certainly conquered it had they not fallen out among themselves about parting of it before it was theirs to dispose of Conrade and King Lewis designed it for Theodorick Earl of Flanders who was lately arrived in those parts whilst other Princes who had been there a long time and born the brunt of the War could not endure to see a raw Upstart to be preferred before them For which reason together with their being corrupted with Turkish money although it proved but Brass gilt may all Traitors be so paid they persuaded the King of France to remove his Camp to a stronger part of the Wall whereby they rendred the design of taking the Town fruitless and forced them to raise the Siege and return home leaving the City of Damascus and even Honour both behind them Many thousand Christians perished in that adventure whose Souls are said by all the Writers of that Age to be carried up to Heaven upon the Wings of that Holy Cause they died for And the King of France in his return home was taken Prisoner by the Graecian Fleet but rescued again by Gregory who was Admiral to Roger King of Sicilia The King and Emperour being returned Noradine the Turk prevailed in Palestine which was very much occasioned by the unhappy difference which arose between Queen Millesent and her Son Baldwin who was egged on by some of the Nobles that were offended with the Queen for having advanced a certain Nobleman whose name was Manasses to be Constable of the Kingdom who being unable to manage his own happiness grew so insolent that spurning his equals and trampling on his Inferiours he drew upon himself the general hatred and envy of all men quarrelled with his Mother imprisoned first and then banished her Favourite and at last to conclude the difference the Kingdom was divided between them the City of Jerusalem and all the In-land part was allotted to her and what bordered upon the Seâ— to him But the widest Throne being too narrow for two to sit on together he was not long content with this division but marched with a great deal of fury to besiege his Mother in Jerusalem and dispossess her of all When he first approach the City the Patriarch went out to him and with abundance of freedom reproved him sharply for his rash and unnatural attempt and upbraided him for his ingratitude in going about to take all from so good a Mother who had not only proved a good Steward in his minority but had also consented to accept of one halâ— of the Kingdom when the whole of right belonged to her But he was so inchanted with ambltion that no Arguments would prevail which when the Queen perceived she did by the advice of her friends consent to yield up all lest the Christian Cause should suffer by their differences Noradine being incouraged by those Civil Discords came up with a great Army and wasted all the Country of Antioch and Prince Reimund going forth to give him Battel had his Army beaten and himself slain And not long after Joceline Count of Edessa was taken Prisoner In the mean while King Baldwin is not idle but having made great preparations for the besieging of Askelon at last sate down before it and having made a large breach in the Wall the Templars to whom the King promised the spoil if they took it entred through the breach into the City and supposing they were able without any more help to master the Place set a Guard to prevent any more of their fellow Christians from entring in to be sharers with them in the Booty which covetousness of theirs cost them their lives for the Turks contemning the smalness of their number put them all to the Sword notwithstanding which the City was shortly after taken though with abundance of difficulty Divers other considerable Victories King Baldwin obtained over the Turks especially one near the River of Jordan where he vanquished Noradine and twice relieved Caesarea Philippi which the Turk had straitly besieged but death at laâ—â— made a Conquest of him being poisoned by a Jewish Physician as it was believed in regard the remainder of the potion afterwards killed a Dog to whom it was given He was very much lamented by his Subjects and not without reason being so brave and worthy a Prince that even Noradine his mortal Enemy honourably refused to invade his Kingdom during his Funeral Solemnities protesting that in his Opinion the Christians had just cause of sorrow having lost such 〈◊〉 King whose equal for Justice and Valour the whole World could not produce He died without Issue when he had Reigned about one and twenty years CHAP. XVI Almerick Brother to Baldwin succeeds in the Kingdom of Jerusalem The Sultan of Iconium and the Master of the Assassines desire to be baptized Commotions in Aegypt The Turks called thither and set up for themselves The King of Jerusalem 's Aid implored to drive them out He afterwards invades Aegypt His Death ALmerick Brother to King Baldwin and Earl of Joppa and Askelon succeeded to the Kingdom of Jerusalem but was before he could be admitted to his Coronation enjoyned by the Popes Legate and the Patriarch of Jerusalem to put away Anes his Wife Daughter to Joceline Count of Edessa because she was his Cousen in the fourth degree with this reservation that the two Children Baldwin and Sybill which he had by her should be accounted legitimate and capable of their Fathers Possessions In this Kings time the Sultan of Jcenium freely imbraced the Christian Religion and was baptized more of his Courtiers designing to follow him therein had not his Ambassador then at Roâ—â— taken great offence at the vicious and debauched lives which he there observeâ— the Christians to lead which thing maâ—â— many of the Pagans step back when the had one foot in the Church abhorring to see Christians who believe so well and live so ill Not long after the great Master of the Assassines offered to receive the Christian Faith which good intention waâ— spoiled by the base and treacherous killing his Ambassador which he sent tâ—â— Jerusalem to treat with the King about it by one of the Templars 〈…〉 The King demanded the Murderer of the Master of the Templars that so Justice might pass upon him But the Master insolently denied to deliver him saying he had already injoyned him Penance and intended to send him to the Pope but would part with him to none else These Assassines were a certain precise Sect of Mahometans who had in them the very spirit and quintessence of that poisonous Superstition they were about forty thousand in number and were possessed of six Cities near Antaradus in Syria having over them a Chief Master whom they called the Old Man of the Mountains at whose command they would refuse no pain or peril but immediately address themselves to assassinate my Prince whom he had appointed out for death and always find hands to accomplish whatsoever he enjoyed There are now none
while â—ccessful and won the City of Belbis or â—erlusium Notwithstanding which Auâ—ors from that time date the ill Success â—f the Holy War and shew us a whole â—loud of Miseries which immediately folâ—wed thereupon and no wonder for God â—ldom lets Perjury go long unpunished First Whilst Almerick was absent in Egypt Noradine won divers considerable â—laces about Antioch Secondly Meller Prince of Armenia â—ho was a Christian entred into a â—eague with Noradine and kept it inâ—iolable to the great disadvantage of the King of Jerusalem which act of Mellers must be condemned and yet the Justice of God ought to be admired in punishâ—ng the Christians thereby for their â—reach of Covenant with the Saracens â—n Egypt Thirdly The Saracens finding themselves faithlesly dealt with laid at on all sides began to learn War and grew good Souldiers on a sudden and although they formerly fought with Bows only yet noâ— they learned of the Christians to use aâ— offensive and defensive Weapons it beinâ— usual with rude Nations to better themâ— selves by fighting with a skilful Enemâ— And Fourthly Almericks hope of coâ—quering Egypt was wholly frustrated bâ—ing after some few Victories driveâ— out and the whole Kingdom conquere by Saladine Nephew to Syracon whâ— beat out the Caliphs brains when he prâ—tended to do him reverence and thereâ— changed the Government of Egypt froâ— the Saracen Caliph to a Turkifh King Aâ— shortly after upon the death of Noradiâ— the Kingdom of the Turks in Syria anâ— the lesser Asia was likewise bestoweâ— upon him whereby he became the moâ—potent Monarch in the World Whilst Jerusalem was left as a poâ— Weather-beaten Kingdom bleak anâ— open to the Storms of its Enemies oâ— every side lying as it were between thâ— Lions Teeth Damascus on the Northâ— and Egypt on the South two poteâ— Turkish Kingdoms united under a valianâ— and successful Prince which made Aâ—merick fend for Succours into Europâ— there being now but few Voluntieâ— flocking to this service and Souldieâ— were forced to be pressed with importâ—nity before they would consent to underâ—ake the Voyage But it being just with God that those who had betrayed the â—aracens whom they undertook to sucâ—our should want succour themselves â—hen they stood most in need of it his Embassadours were forced to return â—ithout any other supplies than pity and â—ommiseration And Lastly The King himself weaâ—ied with so many successive miseries â—nded his life of a Bloody Flux when he â—ad reigned about Eleven years leaving â—esides his two Children by his first Wife one Daughter named Isabel by Mary his second Wife Daughter to John Proto-Sebastus a Grecian Prince who was afterward married to Humphred the third Prince of Thorone CHAP. XVII Baldwin the Fourth succeedeth The Viciousness of the Patriarch of Jerusalem His Embassy to Henry the Second King of England The Original and Power of the Mammalukes Saladine conquered by Baldwin yet afterwards conquers Mesopotamia Baldwins death Baldwin his Son the fourth of that name succeeded his Father having had the benefit of an excellent Education under William Arch-Bishop of Tyre a very Pious Learned Man skilled in all the Oriental Tongues besides the Dutch and French his Native Languages Heraclius who was now Patriarch of Jerusalem being preferred to that Dignity for his handsomness by Queen Mary second Wife to King Almerick and Mother to Baldwin was a man of a debauched and vicious life keeping company with a Vintners Wife whom he maintained in great state like an Empress so that she was generally saluted by the name of Patriarches His ill Example infected the inferiour Clergy whose corrupt manners was a sad presage of the approaching Ruine of that Kingdom This Man was sent by King Baldwin as his Embassadour to Henry the Second King of England to crave his personal assistance in the Holy War and as an inducement thereunto to deliver him the Royal Standard of that Kingdom the Keys of our Saviours Sepulchre the Tower of David and the City of Jerusalem Henry was chosen out before any other Prince because the world justly esteemed him valiant wise rich and fortunate and which was the main that so he might thereby expiate his Murther and gather up again the innocent Blood that he had spilt in the death of Thomas Becket And that he might the more easily be drawn to undertake the Voyage the Patriarch intitled him to the Kingdom of Jerusalem because Geoffrey â—â—â—ntagenet his Father was Son to Fulco the Fourth King of Jerusalem But he was too wise a Prince to be so easily wheedled However he pretended he would go and got together a Mass of Money towards the defraying the Charge of his Voyage making every one as well the Clergy as the Laity pay that year the Tenth of all their Revenues both movables and immovables and when he bad filled his Purse all men expected he should perform his promise but he changed the Voyage into Palestine for a Journey into France The Patriarch while he stayed in England consecrated the Temple Church near St. Dunstans in the West and the House adjoyning belonging then to Knights Templars but since employed to a better use viz. the entertaining those Gentlemen who study and practise the English Laws In the minority of King Baldwin who was but thirteen years old Milo de Planci a Nobleman was Protector of the Kingdom whose Pride and Insolence could not be endured by the great men and therefore they got him to be stabb'd at Ptolemais and chose Raimund Count of Tripoli to suceeed him And Saladine having now seriously resolved upon the Ruine of the Kingdom of Jerusalem endeavoured to furnish himself with such Souldiers as might be most fit for that service in order whereunto he bought a great number of Slaves of the Circassians a People by the Lake of Meotis near Taurica Chersonesus who were brought up to be extream hardy and inured to War by their continual skirmishing with the neighbouring Tartars Those Slaves he trained up in Military Discipline after the Turkish manner They had most of them been Christians and were baptized in their Infancy but being taken from their Parents whilst young they were untaught Christ and instructed in the Mahometan Superstition whereby they became the more implacable Enemies to Christianity for having been once its friends They received from Saladine the name of Mammalukes and were so couragious and expert in War that his and his Successors greatness was not to be so much attributed to their own Conduct as to those Mammalukes Valour till at last perceiving their own strength they wrested the Soveraignty from the Turkish Kings and advanced one of their own number to the Regal Dignity Saladine having thus furnished himself with a new sort of Souldiers resolved to try their Valour upon the Christian and therefore invaded the Holy Land slaying and burning all before him till he came to Askelon where King Baldwin then was before which he sate down and closely besieged it And Count Raimund Protector of
THE HISTORY OF THE HOLY WAR Began Anno 1095. by the Christian Princes of Europe AGAINST The Turks FOR THE Recovery of the Holy Land and Continued to the Year 1294. IN TWO BOOKS To which is added A Particular ACCOUNT of the Present War managed by the Emperour King of Poland and several other Princes against the Turks By THO. MILLS Gent. Illustrated with Copper-Plates LONDON Printed for Tho. Malthus at the Sun in the Poultrey 1685. To the Right Honourable Sir JAMES SMITH Kt. Lord Mayor Of the Honourable City of London My Lord HIstories in general are like so many Registers and Records of time that convey to us the knowledg of what passed in the Ages before us and thereby helps us to look back with Pleasure upon the great Actions and Noble Atcheivments of our Worthy Predecessors which renders the reading of them very Pleasant and Delightful The History of the Holy War has not only been the amusement of the Learned Pens of other Nations but of a * Dr. Fuller Celebrated Author of our own which tho' written in a less critical time than this wherein that War seems to have a new resurrection was received with the general approbation of all lovers of History But this Excellent History being now rare to be found several Persons who were extreamly delighted with its agreeable variety wherein no History in the World does excel it mightily Importuned me to revive it or else to write a more Brief and Compendious account of that Religous War that so it might be rendered the more Capable of an Vniversal Reading the latter of which I was upon their persuasions prevailed upon to undertake But having performed the Task imposed upon me I found my self at a loss for a Suitable Person to whom I might address to own and Patronise the work till at length I happily pitch'd my thoughts upon Your Lordship To Dedicate it is made necessary by Custom and to Dedicate it to Your Lordship as necessary by the nature and design of the Book it self My Lord it is a discourse of War and therefore to have offered it to any other than a Soldier and a Brave Son of Mars had been an unpardonable Folly and a Sacrilegious Robery of the God of War And among all the Brave Commanders of this Honourable City I find none whose Courage and Valiour Prudence and LOYALTY bears a better sound then Your Lordships Not only in the Opinion of Your Fellow Subjects but of the King too for it was the singular Wisdom and LOYALTY which you have Manifested upon all Occasions that Recommended You both to his Majesties Gracious Choice and the Peoples Vniversal desire for the Chief Magestrate of Englands Metropolis Wherefore I Humbly Beg You will be Pleased to Accept of the Dedication and Permit this History to pass into the World under the shelter of your Lordships Name and Approbation and Pardon the Authors Presumption in aspiring to so great an Honour Although for an Atonement of the ambition of this offering I can only urge it is the History of the Holy War wherein those of our Nation gave as large a Testimony of their Courage and Bravery against those Infidels and Enemies of our Faith as any Nation whatsoever Which Consideration may Peradventure prevail upon Your Lordship to allow it as a sufficient Expiation for the pride of this Oblation Especially in a Person who is with the most Profound Zeal and Respect My Lord Your Lordships most humble and most devoted Servant THO. MILLS By the absence of the Author from the Press several faults have escaped which the Reader is desired to mend with his Pen. ERATTA PAge 38 Read Gerard. p. 62. l. 18 r. Baldwine p. 63 l. 13 r. Pilgrims p. 69 l. 4 r. their own p. 75 l. 15 Dele prevented it p. 74 r. Ignatius Book 2 p. 49 l. 22 r. conceit p 52 l r Cyprus p 53 l 6 r Meladine p. 67. ad of Lancaster p. 71. l. 13 r. fight Directions to the Binder Place the Cut of the King of Poland page 84. and the Standard page 86. THE HISTORY OF THE Holy War BOOK I. CHAP. I. The Description of the City of Jerusalem and the Land of Judea Why it was called the Holy Land It is conquered by the Egyptians by the Galdeans and by the Romans JAcob having just before his death called all his Twelve Sons together to bless them and to tell them what should happen both to them and to their Children in succeeding Ages he preferred Judah altho' not the Eldest but the Fourth Son before the rest of his Brethren and advanced him to the Throne saying Judah thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise thy hand shall be in the neck of thy enemies and thy Fathers children shall bow before thee Judah is a Lions whelp from the prey my son thou art gone up The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come meaning Christ the Saviour of the World to whom the gathering of the people shall be And after the return of the Israelites out of Egypt and the destroying the Canaanites and other Nations who inhabited Palestine a larger and fairer proportion thereof was alotted for the inheritance of this Royal Tribe than any of their Brethren enjoyed in which Patrimony there were several large fenced Cities the chief whereof was Hebron and great numbers of pleasant and fruitful Villages But altho' Judah had received the promise of the Kingly Dignity yet he was not till many years after the return out of Egypt invested with it but the Government was laid on the shoulders sometimes of one man and sometimes of another who were either by the special direction of Heaven or the favour of the People indifferently chosen out of any Tribe And when the Israelites grown weary of the Judges rule requested a King and God commanded Samuel to establish a Monarchical Government among them as tho' Jacob had been mistaken in his measures or the Promise to Judah had been quite forgotten that Tribe is neglected and a King chosen out of the Off-spring of Benjamen the youngest Son of Jacob. But Saal proving disobedient and rebellious against the Command of the Great and Supream Monarch of Heaven and Earth by whom alone King Reign the Royal Dignity was rent both from him and his Tribe and according to the Prediction of the Patriarch given to David the youngest Son of Jesse the Bethlehemite of the Tribe of Judah out of whose Loyns according to the flesh our Saviour came When he was first advanced to the Throne he only reigned over the Tribe of Judah and made choice of Hebron as his Royal Seat But being afterwards by the unanimous consent of all the Tribes chosen to be King of Israel he took the City of Jerusalem which is the Subject of this History from the Jebusites and made it the Royal Seat of the Kings of Isreal whereupon it was preferred by the great Jehovah
Christians Victories was someâ— what staid for Boemund Prince of Antiochâ— marching into Mesopotamia was takeâ— Prisoner and the Heroick Godfrey whâ— had till now been ever accustomed to Conquer was forced to depart with disgrace from the Siege of Antipatris CHAP. IX The Original of the Hospitallers The scuffling between the King and Patriarch of Jerusalem about the division of the City The Issue of the quarrel and thâ— Death of Godfrey the first King ABout this time under Serard theiâ— first Master began the Order oâ— Knights Hospitallers There was indeeâ— an Order called by that name more anciently in Jerusalem but they were nâ— Knights but poor Alms-men whose House was founded and themselveâ— maintained by the Merchants of Amuâ— phia a City in Italy But they had now more stately Buildings assigned them and their House dedicated to St. John oâ— Jerusalem the conditions upon which they were to be admitted to the Highest Order of this Knighthood were these they must be Eighteen years old at least of an able body not descended of Jewish or Turkish Parents no Bastards except to a Prince there being honour in that dishonour but born of honest and worshipful Parents they always wore a Red Belt with a White Cross and a Black Cloak whereon was the White Cross of Jerusalem which was a Cross crossed or five Crosses together in memory of our Saviours five Wounds Their Profession was to fight against Infidels and secure Pilgrims in their coming to the Sepulchre they vowed Poverty Chastity and Obedience to which was added by Reimundus de Podio their second Master that they must receive the Sacrament thrice a year hear Mass once a day be no Merchants or Usurers fight no private Duels and always stand neuters and take part with neither side if the Princes of Europe should fall out At their Inauguration they received a Sword to intimate that they must be valiant which Sword had a Cross Hilt to remember them that they must therewith defend Religion 2ly With this Sword they were struck three times over the shoulders to teach them patiently to suffer for Christ Thirdly They must wipe the Sword to intimate that their lives must be clean and undefiled Fourthly They had gilt Spurs put upon them to intimate that they must scorn Wealth and spurn it at their heels Fifthly They were to take a Taper in their hands to intimate that they were to enlighten others by their exemplary lives About the same time also were ordained the Knights of the Sepulchre who were for their Original and Profession much like the former and their Order continueth to this day they being made by the Padre Guardian of Jerusalem of such as have seen the Sepulchre and should be all Gentlemen but the Padre frequently dispenses with the severity of that Law and admits of those who bring fat enough though no blood Now also there arose a great Controversie between the King and the Patriarch the latter claiming the Cities of Jerusalem and Joppa with all their dependances as belonging of right to him and the other denying to deliver them The Patriarch affirmed they had always belonged to his Predecessors and that it did not become Princes who ought to be Nursing Fathers to the Church sacrilegiously to suck from and devour it On the other side the King alledged that the Christian Princes had now purchased Jerusalem with their Blood and bestowed it on him so that the Patriarchs over-grown Title was lost in that Conquest from which as upon a new Foundation all must now build their claims who challenge a right to any part in that City Besides which it would be unreasonable for the King of Jerusalem to enjoy nothing in Jerusalem but live there more like a Sojourner than a Prince in his Royal Palace and be confined only to an airy Title whilst the Patriarch should enjoy all the Command To this the Patriarch answered That the Christians new Conquest could not cancel his Ancient Right which he said was enjoyed even under the Saracens especially since that Voyage was purposely undertaken for the advancing of the Church and not the bare restoring her to her Liberty only which Argument he pressed so home that Godfrey notwithstanding he was unwilling at first yet afterwards not only granted him on Candlemas day a fourth part of the City but on the Easter following the King lying then on his Death-bed gave him all Jerusalem Joppa and whatsoever else he desired upon condition that he should hold it of the Patriarch till he should Conquer Babylon or some other Royal City to keep his Court in And that iâ— in the mean time he should have died without Issue it should immediately bâ—delivered into the Patriarchs Possession Not long after Godfrey had made this liberal Grant wherein he frankly gave away his whole Kingdom at once he died having Reigned one year wanting five days and was buried in the Temple of the Sepulchre where his Tomb remains inviolated to this day CHAP. X. Baldwin chosen King he keepeth Jerusalem in despite of the Patriarch GOdfrey being dead the Christians with an unanimous consent made choice of Baldâ—in who was â—â—ount of Edessa a City in Arabia and Brother to Godfrey to succeed him a Prince who was tall and of a comely Personage being like Saul higher by the head than any of his Subjects and being thus chosen to the Kingdom without troubling his head about his Brothers Religious scruple of wearing a Crown of Gold where Christ wore one of Thorns he accepted the Ceremony as well as the Title and was Crowned on the Christmas day following But before his Coronation there was a desperate Quarrel between him and the Patriarch who upon the death of Godfrey devoured Jerusalem and the Tower of David in his hope but coming to take possession found that a more difficult task than it was to obtain the grant from the dying King For Garnier Earl of Gretz refused to surrender it telling him that he would according to his duty keep it on the behalf of King Baldwin who was not yet arrived from Edessa This unexpected refusal made the Patriarch storm exceedingly but however Baldwin having the stronger Sword and actual possession of the City kept it perforce which made the Patriarch complain to Boemund Prince of Antioch and stir him up to take Arms against King Baldwin for the recovery of the Churches Right as he was pleased to term it But not succeeding therein the difference was made up for the present by the mediation of friends although it was not long before it brake out again to that degree that the Patriarch was glad to flee to Antioch and from thence to Rome to complain to the Pope from whom hâ— obtained a command to King Baldwin foâ— the re establishing him in the Patriarchaâ— Seat with which as he was returning home he died at Messena in Ciciliaâ— whereupon Bremarus an holy and devouâ— man was against his own will advanceâ— by King Baldwin to the Chair
in the City over-joyed at their great deliverance chose Conrade to be King of Jerusalem swearing Fealty to him and promising to be for ever his Subjects whose Valour had preserved them from being Saladines Slaves And the better to strengthen his Title he married Elisa or as others call her Isabella Sister to Baldwin the fourth and Daughter to King Almerick So that King Guy who was about this time delivered out of Prison having when he was released sworn never more to bear Arms against Saladine which Oath the Clergy judged void because forced from him when detained in Prison contrary to promise obtained his Liberty but could not get his Kingdom For coming to Tyre he found the Gates shut against him and his Subjects refusing to acknowledge any other King then Conrade Whereupon Guy packing up a Cloth of Remnants with his broken Army went and besieged Ptolemais the Pisans Venetians and Florentines with their Sea-Forces assisting him therein But it went on notwithstanding so slowly that it could hardly be perceived to have made any advance in a Twelve Months time Things going thus wofully to wrack in Palestine the Christians sighs there alarmed their Brethren in Europe to repair thither to their Succour and among the rest Frederick Barbarossa Emperour of Germany moved by the strength of his Devotion undertook a Voyage thither when he was Seventy Years old having one foot in the Grave and yet adventureing with the other to go on Pilgrimage He had been long chained to the Stake as it were and baited by several successive Popes till at length wearied with their continual worrying of him he gave up himself wholly to their direction and was sent by Pope Clement the third on this Errand into the Holy Land And having made great Preparations for this Adventure he marched through Hungary with a gallant Army of an Hundred and Fifty Thousand Valiant Men being kindly received and Welcomed by King Bela. But changing his Host he changed his Entertainment to being basely used as he passed through the Grecian Empire Insomuch that Frederick contrary to his expectation finding such perfidious dealing from the Greeks drew his Sword and resolving to fight his way through took Philippople Adrianople and divers other Citys not so much to get their Spoil as to secure his passage toward Palestine But when Isaaccius saw that those Pilgrims would either find or force their passage he left off all terms of Enmity and presently accommodated them with all things necessary for their Transportation over the Bosphorus pretending to hasten them away because the Christians Exigencies in Palestine admitted of no delay although it was really the effect of his fear the Greeks ever loving the Latin best when they were furthest off Old Frederick having now left the treacherous Grecian Shore and entred into the Turkish Territories found great resistance from the Sultan of Iconium whom he vanquished and overcame in four several Battles And then besieging the City of Iconium he took it by force and gave the Spoil of it to his Souldiers to revenge the injury done by that Sultan to his Uncle Conrade the Emperour And removing from thence to Philomela he took that likewise razing it to the ground and executing the Inhabitants therein as Rebels against the Law of Nations for killing his Ambassadors after which he passed with much difficulty but more honour into Syria Saladine shook for fear at the rumor of his coming and thought it best to follow the advice of Charatux his chief Counsellor who was at that time accounted one of the wisest men in the world tho his Person was mean and contemptible and dismantled all his Citys in the Holy Land except his Frontire Towns that so they might not be tenable with an Army fearing lest if the Germans won those places it would be no easy matter to drive them out again but being naked from shelter he thought he should soon weary them with set Battles in regard he had Soldiers without number and those near at hand But Frederick soon after he was entered into the Holy Land was suddenly taken away being to the great grief of all Christians unhappily drowned in the River of Saleph the occasion whereof is variously reported by Historians but they all agree that there he lost his Life and some of them pretending to acquaint the World with the reason why the Almighty permitted this Fatal Accident tell us that it was because he had in his Younger Years fought against the Popes and Church of Rome But seeing so great an Emperour drowned in a shallow River it was a great piece of audacious boldness in them to adventure into the fathomless depths of Gods secret Council Let it suffice therefore for us to know that he who disposes of all humane affairs according to his own Arbitrary Pleasure sometimes blasts the fairest hopes and makes the Feet of Monarchs to slip just when they are stepping into their Enemies Throne After his death Frederick Duke of Suâ— via his second Son undertook the conduct of the Army when the Turks supposing that grief for the loss of the Emperor had steeped and moistened those Pilgrims Hearts and taken off the edg of their Valour gave them a sudden charge in hope to have overthrown them before they had recovered themselves But the Valiant Dutch-men though they had scarce wiped their Eyes had however sufficiently scowred their Swords and gave them so warm a welcom that they quickly forced them to retire Then Frederick summoning the City of Antioch had it presently delivered to him where his hungry Souldiers being well refreshed by the Citizens who were yet for the most part Christians he marched forth in Battle Array and meeting with Dodequin General of Saladines forces he gave him a mighty overthrow wherein he slew four thousand upon the place and took a thousand Turks Prisoners with little or no loss to himself After which he went to the City of Tyre in the Cathedral Church whereof he buried the Corps of his worthy and warlike Father near the Tomb of the Learned Origen His Funeral Sermon being preached by the worthy Arch-bishop Gulielmus of Tyre So soon as the Emperors Funeral Rites were solemnly performed they were conveyed by Sea to the Christian Army before Ptolemais where young Frederick died of the Plague and all his huge Army which at their setting out of Germany consisted of an hundred and fifty thousand men were now reduced to eighteen hundred onely And thus by following this numerous Army to their graves we have once again overtaken the tedious and slow-paced siege of Ptolemais before which place lay an Army that was as it were the abridgment of the Christian World there being scarce a petty state or populous City in Europe that had not some representatitives there So that there were many bloody Blowes lent on both sides repayed again with interest in innumerable Sallys fierce Assaults and bloody Encounters The Christians lying between Saladine and the
the Kingdom Philip Earl of Flanders and the chief strength of the Kingdom being then absent in Celosyria wasting the Country about Emissa and Cesarea Baldwin was forced to keep himself close in the City not daring to venture on so strong an Enemy which fear of Baldwins having possessed Saladine with a belief that he needed not so great an Army to lie before the City he sent out several Parties to forrage and spoil the Country which the King observing resolved to take opportunity by the fore-lock and set on him when he least expected it To which end he sallied out with great privacy and silence and with about four hundred Horse a few Footmen suddenly assaulted his secure Enemies with such invincible Courage and Resolution that notwithstanding their number being Twenty six thousand Horse and Foot they were utterly routed and the Christians returned with great Triumph and Joy to Jerusalem But Saladine who was rather inraged than daunted by this overthrow resolved not to be long before he recovered his credit and therefore about two months after he fell with his Mammalukes like a mighty and raging Tempest upon the Christians as they were dividing the spoil of a Party of Turks whom they had vanquished a little before putting most of them to the Sword and the rest to flight and taking Otto Grand Master of the Templars and Hugh Son-in-law to the Count of Tripoli Prisoners the King himself hardly escaping So that both sides having sufficiently smarted consented to refresh themselves with a short Peace under the shelter whereof their troubled States breathed quietly for the space of about two years which Truce was the more willingly embraced by Saladine because a Famine then raged in the Kingdom of Damascus where it had scarcely rained for five years together But this welcom Calm was somewhat troubled with an unexpected Storm raised by Domestick Discords in King Baldwins Court. For the Kings Mother and Uncle two persons of turbulent spirits accused the Count of Tripoli of Treason as if he had when he was Governour of the Kingdom affected the Crown for himself which accusation so stung the King in the head that the Count coming shortly after to Jerusalem was as he was on the way thither commanded to stay which he looked upon as a great disgrace But some of the Nobility fearing the mischiefs which might proceed from this unhappy difference brought them to be reconciled But though the matter was seemingly made up yet the King ever after looked upon the Earl with a jealous Eye And the Earl seeing himself suspected proved afterwards really treacherous and disloyal though he is supposed by most Historians to be innocent of what he was then charged withal The Kingdom of Damascus having now recovered its self from the Famine and Saladine obtained his ends by the Truce would observe it no longer wherefore having gotten together a good Army he marcht out of Egypt through Palestine destroying and spoiling the Country all along as he went to Damascus And having strengthened himself with the addition of what Forces he had in Syria he entred the Holy Land again But the King who had not above seven hundred Men to twenty thousand met him at a small Village called Frobolt and opposing Valour to his multitudes overthrew him in a great and bloody Battel wherein Saladine himself was forced by speedy flight to escape the danger and by long Marches get him again to Damascus Nor had he any better success when shortly after he besieged Berytus being forced by the valour and courage of Baldwin to raise his Siege and depart with disgrace Wherefore Saladine finding such tough resistance in the Holy Land hoped to gain a better purchase by imploying his Arms in Mesopotamia to which end passing the River Euphrates he won Charran and divers other Towns after which returning again into Syria he besieged Aleppo which was the strongest place the Christians had in the whole Country being so fortified both by Nature and Art that it would have been almost impossible for him to have taken it had he not by his Bribes made a far larger Breach in the Governours Loyalty than he was able to do in the Walls of the City But having by this means possessed himself of Aleppo he marched again into the Holy Land being now more formidable than ever he had been before and carrying an Army of Terrour in the very mention of his name so that the poor Christians unanimously fled into their fenced Cities As for King Baldwin the Leprosie had arrested and confined him within the compass of his own Court where his great spirit long strove with his infirmity being loth to part with his Crown and disrobe himself of his Royalty before they were pluckt away by death but was however forced at last to stoop and retire himself to a private life appointing Baldwin his Nephew a Child of five years old to be his Successor and Guy Earl of Joppa and Askelon who was the young Childs Father in-law to be Protector of the Realm in his minority But soon after finding Guy to be a silly soft man he revoked the latter Act and designed Raimund Earl of Tripoli to succeed him Guy who though he was not valiant yet was very sullen stormed extreamly at his disgrace and leaving the Court in discontent returned home and fortified his Cities of Joppa and Askelon which greatly perplexed the Kings thoughts not knowing whom to name for Protector fearing lest Guys cowardliness should lose the Kingdom to the Turks or Raimunds treachery get it for himself so that anguish of mind and weakness of body ended his days when he was about five and twenty years of age happy in dying before the death of his Kingdom CHAP. XVIII The short Reign and woful Death of Baldwin the Fifth Guy succeeds him Tripoli revolts The Christians overthrown Their King taken Prisoner And the City of Jerusalem won by the Turks IT hath ever been accounted one of the greatest happinesses that can befal a Family for the Heirs to be of Age before their Fathers death in regard Minors have not only been the Ruine of Families but the overthrow of Kingdoms too And it being one of Gods threatnings against a wicked and disobedient People to give Children to be their Princes and Babes to Rule over them he scourged the Kingdom of Jerusalem three several times with that Rod within the compass of forty years Baldwin the Third Fourth and Fifth being all under Age and the last but five years old being the Posthumus Son of William Marquets of Montferat by Sybil his Wife Sister to Baldwin the Fourth and Daughter to King Almerick who was after the death of the Marquess married to this Guy Now the Earl of Tripoli demanding to be Protector of this young King according to the designation of his Uncle before his death Sybil who was Mother to this Infant to defeat Raimunds hopes of obtaining the Protectorship first murthered all natural affections
in her own breast and then murthered her Son by giving him a dose of Poison that so the Crown in her right might come to Guy her Husband This Prince unhappy in springing from so inhuman and barbarous a Mother Reigned but eight Months and eight Days Baldwin being thus dispatched Guy obtained by large Bribes to the Templars and Heraclius the Patriarch to be immediately crowned from which time the Christians affairs in the Kingdom of Jesalem posted towards their fatal period being spurr'd on the faster by the woful jarrings and discords among the Princes But we shall at present leave the Civil to discourse a little of the Ecclesiastical affairs of this declining Realm Whilst Heraclius was Patriarch of Jerusalem one Hymericus injoyed that honour at Antioch who wrote a bemoaning Letter to Henry the Second of England wherein he much lamented the woful state of the Christians in the East and endeavoured to persuade that Prince to undertake a Voyage into Palestine for their succour and relief and received from him in answer thereunto a Letter fraught with fair and ample promises the performance whereof I could never yet meet with in any of those Historians who wrote the Transactions of the Holy War But besides those Latine Patriarchs which commanded in the Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch there were Grecian Anti-Patriarchs who were appointed by the Emperour of Constantinople and having no temporal Power nor Jurisdiction over the Latines nor Profits of Church-Lands were forced to content themselves with a Jurisdiction over those of the Greek Church only We are not able to find out the exact Chain of their Succession and therefore are forced to content our selves with discovering here and there a Link And about this time we light on three that enjoyed that titular Dignity successively one after another the first whereof was Athanasius who was notwithstanding his being called Schismatick by some of the Historians of that Age a very learned and pious Man as appears by the many excellent Epistles which he wrote upon several occasions The second was Leontius commended likewise to Posterity for an honest Man and a good Scholar The third was Dositheus who was much inferiour to the two former both for Piety and Learning and being offered the Patriarchship of Constantinople by Isaac the Grecian Emperour he attempted to grasp at both and by that means held neither but between two Patriarchal Chairs fell irrecoverably to the ground In Antioch likewise we find several Greek Patriarchs whereof one whose name was Sotericus being displaced for several Heretical Tenets which he held concerning our Saviour he was succeeded by Theodorus Balsamon who was in his time the very Oracle of the Civil Law compiling and publishing many Learned Commentaries upon the Ancient Canons wherein he proved the Patriarch of Constantinople to have greater priviledges than the Bishop of Rome catching say the Romanists at every thing that sounded to the advancing of the Eastern Churches and the pulling down Rome when she lifts up her Head above Constantinople for which reason Bellar min will not allow him to be a good Author This Balsamon was likewise deceived by Isaac the Grecian Emperour who pretended that he would remove him to Constantinople upon condition he could prove the Translation of Patriarchs to be lawful in regard the Canons forbid it but having performed the task the Emperour who was very mutable in his mind bestowed the Patriarchs place upon another and left Balsamon to remain still at Antioch There being about this time a Truce between the Turks and Christians and Saladine's Mother supposing her self sufficiently guarded thereby adventuring to travel from Egypt to Damascus with abundance of Treasure and a very small Train she was notwithstanding the Truce surprized and riffled of all she had by Reinold of Castile which base and unchristian act so inraged Saladine that gathering together all his strength he immediately besieged Ptolemais And the Earl of Tripoli vext at his losing the Government was so blinded by passion and filled with rage against King Guy that he mistook his Enemy and revenged himself on God and Religion by basely revolting with his whole Principality which was a third part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to Saladine and assisting him in that Siege But the Knights Templars and Hospitallers sallying out falling on the Turks in their Camp killed 20000 thousand of them but not without some loss to themselves the Master of the Hospitallers and divers other persons of note being slain in the Fight However thâ— Victory remained to the Christians anâ— Saladine was forced to raise his Siege anâ— be gone which made the Earl of Tripolâ— either out of fear that the Christianâ— might prevail or else moved thereunâ— out of remorse of Conscience or discoâ—tented with the entertainment he me withal from Saladine who had learneâ— that Politick Maxim to give some honour but place no trust in a Fugitive reconcile himself to the King and sorry for his offence return again to thâ— Christians Whereupon Guy gathered togetheâ— the whole strength of his weak and declining Kingdom to do their last endeavour against the Turks to whom he adventured to give Battel near Tiberias although he had but 1500 Horse and 15000 Foot against 120000 Horse and 160000 Foot The Fight began about three of the Clock in the afternoon but night coming on forced them to give over till the next morning when both sides began afresh and the Christians fought with so much courage and resolution that their valour poised their Enemies numbers till at length the day waxing extream hot turned the Scales to the Pagans side there being more Christians slain by thirst and the Beams darted on them from the scorching Sun than with their Enemies weapons Reinold of Castile was slain upon the place and so were most of the Templars and Hospitallers And Gerard Master of the Templars and Boniface Marquess of Montferat were taken Prisoners together with the King himself who seeing his servants all slain before his Eyes with much importunity prevailed with Saladine to spare his Schoolmaster yea in this unfortunate Battel the very flower of the Christians Chivalry was cut down and what was yet most lamented saith Matthew Paris the Cross which freed men from the captivity of their sins was for mens sins taken captive This fatal Overthrow was generally imputed to the Earl of Tripoli who that day commanded a good part of the Christian Army and is reported by some Historians to have treacherously run away in the midst of the Battel But when a great action miscarries some or other must bear the blame and he having been false before this loss was charged on him right or wrong Saladine having obtained this Victory improved it so well that in one months time he conquered Berytus Biblus Ptolemais and all the Havens except Ayre froâ— Sidon to Askelon He used his Conqueâ— with great moderation giving life anâ— goods to all and forcing no Christians 〈◊〉 quit their