obliged to give way and retire all the way of the Retreat facing their Enemies till they came to the Camp where they hoped by the favour of the Retrenchments to secure themselves from the danger of being inclosed by their Enemies But now the Arabs had also renewed their Attack perceiving that the Christians were repulsed and they pursued their Point so home that the Army was reduced to the utmost Extremity and in all appearance could not possibly long resist the Force of so many Enemies when the first Squadrons of Duke Godfrey's Army who hasted to their Succor began to appear For so soon as he understood the Danger in which the Army of Bohemond was he with the Earl of Vermandois ran with all speed being followed by all the Cavalry consisting in sixty thousand Men to their Assistance whilest the Earl of Tholose and the Bishop of Pavia according as it was agreed brought up the Infantry to the Combat These Succours appearing upon the Mountains being at the same time discovered both by the Christians and the Infidels made in an instant a strange alteration in the face of the Battle year 1097 for the Christians reassumed their Courage when they saw Godfrey with fifty Horse joyn the three Princes to communicate to them the Design which he had formed with the Earl of Tholose And Soliman who was afraid so much to his Disadvantage to engage with the whole Christian Army in the Plain retreated towards the Hills from whence he came in the Morning not imagining that the Christians would there dare to attack him But he quickly found he had deluded himself for no sooner were the Earls of Vermandois and Tholose come up but the whole Army was put in order of Battle just about Noon without giving so much as time for those who had been engaged already to take their repast except whilest they were drawing up into their Order The Norman Princes that is Duke Robert Bohemond Tancred and Richard Prince of Salernum his Cosin had the left Battalion upon that side towards the Entrance into the Valley Duke Godfrey with his two Brothers and the Earls of Vermandois and Flanders were upon the right Count Raymond led the main Body betwixt those two inclining a little to the left that way where the access to the Mountain was less Difficult the Horse were disposed upon the Wings and in the Intervals of the Battle and the two Points to the intent they might the better sustain the Infantry upon all occasions The Princes in drawing up the Squadrons animated the Soldiers by the sight of the Cross which they carried in the Colours and upon their Coats thereby to remind them of their Vow which they had made to vanquish or to dye for the Glory of him who for their Salvation died upon the Cross they remonstrated to some of them That the Enemies they were to Combat were those whom they had two several times before Vanquished at Nice that they were for the most part cowardly Arabians accustomed rather to steal than fight and who were not used to set upon their Enemies but like Thieves to robb them by Surprize as they did now upon the Army after it was divided But now that they saw them conjoyned they shewed plainly by the little assurance of their Countenances and their suddain Retreat that the very sight of their Vanquishers had taken away their Courage and their Judgment and that they ought to be looked upon as half beaten before the Engagement They told others That in fighting valiantly as the Soldiers of Christ Jesus and under his Conduct they went to a most assured Happiness either in Heaven by the glorious Crown of Martyrdom if they died in this Battle or if they survived it they might expect on Earth the Riches and the Spoils of all Asia as the product of their Victory And that they might be understood by all and speak all in one Word they cried with a loud Voice and with all their Force as they passed from Rank to Rank lifting up one Hand to Heaven and with the other drawing their Swords It is the Will of God It is the Will of God Whereupon the whole Army repeated the same Words with such a terrible Harmony that the Hills the Vallies the Rocks and Mountains shook with the dreadful Eccho which repeated a million of times It is the Will of God It is the Will of God After which Prayers being made and the Bishops having given them their Benediction the whole Army moved gently in a most beautiful Order towards the Enemy who all this time stood firm without the least Motion in his Post that he might thereby secure the Advantage he had taken After the Christians covered with their Bucklers had sustained the first discharge of the Saracens who darkned the very Skye with the infinite multitude of their Arrows Count Raymond without giving them leisure to make a second Charge ran at full speed with Lance in Rest upon their Squadrons with the whole Body of his Cavalry and they being unable to sustain so rude a Shock as was given them by the European Lancers to which they had neither Shields nor Brest-plates to oppose were overthrown and tumbled down Horse and Man The Infantry which followed them close then entring as at a Breach with their Swords in their Hands without ever regarding the Enemies Arrows made an extraordinary Carnage both amongst the Men and Horses whilest in the mean time Godfrey and Bohemond who had extended their Squadrons to hinder the Enemies Wings from encompassing them charged them in the Flank and fought with good Success but that which compleated the Ruine of the Infidels was that the Bishop of Pavia who according as was agreed among the Princes having marched his Body behind the Mountain upon the left hand immediately fell upon their Rere which he assailed most vigorously and with mighty Shoots thereby the more to terrify and astonish them For immediately the Arabs who were not acquainted with sighting hand to hand and who feared to be surrounded between the two Armies began to betake themselves to their Heels and in conclusion the Fear and the Disorder which dispersed itself over the whole Army put them in a moment to a general Rout the greatest part of them saving themselves by the swiftness of their Horses which it was in vain to hope to overtake by the heavy Cavalry of the Christians However they pursued them till Night killing many who in their Flight incumbred one another so as they could not make that hast which their Fear and Danger required from them Their Camp immediately fell into the hands of the Christians wherein the Soldiers according as the Generals had promised them inriched themselves with a prodigious quantity of Booty and Plunder which they found there The Christians in these two Combats lost not above four thousand Men among which only three Persons of Quality who were slain in the first Attaque William the Brother of Tancred
Loss One lamented his Father another his Son this his Brother that his Kinsman or his Friend some ran to Embrace those of their Acquaintance who were got off half Naked and without their Arms whilest others who conceived a like Hope for theirs in vain expected those who were never to Return However all of them Comforted themselves in this extream Grief by the Joy which they had at the Kings Escape after he had run such a fearful Danger of being Lost and had defended himself from it in that Heroick manner which hath been related and in short all of them in the midst of this Grief and Joy tumultuously and loudly demanded the Death of Geoffry who had most apparently been the only Cause of this horrible Loss by disobeying those Orders which had been prescribed him by the King and so furiously were they Incensed against him that nothing would satisfy them but to have him Hanged immediately And certainly it is impossible to deny but that he well deserved to have suffered Death but such was the Bounty and natural Goodness of the King and the Count de Morienne having also in a great Measure been Guilty of that Miscarriage for whom the King had a great Value he scaped with his Life The next Day when they were to Decamp the Army was reduced to very great Extremities For they discovered the Enemies upon the Tops of the Mountains ready to follow the remainder of the Army and to take all Advantages to Surprise them again upon their March The Provisions began to fail they had twelve days March to the Place whither they designed to go they wanted good Guides and must of necessity pass through Countries possessed by the Turks and the Greeks who were equally their Enemies All these Dangers and Difficulties how great soever did not yet abate the Courage of the French who are usually Reproached with loosing a great part of their Fire and their natural Confidence when they are under adverse Fortune however it did not happen so upon this Occasion which only made them more Wise and not less Valiant or Resolved The King to model this new Army divided it also into two Bodies one of which was the Rereguard He gave the Command of this to the Great Master of the Temple Everard de Barres a most valiant Gentleman who some days before was come to joyn the Army with a good Troop of the Knights of that Order The Conduct of the other he intrusted with an old Captain one Gilbert to whom all the others though in Quality much Superior to him yet made no Difficulty to submit themselves since the King himself protested that he would obey his Orders But he most humbly intreated the King to put himself between these two Bodies with a good Body of Horse and Foot that so he might be able from thence to send Assistance to either of them if they should happen to be much Pressed by the Enemy The Baggage marched in the Middle and a great part of the Horse were Ranged upon the Wings to the Right and Left to cover the Flanks of the Army In this manner it was that they Advanced and in this Order marched daily towards Pamphilia with so much Conduct that the Enemies who Coasted along with them and Attacked them four several times year 1148 were continually Repulsed and particularly one time the King seeing them Ingaged between two little Rivers Charged them so smartly that he took a sufficient Revenge upon them for the Defeat of his Rereguard cutting in pieces the greatest part of those Barbarians and putting the rest to a shameful Flight The most troublesom Enemy which he had to Combat was Want for all the Country was either Desert or ruined by the Enemies who laid all wast where-ever the Army was to pass so that they were reduced to that Extremity to Eat their Horses which they were also constrained to kill for want of Forrage for so great a Number But that which supported them still was the Example of the King who indured all these Inconveniences as if he had been one of the meanest Soldiers Some he commended others he incouraged and liberally bestowed what he had among them to Comfort the poor Creatures his Care was every where and he took his Share in all the Troubles of the War having his Curiass on almost Night and Day and performing all the Functions of a Great Captain and a Soldier with all the Vigor imaginable And to all this he added a Piety towards God so constant and regular that in all the time of this laborious Voyage he never failed to attend the Divine Offices of publick Prayers In Conclusion the Enemies after their last Defeat not daring to appear or to molest the Army they performed this long March with the greater Ease and about the twentieth of January Arrived near the City of Attalia Situate upon a Bay on the Coast of Pamphylia near the Mouth of the River Cestrius The Governor of that City which was under the Dominion of the Greek Emperor fearing that he was not able to Resist so great an Army if he declared himself their Enemy offered the King Provisions and Ships to Transport his Army into Syria which was the Thing he most ardently Desired thinking himself in no Condition to accomplish so long a March by Land for the King who had no Engines for a Siege and was willing to satisfy his Army by shortning the Voyage was very ready to accept of his Offer But there was no manner of Mischief which this Perfidious and true Greek who held Intelligence with the Turks did not do to Incommode and Ruine as far as he was able this whole Army during five Weeks which they lay there in Expectation of a Wind. And then he would find such a small number of Ships and those at such excessive Rates that the King was at last constrained to Imbarque himself without his Infantry He then treated with the Greeks who obliged themselves for a large sum of Mony which was paid in Hand to receive the Sick into the Town till they should be able to indure the Sea and to Convoy the rest who chose to go by Land through the midst of the Turks than to trust to these Treacherous Greeks who notwithstanding failed not to Sell and Betray them For so soon as the King was gone the Infidels who received Advertisement from these Traitors came pouring down from all Parts upon these who were to venture by Land and for those who were received into the Town the Greeks either Starved them or inhumanly Delivered them into the Hands of the Turks insomuch that of all those brave Men there was but a very few who Escaped by Land with the Earl of Flanders and Archambald de Bourbon who generously offered themselves to be their Conductors And now it was that it appeared too late to be a vain Scruple which was to so ill Purpose opposed against the wise Council of the Bishop of Langres
possessed with his Right Wing commanded by the Emir of Jerusalem and partly upon the Plain which in that place inlargeth it self giving a very good Scope to extend his Batallion which was commanded by his Lieutenant the Left Wing where he had placed his best Troops to oppose those of Godfrey was conducted by Bulgadis the Son of Accien and Balduc Sultan of Samosatia for he thought that these two Turkish Princes one of which had lost his Father and the other his Estate would be animated more than any of the rest to avenge their particular Losses by sighting more vigorously in the Common Cause As for himself whether it were that his Courage failed him at that time or that he was surprized and astonished with the Prediction of his Mother an old Sorceress of above an hundred years of Age who to dissuade him from this War had informed him some time before that it was written in the Stars that the Christians should be victorious he retired with a very puissant Body to an Eminence which was upon the left of the Christian Army under Pretext that from thence he might best be able to discover whither to send his Orders and necessary Succours upon all occasions But in his ill Humour wherein he was to see the Christians in so different a Condition from what he believed and who by their possessing in the manner of their drawing up the whole Plain appeared to be far more numerous than in Reality they were he caused the head of a Deserter a Renegade to be out off for that he had assured him that almost all the Crusades were dead with Famine and that those who remained not being able to carry their Arms would never come out of the Town but to sly away The Christian Army in the mean time marching leisurely more animated by seeing the Spear which was carried up on high before Aymar and by the Priests who went singing of Psalms than by the Trumpets advanced still forwards when the Infidels according to their Custom making a hideous Noise with their Instruments and Barbarous Shouts extended themselves to the Right and Left to surround the Christians making at the same time such a Discharge of their Arrows as for some Moments obscured the very Skie but this did very little Damage the Crusades by reason that a great Westerly Wind which they had upon their Backs drove the Arrows back again upon those who discharged them and gave at the same time more Force to those of the Christians which falling among the thickest Ranks made a marvellous Havock upon that crouded Multitude where scarce any one Arrow fell in vain After this first Charge Hugh the Great Robert of Flanders the Duke of Normandy Baldwin Earl of Henault and Anselm de Ribemond without giving the Enemies the Liberty of a second Discharge or so much as to draw their Cimiters sell in furiously with their Lances couched upon their right Wing where the French the Normans the English and the Flemings animated by the Example of their Chieftains with mighty Blows of Lance and Sword made a most horrible Execution among the Barbarians Godfrey who was to charge the bravest of the Infidels which he did in a moment after combated with no less advantage for throwing himself like Lightning into the thickest of the Enemies Squadrons which composed their left Wing he bore down all that opposed him with the prodigious Force of his Terrible Sword which the Saracens trembled at as if he had been Armed with a Thunderbolt The Gascons the Bearnois the Spaniards and the Provencals of Earl Raymond throwing away their Cross-Bows and their Arrows with which they had before done mighty Execution pierced into the main Body of the Battle being supported and followed by their Cavalry till they were come to the place where Hugh and the two Roberts after having routed the Wing which opposed them were arrived turning to the Right to fall upon the Rere of the Enemy In short the Right Wing fell to down-right running away the Left began to stagger and the main Battle was in Disorder when word was brought to Hugh the Great and to Godfrey that Earl Renaud and Prince Bohemond were extremely pressed and in danger of being defeated if they had not present Aid year 1098 And in Truth Soliman who had marched behind the Mountain with great Diligence was entred the Plain upon the West and had attacked Count Renaud who was advanced to oppose him but with Forces very unequal in their Number However he did most bravely sustain the furious Shock of so many Enemies till such time as joyning Artifice with Force they took from him by a new Stratagem the Means either to attack them or defend himself For Soliman who had observed that there was abundance of Hay upon the Plain had caused his People to set it on Fire which presently raised such a horrible thick Cloud intermingled with Flame and Smoak that being carried by a strong West Wind upon the Faces of the Christians it covered their Enemies who all the while poured down Showers of Mortal Arrows among them through the Cloud of Smoak this put them into great Disorder the Horse being neither able to advance through the Fire and Smoak nor to indure the incessant galling of the Turkish Arrows whilest they stood so that they carried their Riders among the Reserves and the Foot who could not retreat so fast remained exposed to the Fury of the Enemies There were not however above three hundred Soldiers slain but all the rest were either taken or dispersed for Soliman did not follow the Pursuit but according to his first Intention advanced to fall upon the Rere of Bohemond whom the stout Turk Karieth with the Sultans of Damascus and Alepo who had now also entred the Plain had already charged upon the Flank This Valiant Prince upon this occasion did all that could possibly be expected from the Courage or Conduct of the Greatest Man in the World but after all it was impossible he should long be able to resist so many Enemies as did surround him if the Succours which he had desired did not arrive more seasonably Hugh the Great was the first that came in to his Assistance and presently observing that the terrible Turk Karieth did the greatest Execution and encouraged others by his Example he made one blow which ought to render the Memory of this great Prince a Son of France Immortal and in Truth our own Historians in my opinion have not done him all the Justice which is his due and which History never refused to the meanest Souldier who behaved himself in like manner upon such an occasion For marking out this Barbarian in the middle of the Turks whom he was encouraging and pushing forwards against the Christians crying to them with a loud Voice to fall on he ran upon him with his Lance couched and hitting him between the Curiass and the Cask it passed cross his Wind-pipe and cutting off one Passage
upon two Lines in the first of which were drawn up the Infantry with very large Intervals between the Batalions and in the second the Cavalry following here in the new Order which the King had given and which was most exactly well performed thereby to put the Enemies in Disorder The Enemies were also drawn up in two long Lines wherein the Batalions and Squadrons had a great depth and looked like two great Armies seperated one from the other a great distance that they might not confound and indamage one another by reason of their Multitude The Lieutenant General who was an Armenian Renegade and the same that had taken Jerusalem from the Turks the Year before commanded the Right Wing where were the Turkish Auxiliary Troops and the greatest Part of the Cavalry which enlarged themselves towards the Mountain to charge the Christians in the Flank The Affricans and the Arabians were in the Left and the Sultan himself with the Aegyptians invironed with all his Braves of Babylon and Grand Cairo was in the main Battle the Ethiopians had the Van in Regard of their manner of Fight which was to expect the Enemy with one Knee upon the Ground and after having in this Posture discharged their Arrows they made use of certain Iron Flails with which they discharged weighty Blows upon the Casks and Bucklers of their Enemies to break them in pieces The Sultan had caused it to be proclaimed among the Ranks as they stood in Batalia that there were no more Christians than that pittiful Company which faced them and that the great Number with which their Imagination was so disturbed was nothing but a pure Illusion that he would not have them permit one single man of these Robbers to escape whom the Despair of being able to escape his hands and no other reason had brought to the Battle But the fear which had already seized upon the Judement of these Barbarians would not suffer them to understand any thing that was said nor give them leave to disbelieve their misinformed Senses which told them they saw what indeed was not an infinite Number of Enemies whom they were to encounter The Crusades all this time advanced still deliberately encouraged by the King who spoke much better to them by the Language of that Joy which they saw in his Countenance the Fire that mounted into his Eyes and the Assurance of his Mine Fierce and yet seeming to despise and contemn his Enemies and by the Terrible Glittering of his Sword than by any words he could have spoken which would difficultly have been understood among the Noise of the Trumpets and the chearful shouts which the Soldiers gave when they saw him in that Condition So soon as they were come within distance the Infantry according to the Order which had been given all together discharged their Arrows and at the same time the Horse ran at full Speed in the Intervals between the Batalions with their Lances couched against the Sarasins and performed the Charge so swiftly that they did not give them Liberty to draw their Bows above all the Brave Duke of Normandy who was accustomed in every Battle to distinguish himself by some great and Illustrious Action having observed the great Standard by its shining Embroidery of Silver and the Golden Apple which glistered under the point of it he ran upon him who carried it and tumbled him dead at the Feet of the Sultans all the rest in their places charged so Home and the Foot also without further troubling their Darts or Arrows with their Swords flew in like Lightning at the Breach which the Horse had made in the Batalions so that the Sarasins already shaken with the Fear which their false Imagination had imprinted in their Hearts made a very miserable Resistance and so absolutely lost their Courage and their Sense that throwing away their Arms some of them stood immoveable as if they had been stupid and suffered themselves to be Slain without making any manner of Defence whilest others of them scrambled up the Trees which were there the Soldiers fetching them down with a certain Cruel Pleasure with their Arrows as if they had been little Birds some of them threw themselves down upon the Earth either thinking to escape Death by counterfeiting it among the Heaps of those that were dead year 1099 or as if they submitted to receive it according to the Pleasure of the Victors some of them crept upon their Bellies others continued in the kneeling Posture without stirring as did the Ethiopians upon whom Godfrey and his Troops fell cutting off Heads and Arms with mighty Blows of the Cimiter in that very Posture wherein he found them with one knee on the Ground they never offering to make one Discharge against him Those on the Left Wing where the Gascons and Provencals under Earl Raymond fought made also a most bloody Execution and charged the Enemy so impetuously that to avoid their Death they hastened it throwing themselves and crouding one another Headlong into the Sea where they were swallowed up in a Moment sparing the Victorious Christians the Trouble of killing them with the Mortal Steel In a word all the rest betook themselves to flight and in flying broke and entangled those of the Second Line who had not yet struck a Blow but yet that did not prevent their having a share in the Misfortune of the first for the Conquerors eagerly pursued the Fugitives killing them continually to the very Gates of Ascalon There the Croud was so great every one striving to be foremost to save himself and they precipitated one another over the Draw-Bridge in such Numbers that two thousand of them were drowned and smothered in the Moat The Sultan himself unable to stop the flight of his Men had like there to have perished and not thinking himself safe in the Town he quitted it and with the hast of a flying Coward threw himself aboard the Ships which he had in the Port loaden with all sorts of Engines for the Siege of Jerusalem It is true that some of the Crusades made too much hast to fall to the Plunder insomuch that they were in Danger of being surprized by the Lieutenant General who had rallied some Troops to make his Advantage of such an Opportunity but the King whose Vigilant Eye was every where perceiving it run immediately to their Succour and not only disingaged his own men but cut in pieces those miserable Remnants of his Enemies and thereby rendred the Victory absolute and compleat although it was not yet much above twelve of the Clock After which he gave the Pillage to the Victorious Army which got there the Richest Booty that they had hitherto met withal during the whole War for the Great Lords of Babylon and all the considerable Persons of Egypt and the Neighbouring Regions were come in their most magnificent Equipage to attend the Sultan who had also brought with him an inestimable Treasure and vast Quantities of all manner of Provisions
every stroak receiving himself also a thousand blows of the Sword and Mace upon his Cask and Shield till at last he forced his passage through all the Darts and Wild-fire which on all sides were Lanced at him and came up to his Brother and disingaged him from his Enemies After which being seconded by that brave Prince and his Men who animated by the sight of this Prodigy of Valor were now become quite other Men he repulsed routed and at length put to flight the remainder of the Enemies who opposed him after so great an Action But that which was still more odd was that the Count de Poitiers his other Brother who fought upon the Left against the Right Wing of the Sarasins had at the same time a Fortune much resembling that of the Count d' Anjou but a deliverance from his danger in a manner wholly different For the Enemies having overthrown him as they had done his Brother defeated his People who were all Infantry and forced the Camp on that side making the Count a Prisoner they were now leading him away without any hopes of his being relieved by the King who could not work the Miracle after those others he had done to be present in two places at one time Thereupon the Sutlers the Grooms and Servants who were all Armed and even the Women who followed the Camp to sell Provisions not contenting themselves to cry out for help ran upon their Enemies with so much resolution and charged them so furiously the Men with Swords the Women with great stones that they drive them out of the Camp and followed them so closely still beating of them till they came up to those who were carrying away the Prince they presently caused them to quite their Prize and consult their safety by running away and he thereupon instantly rallying his Battalion marched to sustain these brave Sutlers of the Camp And certainly the Courage and Valor which so much to their Honour they manifested upon this occasion makes it evident that provided they have heart and Resolution the most Heroick Actions may sometimes be performed by all sorts of Persons of what Quality or Profession soever nay even by the weaker sex since Virtue makes no distinction among such as follow her with equal Courage and Resolution The Fortune of the Knights of the Temple was not altogether so good for there being but a few of them left after their defeat in Massora and their weak Retrenchments which they had made of the Planks which they had pulled off from the Engines which had been taken from the Sarasins being quickly burnt by the Greek Wild-sire they were so overpowered with the multitude of their Enemies that they were almost all cut in pieces together with their Great Master who having lost his Eye in the first Battle lost his Life also in this second But at last all the other Bodies were Victorious and constrained their Enemies after a most bloody Combate to retire and leave behind them a great number of their bravest Men dead upon the place and to the Christians the Glory to have gained the Day without Cavalry and for the most part without defensive Arms in regard that the Wounds which they had received in the first Battle would neither permit them to put on their Curiasses nor to indure to Fight on Horseback and in short to have vanquished them upon such great disadvantages repulsing so many Horsemen who were well Armed against whom they fought This was what King Lewis took notice of to his Lords and to the principal Officers of his Army thereby to raise their Courage and their Hope but nevertheless the plain truth was that as on the one hand they did not find themselves in a condition to attack those Enemies whom they had with difficulty repulsed nor able to force them so as to March against Caire so on the other a longer stay in the place where they were incamped was but daily to weaken themselves and to give the Enemy the leisure to fortifie themselves they ought therefore after these two Victories to have retired to Damiata and not to have stayed so long till it was impossible for them to make a safe and honourable retreat But so it was that they stayed there all the Lent whilst in the mean time the new Sultan Almoadan Caiatadin arrived at Massora with a puissant Army which he brought with him from the East This redoubled the Courage of the Sarasins who to let the Christians understand their Arrival year 1250 received them with all the Testimonies of rejoycing And on the contrary all sorts of misfortunes came rolling one upon the neck of another to the disadvantage of the Christians who were not able to guard themselves against them For the infection of the dead Bodies which they had thrown into the Nile and which after the breaking of their Galls floated again upon the Water and were stopped at the Bridge which was made for the Communication of the two Camps putrefying infected the Air and filled the Camp with diseases and above all the Scurvy in that moist Country seized upon the Souldiers insomuch that there was scarcely a Tent wherein every Day there was not found some Person either Dead or Dying The Vessels also which brought Provisions from Damiata to the Camp by the way of the Sea and the River were all taken by the Sultan's Gallies who possessed themselves of all the passages of the Nilus both above and below Two great Convoys also which came by Land were intirely defeated by great parties of Sarasins who continually ranged the Campaign to hinder any thing from coming to the Army So that all Provisions being thus cut off abundance perished most miserably by Famine and they were reduced to feed upon certain Fishes of the Nilus which being fed with the putrid Carcasses of the Slain Poisoned rather than nourished such as were forced to live upon such corrupted food At last to compleat the Misfortune the King himself was seized with this Disease of the Camp so that in conclusion the Army after having in vain so obstinately and long contested with so many Evils was obliged to resolve upon a Retreat which certainly in the condition wherein they were was impossible and which two Months before they might have hoped to have done with Honour It is true that before this there had been some overtures of a Peace or Truce between the Commissioners of the King and those of the Sultan and that it proceded so far that the King was to surrender Damiata and that the Sultan also should yield to the Christians all the Places which he held in the Realm of Jerusalem But it appeared plainly that this was not proposed by the Sultan but to amuse the King for he had the confidence to demand that which there was no probability that it should ever be condescended unto which was that for the security of the Treaty the Person of the King should be delivered to him as