20 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF [book i.

within it; and Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Amalphi, senttheir merchandise regularly to that mart.

But such a happy state ceased with the haulingdown of the black flag of the Abassides; and afailure of the Greeks to resist the Fatimites onlybrought persecution on the Palestine Christians.Under the triumphant Fatiinite caliphs, Christianblood flowed in torrents. All Christians began tobe looked on as enemies to all Moslems. Maho-metan fanaticism had its swing. The Holy Sepul-chre pulled down, churches, if not saved by beingturned into mosques, degraded, many of them intostables; Christians of every description expelledfrom Jerusalem, were left to wander about wild;the story on which Tasso founded his Olinda issaid to have occurred then.

By little and little the Greek Christians, assubjects, were permitted to return, not so theLatins; who were nevermore allowed to have per-manent quarters there. But thirty-seven yearsafter the demolishing of the Holy Sepulchre, it roseagain under the Caliph Daber in 1044, at theexpense of the Greek Emperor, by leave from theMoslems, that they might profit by a toll whichthey set on pilgrims. No dwelling there for theLatins, except the few days required by pilgrims;who, as such, flocked thither and paid well.