devoured the mother and wealth impaired religion Chap. 12. The qualitie and condition of those people who undertook the warre IT is not to be expected that all should be fish which is caught in a drag-net neither that all should be good and religious people who were adventurers in an action of so large a capacitie as this warre was We must in charitie allow that many of them were truly zealous and went with pious intents These were like to those of whom Bellarmine speaketh who had no fault praeter nimiam sanctitatem too much sanctitie which a learned man interpreteth too much superstition But besides these well-meaning people there went also a rabble-rout rather for companie then conscience Debters took this voyage on them as an acquittance from their debts to the defrauding of their creditours Servants counted the conditions of their service cancelled by it going away against their masters will Theeves and murderers took upon them the crosse to escape the gallows Adulterers did penance in their armour A lamentable case that the devils black guard should be Gods souldiers And no wonder if the successe was as bad as some of the adventurers especially seeing they retained their old conditions under a new climate And as if this voyage had been like to repentance never too soon nor too late for any to begin not onely green striplings unripe for warre but also decayed men to whom age had given a writ of ease became souldiers and those who at home should have waited on their own graves went farre to visit Christs sepulchre And which was more women as if they would make the tale of the Amazons truth went with weapons in mens clothes a behaviour at the best immodest and modesty being the case of chastitie it is to be feared that where the case is broken the jewel is lost This enterprise was also the mother of much non-residence many Prelates and Friars fitter to handle a pen-knife then a sword left their covents and pastorall charges to follow this businesse The totall summe of those pilgrime-souldiers amounted to three hundred thousand and some writers do double that number No doubt the Christians army had been greater if it had been lesse for the belly was too big for the head and a medley of nations did rather burden then strengthen it Besides the armie was like a cloth of many colours and more seams which seams though they were curiously drawn up for the present yet after long wearing began to be seen and at last brake out into open rents Chap. 13. The adventurers sorted according to their severall nations THe French Dutch Italian and English were the foure elementall nations whereof this army was compounded of these the French were predominant they were the cape-merchants in this adventure That nimble nation first apprehended the project and eagerly prosecuted it As their language wanteth one proper word to expresse Stand so their natures mislike a settled fixed posture and delight in motion and agitation of businesse Yea France as being then best at leisure contributed more souldiers to this warre then all Christendome besides The signall men were Hugh surnamed le Grand brother to the King of France Godfrey Duke of Bouillon Baldwine and Eustace his younger brethren Stephen Earl of Bloys father to Stephen afterwards King of England Reimund Earl of Tholouse Robert Earl of Flanders Hugh Earl of Saint-Paul Baldwine de Burge with many more besides of the Clergie Aimar Bishop of Puy and Legate to the Pope and William Bishop of Orange Germanie is slandered to have sent none to this warre at this first voyage and that other pilgrimes passing through that countrey were mocked by the Dutch and called fools for their pains It is true the Germane adventurers in number answered not the largenesse and populousnesse of their countrey for Henry the Emperour a Prince whom the Pope long hacked at and hewed him off at last being desirous to go this voyage was tied up at home with civill discords Yet we find a competencie of souldiers of that nation besides those under Godescalcus a Priest Emmicho the Rhene-grave and Count Herman their leaders But though Germanie was backward at the first yet afterwards it proved the main Atlas of the warre that nation like a heavie bell was long a raising but being got up made a loud sound Italy sent few out of her heart and middle provinces nigh Rome The Pope was loth to adventure his darlings into danger those white-boyes were to stay at home with his Holinesse their tender father Wherefore he dispensed with them for going as knowing how to use their help nearer and to greater profit Peters patrimonie must as well be looked to as Christs sepulchre But though the Pope would spend none of his own fewel he burnt the best stakes of the Emperours hedge and furthered the Imperiall partie to consume it self in this tedious warre Out of the furthermost parts of Italie Boemund Prince of Tarentum and Tancred his nephew both of the Normane seed though growing on the Apulian soyl led an army of twelve thousand men And Lombardy was also very liberall of her souldiers towards this expedition England the Popes pack-horse in that age which seldome rested in the stable when there was any work to be done sent many brave men under Robert Duke of Normandy brother to William Rufus as Beauchamp and others whose names are lost Neither surely did the Irish-mens feet stick in their bogs though we find no particular mention of their atchievements Spain had other use for her swords against the Saracens at home and therefore sent none of her men abroad As one saith The Spaniards did follow their own Holy warre a work more necessary and no lesse honourable Thus they acted the same part though not on the same stage with our Pilgrimes as being also imployed in fight against the infidels Poland had the same excuse for not much appearing clean through this warre because she lieth bordering on the Tartars in her appendant countrey of Lituania and therefore was busied in making good her frontiers Besides no wonder if Prussia Lituania and Livonia were not up in this service for it was scarce break of day with them and the sunne of the Gospel was newly if at all risen in those parts Yea Poland was so farre from sending men hither that she fetcht them from hence and afterwards implored the aid of the Teutonick order who came out of Palestine to assist her against her enemies Hungary might bring filling-stones to this building but few foundation or corner-stones and at this time had no commander of note in this action Scotland also presenteth us not with any remarkable piece of service which her men performed in all this warre It was not want of devotion which was hot enough in that cold countrey rather we may impute it to want of shipping that countrey being little powerfull at sea or which is most
truth thereof If any object That the head of the same Saint is shewed at severall places the whole answer is by a Synecdoche That a part is put for the whole As for the common exception against the Crosse That so many severall pieces thereof are shown which put together would break the back of Simon of Cyrene to bear them it is answered Distrahitur non diminuitur and like the loaves in the Gospel it is miraculously multiplied in the dividing If all these fail Baronius hath a rasour shaveth all scruple clear away For saith he Quicquid sit fides purgat facinus So that he worshippeth the false Reliques of a true Saint God taketh his good intention in good worth though he adore the hand of Esau for the hand of Jacob. But enough of these fooleries Chap. 13. King Richard taken prisoner in Austria sold and sent to the Emperour dearly ransomed returneth home KIng Richard setting sail from Syria the sea and wind favoured him till he came into the Adriatick and on the coasts of Istria he suffered shipwrack Wherefore he intended to pierce through Germanie by land the next way home But the nearnesse of the way is to be measured not by the shortnesse but the safenesse of it He disguised himself to be one Hugo a merchant whose onely commodity was himself whereof he made but a bad bargain For he was discovered in an inne in Austria because he disguised his person not his expenses so that the very policie of an hostesse finding his purse so farre above his clothes did detect him Yea saith mine Authour Facies orbi terrarum nota ignorari non potuit The rude people flocking together used him with insolencies unworthy him worthy themselves and they who would shake at the tail of this loose Lion durst laugh at his face now they saw him in a grate Yet all the weight of their cruelty did not bow him beneath a Princely carriage Leopoldus Duke of Austria hearing hereof as being Lord of the soil seised on this Royall stray meaning now to get his peny-worths out of him for the affront done unto him in Palestine Not long after the Duke sold him to Henry the Emperour for his harsh nature surnamed Asper and it might have been Savus being but one degree from a tyrant He kept King Richard in bands charging him with a thousand faults committed by him in Sicilie Cyprus and Palestine The proofs were as slender as the crimes grosse and Richard having an eloquent tongue innocent heart and bold spirit acquitted himself in the judgement of all the hearers At last he was ransomed for an hundred and fourty thousand marks Collen weight A summe so vast in that age before the Indies had overflowed all Europe with their gold and silver that to raise it in England they were forced to sell their Church-plate to their very chalices Whereupon out of most deep Divinity it was concluded That they should not celebrate the Sacrament in glasse for the brittlenesse of it nor in wood for the sponginesse of it which would suck up the bloud nor in alchymie because it was subject to rusting nor in copper because that would provoke vomiting but in chalices of latten which belike was a metall without exception And such were used in England for some hundred yeares after untill at last John Stafford Archbishop of Canterbury when the land was more replenished with silver in knotteth that Priest in the greater excommunication that should consecrate Poculum stanneum After this money Peter of Bloys who had drunk as deep of Helicon as any of that age sendeth this good prayer making an apostrophe to the Emperour or to the Duke of Austria or to both together Bibe nunc avaritia Dum puteos argenteos Larga diffundit Anglia Tua tecum pecunia Sit in perditionem And now thou basest avarice Drink till thy belly burst Whil'st England poures large silver showres To satiate thy thirst And this we pray Thy money may And thou be like accurst The ransome partly payed the rest secured by hostages King Richard much befriended by the Dutch Prelacie after eighteen moneths imprisonment returned into England The Archbishop of Cullen in the presence of King Richard as he passed by brought in these words in saying masse Now I know that God hath sent his angel and hath delivered thee out of the hand of Herod and from the expectation of the people c. But his soul was more healthfull for this bitter physick and he amended his manners better loving his Queen Beringaria whom he slighted before As souldiers too often love women better then wives Leave we him now in England where his presence fixed the loyaltie of many of his unsettled subjects whilest in Austria the Duke with his money built the walls of Vienna So that the best stones and morter of that bulwark of Christendome are beholden to the English coin We must not forget how Gods judgements overtook this Duke punishing his dominions with fire and water which two elements cannot be Kings but they must be tyrants by famine the eares of wheat turned into worms by a gangrene seising on the Dukes body who cut off his leg with his own hand and died thereof Who by his testament if not by his will caused some thousand crowns to be restored again to King Richard Chap. 14. The death of Saladine His commendation even with truth but almost above belief SOon after Saladine the terrour of the East ended his life having reigned sixteen yeares Consider him as a man or a Prince he was both wayes admirable Many Historians like some painters which rather shew their skill in drawing a curious face then in making it like to him whom it should resemble describe Princes rather what they should be then what they were not shewing so much their goodnesse as their own wits But finding this Saladine so generally commended of all writers we have no cause to distrust this his true character His wisdome was great in that he was able to advise and greater in that he was willing to be advised Never so wedded to his own resolves but on good ground he would be divorced from them His valour was not over-free but would well answer the spurre when need required In his victories he was much beholden to the advantage of season place and number and seldome wrested the garland of honour from an arm as strong as his own He ever marched in person into the field remembring that his predecessours the Caliphs of Egypt brake themselves by using Factours and imploying of Souldans His temperance was great diet sparing sleep moderate not to pamper nature but keep it in repair His greatest recreation was variety and exchange of work Pleasures he rather sipped then drank off sometimes more to content others then please himself Wives he might have kept sans number but stinted himself to one or two using them rather for posterity then
Kings of Naples 9 The Princes of Antioch 10 The Counts of Brienne 11 The Kings of Armenia 12 The Kings of Hungarie 13 The Kings of Aragon 14 The Dukes of Anjou 15 The Dukes of Loraine 16 Lewis the eleventh King of France 17 The Dukes of Bourbon 18 The Dukes of Savoy 19 Iames de Lusigna base sonne to the King of Cyprus 20 Charles de Lusigna sonne to the Prince of Galilee 21 The State of Genoa 22 The Marquesse of Montferrat 23 The Count of la-Vall 24 The Arch-duke of Nize 25 The Sultan of Egypt 26 The Emperour of the Turks It seemeth by the naming of Lewis the eleventh and James the bastard of Cyprus that this list was taken about the yeare 1466. And now how would a Herald sweat with scouring over these time-rustie titles to shew whence these Princes derived their severall claims and in whom the right resteth at this day when his work is done who should pay him his wages My clew of thread is not strong enough on the guidance thereof for me to venture into this labyrinth of Pedegrees we will content our selves with these generall observations 1. It seemeth this catalogue containeth as well those who had jus in Regno as those who had jus ad Regnum as namely the Prince of Thorone and Patriarchs of Jerusalem and State of Genoa whose ambition surely soared not so high as to claim the Kingdome of Jerusalem but rather perched it self upon some lands and Signories challenged therein 2. A small matter will serve to intitle a Prince to a titular Kingdome In this case Kings can better digest corrivals where they be many and all challenge what is worth nothing In this catalogue it seemeth some onely intitle themselves out of good fellowship and love of good companie These like squirrels recover themselves and climbe up to a claim on the least bough twig yea leaf of a Right Thus the Counts of Brienne in France if any still remain of that house gave away their cake and kept it still in that John Bren parted with his right to this Kingdome in match with Iole his daughter to Frederick the second Emperour and yet the Earls of his familie pretend still to Jerusalem 3. We may beleeve that by matches and under-matches some of these titles may reside in private Gentlemen especially in France And what wonder seeing within fourteen generations the royall bloud of the Kings of Judah ran in the veins of plain Joseph a painfull carpenter 4. At this day some of those titles are finally extinct as that of the Emperours of the East conquered by the Ottoman familie Their Imperiall Eagle was so farre from beholding the sunne that the half-moon dazzled yea quite put out his eyes Rank in the same form the Kings of Armenia and Sultans of Egypt 5. Some of these titles are translated That of the Lusignans Kings of Cyprus probably passed with that Island to the State of Venice The claim of the Hungarian Kings seemeth at this day to remain in the Germane Emperour 6. Some united The claim of the Arch-dukes of Nize a style I meet not with elsewhere twisted with that of the Duke of Savoy The Kings of Naples and Aragon now joyned in the King of Spain 7. Of those which are extant at this day Englands appeareth first our Richard receiving it in exchange of King Guy for the Island of Cyprus Guy's resignation was voluntarie and publick the world was witnesse to it He truly received a valuable consideration which his heirs long peaceably enjoyed and our English Kings styled themselves Kings of Jerusalem till afterwards they disused it for reasons best known to themselves Our Poet Harding in a paper he presented to King Henry the sixth cleareth another double title of our Kings thereunto And because some palates love the mouldie best and place the goodnesse of old verses in the badnesse of them take them as they fell from his penne To Ierusalem I say ye have great right From Erle Geffray that hight Plantogenet Of Aungeâ—y Erle a Prince of passyng might The eldest sonne of Fouke and first beget King of Ierusalem by his wife dewly set Whose sonne Geffray foresaid gat on his wife Henry the second that was known full rife Yet have ye more from Bawldwyne Paralytious King afterward to the same King Henry The Crown sent and his Banner pretious As very heire of whole Auncestrie Descent of bloud by title lineally From Godfray Boleyn and Robert Curthose That Kings were thereof and chose 8. Then cometh forth the Popes title who claimeth it many wayes Either because he was the first and chiefest mover and advancer of this warre Lord Paramont of this action and all the Pilgrimes no better then his servants and then according to the rule in Civil law Quodâ—unque per servum acquiritur id Domino acquiritâ—r suo Or else he challengeth it from John Bren who subjected that Kingdome to the See of Rome and yet the said John used the style of Jerusalem all the dayes of his life and also gave it away in match with his daughter Or else he deriveth it as forfeited to him by the Emperour Frederick the second and his sonnes for taking arms against the Church But what need these farre-abouts They go the shortest cut who accounting the Pope Gods Lieutenant on earth though by a Commission of his own penning give him a temporall power especially in ordine ad spiritualia over all the Kingdomes of the world The originall right of Jerusalem he still keepeth in himself yet hath successively gratified many Princes with a title derived from him Nor shineth his candle the dimmer by lighting of others First he bestowed his title on Charles of Anjou King of Sicilie from which root spring the many-branched French competitours and since hath conferred the same on the house of Aragon or King of Spain Which King alone weareth it in his style at this day and maketh continuall warre with the Turk who detaineth Jerusalem from him Yea all West-Christendome oweth her quiet sleep to his constant waking who with his galleys muzzleth the mouth of Tunis and Algier Yea God in his providence hath so ordered it that the Dominions of Catholick Princes as they term them are the case and cover on the East and South to keep and fense the Protestant countreys The quit-rent which the King of Spain payeth yearly to the Pope for the Kingdomes of Jerusalem Naples and Sicilie is foure thousand crowns sent to his Holinesse upon a hackney Who grudgeth his tenant so great a penie-worth yet cannot help himself except he would follow the Friars advice To send home the Spanish Hackney with a great Horse after him What credit there is to be given to that through-old if not doting prophecie That a Spaniard shall one day recover Jerusalem we leave to the censure of others and mean time we will conclude more serious matters with this pleasant passage When the
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.
affrighted into good works for fear of Purgatory no wonder if devout Godfrey were pliable to any demand Pierce Plowman maketh a witty wonder why Friers should covet rather to confesse and bury then to christen children intimating it proceeded from covetousnesse there being gain to be gotten by the one none by the other And this was the age wherein the Covents got their best living by the dying which made them contrary to all other people most to worship the sunne setting Chap. 6. Godfreys death and buriall AUthours differ on the death of this noble King some making him to die of that long-wasting sicknesse others of the plague It may be the plague took him out of the hands of that lingring disease and quickly cut off what that had been long in fretting He died July 18. having reigned one yeare wanting five dayes A Prince valiant pious bountifull to the Church for besides what he gave to the Patriarch he founded Canons in the temple of the Sepulchre and a monasterie in the vale of Jehoshaphat We would say his death was very unseasonable leaving the orphane State not onely in its minority but its infancy but that that fruit which to mans apprehension is blown down green and untimely is gathered full-ripe in Gods providence He was buried in the temple of the Sepulchre where his tombe is unviolated at this day whether out of a religion the Turks bear to the place or out of honour to his memory or out of a valiant scorn to fight against dead bones or perchance the Turks are minded as John King of England was who being wished by a Courtier to untombe the bones of one who whilest he was living had been his great enemy Oh no said King John would all mine enemies were as honourably buried Chap. 7. Baldwine chosen King He keepeth Ierusalem in despite of the Patriarch GOdfrey being dead the Christians with a joint consent dispatched an embassie to Baldwine his brother Count of Edessa a city in Arabia the lord whereof had adopted this Baldwine to be his heir entreated him to accept of the Kingdome which honourable offer he courteously embraced A Prince whose body Nature cut of the largest size being like Saul higher by the head then his subjects And though the Goths had a law alwayes to choose a short thick man for their King yet surely a goodly statuâ—e is most majesticall His hair and beard brown face fair with an eagles nose which in the Persian Kings was anciently observed as a mark of magnanimity Bred he was a scholar entred into Orders and was Prebendary in the churches of Rhems Liege and Cambray but afterwards turned secular Prince as our Athelwulphus who exchanged the mitre of Winchester for the crown of England Yet Baldwine put not off his scholarship with his habit but made good use thereof in his reigne For though bookishnesse may unactive yet learning doth accomplish a Prince and maketh him sway his sceptre the steadier He was properly the first King of Jerusalem his brother Godfrey never accounted more then a Duke and was crowned on Christmasse-day The reason that made him assume the name of a King was thereby to strike the greater terrour into the Pagans Thus our Kings of England from the dayes of King John were styled but Lords of Ireland till Henry the 8. first entitled himself King because Lord was sleighted by the seditious rebells As for that religious scruple which Godfrey made to wear a crown of gold where Christ wore one of thorns Baldwine easily dispensed therewith And surely in these things the mind is all A crown might be refused with pride and worn with humility But before his Coronation there was a tough bickering about the city of Jerusalem Dabert the Patriarch on the death of Godfrey devoured Jerusalem and the towre of David in his hope but coming to take possession found the place too hot for him For Garnier Earl of Gretz in the behalf of King Baldwine who was not as yet returned from Edessa manned it against him But so it happened that this valiant Earl died three dayes after which by Dabert was counted a just judgement of God upon him for his sacriledge Now though it be piety to impute all events to Gods hand yet to say that this mans death was for such a sinne sheweth too much presumption towards God and too little charity towards our neighbour Indeed if sudden death had singled out this Earl alone it had somewhat favoured their censure but there was then a generall mortality in the city which swept away thousands and which is most materiall what this Patriarch interpreted sacriledge others accounted loyalty to his Sovereigne As for that donation of the city of Jerusalem and towre of David which Godfrey gave to the Patriarch some thought that this gift overthrew it self with its own greatnesse being so immoderately large others supposed it was but a personall act of Godfrey and therefore died with the giver as conceiving his successours not obliged to perform it because it was unreasonable that a Prince should in such sort fetter and restrain those which should come after him Sure it is that Baldwine having both the stronger sword and possession of the citie kept it perforce whilest the Patriarch took that leave which is allowed to loosers to talk chafe and complain sending his bemoning letters to Boemund Prince of Antioch inviting him to take arms and by violence to recover the Churches right but from him received the uselesse assistance of his pity and that was all Chap. 8. The Church-story during this Kings reigne A chain of successive Patriarchs Dabert Ebremare Gibelline and Arnulphus Their severall characters AFterwards this breach betwixt the King and Patriarch was made up by the mediation of some friends but the skinne onely was drawn over not dead flesh drawn out of the wound and Arnulphus whom we mentioned before discontented for his losse of the Patriarchs place still kept the sore raw betwixt them At last Dabertus the Patriarch was fain to flee to Antioch where he had plentifull maintenance allowed him by Bernard Patriarch of that See But he was too high in the instep to wear another mans shoes and conceived himself to be but in a charitable prison whilest he lived on anothers benevolence Wherefore hence he hasted to Rome complained to the Pope and received from his Holinesse a command to King Baldwine to be reestablished in the Patriarchs place but returning home died by the way at Messana in Sicily being accounted seven yeares Patriarch foure at home and three in banishment Whilest Dabert was thrust out one Ebremarus was made Patriarch against his will by King Baldwine An holy and devout man but he had more of the dove then the serpent and was none of the deepest reach He hearing that he was complained of to the Pope for his irregular election posted to Rome
so that their luxury differed from Elias his austerity as much as velvet from sackcloth Wherefore that the Carmelites came from mount Carmel cannot be denied But on that mountain I find that both Elias and Baals priests gathered together and let the indifferent reader judge which of them their lives do most resemble Afterwards Pope Honorius 3. counting the party-coloured coats these Carmelites did wear to be too gaudy caused them to wear onely white the colour which nature doth die simple and therefore fittest for religion But Melexala King of Egypt who formerly was very bountifull to the Carmelites knew not his Alms-men in their new coats but changed his love as they their livery and persecuted them out of all Egypt It seemeth afterwards by the complaint of Mantuan that they wore some black again over their white For he playeth on them as if their bad manners had blacked and altered their clothes Now though Palestine was their mother England was their best nurse Ralph Fresburg about the yeare 1240 first brought them hither and they were first seated at Newenden in Kent An hundred and fourty English writers have been of this order And here they flourished in great pomp till at last King Henry the 8. as they came out of the wildernesse so turned their houses into a wildernesse not onely breaking the necks of all Abbeys in England but also scattering abroad their very bones past possibility of recouniting them Chap. 27. Edessa lost The hopefull voyage of Conrade the Emperour and Lewis King of France to the Holy land blasted by the perfidiousnesse of Emmanuel the Grecian Emperour EMpires have their set bounds whither when they come they stand still go back fall down This we may see in the kingdome of Jerusalem which under Godfrey and the two first Baldwines was a gainer under Fulk a saver under the succeeding Kings a constant loser till all was gone For now Sanguin Prince of the Turks as bloudy as his name wrested from the Christians the countrey and city of Edessa one of the foure Tetrarchies of the kingdome of Jerusalem And though Sanguin shortly after was stabbed at a feast yet Noradine his sonne succeeded and exceeded him in cruelty against the Christians The losse of Edessa wherein our religion had flourished ever since the Apostles time moved Conrade Emperour of the West and Lewis the 7. surnamed the Young King of France to undertake a voyage to the Holy land Pope Eugenius the 3. bestirred himself in the matter and made S. Bernard his soliciter to advance the designe For never could so much steel have been drawn into the east had not this good mans perswasion been the loadstone The Emperours army contained two hundred thousand foot besides fifty thousand horse Nor was the army of King Lewis much inferiour in number In France they sent a distaff and a spindle to all those able men that went not with them as upbraiding their effeminatenesse And no wonder when women themselves went in armour having a brave lasse like another Penthesilea for their leader so befringed with gold that they called her Golden-foot riding astride like men which I should count more strange but that I find all women in England in the same posture on their horses till Anna wife to King Richard the second some 200 yeares since taught them a more modest behaviour The Turks did quake hearing of these preparations which to them were reported farre greater then they were fame contrary to all other painters making those things the greatest which are presented the farthest off Conrade with his army took his way through Grecia where Emmanuel the Emperour possessed with an hereditary fear of the Latines fortified his cities in the way as knowing there needed strong banks where such a stream of people was to passe And suspecting that if these Pilgrimes often made his Empire their high-way into Palestine little grasse would grow in so troden a path and his countrey thereby be much endamaged he used them most treacherously giving them bad welcome that he might no more have such guests To increase their miseries as the Dutch encamped by the river Melas if that may be called a river which is all mud in summer all sea in winter deserving his name from this black and dismall accident it drowned many with its sudden overflowings as if it had conspired with the Grecians and learned treachery from them They that survived this sudden mishap were reserved for lingring misery For the Grecian Emperour did them all possible mischief by mingling lime with their meal by killing of stragglers by holding intelligence with the Turks their enemies by corrupting his coyn making his silver as base as himself so that the Dutch sold good wares for bad money and bought bad wares with good money by giving them false Conductours which trained them into danger so that there was more fear of the guides then of the way All which his unfaithfull dealings are recorded by that faithfull historian Nicetas Choniates who though a Grecian born affirmeth these things the truth of his love to his countrey-men no whit prejudicing his love to the truth Chap. 28. The Turks conquered at Meander The Dutch and French arrive in Palestine SCarce had the Dutch escaped the treachery of the Greeks when they were encountred with the hostility of the Turks who waited for them on the other side of Meander The river was not foordable ship or bridge the Christians had none when behold Conrade the Emperour adventured on an action which because it was successefull shall be accounted valiant otherwise we should term it desperate After an exhortation to his army he commanded them all at once to flownce into the river Meander was plunged by their plunging into it his water stood amazed as unresolved whether to retreat to the fountain or proceed to the sea and in this extasie afforded them a dry passage over the stream An act which like that of Horatius Cocles his leaping into Tiber plus famae ad posteros habiturum quà m fidei will find more admirers then beleevers with posterity The affrighted Turks on the other side thinking there was no contending with them that did teach nature it self obedience offered their throats to the Christians swords and were killed in such number that whole piles of dead bones remain there for a monument like those heaps of the Cimbrians slain by Marius neare Marseils where afterwards the inhabitants walled their vineyards with sculls and guarded their grapes with dead men Hence Conrade made forward to Iconium now called Cogni which he besieged in vain to the great losse of his army The King of France followed after with great multitudes and drank of the same cup at the Grecians hands though not so deeply till at last finding that those who marched through the continent met with an ocean of miserie he thought better to trust the wind and sea then
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
a Tyrant both detaining the dowrie and imprisoning the person of Joan wife to William late King of Sicilie and sister to King Richard But in what a case was he now having two such mightie Monarchs come unto him To keep them out was above his power to let them in against his will Well he knew it was wofull to lie in the rode where great armies were to passe For power knoweth no inferiour friend and the land-lord commonly loseth his rent sometimes his land where the tenant is too potent for him At last he resolved how wisely or honestly let others judge openly to poise himself indifferent betwixt these two Kings secretly applying himself to the French which King Richard quickly discovered as dissembling goeth not long invisible before a judicious eye Mean time the citizens of Messana did the English much wrong if not by the command with the consent of the King For though it be unjust to father the base actions of unrulie people on their Prince yet Tankred not punishing his people for injuring the English when he might and was required thereunto did in effect justifie their insolencies and adopt their deeds to be his Wherefore King Richard to avenge himself took Messana by assault seised on most forts in the Island demanding satisfaction for all wrongs done to him and his sister Tankred though dull at first now pricked with the sword came off roundly with many thousand ounces of gold and seeing as the case stood his best thrift was to be prodigall gave to our King what rich conditions soever he demanded Worse discords daily encreased betwixt the Kings of France and England King Richard slighting the King of France his sister whom he had promised to marrie and expressing more affection to Beringaria daughter to the King of Navarre Some Princes interposing themselves in this breach rather asswaged the pain then removed the maladie So dangerous are ruptures betwixt great ones whose affections perchance by the mediation of friends may be brought again to meet but never to unite and incorporate King Philip thinking to forestall the market of honour and take up all for himself hasted presently to Ptolemais Richard followed at his leisure and took Cyprus in his way Isaac or Cursac reigned then in Cyprus who under Andronicus the Grecian Emperour when every factious Noble-man snatched a plank out of that shipwracked Empire seised on this Island and there tyrannized as a reputed King Some falsely conceive him a Pagan and his faith is suspected because his charitie was so bad killing the English that landed there not having so much man as to pitie a woman and to suffer the sea-sick Lady Beringaria to come on shore But King Richard speedily overran the Island honoured Isaac with the magnificent captivitie of silver fetters yet giving his daughter libertie and princely usage The Island he pawned to the Templars for readie money And because Cyprus by antiquitie was celebrated as the seat of Venus that so it might prove to him in the joyous moneth of May he solemnly took to wife his beloved Lady Beringaria Chap. 8. The taking of the citie Ptolemais WHilest King Richard stayed in Cyprus the siege of Ptolemais went on and though the French King thought with a running pull to bear the citie away yet he found it staked down too fast for all his strength to stirre Mean time the plague and famine raged in the Christians camp which the last yeare swept away fiftie Princes and Prelates of note Who no doubt went hence to a happie place though it was before Pope Clement the sixth commanded the angels who durst not but obey him presently to convey all their souls into Paradise which should die in their Pilgrimage This mortalitie notwithstanding the siege still continued And now the Christians and Turks like two fensers long playing together were so well acquainted with the blows and guards each of other that what advantage was taken betwixt them was merely casuall never for want of skill care or valour on either side It helped the Christians not a little that a concealed Christian within the citie with letters unsubscribed with any name gave them constant and faithfull intelligence of the remarkable passages amongst the Turks No Prince in this siege deserved more then Leopoldus Duke of Austria who fought so long in assaulting this citie till his armour was all over gore bloud save the place covered with his belt Whereupon he and his successours the Dukes of Austria renouncing the six Golden larks their ancient arms had assigned them by the Emperour a fesse Argent in a field Gules as the paternall coat of their family By this time King Richard was arrived taking as he came a dromond or Saracen ship wherein were fifteen hundred souldiers and two hundred and fiftie scorpions which were to be imployed in the poisoning of Christians and now the siege of Ptolemais more fiercely prosecuted But all their engines made not so wide a breach in that citie walls as envie made betwixt the French and English Kings Yet at last the Turks despairing of succour their victuals wholly spent yeelded up the citie by Saladines consent on condition to be themselves safely guarded out of it all Christian prisoners Saladine had were to be set free and the Crosse to be again restored The houses which were left with the spoil and prisoners were equally divided betwixt Philip and Richard Whereat many Noble-men partners in the pains no sharers in the gains departed in discontent Some Turks for fear embraced the Christian faith but quickly returned to their vomit as religion died in fear never long keepeth colour but this dayes converts will be to morrows apostates Hereupon it was commanded that none hereafter should be baptized against their wills Here the English cast down the ensignes of Leopoldus Duke of Austria which he had advanced in a principall towre in Ptolemais and as some say threw them into the jakes The Duke though angrie at heart forgot this injurie till he could remember it with advantage and afterwards made King Richard pay soundly for this affront It is not good to exasperate any though farre inferiour for as the fable telleth us the beetle may annoy the eagle and the mouse befriend the lion When the citie was taken it grieved the Christians not a little that their faithfull correspondent who advised them by his letters could no where be found Pitie it was that Rahabs red lace was not tied at his window But indeed it was probable that he was dead before the surrendring of the citie Greater was the grief that the Crosse did no where appear either carelessely lost or enviously concealed by the Turks Whilest the Christians stormed hereat Saladine required a longer respite for the performance of the conditions But King Richard would not enlarge him from the strictnesse of what was concluded conceiving this was in effect to forfeit the victorie back again Besides he
pleased himself in the style of Prince of Tyre then King of Jerusalem as counting it more honour to be Prince of what he had then King of what he had not And now the Christians began every where to build The Templars fortified Gaza King Richard repaired and walled Ptolemais Porphyria Joppa and Askelon But alas this short prosperity like an Autumne-spring came too late and was gone too soon to bring any fruit to maturitie It was now determined they should march towards Jerusalem for all this while they had but hit the butt that Holy citie was the mark they shot at Richard led the vantguard of English Duke Odo commanded in the main battel over his French James of Avergne brought on the Flemings and Brabanters in the rere Saladine serpent-like biting the heel assaulted the rere not farre from Bethlehem when the French and English wheeling about charged the Turks most furiously Emulation formerly poyson was here a cordiall each Christian nation striving not onely to conquer their enemies but to overcome their friends in the honour of the conquest King Richard seeking to put his courage out of doubt brought his judgement into question being more prodigall of his person then beseemed a Generall One wound he received but by losing his bloud he found his spirits and laid about him like a mad-man The Christians got the victory without the losse of any of number or note save James of Avergne who here died in the bed of honour But more of the Turks wore slain then in any battel for fourtie yeares before Had the Christians presently gone to Jerusalem probably they might have surprised it whilest the Turks eyes were muffled and blindfolded in the amazement of this great overthrow But this opportunitie was lost by the backwardnesse and unwillingnesse of King Richard and the English say the French writers To crie quits with them our English authours impute it to the enviâ— of the French who would have so glorious an action rather left undone then done by the English They complain likewise ofâ— the treacherie of Odo Duke of Burgundie who more carefull of his credit then his conscience was choked with the shame of the sinne he had swallowed and died for grief when his intelligence with the Turks was made known This cannot be denied that Saladine sent term them bribes or presents both to our King and the French Duke and they received them no wonder then if neither of them herein had a good name when they traded with such familiars But most hold King Richard attempted not Jerusalem because as a wise architect he would build his victories so as they might stand securing the countrey as he went it being senselesse to besiege Jerusalem a straggling citie whilest the Turks as yet were in possession of all the sea-ports and strong forts thereabout About this time he intercepted many camels loaden with rich commoditie those Eastern wares containing much in a little And yet of all this and of all the treasures of England Sicilie and Cyprus which he brought hither King Richard carried home nothing but one gold-ring all the rest of his wealth melted away in this hot service He wintered in Askelon intending next spring to have at Jerusalem Chap. 12. The little-honourable peace King Richard made with Saladine Of the value of Reliques BUt bad news out of Europe shaked his steadiest resolutions hearing how William Bishop of Ely his Vice-roy in England used unsufferable insolencies over his subjects So hard it is for one of base parentage to personate a King without over-acting his part Also he heard how the King of France and John Earl of Morton his own brother invaded his dominions ambition the Pope in their belly dispensing with their oath to the contrary Besides he saw this warre was not a subject capable of valour to any purpose the Venetians Genoans Pisans and Florentines being gone away with their fleets wisely shrinking themselves out of the collar when they found their necks wrung with the hard imployment Hereupon he was forced first to make the motion of in plain terms to begge peace of Saladine Let Saladine now alone to winne having all the game in his own hand Well knew he how to shoot at his own ends and to take aim by the exigencies wherein he knew King Richard was plunged For he had those cunning gypsies about him who could read in King Richards face what grieved his heart and by his intelligencers was certified of every note-worthy passage in the English armie Upon these terms therefore or none beggers of peace shall never be choosers of their conditions a truce for three some say five yeares might be concluded That the Christians should demolish all places they had walled since the taking of Ptolemais which was in effect to undo what with much charge they had done But such was the tyrannie of King Richards occasions forcing him to return that he was glad to embrace those conditions he hated at his heart Thus the voyage of these two Kings begun with as great confidence of the undertakers as expectation of the beholders continued with as much courage as interchangeablenesse of successe baned with mutuall discord emulation was ended with some honour to the undertakers no profit either to them or the Christian cause Some farre-fetched deare-bought honour they got especially King Richard who eternized his memory in Asia whom if men forget horses will remember the Turks using to say to their horses when they started for fear Dost thou think King Richard is here Profit they got none losing both of them the hair of their heads in an acute disease which was more saith one then both of them got by the voyage They left the Christians in Syria in worse case then they found them as he doeth the benighted traveller a discourtesie rather then a kindnesse who lendeth him a lantern to take it away leaving him more masked then he was before And now a little to solace my self and the reader with a merry digression after much sorrow and sad stories King Richard did one thing in Palestine which was worth all the cost and pains of his journey namely He redeemed from the Turks a chest full of holy Reliques which they had gotten at the taking of Jerusalem so great as foure men could scarce carry any way And though some know no more then Esops cock how to prize these pearls let them learn the true value of them from the Romane jewellers First they must carefully distinguish between publick and private Reliques In private ones some forgery may be suspected lest quid be put for quo which made S. Augustine put in that wary parenthesis Si tamen Martyrum If so be they be the Reliques of Martyrs But as for publick ones approved by the Pope and kept in Churches such no doubt as these of King Richards were oh let no Christian be such an infidel as to stagger at the
onely exchange their slavery by becoming vassals to their own passions Yet many of them in their kinds were worthy Princes for government no whit inferiour to those which are advantaged with royall birth and breeding Secondly it is a wonder they should be so neglective of their own children How many make an idol of their posterity and sacrifice themselves unto it stripping themselves out of necessaries to provide their heirs a wardrobe yea it is a principle in most moderate minds to advance their posterity thinking hereby in a manner they overcome death and immortalize their memories in leaving their names and honours to their children Whereas the contrary appeared in these Mammalukes Thirdly it is admirable that they fell not out in the election of their Prince being in a manner all equall amongst themselves We see elective States in Christendome though bound with the straitest laws often sagge aside into schismes and factions whereas this strange Empire in their choice had no dangerous discords but such as were quenched in the kindling Lastly who ever knew a wall that had no better cement to stand so sure and so long Two hundred sixty and seven yeares this State endured and yet had it to do with strong and puissant enemies Some Kingdomes ow their greatnesse not so much to their own valour and wisdome as to the weaknesse of their neighbours but it fared not thus with the Mammalukes To omit Prester John who neighboured them on the south on all other sides they were encompassed with potent opposers From whom right valiantly they defended themselves till in the yeare 1517 they were overcome by Selimus the great Turkish Emperour To conclude As for the Amazons and their brave atchievements with much valour and no manhood they and their State had onely being in the brains of fabulous writers As for the Assasines or regiment of rogues it never spread to the breadth of any great countrey nor grew to the height of a Kingdome but being the jakes of the world was cast out in a place betwixt barren hills But this Empire of vassals was every way wonderfull stretching so farre over all Egypt and most of Syria and lasting so long A strange State wherein slavery was the first step to their throne and apostasie the first article in their religion Chap. 20. The manner of the death of Frederick King of Ierusalem His Will and posterity after him An interregnum both in Germanie and the Kingdome of Ierusalem IN this same yeare Frederick King of Jerusalem and Emperour of Germany ended his troublesome dayes A Prince who in the race of his life met with many rubs some stumbles no dangerous falls Besides the Turk he had to do with the Pope the Pope immortall in his succession And though his Holinesse was unfit for warre as being alwayes old and never ripe for that place till almost rotten yet he used his own head and commanded the hands of others whereby he kept Frederick in a continuall warre Yet never could he have beaten him with fair play had he not used a weapon if not against the law of Arms against the law of God and against which no guard Arming his subjects against him and Dispensing with the oath of allegeance But he gave Frederick the mortall wound in setting himself against himself I mean Henry his eldest sonne And though Frederick easily conquered that rebellious youth and made him fast enough keeping him in prison in Apulia where he died yet he carried the grief hereof to his grave For now he knew not where or in whom to place any confidence as suspecting the single cord of Loyaltie would not hold in others which brake in his own sonne though twisted with Naturall affection The greatnesse of his spirit was a great hastening of his death and being of a keen eager and active nature the sharpnesse of the sword cut the scabbard the sooner asunder Bowe he could not break he must What-ever is reported he died of no other poison then sorrow which ushered him into a wasting ague grief being a burden whereof the strongest shoulders can bear the least As for the fame that Maufred his base sonne should stifle him with a pillow though I must confesse he might be taken on suspicion as likely enough to play such a devilish prank yet it is unreasonable that he who is acquitted by the Authours of the same time should be condemned on the evidence of the writers of after-ages He died at Florence in an obscure castle on S. Lucies day having reigned King of Jerusalem three and twenty yeares By his Will he bequeathed many ounces of gold to the Knights Templars and Hospitallers in recompense of the wrongs they had received by him He left a great summe of money for the recovery of the Holy land to be disposed at the discretion of the foresaid Knights He forbad any stately funerall for himself though in his life immoderately excessive in pomp as if he would do penance for his pride after death A Prince who had he not been hindred with domesticall discords would have equalized Cesar himself For if thus bravely he laid about him his hands being tied at home with continuall dissensions what would he have done if at liberty A scandal is raised since his death That he was but a millers sonne but he would have ground them to powder who in his life-time durst have averred it Indeed he was very happy in mechanicall matters such as we may term Liberall handy-crafts as casting founding carving in iron and brasse Neither did this argue a low soul to dabble in such mean imployments but rather proved the amplitude and largenesse thereof of so generall acquaintance that no Art was a stranger to him But the suspicion of his birth rose from the almost miraculous manner of it Constantia his mother bearing him when welâ—igh sixty yeares of age But both in Scripture and other writers we may see the sonnes of long-barren mothers to have been fruitfull in famous atchievements Pity it was that he had some faults yea pity it had been if he had not had some But his vices indeed were notorious and unexcusable Many wives and concubines he had and by them many children His wives His legitimate children Their preferment 1. Constantia Queen of Aragon Henry who rebelled against him King of the Romanes 2. Iole daughter to John Bren. Conrade Duke of Suevia 3. Agnes daughter to the Marquesse of Moravia childlesse divorced   4. Rutina   5. Isabella of Bavaria Agnes Married to Conrade Landtgrave of Hessen 6. Mawd daughter to John King of England Constance His â—â—se sonnes Wife to Lewis Landâ—grave of Hessen His concubine   Blanch. 1. Henzius King of Sardinia 2. Maufred Usurper of Sicily 3. Frederick Prince of Antioch It is much that succession adventured in so many severall bottoms should miscarry Yet these foure sonnes dying left no lasting issue and in the third generation
haven of Tyre after a most cruel and desperate battel And surely generally sea-fights are more bloudy then those on the land especially since gunnes came up whose shot betwixt wind and water like those wounds so often mentioned in the Scripture under the fifth rib is commonly observed mortall Yea farre harder it is for a ship when arrested and ingaged in a battel to clear it self then for souldiers by land to save themselves by flight Here neither his own two nor his horses foure legges can bestead any but like accidents they must perish with their subjects and sink with their ship And then why is a sea-victory lesse honour being more danger then one atchieved by land Is it because sea-service is not so generall nor so full of varieties and the mysteries thereof sooner learned or because in sea-fights fortune may seem to be a deeper sharer and valour not so much interested Whatsoever it is the laurel purchased on land hath a more lively verdure then that which is got at sea We return to the Venetians Who using or rather abusing this conquest enter Ptolemais cast out all Genoans thence throw down their buildings both publick and private demolish the fort which they had builded at S. Saba rifle and spoil their shops ware-houses and store houses onely the Pope prevailed so farre with them that they set at liberty the prisoners they had taken Ten yeares did this warre last betwixt these two States in Syria composed at last saith my Authour by the authority of Pope Clement the fourth and by famine the bad cause of a good effect which in Palestine starved them into agreement Longer these warres lasted betwixt them in Italy their successe like the sea they fought on ebbing and flowing In this costly warre Pisa was first beggered and for all her politick partaking Genoa at last trode so heavy upon her that ever since she hath drooped and hung the wing and at this day is maid to Florence who formerly was mistresse of a good part of Italy But I have no calling and lesse comfort to prosecute these bloudy dissensions For warres of Christians against Infidels are like the heat of exercise which serveth to keep the body of Christianity in health but these civil warres amongst themselves like the heat of a feaver dangerous and destructive of religion Chap. 25. Charles made King of Sicily and Ierusalem by the Pope Hugh King of Cyprus pretendeth also to go to Ierusalem WE have now gotten Pantaleon a Frechman who succeeded Robert in the titular Patriarchship Jerusalem to be Pope by the name of Urbane the fourth To advance the Holy cause after fourteen yeares interregnum in Syria he appointed Charles Duke of Anjou younger brother to King Lewis of France King of Sicily and Jerusalem and it was ratified by Clement the fourth his successour This honour was first offered to Lewis himself but piety had dried up in him all ambitious humours then to our Henry of England but his warre-wasted purse could not stretch to the Popes price At last this Charles accepted it But it is not for any speciall favour to the bush if a man runne under it in a storm it was no love to Charles but to himself to be sheltred from Maufred that the Pope conferred this honour upon him And the wife of Charles that she might go in equipage with her three sisters being Queens sold all her jewels to furnish her husband with money to purchase these Kingdomes that sex loving bravery well but greatnesse better Now the Pope whose well-grounded and bounded bountie will never undo him for where he giveth away the meat he selleth the sauce conditioned with Charles on these terms First that he should conquer Maufred then King of Sicily who molested the Pope and that he should finally subdue all the remaining race of Frederick the second Emperour who claimed that Kingdome Secondly in acknowledgement that he held these Kingdomes from the Pope he should pay him an annuall pension of foure some say fourty thousand pounds Provided if this Charles should chance to be chosen Emperour of Germany that then he should either resigne Sicily back again into the hands of his Holinesse or not accept the Empire For he knew that all Emperours would be possessed with an anti-papall spirit and that they would hold Sicily not in homage from the Church but as a member of the Empire Besides the Pope would not dispense that Princes should hold pluralitie of temporall Dominions in Italy especially he was so ticklish he could not endure the same Prince should embrace him on both sides Ever since the twinne-titles of Sicily and Jerusalem have gone together and fit it is that the shadow should follow the substance Charles subdued Maufred and Conradine his nephew the last of the Suevian race and grandchild to Emperour Frederick and was possessed of Sicilie and lived there but as for the gaining of Jerusalem he little regarded it nor came thither at all A watchfull King who never slept in his Kingdome His absence gave occasion to Hugh King of Cyprus to furbish up new his old title to the Kingdome as lineally descended from Almerick the second And coming to Ptolemais he there was crowned King of Jerusalem But the extremity of the famine all things being excessive deare much abated the solemnity and state of his Coronation Chap. 26. The Tartarians alienated from the Christians Bendocdar tyrannizeth over them and Lewis King of France setteth forth again for to succour them BUt betwixt two Kings the Kingdome went to the ground For Haalon the Tartarian Prince late Christian convert was returned home to succeed his brother Mango in the Empire leaving Abaga his sonne with competent forces in the city of Damascus which he had wonne from the Turks Soon after Abaga followed his father and substituted Guirboca his Lieutenant in Damascus This Guirboca upon the occasion of his nephew rashly slain by the Christians in a broil fell off wholly from Christianity with all the Tartarians his countreymen The occasion this The Dutch Christians return with great booty they had taken from the Turks Guirboca's nephew meeteth them demandeth it for himself the Christians deny him as souldiers are very tender-conscienced in that point counting it a great sinne to part with the spoil they are possessed of hence brawls then blows Guirboca's nephew is slain Hereat the Tartarians who were very humourous in their friendship if not observed to an inch lost for ever in discontent all either reel aside to Mahomet or fall back to Paganisme Herein the Christians cannot be excused Infant-converts must be well tended It had been discretion in them even against discretion to have yeelded a little to these Tartarians and so to continue their amity which was so advantageous to the Holy warre How-ever one may question the truth of their conversion whether reall at first This spring was too forward to hold and
different degrees of bountie the Spanish Polish Danish Scots and all other people of Europe The French I make the Founders for these reasons First because they began the action first Secondly France in proportion sent most adventurers Some voyages were all of French and all voyages were of some French Yea French men were so frequent at Jerusalem that at this day all Western Europeans there are called Franks as I once conceived and perchance not without companie in my errour because so many French men came thither in the Holy warre Since I am converted from that false opinion having found that two hundred yeares before the Holy warre was dreamed of namely in the time of Constantine Porphyrogenetes Emperour of the East all Western Christians were known to the Greeks by the name of Franks so that it seemeth the Turks borrowed that appellation from the Grecians Thirdly As France sent the most so many of most eminent note She sheweth for the game no worse cards then a pair royall of Kings Lewis the Young Philip Augustus and Saint Lewis besides Philip the Bold his sonne who went half-way to Tunis The first and last Christian King of Europe that went to Palestine was a French man and all the Kings of Jerusalem Frederick the Emperour onely excepted originally were of that nation Fourthly Even at this day France is most loyall to the cause Most grand Masters of the Hospitallers have been French men And at this day the Knights of Malta who have but foure Albergies or Seminaries in all Christendome have three of them in France viz. one of the France in generall one of Avergne and one of Provence Yet France carrieth not the upper hand so clearly but that Germanie justleth for it especially if we adde to it the Low-countreys the best stable of woodden horses and most potent in shipping in that age of any countrey in Europe which though an amphibion betwixt both yet custome at this day adjudgeth it Dutch Now these are the severall accents of honour in the Germane service First That countrey sheweth three Emperours in the Holy warre Conrade Frederick Barbarossa and Frederick the second The last of these was solemnly crowned and peaceably possessed King of Jerusalem Secondly Germanie sent more Princes to this warre then all Europe besides It would be an infinite task to reckon them all it being true of the Germane Nobilitie what Logicians say of a Line that it is divisibilis in semper divisibilia Here honours equally descend to sonnes and daughters whereby they have Counts without counting in the whole Empire There were seventeen Princes of Henault and seven and twentie Earls of Mansfield all living together So that one of their own countreymen saith That the Dutch esteem none to be men but onely such as are Noble-men We will not take notice of Germanie as it is minced into pettie Principalities but as cut into principall Provinces We find these regnant Princes for as for their younger brethren herein they are not accounted to have been personally present in the Holy warre Prince Palatine of Rhene Henry 1197 Duke or as others King of Bohemia Jaboslaus or Ladislaus 1147 Duke of Saxonie Henry the younger 1197 Marquisse of Brandenburg Otho 1197 Archbishops of Mentz 1 Conrade 2 Siphred 1197 Archbish. of Triers Theodoricus 1216 Archbish. of Colen Theodoricus 1216 Dukes of Austria 1 Leopoldus the second 1190 2 Frederick 1197 3 Leopoldus the third surnamed the Glorious 1216 Dukes of Bavaria 1 Guelpho 1101 2 Henry 1147 3 Lewis 1216 Landt-graves of Thuringia 1 Herman 1197 2 Lewis 1227 Marquesse of Moravia Conrade 1197 Duke of Mechlenburg Henry 1277 Earls of Flandres 1 Theodoricus 1147 2 Philippus 1190 3 Baldwine 1200 4 William Dampier 1250 5 Guido 1270 Dukes of Brabant 1 Godfrey 1195 2 Henry 1227 Earl of Holland William 1216 All these I say not these were all went themselves led forth other companies suitable to their greatnesse The Reader as he lighteth on more at his leisure may strike them into this catalogue Thirdly Germanie maintained the Teutonick Order wholly consisting of her nation besides Templars and Hospitallers whereof she had abundance of whose loyall and valiant service we have spoken largely before Lastly She fought another Holy warre at the same time against the Tartars and other barbarous people which invaded her on her North-east-part And though â—ome will except That that warre cannot be intituled Holy because being on the defensive it was rather of nature and necessitie then pietie yet upon examination it will appear that this service was lesse superstitious more charitable to Christendome and more rationall and discreet in it self it being better husbandrie to save a whole cloth in Europe then to winne a ragge in Asia Chap. 22. The English and Italian service compared Of the Spanish Polish Norvegian Hungarian Danish and Swedish performance in this warre NExt in this race of honour follow England and Italie being very even and hard-matched England it is no flatterie to affirm what envie cannot denie spurreth up close for the prize and though she had a great disadvantage in the starting Italie being much nearer to Palestine yet she quickly recovered it Our countrey sent one King Richard the first and three Kings sonnes Robert Courthois Richard of Cornwall and Prince Edward to this warre Yea England was a dayly friend to this action and besides these great and grosse summes of visible adventurers she dropped and cast in privily many a Pilgrime of good qualitie so that there was scarce any remarkable battel or memorable siege done through the warre wherein there were not some English of eminent desert Yet Italy cometh not any whit behind if the atchievements of her severall States Venetians Genoans Pisans Sicilians Florentines were made and moulded up together Yea for sea-service and engineers in this warre they bear the bell away from all other nations But these things allay the Italian service 1. It was not so abstracted from the dregs of mercinarinesse as that of other countreys whose adventurers counted their very work herein sufficient wages but before they would yeeld their assistance they indented and covenanted with the King of Jerusalem to have such and such profits pensions and priviledges in all places they took to them and their posteritie not as an honorarie reward freely conferred on them but in nature of wages ex pacto contracted for aforehand as the Genoans had in Ptolemais and the Venetians in Tyre 2. These Italians stopped two gaps with one bush they were Merchant-Pilgrimes together applied themselves to profit and pietie Here in Tyre they had their banks and did drive a sweet trade of spices and other Eastern commodities 3. Lastly As at first they gave good milk so they kicked it down with their heel and by their mutuall discord caused the losse of all they helped to gain in Syria Spain was exercised all the time of this warre in defending her self against the Moores and Saracens in her