Designs and judges all things Lawful which seem necessary to obtain Dominion being his predominant Vice This Prince who was not able to indure so much as the apparition or Shadow of Soveraignty that was above him Massacred the Caliph and all that he could find of his Relations making this his Pretext That he had discovered a Plot of the Caliph and his Friends who had the same Intention towards him After which he gratified the Soldiery with such prodigious Largesses out of the Treasures of that Prince that they became his perfect Idolaters and resolved to expose all they had for his Service and Glory And having thus established himself in the independent Soveraignty of Egypt which he looked upon as the first Stage of his Greatness and the Carrier of his Ambition he began now to entertain the lofty and aspiring Thoughts of Conquering all the East And now it was that the Christians found themselves wedged in between two most potent and redoubtable Enemies Noradin upon the East North and West and Saladin upon the South The Apprehension therefore of the extreme Dangers with which they were Surrounded made them begin to think of doing all that possibly they could for their own Security For this Purpose they sent Frederick Archbishop of Tyre to implore the Succours of the Princes of the West and to attack Saladin by Sea and Land with all their Forces year 1169 before he was well Established in his new Dominions But all in vain for Amauri though Assisted by a mighty Navy from the Greek Emperor laying Siege something too late to the City Damiata which lyes upon the second Branch of the River Nilus over against Pelusium was constrained by the excessive Floods and the want of Provisions to raise his Siege and the Navy was miserably lost partly burnt by the Fires which the Enemies threw among them and partly drowned by a fearful Tempest which wracked the greatest part of them in their Return And the Archbishop Frederick after having unprofitably Toiled more than two Years in the West where the Affairs were too much embroiled by civil Dissentions returned without any other Effects of his Ambassage than fair Words and fruitless Promises In this time Saladin who was resolved to make use of this Advantage year 1170 which the Disorder of the Christian Army offered him entred into Palestine with forty thousand Horse and took Gaza which was the Key of the Country on that Side towards Egypt and the Sea And not long after having levied a great Army both of Horse and Foot he Marched on the right Hand by Idumea that so he might secure another Passage and fell upon the Country on the other side of Jordan where he made a most horrible Devastation On the other side the Army of Noradin year 1170 did the same about Antioch and in Phoenicia where the terrible Earth-quake which was felt throughout the whole East had made such fearful Disorders overturning the Towers and throwing down the Walls of the greatest part of the Cities as if it were to facilitate the Conquests of Saladin who was the Scourge of God the Attila of those Times who was destined to Punish the Crimes of the Christians of Syria and Palestine In short to perfect the Misfortune the King who opposed himself with an invincible Conrage against all the Attempts of so many potent Enemies died in the eight and thirtieth Year of his Age just in the very Instant when he was about to make considerable Advantages of the Death of Noradin who was carried off by a Fever a little before And this deplorable Accident which happened in so critical an unlucky Minute occasioned so many Domestick Troubles in the Kingdom of Jerusalem as were the concluding Causes of its Ruine This Prince left for his Successor his only Child Baldwin the Fourth who besides the Impotence of his Age being not above three years old was also tainted with a scurvy Distemper which in Conclusion became a Leprosy Raymond Earl of Tripolis his nearest Kinsman being Cousin-german to the late King by the Mother had the Regency during his Minority and in that time Saladin who never missed any Occasion to advance his Power Siezed upon Damascus by a Correspondency which he had with the Widow of Noradin whom he married and in short time after he took most of the considerable Places in Syria dispoiling the young Prince the Son of Noradin after he had Defeated his Uncle the Sultan of Nineveh who came to Assist him of all his Dominions At the same time he entred into a League with the Earl of Tripolis who ingaged not to Assist his Enemies provided that for the remainder of their Ransom he set at Liberty certain Prisoners of Quality which he kept in the Castle of Emessa who had been taken by Noradin some eight Years before Thus this Infidel Prince rendred himself more Potent than ever by the Advantage of this Treaty which gave him intire Liberty to Conquer the whole State of Noradin both on this and the other side of Euphrates and Mesopotamia year 1177 as also all that the Sultan of Nineveh Possessed in Syria It is true that King Baldwin after he came out of his Minority did what was possible for him to do in the Intervals of his Distemper to oppose the Progress of the Conqueror and that he obtained many considerable Advantages against him But at length his Distemper increasing he was obliged to chuse some of the Nobility to Govern under him and this Choice occasioned those Emulations and Divisions in the Realm which at the last completed its Ruin For as when once a Soveraign Prince becomes unable by Diseases to mannage his own Affairs he usually grows very Jealous and Suspicious and full of Fears to be Betraied by those to whom he is obliged to trust with so great a Charge Baldwin seeing himself reduced to this piteous Condition and fearing least Bohemond the young Prince of Antioch and Raymond Earl of Tripolis should attempt something against him under pretext of his Distemper which rendred him unable to Govern in his own Person he therefore without that just Deliberation which an Affair of that Importance required gave Sybilla his Sister who was the Widow of William Longsword the Marquis of Montferrat in Marriage to Guy de Lusignan a young French Lord the third Son of Hugh the Brown Earl of March and Lord of Lusignan who had made the Voyage by Sea with King Lewis the Young and creating him Earl of Jaffa and Ascalon year 1180 he declared him Governor of the Realm to the mighty Discontent of the most of the great Lords who thought themselves more worthy of that Honor. But it was not long before he had Occasion to Repent of his Choice for he found by Experience that he had but little Capacity for the Charge and less Courage as he made appear a little after in a fair Opportunity which he had to Defeat his Enemies if he durst have sought with them For
another Fleet more numerous then the first which came from the Coast of Tyre to reinforce the Camp of the Christians The first was a Fleet of Danes and Frisons to which were joyned such of the English who were resolved not to stay till the two Kings were accorded to make their Voyage to the Holy Land These were all chosen men resolute to employ the last drop of their Blood for the deliverance of the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ and they did so well accomplish that resolution that of twelve thousand Gentlemen who arrived upon this Fleet there remained not above one hundred alive at the End of the Siege Their Passage also was no less glorious than advantageous to Christendom for in their Way they took from the Sarasins the City of Silves in Portugal which they put into the Hands of the King Dom Sancho the Son of the great Alphonso and it hapned that they were at the same time joyned by several other Ships who had on board a great Number of Volunteers both Nobility and Soldiers under diverse French Lords and Princes the Principal of which were Robert Second Count de Dreux with his Brother Philip the Bishop of Beavais the Cousins of the King Thiband Earl of Chartres and Stephen his Brother Earl of Sancerre Rayoul Count de Clermont in Beavoise Thiband Count de Bar Erard Count de Brienne and Andrew his Brother who was esteemed one of the most Gallant men of his time William Count de Châlon upon the Saone Geoffry de Joinville Senescal de Champagne Guy de Dampiere Anseric de Montreal Manasses de Gerland Guy de Chatillon Upon the Marne and his Brother Gaucher the Third who was afterwards Earl of St. Paul and who signalized himself under that illustious name by a thousand noble Actions which he performed in the War against the Albigenses and in serving Philip the August against the Enemies of the Crown and above all in the Famous Battle of Bovines where he commanded the Rereguard of the Royal Army Gaucher the Second Grandfather of these two brave Lords and his Brother Renaud de Chastillon had formerly been in the Second Crusade under the Conduct of King Lewis the Young year 1190 Gaucher miserable perished in the unfortunate Combat of the Mountain of Laodicea and the Valiant Renaud who had been Prince of Antioch was slain by the Hand of Saladin himself after the deplorable and fatal Battle of Tiberias Guy de Chattillon who was imbarked upon this Fleet with the French Princes lost his Life at the Siege of Accon So that there are to be found few Families in France which have contributed so many great Men for the Holy War as have been derived from this Illustrious House of Chastillon from whence some tell us was descended that great Eudes de Chastillon Archdeacon of Reims Prior of Clugny Cardinal de Ostia and at last Sovereign Pope under the Name of Vrban the Second who was the Author of the first of the Crusades But we are otherwise informed by Alberick the Monk of the three Fountains of the Diocess of Chalons upon the Marne in his Chronicle which is only a collection of old Contemporary Authors and of which I have had a fair Manuscript communicated to me by M. Mabre Craymoisy Director of the Royal Printing-House of the Louvre who also printed this History This Alberick in his Chronicle under the Year 1087. which is that of the Exaltation of Vrban produceth not only Guy de Basosches as the Writer of the History of the Popes but another Author called Hugh who affirms that this Pope was born at Chastillon upon the Marne and that he was Son to the Lord de Lageri whose descendants from Rodolph the Brother of Vrban to the fifth Generation he there gives an Account of so that Eudes the Monk of Clugny took his Sirname from the Place of his Birth according to the Custom of those times and of our own also in some Monasteries his Fathers Name according to Panvinius being Miles another of our most Famous Genealogists will by all means have him to be the Son of a Lord of Chastillon whom he calls Miles but who never was in rerum Natura except in his own prolifick Brain since it is most evident that he was deceived as his own Son a most knowing Person ingeniously confesseth and is made apparent by comparing what he saith with Guibert the Abbot of Nogent an Author of that time who affirms that he was born in the Territory of Reims where the Seigniory of Lageri lies I have been willing contrary to my Custom to make this Genealogick Remark to shew how easie it is for Writers to be deceived in these kind of Matters by mistaking sometimes the place of their Birth for that of the Seigniory and that when by such an Equivocal Slip one comes to be perswaded that a man is descended from such a House into which Genealogical Stemm having grafted him they presently find out for him such imaginary Fathers Mothers and Grandfathers as never were in being as they have done for this Pope Vrban the Second And for this reason it is that I have not given my self or the Reader much Trouble in discussing the Genealogies of those persons of whom I have Occasion to speak in this Work in regard that is not only very troublesome but uncertain unprofitable Invidious and Vain and in no sort proper for an Historian who ought to leave such Researches to those who make it their peculiar Design to record the History of some Illustrious House To return therefore to my Subject James Lord of Avesnes and Guise one of the most renowned Captains of his Age being desirous to imitate the Zeal of Gerard d' Avesnes one of his Ancestors who was in the first Crusade joyned these Princes with a good Troop of his Subjects So that these generous French all together made more then ten thousand brave men who burning with an earnest Desire as soon as possible to combat the Infidels had not the Power to wait till the two Kings should be in a Condition to accomplish their Vow but caused a Fleet at their own Charges to be rigged out at Marseilles from whence in thirty five days time they arrived prosperously in the Road of Ptolemais at the same time that the Dains Frisons and English came to an Anchor in the same place so that together they formed a very fair Army The other Fleet was that of the Germans who had gone to Sea to reinforce the Army of the Emperor under the Conduct of the Lantgrave of Thuringia and the Duke of Guelderland who coming to ride before the Port of Tyre had at length perswaded the Marquis of Montferrat who was before frequently sollicited by such as came from the besieged Army upon the Hill Turon to joyn his Fleet with theirs so that weighing Anchor with about twenty two thousand Soldiers aboard they stood directly for Ptolemais year 1190 where by a very fortunate adventure they
Two great Armies of Sarasins besiege the Camp They attack the Lines and force them A great Combat within the Lines The Enemy at last repulsed The Arrival of St. Francis before Damiata His Conference with the Sultan The Battle without the Lines lost by the Crusades An advantageous Peace offered to the Christians by the Sultan The Reasons for and against it It is at last rejected by the Legate Damiata taken by Night year 1204 WHilest the Confederate Princes did with so much Glory and good Fortune conquer a whole Empire those who had separated from them to go directly into Palestine or who had taken other ways to put themselves under other Commanders met with all manner of ill Success and were so far from supporting that tottering State that in conclusion they did nothing but weaken the poor remainders of the Christian Power in the Holy Land The Truce which had for some time continued between them and the Sarasins having been broaken by one of the Admirals of Egypt and no sort of Satisfaction to be obtained for it the War broke out more furiously than before between King Emeri and Coradin the Son of Saphadin who was as great a Captain as his Father By Saphadin's Orders therefore he immediately advanced with a powerful Army and incamped within a League of Ptolemais Now John de Nele who commanded the great Fleet which had been equipped in Flanders and who staid at Marseilles to Winter having heard this News made hast from thence and whereas he should have joyned the Princes who besieged Constantinople as Count Baldwin had ordered him he sailed directly for Ptolemais where he landed having more Soldiers aboard his Fleet than there was in the whole Army of the Consederate Princes So that with those who were already passed by the Ports of Brindes and Otranto under Simon de Montfort Renard de Dampierre and the other Lords who had quitted the Confederates before they left Venice together with that great Multitude of Bretons who followed the Monk Herloin thither there were more Forces than might have chased the Infidels out of Palestine But there happened so many ill Accidents to them as ruined all their Designs for the Plague which began a little before in Ptolemais raged so furiously among these new Comers that it is reported there died in that City at one time above two thousand Persons in an Hour so that almost one half of them perished of that terrible Disease and the remainder to avoid that Danger year 1204 instantly re-imbarking failed back again to Europe There was also a fearful Dissention between the Christians themselves and the Crusades occasioned by a War betwixt Livon King of Armenia and Bohemond Earl of Tripolis and Prince of Antioch for the Principality of that State and as many great Lords and among others Renard de Dampierre with whom Theobald Count de Champagne at his Death had intrusted his Troops took the Part of Bohemond and marched to his Assistance they were surprized by the Sultan of Alepo who defeated them so intirely that there was scarce one who escaped either being taken or flain Villaine de Nevilly one of the most valiant Men of his time was there unfortunately slain and his Bother William de Nevilly Bernard de Montmirail and John de Villiers were taken as Renard de Dampierre General of the Champenois who was led to Alepo where he remained a Prisoner for thirty Years as for the poor Bretons they having only the Monk to lead them and he knowing better how to persuade them to take Arms than how to manage them they like those who followed Peter the Hermite were quickly dispersed and neither knowing what they had to do nor how to do it they perished either by the Plague or Famine or the Swords of the Infidels and the poor remainders of that great number did not without great Difficulty at last regain their Country of Bretany without having done any thing worthy of the great Zeal and Courage which carried them out of it But it hath been an old Observation that Lions with a timerous Stagg for their Captain will all prove Harts and that even fearful Deer when led by a Lion will do like Lions But in short there was not one of those who separated from the Army of the Confederates to go without them into the Holy Land who had not sufficient Reason of Repentance either for the Disgrace or the Damage which he suffered Even Simon de Momfort who before this had done so many Wonders in the War against the Albigenses was forced to return into France without bringing home with him from the Voyage any thing except the Trouble to have done nothing So dangerous it is to quit the main Body to which one is related and from which no better Fortune is to be expected but like a Branch cut from the Stem of a Tree to be blasted and withered In this miserable Estate were the Christians in the East and almost reduced to the utmost Dispair when they received the News of the taking of Constantinople by the Confederate Princes of whom even those who had abandoned them were constrained to demand Help from those to whom they had before denied theirs tho it was not to be expected that so small a Number ingaged in so great an Enterprise as the settling of their new Conquests and inlarging them could for the present be able to afford them It is impossible however to express the Joy which this News gave the Christians of Palestine who now did not question in the least but the Way was opened for the most short and certain Deliverance of the Holy Land from the Oppression of the barbarous Infidels But in regard of the Fear they were in of losing all after so many Misfortunes as one upon the Neck of another had fallen upon them King Emeri had before made a most disadvantageous Truce with the Infidels for six Years whereupon all the Crusades who were in Palestine went to wait upon the new Emperor at Constantinople The Legate himself Peter de Capua Cardinal of St. Marcellus being sent for thither by Baldwin to regulate the Affairs of the Church sailed thither and was followed by his Collegue the Cardinal of St. Praxede and such a multitude of the Oriental Christians of all Conditions that the King was almost left quite alone without any Forces considerable enough to oppose the Infidels if they should attempt to break the Truce as they quickly after did The Pope was hereupon mightily afraid and extremely troubled that his Legats should also without his Order abandon the Holy Land But the Providence of God averted this threatned Misfortune by a War which presently broke out among the Sarasins one against another and the Pope comforted himself with the Conquest of Constantinople which was altogether so unexpected to him He now no longer condemned this Enterprise of the Crusades as he had done formerly the fortunate Success thereof fully justifying the Undertaking
Rama where they took some of the Enemies Scouts had Advertised him that the Sultan was Incamped at Ascalon a City upon the Sea-Coast two good days Journeys from Jerusalem towards Egypt he resolved to go to meet him and notwithstanding the prodigious Inequality of their Forces to give him Battle For this Purpose having first Implored the Help of Heaven by publick Prayers at which he assisted with marvellous Devotion he parted from Jerusalem upon Tuesday the eleventh day of August with the Earl of Flanders and that Arnold de Rohes who by an Intrigue which is no part of my History to relate was now chosen Patriarch of Jerusalem with the Consent of the Pope This new Patriarch who for very many Reasons was not so very agreeable to the generality of the People thought to acquire Reputation by shewing his extraordinary Zeal upon this Occasion He therefore left Peter the Hermite to take Care that Prayers might be made to God Almighty for the happy Success of the Arms of the King whom he would follow carrying with him to Encourage the Soldiers a part of the Wood of the true Cross which an honest Christian had hid during the Siege lest the Sarasins should profane it The same day the King joyned Tancred and Count Eustace waiting the coming up of the Duke of Normandy and Earl Raymond who met him at Ibelin which was Anciently the City of Gath one of the five Cities of the Lords of the Philistins some few Miles from Lidda and Ramula The next day they advanced together to the Brook Soreck which was not above two or three Leagues from the Enemies Camp There they found a prodigious Number of Horses Oxen Camels Asses Sheep and Goats which were guarded by some Arabians who were easily Routed some of them being taken Prisoners by whom they gained Intelligence of the Posture of the Enemies so that they easily Seized upon these Flocks and Herds of Cattle but there being reason to fear that this was but a Snare which the Sultan had laid for the Christian Army to fall upon them whilest they were busie in dividing the Prey the King expresly Prohibited all Persons to meddle with the Booty and not to think of taking any thing from the Enemy till they had gained the Battle which they were going to give them year 1099 In short the next Morning being Friday and the Eve of the Assumption of our Lady the Army at break of day passed without any Trouble the Torrent which at that dry Season of the Summer had but very little Water in it and the Sultan who could never perswade himself that the Christians would dare to be so hardy as to Advance to him had given no Order to hinder their Passage or to Dispute it with them Never was there seen a greater Ardor than appeared in the Countenances of the Soldiers upon this Occasion so much Joy and so much Assurance of Victory appeared amongst them tho they were but a handful of Men in comparison of the infinite Multitude of their Enemies for those who speak with the least assure us that there were a hundred thousand Horse and above three hundred thousand Foot in their Army for the Sultan who had set his Resolution either to Preserve or Recover Jerusalem had Amassed all the Soldiers that possibly he could out of Egypt Lybia Affrica Ethiopia Arabia and the Towns which were yet Possessed by the Turks who joyned with him against the Christians as their common Enemies And the Historians who speak the most of the Christians will not allow them to be above twenty thousand among which about five thousand Horse they being not in a Condition to Re-mount the Cavalry since the Taking of Jerusalem But that which gave this Confidence to the Christians besides the Contempt which they had of these Numbers of Sarasins which they made no account of was the Zeal which they had for the Glory of Christ Jesus and the eager Desire which boyled in their Hearts to Revenge the horrible Blasphemy of the Sultan For they had learned from the Prisoners that this impious Miscreant had haughtily threatned to Extirpate all the Christians and their Religion out of the East that he would rase the very Foundations of the Holy Sepulchre and utterly Ruine all the Monuments of Christian Religion and thereby spoil the Longing of those of the West to make any more such Voyages to Jerusalem They passed then over the Torrent with Trumpets Sounding and great Shouts of Joy as if it had been in Triumph and that they intended with their small Army to Affront the mighty Number of their Despised Enemies But it happened by a very surprizing Accident that the Mistake of their Enemies supplied the Defect of their Number by making them appear to be far more than in Reality they were which mistake produced all the Effect that could have been hoped or wished had they been really so many as they appeared to be for that mighty number of Cattle which had been taken the day before and which the King had forbidden the Soldiers to meddle with followed the Army as they passed the Rivulet and without being in the least Conducted by any Ranged themselves in the order of Troops upon their March as if it had been the Rere-guard of an Army extending themselves to the left Hand to the very Foot of the Mountains which border upon the East covering all that large Campain which from the Brook extends it self even to Ascalon which lies on the right Hand upon the Sea Coast and as these Animals filled all the Plain even to the Mountains and that the Horses Excited by the Noise of the Trumpets fell to Neighing according to their couragious Nature in such a manner that they might be heard afar off so these great Herds of other Cattle in Marching raised such mighty Clouds of Dust between them and the Sarasins that not being able to distinguish clearly they took them for part of the Christian Army and particularly for Squadrons of Cavalry and consequently their Fear also multiplying them in their amazed Imaginations they conjectured that their Number was not at all inferior to theirs whereupon they were Seised with a general Consternation and not being able to disabuse their troubled imaginations they stood as if they had been stupid thinking they were to deal with a million of Christians who since the taking of Jerusalem were Arrived from the West In the mean time the Armies being thus near there was a necessity of Fighting that of the Christians was divided into three Bodies Count Raymond Commanded the Right Point which was extended to the Sea that so they might not be Surrounded on that side The King took the Left that so he might be opposite to the Right of the Enemy where their Principal Squadrons were ranged The Duke of Normandy the Earl of Flanders Tancred year 1099 and Gaston de Foix were in the middle with the main Body of the Battle These three Bodies were ranged
for the Entertainment of so great an Army and besides they who were to share in this prodigious Booty were but an inconsiderable Number in Comparison of those who had been Parties in the other Battles In this Battle there were slain thirty thousand upon the place and twice as many in the Pursuit in the whole above one hundred thousand Men without counting those who were stifled at the Gate of Ascalon or those others who threw themselves into the Sea which though they were a great Number yet it was impossible to compute them On the part of the Christians there was not any one man of Note nor so much as one Horseman slain and but a very inconsiderable Number of the Infantry and of those most were of that unruly sort of Soldiers who disbanded themselves from their Colours to run to the Plunder Thus the King having assured his new Kingdom by this great and Memorable Victory led the Army back again loaden with Spoils and Glory to Jerusalem where it entred in a kind of Triumph which was finished by the solemn returning of Thanks to Jesus Christ at his Holy Sepulchre There Robert Duke of Normandy hung up the great Standard of the Sultan as his Sword also which in his Flight he had let fall and which to add to his Offering he bought of a Soldier who had found it See here the true Account of the Battle of Ascalon which was rather a flight on the one side and a Slaughter on the other than a Combat which Tasso nevertheless hath rendred famous by a hundred Beautiful and Magnificent Falsities which his Art gives him the License to add throughout his Poem of which he makes this the Conclusion as indeed it was also of this first Crusade For the Princes and great Lords with those who had followed them believing that they had fully accomplished their Vow took their Leave of the King to return into their respective Countries and Habitations year 1099 but in Regard it is the History of the Crusades and not only that of the Realm of Jerusalem which I undertake to write I shall not treat of that but so concisely as may be and as it hath a necessary Connexion to that of the Crusades in making it known by the Consequent Events the Occasions and the Causes which gave Birth and Rise to the others and as it shews the Condition in which the Christian Princes found the East when they were published and when they undertook their Voyages to assist them year 1100 After that the Crusades to the Number of about twenty thousand had quitted the Holy Land Godfrey who had not remaining with him more than three hundred Horse and about two thousand Foot together with Tancred who never abandoned him received a reinforcement from Italy which was brought him by Dambert Arch-Bishop of Pisa Legat to Pope Paschal the second who succeeded Pope Vrban It was with these few Troops that the King to inlarge the Frontiers of his new Kingdom conquered the places which were yet untaken round about Jerusalem After which he made himself Master of Tiberias and other Towns upon the Lake of Genazareth and the greatest part of Galilee the Government whereof he bestowed upon Tancred He compelled also the Emirs of Ptolemais Cesarea Antipatris and Ascalon to become his Tributaries and the Arabian Princes beyond Jordan in most humble manner to beg Peace of him After which he caused the Port and the City of Joppa which afterwards was called Jaffa to be fortified where he received the Succours of the Venetians who being joyned with Tancred some time after took Caiphas at the Foot of Mount Carmel And now after so many Toils being fallen sick he caused himself to be removed to Jerusalem whereupon the eight day of July in the fortieth Year of his Age and the first of his Reign he rendred his glorious Soul into the Hands of his Almighty Redeemer by a most Religious Death He was a Prince in whom all the Vertues Christian Civil and Military were assembled in the highest Point of Humane Perfection without the Mixture of any Default so that it will for ever remain difficult to find another like him or of whom one may without the Magnifying Vice of Flattery say the same things even among the Catalogue of the greatest Saints Baldwin his Brother succeeded him and leaving to his Consin Baldwin Earl of Bourg the Principality of Edessa with a few Troops marched to Jerusalem from whence Tancred after having rendred Caiphas into his Hands was retired in Order to his taking upon him the Principality of Antioch during the Imprisonment of his Uncle Bohemond who had by an Ambuscade which they laid for him been taken by the Turks year 1101 This new King who though he was nothing comparable either in Sanctity or Prudence to his Brother had notwithstanding many excellent Qualities and Endowments and above all others he was most extraordinary Valiant and a great Soldier In the beginning of the Spring making a League with the Naval Forces of Genoa at Jaffa he with their Assistance took Antipatris and Cesarea and in Conclusion in a set Battle Vanquished the Army of the Sarasins of Egypt but the Year following year 1102 happening too wilfully and with Precipitation to engage in the Plain of Rama without staying for his Infantry though his Army consisted in twenty thousand Foot and ten thousand Horse he lost the Bactle and many French Princes and Lords who at that time were come to visit the Holy Places For so soon as it was known in France that Jerusalem was taken there were an Infinite Number of People of all Ages and Qualities who for Devotion undertook that Voyage the Principal Persons were Hugh the Great and the Earl of Blois who being retired into France the one before the other after the taking of Antioch thought to repair that Fault by this second Voyage also the Earls William de Poitiers Geoffry de Vendosme Stephen de Burgogne and Hugh Brother to Earl Raymond of Tholose who having stayed some time at Constantinople to treat with the Emperor Alexis joyned themselves with those Princes The other Nations and particularly the Lombards and the Cermans would also have a part in this Expedition and the Number of these new Pilgrims was so excessive great that counting also the French there arrived when they passed into Asia year 1102 two hundred and sixty Thousand men but as it was nothing else but a confused Multitude of disorderly Voluntiers of all sorts of Conditions which followed them without Order Discipline Obedience and almost without Arms and that the Princes and Bishops went rather in Pilgrimage than to a Holy War after the Conquest of Jerusalem I do not reckon this among the Crusades And indeed there never was one more irregular or less fortunate for the greatest part of these ill conducted Pilgrims perished by the Miseries of the Way or by the Arms of the Turks under Soliman with whom the Persidious Alexis
Guy Cardinal of Florence the Pope's Legat in his Army and the Bishops of Langres and Lizieux The Count de Dreux his Brother Thierry Earl of Flanders Henry Earl of Troyes the Son of Thibald Earl of Champagne Ives de Nele and many other Lords of the first Quality who came with him from Attalia The young King Baldwin with his Mother Queen Melesintha also assisted at it together with the Patriarch of Jerusalem the Arch-Bishops of Cesarea and Nazareth the Bishops of Ptolemais Sidon Beritus Paneas and Bethlehem the Earls of Napolis Tiberias Sidon Cesaria Beritus as also the Constable Manasses and the great Masters of the Temple of the Hospitallers It was a long time under Debate what was most advantageous to be undertaken for the common Interest and in conclusion they determined to besiege Damascus Which being as it were in the Centre and Midst of the four Principalities which the Christians held in the East might be equally dangerous to them all Upon this all the Troops were appointed to rendezvous the five and twentieth Day of May at Tiberias where a general Review being made of the Army they advanced to Paneas near the Head of Jordan the Patriarch carrying the true Cross or at least that which was believed to be so before them The Measures which were taken for the Siege were according to the Opinion of the Lords of that Country who were best acquainted with the Strength and Weakness of the place After which crossing the celebrated Mount Lebanon they descended into the fair Champain of Damascus and encamped at Daria a little Village about two Leagues from Damascus from the most elevated place whereof the Towers of that stately City were easily to be discerned Damascus one of the most ancient and sometimes one of the fairest and greatest Cities of Asia is situate in a large Plain at the Foot of Mount Lebanon which is watered with two Rivers and a great number of little Springs and Fountains which notwithstanding its natural Inclination to Sterility it being a hungry sandy Soil render it very fruitful and delightful These two Rivers take their Rise upon the East at no very great distance from the Foot of the Mountain Amana which is a part of Mount Lebanon the lesser is called Abana and slows all along by the Walls of the City upon the West the greater which is Pharpar and which some have confounded with the Orontes and for the beauty of its Streams is called Chryorrhoas or Golden Stream after having passed through the City and wandred through the Fields and the Valleys of the neighbouring Country loseth it self under the Earth either because being divided into a multitude of Canals which are drawn to render the Earth more fruitful that it is so diminished that at last it ends in them or that by some unknown Subterranean Passages it dischargeth it self into the Phenician Sea It was the great Conveniency of making these Canals year 1148 which made all that part of the City towards the North and a great part of the West be inclosed with a prodigious number of Gardens and Orchards where were planted an infinite of Trees producing all manner of Fruits the most delicious of all the East These Gardens were divided one from the other by little narrow Passages which cutting one another and turning and winding several ways without any regular Art or Figure formed a kind of undesigned Labyrinth where it was easie for those who were unacquainted with them to lose themselves in those delightful places Every Garden had its House and its little Tower according to the Mode of the Orientals for the Convenience and the Lodging of its Master So that the City being very populous the number of Gardens which covered those sides was very great and extended themselves almost two Leagues so that viewing it upon that side it represented to the Sight a large Forest which seemed to extend it self to the very Walls But on the contrary the other side which lay to the East and South had not so much as a Tree a Hedge or a Bush but shewed a bald Champaign from whence it was easie to discern the whole City which was defended with high Walls which were fortified with great Towers whereof four which listed up their proud Heads above the rest were of an extraordinary heighth and strength and above all it was defended by a Fortress which was esteemed the fairest and most regular of all Asia This City had been taken from the Sarasins by the Turks whose Sultan Dodequin made a most cruel War against the Christians between the time of the first and the second Crusade After his death his Successors seeing themselves attacked by Sanguin the redoubted Sultan of Alepo and Ninevch who endeavoured the Conquest of all Syria joyned themselves with the Christian Princes to make War against this common Enemy They assisted them according to the Treaty in the Taking of Paneas which they had taken from the Christians before and Sanguin from them again But there being little Faith to be expected from Infidels they soon brake the Peace and declared themselves as before the mortal Enemies of the Christians For this reason it was that the Resolution was sixed to attack them and above all things to carry this City which was in a Condition to give the Check-mate to the four Christian Principalities of the East Hereupon it was also resolved in the Council to attack the Town on the Garden-sides that so the Army might have the Convenience of the River the Fruits and Forrage which were there to be had in abundance The next Morning therefore the Army being divided into three Bodies marched in good Order towards Damascus drawing from the West towards the North to the Garden-Quarter of the City The young King of Jerusalem Baldwin the Third commanded in Person the first Body composed of his own Troops and those of the Princes of Syria who had the same Interest with him in the Siege The French made the second having at their Head King Lewis to support the first which they followed at a little distance to be always ready to afford them Succour The Emperor with his Germans had the Rere to oppose the Enemy's Cavalry if they should attempt to fall upon them as they made their Approaches Baldwin who thirsted mightily after Glory and was transported with Joy to meet with so fair an Opportunity to display his Courage in the View of the French and Germans did instantly press to make the first Attack which was easily granted him in regard he alledged that his People were better acquainted than the rest with the nature of the place and the Turnings of the Gardens He was a Prince who was now advanced to the Flower of his Youth being between eight and nine and twenty Years of Age he was of Stature something less than the Middle but of a Proportion so just and regular in all the parts of his Body that his want of Heighth did not lessen
not to be behind his Brother-in Law the Count de Champagne whose Sister he had married in this glorious Career of Honour and Vertue He therefore solemnly took upon him the Cross in the Beginning of Lent in the Year 1200 in the Church of St. Donatien at Bruges as did also the Countess Mary year 1200 his Lady a Princess of a most Heroick Courage and a Resolution to bear him faithful Company and run the same Fortune with him until Death He was followed in this gallant Action by his two Brothers Henry and Eustace by Thierri his Cousin the Natural Son of the late Earl Philip Eustace Count de Sarbruck Conon de Bethune James d' Avesnes the Son of the noble Lord of that Name who performed so many brave Actions in Palestine and by the greatest part of the Flemish Nobility A part of these Princes and Lords being assembled at Soissons could there come to no determined Resolution in regard they were not as yet assured that they had sufficient Forces year 1200 but two Months after at a Meeting of all the great Men of the Crusade at Compiegne they found themselves in so good a Condition that there it was agreed for expediting this Affair that the three Earls of Champagne Flanders and Blois should each of them nominate two Deputies who should be authorised with full Power to take care of all things relating to the Design both as to the number of Troops and the Choice of the Men among such an innumerable Multitude of People as had taken upon them the Cross As also to treat with such as it was necessary for their Passage and Provisions The six Deputies having debated an Affair of this Importance found that to secure themselves from those terrible Inconveniences which the Christian Armies had suffered in the first Crusades by long and hazardous Land-Marches it was much more convenient to take the Passage of the Sea and that the Passage might be short and commodious with so much Provision and so many Ships as was necessary for the transporting of so great an Army either into Syria or Egypt there could not be any way more proper than to treat with the Venetians who without all Contradiction were at that time the People of all Europe the most powerful upon the Mediterranean Sea This Advice therefore being approved of by the Princes year 1201 the Deputies repaired to Venice in the Beginning of the following Year 1201. where in a few days they negotiared most successfully with the famous Henry Dandolo who for nine Years past had been the Doge of that flourishing Republick This Henry was a Prince of a great and Majestick Port and being now above fourscore Years old though to a Miracle neither decrepit in Body nor decayed in Mind his great Age rendred him still more August and venerable he had Prudence the consummated Effect of long Experience a most invincible Courage and an immovable Firmness in such Resolutions as he took for the Good of his Country of which he was a most passionate Lover He was a great Captain and a valiant Soldier an able Politician and even at those Years wonderfully taken with the fair Image of Glory Above all he was the most dexterous Manager of Affairs and though he were almost blind not so much by the Decay of Nature as the Effect of Cruelty yet was he the clearest sighted Man of his time in Matters of State The Occasion of the Loss of his Sight was this About fifty Years before being employed from the Republick as their Ambassador at Constantinople where he generously sustained his Character and stoutly maintained the Interests of his Country the perfidious Emperor Manuel not able to bear that Freedom caused a red hot Plate of Iron to be held before his Eyes to put them out But for all this barbarous Outrage whereby he violated the Law of Nations though his Sight was mightily impaired yet it was not wholly lost nor did his Eyes lose any thing to Appearance of their Lustre and Clearness till after this he received an unfortunate Blow upon his Head at the Seige of Zara which if it did not altogether take away his Sight yet left him but a very little Notwithstanding which never any Duke acted with more Application or better Success for the Interests of Venice where his well known Merit gained him an universal Respect and gave him more Authority and Power than either his Charge or Dignity although at that time the Power was far more unlimited than it hath been since by the Laws which that sage Republick hath enacted to abridge the Authority of its Head It was then with this great Man that the Deputies immediately treated in his private Council which was composed of six Senators and they managed their Negotiation with that frankness remitting themselves wholly to him for what they must give the Republick for the Assistance which they desired from them that in eight days they came to agree upon the Conditions of the Treaty which were these That the Venetians should furnish them with flat bottom'd Boats and Ships either to pass into Syria or Egypt for four thousand five hundred Knights with their Horses nine thousand Esquires and twenty thousand Foot with so much Munitions and Provisions which should suffice this Fleet for a Year That all the Vessels should be rigged and ready to sail in the Month of June following and should serve them for one Year accounting from the Day that the Fleet should part from the Port of Venice That the Princes of the Crusade should pay for the same eighty five thousand Marks in Silver which according to the true Supputation year 1201 is about eight hundred thousand Crowns French Money which was a very extraordinary Sum in those times But the Doge who had a great Soul being resolved that it should not be said that the Venetians acted just like Merchants in furnishing Ships and Provisions at a reasonable Rate having besides a great desire to signalize himself upon this Occasion and to have a share in the Glory which was to be acquired in this War therefore acquainted them that the Republick to contribute to such a holy Enterprise was resolved to joyn with them at the least fifty Gallies well rigged and armed with so many Soldiers as were necessary to serve profitably by Sea at the same time that the French acted by Land and that they should equally part betwixt them the Conquests which should be made during the time of their Confederation Dandolo having easily brought the great Council of forty Senators to approve of the Treaty as also the three other Assemblies of the Notables of the City judged that it was convenient to have it ratified by the People whom to the number of above ten thousand he caused to be assembled in the place and the Church of St. Mark where after the Mass of the Holy Ghost had been sung the six Deputies being introduced as before had been agreed with the
And besides year 1204 he now was convinced that nothing could have been done more profitable and advantageous either for the Glory of God in the Good of the universal Church or in particular for the Deliverance of the Holy Land And for this purpose that such a Conquest might be preserved whereupon that of Palestine depended he writ his Circular Letters to all the Archbishops of France and their Suffragans by which he exhorted and commanded them to persuade the French to take Arms and march to the Assistance of their Brethren at Constantinople And above all he desired that they would send some zealous learned Men furnished with Books to labour in the Conversion of the Greeks The University of Paris which Philip the August had taken such care of that it might flourish in all manner of Learning and Knowledge was then in high Reputation throughout the World and this wise Pope who had himself been sometimes a Member of that great Body writ to them upon this Subject with so much force that many Doctors and Batchellors persuaded by his Reasons and inflamed with a Zeal truly Apostolical went to propagate the Light of Truth and the Orthodox Doctrine in the Greek Empire which had been obscured by many Errours of the Schism Thus the Divine Providence which with infinite Wisdom takes care of all things so disposed Matters that upon this Occasion it seemed to make a Retalliation by ordering that Paris should render the same Service to Greece which Greece had sometime bestowed upon France by sending thither St. Denis to be an Apostle for that Country The Pope also at that time did not fail to write to the victorious Army which had so gloriously executed that marvellous Enterprise to oblige them to stay another Year in that Empire to assure those Conquests provided that by the Infidels breaking of the Truce there was not an absolute necessity that they should speedily repair to Palestine to succour the Christians there against the Barbarians But whilst the Pope laboured with so much diligence for the Good of Christendom in the East there happened in the Holy Land two deplorable Accidents which very much disturbed the Joy of that happy Success of the Arms of the Confederates The first was the Death of the Countess Mary Sister of the deceased Count de Champagne Niece to Philip the August and Wife to Baldwin Earl of Flanders who had so generously taken up the Cross with her Husband resolving to run the same Fortunes with him but being big with Child she was not at that time in a Condition to go along with him and therefore after she had lain in she imbarked upon the Fleet which was commanded by John de Nele She had not been long at Ptolemais where she landed in expectation of her Husband Count Baldwin before she received the News that after the Taking of Constantinople he was elevated to the Imperial Throne The Joy which this News occasioned made such a violent Impression upon her Body extreamly infeebled with the Fatigues of so long a Voyage that not being able to surmount it she died of the two Excesses of Joy and Weakness So that the Ships which were sent by the Emperor to conduct her with Pomp to Constantinople to receive the Crown Imperial with her dearest Husband transported her Body only thither to be as it was with the most magnificent Ceremonies usual upon such sad Occasions interred in the Church of Sancta Sophia year 1205 This sad Accident was presently succeeded by another which brought a great Change in the Affairs of the Realm of Jerusalem For King Emeri de Lusignan dying in the City of Acre and the little Emeri his Son not long surviving him Isabella his Mother the Wife of Emeri at the same time also following them to the Tomb the Crown by Right of Succession descended to the Princess Mary her eldest Daughter who was usually called the Marchioness because she was born to her of the famous Marquis de Montferrat Prince of Tyre her second Husband Hereupon the Estates being assembled to provide a Husband for the young Queen who might be able to act and govern the Realm in a time wherein there was such need of a King of great Abilities to supply the defect of Forces which remained in the Realm after so many Disasters But the Jealousie and Ambition of so many Great Men of the same Realm not permitting them to agree in an Election of one of their own number they being all Rivals and resolved not to give place one to another at last year 1205 after they had a long time debated this tender and important Point they resolved that so they might steer an even Course betwixt the Natives and Strangers year 1206 since they could not possibly please them both year 1207 that they would not take one of the Natives of the Country but that they would send into France from whence the first Kings of Jerusalem came and into no other Country and from thence desire one of Philip the August and thereupon they dispatched the Bishop of Ptolemais and the Lord of Cesarea as their Ambassadors year 1208 to receive from the hands of that great King some Prince or Lord of France upon whom together with the young Queen they might confer the Crown of Jerusalem There was no question something very surprizing and unaccountable in the Conduct of Philip in this Encounter for there were in France many great Princes and Lords of very high Quality upon whom he might have cast his Eyes yet nevertheless whether their illustrious Merit his own particular Inclination or some unknown politick Reasons governed him in his Choice two several times successively he chose it is true out of a very Noble House though something inferiour in Quality to many others two Brothers whom upon two Occasions he preferred in the Disposal of two Crowns They were Gautier II. Count de Brienne in Champagne and his Brother John de Brienne the Son of Erard II. Count de Brienne and Agnes de Montheliard He married Gautier to Alberia eldest Daughter of Tancred King of Sicily who with her Mother Sybilla escaping out of the Prison wherein they had been kept by the Emperor Henry IV. in Germany had sled for Refuge into France This valiant Man accompanied with no more than threescore Knights and forty Esquires of the Crusades who resolved to follow his Fortune instead of going to Venice with the Princes had the Confidence to pursue the Rights of his Wife and re-conquer a Kingdom without any other Fond than twenty thousand Livres which he received from King Philip and five hundred Ounces of Gold which he had from the Pope which would raise but a very inconsiderable number of Troops but notwithstanding this with his few Men he acted with so much Courage and Conduct that after having defeated the Emperor's Lieutenants in several Encounters he made himself Master of Pavia Calabria Capua and even Naples it self and in a manner
of the two hundred thousand Livres which were yet unpaid which the King resolved before he would treat with them in regard that they had broken the Truce by not observing the Conditions of their former Treaty and thereupon as the Admirals gave him all the Satisfaction which he demanded he appointed them a day to meet him at Jaffa where a new Treaty was to be made by which the Admirals obliged themselves to put into his hands all the Places of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to which they should for the Future make no more pretensions and the King reciprocally promised to assist them with all his Forces against the Sultan of Damascus their Enemy So soon as the Sultan who was a man of Courage and Conduct understood that the King had accorded with the Egyptians he sent twenty thousand men to seize upon the Passes between Egypt and Palestine but this did not hinder the King from leading his Army to Jaffa the Castle whereof was very strong though the Town was wholly ruinous and fell to rebuilding and fortifyng of it at great charges and with incredible diligence although the Enemies gave continual Alarms to his Camp and daily made a shew as if they would attack it This made the Mamaluke Admirals who had not yet set their Army on foot and therefore durst not repair to Jaffa request the King to deferr their Interview and to appoint another day when they might be in a condition to attend him and in the mean time the Sultan of Damascus having assembled all his best Troops took a review of them about Gadres which was anciently called Gadara a strong City on the other side the Sea of Galilee and from thence passing over the Jordan he went and joined with thirty thousand Horse which he had sent before him to the Frontier of Egypt into which he entred to revenge upon the Admirals the death of his Cousin And they who had had leisure to prepare for his coming did not fail to give him a welcome like men of Courage year 1251 and who understood War It came presently to a Battle and at first the Sultan had the advantage breaking in upon one of their Wings so vigorously that he put it into disorder and wholly routed it But the Egyptians understanding that their Army was Victorious in the other Wing rallied and came to the charge more furiously than before against their Vanquishers and then those also who had been Victorious on the other side falling upon their Rere cut them in pieces and made the Victory so complete that all the Sultan could do was to save himself and retreat to Gadres sorely wounded with two thousand men which only escaped in that Bloody Battle After this great Victory the Admirals made a suddain turn like able Politicians For now perceiving that they had no more need of the Arms of the King they believed that to preserve to themselves the Kingdom of Jerusalem which by Treaty they were obliged to surrender unto him it was much better for them to make Peace with the Sultan who seing himself abandoned by the King would without doubt be very glad to revenge himself and for fear of having both Armies upon his Hands year 1252 to accomodate matters with them They sent therefore to him to Gadres offering him Peace and at the same time desiring it from him They excused themselves for the death of the Sultan of Egypt his Cousin by the necessity which they had to prevent their own by giving him his and remonstrated to him that it was for their Common Interests rather to unite against the Christians who were their Common Enemies than by their divisions to give them the opportunity to make use of their Arms to the mutual destruction one of another The Sultan who desired nothing so much willingly harkned to the Proposition so that without any difficulty a Peace was presently concluded betwixt them and the King by too long deferring to conclude with the one or the other of them was miserably deceived by them both and lost not only the noblest opportunity of recovering the Kingdom of Jerusalem by an honourable Treaty but on the suddain found he had two puissant Enemies to encounter who would now no more hear either of a Peace or a Truce and who might easily have both been ruined by keeping up the Quarrel between them and uniting with the one against the other as they both desired But though the King was a great Saint we must not believe that Saintships render men infallible especially in Policy and above all not in matters of War which is the remotest thing from Religion whose Principles are those of Love and Peace All the advantage which the King gained by this Rencontre was to quit himself of the two hundred thousand Livres to the Admirals which yet in reality he was no ways obliged to pay after they had so perfidiously broken their first Treaty Sometime after they had made this Peace with the Sultan of Damascus although they saw they had nothing to fear either from this Prince their Allie or from the Christians who were in too weak a condition to attack them yet considering that it was impossible for their Empire to subsist any considerable time without a Head they resolved at last to create one of their own Body to the exclusion of the Arabians Egyptians and all the Descendants of the Great Saladin and Saphadin And being well assured that there were none able to oppose them they accordingly chose for their Sultan one of the Mamaluke Admirals whom they named Azzadin Aibec or Elmahec For there is not one of these Sultans but who have different names in diverse Authors who have writ concerning them This Sultan was a Turcoman by Nation and from thence it is that many Historians call him Turquemin However from this time the Mamalukes held the Empire of Egypt not by Succession but Election till the Year one thousand five hundred and seventeen when Selim the Emperor of the Turks conquered it after he had in a great Battle overthrown and near Grand Caire taken Tomombey their last Sultan Mean time the Sultan of Damascus under the Favour of this Peace having assembled his Army came with thirty thousand men to discharge his Indignation upon the Territories of the Christians He presented himself before Acre and threatned to fire the Suburbs if they would not redeem them from that danger with fifty thousand Bysances of Gold but the Lord of Assur the Constable of the Realm thought fit to pay him in another Metal year 1252 and sent him away loaden with Blows instead of the Money he demanded And from thence therefore having understood that the King who had rebuilded Jaffa was about to repair Sidon or Sajetta had but a few Troops with him by reason that he had sent the greatest part of his Souldiers to seize upon Belinas formerly called Cesarea Philippi he marched with a design to surprize him The King who was advertised
THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADE OR THE EXPEDITIONS OF THE Christian Princes FOR THE CONQUEST OF THE Holy Land Written Originally in FRENCH By the Fam'd MOUNSIEUR MAIMBOURG Englished by JOHN NALSON L L. D. LONDON Printed by R. H. for Thomas Dring at the Corner of Chancery-Lane next Fleet-Street MDCLXXXV TO THE Right Honourable HENRY Earl of CLARENDON Lord Privy Seal My Lord I Am very sensible in what manner I expose my self in adventuring to present your Lordship this Translation since not only my self but the whole World knows that your early Loyalty and Banishment for the Royal Cause by your Retreat in France have made you an absolute Master of that Language from whence it is borrowed So that I could not but foresee That consequently your Lordship is best able to distinguish not only my own but those Imperfections which of necessity must attend Copies when compared with their Originals there being in all Languages some Graces and Beauties of their Native Idiom so peculiar to them as are difficultly to be supplied or tollerably Imitated by any other But My Lord your Noble Character is too well known to permit me to dispair of Pardon and since your Lordship is so publickly remarkable for your admirable Industry in Cultivating your Mind with all manner of Gentile Reading it gives me hopes that your Lordship will not be displeased to see those generous Inclinations cherished in others and some Assistances and Invitations given to such whose Education hath not made them acquainted with Foreign Languages whereby they may receive in the familiar Dress of their Native Countrey the advantage of what hath been written by Curious Pens of other Nations However My Lord Gratitude the only thing wherein I can be Liberal as it obliges me to celebrate your Lordship's Name as having received those Favours from your Lordship for which I must acknowledge my self under such Obligations as lying nearest my Heart will be forward to be upon my Lips so it is impossible for me not to lay hold even with some precipitation upon the least Occasions wherein I may in any measure Express what I do not only Esteem so much a Duty but also so great a Pleasure to do my self the Honour of telling the whole World that I am My Lord Your Lordship 's most obliged and most humble Servant JOHN NALSON Ely March 12th 1684 5. TO THE READER IT is I think if it be a mistake such a one as is common to the greatest part of Mankind to have that Opinion of their Sentiments especially those of Pleasure to believe that what they find divertive and agreeable to themselves must be so likewise to others what ever Inconveniences this may render men liable to in other matters I am not either curious to know or at present to inquire since I am assured that we are obliged to this Humour for the Communication of many admirable things in History especially which afford us both Pleasure and Advantage this being one of those sorts of Treasures which few People delight themselves with hoarding up but there being a certain pleasure in pleasing others they are generally willing to be very bountiful in what may inrich others without impoverishing themselves I must ingenuously confess that it was this little Wheel that gave me this Motion and having some hours liberty I could not be contented with diverting my self but must needs indeavour to propagate the pleasure I found in this History of Monsieur Maimbourg's that others might share with me in it I am very sensible that many Persons of good Judgment have declared themselves against all kind of Translations except those of the Sacred Writings and some against those too as disadvantageous to Learning and especially to Industry and indeavours to attain the knowledge of Languages Now for my own particular as I am satisfied that there are very few who addict themselves to the more difficult Studies of Learning or Languages but such who either out of necessity and upon the prospect of their future advancement by such attainments as qualifie them for the great Imploies of Church or State or such whose natural Curiosity and Inclinations lead them to these researches or will ever bend their Minds to the attainment of Languages so I am confident that neither the natural desires and thirst of the one nor the excited and necessary indeavours of the other will ever be abated by Translations or satisfied but with the Originals nor will they ever sit down by the Streams who can with ease and pleasure draw Learning from its Fountains Now there are a third sort of People who neither are compelled by necessity nor inclined by Nature to give themselves any great trouble in point of Learning who yet by Translations of Learning into their own Language may receive mighty Improvements in their Knowledge Manners Conduct and Vnderstandings and who may be thereby rendred very serviceable in their several Stations to their Prince and Country agreeable in Conversation and may likewise avoid the temptations of bestowing their spare hours upon such Entertainments to which for want of Judgment Experience and more Innocent Diversions Nature too much inclined to Vice and Folly may be apt to tempt them and there can be no doubt but many Persons of great Natural Parts and Ingenuity who have fallen under the misfortune of the Want of such good Education as they might have had as does but too frequently happen to young Gentlemen whom either the Flattery of their Masters Tutors and Governors the fond Indulgence of Parents and Guardians or the neglect of both betrayes into so great a want of Learning as hardly to understand truly their own Native Language these I say when they come to see and as I have known many of them deplore their condition would want all manner of assistance to cultivate and improve themselves which they might have by having Learning brought to them in an easie and familiar Language Nor am I if I could to make an Invidious Catalogue of many Worthy Men who by these little and inconsiderable helps have made such attainments in necessary Knowledge as have rendred them very serviceable to the World in Employs both Civil and Military especially the last And indeed of all men living the Martialists have generally the least Inclination to Learning though they can scarcely be good Soldiers without it For to them History is what the Seaman's Charts are in Navigation There they see the Reasons of all those great Events of former Ages the occasions of the loss and gaining of Battles winning and loosing of Towns and Countries Provinces and Kingdoms there they have a view of the many Stratagems of War divers of which upon occasion suggest new ones to the Invention of the Ingenious there they have the Spurs of Emulation in seeing the Heroick Actions of gallant men sometimes their own Ancestors whose Glory may excite their Imitation and whose Vertues may encourage them whose Honours and Rewards may move them for
Lycaonia year 1081 Cappadocia and Bithynia and about the Year 1081. during the Divisions of the Greeks and the sluggish Emperors Michel Ducas and Nicephorus Botoniatus who was deposed by Alexis Comnenius Solyman placed the Seat of his Empire at Nice the Capital City of that Country It was then under the Tyranny of these Turkish Princes that all Asia Syria and Palestine and the City of Jerusalem lay groaning and in Servitude when it pleased God to inflame the hearts of the Christian Princes with a Noble Zeal to undertake the Conquest and Deliverance of the Holy Land which they accomplished in that wonderful manner which I am now about to relate year 1093 Among the great number of Pilgrims which continually resorted from all the Western Parts of Europe to visit the Holy Places of Palestine a French-man of Amiens in Picardie a Solitary by Profession whose name was Peter the Hermite about the Year 1093. took a Voyage to Jerusalem to satisfie his Devotion towards the Sacred Monuments of the Redemption of mankind Being arrived there he understood from his Host the miserable condition to which the Christians were reduced and having taken a view himself of the piteous estate of that desolate City he resolved to confer with the Patriarch Simeon not only to receive a more perfect Information of the truth of those Particulars but also to deliberate with him concerning some means of delivering the People of God from their cruel Servitude The Patriarch who quickly perceived the virtuous inclinations and brisk temper of the Hermite opened to him his very Soul he recounted to him in most passionate Language the innumerable and horrible Sacriledges which were by the Infidels daily committed within the most Holy Places and the insupportable miseries which not only the poor Christians but the Patriarchs themselves who were treated like Slaves had been forced to indure under their tyrannous and barbarous Lords by the space of five hundred years After which with many bitter Sighs he gave him to understand that considering the lamentable estate of the Eastern Empire the Evils which they suffered were not only insupportable but without all expectation of Redress unless they might hope for Assistance from the West Peter who was most sensibly touched with the Discourse of the Patriarch year 1093 and the miseries of which he was an Eye-witness himself being immediately filled with an extraordinary Zeal for the Publick Good made no difficulty to assure the Patriarch that he doubted not in the least but if the Pope and the Christian Princes of the West were truly informed of the deplorable condition of the Christians in the Holy Land that they would unite in a generous Resolution to break off the Manacles of their Slavery and deliver the Holy Places from the tyrannick Yoke of the Enemies of Jesus Christ And therefore he advised the Patriarch to write effectually to them and implore the Succour of their Arms upon which the only Hopes of the Deliverance of the Christians of Palestine could depend and for his own particular he very couragiously offered to carry those Lords throughout the West and to do all the Good Offices he was capable of towards the exciting of the Christian Princes to undertake an Enterprize so glorious so necessary for the Honor and the Common Interest and good of all Christendom Simeon surprized with the Resolution and Courage of the Hermite which he observed to be accompanied also with so much Wisdom was struck with a strong Impulse that God Almighty was resolved to deliver his People in such a manner as should redound most to his own Glory since the Instrument which he made use of for the accomplishment of such a marvellous Work carried such a disproportion to the Greatness of so high and so hardy an Enterprise for in Truth Peter carried nothing promising in his Person which might make it be believed that he was like to be a proper Negotiator of an Affair of that Importance for he was small of Stature and not well proportioned neither his Aspect was by no means agreeable and he was far from sweetning by Art those ruder Lineaments of his Visage insomuch that by the little care he took in which others bestow so much pains to make himself appear tolerable he rather resembled some savage Creature his hair disordered his Beard long and long neglected and considering the Austerity of his Life his ill shape and the meanness of his Habit those who were not accustomed to make very curious and penetrating discoveries could not but make a very disadvantagious Judgement of him But coming more narrowly to consider him it was easie to discover that as he had been very studious in all sorts of Learning so he had made very great Improvements in his Mind and that together with a solid Judgement he had a great Mind an admirable Resolution to attempt and a marvellous Vivacity in the ready Execution of what he had resolved that he was Master of a Natural Eloquence capable of perswading what he pleased without Artifice and in short there appeared in his Eyes a fire so quick and sparkling and something so Noble in his Air and Mine as was sufficient to convince one that there dwelt a great Soul in that little Body year 1093 The Patriarch therefore who had observed all these Excellent Qualities hearing him discourse with so much Resolution could not doubt but that God had chosen him for the Execution of this great design and therefore closely embracing him with a thousand thanks he accepted of his Proposition exhorting him with Courage and Fidelity to acquit himself of a Charge which he had with so much Zeal and Frankness undertaken and presently delivered to his hands the Dispatches which he desired should be delivered to the Pope and the Christian Princes of the West The Natural Generosity of a Person of Courage who had voluntarily engaged himself in an Enterprise so great and difficult was sufficient of it self to remove all the fear which might be apprehended in the Execution but however he was strongly perswaded that since Providence seemed so extraordinarily engaged nothing was able to surmount the Divine Power and that therefore he might be confident of a happy and successful Conclusion of this Affair Peter now resolved to put in Execution what he had promised the Patriarch Simeon the Evening before his departure shut himself up in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre there to pass the night in Prayer with all his Soul to implore the Succor of Almighty God upon such an important occasion and after his Devotions falling asleep whether it were that his imagination violently prepossessed with his intended Enterprise acted upon his Soul more vigorously during his sleep than while he was awake or that God was pleased to make use of a Dream to reveal his pleasure to him as formerly he had to the Holy Prophets in his sleep there seemed to appear to him Jesus Christ in such a Condition as he was when
Friendship were able to retard Men but they generously broke all those little Chains to enter into the more glorious Bonds of the Solemn Vow of the Crusade Here might you see Friends encouraging one another and entring into this new Amity making mutual Promises never to abandon each other there Enemies Embracing and Religiously Swearing most inviolably to maintain the Truce nay even the weeping Ladys who saw themselves ready to be Divorced from their Beloved Husbands and dearest Children yet did not cease to encourage them to pursue this glorious Enterprize and many of them had the Courage to take a share with them and resolved to follow them notwithstanding all the fearful Dangers and insinite Hazards and Hardships which were to be expected from so long and painful a Voyage Most certain it is that as there is nothing so Perfect or Holy which is not subject to be abused either by the Weakness or Mischievousness of Human Nature so in the beginning of this Holy War there happened so many strange Disorders as might well have rendered the Event of this Enterprise most disastrous if God Almighty himself had not appeared Ingaged in it to that degree as even against all Appearance by a kind of Miracle to bring it to that glorious Issue which was not reasonably to be expected from any inferior Power For an innumerable company of Peasants with their Wives and Children which they carried in their Carts abandoning their laborious Tillage would also have a part in this Voyage which was commonly called Gods Voyage so that all the Mobile of the Realm who upon this occasion entertained a Hope of bettering their Fortunes mingling with those who had undertaken the Cross served to no other purpose but to put all into Disorder and Confusion Nor was it possible to give Bounds to this tumultuary Rabble who to authorise their Actions had so fair a Colour and Pretext of Piety So that the smallest Number were those whom the Consideration of the Glory of the Christian Name or the Service of God obliged to follow this Design but too many Engaged themselves in it some out of Vanity and Affectation others out of a lightness of Spirit these for the Pleasure they proposed in the Voyage those to accompany their Friends and Acquaintance and many to free themselves from the Importunity of their Creditors or to enjoy the benefit of the Truce Great Numbers also of Monks and other Religious Persons weary of their Profession and Solitude abandoned their Cloisters and their Cells and out of the Love of Liberty took up the Cross in a different manner than that which they had obliged themselves to by their Vow and made use of the false Pretence of Zeal to Religion to violate one Vow by entring into another which they had no Power to do so that the Abbots to prevent a greater Mischief were obliged to permit the Monks to follow the Army of the Crusade since they were not able to hinder them who had gotten such a specious Pretence as was the Satisfaction of their ardent Desire which they seemed to have to take their Part in the Deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre Nor were the Women wanting in their little Cheats for they to make it be believed that they were by extraordinary Ways called by God to this Voyage invented those glittering Illusions which some believe have been renounced in our time upon other Occasions for having found a way by the Juice of Herbs to form certain little Crosses upon their Bodies resembling those which the Crusades wore upon their Habits with an impudent Malice they shewed them to every body as if they had been the miraculous Impressions of the Divine Power There were others who with no less Hypocrisie whether by an Excess of ill govern'd Devotion or by an indiscreet Fervour to gain a foolish Glory by a vain Ostentation of their Zeal burnt Crosses upon their Bodies with red hot Irons which they shewed with more affectation and seeming Pleasure than those who wore them upon their Habits Embroidered in Gold and Silver could shew theirs So that Illusion Hypocrisy Vain Glory and Indiscretion the Pests of Virtue and true Piety corrupted and profaned those Actions which otherwise might have been esteemed the most Religious and Heroick But that which prevented these Disorders from being so Mischievous as otherways they might have been was the great number of great Captains Gentlemen Lords and Bishops of France who followed the Princes who were of the Crusade and were joynt Commanders in this famous Enterprise yet without pretending to have any Superiority of Power one over the other which made it apparent that God only was their Conductor and General The Princes then whose Names shall be eternally Reverenced by Posterity and who have acquired immortal Glory in all History were Hugh the great Earl of Vermandois and Brother to Philip the first of France Robert Duke of Normandy Robert Earl of Flanders Raymond Earl of Tholouse and St. Giles Godfrey of Bullen Duke of Lorrain with his Brothers Baldwin and Eustace Stephen Earl of Chartres and Blois Hugh Earl of St. Paul with a very great number of other Lords of the first Quality who shall hereafter more commodiously be made known when Occasion shall present their noble Actions and when I come to describe as I am about to do the Voyage which they made by three several Ways according as before they had agreed in the Winter in order to their Rendevouzing at Constantinople as they did the following Year I am however to inform the Reader that the Respect which I have for him not permitting me to present him with any thing but what has the Warranty of Historical Reputation or Authentick Acts I shall not mention any Names but what I find Recorded in the Historians of those times and if any Persons of Quality who pretend that some of their Ancestors had a share in this Holy War will do me the Favour to send me Authentick Memoires thereof I will not fail in a new Edition of this Work to do Justice to the Merits of those Illustrious deceased and with Satisfaction to render what is due to their Memories and their Descendants year 1096 The first then of these Princes who advanced with his Troops towards Constantinople was the famous Godfrey of Bullen who altho he had not the absolute Command of the whole Army of the Crusades yet without Contradiction he had the greatest share both in the Trouble and Glory of this first Crusade He took the same way which Charlemain in his Conquest had trod before him through Germany all along by the Danubius to the Confines of Thracia This Prince was the Son of Eustace the second Earl of Bullen and Ida the Sister of Godfrey of Bossu Earl of Ardenna Bullen and Verdun and Duke of the lower Lorrain or Brabant to distinguish it from the higher Lorrain year 1070 which was otherwise called Mosellane and which at that time was under the Jurisdiction
had taken Arms. The Emperor received him with all the Marks of Esteem and Kindness and believing he knew his blind side which he thought was Ambition he promised him that Conditionally that he would take the Oath which was required of him he would establish this Prince in the greatest part of those Provinces which lye between Constantinople and Antioch which he thought was an irresistable Argument to work upon his Temper But Tancred whether it were that he had secret Orders from Bohemond or that he could not dispose himself to Digest an Oath which he did not approve drew his Troops to this side of the Strait without seeing the Emperor at all who was forced to dissemble this Affront which was put upon him The Earl of Flanders who came up a few Days after went to wait upon the Emperor with a slender Retinue and without Difficulty took the same Oath as the others had done After which these Forces also passed the Bosphorus to encamp near Calcedon with the rest But the Arival of Count Raymond brought such new Difficulties as were not without great Trouble to be Surmounted This Lord had taken the Cross the first of all others at that same time when the Greek Ambassadors came to Pope Vrban after his departure from Clermont and his Example was so prevalent that he was followed by above one hundred thousand Men out of Avergne Gascoine Languedoc and Provence who put themselves under his Conduct He was a Prince of a majestick Aspect and being somewhat advanced in Years his gray Hairs rendered him still more Venerable but he was only so old as to have his Experience increased and his Judgment more strong without any diminution to the strength of his Body which was every way Robust and capable of induring all the Fatigues of War He had acquired a very noble Reputation especially in Spain in the Wars against the Moors for Alphonsus the great King of Castile who gave him his Daughter Elvira in Marriage as a Recompence of his Valor the glorious Marks whereof he carried in his Face having lost one of his Eyes by the shot of an Arrow which was so far from being a Blemish that together with his goodly Presence it inhanced his Esteem and Reputation among the Soldiers who had him in mighty Veneration He possessed moreover all the good Qualities which were requisite to render him a great Prince and an honest Man above all things a lover of Honor Justice and Integrity an inviolable Master of his Word Vigilant Wise and of a great Foresight Magnificent Prudent in his Counsels firm and unalterable in his Resolutions But after all this it must be acknowledged that notwithstanding his Age and all his Prudence he retained too much of the Genius and the Temper of his Country for he was a mighty Opiniatre and not able to bear Injuries or to suffer his own Sentiments or his Will to be Opposed The Countess his Lady who had the Heart of a Heroine generously followed her Husband in this Voyage as did also his Son Bertrand whom he was resolved to educate in this fair School of Virtue both by his Instructions and his Example Many great Persons accompanied him of whom the principal were Aimar Bishop of Pavia the Popes Legate William Bishop of Orange Currard Earl of Rousillon William Earl of Montpellier Gaston de Bearn William de Forrest Raiband of Orange Raimond the first Viscount of Turenne and several Spanish Lords together with Bernard Archbishop of Toledo and all the brave Lords and Gentlemen of Avergn Gascony Languedoc and Provence This brave Earl having passed the Alpes and taken his way by Lombardy and Friul Marched quite through Dalmatia being forced continually to stand upon his Guard to defend himself from the ancient Sclavonians a Barbaroas People who then Inhabited that Country and who never failed upon any Advantage to assail him and lay Ambuscades for him all the Way till he came to Duras from thence he entred into Epirus and traversed all Macedon and Thracia till he came to a Town upon the Hellespont within four days March of Constantinople having been forced to sight his Passage all the way against the Greeks and Bulgarians which the perfidious Alexis contrary to all his fair Protestations of Friendship had caused to arm against him However for the present he dissembled the Injury and tho not without a great deal of Repugnance leaving his Army Encamped near that City he advanced with a small Train to Constantinople there to treat with the Emperor according to the earnest Desires of the Princes who had already passed the Strait who now desired nothing more than to come to a Conjunction of their Forces in order to their entring upon Action The Emperor after a magnificent Reception pressed him also to the point of Homage as the other Princes had agreed The Earl smartly replied That he would never do it and that he was not come so far as the Levant to find a Master nor did he intend to become a Vassal to any other besides Christ Jesus But that nevertheless if his Imperial Majesty would joyn his Forces with theirs and put himself at the Head of the Army he would without trouble acknowledg him for his General and in that Quality oney him as well as any of the rest Alexis netled at this Denial however stilled his ill Humor and amuling the Earl with a pretence of treating with him further concerning the Common Interests the Imperial Troops who were Quartered in Thracia receiving secret Orders to that purpose sell unexpectedly in the Night upon his Camp who believing themselves in great Security in the Country of their Friends kept no manner of strict Guard this Surprise brought a strange Confusion upon the Camp and many Soldiers were killed before they could be awakned but after a little time these cowardly Assailants were repulsed with a very great Slaughter The Disorder however was never the less for the Souldiers who before had suffered so much in their march began to mutiny and believing that they were betrayed by their Officers who had brought them thither to be butchered nothing would satisfie them but to return into their own Country But the Earl who could by no means endure to think of retreating appeased them by changing their dispair into a desire of Revenge he therefore sent openly to reproach the Emperor with this infamous treachery and to sollicit the rest of the Princes to joyn with him and at once to deliver themselves from this persidious Greek by razing his Imperial Throne But the Princes at the earnest prayer of Alexis who absolutely disavowed the action and offered to make any kind of satisfaction to the Earl made such powerful Remonstrances to Raimond that in conclusion they not only appeased him but also obliged him for fear of losing more time to the prejudice of their great design to take the Oath which was desired which accordingly he did but in these terms That he promised
Reason and that Ingratitude which is so common among men defacing the fairest Character of Humanity should not be found in the most Savage Creatures whom the Charms of good Offices have devested of their natural Fierceness towards their Benefactors But to return to our History The taking of Marra revived the sleeping Quarrel between the Earl of Tholose and the Prince of Tarentum For the Earl pretended to dispose of this Place as he had done before of Albaria and Rugia upon which he had seized during the Summer but Bohemond who thought there was no manner of Reason that Raimond should do that here which he would not suffer to be done at Antioch opposed him stoutly and in the Dispute they so heated one the others Spirits that the Tarentine thinking he had Reason to do the same on his part returned and immediately drove out all the Earls Forces out of the Forts which they held at Antioch The Princes themselves could in no fort disapprove of this Procedure which they found to be but reasonable especially after having discoursed Raimond at Rugia between Marra and Antioch they found it impossible to perswade him to hear Reason which obliged them to leave him and return to Antioch Thus the great Design of the Conquest of the Holy Land which all the Forces of the Infidels had not been able to hinder seemed in a manner to be ruined by this Difference between two Persons otherwise reputed extraordinary Virtuous and as wise as any of that Age. So that we may see that Wisdom and Reason instantly lose all their Authority when once Passion by the Heart seizing upon the Mind makes herself Mistress there year 1098 But God who was the Chief in this Enterprize repaired that by the Zeal of the feeble and the little ones which was in Danger of being ruined by the Great and the Wise men of the World For the Soldiers of Count Raymond who on one side suffered extremely for want of Provisions after they had been one Month at Marra and on the other hand had a passionate Desire to atchieve the Conquest of Jerusalem thought that the Ambition of the Earl was the only Obstacle who after the Example of Bohemond endeavoured to establish his own Fortune in these Conquests as the other had done in Cilicia during the Summer And therefore making an Insurrection while the Conference was at Rugia they threw down all the Walls of Marra thereby to take away from the Earl the Temptation which he might have to keep it and stay there and more over after his Return they protested that if he would not immediately march in the Head of them towards Jerusalem they would chuse another Captain who they were assured would lead them that they were resolved to accomplish their Vow and that they did not believe they should find themselves alone or abandoned by the other Princes Raimond extremely surprised at this Resolution and fearing in Truth that he should be wholly deserted by his own as he was already by the others his first Zeal which had been so weakened by his Jealousie against the Prince of Tarentum began afresh to flame in his Soul by seeing that of his Soldiers like a Torch that is just ready to be extinguished at the Approach and Touch of another In Conclusion he presently altered his Resolution and setting fire to Marra to shew that he had quitted all Pretensions to it upon the Thirteenth of January he marched out barefoot in the Posture of a Penitent by that Humiliation to repair the Scandal which he had given to his Soldiers who had justly accused him of Ambition He was followed with an incredible Chearfulness of his whole Army who made no Scruple seeing him in this Estate but that he had taken up the same Fervor which he had so well witnessed in being the first Person who took upon him the Cross and who upon all Occasions was wont to animate others by his Example and Perswasion to embrace it with the same Zeal And God also was pleased to bless this generous Action for Robert Duke of Nomandy and Prince Tancred being advertized of this News immediately parted from Antioch whilest the other Princes prepared to follow and joyned him at Capharda where he had posted himself after he had quitted Marra taking the right hand Way toward the Sea year 1099 The taking of Antioch and the great Victory which they had obtained over the Turks the Persians and Arabians had so filled all Syria Phenicia and Palestine with the Terror of the Christian Arms that most of the Emirs who held any Places in those Provinces under the Sultans of Persia or Babylon and Egypt sent their Ambassadours with rich Presents to the Princes to desire their Friendship and Protection promising to pay them Tribute and furnish them with Provisions in their Passage Now in Regard the Principal Design was to go immediately to Jerusalem and to leave the Conquest of the rest till that was taken the Princes thought fit to accept their Offers only the Emir of Tripelis was refused for Earl Raymond perswaded them to besiege Arcas by Reason of the Advice which he received from some Christians who were detained Prisoners at Tripolis that it would either easily be taken or that the Emir to obtain Peace would compound with them for a mighty Sum of money and likewise restore them to their Liberty Arcas which others call Archis was a very strong Town situate upon a Hill some two Leagues from Tripolis and one from the Sea in the middle of a most beautiful and fertile Plain which extends it self along the Lebanon and Antilebanon to the Sea shore The Earl who thought to carry it presently assaulted it the eleventh day of February but the Emir having placed in it a very strong Garrison he was repulsed and constrained to besiege it which he did to no purpose for three months losing before it a great Number of Valiant Men and amongst the rest Anselm de Ribemont descended from the Ancient Earls of Valenciennes and Chastelain of that City one of the most renowned among the Crusades and the Accident by which it happened being altogether extraordinary it well deserves a particular place in this History year 1099 This brave Lord being one Night about to go to Bed having fought stoutly all that day he saw his excellent Friend the young Engelram the Son of the Earl of St. Paul who a little before was slain at the Siege of Marra enter into his Tent. Now Anselm who had an undaunted Soul and to whom the Sight of his Friend gave an extraordinary Joy And how now my dear Engelram said he without being at all disordered are you still alive whom I saw dead at Marra Those replyed Engelram who finish their Lives in the Service of Jesus Christ never die But how comes it Said Anselm that I see you now incomparably more beautiful than you were before Look replyed Engelram shewing him a most admirable Structure in
both Parts for it was only the Night and the extream Weariness that obliged them on both sides to give over as it were to take a little Breath year 1099 The Night it self however did not pass in over much Tranquility on either part The Besieged were in continual Fear to be surprized under the favour of the Darkness and the Besiegers lest they should sally out to set Fire to the Machines which were already much indamaged and especially that of the Earl of Tholose which was rendred in a manner wholly unserviceable But however they wrought so hard upon it in the Night that the next morning the Combat was renewed on one side and the other with more Fury than before The Christians irritated by so long a Resistance made their utmost Efforts resolute either to lose all or to gain all and the Sarasins animated by the Success of the two preceding days and by the hope of present Succour which the Sultan of Babylon had promised them fought with new Courage and with so much Assurance of Victory that they could not forbear insulting over their Enemies and assailing their Assailants Above all they aimed at Duke Godfrey against whose Machin whilest it advanced over the great Breach in the Out-Wall they threw a vast Quantity of Fire-Works and huge Stones one of which crushed with its fall one of his Esquires just by his side There were also two famous Magicians whom they brought to the Walls who promised to stop the Dukes Castle by their Enchantments but while the poor Wretches were busie muttering their foolish Charms a great Stone thrown from one of the Dukes Slings spoiled their Conjurations crushing them both together sent them down to those Infernal Spirits which they were in Vain calling up to their Assistance The Assault had now lasted till one of the Clock in the Afternoon without any manner of Appearance of Advantage than it was the day before when the Soldiers discouraged to see themselves so often repulsed began a little to relax of their former Ardor and indeed to recoil in Despair of ever being able to force so many brave Men who defended themselves with so much Vigor and Advantage which the Sarasins perceiving sent forth great Cries of Joy intermingled with Horrible Blasphemies and Insulting Language against the Christians reproaching them with the Cowardize and Impotence of their Crucisied God when Duke Godfrey whether he really was assured that he saw it or whether his Imagination heated by the Ardor of the Combat and filled with the Images of War represented it to him cried out amain That Heaven was come to their Succour and that he saw upon his left hand upon the Top of Mount Oliver a Celestial Cavalier who shaking a shining Buckler towards the City gave the Signal to enter it And that which is most surprizing is that the Earl of Tholose who fought at a great distance from him against another part of the City declared the same thing at the same time to his Soldiers so that one must either conclude that these two Princes had before agreed this matter between them to re-incourage their Men when they saw them a little abate of their Courage and Vigor or else that by chance some Cavalier of the Army at that time getting upon that Hill was by the Princes who saw him at the same time taken for a Warriour-Saint who was descended from Heaven to their Succour Let it be as it will it is certain that this Vision or at least the Belief that it was very true had the most admirable Effect that ever was seen for no sooner was the Report blown about but the Soldiers perswading themselves that it was St. George who as the whole Army believed he had done at the Battle of Antioch was come again to sight for them instantly reassumed such a new Courage that they became quite other men for they returned to the Combat like so many furious Lions and even all without distinction of Age Sex or Condition rushed in to the Assault the Sick and Maimed not Excepted ran before the Rolling Machins so that having in less than an Hour levelled the Way which hindred their advancing they pushed them Home to the innermost Wall where for some time they fought at push of Pike and Javelin But Godfrey who was resolute to throw himself into the Town bethought himself of an Invention which facilitated his Passage and cleared the Walls in a Moment for the Enemies to break the Force of the Blows of the Stones and Rams which battered the Walls had put abundance of Sacks filled with Chaff Hay and Wool Rugs and Alatresses pieces of Cables and Ropes and a hundred other things of that Nature which they thought would by yielding and giing way year 1099 defend the Walls from those Blows of the battering Engines the Duke perceiving that the Wind blew at North and was upon his Back made a great quantity of fire Darts be shot against that soft and combustible Matter which catching hold of them very easily set them in a moment all into a Blaze the Flame which rose very high with a mighty thick Smoak being driven by the Violence of the Wind upon the Faces of those who defended the Walls and the two adjoyning Towers on the Right and Left they were forced at last to Retire and leave the Place Empty The Duke thereupon immediately letting down his Draw-Bridge which was of an exact Height to rest upon the Wall descended instantly to the second Stage where putting himself at the Head of all those brave Men which accompanied him he threw himself with his Sword in his Hand into the Town having at his Side Eustace his Brother Baldwin Earl of Bourg his Cousin and the two Valiant Brothers of Tournay Lethold and Engelbert who were followed by the brave Guicher and that choice Troop of Lords and Gentlemen who never Abandoned the Duke In a little while after the Duke of Normandy the Earl of Flanders and Tancred having used the same Artifice to drive the Enemies from the Walls threw their Bridge over the Wall also and entred at the Angular Tower being sollowed by Gaston de Foix the Earls Hugh de St. Paul Gerrad de Rousillon Raimband de Orange Louïs de Mouson Conon de Montaign Lambert his Son and all the rest who desired to have a share in the Glory of these great Men. In the same Instant the Soldiers seeing that the Princes threw themselves into the Town followed by the principal Persons of the Army they were so Animated that they ran to the Assault of their own Accord every one in the way that his Courage Inspired him with these presented the Ladders and pushed one another forward to gain the Battlements which the Enemies had Abandoned those mounted the second Stage of the Castles to pass over the Bridges and the greatest part desperately threw themselves in at the Breach which had been made the day before so that all the North Side
is true that this Order began to Relax and Decay extremely by the iniquity of the Times during the Wars between the English and French either by the Malice or Negligence of the Knights who either themselves did or permitted others to encroach upon the Estates of the Order appropriating them to their own private Families For this Cause it was that Pope Innocent the Eight at the Request of the Knights of Malta suppressed this Order to Re-unite it with all its Estates to that of St. John of Jerusalem which was obtained by Emery D' Amboise Great Master of the Rhodes by another Bulla from Pope Julius the Second But in regard that the Parliament of France Declared these Bulla's to be Injurious and contrary to the Rights of the Kings of France the Patrons of the Order the Popes Pius Fourth and Pius Fifth caused them to be Revoked upon Remonstrance thereof made to them by Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second who thought themselves too nearly Interessed in the Commanderies or Places of Trust which were within their Dominions so that the Order was again Established with many new Priviledges by Pope Pius the Fourth year 1119 who Created Jannot de Chastillon his Nephew Great Master of the Order after his Death Gregory the Thirteenth Transferred the Great Mastership to Emanuel Philibert the Duke of Savoy and to his Successors granting him also the Union of this Order with all their Estate to that of the Knights of St. Maurice the Erecting of which the Duke had obtained about a Month before It ought nevertheless to be taken for Indubitable that these new Creations to the Dignity of Great Master of St. Lazarus were not made but with Respect to certain Countries and it is no less certain that it was extremely in the Prejudice of the Kings of France who could by no means lose that Right which they had so lawfully acquired and for more than five hundred Years injoyed to have the sole Nomination of the Great Master who ought to be Elected at Boni the principal Conventical General House of the whole Order and who ought to have Jurisdiction over all the Knights of what Nation soever they be Insomuch that all those who are called Great Masters in other Countries are no more to speak properly but Deputies and Substitutes to him who is Established and Acknowledged in France as the King of Spain alledges in his Right Affirming that the Duke of Savoy is only his Vicegerent in Italy which also a very learned Civilian hath remarked according to the Bulla of Gregory the Thirteenth However after all these Bulla's reckoning from that of Innocent the Eight our Kings whose Rights are Sacred and Inviolable have not failed always to name as they did formerly without Interruption the Great Masters of all the Order of St. Lazarus both on this and the other side of the Sea And those of the Fraternity following that is Aignan Claude de Marveil John de Conty John de Leui Michael de Seurre Francis Salviati Aymar de Chartres Hugh Castelan de Castelmore and Charles de Gayan who were provided and nominated by the Kings Lewis Twelfth Francis First Henry Second Francis Second Charles Ninth Henry Third and Henry the Great never failed to take this Quality upon them altho the deplorable Condition to which the Order was Reduced in France the small Number of Knights and the Loss and Alienation of their Estates took from them the Opportunity of maintaining the Dignity of their Place and Order It was for this Reason that Henry the Forth after he had Gloriously Setled the three Estates of his Realm and that after the cruel Disorders of the Civil Wars he had put the Kingdom into a flourishing Condition was resolved also to restore to its primitive Splendor this Military Order of the Hospitallers from which he perswaded himself he should be able to draw very considerable Services He therefore Chose for Great Master one of the Fraternity whose Name was Philibert de Newstang a Gentleman whose Birth and Merit were equally Illustrious He went upon the King's Account to Rome there to treat about this Affair with Pope Paul the Fifth and did so well Negotiate what he had in Commission that the Quality of Restorer Protector and Patron of the Order was reserved to the King and the Dignity of Chief and General of the whole Order of St. Lazarus was Absolutely and without Restrinction to be in him whom the King should name to be Great Master Moreover the Pope having Created a New Order of Knights under the Title of our Lady of Mount Carmel at the Instance of the King he United them to that of St. Lazarus after which time the Knights have with this double Title born for their Armes a Cross or which is doubled consisting of eight Points Pometty between four Flowers-de-Lys with the Image of our Lady in the middle But as the Death of Henry the Great made the greatest of all his Noble Designs to Vanish the Order of St. Lazarus which began to Recover after having received these new Marks of Honor did for the main stand at a Stay continuing in the Condition wherein he lest it till now of late it begins to Flourish in such a manner which would make one believe that we shall one day see it produce those Fruits which it was accustomed to do in the times of its early Force and Vigor For the King who undertakes nothing which he doth not most happily Accomplish having taken up the same generous Design of his August Grandfather whose Sir Name the Acclamation of all Europe hath bestowed upon him will not fail to take all the most Just and Essicacious Ways to restore this ancient Order to that Condition which may render it Serviceable to those necessary Ends for the Good of the Church and State year 1119 which he hath proposed to himself But it is time methinks after this Digression which I hope will neither be Disagreeable nor Unprofitable to the Reader that I should now again follow the Thred of my History year 1123 The new King Baldwin de Bourg who had abundance of Courage and of Virtue obtained many great Victories against the Turks who after having Defeated and Slain in Battle the Prince of Antioch began to menace that great City But as he went to Succour the Earl of Edessa against Balac the most Potent of the Turkish Princes who had taken Earl Josselin with his Cousin Galeran in an Ambuscade he himself happened to be Surprized in the Night by that Emir who sent him Loaden with Irons to the same Castle where the two Earls his Kinsmen were detained Captives His Imprisonment however had not those dismal Consequences as were expected for Eustace Garnier Lord of Sidon or Saietta and Cesarea who was made Regent of the Realm Defeated the Army of the Egyptian Sarasens who Besieged Jaffa After which their Navy which consisted in eighty Sail of Ships was intirely Ruined by the Venetians who
of Death causing his Litter to be set down in the middle of the Army he lifted up his Hands and Eyes all Bathed in Tears of Joy to Heaven and with great Devotion he returned his hearty Thanks unto Almighty God for all the Benefits which he had received from him but above all for the Favor which he had now done him to let him die like a Prince of the Crusade in making War against the Infidels and that he permitted him to Vanquish with the bare Report of his Approach and the Terror of his Name these Enemies of Christ Jesus and of his Holy Faith And thus did this Christian Hero Transported more with the Excess of his Joy than of his Pains render unto God his generous Soul going to the Eternal Triumphs of a Glorious Immortality in Heaven whilest his Army Victorious by him only without Fighting Re-conducted his Body in the Litter as in a Triumphant Chariot to Edessa there to receive the Honors due to one of the bravest Actions that ever were Performed year 1142 Thus it was that this Illustrious Lord finished his Glorious Life and thus it was that with the Disgrace of refusing to hold the Place of so generous a Father the young Josselin his Son began his Reign which he dishonored by a Vicious and Dissolute Life spent in all manner of Debauches and above all by the Loss of Edessa which was the cause of the Decay and in Conclusion of the Ruine of the Affairs of the Western Christians in the East But is no new thing to observe that what the Wisdom Courage and Vigilance of many great Men have not been able without great Difficulty to Establish should be Ruined in a moment by the Brutality Pusillanimity and Cowardice of one Dissolute and Voluptuous Man This new Earl Josselin quitted the City of Edessa which his Father and the two Baldwins his Predecessors who constantly kept their Court there had taken great Care to Fortifie and Retired to Turbessel a delightful House Situate upon the Banks of Euphrates where like a true Epicure he drowned himself in those Vices and continual Debauches which the mistaken World calls Pleasures without ever regarding the weighty and troublesom Affairs of State But to Ease him of those Toils which attend a Crown Sanguin the most Potent and Able of all the Turkish Princes Sultan of Alepo and Nineveh now called Mosula or Mussula laid hold of this Occasion of the Stupidity of this careless Prince and knowing that there was neither a good Garrison nor any kind of Provisions fit to sustain a Siege in Edessa he presently sate down before it and by a furious Assault Carried the Place before the Unfortunate Josselin who was of himself destitute of any Power to prevent it could procure any Assistance from his Neighbours for he had too much Disobliged Raymond Prince of Antioch with whom he lived in continual Broils to afford him any and Queen Melesintha was at too great a Distance to Assemble so suddenly such an Army as was necessary to relieve the Place So that the Conqueror had Opportunity enough to make a great Progress with his Arms had not his ill Destiny rather than the Christian Arms prevented him for as he was Besieging Cologembar a Town upon the Euphrates he was Slain by one of his Eunuchs who having thus revenged himself of some Affront done him by his Master saved himself by Flight His two Sons divided his Dominions between them Cotebin the Eldest had for his Share Nineveh and Assyria and Noradin the Younger Brother was Sultan of Alepo This young Prince who soon after made himself one of the most Potent Princes of all Asia had nothing about him that was either Turk or Barbarian except the Name and without retaining any thing of the Vices of his Nation he made himself most Conspicuous in his Conduct by all the Virtues and accomplishing Qualities of a great Captain He was equally Wise Provident Moderate Bold and Enterprising Couragious Valiant and Fortunate and what was most rare among Infidels he was a Man of Honor Probity and wondrous Devout in his own Religion which was Mahometan above all he was the most Vigilant of Mankind the Stoutest and most prompt to lay hold upon all Opportunities which presented themselves with the prospect of any noble Action as appeared particularly in the Rencounter I am going to relate Having understood at Nineveh that Earl Josselin being underhand Sollicited by the Inhabitants had Seized upon Edessa with a considerable number of Troops he ran thither immediately with such Forces as he could on the suddain get together to Invest it this he performed so readily that the Earl despairing to resist the Enemies within who yet held the Fortresses and those without who went about to cut off all Provisions from coming to him resolved before all the Passages were obstructed to save himself with his Soldiers by quitting the City which being accordingly put in Execution the greatest part of the Inhabitants who were afraid to fall into the Hands of Noradin would also Accompany him in this dishonorable Flight But that Prince falling upon the infortunate Inhabitants at the same time that those within the Fortresses Sallying out had broken in among them at the Gate which they had set open they were all cut in pieces and then immediately pursuing the flying Army of the Earl which were Retreated some two Leagues to gain a Pass upon the Euphrates he Charged them so briskly that in the End he put them to a total Rout so that the miserable Earl did not without great Difficulty Escape to Samosatia year 1143 where he Arrived almost alone Thus Noradin having no more Enemies able to keep the Field and having so easily Re-gained Edessa quickly made himself Master of the greatest Part of that Principality from whence he Menaced the other three and all that part of Christendom which was in the East with utter Ruin and Desolation In the mean time immediately after the first taking of Edessa by Sanguin there being great reason to fear that that powerful Turk who had the Courage and Ambition of a Conqueror would also indeavour the Conquest of Antioch a Dispatch was immediately sent to request the Succours of all the Princes of the West But the principal Application was made to Lewis seventh King of France to whom the Christian Princes of the East who were all of that Nation had Recourse as to their natural Lord and whom the cross Accident which happened a little after put into the most favourable Disposition in the World to undertake such an Enterprise This Prince was in the very Bloom of his Youth being about twenty four Years of Age he was of a most exact Shape and of a marvellous and in his Sex an uncommon Beauty of a sweet Temper Civil and Obliging extream Pious Tender and Sensible of the least Sufferings of his meanest Subjects whom he most passionately Loved and was no less Beloved by them but above all he
who advised the Seising upon Constantinople and which occasioned the Loss of such a fair Army as if it had begun with that Enterprise so just so easy and so necessary might gloriously have Triumphed over the whole East and absolutely assured the Christians of the Possession of the Holy Land But it is the common Weakness of the greatest part of Mankind not to know what they ought to do till for want of doing it all is so far lost that when they would they want the Power proportionate to the Will But as for this persidious City it was afterwards equally Punished both by God and the Greek Emperor though for very different Reasons For God to revenge the Inhumane Treachery with which they had treated the French sent such a Pestilence amongst the Inhabitants a short time after as swept away the greatest part of them and the Emperor out of Madness that they had assisted the French with Provisions and Shipping laid such a Mulâ—t upon them as drained them of all their ill gotten Gold and Silver year 1148 and reduced the Remainder to extream Poverty An Instance from whence we may learn that Injustice Oppression and Cruelty in the Conclusion prove more mischievous to the Actors than to the Sufferers In the mean time the King who had taken the Sea with all the great Lords and the remainder of the Cavalry which might yet compose a considerable Army came happily to an Anchor at the Port of St. Simeon upon the Mouth of the Orontes about four or five Leagues from Antioch into which place he made his Entry upon the 19th Day of March and was received with all manner of Magnificence by Prince Raymond who was Uncle by the Mother to Queen Eleoner Now this Prince passionately desiring that the King should immediately enter upon a War in Syria to conquer for him Aleppo and the other places belonging to the Principality of Antioch which were yet possessed by the Turks there was no sort of Artifice which he did not put in practice to oblige him to undertake it He had Recourse to all manner of Submissions and Prayers he made use of the Solicitations of the Queen his Niece he made magnificent Presents to all the French Lords and in short he omitted no kind of Reasons but pressed them with his utmost force both privately and in Council to persuâ—de the King that it must be not only for his own Interest and Glory but for that of all that part of Christendom in the East But at length he perceived that he laboured but in vain The King whether it were that he feared to engage himself in so long and so daâ—gerous a War for the particular Interest of Prince Raymond or whether it were that some certain Intrigues which the Queen had in Antioch which no doubt did not please him obliged him to leave that City he always answered Raymond that he was fully resolved in the first place to go and pay his Vows at the holy Sepulchre So that as it commonly happens that one violent Passion easily passeth to another Extream this Prince being insinitely exasperated by that Refusal and it may be not a little animated by another Passion in his Niece to which he joyned his he entertained such a mortal Hatred against the King that there was nothing which he did not resolve to do to revenge himself For this reason the King who knew he was to apprehend all things from a Spirit so furiously transported that he valued not what he did secretly conveyed himself by Night out of the City in a manner not very well becoming the Majesty of so great a Monarch and taking the Queen along with him not much to her Satisfaction he went and joyned his Troops which were encamped under the Walls and marched directly towards Jerusalem where the Emperor Conrade was already arrived from Constantinople where he had passed the Winter For that Prince who was resolved to accomplish his Vow and who by reason of the small Remainder of his Troops which were left after his Misfortune gave no Jealousie to Manuel easily obtained from him Shipping to transport himself and his Troops in the Spring by Sea as he did to Ptolemais or Acon from whence he passed by Land to Jerusalem Alphonsus Earl of Tholose and Son to the brave Raymond who had so great a Part in the first Crusade coming at the same time to the same Port took another Way all along by the Sea-Coast but he was stopped in his Journey by a deplorable Death as he passed by Cesarea being unfortunately poysoned one Evening at his Supper without ever being known either for what Reason or by what Person that execrable Fact was committed It was no sooner known at Jerusalem that the King who it was feared would have stayed at Antioch according to the earnest Desires and Sollicitations of Raymond was parted from thence and that he took the Way of Tripolis but that King Baldwin who feared lest the Earl of Tripolis should also press him strongly to stay there sent immediately to him Fulcherius the Patriarch to propound to him such Reasons as he believed would oblige him to make what haste he could to Jerusalem where the Emperor had now been for some time that so there they might take some good and solid Resolution for the common and publick Advantage of Affairs To this the King who desired nothing more easily accorded and therefore kept on his way without staying any where till he arrived at the Holy City There he was received with most extraordinary Honours year 1148 all the Princes the Prelates and Clergy in Procession followed by a Multitude of the People met him with great Acclamations singing as they did to the Son of God Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord whilst he made his Entry into the City as it were in Triumph After which all the Princes and Prelates accompanied him to visit the Holy Places which he did with a great Piety and Devotion This being done it was resolved that there should be a General Assembly held at Ptolemais whither all the Bishops and the Lords of Palestine and Syria might easily come by Sea where by common Consent the last Resolution was to be taken upon what was to be undertaken for the Security of the Christians in the East There never was a more illustrious Assembly seen in Palestine than this which was honoured with the Presence of so many great Princes There was the Emperor Conrade accompanied with the Cardinal Theodin Bishop of Porto and the Great Men of the Empire who stayed with him among whom the principal were Otho of Fribourg his Brother by the Mother Frederick Duke of Suabia his Nephew the Bishops of Metz and Toul as Princes of the Holy Empire as also the Bishop of Basle Henry his Brother Duke of Austria Berthold afterwards Duke of Bavaria William Marquis of Montferat Guy Earl of Blandras and Herman Marquis of Verona The King came attended with
another dreadful Blow as that of the great Godfrey of Bullen which finished the Victory already inclining upon his first Charge for a puissant Turk armed with a Curiass having attacked him he discharged with all his force such a furious Blow upon the place where the Shoulder joyns to the Neck that the Sword passing through the Neck to the right Shoulder took that and part of the Breast clear off the Head and that Arm and Shoulder falling to the Ground whilst the other remained a Spectacle of Horrour for some time upon the Horse The Turks amazed at this frightful Blow immediately fled and saved themselves in the Town leaving all the Fields and the Rivers free to the Christians who immediately encamped upon the Banks and in the Gardens with mighty convenience both for the Men and Horses This Victory brought such a Despair among the Turks and the Inhabitants of Damascus that knowing well that they were in danger of losing the place upon the first Assault which should be given there being on that side no other Defence beside the Gardens which were now lost they began to think of nothing but how to save themselves by retreating For this purpose they barricadoed all the Streets which opened that way to the end that while their Enemies were busie in breaking the Barricadoes and removing the great Beams which they had laid cross the Streets they might have the more time to save themselves and their Families by the opposite Gates and so retreat with more Security to such neighbouring Towns as were in the Hands of their Friends Thus had Damascus most assuredly fallen into the Power of the Christians if Covetousness Hatred and Envy three furious Passions which at this time wrought more deplorable Effects than the Arms of the Infidels had not suddainly precipitated their Affairs by a most infamous Treason from a certain Hope and a flourishing Condition into the very Gulph of Misfortune and Confusion from whence they were never able to recover again Those of Damascus seeing themselves thus just upon the Eve of their Ruin after they had barricadoed the Streets they advised themselves again of another Means to save themselves which did not fail of the wished Effect After that the French had conquered the Holy Land many Persons of both Sexes not only of the Common People but also of the Nobility were married in Palestine and Syria with the Ladies of that Country and many of the great Lords who were in Baldwin's Army were such as were born of those Marriages and consequently Syrians by Birth year 1148 and by Original either by Father or Mother And as these kind of Mungrels usually degenerate from the fair Qualities of the more noble Nations and participate of the Imperfections of the other so many of these half French half Syrian Lords retained the Vices of the Country and particularly Greediness of Riches and Avarice which to this day is the domineering Vice and Passion of the Orientals The Turks and principal Men of the City who being of the same Country very well knew their Feeble secretly sent some of the most dexterous and cunning of their Citizens to these Motley Lords and Barons whom they knew to be of the most covetous Dispositions and consequently most capable of being brought into Treason To these they gave all imaginable Assurances that they could desire that they should have certain Payment made of most considerable Sums of Money provided they could induce the Besiegers only to change their Attack and remove the Siege to the other side of the City Now he to whom they principally trusted the Management of this Affair found amongst those to whom he addressed himself Inclinations favourable as he could desire to entertain his Propositions Prince Raymond who mortally hated King Lewis the Seventh after the Affair of Antioch had as it is said beforehand corrupted some of his People and obliged them underhand to do all that possibly they could against him that so he might not acquire any Glory from this War There were others who could not with Patience think of permitting the Earl of Flanders as they understood it was concluded between the Emperor and the two Kings to enjoy the Principality of Damascus and they had rather that it should continue in the Possession of the Turks than fall to the share of a Man whom they looked upon as a Stranger in regard he was not born in Syria Thus the Envy of some and the Hatred which Raymond had inspired into others being joyned with the Avarice which reigned equally in both the one and the other produced the most infamous and most cowardly Treason that it was possible for Lords of great Quality not to say Christians to be capable of For counterfeiting a marvellous Zeal for the publick Good they remonstrated to the Council That hitherto they had taken very false Measures That they had too long permitted themselves to be deceived with vain Appearances of a commodious Encampment upon the Banks of the River among the Gardens and Orchards not considering that this was the main Obstacle which had hitherto hindred the Taking of the City for that the River one part whereof served for the Ditch upon that Quarter rendred the Access more difficult and the Attack most dangerous That the Gardens hindred the disposing of the Machins to such convenient Distances as were requisite for the Battery and that the Siege being spun out to a greater length than had been promised to the Soldiers there was great danger that being disgusted and the great Heats beginning now to become insupportable they would quit the Siege That for this Reason they were in the Opinion that they ought to remove the Camp to the other side of the City between the South and East in regard that there being no Gardens nor Rivers nor Ditches full of Water which could hinder them from descending to the very Foot of the Walls which were low weak and without Terrasses on that side and where the Besieged having not expected to be attacked had made no Retrenohments there was all the Appearance imaginable that they should carry the Town at the first Assault without so much as making use of any Engines against it There is a great deal of Room for Wonder and Astonishment to consider the Conduct of these three great Frinces upon this Occasion who at other times wanted neither Spirit nor Judgment nor Experience in Martial Affairs in which it commonly happens That no Man fails twice the first Fault that is committed being for the most part irreparable But whether it was the Eagerness of their Desire to become Masters of the Town in a little time which blinded them or that they believed that it was impossible to act more prudently or more safely than by the Counsels of those who who had the greatest Interest in the Taking of the Place and who being Natives of the Country must needs be much better acquainted than any others with the Strength or
of Tiberias That it was to lose all to lose their Honour by suffering the Princess his Wife who so bravely defended it to perish whilst they stood cowardly looking on And that all the other Cities despairing after such an Example to be relieved would instantly surrender to the Conquerors and follow the Fortune of Tiberias if it should be taken And for any thing else in drawing out the Garrisons from the Cities they should thereby have so good an Army and so numerous that there could not be any room for Fear but that they should beat that Enemy whom they had so often vanquished with far less Forces The four Sons also of the Princess Eschina which she had by her first Husband made a mighty Noise and with repeated Instances demanded Relief to be sent to their Mother The Queen Sybilla also employed for this purpose all the Power which she had over the Spirit of the King her Husband who was indeed her Creature So that in conclusion the greatest part of the Lords inclining to this Opinion some out of Complaisance to the Queen others out of Service to the four Princes of Tiberias and divers out of the design which Count Raymond had secretly communicated to them it was resolved that they should march directly against the Enemies with all the Forces which they could draw out of the Garrisons where none were to be lest but such as were incapable of bearing Arms. And thus with these Troops which were composed of a great many Men and a few Soldiers the Army consisting in twelve thousand Horse and twenty thousand Foot besides the Citizens who were compelled by Force to serve in the War they advanced towards Tiberias Now as Raymond who in Right of the Princess his Lady was Prince of Galilee was better acquainted with the Country than the rest and that he was not only esteemed a great Soldier but that he seemed also to have the greatest Interest in the Victory which was to deliver the Person which ought to be the dearest to him the Conduct of the Army was unanimously committed to him That perfidious Traytor who gave secret Advertisement of all things to the Enemies unfortunately or rather maliciously engaged them in a rude and steril Country among the Straits of the Rocks and Mountains where there was neither Water nor Forrage The Enemies who only waited for this lucky Minute failed not to encompass them with their Troops which were far more numerous after the same manner that the Romans had some time been inclosed in the Furcae Caudinae year 1187 which were not more Famous by the Shameful Ignomony into which the ignorance and the Temerity of their Captains there precipitated their Soldiers then these Straits for the deplorable Overthrow of the Christian Army which was betrayed into the Hands of the Infidels by the baseness of their Perfidious Conductor It was now high Summer in the beginning of July when the Heats of that Burning Climate are most insupportable and there was not one Drop of Water to be found among those Rocks so that the Men and Horses died with Thirst and were able to do no more there was therefore a Necessity of resolving immediately to sight the Enemy For though the Disadvantage was very great by reason that it was impossible to draw up the Army in Battalia in a Post which was so uneven and so strait and broken with Rocks that they could not attack the Enemy but by filing off yet it was impossible to avoid that Choice the Army was divided into a great many Bodies commanded by the Principal Lords who were to follow one another who were to sustain there Companions and who were reciprocally to be sustained by those which followed them The Enemies expected them in good Order to cut them off as they marched in these long Files before they should have Leisure to form themselves into Squadrons upon the Plain to give them Battle The great Master of the Temple who chose to have the Van with his Noble Knights advanced first and charged so furiously upon those Enemies which opposed him that overturning them upon those who followed them he put them into Disorder insomuch that these Gallant men who fought most Valiantly after the Example of their Captain killing overturning or putting to flight all that durst oppose their first Fury had they been sustained by the other Bodies who had Order to follow them the whole Army might with little Difficulty have been drawn from that disadvantageous Post and have had the Liberty of sighting in the Plain Field where they would doubtless have been able to have hoped or however disputed for the Victory but here it was that the detestable Treason of the Perfidious Earl of Tripolis made it self most infamously Visible For he had so ordered the Matter that he himself commanded that Body which was to follow the Templers and he had also disposed the other Troops in such manner that all the Lords who were of his Party were to follow him Now these Traytors would not advance alledging that this was to lead their Souldiers to a perfect Butchery to quit their advantageous Post and to march them thus in Files into the Plain which was all covered with the Battalions and squadrons of the Enemies who must needs cut them all in Pieces taking them thus without Trouble one after another So that these brave Knights infamously abandoned by their Reserves and on every side surrounded by an innumerable Multitude of Sarasins were all either slain upon the Place or taken Prisoners not so much as one of them escaping After this Defeat Saladin seeing that no more durst advance to the Combat approached to the Camp of the Christians which yet he would not adventure to attack but that he might complete their Dispair by taking from them all Appearance of a Possibility to draw themselves out of that wicked Strait he caused Fires to be made in the Woods which invironed the greatest Parts of those Rocks and set strong Guards upon all the other Avenues that so he might sight them with greater Advantage if they should endeavour to Retreat But six Fugitives who run to his Army and to gain Credence with him offered to become Sarasins as they presently did having assured him that the Christian Soldiers were half dead with Hunger and Thirst and under the greatest Consternation so oppressed with their Misfortune Weariness and Despair that they were scarce able to stand or go upon this Advice he instantly resolved to Charge them which he did with that Success that his Army powering in upon them by the Straits which the Christians had abandoned they fell upon these miserable People who were crouded together and who had neither Courage to defend themselves nor Power to fly cross the Flames and the Rocks that it was no longer a Combat but a Horrible Butchery and Slaughter So that almost all the Captains and Christian Soldiers either perished in this miserable Day or were taken Prisoners
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
Geoffry Ridel Bishop of Ely for appearing before him with the Train of a King at the City of Winchester but all this magnifick Pomp could not prevent the Triumph of Death which seized imediately upon him by this Surprise and divested him of this stately Vanity so unbecoming the Sacred Character of a Bishop For this Prince believed that these great Riches might to much better Advantage be imployed in defraying the Expences of his Coronation than so foolishly lavished in the Pageantry of worldly Pomp and that he might thereby spare his own which he indeavoured to keep as a Reserve to support the Charges of his Voyage to the Holy Land He also surrendred to William King of Scots for ten thousand Marks Sterling the Castles of Rocksborough and Berwick which he had been constrained to yield to King Henry the Second for his Ransom he being taken Prisoner in the War between them He also acquitted him of the Homage which he was obliged by force to pay as one part of the Price of his Liberty And in short as on one hand he was resolved not to be incumbred with the multitude of the Crusades the Multitudes of which had done more Hurt than Service in the other Expeditions and on the other that he knew very well that diverse of the richest of his Subjects who had ingaged themselves two Years before to undertake that Voyage were willing enough to be dispensed with he therefore obtained Permission from the Pope to discharge all such from their Vow upon Condition that they should proportionably to their Estate contribute a summ of Money towards the Charges of the Holy War All this joyned to the Treasure of his Father which he had at first seized upon and which amounted to more than nine hundred thousand Livers in Gold and Silver gave him the Ability to live after the best manner and in a far more Royal Way than any of his Predecessors had ever done So that he caused to be equipped in all the Ports of England Normandy Bretany Poitou and Guienne a great number of Ships to compose one of the fairest Fleets which had ever before been put to Sea For when he weighed from the Road of Messina where he had passed the Winter he had one hundred and fifty great Ships fifty three Gallies besides Barks Tartanes and other small Craft which attended the Navy with Provisions and Munitions of War He gave the Command of the Fleet to Gerrard Archbishop of Ousch and Bernard Bishop of Bayonne to whom he joyned in Commission Robert de Sablé Richard de Chamville and William Fortz Earl of Albermarle three excellent Men in Sea Affairs who had order without sparing any to put in Execution those admirable Orders which were proclaimed for preventing of Disorders and Punishment of Offences in the Fleet. He could not for all that stop those which were at the same time committed almost all over England upon the Jews of which himself was the Occasion tho he did not command it For as the Jews whom his Father had always favoured were upon his Coronation Day contrary to his express Command entred into the Palace from whence they were thrust out and some of them treated very severely the People who imagined that it was the King's Inclination that they should exterminate that perfidious Nation who for their Extortion Avarice and other enormous Crimes were extremely hated fell upon them with such Fury that it was impossible to appease them And this Example spreading it self occasioned a most horrible Massacre among those miserable People in many Cities where the young People who had undertaken the Cross year 1190 and wanted wherewith to furnish themselves for so chargeable a Voyage were ravished with such opportunity of Plundring their Houses and thereby being inabled to put themselves into an Equipage at the Expence of these declared Enemies of Jesus Christ In this time Philip the August prepared for this Enterprise in a manner more regular and did not to procure Money take those Methods of selling Offices and temporal Dignities to the Prelates of his Realm who were more regular and modest than those of England Neither did he raise any Taxes or Contributions for the Expences of this Voyage in regard that all the French Lords who had taken the Cross were resolved to accomplish their Vow and he believed that he should have enough out of his good Husbandry of that Tenth which was given for this War and which still remained in Bank ever since the last Year For this Reason therefore he caused an Edict to be published and all concerned to be sworn in the Parliament which he held at Paris that they should render themselves at Vezelay in the Week of Easter from thence together to take the Voyage And this being done he sent Rotrou Earl of Perche into England to advertise King Richard of his Proceedings who on his side made those who had taken the Vow swear the same thing upon the Holy Evangelists in the Parliament at London After which the King having recommended the Care of the Realm to Queen Eleonor his Mother having delivered her from the Confinement in which the late King had for five or six Years last kept her and to William Longfield Bishop of Ely his Chancellor he imbarked the fourteenth day of December at Dover and landed the same day at Graveling from whence he went about the end of the Month to Confer with King Philip at Nonancour There it was that after they had mutually given the one to the other all the assurance of an inviolable Amity they caused Letters Patents in the Name of both the Kings to be dispatched whereby they fixed the time of their Departure with all their Subjects of the Crusade and promised to each other a most sincere and indissoluble Friendship according to the Faith which they had severally plighted to one another Philip King of France to Richard King of England as his Friend and faithful Liegeman and Richard King of England to Philip King of France as his Lord and Friend These are the very Words of these Letters dated the thirtieth day of December at Nonancour as they are reported by Radulph Dean of London who writ in that time such Matters as he himself was an Eye Witness of and in the Transaction whereof he had a considerable Share But in regard the Time which they had limited appeared too short for the Preparations which were of necessity to be made the two Kings had a second Interview at Vezelay where they lengthened the time of their Rendezvouz till the Week after Midsummer In which time they finished their Treaty which among others had these Articles That if either of them died in the time of the Holy War the other should make use of the Money and the Army of the deceased King to carry on and finish the War That the Lords of the two Kingdoms should maintain a fraternal Correspondence and that the Bishops should excommunicate all those who
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
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
the Condition wherein the City then was without all manner of Hopes of being relieved and under a Prince who already seemed to Capitulate it must either have been surrendred upon Composition or carried by Force But there is no time wherein it is not easy to observe that those who have known very well how to Vanquish their Enemies have not yet been so Fortunate as to know how to make the best Use of their Victories and that they have lost all the Fruit of their gallant Actions for want of taking Time and their Enemies by the Head after such considerable Defeats For the Crusades whereas they ought immediately to have lead the conquering Army to Jerusalem and to take all the Advantage they could of the Disorder of the Sarasins before they could be able to recover the Consternation of the Blow and to re-settle their Affairs they very unadvisedly undertook the Siege of Thoron which was the most impregnable of all the Places which the Sarasins yet held in Palestine and the most able to stop the Course of a Victorious Army to no purpose This place was rather a great Castle than a Town which Hugh de St. Omer Lord of Tiberias had beforetime caused to be built in the Reign of Baldwin the I. about seven or eight Leagues from Tyre towards the East to oppose the Excursions of the Sarasins who at that time were Masters of that great City It was situate upon the top of a high Mountain which was invironed round with broaken Rocks which rendred it wholly inaccessible to an Army for there was no coming to it but by one way which was very Narrow and on each hand whereof lay most dreadful Precipices so that a few Defendants might easily maintain it against all the Forces of the Earth only by rolling down great Stones in this narrow Way where not above two Men could march abreast The Lords of Thoron had also taken great Care year 1197 to add all that Art could do towards the Fortification of it as far as the Invention of those Times would admit to render the Place impregnable The Army coming to incamp before it in the beginning of the Winter it was quickly perceivable that the way of Force would be to no purpose against a place of that Nature for there were no kind of Engines which could be elevated proportionably to the height of the Walls and Towers to batter them the Darts Arrows and Stones which were thrown from below upwards lost all their Force of doing any Execution before they could come at the Besieged who laughed at the vain Efforts which were used against them whereas at the same time their Engines discharging from above showred down a furious Tempest of Darts Stones and Arrows upon the Camp which had much to do to cover it self from the dreadful Storm They indeavoured however by mining to find a Way under the Earth after the Example of the Dictator Camillus who by that means entred the City of Veiae scituate like Thoron upon the top of a Mountain But the German Engineers who began the Work found the Rock so very hard that they dispaired of Success year 1198 and were at last obliged to give it over so that after three Months spent unprofitably in the Siege they found themselves no nearer taking the Place than when they first sate down before it In the mean time Saphadin who was cured of his Wound had time to levy Men and raise an Army more numerous than before with which he intended to besiege the Christians in their Camp Nevertheless Thoron which began to be in great want of Provisions and which had already desired to Capitulate had undoubtedly fallen into the hands of the Christians if the Avarice and infamous Treason of those whose principal Interest it was to have it taken had not saved it For the Templers who served in the Army and whose Manners were already abominably degenerated suffered themselves to be corrupted by the Gold of Saphadin who promised them vast Summs if they would find out some way to cause the Siege to be raised they therefore gained by the same way Conrade Bishop of Wirtzbourg the Emperor's Chancellor who either out of Jealousie and Envy of the Glory of the Archbishop of Mayence and the Dukes of Saxony and Brabant who commanded the whole Army or blinded with the Lustre of the prodigious quantity of Gold which was offered him no longer regarded either his Conscience his Honour his Truth or Fidelity Vertues which in all Ages have been the Glory of the German Nation but that he joyned with the wicked Templers to betray the Interests of Jesus Christ For having persuaded the greatest part of the Italian Captains who came along with him into Palestine to enter into the same Sentiments with himself these joyned with the Templers made the major part of the Councel And first therefore he opposed the receiving the Besieged to Conditions alledging that it was impossible but they must presently come and submit themselves with Halters about their Necks and after that having spread a Report that Saphadin who had received a most powerful Reinforcement by his Fleet from Egypt was about to attack Baruth at the same time that he would also besiege them in their Camp he therefore protested that there was an absolute Necessity that they should march the next day to relieve that City And accordingly marching out of his Quarter with those of his Party to take that Way he obliged the rest of the Army instantly to raise the Siege and follow them least Saphadin coming upon them thus divided with his whole Strength they might fall into a worse Disaster Thus was Jesus Christ in his Interest and the Reputation of his Religion sold to the Sarasins by these Traitors as he had formerly been in his Person to the Jews by Judas But as that Infamous received little Benefit by that ill gotten Money and afterwards came to a deserved End so these perfidious Men gained little by their detestable Bargain more than the Vexation and Shame to find that the Besances with which the crafty Saphadin had in such profusion paid them were nothing but counterfeit Gold which so blinded were they at the receiving as not to discover And for the traiterous Bishop of Wirtzbourg returning some time after to his Bishoprick he was unluckily assassinated by some Officers of his Chapiter with whom he had made a cruel War Thus it is year 1198 that by the most just Judgments of God Treason never fails to fall upon the Heads of those who act it to the end that if the Infamy of such a black and cowardly Crime be not sufficient to deter those from it who by an extreme debasedness of Soul are tempted to commit it they may at least be restrained by the Fear of Divine Vengeance and the Justice of Almighty God which never fails where that of Men either is too short or too slow in punishing it After this Misfortune a mighty
done an insinite deal of Mischief in the World And after this there is nothing that thou canst do to me which I fear And since I am assured of thy Death I shall with Joy be ready to receive my own though it comes accompanied with all the Terrors and cruel Torments that can be inslicted on me And I replied the King immediately will for the Love of God that thou shalt live And thereupon he caused him presently to be set at liberty commanding that an hundred Pounds Sterling should be bestowed upon him and straitly prohibiting all his People to do him any Injury But presently after the death of the King the Lieutenant General of his Army causing him to be seized made him be hanged and roasted alive in a most barbarous and horrible manner At his Death the King commanded a good part of his Treasure to be distributed among his Domesticks and the Poor He ordered that his Body should be interred at Fontevraud at the Feet of his Father as it were to make some honourable Reparation by this little Humility at his Death for the ill Treatment which he had given him during his Life He bequeathed his Heart to the Church of our Lady at Roan which he had always particularly cherished And for his Soul he entirely submitted it to the Divine Justice offering himself after such an exemplary Repentance to suffer the Pains of Purgatory even till the Day of Judgment for the Expiation of his Crimes It is not my Province to judge of what it pleaseth God to determine and ordain but this is certain that three and thirty Years after his Death Henry Bishop of Rochester in England preaching after he had given holy Orders the Saturday before the Passion-Sunday on which Day the Church begins the Service with those words of Isaiah Ho! Every one that thirsteth come to the Waters saith the Lord Come and drink with Joy In the midst of his Sermon as if it had been by a suddain Enthusiasm he cried out Rejoyce my Brethren the Soul of the glorious King Richard after having till this time been purified like Gold in the Furnace is now passed into Heaven And he affirmed it with such an assured Air exposing to every Person all the Circumstances of the Revelation which he pretended to have had that the Authority of a Prelate who was known to be a most vertuous and learned Man and who was never accused for a Visionary made very many wise People believe that without Weakness they might give Credit to it However it be it is not so much upon these sort of Revelations which are liable to be doubted as upon the manner of the Death of this great Prince that one may reasonably found a Belief of his Salvation However I thought fit to recount these edifying Particularities of the Death of this King who had so great a Share in these Crusades that so Princes may understand that when they have had the happiness to render unto God any considerable Service by any Heroick Action as did this King Richard in being the first that took upon him the Cross in this Holy War where he performed so many brave things they have great reason to hope that the Divine Goodness which is never slow in rewarding the meanest Services will recompense them by the greatest of all Favours in permitting those to die well who have employed their Lives in his Service and for his Glory year 1199 In this time Fouques de Nevilli continued his preaching the Crusade with a most wonderful Success and after he had run through abundance of Provinces distributing an infinite number of Crosses among the People he at last happily sinished his Enterprise by the Engagement of two great Princes in his Design who could not but by their Example draw after them a great number of considerable Persons These two Princes were Theobald IV. Count de Champagne Brother to Henry II. King of Jerusalem who died by the unfortunate Accident at Ptolemais and Lewis his Consin-german Count de Blois and Chartres both of them nearly related to I hilip the August both by the Father and the Mother They were both young and both passionate of Glory And Theobald who was a magnificent Prince that he might declare himself with more Splendor and draw after him more Persons of Quality published a Tournament to be held at his Castle of Escri upon the River Aisne in Advent of that Year 1199. whither the principal Gentry of the Neighbouring Provinces assembled themselves to be Sharers in those Manly Exercises There it was that the brave Count Theobald amidst those noble Exercises of Chivalry which the French and particularly the Counts de Champagne have always so much delighted in resolving to pass magnificently from that gallant Representation of War to that true and holy War which he was about to undertake in most solemn manner took upon him the Cross together with the Count de Blois his Cousin They were immediately followed by two Lords of extraordinary Merit and high Reputation the famous Simon de Montfort and the valiant Renaud de Montmirail the Cousin of Count Lewis After which all those who were under any particular Obligation to these two Counts and many other Gentlemen and Barons especially of the Isle of France and of Picardy also followed their Example and took upon them the Cross The principal among these new Champions of Jesus Christ whose Names are most known and which I mention in this place reserving my self to speak of the others upon occasion of their brave Actions were Geoffry de Joinville Steward and Geoffry de Ville Hardouin Mareshal of Champagne who like a frank and generous Cavalier hath obliged Posterity with the History of this War the Counts Gautier and John de Brienne Gautier de Vignori William and Villain de Neully Erard de Montigni Manasses de l' Isle Guy de Chappes Renard de Dampierre Oliver de Rochefort Ives de Laval Anselme de Courselles Henry de Montreil Paien d'Orleans Matthew de Montmorenci Guy de Couci Robert de Malvoisin Enguerrand Hugh and Robert de Boves Counts d' Amiens to whom the Year following joyned the Counts Hugh de St. Paul Renand de Bologne and Geoffry de Perche and Stephen his Brother with divers other Lords which followed them And to take care of the spiritual Militia of this Army designed for a Holy War Garnier Bishop of Troies who had taken the Cross the Year before and Nevelon Bishop of Soissons resolved to accompany this Crusade Such a famous Action which could not fail of making a mighty noise in the World was the Parent of others great Examples being commonly very prolisick which were produced thereby in generous Minds and Hearts which were amorous of Glory The young Baldwin Earl of Flanders and Henault Nephew to the late Count Philip who died at the Siege of Acre seeing himself at liberty by the Peace of Peronne which he had concluded with Philip the August was resolved
the feeble Spirit of the Prince yet that very weakness of Spirit which had delivered him up into his Hands to dispose of him at his pleasure proved the main Obstacle to his Design For the Prince who was thoroughly acquainted with the Courage of the Confederates was in the most dreadful Apprehensions of Fear that if he should render those who had established him in the Throne his Enemies he should certainly sink under the Power and the Justice of their Arms And this Fear was much too predominant for all the other Passions with which this Traytor endeavoured to possess and fortifie his Soul But as there is nothing so proper to beget in low and debased Minds Presumption Ingratitude Oblivion of good Offices and take off even the fear of Vengeance as Prosperity which many times by a strange kind of Injustice makes Men seek for the Opportunities of defeating those to whom they owe it and quitting the Score of Obligations by the Payment of Injuries so did it happen to Alexis For so soon as he was returned from the Thracian Expedition which was so much to his Glory and Advantage Murtzuphle presently fell to his old Trade of buzzing into his Ears That he had now nothing further to fear That he was as absolute Master of the Empire as he could wish That now he might easily quit himself of this handful of Latins who had only been strong because the Greeks were weak with their own Intestine Divisions That under the specious name of Protectors they covered the most cruel Tyranny over himself and Subjects by insisting upon the performance of those shameful Conditions and insupportable Articles which making Advantage of his Fortune they had extorted from him And in short by his Sollicitations he so prevailed upon the young Emperor elated by his little Prosperity that he brought him to the Resolution of shaking off the Yoke as he called it which he had imposed upon his own Neck and to endeavour to destroy those who had saved him The Princes quickly perceived by his Carriage wholly differing from what it used to be that there was a manifest Change but in a short time they plainly discovered that besides the Intention which he had to perform nothing of what he had promised he also sought all Opportunities of destroying them by some suddain Surprise and therefore they resolved to oblige him to deal clearly with them and either to give them just Satisfaction or to declare War Whereupon they sent six Deputies three French and three Venetians who received their Audience of the Emperors in the Palace of Blaquerness where Conon de Bethune who spoke for them all addressed himself to the young Emperor with whom only they had treated and spoke to him in a manner extreamly bold and Majestick in these Terms My Lord We come hither in behalf of the Princes and Lords of the Crusade both French and Venetians to let you understand that after the great and signal Services which all the World knows we have rendred to you they have it in extream Admiration that you should do nothing for their Satisfaction according to the Treaty which you your self have sworn to perform and which the Emperor your Father hath also ratified They have often required of you the performance of those Stipulations and we do here this day in their Names peremptorily require you for the last time to be at last Master of your Word and presently to accomplish the Articles of your Treaty without longer abusing of their Patience If you do you shall do only what you are obliged to do which is the only Satisfaction they expect from you But if you refuse we are from them to declare to you that they will do themselves Justice by the same Arms which have been so auspicious to you and that from hence forward they will esteem you their Enemy and declare War against you which they were resolved not to begin till they had given you this solemn Defiance according to the Custom of their Country which does not allow them to steal a Victory by surprizing their Enemies but which they resolve to gain nobly by defying you to the Combat This my Lord is what we have in Commission to say to you We have I think sufficiently explained our Intentions it remains on your part immediately to give your Resolution and to let us know which part you chuse whether Peace or War year 1203 This Declaration so frank and generous and delivered with a noble Fierceness being what was very uncustomary in the Greek Empire immediately raised a fearful Tumult in the Hall where all began to exclaim that this was an insufferable Violation of the Majesty of the Emperors to talk with so much Confidence and Insolence and to desie them even upon the Throne was an Attempt which since the Foundation of the Empire never any Person before had the Presumption to execute Above all the young Emperor was the loudest and foaming with Madness and Choler broke out into most outrageous Language Insomuch that they who before had declared themselves most highly in favour of the Latins now appeared the most heated and violent against them In the mean time whilst the Debate was hot what Measures were to be taken and that nothing was to be heard but the fearful and confused Cries of People who were all Speakers the Deputies seeing there was no Conclusion in probability to be expected but rather some Indignities and Outrages to their Persons they gently descended from the Hall and presently mounting on Horseback returned to the Camp and now nothing was thought on by either side but the ensuing War It was immediately begun by little Skirmishes between the Greeks and Latins wherein the last always carried the Advantage But the Greeks believing that the main of their Success depended upon destroying the Venetian Fleet and that if they could effect that it was impossible for the Confederates to subsist long but that they should have them in a little time at their Discretion they therefore resolved to attempt the siring of the Navy as they lay at Anchor in the Gulph They therefore took seventeen great Vessels of a long Built which the Greeks call Chelandies which they were accustomed to make use of for Fire-Ships These they filled with Faggots and all sorts of Combustible Materials and especially with Barrels of Rosin Pitch and Grease to put to them their Greek Fire or Wild-Fire when the time should serve This Wild-Fire was called Greek Fire by reason that the Greeks were the first that made use of it It was invented about the seventh Century by an Engineer of Heliopolis in Syria whose name was Callinicus who made such admirable use of it in the famous Battle which the Admirals of the Navy of the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus fought against the Sarasins near Cizicum upon the Hellespont that he burnt their whole Fleet and thirty thousand Men which were aboard it in the midst of the Sea for it was the
the Bulla of this Crusade and the Pope's Letters which exhorted the Crusades to follow him so that he sound a great many who either to please the Pope or that they thought this Enterprise less difficult and dangerous than that of the Holy Land presently joyned with him and among others Peter de Dreux Duke of Bretagne who promised to assist him with twelve thousand men This gave so great a displeasure to the King of Navarr the Duke of Burgundy the Counts of Bar Vendosme and Montfort who had before devoted themselves for the Holy Land and who thought very hard that one Crusade should be ruined or at least extremely weakned by another that they complained thereof to the Pope himself and in a manner reproached him with Levity and this Change which they said was most prejudicial to the principal Enterprise the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre of Jesus Christ But Gregory made them answer that being at least as zealously interested as they in the Affairs of the Holy Land he also understood himself better than they could inform him and was in the Opinion that it was impossible ever to chase the Infidels out of Palestine unless the Conquest of Constantinople was first well assured and that now it was in danger to fall under the Power of the Schismatical Greeks and therefore he conjured them to joyn with Baldwin remonstrating to them that this was to labour most efficaciously for the End by applying themselves to the means which was so absolutely necessary for the attainment of it year 1238 The Princes nevertheless would not suffer themselves to be perswaded but remained firm in their first Resolution Even the Breton himself Peter de Dreux who had promised the Pope to serve for Constantinople wheeled off again and chose rather to joyn himself to the King of Navarr so that by this Accident there being a great Division among the Minds of men some following Baldwin others the King of Navarr it fell out that in the place of one great Crusade which might have proved successful either in Greece or Palestine there were two very indifferent ones which had in neither place the good Fortune which was to be hoped and desired This was the first Division which hurt the Army of the Crusades but that which happened presently after between the Pope and the Emperor was much more fatal to them and had like to have ruined all The Island of Sardinia as well as several other Estates had been now for a long time held as Fiefs from the Holy See and Gregory had sent thither one Roland one of his Chaplains to receive the Homages and Reserved Rents and to take possession of some Lands about Cagliari Frederick who notwithstanding all the Intreaties and Remonstrances of the Pope who had sufficient cause to be afraid of his Power was now come from Germany into Lombardy with an Army of one hundred thousand men and having gained a great Victory over the Milaneses and reduced the greatest part of the Confederate Cities under his Obedience he believed himself to be in a condition to make himself Master of what ever he pretended appertained to him as being dismembred from the Body of the Empire And thereupon those of the Principality of the Tour which now is called Sassari having given it to him after the Death of their Lord Vbald he sent thither his natural Son Henry who was usually called Entius who presently seised upon the whole Isle which his Father erected for him into the title of a Feudatory Kingdom to be held of the Empire year 1239 The Pope who was in Possession of the Sovereignty of this Isle strangely surprized at this procedure complained bitterly of it and demanded reparation But Frederick was so far from giving him Satisfaction that he seized upon other Lands of a Bishop of Sardinia which the Magistrates had adjudged as Demesnes to the new King and withal he made it be answered to the Pope for good and all that Sardinia had been usurped from the Emperors and before those Usurpations had always belonged to the Empire and that for his own particular it was well enough known that as he was Emperor he had sworn that he would do all that lay in his Power to reunite to the Body of the Empire whatsoever had been dismembred from it and that he was fully resolved most exactly to acquit himself of his Duty in this particular Hereupon the Pope seeing that he remained immoveable in that Resolution solemnly excommunicated him upon Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday for invading the Patrimony of the Church and such other Causes as are comprized in the Decretal which he pronounced himself and which he sent to all Christian Kings Princes and Prelates with orders for them to publish it by the Sound of Bells prohibiting all the Emperor's Subjects to obey him and all the Ecclesiasticks from celebrating the Divine Offices in the Cities or Castles wherever he should be It is said also that having declared that he was fallen from the Imperial Title and Dignity he offered the Crown to St. Lewis for his Brother Robert Count d' Artois but that for very good reasons that pious King rejected the Offer and this is most certain that by a most discreet Policy he would never concern himself in this difference nor be persuaded to change the Conduct and Maximes of his Government by taking Arms against the Emperor although he was extremely sollicited to do so by the Pope as in the following year the King gave the Emperor an account by his Letters The War between the Pope and the Emperor began by the Writings the Letters and the Manifests which both the one and the other dipersed abroad in which were contained the Accusations and the Answers which they made which may be seen at their full length in Matthew Paris after which the Emperor Frederick having a potent Army whilest the Pope sent to all places to demand the Assistance of the Princes and Republicks caused his Son Entius to enter into the Marquisate of Ancona whilest he himself taking the Right Hand marched over Tuscany where the greatest part of the Cities and even Viterbum receiving him and declaring against the Pope he advanced directly towards Rome not doubting but that he had such a Party there as would upon his Appearance open the Gates of that City to him But Gregory who in the extreme danger wherein he found himself destitute of all humane Succours had recourse to God by a great Procession from the Church of the Lateran to that of St. Peter in which he did so movingly harangue the Romans holding between his Arms the Venerable heads of the Apostles protesting with Sighs and Tears that he was not in any sort able to protect them without the Assistance of the People of Rome who were their Protectors that they cried out with an incredible Ardour that they would all perish in the defence of them Hereupon the Pope who was resolved to make his advantage
according to the differing Prospects which his Interest gives him in which he finds himself ingaged in what he writes year 1245 So that in making use of this Author who hath very good things I have endeavoured to make a just difference betwixt what he writes as himself and those authentick Pieces which he produceth which give great insight into the true History such as are the Relations sent by those who had a share in the Affairs then transacted the Letters of the Popes and Princes as also those of the Emperor which contain what I have now related and which the continuator of Baronius hath inserted into his Annals printed at Rome where the Reader may find this and much more to the same purpose that I have recounted But Frederick did not satisfie himself with Writings but pushing on his Sentiments to all things which his Vindicative Nature and his Anger furiously inflamed could transport him there was nothing which he did not attempt or which he did not put in Execution to revenge himself of the Pope persecuting and ruining his Relations banishing and dispoiling them of all their Estates as he did all the Priests and Bishops who refused to celebrate the Divine Offices in those places where he was constraining all the Ecclesiasticks to pay the third part of their Revenues to maintain the War against the Pope Making use of Fire and Sword and all those Violent Ways by himself and his Gibelins against all those who were of the Pope's Party So that the Pope was obliged in his own defence against such a Potent Enemy to cause a Crusade to be preached by his Cordeliers against him and his Sons who on their side acted with as much Violence and Ardour as their Father Thus the Succours designed for Constaminople against Vatacus the Greek Emperor and those for Hungary against the Tartars were frustrated and the Troubles of Germany and Italy which insued upon the Condemnation of Frederick and the Crusade which was published against that Prince were so many diversions which weakned the Principal Crusade in such a manner that notwithstanding that it was resolved in the Council against the Sarasins Of all the Kings of Europe there was none except St. Lewis who with the French only undertook the Holy War he having taken upon him the Cross even before the Council of Lyons For as in the Year before after his return from the War of Poitu where he had so gloriously vanquished the Earl of Marche and the English at the Battle of Tailebourg he fell sick in the Month of December and by the Violence of the Distemper he was reduced to that Extremity that he was believed to be dead remaining without pulse and without Sense for one whole day insomuch that they were consulting of his Funerals when suddainly comming as it were out of an Ecstasie and blessing God who had drawn him from the Gates of Death and looking upon the Standers by he made choice among all the Bishops who where assembled in his Chamber of the Bishop of Paris who was at that time the famous William d' Avergne whom his learned Writings and the eminent Sanctity of his life have rendred so much celebrated He presently called him to him and desired him to fasten a Cross to his Right Shoulder as a mark of the immoveable Resolution which he had taken after the example of his Grandfather Philip the August and his great Grandfather Lewis the young to undertake the Holy War for the deliverance of the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ and he spoke to him in a manner so resolute either because in that Extremity wherein he was he had made a Vow to take upon him the Cross if it should please God to deliver him or else as an ancient Writer assures us that during this long Swoon which Nanges calls an Ecstasy he had a Vision in which he thought he saw the Christian Army vanquish by the Sarasins as it was before Gaza and heard a Voice from Heaven which said to him King of France Go and revenge this irreparable Loss Let it be how it will it is certain that notwithstanding the Prayers and the Tears of the two Queens his Mother and his Wife who conjured him upon their Knees to deferr the taking of such a Resolution till he was in a better condition he protested that he would neither take any nourishment nor Medicin till such time as he had received the Cross Insomuch that in conclusion the Bishop of Paris all in Tears fastned the Cross upon him whilest the Queens the Princes his Bothers and all those who were present began afresh to weep as if he had again been at the point of death but he on the contrary with a pleasant Countenance and a perfect assurance notwithstanding his extreme weakness year 1245 protested that God would restore him to his health for the accomplishment of his Vow And in short in a little time he recovered and whilest he staid till the condition of his Affairs would permit him to pass the Sea with a powerful Army he continually sent great Succours of men and money into Palestine with many Knights of the Temple and Hospital to encourage the Christians of Syria to defend themselves vigourously against the Forces of Egypt in Expectation of his comming in person to their assistance Hereupon Pope Innocent in Execution of the Decree of the Council of Lyons touching the Crusades sent Cardinal Eudes of Castle Roax Bishop of Tusculum his Legate into France to publish it in that Realm The King received him at Paris with all kind of magnificence and to give the greater weight to the Publication of the Crusade he called to meet in the Month of October in the Octaves of St. Dennis a great assembly of the Princes Prelates and Barons where he spoke so powerfully to animate them to the Holy War taking upon him the Office of a Preacher after the Legate that the greatest part of the Assembly following his example took upon them the Cross The most Illustrious and signal among them were the three Princes the Brothers of the King Alphonsus Count de Poitiers Robert Count d' Artois and Charles Count d' Anjou The Princesses their Ladies imitating the example of the Queen who resolved to go along with the King also took upon them the Cross So much Piety and Courage so much love had they for these three brave Princes their Husbands that they would also pertake with them the pains and the dangers of this War leaving to them all the Glory to which their Sex would not permit them to pretend Also Hugh Duke of Burgundy Peter Duke of Bretany William Earl of Flanders Hugh de Chastillon Count de St. Paul and Gautier de Chastillon his Nephew Hugh de Lusignan Earl of March and his Son Hugh the Brown followed them together with the Counts de Dreux de Bar de Soissons de Blois de Retel de Montfort and de Vendosme The Lords John de Beajeu
Constable of France John de Beaumont Admiral and great Chamberlain of France Philip de Courtenay Guion de Flanders Archambald de Bourbon the Younger Raoul de Couci John de Barres Gaubert and John de Apremont Giles de Mailli Robert de Bethune of Arras Oliver de Termes and Simon Count de Sarbruc and Lord de Comerci Companion in Arms with the famous Seneschal de Champagne John Sire de Joinville so celebrated for the gallant Actions which he performed in this Voyage for seven years and for the History which he writ of the great Actions of St. Lewis and for the extraordinary Esteem in which he was to this great Prince for one of the most Wise and most Valiant Knights of his time insomuch that he thought him worthy to be honoured with being his particular Confident There were also many great Prelates who resolved to be of this Crusade as Jubellus de Mathfellons Arch-Bishop of Rheims the Holy Man Philip Berruier Arch-Bishop of Bourges most Illustrious by his Vertues by his Doctrine and by his Miracles Robert de Cressonsart Bishop of Beauvais Garnier Bishop of Laon William de Bussy Bishop of Orleance and lastly the Cardinal Legate whom the Pope had designed not only to publish the Crusade in France as he did in many Provinces but also to accompany the King in this War It was with this magnificent and fair train of Lords of the Crusade that Lewis accompanied with the Queen Blanch his Mother came about the end of November to the Famous Abby of Cluny where the Pope who was arrived there from Lyons met him with twelve Cardinals the Patriarch of Constantinople and a great number of Prelates to conferr with the King where in Person he celebrated the Mass in his Pontificalibus upon St. Andrew's day It is said that this Famous Abby was then of so great extent and had so many appartments that the Pope the King the Queen the Cardinals the Princes Prelates and Lords were all lodged most commodiously there with their Domesticks without giving any disturbance to the Religious or obliging them to quit their Chambers or any places in the Monastry which were designed either for their Service or for the performance of their Functions The Pope the King and Queen Blanch were there for seven days in continual secret Conferences which as it was believed were principally to treat of a Reconciliation year 1245 between the Emperor and the Pope lest that unhappy difference might either retard or weaken the effect of this Crusade but all came to nothing although this did not hinder King Lewis who was equally Wise and Religious and who would not enter further into that Affair than became him from living perfectly well with the Pope and yet without breaking with Frederick who at the same time did what lay in his Power to preserve himself in Amity with the King And truely not contenting himself only to have writ in his own defence as he did to other Kings presently after the Council of Lyons he sent to him the year following the famous Peter de Vignes his Councellour and William d' Ocre one of the principal Ministers with Letters addressed to all the French by which after having complained of the Enterprises which he pretended the Pope's abusing their Power made upon the temporal Rights both of Princes and private Persons in many differing ways which he exposed he protested that provided this abuse were reformed he was ready to submit to the Judgment of the King and his Barons all the differences which were betwixt him and the Pope and moreover provided that either the Lombards were obliged to give him that Obedience which was due to him or in case of their refusal that whilest he endeavoured to compel them to it the Pope should not support them in their Rebellion he promised to go to the Conquest of the Holy Land either by himself or with the King of the Romans or to send thither the King his Son as King Lewis should judge to be most convenient and not to give over the Enterprise until the Christians were put into possession of the whole Realm of Jerusalem And if this Peace could not be had upon these reasonable Conditions yet he offered the King to furnish him with Provisions for his whole Army with shipping and all the Assistances which he could wish from him either by Sea or Land And to make it appear that he would perform what he had promised he writ to all his Officers in the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily giving them Orders to furnish the King liberally at the price Currant during the whole time of the War in the East with Arms Horses Victual and all manner of Provisions forbidding all manner of Persons to hinder the transportation of them upon any pretext whatsoever These Letters which were sealed with the Golden Bulla of Frederick and dated in the Months of Sptember and November in the year 1246 year 1246 are kept in the Kings Treasury at Chartres and are inserted at large in the learned observations of Monsieur du Cange upon the History of St. Lewis written by the sire Joinville And certainly it must be said that this Prince did not make only vain and Verbal Offers of his Service either to amuse the King or to acquit himself of a pure piece of Civility without any other effects For he gave such orders in all his Ports and especially in Sicily for the transporting of Wines Corn and all kind of refreshments into the Isle of Cyprus where the King erected his Magazins that the Army found there a prodigious abundance of all things necessary for their subsistence so that the King held himself mightily obliged to this Prince and the Queen Mother writ to him Letters full of acknowledgments testifying her real sense of his kindness by magnificent presents which she sent him adding that which without doubt was most agreable to him by confessing that all France was obliged to him for the Conservation of the Kings whole Army In the meanâ—htime St. Lewis who owed the first of his Care to his Dominions made no great haste of his departure by reason that he was resolved first to finish what remained to be done before he engaged in so long and dangerous a Voyage And indeed it must be said that such persons as speak not very favourably of this expedition of St. Lewis either are no great Politicians or else most unreasonable and unjust For it is impossible that there could be taken a more favourable Conjuncture more just Measures or more safe Precautions than those which he took upon this occasion to make an Enterprise of this nature successful to the Honour of France without running any manifest hazard an Enterprise wherein in those times the greatest Princes of the World thought the greatest of their Glory did consist For all his Kingdom injoyed a profound Peace after the glorious Victories which this Prince who was one of the most valiant and wisest that ever
Horseback Thus heroically died this brave Lord in the eight and twentieth year of his Age sacrificing so great a Life worthy of a much better destiny with so much Courage for the safety of the whole Army which nevertheless he could not save by his glorious Death For this Obstacle being removed the Sarasins pursued their Victory so eagerly that they came up even to the Person of the King whom the Faithful and Valiant Geoffrey de Sergines covered with his Body and with his Sword in his hand made those stand further off who had the considence to approach him But in conclusion all that they could do whilest they did to no purpose perform the bravest Actions in the World was to Conduct the King into Kasel and it being impossible there to defend him against the whole Army of the Sarasins which had already inclosed the rest of the Troops and the Life of the King being in great danger who was reduced to that condition by his Sickness that he seemed to be in the last extremity a Herauld either of his own accord or by order having Proclaimed that they should lay down their Arms and not expose the Life of the King all yielded and submitted themselves to the discretion of these Barbarians who did not fail accordingly to make a most Barbarous use of their Victory For immediately without Mercy or Compassion they cut the throats of all the Sick and Wounded which they found in the Army and then having separated all the Persons of Quality the Captains and Officers from the private Souldiers and the Servants they did upon the spot cut of the heads of all the last who had the constancy to refuse renouncing of Jesus Christ making so many Martyrs as there were Christians thus brutishly Murdered As for the Persons of Quality who were Prisoners the Covetousness of the Infidels prevailing over their Cruelty they spared their Lives in hopes to draw from them considerable Sums of Money for their Ransoms but they treated them in their Imprisonment in a worse manner than the most unfortunate Slaves are wont to be used among Christians and that they might make them suffer in their Souls as well as Bodies they vented before them a thousand Blasphemies and committed a thousand outrages against the Cross thereby to dishonour that adorable God and Man who was Crucified upon it And that which was most surprizing in this Rencountre and which ought to serve the Christians with an excellent instruction which God was pleased to give them from the Mouth of one of these Barbarians which will one day confound them if they do not change their superstitious sentiments was That an old Sarasin Lord who by the richness of his habiliments and by the great train of Armed young Sarasins who accompanied him appeared to be a Person of the first quality among the Infidels coming into the Pavilion where most of the Lords were put gravely demanded of them by an Interpreter if they believed really that their God was made Man and that he had suffered Death for them upon the Cross and that he was raised from the Dead after three Days All the Lords who believed they should instantly be made Martyrs upon their frank confession of Jesus Christ answered with one Voice and without the least hesitation That this was their firm belief If it be so Messieurs replied the Wise Sarasin comfort your selves in your Affliction you have not yet suffered Death for your God as he hath done for you and since he had the Power to raïse himself again you ought also to believe that having had so much kindness for you and having so much Power he will very speedily deliver you out of your Captivity and Misfortunes And thereupon without saying any more he instantly withdrew And in truth he could not have said a greater thing For certainly it is all that can be said to Christians to give them the strongest and most solid consolation in the greatest of all adversities which may befal them in this Mortal State And this was it without doubt this admirable thought in which Lewis had been long confirmed and from whence this Holy King drew that incomparable constancy of Mind which made him appear greater in this Gulph of his Misfortunes into which he was plunged than ever he had appeared upon his Throne in France in the fairest day of his Triumphs after so many Victories as had laid all his Enemies under his Feet year 1250 The first thing which he did after he was come out of the long Swound into which his weakness and the pain of his Disease had thrown him and in which it was thought he would have expired was to ask of one of his Chaplains for the Book of his Prayers which he presently said for that day with the same Peace and Tranquility that by custom he had acquired as if he had been in his Oratory at Paris He praised God with all his Soul that he was found worthy to suffer for his sake and resolved that he would do nothing for his deliverance to the prejudice of his Honor or his Conscience or disadvantageous either to his Realm or to the Affairs of the Christians in the East It is true that at first the Sultan either that he was moved with Compassion for the miserable condition to which he saw so great a Prince reduced or rather that he feared to lose his Ransom treated the King with great Humanity and gave Order that he should be served with all manner of Care and Honor sending to him the most able of his Physicians who being acquainted with the Nature of the Malady with which he was afflicted in a few days put him into a condition quite out of danger But the Infidel soon returned to his own Natural Barbarity and seeing that the King constantly refused to surrender any of those places which the Christians held in Syria and in Palestine he suffered himself to be so brutishly transported as to threaten to put him to the Bernacles which was a kind of most cruel Torture which the Sarasins made use of to Torment their Enemies or their Criminals withal by dislocation of all their Bones But when he saw that this admirable Prince received all his Menaces with a generous disdain and without Emotion and that he remained fixed in his first Resolution he treated him more reasonably and caused it to be demanded of him whether besides Damiata he would give a Million of Bysances of Gold for his Ransom The Lord Joinville reduceth it in his History to five hundred thousand Livres which in my Opinion ought to be understood of so many Crowns in Gold for there is no manner of probability that a Bysance of Gold which was a considerable Price as appears in all Historians should be of no greater value than six pence of our Money To this the King answered instantly with a Marvellous greatness of Soul that he would give that Million for the Ransom of the Prisoners
Elmehec having been strangled in a Bath by his own Wise after he had reigned five years the Admirals who revenged his death by the Punishment of this Murderess of her Husband by common consent made choice of his Son Almansor who was within a year dethroned by one of his Emirs whom the rest placed upon the Throne and made him Sultan giving him the name of Melech Elvahet This new Sultan who was a great Captain searing that the Tartars after having conquered Palestine would come pouring into Egypt resolved to prevent them For this purpose therefore having drawn together all the Forces of Egypt he entred into Palestine and made an Alliance with the Christians of the Country against their Common Enemies and after he had for three days refreshed his Army about Ptolemais he marched directly against the Tartars who ravaged Galilee and upon the third of October gave them Battle in the Plain of Tiberias where he cut the greatest part of them in pieces and routed the rest and slew their General Cathogoba upon the place and having thus delivered himself from this formidable Enemy he returned covered with Glory and loaden with Spoils into Egypt But a while after one of his principal Emirs whose name was Bondogar or Bendocdar who continually importuned him to turn his Victorious Arms against the Christians seeing that contrary to the Custom of these Barbarians he would not violate the Faith which he had given them he most barbarously murdered him and caused himself to be chosen Sultan by the Mamalukes who infinitely esteemed him for his Courage And in truth as he was the most brave the most able and Politick so he was also the most wicked persidious and most cruel of all these Barbarians For to the end that he might reign in safety he put to death all that he could find of the race of the former Sultans and in a little time fourscore of the Admirals also fell under diverse Pretexts as Sacrifices to his Jeasousie being in reality guilty of no other Crime but the fear of the Tyrant who believing that they were as wicked as himself was under the continual apprehensions whilst they were living that they should treat him one day in the same cruel manner as he had done his Predecessor and by this procedure he rendred himself so terrible to all his Subjects that no person durst so much as adventure to make a Visit to an acquaintance or to talk with a particular Friend lest it might raise a Jealousie in the Sultan which did not fail to be followed by the death of him against whom it was conceived But as for any thing else he had whatever was requisite to make him a Conqueror for he was Bold undertaking fearless cunning vigilant sober chast not permitting his Souldiers either Wine or Women which he said weakned both there Bodies and their Minds and took away from them all the Vigour of Warriours and above all he had Fortune for his Reward and a constant Success when ever he acted by himself Such a Person was Bendocdar who had not slain his Predecessor but because he refused to make War against the Christians against whom consequently he did not fail presently to lead the Victorious Army which had defeated the Tartars year 1261 This was most fatal to the Christians of the Holy Land For the Infidels having at first defeated the Troops of the Lords of Baruth and Giblet with those of Ptolemais year 1262 and the Templers who were got together to oppose this Enemy who surprized them he wasted and ruined all the Country as far as to Antioch after which he came and presented himself with thirty thousand Horse before Ptolemais year 1263 ruined the Suburbs and came up to the very Gates of the City not a man daring to Sally out to oppose him he ruined the Church and Monastry of Bethlehem year 1264 took Cesarea by Treason the City and Castle of Assur by a long Seige and the impregnable Fortress of Sephet by composition But the Persidious Infidel basely broke his Articles year 1265 for he put to Death the Governour and the whole Garrison which consisted in six hundred Men because that having given them one Nights time to resolve whether they would save their Lives by turning Mahometans they were so incouraged by the Fathers James of Pavia year 1266 and Jeremy of Geneva two fervently Religious of the Order of St. Francis and by the Prior of the Temple that the next Day they all unanimously chose to lose their Heads which were accordingly taken from them to receive the Glorious Crown of Martyrdom As for the two Cordeliers and the generous Prior of the Temple who had so well animated the others to suffer for the sake of Christ they also received the Palms of Victory but after a manner more Glorious than the rest For the Tyrant furiously incensed against them for having snatched the Prey out of his hands and robbed him of what he thought to have made the Glory of his Victory was so filled with Rage and Madness against them that he caused them to be roasted alive and cruelly beaten with Cudgels whilest they were in this dreadful manner exposed to the Flames and afterwards causing them to be dragged to the place where the others were beheaded he caused their Heads also to be cut off there But he had the amazing displeasure to see that God did Honor to his Martyrs by a Heavenly Light which he himself with all his Sarasins saw shining every Night about their Bodies insomuch that he was obliged for the hiding of their Glory and his own Infamy to inclose the place with a mighty high Wall to hinder the sight of this wonder so confounding to his and so honourable to the Christian Religion year 1267 But he still pursuing the Torrent of his Conquests which found nothing that was able to stop their impetuous Course took the City and Castle of Jaffa by treachery a little after the Death of Count John for he never durst attempt it so long as that Noble Earl lived He also made himself Master of the Fortress of Beaufort and the most part of the places which appertained to the Templers And after having ravaged all the plain Country about Acre Tyre and Sidon and burnt the Suburbs of Tripolis he turned once again short upon Antioch year 1268 He found that great City so unprovided of all manner of necessaries to sustain a Siege by reason of the absence of Prince Conrade Cousin of Conradin to whose assistance he was gone into Italy that he took it without resistance slew there seventeen thousand Men and carried above a hundred thousand into Captivity Thus this City so illustrious that it was sometimes called the Eye of the East in regard of its admirable Beauty and which the first Crusades were not able to take but with a nine Months Siege which a thousand Heroick Actions which were there done have rendred so Famous in History was taken in a
met with them in their Return to Egypt year 1124 William de Bures Lord of Tiberias Succeeded in the Regency to Eustace who died some few days after his Victory and he knew so well how to make good Use of it that taking this Occasion to Besiege the City of Tyre by Land with his Army and by Sea with the Venetian Fleet he became Master of the Place before the Sultan of Egypt was in a Condition to Relieve it by a new Fleet. The Earl Josselin also Escaping out of Prison had gotten into Antioch and Fought so successfully with his little Army year 1125 during the Siege against the same Balac who had taken him Prisoner that the Barbarian lost both the Battle and his Life whereby the King also recovered his Liberty paying his Ransom to the Princess the Widdow of Balac The Deliverance of the King was succeeded by other happy Successes He overthrew in Battle Borsequin another potent Turkish Prince who had entred in Arms into the Principality of Antioch He Defeated the Egyptians and Ascalonites who were ready to make an Irruption into his Kingdom and had very great Advantages over Dodequin the Sultan of Damascus whom he went to Attaque in the very Heart of his Dominions He took the strong Place of Raphana near to Arcas for the Earl of Tripolis and by his Actions made it appear to the whole World that he was as a most Virtuous Prince so also a very great Captain year 1126 He put the whole Principality of Antioch into the Hands of the Young Bohemond whom he also made his Son-in-Law giving him in Marriage the Princess Alice his second Daughter for he had before given his Eldest Daughter the Princess Melisentha to Fowk Earl of Anjou to whom he gave the two Cities of Tyre and Ptolemais he being also in right of his Lady to Succeed him in the Realm of Jerusalem But his good Fortune was not constant to him till his Death for having Besieged Damascus with a Puissant Army where were joyned with him the Earls of Edessa and Tripolis the Prince of Antioch and Fowk Earl of Anjou he was obliged for want of Provisions and by the Incommodiousness of the Season to raise his Siege and not long after his Son-in-Law the young Bohemon being Surprized by the Turks was Slain in Cilicia After which having given the necessary Orders for Securing the Principality of Antioch to the Princess Constantia the Daughter of Bohemond whom her own Mother would most unnaturally have Excluded from that Right he died most Religiously at Jerusalem year 1131 in the third Year of his Reign and was Interred at the Foot of Mount Calvary near the two Kings his Predecessors and his Cousins Earl Fowk who Succeeded him did also Inherit his Virtues and above all his Integrity and high Generosity For after having Defended the Principality of Antioch against the Designs of his Sister-in-Law the Princess Dowager of young Bohemond and against a mighty Army of the Turks whom he cut in pieces near Antioch he gave the Principality thereof to Raymond the Son of the Earl of Poitiers giving him in Marriage the young Princess Constantia the Daughter of Bohemond the lawful Heiress of those Territories He also maintained him in it against all the Forces of John the Constantinopolitan Emperor who made two fruitless Expeditions with huge Armies for the re-gaining of Antioch year 1131 which he pretended appertained to him of Right by the Treaty which his Father Alexis had Concluded with the Princes of the first Crusade when they passed by Constantinople into Asia He gloriously preserved both his own Kingdom and the States of Christian Princes his Neighbours against all the Forces of Sanguin Sultan of Alepo the most potent among all the Infidel Princes against whom he entred into Confederacy with the Sultan of Damascus He took from the Turks the City of Paneas or Cesarea Philippi otherwise in Ancient times called Dan near the two Heads from whence arises the River Jordan he re-built and fortified Beersheba at the other Extremity of his Kingdom as it was in the times of the Ancient Kings and as it is frequently said in the Holy Scripture he extended his Dominion from Dan to Beersheba But some time after he happened to have an unfortunate Fall from his Horse year 1142 as he was Hunting the Hare in the Plain of Ptolemais of which he died in the eleventh Year of his Reign leaving for his Successor his eldest Son Baldwin of the Age of three Years under the Regency of his Mother Queen Melesintha and it was in the time of this young King that the second Crusade was Published upon the Occasion which I am now going to relate It was about eleven Years after that Josselin de Courtenay Earl of Edessa dying had left for his Successor a Son of his own Name but one who did neither resemble his Father in Virtue nor in Courage as too plainly appeared by the Dishonorable beginning of the Son and the glorious ending of the Father That valiant Prince who was retired half dead and almost crushed in Pieces by the Ruins of a Fortress which he had Attacqued near Alepo lay Languishing in his Bed expecting every Moment his approaching Death when News was brought him that the Sultan of Iconium thinking to take the Advantage of his Malady had laid Siege to one of his Towns called Croisson At this News he gave order to the young Josselin who was now arrived at the Age fit to Command to go instantly with what Troops he could draw together about Edessa to oppose the Enemy But the Cowardly Youth far from laying hold upon such an Opportunity to gain Glory and Reputation by a Victory which should shew that he Merited that Crown which by Birthright and the expected Death of his Father was shortly to devolve upon him coldly answered his Father That he did not think it consisted with his Prudence to offer to Encounter an Enemy so much Superior to him in Strength and Numbers whereupon the Generous old Prince seeing to what an unworthy Successor he was about to leave so fair a Principality was resolved once more to shew him even as he was dying by his Example what his Honor obliged him to do in Defence thereof and therefore having instantly Assembled his Troops he caused himself to be carried at the Head of them in a Horse-Litter being only able to act with his Noble Mind which still retained all its Vigor and Force in despite of the extream Weakness and Languishment to which his bruised Body was reduced as he Marched in this Condition still Advancing towards the Enemy Word was brought him that the Sultan having been Informed that he who he thought Dead was coming against him with a Resolution to give him Battle had raised his Siege and was Retreated into his own Territories Whereupon the brave Earl ravished with Joy at the same time that he felt himself most cruelly Oppressed with his Pains and the Approaches
all Persons might mortgage their Inheritances or their Benefices for three Years during which time the Creditors should peaceably enjoy them whatever happened to the Owners That all unlawful Games of Chance all Swearing Blasphemy and Disorders should be severely punished To which were also added very admirable Orders for the Regulation of Excess in Apparel in the Tables and the Retinues of the Crusades and above all that except some old Landresses there should no Women be suffered to go along with the Army as had been permitted in the former Crusades and which had occasioned great Disorders These Ordinances were received and solemnly published in both the Kingdoms where an infinite number of People enrolled themselves for the Cross some out of Zeal and true Devotion others to be exempted from the Tax which though it was consented to by the Bishops in the Parliament of Paris which was held this Year about Mid-Lent yet there were some Ecclesiasticks who declared themselves against it tartly enough Among the rest Peter de Blois one of the most knowing Men of his Age writ against it to Henry de Dreux Bishop of Orleans the King's Nephew in very hard Terms pressing him to oppose this Ordinance of the King which he said was a Breach of the Liberties and Privileges of the Ecclesiasticks from whom he pretended no other Aids ever were or ought to be exacted besides their Suffrages and Prayers But this Advice of this Archdeacon of Bath in England though otherwise an able Man prevailed nothing upon the Bishops of France whom he something too liberally accused of following too gentle and easie a Conduct For they as well as the Bishops of England with great Justice and Reason as well as Piety believed that such a part of the Goods of the Church might very lawfully be employed upon such an holy Occasion for the Deliverance of the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ and so many poor Christian Slaves and in a manner all the Oriental Churches from the Oppression and Tyranny of the Infidels See now how Zeal when it is a little over-heated easily becomes so false and foolish as to blind Men to that degree that they are not able to see that for good Sense which common Reason alone without other Theology discovers so plainly to the whole World Thus then all things were disposed for a happy Beginning to this Crusade if the Division which in a little time after broke out again between the two Kings had not turned those Arms against Christians which they had before prepared to fight against the Sarasins Among other Articles which were agreed upon at this famous Conference in the Field of Gisors it was ordained That all Matters in difference on one part and the other should remain in the same Estate wherein they stood before and that no one should enterprize any thing against his Neighbour till such time as the Holy War were determined In this time Richard Duke of Guienne and Earl of Poitiers to the prejudice of a Treaty so solemnly made concluded and ratified renewing the ancient Quarrel betwixt him and Count Raymond of Tholouse threw himself suddenly into that Count's Territories and presently took from him Cahors and Moissack Philip in mighty Indignation for this Action and moved with the Complaints of the Count who came to implore his Succour as his Soveraign immediately made a powerful Diversion in the Provinces of the English where he took Castle-Roux Busencais Argemon Levroux Montrichard and all the places which the English at that time possessed in Avergne and Berry Henry on his part did not fail to make haste to his Son's Assistance who went to joyn him in Normandy year 1188 Philip also marched thither with his Victorious Army where he obtained great Advantages against the English till at length a Conference for Peace was held near Bonmoulin at which the Earls of Flanders and Champaigne with divers other Princes continually importuned the King to conclude protesting to him that otherwise they would desert him for that they were resolved to accomplish their Vow in going to the Holy War There never was any Conference managed with greater Dexterity and Policy than this was by King Philip For knowing perfectly the Humour and the Interests of the King of England and his Son he only demanded that the Princess Alice his Sister whom the late King his Father had designed to be married to Richard and who was kept in Custody by Henry should be put into the hands of her intended Husband since they were now both of Age and that Richard should be declared joynt King of England with his Father as the deceased Prince Henry had been who had married Margaret the eldest Sister of the Princess Alice Henry against whom the Prince his eldest Son supported by the French had formerly made a most cruel War fearing lest Richard who was no less ambitious than his Brother should create him the same trouble or possibly having his Soul pre-possessed with another Passion less excusable but more strong than either Fear or Policy would by no means agree to these two Articles So that this Conference produced no other Effects but only a Truce of a few Months during the Winter and that which Philip had foreseen did not fail to happen to his advantage as well as according to his Expectation for Richard who was of a Temper extream ambitious and turbulent was so exasperated with this Denyal that he instantly abandoned his Father and passed into the Party and Interests of Philip did him Homage for all the Lands which he held in France and promised him an inviolable Fidelity and to serve him against all Persons whatsoever even his own Father as he did And indeed as soon as the short Truce which had been made came to be expired which it did the next Spring the King with all his Forces joyned with those of Richard who had drawn to his Party besides the Gascons and Poitenins his Vassals many Angevins and Bretons marched against Henry who lay with a very few Troops at Saumur But the Cardinal d' Anaigne the Pope's Legate who succeeded in the place of the Cardinal d'Albano who was dead not long before negotiated so happily with the two Kings that they promised to meet in Whitsun-Week near Ferte-Benard and there amicably to treat before him and the Archbishops of Reims Bourges Rean and Canterbury who were to decide all their Differences Whereupon these Prelates instantly pronounced an Anathema against all those of what Quality soever except the Persons of the two Kings who should any way go about to obstruct the Conclusion of a Peace so necessary to all Christendom and without which the Crusade would become wholly ineffectual The Kings and Richard Duke of Guienne and Earl of Poitiers accompanied with all the Great Men of both Realms being come to the place designed for the Conference Philip demanded as before That his Sister the Princess Alice who was affianced to Duke Richard should be delivered to