hen Bajazet was in the full
tide of his victories; and he was able, not only to defeat it, but, by
defeating, to damp the hopes, and by anticipation, to stifle the
efforts, which might have been used against him with better effect in
the day of his reverses. In the year 1394, eight years before Bajazet's
misfortunes, Pope Boniface the Ninth proclaimed a Crusade, with ample
indulgences for those who engaged in it, to the countries which were
especially open to the Ottoman attack. In his Bull, he bewails the sins
of Christendom, which had brought upon them that scourge which was the
occasion of his invitation. He speaks of the massacres, the tortures,
and slavery which had been inflicted on multitudes of the faithful. "The
mind is horrified," he says, "at the very mention of these miseries; but
it crowns our anguish to reflect, that the whole of Christendom, which,
if in concord, might put an end to these and even greater evils, is
either in open war, country with country, or, if in apparent peace, is
secretly wasted by mutual jealousies and animosities."[66]

The Pontiff's voice, aided by the imminent peril of Hungary and its
neighbouring kingdoms, was successful. Not only from Germany, but even
from France, the bravest knights, each a fortress in himself, or a
man-of-war on land (as he may be called), came forward in answer to his
call, and boasted that, even were the sky to fall, they would uphold its
canopy upon the points of their lances. They formed the flower of the
army of 100,000 men, who rallied round the King of Hungary in the great
battle of Nicopolis. The Turk was victorious; the greater part of the
Christian army were slain or driven into the Danube; and a part of the
French chivalry of the highest rank were made prisoners. Among these
were the son of the Duke of Burgundy; the Sire de Coucy, who had great
possessions in France and England; the Marshal of France (Boucicault),
who afterwards fell on the field of Agincourt; and four French princes
of the blood. Bajazet spared twenty-five of his noblest prisoners, whom
their wealth and station made it politic to except; then, summoning the
rest before his throne, he offered them the famous choice of the Koran
or the sword. As they came up one by one, they one by one professed
their faith in Christ, and were beheaded in the Sultan's presence. His
royal and noble captives he carried about with him in his march through
Europe and Asia, as he himself was soon to grac