hey pulled down
cities to put up tents. Though they long ago ceased to be nomads, they
have to this day never learned to comprehend civilized life, and they
have been simply a blight upon every part of the earth's surface which
they have touched. At the beginning of the eleventh century, Asia Minor
was one of the most prosperous and highly civilized parts of the
world;[320] and the tale of its devastation by the terrible Alp Arslan
and the robber chiefs that came after him is one of the most mournful
chapters in history. At the end of that century, when the Turks were
holding Nicaea and actually had their outposts on the Marmora, it was
high time for Christendom to rise _en masse_ in self-defence. The idea
was worthy of the greatest of popes. Imperfectly and spasmodically as it
was carried out, it undoubtedly did more than anything that had ever
gone before toward strengthening the wholesome sentiment of a common
Christendom among the peoples of western Europe. The Crusades increased
the power of the Church, which was equivalent to putting a curb upon the
propensities of the robber baron and making labour and traffic more
secure. In another way they aided this good work by carrying off the
robber baron in large numbers to Egypt and Syria, and killing him there.
In this way they did much toward ridding European society of its most
turbulent elements; while at the same time they gave fresh development
to the spirit of romantic adventure, and connected it with something
better than vagrant freebooting.[321] By renewing the long-suspended
intercourse between the minds of western Europe and the Greek culture
of Constantinople, they served as a mighty stimulus to intellectual
curiosity, and had a large share in bringing about that great thirteenth
century renaissance which is forever associated with the names of Giotto
and Dante and Roger Bacon.

[Footnote 320: "It is difficult for the modern traveller who
ventures into the heart of Asia Minor, and finds nothing but
rude Kurds and Turkish peasants living among mountains and wild
pastures, not connected even by ordinary roads, to imagine the
splendour and rich cultivation of this vast country, with its
brilliant cities and its teeming population." Mahaffy, _The
Greek World under Roman Sway_, London, 1890, p. 229.]

[Footnote 321: The general effects of the Crusades are
discussed, with much learni