odied swarms. Poetry, which, more
than religion, inspired the third Crusade, was then but "caviare to the
million," who had other matters, of sterner import, to claim all their
attention. But the knights and their retainers listened with delight to
the martial and amatory strains of the minstrels, minnesangers,
trouveres, and troubadours, and burned to win favour in ladies' eyes by
showing prowess in Holy Land. The third was truly the romantic era of
the Crusades. Men fought then, not so much for the sepulchre of Jesus,
and the maintenance of a Christian kingdom in the East, as to gain
glory for themselves in the best, and almost only field, where glory
could be obtained. They fought, not as zealots, but as soldiers; not
for religion, but for honour; not for the crown of martyrdom, but for
the favour of the lovely.

It is not necessary to enter into a detail of the events by which
Saladin attained the sovereignty of the East, or how, after a
succession of engagements, he planted the Moslem banner once more upon
the battlements of Jerusalem. The Christian knights and population,
including the grand orders of St. John, the Hospitallers, and the
Templars, were sunk in an abyss of vice, and torn by unworthy
jealousies and dissensions, were unable to resist the well-trained
armies which the wise and mighty Saladin brought forward to crush them.
But the news of their fall created a painful sensation among the
chivalry of Europe, whose noblest members were linked to the dwellers
in Palestine by many ties, both of blood and friendship. The news of
the great battle of Tiberias, in which Saladin defeated the Christian
host with terrible slaughter, arrived first in Europe, and was followed
in quick succession by that of the capture of Jerusalem, Antioch,
Tripoli, and other cities. Dismay seized upon the clergy. The Pope
(Urban III.) was so affected by the news that he pined away for grief,
and was scarcely seen to smile again, until he sank into the sleep of
death. [James of Vitry--William de Nangis.] His successor, Gregory
VIII. felt the loss as acutely, but had better strength to bear it, and
instructed all the clergy of the Christian world to stir up the people
to arms for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. William, Archbishop of
Tyre, a humble follower in the path of Peter the Hermit, left Palestine
to preach to the Kings of Europe the miseries he had witnessed, and to
incite them to the rescue. The renowned Frederick Barbaro