had made War against the Holy See ought to be humbled employed all his pontifical Authority to maintain Otho against Philip so that this unhappy Division disturbed the whole West and in consequence ruined all the Hopes of the Christians in the East For so soon as the Princes of the Crusade who were in Palestine received an Account of this News although after the Defeat of the Sarasins before Jaffa they were upon the point of turning their victorious Arms against Jerusalem they instantly changed that Resolution and by common Consent agreed to return into Germany without any Delay although the Pope writ to them in most pressing Terms conjuring them not to abandon the Holy Land to the Infidels but the particular Luterest which every one of them had in one Party or the other in the Affairs of Europe prevailed above that of Christ Jesus and re-established the Affairs of the Sarasins who failed not to make Advantage of their Absence and in a short time after their Departure to recover Jaffa and Baruth and all the other Places which they had taken Thus this Crusade which was composed wholly of the German Nation some few Italians only excepted served to no other Purpose but to manifest what hath in all Ages been too apparent and what we do too plainly know at this very day that the Mahometan Empire which hath robbed Christianity of the greatest part of the World had hardly grown to that prodigious and unweildy Bulk or even been able to subfist had it not been for those fatal Divisions which support and strengthen them by enfeebling the Christians and that all their Power would not be able to resist one of our Monarchs year 1198 had he nothing to fear either from the Ambition or the Jealousy of his Neighbours But to comfort Christendom for this Loss Providence raised up almost at the same time a new Pope to unite all Europe in another general Crusade one part whereof made it most evidently apparent that a few Christians well united and who have no occasion to distrust among themselves might easily make themselves Masters of the Capital City of the Ottoman Monarchy and consequently recover the Empire of the East This great Pope was Innocent the III. who by an unanimous Consent and which is not commonly known in the Conclave was chosen the same day that his Predecessor Celestin died being the 8th day of January and that which increased the Wonder was that he was the youngest of all the Cardinals having not yet seen more than thirty Years and although the more Antient had taken mighty Pains to make their Parties during the Indisposition of the deceased Pope yet the Succession fell upon one least expected This Pope was of noble Extraction being descended from the illustrious House of the Counts de Signie he was of just Proportion and very well made having an agreeable Aspect the Air of a great and generous Man he had a Spirit subtle and clear a prodigious Memory a most solid Judgment and a marvellous Vivacity joyned with an indefatigable Diligence which in a short time rendred him one of the most knowing Men that the Church ever had in all sort of Sciences both Divine and Humane all which he chiefly gained in the famous and learned University of Paris where he soon made himself be known and admired as the Honor and Ornament of the Age. And besides all this he had a Soul truly Great and Noble naturally inclined to all those Vertues which concur to the making one of the first Rank among Mankind and particularly great in the Church for he was extreme Zealous Vigilant and Active always upon his Guard for the Defence of the Catholick Faith and maintaining the Purity of its Principle which is the Word of God against the Attempts of Hereticks which he made appear in a manner which possibly will not be disagreeable to be known that so the Conduct of the Church at that time in Affairs of that Importance may be the better observed The Bishop of Metz a knowing Prelate and who carefully watched over his Flock writ to him That there ran about in his Diocess a French Version of the New Testament and of some Books of the Old very Dangerous and which occasioned great Disorders that those who favoured and supported them were Laicks and Women of whom the Number was very great and who were so besotted and blinded that with the greatest Obstinacy they held their Erronious Opinions and would by no means hearken to such as indeavoured to reduce them to their Reason And then he adds These People are arrived to those Degrees of Insolence as openly to deride their Pastors who go about to prohibit the Reading of those ill Translations pretending to prove the Lawfulness of them by the Holy Scriptures and that they impudently protested with an incredible Confidence that they would neither obey Bishop Archbishop nor the Pope himself though he should by a solemn Decree condemn this Translation which they were resolved never to forsake and that strangely despised and with the utmost Contempt treated all those as simple and Ignorant even the Priests as well as others who would not receive it as they did Innocent for the Remedy of this Disorder the dangerous Consequences whereof he plainly saw did not only Authorize what the Bishop of Metz had done against this Translation but also nominated certain Commissaries whom he associated with him to inform against the Authors and Favourers of this Disorder to cite them Canonically before their Tribunal and there to Correct and pass Sentence upon them without Appeal commanding these Commissaries with great Care and Diligence to put in Execution the Commands which they had received from the Holy See Because saith he in the Decretal Herein the Vniversal Church is deeply Concern'd and the Cause of the Catholick Faith lies at the Stake This wondrous Pope being such as I have described burning with a mighty Zeal for the good of the Christian Religion was no sooner setled in the Chair but he began seriously to think of establishing it in the City of Jerusalem where it took its first Original For this purpose he did all that possibly could be done by his Letters to stay the Princes of the German Crusade in Palestine But when he saw the Revolution which had happened in the Empire had recalled them all from thence year 1198 he endeavoured to make another general Crusade in Despight of the Devisions and Troubles which those of the Empire had raised throughout all Europe For this purpose therefore he dispatched his Legates to all places with most pressing Letters by which he exhorted the Kings the Princes the Prelates the Nobility and the People to take upon them the Cross according to their Power for the carrying on this Holy War and to excite the whole World by his Example and that of the Ecclesiasticks and above all the Sacred College he ordained that all the Clergy who possessed the Goods of the
the Service of their Prince and Country to mount by the same Steps of Conduct Bravery and Resolution to the top of Honour and Glory and possibly had young Alexander never read the Stories of Achilles in his own Language in the admirable Poem of Homer he had never obtained either the Conquest he did or the Immortal Surname of the Great but had confined his Ambition which afterwards one World could not suffice together with his Knowledge within the narrow limits of his Macedon And certainly as nothing can be more delightful to the Genius of a Soldier than the representation of great Actions Battles Sieges honourable Retreats admirable Stratagems and regular Conducts brave Performances and the happy Successes of the Ancient Hero's so nothing can be more pleasant in the time of Peace or more serviceable to them in the time of War than History which so long as it is vailed under such Languages as are strangers to them is like Treasure in the Mine for which no man is the Richer or the better Nor is it of less advantage to the States-man who will there find those admirable Maxims and Instructions of which he may most successfully serve himself to his own Honour and the advantage of those by whom he is imployed We in England who have many Persons who are in some degree or other to be imployed in the Administration of Publick Affairs such as are Justices of the Peace especially in Corporations and Burroughs and such as serve for the Representatives of those Places in the lower House of Parliament have reason to endeavour by all means to give them the opportunities of improving their Vnderstandings in such ways and measures as they are capable of and as will make them capable of discharging those Trusts to their own Reputation the satisfaction of the King and the advantage of their Country For though many times it happens that the Gentlemen of the Long Robe and others who have opportunities of Learning fill those Charges yet it is not intailed upon them and very frequently Persons to whom it is no disparagement that they are not Scholars their Education having been to Trades and Mysteries necessary for the publick good of the Community are chosen to those Offices and Trusts Now where men act in any publick Capacity especially in our Parliaments whose good or ill Conduct never fails to have a like influence upon the whole Nation it is of great advantage to have them in some measure acquainted with what is their own Interest and that of those whom they represent There is nothing that gives them a better or clearer Prospect in this matter than the Histories of former Ages both in their own and Foreign Countries by which they will be informed of the great necessity of their Duty in Order to their own Happiness There they will see how happy those Princes and People have been who have had the good Fortune to live in good Vnderstanding one with the other and what fatal and dreadful Revolutions have happened upon Discords and Disunions and because men are not apt to flatter the Ashes of the Dead we see impartially the Defects and Failings of past Ages we discover the Secret Springs of those Disorders which Popular Ambitious or Revengeful men have made use of in Councils to raise Seditions and Rebellions against their Sovereigns which whilst they lived some would not others durst not discover and which they themselves do always most studiously indeavour to conceal And these Remarks in History are like Light Houses Buoys and Beacons to Posterity to shew them a dangerous Shoar and to give them notice to stand aloof and where they observe the same Practices to fear the same Intentions and avoid the like Mischiefs and Dangers And herein as I cannot but applaud the Ingenuity and Industry of the French Nation so I cannot but judge their procedure in this particular worthy of our Notice We are reputed in the World very fond of imitating those People even to ridiculous extravagancy in Modes Habits and Dresses of the Body and it were not amiss if we could be perswaded to follow their Examples and Fashion in cultivating and adorning of our Minds It is the general and known observation that as that Language within this fifty Years hath extended it felf farther than in five hundred before so the French are most extraordinarily improved in all manner of Knowledge and Learning which may be of Publick Vse and Advantage Nor can this be attributed to any other Cause but the industrious care and diligence of the Learned and Ingenious Persons of that Nation who have with indefatigable application indeavoured to bring all the Learning of the World into their own Country by making all the Writings of the Greeks Latins Italians and several other Nations who have been Famous in any sort Denizens of France and â—aching them to speak some hundred Years since their Death a Language to which they were Strangers whilest they lived Learning is the glorious Light of the Vniverse a Light which shews us not only how to guide our steps for the present and the future but leads us back into the darker times of Antiquity and like the Perpetual Lamps so much admired shews us the Beauties and the Lineaments of Dead Ages even in their Tombs and certainly they must be very envious who would deny the World this Light and confine these Perpetual Lamps of Light and Knowledge still within the Vrns and the Tombs of the Dead or bury them in Closets and Libraries where they appear to very few For my own particular I must declare my self against such a miserable Covetousness which impoverishes a great many without inriching the Misers who like Evil-Spirits sit watching that Treasure which they neither can make use of themselves nor will permit others to possess who would and I could wish that all manner of gentile and ingenuous Learning for I do not speak of that which is Sacred which ought not to be prostituted or made so cheap as to incourage idleness or detract from the Majesty of the Schools or of Theology were as common as the Air we breath or the Beams of that glorious Luminary which bestows his pleasing Influences upon all the World The Author of this History is the Ingenious Monsieur Maimbourg a Writer of great Fame and Integrity a Person of a solid Judgment and every way a good Historian and which I admire most in him notwithstanding his Education and Profession a man that hath the least of that foolish Bigotry which never fails to render any Profession of Religion ridiculous He is a great Assertor of the Liberties of the Gallican Church and the Prerogatives of Princes against the pretended Supremacy of Popes and the Vsurpations of those who stile themselves the Successors of St. Peter upon the Temporal Power of Princes and to me it is a mighty wonder to find a Romanist and a Jesuit speak so freely and so plain and I doubt not did
not he as well as many others of that Religion labour under the hard prepossessions of Education and the disadvantages of prejudice but they might be easily induced to throw off the Manacles which Innovation hath laid upon them and be perswaded to see how much the Church of England hath done towards restoring the Catholick Religion to its Primitive Antiquity by disburthening it of the foolish Principles and superstitious Practices with which succeeding Ages have with more Zeal than Prudence overloaden Religion But this is not any part of my present Province all that I have to say is to recommend this Historical Collection to the Reader who if he will but first please with a favourable Pen to correct the following Errors of the Press which by reason of my distance from it was not in my power to remedy he will I hope receive the same pleasure and possibly more advantage in reading it than I have done in taking care to present it to him THE Authors Epistle TO THE FRENCH KING To the King SIR THE Great Men whom I have the Honor to present to your Majesty are the Hero's of these Famous Crusades who have seven several times armed all Europe for the Conquest of the Holy Land And possibly it may not be displeasing to your Majesty to see the most valiant Princes of their times and above all the Princes of your August Consanguinity whom the Glory which they have acquired by a thousand Gallant Actions hath rendred Immortal It is true that their Arms have not had all that happy Success which they seemed to promise and that those of so many Barbarous Nations who united against them have at last remained Victorious But Sir after that which all the Earth hath seen with astonishment in this last Champaign one may say That there hath not been for this four hundred years and upwards above one single Hero who is to be found in the Person of your Majesty who hath been able to atchieve so great and Glorious an enterprise and to triumph so gloriously over so many Enemies And in truth all the Forces of the Emperor the King of Spain the greatest part of the Circles of the Empire and all those of the Hollanders both by Sea and Land are something more formidable than those of the Egyptians the Arabians the Persians and the Turks and nevertheless your Majesty Commanding either your self in Person or causing your Orders to be executed by your Lieutenants hath vanquished and dissipated them all you only without the assistance of your Allies who seemed as if they had taken Arms only to be with more Pomp and Ceremony the spectators of your Victories This Wonder Sir is the most surprizing effect of a consummated Prudence and an Heroick Courage accompanied with a Fortune always invincible which may justly acquire you the most Glorious Surnames of your Predecessors which your Majesty hath long since Merited by the Conquests of the preceding Campaigns and by so many Royal Actions as have in all things rendred the incomparable greatness of your Soul most eminently conspicuous to the whole Earth After this can it be doubted but that if Lewis the Great had reigned in the Ages of these Crusades or if the Age of the Crusades had been retarded till the Raign of Lewis the Great we should have seen at this Day the Empire of Jesus Christ re-established in the Holy Land without having any need of the other Christian Princes to mingle their Arms with his otherwise than to celebrate his Triumphs As for my self who have been always obliged to your Majesty by an inviolable Tye both of my Duty and my Choice and who have the Honour to be particularly your Creature by the effects of your Royal Bounty I am confident to say that I should make more noise than all the rest in such an agreeable Concert I hope also that I shall give some proofs to posterity that I have the Idea of your Majesty so imprinted in my Heart and Soul that I shall always borrow some Lines from it whether it be in the painting of my Hero's who can never appear so great as when they come to be observed to have the good Fortune to resemble your Majesty or in recounting their admirable Actions in such places as they seem to imitate though much short of them the Greatness of yours This Testimony Sir of my Zeal for your Majestie 's Glory is no more than Truth for so great a King and tho' possibly it may be too little for so good a Master yet since in the condition wherein the Divine Providence hath placed me it is all that I can do to let the whole World understand with how much Ardor Submission and Veneration I am SIR Your Majestie 's most Humble most Obedient and most Faithful Servant and Subject Lewis Maimbourg An Advertisement of the Author 's to the Reader AFTER what I have said to the Reader in my Advertisements to the History of Arianism and that of the Iconoclasts I have not much to add but only to inform him that having drawn from the ancient Authors French Italians Germans and English almost all that I have written in this History I have not believed that I was obliged to cite the Modern Historians who have said something of these Crusades and who doubtless have drawn them from the same Fountains which I have done I have done the same thing in all my other Histories as where I recount the admirable Actions of St. Athanasius St. Basil St. Gregory Nazianzen St. John Chrysostome and several other Famous Saints I have not produced for my Vouchers Simeon Metaphrastes Lipomannus Surius Ribadeneira or the other Writers or Collectors who have given us the Lives of the Saints and much less the new Legend makers For in those places where we agree it is not of them that I have made use but of the Ancients from whom they have borrowed what they have Written as well as I and in other places where I am obliged to contradict them as I am perswaded that they are mistaken I could not speak of them but to refute their Errors But that being neither agreeable to my Humor nor to my Duty in the Quality of an Historian and which would render me rather a Critick than an Historian I have not troubled my self or the Reader with what I believe is not by ingenious Persons expected from me A Second Advertisement WHAT I have to add to my first Advertisement is only for the satisfaction of those who possibly may imagine that the Portraicts and Characters which are to be seen in my Histories are rather like those of Romances the Designs of a Luxuriant Fancy than of a Modest Truth or at least that like Paintings they are done with the utmost advantage and not without Flattery But it will not be very difficult for me to destroy an Imagination so little conformable to reason and I have nothing to do but to desire the Reader to remove his
he arose from the Sepulchre who coming towards him and softly jogging him said Arise Peter and immediately go about the Charge Imposed on thee I will be ever with thee It is high time that the Sanctity of these places Consecrated by my Presence should cease to be profaned and that I should deliver my People from the Cruel Servitude under which they have for so many Ages groaned The Hermite presently thereupon awaking felt or at least believed he felt upon his Soul the Effects of an Impression far different from what Common Dreams are wont to leave upon the Mind and therefore doubted not but Jesus Christ had thus appeared to him to give him an immediate Commission from his own Mouth This Belief which did so firmly Establish it self in his Soul would permit him no longer to doubt the Truth of it was such a new Confirmation of the Truth of the Heavenly Vision year 1093 that adding new Fire to his Flame it produced in his Heart the Courage of a Hero insomuch that he believed there was nothing able to resist his Enterprise So that without delaying a moment having received the Benediction of the Patriarch he went to imbarque upon the first Merchants Ship which he should meet which in a few days he did and happily arrived at the Port of Bari from whence he proceeded to the Court of the Pope The Pope then being was Vrban the Second a Frenchman by Nation of the Diocess of Rheims who after he had with great applause and for the advantage of the Church managed his Legation into Germany was created Cardinal of Ostia and Six Years after he was chosen Pope at Terracina whither the Sacred Colledge was retired whilst Guibert the Anti-Pope assisted by the Arms of the Schismatique Emperor Henry the Fourth possessed the City of Rome but Germany and Italy declaring against the Emperor and the Anti-Pope being forced to retire to Verona where Henry had shut himself up Vrban who was unwilling to imploy Force which he could have done to re-enter Rome returned thither peaceably and was received by the City although the Schismatiques kept still the Castle of St. Angelo Here it was that the Hermite addressed himself to the Pope and having delivered to him the Letters of the Patriarch of Jerusalem he gave him a full account of his Commission He had all the Success he could hope or desire to find from this Pope in whose Soul he found all the Inclination he could wish to favour so fair an Enterprise For this Pope Vrban who had not only a great Mind but a large Fond of Piety and Religion but had also been the great Confident of Gregory the Seventh year 1074 and that Pope about twenty years before had laid a Design for the Uniting of all the Christian Kingdoms in a Holy War against the Infidels who having ravaged all Asia were advanced within sight of the Walls of Constantinople which they also threatned to attack He was resolved himself in Person to march at the Head of the Christians of whom above fifty thousand had listed themselves and were ready to march under his Conduct but the jealousie which he had of the ill Designs of the Emperor who refused to joyn with him in this Sacred Expedition obliged him to break those Measures and to apply himself to the defence of the Church which was in Extream Hazzard of being oppressed by the Avarice and Violence of that Prince But Vrban who had as much Courage and better Fortune than Gregory the Obstacle of the Schism being now removed resolved strongly to undertake an Enterprise so illustrious so advantagious to the Glory of God so necessary to the good of all Christendom and which would render his name venerable and his Pontificate Memorable to all Posterity He therefore gave the Hermite a favourable Reception and granted him long Audiences the better to inform himself of the Exact Posture of the Eastern Affairs and the Forces of the Turks and Sarasens which he was to oppose And as he quickly discovered the great Qualities of this little man whose Appearance made yet smaller promises perceiving also his Address good Sense and the Conduct he had to manage this great Affair together with the Courage and Resolution with which he Espoused the Design he was not long before he determined to make use of him alone for the carrying on what ever was necessary for the Design till it was fit for him publickly to appear in it And therefore sending for the Hermit he opened his very heart to him in such terms as made it evident that he had as violent a Passion for the deliverance of Jerusalem from the Infidels as the Patriarch himself who had imployed him in that Negotiation He promised him that he would imploy all the Interest he had in Heaven and Earth his Forces his Revenue his Reputation and all his Pontifical Authority to form a Holy League of all the Western Princes to oppose the Infidels who so cruelly tyrannized over the Christians in the East But withal he informed him that before he proceeded any further it was convenient that he who had begun this great Affair should endeavour to dispose the Minds of the People in all the Countries both on this and the other side of the Alpes by publishing to them those things which he had with so much Zeal and Passion related to him There are few Examples to be produced comparable to this which makes it appear how one single Person was able to move the whole Earth by his Constancy Conduct and Resolution in pursuing a Holy Enterprise which he had formed with so much Generosity Zeal and Courage and whether it were the Extream Passion which the Hermit had to see the Design succeed and prosper that rendred his Arguments perswasive beyond the Power of his own Genius though Naturally Eloquent or whether the Splendor of so grat a Design dazled his Fears and transported his Mind with a Passion for such a Novelty as carried all the Charms of Honorable and Excellent or rather that God who had chosen this Instrument to manifest his Power and his Glory acted by him more Efficaciously upon the Hearts of men which are in his Hands to dispose of as he pleaseth most certain it is that never any single and so inconsiderable a Cause produced such suddain surprizing and wonderful Effects for in less than one Year in which the Hermit by the Popes Command applyed himself to this Affair he travelled over the greatest part of Europe treated in particular with most of the Princes year 1094 and preached publickly in all places where he came insomuch that he inflamed all mens Hearts with such a desire to have a share in the Glory of redeeming the Holy Land that both Princes and People embraced the Design with an Equal Ardor testifying a mighty impatience for the happy moment which should consummate this Holy League wherein they were to be ingaged in this Religious War Ibid. The Pope
receiving Information from this wondrous man whom he had sent to be his Harbenger that all things were thus happily disposed according to his most ardent wishes believed that now was the time for him to act his part and declare himself the Head of the Enterprize and to make use of that general Ardor to unite so many several Nations in the same Mind by Vertue of the Bond of his Pontifical Authority And for this purpose he chose those Methods which he judged most proper and proportionate to the Importance of an Affair of this Nature and the Sovereign Majesty of the Pontificate in calling two famous Councils particularly to deliberate upon this Affair however he made use of other publick Allegations which were sufficient to give a colourable reason for those great assemblies particularly the deplorable Schisms which had for so long time rent the Church and introduced so many horrible abuses which stood need of Redress and the power of the evil Party being much abated principally in Lombardy where the Schismaticks had committed the greatest disorders seemed to expect it Vrban took this occasion to summon the Council of Placentia that so the Church might triumph over her Enemies in the same place where they had exercised their most insolent Tyrannies During which time he was extreamly sollicited by Lyes from Alexis Comnenius the Greek Emperor to procure for him powerful Succours to assist him against the Turks and Sarasens who made continual Inroads even as far as the City of Constantinople The Pope believed that an Ambassage from this Prince Appearing to this great Assembly would extreamly advance his Design by giving him a fair occasion to excite the Christians to take up Arms and by this means insensibly to engage them in this Holy War which was the most probable way to empeach the Progress of the Infidels who by pushing on their Conquests seemed even to menace the Western Empire he therefore advertized that Emperor that it would conduce much to the advantage of his Interest to send his Ambassadors to Placentia where the Council was to be held in the beginning of March in the Year 1095. and where the Pope to take the advantage of so fair an opportunity was present with one of the first in order to preside over the Council in Person There never was a more numerous Assembly in the Church than appeared at this Council the Church beginning now to enjoy that Liberty which the Emperors had endeavoured by Arms to deprive her of the Confluence from all places was incredible of such as desired to partake of the Glory or to have the pleasure to contribute in any sort to this triumph of the Church For it is certain that from all the Provinces of Italy France and Germany there came to this Assembly above four Thousand Ecclesiasticks and more than thirty Thousand Laicks all of them possessed with an Extream Passion to know what would be the Event of this Council Insomuch that the Pope to satisfie the General and Ardent Expectation of so great an Assembly during the Sevenâ—â— Sessions of that Council would have the first and third of them kept in the open Field therein imitating the Example of Jesus Christ who taught the Multitudes that followed him in the vast and capacious plains and deserts It was in one of these Sessions that the Ambassadors of Alexis received their Audience There it was that they declared to the Assembly in the most moving manner imaginable the extream Danger which the piteous Remains of the Eastern Empire were in to fall under the prevailing Arms of the mortal Enemies of the Christian Name unless the People of the West would undertake by a potent and present Succour to rescue their distressed Brethren from that inevitable Ruine Vrban who was determined to advance his own Design by this Embassage seconded these Desires of the Ambassadors with a Discourse so perswasive that addressing himself to that innumerable Multitude of all sorts of People who encircled the Council before the end of the Sessions the greatest part of those who were able to hear him obliged themselves by a solemn Oath to serve Christendom in this pressing Necessity And the Heat passing from one to another and spreading it self from Rank to Rank one might in an instant hear from all parts of that vast Assembly an agreeable Confusion composed of the Exclamations of an infinite number of Persons who unanimously by their Voice and Gestures protested that they were resolved to have their share in the Glory of an Enterprise where Death it self would be as Valuable and Advantagious as Victory by bestowing even upon the Vanquished a Crown of Martyrdom Such a Power hath Religion upon the Minds of Men especially when it is accompanied as it was upon this Occasion with the exterior Ornaments of that August and Sacred Majesty which through the Sences surprizes the Soul and without which all other Impressions are feeble and languishing year 1095 The Pope ravished with Joy to see the Design which he had thus far so wisely conducted thrive so luckily exhorted the Assembly to remember their solemn Oath when the time should come wherein they were to accomplish it and reserving what he had further to declare upon this Subject he closed this with four other Sessions He thundred out an Anathema against the remainder of the Schismaticks There was condemned the Heresie of Berengarius and that of the new Nicholaitans who favoured the Incontinence of the Ecclesiasticks There the Abuses which had slipt into the Church during the Schisme were reformed and particularly that abominable Simony which in that time had been frequent in the Church And to take away all Pretences which for the future might shelter that execrable Commerce of Merchandizing sacred Things it was expresly prohibited to take Money for Baptism or Burials of the Dead under which false Colours Avarice had found such plausible Reasons to shelter and disguise herself For those reverend Fathers were perswaded that it was altogether contrary to the Liberty of the Children of God and even to common Humanity to charge a Rate upon Christians either entring into that Religion or going out of the World year 1095 The Council being thus terminated with all the Success which the Pope could have expected he employed the Spring and part of the Summer in regulating the Affairs and Interests of the Church in Lombardy according to the Decrees of the Council Afterwards in the end of July he Imbarqued and coasting the River of Genoa and the Shoar of Provence he went to keep the Feast of the Assumption of our Lady at Pavia in Velay where he convoked the Council of Clermont in Avergne to meet in the Octaves of St. Martin Thither came from the Provinces of France Spain and Italy fourteen Archbishops two hundred twenty five Bishops above eighty Abbots with an infinite number of Doctors and other Ecclesiasticks who assisted at that Assembly over which the Pope presided in Person accompanied with a
was so great that the ordinary sort of Provision being spent the Christians were reduced to the most deplorable Extremities that are upon Record in any History either Sacred or Profain Insomuch that many did every Night desert and ran away to the Enemies or climbing over the Rocks indeavoured to get to the Ships which lay in the Port St. Simeon as did among others of the first Quality Alberic and his Brother William de Grandmenil who had Married the Sister of Bohemond the Vicount de Melun that famous William the Carpenter who thought that Famine was a sufficient Dispensation for the Oath which he had taken to desert no more The Earl of Blois feigning himself Sick was gone two days before the Town was taken and joyning himself with them they all together went to the Camp of Alexis who was coming or at least pretended so to joyn the Crusades and there they made all appear so desperate to cover their own ignomimous Cowardice that that treacherous Prince who was before resolved to do nothing was overjoyed to meet with so fair a Pretence to alter his Course and march back again to Constantinople In short Matters went so very far that the Soldiers half mad with Despair abandoned all sort of Care of their own Defence so that Prince Bohemond who Commanded in the Town was forced to set Fire to their Houses to force them out and put them upon Action Things being reduced to this deplorable Extremity it is strange what Power Religion hath upon the Spirits of Men and how in a Moment it will raise them after once it becomes Master by the power of a strong Perswasion for two Priests one called Stephen the other Peter Bartholomew both of Marseilles presented themselves before the Princes to acquit themselves of a Commission which they assured them they had received from Heaven The first said That at his Prayers he had seen Jesus Christ who after he had complained of the Ingratitude and horrible Crimes of the Crusades being in the end inclined by the Intreaties of his Mother he was come to him and commanded him to let them know that if they would for the future amend and turn from their vicious Ways he would send them Succour within five Days The second affirmed That St. Andrew had shewed him within the Church of St. Peter the Place where they might find the Iron of the Spear that pierced the Side of our Lord and that he had assured him that this Holy Iron should be a certain Pledge of the approaching Deliverance of the Crusades provided they repented of their Sins and both the one and the other offered themselves to the Flames to confirm the Truth of what they had declared The Bishop of Pavia who was a Person of a clear Insight did not believe these kind of Visions which he knew were generally the Effects of Forgery or Illusion but nevertheless that he might not seem to neglect any thing that might be true and which however might be of some Service to them he obliged the Priests to Swear upon the Holy Evangelists that what they said was true being unwilling to have Recourse to those other Proofs which had nothing in them of the Spirit of the Church and not thinking it agreeable to Religion by such Methods to tempt Providence After which going to the Place which the Priest directed they there found the top of a Spear so that the whole Army was so perswaded of the Truth of these Visions and that Relique that no body durst presume to make any Doubt of it However the Belief did not last always for some eight or nine Months after as they were at the Siege of a certain Town where they had recourse to this Relique which was most curiously preserved by Count Raymond a Priest who was the Domestick Chaplain of the Duke of Normandy and a knowing Man maintained publickly that it was a Counterfeit that the true Spear had been long ago carried to Constantinople and that the Provencals had put this in the Place where it was found only on purpose to please their Earl Upon which the whole Army was divided the Priest of Marseilles constantly maintaining that he was ready to prove the Truth of his Revelation by passing the Trial of the Fire which in Conclusion the Bishops permitted him to do After a Fast of three Days therefore a great Fire was made year 1098 upon which they bestowed a Solemn Benediction after which the Provencal taking the Iron of the Spear in his Hand passed excepting his Shirt quite Naked through it but for all the hast that he could make over that huge Pile in the sight of the Army who were scarce able to indure the Heat at a Distance the poor Priest who was a silly Man and credulous of his Revelation did not find the Success answer his Expectation It is true he came out from the midst of the Flames but so Roasted without and Scorched within by the Vapor of the Fire which he sucked in with his Breath that within twelve days he died in most exquisite Torments So that there was no longer that Reverence given to this Iron as was before although Count Raymond would by no means be perswaded to abate of his Devotion towards this Relique which for all this he would not believe to be False not thinking this Accident of the Priest which went something too high was a sufficient Argument to prove the Falsity of the Vision For God he said was not obliged to confirm by Miracles what he was pleased to reveal to Men. But however the Belief which was so firm while they were at Antioch that this was the real Spear which was Consecrated by the Blood of Christ Jesus found a most admirable Effect upon the Spirits of the whole Army who not doubting now in the least of the Protection of God and a most assured Victory most eagerly demanded to be led to the Combat The Princes who thought it very convenient to make use of this Heat sent Peter the Hermite with an Interpreter to Corbagath to offer him the Combat either Man to Man between him and one of the Princes or himself and a certain number of chosen Soldiers of one side and the other or in short a general Battle that so they might quickly determine the Quarrel between them And in the mean time every one applied himself to the Work of Repentance and with fervent Prayers to implore the Heavenly Aid from God who had promised it upon those Conditions The Answer which Corbagath returned was in these haughty Terms That it was not for the Vanquished to prescribe Laws to the Victor That it could not be long before he should have them with Halters about their Necks and that it would be in his Power to determine their Destiny and by what kind of Death they were to Dye Peter having made his Report to the Princes they only acquainted the Soldiers that they must Fight and that therefore they should
delivered according to the Command of the Gospel he shook off the dust of his Feet against them and continued his preaching constantly to other Cities till such time as Pope Innocent being well imformed of the Vertue and the admirable Talent which this marvellous man had in preaching he appointed him by his Breve bearing Date November the fifth in the Year 1198 to publish the Crusade with all its Indulgences and prerogatives throughout all France Sometime after understanding that the Abbots of the Cistercian Order held their general Chapiter being accompanied with abundance of his Disciples he there solemnly took upon him the Cross as did also at the same time Garnier Bishop of Langress possibly to put himself into good Terms with the Pope who was not over well satisfied with him for his Conduct After which he made his Supplication to the Assembly that since there were met there so many Abbots famous for their Learning and their Vertue they would be pleased to appoint some one of their Number who might share with him in this glorious Employ for the Service of Jesus Christ and his Religion by assisting him in preaching the Crusade and accompanying him in this Holy Voyage But he could not meet with a Gratification in his Request it may be year 1199 because the Pope having already given Commission to some Abbots of the Cistercian Order to preach the Crusade in France Germany and Italy they did not judge it convenient to draw any more of their Abbots from their Charges to employ them in this Ministry So that Fouques departed from the Assembly and was scarce got out of the Gate of the Monastry where an Infinite Number of People were assembled upon the Report of the Arrival of this Holy Man but he began to preach up the Cross with so much fervency and Eloquence that all of them indifferently engaged themselves to take it upon them After which having made choice of one among his Disciples who was most capable to second him in this Exercise of preaching he travailed over almost all France where an infinite Number of Persons of all sorts and Conditions took upon them the Cross whilest Herloin a Monk of St. Dennis a very able and knowing man and well acquainted in the lower Bretanie did the same in all that Country and that those whom the Pope had commissioned to publish the Crusade in England proceeded there also with admirable Success For King Richard who ever since his return from the Holy Land wore the Cross as a mark of his Resolution to return thither made a most Magnisicent Entertainment at London where the greatest part of the Gentlemen who resorted thither to gain Honour in the Tilts and Tournaments which were held there engaged themselves after his Example to combat more nobly against the Sarasins for the Honour of Jesus Christ But whether this was done in reallity this Prince having an Intention to go once more to Palestine or that it was only in Appearance and to ingratiate himself with the Pope that so he might fix him to the Interests of his Nephew Otho and assure his Pretensions to the Empire is very uncertain but let it be which of them soever there presently after happened an Accident which put an end to his Intentions and Designs For having understood that the Poitouins were revolted from him he passed over with an Army so suddenly that by his only Presence he repressed the Rebels but though he knew how to overcome his Enemies yet he was not so happy in conquering his Passions and his Natural Temerity instigated by the Rebelious Vice of Covetousness brought this brave Prince to an untimely Grave when his Affairs were in the most flourishing and prosperous Condition For Vinomare Vicount of Limoges having found a mighty Treasure in some of his Lands offered him one half provided he might possess the other himself But King Richard who inordinately doated upon Money resolved to have it all alledging that the Treasure of right appertained to the Lord of the Fee and upon the Vicounts refusal he presently laid Siege to the Castle of Chalus where he imagined the Treasure was kept So soon as those of the Garrison saw their Prince in Person before the Place fearing to fall into his Hands they offered to surrender the place provided they might be permitted to march out of it honourably and with their Arms but this sierce Prince to discourage them commanded it to be signified to them that he did not use to capitulate with his Subjects that he was resolved to take the Place by Force and to hang every one of them who had dared to oppose him This terrible Menace reduced these poor people to Despair and that Despair begat in them a Courage and Resolution to defend themselves to the last Whereupon this Prince whose Heart was always a Stranger to fear coming to take a View of the place in order to attack it and approaching too near one Bertrand Gourdon a principal Officer of the Garrison knowing him took so true aim at him that he shot him out of a Cross-Bow with a barbed Arrow through the left hand and a little under his Shoulder the King inraged with the Wound caused the Place to be so furiously stormed night and day without Intermission that according to his Desire it was at last carried by Assault after which he caused all the Officers and Soldiers who defended it to be hanged Gourdon only excepted who had wounded him and whom after his recovery he resolved to put to death by the most cruel Punishments But it was in vain that he promised himself Health and Revenge For the Chirurgeon who when he attempted to draw out the Arrow left the Head behind being an unskilful Bungler made so many cruel and dangerous Incisions that the Wound Gangreen'd and the Cure became impossible year 1199 for in twelve days after he was hurt he died being in the forty second Year of his Age and the tenth of his Reign the sixth Day of April in the Year 1199. He died in the Arms of Gautier Archbishop of Roan with so many Sentiments and Marks of true Repentance as one shall rarely find greater among the most celebrated Saints So rigorously did he permit himself to be treated in those Extremities of his Life that by his Patience and Submission he might in some manner attone the Divine Justice by offering to God the Sacrifice of a Heart perfectly and truly humble and contrite and a Body mortified by the severe Pains which he endured besides those which he suffered by his Wound A little before his Death he caused Gourdon who had given him the mortal Wound to be brought into his Presence and calmly demanded of him Why he had endeavoured to take away his Life It is replied he siercely and very resolutely because thou hast slain my Father and my two Brothers because thou didst resalve by the ignominious Halter to take away my Life and because thou hast
great Estate and Interest who came along with the Marquis de Montferrat together with several other Abbots of his Party did what was possible to confute all the Reasons of the Abbot du Val de Sernay and endeavoured to persuade the whole Army that the only Means to make the Enterprise upon the Holy Land succeed was this of Constantinople and to close with the Conditions proposed by Alexis and the Ambassadors Whereupon before any thing was concluded the Cardinal of Capua one of the Legates at the Request of the Princes and the Confederates went immediately to consult the Pope who put the Matter under the Deliberation of the Sacred College at the same time when by an odd Adventure the Ambassadors of the Usurper Alexis Comnenius who came to justifie the Proceedings of their Master arrived at Rome year 1202 The Pope presently gave them Audience and they according to their Instructions and the Emperor's Letters remonstrated to him That Isaac having been lawfully deposed for his apparent Insufficiency the Empire could not by Right of Succession appertain to the young Alexis by reason that he was born before his Father was Emperor and that therefore of consequence it must necessarily belong to his Unkle Alexis Comnenius who was legally chosen Emperor That he therefore made it his Request to the Pope that he would not favour his Nephew who was supported in his unjust Pretences by Philip Duke of Suabia the declared Enemy of the Holy See as his Father and Grandfather had been who had raised so many Wars against the Popes his Predecessors And further they desired that he would prohibit the Crusades from going to attack Constantinople contrary to the Vow which they had made to endeavour the Conquest of the Holy Land And then following the Custom of the Greek Emperors who when they have any need of the Assistance of the Popes always promise the Re-union of the Church they made a thousand Protestations of the sincere Intentions of their Master and that he would cause that Obedience to be rendred to the Pope throughout the whole Eastern Empire which was due unto him But whether the Pope hoped for that Re-union from Comnenius who was in Possession of the Empire rather than from the young Alexis who was a banished despoiled Prince and that he apprehended that the Success of this War would not prove fortunate or that he could not upon this Occasion persuade himself to favour the Pretensions of Philip of Suabia whom he did not love and whose Competitor to the Empire he openly protected or whether it was the earnest desire which he had that the Expedition to the Holy Land should be more vigorously prosecuted which made him disapprove these kind of Diversions which were made of the Christian Arms against Christians it is certain that he received the Ambassadors of old Alexis very favourably acknowledging their Master as an Emperor And further He was so far from protecting the Prince as many of the Cardinals advised that he sent back the Legate to the Army of the Confederates with Letters by which he command them in most peremptory Terms to march immediately to the War against the Infidels for the Deliverance of the Holy Land and to give over the Enterprise of Constaminople as apparently contrary to their first Design But in this time the French Princes and the Venetians who were of another Opinion and believed this to be the readiest Way to obtain that End as also considering that the Pope had said nothing in his Letters to oppose that Reason they believed that he had been misinformed of their Intentions of making Constantinople the Way to Jerusalem And therefore notwithstanding his Letters they proceeded in the Treaty and at length finished it by accepting of the Conditions offered by the Ambassadors of Philip and the young Alexis they reciprocally engaging to establish him upon the Throne and in order thereto fifteen Days after Easter to march with the Army and Navy to his Assistance The Articles of which Treaty were on each side ratified by mutual Oaths and signed by the Doge Marquis Boniface the Counts of Flanders Blois and St. Paul and eight of the principal Lords of their Party which without Comparison was much the strongest The Division however still continued and was so far from being quieted by these Letters of the Pope that on the contrary it was more angmented by them and there being such a fair Colour for a Separation after this plain Declaration of a Soveraign Pope many thereupon took occasion to abandon the Army some to return into their Native Country which notwithstanding they never did but miserably perished either by Shipwracks upon the Sea or by Thieves and the Peasants at Land who fell upon them in their Passage and robbed them of all they had even to their very Lives Others left the Army to go directly into Palestine as did Simon and Guy Earls of Montfort with their Abbot du Val de Sernay who were followed by the three Brothers Enguerrand Robert and Hugh de Boves and all those whom they could draw along with them either by their Example their Persuasions or the Authority they had upon their Dependants The Abbot de la Trappe who from the Beginning fell in with that Party did not fail to follow it to the End and accompanied them to joyn in Pavia year 1202 with Renard Count de Dampierre with whom being passed into Syria he there soon learnt as well as his Companions by the unfortunate Success of that Voyage that it is always dangerous to joyn with those who under the pretext of Piety and Religion cause Divisions by separating from the main Body Thus the Christian Army remained much weakned by the Retreat of so many brave Men who had they been firmly united to their Head might have done considerable Services and avoided those Misfortunes which by their Separation fell upon them As for the Pope he took it so heinously that the Confederates had not obeyed his Orders and Advice that he commanded his two Legates the Cardinals of Capua and St. Praxede to withdraw from the Army and sent them express Order to sail to Cyprus and after into Syria there on his Behalf to negotiate with the Crusades who were gone from Hungary and had imbarked in the Ports of Italy and Marseilles The Princes notwithstanding this Defection pursued their Enterprise with more Courage and Resolution and they had the Comfort presently after to understand that the Pope as they had hoped being better informed had at last consented to their Design So that the Venetians after they had demolished Zara to prevent its Revolt for the future caused the whole Army consisting in about forty thousand Combatants to imbark immediately after Easter The Earls of Flanders Blois and St. Paul sailed first steering for the Isle of Corfu at that time belonging to the Eastern Empire where the whole Navy was appointed to rendezvous The Doge and the Marquis de Montferrat stayed
they could find Courage enough to oppose them and telling them it was the easiest matter in the World to surround them and take them alive and make them all Slaves this he spoak with so much assurance and protested that he would march at the head of those who had the Courage to follow him to a most undoubted Victory that a great many of the People and all the Soldiers resolved the next morning under his Conduct to attack the French in their Quarters But this Infamous Coward was so far from the Intention of executing what he pretended that retiring to the great palace as he said a little to repose himself he followed the Example of his usurping Predecessor old Alexis and in the night made his escape upon a Ship which he had caused to be made ready for him He took along with him the Empress Euphrosine Wife to Alexis and her Daughter the Princess Eudoxia of whom he was so desperately Amorous that he chose rather to lose his Honor and his Empire than to expose himself to the Danger of missing the Satisfaction of his Passion which cost what it would he was resolved to gratifie as he did by abandoning his Lawful Wife to espouse that foolish Princess So blind and Tyrannous is irregular Love in a Heart which yields it self up to its Usurpation where when once those Gross and Earthy Flames prevail they extinguish all the Lights of Reason and Vertue and even those more common Principles of good sense and Nature So soon as this Shameful Flight of Murtzuphle was known the People ran thundring to the Church of Sancta Sophia to make a new Emperor and in the Tumult Theodore Lascaris who was just returned to Constantinople was instantly chosen and compelled to take the Helm of this Ship of the Government which was now agitated by such a Furious Tempest But in a few Moments after this new Prince perceiving that this Ardor of the People began to slag and that instead of following him to oppose the Enemy every man began to think of saving one he also took the same Measures and before day made his Escape in the best manner that he could Upon this the whole City threw down their Arms and fell to their Prayers and Processions to implore the Mercy and Compassion of the Conquerors addressing themselves principally to the Marquis of Montferrat who was known among them and to whom the flattering Greeks already gave the Title of Emperor believing that he ought to be the man Thus by the most astonishing and prodigious Event which hath nothing comparable to it in all History the greatest City of the World the richest and according to the manner of those times the best fortified and defended by above four hundred thousand men was taken by Assault and peaceably possessed by the Confederates whose Army did not consist in above twenty thousand Combatants Which may inform the Christians That this very same City which at this day is neither so strong so well furnished nor peopled by far as it was then and upon the taking whereof the Conquest of the Eastern Empire would most certainly depend could never be able to resist one of those great Armies which their Divisions so fatal to the Interest of Christian Religion oblige them so often to bring into the Field for their mutual Destruction But this is an Evil which for a long time we have deplored and must still lament unless it shall please Almighty God in whose hands are the Hearts of Princes to give a firm and solid Peace among them and inspire the Heart of some generous Hero with Courage equal to this of these Brave French Princes who with so few Forces accomplished this glorious Enterprise which would not be so great an Impossibility even for their Descendants to undertake if they were in a Condition of Assurance from the Hatred the Ambition and the Jealousie of their Neighbours The Princes pleasingly surprized to find that they had nothing but Suppliants where they expected Enemies immediately with the Generosity which always accompanies true Valour year 1204 promised them their Lives their Honour their Liberty and one part of their Estates which they knew by the Laws of War all appertained to the Conquerors They therefore commanded them to retire into their Houses and then gave the Soldiers the Plunder of the City for that day but with strict Command to shed no blood and to preserve the Honor of the Women above all other things they also commanded that all the Spoils should be brought into Common Repositories to the End that a just Distribution might be made with Equality according to the Merit and Quality of every Person This being done the Marquis of Montferrat went to the great Palâ—ce of the Emperors where were the two Empresses Agnes the Sister of Philip the August the Widow of the two Emperors Alexis the Son of Manuel and Andronicus and Margaret the Widow of the Emperor Isaac and most of the Ladies of the first Quality who were retired thither The Marquis treated them with all imaginable Honor and Civility due to their Character and not long after married the Empress Margaret At the same time Prince Henry having presented himself before the Palace of Blaquerness whither the greatest part of the Nobility and men of Condition were retired they rendred themselves to him as Prisoners of War their Lives only saved There were found in these two Palaces most Inestimable Riches which the two Princes caused to be most carefully guarded from Spoil and Imbezlement As for the Soldiers who dispersed themselves all over the City as they pleased no man daring to resist them the Historian Nicetas who was present affirms that they committed all the most horrible Excesses that can be imagined by all sorts of Violence Cruelty Avarice Lust and Impiety not sparing so much as the Churches the Shrines the Images the Reliques the Holy Vessels the very Boxes where the consecrated Host was kept nor the most Sacred Mysteries of Religion but profaned them with a thousand such abominable Sacriledges as the very thought of them is sufficient to raise in devout Minds the greatest Horror and detestation but on the contrary those of our Historians who have with the greatest Exactness given us the Relation of all the Circumstances of the taking and plundring of Constantinople say nothing at all of this disorder although they were more likely to know the Truth than Nicetas who during the first Tumult together with the Patriarch John Camaterus saved himself with his Family at Selyvrea They only assure us that the Soldiers made there the greatest Booty in Gold Silver Vessels Pearls precious Stones Cloth of Gold Silks Rich Furs and in all sorts of precious Moveables that ever was made at the taking of any City since the Creation of the World as the Mareshal de Ville Hardouin after his manner ingeniously expresseth himself But to speak without Dissimulation I believe after the matter is throughly considered
formerly joyned to that great City and which had been demolished to be re-built with so much Expedition and Diligence that they had wholly finished it before the Army of the Sarasins could draw together to interrupt them in the Work The great Masters of the Temple and the Teutonick Order with a small number of Crusades under the Conduct of Gautier d' Avesnes remained between the City of Acre and Cesarea and there fortified an old Castle of the Pilgrims upon a Promontory which advanceth it self into the Sea near Mount Carmel and in the clearing of the Ruins found a Treasure which defrayed the Charges they were at in the repairing of it The Kings of Hungary and Cyprus with the greatest part of the Pilgrims and Earl Bohemond retired to Tripolis where a few days after the King of Cyprus died in the very Flower of his Age. And for the King of Hungary believing that he had accomplished his Vow he only staid till the Season was convenient to pass the Seas and then returned with his Men and all the Booty they had gotten into his own Kingdom where his Presence was become mighty necessary by reason of the dangerous Troubles which had been raised during his Absence and a deplorable Accident which happened to his House which is not at all relating to this History and that was the true Reason why nothing was able to prevail with him to make a longer Stay neither the Intreaties of the Patriarch nor the Excommunication which he thundred out against him and all such as should follow him into Europe But this Prince who doubted not but the too zealous Prelate had herein exceeded the Bounds of his Power gave himself no trouble for the severe Censure being satisfied that he had no Power or Jurisdiction over him and that no Power upon earth had any right over Kings in the Temporal Affairs of the Realms year 1218 with the Conduct whereof they are solely intrusted by God Almighty to whom alone they are obliged to give an Account of the Government of their Estates to which next to the Duty to God they owe their chief Care and their chief Diligence This Loss of the Assistance of two such considerable Kings accompanied with so many brave Men was quickly after repaired by another Re-inforcement which came very seasonably to begin the next Campaigne for almost at the same time that King John de Brienne Leopold Duke of Austria and the three great Masters of the Military Orders after they had sinished the Fortresses of Cesarea and the Pilgrims Castle were come to Ptolemais to deliberate upon what was to be done in the posture wherein their Affairs then stood they were agreeably surprized to see the greatest part of the Northern Fleet arrive for they had utterly despaired of it there having not been the least Account what was become of it since the time that it first put to Sea This great Fleet had weighed from the Mouth of the Mase the 29th Day of May and had happily passed the Coasts of England and France but they were a long time stayed by contrary Winds upon the Coast of Spain and after they had been bruised by a furious Tempest in which they lost several Ships upon the Coast of Portugal the rest of the Fleet which had been separated by the Storm had been with great difficulty at last met together about the middle of July in the River of Lisbon Now as the Earls of Holland and Wida who were gotten up to the Port of this great City had given Order to re-sit their Ships the Bishops of Lisbon and d' Evora the great Priors of the Temple and Hospital and the Commander of the Order of the Knights of St. James of the Sword or Palmela and many great Lords of the Realm came to wait upon them from Alphonsus II. King of Portugal to remonstrate to them That it was by a most particular Disposal of the Divine Providence for the Good of Portugal that the Tempest had thrown them upon the Port of Lisbon and that it shill continued to stay them there That thereby it appeared manifestly that God would make use of them to drive the Moors out of the Realm who having seized upon the Fortress of Alcazar held all the Country from Algarves to the Tagus in Subjection That before their Fleet could be repaired so as to be put into a Condition of going to Sea the Season for Navigation would be past And that if they should resolutely pursue their Voyage yet would it be ineffectual in regard that before they could arrive at Palestine it would be far advanced in the Year that they must pass the Winter there unprofuably That therefore it would be more advantageous and glorious for them to pass it in Portugal and lend them their Assistance to take Alcazar from the Sarasins which they conjured them to do by the Zeal which they had to Religion assuring them that this Enterprise of which they would give an Account to the Pope would be most pleasing to him and that thereby they should merit the Recompence of a Crusade The Earls having proposed this Affair to the Council of the Crusades there were many that opposed it protesting that they would immediately go to accomplish their Vow The Frisons above all appeared most determined in this Resolution and the Matter went so far that they separated from the Earls and parted with the first fair Wind the twenty sixth of July with above eighty Ships who were followed by some others of several Nations and tho the Weather for some time proved favourable to them they were constrained to Winter at Corneta at Gaieta and several other Ports of Italy But the Earls who after that Separation and those which had been lost during the Tempest had not above a hundred Ships believed that they could not more profitably serve Christendome than upon this Occasion resolved to undertake the Siege of Alcazar which accordingly therefore they undertook with the Portuguese in the beginning of the Month of August They first attempted to storm the Place but that Attempt not Succeeding in regard that the Garrison which was very strong defended themselves with abundance of Vigor they found themselves obliged to besiege it according to the regular Way by Sapping and Mining this they followed without making any great Progress till the ninth of September at which time a great Succor of four Moorish Kings of Andalusia appeared within a League of the Christian Army The Battle was not long deferred for the Christians year 1218 wonderfully encouraged by the Arrival of the Troops of the Templers who the Night before the Battle joyned the Army and much more by the Sight of the glorious Standard of the Cross which appeared in the Air as it were to give them not only the Signal of the Combat but an assured sign of Victory and Triumph went courageously against the Enemy although their numbers were incomparably greater than theirs The Battle began early