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
prejudice by looking into the Authors whom I have cited in the Margins over against these Portraicts and there they shall find the Originals from which I have honestly copied them They may also observe as well as I that I have not contented my self with one Author but have drawn them from divers put together the Shape the Colour the Complexion the Mind the Hair the Beard the Eyes the Nose the Mouth and the Lineaments as well as the manners of such whom I have undertaken to paint and to shew them to the Reader such as good Historians have represented them herein following the Examples of Plutarch Suetonius Salust and a hundred other Famous Writers Greeks and Latins Eusebius Nicephorus Victor St. Ambrose St. Gregory Nazianzen Ammianus Marcellinus Jornandus and Paul the Deacon have furnished me in the History of Arianism with the Portraicts of my Hero's Romans Goths and Vandals Theophanes Cedrenus Zonaras Michael Glycas Eginhardus Anastasius the Library keeper Paul the Deacon Marcardus Freherus El-Macim and the Oriental Chronicle have made me acquainted with the Greeks the French and Sarasins whose Pictures I shew in the History of the Iconoclasts Robert the Monk the Abbot of Nogent the Abbot Sugerius Otho Frisingensis Otho de St. Blaise the old French and English Historians William of Tyre Nicetas the Abbot of Vrsperg Cuspinian and several others are the Authors from whose Works I have furnished my self to represent to the Life the Illustrious Men of my Crusades to which I have added nothing more than the manner of expressing their thoughts in my own Words And it would have been very easy for me to verifie this by citing the very Words of the Authors from whom I draw my Portraicts as in the third and fourth Tome I have placed in the Margin those of St. Anthonine and of two or three others who have given us the Picture of Frederick the Second But I have nevertheless declined it being unwilling to make the Margin swell bigger than the Book it self If these Writers say nothing of the lineaments of the Face or the rest of the Person of those of whom I write I take care to say nothing and content my self with describing the qualities of the Soul the Mind and the Heart witness the Portraicts of Luitprandus the Emperor 's Nicephorus Michael the stammering Leo the Armenian and Isaac Angelus But when they give me Instructions as do many Famous Historians whom I give for my Warrantees I cannot conceal this knowledge from my Readers and if posterity hold themselves obliged to every one of these Historians in particular for having given every one of them some particular stroak of these extraordinary Men who have made such a Figure in the World I am not without hopes but it may be very well pleasing to them that I have taken care to Collect and Unite all these scattered Draughts to compose those just Portraicts which they may with pleasure see in my Works For it hath ever been and ever will be that Mankind will have the Curiosity to know those Persons who are reported to have done so many great and admirable things And for this reason it is that at this time more than ever there is such curious search made for Ancient Medals which make up the fairest part of the Cabinets even of Kings and Princes there being a great pleasure to see the Faces of those Persons of whose Fortune and Actions we read in History And as there hath been lately a Medal of the King made with such perfection that nothing can be added to it it will hereafter be sought for with as much Passion by the Curious as are those of the Ancient Caesars For most certainly in reading all the surprizing Wonders which the History of his Raign written by an able hand must publish though far short of what they are in reality one must be touched with a mighty desire to see that August Face wherein the incomparable greatness of his Soul and all the Royal Vertues are so well expressed by that Heroick Air and those admirable traces of Majesty which will not suffer any that see them to hesitate one Moment but that they must acknowledge him to be the greatest and most admirable of all Monarchs After this I hope that all reasonable Persons will be satisfied with my Conduct which will incourage me to pursue in my following History of the Crusades the Characters of those Popes Emperors Princes Kings and Great Men who are to appear upon the Theatre of the following History ERRATA PAge 3. l. 47. r. Salguc ib. l. 54. r. Abutalip p. 4. l. 42. for Lords r. Letters p. 7. l. 22. for Lyes r. Letters ib. l. 44. f. Seventh r. Seven p. 9. l. 44. f. Persecution r. Prosecution ib. 54. f. Christian r. Chieftaine p. 12. l. 24. f. renounced r. renewed p. 14. l. 11. r. Thiery. p. 15. l. 51. f. many r. Manly p. 22. l. 34. r. Cybotus Civitot THE CONTENTS PART I. BOOK I. THE greatness of the Subject of the ensuing Hictory The newness and advantage of it The Original of the Turks and their Conquest in Asia from the Sarasins 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 ensued 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 the 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 Solyman Sultan of Nice The first Battle of Nice where the other part are overthrown also by Solyman 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
BOOK I. THe little disposition which was found in Europe to this fourth Crusade The Pope resolves at last to address himself to the Emperor Henry VI. The Diet of Wormes where the Princes of Germany take up the Cross An Heroick Action of Margarite the Sister of Philip the August Queen of Hungary who takes upon her the Cross The Artifice of the Emperor who raiseth three Armies and makes use of one of them to assure himself of the Kingdom of Naples where he extinguishes the whole race of the Norman Princes The Arrival of the Armies by Sea and Land at Ptolemais The Truce broken by the Christians The deplorable Death of Henry Count de Champagne and King of Jerusalem Jaffa taken by Saphadin The Battle of Sidon gained against Saphadin by the Princes of the Crusade The greatest part of the Cities of Palestine taken by the Christians Emri Brother of Guy de Lusignan King of Cyprus made King of Jerusalem The Siege of Thoron unhappily raised by the horrible Treason of the Bishop of Wertzbourg and his Punishment Division among the Christians The Combat of Jaffa The Death of the Emperor Henry VI. The Description of that Prince A Schism in the Empire occasions the suddain Return of the Princes of the Crusade who abandon the Holy Land to the Infidels The Death of Pope Celestin III. Innocent III. succeeds him The Elogy and Portraict of that Pope He endeavours to set up a new and General Crusade Fouques de Nevilli preacheth it in France The Elogy and character of that holy Man The Crusade is preached in England King Richard engages many of his Subjects in it The Death of that Prince and his Penitence The Counts of Champagne Blois and Flanders take upon them the Cross Their Treaty with the Venetians by the Vndertaking of Henry Dandolo Doge of Venice The Description and Elogy of that Prince The Death of the Count of Champagne Boniface Marquis of Montferrat made chief of the Crusade in his place The Death of Fouques de Nevilli A new Treaty between the Princes of the Crusade and the Venetians for the Siege of Zara. A great division upon that Subject Henry Dandolo takes upon him the Cross The Siege and Taking of Zara. The History of Isaac and the two Alexises Emperor 's of Constantinople The young Alexis desires the Assistance of the Princes of the Crusade against his Vncle Alexis Comnenius who had usurped the Imperial Throne The Speech of his Ambassadours The Treaty of the French and Venetians with this Prince for his Re-establishment A new Division upon this Subject A new Accord among the Confederate in the Isle of Corfu The Description of their Fleet and their Arrival before Constantinople BOOK II. The Condition wherein the City of Constantinople was when it was besieged by the French and Venetian Crusades The Defeat of the Vsurpers Brother-in-Law by a small Party of the French The Passage and the Battle of the Bosphorus The taking of the Castle of Galatha The Venetians force the Entry of the Port. An Assault given both by Sea and Land â—o Constantinople The Venetians take five and twenty Towers A Sally made by the Emperor Alexis with a prodigious Army and his Infamous Cowardice His Flight and the Reduction of Constantinople The Establishment of Isaac and the young Alexis A Prolongation of the Treaty for a Year between that Emperor and the Confederate Princes Their Exploits in Thracia A Dreadful Fire at Constantinople The History of the horrible Treason of Murtzuphle The young Alexis suffers himself to be surprized by the Artifices of that Traytor and breaks with the Confederates The Speech of Conon de Bethune to the Emperors to oblige them to accomplish their Treaty War declared against them upon their refusal The Greeks attempt in Vain to burn the Venetian Fleet. The Description of that wild Fire The consequent Treasons of Murtzuphle The Election of Cannabus The double Treason of Murtzuphle who makes himself be proclaimed Emperor The Death of Isaac and of the young Alexis whom Murtzuphle strangles with his own Hands The Confederates make War against the Tyrant His Defeat by Henry the Brother of Count Baldwin The first Assault given upon the Port side of Constantinople wherein the Confederates are repulsed The Second Assault by which the City is taken by plain Force The Flight of Murtzuphle The Greeks lay down their Arms. The City plundered and the Booty there gained The Relicks from thence transported to several Churches of Europe Baldwin Earl of Flanders chosen Empeperor The Policy of the Venetians in the Election of that Prince His Elogy and Character The Election of a Patriarch The Destribution of the Provinces of the Empire The happy Beginning of the Emperor who reduceth all Thracia Murtzuphle surprized and betrayed by the Old Alexis who puts out his Eyes The Flight of Alexis and the taking of Murtzuphle He is brought back to Constantinople where for the Punishment of his Crimes he is thrown headlong from a high Columne Old Alexis taken His End The Glorious Success of this Crusade BOOK III. The unfortunate Success of those who abandoned the Confederates to pass into Syria The Care of the Pope for Constantinople who sends Doctors from Paris to reduce the Schismaticks The Death of Mary the Empress Wife of Baldwin The Death of Isabella Queen of Jerusalem The Princess Mary her Daughter succeeds in the Realm and Marries Count John de Brienne The Relation how that Prince and Count Gautier his Brother conquered the Kingdom of Naples The Exploits of King John de Brienne The Pope procures him Aid A piteous Adventure of some young Men who by a strange Illusion took upon them the Cross The design of Pope Innocent to procure a general Crusade favoured by the Victory of Philip the August against the Emperor Otho The Battle of Bovines The Relation of the Council of Lateran where the Crusade is Decreed The Pope himself Preacheth it His death in that Holy Exercise A Fable concerning his Purgatory The Election of Pope Honorius III of that Name His Zeal and Industry to promote the Crusade Andrew King of Hungary the Head thereof The Princes that Accompanied him and their Voyage Their Conjunction with King John de Brienne Their Expedition against Coradin The Description of Thabor and the Relation of the Siege of that Fortress which had been built there by Coradin The Return of the King into Hungary The Arrival of the Northern Fleet of the Crusades under the Earl of Holland The Relation of their Adventures and Exploits against the Moors in Portugal The Siege and Battle of Alcazar The Victory of the Crusades Their Voyage to Ptolemais The Reasons of the Resolution which they took to attack Egypt The Description of Damiata The Account of that memorable Siege which lasted eighteen Months The Attack and taking of the Tower of Pharus A Description of certain Engines of a new Invention The Death of Saphadin upon the News of the taking of that Place His
the Knights which are the prime Nobility possess great Estates under the Authority of the Great Master of the Teutonick Order But whilest these Military Orders began thus much about the same time to Establish themselves by little and little in Jerusalem that of the Hospitallers both Ancient and Modern which one may say were the Model of the others made a great Progress in Palestine and became of great Consideration by the great Services which it Performed both in Peace and War and upon this Account both the number of Pilgrims as also of Soldiers and Gentlemen who entred into that Order increasing daily St. Gerard the Provincial of the Isle of Martigues who was Master of the Hospitallers when Jerusalem was taken from the Sarasens built about the Year 1112. a third Hospital giving it the Name of St. John Baptist and there placed his new Knights who a little time after began to form the Design of following a Conduct and Manner of Living more Austere and more Perfect than that of the old Fraternity And indeed when after the Death of Gerard Fryer Bryan Roger was chosen by plurality of Voices to be the Great Master of the Hospitallers these new Knights of the third Erection of St. John Baptist persisting in their first Resolution of Living in greater Perfection would needs Imitate the Knights-Templers and add to their other Vows that of Chastity they separated from the Ancient Hospitallers and chose for their Master Fryer Raymond of Pavia a Gentleman of Dauphiny who drew up for them new Constitutions full of solid Christian Piety which may be seen in the Book of the Statutes of that Order with the Approbation of Pope Calixtus the Second in the Year 1123. as also the Priviledges which have been granted to them by forty eight Soveraign Popes After which time to distinguish themselves from the other they called themselves the Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem and wore a white Cross of eight Angles upon a black Habit. This is that famous Order which contrary to what usually happens to other Establishments hath daily Increased for above this five hundred Years Advancing to the supreme Elevation of Splendor and Glory wherein it appears at this very Day That Order I say which in all times hath had the Honor to have its Commanders and Knights of all that is Brave and Generous among the Nobility of all Europe and above all those Princes who have been most Remarkable and more distinguished by the Greatness of their Merit than by their Illustrious Names or Birth that Order in short which under the Celebrated Names of Rhodes and Maltha hath filled the Earth the Sea and all the Corners of our World with the glorious Trophics of an infinite number of Victories which they have Obtained against the Turks As for the ancient Hospitallers who were thus separated from these New ones with whom they formerly made up one Order under one great Master they still retained their ancient Name of St. Lazarus they added to the Habits of their Knights a green Cross to distinguish them from the others and maintained themselves within the Limits of their first Institution which allowing of Marriage consisted of three principal Vows of Charity to withdraw themselves from the World to the Service of the Infirm and Leprous of Chastity either in a single or conjugal State and of Obedience to their great Master and above all to be continually ready to Fight against the Infidels and the Enemies of the Church They also performed after this very signal Services in Palestine year 1119 which obliged the Kings Fulk Amaurus Baldwin the Third and Fourth and the Queens Melisantha and Theodora to take them into their particular Protection and to honor them with many Marks of their Royal Bounty the precious Testimonies whereof they do to this day preserve in their Treasury It was for this Cause that the young King Lewis at his Return from the Holy Land brought with him some of them into France there to Exercise their charitable Functions and to this purpose gave them the Supervising of all the Operations of the Infirmaries within his Realm as also the Castle of Boni near Orleans to be the principal House and chief Residence of their Order on this side the Sea as appears by his Letters Patents of the Year 1154. Signed by the Chancellor Huges in the Presence of the Constable Matthew de Montmorency which was Confirmed to them by Philip Augustus in the Year 1208 who also granted them great Priviledges and Immunities which have since been Augmented and solemnly Confirmed by twelve of our Kings of France In process of time the Order extended it self by Degrees through all Europe but principally in France England Scotland Germany Hungary Savoy Sicily Pavia Calabria Campania in Italy where the Emperor Frederick the Second gave them great Possessions in the Year 1225 which was also confirmed to them afterwards by the Bulla's of many Popes It was in that flourishing Estate wherein this Order was in Europe under this Emperor and under the King St. Lewis that the Pope Honorius the Third Approved it and Confirmed it anew giving it the Rule of St. Augustin with many great Priviledges which were also afterwards Augmented by the Bulla's of Pope Gregory the Ninth Alexander the Fourth Clement the Fourth Nicholas the Third Gregory the Tenth and John the Twenty second and many other Soveraign Popes who granted to them the same Favours which were Enjoyed by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem by which they were impowred to hold Estates given either by particular Persons or Bodies Politick and Corporate and all the Hospitals and Infirmaries with their Goods and Possessions which at any time belonged to this Order In the time that the Affairs of the Christians were almost become Desperate in the East after the Return of St. Lewis from his Voyage to the Holy Land the great Master of St. Lazarus with the greatest part of the Knights came to settle themselves in France where this devout King who took this Order into his Royal Protection and gave them of his Bounty a thousand Marks besides other Favours which he conferred on them became in a manner a new Founder and in effect it is most certain as appears by most authentick Acts that after this time the principal Seat of the Order of St. Lazarus as well on this as the other side of the Sea hath always been kept at their Castle of Boni where the general Chapter of the Order ought to be kept once every three Years and that the Kings of France have always been the Conservators and Patrons of the Order and have nominated and appointed the great Master That these great Masters have Exercised their Jurisdictions upon all the Knights of the Order in all the States of Christendom as the Generals of the Cistertians Premonstratenses and other Orders which at present are in France Exercise theirs over all the Religious of other Realms It
should fail he should be sure of the third and that though he lost two Thirds of his Alms upon two false Religions yet the other falling upon the true he should undoubtedly find Advantage by it for the good of his Soul Poor well meaning Prince He did not know that there is a vast difference between Temporal and Eternal Goods And that though those are submitted to the Empire of Fortune which gives or takes them according as she pleases to turn her sporting Wheel yet in these it is far otherwise and that Eternal Goods are never exposed to Hazard and Adventure but they are certainly lost The Death of Saladin presently made a Change in the Face of Affairs throughout all Asia For having divided his Dominions among his twelve Sons without leaving any thing to his Brother Saphadin who had most faithfully served him in all his Wars This Prince valiant and ambitious resolved to revenge himself upon the first Opportunity nor was it long before it was offered and by him laid hold of For his Nephew to whose Share in the Distribution Egypt fell being slain by a Fall from his Horse as he was hunting Saphadin with Ease made himself Master of that fair Dominion and presently raising a powerful Army all the Soldiers of Saladin who had served under him and esteemed him infinitely running in to him he attempted the Ruin of his other Nephews and in a short time either by Force of Arms or by Treachery of their Subjects he overthrew them all year 1195 except the Sultan of Alepo to whom his Subjects always preserved a most inviolable Fidelity Thus whilst the Infidels armed one against another and thought of nothing but how to destroy themselves it was believed in Europe that a fair Occasion was offered for the Recovery of the Realm of Jerusalem now almost entirely lost which gave occasion to a new Crusade which was also followed by three others as in the ensuing History may be seen The End of the Second Part. THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADE OR The Expeditions of the Christian Princes for the Conquest of the Holy Land PART III. BOOK I. The CONTENTS of the First Book The little Disposition which was found in Europe to this fourth Crusade The Pope resolves at last to address himself to the Emperor Henry VI. The Diet of Wormes where the Princes of Germany take up the Cross An Heroick Action of Margarite the Sister of Philip the August Queen of Hungary who takes upon her the Cross The Artifice of the Emperor who raiseth three Armies and makes use of one of them to assure himself of the Kingdom of Naples where he extinguishes the whole Race of the Norman Princes The Arrival of the Armies by Sea and Land at Ptolemaïs The Truce broken by the Christians The deplorable Death of Henry Count de Champagne and King of Jerusalem Jassa taken by Saphadin The Battle of Sidon gained against Saphadin by the Princes of the Crusade The greatest part of the Cities of Palestine taken by the Christians Emri Brother of Guy de Lusignan King of Cyprus made King of Jerusalem The Seige of Thoron unhappily raised by the horrible Treason of the Bishop of Wertzbourg and his Punishment Division among the Christians The Combat of Jaffa The Death of the Emperor Henry VI. The Description of that Prince A Schism in the Empire occasions the suddain Return of the Princes of the Crusade who abandon the Holy Land to the Insidels The Death of Pope Celestin III. Innocent III. succeeds him The Elegy and Portraict of that Pope He endeavours to set up a new and general Crusade Fouques de Nevilli preacheth it in France The Elegy and Character of that holy Man The Crusade is preached in England King Richard engages many of his Subjects in it The Death of that Prince and his Penitence The Counts of Champagne Blois and Flanders take upon them the Cross Their Treaty with the Venetians by the Vndertaking of Henry Dandolo Doge of Venice The Description and Elegy of that Prince The Death of the Count of Champagne Boniface Marquis of Montferrat made Chief of the Crusade in his place The Death of Fouques de Nevilli A new Treaty between the Princes of the Crusade and the Venetians for the Seige of Zara A great Division upon that Subject Henry Dandolo takes upon him the Cross The Siege and Taking of Zara. The History of Isaac and the two Alexises Emperors of Constantinople The young Alexis desires the Assistance of the Princes of the Crusade against his Vnkle Alexis Commenius who had usurped the Imperial Throne The Speech of his Ambassadors The Treaty of the French and Venetians with this Prince for his Re-establishment A new Division upon this Subject A new Accord among the Confederate in the Isle of Corfu The Description of their Fleet and their Arrival before Constantinople year 1194 THere was very little probability for the Christian Princes of the East to hope for any Assistance from the Princes of Europe where there was now not the least favourable Inclination towards the Holy War The Kings of England and France upon whose Protection they had always chiefly depended were so far from uniting as they did before year 1195 in such a glorious Design they were engaged in a most cruel War which was only discontinued for some time by little Truces which served to no other purpose but to give them leisure to take Breath a little and thereby to put themselves into a Condition to attack each other with greater Fury than before The Emperor was wholly taken up with putting himself into the Possession of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily in Right of his Wife Constantia the Empress In pursuit of which after the death of Tancred he extinguished the whole Race of those brave Normans who had so generously conquered and so gloriously possessed those Realms for above one Age. Pope Celestin III. wasted with Age and Fatigues being now advanced to ninety Years was in no Condition to undertake so difficult a Task as the Forming of a new Crusade And besides he was extreamly embroiled with the Emperor whom he had excommunicated for the Violence which he had used to the King of England so that he had little hope to engage him in the Enterprise Nevertheless after he was assured of the death of Saladin and the great Revolutions which that had made in his Empire which he understood by Letters from Henry Dandolo Doge of Venice he applied himself with the same Zeal which his Predecessors had done to form a Holy League among the Christian Princes to make advantage of this fair Opportunity for the re-gaining of Jerusalem For this purpose he sent his Legates throughout all Europe He did all that lay in his power to procure Peace between the two Kings of France and England and conjured them at least to send some Assistance to Palestine if the posture of their Affairs was such as would not permit them to go thither in Person to
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
God although he was assured that he might do it with a safe Conscience would thus throw Pearls before Swine and deliver Jesus Christ himself whom he believed by a faith so lively to be present under the Species of that adorable Sacrament and like Judas put him once again into the hands of his mortal Enemies to be exposed to those Outrages and Indignities which they might offer And in reality with all my search I could never find nor can there one single witness be produced of such an Extraordinary Action nor among all the Authors of that time any one Writer be found who hath said the least thing upon which it is possible to lay the Foundation of such a groundless Calumny The Pledges which St. Lewis gave for the security of the two payments are positively told us Alphonsus Count de Poitiers his Brother for the first all the Sick all the Munitions and Engins for the second that there is neither necessity room nor one word concerning the Holy Sacrament How then can he dare to assure us that St. Lewis left it in pawn with the Barbarians A Modern Writer ought to say nothing of the Ages past but upon good Warranty from the Records of those Times for what he writes for otherwise he is so far from being a good Historian that he becomes a paltry Romancer and Inventer of Fictions And herein du Haillan is excusable who having given this Account in a few words adds very honestly that there is no certainty of this Story And the Continuator of William of Tyre Heroldus another Protestant is much an honester man when he tells us plainly that all this is a meer Fable which hath been raised upon an ill grounded conjecture as many learned Persons have observed For by reason that after this the Egyptians caused a Chalice with the Hostia to be represented upon their Money their Tapistry hangings and their Publick Buildings some have conjectured that the reason was in commemoration that St. Lewis had left there the Ciboir or Box and the consecrated Hostia But from whence can one draw this untoward consequence or is it therefore that conjectures and such feeble conjectures as this must be imposed upon us for Truths in Fact that men take the liberty to publish them as things of the greatest certainty If conjectures be of any value it is more reasonable and natural to say That the Egyptians did this as in Triumph and that these were the Publick Trophies and Marks of the Victory year 1250 which in defeating the Christian Army they believed they had gained against the God of the Christians who was adored in the Eucharist and to whom they knew very well that St Lewis did most assiduously pay his duty with an infinite respect And this is the more credible in regard that this great Prince after his return into France carried money to be minted whereupon was to be seen Manacles to shew his imprisonment and thereby to animate the French one day to revenge upon the Sarasins the Injuries and Outrages which they had received from them during their Captivity I have thought it necessary in short thus to refute this gross mistake that so I might prevent many and some even among the Catholick Writers who have suffered themselves to be miserably deceived and who have misled others in relating a thing so little credible upon the bare word of Paulus Jovius who is their only Warranty for it in the first Book of his Elogies which he hath written of illustrious men in that of Saladin And yet even this Author saith no more but barely without quoting any Person That it is reported that St. Lewis gave him for a pledge the Holy Sacrament And so little doth he know what it is that he says that in the same place he adds that it was to Saladin or as he believes it is most probable to his Brother Saphadin that St. Lewis gave this Pledge Whereas it is of publick notoriety in History that these two Sultans were dead the one above fifty the other more than thirty years before the War which St. Lewis made in Egypt How can any one then pretend to be so far in the Right I do not say to assure it but even to relate upon the Authority of a Modern Historian of so little exactness and fidelity as Paulus Jovius a thing so little probable and so highly injurious to one of the greatest and without contradiction one of the holiest Kings of Europe But further all the Mamaluke Admirals and the Sarasins themselves were of a quite different opinion and could not imagine that St. Lewis was so cowardly as at last to resolve to give them for an Hostage the Eucharist which he adored after that Geoffrey de Sergines had protested as he did before them all that they would all chuse to perish rather than give the King himself in Hostage as the Sultan had demanded For they were so smitten with the bright lustre of the Royal Vertues of this great King and with that Majesty with which he treated them as if they had been his Subjects and indeed his Prisoners as they would say themselves in admiration of the strength of his Mind the greatness of his Soul and his Heroick Courage that one day in sounding before his Pavilion in honor of him all their Trumpets and Warlike Instruments they had it under debate whether they should chuse him for their Sultan and there was nothing that obstructed it besides his immoveable Resolution to do nothing which might in the least shock his Religion the Exercises whereof he would perform aloud like a Master and as if he were assured that they durst not so much as entertain a thought of opposing him so that they were used to say That he was the most Fierce Christian that they had ever seen And one may from hence well judge whether after this these Emirs would have the Confidence to demand from him to put that into their hands which they knew he acknowledged to be and worshipped as true God And that which was yet most admirable in this adventure was that this Holy King demanded sometime after of the Lord De Joinville what his opinion was in this matter and supposing the Admirals should offer him the Crown whether he should accept it to whom the good Seneschal after his manner answered very bluntly That he should be a very fool to accept it and trust himself to these Villains who had murdered their Prince And I answered the King For my part I declare to you that I would never have refused it And this without doubt proceeded from the pleasure with which he was ravished to have so fair an opportunity of sacrificing himself by accepting this Empire for the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in Egypt where Christianity had sometimes flourished by an infinite multitude of the Servants of God in the first Ages of the Church The Treaty being thus at last confirmed by
of the Emperor and the King The Murmurs against St. Bernard and his Apology The Conquest of Noradin after the raising of the Siege The Death of King Baldwin and his Elogy His Brother Amauri Succeeds him The History of that Princes Life who by his Avarice loseth the Opportunity of conquering all Egypt The History of Syracon who seizes upon the Kingdom of Egypt and leaves it to his Nephew Saladin The Elogy and first Conquest of that Prince The Death of Amauri and the Troubles and Divisions which it caused in the Realm The Conquests of Saladin thereupon The Raign of Baldwin the Leprous The Ambassage to the Princes of the West to desire their Help against Saladin The Negotiation of the Ambassadours with the Pope and Emperor in France and England with Henry the Second The Artifices of that King to elude this Ambassage A famous Care of Conscience proposed in the Parliament at London upon this great Affair The reasons on one side and the other The best opinion rejected by the Bishops as False The Displeasure of the Patriarch Heraclius against the King The Conference between Philip Augustus and King Henry which recommences the War The Apostacy and Treason of a Templer The Death of King Baldwin the Fourth and of the young King his Nephew The Artifice of Sybil Mother to the deceased Infant King to obtain the Crown for Guy de Lusignan her Second Husband The Despight of Raymond Earl of Tripolis thereupon His Character His horrible Treason and secret Treaty with Saladin who enters Galilee and besieges Tyberias Division in the Councel of War held by the King The unfortunate Battle of Tyberias which was lost by the Treachery of Count Raymond The Advantage which Saladin made of his Victory The Relation of the Siege and taking of Jerusalem by that Victorious Prince The sorrowful Departure of the Christians from Jerusalem and the Generosity of Saladin The Cruelty and miserable Death of the Earl of Tripolis The Triumph of Saladin An Account of the Preserving of Tyre by Marquis Conrade The Causes of the Loss of the Holy Land p. 113. BOOK II. The Death of Pope Urban III. upon the News of the Loss of Jerusalem The Decrees of Pope Gregory VIII and the Rules of the Cardinals to move God Almighty to Mercy and Compassion upon the Christians Gregory makes Peace between the Pisans and the Genoese Clement III. his Successor sends his Legates to the King of France and to the King of England The Conference at Gisors Where the Arch-Bishop of Tyre proposes the Crusade which is received by the two Kings The Ordinances which they made for the Regulation of it The War recommences between the two Kings which hinders the Effect of the Crusade Richard Duke of Guienne joins with King Philip against his own Father The Death of Henry II. King of England His Elegy and Character The Legates propose the Crusade at the Diet at Mayence The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa there takes upon him the Cross as do many other Princes and Prelates of the Empire The Description of that Emperor His March to Thracia where he is necessitated to Combat the Greeks The Character of the Greek Emperor Isaac Angelus The Reason why this Emperor betrayed the Ltains The History of the False Dositheus who seduced him and of Theodore Balsamon The Victories of Frederick in Thracia The stupid Folly of Isaac And his dishonourable Treaty with the Emperor The Passage and March of Frederick into Asia The Treachery of the Sultan of Iconium and the Defeat of his Troops by a pretty Stratagem of the Emperor ' s. An Heroick Action of a certain Cavalier The first Battle of Iconium The Description Assaulting and Taking of that City The Second Battle of Iconium The Triumph of the Emperor The March of the Army towards Syria The Description and the Passage of Mount Taurus The Death of the Emperor and his Elogy Frederick his Son leads the Army to Antioch after that to Tyre and from thence to the Camp at Ptolemais or Acon The Description of that City and the adjacent Country The Relation of the famous Siege against it begun by King Guy de Lusignan The Succours of two fair Naval Armies The Description of the famous Battle of Ptolemais The manner of the Christians Encampment The Reason of the length of the Siege The Death of Queen Sybilla and the Division between Guy de Lusignan and the Marquis Conrade who marries the Princess Isabella the Wife of Humphrey de Thoron A general Assault given to Ptolemais upon the Arrival of Frederick Duke of Suabia A brave Action of Leopold Duke of Austria The Death of Frederick and his admirable Vertue p. 149 BOOK III. The Beginning of the Reign of Richard Coeur de Lyon King of England and his Preparations for the Holy War The Preparations of Philip the August The Conferences of Nonancour and Vezelay between the two Kings The Portraict of Philip the August The Character of Richard King of England The Voyage of the two Kings to Messina An adventure of the English Fleet. A Quarrel between the English and the Messineses The taking of that City The Quarrel between the two Kings and their new Accomodation The Relation of the Abbot Joachim and his Character His Conference with King Richard The Departure of King Philip and his Arrival before Acre The Departure of Richard The Relation of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Cyprus by that Prince His Arrival before Acre A new Difference between the two Kings and the true Causes of it Their Accord The Reduction of the City of Acre The extreme Violence of King Richard The Return of Philip the August The March of Richard The Battle of Antipatris The single Combat between King Richard and Sultan Saladin A noble Action of William de Pourcelets who saved the Life of that King Richard presents himself before Jerusalem at an unseasonable Time and therefore retires and disperses his Army into Quarters The Marquis Conrade slain by two Assassins of the old Mountain The Description of that Government and those People A wicked Action of the Templers which hindred their Conversion The Cause of the Marquis his Death Richard accused of that Crime His Innocence is proved Isabella Marries Count Henry and is declared Queen of Jerusalem Guy de Lusignan made King of Cyprus Richard pretends a Second time to besiege Jerusalem defeats the Enemies takes the Caravan of Egypt but retires by a cunning Agreement A calumny against Richard which he clears by a most memorable Action The Battle of Jaffa and the taking of that Place from the Sarasins by Richard His Treaty with Saladin and his unfortunate Return He is taken and Imprisoned His Deliverance The Justice which he demanded and which he obtains A new division among the Princes of the East appeased by the Count de Champagne The Death of Saladin and his Elogy Division happens among the Infidels which gives occasion to a fourth Crusade p. 186. PART III.