the Miseries of the last Siege and fearing the same Tragedy would be acted over again set fire to the Houses and in the Night saved themselves by flight whereupon the French issued in and quenching the fire saved abundance of Treasure from the fury of the flames Which Loss so discouraged Meladine that to purchase Peace with the Christians he offered to restore them the whole Kingdom of Jerusalem in as ample a manner as ever it had been enjoyed by any of their Predecessors to release all Prisoners and disburse a great Sum of Money to defray the Charge of the War But such was their Pride and Folly that they refused to accept of it unless Alexandria the best Port in all Egypt were given them as an Over-plus the Pope's Legate and Robert Earl of Artois persuading them to grant Peace upon no other terms Wherefore the Turk seeing themselves in so desperate a condition their Extremity rendered their Sword the keener and made them provide with the greater resolution to defend their Country to the utmost About this time there arose a difference between the French and the English to the great prejudice of their Proceedings And Meladine King of Egypt died likewise the same Year and left his imbroiled Kingdom to Melcchsala his Son From Damiata the French marched up towards Cairo the Governor whereof being offended with the new King promised to deliver it into their hands And having passed an arm of the River Nilus Earl Robert marched forward with a third part of the Army and suddenly assaulted the Turks in their Tents whilst the King was absent and put them to flight which Victory so lifted him up with conceit that he adventured contrary to the advice of the Master of the Templers to set on the whole Turkish Power which lay incamped not far off without staying for the rest of the Army whereby he was utterly overthrown and as he was crossing the River in his flight found Water enough to drown him tho' not to wash away the stain of rashness and cowardize from his memory and our English Earl refusing to fly died fighting in the midst of his Enemies there escaping no more but four persons to carry News of this fatal overthrow to the rest of the Army It is easier for the Reader to conceive than for my Pen to express the general grief wherewith these doleful Tydings were received by the French among whom the Plague raged so furiously that it daily swept away Thousands And to increase their sorrow several sick persons whom the King had sent down the River to Damiata were set upon by the Egyptian King and having neither Hands to fight nor Legs to run were every one either burned or drowned except Alexander Gifford an English-man whose Name and Family still remains at Chellingworth in Stafford-shire who acquainted the French with what had happened They would now have been glad of those Terms which a little before they slighted but it was too late for the Turks now scorned to treat with them The French would have had the King provided for his own safety by flying back to Damiata But he refused and resolving to live or die overcome or perish with them marched forward to the fatal place where the last Battel was fought And whilst they were astonished at the sight of their mangled fellows the Egyptian King set upon them with an infinite number of men and put them all being but few in number and those very weak to the sword except Lewis and his two Brothers whom he took Prisoners The Turks having thus slain all the French Pilgrims instantly marched up with their Ensigns to Damiata hoping thereby to surprize it which if they had done King Lewis had been for ever lost But God disappointed them for they were easily discovered notwithstanding their disguise and forced to go away without their desire The News of this sorrowful Accident coming to Europe filled every one with grief and made Henry King of England who had made great preparation to undertake the Voyage to alter his mind and imploy his Money to a better use But to return to Egypt Melechsala did not long survive this Victory being slain soon after by Tanquemine a sturdy Mammaluke who succeeded him in the Egyptian Kingdom by whom King Lewis was released in exchange for Damiata being obliged besides the surrender of the City to pay many Thousand Pounds for the releasing of Christian Captives and to make satisfaction for the Damage done in Egypt for the securing whereof he was forced to pawn to the Turks the Pyx and Host whence it is that a Wafer-Cake and a Box is always wrote in the Borders of that Tapestry which we have brought us out of Egypt as a perpetual Memorial of that Victory But tho' Lewis was set at liberty yet he got not home till four years after CHAP. VIII The Mammalukes described The Death of Frederick The Conversion of the Tartars And the extinguishing the Caliphs of Babylon Charles made King of Sicily and Jerusalem King Lewis makes a second Voyage THose Mammalukes which had now seized on the Kingdom of Egypt were the Children of Christian-Parents which were by Saladine and his Successors taught the Mahometan Superstition and instructed in all Military Discipline at several Nurseries and being found by their Valour and Courage to be the chief support of the Turkish Kings were by them advanced to the chief places of profit and trust and thereby the better enabled to pull down their raisers Which was performed during the captivity of King Lewis by Tarquemine who slew Melechsala and thinking it unfit so great a Prince should go to the grave alone sent all his Children after him And was afterwards chosen by the rest of the Mammalukes King of Egypt whereupon he by their advice and consent made several Laws which were ever afterward observed by them as irrevokable The first whereof was That the Sultan or chief of the servile Empire should not succeed by Inheritance but be chosen out of the Mammalukes The second That none should be admitted into the Order of the Mammalukes that were born either of Turkish or Jewish Parents but only such as were born Christians The third was That tho' the Sons of Mammalukes should injoy their Fathers Lands and Wealth yet they should not take upon them the Name and Honour of a Mammaluke The fourth was That the Native Egyptians should be permitted the use of no other Weapons but such wherewith they were to fight against Weeds and Till and Manure their Land There were in this Government several things worthy admiration First That of Slaves they should act the King without playing the Tyrant Secondly That they should neglect their own Children when it is common for other men to idolize them and sacrifice all that they have to their welfare Thirdly That they should not fall out in the Election of their Kings in regard they were all equal among themselves Lastly That it should indure so
killed or which was worse forced them to forswear their Religion and then marching to Antioch took that likewise slaying twenty and carrying away an hundred thousand Christians tho' it is to be suspected that the number of the Captives were at first written in figures and in time increased some thousands by the addition of nothing after which he laid seige to Ptolemais it self Those woful tidings brought into Europe so wrought on the good disposition of King Lewis that he resolved upon a second Voyage to Palestine from which all the perswasions of his Nobles could no way divert him in which Voyage there went with him his two Sons Philip and Tristram Theobald King of Navarre his Son in law Guido Earl of Flanders and Prince Edward eldest Son of Henry King of England who was attended by his Brother Edmund Earl surnamed Crouchback not because he was crook-shouldered as was pretended by Henry Duke of Lancaster when he usurped King Richard's Throne but from his being a Croised Soldier in the Holy War Lewis being now on his way to Palestine it was concluded by the general consent of his Council That for securing the Christians passage to Syria they should first take the City of Carthage in Affrica or rather Tunis which being raised out of the Ruins of that famous City was now become a Nest of Pirates who had killed and taken captive many Pilgrims who were sailing that way to the Holy Land But no sooner was the Siege began than the Plague seized on the Christian Army whereof Thousands died and among the rest Tristram King Lewis's Son and he himself of a Flux soon followed after His loss was much lamented he being accounted the French Josia as well for the Piety of his Life as the Wofulness of his Death and his wilful ingaging himself in a needless and unfortunate War But notwithstanding this Mortality the Siege was continued and Tunis brought into such distress that they were glad to surrender the Town on these Conditions That it should pay yearly to Charles King of Sicily and Jerusalem the Sum of Forty Thousand Crowns That they should receive Christian Ministers freely to Exercise their Religion And that they should be at the whole charge of that Voyage Prince Edward would have had the Town beaten down and all the Inhabitants put to the Sword accounting the foulest Quarter too fair for such Villains and their Goods sacrificed as an Anathema to God and burnt to ashes because gotten by Robbery But seeing he could not prevail with others he resolved however to shew his own detestation by execrating his part of the Spoil and causing it to be burnt forbidding the English Soldiers to save any thing of it telling them that Coals stolen out of that Fire would sooner burn their Houses than warm their Hands It troubled not the conscience of other Princes however to inrich themselves therewith and glut themselves with the stolen Honey found in that Hive of Drones And not only so but terminated their Pilgrimage there too refusing to proceed any further therein Whereat Edward astonished struck his Hands on his Breast and swore That tho' they all forsook him yet he would enter Ptolemais if accompanied with Fowin his Horse-keeper only And accordingly he arrived safe there to the great comfort of the Christians who were in sore distress Whilst Theobald King of Navarre with the Queen and the Earl of Flanders died in their way home and most of the Spoil was cast away At his arrival at Ptolemis he found the Christians just losing their last stake Bondocdar having brought them to so low an ebb that they had resolved if some unexpected Succour reversed not their intentions within three days to resign it up But Edward's coming in the interim revived their hopes and made them take Courage both to desie their Enemies and their own thoughts of surrendring the City Having sufficiently victualed and manned Ptolemais he marched with Six or Seven Thousand Men to Nazareth which he took and slew those he found therein And being afterwards informed that the Turks were gathered together at Cakhow about Forty Miles from thence he marched thither and setting upon them early in the Morning slew a Thousand of them and put the rest to flight In which Battel as well as in several other Skirmishes he gave sufficient proof of his own personal Valour slaying many of the Infidels in single combat After this Victory he returned to Ptolemais where Elenor his Consort was delivered of a fair Daugher but the Joy occasioned thereby was soon turned into Sorrow by the apprehension of his being mortally wounded by one of the Assassines who resorting to him several times with Letters and Messages from the Admiral of Joppa who pretended a desire to turn Christian The first time of his coming as the Prince was lying on his Bed and reading the Letters he brought none being in the Room but them two he suddenly struck him into the Arm with an invenomed Knife and attempted to have fetched another blow but the Prince whose Valour was now awakened gave him such a blow with his Foot that he felled him to the ground and wresting the poysoned Knife out of his hand thrust it into the Murtherer's Belly and slew him yet so that he hurt himself therewith in the Fore-head It is storied that his Lady sucked out all the venom of his Wounds without prejudicing her self But however certain it is that by the help of Physick good Attendance and an Antidote the Master of the Templars gave him he shewed himself on Horse back safe and well within fifteen days after The Admiral hearing of his recovery solemnly disavowed his having any hand in the Treachery it being seldom known that any will own themselves the Parent of an unsucceeding Villany And having done as much and more than could have been expected from so small a number as he had with him he returned home full fraught with Honour And his Father King Henry being dead the English Nobility met him as far as the Alpes to attend him in his return home CHAP. IX Rodulphus the Emperour hindred from going into Palestine sends the Duke of Mechlenburg Charles King of Jerusalem prevented in his intended Voyage MUch talk there was now in Syria of the great preparations of Rodulphus who was after two and twenty years Interregnum chosen Emperour of Germany and though but a meer Earl of Haspurg yet being now advanced to the Emperial dignity layed the first foundation of the Anstrian Family but he was too much imployed at home by Civil Discords and reducing the Princes to obedience whose Knees were too stiff to do him Homage till he had rendered them more pliable by degrees to think of going into Syria But yet being somewhat unwilling to render their great expectations wholly frustrat he sent the Duke of Mechlenburgh with a good Army to assist the Christians who coming to Ptolemais made several succesful incursions into the Enemies Countries about
was to pay a Ransom 〈◊〉 an hundred thousand Michaelets for tâ—â— security whereof he left his Daughter 〈◊〉 Hostage But he paid the Turks with tâ—â— Saracens money whom he beat first 〈◊〉 Antioch and then at Damascus whiâ—â— place he unfortunately besieged aâ—â— thereby damped the Joy of his two foâ—mer Victories And the more to quâ— their swelling pride the young Princeâ— Antioch was overthrown in Battel aâ—â— slain Which ill success so afflicted Kiâ—â— Baldwins mind that for some time bâ— fore his death he renounced the worâ—â— and took upon him a Religious Habitâ— thing not very unusual in those days aâ— sometimes though not often practiâ—â— still as by the Late Queen of Sweden Wâ— is yet living CHAP. XIII Of Fulco the Fourth King of Jerusalem The remarkable Ruine of Rodolphus Patriarch of Antioch The Graecian Emperour demands Anti och The Prince thereof pays him Homage for it Theâ—amentable Death of Fulco FVlco Earl of Tours Mam and Anjou came about three years before on Pilgrimage to Jerusalem where he obâ—ained in Marriage Mellesent the Kings Daughter and thereupon had assigned â—he City of Tyre and some other Princeâ—y Accommodations for his present mainâ—enance and the Kingdom after his Father-in-laws decease which he received â—ccordingly He had one Son by a forâ—er Wife which was Jeffry Plantagenet Earl of Anjou to whom he left all his Lands in France and from whom our Kings of England are descended This Fulco was a very valiant man indued with many perfections both of body and mind In his Reign there was â—o Alterations worth remark in the Church of Jerusalem but in that of Antioch there was much stir who should succeed Bernard that peaceable and long liv'd Prelate who sate Thirty six yearâ— in the Chair and survived Eight Patriarchs of Jerusalem For the Clergâ— being long in their choice before theâ— could come to a result the Laity waâ— too nimble for them and clapped oâ— Rodolphus of honourable descent into thâ— Chair who cast off his Obedience to thâ— Pope and refused to acknowledge aâ—â— Superiour but St. Peter He was thâ— Darling of the Gentry but bated of thâ— Clergy because advanced without theâ— suffrage wherefore being conscious 〈◊〉 himself that he needed strong Arms sinâ— he was to swim against the stream 〈◊〉 screwed himself into the favour of tâ—â— Princess of Antioch Widdow to youâ— Boemund so that with her strength 〈◊〉 beat down all his Enemies promising hâ— in requital to make a Marriage betwâ—â— her and Reimund Earl of Poictou who wâ— then coming into those parts But 〈◊〉 deceived her and procured the Earl 〈◊〉 marry with the Lady Constantia hâ— Daughter who was but a Child wiâ—â— whom he had the Principality of Antioâ— The Patriarch that he might maâ—â— sure work and oblige him for ever to 〈◊〉 his friend bound him to it by an Oatâ— But as it is usual in those cases frienâ— unjustly gotten are seldom long injoyed of a sworn Friend he became his sworn Enemy and forced him to go to Rome there to answer many Accusations laid to his charge The chief whereof was that he made odious comparisons between Antioch and Rome and accounted himself equal to his Holiness When he arrived at Rome he found the Popes Doors shut against him but he quickly opened them with a Golden Key and upon his repentance for having refused to acknowledge Obedience to the Church of Rome he was dismissed only it was ordered by his Holiness that the Bishop of Ostia should be sent into Byria to examine matters relating to his other Crimes and proceed accordingly Whereat his Adversaries stormed extreamly expecting that he should have been immediately deposed But having mist their mark they resolved to have a second blow at him wherefore they prevailed with Albericus the Legate to favour their design which was not unknown to Rodolphus who coming to Antioch cited the Patriarch to appear but being called three several times came not which was variously commented upon by those who were present according as they affected or disaffected him Whereupon the Legate directed himself to the Arch-Bishop of Apamea who had formerly been one of the most vehemenâ— Accusers of Rodolphus but had lately beeâ— reconciled to him and demanded why he did not accuse the Patriarch now oâ— those Crimes which he had formerly laid to his charge To which the Arch-Bishop answered That what he theâ— did was done out of heat and prejudice and he thought it was his great sin so unadvisedly to discover the nakedness oâ— his Father like cursed Cham from which God had so far reclaimed him that he would rather die for his safety than accuse him Upon which Speech the Legate such was the Martial-Law in a Prelate in those days immediately deposed him and shortly after thrust out the Patriarch with great violence and shut him up in Prison where he remained a long time in Chains till at last he made his escape and went to Rome with an intent to have traversed his Cause again had not death cut him off About this time Calo Johannes the Graecian Emperour came with a great Army of Horse and Foot and demanded of Reimund Prince of Antioch to resign to him that whole Signiory according to the Composition which the Christian Princes made with Alexius his Father which insolent demand fretted Reimund and all the Latines to the heart in regard they had purchased an Inheritance with their own Blood and yet were required to turn Tenants at will to another They told him it was offered his Father when first taken and he refused it That Alexius kept not his Covenants nor assisted them according to the Agreement He called them his Sons indeed but disinherited them of their hopes and all the Portion that he gave them lay in promises never paid But all these Arguments signified little the Emperours Sword being far stronger than theirs for coming with so great a force he conquered in a few days all Cilicia and then besieged the City of Antioch it self whereupon the King of Jerusalem fearing it would give too great advantage to the Infidels to have the Christians fall together by the Ears among themselves made composition between them wherein Reimund obliged himself to do homage to the Emperour and hold his Principality of him Notwithstanding which about four years after he returned again but did not much harm only pillaged the Country And some few years after that he died being accidentally poisoned by one of his own Arrows which he had prepared for the Wild Bore having always carried it much fairer to the Latines than his Father had done in regard an honourable Foe is much more desirable than a Treacherous Friend Falco having Reigned in Jerusalem about Eleven years with abundance oâ— care and industry being almost continually imbroiled in Civil Discords which hindered him from much inlarging of hiâ— Dominion was slain as he was following his sport in Hunting to the great grieâ— of his Subjects He was buried with his Predecessors
while â—ccessful and won the City of Belbis or â—erlusium Notwithstanding which Auâ—ors from that time date the ill Success â—f the Holy War and shew us a whole â—loud of Miseries which immediately folâ—wed thereupon and no wonder for God â—ldom lets Perjury go long unpunished First Whilst Almerick was absent in Egypt Noradine won divers considerable â—laces about Antioch Secondly Meller Prince of Armenia â—ho was a Christian entred into a â—eague with Noradine and kept it inâ—iolable to the great disadvantage of the King of Jerusalem which act of Mellers must be condemned and yet the Justice of God ought to be admired in punishâ—ng the Christians thereby for their â—reach of Covenant with the Saracens â—n Egypt Thirdly The Saracens finding themselves faithlesly dealt with laid at on all sides began to learn War and grew good Souldiers on a sudden and although they formerly fought with Bows only yet noâ— they learned of the Christians to use aâ— offensive and defensive Weapons it beinâ— usual with rude Nations to better themâ— selves by fighting with a skilful Enemâ— And Fourthly Almericks hope of coâ—quering Egypt was wholly frustrated bâ—ing after some few Victories driveâ— out and the whole Kingdom conquere by Saladine Nephew to Syracon whâ— beat out the Caliphs brains when he prâ—tended to do him reverence and thereâ— changed the Government of Egypt froâ— the Saracen Caliph to a Turkifh King Aâ— shortly after upon the death of Noradiâ— the Kingdom of the Turks in Syria anâ— the lesser Asia was likewise bestoweâ— upon him whereby he became the moâ—potent Monarch in the World Whilst Jerusalem was left as a poâ— Weather-beaten Kingdom bleak anâ— open to the Storms of its Enemies oâ— every side lying as it were between thâ— Lions Teeth Damascus on the Northâ— and Egypt on the South two poteâ— Turkish Kingdoms united under a valianâ— and successful Prince which made Aâ—merick fend for Succours into Europâ— there being now but few Voluntieâ— flocking to this service and Souldieâ— were forced to be pressed with importâ—nity before they would consent to underâ—ake the Voyage But it being just with God that those who had betrayed the â—aracens whom they undertook to sucâ—our should want succour themselves â—hen they stood most in need of it his Embassadours were forced to return â—ithout any other supplies than pity and â—ommiseration And Lastly The King himself weaâ—ied with so many successive miseries â—nded his life of a Bloody Flux when he â—ad reigned about Eleven years leaving â—esides his two Children by his first Wife one Daughter named Isabel by Mary his second Wife Daughter to John Proto-Sebastus a Grecian Prince who was afterward married to Humphred the third Prince of Thorone CHAP. XVII Baldwin the Fourth succeedeth The Viciousness of the Patriarch of Jerusalem His Embassy to Henry the Second King of England The Original and Power of the Mammalukes Saladine conquered by Baldwin yet afterwards conquers Mesopotamia Baldwins death Baldwin his Son the fourth of that name succeeded his Father having had the benefit of an excellent Education under William Arch-Bishop of Tyre a very Pious Learned Man skilled in all the Oriental Tongues besides the Dutch and French his Native Languages Heraclius who was now Patriarch of Jerusalem being preferred to that Dignity for his handsomness by Queen Mary second Wife to King Almerick and Mother to Baldwin was a man of a debauched and vicious life keeping company with a Vintners Wife whom he maintained in great state like an Empress so that she was generally saluted by the name of Patriarches His ill Example infected the inferiour Clergy whose corrupt manners was a sad presage of the approaching Ruine of that Kingdom This Man was sent by King Baldwin as his Embassadour to Henry the Second King of England to crave his personal assistance in the Holy War and as an inducement thereunto to deliver him the Royal Standard of that Kingdom the Keys of our Saviours Sepulchre the Tower of David and the City of Jerusalem Henry was chosen out before any other Prince because the world justly esteemed him valiant wise rich and fortunate and which was the main that so he might thereby expiate his Murther and gather up again the innocent Blood that he had spilt in the death of Thomas Becket And that he might the more easily be drawn to undertake the Voyage the Patriarch intitled him to the Kingdom of Jerusalem because Geoffrey â—â—â—ntagenet his Father was Son to Fulco the Fourth King of Jerusalem But he was too wise a Prince to be so easily wheedled However he pretended he would go and got together a Mass of Money towards the defraying the Charge of his Voyage making every one as well the Clergy as the Laity pay that year the Tenth of all their Revenues both movables and immovables and when he bad filled his Purse all men expected he should perform his promise but he changed the Voyage into Palestine for a Journey into France The Patriarch while he stayed in England consecrated the Temple Church near St. Dunstans in the West and the House adjoyning belonging then to Knights Templars but since employed to a better use viz. the entertaining those Gentlemen who study and practise the English Laws In the minority of King Baldwin who was but thirteen years old Milo de Planci a Nobleman was Protector of the Kingdom whose Pride and Insolence could not be endured by the great men and therefore they got him to be stabb'd at Ptolemais and chose Raimund Count of Tripoli to suceeed him And Saladine having now seriously resolved upon the Ruine of the Kingdom of Jerusalem endeavoured to furnish himself with such Souldiers as might be most fit for that service in order whereunto he bought a great number of Slaves of the Circassians a People by the Lake of Meotis near Taurica Chersonesus who were brought up to be extream hardy and inured to War by their continual skirmishing with the neighbouring Tartars Those Slaves he trained up in Military Discipline after the Turkish manner They had most of them been Christians and were baptized in their Infancy but being taken from their Parents whilst young they were untaught Christ and instructed in the Mahometan Superstition whereby they became the more implacable Enemies to Christianity for having been once its friends They received from Saladine the name of Mammalukes and were so couragious and expert in War that his and his Successors greatness was not to be so much attributed to their own Conduct as to those Mammalukes Valour till at last perceiving their own strength they wrested the Soveraignty from the Turkish Kings and advanced one of their own number to the Regal Dignity Saladine having thus furnished himself with a new sort of Souldiers resolved to try their Valour upon the Christian and therefore invaded the Holy Land slaying and burning all before him till he came to Askelon where King Baldwin then was before which he sate down and closely besieged it And Count Raimund Protector of