Another remarkable phenomenon, which was both an indication of the new life and religions awakening of the epoch, and had also a very powerful effect in increasing these movements, was the Crusades. The same enthusiasm which prompted thousands to devote their lives to a holy and useful existence in the cloister, stirred up in others through the eloquence of Peter the Hermit and St Bernard, a resolve to sacrifice everything to the righteous endeavour to rescue the places sanctified by the great events in our Saviour’s Life from the hands of the Infidels. Amongst the innumerable multitudes who joined in the Crusades, and visited the East, there must have been many who were able to appreciate the splendid architecture and decoration of Santa Sophia and the other great churches and buildings of the Levant; and these travellers would bring back with them fresh ideas which they would endeavour to import into the structures of the West. Besides, the eyes of all were opened and their minds enlarged by contact with the culture and refinement of the Eastern empire, where the ancient Greek and Roman civilisation had continued uninterruptedly during the centuries of darkness and barbarism which had well nigh obliterated them in the West. They also saw at Constantinople the great mart where the commerce between the East and West was concentrated, and became acquainted with the rich fabrics and beautiful art of Persia and India. The transport of men and materials to the East, for the prosecution of the war, likewise gave a great impulse to navigation and maritime enterprise, while contact with the Saracens (then an enlightened and scientific people) taught valuable lessons to the soldiers of the cross. They especially acquired from them many improvements in the art of the attack and defence of fortifications, and in the construction of military engines, the results of which the Western nobles were not slow to avail themselves of in the great castles which they erected on their return from the Holy Land. The buildings of the Holy places themselves were naturally adopted as models, and the circular churches of the West are probably mostly imitations (although sometimes remote ones) of the church of the Holy Sepulchre (which was itself rebuilt by the Crusaders). It will be further pointed out in dealing with the history of the Architecture how the ancient Greco-Roman art had been preserved in Syria, and the direct influence it had on the Architecture of the West. Such being the general condition of affairs, and their bearing on the art of the West of Europe up to the twelfth century, let us now look a little more closely at the progress of events in the province with which we are specially concerned. [Illustration] [Illustration] III.