Designs and judges all things Lawful which seem necessary to obtain Dominion being his predominant Vice This Prince who was not able to indure so much as the apparition or Shadow of Soveraignty that was above him Massacred the Caliph and all that he could find of his Relations making this his Pretext That he had discovered a Plot of the Caliph and his Friends who had the same Intention towards him After which he gratified the Soldiery with such prodigious Largesses out of the Treasures of that Prince that they became his perfect Idolaters and resolved to expose all they had for his Service and Glory And having thus established himself in the independent Soveraignty of Egypt which he looked upon as the first Stage of his Greatness and the Carrier of his Ambition he began now to entertain the lofty and aspiring Thoughts of Conquering all the East And now it was that the Christians found themselves wedged in between two most potent and redoubtable Enemies Noradin upon the East North and West and Saladin upon the South The Apprehension therefore of the extreme Dangers with which they were Surrounded made them begin to think of doing all that possibly they could for their own Security For this Purpose they sent Frederick Archbishop of Tyre to implore the Succours of the Princes of the West and to attack Saladin by Sea and Land with all their Forces year 1169 before he was well Established in his new Dominions But all in vain for Amauri though Assisted by a mighty Navy from the Greek Emperor laying Siege something too late to the City Damiata which lyes upon the second Branch of the River Nilus over against Pelusium was constrained by the excessive Floods and the want of Provisions to raise his Siege and the Navy was miserably lost partly burnt by the Fires which the Enemies threw among them and partly drowned by a fearful Tempest which wracked the greatest part of them in their Return And the Archbishop Frederick after having unprofitably Toiled more than two Years in the West where the Affairs were too much embroiled by civil Dissentions returned without any other Effects of his Ambassage than fair Words and fruitless Promises In this time Saladin who was resolved to make use of this Advantage year 1170 which the Disorder of the Christian Army offered him entred into Palestine with forty thousand Horse and took Gaza which was the Key of the Country on that Side towards Egypt and the Sea And not long after having levied a great Army both of Horse and Foot he Marched on the right Hand by Idumea that so he might secure another Passage and fell upon the Country on the other side of Jordan where he made a most horrible Devastation On the other side the Army of Noradin year 1170 did the same about Antioch and in Phoenicia where the terrible Earth-quake which was felt throughout the whole East had made such fearful Disorders overturning the Towers and throwing down the Walls of the greatest part of the Cities as if it were to facilitate the Conquests of Saladin who was the Scourge of God the Attila of those Times who was destined to Punish the Crimes of the Christians of Syria and Palestine In short to perfect the Misfortune the King who opposed himself with an invincible Conrage against all the Attempts of so many potent Enemies died in the eight and thirtieth Year of his Age just in the very Instant when he was about to make considerable Advantages of the Death of Noradin who was carried off by a Fever a little before And this deplorable Accident which happened in so critical an unlucky Minute occasioned so many Domestick Troubles in the Kingdom of Jerusalem as were the concluding Causes of its Ruine This Prince left for his Successor his only Child Baldwin the Fourth who besides the Impotence of his Age being not above three years old was also tainted with a scurvy Distemper which in Conclusion became a Leprosy Raymond Earl of Tripolis his nearest Kinsman being Cousin-german to the late King by the Mother had the Regency during his Minority and in that time Saladin who never missed any Occasion to advance his Power Siezed upon Damascus by a Correspondency which he had with the Widow of Noradin whom he married and in short time after he took most of the considerable Places in Syria dispoiling the young Prince the Son of Noradin after he had Defeated his Uncle the Sultan of Nineveh who came to Assist him of all his Dominions At the same time he entred into a League with the Earl of Tripolis who ingaged not to Assist his Enemies provided that for the remainder of their Ransom he set at Liberty certain Prisoners of Quality which he kept in the Castle of Emessa who had been taken by Noradin some eight Years before Thus this Infidel Prince rendred himself more Potent than ever by the Advantage of this Treaty which gave him intire Liberty to Conquer the whole State of Noradin both on this and the other side of Euphrates and Mesopotamia year 1177 as also all that the Sultan of Nineveh Possessed in Syria It is true that King Baldwin after he came out of his Minority did what was possible for him to do in the Intervals of his Distemper to oppose the Progress of the Conqueror and that he obtained many considerable Advantages against him But at length his Distemper increasing he was obliged to chuse some of the Nobility to Govern under him and this Choice occasioned those Emulations and Divisions in the Realm which at the last completed its Ruin For as when once a Soveraign Prince becomes unable by Diseases to mannage his own Affairs he usually grows very Jealous and Suspicious and full of Fears to be Betraied by those to whom he is obliged to trust with so great a Charge Baldwin seeing himself reduced to this piteous Condition and fearing least Bohemond the young Prince of Antioch and Raymond Earl of Tripolis should attempt something against him under pretext of his Distemper which rendred him unable to Govern in his own Person he therefore without that just Deliberation which an Affair of that Importance required gave Sybilla his Sister who was the Widow of William Longsword the Marquis of Montferrat in Marriage to Guy de Lusignan a young French Lord the third Son of Hugh the Brown Earl of March and Lord of Lusignan who had made the Voyage by Sea with King Lewis the Young and creating him Earl of Jaffa and Ascalon year 1180 he declared him Governor of the Realm to the mighty Discontent of the most of the great Lords who thought themselves more worthy of that Honor. But it was not long before he had Occasion to Repent of his Choice for he found by Experience that he had but little Capacity for the Charge and less Courage as he made appear a little after in a fair Opportunity which he had to Defeat his Enemies if he durst have sought with them For
some of which lost their Lives by divers kinds of Torments and others by a lingring Martyrdom changing their Freedom into a most cruel Slavery The lot of the French from whom the other Nations had separated themselves was not much more Fortunate they were Incamped near Helenopolis and Cybotus which our Writers call Civitot which are two Villages situate in the Gulph of Nicomedia and nearest to the City of Nice from whence they sent out great Parties to destroy the Forrage about that City But the Disorders among them were still as great or greater than before so that Peter himself unable longer to indure their Insolence abandoned them leaving the whole Command to Gautier and retiring to Constantinople under pretence of procuring Provision for the Army Soliman who was a great Captain and kept good Intelligence and who knew how to use his Victory resolved now to attempt a second by attacking these People who had neither Discipline Order nor Head whom therefore he purposed to surprize in their Camp But by a strange Adventure it happened that these who had just now received the sad News of the Defeat of their Companions forced their Captains contrary to their Inclinations to draw out and March towards Nice with a Resolution to fall unexpectedly upon Soliman and surprize him whilest he was injoying the Pleasures of his last Victory they therefore decamped with twenty five thousand Men divided into six Batallions under so many Standards and with about five hundred Curiassiers on Horseback There lay between the French Camp and the City of Nice several high Mountains covered with Woods from whence there is a Descent into a fair Plain where this great Town is situated As the French passed these Mountains and Forrests in Disorder according to their Custome making a mighty Noise Soliman who was advanced so far on his way from Nice with a design to attack them little imagining they were coming to meet him being thereof informed by his Scouts who without being discovered by the French gave him this Advertisement he immediately retreated into the Plain where he drew up his Army in Battalia The French who were strangely disappointed to find those so near them and in so good Order whom they thought to have surprized nevertheless stood not to consider whether they should fight or not but gave a furious Charge with two of their Batallions and their little body of Cavalry upon the main Body of the Turks but they who were far more in number than the French extending their Wings to the right and left encompassed them and cutting off the Reserves which were to follow they poured in a shower of Arrows from all parts upon them and charged them with so much Fury that not being able to rally they were in conclusion cut all in pieces The brave Gautier Hievelittle who combated that day like a man who since he could not hope to conquer was resolved to fall nobly being shot through with seven Arrows dyed Renaud of Breis and Foucher of Orleans also perished with all the Cavalry selling their lives to the Infidels at an excessive rate Gautier of Breteuil and Godfrey Burel Colonel of Foot who was the Person that contrary to the Opinion of the wiser Captains drew the Army into this misfortune saved themselves among the Rocks and Bushes retiring to those who were not yet drawn out from the Woods but they seeing all lost dreamt of nothing but how to save themselves But the Turks who followed them close at the Heels pursued them with so much heat that they entred their Camp with the Fugitives where they made a most horrible slaughter among the Women Children Sick People Old Men Priests and Monks which were lest there with a very slender Guard of Soldiers and were generally either asleep or which was worse making debauches those who were able to save themselves from such a wosul Massacre retired some of them into the Mountains where they miscrably perished others to Civitot where the Town being presently after taken by the Turks they were all made slaves Insomuch that of this innumerable Multitude of Crusades of so many different Nations which Peter had led as far as the Bosphorus there did not remain above three thousand men who saved themselves in a little Ruinous Village upon the Propontis which they defended for several days by meer desperation and from whence they were at length drawn off and brought to Constantinople by the Emperors Fleet disarmed and almost naked the Emperour being scarce able to dissemble his malicious joy for this defeat of the Christians This was the Event of the Expedition of the Hermit who after he had done such notable things when he acted in his own Sphere as a Hermit a Priest and a Preacher of the Cross to excite-men to this Holy War came off so poorly when he acted contrary to his Profession and exchanged his Pilgrims Staff for a Sword appearing at the head of an Army with a Helmet upon his gray head and under that the Monks Cowl which did so ill accord with the Equipage and the Quality of a General This may inform us in a Lesson which cannot be too often repeated That as the natural frame of the Universe is conserved by the Different actions of the Elements which whilst they act in their proper places produces the most admirable Concord but ruin and confound all when once they depart from those regular Movements so neither can the civil World subsist longer than whilest the different functions of men retain a conformity suitable to their Condition and that generally all is spoiled when these are confounded But the unfortunate beginning of this Holy War was but only a kind discharge of those corrupted Humors which otherwise might have indangered the sounder Body of the whole Christian Army and which enabled it to act after a far different manner than it could possibly have done with the Conjunction of those irregular People For in the same time whilest these matters passed in this manner in Asia in the Months of August September and October Godfrey of Bullen began his March the fifteenth day of August with a puissant Army of ten thousand Horse and seventy thousand foot well appointed and for the most part chosen out of the Noble Families of France year 1196 rain and Germany who seemed transported with joy to sight under the Conduct of such a noble General He had also in his Company his Brother Baldwin and among other Princes and Lords of the first Quality Baldwin de Bourg his Cousin Earl of Retel the Counts Hugh de St. Paul with his Son Engelram Renald de Toul with Peter his Brother Baldwin de Mons Cousin to the Earl of Flanders Garnier de Grezi Kinsman to Duke Godfrey Conon de Mountaigu Dudon de Conty Henry and Godfrey de Hasche all which were sollowed by the Choicest Gentlemen and the brave Spirits of their Estates When this Army was arrived in Austria in the Month of September
being of an Humor not to forget themselves whilest they served others so advantageously they took occasion to be their own Paymasters by making themselves Masters of certain Places in Pavia where they afterwards became very Powerful by the Accession of divers of their Countrymen who flocked thither to them upon the Incouragement of their good Fortune and Renown The most considerable of these was a Person of Quality one Tancred Lord of Hauteville who of twelve Sons which he had not at all inferior to their Father in Courage sent eleven of them into Italy They were so fortunate that in a little time a fair Occasion presented itself to them to establish their Dominion in Italy For Baldwin Lieutenant to the Greek Governor being ill treated by him craving Aid of these Normans broak out into Terms of Defiance with him These Eleven Brothers the most renowned of their Nation and to whom all the rest yeilded Obedience carried themselves with such Conduct and admirable good Fortune that after having intirely defeated the Greeks in three Battles they chaced them out of almost all their Dependancies in Italy dividing the Conquests among themselves But still they acknowledged for their Captain and Chief the eldest Brother William Surnamed for his Valour Iron-Arme who was the first Earl of Pavia his two next Brothers Drogon and Humphry succeeded him and after them the Third which was the famous Robert Guischard This Prince who certainly was one of the greatest Men of his Age not contented with Pavia by the force of his Arms extended his Dominion into Calabria and Conquered the greatest part of that Country which is now called the Kingdom of Naples and took upon himself the Title of Duke of Pavia and Calabria for which he did Homage to Pope Nicholas the Second restoring to him such Lands as had been usurped from the Church He had afterwards great Differences with Gregory the Seventh who Excommunicated him but in the end being Reconciled he received Absolution and became his great Protector and at the earnest intreaty of that Pope it was that he with his Son Bohemond passed the Sea to make War with Alexis Commenius the Usurper of the Imperial Throne out of which his Predecessor Nicephorus Botaniatos had expelled the Emperor Michel Parapinacius who was come to Rome to Implore the Succor of the Pope and the Normans There can be nothing more Glorious than that which upon this Occasion was performed by this admirable Prince for he over-ran all Greece and with no more than fifteen thousand Men defeated Alexis in a set Battle who Encountred him upon the Frontier of Thrace with an Army of one hundred and seventy thousand Combatants Then leaving Bohemond in Thrace who successfully pusht on the War often beating Alexis as the Princess Ann his Sister Confesses he hasted to the Succor of the Pope who was closely Besieged by the Imperialists and Romans in the Castle of St. Angelo he constrained Henry the Emperor to depart from Italy Retook Rome from the Schismaticks conducted the Pope to Salernum returned to the East in his Passage defeated the Fleet of Alexis and having Rejoyned with Bohemond not long after he died full of Glory leaving his Estate to his Son Roger who after an unkind and unlucky War at last came to an Agreement with his Brother Prince Bohemond giving him for his Share the Principality of Tarentum year 1097 This Prince who was nothing Inferior to his Father in Skill or Courage was with his Uncle Roger Earl of Sicily at the Siege of Amalphi when the French Princes passed through Italy for the Levant So soon as he understood the Subject of their Voyage he declared publickly that he would be one with them either out of his great Zeal for the Glory of God or that he believed this might afford a fair Opportunity for him to Recommence the War with Alexis and by Possessing some part of the Empire establish himself in the East for he sent some of his People immediately to Duke Godfrey to obstruct the Peace between him and Alexis Be it as it will for it is no part of my Province to enter into Mens Intentions after the spiteful manner of most People and above all others Historians who to make themselves thought Able and Understanding too frequently fall into this piece of Malice It is most undoubted that Bohemond shewed such a mighty Ardor for this Holy Expedition that having in the Field torn a silken Cloak which he wore into Crosses he took the first himself and afterwards presented the rest to the principal Officers of his Army which were received with such an universal Applause that all the Souldiers protested they would follow him insomuch that passing quite through the quarter of Bohemond Earl Roger was in a manner wholy deserted and forced to retire Bohemond overjoyed at this Adventure applied himself with incredible Diligence to make Preparation for this Enterprize and in a short time passed the Sea after Hugh the Great but with another manner of Equipage than that Prince had done for he had in his Army ten thousand Horse and above so many Foot together with the greatest part of the Gentry of Sicily Calabria and Pavia and the Princes and Norman Lords the principal whereof were the brave Tancred his Nephew his Sisters Son the Earls Richard and Ranulph his Cousins the Sons of William Iron-Arme his Uncle Richard the Son of Earle Ranulph Herman de Canni Humphrey the Son of Raould and Robert de Sourdevall The Army passed through Epirus and Macedon where the Greek Imperialists who had their Winter Quarters there drawing together attended their Motions intending if possible to surprize them and at a certain Pass upon a River when one half of the Army was marched over they fell in upon the Rere But Tancred immediately Repassing followed by two thousand Horse charged them so home that having cut the forwardest of them in pieces the rest consulted their Safety with their Heels He took also many Prisoners whom he sent to Bohemond who reproaching them for this unworthy Action they assured him that what they had done was by particular Order from the Emperor notwithstanding that that perfidious Prince had wrote Letters full of Complements and Civility to Bohemond by that Artifice it seems thinking to amuse him and make him less Careful or Suspicious However this Blow so astonished Alexis that to avoid a greater he sent an Excuse to Bohemond and commanded his Officers to furnish his Army with Provisions he also requested Duke Godfrey with the principal Lords of his Army to meet this Prince and mediate a Reconciliation and the Duke knew so well how to soften that great Spirit that notwithstanding all the reason he had for his Distrusts he brought him along with him to pay his Duty to the Emperor and to take the same Oath with the rest of the Princes which he did with the same Intention lest it should procrastinate that great Design for which they
Reason and that Ingratitude which is so common among men defacing the fairest Character of Humanity should not be found in the most Savage Creatures whom the Charms of good Offices have devested of their natural Fierceness towards their Benefactors But to return to our History The taking of Marra revived the sleeping Quarrel between the Earl of Tholose and the Prince of Tarentum For the Earl pretended to dispose of this Place as he had done before of Albaria and Rugia upon which he had seized during the Summer but Bohemond who thought there was no manner of Reason that Raimond should do that here which he would not suffer to be done at Antioch opposed him stoutly and in the Dispute they so heated one the others Spirits that the Tarentine thinking he had Reason to do the same on his part returned and immediately drove out all the Earls Forces out of the Forts which they held at Antioch The Princes themselves could in no fort disapprove of this Procedure which they found to be but reasonable especially after having discoursed Raimond at Rugia between Marra and Antioch they found it impossible to perswade him to hear Reason which obliged them to leave him and return to Antioch Thus the great Design of the Conquest of the Holy Land which all the Forces of the Infidels had not been able to hinder seemed in a manner to be ruined by this Difference between two Persons otherwise reputed extraordinary Virtuous and as wise as any of that Age. So that we may see that Wisdom and Reason instantly lose all their Authority when once Passion by the Heart seizing upon the Mind makes herself Mistress there year 1098 But God who was the Chief in this Enterprize repaired that by the Zeal of the feeble and the little ones which was in Danger of being ruined by the Great and the Wise men of the World For the Soldiers of Count Raymond who on one side suffered extremely for want of Provisions after they had been one Month at Marra and on the other hand had a passionate Desire to atchieve the Conquest of Jerusalem thought that the Ambition of the Earl was the only Obstacle who after the Example of Bohemond endeavoured to establish his own Fortune in these Conquests as the other had done in Cilicia during the Summer And therefore making an Insurrection while the Conference was at Rugia they threw down all the Walls of Marra thereby to take away from the Earl the Temptation which he might have to keep it and stay there and more over after his Return they protested that if he would not immediately march in the Head of them towards Jerusalem they would chuse another Captain who they were assured would lead them that they were resolved to accomplish their Vow and that they did not believe they should find themselves alone or abandoned by the other Princes Raimond extremely surprised at this Resolution and fearing in Truth that he should be wholly deserted by his own as he was already by the others his first Zeal which had been so weakened by his Jealousie against the Prince of Tarentum began afresh to flame in his Soul by seeing that of his Soldiers like a Torch that is just ready to be extinguished at the Approach and Touch of another In Conclusion he presently altered his Resolution and setting fire to Marra to shew that he had quitted all Pretensions to it upon the Thirteenth of January he marched out barefoot in the Posture of a Penitent by that Humiliation to repair the Scandal which he had given to his Soldiers who had justly accused him of Ambition He was followed with an incredible Chearfulness of his whole Army who made no Scruple seeing him in this Estate but that he had taken up the same Fervor which he had so well witnessed in being the first Person who took upon him the Cross and who upon all Occasions was wont to animate others by his Example and Perswasion to embrace it with the same Zeal And God also was pleased to bless this generous Action for Robert Duke of Nomandy and Prince Tancred being advertized of this News immediately parted from Antioch whilest the other Princes prepared to follow and joyned him at Capharda where he had posted himself after he had quitted Marra taking the right hand Way toward the Sea year 1099 The taking of Antioch and the great Victory which they had obtained over the Turks the Persians and Arabians had so filled all Syria Phenicia and Palestine with the Terror of the Christian Arms that most of the Emirs who held any Places in those Provinces under the Sultans of Persia or Babylon and Egypt sent their Ambassadours with rich Presents to the Princes to desire their Friendship and Protection promising to pay them Tribute and furnish them with Provisions in their Passage Now in Regard the Principal Design was to go immediately to Jerusalem and to leave the Conquest of the rest till that was taken the Princes thought fit to accept their Offers only the Emir of Tripelis was refused for Earl Raymond perswaded them to besiege Arcas by Reason of the Advice which he received from some Christians who were detained Prisoners at Tripolis that it would either easily be taken or that the Emir to obtain Peace would compound with them for a mighty Sum of money and likewise restore them to their Liberty Arcas which others call Archis was a very strong Town situate upon a Hill some two Leagues from Tripolis and one from the Sea in the middle of a most beautiful and fertile Plain which extends it self along the Lebanon and Antilebanon to the Sea shore The Earl who thought to carry it presently assaulted it the eleventh day of February but the Emir having placed in it a very strong Garrison he was repulsed and constrained to besiege it which he did to no purpose for three months losing before it a great Number of Valiant Men and amongst the rest Anselm de Ribemont descended from the Ancient Earls of Valenciennes and Chastelain of that City one of the most renowned among the Crusades and the Accident by which it happened being altogether extraordinary it well deserves a particular place in this History year 1099 This brave Lord being one Night about to go to Bed having fought stoutly all that day he saw his excellent Friend the young Engelram the Son of the Earl of St. Paul who a little before was slain at the Siege of Marra enter into his Tent. Now Anselm who had an undaunted Soul and to whom the Sight of his Friend gave an extraordinary Joy And how now my dear Engelram said he without being at all disordered are you still alive whom I saw dead at Marra Those replyed Engelram who finish their Lives in the Service of Jesus Christ never die But how comes it Said Anselm that I see you now incomparably more beautiful than you were before Look replyed Engelram shewing him a most admirable Structure in
Elogy and Character Meledin succeeds him An Error of the Christians after the taking of Pharus Cardinal Albano arrives with a potent Reinforcemet to the Crusades The Division between the King and the Legate and the Cause of it An heroick Action of certain Souldiers who break the Enemies Bridge The Army passeth the Nile Sultan Meledin flies The City Besieged by Land Two great Armies of Sarasins besiege the Camp They atack the Lines and force them A great Combat within the Lines The Enemy at last repulsed The Arrival of St. Francis before Damiata His Conference with the Sultan The Battle without the Lines lost by the Crusades An Advantageous Peace offered to the Christians by the Sultan The Reasons for and against it It is at last rejected by the Legate Damiata taken by Night PART IV. BOOK I. THE Condition the manners and the Religion of the People of Georgia who resolve to joyn with the Princes of the Crusade but are hindred by an irruption of the Tartars into their Country The Emperor Frederick sends a considerable relief to Damiata The return of King John de Brienne to the Army of the Crusades The Legate Pelagius opposeth his advice and makes them resolve upon a Battle against Meledin who once more offers Peace upon most advantageous Terms The Legate occasions the refusal of them The humour and description of this Legate An account of the miserable adventure of the Christian Army which by the inundation of the Nile is reduced to the Discretion of Meledin The wise Policy of this Sultan who saves the Army by a Treaty which he was willing to make with the Crusades This misfortune is followed by the Rupture of Frederick the Emperor with the Pope The Character of that Emperor The Complaints of Pope Honorius against him His Answers and their Reconciliation A famous Conference for the Holy War King John de Brienne comes to desire assistance throughout Europe The Death of Philip the August His Elogy his Will and his Funerals New endeavours of the Pope and the Emperor for the Holy War The Marriage of Frederick with the Princess Jolante the daughter of King John de Brienne Heiress of the Realm of Jerusalem John de Brienne is dispoiled of his Crown by his new Son-in-Law He puts himself under the Protection of the Pope Honorius The good Offices of the Pope to pacifie the Princes The death of Lewis the eight King of France He is succeeded by his Son Lewis the ninth The Death of Pope Honorius He is succeeded by Gregory the ninth The Portraict of this new Pope The Army of the Crusades much diminished by diseases The Emperor takes shipping He stays at Otranto where the Lantgrave of Thuringia dies A great rupture between the Pope and the Emperor The Pope excommunicates him Their Manifests The Revenge which Frederick takes He passes at last into Syria His differences with the Patriarch and the Templers His Treaty with the Sultan his Coronation at Jerusalem his return and accord with the Pope The Conference of Spolata for the Continuation of the Crusade The History of Theobald the fifth Earl of Champagne and King of Navarr His Voyage to the Holy Land with the other Princes of the Crusade His description and his Elogy A Crusade published for the Succour of Constantinople An Abridgement of the History of the Latin Emperors there The Causes of the little Success of the King of Navarr's Enterprise A new Rupture between the Pope and the Emperor The Occasions thereof The deplorable effects of that breach which ruins the Affairs of the Holy Land The Jealousie among the Princes occasions their loss Their defeat at the Battle of Gaza The unsuccessful Voyage of Richard Earl of Cornwall The death of the Constable Amauri de Montfort His Elogy his Burial and that of his Ancestors and of Simon de Montfort in the Monastery of Hautebruiere A Council called at Rome The Pope's Fleet defeated by the Emperor's and the taking of the Legates and Prelates going to the Council The death of Pope Gregory The election of Celestin the fourth and of Innocent the fourth He breaks with the Emperor and retires into France BOOK II. THE Original of the Tartars and their Empire They drive the Corasmins the Descendants of the Ancient Parthians out of Persia The Irruption of these Barbarians into Palestine The intire Desolation of Jerusalem The Effect which this produced in the West The Relation of the first Council of Lyons where Frederick is excommunicated and deposed The Decree of the Council for the Crusade The Decision of the Pope touching the Deposition of Dom Sanches King of Portugal A marvellous Example of Fidelity in the Governour of Conimbra The Emperor 's Manifest and his Exploits A Crusade published against him which hinders the Effect of the General Crusade for the deliverance of the Holy Land St. Lewis undertakes it singly with the French He takes the Cross and causes many of the Nobility and Gentry of France to follow his Example in the Assembly of Paris The Conference of Clugri for this Crusade The Ambassage of Frederick to St. Lewis and the wise Conduct of the King in reference to the Emperor The Politick Reasons to justifie this Enterprise of St. Lewis with an account of what was done at the beginning of it His Voyage to Aigues-Mortes where he takes shipping His arrival in the Isle of Cyprus He commits a great Error by staying there six Months The Death of divers Lords there That of Archambald de Bourbon The Marriage of his Grand-daughter Beatrix of Burgundy with Robert the fourth the Son of St. Lewis from whom the Princes of the August House of Bourbon are descended The Ambassage of the Tartars to St. Lewis during his stay in Cyprus His arrival in Egypt The Battle of Damiata and the taking of that City from the Sarasins who abandon it and the reason of their doing so The Entry of the King into Damiata The Error which he commits by stopping there The Army grows dissolute and debauched by lying idly there The arrival of the Count de Poitiers The Resolution which is taken of going directly to Caire The Situation of the Places where the two Armies are incamped The unsuccessful attempt of the Crusades to turn the Nile They pass the River The first Battle of Massore where the Count d' Artois is slain The second Battle and the admirable Actions of the King The Plague and Famine in the Camp An unfortunate Retreat wherein the whole Army is defeated and the King with all the Princes and Lords are taken Prisoners An Heroick Action of Gaucher de Chastillon in this Retreat The admirable Constancy of the King in his Imprisonment His Treaty with the Sultan The Original of the Mamalukes The Revolution in the Empire of Egypt by the Murder of the Sultan The Confirmation of the Treaty with the Admirals The King absolutely refuseth to take the Oath which these Barbarians would exact from him The Refutation of the
of Death causing his Litter to be set down in the middle of the Army he lifted up his Hands and Eyes all Bathed in Tears of Joy to Heaven and with great Devotion he returned his hearty Thanks unto Almighty God for all the Benefits which he had received from him but above all for the Favor which he had now done him to let him die like a Prince of the Crusade in making War against the Infidels and that he permitted him to Vanquish with the bare Report of his Approach and the Terror of his Name these Enemies of Christ Jesus and of his Holy Faith And thus did this Christian Hero Transported more with the Excess of his Joy than of his Pains render unto God his generous Soul going to the Eternal Triumphs of a Glorious Immortality in Heaven whilest his Army Victorious by him only without Fighting Re-conducted his Body in the Litter as in a Triumphant Chariot to Edessa there to receive the Honors due to one of the bravest Actions that ever were Performed year 1142 Thus it was that this Illustrious Lord finished his Glorious Life and thus it was that with the Disgrace of refusing to hold the Place of so generous a Father the young Josselin his Son began his Reign which he dishonored by a Vicious and Dissolute Life spent in all manner of Debauches and above all by the Loss of Edessa which was the cause of the Decay and in Conclusion of the Ruine of the Affairs of the Western Christians in the East But is no new thing to observe that what the Wisdom Courage and Vigilance of many great Men have not been able without great Difficulty to Establish should be Ruined in a moment by the Brutality Pusillanimity and Cowardice of one Dissolute and Voluptuous Man This new Earl Josselin quitted the City of Edessa which his Father and the two Baldwins his Predecessors who constantly kept their Court there had taken great Care to Fortifie and Retired to Turbessel a delightful House Situate upon the Banks of Euphrates where like a true Epicure he drowned himself in those Vices and continual Debauches which the mistaken World calls Pleasures without ever regarding the weighty and troublesom Affairs of State But to Ease him of those Toils which attend a Crown Sanguin the most Potent and Able of all the Turkish Princes Sultan of Alepo and Nineveh now called Mosula or Mussula laid hold of this Occasion of the Stupidity of this careless Prince and knowing that there was neither a good Garrison nor any kind of Provisions fit to sustain a Siege in Edessa he presently sate down before it and by a furious Assault Carried the Place before the Unfortunate Josselin who was of himself destitute of any Power to prevent it could procure any Assistance from his Neighbours for he had too much Disobliged Raymond Prince of Antioch with whom he lived in continual Broils to afford him any and Queen Melesintha was at too great a Distance to Assemble so suddenly such an Army as was necessary to relieve the Place So that the Conqueror had Opportunity enough to make a great Progress with his Arms had not his ill Destiny rather than the Christian Arms prevented him for as he was Besieging Cologembar a Town upon the Euphrates he was Slain by one of his Eunuchs who having thus revenged himself of some Affront done him by his Master saved himself by Flight His two Sons divided his Dominions between them Cotebin the Eldest had for his Share Nineveh and Assyria and Noradin the Younger Brother was Sultan of Alepo This young Prince who soon after made himself one of the most Potent Princes of all Asia had nothing about him that was either Turk or Barbarian except the Name and without retaining any thing of the Vices of his Nation he made himself most Conspicuous in his Conduct by all the Virtues and accomplishing Qualities of a great Captain He was equally Wise Provident Moderate Bold and Enterprising Couragious Valiant and Fortunate and what was most rare among Infidels he was a Man of Honor Probity and wondrous Devout in his own Religion which was Mahometan above all he was the most Vigilant of Mankind the Stoutest and most prompt to lay hold upon all Opportunities which presented themselves with the prospect of any noble Action as appeared particularly in the Rencounter I am going to relate Having understood at Nineveh that Earl Josselin being underhand Sollicited by the Inhabitants had Seized upon Edessa with a considerable number of Troops he ran thither immediately with such Forces as he could on the suddain get together to Invest it this he performed so readily that the Earl despairing to resist the Enemies within who yet held the Fortresses and those without who went about to cut off all Provisions from coming to him resolved before all the Passages were obstructed to save himself with his Soldiers by quitting the City which being accordingly put in Execution the greatest part of the Inhabitants who were afraid to fall into the Hands of Noradin would also Accompany him in this dishonorable Flight But that Prince falling upon the infortunate Inhabitants at the same time that those within the Fortresses Sallying out had broken in among them at the Gate which they had set open they were all cut in pieces and then immediately pursuing the flying Army of the Earl which were Retreated some two Leagues to gain a Pass upon the Euphrates he Charged them so briskly that in the End he put them to a total Rout so that the miserable Earl did not without great Difficulty Escape to Samosatia year 1143 where he Arrived almost alone Thus Noradin having no more Enemies able to keep the Field and having so easily Re-gained Edessa quickly made himself Master of the greatest Part of that Principality from whence he Menaced the other three and all that part of Christendom which was in the East with utter Ruin and Desolation In the mean time immediately after the first taking of Edessa by Sanguin there being great reason to fear that that powerful Turk who had the Courage and Ambition of a Conqueror would also indeavour the Conquest of Antioch a Dispatch was immediately sent to request the Succours of all the Princes of the West But the principal Application was made to Lewis seventh King of France to whom the Christian Princes of the East who were all of that Nation had Recourse as to their natural Lord and whom the cross Accident which happened a little after put into the most favourable Disposition in the World to undertake such an Enterprise This Prince was in the very Bloom of his Youth being about twenty four Years of Age he was of a most exact Shape and of a marvellous and in his Sex an uncommon Beauty of a sweet Temper Civil and Obliging extream Pious Tender and Sensible of the least Sufferings of his meanest Subjects whom he most passionately Loved and was no less Beloved by them but above all he
unquestionable he also added That he was ready to renounce his Religion and turn Mahometan Saladin who very well knew him by the Reputation which he had acquired and which had given him the Fame of one of the ablest and most valiant Knights of his Order accepted his Offers and to engage him the more strongly to his Party gave him his Niece in Marriage and in consequence a very good Army with which this infamous Apostate committed most horrid Discorders in Palestine but as he approached to Jorusalem which he believed he should be able to surprize with the third part of his Troops whilst the other desolated all the Country as far as Samaria or Sebastia even to Jericho the small number of Soldiers which were in the City with the Inhabitants sallied out at the Postern-Gates so luckily that the Traytor who expected no such matter was himself surprized and most of his Companions being cut in pieces he was constrained to sly with all the haste his Spurs could help him to thereby to escape the just Punishments which he knew he deserved for his detestable Perfidy This was some little Consolation to poor King Baldwin who had tasted little in his Life but went out of the World some few Days after with this small Satisfaction dying in the twenty fifth Year of his Age and the twelfth of his Reign not less with the Violence of his Disease than with the Grief which he had to see his poor Kingdom destitute of all hopes of Succour and left in the hands of a feeble Infant betwixt eight and nine Years of Age and which was in extream danger to be miserably torn in pieces by the Factions and Ambition of the Great Men. And indeed presently after the death of this Prince year 1186 those dangerous Contests for the Regency began to break out between the Earl of Tripolis and Guy de Lusignan But this Fire became a mighty Blaze by the death of the little King which happened about seven Months after that of his Unkle by a slow Poyson which it is said was given him either by Count Raymond his Governor who had some Pretensions to the Throne or as others believed by his own Mother Sybilla an ambitious and unnatural Woman who was not able to suffer this little Infant to take from her the Hope of being a Queen But let it be as it will that the Malignity of Men's Natures and the Liberty which they give themselves to publish their own Suspicions and the idle Reports of the People for undoubted Truths which hath often given Rise to the Belief of such supposed Crimes This is certain that the death of this Infant King gave the fatal Blow to this unhappy Kingdom year 1186 and to the Liberty of the unfortunate City of Jerusalem King Baldwin the Fourth had two Sisters Sybilla the Mother of this little Baldwin the Fifth which she had by her first Husband William Marquis of Montferrat his second Sister was Isabella the Daughter of Mary the second Wife of Amauri and Niece to Manuel the Emperor of Constaminople who was married to Alfred de Thoron Son to the late Constable of Jerusalem Now Raymond who was the nearest Relation to the deceased Kings pretended that in the present Condition of their Affairs he ought to succeed to the Kingdom to the Exclusion of the Females and he was supported in his Pretensions by the Militia the People and the Judgment of King Baldwin the Fourth who had intrusted him with the Minority of the young King his Nephew excluding from it Guy de Lusignan the second Husband of his Sister Sybilla On the other side all the great Lords of the Realm who were for maintaining the Succession to the lawful Heirs of the Sisters of Baldwin the Fourth were resolute to recognize the Princess Sybilla for their Queen but with this Condition that some Expedient should be found out to break her Marriage with Count Guy of Lusignan with whom they would have nothing to do both in regard that he was not reputed either brave or able as also that they could not endure that a Stranger newly come among them should possess the Throne to the prejudice of so many Lords of the Realm who might sill it more advantageously Nevertheless Sybilla who was altogether as dexterous as she was ambitious having for some time concealed the death of her Son knew so well how to gain the Patriarch and the great Masters of the Temple and the Hospital who made the most powerful Interest that she procured her self and Husband to be crowned almost at the same time that the death of the little King was divulged before the other Pretenders could have the leisure to enterprize any thing against her It is true indeed that they were so transported with Madness at this surprizing Artifice that they offered to declare Alfred de Thoron King but whether it were that he had little Ambition or little Courage he rejected the Tender and went himself immediately to recognize the new King by doing him Homage the others thereupon being astonished with his Action yet followed his Example though they detested in their hearts this Cowardly Submission of his as they termed it and reserved themselves for the future by some Opportunity or other to overthrow that Throne to which they now submitted only in Appearance and Compliance to the present Necessity But it was far otherwise with the Earl of Tripolis for he neither able to suffer nor to dissemble the Injury which he thought he received by preferring his Rival was so transported with Rage and Fury that he immediately retired into his own Estates and presently after to accomplish his Revenge committed a Fact the most black dishonourable and detestable that ever was recorded in any Story This Count Raymond the Third was descended in the Right Line from the famous Raymond Earl of Tholouse who was his third Grandfather and who after he had done so many fair Actions in the first Crusade died in the Year 1105. in the Fortress of Mount Pilgrims about two Miles from Tripolis which he then besieged Bertrand his Son who took that City succeeded his Father in the Earldom which he held of the Realm of Jerusalem and he left for his Successor Pontius de Tholouse his Son who married Cecilia the Widow of the valiant Tancred the Daughter of Philip the King of France which he had by Bertrada de Monfort who had also had by Fowk d' Anjou her former Husband the young Count Fowk who was afterwards King of Jerusalem From this Earl Pontius and Cecilia descended Raymond the Second Nephew to King Fowk and who was also his Brother in Law by the Marriage of the younger Sister of Queen Melesintha the Daughter of King Baldwin the Second and Wife of King Fowk So that Raymond the Third of whom I now speak who was the Son of Raymond the Second was by his Father second Cousin and by his Mother Cousin-german to King Amauri the Father
another Fleet more numerous then the first which came from the Coast of Tyre to reinforce the Camp of the Christians The first was a Fleet of Danes and Frisons to which were joyned such of the English who were resolved not to stay till the two Kings were accorded to make their Voyage to the Holy Land These were all chosen men resolute to employ the last drop of their Blood for the deliverance of the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ and they did so well accomplish that resolution that of twelve thousand Gentlemen who arrived upon this Fleet there remained not above one hundred alive at the End of the Siege Their Passage also was no less glorious than advantageous to Christendom for in their Way they took from the Sarasins the City of Silves in Portugal which they put into the Hands of the King Dom Sancho the Son of the great Alphonso and it hapned that they were at the same time joyned by several other Ships who had on board a great Number of Volunteers both Nobility and Soldiers under diverse French Lords and Princes the Principal of which were Robert Second Count de Dreux with his Brother Philip the Bishop of Beavais the Cousins of the King Thiband Earl of Chartres and Stephen his Brother Earl of Sancerre Rayoul Count de Clermont in Beavoise Thiband Count de Bar Erard Count de Brienne and Andrew his Brother who was esteemed one of the most Gallant men of his time William Count de Châlon upon the Saone Geoffry de Joinville Senescal de Champagne Guy de Dampiere Anseric de Montreal Manasses de Gerland Guy de Chatillon Upon the Marne and his Brother Gaucher the Third who was afterwards Earl of St. Paul and who signalized himself under that illustious name by a thousand noble Actions which he performed in the War against the Albigenses and in serving Philip the August against the Enemies of the Crown and above all in the Famous Battle of Bovines where he commanded the Rereguard of the Royal Army Gaucher the Second Grandfather of these two brave Lords and his Brother Renaud de Chastillon had formerly been in the Second Crusade under the Conduct of King Lewis the Young year 1190 Gaucher miserable perished in the unfortunate Combat of the Mountain of Laodicea and the Valiant Renaud who had been Prince of Antioch was slain by the Hand of Saladin himself after the deplorable and fatal Battle of Tiberias Guy de Chattillon who was imbarked upon this Fleet with the French Princes lost his Life at the Siege of Accon So that there are to be found few Families in France which have contributed so many great Men for the Holy War as have been derived from this Illustrious House of Chastillon from whence some tell us was descended that great Eudes de Chastillon Archdeacon of Reims Prior of Clugny Cardinal de Ostia and at last Sovereign Pope under the Name of Vrban the Second who was the Author of the first of the Crusades But we are otherwise informed by Alberick the Monk of the three Fountains of the Diocess of Chalons upon the Marne in his Chronicle which is only a collection of old Contemporary Authors and of which I have had a fair Manuscript communicated to me by M. Mabre Craymoisy Director of the Royal Printing-House of the Louvre who also printed this History This Alberick in his Chronicle under the Year 1087. which is that of the Exaltation of Vrban produceth not only Guy de Basosches as the Writer of the History of the Popes but another Author called Hugh who affirms that this Pope was born at Chastillon upon the Marne and that he was Son to the Lord de Lageri whose descendants from Rodolph the Brother of Vrban to the fifth Generation he there gives an Account of so that Eudes the Monk of Clugny took his Sirname from the Place of his Birth according to the Custom of those times and of our own also in some Monasteries his Fathers Name according to Panvinius being Miles another of our most Famous Genealogists will by all means have him to be the Son of a Lord of Chastillon whom he calls Miles but who never was in rerum Natura except in his own prolifick Brain since it is most evident that he was deceived as his own Son a most knowing Person ingeniously confesseth and is made apparent by comparing what he saith with Guibert the Abbot of Nogent an Author of that time who affirms that he was born in the Territory of Reims where the Seigniory of Lageri lies I have been willing contrary to my Custom to make this Genealogick Remark to shew how easie it is for Writers to be deceived in these kind of Matters by mistaking sometimes the place of their Birth for that of the Seigniory and that when by such an Equivocal Slip one comes to be perswaded that a man is descended from such a House into which Genealogical Stemm having grafted him they presently find out for him such imaginary Fathers Mothers and Grandfathers as never were in being as they have done for this Pope Vrban the Second And for this reason it is that I have not given my self or the Reader much Trouble in discussing the Genealogies of those persons of whom I have Occasion to speak in this Work in regard that is not only very troublesome but uncertain unprofitable Invidious and Vain and in no sort proper for an Historian who ought to leave such Researches to those who make it their peculiar Design to record the History of some Illustrious House To return therefore to my Subject James Lord of Avesnes and Guise one of the most renowned Captains of his Age being desirous to imitate the Zeal of Gerard d' Avesnes one of his Ancestors who was in the first Crusade joyned these Princes with a good Troop of his Subjects So that these generous French all together made more then ten thousand brave men who burning with an earnest Desire as soon as possible to combat the Infidels had not the Power to wait till the two Kings should be in a Condition to accomplish their Vow but caused a Fleet at their own Charges to be rigged out at Marseilles from whence in thirty five days time they arrived prosperously in the Road of Ptolemais at the same time that the Dains Frisons and English came to an Anchor in the same place so that together they formed a very fair Army The other Fleet was that of the Germans who had gone to Sea to reinforce the Army of the Emperor under the Conduct of the Lantgrave of Thuringia and the Duke of Guelderland who coming to ride before the Port of Tyre had at length perswaded the Marquis of Montferrat who was before frequently sollicited by such as came from the besieged Army upon the Hill Turon to joyn his Fleet with theirs so that weighing Anchor with about twenty two thousand Soldiers aboard they stood directly for Ptolemais year 1190 where by a very fortunate adventure they
was made with this Condition that after the Taking of Zara the Venetians should joyn their Forces with them in order to the attacking of Egypt the Conquest whereof they hoped would not be difficult which by reason of the Famine and the Pestilence had been extreamly desolated for five Years in which it had wanted the Inundation of the River Nilus Dandolo ravished with Joy to have obtained what he so earnestly desired upon this Occasion did an Action which was wholly unexpected from him and by which he most justly acquired immortal Fame For notwithstanding his extream Old Age and the Weakness and in a manner entire Loss of his Sight which might well have dispensed him from going to the Wars yet one Day in a great Assembly of the Senate the Lords of the Crusade and the People being in the Church of St. Mark he unexpectedly mounted the Tribunal and earnestly intreated the Republick to give him permission to take upon him the Cross and in Person to conduct the Venetian Army and that leaving his Son to supply his place after the Taking of Zara he might accompany the brave and generous Princes of France either to partake with them in the Glory of delivering the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ or to die with them in the pursuit of such a glorious Enterprise These Words were received both by the Crusades and Venetians with mighty Applause and with such great Acclamations mingled with Tears and Cries of Joy that the venerable old Prince more encouraged by the general Consent and the glorious Testimonies which were rendred to his Vertue descending instantly from the Tribunal made himself be conducted to the Foot of the Altar where prostrating himself to offer his Life as a Sacrifice to Almighty God to whose Service he now dâ—â—oted the Remainder of his Days he caused the Cross to be affixed to his Ducaâ— Bonnet that so it might be the more conspicuous and visible to all the Beholders An Example so illustrious was presently followed by several of the principal Persons of the Republick And that which augmented the Joy was that at the same time there was seen to arrive a noble Troop of brave German Lords and Brabamers who had taken upon them the Cross with Conrade Bishop of Halberstad and Berthold Count de Catzenelbogen So that by the favour of these Reinforcements the Army found it self compleat and being all imbarked in the Month of October they parted from the Port of Venice upon the gallantest Fleet which had ever spread Canvas upon those Seas and which consisted in three hundred Vessels charged with all manner of Warlike Engines and Munitions Upon the Eve of St. Martin they came within view of Zara and though considering the heighth and thickness of the Walls and the strength of its Towers which were defended by a strong Garrison many of those who beheld it at a distance judged it impregnable yet the next Day they attacked the Port with so much Fury that having dispersed those who defended it with the mighty force of Stones and Darts from the Engines and having broken the Chain which defended it they gained it by main Force and landed on the other Shoar year 1202 there to attack the City so soon as they had made their Lodgments and taken up their several Posts This vigorous Attempt did so terrify the Besieged that the next Day they sent out Deputies to make Offers of Surrendring the City upon Condition of only having their Lives saved And they had most infallibly done it if those of the Cabal who before had indeavoured to break up the Army had not by a most base Perfidiousness altered their Resolution by assuring them that they had none to deal with but the Venetians for that the French in Obedience to the Pope were resolved to undertake nothing against them At the same time Guy Abbot du Val de Sernay the same Person who had done such great Things against the Albigenses and who was afterwards Bishop of Carcassone went to speak with the Doge and the rest of the Princes and by a Zeal which had like to have caused great Disorders certainly a Zeal which made him act very unseasonably by unnecessarily exposing to Contempt the Authority of the Holy See he forbad them in behalf of the Pope to proceed any further or to enterprise any thing against Zara declaring those who should disobey this Order to be Excommunicate by Virtue of the Apostolical Letters which he there presented to them An Action so Surprizing did so Exasperate the Venetians that they had certainly cut this indiscreet Abbot in a thousand Pieces if Simon Earl of Montfort who was of his Party had not stoutly opposed it declaring himself his Protector and protesting that he would obey the Holy See and never employ those Arms against Christians which in taking upon him the Cross he had taken up to make War against the Infidels But the Princes and other French Lords to let the Venetians see that they did not only condemn this Action but that they were resolved like Men of Honor and in despite of all those who opposed it to perform what they had not promised but that notwithstanding their Vow they might well both in point of Conscience and for very considerable Reasons do gave such a furious Assault to the City both by Sea and Land without Intermission for five days successively that the Besieged were compelled to Surrender upon Discretion their Lives only saved After this the Season of the Year being too far declined to think of making War in Egypt it was resolved to pass the Winter at Zara where the Marquis Boniface came about fifteen days after the Reduction of the Place for he would not imbark with the rest upon pretence of giving some necessary Orders concerning the pressing Affairs of his Marquisate but in reallity that he might dexterously avoid appearing at the Siege of Zara and prevent the Displeasure of the Pope tho not long after the Pope received the Excuses which the French made him by their Deputies and granted them the Pardon which they demanded for the greater Satisfaction of their Consciences He also permitted them for the removing of all Scruples the Liberty of Treating at all times with the Venetians who could not be persuaded to believe themselves obliged to desire from him the Absolution from those Censures which they thought they had not at all deserved for which Reason some time after he denounced them Excommunicated by a Decree which the Princes thought convenient to suppress fearing that otherwise it might give occasion intirely to ruine the Enterprise of the Holy War as undoubtedly it would have done It was for this Reason that this sage Pope to whom the French Princes gave an account of their Proceedings by Letters respectful but very resolute after having throughly weighed the Matter approved the Prudence of their Conduct and some time after their Spirits being sweetned by a more propitious Conjuncture a Reconciliation easily ensued
the Bulla of this Crusade and the Pope's Letters which exhorted the Crusades to follow him so that he sound a great many who either to please the Pope or that they thought this Enterprise less difficult and dangerous than that of the Holy Land presently joyned with him and among others Peter de Dreux Duke of Bretagne who promised to assist him with twelve thousand men This gave so great a displeasure to the King of Navarr the Duke of Burgundy the Counts of Bar Vendosme and Montfort who had before devoted themselves for the Holy Land and who thought very hard that one Crusade should be ruined or at least extremely weakned by another that they complained thereof to the Pope himself and in a manner reproached him with Levity and this Change which they said was most prejudicial to the principal Enterprise the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre of Jesus Christ But Gregory made them answer that being at least as zealously interested as they in the Affairs of the Holy Land he also understood himself better than they could inform him and was in the Opinion that it was impossible ever to chase the Infidels out of Palestine unless the Conquest of Constantinople was first well assured and that now it was in danger to fall under the Power of the Schismatical Greeks and therefore he conjured them to joyn with Baldwin remonstrating to them that this was to labour most efficaciously for the End by applying themselves to the means which was so absolutely necessary for the attainment of it year 1238 The Princes nevertheless would not suffer themselves to be perswaded but remained firm in their first Resolution Even the Breton himself Peter de Dreux who had promised the Pope to serve for Constantinople wheeled off again and chose rather to joyn himself to the King of Navarr so that by this Accident there being a great Division among the Minds of men some following Baldwin others the King of Navarr it fell out that in the place of one great Crusade which might have proved successful either in Greece or Palestine there were two very indifferent ones which had in neither place the good Fortune which was to be hoped and desired This was the first Division which hurt the Army of the Crusades but that which happened presently after between the Pope and the Emperor was much more fatal to them and had like to have ruined all The Island of Sardinia as well as several other Estates had been now for a long time held as Fiefs from the Holy See and Gregory had sent thither one Roland one of his Chaplains to receive the Homages and Reserved Rents and to take possession of some Lands about Cagliari Frederick who notwithstanding all the Intreaties and Remonstrances of the Pope who had sufficient cause to be afraid of his Power was now come from Germany into Lombardy with an Army of one hundred thousand men and having gained a great Victory over the Milaneses and reduced the greatest part of the Confederate Cities under his Obedience he believed himself to be in a condition to make himself Master of what ever he pretended appertained to him as being dismembred from the Body of the Empire And thereupon those of the Principality of the Tour which now is called Sassari having given it to him after the Death of their Lord Vbald he sent thither his natural Son Henry who was usually called Entius who presently seised upon the whole Isle which his Father erected for him into the title of a Feudatory Kingdom to be held of the Empire year 1239 The Pope who was in Possession of the Sovereignty of this Isle strangely surprized at this procedure complained bitterly of it and demanded reparation But Frederick was so far from giving him Satisfaction that he seized upon other Lands of a Bishop of Sardinia which the Magistrates had adjudged as Demesnes to the new King and withal he made it be answered to the Pope for good and all that Sardinia had been usurped from the Emperors and before those Usurpations had always belonged to the Empire and that for his own particular it was well enough known that as he was Emperor he had sworn that he would do all that lay in his Power to reunite to the Body of the Empire whatsoever had been dismembred from it and that he was fully resolved most exactly to acquit himself of his Duty in this particular Hereupon the Pope seeing that he remained immoveable in that Resolution solemnly excommunicated him upon Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday for invading the Patrimony of the Church and such other Causes as are comprized in the Decretal which he pronounced himself and which he sent to all Christian Kings Princes and Prelates with orders for them to publish it by the Sound of Bells prohibiting all the Emperor's Subjects to obey him and all the Ecclesiasticks from celebrating the Divine Offices in the Cities or Castles wherever he should be It is said also that having declared that he was fallen from the Imperial Title and Dignity he offered the Crown to St. Lewis for his Brother Robert Count d' Artois but that for very good reasons that pious King rejected the Offer and this is most certain that by a most discreet Policy he would never concern himself in this difference nor be persuaded to change the Conduct and Maximes of his Government by taking Arms against the Emperor although he was extremely sollicited to do so by the Pope as in the following year the King gave the Emperor an account by his Letters The War between the Pope and the Emperor began by the Writings the Letters and the Manifests which both the one and the other dipersed abroad in which were contained the Accusations and the Answers which they made which may be seen at their full length in Matthew Paris after which the Emperor Frederick having a potent Army whilest the Pope sent to all places to demand the Assistance of the Princes and Republicks caused his Son Entius to enter into the Marquisate of Ancona whilest he himself taking the Right Hand marched over Tuscany where the greatest part of the Cities and even Viterbum receiving him and declaring against the Pope he advanced directly towards Rome not doubting but that he had such a Party there as would upon his Appearance open the Gates of that City to him But Gregory who in the extreme danger wherein he found himself destitute of all humane Succours had recourse to God by a great Procession from the Church of the Lateran to that of St. Peter in which he did so movingly harangue the Romans holding between his Arms the Venerable heads of the Apostles protesting with Sighs and Tears that he was not in any sort able to protect them without the Assistance of the People of Rome who were their Protectors that they cried out with an incredible Ardour that they would all perish in the defence of them Hereupon the Pope who was resolved to make his advantage
to do him prejudice and on the other that though he had a resolution to maintain a good understanding with the Empire yet he was not deposed to purchase it at the rate of so disobliging and dishonourable a refusal of his demands insomuch that this Prince as fierce as he was being afraid to provoke a King whom he both extremely honoured and feared in consequence upon his more cool and deliberate thoughts judged it convenient to satisfie him and therefore sent home his Bishops and Abbots into France In short this Accident so fatal to the whole Church and which ruined all the good designs of the Pope for the Holy Land did so afflict him that his extreme old Age although wonderful vigorous being unable long to resist the Violence of his Grief he died of Age and his resentment of this Blow about three Months after having for above fourteen years with marvellous Courage steered the Ship of St. Peter in that terrible Tempest which had been raised by the Quarrels year 1241 and Persecutions of Frederick Geossry de Chastillon a Milanese was thirty days after chosen by the name of Celestine the fourth and did immediately all that he could by writing to the Emperor Letters full of tenderness to sweeten his Spirit and incline him to restore Peace to the Church But the death of this Pope which followed within ten days after his Exhaltation hindred him from finishing what he had so happily begun After his death the Holy See was Vacant for above two years by reason that the Cardinals always refused to assemble unless Frederick would deliver their Bretliren who had protested the Nullity of such Elections as should be made without them and whom the Emperor persisted obstinately to detain all that time But at length Baldwin the Second the Emperor of Constantinople who in the extremity to which his Affairs were reduced was come in Person to desire the Assistance of the West wrought so effectually upon his Spirit already shaken by the Clamours of all Christendom that he restored them to their Liberty And then by common consent Cardinal Sinibald de Fiesque was chosen at Anagnia upon the twenty fourth day of June year 1243 who took the name of Innocent the fourth which he rendred so famous by his Virtue and by his Knowledge in the Canon Law of which he was called the Father It was the General belief of the World that this Election would fully reestablish the Peace of the Church in regard that this Pope while he was Cardinal had been a mighty Friend to Frederick and that at first the Emperor sent to him a magnificent Ambassage to congratulate him upon his Exaltation to offer him whatever was in his power by submitting himself intirely to him in all things the Rights and Dignities of his Empire and his Realms always excepted After this also he sent his Chancellor Peter de Vignes and Thadeus de Sessa who promised solemnly in his behalf and with an Oath that he would stand to his Judgment as to the satisfaction which he was to make insomuch that there seemed to remain no doubt but Peace would be concluded But this belief was quickly lost for the Pope having sent his Legates to the Emperor to let him know that he was ready to receive him to peace and to the Communion of the Church provided that he purged himself of those Crimes for which Gregory had condemned him and that Innocent on his side was disposed to give him satisfaction if in a General Council which should judge of it it should be found that he had offended This so exasperated the Emperor that he carried matters to the utmost Extremities so that the Pope finding that he was not in safety in Italy was obliged to take refuge in France which hath ever been the Sanctuary and retreat of persecuted Popes year 1244 But as the first and the greatest care which he had so soon as he was elevated to St. Peter's Chair was to reestablish Jerusalem and to secure it to the Christians by procuring all the Princes of Europe to contribute to the rebuilding of the Walls of that City so as to render it impregnable it was at the same time that he received a terrible Surcharge of grief by the sad news which he received of the intire desolation of that Holy City and the horrible Profanation of the Sacred places by the Corasmins whom the Tartars who ravaged the whole East had chased out of their Country And this is the Subject which I am next to recount this miserable accident being the principal Cause of the seventh and last Crusade which was wholly managed in a manner by the French under the King St. Lewis THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADE OR The Expeditions of the Christian Princes for the Conquest of the Holy Land PART IV. BOOK II. The CONTENTS of the Second Book The Original of the Tartars and their Empire They drive the Corasmins the Descendants of the Ancient Parthians out of Persia The Irruption of these Barbarians into Palestine The intire Desolation of Jerusalem The Effect which this produced in the West The Relation of the first Council of Lyons where Frederick is excommunicated and deposed The Decree of the Council for the Crusade The Decision of the Pope touching the Deposition of Dom Sanches King of Portugal A marvellous Example of Fidelity in the Governour of Conimbra The Emperor 's Manifest and his Exploits A Crusade published against him which hinders the Effect of the General Crusade for the deliverance of the Holy Land St. Lewis undertakes it singly with the French He takes the Cross and causes many of the Nobility and Gentry of France to follow his Example in the Assembly of Paris The Conference of Clugri for this Crusade The Ambassage of Frederick to St. Lewis and the wise Conduct of the King in reference to the Emperor The Politick Reasons to justifie this Enterprise of St. Lewis with an account of what was done at the beginning of it His Voyage to Aigues-Mortes where he takes shipping His arrival in the Isle of Cyprus He commits a great Error by staying there six Months The Death of divers Lords there That of Archambald de Bourbon The Marriage of his Grand-daughter Beatrix of Burgundy with Robert the fourth the Son of St. Lewis from whom the Princes of the Angust House of Bourbon are descended The Ambassage of the Tartars to St. Lewis during his stay in Cyprus His arrival in Egypt The Battle of Damiata and the taking of that City from the Sarasins who abandon it and the reason of their doing so The Entry of the King into Damiata The Error which he commits by stopping there The Army grows dissolute and debauched by lying idly there The arrival of the Count de Poitiers The Resolution which is taken of going directly to Caire The Situation of the Places where the two Armies are incamped The unsuccessful attempt of the Crusades to turn the Nile They pass the River The
Battle lasted two dayes the seventeenth and eighteenth of October wherein the Christians fought with more Courage but also with greater misfortune than ever they had done in all their former Battles year 1244 The whole Army was divided into three Bodies Gantier the third Count de Brienne and Jaffa Nephew to King John and the Son of that Count Gautier who died in the Conquests of the Realm of Naples commanded the Left Hand Body with the Knights of the Hospital The Sultan of Chamella or Emessa who conducted the Confederate Sarasins had the Right And the Patriarch accompanied with the other Knights and Barons was in the main Battle He had sometime before excommunicated the Count upon his refusing to give him a Tower in the Castle of Jaffa to which he pretended it being called the Patriarch's Tower This Prince who was a very good Christian and unwilling to have any thing lie upon his Conscience which might hinder him from courageously exposing himself to death demanded absolution of him two several times before they came to charge And as this Prelate without doubt criminally rigorous and too severe in an occasion of this nature persisted obstinately in his refusal to give it him The Bishop of Rama a man of great Courage and who made use of the Sword in this War against the Insidels as well as of the Cross in his Church unable to indure that by this accident so much leisure was given to the Enemies to range their Troops cried out aloud My Lord Let not this Scruple trouble you any longer Let us charge The Patriarch is in the Fault and therefore I absolve you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And thereupon the Count who took it for a sufficient absolution went to the Charge with his Lance couched and being followed by his Valiant Bishop he threw himself into the thickest Battalions and Squadrons of the Enemies in the place where he observed the Prince of the Corasmins invironed with all the most brave of his Army The Sultan of Emessa also on his side did very Nobly but he was not followed by above two thousand of his Sarasins the others flying upon the first Charge Nevertheless the Christians though abandoned by these Cowards yet never fought more bravely being resolved rather to perish in the Field of Battle than ever to quit it So that after having always maintained their ground without ever recoiling one step in two days from Morning until night at last oppressed by the Multitude of their Enemies who were not only stout men but also infinitely surpassed them in number and of whom notwithstandhing they made a horrible Carnage they were almost all either slain upon the place or taken Prisoners So great was this defeat that there escaped with the Patriarch Robert and some of the Bishops and Abbots not above three and thirty Knights of the Temple six and twenty Hospitallers and three of the Teutonick Knights the Constable Count Philip de Montfort Prince of Tyre Nephew to the Illustrious Count Simon and some hundreds of Soldiers who retired to Ascalon from whence they came to Ptolemais were all was in the utmost Consternation for this dreadful loss The great Masters of the Temple and the Teutonick Order were slain upon the place and the Master of St. John of Jerusalem was taken Prisoner and carried in Irons into Egypt as was also the brave Gautier de Brienne who after he was taken did an Action which made him triumph even in his Captivity over all the Forces of his Conqueror and which doubtless deserves to be recorded to his immortal glory For the Prince of the Corasmins who thought to make advantage of his being taken to gain the City and Castle of Jaffa caused the Valiant Count to be bound under his Arms to a Cross which he had erected before the Gate of the Castle telling the Soldiers of the Garrison who from the walls beheld this woful Spectacle that he would in the most cruel manner put the Count to death except they presently ransomed his life by the surrender of the place But this invincible Hero making a Sacrifice of his life to Jesus Christ to save that little remainder of his Inheritance in the Holy Land cried to his Soldiers as loud as ever he could from his Cross that they should take no care for him but leaving him to the rage of these Dogs to whom he should be obliged for the Crown of Martyrdom that they should courageously defend the place with which he had intrusted them not only for himself but to preserve it for Jesus Christ for whose only sake they had come into Palestine So that the Barbarian losing all hope of gaining the place by this cruel Artifice and not daring to attack it by main Force he would not also lose the opportutunity which he had of making an agreable Present to the Sultan of Egypt year 1244 to whom he sent the brave Count with the other Prisoners and in a few days after the Sarasins of Grand Caire who esteemed him their greatest and most terrible Enemy having demanded him of the Sultan who durst not deny them they fell upon him with the Fury of cruel Wolves or inraged Dogs and after having made him suffer an Infinite number of horrible Torments they tore him in a thousand pieces acquiring for him a thousand Palms and a thousand Crowns of Martyrdom for one which he had wished and which he believed he should have obtained upon his Cross before Jaffa Some years after St. Lewis who had the Memory of this great man in singular Veneration having recovered his Bones which the Admirals of Egypt caused to be restored to him he rendred to him at Acre all the Funeral Honours which were due untohim who had so gloriously given his Life to the Honour of Jesus Christ As for the Corasmins who had exercised so much cruelty upon the Christians and had committed so many horrible Sacrileges in the holy places they afterwards fell out among themselves and the Sultan of Egypt having drawn from them all the Service which he expected he drove them out of his Dominions so that they all miserably perished by the hands of the Sarasins themselves who united all against them for their destruction having a horror for them as the most wicked and most execrable of all Mankind Mean time the news of the lamentable desolation of Jerusalem and the defeat of the Christian Army and of the dangerwherein those few which remained were to be presently besieged by the Sultan of Egypt being brought to the Pope made him resolve to make his last Efforts to procure Succours for them from a General Council which he had convoked For this Pope fearing to fall into the hands of Frederick had saved himself by Sea at Genoa his Native Country and from thence he went by land by Montferrat and Savoy to Lyons where he put himself under the Protection of the King of France resolving to
his Mamalukes the particular Enemies of the Name and Nation of France were upon the point of driving them unless they were speedily assisted He protested That he was resolved even tho he were abandoned by all the rest of the World in such a Noble Enterprise to pursue it vigorously himself and to imploy all that he had his Forces his Fortunes and his Life in this Glorious Service and that he should infinitely rejoyce to lose it in his Service who had laid down his precious Life for the Love which he had to Mankind in that precious spot of Earth for the Recovery whereof he exhorted all the French who he doubted not had doubtless the same Courage with which their Ancestors had so gloriously conquered it to take up their Arms and accompany him in this Noble Enterprise A Discourse of this Nature spoken with unexpressible Graces and by so great a King whose Age Experience Wisdom Equity and Love which he had for his People and above all his Eminent Sanctity rendred so much beloved and revered by his Subjects did so sensibly affect the Hearts of all the whole Assembly that after the Legate had made his Speech upon the same Subject and the King himself had with a Marvellous Devotion received the Cross the greatest part of the Princes and Lords following his Example also took it upon them The first among them were the three Princes his Sons Philip his Eldest John Tristan Count de Nevers and Peter Count d' Alenson Alphonso Count de Poitiers and Tholouse his Brother Thibald King of Navarr and Count Palatine of Champagne his Son-in-Law Robert Count d' Artois his Nephew John Son to the Duke of Bretany Son-in-Law to the King of England the Counts Guy of Flanders Philip of Nemours Guy de Laval and Philip de Montfort year 1268 The Lords de Courtenay de Beaujeu de Montmorenci de Harcour de Valeri de Neele d' Estrees de Longueval de Varennes de Clermont de Fiennes de Rochefort de Mirepoix de Cleri de St. Cler de Roye de Precigni de Chastenoy de Saux de Beaumout de Mailly de Vandieres de Lionne d' Auteil d' Orillac and the brave Oliver de Termes all Illustrious Names known and still reverenced in our days after so many Ages in the Persons who are honoured by them and who have done them Honour by their Merits These were followed by all the other Knights and Lords of the Assembly except only the Lord Joinville High Steward of Champagne who having had enough of the first Voyage dispensed with himself for the second alledging that by the first he had ruined his poor Subjects of the Lordship of Joinville and in the ill humour in which he was by reason of this second Undertaking which he did not at all approve he hath written very plainly That it was the opinion of many Learned Men that those who gave the King this Advice sinned mortally in regard that the King was so weak in Body and brought so low that he was but just in a condition to maintain that Peace and justice which by his presence he caused to flourish in his Kingdom and which would by his absence be most certainly banished from thence But this was not the opinion of Clement the Fourth who was esteemed one of the most learned and pious Popes which the Church had ever had and who St. Lewis having consulted him concerning this Voyage extremely approved of it as did also the Confessor of this Holy King And this makes it evident That in all times the most severe Casuists have not always been the most knowing nor the safest advisers in difficult matters After this great Action St. Lewis applied himself with an indefatigable Zeal to dispose all things for the Crusade sparing neither diligence pains nor cost to put it into a condition to have better Success than he had met with in his first Voyage and to draw along with him not only the French his own Subjects but also such of other Nations as were willing to share with him in the Enterprise And for this purpose he did what was possible in conjunction with the Pope to make an Accord between the Venetians and the Genoese that so they might enter with him into this Holy Vnion But it was all Labour in vain for these two Republicks whose difference occasioned so many mischiefs to Palestine had too much animosity one against the other to unite so easily or so quickly As for the Venetians who had at first treated with him for his passage they at last excused themselves from furnishing him with Shipping by the fear which they said they had that the Sultan of Egypt resenting it should seize upon all their Effects within his Ports But the Genoeses who always ran counter to their Enemies and who upon this occasion acted more nobly offered him theirs He also by his Royal Liberality obliged Edward Prince of England to take up the Cross a Prince whom he highly valued for his Spirit and his Valour and gave him thirty thousand Marks in Silver to put him into an Equipage to accompany him like a great Prince offering the same Sum to James King of Arragon who had some years before taken upon him the Cross The Pope also on his side did not fail to excite the Kings and Princes of Europe as also the Greek Emperor by the Example of St. Lewis to joyn their Arms with those of this great King for the deliverance of the Holy Land from the oppression of the Sultan of Egypt who wanted not above two or three Cities to be Master of all that the Christians possessed in Syria Palestine and Egypt since the time that they were conquered by Godfrey of Bullen but all was in vain Ottocare the King of Bohemia the Dukes of Saxony Bavaria and Brunswick Otho Marquess of Brandenburg and divers others whom Clement excited to take the Cross and some of which had already taken it were so incumbred by the Schism of the Empire and besides so exasperated by the Death of Conradin which for a long time rendred the Name of the French odious to them that they could not be perswaded to entertain a thought of uniting with them in the Holy War The King of Castile who disputed the Empire and whose Brother had been taken with Conradin was in the same opinion The King of Portugal Alphonso the Third took the Cross indeed and abtained a Grant to receive the Tenths of all the Goods of the Church in his Realm for the Holy War but after all he performed nothing year 1269 James the King of Arragon made the fairest advances in the World towards this War He protested in the Assembly of the Princes at Toledo That he would accomplish his Vow although his Age seemed to dispense with him for it and notwithstanding all that could be done to divert him from it He promised at Valentia to the Ambassadors of the Greek Emperor and to those of
wicked is no more at present but a miserable remnant of ruins the greatness whereof make apparent both that of the City when it was in its flourishing estate and that of the terrible punishment which it drew upon it self by its Enormous Crimes This sad news of so great and unexpected a loss did wonderfully surprize Pope Nicholas the fourth who for above a year last past had used all imaginable industry to form a general Crusade of all the Christians of the West against the Mamalukes who continually threatned Palestine He had with powerful Sollicitations invited all the Kings of Europe into it and had prevailed so well that Edward King of England had declared himself chief thereof and had made great preparations throughout his whole Kingdom to put himself into a Condition to march at the time which this good Pope had named which was at the Feast of St. John Baptist in the year one thousand two hundred and ninety three When in the mean time he understood that the Christians had lost all in Syria in the Month of May one thousand two hundred ninety one This was like a mighty clap of thunder which did mightily amaze him but which nevertheless did not hinder him from redoubling his endeavours by his Letters by his Legates and by his Preachers whom he dispatched to all places to excite the Christians to take upon them the Cross and to unite the Princes of the East and West and even the Kings of the Tartars the Iberians Georgians and Armenians with their forces in the design to recover together from their Common Enemy what had been lost for want of this Union But the Evil being now believed to be desperate and without Remedy all that this Pope did and all that his Successors endeavoured to do afterwards upon this Subject was never able to produce one Crusade to procure the recovery of the Holy Land year 1296 Boniface the eighth upon the desire of Cassan King of the Tartars in Persia that the Princes of Europe would join with him in a War against the Sultan of Egypt writ indeed to them but in terms so high and lofty that there were not any who would take notice of them year 1311 Clement the fifth following the Example of his Predecessors acted in the Council of Vienna by the way of powerful exhortation and caused it to be ordained by a particular Decree that the Cross should be preached in all places for the recovery of the Holy Land and there were many of all Nations who took it upon them But as it was only a confused Multitude without any head of Reputation the Princes of those times having other interests than that of the Holy Land he gave them all absolution from their Vow and sent them back into their own Countries year 1328 That which was done upon the same Subject under Pope John the two and twentieth made a far greater Noise but produced no more effect This Pope who with a mighty passion desired the reestablishment of the Empire of the Christians in Palestine acted by Agreement for this noble end with King Philip de Valois who was then the most potent and renowned King of France especially after that glorious Victory which he obtained against the Flemmings at Cassel For this purpose he created Patriarch of Jerusalem the famous Doctor of Paris year 1330 Peter de la Palu a noble Burgundian or Brescian of the Illustrious House of the Lords of Varembon a Religious of the Order of St. Dominick and the King who had procured this Dignity for him in honour of his extraordinary Merit sent him presently after into Egypt with order to treat with the Sultan about the restitution of Jerusalem upon reasonable terms before he went to compel him to it by making War upon him with all the Forces of Europe And in the mean time Philip taking the opportunity of a Pilgrimage which he made to Marseilles to do honour to the sacred Relicks of St. Lewis Bishop of Tolouse his Kinsman went also to Avignion to conferr with the Pope concerning this great Affair where the Pope gave him the tenths of all the Ecclesiastical estates in France to be employed in the Holy War year 1334 But as this great Enterprise could not be so quickly put in Execution by reason of the troubles year 1334 which the fatal Schism of Lewis of Bavaria had raised in the Church Philip to whom the Patriarch of Jerusalem who was returned from his Ambassy had given an account of the Obstinacy of the Sultan of Egypt sent some time after to Avignion Peter de Roger Arch-Bishop of Roan a Prelate of consummate Wisdom and learning where at length a Pope was chosen to the throne of St. Peter by the name of Clement the sixth This great man very strongly harangued the Council upon the necessity of a general Crusade and upon the means which the King his Master had taken to make it successful to the glory of the Church provided that she would contribute her Authority to it He promised also with an Oath that this generous Prince should march within less than two years at the head of the Crusades so that the Pope declared him General of the Holy League and confirmed to him the Grant of the Tenths for six years and sent to him the Arch-Bishop with a most ample Commission to bestow the Cross and all the privileges and perogatives which the former Popes had granted to the other Crusades Thereupon the King in Ceremony received the Cross from the hands of the Prelate in his Chappel at Paris with John King of Bohemia and Philip King of Navarr who were then at his Court and so did the greatest part of the Barons of the Realm He also made his preparations with extreme application and excessive cost surpassing all that any of the Kings his Predecessors had done upon the like occasions causing to be rigged in several Ports the fairest Fleet that ever France had seen which was able to transport forty thousand men at Arms with their Horses and which was furnished with all sorts of Provisions in prodigious abundance He had also taken great care to publish this Crusade throughout Europe and had engaged the Kings of Arragon Majorca Sicily Cyprus and Hungary the Republicks of Venice and Genoa to joyn their Arms with his that they might all march together under his Conduct against the Sultan So that it was thought this mighty Army of Crusades would consist in three hundred thousand Combatants which already made the whole East to tremble and filled the whole Earth with the Glory of the name of France and the noise of such formidable preparations But as there is nothing more required to the fixing a mighty Engine and rendring it immoveable but to stop the secret Springs which give it that violent Impression which draws upon it the Eyes and admiration of the Spectators by its prodigious movement so the War which in the midst of these transactions Edward King