Princes The Relation of the Conquests and Settlement of the Normans in Italy The Voyage of Bohemond Prince of Tarentum and the Princes that went along with him The Voyage of Raymond de Tholose of Aymar de Monteil Bishop of Pavia and the other Princes and Lords which accompanied them The Charaâ—ter of that Earl his Conference with the Emperor and the Treachery of that Prince The Voyage of Robert Duke of Normandy his Character and Treaty with the Emperor Page 1. BOOK II. The Description of the City of Nice in Bithynia and the Siege thereof by the Princes of the Crusade The Second and third Battle of Nice where the young Solyman was beaten The taking of that City and the Treachery of the Greek Emperor The March of the Christian Army One part thereof surprized by Solyman The Battle of the Gorgonian Valley The Progress of the Christian Army in the lesser Asia The great danger of Duke Godfrey and his Combat with a monstrous Bear The difference and little Civil dissention between Baldwin and Tancred Baldwin makes himself Master of the Principality of Edessa The entrance of the Christian Army into Syria The Description of the Famous City of Antioch It is besieged by the Princes The Relation of this famous Siege The Combat at the Bridge of Antioch The marvellous Actions of Duke Godfrey The Approach of Corbagath with a prodigious Army to relieve the City The Relation of the taking of Antioch by Bohemond by Intelligence in the City with one Pyrrhus The Christian Army at the same time besieged by Corbagath A Relation of the discovery of the top of a Spear which was believed to be that which pierced our Saviour's side The memorable Battle of Antioch where the whole power of the Turks and Sarasins in Asia was defeated by the Christians The death of Aymar de Monteil Bishop of Pavia The quarrel between Count Raymond and the Prince of Tarentum The taking of Marra A strange Relation of the gratitude of a Lyon The Seige of Arcas The odd Story of Anselm de Ribemond Earl of Bouchain and the deceased Engelram Son to the Earl of St. Paul The taking of Torlosa by a stratagem by the Vicount de Turenne The Sultan of Egypt takes Jerusalem from the Turks breaks his League with the Princes of the Crusade The Ambassadours of Alexis slighted The advantageous composition with the Emir of Tripolis The March of the Christian Army to Jerusalem Lidda Rama Nicopolis and Bethlehem taken by the Christians The extraordinary expressions of their Devotion upon the first discovery of the Holy City p. 33. BOOK III. The Present State of Jerusalem when the Christian Princes Besieged it The Destribution of their Quarters The ill Success of an Assault given against the Rules of War by the Advice of a Hermite who pretended a Revelation for it The Description of Duke Godfrey's Engines The solemn Procession of the Besiegers about the City The Second General Assault for three days together Two Magicians who were Conjuring upon the Walls have their Brains beaten out with a Stone from Duke Godfrey's wooden Castle The Artifice of Godfrey to drive the Enemies from the Walls He is the first that by the Bridge of his Castle mounts the Walls Jerusalem taken The fearful Slaughter of the Sarasins By Godfrey's Example the whole Army return solemn Thanks to God at the Holy Sepulchre An Assembly of the Princes to chuse a King and a Patriarch The Speech of Robert Duke of Normandy upon this Subject Godfrey of Bullen chosen and proclaimed King of Jerusalem The memorable Battle of Ascalon against the Sultan of Egypt and the Victory of the Christians which concluded this first Crusade The return of the Crusades The Conquests of Godfrey of Bullen and his Death An Abridgement of the History of the Kingdom of Jerusalem till the time of the Second Crusade The Reign of Baldwin the First The flourishing Estate of the Christians in the East till his Death The Reign of Balwin the Second The Relation of the founding the Military Orders of the Knights Hospitallers The Captivity of King Baldwin His deliverance His Victories and Death He is succeeded by his Son-in-Law Fowk d'Anjou The Prosperity of his Reign His Death and the Regency of Queen Melisintha during the Minority of Baldwin the Third The Occasion of the second Expedition of the Crusades The Relation of the two Josselins de Courtenay Earls of Edessa The taking of that City by Sanguin Sultan if Alepo and afterwards by Noradin his Son The Character of that Prince and his Conquests over the Christians Applications made to Lewis the young King of France His Character and what moved him to undertake the Crusade He consults St. Bernard concerning it The Character of that Saint and the Order he received from Pope Eugenius the Third to preach the Crusade The General Assemblies of Bourges Vezelay and Chartress for the Crusade It is published by Saint Bernard in France and Germany The Emperor and King take up the Cross The Abbot Sugere declared Regent in France His Character and advice concerning the expedition The Voyage of the Emperor The Description of the Tempest which almost ruined his Army upon the Banks of the River Melas The Fleet of the Crusades takes Lisbon from the Sarasins The Original of the Kings of Portugal The Character and Perfidy of the Greek Emperor Manuel His underhand Treating with the Turks The miserable Overthrow of the Emperor's Army The Voyage of King Lewis to Constantinople and his reception The Advice of the Bishop of Langress who Counsels the King to take Constantinople his Speech upon that Subject the reason that his Advice was not followed the Treacheries of Manuel thereupon The Kings Voyage into Asia His Interview with the Emperor Conrade and the Return of that Prince to Constantinople The Description of the River Meander and the famous passage of the King of France with his Army over it p. 68. PART II. BOOK I. The Rereguard of the Kings Army Defeated in the Mountains of Laodicea for want of observing the Kings Orders The Description of that Combat A most Heroick Action of the King in an extreme Danger of his Life His March and admirable Conduct to Attalia The new Perfidy of the Greeks in Betraying the Royal Army The Arrival of the King at Antioch and his Difference with Prince Raymond The Conquenty March to Jerusalem where he is met by the Emperor Conrade The Councel at Ptolemais where the Seige of Damascus is resolved The Description of the City of Damascus The manner of the March of the Christian Army towards that City The Young King Baldwin makes the first Attack his Character and extraordinary Valour in the Attack against the Gardens and Suburbs of Damascus The great Combat upon the Bank of the River A brave Action of the Emperor Conrade An Account of the Siege of Damascus and the Treachery of the Syrians which occasioned the ill Success of that Enterprise The Return
of Theodorick the Valiant the Son of Gerard of Alsatia and Duke of high Lorrain And from him in a lineal Descent to this present time are derived all the Princes of that fair Dutchy which not long after his time lost its ancient Name of the Mosellane retaining only that of Lorrain as it doth to this day But whether Godfrey Duke Bossu having no Children adopted his Nephew who was of his own Name and made him his Heir giving him the Earldom of Bullen which belonged formerly to the House of Ardenna or that it came by Ida upon her Marriage with the Earl of Bullen it is most certain the Surname of Bullen which was given to this young Prince hath by him and his Heroick Actions been rendered one of the most Celebrated in the World It is this Glorious Name which in the last Age was so happily Reunited with that of the Tour of Avergne which by a Marriage hath received that of Bullen to restore it to its ancient Lustre as we have seen it by the Virtues the Dignities the great Employments and fair Actions of the Princes of that Noble House As for Prince Godfrey it was impossible for Nature to bestow a more happy Inclination to all sorts of Virtues than which she had given him nor was any thing wanting in his Education which might Contribute to the improvement of that Stock such was the exact Care of his Father who was a most Wise and Virtuous Prince and more especially of his Mother a Lady of a most extraordinary Merit and an Excellent Spirit year 1096 which she had Cultivated also by a Diligence very uncommon to her Sex which she had employed in the Study of all curious Learning and in truth she was a Princess of most admirable Virtue and of a Piety so resplendent that after her death she obtained the glorious Title of a Saint It is said also that by the Assistance of Divine Illumination she did predict the future Greatness of her three Sons Eustace Godfrey and Baldwin For one Day as the Earl her Husband demanded of her what she had hid in her Lap she being playing with the Children she very seriously answered that she had there three great Princes one Duke one King and one Earl which was afterwards Verisied in the admirable Fortunes of these three Princes For Godfrey was Duke of Lorrain and King of Jerusalem Baldwin was King of the same Realm and Prince of Edessa and Eustace whom some will have to be the eldest Brother was Earl of Bullen after the Death of his Father It is also added that she had a strange Dream before the Birth of Prince Godfrey for the Sun seemed to descend from his Heavenly Orb and to fall into her Lap and that she saw her little Son Enthroned in the midst of that Glorious Luminary but it is the Humor of some Writers to render the Nativities of great Men more Illustrious at least as they think by Prodigies and Revelations which after wards the Noble Actions of these Hero's make easily to pass for real Truths especially with Persons who love to divert themselves with matters very Extraordinary and Surprizing But this is most certain which the Countess herself with a great deal of Pleasure was used to relate after the glorious Success which her Sons had in the Holy War that long before there was the least Discourse of the Crusade Prince Godfrey was used to say that he would one day take a Voyage to Jerusalem but not as the poor Pilgrims did only to satisfy his Devotion but as a Captain and a Conqueror at the head of a Puissant Army to Chase the wicked Insidels from that Holy Place Which must needs proceed singly from the impetuosity of his Courage and which considering the Condition of his Fortune very unfit to execute so great a Design may very well pass for a Prophetick Motion and looks like a Presage of that Glory and good Fortune which God had allotted for him and in order to which he seemed beforehand to prepare him by a thousand Beautiful Actions wherein he acquired a most Illustrious Reputation throughout all Europe After the Death of the Duke his Unckle the Emperor Henry the Fourth who pretended that the Dutchy of the Lower Lorrain for want of Heirs Male of the House of Ardenna was devolved to him conferred it upon his Son Conrade leaving nothing to Godfrey besides the Marquisate of Antwerp And on the other side Albert Earl of Namur his Kinsman and Thiery the Bishop of Verdun attempted to take from him Bullen and Verdun So that this Prince who was not yet Seventeen years of Age was compelled to have recourse to an early Valour for the Recovery of one part and the Defence of the other part of his Inheritance And therefore putting himself into the Castle of Bullen which Albert assisted by the Forces of the Bishop of Verdun had besieged he so vigorously repulsed his Enemies in all their attacks that he forced them to a dishonourable Retreat after they had lost the better part of their Army and in the same quarrel he undertook a single Combat against the said Earl in the presence of the Emperor and his whole Court during the Combat he had the Misfortune in making a notable Blow at the Head of his Enemy to break his Sword short within half a foot of the Hilt but notwithstanding this Disaster it was impossible to perswade him to determine the difference upon such terms of accommodation as upon this occasion were tendred to him but pursuing his point he fought with redoubled Ardor till at length having tumbled down his Enemy with a mighty Blow which he gave him with the Pommel of his Sword upon his head being now a Conquerer he accepted that Agreement which before he had generously refused whilest being disarmed he ran the utmost hazzard of being Vanquished And afterwards surmounting those just resentments which he might well have entertained against the Emperour who had so Injuriously deprived him of his Dutchy he nevertheless followed him in those Wars which he made in Germany and Italy whereupon all occasions he rendred him very signal Services and it is reported that he himself took the Imperial Eagle in the Famous Battle against the Saxons who had declared for Emperor Rodolph of Suabia when Victory beginning to declare herself for that Prince he ravished it from him together with his Life by giving him a mortal Wound with the very Cornet which he had newly taken And afterwards when the Emperor took the City of Rome from Pope Gregory the Seventh he was the first man that possessed himself of the breach and thereby Entred the Town They further add that after this falling into a most violent distemper which reduced him to the utmost Extremity of Danger he made a Vow to undertake an Expedition to the Holy Land as not long after did many Princes and Bishops according to the Devotion so much in Vogue at that time and
it was obliged to halt upon the Frontier of Hungary to treat with King Carloman concerning their passage For in Truth he had sufficient reason to be distrustful of this Army of the Crusades after the horrible injuries which he had received from those of Peter Godescalc and Emico The Treaty was however quickly concluded by the open and plain dealing between the King and the Duke who had an Interview upon a certain Bridge The King demanded as Hostages Prince Baldwin and the Princess his Lady and coasting all along with the Army of Godfrey ordered the Magazines to furnish them with Provisions at a reasonable price till such time as the greatest part of the Troops were passed over the Savus where he returned the Hostages with a thousand Protestations of Amity to the Duke whose Conduct and Fidelity he had in extraordinary admiration With the same order Godfrey caused his Army to pass over the vast Countries of Bulgaria and the Territories of the Greek Emperour according as he had promised his Embassadors who were sent to him by Alexis whilest he was upon his March until at length he arrived at Philipopolis in Thracia where he received Intelligence of the detention of Hugh the Great This young Prince who was Brother to Philip the first King of France had not to speak Truth either so much Experience or so much Ability as the other Princes of the Crusade who were possessed of very fair Estates but however he was a person admirably well composed full of Honour Vertue and Goodness extream Brave and of an Humour sweet and indearing the advantage which he had by his Illustrious Birth above the rest gave him a title to a greater Respect and he was therefore treated with so much Honour and Duty by all that though diverse others had in reality a greater Command and Interest in the Army yet nevertheless his Name was more Celebrated among strangers and especially the Greeks The Princes which accompanied him in this Voyage were Robert Duke of Normandy Son to William the Conquerer with the Noble Troops of English Normans and Brittains Stephen Earl of Chartres and Blois whose power was so great that it was commonly said that he was owner of more Places and Castles then there were days in the year Prince Eustace of Bullen Brother to Duke Godfrey and Robert Earl of Flanders who following the example of the Duke of Lorrain sold his Estate to furnish the Charges of this War These Princes who together composed a most puissant and numerous Army having stated their measures and conferred a long time at Paris with Hugh the great in the presence of the King his Brother put themselves upon their Way in the Month of September and having traversed France and Italy and received the Benediction of the Pope whom they found at Leuca and also having visited Rome and the Holy Places to implore the Divine Assistance the Winter being too far advanced for them commodiously to pass into Epirus they were obliged to distribute their Army about Bari Brindes and Otranto there to attend the coming of the Spring and the conveniency of imbarquing their Forces But Hugh suffering himself to be transported by the heat of his Conrage and the Impatience natural to Young Persons and above all others those of the French Nation was not able to support this delay but exposed himself too rashly to the Faith of the Greeks imbarking at Bari to pass to Duras as he did very slenderly accompanied and in a condition in no sort suitable to his Quality and the Majestick Name of France which he was to sustain during this War But the Governour of that place whether it were that he had secret Orders to secure such of the Crusade as he could surprize or that he believed he should do his Master the Emperor a considerable Service by putting into his hands so great a Prince who might serve for a Hostage to secure him against the Latins immediately upon his arrival seized him and sent him under a strong Guard through By-ways to Constantinople where the Emperor detained him Prisoner Godfrey who presently after this adventure arrived at Philipopolis where he received an account of it sent immediately to the Emperour to demand the Liberty of this Prince and those who accompanied him and in the mean time advanced with his Army as far as Adrianople But perceiving by the Answer which he received from Alexis what he was to Expect he acted like an open Enemy and for eight days wasting the Country all along as he went he marched directly to Constantinople where he raised such a consternation that Alexis sent to him to his Camp to desire a Peace making him all the Promises of receiving a just satisfaction In short Godfrey still advancing encamped two days before Christmass within view of this great City when with joy he received Hugh the Great to whom the Emperor had now given his Liberty and who came to pay his thanks to his Deliverer and Benefactor accompanied with Drogon de Neele Clerembaud de Vendeuïle and William Viscount of Melun commonly called the Carpenter either because he was so notable an Artist in framing of Engines of War or that according to the mode of Expression in those times he used so terribly to hack and hew his Enemies that neither Cask Shield nor Curiass was able to resist the Force of his blows But this Peace by reason of the perfidiousness of Alexis lasted not long for perceiving that after he had given orders privately to prohibit the furnishing them with provisions the Army began to live at Discretion he had recourse to Artifice and desired Godfrey to take up his Quarters in the fair Houses Palaces Hamblets and Villages which lay all along the Bosphorus to the Euxine Sea pretending the Rigor of the season was too extream to permit them to continue in their Camp but the truth is with a design to lock up this great Army in the little space which is between the Strait and the River which discharges it self into the Port that there he might more easily destroy them He had also a design to surprize the Duke inviting him to come to the Palace to confer with him about the War but finding that the Duke would not be decoyed and that he did with good reason distrust him he endeavoured again to famish the Army prohibiting the furnishing them with any kind of provisions he also attacked them both by Sea and Land for he commanded out his Cavalry against those who were sent to forrage and caused many Vessels manned with Archers to fall down the River who incessantly discharged upon such of the Soldiers as appeared But his Enterprize prospered accordingly for Godfrey with ease defeating the Greek Cavalry made himself Master of the Bridge of Blakerness in despite of all that the Emperors People endeavoured to do to oppose him and having without danger repassed the Main of his Army who set sire at their parting to the Houses and
to enterprize nothing contrary to the honor or the life of Alexis provided that Prince should inviolably observe all that he had promised But when the Homage came under debate he constantly protested that he would die before he would do it and that the Emperor and the Princes ought to be abundantly satisfied with the Oath which he had taken From whence they might have learned that the same Resolution in the rest might have proved no less advantagious to them then their politick Condescension for assuredly what colour soever may be put upon this Action it can never redound much to their Honour in the History of their lives But so it commonly happens that it is the Destiny of humane Prudence to be most grosly mistaken when for its security it makes choice of Profitable rather than Honest This dangerous quarrel being in this manner appeased the Princes after having resolved at a great Council of War immediately to besiege the City of Nice repaired to Calcedon whither also the Army of Raimond marched up to joyn with the rest Raimond himself and Prince Bohemond of whom the jealous Emperor was extreamly suspicious staying still at Constantinople to solicite Alexis to send the Provisions for the Army and according to his promise to go and take upon him the Command of the Army which they the more pressed that thereby they might be the better assured of him but he still excused himself from the apprehensions which he had of the Bulgarians who might draw dangerous advantages from his absence Whereupon Bohemond and the Earl presently after him having given order for the Provisions passed the strait and followed the rest of the Princes towards Nice and in the mean time Robert Duke of Normandy Stephen Earl of Blois and Prince Eustace who were yet expected with impatience after having passed the Winte and Lent in Pavia and Calabria Embarquing after Easter the fifteenth of April towards the latter end of May came up with the Christian Army and encamped near that City year 1097 This Robert Duke of Normandy was the Son of that famous William who effaced the first infamous Surname of the Bastard by that of the Conqueror which he acquired by his Merits in the Conquests of the Kingdom of England This Prince was low of Stature but of a lofty Mind and a large heart valiant and fearless upon occasion of honourable engagements of great sincerity and integrity magnificent in his Expences and liberal even to prodigality but withal he was extream voluptuous and naturally averse to trouble and business a Lover of disorderly pleasures and especially of eating and drinking very plentifully which made him something Corpulent and unwieldy and by these irregularities he lost the Realm of England in which his younger Brother established himself whilest he instead of making Preparation for War diverted himself with making provision only for his pleasures and this also lost him the love of the Normans whom he oppressed with excessive Impositions and exactions to furnish himself wherewithal to support his Luxury However he recovered that Dutchy and resolving in some measure to imitate the Piety of his Grandfather Robert the eighth Duke of Normandy who by an uncommon Devotion for so great a Prince went on Pilgrimage barefooted to Jerusalem he was one of the first in taking upon him the Cross thereby to atone God Almighty for the viciousness of his former life he therefore generously engaged his Dutchy to his two Brothers for fifteen thousand Marks in silver to enable him to undertake this Voyage wherein he suffered much in a toilsome march and performed more when once he came to enter into the War All matters having thus passed at Constantinople between the Emperor and the Princes there remained only Earl Stephen and Prince Eustace who with the Earl of Tholose were still to perform what the rest of the Princes had already done they therefore repaired to Constantinople to pay their Homage to the Emperor who received them with all manner of honour sparing no charges in treating them most Royally and in making them Presents which in beauty richness and magnificence surpassed all that he had bestowed upon the other Princes After which this perfidious man under pretence of furnishing them with an able Conductor and some Troops of his own promising that so soon as his affairs would permit he would follow them in Person with all his Forces gave them one Tatin a wicked fellow of his Court whose nose having been cut off carried in his Face the ugly Witness of his horrid Crimes It was to this infamous wretch that he trusted the great secret of his intended treachery against the Princes of the Crusade He it was who was to give him an exact account of all occurrences and upon occasion to put his orders in Execution for their Ruin whilest the poor Princes who thought they had reason to be extremely well satisfied with his proceedings passed the Bosphorus and by great marches rejoyned the Gross of the Army which had now begun the Siege of Nice THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADE OR The Expeditions of the Christian Princes for the Conquest of the Holy Land BOOK II. The CONTENTS of the Second Book The Description of the City of Nice in Blthynia and the Siege thereof by the Princes of the Crusade The second and third Battle of Nice where the young Solyman was beaten The taking of that City and the Treachery of the Greek Emperor The March of the Christian Army One part thereof surprised by Soliman The Battle of the Gorgonian Valley The Progress of the Christian Army in the lesser Asia The great danger of Duke Godfrey and his Combat with a monstrous Bear The difference and little Civil Dissention between Baldwin and Tancred Baldwin makes himself Master of the Principality of Edessa The Entrance of the Christian Army into Syria The Description of the famous City of Antioch It is besieged by the Princes The Relation of this famous Siege The Combat at the Bridge of Antioch The marvellous Actions of Duke Godfrey The Approach of Corbagath with a prodigious Army to relieve the City The Relation of the taking of Antioch by Bohemond by Intelligence in the City with one Pyrrhus The Christian Army at the same time besieged by Corbagath A Relation of the discovery of the top of a Spear which was believed to be that which pierced our Saviours side The memorable Battle of Antioch where the whole power of the Turks and Sarasens in Asia was defeated by the Christians The death of Aymar de Monteil Bishop of Pavia The quarrel between Count Raymond and the Prince of Tarrentum The taking of Marra A strange Relation of the gratitude of a Lyon The Siege of Arcas The odd Story of Anselme de Ribemond Earl of Bouchain and the deceased Engelram Son to the Earl of St. Paul The taking of Torlosa by a stratagem by the Vicount de Turenne The Sultan of Aegypt takes Jerusalem from the Turks breaks
bid defiance to all the Engines which were made use of against them nor were they out of hopes but that still they should receive the Relief which they had sent to desire of Soliman by the way of the Lake which still was open Whilst matters stood in this posture the Duke of Normandy and the Earl of Blois arrived with their Army in the beginning of June and took up their Posts in the Quarter assigned them at the beginning of the Siege This was the first time that the Christian Princes had seen all their Forces together and taking a review of the Army they found it to be the most gallant and numerous that ever had been seen in any Age. For without computing the Priests Monks Women Children and Servants of which the number was infinite those who were present at this general muster assure us that there were no fewer than six hundred thousand Combatants of which there were at the least a Hundred thousand Horse bravely armed moreover the Venetians Genoese and those of Pisa who were Masters of the Sea assisted them with a mighty Fleet and supplied this vast Army continually with store of Arms Engines of War and all manner of Provisions But that which was most admirable was that these Noble Princes to avoid the displeasure of Almighty God which for their horrible disorders had ruined the former Crusades under the Hermit Peter Godescale and Count Emico did by their Authority and Example and by the powerful Exhortations which the Bishops continually made to the Soldiers so admirably regulate them and maintained so good and severe a Discipline that all sorts of Vices and Debauches were banished from the Camp During this Soliman who was resolved to try the last of his skill for the Relief of the Town upon a sudden made a descent from the Mountains and made a second attack upon the Quarter of Raymond with a Body of sixty thousand men sustained by the Gross of his whole Army but the Count and the rest of the Princes who were advertised of this Design of the Enemies getting betwixt this advanced body and the rest of the Sultans Army put them into such a consternation that they immediately fled leaving four thousand of their companions dead upon the spot whose heads the victorious Christians cutting off with their Engines threw them over the Walls thereby to strike the greater Terror into the Hearts of the besieged But notwithstanding all that year 1097 they continued the defence like brave men and they were thereto encouraged both by reason that the Lake being free and open they received every day some little relief or other as also because there were among the Turks of this Garrison many resolute men who had determined never to abandon the defence of the place but with their lives and among others one whose bravery though mixed with too much of the brutal was such that he was from one of the Towers which he defended looked upon by the whole Christian Army with astonishment and his Actions seemed the Prodigies of Valour and Courage This valiant man who by reason of his huge Bulk extraordinary Strength and the Fierceness of his barbarous and menacing Air seemed much to resemble a Giant defended one of the strong Towers which were assaulted by Count Raymond he had been often repulsed but yet repeated the surious Attack when this monstrous Turk coming to the Platform made a terrible havock among the Assailants tumbling down with a mighty impetuosity such as had mounted the scaling Ladders wounding them with such vast Arrows as no Shield nor Curiass was able to resist And not herewith contented he insulted most intollerably over the Christians who sell under his Arms with all the bitter and bloody ralleries imaginable for being attacked on all hands he could not forbear calling them feeble and effeminate Cowards who were sitter for the Distaff than the Lance and finding that his Bow and Arrows were not sufficient to drive off the Assailants who pressed hard to the foot of the Wall he threw away his Buckler and his Arms and exposing himself naked to an infinite number of Arrows which were shot at him he with both his hands fell to throwing down stones of a prodigious bigness upon those who were attempting to undermine the Wall and which is almost incredible if we were not assured from those who were Eye witnesses of the Spectacle though he had above twenty Arrows sticking in him that his Breast looked as if it were bristled with them yet he did not cease to throw down stones upon the Assailants nor to bestow his reproachful language upon them till Duke Godfrey who was come thither from his own quarter not able to indure this insolence of a Barbarian with a well placed Arrow shot him through the very heart and tumbled him dead into the Ditch Thus the bravest man of the Turks seemed to stay to receive an honourable Death from the hand of the gallantest of the Christians Hitherto the besieged being not out of hope defended the place with resolution enoughâ— but when they saw that the Christians by the help of certain little Vessels of War which the Emperor had sent from Civitot were now become absolute Masters of the Lake and that Count Raimond had by undermining overthrown the great Tower which he had been so long attacking and that the Wife of Soliman as she was endeavouring to make her escape was taken prisoner with her two Sons year 1097 they begun to enter into a Treaty with the Emperors People who from the very beginning of the Siege had secretly solicited them by his Lieutenant to surrender the place to him with great promises of advantage and though the Princes discovered this cunning Treaty and the persidiousness of Alexis yet they did not in the least oppose the Rendition of the place unto him so after a Siege of seven weeks the Town was surrendred upon Articles to the Emperor and he to gain the good opinion of the Infidels if they should one day attempt to reconquer it causing the Wife and two sons of Soliman and the whole Turkish Garrison to be transported to Constantinople gave them all the kind Treatment imaginable endeavouring thereby to draw them to his Service During which time that he might the better conceal his cowardly Treachery under the fairest shews he made most magnificent Presents to all the principal Commanders and bestowed good Largesses upon the poor Soldiers that he might after a fashion make them some Satisfaction for the loss of the Spoils of the Vanquished which he had promised them before the taking of the City But this persidious Prince was resolved to perform nothing of what he had promised to the Franks and having drawn all the Advantages he possibly could from them at the last to work their Ruine and Destruction which without doubt he had effected if his former Treacheries had not been too frequent and apparent to doubt of his Intentions and the Distrust
which the Princes and whole Army had of this wicked Man was the reason that they were always upon their Guard against him and the Soldiers who were not given much to Dissimulation in the case charged him openly every Day with whole Vollies of Curses and thousands of Execrations After the Reduction of Nice the Princes that they might not lose that commodious Season of the Year marched immediately towards Syria and the third day after for the conveniency of Forrage and Subsistence they separated into two Bodies Bohemond with the Duke of Normandy and the Earl of Blois taking the left hand and Godfrey with the other Princes the right but yet without distancing the Armies above two Miles asunder And certainly it appeared quickly that this last Precaution was not without great Prudence as well as Necessity for three days after this Separation as Bohemond was got into a large Vally called the Gorgonian Plain where he incamped in the Night upon the Brink of the Rivulet which runs through it he was advertised by his Scouts that he was like to have the whole Army of the Sultan upon his Hands for Soliman after his Repulse at Nice being reinforced with new Troops coasted along the Coverture of the Mountains on the left hand of the Christians with three hundred and sixty thousand Turks and Persians all Horse with an insinite number also of Arabians who were also Cavalry and having by his Espials understood that Bohemond who had the least part of the Christian Army was ingaged in that Valley he doubted not but so to surround him as to cut them all in pieces without their being able to defend themselves and therefore in the Night he secretly passed the Valley intending to surprize the Christians early the next Morning upon their decamping year 1097 he therefore seized by break of Day upon all the Passes of the Hills extending his Troops to the right and left and placing them at the several Avenues leading out of the Valley And no sooner was Bohemond advertised hereof by his Scouts but he also discovered the huge Clouds of Dust which rose from the Mountains and heard the horrible Cries of this vast Multitude of Barbarians who made the Valley resound with their dreadful Shouts thereby to terrify and surprise the Christians and within two Moments after he perceived Soliman himself advancing at the head of his best Troops followed with one hundred and fifty thousand Horse who whilest the other made a halt upon the Hills came powring down into the Valley to Charge the Christians whom he expected to find half Vanquished by their own Fear and Disorder But Bohemond whose Soul was not to be shaken and who by a long Experience in War had a mighty presence of Mind in the most dangerous Occasions did without the least mark of Astonishment perform whatsoever was necessary either to avoid or to defer the Misfortune which in this Extremity seemed Inevitable He immediately dispatched some Cavaliers to advertise Duke Godfrey of the Danger which threatned him and gave Command to the Infantry instantly to remove the Camp into a place between the Rivulet and a great Morrass all covered with Reeds and to make a Palisade of the Stakes which served them in setting up their Tents and to fortify that with a second Circumference of the Waggons and Carriages After which having placed himself at the Head of the Cavalry with the Duke of Normandy and the Earl of Blois they incouraged the Soldiers by their Looks Gesture and Voice exhorting them couragiously to Encounter those Enemies whom they might more justly despise than fear having twice before seen them turn their Backs and assuring them that they should immediately receive Assistance from their Companions and that they could not possibly however but upon this Occasion obtain immortal Glory either by Death or Conquest And thereupon with an invincible Fierceness they led them to the Charge but the Turks at the same Instant by the Command of Soliman made a Halt till such time as the Christians who came to the Charge with their Lances in the Rest were within Bow-shot and then the Turks poured upon them a whole shower of Arrows and immediately wheeled off yet all the time that they seemed to slye they ceased not to shoot their Arrows against those that pursued them and ever as the Christians retreated to the gross Body facing about and charging them as before this new sort of Combat did extreamly incommode the Christians who could not come to Blows with the Enemy and yet lost abundance of their Horse which were wounded with the Arrows In the mean time the other part of the Turks Army having forced the Camp made there most terrible Havock plundring and killing without Mercy the Women Children and Ecclesiasticks and other defenceless People The Soldiers oppressed by the multitude of their Enemies were at their last and all was in a manner lost when Bohemond year 1097 to whom this News was brought came slying to their Assistance with a party of the Cavalry But in the mean time Soliman who saw his Design thrive so well charged so furiously upon the Christians that after a long Resistance they began to give ground but the brave Duke of Normandy snatching a white Cornet embroidered with Gold from the hands of him that carried it and who was carried away with the Crowd of those that fled he cried aloud It is the Will of God and at the same time he threw himself into the thickest of the Enemies followed by a small number of brave Men who accompanied him this brave Action raised so much Shame and Courage among the rest that as if they had all on the suddain been inspired with new Vigor they spurred up at full speed after him into the thickest Squadrons of the Saracens overturning all on every side that opposed their Passage This Heat was much more increased by the return of Bohemond who having Repulsed the Arabs who came with no other Design but that of Plundring were not able to sustain the first Shock of his Cavalry who threw himself like a Lion into the throng of his Enemies to rejoyn the Duke of Normandy who after he had renewed the Combat seemed to sustain his People more by his Courage and Example than by the strength of their Arms for what with Weariness the heat of the Sun and intolerable Thirst their Force was so abated that they had much to do to sustain the Combate It is true that even the Women upon this Occasion signalized their Courage in the midst of a thousand Darts and Arrows carrying them Water from the Rivulet to refresh them but alas this small Succor was too little to ballance the greatness of their Distress for being oppressed by the infinite number of their Enemies who enlarged their Squadrons to the right and left with a design to encompass them having lost a great many brave Men and among the rest Prince William the Brother of Tancred they were
Bridge-Gate And meeting with these disorderly Souldiers in the Plain loaden with Provisions and without other Arms than their Swords they fell in among them and notwithstanding all the Valour of Count Raimond and the Prince of Tarrentum they could not stop the Rout but that the Souldiers fled towards the Mountains leaving all their Provisions and a thousand of their Companions dead upon the place year 1098 Godfrey who was immediately advertized of this Disaster by some who fled with the first took a Party resolving immediately to charge the Turks whom he doubted not with the Joy of their Victory and the Greediness of the Booty to find in sufficient Disorder drawing out therefore four Batalions sustained with all the Cavalry at the head of whom were Hugh the Great the Duke of Normandy and the Earls of Flanders and Bullen he passed the Bridge of Boats and marched directly towards the Enemies with all the Marks of Hope and Courage in the way he joyned the two Princes whom he had given over for lost and who after they had unprofitably used their utmost Efforts to rally their Fugitives had disingaged themselves very fortunately from the Turks In the mean time Accien who had an account of this Victory and who from one of the Towers of his Castle observed this great Movement of the Crusades began to be in pain for the return of his Men he therefore commanded the greatest part of his Army to sally out to their Relief He conducted them himself to the Gate and giving order to have it shut after them he thus addressed himself to the Souldiers That after the advantages which their Companions had had against their Enemies it would be a shame to them to think of Precautions or to assure themselves of a Retreat that this was the time that they must think of nothing but Victory or Death and that they should never see this Gate opened to them but after an intire Conquest of their Enemies On the other side Godfrey who marched but slowly at the Head of his Troops having understood by the hasty return of his Scouts that the Conquerors who had joyned the Succours from the Town drew near loaden with their Booty drawing his Sword and turning to his Men after he had cast a fierce and menacing look towards the Enemy he cryed Follow me It is the Will of God Giving them to understand by this action that upon this occasion they should trust to their Swords only without using either Lances or Arrows Whereupon all the Souldiers in an instant drawing their Swords and making a kind of Penthouse of their Bucklers against the Arrows of the Infidels who running hither and thither incessantly discharged upon them they marched gravely neither with Precipitation nor Heaviness till they came up to the Enemies at Swords point thereby rendring their Bows and Arrows useless The Barbarians terrified with this confident March which put them out of their way of sighting and took away the Service of their Bows they presently recoiled upon their Reserves who were come to relieve them and being incumbred with the Spoils they had taken were in no condition to resist the Swords of the Christians against whom they did not much delight to combat but at a distance so that the Fight was not very long for after the first Squadrons of the Enemy were repulsed the Christians fell into the middle of them with their Infantry and on all hands made a most horrible Slaughter of these miserable Wretches with the mighty Blows of the Sword so that they were totally routed some flying to the Mountains others towards the City not dreaming that the Gate was shut against them Here it was that Despair and the fatal Necessity of vanquishing or dying which Accien had denounced against them made them renew the Combat in the view of the whole Town which ran to the Walls and stood there as in an Amphitheatre to be Spectators and Witnesses either of their shame in being vanquished or of their Glory in being Victors For Godfrey after he was pretty well assured of the Victory had disingaged himself from the Combat with a Design to prevent the Runaways getting into the Town by cutting off their Retreat and therefore being got to a rising Ground near the Bridge he flew like Lightning among his Enemies who fled at full Speed thinking he had been at their Heels who was at their Head to stop their Cariere Never was there seen any thing comparable to the Effects of that extraordinary and prodigious Force which Nature had bestowed upon this Prince there was not one Blow of his terrible Sword which did not carry a dreadful Death along with it here he made a Head with the Cask that was on it roll off from the Shoulders there a whole Arm with the Cimiter which it yet grasped some he cleft down to the very Shoulders others he cut asunder in the Middle filling all with Horror Blood and Terror year 1098 which way soever he turned himself and at the same time the other Princes who pursued the Fugitives with their Swords at their Backs finding them stopped by the Squadron of Godfrey made a most dreadful Slaughter among them or whilest they indeavoured to save their Lives made them lose them in a manner as dreadful for they constrained them blindly to precipitate themselves into the Orontes where the Soldiers dispatched them with their Pikes which the poor Wretches could no way escape but by Swimming The Places adjacent resounded with the lamentable Cries and the Tumult of the Barbarians dying either in the Field or in the River which began to be discoloured with the Blood of the Slain and the Noise was Ecchoed by those who from the Walls saw the woeful Slaughter of their Companions so that in conclusion Accien was obliged to open the Gate to help those who could to make their Escape by the Bridge into the Town It was upon this Occasion that Godfrey performed an Action of which the whole Earth talks as of a Prodigy of Strength and Valour and which I should not have adventured to have given a place to in this History if it were not attested both by all the Writers of that Age and by the Testimony of so many Eye-Witnesses of its Truth One of the principal Captains of the Enemies of a Stature much exceeding the common transported with Fury to observe that Godfrey kill'd all that came within the reach of his terrible Sword at the entry of the Bridge where he had posted himself to obstruct the Passage and that the Turks to avoid his dreadful Blows threw one another headlong into the River he ran up to him foaming with Rage with his Sword advanced in the Air and with all his force discharged so terrible a Blow upon the Duke that he split his Shield in two pieces which he had opposed to it to ward it off his Head when Godfrey raising himself upon his Stirrups gave him such a furious Reverse that his
who at the same time made a Mock-Procession about the Walls within the City as the Christians did without vomiting out a thousand Blasphemies against Christ and offering a thousand Insolencies and Indignities to a Cross which they opposed to that which was carried in this Devout Procession before the Christians The next Morning Godfrey who had resolved to make his Attack upon that Quarter which is between the East and the North because it was the weakest and the most convenient for his Engines to play removed his Camp thither in the Night and employed the three following Days as did the other Princes to dispose of their Engines They had besides Rams Slings to throw great Stones and other such Sort of Engines which were at that time in Use to batter Walls near at hand three great Castles of Wood of a new Structure Every one of them had three Stories whereof the lowest was for the Ingeniers and Workmen who by great Force rolled the Machin upon its Wheels the two others had their Platforms which jetted out from the Work so that the Combatants who were placed in them might from thence fight as upon sirm Ground either with their Enemies at a Distance or near at Hand according as they were able to advance the Machin the middle Story was as high as the Top of the Second Wall which was something higher than the Out-Wall of the City And the third Story which was raised with a narrow Top was so framed that from thence one might see the Enemies so as to have a sair Mark at them with Darts Stones or Arrows even to the very Heart of the City These Wooden rolling Castles had four sides which were covered with Hurdles to prevent the Damage which they might receive by the great Stones thrown from the Walls and the Hurdles were also covered with Raw Hides of Oxen Camels and Horses to resist the Violence of Fire But that which was the Chief Design of these Machines was that upon the side of the third Story towards the Town and which was just above the Platform of the middle Story Level with the Height of the Walls besides the two other Covertures there was a third which was framed with Joists and Planks and so fastned to the Engine above at the third Platform that being suddainly let down by two Pullies it was to fall upon the Wall like a Draw-Bridge thereby to enter into the Town It was resolved that there should be three Attacks and one of these Rolling Castles at every one of them year 1099 Duke Godfrey and Earl Eustace had the first a little below St. Stephens Gate drawing towards the East Duke Robert Prince Tancred and the Earl of Flanders with the second made the second a little lower at the left Hand near the Angular Tower which was afterwards called Tancred's Tower Earl Raymond made his at the opposite Angle at the South-West with the third which could not advance till he had caused certain deep Trenches to be filled up which lay between him and the Wall Upon Wednesday the thirteenth of July the Attack was begun which was continued all the next day with incredible Fury all the great Engines which were placed by the Castles played incessantly upon the Enemies with Huge Stones whilest at the same time the Slings the Archers and Cross-Bows discharged continually upon them the Castles advancing still forward all the Time The Captains stood all this while in the highest Story of the Rolling Castles accompanied with the most considerable and bravest men of the Army to animate their Soldiers by their Example and by the Danger which they ran being above all others exposed as the Mark of the Enemies Arrows Duke Godfrey with his Brother stood upon the highest Platform of his Castle from whence whilest it approached by little and little to the Wall he continually discharged his lusty Arrows into the Town and against those who defended the Walls scarce one of them falling in Vain for as he was without Contradiction one of the strongest men of his Time so he was the most dextrous and the best Marksman of his Age which hath given Rise to the Story which will have it That seeing three Birds flying to the Top of one of the Towers of Jerusalem he shot them all three upon one single Arrow And for this Reason it is that it is the received Opinion that those vast Arrows which are kept in the Armory of the House of Lorrain one of the most Illustrious of the World were his since it cannot be doubted but he was descended from that Noble Stem Godfrey had placed in the second Stage of his Castle the two Brothers Lethold and Engelbert most Vallant Gentlemen of Tournay and Guicher the stoutest man in the whole Army who incountring with a Lyon had cut him in two at one single Blow of his Sword these seconded the Efforts of their Noble Master and being accompanied with a many other Gallant Men they did wonderful Execution with the Sling and Arrows and in playing their Stone Bows which without ceasing poured continual Showers from their Platform upon the Town The other Princes also acted with the like Vigor some levelling the Ground that so the Castles might more easily advance whilest others presented the Scalade in many several places together thereby to make the greater Diversion to the Defendants whilest at the same time the Walls were battered continually with mighty Rams There was one of a Prodigious Magnitude with which after they had overthrown the Out-Wall to make Way for Duke Godfrey's Castle they also played so vigorously against the Inward Wall that therewith they made a very great Breach Those within the Town in the mean time sorgot nothing which might contribute to the rendring the Attempts of the Beliegers fruitless whom they exceeded both in Number of Men and Engines All their Walls were covered with them and they opposed four of an extraordinary Size against the three Rolling Castles from which they discharged Stones of a Prodigious Bigness which hitting the Engines fell upon the Platforms with a Terrible Noise crushing overthrowing and tearing all in pieces breaking the Braces and Posts and crushing all those who did not quickly get Shelter from that furious Tempest The very Air was obscured with that mighty Hail and the Stones which were discharged from one side and the other encountring one another seemed to Combat as well as the Men and with a Terrible Noise fell down together among the Assailants against whom the Besieged shoured down without ceasing their Arrows Darts and Stones to hinder their Approaches they also threw abundance of Pots of Fire and shot Fire Darts against the Machines to burn them and at the same time made a furious Sally at the Breach which was made by the great Ram to which they set Fire which was not without great Difficulty extinguished In short never was there seen so long an Assault nor a Combat maintained with that Equal Obstinacy on
this Tower were so terrified with this Heroick Confidence of these two men and much more by the dreadful Blows which they bestowed making Heads Arms and Legs fly off where ever they sell that losing their Courage and Judgement they made all the hast they could to get out of their reach and with Precipitation abandoned the Tower to these two Heroes and those who thronged up after them with desire to pertake of the Honor of the Action Those who sought ashoar and those who were upon the Gallies to support them seeing that those who were aboard these two Ships had planted their Ensigns upon this Tower and the Greeks already took the Fright were so ashamed to see themselves behind hand that some of them with Precipitation throwing themselves ashoar whilest others planted the Ladders against the Walls the one and the other mounting in Shoals pushing overthrowing with their Bucklers and with huge Blows killing all those who in this horrible disorder into which Fear and Dispair had driven the Greeks made any resistance and continually pursuing their Point with a Courage extremely heightned by the Hopes of Victory they quickly made themselves Masters of four other Towers and there planted their Victorious Ensigns At the same time they who fought upon the Key and they who descended from the Gallies and Ships where they were employed continually to shoot against the Curtain inraged to think that they should be the last in the taking of Constantinople ran to the Gates and with their Rams broak three of them open they also who were already gotten into the Town over the Walls having opened the others which were between the Towers which they had taken the whole Army entred year 1204 and drew up in order between the Walls and the Heads of the Streets which abutted upon the Haven that so they might not be surprized indisorder but be in a Condition regularly to attack any that should be commanded to oppose them For they saw the Emperor advantageously posted before them upon his Hill and who had put his Troops in Battalia before his Tents upon the rising Grounds which lay on each Hand of him so that he seemed either resolved to charge the Confederate Army to drive them again out of the City or at least firmly to expect them in his advantageous Post if they should venture to attack him and however to prevent them from proceeding further But by the Cowardice of his men or possibly his own and the fear he was in to fall into the hands of the Princes wanting the Resolution of a Valiant man to conquer or to die nobly with his Sword in his Hand he did neither the one nor the other for the Greeks did no sooner see the Knights in their glittering Armour mount their charging Horses with the Visors of their Helmets down and the Lance in the rest begin to move to run against them having at the Head of them a brave Lord of great Stature whom their fear made them magnifie into a Giant but they instantly disbanded and with all the hast they could began to run and save themselves some out of the City by the Dorean Gate others in the Palace and in the Churches which they Barricadoed to defend themselves The Emperor at full Speed threw himself into the great Palace which had one Gate upon the Propontis and the greatest part of the Lords and Officers retrenched themselves in that Quarter and in the Palace of Blaquerness All the rest following that Example ran in a dreadful disorder through the Streets to gain their Houses the Victors still being at their Heels who in this first fury which was not easie to be stopped in the taking of a City by Assault overthrew and killed all that they could reach making a most horrible Slaughter among these miserable People and above all the Latins who had inhabited Constantinople made the most cruel carnage to revenge themselves for having been banished out of it upon the great Conflagration of that unfortunate City The Night which now came on apace favourably for the Greeks stopped the Current of this Fury a retreat was sounded and the Princes having rallied their men in an open Place distributed them into three Quarters and ordered them to fortifie themselves there not doubting but that they must have more fighting work to gain the rest of the City and that the Greeks would not fail to retrench themselves in so many advantageous Posts which they might very easily be able to defend as in our time we have known the People of Naples and the Spaniards retrench one against the other in divers Quarters of the Streets and in the Monasteries and to fight for several Months in one City as if it had been a great Province in which one is obliged to take several Cities and Forts to make a Conquest of the whole Thus the whole Army was posted near the Towers and the Wall which they had taken and which they were able to defend the Duke of Venice encamped close by the Walls to be near his Ships if any Attempt should in the Night be made against them The Earl of Flanders by a happy Presage lodged himself in the Imperial Tents which Murtzuphle had lest ready for him upon the Hill where he was posted during the Assault Prince Henry and the Earl of Blois his men lay upon his right and retrenched themselves before the Palace of Blaquerness and Marquis Boniface took his Lodgement to the left in a quarter lying more to the East where certain Soldiers fearing to be surprized by the Greeks set sire to some Houses that as they thought lay too near them and so occasioned a third sire which reduced the greatest part of that quarter of the City into Ashes As for the Earl of Blois he was not at the taking of the City being extremely ill that day with a sit of a terrible Quartane Ague which kept him in his Bed and hindred him from being at the Attack which was no small Affliction to him who was as desirous of being present there as he was stout and courageous being esteemed as he really was one of the most Brave and Valiant men of his time But all these Precautions of the Confederates were unnecessary for early the next morning being drawn up in Battalia and expecting to be incountred with at least a hundred thousand Enemies they were met with nothing but Processions which from all Quarters came before them bearing the Crosses year 1204 the Banners and Images of Saints to implore the Clemency of the Victors For while the Princes were in this manner retrenching themselves in their several Ports Murtzuphle who had ordered all things ready for his concealed Design issuing out of the Palace ran about the Streets and the Market Places animating the People to defend their Liberty against this Handful of Desperado's as he termed them who had now shut themselves into a Place from whence it was impossible for them to escape provided
above fourscore of these miserable men being saved upon the broken Planks A Party also of Frieselanders who hitherto had so well behaved themselves having abandoned their Companions were no sooner returned into Frieseland but they were miserably swallowed up by the Sea which having this Year broken the Banks and passed all the Bounds overflowed all the Country with such a fearful deluge that above a hundred thousand Persons were swallowed up of the merciless Waves But nevertheless the loss which the Christian Army suffered by this desertion was quickly repaired by the Arrival of diverse Troops of Crusades who being excited by the Letters which Pope Honorius had writ continually to all the Princes of Europe arrived one after another during all the Autumm The Cardinal d' Albanâ— the Popes Legate for the Holy War arrived with the first accompanied with a fair Troop of the Nobility of Rome whom the Pope who was himself of the first of those orders had obliged to take upon them the Cross that so they might draw others by their Example There came also from Germany the Low Countries Venice Genoa and Pisa and many from France who inbarked at Genoa with Robert de Corceone an English man Cardinal of St. Stephen upon Mount-Coelius whom the Pope ordered to accompany them in this Voyage The most signal of those who with the consent of Philip the August went from France were the Counts Hervey de Nevers Hugh de la Marche Miles de Barr upon the Seine with his Sons and the Lords John d' Artois Ponce de Grancey Ithier de Tacy Savary de Mauleon and among the Prelates William Arch-Bishop of Bourdeaux William de Beaumont Bishop of Anger 's Gautier Bishop of Autun Miles de Chastillon de Nantueil Bishop Elect of Beauvais with Andrew his Brother and Peter de Nemours Bishop of Paris the Son of Gautier great Chamberlain of France and Brother to the Bishop of Meaux and Noyon This good Prelate after he had for ten years governed with great Wisdom the Church of the Capital City of the Realm where he took great care to maintain the Purity of the Faith against the Errors of Amauri of Chartres which he caused to be condemned resolved also to signalise his Zeal against the Infidels by taking upon him the Cross with which he gloriously consummated that kind of Martyrdom at Damiata where he died after the taking of the City Prince Oliver also the Son of Henry the third King of England came by the same passage in September with the Earls of Chester Winchester and Arundel and William de Harcourt accompanied with a Gallant Troop of English who had devoted themselves to the Holy War The Legate being arrived with so considerable a Succour presented to the King of Jerusalem the Duke of Austria and the other Princes the Letters by which the Pope after having extremely commended the Cardinal informed them that he had sent him principally to create and preserve a perfect Union in the Army and to animate them to do well by going before them not with the Pomp and Majesty of a Prince to command but with that humility worthy of Jesus Christ whom he represented and for whose Cause the Crusades in taking up his Cross had obliged themselves to combat But it must be avowed that this good Prelate did very ill acquit himself of his Charge and acted directly contrary to the Intentions of the Pope and the good Instructions which he had given him For at the first Conference which he had with King John de Brienne to whom all the Chief of the Crusades yielded Obedience he told him plainly and without a Complement that he was resolved to command the Army alledging for his reason that the Church having commanded the Crusade and that the Crusades who were come to the relief of the Holy Land were not Subjects of the King of Jerusalem but depended upon the Church by the Authority whereof they had taken upon them the Cross The King was extremely surprized with such a foolish Proposition which he had so little expected but as he was very discreet he did not declare it lest he should be obliged openly to break with a man whose Ambition year 1218 which keeps no measures especially when it is supported by a great name might carry him to dangerous Extremities in abusing a Power and Authority which Jesus Christ hath not given to the Church but for the spiritual Kingdom which is not of this World as he himself assures us and hath nothing to do with the Temporal On the other side notwithstanding this as this Prince had a great Soul he was resolved to do nothing to stain his Honour or to lessen the August Character of Royalty which he was resolved to support with the utmost Vigour against all that should enterprize any thing against it He therefore kept fair with the Legate he made no direct answer to any thing which he said but would turn the discourse to some other Subject always treating him with extraordinary Civility but in the same time he continued more positively than ever to give out his Orders independant of any other Person and caused them to be exactly obeyed and acted in all things so like an absolute Master and a King that the good Legate at last perceived that he had to do with a Prince who in rendring to God with a profound Veneration that which was due to him knew also continually how to maintain the Rights that appertained to Caesar This nevertheless did not fail to occasion some Trouble in the Army by dividing the principal Officers for those who found themselves any ways dissatisfied with the King inclined always to the Legate and he finding himself able to do nothing more usually came to the Council only to give his Opinion in contradiction to the King But at length the Arrival of the Sultan Meledin who came down the Nile to Damiata with a potent Army before the Christians had passed the River to besiege the City by Land obliged all the Commanders to re-unite and recover the time which they had wasted and lost by an extreme Negligence and seriously to dispose themselves to Combat the Enemy After some light Skirmishes wherein the Sarasins were constantly beaten upon the thirtieth of November there arose such a furious Tempest that the Sea repelling the Waters of the Nile and breaking over all the Banks the whole Army had like to have perished by the Inundation many of the Ships were driven ashoar and beaten in pieces and four great Vessels upon which there were Castles built in order to attack the City were driven by the Wind and the Waves against the Towers and the Walls where they were unfortunately Consumed by the Wildfire which the Besieged with ease threw into them in the sight of the Christians who during that dreadful Storm were not able to Relieve them Several Knights of the Temple who were in another great Ship which the Tempest had also forced to
in a Valley so deeply Sandy and loose that both the men and Horses who were soundly harrassed by the nights march had much difficulty to dragg their Legs out of this deep Sand. The Governour of Gaza who had by his Spies been advertised hereof laid himself in Ambush behind some little Hills and all of a suddain appeared upon the top of them with some of his Squadrons but without advancing as first resolving to observe the Countenance of the Christians And accordingly seeing that they made a Halt and shewed some surprize to find those People in order of Battle whom they had thought to have found asleep in their Beds he commanded some Squadrons to descend and charge them at full Speed and the light Arabian Horses running as freely upon these Sands as if they had been upon firm ground they made a furious discharge of their Arrows and then retreated to their main Body in a little time returning again in greater numbers shooting always without coming nearer than the distance of their Arrows and without danger of being pursued by the Christians who did not without difficulty advance over the heavy Sands so that wheeling and running round about the Army all day they harassed them till Night a Night that was to be spent in Arms without repose and repast and without the Possibility of advancing or retreating and in nothing but miserable trouble and waking dispair in which they were overwhelmed And indeed their Fortune was much more deplorable the next morning when the whole Army of the Sultan being joined to the Garrison of Gaza encompassed them on all sides and without fear attacking the poor Soldiers already half dead and almost unable to carry their Arms they came to charge them with the Sword and Lance. The Christians indeed performed in despight of their Fortune all that could be expected from men of Courage and infinitely above their Strength but there was a necessity that they must yield to multitude with which they were oppressed most of them being either slain or taken that miserable day Henry Count de Bar one of the most Valiant Princes of his time Simon Count de Clermont the Lords John de Barres Robert Malet Richard de Beaumont and many others of the Bravest and most remarkable men remained dead upon the place The Constable Amauri and seventy other great French Lords after having fought most courageously and by their long resistance given an opportunity to the Duke of Burgundy to make his escape were taken Prisoners and carried in Chains to Grand Caire Thus ended this unhappy Jealousie Ambition and Vain Glory which were governed by rashness and Imprudence in this fatal Encounter of our Ancient Worthies whose misfortune may teach all the Gallant men of our times that they can never be truely Brave unless their Courage be regulated by Prudence in the Commanders and Obediences in the Inferior Officers and Soldiers This unfortunate news did so astonish all the rest of the Army which was at Ascalon in no very good understanding among themselves that they presently returned to Ptolemais where the divisions which continued still among them as well as between the Sultans of Egypt and Damascus compleated the loss of all by two most Shameful Treaties with the Infidels For the Templers who had one part of the Army on their side made a Truce with Nazer Sultan of Damascus year 1240 upon condition that he should surrender to them the Castles of Beaufort and Saphet with all the Territory of Jerusalem and that they should assist him with all their Forces against Melech-Salah Sultan of Egypt who had dethroned his Brother Edel to possess himself thereof and the Hospitallers supported by the King of Navarr the Dukes of Burgundy and Bretany and the other part of the Army made a truce quite opposite to this with the Sultan of Egypt against the Sultan of Damascus After which the King of Navarr the Duke of Bretany and the greatest part of the Cusades embarking in the Port of Acre returned into their own Country almost at the same time that Richard Earl of Cornwall Brother to King Henry the third of England arrived in Palestine with good Troops of English Crusades This Prince who following the Example of his Uncle Richard Coeur de Lyon had taken the Cross with a great Party of the Nobility and Gentry of England embarked at Dover about Whitsontide and landing in France passed to Paris where he was magnificently received by St. Lewis who lodged him in his Palace and caused him to be royally treated and conducted to Lyons from whence passing by Roan to Arles where he was to be received by Count Raymond de Provence he came to Marseilles and about the middle of September he imbarked upon the Fleet which he had sent through the Straits and upon the eleventh of October in fifteen days after the departure of the King of Navarr he came to Anchor in the Road of Ptolemais The Sarasins had a strange fear upon them for this Prince whose very name was formidable to them renewing the memory of the famous Richard King of England who by his marvellous Feats of Arms was so terrible to these Infidels that the Women were wont to quiet their Children when they cried with threatning them with King Richard and the Horsemen to make a Skewish boggling Horse go forward would commonly say to him in clapping their Spurrs to him What dost think it is King Richard And certainly his Nephew wanted neither Spirit nor Courage neither Money nor Conduct to support a name so great and so terribly to the Sarasins He did all that could be expected from a very great Prince to put things into a Condition so that it might be hoped the War against the Infidels might be happily prosecuted for within three days after his arrival he caused it to be proclaimed by the sound of Trumpet through the whole City That if any one of those who remained in the Holy Land stood in need of Money he would furnish them during all the time of their Service But he quickly learnt that in the deplorable condition to which matters were reduced by the division which still continued among the principal Officers and above all the Templers and Hospitallers there was no appearance of succeeding by the way of Arms. And therefore seeing that it was impossible to bring them to any agreement and that the Sultan of Damascus did not at all observe the truce whereas he of Egypt offered to continue it with new advantages to the Christians he resolved at last by the advice of the Duke of Burgundy the great Master of the Hospital and the greatest part of the Crusades to accept of it upon these conditions That all the Prisoners an each side and especially those who were taken at the Battle of Gaza should be set at liberty and that the Christians should enjoy certain Lands which the Sultan possessed in Palestine Mean time the Earl whilest he staid for the
Reigned in France year 1246 had gained over the Princes of the League over the Duke of Bretany the Counts of Tholouse and March and over the King of England and the Prince Richard his Brother who had indeavoured to support the Earl of March and by a pretty piece of Policy he carried along with him all the Princes and all the Great men of the Realm who might give any Suspicion or the least occasion to fear that they had either the Power the Will or the Temptation during his absence to trouble the Repose of his Dominions For of the two most mutinous Spirits of whom he had most reason to be distrustful he took one of them which was the Earl of March along with him and the other which was Raymond the Young who was Earl of Tholouse who had also taken upon him the Cross died before the Voyage leaving his Dominions to Alphonsus the King's Brother the Count of Poitiers who had married the Princess Joanna his Daughter and Heiress and the King for his greater assurance sent that Prince to establish himself in his new Dominion of Languedoc before he imbarqued himself as he afterwards did to go and joyn him in the East Moreover he deferred his Voyage for almost four Years to take the advantage of two fair occasions which presented themselves the one to reunite the County of Mascon to the Crown which he bought of the Countess who after she had distributed the money for which she sold it to the poor retired to the Nunnery of Maubuisson and there professed herself the other was to bring the County of Provence into the Royal House which had been separated from it for above three hundred Years For Raymond Berenger the Fifth of the Name and the last of the Catalonian Family who had reigned in Provence being dead the year preceeding the King knew with so much Art how to gain Romee de Villeneuve and Albert de Tarascon the Trustees and Guardians of the Princess Beatrix the remaining Daughter of the four which Count Raymond had had who was Sister to the Queen and the Heiress to the Count that he obtained her for Charles d' Anjou his Brother and without losing of time advancing towards Provence with one part of the Army which was ready for the Holy War he broke all the measures of James the King of Aragon Cousin German to the deceased Count and hindered his carrying the Princess away by force as he had designed if he could not procure her by other wayes in order to oblige her to marry his Son and by that means to retain this fair County in his Family which lay so conveniently for him During this time Lewis had all the leisure which could be reasonably desired to make his preparations and provisions year 1247 which were the greatest that ever had been seen and also to settle that Publick Peace and Tranquility which he had so happily given to all his Dominions and to assure himself on the side of England also For he prolonged the Truce which had been made with that King two or three Years before after the Victory of Taillebourg and also engaged the Pope to be the Guarranty that it should be inviolably observed as it was during all the time of his absence although the English hearing of his being taken Prisoner indeavoured to break it In short this Wise Prince neither went as the first Crusades had done by Land and thereby he avoided the dangers into which they had fallen of perishing by Famine and the miseries which attended those vast Desert Countries which were possessed by the Barbarians neither did he go with a confused Multitude of all manner of Persons and People who were to be gotten together who served for no other purpose but to put all into disorder but with a good Army consisting in betwixt thirty and forty thousand men which was such a number as the Great Alexander had when he went to the Conquest of Asia but this Army was composed for the greatest part of Gentlemen and choice Souldiers such as were capable of marching over the bellies of all that Egypt and Syria could oppose against them unless some accident should happen or some extraordinary misfortune befal them against which no humane Prudence can give any Warranty or Assurance And that which was most considerable the whole Army was absolutely at his disposal in regard that it consisted wholly of French for the King of England would not permit the Bishop of Berytus who went thither to preach the Crusade to publish it in his Dominions alledging that he stood in need of all his Subjects to defend himself against his Enemies if they should attack him year 1245 King Lewis having wisely provided all things necessary for his Voyage which he undertook in his very prime strength being about three and thirty Years of Age he had nothing further to do but to take care of the Government of his Realm in his absence and this he left to his Mother Queen Blanch the most able Woman and most capable of Governing of any of her time after which he went according to the Custom of those Ages to St. Dennis to receive the Oristame the Scarf and the Pilgrim's Staff which he did in great Solemnity for he parted from Paris upon the Friday after Whitsunday in the year 1248. accompanied with the two Princes his Brothers the Legate year 1248 and the most part of the Princes of the Crusade being preceded by all the Processions of the whole City which were followed by an infinite number of People who all in tears marched from the Palace to the Nunnery of St. Antonina singing Psalms and Letanies for the prosperity of his Voyage From thence he went by Burgundy to Lyons where he made his Entry with all manner of Magnificence for never any King was better acquainted with the Art of making his Royal Majesty most conspicuous in those Publick Ceremonies where he was minded to shew it and the Historians of that Age inform us that among other remarkable Circumstances of this Magnificent Entry there were an hundred Knights who being compleatly armed and mounted upon their great charging Horses caparisoned with their Coat Armor according to the manner of those times marched before him with their Swords drawn in their hands and this is that which our present King who in Magnificience and Grandeur surpasseth all his Predecessars hath revived in our dayes to render to the Majesty of our Kings that which St. Lewis himself as great a Saint as he was judged necessary upon some occasions for the manifesting his Lustre and his Greatness After this the Holy King having again conferred with the Pope who kept his Court at Lyons descended by the Rhone and went to take Shipping with the Queen upon the twenty fifth of August at Aigues-Mortes where the greatest part of his Fleet waited for him the remainder being at Marseilles there to take in the rest of his Army After which setting sail
of the Emperor and the King The Murmurs against St. Bernard and his Apology The Conquest of Noradin after the raising of the Siege The Death of King Baldwin and his Elogy His Brother Amauri Succeeds him The History of that Princes Life who by his Avarice loseth the Opportunity of conquering all Egypt The History of Syracon who seizes upon the Kingdom of Egypt and leaves it to his Nephew Saladin The Elogy and first Conquest of that Prince The Death of Amauri and the Troubles and Divisions which it caused in the Realm The Conquests of Saladin thereupon The Raign of Baldwin the Leprous The Ambassage to the Princes of the West to desire their Help against Saladin The Negotiation of the Ambassadours with the Pope and Emperor in France and England with Henry the Second The Artifices of that King to elude this Ambassage A famous Care of Conscience proposed in the Parliament at London upon this great Affair The reasons on one side and the other The best opinion rejected by the Bishops as False The Displeasure of the Patriarch Heraclius against the King The Conference between Philip Augustus and King Henry which recommences the War The Apostacy and Treason of a Templer The Death of King Baldwin the Fourth and of the young King his Nephew The Artifice of Sybil Mother to the deceased Infant King to obtain the Crown for Guy de Lusignan her Second Husband The Despight of Raymond Earl of Tripolis thereupon His Character His horrible Treason and secret Treaty with Saladin who enters Galilee and besieges Tyberias Division in the Councel of War held by the King The unfortunate Battle of Tyberias which was lost by the Treachery of Count Raymond The Advantage which Saladin made of his Victory The Relation of the Siege and taking of Jerusalem by that Victorious Prince The sorrowful Departure of the Christians from Jerusalem and the Generosity of Saladin The Cruelty and miserable Death of the Earl of Tripolis The Triumph of Saladin An Account of the Preserving of Tyre by Marquis Conrade The Causes of the Loss of the Holy Land p. 113. BOOK II. The Death of Pope Urban III. upon the News of the Loss of Jerusalem The Decrees of Pope Gregory VIII and the Rules of the Cardinals to move God Almighty to Mercy and Compassion upon the Christians Gregory makes Peace between the Pisans and the Genoese Clement III. his Successor sends his Legates to the King of France and to the King of England The Conference at Gisors Where the Arch-Bishop of Tyre proposes the Crusade which is received by the two Kings The Ordinances which they made for the Regulation of it The War recommences between the two Kings which hinders the Effect of the Crusade Richard Duke of Guienne joins with King Philip against his own Father The Death of Henry II. King of England His Elegy and Character The Legates propose the Crusade at the Diet at Mayence The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa there takes upon him the Cross as do many other Princes and Prelates of the Empire The Description of that Emperor His March to Thracia where he is necessitated to Combat the Greeks The Character of the Greek Emperor Isaac Angelus The Reason why this Emperor betrayed the Ltains The History of the False Dositheus who seduced him and of Theodore Balsamon The Victories of Frederick in Thracia The stupid Folly of Isaac And his dishonourable Treaty with the Emperor The Passage and March of Frederick into Asia The Treachery of the Sultan of Iconium and the Defeat of his Troops by a pretty Stratagem of the Emperor ' s. An Heroick Action of a certain Cavalier The first Battle of Iconium The Description Assaulting and Taking of that City The Second Battle of Iconium The Triumph of the Emperor The March of the Army towards Syria The Description and the Passage of Mount Taurus The Death of the Emperor and his Elogy Frederick his Son leads the Army to Antioch after that to Tyre and from thence to the Camp at Ptolemais or Acon The Description of that City and the adjacent Country The Relation of the famous Siege against it begun by King Guy de Lusignan The Succours of two fair Naval Armies The Description of the famous Battle of Ptolemais The manner of the Christians Encampment The Reason of the length of the Siege The Death of Queen Sybilla and the Division between Guy de Lusignan and the Marquis Conrade who marries the Princess Isabella the Wife of Humphrey de Thoron A general Assault given to Ptolemais upon the Arrival of Frederick Duke of Suabia A brave Action of Leopold Duke of Austria The Death of Frederick and his admirable Vertue p. 149 BOOK III. The Beginning of the Reign of Richard Coeur de Lyon King of England and his Preparations for the Holy War The Preparations of Philip the August The Conferences of Nonancour and Vezelay between the two Kings The Portraict of Philip the August The Character of Richard King of England The Voyage of the two Kings to Messina An adventure of the English Fleet. A Quarrel between the English and the Messineses The taking of that City The Quarrel between the two Kings and their new Accomodation The Relation of the Abbot Joachim and his Character His Conference with King Richard The Departure of King Philip and his Arrival before Acre The Departure of Richard The Relation of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Cyprus by that Prince His Arrival before Acre A new Difference between the two Kings and the true Causes of it Their Accord The Reduction of the City of Acre The extreme Violence of King Richard The Return of Philip the August The March of Richard The Battle of Antipatris The single Combat between King Richard and Sultan Saladin A noble Action of William de Pourcelets who saved the Life of that King Richard presents himself before Jerusalem at an unseasonable Time and therefore retires and disperses his Army into Quarters The Marquis Conrade slain by two Assassins of the old Mountain The Description of that Government and those People A wicked Action of the Templers which hindred their Conversion The Cause of the Marquis his Death Richard accused of that Crime His Innocence is proved Isabella Marries Count Henry and is declared Queen of Jerusalem Guy de Lusignan made King of Cyprus Richard pretends a Second time to besiege Jerusalem defeats the Enemies takes the Caravan of Egypt but retires by a cunning Agreement A calumny against Richard which he clears by a most memorable Action The Battle of Jaffa and the taking of that Place from the Sarasins by Richard His Treaty with Saladin and his unfortunate Return He is taken and Imprisoned His Deliverance The Justice which he demanded and which he obtains A new division among the Princes of the East appeased by the Count de Champagne The Death of Saladin and his Elogy Division happens among the Infidels which gives occasion to a fourth Crusade p. 186. PART III.
consider the Vastness and Importance of this Famous Enterprize of the Crusado's or the Quality of the Persons who have fortunately executed or unsuccessfully attempted this great Design whether we compute the number or variety of those extraordinary Events which were accompanied with such diversity of Fortune or in short if we take a Survey of those Heroick Actions which were then performed one shall find them such as not scarcely to be out-done even by the Romantick Atchievements of the Fabulous Ages One shall there see the Holy Wars which the Christians have undertaken either to reconquer or preserve a Country wherein all the glorious Mysteries of the Redemption of Mankind were accomplished and which the Worshippers of the Eternal Son of God Jesus Christ did believe that they could not without infamy and betraying the Interest of their Religion permit to remain under the Tyrannick Dominion of Barbarous Infidels On the one Part three of the greatest Kings of France as many Emperours the Kings of England Denmark Hungary Navar and Cyprus the Dukes of Lorrain Normandy Austria and Suabia and most of the Princes of Europe appeared at the head of their Troops being followed by whatever was brave or gallant throughout all the Western Monarchies on the other side the Sultans of Aegypt of Babylon and Damascus with all the celebrated Princes of the Turks and Sarasens who have rendred their names so famous by the greatness of their Actions are the Hero's who must tread the stage of this History persons so considerable that singly they might furnish a very fair Volume All that is surprizing in unexpected successes all that is so admirably represented in Fiction or wonderful in the most Heroick Enterprises will be found in the following Account and to render it yet more valuable will be accompanied with that solid foundation of Truth which will distinguish it from those ingenious Fictions which have been invented with so much pain to produce some pleasure to the Readers That I may therefore endeavour that this History may in some sort appear new and with all its natural Ornaments at least that it may not want that little beauty which even the most indifferent Relations seem to challenge it is to be considered that though these matters have been often heretofore related either in some parts by particular Authors or in the general Histories of such Natures as have had more or less concern in this affair of the Crusade yet the World hath not hitherto seen them wrought together into one Regular composure with all the dependencies consequencies and connexions nor with that continued Chain of Causes and Effects and such Circumstances as might render the work so accomplished and delicate as it ought to be and in which the charming secret which doth so insensibly allure and please consists and which is indeed the soul and spirit of History and ought to be the End of every just Historian Moreover as the Subject is so Noble and agreeable so neither is it less advantagious then delightful For here one shall find the great Concerns of the Church of two mighty Empires and the Principal Estates of Europe and Asia there shall one discover the causes which occasioned that glorious design so often to fall and yet afterwards to rise again there may we see that Zeal of our Ancestors which seems to reproach our slow imitation Especially at a time when the Forces of one single Monarch could he but remain assured of his Neighbours are sufficient to ruine the Tyranny of those Infidels whose power consists chiefly in those fatal divisions among Christians which hitherto have prevented their employing their Arms to their destruction However the hope that my endeavours will not be unprofitable and that God Almighty whose help I implore will assist me with his Grace and bestow that happy success which is not to be expected from me have given me encouragement to pursue this difficult task which I have undertaken year 637 It was about 400 years that the Arabian Sarasens under their Caliphs the successors of Mahomet having made themselves Masters of all the upper Asia and Aegypt did also possess the Holy Land after which time the Turks siezing upon it did by their revolt establish a new Empire over Asia these People are originally descended from that part of the Asiatique Sarmatia which lies between Mount Caucasus and the River Tanais the Lake of Meotis and the Caspian Sea And whether it were that they were dissatisfied with their present Habitations or that they were forced from them by some new Intruders most certain it is that having divided themselves to search for new Regions one part of them marching Westward advanced by degrees as far as the banks of the Danubius and the other far more numerous moving towards the East passed the River Volga and settled in the Northern Climates bordering upon the Caspian Sea formerly the habitation of the Scythians and Massagetes and which at this day retains the name of Turquestan by them imposed upon it lying all along the River Jaxartes and not long after passing that River they extended their Consines as far as Maurenthor betwixt that River and the Oxus or as the Greeks called it the River Araxis year 585 and from thence during the Empire of Mauritius by the way of the Caspian Sea they transported themselves into Persia where they made great depredations and ravaged whole Provinces year 625 Afterwards we find that they served Heraclius in the War which he made against Cosroes But when about the year 640 Omar one of the Successors of Mahomet had reduced all Persia under the Empire of the Sarasens the Turks to whom he allotted certain Countries entred into his pay and served him in his Wars against the Greek Emperors for almost 400 years till such times as the Sarasens being mightily broken by their Intestine Divisions and the Turks on the other hand wonderfully augmented both in number and Strength they embodied themselves under a Prince of their own chusing one of the Descendants of Salgue or Sadock a Person to whom the People paid a singular Veneration And in conclusion having vanquished the Sarasens in three general Battles they rendred themselves Masters of all Persia about the year 1042 and afterwards of Mesopotamia Palestine and Syria changing their Religion also about the same time with their Fortune and being converted from Paganism to the Superstition of Mahomet that great Impostor This Victorious Prince whom the Arabians call Abutalip the Greeks Sangrolipax and William of Tyre Belphet or Belphetoc after he had spent above thirty years in the Establishment of this mighty new Monarchy in the Upper Asia entred also the Lesser Asia with a most numerous Army where in a set Battle he defeated and took Prisoner Diogenes the Roman Emperor year 1069 After which Victory the Turks under the Conduct of Cuthume and his Son Solyman near Relations to the Sultan seized upon the Realm of Pontus since called Turcomania the Provinces of
that God Almighty was pleased to manifest that this Vow was acceptable to him by restoring him to his Health beyond all Expectation and without the application of any of the usual Remedies Be it how it will neither this Vow nor this Miracle nor this entring the breach at Rome are such matters as have any certain foundation in the Historians who were his Contemporaries but this is most certain that whether it were that he was sensibly touched with the extraordinary Merit of this Prince and the considerable Services which he had received from him or that he therein gratified the displeasure he had taken against Conrade who now began to relinquish his Interests the Emperor put Godfrey into the Possession of the Dutchy of the Lower Lorrain the Inheritance of his Mother which he had detained from him Thirteen Years And that he might yet link him more closely than by the meer Obligation of Duty he was resolved to have him his Brother in Law and gave him his Sister Adelaida in Marriage After which Godfrey seeing himself in a Condition capable of recovering the Earldom of Verdun which Theoderic the Bishop and Earl Albert at present detained from him that Affair was quickly determined for the Bishop and Earl besieging Stenay where Godfrey had built a very strong Castle just upon the Frontiers of Verdun that from thence he might more easily assail his Enemies this Fortunate Prince though then very much indisposed in Health yet combated them with so much Conduct and Valour that he relieved the Place and in a little time after being reinforced with the Troops which Eustace and Baldwin his Brothers brought to his assistance he obliged them to raise their Siege and in Conclusion they were forced by the Determination of the Bishop of Leige who was made Arbiter of the Difference to restore the Earldom of Verdun unto Godfrey In this flourishing Posture were the Affairs of Duke Godfroy when the Crusade for the Deliverance of the Holy Land was proclaimed and he was in the Number of the formost to take the Cross which he did with that Ardency that to give Example to other Princes to sacrifice all to the Glory of Jesus Christ and to satisfie that importunate Desire which he had so long since cherished for this Glorious Conquest he generously despoiled himself of almost his whole Inheritance thereby to enable himself to raise the more and the better Troops And for this purpose he either morgaged or sold the Earldom of Bullen and Ardenna to Albert Bishop of Liege whose Successors are possessed of it to this very day Richerius Bishop of Verdun also laid hold of this opportunity to purchase the Town and Castle of Stenay with its Dependancies and the rest of the Earldom of Prince Baldwin upon whom his Brother Godfrey had lately bestowed it Insomuch that by a pretty odd adventure the secular Princes impoverished themselves to serve Christ Jesus and the Ecclesiasticks inriched themselves with the Spoils of these Temporal Princes whose Examples ought rather to have incited them to the like Devotion but they chose rather to make use of that Money which like them they should have employed to so pious a Work as the Deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre to advance their present Fortunes which they saw these Princes so generously abandon for the Love of God But if History ought to praise the Generosity of such as sold their Inheritances upon this Glorious Occalion yet it has no Authority to condemn the Intentions of those who purchased them Since their Design was for the better Accommodation of those Churches of which they were the Pastors and the Fathers Godfrey by these ways having put himself into a Capacity to raise Soldiers and furnish an Equipage was in a short time accompanied with a great Number of such as had taken upon them the Cross besides many Princes and Gentlemen his Friends who served as Volunteers But the fair Reputation which he had acquired throughout all Europe and those admirable Qualities for which he was so justly valued brought him in far greater Numbers than his Pay for Military Men came slocking to him from all parts especially the Eastern parts of France the Low Countries the two Lorains and the Provinces of Germany every one passionately coveting to serve in this Expedition under his auspicious Conduct One shall rarely meet in History any who ever exceeded this brave Prince either in those obliging Charms which attract mens Hearts or were more able to manage that absolute Empire over those Spirits which had so voluntarily submitted to them nor did he stand in need of any other Authority to govern them than what he was obliged to for his Vertue and those admirable Graces whith which Nature had even to Prosusion adorned him He was in the Vigor and the very Flower of his Age having lived about thirty sive years his Complexion was Sanguine his Temper Robust and yet such as shewed the fresh Sweetness and Beauty of Youth in his mature and many Age his Shape was admirable his Body straight and his Stature though something advanced above the common yet carried a Proportion in all parts so regular as made him only appear so tall as to approach to the pitch of Heroick his Port was extream Majestick his Behaviour grave and serious his Colour delicate and lively his Cheeks wore the Livery of Vermilion and his Eyes siery and sparkling but withal sweet and attracting the turn of his face was most perfectly exact his Hair light and fair his Speech sweet and the Sound of his Voice admirably pleasing and with all these Ornaments of Nature he had a Demeanor so charming and modest that one who accompanied him in this Expedition to the Holy Land assures us that his Conversation seemed to have more of the meekness of a Recluse than the fierceness of a Soldier notwithstanding which upon the approach of an Enemy when he was going to the Combat he seemed in an instant metamorphosed into another quite different Person he looked like a generous Lyon so much Resolution Heat and Fierceness appeared in his Eyes his Voice his Gestures and his Gate and by how much greater the Danger was so much was his Courage redoubled that it had not the least acquaintance with Fear and that Soul which Nature had planted in so fair a Body was animated with that prodigious force that there are few examples that can come in competition with him for neither Casque nor Curiass nor Shield where he bestowed his mighty Blows were any proof against his Invincible Arm or could defend those who wore them from a certain Death and besides all this he was a perfect Master at all sorts of Weapons and intimately acquainted with every secret of the military Art insomuch that even Envy it self must be constrained to give place to the Judgement of the whole Earth it being impossible to dispute these advantages with him which yet were more marvellous in him who possessed them in that
Palaces where they had lain he went and incamped in the plain of Blakerness In the night he was attacked by all the Emperors Forces but he repulsed them immediately and drive them into the Town though with little loss by reason that they made more hast to retire than they had done to assail him After which having for five or six days wasted all about Constantinople in revenge of the detestable infidelity of the Emperor Alexis was compelled to desire a new accommodation He voluntarily offered his Son John Porphirogenitus for a Hostage to oblige the Duke to come to his Palace there to confer about the Articles of the Treaty Godfrey who desired nothing but the means to execute his principal Design and to pass with safety into Asia accepted the condition and having sent his Cousin Baldwin du Bourg and Conon Earl of Mountaigu to receive the Prince he made the Army retreat to their former Port upon the Bosphorus where leaving Baldwin to command them he with Hugh and the other Princes went up the River to Constantinople The Emperor received them there with much magnificence and according to the custom observed by the Greek Emperors as a sign of amity and intire confidence when they are minded to do a singular honor to any Prince he would needs adopt him for his Son After which the Emperor proposed the Conditions of the Treaty which were reduced to these two Articles First Alexis promised upon his Oath to aid these Princes with all his Power both by Sea and by Land that he would joyn his Forces with theirs and lead them in his own Person that he would with his Fleet continually supply the Army with Provisions and do no sort of Injury to those who served in this War The second was that these Princes should reciprocally ingage to do nothing contrary to his Interests that they should restore to him such places of Importance as they should recover in Asta do homage for others and take an Oath of fealty to him as his Subjects for such Lands which they should hold of the Emperor This last which was a very nice point was a long time contested by the Princes who thought it would be very dishonourable to them to declare themselves Vassals of the Greek Emperor but after mature consideration that without stocking the Authority of their own Sovereigns they might become Feudaries to another lefter Prince and swear fealty to him for such lands as they held of him and that it was impossible their enterprize should succeed well if they should have the Emperor always opposite to them they resolved to give him that which he desired and to give him their Oaths and do that Homage but with this Limitation That they should be no longer obliged then whilest he punctually performed his Part of the Agreement After which the Emperor who was magnificent even to Profusion striving to purchase a Reputation of being liberal to strangers though at the rates of Avarice and Cruelty impoverishing his Subjects by unsupportable Exactions loaded these Princes with Honours and made them excessive rich Presents And for the subsistence of the Dukes Army he ordered every week so much mony as he desired to be paid him which nevertheless he was afterards obliged to return by the way of Spain For this Prince who was most sordidly covetous being Master of all the Commodities of his Empire there was not a Merchant but who was a kind of Custom-house Officer to him and obliged to give him an exact account of whatever was either imported or exported throughout his Dominions Miserable is the condition of those Subjects who live under such Princes who will allow them no manner of Property in their Goods or rather most unfortunate are those Princes who in reality have none but Slaves and Beggars for their Subjects In the mean time the Emperor who was informed that the other Princes were upon their March with puissant Armies desired Duke Godfrey about the beginning of Lent to pass with his Army towards Bithynia and to encamp near Calcedon alledging that he could no longer sind subsistence for his Troops in the place where they lay but this was in reality only a politick stratagem to avoid the assembling so near him so many Guests who were very much suspected by him and above all others he was possessed with an extream apprehension of Bohemond Prince of Tarentum who presently after Easter arrived with the choicest Italians and Normans who had made themselves Masters of the extream part of Italy by an adventure which because it redounds to the glory of our Nation I shall think it no trouble in a few words to give an account of it year 1002 About some seventy four years before this time fourty Norman Gentlemen returning from a Voyage to Jerusalem where they had visited the Holy Places arrived by Sea at Salernum in the very time when the City was extreamly pressed by the Saracens who besieged it by Land These Pilgrims who were brave men tall of stature and of a good Mind had a great desire to signalize their Zeal upon so fair an occasion having therefore easily obtained of Gaimar Prince of Salernum Horses and Arms and the liberty which they desired to make a Sally up on the Enemies they issued out to so good purpose and fought with so much Conduct and bravery in the view of the whole Town which ran to the Walls to behold them that having filled the whole Camp of the Saracens with confusion blood and slaughter and burnt their Engines of War they obliged them to raise their Siege by one of the most memorable actions that is extant upon historical Record Gaimar did what possibly he could to stay these brave men with him and offered them most magnificent recompences for the Service they had done but they generously refusing assured him they expected nothing but the Reward of God Almighty for whose Glory they had combated against his Enemies of his Holy Name and that having performed their Vows they were under undispensible obligations of returning into their own Country However this Prince willing by some way or other to draw to himself some of so valiant and generous a Nation requested them to take along with them his Ambassadours which being agreed the Ambassadors carried with them some of the most delicious Fruits of Champain Italy Pavia and Calabria and particularly Citrons Lemons and Oranges which the Ancients called Golden Apples none of which grew in Normandy They managed their affairs there with so much dexterity that many Gentlemen allured with the Pleasure of those beautiful Fruits but much more with the Fruits of Glory which they hoped to gain by making War against the Saracens followed the Ambassadors These Gentlemen did there such memorable Actions whilest they served the Italian Princes and the Emperor St. Henry against the Infidels and against the Greeks whose Yoak they could no longer bear as rendred their Names most Celebrated throughout all Italy but
being of an Humor not to forget themselves whilest they served others so advantageously they took occasion to be their own Paymasters by making themselves Masters of certain Places in Pavia where they afterwards became very Powerful by the Accession of divers of their Countrymen who flocked thither to them upon the Incouragement of their good Fortune and Renown The most considerable of these was a Person of Quality one Tancred Lord of Hauteville who of twelve Sons which he had not at all inferior to their Father in Courage sent eleven of them into Italy They were so fortunate that in a little time a fair Occasion presented itself to them to establish their Dominion in Italy For Baldwin Lieutenant to the Greek Governor being ill treated by him craving Aid of these Normans broak out into Terms of Defiance with him These Eleven Brothers the most renowned of their Nation and to whom all the rest yeilded Obedience carried themselves with such Conduct and admirable good Fortune that after having intirely defeated the Greeks in three Battles they chaced them out of almost all their Dependancies in Italy dividing the Conquests among themselves But still they acknowledged for their Captain and Chief the eldest Brother William Surnamed for his Valour Iron-Arme who was the first Earl of Pavia his two next Brothers Drogon and Humphry succeeded him and after them the Third which was the famous Robert Guischard This Prince who certainly was one of the greatest Men of his Age not contented with Pavia by the force of his Arms extended his Dominion into Calabria and Conquered the greatest part of that Country which is now called the Kingdom of Naples and took upon himself the Title of Duke of Pavia and Calabria for which he did Homage to Pope Nicholas the Second restoring to him such Lands as had been usurped from the Church He had afterwards great Differences with Gregory the Seventh who Excommunicated him but in the end being Reconciled he received Absolution and became his great Protector and at the earnest intreaty of that Pope it was that he with his Son Bohemond passed the Sea to make War with Alexis Commenius the Usurper of the Imperial Throne out of which his Predecessor Nicephorus Botaniatos had expelled the Emperor Michel Parapinacius who was come to Rome to Implore the Succor of the Pope and the Normans There can be nothing more Glorious than that which upon this Occasion was performed by this admirable Prince for he over-ran all Greece and with no more than fifteen thousand Men defeated Alexis in a set Battle who Encountred him upon the Frontier of Thrace with an Army of one hundred and seventy thousand Combatants Then leaving Bohemond in Thrace who successfully pusht on the War often beating Alexis as the Princess Ann his Sister Confesses he hasted to the Succor of the Pope who was closely Besieged by the Imperialists and Romans in the Castle of St. Angelo he constrained Henry the Emperor to depart from Italy Retook Rome from the Schismaticks conducted the Pope to Salernum returned to the East in his Passage defeated the Fleet of Alexis and having Rejoyned with Bohemond not long after he died full of Glory leaving his Estate to his Son Roger who after an unkind and unlucky War at last came to an Agreement with his Brother Prince Bohemond giving him for his Share the Principality of Tarentum year 1097 This Prince who was nothing Inferior to his Father in Skill or Courage was with his Uncle Roger Earl of Sicily at the Siege of Amalphi when the French Princes passed through Italy for the Levant So soon as he understood the Subject of their Voyage he declared publickly that he would be one with them either out of his great Zeal for the Glory of God or that he believed this might afford a fair Opportunity for him to Recommence the War with Alexis and by Possessing some part of the Empire establish himself in the East for he sent some of his People immediately to Duke Godfrey to obstruct the Peace between him and Alexis Be it as it will for it is no part of my Province to enter into Mens Intentions after the spiteful manner of most People and above all others Historians who to make themselves thought Able and Understanding too frequently fall into this piece of Malice It is most undoubted that Bohemond shewed such a mighty Ardor for this Holy Expedition that having in the Field torn a silken Cloak which he wore into Crosses he took the first himself and afterwards presented the rest to the principal Officers of his Army which were received with such an universal Applause that all the Souldiers protested they would follow him insomuch that passing quite through the quarter of Bohemond Earl Roger was in a manner wholy deserted and forced to retire Bohemond overjoyed at this Adventure applied himself with incredible Diligence to make Preparation for this Enterprize and in a short time passed the Sea after Hugh the Great but with another manner of Equipage than that Prince had done for he had in his Army ten thousand Horse and above so many Foot together with the greatest part of the Gentry of Sicily Calabria and Pavia and the Princes and Norman Lords the principal whereof were the brave Tancred his Nephew his Sisters Son the Earls Richard and Ranulph his Cousins the Sons of William Iron-Arme his Uncle Richard the Son of Earle Ranulph Herman de Canni Humphrey the Son of Raould and Robert de Sourdevall The Army passed through Epirus and Macedon where the Greek Imperialists who had their Winter Quarters there drawing together attended their Motions intending if possible to surprize them and at a certain Pass upon a River when one half of the Army was marched over they fell in upon the Rere But Tancred immediately Repassing followed by two thousand Horse charged them so home that having cut the forwardest of them in pieces the rest consulted their Safety with their Heels He took also many Prisoners whom he sent to Bohemond who reproaching them for this unworthy Action they assured him that what they had done was by particular Order from the Emperor notwithstanding that that perfidious Prince had wrote Letters full of Complements and Civility to Bohemond by that Artifice it seems thinking to amuse him and make him less Careful or Suspicious However this Blow so astonished Alexis that to avoid a greater he sent an Excuse to Bohemond and commanded his Officers to furnish his Army with Provisions he also requested Duke Godfrey with the principal Lords of his Army to meet this Prince and mediate a Reconciliation and the Duke knew so well how to soften that great Spirit that notwithstanding all the reason he had for his Distrusts he brought him along with him to pay his Duty to the Emperor and to take the same Oath with the rest of the Princes which he did with the same Intention lest it should procrastinate that great Design for which they
his League with the Princes of the Crusade The Ambassadours of Alexis slighted The advantagious composition with the Emir of Tripolis The March of the Christian Army to Jerusalem Lidda Rama Nicopolis and Bethlehem taken by the Christians The extraordinary expressions of their Devotion upon the first discovery of the Holy City AFter the Arrival of these Princes at Constantinople Duke Godfrey and Tancred being advanced as far as Nicomedia and having levelled the ways over the Mountains from that Town to the City of Nice they invested that place the sixteenth day of May. They staid some time for the coming of the other Princes and of Peter the Hermit who was gone into Asia to recollect some of those unfortunate Reliques of his Forces which had saved themselves in the Woods And then it was resolved without staying for the Troops of Raymond Earl of Tholose and those of the Duke of Normandy and the Earl of Blois which were not yet come up that they should begin to form the Siege of Nice Nice the Capital City of Bythinia and which is famous to this day for the first and seventh Oecumenical Councils which were held there against the Heresies of the Arians and the Iconoclasts was at this time a fair and spaious City liyng about fifteen or sixteen Leagues from Nicomedia in the middle of a most fertile and pleasant Valley on all sides encompassed with high Mountains except on the Western Quarter where the great Lake of Ascanius which by small Vessels furnisheth it plentifully with all the Commodities of the Country serves instead of a natural Fortification rendring it wholly inaccessible on that side It was encompassed with double Walls of an extraordinary thickness and flanked with very fair and lofty Towers strongly built and placed at convenient distance to defend each other and that part of the Curtain which was between them It was also strengthened without the Counterscarp with a great retrenchment admirably Palisadoed and which was extream difficult of access by reason of the great number of Springs and Rivulets which falling from the Mountains and being stopped by the Fortifications drowned all the adjacent fields to what degrees the defendants pleased Old Soliman who after the Turks had entred the lesser Asia pushed his Conquests by a continual succession of Victories as far as the Propontis had taken extraordinary pains in the fortifying of this City where he established the Seat of his Empire that he might be so much the nearer Constantinople and upon occasion one day pass over more commodiously into Europe The young Soliman who about ten years after succeeded him usually kept a very strong Garrison there but upon the noise which the Enterprize of the Christians of the West were about to make he reinforced it with the choicest of his Troops for he did not doubt but in order to their opening a passage to Jerusalem this place would be the first that would be attacked He himself was gone into Persia year 1097 to request the assistance of all the Princes of his Nation and returning just in the nick of time to succour the City he posted himself in the Mountains at the same time when the Christian Army not suspecting that such a terrible Enemy was so near began the Siege However the Christians applyed themselves to a formal Siege distributing their several Quarters in his open view their Army being far more numerous then his and consisting in above four hundred thousand Combatants Bohemond after he had taken care for Provisions for the Army in a very plentiful manner returning to the Camp posted himself on the Northwest quarter of the City with his Nephew Tancred who extended his quarter on the right hand even to the Lake Godfrey of Bullen with Baldwin took the Right Hand over against the Principal Gate of the City taking up all that space between the North and the East upon that side where the City was most strongly fortified After them upon the South East quarter encamped Hugh the Great in the same place where after their arrival the Duke of Normandy and Count Stephen were to make their attack so soon as they should come up All the South side was reserved for Count Raymond who was upon his way in Bythinia and not far distant from the Camp That part towards the West South-West which lay upon the Lake could not be blocked up so close but that the Enemies had that way the convenience of furnishing themselves with Provisions The Town being in this manner begirt quite round the besiegers began briskly with a General Assault which upon the fourteenth day of May was given at the same time upon all the several Quarters with all kind of military Engines The Combat was maintained all that day till the darkness of the Night obliged them to discontinue it and was again renewed in the Morning with extraordinary fury though without Effect For the besieged were not only gallant men but every minute in expectation of being relieved by Soliman to whom they had dispatched an Express both to inform him of their Condition and to advertise him that he might easily do it by forcing the Christian Camp on that part which lay to the Southward which was but as yet very slenderly guarded but it so fell out that the Letters of the Sultan were intercepted that very day as they were going to the Town to assure the besieged that he would not fail the next morning according to their advice to attack that part of the Camp Notice thereupon was immediately given to Prince Raymond who was not far off who marched with such diligence that by good Fortune the next morning very early he arrived in the Camp He was no sooner begun to make his Lodgement but the Turks descended from the Mountain and divided themselves into two great Bodies to attack the Christian Camp in two quarters One party of them marched to the right towards the South believing according to the advice which they had received from the besieged that the passage there was free whilest the other advanced to the Quarter of Duke Godfrey which lay next the Earl to prevent his sending any succours from that part and thereby to be the better able to put his designed relief into the City year 1097 But the gallant Raymond whom the Turks little expected to have found there received them in so good a posture and charged their Troops who looked for nothing less than such opposition with so much fury that he presently put them into disorder and having routed them and cut the best part of them in pieces the rest were forced to betake themselves to a hasty slight pursuing them to the very foot of the Mountains whilst Godfrey in his quarter dealt in the same manner with those who made the false attack upon his Post Nevertheless the besieged failed not at all in their Courage but made a very obstinate defence under the Protection of their Walls whose strength was so great as
Geoffrey of Aigremont and the most valiant William of Paris The Infidels left there upon the place besides a prodigious number of the Arabs and their other ordinary Soldiers above three thousand of the principal persons of Quality among the Turks being those who of all the Infidels fought the most valiantly in that Battle The Victorious Army after having refreshed themselves two days in this Valley year 1097 now famous for this glorious Victory put themselves upon their March advancing towards Syria all the way following the Track of the flying Sultan and this Prince having after the Battle met with ten thousand fresh Arabians which came to Reinforce him and upon the Road having called the scattered Fugitives he applied himself to lay all the Country wast through which the Christian Army was to march this reduced them to extream Want especially in their Passage over the Mountains and the Deserts so that the defect of Provisions and the Thirst occasioned by the excessive Heats reduced them to those Extremities that five hundred Persons died in one day and almost all the Horses perished But at last having gotten out of those Straits they arrived about Antioch in Pisidia which surrendered to them without Resistance as did most of the other Cities in their Passage through Lycaonia Cappadocia and Armenia For the generality of the Inhabitants being Christians and the Turks not daring to appear in the Field being baffled in all the Rencounters upon the Way and therefore unable to protect them those places sent to the Princes to render themselves to their Protection they received the Princes with all sort of Submission and by a thousand Testimonies of Rejoycing made it appear with what infinite Pleasure they saw themselves delivered from the insupportable Yoak of Slavery which had been imposed upon them by the Infidels And therefore seizing upon Iconium Cesaria in Cappadocia sometimes a famous City though now almost wholy Ruinous Heraclia upon the Frontier of Cilicia the Princes placed Governors in them retaining them under their own Jurisdiction For they thought themselves wholy disengaged from the Oath which they had made to the perfidious Alexis who had not observed in any sort the Agreement which he had sworn to them Thus it must happen to such cowardly Princes who not believing themselves obliged to submit to the Laws which they themselves have made and to which they have given their most solemn Faith they gain nothing in conclusion by their Dissimulation but the Disappointment of their Expectations and the unprofitable Shame by breaking their Word of being esteemed dishonest and unworthy Men. Whilest the Army refreshed themselves in Pisidia after such Toyls and Hardships Prince Godfrey had like to have been lost by a strange Accident which however redounded in conclusion much to the Honour of this Prince advancing his Reputation Courage and Nobleness which appeared even to Admiration upon this dangerous Occasion For one day entring alone upon Horseback into a Wood where he hoped to have the Pleasure of entertaining himself some Moments in Solitude he heard the Voice of a Man who cried out for Help with all his Power and advancing to the place from whence the Noise came he presently understood the Cause for he perceived it was a poor Soldier who coming to cut Wood was running quite almost out of Breath round about a great Tree to save himself from the merciless Jaws of a monstrous and furious Bear year 1097 which was just ready to seize upon him Godfrey did not long deliberate what he was to do but transported with his Courage and his Charity to see the Danger of one of his Soldiers he spur'd on his Horse with his Sword in his hand towards the cruel Beast who abandoning her first Prey with her Eyes inflamed and her gaping Jaws and the terrible Claws of her two fore Paws advanced towards him and raising herself upon her hinder Feet to throw herself upon the Horse but being affrighted with the glittering Sword to avoid the Blow she fell sidelong yet so that Horse and Man came over her she catched hold of the Dukes Coat to draw him towards her but Godfrey nimbly recovering his Fall and seizing upon her left Paw which she had thrust out to lay hold upon him he plunged his Sword up to the very Hilt in the Belly of this monstrous Enemy when at the same time one of his Gentlemen named Husequin who was following the Hounds came running in at the horrible Cries of the Bear and the Soldier and put an end to the Life of the Beast already overthrown by the terrible Blow which she had received but the Duke having in drawing his Sword after his Fall from between his Leggs given himself a cruel Wound in his Thigh which during the heat of the Combat he never perceived he had lost so much Blood that after the heat of his Spirits which kept him up began to remit he immediately sunk down in a Swoon This Accident tho in consequence not Dangerous yet spread a mighty Consternation throughout the Army as if all had been lost For altho he had not the absolute Command of a General there being so many Princes and the Sons of two Kings so that all things were done by Consent and an equality of Power yet nevertheless he had so much Authority and so much Deference was given to his Judgment that one shall not need to make any Scruple in saying he was the Chief especially since the Battle of the Gorgonian Valley where by his Valour he not only faved the Army of Bohemond but gained the Christians a most glorious Victory by snatching it out of the hands of the Infidels when they were just upon the point of consummating it But not long after it so happened that Ambition Jealousie and the desire of Revenge three Passions far more dangerous than the most furious Beasts produced Effects more deplorable to the Christian Army than what had like to have befallen them by this monstrous Bear who failed in his Attempt against the Duke who was the Soul and Spirit of the Army For while they lay in Pisidia refreshing themselves waiting the Recovery of the Duke his Brother Baldwin and Tancred two young Princes whom the love of Glory had already rendred Rivals entred into Cilicia by two different Ways with two little Armies to make themselves Masters of such Places as they could Conquer which by the Consent of the other Princes they were to hold and establish there their little Principalities Tancred who took the more easy way all along the Sea Coast came first before Tarsus the Capital City of that Province and having beaten the Turkish Garrison who came out to sight him the Inhabitants who were for the most part Christians submitted to him and planted his Ensigns upon one of the principal Towers of the City Baldwin who followed by the long and difficult way of the Mountains came in just as these matters had passed and was taken by Tancred
Orontes all the way of its passage watring the inward part of the City for these two mountains and two other lesser Hills were all within the Circumference of the Walls which were of an extraordinary height and thickness and defended by above four hundred fair Towers a mighty deep Ditch and a Counter-Scarp well fortified with Palisado's and invironed with a Morass and Pools of water in those parts where by reason of their lying upon the plain the Avenues to the City lay more easie of access And besides all this there was a powerful Army of Turks within the place for its defence as also two Castles upon the Mountain in one of which was the Palace of Sultan Accien who reigned in Antioch fourteen years after the Turks had taken it from the Sarasens and as he had a long time to foresee that the Army of the Christians must come upon him in their passage into Palestine he had used all imaginable diligence to furnish himself which all things necessary to sustain a long Siege hoping in that time to receive great succours from the Turkish Princes and especially the Sultan of Persia who had promised not to fail him and whom Soliman was gone to solicit in the common Cause year 1097 And that which rendred this attempt most extream difficult was not only the Greatness but the Situation of the City which would not admit of being wholly invironed but that there was free Egress and Regress for Succours to come to the besieged The Christian Army consisted not now in above three hundred thousand men the Sieges the Battles the Diseases and Disertions and other losses which they had sustained in their Passage over the Mountains and Deserts together with the Garrisons which they were obliged to put in the conquered Places had reduced them to one half but nevertheless the Princes according to the resolution which they had taken did not cease to form the Siege in this following manner All the South side was left open by reason that it was impossible to attack the City on that side in regard of the Rock and Mountains which rendred the Passage inaccessible So that they were contented to environ it on the side of the Plain beginning at the foot of the Mountain on the East and so drawing by the North towards the West between the Town and the River which in that part for about a mile came so near the Western part that it served for a Ditch upon that Quarter Prince Bohemond and Tancred took their Post over against the Eastern Gate called St. Paul's Gate through which they go to the famous and delightful Suburb of Daphne sometimes so celebrated for the Temple and Oracle of Apollo and afterwards much more for the Tomb of that illustrious Martyr Babylas who silenced the Devil for ever giving any more doubtful Answers to the foolish Inquirers Hugh the Great the Duke of Normandy the Earl of Blois and the Earl of Flanders were posted at the Right drawing more towards the North to the Port commonly called the Dogs Gate The Earl of Tholose with the Bishop of Pavia were encamped before that Gate and possessed all the space between that and the third Gate which afterwards was called the Dukes Gate by reason that Duke Godfrey with his Lorrainers and Germans was posted there his Quarters being extended to that place where the Orontes beginning to turn from the North to the West slides down by the Walls of Antioch so that the greatest part of the Army was encamped between the Town and the River which was there passed by a large stone Bridge just over against the fourth Gate of the Town which was therefore called the Bridge Gate This Gate was also open to the besieged as well as that of St. Georges upon the West by reason that the River was between these two Gates and the Besiegers who by an Error not easily to be excused did not at first raise good Forts against these two Gates as afterwards something with the latest they were constrained to do But this Failure was nothing in comparison of another far greater and which cost the whole Army very dear For the besieged making no manner of Sallies to hinder their Approaches and seeming to be buried in a profound Quiet not so much as bringing one Engine to the Walls for their Defence they in appearance looked as if they had lost all their Courage and their Hope so that it was the Common Imagination that the Christians could not fail presently to make themselves Masters of the Town So that hereupon they took the Liberty to ramble up and down the Country year 1097 and to straggle all over the Villages round about to make merry and without any necessity to wast that mighty plenty of provisions with which that fertile Soil abounded and in short they neither kept Order nor Discipline in the Camp partly by reason of the false opinion which possessed them that this contemptible Enemy would surrender the Town without a Blow but principally by the misfortune that both Duke Godfrey and Prince Raymond were fallen sick which had like to have intirely ruined their Affairs year 1097 The Enemies quickly advertised by their Spies of this disorder failed not to make advantage of it they began at last after so long a silence to make a mighty noise with their Engines and afterwards instantly to assail the Camp upon all Quarters so that the besiegers seemed now to be besieged Their Cavalry fallying at the Bridge-Gate over-ran that Quarter which was beyond the River cutting in pieces all those whom they found dispersed and without Arms as if it had been in a time of perfect Peace Nor was it possible for their Companions to succour them in regard that they must either by swimming or fording come to their Assistance neither of which could quickly be performed Others of them made Sallies either openly and in good Order assaulting the Quarters which were negligently guarded or by surprize creeping along the River side and the Marish among the Reeds they fell upon such as were idly walking or diverting themselves in the Gardens and Orchards as if they had not been in an Enemies Country In this manner the unfortunate Alberon Archdeacon of Mets a young Prince of the Blood Imperial miserably perished for as he was walking with a Lady of great Quality in one of these Gardens he was surprized by the Infidels who cut off his head and carried the Lady Prisoner into the City where after the barbarous Villains had committed all the Outrages imaginable against her Honor they cut off her head also and threw them into Godfrey's Camp After which the Besiegers ashamed to be so affronted by the mistake of the Courage of their Enemies began now to act after new Measures and recalling their Ancient Vertue to think of taking the City in good Earnest They therefore began to attack it by main Force with all sorts of Engines and gave a general Assault with all the
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
the manner of the Ancient Romans covering themselveslike Tortoises with their Bucklers whilst others were extended in long siles and followed them at a just distance year 1099 to have convenient Room to make use of their Bows their Slings and Cross-Bows to drive the Enemy from the Walls with great Stones Darts and Arrows which they showered continually upon them whilest in the mean time the first endeavoured in Despite of pieces of Rock and Beams which they threw down from the Walls to crush them to come at the Wall and with Pick-Axes Mattocks Levers and such sort of Iron Instruments wanting Rams they tried to make a Breach or Passage through the Wall and they acted with so much Force and Courage that they overthrew the Out-Wall and made a Passage to the very Foot of the Inward-Wall but that being too strong to receive any Damage by such pittiful Tools there was no Hope but to force the Place by a Scalade and so little Care had been taken to make Provision relying upon the Promise of the Hermit who told them if they had no more than one Ladder of Osiers they should nevertheless take the City that when they came to make Use of them there was no more than one sound Ladder that was long enough to reach the Walls notwithstanding which these Braves transported with mad Courage being prepossessed with the Belief that they should carry the Town planted that Ladder and mounted with so much Resolution that pushing one another upwards many of them got up to the Top and threw themselves over the Wall where they desperately fought hand to hand against the Saracens who were amazed at this more than Heroick Boldness and there is no doubt but if they had had more Ladders Jerusalem had been that day taken for the Enemies who did not in the least expect such an irregular and brisk Attempt had not brought any of their Engines to the Walls But seeing there could but by one Ladder mount a very few men who must needs be exposed to a Multitude of Enemies without Hope of Succour a Retreat was sounded after having lost in that rash Attempt a great many brave men who yet sold their Lives at so dear a Rate that twice their Number of the Saracens paid theirs in lieu of them Duke Godfrey who was ashamed of the Fault he had committed by preferring the idle Visions of a simple Hermit before the just Rules of Military Art remonstrated to the Princes that if they resolved to carry the Town by Force it was necessary to attack it with good Engines of War since they were to sight with men who having once would not a second time be surprised in their Defence against a Scalade This Advice was approved by all but the difficulty was to know where they should be furnished with Materials to frame them there being never a Forrest in all the Country For as for the famous Enchanted Woods of Ismena Clormea Renaud and Armida and a hundred other such like Inventions of Tasso they are nothing but the agreeable Visions of a Poetical Fancy which takes a great deal of Delight in pleasing others with making new Creations which never were except in his own or the Imaginations of his Readers but which must as the Amusements of Fables and Chimera's be rejected by Historians who are to entertain their Readers with nothing but solid Truth But this is most certain that while they were in this Trouble a Christian of the Country informed the Princes that about three or four Leagues off in the Way that leads to Arabia there was a Valley quite out of any Road where in a great Cavern there was a good Quantity of large Beams of Cedar and Cypress and that there was thereabout some Trees of which they might make very good Use although they were of no considerable Height The Duke of Normandy and the Earl of Flanders went thither with some Troops being Conducted by this Guide where they really found such Wood which they caused to be carried to the Camp They also carried thither all the Planks Joists and Beams of the Houses near the City which they could sind and for a whole Month they wrought all sorts of Engines which are made use of in Sieges as also some of a new Invention according as they were designed by Duke Godfrey and Gaston de Foix Prince of Bearne who took care of the Management of these Works but that which mightily advanced them was that nine great Ships being arrived at Joppa with Provisions from Pisa and Genoa for the Army and despairing to defend themselves in that little Fleet against that of the Saracens which was coming to attack them they broke up the Ships and setting Fire to what they could not carry to the Camp the Seamen applied themselves most industriously to the building of these Engines year 1099 All this time the Army was ready to perish with the excessive Thirst which it indured for the Brook Cedron which divides the Valley of Jehosaphat hath very little Water except in the Winter and the Fountain of Siloe which is at the Foot of Mount Sion toward the South afforded but a very little Water so that there was scarce any to be had but what was to be found two Leagues off and that with great Hazard of falling into the Hands of the Saracens who lay continually in Ambuscades to surprize such whose Thirst constrained them to straggle abroad to seek for Water and besides what was to be had was so little and there were so many People besides the Beasts that were to drink that it became presently pudled and stinking In this Extremity there could be no other Resolution but so soon as ever the Engines which were preparing were sinished to give a General Assault with a sirm Determination either to carry the Place or perish in the Attempt And therefore before the Execution of so dangerous an Enterprize and whilest the Preparations were making it was thought fit that publick Prayers should be made by the whole Army to implore the Mercy of Almighty God and to crave his Blessing and Assistance For this Purpose after a Fast of three days upon Fryday the eighth of July there was a solemn Procession where the Bishops and Clergy barefooted followed by the Princes and Soldiers in their Arms surrounded the City setting out at the Church of Sion and passing by the Oratory of St. Stephen through the Valley of Jehosaphat and so by the Mountain of Olives to the Place from whence Christ Jesus ascended into Heaven Here it was that Peter the Hermit and Arnold the Chaplain to the Duke of Normandy made such Powerful Exhortations to reunite the Hearts of the Army that all the Chiefs and the Soldiers and particularly Tancred and Count Raymond who had had the greatest Differences embraced each other in Token of a mutual Reconciliation and Exhorted one another to revenge those Injuries and Outrages which were offered to Jesus Christ by the Saracens
of the Town was immediately filled with the Crusades who ran to break open the Damascus Gate by which the rest of the Troops instantly Entred So that the Victory being now Assured they used the Right they had to it with the utmost Rigor against those Enemies which they thought they were bound utterly to Exterminate to Revenge the Outrages which they had Committed against Christ Jesus and the Barbarous Cruelties which they had so often Exercised against the Christians All being promiscuously put to the Sword except such as acknowledged themselves to be of that Religion all that were found in the Streets or Market-places were cut in pieces and nothing was to be seen but the flying off of Heads Leggs and Arms cut off and the Carcases of Dismembred Bodies the Streets ran with little Rivulets of Blood and it was impossible to step without treading upon Bodies of Men dead or dying and few there were that escaped this first Fury for the poor Christians who remained at Jerusalem mingling with the Soldiers shewed them the Houses of the Sarasins who killed the very Children in the Arms of their Mothers if it were possible to extinguish that accursed Race as God had sometimes Commanded the wicked Amalekites to be Destroyed utterly The greatest part however of them saved themselves in the Palace and in the Temple believing they should there find a Sanctuary till this first Fury of the Vanquishers began to Relent But the Vengeance of God which pursued them made them Assemble thither to deliver them all together more easily into the Hands of those whom he had chosen to Execute the Sentence of his Justice against them For Tancred and Gaston de Foix followed with great Numbers Forcing those Places made such a horrible Slaughter of those Miserables that those who Assisted at that lamentable Spectacle assure us that the Temple and the Porch were so filled with Blood that it flowed in great Streams and that they were forced to wade out of it quite over their Shoes All this while Earl Raymond combated still upon his Quarter with those who defended that part of the Town which lies between the South and West hard by the Tower of David where the Emir or Governor fought in Person The Earl receiving Intelligence by three Gentlemen who were sent from Duke Godfrey that the Town was taken Ha! what cried he to his People year 1099 The French are already in Jerusalem and we are yet disputing our Entry with these Sarasins These Words so Animated the Gascons and the Provencals that some planting the Ladders and others throwing the Bridge of their Castle over the Wall they threw themselves in Flocks into the Town where the Enemies who at the same time understood by the horrible and consused Cries behind them that the Christians had carried the Town immediately sled and retired into the Fortress the Governor then seeing the Town was taken upon all Sides offered the Earl instantly to surrender the Place provided he would save his Life and give him Liberty to Retire to Ascalon This the Earl who was glad to have so strong a Fort in his Power easily accorded to so the Emir opening the Gates all the Earls Army entred the Town and began on their side to do the same Execution which the Troops of the other Princes had done all went down without Quarter in the Streets in the Houses and in the Porch of the Temple where they sinished the Slaughter of those who had escaped the Massacre which their Companions had made The Number of the Slain in this only Quarter amounted to ten thousand those which were Slain upon the Walls in the Streets and Houses could not be Computed it suffices to say that all were Slain except a very few Slaves who were spared to cleanse the City which was doing for three days after the dead Carcasses being piled up in prodigious Heaps in the neighbouring Valleys and so Burnt There were about three hundred Sarasins who had saved themselves from the Slaughter in the Temple upon the Roof who having obtained their Lives of Tancred and his Banner which they erected in token that he had taken them into his Protection but the next Morning they were all slain by some of the other Troops whereat when Tancred was mightily displeased looking upon it as a base Action the other Princes appeased him by remonstrating to him that it might be of dangerous Consequence to spare those People who might do them a great many Mischiefs in the War which they must expect to make with the Sultan of Babylon In short never was there seen a more Complete and Terrible Vengeance than this which was taken upon these Infidels upon this Occasion all their Houses were Plundred and the whole Army found wherewith to Inrich themselves beyond Imagination and such Quantity of Provisions besides what was laid up in the Magazins as might have served them if the Siege had lasted without being raised as long as did that of Antioch But the richest Booty was that which Tancred got in the Temple of Salomon from whence he took an inestimable Treasure in Silver Gold and precious Stones all which he most generously gave to Duke Godfrey as to the Person to whose only Courage and Conduct it was due and God by this way was pleased to make him a Recompence for his Piety which was no less Heroick than his Courage in this Rencounter For whilest all the rest fell upon the quarry of the Spoil he so soon as he had taken Care for the Safety of the Town went Bare-soot and without his Arms by the West Gate Accompanied with only three of his own Domesticks and so Re-entring by the East Gate he repaired to the Holy Sepulchre there to pay to Christ Jesus his most Humble and Ardent Thanks for the Mercy shewn him in giving him the Happiness after so many Dangers to Accomplish his Wishes and his Vow in the Deliverance of the Holy City There is certainly nothing that acts so powerfully upon the Minds of People as the Example of their Prince be it Evil or be it Good this Devout Action of Duke Godfrey did so sensibly touch the whole Army that passing all of the sudden from one Extremity to another the Princes the Captains the Soldiers the People and generally all the Crusades together with the Christians of Jerusalem went in Procession to prostrate themselves at the Holy Sepulchre and that which was most Admirable they there paid their Vows with so many Tears and Sighs and so many Marks of a Devotion infinitely Tender that one could difficultly have believed that these were People who had come to take a City by Assault and to make such a dreadful Slaughter among their Enemies seeing them now so busie at their Devotions and in such deep Meditation of the Mysteries of Religion which seemed to have made so absolute a Change and Alteration in their Hearts by the Power of that Grace of God year 1099 which in an instant
turns the greatest Sinners into the greatest Saints Thus was Jerusalem recovered from the Infidels by the Army of the Crusades in the fourth Year of their Expedition the fifteenth day of July upon a Friday and which is most Remarkable at the very precise Hour wherein the Saviour of the World rendred his Blessed Soul into the Hands of Almighty God his Father as if the Divine Providence had determined so to manage the Movements of this great Affair that the Christians should recover his Inheritance exposing their Lives for his Glory at the same time wherein he had assured them of Immortality and Glory in Heaven by dying upon the Cross to purchase it for them Eight days after this happy Conquest during which time News was brought of the Death of the Patriarch Simeon who was Deceased in the Isle of Cyprus the Princes and Lords who followed them Assembled to Reestablish the ancient Kingdom of Jerusalem by giving it a King as David and Solomon and the other Princes their Successors had been till the Babylonish Captivity Count Raymond of Tholose was then proposed but whether he thought himself in the Age to which he was advanced too weak to sustain so weighty a Charge or feared that this Civility which was offered him would not succeed in regard his own People who had already twice forsaken him acted secretly against his Pretensions he excused himself by reason of his Age and would by no means suffer it to proceed to an Election The same Honor was also offered to Robert Duke of Normandy but this Prince having a great Desire to return as soon as he could had no other design but to get his Chaplain to be chosen Patriarch and it is with great probability of Appearance that it was he who made the Speech which one of the Writers of that time hath transmitted to us which proposed that double Election after this manner My Lords Since it is full time after having Accomplished so happily our Vow in this Glorious Expedition that we should now begin to think of Returning into Europe to Govern in our Persons those Estates which God hath there been pleased to give us and since you have also thought it expedient with all convenient Dispatch to take care for the Government of this Place which we came to reconquer from the Infidels Now my Lords this Capital and Holy City of Jerusalem being both a Royalty and a Patriarchate it is necessary that it should have both a King and a Patriarchate the Royalty and the Priesthood are so nearly linked together and accord so well that the one cannot be without the other for that hath need of the Priesthood to procure the Blessings of Heaven and this stands in need of the Royalty to support it and strengthen that Spiritual Authority which God hath Invested it withal It is our Duty to give our Assistance to the Clergy in the Choice of a Pastor for this Church who may be a Man of Wisdom Probity Spirit and Eloquence capable of so great an Office and all this we have Experienced in Arnold de Rohes who is without Contradiction the most Knowing and Able Man of all the Ecclesiasticks who have followed the Army and therefore I am of Opinion that we who are to take Care as much as possibly we can of this Church ought to Recommend him to their Election for a Patriarch As for that which concerns a King which is wholy in our own Power I can see nothing that should Oblige us to defer the Election for one Moment for it is most evident that we ought to Chuse without any sort of Hesitation that Person whose Piety Modesty Prudence sweet Temper Clemency Justice Integrity Liberality Experience in War Generosity Valour Successfulness Reputation and the Glory which he hath acquired in a thousand noble Occasions whose strength of Age of Body of Spirit whose Nobleness admirable Composure and very Air of Greatness and Majesty worthy of an Empire and a hundred other Perfections conspire to rank him among the greatest Kings that ever were My Lords All these extraordinary Qualities which render themselves so Conspicuous in the Person that possesses them make it appear wholy unnecessary for me to name him and must needs have prevented me in that Design nor is it what I can say but it comes from an Authority far Superior to mine God himself in giving him these surpassing Advantages above the rest of Mankind hath himself named the Person whom he hath chosen like a second David to be the King of Jerusalem It is the Illustrious Godfrey of Bullen Duke of Lorrain and that year 1099 The Prince could not sinish the rest for so soon as he had pronounced the Name of Godfrey all the whole Assembly Interrupted him crying out with the same Mind and Voice Godfrey Godfrey long Live Godfrey the most puissant and pious King of Jerusalem And notwithstanding all the Resistance which the Modesty of that excellent Prince brought to oppose it he was obliged instantly to consent to the Election which by so suddain and universal Consent manifested it self to have the Divine Will and Approbation The very same day he was Conducted to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and there Proclaimed King amidst the Acclamations of the whole Army and all the Christians of the Country who came flocking in to Inhabit the City of Jerusalem He was there presented with a Crown of Gold which he absolutely refused protesting that he would never wear a Crown of Gold in a City where the King of Kings had for the Sake of Mankind worn a Crown of Thorns And tho he would not take upon himself the Title of King yet it was constantly given him as all the Historians of that time and Posterity have ever since done to this very Day and certainly never any King better deserved to wear that glorious Title which he adorned with so many Royal Actions the first was of Piety for he Founded two Chapters of Canons in the Churches of the Temple and the Holy Sepulchre as also a Monastery in the Valley of Jehosaphat The second was of his Power and Authority in Obliging Count Raymond to put into his Hands the strong Fortress of the Tower of David which he pretended to keep in his Possession at least till his Return into France though he was generally Condemned by the whole Army for it and even by his own Gascons and Provencalls The third was an Action of incomparable Valour and Conduct manifested in that memorable Victory which he obtained over the Sultan of Egypt for the Sultan coming too late to Succour his People Advanced with a formidable Army to Besiege Jerusalem but King Godfrey eased him of that Trouble For so soon as he received that News he sent to recal Tancred and Earl Eustace who were Marched to take the Fortress of Napolis otherwise called Sichem and Sichar formerly the place where Samaria had stood And as these two Princes who were Advanced as far as
Jerusalem for whom they performed many notable Services in their Wars And for this Reason the Hospitallers divided their Community into three different Ranks of which the first was that of Knights who went to the Wars the second of Friers or Brothers Servitors who had the Charge of the Sick and the Pilgrims and the third was that of Ecclesiasticks and Chaplains who administred the Sacraments and this Company which was thus advanced into a Military Order was also confirmed by Pope Paschal the second It was in Imitation of these Armed Hospitallers that many others also much about the same time taking up the Profession of Arms at Jerusalem began to establish other new Military Orders The first were those who had the Guard of the Holy Sepulchre for many Ages and that King Baldwin the First of Canons which they were before changed them into Knights of the Holy Sepulchre They retired after the loss of the Holy Land into Italy where they setled at Perouse and continued there till such time as Pope Innocent the eighth sent them to the Knights of the Rhodes the Fathers Cordeliers succeeded them in keeping the Holy Sepulchre and to this day retain the Power of giving the Honor of Knight-hood to such noble Persons as resort thither to visit the Holy Places Some time after about the Year 1118. nine French Gentlemen of whom the Principal were Hugh de Payn and Geffry de Saint Omer going to present themselves before Guarimond the Patriarch of Jerusalem he perswaded them so Effectually that between his Hands they took upon them a Vow of Chastity and Obedience year 1118 and to employ their Lives in defending the Passes and keeping the Ways clear and free for the Pilgrims who came to the Holy Land King Baldwin gave them Lodgings in his Palace near the Temple and from thence they came to be called Templers or Knights of the Temple They continued nine Years in this manner their Number not at all Increasing and without all distinction of Habits until the Year 1128 when Pope Honorius the Second bestowed upon them at the Council of Troyes a Rule with a white Habit to which Eugenius the Third added a red Cross And after that time as they acquired a mighty Reputation by their Virtue Courage and admirable Things which they did against the Infidels so their Order grew mightily and became so Puissant by the great Estates which were every where Conferred upon them that they became equal in their Fortune to the greatest Princes But in Conclusion these great Revenues which at first were the Recompences and the Testimonies of their Merit became the Occasion of their Misfortune for from thence sprung those Disorders with which they are but too justly Reproached though possibly the Hatred into which they fell by reason of their Pride and Arrogance may have represented those Disorders greater than they were in Reality yet it is certain that they gave an Occasion to the Fathers of the Council of Vienna under Clement the Fifth utterly to Extinguish their Order the greatest part of their fair Revenues being given to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem year 1119 who about this time Conquered the Isle of Rhodes Immediately after the Establishment of this Order of the Templers that of the Knights of the Teutonick Order began being Founded by the Charity of a Rich German Lord who having had his Part in the taking of Jerusalem had resolved there to pass the remainder of his Days with his Family in the Exercises of Piety He observing that many Pilgrims and poor Soldiers of his Nation suffered extreamly in a Country where no body understood them built a Hospital at Jerusalem to receive them and some time after an Oratory in Honor of the Blessed Virgin many Germans drawn by the Example of his so great Charity joyned with him and quitting their Estates to the Use of this Hospital devoted themselves to the Service of the Poor of their Nation and there being among them many Gentlemen who had undertaken this Voyage principally with a Design to make War against the Infidels they added to this Vow that of Fighting unto Death against the Enemies of Jesus Christ herein following the Conduct Manner of Living and the Rule of the Templers until that about seventy Years after Pope Celestin the third Erected it into a military Order under the Rule of St. Augustin for those of the German Nation only giving them a white Habit with a black Cross to distinguish them from the Templers Nevertheless they could after that do no manner of great Services to Christendom in Syria by reason that the Affairs of the Christians were then become altogether Desperate about thirty eight years after the Emperor Frederick the Second Returning from his unfortunate Voyage to the Holy Land brought them all into Germany under their fourth Great Master Herman Psaltza to whom he proposed the Conquest of Prussia from the barbarous People and Pagans who at that time Inhabited there This Valiant Man entred the Country with his Knights and two thousand others who took upon them the Habit after the Example of Conrade Marquess of Thuringia who accompanied him with twenty thousand Soldiers In three Years time they made themselves Masters of all the Country Reducing the People to Christianity and Built Marienburg to be the chief Seat of their Order giving it the Name of the Holy Virgin their Protectress After which their Successors Possessed themselves of the greatest part of the Northern Countries which are on both sides of the Vistula Extending themselves and their Catholick Religion into Lithuania continually Augmenting their Power and Dominion till after a long War which they had undertaken against the King of Poland that King Jagelon Defeated them in that famous Battle wherein they lost the greatest part of their Knights who were accompanied with the Slaughter of fifty thousand of their Soldiers who remained dead upon the Place So that all Prussia being almost Revolted the Great Master to preserve his remaining Interest was obliged to do Homage for it to Casimire King of Poland Afterwards Frederick Duke of Saxony coming to be Great Master year 1118 refused to do that Homage and after that the Knights had for a long time under that Prince used their utmost Efforts to maintain their Soveraign Authority at length Albert Marquis of Brandenburgh who was chosen Great Master abandoning the Interests of the Order to Establish his own particular Designs submitted himself to King Sigismond his Uncle who of Great Master of the Order made him Duke of one part of Prussia under the Soveraignty of Poland After which this new Duke Renouncing the Catholique Religion and Violating his Vow of Knighthood Married the Princess of Denmark and in Conclusion left to his Posterity the Ducal Prussia So that after this time this Order sometimes so Celebrated and powerful having Flourished more than three hundred Years was in a manner quite Extinguished It is nevertheless still kept up in Germany where
War which he did not in the least that it must needs be a Prodigy of ill Presage to see a man devoted to a severe Profession of Religion to take upon himself the Command of the Army that they were at last satisfied that he should do his Duty according to his Profession in preaching up the Crusade as for any thing more the Weakness of his Natural Constitution and his Age gave him a Dispensation from the Toils and Hazards of a Voyage to the Holy Land Being therefore resolved to preserve himself always within the Bounds of his Condition and to apply himself only to that which was his proper Ministry he set himself to preach the Crusade with so much Zeal Power and Success that there was never seen a greater Concourse of People then ran from all Parts to have the good Fortune to receive the Cross from his Hands Geossry who writes his Life that it pleased God to confirm and approve of his preaching by a Prodigious Number of Miracles which he did in healing all kind of Diseases by his Prayers and the Imposition of his Hands But as some of the Historians who gives us this Account produce no manner of particular Proofs but content themselves with saying so only in general Terms and on the other Hand it is well known that in those times they were not so strict and exact in their Examination of those kind of Things as they are in our days but were rather inclined to make even Credulity it self a Matter of great Merit I think every Person is at Liberty to believe at his own Discretion without detracting in the least from the Eminent Sanctity of St. Bernard And that which makes this appear more reasonable is that this great man himself in that Apology which he made after the ill Fortune of this Voyage does not in justifying himself in the least inssist upon the Miracles which God wrought by his preaching but by the Obedience which he owed to the Pope who had commanded him to preach Be it as it will it is most certain as he himself says the Obedience which he rendred to the Pope in preaching the Crusade became so successful that it produced an infinite of Crusades insomuch that the Towns and Villages were almost dispeopled of their Inhabitants except the Children and the Women who remained as Widows during the Lives of their Husbands thus it was that he spoke not knowing that so many of them were to be so in Reality As for the rest in that time that he preached with so much Success in France he advanced the Crusade no less by his Pen in Italy and Germany whither he writ most Eloquent Letters wherein he Exhorted the People to take up the Cross with all the most powerful Motives which were Capable of touching their Christian Compassion and in one of them he advertized the Germans to take Care that they did not suffer themselves to be seduced by a certain Vagabond Monk one Radulph who had taken upon him without any Commission to preach the Crusade at Cologne Mayence Worms Spire Strasbourg and thereabouts exciting the People to Massacre the Jews under Pretext of slgnalizing their Zeal against the Enemies of Jesus Christ He writ the same in pretty Boisterous Terms to the Arch-Bishop of Mayence year 1146 perswading him to treat this Ignorant Monk as an Usurper upon the Sacred Office of Preaching and as a detestable Heretick who Authorized the fearful Sin of Murder And understanding that this furious Disorder increased daily by the Seditious Sermons of this Impudent Impostor he went himself into Germany to acquit himself of the Commission he had received from the Pope to preach the Crusade there and arrived at Spires where the Emperor had called a General Diet against the Feast of the Nativity The Emperor at that time was Conrade the third of that Name Duke of Suabia and Franconia who after the Death of the Emperor Lotharius of the House of Saxony had ascended the Imperial Throne about eight Years before and till then had reigned with abundance of good Fortune and Glory The Devout Abbot treated with him both in Private and Publick concerning the intended Enterprize of the Holy War He there did his accustomed Wonders and though he preached in a Language which the People did not understand yet such was the manner of his Delivery that it wrought more upon them then did his Interpreters who endeavoured to make them understand what it was that he said it was enough that the People saw him to be as it were inchanted by his very Looks and in Consequence to be perswaded for they ran to him from all Parts with such Heat and thronging that one time the Emperor was forced to take him in his Arms to defend him from the Crowd which was ready to stifle him In short he acted and spoke so effectually in the Dict that the Emperor and his Brother Henry Duke of Suabia his Nephew Frederick who afterwards succeeded him in the Empire and the greatest part of the Princes resolved to take upon them the Cross which they also did about two Months after at another Diet which was called for that purpose Their Example was followed by the famous Otho Bishop of Friburgh half Brother by the Mother to the Emperor and after him by the Bishops of Ratisbonne and Passau and an Innumerable Multitude of Lords Gentlemen and Soldiers who ran from all Parts of Germany to this Assembly to take part in this Holy War Labuslaus Duke of Bohemia Odoacer Marquis of Stiria and Bernard Earl of Carinthia did the same not long after and assembled a great Number of their Subjects disposing themselves to attend the March of the Emperor in the beginning of the Spring During which time St. Bernard after having Constrained the Impostor Radulph to retire to his Monastery and preached the Crusade in the Low Countries returned back to the King who had assembled at Estampes the Estates of his Realm in February upon Septuagesima Sunday there to conclude what was necessary to be done before he undertook the Voyage This Assembly sat but three days in the first of which he gave them an Account of the Progress he had made in Germany and the Generous Resolution of the Emperor and Princes of the Empire who had undertaken to joyn with the French in this Enterprize for the Holy Land This was received with so much Joy and so great Applause that nothing further could be done that day the next day the way by which they should march into Syria came under Debate where the Ambassadors of Roger King of Sicily who were too well acquainted with the Malice and Persidiousness of the Greeks and the irreconcilable Hatred which they had against the Franks did all that possibly they could to perswade them to take the Sea Passage as did the Venetians the Genoese and the Pisans offering them their Ports and shipping for the Commodious transporting of the Army But on the one
Dom Roderigo de Bivar so well known in the World under the Glorious Name of Cid After the Death of Ferdinand he linked himself to Dom Alphonso King of Leon and rendred him such Important Services in both his Fortunes that that Prince after the Death of his two Brothers Dom Sancho and Dom Garchia succeding to all the Estates of his Father Ferdinand he gave him in Marriage his Daughter Theresa whom he had by his first Wife Chimena de Gusman He himself also marrying the Princess Constantia the Daughter of the Duke of Burgundy and Aunt to Prince Henry to whom he also gave the City of Porto and sometime after all the Estate which he held in Portugal year 1147 which in his Favor he Erected into the Dignity and Title of an Earldom It is said also that he sent him with the Princes of the first Crusade to the Conquest of the Holy Land whereupon all Occasions he Signalized his Courage and his Conduct But in regard we find no Traces of this Voyage in the Authors his Contemporaries who have written very exactly of that War I think I ought not to Incur any Displeasure if I give little Credit to some of the Historians of Portugal who upon very weak Conjectures have been pleased to Rank among the Heroes of that famous Crusade the Illustrious Head of the House of Portugal though he had such a sufficient Stock of true Glory as not to stand in need of searching for that which may with so much Justice be disputed That which he hath which is most certain is that this admirable Earl after having Defeated the Moors in seventeen pitched Battles and Conquered from them the greatest part of Portugal which he added to that which his Father-in-Law had given him in absolute Soveraignty he dying left this new Earldom to his Son Alphonso who gloriously changed it into a Kingdom For he was Solemnly proclaimed King in the Field of Battle at the memorable Day of Ourique where he defeated the Army of five Moorish Kings who had Assembled against him all their Forces which consisted in more than four hundred thousand Men. The five Kings lay upon the Place Buried in the Heaps of the dead Bodies of their Soldiers who were piled one upon another in Memory whereof the new King who believed that during the Battle he had seen Jesus Christ upon the Cross who promised him the Victory changed the Cross Azure in the Field Argent which his Father had taken for his Coat Armor into five Escoucheons Azure every one charged with five Besants Argent in Saltire to which afterwards was added a Border Gules charged with seven Castles Or. This is that valiant King Descended from a Prince of the most August House of France from whom in a direct Line Male Issued the other sixteen Kings who Reigned till the time of Cardinal Henry for six Hundred Years in Portugal whose Dominions Extended afterwards into three other Parts of the World Affrica Asia and America where the Heroick Piety and Courage of the Portugese by finding a new Passage to the Indies have Established the Empire of Jesus Christ as well as that of their own Nation and as one of their Rivers having for some time hid it self under the Earth afterwards appears again and runs much greater than before so doth the Illustrious Blood of our Kings which hath so long run in the Royal Channel of Portugal at length after having for more than sixty Years ceased to appear in its natural Place the Throne of Portugal which it ought to fill begin in our days to Recover it self with the Applause of all the World in the Person of King John the Fourth the Head of the Royal House of Braganza who besides that he Possesses all the Title of the Infanta Catharina is also Descended in the direct Masculin Line as also from that of John the First from whom are Issued the last Kings unto Sebastian But it was this great Alphonso the Son of Earl Henry and first King of Portugal who after he had taken Santaren and all the places about Lisbon Besieged that great City which was Defended by above two hundred thousand Men. After he had unprofitably spent a whole Month in the Siege having but a few Troops in comparison of such a Number of Defendants he began to despair of his Enterprise when he discovered this great Fleet at Sea which he imagined to be that of the Affrican Kings but he presently after perceived by the Cross which they bore in their Flags that it was a Christian Fleet. He sent immediately to be satisfied what they were and upon what Design and being informed that it was a Party of Crusades who were going against the Infidels he went Aboard the Admiral and proposed to the Captains the Conquest of one of the fairest Cities in the World from those Enemies which they were going to Search for in Syria He Remonstrated to them That God had presented to them a fair Occasion for the present Accomplishment of their Vow in Combating for the Glory of Christ Jesus against his Enemies and that without exposing themselves by the Hazard of the Sea to the Danger of never Combating them at all That they would acquire more Honor by taking Lisbon with the Assistance of those few Portugeses who Besieged it than they could possibly hope for year 1147 by joyning in Syria with two such Puissant Armies as were those of the Emperor and King of France to which they would be Esteemed as nothing and besides that the Recompence which they might expect would be incomparably greater giving them the Word of a King that they should share the Conquest with him There was no necessity for him to say more to persuade People who sought nothing but Occasion to Fight against the Sarasins they with Joy accepted the Offer of the King and presently gave Order for the Disimbarking of their Troops and went to take their Post upon the West Quarter the King with his Army being already Incamped on the East Side of the City in the place where now stands the Monastery of St. Vincent If the Attacque was Hot Furious and often repeated by the Portuguese and the Crusades the Resistance was no ways less on the part of the Moors who far surpassed the Christians in Number This made the Siege last four Months till the twenty fifth day of October when the City was in the End taken by Assault all the romainder of the Sarasins being put to the Sword thereby to Extinguish that accursed Race of Men. Thus this new Kingdom of Portugal which was Founded by a French Prince was owing for the glorious Conquest of its Capital City principally to the Valour of the French Men they being the greatest Number of this Naval Army for tho there were English and other Nations among them yet anciently the Title which the Portuguese gave indifferently to all Strangers was that of French Men. The King also Imployed them in the taking
promising to furnish the King with three or four Greek Noblemen who had Skill to conduct his Army by good Ways and that he would furnish Magazines of Provisions for them during their March The French Lords who were ready to dye with the desire they had to make haste to have their share in the good Fortune and the Glory which they believed the German Army were now reaping made no sort of difficulty to make that Oath to the Emperor saying That they did the same every day in France to the Lords of Fieffs without any prejudice to the Sovereignty of the King But the Count de Dreux the King's Brother believing that he should dishonour the Blood of France if he should acknowledge for his Lord any one except the King his Brother took occasion to give them the slip taking along with him some of the most Generous as also the Princess his Cousin whom Manuel desired for a Wife for one of his Nephews And while they were hotly disputing about these two Articles which the Bishop of Langress ever most vigorously opposed he had Leisure enough to get as far as Nicomedia At the same time the King of Sicily who made War with Manuel with Success enough did whatever he was able by his Ambassadors to oblige the King to joyn with him in a League against that Emperor and to attack him both by Sea and Land in Europe and in Asia But the Scruple which the King had still in his Mind which made him fearful of violating his Vow if he should make never so little a Sally from this Holy War made him refuse all these fair Offers contrary to the Advice of the wise Bishop of Langress who clearly fore-saw and to no purpose fore-told the Misfortunes which would befall him and the Army by the Perfidiousness of the Grecian Emperor Thus the Treaty being concluded and the Emperor after an Interview with the King upon the Banks of the Propontis having sent over all the French that yet remained at Constantinople the whole Army marched in the beginning of November towards Nicomedia a City which at that time was in a manner wholly ruinous And now the Baseness and Treachery of the perfidious Manuel began plainly to appear for the Guides and Officers which he promised to send to conduct the Army through a good Country and to give Orders for Provisions were not to be found and in the Road wherein they now were there was very little Subsistence for the Army so that it was resolved to change it and quitting the lest Hand where the Provinces were very barren and desolate year 1147 to take the Right Hand way towards the South and to incamp upon the Lake of Ascanius near unto Nice There it was that in the Heat of those Desires which possessed the Army to advance and joyn as soon as possible with the Germans who were supposed to be so victorious they were extremely surprized with hearing of their Defeat At first the news came but by some whispering Rumors but it was in a little time confirmed by Frederick Duke of Suabia the Emperors Nephew whom that unfortunate Prince who with great difficulty had recovered Nice with the pittiful Remainder of his ruined Army who in their Extremity were very ill treated also by the Greeks had sent to the King to advertise him of his overthrow and to request of him that he might see him to the End that from his disaster he might give him Notice of some things of great Importance in this unhappy Conjuncture The King who certainly was a Prince the most Civil and Obliging in the World and had a Soul of the best Temper of any man of his time resolved instantly to prevent the Emperor in his Design of seeing him and to endeavour to sweeten his ill Fortune by all manner of Honors and good Offices which he was capable to do him he therefore immediately mounted to Horse accompanied with all the great Lords and Officers of his Army and went to find the Emperor in the Place where he was encamped expecting the Return of his Nephew Frederick Never was there any thing seen more Tender and Moving than this Enterview for no sooner did these two great Princes see each other but they ran into mutual Embraces wherein they held one the other for a long time without being able to speak any other Language but those Tears which the Joy the Grief and Compassion which moved so diversly in their Hearts drew at last into their Eyes The King was the first who broke the Silence and endeavouring to force a Joy into his Lips in Despite of the Sorrow which surrounded his Heart he said all that it was possible in the most Christian and obliging manner to comfort the Afflicted Emperor for his Loss he offered him all that he had his Forces and his Fortune and protested that he always would esteem it as great an Honor to be his Faithful Companion in this War as he should have done were he still at the Head of an Army as numerous and flourishing as that which he commanded before this Disaster The Emperor also on his part said all that was most capable to touch the Heart of a Christian Prince he acknowledged with great Humility the Heavy hand of God to be justly laid upon him for the Sins of his Army and for his own too great Presumption in relying so much upon the Strength of his own Arms to the Prejudice of that Confidence which he ought to have reposed in God alone in whose Almighty Hands is the Disposal of the Fortunes of Kings Nevertheless he said since God had been pleased still to give him the same Ardent Desire to accomplish his Vow and that he had in his Extremity found out for him such a Generous Protector he hoped that his Divine Majesty would be pleased yet to make use of him to combat the Infidels among the Arms of France which he hoped would be happier than his and that he was resolved never to part from them After which the two Princes having held a great Councel with the Principal Lords of the one and the other Nation it was resolved that the two Armies should march together following the Road which the King had already taken in drawing toward the lesser Asia between the Sea and Phrygia But this Resolution of the Emperor did not continue long for the German Lords some or other of them every day demanding of him leave to depart under Pretext that they had lost their Equipage when they were arrived at the City of Ephesus after having suffered much by the mischievous Greeks this poor Prince found himself so slenderly accompanied that he was ashamed of himself and believing that it was putting an Affront upon his own Character and the Empire which he governed to have it said that an Emperor of Germany without an Army should seem to serve under a King of France he therefore Excused himself in the best manner that he could to
who advised the Seising upon Constantinople and which occasioned the Loss of such a fair Army as if it had begun with that Enterprise so just so easy and so necessary might gloriously have Triumphed over the whole East and absolutely assured the Christians of the Possession of the Holy Land But it is the common Weakness of the greatest part of Mankind not to know what they ought to do till for want of doing it all is so far lost that when they would they want the Power proportionate to the Will But as for this persidious City it was afterwards equally Punished both by God and the Greek Emperor though for very different Reasons For God to revenge the Inhumane Treachery with which they had treated the French sent such a Pestilence amongst the Inhabitants a short time after as swept away the greatest part of them and the Emperor out of Madness that they had assisted the French with Provisions and Shipping laid such a Mulâ—t upon them as drained them of all their ill gotten Gold and Silver year 1148 and reduced the Remainder to extream Poverty An Instance from whence we may learn that Injustice Oppression and Cruelty in the Conclusion prove more mischievous to the Actors than to the Sufferers In the mean time the King who had taken the Sea with all the great Lords and the remainder of the Cavalry which might yet compose a considerable Army came happily to an Anchor at the Port of St. Simeon upon the Mouth of the Orontes about four or five Leagues from Antioch into which place he made his Entry upon the 19th Day of March and was received with all manner of Magnificence by Prince Raymond who was Uncle by the Mother to Queen Eleoner Now this Prince passionately desiring that the King should immediately enter upon a War in Syria to conquer for him Aleppo and the other places belonging to the Principality of Antioch which were yet possessed by the Turks there was no sort of Artifice which he did not put in practice to oblige him to undertake it He had Recourse to all manner of Submissions and Prayers he made use of the Solicitations of the Queen his Niece he made magnificent Presents to all the French Lords and in short he omitted no kind of Reasons but pressed them with his utmost force both privately and in Council to persuâ—de the King that it must be not only for his own Interest and Glory but for that of all that part of Christendom in the East But at length he perceived that he laboured but in vain The King whether it were that he feared to engage himself in so long and so daâ—gerous a War for the particular Interest of Prince Raymond or whether it were that some certain Intrigues which the Queen had in Antioch which no doubt did not please him obliged him to leave that City he always answered Raymond that he was fully resolved in the first place to go and pay his Vows at the holy Sepulchre So that as it commonly happens that one violent Passion easily passeth to another Extream this Prince being insinitely exasperated by that Refusal and it may be not a little animated by another Passion in his Niece to which he joyned his he entertained such a mortal Hatred against the King that there was nothing which he did not resolve to do to revenge himself For this reason the King who knew he was to apprehend all things from a Spirit so furiously transported that he valued not what he did secretly conveyed himself by Night out of the City in a manner not very well becoming the Majesty of so great a Monarch and taking the Queen along with him not much to her Satisfaction he went and joyned his Troops which were encamped under the Walls and marched directly towards Jerusalem where the Emperor Conrade was already arrived from Constantinople where he had passed the Winter For that Prince who was resolved to accomplish his Vow and who by reason of the small Remainder of his Troops which were left after his Misfortune gave no Jealousie to Manuel easily obtained from him Shipping to transport himself and his Troops in the Spring by Sea as he did to Ptolemais or Acon from whence he passed by Land to Jerusalem Alphonsus Earl of Tholose and Son to the brave Raymond who had so great a Part in the first Crusade coming at the same time to the same Port took another Way all along by the Sea-Coast but he was stopped in his Journey by a deplorable Death as he passed by Cesarea being unfortunately poysoned one Evening at his Supper without ever being known either for what Reason or by what Person that execrable Fact was committed It was no sooner known at Jerusalem that the King who it was feared would have stayed at Antioch according to the earnest Desires and Sollicitations of Raymond was parted from thence and that he took the Way of Tripolis but that King Baldwin who feared lest the Earl of Tripolis should also press him strongly to stay there sent immediately to him Fulcherius the Patriarch to propound to him such Reasons as he believed would oblige him to make what haste he could to Jerusalem where the Emperor had now been for some time that so there they might take some good and solid Resolution for the common and publick Advantage of Affairs To this the King who desired nothing more easily accorded and therefore kept on his way without staying any where till he arrived at the Holy City There he was received with most extraordinary Honours year 1148 all the Princes the Prelates and Clergy in Procession followed by a Multitude of the People met him with great Acclamations singing as they did to the Son of God Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord whilst he made his Entry into the City as it were in Triumph After which all the Princes and Prelates accompanied him to visit the Holy Places which he did with a great Piety and Devotion This being done it was resolved that there should be a General Assembly held at Ptolemais whither all the Bishops and the Lords of Palestine and Syria might easily come by Sea where by common Consent the last Resolution was to be taken upon what was to be undertaken for the Security of the Christians in the East There never was a more illustrious Assembly seen in Palestine than this which was honoured with the Presence of so many great Princes There was the Emperor Conrade accompanied with the Cardinal Theodin Bishop of Porto and the Great Men of the Empire who stayed with him among whom the principal were Otho of Fribourg his Brother by the Mother Frederick Duke of Suabia his Nephew the Bishops of Metz and Toul as Princes of the Holy Empire as also the Bishop of Basle Henry his Brother Duke of Austria Berthold afterwards Duke of Bavaria William Marquis of Montferat Guy Earl of Blandras and Herman Marquis of Verona The King came attended with
had put it self into the Hands of the Prince of Antioch he went and laid Siege to the famous City of Tyre which by the Vertue and good Fortune of one Person happened to be preserved in the manner which I am about to relate The most illustrious House of the Ancient Marquisses of Montferrat which was descended from the Dukes of Saxony was at that time one of the greatest in Europe and the strongest in Italy William the Third surnamed the Old who was the Head of it held the most considerable Rank among the greatest Princes of his time for his Vertue for his Estate his Alliances with the Emperour and the King of France but above all for the extraordinary Merit of four Princes his Sons which he had by the Marchioness his Lady who was the Sister of the Emperour Conrade His eldest Son Boniface received the Crown of Thessaly as the Reward of those famous Actions which he did after the taking of Constantinople William Longsword his second Son was designed to be the King of Jerusalem by Baldwin the Fourth who married his Sister the Princess Sybilla to him but he died about five Months after his Marriage leaving her with Child of the little King Baldwin who soon after died Reynier which was his third Son made also a Voyage to the Holy Land where he died two or three Years before the loss of Jerusalem And the last who was after the Name of the Emperour his Uncle called Conrade was he of all the Brothers who gained the greatest Reputation by the Glory of his Arms. This young Prince in whose Person Nature had joyned with a marvellous Beauty a most extraordinary Strength both of Body and of Mind and who with the heroick Courage incredible Heat and ready Resolution of undaunted Youth had also acquired the Address and Prudence of an old and experienced Captain and most perfect Understanding in the Military Art insomuch that the old Marquis his Father year 1188 had made no Difficulty notwithstanding his want of a Maturity of Age to give him the Command of an Army which he had raised for the Interests of the Pope against the Emperour Frederick his Kinsman at the Sollicitation of Manuel who extremely as well as the Pope feared the growing Power of that Emperour The young Conrade so well managed this War that in Conclusion he vanquished the German Army which was commanded by the Archbishop of Mayence whom he there took Prisoner and this high Reputation which he so well merited was the occasion that about seven or eight Years afterwards Isaac Angelus being come to the Constantinopolitan Empire gave him his Sister Theodora in Marriage together with the Dignity of Caesar and the Hopes that he should succeed him in the Empire And truly he made it appear by a most illustrious Action that he well deserved it For Branas the General of the Imperial Army having caused himself to be proclaimed Emperour Isaac who had not expected any thing less and who had neither Men nor Money wherewith to raise them and being also of a cowardly Spirit believed that all was lost and therefore instead of runing to his Arms he as his last Remedy had Recourse to the Prayers of the Monks whom he assembled at the Palace to implore the Succour and Assistance of God But the young Caesar drawing him from among the Religious whom he sent to pray to God in their Monasteries remonstrated to him so powerfully that he ought to joyn other Arms to those of his Prayers to combat and oppose his Enemies that by little and little he raised up his Spirits till at last he brought him to the Resolution of acting and dying however at the worst like an Emperour Thereupon he made him engage all that he had his rich Furniture of Gold and Silver that so he might have wherewith to levy Men and therein the young Conrade acted with so much Diligence and Readiness that in a few days he raised in Constantinople a very considerable number of Troops composed of Greeks and all manner of Asiatique Strangers Latins and even Turks and Sarasins who happened to have Business there These being joyned with those that belonged to the Court and the City Militia made up a very good Army with which he lead the Emperour against Branas who was advanced within View of Constantinople on the side of Blaquerness and in the Plain which is on the other side of that Suburb it was that he gave Battle to the Rebels with so much Vigour and such admirable Conduct that he intirely defeated them and having slain Branas with his own Hand he cut off his Head and presented it to the Emperor But he presently after perceived that this Prince according to the Custom of great Men who rarely love those Persons sincerely to whom they stand extremely obliged was so far from rewarding his Services that now he despised him and that he would give him no other Portion with his Sister but the vain Title of Caesar and the Honour of wearing purple Shoes Being therefore of a good fierce Temper and besides not over delicate as to matter of Conscience he resolved to take hold of the first Occasion to abandon him which he also did but in a manner which certainly neither became him as a gallant Man nor as a Christian He had taken the Cross for the Holy War when he came to Constantinople and there he understood the great Progress which the Arms of Saladin made in Palestine Now the Emperour who was advanced with a few Troops towards the Danubius to begin the War against the Wallachians had left him at Constantinople to gather up the rest of the Army and pressed him according to his Promise to make hast to joyn him with them But he resolving to delude the Emperour in his turn as he had been deluded by him instead of going to joyn with him he went aboard certain Ships which he had caused upon some other Pretext to be rigged out with all those Troops in whom he consided making no Scruple either to forsake the Emperour or the Princess his Lady but as if his Marriage had been null and void he left her and weighed Anchor for Palestine without knowing any thing of the defeat of the Christian Army or the Captivity of his Father As he approached to Ptolemais a few days after it was Surrendered to Saladin he was something surprized that he did not hear the Bells which were accustomed to be rung out when any Christian Vessels were ready to enter the Port year 1188 but in a moment after he was more astonished when in the place of the Cross he perceived upon the Towers all the Ensigns of the Sarasins by which he knew that the Town was reduced under the Dominion of the Insidels This made him take a sudden Resolution to sail to Tyre which was not distant above eight Miles from thence to the Northward This City so flourishing and so celebrated for its Antiquity for its
their Empire and delivering them into the Hands of the Philistins Chaldeans and other Infidel People who were the Executioners of his Justice so did he punish the horrible Crimes of the Christians whom he had brought into Palestine by the victorious Arms of the first Crusades by depriving them of that Kingdom and abandoning them to be Slaves to those People whom their Ancestors had with so much Glory so often vanquished But farther to give some natural Reason for this Change the first Conquerors of Palestine were warlike and most valiant Men accustomed to Fatigues and such as frankly exposed themselves to all manner of Dangers and were never known to recoil let the number of their Enemies which they were to incounter be never so Prodigious they esteemed it a Happiness to dye Martyrs in combating gloriously for the Faith and for the Name of Jesus Christ And the Orientals against whom they fought were at that time little skilled in Wars cowardly undisciplin'd and half-armed People who were not able to abide above one Shock as having nothing to trust to but their Bows and Arrows which they shot at Rovers and commonly rather slying than fighting Whereas on the contrary the Christians having exchanged with the Infidels for all their Vices had also gotten their Cowardice their esseminate and idle way of Living loving Repose and Pleasure and hating the trouble of War and the Severity of that Discipline which is so necessary to a Soldier and which they wholly neglected The Turks and Sarasins on the other hand were become mighty Warlike under their victorious Sultans Sanguin Noradin Syracon and Saladin who having learnt at their Cost to arm themselves like the Europeans with good Curiasses and strong Lances had also taught them to follow their Colours year 1188 to fight hand to hand and had inspired them with Courage and Considence both by their Examples and the fortunate Success of their Arms. And in short The Conquerors of the Holy Land under the first Kings were under one sole Head who uniformly governed the whole Body of his Estate and Army which acted according to the Measures which he prescribed with a perfect Unity without Division without diversity of Interests Inclinations and Opinions as if the whole Army had been as one Man according to the Expression so frequent in the Scripture Whereas the Turks and Sarasins were then divided almost into as many particular Estates as there were Cities in Palestine and Syria and therefore could raise no great Armies but what must be commanded by many Chiefs who for the most part never accorded very well by reason of the diversity of their Opinions and Interests which made them almost continually be overthrown though they were incomparably the stronger in number of Soldiers than their Conquerors But upon the falling of the Realm the Christian Army was composed of the Troops of diverse Chiefs those of the King of Jerusalem the Prince of Antioch the Earl of Tripolis and the great Masters of the Temple and the Hospital who all of them had different Prospects and Designs which did not at all agree one with the other On the contrary all the Estates of the Infidels bordering upon the Christians Egypt Arabia Mesopotamia the Realms of Damascus and Cilicia were at that time united into one single Monarchy under the great Saladin and so their Army had but one Captain and Head who being most Wise and Valiant gave one Impression and a constant regular Movement to this great Body which did not act but according to his positive Orders And certainly it is most particularly this Unity which hath always made great Armies Victorious as may be seen in all Ages and Histories but was never more manifested than in this last Campaign which was so glorious and so advantageous to the King of France For on the one part the Emperour and the Spaniards and great part of the Princes of the Circles of the Empire and the Hollanders being leagued and confederated against him had raised very strong and numerous Armies to invade France both by Sea and Land On the other side that King alone without imploying any other Power but his own and giving out himself those Orders which were with Fidelity Executed always prevented them I do not say from entring but so much as approaching France Beat them thoroughly to the very Islands and in Person by main Force conquered one fair and large Province and his Army alone in Flanders under his auspicious Fortune commanded by the famous Prince of Conde having to oppose them three great Armies of the Emperour the King of Spain and the Hollanders joyned in one Body under three Chieftains yet cut in pieces their Rere took their Baggage ravished from them more than one hundred Colours and shamefully chased them from before Oudenard and pursued them beyond the Scheld And there it was that their Commanders having at last the Leisure to take Breath and to complain one to another were constrained to avow by their Flight which they disguised under the name of a Retreat that as there is but one Soul in one Body to give it Life Movement and the Power to perform those admirable Operations of a Man so there ought to be but one absolute Monarch in a Kingdom and one General in an Army to procure the Felicity of the People and to inable them to triumph gloriously over all the Enemies which go about to trouble their Repose or rob them of their Happiness But after these Reflections which I have made according to my little Art in Politicks which possibly will not appear altogether Useless or at least Indivertive it is time to return to my Subject and pursue this History of the Crusade THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADE OR The Expeditions of the Christian Princes for the Conquest of the Holy Land PART II. BOOK II. The CONTENTS of the Second Book The Death of Pope Urban III. upon the News of the Loss of Jerusalem The Decrees of Pope Gregory VIII and the Rules of the Cardinals to move God Almighty to Mercy and Compassion upon the Christians Gregory makes Peace between the Pisans and the Genoese Clement III. his Successor sends his Legats to the King of France and to the King of England The Conference at Gisors where the Archbishop of Tyre proposes the Crusade which is received by the two Kings The Ordinances which they made for the Regulation of it The War re-commences between the two Kings which hinders the Effect of the Crusade Richard Duke of Guinne joins with King Philip against his own Father The Death of Henry II. King of England His Elegy and Character The Legates propose the Crusade at the Diet at Mayence The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa there takes upon him the Cross as do many other Princes and Prelates of the Empire The Description of that Emperor His March to Thracia where he is necessitated to combat the Greeks The Character of the Greek Emperor Isaac Angelus The Reason why this
Actions have rendred as famous among Historians as those others more beautiful which have been given to the most renowned Princes to distinguish them by a particular Appellation and as an Elogy for their Vertues and Atchievements As for the Perfections of his Soul they yet far surpassed those of his Body for he had a most Beautiful Mind a most happy Memory which being joyned with the long Experience and the Care he had taken to instruct himself in all things had made him acquire an infinite Number of such pretty Sorts of Learning and Knowledge as might well rank him in the Catalogue of the most able men of his Time He was extreme Wife and Judicious Liberal and of great Humanity Affable and Courteous to all men condescending even to the meanest of his Subjects but terrible to his Enemies and above all to Rebels a great Captain personally Valiant and fearless in the greatest Dangers always carrying himself with mighty Evenness and Temper in both the one and the other Fortune though it was his Happiness not to be much acquainted with the Worse Being such as I have now described him and therefore equally feared loved and respected by all the Princes of the Empire he had called a General Diet at Mayence to meet the Fourth Sunday in Lont in the Year 1188. there the Legates came in Person where after they had happily composed all the Differences which remained between several Princes and Cities of the Empire they made the same Remonstrances for relieving the Christians of Palestine which they had before made to the Kings of France and England Frederick who for above ten years had fully reconciled himself with the Church had before formed that generous Resolution for his own Satisfaction to employ those Arms for Jesus Christ against the Sarasins which by the Misfortunes of the Times he had made use of against the Christians He nevertheless demanded the Advice of the Assembly thereupon but in such a manner as made it easily be known what was in the Intention of his Soul for he only proposed whether it was to the Purpose not whether he should refuse that Assistance which Jesus Christ himself demanded of him which was such a cowardly and shameful Ingratitude which he knew the whole Assembly would disdain but whether he should defer taking up the Cross after that the French and English had with much Ardour embraced it Whereupon all the Princes and the Prelates and all the Deputies of the Cities cried out with one Voice as if the Emperor had at the same instant inspired them all with his one Zeal and Courage That without deferring any longer they ought to take up the Cross that all the World might see that the German Nation especially under such an Emperor would never yield either in their Zeal or in their Courage to the English French or any Nation under Heaven So that now there was nothing more to be done but to conclude the Holy War and the Crusade The Emperor at the same instant descending from his Throne to receive the Cross by the Hands of the Legates year 1189 being assisted by Godfrey Bishop of Wirtsburgh and Frederick Duke of Suabia his Second Son who had already taken it himself upon the hearing the sad news of the Loss of Jerusalem but now would have it also in Ceremony after the Emperor his Father The greatest part of those who were present at that Assembly following that illustrious Example also took upon them the Cross with an incredible Ardour The Principal of which were Leopold Duke of Austria Berthodus Duke of Moravia Herman Marquis of Baden the Counts de Nassau de Thuringe de Missen de Hollandia and more than sixty others of the most eniment Princes of the Empire the Bishops of Besanson Cambray Munster Osnabrug Missen Passau Wirzbourg and more then ten besides all which besides the Legates went immediately to preach the Crusade in their several Diocesses and throughout Germany where an infinite Number of People of all Conditions took up the Cross But the Emperor who knew by the Experience of the Second Crusade that two great a Multitude occasioned nothing but Cumber Trouble and famine in an Army therefore caused an Edict to be published by which he prohibited all those who were not able to expend three marks in Silver to provide themselves of Necessaries for so long a Voyage to engage in it or list themselves for this Expedition and also commanded those of the greatest Ability to make the best Preparation for it that they were able that so they might have wherewith to serve themselves in their Necessities After which he gave Command that all the Crusades should repair to their Colours at Ratisbonne in the Month of April the Year insuing where he promised without fail to be himself upon the Feast of St. George and that he would then immediately advance without staying for the rest This being done he sent four several Ambassadours to so many Princes with whom he must necessarily treat before he undertook any thing further Henry Earl of Diets was sent to Saladin to summon them to restore the Holy Land which he had usurped from the Christians as also the Wood of the Holy Cross which he had taken at the Battle of Tiberias and in Case of his refusal to denounce War against him from the Emperor I do not here pretend to insert the Letters of these two great Princes which pass for Currant with many Historians in regard that it appears clearly that they are Counterfiets and the Forgeries of some Prolifick Scribe who had more desire to please than Art in the compiling of them so as to render them either probable or Pleasant Godfrey Baron of Wisenbach was dispatched to the Sultan of Iconium who pretended to be a Wonderful Friend to the Christians and who made many strong Protestations that he and all his should ever be at the Emperors Service who might at his Pleasure pass through his Estates with the same Freedom as if they were his own Frederick also himself at the same time writ to the Emperor of Constantinople and sent to desire Passage through his Territories and that he might be furnished with Provisions at the Price Currant To this he agreed but after a very indecent manner detaining the Ambassadour without any positive Resolution till those of the Sultan of Iconium passed by Constantinople to go into Germany there to make the Offers and Complements of their Master to the Emperor The Arch Bishop of Mayence was the only man of that Character who succeeded most advantageously in his Negotiation for he obtained of Bela King of Hungary all that he desired which was the Princess his Daughter for Frederick Duke of Suabia Son to the Emperor and Security of Passage and Provision for the Army at most reasonable Rates Thus all things being disposed to begin this great Enterprise Frederick who had passed all the Lent and the Festivals of Easter at Ratisbonne to attend the
no way Martial together with mighty Boyishness had more of the Air of a young Girl than of a Man And besides the Marquis had a secret Understanding with the Queen Mother Mary the Niece of the Emperor Manuel and the Princess Isabella her Daughter who had no Hatred for his Person Now as they had all taken their Measures the Queen Mary and the Princess caused Humphrey to be Cited before the Bishop of Accon the Patriarch Heraclius being then sick to Death and upon the Testimony of Balian Lord of Ybelin who had espoused the Queen Mary the Widow of King Amauri of Payen Lord of Caïphas and of Renaud de Sidon whom the Marquis had gained the Marriage was declared Null upon the Pretence that the Princess had never given her Consent but that being extreme young she had been compelled to marry Humphrey and that she had always disclaimed it and protested against it as an Act of Force and Violence After which the Marquis publickly Married Isabella by the Ministery of the Bishop of Beavais and carried himself as King to the great Scandal of all good People who plainly saw and detested this shameful Collusion and the horrible Injustice which was done to Humphrey It is said also that Baldwin the Archbishop of Canterbury was so sensibly touched with the Displeasure which he took at this abominable Action and the Apprehension which he had of the horrible Disorders which were like to insue thereupon in the Army that he fell sick with the Vexation and in five days died as Holily as he had lived Religiously But the greatest part adhered to the Marquis and in regard the publick Fortune seemed to depend upon him principally for the Provisions which were to come from Tyre even those who were not at all satisfied yet were obliged to dissemble their Displeasure so that a patched Accommodation was made by which the one and the other were to remain in the State wherein they were year 1190 in expectation of the coming up of the Emperor and the two Kings to whom the Judgment of this Affair was to be committed In this Condition it was that the Affairs of this famous Siege stood when News was brought of the Death of the Emperor and the Arrival of the Duke of Suabia at Tyre to whom the Marquis immediately repaired and conducted him on Board his Fleet to the Camp where he was received with all imaginable Honour He took his Post among the Germans and the Danes in the Quarter which the Lantgrave had before possessed upon the Hill of the Mosquee extending to the Bridge of the River Belus So soon as this considerable Re-inforcement was come it was resolved according to the proposition which was made by Duke Frederick to make a general Assault Which was accordingly done both by Sea and Land with all the Courage imaginable and the Souldiers in despight of the brave Resistance of the Besieged did in more than one place plant the Standards of the Cross upon the Walls It was on this Occasion that it is reported that Leopold Duke of Austria made his heroick Courage most Conspicuous by an Action whose glorious Marks which at this day blazon the Armes of a House which is since become so August under the Name of the House of Austria do eternally publish the Memory Fame and Glory of it He fought from the Height of a wooden Castle which was raised at the Entry of the Gate against the Flye Tower and which was built upon the Deck of a great Ship For being mounted over the Walls followed by a few of his Men he was so hardly pressed by the numerous Infidels that all his Followers being slain and being now Single he was constrained to throw himself into the Sea half drowned already in his own and the Blood of his Enemies for he had nothing but Red about him except the white Scarf which he wore whereupon Frederick to eternize the Memory of such a noble Action gave him for his Armes with the great Applause of the whole Army in a Shield Gules a Fez Argent which the Princes of Austria have ever since that time born The Combat was not much more Advantageous by Land in regard that Saladin having at the same time attacked the Lines which he forced in many places they were obliged to quit the Assault to repulse the Enemies who were at last constrained to retire Saladin in this Rencounter lost the greatest part of his best Men and did not without great Difficulty disingage himself being something too far advanced from those who on every side surrounded him and who pursued him a great way beyond the Lines This was the last military Action of Duke Frederick who this being the second Autumn of the Siege was by the Distemper which raged in the Camp in a few days taken off to the incredible Regret of the whole Army who even adored this brave Prince whose rare Virtue which shined at his Death had rendred him more Illustrious than he had been all the time of his Life although a thousand Actions had made it most Glorious For the Eastern Physicians assuring him that his Distemper might easily be cured by the use of Females he without a moments Hesitation answered that he had much rather lose his Life than preserve it by such a Remedy as must sully both his Soul and Body at the same time that he had obliged himself by the Vow of his Pilgrimage to do what was pleasing to Jesus Christ who is the King the Crown and Husband of chast and pure Souls being all Purity and Chastity himself and thereupon surrendered his victorious Spirit into the Hands of God having overcome the two most formidable Enemies of Mankind the Pleasures of Life and the Pains as well as Fears of Death of which in the middle of a flourishing and verdant Youth he chose to receive the cold Imbraces rather than those of Life which he could not save but by the loss of his Chastity and Purity A rare Example which having been followed some three hundred Years after and in a like Age by Prince Casimir Son of Casimir King of Poland and Elizabeth Daughter of the Emperor Albertus Archduke of Austria advanced him to that degree of Sanctity as to deserve those supreme Honours which the Church solemnly renders to those whom she believes to be in the glorious State of the most Happy after Death But this Death which was so advantageous to Frederick was most sad and pernicious to the Army for the Germans now become desperate by having lost both their Emperor and their Prince would no longer acknowledge any Captain but quitted that Enterprise year 1190 which in Conclusion had been so Unfortunate to them and returned as well as they could into their own Country a few only excepted who resolved to Accomplish their Vow under Leopold Duke of Austria Add to this Accident the Sickness which daily continued in the Camp and the Famine which at some times they suffered and
taken considering the mighty Earnestness which so many brave Men shewed so fresh and so resolute if King Philip who always acted with great sincerity had not been something too scrupulous upon this Occasion even to the disadvantage of the publick Interest For whereas one of the Articles of the Treaty which he had made with the King of England imported that they should equally share their Conquests he understood this Article to extend even to Glory and was resolved that Richard should share it with him in the Taking of the Town which he was in a Condition to take without him And therefore contenting himself with lodging at the Foot of the Wall he resolved to put off the Assault till his Arrival And in truth that Prince was resolved to put to Sea immediately after Philip but he was constrained to defer it some time by reason that Queen Eleonor his Mother who brought along with her the Princess Berengera arrived the same day that Philip sailed He caused these two Princesses to be magnificently received at Messina where he affianced this new Mistriss after which Queen Eleonor returning for England taking with her Jane his Sister and the Princess Berengera he commanded part of his Fleet to attend them and himself with the rest darted at last upon Wednesday in Passion-Week from Messina eighteen days after King Philip the August It is true the Sea was not at all propitious to him for upon Good-Friday he was met by a most furious Tempest but having till this time been ever mighty fortunate he drew a great Advantage from this Accident and the Tempest which scattered his Navy was worth to him the Conquest of the Island of Cyprus The manner whereof I will in short recount The Island of Cyprus one of the fairest and greatest of the Mediterranean Sea lying about some hundred Miles from Syria was at that time under the Dominion of the Emperors of Constantinople who sent thither some Duke or Lieutenant to be their Deputy-Governor Isaac a Prince of the House of the Comnenius's by his Mother who was Daughter of another Isaac Brother to the Emperor Manuel had seized upon that Government during the Empire of Andronicus by virtue of Letters Patents from that Emperor which this Cheat had counterfeited and not long after he very openly usurped the absolute Dominion of the Place by taking upon him the Title and Authoritâ— of Emperor After the Death of the unfortunate Andronicus he maintained himself in his Usurpation year 1191 against all the Forces of Isaacius Angelus whom he defeated with the Assistance of Margeritus Admiral of the Fleet of William King of Sicily After which as this Tyrant who was one of the most wicked of Mankind saw himself assured in his new Empire according to the custom and nature of Tyranny which is indifferently to commit all manner of Crimes to enjoy the first which is committed by revolting from a lawful Master there was no manner of Wickedness Injustice Robbery Extortion Violence or Cruelty which he did not exercise upon the poor Islanders whom he reduced even to the utmost Dispair Nor had he much more Humanity towards Strangers for three great Ships of the English Fleet which by the Violence of the Tempest had been thrown upon the Island and stranded in the View of Limisso anciently called Amathus upon the South side of the Island this Barbarian who presently run with his Soldiers to the Bank caused all those who escaped the Wrack to be taken and after having inhumanely despoiled them of all they had about them and in their Ships he caused them to be bound Hand and Foot and thrown into a deep Dungeon there miserably to perish by Famine Nor would he permit the great Ship on Board of which were the two Princesses and which was in manifest danger of being lost to come within the Port of Limisso as they had earnestly desired Permission of him to do but would have them ride it out exposed to the Mercy of the Seas and the Waves that so he might have the brutish and cruel Pleasure either to see them sink to the Bottom or split against the Rocks In this time the Tempest being appeased Richard who had taken Port at Candia and from thence had sailed to the Rhodes where he re-assembled his Ships and hearing of the ill Treatment which some of his Ships had met with in the Island of Cyprus he came and presented himself with the rest of his Navy in good Order before Limisso the 6th Day of May and immediately sent to the Tyrant to demand Satisfaction for the Affront had been done him with a peremptory Command to him instantly to set such of the English at Liberty as he had made Prisoners and to make full Restitution of whatever he had taken from them The furious Brute fiercely replied to the Envoys of the King That they should go tell their Master that he was so far from giving him the Satisfaction he foolishly demanded that if he did not make the more haste and take the advantage of his Sails and Oars he must expect the same Treatment for himself And thereupon he marched directly to the Shoar with all the Troops which he kept in Pay and a multitude of confused undisciplined People ill armed and worse ordered who ran down in hopes of Booty and not in expectation of Blows But he was mightily mistaken in the Man with whom he was to deal for Richard furiously exasperated by his Answer gave present Order that all his Army should make a Descent by the help of the Barks and Chaloups and putting himself into the first Row of the Barks at the Head of his Archers he rained such a Storm of mortal Arrows as he rowed to the Shoar upon the Heads of his affrighted Enemies that under the favour of that Consternation he leaped first ashoar and was followed so courageously by his Men who sound none to oppose their Descent that they charged so briskly upon these Barbarians with their Swords in their Hands and fell into the Battalions of these cowardly and disorderly Greeks they presently put them into Confusion and in a few Minutes to a manifest Flight and in the Pursuit made a dreadful Slaughter among them till they got to the Mountains where they saved themselves Then returning the victorious Army entred Limisso without Resistance the Soldiers who were to have kept it having for fear abandoned the place This happy Beginning was presently succeeded by a Conclusion no less fortunate for the Night following he surprized Isaac who having rallied his People came to encamp within five Miles of Limisso and having cut the best part of his Troops in pieces dissipated the rest and taken all his Baggage So that this miserable Wretch abandoned of the Cypriots who the next day after the Victory came to do Homage to King Richard was constrained in most humble manner to beg a Peace which he obtained upon Conditions hard enough and sufficiently ignominious
to the Camp which with the Forces of the Levant and other Succours come from Europe made more than three hundred thousand men that they were reduced into a worse Condition than before by this fatal Discord which divided all the Christian Lords and armed them one against the other The Knights of the Temple the Duke of Burgundy all the Party of the Marquis Conrade and the Germans declared themselves for Philip. Richard had of his Party besides his own Subjects the Hospitallers the Pisans and those among the Levantine Princes who favoured Guy de Lusignan the Flemings who were for the Young Baldwin the Nephew of their deceased Earl and who some twelve Years after obtained the Empire of Constantinople as also some French men among others Henry Earl of Champagne whom Richard had gained by his excessive Liberalities so that the Camp seemed more dangerously besieged than the City being attacked from without by the Army of Saladin and more miserably within by this fearful Division which had ruined all unless God who was resolved to crown the Zeal of these two great Princes notwithstanding all the disorders of their Passions had appeased this Tempest and unexpectedly brought a Calm among them by the undertaking of some of the Wisest and most prudent Persons of both Armies who made a Composure of all Differences between the two Kings on this manner It was ordained That they should confirm their former Treaty and most inviolable and exactly keep it on one side and the other That they should devide between them whatsoever they should take from the Infidels That when one of the two Kings should give an Assault to the City the other should oppose Saladin in defending the Lines and for the difference between Guy de Lusignan and the Marquis de Montferrat it should be referred to the Determination of certain Judges equally chosen on both sides And not long after a solemn Judgement was rendred thereupon by which it was decreed That Guy de Lusignan should for the remainder of his Life continue King of Jerusalem but that his Children if he should marry again should have no sort of Pretentions to that Crown the Reversion and Succession whereof should remain to the Marquis and those Children he should have by the Princess Isabella his Lady Sister to the late Queen Sybilla That in the Interim he should have the Moity of the Revenues of the Realm together with the Principalities of Tyre of Sydon and Baruth by holding them of the Crown and that Geoffry de Lusignan should upon the same Conditions hold the Counties of Jaffa and Caesarea This being done and the Peace in this manner confirmed at least in Appearance between the two Kings nothing was now thought upon but how to press forward the Siege and it was done with so much Vigor by continual battering the Walls both Night and Day and redoubling the Attacks that the Besieged Sarasins now dispairing to be able long to defend the Place against so great Forces as were now become unanimous offered to surrender provided they might be assured of their Lives and Liberty to retire whither they pleased without carrying any thing away with them more than their wearing Apparel The Kings who were assured they could carry the Place thought to make a considerable Advantage of that dispair to which so many Brave men were reduced whom they believed Saladin would not suffer to perish and therefore would hearken to no Terms unless Saladin would restore the true Cross Jerusalem and all the Cities which he had taken after the Battle of Tyberias Saladin who was obliged to turn his Arms against the Son of Noradin who attempted to take from him Mesopotamia was willing to consent to these very Terms provided that the Kings should assist him against his Enemies in Person with thirty thousand Men nay he was contented that it should be done by their Lieutenants and with fewer Troops to which he would join his provided they would serve him one Year But whether the two Kings judged it unworthy of their Majesty which they thought must suffer an Abasement in serving an Infidel or that the Son of Noradin on the other side solliciting them to joyn with him against Saladin They believed that by such a favourable diversion they should be able with Ease to take from him all those Cities they absolutely refused these Conditions And therefore they began now more furiously than ever to attack the City in one of which Assaults Alberic Clement Mareschal of France after he had already gained the Walls was slain in the City year 1191 That which was of mighty Service to the Besiegers was that a disguised Christian who was in the Town and who was one of the Council gave them frequent Advertisement by Letters which he threw into the Camp of all the Resolutions which were taken by the Sarasins so that all their Enterprises being discovered were rendred ineffectual but this Important Service was never recompensed in regard the Intelligencer could never be known after the taking of the City which was at last constrained to surrender For on the one hand Saladin who was obliged to retire had sent to them to make the best Terms they could on the other there was no more Expectation of Succour for them by the Sea where the Christians were absolute Masters and the French who by prodigious Labour had drawn their Mines to the very Foundations of the Wicked Tower and the eleventh of July had overthrown all the Walls and were just now ready to set Fire to the Wooden Pillars which supported it therefore the sive Admirals or Emirs who commanded the Garrisons Caracos Mesiock Helsedin Limathos and Jordic hung out a Flag of Parley and after having treated with the Commissioners of the two Kings the next morning the Agreement was perfected in these Articles That they should immediately surrender the place with all the Gold Silver and Moveables the Ammunition Arms and Provisions which were in it without retaining any thing to themselves more than their wearing Apparel That they should procure from Saladin the true Cross together with all the Christians which he detained Captives and that he should pay to the two Kings one hundred thousand of those pieces of Gold which were called Besans from the Name of Constantinople otherwise called Bysance where they were minted with the Effigies of the Greek Emperor that in Expectation of the Performance of the Treaty they with the whole Garrison should remain Prisoners at War and that if Saladin did not in forty days accomplish these Articles they should be wholly at the Discretion of the two Kings who should dispose of their Lives and Liberties as they should judge convenient Thus was the City of Ptolemais or Acre taken at the last by the Christians after one of the longest and most memorable Sieges which have been ever seen and with the loss of as many brave men as might have conquered all Asia for besides an Infinite Number of
Soldiers Gentlemen and great Lords Germans English Italians Flemings and Levantines who perished during the Siege either by the Malady or by the frequent Combats which happened The French lost there a-among the Persons of the greatest Quality the Counts Thibaud de Chartres and de Blois Stephen de Sancerre John de Vendome Rotrou de Perche Erard de Brienne Raoul de Clermont Gilbert de Tilieres the Count de Ponthieu the Viscounts de Turenne and de Castillane Alberic Clement Mareschal of France Adam the Great Chamberlain the Lords jocelin de Montmorency Guy de Chastillon Florem de Augest Bernard de St. Valery Enguerand de Fiennes Gautier de Moy Geoffry de la Briere Anselm de Montreal Guy de Dane Hugh de Hoiry Raoul de Fougeres Eudes de Goness Raoul de Hauterive and Renaud de Magni all whose Names I have found among the Writers of those times and which I thought my self obliged by no means to suppress but that in this History the Reader may receive the Pleasure of finding among his Ancestors by consulting the Pedigree some of these Illustrious men whose glorious Memory ought to be an Eternal Honor to those Houses who have descended from them The City being taken the Kings according to their Treaty divided all the Booty equally between them as also the Prisoners and the Houses The Cardinal Bishop of Verona Legat of the Holy See the Archbishop of Tyre and Pisa the Bishops of Beavais Chartres d' Eureux Bayonne Salisbury and Tripolis solemnly re-dedicated the Churches which the Sarasins had turned into Mosches There were also assigned to the Venetians Genoeses Pisans to the Knights of the Temple and those of the Hospital the Quarters and Rights which they were to possess in the City of Acre and in truth every thing passed peaceably and in good Order except that King Richard who too easily suffered himself to be transported by his Natural Violence and Choler committed two Actions of surious Madness one of which proved afterwards very dangerous to himself and the other presently to the poor Christians which happened thus at the same time that the French had overthrown the Walls adjoyning to the Wicked Tower year 1191 and were ready to force the Place and that the Besieged found themselves necessitated to capitulate before the surrender Leopold Duke of Austria who attacked a quarter on the opposite part had seized upon another Tower and had there planted his Standard which stood there after the Reduction of the City Richard who for other Matters was exasperated against Leopold in regard that as well as the rest of the Germans he had been of Philip's Party took this occasion to be revenged of him as if he had usurped upon the Authority of the two Kings and therefore caused the Standard to be taken down by plain Force and being torn in pieces and trampled under Foot he caused it to be thrown into the Kennel by the most insupportable of all Affronts that could be given to a Prince who loved Glory The Germans who were naturally jealous of the Honor of their Nation and incapable of bearing I do not say such a horrible Injury as this was but even the Shadow of being contemned had not failed instantly to do themselves reason by their Arms which they presently took against the English but Leopold who was altogether as brave but something a better Dissembler than King Richard chose rather for a time to respite his Vengeance which he hoped to find a more fit occasion for where he should not be blamed by induring the pain of this Affront for doing greater Mischiefs to the Christian Affairs which must needs suffer much by a Civil War and which in a few days following did suffer extremely by another cruel Effect of the Violent Nature of this Prince For seeing that Saladin persisted in refusing to satisfie the Articles of the Capitulation which the Besieged had on his Behalf ratified he conceived such a Despight that he Inhumanly caused the Heads of above five thousand Prisoners which fell to his Share to be cut off Nor could he be diswaded from it by the Consideration of so many Christian Captives to whom Saladin as he had menaced caused the same measure to be given by a kind of cruel Reprisal the blame of which is always laid upon him who begins And certainly it hath always been seen that these dangerous Examples which are given to an Enemy in the time of War which he always believes he hath a Right to render the like measure for the Security of his own People have always been condemned by others who have had the Occasion to suffer by it and that those who give it are at last constrained to abstain the first from it though something with the latest and after it hath caused the Lives of so many unfortunates as have perished either by the transports of the one or the Vengeance of the other As for King Philip who was more moderate he used his with more humanity and contented himself to leave the Prisoners in the Hands of Marquis Conrade as he Passed by Tyre in his return from the Holy Land into France This Prince who was extreme Wise perceived on the one hand that Richard become now more Fierce and Violent than ever after the taking of Acre kept no sort of Measures and that it was impossible for them long time to keep in any Terms of Accord and on the other perceiving that he was daily infeebled by the Distemper into which he was again relapsed he might run the Hazard of dying in Palestine without being able to do any Service to Christendom and that in the mean time Advantage might be taken of his Absence by invading the Earldom of Flanders which ought to return to the Crown of France by the Death of Count Philip. He made this to be most civilly represented to the King of England that finding by the increase of his Distemper he was like to be rendred incapable to serve the Affairs of the Christians in the Holy Land he judged it more to their Advantage that one single Commander should finish the War and for this purpose that he would resign all wholly to his Conduct together with a good party of his Army under the Command of the Duke of Burgundy He added also that to take from him all manner of Pretext which he might have to complain of his Departure or the Fear that he might entertain that he did not return into France but to fall upon his Dominions there during his Absence he assured him that if he had occasion to make War upon him it should not be till the Expiration of fourty days after his Return After which having left five hundred Men at Armes and ten thousand Foot with the Duke of Burgundy and some Troops which he lent for a Year to the Prince of Antioch he imbarcked the first day of August upon thirty Gallies year 1191 with the remainder of his Army and after
having coasted along by Syria the leâ—ser Asia Greece Epirus and Calabria from time to time making such Stays by the Way as were necessary for the regaining of his Strength and Health he went to pay his Devotions at Rome There he was received with all imaginable Honour by Pope Celestin the III. who approving of his Return according to the Custom bestowed upon him and his Followers the Palmes and the Crosses in token that they had accomplished their Vow From thence passing by Land into France in the Month of December he arrived at Fountainbleau and from thence he repaired to St. Dennis where prostrating himself before the Altar of the Holy Martyrs he offered his Royal Robe and gave solemn Thanks to Almighty God who had delivered him from so many Dangers as he had run by Sea and Land and had at last happily reconducted him into his own Kingdom This was the Conclusion of this holy Enterprise of Philip the August and as one may say absolutely that it was very Fortunate by the Reduction of the City of Acre so it is most certain that it had been much greater if it had been performed by his single Forces for being composed of the very Flower of the Nobility and Gentry of France and conducted by the most Wise and Valiant King of that time they might without Difficulty have Triumphed over Saladin if the Conjunction of a most potent Rival had not infeebled them by than unhappy Division which his haughty jealous and ambitious Humour occasioned among them But in short this is generally the Fatality which accompanies such kind of Unions which being made among differing States and Princes for some common End usually by the growing of Discords among themselves terminate in the intire Ruin of those united Sentiments and Designs there being nothing so Improsperous especially in the Affairs of War as want of a good Understanding and Concord among Confederates which in reallity is seldom if ever to be expected from the multitude of Coordinate Captains which must needs produce Differences and Oppositions first in point of Opinion and afterwards by necessary Consequence in the very Union it self But in this time King Richard who was now the sole Commander of the Christian Army in Syria and Palestine proved not much more Fortunate in the end of his Enterprise by reason that he was so continually agitated by the Tempests of his own violent and tumultuous Passions that he was difficultly at any Agreement with himself but was become even his own Rival For on the one hand his Ambition and love of Glory mingled with some Remains of Piety and Religion transported him vigorously towards the pushing forward his Conquests against Saladin and above all to take Jerusalem which was the main End of this Crusade on the other the Jealousie of State and the Fear of the Armes of Philip whom in his Conscience he knew to be most justly Exasperated against him the Distrust which he had of the French which were left behind under the Command of the Duke of Burgundy the great Friend of the Marquis the Prince of Tyre his mortal Enemy and above all his Avarice which was his ruling Passion and the Covetousness of drawing immense summs of Money from the Sarasin Nobility whom he detained Prisoners and from Saladin himself who continualy sollicited him for a Peace all these Passions put him into great Discomposures of Mind and he was under very strong Temptations of making some Truce with the Sarasins and passing immediately into Europe But it must be said to the Glory of this King who doubtless was one of the bravest of his Age that at length his most noâ—â—e Passion which was the Love of Glory and it may be also that which he had for the good of Religion prevailed over the rest and in Conclusion carried him to the War which he recommenced in the most glorious manner in the World He employed some six Weeks in repairing the Breaches of Acre and in refreshing his Army which after the Retreat of Marquis Conrade and almost all the Italians and many other Crusades whom either Poverty or Weariness or Discontent caused to forsake this lingring War yet consisted in above one hundred thousand Men. After which towards the latter end of August he began to move and took the right hand along the Sea Coast to selve upon such maritim Places as Saladin had caused to be dismantled The Fleet constantly plyed along the Coast with them year 1190 to furnish them with Provisions but he had also on his left hand the Army of Saladin who coasted along the Mountains to molest him by continual Skirmishes in his March and to watch some favourable Opportunity to give him Battle upon any notable Advantage and upon the seventh of September the Infidel thought he had found the lucky Moment at the Pass of a River which dischargeth it self into the Sea near Antipatris For Saladin who had above three hundred thousand Men in his Army had divided them into three Bodies one of which was posted on this side the River to oppose the Passage of the Christians another was ranged on the further Bank to the intent that if the first Body should be broaken they might be ready to charge such as should attempt to pass the River Saladin himself with the third which was by much the greatest and composed of the choicest of all his Troops kept himself in the Coverture of the Mountains on the left of the Christian Army ready to fall upon the Rereguard at such time as the Van should be ingaged with his other Troops in disputing the Pass of the River King Richard who had stayed some days at Cesarea as well to refresh his Army as to repair the Ruines of that Place no sooner came within View of the River but that he saw it on both sides imbanked with his Enemies he resolved therefore to give them Battle both in regard there was no stopping to loose the Pass nor no retreating without manifest Danger of being surrounded and put into some Disorder by retireing Now as he marched always in Battalia for fear of being surprized his Army was instantly drawn into such Order as was convenient The Valiant James d' Avesnes that day commanded the Van with what remained of the Danes Brabanters Flemings and Hollanders The King led the Body of the Battle where were the English the Normans the Poiteuins the Gascons and the Levantine Troops near his Person was the Young Henry Count of Champagne his Nephew who to the Prejudice of what he owed to King Philip his Soveraign who was also his Uncle this young Prince being born of the Sister of the King the Daughter of Queen Eleonor and Lewis the Young was intirely devoted to King Richard The Rereguard was commanded by the Duke of Burgundy General of the French Army who was accompanied by the Templers and the German Troops who followed Leopold the Archduke of Austria who never abandoned the French but were most
upon which he embarked the two Queens with the greatest part of his Forces who not long after happily arrived in England And about the beginning of October he also departed with the Displeasure of having on one side concluded a Truce most inglorious and disadvantageous to the Christians and on the other with the Honour and Pleasure at his parting to have bestowed two Kingdoms that of Jerusalem which was a very piteous one but yet a Kingdom upon the Count de Champagne his Nephew and that of Cyprus which he had conquered upon Guy de Lusignan in which House it continued two hundred and eighty Years Thus it was that King Richard left the Holy Land with a Promise to these two Princes that upon the Expiration of the Truce he would return with more powerful Forces and to persuade the World that this Resolution of his was in serious Earnest he continued still to wear the Pilgrim's Cross upon his Habit. As for the rest his natural Impatience and Temerity made him commit two mighty Faults which rendred his Return very unfortunate For first Whereas he ought to have embarked himself like a great King upon a gallant Fleet that so he might return with Security and the same Magnificence with which he came he satisfied himself with one great Ship in which he might easily by Sea have fallen either into the hands of Enemies or Pyrates and after that when he was at Corsu perceiving that his Vessel was a Slug and made no Way he threw himself for the more Expedition into a Galliot and was by Tempest driven into the Gulph of Venice where he was shipwrack'd between that place and the City Aquilea and having run a thousand Dangers in crossing through Germany in Disguise year 1193 the greatest part of his Followers being taken Prisoners by the Germans who pursued him and laid all the Passages for him he was at last discovered near Vienna by the Subjects of the Duke of Austria his mortal Enemy who made him Prisoner and treated him with sufficient Inhumanity in Revenge of the old Quarrel before Acre and after some time he delivered him into the hands of the Emperor Henry VI. This Prince to cover his abominable Avarice which made him so unjustly detain this King only to draw a great Ransom from him made his publick Pretence that all this was to do Reason for what Richard had done to his Prejudice in Sicily and for the Assassinate of the Marquis of Montferrat and those other Crimes of which he had been accused in Palestine But Richard who was naturally cloquent in a full Diet before the Princes of the Empire at Spire made his Innocence so evidently appear that the whole Assembly was moved for him even to Tears and intreated the Emperor that for the future he might be treated like a King which the Emperor more out of Shame than Honour consented to Pope Celestin also sollicited by the Letters of Queen Eleonor which were all in the Style of Peter de Blois who writ them and by the Prayers and Intreaties of Gautier Archbishop of Roan and the Bishops of Normandy who upon this occasion manifested great Ardor and Affection for the Service of King Richard did all that he possibly could to obtain his Liberty He proceeded so far as to denounce the Anathema against the Duke of Austria for daring to make a Prisoner of a Pilgrim expresly contrary to an Article of the Crusade which denounces Excommunication against such as should attempt any thing either against the Persons or Estates of such as had taken upon them the Cross He also menaced the Emperor to interdict all his Dominions if he did not presently release this prince who came to employ his Blood and his Fortune against the Infidels and over whom he could pretend no sort of Right But this had very little Effect upon the Germans who for a long time had been accustomed to be in no pain for the Thunders of Rome For notwithstanding all these Menaces year 1194 poor Richard could not be set at Liberty till after above a Years Imprisonment he payed a hundred thousand Marks in Silver before his Releasment and left fifty Hostages among which was the Archbishop of Roan for the Payment of fifty thousand Marks more of which the Duke of Austria was to have twenty thousand and the third part of the hundred thousand already received by the Emperor So that to raise this Sum all England was taxed and even the Chalices and consecrated Vessels were forced to be melted down and coyned So far was this Prince who was falsly accused to have sold Palestine to Saladin from making any Advantage of the Crusade that it is most certain that in this Expedition he spent an immense Treasure to the great Impoverishment of himself and his whole Realm But as he had not made this Treaty but whilst he was under a Force and Violence therefore so soon as he was returned into England he sent his Ambassadors to the Pope to demand Justice from him He desired of him that since by virtue of the Protection of the Holy See it was promised to all the Crusade that their Persons and Estates should be free from Injuries during the whole time of their Pilgrimage that he would by all sorts of Canonical Ways compel the Emperor and the Duke of Austria to set at liberty his Hostages to restore the Money which they had so unjustly exacted from him and to make him Satisfaction for the cruel Injury which they had done him contrary to all the Laws both Humane and Divine Celestin who saw that the Treaty of the Crusade which was universally received and confirmed without Contradiction was manifestly infringed in this great Article could not refuse to do him Justice He therefore according to the Canons caused these two Princes to be three several times admonished to make Satisfaction in these Particulars and seeing that they persisted obstinately to deride his Threatnings he did anew denounce the Anathema of the Church first against Leopold and then against the Emperor with all the usual Solemnities The Duke hereupon became more obstinate and was so far transported as to threaten the Hostages which he had with Death But it was not long before all the World believed that those terrible Scourges with which the Duke was chastised and that deplorable Accident which befel him year 1193 were the evident Effects of the Anger and Justice of God Almighty who would punish his Obstinacy in this World that so he might find Mercy in the next And in truth besides that many of his Cities were destroyed either by Fire from Heaven or by the Waters of the Danubius which drowned the greatest part of his Country in which Plague and Famine made a horrible Ravage one Day when he had made a magnificent Entertainment at Gretz to celebrate his Birth-day his Horse falling upon him broke his Leg after which a Fire in such furious manner seized upon the Part that unable
her self in this Holy War with the Resolution of a true Heroine and having joyned her Troops with the Army of the Princes of the Crusade she under went the Voyage with them with as great Zeal and Ardour as any of them and with far more Constancy and firmness of Resolution For being ashamed of the precipitate Return of the others who unworthily abandoned the Interests of Jesus Christ in the East in the very Heat of the War she only remained unmoveable in her first Resolution and passed all the Remainder of her Days at Ptolemais that so she might be always ready upon all Occasions which offered either to attack the Infidels or defend the Christians An Example which confirms what hath been frequently seen in other Princesses that Heroick Vertue does not at all depend upon the Quality of the Sex but that the weakness of Temper and Body may be supplied by the greatness of the Soul and the Vigour of the Spirit During this time the Letters of the Pope with those of the Emperor which were sent all over Germany produced such Effects upon the Minds of Men already filled and prepossessed with the haughty Idea's which they had conceived of a Crusade wherein the Empire only should be concerned so that every City willing to signalize themselves upon this Occasion furnished out a considerable number of Crusades Insomuch that the Emperor found wherewithal abundantly to satisfie not only the great Desire which he seemed to have to undertake the Holy War but also that which in reallity he had which was under this pretext to lead a potent Army into Italy to exterminate the Remainder of the Normans who had caused a Revolt in the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily And that he might play his Game with greater Success by covering his principal Intendment under this specious Appearance of a mighty Zeal he presented himself to take the Cross from the hand of the Legate protesting that for the Accomplishment of his Promise and to animate others by his Example he was resolved to march at the Head of his Army and in Person to combat against the Infidels But whether it were that they discovered his Artifice and saw that it would be an acceptable Service to him year 1195 to stop him in this Design or that they really believed that after the deplorable Accidents which happened to his Father and his Brother in the other Crusade it was not at all expedient that he should engage himself in Person to undertake this Voyage it is certain that all the Princes humbly intreated him to continue in the Empire remonstrating to him that thereby he would render greater Service to God by constantly taking care and providing the Necessaries for Subsistence and Recruits for the Armies which he should send into the East So that after some small Struggling and faint Oppositions he submitted to the Request of the Assembly and in conclusion resolved to set on foot three great Armies that so he might make profitable use of that infinite multitude of Soldiers who had taken upon them the Cross throughout all the Provinces of Germany The first of these Armies under the Conduct of Conrade Archbishop of Mayence accompanied by the Dukes of Saxony and Brabant and the greatest part of the Princes of the Crusade took its Way by Land to Constantinople where being imbarked upon the Fleet of the Greek Emperor whose Daughter Irene Philip Duke of Suabia Brother to the Emperor Henry had married they arrived happily at Antioch from whence they marched to Tyre and a few days after to Ptolemais The second Army passed by Sea and after having coasted along the Low Countries England France and Spain in their Passage they took the City of Sylves which the Sarasins had regained from the Portuguese and fearing lest the Infidels should again seize upon that important place which had been so ill defended by Dom Sancho the Crusades demolished it from the very Foundation After which they prosperously held on their Course and came to an Anchor in the Port of Acre where they joyned the first Army And for the third Army which was the strongest and composed of the best Troops drawn particularly out of the Dutchies of Suabia Bavaria and Franconia consisting in sixty thousand Combatants the Emperor in Person conducted it into Italy where in Execution of the Design which he had so artfully concealed under the specious pretext of the Holy War he surprized the Norman Princes and Lords who were confederated against him and without any trouble made himself Master of all the places which they yet held against him in the Realms of Naples and Sicily year 1196 putting those brave Unfortunates to death by all the ways of Rage and Cruelty Insomuch that the Empress Constantia unable to endure this horrible Butchery which was made of those of her Nation whom this cruel fierce and vindicative Prince resolved utterly to exterminate she conspired against him both to take away his Life and Empire And that her wicked Enterprise might prove successful she covered it and her Resentment for the present with a deep Dissimulation Henry who believed that he had now no more Enemies who were in a Condition to enterprize any thing against him caused the greatest part of his Army to be imbarked upon the Fleet which Conrade Bishop of Wirtzbourg his Chancellor and Lieutenant General in Italy had rigged the Year before who conducted them with a prosperous Voyage in a few days to the Port of Acre where they arrived very opportunely to reinforce the German Troops who for some time before had had all the Forces of the Insidels upon their hands For Valeran de Limbourg who with his Brigade having marched with the first was arrived in Palestine before the rest having broken the Truce which was made with the Sarasins they who before thought of nothing but how to ruin one another began immediately to re-unite under Saphadin against the common Enemy as they esteemed the Christians This Prince who was a great Soldier having presently raised a potent Army of his own Troops and those of his Nephews who upon this Occasion owned him as their General made a great Slaughter of all the Christians who fell into his Power thereby to revenge himself of Valeran who by an Action very little Christian and of most dangerous Consequence had in like manner treated the Sarasins whom he surprized upon his breaking the Truce After which by a wonderful Diligence preventing the Army of the Crusades he laid Siege before their Arrival to Jaffa into which the King of England had put a strong Garrison before he quitted Palestine year 1196 The young Henry Count de Champagne who had all the Authority of a Soveraign after his Marriage with Queen Isabella saw very well of what Importance it was to save that Place without which it was almost impossible to undertake the Siege of Jerusalem and therefore he resolved to march to relieve it with all the Expedition possible and
with all the Forces of his Realm joyned to the Troops of Valeran and those which in such hast he could raise at Acre But by a most sad Misfortune as he looked out of a Window of the Palace to see the Troops march bye and thrust himself out of the Casement to give Orders to some of the Officers the Frame of the Window upon which he leaned brake and with its Fall drew him along so falling headlong upon the Pavement he broke his Neck the accident being so sudden Violent and Surprizing that neither those about him above or those beneath could once think to lay hold on him or indeavour to break his Fall this deplorable Accident gave a stop to the intended Succors so that they could not make that hast in their March which the Occasion required And as it usually happens that one Misfortune follows another the Garrison of the besieged City making an unfortunate Sally Saphadin counterfeiting a Flight drew them so far that with his Horse he cut off their Retreat and then turning head upon them he attacked them so furiously on all sides that they were all cut in Pieces After which forcing the City without much Resistance he put all the Christians in it to the Sword and to deliver himself at once from the Fears of this dangerous Post which might so much incommode Jerusalem he caused the City to be intirely ruined from the very Foundations Whilest these Matters were transacting the Dukes of Saxony and Brabant with the other Princes of the Crusade being arrived at Ptolemais a Councel of War was held where it was determined to march immediately against Saphadin in regard that his Army being at present Master of the Field after his Victory and that he had equipped a powerful Navy in Egypt consequently if they did not indeavour presently to remove him by giving him Battle he must of necessity hinder all manner of Passage of Provisions both by Sea and Land whereby they should be reduced to great Extremities at Acre They were not long searching for an Opportunity for Saphadin understanding that the Christians to draw to him to a Combat advanced towards the City of Baruth which he was obliged to relieve being extreme brave and his Army since the taking of Jaffa very much augmented he took the same Resolution of fighting them and to meet them half way he descended from the Mountains of Antilchanon to the Plain by the Sea there to oppose them in their Passage So that the two Armies happening to Rencounter between Tyre and Sidon the Battle was fought in the plain Field with an incredible Courage on the one side and the other and with far more Obstinacy on the part of the Sarasins than had ever been known in any of the preceding Wars For as they were grown very Martial having for so long time been accustomed to Wars without any Interruption either against the Christians or against those of their own Nation since the Death of Saladin and their civil Broils so they were mightily animated by the happy Success which they had met with in the Siege of Jaffa and Saphadin who commanded them forgot nothing upon this Occasion that could be expected from a compleat General and one of the gallantest Men in the World So that their Efforts were wholly extraordinary whilest they indeavoured to follow the Example of so great a Captain and to preserve the Glory and Advantage which they had already gained On the other side the Germans who were no less Brave and much better armed than these Barbarians and who had at the Head of them so many great Princes who animated them not only with their Voice and Gesture but by the gallant Actions which they saw them perform combated so generously and so briskly pursued their Point continually pressing upon the Enemy without so much as recoiling a single Step or making the least Halt as determining either to overcome or perish that in Conclusion the Sarasins who were never before known for so long time to maintain a standing Fight against the Christians of Europe were put into Disorder and in a few Moments after to an intire Rout and downright Flight leaving all the Field covered with the Bodies of the Slain among whom were two Sons of Saladin year 1196 and more than threescore Emirs Saphadin himself being also supposed to be slain nor was it without great Difficulty that he escaped being grievously wounded after he had that day done all that became a great Captain and a gallant Soldier This glorious Victory was followed by the Reduction of the greatest part of the Cities which the Sarasins had seized Sidon Laodicea in Syria Giblet and several other Places of lesser Importance either surrendred themselves or were taken without much Difficulty So that they had Time and Covenience to repair the Ruines of Jaffa year 1197 where a strong Garrison was placed thereby to make sure of a Post so advantageous and necessary for the Conquest of Palestine At the same time one of the Sons of Saladin who was Master of Jerusalem sent to the Princes to offer his Alliance making a shew as if he intended to renounce his Sect and become a Christian but whether with an intention only by this Artifice to amuse them and to divert the furious Tempest of their Arms which he feared was ready to be poured upon his Head or that in reallity his Intention was to joyn with the Christians to revenge himself of his Uncle Saphadin who before had made War upon him and indeavoured his Ruin is uncertain There also happened at the same time another unexpected piece of good Fortune to the Christians for as in prosecution of their first Intention they came within view of Baruth which they designed to Besiege they saw appear the Christian Fleet commanded by the Archbishop of Mayence which returned from the Isle of Cyprus whither they had sailed to Crown and bring along to Palestine Emeri who had succeeded to Guy de Lusignan his Brother who was lately deceased without any Children Upon the sight of these two mighty Armies which at the same time appeared before the City the Sarasins altho they had there a very strong Garrison were so dismaid that they suffered the Castle to be taken by the Christian Captives who in that Consternation found means to knock off their Irons and in Conclusion the Infidels dispairing to be able to Defend the Place made hast to save themselves by abandoning the Town to the Conquerors who there found an inestimable Booty There the Princes to give a Chieftain to the Realm of Jerusalem and a Successor to Count Henry without much Trouble persuaded Queen Isabella to Marry Emri de Lusignan who was her fourth Husband and who joyned the Crown of Cyprus to that of Jerusalem Hitherto all things succeeded most admirably to the Army of the Princes of the Crusade and if after this happy beginning they had marched straight to Jerusalem it is almost certain that in
Division arose between the Orientals and the Germans who now began to perceive that they were betrayed so that separating from the Templers and Hospitallers whom they left at Piolemais resolving to have nothing further to do with such base and infamous Traitors they drew off to Jaffa to preserve that place which they had fortified and to defend it against Saphadin who threatned to besiege it And in truth that Sultan that he might make his Advantage of this Disorder among the Christians after having made them raise the Siege of Thoron took that Resolution and came to Incamp in view of Jaffa almost at the same time that the German Army arrived there Now as it was very much weakned by the Fatigues of a long Siege and by the Retreat of the Orientals who had separated from the Germans they durst not adventure upon a Battle but satisfied themselves with molesting the Sarasins by continual Skirmishes wherein they generally had the Advantage And particularly one time having drawn the Sarasins into a great Ambuscade which they had laid for them they cut in pieces the greatest part of their Army but this cost the Life of the brave Duke of Saxony who was slain upon the Place and of Frederick Duke of Austria who died the night following of a Wound which he received in Combating against the Lieutenant of Saphadin whom he overthrew dead upon the Place with the stroak of his Lance. Such a considerable Victory gave some room to hope that in a little time they might become Conquerors and that they might happily Re-establish the Affairs of the East but the unhappy News which arrived while these Matters were in Agitation from the West caused all these blooming Hopes to wither in a Moment together with the Reinforcements which the Princes of the Crusade expected which obliged them instantly to return into Germany where all was in a Flame of War for the Reason which I am about to relate The Emperor Henry the VI. who had so cruelly treated the Norman Princes in the Realms of Naples and Sicily died a little before at Messina in the Month of September of the preceeding Year either with the Regret which he had to submit to those shameful Conditions imposed upon him by the Empress Constantia his Wife who with the Assistance of the Sicilians had surprized and besieged him in a Castle from whence it was impossible for him to escape or as some suspected but with more malignity than Probability of Poison which that Princess who for his proud and cruel Humor hated him had caused to be given him Now he knowing that he had formerly been Excommunicated by the Pope for his unjust Imprisonment of Richard King of England in his Return from the Crusade when he came to die he manifested great Sorrow for the same He also sent to that King that so he might make him some sort of Satisfaction by the acknowledgment of his Offence and by his last Will he obliged his Heirs to make Restitution of the Money which he had so unjustly exacted from him for his Ransom and in case of failure he desired the Pope to employ all his Power to see it performed Great Weakness of Princes who cannot resolve to make Restitution while they live of what they believe themselves unjustly possessed when they come to die or to think they discharge themselves sufficiently by charging it upon their Successors who commonly are of the same Temper and not troubled with these Sucruples till they come to die where it is not very difficult to make fruitless Orders which rarely oblige the Living who may be supposed after their Example will detain it as long as they live and then only relinquish it when they leave the World and can hold it no longer This unhappy Prince died in the very prime of his Age being about two and thirty Years old and when he was upon the point of putting in Execution those great Designs which he had formed against the Greek Emperor whom he had compelled by the only Terror of his Armes and Name year 1198 to pay him a great Tribute for the Provinces which William King of Sicily had formerly conquered from the Greeks and which they had recovered during the Troubles of Italy He was of a middle Stature having a weak Constitution and a lean Body his Face was handsome enough but something too Meagre his Complexion was delicate and very fair his Head not altogether large enough for the Proportion of the other parts of his Body which were well made and fit for all manner of Exercises in which he was very dextrous either on foot or horsback he was an excessive lover of Hunting Walking and Field Sports and therefore he chose the Country rather than the City for his usual Residence and it was very seldom that he repaired to the City unless it were to shew his Magnificence in the Spectacles and publick Sports or Festivals which he loved to make with great Magnificence and even Vanity This nevertheless did not in the least hinder his applying himself to publick Affairs or acting upon all Occasions with abundance of Vigor Prudence and Resolution for he had a Spirit lively penetrating cultivated by Study and supported by an Eloquence Easy and Natural a Judgment solid a Soul great and enterprizing and a Heart truly generous But all these noble Qualities were dishonoured by his Avarice his Violence and Injustice his extreme Ambition and above all by his insupportable Humor his herce and insatiable desire of Revenge and his barbarous Cruelty which rendered him odious to his own Wife by whom he held the Realms or Naples and Sicily which made her conspire against him thereby to stop the horrible Inundation of his Hatred and Fury He left only one Son about three Years of Age whose Name was Frederick as was his Grandfather and who afterwards was Emperor He had caused him from his Cradle to be recognised for his Successor to the Empire but the Princes and Estates notwithstanding their Oath being on one hand resolved to have an Emperor who was able to manage the publick Affairs and on the other hand not being able to agree among themselves upon whom to fix the Choise there arose a most furious Schism among them in which some of them chose Philip of Suabia Brother of the deceased Emperor others elected Otho the Brother of Henry Duke of Saxony and both the one and the other took Arms to support and defend their Emperor This raised great Troubles and War not only in Germany but all Europe by the different Interests of the several Princes who believed themselves obliged to joyn upon this Occasion with each Party Richard King of England joyned with Otho his Nephew the Son of his Sister to whom he had given the Earldome of Poitiers Philip the August who took the opposite part to the English declared himself for Philip and the Pope on the contrary who believed that the House of Suabia whose Princes
Doge Geossry Mareshal of Champagne who spoke for his Collegues delivered himself in few but very moving Words to the Senate and People after this manner That the most powerful Princes of France having solemnly devoted themselves to the Service of Jesus Christ for the Deliverance of his Holy Sepulchre and Holy City which groaned under the Tyranny of the Insidels had among all the People of Europe made choice of the Venetians as the most potent and generous the most capable of engaging in such a glorious Enterprise to desire their Assistance and the Conjunction of their Forces without which they had no hope ever to re-conquer the holy City of Jerusalem And for this purpose added he with a very odd and surprizing Frankness as on the one hand they are resolved to undertake this Conquest and on the other that they are fully satisfied that without your Assistance it is impossible to succeed they have therefore given us in Commission to use no other Arguments to persuade you but to prostrate our selves at your Feet with a Protestation that we will never rise from thence till you have agreed to our Desires and to such Conditions as you shall judge fit to prescribe And thereupon they fell upon their Knees and without saying any thing further with their Hands extended to the Assembly in the posture of Suppliants by that piteous Gesture accompanied with Sighs and Groans they moved them much more than they could have done by the most Rhetorical and passionate Discourses And here it is that we must be forced to acknowledge that our Ancestors had a great Stock of a certain frank and generous Goodness which the following Ages which have been much refined upon the point of Honour would be far from submitting to or imitating upon a like Occasion But though they did not so exactly observe all the Measures and Punctilioes of Breeding which at this day are with so much Nicity and Scruple observed for the maintaining of the Dignity which is owing to the Character of Ambassadors yet they had this Advantage that many times they accomplished that in a Moment which now costs whole Years of tedious Negotiations which when they are finished are yet scarely to be consided in This Action which the Envoy of a Gentleman would scarce be persuaded to now had such an Effect upon all this great Assembly that the Doge the Senate and the People raising them up immediately from that beseeching Posture as it were by Consent all together lifting up their Hands and their Eyes drowned in Tears of Compassion cried out with one Voice We will We will making the Church the Palace and the great Place resound with their repeated Echoes which instantly ran chearfully to the City where they were so redoubled that they made the very Arched Roof of Heaven ring and embracing the Deputies they protested that they would employ their Lives and Fortunes with these generous French Princes for the Re-establishment of Jesus Christ in his Inheritance and his Empire which had been invaded by his Enemies After which the Treaty which to this day remains in the Archives of St. Mark together with the Confirmation of Pope Innocent being ratified by all the Orders of the Republick and signed by both Parties with an Oath upon the Holy Evangelists year 1201 that it should be most inviolably kept maintained and observed the Deputies returned into France where the Mareshal de Champagne found the Count his Master sick of the Distemper of which in a few days after he died most religiously in the very Flower of his Youth being aged but twenty five Years having upon his Death-bed appointed Count Renaud de Dampierre to be his Substitute and in his Name to take the Voyage with the Troops which he put under his Conduct Now the Count de Champagne having been chosen Head of the Crusade there was a necessity of putting another in his place For this purpose the Princes concerned after that Eudes Duke of Burgundy and Theobald Count de Bar the Cousin of the deceased Count to whom this Honour was offered had excused themselves by reason that they were not inclined to engage in this Voyage deputed some to offer it to Boniface Marquis of Montferrat Brother to that famous Marquis Conrade Prince of Tyre who had acquired so much Honour by the glorious Actions which he performed in the third Crusade He willingly accepted of the Honour which was done him hoping thereby to gain Glory to himself by being employed to procure that of Jesus Christ He therefore instantly repaired to Soissons where the Princes who were there assembled declared him Head of the Army of the Crusades with the general Applause and the particular good Liking and Approbation of Philip the August to whom he had the Honour to be related He solemnly received the Cross from the hands of the Bishop of Soissons and the holy Man Fouques de Nevilli This great Preacher of the Crusade who had done far more Wonders than ever did Peter the Hermite year 1202 was yet more happy in that a little time after God was pleased to call him to receive the Recompence of so many Labours it being not his Divine Pleasure to make further use of his Ministry than he did that of St. Bernard to assemble the Army of the Crusades but not to accompany them much less conduct them to the Wars where Priests if they act regularly and contain themselves within the Bounds of their Profession according to God's Appointment ought to make use of no other Arms but Prayers nor to combat otherwise than Moses did against the Amalekites by lifting up their Hands to Heaven This holy Man died of the Disease in his Parish of Nevilli where he was making preparation for his Voyage He appointed by his last Will that all the Money which he had collected from the Charity of well disposed People should be employed for the Assistance of the Holy Land Thus died this devout Preacher to whose Memory the Church at this day renders great Honours and who deserved for his Piety to be eternally reverenced by all the Earth In this time the Princes of the Crusade having made their Preparations during the Winter about Whitsunday put themselves upon their March towards Venice where an untoward Adventure which they could not possibly foresee had like to have ruined the whole Enterprise just upon its first beginning For on one part the Venetians had so exactly performed their part of the Treaty that there were more Ships rigged and furnished with all things necessary than was needful for the Transporting and Entertainment of the Army after their Disimbarkment besides the fifty Gallies well armed which they had furnished at their own Charge so that it was but reasonable that the French according to their Stipulation should before their setting out pay so much of the Money as they were obliged to do But on the other side a great number of the Lords who had promised to repair to
Peace which was offered him upon Condition that the Prisoners on both sides should be set at liberty year 1213 But these Letters of the Pope produced not those Effects which he hoped and promised himself for Saphadin who had so frequently combated against the Christians knew by Experience that the Crusades would overthrow themselves if the fury of their first Efforts were but prevented and above all having the Courage the good Fortune and the Success of Saladin he was not much moved by the Remonstrances of Innocent for whom he had no great Consideration And for the other Letters which the Pope writ to all Christian People they came to nothing at last but to raise those great Disorders which had happened in the former Crusades For it happened by a strange Illusion or rather a kind of Frensy which like a Plague spread it self over all France and Germany the Youths of all sorts of Conditions taking a strong Impression in their Minds that God would make use of their Hands to deliver the Holy Sepulchre out of the Hands of the Sarasins and that he commanded them to go to Jerusalem to atchieve that high Enterprise they assembled to the number of thirty thousand in France and twenty thousand in Germany who took upon them the Cross There were many Monks and Priests who undertook to justifie this Folly by another which was greater and as if God had commanded it put themselves at the Head of these Boys and other Vagabonds who maliciously followed them to make some advantage of this Disorder and it being impossible to stop the Torrent of this furious Folly they pleasantly marched along singing and crying all together with all their power Lord Jesus bestow upon us thy Holy Cross The greatest part of those of Germany taking disserent Roads either perished miserably on the Way or were dispoiled by Thieves and Robbers Those of France who could escape to Marseilles were there miserably cheated by two Merchants whose Names were Hugh le Fer and William Porc notorious Villains who having promised to transport them into Palestine for nothing putting them on Board seven of their Ships two of the Vessels were shipwrack'd with the loss of all those poor Boys with which they were charged and for those who were upon the other sive these Traytors carried them into Egypt and there sold them for Slaves to the Sarasins It is true that God who alone can bring Good out of Evil for his Glory drew this Advantage from this great Disorder and horrible Treachery that divers of these Innocents whom the Infidels endeavoured to force to deny and renounce their Faith persisted so constantly to confess Jesus Christ for whose sake they had taken the Cross that they chose rather to be cut in pieces than to renounce their Faith and by this irregular and frantick Action came at last to obtain the Crown of Martyrdom At last the memorable Victory which Philip the August obtained against Otho who having been crowned after the Death of the Emperor Philip troubled all Europe gave the Pope the occasion to accomplish by the General Council the great Design of the Crusade which he had begun by his Letters and which the Preachers by his Orders published every where This Emperor Otho made a most cruel War against the Pope who had always been his Protector so that he was at last constrained by his extream Ingratitude to excommunicate him as also for his openly invading the Churches Patrimony seizing upon what the Holy See had received from the magnificent Liberality of the Kings of France Philip the August who besides that he hated Otho as being the Nephew of his Enemy the King of England thought himself obliged to maintain what his Predecessors had done in favour of the Holy See sailed not to declare himself for the Pope and negotiated so powerfully with divers Princes of the Empire the principal whereof were the King of Bohemia the Dukes of Austria and Bavaria the Archbishops of Treves Mayence and Cologne that they deposed this ingrateful excommunicate Prince and elected Frederick whom his Father the Emperor Henry VI. had caused to be declared King of the Romans at the Age of three Years and who was also King of Naples and Sicily in Right of the Empress Constantia his Mother He came soon after into Germany where he was received by the Princes and crowned Emperor at Aix-la-Chapelle year 1213 by Thierri Bishop of Cologne And that he might support his Right by the Arms of his Protector he came directly to Vaucouleur where after a Conference with Lewis the Son of King Philip he made a new Treaty with the King and renewed the ancient Alliance which had been between his Predecessors and the Crown of France Otho on his side who had a powerful Party in Germany believing that if he could but ruin Philip he should be able easily to manage Frederick and the Pope made a League against France with the English Ferrand de Portugal Earl of Flanders who had revolted against his Master and his Benefactor who had married him to the Heiress of Flanders year 1214 and joyned the Troops of the English and Flemmings which together with his own composed an Army of above two hundred thousand Men So that making no doubt but that he should be able to cut the French Army in pieces who were not a third part so numerous he assailed them when they least expected a Battle as they were passing the Bridge of Bovines But Philip without being dismayed at this Surprise having put himself at the Head of the Rereguard whilst the Vant-guard re-passed the Bridge sustained their first Shock and gave a Check to the Enemies till such time as the other Troops were drawn up in Battalia upon his Right and Left according to the Orders which he had given And then the French animated by the Sight the Words but much more by the Example of their King who this Day behaved himself like one of the ancient Heroes charged with so much fury every where that after having fought victoriously in all places from Noon till Night the Army of the Enemies was totally routed All the principal Captains lay stretched out at length upon the place or else were taken Prisoners Otho only excepted who escaped by the swiftness of his Horse and retreated into the Lower Saxony where about two Years after he died with Grief to see himself forsaken by all the Princes of the Empire and another Emperor generally acknowledged and received by all the Germans This great Victory of Philip and that which Prince Lewis his Son obtained almost at the same time in Poitou against the King of England having made a great Calm in the Church and the Empire the Pope who during the Wars which troubled all Europe could not assemble the Council now caused it to be called year 1215 and accordingly it was held the Year following in the famous Church of the Lateran at Rome This was the twelfth Oecumenical
Dragon after his Death which demanded Justice of God against him till at last covered all over in slames he was condemned to Purgatory till the day of Judgment for having commited three great Crimes in his Life for which he had certainly been condemned to Hell for ever if our Lady to whose Honor he had built a Church had not obtained the Grace for him that he repented of them before his latest Breath Now this which calls it self an Apparition so plainly resembles the travelling Stories of Apparitions of this Nature that I am astonished there should be any who should doubt of its Falshood so much as for a Moment but it is the sordid Humor of low Spirits to dishonor the Memories of the greatest Lives in the World whom they durst scarcely speak of or look upon whilest they were in it and nothing is more frequent than for Calumny to blast the Reputation of the Dead by reason of that Impunity which Men hope for by being undiscovered nor is there any thing so silly but what will either by the Weakness of some or the Malice of others be believed so that the most sottish and groundless Illusions come many times to gain the Reputation as well as the Name of supernatural Visions and Revelations The Cardinal Cencius a Roman of the illustrious House of Savelli a Person of a great Estate and as great Learning succeeded Innocent within two days by the Name of Honorius the III and imitating his Predecessor in his Zeal for the Deliverance of the Holy Land he at the same time writ Letters to the Princes and Prelates throughout all Europe exhorting them powerfully not to cool in their Zeal which they had till then manifested for the Execution of what had been Decreed in the Holy Council in reserence to the Crusade And the Consequence of these Letters and the Negotiations of his Legats which he sent to all places to press the Accomplishment of this great Affair which lay so near his Heart and which he followed so closely with his utmost Application and Diligence was so successful that an infinite number of Crusades particularly among the Northern Nations were ready to pass both by Sea and Land into the Holy Land at the time appointed He who ought to have Headed them was the Emperor Frederick the II. who had with the first taken upon him the Cross then when he stood in need of the Assistance of the late Pope Innocent for his Establishment against Otho in the imperial Dignity He took it upon him with more Solemnity the year after the Battle of Bovine when all things being at Peace in Germany he was by the Authority of Pope Innocent the second time crowned at Aix by the Hands of Siffride Archbishop of Mayence There he renewed his Vow and with a great deal of Reverence and Submission received the Decree of the Council for the Crusade But as he had a specious Pretext to deser his Voyage in regard he had not been at Rome to receive the imperial Crown nor to regulate the Affairs of Italy the Pope thought it was not convenient at that time to press him further with the Accomplishment of his Vow year 1217 So that Andrew King of Hungary was taken in to supply his Place upon this great Occasion being the only King of Europe who was in a Condition to march at the Head of the Crusades For Peter de Courtenay the Emperor of Constantinople had by Treachery been taken Prisoner in Macedon by Theodore Comnenius who had seized upon Thessaly Philip the August who had already fulfilled his Vow did not believe that he was obliged to ingage himself in another Crusade at a time when France stood in need of him to oppose the Albigenses England Scotland and Ireland were extremely agitated by the Troubles which the Fury of Civil War had raised in them The Kings of Castile Portugal and Navarre were in Arms against the Moors who always prevented the People of Spain from entring into the Crusades with other Nations for the Deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre by obliging them in continual Action against those Infidels who were possessed of many of their Provinces And the King of Arragon was so far from joyning with the Crusades that he had taken Arms in favour of the Hereticks the Albigenses against whom there was another Crusade at the same time And the King of Norway who had caused a great many Men of War to be fitted out for the Holy War would not abandon his Realm by taking the Cross altho he obliged many of his Subjects to undertake it year 1217 that so he might have a share in the Honor of the Enterprise The King of Hungary was therefore the only Prince of Europe who in Person made that Holy Voyage and the principal Princes and Prelates who accompanied him in the Undertaking were the Dukes of Austria Bavaria Moravia Brabant Limbourg the Counts Palatin of the Rhine of Los of Juliers of Holland and Wida the Marquis of Baden the Archbishop of Mayence and the Bishops of Bamberge Passau Strasbourg Munster and Vtrecht as also the greatest part of the Prelates of Hungary who would accompany their King in this War The Cousades whose Number increased daily without expecting those who not being yet ready might well enough follow after to Re-inforce the Army in Palestine divided themselves into several Bodies for the greater Convenience of Passage Andrew King of Hungary with Leopold Duke of Austria Lewis Duke of Bavaria and the greatest part of the other Princes took their Way by Land to Venice where they imbarked upon the Shipping of the Republick which expected them to transport them to the Island of Cyprus which was appointed by the Pope for the Place of Rendezvouz It is said that upon this Occasion to pay the Charges of their Passage the King quitted Dalmatia to the Venetians Another Party of the Crusades were embarked at Genoa Messina and Brindes where they received Orders from the Pope by which he commanded them with all possible Expedition to joyn the King of Hungary in Cyprus and to follow him whithersoever he should judge it necessary to lead them expressly prohibiting them upon pain of Excommunication to separate from the Gross of the Army under pretence of going as Pilgrims to visit the Holy Sepulchre in regard that he feared that this irregular Devotion at such an unseasonable time might weaken the Army and inrich the Infidels by the great Tributes which they exacted of the Pilgrims and the continual Excursions which they made at last to rob them of all they had Those of Cologne and the Frisons animated by the sight of three wonderful Crosses which miraculously appeared in Heaven whilest the Crusade was preaching upon the Friday before Whitsunday put to Sea with a gallant Fleet of three hundred Ships and about the end of May joyning in the Mouth of the Maze with that of William Earl of Holland and George Count of Wida they all together set
with him to pertake of the Glory of delivering the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ year 1224 The Emperor Frederick also in this time acted in such a manner as might make it be believed that he applied himself cordially to make preparations for such an Enterprise worthy of himself For he caused to be built and equipped in the several Ports of the Kindgdoms of Naples and Sicily one hundred Gallies very well Armed and fifty Ships of Burden able to carry two thousand men at Arms and their Horses and ten thousand Foot besides an infinite of other Vessels which he had already in other Ports without accounting those also which he designed to have from the other Ports of Italy which all together were sufficient to transport as great an Army of Crusades as would in probability undertake that Voyage And in regard that the War which he then made with the Sarasins who at that time also possessed some part of Sicily was upon the point of being very fortunately ended would not permit him to go in person to hold the Diet in Germany to move the Princes to go to this Holy War he sent thither the great Master of the Teutonick Order to sollicite in his behalf the Duke of Austria the Lantgrave of Thuringia and the other Princes of the Empire as also the King of Hungary to prepare for the undertaking of this Enterprise promising that he would furnish all the Crusades with money shipping and Provisions and what ever should be necessary for their transportation year 1225 Never was there any thing more promising or effective in all appearance than this Application of the Emperor insomuch that it seemed beyond the Possibility of doubting but that Frederick would certainly march at the head of a most gallant Army into the East But whether it were that this Prince feared that his absence might prove extreme prejudicial to him in the present Condition of his Affairs and that it would encourage the League which he knew was formed against his Interests in Lombardy or whether it were that he was resolved before his departure to put himself in Possession of the Realm of Jerusalem by accomplishing his Marriage with Jolante or possibly that he thought it wholly unjust and ungenerous to break the Truce which had been made with the Sultans Meledin and Coradin by which the whole Christian Army was saved which must otherwise have infallibly perished it is certain that upon a request which was presented to Honorius upon the Part of the Emperor the Pope after having thereupon taken the Advice of the Sacred College consented that the Voyage should be put off for two years accounting from the Month of August in the Year 1225 till the same Month in the Year 1227 and he also consented to those advantageous Conditions which Frederick himself proposed and to which he obliged himself in the City of St. Germain in the presence of his Barons inviolably to observe upon pain of Excommunication which the Cardinals of Albano and St. Martin the Pope's Legates to conclude this treaty were instantly to pronounce against him in case of his Failure in the Performance of what he had promised year 1226 Not long after the Princess Jolante for whom the Emperor had sent the Arch-Bishop of Capua with fourteen Gallies happily arriving at Brindes she was conducted by him to Rome where the Ceremonies of their Marriage having been performed by the Pope she was in St. Peter's Church crowned Empress and Queen of Jerusalem with a marvellous applause of the People of Rome who never made their joy more conspicuous year 1226 than by all the magnificent Testimonies of rejoycing upon this occasion But the satisfaction which John de Brienne received from this Marriage which was of his own procuring and which he looked upon as his principal support did not continue long For Frederick who was resolved to have the present enjoyment of what he desired and could not perswade his hope to live upon the spare diet of future incertainty told his Father-in-Law that he was absolutely resolved from that moment to have the Soveraignty the Rights the Titles and the Demesnes of the Realm of Jerusalem which appertained to him as the Dowry of the Empress his Wife and that he would not permit any other to enjoy them This Poor Prince to whom the Great Master of the Teutonick Order had promised upon the Treaty of this Marriage that he should during his life enjoy the Realm of Jerusalem was strangely surprized at this discourse which he had so little expected But as he was not in a condition to oppose the Will of an Emperor who was resolved to make himself be obeyed and moreover that the disobliging manner with which he was treated made him sensible that the Emperor was highly incensed against him there was a necessity that he should strip himself of all and renounce all his Rights and pretensions to that Realm to yield it to Frederick and ever since that time the Kings of Naples and Sicily have added in their bearing the Cross of Jerusalem to their other Arms. It had like also to have happened that the Emperor not contented to have dispoiled him of his Kingdom failed but little of taking his life also as well as that of his Nephew Gautier Count de Champagne the Son of him who had done such gallant actions in the Kingdom of Naples in the time of Pope Innocent For some People having put it into the Emperors head that this Count who was the Son of the Daughter of Tancred King of Sicily pretended a Right to that Kingdom and that his Uncle secretly encouraged and assisted him in caballing and making a strong Party to seize upon it this suspicion had like to have cost them both their lives for there is nothing which makes Princes so easily dip their hands in Blood as Jealousie of State a disease which when once it gets the Possession of the minds of Great men drives them to the most outrageous Extremities so that it hath been often seen that neither the Fathers have spared their Children nor Children their Parents when the Jealousie hath been concerning Crowns and Scepters The Uncle and the Nephew therefore to secure themselves not trusting to the good Intervals of an humour which rarely is able wholly to overcome even the most groundless suspicious thought best to retire out of the reach of danger the Count into his Earldom of Brienne in Champagne and King John to Rome where he put himself under the Protection of the Pope who had a wonderful esteem for this Prince and who to no purpose did what he could by his Remonstrances and by his intreaties to oblige Frederick to restore the Crown of Jerusalem to him for his Life but not being able to prevail that he might in some manner comfort him for his disgrace he made him Governour of the greatest part of the Ecclesiastick Dominions But although this discreet Pope had no great reason to be satisfied with a
upon the twenty seventh he arrived about the twentieth of September in the Isle of Cyprus where the other Ships which came from Aigues-Mortes and Marseilles sooner or later as the Troops came up which were to be imbarqued upon them came to joyn him in a little time after There it was that St. Lewis committed a great Error which must not be dissembled and which most assuredly was the cause of his Misfortune by following against his own Judgment the advice of the Lords of his Army and the Barons of the Isle of Cyprus For one part of them being very glad to repose themselves and the other to have time to prepare themselves for the Voyage which they promised to undertake with the French and they lay so continually at him that they persuaded the King contrary to his Inclination to stay in the Island till after Easter pretending that the Winter was now approaching and that it was most convenient to expect the coming up of several other Troops which were to arrive and this occasioned two great Mischiefs For first the Waters in the Island were nothing so wholesome as those of Egypt and the Air was very bad and not at all favourable to Strangers who were not accustomed to it by reason whereof Diseases fell into the Army and considerable numbers of them died and divers even of the first Quality to the number of at least an hundred and fifty among whom were extremely regretted the Counts de Dreux Vendosme St. Paul and Montfort the Bishops of Beauvais and Noyon and the Illustrious Archambaud de Bourbon This is he who was the last of the Race of the Archambauds who having held during the time of seven Counts of that name Bourbon and a great part of Avergne for three hundred and eight years lost them happily for the Glory of that House by the Heiress thereof marrying into the August Race of St. Lewis there to revive again in the most glorious manner in the Descendants of that King who are raised as we see them at this day with greater Splendour than ever to one of the tallest Thrones of Christendom For the Prince John de Burgogne the second Son of Hugh the Fourth who was of this Crusade having married Agnes year 1248 the Inheretrix of Archambaud had by her only one Daughter Beatrix de Burgogne a Princess of the Blood of France by her Father and Heiress of Bourbon by her Mother Robert of France the fourth Son of St. Lewis and Count de Clermont in Beavoise married this Princess Beatrix by whom he had Lewis who took the Surname of the Inheritance of his Mother and was the first Duke of Bourbon and from him by James de Bourbon Constable of France his second Son are descended the Princes of that Royal House of which the Eldest after the Race of Valois was Extinct succeeded to the Crown of France from Henry the Great whose Grandson Lewis fourteenth the Inheritor of his admirable Vertues and the glorious Surname of The Great hath with the Crown rendred that Name the most August and the most revered of all the Earth which he hath received from so many Kings his Predecessors accounting from this St. Lewis to whom he is the Twelfth in a Lineal Succession And I cannot believe that this Digression will be disagreeable which I make of this Genealogy upon so favourable an opportunity since it falls in so naturally with the Subject of my History which I now am about again to pursue The second ill consequence which this too long stay in the Isle of Cyprus produced was the leisure which was thereby given the Sarasins who were then at War among themselves to reunite or at least to suspend their private quarrels to put themselves into a condition to oppose the Forces of the Christians And in truth when the King came to Land in the Isle of Cyprus the Sultan of Egypt who sometime before had seized upon Damasous and all the other Sultans upon his hands who were united against him for their common defence and would not treat at all of any peace as he desired unless he would first withdraw his Forces out of Syria He was himself sick at Damascus and fearing that the Christian Army should in the mean time fall into Egypt he was at last obliged at least to obtain a Truce from the Sultan of Alepo and to draw off his Army from before Emessa which he had besieged so that if St. Lewis in stead of stopping in Cyprus had gone directly to attack Egypt he had found it without any Forces capable of resisting him and might have made himself Master of it with very little difficulty Whereas during these six Months which were spent unprofitably in this Island the Sultan of Egypt had all the time and opportunity which he could desire to accommodate matters with the Sultan of Alepo and to recover of his Distemper as also to draw his Army into Egypt and there to raise new Troops and put all things into a posture to receive the Christians on the contrary the King's Army was extremely weakned by this long time of lying still and besides consumed all the great Provisions which had been made insomuch that unless the Emperor Frederick and the Venetians to whom he made applications for Provisions which the Isle could not furnish him withal and who served him with it in a manner infinitely obliging had not furnished him he had been constrained to return into France without doing any thing at all It was during his stay in this Island and towards the end of the Year that he received from Nicosia the Embassadors of one of the Tartarian Princes whose name was Ercalthay and who was then in the most Eastern Parts of Persia After they had presented their Letters of Credence which were written in the Persian Language and in Arabick Characters and translated into Latin by Father Andrew a Monk of the Order of St. Dominick who had formerly known these Ambassadors in Persia whither he had been sent by Pope Innocent they informed the King that the Great Cham of Tartary had about three Years before been baptized having been converted by the good Example and the Exhortations of the Empress his Mother the Daughter of a King of the Indians she having always been a Christian That their Master Prince Ercalthay who had also for a long time been a Christian had been sent by the Great Cham with a Potent Army against the Calife of Baldac as great an Enemy of the Christians as the Sultan of Egypt That that Sultan to afright the Sultan of Mussule or Nineveh who was also a Friend of the Christians had written to him that the King of France being come to attack Egypt had been defeated at Sea and had lost above sixty of his Ships which had been carried in Triumph into Damiata They added that their Master had not doubted but that this Defeat by the Egyptians was a pure Fiction year 1248 and that therefore
having understood that a King so renowned throughout the World was come to make War upon Egypt he had sent them to inform his Majesty that he was marching to besiege the Calife in Baldac in the beginning of the Summer and therefore requested him at the same time to attack Egypt and that the Sultan and the Calife being thereby hindered from mutually assisting the one the other they might both of them with more ease come to the ends which they had proposed All this which these Ambassadors had related and the account which they gave of the puissance of the Tartars was exactly conformable to the Letters which the Constable of Armenia who had made a Great Voyage into Tartaria had before written to the King of Cyprus so that St. Lewis received them with an incredible joy year 1249 and himself conducted them upon the Holy Days of the Nativity and Epiphany to the Divine Offices caused them to be entertained at his own Table and kept them there till the beginning of February that so he might treat with them with more deliberation After which he dispatched them loaden with Noble Presents together with Father Andrew and two other Religious of his Order two Cordeliers two Secular Ecclesiasticks and Gentlemen Attendants whom he sent Ambassadors some to the Prince Ercalthay and others to the Great Cham with most Magnificent Presents both for the one and the other There was sent to the Great Cham among other Rarities and curious Pieces of great value a most Sumptuous Tent of Scarlet in form of a Chappel where was to be seen in rich Embroidery all the Mysteries of the Life and Passion of Jesus Christ admirably represented in Silk raised with Gold there was also belonging to the Chappel sent all the necessary Ornaments and Furniture for the Celebration of the Divine Offices as also to each of them a small piece of the Wood of the Holy Cross and the King writ to them Letters full of the Spirit of Religion with which his Soul abounded in which he exhorted them to persevere in the love of God who by his Grace had been pleased to illuminate their Minds and had called them to the happy knowledge of himself The Legate also on his part did the same writing to the Mother of the Great Cham and to all the Christians of that huge Empire exhorting them to take great care to preserve themselves in the true Faith and the Unity of the Catholick Church under the Obedience of the Vicar of Jesus Christ upon Earth After this the King spent the rest of the Winter in pacifying some troubles among the Christians especially those of Syria and Palestine and in according the differences which were between the King of Armenia and the Princes of Antioch who were continually in some quarrel or other He caused also a great number of slat bottomed Boats to be built in order to the landing of his men and at last after he had assembled all his Troops who were with part of his Ships in the neighbouring Islands and had received a reinforcement from Europe of about two hundred English Gentlemen conducted by William Longsword Earl of Salisbury who were resolved to have a share in this War and after he had escaped the Treachery of certain Sarasins who were come disguised into Cyprus with intention to poyson him he imbarqued the Week before Whit sunday together with Henry King of Cyprus and set sail for Egypt But being by ill weather which separated his Fleet driven into Limisso he parted the day after the Feast from that Port and with a fair gale of Wind arrived in four days before Damiata which place he resolved to besiege Damiata of which I have formerly given the description both as to its Situation and Strength was at this time nothing so well fortified as it was when about thirty Years before it was taken by the Christians after a Siege of eighteen Months neither was it defended by such gallant men as those who sustained that long Siege and the Sultan of Egypt Melech-Salah although he was a great Soldier yet was much declined from his first Vigor being in a weak and languishing condition by reason of the great Sickness which he had had during the Winter at Damascus Nevertheless as he did expect that the King would make his first attempt against the City of Damascus which was the Key of Egypt he brought thither all the Army which came with him from Syria and so soon as the Signal was given from the Tower of Pharus that the Christian Fleet appeared he ranged his Army along the Shoar and caused his Ships and Gallies to descend to the Mouth of the Nile year 1249 so that the first object that appeared before the Eyes of the French were two great Armies one by Sea to oppose their Entry into the River the other by Land upon the Brink of the Shoar to hinder their descent from which two Armies they heard the terrible noise of their Instruments of War and the dreadful shouts of so many millions of Sarasins as made the Arched Roof of Heaven resound again the Sultan himself as ill as he was would put himself at the head of them armed completely from head to foot in his fairest Arms all of fine Gold and sparkling with precious Stones which receiving a marvellous reduplication from the shining Beams of the Sun cast such glittering Rayes as made him seem all on fire Hereupon the King held a Council with the King of Cyprus the Duke of Burgundy and William Hardoum Prince of Achaia who came from Morea John d' Ybelin Count de Jaffa who was come from Palestine and with the rest of the Princes and Great Lords They were all in the Opinion that they ought not to endeavour a descent in View of two such great Armies they having not the third part of the number of their Enemies and that they ought rather to expect the arrival of those who had been separated by the Tempest among whom there were above twelve hundred Knights who were the choice men of the Army But the King maintained the contrary opinion and made it clearly appear that if they deferred it any longer they might put themselves in evident danger of losing all in regard that they had no Port to which they might retire and secure themselves from a suddain Tempest which as it had done before might chance to overtake them and either separate them or force them ashoar upon the Enemies Coasts And that besides this delay would not only give the Enemies an increase of Courage but the time to retrench themselves with greater advantage This resolution of the King and the Power of his reasonings having dissipated the Fear which they had That they should not succeed in their attempt with so small a number it was ordered that the next morning they should move directly against the Enemies if they should again appear to dispute the descent the day following accordingly being the Friday after
his Mamalukes the particular Enemies of the Name and Nation of France were upon the point of driving them unless they were speedily assisted He protested That he was resolved even tho he were abandoned by all the rest of the World in such a Noble Enterprise to pursue it vigorously himself and to imploy all that he had his Forces his Fortunes and his Life in this Glorious Service and that he should infinitely rejoyce to lose it in his Service who had laid down his precious Life for the Love which he had to Mankind in that precious spot of Earth for the Recovery whereof he exhorted all the French who he doubted not had doubtless the same Courage with which their Ancestors had so gloriously conquered it to take up their Arms and accompany him in this Noble Enterprise A Discourse of this Nature spoken with unexpressible Graces and by so great a King whose Age Experience Wisdom Equity and Love which he had for his People and above all his Eminent Sanctity rendred so much beloved and revered by his Subjects did so sensibly affect the Hearts of all the whole Assembly that after the Legate had made his Speech upon the same Subject and the King himself had with a Marvellous Devotion received the Cross the greatest part of the Princes and Lords following his Example also took it upon them The first among them were the three Princes his Sons Philip his Eldest John Tristan Count de Nevers and Peter Count d' Alenson Alphonso Count de Poitiers and Tholouse his Brother Thibald King of Navarr and Count Palatine of Champagne his Son-in-Law Robert Count d' Artois his Nephew John Son to the Duke of Bretany Son-in-Law to the King of England the Counts Guy of Flanders Philip of Nemours Guy de Laval and Philip de Montfort year 1268 The Lords de Courtenay de Beaujeu de Montmorenci de Harcour de Valeri de Neele d' Estrees de Longueval de Varennes de Clermont de Fiennes de Rochefort de Mirepoix de Cleri de St. Cler de Roye de Precigni de Chastenoy de Saux de Beaumout de Mailly de Vandieres de Lionne d' Auteil d' Orillac and the brave Oliver de Termes all Illustrious Names known and still reverenced in our days after so many Ages in the Persons who are honoured by them and who have done them Honour by their Merits These were followed by all the other Knights and Lords of the Assembly except only the Lord Joinville High Steward of Champagne who having had enough of the first Voyage dispensed with himself for the second alledging that by the first he had ruined his poor Subjects of the Lordship of Joinville and in the ill humour in which he was by reason of this second Undertaking which he did not at all approve he hath written very plainly That it was the opinion of many Learned Men that those who gave the King this Advice sinned mortally in regard that the King was so weak in Body and brought so low that he was but just in a condition to maintain that Peace and justice which by his presence he caused to flourish in his Kingdom and which would by his absence be most certainly banished from thence But this was not the opinion of Clement the Fourth who was esteemed one of the most learned and pious Popes which the Church had ever had and who St. Lewis having consulted him concerning this Voyage extremely approved of it as did also the Confessor of this Holy King And this makes it evident That in all times the most severe Casuists have not always been the most knowing nor the safest advisers in difficult matters After this great Action St. Lewis applied himself with an indefatigable Zeal to dispose all things for the Crusade sparing neither diligence pains nor cost to put it into a condition to have better Success than he had met with in his first Voyage and to draw along with him not only the French his own Subjects but also such of other Nations as were willing to share with him in the Enterprise And for this purpose he did what was possible in conjunction with the Pope to make an Accord between the Venetians and the Genoese that so they might enter with him into this Holy Vnion But it was all Labour in vain for these two Republicks whose difference occasioned so many mischiefs to Palestine had too much animosity one against the other to unite so easily or so quickly As for the Venetians who had at first treated with him for his passage they at last excused themselves from furnishing him with Shipping by the fear which they said they had that the Sultan of Egypt resenting it should seize upon all their Effects within his Ports But the Genoeses who always ran counter to their Enemies and who upon this occasion acted more nobly offered him theirs He also by his Royal Liberality obliged Edward Prince of England to take up the Cross a Prince whom he highly valued for his Spirit and his Valour and gave him thirty thousand Marks in Silver to put him into an Equipage to accompany him like a great Prince offering the same Sum to James King of Arragon who had some years before taken upon him the Cross The Pope also on his side did not fail to excite the Kings and Princes of Europe as also the Greek Emperor by the Example of St. Lewis to joyn their Arms with those of this great King for the deliverance of the Holy Land from the oppression of the Sultan of Egypt who wanted not above two or three Cities to be Master of all that the Christians possessed in Syria Palestine and Egypt since the time that they were conquered by Godfrey of Bullen but all was in vain Ottocare the King of Bohemia the Dukes of Saxony Bavaria and Brunswick Otho Marquess of Brandenburg and divers others whom Clement excited to take the Cross and some of which had already taken it were so incumbred by the Schism of the Empire and besides so exasperated by the Death of Conradin which for a long time rendred the Name of the French odious to them that they could not be perswaded to entertain a thought of uniting with them in the Holy War The King of Castile who disputed the Empire and whose Brother had been taken with Conradin was in the same opinion The King of Portugal Alphonso the Third took the Cross indeed and abtained a Grant to receive the Tenths of all the Goods of the Church in his Realm for the Holy War but after all he performed nothing year 1269 James the King of Arragon made the fairest advances in the World towards this War He protested in the Assembly of the Princes at Toledo That he would accomplish his Vow although his Age seemed to dispense with him for it and notwithstanding all that could be done to divert him from it He promised at Valentia to the Ambassadors of the Greek Emperor and to those of
They were received at Naples at Rome and at Viterbum where the Cardinals were assembled upon the Election of a Pope and at all other Cities in their passage with honours of a different Nature from those which are accustomed to be given to Kings and which sufficiently shewed that they were esteemed to be in a Rank much Superior to them the Voice of the People which is said to be the Voice of God being a forerunner of that of the Church which six and twenty years after solemnly canonized him for a Saint year 1271 Mean time Edward Prince of England who had renewed his Vow during the Tempest and which he weathered so well that he lost not one of his ships sailed towards Ptolemais where he arrived in the Month of May having only three hundred Knights English and French with John Duke of Bretany It was with these few Troops strengthened with five hundred Frisons and another small Reinforcement which Prince Edmond his Brother brought to him from England that he hindred Bendocdar who had taken diverse Castles about Ptolemais from besieging that City He also prevailed with the Tartars the Enemies of this Sultan to enter into Palestine to oppose the Progress of that Conqueror But as on one part these Barbarians after having according to their manner ravaged the Country marched home again and on the other that Hugh King of Cyprus and Jerusalem not being strong enough to do any great matters obtained a Truce of Bendocdar who concluded it with him only to amuse him he was able to do nothing of Moment And therefore as soon as he was recovered of a dangerous Wound which he had received from an Assassin whom he trusted and whom he himself killed with the same poisoned Dagger with which the Traitor had struck him he returned opportunely to take possession of the Kingdom of England which Henry his Father dying left unto him year 1272 Thus this Crusade from which there was reason to expect such great things produced no manner of Effects for the deliverance of the Holy Land And since that time there could never any more be raised although the Pope's had frequently made great attempts to excite the Zeal of Christians therein to imitate that of their Ancestors For first of all Gregory the tenth who from being only Archdeacon of Leige was chosen Pope after the See had been vacant for three Months then when he was at Ptolemais with the Prince of England did more than any of his Predecessors to unite all the Christian Princes and even the Greeks and Tartars in a Holy League to chase the Sarasins out of Palestins and Syria year 1274 And it was he who particularly for this design about two years after held the second Council of Lyons which was one of the greatest and most numerous Assemblies which the Church had ever seen for there were present at it above a thousand Prelates with the Ambassadours of two Emperors of the East and West of the Kings of France Cyprus and all the Christian Princes beyond the Sea together with those of all Europe besides that James King of Arragon and the great Masters of the Temple and the Hospital were there in Person There a Decree was made for the prosecuting the Holy War and an Alliance was made for this purpose with Abagas the King of the Tartars who had sent his Ambassadors thither There Michael Paleologus was recognised for Emperor of Constantinople upon condition That he should join with the Latins in the War against the Sultan of Egypt and there the Election of the Emperor Rodolph was confirmed upon Condition That he should march at the head of the Crusades into Palestine which he also promised to the Pope with an Oath receiving from his hands the Cross at Lausanna whither he followed the Pope after the Council in his return to Italy year 1275 But in conclusion all this produced just nothing either because People were disgusted with this War and such a dangerous Voyage or that having been so long accustomed to hear of this War they were not at all moved with what was no Novelty Insomuch that the Cordeliers and the Jacobins whom the Pope sent all over Europe to preach up the Cross could not meet with so much as one man who would take it Michael Paleologus who had made a Re-union of short continuance between the Greek and the Latin Churches had never any other intention but thereby to hinder the Latins from uniting again to recover Constantinople and to restore Baldwin who did what lay in his Power to that purpose year 1275 especially with Charles King of Naples and Sicily Rodolph who from a bare Count of Habsbourg near Bale issued from a younger Brother of the House of Alsatia was come to be raised to the Empire thought of nothing but how most powerfully to establish his own House in Germany and herein he succeeded so well that it is since become so great and August under the Illustrious name of Austria which this Emperor bestowed upon it in giving that Dutchy to his Son Albert who afterwards also came to be Emperor as well as his Father So that this Emperor Rodolph never accomplished the Vow which he had made between the hands of the Pope who himself gave the Cross to him and to his whole Court and yet nevertheless he was not excommunicated for it as Frederick the Second had been Abagas singly was not strong enough to stop the Course of Bendocdar's Conquests who insolently laughed at all the vain attempts of the Princes of the West and openly threatned to make all the whole East the Trophee of his Arms and oblige it to submit to his Empire And as for the poor Christians of Palestine who most pressingly implored the succours of Europe they every day themselves advanced their own ruin by the fatal Effects of their division which became still greater by the Quarrel which arose among them at this time concerning the succession of a Kingdom which thereby they made all the haste they could to lose The Subject of this Quarrel is one of the points of History which Writers have made the least clear and which in fews words I will endeavour to explain Isabella the Daughter of Amauri King of Jerusalem and Heiress of that Realm had four Husbands The first was Aufrey de Thoron by whom she had no Children The Second was Marquis Conrade de Momferrat Prince of Tyre by whom she had the Marchioness Mary who married John de Brienne and made him King of Jerusalem Of this Marriage issued Jolanta the Wife to the Emperor Frederick the Second Mother to the Emperor Conrade who was Heir to this Realm and consequently without contradiction left it as of right to the Unfortunate Young Conradin The third Husband of Queen Isabella was Henry Count de Champagne whose Daughter Alice married Hugh de Lusignan the first of that name King of Cyprus by whom she had the Princess Isabella who was married to