devoured the mother and wealth impaired religion Chap. 12. The qualitie and condition of those people who undertook the warre IT is not to be expected that all should be fish which is caught in a drag-net neither that all should be good and religious people who were adventurers in an action of so large a capacitie as this warre was We must in charitie allow that many of them were truly zealous and went with pious intents These were like to those of whom Bellarmine speaketh who had no fault praeter nimiam sanctitatem too much sanctitie which a learned man interpreteth too much superstition But besides these well-meaning people there went also a rabble-rout rather for companie then conscience Debters took this voyage on them as an acquittance from their debts to the defrauding of their creditours Servants counted the conditions of their service cancelled by it going away against their masters will Theeves and murderers took upon them the crosse to escape the gallows Adulterers did penance in their armour A lamentable case that the devils black guard should be Gods souldiers And no wonder if the successe was as bad as some of the adventurers especially seeing they retained their old conditions under a new climate And as if this voyage had been like to repentance never too soon nor too late for any to begin not onely green striplings unripe for warre but also decayed men to whom age had given a writ of ease became souldiers and those who at home should have waited on their own graves went farre to visit Christs sepulchre And which was more women as if they would make the tale of the Amazons truth went with weapons in mens clothes a behaviour at the best immodest and modesty being the case of chastitie it is to be feared that where the case is broken the jewel is lost This enterprise was also the mother of much non-residence many Prelates and Friars fitter to handle a pen-knife then a sword left their covents and pastorall charges to follow this businesse The totall summe of those pilgrime-souldiers amounted to three hundred thousand and some writers do double that number No doubt the Christians army had been greater if it had been lesse for the belly was too big for the head and a medley of nations did rather burden then strengthen it Besides the armie was like a cloth of many colours and more seams which seams though they were curiously drawn up for the present yet after long wearing began to be seen and at last brake out into open rents Chap. 13. The adventurers sorted according to their severall nations THe French Dutch Italian and English were the foure elementall nations whereof this army was compounded of these the French were predominant they were the cape-merchants in this adventure That nimble nation first apprehended the project and eagerly prosecuted it As their language wanteth one proper word to expresse Stand so their natures mislike a settled fixed posture and delight in motion and agitation of businesse Yea France as being then best at leisure contributed more souldiers to this warre then all Christendome besides The signall men were Hugh surnamed le Grand brother to the King of France Godfrey Duke of Bouillon Baldwine and Eustace his younger brethren Stephen Earl of Bloys father to Stephen afterwards King of England Reimund Earl of Tholouse Robert Earl of Flanders Hugh Earl of Saint-Paul Baldwine de Burge with many more besides of the Clergie Aimar Bishop of Puy and Legate to the Pope and William Bishop of Orange Germanie is slandered to have sent none to this warre at this first voyage and that other pilgrimes passing through that countrey were mocked by the Dutch and called fools for their pains It is true the Germane adventurers in number answered not the largenesse and populousnesse of their countrey for Henry the Emperour a Prince whom the Pope long hacked at and hewed him off at last being desirous to go this voyage was tied up at home with civill discords Yet we find a competencie of souldiers of that nation besides those under Godescalcus a Priest Emmicho the Rhene-grave and Count Herman their leaders But though Germanie was backward at the first yet afterwards it proved the main Atlas of the warre that nation like a heavie bell was long a raising but being got up made a loud sound Italy sent few out of her heart and middle provinces nigh Rome The Pope was loth to adventure his darlings into danger those white-boyes were to stay at home with his Holinesse their tender father Wherefore he dispensed with them for going as knowing how to use their help nearer and to greater profit Peters patrimonie must as well be looked to as Christs sepulchre But though the Pope would spend none of his own fewel he burnt the best stakes of the Emperours hedge and furthered the Imperiall partie to consume it self in this tedious warre Out of the furthermost parts of Italie Boemund Prince of Tarentum and Tancred his nephew both of the Normane seed though growing on the Apulian soyl led an army of twelve thousand men And Lombardy was also very liberall of her souldiers towards this expedition England the Popes pack-horse in that age which seldome rested in the stable when there was any work to be done sent many brave men under Robert Duke of Normandy brother to William Rufus as Beauchamp and others whose names are lost Neither surely did the Irish-mens feet stick in their bogs though we find no particular mention of their atchievements Spain had other use for her swords against the Saracens at home and therefore sent none of her men abroad As one saith The Spaniards did follow their own Holy warre a work more necessary and no lesse honourable Thus they acted the same part though not on the same stage with our Pilgrimes as being also imployed in fight against the infidels Poland had the same excuse for not much appearing clean through this warre because she lieth bordering on the Tartars in her appendant countrey of Lituania and therefore was busied in making good her frontiers Besides no wonder if Prussia Lituania and Livonia were not up in this service for it was scarce break of day with them and the sunne of the Gospel was newly if at all risen in those parts Yea Poland was so farre from sending men hither that she fetcht them from hence and afterwards implored the aid of the Teutonick order who came out of Palestine to assist her against her enemies Hungary might bring filling-stones to this building but few foundation or corner-stones and at this time had no commander of note in this action Scotland also presenteth us not with any remarkable piece of service which her men performed in all this warre It was not want of devotion which was hot enough in that cold countrey rather we may impute it to want of shipping that countrey being little powerfull at sea or which is most
affrighted into good works for fear of Purgatory no wonder if devout Godfrey were pliable to any demand Pierce Plowman maketh a witty wonder why Friers should covet rather to confesse and bury then to christen children intimating it proceeded from covetousnesse there being gain to be gotten by the one none by the other And this was the age wherein the Covents got their best living by the dying which made them contrary to all other people most to worship the sunne setting Chap. 6. Godfreys death and buriall AUthours differ on the death of this noble King some making him to die of that long-wasting sicknesse others of the plague It may be the plague took him out of the hands of that lingring disease and quickly cut off what that had been long in fretting He died July 18. having reigned one yeare wanting five dayes A Prince valiant pious bountifull to the Church for besides what he gave to the Patriarch he founded Canons in the temple of the Sepulchre and a monasterie in the vale of Jehoshaphat We would say his death was very unseasonable leaving the orphane State not onely in its minority but its infancy but that that fruit which to mans apprehension is blown down green and untimely is gathered full-ripe in Gods providence He was buried in the temple of the Sepulchre where his tombe is unviolated at this day whether out of a religion the Turks bear to the place or out of honour to his memory or out of a valiant scorn to fight against dead bones or perchance the Turks are minded as John King of England was who being wished by a Courtier to untombe the bones of one who whilest he was living had been his great enemy Oh no said King John would all mine enemies were as honourably buried Chap. 7. Baldwine chosen King He keepeth Ierusalem in despite of the Patriarch GOdfrey being dead the Christians with a joint consent dispatched an embassie to Baldwine his brother Count of Edessa a city in Arabia the lord whereof had adopted this Baldwine to be his heir entreated him to accept of the Kingdome which honourable offer he courteously embraced A Prince whose body Nature cut of the largest size being like Saul higher by the head then his subjects And though the Goths had a law alwayes to choose a short thick man for their King yet surely a goodly statuâ—e is most majesticall His hair and beard brown face fair with an eagles nose which in the Persian Kings was anciently observed as a mark of magnanimity Bred he was a scholar entred into Orders and was Prebendary in the churches of Rhems Liege and Cambray but afterwards turned secular Prince as our Athelwulphus who exchanged the mitre of Winchester for the crown of England Yet Baldwine put not off his scholarship with his habit but made good use thereof in his reigne For though bookishnesse may unactive yet learning doth accomplish a Prince and maketh him sway his sceptre the steadier He was properly the first King of Jerusalem his brother Godfrey never accounted more then a Duke and was crowned on Christmasse-day The reason that made him assume the name of a King was thereby to strike the greater terrour into the Pagans Thus our Kings of England from the dayes of King John were styled but Lords of Ireland till Henry the 8. first entitled himself King because Lord was sleighted by the seditious rebells As for that religious scruple which Godfrey made to wear a crown of gold where Christ wore one of thorns Baldwine easily dispensed therewith And surely in these things the mind is all A crown might be refused with pride and worn with humility But before his Coronation there was a tough bickering about the city of Jerusalem Dabert the Patriarch on the death of Godfrey devoured Jerusalem and the towre of David in his hope but coming to take possession found the place too hot for him For Garnier Earl of Gretz in the behalf of King Baldwine who was not as yet returned from Edessa manned it against him But so it happened that this valiant Earl died three dayes after which by Dabert was counted a just judgement of God upon him for his sacriledge Now though it be piety to impute all events to Gods hand yet to say that this mans death was for such a sinne sheweth too much presumption towards God and too little charity towards our neighbour Indeed if sudden death had singled out this Earl alone it had somewhat favoured their censure but there was then a generall mortality in the city which swept away thousands and which is most materiall what this Patriarch interpreted sacriledge others accounted loyalty to his Sovereigne As for that donation of the city of Jerusalem and towre of David which Godfrey gave to the Patriarch some thought that this gift overthrew it self with its own greatnesse being so immoderately large others supposed it was but a personall act of Godfrey and therefore died with the giver as conceiving his successours not obliged to perform it because it was unreasonable that a Prince should in such sort fetter and restrain those which should come after him Sure it is that Baldwine having both the stronger sword and possession of the citie kept it perforce whilest the Patriarch took that leave which is allowed to loosers to talk chafe and complain sending his bemoning letters to Boemund Prince of Antioch inviting him to take arms and by violence to recover the Churches right but from him received the uselesse assistance of his pity and that was all Chap. 8. The Church-story during this Kings reigne A chain of successive Patriarchs Dabert Ebremare Gibelline and Arnulphus Their severall characters AFterwards this breach betwixt the King and Patriarch was made up by the mediation of some friends but the skinne onely was drawn over not dead flesh drawn out of the wound and Arnulphus whom we mentioned before discontented for his losse of the Patriarchs place still kept the sore raw betwixt them At last Dabertus the Patriarch was fain to flee to Antioch where he had plentifull maintenance allowed him by Bernard Patriarch of that See But he was too high in the instep to wear another mans shoes and conceived himself to be but in a charitable prison whilest he lived on anothers benevolence Wherefore hence he hasted to Rome complained to the Pope and received from his Holinesse a command to King Baldwine to be reestablished in the Patriarchs place but returning home died by the way at Messana in Sicily being accounted seven yeares Patriarch foure at home and three in banishment Whilest Dabert was thrust out one Ebremarus was made Patriarch against his will by King Baldwine An holy and devout man but he had more of the dove then the serpent and was none of the deepest reach He hearing that he was complained of to the Pope for his irregular election posted to Rome
truth thereof If any object That the head of the same Saint is shewed at severall places the whole answer is by a Synecdoche That a part is put for the whole As for the common exception against the Crosse That so many severall pieces thereof are shown which put together would break the back of Simon of Cyrene to bear them it is answered Distrahitur non diminuitur and like the loaves in the Gospel it is miraculously multiplied in the dividing If all these fail Baronius hath a rasour shaveth all scruple clear away For saith he Quicquid sit fides purgat facinus So that he worshippeth the false Reliques of a true Saint God taketh his good intention in good worth though he adore the hand of Esau for the hand of Jacob. But enough of these fooleries Chap. 13. King Richard taken prisoner in Austria sold and sent to the Emperour dearly ransomed returneth home KIng Richard setting sail from Syria the sea and wind favoured him till he came into the Adriatick and on the coasts of Istria he suffered shipwrack Wherefore he intended to pierce through Germanie by land the next way home But the nearnesse of the way is to be measured not by the shortnesse but the safenesse of it He disguised himself to be one Hugo a merchant whose onely commodity was himself whereof he made but a bad bargain For he was discovered in an inne in Austria because he disguised his person not his expenses so that the very policie of an hostesse finding his purse so farre above his clothes did detect him Yea saith mine Authour Facies orbi terrarum nota ignorari non potuit The rude people flocking together used him with insolencies unworthy him worthy themselves and they who would shake at the tail of this loose Lion durst laugh at his face now they saw him in a grate Yet all the weight of their cruelty did not bow him beneath a Princely carriage Leopoldus Duke of Austria hearing hereof as being Lord of the soil seised on this Royall stray meaning now to get his peny-worths out of him for the affront done unto him in Palestine Not long after the Duke sold him to Henry the Emperour for his harsh nature surnamed Asper and it might have been Savus being but one degree from a tyrant He kept King Richard in bands charging him with a thousand faults committed by him in Sicilie Cyprus and Palestine The proofs were as slender as the crimes grosse and Richard having an eloquent tongue innocent heart and bold spirit acquitted himself in the judgement of all the hearers At last he was ransomed for an hundred and fourty thousand marks Collen weight A summe so vast in that age before the Indies had overflowed all Europe with their gold and silver that to raise it in England they were forced to sell their Church-plate to their very chalices Whereupon out of most deep Divinity it was concluded That they should not celebrate the Sacrament in glasse for the brittlenesse of it nor in wood for the sponginesse of it which would suck up the bloud nor in alchymie because it was subject to rusting nor in copper because that would provoke vomiting but in chalices of latten which belike was a metall without exception And such were used in England for some hundred yeares after untill at last John Stafford Archbishop of Canterbury when the land was more replenished with silver in knotteth that Priest in the greater excommunication that should consecrate Poculum stanneum After this money Peter of Bloys who had drunk as deep of Helicon as any of that age sendeth this good prayer making an apostrophe to the Emperour or to the Duke of Austria or to both together Bibe nunc avaritia Dum puteos argenteos Larga diffundit Anglia Tua tecum pecunia Sit in perditionem And now thou basest avarice Drink till thy belly burst Whil'st England poures large silver showres To satiate thy thirst And this we pray Thy money may And thou be like accurst The ransome partly payed the rest secured by hostages King Richard much befriended by the Dutch Prelacie after eighteen moneths imprisonment returned into England The Archbishop of Cullen in the presence of King Richard as he passed by brought in these words in saying masse Now I know that God hath sent his angel and hath delivered thee out of the hand of Herod and from the expectation of the people c. But his soul was more healthfull for this bitter physick and he amended his manners better loving his Queen Beringaria whom he slighted before As souldiers too often love women better then wives Leave we him now in England where his presence fixed the loyaltie of many of his unsettled subjects whilest in Austria the Duke with his money built the walls of Vienna So that the best stones and morter of that bulwark of Christendome are beholden to the English coin We must not forget how Gods judgements overtook this Duke punishing his dominions with fire and water which two elements cannot be Kings but they must be tyrants by famine the eares of wheat turned into worms by a gangrene seising on the Dukes body who cut off his leg with his own hand and died thereof Who by his testament if not by his will caused some thousand crowns to be restored again to King Richard Chap. 14. The death of Saladine His commendation even with truth but almost above belief SOon after Saladine the terrour of the East ended his life having reigned sixteen yeares Consider him as a man or a Prince he was both wayes admirable Many Historians like some painters which rather shew their skill in drawing a curious face then in making it like to him whom it should resemble describe Princes rather what they should be then what they were not shewing so much their goodnesse as their own wits But finding this Saladine so generally commended of all writers we have no cause to distrust this his true character His wisdome was great in that he was able to advise and greater in that he was willing to be advised Never so wedded to his own resolves but on good ground he would be divorced from them His valour was not over-free but would well answer the spurre when need required In his victories he was much beholden to the advantage of season place and number and seldome wrested the garland of honour from an arm as strong as his own He ever marched in person into the field remembring that his predecessours the Caliphs of Egypt brake themselves by using Factours and imploying of Souldans His temperance was great diet sparing sleep moderate not to pamper nature but keep it in repair His greatest recreation was variety and exchange of work Pleasures he rather sipped then drank off sometimes more to content others then please himself Wives he might have kept sans number but stinted himself to one or two using them rather for posterity then
onely exchange their slavery by becoming vassals to their own passions Yet many of them in their kinds were worthy Princes for government no whit inferiour to those which are advantaged with royall birth and breeding Secondly it is a wonder they should be so neglective of their own children How many make an idol of their posterity and sacrifice themselves unto it stripping themselves out of necessaries to provide their heirs a wardrobe yea it is a principle in most moderate minds to advance their posterity thinking hereby in a manner they overcome death and immortalize their memories in leaving their names and honours to their children Whereas the contrary appeared in these Mammalukes Thirdly it is admirable that they fell not out in the election of their Prince being in a manner all equall amongst themselves We see elective States in Christendome though bound with the straitest laws often sagge aside into schismes and factions whereas this strange Empire in their choice had no dangerous discords but such as were quenched in the kindling Lastly who ever knew a wall that had no better cement to stand so sure and so long Two hundred sixty and seven yeares this State endured and yet had it to do with strong and puissant enemies Some Kingdomes ow their greatnesse not so much to their own valour and wisdome as to the weaknesse of their neighbours but it fared not thus with the Mammalukes To omit Prester John who neighboured them on the south on all other sides they were encompassed with potent opposers From whom right valiantly they defended themselves till in the yeare 1517 they were overcome by Selimus the great Turkish Emperour To conclude As for the Amazons and their brave atchievements with much valour and no manhood they and their State had onely being in the brains of fabulous writers As for the Assasines or regiment of rogues it never spread to the breadth of any great countrey nor grew to the height of a Kingdome but being the jakes of the world was cast out in a place betwixt barren hills But this Empire of vassals was every way wonderfull stretching so farre over all Egypt and most of Syria and lasting so long A strange State wherein slavery was the first step to their throne and apostasie the first article in their religion Chap. 20. The manner of the death of Frederick King of Ierusalem His Will and posterity after him An interregnum both in Germanie and the Kingdome of Ierusalem IN this same yeare Frederick King of Jerusalem and Emperour of Germany ended his troublesome dayes A Prince who in the race of his life met with many rubs some stumbles no dangerous falls Besides the Turk he had to do with the Pope the Pope immortall in his succession And though his Holinesse was unfit for warre as being alwayes old and never ripe for that place till almost rotten yet he used his own head and commanded the hands of others whereby he kept Frederick in a continuall warre Yet never could he have beaten him with fair play had he not used a weapon if not against the law of Arms against the law of God and against which no guard Arming his subjects against him and Dispensing with the oath of allegeance But he gave Frederick the mortall wound in setting himself against himself I mean Henry his eldest sonne And though Frederick easily conquered that rebellious youth and made him fast enough keeping him in prison in Apulia where he died yet he carried the grief hereof to his grave For now he knew not where or in whom to place any confidence as suspecting the single cord of Loyaltie would not hold in others which brake in his own sonne though twisted with Naturall affection The greatnesse of his spirit was a great hastening of his death and being of a keen eager and active nature the sharpnesse of the sword cut the scabbard the sooner asunder Bowe he could not break he must What-ever is reported he died of no other poison then sorrow which ushered him into a wasting ague grief being a burden whereof the strongest shoulders can bear the least As for the fame that Maufred his base sonne should stifle him with a pillow though I must confesse he might be taken on suspicion as likely enough to play such a devilish prank yet it is unreasonable that he who is acquitted by the Authours of the same time should be condemned on the evidence of the writers of after-ages He died at Florence in an obscure castle on S. Lucies day having reigned King of Jerusalem three and twenty yeares By his Will he bequeathed many ounces of gold to the Knights Templars and Hospitallers in recompense of the wrongs they had received by him He left a great summe of money for the recovery of the Holy land to be disposed at the discretion of the foresaid Knights He forbad any stately funerall for himself though in his life immoderately excessive in pomp as if he would do penance for his pride after death A Prince who had he not been hindred with domesticall discords would have equalized Cesar himself For if thus bravely he laid about him his hands being tied at home with continuall dissensions what would he have done if at liberty A scandal is raised since his death That he was but a millers sonne but he would have ground them to powder who in his life-time durst have averred it Indeed he was very happy in mechanicall matters such as we may term Liberall handy-crafts as casting founding carving in iron and brasse Neither did this argue a low soul to dabble in such mean imployments but rather proved the amplitude and largenesse thereof of so generall acquaintance that no Art was a stranger to him But the suspicion of his birth rose from the almost miraculous manner of it Constantia his mother bearing him when welâ—igh sixty yeares of age But both in Scripture and other writers we may see the sonnes of long-barren mothers to have been fruitfull in famous atchievements Pity it was that he had some faults yea pity it had been if he had not had some But his vices indeed were notorious and unexcusable Many wives and concubines he had and by them many children His wives His legitimate children Their preferment 1. Constantia Queen of Aragon Henry who rebelled against him King of the Romanes 2. Iole daughter to John Bren. Conrade Duke of Suevia 3. Agnes daughter to the Marquesse of Moravia childlesse divorced   4. Rutina   5. Isabella of Bavaria Agnes Married to Conrade Landtgrave of Hessen 6. Mawd daughter to John King of England Constance His â—â—se sonnes Wife to Lewis Landâ—grave of Hessen His concubine   Blanch. 1. Henzius King of Sardinia 2. Maufred Usurper of Sicily 3. Frederick Prince of Antioch It is much that succession adventured in so many severall bottoms should miscarry Yet these foure sonnes dying left no lasting issue and in the third generation
haven of Tyre after a most cruel and desperate battel And surely generally sea-fights are more bloudy then those on the land especially since gunnes came up whose shot betwixt wind and water like those wounds so often mentioned in the Scripture under the fifth rib is commonly observed mortall Yea farre harder it is for a ship when arrested and ingaged in a battel to clear it self then for souldiers by land to save themselves by flight Here neither his own two nor his horses foure legges can bestead any but like accidents they must perish with their subjects and sink with their ship And then why is a sea-victory lesse honour being more danger then one atchieved by land Is it because sea-service is not so generall nor so full of varieties and the mysteries thereof sooner learned or because in sea-fights fortune may seem to be a deeper sharer and valour not so much interested Whatsoever it is the laurel purchased on land hath a more lively verdure then that which is got at sea We return to the Venetians Who using or rather abusing this conquest enter Ptolemais cast out all Genoans thence throw down their buildings both publick and private demolish the fort which they had builded at S. Saba rifle and spoil their shops ware-houses and store houses onely the Pope prevailed so farre with them that they set at liberty the prisoners they had taken Ten yeares did this warre last betwixt these two States in Syria composed at last saith my Authour by the authority of Pope Clement the fourth and by famine the bad cause of a good effect which in Palestine starved them into agreement Longer these warres lasted betwixt them in Italy their successe like the sea they fought on ebbing and flowing In this costly warre Pisa was first beggered and for all her politick partaking Genoa at last trode so heavy upon her that ever since she hath drooped and hung the wing and at this day is maid to Florence who formerly was mistresse of a good part of Italy But I have no calling and lesse comfort to prosecute these bloudy dissensions For warres of Christians against Infidels are like the heat of exercise which serveth to keep the body of Christianity in health but these civil warres amongst themselves like the heat of a feaver dangerous and destructive of religion Chap. 25. Charles made King of Sicily and Ierusalem by the Pope Hugh King of Cyprus pretendeth also to go to Ierusalem WE have now gotten Pantaleon a Frechman who succeeded Robert in the titular Patriarchship Jerusalem to be Pope by the name of Urbane the fourth To advance the Holy cause after fourteen yeares interregnum in Syria he appointed Charles Duke of Anjou younger brother to King Lewis of France King of Sicily and Jerusalem and it was ratified by Clement the fourth his successour This honour was first offered to Lewis himself but piety had dried up in him all ambitious humours then to our Henry of England but his warre-wasted purse could not stretch to the Popes price At last this Charles accepted it But it is not for any speciall favour to the bush if a man runne under it in a storm it was no love to Charles but to himself to be sheltred from Maufred that the Pope conferred this honour upon him And the wife of Charles that she might go in equipage with her three sisters being Queens sold all her jewels to furnish her husband with money to purchase these Kingdomes that sex loving bravery well but greatnesse better Now the Pope whose well-grounded and bounded bountie will never undo him for where he giveth away the meat he selleth the sauce conditioned with Charles on these terms First that he should conquer Maufred then King of Sicily who molested the Pope and that he should finally subdue all the remaining race of Frederick the second Emperour who claimed that Kingdome Secondly in acknowledgement that he held these Kingdomes from the Pope he should pay him an annuall pension of foure some say fourty thousand pounds Provided if this Charles should chance to be chosen Emperour of Germany that then he should either resigne Sicily back again into the hands of his Holinesse or not accept the Empire For he knew that all Emperours would be possessed with an anti-papall spirit and that they would hold Sicily not in homage from the Church but as a member of the Empire Besides the Pope would not dispense that Princes should hold pluralitie of temporall Dominions in Italy especially he was so ticklish he could not endure the same Prince should embrace him on both sides Ever since the twinne-titles of Sicily and Jerusalem have gone together and fit it is that the shadow should follow the substance Charles subdued Maufred and Conradine his nephew the last of the Suevian race and grandchild to Emperour Frederick and was possessed of Sicilie and lived there but as for the gaining of Jerusalem he little regarded it nor came thither at all A watchfull King who never slept in his Kingdome His absence gave occasion to Hugh King of Cyprus to furbish up new his old title to the Kingdome as lineally descended from Almerick the second And coming to Ptolemais he there was crowned King of Jerusalem But the extremity of the famine all things being excessive deare much abated the solemnity and state of his Coronation Chap. 26. The Tartarians alienated from the Christians Bendocdar tyrannizeth over them and Lewis King of France setteth forth again for to succour them BUt betwixt two Kings the Kingdome went to the ground For Haalon the Tartarian Prince late Christian convert was returned home to succeed his brother Mango in the Empire leaving Abaga his sonne with competent forces in the city of Damascus which he had wonne from the Turks Soon after Abaga followed his father and substituted Guirboca his Lieutenant in Damascus This Guirboca upon the occasion of his nephew rashly slain by the Christians in a broil fell off wholly from Christianity with all the Tartarians his countreymen The occasion this The Dutch Christians return with great booty they had taken from the Turks Guirboca's nephew meeteth them demandeth it for himself the Christians deny him as souldiers are very tender-conscienced in that point counting it a great sinne to part with the spoil they are possessed of hence brawls then blows Guirboca's nephew is slain Hereat the Tartarians who were very humourous in their friendship if not observed to an inch lost for ever in discontent all either reel aside to Mahomet or fall back to Paganisme Herein the Christians cannot be excused Infant-converts must be well tended It had been discretion in them even against discretion to have yeelded a little to these Tartarians and so to continue their amity which was so advantageous to the Holy warre How-ever one may question the truth of their conversion whether reall at first This spring was too forward to hold and
maintain that a confession extorted on the rack is of no validitie If they be weak men and unable to endure torment they will speak any thing and in this case their words are endited not from their heart but outward limbes that are in pain and a poore conquest it is to make either the hand of a child to beat or the tongue of the tortured man to accuse himself If they be sturdie and stubborn whose backs are paved against torments such as bring brasen sides against steely whips they will confesse nothing And though these Templars were stout valiant men yet it is to be commended to ones consideration whether slavish and servile souls will not better bear torment then generous spirits who are for the enduring of honourable danger and speedie death but not provided for torment which they are not acquainted with neither is it the proper object of valour Again it is produced in their behalf that being burned at the stake they denied it at their death though formerly they had confessed it and whose charitie if not stark-blind will not be so tender-eyed as to beleeve that they would not breathe out their soul with a lie and wilfully contract a new guilt in that very instant wherein they were to be arraigned before the Judge of heaven A Templar being to be burned at Burdeaux and seeing the Pope and King Philip looking out at a window cried unto them Clement thou cruel tyrant seeing there is no higher amongst mortall men to whom I should appeal for my unjust death I cite thee together with King Philip to the tribunal of Christ the just Judge who redeemed me there both to appear within one yeare and a day where I will lay open my cause and justice shall be done without any by-respect In like manner James grand Master of the Templars though by piecemeal he was tortured to death craved pardon of God and those of his Order That forced by extremitie of pain on the rack and allured with hope of life he had accused them of such damnable sinnes whereof they were innocent Moreover the people with their suffrage acquitted them happie was he that could get an handfull of their ashes into his bosome as the Relique of pious martyrs to preserve Indeed little heed is to be given to peoples humours whose judgement is nothing but prejudice and passion and commonly envie all in prosperitie pitie all in adversitie though often both undeservedly And we may beleeve that the beholding of the Templars torments when they were burned wrought in the people first a commiserating of their persons and so by degrees a justifying of their cause However vulgus non semper errat aliquando eligit and though it matters little for the gales of a private mans fansie yet it is something when the wind bloweth from all corners And true it is they were generally cried up for innocents Lastly Pope Clement and King Philip were within the time prefixed summoned by death to answer to God for what they had done And though it is bad to be busie with Gods secrets yet an argument drawn from the event especially when it goeth in company with others as it is not much to be depended on so it is not wholly to be neglected Besides King Philip missed of his expectation and the morsel fell besides his mouth for the lands of the Templars which were first granted to him as a portion for his youngest sonne were afterwards by the Councel of Vienne bestowed on the Knights-Hospitallers Chap. 3. A moderate way what is to be conceived of the suppression of the Templars BEtwixt the two extremities of those that count these Templars either Malefactours or Martyrs some find a middle way whose verdict we will parcel into these severall particulars 1. No doubt there were many novices and punies amongst them newly admitted into their Order which if at all were little guiltie for none can be fledge in wickednesse at their first hatching To these much mercie belonged The punishing of others might have been an admonition to them and crueltie it was where there were degrees of offenses to inflict the same punishment and to put all of them to death 2. Surely many of them were most hainous offenders Not to speak what they deserved from God who needeth not pick a quarrel with man but alwayes hath a just controversie with him they are accounted notorious transgressours of humane laws yet perchance if the same candle had been lighted to search as much dust and dirt might have been found in other Orders 3. They are conceived in generall to be guiltlesse and innocent from those damnable sinnes wherewith they were charged Which hainous offenses were laid against them either because men out of modestie and holy horrour should be ashamed and afraid to dive deep in searching the ground-work and bottome of these accusations but rather take them to be true on the credit of the accusers or that the world might the more easily be induced to beleeve the crimes objected to be true as conceiving otherwise none would be so devilish as to lay such devilish offenses to their charge or lastly if the crimes were not beleeved in the totall summe yet if credited in some competent portion the least particular should be enough to do the deed and to make them odious in the world 4. The chief cause of their ruine was their extraordinary wealth They were feared of many envied of more loved of none As Naboths vineyard was the chiefest ground for his blasphemie and as in England Cornwall Lord Fanhop said merrily That not he but his stately house at Ampthill in Bedfordshire was guiltie of high treason so certainly their wealth was the principall evidence against them and cause of their overthrow It is quarrel and cause enough to bring a sheep that is fat to the shambles We may beleeve King Philip would never have took away their lives if he might have took their lands without putting them to death but the mischief was he could not get the hony unlesse he burnt the bees Some will say The Hospitallers had great yea greater revenues nineteen thousand Mannors to the Templars nine thousand yet none envied their wealth It is true but then they busied themselves in defending of Christendome maintaining the Island of Rhodes against the Turks as the Teutonick order defended Spruce-land against the Tartarian the world therefore never grudged them great wages who did good work These were accounted necessarie members of Christendome the Templars esteemed but a superfluous wenne they lay at rack and manger and did nothing who had they betook themselves to any honourable employment to take the Turks to task either in Europe or Asia their happinesse had been lesse repined at and their overthrow more lamented And certain it is that this their idlenesse disposed them for other vices as standing waters are most subject to putrifie I heare one bird sing a different note
from all the rest in the wood namely that what specious shews soever were pretended the true cause of their ruine was that they began to desert the Pope and adhere to the Emperour If this was true no doubt they were deeply guiltie and deserved the hard measure they suffered Sure I am how-ever at this time they might turn edge they had formerly been true blades for his Holinesse All Europe followed the copie that France had set them Here in England King Edward the second of that name suppressed the Order and put them to death So by vertue of a writ sent from him to Sir John Wogan Lord chief Justice in Ireland were they served there and such was the secrecie of the contrivance of the businesse that the storm fell upon them before they saw it and all crannies were so closely stopped that none could steal a glimpse of the mischief intended against them In Germanie they found some mercie and milder dealing for Hugh Wildgrave coming with twenty of his Order all in armour into a Councel of Dutch Bishops who intended to execute the sentence of the Pope upon them there protested his innocencie and appealed to the next Pope who should succeed Clement as to his competent judge Hereupon their lives were spared onely they were forced to renounce the name of Templars and to enter themselves into other Orders chiefly of Hospitallers and Teutonicks on whom their lands were bestowed We will conclude all with that resolution of a brace of Spanish writers who make this epilogue to this wofull tragedie Concerning these Templars whether they were guiltie or not let us suspend our censure till the day of judgement and then and no sooner shall we certainly be informed therein Chap. 4. Of the Teutonick Order When they left Palestine and on what conditions they were entertained in Prussia Their Order at last dissolved FRequent mention hath been formerly made of the Teutonick Order or that of Dutch Knights who behaved themselves right valiantly clean through the Holy warre And which foundeth much to their honour they cannot be touched either for treason or faction but were both loyall and peaceable in the whole service But at last they perceived that by the course of the cards they must needs rise losers if they continued the warre in the Holy land and even resolved to abandon it It happened at the same time that Conrade Duke of Mazovia offered them most honourable conditions namely the enjoying of Prussia on condition they would defend it against the Infidels which annoyed it Indeed the fratres gladiferi or sword-bearing brothers brave slashing lads undertook that task but finding either their arms too weak or swords too blunt to strike through their enemies they imployed the aid of and conjoyned themselves to this Teutonick Order Hereupon in the yeare of our Lord 1239 Hermannus de Saltza fourth Master of these Dutch Knights came with most of his Order into Prussia yet so that he left a competent number of them still in Palestine which continued and did good service there even to the taking of Ptolemais But the greater number of these Dutch Knights in Prussia did knight-service against the Tartarians and were Christendomes best bank against the inundations of those barbarous people By their endeavours the Prussians which before were but heathen-Christians were wholly converted many a brave citie builded specially Marienburg where formerly a great oak stood who would think so many beautifull buildings would spring out of the root of one tree and those countreys of Prussia and Livonia which formerly were the course list are now become the rich fringe of Europe At last the Prussians grew weary of the tyrannous oppression of those Dutch Knighâ—â— as appeareth by the grievances they presented and applied themselves to Casimire King of Poland He took to task Lewis Erlinsufe the Master of their Order and so ordered him that whereas before he pleaded himself to be a free Prince of the Empire hereafter he should acknowledge the King of Poland for his Lord and Master The successours to this Lewis fretted against this agreement as prejudiciall to them They could do no lesse then complain and could do little more for the King of Poland in spite of their resistance held them to their agreements Albert of the house of Brandenburg was the last grand Master of this Order and first Duke of Prussia He brake the vow of their Order losing his virginitie to keep his chastitie and married Dorothie daughter to the King of Denmark The other Teutonicks protested against him and chose Gualther Croneberg in his room Yea Albert was proscribed in a Diet in Germanie and his goods confiscated but the proscription never executed the Emperour of Germanie being the same time employed in matters of greater moment which more nearly concerned himself And thus in this Albert for ought we can find to the contrarie the Teutonick Order had its end and was quite dissolved Chap. 5. The severall flittings of the Knights-Hospitallers from Cyprus by Rhodes Nice Syracuse to Malta WE must now wait on the Hospitallers to their lodgings and we have done We left them driven from Ptolemais and landed at Cyprus where King Henry courteously entertained them But a friends house is no home Hence therefore they were conveyed to their severall Alberges in Europe But such active spirits could not long be idle such running streams would not end in a standing pond Wherefore they used all their own strength and improved their interest with all their benefactours to furnish out a fleet Which done under Fulk de Vilderet their grand Master they wonne the Island of Rhodes from the Turks eighteen yeares after Ptolemais was lost and there seated themselves Besides Rhodes they also enjoyed these five adjacent Islands saith my Authour Nicoria Episcopia Iolli Limonia and Sirana places so small that consulting with maps will not find them out enough almost to make us think with Tertullian of Delos that once there were such Islands which at this day are quite vanished away Two hundred and fourteen yeares to the terrour of the Turks comfort of the Christians and their own immortall fame they maintained this Island and secured the seas for the passage of Pilgrimes to Jerusalem till at last in the yeare 1523 after six moneths siege they surrendred the citie to their own honour and shame of other Christians who sent them no succour in season Yet changing their place they kept their resolution to be honourably imployed Hence they sailed to Nice in Piemont a citie lying opposite to Africa from whence the Moores and Saracens much infested Christendome Wherefore Charles Duke of Savoy bestowed that citie upon them to defend it counting the courtesie rather done to him then by him that they would accept it Afterwards they perceived it was more needfull to stop the Turks invasions then their pillagings They had lately wonne Buda and as it was thought would quickly stride over the Adriatick sea
and have at Italie Wherefore the Hospitallers left Nice and planted themselves at Syracuse in Sicilie Where they right valiantly behaved themselves in defending that countrey But Charles the fifth a politick Prince though he saw their help was usefull yet desired not much to have them live in his own countrey He liked their neighbourhood better then their presence to have them rather neare then in his Kingdome Wherefore he appointed them the Island of Malta to keep for themselves their grand Master onely paying yearly to the King of Spain a Falcon in acknowledgement they held it from him Loth were the Hospitallers to leave Sicilie that Paradise of pleasure and went very unwillingly from it Malta is an Island in the mid-land-sea seated betwixt Europe and Africa as if it meant to escape out of both as being in neither Here S. Paul suffered shipwrack when the viper stung him not but the men did condemning him for a murderer And here the Hospitallers seated themselves and are the bulwark of Christendome to this day giving dayly evident proof of their courage But their master-piece was in the yeare 1565 when they couragiously defended the citie of Malta besieged by Soliman When he discharged seventie eight thousand bullets some of them seven spans in compasse against it big enough not onely to overthrow walls but overturn mountains yet notwithstanding they held out valiantly five moneths and at last forced the Turk to depart These Knights of Malta are at this day a good bridle to Tunis and Algiers I am informed by a good friend who hath spent much yet lost no time in those parts that these Knights are bound by vow not to flie from the Turks though one man or one galley to foure half which ods Hercules himself durst not venture on but if there be five to one it is interpreted wisdome not cowardlinesse to make away from them Also if a Christian ship wherein there is a Knight of Malta take a Turkish ship that Knight is bound by his Order first to go aboard to enter it The grand Master of this Order hath a great command and is highly esteemed of insomuch that the authour of the Catalogue of the glory of the world beleeveth he is to take place next to absolute Kings above all other temporall Princes even above Kings subject to the Empire Sure he meaneth if they will give it him otherwise it seemeth improper that the alms-man should take place of his benefactours Yet the Lord Prior of the Hospitallers in England was chief Baron of the Realm and had precedencie of all other Lords and here his Order flourished with great pomp till their finall period which I now come to relate Chap. 6. The Hospitallers in England stoutly withstand three severall assaults which overthrew all other Religious foundations THe suppression of the Hospitallers in England deserveth especiall notice because the manner thereof was different from the dissolving of other Religious houses for manfully they stood it out to the last in despite of severall assaults 1. Cardinall Wolsey by leave from the Pope suppressed certain small houses of little value therewithall to endow his Colledges in Oxford and Ipswich He first shewed Religious places were mortall which hitherto had flourished in a seeming eternitie This leading case of Wolseys did pick the morter out of all the Abbey-walls in England and made a breach in their strongest gate-houses teaching covetousnesse an apt scholar a readie way to assault them For it is the dedication not the value of the thing dedicated stampeth a character of sacrednesse upon it And King Henry the eighth concluded if the Cardinall might eat up the lean Covents he himself might feed on the fat ones without danger of a sacrilegious surfet True it is Wolsey not wholly but in part alienated the lands of these pettie houses reserving them still to the generall end of pious uses But the King followed this pattern so farre as it was for his purpose and neglected the rest 2. For not long after the Parliament granted him all Religious houses of and under the value of two hundred pounds yearly and it was thought that above ten thousand persons masters and servants lost their livelihoods by the demolishing of them And for an introduction to the suppression of all the residue he had a strait watch set upon them and the Regulars therein tied to a strict and punctuall observation of their orders without any relaxation of the least libertie insomuch that many did quickly un-nunne and disfriar themselves whose sides formerly used to go loose were soon galled with strait lacing 3. Then followed the grand dissolution or judgement-day on the world of Abbeys remaining which of what value soever were seised into the Kings hands The Lord Cromwell one of excellent parts but mean parentage came from the forge to be the hammer to maul all Abbeys Whose magnificent ruines may lesson the beholders That it is not the firmnesse of the stone nor fastnesse of the morter maketh strong walls but the integritie of the inhabitants For indeed foul matters were proved against some of them as Sodomie and much uncleannesse Whereupon unwillingly willing they resigned their goods and persons to the Kings mercie But the Knights-Hospitallers whose chief mansion was at St-Johns nigh London being Gentlemen and souldiers of ancient families and high spirits would not be brought to present the King such puling petitions and publick recognitions of their errours as other Orders had done They complained it was a false consequence as farre from charitie as logick from the induction of some particular delinquents to inferre the guiltinesse of all Religious persons Wherefore like stout fellows they opposed any that thought to enrich themselves with their ample revenues and stood on their own defense and justification Chap. 7. The Hospitallers at last got on an advantage and suppressed BUt Barnabe's day it self hath a night and this long-lived Order which in England went over the graves of all others came at last to its own They were suffered to have rope enough till they had haltered themselves in a Praemunire For they still continued their obedience to the Pope contrary to their allegeance whose usurped authoritie was banished out of the land and so though their lives otherwise could not be impeached for any vitiousnesse they were brought within the compasse of the law The case thus standing their deare friends perswaded them to submit to the Kings mercie and not to capitulate with him on conditions nor to stop his favour by their own obstinacie but yeeld whilest as yet terms honest and honourable would be freely given them That such was the irresistiblenesse of the Kings spirit that like a torrent it would bear down any thing which stood betwixt him and his desires If his anger were once inflamed nothing but their bloud could quench it Let them not flatter themselves into their own ruine by relying on the aid of their friends at
Kings of Naples 9 The Princes of Antioch 10 The Counts of Brienne 11 The Kings of Armenia 12 The Kings of Hungarie 13 The Kings of Aragon 14 The Dukes of Anjou 15 The Dukes of Loraine 16 Lewis the eleventh King of France 17 The Dukes of Bourbon 18 The Dukes of Savoy 19 Iames de Lusigna base sonne to the King of Cyprus 20 Charles de Lusigna sonne to the Prince of Galilee 21 The State of Genoa 22 The Marquesse of Montferrat 23 The Count of la-Vall 24 The Arch-duke of Nize 25 The Sultan of Egypt 26 The Emperour of the Turks It seemeth by the naming of Lewis the eleventh and James the bastard of Cyprus that this list was taken about the yeare 1466. And now how would a Herald sweat with scouring over these time-rustie titles to shew whence these Princes derived their severall claims and in whom the right resteth at this day when his work is done who should pay him his wages My clew of thread is not strong enough on the guidance thereof for me to venture into this labyrinth of Pedegrees we will content our selves with these generall observations 1. It seemeth this catalogue containeth as well those who had jus in Regno as those who had jus ad Regnum as namely the Prince of Thorone and Patriarchs of Jerusalem and State of Genoa whose ambition surely soared not so high as to claim the Kingdome of Jerusalem but rather perched it self upon some lands and Signories challenged therein 2. A small matter will serve to intitle a Prince to a titular Kingdome In this case Kings can better digest corrivals where they be many and all challenge what is worth nothing In this catalogue it seemeth some onely intitle themselves out of good fellowship and love of good companie These like squirrels recover themselves and climbe up to a claim on the least bough twig yea leaf of a Right Thus the Counts of Brienne in France if any still remain of that house gave away their cake and kept it still in that John Bren parted with his right to this Kingdome in match with Iole his daughter to Frederick the second Emperour and yet the Earls of his familie pretend still to Jerusalem 3. We may beleeve that by matches and under-matches some of these titles may reside in private Gentlemen especially in France And what wonder seeing within fourteen generations the royall bloud of the Kings of Judah ran in the veins of plain Joseph a painfull carpenter 4. At this day some of those titles are finally extinct as that of the Emperours of the East conquered by the Ottoman familie Their Imperiall Eagle was so farre from beholding the sunne that the half-moon dazzled yea quite put out his eyes Rank in the same form the Kings of Armenia and Sultans of Egypt 5. Some of these titles are translated That of the Lusignans Kings of Cyprus probably passed with that Island to the State of Venice The claim of the Hungarian Kings seemeth at this day to remain in the Germane Emperour 6. Some united The claim of the Arch-dukes of Nize a style I meet not with elsewhere twisted with that of the Duke of Savoy The Kings of Naples and Aragon now joyned in the King of Spain 7. Of those which are extant at this day Englands appeareth first our Richard receiving it in exchange of King Guy for the Island of Cyprus Guy's resignation was voluntarie and publick the world was witnesse to it He truly received a valuable consideration which his heirs long peaceably enjoyed and our English Kings styled themselves Kings of Jerusalem till afterwards they disused it for reasons best known to themselves Our Poet Harding in a paper he presented to King Henry the sixth cleareth another double title of our Kings thereunto And because some palates love the mouldie best and place the goodnesse of old verses in the badnesse of them take them as they fell from his penne To Ierusalem I say ye have great right From Erle Geffray that hight Plantogenet Of Aungeâ—y Erle a Prince of passyng might The eldest sonne of Fouke and first beget King of Ierusalem by his wife dewly set Whose sonne Geffray foresaid gat on his wife Henry the second that was known full rife Yet have ye more from Bawldwyne Paralytious King afterward to the same King Henry The Crown sent and his Banner pretious As very heire of whole Auncestrie Descent of bloud by title lineally From Godfray Boleyn and Robert Curthose That Kings were thereof and chose 8. Then cometh forth the Popes title who claimeth it many wayes Either because he was the first and chiefest mover and advancer of this warre Lord Paramont of this action and all the Pilgrimes no better then his servants and then according to the rule in Civil law Quodâ—unque per servum acquiritur id Domino acquiritâ—r suo Or else he challengeth it from John Bren who subjected that Kingdome to the See of Rome and yet the said John used the style of Jerusalem all the dayes of his life and also gave it away in match with his daughter Or else he deriveth it as forfeited to him by the Emperour Frederick the second and his sonnes for taking arms against the Church But what need these farre-abouts They go the shortest cut who accounting the Pope Gods Lieutenant on earth though by a Commission of his own penning give him a temporall power especially in ordine ad spiritualia over all the Kingdomes of the world The originall right of Jerusalem he still keepeth in himself yet hath successively gratified many Princes with a title derived from him Nor shineth his candle the dimmer by lighting of others First he bestowed his title on Charles of Anjou King of Sicilie from which root spring the many-branched French competitours and since hath conferred the same on the house of Aragon or King of Spain Which King alone weareth it in his style at this day and maketh continuall warre with the Turk who detaineth Jerusalem from him Yea all West-Christendome oweth her quiet sleep to his constant waking who with his galleys muzzleth the mouth of Tunis and Algier Yea God in his providence hath so ordered it that the Dominions of Catholick Princes as they term them are the case and cover on the East and South to keep and fense the Protestant countreys The quit-rent which the King of Spain payeth yearly to the Pope for the Kingdomes of Jerusalem Naples and Sicilie is foure thousand crowns sent to his Holinesse upon a hackney Who grudgeth his tenant so great a penie-worth yet cannot help himself except he would follow the Friars advice To send home the Spanish Hackney with a great Horse after him What credit there is to be given to that through-old if not doting prophecie That a Spaniard shall one day recover Jerusalem we leave to the censure of others and mean time we will conclude more serious matters with this pleasant passage When the