and the new Legate The miserable Effects thereof John resigns his Kingdom to Frederick Emperor of Germany NOt long after the Arrival of this new Legate there arose a great diference between him and the King of Jerusalem in regard he Challenged Damiatia for his Holiness which had at the taking of it by publick Agreement been assigned to the King Whereupon Bren in anger returned to Ptolomais as well to puff out his discontent in private as to teach the Christians his worth by their want of him who presently after his departure found themselves at so great a loss that they were neither able to stand still without disgrace nor proceed in the War without danger The Legate commanded them to march but he found they had too great a Spirit to be ruled by a Church-man for they swore they would not stir one step unless the King were with them So that the Legate was fain to send Messengers to intreat his return to the Army which at last he Consented to by the perswasion of the Messengers and a promise of having Damatia according to the first Agreement But no sooner was the King and the Legate met again after eight Months absence but new Divisions were started between them The Legate perswaded the Army to march up and besiege Grand Cairo assuring them that they might thereby quickly command all Egypt God having as he pretended opened them such a door of victory that they might easily enter into Possession of their Enemies Country if they did not bar it up by their own Idleness But the King opposed it and advised them to return again into Syria in regard that City was difficult to take and impossible to keep the Ground whereon they were to march was altogether as Treacherous as the People against whom they were to fight so that it was better for them now to retire with Honour then hereafter to fly with shame But the Legate persisting in his resolution thundred out Excommunications against all those who refused to go forwards therefore they must needs go when the Devil drove them Whereupon the crafty Egyptians whose flight was more to be feared then their fight seeing the Christians advance pretended to fly before them the better to draw them into the Snare But the Legate fancying that the pretended flight was the Effect of their Cowardize and Fear hugged himself in his own Imaginary Happiness and highly applauded his Sagacity in giving that Successful advice tho' he quickly found his Joy turned into Sorrow For Egypt being a low level Ground through the midst whereof runs the River Nilus whose stream the Egyptians had by their Industry so bridled with Banks and Sluces that they could easily Command it to be their own Servant and their Enemies Master And therefore when the Christians had Confidently marched on without the least Suspicion till it was impossible for them either to retire or be relieved the Turks pierced their Banks and let the River run open mouthed upon them yet so as they only drowned them up to the middle reserving their Lives for the Ransome of Damatia So that there you might have the Land of Egypt in an instant turned into a Sea and an Army of sixty thousand as the Neck of one Man streached on the Block and expecting the fatal blow every one Cursed the Legate and blamed their own folly in complying with the Advice of a Clergy-man and neglecting that of a King But it was now too late to complain and they must bear with Patience the Misery which they had brought upon themselves by their own Rashness Meladine King of Egypt seeing the deplorable Misery of those drowned Christians and the Constancy and Patience wherewith they indured their Calamity was moved with Compassion towards them being himself as was thought somewhat inclined to ibrace the Christian Religion and offered them their Lives upon condition that they would quit the Country and restore Damiata They glady accepted the conditions and presently dispatched Messengers to the City to prepare them for the Surrendering of it but they within the City being themselves safe on the shore knew not how to simpathise with their Poor Brethren in Shipwrack and therefore told the Messengers that those drowned Pilgrims deserved no pity in regard they had invited this misery upon themselves by their own rashness and that if they yielded up this City for nothing which cost so many Lives they should thereby expose themselves to the derision of the whole World that if those Pilgrims perished more might be had but no more Damata's it being a place of such Importance that it would always be a curb to the excursions of the Egyptian King but however those poor distressed wretches had some friends in the City who confessed that the Voyage was indeed undertaken unadvisedly and was justly to be blamed but yet pleaded that worse and more inconsiderate projects had some times been undertaken by others and when they have been Crowned with Success have passed unquestioned and so they supposed would this have done had it Succeeded and that therefore it was most unreasonable to add misery to the miserable beseeching them to pity their Brethren and not leave them in that forlorn state But finding their arguments to avail little they betook themselves to their Arms resolving to force the adverse party to resign the City and King John who of all others had the least reason to pity them in regard their project was wholly against his advice was notwithstanding so touched with a sence of their calamity that he generously threatned in case they refused to surrender it to give Meladine Ptolemais in Syria in the stead of it whereupon they consented and Damiata was restored to the Turks and the Legate and his Army let out of the trap wherein they were taken Meladine out of his Princely goodness furnishing them with Victuals and Horses to carry their feeble persons upon and thus the Christians received an overthrow without a wound and the Turks obtained an absolute Victory without Blood And there being at this time besides the agreement for the Exchange of Damiata a Peace made with the Turks for eight years whereby things were setled in Syria King John took a Journey to Rome where he was Honourably entertained by the Pope And shortly after tho' for what reason I cannot find he resigned the Kingdom of Jerusalem to Froderick the second Emperour of Germany upon condition that he should marry Jole the only Daughter of King John by his first Wife altho' by a second Wife he had another named Martha Marryed to Robert Emperour of Greece so that by Marriage he was now become Father to both the Emperours of the East and West Fred the 2d. Empr. of Germa ni and K. of Jerusalem F. H. Van. Houe Sculp Some condemn his resignation as an unadvised Act and conclude that if he had not first parted with his wits he would never have parted so freely with his Kingdom But others on
of them left they being rooted out and destroyed by Selemus the Turkish Emperour when he conquered Syria and Aegypt or as others say by the Tartarians Anno 1257. unless we may suppose them to be revived again in the Jesuits gracious Loyola having fetched his Platform of blind obedience from them Whilst the Turks Lorded it over Syria and the lesser Asia the Saracen Caliph commanded in Aegypt which was the Stage whereon most of the remarkable passages of King Almericks life were acted For Dargan and Sanar two great Saracen Lords belonging to the Caliph of Aegypt falling out about the Sultany or Viceroyship of the Land made way for the calling of him thither Sanar finding that he was too weak to contend with his Rival craved Aid of Noradine King of the Turks that then Reigned at Damascus who sent him an Army of Turks under the Command of Syracon an experienced Captain Notwithstanding which Dargan obtained the Victory but enjoyed it not long being shortly after slain by Treachery whereby Sanar got the Sultans place It the mean while the voluptuous Calipâ— carelesly pursued his private pleasures without concerning himself about their difference or regarding their introducing forreign Force to decide their Quarrel as though the tottering of his Kingdom had rocked him into a Lethargy out of which nothing would awake him Sanar having now obtained his desire by the death of Dargan liberally rewarded the Turks and desired them to return home but Syracon refused to be gone and having seized on the City of Belbis fortified it and there waited for the coming of more Turks for the Conquest of Aegypt which made Sanar implore the help of Almerick King of Jerusalem to drive them out of Aegypt which he effectually performed But whilst he was Victorious in Aegypt an unfortunate Battel was fought between Boemund the Third Prince of Antioch Reimund Prince of Tripoli Calamarâ— Governour of Cilicia and Joceline Counâ— of Edessa on one side and Noradine the Turkish King on the other wherein the Turk obtained the Victory and took those four Christian Princes Prisoners As for Syracon the Turk though he was forced to retire for the present out of Egypt by the Victorious Arms of Almerick yet he resolved not to part with it so wherefore he presently went to the Caliph of Babylon who was opposite to him of Egypt and accounted him an Usurper each of them claiming as sole Heir to Mahomet their false Prophet the Soveraignty over all the Saracens in the World and offered him that if he would furnish him with a good number of Souldiers he would extirpate this Schismatical Caliph and reduce all Egypt to the Obedience of the Babylonian which motion being joyfully embraced by the greedy and aspiring Fop Syracon once again invadeth Egypt with a great and powerful Army Whereupon Sanar who was greatly affrighted thereat made new and larger offers to King Almericus to come and stop this deluge of his Enemies promising him a Pension of Forty thousand Ducats yearly if he would lend him his Assistance But Almerick perceiving that the Sultan notwithstanding he took so much upon him was subject to a high Lord refused to make any Bargain with him but with the Caliph himself in order whereunto he sent Hugh Earl of â—sarea and a Knight Templar as his Eâ—bassadours to Caliph Elhadach who thâ— kept his Court at Cairo Who being aâ—rived at his Palace were conducted 〈◊〉 the Sultan through several dark passagâ— well guarded with armed Ethiopians aâ— then into divers spacious open Courts such beauty and riches that the Embasadours were amazed and even astonisâ—ed at the rarities they beheld And sâ—â— the farther they went the greater tâ— state appeared till at last they weâ— brought to the Caliphs own Lodingâ— where as soon as they entred the Prâ—sence-Chamber the Sultan prostraâ— himself three several times to tâ— ground before the Curtain behind whiâ— the magnificent Caliph was sitting aâ— thereupon the Traverse which was 〈◊〉 rich Silk wrought all over with Peaâ— of inestimable value was immediate drawn and the Caliph himself discoverâ— sitting with great Majesty on a Throâ— of massy Gold having only some fewâ— his most confiding Eunuchs about him The Caliph having discovered himselâ— and the Sultan humbly kissed his feet â— briefly related the cause of their cominâ— the eminent danger which then threaâ—ned them and the offers which he hâ— made to King Almerick which he intreated him now to ratifie and in demonstration thereof to give his hand to â—he Kings Embassadour The Calip'â— having heard what he had to say demurâ—ed a while upon the Ceremony of giâ—ing them his hand accounting such a geâ—ure beneath the greatness of his state â—nd would by no means consent to give â—em his bare hand but offered it them with his Glove on to which the resoâ—te Earl of Caesarea replied Sir truth â—eks no holes to hide it self in and Prinâ—es who intend to keep Covenant ought â— deal openly and nakedly give us thereâ—re your hand or we will make no barâ—in with your Glove He was loth to â—o it but necessity which was at that â—me a more imperious Caliph than himâ—lf commanding it he at last consented â—nd dismissed the Christian Embassadours â—ith such liberal Gifts as testified his â—reatness Almerick according to this Agreeâ—ent faithfully used his utmost endeaâ—our to expel Syracon with his Turks out â—f Egypt and in order thereunto he met â—hem in the Field and gave them Battel â—herein he got the day but lost all his â—aggage so that the Conquest was as it â—ere divided the Turks gaining the Wealth and the Christians the Honoâ— of the Victory But Almerick followiâ— his success pursued them to Alexandrâ— and pent them up and straitly besiegâ— them in that City and thereby forâ—â— them to accept of conditions of Peaâ— wherein they were obliged to depart 〈◊〉 of Egypt without performing what thâ— had promised and the Caliph of Baby expected and then returned himself wâ—â— honour to Askelon But when a Crown is the Prize playâ— for it is vain to expect fair play in 〈◊〉 Gamesters For King Almerick havâ— once beheld the Beauty and Richesâ— Egypt was so enamoured therewith tâ— he longed to obtain that Kingdom 〈◊〉 himself And the next year contrâ— to his Solemn League with the Calâ— invaded it with a great Army pretendâ— though falsly that the Caliph woâ— make a private Peace with Noraâ— King of the Turks Guilbert Master the Hospitallers was the chief Instrumâ— in stirring up the King to this treacâ—rous and unjust War hoping that 〈◊〉 Country of Perlusium if conquered shoâ— be given to their order But the Teâ—plars very much opposed the design 〈◊〉 of their Order being Embassador at 〈◊〉 ratifying the Agreement between 〈◊〉 King and Caliph and with much Zeal â—otested against it as undertaken against â—ath and Fidelity However the King would not be diâ—erted from his design but having made â—reat preparations for this War descendâ—d into Egypt where he was for a
before all the Cities of the Earth to be the place of his own habitation dwelling as were in a most immediate manner in the Temple of Jerusalem which was afterward built by King Solomon and commanding all the Tribes of Israel to repair thither to do him homage and adoration And says of it himself That he loved the gates of Sion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Whereby it became a lively Type both of the Gospel Church and the state of the Redeemed in the everlasting injoyment of Heaven which is frequently in Sacred Writ called by the name of the New Jerusalem For which reason as well as its being the place of the Nativity and Death of our Saviour it hath acquired the Name of Holy But altho' Jerusalem and the Land of Judea was thus dignified by the Almighty yet the ungrateful Jews were perpetually multiplying Rebellions against him whereby he was provoked to scurge them with the Rod of the Gentels and give them up to the spoil and cruelty of their Enemies So that it was twice plundered by the Egyptians once in the Reign of Rehoboam and a second time upon the death of Josiah once by the Assyrians in the Reign of Manassch three times by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon first in the Reign of Jehoiakim secondly in the Reign of Jehoiachin and thirdly in the Reign of Zedekiah carrying all those three Kings and all the Inhabitants of the Land Captive into Babylon together with all the Treasure and Riches of the Kingdom and spoiling the City of Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord so that it lay wast for 70 years At the end whereof according to the Prophecy of the Prophet Jeremiah they were freed from their Captivity by Cyrus King of Persia When returning home they rebuilt the City and the Temple and by degrees became as formidable to their Enemies as ever they had been before till by their increasing wickedness they pulled down upon themselves the Vengeance of Heaven to their utter and final ruin The People of Judea and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem having filled up the â—easure of their sins by putting to death â—he Lord of Life and murthering him who came to save them from everlasting â—isery were presently after swallowed up â—y an universal and irrecoverable â—uine and rooted out from being â—ny longer a Nation by the victorious Arms of the conquering Romans who â—ackt the City of Jerusalem destroyed â—he Temple and carried away the Inhaâ—itants captive according to the unerring â—rediction of our blessed Saviour But aâ—out sixty years after this Destruction by â—itus Adrian the Emperour rebuilt the City â—hanging the situation of it somewhat more Westward and calling it by the name â—f Aelia And to shew his hatred to the â—weet and adorable name of Christ and â—espite against the Professors of Christiâ—nity he erected a Temple over our Saâ—iours Sepulcher wherein he placed the â—mages of Jupiter and Venus And that â—e might inrage the Jews likewise he â—aused Swine to be engraven over the â—ates of the City which they accounting â—o be a great profanation of their Land â—rake out into open Rebellion but were â—asily overcome and subdued by the Emâ—erour who to prevent the like Attempt or the future caused them all to be transported into Spain and left the whoâ—â— Country waste and forlorn which partâ— with its Inhabitants and fruitfulness tâ—gether those delicious streams of Miâ— and Honey wherewith it was wont 〈◊〉 flow being now wholly exhausted driâ— up and the Soil become altogethâ—â— barren and unfruitful The wretchâ— Jews being thus transported into Spaâ— were from thence scattered into all paâ—â— of the World so that there is scarce aâ— Nation under Heaven where some of theâ— are not to be found at this day After this Pagan Worship flourisheâ— in Jury and the Professors of Christianâ— were inhumanely and barbarously uâ— by the Roman Emperours under the fâ— Ten Persecutions until at last God out compassion to their deplorable miseâ— raised up Constantine the Great a Brâ—tain born as most Historians affirâ— whose healing hand quickly stanch that Issue of Blod wherewith the Churâ— of Christ had been so long afflicted aâ— blessed her Borders with Peace aâ— Tranquillity Whereupon the devout Helen wâ— was Mother to Constantine and as muâ— fam'd among the Christians for her Pieâ— as the Ancient Helen was among the Pâ—gans for her Beauty Notwithstanding â—he greatness of her Age being about Eighty years old travelled to Jerusalem â—nd having first purged Mount Calvary â—nd Bethlehem from Idolatry built in â—he places of Christs death and burial â—nd elsewhere in Palestine divers very â—ately and magnificent Churches so that Christianity flourished through all Paâ—stine being well provided of able Biâ—ops and Preachers and they indued with very liberal Maintenance But Constantine being succeeded by â—ulian who shamefully apostatized from â—he Christian Religion and turned again 〈◊〉 the Pagan Idolatry the Sun of the â—ospel was for a while eclipsed For in â—ope to prove Christs Prediction false â—e gave the Jews leave to rebuild their Temple who thereupon flockt together 〈◊〉 great numbers with Spades and Matocks of Silver to clear the Foundation â—nd were so desirous of accomplishing â—e work that the Women carried way the Rubbish in their Aprons and ontributed all their Jewels to advance â—e great design But a sudden and amaâ—ng Tempest which carried away their â—ools and Materials for Building and â—ith Balls of Fire scorched the forâ—ardest and most adventurous of â—he Builders made them desist and give over the Enterprize Yet the Christians afterwards in the place where the Temple stood built a stately Church for the Worship of Christ which remained a long time in the Christians hands and was the Ancient Seat of the Patriarchs of Jerusalem but is now in the possession of the Turks and the very entring into it prohibited to Christians upon pain of forfeiting their Lives or renouncing their Religion CHAP. II. The Holy Land conquered 1. By the Persians 2. By the Saracens And 3. By the Turks THE next remarkable Accident that happened in the Holy Land was under Phocas the Emperour who having murdered Mauritius and usurped the Imperial Dignity abandoned himself wholly to ease and pleasure whereby he betrayed the Empire to Forreigâ—â— Foes and invited Chosrees the Persian to invade his Territories who with a greaâ— Army subdued Syria and Jerusalem and carried away many Thousand Christians many of whom he sold to their Ancient Enemies the Jews And to grace his Conquest the more he carried the Cross away with him But Heraclius who succeeded Phocas having gotten an Army together passed into Persia and gave him an absolute overthrow and in his return took Jerusalem in his way and restored the Cross which was then accounted as a most precious Jewel to the Temple of the Sepulchre and appointed the fourteenth day of September to be the Feast of the exaltation of the Cross But wickedness and impiety abounding in and among the
Brick strengthened with 460 Towers and such an invincible Castle on â—e East part of it that it was rather to be â—dmired than assaulted In this City t was â—â—at the Professors of Christianity were â—â—st called Christians and the Apostle Peter first sate as Bishop whose fair Church was a Patriarchal Seat for manâ— hundred years after Before this City the Pilgrims Army satâ— down and closely besieged it But thâ— Turks within making a vigorous Defenâ— under Auxianus their Governour frustrate their expectations of forcing the Towâ— as soon as they appeared before it 〈◊〉 the Siege grew very long and Provision very short in the Christians Camâ— which made Peter the Hermite noâ— withstanding his pretended Delegation 〈◊〉 manage this War on the behalf of Chrisâ— run away but being pursued anâ— brought back again was bound by a new Oath to prosecute the War Howeveâ— at length one within the City of whoâ— Name and Religion Authors cannot agreâ— some making him a Turk others Christian some call him by one name and some by another in the dead of thâ— night betrayed the City to Boemunâ— whereupon the Pilgrims entred in anâ— being highly exasperated by the lengâ— of the Seige they so remembred thâ— miseries they had endured that they foâ— got all pity and moderation killing anâ— slaying promiscuously Christians and Turâ— and all that came to hand The Town was offered to Aâ—â—â—us thâ— Emperour but he refused it out of suspicion that there was some deceit in the tender it being common with ill men to measure other mens minds by the crooked rule of their own whereupon â—t was given to Boeâ—â—â—nd But notwithstanding the dearness of the purchase it was not long injoyed in quiet for Corboran the Turkish General came with a vast Army of Persian Souldiers and besieged them in the City so that they were greatly distrest between hunger within and their enemies without which made many of them to steal away out of the City whereat the rest no whit discouraged accounting the loss of Cowards the gain of an Army bravely resolved rather to sell their lives by whole-sale on the point of the Sword than to retail them out by famine who is the worst of Tyrants And to hasten the putting this generous resolution into practice they happened to find in the Church of St. Peter a certain Lance which they were made to believe was the very same Lance wherewith our Saviours side was pierced by the Souldier whereat they greatly rejoyced As though this military relique had by wounding of Christ been indued with a certain vertue of wounding and destroying his Enemies and carried with it an infallible pledge of victory And there upon sallying out they fell upon the Besiegers with such fury that they werâ— glad to quit the siege and be gone The Pride of the Turks being abateâ— by the loss of this Battel an Hundreâ— Thousand of them being slain the Christians grew very insolent and for got to give God the Honour of the victory whereupon followed a great mortaâ—ty 50000 dying within a few days Bâ— cold weather having at last cleansed thâ— Chambers of the Air and cleared thâ— Christians camp from that fatal infectioâ— their zeal now moved the swifter beinâ— come nearer to its center the City 〈◊〉 Jerusalem And therefore they sâ— forwards and take the City 〈◊〉 Martha and employ themselves in sâ— curing the Country round about them that so they might clear the way as theâ— went They kept their Easter at Trippâ— ly and their Whitsuntide at Cesarâ— Stratonis taking divers considerable plâ—ces in their passage and at last came to Jâ—rusalem when discovering the City a far oâ— it was a pleasant sight to behold the haâ— mony they made in the differing manneâ— of their expressing their joy to observâ— how they all clothed the same passioâ— with various gestures some cast themâ— selves prostrate on the Earth some kneeled and others wept and all were so transported with the sight that they had much a do to manage so great a gladness Then they advanced with a bundance of joy and immediately began the Siege on the Northside it being scarce assaltable on any other part by reason of steep and broken Rocks which would not permit any near approach The siege being once laid they assaulted the Town with such invincible courage and valour that they had certainly taken it within four days had they not wanted scaling Ladders to mount the walls withal But the siege continuing longer they were oppressed with the want of that which was of far greater consequence for the springs being all stopped or poysoned by the Turks they were forced to fetch Water above five Miles off As for their want of scaling Ladders it was quickly supplied by the Genoans who arriving in Palestine with a Fleet of Ships brought with them several curious and accurate Engineers who in about a Months time framed a Wooden Tower and all other instruments for battering the Wall at a place about seven Miles from the City for â—earer there grew no stick of bigness Which being all finished and the Pilgrims having as the best preparative for Victory begun with a Fast and a solemn Procession toward Mount Olivet they proceeded the next day to give a general assault which was performed with an incredible Pierceness the very Women playing the men and fighting most valiantly in Armour But they within being Forty Thousand strong well victualled and provided of all things necessary made a stout resistance till the injurious Night abruptly put an end to their fighting in the very midst of all their heat and courage But no sooner had the first glimmerings of light brought news of the approaching morning but they fell on a fresh with aâ— resolution to carry the Town before night which they did the rather because they had intercepted a certain letter tied to the legs of a Dove it being a common thing in those Eastern Parts to make use of that creature as a Post wherein the Persian Emperour had promised with all imaginable speed to relieve it The Turks in hopes of rendering the new framed instruments of Battery useless cased the outside of their Wall with bagâ— of chaff and such like pliable matteâ— which conquered the Christians Engineâ— by yielding to them But one of them being so very strong and sturdy that its force would not be tamed by those ordinary Methods they brought two old Witches and placed them on the Wall to inchant it but this Spirit being too fierce and unruly for their Spells to tame they both of them miserably perished on the place and the approaching Night commanded a cessation of Arms for that time But the next day Duke Godfrey having fired a great heap of combustible matter the smoak of it was so driven before the wind that it blinded the Pagans Eyes and gave the Christians an opportunity under its Protection of entring the City The Duke himself being the first man that set footing on the Walls The
an unfortunate man Tho' the truth is the measuring a Princes worth by his Success is a Rule often false and always uncertain and the common Consent of all Nations will plead this in his Favour that having been once a King he ought ever to remain so But to put a sinal end to this unhappy Controversie King Richard made a pleasing Motion which rellished well to the Palate of that hungry Prince offering him the Island of Cyprus in exchange for his Kingdom of Jerusalem Which motion was willingly imbraced and the exchange actually made to the Content of both parties and the Kings of England bore the Title of King of Jerusalem in their style for many years after But in this exchange Guy had really the better Bargain in regard he bought a real Possession for an Airy Title However he lived not long to injoy it for he dyed soon after his Arrival there but his Family injoyed it for some hundred years after which it fell by some Transaction to the state of Venice and was at last wrested from them by the Turks who injoy it at this day Conrade being killed and Guy having renounced his Kingdom Henry Earl of Champaign was advanced to the Kingdom of Jerusalem by the procurement of King Richard his Uncle who to corroborate his Election by some Right of Succession married Isabella the Widow of Conrade and Daughter of Almerick King of Jerusalem he was a Prince valiant enough but in regard his Reign was short and most of it spent in a Truce he had not an opportunity to express it He took more delight in the style of Prince of Tyre then he did in that of being King of Jerusalem as accounting it more honourable to be Prince of what he had then to be called King of what he injoyed not And now the Christians promising themselves abundance of Peace and Tranquility began every where to build and to beautifie their Habitations The Templers fortified Gaza and King Richard repaired and walled Ptolemais Pomphyria Joppa and Askelon But alass this short liv'd Prosperity like an Autumn Spring came too late and was gone too soon to bring forth any mature Fruit However it was now agreed on by all parties that they should march immediately towards the City of Jerusalem which Holy and Sacred place was the mark at which they all principally Aimed And having prepared all things for the putting this resolution into Practice King Richard lead the Vant Guard of English the Duke of Burgundy Commanded in the main Body over his French and James of Avergn with his Flemings and Brabanters brought up the Rear Saladine who understood by his Spies the manner of their march Serpent like bit them by the Heels for not far from Bethlehem he violently assaulted the Rear of their Army but the English and French suddenly Wheeling about charged the Turks most furiously and Emulation formerly Poyson here proved a Cordial every Christian unanimously striving not only to Conquer their Enemies but to overcome their Friends to in the Honour of the Victory And our Royal Pilgrim in this Battel was so adventrous and fought with such invincible Courage and Resolution against those Enemies of Christianity that his Valour brought his Judgment into question in regard he was more careless of himself and exposed his Person to greater danger then beseemed the prudence of a General for having received a Wound as tho' by losing his Blood he had received a new Addition to his Strength he laid about him like a Mad-man killing divers of the Infidels with his own hands The Turks withstood the Christians force for a long time and strove hard to carry away the Honour of the Day but were at last forced to give Ground and leave the Christians in the Possession of the Victory which they obtained with little or no loss to themselves save James of Avergn who dyed here in the Bed of Honour But there were more Turks slain in this Battel then there had been in any other for forty years before And had the Christian improved this Victory and marched immediately to Jerusalem they might in all Probability have surprized it whilst the Turks were Blind-folded and in a kind of a maze at this Prodigious overthrow But the opportunity was wholly lost by the backwardness of King Richard and his English Soldiers say the French Writers whilst others impute it altogether to the Envy and Emulation of the French who rather chose to have so Glorious an Action left undone then to see it performed by the English together with the Treachery of Odo Duke of Burgundy who being more grieved for the loss of his Credit than careful to preserve a good Conscience was choaked with the shame of the sin which he had swallowed and dyed for Grief that his holding Correspondence with the Turks came to be discovered But most are of the Opinion that Richard attempted not the taking of Jerusalem because like a wise Architect he intended to build his Victories so as they might stand unshaken by securing the Country all along as he went It being Sensless and Imprudent to besiege Jerusalem an In-land City whilst the Turks were still in Possession of all the Sea-Ports and other places of Strength thereabouts Sometime after this Victory he intercepted divers Camels laden with very rich Commodities those Eastern Wars containing a great deal of Treasure in a little Room And yet of all this and of all that abundance of Wealth of England Sicily and Cyprus which he brought hither he carried nothing home save only one Gold-Ring all the rest being melted away and consumed in this hot Service He spent the Winter at Askelon and intended the following Spring to have gone to Jerusalem had not bad News out of Europe altered his resolution and put him in mind of returning home William Bishop of Ely whom he had left his Vice-Roy in England used many unsufferable Insolencies towards his Subjects So hard and difficult a thing it is for one of a mean and Contemptible Birth to personate a King without going beyond his Limits and over Acting his part And that which was yet worse his Brother John Earl of Morton had conspired with the French King to invade his Dominions Which reports and the concluding of this War a Subject not likely to answer the expence and Charge of of it especially now the Venetians Genoans Pisans and Florentines were gone away with their Fleet wisely shrinking themselves out of the Collar when they found their Necks too much Galled with their hard imployment made him desire a Peace of Saladine who thereby finding that he had all the Cords in his own hands knew well enough how to play his Game and make his best of those Exigencies wherein he knew King Richard to be plunged for he had those about him who had cunning and skill enough to read in King Richards Face what grieved and perplexed his mind and knew by his Spies every thing that was worth Observation
it was convenient to send an Army not so much to Conquer it as to receive it Henry Duke of Saxony was chosen General of the Pilgrims who was acompanied by Frederick Duke of Austria Hermand Landgrave of Thuringia Henry Palatine of the Rhine the Arch-bishops of Ments and Wittenburgh the Bishops of Bream and Halberstadt and Regenspurg and divers other Prelates so that it was an Episcopal Army and one might there have truly seen the Church Militant In their passage through Greece they found better usage then some of their Predecessors and being conveyed from thence by Shiping into Syria they presently brake the Truce made with the Turks by the King of England being impowered so to do by a Dispensation from the Pope who looked upon a peace Solemnly made the Usurper and free his Father from his Miserable Captivity The Soldiers were well enough pleased with the exchange of service for they knew well enough that in Palestine there was nothing to be got but Honour and here they hoped to get both Honour and Spoil Wherefore setting saile from Jadera they went directly to Constantinople and after some few hot skirmishes easily took the City whereupon Alexius the Usurper with his Wife Whores and Treasure being fled away blind Isaac and his son Alexius were saluted Joynt Emperors which brittle Honour was quickly broken for the Old Emperor being now brought out of a close pent Dungeon into the open Air died soon after and his Son was thereupon Villainously strangled by Alexius Ducas a man of base Parentage who was in a tumultuous manner chosen Emperor by the People but growing proud upon his being thus advanced to the Imperial Throne he gave some affronts to the Latins who still lay in their Ships before Constantinople whereupon they assaulted the City again the Second time and taking it by main force plundered all the inhabitants Ravishing the Women and using a Thousand Insolencies wherein the very Sanctuaries needed Sanctuaries to defend them from the violence of the inraged Soldiers And the Latines having thus Possessed themselves of Constantinople within twelve Months conquered all the Grecian Empire except Adrinople and divided it among themselves Making Baldwine Earl of Flanders Emperor of Grecia Boniface Marquiss of Montferrat King of Thessaly and Geoffrey a French Noble man Prince of Achaia and Duke of Athens And the Venetians got many rich Islands in the Egean and Ionian Seas And Thomas Maucrocenus was Elected the first Latine Patriarch of Constantinople CHAP. III. The Holy War turned upon the Albigenses THe Pope having lately diverted the Holy War and turned it upon the Grecian liked the Success of it so well that he afterwards made a common Trade of it for having about two years after procured the Levying a great Army for the Holy War he sent them against the Albingenses in France Who being accounted Hereticks by his Holiness he resolved to destroy them without Mercy That pretended Shepherd of the Church knowing no other way to bring home wandring Sheep then by worrying them to Death for the promoting which Pious Work he promised all those who would undertake it the same Pardon and Indulgences as to them that went to Conquer the Holy-Land And the better to perswade People to undertake it he only requests their Aid for forty days hoping to have eaten up those despised Hereticks at a mouthful Tho' therein he found himself mistaken for they found him and his Successor work enough for fifty years together However in regard the Seat of the War was nearer the Service shorter and the Wages the same with the Voyage into Palestine many entred themselves for this imploy neglected the other The chief whereof were the Duke of Burgundy the Earls of Nevers St. Paul Auxierne Geneva Poictiers and Montfort And of Church-Men Milo the Popes Legate the Arch-Bishops of Sens and Roven the Bishop of Clearmort Nevers Charters Baguex and many more every Bishop with the Pilgrims of his own Jurisdiction Their work was to destroy the Albingenses which were in great numbers in Daulphine Province and other parts of France and to Root out all their Friends and Favourers or suspected to be so Pope Innocent the Third having gathered together an Army of an hundred thousand Pilgrims Sackt the Cities of Besiers and Carcassone destroying many Papists among the Albingenses and cutting the Priests themselves in pieces even in their Priestly Ornaments After which Simon Earl of Monfort was made General of the Pilgrims who had been hitherto Commanded by Milo the Popes Legate which made the Earls of Fayl Tholouse and Cammurge with the Prince of Berne who were the Patrons of the Albingenses to shelter themselves under Peter King of Aragon whose Homagers they were One great Inconvenience ever attended that Army of Pilgrims for so soon as ever their forty days were expired in regard it was the full time set them by the Pope to merit Paradise in they would not stay a Night longer least peradventure having purchased Heaven they might by continuing longer in the Service be put into the Possession of it sooner then they were willing which being observed by the King of Aragon and that between the going out of the Old and the coming in of the New store of Pilgrims there was usually a very low ebb and their Army was almost dwindled to nothing he took the Earl of Monfort at the advantage before he was re-inforced with new Pilgrims and gave him Battel when he had not above two thousand two hundred Men left himself having an Army of thirty thousand Foot and seven thousand Horse which made him so over-Confident of Victory that out of Pride and Vanity he exposed his Person so openly at the Head of the Army that he did as it were invite his Enemies Arrows to hit so fair a Mark by which he was so mortally Wounded that he fell from his Horse and with his Body sunk the Hearts of his Soldiers who all presently run away Simon pursuing them to the very Gates of Thoulose and killing many thousands of them Yet in a few years the Face of this War was Changed for young Reimund Earl of Thoulose exceeding his Father both in Valour and Success re-gained in a few Months what Simon and his Pilgrims had been many years in Conquering And at last Simon as he laid Siege to Tholose had his Head shot off from his Body by a stone which a Woman let fly out of an Engine from the City wall In whose Death the raging storm of open War against those Albingenses ended In the prosecution whereof Three Hundred Thousand Craised Pilgrims had within the compass of fifteen years lost their lives so that there was not a City or Village in France but what had in it some Widows or Orphans to curse the Promoters of this Expedition but tho' the great storm was over yet many great drops feil upon them afterwards the Pope being still stiring up one or other to molest them CHAP. IV. King Almerick
Deposed by the Pope John Bren succeeds him the seat of the War removed to Egypt with various success HAving followed this Holy War into France and observed its several steps among the Albingenses we will now returne with ita gain into Palestine where we find the Floud of Pilgrims run very low in regard the Pope had diverted the stream and as for King Almerick we find him as we left him drowning his cares in Wine without once concerning Church was a Patriarchal Seat for manâ— hundred years after Before this City the Pilgrims Army sat down and closely besieged it But thâ— Turks within making a vigorous Defend under Auxianus their Governour frustrate their expectations of forcing the Towâ— as soon as they appeared before it 〈◊〉 the Siege grew very long and Provision very short in the Christians Camâ— which made Peter the Hermite noâ— withstanding his pretended Delegation tâ— manage this War on the behalf of Chrisâ— run away but being pursued anâ— brought back again was bound by a new Oath to prosecute the War Howevâ—â— at length one within the City of who Name and Religion Authors cannot agrâ— some making him a Turk others Christian some call him by one name and some by another in the dead of thâ— night betrayed the City to Boemunâ— whereupon the Pilgrims entred in aâ— being highly exasperated by the lengâ— of the Seige they so remembred thâ— miseries they had endured that they foâ— got all pity and moderation killing aâ— slaying promiscuously Christians 〈…〉 and all that came to hand 〈…〉 The Town was offered 〈…〉 Emperour but he refused 〈◊〉 out of suspicion that there was some deceit in the tender it being common with ill men to measure other mens minds by the crooked rule of their own whereupon it was given to Boemund But notwithstanding the dearness of the purchase it was not long injoyed in quiet for Corboran the Turkish General came with a vast Army of Persian Souldiers and besieged them in the City so that they were greatly distrest between hunger within and their enemies without which made many of them to steal away out of the City whereat the rest no whit discouraged accounting the loss of Cowards the gain of an Army bravely resolved rather to sell their lives by whole-sale on the point of the Sword than to retail them out by famine who is the worst of Tyrants And to hasten the putting this generous resolution into practice they happened to find in the Church of St. Peter a certain Lance which they were made to believe was the very same Lance wherewith our Saviours side was pierced by the Souldier whereat they greatly rejoyced As though this military relique had by wounding of Christ been indued with a certain vertue of wounding and destroying his Enemies and carried with it Reign of King Almerick to the great annoyance of the Christians but tho' they were unsuccessful in this siege yet King John was more fortunate in taking the Castle of Pilgrims a piece of great strength on the Sea side Whereupon it was resolved on to translate the War into Egypt in hope to discourage the Egyptians by the Invasion and ruine of their Country and therefore Hoisting Sail they came before Damiata a chief Haven of Egypt lying on the East side of the River Nilus In the siege whereof they had four difficulties to encounter with besides the City it self first with a great Chain that lay a cross the Harbor which with indefatigable pains and Industry mingled with Art they break asunder Secondly the River Nilus which now suddenly and unexpectedly overflowed and drowned the whole Country so that the Fish came swimming into the Christians Tents and against which mischief they had no other defence but Prayer and a publick Fast enjoyned by the Legate upon which the water abated and a Publick Thanksgiving thereupon injoyned that so the mercy obtained by Prayer might be kept by Praise Thirdly they were to grapple with the Fort of Pharria A seeming Impregnable Piece between them and Damiata for the taking whereof they built a Tower on Ships which falling down killed and wounded many of the Pilgrims and those who had the good hap to escape the blow were notwithstanding terrified by the fright which the fall occasioned among them but King John comforted his Soldiers and desired them not to be discouraged at a thing which was purely accidental and against which there could be no guard or defence by any rules of Wisdom or Valour but immediately address themselves to the Raising one more substantial by his direction and advice which was when finished the rariest piece in that kind that ever the world saw by means whereof after many bloody affaults they Conquered the Fort. And the fourth and wonst enemy they had to do withal was Meladine King of Egypt who lay near them with a great Army Constantly furnishing the City with Men and Victuals and excercising them with continual Skirmishes in one whereof he did them abundance of harm with his Wild fire whereby King John himself was dangerously Scorched but at last seeing that the Christians hewed their way through all those Rocks of difficulties he propounded a Peace to them by the mediation of his Brother Coradine King of Damalcus wherein he offered that if they would depart out of Egypt he would restore them the Cross the City of Jerusalem and all the Land of Palestine The English French and Italians were willing to imbrace so large an offer but the Legate would no ways consent alledging that the Voyage was undertaken not for the recovery of Palestine only but for the extirpation of the Mahometan Religion it being for his Masters Interest to keep that War always on foot Which refusal so inraged Coradine that he beat down the Walls of Jerusalem and all the Beautifull Buildings therein save only the Tower of David and the Temple of the Sepulcher However the siege of Damiata went on and was at length taken by the Christians without resistance most of those that should have defended it being either slain or dead with the Famine or Plague so that the Christians who inraged with the length of the siege entred with a resolution to kill all had their fury soon melted into pitty by beholding the streets every where strewed with dead Corps so that of threescore and ten Thousand there was now but one thousand remain'd alive who were all pardoned by the Conquerors upon Condition that they would cleanse the City which they were three Months in performing Great was the spoil the Pilgrims found in Damiata being as it were a strong barred Chest wherein the Merchants of Egypt and India had as they imagined safely Locked up all their Treasures which detained them there a full year being most of them Content to make that Inn their home during which time the Pope ordered John de Columna a Cardinal to reside there as his Legate in the place of Pelagius CHAP. V. Discords between the King of Jerusalem '
he had slain so many Turks And having at last concluded a Peace with the Sultans for Ten Years wherein it was agreed That all Christian Captives should be released several Forts restored and things reduced to the same state they were at the first Peace made with Frederick the Emperour He returned home with abundance of Honour Having says the Historian compelled those Infidels to offer Terms of Peace without offering them any other violence than shewing his Sword in the Scabbard without ever drawing it And indeed such was the general esteem which he obtained by his Success in this Voyage that he afterwards bid fair for the Imperial Crown of Germany Not long after the Earls return died Reinoldus Frederick's Lieutenant in Syria in whose Grave was buried all the Happiness and Glory of the Christians in Palestine For now the lawless Templars would observe no other Rule than their own Will and the inundation of the rude Tartars having maugre all opposition run over all the North of Asia and forced many Nations to forsake their ancient Habitations among whom was a certain People called Corasine who being thus unkennelled had recourse to the Sultan of Babylon desiring him to give them a place to live in The Sultan who was free enough of that which was none of his own frankly gave them all the Land that the Christians held in Syria upon condition that they would conquer it which he told them was easie to do in regard the People were few and weak and the Country rich and fruitful The Corasines being thus animated by the by the Sultan came with their Wives and Children and their whole Housholds into Syria to win Houses and Land for them there And finding the City of Jerusalem unguarded and without the least suspition of an Enemy easily surprized it and entered without resistance Many of the Christians thereupon flying out of the City with their Wives and Families took their course towards Joppa but unfortunately looking back and seeing their own Ensigns advanced on the Walls were so infatuated as to go back to the City again upon a confute that their fellows had beaten the Corasines and by those Banners invited them to return whereby they were every Mother's Child of them slain Things being brought to this pass in Syria a desperate Disease must have a desperate Remedy whereupon the Christians clapt up a hasty Peace with the two Sultans of Damascus and Cracci between whom and the Sultan of Babylon there was at that time some discord And swearing them to be faithful borrowed an Army of their Forces to assist them in taking vengeance on the Corasines Robert Patriarch of Jerusalem was the chief Commander and St. Luke's day the time agreed on for this fatal Battel which was fought on a Plain near Tyberius But the two Armies were no sooner joyned but the Turks who were placed in the front of the Battel ran over to the Enemy or at least fled through cowardize so that the Christians being over-powered in number though they made a great slaughter of their Enemies were at last utterly overthrown and most of them slain there escaping no more but Three of the Teutonick Order Eighteen Templers and Nineteen Hospitallers besides the Patriarch who says of himself That God accounting him unwortby of Martyrdom permitted him to escape among the rest The Corafines improving this Victory won all from the Christians except Tyre Ptolemais and Antioch with a few Forts So that the Christians were beaten by a beaten People who shortly after falling out with the Sultan of Babylon were by him wholly routed out so as none of their Name remained And it is very observable that all Historians both before and after this time are wholly silent concerning them whereby it seems as tho' God had created this People to punish the Christian and as soon as they had done their work annihilated them again CHAP. VII The French King's Voyage into Palestine He carries the War into Egypt again Damiata taken the second time but afterwards exchanged for King Lewis ABout two years after this overthrow Lewis the Ninth of that Name King of France arrived in Palestine to assist the Christians in recovering what they had lost That which moved him to undertake this Voyage was his recovering of a desperate fit of sickness upon the application of a Piece of the Cross He was accompanied therein besides three of his own Brothers and divers of the French Nobility by William Longspath Earl of Shrewsbury with a brave company of valiant English Soldiers When he came to Cyprus he was met by an Embassadour from a great Tartarian Prince who in vited by the fame of his Piety acquainted him with his design to embrace the Christian Religion He received and entertained the Embassadours with much affability dismissed them with liberal Gifts and by them sent as a Present to their Master a curious Tent wherein the History of the Bible was very dexteriously and richly wrought in Needle-work hoping thereby to catch his Soul in his Eyes Pictures being in that Age of Ignorance accounted Lay-mens Books tho' since they have been generally condemned as full of many damnable Errata's and never published by any Authority of the King of Heaven to be either the means or workers of Faith Thither also the Templers who were afraid of being checked by this Pious King for their debauched Lives wrote to him to accept of a Peace which the King of Egypt offered to make with the Christians But he being informed by the King of Syria that it was only a trick of the Templers to prevent his intentions of going into Syria to behold their wickedness commanded the Grand Master that from thence forward upon the price of his Head he should receive no Messages nor hold any correspondence with the Enemy resolving with himself once more to invade Egypt and make that Country the Seat of the War But having once declared his intentions and making no great haste to put it into execution Ateladine had time enough to provide against the storm by fortifying the Sea-Coast which he did for an Hundred and Eighty Miles together so that their landing was now much more difficult than when King John invaded it However Lewis being re-inforced with a new Army by Robert Duke of Burgundy and Alphonse the King's Brother set forward for Egypt and intended to land near Damiata But the Governour with a Band of resolute Mammalakes opposed it between whom and the Christians there was for some hours a fierce and bloody Fight wherein the Turks were at last overthrown and forced to fly into the Town leaving the Christians Landing-place without any other Guard but their Governour and Five Hundred of their best Soldiers whom they left dead on the place Lewis the 9th King of France Damiata was a City so strong and well fortified that the taking of it was accounted a good Task if performed by an Army within the compass of a Year But those within remembring
the Miseries of the last Siege and fearing the same Tragedy would be acted over again set fire to the Houses and in the Night saved themselves by flight whereupon the French issued in and quenching the fire saved abundance of Treasure from the fury of the flames Which Loss so discouraged Meladine that to purchase Peace with the Christians he offered to restore them the whole Kingdom of Jerusalem in as ample a manner as ever it had been enjoyed by any of their Predecessors to release all Prisoners and disburse a great Sum of Money to defray the Charge of the War But such was their Pride and Folly that they refused to accept of it unless Alexandria the best Port in all Egypt were given them as an Over-plus the Pope's Legate and Robert Earl of Artois persuading them to grant Peace upon no other terms Wherefore the Turk seeing themselves in so desperate a condition their Extremity rendered their Sword the keener and made them provide with the greater resolution to defend their Country to the utmost About this time there arose a difference between the French and the English to the great prejudice of their Proceedings And Meladine King of Egypt died likewise the same Year and left his imbroiled Kingdom to Melcchsala his Son From Damiata the French marched up towards Cairo the Governor whereof being offended with the new King promised to deliver it into their hands And having passed an arm of the River Nilus Earl Robert marched forward with a third part of the Army and suddenly assaulted the Turks in their Tents whilst the King was absent and put them to flight which Victory so lifted him up with conceit that he adventured contrary to the advice of the Master of the Templers to set on the whole Turkish Power which lay incamped not far off without staying for the rest of the Army whereby he was utterly overthrown and as he was crossing the River in his flight found Water enough to drown him tho' not to wash away the stain of rashness and cowardize from his memory and our English Earl refusing to fly died fighting in the midst of his Enemies there escaping no more but four persons to carry News of this fatal overthrow to the rest of the Army It is easier for the Reader to conceive than for my Pen to express the general grief wherewith these doleful Tydings were received by the French among whom the Plague raged so furiously that it daily swept away Thousands And to increase their sorrow several sick persons whom the King had sent down the River to Damiata were set upon by the Egyptian King and having neither Hands to fight nor Legs to run were every one either burned or drowned except Alexander Gifford an English-man whose Name and Family still remains at Chellingworth in Stafford-shire who acquainted the French with what had happened They would now have been glad of those Terms which a little before they slighted but it was too late for the Turks now scorned to treat with them The French would have had the King provided for his own safety by flying back to Damiata But he refused and resolving to live or die overcome or perish with them marched forward to the fatal place where the last Battel was fought And whilst they were astonished at the sight of their mangled fellows the Egyptian King set upon them with an infinite number of men and put them all being but few in number and those very weak to the sword except Lewis and his two Brothers whom he took Prisoners The Turks having thus slain all the French Pilgrims instantly marched up with their Ensigns to Damiata hoping thereby to surprize it which if they had done King Lewis had been for ever lost But God disappointed them for they were easily discovered notwithstanding their disguise and forced to go away without their desire The News of this sorrowful Accident coming to Europe filled every one with grief and made Henry King of England who had made great preparation to undertake the Voyage to alter his mind and imploy his Money to a better use But to return to Egypt Melechsala did not long survive this Victory being slain soon after by Tanquemine a sturdy Mammaluke who succeeded him in the Egyptian Kingdom by whom King Lewis was released in exchange for Damiata being obliged besides the surrender of the City to pay many Thousand Pounds for the releasing of Christian Captives and to make satisfaction for the Damage done in Egypt for the securing whereof he was forced to pawn to the Turks the Pyx and Host whence it is that a Wafer-Cake and a Box is always wrote in the Borders of that Tapestry which we have brought us out of Egypt as a perpetual Memorial of that Victory But tho' Lewis was set at liberty yet he got not home till four years after CHAP. VIII The Mammalukes described The Death of Frederick The Conversion of the Tartars And the extinguishing the Caliphs of Babylon Charles made King of Sicily and Jerusalem King Lewis makes a second Voyage THose Mammalukes which had now seized on the Kingdom of Egypt were the Children of Christian-Parents which were by Saladine and his Successors taught the Mahometan Superstition and instructed in all Military Discipline at several Nurseries and being found by their Valour and Courage to be the chief support of the Turkish Kings were by them advanced to the chief places of profit and trust and thereby the better enabled to pull down their raisers Which was performed during the captivity of King Lewis by Tarquemine who slew Melechsala and thinking it unfit so great a Prince should go to the grave alone sent all his Children after him And was afterwards chosen by the rest of the Mammalukes King of Egypt whereupon he by their advice and consent made several Laws which were ever afterward observed by them as irrevokable The first whereof was That the Sultan or chief of the servile Empire should not succeed by Inheritance but be chosen out of the Mammalukes The second That none should be admitted into the Order of the Mammalukes that were born either of Turkish or Jewish Parents but only such as were born Christians The third was That tho' the Sons of Mammalukes should injoy their Fathers Lands and Wealth yet they should not take upon them the Name and Honour of a Mammaluke The fourth was That the Native Egyptians should be permitted the use of no other Weapons but such wherewith they were to fight against Weeds and Till and Manure their Land There were in this Government several things worthy admiration First That of Slaves they should act the King without playing the Tyrant Secondly That they should neglect their own Children when it is common for other men to idolize them and sacrifice all that they have to their welfare Thirdly That they should not fall out in the Election of their Kings in regard they were all equal among themselves Lastly That it should indure so
killed or which was worse forced them to forswear their Religion and then marching to Antioch took that likewise slaying twenty and carrying away an hundred thousand Christians tho' it is to be suspected that the number of the Captives were at first written in figures and in time increased some thousands by the addition of nothing after which he laid seige to Ptolemais it self Those woful tidings brought into Europe so wrought on the good disposition of King Lewis that he resolved upon a second Voyage to Palestine from which all the perswasions of his Nobles could no way divert him in which Voyage there went with him his two Sons Philip and Tristram Theobald King of Navarre his Son in law Guido Earl of Flanders and Prince Edward eldest Son of Henry King of England who was attended by his Brother Edmund Earl surnamed Crouchback not because he was crook-shouldered as was pretended by Henry Duke of Lancaster when he usurped King Richard's Throne but from his being a Croised Soldier in the Holy War Lewis being now on his way to Palestine it was concluded by the general consent of his Council That for securing the Christians passage to Syria they should first take the City of Carthage in Affrica or rather Tunis which being raised out of the Ruins of that famous City was now become a Nest of Pirates who had killed and taken captive many Pilgrims who were sailing that way to the Holy Land But no sooner was the Siege began than the Plague seized on the Christian Army whereof Thousands died and among the rest Tristram King Lewis's Son and he himself of a Flux soon followed after His loss was much lamented he being accounted the French Josia as well for the Piety of his Life as the Wofulness of his Death and his wilful ingaging himself in a needless and unfortunate War But notwithstanding this Mortality the Siege was continued and Tunis brought into such distress that they were glad to surrender the Town on these Conditions That it should pay yearly to Charles King of Sicily and Jerusalem the Sum of Forty Thousand Crowns That they should receive Christian Ministers freely to Exercise their Religion And that they should be at the whole charge of that Voyage Prince Edward would have had the Town beaten down and all the Inhabitants put to the Sword accounting the foulest Quarter too fair for such Villains and their Goods sacrificed as an Anathema to God and burnt to ashes because gotten by Robbery But seeing he could not prevail with others he resolved however to shew his own detestation by execrating his part of the Spoil and causing it to be burnt forbidding the English Soldiers to save any thing of it telling them that Coals stolen out of that Fire would sooner burn their Houses than warm their Hands It troubled not the conscience of other Princes however to inrich themselves therewith and glut themselves with the stolen Honey found in that Hive of Drones And not only so but terminated their Pilgrimage there too refusing to proceed any further therein Whereat Edward astonished struck his Hands on his Breast and swore That tho' they all forsook him yet he would enter Ptolemais if accompanied with Fowin his Horse-keeper only And accordingly he arrived safe there to the great comfort of the Christians who were in sore distress Whilst Theobald King of Navarre with the Queen and the Earl of Flanders died in their way home and most of the Spoil was cast away At his arrival at Ptolemis he found the Christians just losing their last stake Bondocdar having brought them to so low an ebb that they had resolved if some unexpected Succour reversed not their intentions within three days to resign it up But Edward's coming in the interim revived their hopes and made them take Courage both to desie their Enemies and their own thoughts of surrendring the City Having sufficiently victualed and manned Ptolemais he marched with Six or Seven Thousand Men to Nazareth which he took and slew those he found therein And being afterwards informed that the Turks were gathered together at Cakhow about Forty Miles from thence he marched thither and setting upon them early in the Morning slew a Thousand of them and put the rest to flight In which Battel as well as in several other Skirmishes he gave sufficient proof of his own personal Valour slaying many of the Infidels in single combat After this Victory he returned to Ptolemais where Elenor his Consort was delivered of a fair Daugher but the Joy occasioned thereby was soon turned into Sorrow by the apprehension of his being mortally wounded by one of the Assassines who resorting to him several times with Letters and Messages from the Admiral of Joppa who pretended a desire to turn Christian The first time of his coming as the Prince was lying on his Bed and reading the Letters he brought none being in the Room but them two he suddenly struck him into the Arm with an invenomed Knife and attempted to have fetched another blow but the Prince whose Valour was now awakened gave him such a blow with his Foot that he felled him to the ground and wresting the poysoned Knife out of his hand thrust it into the Murtherer's Belly and slew him yet so that he hurt himself therewith in the Fore-head It is storied that his Lady sucked out all the venom of his Wounds without prejudicing her self But however certain it is that by the help of Physick good Attendance and an Antidote the Master of the Templars gave him he shewed himself on Horse back safe and well within fifteen days after The Admiral hearing of his recovery solemnly disavowed his having any hand in the Treachery it being seldom known that any will own themselves the Parent of an unsucceeding Villany And having done as much and more than could have been expected from so small a number as he had with him he returned home full fraught with Honour And his Father King Henry being dead the English Nobility met him as far as the Alpes to attend him in his return home CHAP. IX Rodulphus the Emperour hindred from going into Palestine sends the Duke of Mechlenburg Charles King of Jerusalem prevented in his intended Voyage MUch talk there was now in Syria of the great preparations of Rodulphus who was after two and twenty years Interregnum chosen Emperour of Germany and though but a meer Earl of Haspurg yet being now advanced to the Emperial dignity layed the first foundation of the Anstrian Family but he was too much imployed at home by Civil Discords and reducing the Princes to obedience whose Knees were too stiff to do him Homage till he had rendered them more pliable by degrees to think of going into Syria But yet being somewhat unwilling to render their great expectations wholly frustrat he sent the Duke of Mechlenburgh with a good Army to assist the Christians who coming to Ptolemais made several succesful incursions into the Enemies Countries about