and thirteenth centuries.

The growing

prosperity and increasing complexity in the politics of each respective government, de manded that its attention should be chiefly directed to these interesting home objects; and if, amid their more busy and better pursuits, they cast back an eye to the glittering scenes of the crusading system, it would be with disgust at the injustice, or contempt at the fanaticism, in which they originated. They would feel only regret at the millions which had been expended, and the myriads who had been sacrificed, in such unholy warfare, and scarcely be inclined to allow, that more than one out of the many advantageous results which they have been supposed to produce, had the slightest foundation in fact-the breaking of the power of the feudal aristo racy.

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"In one respect (says Gibbon) I can indeed perceive the accidental operation of the "crusades; not so much in producing a benefit, as in removing an evil.

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portion of the inhabitants of

The larger

Europe was

"chained to the soil, without freedom, or property, or knowledge; and the two orders

"of ecclesiastics and nobles, whose numbers "were comparatively small, alone deserved "the name of citizens and men.

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This op

pressive system was supported by the arts "of the clergy, and the swords of the barons. "The authority of the priests operated in the

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darker ages as a salutary antidote; they

prevented the total extinction of letters;

mitigated the fierceness of the times; shel"tered the poor and defenceless; and pre"served or revived the peace and order of "civil society. But the independence, rapine, "and discord of the feudal lords, were un"mixed with any semblance of good; and every hope of industry and improvement

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was crushed by the iron weight of the martial

aristocracy. Among the causes that under"mined that Gothic edifice, a conspicuous place "must be allowed to the crusades. The estates "of the barons were dissipated, and their race "often extinguished, in these costly and peri"lous expeditions. Their poverty extorted "from their pride those charters of freedom "which unlocked the fetters of the slave, "secured the farm of the peasant, and the

66

"shop of the artificer; and gradually restored 66 a substance and a soul to the most numerous "and useful part of the community. The conflagration which destroyed the tall and "barren trees of the forest, gave air and scope "to the vegetation of the smaller and nutritive plants of the soil."*

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PLARS;

KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS; KNIGHTS TEMand TEUTONIC KNIGHTS.-Intimately connected with the history of the crusades, and forming one of the manifold temporary evils which sprang out of them, was the institution of the three ecclesiastic military orders, the Knights Hospitallers, Knights Templars, and Teutonic Knights of St. Mary of Jerusalem. The learned and dispassionate Mosheim has given the following clear, succinct, and impartial account of their rise, corruption, decay, and disappearance.

Hist. Dec., &c. vol. xi. p. 293. It must not be concealed, however, that both Dr. Berrington and Mr. Mills deny that even this beneficial consequence was produced by the crusades.

"These bloody wars between the Christians "and the Mohammedans gave rise to three "famous military orders, whose office it was "to destroy the robbers that infested the pub"lic roads, to harass the Moslems by perpetual "inroads and warlike achievements; to assist "the poor and sick pilgrims, whom the devo"tion of the times conducted to the holy

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sepulchre; and to perform other services "that tended to the general good. The first "order was that of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, who derived their name, and particularly that of Hospitallers, from an hospital in that city, dedicated to St. John "the Baptist, in which certain pious and cha"ritable brethren were constantly employed "in relieving and refreshing with necessary "supplies the indigent and diseased pilgrims, "who were daily arriving at Jerusalem. When "this city became the metropolis of a new "kingdom, the revenues of the hospital were "so highly augmented by the liberality of "several princes, and the pious donations of "such opulent persons as frequented the holy

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places, that they far surpassed the wants of

"those whom they were designed to cherish "and relieve. Hence it was that Raymond "du Puy, who was the ruler of this charitable "house, offered to the King of Jerusalem to "make war upon the Mohammedans at his "own expense, seconded by his brethren, who "served under him in this famous hospital. "Baldwin II. to whom this proposal was made, "readily accepted it, and the enterprise was "solemnly approved and confirmed by the authority of the Roman pontiff. Thus was "the world surprised with the strange trans"formation of a devout fraternity, who had "lived remote from the noise and tumult of

arms, in the performance of works of cha"rity and mercy, into a valiant and hardy "band of warriors. The whole order was "on this occasion divided into three classes: "the first contained the knights, or soldiers "of illustrious birth, who were to unsheath "their swords in the Christian cause; in the "second were comprehended the priests, who were to officiate in the churches that be

longed to the order; and the third, the serv ing brethren, or the soldiers of low condi