his Mamalukes the particular Enemies of the Name and Nation of France were upon the point of driving them unless they were speedily assisted He protested That he was resolved even tho he were abandoned by all the rest of the World in such a Noble Enterprise to pursue it vigorously himself and to imploy all that he had his Forces his Fortunes and his Life in this Glorious Service and that he should infinitely rejoyce to lose it in his Service who had laid down his precious Life for the Love which he had to Mankind in that precious spot of Earth for the Recovery whereof he exhorted all the French who he doubted not had doubtless the same Courage with which their Ancestors had so gloriously conquered it to take up their Arms and accompany him in this Noble Enterprise A Discourse of this Nature spoken with unexpressible Graces and by so great a King whose Age Experience Wisdom Equity and Love which he had for his People and above all his Eminent Sanctity rendred so much beloved and revered by his Subjects did so sensibly affect the Hearts of all the whole Assembly that after the Legate had made his Speech upon the same Subject and the King himself had with a Marvellous Devotion received the Cross the greatest part of the Princes and Lords following his Example also took it upon them The first among them were the three Princes his Sons Philip his Eldest John Tristan Count de Nevers and Peter Count d' Alenson Alphonso Count de Poitiers and Tholouse his Brother Thibald King of Navarr and Count Palatine of Champagne his Son-in-Law Robert Count d' Artois his Nephew John Son to the Duke of Bretany Son-in-Law to the King of England the Counts Guy of Flanders Philip of Nemours Guy de Laval and Philip de Montfort year 1268 The Lords de Courtenay de Beaujeu de Montmorenci de Harcour de Valeri de Neele d' Estrees de Longueval de Varennes de Clermont de Fiennes de Rochefort de Mirepoix de Cleri de St. Cler de Roye de Precigni de Chastenoy de Saux de Beaumout de Mailly de Vandieres de Lionne d' Auteil d' Orillac and the brave Oliver de Termes all Illustrious Names known and still reverenced in our days after so many Ages in the Persons who are honoured by them and who have done them Honour by their Merits These were followed by all the other Knights and Lords of the Assembly except only the Lord Joinville High Steward of Champagne who having had enough of the first Voyage dispensed with himself for the second alledging that by the first he had ruined his poor Subjects of the Lordship of Joinville and in the ill humour in which he was by reason of this second Undertaking which he did not at all approve he hath written very plainly That it was the opinion of many Learned Men that those who gave the King this Advice sinned mortally in regard that the King was so weak in Body and brought so low that he was but just in a condition to maintain that Peace and justice which by his presence he caused to flourish in his Kingdom and which would by his absence be most certainly banished from thence But this was not the opinion of Clement the Fourth who was esteemed one of the most learned and pious Popes which the Church had ever had and who St. Lewis having consulted him concerning this Voyage extremely approved of it as did also the Confessor of this Holy King And this makes it evident That in all times the most severe Casuists have not always been the most knowing nor the safest advisers in difficult matters After this great Action St. Lewis applied himself with an indefatigable Zeal to dispose all things for the Crusade sparing neither diligence pains nor cost to put it into a condition to have better Success than he had met with in his first Voyage and to draw along with him not only the French his own Subjects but also such of other Nations as were willing to share with him in the Enterprise And for this purpose he did what was possible in conjunction with the Pope to make an Accord between the Venetians and the Genoese that so they might enter with him into this Holy Vnion But it was all Labour in vain for these two Republicks whose difference occasioned so many mischiefs to Palestine had too much animosity one against the other to unite so easily or so quickly As for the Venetians who had at first treated with him for his passage they at last excused themselves from furnishing him with Shipping by the fear which they said they had that the Sultan of Egypt resenting it should seize upon all their Effects within his Ports But the Genoeses who always ran counter to their Enemies and who upon this occasion acted more nobly offered him theirs He also by his Royal Liberality obliged Edward Prince of England to take up the Cross a Prince whom he highly valued for his Spirit and his Valour and gave him thirty thousand Marks in Silver to put him into an Equipage to accompany him like a great Prince offering the same Sum to James King of Arragon who had some years before taken upon him the Cross The Pope also on his side did not fail to excite the Kings and Princes of Europe as also the Greek Emperor by the Example of St. Lewis to joyn their Arms with those of this great King for the deliverance of the Holy Land from the oppression of the Sultan of Egypt who wanted not above two or three Cities to be Master of all that the Christians possessed in Syria Palestine and Egypt since the time that they were conquered by Godfrey of Bullen but all was in vain Ottocare the King of Bohemia the Dukes of Saxony Bavaria and Brunswick Otho Marquess of Brandenburg and divers others whom Clement excited to take the Cross and some of which had already taken it were so incumbred by the Schism of the Empire and besides so exasperated by the Death of Conradin which for a long time rendred the Name of the French odious to them that they could not be perswaded to entertain a thought of uniting with them in the Holy War The King of Castile who disputed the Empire and whose Brother had been taken with Conradin was in the same opinion The King of Portugal Alphonso the Third took the Cross indeed and abtained a Grant to receive the Tenths of all the Goods of the Church in his Realm for the Holy War but after all he performed nothing year 1269 James the King of Arragon made the fairest advances in the World towards this War He protested in the Assembly of the Princes at Toledo That he would accomplish his Vow although his Age seemed to dispense with him for it and notwithstanding all that could be done to divert him from it He promised at Valentia to the Ambassadors of the Greek Emperor and to those of
of the Emperor and the King The Murmurs against St. Bernard and his Apology The Conquest of Noradin after the raising of the Siege The Death of King Baldwin and his Elogy His Brother Amauri Succeeds him The History of that Princes Life who by his Avarice loseth the Opportunity of conquering all Egypt The History of Syracon who seizes upon the Kingdom of Egypt and leaves it to his Nephew Saladin The Elogy and first Conquest of that Prince The Death of Amauri and the Troubles and Divisions which it caused in the Realm The Conquests of Saladin thereupon The Raign of Baldwin the Leprous The Ambassage to the Princes of the West to desire their Help against Saladin The Negotiation of the Ambassadours with the Pope and Emperor in France and England with Henry the Second The Artifices of that King to elude this Ambassage A famous Care of Conscience proposed in the Parliament at London upon this great Affair The reasons on one side and the other The best opinion rejected by the Bishops as False The Displeasure of the Patriarch Heraclius against the King The Conference between Philip Augustus and King Henry which recommences the War The Apostacy and Treason of a Templer The Death of King Baldwin the Fourth and of the young King his Nephew The Artifice of Sybil Mother to the deceased Infant King to obtain the Crown for Guy de Lusignan her Second Husband The Despight of Raymond Earl of Tripolis thereupon His Character His horrible Treason and secret Treaty with Saladin who enters Galilee and besieges Tyberias Division in the Councel of War held by the King The unfortunate Battle of Tyberias which was lost by the Treachery of Count Raymond The Advantage which Saladin made of his Victory The Relation of the Siege and taking of Jerusalem by that Victorious Prince The sorrowful Departure of the Christians from Jerusalem and the Generosity of Saladin The Cruelty and miserable Death of the Earl of Tripolis The Triumph of Saladin An Account of the Preserving of Tyre by Marquis Conrade The Causes of the Loss of the Holy Land p. 113. BOOK II. The Death of Pope Urban III. upon the News of the Loss of Jerusalem The Decrees of Pope Gregory VIII and the Rules of the Cardinals to move God Almighty to Mercy and Compassion upon the Christians Gregory makes Peace between the Pisans and the Genoese Clement III. his Successor sends his Legates to the King of France and to the King of England The Conference at Gisors Where the Arch-Bishop of Tyre proposes the Crusade which is received by the two Kings The Ordinances which they made for the Regulation of it The War recommences between the two Kings which hinders the Effect of the Crusade Richard Duke of Guienne joins with King Philip against his own Father The Death of Henry II. King of England His Elegy and Character The Legates propose the Crusade at the Diet at Mayence The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa there takes upon him the Cross as do many other Princes and Prelates of the Empire The Description of that Emperor His March to Thracia where he is necessitated to Combat the Greeks The Character of the Greek Emperor Isaac Angelus The Reason why this Emperor betrayed the Ltains The History of the False Dositheus who seduced him and of Theodore Balsamon The Victories of Frederick in Thracia The stupid Folly of Isaac And his dishonourable Treaty with the Emperor The Passage and March of Frederick into Asia The Treachery of the Sultan of Iconium and the Defeat of his Troops by a pretty Stratagem of the Emperor ' s. An Heroick Action of a certain Cavalier The first Battle of Iconium The Description Assaulting and Taking of that City The Second Battle of Iconium The Triumph of the Emperor The March of the Army towards Syria The Description and the Passage of Mount Taurus The Death of the Emperor and his Elogy Frederick his Son leads the Army to Antioch after that to Tyre and from thence to the Camp at Ptolemais or Acon The Description of that City and the adjacent Country The Relation of the famous Siege against it begun by King Guy de Lusignan The Succours of two fair Naval Armies The Description of the famous Battle of Ptolemais The manner of the Christians Encampment The Reason of the length of the Siege The Death of Queen Sybilla and the Division between Guy de Lusignan and the Marquis Conrade who marries the Princess Isabella the Wife of Humphrey de Thoron A general Assault given to Ptolemais upon the Arrival of Frederick Duke of Suabia A brave Action of Leopold Duke of Austria The Death of Frederick and his admirable Vertue p. 149 BOOK III. The Beginning of the Reign of Richard Coeur de Lyon King of England and his Preparations for the Holy War The Preparations of Philip the August The Conferences of Nonancour and Vezelay between the two Kings The Portraict of Philip the August The Character of Richard King of England The Voyage of the two Kings to Messina An adventure of the English Fleet. A Quarrel between the English and the Messineses The taking of that City The Quarrel between the two Kings and their new Accomodation The Relation of the Abbot Joachim and his Character His Conference with King Richard The Departure of King Philip and his Arrival before Acre The Departure of Richard The Relation of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Cyprus by that Prince His Arrival before Acre A new Difference between the two Kings and the true Causes of it Their Accord The Reduction of the City of Acre The extreme Violence of King Richard The Return of Philip the August The March of Richard The Battle of Antipatris The single Combat between King Richard and Sultan Saladin A noble Action of William de Pourcelets who saved the Life of that King Richard presents himself before Jerusalem at an unseasonable Time and therefore retires and disperses his Army into Quarters The Marquis Conrade slain by two Assassins of the old Mountain The Description of that Government and those People A wicked Action of the Templers which hindred their Conversion The Cause of the Marquis his Death Richard accused of that Crime His Innocence is proved Isabella Marries Count Henry and is declared Queen of Jerusalem Guy de Lusignan made King of Cyprus Richard pretends a Second time to besiege Jerusalem defeats the Enemies takes the Caravan of Egypt but retires by a cunning Agreement A calumny against Richard which he clears by a most memorable Action The Battle of Jaffa and the taking of that Place from the Sarasins by Richard His Treaty with Saladin and his unfortunate Return He is taken and Imprisoned His Deliverance The Justice which he demanded and which he obtains A new division among the Princes of the East appeased by the Count de Champagne The Death of Saladin and his Elogy Division happens among the Infidels which gives occasion to a fourth Crusade p. 186. PART III.
their Empire and delivering them into the Hands of the Philistins Chaldeans and other Infidel People who were the Executioners of his Justice so did he punish the horrible Crimes of the Christians whom he had brought into Palestine by the victorious Arms of the first Crusades by depriving them of that Kingdom and abandoning them to be Slaves to those People whom their Ancestors had with so much Glory so often vanquished But farther to give some natural Reason for this Change the first Conquerors of Palestine were warlike and most valiant Men accustomed to Fatigues and such as frankly exposed themselves to all manner of Dangers and were never known to recoil let the number of their Enemies which they were to incounter be never so Prodigious they esteemed it a Happiness to dye Martyrs in combating gloriously for the Faith and for the Name of Jesus Christ And the Orientals against whom they fought were at that time little skilled in Wars cowardly undisciplin'd and half-armed People who were not able to abide above one Shock as having nothing to trust to but their Bows and Arrows which they shot at Rovers and commonly rather slying than fighting Whereas on the contrary the Christians having exchanged with the Infidels for all their Vices had also gotten their Cowardice their esseminate and idle way of Living loving Repose and Pleasure and hating the trouble of War and the Severity of that Discipline which is so necessary to a Soldier and which they wholly neglected The Turks and Sarasins on the other hand were become mighty Warlike under their victorious Sultans Sanguin Noradin Syracon and Saladin who having learnt at their Cost to arm themselves like the Europeans with good Curiasses and strong Lances had also taught them to follow their Colours year 1188 to fight hand to hand and had inspired them with Courage and Considence both by their Examples and the fortunate Success of their Arms. And in short The Conquerors of the Holy Land under the first Kings were under one sole Head who uniformly governed the whole Body of his Estate and Army which acted according to the Measures which he prescribed with a perfect Unity without Division without diversity of Interests Inclinations and Opinions as if the whole Army had been as one Man according to the Expression so frequent in the Scripture Whereas the Turks and Sarasins were then divided almost into as many particular Estates as there were Cities in Palestine and Syria and therefore could raise no great Armies but what must be commanded by many Chiefs who for the most part never accorded very well by reason of the diversity of their Opinions and Interests which made them almost continually be overthrown though they were incomparably the stronger in number of Soldiers than their Conquerors But upon the falling of the Realm the Christian Army was composed of the Troops of diverse Chiefs those of the King of Jerusalem the Prince of Antioch the Earl of Tripolis and the great Masters of the Temple and the Hospital who all of them had different Prospects and Designs which did not at all agree one with the other On the contrary all the Estates of the Infidels bordering upon the Christians Egypt Arabia Mesopotamia the Realms of Damascus and Cilicia were at that time united into one single Monarchy under the great Saladin and so their Army had but one Captain and Head who being most Wise and Valiant gave one Impression and a constant regular Movement to this great Body which did not act but according to his positive Orders And certainly it is most particularly this Unity which hath always made great Armies Victorious as may be seen in all Ages and Histories but was never more manifested than in this last Campaign which was so glorious and so advantageous to the King of France For on the one part the Emperour and the Spaniards and great part of the Princes of the Circles of the Empire and the Hollanders being leagued and confederated against him had raised very strong and numerous Armies to invade France both by Sea and Land On the other side that King alone without imploying any other Power but his own and giving out himself those Orders which were with Fidelity Executed always prevented them I do not say from entring but so much as approaching France Beat them thoroughly to the very Islands and in Person by main Force conquered one fair and large Province and his Army alone in Flanders under his auspicious Fortune commanded by the famous Prince of Conde having to oppose them three great Armies of the Emperour the King of Spain and the Hollanders joyned in one Body under three Chieftains yet cut in pieces their Rere took their Baggage ravished from them more than one hundred Colours and shamefully chased them from before Oudenard and pursued them beyond the Scheld And there it was that their Commanders having at last the Leisure to take Breath and to complain one to another were constrained to avow by their Flight which they disguised under the name of a Retreat that as there is but one Soul in one Body to give it Life Movement and the Power to perform those admirable Operations of a Man so there ought to be but one absolute Monarch in a Kingdom and one General in an Army to procure the Felicity of the People and to inable them to triumph gloriously over all the Enemies which go about to trouble their Repose or rob them of their Happiness But after these Reflections which I have made according to my little Art in Politicks which possibly will not appear altogether Useless or at least Indivertive it is time to return to my Subject and pursue this History of the Crusade THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADE OR The Expeditions of the Christian Princes for the Conquest of the Holy Land PART II. BOOK II. The CONTENTS of the Second Book The Death of Pope Urban III. upon the News of the Loss of Jerusalem The Decrees of Pope Gregory VIII and the Rules of the Cardinals to move God Almighty to Mercy and Compassion upon the Christians Gregory makes Peace between the Pisans and the Genoese Clement III. his Successor sends his Legats to the King of France and to the King of England The Conference at Gisors where the Archbishop of Tyre proposes the Crusade which is received by the two Kings The Ordinances which they made for the Regulation of it The War re-commences between the two Kings which hinders the Effect of the Crusade Richard Duke of Guinne joins with King Philip against his own Father The Death of Henry II. King of England His Elegy and Character The Legates propose the Crusade at the Diet at Mayence The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa there takes upon him the Cross as do many other Princes and Prelates of the Empire The Description of that Emperor His March to Thracia where he is necessitated to combat the Greeks The Character of the Greek Emperor Isaac Angelus The Reason why this
by which the Army must certainly have perished if the Marquis had not taken Care from time to time to supply them abundantly with his Fleet. This absolutely gained him all the Commanders and the Souldiers who took his Part against Guy de Lusignan who now had nothing left but the vain Shadow of Royal Majesty without the least Substance of Power or Authority Thus the Army being extremely diminished did nothing now but act upon the Defensive in their Retrenchments opposing the Assaults of Saladin on the one side and the Sallies of the Besieged on the other till the Arrival of the two Kings whose Voyage and Actions it is now time for me after having given myself and the Reader a moments Breath to recount unto him THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADE OR The Expeditions of the Christian Princes for the Conquest of the Holy Land PART II. BOOK III. The CONTENTS of the Third Book The beginning of the Reign of Richard Caeur-de-Lion King of England and his Preparations for the Holy War The Preparations of Philip the August The Conferences of Nonancour and Vezelaï between the two Kings The Portraict of Philip the August The Character of Richard King of England The Voyage of the two Kings to Messina An Adventure of the English Fleet. A Quarrel between the English and the Messineses The taking of that City The Quarrel between the two Kings and their new Accommodation The Relation of the Abbot Joachim and his Character His Conference with King Richard The Departure of King Philip and his Arrival before Acre The Departure of Richard The Relation of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Cyprus by that Prince His Arrival before Acre A new Difference between the two Kings and the true Causes of it Their Accord The Reduction of the City of Acre The extreme Violence of King Richard The Return of Philip the August The March of Richard The Battle of Antipatris The single Combat between King Richard and Sultan Saladin A noble Action of William de Pourcelets who saved the Life of that King Richard presents himself before Jerusalem at an unseasonable Time and therefore retires and disperses his Army into Quarters The Marquis Conrade slain by two Assassins of the old Mountain The Discription of that Government and those People A wicked Action of the Templers which hindred their Conversion The Cause of the Marquis his Death Richard accused of that Crime His Innocence is proved Isabella Marries Count Henry and is declared Queen of Jerusalem Guy de Lusignan made King of Cyprus Richard pretends a second time to besiege Jerusalem defeats the Enemies takes the Caravan of Egypt but retires by a cunning Agreement A Calumny against Richard which he clears by a most memorable Action The Battle of Jassa and the taking of that Place from the Sarasins by Richard His Treaty with Saladin and his unfortunate Return He is taken and imprisoned His Deliverance the Justice which he demanded and which he obtains A new Division among the Princes of the East appeased by the Count de Champagne The Death of Saladin and his Elogy Division happens among the Infidels which gives Occasion to a fourth Crusade year 1190 T The Crusade which had been so solemly sworn in the Holy Field and which the War that was kindled between the two Kings had so long time retarded had at length its Effect by the perfect Understanding which for some time there was between Philip the August and Richard sirnamed Caeur-de-Lion at the beginning of the Reign of this new King For so soon as he had received the Sword as Duke of Normandy at our Ladies Church in Roan and the Crown of England at Westminster with the general Applause of all his Subjects who saw that he took quite differing Courses from his Father who was not at all beloved he had no other Thoughts but of making Preparations for the Holy War Above all things he applied himself to the procuring a good Treasury of Gold and Silver but not by charging the People with the rigorous Exaction of Saladins Tenth as did his Father who when he had received it made use of it in the War between the two Crowns For this purpose he took the way of selling all the Dignities which he could all Offices and the Lands of his Demesnes at a very low rate thereby to intice the Avarice or the Ambition of unwary Purchasers who easily suffered themselves to be imposed upon with those cheap Bargains not foreseeing that he had Design of Reassumption after his Return as he did without any other Reimbursment than by allowing upon the Foot of the Account what they made over and above their Charges of the Demesnes during the time that they injoyed them But he dissembled the matter so well and on one side seemed so truly to have a design to sell all that he could and on the other shewed so many Marks of a ruined Constitution which both his constant Fatigues of War and his Debauches gained an easy Credit to that the Purchasers without any Difficulty suffered themselves to be perswaded that he would never return and that he had no other Prospect than of the present as not having any hopes of living long And for these Reasons it was that very many straitned themselves to lay hold of this occasion of Profit whereby he drew from them vast Summs turning every thing into Money even to protesting to those who were astonished at his Proceedings that if he could find a Chapman who was able to buy of him the City of London he should make no Difficulty to sell it to him But he drew the greatest Advantages from diverse Prelates of his Realm that were extraordinary Rich from whom he drew all the Money that they had by selling to them temporal Dignities which they were mighty glad to add to their Bishopricks or their Abbies It was by this Stratagem that he drew into the Net the Bishop of Durham year 1190 an old Man equally Covetous and Ambitious by persuading him to purchase the Earldom of that Province which he would unite to his Bishoprick For that Prelate who was ready to die with the Desire which he had to be Earl of Northumberland gave him for that Title all the Riches which he had for a long time been hoarding up out of the Revenue of his Bishoprick as well as those other less honest Markets which he had made And to this he threw in also all the Money which he had reserved purposely to defray his Expences in the Voyage which he had undertaken to make to Jerusalem thereby renouncing his Vow his Conscience and his Honour that so he might become great in this World out of which his old Age was even now ready to chase him which made the King very pleasantly to say when he had gotten all his Money That he was about to work a kind of Miracle and to make a young Earl out of an old Bishop He also seized upon all the Estate of
to Sea in Easter-Week and after it had been soundly beaten with a Tempest which they say was miraculously calmed by Thomas of Canterbury who had raised many worse in his Life according to the credulous Humour of those Ages it being affirmed by some that he appeared upon the Deck of the great Ship called the London that Vessel came up with Cape St. Vincent over against the City of Silves nine other Ships entring the River of Lesbon where they came to an Anchor The Miramolin or King of the Sarasins of the Western Africa at that time made War with a potent Army against Sancho King of Portugal whom he had surprized and who with an inconsiderable number of Troops had put himself into Santaren This Prince believing that Heaven had sent him the Succour of these Strangers year 1190 as it had before done to the late King Alphonso his Father requested them to help him in this his pressing Necessity Whereupon five hundred of the bravest of them immediately went into his Service whilst that fourscore of the most valiant young Gentlemen who were aboard the London put themselves into Sylves for the Defence of that City But Fortune without giving them the liberty of drawing their Swords put an end to this War by the suddain Death of Mirmalion after which his Army immediately disbanded it self The English then returning to their Vessels sound there sixty three more of their Ships who had put in there to refresh themselves and all that great City in Arms against their People who had committed great Insolencies and Disorders against the Inhabitants insomuch that Blood had been drawn on both sides divers Houses plundred and burnt and some of the English committed to Prison But all these Matters being calmed by the Prudence of King Sancho who knew very well how to pacifie both Parties the English took their leave the 25th Day of July and the same Day joyning three and thirty great Ships with which Admiral William Fortz attended them at the Mouth of the Tagus they prosperously pursued their Voyage till they came to an Anchor before Salernum There it was that King Richard met his Fleet and the 30th of September arrived at the Port of Messina where he was received by the French and Sicilians with all possible Honour and with all the Marks of a sincere and perfect Friendship But this was not of any long Continuance and the good Understanding which at first appeared among these three Nations was presently interrupted and broken by two great Quarrels which Richard had and which were the Cause that the two Kings instead of presently pursuing their intended Voyage were obliged to defer it till the following Year and to pass all the Winter at Messina The manner was thus William king of Sicily being dead without Issue the Sicilians who were resolved to have a King of the Race of their Norman Princes placed his Cousin Tancred the Natural Son of Roger Duke of Pavia upon the Throne notwithstanding that before his Death William had caused Queen Constance his Aunt the Wife of the Emperor Henry VI. to be acknowledged their Queen and had declared her to be the Inheretrix of the Crown Now Richard without pretending to have any part in this great Difference between the Emperor and Tancred only desired of this new King that he would send to him Jane his Sister the Daughter of Henry II. King of England the Widow of the deceased King William that he would restore to him her Dowry with several other things to which he pretended and above all an hundred Ships which the late King had promised to his Father-in Law King Henry for his Voyage to the Levant Tancred immediately sent the Queen to him but deferring to give him Satisfaction in his other Pretensions Richard who was resolved that he should do him Reason seized upon two strong Places which lay upon the Straits This gave such a Jealousie to the Messineses who naturally are not too much given to forbearing that they took Arms against the English and beat them out of the City and the English no less naturally impatient of Beating but more hot and brave than the Sicilians ran immediately to their Arms and issuing in Battalia out of their Camp repulsed these forward Burghers into the City and put themselves into a Posture to attack it by Force There was however a few Moments Truce agreed to by the Interposition of Philip the August who endeavoured to accommodate this Difference between them But Richard having discovered or at least believing that the Messineses had an Intention to surprize him during the Preliminary Treaty of the Peace began the Assault upon the Town with so much Fury that he carried the Place but he left it again presently after he had received the Excuses of the Magistrates and the Satisfaction which he demanded of them out of Respect as he said to King Philip who had his Quarter in the City and who was not at all satisfied with these violent Proceedings of King Richard For this Reason Richard to strengthen himself against him by the Alliance of Tancred concluded a Peace with that King who offered him besides the Ships twenty thousand Ounces of Gold to quit all his other Pretensions and twenty thousand more for the Portion of his Daughter year 1190 who was to be married to Arthur Duke of Bretany Nephew to King Richard So that the Conclusion of this Quarrel was the Foundation of another incomparably more dangerous which hereby grew between the kings of France and England For Tancred perceiving that the French King had no reason to be satisfied with this Marriage which was surreptitious concluded without his Knowledge and which directly shocked all his Interests endeavoured to link himself more closely with the English as he did and to exasperate them against King Philip. And truly finding that these two Princes were already imbroiled upon the Subject of the Taking Messina where Richard having caused his Standards to be planted Philip sent to have them taken down He went to the King of England and shewed him the Letters which he assured him came from the King of France wherein he offered him the Assistance of all his Forces if he would make War with Richard who he said had no other Thoughts but to amuse him with the Shew of Peace thereby with more Ease to seize upon his Realm Richard although he was extreamly provoked with this Procedure yet was very well pleased to have so specious a Pretence to break with Philip. Philip complaining with Justice enough reciprocally against him that having so long since affianced his Sister Alice he had now altered his Thoughts and was designed to marry Berengera the Daughter of Garcias King of Navarre following therein the Counsel of Queen Eleonor who her self had conducted that Princess thither There seemed great Foundation for the Complaints on either side and their Spirits were wound up to that degree as indangered the Breaking of the holy
Church should give the fortieth penny of their Revenue and the Cardinals the tenth for the carrying on of this Holy War Obliging himself in particular to send considerable Summs of Money and store of Provisions for that purpose and to raise Money for those Expences he caused all his Plate both Gold and Silver to be melted down and would be served in nothing but earthen Wooden or Vessels made of Glass At the same time he sent Cardinals to Venice Genoa and Pisa to exhort those potent Republicks to rigg out their Shipping as well to transport the Crusades into Palestine as to attack the Sarasins by Sea He also took great care to pacifie the Troubles of Hungary which hindred the Effect of the Crusade there and which Duke Andrew the Youngest Son of the deceased King Bela had raised in that Realm against Henry his Brother who succeeded to the Crown But in regard the happy Success of this Crusade depended more especially upon the Kings of England and France the two most potent Monarchies of Christendom who were now engaged in a cruel War he sent the Cardinal Peter of Capua his Legate who negotiated so skilfully and with such Success between them that at length at a Conference which they had at Andeli they consented to a Truce of five Years in which time it was supposed the Enterprise of the Holy War might be happily concluded And in the mean time the Crusade was published in all Places but especially in France where that Devout man Fouques de Nevilli preached it by order from the Pope This so famous man who without Dispute was one of the greatest and most admirable Preachers that ever was was Curate of Nevilli upon the Marne not far from Paris a man of a great temporal Estate but most Zealous for the Glory of God and the Salvation of Souls which he endeavoured after by exercising with an incredible Fervency that extraordinary Talent which he had received from God to preach his Holy word This he did with all the Force imaginable not only in his own Parish Church but in all the adjacent Places and especially in Paris where he declared himself the Implacable Enemy of all Vices but above all of Usury and Impudicity which occasioned such horrible disorders in that time which he reproved boldly without fearing any person and with all the Heat and Zeal which his Temperament ardent and billious could furnish him with God who at the Beginning of his Ministry to elevate him by the Way of Humiliation permitted him for two Years to toil and labour without any Fruit whilest preaching with all his Power against those two Vices some mocking him others wholly abandoning him whilest a third sort took occasion outrageously to abuse his Sermons not any one seeming to reform or be converted by all his preaching insomuch that he was just upon the point of quitting and giving over his preaching despairing ever to do any good by it But God who was resolved to make use of him did so suddenly Change their Hearts and gave such Power to his words that piercing like flaming Darts into the most obdurate Hearts they made such a Prodigious Change upon the Manners of Men that to astonishment all France seemed to be reformed by him For he did not only abolish that Extravagant Extortion and unjust Usury which had so prevailed that neither the Ordinances of the King nor the Censures of the Church had been able to repress but he touched the Hearts of the Usurers so to the quick that publickly detesting their Crime they made restitution of what they had gotten by this kind of Robbery unto those whom they had oppressed by those horrid Extortions and where they could not sind those to whom they ought to make Reparation they came drowned in Tears throwing themselves at his Feet year 1198 and intreating him to take that unlawful Gain and destribute it among the Poor That which added still more Force and Efficacy to his Discourses was that it pleased God to bestow upon him the Gift of Miracles which he wrought in the Presence of the whole World either before or after his Preaching curing all sorts of Maladies and Infirmities by the sole Imposition of his Hands The Writers of those times tell us of great Wonders which he did and one among the rest assures us that he durst not recount all that he knew in regard of the great Incredulity of Mankind as for my own particular I believe that the greatest Miracle which he did was the clearing of Paris of those Infamous Places and the converting of so many lewd and debauched Women some of which making the Vow of Chastity silled the new Nunnery of St. Antonina whic'h he sounded for so pious a Design others of them publickly promised for the Future to lead a most austere and penitent Life and among the Young Women many who distrusted their Courage and their Power accepted the Favour which he offered which was a handsome Portion by the help whereof they easily passed from that danderous Condition wherein they were into that of an honest and lawful Marriage For this Purpose he procured mighty Contributions even the Schollars of the University raising for him five hundred Livres in Silver and the Burgers of Paris in a Body not reckoning the Particular Benefactions adding above a thousand more which was a very extraordinary Summ for those times So many Wonders which his Renown published of this admirable Preacher caused the Bishops to invite him into their Diocesses where he was received with extraordinary respect the People and Clergy flocking to him as if he had been an Angel sent from Heaven The good man did not hereupon grow proud and vain or distinguished himself by any foolish Affectation for he always went according to his Custom on Horseback decently habited like a man of his Profession he kept his Beard shavenaccording to the Custom of that Age his Diet which he always received with Benediction and giving of Thanks was indifferently what was offered him neither did there appear any thing singular either in his Person or in his manner of Living so that his preaching and his Miracles always produced good Effects wherever he came excepting in two Places in Normandy where he was very ill treated For coming to Lizieux and taking upon him with his usual Liberty and Vehemence to reprove the Disorders of the Ecclesiasticks who were very irregular they made him Prisoner but without being able to abridge him even in his Fetters of the Fredom which he took to reprehend them so that being ashamed to detain him after they were a little recovered from the Brutal Transport they set him again at Liberty After which as he preached at Caen doing his usual Wonders before the People The Governor of the Castle thinking he should do the King of England a great pleasure the good man having been very liberal in reproving his Debauches committed him to Prison from whence being in a marvellous way
in a Valley so deeply Sandy and loose that both the men and Horses who were soundly harrassed by the nights march had much difficulty to dragg their Legs out of this deep Sand. The Governour of Gaza who had by his Spies been advertised hereof laid himself in Ambush behind some little Hills and all of a suddain appeared upon the top of them with some of his Squadrons but without advancing as first resolving to observe the Countenance of the Christians And accordingly seeing that they made a Halt and shewed some surprize to find those People in order of Battle whom they had thought to have found asleep in their Beds he commanded some Squadrons to descend and charge them at full Speed and the light Arabian Horses running as freely upon these Sands as if they had been upon firm ground they made a furious discharge of their Arrows and then retreated to their main Body in a little time returning again in greater numbers shooting always without coming nearer than the distance of their Arrows and without danger of being pursued by the Christians who did not without difficulty advance over the heavy Sands so that wheeling and running round about the Army all day they harassed them till Night a Night that was to be spent in Arms without repose and repast and without the Possibility of advancing or retreating and in nothing but miserable trouble and waking dispair in which they were overwhelmed And indeed their Fortune was much more deplorable the next morning when the whole Army of the Sultan being joined to the Garrison of Gaza encompassed them on all sides and without fear attacking the poor Soldiers already half dead and almost unable to carry their Arms they came to charge them with the Sword and Lance. The Christians indeed performed in despight of their Fortune all that could be expected from men of Courage and infinitely above their Strength but there was a necessity that they must yield to multitude with which they were oppressed most of them being either slain or taken that miserable day Henry Count de Bar one of the most Valiant Princes of his time Simon Count de Clermont the Lords John de Barres Robert Malet Richard de Beaumont and many others of the Bravest and most remarkable men remained dead upon the place The Constable Amauri and seventy other great French Lords after having fought most courageously and by their long resistance given an opportunity to the Duke of Burgundy to make his escape were taken Prisoners and carried in Chains to Grand Caire Thus ended this unhappy Jealousie Ambition and Vain Glory which were governed by rashness and Imprudence in this fatal Encounter of our Ancient Worthies whose misfortune may teach all the Gallant men of our times that they can never be truely Brave unless their Courage be regulated by Prudence in the Commanders and Obediences in the Inferior Officers and Soldiers This unfortunate news did so astonish all the rest of the Army which was at Ascalon in no very good understanding among themselves that they presently returned to Ptolemais where the divisions which continued still among them as well as between the Sultans of Egypt and Damascus compleated the loss of all by two most Shameful Treaties with the Infidels For the Templers who had one part of the Army on their side made a Truce with Nazer Sultan of Damascus year 1240 upon condition that he should surrender to them the Castles of Beaufort and Saphet with all the Territory of Jerusalem and that they should assist him with all their Forces against Melech-Salah Sultan of Egypt who had dethroned his Brother Edel to possess himself thereof and the Hospitallers supported by the King of Navarr the Dukes of Burgundy and Bretany and the other part of the Army made a truce quite opposite to this with the Sultan of Egypt against the Sultan of Damascus After which the King of Navarr the Duke of Bretany and the greatest part of the Cusades embarking in the Port of Acre returned into their own Country almost at the same time that Richard Earl of Cornwall Brother to King Henry the third of England arrived in Palestine with good Troops of English Crusades This Prince who following the Example of his Uncle Richard Coeur de Lyon had taken the Cross with a great Party of the Nobility and Gentry of England embarked at Dover about Whitsontide and landing in France passed to Paris where he was magnificently received by St. Lewis who lodged him in his Palace and caused him to be royally treated and conducted to Lyons from whence passing by Roan to Arles where he was to be received by Count Raymond de Provence he came to Marseilles and about the middle of September he imbarked upon the Fleet which he had sent through the Straits and upon the eleventh of October in fifteen days after the departure of the King of Navarr he came to Anchor in the Road of Ptolemais The Sarasins had a strange fear upon them for this Prince whose very name was formidable to them renewing the memory of the famous Richard King of England who by his marvellous Feats of Arms was so terrible to these Infidels that the Women were wont to quiet their Children when they cried with threatning them with King Richard and the Horsemen to make a Skewish boggling Horse go forward would commonly say to him in clapping their Spurrs to him What dost think it is King Richard And certainly his Nephew wanted neither Spirit nor Courage neither Money nor Conduct to support a name so great and so terribly to the Sarasins He did all that could be expected from a very great Prince to put things into a Condition so that it might be hoped the War against the Infidels might be happily prosecuted for within three days after his arrival he caused it to be proclaimed by the sound of Trumpet through the whole City That if any one of those who remained in the Holy Land stood in need of Money he would furnish them during all the time of their Service But he quickly learnt that in the deplorable condition to which matters were reduced by the division which still continued among the principal Officers and above all the Templers and Hospitallers there was no appearance of succeeding by the way of Arms. And therefore seeing that it was impossible to bring them to any agreement and that the Sultan of Damascus did not at all observe the truce whereas he of Egypt offered to continue it with new advantages to the Christians he resolved at last by the advice of the Duke of Burgundy the great Master of the Hospital and the greatest part of the Crusades to accept of it upon these conditions That all the Prisoners an each side and especially those who were taken at the Battle of Gaza should be set at liberty and that the Christians should enjoy certain Lands which the Sultan possessed in Palestine Mean time the Earl whilest he staid for the
Reigned in France year 1246 had gained over the Princes of the League over the Duke of Bretany the Counts of Tholouse and March and over the King of England and the Prince Richard his Brother who had indeavoured to support the Earl of March and by a pretty piece of Policy he carried along with him all the Princes and all the Great men of the Realm who might give any Suspicion or the least occasion to fear that they had either the Power the Will or the Temptation during his absence to trouble the Repose of his Dominions For of the two most mutinous Spirits of whom he had most reason to be distrustful he took one of them which was the Earl of March along with him and the other which was Raymond the Young who was Earl of Tholouse who had also taken upon him the Cross died before the Voyage leaving his Dominions to Alphonsus the King's Brother the Count of Poitiers who had married the Princess Joanna his Daughter and Heiress and the King for his greater assurance sent that Prince to establish himself in his new Dominion of Languedoc before he imbarqued himself as he afterwards did to go and joyn him in the East Moreover he deferred his Voyage for almost four Years to take the advantage of two fair occasions which presented themselves the one to reunite the County of Mascon to the Crown which he bought of the Countess who after she had distributed the money for which she sold it to the poor retired to the Nunnery of Maubuisson and there professed herself the other was to bring the County of Provence into the Royal House which had been separated from it for above three hundred Years For Raymond Berenger the Fifth of the Name and the last of the Catalonian Family who had reigned in Provence being dead the year preceeding the King knew with so much Art how to gain Romee de Villeneuve and Albert de Tarascon the Trustees and Guardians of the Princess Beatrix the remaining Daughter of the four which Count Raymond had had who was Sister to the Queen and the Heiress to the Count that he obtained her for Charles d' Anjou his Brother and without losing of time advancing towards Provence with one part of the Army which was ready for the Holy War he broke all the measures of James the King of Aragon Cousin German to the deceased Count and hindered his carrying the Princess away by force as he had designed if he could not procure her by other wayes in order to oblige her to marry his Son and by that means to retain this fair County in his Family which lay so conveniently for him During this time Lewis had all the leisure which could be reasonably desired to make his preparations and provisions year 1247 which were the greatest that ever had been seen and also to settle that Publick Peace and Tranquility which he had so happily given to all his Dominions and to assure himself on the side of England also For he prolonged the Truce which had been made with that King two or three Years before after the Victory of Taillebourg and also engaged the Pope to be the Guarranty that it should be inviolably observed as it was during all the time of his absence although the English hearing of his being taken Prisoner indeavoured to break it In short this Wise Prince neither went as the first Crusades had done by Land and thereby he avoided the dangers into which they had fallen of perishing by Famine and the miseries which attended those vast Desert Countries which were possessed by the Barbarians neither did he go with a confused Multitude of all manner of Persons and People who were to be gotten together who served for no other purpose but to put all into disorder but with a good Army consisting in betwixt thirty and forty thousand men which was such a number as the Great Alexander had when he went to the Conquest of Asia but this Army was composed for the greatest part of Gentlemen and choice Souldiers such as were capable of marching over the bellies of all that Egypt and Syria could oppose against them unless some accident should happen or some extraordinary misfortune befal them against which no humane Prudence can give any Warranty or Assurance And that which was most considerable the whole Army was absolutely at his disposal in regard that it consisted wholly of French for the King of England would not permit the Bishop of Berytus who went thither to preach the Crusade to publish it in his Dominions alledging that he stood in need of all his Subjects to defend himself against his Enemies if they should attack him year 1245 King Lewis having wisely provided all things necessary for his Voyage which he undertook in his very prime strength being about three and thirty Years of Age he had nothing further to do but to take care of the Government of his Realm in his absence and this he left to his Mother Queen Blanch the most able Woman and most capable of Governing of any of her time after which he went according to the Custom of those Ages to St. Dennis to receive the Oristame the Scarf and the Pilgrim's Staff which he did in great Solemnity for he parted from Paris upon the Friday after Whitsunday in the year 1248. accompanied with the two Princes his Brothers the Legate year 1248 and the most part of the Princes of the Crusade being preceded by all the Processions of the whole City which were followed by an infinite number of People who all in tears marched from the Palace to the Nunnery of St. Antonina singing Psalms and Letanies for the prosperity of his Voyage From thence he went by Burgundy to Lyons where he made his Entry with all manner of Magnificence for never any King was better acquainted with the Art of making his Royal Majesty most conspicuous in those Publick Ceremonies where he was minded to shew it and the Historians of that Age inform us that among other remarkable Circumstances of this Magnificent Entry there were an hundred Knights who being compleatly armed and mounted upon their great charging Horses caparisoned with their Coat Armor according to the manner of those times marched before him with their Swords drawn in their hands and this is that which our present King who in Magnificience and Grandeur surpasseth all his Predecessars hath revived in our dayes to render to the Majesty of our Kings that which St. Lewis himself as great a Saint as he was judged necessary upon some occasions for the manifesting his Lustre and his Greatness After this the Holy King having again conferred with the Pope who kept his Court at Lyons descended by the Rhone and went to take Shipping with the Queen upon the twenty fifth of August at Aigues-Mortes where the greatest part of his Fleet waited for him the remainder being at Marseilles there to take in the rest of his Army After which setting sail
to enterprize nothing contrary to the honor or the life of Alexis provided that Prince should inviolably observe all that he had promised But when the Homage came under debate he constantly protested that he would die before he would do it and that the Emperor and the Princes ought to be abundantly satisfied with the Oath which he had taken From whence they might have learned that the same Resolution in the rest might have proved no less advantagious to them then their politick Condescension for assuredly what colour soever may be put upon this Action it can never redound much to their Honour in the History of their lives But so it commonly happens that it is the Destiny of humane Prudence to be most grosly mistaken when for its security it makes choice of Profitable rather than Honest This dangerous quarrel being in this manner appeased the Princes after having resolved at a great Council of War immediately to besiege the City of Nice repaired to Calcedon whither also the Army of Raimond marched up to joyn with the rest Raimond himself and Prince Bohemond of whom the jealous Emperor was extreamly suspicious staying still at Constantinople to solicite Alexis to send the Provisions for the Army and according to his promise to go and take upon him the Command of the Army which they the more pressed that thereby they might be the better assured of him but he still excused himself from the apprehensions which he had of the Bulgarians who might draw dangerous advantages from his absence Whereupon Bohemond and the Earl presently after him having given order for the Provisions passed the strait and followed the rest of the Princes towards Nice and in the mean time Robert Duke of Normandy Stephen Earl of Blois and Prince Eustace who were yet expected with impatience after having passed the Winte and Lent in Pavia and Calabria Embarquing after Easter the fifteenth of April towards the latter end of May came up with the Christian Army and encamped near that City year 1097 This Robert Duke of Normandy was the Son of that famous William who effaced the first infamous Surname of the Bastard by that of the Conqueror which he acquired by his Merits in the Conquests of the Kingdom of England This Prince was low of Stature but of a lofty Mind and a large heart valiant and fearless upon occasion of honourable engagements of great sincerity and integrity magnificent in his Expences and liberal even to prodigality but withal he was extream voluptuous and naturally averse to trouble and business a Lover of disorderly pleasures and especially of eating and drinking very plentifully which made him something Corpulent and unwieldy and by these irregularities he lost the Realm of England in which his younger Brother established himself whilest he instead of making Preparation for War diverted himself with making provision only for his pleasures and this also lost him the love of the Normans whom he oppressed with excessive Impositions and exactions to furnish himself wherewithal to support his Luxury However he recovered that Dutchy and resolving in some measure to imitate the Piety of his Grandfather Robert the eighth Duke of Normandy who by an uncommon Devotion for so great a Prince went on Pilgrimage barefooted to Jerusalem he was one of the first in taking upon him the Cross thereby to atone God Almighty for the viciousness of his former life he therefore generously engaged his Dutchy to his two Brothers for fifteen thousand Marks in silver to enable him to undertake this Voyage wherein he suffered much in a toilsome march and performed more when once he came to enter into the War All matters having thus passed at Constantinople between the Emperor and the Princes there remained only Earl Stephen and Prince Eustace who with the Earl of Tholose were still to perform what the rest of the Princes had already done they therefore repaired to Constantinople to pay their Homage to the Emperor who received them with all manner of honour sparing no charges in treating them most Royally and in making them Presents which in beauty richness and magnificence surpassed all that he had bestowed upon the other Princes After which this perfidious man under pretence of furnishing them with an able Conductor and some Troops of his own promising that so soon as his affairs would permit he would follow them in Person with all his Forces gave them one Tatin a wicked fellow of his Court whose nose having been cut off carried in his Face the ugly Witness of his horrid Crimes It was to this infamous wretch that he trusted the great secret of his intended treachery against the Princes of the Crusade He it was who was to give him an exact account of all occurrences and upon occasion to put his orders in Execution for their Ruin whilest the poor Princes who thought they had reason to be extremely well satisfied with his proceedings passed the Bosphorus and by great marches rejoyned the Gross of the Army which had now begun the Siege of Nice THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADE OR The Expeditions of the Christian Princes for the Conquest of the Holy Land BOOK II. The CONTENTS of the Second Book The Description of the City of Nice in Blthynia and the Siege thereof by the Princes of the Crusade The second and third Battle of Nice where the young Solyman was beaten The taking of that City and the Treachery of the Greek Emperor The March of the Christian Army One part thereof surprised by Soliman The Battle of the Gorgonian Valley The Progress of the Christian Army in the lesser Asia The great danger of Duke Godfrey and his Combat with a monstrous Bear The difference and little Civil Dissention between Baldwin and Tancred Baldwin makes himself Master of the Principality of Edessa The Entrance of the Christian Army into Syria The Description of the famous City of Antioch It is besieged by the Princes The Relation of this famous Siege The Combat at the Bridge of Antioch The marvellous Actions of Duke Godfrey The Approach of Corbagath with a prodigious Army to relieve the City The Relation of the taking of Antioch by Bohemond by Intelligence in the City with one Pyrrhus The Christian Army at the same time besieged by Corbagath A Relation of the discovery of the top of a Spear which was believed to be that which pierced our Saviours side The memorable Battle of Antioch where the whole power of the Turks and Sarasens in Asia was defeated by the Christians The death of Aymar de Monteil Bishop of Pavia The quarrel between Count Raymond and the Prince of Tarrentum The taking of Marra A strange Relation of the gratitude of a Lyon The Siege of Arcas The odd Story of Anselme de Ribemond Earl of Bouchain and the deceased Engelram Son to the Earl of St. Paul The taking of Torlosa by a stratagem by the Vicount de Turenne The Sultan of Aegypt takes Jerusalem from the Turks breaks
He came into France at the same time that Cardinal Henry the Bishop of Albano Legate from the Holy See arrived there And there are some Authors who assure us that Pope Clement honoured this Archbishop with the same Character and joyned him in Commission with the Cardinal to treat a Peace between the two Kings of England and France to the end they might unite in the Resolation of undertaking the War against Saladin That War which Philip the August had declared against Henry II. King of England for the Restitution of the Earldom of Vexin had been terminated by the Undertaking of Pope Vrban upon condition that the King of England as a Dependant for those Estates upon the Crown of France should in a time prefixed submit himself to the Judgment of the Court of France That Term being expired Henry not only still retained the Earldom which he was obliged to restore but also the Princess Alice the Sister of Philip who was designed to be married to Richard the Son of the King of England Philip resolved to do himself Reason for such a visible Injustice year 1188 was about to enter into Normandy with a potent Army where Henry also was expecting him with considerable Forces when the Archbishop of Tyre arrived very opportunely to suspend at least for a time the Anger of these two Princes And so it was that by the force of his Genius and his Eloquence he procured an Interview between them in a Plain between Trie and Gisors where they were used to meet when they treated one with the other The two Kings met there about the middle of January accompanied with the Princes Prelates and great Lords of both the Kingdoms And there it was that the illustrious Archbishop employed all the Power of his Eloquence and of his Wit to represent in that August Assembly The deplorable Estate into which the fatal Divisions of the Christian Princes of the East had reduced the Kingdom of Jerusalem which the first Crusades had from so many barbarous and Infidel Nations so gloriously conquered with their victorious Arms. He then remonstrated That of four puissant Estates which they had established upon the Ruins of the Mahomitan Empire and which extended the Dominions of the Christians from Cilicia to Egypt and from the Sea to the River Tygris there remained nothing to them now more than three Cities That Antioch dispairing to be able to preserve it self by its own Forces had already promised to surrender if it were not immediately relieved by those of the West That Tyre without necessary Succours was not in a condition to sustain a second Siege having in the first lost the greatest part of its Defendants That Tripolis was too weak to endure one and could no longer remain in Freedom than it pleased Saladin to present himself before it to add it to his other Conquests And that further after so lamentable a Loss as that of Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land there was great danger of losing also the very Hopes which remained to the Christians in those places from whence they might take a Beginning to re-establish the Kingdom of Christ Jesus if those two Kings the most potent of Christendom did not unite their Hearts and their Arms to run to the Relief of Christ and his Cause of whose only Grace and Goodness they held all which they did possess And in short he said upon that Subject so many pathetick things and in a manner so powerful and so touching that the two Princes whether they had in a former Conference which they had agreed this as one of the Articles of the Peace or that God in whose Hands are the Hearts of Kings to change them in a Moment by the extraordinary Working of his Power it is certain that they embraced one the other mutually in the Presence of the whole Assembly and did it with all the Marks of a perfect Reconciliation and a sincere and cordial Friendship as if there had never been any Subject of Discontent or Difference between them And at the same time might be heard on all sides the confused Voices of a Multitude of People who broak out into great Cries of Joy and from every Quarter was to be heard Long live King Philip Long live King Henry Let us go Let us go to this War against the Infidels under the Conduct of these two mighty Kings Let us deliver Jerusalem and extirpate the Enemies of Jesus Christ The Cross the Cross let it be given us the Sign of our Salvation and the Ruin of the Sarasins These Acclamations were also presently followed with that happy Success which attended the Legation of this brave Archbishop of Tyre that the two Kings first presenting themselves to receive the Cross from the hands of the Legates they were followed by Richard the Son of the King of England Duke of Guienne and Earl of Poitou who had voluntarily taken it before the Loss of Jerusalem but would now anew receive it from the hands of the Legates As also did Philip Earl of Flanders the Duke of Burgundy the Earls of Blois Dreux Champagne Perche Clermont Barr Beaumont Nevers James Lord of Avesnes and almost all the great Lords of France England and Flanders who were present at this Assembly And to distinguish the one from the other it was ordained that the French should take a Red Cross being the same they bore in the first Crusade the English a white one and the Flemmings one of Green It is said that at the same time there appeared one in Heaven bright and shining which helped to inflame the Devotion of those who took up the other as if God himself had manifestly called them to this Holy War by a sacred Signal from above And to render the Memory of so great an Action Eternal a Cross was erected and a Church built in the midst of the Field of this Conference which was ever after called The Holy Field year 1188 After this the Kings to support the Charges of this War and to prevent the Disorders which had been so injurious to the former Crusades resolved to publish these following Ordinances That all Persons who had not undertaken the Cross of what Quality soever even the Ecclesiasticks except the Chartreux the Bernardines and the Religious of Fontevraud should pay one Tenth of their Revenues and of their Moveables except their Arms their Habits Books Jewels and consecrated Vtensils and Ornaments which was afterwards called by the name of Saladin's Tenth by reason that it was raised upon the Occasion of making this War with Saladin That the Crusades should have liberty to raise a Tenth of all their Subjects who did not go to this War And that the Husbandmen who undertook to go and take the Cross without the Leave of their Lords first obtained should not be exempted from this Impost That all Interest upon Money lent should cease for all the time that the Debters were upon Service in the Holy Land That
upon which he embarked the two Queens with the greatest part of his Forces who not long after happily arrived in England And about the beginning of October he also departed with the Displeasure of having on one side concluded a Truce most inglorious and disadvantageous to the Christians and on the other with the Honour and Pleasure at his parting to have bestowed two Kingdoms that of Jerusalem which was a very piteous one but yet a Kingdom upon the Count de Champagne his Nephew and that of Cyprus which he had conquered upon Guy de Lusignan in which House it continued two hundred and eighty Years Thus it was that King Richard left the Holy Land with a Promise to these two Princes that upon the Expiration of the Truce he would return with more powerful Forces and to persuade the World that this Resolution of his was in serious Earnest he continued still to wear the Pilgrim's Cross upon his Habit. As for the rest his natural Impatience and Temerity made him commit two mighty Faults which rendred his Return very unfortunate For first Whereas he ought to have embarked himself like a great King upon a gallant Fleet that so he might return with Security and the same Magnificence with which he came he satisfied himself with one great Ship in which he might easily by Sea have fallen either into the hands of Enemies or Pyrates and after that when he was at Corsu perceiving that his Vessel was a Slug and made no Way he threw himself for the more Expedition into a Galliot and was by Tempest driven into the Gulph of Venice where he was shipwrack'd between that place and the City Aquilea and having run a thousand Dangers in crossing through Germany in Disguise year 1193 the greatest part of his Followers being taken Prisoners by the Germans who pursued him and laid all the Passages for him he was at last discovered near Vienna by the Subjects of the Duke of Austria his mortal Enemy who made him Prisoner and treated him with sufficient Inhumanity in Revenge of the old Quarrel before Acre and after some time he delivered him into the hands of the Emperor Henry VI. This Prince to cover his abominable Avarice which made him so unjustly detain this King only to draw a great Ransom from him made his publick Pretence that all this was to do Reason for what Richard had done to his Prejudice in Sicily and for the Assassinate of the Marquis of Montferrat and those other Crimes of which he had been accused in Palestine But Richard who was naturally cloquent in a full Diet before the Princes of the Empire at Spire made his Innocence so evidently appear that the whole Assembly was moved for him even to Tears and intreated the Emperor that for the future he might be treated like a King which the Emperor more out of Shame than Honour consented to Pope Celestin also sollicited by the Letters of Queen Eleonor which were all in the Style of Peter de Blois who writ them and by the Prayers and Intreaties of Gautier Archbishop of Roan and the Bishops of Normandy who upon this occasion manifested great Ardor and Affection for the Service of King Richard did all that he possibly could to obtain his Liberty He proceeded so far as to denounce the Anathema against the Duke of Austria for daring to make a Prisoner of a Pilgrim expresly contrary to an Article of the Crusade which denounces Excommunication against such as should attempt any thing either against the Persons or Estates of such as had taken upon them the Cross He also menaced the Emperor to interdict all his Dominions if he did not presently release this prince who came to employ his Blood and his Fortune against the Infidels and over whom he could pretend no sort of Right But this had very little Effect upon the Germans who for a long time had been accustomed to be in no pain for the Thunders of Rome For notwithstanding all these Menaces year 1194 poor Richard could not be set at Liberty till after above a Years Imprisonment he payed a hundred thousand Marks in Silver before his Releasment and left fifty Hostages among which was the Archbishop of Roan for the Payment of fifty thousand Marks more of which the Duke of Austria was to have twenty thousand and the third part of the hundred thousand already received by the Emperor So that to raise this Sum all England was taxed and even the Chalices and consecrated Vessels were forced to be melted down and coyned So far was this Prince who was falsly accused to have sold Palestine to Saladin from making any Advantage of the Crusade that it is most certain that in this Expedition he spent an immense Treasure to the great Impoverishment of himself and his whole Realm But as he had not made this Treaty but whilst he was under a Force and Violence therefore so soon as he was returned into England he sent his Ambassadors to the Pope to demand Justice from him He desired of him that since by virtue of the Protection of the Holy See it was promised to all the Crusade that their Persons and Estates should be free from Injuries during the whole time of their Pilgrimage that he would by all sorts of Canonical Ways compel the Emperor and the Duke of Austria to set at liberty his Hostages to restore the Money which they had so unjustly exacted from him and to make him Satisfaction for the cruel Injury which they had done him contrary to all the Laws both Humane and Divine Celestin who saw that the Treaty of the Crusade which was universally received and confirmed without Contradiction was manifestly infringed in this great Article could not refuse to do him Justice He therefore according to the Canons caused these two Princes to be three several times admonished to make Satisfaction in these Particulars and seeing that they persisted obstinately to deride his Threatnings he did anew denounce the Anathema of the Church first against Leopold and then against the Emperor with all the usual Solemnities The Duke hereupon became more obstinate and was so far transported as to threaten the Hostages which he had with Death But it was not long before all the World believed that those terrible Scourges with which the Duke was chastised and that deplorable Accident which befel him year 1193 were the evident Effects of the Anger and Justice of God Almighty who would punish his Obstinacy in this World that so he might find Mercy in the next And in truth besides that many of his Cities were destroyed either by Fire from Heaven or by the Waters of the Danubius which drowned the greatest part of his Country in which Plague and Famine made a horrible Ravage one Day when he had made a magnificent Entertainment at Gretz to celebrate his Birth-day his Horse falling upon him broke his Leg after which a Fire in such furious manner seized upon the Part that unable
her self in this Holy War with the Resolution of a true Heroine and having joyned her Troops with the Army of the Princes of the Crusade she under went the Voyage with them with as great Zeal and Ardour as any of them and with far more Constancy and firmness of Resolution For being ashamed of the precipitate Return of the others who unworthily abandoned the Interests of Jesus Christ in the East in the very Heat of the War she only remained unmoveable in her first Resolution and passed all the Remainder of her Days at Ptolemais that so she might be always ready upon all Occasions which offered either to attack the Infidels or defend the Christians An Example which confirms what hath been frequently seen in other Princesses that Heroick Vertue does not at all depend upon the Quality of the Sex but that the weakness of Temper and Body may be supplied by the greatness of the Soul and the Vigour of the Spirit During this time the Letters of the Pope with those of the Emperor which were sent all over Germany produced such Effects upon the Minds of Men already filled and prepossessed with the haughty Idea's which they had conceived of a Crusade wherein the Empire only should be concerned so that every City willing to signalize themselves upon this Occasion furnished out a considerable number of Crusades Insomuch that the Emperor found wherewithal abundantly to satisfie not only the great Desire which he seemed to have to undertake the Holy War but also that which in reallity he had which was under this pretext to lead a potent Army into Italy to exterminate the Remainder of the Normans who had caused a Revolt in the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily And that he might play his Game with greater Success by covering his principal Intendment under this specious Appearance of a mighty Zeal he presented himself to take the Cross from the hand of the Legate protesting that for the Accomplishment of his Promise and to animate others by his Example he was resolved to march at the Head of his Army and in Person to combat against the Infidels But whether it were that they discovered his Artifice and saw that it would be an acceptable Service to him year 1195 to stop him in this Design or that they really believed that after the deplorable Accidents which happened to his Father and his Brother in the other Crusade it was not at all expedient that he should engage himself in Person to undertake this Voyage it is certain that all the Princes humbly intreated him to continue in the Empire remonstrating to him that thereby he would render greater Service to God by constantly taking care and providing the Necessaries for Subsistence and Recruits for the Armies which he should send into the East So that after some small Struggling and faint Oppositions he submitted to the Request of the Assembly and in conclusion resolved to set on foot three great Armies that so he might make profitable use of that infinite multitude of Soldiers who had taken upon them the Cross throughout all the Provinces of Germany The first of these Armies under the Conduct of Conrade Archbishop of Mayence accompanied by the Dukes of Saxony and Brabant and the greatest part of the Princes of the Crusade took its Way by Land to Constantinople where being imbarked upon the Fleet of the Greek Emperor whose Daughter Irene Philip Duke of Suabia Brother to the Emperor Henry had married they arrived happily at Antioch from whence they marched to Tyre and a few days after to Ptolemais The second Army passed by Sea and after having coasted along the Low Countries England France and Spain in their Passage they took the City of Sylves which the Sarasins had regained from the Portuguese and fearing lest the Infidels should again seize upon that important place which had been so ill defended by Dom Sancho the Crusades demolished it from the very Foundation After which they prosperously held on their Course and came to an Anchor in the Port of Acre where they joyned the first Army And for the third Army which was the strongest and composed of the best Troops drawn particularly out of the Dutchies of Suabia Bavaria and Franconia consisting in sixty thousand Combatants the Emperor in Person conducted it into Italy where in Execution of the Design which he had so artfully concealed under the specious pretext of the Holy War he surprized the Norman Princes and Lords who were confederated against him and without any trouble made himself Master of all the places which they yet held against him in the Realms of Naples and Sicily year 1196 putting those brave Unfortunates to death by all the ways of Rage and Cruelty Insomuch that the Empress Constantia unable to endure this horrible Butchery which was made of those of her Nation whom this cruel fierce and vindicative Prince resolved utterly to exterminate she conspired against him both to take away his Life and Empire And that her wicked Enterprise might prove successful she covered it and her Resentment for the present with a deep Dissimulation Henry who believed that he had now no more Enemies who were in a Condition to enterprize any thing against him caused the greatest part of his Army to be imbarked upon the Fleet which Conrade Bishop of Wirtzbourg his Chancellor and Lieutenant General in Italy had rigged the Year before who conducted them with a prosperous Voyage in a few days to the Port of Acre where they arrived very opportunely to reinforce the German Troops who for some time before had had all the Forces of the Insidels upon their hands For Valeran de Limbourg who with his Brigade having marched with the first was arrived in Palestine before the rest having broken the Truce which was made with the Sarasins they who before thought of nothing but how to ruin one another began immediately to re-unite under Saphadin against the common Enemy as they esteemed the Christians This Prince who was a great Soldier having presently raised a potent Army of his own Troops and those of his Nephews who upon this Occasion owned him as their General made a great Slaughter of all the Christians who fell into his Power thereby to revenge himself of Valeran who by an Action very little Christian and of most dangerous Consequence had in like manner treated the Sarasins whom he surprized upon his breaking the Truce After which by a wonderful Diligence preventing the Army of the Crusades he laid Siege before their Arrival to Jaffa into which the King of England had put a strong Garrison before he quitted Palestine year 1196 The young Henry Count de Champagne who had all the Authority of a Soveraign after his Marriage with Queen Isabella saw very well of what Importance it was to save that Place without which it was almost impossible to undertake the Siege of Jerusalem and therefore he resolved to march to relieve it with all the Expedition possible and
quitted Palestine the preceding year upon the new retardment of the Emperor's Voyage there were not then in Palestine remaining of the new comers more than about eight hundred men at Arms and ten thousand Foot besides the Knights which the Great Masters of the three Orders had upon the place All these Crusades had chosen for their General Henry Duke of Limbourg who after a long deliberation with the Officers of the Army the Patriarch and the Bishops of Caesarea and Nazareth and those of Oxford and Winchester in England seeing themselves too weak to attack Coradin they had imployed themselves in the rebuilding and Fortification of Caesarea and some other little Maritim places resolving to do the same to Jaffa in expectation of the Succours which were to come from Europe In this time Coradin died leaving for his Successor his Son Melesel of the Age of twelve years under the Tutelage and Regency of the Emir Esedinebec Hereupon the Sultans his Neighbours failed not to enterprize immediately against him and this doubtless was of great advantage to the Crusades who were not only delivered from the most formidable of their Enemies but saw them also engaged in Civil Wars This was the State of the Christian Affairs at the arrival of the Emperor who was not able to prevent it but that many of this small number of Crusades believing that they had satisfied their Vow by a Years Service returned by the Conveniency of passage which they had that Autumn On the other part the Sultan of Egypt who always maintained a good Intelligence with his Brother Coradin was come to the Assistance of his Nephew with a potent Army and was incamped at Napolose anciently Sichem or Sichar where he expected the coming up of all the Forces of Damascus who were to join with his Upon this whether the Emperor believed that he could not with those few Troops he had undertake this War but to his dishonour or whether it was that the matter was so preconcerted betwixt him and the Sultan before his coming thither as the common report went although there is no manner of Foundation for it in History or which is most probable that he had a great desire to return with all Expedition into Italy it is certain that he sent Count Thomas his Confident and Balian Lord of Tyre to Meledin to whom after they had in the Emperors name made magnificent presents they acquainted him That it was not at all the desire of their Master that there should be any thing betwixt them two which might prevent their living in perfect Amitie That Frederick who was the most potent Prince in Christendom was not come into the East to make new Conquests there for that he was possessed of such large Dominions in the West as were capable to satisfie the vastest Ambition That the great reason of his coming was to visit the Holy places and to redemand the Realm of Jerusalem which the Christians had conquered and for so long a time possessed and which appertained to his Son in right of the Empress Jolante his Mother who was the Queen and the lawful Inheretrix of that Kingdom That if he were satisfied in a demand so just and reasonable he was ready to return into Europe without drawing his Sword and therefore desired the Sultan that by an unjust refusal he would not be the occasion of sheding so much humane Blood which might be spared there having been so much already miserably spilt in so many cruel Battles as had been already fought upon this quarrel year 1228 Meledin who had a Soul naturally inclined to mildness and to peace as had most evidently appeared in the War of Damiata gave the Ambassadors a favourable Audience and promised that he would send Ambassadors of his own who should carry to the Emperor his Answer in an Affair of that Importance and having made them very rich Presents he sent them back to Frederick whilest these matters were in Agitation two Cordeliers who came immediately from Rome presented the Patriarch and the three great Masters of the Military Orders Letters from the Pope by which he strictly prohibited them from giving any Obedience to the Emperor and appointed the Patriarch to declare him Excommunicate now as this could not be done without making a mighty noise the Sultan was quickly by his Intelligencers made acquainted with it and therefore seeing that besides that the Emperor had but a very slender Army he was in danger of having the fortune to be ill obeyed but yet nevertheless being very willing to deliver himself from the continual Fear which he had of some new Crusade which was only to be done by some good and long Truce and not doubting but now he had an opportunity to do it as he pleased he put on a Countenance something fierce and haughty as if he were very indifferent in the matter however he sent his Ambassadors who from him were to acquaint the Emperor That he was far from refusing his Amity but for that which concerned the Article of Jerusalem that which was desired of him was of such a Nature that neither his Conscience his Honour nor his Religion would permit him to agree to it in regard that the Sarasins themselves had as great a Veneration for the Temple of the Lord whither they resorted from all Parts to worship God as the Christians had for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to which they came in Pilgrimage to adore Christ Jesus But that nevertheless if his Imperial Majesty would please to send new Ambassadors to their Master he would make such reasonable Propositions as that he should have cause to find himself very well satisfied And thereupon they presented the Emperor from him with a huge Elephant several admirable Camels and divers other rare Animals of Egypt and Arabia And Frederick after having magnificently treated them and honoured them with Noble Presents sent them back with his Ambassadors to treat with the Sultan That Prince who was resolved to come to his Ends in the manner which he had formed in his own Imagination did not presently give them Audience but only made them be informed that they must follow him to the City of Gaza whither he marched with his Army leaving that of the Sultan of Damascus his Nephew at Napolose This procedure made the Emperor Frederick believe that Meledin had a Design to affront him and therefore having caused all the Captains to Assemble he acquainted them that according to the resolution which they had taken he thought it convenient to march with the Army to Jaffa and to fortifie it thereby to secure the passage to Jerusalem they all submitted to his Orders except the two great Masters of the Templers and Hospitallers who said in plain terms that the Pope to whom they owed obedience had forbidden them to obey an Excommunicate Prince and that therefore if the Orders were issued out in his Name they would not obey them The Emperor extremely surprized by
They were received at Naples at Rome and at Viterbum where the Cardinals were assembled upon the Election of a Pope and at all other Cities in their passage with honours of a different Nature from those which are accustomed to be given to Kings and which sufficiently shewed that they were esteemed to be in a Rank much Superior to them the Voice of the People which is said to be the Voice of God being a forerunner of that of the Church which six and twenty years after solemnly canonized him for a Saint year 1271 Mean time Edward Prince of England who had renewed his Vow during the Tempest and which he weathered so well that he lost not one of his ships sailed towards Ptolemais where he arrived in the Month of May having only three hundred Knights English and French with John Duke of Bretany It was with these few Troops strengthened with five hundred Frisons and another small Reinforcement which Prince Edmond his Brother brought to him from England that he hindred Bendocdar who had taken diverse Castles about Ptolemais from besieging that City He also prevailed with the Tartars the Enemies of this Sultan to enter into Palestine to oppose the Progress of that Conqueror But as on one part these Barbarians after having according to their manner ravaged the Country marched home again and on the other that Hugh King of Cyprus and Jerusalem not being strong enough to do any great matters obtained a Truce of Bendocdar who concluded it with him only to amuse him he was able to do nothing of Moment And therefore as soon as he was recovered of a dangerous Wound which he had received from an Assassin whom he trusted and whom he himself killed with the same poisoned Dagger with which the Traitor had struck him he returned opportunely to take possession of the Kingdom of England which Henry his Father dying left unto him year 1272 Thus this Crusade from which there was reason to expect such great things produced no manner of Effects for the deliverance of the Holy Land And since that time there could never any more be raised although the Pope's had frequently made great attempts to excite the Zeal of Christians therein to imitate that of their Ancestors For first of all Gregory the tenth who from being only Archdeacon of Leige was chosen Pope after the See had been vacant for three Months then when he was at Ptolemais with the Prince of England did more than any of his Predecessors to unite all the Christian Princes and even the Greeks and Tartars in a Holy League to chase the Sarasins out of Palestins and Syria year 1274 And it was he who particularly for this design about two years after held the second Council of Lyons which was one of the greatest and most numerous Assemblies which the Church had ever seen for there were present at it above a thousand Prelates with the Ambassadours of two Emperors of the East and West of the Kings of France Cyprus and all the Christian Princes beyond the Sea together with those of all Europe besides that James King of Arragon and the great Masters of the Temple and the Hospital were there in Person There a Decree was made for the prosecuting the Holy War and an Alliance was made for this purpose with Abagas the King of the Tartars who had sent his Ambassadors thither There Michael Paleologus was recognised for Emperor of Constantinople upon condition That he should join with the Latins in the War against the Sultan of Egypt and there the Election of the Emperor Rodolph was confirmed upon Condition That he should march at the head of the Crusades into Palestine which he also promised to the Pope with an Oath receiving from his hands the Cross at Lausanna whither he followed the Pope after the Council in his return to Italy year 1275 But in conclusion all this produced just nothing either because People were disgusted with this War and such a dangerous Voyage or that having been so long accustomed to hear of this War they were not at all moved with what was no Novelty Insomuch that the Cordeliers and the Jacobins whom the Pope sent all over Europe to preach up the Cross could not meet with so much as one man who would take it Michael Paleologus who had made a Re-union of short continuance between the Greek and the Latin Churches had never any other intention but thereby to hinder the Latins from uniting again to recover Constantinople and to restore Baldwin who did what lay in his Power to that purpose year 1275 especially with Charles King of Naples and Sicily Rodolph who from a bare Count of Habsbourg near Bale issued from a younger Brother of the House of Alsatia was come to be raised to the Empire thought of nothing but how most powerfully to establish his own House in Germany and herein he succeeded so well that it is since become so great and August under the Illustrious name of Austria which this Emperor bestowed upon it in giving that Dutchy to his Son Albert who afterwards also came to be Emperor as well as his Father So that this Emperor Rodolph never accomplished the Vow which he had made between the hands of the Pope who himself gave the Cross to him and to his whole Court and yet nevertheless he was not excommunicated for it as Frederick the Second had been Abagas singly was not strong enough to stop the Course of Bendocdar's Conquests who insolently laughed at all the vain attempts of the Princes of the West and openly threatned to make all the whole East the Trophee of his Arms and oblige it to submit to his Empire And as for the poor Christians of Palestine who most pressingly implored the succours of Europe they every day themselves advanced their own ruin by the fatal Effects of their division which became still greater by the Quarrel which arose among them at this time concerning the succession of a Kingdom which thereby they made all the haste they could to lose The Subject of this Quarrel is one of the points of History which Writers have made the least clear and which in fews words I will endeavour to explain Isabella the Daughter of Amauri King of Jerusalem and Heiress of that Realm had four Husbands The first was Aufrey de Thoron by whom she had no Children The Second was Marquis Conrade de Momferrat Prince of Tyre by whom she had the Marchioness Mary who married John de Brienne and made him King of Jerusalem Of this Marriage issued Jolanta the Wife to the Emperor Frederick the Second Mother to the Emperor Conrade who was Heir to this Realm and consequently without contradiction left it as of right to the Unfortunate Young Conradin The third Husband of Queen Isabella was Henry Count de Champagne whose Daughter Alice married Hugh de Lusignan the first of that name King of Cyprus by whom she had the Princess Isabella who was married to
of the City had promised to surrender if they were not before that time relieved The Sarasins seeing him coming had put themselves in Battalia upon the Bank to hinder his Descent and the greatest part looking upon such an Attempt as impossible advised the King to return But this undaunted Prince perceiving that the Castle yet held out causing his Shallop to row close to the Shoar was the first that leapt into the Sea and drew the rest after him rather by the extreme Danger to which they saw him expose himself than by the Force of such a brave Example and after he had routed the Sarasins who fled instantly amazed at his prodigious Boldness he stormed the Town by the same Breaches which they had made and cutting in pieces those who besieged the Castle he constrained Saladin with the remainder of his Troops to retire in great disorder to the Mountains But this was not all for three days after seven thousand chosen men of the most brave of all Saladin's Army thinking to surprize him early in the Morning in his Quarters while he was asleep taking the Alarm he so quickly rallied what Troops of Infantry could be gotten together on the sudden and formed them so well into a square Battalion that they durst never so much as approach him for he had so ranged his men that between every Pike who kneeled with one knee upon the Ground two Cross-Bows were placed one of which charged the Cross-Bows whilest the other let fly the Mortal Arrows among them without ceasing and at last seeing the Enemies disordered by the great Showers of those dreadful forked Arrows and that they did nothing but wheel about his Battalion which had a Front every way he by an excess of Courage or rather Temerity threw himself on Horse-Back into the midst of his Enemies although he had not with him above ten Lords who were mounted as he was the Cheif of which were the Count de Champagne the Earl of Leicester Bartholomew Mortemar Raoul de Mauleon Andrew de Savigni William de L' Estang and Henry de Nevile There he did shew the Prodigies of Valour with those Generous Lords who by his Example combated like so many inraged Lyons He relieved Robert Earl of Leicester who happened to be dismounted he cut off the Arms of those who had seized upon the Lord Mauleon to make him Prisoner his Sword like Lightning flew every way carrying Death and Terror along with it among his Enimies and at last seeing the General who commanded the Sarasins who was animating his men to the Combat and reproached them of Cowardice to suffer such a handful to triumph over them he ran up to him and with a mighty Blow of his Falchion cut off his Head and right Arm close by the Shoulder so that he fell dead among the Horses Feet This dreadful Blow so terrified the Sarasins that they durst not come near him but attacked him at a distance with their Arrows so that at last weary of their Slaughter he returned to his Camp the Caparison of his Horse being bristled with the Enemies Arrows of whom he left seven hundred Extended upon the Earth without having lost any more then two of his Men. In truth such a Noble and Heroick Action made it most apparent that there was no manner of Understanding between him and Saladin against whom if there had certainly he would never have fought with such apparent Hazard of his Person to drive him out of Jaffa after he had taken it But all this did not hinder but that Saladin who saw very well that Richard who was fallen sick after this Combat was not only resolved but necessitated to return into Europe obliged him in Conclusion to accept of a Truce with such Conditions as he was pleased to give as if he had been the Conqueror They were these That the Christians should demolish all the places which they had siezed upon since the taking of Acre and above all Ascalon That all the Coast from Tyre to Jaffa should be in the Power of the Christians that the rest should remain in the Possession of Saladin except Ascalon which upon the Expiration of the Truce should fall to his Share who should then be most potent year 1192 and that Richard should be satisfied from him for the Expences which he had been at in the Fortifications of that Place That during the Truce which was to begin at Easter in the following Year and to continue for three Years three Months three Weeks and three Days the Christians should have liberty in small numbers freely to enter into Jerusalem to make there their Devotions at the Holy Sepulchre Thus this great Crusade wherein all the Forces of Germany France and England were employed under three of the greatest Princes of the Universe against one single Conqueror ended at last in nothing more than the Taking of one poor Town which cost the Lives of an infinite number of brave Men the least part of which if they had been under the Command of one single Captain might with ease have conquered the whole Eastern Empire But it is never to be expected or hoped but that Hatred Envy Ambition Jealousie of State and Diversity of Interests which never fail to happen among plurality of Commanders should ever suffer these kind of Unions to continue firm or long And it would be a kind of Prodigy if they should not according to their nature produce those Divisions and Animosities which alone without the Assistance of other Mischiefs are capable of ruining the greatest Enterprises and the bravest Armies Whereas one single Chief with far less number shall certainly triumph over the greatest Multitude leagued against him provided he hath but Patience to permit Discords to enter into the Camp of the Confederates and will but give them leave to overthrow themselves The Truce being signed Richard who found himself still worse in the unwholsom Air of Jaffa caused himself to be removed to Caiphas where Saladin who had naturally a generous Soul sent to visit him with great Marks of Affection Esteem and Respect He also very obligingly received the Bishop of Salisbury at Jerusalem who with the rest of the Pilgrims went thither to offer the Vows of the King who still continued much indisposed in his Health And after he had most courteously entertained that Prelate he obliged him to demand what Favour lay in his Power and promised he would grant it Whereupon the Bishop requested that not only in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but those of Nazareth and Bethlehem there might be permitted to remain two Latin Priests and two Deacons with freedom publickly to celebrate Divine Service in those places to which Saladin without any difficulty according to his Word accorded After this the King finding his Health in some measure re-established repaired to Acre where the Duke of Burgundy was dead of the Distemper some eight Days before his Arrival There he caused his Fleet to be rigged