Curiosities of Christian History Part 39

Matthew Paris says: "In 1241, in order that the wretched country of England might be robbed and despoiled of its wealth by a thousand devices, the Preacher and Minorite brethren, supported by a warrant from the Pope in their preaching, granted full remission of sins to all who should a.s.sume the cross for the liberation of the Holy Land. And immediately, or at least two or three days after they had prevailed on many to a.s.sume the cross, they absolved them from their vow, on condition that they would contribute a large amount of money for the a.s.sistance of the Holy Land, each as far as his means would permit. And in order to render the English more ready and willing to accede to their demands, they declared that the money was to be sent to Earl Richard; and, moreover, they showed a letter of his for better security. They also granted the same indulgence to old men and invalids, women, imbeciles, and children who took the cross or purposed taking it, receiving money, however, from them beforehand for this indulgence, and showed letters testimonial from Earl Richard concerning this matter which had been obtained from the Roman Court. By this method of draining the purses of the English an immense sum of money was obtained, owing to the favour in which Earl Richard was held; but we would here ask who was to be a faithful guardian and dispenser of this money; for we do not know."

ELOQUENT ENTHUSIASM OF THE MASTER OF HUNGARY (A.D. 1251).

In 1251 a religious frenzy arose in Flanders and France under the name of the Pastoureux or Shepherds. It began among the lowest cla.s.ses, who attributed the imprisonment of their king, St. Louis, by the Mussulmans to the neglect and avarice of the clergy. A champion arose, called the Master of Hungary, an aged man with a long beard and a pale emaciated face, who spoke three or four languages, boasted that he had no authority from the Pope, but he clasped in his hand a roll which he said contained instructions from the Blessed Virgin herself. He said she had appeared to him encircled by hosts of angels, and had given him this commission to summon the poor shepherds to the deliverance of their G.o.dly King. This awful personage excited the most intense interest. He was an apostate monk, who in his youth had imbibed atheism and magic from unholy sources.

He it was who in his youth led a crusade of children who had plunged, following his steps, by thousands into the sea. His eloquence and mystic look attracted wondering crowds. The shepherds and peasants left their flocks, their ploughs, and their fields, and, regardless of hunger and want, roamed after their leader, till they swelled to thirty thousand, and then to one hundred thousand men. They moved in battle-array, brandishing clubs, pikes, axes, and weapons picked up at random. Provosts and mayors were panic-stricken at the swarm of banners of the cross and standards of the Virgin and angels. The Master scornfully spoke of the clergy and usurped the offices of the Church, distributing crosses and dispensing absolution. He taunted the monks and friars with hypocrisy, gluttony, and pride. It was rumoured that the mob was miraculously fed. He entered a church and declaimed eloquently on the vices of the enemy. At last riots arose, and his head was cloven by a battle-axe, and the leaders were killed like mad dogs till the mult.i.tude disappeared.

DEATHBED OF ST. LOUIS OF FRANCE, CRUSADER (A.D. 1270).

For seven years after his return from the East in 1254, St. Louis, King of France, could not rest in his mind till he had again entered on a new crusade to reconquer Jerusalem and deliver the Holy Sepulchre. But he kept his own counsel and awaited the progress of events. In 1261 he told his parliament that there should be fasts and prayers for the Christians of the East. In 1267, on convoking his parliament in Paris, having first had the precious relics deposited in the Holy Chapel set before the eyes of the a.s.sembly, he opened the session by ardently exhorting those present to avenge the insult which had so long been offered to the Saviour in the Holy Land, and to recover the Christian heritage possessed for our sins by the infidels. And next year, in 1268, he took an oath to start in May 1270, and to take his three sons, aged twenty-two, eighteen, and seventeen. He urged Joinville, his biographer, to take the cross and join him; but Joinville flatly refused, thinking the King would do far more good by remaining at home. The King was in weak health, and the plan of the expedition was long unsettled, and at the last moment he decided first to go to Tunis, as he had a notion that he might convert the King, Mohammed Mostanser, who had long been talking of becoming a Christian. But on reaching Tunis on July 17th, 1270, it was found that the French must first fight the Mussulman prince, and the army was ill provisioned and unready. On August 3rd the King was attacked with epidemic fever and kept his bed in tent. He called his son and daughter and gave them the best advice; and after giving an interview to a messenger from the Emperor sent to bespeak his good offices, the saintly King ceased to think of the affairs of this world. He kept repeating prayers for mercy on his own people, and that they might return safely to their own land. He now and then raised himself on his bed, muttering the words, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem. We will go up to Jerusalem." He retained possession of his faculties to the last, insisted on receiving out of bed extreme unction, and on lying down upon a coa.r.s.e sackcloth covered with cinders with the cross before him. On Monday, August 25th, 1270, at 3 p.m., he died, uttering these last words: "Father, after the example of the Divine Master, into Thy hands I commend my spirit."

CRUSADERS ENTERTAINED ON THEIR WAY HOME.

When Earl Richard, brother of King Henry III., returned in 1241 from the Holy Land on his way to visit the Emperor, Frederick II., and the Empress, the sister of Richard, he was received with the greatest joy and honour in the various cities, the citizens and their ladies coming to meet him with music and singing, bearing branches of trees and flowers, dressed in holiday garments and ornaments. On reaching the Emperor, Richard was treated with blood-letting, baths, and divers medicinal fomentations to restore his strength after the dangers of the sea. At the end of some days, by the Emperor's orders, various kinds of games and musical instruments, which were procured for the Empress's amus.e.m.e.nt, were exhibited before him, and afforded great pleasure. Amongst other astonishing novelties there was one which particularly excited his admiration and praise. Two Saracen girls of handsome form mounted upon four round b.a.l.l.s placed on the floor--namely, one of the two on two b.a.l.l.s, and the other on the other two. They walked backwards and forwards, clapping their hands, moving at pleasure on these revolving globes, gesticulating with their arms, singing various tunes and twisting their bodies according to the tune, beating cymbals or castanets together with their hands, and putting themselves into various amusing postures, affording, with the other jugglers, an admirable spectacle to the lookers-on. After staying with the Emperor about two months, Earl Richard took his departure, loaded with costly presents.

A DYING KING BEQUEATHS HIS HEART AS A CRUSADER.

When Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, was on his deathbed in 1329, Froissart tells how he made this dying request to his friend Sir James Douglas: "'Sir James, my dear friend, none knows better than you how great labour and suffering I have undergone in my day for the maintenance of the rights of my kingdom, and when I was hardest beset made a vow which it now grieves me deeply that I have not accomplished. I vowed to G.o.d, that, if I should live to see an end of my wars, and be enabled to govern this realm in peace, I would carry on war against the enemies of my Lord and Saviour to the best of my power. Never has my heart ceased to bend to that point; but our Lord has not consented thereto, for I have had my hands full in my days, and now at the last I am seized with this grievous sickness, so that, as you all see, I have nothing to do but to die. And since my body cannot go thither and accomplish that which I have so much at heart, I have resolved to send my heart there in place of my body, to fulfil my vow. I entreat thee, therefore, my dear and tried friend, that for the love you bear to me you will undertake this voyage and acquit my soul of its debt to my Saviour.' On the knight promising faithfully to obey his command, 'Praise be to G.o.d,' said the King. 'I shall die in peace, since I am a.s.sured that the best and most valiant knight of my kingdom has promised to achieve for me that which I myself could never accomplish.'"

When King Robert Bruce died, his heart was taken out from his body and embalmed, and the Douglas caused a case of silver to be made, into which he put the heart and wore it round his neck by a string of silk and gold.

He set out to the Holy Land, attended by a gallant train of Scottish chiefs; but on touching at Spain he found the Saracen King or Sultan of Grenada, called Osmyn, then invading the realms of Alphonso, the orthodox Spanish King of Castile. The latter King received the Douglas with great honour, and persuaded him to a.s.sist in driving back these Saracens.

Douglas consented; and during a battle, seeing a comrade surrounded by the Moors, he took from his neck the heart, flung it into the thick of the enemy, and rushing to the spot where it fell, was himself slain. The body of the good Lord James was found lying above the silver case, as if to defend it had been his last effort. His companions then resolved not to proceed to the Holy Land, but to return with the sacred heart to Scotland, and it was buried below the high altar in Melrose Abbey.

THE HOSPITALLERS AND KNIGHTS TEMPLARS (A.D. 1118-1313).

A monastery for the benefit of Latin pilgrims had been founded at Jerusalem about 1050 by some wealthy merchants, and a hospital of St. John the Baptist was attached to help sick pilgrims and protect them against robbers. The Hospitallers soon separated from the monastery when the Crusaders arrived, and their dress was fixed as black with a white cross.

Kings and n.o.bles came to the a.s.sistance of this charity with gifts and endowments, and Raymond du Puy, on becoming master of the hospital in 1118, drew up rules which enjoined a regular system of begging alms for the poor, and each member when travelling was to carry a light with him, which was to be kept burning all night. The order of Knights Templars began about 1118 from similar motives, the object being to protect against the robbers the highways used by pilgrims. At first the Knights Templars were very poor, and the seal of their order showed two knights riding on one horse, a symbol which some explain as indicating poverty, and others as indicating brotherly kindness. Hugh de Payens and other French knights were the first members, and soon attracted attention, especially as St.

Bernard, a nephew of one of the knights, warmly commended the inst.i.tution and drew up rules for them. Each knight was restricted to keep three horses only, not to hawk nor hunt, not to receive presents nor use gaudy trappings in their equipments. They were charged always "to strike the lion," which was understood to mean the infidels. They were forbidden to lock their trunks, to walk alone, or to kiss their mothers or sisters.

Their habit was said to be white with a red cross on the breast. The order began modestly, but soon included three hundred knights of n.o.ble families, and these attracted wealth, and this in time gave occasion for pride, insolence, and defiance of ecclesiastical discipline. The Knights Templars by degrees became a half-monastic and half-military order, attracting all the spirited youths of Europe. St. Bernard called them a perpetual sacred militia, the bodyguard of the Kings of Jerusalem, and a standing army on the outposts of civilisation. Lands, castles, riches, were given to them.

The Popes patronised them. For two hundred years they kept up their credit, and fought with consummate valour, discipline, activity, and zeal for the cause of Christianity. They then excited the enmity of Philip the Fair, who coveted their wealth, and as an excuse for attacking them said he had heard of the secret vices and depravity of the order, and accused and arrested all that were in France in 1307. They were subjected by him to fearful torture to make them confess, and many confessed anything and everything, being thereby able to escape further tortures. De Molay, the Grand Master, confessed, retracted, then confessed, and again retracted.

Edward II. caused those Templars settled in England to be arrested also.

In 1310 fifty-four of the French Templars who denied the charges were burnt in Paris. De Molay, after being six years in prison, was burnt in 1313, protesting his innocence and that of the order. Philip the Fair was present part of the time. Philip's avarice and desire to confiscate their property were thought to be the moving cause of this atrocious tyranny, as he had borrowed money from them to pay the dowry of his sister, the Queen of England. The ashes of the victims were carefully collected and treasured as relics. It was afterwards currently believed that Molay at the stake summoned the Pope and the King (Philip), as the authors of his death, to appear before the judgment seat of Christ within forty days and a year respectively, and that each of them died within the time a.s.signed.

Philip, at the age of forty-six in 1314, met with an accident while hunting in the forest of Fontainebleau, from which he never recovered, leaving a name detested for every kind of despotism and oppression; and his chief minister, Marigny, was hanged soon after. Pope Clement V. had acted with a mean and cowardly acquiescence in the King's acts, and died in the same year.

CRUSADERS' FAITH IN PROVIDENCE.

De Joinville, in his Memoir of St. Louis IX. of France, says that when they were returning in 1254 from the Sixth Crusade, this accident happened on board the ship of the Lord d'Argonnes, one of the most powerful lords of Provence: "Lord d'Argonnes was annoyed one morning in bed by the rays of the sun darting on his eyes through a hole in the vessel, and calling one of his esquires, ordered him to stop the hole. The esquire, finding he could not stop it inside, attempted to do it on the outside, but his foot slipping he fell into the sea. The ship kept on her way, and there was not the smallest boat alongside to succour him. We who were in the King's ship saw him; but as we were half a league off, we thought it was some piece of furniture that had fallen into the sea, for the esquire did not attempt to save himself nor to move. When we came nearer, one of the King's boats took him up and brought him on board our vessel, when he related his accident. We asked him why he did not attempt to save himself by swimming, nor call out to the other ships for help. He said he had no occasion to do so, for as he fell into the sea he exclaimed, 'Our Lady of Valbert!' and that she supported him by his shoulders until the King's galley came to him. In honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to perpetuate this miracle, I had it painted in my chapel of Joinville, and also in the windows of the church of Blecourt."

COLUMBUS VOWING ANOTHER CRUSADE (A.D. 1493).

Columbus was in spirit a crusader rather than a maritime discoverer. The moment that the terms were fairly settled, he opened his project to Queen Isabella (herself a proselytising Catholic), and suggested that the vast wealth of Kubla Khan which he expected would accrue from his discovery should be devoted to the pious purpose 'of rescuing the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem from the power of the infidels.' When he came home in triumph, he made a vow to furnish within seven years an army, consisting of five thousand horse and fifty thousand foot, for the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre, and a similar force within the five following years. How tenaciously he held to his purpose we may gather from the fact that, when he was brought home in chains to Spain and was in the deepest sorrow and distress, he prepared an elaborate appeal to the sovereigns to undertake the fulfilment of the vow which his poverty and weakness forbade him to redeem; he wrote at the same time to the Pope, affirming that his enterprise had been undertaken with the intent of dedicating the gains to the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre; and that the evidence might be complete, he reaffirmed it solemnly in death by his last testament, and committed it as the dearest object of his heart, the most sacred purpose of his life, for fulfilment to his heirs. When Columbus after his first voyage told his story to Ferdinand and Isabella, they fell on their knees, giving thanks to G.o.d with many tears, and then the choristers of the Royal Chapel closed the grand ceremonial by singing the _Te Deum_. He was created a Don, with reversion to his sons and brothers, rode by the King's side, and "All hail!" was said to him on State occasions. He brought with him nine Indians, as specimens of the wide field for future proselytes, and these natives were baptised. One of them, after being baptised, died, and the authorities of the time, as Herrera relates, were pleased then to declare that he was the first coloured person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Twelve missionaries, under charge of a Benedictine monk, were sent out to take charge of the souls of the other Indians, and bring them to a knowledge of the Holy Catholic faith. And Admiral Columbus was specially charged besides to make them presents, and to deal lovingly with them.

Columbus was all his life aware of some prophecy that Jerusalem was to be rebuilt by the hand of a Christian, and he looked forward to be that Christian; and he used to say that he would try and discover the exact kingdom of Prester John, who was known to be in want of missionaries to help him.

NUMBERS OF CRUSADERS.

The First Crusade, which was led by Peter the Hermit, by Walter the Penniless, by a German priest, and by some nondescript leaders, consisted of a mob of a quarter of a million of people, and other contingents swelled the number to 880,000. When they succeeded in capturing Jerusalem, they ma.s.sacred ten thousand inhabitants, including women and children.

Then G.o.dfrey, throwing aside his armour, clothed with a linen mantle, and with bare head and naked feet, went to the Church of the Sepulchre. The First Crusade captured Nice, then Antioch after a severe siege, and then Jerusalem; and then a king was elected and remained. The Second Crusade, stirred up by St. Bernard in 1144, consisted of some 1,200,000 men, including Louis VII. of France, and was a total failure. The Third Crusade, in 1189, including Richard I. of England, was also numerous, and consumed twenty-three months in besieging Acre, but it ended in small progress. The Fourth Crusade, in 1203, stopped short at and attacked Constantinople. The Fifth Crusade, in 1228, resulted in a treaty by which Palestine was left to the Crusaders. The Sixth Crusade, in 1244, including Louis IX. of France (St. Louis), was utterly defeated, and Jerusalem pillaged by the Turks. The Seventh Crusade, again including St. Louis and Edward (afterwards Edward I. of England), in 1270, ended in abortive efforts to keep possession of the Holy Land, which was at last abandoned to the Saracens.

THE MODERN GREEK CHURCH AND ITS PILGRIMAGES.

Ricaut, in his account of the modern Greek Church two centuries ago, says: "The Greeks were extremely fond of visiting their churches and chapels, especially such as were on precipices and places very difficult of access; and indeed the greatest part of their devotion consisted in such voluntary fatigues. On their first arrival at the church or chapel, they crossed themselves over and over, and made a thousand genuflexions and profound bows. They kissed the image which was erected there, and treated it with three or four grains of the choicest frankincense, and recommended themselves to the Blessed Virgin or the saint whom the image represented.

But in case the saint did not incline his ear and hearken to their vows, they soon made him sensible of their resentment. Here, as in other places, these pilgrimages and peculiar foundations of chapels were looked upon as meritorious, and became the effects of mere superst.i.tion."

CHAPTER XIV.

_SOME GREAT CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS._

EARLY BASILICA CHURCH ARCHITECTURE.

The basilicas of Pagan Rome were long rectangular buildings, divided along their whole length sometimes by two, not seldom by four, lines of columns, and serving as halls or courts of justice. The Christians of the fourth and fifth centuries often obtained from favouring emperors leave to turn these basilicas into churches. It was thought that this gave a pattern to early churches. The roof was gradually raised proportionately and the arms thrown out wider to accommodate an increased congregation, thereby a.s.suming a cruciform outline. St. Peter's at Rome, before Michael Angelo's design, was a basilica, also St. Paul's without the walls, and the church of Maria Maggiore: these and the church of St. Apollinaris at Ravenna were the grandest of this cla.s.s of churches. Justinian, the Emperor, reared many basilicas, and his masterpiece was St. Sophia's church at Constantinople, which was imitated in the church of St. Vitalis at Ravenna. The period is uncertain when the central dome or cupola came to be added. In the eleventh century a new era of church-building began, called the Romanesque, and lasted about two centuries in Italy and Norman England. Then came the Gothic, though the Goths had nothing to do with the invention: the pointed arch is the characteristic, and it was first noticed in Sicily, and then spread rapidly in Germany, Northern France, and England. In Italy the Renaissance was equally making its way, with its rich marbles, mosaics, and gold and silver decorations.

EARLY CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE.

Lord Lindsay, in his "Christian Art," says that the buildings required for the religious ceremonies of the Church in the fourth century were of three descriptions: (1) baptisteries for the performance of the initiatory rite of Christianity; (2) churches for the united worship of the initiated and the celebration of the mystery of the Lord's Supper; (3) sepulchral chapels for the commemorative prayers offered up for the welfare of the departed who sleep in Christ. For the first of these, the public baths; for the second, the basilicas or courts of justice; for the third, the subterranean cells of the Catacombs, presented ready models. The basilicas were models of everything that could be desired. Their plan was an oblong area, divided by pillars into a nave and two aisles, the nave being sometimes open to the sky, sometimes roofed in, the aisles always so protected, the whole bounded by a transverse aisle or transept, raised by several steps and terminating at the extremity opposite the door of the building in a semicircular niche or tribune where the judge sat. Nothing could be easier than to accommodate an edifice like this to the demands of Christian worship. Two basilicas, the Laterana and Vaticana at Rome, were actually converted by Constantine into churches. The basilica retained its form unchanged for ages.

THE COPTIC CHURCH.

The name of Coptic Church is given to the Church among the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, so called from Coptos, a city in Upper Egypt. This Church traces its origin to St. Mark, and had Origen, St. Antony, St.

Athanasius, St. Cyril, and others as its early champions. The Coptic Church was almost identified with other Churches up to the council of Chalcedon in 451, from which date it was viewed as an unorthodox Church.

One Timothy the Cat was the leader of the heretics, and he got this name from visiting the cells of the monks by night, and proclaiming himself an angel from heaven, and charging them to forsake the people whom he viewed as heretics, but whom we would call orthodox. The Timotheans murdered the arch-priest of the opposite party. Two rival sets of patriarchs headed these factions. The Copt who enters his church takes off his shoes, walks up to the curtain, kisses the hem, and prostrates himself before the sanctuary. Standing during the service is usual; hence all are supplied with crutches of a height to enable the worshippers to lean upon them.

There are no organs, but musical accompaniments are made by cymbals, triangles, and small bra.s.s bells struck with a little rod. There are no images permitted, but paintings adorn the walls on every side, the princ.i.p.al of which is one of Christ blessing His Church.

SPIRES AND TOWERS OF CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES.

The spire has for centuries been a frequent ornament of churches in all countries, though in England there were few spires in the earliest churches. The highest spires have been as follows: Old St. Paul's, 527 feet; Cologne, 510 feet; Strasburg, 500 feet; Vienna, 441 feet; St.

Peter's dome, 434 feet; Amiens, 422 feet; Antwerp, 406 feet; Salisbury, 404 feet; Florence, 387 feet; Freiburg, 385 feet; Milan, 355 feet; Chartres, 353 feet; Segovia, 330 feet; St. Michael's, Coventry, 320 feet; Norwich, 309 feet; Louth, 294 feet; Chichester, 271 feet; Glasgow, 225 feet; St. Patrick's, Dublin, 223 feet. The towers of churches were also rare until the eleventh century. Owing to a faulty foundation or subsidence, some towers lean considerably out of the perpendicular, as St.

Marian at Este, Pisa, and Bologna, Vienna, Delft, Saragossa, Weston (Lincolnshire), The Temple (Bristol), Wynunbury (Cheshire), and Surfleet.

Galileo took advantage of the leaning tower at Pisa to make experiments on falling bodies. The following is the height of the highest towers: Bruges, 442 feet; Mechlin, 348 feet; Utrecht, 321 feet; Tournay, 320 feet; Ludlow, 294 feet; Grantham, 274 feet; Boston, 268 feet; Lincoln, 262 feet; Canterbury, 229 feet; Gloucester and Westminster, 225 feet; Durham, 216 feet; York, 198 feet.

INTERNAL DIMENSIONS OF CATHEDRALS.

The length, width at transept, and height in feet of the largest cathedrals are said to be: St. Peter's, Rome, 613, 450, 152; Old St.

Paul's, 590, 300, 102; Modern St. Paul's, 460, 240, 88; Canterbury, 514, 130, 80; Winchester, 545, 209, 78; St. Albans, 543, 175, 66; Westminster, 505, 190, 103; Ely, 517, 185, 72; York, 486, 222, 101; Durham, 473, 170, 70; Lincoln, 468, 220, 82; Salisbury, 450, 206, 84; Florence, 458, 334, 153; Saltzburg, 466; Cologne, 445, 250, 161; Milan, 443, 287, 153; Granada, 425, 249; Amiens, 442, 194, 140; Paris, 432, 186; Chartres, 418, 200, 114; Rouen, 415, 176, 89; Valladolid, 414, 204; Seville, 398, 291, 132; Ratisbon, 384, 128, 118; Constantinople, 360; Palermo, 346, 138, 74; Drontheim, 334, 166; Upsala, 330, 140, 105; Vienna, 337, 115, 92; St.

Patrick's, Dublin, 300, 157, 58; Glasgow, 282; Venice, 205, 164.