because jointly built by the Tyrians Sidonians and Aradites And Berytus since Barutus accompanied her neighbour and both of them were yeelded unto the Christians The King created one Bertram a well-deserving Noble-man Earl of Tripoli who did homage to the King for his place which was accounted a title of great honour as being one of the foure Tetrarchies of the kingdome of Jerusalem Chap. 12. The description of Sidon and Tyre the one taken the other besieged in vain by Baldwine SIdon is the most ancient citie of Phenicia And though the proud Grecians counted all Barbarians besides themselves yet Phenicia was the schoolmistresse of Grecia and first taught her her alphabet For Cadmus a Phenician born first invented and brought letters to Thebes Sidon had her name from the eldest sonne of Canaan and was famous for the finest crystall-glasses which here were made The glassie sand was fetched 40 miles off from the river Belus but it could not be made fusile till it was brought hither whether for want of tools or from some secret sullen humour therein we will not dispute This citie anciently was of great renown but her fortune being as brittle as her glasses she was fain to find neck for every one of the Monarchs yokes and now at last by the assistance of the Danish and Norvegian fleet was subdued by the Christians Fleshed with this conquest they next besieged Tyre Sea and land nature and art consented together to make this city strong for it was seated in an island save that it was tacked to the continent with a small neck of land which was fortified with many walls and towres It is questionable whether the strength or wealth of this city was greater but out of question that the pride was greater then either Here the best purples were died a colour even from the beginning destined to Courts and Magistracie and here the richest clothes were imbroidered and curiously wrought And though generally those who are best with their fingers are worst with their arms yet the Tyrians were also stout men able mariners and the planters of the noblest colonies in the world As their city was the daughter of Zidon so was it mother to Romes rivall Carthage Leptis Utica Cadiz and Nola. The most plentifull proof they gave of their valour was when for three yeares they defended themselves against Nebuchadnezzar and afterwards stopped the full career of Alexanders conquests so that his victorious army which did flie into other countreys was glad to creep into this citie Yet after seven moneths siege such is the omnipotency of industry he forced it and stripped this lady of the sea naked beyond modesty and mercy putting all therein to the sword that resisted and hanged up 2000 of the prime citizens in a rank along the sea-shore Yet afterwards Tyre out-grew these her miseries and attained though not to her first giant-like yet to a competent proportion of greatnesse At this time wherein King Baldwine besieged it it was of great strength and importance insomuch that finding it a weight too heavy for his shoulders he was fain to break off his siege and depart With worse successe he afterwards did rashly give battel to the vast army of the Persian Generall wherein he lost many men all his baggage and escaped himself with great difficulty Chap. 13. The pleasurable voyages of King Baldwine and his death AFter the tempest of a long warre a calm came at last and King Baldwine had a five yeares vacation of peace in his old age In which time he disported himself with many voyages for pleasure as one to the Red-sea not so called from the rednesse of the water or sand as some without any colour have conceited but from the neighbouring Edomites whom the Grecians called Erythreans or red men truly translating the Hebrew name of Edomites they had their name of rednesse from their father Edom. And here Baldwine surveyed the countrey with the nature and strength thereof Another journey he took afterwards into Egypt as conceiving himself ingaged in honour to make one inrode into that countrey in part of paiment of those many excursions the Egyptians had made into his Kingdome He took the city of Pharamia anciently called Rameses and gave the spoil thereof to his souldiers This work being done he began his play and entertained the time with viewing that riddle of Nature the river of Nilus whose stream is the confluence of so many wonders first for its undiscovered fountain though some late Geographers because they would be held more intelligent then others have found the head of Nilus in their own brains and make it to flow from a fountain they fansie in the mountains of the moon in the south of Africa then for the strange creatures bred therein as river-bulls horses and crocodiles But the chiefest wonder is the yearly increasing thereof from the 17. of June to the midst of September overflowing all Egypt and the banks of all humane judgement to give the true reason thereof Much time Baldwine spent in beholding this river wherein he took many fishes and his death in eating them for a new surfet revived the grief of an old wound which he many yeares before received at the siege of Ptolemais His sicknesse put him in mind of his sinnes conscience speaking loudest when men begin to grow speechlesse And especially he grieved that having another wife alive he had married the Countesse of Sicilie the relict of Earl Roger But now heartily sorrowfull for his fault he sent away this his last wife yet we reade not that he received his former again Other faults he would have amended but was prevented by death And no doubt where the deed could not be present the desire was a sufficient proxy He died at Latis a city in the road from Egypt and was brought to Jerusalem and buried on Palm-sunday in the temple of the Sepulchre in the 18. yeare of his reigne A Prince superiour to his brother Godfrey in learning equall in valour inferiour in judgement rash precipitate greedy of honour but swallowing more then he could digest and undertaking what he was not able to perform little-affected to the Clergie or rather to their temporall greatnesse especially when it came in competition with his own much given to women besides the three wives he had first marrying Gutrera an English-woman after her death Tafror an Armenian Lady and whilest she yet survived the Countesse of Sicilie yet he had no child God commonly punishing wantonnesse with barrennesse For the rest we referre the reader to the dull Epitaph written on his tombe which like the verses of that age runneth in a kind of rhythme though it can scarce stand on true feet Rex Baldwinus Iudas alter Maccabaeus Spes patriae vigor Ecclesiae virtus utriusque Quem formidabant cui dona tributa ferebant Cedar Aegypti Dan ac homicida Damascus Proh dolor
the speedy withering of their religion argueth it wanted root And as tame foxes if they break loose and return wild do ten times more mischief then those which were wild from the beginning so these renegadoes raged more furiously then any Pagans against religion Guirboca sacrificed many Christians to the ghost of his nephew destroyed Cesarea and burnt it using all cruelty against the inhabitants Nor lesse were the Christians plagued at the same time with Bendocdar the Mammaluke Prince in Egypt who succeeded Melechem and every where raging against them either killed or forced them to forswear their religion The city of Joppa he took and burned and then wonne Antioch slaying therein twenty thousand and carrying away captive an hundred thousand Christians But it may justly be suspected that these numbers were written first in figures and therefore at too much length when the adding of nothing may increase many thousands These wofull tidings brought into Europe so wrought on the good disposition of Lewis King of France that he resolved to make a second voyage into Palestine to succour the Christians He so fixed his mind on the journeys end that he saw not the dangers in the way His Counsel could not disswade though they did disswade him First they urged That he was old let younger men take their turns They recounted to him his former ill successe How lately had that hot countrey scorched the lilies of France not onely to the blasting of the leaves but almost withering of the root Besides the sinews of the Christians in Syria were so shrunk that though lifted up they could not stand That Nature decayed but not thus wholly destroyed was the subject of physick That the Turks had got a habit of conquering and riveted themselves into the possession of the countrey so that this voyage would but fleet the cream of the Kingdome to cast it into the fire But as a vehement flame maketh feuel of whatsoever it meeteth so this Kings earnest resolution turned bridles into spurres and hindrances into motives to his journey Was he old let him make the more speed lest envious death should prevent him of this occasion of honour Had he sped ill formerly he would seek his credit where he lost it Surely Fortunes lottery had not all blanks but that after long drawing he should light on a prize at last Were the Christians in so low a case the greater need they had of speedy help Thus was this good Kings judgement over-zealed And surely though Devotion be the naturall heat Discretion which wanted in him is the radicall moisture of an action keeping it healthfull prosperous and long-lived Well King Lewis will go and to this end provideth his navie and is accompanied with Philip and Tristram his sonnes Theobald King of Navarre his sonne in law Alphonse his brother and Guido Earl of Flandres There went also Edward eldest sonne to Henry King of England It was a wonder he would now adventure his head when he was to receive a Crown his father being full-ripe to drop down without gathering having reigned longer then most men live fifty and five yeares But thirsty was this Edward of honour Longshanks was he called and as his strides were large so vast and wide was the extent of his desire As for his good father he was content to let go the staff of his age for to be a prop to the Church And though King Lewis was undiscreet in going this journey he was wise in choosing this his companion to have this active Prince along with him it being good to eye a suspicious person and not to leave him behind With Edward went his brother Edmund Earl of Lancaster surnamed Crouch-back not that he was crook-shouldered or camel-backed From which our English Poet most zealously doth vindicate him Edmund like him the comeliest Prince alive Not crook-back'd ne in no wise disfigured As some men write the right line to deprive Though great falshood made it to be scriptured but from the Crosse anciently called a Crouch whence Crouched Friars which now he wore in his voyage to Jerusalem And yet it maketh it somewhat suspicious that in Latine records he is never read with any other epithet then Gibbosus But be he crooked or not let us on straight with our story Chap. 27. King Lewis besiegeth the city of Tunis His death and commendation LEwis now having hoised up sail it was concluded by the generall consent of his Counsel That to secure and clear the Christians passage to Palestine from pirates they should first take the city of Carthage in Africa by the way This Carthage long wrestled with Rome for the sovereignty and gave as many foils as she took till Scipio at last crushed out her bowels with one deadly fall Yet long after the citie stood before wholly demolished to be a spurre to put metall into the Romanes and to be a forrein mark for their arrows lest otherwise they should shoot against themselves At last by the counsel of Cato it was quite destroyed who alledged That it was not safe to have a knife so neare their throat and though good use might be made of an enemy at arms end yet it was dangerous to have him too close to ones side as Carthage was within a dayes sail from Rome Out of the ruines of this famous citie Tunis arose as often a stinking elder groweth out of the place where an oak hath been felled Theeving was their trading but then as yet they were Apprentises to piracie whereof at this day they are grown Masters Yea not considerable was Tunis then in bignesse great onely in mischief But as a small scratch just upon the turning of a joynt is more troublesome then a bigger sore in another place so this paltry town the refuge of rogues and wanderers home seated in the passage betwixt Europe Asia and Africa was a worse annoyance to Christian traffick then a whole countrey of Saracens elsewhere Wherefore both to revenge the bloud of many Christians who passing this way to Palestine were either killed or taken captive as also to secure the way for the time to come Lewis with his whole fleet augmented with the navy of Charles King of Sicilie and Jerusalem his brother bent his course to besiege it It was concluded both unnecessary and unfitting first in a fair way to summon the city because like pernicious vermine they were to be rooted out of the world by any means nor was it meet to lavish the solemn ceremonies of warre on a company of theeves and murderers The siege was no sooner begun but the plague seised on the Christian armie whereof thousands died amongst others Tristram King Lewis his sonne And he himself of a flux followed after This Lewis was the French Josiah both for the piety of his life and wofulnesse of his death ingaging himself in a needlesse warre Many good laws he made for his Kingdome that not the worst He first retrenched
having no paternall lands considerable no bottom to begin on though through his thrift and providence he first laid the foundation of the Austrian familie Yet somewhat to answer expectation he sent Henry Duke of Mechlenburg with competent forces into Palestine Who coming to Ptolemais made many notable incursions into the countrey about Damasco with fire sword destroying all as he went carrying thence many rich booties till at last he was circumvented and taken prisoner by the Mammalukes Twenty six yeares he lived in captivity keeping his conscience free all the while At last the Sultan of Egypt a renegado Germane who formerly had been engineer to this Dukes father set him at liberty together with Martine his servant that he who so long had shared of his misery might also partake of his happinesse No sooner had this Duke put to sea but he was again taken by pirates and the Sultan out of pity to this distressed Prince and out of scorn that fortune should frustrate and defeat his reall courtesie set him free again At last he came safely home and was there welcomed with as much wonder as joy his subjects conceiving his return a resurrection having buried him in their thoughts long before Here he found two counterfeits who pretended themselves to be this Duke and on that title challenged lodging with Anastasia his Lady But the one of them had a softer bedfellow provided him a pool of water wherein he was drowned the other was made a bonefire of to solemnize the joy of the Dukes return Chap. 31. Charles King of Ierusalem His intentions in Syria stopped by the Sicilian Vespers His death and sonnes succession BY this time Charles King of Jerusalem and Sicily had made great preparations for the Holy warre And to make his claim to the Kingdome of Jerusalem the stronger he bought also the title of Maria Domicella Princesse of Antioch which pretended a right to the same He sent also Roger the Count of S. Severine as his Vice-roy to Ptolemais where he was honourably received in despite of Hugh King of Cyprus by the especiall favour of Albertine Morisine the Venetian Consul there And now his navie was reported to be readie and that by the way he had a project upon Michael Paleologus the Emperour of Greece When all his intentions were suddenly blasted it so happening that on Easter day as the bell tolled to Even-song all the throats of the Frenchmen in Sicily were cut in a moment by the natives thereof and that Island wonne by Peter King of Aragon The grand contriver of this massacre was one Jacobus Prochyta a Physician and I dare say he killed more in an houre then he cured all his life-time Those that condemn the Sicilians herein cannot excuse the French such formerly had been their pride lust covetousnesse and cruelty to the people of that Island putting them causelessely to exquisite torture so that an ordinary hanging was counted an extraordinary favour But the secrecie of contriving this slaughter of the French was little lesse then miraculous that so many knowing it none should discover it like cunning dogs barking in triumph after they had bitten not before to give any warning Hence grew the proverb of the Sicilian Vespers though their Even-song was nothing to the English Mattens intended in the Gunpowder-treason Mean time King Charles was at Rome beholding the making of Cardinals when this dolefull news was brought unto him and struck him to the heart He survived a yeare or two longer but dull and melancholick living as it were without life and died at last having reigned King of Jerusalem twenty yeares A Prince which had tasted of various successe fortune for a while smiling on him and at last laughing at him His sonne Charles succeeded him in the Kingdome of Naples and in the title of Jerusalem He was surnamed Cunctator Delayer not in the same sense as Fabius the Shield of Rome was so called he onely stayed till opportunity was come our Charles till it was passed I find nothing memorable of him except this That offended with the Templars in Palestine for taking part against him with the King of Cyprus he seised on their lands and confiscated all their goods they had in Naples or any other part of his dominions How-ever let him have room in the catalogue of our Kings of Jerusalem For as high hills neare the sea-side though otherwise never so base and barren ground yet will serve to be sea-marks for the direction of mariners so this Charles together with Hugh John and Henry Kings of Cyprus pretending also to Jerusalem though we reade nothing remarkable of them will become the front of a page and serve to divide and distinguish times and to parcel the history the better to our apprehension As for the bare anatomie of their reigne for we find it not fleshed with any history with the dates of their beginnings and endings we shall present it to the reader hereafter in our Chronologie Chap. 32. The succession of the Mammaluke Princes in Egypt Alphir taketh Tripoli and Tyre The wofull estate of Ptolemais BUt whilest these titular Kings slept the Mammaluke Princes were vigilant to infest the reliques of the Christians in Palestine Which Princes succession we will adventure to set down nor are we discouraged with the difficulties which encounter us herein The hardnesse in the story of the Mammalukes proceedeth as we conceive from one of these causes First the State is not written directly but by reflexion not storied by any constant writer of their own but in snaps and parcels as the Chroniclers of neighbouring Christian countreys have catched at them Secondly out of a popular errour their chief Captains by reason of their large authority passe for absolute Kings Thirdly the same King hath many names and the same name by translation in sundry languages is strangely disguised How-ever we will use our best conjectures in these uncertainties and a dimme candle is better then no light Bendocdar or Bandodacar otherwise Melechdaer was the last Egyptian Prince we mentioned A dangerous man to the Christians but that Abaga the Tartarian took him to task and kept him in continuall imployment This Abaga had a pretty trick to make cowards valiant causing them that ranne away from the battel ever after to wear womens clothes Bendocdar died at Damascus of a wound he received in Armenia or as some say by cold in swimming over Euphrates Elpis succeeded him his sonne say some but the Mammalukes laws forbid that except his extraordinary worth was his faculty dispensed with him ad succedendum patri But who knoweth not that the Eastern tongue speaketh nephews and kinsmen to be sonnes Some wholly omit him enough to make us suspect that he was onely some Deputy clapped in to stop up the vacancie till Melechsaites was chosen Melechsaites called by Marinus Melechmessor wonne the strong castle of Mergath from the Hospitallers He much loved and was
Ch. ABaga maketh cowards valiant 4 32 Abbeys how and why suppressed in England 5 6 7 8 Adamites against their will 3 20 Albingenses three opinions concerning them  18 their originall persecution nick-names  19 defended from crimes objected  20 commended by their adversaries  ibid. Alexius Emp. his treachery 1 15 causeth the Christians overthrow 2 9 his death and epitaph  14 Alexius Angelus the younger a princely begger 3 17 Almerick K. of Ierusalem his character 2 33 he helpeth the Sultan of Egypt  36 invadeth Egypt against promise  37 his death  ibid. Almerick the second 3 16 deposed for lazinesse  23 Almerick Patriarch of Antioch 2 26 Almerick Patriarch of Ierusalem  34 Andronicus a bad practiser of S. Paul 3 3 Antioch wonne by the Christians 1 17 betrayed by the Patr. to Saladine 3 1 recovered by the Duke of Suevia  4 finally lost to the Sultan of Egypt 4 26 Apostasie of many Christians in Europe upon K. Lewis captivity  17 Arms of Gentlemen deserved in this warre 5 23 Arnulphus the firebrand-Patriarch of Ierusalem 2 2 8 15 Assasines their strange commonweal  34 B BAldwine K. of Ierus his nature 2 7 be wins Antipatris Cesarea  10 his two voyages into Egypt his death  13 Baldwine the second chosen King  14 he is taken prisoner ransomed  17 he renounceth the world dieth  18 Baldwine the third his character 2 24 discord betwixt him his mother  31 he winneth Ascalon  32 his death and commendation  ibid. Baldwine the fourth  38 he conquereth Saladine  40 42 he is arrested with leprosie his death and praise  ibid. Baldwine the fifth poisoned by his mother  43 Baldwine Earl of Flanders Emperour of Constantinople 3 17 Theodore Balsamon how cousened 2 44 Battels at or neare Dogargan 1 16 Battels at or neare Antioch  17 Battels at or neare Askelon 2 3 Battels at or neare Rhamula  10 Battels at or neare Meander  28 Battels at or neare Tiberias  45 Battels at or neare Ptolemais 3 5 Battels at or neare Bethlehem  11 Battels at or neare Moret in France  22 Battels at or neare Gaza 4 7 Battels at or neare Tiberias  10 Battels at or neare Manzor in Egypt  15 Battels at or neare Manzor again  16 Bendocdar Sultan of Egypt 4 26 32 Bernard Patriarch of Antioch 2 2 An apologie for S. Bernard 2 30 Biblianders wild fansie 1 10 Bishops numerous in Palestine 2 2 Boemund prince of Antioch 1 17 he is taken prisoner 2 3 he wasteth Grecia  11 Boemund the second  18 Boemund the third  36 C  B. Ch. CAliphs their voluptuousnesse 2 22 36 Calo-Iohannes Grecian Emper.  21 Carmelites their originall luxury and banishment  26 Carthage described 4 27 Chalices in England why of latten 3 13 Charatux one of the wisest men in the world  4 Charles Earl of Anjou K. of Ierusal 4 25 he dieth for grief  31 Charles the second surnamed the Delayer  ibid. Children marching to Ierusalem wofully perish 3 24 Choermines their obscure originall 4 9 and finall suppression  10 Clerks no fit Captains 2 9 5 14 Clermont Councel 1 8 Climate how it altereth health 5 15 Conferences betwixt opposite parties in religion never succeed 3 21 Conrade Emperour of Germanie his unfortunate voyage 2 27 he conquereth the Turks  28 Conrade of Montferrat K. of Ierus 3 1 he is miserably slain  10 Conversions of Pagans hindred by Christians badnesse 2 34 4 12 how it must orderly and solemnly be done  22 Edmund Crouchback not crooked  26 D  B. Ch. DAbertus Patriarch of Ierusal 2 2 he scuffleth with the Kings for that city dies in banishment  5 7 8 Damascus described  29 in vain besieged by the Christians  ibid. Damiata twice taken by the Christians and twice surrendred 3 25 27 4 13 18 Danish service in this warre 1 13 5 22 Drunkennesse wofully punished 3 16 A Duell declined 2 1 Duells forbidden by S t Lewis 4 27 E EBremarus Patriarch of Ierusal 2 8 Prince Edward his voyage 4 26 he is desperately wounded and recovereth  29 Elianor Qu. of France playeth false with her husband 2 28 Elianor wife to Prince Edward her unexampled love to her husband 4 26 Elhadach Caliph of Egypt 2 36 Emmanuel Emperour of Greece  27 Engines before guns 1 24 English service in this warre 1 13 5 22 Equality of undertakers ruineth this Holy warre  13 Eustace refuseth the kingdome 2 14 F  B. Ch. FAith-breaking the cause of the Christians overthrow 2 37 5 11 Fames incredible swiftnesse 1 8 The strength of imaginarie Fear 3 5 Forts make some countreys weaker 3 4 Franks how ancient in the East 5 21 Fred. Barbarossa his unhappy voyage 3 3 his wofull drowning  4 Frederick the second K. of Ierusalem his disposition 3 29 4 20 his grapplings with the Pope 3 30 4 1 his death and posteritie  20 French service in this warre 1 13 5 21 Fulcher Patriarch of Ierusalem 2 25 Fulk King of Ierusalem  19 23 G GAlilee described 1 19 Genoans atchievements in this warre 2 10 Germane service in this warre 1 13 5 21 Germane Nobility numerous  ibid. S t George 1 17 Gibellines and Guelfes 4 1 Godfrey King of Ierusalem 2 1 his vertuous vice  ibid. his death  6 a Goose carried by the Pilgrimes to Ierusalem 1 10 Greek Church rent from the Latine 4 4 on what occasion  ibid. wherein it dissenteth  5 what charitably is to be thought of them  ibid. what hope of reconcilement  6 Guarimand Patriarch of Ierusalem 2 15 Guy King of Ierusalem  43 he is taken prisoner  45 he exchangeth his Kingdome for Cyprus 3 10 H  B. Ch. HAalon Cham of Tartarie 4 22 26 Helen no Ostleresse 1 4 Henry E. of Champaigne K. of Ierus 3 11 his wofull death  15 Henry Earl of Mechlenburgh his long captivity late deliverance 4 30 Henry the fourth K. of England his intended voyage to Ierusalem 5 24 Heraclius the vitious Patriarch of Ierusalem 2 39 Holy fraud 1 17 Holy warre arguments for it 1 9 arguments against it  10 unlikely again to be set on foot 5 27 Hugh King of Ierusalem and Cyprus 4 25 I JAmes IV K. of Scotland hath some intentions for Ierusalem 5 24 Ianizaries their present insolencie 5 29 Ierusalem destroyed by Titus 1 1 rebuilt by Adrian  2 largely described  23 wonne by the Christians under Godfrey  24 lost to Saladine 2 46 recovered by Frederick the Emp. 3 31 finally wonne by the Choermines 4 9 her present estate at this day 5 26 Iews their wofull present condition 1 3 the hindrance of their conversion  ibid. Interviews of Princes dangerous 3 6 Iohn Bren K. of
Ierusalem  24 his discords with the Legate  ibid. he resigneth his kingdome  28 Irish service in this warre 5 23 Isaacius Angelus Emp. of Constant. 3 1 Italian service in this warre 1 13 5 22 Iudea described 1 21 K  B. Ch. KIng for Deputie in Eastern tongues 2 2 Three faults in the Kingdome of Ierusalem which hindred the strength of it 5 18 Knights-Hospitallers their originall 2 4 they degenerate through wealth into luxury  ibid. they rebell against the Patriarch about tithes  25 brawl with the Templars 4 8 flit from Cypr ' by Rhodes to Malta 5 5 the manner of their suppression in England  6 7 in vain restored by Qu. Mary  8 Knights-Templars instituted 2 16 many slain through their own covetousnesse  32 they become rich and proud 4 8 their treachery hindereth the Holy warre 5 17 they are finally exstirpated out of Christendome  1 arguments for and against their innocency with a moderate way betwixt them  2 3 Knights Teutonicks their institution 2 16 they are honoured with a grand Master 3 5 they come into Prussia their service there 5 4 Knights of the Sepulchre 5 27 L LAterane Councel 3 24 Length of the journey hindrance of this warre 5 13 Leopoldus Duke of Austr his valour 3 8 Leprosie 5 15 Lewis the Young K. of France his wofull journey 2 27 28 S t Lewis his voyage to Palestine 4 11 he wintereth in Cyprus  12 lands in Egypt winnes Damiata  13 is conquered and taken captive  16 dearly ransomed  18 S t Lewis his second voyage 4 26 he besiegeth Tunis  27 his death and praise  ibid. M  B. Ch. MAhometanisme the cause why it is so spreading 1 6 Mammalukes their originall 2 40 their miraculous Empire 4 19 Maronites their tenents and reconcilement to Rome 2 39 Meladine King of Egypt his bounty to the Christians 3 27 why not loved of his subjects 4 14 his death  ibid. Melechsala his son King of Egypt  ibid. Melechsaites Sultan of Egypt  32 Mercenary souldiers dangerous 2 35 yet how well qualified they may be usefull  ibid. Miracles of this warre examined and ranked into foure sorts viz. 1 not done 2 falsely done 3 done by Nature 4 done by Satan 5 10 N NIce besieged and taken by the Christians 1 16 Nilus his wonders and nature 2 13 Northern armies may prosper in the South 5 15 Norvegian service 1 13 5 22 Numbers numberlesse slain in these warres  20 What Numbers competent in an army  19 Numbers of Asian armies what we may conceive of them  ibid. O OBservation of Rog. Hoveden confuted 2 46 Offers at Palestine since the end of the warre 5 24 Office of the Virgin why instituted 1 8 Owls why honoured by the Tartarians 4 2 P  B. Ch. PAlestine in generall described 1 18 Pastorells in France slain 4 21 Pelagius the Legate 3 24 Peter the Hermite his character 1 8 he proves himself but an hypocrite  ibid. Peter K. of Aragon a favourer of the Albingenses slain in battel 3 22 Philip Augustus K. of France his voyage to Palestine and unseasonable return  6 Pilgrimages proved unlawfull 5 9 The Popes private profits by the Holy warre 1 11 he the principall cause of the ill successe 5 12 Polands service in this warre 1 13 5 22 Ptolemais wonne by the Christians 2 11 regained by Saladine  45 after three yeares siege recovered by the Christians 3 8 finally taken by Sultan Scrapha 4 33 Q QValitie of the adventurers in this warre 1 12 R REd sea why so called 2 13 Reformation why Rome is averse from it 4 4 Reimund Earl of Tripoli his discords with Baldwine 2 41 his apostasie to Saladine  45 his suspicious death  ibid. Relicks how to be valued 3 12 why so many before death Renounced the world 2 18 Richard K. of England his voyage to Palestine 3 6 he taketh Sicily and Cyprus in his passage  7 vanquisheth Salad in a set battel  11 in his return he is taken prisoner in Austria and ransomed  13 Richard Earl of Cornwall his voyage to Palestine 4 8 Robert D. of Normandie his valour 1 16 he refuseth the Kingdome of Ierusalem and thriveth not after 2 1 Rodulphus chosen unexpectedly Emperour of Germanie 4 30 sendeth supplies to Syria  ibid. Rodulphus the unhappie Patriarch of Antioch 2 20 S  B. Ch. SAcriledge 5 17 Saladine killeth the Caliph of Egypt 2 37 succeeds in Egypt and Damascus  ibid. conquereth Guy  45 taketh Ierusalem and all Syria  46 his commendations and death 3 14 Scholars without experience no good Generalls 3 24 Scottish service in this warre 1 13 5 23 Sea and land-service compared 4 24 Simon Earl of Montfort concludeth a truce in Syria 3 16 chosen captain against the Albingenses  22 is killed by a woman  ibid. Sidon described wonne by the Christians 2 12 lost to the Sultan of Egypt 4 32 Spanish service in this warre 1 13 5 22 Stephen Patriarch of Ierusalem 2 15 Superstition tainting this whole war 5 9 Suspected souldiers in armies where to be placed 4 10 Sultans their large commissions 2 22 Sweden appeareth not in the Holy warre 1 13 T TArtaria described 1 7 4 2 Tartars their name and nature  ibid. when first known to the world  converted to Christianitie  22 their relapse to Paganisme  26 the occasion  ibid.  B. Ch. Theobald King of Navarre his unhappie voyage 4 7 Titular Bishops their use and abuse 3 2 Pretenders of Titles to the Kingdome of Ierusalem 5 29 Tunis described besieged 4 27 taken by the Christians  28 Turks whence descended 1 7 their large strides into Asia  ibid. harder to be converted then Tartars 4 2 Turkish Empire its greatnesse strength and welfare the weaknesse and defects of it what hopes of its approching ruine 5 30 Tyle Colupp a notable cheater 4 20 Tyre described 2 12 taken by the Christians  17 valiantly defended by Conrade 3 1 wonne by Sultan Alphir 4 32 V  B. Ch. VEnetians performance in this warre 2 17 their bloudie sea-battel with the Genoans 4 24 Vitiousnesse of the Pilgrimes which went to Palestine 1 12 5 16 W WAfer-cake why wrought in the borders of all Egyptian tapestrie 4 18 Welsh service in this warre 5 23 William Patriarch of Ierusalem 2 25 William Landt-grave of Hesse his fictitious voyage to Ierusalem confuted 5 26 Women warriours 1 12 2 27 Wracks first quitted by the Kings of England to their subjects 3 7 FINIS Mart. 13. 1638. Imprimatur Cantabrigiae per Thomam Buck. RA. BROWNRIGG Procan SAM WARD THO. BAINBRIGG THO. BACHCROFTS Anno Dom. 34. 72. * Iosephus lib. 7. belli Iud. Gr. c. 45. Lat. c. 17. * Exod. 12.13 * Adricom is Actis Apost fol. 282. credo ex Hegesipp◠* Suetonius in Tit◠Euseb. Eccl.
Eustace The Turks retired to Solomons temple so called because built in the same place there to take the farewell of their lives In a desperate conflict there the foremost of the Christians were miserably slain thrust upon the weapons of their enemies by their fellows that followed them The pavement so swam that none could go but either through a rivulet of bloud or over a bridge of dead bodies Valour was not wanting in the Turks but superlatively abundant in the Christians till night made them leave off Next morning mercie was proclaimed to all those that would lay down their weapons For though bloud be the best sauce for victorie yet must it not be more then the meat Thus was Jerusalem wonne by the Christians and twentie thousand Turks therein slain on the fifteenth of July being Friday about three of the clock in the afternoon Tyrius findeth a great mysterie in the time because Adam was created on a Friday and on the same day and houre our Saviour suffered But these Synchronismes as when they are naturall they are pretty and pleasing so when violently wrested nothing more poore and ridiculous Then many Christians who all this while had lived in Jerusalem in most lamentable slaverie being glad to lurk in secret as truth oftentimes seeketh corners as fearing her judge though never as suspecting her cause came forth joyfully wellcomed and embraced these the procurers of their liberty Three dayes after it was concluded as a necessarie piece of severitie for their defense to put all the Turks in Jerusalem to death which was accordingly performed without favour to age or sex The pretense was for fear of treason in them if the Emperour of Persia should besiege the citie And some slew them with the same zeal wherewith Saul slew the Gibeonites and thought it unfit that these goats should live in the sheeps pasture But noble Tancred was highly displeased hereat because done in cold bloud it being no slip of an extemporany passion but a studied and premeditated act and that against pardon proclaimed many of them having compounded and paid for their lives and libertie Besides the execution was mercilesse upon sucking children whose not-speaking spake for them and on women whose weaknesse is a shield to defend them against a valiant man To conclude Severitie hot in the fourth degree is little better then poyson and becometh crueltie it self and this act seemeth to be of the same nature The end of the first Book The Historie of the HOLY WARRE Book II. Chap. 1. Robert the Normane refuseth the kingdome of Ierusalem Godfrey of Bouillon chosen king his parentage education and vertues FIght dayes after Jerusalem was wonne they proceeded to the election of a King but they had so much choice that they had no choice at all so many Princes there were and so equally eminent that Justice her self must suspend her verdict not knowing which of them best deserved the Crown Yet it was their pleasure to pitch on Robert the Normane as on the man of highest descent being sonne to a King for great Hugh of France was already returned home pretending the colick though some impute it to cowardlinesse and make the disease not in his bowels but his heart Robert refused this honourable profer whether because he had an eye to the kingdome of England now void by the death of William Rufus or because he accounted Jerusalem would be incumbred with continuall warre But he who would not take the Crown with the Crosse was fain to take the Crosse without the Crown and never thrived afterwards in any thing he undertook Thus they who refuse what God fairly carveth for them do never after cut well for themselves He lived to see much misery and felt more having his eyes put out by king Henry his brother and at last found rest when buried in the now Cathedrall church of Glocester under a woodden monument bearing better proportion to his low fortunes then high birth And since in the same quire he hath got the company of another Prince as unfortunate as himself King Edward the second They go on to a second choice and that they may know the natures of the Princes the better their servants were examined on oath to confesse their masters faults The servants of Godfrey of Bouillon protested their masters onely fault was this That when Mattens were done he would stay so long in the church to know of the Priest the meaning of every image and picture that dinner at home was spoiled by his long tarrying All admired hereat that this mans worst vice should be so great a vertue and unanimously chose him their King He accepted the place but refused the solemnity thereof and would not wear a crown of gold there where the Saviour of mankind had worn a crown of thorns He was sonne to Bustace Duke of Bouillon and Ida his wife daughter and heir to Godfrey Duke of Lorein born saith Tyrius at Bologne a town in Champaigne on the English sea which he mistaketh for Bouillon up higher in the continent neare the county of Lutzenburg Such slips are incident to the pennes of the best authours yea we may see Canterbury mistaken for Cambridge not onely in Munster but even in all our own printed Statute-books in the 12. of Richard the second He was brought up in that school of valour the court of Henry the 4. the Emperour Whilest he lived there there happened an intricate suit betwixt him and another Prince about title of land and because Judges could not untie the knot it was concluded the two Princes should cut it asunder with their sword in a combat Godfrey was very unwilling to fight not that he was the worse souldier but the better Christian he made the demurre not in his courage but in his conscience as conceiving any private title for land not ground enough for a duell Yea we may observe generally that they who long most to fight duells are the first that surfet of them Notwithstanding he yeelded to the tyranny of custome and after the fashion of the countrey entred the lists when at the first encounter his sword brake but he struck his adversary down with the hilt yet so that he saved his life and gained his own inheritance Another parallel act of his valour was when being standard-bearer to the Emperour he with the imperiall ensigne killed Rodulphus the Duke of Saxony in single fight and fed the Eagle on the bowels of that arch-rebell His soul was enriched with many vertues but the most orient of all was his humility which took all mens affections without resistance And though one saith Take away ambition and you take away the spurres of a souldier yet Godfrey without those spurres rode on most triumphantly Chap. 2. The establishing of Ecclesiasticall affairs and Patriarchs in Antioch and Ierusalem the numerosity of Palestine-Bishops BUt now let us leave the Helmets and look
in modico clauditur hoc tumulo Baldwine another Maccabee for might Hope help of State of Church and boths delight Cedar with Egypts Dan of him afraid Bloudy Damascus to him tribute paid Alas here in this tombe is laid Let him who pleaseth play the critick on the divers readings and whether by Dan be meant the Souldan or whether it relateth to the conceit that Antichrist shall come of the tribe of Dan. But perchance the text is not worth a comment Chap. 14. Baldwine the second chosen King Prince Eustace peaceably renounceth his right IT happened the same day King Baldwine was buried that Baldwine de Burgo his kinsman and Count of Edessa came casually into the city intending onely there to keep his Easter when behold the Christian Princes met together for the election of a new King The greater part did centre their suffrages on Prince Eustace brother to the two former Kings but then absent in France They alledged That it was not safe to break the chain of succession where the inversion of order bringeth all to confusion and That it was high ingratitude to the memories of Godfrey and Baldwine to exclude their brother from the crown especially he being fit in all points to be a King wanting nothing but that he wanted to be there That in the mean time some might be deputed to lock up all things safe and to keep the keyes of the State till he should arrive On the other side some objected the dangers of an interregnum how when a State is headlesse every malecontent would make head inconveniences in other countreys would be mischiefs here where they lived in the mouth of their enemies and therefore to stay for a King was the way to lose the Kingdome Then Joceline Prince of Tiberias a man of great authoritie offered himself a moderatour in this difference and counselled both sides to this effect To proceed to a present election and therein to be directed not confined by succession though they missed the next let them take one of Godfreys kindred As the case now stood he must be counted next in bloud that was next at hand and this was Baldwine Count of Edessa on whom he bestowed most superlative praises All were much affected with these his commendations for they knew that Joceline was his sworn adversary and concluded that it must needs be a mighty weight of worth in Baldwine which pressed out praise from the mouth of his enemy though indeed private ends prompted him to make this speech who hoped himself to get the Earldome of Edessa when Baldwine should be translated to Jerusalem However his words took effect and Baldwine hereupon was chosen King and crowned on Easter-day by Arnulphus the Patriarch Mean time some secretly were sent to Prince Eustace to come and challenge the crown But he hearing that another was already in possession though he was on his journey coming quietly went back again A large alms to give away a Kingdome out of his charity to the publick cause Baldwine was of a proper personage and able body born nigh Rhems in France sonne to Hugh Count of Rorster and Millisent his wife He was exceedingly charitable to the poore and pious towards God witnesse the brawn on his hands and knees made with continuall praying valiant also and excellently well seen in all martiall affairs We had almost forgotten what happened in this yeare the death of Alexius the Grecian Emperour that arch-hypocrite and grand enemy of this warre On whom we may bestow this Epitaph If he of men the best doth know to live Who best knows to dissemble justly then To thee Alexius we this praise must give That thou to live didst know the best of men And this was it at last did stop thy breath Thou knew'st not how to counterfeit with death His sonne Calo-Johannes succeeded him in his Empire of whom we shall have much cause to speak hereafter Chap. 15. The ecclesiasticall affairs in this Kings reigne ACcording to our wonted method let us first rid out of the way Church-matters in this Kings reigne that so we may have the more room to follow the affairs of the Common-wealth We left Arnulphus the last Patriarch of Jerusalem since which time the bad savour of his life came to the Popes nose who sent a Legate to depose him But Arnulphus hasted to Rome with much money and there bought himself to be innocent so that he enjoyed his place during his life Guarimund succeeded in his place a very religious man by whom God gave the Christians many victories He called a Councel at Neapolis or Sichem wherein many wholesome things were concluded for reformation of manners Betwixt him and William Archbishop of Tyre an English-man there arose a difference because this Archbishop would not receive his confirmation of him from whom by ancient right he should take it but from the Pope counting it the most honour to hold of the highest landlord And indeed the Pope for gain confirmed him though he should have sent him to the Patriarch But the court of Rome careth not though men steal their corn so be it they bring it to their mills to grind After Guarimunds death Stephen Abbot of S. John de Valia was chosen Patriarch once a cavalleer but afterward laying down the sword he took up the Word and entred into Orders He awaked the Patriarchs title to Jerusalem which had slept during his three predecessours and challenged it very imperiously of the King for he was a man of spirit and metall And indeed he had too much life to live long For the King fearing what flame this spark might kindle and finding him to be an active man gave him as it is suspected a little more active poison which cut him off in the midst of his age and beginning of his projects The King coming to him when he lay on his death-bed asked him how he did To whom he answered My Lord for the present I am as you would have me A cruel murder if true But it is strange that he whose hands as we have said were hardened with frequent prayer should soften them again in innocent bloud Wherefore we will not condemn the memory of a King on doubtfull evidence The Patriarchs place was filled with William Prior of the Sepulchre a Fleming a man better beloved then learned Chap. 16. Knights-Templars and Teutonicks instituted ABout this time the two great orders of Templars and Teutonicks appeared in the world The former under Hugh de Paganis and Ganfred of S. Omer their first founders They agreed in profession with the Hospitallers and performed it alike vowing Poverty Chastity and Obedience and to defend Pilgrimes coming to the Sepulchre It is falsely fathered on S. Bernard that he appointed them their rule who prescribeth not what they should do but onely describeth what they did namely How they were never idle mending their old clothes when wanting other
the Greeks and taking shipping safely arrived in Palestine where he was highly welcomed by Reimund Prince of Antioch Some weeks were spent in complying entertainments and visiting holy places till at last Elianor wife to the King of France who accompanied her husband made religion her pander and played bankrupt of her honour under pretense of pilgrimage keeping company with a base Saracen jester whom she preferred before a King Thus love may blindfold the eyes but lust boreth them out Yea now she pleaded that she might be no longer wife to the King because she was too neare unto him within the degrees forbidden This new-started scruple never troubled her before but some have sluces in their consciences and can keep them open or shut them as occasion requireth Chap. 29. Damascus besieged in vain The return of the Emperour and King with the censure on this voyage THe late-come Pilgrimes having sufficiently recreated themselves the Emperour and the King of France concluded to besiege Damascus for a small town was conceived too narrow an object of their valour whilest so eminent an action was adequate to the undertakers Damascus is so pleasant a citie that Mahomet durst never enter into it lest this deceiver should be deceived himself and be so ravished with the pleasures of the place that he should forget to go on in that great work he had in hand Some make Eliezer Abrahams steward builder of this citie because he is called Eliezer of Damascus though that phrase speaketh him rather to have had his birth or dwelling there then the citie her building from him To passe this by because as the foundations are hidden in the ground so the founders of most ancient places are forgotten It was for many yeares after the Metropolis of Syria and was now straitly besieged by the Christians with great hope of successe had they not afterwards fallen out amongst themselves who should eat the chickens before they were hatched Conrade and King Lewis destined the city to Theodorick Earl of Flanders lately arrived in those parts whilest other Princes which had been long resident in Palestine and born the heat of the warre grudged hereat and their stomachs could not digest the cruditie of a raw upstart to be preferred before them Yea some of the Christians corrupted with Turkish money though when they received it it proved but gilded brasse may all traitours be payed in such coin perswaded the King of France to remove his camp to a stronger part of the walls which they long besieged in vain and returned home at last leaving the city and their honours behind them The French proverb was verified of this voyage Much bruit and little fruit They not onely did no good in the Holy land save that some think their coming advantaged King Baldwine for the taking of the citie of Askelon but also did much harm For now the Turks seeing one citie both bear the brunt and batter the strength of both armies began to conceive that their own fear was their greatest enemy and those swords of these new Pilgrimes which they dreaded in the sheath they sleighted when they saw them drawn and shook off that aw which had formerly possessed them of the strength of the Western Emperour Many thousand Christians perished in this adventure whose souls are pronounced by all the writers of this age to be carried up into heaven on the wings of the holy cause they died for Whose blessed estate I will not disprove nor will I listen to the unhappy Dutch proverb He that bringeth himself into needlesse dangers dieth the devils martyr We must not forget how the French King coming homeward was taken prisoner by the fleet of the Grecian Emperour and rescued again by Gregory Admirall to Roger King of Sicilie When he was safely arrived in France in open Parliament his wife was divorced from him Her nearnesse in bloud was the onely cause specified and the King took no notice of her inconstancy accounting those but foolish husbands who needlessely proclaim their wives dishonesty He gave her back again all the lands in France which he had received with her in portion scorning her wealth which neglected his love Herein he did nobly but not politickly to part with the Dukedomes of Poictou and Aquitain which he enjoyed in her right for he brake his own garland by giving her her flowers back again mangled and dismembred his own kingdome and gave a torch into Henry King of England his hands who afterwards married her to set France on fire Chap. 30. An apologie for S. Bernard whom the vulgar sort condemned for the murderer of those that went this voyage SLander quicker then Martiall law arraigneth condemneth and executeth all in an instant This we may see in poore S. Bernard who was the mark for every mans tongue to shoot arrows against and when this voyage had miscarried many condemned him because his perswasion set this project not onely on foot but on wings as if he had thrust so many men as one morsel into the jaws of death But much may be alledged truly to excuse this good man First he was but an instrument imployed by Pope Eugenius and a Provinciall Councel of French Bishops to forward the designe Rather then should they have blamed his Holinesse who set him on work But the saddle oftentimes is not set on the right horse because his back is too high to be reached and we see commonly that the instruments are made skreens to save the face of the principall from scorching Secondly the true cause of the ill successe was the vitiousnesse of the undertakers For Germany at this time surfeted of lewd people and those grew the fattest which lived on the high-wayes But this voyage robbed the whole countrey of her theeves and then no wonder if they found their death in Asia who deserved it in Europe Heare what Otho Frisingensis who went this voyage speaketh impartially in the matter If we should say that Bernard that holy Abbot was inspired by Gods Spirit to incite us to this warre but we through our pride and wantonnesse not observing his holy commands deservedly brought on our selves the losse of our goods and lives we should say nothing but what is agreeable to reason and to ancient examples However it was an heavy affliction to S. Bernards aged back to bear the reproch of many people it being a great grief for one to be generally condemned as guilty for want of proof of his innocency And though God set his hand to S. Bernards testimoniall by the many miracles which that Father wrought yet still some challenged him for a counterfeit And surely this humiliation was both wholesome and necessary for him For the people who cannot love without doting nor approve without admiring were too much transported with an high opinion of this man and his directions as if that arrow could not misse the mark which came out of S.
lavish physick on him in whom he seeth faciem cadaverosam so that death hath taken possession in the sick mans countenance finding this warre to be desperate and dedecus fortitudinis they even fairly left the Holy land and came into Europe meaning to lay out their valour on some thing that would quit cost But hereof hereafter Chap. 6. Richard of England and Philip of France set forward to the Holy land The danger of the interveiws of Princes THe miseries of the Christians in Syria being reported in Europe made Richard the first King of England and Philip the second surnamed Augustus King of France to make up all private dissensions betwixt them and to unite their forces against the Turks Richard was well stored with men the bones and quickly got money the sinews of warre by a thousand Princely skills gathering so much coin as if he meant not to return because looking back would unbowe his resolution To Hugh Bishop of Duresme for his life he sold the County of Northumberland jesting he had made a new Earl of an old Bishop He sold Barwick and Roxburgh to the Scottish king for ten thousand pounds Yea he protested he would sell his citie of London if any were able to buy it rather then he would be burdensome to his subjects for money But take this as he spake it for a flourish for pretending he had lost his old he made a new seal wherewith he squeezed his subjects and left a deep impression in their purses forcing them to have all their instruments new-sealed which any wayes concerned the Crown Having now provided for himself he forgot not his younger brother John Earl of Morton who was to stay behind him an active man who if he misliked the maintenance was cut for him would make bold to carve for himself Lest therefore straitned for means he should swell into discontent King Richard gave him many Earldomes and honours to the yearly value of foure thousand marks Thus he received the golden saddle but none of the bridle of the Common-wealth honour riches were heaped upon him but no place of trust and command For the King deputed William Bishop of Ely his Viceroy choosing him for that place rather then any lay-Earl because a Coronet perchance may swell into a Crown but never a Mitre For a Clergie-mans calling made him uncapable of usurpation in his own person Thus having settled matters at home he set forth with many of our nation which either ushered or followed him Of these the prime were Baldwine Archbishop of Canterbury Hubert Bishop of Salisburie Robert Earl of Leicester Ralph de Glanvile late chief Justice of England Richard de Clare Walter de Kime c. The Bishops of Duresme and Norwich though they had vowed this voyage were dispensed with by the court of Rome quae nulli deest pecuniam largienti to stay at home His navie he sent about by Spain and with a competent number took his own journey through France At Tours he took his Pilgrimes scrip and staff from the Archbishop His staff at the same time casually brake in pieces which some whose dexteritie lay in sinister interpreting all accidents construed a token of ill successe Likewise when he and the French king with their trains passed over the bridge of Lyons on the fall of the bridge this conceit was built That there would be a falling out betwixt these two Kings which accordingly came to passe their intercourse and familiaritie breeding hatred and discontent betwixt them Yea the interviews of equall Princes have ever been observed dangerous Now Princes measure their equalitie not by the extent of their dominions but by the absolutenesse of their power so that he that is supreme and independent in his own countrey counteth himself equall to any other Prince how great soever Perchance some youthfull Kings may disport and solace themselves one in anothers companie whilest as yet pleasure is all the elevation of their souls But when once they grow sensible of their own greatnesse a lesson they will quickly learn and shall never want teachers then emulation will be betwixt them because at their meeting they cannot so go in equipage but one will still be the foremost Either his person will be more proper or carriage more court-like or attendance more accomplished or attire more fashionable or some thing will either be or conceived to be more majesticall in one then the other And corrivalls in honour count themselves eclipsed by every beam of state which shineth from their competitour Wherefore the best way to keep great Princes together is to keep them asunder accommodating their businesse by Embassadours lest the meeting of their own persons part their affections Chap. 7. King Richard conquereth Sicilie and Cyprus in his passage to the Holy land AT Lyons these two Kings parted their trains and went severall wayes into Sicilie King Richard in his passage though within fifteen miles of Rome wanting forsooth either devotion or manners vouchsafed not to give his Holinesse a visit yea plainly told Octavian Bishop of Ostia the Popes Confessour that having better objects to bestow his eyes on he would not stirre a step to see the Pope Because lately without mercie he had simoniacally extorted a masse of money from the Prelates of England At Messana in Sicilie these two Kings meet again where to complete King Richards joy behold his Navie there safely arriving which with much difficultie and danger had fetched a compasse about Spain And now King Richard by his own experience grew sensible of the miseries which merchants and mariners at sea underwent being alwayes within few inches often within an hairs breadth of death Wherefore now touched with remorse of their pitifull case he resolved to revoke the law of Wracks as a law so just that it was even unjust For formerly both in England and Normandie the Crown was intituled to shipwrackt goods and the King jure gentium made heir unto them which otherwise jure naturali were conceived to be in bonis nullius pertaining to no owner But now our Richard refused to make advantage of such pitifull accidents and to strip poore mariners out of those rags of their estates which the mercie and modestie of the waves and winds had left them And therefore on the moneth of October at Messana in the presence of many Archbishops and Bishops he for ever quitted the claim to Wracks So that if any man out of the ship cometh alive to the shore the propertie of the shipwrackt goods is still preserved to the owner Yea this grant was so enlarged by our succeeding Kings that if a dogge or a cat escaped alive to land the goods still remained the owners if he claimed them within a yeare and a day Tankred at this time was King of Sicilie a bastard born and no wonder if climbing up to the throne the wrong way he shaked when he sat down Besides he was
this day confesse not to the beholders that any such cost was ever bestowed there He also caused the corpses of the Christians killed at the late battel at Gaza and hitherto unburied decently to be interred and appointed an annuall salarie to a Priest to pray for their souls Hereby he had the happinesse with little cost to purchase much credit and the living being much taken with kindnesse to the dead this burying of those Christians with pious persons wonne him as much repute as if he killed so many Turks At last the truce for ten yeares was concluded with the Sultan all Christian captives were discharged and set free many forts of them restored and matters for the main reduced to the same estate they were at the first peace with Frederick the Emperour and Richard returning through Sicily and by Rome where he visited his Holinesse safely came home to England Where he was welcomed with bad news that a discontented Cornish man banished for his misdemeanours had found out tinne-mines in Bohemia which afterwards more asswaged the swelling of this Earls bags then all his voyage to Palestine For till that time that metall was onely fetched from England which afforded meat to some forrein countreys and dishes to all His voyage was variously censured The Templars which consented not to the peace flouted thereat as if all this while he had laboured about a difficult nothing and as good never a whit as never the better for the agreement would never hold long Others thought he had abundantly satisfied any rationall expectation For he compelled saith one the Saracens to truce a strange compulsion without violence except the shewing of a scabbard he restored many to the life of their life their liberty which alone was worth all his pains the peace he concluded was honourable and a cheap Olive-branch is better then deare Bayes Two of our English Richards were at Palestine one famous for drawing his sword the other his purse He was also remarkable herein that he brought all his men and ships safe home next of kin to a miracle and none will deny but that in such dangerous adventures a saver is a gainer One good he got hereby This journey brought him into play amongst forrein Princes henceforward the beyond-sea-world took notice of him and he of it Never would he have had the face to have courted the Crown Imperiall if these his travels had not put boldnesse and audacity into him which made him afterwards a stiff rivall to bid for the Empire of Germany Chap. 9. The Corasines cruelly sack the city of Ierusalem and kill the Christians therein ABout this time though we find not the punctuall date thereof happened the death of Reinoldus Fredericks Lieutenant in Syria who by his moderation had been a good benefactour to the Holy warre But the Templars counted him to want metall because he would not be mad and causelesly break the truce with the Sultan In his grave was buried the happinesse of the Christians in Palestine for now the lawlesse Templars observe no other rule but their own will And now the inundation of the Tartarians in spite of all dammes and banks overranne the North of Asia and many nations fled from their own countreys for fear of them Amongst other the Corasines called by some Choermines and Groissoms a fierce and warlike people were notwithstanding by the Tartarians forced to forsake their land Being thus unkennelled they had their recourse to the Sultan of Babylon and petitioned him to bestow some habitation upon them Their suit he could neither safely grant nor deny A deniall would egge their discontents into desperatenesse and such sturdy dangerous vagabonds might do much harm to admit them to be joynt-tenants in the same countrey with the Turks was a present inconvenience and would be a future mischief In stead therefore of giving them a house he sent them to a work-house yet so that they apprehended it a great courtesie done unto them For he bestowed on them all the lands which the Christians held in Palestine liberall to give away what was none of his and what the others must purchase before they could enjoy The Sultan encouraged them to invade that countrey whose people he pretended were weak and few the land wealthy and fruitfull so that the conquest would be easie especially they having his assistance in the present service and perpetuall patronage hereafter Animated herewith in come the Corasines with their wives and children bringing their housholds with them to win houses and lands for them into Syria and march directly to Jerusalem which being a weak and unfortified place was taken without resistance Weak and unfortified Strange It is confessed on all sides that Frederick the Emperour and Reinoldus his Lieutenant spared no expense in strengthening this city since which time we find no solemn taking it by the Turks Who then can expect lesse then an impregnable place where so much cost was sown Which driveth us to conceive one of these three things Either that the weaknesse of this citie was chiefly in the defenders hearts Or else that formerly there happened some blind and silent dispoiling of this place not mentioned by Authours Or lastly that Jerusalem was a Jericho I mean a place cursed in building like Pharaohs lean kine never a whit the fatter for devouring much meat and which still went in rags though her friends bestowed change of raiment upon her Thus this city after that it had been possessed fifteen yeares by the Christians was wonne by this barbarous people never since regained to our religion Sleep Jerusalem sleep in thy ruines at this day of little beauty and lesse strength famous onely for what thou hast been The Christians flying out of Jerusalem with their families took their course towards Joppa but looking back beheld their own ensignes advanced on the citie-walls so done in policie by their enemies Whereupon their credulity thus commented That their fellows had beaten the Corasines in Jerusalem and by these banners invited them to return But going back they found but cold or rather too hot entertainment being slain every mothers child of them Dull nostrils not to sent so stale and rank a stratageme of their foes so often used so easily defeated not to send some spies to tast the bait before all swallowed it But men marked out for destruction will runne their own heads into the halter Chap. 10. Robert Patriarch of Ierusalem with the whole strength of the Christians conquered by the Corasines THe desperatenesse of the disease priviledgeth the taking of any Physick The Christians being now in deep distresse resolved on a dangerous course but as their case stood thought necessary For they made peace with the Sultan of Damascus and Seisser and with the Sultan of Cracci These were Dynastes in Syria of some good strength and were at discord with the Sultan of Babylon and swearing them to be faithfull borrowed an armie of their forces
from all the rest in the wood namely that what specious shews soever were pretended the true cause of their ruine was that they began to desert the Pope and adhere to the Emperour If this was true no doubt they were deeply guiltie and deserved the hard measure they suffered Sure I am how-ever at this time they might turn edge they had formerly been true blades for his Holinesse All Europe followed the copie that France had set them Here in England King Edward the second of that name suppressed the Order and put them to death So by vertue of a writ sent from him to Sir John Wogan Lord chief Justice in Ireland were they served there and such was the secrecie of the contrivance of the businesse that the storm fell upon them before they saw it and all crannies were so closely stopped that none could steal a glimpse of the mischief intended against them In Germanie they found some mercie and milder dealing for Hugh Wildgrave coming with twenty of his Order all in armour into a Councel of Dutch Bishops who intended to execute the sentence of the Pope upon them there protested his innocencie and appealed to the next Pope who should succeed Clement as to his competent judge Hereupon their lives were spared onely they were forced to renounce the name of Templars and to enter themselves into other Orders chiefly of Hospitallers and Teutonicks on whom their lands were bestowed We will conclude all with that resolution of a brace of Spanish writers who make this epilogue to this wofull tragedie Concerning these Templars whether they were guiltie or not let us suspend our censure till the day of judgement and then and no sooner shall we certainly be informed therein Chap. 4. Of the Teutonick Order When they left Palestine and on what conditions they were entertained in Prussia Their Order at last dissolved FRequent mention hath been formerly made of the Teutonick Order or that of Dutch Knights who behaved themselves right valiantly clean through the Holy warre And which foundeth much to their honour they cannot be touched either for treason or faction but were both loyall and peaceable in the whole service But at last they perceived that by the course of the cards they must needs rise losers if they continued the warre in the Holy land and even resolved to abandon it It happened at the same time that Conrade Duke of Mazovia offered them most honourable conditions namely the enjoying of Prussia on condition they would defend it against the Infidels which annoyed it Indeed the fratres gladiferi or sword-bearing brothers brave slashing lads undertook that task but finding either their arms too weak or swords too blunt to strike through their enemies they imployed the aid of and conjoyned themselves to this Teutonick Order Hereupon in the yeare of our Lord 1239 Hermannus de Saltza fourth Master of these Dutch Knights came with most of his Order into Prussia yet so that he left a competent number of them still in Palestine which continued and did good service there even to the taking of Ptolemais But the greater number of these Dutch Knights in Prussia did knight-service against the Tartarians and were Christendomes best bank against the inundations of those barbarous people By their endeavours the Prussians which before were but heathen-Christians were wholly converted many a brave citie builded specially Marienburg where formerly a great oak stood who would think so many beautifull buildings would spring out of the root of one tree and those countreys of Prussia and Livonia which formerly were the course list are now become the rich fringe of Europe At last the Prussians grew weary of the tyrannous oppression of those Dutch Knighâ—â— as appeareth by the grievances they presented and applied themselves to Casimire King of Poland He took to task Lewis Erlinsufe the Master of their Order and so ordered him that whereas before he pleaded himself to be a free Prince of the Empire hereafter he should acknowledge the King of Poland for his Lord and Master The successours to this Lewis fretted against this agreement as prejudiciall to them They could do no lesse then complain and could do little more for the King of Poland in spite of their resistance held them to their agreements Albert of the house of Brandenburg was the last grand Master of this Order and first Duke of Prussia He brake the vow of their Order losing his virginitie to keep his chastitie and married Dorothie daughter to the King of Denmark The other Teutonicks protested against him and chose Gualther Croneberg in his room Yea Albert was proscribed in a Diet in Germanie and his goods confiscated but the proscription never executed the Emperour of Germanie being the same time employed in matters of greater moment which more nearly concerned himself And thus in this Albert for ought we can find to the contrarie the Teutonick Order had its end and was quite dissolved Chap. 5. The severall flittings of the Knights-Hospitallers from Cyprus by Rhodes Nice Syracuse to Malta WE must now wait on the Hospitallers to their lodgings and we have done We left them driven from Ptolemais and landed at Cyprus where King Henry courteously entertained them But a friends house is no home Hence therefore they were conveyed to their severall Alberges in Europe But such active spirits could not long be idle such running streams would not end in a standing pond Wherefore they used all their own strength and improved their interest with all their benefactours to furnish out a fleet Which done under Fulk de Vilderet their grand Master they wonne the Island of Rhodes from the Turks eighteen yeares after Ptolemais was lost and there seated themselves Besides Rhodes they also enjoyed these five adjacent Islands saith my Authour Nicoria Episcopia Iolli Limonia and Sirana places so small that consulting with maps will not find them out enough almost to make us think with Tertullian of Delos that once there were such Islands which at this day are quite vanished away Two hundred and fourteen yeares to the terrour of the Turks comfort of the Christians and their own immortall fame they maintained this Island and secured the seas for the passage of Pilgrimes to Jerusalem till at last in the yeare 1523 after six moneths siege they surrendred the citie to their own honour and shame of other Christians who sent them no succour in season Yet changing their place they kept their resolution to be honourably imployed Hence they sailed to Nice in Piemont a citie lying opposite to Africa from whence the Moores and Saracens much infested Christendome Wherefore Charles Duke of Savoy bestowed that citie upon them to defend it counting the courtesie rather done to him then by him that they would accept it Afterwards they perceived it was more needfull to stop the Turks invasions then their pillagings They had lately wonne Buda and as it was thought would quickly stride over the Adriatick sea