volume one

8 HISTOET or THE CKUSADES.
tine, and in all tlie sacred spots visited by tlie pilgrims of
t]ie West. The account of his pilgrimage was drawn up by
a holv monk of the Hebrides, for the information and
edification of the faithful.
The Christians of Palestine, however, enjoyed some short
intervals of security during the ci^'il wars of the Mussulmans.*
If they were not freed from their bondage, they
could at least weep in peace upon the tomb of Christ. The
dynasty of the Ommiades, which had estabhshed the seat of
the Mussulman empire at Damascus, was always odious to the
ever-fonnidable party of the Alides, and employed itself less
in persecuting the Christians than in preserving its own
precarious power. Merwan II., the last caliph of this
house, was the most cruel towards the disciples of Christ
and when he, with all his family, sunk under the power
of his enemies, the Christians and the infidels united in
thanks to heaven for ha'V'ing delivered the East from his
tyi'anny.
The Abassides, established in the city of Bagdad, which
they had founded, persecuted and tolerated the Christians
by turns. The Christians, always livino: between the fear
of persecution and the hope of a transient security, saw at
last the prospect of happier days dawn upon them with the
reign of Haroun al Easchid, the greatest caliph of the race
of Abbas. Under tbis reign the glory of Charlemagne,
which had reached Asia, protected the churches of the East.f
His pious liberality relieved tlie indigence of the Christians
of Alexandria, of Carthage, and Jerusalem. The two greatest
princes of then' age testified their mutual esteem by frequent
embassies : they gent each other magnificent presents ; and,
in the friendly intercourse of two powerful monarchs, the
East and the AYest exchanged the richest productions of
their soil and their industry. The presents of Haroiui
created a lively surprise in the court of Charlemagne, and
* Litcida plerumqve recepit intervalla.—^^^'illiam of Tyre.
t A capitulary of Charlemagne, of the year 810, is conceived in these
" De eleemosyna mittenda ad Hyerusalem propter ecclesias Dei
terms :
restaurandas." Ob hoc maaime (says Eginard) iransmarinorum regum
amiciiias expetens, ut Christianis sub eorum dominatu degentibus
refugerium aliquod ac relevatio proteniret.— Vita Caroli Magni, cap. 27,
p. 101, edit, of Bredow, 12mo. Helmstadt, 1806.
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