e except to itself. By persuading departing lords to make
over their sovereignty to him, the pope became the arbiter and
consecrator of all sovereignty, and at length obtained the right to
release from allegiance the subjects of two independent sovereigns.

No pope led an army. The shock of defeat to a "Vicar of Christ" would
have been very great. So legates were sent and upheld in his name the
supremacy of the Church.

[Sidenote: _Reasons for Irrevocable Vow_]

The vow to crusade was irrevocable, and sovereigns took it to obtain
pardon, to secure glory, and propitiate favor. The pope alone could
release the votary, and he took good care to make the price heavy in the
acknowledgment of his authority.

By sending legates to every country to preach the Crusades, the
authority of the pope was also greatly advertised and augmented. Through
these the pope acquired a right to tax for his purposes within the
domain of independent States.

[Sidenote: _How Clergy Grew Rich_]

[Sidenote: _Papal Ambitions_]

The clergy and the Church grew rich because unable to alienate their own
estates, they bought in the property and domains of princes, dukes, and
counts, who sold all to enter upon the Holy War. For two centuries this
went on among the most fruitful of the many methods by which the Church
added to her temporal substance. The Church, by the Crusade, established
the principle that religious wars were just, and for five centuries the
principle was indorsed with blood. Incidentally the hurling back of the
Mohammedan advance occurred, but the hunger for papal dominion spurred
on the popes to bless those who fought. Called defensive at first, they
quickly became aggressive, and many a Crusading band hacked at the Jews
before carving a path through to Mohammedans.

Chivalry took on a more religious tone through the Crusades, if indeed
it was not in some countries directly born of the wars of the cross.

[Sidenote: _Principles of Chivalry_]

Most of the principles of chivalry were Christian in the quality of
conduct, if not always of motive. To be just, generous, brave, the
defender of weakness, and to be pure in life were certainly Christian
duties. The Crusades gave a great field for such virtues. But, alas! it
was only to Christians that these virtues were obligatory. The knight
often became a devil ranging over lands wrested from Saracen control.

But respect for women, undoubtedly enhanced by chivalry, took high
groun