ABSTRACT
The passage of the first Crusaders through Asia Minor may be described as fairly successful when their difficulties are taken into consideration. The route across Asia Minor which they adopted was, except in some small details, the right one. The extreme heat and cold of the plateau of Asia Minor in summer and winter respectively was a fact for which the Crusaders made no allowance. Since, however, the majority of the early Crusaders were unaware of the superiority of the sea route, and chose to make Constantinople their basis for the march on Jerusalem. The end of the kingdom of Jerusalem only drew near when the new and vigorous dynasty of the Bahri Mamelukes had once more united Egypt and Syria. Egypt was a tempting prey—rich other lands, peopled by an unwarlike race, and ruled by a monarch depending for his military resources not on his born subjects, but on mercenary bands of Turks, Kurds, Syrians, and Arabs.
