The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1917-03-19
BRITISH army AT
>.H0LY C|TY'SGATES
Christians May Again Govern
After Many Centuries.
RULED FROM 1899 TO 1857

78 Years-Fightins With Neishbor-
ing Heather Tribes-christians Who
Lived and Died by Sword.
England was aroused to a high pitch
of enthusiasm over the prospect of cap
turing Jerusalem, the ancient capital of
Palestine and the city of the Holy
Sepulcher, which was last held by the
English in the time of Richard I.
The British forces that swept the
Turks from the Sinai peninsula were
reported at Ell Chalil, the ancient
Hebron, about fifteen miles from the
venerable city of David.
In the Holy Land the British, fol-
lowing in general way the route OF
the children of Israel, passed by
Mount Sinai and pressed upon Je-
rusalem Along the Tigris they have
left behind the ruins Of Nineveh, flank
ed the dusty mounds Of Babylon and
are almost before the gates Of Bagdad,
where Haroun-Al- -Raschid pursued his
nightly prowling in the childhood OF the
race. And the Russians, surging down
from the Persian plateau, are follow
ing the path of the three wise men
toward Bethlehem.
Christians Ruled 300 Years Ago.
With the falling of Jerusalem into
British hands the Holy City will be
ruled by Christians for the first time
since 1891.
It was in 1895 that the crusaders,
after many .hardships and bitterly
fought battles, entered Jerusalem and
! went solemnly to service in the Church
of the Holy Sepulcher and praised God.
They made Godfrey Of BOuillon king
of Jerusalem, and it is characteristic
of the poetry that was in some of these
crusaders that he refused to wear a
crown, pleading it was unseemly that
he wear a crown of gold in the city
where his Saviour had once worn
crown of thorns. Godfrey ruled one
year, and it was turbulent one. A
large number of crusaders started
home when they had fulfilled their
VOWS in taking the holy city, and God
frey made a ruling that any Frank1sh
noble who took an estate and held It
for a year and day should acquire
title to it. His kingdom, won by war
fare, survived in the same way. In
cursions into neighboring Saracen ter
ritory brought back plunder and made
It possible to pay soldiers, and In
country which was rocky and arid
living was not to be won from the soil.
Nor had the crusaders come to the
Holy Land to farm Their prowess was
the prowess of the sword, and If they
were to endure in the midst of Moslem
neighbors it was essential that they
keep those Moslem neighbors fairly
we'll terrorized
Baldwin Made King.
Godfrey died at the end of a year
and was succeeded by his brother,
Baldwin. Baldwin, a large and hand
some man, who could never be faithful
to one wife for long, had no scruples
about wearing a gold crown. And as
soon as he was crowned he set off to
show the heather and his enemies that
he deserved the kingship. He added
territory to his little kingdom. He
ruled for eighteen years. And you get
q quaint gleam of the commercialism
"holy wars" when you read that he
made q treaty with shipload of
. Genoese pilgrims at Joppa that if they
would help him in one of his cam
paigns they could have a third of all
the loot.
A battle at a place called Ramla dur
ing Baldwin's reign is interesting not
only because, when the fight seemed to
be going against him Baldwin agreed
to patch up a quarrel he had with the
patriarch of Jerusalem and received
absolution on the field, but because of
the incentive he gave his troops before
hand.
Lived and Died by Sword.
"Fellow soldiers of the cross" he
cried, waving his lance and pennon,
"let US fight for Christ's glory. If there
be towards among US who fear yonder
vast herd of Moslem dogs (they out
numbered him about ten to one) let them
remember before they fly that Pales-
tine has no refuge for us if we are
Off"
Baldwin's last illness came upon him
while he was on an expedition into
Egypt, where he died.
The story of the Latin kingdom Of
Jerusalem" is one that repeats itself
with slight variations. Always with
an absurdly small force to hold the
country, REINFORCED periodically when
a wave of enthusiasm swept over Eu-
rope and sent out new crusade. the
monarchs Of the Holy Sepulcher fought
Turks, Arabs, Greeks by turn and found
time to make war on one another in
between Alliances between Christian
princes and Moslem emirs were not in
frequent when the first fierce zeal of
the soldiers Of the cross wore off, and
oriental luxury and vices played their
part in degrading some of the princes.
Miracles. butchery, courage and devO-