land. One account relates that
it was carried by Blondel, a minstrel who had accompanied the King to
Palestine. He, it is said, wandered through Germany in search of his
master, singing a song, which he and Richard had composed together, at
every castle he came to. One day, as he was thus singing at the foot
of a tower, he heard the well-known voice of the King take up the next
verse in reply.

Finally, Richard regained his liberty (1194), but to do it he had to
raise an enormous ransom. Every Englishman, it was said, was obliged
to give a fourth of his personal property, and the priests were forced
to strip the churches of their jewels and silver plate.

When the King of France heard that the ransom money had at length been
raised, he wrote to John, telling him that his brother was free.
"Look out for yourself," said he; "the devil has broken loose."
Richard generously pardoned his treacherous brother; and when the King
was killed in a war in France (1199) John gained the throne he
coveted, but gained it only to disgrace it.

186. Purpose of the Crusades.

Up to the time of the Crusades, the English, when they entered upon
Continental wars, had been actuated either by ambition for military
glory or desire for conquest. But they undertook the Crusades from
motives of religious enthusiasm.

Those who engaged in them fought for an idea. They considered
themselves soldiers of the cross. Moved by this feeling, "all
Christian believers seemed redy to precipitate themselves in one
united body upon Asia" (S182). Thus the Crusades were "the first
European event."[1] They gave men something noble to battle for, not
only outside their country, but outside their own selfish interests.

[1] Guizot's "History of Civilization."

Richard, as we have seen, was the first English King who took part in
them. Before that period England had stood aloof,--"a world by
itself." The country was engaged in its own affairs or in its
contests with France. Richard's expedition to the Holy Land brought
England into the main current of history, so that it was now moved by
the same feeling which animated the Continent.

187. The Results of the Crusades: Educational, Social, Political.

From a purely military point of view, the Crusades ended in disastrous
failure, for they left the Mohammedans in absolute possession of the
Holy Land. Although this is the twentieth century since the birth of
Christ, the Mohammedans still continu