Identifier: gri_33125008050011 (find matches)
Title: Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance
Year: 1870 (1870s)
Authors: Jacob, P. L., 1806-1884
Subjects: Middle Ages Civilization, Medieval Civilization, Renaissance Costume Military art and science Christian life
Publisher: London : Bickers & Son
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute

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Christendom. This time the cry of sorrow and indig-nation was uttered by Pope Gregory VIL, that illustrious pontiff whoseardent and resolute nature, in the midst of the universal disorder anddisorganization of government and society, seemed to have a divine missionto fulfil in settling upon an indestructible basis the supreme authority ofthe Church. The miseries suffered by the Eastern Christians, he wrote, have so stirred up my heart that I almost long for death, and I wouldrather expose my life in delivering the holy places than reign over theuniverse. Come, sons of Christ, and you will find me at your head ! Such words as these at such an epoch necessarily rekindled faith and THE CRUSADES. 109 hope in every heart that received them. Fifty thousand Christians houndthemselves by an oath to follow the successor of St. Peter to Constantinople,when the Emperor Michael Ducas promised to put an end to the dissensionsthat had so long separated the Greek from the Latin Church, and to Jeru-
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Fig 98.—Prester-John, Chief of a Christian Tribe in Tartary. Fig. 99.—Prester-Johns Page. From Cesare Vecellis Degli Habiti Antichi e Moderni: 8vo, Venice, 1560.

salem, where the standard of Christ, supported by heroic hands and hearts,could not fail soon to replace the standard of the Prophet. Rumours wererife in Europe that a part of Asia was already christianised, and thatPrester-John, a powerful sovereign of Tartary (Figs. 98 and 99), had forcedhis subjects to adopt the precepts of the Gospel. I 10 THE CRUSADES. But the political struggles which. Gregory VII. had to sustain againstthe princes of the West, and the refusal of the King of Germany, Henry IV.,to grant him the assistance he had demanded, prevented him from under-taking the sacred expedition which was to have crowned his apostolic work.Victor III., his successor, inspired by his example, continued to preach theHoly War against the infidels. The latter not only manifested throughoutthe entire East their implacable hat

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