whereof they gave for their Seal Two men riding on one horse And hence it was that if the Turks took any of them prisoners their constant â—ansome was a Sword and a Belt it being conceived that their poor state could stretch to no higher price But after their order was confirmed by Pope Honorius by the intreaty of Stephen the Patriarch of Jerusalem who appointed them to wear a White garment to which Eugeâ—ius the third added a Red crosse on their breast they grew wonderfully rich by the bounty of severall Patrons Yea the King and Patriarch of Jerusalem 〈◊〉 this infant-order so long in their laps till it brake their knees it grew so heavie at last and these ungratefull Templars did pluck out the feathers of those wings which hatched and brooded them From Alms-men they turned Lords and though very valiant at first for they were sworn rather to dye then to flie afterwards lazinesse withered their arms and swelled their bellies They laughed at the rules of their first Institution as at the swadling-clothes of their infancie neglecting the Patriarch and counting themselves too old to be whipped with the rod of his discipline till partly their vitiousnesse and partly their wealth caused their finall extirpation as God willing shall be shewed hereafter At the same time began the Teutonick order consisting onely of Dutch-men well descended living at Jerusalem in an house which one of that nation bequeathed to his countreymen that came thither on pilgrimage In the yeare 1190 their order was honoured with a great Master whereof the first was Henry a-Walpot and they had an habit assigned them to wear Black Crosses on White robes They were to fight in the defence of Christianity against Pagans But we shall meet with them more largely in the following story Chap. 17. The Christians variety of successe Tyre taken by the assistance of the Venetians IT is worth the Readers marking how this Kings reign was checquered with variety of fortune For first Roger Prince of Antioch or rather guardian in the minority of young Boemund went forth with greater courage then discretion whereunto his successe was answerable being conquered and killed by the Turks But Baldwine on the 14 of August following forced the Turks to a restitution of their victory and with a small army gave them a great overthrow in spite of Gazi their boasting Generall To qualifie the Christians joy for this good successe Joceline unadvisedly fighting with Balak a petty King of the Turks was conquered and taken prisoner and King Baldwine coming to deliver him was also taken himself for which he might thank his own rashnesse For it had been his best work to have done nothing for a while till the Venetian succours which were not farre off had come to him and not presently to adventure all to the hazard of a battel Yet the Christians hands were not bound in the Kings captivity For Eustace Grenier chosen Vice-roy whilest the King was in durance stoutly defended the countrey and Count Joceline which had escaped out of prison fighting again with Balak at Hircapolis routed his army and killed him with his own hands But the main piece of service was the taking of Tyre which was done under the conduct of Guarimund the Patriarch of Jerusalem but chiefly by the help of the Venetian navie which Michael their Duke brought who for their pains were to have a third part of the city to themselves Tyre had in it store of men and munition but famine increasing against whose arrows there is no armour of proof it was yielded on honourable terms And though perhaps hunger shortly would have made the Turks digest courser conditions yet the Christians were loth to anger their enemies valour into desperatenesse Next year the King returned home having been eighteen moneths a prisoner being to pay for his ransome an hundred thousand Michaelets and for security he left his daughter in pawn But he payed the Turks with their own money or which was as good coin with the money of the Saracens vanquishing Borsâ—quin their Captain at Antiochia and not long after he conquered Dordequin another great Commander of them at Damascus To correct the ranknesse of the Christians pride for this good successe Damascus was afterward by them unfortunately besieged Heaven discharged against them thunder-ordinance arrows of lightning small shot of hail whereby they being miserably wasted were forced to depart And this affliction was increased when Boemund the young Prince of Antioch one of great hope and much lamented was defeated and slain Authours impute these mishaps to the Christians pride and relying on their own strength which never is more untrusty then when most trusted True it was God often gave them great victories when they defended themselves in great straits Hereupon they turned their thankfulnesse into presumption grew at last from defending themselves to dare their enemies on disadvantages to their often overthrow for God will not unmake his miracles by making them common And may not this also be counted some cause of their ill successe That they alwayes imputed their victories to the materiall Crosse which was carried before them So that Christ his glory after his ascension suffered again on the Crosse by their superstition Chap. 18. The death of Baldwine the second KIng Baldwine a little before his death renounced the world and took on him a religious habit This was the fashion of many Princes in that age though they did it for divers ends Some thought to make amends for their disordered lives by entring into some holy order at their deaths Others having surfeited of the worlds vanity fasted from it when they could eat no more because of the impotency of their bodies Others being crossed by the world by some misfortune sought to crosse the world again in renouncing of it These like furious gamesters threw up their cards not out of dislike of gaming but of their game and they were rather discontented to live then contented to dye But we must believe that Baldwine did it out of true devotion to ripen himself for heaven because he was piously affected from his youth so that all his life was religiously tuned though it made the sweetest musick in the close He died not long after on the 22 of August in the 13 year of his reign and was buried with his predecessours in the temple of the Sepulchre By Morphe a Grecian Lady his wife he had four daughters whereof Millesent was the eldest the second Alice married to young Boemund Prince of Antioch the third Hodiern wife to Reimund Prince of Tripoli and Mete the youngest Abbesse of Bethanie Chap. 19. Of Fulco the fourth King of Ierusalem FUlco Earl of Tours Main and Anjou coming some three years before on pilgrimage to Jerusalem there took in marriage Millesent the Kings daughter He had assigned to him the city of Tyre and some other princely accommodations for his present
the cure for their private profit and this Holy warre being the trade whereby they got their gains they lengthened it out to the utmost So that their Treacherie may passe for the eighth impediment Baronius concludeth this one principall cause of the Christians ill successe That the Kings of Jerusalem took away that citie from the Patriarchs thereof herein committing sacriledge a sinne so hainous that malice it self cannot wish an enemy guilty of a worse But whether or no this was sacriledge we referre the reader to what hath been largely discussed before And here I could wish to be an auditour at the learned and unpartiall arguing of this question Whether over-great donations to the Church may not afterwards be revoked On the one side it would be pleaded who should be judge of the over-greatnesse seeing too many are so narrow-hearted to the Church they count any thing too large for it yea some would cut off the flesh of the Churches necessary maintenance under pretense to cure her of a tympanie of superfluities Besides it would be alledged What once hath been bestowed on pious uses must ever remain thereto To give a thing and take a thing is a play too childish for children much lesse must God be mocked therewith in resuming what hath been conferred upon him It would be argued on the other side That when Kings do perceive the Church readie to devoure the Commonwealth by vast and unlimited donations unto it and Clergie-men grown to suspicious greatnesse armed with hurtfull and dangerous priviledges derogatorie to the royaltie of Princes then then it is high time for Princes to pare their overgrown greatnesse But this high pitch wee leave to stronger wings Sure I am in another kinde this Holy warre was guiltie of sacriledge and for which it thrived no whit the better in that the Pope exempted six and twentie thousand manours in Europe belonging to the Templars and Hospitallers from paying any tithes to the Priest of the parish so that many a minister in England smarteth at this day for the Holy warre And if this be not sacriledge to take away the dowrie of the Church without assuring her any joynture in lieu of it I report my self to any that have not the pearl of prejudice in the eye of their judgement Chap. 18. Three grand faults in the Kingdome of Ierusalem hindring the strength and puissance thereof COme we now to survey the Kingdome of Jerusalem in it self We will take it in its verticall point in the beginning of Bald wine the third when grown to the best strength and beautie yet even then had it some faults whereby it was impossible ever long to subsist 1. It lay farre from any true friend On the West it was bounded with the mid-land-sea but on all other sides it was environed with an Ocean of foes and was a countrey continually besieged with enemies One being to sell his house amongst other commendations thereof proclaimed That his house had a very good neighbour a thing indeed considerable in the purchase and might advance the sale thereof a yeares value Sure I am the Kingdome of Jerusalem had no such conveniencie having bad neighbours round about Cyprus indeed their friend lay within a dayes sail but alas the Kings thereof had their hands full to defend themselves and could scarce spare a finger to help any other 2. The Kingdome was farre extended but not well compacted all the bodie thereof ran out in arms and legs Besides that ground inhabited formerly by the twelve tribes and properly called the Holy land the Kingdome of Jerusalem ranged Northward over all Coelosyria and Cilicia in the lesser Asia North-eastward it roved over the Principalities of Antioch and Edessa even unto Carrae beyond Euphrates Eastward it possessed farre beyond Jordan the strong fort of Cracci with a great part of Arabia Petrea Southward it stretched to the entrance of Egypt But as he is a strong man whose joynts are well set and knit together not whom nature hath spunne out all in length and never thickened him so it is the united and well compacted Kingdome entire in it self which is strong not that which reacheth and strideth the farthest For in the midst of the Kingdome of Jerusalem lay the Kingdome of Damascus like a canker feeding on the breast thereof and clean through the Holy land though the Christians had many cities sprinkled here and there the Turks in other strong holds continued mingled amongst them 3. Lastly what we have touched once before some subjects to the Kings of Jerusalem namely the Princes of Antioch Edessa and Tripoli had too large and absolute power and authoritie They would do whatsoever the King would command them if they thought good themselves Now subjects should be Adjectives not able to stand without much lesse against their Prince or they will make but bad construction otherwise These three hindrances in the Kingdome of Jerusalem added to the nine former will complete a Jurie Now if any one chance to censure one or two of them let him not triumph therein for we produce not these impediments severally but joyntly not to fight single duells but all in an armie Non noceant quamvis singula juncta nocent Chap. 19. What is to be conceived of the incredible numerousnesse of many armies mentioned in this storie FRequent mention hath been made through this Holy warre of many armies aswell Christian as Turkish whose number of souldiers swell very great so as it will not be amisse once for all to discusse the point concerning the numerousnesse of armies anciently And herein we branch our opinion into these severals 1. Asian armies are generally observed greater then those of Europe There it is but a sucking and infant company to have ten thousand yea under fiftie thousand no number The reason of their multitude is not that Asia is more populous but more spatious then Europe Christendome is enclosed into many small Kingdomes and free States which severally can send forth no vast numbers and seldome agree so well as to make a joynt collection of their forces Asia lieth in common in large countreys and many of them united under one head Besides it is probable especially in ancient times as may be proved out of Scripture that those Eastern countreys often spend their whole stock of men and imploy all their arms-bearing people in their martiall service not picking or culling them out as we in Europe use to do 2. Modern armies are farre lesse then those in former ages The warre genius of the world is altered now-a-dayes and supplieth number with policie the foxes skinne pieceth out the lions hide Especially armies have been printed in a smaller letter since guns came up One well-mounted cannon will spare the presence and play the part of a whole band in a battel 3. Armies both of Europe and chiefly in Asia as farther off are reported farre greater then truth Even as many old men use to set the clock of their age
A declaration of the Frontispice BEfore you travel to the Holy land Behold a Page that in the front doth stand To give you â—ym and guidance in the way First Europe bids your observation stay Upon a Purse of gold warres surest nerve Whose every crosse is interess'd to serve I'â—b ' Holy warre The gain alas no more Then Crosses Gules in â—â—â—ad of Crossâ—â— Or. But see the troups see bow they march along Where severall ranks and orders make a throng Promiscuously blended sex and age Nation and language joyntly do engage Their devout forces to redresse thy woes Ierusalem ravisht by barbarous foes Petâ—r the Monk leaving his sullen cell His beads and Offices and every spell Of his mysterious zeal breaks forth at last To kindle 〈◊〉 the world with fatall blast First Kings proceed and Captains follow them The 〈…〉 upon the diadem The next are Prelates who stray farre from home To winne the glorious name of Martyrdome Since all their mild perswasions could not work Upon thâ— obdurate Antichristian Turk They will at length if nought prevent their plot Confute his Alcoran with sword and shot After those reverend men whose cloven mitres Speak them not warriours so much as writers A bald-pate regiment of Friars comes Whose crowns might serve the Army for their drums And give as full a sound if you 'l confesse The greatest noise 〈◊〉 arise from emptinâ—sse Then moves the main Battalia straitly knit Into a steadie 〈◊〉 halanx square but fit To spread or lengthen or with art to pare The corners till the band grow circular T' environ th' enemy briefly to reduce Their various postures unto every use These are the onely Forces all the rest Impediments but specious at the best But oh amazement what is that we see A troup of Ladies in the next degree Each one appears a Pallas in the field Dropt newly from Jove's brain with spear and shield Or Mars so long 〈◊〉 Venus hath possest Courage is 〈◊〉 into her tender â—â—cast March on brave Amazons coâ—quest and praise 〈…〉 of immortall bayes Which you when Autumn age shall pluck your hair In stead of costly perriwigs may wear March on For the shrill trumpet and the fife Your tongues may serve then to secure your life You need no weapons every face and eye Carrieth sufficient artillerie A slender company doth next succeed Call it the Inâ—antrie 't is so indeed As if the driving of the Turks away From Christian Cities were but childrens play The last in this Religious army crawls A band collected out of Hospitals And Spittles One would think this piteous fight Did rather come from warre then go to fight Their commendation 's this How-e're the day Shall chance to prove they 'l hardly run away This is the totall muster Let the book Tell their aâ—â—hie ements Mean time as you look Upon this Frontispice youâ—â— plainly see Their dismall end and sad Catastrophe Th' incensed Angel with his flaming blade Great slaughter of perâ—idious souls hath made To teach us truth and justice see how God Scourges their falshood with a fiery rod. Then the grand Signor his proud fauchion stretches With domineering hand over the wretches Low prostrate as his foot Can Christian eyes Endure this figure Let the captives rise Surly black Saracen their bended knee Has higher objects then to reverence thee They serve a Lord greater then Mahomet Though now their sunne be darken'd and beset With â—louds of disadvantage time will be When such poore things shall triumph over thee And their old prophesie shall be made good Thy Moon shall then be turned into bloud The last of their destroyers that you see Is that same ghastly thing th' Anatomie Doth represent a naked cage of bone From whence the winged soul long since is flown They call it Death He with his double band Sicknesse and casualtie on either hand Met many stragglers forcing them to yield And where the Turk before him got the field He tooke the gleanings Thus our soâ—ldiers fell By th' Angel Turk and Death heaven earth and hell Those that escap'd câ—me home as full of grief As the poore Purse is emptie of relief They 're turn'd and so is 〈◊〉 but nothing in 't Till nâ—w devotion shall repair the Mint Mean while reade â—'re the Historie your brain There you may fill though not the Purse again J. C. THE HISTORIE of the HOLY WARRE By Tho Fuller B. D. Prebendary of Sarum late of Sidney Coll. in Cambridge Iohn 4. 21. The houre cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at jerusalem worship the Father Acts. 538. If this counsel be of men it will come to nought â—â—nted by Tho Busk one of the Printers to the University of Cambridge are sold by Io Williams at the Crane in S. P. Church-yard THE HISTORIE of the HOLY VVARRE By THOMAS FVLLER B. D. Prebendarie of Sarum late of Sidney Colledge in CAMBRIDGE The third edition CAMBRIDGE Printed by ROGER DANIEL and are to be sold by JOHN VVILLIAMS at the signe of the Crown in PAULS CHURCH-YARD 1647. To the Honourable EDWARD MONTAGU St. JOHN POWLET Sonnes and Heirs to the Right Honourable EDWARD Lord MONTAGU of Boughton JOHN LORD POWLET of Hinton St George WHen I observe the severall alterations in Nobilitie I find foure principall actours on the theatres of great Families the Beginner Advancer Continuer and Ruiner The Beginner is he who by his vertues refineth himself from the drosse of the vulgar and layeth the foundation of his house An excellent workman indeed as who not onely bringeth his tools but maketh his materials The Advancer who improveth the patrimonie of Honour he receiveth and what his Father found glasse and made crystall he findeth crystall and maketh it pearl The Continuer who keepeth his Nobility alive and passeth it along neither marring nor mending it but sendeth it to his Son as he received it from his Father The Ruiner who basely degenerateth from his Ancestours so that in him Nobilitie hath runne so farre from its first starting that it is tired and whilest he liveth he is no better then his Grandfathers tombe without carved over with honourable titles within full of emptinesse or what is worse corruption Now to apply You cannot be Beginners of your Families that care was cared for before your nurses were chosen or your cradles provided Your Fathers though of late years fixed in a higher Sphear were bright Starres long before None can go on in our English Chronicles but they must meet with a Montagn and a Powlet either in peace in their gowns or in warre in their armour Yea when I go backward by the streams of your Paternall Nobilitie not to speak of the tributarie brooks of their matches I can never find the first fountain and hope none shall ever find the last fall For as for the ruiners of houses I should rend that thought out with my heart if it should conceive that of you Nay let me tell you if
her body occasioned the fouling of her soul. Next Davids tomb is to be seen wherein he was buried his monument was inriched with a masse of treasure saith Josephus out of which Hircanus 850 years after took three thousand talents But surely David who despised riches in his life was not covetous after his death And I am sure they are his own words that Man shall carry nothing away with him neither shall his great pomp follow him Thirdly Aceldama that burying-place for strangers and the grave that every where hath a good stomach hath here a boulimia or greedy worm for it will devoure the flesh of a corpse in 48 hours Fourthly Absaloms pillar which he built to continue his memory though he might have saved that cost having eternized his infamy by his unnaturall rebellion Fifthly the houses of Annas and Caiaphas to passe by others of inferiour note On the east First mount Olivet from whence our Saviour took his rise into heaven The chappel of Ascension of an eight-square round mounted on three degrees still challengeth great reverence and there the footsteps of our Saviour are still to be seen which cannot be covered over Secondly the fig-tree which Christ cursed for he who spake many here wrought a parable this whole tree being but the bark and Christ under it cursing the fruitlesse profession of the Jews Thirdly the place where S. Stephen was stoned and the stones thereabouts are over-grown with a red rust which is forsooth the very bloud of that holy martyr Fourthly the place where Judas surprised our Saviour and he fell down on a stone in which the print of his elbows and feet are still to be seen Fifthly the sepulchre of the blessed Virgin whose body after it had been three dayes buried was carried up by the Angels into heaven and she let fall her girdle to S. Thomas that his weak faith might be swaddled therewith otherwise he who in the point of Christs resurrection would have no creed except he made his own articles and put his finger into his side would no doubt hardly have believed the Virgins assumption With this legend we may couple another which though distant in place will be believed both together They shew at Bethlehem a little hole over the place where our Saviour was born through which the starre which conducted the wise men fell down to the ground But who will not conclude but there was a vertigo in his head who first made a starre subject to the falling-sicknesse Sixthly the vale of Hinnom or Tophet in which wise Solomon befooled by his wives built a temple to Moloch Seventhly Cedron a brook so often mentioned in Scripture The west and north-sides of Jerusalem were not so happily planted with sacred monuments and we find none thereon which grew to any eminency We will now lead the Reader into Jerusalem Where first on mount Moriah the place where Isaac was offered though not sacrificed stood Solomons temple destroyed by the Chaldeans rebuilt by Zorobabel Afterward Herod reedified it so stately saith Josephus that it exceeded Solomons temple if his words exceed not the truth But no wonder if he that never saw the sunne dare say that the moon is the most glorious light in the heavens Secondly Solomons palace which was thirteen years in building whereas the temple was finished in seven Not that he bestowed more cost and pains because more time on his own then on Gods house but rather he plied Gods work more throughly and entertained then more builders so that contrary to the proverb Church-work went on the most speedily Thirdly the house of the forrest of Lebanon which was as appeareth by comparing the text fourty cubits longer and thirty cubits broader then the temple it self But no doubt the holy Spirit speaking of holy buildings meaneth the great cubit of the sanctuary but in other houses the ordinary or Common cubit It was called the house Lebanon because hard by it Solomon planted a grove the abridgement of the great forrest so that the pleasures of spacious Lebanon were here written in a lesse character Fourthly Pilates palace and the common hall where the Judge of the world was condemned to death Fifthly the pool of Bethesda the waters whereof troubled by the Angel were a Panpharmacon to him that first got into them Here was a spittle built with five porches the mercy of God being seconded by the charity of man God gave the cure men built the harbour for impotent persons Sixthly the house of Dives the rich glutton and therefore saith Adricomius it was no parable But may we not retort his words It was a parable and therefore this is none of Dives his house Sure I am Thâ—ophylact is against the literall sense thereof and saith They think foolishly that think otherwise But my discourse hasteth to mount Calvary which at this day hath almost ingrossed all reverence to it self It is called Calvarie Golgotha or the place of a skull either because the hill is rolled and rounded up in the fashion of a mans head as Pen in the Brittish tongue signifieth both an head and a copped hill or because here the bodies of such as were executed were cast As for that conceit that Adams skull should here be found it is confuted by S. Hierom who will have him buried at Hebron Neither is it likely if the Jews had a tradition that the father of mankind had here been interred that they would have made his sepulchre their Tiburn where malefactours were put to death and the charnel-house where their bones were scattered Over our Saviours grave stood a stately Church built say some by Helen say others by Constantine but we will not set mother and sonne at variance it might be she built it at his cost In this Church are many monuments As the pillar whereunto Christ was bound when scourged wherein red spots of dusky-veined marble usurped the honour to be counted Christs bloud Secondly a great clift in the rock which was rent in sunder at the Passion whereby the bad thief was divided from Christ the sign of his spirituall separation and they say it reacheth to the centre of the earth a thing hard to confute Thirdly certain pillars which being in a dark place under ground are said miraculously to weep for our Saviours suffering But I referre those who desire the criticismes of those places without going thither to read our English travellers for in this case as good wares and far cheaper peny-worths are bought at the second hand To conclude our description of Palestine let none conceive that God forgot the Levites in division of the land because they had no entire countrey allotted unto them Their portion was as large as any though paid in severall summes They had 48 cities with their suburbs tithes first-fruits free-offerings being better provided for then many English ministers who may preach of hospitality to their people
fail Baronius hath a rasour shaveth all scruple clear away For saith he Quidquid sit fides purgat facinus So that he worshipeth the false Reliques of a true Saint God taketh his good intention in good worth though he adore the hand of Esau for the hand of Jacob. But enough of thesefooleries Chap. 13. King Richard taken prisoner in Austria sold and sent to the Emperour dearly ransomed returneth home KIng Richard setting sail from Syria the sea and wind favoured him till he came into the Adriatick and on the coasts of Istria he suffered shipwrack Wherefore he intended to pierce through Germany by land the next way home But the nearnesse of the way is to be measured not by the shortnesse but the safenesse of it He disguised himself to be one Hugo a merchant whose onely commodity was himself whereof he made but a bad bargain For he was discovered in an Inne in Austria because he disguised his person not his expenses so that the very policy of an hostesse finding his purse so farre above his clothes did detect him Yea saith mine Authour Facies orbiterrarum nota ignorari non potuit The rude people flocking together used him with insolencies unworthy him worthy themselves and they who would shake at the tail of this loose Lion durst laugh at his face now they saw him in a grate Yet all the weight of their cruelty did not bow him beneath a Princely carriage Leopoldus Duke of Austria hearing hereof as being Lord of the soil seised on this Royall stray meaning now to get his penny-worths out of him for the affront done unto him in Palestine Not long after the Duke sold him to Henry the Emperour for his harsh nature surnamed Asper and it might have been Saevus being but one degree from a tyrant He kept King Richard in bands charging him with a thousand faults committed by him in Sicilie Cyprus and Palestine The proofs were as slender as the crimes grosse and Richard having an eloquent tongue innocent heart and bold spirit acquitted himself in the judgement of all the hearers At last he was ransomed for an hundred and fourty thousand marks Colein weight A summe so vast in that age before the Indies had overflowed all Europe with their gold and silver that to raise it in England they were forced to sell their Church-plate to their very chalices Whereupon out of most deep Divinity it was concluded That they should not celebrate the Sacrament in glasse for the brittlenesse of it nor in wood for the sponginesse of it which would suck up the bloud nor in alchymie because it was subject to rusting nor in copper because that would provoke vomiting but in chalices of latine which belike was a metall without exception And such were used in England for some hundred years after untill at last John Stafford Archbishop of Canterbury when the land was more replenished with silver inknotteth that Priest in the greater excommunication that should consecrate Poculum stanneum After this money Peter of Blois who had drunk as deep of Helicon as any of that age sendeth this good prayer making an apostrophe to the Emperour or to the Duke of Austria or to both together Bibe nunc avaritia Dum puteos argenteos Larga diffundit Anglia Tua tecum pecunia Sit in perditionem And now thou basest avarice Drink till thy belly burst Whil'st England poures large silver showre To satisfie thy thirst And this we pray Thy money may And thou be like accurst The ransome partly payed the rest secured by hostages King Richard much befriended by the Dutch Prelacy after eighteen moneths imprisonment returned into England The Archbishop of Colein in the presence of King Richard as he passed by brought in these words in saying masse Now I know that God hath sent his angel and hath delivered thee out of the hand of Herod and from the expectation of the people c. But his soul was more healthfull for this bitter physick and he amended his manners better loving his Queen Beringaria whom he slighted before As souldiers too often love women better then wives Leave we him now in England where his presence fixed the loyalty of many of his unsetled subjects whilest in Austria the Duke with his money built the walls of Vienna So that the best stones and morter of that bulwark of Christendome are beholden to the English coin We must not forget how Gods judgements overtook this Duke punishing his dominions with fire and water which two elements cannot be Kings but they must be tyrants by famine the ears of wheat turned into worms by a gangrene seising on the Dukes body who cut off his leg with his own hand and died thereof Who by his testament if not by his will caused some thousand crowns to be restored again to King Richard Chap. 14. The death of Saladine His commendation even with truth but almost above belief SOn after Saladine the terrour of the East ended his life having reigned sixteen years Consider him as a man or a Prince he was both wayes admirable Many Historians like some painters which rather shew their skill in drawing a curious face then in making it like to him whom it should resemble describe Princes rather what they should be then what they were not shewing so much their goodnesse as their own wits But finding this Saladine so generally commended of all writers we have no cause to distrust this his true character His wisdome was great in that he was able to advise and greater in that he was willing to be advised Never so wedded to his own resolves but on good ground he would be divorced from them His valour was not over-free but would well answer the spurre when need required In his victories he was much beholden to the advantage of season place and number and seldome wrested the garland of honour from an arm as strong as his own He ever marched in person into the field remembring that his predecessours the Caliphs of Egypt brake themselves by using Factours and imploying of Souldans His temperance was great diet sparing sleep moderate not to pamper nature but to keep it in repair His greatest recreation was variety and exchange of work Pleasures he rather sipped then drank off sometimes more to content others then please himself Wives he might have kept sans number but stinted himself to one or two using them rather for posterity then wantonnesse His justice to his own people was remarkable his promise with his enemies generally well kept Much he did triumph in mercy Fierce in fighting mild in conquering and having his enemies in his hand pleased himself more in the power then act of revenge His liberality would have drained his treasure had it not had a great and quick spring those Eastern parts being very rich Serviceable men he would purchase on any rate and sometimes his gifts bare better proportion to his own greatnesse then
set stage but could not be spurred one foot further contenting themselves they had already purchased heaven and fearing they should be put in possession thereof too soon by losing their lives in that service And though the Bishops perswaded some few to stay that so the surplusage of their merits might make up the arterages of their friends which wanted them yet could they not prevail to any purpose Nor could they so cast and contrive their matters the tide of peoples devotion being uncertain but that betwixt the going out of the old and coming in of the new store of Pilgrimes there would be a low ebbe wherein their army was almost wasted to nothing whereof the Albingenses made no small advantage However the Earls of Tholouse Foix and Comminge and Prince of Berne the patrones of the Albingenses finding they were too weak for this Holy army sheltered themselves under Peter King of Aragon whose homagers they were receiving investiture from him though their dominions lay on this side of the Pyrenean hills This King had the greatnesse of the Earl of Montfort in suspicion fearing lest these severall Principalities which now were single arrows should be bound in one sheaf conquered and united under Earl Simon Wherefore he fomented a faction in them against the Holy armie publickly protesting against the proceedings of Earl Simon charging him to have turned the bark of Gods Church into a pirates ship robbing others and inriching themselves under the pretence of Religion seizing on the lands of good Catholicks for supposed hereticks using Gods cause as hunters do a stand in it the more covertly to shoot at what game they please Otherwise why was the Vicecount of Beziers who lived and died firm in the Romish faith lately trained into the Legates hand and against oaths and promises of his safe return kept close prisoner till his death and his lands seized on by Earl Simon At last the King of Aragon taking the Earl of Montfort on the advantage shooting him as it were betwixt wind and water the ending of the old and beginning of new Pilgrimes forced him to a battel The King had thirty thousand foot and seven thousand horse but the Earl of both foot and horse not above two thousand two hundred They closed together near the castle of Moret And the King whether out of zeal of conquest and thirst of honour or distrust of under officers or desire to animate others or a mixture of all ranne his curver so openly and made his turns and returns in the head of the army that so fair a mark invited his enemies arrows to hit him by whom he was wounded to death and fell from his horse to lesson all Generals to keep themselves like the heart in the body of the army whence they may have a virtuall omnipresence in every part thereof and not to expose their persons which like crystall vials contain the extracted spirits of their souldiers spilled with their breaking to places of imminent danger With his body fell the hearts of his men And though the Earls of Tholouse Foix and Comminge perswaded entreated threatned them to stay they used their oratorie so long till their audience ran all away and they were fain to follow them reserving themselves by flight to redeem their honour some other time Simon improving this victory pursued them to the gates of Tholouse and killed many thousands The Friars imputed this victory to the Bishops benediction and adoring a piece of the Crosse together with the fervency of the Clergies prayers which remaining behind in the castle of Moret battered heaven with their importunity On the other side the Albingenses acknowledged Gods justice in punishing the proud King of Aragon who as if his arm had been strong and long enough to pluck down the victory our of heaven without Gods â—eaching it to him conceived that Earl Simon came rather to cast himself down at his feet then to fight But such reckonings without the host are ever subject to a rere-account Yet within few years the face of this warre began to alter With writers of short-hand we must set a prick for a letter a letter for a word marking onely the most remarkables For young Reimund Earl of Tholouse exceeding his father in valour and successe so bestirred himself that in few moneths he regained what Earl Simon was many years in getting And at last Earl Simon besieging Tholouse with a stone which a woman let flie out of an engine had his head parted from his body Men use not to be niggards of their censures on strange accidents Some paralleled his life with Abimelech that tyrant-Judge who with the bramble fitter to make a fire then a King of accepted of the wooden Monarchie when the vine olive figge-tree declined it They paired them also in their ends death disdaining to send his summons by a masculine hand but arresting them both by a woman Some perswaded themselves they saw Gods finger in the womans hand that because the greater part of his cruelty lighted on the weaker sex for he had buried the Lady of la Vaur alive respecting neither her sex nos nobility a woman was chosen out to be his executioner though of himself he was not so prone to cruelty but had those at his elbow which prompted him to it The time of his death was a large field for the conceits of others to walk in because even then when the Pope and three Councils of Vaur Montpelier and Laterane had pronounced him sonne servant favourite of the faith the invincible defender thereof And must he not needs break being swoln with so many windie titles Amongst other of his styles he was Earl of Leicester in England and father to Simon Montfort the Catiline of this Kingdome who under pretence of curing this land of some grievances had killed it with his physick had he not been killed himself in the battel of Eveshold in the reigne of Henry the third And here ended the storm of open warre against the Albingenses though some great drops fell afterwards Yea now the Pope grew sensible of many mischiefs in prosecuting this people with the Holy warre First the incongruity betwixt the Word and the Sword to confute hereticks with armies in the field opened clamorous mouths Secondly three hundred thousand of these Croised Pilgrimes lost their lives in this expedition within the space of fifteen years so that there was neither citie nor village in France but by reason here of had widows and orphanes cursing this expedition And his Holinesse after he had made allowance for his losse of time bloud and credit found his gain de clare very small Besides such was the chance of warre and good Catholicks were so intermingled with hereticks that in sacking of cities they were slain together Whereupon the Pope resolved of a privater way which made lesse noise iâ— the world attracted lesse envy and was more effectuall To prosecute them by way of
the dead Turks head shewing little wit in his owne and the Prince was highly displeased that the monument of his valour should be stained with anothers crueltie It is storied how Elenor his Lady sucked all the poyson out of his wounds without doing any harm to her self So sovereign a medicine is a womans tongue anointed with the vertue of loving affection Pitie it is so pretty a story should not be true with all the miracles in Lovers Legends and sure he shall get himself no credit who undertaketh to confute a passage so sounding to the honour of the sex Yet can it not stand with what others have written How the Physician who was to dresse his wounds spake to the Lord Edmund and the Lord John Voysie to take away Lady Elenor out of the Princes presence lest her pitie should be cruell towards him in not suffering his sores to be searched to the quick And though she cried out and wrung her hands Madame said they be contented it is better that one woman should weep a little while then that all the Realme of England should lament a great season And so they conducted her out of the place And the Prince by the benefit of physick good attendance and an antidote the Master of the Templars gave him shewed himself on horse-back whole and well within fifteen dayes after The Admirall of Joppa hearing of his recoverie utterly disavowed that he had any hand in the treacherie as none will willingly father unsucceeding villany True it is he was truly sorrowfull whether because Edward was so bad or no worse wounded he knoweth that knoweth hearts Some wholly acquit him herein and conceive this mischief proceeded from Simon Earl of Montforts hatred to our Prince who bearing him and all his kindred an old grudge for doing some conceived wrong to his father in very deed nothing but justice to a rebell hired as they think this Assasine to murder him as a little before for the same quarrell he had served Henry sonne to Richard King of the Romanes and our Edwards cousin germane at Viterbo in Italy It is much this Simon living in France should contrive this Princes death in Palestine but malice hath long arms and can take men off at great distance Yea this addeth to the cunning of the engineer to work unseen and the further from him the blow is given the lesse is he himself suspected Whosoever plotted God prevented it and the Christians there would have revenged it but Edward would not suffer them In all haste they would have marched and fallen on the Turks had not he disswaded them because then many Christians unarmed and in small companies were gone to visit the Sepulchre all whose throats had then probably been cut before their return Eighteen moneths he stayed at Ptolemais and then came back through Italy without doing any extraordinarie matter in Palestine What musick can one string make when all the rest are broken what could Edward do alone when those Princes fell back on whom the project most relied Lewis and Charles were the main undertakers Edward entertained but as an adventurer and sharer and so he furnished himself accordingly with competent forces to succour others but not to subsist of themselves But as too often where the principal miscarrieth the second and sureties must lie at the stake to make the debt good so in their default he valiantly went forward though having in all but thirteen ships and some thousands of men too many for a plain Prince to visit with and too few for a great one to warre with and performed what lay within the compasse of his power In a word his coming to Ptolemais and assisting them there was like a cordiall given to a dying man which doth piece out his life or death rather a few grones and as many gasps the longers By this time Henry his aged father being dead his lamp not quenched but going out for want of oil the English Nobilitie came as farre as the Alpes in Savoy to wait on Edward in his return Leave we him then to be attended home by them to receive the Crown to which no lesse his vertues then birth entitled him Since the Conquest he was the first King of his name and the first that settled the Law and State deserving the style of Englands Justinian and that freed this Kingdome from the wardship of the Peers shewing himself in all his actions after capable to command not the realm onely but the whole world Chap. 30. Rodulphus the Emperours voyage to Palestine hindred The Duke of Mechlenburg his captivitie and inlargement BEfore Edwards departure Hugh King of Jerusalem and Cyprus concluded a peace to our Princes small liking with the Mammaluke Sultan of Egypt to hold onely in and near Ptolemais whereby the Christians had some breathing-time But that which now possessed all mens thoughts and talk in Syria was the expectation of Rodulphus to come thither with a great armie who after two and twentie yeares interregnum was chosen Emperour of Germany This Rodulphus was a mean Earl of Haspurg Frederick the last Emperour was his godfather who little thought that having so many sons of his own his god-son should next succeed him and lived in a private way But now the Empire refusing her rich suiters married this Earl without any portion onely for pure love A preferment beyond his expectation not above his deserts For Germany had many bigger lights none brighter Pope Gregory the tenth would not ratifie his election but on this condition That he should in person march with an armie to Palestine And though this was but an old policie To send the Emperours far away that so he might command in chief in their absence yet his Holinesse did so turn and dresse this third-bare plot with specious pretenses of piety that it passed for new and fresh especially to those that beheld it at distance But Rodulphus could not be spared out of Germany being there imployed in civil discords The knees of the Dutch Princes were too stiff to do him homage till he softned them by degrees And indeed he was not provided for the Holy warre and wanted a stock of his own to drive so costly a trade having no paternall lands considerable no bottom to begin on though through his thrift and providence he first laid the foundation of the Austrian familie Yet somewhat to answer expectation he sent Henry Duke of Mechlenburg with competent forces into Palestine Who coming to Ptolemais made many notable incursions into the countrey about Damasco with fire and sword destroying all as he went and carrying thence many rich booties till at last he was circumvented taken prisoner by the Mammalukes Twenty six yeares he lived in captivity keeping his conscience free all the while At last the Sultan of Egypt a renegado Germane who formerly had been engineer to this Dukes father set him at liberty together with
went very unwillingly from it Malta is an Island in the mid-land-sea seated betwixt Europe and Africa as if it meant to escape out of both as being in neither Here S. Paul suffered shipwrack when the viper stung him not but the men did condemning him for a murderer And here the Hospitallers seated themselves and are the bulwark of Christendome to this day giving dayly evident proof of their courage But their master-piece was in the yeare 1565 when they couragiously defended the city of Malta besieged by Soliman When he discharged seventie eight thousand bullets some of them seven spans in compasse against it big enough not onely to overthrow walls but overturn mountains yet notwithstanding they held out valiantly five moneths and at last forced the Turk to depart These Knights of Malta are at this day a good bridle to Tunis and Algiers I am informed by a good friend who hath spent much yet lost no time in those parts that these Knights are bound by vow not to flie from the Turks though one man or one galley to foure half which ods Hercules himself durst not venture on but if there be five to one it is interpreted wisdome not cowardlinesse to make away from them Also if a Christian ship wherein there is a Knight of Malta take a Turkish ship that Knight is bound by his Order first to go aboard to enter it The grand Master of this Order hath a great command and is highly esteemed of insomuch that the Authour of the Catalogue of the glory of the world believeth he is to take place next to absolute Kings above all other temporall Princes even above Kings subject to the Empire Sure he meaneth if they will give it him otherwise it seemeth improper that the alms-man should take place of his benefactours Yet the Lord Prior of the Hospitallers in England was chief Baron of the Realm and had precedencie of all other Lords and here his Order flourished with great pomp till their finall period which I now come to relate Chap. 6. The Hospitallers in England stoutly withstand three severall assaults which overthrew all other Religious foundations THe suppression of the Hospitallers in England deserveth especiall notice because the manner thereof was different from the dissolving of other Religious houses for manfully they stood it out to the last in despite of severall assaults 1. Cardinall Wolsey by leave from the Pope suppressed certain small houses of little value therewithall to endow his Colledges in Oxford and Ipswich He first shewed Religious places were mortall which hitherto had flourished in a seeming eternitie This leading case of Wolseys did pick the motter out of all the Abbeys-walls in England and made a breach in their strongest gate-houses teaching covetousnesse an apt scholar a ready way to assault them For it is the dedication not the value of the thing dedicated stampeth a character of sacrednesse upon it And King Henry the eighth concluded if the Cardinall might eat up the lean Covents he himself might feed on the far ones without danger of a sacrilegious surfet True it is Wolsey not wholly but in part alienated the lands of these pettie houses reserving them still to the generall end of pious uses But the King followed this pattern so farre as it was for his purpose and neglected the rest 2. For not long after the Parliament granted him all religious houses of and under the value of two hundred pounds yearly and it was thought that above ten thousand persons masters and servants lost their livelihoods by the demolishing of them And for an introduction to the suppression of all the residue he had a strait watch set upon them and the Regulars therein tied to a strict and punctuall observation of their orders without any relaxation of the least libertie insomuch that many did quickly un-nunne and disfriar themselves whose sides formerly used to goe loose were soon galled with strait lacing 3. Then followed the grand dissolution or judgement-day on the world of Abbeys remaining which of what value soever were seised into the Kings hands The Lord Cromwell one of excellent parts but mean parentage came from the forge to be the hammer to maul all Abbeys Whose magnificent ruines may lesson the beholders That it is not the firmnesse of the stone nor fastnesse of the morter maketh strong walls but the integritie of the inhabitants For indeed foul matters were provided against some of them as Sodomie and much uncleannesse Whereupon unwillingly willing they resigned their goods and persons to the Kings mercie But the Knights-Hospitallers whose chief mansion was at St. Johns nigh London being Gentlemen and souldiers of ancient families and high spirits would not be brought to present the King such puling petitions and publick recognitions of their errours as other Orders had done They complained it was a false consequence as farre from charitie as logick from the induction of some particular delinquents to inferre the guiltinesse of all Religious persons Wherefore like stout fellows they opposed any that thought to enrich themselves with their ample revenues and stood on their own defense and justification Chap. 7. The Hospitallers at last got on an advantage and suppressed BUt Barnabe's day it self hath a night and this long-lived Order which in England went over the graves of all others came at last to its own They were suffered to have rope enough till they had haltered themselves in a Praemunire For they still continued their obedience to the Pope contrary to their allegiance whose usurped authoritie was banished out of the land and so though their lives otherwise could not be impeached for any vitiousnesse they were brought within the compasse of the law The case thus standing their deare friends perswaded them to submit to the Kings mercie and not to capitulate with him on conditions nor to stop his favour by their own obstinacie but yield whilest as yet terms honest and honourable would be freely given them That such was the irresistiblenesse of the Kings spirit that like a torrent it would bear down any thing which stood betwixt him and his desires If his anger were once inflamed nothing but their bloud could quench it Let them not flatter themselves into their own ruine by relying on the aid of their friends at home who would not substitute their own necks to save theirs from the ax nor by hoping for help from forrein parts who could send them no seasonable succour This counsell harsh at first grew tunable in the eares of the Hospitallers so that contented rather to exchange their clothes for worse then to be quite stript they resigned all into the Kings hands He allowed to Sr William Weston Lord Prior of the Order an annuall pension of one thousand pounds But he received never a penny thereof but died instantly struck to the heart when he first heard of the dissolution of his Priory and lieth buried in the Chancell of Clarkenwell with
there was nothing to be gleaned in the stubble whereas Egypt was so rich and fruitfull it cared not for the frowns of heaven so it might have the favour of Nilus and there was no fear to want bread in that the granary of the world That according to the rule Plus animi est inferenti periculum quam propulsanti the Christians would be heartned but the Egyptians discouraged in the invasion of Egypt The sad spectacle of their countreys vastation would disturb their minds make them diffident of their own worth and unsufficient to maintain their cause Lastly the Christians might leave when they list reserving at all times Ptolemais to entertain them in case fortune should crosse their designes But the reasons to the contrary wanted not weight but weighing They considered not what was objected That to invade a strong entire countrey without having a partie within it to side with them was to endeavour to cleave a tree with a beetle without a wedge Besides Egypt was an exception from the rules of all other countreys and had certain locall maximes of leading of an army appropriated to it alone That Valour must needs have the fall when it wrastleth with Nature it self and fighteth against bogs rivers and inundations That it was more agreeable to reason first to recover and defend what once was their own before they attempted other mens possessions That these their forces afforded little hope of victory in another Kingdome which were not able to clear their own countrey and the forts in Syria from so dangerous an enemy Lastly That the Egyptians fighting for their fathers wives and children would raise their valour to the highest point of resolution These arguments notwithstanding the watch-word was given for Egypt whither all addressed themselves And here began the discords betwixt King John and the Popes Legate who challenged not onely an influence but a predominancy in every thing and would dictate to the Gâ—nerall what he should do in martiall affairs He presumed on his book-learning to controll the practice of experienced Captains by his military speculations The King stormed hereat shewing there were some mysteries in the Captain-craft not communicable to any which had not served the trade and which the heart of a Scholar was too narrow to contain That though Scholarship was a stock fit to graff any profession on yet some good time is requisite thereunto and that they must not think to proceed military Masters at their first admission in a camp That though the Legate might conceive himself to know the Latitude of warlike principles yet he knew not the use of distinctions exceptions and cautions of application and might easily be misled by disproportion and dissimilitude of examples the variation of circumstances the infinitenesse of punctuall occurrences Wherefore he forbad him to meddle with martiall matters challenging them to belong to his own disposall But Pelagius the Legate highly opinioned of his own sufficiencie as if his place made him infallible in every thing and loth to confesse himself besides the cushion whilest he sat in the chair would have an oar in all actions He held this conclusion That the generall rules of warre were easily known and as for the qualification of them pro exigentia hic nunc herein reason was the key of the work which scholars having most perfected by learning were thereby the most competent judges what should be done on all occasions How dearly the Christians payed for this his errour and how this discord smothered for a while brake out we shall see hereafter Mean time hoising up sails the Pilgrimes navie safely arrived at Damiata Chap. 25. Damiata besieged and taken The Christians unadvisedly refuse honourable conditions DAmiata is a chief haven of Egypt anciently Pelusium seated on the Eastern-most stream of Nilus Here the East and West world met together to exchange their wares she grudging for trade to give the upper hand to Alexandria it self At their landing the moon was almost totally eclipsed whence the Christians conceited guesse the frailnesse of the building by the unconstancy of the foundation that the overthrow of the Mahometanes whose ensigne was the Half-moon was portended But the calculations of after-chances seldome hit right In the siege of this citie they were to encounter with a fourefold difficulty besides Damiata it self First with a great chain crossing the harbour which with indefatigable pains and art mingled with labour they brake asunder industry in action bâ—eing as importunity in speech by continuall inculcation forcing a yielding beyond the strength of reason Secondly the river Nilus did much annoy them This river the height of whose flowing is the Egyptian Almanack whereby they prognosticate future plenty or penury now out of time and beyond measure drowned the countrey Bold fishes swamme into the Christians tents who took them with their hands though willingly they could have wanted such dainties for the sauce was more then the meat Against this mischief they fensed themselves with prayer and a publick fast enjoyned by the Legate whereby the water soon abated And lest Gods mercy herein when gotten should be forgotten a publick thanksgiving was proclaimed that this favour obtained by prayer might be kept by praises Thirdly they were to grapple with the fort of Pharia a seeming-impregnable place betwixt them and Damiata To check this fort the Christians built a towre on ships which suddenly falling brained many bruised more of their own men and all who felt not the blow were stricken with the fright King John comforted his souldiers discouraged hereat desiring them to apprehend actions by their true causes and as not to vaunt of blind victories so not to be dismaied at casuall mishaps so purely accidentall that there was no guard against them in the schools of defence either of wisdome or valour By his advice a more substantiall towre was built the rarest piece in that kind the world ever saw by the manning whereof after many bloudy assaults they mastered the fort of Pharia Fourthly they had to do with Meladine King of Egypt who lay besides them constantly furnishing the citie with men and victuals and exercising the Christians with continual skirmishes In one with his wild-fire he did them much harm and King John was dangerously scorched But seeing that the Christians hewed their way through the rocks of all difficulties he propounded peace unto them by the mediation of Noradine his brother King of Damascus profering them if they would depart to restore them the true Crosse the citie of Jerusalem and all the land of Palestine The English French and Italians would have embraced the conditions pleading That honourable peace was the centre of war where it should rest That they could not satisfie their conscience to rob these Egyptians of their lands without a speciall command from God That it was good wisdome to take so desperate a debt whensoever the payment was tendred otherwise if they would
not be content with their arms full they might perchance return with their hands empty But the Legate would no wayes consent alledging this voyage was undertaken not onely for the recovery of Palestine but for the exstirpation of the Mahometane superstition And herein no doubt he followed the instructions of his master whose end in this warre was That this warre should have no end but be alwayes in doing though never done He knew it was dangerous to stop an issue which had been long open and would in no case close up this vent of people by concluding a finall peace Besides an old prophesie â— That a Spaniard should win Jerusalem and work wonders in those parts made Pelagius that countrey-man more zealous herein Coradine angry his profer was refused beat down the walls of Jerusalem and all the beautiful buildings therein save the tower of David and the temple of the Sepulchre Not long after Damiata having been besieged one year and seven moneths was taken without resistance a plague and famine had made such a vastation therein The Christians entred with an intent to kill all but their anger soon melted into pity beholding the city all bestrawed with corpses The sight was bad and the sent was worse for the dead killed the living Yea Gods sword had left their sword no work Of â— three-score and ten thousand but three thousand remained who had their lives pardoned on condition to cleanse the city which imployed them a quarter of a year Hence the Christians marched and took the city of Tanis and soon after the Pope substituted â— John de Columna a Cardinall Legate in the place of Pelagius Chap. 26. New discords betwixt the King and the Legate They march up to besiege Cairo GReat was the spoil they found in Damiata wherein as in strong barred chests the merchants of Egypt and India had locked up their treasure A full yeare the Christians stayed here contented to make this Inne their home Here arose new discords betwixt the King and the new Legate who by virtue of his Legation challenged Damiata for his Holinesse which by publik agreement was formerly assigned to the King Bren in anger returned to Ptolemais both to puff out his discontents in private and to teach the Christians his worth by wanting him For presently they found themselves at a losse neither could they stand still without disgrace nor go on without danger The Legate commanded them to march up but they had too much spirit to be ruled by a Spirituall man and swore not to stirâ—e a step except the King was with them Messengers therefore were sent to Ptolemais to fetch him They found him of a steelie nature once through hot long in cooling yet by promising him he should have his own desires they over-perswaded him not to strave an armie by feeding his own humours Scarce after eight moneths absence was he returned to Damiata but new divisions were betwixt them the Legate perswaded the armie to march up and besiege Cairo he promised if they would obey him they should quickly command all Egypt by present invading it Let defenders lie at a close game and offer no play Delayes are a safe shield to save but celerity the best I word to winne a countrey Thus Alexander conquered the world before it could bethink it self to make resistance And thus God now opened them a doore of victorie except they would barre it up with their own idlenesse But the King advised to return into Syria That Cairo was difficult to take and impossible to keep That the ground whereon they went was as treacherous as the people against whom they fought That better now to retire with honour then hereafter flie with shame That none but an empirick in warre will deny but that more true valour is in an orderly well grounded retreat then in a furious rash invasion But the Legate used an inartificiall argument drawn from the authority of his place thundering excommunication against those that would not march forward And now needs must they go when he driveth them The crafty Egyptians of whom it is true what is said of the Parthians Their flight is more to be feared then their fight ran away counterfeiting cowardlinesse The Christians triumphed hereat as if the silly fish should rejoyce that he had caught the fisherman when he had swallowed his bait The Legate hugged himself in his own happinesse that he had given so successefull advice And now see how the garland of their victory proved the halter to strangle them Chap. 27. The miserable case of the drowned Christians in Egypt Damiata surrendred in ransome of their lives EGypt is a low level countrey except some few advantages which the Egyptians had fortified for themselves Through the midst of the land ran the river Nilus whose stream they had so bridled with banks and sluces that they could keep it to be their own servant and make it their enemies master at pleasure The Christians confidently marched on and the Turks perceiving the game was come within the toil pierced their banks and unmuzzling the river let it runne open mouth upon them yet so that at first they drowned them up but to the middle reserving their lives for a further purpose thereby in exchange to recover Damiata and their countreys liberty See here the land of Egypt turned in an instant into the Egyptian sea See an army of sixty thousand as the neck of one man stretched on the block and waiting the fatall stroke Many cursed the Legate and their own rashnesse that they should follow the counsel of a gowned man all whose experience was clasped in a book rather then the advice of experienced captains But too late repentance because it soweth not in season reapeth nothing but unavoidable miserie Meladine King of Egypt seeing the constancy and patience of the Christians was moved with compassion towards them He had of himself strong inclinations to Christianity wearie of Mahometanisme and willing to break that prison but for watchfull jaylers about him He proferred the Christians their lives on condition they would quit the countrey and restore Damiata They accepted the conditions and sent messengers to Damiata to prepare them for the surrendring of it But they within the citie being themselves safe on shore tyrannized on their poore brethren in shipwrack pretending That this armie of Pilgrimes deserved no pity who had invited this misfortune on themselves by their own rashnesse That if they yielded up this citie for nothing which cost so many lives they should betray themselves to the derision of the whole world That if these perished more men might be had but no more Damiata's being a place of such importance it would alwayes be a snaffle in the mouth of the Egyptian King On the other side the friends of the distressed Christians confessed That indeed their voyage was unadvised and justly to be blamed yet worse and more inconsiderate projects have armies oft