But Constantinople did not fall without a desperate and bloody struggle; and had the zeal and ability of its inhabitants equalled the heroism of the last Constantine, the banner of the Cross might have floated even until now over the great city of the Eastern Empire. FOOTNOTES: [351] Gibbon, ch. liii. Constantine, Vit. Basil. ch. lxxiv-lxxvi. [352] Voyage of Benjamin of Tudela, book i. ch. v. p. 44-52. [353] Gibbon, c. liii. [354] Gibbon, c. lv. [355] Gibbon, c. lv. [356] Gibbon, c. lv. [357] Gibbon, c. lv. [358] There seems much doubt about the story of the invention of the mariner’s compass by Flavio Gioga, an Amalfite, in A.D. 1307. The city had ceased to have any commercial importance since its sack by the Pisans in A.D. 1137 (Sismondi, i. p. 303); while, on the other hand, Hallam shows that the compass was known as early as A.D. 1100 (Mid. Ages, iii. 394); and Wachsmuth proves that it was used in Sweden in A.D. 1250 (Ersch und Grüber’s Encycl. iii. 302). The Italian _bussola_, from the French _boussole_, comes again from the Flemish _Boxel_ (box);—hence, probably, our term of “boxing” the compass. It was most likely a northern discovery. [359] Hallam remarks that “it was the singular fate of this city to have filled up the interval between two periods of civilization, in neither of which she was destined to be distinguished. Scarcely known before the end of the sixth century, Amalfi ran a brilliant career as a free and trading republic, which was checked by the arms of a conqueror in the middle of the twelfth.”—Mid. Ages, iii. 300. [360] Sismondi, Republ. Ital. du Moyen Age, i. p. 203. [361] Cassiodor. Var. l. 12. Epist. 24. [362] The power of Venice at this early period (A.D. 774) is well shown by the aid it gave to Charlemagne, at his request, during his siege of Pavia, of twenty-four galleons said to have carried six thousand horse and foot. This fact has been recently illustrated by Mr. W. De Gray Birch, of the MS. Room of the British Museum, who has published a contemporary leaden tablet, in which it is recorded. (Archæol. xliv. pp. 123-136. 1872.) [363] Speaking of Timúr, Gibbon observes, “the lord of so many myriads of horse was not master of a single galley,” c. lxv. [364] Gibbon, c. lix. [365] Gibbon, c. lix. [366] Gibbon, c. lx. [367] It seems worth while to append here a note concerning the results of the principal Crusades. _First Crusade._—Preached by Peter the Hermit, and led by Robert Guiscard and Godfrey de Bouillon, chiefly against the Seljuk Turks, A.D. 1096. Jerusalem taken, A.D. 1099. _Second Crusade._—Preached by St. Bernard, and led by Louis VII. and Conrad III., A.D. 1146. Stopped by the Seljuk Turks, by their victory at Iconium (Konieh), A.D. 1147. _Third Crusade._—To avenge the capture in A.D. 1187 of Jerusalem by Saladin; and led by Frederick Barbarossa, Richard Cœur-de-Lion, and Philip of France, A.D. 1188. Results: Acre, Joppa, and Askalon taken from Saladin, A.D. 1192.