palmers and pilgrims. The name of the Holy Land had still a marvellous fascination for the Christians of Europe. At the mention of Palestine, their fancies conjured up a land "flowing with milk and honey," with gardens and groves of odoriferous flowers and beautiful fruit-trees, mountains with roses without thorns, and cedars, and vines, and long caravans of camels bearing rich merchandise to cities of palaces reposing under a blue sky. But above all, it was the sacred land where miracles had been wrought; where the blind had been made to see, the dumb to speak, and the lame to walk; and by going to which, with the symbol of salvation on their shoulders, they were assured by the Church of pardon in this world and happiness in the next. It is not wonderful that, under such circumstances, children should have been easily stimulated to enthusiasm, and rendered eager to secure the priceless privileges with the promise of which the Pope was so frequently tempting the faithful to undertake pilgrimages to the East and rescue the Holy Sepulchre from the grasp of the Saracens. But however that may have been, it appears that no fewer than fifty thousand pilgrims of both sexes, in their teens,—some of them not more than twelve years old, assembled in France and Germany to go forth on a crusade, believing that they were pursuing the path that led to salvation. They left their homes without guides, and in most cases without money. Indeed, they had little more knowledge of the world into which they were entering than fishes have of the sea in which they swim. But they were not wholly without friends. Many pious persons believed that they saw the hand of God in this enterprise, and aided the young pilgrims with food and money, and sent them on their way rejoicing. When they were asked where they were going, they answered, "We are going to Jerusalem to deliver the Holy Sepulchre;" and when they were asked how they were to get to Jerusalem, they answered, "There is to be so great a drought that the abysses of the sea will be dry, and we will pass safely over its bed." It was not, however, in one body that the young crusaders went forth to the East. The French and Germans went separately. After mustering in the suburbs of Paris, the French crossed Burgundy and made for Marseilles, cheered and sustained by the aid and encouragement of persons older, but not much wiser, than themselves; boys and girls marching through forest and field, singing songs to animate their zeal, and deluding themselves with the expectation that some great miracle was to be performed in their behalf. At Marseilles, of course, such of them as had not sunk from fatigue, or lost themselves in the forests by the way, found their ardour checked by the sea. But their hopes soon revived, and the check was merely temporary. Two merchants, who traded with the East, came forthwith to their relief, and professing great piety and ardent devotion to the Christian cause, offered to convey them, without any charge, to Syria; and the pilgrim children, delighted with their words, embraced the proposal with lively signs of gratitude, and manifested the utmost eagerness to embark. Nor did the two merchants put their patience to any severe test. Without delay seven ships were provided; and the young crusaders having gone on board, set sail, as they supposed, for Syria. Perhaps they now thought all their dangers were left behind, and sang the "Veni Creator" with feelings of absolute security. If so, they were mistaken. In two days their misfortunes began. When they were off the isle of St. Peter, near the rock of the Recluse, a violent storm arose; two of the vessels were engulfed in the sea; and all on board of them perished in the waves. The five others, however, held on their course, and reached Alexandria; and then the two merchants showed themselves in their true colours, and the pilgrim children were carried into the slavemarket, and, to their consternation, sold to the Saracens. Forty of them became the property of the Caliph, and were conveyed to Bagdad to be converted in his palace, and qualified to serve him with fidelity and zeal. But the process was not quite successful. Of the captives, twelve scorned the idea of abjuring the religion of Christ, and died martyrs ; the other twenty-eight, being less resolute, or less demonstrative in their refusal, were allowed to live; and, in captivity and chains, they held fast to the faith of their fathers. Meanwhile the pilgrim children of Germany were in motion, and, having traversed Saxony, crossed the Alps, and descended into Italy. But they were not more fortunate than those who had left France. At an early stage of their adventure, many thieves and vagabonds and abandoned women mingled with the boys and girls who had so rashly left their homes, and, while utterly corrupting their morals, soon plundered them of everything valuable they possessed; and this misfortune was rapidly succeeded by others. Many lost themselves during the journey; others fell victims to fatigue, hunger, and disease; and some were cruelly seized by the Italians and forcibly reduced to the condition of slaves. At length, with the number reduced to seven thousand, they reached Genoa in a plight the reverse of enviable. At first the Senate granted them permission to remain for a time in the city. But this generosity was of brief duration. Apprehensive of a riot, the Senate ordered the young crusaders to depart; and, weary, foot-sore, and sad at heart, they attempted to retrace their steps to their own country. few were lucky enough to find their way home, and confessed that they really could not comprehend how they ever had gone on such an adventure. Most of them, however, failed in the attempt to return, and died in the forest, of heat, hunger, and weariness. But it is stated that some of those of noble birth never left Genoa. Being allowed to remain in that city, they, as time passed on, were admitted to rank as patricians, and became the ancestors of many of the great families that afterwards associated their names with the history of the Genoese republic. Such were the results of the expedition of the pilgrim children, who had taken the cross, and showed such zeal that, according to Roger Bacon, "nec à patribus, nec à matribus, nec ab amicis, poterant detineri." Matthew Paris says of its origin, that "it was done by instinct of the devil, who, as it were, desired a cordial of children's blood to comfort his weak stomach, long cloyed with murdering men." But others attempted to account for the mystery in a more practical way. Indeed, he employed the effect that kings obeyed his Now the power of the Old At that time, the Prince of the Assassins, more popularly known as the Old Man of the Mountains, maintained great state in Phoenicia, while his viceroy held sway on Mount Libanus, and made himself terrible both in the East and in the West. daggers of his Assassins with such skill and behests and princes trembled at his name. Man of the Mountains depended wholly on the courage and devotion of his Assassins, and he was constantly on the watch for recruits able and willing to do his bidding at all hazards, and neither encumbered with fears nor scruples. For this purpose it was necessary that they should be trained from boyhood under his auspices, and taught to consider his word above all law, human and divine. While the Old Man of the Mountains was revolving schemes for so recruiting his ranks as to perpetuate his power, two clerks-such is the story told-fell into his hands as prisoners, and were naturally very much terrified to find themselves in such a predicament. After they were some time in captivity, however, he offered to grant them their liberty, if they would swear solemnly to bring him from France a certain number of promising boys to be reared as Assassins. The clerks so the story goes on to state-in terror, swore as he asked them to do; and on returning to Europe, they set about the commission which they had bound themselves by the most solemn of oaths faithfully to execute, and were the authors of that excitement, which, as if by magic, drew together crowds of children, for an expedition of which the issue was so unfortunate, and the catastrophe so startling, that Bishop Sicard, in speaking of it, says, "Soon this multitude entirely disappeared; -quasi evanuit universa." At all events, there can exist little doubt that predictions were uttered and promises of prodigies made, and all the stock phrases of fanaticism freely used, both in France and Germany, to beguile the children of both sexes from their homes. People there are in our age who, unable to realize the probability of such an event as this pilgrimage, have been inclined to regard the story as apocryphal, and to take refuge in a convenient incredulousness. But recent researches have proved beyond all question that it is no fable; and, whatever mystery may surround the question of its origin, there the Crusade of Children stands,—one of the most extraordinary, and certainly one of the most melancholy chapters in the history of the Holy War. |