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
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
habitations save only the Lâ—tines knowing full well that if the Christians could not buy their lives cheaâ— they would not fail to sell them dear aâ— fight it out to the last man Saladine flushed with this great succeâ— summon'd Askelon but the Governoâ— refusing to surrender it he concluded would not be convenient to hazard thâ— checking of his fortune in so long a Siegâ— and therefore left it and went to Jerusâ—lem which he looked upon to be a plaâ— of less difficulty and more honour 〈◊〉 conquer and so indeed he found it fâ—â— though they within the City valiantly defended it for about fourteen days yet a last considering that it was but playing out a desperate game which must certainly be lost in the end in regard theâ— Enemies were near and their Friends fâ—â— off and unable to send them any otheâ— relief than vain and helpless pity they resolved to lavish out no more valour bâ— yield up the City upon condition thâ— all their lives might be redeemed 〈◊〉 man for Ten a woman for five and child for one Besent But 14000 wâ—â— were not able to discharge their Ransom were kept as perpetual Slaves Those of the Greek Church were permitted to stay in the City but all the Latines were commanded to depart except two Frenchmen to whom Saladine gave leave to stay and allowed them maintenance to live on in Reverence to their great Age one of them having been a Soldier under Godfrey when he first took the City and the other the first Child that was born in it after it was conquered by the Christians Thus Jerusalem after it had been enjoyed by the Christians for the space of eighty eight years was by the just Judgment of God wrested from them again by the Turks and all their stately Churches turned into Stables except those of the Sepulcher and the Temple The former whereof Saladine spared for a great Sum of Money to the Chiristians which is enjoyed by them to this day by licence from the Grand Signior and innumerable Pilgrimages continually made to it by all sorts of Christians either out of Zeal or Curiosity And the other he Converted to a Mosque for the Worship of Mahomet sprinkling it all over with Rose-water as if he intended thereby to cleanse it from its Profanation by the Christians whilst he really defiled it by his unholy washing It was generally observed that the Sun as sympathizing with the Christians in their approaching Miseries suffered an Eclipse which was afterward looked upon as a sad presage of the loss of thaâ— City But that which was much more deplorable and threatning than the Suns Eclipse was the total Eclipse of Piety Wickedness abounding in every corner and scarce one honest Woman to be found in the whole City of Jerusalem For Heraclius the Patriarch and the whole Clergy being exceedingly debaucht the Laity imitated their bad Example When this doleful News of Jerusalem'â— loss arrived in Europe it filled every Eye with Tears and swelled all Hearts with Sorrow and Anguish CHAP. XIX Conrade Valiantly defending Tyre is chosen King The Voyage of Frederick Emperor of Germany to the Holy Land The Siege of Ptolemais The Voyage of Richard King of England and Philip King of France to the Holy Land IN this sad deplorable State stood the affairs in Palestine when Conrade arrived there whose Worth and Excellence commands my Pen to attend him from his own Country thither He was Son to Boniface Marquess of Montferrat who was taken Prisoner in that Fatal Battle wherein King Guy lost himself and his Kingdom His Youth was for the most part spent in the Service of Isaaccius Angelus the Grecian Emperour who being bred in a Monastery the confining of his Body seemed to have brought him to a pent and narrow Soul and indued him with Accomplishments more becoming a Priest than a Prince For when his Rebellious Subjects affronted him to the face instead of sending an Army against them to reduce them to their obedience he only committed his cause to a company of Bald-pated Friers whom he kept in his Court to pray for his Prosperity Hoping that by their supposed Pious Tears he should be able to quench the Combustions of his Empire But this Conrade told him plainly that if ever he intended to sit upon the Imperial Throne in Peace he must make use of the Weapons of the left Hand as well as those of the right and Fight as well as Pray Which advice being taken by the Emperour he did by the help of this General quickly subdue all his Enemies But our brave Conrade found but a small reward for so great a service being only graced in consideration thereof to wear his Shoes of the Imperial Fashion And it being usual with Princes not to love the sight of those to whom they know themselves obliged and yet care not to reward Isaaccius by the perswasion of some about him who envied his Courage and Bravery spurred on Conrade who was free enough of himself to any Noble Enterprize to go into Palestine and endeavour to support the ruinous affairs of the afflicted Christians And although he was sensible of their Plot yet being weary of the Grecians baseness he suffered himself to be prevailed upon to undertake that Honourable Imployment and therefore set forward with all convenient speed for the Holy Land with a gallant Band of Gentlemen who fitted out themselves at their own charge wherewith he marched to the City of Tyre where we will leave him for the present to return again to Saladine Who having won the City and possessed himself of the greatest part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem laid close Siege to the City of Askelon which had refused to surrender when Ptolemais and the rest yielded to his victorious Arms but was now after a short Siege delivered to him upon condition that King Guy Gerard Masters of the Templars should be sett at Liberty And shortly after the Castle of Antioch was betrayed to him by the Patriarch And Antioch it self which cost the Christians 11 Months Siege was by that means lost in an instant besides several Provinces thereunto belonging Five Twenty strong Towns more which followed the like Fate with Antioch and fell into the Possession of the Turks After which he sat down likewise before Tripoli but that City being after the death of Earl Reimond delivered to the Christians by his Wife they Bravely defended it against all Saladines Force so that having once tasted of their Valour in Tripoli he had no great Stomach to make a second trial but raised his Siege and marched away to Tyre where he hoped to speed better But he found himself greatly mistaken for Conrade being a little before got thither with his Army gave him so hot a Welcome that he was glad to fly and leave all his Tents behind him which were sufficiently lined with Treasure whereby the Christians had the happiness to inrich themselves with their own Spoil Those
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
great a purchase that if once obtained it could not be too dearly bought he resolved to take it before he stirred from the place Peter Belvise Master of the Templars a Valiant and Couragious General being made Governour of the City by the general consent of those within he incouraged the Christians to be Valiant and play the Men and not like Prodigal Heirs part with the City for nothing which cost their Predecessors so much pains and Blood to get or at leastwise to make one Blaze of Valour before their Lamp expired telling them it would be a shame for them to shew their Friends their Faces if they turned their Backs to their Enemies and thefore exhorted them to fight it out manfully that so if forced at last to surrender it they might rather be pittied for want of Fortune then justly blamed for lack of Valour And the City being now to wrestle its last fall he stripped it of all things that were combersom and unuseful for all the Women and Children and the Men too that were either aged or feeble and had Mouths to eat and no Arms to fight he sent away retaining only twelve thousand which he conceived enough to defend the place notwithstanding the vast number of the besiegers The Sultan Assaulted the City divers times with great Fury but was still beaten back by the Christians Artillery and great numbers of the Turks killed but in one of those conflicts the undaunted Governour was unfortunately slain by a poysoned Arrow a loss above grieving for and the greater because irreparable many indeed were strong in desiring the Honour but all too weak to discharge the Office so that the Christians being devided among themseves neglected to defend the City imagining that if it should be taken yet every Nation would be able to defend its part in regard their buildings were all fortified within themselves which idle and dangerous fancy took off their thoughts from minding the publick good and fixed them only on their own private ends The Turks at length taking the advantage of this Preposterous neglect entred the City at a breach which they had made in the Wall by undermining of it thinking their work had then been done tho' they quickly found to their cost that it was but just begun for to their astonishment and wonder they found Ptolemais not a City but a great heap of Citys as it were thrown together the people of every Nation having so Fortified themselves in their several Forts that they didfrom thence Power forth whole vollies of shot upon the Turks when they entered the Streets which makes it a thing hardly to be paralell'd in History for a City to hold out so long after it was taken for they bravely defended themselves against the Whole Turkish power for fifty days together and after all the rest were subdued the Knights Hospitallers who allways bore an implacable hatred to the Turks maintained their Castle near a month longer but their unhappy devision rendering them unable to subsist long they were at length most of them slain and the City wholy subdued by there numerous enemies However it was a Bloody Victory to the Conquerour most of those who entered the City being burned with Fire killed with Arrows or Smothered by the fall of Towers of the very Ruins being as it were greedy of revenge killed those who destroyed them Ptolemais being now taken the Sultan thought it a good penyworth tho' it cost him so dear and therefore to make sure work and prevent all feuture occasion of Ejecting such sturdy Tennants Levelled it even with the Ground No fewer then an hundred thousand Christians which were all the Latines that were left fled at this time out of Palestine into Cyprus where they were freely entertained by Henry King of that Island and Jerusalem to his great cost but greater commendation Five hundred Matrons and Virgins of Noble Blood are by the Mirracle Monger of that age said to stand on the shore of Ptolemais with all their rich Jewels cry out with a lamentable voice for some body to Transport them from that dangerous place proffering any Marriner that would undertake it all their Wealth for his pains and that he should chose out of them any one whom he best liked for a Wife and that thereupon a certain Marriner came and Transported them all freely Landing them safely in Cyprus But when he was sent for to receive his Hire it could not by the strictest enquiry be ever learnt who this Marriner was or what became of him afterwards The Hospitallers were forced for hast to leave their Treasure behind them which they hid in a Vault making it known from time to time to their Successors About three hundred years after it was fetch'd away by the Galleys of Malta Thus after an hundred thirty four years had this Holy War its final period having been for continuance the longest for Charges the most expensive for Slaughter of Men the most Bloody for Pretence the most Pious and for the True Intent of it the most Politick and Subtil that ever the World saw And at this day the Turks to spare the Christians pains in going so far as Palestine have done them the unwelcome courtesie to come more then half the way to meet them but yet it is to be hoped that if they lose Buda which they cannot in all possibility avoid they will be wholly driven out of Europe by the Victorious Arms of the Christians and that it will not be long before their vast and overgrown Empire be finally ruined and sink under the Ponderous Weight of its own greatness to which let all who love the name of Christ say Amen CHAP. XI The Holy War revived again by the present Emperor of Germany and the King of Poland With the Parallel between that and the former War SInce the Holy War was ended there hath been some offers of Christian Princes to revive it again For Henry the Fourth King of England towards the latter end of his Reign purposed to have made a Voyage into Palestine being told by some pretenders to the gift of Prophesie that he should not die tell he had heard Mass in Jerusalem but Henry was deceived and the Voyage prevented by his dying soon after in a Chamber in his own Palace at Westminster called by that name And Charles the Eighth King of France after his return out of Italy sent a huffing Embassage to our Henry the seventh wherein he gave him to understand that he had resolved to make a second conquest of Naples with a design to make use of it as a bridge to transport his Forces into Grecia resolving neither to spare blood nor treasure altho' it were to the imparing of his Crown and dispeopling of his Kingdom till he had either ruined the Ottaman Empire or taken it in his way to Par adice meaning the City of Jerusalem but the French having had enough of the first adventure for Naples we never hear more
in her own breast and then murthered her Son by giving him a dose of Poison that so the Crown in her right might come to Guy her Husband This Prince unhappy in springing from so inhuman and barbarous a Mother Reigned but eight Months and eight Days Baldwin being thus dispatched Guy obtained by large Bribes to the Templars and Heraclius the Patriarch to be immediately crowned from which time the Christians affairs in the Kingdom of Jesalem posted towards their fatal period being spurr'd on the faster by the woful jarrings and discords among the Princes But we shall at present leave the Civil to discourse a little of the Ecclesiastical affairs of this declining Realm Whilst Heraclius was Patriarch of Jerusalem one Hymericus injoyed that honour at Antioch who wrote a bemoaning Letter to Henry the Second of England wherein he much lamented the woful state of the Christians in the East and endeavoured to persuade that Prince to undertake a Voyage into Palestine for their succour and relief and received from him in answer thereunto a Letter fraught with fair and ample promises the performance whereof I could never yet meet with in any of those Historians who wrote the Transactions of the Holy War But besides those Latine Patriarchs which commanded in the Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch there were Grecian Anti-Patriarchs who were appointed by the Emperour of Constantinople and having no temporal Power nor Jurisdiction over the Latines nor Profits of Church-Lands were forced to content themselves with a Jurisdiction over those of the Greek Church only We are not able to find out the exact Chain of their Succession and therefore are forced to content our selves with discovering here and there a Link And about this time we light on three that enjoyed that titular Dignity successively one after another the first whereof was Athanasius who was notwithstanding his being called Schismatick by some of the Historians of that Age a very learned and pious Man as appears by the many excellent Epistles which he wrote upon several occasions The second was Leontius commended likewise to Posterity for an honest Man and a good Scholar The third was Dositheus who was much inferiour to the two former both for Piety and Learning and being offered the Patriarchship of Constantinople by Isaac the Grecian Emperour he attempted to grasp at both and by that means held neither but between two Patriarchal Chairs fell irrecoverably to the ground In Antioch likewise we find several Greek Patriarchs whereof one whose name was Sotericus being displaced for several Heretical Tenets which he held concerning our Saviour he was succeeded by Theodorus Balsamon who was in his time the very Oracle of the Civil Law compiling and publishing many Learned Commentaries upon the Ancient Canons wherein he proved the Patriarch of Constantinople to have greater priviledges than the Bishop of Rome catching say the Romanists at every thing that sounded to the advancing of the Eastern Churches and the pulling down Rome when she lifts up her Head above Constantinople for which reason Bellar min will not allow him to be a good Author This Balsamon was likewise deceived by Isaac the Grecian Emperour who pretended that he would remove him to Constantinople upon condition he could prove the Translation of Patriarchs to be lawful in regard the Canons forbid it but having performed the task the Emperour who was very mutable in his mind bestowed the Patriarchs place upon another and left Balsamon to remain still at Antioch There being about this time a Truce between the Turks and Christians and Saladine's Mother supposing her self sufficiently guarded thereby adventuring to travel from Egypt to Damascus with abundance of Treasure and a very small Train she was notwithstanding the Truce surprized and riffled of all she had by Reinold of Castile which base and unchristian act so inraged Saladine that gathering together all his strength he immediately besieged Ptolemais And the Earl of Tripoli vext at his losing the Government was so blinded by passion and filled with rage against King Guy that he mistook his Enemy and revenged himself on God and Religion by basely revolting with his whole Principality which was a third part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to Saladine and assisting him in that Siege But the Knights Templars and Hospitallers sallying out falling on the Turks in their Camp killed 20000 thousand of them but not without some loss to themselves the Master of the Hospitallers and divers other persons of note being slain in the Fight However thâ— Victory remained to the Christians anâ— Saladine was forced to raise his Siege anâ— be gone which made the Earl of Tripolâ— either out of fear that the Christianâ— might prevail or else moved thereunâ— out of remorse of Conscience or discoâ—tented with the entertainment he me withal from Saladine who had learneâ— that Politick Maxim to give some honour but place no trust in a Fugitive reconcile himself to the King and sorry for his offence return again to thâ— Christians Whereupon Guy gathered togetheâ— the whole strength of his weak and declining Kingdom to do their last endeavour against the Turks to whom he adventured to give Battel near Tiberias although he had but 1500 Horse and 15000 Foot against 120000 Horse and 160000 Foot The Fight began about three of the Clock in the afternoon but night coming on forced them to give over till the next morning when both sides began afresh and the Christians fought with so much courage and resolution that their valour poised their Enemies numbers till at length the day waxing extream hot turned the Scales to the Pagans side there being more Christians slain by thirst and the Beams darted on them from the scorching Sun than with their Enemies weapons Reinold of Castile was slain upon the place and so were most of the Templars and Hospitallers And Gerard Master of the Templars and Boniface Marquess of Montferat were taken Prisoners together with the King himself who seeing his servants all slain before his Eyes with much importunity prevailed with Saladine to spare his Schoolmaster yea in this unfortunate Battel the very flower of the Christians Chivalry was cut down and what was yet most lamented saith Matthew Paris the Cross which freed men from the captivity of their sins was for mens sins taken captive This fatal Overthrow was generally imputed to the Earl of Tripoli who that day commanded a good part of the Christian Army and is reported by some Historians to have treacherously run away in the midst of the Battel But when a great action miscarries some or other must bear the blame and he having been false before this loss was charged on him right or wrong Saladine having obtained this Victory improved it so well that in one months time he conquered Berytus Biblus Ptolemais and all the Havens except Ayre froâ— Sidon to Askelon He used his Conqueâ— with great moderation giving life anâ— goods to all and forcing no Christians 〈◊〉 quit their