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
THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADE OR THE EXPEDITIONS OF THE Christian Princes FOR THE CONQUEST OF THE Holy Land Written Originally in FRENCH By the Fam'd MOUNSIEUR MAIMBOURG Englished by JOHN NALSON L L. D. LONDON Printed by R. H. for Thomas Dring at the Corner of Chancery-Lane next Fleet-Street MDCLXXXV TO THE Right Honourable HENRY Earl of CLARENDON Lord Privy Seal My Lord I Am very sensible in what manner I expose my self in adventuring to present your Lordship this Translation since not only my self but the whole World knows that your early Loyalty and Banishment for the Royal Cause by your Retreat in France have made you an absolute Master of that Language from whence it is borrowed So that I could not but foresee That consequently your Lordship is best able to distinguish not only my own but those Imperfections which of necessity must attend Copies when compared with their Originals there being in all Languages some Graces and Beauties of their Native Idiom so peculiar to them as are difficultly to be supplied or tollerably Imitated by any other But My Lord your Noble Character is too well known to permit me to dispair of Pardon and since your Lordship is so publickly remarkable for your admirable Industry in Cultivating your Mind with all manner of Gentile Reading it gives me hopes that your Lordship will not be displeased to see those generous Inclinations cherished in others and some Assistances and Invitations given to such whose Education hath not made them acquainted with Foreign Languages whereby they may receive in the familiar Dress of their Native Countrey the advantage of what hath been written by Curious Pens of other Nations However My Lord Gratitude the only thing wherein I can be Liberal as it obliges me to celebrate your Lordship's Name as having received those Favours from your Lordship for which I must acknowledge my self under such Obligations as lying nearest my Heart will be forward to be upon my Lips so it is impossible for me not to lay hold even with some precipitation upon the least Occasions wherein I may in any measure Express what I do not only Esteem so much a Duty but also so great a Pleasure to do my self the Honour of telling the whole World that I am My Lord Your Lordship 's most obliged and most humble Servant JOHN NALSON Ely March 12th 1684 5. TO THE READER IT is I think if it be a mistake such a one as is common to the greatest part of Mankind to have that Opinion of their Sentiments especially those of Pleasure to believe that what they find divertive and agreeable to themselves must be so likewise to others what ever Inconveniences this may render men liable to in other matters I am not either curious to know or at present to inquire since I am assured that we are obliged to this Humour for the Communication of many admirable things in History especially which afford us both Pleasure and Advantage this being one of those sorts of Treasures which few People delight themselves with hoarding up but there being a certain pleasure in pleasing others they are generally willing to be very bountiful in what may inrich others without impoverishing themselves I must ingenuously confess that it was this little Wheel that gave me this Motion and having some hours liberty I could not be contented with diverting my self but must needs indeavour to propagate the pleasure I found in this History of Monsieur Maimbourg's that others might share with me in it I am very sensible that many Persons of good Judgment have declared themselves against all kind of Translations except those of the Sacred Writings and some against those too as disadvantageous to Learning and especially to Industry and indeavours to attain the knowledge of Languages Now for my own particular as I am satisfied that there are very few who addict themselves to the more difficult Studies of Learning or Languages but such who either out of necessity and upon the prospect of their future advancement by such attainments as qualifie them for the great Imploies of Church or State or such whose natural Curiosity and Inclinations lead them to these researches or will ever bend their Minds to the attainment of Languages so I am confident that neither the natural desires and thirst of the one nor the excited and necessary indeavours of the other will ever be abated by Translations or satisfied but with the Originals nor will they ever sit down by the Streams who can with ease and pleasure draw Learning from its Fountains Now there are a third sort of People who neither are compelled by necessity nor inclined by Nature to give themselves any great trouble in point of Learning who yet by Translations of Learning into their own Language may receive mighty Improvements in their Knowledge Manners Conduct and Vnderstandings and who may be thereby rendred very serviceable in their several Stations to their Prince and Country agreeable in Conversation and may likewise avoid the temptations of bestowing their spare hours upon such Entertainments to which for want of Judgment Experience and more Innocent Diversions Nature too much inclined to Vice and Folly may be apt to tempt them and there can be no doubt but many Persons of great Natural Parts and Ingenuity who have fallen under the misfortune of the Want of such good Education as they might have had as does but too frequently happen to young Gentlemen whom either the Flattery of their Masters Tutors and Governors the fond Indulgence of Parents and Guardians or the neglect of both betrayes into so great a want of Learning as hardly to understand truly their own Native Language these I say when they come to see and as I have known many of them deplore their condition would want all manner of assistance to cultivate and improve themselves which they might have by having Learning brought to them in an easie and familiar Language Nor am I if I could to make an Invidious Catalogue of many Worthy Men who by these little and inconsiderable helps have made such attainments in necessary Knowledge as have rendred them very serviceable to the World in Employs both Civil and Military especially the last And indeed of all men living the Martialists have generally the least Inclination to Learning though they can scarcely be good Soldiers without it For to them History is what the Seaman's Charts are in Navigation There they see the Reasons of all those great Events of former Ages the occasions of the loss and gaining of Battles winning and loosing of Towns and Countries Provinces and Kingdoms there they have a view of the many Stratagems of War divers of which upon occasion suggest new ones to the Invention of the Ingenious there they have the Spurs of Emulation in seeing the Heroick Actions of gallant men sometimes their own Ancestors whose Glory may excite their Imitation and whose Vertues may encourage them whose Honours and Rewards may move them for
Friendship were able to retard Men but they generously broke all those little Chains to enter into the more glorious Bonds of the Solemn Vow of the Crusade Here might you see Friends encouraging one another and entring into this new Amity making mutual Promises never to abandon each other there Enemies Embracing and Religiously Swearing most inviolably to maintain the Truce nay even the weeping Ladys who saw themselves ready to be Divorced from their Beloved Husbands and dearest Children yet did not cease to encourage them to pursue this glorious Enterprize and many of them had the Courage to take a share with them and resolved to follow them notwithstanding all the fearful Dangers and insinite Hazards and Hardships which were to be expected from so long and painful a Voyage Most certain it is that as there is nothing so Perfect or Holy which is not subject to be abused either by the Weakness or Mischievousness of Human Nature so in the beginning of this Holy War there happened so many strange Disorders as might well have rendered the Event of this Enterprise most disastrous if God Almighty himself had not appeared Ingaged in it to that degree as even against all Appearance by a kind of Miracle to bring it to that glorious Issue which was not reasonably to be expected from any inferior Power For an innumerable company of Peasants with their Wives and Children which they carried in their Carts abandoning their laborious Tillage would also have a part in this Voyage which was commonly called Gods Voyage so that all the Mobile of the Realm who upon this occasion entertained a Hope of bettering their Fortunes mingling with those who had undertaken the Cross served to no other purpose but to put all into Disorder and Confusion Nor was it possible to give Bounds to this tumultuary Rabble who to authorise their Actions had so fair a Colour and Pretext of Piety So that the smallest Number were those whom the Consideration of the Glory of the Christian Name or the Service of God obliged to follow this Design but too many Engaged themselves in it some out of Vanity and Affectation others out of a lightness of Spirit these for the Pleasure they proposed in the Voyage those to accompany their Friends and Acquaintance and many to free themselves from the Importunity of their Creditors or to enjoy the benefit of the Truce Great Numbers also of Monks and other Religious Persons weary of their Profession and Solitude abandoned their Cloisters and their Cells and out of the Love of Liberty took up the Cross in a different manner than that which they had obliged themselves to by their Vow and made use of the false Pretence of Zeal to Religion to violate one Vow by entring into another which they had no Power to do so that the Abbots to prevent a greater Mischief were obliged to permit the Monks to follow the Army of the Crusade since they were not able to hinder them who had gotten such a specious Pretence as was the Satisfaction of their ardent Desire which they seemed to have to take their Part in the Deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre Nor were the Women wanting in their little Cheats for they to make it be believed that they were by extraordinary Ways called by God to this Voyage invented those glittering Illusions which some believe have been renounced in our time upon other Occasions for having found a way by the Juice of Herbs to form certain little Crosses upon their Bodies resembling those which the Crusades wore upon their Habits with an impudent Malice they shewed them to every body as if they had been the miraculous Impressions of the Divine Power There were others who with no less Hypocrisie whether by an Excess of ill govern'd Devotion or by an indiscreet Fervour to gain a foolish Glory by a vain Ostentation of their Zeal burnt Crosses upon their Bodies with red hot Irons which they shewed with more affectation and seeming Pleasure than those who wore them upon their Habits Embroidered in Gold and Silver could shew theirs So that Illusion Hypocrisy Vain Glory and Indiscretion the Pests of Virtue and true Piety corrupted and profaned those Actions which otherwise might have been esteemed the most Religious and Heroick But that which prevented these Disorders from being so Mischievous as otherways they might have been was the great number of great Captains Gentlemen Lords and Bishops of France who followed the Princes who were of the Crusade and were joynt Commanders in this famous Enterprise yet without pretending to have any Superiority of Power one over the other which made it apparent that God only was their Conductor and General The Princes then whose Names shall be eternally Reverenced by Posterity and who have acquired immortal Glory in all History were Hugh the great Earl of Vermandois and Brother to Philip the first of France Robert Duke of Normandy Robert Earl of Flanders Raymond Earl of Tholouse and St. Giles Godfrey of Bullen Duke of Lorrain with his Brothers Baldwin and Eustace Stephen Earl of Chartres and Blois Hugh Earl of St. Paul with a very great number of other Lords of the first Quality who shall hereafter more commodiously be made known when Occasion shall present their noble Actions and when I come to describe as I am about to do the Voyage which they made by three several Ways according as before they had agreed in the Winter in order to their Rendevouzing at Constantinople as they did the following Year I am however to inform the Reader that the Respect which I have for him not permitting me to present him with any thing but what has the Warranty of Historical Reputation or Authentick Acts I shall not mention any Names but what I find Recorded in the Historians of those times and if any Persons of Quality who pretend that some of their Ancestors had a share in this Holy War will do me the Favour to send me Authentick Memoires thereof I will not fail in a new Edition of this Work to do Justice to the Merits of those Illustrious deceased and with Satisfaction to render what is due to their Memories and their Descendants year 1096 The first then of these Princes who advanced with his Troops towards Constantinople was the famous Godfrey of Bullen who altho he had not the absolute Command of the whole Army of the Crusades yet without Contradiction he had the greatest share both in the Trouble and Glory of this first Crusade He took the same way which Charlemain in his Conquest had trod before him through Germany all along by the Danubius to the Confines of Thracia This Prince was the Son of Eustace the second Earl of Bullen and Ida the Sister of Godfrey of Bossu Earl of Ardenna Bullen and Verdun and Duke of the lower Lorrain or Brabant to distinguish it from the higher Lorrain year 1070 which was otherwise called Mosellane and which at that time was under the Jurisdiction
had taken Arms. The Emperor received him with all the Marks of Esteem and Kindness and believing he knew his blind side which he thought was Ambition he promised him that Conditionally that he would take the Oath which was required of him he would establish this Prince in the greatest part of those Provinces which lye between Constantinople and Antioch which he thought was an irresistable Argument to work upon his Temper But Tancred whether it were that he had secret Orders from Bohemond or that he could not dispose himself to Digest an Oath which he did not approve drew his Troops to this side of the Strait without seeing the Emperor at all who was forced to dissemble this Affront which was put upon him The Earl of Flanders who came up a few Days after went to wait upon the Emperor with a slender Retinue and without Difficulty took the same Oath as the others had done After which these Forces also passed the Bosphorus to encamp near Calcedon with the rest But the Arival of Count Raymond brought such new Difficulties as were not without great Trouble to be Surmounted This Lord had taken the Cross the first of all others at that same time when the Greek Ambassadors came to Pope Vrban after his departure from Clermont and his Example was so prevalent that he was followed by above one hundred thousand Men out of Avergne Gascoine Languedoc and Provence who put themselves under his Conduct He was a Prince of a majestick Aspect and being somewhat advanced in Years his gray Hairs rendered him still more Venerable but he was only so old as to have his Experience increased and his Judgment more strong without any diminution to the strength of his Body which was every way Robust and capable of induring all the Fatigues of War He had acquired a very noble Reputation especially in Spain in the Wars against the Moors for Alphonsus the great King of Castile who gave him his Daughter Elvira in Marriage as a Recompence of his Valor the glorious Marks whereof he carried in his Face having lost one of his Eyes by the shot of an Arrow which was so far from being a Blemish that together with his goodly Presence it inhanced his Esteem and Reputation among the Soldiers who had him in mighty Veneration He possessed moreover all the good Qualities which were requisite to render him a great Prince and an honest Man above all things a lover of Honor Justice and Integrity an inviolable Master of his Word Vigilant Wise and of a great Foresight Magnificent Prudent in his Counsels firm and unalterable in his Resolutions But after all this it must be acknowledged that notwithstanding his Age and all his Prudence he retained too much of the Genius and the Temper of his Country for he was a mighty Opiniatre and not able to bear Injuries or to suffer his own Sentiments or his Will to be Opposed The Countess his Lady who had the Heart of a Heroine generously followed her Husband in this Voyage as did also his Son Bertrand whom he was resolved to educate in this fair School of Virtue both by his Instructions and his Example Many great Persons accompanied him of whom the principal were Aimar Bishop of Pavia the Popes Legate William Bishop of Orange Currard Earl of Rousillon William Earl of Montpellier Gaston de Bearn William de Forrest Raiband of Orange Raimond the first Viscount of Turenne and several Spanish Lords together with Bernard Archbishop of Toledo and all the brave Lords and Gentlemen of Avergn Gascony Languedoc and Provence This brave Earl having passed the Alpes and taken his way by Lombardy and Friul Marched quite through Dalmatia being forced continually to stand upon his Guard to defend himself from the ancient Sclavonians a Barbaroas People who then Inhabited that Country and who never failed upon any Advantage to assail him and lay Ambuscades for him all the Way till he came to Duras from thence he entred into Epirus and traversed all Macedon and Thracia till he came to a Town upon the Hellespont within four days March of Constantinople having been forced to sight his Passage all the way against the Greeks and Bulgarians which the perfidious Alexis contrary to all his fair Protestations of Friendship had caused to arm against him However for the present he dissembled the Injury and tho not without a great deal of Repugnance leaving his Army Encamped near that City he advanced with a small Train to Constantinople there to treat with the Emperor according to the earnest Desires of the Princes who had already passed the Strait who now desired nothing more than to come to a Conjunction of their Forces in order to their entring upon Action The Emperor after a magnificent Reception pressed him also to the point of Homage as the other Princes had agreed The Earl smartly replied That he would never do it and that he was not come so far as the Levant to find a Master nor did he intend to become a Vassal to any other besides Christ Jesus But that nevertheless if his Imperial Majesty would joyn his Forces with theirs and put himself at the Head of the Army he would without trouble acknowledg him for his General and in that Quality oney him as well as any of the rest Alexis netled at this Denial however stilled his ill Humor and amuling the Earl with a pretence of treating with him further concerning the Common Interests the Imperial Troops who were Quartered in Thracia receiving secret Orders to that purpose sell unexpectedly in the Night upon his Camp who believing themselves in great Security in the Country of their Friends kept no manner of strict Guard this Surprise brought a strange Confusion upon the Camp and many Soldiers were killed before they could be awakned but after a little time these cowardly Assailants were repulsed with a very great Slaughter The Disorder however was never the less for the Souldiers who before had suffered so much in their march began to mutiny and believing that they were betrayed by their Officers who had brought them thither to be butchered nothing would satisfie them but to return into their own Country But the Earl who could by no means endure to think of retreating appeased them by changing their dispair into a desire of Revenge he therefore sent openly to reproach the Emperor with this infamous treachery and to sollicit the rest of the Princes to joyn with him and at once to deliver themselves from this persidious Greek by razing his Imperial Throne But the Princes at the earnest prayer of Alexis who absolutely disavowed the action and offered to make any kind of satisfaction to the Earl made such powerful Remonstrances to Raimond that in conclusion they not only appeased him but also obliged him for fear of losing more time to the prejudice of their great design to take the Oath which was desired which accordingly he did but in these terms That he promised
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
both Parts for it was only the Night and the extream Weariness that obliged them on both sides to give over as it were to take a little Breath year 1099 The Night it self however did not pass in over much Tranquility on either part The Besieged were in continual Fear to be surprized under the favour of the Darkness and the Besiegers lest they should sally out to set Fire to the Machines which were already much indamaged and especially that of the Earl of Tholose which was rendred in a manner wholly unserviceable But however they wrought so hard upon it in the Night that the next morning the Combat was renewed on one side and the other with more Fury than before The Christians irritated by so long a Resistance made their utmost Efforts resolute either to lose all or to gain all and the Sarasins animated by the Success of the two preceding days and by the hope of present Succour which the Sultan of Babylon had promised them fought with new Courage and with so much Assurance of Victory that they could not forbear insulting over their Enemies and assailing their Assailants Above all they aimed at Duke Godfrey against whose Machin whilest it advanced over the great Breach in the Out-Wall they threw a vast Quantity of Fire-Works and huge Stones one of which crushed with its fall one of his Esquires just by his side There were also two famous Magicians whom they brought to the Walls who promised to stop the Dukes Castle by their Enchantments but while the poor Wretches were busie muttering their foolish Charms a great Stone thrown from one of the Dukes Slings spoiled their Conjurations crushing them both together sent them down to those Infernal Spirits which they were in Vain calling up to their Assistance The Assault had now lasted till one of the Clock in the Afternoon without any manner of Appearance of Advantage than it was the day before when the Soldiers discouraged to see themselves so often repulsed began a little to relax of their former Ardor and indeed to recoil in Despair of ever being able to force so many brave Men who defended themselves with so much Vigor and Advantage which the Sarasins perceiving sent forth great Cries of Joy intermingled with Horrible Blasphemies and Insulting Language against the Christians reproaching them with the Cowardize and Impotence of their Crucisied God when Duke Godfrey whether he really was assured that he saw it or whether his Imagination heated by the Ardor of the Combat and filled with the Images of War represented it to him cried out amain That Heaven was come to their Succour and that he saw upon his left hand upon the Top of Mount Oliver a Celestial Cavalier who shaking a shining Buckler towards the City gave the Signal to enter it And that which is most surprizing is that the Earl of Tholose who fought at a great distance from him against another part of the City declared the same thing at the same time to his Soldiers so that one must either conclude that these two Princes had before agreed this matter between them to re-incourage their Men when they saw them a little abate of their Courage and Vigor or else that by chance some Cavalier of the Army at that time getting upon that Hill was by the Princes who saw him at the same time taken for a Warriour-Saint who was descended from Heaven to their Succour Let it be as it will it is certain that this Vision or at least the Belief that it was very true had the most admirable Effect that ever was seen for no sooner was the Report blown about but the Soldiers perswading themselves that it was St. George who as the whole Army believed he had done at the Battle of Antioch was come again to sight for them instantly reassumed such a new Courage that they became quite other men for they returned to the Combat like so many furious Lions and even all without distinction of Age Sex or Condition rushed in to the Assault the Sick and Maimed not Excepted ran before the Rolling Machins so that having in less than an Hour levelled the Way which hindred their advancing they pushed them Home to the innermost Wall where for some time they fought at push of Pike and Javelin But Godfrey who was resolute to throw himself into the Town bethought himself of an Invention which facilitated his Passage and cleared the Walls in a Moment for the Enemies to break the Force of the Blows of the Stones and Rams which battered the Walls had put abundance of Sacks filled with Chaff Hay and Wool Rugs and Alatresses pieces of Cables and Ropes and a hundred other things of that Nature which they thought would by yielding and giing way year 1099 defend the Walls from those Blows of the battering Engines the Duke perceiving that the Wind blew at North and was upon his Back made a great quantity of fire Darts be shot against that soft and combustible Matter which catching hold of them very easily set them in a moment all into a Blaze the Flame which rose very high with a mighty thick Smoak being driven by the Violence of the Wind upon the Faces of those who defended the Walls and the two adjoyning Towers on the Right and Left they were forced at last to Retire and leave the Place Empty The Duke thereupon immediately letting down his Draw-Bridge which was of an exact Height to rest upon the Wall descended instantly to the second Stage where putting himself at the Head of all those brave Men which accompanied him he threw himself with his Sword in his Hand into the Town having at his Side Eustace his Brother Baldwin Earl of Bourg his Cousin and the two Valiant Brothers of Tournay Lethold and Engelbert who were followed by the brave Guicher and that choice Troop of Lords and Gentlemen who never Abandoned the Duke In a little while after the Duke of Normandy the Earl of Flanders and Tancred having used the same Artifice to drive the Enemies from the Walls threw their Bridge over the Wall also and entred at the Angular Tower being sollowed by Gaston de Foix the Earls Hugh de St. Paul Gerrad de Rousillon Raimband de Orange Louïs de Mouson Conon de Montaign Lambert his Son and all the rest who desired to have a share in the Glory of these great Men. In the same Instant the Soldiers seeing that the Princes threw themselves into the Town followed by the principal Persons of the Army they were so Animated that they ran to the Assault of their own Accord every one in the way that his Courage Inspired him with these presented the Ladders and pushed one another forward to gain the Battlements which the Enemies had Abandoned those mounted the second Stage of the Castles to pass over the Bridges and the greatest part desperately threw themselves in at the Breach which had been made the day before so that all the North Side
Rama where they took some of the Enemies Scouts had Advertised him that the Sultan was Incamped at Ascalon a City upon the Sea-Coast two good days Journeys from Jerusalem towards Egypt he resolved to go to meet him and notwithstanding the prodigious Inequality of their Forces to give him Battle For this Purpose having first Implored the Help of Heaven by publick Prayers at which he assisted with marvellous Devotion he parted from Jerusalem upon Tuesday the eleventh day of August with the Earl of Flanders and that Arnold de Rohes who by an Intrigue which is no part of my History to relate was now chosen Patriarch of Jerusalem with the Consent of the Pope This new Patriarch who for very many Reasons was not so very agreeable to the generality of the People thought to acquire Reputation by shewing his extraordinary Zeal upon this Occasion He therefore left Peter the Hermite to take Care that Prayers might be made to God Almighty for the happy Success of the Arms of the King whom he would follow carrying with him to Encourage the Soldiers a part of the Wood of the true Cross which an honest Christian had hid during the Siege lest the Sarasins should profane it The same day the King joyned Tancred and Count Eustace waiting the coming up of the Duke of Normandy and Earl Raymond who met him at Ibelin which was Anciently the City of Gath one of the five Cities of the Lords of the Philistins some few Miles from Lidda and Ramula The next day they advanced together to the Brook Soreck which was not above two or three Leagues from the Enemies Camp There they found a prodigious Number of Horses Oxen Camels Asses Sheep and Goats which were guarded by some Arabians who were easily Routed some of them being taken Prisoners by whom they gained Intelligence of the Posture of the Enemies so that they easily Seized upon these Flocks and Herds of Cattle but there being reason to fear that this was but a Snare which the Sultan had laid for the Christian Army to fall upon them whilest they were busie in dividing the Prey the King expresly Prohibited all Persons to meddle with the Booty and not to think of taking any thing from the Enemy till they had gained the Battle which they were going to give them year 1099 In short the next Morning being Friday and the Eve of the Assumption of our Lady the Army at break of day passed without any Trouble the Torrent which at that dry Season of the Summer had but very little Water in it and the Sultan who could never perswade himself that the Christians would dare to be so hardy as to Advance to him had given no Order to hinder their Passage or to Dispute it with them Never was there seen a greater Ardor than appeared in the Countenances of the Soldiers upon this Occasion so much Joy and so much Assurance of Victory appeared amongst them tho they were but a handful of Men in comparison of the infinite Multitude of their Enemies for those who speak with the least assure us that there were a hundred thousand Horse and above three hundred thousand Foot in their Army for the Sultan who had set his Resolution either to Preserve or Recover Jerusalem had Amassed all the Soldiers that possibly he could out of Egypt Lybia Affrica Ethiopia Arabia and the Towns which were yet Possessed by the Turks who joyned with him against the Christians as their common Enemies And the Historians who speak the most of the Christians will not allow them to be above twenty thousand among which about five thousand Horse they being not in a Condition to Re-mount the Cavalry since the Taking of Jerusalem But that which gave this Confidence to the Christians besides the Contempt which they had of these Numbers of Sarasins which they made no account of was the Zeal which they had for the Glory of Christ Jesus and the eager Desire which boyled in their Hearts to Revenge the horrible Blasphemy of the Sultan For they had learned from the Prisoners that this impious Miscreant had haughtily threatned to Extirpate all the Christians and their Religion out of the East that he would rase the very Foundations of the Holy Sepulchre and utterly Ruine all the Monuments of Christian Religion and thereby spoil the Longing of those of the West to make any more such Voyages to Jerusalem They passed then over the Torrent with Trumpets Sounding and great Shouts of Joy as if it had been in Triumph and that they intended with their small Army to Affront the mighty Number of their Despised Enemies But it happened by a very surprizing Accident that the Mistake of their Enemies supplied the Defect of their Number by making them appear to be far more than in Reality they were which mistake produced all the Effect that could have been hoped or wished had they been really so many as they appeared to be for that mighty number of Cattle which had been taken the day before and which the King had forbidden the Soldiers to meddle with followed the Army as they passed the Rivulet and without being in the least Conducted by any Ranged themselves in the order of Troops upon their March as if it had been the Rere-guard of an Army extending themselves to the left Hand to the very Foot of the Mountains which border upon the East covering all that large Campain which from the Brook extends it self even to Ascalon which lies on the right Hand upon the Sea Coast and as these Animals filled all the Plain even to the Mountains and that the Horses Excited by the Noise of the Trumpets fell to Neighing according to their couragious Nature in such a manner that they might be heard afar off so these great Herds of other Cattle in Marching raised such mighty Clouds of Dust between them and the Sarasins that not being able to distinguish clearly they took them for part of the Christian Army and particularly for Squadrons of Cavalry and consequently their Fear also multiplying them in their amazed Imaginations they conjectured that their Number was not at all inferior to theirs whereupon they were Seised with a general Consternation and not being able to disabuse their troubled imaginations they stood as if they had been stupid thinking they were to deal with a million of Christians who since the taking of Jerusalem were Arrived from the West In the mean time the Armies being thus near there was a necessity of Fighting that of the Christians was divided into three Bodies Count Raymond Commanded the Right Point which was extended to the Sea that so they might not be Surrounded on that side The King took the Left that so he might be opposite to the Right of the Enemy where their Principal Squadrons were ranged The Duke of Normandy the Earl of Flanders Tancred year 1099 and Gaston de Foix were in the middle with the main Body of the Battle These three Bodies were ranged
is true that this Order began to Relax and Decay extremely by the iniquity of the Times during the Wars between the English and French either by the Malice or Negligence of the Knights who either themselves did or permitted others to encroach upon the Estates of the Order appropriating them to their own private Families For this Cause it was that Pope Innocent the Eight at the Request of the Knights of Malta suppressed this Order to Re-unite it with all its Estates to that of St. John of Jerusalem which was obtained by Emery D' Amboise Great Master of the Rhodes by another Bulla from Pope Julius the Second But in regard that the Parliament of France Declared these Bulla's to be Injurious and contrary to the Rights of the Kings of France the Patrons of the Order the Popes Pius Fourth and Pius Fifth caused them to be Revoked upon Remonstrance thereof made to them by Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second who thought themselves too nearly Interessed in the Commanderies or Places of Trust which were within their Dominions so that the Order was again Established with many new Priviledges by Pope Pius the Fourth year 1119 who Created Jannot de Chastillon his Nephew Great Master of the Order after his Death Gregory the Thirteenth Transferred the Great Mastership to Emanuel Philibert the Duke of Savoy and to his Successors granting him also the Union of this Order with all their Estate to that of the Knights of St. Maurice the Erecting of which the Duke had obtained about a Month before It ought nevertheless to be taken for Indubitable that these new Creations to the Dignity of Great Master of St. Lazarus were not made but with Respect to certain Countries and it is no less certain that it was extremely in the Prejudice of the Kings of France who could by no means lose that Right which they had so lawfully acquired and for more than five hundred Years injoyed to have the sole Nomination of the Great Master who ought to be Elected at Boni the principal Conventical General House of the whole Order and who ought to have Jurisdiction over all the Knights of what Nation soever they be Insomuch that all those who are called Great Masters in other Countries are no more to speak properly but Deputies and Substitutes to him who is Established and Acknowledged in France as the King of Spain alledges in his Right Affirming that the Duke of Savoy is only his Vicegerent in Italy which also a very learned Civilian hath remarked according to the Bulla of Gregory the Thirteenth However after all these Bulla's reckoning from that of Innocent the Eight our Kings whose Rights are Sacred and Inviolable have not failed always to name as they did formerly without Interruption the Great Masters of all the Order of St. Lazarus both on this and the other side of the Sea And those of the Fraternity following that is Aignan Claude de Marveil John de Conty John de Leui Michael de Seurre Francis Salviati Aymar de Chartres Hugh Castelan de Castelmore and Charles de Gayan who were provided and nominated by the Kings Lewis Twelfth Francis First Henry Second Francis Second Charles Ninth Henry Third and Henry the Great never failed to take this Quality upon them altho the deplorable Condition to which the Order was Reduced in France the small Number of Knights and the Loss and Alienation of their Estates took from them the Opportunity of maintaining the Dignity of their Place and Order It was for this Reason that Henry the Forth after he had Gloriously Setled the three Estates of his Realm and that after the cruel Disorders of the Civil Wars he had put the Kingdom into a flourishing Condition was resolved also to restore to its primitive Splendor this Military Order of the Hospitallers from which he perswaded himself he should be able to draw very considerable Services He therefore Chose for Great Master one of the Fraternity whose Name was Philibert de Newstang a Gentleman whose Birth and Merit were equally Illustrious He went upon the King's Account to Rome there to treat about this Affair with Pope Paul the Fifth and did so well Negotiate what he had in Commission that the Quality of Restorer Protector and Patron of the Order was reserved to the King and the Dignity of Chief and General of the whole Order of St. Lazarus was Absolutely and without Restrinction to be in him whom the King should name to be Great Master Moreover the Pope having Created a New Order of Knights under the Title of our Lady of Mount Carmel at the Instance of the King he United them to that of St. Lazarus after which time the Knights have with this double Title born for their Armes a Cross or which is doubled consisting of eight Points Pometty between four Flowers-de-Lys with the Image of our Lady in the middle But as the Death of Henry the Great made the greatest of all his Noble Designs to Vanish the Order of St. Lazarus which began to Recover after having received these new Marks of Honor did for the main stand at a Stay continuing in the Condition wherein he lest it till now of late it begins to Flourish in such a manner which would make one believe that we shall one day see it produce those Fruits which it was accustomed to do in the times of its early Force and Vigor For the King who undertakes nothing which he doth not most happily Accomplish having taken up the same generous Design of his August Grandfather whose Sir Name the Acclamation of all Europe hath bestowed upon him will not fail to take all the most Just and Essicacious Ways to restore this ancient Order to that Condition which may render it Serviceable to those necessary Ends for the Good of the Church and State year 1119 which he hath proposed to himself But it is time methinks after this Digression which I hope will neither be Disagreeable nor Unprofitable to the Reader that I should now again follow the Thred of my History year 1123 The new King Baldwin de Bourg who had abundance of Courage and of Virtue obtained many great Victories against the Turks who after having Defeated and Slain in Battle the Prince of Antioch began to menace that great City But as he went to Succour the Earl of Edessa against Balac the most Potent of the Turkish Princes who had taken Earl Josselin with his Cousin Galeran in an Ambuscade he himself happened to be Surprized in the Night by that Emir who sent him Loaden with Irons to the same Castle where the two Earls his Kinsmen were detained Captives His Imprisonment however had not those dismal Consequences as were expected for Eustace Garnier Lord of Sidon or Saietta and Cesarea who was made Regent of the Realm Defeated the Army of the Egyptian Sarasens who Besieged Jaffa After which their Navy which consisted in eighty Sail of Ships was intirely Ruined by the Venetians who
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
Guy Cardinal of Florence the Pope's Legat in his Army and the Bishops of Langres and Lizieux The Count de Dreux his Brother Thierry Earl of Flanders Henry Earl of Troyes the Son of Thibald Earl of Champagne Ives de Nele and many other Lords of the first Quality who came with him from Attalia The young King Baldwin with his Mother Queen Melesintha also assisted at it together with the Patriarch of Jerusalem the Arch-Bishops of Cesarea and Nazareth the Bishops of Ptolemais Sidon Beritus Paneas and Bethlehem the Earls of Napolis Tiberias Sidon Cesaria Beritus as also the Constable Manasses and the great Masters of the Temple of the Hospitallers It was a long time under Debate what was most advantageous to be undertaken for the common Interest and in conclusion they determined to besiege Damascus Which being as it were in the Centre and Midst of the four Principalities which the Christians held in the East might be equally dangerous to them all Upon this all the Troops were appointed to rendezvous the five and twentieth Day of May at Tiberias where a general Review being made of the Army they advanced to Paneas near the Head of Jordan the Patriarch carrying the true Cross or at least that which was believed to be so before them The Measures which were taken for the Siege were according to the Opinion of the Lords of that Country who were best acquainted with the Strength and Weakness of the place After which crossing the celebrated Mount Lebanon they descended into the fair Champain of Damascus and encamped at Daria a little Village about two Leagues from Damascus from the most elevated place whereof the Towers of that stately City were easily to be discerned Damascus one of the most ancient and sometimes one of the fairest and greatest Cities of Asia is situate in a large Plain at the Foot of Mount Lebanon which is watered with two Rivers and a great number of little Springs and Fountains which notwithstanding its natural Inclination to Sterility it being a hungry sandy Soil render it very fruitful and delightful These two Rivers take their Rise upon the East at no very great distance from the Foot of the Mountain Amana which is a part of Mount Lebanon the lesser is called Abana and slows all along by the Walls of the City upon the West the greater which is Pharpar and which some have confounded with the Orontes and for the beauty of its Streams is called Chryorrhoas or Golden Stream after having passed through the City and wandred through the Fields and the Valleys of the neighbouring Country loseth it self under the Earth either because being divided into a multitude of Canals which are drawn to render the Earth more fruitful that it is so diminished that at last it ends in them or that by some unknown Subterranean Passages it dischargeth it self into the Phenician Sea It was the great Conveniency of making these Canals year 1148 which made all that part of the City towards the North and a great part of the West be inclosed with a prodigious number of Gardens and Orchards where were planted an infinite of Trees producing all manner of Fruits the most delicious of all the East These Gardens were divided one from the other by little narrow Passages which cutting one another and turning and winding several ways without any regular Art or Figure formed a kind of undesigned Labyrinth where it was easie for those who were unacquainted with them to lose themselves in those delightful places Every Garden had its House and its little Tower according to the Mode of the Orientals for the Convenience and the Lodging of its Master So that the City being very populous the number of Gardens which covered those sides was very great and extended themselves almost two Leagues so that viewing it upon that side it represented to the Sight a large Forest which seemed to extend it self to the very Walls But on the contrary the other side which lay to the East and South had not so much as a Tree a Hedge or a Bush but shewed a bald Champaign from whence it was easie to discern the whole City which was defended with high Walls which were fortified with great Towers whereof four which listed up their proud Heads above the rest were of an extraordinary heighth and strength and above all it was defended by a Fortress which was esteemed the fairest and most regular of all Asia This City had been taken from the Sarasins by the Turks whose Sultan Dodequin made a most cruel War against the Christians between the time of the first and the second Crusade After his death his Successors seeing themselves attacked by Sanguin the redoubted Sultan of Alepo and Ninevch who endeavoured the Conquest of all Syria joyned themselves with the Christian Princes to make War against this common Enemy They assisted them according to the Treaty in the Taking of Paneas which they had taken from the Christians before and Sanguin from them again But there being little Faith to be expected from Infidels they soon brake the Peace and declared themselves as before the mortal Enemies of the Christians For this reason it was that the Resolution was sixed to attack them and above all things to carry this City which was in a Condition to give the Check-mate to the four Christian Principalities of the East Hereupon it was also resolved in the Council to attack the Town on the Garden-sides that so the Army might have the Convenience of the River the Fruits and Forrage which were there to be had in abundance The next Morning therefore the Army being divided into three Bodies marched in good Order towards Damascus drawing from the West towards the North to the Garden-Quarter of the City The young King of Jerusalem Baldwin the Third commanded in Person the first Body composed of his own Troops and those of the Princes of Syria who had the same Interest with him in the Siege The French made the second having at their Head King Lewis to support the first which they followed at a little distance to be always ready to afford them Succour The Emperor with his Germans had the Rere to oppose the Enemy's Cavalry if they should attempt to fall upon them as they made their Approaches Baldwin who thirsted mightily after Glory and was transported with Joy to meet with so fair an Opportunity to display his Courage in the View of the French and Germans did instantly press to make the first Attack which was easily granted him in regard he alledged that his People were better acquainted than the rest with the nature of the place and the Turnings of the Gardens He was a Prince who was now advanced to the Flower of his Youth being between eight and nine and twenty Years of Age he was of Stature something less than the Middle but of a Proportion so just and regular in all the parts of his Body that his want of Heighth did not lessen
of Tiberias That it was to lose all to lose their Honour by suffering the Princess his Wife who so bravely defended it to perish whilst they stood cowardly looking on And that all the other Cities despairing after such an Example to be relieved would instantly surrender to the Conquerors and follow the Fortune of Tiberias if it should be taken And for any thing else in drawing out the Garrisons from the Cities they should thereby have so good an Army and so numerous that there could not be any room for Fear but that they should beat that Enemy whom they had so often vanquished with far less Forces The four Sons also of the Princess Eschina which she had by her first Husband made a mighty Noise and with repeated Instances demanded Relief to be sent to their Mother The Queen Sybilla also employed for this purpose all the Power which she had over the Spirit of the King her Husband who was indeed her Creature So that in conclusion the greatest part of the Lords inclining to this Opinion some out of Complaisance to the Queen others out of Service to the four Princes of Tiberias and divers out of the design which Count Raymond had secretly communicated to them it was resolved that they should march directly against the Enemies with all the Forces which they could draw out of the Garrisons where none were to be lest but such as were incapable of bearing Arms. And thus with these Troops which were composed of a great many Men and a few Soldiers the Army consisting in twelve thousand Horse and twenty thousand Foot besides the Citizens who were compelled by Force to serve in the War they advanced towards Tiberias Now as Raymond who in Right of the Princess his Lady was Prince of Galilee was better acquainted with the Country than the rest and that he was not only esteemed a great Soldier but that he seemed also to have the greatest Interest in the Victory which was to deliver the Person which ought to be the dearest to him the Conduct of the Army was unanimously committed to him That perfidious Traytor who gave secret Advertisement of all things to the Enemies unfortunately or rather maliciously engaged them in a rude and steril Country among the Straits of the Rocks and Mountains where there was neither Water nor Forrage The Enemies who only waited for this lucky Minute failed not to encompass them with their Troops which were far more numerous after the same manner that the Romans had some time been inclosed in the Furcae Caudinae year 1187 which were not more Famous by the Shameful Ignomony into which the ignorance and the Temerity of their Captains there precipitated their Soldiers then these Straits for the deplorable Overthrow of the Christian Army which was betrayed into the Hands of the Infidels by the baseness of their Perfidious Conductor It was now high Summer in the beginning of July when the Heats of that Burning Climate are most insupportable and there was not one Drop of Water to be found among those Rocks so that the Men and Horses died with Thirst and were able to do no more there was therefore a Necessity of resolving immediately to sight the Enemy For though the Disadvantage was very great by reason that it was impossible to draw up the Army in Battalia in a Post which was so uneven and so strait and broken with Rocks that they could not attack the Enemy but by filing off yet it was impossible to avoid that Choice the Army was divided into a great many Bodies commanded by the Principal Lords who were to follow one another who were to sustain there Companions and who were reciprocally to be sustained by those which followed them The Enemies expected them in good Order to cut them off as they marched in these long Files before they should have Leisure to form themselves into Squadrons upon the Plain to give them Battle The great Master of the Temple who chose to have the Van with his Noble Knights advanced first and charged so furiously upon those Enemies which opposed him that overturning them upon those who followed them he put them into Disorder insomuch that these Gallant men who fought most Valiantly after the Example of their Captain killing overturning or putting to flight all that durst oppose their first Fury had they been sustained by the other Bodies who had Order to follow them the whole Army might with little Difficulty have been drawn from that disadvantageous Post and have had the Liberty of sighting in the Plain Field where they would doubtless have been able to have hoped or however disputed for the Victory but here it was that the detestable Treason of the Perfidious Earl of Tripolis made it self most infamously Visible For he had so ordered the Matter that he himself commanded that Body which was to follow the Templers and he had also disposed the other Troops in such manner that all the Lords who were of his Party were to follow him Now these Traytors would not advance alledging that this was to lead their Souldiers to a perfect Butchery to quit their advantageous Post and to march them thus in Files into the Plain which was all covered with the Battalions and squadrons of the Enemies who must needs cut them all in Pieces taking them thus without Trouble one after another So that these brave Knights infamously abandoned by their Reserves and on every side surrounded by an innumerable Multitude of Sarasins were all either slain upon the Place or taken Prisoners not so much as one of them escaping After this Defeat Saladin seeing that no more durst advance to the Combat approached to the Camp of the Christians which yet he would not adventure to attack but that he might complete their Dispair by taking from them all Appearance of a Possibility to draw themselves out of that wicked Strait he caused Fires to be made in the Woods which invironed the greatest Parts of those Rocks and set strong Guards upon all the other Avenues that so he might sight them with greater Advantage if they should endeavour to Retreat But six Fugitives who run to his Army and to gain Credence with him offered to become Sarasins as they presently did having assured him that the Christian Soldiers were half dead with Hunger and Thirst and under the greatest Consternation so oppressed with their Misfortune Weariness and Despair that they were scarce able to stand or go upon this Advice he instantly resolved to Charge them which he did with that Success that his Army powering in upon them by the Straits which the Christians had abandoned they fell upon these miserable People who were crouded together and who had neither Courage to defend themselves nor Power to fly cross the Flames and the Rocks that it was no longer a Combat but a Horrible Butchery and Slaughter So that almost all the Captains and Christian Soldiers either perished in this miserable Day or were taken Prisoners
He came into France at the same time that Cardinal Henry the Bishop of Albano Legate from the Holy See arrived there And there are some Authors who assure us that Pope Clement honoured this Archbishop with the same Character and joyned him in Commission with the Cardinal to treat a Peace between the two Kings of England and France to the end they might unite in the Resolation of undertaking the War against Saladin That War which Philip the August had declared against Henry II. King of England for the Restitution of the Earldom of Vexin had been terminated by the Undertaking of Pope Vrban upon condition that the King of England as a Dependant for those Estates upon the Crown of France should in a time prefixed submit himself to the Judgment of the Court of France That Term being expired Henry not only still retained the Earldom which he was obliged to restore but also the Princess Alice the Sister of Philip who was designed to be married to Richard the Son of the King of England Philip resolved to do himself Reason for such a visible Injustice year 1188 was about to enter into Normandy with a potent Army where Henry also was expecting him with considerable Forces when the Archbishop of Tyre arrived very opportunely to suspend at least for a time the Anger of these two Princes And so it was that by the force of his Genius and his Eloquence he procured an Interview between them in a Plain between Trie and Gisors where they were used to meet when they treated one with the other The two Kings met there about the middle of January accompanied with the Princes Prelates and great Lords of both the Kingdoms And there it was that the illustrious Archbishop employed all the Power of his Eloquence and of his Wit to represent in that August Assembly The deplorable Estate into which the fatal Divisions of the Christian Princes of the East had reduced the Kingdom of Jerusalem which the first Crusades had from so many barbarous and Infidel Nations so gloriously conquered with their victorious Arms. He then remonstrated That of four puissant Estates which they had established upon the Ruins of the Mahomitan Empire and which extended the Dominions of the Christians from Cilicia to Egypt and from the Sea to the River Tygris there remained nothing to them now more than three Cities That Antioch dispairing to be able to preserve it self by its own Forces had already promised to surrender if it were not immediately relieved by those of the West That Tyre without necessary Succours was not in a condition to sustain a second Siege having in the first lost the greatest part of its Defendants That Tripolis was too weak to endure one and could no longer remain in Freedom than it pleased Saladin to present himself before it to add it to his other Conquests And that further after so lamentable a Loss as that of Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land there was great danger of losing also the very Hopes which remained to the Christians in those places from whence they might take a Beginning to re-establish the Kingdom of Christ Jesus if those two Kings the most potent of Christendom did not unite their Hearts and their Arms to run to the Relief of Christ and his Cause of whose only Grace and Goodness they held all which they did possess And in short he said upon that Subject so many pathetick things and in a manner so powerful and so touching that the two Princes whether they had in a former Conference which they had agreed this as one of the Articles of the Peace or that God in whose Hands are the Hearts of Kings to change them in a Moment by the extraordinary Working of his Power it is certain that they embraced one the other mutually in the Presence of the whole Assembly and did it with all the Marks of a perfect Reconciliation and a sincere and cordial Friendship as if there had never been any Subject of Discontent or Difference between them And at the same time might be heard on all sides the confused Voices of a Multitude of People who broak out into great Cries of Joy and from every Quarter was to be heard Long live King Philip Long live King Henry Let us go Let us go to this War against the Infidels under the Conduct of these two mighty Kings Let us deliver Jerusalem and extirpate the Enemies of Jesus Christ The Cross the Cross let it be given us the Sign of our Salvation and the Ruin of the Sarasins These Acclamations were also presently followed with that happy Success which attended the Legation of this brave Archbishop of Tyre that the two Kings first presenting themselves to receive the Cross from the hands of the Legates they were followed by Richard the Son of the King of England Duke of Guienne and Earl of Poitou who had voluntarily taken it before the Loss of Jerusalem but would now anew receive it from the hands of the Legates As also did Philip Earl of Flanders the Duke of Burgundy the Earls of Blois Dreux Champagne Perche Clermont Barr Beaumont Nevers James Lord of Avesnes and almost all the great Lords of France England and Flanders who were present at this Assembly And to distinguish the one from the other it was ordained that the French should take a Red Cross being the same they bore in the first Crusade the English a white one and the Flemmings one of Green It is said that at the same time there appeared one in Heaven bright and shining which helped to inflame the Devotion of those who took up the other as if God himself had manifestly called them to this Holy War by a sacred Signal from above And to render the Memory of so great an Action Eternal a Cross was erected and a Church built in the midst of the Field of this Conference which was ever after called The Holy Field year 1188 After this the Kings to support the Charges of this War and to prevent the Disorders which had been so injurious to the former Crusades resolved to publish these following Ordinances That all Persons who had not undertaken the Cross of what Quality soever even the Ecclesiasticks except the Chartreux the Bernardines and the Religious of Fontevraud should pay one Tenth of their Revenues and of their Moveables except their Arms their Habits Books Jewels and consecrated Vtensils and Ornaments which was afterwards called by the name of Saladin's Tenth by reason that it was raised upon the Occasion of making this War with Saladin That the Crusades should have liberty to raise a Tenth of all their Subjects who did not go to this War And that the Husbandmen who undertook to go and take the Cross without the Leave of their Lords first obtained should not be exempted from this Impost That all Interest upon Money lent should cease for all the time that the Debters were upon Service in the Holy Land That
of the City had promised to surrender if they were not before that time relieved The Sarasins seeing him coming had put themselves in Battalia upon the Bank to hinder his Descent and the greatest part looking upon such an Attempt as impossible advised the King to return But this undaunted Prince perceiving that the Castle yet held out causing his Shallop to row close to the Shoar was the first that leapt into the Sea and drew the rest after him rather by the extreme Danger to which they saw him expose himself than by the Force of such a brave Example and after he had routed the Sarasins who fled instantly amazed at his prodigious Boldness he stormed the Town by the same Breaches which they had made and cutting in pieces those who besieged the Castle he constrained Saladin with the remainder of his Troops to retire in great disorder to the Mountains But this was not all for three days after seven thousand chosen men of the most brave of all Saladin's Army thinking to surprize him early in the Morning in his Quarters while he was asleep taking the Alarm he so quickly rallied what Troops of Infantry could be gotten together on the sudden and formed them so well into a square Battalion that they durst never so much as approach him for he had so ranged his men that between every Pike who kneeled with one knee upon the Ground two Cross-Bows were placed one of which charged the Cross-Bows whilest the other let fly the Mortal Arrows among them without ceasing and at last seeing the Enemies disordered by the great Showers of those dreadful forked Arrows and that they did nothing but wheel about his Battalion which had a Front every way he by an excess of Courage or rather Temerity threw himself on Horse-Back into the midst of his Enemies although he had not with him above ten Lords who were mounted as he was the Cheif of which were the Count de Champagne the Earl of Leicester Bartholomew Mortemar Raoul de Mauleon Andrew de Savigni William de L' Estang and Henry de Nevile There he did shew the Prodigies of Valour with those Generous Lords who by his Example combated like so many inraged Lyons He relieved Robert Earl of Leicester who happened to be dismounted he cut off the Arms of those who had seized upon the Lord Mauleon to make him Prisoner his Sword like Lightning flew every way carrying Death and Terror along with it among his Enimies and at last seeing the General who commanded the Sarasins who was animating his men to the Combat and reproached them of Cowardice to suffer such a handful to triumph over them he ran up to him and with a mighty Blow of his Falchion cut off his Head and right Arm close by the Shoulder so that he fell dead among the Horses Feet This dreadful Blow so terrified the Sarasins that they durst not come near him but attacked him at a distance with their Arrows so that at last weary of their Slaughter he returned to his Camp the Caparison of his Horse being bristled with the Enemies Arrows of whom he left seven hundred Extended upon the Earth without having lost any more then two of his Men. In truth such a Noble and Heroick Action made it most apparent that there was no manner of Understanding between him and Saladin against whom if there had certainly he would never have fought with such apparent Hazard of his Person to drive him out of Jaffa after he had taken it But all this did not hinder but that Saladin who saw very well that Richard who was fallen sick after this Combat was not only resolved but necessitated to return into Europe obliged him in Conclusion to accept of a Truce with such Conditions as he was pleased to give as if he had been the Conqueror They were these That the Christians should demolish all the places which they had siezed upon since the taking of Acre and above all Ascalon That all the Coast from Tyre to Jaffa should be in the Power of the Christians that the rest should remain in the Possession of Saladin except Ascalon which upon the Expiration of the Truce should fall to his Share who should then be most potent year 1192 and that Richard should be satisfied from him for the Expences which he had been at in the Fortifications of that Place That during the Truce which was to begin at Easter in the following Year and to continue for three Years three Months three Weeks and three Days the Christians should have liberty in small numbers freely to enter into Jerusalem to make there their Devotions at the Holy Sepulchre Thus this great Crusade wherein all the Forces of Germany France and England were employed under three of the greatest Princes of the Universe against one single Conqueror ended at last in nothing more than the Taking of one poor Town which cost the Lives of an infinite number of brave Men the least part of which if they had been under the Command of one single Captain might with ease have conquered the whole Eastern Empire But it is never to be expected or hoped but that Hatred Envy Ambition Jealousie of State and Diversity of Interests which never fail to happen among plurality of Commanders should ever suffer these kind of Unions to continue firm or long And it would be a kind of Prodigy if they should not according to their nature produce those Divisions and Animosities which alone without the Assistance of other Mischiefs are capable of ruining the greatest Enterprises and the bravest Armies Whereas one single Chief with far less number shall certainly triumph over the greatest Multitude leagued against him provided he hath but Patience to permit Discords to enter into the Camp of the Confederates and will but give them leave to overthrow themselves The Truce being signed Richard who found himself still worse in the unwholsom Air of Jaffa caused himself to be removed to Caiphas where Saladin who had naturally a generous Soul sent to visit him with great Marks of Affection Esteem and Respect He also very obligingly received the Bishop of Salisbury at Jerusalem who with the rest of the Pilgrims went thither to offer the Vows of the King who still continued much indisposed in his Health And after he had most courteously entertained that Prelate he obliged him to demand what Favour lay in his Power and promised he would grant it Whereupon the Bishop requested that not only in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but those of Nazareth and Bethlehem there might be permitted to remain two Latin Priests and two Deacons with freedom publickly to celebrate Divine Service in those places to which Saladin without any difficulty according to his Word accorded After this the King finding his Health in some measure re-established repaired to Acre where the Duke of Burgundy was dead of the Distemper some eight Days before his Arrival There he caused his Fleet to be rigged
not to be behind his Brother-in Law the Count de Champagne whose Sister he had married in this glorious Career of Honour and Vertue He therefore solemnly took upon him the Cross in the Beginning of Lent in the Year 1200 in the Church of St. Donatien at Bruges as did also the Countess Mary year 1200 his Lady a Princess of a most Heroick Courage and a Resolution to bear him faithful Company and run the same Fortune with him until Death He was followed in this gallant Action by his two Brothers Henry and Eustace by Thierri his Cousin the Natural Son of the late Earl Philip Eustace Count de Sarbruck Conon de Bethune James d' Avesnes the Son of the noble Lord of that Name who performed so many brave Actions in Palestine and by the greatest part of the Flemish Nobility A part of these Princes and Lords being assembled at Soissons could there come to no determined Resolution in regard they were not as yet assured that they had sufficient Forces year 1200 but two Months after at a Meeting of all the great Men of the Crusade at Compiegne they found themselves in so good a Condition that there it was agreed for expediting this Affair that the three Earls of Champagne Flanders and Blois should each of them nominate two Deputies who should be authorised with full Power to take care of all things relating to the Design both as to the number of Troops and the Choice of the Men among such an innumerable Multitude of People as had taken upon them the Cross As also to treat with such as it was necessary for their Passage and Provisions The six Deputies having debated an Affair of this Importance found that to secure themselves from those terrible Inconveniences which the Christian Armies had suffered in the first Crusades by long and hazardous Land-Marches it was much more convenient to take the Passage of the Sea and that the Passage might be short and commodious with so much Provision and so many Ships as was necessary for the transporting of so great an Army either into Syria or Egypt there could not be any way more proper than to treat with the Venetians who without all Contradiction were at that time the People of all Europe the most powerful upon the Mediterranean Sea This Advice therefore being approved of by the Princes year 1201 the Deputies repaired to Venice in the Beginning of the following Year 1201. where in a few days they negotiared most successfully with the famous Henry Dandolo who for nine Years past had been the Doge of that flourishing Republick This Henry was a Prince of a great and Majestick Port and being now above fourscore Years old though to a Miracle neither decrepit in Body nor decayed in Mind his great Age rendred him still more August and venerable he had Prudence the consummated Effect of long Experience a most invincible Courage and an immovable Firmness in such Resolutions as he took for the Good of his Country of which he was a most passionate Lover He was a great Captain and a valiant Soldier an able Politician and even at those Years wonderfully taken with the fair Image of Glory Above all he was the most dexterous Manager of Affairs and though he were almost blind not so much by the Decay of Nature as the Effect of Cruelty yet was he the clearest sighted Man of his time in Matters of State The Occasion of the Loss of his Sight was this About fifty Years before being employed from the Republick as their Ambassador at Constantinople where he generously sustained his Character and stoutly maintained the Interests of his Country the perfidious Emperor Manuel not able to bear that Freedom caused a red hot Plate of Iron to be held before his Eyes to put them out But for all this barbarous Outrage whereby he violated the Law of Nations though his Sight was mightily impaired yet it was not wholly lost nor did his Eyes lose any thing to Appearance of their Lustre and Clearness till after this he received an unfortunate Blow upon his Head at the Seige of Zara which if it did not altogether take away his Sight yet left him but a very little Notwithstanding which never any Duke acted with more Application or better Success for the Interests of Venice where his well known Merit gained him an universal Respect and gave him more Authority and Power than either his Charge or Dignity although at that time the Power was far more unlimited than it hath been since by the Laws which that sage Republick hath enacted to abridge the Authority of its Head It was then with this great Man that the Deputies immediately treated in his private Council which was composed of six Senators and they managed their Negotiation with that frankness remitting themselves wholly to him for what they must give the Republick for the Assistance which they desired from them that in eight days they came to agree upon the Conditions of the Treaty which were these That the Venetians should furnish them with flat bottom'd Boats and Ships either to pass into Syria or Egypt for four thousand five hundred Knights with their Horses nine thousand Esquires and twenty thousand Foot with so much Munitions and Provisions which should suffice this Fleet for a Year That all the Vessels should be rigged and ready to sail in the Month of June following and should serve them for one Year accounting from the Day that the Fleet should part from the Port of Venice That the Princes of the Crusade should pay for the same eighty five thousand Marks in Silver which according to the true Supputation year 1201 is about eight hundred thousand Crowns French Money which was a very extraordinary Sum in those times But the Doge who had a great Soul being resolved that it should not be said that the Venetians acted just like Merchants in furnishing Ships and Provisions at a reasonable Rate having besides a great desire to signalize himself upon this Occasion and to have a share in the Glory which was to be acquired in this War therefore acquainted them that the Republick to contribute to such a holy Enterprise was resolved to joyn with them at the least fifty Gallies well rigged and armed with so many Soldiers as were necessary to serve profitably by Sea at the same time that the French acted by Land and that they should equally part betwixt them the Conquests which should be made during the time of their Confederation Dandolo having easily brought the great Council of forty Senators to approve of the Treaty as also the three other Assemblies of the Notables of the City judged that it was convenient to have it ratified by the People whom to the number of above ten thousand he caused to be assembled in the place and the Church of St. Mark where after the Mass of the Holy Ghost had been sung the six Deputies being introduced as before had been agreed with the
Two great Armies of Sarasins besiege the Camp They attack 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 year 1204 WHilest the Confederate Princes did with so much Glory and good Fortune conquer a whole Empire those who had separated from them to go directly into Palestine or who had taken other ways to put themselves under other Commanders met with all manner of ill Success and were so far from supporting that tottering State that in conclusion they did nothing but weaken the poor remainders of the Christian Power in the Holy Land The Truce which had for some time continued between them and the Sarasins having been broaken by one of the Admirals of Egypt and no sort of Satisfaction to be obtained for it the War broke out more furiously than before between King Emeri and Coradin the Son of Saphadin who was as great a Captain as his Father By Saphadin's Orders therefore he immediately advanced with a powerful Army and incamped within a League of Ptolemais Now John de Nele who commanded the great Fleet which had been equipped in Flanders and who staid at Marseilles to Winter having heard this News made hast from thence and whereas he should have joyned the Princes who besieged Constantinople as Count Baldwin had ordered him he sailed directly for Ptolemais where he landed having more Soldiers aboard his Fleet than there was in the whole Army of the Consederate Princes So that with those who were already passed by the Ports of Brindes and Otranto under Simon de Montfort Renard de Dampierre and the other Lords who had quitted the Confederates before they left Venice together with that great Multitude of Bretons who followed the Monk Herloin thither there were more Forces than might have chased the Infidels out of Palestine But there happened so many ill Accidents to them as ruined all their Designs for the Plague which began a little before in Ptolemais raged so furiously among these new Comers that it is reported there died in that City at one time above two thousand Persons in an Hour so that almost one half of them perished of that terrible Disease and the remainder to avoid that Danger year 1204 instantly re-imbarking failed back again to Europe There was also a fearful Dissention between the Christians themselves and the Crusades occasioned by a War betwixt Livon King of Armenia and Bohemond Earl of Tripolis and Prince of Antioch for the Principality of that State and as many great Lords and among others Renard de Dampierre with whom Theobald Count de Champagne at his Death had intrusted his Troops took the Part of Bohemond and marched to his Assistance they were surprized by the Sultan of Alepo who defeated them so intirely that there was scarce one who escaped either being taken or flain Villaine de Nevilly one of the most valiant Men of his time was there unfortunately slain and his Bother William de Nevilly Bernard de Montmirail and John de Villiers were taken as Renard de Dampierre General of the Champenois who was led to Alepo where he remained a Prisoner for thirty Years as for the poor Bretons they having only the Monk to lead them and he knowing better how to persuade them to take Arms than how to manage them they like those who followed Peter the Hermite were quickly dispersed and neither knowing what they had to do nor how to do it they perished either by the Plague or Famine or the Swords of the Infidels and the poor remainders of that great number did not without great Difficulty at last regain their Country of Bretany without having done any thing worthy of the great Zeal and Courage which carried them out of it But it hath been an old Observation that Lions with a timerous Stagg for their Captain will all prove Harts and that even fearful Deer when led by a Lion will do like Lions But in short there was not one of those who separated from the Army of the Confederates to go without them into the Holy Land who had not sufficient Reason of Repentance either for the Disgrace or the Damage which he suffered Even Simon de Momfort who before this had done so many Wonders in the War against the Albigenses was forced to return into France without bringing home with him from the Voyage any thing except the Trouble to have done nothing So dangerous it is to quit the main Body to which one is related and from which no better Fortune is to be expected but like a Branch cut from the Stem of a Tree to be blasted and withered In this miserable Estate were the Christians in the East and almost reduced to the utmost Dispair when they received the News of the taking of Constantinople by the Confederate Princes of whom even those who had abandoned them were constrained to demand Help from those to whom they had before denied theirs tho it was not to be expected that so small a Number ingaged in so great an Enterprise as the settling of their new Conquests and inlarging them could for the present be able to afford them It is impossible however to express the Joy which this News gave the Christians of Palestine who now did not question in the least but the Way was opened for the most short and certain Deliverance of the Holy Land from the Oppression of the barbarous Infidels But in regard of the Fear they were in of losing all after so many Misfortunes as one upon the Neck of another had fallen upon them King Emeri had before made a most disadvantageous Truce with the Infidels for six Years whereupon all the Crusades who were in Palestine went to wait upon the new Emperor at Constantinople The Legate himself Peter de Capua Cardinal of St. Marcellus being sent for thither by Baldwin to regulate the Affairs of the Church sailed thither and was followed by his Collegue the Cardinal of St. Praxede and such a multitude of the Oriental Christians of all Conditions that the King was almost left quite alone without any Forces considerable enough to oppose the Infidels if they should attempt to break the Truce as they quickly after did The Pope was hereupon mightily afraid and extremely troubled that his Legats should also without his Order abandon the Holy Land But the Providence of God averted this threatned Misfortune by a War which presently broke out among the Sarasins one against another and the Pope comforted himself with the Conquest of Constantinople which was altogether so unexpected to him He now no longer condemned this Enterprise of the Crusades as he had done formerly the fortunate Success thereof fully justifying the Undertaking
according to the differing Prospects which his Interest gives him in which he finds himself ingaged in what he writes year 1245 So that in making use of this Author who hath very good things I have endeavoured to make a just difference betwixt what he writes as himself and those authentick Pieces which he produceth which give great insight into the true History such as are the Relations sent by those who had a share in the Affairs then transacted the Letters of the Popes and Princes as also those of the Emperor which contain what I have now related and which the continuator of Baronius hath inserted into his Annals printed at Rome where the Reader may find this and much more to the same purpose that I have recounted But Frederick did not satisfie himself with Writings but pushing on his Sentiments to all things which his Vindicative Nature and his Anger furiously inflamed could transport him there was nothing which he did not attempt or which he did not put in Execution to revenge himself of the Pope persecuting and ruining his Relations banishing and dispoiling them of all their Estates as he did all the Priests and Bishops who refused to celebrate the Divine Offices in those places where he was constraining all the Ecclesiasticks to pay the third part of their Revenues to maintain the War against the Pope Making use of Fire and Sword and all those Violent Ways by himself and his Gibelins against all those who were of the Pope's Party So that the Pope was obliged in his own defence against such a Potent Enemy to cause a Crusade to be preached by his Cordeliers against him and his Sons who on their side acted with as much Violence and Ardour as their Father Thus the Succours designed for Constaminople against Vatacus the Greek Emperor and those for Hungary against the Tartars were frustrated and the Troubles of Germany and Italy which insued upon the Condemnation of Frederick and the Crusade which was published against that Prince were so many diversions which weakned the Principal Crusade in such a manner that notwithstanding that it was resolved in the Council against the Sarasins Of all the Kings of Europe there was none except St. Lewis who with the French only undertook the Holy War he having taken upon him the Cross even before the Council of Lyons For as in the Year before after his return from the War of Poitu where he had so gloriously vanquished the Earl of Marche and the English at the Battle of Tailebourg he fell sick in the Month of December and by the Violence of the Distemper he was reduced to that Extremity that he was believed to be dead remaining without pulse and without Sense for one whole day insomuch that they were consulting of his Funerals when suddainly comming as it were out of an Ecstasie and blessing God who had drawn him from the Gates of Death and looking upon the Standers by he made choice among all the Bishops who where assembled in his Chamber of the Bishop of Paris who was at that time the famous William d' Avergne whom his learned Writings and the eminent Sanctity of his life have rendred so much celebrated He presently called him to him and desired him to fasten a Cross to his Right Shoulder as a mark of the immoveable Resolution which he had taken after the example of his Grandfather Philip the August and his great Grandfather Lewis the young to undertake the Holy War for the deliverance of the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ and he spoke to him in a manner so resolute either because in that Extremity wherein he was he had made a Vow to take upon him the Cross if it should please God to deliver him or else as an ancient Writer assures us that during this long Swoon which Nanges calls an Ecstasy he had a Vision in which he thought he saw the Christian Army vanquish by the Sarasins as it was before Gaza and heard a Voice from Heaven which said to him King of France Go and revenge this irreparable Loss Let it be how it will it is certain that notwithstanding the Prayers and the Tears of the two Queens his Mother and his Wife who conjured him upon their Knees to deferr the taking of such a Resolution till he was in a better condition he protested that he would neither take any nourishment nor Medicin till such time as he had received the Cross Insomuch that in conclusion the Bishop of Paris all in Tears fastned the Cross upon him whilest the Queens the Princes his Bothers and all those who were present began afresh to weep as if he had again been at the point of death but he on the contrary with a pleasant Countenance and a perfect assurance notwithstanding his extreme weakness year 1245 protested that God would restore him to his health for the accomplishment of his Vow And in short in a little time he recovered and whilest he staid till the condition of his Affairs would permit him to pass the Sea with a powerful Army he continually sent great Succours of men and money into Palestine with many Knights of the Temple and Hospital to encourage the Christians of Syria to defend themselves vigourously against the Forces of Egypt in Expectation of his comming in person to their assistance Hereupon Pope Innocent in Execution of the Decree of the Council of Lyons touching the Crusades sent Cardinal Eudes of Castle Roax Bishop of Tusculum his Legate into France to publish it in that Realm The King received him at Paris with all kind of magnificence and to give the greater weight to the Publication of the Crusade he called to meet in the Month of October in the Octaves of St. Dennis a great assembly of the Princes Prelates and Barons where he spoke so powerfully to animate them to the Holy War taking upon him the Office of a Preacher after the Legate that the greatest part of the Assembly following his example took upon them the Cross The most Illustrious and signal among them were the three Princes the Brothers of the King Alphonsus Count de Poitiers Robert Count d' Artois and Charles Count d' Anjou The Princesses their Ladies imitating the example of the Queen who resolved to go along with the King also took upon them the Cross So much Piety and Courage so much love had they for these three brave Princes their Husbands that they would also pertake with them the pains and the dangers of this War leaving to them all the Glory to which their Sex would not permit them to pretend Also Hugh Duke of Burgundy Peter Duke of Bretany William Earl of Flanders Hugh de Chastillon Count de St. Paul and Gautier de Chastillon his Nephew Hugh de Lusignan Earl of March and his Son Hugh the Brown followed them together with the Counts de Dreux de Bar de Soissons de Blois de Retel de Montfort and de Vendosme The Lords John de Beajeu