had made War against the Holy See ought to be humbled employed all his pontifical Authority to maintain Otho against Philip so that this unhappy Division disturbed the whole West and in consequence ruined all the Hopes of the Christians in the East For so soon as the Princes of the Crusade who were in Palestine received an Account of this News although after the Defeat of the Sarasins before Jaffa they were upon the point of turning their victorious Arms against Jerusalem they instantly changed that Resolution and by common Consent agreed to return into Germany without any Delay although the Pope writ to them in most pressing Terms conjuring them not to abandon the Holy Land to the Infidels but the particular Luterest which every one of them had in one Party or the other in the Affairs of Europe prevailed above that of Christ Jesus and re-established the Affairs of the Sarasins who failed not to make Advantage of their Absence and in a short time after their Departure to recover Jaffa and Baruth and all the other Places which they had taken Thus this Crusade which was composed wholly of the German Nation some few Italians only excepted served to no other Purpose but to manifest what hath in all Ages been too apparent and what we do too plainly know at this very day that the Mahometan Empire which hath robbed Christianity of the greatest part of the World had hardly grown to that prodigious and unweildy Bulk or even been able to subfist had it not been for those fatal Divisions which support and strengthen them by enfeebling the Christians and that all their Power would not be able to resist one of our Monarchs year 1198 had he nothing to fear either from the Ambition or the Jealousy of his Neighbours But to comfort Christendom for this Loss Providence raised up almost at the same time a new Pope to unite all Europe in another general Crusade one part whereof made it most evidently apparent that a few Christians well united and who have no occasion to distrust among themselves might easily make themselves Masters of the Capital City of the Ottoman Monarchy and consequently recover the Empire of the East This great Pope was Innocent the III. who by an unanimous Consent and which is not commonly known in the Conclave was chosen the same day that his Predecessor Celestin died being the 8th day of January and that which increased the Wonder was that he was the youngest of all the Cardinals having not yet seen more than thirty Years and although the more Antient had taken mighty Pains to make their Parties during the Indisposition of the deceased Pope yet the Succession fell upon one least expected This Pope was of noble Extraction being descended from the illustrious House of the Counts de Signie he was of just Proportion and very well made having an agreeable Aspect the Air of a great and generous Man he had a Spirit subtle and clear a prodigious Memory a most solid Judgment and a marvellous Vivacity joyned with an indefatigable Diligence which in a short time rendred him one of the most knowing Men that the Church ever had in all sort of Sciences both Divine and Humane all which he chiefly gained in the famous and learned University of Paris where he soon made himself be known and admired as the Honor and Ornament of the Age. And besides all this he had a Soul truly Great and Noble naturally inclined to all those Vertues which concur to the making one of the first Rank among Mankind and particularly great in the Church for he was extreme Zealous Vigilant and Active always upon his Guard for the Defence of the Catholick Faith and maintaining the Purity of its Principle which is the Word of God against the Attempts of Hereticks which he made appear in a manner which possibly will not be disagreeable to be known that so the Conduct of the Church at that time in Affairs of that Importance may be the better observed The Bishop of Metz a knowing Prelate and who carefully watched over his Flock writ to him That there ran about in his Diocess a French Version of the New Testament and of some Books of the Old very Dangerous and which occasioned great Disorders that those who favoured and supported them were Laicks and Women of whom the Number was very great and who were so besotted and blinded that with the greatest Obstinacy they held their Erronious Opinions and would by no means hearken to such as indeavoured to reduce them to their Reason And then he adds These People are arrived to those Degrees of Insolence as openly to deride their Pastors who go about to prohibit the Reading of those ill Translations pretending to prove the Lawfulness of them by the Holy Scriptures and that they impudently protested with an incredible Confidence that they would neither obey Bishop Archbishop nor the Pope himself though he should by a solemn Decree condemn this Translation which they were resolved never to forsake and that strangely despised and with the utmost Contempt treated all those as simple and Ignorant even the Priests as well as others who would not receive it as they did Innocent for the Remedy of this Disorder the dangerous Consequences whereof he plainly saw did not only Authorize what the Bishop of Metz had done against this Translation but also nominated certain Commissaries whom he associated with him to inform against the Authors and Favourers of this Disorder to cite them Canonically before their Tribunal and there to Correct and pass Sentence upon them without Appeal commanding these Commissaries with great Care and Diligence to put in Execution the Commands which they had received from the Holy See Because saith he in the Decretal Herein the Vniversal Church is deeply Concern'd and the Cause of the Catholick Faith lies at the Stake This wondrous Pope being such as I have described burning with a mighty Zeal for the good of the Christian Religion was no sooner setled in the Chair but he began seriously to think of establishing it in the City of Jerusalem where it took its first Original For this purpose he did all that possibly could be done by his Letters to stay the Princes of the German Crusade in Palestine But when he saw the Revolution which had happened in the Empire had recalled them all from thence year 1198 he endeavoured to make another general Crusade in Despight of the Devisions and Troubles which those of the Empire had raised throughout all Europe For this purpose therefore he dispatched his Legates to all places with most pressing Letters by which he exhorted the Kings the Princes the Prelates the Nobility and the People to take upon them the Cross according to their Power for the carrying on this Holy War and to excite the whole World by his Example and that of the Ecclesiasticks and above all the Sacred College he ordained that all the Clergy who possessed the Goods of the
Princes The Relation of the Conquests and Settlement of the Normans in Italy The Voyage of Bohemond Prince of Tarentum and the Princes that went along with him The Voyage of Raymond de Tholose of Aymar de Monteil Bishop of Pavia and the other Princes and Lords which accompanied them The Charaâ—ter of that Earl his Conference with the Emperor and the Treachery of that Prince The Voyage of Robert Duke of Normandy his Character and Treaty with the Emperor Page 1. BOOK II. The Description of the City of Nice in Bithynia and the Siege thereof by the Princes of the Crusade The Second and third Battle of Nice where the young Solyman was beaten The taking of that City and the Treachery of the Greek Emperor The March of the Christian Army One part thereof surprized by Solyman The Battle of the Gorgonian Valley The Progress of the Christian Army in the lesser Asia The great danger of Duke Godfrey and his Combat with a monstrous Bear The difference and little Civil dissention between Baldwin and Tancred Baldwin makes himself Master of the Principality of Edessa The entrance of the Christian Army into Syria The Description of the Famous City of Antioch It is besieged by the Princes The Relation of this famous Siege The Combat at the Bridge of Antioch The marvellous Actions of Duke Godfrey The Approach of Corbagath with a prodigious Army to relieve the City The Relation of the taking of Antioch by Bohemond by Intelligence in the City with one Pyrrhus The Christian Army at the same time besieged by Corbagath A Relation of the discovery of the top of a Spear which was believed to be that which pierced our Saviour's side The memorable Battle of Antioch where the whole power of the Turks and Sarasins in Asia was defeated by the Christians The death of Aymar de Monteil Bishop of Pavia The quarrel between Count Raymond and the Prince of Tarentum The taking of Marra A strange Relation of the gratitude of a Lyon The Seige of Arcas The odd Story of Anselm de Ribemond Earl of Bouchain and the deceased Engelram Son to the Earl of St. Paul The taking of Torlosa by a stratagem by the Vicount de Turenne The Sultan of Egypt takes Jerusalem from the Turks breaks his League with the Princes of the Crusade The Ambassadours of Alexis slighted The advantageous composition with the Emir of Tripolis The March of the Christian Army to Jerusalem Lidda Rama Nicopolis and Bethlehem taken by the Christians The extraordinary expressions of their Devotion upon the first discovery of the Holy City p. 33. BOOK III. The Present State of Jerusalem when the Christian Princes Besieged it The Destribution of their Quarters The ill Success of an Assault given against the Rules of War by the Advice of a Hermite who pretended a Revelation for it The Description of Duke Godfrey's Engines The solemn Procession of the Besiegers about the City The Second General Assault for three days together Two Magicians who were Conjuring upon the Walls have their Brains beaten out with a Stone from Duke Godfrey's wooden Castle The Artifice of Godfrey to drive the Enemies from the Walls He is the first that by the Bridge of his Castle mounts the Walls Jerusalem taken The fearful Slaughter of the Sarasins By Godfrey's Example the whole Army return solemn Thanks to God at the Holy Sepulchre An Assembly of the Princes to chuse a King and a Patriarch The Speech of Robert Duke of Normandy upon this Subject Godfrey of Bullen chosen and proclaimed King of Jerusalem The memorable Battle of Ascalon against the Sultan of Egypt and the Victory of the Christians which concluded this first Crusade The return of the Crusades The Conquests of Godfrey of Bullen and his Death An Abridgement of the History of the Kingdom of Jerusalem till the time of the Second Crusade The Reign of Baldwin the First The flourishing Estate of the Christians in the East till his Death The Reign of Balwin the Second The Relation of the founding the Military Orders of the Knights Hospitallers The Captivity of King Baldwin His deliverance His Victories and Death He is succeeded by his Son-in-Law Fowk d'Anjou The Prosperity of his Reign His Death and the Regency of Queen Melisintha during the Minority of Baldwin the Third The Occasion of the second Expedition of the Crusades The Relation of the two Josselins de Courtenay Earls of Edessa The taking of that City by Sanguin Sultan if Alepo and afterwards by Noradin his Son The Character of that Prince and his Conquests over the Christians Applications made to Lewis the young King of France His Character and what moved him to undertake the Crusade He consults St. Bernard concerning it The Character of that Saint and the Order he received from Pope Eugenius the Third to preach the Crusade The General Assemblies of Bourges Vezelay and Chartress for the Crusade It is published by Saint Bernard in France and Germany The Emperor and King take up the Cross The Abbot Sugere declared Regent in France His Character and advice concerning the expedition The Voyage of the Emperor The Description of the Tempest which almost ruined his Army upon the Banks of the River Melas The Fleet of the Crusades takes Lisbon from the Sarasins The Original of the Kings of Portugal The Character and Perfidy of the Greek Emperor Manuel His underhand Treating with the Turks The miserable Overthrow of the Emperor's Army The Voyage of King Lewis to Constantinople and his reception The Advice of the Bishop of Langress who Counsels the King to take Constantinople his Speech upon that Subject the reason that his Advice was not followed the Treacheries of Manuel thereupon The Kings Voyage into Asia His Interview with the Emperor Conrade and the Return of that Prince to Constantinople The Description of the River Meander and the famous passage of the King of France with his Army over it p. 68. PART II. BOOK I. The Rereguard of the Kings Army Defeated in the Mountains of Laodicea for want of observing the Kings Orders The Description of that Combat A most Heroick Action of the King in an extreme Danger of his Life His March and admirable Conduct to Attalia The new Perfidy of the Greeks in Betraying the Royal Army The Arrival of the King at Antioch and his Difference with Prince Raymond The Conquenty March to Jerusalem where he is met by the Emperor Conrade The Councel at Ptolemais where the Seige of Damascus is resolved The Description of the City of Damascus The manner of the March of the Christian Army towards that City The Young King Baldwin makes the first Attack his Character and extraordinary Valour in the Attack against the Gardens and Suburbs of Damascus The great Combat upon the Bank of the River A brave Action of the Emperor Conrade An Account of the Siege of Damascus and the Treachery of the Syrians which occasioned the ill Success of that Enterprise The Return
Fable touching the pawning of the Holy Eucharist to the Sarasins by the King Lewis His deliverance and admirable Fidelity to his Promise and the perfidiousness of the Egyptians BOOK III. The General Consternation all over France upon the News of the King's Imprisonment the Tumult the Shepherds their Original their Disorders and Defeat St. Lewis after his deliverance performs his Articles with great Justice The Admirals fail on their part The Original of the Hospital of the Fifteen Score The Councel debates the matter of the King's return The Reasons on the one side and the other It is at last concluded for his stay in Palestine Four Famous embassages to St. Lewis from Pope Innocent from the Sultan of Damascus from the Ancient of the Mountain and from the Emperor Frederick The Death of that Emperor and the different Opinions thereupon An Error of St. Lewis who loseth a fair opportunity of making use of one Party of the Sarasins to ruin the other The Election of a Mamaluke Sultan The gallant Actions of St. Lewis in Palestine The Death of Queen Blanch and the return of the King into France The Rupture and War between the Venetians and Genoese occasions the loss of the Holy Land The Conquests of Haulon Brother to the great Cham stops the Progress of the Sarasins The Relation of the Mamaluke Sultans They vanquish the Tartars which ravage Palestine The Character of Sultan Bendocdar the great Enemy of the Christians His Conquests upon them His Cruelty and the Glorious Martyrdom of the Souldiers of the Garrison of Sephet and of two Cordeliers and a Commander of the Temple The taking and Destruction of Antioch by this Sultan The quarrels between the Popes and the Princes of the House of Suabia obstruct the Succours of the West The Histories of Pope Innocent and the Emperor Conrade of Pope Alexander and Mainfrey against whom he vainly publishes Crusades The History of Charles d' Anjou to whom Pope Urban the Successor of Alexander and Pope Clement the Fourth give the Realms of Naples and Sicily as Fieffs escheated to the Church by Felony His Exploits his Battles and his Victories over Mainfrey and Conradin The deplorable Death of that young Prince The Victories of Charles cause the Pope and St. Lewis to entertain a Design for a new Crusade An Assembly at Paris about that Affair where the King the Princes and Lords take upon them the Cross All other Nations decline the Crusade The Collusion of the Emperor Michael Paleologus The Condition of the King's Army The Resolution taken to Attack Tunis and the Reasons wherefore The Description of Tunis and Carthage The taking of the Port the Tower and the Castle of Carthage The Malady makes great Destruction in the King's Army His Death Elogy and Character The Arrival of Charles King of Sicily The Exploits of the Army The Treaty of Peace with the King of Tunis who becomes Tributary to Charles The return of the two Kings their Fleet is horribly beaten by a Tempest Prince Edward of England saved his Vow to go to the Holy Land His Voyage his Exploits and his return The vain indeavours of Pope Gregory the Tenth for a new Crusade The second Council of Lyons The last causes of the loss of the Holy Land The quarrel among the Christian Princes for the Succession to the Kingdom of Jerusalem The Death of Bendocdar The defeat of his Successor by the Tartars The hopes of the recovery of all Palestine by the Arms of King Charles of Anjon ruined by the sad accident of the Sicilian Vespers The new division among the Princes and the Progress of the Mamaluke Sultans The Relation of the lamentable Siege and the taking of Acre by these Barbarians All the other places are lost and the Christians of the West wholly driven out of Palestine and Syria The vain and fruitless attempts which have since been made to renew the Crusades THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADE OR The Expeditions of the Christian Princes for the Conquest of the Holy Land BOOK I. The CONTENTS of the First Book The greatness of the Subject of the ensuing History The newness and advantage of it The Original of the Turks and their Conquest in Asia from the Sarasens The Conference of Peter the Hermite with the Patriarch of Jerusalem The Description of the Hermite His Negotiation with Pope Urban the Second and his Preaching the Crusade The Relation of the Council of Placentia that of the Council of Clermond The horrible Disorders occasioned by the little Wars between private Persons which were tolerated in those times and which were regulated by the Canon of the Peace and the Truce Aymar de Monteil Bishop of Pavia Legate of the Pope for the Crusade The prodigious number of those who took upon them the Cross and the Disorders that insued The Names of the Princes of the Crusade An account of Duke Godfrey and his Character He sends Peter the Hermite before him A Description of the Conduct and manner of living of this Solitary He divides his Army into two Bodies The Disorder and Ruin of the first under Gautier Monyless The greater Disorder and ill Fortune of the second commanded by Peter himself The Defeat of two other Armies of Crusades conducted by a Priest Godescalc and Count Emico their overthrow by the Hungarians The Conference of Peter the Hermite with the Emperor Alexis The Character Conduct and secret designs of that Prince and the reasons of his perfidiousness The passage of the Hermites Army into Asia and the continuance of their disorders The Italians and Germans separate from the French The first overthrown by young Soliman Sultan of Nice The first Battle of Nice where the other part are overthrown also by Soliman The Voyage of Godfrey of Bullen and the Princes that accompanied him The Voyage of Hugh the Great and the Princes that followed him his Character Conduct and Imprisonment by the Greek Emperor The War of Godfrey against Alexis The Extremity to which the Emperor is reduced and the Treaty concluded between him and the Princes The Relation of the Conquests and Settlement of the Normans in Italy The Voyage of Bohemond Prince of Tarentum and the Princes that went along with him The Voyage of Raymond de Tholose of Aymar de Monteil Bishop of Pavia and the other Princes and Lords which accompanied them The Character of that Earl his Conference with the Emperor and the Treachery of that Prince The Voyage of Robert Duke of Normandy his Character and Treaty with the Emperor IF ever any Undertaking were capable of possessing the Historian with a just fear of defeating the mighty Expectation of his Reader most assuredly it may be apprehended in attempting the Design of relating the ensuing History of the Crusade And indeed amidst all the most extraordinary Revolutions which may be found either in the Establishment of New or the Ruine of the Ancient Monarchies one shall difficultly meet with any thing more memorable and whether we
the whole Army was divided and in perpetual contests for several days But the Sultan who made use of that Opportunity to endeavour to put some succour into the place during this discourse of Peace the King's Party which was the least reunited again with the Legate Hereupon the Conferences for Peace were broken and it was resolved to pursue the Siege with all imaginable Vigor But it lasted not long for one of the Towers which lay upon a Corner of the Town being by the force of the Machins so ruined that it was easie to enter by the Breach and there appearing no great number of Defendants to secure the Breach the Legate made choice of a very dark night wherein the Wind blew very loud to cause it to be attacked The Soldiers approached the Tower and the Gate adjoining which they set on sire and passed to the second Wall whilest others clapt up Ladders and scaled the first Wall in diverse places without resistance then the King being immediately advertised of this strange Success led his Troops thither in good order and with the same facility gained the second Wall and the next morning being the fifth of November by break of day they took the third Wall with so little resistance that there was but one man lightly wounded in his Foot Immediately the Christian Standards were planted upon the Towers which the Sultans perceiving they retired with precipitation setting fire to their Camp and Bridge that so they might not be pursued Thus Damiata which had cost so much Blood and labour for eighteen Months was in one night taken by the Christian Army without Noise without Tumult there being none left in this fair and great City in Condition to defend it For the extreme Famine which they had indured and the diseases which followed upon it had made such a horrible ravage that of eighty thousand Soldiers and Citizens which were in it at the Beginning of the Siege there were scarcely lest three thousand alive and of those not above one hundred who were able to bear Arms. All the Streets and houses were filled with dead and dying Persons which the living who with extreme weakness expected the same Fate were not able to bury so that the Army was forced for a long time to encamp without the City before they could get it cleansed There were found in the City infinite Riches in Vessels of Gold Silver Pearls precious Stones Silks and all manner of Indian Drugs and Spices year 1219 But the Sarasins during the Siege having buried most of their Money and notwithstanding that the Legate had denounced the Anathema against those who should conceal any of the Booty which he ordered to be brought together to make a just distribution among the whole Army yet particular persons concealed the greatest part of the Booty so that there could never be got together above four hundred thousand Crowns in Money which was distributed among the Soldiers There were about four hundred among the Prisoners who were the most considerable who were reserved to be exchanged for those who had been taken by the Enemies during the Siege year 1220 The Principal Mosque which was supported by one hundred and fifty Marble Pillars and invironed by five curious Galleries with a noble Cupelo in the middle upon which was a lofty Spire was consecrated to God in honour of the blessed Virgin and upon the Feast of the Purification the Cardinal Legate accompanied by the Patriarch the Bishops and Clergy of Ptolemais followed by the King the Princes the Lords and all the Chief Commanders went in Solemn Procession there to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries of the Christian Religion after which they built a new Bridge which joyned the City and the Fort which they had during the Siege built upon the other bank of the Nile and then Damiata by the consent of the Legate and the whole Army was annexed to the Realm of Jerusalem and to add to the good Fortune some few dayes after a Party of a thousand Soldiers being commanded to go abroad for Forrage and Provisions failing up the second branch of the River Nilus which is called the Tanitique the Egyptians terrified by their comming cowardly abandoned the strongest of their Castles which was built upon the Ruines of the Famous City of Tanis in Ancient Time the Capital City of Egypt and the Residence of the Pharaohs the place where Moses to move the heart of that obdurate Prince wrought all those memorable Prodigies which are recorded in the Holy Story in the Book of Exodus It is also reported that in a place near Damiata the Christians found a Book written in Arabick the Author whereof who assures us that he was neither Jew Christian nor Mahometan predicted the Victories of the great Saladin the taking of Ptolemais by the Kings of England and France that of Damiata nine and twenty Years after and that one day there should come a King from the East whose name should be David and another from the West whom he does not name who joyning together should overthrow the Empire of the Mahometans and recover the City of Jerusalem But as one cannot judge of the Truth of this Prophecy by the former part of the things which it doth predict since they were already come to pass when the Book was found so it must be Posterity who only can be able to make a certain judgment of the truth of the second part when it shall happen to be accomplished which we have not yet seen The End of the Third Part. THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADE OR The Expeditions of the Christian Princes for the Conquest of the Holy Land PART IV. BOOK I. The CONTENTS of the First Book The Condition the manners and the Religion of the People of Georgia who resolve to join with the Princes of the Crusade but are hindred by an irruption of the Tartars into their Country The Emperor Frederick sends a considerable relief to Damiata The return of King John de Brienne to the Army of the Crusades The Legate Pelagius opposeth his advice and makes them resolve upon a Battle against Meledin who once more offers Peace upon most advantageous Terms The Legate occasions the refusal of them The humour and discription of this Legate An account of the miserable adventure of the Christian Army which by the innundation of the Nile is reduced to the Discretion of Meledin The wise Policy of this Sultan who saves the Army by a Treaty which he was willing to make with the Crusades This misfortune is followed by the Rupture of Frederick the Emperor with the Pope The Character of that Emperor The Complaints of Pope Honorius against him His Answers and their Reconciliation A famous Conference for the Holy War King John de Brienne comes to desire assistance throughout Europe The death of Philip the August His Elogy his Will and his Funerals New Endeavours of the Pope and the Emperor for the Holy War The Marriage of Frederick with
all parties according to the agreement the King surrendred Damiata upon the Friday after Ascension-Day and was at the same time set at Liberty himself with all the Prisoners so far as that the four Gallies fell down the River to the Bridge of Damiata into which place Geoffrey de Sergines entred early in the Morning year 1250 to deliver it into the hands of the Sarasins after he had drawn out all the French together with the Queen who after the Imprisonment of the King had been reduced to great extremities For so soon as she received the sad news she fell into such an excessive grief that believing she was upon the point of falling into the hands of the Sarasins she threw her self upon her knees before a Knight of fourscore years of Age who never forsook her and obliged him to promise her with an Oath to grant her one request which she desired him to do for her and this was that if the Sarasins took the City he would cut off her head the Old Knight promised her he would adding with great frankness that before she had done him the Honor to desire it of him he had already resolved to do it thereby to put her into a place of security and out of the Power of those Barbarians The Extremity and Violence of her grief brought her also into her Travail three Days before her time and she was delivered of a Son to whom they gave a Surname drawn from her Affliction calling him Tristan as being in truth the true Son of her Sorrow And upon the same Day understanding that the Pisans the Genoese and all the rest of the People were resolved to abandon the place fearing the Siege and Famine she prevailed so far upon them with her Prayers and Tears that they were contented to stay she promising to furnish them with Provisions at her own Charges which she did at the Expence of above three hundred thousand Livres At length the Queen the Legate the Bishops and the Duke of Burgundy who retired thither in a good hour together with all the Garrison which was Commanded by Oliver de Termes imbarqued upon the Ships which expected them below the Bridge and steered away directly for Acre according to the Order of the King and the Sarasins entred into Damiata where presently making themselves Drunk with the Wines they found there they most brutishly slew all the Sick and fired the Machins which according to the Treaty they were to surrender But the Admirals did far worse for instead of delivering the King and the Prisoners so soon as Damiata was put into their Possession they put it under deliberation Whether they should not rather cut all their throats and one among them maintained that having committed so great a Crime against the Law of Mahomet as they had done in killing their Sultan they should yet commit a greater as he shewed them out of one of their Books if they should suffer the greatest Enemy of their Law to escape with his Life out of their hands And the matter went so far that the four Gallies rowed up the River till they came within a League of Caire insomuch that all the Prisoners except the King whom they Guarded in his Pavilion upon the Bank of the River had now lost all manner of hopes of Life or Liberty But at last the better Opinion prevailed and there were some among them who urged vigorously that if after having slain their Sultan they should again imbrue their hands in the Blood of one of the greatest Kings in the World after having given their Faith to him by such a Solemn Treaty they should pass through the whole Earth for the most infamous and the most abominable of all Mankind but to speak truth I am rather of an Opinion that the eight hundred thousand Bysances which they would have lost by committing such a horrible Crime without any manner of advantage was the weight which turned the Scale and was the strongest reason to perswade them for this time at least to be honest and to keep their Word and their Oath And this informs us that interest is the best Guarranty of any Treaty being the thing which hath more Power over most People to oblige them to stand to their agreements than all the Oaths and all the Hands and Seals which they can give Thus then after two and thirty Days Captivity the King all the Princes and the Lords of France and Cyprus and of the Realm of Jerusalem with the poor remainder of Soldiers which there was left after such a terrible defeat wherein there were lost near thirty thousand Men were set at Liberty the Count de Poitiers only excepted who was kept at Damiata for the security of the first Payment and the same Evening the King was Conducted by twenty thousand Sarasins who to do him Honor Marched on Foot to a large Genoese Gally which attended him below the Bridge and upon which he imbarqued with his Brother Charles year 1250 Count d' Anjou Alberic Marshal of France the Lord de Joinville Philip de Nemours who sold the Town of that name to the King the brave Geoffrey de Sergines and Nicholas General of the Order of the Trinity or the Mathurins The others went aboard the Vessels which were prepared for them and the next Day the Counts of Flanders Bretany and Soissons accompanied with divers Great Lords took their leave of the King and set Sail for France where they all happily arrived except Peter de Dreux Duke of Bretany who being very much indisposed when he took Ship died upon the Sea three Weeks after His Body was carried by his Knights into Bretany where he reposeth in the Nunnery of Villeneuve near Nantes and although the War which he made with St. Lewis in the beginning of his Reign and which thrive so ill that he only got by it the shameful name of Illclerk will be a blemish to him in History yet his Zeal and Courage which he made so highly conspicuous in his two Voyages to the Holy War have so effaced that blot by the Blood which he therein shed for the interest of Jesus Christ and by the happy Death which he found in that service that one may lawfully give him a place among the Hero's of the Crusade The King stayed yet two Days the Saturday and the Sunday after Ascension upon the River in his Gally in expectation of the finishing of the first payment that so the Count de Poitiers might be set at Liberty and understanding in the Evening of the Sunday that there wanted thirty thousand Livres to make up the two hundred thousand and that the Templers who had store of Money aboard their Gallies refused to lend him so much under pretext that by their Rule they were under an Oath to part with nothing of their Revenue but to their Great Master the devout King made them know upon this occasion that he was their first and their greatest Master
and that he would dispense with this Article of their Rule from which they could every day dispense with themselves in other points that were much more Essential For the Lord Joinville who executed his Orders most punctually going into one of their Gallies with a good Hatchet which he had already lifted up to break open one of their strong Coffers in the name of the King the Marshal of the Temple who found that he would be obeyed caused the Keys to be given him and thereupon he took out what Money he pleased and the King who was very well satisfied with the Action instantly caused to be paid to the Sarasins not only the thirty thousand Livres which was wanting of the Sum which was due but also ten thousand more of which they had cheated themselves without perceiving it in weighing the Money in their Scales So exact was this incomparable Prince religiously to observe his Word and Faith even to those who had none themselves and who had so brutally violated that which they had given him with so many horrible Oaths After which the Count de Poitiers whom the Sarasins set at Liberty being come up to the Road which Philip Count de Montfort where the King who after the Money was paid was now gotten and staid for them they set Sail and in a few Days came happily to an Anchor in the Port of Ptolemais where this great Prince was received with as much Joy for his deliverance as there had been sorrow for his Captivity THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADE OR The Expeditions of the Christian Princes for the Conquest of the Holy Land PART IV. BOOK III. The CONTENTS of the Third Book The General Consternation all over France upon the News of the King's Imprisonment the Tumult the Shepherds their Original their Disorders and Defeat St. Lewis after his deliverance performs his Articles with great Justice The Admirals fail on their part The Original of the Hospital of the Fifteen Score The Councel debates the matter of the King's return The Reasons on the one side and the other It is at last concluded for his stay in Palestine Four Famous Ambassages to St. Lewis from Pope Innocent from the Sultan of Damascus from the Ancient of the Mountain and from the Emperor Frederick The Death of that Emperor and the different Opinions thereupon An Error of St. Lewis who loseth a fair opportunity of making use of one Party of the Sarasins to ruin the other The Election of a Mamaluke Sultan The gallant Actions of St. Lewis in Palestine The Death of Queen Blanch and the return of the King into France The Rupture and War between the Venetians and Genoese occasions the loss of the Holy Land The Conquests of Haulon Brother to the great Cham stops the Progress of the Sarasins The Relation of the Mamaluke Sultans They vanquish the Tartars which ravage Palestine The Character of Sultan Bendocdar the great Enemy of the Christians His Conquests upon them His Cruelty and the Glorious Martyrdom of the Souldiers of the Garrison of Sephet and of two Cordeliers and a Commander of the Temple The taking and Destruction of Antioch by this Sultan The quarrels between the Popes and the Princes of the House of Suabia obstruct the Succours of the West The Histories of Pope Innocent and the Emperor Conrade of Pope Alexander and Mainfrey against whom he vainly publishes Crusades The History of Charles d' Anjou to whom Pope Urban the Successor of Alexander and Pope Clement the Fourth give the Realms of Naples and Sicily as Fieffs escheated to the Church by Felony His Exploits his Battles and his Victories over Mainfrey and Conradin The deplorable Death of that young Prince The Victories of Charles cause the Pope and St. Lewis to entertain a Design for a new Crusade An Assembly at Paris about that Affair where the King the Princes and Lords take upon them the Cross All other Nations decline the Crusade The Collusion of the Emperor Michael Paleologus The Condition of the King's Army The Resolution taken to Attack Tunis and the Reasâ—ns wherefore The Description of Tunis and Carthage The taking of the Port the Tower and the Castle of Carthage The Malady makes great Destruction in the King's Army His Death Elogy and Character The Arrival of Charles King of Sicily The Exploits of the Army The Treaty of Peace with the King of Tunis who becomes Tributary to Charles The return of the two Kings their Fleet is horribly beaten by a Tempest Prince Edward of England saved his Vow to go to the Holy Land His Voyage his Exploits and his return The vain indeavours of Pope Gregory the Tenth for a new Crusade The second Council of Lyons The last causes of the loss of the Holy Land The quarrel among the Christian Princes for the Succession to the Kingdom of Jerusalem The Death of Bendocdar The defeat of his Successor by the Tartars The hopes of the recovery of all Palestine by the Arms of King Charles of Anjou ruined by the sad accident of the Sicilian Vespers The new division among the Princes and the Progress of the Mamaluke Sultans The Relation of the lamentable Siege and the taking of Acre by these Barbarians All the other places are lost and the Christians of the West wholly driven out of Palestine and Syria The vain and fruitless attempts which have since been made to renew the Crusades year 1250 WHilest matters went thus in the East the news which was received in France of the two Victories which the King had gained near Massora was followed with a false report which was currant of the defeat of the Sultan and the taking of Grand Caire And this coming from the Court of the Pope to whom the Bishop of Marseilles who had seen it in Letters Written to the Commandator of the Hospital of St. John had sent it Men being apt easily to believe that which they passionately desire there was no doubt made but it was true so that all was full of rejoycing even then when upon the suddain they were obliged to change this excessive joy into an extreme afflicton by the certain intelligence which they received of the loss of the whole Christian Army and the Captivity of the King and all the Princes And this Affliction was followed by most furious disorders year 1250 which were occasioned by the illusion and folly of some and the extreme Wickedness of others who made use of the simplicity of the former to commit with impunity the most detestable Crimes under the false pretences of Zeal and Piety for the deliverance of the King In Germany a Troop of Vagabonds mingled with young People and the Scum and Refuse of the Peasantry ran all over crying that they must make a Crusade for the deliverance of the Ring of France And a certain Hungarian Apostate of the Cistercian Order one of the most prosligate Villains in the World but very able and Learned in many Languages put himself at the
themselves between the two Parties On the other side the Sultan Melech Sais retook the Fortress of Margath and made himself Master of the Castle of Laodicea and that of Crac which was one of the strongest places in Syria year 1287 and as at last he was preparing to lay Siege to Tripolis he abandon'd all upon the news which he had of the Death of his Son and returned into Egypt where Elsis one of his Emirs who was mightily esteemed by the Mamalukes tumbled him from the Throne and was chosen Sultan in his place by the name of Melech-Messor This Sultan who was a great Souldier re-entred presently into Syria where he besieged Tripolis year 1288 and at last took it by Assault Seven thousand Christians were there Slain year 1289 and the rest saved themselves by Sea partly in Cyprus and partly in Ptolemais The Sultan who was as able and dexterous as he was Valiant caused this great City to be demolished that so he might not be forced to keep a whole Army in Garrison there and after having taken several places thereabout he made a very advantageous Truce for two Years thereby to frustrate the Design of the Forces which he foresaw would be sent out of Europe against him And indeed a very considerable assistance which the Pope sent at his own charges into the East upon twenty Venetian Gallies arriving not till after the conclusion of this Truce was constrained to return without doing any thing It happened also that an infinite conflux of People of all Nations without Order and without Leaders coming to Ptolemais and finding no imploy committed so many disorders indifferently upon the Lands of the Christians and the Sarasins that the Sultan who only wanted an occasion to break the Truce to his advantage laid hold of that which he believed very favourable to execute the design which he had upon Ptolemais whilest the Christian Princes whom he knew to be ingaged in Wars one against another in Europe had neither Power nor Will to assist it year 1290 For this purpose as he had always a powerful Army on Foot he entred suddainly in the Month of October in the year following and advanced towards Phoenicia and then when he was upon the point of going to invest Ptolemais the Emir whom he had made his Lieutenant thinking by the favour of the Souldiers to obtain his place gave him Poison whereof he died But this did not prevent the Execution of the Design For the Mamalukes who loved Melech-Messor extremely pull'd the Traitor who had poisoned him in a thousand pieces upon the spot and Proclaimed his Son Ely Sultan by the name of Melech-Seraph This new Prince resolved to pursue the design of his Father who at his Death conjured him not to suffer his Body to be Interred before he had taken the City and driven out the Christians And for this purpose therefore without giving them leisure to make any advantage of this so sudden and great change turning short to the left hand towards the Sea he came and laid Siege before Acre or Ptolemais upon the fifth of April year 1291 in the year one thousand two hundred ninety one with an Army of one hundred and sixty thousand Foot and threescore thousand Horse Ptolemais of whose Situation and Strength I have given an account in the fifth Book of this History was at this time one of the fairest richest and most flourishing Cities of all the East by reason of the great Commerce of all the Merchandises which were brought thither from Egypt and Asia by Land and Sea to be from thence transported into Europe And as it was become the Capital City of the Realm since the taking of Jerusalem and the Sanctuary where all the Christians of Palestine took Refuge after the loss of their Cities so it was also then more Populous than ever it had been and such great Industry had been used in these late times in fortifying it that it was thought to be impregnable above all having at least thirty thousand Men well Armed to defend it besides eighteen thousand Crusades who were arrived there a little before without a Commander But this unfortunate City had within its Walls two kinds of Enemies infinitely more formidable than all the Forces of the Sarasins and which were the cause of its being lost year 1291 The first was the division which occasioned most fearful Disorders in regard that besides that there were two Factions which held one of them for the King of Cyprus and the other for the King of Sicily the Venetians the Genoese the Pisans the Florentines the English the Templers the Hospitallers the Teutonick Knights the Princes of the Country and even the Patriarch and the Legate of the Pope would every one so divide the Government as to be independent upon all others so that it might be said that there were in Ptolemais so many different Cities as there were quarters possessed by these Orders and different People who were not only without a Head whose Supreme Authority and Orders they should all obey but who were for the most part in Arms one against another And that which was yet more deplorable and which doubtless was the principal cause of the Desolation of this unfortunate City was that the Corruption of manners was so great and the irregularities of Peoples Lives or rather the inundation of all manner of Crimes and even of the most Infamous and Scandalous Vices were so excessive and horrible that the Divine Justice was even necessitated to exterminate such an abominable Race of Men who calling themselves Christians by their Actions so Wicked and Impious Blasphemed that and his Sacred Name among the Infidels So that one may say as one of the Authors of that time does who was a long time in the Holy Land and averrs it for a deplorable Truth That of all the People which inhabited Syria and Palestine the Christians were the most notoriously lewd and wicked The Sultan who had such a numerous Army and composed of expert Souldiers and above all his Mamalukes who were extreme brave attacked the City upon the Land side by main Force battering the Walls and the Towers Night and Day making abundance of Mines every where and sapping the Foundations of the Towers particularly those of the Tower called Judasses or the Cursed Tower which was as it were the Fortress of the City The besiged also at first defended themselves vigorously being in continual hopes of relief by the way of the Sea which they had open and being united for their better defence under one Chief whom by common consent they chose among all the Captains which was William Beaujeu Great Master of the Temple a most Valiant Man and perfectly skilful in Martial Affairs But there arrived to their assistance only five hundred Foot and two hundred Horse who were conducted by the King of Cyprus And the Great Master of the Temple being unfortunately slain with a poisoned Arrow they lost their Courage