Finally, after nearly four years, only a small band of that vast throng that had set out so long before reached the walls of the Holy City. When at last they saw Jerusalem before them, they were wild with joy. They fell on their knees and wept and prayed and sang hymns and thanked God that he had brought them to the end of their journey. Then they furiously attacked the city. The Christians fought so terribly that at last they beat the Mohammedans and captured Jerusalem. Then they entered the gates and killed thousands, so that it is said the streets of the Holy City ran with blood. This seems strange behavior for the followers of Christ, who preached against fighting and commanded, “Put up thy sword, for he that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword.” The Crusaders then made one of their leaders named Godfrey ruler of the city. Most of the other Crusaders that were left then went back home. So ended what is known as the First Crusade. 52 Tit-Tat-To; Three Kings in a Row Here are three kings: Richard of England, Philip of France, and Frederick Barbarossa of Germany. If you say their names over several times, they keep ringing through your mind and you cannot seem to stop thinking them whether you want to or not. Jerusalem was captured. But it did not stay captured very long. The Mohammedans attacked and won it back again. So the Christians started a Second Crusade. Then about once in a lifetime during the next two hundred years there was one Crusade after another--eight or nine in all. Sometimes these later Crusades won back Jerusalem for a while, but for a while only. Sometimes they did not succeed at all. The Third Crusade took place about a hundred years after the First; that is, nearly 1200 A. D. These three kings--Richard of England, Philip of France, and Frederick Barbarossa--started on the Third Crusade. But they didn’t all finish. I will tell you about them in three-two-one order. [Illustration: Richard of England, Philip of France, and Frederick Barbarossa] Frederick’s name, Barbarossa, meant Red Beard, for in those days it was the custom to give kings nicknames that described them. Frederick’s capital was in Aix-la-Chapelle, as Charlemagne’s had been, but Frederick was king only of Germany. When a young man he had tried to make his country as large and powerful as the new Roman Empire that Charlemagne had made. But he was not a great enough man, and so was unable to do what Charlemagne had done. Frederick was quite old when he started out on the Third Crusade with the other two kings. But he never reached Jerusalem, for in crossing a stream on the way he was drowned. So much for Frederick, the third king. The second king, Philip of France, was jealous of the first king, Richard, because Richard was so very popular and well liked by the Crusaders. So Philip finally gave up the Crusade and went back to France.