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religious assemblies, first in France, and afterwards in Lombardy, whence they propagated their sect through the other provinces of Europe with incredible rapidity, and with such invincible fortitude, that neither fire nor sword, nor the most cruel inventions of merciless persecution, could damp their zeal, or entirely ruin their cause.*

XII. The attempts of Peter Waldus and his followers were neither employed nor intended to introduce new doctrines into the church, nor to propose new articles of faith to Christians. All they aimed at was, to reduce the form of ecclesiastical government, and the lives and manners both of the clergy and people, to that amiable simplicity, and that primitive sanctity, which had characterised the apostolic ages, and which appear so strongly recommended in the precepts and injunctions of the divine author of our holy religion. In consequence of this design, they complained that the Roman church had degenerated, under Constantine the Great, from its primitive purity and sanctity. They denied the supremacy of the Roman pontiff, and maintained that the rulers and ministers of the church were obliged, by their vocation, to imitate the poverty of the apostles, and to procure for themselves a subsistence by the work of their hands. They considered every Christian, as in a certain measure qualified and authorized

his doctrine in the IXth century, and was the contemporary and chief counsellor of Berengarius. But the truth is, that they derive their name from their

to instruct, exhort, and confirm the brethren in their Christian course, and demanded the restoration of the ancient penitential discipline of the church, i. e. the expiation of transgressions by prayer, fasting, and alms, which the new-invented doctrine of indulgences had nearly abolished. They at the same time affirmed, that every pious Christian was qualified and entitled to prescribe to penitents the kind and degree of satisfaction or expiation that their transgressions required; that confession made to a priest was by no means necessary. since the humble offender might acknowledge his sins and testify his repentance to any true believer, and might expect from such the counsels and admonitions that his case and circum. stances demanded. They maintained, that the power of delivering sinners from the guilt and punishment of their offences belonged to God alone; and that indulgences, in consequence, were the criminal inventions of sordid avarice. They looked upon the prayers, and other ce remonies that were instituted in behalf of the dead, as vain, useless, and absurd, and denied the existence of departed souls in an intermediate state of purification, affirming, that they were immediately, upon their separation from the body, received into heaven, or sent down to hell. These and other tenets of a like nature composed the system of doctrine propagated by the Waldenses. Their rules of practice were extremely austere; for they adopted, as the model of their moral discipline, the scrmon of Christ on the mount, which they interpreted and explained in the most rigorous and literal manner, and consequently prohibited and condemned in their society all wars, and suits of law, all attempts toward the ac quisition of wealth, the infliction of capital punishments, self-defence against unjust violence, and oaths of all kinds.*

valleys in Piedmont, which in their language are called Vaux; hence Vaudois, their true name; hence Peter, or (as others call him) John of Lyons, was called in Latin, Valdus, because he had adopted their doctrine; and hence the term Valdenses and Waldenses, used by those who write in English or Latin, in the place of Vaudois. The bloody inquisitor Reinerus Sacco, who exerted such a furious zeal for the destruction of the Waldenses, lived but about 80 years after Valdus of Lyons, and must therefore be supXIII. The government of the church was posed to have known whether he was the real committed, by the Waldenses, to bishops, founder of the Valdenses or Leonists; and yet it is presbyters, and deacons; for they acknowledg remarkable that he speaks of the Leonists (mentioned that these three orders were instituted by ed by Dr. Mosheim in this section, as synonymous with Waldenses) as a sect that had flourished above 500 years, and even mentions authors of note, who make their antiquity remount to the apostolic age. See the account given of Sacco's book by the Jesuit Gretser, in the Bibliotheca Patrum. I know not upon what principle Dr. Mosheim maintains, that the inhabitants of the valleys of Piedmont are to be carefully distinguished from the Waldenses; and I am persuaded, that whoever will be at the pains to read attentively the 24, 25th, 26th, and 27th chapters of the first book of Leger's Histoire Generale des Eglises Vaudoises, will find this distinction entirely groundless.-When the Papists ask us, where our religion was before Luther, we generally answer, in the Bible; and we answer well. But to gratify their taste for tradition and human authority, we may add to this answer, and in the valleys of Piedmont.

* See the following ancient writers, who have given accounts of the sect in question; namely, Sachoni Summa contra Valdenses.-Monetæ Summa contra Catharos et Valdenses, published by Riccini. Tr. de Hæresi Pauperum de Lugduno, published by Martenne, in his Thesaur. Anecdot. tom. v. p. 1777. Pilichdorfius contra Valdenses, t. xxv. B. Max. Patr. Add to these authors, Jo. Paul Perrin, Histoire des Vaudois, published at Geneva in 1619.Jo. Leger, Histoire Generale des Eglises Vaudoises, liv. i. ch. xiv. p. 156.-Usher, de successione Ecclesiarum Occidentis, cap. viii. p. 209.-Jac. Basnage, Histoire des Eglises Reformees. tom. i. period iv. p. 329.-Thom. August. Riccini, Dissertat. de Valdensibus, prefixed to his edition of the Summa Monetæ. 1. 36.—Bon zy, Histor. Acad. Paris. tom. ii. p. 232.

Christ himself. But they deemed it absolutely necessary, that all these orders should resemble exactly the apostles of the divine Saviour, and be, like them, illiterate, poor, destitute of al! worldly possessions, and furnished with some laborious trade or vocation, in order to gain by constant industry their daily subsistence. The laity were divided into two classes; one of which contained the perfect, and the other the imperfect Christians. The former spontane

* See the Codex Inquisitionis Tolosanæ, published by Limborch, as also the Summa Monetæ contra Waldenses, and the other writers of the Waldensian history. Though these writers are not all equally accurate, nor perfectly agreed about the number of doctrines that entered into the system of this sect, yet they are nearly unanimous in acknowledging the sincere piety and exemplary conduct of the Wal denses, and show plainly enough that their intention was not to oppose the doctrines which were universally received among Christians, but only to revive the piety and manners of the primitive times, and to combat the vices of the clergy, and the abuses that had been introduced into the worship and discipline of the church.

†The bishops were also called majorales or elders.

The greatest part of the Waldenses gained their livelihood by weaving: hence the whole sect, in sove places, were called the sect of weavers.

ously divested themselves of all worldly possessions, manifested their extreme poverty in the wretchedness of their apparel, and emaciated their bodies by frequent fasting. The latter were less austere, and approached the method of living generally received, though they abstained, like the graver sort of anabaptists in later times, from all appearance of pomp and luxury. It is, however, to be observed, that the Waldenses were not without their intestine divisions. Such as resided in Italy differed considerably in their opinions from those who dwelt in France and the other European countries. The former considered the church of Rome as the church of Christ, though much corrupted and sadly disfigured; they also acknowledged the validity of its seven sacraments, and solemnly declared that they would ever continue in communion with it, provided that they might be allowed to live as they thought proper, without molestation or restraint. The latter affirmed, on the contrary, that the church of Rome had apostatized from Christ, was deprived of the Holy Spirit, and was, in reality, the whore of Babylon mentioned in the Revelations of St. John.*

XIV. Beside these famous sects, which made a great noise in the world, and drew after them multitudes from the bosom of a corrupt || and superstitious church, there were religious factions of less importance, which arose in Italy, and more especially in France, though they seem to have expired soon after their birth. In Lombardy, which was the principal residence of the Italian heretics, there sprang up a singular sect, known (for what reason cannot tell) by the denomination of Pasaginians, and also by that of the circumcised. Like the other sects already mentioned, they had the utmost aversion to the dominion and discipline of the church of Rome; but they were, at the same time, distinguished by two religious tenets, which were peculiar to themselves. The first was a notion, that the observance of the law of Moses, in every thing except the offering of sacrifices, was obligatory upon Christians; in consequence of which they circumcised their followers, abstained from those meats, the use of which was prohibited under the Mosaic œconomy, and.celebrated the Jewish sabbath. The second tenet that distinguished this sect was advanced in opposition to the doctrine of three persons in the divine nature; for the Pasaginians maintained that Christ was no more than the first and purest creature of God; nor will their adoption of this opinion seem very surprising, if we consider the prodigious number of Arians that were scattered throughout Italy long before this period.

* Monetæ Summa contra Catharos et Valdenses, p. 406, &c. They seem to have been also divided in their sentiments concerning the possession of worldly goods, as appears from the accounts of Stephanus de Borbone, apud Echardi Script. Dominican. tom. i. This writer divides the Waldenses into two classes, the poor men of Lyons, and the poor men of Lombardy. The former rejected and prohibited all sorts of possessions; the latter looked upon worldly possessions as lawful. This distinction is confirmed by several passages of other ancient authors.

For an account of these obscure sects, see Stephanus de Borbone, apud Echardi Script. Dominican. tom. i.

See F. Bonacursi Manifestatio hæresis Catharo- ||

XV. A sect of fanatics, called Caputiati, from a singular kind of cap that was the badge of their faction, infested the province of Burgundy, the diocese of Auxerre, and several other parts of France, in all which places they excited much disturbance among the people. They wore upon their caps a leaden image of the Virgin Mary; and they declared publicly, that their purpose was to level all distinctions, to abrogate magistracy, to remove all subordination among mankind, and to restore that primitive liberty, that natural equality, which were the inestimable privileges of the first mortals. Hugo, bishop of Auxerre, attacked these disturbers of human society in the proper manner, employing against them the force of arms, instead of arguments.*

The sect of the apostolics, whom St. Ber nard opposed with such bitterness and fury, and who were so called, as that zealous abbot himself acknowledged, because they professed to exhibit, in their lives and manners, the piety and virtues of the holy apostles, were very different from the audacious heretics now mentioned. They were a clownish set of men, of the lowest birth, who gained their subsistence by bodily labour; yet, as soon as they formed themselves into a sect, they drew after them a multitude of adherents of all ranks and orders. Their religious doctrine, as St. Bernard confesses, was free from error, and their lives and manners were irreproachable and exemplary: but they were reprehensible on account of the following pecularities: 1. They held it unlawful to take an oath; 2. They suffered their hair and their beards to grow to an enormous length, so that their aspect was inexpressibly extravagant and savage; 3. They preferred celibacy to wedlock, and called themselves the chaste brethren and sisters; notwithstanding which, 4. Each man had a spiritual sister with him, after the manner of the apostles, with whom he lived in a domestic relation, lying in the same chamber with her, though not in the same bed.t

XVI. In the council assembled at Rheims, in the year 1148, in which pope Eugenius III. presided, a gentleman of the province of Bretagne, whose name was Eon, and whose brain was undoubtedly disordered, was condemned for pretending to be the Son of God. Having heard, in the form that was used for exorcising malignant spirits, these words pronounced, per Eum, qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos, he concluded, from the resemblance between the word Eum and his name, that he was the person who was to come and judge both the quick and the dead. This poor man should rather have been delivered over to the physicians than placed in the list of heretics. He ended his days in a miserable prison, and left a considerable number of followers and adhe rents, whom persecution and death in the most dreadful forms could not persuade to abandon rum, in d'Acheri's Spicileg. Veter. Scriptor. tom. i, p. 211. Gerard. Bergamensis contra Catharos et Pasagios, in Lud. Anton. Muratorii Antiq. Ital medii ævi, tom. v. p. 151.

* Jaques Le Bœuf, Memoires sur l'Histoire d'Auxerre, tom. i. p. 317.

t Sti Bernardi Serm. Ixv in Canticum, tom. iv op. p. 1495, edit. Mabillon

his cause, or to renounce an absurdity, which || markable example is sufficient to show, no! one would think could never have gained cre- only the astonishing credulity of the stupid dit, but in a receptacle of lunatics.* This re- multitude, but also how far even the rulers of the church were destitute of judgment, * Matth. Paris, Historia Major, p. 68.-Guil. Neubrigensis, Historia Rerum Anglicarum, lib. i. p. 50.- and unacquainted with true and genuine re Boulay, Historia Acad. Paris. tom. ii. p. 241. ligion.

THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.

PART I.

THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
CHAPTER I.
Concerning the prosperous Events that happened

to the Church during this Century.

I. THOUGH the successors of Genghiz-Khan, the powerful emperor of the Tartars, or rather of the Mogols, had carried their victorious arms through a great part of Asia, and, having reduced China, India, and Persia, under their yoke, had involved in many calamities and sufferings the Christian assemblies which were established in those vanquished lands,* yet we learn from the best accounts, and the most respectable authorities, that in China, and in the northern parts of Asia, the Nestorians continued to have a flourishing church, and a great number of adherents. The emperors of the Tartars and Mogols had no great aversion to the Christian religion. It even appears from authentic records, that several kings and grandees of those nations had either been instructed in the doctrines of the Gospel by their ancestors, or were converted to Christianity by the ministry and exhortations of the Nestorians. But the religion of Monammed, which was so calculated to flatter the passions of men, gradually infected these noble converts, opposed with success the progress of the Gospel, and at length so effectually triumphed over it, that not the least remains of Christianity were to be perceived in the courts of those eastern princes.

II. The Tartars having made an incursion into Europe, in the year 1241, and having laid waste, with the most unrelenting and savage barbarity, Hungary, Poland, Silesia, and the adjacent countries, the Roman pontiffs thought it incumbent upon them to endeavour to calm the fury, and soften the ferocity, of these new and formidable enemies. For this purpose, in 1245, Innocent IV. sent an embassy to the Tartars, which consisted of Dominican and

Gregor. Abulfaraj. Historia Dynastiar. p. 281, sdit. Pocock.

† See Marc. Paul. Venet. de Regionibus Oriental. ib. i. c. iv. lib. ii. c. vi.-Haytho the Armenian's Histor. Oriental cap. xix. p. 35, cap. xxiii. p. 39, cap. xxiv. Jos. Sim. Assemani Biblioth. Orient. Vatic. tom. iii. part ii. See particularly the Ecclesiastical History of the Tartars, published in Latin at Helm stadt, in 1741, under my auspices and inspection.

Franciscan friars.* In 1274, Abaca, the em peror of that fierce nation, sent ambassadors to the council of Lyons, which was holden under the pontificate of Gregory X. About four years after this, pope Nicolas III. paid the same compliment to Coblai, emperor of the whole Tartar nation, to whom he sent a solemn embassy of Franciscan monks, with a view to render that prince propitious to the Christian cause. The last expedition of this kind that we shall mention at present, was that of Johannes à Monte Corvino, who, in 1289, was sent with other ecclesiastics to the same

emperor, by Nicolas IV., and who carried letters to the Nestorians from that zealous pontiff. This mission was far from being use less, since those spiritual ambassadors converted many of the Tartars to Christianity, engaged considerable numbers of the Nestorians to adopt the doctrine and discipline of the church of Rome, and erected churches in various parts of Tartary and China. In order to accelerate the propagation of the Gospel among these darkened nations, Johannes à Monte Corvino translated the New Testament and the Pralins of David into the language of the Tartars.

III. The Roman pontiffs employed their most zealous and assiduous efforts in the support of the Christian cause in Palestine, which was now in a most declining, or rather in a desperate state. They had learned, by a delightful experience, how much these Asiatic wars, undertaken from a principle, or at least carried on under a pretext of religion, had contributed to fill their coffers, augment their authority, and cover them with glory; and therefore they had nothing more at heart than the renewal and prolongation of these sacred expe

*See Wadding, Annal. Minor. tom. iii. p. 116, 149, 179, 256.

Wadding, tom. iv. p. 35. tom. v. p. 128. See particularly an accurate and ample account of the ne gotiations between the pontiffs and the Tartars, in the Historia Ecclesiastica Tartarorum, already mentioned.

Odor. Raynaldus, Annal. Ecclesiastic. tom. xiv. ad annum 1278, sect. 17, and ad annum 1289, sect. 59.-Pierre Bergeron, Traite des Tartares, chap. xi See also the writers mentioned in the Historia Es clesiastica Tartarorum.

ditions.* Innocent III., therefore, sounded the charge; but the greatest part of the European princes and nations were deaf to the voice of the holy trumpet. At length, however, after many unsuccessful attempts in different countries, a body of French nobles entered into an alliance with the republic of Venice, and set sail for the east with an army that was far from being formidable. The event of this new expedition was by no means answerable to the expectations of the pontiff. The French and Venetians, instead of steering their course toward Palestine, sailed directly for Constantinople, and, in 1203, took that imperial city by storm, with a design of restoring to the throne Isaac Angelus, who implored their succour against the violence of his brother Alexius, the usurper of the empire. In the following year a dreadful sedition was raised at Constantinople, in which the emperor Isaac was put to death, and his son, the young Alexius, was strangled by Alexius Ducas, the ringleader of this furious faction.† The account of this atrocity no sooner came to the ears of the chiefs of the crusade, than they made themselves masters of Constantinople for the second time, dethroned and drove from the city the tyrant Ducas, and elected Baldwin, count of Flanders, emperor of the Greeks. This proceeding was a source of new divisions; for, about two years after this, the Greeks resolved to set up, in opposition to this Latin emperor, one of their own nation, and elected, || for that purpose, Theodore Lascaris, who chose Nice in Bithynia for the place of his imperial residence. From this period until the year 1261, two emperors reigned over the Greeks; one of their own nation, who resided at Nice; and the other of Latin or French extraction, who lived at Constantinople, the ancient metropolis of the empire. But, in the year 1261, the face of things was changed by the Grecian emperor, Michael Palæologus, who, by the valour and stratagems of his general, Cæsar Alexius, became master of Constantinople, and forced the Latin emperor to abandon that city, and save himself by flight into Italy. Thus fell the empire of the Franks at Constantinople, after a duration of fifty-seven years.‡

of Bavaria, and several other princes. After the lapse of a few months, Andrew returned into Europe. The remaining chiefs carried on the war with vigour, and, in 1220, made themselves masters of Damietta, the strongest city in Egypt; but their prosperity was of a short duration; for, in the following year, their fleet was totally ruined by that of the Saracens, their provisions were cut off, and their army reduced to the greatest difficulties. This irre parable loss, being followed by that of Damietta, blasted all their hopes, and removed the flattering prospects which their successful beginnings had presented to their expectations.*

V. The legates and missionaries of the court of Rome still continued to animate the languishing zeal of the European princes in behalf of the Christian cause in Falestine, and to revive the spirit of crusading, which so many calamities and disasters had alinost totally extinguished. At length, in consequence of their lively remonstrances, a new army was raised, and a new expedition undertaken, which excited great expectations, and drew the attention of Europe so much the more, as it was generally believed that this army was to be commanded by the emperor Frederic II. That prince had, indeed, obliged himself by a solemn promise, made to the Roman pontiff, to undertake the direction of this enterprise; and what added a new degree of force to this engagement, and seemed to render the violation of it impossible, was the marriage that he had contracted, in 1223, with Jolanda, daughter of John, count of Brienne, and king of Jerusalem; by which alliance that kingdom was to be added to his European dominions Notwithstanding these inducements, he post poned his voyage under various pretences, and did not set out until the year 1228, when, after having been excommunicated on account of his delay, by the incensed pontiff Gregory IX,† he followed with a small train of attendants the troops, who expected, with the most anxious impatience, his arrival in Palestine. No sooner did he land in that disputed kingdom, than, instead of carrying on the war with vigour, he turned all his thoughts toward peace, and, without consulting the other princes and IV. Another sacred expedition was under- chiefs of the crusade, concluded, in 1229, a taken in 1217, under the pontificate of Hono-treaty of peace, or rather a truce of ten years, rius III., by the confederate arms of Italy and Germany. The allied army was commanded in chief by Andrew, king of Hungary, who was joined by Leopold, duke of Austria, Louis

*This is remarked by the writers of the twelfth century, who soon perceived the avaricious and despotic views of the pontiffs, in the encouragement they gave to the crusades. See Matth. Paris, Hist. Major.

The learned authors of the Universal History call this ringleader, by mistake, John Ducas.

See, for a full account of this empire, Du Fresne, Histoire de l'Empire de Constantinople sous les Enipereurs Francois; in the former part of which we find the Histoire de la Conquete de la Ville de Constantinople par les Francois, written by Godfrey de Ville-Harduin, one of the French chiefs concerned in the expedition. This work makes a part of the Byzantine history. See also Claude Fontenay, Histoire de l'Eglise Gallicane, tom. x. Guntheri Monachi Histor. captæ a Latinis Constantinopoleos, in Henr. Canisii Lect. Antiq. tom. iv.-Innocentii III. Epis

tol, a Baluzio edit.

with Malec-al-Camel, sultan of Egypt. The principal article of this treaty was, that Frederic should be put in possession of the city and kingdom of Jerusalem. This condition. was immediately executed; and the emperor,

*See Jac. de Vitriaco, Histor. Oriental. et Marinus Sanutus, Secret. fidel. Crucis inter Bongarsianos de sacris bellis Scriptores, seu Gesta Dei per Francos. This papal excommunication, which was drawn up in the most outrageous and indecent lan guage, was so far from exciting Frederic to accele rate his departure for Palestine, that it produced no effect upon him at all, and was, on the contrary, re ceived with the utmost contempt. He defended himself by his ambassador at Rome, and showed that the reasons of his delay were solid and just, and not mere pretexts, as the pope had pretended. At the same time, he wrote a remarkable letter to Henry III. king of England, in which he complained of the insatiable avarice, the boundless ambition, the perfidious and hypocritical proceedings of the Roman pontiffs. See Fleury, Histoire Ecclesiastig ie, liv Ixxix. tom. xvi.

entering the city with great pomp, accompanied by a numerous train, placed the crown upon his head with his own hands; and, having thus settled affairs in Palestine, he returned without delay into Italy, to appease the discords and commotions which the vindictive and ambitious pontiff had excited in his absence. Notwithstanding all the reproaches that were cast upon the emperor by the pope and his creatures, this expedition was, in reality, the most successful of any that had been undertaken against the infidels.*

Egypt with a formidable arıny and a numerous fleet, from a notion that the conquest of this province would enable him to carry on the war in Syria and Palestine with greater facility and success. The first attempts of the ealous monarch were crowned with victory; for Damietta, that famous Egyptian city, yielded to his arms; but the smiling prospect was soon changed, and the progress of the war presented one uniform scene of calamity and desolation. The united horrors of famine and pestilence overwhelmed the royal army, whose provisions VI. The expeditions that followed this were were cut off by the Mohammedans, in 1250; less important, and also less successful. In 1239, Robert, earl of Artois, the king's brother, Theobald VI., count of Champagne and king having surprised the Saracen army, and, of Navarre, set out from Marseilles for the through an excess of valour, pursued them too Holy Land, accompanied by several French far, was slain in the engagement; and, a few and German princes, as did also, in the follow-days after, Louis, two of his brothers,* and the ing year, Richard, earl of Cornwall, brother to greatest part of his army, were made prisoners Henry III., king of England. The issue of in a bloody action, after a bold and obstinate these two expeditions by no means correspond-resistance. This valiant monarch, who was ed with the preparations which were made to endowed with true greatness of mind, and whe render them successful. The former failed was extremely pious, though after the manner through the influence of the emperor's am- that prevailed in this age of superstition and bassadors in Palestine, who renewed the truce darkness, was ransomed at an immense price;t with the Moslems; while on the other hand, a and, after having spent about four years in considerable body of Christians were defeated Palestine, returned into France, in 1254, with at Gaza, and such as escaped the carnage re- a handful of men, the miserable remains of his turned into Europe. This ratal event was formidable army. principally occasioned by the discord that reigned between the templars and the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Hence it came to pass, that the arrival of Richard, which had been industriously retarded by Gregory, and which had revived, in some degree, the hopes of the vanquished, was ineffectual to repair their losses; and all that this prince could do, was to enter, with the consent of the allies, into a truce, upon as good conditions as the declining state of their affairs would admit. This truce was accordingly concluded with the sultan of Egypt in 1241; after which Richard immediately set sail for Europe.§

VII. The affairs of the Christians in the east daily declined. Intestine discords and ill-conducted expeditions had reduced them almost to extremities, when Louis IX., king of France, who was canonised after his death, and is still worshipped with the utmost devotion,attempted their restoration. It was in consequence of a vow, which this prince had made in the year 1248, when he was seized with a dangerous illness, that he undertook this arduous task; and, in the execution of it, he set sail for

* See the writers who have composed the history of the holy wars, and of the life and exploits of Frederic II. See also Muratori's Annales Italiæ, and the various authors of the Germanic History.

Dr. Mosheim calls him, by a mistake, Theobald V., unless we attribute this fault to an error of the press.

This was Frederic II. who had a great party in Palestine, and did not act in concert with the slergy and the creatures of his bitter enemy, Gregory IX.; from which division the Christian cause suffered much.

VIII. No calamities could deject the courage or damp the invincible spirit of Louis; nor dia he look upon his vow as fulfilled by what he had already done in Palestine. He therefore resolved upon a new expedition, fitted out a formidable fleet, with which he set sail for Africa, accompanied by a splendid train of princes and nobles, and proposed to begin in that part of the world his operations against the infidels, that he might either convert them to the Christian faith, or draw from their treasures the means of carrying on more effectually the war in Asia. Immediately after his arrival upon the African coast, he made himself mas||ter of the fort of Carthage; but this success was soon followed by a fatal change in his affairs. A pestilential disease broke out in the fleet, in the harbour of Tunis, carried off the greatest part of the army, and seized, at length, the monarch himself, who fell a victim to its rage, on the 25th of August, 1270.§

Alphonsus, earl of Poictiers, and Charles,

earl of Anjou.
The ransom, which, together with the resto.
ration of Damietta, the king was obliged to pay for
his liberty, was 800,000 gold bezants, and not 80,000,
as Collier erroneously reckons. This sum, which
was equal then to 500,000 livres of French money,
would, in our days, amount to the value of 4,000,000
of livres, that is, to about 170,000l. sterling.

Of 2,800 illustrious knights, who set out with
Louis from France, there remained about 100 when
he sailed from Palestine. See Joinville's Hist. de S.
Louis.

§ Among the various histories that deserve to be consulted for a more ample account of this last cru. sade, the principal place is due to the Histoire do S Louis IX. du nom, Roy de France, ecrite par Jean § All these circumstances are accurately related Sr. de Joinville, enrichie de nouvelles Dissertations and illustrated by the learned George Christ. Ge- et Observations Historiques, par Charles du Fresne, baureus, in his Historia Ricardi Imperatoris, lib. i. Paris, 1688. See also Filleau de la Chaise, Histoire p. 34.-It appears, however, by the Epistolæ Petri de de S. Louis, Paris, 1688, 2 vols. 8vo.-Menconis Vincis, that Richard was created, by Frederic, his Chronicon, in Ant. Matthæi Analect. veteris ævi, lord lieutenant of the kingdom of Jerusalem; and tom. iii.-Luc. Wadding, Annales Minorum, tom. iv. this furnishes a probable reason why Gregory used-Boulay, Hist. Acal. Paris. tom. iii.-Pierre Claude all possible means to retard Richard's voyage. Fontenay, Ilistoire de l'Eglise Gallicane, tom. xi.

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