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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40537 ***
+
+  THE HISTORY OF CHIVALRY.
+
+
+  BY G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.,
+  AUTHOR OF "DE L'ORME," "DARNLEY," "RICHELIEU," ETC.
+
+
+  NEW YORK:
+  HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
+  82 CLIFF STREET.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+In writing the pages which follow this Preface, I have had to encounter
+the difficulty of compressing very extensive matter into an extremely
+limited space. As the subject was, in my eyes, a very interesting one, and
+every particular connected with it had often been food for thought and
+object of entertainment to myself, the task of curtailing was the more
+ungrateful: nor should I have undertaken it, had I not been convinced by
+my publisher that one volume would be as much as the public in general
+would be inclined to read. I wished to write upon Chivalry and the
+Crusades, because I fancied that in the hypotheses of many other authors I
+had discovered various errors and misstatements, which gave a false
+impression of both the institution and the enterprise; and I have
+endeavoured, in putting forth my own view of the subject, to advance no
+one point, however minute, which cannot be justified by indisputable
+authority. A favourite theory is too often, in historical writing like the
+bed of the ancient Greek; and facts are either stretched or lopped away to
+agree with it: but to ensure as much accuracy as possible, I have taken
+pains to mark in the margin of the pages the different writers on whose
+assertions my own statements are founded, with a corresponding figure, by
+which each particular may be referred to its authority.
+
+In regard to these authors themselves, it seems necessary here to give
+some information, that those persons who are inclined to inquire beyond
+the mere surface may know what credit is to be attached to each.
+
+On the first crusade we have a whole host of contemporary writers, many of
+whom were present at the events they describe. Besides these are several
+others, who, though they wrote at an after-period, took infinite pains to
+render their account as correct as possible. The authors I have
+principally cited for all the earlier facts of the Holy War are, William
+of Tyre, Albert of Aix, Fulcher of Chartres, Raimond of Agiles, Guibert of
+Nogent, Radulph of Caën, and Robert, surnamed the Monk.
+
+William of Tyre is, beyond all doubt, the most illustrious of the many
+historians who have written on the crusades. Born in Palestine, and though
+both educated for the church and raised step by step to its highest
+dignities, yet mingling continually in the political changes of the Holy
+Land--the preceptor of one of its kings--frequently employed in embassies
+to Europe, and ultimately Archbishop of Tyre and Chancellor of the kingdom
+of Jerusalem, William possessed the most extensive means of gathering
+materials for the great work he has left to posterity. He brought to his
+task, also, a powerful mind, as well as considerable discrimination; and
+was infinitely superior in education and every intellectual quality to the
+general chroniclers of his age. He was not born, however, at the time of
+the first crusade; and consequently, where he speaks of the events of
+that enterprise, we may look upon him as an historian, clear, talented,
+elegant, and not extremely credulous; but we must not expect to find the
+vivid identity of contemporaneous writing. In regard to the history of his
+own days he is invaluable, and in respect to that of the times which
+preceded them, his work is certainly superior, as a whole, to any thing
+that has since been written on the subject.
+
+A much more vivid and enthusiastic picture of the first crusade is to be
+found in Albert of Aix, from whom William of Tyre borrowed many of his
+details; but the Syrian Archbishop, living long after, saw the events he
+recounted as a whole, rejected much as false that Albert embraced as true,
+and softened the zealous fire which the passions and feelings of the
+moment had lighted up in the bosom of the other. Albert himself was not
+one of the crusaders; but living at the time, and conversing continually
+with those who returned from the Holy Land, he caught, to an extraordinary
+extent, the spirit of the enterprise, and has left behind him a brilliant
+transcript of all the passed-by dreams and long-extinguished enthusiasms
+of his day.
+
+Thus, as a painting of manners and customs, the _Chronicon
+Hierosolymitanum_ is one of the most valuable records we possess, and the
+account there given of Peter the Hermit and _Gautier sans avoir_ is in
+many points more full and comprehensive than any other.
+
+Fulcher of Chartres set out for the Holy Land with Stephen, Count of
+Blois, one of the first crusaders. He soon after became chaplain to
+Baldwin, the brother of Godfrey de Bouillon, and ended his days a canon of
+the Holy Sepulchre. His relation is useful in many respects, especially in
+regard to the march of the crusaders through Italy--the proceedings of
+Baldwin at Edessa, and the history of Jerusalem for several years after
+its conquest. His style, however, is tumid and circumlocutory, and his
+credulity equal to that of Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+Raimond d'Agiles accompanied the Count of Toulouse on the first crusade,
+in quality of chaplain. Superstitious to the most lamentable degree, and
+as bigoted in party politics as in religion, he wrote as he lived, like a
+weak and ignorant man. Nevertheless there is, in his account, much
+excellent information, detailed with simplicity; and very often, through
+the folly of the historian, we arrive at truths which his prejudices
+concealed from himself.
+
+Guibert of Nogent did not visit the Holy Land; but he lived during the
+first crusade, and, in common with all Europe, felt deeply interested in
+the fate of that expedition. He examined and noted with accuracy all the
+anecdotes which reached Europe, and painted, with great vivacity, scenes
+that he had not himself witnessed. In his account of the crusade many
+circumstances, evincing strongly the spirit of the age, are to be met with
+which do not appear elsewhere; and, as we have every reason to feel sure
+of his general accuracy, it is but fair to suppose that these are well
+founded.
+
+Radulph, or Raoul, of Caën, is inflated in style, and often inexact; but
+he is perhaps less superstitious than any other chronicler of the
+crusades. By poetical exaggeration, he often renders his narrative
+doubtful; yet, as the biographer of Tancred, he tends to elucidate much
+that would otherwise have remained in darkness. Robert, called the Monk,
+was present at the council of Clermont, at which the first crusade was
+determined; and, though he did not immediately take the Cross, he set out
+for the Holy Land not long after, and was present at the siege of
+Jerusalem. He is, in general, accurate and precise; and, though not a
+little credulous in regard to visions, apparitions, and such imaginations
+of the day, he is on the whole more calm, clear, and exact than any other
+contemporary author.
+
+Besides these writers, I have had occasion to cite several others of less
+authority. Of these, Baldric bears the highest character; and,
+notwithstanding the fact of his not having been present at the crusade, he
+is in general accurate. Tudebodus is both brief and imperfect. Matthew of
+Edessa deserves little or no credit; and the part of the Alexiad which
+refers to the first crusade is far more likely to mislead than to assist.
+The most important part, of the whole work, as it is published at present,
+consists in the notes of Ducange. William of Malmsbury is more useful, but
+still his account is merely a repetition of what we find in other sources.
+For all the affairs of Normandy, I have consulted Orderic, Vital, and
+William of Jumieges.
+
+The history of William of Tyre was afterward continued by several writers,
+the chief of whom is an author taking the title of Bernard the Treasurer.
+A Latin version of his book was published by Muratori: Martenne, however,
+has since printed a work from an old French manuscript, the identity of
+which with the account of Bernard the Treasurer has been proved by Mansi.
+This work is one of the most interesting extant; for although it wants
+entirely either the power or the grace of William of Tyre's composition,
+and is full of errors, in respect to every thing beyond the immediate
+limits of the Holy Land, yet there is a simple and interesting
+minuteness--an individuality of tone through the whole, where it relates
+to the affairs of Syria, which could not have been given but by an
+eyewitness. Even the old French in which it is written, slightly different
+from the exact language of France at the same period, gives it a peculiar
+character, and stamps it as the work of a Syrian Frank. Another
+continuation of William of Tyre is extant, by a Suabian of the name of
+Herold. This, however, is a much later composition, and possesses few of
+the qualities of the other. The Cardinal de Vitry also wrote an
+abbreviated history of the Crusades, bringing it down to his own time A.
+D. 1220. His work is principally to be consulted for the account it gives
+of the events which passed under the author's own eyes, while Bishop of
+Acre, and for a great many curious particulars concerning the manners and
+customs of the Saracens, which are to be found in no other work. The
+second book of the Cardinal de Vitry's History has been omitted, I cannot
+conceive why, in the Gesta Dei per Francos. It is, nevertheless,
+infinitely valuable, as showing the horrible state of the Christians of
+Palestine, and displaying those vices and weaknesses which eventually
+brought about the ruin of the Latin kingdom.
+
+The authorities for the second crusade are lamentably few, and by their
+very paucity show what a change had come over the spirit of the age in the
+short space of fifty years. The only eyewitnesses who have written on the
+subject, as far as I can discover, are Odo, a priest of Deuil, or
+Diagolum, in the neighbourhood of Paris, and Otho, Bishop of Freysinghen.
+The first of these authors followed Louis VII. to the Holy Land as his
+chaplain, and his account is, more properly speaking, an epistle to the
+famous Suger, Abbot of St. Denis, than a chronicle.
+
+Otho of Freysinghen was nearly related to the emperor Conrad, whom he
+accompanied on his unfortunate expedition. Both these authors, therefore,
+had the best means of obtaining information; and in the writings of each
+there is an air of truth and sincerity, which does much towards
+conviction. I have had occasion in speaking of this crusade to cite
+casually a number of authors, of whom it is not necessary to give any very
+detailed account. Their works are to be found in the admirable collections
+of Dom Bouquet, Duchesne, Martenne, or Muratori.
+
+Wherever I have been obliged to quote from any of the Arabian writers, I
+am indebted to the extracts of Monsieur Reinaud.
+
+In regard to the crusade of Richard Coeur de Lion and Philip Augustus; for
+the history of the first, I have borrowed from Benedict of Peterborough,
+from Hovedon, and especially from Vinesauf, whose work is inestimable.
+These, with the other English authorities I have cited, are too well known
+to need comment. Having some time ago written a romance, not yet
+published, on the history of Philip Augustus, I had previously studied
+almost all the old chroniclers who speak of that monarch. The most
+important treatise on his reign is the work of Rigord, who was at once
+monk, physician, and historiographer at the court of Philip. William the
+Breton, one of the king's chaplains, continued his history in prose, from
+the period where Rigord abandoned the task. He also wrote a bombastic poem
+on the reign of his patron, which, however exaggerated and absurd, is
+useful as an historical document, and a painting of the manners and
+customs of the time. On the taking of Constantinople by the French, I have
+found no want of authorities. Villehardouin, one of the principal actors
+in the scenes he describes, has been my chief source of information. I
+have also met with much in Nicetas, who was present; and I have confirmed
+the evidence of other writers, by the chronicle in the Rouchy dialect,
+published by Monsieur Buchon, and by the metrical chronicle of Philippe
+Mouskes in the same collection. I need hardly say that the works of
+Ducange have proved invaluable in every part of my inquiry, and that his
+history of Constantinople under its French monarchs both gave me facts and
+led me to authorities.
+
+Joinville is the principal writer on the crusade of St. Louis. He was an
+eyewitness, a sufferer, and a principal actor in the scenes he describes.
+Of all old chroniclers, with the exception, perhaps, of Froissart,
+Joinville offers the most original, simple, and delightful painting of
+times and manners long gone by. With the notes of Ducange, his work is an
+erudite repertory for antique manners and usages, and may be read and
+reread with gratification, and studied deeply with advantage.
+
+The folio edition in my own library comprises the Observations, and
+Dissertations of Ducange, and the Commentaries of Claud Menard; together
+with the Establishments of St. Louis, and a curious treatise upon the
+ancient law of France, by Pierre de Fontaines. All these works afford a
+great insight into the spirit of that day; and many other particulars are
+to be found in the _Branche aux royaux Lignages_, and in the Sermon of
+Robert de Sainceriaux. Besides the authors I have here particularized, I
+have had occasion to cite casually a great number of others, whose names,
+with some account of the works of each, may be found in the _Manuel_ of
+Brunet. Vertot also has furnished us with much information concerning the
+Knights of St. John; and Dupuy, Raynouard, &c. have spoken largely of the
+Templars. I cannot close the enumeration of authors to whom I am under
+obligations for information or instruction without mentioning M. Guizot,
+one of the most clearsighted and unprejudiced of all modern historians.
+His views of causes I have often adopted, sometimes with very slight
+modifications, and sometimes with none; and, in all instances to which his
+writings extend, I have been indebted to him for light to conduct me
+through the dark sanctuary of past events, to the shrine of Truth, even
+where he has not unveiled the deity herself. I can only regret that his
+essays did not embrace more of the very comprehensive subject on which I
+was called to treat.
+
+Several motives have impelled me to give this long account of my
+authorities; one of which motives was, that often, in reading works on
+history, I have myself wished that the sources from which facts were
+derived had been laid open to my examination; but still, my principal view
+in the detail was, to show the ground on which I had fixed opinions
+directly opposed to those of several other authors. In many cases, the
+aspect under which I have seen the events of the Crusades has been
+entirely different from that under which Mills has regarded them, and I
+felt myself called upon not to attack any position of a clever writer and
+a learned man, without justifying myself as completely as possible.
+
+In regard to my own work I shall say nothing, but that I have spared
+neither labour nor research to make it as correct as if it had appeared
+under a much more imposing form. In space, I have been confined; and in
+time, I have been hurried: but I have endeavoured to remedy the one
+inconvenience, by cutting off all superfluous matter; and to guard against
+evil consequences from the other, by redoubling my own exertions. Whether
+I have succeeded or not the world must judge; and if it does judge with
+the same generous lenity which it has extended to my other productions, I
+shall have every reason to be both satisfied and grateful.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                      Page
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+
+  A Definition, with Remarks and Evidence--An Inquiry into the
+  Origin of Chivalry--Various Opinions on the Subject--Reasons
+  for doubting the great Antiquity of Chivalry, properly so
+  called--The State of Society which preceded it, and of that
+  which gave it Birth--Its Origin and early Progress.                   17
+
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+
+  Of Chivalrous Customs--Education--Grades--Services on the
+  Reception of a Knight--On Tournaments--Jousts--Combats at
+  Outrance--Passages of Arms--The Round Table--Privileges of
+  Knighthood--Duties of Knighthood.                                     31
+
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+
+  The Progress of Chivalry in Europe--Exploits--That some great
+  Enterprise was necessary to give Chivalry an extensive and
+  permanent Effect--That Enterprise presented itself in the
+  Crusades--Pilgrimage to Jerusalem--Haroun Al Raschid--
+  Charlemagne--Cruelties of the Turks--Pilgrimages continued--
+  Peter the Hermit--Council of Clermont.                                53
+
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+
+  The Effects of the Council of Clermont--State of France--
+  Motives of the People for embracing the Crusade--Benefits
+  produced--The Enthusiasm general--Rapid Progress--The first
+  Bodies of Crusaders begin their March--Gautier sans avoir--
+  His Army--Their Disasters--Reach Constantinople--Peter the
+  Hermit sets out with an immense Multitude--Storms Semlin--
+  Defeated at Nissa--His Host dispersed--The Remains
+  collected--Joins Gautier--Excesses of the Multitude--The
+  Italians and Germans separate from the French--The Germans
+  exterminated--The French cut to pieces--Conduct of Alexius.           73
+
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+
+  The Chivalry of Europe takes the Field--The Leaders--Godfrey
+  of Bouillon--Conducts his Army towards Constantinople--Hugh
+  the Great--Leads his Army through Italy--Embarks for
+  Durazzo--Taken Prisoner--Liberated--Robert, Duke of
+  Normandy--Winters in Italy--Arrives at Constantinople--
+  Robert, Count of Flanders--Joins the rest--Boemond of
+  Tarentum--Tancred--Their March--Defeat the Greeks--Boemond
+  does Homage--Tancred avoids it--The Count of Toulouse
+  arrives--Refuses to do Homage--Robert of Normandy does
+  Homage.                                                               89
+
+
+  CHAPTER VI.
+
+  Germ of After-misfortunes already springing up in the
+  Crusade--Siege of Nice--First Engagement with the Turks--
+  Siege continued--The Lake occupied--Surrender of Nice to the
+  Emissaries of Alexius--Discontent--March towards Antioch--The
+  Army divides into two Bodies--Battle of Doryloeum--Dreadful
+  March through Phrygia--Adventures of Baldwin and Tancred--
+  Arrival at Antioch--The City invested                                109
+
+
+  CHAPTER VII.
+
+  The Host of the Crusade invests Antioch--Description of that
+  City--Difficulties and Errors of the Crusaders--
+  Improvidence--Famine--Spies--Desertions--Embassy from the
+  Calif of Egypt--Succours from the Genoese and Pisans--
+  Battle--Feats of the Christian Knights--Boemond keeps up a
+  Communication within the Town--The Town betrayed to the
+  Christians--Massacres--Arrival of an Army from Persia--The
+  Christians besieged in Antioch--Famine--Desertions--Visions--
+  Renewed Enthusiasm--Diminished Forces of the Christians--
+  Battle of Antioch--The Crusaders victorious--Spoils--Disputes
+  with the Count of Toulouse--The Chiefs determine to repose at
+  Antioch--Ambassadors sent to Alexius--Fate of their Embassy          136
+
+
+  CHAPTER VIII.
+
+  Pestilence in Antioch--Death of the Bishop of Puy--The Chiefs
+  separate--Siege of Marrah--Cannibalism--Disputes between the
+  Count of Toulouse and Boemond--The Count marches towards
+  Jerusalem--Siege of Archas--Godfrey of Bouillon marches--
+  Siege of Ghibel--Treachery of Raimond--Fraud of the Holy
+  Lance investigated--Ordeal of Fire--Decisive Conduct of the
+  Crusaders towards the Deputies of Alexius, and the Calif of
+  Egypt--Conduct of the Crusaders towards the Emir of Tripoli--
+  First Sight of Jerusalem--Siege and Taking of the City--
+  Fanatical Massacres                                                  162
+
+
+  CHAPTER IX.
+
+  Election of a King--Godfrey of Bouillon--Sketch of the
+  History of Jerusalem--Death of the chief Crusaders--New
+  Bodies of Crusaders set out from Europe--Their Destruction in
+  Asia Minor--Armed Pilgrimages--The Northern Armaments--The
+  Venetians--The Genoese and Pisans--Anecdotes of the
+  Crusaders--Battle of the Children at Antioch--The Thafurs--
+  Baldwin's Humanity well repaid--Superstitions--Arms of the
+  Crusaders--Of the Turks--Hospitallers--Templars                      175
+
+
+  CHAPTER X.
+
+  Consequences of the Loss of Edessa--The State of France
+  unfavourable to a new Crusade--View of the Progress of
+  Society--Causes and Character of the Second Crusade--St.
+  Bernard--The Emperor of Germany takes the Cross, and sets
+  out--Louis VII. follows--Conduct of the Germans in Greece--
+  Their Destruction in Cappadocia--Treachery of Manuel
+  Comnenus--Louis VII. arrives at Constantinople--Passes into
+  Asia--Defeats the Turks on the Meander--His Army cut to
+  pieces--Proceeds by Sea to Antioch--Fate of his remaining
+  Troops--Intrigues at Antioch--Louis goes on to Jerusalem--
+  Siege of Damascus--Disgraceful Failure--Conrad returns to
+  Europe--Conduct of Suger, Abbot of St. Denis--Termination of
+  the Second Crusade                                                   198
+
+
+  CHAPTER XI.
+
+  Progress of Society--The Rise of Poetry in modern Europe--
+  Troubadours--Trouveres--Various Poetical Compositions--Effect
+  of Poetry upon Chivalry--Effect of the Crusades on Society--
+  State of Palestine after the Second Crusade--Cession of
+  Edessa to the Emperor Manuel Comnenus--Edessa completely
+  subjected by the Turks--Ascalon taken by the Christians--
+  State of Egypt under the last Califs of the Fatimite Race--
+  The Latins and the Atabecks both design the Conquest of
+  Egypt--Struggles for that Country--Rise of Saladin--Disputes
+  among the Latins concerning the Succession of the Crown--Guy
+  of Lusignan crowned--Saladin invades Palestine--Battle of
+  Tiberias--Fall of Jerusalem--Conquest of all Palestine--Some
+  Inquiry into the Causes of the Latin Overthrow                       219
+
+
+  CHAPTER XII.
+
+  The News of the Fate of Palestine reaches Europe--The
+  Archbishop of Tyre comes to seek for Aid--Assistance granted
+  by William the Good, of Sicily--Death of Urban, from Grief at
+  the Loss of Jerusalem--Gregory VIII. promotes a Crusade--
+  Expedition of Frederic, Emperor of Germany--His Successes--
+  His Death--State of Europe--Crusade promoted by the
+  Troubadours--Philip Augustus and Henry II. take the Cross--
+  Laws enacted--Saladin's Tenth--War renewed--Death of Henry
+  II.--Accession of Richard Coeur de Lion--The Crusade--
+  Philip's March--Richard's March--Affairs of Sicily--Quarrels
+  between the Monarchs--Philip goes to Acre--Richard subdues
+  Cyprus--Arrives at Acre--Siege and Taking of Acre--Fresh
+  Disputes--Philip Augustus returns to Europe--Richard marches
+  on--Battle of Azotus--Heroism of Richard--Unsteady Councils--
+  The Enterprise abandoned                                             237
+
+
+  CHAPTER XIII.
+
+  Death of Saladin--Disunion among his Successors--Celestine
+  III. preaches a new Crusade--Henry of Germany takes the
+  Cross--Abandons his Purpose--Crusaders proceed without him--
+  Saif Eddin takes the Field, and captures Jaffa--The Crusaders
+  are reinforced--Defeat Saif Eddin--Lay Siege to Thoron--
+  Seized with Panic, and retreat--Disperse--Death of Henry of
+  Champagne, King of Jerusalem--His Widow marries Almeric, King
+  of Cyprus--Truce--Death of Almeric; and Isabella Mary,
+  Heiress of Jerusalem, wedded to John of Brienne--Affairs of
+  Europe--Innocent III. and Foulque, of Neuilly, promote a
+  Crusade--The Barons of France take the Cross--Proceed to
+  Venice--Their Difficulties--Turn to the Siege of Zara--A
+  Change of Purpose--Proceed to Constantinople--Siege and
+  Taking of that City--Subsequent Proceedings--A Revolution in
+  Constantinople, Alexius deposed by Murzuphlis--Second Siege
+  and Capture of the Greek Capital--Flight of Murzuphlis--
+  Plunder and Outrage--Baldwin, Count of Flanders, elected
+  Emperor                                                              264
+
+
+  CHAPTER XIV.
+
+  Divisions among the Moslems--Among the Christians--Crusade of
+  Children--Innocent III. declares he will lead a new Crusade
+  to Syria--The King of Hungary takes the Cross--Arrives in
+  Syria--Successes of the Pilgrims--Abandon the Siege of Mount
+  Thabor--The King of Hungary returns to Europe--The Duke of
+  Austria continues the War--Siege of Damietta--Reinforcements
+  arrive under a Legate--Famine in Damietta--The Moslems offer
+  to yield Palestine--The Legate's Pride--He refuses--Taking of
+  Damietta--The Army advances towards Cairo--Overflowing of the
+  Nile--The Army ruined--The Legate sues for Peace--Generous
+  Conduct of the Sultaun--Marriage of the Heiress of Jerusalem
+  with Frederic, Emperor of Germany--His Disputes with the
+  Pope--His Treaties with the Saracens--He recovers Jerusalem--
+  He quits the Holy Land--Disputes in Palestine--The Templars
+  defeated and slaughtered--Gregory IX.--Crusade of the King of
+  Navarre ineffectual--Crusade of Richard, Earl of Cornwall--
+  Jerusalem recovered--The Corasmins--Their Barbarity--They
+  take Jerusalem--Defeat the Christians with terrible
+  Slaughter--Are exterminated by the Syrians--Crusade of St.
+  Louis--His Character--Arrives in the Holy Land--Takes
+  Damietta--Battle of Massoura--Pestilence in the Army--The
+  King taken--Ransomed--Returns to Europe--Second Crusade of
+  St. Louis--Takes Carthage--His Death--Crusade of Prince
+  Edward--He defeats the Saracens--Wounded by an Assassin--
+  Returns to Europe--Successes of the Turks--Last Siege and
+  Fall of Acre--Palestine lost                                         286
+
+
+  CHAPTER XV.
+
+  Fate of the Orders of the Temple and St. John--The Templars
+  abandon all Hopes of recovering Jerusalem--Mingle in European
+  Politics--Offend Philip the Fair--Are persecuted--Charges
+  against them--The Order destroyed--The Knights of St. John
+  pursue the Purpose of defending Christendom--Settle in
+  Rhodes--Siege of Rhodes--Gallant Defence--The Island taken--
+  The Knights remove to Malta--Siege of Malta--La Valette--
+  Defence of St. Elmo--Gallantry of the Garrison--The whole
+  Turkish Army attempt to storm the Castle--The Attack
+  repelled--Arrival of Succour--The Siege raised--Conclusion           312
+
+  NOTES                                                                331
+
+
+
+
+HISTORY OF CHIVALRY AND THE CRUSADES
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+_A Definition, with Remarks and Evidence--An Inquiry into the Origin of
+Chivalry--Various Opinions on the Subject--Reasons for doubting the great
+Antiquity of Chivalry properly so called--The State of Society which
+preceded it, and of that which gave it Birth--Its Origin and early
+Progress._
+
+
+The first principles of whatever subject we may attempt to trace in
+history are ever obscure, but few are so entirely buried in darkness as
+the origin of Chivalry. This seems the more extraordinary, as we find the
+institution itself suddenly accompanied by regular and established forms,
+to which we can assign no precise date, and which appear to have been
+generally acknowledged before they were reduced to any written code.
+
+Although definitions are dangerous things--inasmuch as the ambiguity of
+language rarely permits of perfect accuracy, except in matters of abstract
+science--it is better, as far as possible, on all subjects of discussion,
+to venture some clear and decided position, that the subsequent reasoning
+may be fixed upon a distinct and unchanging basis.
+
+If the position itself be wrong, it may be the more speedily proved so
+from the very circumstance of standing forth singly, uninvolved in a
+labyrinth of other matter; and if it be right, the arguments that follow
+may always be more easily traced, and afford greater satisfaction by
+being deduced from a principle already determined. These considerations
+lead me to offer a definition of Chivalry, together with some remarks
+calculated to guard that definition from the consequences of
+misapprehension on the part of others, or of obscurity on my own.
+
+When I speak of Chivalry I mean a military institution, prompted by
+enthusiastic benevolence, sanctioned by religion, and combined with
+religious ceremonies, the purpose of which was to protect the weak from
+the oppression of the powerful, and to defend the right cause against the
+wrong.
+
+Its military character requires no proof; but various mistaken opinions,
+which I shall notice hereafter, render it necessary to establish the fact,
+that religious ceremonies of some kind were always combined with the
+institutions of Chivalry.
+
+All those written laws and regulations affecting knighthood,[1] which were
+composed subsequent to its having taken an acknowledged form, prescribed,
+in the strictest manner, various points of religious ceremonial, which the
+aspirant to Chivalry was required to perform before he could be admitted
+into that high order.
+
+What preceded the regular recognition of Chivalry as an institution is
+entirely traditional; yet in all the old romances, fabliaux, sirventes,
+ballads, &c. not one instance is to be found in which a squire becomes a
+knight, without some reference to his religious faith. If he be dubbed in
+the battle-field, he swears to defend the right, and maintain all the
+statutes of the noble order of Chivalry, upon the _cross_ of his sword; he
+calls _heaven_ to witness his vow, and the _saints_ to help him in its
+execution. Even in one of the most absurd fables[2] of the chivalrous
+ages, wherein we find Saladin himself receiving the order of Chivalry
+from the hands of the Count de Tabarie, that nobleman causes the infidel
+sultan to be shaved, and to bathe as a symbol of baptism, and then to rest
+himself upon a perfumed bed, as a type of the repose and joy of Paradise.
+These tales are all fictitious, it is true; and few of them date earlier
+than the end of the twelfth century: but at the same time, as they
+universally ascribe religious ceremonies to the order of knighthood, we
+have every reason to suppose that such ceremonies formed a fundamental
+part of the institution.
+
+Before proceeding to inquire into the origin of Chivalry, I must be
+permitted to make one more observation in regard to my definition; namely,
+that there was a great and individual character in that order, which no
+definition can fully convey. I mean the Spirit of Chivalry; for, indeed,
+it was more a spirit than an institution; and the outward forms with which
+it soon became invested, were only, in truth, the signs by which it was
+conventionally agreed that those persons who had proved in their initiate
+they possessed the spirit, should be distinguished from the other classes
+of society. The ceremonial was merely the public declaration, that he on
+whom the order was conferred was worthy to exercise the powers with which
+it invested him; but still, _the spirit was the Chivalry_.
+
+In seeking the source of this order through the dark mazes of the history
+of modern Europe, it appears to me that many writers have mistaken the
+track; and, by looking for the mere external signs, have been led into
+ages infinitely prior to the spirit of Chivalry.
+
+Some have supposed that the institution descended to more modern times,
+from the equestrian order of the ancient Romans; but the absence of all
+but mere nominal resemblance between the two, has long placed this theory
+in the dusty catalogue of historical dreams.
+
+Others again have imagined that the Franks, and the rest of the German
+nations, who, on the fall of the Roman empire, subdued and divided Gaul,
+brought with them the seeds of Chivalry, which spontaneously grew up into
+that extraordinary plant which has flourished but once in the annals of
+the world. This opinion they support by citing the customs of the German
+tribes[3] who, not only at particular periods invested their youth with
+the shield and the javelin, but also (especially towards the period of the
+conquest of Gaul) chose from the bravest of the tribe a number of
+warriors, to be the companions and guards of the chief. These were termed
+_Leudes_, and we find them often mentioned under the whole of the first
+race of French kings. They served on horseback, while the greater part of
+each German nation fought on foot only; and they were bound to the chief
+by an oath of fidelity.[4] The reception of an aspirant into the body of
+_Leudes_ was also marked with various ceremonies; but in this, if we
+examine correctly, we find neither the spirit nor the forms of Chivalry.
+The oath of the Frank was one of service to his prince; that of the
+knight, to his God and to society: the one promised to defend his leader;
+the other to protect the oppressed, and to uphold the right. The _Leudes_
+were in fact the nobility of the German tribes, though that nobility was
+not hereditary; but they were in no respect similar to the knights of an
+after-age, except in the circumstance of fighting on horseback.
+
+A third opinion supposes the origin of Chivalry to be found among the
+ancient warlike tribes of Northmen, or Normans, who, towards the ninth
+century, invaded in large bodies the southern parts of Europe, and
+established themselves principally in France; and certainly, both in their
+traditions, and even in their actions, as recorded by Abbon, an
+eyewitness to their deeds in the siege of Paris, there is to be found an
+energetic and romantic spirit, not unlike that which animated Chivalry at
+the rudest period of its existence. Still, there is much wanting. The
+great object of Chivalry, the defence of the weak, was absent, as well as
+every form and ceremony. The object of the Northman's courage was plunder;
+and all that he had in common with the knight was valour, contempt of
+death, and a touch of savage generosity, that threw but a feint light over
+his dark and stormy barbarities.
+
+Many persons again have attributed the foundation of all the chivalrous
+institutions of Europe to the bright and magnificent reign of Charlemagne;
+and as this opinion has met with much support, among even the learned, it
+is worth while more particularly to inquire upon what basis it is raised.
+Of the reign of Charlemagne we have not so many authentic accounts as we
+have romances, founded upon the fame of that illustrious monarch. Towards
+the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, when Chivalry was in its
+imaginative youth, a thousand tales of wild adventure were produced, in
+which Charlemagne and his warriors were represented with all the qualities
+and attributes of those knights, whose virtues and courage had by that
+time wrought deeply on the heart and fancy of the people. We should be as
+much justified, however, in believing that Virgil was a celebrated
+necromancer, or that Hercules was a _Preux Chevalier_--characters which
+have been assigned to them by the very same class of fables--as in giving
+any credit to the distorted representations that those romances afford of
+the days of Charlemagne.
+
+In regard to the tales of King Arthur, I am perfectly inclined to use the
+energetic words of Menestrier, who, in speaking of the famous knights of
+the round table, says, without hesitation, "All that they tell of King
+Arthur and that fictitious Chivalry of which they represent him as the
+author, is nothing but a lie;"[5] for, though beyond all doubt the
+romances of Chivalry afford a great insight into the manners of the times
+wherein they were written, they are, nevertheless, quite worthless as
+authority concerning the ages which they pretend to display, and which had
+preceded their composition by nearly three centuries.
+
+After rejecting the evidences of such tales, we find nothing in the
+authentic records of Charlemagne which gives the slightest reason to
+suppose that Chivalry was known, even in its most infant state, during his
+reign. Though his great system of warfare had that in common with Chivalry
+which all warfare must have--feats of daring courage, heroic valour,
+bursts of feeling and magnanimity, and as much of the sublime as mighty
+ambition, guided by mighty genius, and elevated by a noble object can
+achieve--yet the government of Charlemagne was, in fact, any thing but a
+chivalrous government. Too powerful a hand held the reins of state for
+Chivalry either to have been necessary or permitted; and in reading the
+annals of Eginhard, his life of Charlemagne, or the account, given by the
+monk of St. Gall, we find a completely different character from that which
+is visible in every page of the history of the knightly ages. We find,
+indeed, that Charlemagne, according to the immemorial custom of his
+German[6] ancestors, solemnly invested his son Lewis with the arms of a
+man. A thousand years before, in the forests of the North, his
+predecessors had done the same: and Charlemagne, one of whose great
+objects ever was, to preserve both the habits and the language of the
+original country[7] free from amalgamation with those of the conquered
+nations, not only set the example of publicly receiving his son into the
+ranks of manhood and warfare, but strictly enjoined that the same should
+be done by his various governors in the provinces. But this custom of the
+Franks, as I have before attempted to show, had no earthly relation to
+knighthood. Were nothing else a proof that Chivalry was perfectly unknown
+in the days of Charlemagne, it would be sufficient that the famous
+capitularies of that monarch, which regulate every thing that can fall
+under the eye of the law, even to the details of private life, make no
+mention whatever of an institution which afterward exercised so great an
+influence on the fate of Europe. Nor can we trace in the annals of the
+surrounding countries, a mark of Chivalry having been known at that period
+to any other nation more than to the Franks. Alfred, it is true, invested
+Athelstan with a purple garment and a sword; but the Saxons were from
+Germany as well as the Franks, and no reason exists for supposing that
+this ceremony was in any degree connected with the institutions of
+Chivalry. There have been persons, indeed, who supposed that Pharaoh
+conferred knighthood upon Joseph, when he bestowed upon him the ring and
+the golden chain, and probably the Egyptian king had fully as much
+knowledge of the institution of Chivalry as either Charlemagne or Alfred.
+
+Of the annals that follow the period of Charlemagne, those of Nithard,
+Hincmar, and Thegan, together with those called the Annals of St. Bertinus
+and of Metz, are the most worthy of credit; and in these, though we often
+meet with the word _miles_, which was afterward the name bestowed upon a
+knight, it is used simply in the signification of a soldier, or one of the
+military race.[8] No mention whatever is made of any thing that can fairly
+be looked upon as chivalrous, either in feeling or institution. All is a
+series of dark conflicts and bloodthirsty contentions, among which the
+sprouts of the feudal system, yet young and unformed, are seen springing
+up from seeds sown long before. In the picture of those times, a double
+darkness seemed to cover the earth, which, a chaos of unruly passions,
+showed no one general institution for the benefit of mankind except the
+Christian religion: and that, overwhelmed by foul superstitions and
+guarded chiefly by barbarous, ignorant, selfish, and disorderly priests,
+lay like a treasure hidden by a miser, and watched by men that had not
+soul to use it. This was no age of knighthood.
+
+Up to this period, then, I fully believe that Chivalry did not exist; and
+having attempted to show upon some better ground than mere assertion, that
+the theories which assign to it an earlier origin are wrong, I will now
+give my own view of its rise, which possibly may be as erroneous as the
+rest.
+
+Charlemagne expired like a meteor that, having broken suddenly upon the
+night of ages, and blazed brilliantly over a whole world for a brief
+space, fell and left all in darkness, even deeper than before. His
+dominions divided into petty kingdoms--his successors waging long and
+inveterate wars against each other--the nations he had subdued shaking off
+the yoke--the enemies he had conquered avenging themselves upon his
+descendants--the laws he had established forgotten or annulled--the union
+he had cemented scattered to the wind--in a lamentably brief space of
+time, the bright order which his great mind had established throughout
+Europe was dissolved. Each individual, who, either by corporeal strength,
+advantageous position, wealth, or habit, could influence the minds of
+others, snatched at that portion of the divided empire which lay nearest
+to his means, and claimed that power as a gift which had only been
+intrusted as a loan. The custom of holding lands by military service had
+come down to the French from their German ancestors, and the dukes, the
+marquises, the counts, as well as a whole herd of inferior officers, who
+in former days had led the armies, or commanded in the provinces as
+servants of the crown, now arrogated to themselves hereditary rights in
+the charges to which they had been intrusted; and, in their own behalf,
+claimed the feudal service of those soldiers to whom lands had been
+granted, instead of preserving their allegiance for their sovereigns. The
+weak monarchs, who still retained the name of kings, engaged in ruinous
+wars with each other and in vain attempts to repel the invasions of the
+Northmen or Normans, first tolerated these encroachments, because they had
+at the time no power of resisting, and then gradually recognised them as
+rights, upon the condition that those who committed them should assist the
+sovereign in his wars, and acknowledge his title in preference to that of
+any of his competitors.
+
+Thus gradually rose the feudal system from the wrecks of Charlemagne's
+great empire. But still all was unstable and unconfirmed; the limits of
+the different powers in the state undecided and variable, till the war of
+Paris, the incompetence of the successors of Charlemagne, and the
+elevation of Hugues Capet, the Count of Paris, to the throne, showed the
+barons the power they had acquired, and crowned the feudal compact by the
+creation of a king whose title was found in it alone.
+
+Great confusion, however, existed still. The authority of the sovereign
+extended but a few leagues round the city of Paris; the Normans ravaged
+the coast; the powerful and the wicked had no restraint imposed upon their
+actions, and the weak were every where oppressed and wronged. Bands of
+plunderers raged through the whole of France and Germany, property was
+held by the sword, cruelty and injustice reigned alone, and the whole
+history of that age offers a complete medley of massacre, bloodshed,
+torture, crime, and misery.
+
+Personal courage, however, had been raised to the highest pitch by the
+very absence of every thing like security. Valour was a necessity and a
+habit, and Eudes and his companions, who defended Paris against the
+Normans, would have come down as demigods to the present day, if they had
+but possessed a Homer to sing their deeds. The very Normans themselves,
+with their wild enthusiasm and supernatural daring, their poetical
+traditions, and magnificent superstitions, seemed to bring a new and
+extraordinary light into the very lands they desolated. The plains teemed
+with murder, and the rivers flowed with blood; but the world was weary of
+barbarity, and a reacting spirit of order was born from the very bosom of
+confusion.
+
+It was then that some poor nobles, probably suffering themselves from the
+oppression of more powerful lords, but at the same time touched with
+sincere compassion for the wretchedness they saw around them, first
+leagued together with the holy purpose of redressing wrongs and defending
+the weak.[9] They gave their hands to one another in pledge that they
+would not turn back from the work, and called upon St. George to bless
+their righteous cause. The church readily yielded its sanction to an
+institution so noble, aided it with prayers, and sanctified it with a
+solemn blessing. Religious enthusiasm became added to noble indignation
+and charitable zeal; and the spirit of Chivalry, like the flame struck
+forth from the hard steel and the dull flint, was kindled into sudden
+light by the savage cruelty of the nobles, and the heavy barbarity of the
+people.
+
+The spirit spread rapidly, and the adoration of the populace, who almost
+deified their heroic defenders, gave both fresh vigour and purity to the
+design. Every moral virtue became a part of knightly honour, and the men
+whose hands were ever ready to draw the sword in defence of
+innocence--who in their own conduct set the most brilliant example--whose
+sole object was the establishment of right, and over whom no earthly fear
+or interested consideration held sway, were readily recognised as judges,
+and appealed to as arbitrators. Public opinion raised them above all other
+men, even above kings themselves; so much so, indeed, that we find
+continually repeated, in the writings of the chivalrous ages, such
+passages as the following:--
+
+  Chevaliers sont de moult grant pris,
+  Ils ont de tous gens le pris,
+  Et le los et le seignorie.
+
+Thus gradually Chivalry became no longer a simple engagement between a few
+generous and valiant men, but took the form of a great and powerful
+institution; and as each knight had the right of creating others without
+limit, it became necessary that the new class thus established in society
+should be distinguished by particular signs and symbols, which would guard
+it against the intrusion of unworthy or disgraceful members.
+
+The time at which fixed regulations first distinguished Chivalry from
+every other order in the state cannot be precisely determined; certainly
+it was not before the eleventh century. Then, however, it is probable,
+that this was done more from a general sense of its necessity, and by slow
+and irregular degrees, than by any one law or agreement. Every thing in
+that age was confusion, and though the spirit of Chivalry had for its
+great object the restoration of order, it is not likely that its own
+primary efforts should be very regular, amid a chaos of contending
+interests and unbridled passions, which rendered general communication or
+association difficult, if not impossible. Each knight, in admitting
+another to the noble order of which he himself was a member, probably
+added some little formality, as he thought fit, till the mass of these
+customs collected by tradition formed the body of their ceremonial law.
+
+The first point required of the aspirants to Chivalry, in its earliest
+state, was certainly a solemn vow, "_To speak the truth, to succour the
+helpless and oppressed, and never to turn back from an enemy_."[10]
+
+This vow, combined with the solemn appeal to Heaven in witness thereof,
+was the foundation of Chivalry; but, at the same time, we find, that in
+all ages, only one class of people was eligible to furnish members to the
+institution; namely, the military class, or, in other words, the northern
+conquerors of the soil; for, with very few exceptions, the original
+inhabitants of Europe had been reduced to the condition of serfs, or
+slaves of the glebe. Some few, indeed, had held out till they forced the
+invaders to permit their being incorporated with themselves upon more
+equal terms; but this was very rare, and the _race rustique_, as it was
+called, though it furnished archers to the armies, was kept distinct from
+the military race by many a galling difference. This lower race, then,
+could not be invested with the honours of Chivalry; and one of the first
+provisions we find in any written form, respecting the institution of
+knighthood, is designed to mark this more particularly. _Ad militarem
+honorem nullus accedat qui non sit de genere militum_, says a decree of
+the twelfth century. We may therefore conclude that this was the first
+requisite, and the vow the first formality of Chivalry.
+
+It is more than probable that the ceremony next in historical order,
+attached to the admission of an aspirant into the ranks of knighthood, was
+that of publicly arming him with the weapons he was to use, in pursuance
+of his vow. This is likely, from many circumstances. In the first place,
+to arm him for the cause was naturally the next preceding to his vowing
+himself to that cause, and also by his receiving those arms in the face of
+the public, the new defender that the people had gained became known to
+the people, and thus no one would falsely pretend to the character of a
+knight without risking detection. In the second place, as I have before
+said, the arming of the German youth had been from the earliest ages, like
+the delivery of the virile robe to young Romans, an occasion of public
+solemnity; and it was therefore natural that it should be soon
+incorporated with the ceremonial of the new military institution which now
+took the lead of all others.
+
+The church of course added her part to secure reverence for an order which
+was so well calculated to promote all the objects of religion, and vigils,
+fasts, and prayers speedily became a part of the initiation to knighthood.
+Power is ever followed by splendour and display; but to use the energetic
+words of a learned and talented writer of the present day,[11] the knights
+for long after the first institution of Chivalry, were "simple in their
+clothing, austere in their morals, humble after victory, firm under
+misfortune."
+
+In France, I believe, the order first took its rise; and, probably, the
+disgust felt by some pure minds at the gross and barbarous licentiousness
+of the times, infused that virtuous severity into the institutions of
+Chivalry which was in itself a glory. If we may give the least credit to
+the picture of the immorality and luxury of the French, as drawn by Abbon
+in his poem on the siege of Paris, no words will be found sufficient to
+express our admiration for the men who first undertook to combat not only
+the tyranny but the vices of their age; who singly went forth to war
+against crime, injustice, and cruelty who defied the whole world in
+defence of innocence, virtue, and truth; who stemmed the torrent of
+barbarity and evil; and who, from the wrecks of ages, and the ruins of
+empires, drew out a thousand jewels to glitter in the star that shone upon
+the breast of knighthood.
+
+For long the Christian religion had struggled alone, a great but shaded
+light through the storms of dark and barbarous ages. Till Chivalry arose
+there was nothing to uphold it; but from that moment, with a champion in
+the field to lead forth the knowledge that had been imprisoned in the
+cloister, the influence of religion began to spread and increase. Though
+worldly men thereunto attached the aggrandizement of their own temporal
+power, and knaves and villains made it the means of their avarice, or the
+cloak of their vice, still the influence of the divine truth itself
+gradually wrought upon the hearts of men, purifying, calming, refining,
+till the world grew wise enough to separate the perfection of the Gospel
+from the weakness of its teachers, and to reject the _errors_ while they
+restrained the _power_ of the Roman church.
+
+In the mean time Chivalry stood forth the most glorious institution that
+man himself ever devised. In its youth and in its simplicity, it appeared
+grand and beautiful, both from its own intrinsic excellence, and from its
+contrast with the things around. In its after-years it acquired pomp and
+luxury; and to pomp and luxury naturally succeeded decay and death; but
+still the legacy that it left behind it to posterity was a treasure of
+noble feelings and generous principles.
+
+There cannot be a doubt that Chivalry, more than any other institution
+(except religion) aided to work out the civilization of Europe. It first
+taught devotion and reverence to those weak, fair beings, who but in their
+beauty and their gentleness have no defence. It first raised love above
+the passions of the brute, and by dignifying woman, made woman worthy of
+love. It gave purity to enthusiasm, crushed barbarous selfishness, taught
+the heart to expand like a flower to the sunshine, beautified glory with
+generosity, and smoothed even the rugged brow of war.
+
+For the mind, as far as knowledge went, Chivalry itself did little; but by
+its influence it did much. For the heart it did every thing; and there is
+scarcely a noble feeling or a bright aspiration that we find among
+ourselves, or trace in the history of modern Europe, that is not in some
+degree referable to that great and noble principle, which has no name but
+the _Spirit of Chivalry_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+_Of Chivalrous Customs--Education--Grades--Services on the Reception of a
+Knight--On Tournaments--Jousts--Combats at Outrance--Passages of Arms--The
+Round Table--Privileges of Knighthood--Duties of Knighthood._
+
+
+Although the customs which I am about to detail at once grew gradually up
+under the various circumstances of different centuries, and were for the
+most part unknown to the infancy of Chivalry, I think it right to notice
+here the principal peculiarities of the institution, rather than to
+interrupt the course of my narrative afterward, when the history of
+knighthood may be traced continuously down to its final extinction.
+
+We have already seen that each individual member of the order possessed
+the power of admitting any other person to its honours without restraint;
+but it did not by any means follow that all previous trial and education
+was dispensed with. Very soon after the first institution of Chivalry
+every one became covetous of the distinction, and it naturally followed
+that the object of each boy's aspirations, the aim of every young man's
+ambition, was one day to be a knight. Those, however, who had already
+received the order, were scrupulously careful to admit none within its
+fellowship who might disgrace the sword that dubbed them; and knighthood
+gradually became as much the reward of a long and tedious education, as
+the bonnet of the doctor or the stole of the clerk.
+
+The feudal system had now reached its acme; and each individual lord,
+within his own domain, assumed the state and importance of a prince. With
+the vain spirit of ostentatious imitation which unhappily is common to all
+climes and all centuries, the great feudatories of the crown copied the
+household of the sovereign, and the petty barons imitated them. Each had
+his crowd of officers, and squires, and pages, and varlets. Even the
+monasteries and the abbeys affected the same pomp and ceremonial, so that
+we find the abbot of St. Denis riding[12] forth accompanied by his
+chamberlain and marshal, whose offices were held as feoffs.
+
+The manor or the castle of each feudal chieftain, however, soon became the
+school of Chivalry, and any noble youth whose parents were either dead or
+too poor to educate him to the art of war was willingly received in the
+dwelling of a neighbouring baron, who took care that his pupil should be
+instructed in all military exercises, glad to attach to his own person as
+large a body of armed retainers as his circumstances would permit.
+
+Till they reached the age of seven years the youths, afterward destined to
+arms, were left to the care of the females of the household, who taught
+them the first principles of religion and of Chivalry. They were then in
+general sent from home, those fathers even, who possessed the means of
+conducting their education themselves, preferring to intrust it to some
+other noble knight who could be biassed[13] by no parental tenderness to
+spare the young aspirant to Chivalry any of those trials and hardships
+absolutely necessary to prepare him for his after-career.
+
+On entering the household of another knight, the first place filled by the
+youths, then fresh from all the soft kindnesses of home, was that of page
+or varlet, which, though it implied every sort of attendance on the person
+of their new lord, was held as honourable, not degrading.
+
+Here they still remained[14] much among the women of the family, who
+undertook to complete their knowledge of their duty to God and their lady,
+instilling into their infant minds that refined and mystic idea of love,
+which was so peculiar a trait in the Chivalry of old. In the mean while
+the rest of their days were passed in the service of their lord,
+accompanying him in his excursions, serving him at table, pouring out his
+drink; all of which offices being shared in by the children and young
+relations of the baron himself,[15] were reckoned, as I have said, highly
+honourable, and formed the first step in the ascent to Chivalry.
+
+At the same time infinite pains were bestowed upon the education of these
+pages. They were taught all sorts of gymnastic exercises which could
+strengthen the body; and, by continually mingling with the guests of the
+castle, receiving them on their arrival, offering them every sort of
+service, and listening respectfully to the conversation of their elders,
+they acquired that peculiar grace of manner which, under the name of
+courtesy, formed a principal perfection in the character of the true
+knight.
+
+At fourteen the page was usually admitted to the higher grade of squire,
+and exchanged his short dagger for the manly sword. This, however, was
+made a religious ceremony; and the weapon which he was in future to wear
+was laid upon the altar, from whence it was taken by the priest,[16] and
+after several benedictions, was hung over the shoulder of the new squire,
+with many a sage caution and instruction as to its use.
+
+His exercises now became more robust than they had ever been before; and,
+if we are to believe the old biographer of the celebrated Boucicaut, they
+were far more fatiguing than any man of the present age could endure. To
+spring upon horseback armed at all pieces, without putting a foot in the
+stirrup; to cast somersets in heavy armour[17] for the purpose of
+strengthening the arms; to leap upon the shoulders of a horseman from
+behind, without other hold than one hand laid upon his shoulder--such, and
+many others, were the daily exercises of the young noble, besides regular
+instruction in riding and managing his arms. Though it would seem at first
+that few constitutions could undergo for any length of time such violent
+exertions, we must remember the effects produced--we must call to mind
+that these very men in their after-life, are found bearing a weight, that
+few persons of the present times could lift, through the heat of a whole
+summer's day, under the burning sun of Palestine. We must remember the
+mighty feats of strength that these men performed; and, when we see a
+Boemond fighting from noon to sunset cased from head to foot in thick
+iron, or in long after-days a Guise swimming against a torrent armed
+cap-a-pie, we must naturally conclude that no ordinary course of training
+could produce such vigour and hardihood.
+
+Several degrees of squires or esquires are mentioned in the ancient
+chronicles; and it is difficult to distinguish which class included the
+young noble--which was filled by an inferior race. That there was a
+distinction is evident; for in the life of Bayard[18] we find an old
+squire mentioned more than once, from whom he received instructions, but
+who never appears to have aspired to any higher degree. Nevertheless it is
+equally certain that many services which we should consider menial, were
+performed by the squires of the highest race about the persons of their
+lords. Nor was this confined to what might be considered military
+services; for we learn that they not only held the stirrup for their lord
+to mount, and then followed, carrying his helm, his lance, his shield, or
+his gauntlets; but they continued to serve him at table, to clean his
+armour, to dress his horses, and to fulfil a thousand other avocations, in
+which they were aided, it is true, by the _gros varlets_ or common
+servants, but which they still had their share in accomplishing with their
+own hands.[19] The highest class of esquires, however, was evidently the
+_écuyer d'honneur_, who, from the manner of Froissart's mention of many at
+the court of the Count de Foix, appears to have had in charge the
+reception and entertainment of guests and strangers.
+
+The squires of course had often more important duties to perform. It was
+for them to follow their lords to the battle-field; and, while the
+knights, formed in a long line, fought hand to hand against their equals,
+the squires remained watching eagerly the conflict, and ready to drag
+their master from the _mêlée_, to cover him if he fell, to supply him with
+fresh arms, and, in short, to lend him every aid; without, however,
+presuming to take an active part against the adverse knights, with whose
+class it was forbidden for a squire to engage.
+
+St. Palaye limits to these defensive operations the services of the
+squires in the field of battle,[20] and it is possible that the strict
+laws of Chivalry might justify such a restriction. Nevertheless there can
+be no earthly doubt that they were often much more actively engaged, even
+in the purest days of Chivalry. In all the wars between Richard Coeur de
+Lion and Philip Augustus,[21] we find them often fighting bravely; and at
+the battle of Bovine, a squire had nearly taken the life of the famous
+Count de Boulogne.
+
+These services in the field perfected the aspirant to Chivalry in the
+knowledge of his profession; and the trials of skill which, on the day
+that preceded a tournament, were permitted to squires, in the lists, gave
+him an opportunity of distinguishing himself in the eyes of the people,
+and of gaining a name among the heralds and chroniclers of knightly deeds.
+
+If a noble squire had conducted himself well during the period of his
+service, it seldom occurred that his lord refused to bestow upon him the
+honour of knighthood at the age of twenty-one; and sometimes, if he had
+been distinguished by any great or gallant feat, or by uniform talent and
+courage,[22] he was admitted into the order before he had reached that
+age. This, nevertheless, was rare, except in the case of sovereign
+princes; and, on the contrary, it occasionally happened that a knight who
+did not choose to part so soon with a favourite squire would delay on
+various pretences a ceremony which almost always caused some separation
+between the young knight and his ancient master.[23]
+
+The squire, however, had always the right to claim the knighthood from the
+hand of another, if his lord unjustly refused to bestow it; and that high
+sense of honour which was their great characteristic prevented the knights
+thus applied to from ever refusing, when the aspirant was fully justified
+in his claim.
+
+The times chosen for conferring knighthood were generally either those of
+great military ceremony,[24] as after tournaments, _cours plénières_, the
+muster or _monstre_, as it was called, of the army, or on days
+consecrated by the church to some peculiar solemnity, as Easter-day, the
+day of Pentecost, or even Christmas-day.[25]
+
+This was, nevertheless, by no means imperative; for we have already seen
+that knighthood was often conferred on any particular emergency, and even
+on the field of battle.[26] On these occasions the forms were of course
+abridged to suit the necessity of the case, but the knighthood was not the
+less valid or esteemed.
+
+The more public and solemn the ceremony could be made, the more it
+appeared to the taste of the nobles of the middle ages. Nor was the pomp
+and display without its use, raising and dignifying the order in the eyes
+of the people, and impressing deeply upon the mind of the young knight the
+duties which he had voluntarily taken upon himself. We all know how much
+remembrance depends upon external circumstance, and it is ever well to
+give our feelings some fixed resting-place in the waste of life, that in
+after-years memory may lead us back and refresh the resolutions and bright
+designs of youth by the aid of the striking scenes and solemn moments in
+which those designs and resolutions were first called into activity.
+Nothing could be better calculated to make a profound impression on the
+mind than the ceremonies of a knight's reception in the mature times of
+Chivalry.
+
+On the day appointed,[27] all the knights and nobles at that time in the
+city where the solemnity was to be performed, with the bishops and clergy,
+each covered with the appropriate vestments of his order, the knight in
+his coat-of-arms, and the bishop in his stole, conducted the aspirant to
+the principal church of the place. There, after the high mass had been
+chanted, the novice approached the altar and presented the sword to the
+bishop or priest, who, taking it from his hand, blessed and consecrated it
+to the service of religion and virtue.
+
+It often happened that the bishop himself then solemnly warned the youth
+of the difficulties and requisites of the order to which he aspired. "He
+who seeks to be a knight,"--said the Bishop of Valenciennes to the young
+Count of Ostrevant on one of these occasions,[28] "he who wishes to be a
+knight should have great qualities. He must be of noble birth, liberal in
+gifts, high in courage, strong in danger, secret in council, patient in
+difficulties, powerful against enemies, prudent in his deeds. He must also
+swear to observe the following rules: To undertake nothing without having
+heard mass fasting; to spare neither his blood nor his life in defence of
+the Catholic faith; to give aid to all widows and orphans; to undertake no
+war without just cause; to favour no injustice, but to protect the
+innocent and oppressed; to be humble in all things; to seek the welfare of
+those placed under him; never to violate the rights of his sovereign, and
+to live irreprehensibly before God and man."
+
+The bishop, then taking his joined hands in his own, placed them on the
+missal, and received his oath to follow the statutes laid down to him,
+after which his father advancing dubbed him a knight.
+
+At other times it occurred, that when the sword had been blessed, the
+novice[29] carried it to the knight who was to be his godfather in
+Chivalry, and kneeling before him plighted his vow to him. After this the
+other knights, and often the ladies present, advanced, and completely
+armed the youth, sometimes beginning with one piece of the armour,
+sometimes another. St. Palaye declares that the spurs were always buckled
+on before the rest, but in the history of Geoffrey, Duke of Normandy, we
+find the corslet and the greaves mentioned first, and the spear and sword
+last.
+
+After having been armed, the novice still remained upon his knees before
+his godfather in arms, who then, rising from his seat, bestowed upon him
+the _accolade_, as it was called, which consisted generally of three blows
+of the naked sword upon the neck or shoulder. Sometimes it was performed
+by a blow given with the palm of the hand upon the cheek of the novice,
+which was always accompanied by some words, signifying that the ceremony
+was complete, and the squire had now become a knight.
+
+The words which accompanied the accolade were generally, when the kings of
+France bestowed the honour, "In the name of God, St. Michael, and St.
+George, I make thee knight; be loyal, bold, and true."
+
+Sometimes to the blow were joined the words,[30] "Bear this blow and never
+bear another," and sometimes was added the more Christian admonition to
+humility, "Remember that the Saviour of the world was buffeted and
+scoffed."[31]
+
+Whatever was its origin the custom was a curious one, and bore a strong
+resemblance to the ceremony of manumission among the Romans, who, on
+freeing a slave, struck him a slight blow, which Claudian happily enough
+terms _felicem injuriam_. I do not, however, intend to insinuate that the
+one custom was derived from the other, though, perhaps, the fact of a serf
+becoming free if his lord struck him with any instrument,[32] except such
+as were employed in his actual labour, may have been, in some degree, a
+vestige of the Roman law in this respect, which we know descended entire
+to many of the barbarous nations.
+
+However that may be, after having submitted to the blow which ended his
+servitude as a squire, the new knight was decorated with his casque, which
+had hitherto been held beside him, and then proceeding to the door of the
+church, or of the castle, where his knighthood had been bestowed, he
+sprang upon his horse and showed himself armed in the principal places of
+the city, while the heralds proclaimed his name and vaunted his
+prowess.[33]
+
+As long vigils, fast, prayers, and confessions had preceded and
+accompanied the admission of the new knight, festivals, banquets, and
+tournaments followed.[34] The banquets and the festivals, as common to all
+ages, though differing in each, I will pass over: suffice it, that one of
+the strictest laws of Chivalry forbade gluttony and intemperance.
+
+The tournament, as a purely chivalrous institution, I must mention; though
+so much has been already written on the subject, that I could have wished
+to pass it over in silence. The most complete description ever given of a
+tournament is to be found in the writings of one whose words are pictures;
+and if I dared but copy into this place the account of the passage of arms
+in Ivanhoe, I should be enabled to give a far better idea of what such a
+scene really was, than all the antiquarian researches in my power will
+afford.
+
+All military nations, from the earliest antiquity, have known and
+practised various athletic games in imitation of warfare; and we of course
+find among the Franks various exercises of the kind from the very first
+records which we have of that people. Nithard,[35] however, gives an
+elaborate picture of these mock-fights as practised in the reigns
+succeeding Charlemagne; and we find but little resemblance to the
+tournament. Four equal bands of Saxons, Gascons, Austrasians, and
+Armoricans (or Britons,[36] as they are there called) met together in an
+open place, and, while the populace stood round as spectators, pursued
+each other, in turn, brandishing their arms, and seeming fiercely to seek
+the destruction of their adversaries. When this had proceeded for some
+time, Louis and Charles (the two monarchs in whose history the description
+is given) suddenly rushed into the field with all their choice companions,
+and, with quivering lances and loud cries, followed, now one, now another,
+of the parties, who took care to fly before their horses.
+
+The first authentic mention of a tournament[37] is to be found in the
+Chronicle of Tours, which records the death of Geoffrey de Priuli in 1066;
+adding the words _qui torneamenta invenit_--who invented tournaments. From
+the appearance[38] of these exercises in Germany[39] about the same time,
+we may conclude that this date is pretty nearly correct; and that if
+tournaments were not absolutely invented at that precise period, they were
+then first regulated by distinct laws.
+
+In England[40] they did not appear till several years later, when the
+Norman manners introduced after the conquest had completely superseded the
+customs of the Saxons.
+
+Thus much has seemed necessary to me to say concerning the origin of
+tournaments, as there are so many common fables on the subject which give
+far greater antiquity to the exercise than that which it is entitled to
+claim.
+
+The ceremonies and the splendour of the tournament of course differed in
+different ages and different countries; but the general principle was the
+same. It was a chivalrous game, originally instituted for practising those
+exercises, and acquiring that skill which was likely to be useful in
+knightly warfare.
+
+A tournament was usually given upon the occasion of any great meeting, for
+either military or political purposes. Sometimes it was the king himself
+who sent his heralds through the land to announce to all noblemen and
+ladies, that on a certain day he would hold a grand tournament, where all
+brave knights might try their prowess. At other times a tournament was
+determined on by a body of independent knights; and messengers were often
+sent into distant countries to invite all gallant gentlemen to honour the
+passage of arms.
+
+The spot fixed upon for the lists was usually in the immediate
+neighbourhood of some abbey or castle, where the shields of the
+various[41] cavaliers who purposed combating were exposed to view for
+several days previous to the meeting. A herald was also placed beneath the
+cloisters to answer all questions concerning the champions, and to receive
+all complaints against any individual knight. If, upon investigation, the
+kings of arms and judges of the field found that a just accusation was
+laid against one[42] of the knights proposing to appear, a peremptory
+command excluded him from the lists; and if he dared in despite thereof to
+present himself, he was driven forth with blows and ignominy.
+
+Round about the field appointed for the spectacle were raised galleries,
+scaffoldings, tents,[43] and pavilions, decorated with all the
+magnificence of a luxurious age. Banners and scutcheons, and bandrols,
+silks and cloth of gold, covered the galleries and floated round the
+field; while all that rich garments and precious stones, beauty and youth,
+could do to outshine the inanimate part of the scene, was to be found
+among the spectators. Here too was seen the venerable age of Chivalry--all
+those old knights whose limbs were no longer competent to bear the weight
+of arms, surrounding the field to view the prowess of their children and
+judge the deeds of the day. Heralds and pursuivants, in the gay and
+many-coloured garments which they peculiarly affected, fluttered over the
+field, and bands of warlike music were stationed near to animate the
+contest and to salute the victors.
+
+The knights, as they appeared in the lists, were greeted by the heralds
+and the people[44] according to their renown; but the approbation of the
+female part of the spectators was the great stimulus to all the Chivalry
+of the field. Each knight, as a part of his duty, either felt or feigned
+himself in love; and it was upon these occasions that his lady might
+descend from the high state to which the mystic adoration of the day had
+raised her, and bestow upon her favoured champion a glove, a riband, a
+bracelet,[45] a jewel, which, borne on his crest through the
+hard-contested field, was the chief object of his care, and the great
+excitement to his valour.
+
+Often, too, in the midst of the combat, if accident or misfortune deprived
+the favoured knight of the gage of his lady's affection, her admiration or
+her pity won her to supply another token, sent by a page or squire, to
+raise again her lover's resolution, and animate him to new exertions.
+
+The old romance of Perce-forest gives a curious picture of the effects
+visible after a tournament, by the eagerness with which the fair
+spectators had encouraged the knights. "At the close of the tournament,"
+says the writer, "the ladies were so stripped of their ornaments, that the
+greater part of them were bareheaded. Thus they went their ways with their
+hair floating on their shoulders more glossy than fine gold; and with
+their robes without the sleeves, for they had given to the knights to
+decorate themselves, wimples and hoods, mantles and shifts, sleeves and
+bodies. When they found themselves undressed to such a pitch, they were at
+first quite ashamed; but as soon as they saw every one was in the same
+state, they began to laugh at the whole adventure, for they had all
+bestowed their jewels and their clothes upon the knights with so good a
+will, that they had not perceived that they uncovered themselves."
+
+This is probably an exaggerated account of the enthusiasm which the events
+of a tournament excited in the bosom of the fair ladies of that day: but
+still, no doubt can be entertained, that they not only decorated their
+knights before the tournament with some token of their approbation, but in
+the case of its loss, often sent him even a part of their dress in the
+midst of the conflict.
+
+The other spectators, also, though animated by less thrilling interests,
+took no small share in the feelings and hopes of the different parties.
+Each blow of the lance or sword, struck well and home, was greeted with
+loud acclamations; and valour met with both its incitement and its reward,
+in the expecting silence and the thundering plaudits with which each good
+champion's movements were waited for and seen.
+
+In the mean while, without giving encouragement to any particular knight,
+the heralds strove to animate all by various quaint and characteristic
+exclamations, such as "The love of ladies!" "Death to the horses!" "Honour
+to the brave!" "Glory to be won by blood and sweat!" "Praise to the sons
+of the brave!"
+
+It would occupy too much space to enter into all the details of the
+tournament, or to notice all the laws by which it was governed. Every care
+was taken that the various knights should meet upon equal terms; and many
+a precaution was made use of to prevent accidents, and to render the
+sports both innocent and useful. But no regulations could be found
+sufficient to guard against the dangerous consequences of such furious
+amusements; and Ducange gives a long list of princes and nobles who lost
+their lives in these fatal exercises. The church often interfered, though
+in vain, to put them down; and many monarchs forbade them in their
+dominions; but the pomp with which they were accompanied, and the
+excitement they afforded to a people fond of every mental stimulus,
+rendered them far more permanent than might have been expected.
+
+The weapons in tournaments were, in almost all cases, restrained to
+blunted swords and headless spears, daggers, and battle-axes; but, as may
+well be imagined, these were not to be used without danger; so that even
+those festivals that passed by without the absolute death of any of the
+champions, left, nevertheless, many to drag out a maimed and miserable
+existence, or to die after a long and weary sickness. And yet the very
+peril of the sport gave to it an all-powerful interest, which we can best
+conceive, at present, from our feelings at some deep and thrilling
+tragedy.
+
+After the excitement, and the expectation, and the suspense, and the
+eagerness, came the triumph and the prize--and the chosen queen of the
+field bestowed upon the champion whose feats were counted best, that
+reward, the value of which consisted more in the honour than the thing
+itself. Sometimes it was a jewel,[46] sometimes a coronet[47] of flowers
+or of laurel; but in all cases the award implied a right to one kiss from
+the lips of the lady appointed to bestow the prize. It seems to have been
+as frequent a practice to assign this prize on the field, as in the
+chateau[48] or palace whither the court retired after the sports were
+concluded; and we often find that the female part of the spectators were
+called to decide upon the merits of the several champions, and to declare
+the victor[49] as well as confer the reward. Mirth and festivity ever
+closed the day of the tournament, and song and sports brought in the
+night.
+
+Every thing that could interest or amuse a barbarous age was collected on
+the spot where one of these meetings was held. The minstrel or
+_menestrier_, the juggler, the saltimbank, the story-teller, were present
+in the hall to soothe or to entertain; but still the foundation of tale
+and song was Chivalry;--the objects of all praise were noble deeds and
+heroic actions; and the very voice of love and tenderness, instead of
+seducing to sloth and effeminacy, was heard prompting to activity, to
+enterprise, and to honour--to the defence of virtue, and the search for
+glory.
+
+It may be here necessary to remark, that there were several sorts of
+tournaments, which differed essentially from each other; but I shall not
+pause upon these any longer than merely to point out the particular
+differences between them. The joust, which was certainly a kind of
+tournament, was always confined to two persons, though these persons
+encountered each other with blunted arms.[50]
+
+The combat at outrance was, in fact, a duel, and only differed from the
+trial by battle in being voluntary, while the other was enforced by law.
+This contest was often the event of private quarrels, but was, by no
+means, always so; and, to use the language of Ducange, "though mortal, it
+took place ordinarily between persons who most frequently did not know
+each other, or, at least, had no particular misunderstanding, but who
+sought alone to show forth their courage, generosity, and skill in arms."
+Sometimes, however, the combat at outrance was undertaken by a number of
+knights[51] together, and often much blood was thus shed, without cause.
+
+The _pas d'armes_ or passage of arms, differed from general tournaments,
+inasmuch as a certain number of knights fixed their shields and tents in a
+particular pass, or spot of ground, which they declared their intention to
+defend against all comers.[52] The space before their tents was generally
+listed in, as for a tournament; and, during the time fixed for the defence
+of the passage, the same concourse of spectators, heralds, and minstrels
+were assembled.
+
+The round table was another distinct sort of tournament,[53] held in a
+circular amphitheatre, wherein the knights invited jousted against each
+other. The origin of this festival, which was held, I believe, for the
+last time by Edward III., is attributed to Roger Mortimer,[54] who, on
+receiving knighthood, feasted a hundred knights and a hundred ladies at a
+round table. The mornings were spent in chivalrous games, the prize of
+which was a golden lion, and the evenings in banquets and festivities.
+This course of entertainments continued three days with the most princely
+splendour; after which Mortimer, having won the prize himself, conducted
+his guests to Warwick, and dismissed them.
+
+From this account, taken from the History of the Priory of Wigmore,
+Menestrier deduces that those exercises called "round tables" were only
+tournaments, during which the lord or sovereign giving the festival
+entertained his guests at a table which, to prevent all ceremony in
+respect to precedence, was in the form of a circle. Perhaps, however, this
+institution may have had a different and an earlier origin, though I find
+it mentioned in no author previous to the year 1279.[55]
+
+Chivalry, which in its pristine purity knew no reward but honour, soon--as
+it became combined with power--appropriated to itself various privileges
+which, injuring its simplicity, in the end brought about its fall. In the
+first place, the knight was, by the fact of his Chivalry, the judge of all
+his equals, and consequently of all his inferiors.[56] He was also, in
+most cases, the executor of his own decree, and it would indeed have
+required a different nature from humanity to secure such a jurisdiction
+from frequent perversion. The knight[57] also took precedence of all
+persons who had not received Chivalry, a distinction well calculated to do
+away with that humility which was one of knighthood's strictest laws.[58]
+Added to this was the right of wearing particular dresses and colours,
+gold and jewels, which were restrained to the knightly class, by very
+severe ordinances. Scarlet and green were particularly reserved for the
+order of knighthood, as well as ermine, minever, and some other furs.
+Knights also possessed what was called privilege of clergy, that is to
+say, in case of accusation, they could claim to be tried before the
+ecclesiastical judge.[59] Their arms were legally forbidden to all other
+classes, and the title of Sire, Monseigneur, Sir, Don, &c., were applied
+to them alone, till the distinction was lost in the course of time.
+
+Though these privileges changed continually, and it is scarcely possible
+to say what age gave birth to any one of them, yet it is evident that
+monarchs, after they had seen the immense influence which Chivalry might
+have on their own power, and had striven to render it an engine for their
+own purposes, took every care to secure all those rights and immunities to
+the order which could in some degree balance the hardships, fatigues, and
+dangers inevitably attendant upon it, and supply the place of that
+enthusiasm which of course grew fainter as the circumstances which
+excited it changed, and the objects which it sought were accomplished.
+
+It is probable that there would always have been many men who would have
+coveted Chivalry for the sole purpose of doing good and protecting the
+innocent; but monarchs sought to increase the number of knights as a means
+of defending their realms and extending their power, and, consequently,
+they supplied other motives and external honours as an inducement to those
+persons of a less exalted mind.
+
+Chivalry was indeed a distinction not to be enjoyed without many and
+severe labours. The first thing after receiving knighthood was generally a
+long journey[60] into foreign countries, both for the purpose of jousting
+with other knights, and for instruction in every sort of chivalrous
+knowledge. There the young knight studied carefully the demeanour of every
+celebrated champion he met, and strove to glean the excellencies of each.
+Thus he learned courtesy and grace, and thus he heard all the famous
+exploits of the day which, borne from court to court by these chivalrous
+travellers, spread the fame of great deeds from one end of the world to
+the other.[61]
+
+It cannot be doubted that this practice of wandering armed through Europe
+gave great scope to licentiousness in those who were naturally
+ill-disposed; and many a cruelty and many a crime was assuredly committed
+by that very order instituted to put down vice and to protect innocence.
+To guard against this the laws of Chivalry were most severe;[62] and as
+great power was intrusted to the knight, great was the shame and dishonour
+if he abused it. The oath taken in the first place was as strictly opposed
+to every vice, as any human promise could be, and the first principle of
+chivalrous honour was never to violate an engagement. I must here still
+repeat the remark, that it was the spirit which constituted the Chivalry,
+and as that spirit waned, Chivalry died away.
+
+One of the most curious institutions of Chivalry was that which required a
+knight, on his return from any expedition,[63] to give a full and minute
+account to the heralds, or officers of arms, of all his adventures during
+his absence, without reserve or concealment; telling as well his reverses
+and discomfitures, as his honours and success. To do this he was bound by
+oath; and the detail thus given was registered by the herald, who by such
+relations learned to know and estimate the worth and prowess of each
+individual knight. It served also to excite other adventurers to great
+deeds in imitation of those who acquired fame and honour; and it afforded
+matter of consolation to the unfortunate, who in those registers must ever
+have met with mishaps to equal or surpass their own.
+
+The spirit of Chivalry, however, led to a thousand deeds and habits not
+required nor regulated by any law. Were two armies opposed to each other,
+or even encamped in the neighbourhood of each other, though at peace,[64]
+the knights would continually issue forth singly from the ranks to
+challenge any other champion to come out, and break a lance in honour of
+his lady. Often before a castle, or on the eve of a battle, a knight would
+vow to some holy saint never to quit the field, or abandon the siege, till
+death or victory ended his design. Frequently, too, we find that in the
+midst of some great festival, where all the Chivalry of the land was
+assembled, a knight would suddenly appear, bearing in his hands[65] a
+peacock, a heron, or some other bird. Presenting it in turn to each noble
+in the assembly, he would then demand their oath upon that bird to do some
+great feat of arms against the enemy. No knight dared to refuse, and the
+vow so taken was irrevocable and never broken.
+
+One of the most extraordinary customs of Chivalry, and also one of the
+most interesting, was the adoption of a brother in arms.[66]
+
+This custom[67] seems to have taken its rise in England, and was in common
+use especially among the Saxons. After the Conquest, however, it rapidly
+spread to other nations, and seems to have been a favourite practice with
+the crusaders. Esteem and long companionship were the first principles of
+this curious sort of alliance, which bound one knight to another by ties
+more strict than those of blood itself.
+
+It is true the brotherhood in arms was often contracted but for a time, or
+under certain circumstances,[68] which once passed by, the engagement was
+at an end; but far oftener it was a bond for life, uniting interests and
+feelings, and dividing dangers and successes. The brothers in arms[69] met
+all perils together, undertook all adventures in company, shared in the
+advantage of every happy enterprise, and partook of the pain or loss of
+every misfortune. If the one was attacked in body, in honour, or in
+estate, the other sprang forward to defend him. Their wealth and even
+their thoughts were in common; so that the news which the one received, or
+the design that he formed, he was bound to communicate to the other
+without reserve. Even if the one underlay a wager of battle[70] against
+any other knight, and was cut off by death before he could discharge
+himself thereof, his brother in arms was bound to appear in the lists, in
+defence of his honour, on the day appointed.
+
+Sometimes[71] this fraternity of arms was contracted by a solemn deed;
+sometimes by a vow ratified by the communion and other ceremonies of the
+church. In many cases,[72] however, the only form consisted in the mutual
+exchange of arms, which implied the same devotion to each other, and the
+same irrevocable engagement.
+
+I have now said sufficient concerning the habits and customs of the
+ancient knights, to give a general idea of the rules by which Chivalry was
+governed, and the spirit by which it was animated. That spirit waxed
+fainter, it is true, as luxury and pomp increased, and as the barbarities
+of an early age merged into the softer licentiousness that followed.
+
+But the rules of the order themselves remained unchanged, and did far more
+than any other institution to restrain the general incontinence[73] of the
+age. Even in those days when chivalrous love was no longer pure, and
+chivalrous religion no longer the spring of the noblest morality, the
+spirit of the days of old lingered amid the ruins of the falling
+institution. An Edward, a Du Guesclin, a Bayard, a Sidney, would rise up
+in the midst of corrupted times, and shame the vices of the day by still
+showing one more true knight; and even now, when the order has altogether
+passed away, we feel and benefit by its good effects.
+
+So complete a change has come over manners and customs, so rapid has been
+our late progress, and so many and vast have been the events of latter
+years, that to trace the remains of Chivalry in any of our present
+feelings or institutions, seems but a theoretical dream. The knights of
+old are looked upon as things apart, that have neither kin nor community
+with ourselves; their acts are hardly believed; and their very existence
+is doubted. Let him who would make historical remembrance more tangible,
+and see how nearly the days of Chivalry approach to our own, run his eye
+over one short page in the chronology of the world, and he will find that
+no more than three centuries have passed since Bayard himself died, a
+knight without reproach.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+_The Progress of Chivalry in Europe--Exploits--That some great Enterprise
+was necessary to give Chivalry an extensive and permanent Effect--That
+Enterprise presented itself in the Crusades--Pilgrimage to Jerusalem--
+Haroun Al Raschid--Charlemagne--Cruelties of the Turks--Pilgrimages
+continued--Peter the Hermit--Council of Clermont._
+
+
+The picture which I have just attempted to draw of the various customs of
+Chivalry must be looked upon rather as a summary of its institutions and
+feelings, as they changed through many ages and many nations, than as a
+likeness of Chivalry at any precise period, or in any one country.
+
+Previous to the age of the crusades, to which I now propose to turn as
+speedily as possible, the state of Chivalry in Europe had made but little
+progress. It had spread, however, as a spirit, to almost all the nations
+surrounding the cradle of its birth. In Spain Alphonso VI.[74] was already
+waging a completely chivalric war against the Moors, and many of the
+knights of France, who afterward distinguished themselves in the Holy
+Land, had, in the service of one or other of the Spanish princes, tried
+their arms against the Saracens.
+
+In England we have seen that there is reason to suppose the institution of
+knighthood was known to the Saxons,[75] though the indiscriminate manner
+in which the word _miles_ is used in the Latin chronicles of the day
+renders it scarcely possible to ascertain at what period the order was
+introduced. The same difficulty indeed occurs in regard to the Normans,
+though from various circumstances connected with the accounts given by
+William of Jumieges,[76] of the reigns of William I. and Richard I., Dukes
+of Normandy, we are led to believe that Chivalry was very early introduced
+among that people. At all events it seems certain that after the accession
+of Richard to the ducal dignity, A. D. 960, knightly feelings made great
+progress among the Normans, and in 1003, we find an exploit so purely
+chivalrous, performed by a body of forty gentlemen from Normandy, that we
+cannot doubt the spirit of knighthood in its purest form had already
+spread through that country.
+
+"Forty Norman gentlemen," says Vertot, "all warriors, who had
+distinguished themselves in the armies of the Duke of Normandy, returning
+from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, disembarked in Italy without arms.
+Having learned that the town of Salerno was besieged by the Saracens,
+their zeal for religion caused them instantly to throw themselves into
+that place. Guimard, the Prince of Salerno, had shut himself up in the
+town, to defend it to the last against the infidels; and he immediately
+caused arms and horses to be given to the Norman gentlemen, who made so
+many vigorous and unexpected sallies upon the Saracens, that they
+compelled them to raise the siege." In Italy we find many traces of
+Chivalry at an early date, and it would appear that the institution which
+took its rise in France was no sooner known than adopted by most other
+nations. The Normans, whom we have seen above succouring the Prince of
+Salerno in his necessity, did not remain a sufficient length of time in
+Italy to spread the chivalrous spirit; but it is said that Guimard, after
+using every effort to induce them to stay, sent deputies after them to
+Normandy, praying for aid from the nobles of that country against the
+Saracens. Several large bodies of Norman adventurers, in consequence of
+his promises and persuasions, proceeded to establish themselves in Apulia
+and Calabria, defeated the Saracens, cleared the south of Italy and part
+of Greece of those locust-like invaders, and re-established the Greek and
+Italian princes in their dominions. These princes, however, soon became
+jealous of their new allies, and employed various base means to destroy
+them. They, on the other hand, united for mutual defence, and under the
+famous Robert Guiscard, one of twelve brothers who had left Normandy for
+Italy together, they speedily conquered for themselves the countries which
+they had restored to ungrateful lords. Guiscard was now universally
+acknowledged as their chief, and thus began the chivalrous Norman empire
+in Italy.
+
+Nothing, perhaps, more favoured the general progress of Chivalry than the
+state of religion in that day; which, overloaded with superstitions, and
+decked out with every external pomp and ornament, appealed to the
+imagination through the medium of the senses, and woke a thousand
+enthusiasms which could find no such fitting career as in the pursuits of
+knighthood. The first efforts of the feudal system, too, gradually
+extending themselves to every part of Europe, joined to make Chivalry
+spread through the different countries where they were felt, by raising up
+a number of independent lords who--each anxious to reduce his neighbours
+to vassalage, and to preserve his own separate lordship--required
+continual armed support from others, to whom he offered in return honour
+and protection.
+
+Thus, for about a century, or perhaps a little more, after the first
+institution of knighthood, Chivalry slowly gained ground, and by each
+exploit of any particular body of knights (such, for instance, as we have
+recorded of the Normans) the order became more and more respected, and its
+establishment more firm, decided, and regular. It wanted but one great
+enterprise commenced and carried through upon chivalrous principles alone
+to render Chivalry, combined as it was with religion and the feudal
+system, the great master power of Europe--and that enterprise was at hand.
+
+The natural reverence for those countries, sanctified and elevated by so
+many miracles, and rendered sublimely dear to the heart of every
+Christian, as the land in which his salvation was brightly but terribly
+worked out, had from all ages rendered Palestine an object of pilgrimage.
+In the earliest times, after the recognition of the Christian faith by
+Constantine, the subjects of the Roman empire had followed the example of
+the empress Helena, and had deemed it almost a Christian duty to visit the
+scenes of our Saviour's mortal career. For many ages while the whole of
+Judea remained under the sway of the Cesars, the journey was an easy one.
+Few difficulties waylaid the passenger, or gave pilgrimage even the merit
+of dangers encountered and obstacles overcome.
+
+Towards the seventh century, the eastern provinces of the Roman empire,
+already weakened by many invasions, had to encounter the exertions of
+another adversary, who succeeded in wresting them from their Christian
+possessors. The successors of Mahomet, who from a low station had become a
+great legislator, a mighty conqueror, and a pretended prophet, carried on
+the conquest which he had begun in Arabia, and one by one made themselves
+masters of Syria, Antioch, Persia, Medea, and in fact the greater part of
+the rich continent of Asia.
+
+It is not here my purpose to trace the progress of these conquerors, or to
+examine for a moment the religion they professed. Suffice it, that in the
+days of Charlemagne the fame of that great prince produced from the calif
+Haroun al Raschid many liberal concessions in favour of the Christian
+pilgrims to Jerusalem, now in the hands of the unbelievers.
+
+Particular ages seem fertile in great men; and it is very rare to find one
+distinguished poet, monarch, or conqueror standing alone in his own
+century. Nay more;--we generally discover--however different the country
+that produces them, and however opposite the circumstances under which
+they are placed--that there is a similarity in the character of the mind,
+if I may so express myself without obscurity, of the eminent persons
+produced in each particular age. This was peculiarly the case in the age
+of Charlemagne. It seemed as if the most remote corners of the earth had
+made an effort, at the same moment, to produce from the bosom of barbarism
+and confusion a great and intelligent monarch--an Alfred, a Haroun, and a
+Charlemagne. The likeness seemed to be felt by the two great emperors of
+the east and the west; and a reciprocation of courtesy[77] and friendship
+appears to have taken place between them, most rare in that remote age.
+Various presents were transmitted from one to the other; and the most
+precious offering that the Christian monarch could receive, the keys of
+the Holy City, were sent from Bagdad to Aix, together with a standard,
+which has been supposed to imply the sovereignty of Jerusalem resigned by
+Haroun to his great contemporary. Nothing could afford a nobler proof of a
+great, a liberal, and a delicate mind, than the choice evinced by the
+calif in his gift. Charlemagne took advantage so far of Haroun's
+liberality,[78] as to establish an hospital and a library for the Latin
+pilgrims.
+
+The successors of Haroun, and more particularly Monstacer Billah,
+continued to yield tolerance at least, if not protection, to the
+Christians of Jerusalem. The pilgrims also were more or less protected
+during the reigns that followed, both from motives of liberal feeling and
+of interest, as the great influx of travellers, especially from Italy,
+brought much wealth and commerce into Syria.
+
+Under the califs of the Fatemite race several persecutions took place; and
+when at length the invasion of the Turkish hordes had brought the whole of
+Palestine under the dominion of a wild and barbarous race, Jerusalem was
+taken and sacked; and while the Christian inhabitants were treated with
+every sort of brutal cruelty, the pilgrims were subject to taxation[79] on
+their arrival, as well as liable to plunder by the way.
+
+A piece of gold was exacted for permission to enter the Holy City; and at
+that time, when the value of the precious metals was infinitely higher
+than in the present day, few, if any, of the pilgrims on their arrival
+possessed sufficient to pay the cruel demand.
+
+Thus, after having suffered toils unheard of--hunger, thirst, the parching
+influence of a burning sky, sickness, danger, and often robbery, and
+wounds; when the weary wanderer arrived at the very entrance of the city,
+with the bourn of all his long pilgrimage before him, the enthusiastic
+object of all his hopes in sight, the place of refuge and repose for which
+he had longed and prayed within his reach--unless he could pay the
+stipulated sum, he was driven by the barbarians from the gates, and was
+forced to tread back all his heavy way unfurnished with any means, and
+unsupported by any hope, or to die by the roadside of want, weariness, and
+despair.
+
+The pilgrimages nevertheless continued with unremitting zeal; and the
+number of devotees increased greatly in the tenth and eleventh centuries.
+In the tenth, indeed, the custom of pilgrimage became almost universal,
+from a misinterpretation[80] of a prophecy in the Apocalypse. A general
+belief prevailed that at the end of the tenth century, the thousand years
+being concluded, the world was to be judged; and crowds of men and women,
+in the frantic hope of expiating their sins by the long and painful
+journey to the Holy Land, flocked from all parts of Europe towards
+Jerusalem.
+
+Many of the more clear-sighted and sensible of the Christian prelates had
+from time to time attempted to dissuade the people from these dangerous
+and fatal pilgrimages; but the principle of bodily infliction being
+received as a mark of internal penitence and a means of obtaining
+absolution, had been so long inculcated by the church of Rome, that the
+current of popular opinion had received its impulse, and it was no longer
+possible to turn it from its course. No penance could be more painful or
+more consistent with the prejudices of the multitude, than a pilgrimage to
+the Holy Land; and thus the priests continued often to enforce the act,
+while the heads of the church themselves, as religion became corrupted,
+learned to see this sort of penitence in the same light as the people, and
+encouraged its execution. They found the great efficacy of external
+excitements in stimulating the populace to that superstitious obedience on
+which they were fast building up the authority of the Roman church, and
+probably also were not without a share in the bigoted enthusiasm which
+they taught. Thus in the tenth century the pilgrimages which fear lest the
+day of judgment should be approaching induced many to undertake in
+expiation of their sins, met but little opposition; while various meteoric
+phenomena, of a somewhat awful nature, earthquakes, hurricanes, &c.,
+contributed to increase the general alarm.
+
+When these had passed by, and the dreaded epoch had brought forth nothing,
+the current still continued to flow on in the course that it had taken;
+and during the eleventh century several circumstances tended to increase
+it. Among others the terror spread through France by the Papal Interdict,
+called forth by the refractory adherence of Robert I. to his queen[81]
+Bertha, brought more pilgrims than usual from that country.
+
+Of many thousands who passed into Asia,[82] a few isolated individuals
+only returned; but these every day, as they passed through the different
+countries of Europe on their journey back, spread indignation and horror
+by their account of the dreadful sufferings of the Christians in Judea.
+Various[83] letters are reported as having been sent by the emperors of
+the east to the different princes of Europe, soliciting aid to repel the
+encroachments of the infidel; and if but a very small portion of the
+crimes and cruelty attributed to the Turks by these epistles were believed
+by the Christians, it is not at all astonishing that wrath and horror took
+possession of every chivalrous bosom. Pope Sylvester II. had made an
+ineffectual appeal to Christendom towards the end of the tenth century,
+bringing forward the first idea of a crusade;[84] but the age was not then
+ripe for a project that required a fuller developement of chivalrous
+feelings. Gregory VII. revived the idea, and made it the subject of a very
+pompous epistle; but he himself was one of the first to forget the
+miseries of his fellow-christians in Palestine, in the pursuit of his own
+aggrandizement.
+
+Still, the persecution of the Christians in Palestine, and the murder and
+pillage of the pilgrims continued; still the indignation of Europe was fed
+and renewed by repeated tales of cruel barbarity committed in the Holy
+Land--sufferings of the church--insults to religion--and merciless
+massacres of countrymen and relations: still, also, the spirit of Chivalry
+was each day spreading further and rising more powerfully, so that all was
+preparing for some great and general movement. The lightning of the
+crusade was in the people's hearts, and it wanted but one electric touch
+to make it flash forth upon the world.
+
+At this time a man, of whose early days we have little authentic
+knowledge, but that he was born at Amiens, and from a soldier had become a
+priest,[85] after living for some time the life of a hermit, became seized
+with the desire of visiting Jerusalem. He was, according to all
+accounts,[86] small in stature and mean in person; but his eyes possessed
+a peculiar fire and intelligence, and his eloquence was powerful and
+flowing. The fullest account of his manners and conduct is to be found in
+Robert the Monk, who was present at the council of Clermont, and in
+Guibert of Nogent, who speaks in the tone of one who has beheld what he
+relates.
+
+The first of these authors describes Peter the Hermit,[87] of whom we
+speak, as esteemed among those who best understand the things of earth,
+and superior in piety to all the bishops or abbots of the day. He fed upon
+neither flesh nor bread, says the same writer, though he permitted himself
+wine and other aliments, finding nevertheless his pleasure in the greatest
+abstinence.
+
+Guibert, or Gilbert, of Nogent, speaks still more fully of his public
+conduct.[88] "He set out," says the writer, "from whence I know not, nor
+with what design; but we saw him at that time passing through the towns
+and villages, preaching every where, and the people surrounding him in
+crowds, loading him with presents, and celebrating his sanctity with such
+high eulogiums, that I never remember to have seen such honours rendered
+to any other person. He showed himself very generous, however, in the
+distribution of the things given to him. He brought back to their homes
+the women that had abandoned their husbands, not without adding gifts of
+his own, and re-established peace between those who lived unhappily, with
+wonderful authority. In every thing he said or did, it seemed as if there
+was something of divine; so much so, that people went to pluck some of the
+hairs from his mule, which they kept afterward as relics; which I mention
+here not that they really were so, but merely served to satisfy the public
+love of any thing extraordinary. While out of doors he wore ordinarily a
+woollen tunic, with a brown mantle, which fell down to his heels. He had
+his arms and his feet bare, eat little or no bread, and lived upon fish
+and wine."
+
+Such was his appearance after his return: prior to that period it is
+probable that this hermit had made himself remarkable for nothing but his
+general eloquence and his ascetic severity. Great and extraordinary men
+are often long before opportunity gives scope for the display of the
+particular spirit whose efforts are destined to distinguish them. I mean
+not to class Peter the Hermit among great men; but certainly he deserves
+the character of one of the most extraordinary men that Europe ever
+produced, if it were but for the circumstance of having convulsed a
+world--led one continent to combat to extermination against another, and
+yet left historians in doubt whether he was madman or prophet, fool or
+politician.
+
+Peter, however, accomplished in safety his pilgrimage to Jerusalem,[89]
+paid the piece of gold demanded at the gates, and took up his lodging in
+the house of one of the pious Christians of the Holy City. Here his first
+emotion[90] seems to have been indignant horror at the barbarous and
+sacrilegious brutality of the Turks. The venerable prelate of Tyre
+represents him as conferring eagerly with his host upon the enormous
+cruelties of the infidels, even before visiting the general objects of
+devotion. Doubtless the ardent, passionate, enthusiastic mind of Peter had
+been wrought upon at every step he took in the Holy Land, by the miserable
+state of his brethren, till his feelings and imagination became excited to
+almost frantic vehemence. After performing the duties of the pilgrimage,
+visiting each object of reputed holiness,[91] and praying in those
+churches which had the fame of peculiar sanctity, Peter, with his heart
+wrung at beholding the objects of his deepest veneration in the hands of
+the church's enemies, demanded an audience of the patriarch, to whom some
+Latin friend presented him.
+
+Simeon the patriarch, though a Greek, and consequently in the eyes of
+Peter a heretic, was still a Christian, suffering in common with the rest
+of the faithful in the Holy Land, and the hermit saw in him that character
+alone. The union--the overflowing confidence with which the hermit and the
+prelate appear to have treated each other--raises them both in our
+estimation; but it also throws an historical light upon the character of
+Peter, which places him in a more elevated situation than modern
+historians have been willing to concede to him. The patriarch Simeon, a
+man as famous for his good sense as for his piety, would not, surely, have
+opened his inmost thoughts to a wandering pilgrim like Peter, and
+intrusted to him a paper sealed with his own seal, which, if taken by the
+Turks, would have ensured death to himself and destruction to Christianity
+in Palestine, had he not recognised in the hermit "a man,"[92] to use the
+words of William of Tyre, "full of prudence and experience in the things
+of this world."
+
+This, however, was the case; and after long conversations, wherein many a
+tear was shed over the hapless state of the Holy Land, it was determined,
+at the suggestion of Peter, that the patriarch should write to the pope
+and the princes of the west, setting forth the miseries of Jerusalem and
+of the faithful people of the Holy City, and praying for aid and
+protection against the merciless sword of the Saracen. Peter, on his part,
+promised to seek out each individual prince, and to show, with his whole
+powers of language, the ills of the Christians of Palestine.
+
+From these conversations Peter went again and again to pray in the church
+of the Resurrection, petitioning ardently for aid in the great undertaking
+before him. On one of these occasions it is said that he fell asleep,[93]
+and beheld the Saviour in a vision, who exhorted him to hasten on his
+journey, and persevere in his design.
+
+Without searching for any thing preternatural, the vision is not at all
+difficult to believe, though the place of its occurrence seems to have
+been fictitious. Nothing could be more natural than for Peter the Hermit,
+with his mind full of the mission he was about to undertake, to dream that
+the Being in whose cause he believed himself engaged appeared to encourage
+him, and to hasten his enterprise; and it is easy to conceive that, with
+full confidence in this manifestation of heavenly favour, he should set
+forth upon his journey with enthusiastic zeal.
+
+Bearing the letter of the patriarch, Peter now returned in haste to Italy,
+and sought out the pope, to declare the miseries of the church in the Holy
+Land, and to propose the means of its deliverance. Urban II., who then
+occupied the apostolic chair, had inherited from Gregory wars and
+contestations with the emperor Henry IV., and was at the same time
+embroiled with the weak and luxurious Philip I. of France, on the subject
+of that king's adulterous intercourse with Bertrade. He, as well as
+Gregory, had taken refuge in Apulia and Calabria, and had thrown himself
+upon the protection of the famous Robert Guiscard, who readily granted him
+the aid of that powerful mind which made the utmost parts of the earth
+tremble.[94]
+
+It does not correctly appear at what place Urban sojourned at the time of
+Peter's arrival in Italy.[95] His whole support was, evidently, still in
+the family of Guiscard; and it seems that with Boemond, Prince of
+Tarentum, the gallant and chivalrous son of Robert, he first held council
+upon the hermit's[96] great and interesting proposal, before he determined
+on the line of conduct to be pursued.
+
+One of the historians of the crusades,[97] attributing perhaps somewhat
+too much the spirit of modern politics to an age whose genius was of very
+different quality, supposes that the course determined on by the pope and
+his ally was, in fact, principally a shrewd plot to fix Urban firmly in
+the Vatican, and to forward Boemond's ambitious views in Greece. It seems
+to me, however, that such a supposition is perfectly irreconcilable with
+the subsequent conduct of either. The pope shortly after threw himself
+into the midst of his enemies, to hold a council on the subject of the
+crusades; and Boemond abandoned every thing in Europe to carry on the holy
+war in Palestine. It is much more natural to imagine that the spirit of
+their age governed both the prelate and the warrior--the enthusiasm of
+religion the one, and the enthusiasm of Chivalry the other.
+
+However that may be, Peter the Hermit met with a most encouraging
+reception from the pope. The sufferings of his fellow-christians brought
+tears from the prelate's eyes; the general scheme of the crusade was
+sanctioned[98] instantly by his authority; and, promising his quick and
+active concurrence, he sent him on, the pilgrim to preach the deliverance
+of the Holy Land through all the countries of Europe. Peter wanted neither
+zeal nor activity[99]--from town to town, from province to province, from
+country to country, he spread the cry of vengeance on the Turks, and
+deliverance to Jerusalem! The warlike spirit of the people was at its
+height; the genius of Chivalry was in the vigour of its early youth; the
+enthusiasm of religion had now a great and terrible object before it, and
+all the gates of the human heart were open to the eloquence of the
+preacher. That eloquence was not exerted in vain; nations rose at his word
+and grasped the spear; and it only wanted some one to direct and point the
+great enterprise that was already determined.
+
+In the mean time the pope did not forget his promise; and while Peter the
+Hermit spread the inspiration throughout Europe,[100] Urban called
+together a council at Placentia, to which deputies were admitted from the
+emperor of Constantinople, who displayed the progress of the Turks, and
+set forth the danger to all Christendom of suffering their arms to advance
+unopposed. The opinion of the assembly was universally favourable to the
+crusade; and trusting to the popularity of the measure, and the
+indications of support which he had already met with, the pope determined
+to cross the Alps and to hold a second council in the heart of Gaul.
+
+The ostensible object of this council was to regulate the state of the
+church, and to correct abuses; but the great object was, in fact, the
+crusade. It is useless to investigate the motives which gave Urban II.
+courage to summon a council, destined, among other things, to solemnly
+reprobate the dissolute conduct of Philip of France, in the midst of
+dominions, if not absolutely feudatory to the crown[101] of that monarch,
+at least bound to it by friendship and alliance. Whether it arose from
+fortitude of a just cause, or from reliance on political calculation, the
+prelate's judgment was proved by the event to be right. After one or two
+changes in regard to the place of meeting, the council was assembled at
+Clermont, in Auvergne,[102] and was composed of an unheard-of multitude of
+priests, princes, and nobles, both of France and Germany, all willing and
+eager to receive the pope's injunctions with reverence and obedience.
+After having terminated the less important affairs which formed the
+apparent business of the meeting, and which occupied the deliberation of
+seven days, Urban, one of the most eloquent men of the age, came forth
+from the church[103] in which the principal ecclesiastics were assembled,
+and addressed the immense concourse which had been gathered into one of
+the great squares, no building being large enough to contain the number.
+
+The prelate[104] then, with the language best calculated to win the hearts
+of all his hearers, displayed the miseries of the Christians in the Holy
+Land. He addressed the multitude as a people peculiarly favoured by God,
+in the gift of courage, strength, and true faith. He told them that their
+brethren in the east were trampled under the feet of infidels, to whom
+God had not granted the light of his Holy Spirit--that fire, plunder, and
+the sword had desolated completely the fair plains of Palestine--that her
+children were led away captive, or enslaved, or died under tortures too
+horrible to recount--that the women of their land were subjected to the
+impure passions of the pagans, and that God's own altar, the symbols of
+salvation, and the precious relics of the saints were all desecrated by
+the gross and filthy abomination of a race of heathens. To whom, then, he
+asked--to whom did it belong to punish such crimes, to wipe away such
+impurities, to destroy the oppressors, and to raise up the oppressed? To
+whom, if not to those who heard him, who had received from God strength,
+and power, and greatness of soul; whose ancestors had been the prop of
+Christendom, and whose kings had put a barrier to the progress of
+infidels? "Think!" he cried, "of the sepulchre of Christ our Saviour
+possessed by the foul heathen!--think of all the sacred places dishonoured
+by their sacrilegious impurities!--O brave knights, offspring of
+invincible fathers, degenerate not from your ancient blood! remember the
+virtues of your ancestors, and if you feel held back from the course
+before you by the soft ties of wives, of children, of parents, call to
+mind the words of our Lord himself: 'Whosoever loves father or mother more
+than me, is not worthy of me. Whosoever shall abandon for my name's sake
+his house, or his brethren, or his sisters, or his father, or his mother,
+or his wife, or his children, or his lands, shall receive an hundredfold,
+and shall inherit eternal life.'"
+
+The prelate then went on to point out the superior mundane advantages
+which those might obtain who took the Cross. He represented their own
+country as poor and arid, and Palestine as a land flowing with milk and
+honey; and, blending the barbarous ideas of a dark age with the powerful
+figures of enthusiastic eloquence, he proceeded--"Jerusalem is in the
+centre of this fertile land; and its territories, rich above all others,
+offer, so to speak, the delights of Paradise. That land, too, the Redeemer
+of the human race rendered illustrious by his advent, honoured by his
+residence, consecrated by his passion, repurchased by his death,
+signalized by his sepulture. That royal city, Jerusalem--situated in the
+centre of the world--held captive by infidels, who deny the God that
+honoured her--now calls on you and prays for her deliverance. From
+you--from you above all people she looks for comfort, and she hopes for
+aid; since God has granted to you, beyond other nations, glory and might
+in arms. Take, then, the road before you in expiation of your sins, and
+go, assured that, after the honour of this world shall have passed away,
+imperishable glory shall await you even in the kingdom of heaven!"
+
+Loud shouts of "God wills it! God wills it!" pronounced simultaneously by
+the whole people, in all the different dialects and languages of which the
+multitude was composed, here interrupted for a moment the speech of the
+prelate: but, gladly seizing the time, Urban proceeded, after having
+obtained silence, "Dear brethren, to-day is shown forth in you that which
+the Lord has said by his evangelist--'When two or three shall be assembled
+in my name, there shall I be in the midst of them;' for if the Lord God
+had not been in your souls, you would not all have pronounced the same
+words; or, rather, God himself pronounced them by your lips, for he it was
+that put them in your hearts. Be they, then, your war-cry in the combat,
+for those words came forth from God.--Let the army of the Lord, when it
+rushes upon his enemies, shout but that one cry, 'God wills it! God wills
+it!'[105]
+
+"Remember, however, that we neither order nor advise this journey to the
+old, nor to the weak, nor to those who are unfit to bear arms. Let not
+this way be taken by women, without their husbands, or their brothers, or
+their legitimate guardians, for such are rather a burden than an aid. Let
+the rich assist the poor, and bring with them, at their own charge, those
+who can bear arms to the field. Still, let not priests nor clerks, to
+whatever place they may belong, set out on this journey without the
+permission of their bishop; nor the layman undertake it without the
+blessing of his pastor, for to such as do so their journey shall be
+fruitless. Let whoever is inclined to devote himself to the cause of God,
+make it a solemn engagement, and bear the cross of the Lord either on his
+breast or on his brow till he set out; and let him who is ready to begin
+his march place the holy emblem on his shoulders, in memory of that
+precept of the Saviour--'He who does not take up his cross and follow me,
+is not worthy of me.'"
+
+The pontiff thus ended his oration, and the multitude prostrating
+themselves before him, repeated the _Confiteor_[106] after one of the
+cardinals. The pope then pronounced the absolution of their sins, and
+bestowed on them his benediction; after which they retired to their homes
+to prepare for the great undertaking to which they had vowed themselves.
+
+Miracles are told of the manner in which the news of this council, and of
+the events that distinguished it, spread to every part of the world; but
+nevertheless it did spread, as may easily be conceived, with great
+quickness, without any supernatural aid; and, to make use of the words of
+him from whom we have sketched the oration of the pope, "Throughout the
+earth, the Christians glorified themselves and were filled with joy, while
+the Gentiles of Arabia and Persia trembled and were seized with sadness:
+the souls of the one race were exalted, those of the others stricken with
+fear and stupor."
+
+Great, certainly, was the influence which the zeal and eloquence of Urban
+gave him over the people. Some authors, with a curious sort of historical
+puritanism, which leads them to judge of ages past only by the principles
+of the day in which they themselves exist, have reproached the pope with
+not using the means in his hands for purposes which would have needed the
+heart of a Fenelon to conceive properly, and the head of a Napoleon to
+execute. They say that, with the powers which he did possess, he might
+have reformed a world! It is hardly fair, methinks, to require of a man in
+a barbarous, ignorant, corrupted age the enlightened visions of the
+nineteenth century.
+
+Pope Urban II., at the end of the eleventh century, showed a great
+superiority to the age in which he lived, and at the council of Clermont
+evinced qualities of both the heart and the mind which have deservedly
+brought his name down to us with honour. His first act in the council was
+to excommunicate, for adulterous profligacy, Philip, monarch of the very
+ground on which he stood; and, in so doing, he made use of the only
+acknowledged authority by which the kings of that day could be checked in
+the course of evil. Whether the authority itself was or was not
+legitimate, is not here the question; but, being at the time undisputed,
+and employed for the best of objects, its use can in no way fairly be
+cited as an instance either of pride or ambition. The pope's conduct in
+preaching the crusade is equally justifiable. His views were of course
+those of the age in which he lived, and he acted with noble enthusiasm in
+accordance with those views. He made vast efforts, he endangered his
+person, he sacrificed his ease and comfort, to accomplish what no
+churchman of his day pretended to doubt was a glorious and a noble
+undertaking. In thus acting, he displayed great qualities of mind, and
+showed himself superior to the century in powers of _conducting_, if he
+was not so in the powers of _conceiving_ great designs.
+
+It would be very difficult to prove, also, that the pope, had he even
+possessed the will, could, by the exertion of every effort, have produced
+the same effect in any other cause that he did in favour of the crusades.
+I have already attempted to show that all things were prepared in Europe
+for the expedition to the Holy Land, by the spirit of religious and
+military enthusiasm; and the task was light, to aid in pouring on the
+current of popular feeling in the direction which it had already begun to
+take, when compared with the labour necessary to have turned that current
+into another channel. He who does not grasp the spirit of the age on which
+he writes, but judges of other days by the feelings of his own, is like
+one who would adapt a polar dress to the climate of the tropics.
+
+Before closing this chapter, one observation also must be made respecting
+the justice of the crusade, which enterprise it has become somewhat
+customary to look upon as altogether cruel and unnecessary. Such an
+opinion, however, is in no degree founded on fact. The crusade was not
+only as just as any other warfare of the day, but as just as any that ever
+was waged. The object was, the protection and relief of a cruelly
+oppressed and injured people--the object was, to repel a strong, an
+active, and an encroaching enemy--the object was, to wrest from the hands
+of a bloodthirsty and savage people territories which they themselves
+claimed by no right but the sword, and in which the population they had
+enslaved was loudly crying for deliverance from their yoke--the object
+was, to defend a weak and exposed frontier from the further aggression of
+a nation whose boast was conquest.
+
+Such were the objects of the crusades; and though much of superstition was
+mingled with the incitements, and many cruelties committed in its course,
+the evils were not greater than ordinary ambition every day produces; and
+the motives were as fair as any of those that have ever instigated the
+many feuds and warfares of the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+_The Effects of the Council of Clermont--State of France--Motives of the
+People for embracing the Crusade--Benefits produced--The Enthusiasm
+general--Rapid Progress--The First Bodies of Crusaders begin their
+March--Gautier Sans Avoir--His Army--Their Disasters--Reach
+Constantinople--Peter the Hermit sets out with an immense Multitude--
+Storms Semlin--Defeated at Nissa--His Host dispersed--The Remains
+collected--Joins Gautier--Excesses of the Multitude--The Italians and
+Germans separate from the French--The Germans exterminated--The French cut
+to pieces--Conduct of Alexius._
+
+
+The immediate effects of the council of Clermont are detailed with so much
+animation by Guibert of Nogent, that I shall attempt to trace them nearly
+in his own words, merely observing, that previous to his departure from
+France, Urban II., having taken every means in his power to secure the
+property of the crusaders during their absence, committed the chief
+direction of the expedition to Adhemar, Bishop of Puy, in Auvergne.[107]
+
+"As soon as the council of Clermont was concluded," says the historian, "a
+great rumour spread through the whole of France, and as soon as fame
+brought the news of the orders of the pontiff to any one, he went
+instantly to solicit his neighbours and his relations to engage with him
+in the _way of God_, for so they designated the purposed expedition.
+
+"The Counts Palatine[108] were already full of the desire to undertake
+this journey; and all the knights of an inferior order felt the same zeal.
+The poor themselves soon caught the flame so ardently, that no one paused
+to think of the smallness of his wealth, or to consider whether he ought
+to yield his house and his fields, and his vines; but each one set about
+selling his property, at as low a price as if he had been held in some
+horrible captivity, and sought to pay his ransom without loss of time.
+
+"At this period, too, there existed a general dearth. The rich even felt
+the want of corn; and many, with every thing to buy, had nothing, or next
+to nothing, wherewithal to purchase what they needed. The poor tried to
+nourish themselves with the wild herbs of the earth; and, as bread was
+very dear, sought on all sides food heretofore unknown, to supply the
+place of corn. The wealthy and powerful were not exempt; but finding
+themselves menaced with the famine which spread around them, and beholding
+every day the terrible wants of the poor, they contracted their expenses,
+and lived with the most narrow parsimony, lest they should squander the
+riches now become so necessary.
+
+"The ever insatiable misers rejoiced in days so favourable to their
+covetousness; and casting their eyes upon the bushels of grain which they
+had hoarded long before, calculated each day the profits of their avarice.
+Thus some struggled with every misery and want, while others revelled in
+the hopes of fresh acquisitions. No sooner, however, had Christ inspired,
+as I have said, innumerable bodies of people to seek a voluntary exile,
+than the money which had been hoarded so long was spread forth in a
+moment; and that which was horribly dear while all the world was in
+repose, was on a sudden sold for nothing, as soon as every one began to
+hasten towards their destined journey. Each man hurried to conclude his
+affairs; and, astonishing to relate, we then saw--so sudden was the
+diminution in the value of every thing--we then saw seven sheep sold for
+five deniers. The dearth of grain, also, was instantly changed into
+abundance; and every one, occupied solely in amassing money for his
+journey, sold every thing that he could, not according to its real worth,
+but according to the value set upon it by the buyer.
+
+"In the mean while, the greater part of those who had not determined upon
+the journey, joked and laughed at those who were thus selling their goods
+for whatever they could get; and prophesied that their voyage would be
+miserable, and their return worse. Such was ever the language one day; but
+the next--suddenly seized with the same desire as the rest--those who had
+been most forward to mock, abandoned every thing for a few crowns, and set
+out with those whom they had laughed at but a day before. Who shall tell
+the children and the infirm that, animated with the same spirit, hastened
+to the war? Who shall count the old men and the young maids who hurried
+forward to the fight?--not with the hope of aiding, but for the crown of
+martyrdom to be won amid the swords of the infidels. 'You, warriors,' they
+cried, 'you shall vanquish by the spear and brand; but let us, at least,
+conquer Christ by our sufferings.' At the same time, one might see a
+thousand things springing from the same spirit, which were both
+astonishing and laughable: the poor shoeing their oxen, as we shoe horses,
+and harnessing them to two-wheeled carts, in which they placed their
+scanty provisions and their young children; and proceeding onward, while
+the babes, at each town or castle that they saw, demanded eagerly whether
+that was Jerusalem."
+
+Such is the picture presented, by an eyewitness, of the state of France
+after the first promulgation of the crusade; and a most extraordinary
+picture it is. The zeal, the enthusiasm, the fervour of the spirit, the
+brutal ignorance and dark barbarity of the people, are the objects that
+catch the eye from the mere surface; but underneath may be seen a hundred
+fine and latent tints which mingle in the portrait of the age. There may
+be found the hope of gain and the expectation of wealth in other lands, as
+well as the excitement of devotion; and there also may be traced the
+reckless, daring courage of a period when comfort was unknown, and when
+security was scarcely less to be expected among the swords of the
+Saracens, than in the fields of France and Germany. While the thirst of
+adventure, the master-passion of the middle ages, prompted to any change
+of scene and circumstances, imagination portrayed the land in view with
+all that adventitious splendour which none--of all the many betrayers of
+the human mind--so well knows how to bestow as hope.
+
+The same land, when the Jews marched towards it from the wilderness, had
+been represented to them as a land flowing with milk and honey,--rich in
+all gifts; and doubtless that inducement moved the stubborn Hebrews, as
+much as the command of him they had so often disobeyed. Now the very same
+prospect was held out to another host of men, as ignorant of what lay
+before them as the Jews themselves; and it may be fairly supposed that, in
+their case too, imaginary hopes, and all the gay phantasma of ambition,
+shared powerfully with religion in leading them onward to the promised
+land.
+
+Still zeal, and sympathy, and indignation, and chivalrous feeling, and the
+thirst of glory, and the passion for enterprise, and a thousand vague but
+great and noble aspirations, mingled in the complicated motive of the
+crusade. It increased by contagion; it grew by communion; it spread from
+house to house, and from bosom to bosom; it became a universal desire--an
+enthusiasm--a passion--a madness.
+
+In the mean while, the crusade was not without producing a sensible
+benefit even to Europe. The whole country had previously been desolated by
+feuds[109] and pillage, and massacre. Castle waged war with castle: baron
+plundered baron; and from field to field, and city to city, the traveller
+could scarcely pass without injury or death. No sooner,[110] however, had
+the crusade been preached at the council of Clermont, than the universal
+peace, which was there commanded, called the _Truce[111] of God_, was
+sworn throughout the country, the plunder ceased and the feuds
+disappeared. The very fact of the wicked, the infamous, and the
+bloodthirsty having embraced the crusade, either from penitence or from
+worse motives, was a positive good to Europe. That not alone the
+good,[112] the religious, the zealous, or the brave, filled the ranks of
+the Cross is admitted on all hands; yet those who had once assumed that
+holy sign were obliged, in some degree, to act as if their motives had
+been pure, and their very absence was a blessing to the land they left.
+
+Still the crusade went on; and the imagination of the people being once
+directed towards a particular object found, even in the phenomena which in
+former days would have struck nations with fear and apprehension, signs of
+blessing and omens of success. An earthquake itself[113] was held as good
+augury; and scarcely a meteor shot across the sky without affording some
+theme for hope.
+
+The sign of the Cross was now to be seen on the shoulder of every one; and
+being generally cut in red[114] cloth, was a conspicuous and remarkable
+object. As these multiplied, the hearts even of the fearful grew strong,
+and the contagion of example added to the number every hour. Peter the
+Hermit, indefatigable in his calling, though his mind seems day by
+day[115] to have become more excited, till enthusiasm grew nearly akin to
+madness, gathered a vast concourse of the lower orders, and prepared to
+set out by the way of Hungary. But the real and serviceable body of
+crusaders was collected from among another class, whose military habits
+and chivalrous character were well calculated to effect the great object
+proposed.
+
+In France, Hugh, the brother of King Philip, Robert, Count of Flanders,
+Stephen, Count of Chartres and Blois, Adhemar, Bishop of Puy, William,
+Bishop of Orange, Raimond, Count of Toulouse, and many others of the
+highest station, assumed the Cross, and called together all the knights
+and retainers that their great names and influence could bring into the
+field. Robert, Duke of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror of England,
+accompanied by a number of English barons, prepared also for the crusade.
+Godfrey of Loraine, and his brothers were added to the number; and
+Boemond, Prince of Tarento, the valiant son of Robert Guiscard, cast from
+him the large possessions which his sword and that of his father had
+conquered, and turned his hopes and expectations towards the east.
+
+The immense multitudes thus assembled are said to have amounted to nearly
+six millions of souls;[116] and one of the most astonishing proofs of the
+rapidity with which the news of the crusade must have spread, and the
+enthusiasm with which it was received, is to be found in the fact, that
+the council of Clermont was held in the November of the year 1095, and
+that early in the spring of 1096 a large body of the crusaders was in
+motion towards Palestine.
+
+The historians of the day are not at all agreed in regard to which was the
+multitude that led the way towards the Holy Land. It appears[117] almost
+certain, however, that _Gautier sans avoir_, or Walter the Penniless, a
+Burgundian gentleman, without fortune, who had assembled a considerable
+band of the lower classes under the banner of the Cross, was the first who
+set out in compliance with the general vow. He was, according to all
+accounts, a complete soldier of fortune, renowned for his poverty even to
+a proverb, but by no means, as has been asserted, without military fame.
+All[118] the contemporary writers designate him by his cognomen of
+poverty; but all at the same time describe him as an illustrious warrior.
+Nevertheless, the host that he led was rather an ill-governed crowd of men
+on foot than an army; and but eight knights accompanied the leader on his
+expedition. The difficulties of the undertaking were incalculable; and the
+followers of Walter had provided but little for the necessities of the
+way. It showed, however, no small skill in that leader to conduct the
+disorderly rabble by which he was followed, so far as he did in safety.
+
+Passing through Germany,[119] he entered into Hungary; where, entangled
+among the marshes and passes of that kingdom, his whole followers must
+have perished inevitably, had he not met with the greatest kindness and
+assistance from the king and people of the country, who, professing the
+Christian religion, understood and venerated the motives of the crusade.
+
+Thus the host of Walter swept on till their arrival at Semlin, where some
+stragglers were attacked and plundered by a party of Hungarians less
+humane than their brethren. The arms and crosses of the crusaders who had
+thus been despoiled, were fixed upon the walls of the city as a sort of
+trophy; but Walter, though strongly urged by his followers to seek
+vengeance for the insult, wisely forbore and passing forward, entered into
+Bulgaria. Here the champions of the Cross met with no further aid. The
+people regarded them with jealous suspicion; the cities shut their gates
+upon them; all commerce was prohibited, and all supplies denied.
+
+Famine now imperiously urged them to violence; and having taken possession
+of whatever flocks and herds they could find, the crusaders soon found
+themselves attacked by the Bulgarians, by whom considerable numbers were
+cut off and destroyed.
+
+Walter himself, with great wisdom[120] and resolution, forced his way
+through innumerable difficulties, till he had left behind him the
+inhospitable country of the Bulgarians; and at length brought his army,
+infinitely wasted by both famine and the sword, to the neighbourhood of
+Constantinople. Here he obtained permission to refresh his forces, and
+wait the arrival of Peter the Hermit himself, who followed close upon his
+steps.
+
+The multitude which had been collected by the Hermit was even of a less
+uniform and regular description than that which had followed _Gautier sans
+avoir_. Men, women, and children,--all sexes, ages, and professions,--many
+and distinct languages--a quantity of baggage and useless encumbrance,
+rendered the army of Peter as unwieldy and dangerous an engine as ever was
+put in motion. Notwithstanding its bulk and inconsistency, it also
+proceeded in safety, and without much reproach, through Germany and
+Hungary; but at Semlin, the sight of the crosses and vestments which had
+been stripped from[121] the stragglers of Walter's host roused the anger
+of the multitude. The town was attacked and taken by assault, with all the
+acts of savage ferocity which usually follow such an occurrence; and the
+crusaders, without remorse, gave themselves up to every barbarity that
+dark and unrestrained passions could suggest.[122]
+
+The news of this event soon reached the king of Hungary; who, calling
+together a considerable force, marched to avenge the death and pillage of
+his subjects. His approach instantly caused Peter to decamp from Semlin;
+but the passage of the Morava was opposed by a tribe of savage Bulgarians:
+few boats were to be procured; those that were found were of small
+dimensions; and the rafts that could be hastily constructed were but
+little manageable in a broad and rapid river. Some of the crusaders thus
+perished in the water, some fell by the arrows of the enemy; but the tribe
+that opposed the passage being defeated and put to flight, the rest of
+Peter's followers were brought over in safety.
+
+The Hermit now, after having sacrificed the prisoners to what was then
+considered a just resentment, pursued his way to Nissa, in which town the
+Duke of Bulgaria had fortified himself, having abandoned Belgrade at the
+approach of the army of the Cross. Finding, however, that Peter did not at
+all contemplate taking vengeance for the inhospitality shown to _Gautier
+sans avoir_, the duke wisely permitted his subjects to supply the
+crusaders with necessaries.
+
+Thus all passed tranquilly under the walls of Nissa, till Peter and his
+host had absolutely departed, when some German stragglers, remembering a
+controversy of the night before with one of the Bulgarian merchants, set
+fire to several mills and houses without the walls of the town.
+
+Enraged at this wanton outrage, the armed people of the city rushed out
+upon the aggressors, and, not contented with sacrificing them to their
+fury, fell upon the rear of the Hermit's army, glutted their wrath with
+the blood of all that opposed them, and carried off the baggage, the
+women, the children, and all that part of the multitude whose weakness at
+once caused them to linger behind, and left them without defence.
+
+The moment that Peter heard of this event, he turned back; and, with a
+degree of calmness and moderation that does high honour to his memory, he
+endeavoured to investigate the cause of the disaster, and conciliate by
+courtesy and fair words. This negotiation was highly successful; the duke,
+appeased with the vengeance he had taken, agreed to return the prisoners
+and the baggage, and every thing once more assumed a peaceful aspect; when
+suddenly, a body of a thousand imprudent men, fancying that they saw an
+opportunity of seizing on the town, passed the stone bridge, and
+endeavoured to scale the walls. A general conflict ensued; the
+ill-disciplined host of the crusaders was defeated and dispersed, and
+Peter himself, obliged to fly alone, took refuge, like the rest, in the
+neighbouring forests.
+
+For some time he pursued his way over mountains,[123] and wastes, and
+precipices; and it may easily be conceived that his heart--so lately
+elated with honour, and command, and gratified enthusiasm--now felt
+desolate and crushed, to find the multitude his voice had gathered
+dispersed or slain, and himself a wandering fugitive in a foreign land,
+without shelter, protection, or defence. At length, it is said, he met by
+chance several of his best and most courageous knights at the top of a
+mountain, where they had assembled with no more than five hundred men,
+which seemed at first all that remained of his vast army.[124] He caused,
+however, signals to be made and horns to be sounded in the different parts
+of the forest, that any of the scattered crusaders within hearing might be
+brought to one spot.
+
+These and other means which were put in practice to call together the
+remnants of his army, proved so successful, that before night seven
+thousand men were collected, and with this force he hastened to march on
+towards Constantinople. As he went, other bands, which had been separated
+from him in the confusion of the flight, rejoined him, and the only
+difficulty, as the host advanced, was to procure the necessaries of life.
+
+The news of Peter's adventures flew before them, and reached even
+Constantinople. Alexius, the emperor, who had not yet learned to fear the
+coming of the crusaders, sent deputies to meet the Hermit, and to hasten
+his journey; and at Philippopoli the eloquent display of his sufferings,
+which Peter addressed to the assembled people, moved their hearts to
+compassion and sympathy. The wants of the host were plentifully supplied,
+and, after reposing for some days in the friendly city, the whole body,
+now again amounting to thirty thousand men, set out for Constantinople,
+where they arrived in safety, and joined the troops which Walter the
+Penniless had conducted thither previously.
+
+Here they found a considerable number of Lombards and Italians; but these,
+also, as well as the troops which they had themselves brought thither were
+not only of the lowest, but of the most disorderly classes of the people.
+It is no wonder therefore--although Alexius supplied them with money and
+provisions, and tried to secure to them the repose and comfort that they
+needed in every respect--that these ruffian adventurers should soon begin
+to tire of tranquillity and order, and to exercise their old trades of
+plunder and excess.[125] They overturned palaces, set fire to the public
+buildings, and stripped even the lead off the roofs of the churches, which
+they afterward sold to the Greeks from whom they had plundered it.
+
+Horrified by these enormities,[126] the emperor soon found a pretext to
+hurry them across the Bosphorus, still giving them the humane caution, to
+wait the arrival of stronger forces, before they attempted to quit
+Bithynia. Here, however, their barbarous licentiousness soon exceeded all
+bounds, and Peter the Hermit himself, having lost command over his
+turbulent followers, returned to Constantinople in despair, upon the
+pretence of consulting with the emperor on the subject of provisions.[127]
+
+After his departure, the Lombards and Germans separated themselves from
+the French and Normans, whose crimes and insolence disgusted even their
+barbarous fellows. _Gautier sans avoir_ still continued in command of the
+French, who remained where Peter had left them; but the Italians[128] and
+Germans chose for their leader one Renault, or Rinaldo, and, marching on,
+made themselves masters of a fortress called Exorogorgon, or Xerigord.
+Here they were attacked by the sultaun Soliman, who cut to pieces a large
+body placed in ambuscade, and then invested the fort, which, being ill
+supplied with water, he was well aware must surrender before long.
+
+For eight days the besieged underwent tortures too dreadful to be dwelt
+upon, from the most agonizing thirst. At the end of that time, Rinaldo and
+his principal companions went over to the Turks, abandoned their religion,
+and betrayed their brethren. The castle thus falling into the hands of the
+infidels, the Christians that remained were slaughtered without mercy.
+
+The news of this disaster was soon brought to the French camp, and
+indignation spread among the crusaders.[129] Some say a desire of
+vengeance, some a false report of the fall of Nice, caused the French to
+insist upon hurrying forward towards the Turkish territory. Gautier wisely
+resisted for some time all the entreaties of his troops, but at length
+finding them preparing to march without his consent, he put himself at
+their head, and led them towards Nice. Before reaching that place, he was
+encountered by the Turkish forces. The battle was fierce, but unequal:
+Gautier and his knights fought with desperate courage,[130] but all their
+efforts were vain; the Christians were slaughtered in every direction; and
+Gautier himself, after having displayed to the last that intrepid valour
+for which he was renowned, fell under seven mortal wounds.
+
+Not above three thousand Christians effected their escape to Civitot. Here
+again they were attacked by the Turks, who surrounded the fortress with
+vast piles of wood, in order to exterminate by fire the few of the
+crusaders that remained. The besieged, however, watched their moment, and
+while the wind blew towards the Turkish camp, set fire to the wood
+themselves, which thus was consumed without injury to them, while many of
+their enemies were destroyed by the flames.[131]
+
+In the mean time one of the crusaders had made his way to Constantinople,
+and communicated the news of all these disasters to Peter the Hermit. The
+unhappy Peter, painfully disappointed, like all those who fix their
+enthusiasm on the virtues or the prudence of mankind, was driven almost to
+despair, by the folly and unworthiness of those in whom he had placed his
+hopes. He nevertheless cast himself at the feet of the emperor
+Alexius,[132] and besought him, with tears and supplications, to send some
+forces to deliver the few crusaders who had escaped from the scimitar of
+the Turks.
+
+The monarch granted his request, and the little garrison of Civitot were
+brought in safety to Constantinople. After their arrival, however, Alexius
+ordered them to disperse and return to their own country; and with wise
+caution bought their arms before he dismissed them;[133] thus at once
+supplying them with money for their journey, and depriving them of the
+means of plundering and ravaging his dominions as they went. Most of the
+historians[134] of that age accuse Alexius of leaguing with the Turks,
+even at this period, to destroy the crusaders, or, at least, of triumphing
+in the fall of those very men whom he had himself called to his succour.
+
+The conduct of Alexius in this transaction is not very clear, but it is
+far from improbable that, fearful of the undisciplined multitude he had
+brought into his dominions, horrified by their crimes, and indignant at
+their pillage of his subjects, he beheld them fall by their own folly and
+the swords of the enemy, without any effort to defend them, or any very
+disagreeable feeling at their destruction. And indeed, when we remember
+the actions they did commit within the limits of the Greek empire, we can
+hardly wonder at the monarch, if he rejoiced at their punishment, or blame
+him if he was indifferent to their fate.
+
+Thus ended the great expedition of Peter the Hermit: but several others of
+a similar unruly character took place previous to the march of those
+troops, whose discipline, valour, and unity of purpose ensured a more
+favourable issue to their enterprise. I shall touch but briefly upon these
+mad and barbarous attempts, as a period of more interest follows.
+
+The body of crusaders which seems to have succeeded immediately to that
+led by Peter the Hermit was composed almost entirely of Germans, collected
+together by a priest called Gottschalk.[135] They penetrated into Hungary;
+but there, giving way to all manner of excesses, they were followed by
+Carloman, the king of that country, with a powerful army, and having been
+induced to lay down their arms, that the criminals might be selected and
+punished, they were slaughtered indiscriminately by the Hungarians, who
+were not a little glad to take vengeance for the blood shed by the army of
+Peter at Semlin.
+
+About the same period, immense bands of men and women came forth from
+almost every country of Europe, with the symbol of the crusade upon their
+shoulders, and the pretence of serving God upon their lips. They joined
+together wheresoever they met, and, excited by a foul spirit of fanatical
+cruelty, mingled with the most infamous moral depravity, proceeded towards
+the south of Germany. They gave themselves up, we are told,[136] to the
+pleasures of the table without intermission: men and women, and even
+children, it is said, lived in a state of promiscuous debauchery; and,
+preceded by a goose and a goat,[137] which, in their mad fanaticism, they
+declared to be animated by the divine spirit, they marched onward,
+slaughtering the Jews as they went; and proclaiming that the first duty of
+Christians was to exterminate the nation which had rejected the Saviour
+himself. Several of the German bishops bravely opposed them, and
+endeavoured to protect the unhappy Hebrews; but still, vast multitudes
+were slain, and many even sought self-destruction rather than encounter
+the brutality of the fanatics, or abjure their religion.
+
+Glutted with slaughter, the ungodly herd now turned towards Hungary; but
+at Mersburg they were encountered by a large Hungarian force, which
+disputed their passage over the Danube, absolutely refusing the road
+through that kingdom to any future band of crusaders. The fanatics forced
+their way across the river, attacked Mersburg itself with great fury and
+perseverance, and succeeded in making a breach in the walls, when suddenly
+an unaccountable terror seized them--none knew how or why--they abandoned
+the siege, dispersed in dismay, and fled like scattered deer over the
+country.
+
+The Hungarians suffered not the opportunity to escape, and pursuing them
+on every side, smote them during many days with a merciless fury, that
+nothing but their own dreadful cruelties could palliate. The fields were
+strewed with dead bodies, the rivers flowed with blood, and the very
+waters of the Danube are said to have been hidden by the multitude of
+corpses.
+
+Disaster and death had, sooner or later, overtaken each body of the
+crusaders that had hitherto, without union or command, set out towards the
+Holy Land; but each of these very bands had been composed of the refuse
+and dregs of the people. I do not mean by that word _dregs_ the poor, but
+I mean the base--I do not mean those who were low in station, or even
+ignorant in mind; but I mean those who were infamous in crime, and brutal
+in desire. Doubtless, in these expeditions, some fell who were animated by
+noble motives or excellent zeal; but such were few compared with those
+whose objects were plunder, licentiousness, and vice. The swords of the
+Hungarians and the Turks lopped these away; and I cannot find in my heart
+to look upon the purification which Europe thus underwent with any thing
+like sorrow. The crusade itself was by this means freed from many a base
+and unworthy member; and Chivalry, left to act more in its own spirit,
+though still participating deeply in the faults and vices of a barbarous
+age, brought about a nobler epoch and a brighter event.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+_The Chivalry of Europe takes the Field--The Leaders--Godfrey of
+Bouillon--Conducts his Army towards Constantinople--Hugh the Great--Leads
+his Army through Italy--Embarks for Durazzo--Taken Prisoner--Liberated--
+Robert, Duke of Normandy--Winters in Italy--Arrives at Constantinople--
+Robert, Count of Flanders--Joins the rest--Boemond of Tarentum--Tancred--
+Their March--Defeat the Greeks--Boemond does Homage--Tancred avoids it--
+The Count of Toulouse arrives--Refuses to do Homage--Robert of Normandy
+does Homage._
+
+
+While the undisciplined and barbarous multitudes who first set out were
+hurrying to destruction, various princes and leaders were engaged, as I
+have before said, in collecting the Chivalry of Europe under the banner of
+the Cross. Six distinguished chiefs--Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of
+Loraine--Hugh the Great, Count of Vermandois, and brother of Philip, King
+of France--Robert, Duke of Normandy, brother of William Rufus--Robert,
+Count of Flanders--Boemond, Prince of Tarentum--and Raimond, Count of
+Toulouse--conducted six separate armies towards Constantinople: and I
+propose, in this chapter, to follow each of them till their junction in
+Bithynia.
+
+It is indeed a pleasure to turn our eyes from scenes of horror and crime
+to the contemplation of those great and shining qualities--those noble and
+enthusiastic virtues, which entered into the composition of that rare
+quintessence, the spirit of Chivalry.
+
+Doubtless, in the war which I am about to paint there occurred many things
+that are to be deeply regretted, as furnishing abundantly that quantity of
+alloy which is ever, unhappily, mixed with virtue's purest gold: but, at
+the same time, I now come to speak of men, in many of whom splendid
+courage, and moral beauty, and religious zeal, and temperate wisdom, and
+generous magnanimity, combined to form the great and wonderful of this
+earth's children. Indeed, if ever there was a man who well merited the
+glorious name of a true knight, that man was Godfrey of Bouillon; and few
+have described him without becoming poets for that once.
+
+I will not borrow from Tasso--who had the privilege of eulogium--but, in
+striving to paint the character of the great leader of the crusade, I
+shall take the words of one of the simplest of the writers of his
+age,[138] and give them as nearly as possible in their original tone: "He
+was beautiful in countenance," says Robert the Monk, "tall in stature,
+agreeable in his discourse, admirable in his morals, and at the same time
+so gentle, that he seemed better fitted for the monk than for the knight;
+but when his enemies appeared before him, and the combat approached, his
+soul became filled with mighty daring; like a lion, he feared not for his
+person--and what shield, what buckler, could resist the fall of his
+sword?"
+
+Perhaps of all men of the age, Godfrey of Bouillon was the most
+distinguished. His mother Ida, daughter of Godfrey, Duke of Loraine, was
+celebrated for her love of letters,[139] and from her it is probable that
+Godfrey himself derived that taste for literature, so singular among the
+warriors of that day. He spoke several languages, excelled in every
+chivalrous exercise, was calm and deliberate in council, firm and decided
+in resolution; he was active, clearsighted, and prudent, while he was
+cool, frank, and daring; in the battle he was fierce as the lion, but in
+victory he was moderate and humane.
+
+Though still in his prime of years when the crusades were preached, he was
+already old in exploits: he had upheld Henry IV. on the imperial throne,
+had attacked and forced the walls of Rome, and had shone in a hundred
+fields, where his standard ever was raised upon the side of honour and of
+virtue.
+
+Long ere the idea of such an enterprise as the crusade became general in
+Europe, Godfrey had often been heard to declare, when tales were brought
+him of the miseries of the Holy Land, that he longed to travel to
+Jerusalem,[140] not with staff and scrip,[141] but with spear and shield;
+and it may well be conceived that his was one of the first standards
+raised in the ranks of the Cross. A fever that had hung upon him for some
+time left him at the tidings, and he felt as if he had shaken off a load
+of years, and recovered all his youth.[142]
+
+His fame as a leader soon collected an immense number of other barons and
+knights, who willingly ranged themselves under his banner; and we find
+that besides Baldwin, his brother[143]--and many other relations--the
+lords of St. Paul, of Hainault, of Gray, of Toul, of Hache, of Conti, and
+of Montagne, with their knights and retainers, had joined him before the
+beginning of August,[144] and towards the middle of that month they began
+their march with all the splendour of Chivalry.[145]
+
+The progress of this new body of crusaders was directed, like that of
+Peter the Hermit, towards Hungary; but the conduct maintained by the
+followers of Godfrey was as remarkable for its strict discipline,
+moderation, and order, as that of his predecessors had been for turbulence
+and excess.[146] The first objects, however, that presented themselves on
+the Hungarian frontier were the unburied corpses of the fanatic crowd
+slain near Mersburg.
+
+Here then Godfrey paused during three weeks,[147] investigating calmly the
+causes of the bloody spectacle before him; after which he wrote to
+Carloman, king of Hungary; and his letter on this occasion, mingling
+firmness with moderation, gives a fair picture of his noble and dignified
+character. Having mentioned the horrible sight which had arrested him in
+his progress, and the rumours he had heard, he proceeds--"However severe
+may have been the punishment inflicted on our brethren, whose remains lie
+round about us, if that punishment was merited, our anger shall expire;
+but if, on the contrary, you have calumniated the innocent, and given them
+up to death, we will not pass over in silence the murder of the servants
+of God, but will instantly show ourselves ready to avenge the blood of our
+brethren."[148]
+
+It was easy for Carloman to prove that the aggression had been on the side
+of the crusaders; and after various acts of confidence between
+Godfrey[149] and the king, the army of the Cross was permitted to pass
+through Hungary, which they accomplished in safety and peace, maintaining
+the strictest discipline and regularity, and trading with the people of
+the country with good faith and courtesy. Hence, proceeding through
+Bulgaria and Thrace, Godfrey led his troops peacefully on to Philippopoli,
+where he was met by deputies from the emperor, charged with orders to see
+that the crusaders should be furnished with every kind of necessary
+provision.
+
+In passing through Dacia and Bulgaria, the army of Godfrey had been not a
+little[150] straitened for food, and it is impossible to say what might
+have been the consequences, had the same dearth been suffered to continue.
+The prudent conduct of the emperor did away all cause of violence, and
+after the arrival of his deputies, the troops of the Cross celebrated his
+liberality with joy and gratitude.
+
+News soon reached the army[151] of Godfrey, however, which changed their
+opinion of Alexius, and showed him as the subtle and treacherous being
+that he really was. To explain what this news consisted of, I must turn
+for a moment to another party of crusaders, who, while Godfrey pursued
+his peaceful course through Hungary, marched towards the general
+meeting-place at Constantinople, by the way of Italy.
+
+Hugh, Count of Vermandois, had assembled an army even superior in number
+to that of Godfrey of Bouillon, and was himself in every respect
+calculated to shine at the head of such an armament. He was gallant,[152]
+brave, handsome, and talented; but the calm and dignified spirit of
+moderation, which so characterized Godfrey of Bouillon, was wanting in the
+brother of the French king. Joined to his expedition, though marching in
+separate bodies, and at distinct times,[153] were the troops of Robert,
+Duke of Normandy, and Stephen, Count of Blois; with those of Robert, Count
+of Flanders, in another division.[154]
+
+The count of Vermandois, impetuous and proud, took his departure before
+his companions, traversed Italy, and embarking at Barri, landed with but a
+scanty train at Durazzo. His expectations were high, and his language
+haughty, supposing he should find in the Greek emperor the same humbled
+supplicant who had craved, in abject terms, assistance against the
+infidels from his Christian brethren of the west. But the position of the
+emperor had now changed. The Turks, occupied with other interests, no
+longer menaced his frontier. The imperial city slept in peace and
+splendour; and if he had any thing to fear, it was from his own restless
+and turbulent subjects rather than from his Saracen foes. Nor, in fact,
+had he ever been desirous of any thing like the expedition that was
+entering his dominions. He had prayed for aid and assistance to defend his
+country, but Urban had preached a crusade, and the princes were now in
+arms to reconquer the Christian territories in Asia, as well as to protect
+those of Europe. He had gladly heard of the crusade, and willingly
+consented to it, it is true, as he well knew it would afford a mighty
+diversion in his favour, but he then dreamed not of the armed millions
+that were now swarming towards his capital. His position, too, had
+changed, as I have said, and he immediately determined upon a line of
+policy well suited to the weak subtlety of his character.
+
+Alexius was one of those men whose minds are not of sufficient scope to
+view life as a whole, and who therefore have not one great object in their
+deeds; who act for the petty interests of the moment, and whose cunning,
+compared with the talents of a really great mind, is like the skill of a
+fencing-master compared with the genius of a great general. He saw not,
+and felt not, the vast ultimate benefit which he might receive from
+maintaining a dignified friendship with the princes commanding the
+crusade. He did not perceive what an immense and powerful engine was
+placed, if he chose it, at his disposition.--In his narrow selfishness, he
+only beheld a temporary danger from the great forces that were
+approaching, and he strove to diminish them by every base and petty
+artifice. He did not endeavour to make himself great by their means, but
+he tried to bring them down to his own littleness. It is true, that on
+some occasions he showed feelings of liberality and humanity; but from his
+general conduct it is but fair to infer that these were the
+inconsistencies of selfishness; and that though he was sometimes prudent
+enough to be liberal, he was not wise enough to be uniformly generous.
+
+On the arrival of Hugh at Durazzo, he was at first received with respect,
+and entertained with honour and profusion; and thus finding himself at
+ease, he was induced to remain for a time in confident security. Suddenly,
+however, without a pretence for such violence, he was arrested, together
+with his train, and sent to Constantinople, some authors say, _in
+chains_.[155]
+
+Nevertheless, it is not probable that Alexius dared to carry his
+inhospitality so far; and one of the historians[156] of the day
+particularly marks, that the prisoner was treated with every testimony of
+respect. Guibert also ventures a supposition respecting the motives of
+Alexius, far superior to the general steril course of ancient chronicles.
+He imagines--and I wonder that the idea has not been adopted by any
+one--that the object of the Greek emperor, in confining Hugh, was to
+obtain from him, before the other princes should arrive, that act of
+homage which he intended to exact from all. The brother of the king of
+France himself having taken the oath, would be so strong a precedent, that
+it is more than probable, Alexius[157] fancied the rest of the crusaders
+would easily agree to do that which their superior in rank had done
+previous to their arrival.
+
+At Philippopoli[158] the news of Hugh's imprisonment reached the army of
+Godfrey de Bouillon, and with the prompt but prudent firmness of that
+great leader's character, he instantly sent messengers to Alexius,
+demanding the immediate liberation of the Count of Vermandois and his
+companions, accompanying the message with a threat of hostilities, if the
+demand were not conceded.
+
+Godfrey then marched on to Adrianople,[159] where he was met by his
+deputies, bringing the refusal of the emperor to comply with his request:
+in consequence of which the country was instantly given up to pillage; and
+so signal were the effects of this sort of vengeance, that Alexius
+speedily found himself forced to put his prisoners at liberty. The moment
+that a promise to this effect was received, Godfrey recalled his forces;
+and with wonderful discipline and subordination, they instantly abandoned
+the ravages they were before licensed to commit, and marched on peacefully
+towards Constantinople. Had the armies of the Cross continued to show such
+obedience and moderation, Palestine would now have been Christian.
+
+In the neighbourhood of the imperial city Godfrey pitched his tents, and
+the innumerable[160] multitude of his steel-clad warriors struck terror
+into the heart of the fearful monarch of the east.[161] To the Count of
+Vermandois, however, it was a sight of joy; and issuing forth from
+Constantinople with his friends and followers, he galloped forward to the
+immense camp of the crusaders, where, casting himself into the arms of
+Godfrey,[162] he gave himself up to such transports of delight and
+gratitude, that the bystanders were moved to tears.
+
+The emperor now turned the whole force of his artful mind to wring from
+Godfrey an act of homage, and for several weeks he continued, by every
+sort of fluctuating baseness, to disturb his repose, and to irritate his
+followers. At one time, he was all professions of kindness and liberality;
+at another, he breathed nothing but warfare and opposition. Sometimes the
+markets were shut to the crusaders, sometimes the private stores of the
+emperor himself were opened.
+
+At length, after having twice defeated the bands of plunderers sent by
+Alexius to attack him,[163] Godfrey gave way to his wrath, and for six
+days successively ravaged the country round Constantinople with fire and
+sword. Alexius on this again changed his conduct, and with every
+profession of regard demanded an interview with the chief of the
+crusaders, offering his son as a hostage for his good faith. With this
+safeguard Godfrey, followed by several other noble knights, entered
+Constantinople, and proceeded to the imperial palace, clothed in his robes
+of peace,[164] and bearing purple and ermine and gold, instead of the iron
+panoply of war.[165]
+
+The great leader was received by the emperor with the highest distinction,
+was honoured with the kiss of peace, and underwent that curious ceremony
+of an adoption of honour (as it was then called) as son to the
+emperor.[166] He was clothed with imperial robes,[167] and the monarch,
+calling him his son, nominally placed his empire at Godfrey's disposal. In
+return for the distinctions he had received--and probably pressed by Hugh,
+Count of Vermandois, who loved not to stand alone, in having yielded
+homage to Alexius--Godfrey consented to give the emperor his hand,
+according to the feudal forms of France, and to declare himself his
+liegeman.
+
+His fears dissipated by this concession, and his hopes of winning the
+princes who were to follow, by so illustrious an example, raised to the
+highest pitch, Alexius loaded Godfrey and his followers with magnificent
+presents, and suffered them to depart. Peace was now permitted to remain
+unbroken; and after having refreshed themselves for some days, the army of
+the crusaders passed the Hellespont, and encamped at Chalcedon,[168] to
+wait the arrival of their brethren.
+
+It is more than probable that Godfrey was induced to quit the original
+place of rendezvous by the solicitations of Alexius, who took care, it has
+been since observed, to guard his capital from the presence of any two of
+the crusading hosts at one time.
+
+Boemond, prince of Tarentum, and son of the famous Guiscard, had quitted
+Italy shortly after the departure of Godfrey from Loraine. Various tales
+are told of the manner in which he first declared his purpose of joining
+the crusade. Some have asserted, that on hearing of the expedition, while
+engaged in the siege of Amalfi, he dashed his armour to pieces with his
+battle-axe,[169] and caused it to be formed into small crosses, which he
+distributed among his soldiery. Others reduce the anecdote to a less
+chivalrous but perhaps more civilized degree of energy, and state, that
+he caused his mantle to be cut into crosses for his troops.[170]
+
+As many relate the tale, it is likely to have had some foundation; and
+there is no doubt that Boemond abandoned all his vast possessions in
+Italy, with the reserve only of Tarentum, and devoted himself to the wars
+of the Cross. His presence might have proved more generally advantageous
+to the cause, had he not, by this enthusiastic renunciation, given himself
+other motives in the warfare before him, besides those of religion and
+humanity. He had naturally in his veins quite sufficient of the blood of
+Guiscard to require no additional stimulus to the desire of conquering for
+himself. He was nevertheless one of the best soldiers of the Cross, so far
+as military skill availed--bold, powerful, keen, and active; and
+possessing that sort of shrewd and even wily art, which, joined with his
+other qualities, formed an enterprising and successful leader, more
+perhaps than a distinguished knight.
+
+With him, however, came the noblest of all the Christian Chivalry,
+Tancred--whose valour, generosity, enthusiasm, and courtesy have been the
+theme of so many a song--of whom Tasso, in seeking to describe him in the
+highest language of poetry, could say nothing more than truth,
+
+  Vien poi Tancredi, e non è alcun fra tanti
+  Tranne Rinaldo--O feritor maggiore,
+  O più bel di maniere e di sembianti
+  O più eccelso ed entrepido di core.[171]
+
+Few characters can be conceived more opposed to each other than those of
+the relations,[172] Tancred and Boemond; and yet we find Tancred willingly
+serving in the army of the Prince of Tarentum, as second to that chief.
+The same unambitious modesty is to be discovered throughout the whole
+history of the young knight; and though we ever behold him opposed to
+meannesses, by whomsoever they may be adopted, we still see him willing to
+take upon himself the danger and labour of an inferior station.
+
+Under the banners of these chiefs marched a host of Italian and Norman
+nobles; the army, it is said, amounting to ten thousand horse,[173] and an
+immense multitude of foot, in which view of the forces we must remember
+that only men of noble birth were usually admitted to fight on
+horseback.[174] These troops were even increased as they marched to the
+seacoast of Apulia; and the great body of those Normans who, not a century
+before, had taken complete possession of the country, now left it for the
+Holy Land.
+
+Mills,[175] following his particular theory, supposes Urban the pope to
+smile with triumphant self-gratulation on seeing the army of Boemond
+depart; but it seems strange, that the prelate should rejoice in the
+absence of the very men by whom he had been always protected, while his
+enemies remained, and were even in possession of the old church of St.
+Peter[176] at Rome, as we learn by a contemporary crusader.
+
+The forces of Boemond and Tancred landed at Durazzo, and made their way,
+with much more regularity than could have been expected, through
+Epirus.[177] They were harassed, however, on their march by various
+skirmishes with the Greek troops, who did every thing in their power to
+destroy the crusading army, although Alexius[178] had sent messengers to
+Boemond himself congratulating him on his arrival, and promising every
+kind of assistance. These attacks, nevertheless, only amounted to a petty
+degree of annoyance, till the host of the Cross came to the passage of
+the Axius. Here, a part of the forces having traversed the river with
+almost the whole of the cavalry, the rear of the army was suddenly
+attacked by an infinitely superior body of Greeks.[179]
+
+Tancred, already on the other side, lost not a moment, but, spurring his
+horse into the water, followed by about two thousand knights, he charged
+the Greeks so vigorously as to drive them back with considerable loss in
+killed and prisoners. When brought before Boemond, the captives justified
+themselves by avouching the commands of the emperor, and Tancred would
+fain have pursued and exterminated the forces of the perfidious Greek.
+Boemond, however, more prudently forbore, and, without retaliation of any
+kind, advanced to Adrianople.
+
+I see no reason to qualify this moderation as subtilty, which Mills has
+not scrupled to do. Boemond was artful beyond all doubt, but this was not
+a fair instance of any thing but wisdom and self-command. At Adrianople,
+well knowing the character of Alexius, to whom he had frequently been
+opposed, and foreseeing that his troops might be irritated by various acts
+of annoyance,[180] Boemond drew up his army, and, in a calm and temperate
+speech, represented to them that they had taken up arms in the cause of
+Christ, and therefore that it was their duty to refrain from all acts of
+hostility towards their fellow-christians.
+
+Shortly after this, the Prince of Tarentum was met by deputies from the
+emperor, inviting him to come on with all speed to Constantinople, leaving
+his army behind, under the command of Tancred. Boemond at first refused to
+trust himself in the power of his ancient enemy,[181] but Godfrey of
+Bouillon having visited him in person, and guarantied his security, the
+Italian chief agreed to the arrangement proposed, and accompanied the Duke
+of Loraine to the imperial palace. Gold and dominion were always motives
+of great force with the mind of Boemond, and Alexius did not spare such
+temptations, either present or to come, for the purpose of inducing the
+Prince of Tarentum to do homage to the eastern empire. His promises were
+limitless, and the actual presents[182] which he heaped upon the
+Normo-Italian immense. He also granted him, it is said, a territory in
+Romania, consisting, in length, of as much ground as a horse could travel
+in fifteen days; and, in breadth,[183] of as much as could be traversed in
+eight; besides which, he loaded him with jewels and gold, and rich
+vestments, till Boemond, from one of his most inveterate enemies, became
+one of his firmest allies. This, indeed, proceeded from no confidence or
+friendship on either side. Boemond still felt how little Alexius could
+forgive the injuries he had in former days inflicted, and dared not trust
+himself to eat of the meat set before him at the emperor's table.
+
+Alexius, with all the penetration of his race, evidently dived into the
+Norman's thoughts, and saw that he aspired even to the imperial crown
+itself.[184] No reliance, therefore, existed between them; but, on the one
+hand, Boemond, for considerations of interest, forgot his dignity, and did
+homage to the emperor, while Alexius, on his part, agreed that the homage
+should be void, if the promises he made were not exactly fulfilled.[185]
+
+The news of his relation's humiliation soon reached Tancred, who was
+leading on their united forces towards Constantinople; and though
+unquestionably, the lamentation attributed to him by his biographer[186]
+is somewhat more poetical than real, little doubt can be entertained that
+the gallant prince was painfully struck by Boemond's disgraceful
+concessions. Hugh of Vermandois had done homage to obtain his liberty;
+Godfrey of Bouillon, to restore peace and unanimity between the Christian
+emperor and the crusaders; Boemond _sold_ his homage, with no palliating
+circumstance.
+
+The determination of Tancred seems to have been taken almost immediately
+on hearing this news, and marching upon Constantinople as if it were his
+intention to follow exactly the course of his relation, he suddenly
+crossed the Hellespont[187] without giving notice to any one, and joined
+the army of Godfrey at Chalcedon.[188]
+
+This conduct greatly irritated Alexius, and he made several efforts to
+bring Tancred back without success; but the arrival of Raimond de St.
+Gilles, Count of Toulouse, with the immense army of the Languedocian
+crusaders, soon called the attention of the emperor in another direction.
+The Count of Toulouse has been very variously represented, and no doubt
+can exist that he was a bold and skilful leader, a courageous and resolute
+man. He was, it is said, intolerant and tenacious of reverence, fond of
+pomp and display, and withal revengeful, though his revenge was always of
+a bold and open character. Not so his avarice, which led him to commit as
+many pitiful meannesses as ever sprang from that basest of desires. He was
+proud, too, beyond all question; but where his covetousness did not
+overbalance the other great principle of his nature, he maintained, in
+his general conduct, that line of moral firmness which dignifies pride,
+and raises it almost to a virtue.
+
+Under the banners of the Count of Toulouse marched the gay Chivalry of all
+the south of France--Gascons, and Provençals, and Auvergnats--people, in
+whose hearts the memory of Saracen invasions from Spain was still fresh;
+and whose quick and passionate dispositions had at once embraced with
+enthusiasm the holy war. A glorious train of lords and knights followed
+their noble chief, and the legate of the pope, as well as several other
+bishops, gave religious dignity to this body of the crusaders.
+
+The count directed his course by Sclavonia towards Greece, notwithstanding
+that the season was unfavourable, as he set out in winter.[189] During the
+journey he displayed, in the highest degree, every quality of a great
+commander. Innumerable difficulties, on which we cannot pause, assailed
+him even during the first part of his march through the barren and
+inhospitable passes which lay between his own fair land and Greece. When
+he had reached the dominions of Alexius, whose call for aid he had not
+forgotten, the count imagined, to use the words of his chaplain, that he
+was in his native land, so much did he rely upon the welcome and
+protection of the Greek emperor. But he, like the chiefs who had preceded
+him, was deceived, and the same series of harassing persecutions awaited
+him on the way. An act of seasonable[190] but barbarous vengeance,
+however, in mutilating and disfiguring several of the prisoners, so much
+frightened the savage hordes which the emperor had cast upon his track,
+that the rest of the journey passed in comparative tranquillity. Like
+those who had gone before, the count was permitted to enter the imperial
+city with but few attendants.
+
+Here the same proposal of rendering homage was made to Raimond which had
+been addressed to the other leaders of the crusade, but he rejected it at
+once with dignified indignation, and maintained his resolution with
+unalterable firmness.[191] The means which had been tried with Godfrey of
+Bouillon were now employed against the Count of Toulouse; and as no very
+strong body of crusaders was soon expected from Europe, the emperor seems
+confidently to have anticipated the destruction of the Languedocian force.
+The Bosphorus lay between it and the armies of Godfrey, of Hugh, of
+Boemond, and of Robert of Flanders,[192] whose arrival we have not thought
+it necessary to dwell upon, as it was accompanied by no circumstance of
+interest. Alexius had taken especial care, that no vessels should remain
+on the other side of the Straits, which would facilitate the return of the
+crusaders even if they should wish it,[193] and Boemond was devoted to his
+cause from motives of interest.
+
+Under these circumstances Alexius did not scruple to order a night attack
+to be made upon the camp of the French knights. At first it proved
+successful, and many fell under the treacherous sword of the Greeks. At
+length, however, the Languedocians recovered from their surprise, repulsed
+the enemy with great loss, and for some time gave full way to their
+indignation. Raimond even resolved to declare war against the emperor, but
+abandoned his intention on finding that the other princes would not
+succour him, and that Boemond threatened to join his arms to those of
+Alexius. Thus upheld, the emperor still continued to insist on the homage
+of the count; but Raimond declared that he would sooner lay down his head
+upon the block than yield to such an indignity.[194] "He had come,"[195]
+he said, "to fight for one Lord, which was Christ, and for him he had
+abandoned country, and goods, and lands, but no other lord would he
+acknowledge; though, if the emperor would, in person, lead the host
+towards Constantinople, he would willingly put himself and his troops
+under his august command."
+
+All that could ultimately be obtained from him, even at the intercession
+of his companions in arms, was a vow that he would neither directly nor
+indirectly do any act which could militate against the life or honour of
+the emperor.[196]
+
+This concession, however, seemed to satisfy Alexius, upon whose weakness
+the ambitious spirit of Boemond was pressing somewhat too hard. The power
+of Raimond of Toulouse, the monarch saw, might be used as a good
+counterpoise to the authority which the Prince of Tarentum was inclined to
+assume; and in consequence, Alexius soon completely changed his conduct,
+and loaded the count with distinctions and courtesy. The pleasures of the
+imperial palace, the rivalry which the artful emperor contrived to raise
+up between him and Boemond, and the false but polished society of the
+Greek court, excited and pleased the Count of Toulouse, who remained some
+time in the midst of pomp and enjoyment.
+
+His character, also, though it had much of the steady firmness of the
+north, had, in common with that of his countrymen in general, a sparkling
+and vivacious urbanity, a splendid yet easy grace, which suited the taste
+of the Greeks much more than the simple manners of the northern crusaders.
+Indeed, to judge from the terms in which she speaks of him, his handsome
+person and elegant deportment seem to have made no small impression on the
+imagination of the princess Anna,[197] although Raimond had already passed
+the middle age.
+
+Boemond, however, had by this time departed, and had marched from
+Chalcedon with Godfrey and the rest of the crusading host[198] towards
+Nice, the capital of the Turkish kingdom of Roum.[199] His honour demanded
+the presence of the Count of Toulouse, and abandoning the pleasures of
+Constantinople, he superintended the embarkation of his troops, and
+hastened to join the rest of his companions in arms.
+
+Scarcely had the forces of the count quitted Constantinople, when another
+army appeared under the walls of that city. Its principal leader was
+Robert, Duke of Normandy--a man, debauched, weak, and unstable; endowed
+with sufficient talents to have dignified his illustrious station, had he
+possessed that rare quality of mind which may be called _conduct_. He was
+eloquent in speech, brave in the field, skilful in warlike dispositions,
+and personally humane, even to excess;[200] but at the same time he was
+versatile as the winds, and so easily persuaded, that the common
+expression, _he had no will of his own_, was, perhaps, more applicable to
+him than to any other man that ever existed.
+
+On the first preaching of the crusade, he had caught the flame of
+enthusiasm with others, and perhaps not more than those around him; for we
+must not take the immediate sale of his dutchy of Normandy to William
+Rufus as a proof of his zeal. It was, in fact, but a proof of that
+wretched facility which ultimately brought about his ruin. The price he
+obtained,[201] was only ten thousand marks of silver, but with so petty a
+sum this modern Esau thought he could conquer worlds. With him was
+Stephen, Count of Blois, more famous in the council than the field,[202]
+while all the Norman and English crusaders of rank, together with Eustace,
+brother of Godfrey of Bouillon,[203] joined themselves to his forces.
+
+Thus, followed by a numerous and well-equipped army, Robert took the way
+of Italy, and having encountered the pope at Lucca, proceeded to Apulia,
+where he remained to pass the winter. Here, however,[204] many deserted
+his army, and returned to their native land, and several were drowned,
+subsequently, in their passage to Durazzo; but, on the whole, the march of
+Robert of Normandy was more easy and less disastrous than that of any
+other chief of the crusaders.
+
+We find no mention of any attack or annoyance on the part of Alexius; and,
+on the arrival of the Norman host at Constantinople, the oath of homage
+seems to have been presented and received, with a sort of quiet
+indifference well according with the indolent and careless character of
+the Duke.[205] Alexius simply informed the leaders, that Godfrey, Boemond,
+Hugh, and the rest had undergone the ceremony proposed. "We are not
+greater than they,"[206] replied Robert, and the vows were taken without
+hesitation.
+
+Loaded with presents, and supplied with money and provisions, of both
+which Robert stood in great want, the Norman crusaders now passed the
+Hellespont, and marched towards Nice to join their companions. The timid
+Alexius thus found himself delivered from the last body of these terrific
+allies; and, indeed, the description given of their arrival, in rapid
+succession, before Constantinople, is not at all unlike the end of
+Camaralzaman's history in the Arabian Nights, where no sooner is one army
+disposed of, than another is seen advancing towards the city from a
+different quarter of the globe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+_Germ of After-misfortunes already springing up in the Crusade--Siege of
+Nice--First Engagement with the Turks--Siege continued--The Lake
+occupied--Surrender of Nice to the Emissaries of Alexius--Discontent--
+March towards Antioch--The Army divides into two Bodies--Battle of
+Doryloeum--Dreadful March through Phrygia--Adventures of Baldwin and
+Tancred--Arrival at Antioch--The City invested._
+
+
+One of the most unfortunate events which occurred to the crusaders in
+their march was their stay at Constantinople, for it was the remote but
+certain cause of many other evils. The jealousies and differences raised
+up among them by the intriguing spirit of Alexius were never entirely done
+away; and besides this, the intervention of petty motives, long
+discussions, and schemes of individual aggrandizement chilled the fervour
+of zeal, and thus weighed down the most energetic spring of the
+enterprise.
+
+Enthusiasm will conquer difficulties, confront danger and death, and
+change the very nature of the circumstances in which it is placed, to
+encouragement and hope; but it will not bear to be mingled with less
+elevated feelings and considerations. The common ambitions and passions of
+life, cold reasonings, and thoughtful debates, deaden it and put it out;
+and amid the intrigues of interest, or the speculations of selfishness, it
+is extinguished like a flame in the foul air of a vault. A great deal of
+the enthusiasm of the crusade died away amid the bickerings of
+Constantinople; and even the cowardly effeminacy of the Greeks proved in
+some degree contagious, for the army of the Count of Toulouse, we find,
+had at one time nearly disbanded itself. The luxury of the most luxurious
+court of Europe, too, was not without its effect upon the crusaders, and
+the memory of the delights of the imperial city was more likely to afford
+subjects of disadvantageous comparisons, when opposed to the hardships of
+Palestine, than the remembrance of the turbulent and governless realm from
+which they had first begun their march.
+
+The greatest misfortune of all, however--the cause of many of their vices,
+and almost all their miseries,--was the want of one acknowledged leader,
+whom it would have been treason to disobey. Each chief was his own king,
+but he was not the king of even those who served under him. Many who had
+followed his banner to the field were nearly his equals in power, and it
+was only over his immediate vassals that he had any but conditional right
+of command. In respect to his vassals themselves, this right was much
+affected by circumstances; and over the chiefs around him, he had no
+control whatever. Thus, unity of design was never to be obtained; and
+discord, the fatal stumblingblock of all great undertakings, was always
+ready in the way, whenever the folly, the passions, or the selfishness of
+any individual leader chose to dash upon it the hopes of himself and his
+companions.
+
+Nevertheless, during the siege of Nice, which was the first undertaking of
+the crusaders, a considerable degree of harmony seems to have prevailed
+among the leaders. Each, it is true, conducted his part of the attack
+according to his own principles, but each seemed happy to assist the
+other, and we hear of no wrangling for idle punctilios. The morals, too,
+of the troops were hitherto pure, reaching a much higher point of virtue,
+indeed, than might have been anticipated from the great mixture of
+classes. I do not mean to say that they were free from vice, or were
+exempt from the follies of their nature or their age; but the noble and
+dignified manner in which the chiefs of the crusade, and the people in
+general, bore the conduct of Alexius (mentioned hereafter), would lead me
+to believe that they had preserved a considerable share of purity and
+singleness of heart.
+
+The first body of the crusaders which reached the city of Nice was that
+led by Godfrey of Bouillon. He was not alone, however, being accompanied
+by Hugh, Count of Vermandois; and very shortly after, the troops of Robert
+of Flanders and Boemond of Tarentum arrived, and took up their position on
+the northern side, while those of Godfrey had marked their camp towards
+the east. The Count of Toulouse and the Bishop of Puy followed, and sat
+down before the southern side,[207] leaving the west open for the Duke of
+Normandy, who was expected from day to day.[208]
+
+This city, the capital of the kingdom of Roum, was occupied by the
+Seljukian Turks, and strongly defended by a solid wall, flanked by three
+hundred and fifty towers. It was situated in the midst of a fertile plain,
+and the waters of the lake Ascanius, to the west, gave it a facility of
+communication with a large extent of country. The army of the crusaders,
+after the arrival of the Count of Toulouse,[209] waited not the coming of
+Robert of Normandy, but began the siege in form. Their forces were already
+immense; and after the junction of Peter the Hermit with the ruins of his
+multitude, and the Duke of Normandy with his powerful army, the amount of
+the fighting men is said to have been six hundred thousand, without
+comprising those who did not carry arms.[210] The number of knights[211]
+is stated to have reached nearly two hundred thousand, which left a fair
+proportion of inferior soldiers.
+
+The general disposition of the troops had been made before the arrival of
+the Count of Toulouse, and he marched his division towards the spot
+assigned him on the Sunday after Ascension-day.[212] His coming, however,
+was destined to be signalized by the first regular battle between the
+Turks and their Christian invaders.
+
+Soliman, or Kilidge Aslan, the sultaun of Roum, on the approach of the
+crusaders, had left his capital[213] defended by a strong garrison, and
+travelling through his dominions, hastened in every direction the levies
+of his subjects. He soon collected a considerable body of horse,[214] and
+leading them to the mountains which overlooked the plain of Nice, he sent
+down two messengers to the city to concert with the governor a double
+attack upon the camp of the Christians.
+
+The messengers fell into the hands of the outposts of Godfrey. One was
+killed on the spot, and the other, under the fear of death, betrayed the
+secrets of the sultaun, giving at the same time an exaggerated account of
+his forces.[215] Information of Soliman's approach was instantly sent to
+Raimond of Toulouse, who was advancing from Nicomedia,[216] and by a
+night-march he succeeded in joining the army of the Cross in time.
+Scarcely had he taken up his position, when the Moslems began to descend
+from the mountains, clad like the Christians in steel,[217] and borne by
+horses fleet as the wind. Divided into two bodies,[218] the one attacked
+the wearied troops of the Count of Toulouse, seeking to force its way
+into the city, while the other fell upon the quarters of Godfrey of
+Bouillon.
+
+Doubtless Soliman thought to meet, in the immense multitude before him, a
+wild and undisciplined crowd, like that of Peter the Hermit; but he soon
+found bitterly his mistake. The crusaders received him every where with
+chivalric valour, repulsed him on all points, became in turn the
+assailants, and the plain round Nice grew one general scene of conflict.
+The charging of the cavalry, the ringing of the lances and the swords upon
+shields and corslets, the battle-cries of the Christians, and the
+_techbir_ of the Turks; the shouts, the screams, the groans, rose up, we
+are told, in a roar horrible to hear.[219]
+
+At length, finding that the sally he had expected was not made, Soliman
+retreated to the mountains; but it was only to repeat the attempt the
+following day.[220] In this, although the besieged now comprehended his
+intention, and issued forth upon the Christians on the one side, while he
+attacked them on the other, he was not more fortunate than before. He was
+again repelled with great loss, owning his astonishment at the lion-like
+courage of the Christian leaders, who with a thousand lances would often
+charge and put to flight twenty times the number of Turkish horsemen.
+
+According to a barbarous custom prevalent at that time, and which even
+descended to a much later period, the crusaders hewed off the heads of the
+fallen Moslems,[221] and cast many of them into the city. Others were sent
+to Constantinople in token of victory; and Alexius, as a sign of gratitude
+and rejoicing, instantly despatched large presents to the principal chiefs
+of the crusade, with great quantities of provisions for the army, which
+had long been straitened to a fearful degree.
+
+After the defeat of Soliman,[222] the siege was pressed with renewed
+vigour; and battering-rams, catapults, and mangonels were plied
+incessantly against the walls, while moveable towers of wood, called
+beffroys, filled with armed men, were rolled close to the fortifications,
+for the purpose of carrying on the fight hand to hand with the enemy, and
+of endeavouring to effect a lodgment on the battlements.
+
+In the mean while, the plains round Nice offered a spectacle of the most
+extraordinary brilliancy. The glittering arms of the knights, their
+painted shields, and fluttering pennons--the embroidered banners of the
+barons, their splendid coats-of-arms and magnificent mantles--the gorgeous
+robes of the Latin priests, who were present in immense numbers, and the
+animated multitude of bowmen and foot-soldiers, mingled with thousands of
+that most beautiful of beasts, the horse, all spread out in the unclouded
+brightness of an Asiatic sky, formed as shining and extraordinary a scene
+as the eye could look upon.
+
+Not frightened, however, by the terrific splendour that surrounded them,
+the Turks continued to defend their battlements with persevering valour.
+Every attack of the Christians was met with dauntless intrepidity, and
+every laboured attempt to sap the wall, or its towers, was frustrated with
+unwearied assiduity. Those who approached near were either slain by
+poisoned arrows,[223] or crushed under immense stones; and the moment any
+one was killed at the foot of the wall,[224] "it was horrible to see the
+Turks," says an eyewitness, "seize upon the body with iron hooks let down
+from above, and lifting it up through the air strip it completely, and
+then cast it out from the city." Innumerable artifices were resorted to by
+the assailants to force their way into the town; and none of the chiefs
+seem to have been more active and ingenious than the Count of
+Toulouse,[225] who once succeeded in undermining a tower, and casting it
+to the ground. Before this work was concluded, however, night had fallen
+over the army, and ere the next morning the laborious activity of the
+Turks had repaired the damage which their wall had suffered.
+
+Two of the principal[226] German barons, also, contrived a machine of
+wood, to which they gave the name of _the fox_. It was capable of
+containing twenty knights, and was secured by its immense solidity from
+all the efforts of the enemy. When this was completed, a vast multitude
+began to push it towards the part of the curtain which they intended to
+sap, but the inequality of the ground and the great weight of the machine
+itself caused some of the joints to give way, when the whole fabric fell
+to pieces, crushing under its ruins the unhappy knights within.
+
+The arrival[227] of Robert of Normandy brought a vast accession of
+strength to the besiegers; notwithstanding which, during the remainder of
+the siege of Nice, the immense numbers of the crusaders did not produce
+that scarcity of provision which ultimately fell upon them; for Alexius,
+interested more than any one in the capture of the city, took care, after
+the first few days, that the supplies should be ample and unremitted.
+
+Nevertheless the courage of the garrison did not at all decrease, and for
+five weeks they still continued to return the assailants combat for
+combat, the whole day being consumed in a storm of arrows from the bows
+and arbalists, and of stones from the catapults and mangonels.[228]
+
+Numerous instances of extraordinary personal courage, shown on both sides,
+are of course recorded, and each different historian has his own hero,
+whose deeds are lauded to the sky. One Turk in particular signalized
+himself by an immense slaughter of the crusaders, showing himself exposed
+upon the battlements, and plying his terrible bow, which winged death in
+every direction. The Christians became so fearful of him, that that most
+imaginative passion, terror, began to invest him with some supernatural
+defence.[229] The best-aimed arrows proved totally ineffectual, and
+reports spread rapidly that he might be seen, still sending destruction
+around from his hand, while twenty shafts--each carrying the fate of a
+common mortal--were sticking unheeded in his flesh. Godfrey of Bouillon,
+to end the panic that this man occasioned, at length took a crossbow
+himself, though that machine[230] was considered but a fit weapon for a
+yeoman, and directing the quarry with a steadier hand than those which had
+before aimed at the Turkish archer, he sent the missile directly to his
+heart.[231]
+
+A multitude of the noblest crusaders had now fallen before the bows of the
+enemy, and many more had yielded to the effects of a climate totally
+different from their own. "Thus," says one of the followers of the Cross,
+"nothing was to be seen on the highways, in the woods, and the fields, but
+a crowd of tombs,[232] where our brethren had been buried."
+
+At last, the leaders perceived the existence of a circumstance, their
+neglect of which, in the very first instance, showed how much the art of
+warfare was then in its infancy. One evening, after a fierce assault, the
+soldiers stationed near the water, who, in common with the rest of the
+host, usually rested from the labours of the siege during the night,
+suddenly perceived boats upon the lake Ascanius, and it immediately became
+evident that the Turks received every kind of supply by this easy means of
+communication. As soon as this was discovered, various vessels were
+brought from Constantinople, and being drawn to the lake over a narrow
+neck of land which separated it from the sea, were filled with imperial
+archers;[233] and the blockade of the town was thus rendered absolute.
+This was executed during the night, and all hope abandoned the Turks from
+the next morning, when they beheld that which had proved their great
+resource suddenly cut off.
+
+The crusaders now hoped to force the city to surrender at discretion; and
+their expectations of such an event were much raised by the fact of the
+sultauness, the wife of Soliman, who had hitherto courageously undergone
+all the miseries and dangers of a siege, being taken in endeavouring to
+make her escape by the lake.[234]
+
+By this time the besieged had determined to surrender; but Alexius had
+taken care to send with the army of the Cross an officer on whose art and
+fidelity he could depend, to secure for the imperial crown a city which he
+would probably have rather seen still under the dominion of the Turks,
+than in the hands of the Latins.
+
+This man's name was Taticius, or, according to the crusaders' corruption,
+Tatin.[235] His face was dreadfully mutilated, and his mind seems to have
+been as horrible as his countenance. What communication he kept up within
+the town it is difficult to discover; and how this communication was
+concealed from the Latins is hardly known, but probably it took place, as
+Mills conjectures, by means of the lake and the Greek vessels which now
+covered it. Certain it is, that the Turks entered into a private treaty
+with the emissary of Alexius, who granted them the most advantageous
+terms, securing to them not only life,[236] but immunity and protection.
+
+It had been covenanted beforehand, between the emperor and the crusaders,
+that on the fall of the city it should be resigned to Alexius, who
+promised to give up to the troops all the riches it contained,[237] and
+to found there a monastery, and an hospital for pilgrims, under the
+superintendence of the Latins.[238] Not contented with this, or doubting
+the faith of his allies, he took the means I have stated to secure
+possession. Suddenly the imperial ensigns appeared upon the walls of Nice,
+when the host of the crusade was just rushing to the attack in the full
+confidence of victory. It was now found that the people of the city had
+surrendered privately to Alexius, and had admitted his troops within the
+walls; but it required the greatest efforts of the leaders of the crusade,
+although disgusted with this treachery themselves, to quiet their forces,
+and reconcile them to the perfidy of their base ally.[239]
+
+On the part of the Christians, the wife and children of Kilidge Aslan, who
+had fallen into their hands, were delivered to the Turks; and, at the same
+time, all those prisoners which had been taken by Soliman, on the defeat
+of _Gautier sans avoir_, were restored to liberty. So little, however, did
+Alexius keep his treaty with the crusaders, that, instead of yielding to
+them the whole plunder of Nice, he contented himself with distributing
+some rich presents to the chiefs,[240] and some money to the poor of the
+army; and suffered them, thus dissatisfied and injured, to raise their
+camp and march on towards Jerusalem, without permitting them to set foot
+within the city they had conquered.[241]
+
+The army of the Cross waited no time under the walls of Nice, but as soon
+as the principal leaders had returned from Pelicanum, whither they had
+gone once more to confer with Alexius, it began its march.[242] At the end
+of the second day the forces of the different chiefs[243] were
+accidentally separated,[244] Boemond and the Duke of Normandy taking a
+path considerably to the left of that followed by Godfrey and the rest of
+the host. They proceeded on their way, notwithstanding, knowing that they
+could not be very far from the principal body, and towards night pitched
+their camp in the valley of Gorgon, in the midst of some rich meadows, and
+near a running stream.[245]
+
+Their situation was, nevertheless, not near so desirable as they imagined,
+for Soliman, who during the siege of Nice had made the most immense
+efforts for the purpose of relieving that city, now that it had fallen,
+hung with the whole of his force,[246] to the amount of nearly two hundred
+thousand men,[247] upon the left flank of the army of the crusaders,
+concealing his own evolutions by his perfect knowledge of the country, and
+watching those of his enemies with the keen anxiety of a falcon hovering
+over her prey. No sooner had the separation we have mentioned taken place
+in the host of the Cross, than the sultaun hastened his march to overtake
+the army of Boemond, which was infinitely the weaker of the two divisions.
+
+Accustomed to every sort of rapid movement, Soliman soon came up with the
+forces of the Prince of Tarentum and the Duke of Normandy.
+
+The crusaders had been from time to time warned, during the preceding
+day, that an enemy was in the neighbourhood, by the sight of scattered
+parties of Arabs hovering round their army.[248] They nevertheless
+encamped by the side of a beautiful stream, that, flowing on through the
+rich valley in which they were advancing, proceeded to join itself to the
+waters of the Sangarius. Here they passed the night in repose, taking
+merely the precaution of throwing out sentinels to the banks of the
+stream. Early the next morning, Boemond and Robert again commenced their
+march, and had advanced some way,[249] when the immense army of Soliman
+began to appear upon the hills.
+
+Boemond instantly sent off messengers to Godfrey of Bouillon, and the rest
+of his noble companions, of whose proximity he had now become aware, and
+gave orders for drawing up his forces, for pitching the tents, and for
+making a rampart of the wagons[250] and baggage for the defence of the
+sick and the weak from the arrows of the Turks. In the mean while, turning
+to his knights and men at arms, he addressed them with the brief eloquence
+of courage. "Remember the duties of your calling!" he exclaimed. "Behold
+the peril in which you are placed--charge boldly to meet the
+infidels--defend your honour and your lives!"
+
+While he spoke, the Turks rushed down to the battle with terrific
+cries,[251] which, mingling with the tramp of two hundred thousand horse,
+and the ringing of their armour, together with the trumpets of the
+Christian host, and the shouts of the chiefs and the heralds, raised so
+fearful a din, that no one could hear another speak among the followers of
+the Cross.
+
+The army of Boemond, hastily drawn up, presented a mingled front of horse
+and foot soldiers, and pilgrims,[252] some but half-armed, some not armed
+at all; while the Turks came down in one torrent of cavalry. The immense
+numbers which it contained all blazing with glittering arms, and provided
+with bows of horn and scimitars, dazzled and dismayed the troops of the
+Christians. As the infidels approached, the European Chivalry dropped the
+points of their long lances, and prepared to hurl back their foes, as was
+their wont, by the heavy and decided charge which proved always so
+effective; but suddenly, each Moslem raised his bow even as he galloped
+forward,[253] a thick cloud seemed to come over the sun, and then, two
+hundred thousand arrows dropping at once among the crusaders, a
+multitude[254] of men and horses were instantly stretched upon the plain.
+
+Before the Christians could rally from the surprise, a second flight of
+arrows followed the first, doing dreadful execution among the
+foot-soldiers and the steeds of the knights.[255] But now Tancred and
+Boemond led on their troops to the charge, and spurred their horses into
+the midst of the enemy. The Turks, as was their habit, yielded ground on
+every side, avoiding, by the swiftness of their chargers, the lances and
+the swords of the Christians, and, like the Parthians of old, continuing
+their fearful archery even as they fled.
+
+Vain were all the efforts of the European Chivalry, though, throwing away
+their useless spears, they endeavoured to reach the Turks with their
+swords;[256] but now, in turn, the swarming multitudes of their foes,
+pouring down fresh from the mountains on every side, no longer retreated,
+but pressed closer and closer upon them; and as each adversary fell
+beneath the vigorous blows of the knights, new foes started up to meet
+them.
+
+In the mean while, thick and fast was mown the flower of the Christian
+army. The brother of Tancred, famed alike for his beauty and his courage,
+was slain before the eyes of his relation.[257] Tancred himself,
+surrounded by a thousand enemies, fought as if Fate had put the weapon in
+his hands, but fought in vain. Boemond, with all his efforts, could
+scarcely extricate his gallant cousin from the torrent of adversaries in
+the midst of which he struggled, and even then it was with the loss of the
+banner of Otranto.[258]
+
+Borne back by the growing multitude that pressed upon them, the knights
+gave way before the Saracens, and were driven struggling upon the very
+pikes[259] of the foot-soldiers that were advancing to their support. At
+the same time Soliman, whose numbers gave him the means of surrounding the
+army of the crusaders, directed several large bodies of his cavalry
+through some marshes to the rear of the Christians, and in a moment the
+camp[260] of Boemond was invaded and deluged with the blood of the old,
+the women, and the helpless![261]
+
+Robert of Normandy, however, who had commanded the reserve, now beholding
+the flight of his allies, roused all the courage of his heart; and
+uncovering his head in the midst of the fray, shouted forth his
+battle-cry[262] of "Normandy! Normandy! Whither fly you Boemond?" he
+exclaimed; "Your Apulia is afar! Where go you Tancred? Otranto is not near
+you! Turn! turn upon the enemy! God wills it! God wills it!" And seizing
+his banner, he spurred on with his followers against the Turks, drove them
+back, rallied the cavalry, and restored order and regularity to the
+defence.
+
+Boemond, in the mean while, had turned his arms towards the camp; and the
+Turks had retreated from that quarter of the field, bearing with them all
+that was valuable, and a considerable number of prisoners. The army of the
+crusade was now concentrated on one spot, while that of the Turks,
+surrounding it on all sides, gave it not a moment's repose. Soldier fell
+beside soldier, knight beside knight.[263] Fatigue and thirst rendered
+those that remained little capable of defence; and the dust and the hot
+sun made many of the wounds mortal, which otherwise would have been slight
+in comparison. In this conjuncture,[264] the women that remained proved
+infinitely serviceable, bringing to the troops water from the river, and
+by prayers and exhortations encouraging them to the fight.
+
+Thus lasted the battle for many hours, when first a cloud of dust, rising
+from behind the hills, announced that some new combatants were hurrying to
+the field. Then rose above the slope banner, and pennon, and lance, and
+glittering arms, while the red cross fluttering on the wind brought hope
+and joy to the sinking hearts of the crusaders, and terror and dismay to
+the victorious Turks.[265] In scattered bands, spurring on their horses as
+for life, came the Chivalry of the west to the aid of their brother
+Christians. None waited for the others; but each hastened to the fight as
+the fleetness of his charger would permit, and rank after rank, troop
+after troop, banner followed by banner, and spear glittering after spear,
+came rushing over the mountains to the valley of the battle. "God wills
+it! God wills it!" echoed from hill to hill.[266]
+
+Robert of Normandy shouted his war-cry, Boemond, with renewed hope,
+couched his lance, and Tancred rushed upon the slayers of his brother.
+
+At the same time[267] Godfrey of Bouillon arrayed his army as they came
+up, and, with levelled lances, drove down upon the Turks. Hugh of
+Vermandois attacked them on the flank, and Raimond of Toulouse, with the
+warlike bishop of Puy, soon increased the forces of the Cross.
+
+The Turks[268] still made great and valorous efforts to maintain the
+superiority they had gained, but the charge of the Latin Chivalry was
+irresistible. The infidels were driven back, compelled to fly in disorder,
+and pursued over the mountains by the victorious crusaders.[269] In the
+hills the Christians, who followed hard upon their course, discovered the
+camp of the Saracens, where immense booty, both in gold and
+provisions,[270] became the recompense of their exertions. Here, also,
+they found all the prisoners who had been taken in the first part of the
+battle, and a great number of beasts of burthen, of which they were
+themselves in great need. Among the rest was a multitude of camels, an
+animal which few of the Franks had ever seen before. These were all
+brought to the Christian encampment, and rejoicing succeeded the fatigues
+and horrors of the day.
+
+The loss of the crusaders, after so long and severe a battle, if we can
+depend upon the account generally given, was very much less than might
+have been anticipated. Only four thousand men[271] are supposed to have
+fallen on the part of the Christians; these were principally, also, of the
+inferior classes, who, unprotected by the armour which defended the
+persons of the knights, were fully exposed to the arrows of the Turks.
+
+Three men of great note, among the champions of the Cross, were added to
+this list of killed[272]--William, the brother of Tancred; Geoffrey of
+Mount Scabius; and Robert of Paris, whose conduct at the court of Alexius
+we have before mentioned. The loss on the part of the Turks was infinitely
+more considerable, and thus, at the close of the battle of Doryloeum, the
+Christian leaders found that they had marked their progress towards the
+Holy Land by a great and decisive victory.
+
+The crusading armies now paused for several days,[273] enjoying the repose
+and comfort which the spot afforded, and which their exhausted troops so
+much required. The wounds of the soldiers who had suffered in the late
+battle were thus in some degree healed; and the abundance of provisions
+the enemy had left behind served to renovate the strength and raise up the
+hopes and enthusiasm of the Christians. In the mean while, the Turks, who
+had survived their defeat at Doryloeum, spread themselves in large bands
+over the country, and, pretending to have totally overcome the Latins,
+forced themselves into the cities, destroying and wasting every thing in
+their way.[274] The Christians thus, in their march through Phrygia, had
+to cross a large tract which had been completely ravaged by the enemy.
+With their usual improvidence, they had exhausted the provisions they had
+found in their adversary's camp; and ignorant of the country, they had
+provided themselves with no water, so that they had to encounter all the
+heat of the solstitial days of a Phrygian climate, without a drop of
+liquid to allay their burning thirst. Men and horses fell by thousands in
+the way;[275] and the women, parched with drought, and dying with fatigue,
+forgot delicacy, feeling, and even the ties of human nature--rolled
+prostrate on the ground with the agony of thirst--offered their naked
+bosoms to the swords of the soldiers, and prayed for death--or threw down
+their new-born children in the track of the army, and abandoned them to a
+slow and miserable fate! The most terrible mortality prevailed among the
+beasts of burden, so that the animals accustomed to bear the baggage of
+the host having nearly all died by the way, dogs and oxen, and even
+hogs,[276] are said to have been loaded with the lighter articles of
+necessity, while an immense quantity of luggage was cast away on the road.
+Many falcons and dogs--a part of knightly equipage never forgotten--had
+been brought from Europe to Asia; but the dogs, spreading their nostrils
+in vain to the hot wind for the least breath of moisture, left the
+long-accustomed hand that they were wont to love, and straying through the
+desolate land, died among the mountains; while the clear eye of the noble
+falcon withered under the fiery sky, which nothing but a vulture could
+endure; and, after long privation, he dropped from the glove that held
+him.[277]
+
+At length water was discovered, and the whole army rushed forward to the
+river. Their intemperate eagerness[278] rendered the means of relief
+nearly as destructive as the thirst which they had endured, and many were
+added to the victims of that horrible march by their own imprudent
+indulgence in the cool blessing that they had found at last. The country
+now had changed its aspect, and nothing presented itself but splendid
+fertility till the host of the crusade reached the city of Antiochetta,
+where, surrounded by rivulets, and forests, and rich pastures, they
+pitched their tents, determined to enjoy the earthly paradise that spread
+around them.
+
+Some of the warriors, however, whose energetic spirit no fatigues could
+daunt[279] or subdue, soon tired of the idle sweets of Antiochetta[280]
+and voluntarily separated themselves from the army, seeking either renown
+or profit, by detached enterprises. Tancred on the one hand, with the
+Prince of Salernum, and several other nobles, five hundred knights, and a
+party of foot-soldiers, set out from the army of Boemond, to explore the
+country, and ascertain the strength of the enemies by which they were
+surrounded. Detaching himself, at the same time, from the division of
+Godfrey of Bouillon, Baldwin, the brother of that leader, joined Tancred
+with a somewhat superior force, actuated probably more by the hope of his
+own individual aggrandizement, than by any purpose of serving the general
+cause of the crusade.
+
+After wandering for some time through the districts round Iconium and
+Heraclea,[281] which the Turks had taken care to desolate beforehand, the
+two chieftains again separated, and Tancred, pursuing his way by Cilicia,
+came suddenly before Tarsus. The Turks, by whom that city was garrisoned,
+knowing that the greater part of the populace was opposed to them,
+surrendered almost immediately on the approach of the Christian leader,
+and while he encamped with his forces under the walls, waiting, according
+to stipulation, for the arrival of Boemond, his banner was hoisted upon
+the towers of the town.[282] Scarcely had this been done when Baldwin also
+appeared, and at first, the two armies, each conceiving the other to be an
+enemy, prepared to give one another battle. The mistake was soon
+discovered, and Tancred welcomed his comrade in arms to Tarsus. The
+feelings of Baldwin, however, were less chivalric than those of the noble
+chief of Otranto, and the banner of Tancred flying on the walls of Tarsus
+was an object that he could not long endure. After passing a day or two in
+apparent amity, he suddenly demanded possession of the city, declaring,
+that as he led the superior force, he was entitled to command. Tancred
+scoffed at the absurd pretence, and both parties had nearly betaken
+themselves to arms.[283] The noble moderation of the Italian leader
+brought about a temporary reconciliation. He agreed that the people of the
+city themselves should be referred to, and choose the chief to whom they
+would submit. This was accordingly done, and the inhabitants instantly
+fixed upon the knight to whom they had first surrendered.[284] But Baldwin
+was yet unsatisfied; and after having made a proposal to sack and pillage
+the town, which was rejected with scorn and abhorrence by his more
+generous fellow-soldier, he caballed with the citizens and the Turks, till
+he won them to throw down Tancred's banner, and yield themselves to him.
+Mortified, indignant, even enraged, the steady purpose of right within the
+bosom of the chief of Otranto maintained him still in that undeviating
+course of rectitude which he had always pursued; and, resolved not to
+imbrue a sword drawn for honour and religion in the blood of his
+fellow-christians,[285] he withdrew his forces from before Tarsus, and
+turned his arms against Mamistra. The Turks here, more bold than those of
+the former city, beheld his approach unawed, and held out the town for
+several days, till at length it fell by storm, and the victorious chief
+planted his banner on those walls with far more honourable glory than that
+which surrounded the standard of Baldwin at Tarsus.
+
+In the mean while, another body of crusaders, detached from the troops of
+Boemond, arrived before the city in which Baldwin had established himself,
+and demanded entrance, or at least assistance and provisions. Baldwin[286]
+cruelly caused the gates to be shut upon them; and had it not been for the
+charitable care of some of the Christian inhabitants, who let them down
+wine and food from the walls, they would have been left to expire of want.
+A fate hardly better awaited them. The Turks had still, by their
+capitulation, maintained possession of several of the towers of Tarsus,
+but fearful of the superior force of Baldwin, they sought but a fair
+opportunity to escape without pursuit. The very night that the detachment
+of which I have spoken above arrived, the Turks carried their intentions
+into effect,[287] and finding a small body of Christians sleeping under
+the walls without defence, they made the massacre of the whole the first
+step in their flight. The soldiers of Baldwin and the citizens of Tarsus,
+who had together witnessed, with indignation, the barbarous conduct of the
+French chieftain, now rose in absolute revolt.[288] Baldwin, however,
+having remained in concealment for a few days, contrived to pacify his
+followers, and to overawe the city. After this he joined himself to a band
+of piratical adventurers, who about that time arrived accidentally at
+Tarsus, and who, mingling their lust of prey with some dark and
+superstitious notions of religion, had turned their course towards the
+Holy Land, in the pleasant hope of serving both God and Mammon with the
+sword.[289] With these Baldwin continued to ravage Cilicia, and at length
+approaching Mamistra, in which Tancred had established himself, he pitched
+his tents upon the immediate territory of that city. Tancred now gave way
+to his indignation, and issuing forth, though accompanied by very inferior
+forces, he attacked Baldwin sword in hand, when a fierce engagement ensued
+between the two Christian armies. The struggle was severe but short: the
+superior numbers of the French prevailed, and Tancred was forced to
+retreat into the city. On one side, the Prince of Salernum was made
+prisoner by Baldwin,[290] and on the other, Gilbert of Montclar was taken;
+but the next day, shame for their unchristian dissensions took possession
+of each chief. Peace was agreed upon; they embraced in sight of the two
+hosts; the captives were exchanged, and, as usual, Satan got the credit of
+the dispute. Baldwin proceeded, after this, to join the main army, and
+left his piratical associates to aid Tancred in laying waste the country.
+
+During these events the great body of the crusade had remained for some
+time at Antiochetta, where the people continued to acquire new health and
+strength, in the enjoyment of that tranquillity and abundance which had
+been so long withheld from them. Not so the chiefs, two of whom[291]--and
+those of the most distinguished--had nearly, in this period of repose and
+peace, found that death which they had so often dared in the midst of
+battle and hardship.
+
+Godfrey of Bouillon, in delivering a pilgrim from the attack of a
+huge[292] bear in the woods of Antiochetta, had almost fallen a victim to
+his chivalrous courage: he received so many wounds, that even after having
+slain his ferocious adversary, he could not drag himself from the forest
+to the camp; and remained long and dangerously ill in consequence. At the
+same time, the Count of Toulouse was seized with a violent fever, which
+brought him to the brink of the grave. He was taken from his bed and laid
+upon the ground--as was customary among the pilgrims at the hour of death,
+that they might expire with all humility--and the Bishop of Orange
+administered the last sacraments of the church:[293] but a certain Count
+of Saxe, who accompanied the army, came to visit the leader of the
+Provençals, and told him that St. Giles (the patron saint of the Counts of
+Toulouse) had twice appeared to him in a dream, assuring him that so
+valuable a life should be spared to the crusaders.
+
+Whether from the effect of that most excellent medicine, hope, or from a
+natural turn in his disease, the count suddenly began to recover, and
+before long was sufficiently well to accompany the army in a litter. The
+chiefs of the crusade now directed their march towards Antioch, suffering
+not a little from the desolate state of the country, which, devastated on
+every side by the Turks, afforded no means of supplying the immense
+multitude that followed the standard of the Cross. After passing Iconium
+and Heraclea, their fatigues were destined to increase rather than
+diminish. Their road now lay through uninhabited wilds, which Robert the
+Monk describes in language at once picturesque and terrific.[294] "They
+travelled," says he, "with deplorable suffering through mountains where no
+path was to be found except the paths of reptiles and savage beasts, and
+where the passages afforded no more space than just sufficient to place
+one foot before the other, in tracks shut in between rocks and thorny
+bushes. The depths of the precipices seemed to sink down to the centre of
+the earth, while the summits of the mountains appeared to rise up to the
+firmament. The knights and men-at-arms walked forward with uncertain
+steps, the armour being slung over their shoulders, and each of them
+acting as a foot-soldier, for none dared mount his horse. Many would
+willingly have sold their helmets, their breastplates, or their shields,
+had they found any one to buy, and some, wearied out, cast down their
+arms, to walk more lightly. No loaded horses could pass, and the men were
+obliged to carry the whole burdens. None could stop or sit down: none
+could aid his companion, except where the one who came behind might
+sometimes help the person before him, though those that preceded could
+hardly turn the head towards those that followed. Nevertheless, having
+traversed these horrible paths, or rather these pathless wildernesses,
+they arrived at length at the city named Marasia, the inhabitants of which
+received them with joy and respect."
+
+At Marasch the host was rejoined by Baldwin, whose wife died a few days
+before his arrival. His brother Godfrey,[295] too, was still suffering
+from the effects of his combat with the wild beast, and all the chiefs of
+the crusade, indignant at his conduct at Tarsus, gave him but a chilling
+and gloomy reception.[296] The spirit of individual aggrandizement was
+still the strongest passion in the breast of Baldwin, and the coldness of
+his companions in arms yielded him no great encouragement to stay and
+employ his efforts for the general object of the expedition, rather than
+for the purposes of his own selfish ambition. He very soon abandoned the
+rest of the chiefs, contriving to seduce two hundred knights, and a large
+party of foot-soldiers, to join him; and as his course was thenceforth
+separate from the rest of the crusaders, I shall follow the example of
+Guibert, and briefly trace it out, till it falls again into the general
+stream of events.
+
+Accompanied by Pancrates,[297] an Armenian, who painted in glowing colours
+the wealth of the provinces on the other side of the Euphrates,[298] and
+the facility with which they might be conquered, he set out with the vague
+hope of plundering something and overcoming some one, he knew not well
+what or whom. However, his skill as a commander was certain to find matter
+on which to exercise itself, in a country possessed by an active enemy,
+while his rapacious propensities were very likely to be gratified in a
+rich and plentiful land, where the many were oppressed by the few.
+Turbessel[299] and Ravendel fell immediately into his hands, and were at
+first placed under the command of his companion, Pancrates; but beginning
+to suspect that personage, he forced him to deliver up the cities, by
+imprisonment, torture, and a threat of having him torn limb from
+limb.[300] He then passed onward, crossed the Euphrates, and at the
+invitation of Thoros, sovereign of Edessa, entered that city, to free it
+from the power of the Turks. Thoros, a weak and childless old man, was
+driven by the inhabitants--who were terrified at their infidel neighbours,
+and had no confidence in their feeble monarch--to adopt the brother of
+Godfrey, with all the curious ceremonies then practised on such occasions.
+He passed his own shirt over Baldwin's shoulders,[301] pressed him to his
+naked breast, and publicly declared him his son.[302]
+
+The transactions that followed are very obscure, and as I have not been
+able to satisfy myself in regard to the share which Baldwin had in the
+tumults that succeeded, and the death of Thoros, I will but state the
+facts, without attempting to trace them to secret causes, which are now
+hidden in the dark tabernacle of the past. Something we know--Baldwin was
+ambitious, unscrupulous, intriguing, cruel--and shortly after his arrival,
+the people of Edessa rose against their unhappy prince, slew him, and
+elected Baldwin in his place. It does not absolutely appear that Baldwin
+was the instigator of these riots, or the prompter of the death of Thoros;
+but it does appear that he did not exert himself as he might have done to
+put them down. That it was in his power to suppress them is evinced by the
+rapidity with which he reduced the Edessians[303] to the most submissive
+obedience, immediately that the rank for which he had to contend was his
+own. He afterward proceeded to aggrandize his dominions, by attacking
+various of the neighbouring cities, and thus, in continual struggles, he
+passed his days, till some time after his companions in arms had completed
+their conquest of the Holy Land.
+
+In the mean while, Tancred took possession of the whole country as far as
+the town of Alexandretta, in the Gulf of Ajasse; and the great army of the
+crusade continued its march, throwing forward Robert of Flanders to seize
+on Artesia.[304] The Mahommedan soldiery prepared to resist; but the
+Armenian inhabitants opened the gates to their Christian deliverers, and
+the infidels were massacred without mercy. On the news of this event,
+Baghasian, the commander of the Turkish garrison of Antioch, apparently
+not knowing the immediate proximity of the whole Christian force,
+endeavoured to cut off, by stratagem, the small army of the Count of
+Flanders, who was accompanied by only one thousand knights. For this
+purpose the Turk advanced from Antioch,[305] followed by nearly twenty
+thousand horsemen, whom he placed in ambush in a plain near the city,
+while he himself, at the head of a petty detachment, armed alone with
+bows of horn,[306] advanced as if to reconnoitre the Christian troops.
+Robert of Flanders and his knights suffered themselves to be deceived, and
+charged the enemy, who fled before them, but in a moment they were
+surrounded by immensely superior numbers, who, with terrific cries, rushed
+on, to what appeared a certain victory. The gallantry[307] and courage of
+the Christian warriors served to deliver them from the danger into which
+the excess of that very courage had brought them, and charging the Turks
+with vigour in one decided direction, they succeeded in cutting their way
+through, and effecting their retreat to the city.
+
+Here, however, they were besieged by the enemy; but the arrival of
+Tancred, on his return from his victorious expedition, together with
+reinforcements from the main army, relieved them from the presence of the
+Turks, who retreated upon Antioch.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+_The Host of the Crusade invests Antioch--Description of that City--
+Difficulties and Errors of the Crusaders--Improvidence--Famine--Spies--
+Desertions--Embassy from the Calif of Egypt--Succours from the Genoese and
+Pisans--Battle--Feats of the Christian Knights--Boemond keeps up a
+Communication within the Town--The Town betrayed to the Christians--
+Massacres--Arrival of an Army from Persia--The Christians besieged in
+Antioch--Famine--Desertions--Visions--Renewed Enthusiasm--Diminished
+Forces of the Christians--Battle of Antioch--The Crusaders victorious--
+Spoils--Disputes with the Count of Toulouse--The Chiefs determine to
+repose at Antioch--Ambassadors sent to Alexius--Fate of their Embassy._
+
+
+The army now began to approach towards Antioch; and it was evident, that
+the task which the champions of the Cross had undertaken was becoming more
+and more difficult, as it drew near its consummation. The host was
+proceeding further and further from all resources; its enemies were
+gathering strength and falling back upon fresh supplies; multitudes of the
+invaders had died, and others were each day joining the dead: little hope
+of fresh reinforcements could be entertained, and the flame of enthusiasm
+was waxing dim, while fatigue, privation, and continual anxiety were
+gradually bringing disgust to the enterprise. The council of leaders,[308]
+well aware of the increasing dangers, now issued orders that in future no
+party whatever should absent itself from the main body; and all
+considerable detachments having rejoined it, they marched on to the valley
+of the Orontes. Over that river a stone bridge of nine arches was the only
+passage: this was strongly fortified, and closed with doors plated with
+iron, from which circumstance it had received the name of the iron-bridge.
+The Turks defended this formidable position with great valour against
+Robert, Duke of Normandy, who commanded the advance guard of the crusading
+army; but on the arrival of Godfrey and the other forces, the bridge was
+carried, the river passed, and Antioch invested.
+
+In the vast plain situated at the foot of the mountains,[309] the Orontes
+wanders on towards the sea, skirting, during a part of its course, the
+steep boundary which closes in the plain of Antioch from the south. On one
+of the bendings of the river was situated the town of Antioch, which,
+climbing up the hills, took within the embrace of its massy walls three
+high peaks of the mountain, one of which standing towards the north is
+separated from the others by a steep precipice, and was then crowned by a
+high and almost impregnable citadel.[310] The town itself, which extended
+in length two miles, was so strongly fortified by art and nature, that
+none of the active means then known seemed likely to take it by assault.
+The walls of the city were not absolutely washed by the Orontes; for
+between them and that river was a space of level ground, the breadth of
+which Raimond d'Agiles estimates at an arrow's flight; but, as the river
+turned in its course, it approached nearer to the town, and an antique
+bridge,[311] which the crusaders at first neglected to secure, gave
+infinite facility to the Turks, both in annoying their adversaries, and in
+procuring supplies. On the other side, spreading from the river to the
+foot of the mountains, was a marsh supplied constantly by some fresh
+springs. Over this also was thrown a bridge, which equally remained in the
+hands of the infidels.
+
+The encampment of the crusaders was conducted without any degree of
+military science.[312] Various points were left open and unguarded; each
+chief seemed to choose his own situation, and form his own plan of attack;
+and the most scandalous waste and profusion from the very first laid the
+foundation of after want and misery.
+
+Such were the obstacles which impeded the progress of the forces of the
+Cross, and which might, ultimately have rendered all their efforts
+abortive, had not other circumstances arisen to bring about an event that
+their own skill and conduct would never have accomplished. It is not
+necessary here to describe the position of the several leaders: suffice
+it, that Tatin, as he is called by the writers of that day, the commander
+of the troops of Alexius, took up his station in a spot detached from the
+rest. Three hundred thousand men capable of bearing arms,[313] sat down
+under the walls of Antioch; and such a profusion of provisions was found,
+even for this immense multitude, that the greater part of each animal
+slaughtered was wasted, the crusaders in the wantonness of luxury refusing
+to eat any but particular parts of the beast.[314]
+
+Such was the formidable appearance of the city, however, that a council
+was held to consider whether it would be advisable to attack it at once,
+or, remaining beneath the walls, to wait and see if famine would spare the
+work of the sword, or spring bring fresh resources to the besiegers. This
+opinion was soon negatived, and the attack began; but the walls of Antioch
+resisted all efforts. Every means then known was employed by the crusaders
+to batter the heavy masonry of those mighty bulwarks, but in vain.
+Moveable towers, and catapults, and mangonels, and battering-rams, were
+all used ineffectually; while the besieged, in a variety of sallies,
+harassed night and day the Christian camp, and destroyed many of the
+assailants.
+
+The consequences[315] of their first improvidence were soon bitterly
+visited on the heads of the crusaders. Famine began to spread in the
+camp; and pestilential diseases, engendered by unwholesome food and the
+neighbourhood of a large tract of marshy land, in the autumn and winter
+seasons, raged through the hosts of the Cross, and slew more fearfully
+even than the arrows of the enemy. Death in every shape grew familiar to
+their eyes, and the thought of passing to another world lost all the
+salutary horror which is so great a check on vice. Crimes of various
+descriptions were common;[316] and the sharp urgency of famine, joined
+with that horrible contempt of all human ties, which the extreme of mortal
+need alone can bring, induced many of the crusaders, deprived of other
+aliments, to feed upon the dead bodies of the slain.[317] At the same
+time, the Turks suffered not their miseries to pass without aggravation,
+but kept the unsparing sword constantly at their throats;[318] while, by a
+number of spies, dressed in the garb of Greeks and Armenians, the garrison
+became aware of all the movements and necessities of their besiegers.[319]
+To correct the crimes of the camp, a court was instituted, with full power
+to try and punish; while, to prevent the immorality which was growing too
+glaring for endurance, the women were separated from the general host, and
+provided for and protected apart.
+
+At the same time, Boemond employed a somewhat savage mode of freeing the
+army from the spies by which it was infested. Having detected some Turks
+in disguise, he caused them to be slain and roasted in his presence;
+declaring, that famine knew no delicacies, and that in future he should
+feed upon such fare. Still, however, the mortality and the dearth
+increased; and though an excursion made by Boemond[320] and Robert of
+Flanders brought a temporary supply to the camp, yet that was soon
+improvidently wasted like the rest, and the scarcity became more rigorous
+than ever. Desertion of course followed.[321] Among such a multitude,
+there were many whose hearts were not of that firm and all-enduring mould
+which could alone carry on an enterprise surrounded by such horrors and
+distresses. Taticius,[322] the Greek, upon pretence of searching for
+assistance at Constantinople, retreated with the few troops he commanded;
+and his example was fatal to the resolution of many others. Various bodies
+of crusaders abandoned the army, and found refuge in the different
+Christian states that still subsisted in the neighbouring countries: many
+tried to tread their way back to Europe; and the Count de Melun,[323] a
+celebrated warrior, but a notorious plunderer, attempted to quit the host
+of the Cross, and seek some other adventure, where personal danger was not
+accompanied by famine and privation. Even Peter the Hermit himself,[324]
+no longer looked upon as a great leader or an inspired preacher, seeing
+misery, death, and horror pursuing the object of all his enthusiasm, and
+feeling himself, perhaps, less valued than his zeal merited, was abandoned
+by that ardour which had been his great support. Whereas, had he been
+still regarded as a prophet, or followed as a mighty chief, he would
+probably have borne the extremity of suffering without a murmur; now, told
+to endure want and wretchedness as a private individual, he yielded, like
+the weakest of those that surrounded him, and tried to flee from the pangs
+which he had no stimulus to endure. Both of these fugitives[325] were
+brought back by Tancred; and after undergoing a severe reprimand, were
+forced to vow that they would never abandon the enterprise till the army
+had reached Jerusalem.
+
+In the mean while,[326] the camp of the crusaders received embassies from
+two different and unexpected quarters. Which arrived first, or at what
+period of the siege either arrived, is of little consequence, and
+impossible exactly to determine; for on this subject, as well as every
+other collateral circumstance, each of the contemporary authors differs
+from his fellows; and the historian may think himself fortunate when he
+finds them agreeing even on the principal facts. The news of the progress
+of the Christian host had spread even to Cairo;[327] and the calif of
+Egypt, from whose hands Syria had been wrested by the Turks, sent deputies
+to the leaders of the crusade, probably more with the intent of
+ascertaining their real condition, and the likelihood of their ultimate
+success, than for the purpose of binding himself to them by any formal
+treaty. His messengers, however, were charged to congratulate the Latins
+on their progress, and to offer the most advantageous terms of union, if
+they would consent to act in concert with the Egyptian power. They[328]
+detailed the mild and liberal measures which the calif had employed
+towards the Christians of their country, and they engaged the leaders to
+send back ambassadors to the court of their sovereign.[329]
+
+After the siege had continued some time, a most welcome aid, both in men
+and stores, arrived at the little port of St. Simeon, situated at the
+mouth of the Orontes. This town had already, for many years, served as a
+seaport to Antioch, which, in its high prosperity,[330] had carried on
+considerable trade with the Italian cities of the Mediterranean; and to it
+the states of Genoa and Pisa now sent a large reinforcement of
+soldiers,[331] and several ship-loads of provisions.
+
+The famished crusaders proceeded towards the spot in straggling crowds,
+and Boemond,[332] with the Count of Toulouse, at the head of some regular
+troops, marched down to escort their newly arrived brethren, and the
+supplies they were conveying, to the general camp of the crusaders. The
+Turks of Antioch, however, let no opportunity of vengeance and annoyance
+pass unemployed. Boemond, embarrassed with a multitude of rabble, and
+encumbered with baggage, was encountered, as he returned through the
+mountains, by a large body of Moslems, who, taking him unprepared, slew a
+great number of the people, and put the leaders and their knights to
+flight. Boemond arrived breathless at the camp, but the rumour of the
+battle had preceded him. Godfrey of Bouillon[333] was already in the
+saddle; and now, joined by Raimond and Boemond, together with Hugh of
+Vermandois, the Duke of Normandy, and Robert of Flanders, he advanced to
+the top of the hills, behind which the victorious Turks were winding
+onward, on their return to the city.
+
+A skirmish took place for the position on the mountains, but the
+Christians obtained it with little difficulty; and thus cut off the enemy
+from the town.[334] The Turks were forced to fight once more; but they
+were opposed no longer by an undisciplined crowd; and the Chivalry of
+Europe never displayed that almost superhuman valour[335] which
+distinguished them, with greater effect. Allowing even for the
+exaggeration of eulogy, the efforts of the knights must have been
+extraordinary. Godfrey is reported to have mown the heads of the Turks as
+a mower strikes down the thistles; and all the authorities of that day
+repeat the tale of his having at one blow severed an armed infidel in
+twain, though protected by his cuirass.[336] Every chief rivalled the
+other; and, beyond all doubt, several of the infidels must have fallen by
+the hand of each knight. While thus the sword raged among the Turkish
+host, many made their way to the bridge, and rushed across it in such
+crowds, that hundreds were thrust over into the water. On the other side,
+too, Boemond, with a large body of pikemen on foot, opposed their
+passage,[337] and hurled them at the point of the lance into the river,
+the banks of which were lined with the crusaders, who repelled even those
+that swam to land.[338] Thus lasted the fight till the sun going down put
+a stop to the carnage; and the Christians, with songs of victory and
+loaded with spoil, returned to their camp for the night. More than two
+thousand men, several of whom were of high rank, were left by the Turks on
+the field of battle: a multitude found death in the Orontes; but the
+number of the fallen was never correctly ascertained,[339] although the
+Christians, with the characteristic barbarity of the time, dug up many of
+the dead bodies that the Turks had buried during the night.[340]
+
+Various efforts both from within and without were made to raise the siege,
+but in vain. On one occasion an immense body of Saracens, Arabs, and Turks
+was defeated by seven hundred Christian knights, to which small
+number[341] the disposable cavalry of the army was reduced. Famine,
+however, disease, and tempests did more to alarm and destroy the crusading
+force than all the efforts of the infidels. The winds[342] became so high
+that the tents even of the chiefs were blown down, and for some time they
+were forced to sleep in the open air. An earthquake[343] was felt towards
+the beginning of the year, and was of course considered as an omen. A
+comet,[344] too, blazed through the sky; but as the superstitious fancied
+they beheld in it the form of the Cross, this rather increased than abated
+their hope. In the midst of these circumstances Stephen,[345] Count of
+Blois, never very famous for his valour, pretended illness, and retired
+from the army of the crusade, accompanied by four thousand men, whom he
+led to Alexandretta. A more serious desertion, also, was threatened,
+though no design ever existed of its execution: Boemond[346] himself began
+to murmur at the length of the siege. He was poor, he declared: he had
+given up every thing in his native country for the Cross, and he could not
+waste his blood and treasure, and see all his soldiers fall in a siege
+which was to be productive of no advantage to himself. Such murmurs had
+their object, and might perhaps spring, in some degree, from a weak
+quarrel with Godfrey of Bouillon, on the subject of a tent, which had been
+sent to the duke by the Prince of Armenia, but which had been waylaid by
+Pancrates, the Armenian I have had occasion to mention in speaking of
+Baldwin; and had by him been given to Boemond. The Prince of Tarentum had
+been obliged to yield it by the decision of all the leaders; but though
+this was a subject of irritation, he had more ambitious projects in view.
+
+Boemond for some time, through a proselyte Turk to whom he had given his
+name at baptism, had kept up a communication with the commander of one of
+the chief towers, on that part of the city wall which looked towards the
+gorges of the mountains. This man,[347] by birth an Armenian, had embraced
+Mahometanism, and raised himself high in the opinion of the prince of
+Antioch. He had in consequence received the command of the important[348]
+station I have mentioned, while his two brothers occupied the neighbouring
+towers.[349] The origin of his communication with Boemond is variously
+stated, but the event is the same. He was won over by magnificent promises
+to engage that he would admit that chief and his followers into the town
+when called upon.
+
+Boemond, however, did not intend at all that the intelligence which he had
+thus practised within the walls should be lost to himself, and benefit
+others alone:[350] but knowing[351] the jealous nature of his companions,
+he waited patiently till circumstances compelled them to concede to him
+the sovereignty of Antioch, in the event of its being taken by his means.
+At first the proposal was rejected by the other leaders; but soon,
+increasing reports that an immense army, commanded by the warlike sultaun
+of Persia, was advancing to the relief of the besieged, induced the
+Christian chiefs, under the distress and despondency which affected the
+army generally, to concur in the views of the ambitious Prince of
+Tarentum. Boemond then intrusted his secret to Godfrey and the other
+great leaders, but it was under the most solemn promises of silence[352]
+on the subject; for, notwithstanding all the precautions that could be
+taken, it was well known that the Turkish spies infested the Christian
+camp. With the utmost caution all the measures were concerted for carrying
+the project into effect, and through the whole army the rumour was spread
+that the preparations made by the chiefs were for the purpose of laying an
+ambush for the Persian forces, that were approaching. Phirouz, the
+Armenian traitor, was warned that Boemond was about to take advantage of
+his offer; and as soon as night had completely set in, the Prince of
+Tarentum, with a body of chosen knights, proceeded into the
+mountains,[353] as if with the design of surprising the host of the
+Persians. Only seven hundred men, however, were selected for this perilous
+expedition; and marching in the dead of the night, they crossed the
+valleys and precipices of the rocky chain on which the city rested, and
+halted in a deep dell at some distance from the walls. The wind was
+blowing in sharp gusts, and its howlings among the gorges of the mountains
+prevented the tramp of the armed men from reaching the watchers on the
+walls. Having assembled their forces in the valley, Godfrey and Boemond
+explained to their followers the real nature of the enterprise they
+meditated. A single interpreter was sent forward, to confer with their
+traitorous coadjutor, and to ascertain that all was prepared. Phirouz
+assured him that he was ready, and asked eagerly where were the knights;
+being told that they were near,[354] he pressed them to advance, lest any
+thing should excite the suspicion of the other commanders, especially as,
+from time to time, men with lighted torches patrolled the wall during the
+night, and it was necessary that they should take advantage of the
+interval. Godfrey, Robert of Flanders, and Boemond instantly led the
+troops to the foot of the fortifications; a rope was let down, and a
+ladder of hides raised. At first,[355] no one could be found to mount.
+Unaccustomed to carry on any warlike operations during the night, a
+thousand unwonted fears took possession of the bosoms of the crusaders. At
+length, urged by the chiefs, and encouraged by Phirouz from above, one
+knight--which of the body is not certain[356]--began to ascend the ladder,
+and was followed by several others. Silence then succeeded, and temporary
+hesitation once more took possession of the force below: but the voices of
+their companions who had ascended, whispering assurances of safety and
+fidelity, soon renewed their courage, and many attempting to climb the
+ladder at once,[357] it gave way under their weight, precipitating them
+upon the lance-heads that were buried in the fosse. The clang of their
+armour as they fell was a new cause of alarm, lest the sound should reach
+the other towers: so loud, however, was the roaring of the wind, and the
+hollow rushing sound of the Orontes, that the noise was not heard by any
+but those immediately around. The ladder was easily repaired, and more
+than sixty knights had reached the top of the battlements when the torch
+of the patrol began to gleam along the walls in its approach towards them.
+Hid[358] in the shadows of the tower, the crusaders waited the officer's
+approach, and before he could spread the alarm death had fixed the seal of
+silence on his lips for ever. The knights now descended through the
+staircase in the masonry, and finding the soldiers of the guard asleep,
+they speedily rendered their slumbers eternal. A postern gate was then
+forced open,[359] and the seven hundred champions rushed into the city
+sounding their horns in every direction, as had been agreed between the
+chiefs, in order that on this signal the town might be at the same time
+attacked from without.
+
+It would be painful to dwell upon the scene of slaughter that ensued. The
+Turks were soon awakened by the shrieks of their falling comrades, and by
+the trumpets of their victorious foe: they ran to arms,[360] and for many
+hours manfully opposed their conquerors hand to hand, though all hope of
+victory was now over. The Greeks and Armenians hastened to force open the
+gates and give entrance to the rest of the army of the Cross: but, in the
+darkness that prevailed, many of the Christians as well as the Turks were
+slaughtered by the victors, who butchered all ages, sexes, and conditions,
+with indiscriminate rage and haste,[361] in which fear and agitation had
+probably as much to do as cruelty and fanaticism.
+
+During the whole of the night the crusaders continued the massacre of
+their enemies; and Albert of Aix[362] declares, that the following morning
+they found they had slain many of their own countrymen by mistake. Such a
+fact is not difficult to conceive of a body of men wandering without guide
+through a hostile town, with the paths of which they were unacquainted. As
+ever follows the violent capture of a large city, the soldiery first
+satisfied themselves with bloodshed, and perhaps added some extra
+cruelties to gratify their fanaticism, and then betook themselves to
+plunder and debauchery; nevertheless, they committed not greater excesses
+than we have seen perpetrated in days not very distant from our own, by
+the troops of civilized nations, without the fiery stimulus of religious
+zeal for a palliation.
+
+I mean not to defend the cruelties of the crusaders, but I mean to say,
+that they were not extraordinary in that age, or in any age that has yet
+passed: God only knows what may be to come. The crusaders treated the
+infidels as the infidels had often treated the Christians; and as
+Christians, unhappily, have too often treated Christians like themselves.
+Their plunder was not at all of a more atrocious kind than that which
+attends every storm; and as to the hypocrisy[363] with which Mills charges
+them, that writer quite loses sight of the spirit of the age on which he
+writes, and metes men's actions by a standard that they never knew. The
+crusaders were _not_ hypocrites, they were merely fanatics; and in the
+relentless fury with which they pillaged, injured, and massacred the
+Turks, they thought they did God as good and pleasing service as in
+singing praises to him for the victory they had obtained. They were
+fearfully wrong in their principle, it is true, but still they acted upon
+principle, and therefore in this they were not hypocrites.
+
+Baghasian, the Turkish prince of Antioch,[364] fled with a part of his
+troops to the citadel, but finding that security could not long be found
+within the walls of the town, he escaped alone to the mountains, where he
+was waylaid by some Syrian Christians and slain. His head, with all the
+venerable marks of extreme age, was struck off by his slayers, and
+carried, with his rich sword-belt, into Antioch, where it proved an
+acceptable present to the rude victors.
+
+Though much spoil[365] of various kinds was found in Antioch, little that
+could satisfy the cravings of hunger had been left by the Turks. They,
+themselves closely blockaded, had been driven nearly to want; and the
+Christians soon began to suffer from the very precautions they had
+formerly taken against their enemies. In the first joy of their conquest,
+too, the little discipline that ever existed in a chivalrous host was
+completely relaxed, and before it could be sufficiently restored for
+necessary measures to be taken in order to procure supplies, famine was in
+the city, and the hosts of the Persian sultaun[366] encamped beneath the
+walls.
+
+The invasion of the Christians, the fall of Nice, and the siege of Antioch
+had spread consternation through the empires of the Crescent; and the
+monarch of Persia had roused himself from the contemptuous sloth in which
+he had first heard of the crusades, and raised an immense army, to sweep
+away, as the Moslem expressed it, the band of locusts that had fallen upon
+the land.
+
+Kerboga, or Corbohan, as he was named by the Christians, the emir of
+Mosul, and favourite of the calif, took the command of the army; and being
+joined by Kilidge Asian, the sultaun of Roum, with a considerable force,
+proceeded at the head of about three hundred thousand men towards Antioch.
+He would, in all probability have reached that city in time to prevent its
+fall, had he not turned from the direct road to ravage the principality of
+Edessa, and dispossess Baldwin.[367] From thence, however, he was called,
+before he could accomplish his object, by the news of the Christians'
+success, and in a few days Antioch was once more invested. The first
+attempt of the Moslems was to throw supplies into the citadel, which the
+Latins had hitherto neglected to attack. In this they in some degree
+succeeded; and the crusaders, being roused to watchfulness, took what
+measures they could against further reinforcements reaching the castle.
+
+In the mean while the Christians, who had suffered what appeared the
+extreme of privation while assailing the very walls they now defended,
+were reduced to a state of famine which beggars all description.[368] The
+most noisome animals, the most unsavoury herbs, became dainties at the
+tables of the great. The horses that remained were slaughtered without
+consideration, and all virtue and order gave way under the pressure of
+necessity.
+
+All sorts of vice became rife, and debauchery grew the more horrid from
+being the debauchery of despair. The Persians, encamped closely round
+them, had burnt the vessels, destroyed the port of St. Simeon, and cut off
+all communication with the neighbouring country. Nevertheless their guard
+was not so strict but that many of the crusaders escaped over the
+walls,[369] and fled to the Count of Blois at Alexandretta, excusing their
+pusillanimity by tales of the horrors they had undergone. Stephen of
+Blois, now rejoicing in his timely evasion, abandoned his comrades
+altogether, and with the stragglers who had joined him from Antioch, among
+whom were many knights and nobles of distinction, he retreated towards
+Constantinople.[370] By the way he encountered a large force commanded by
+Alexius, who was marching, not to succour the crusaders, whose condition
+he did not yet know, but to take advantage of their conquests. The
+cowardly monarch, in deep sympathy with the cowardly fugitives, turned his
+back upon Antioch the moment he heard of its danger, and pursued his
+journey towards his capital, forcing along with him a considerable body of
+French and Italian crusaders, who, under the command of Guy,[371] the
+brother of Boemond, had been advancing to the aid of their brethren. The
+news of Alexius's approach had filled the hearts of the besieged with joy,
+and the tidings of his retreat of course cast them into still deeper
+despair. The soldiers forgot their honour and abandoned their posts,
+hiding in the houses and avoiding every thing that called them into
+activity. As a last resource to drive them to their duty, Boemond[372] set
+fire to parts of the town where they were supposed principally to linger;
+but hope seemed extinguished in every breast, and though the inferior
+troops returned to some degree of energy, yet the leaders knew full well
+that without succour--and no succour was near--nothing short of a miracle
+could save them from their distress. Within the walls they starved,[373]
+and died, and wasted; and they could hardly be expected to issue forth
+upon the enemy, when Godfrey himself, their noblest leader, and tacitly
+their chief, was destitute of even a horse to carry him to the battle. At
+the same time, from the walls of the city, the luxuries of the Turkish
+camp might be beheld in tantalizing splendour.[374] Gold and jewels, and
+rich silks, and beautiful horses, and gay seraglios, seemed rather
+indications of some joyous company than of a fierce besieging army. Troops
+of cattle, too, of all kinds, were seen feeding round about, while the
+acute tooth of famine was gnawing the entrails of those who stood and
+looked upon all the magnificence and profusion before them.
+
+Many even of the leaders of the crusade[375] were reduced to absolute
+beggary, and several became completely dependent on the bounty of Godfrey
+for mere food, till he himself had no more to give. The people, accustomed
+to privation, still in some degree bore up, but the knights themselves
+gave way, and had it not been for the noble firmness of Adhemar, Bishop of
+Puy, Godfrey, Raimond, Boemond, and Tancred, the whole of the barons would
+have fled, and left the people to their fate.[376]
+
+The chiefs I have named, however, never ceased their exertions. They bound
+themselves by the most solemn vows not to abandon each other or the cause
+they had undertaken; and Tancred, always the first where chivalrous
+enthusiasm was concerned, pledged himself by oath not to turn back from
+the road to Jerusalem so long as forty knights would follow his banner. At
+length superstition came to animate the courage of the soldiery. Visions
+were seen promising victory to those who endured to the last. The
+apostles, the saints, and even the Saviour appeared to many of the
+priests, who took care that their miraculous visitations should be noised
+abroad.[377]
+
+Whether originating in the policy of the leaders, or in the cunning of the
+lower order of priests, these supernatural consolations had a prodigious
+effect upon people who, their reliance on every earthly means being gone,
+were fain to turn to heaven. Enthusiasm, supported by superstition, proved
+a most excellent nurse to hope. Activity, energy, resolution, returned;
+and the wan and ghastly herds demanded loudly to be led against the enemy.
+One more pious fraud[378] was destined to be committed before the troops
+were brought to the last resource of an almost hopeless battle. A clerk of
+Provence, serving under Raimond of Toulouse, sought out the chiefs of the
+armament, and declared that St. Andrew the Apostle had manifested himself
+in a vision, and had revealed to him that the lance with which our
+Saviour's side was pierced, at the crucifixion, might be found in a
+certain spot in the church of St. Peter of Antioch. Accompanied by this
+holy relic the army was directed by the saint to issue forth upon the
+Saracens with assurances of victory.
+
+The Bishop of Puy,[379] whose religious feelings were of too pure a kind
+to practise, or even countenance, such cheats, declared that the tale must
+be false, and several chiefs agreed with him in opinion:[380] but Raimond
+of Toulouse and others strongly supported the story; and the whole of the
+leaders soon became convinced that good policy required the lance should
+be found, a battle seeming the only resource. As no support could be given
+to the bodies of the emaciated troops, it was as well, also, to stimulate
+their minds as far as possible.
+
+The lance was therefore sought for in form, and though at first it could
+not be discovered, because it was not there, it very naturally happened
+that no sooner did the clerk who had been favoured with the vision descend
+into the pit,[381] than the iron head was perceived, and brought up to the
+wonder and edification of the people. The matter being now decided, the
+hearts of the multitude were all enthusiasm, a great many more almost
+sacrilegious visions were seen, fasting and prayer, and the ceremonies of
+the church were used to excite and increase the popular ardour; and, in
+the end, Peter the Hermit was sent out to the camp of Kerboga,[382] not to
+offer terms of capitulation, but rather to threaten vengeance, and to bid
+the Turks depart. The reply of the emir was as contemptuous as might have
+been expected, and Peter returned with a message that would have somewhat
+quelled the daring of the crusaders if it had been repeated. This,
+however, was prevented by Godfrey, and every preparation made for a
+battle.
+
+The citadel,[383] I have before said, had remained in the hands of the
+Turks, who had fled thither on the taking of Antioch. Its commanding
+situation enabled the garrison to see whatever passed in the town; and the
+governor being strictly enjoined to give due notice to the army of Kerboga
+of all the Christian movements, on the morning of the 28th of June, A. D.
+1098, a black flag,[384] hoisted on the highest tower of that fortress,
+announced to the besiegers that the Latins were about to march out and
+attack them.
+
+The army of the Cross presented but a miserable sight; the ghastly hand of
+famine had wrought horribly on the wan countenances of the soldiery. Of
+all the fair Chivalry of Europe, whose heavy horses and steel-clad limbs
+had crushed like the fall of a mountain every thing that opposed them, but
+two hundred knights appeared mounted as was their wont.[385] Those who
+could get them were glad to go forth upon mules and asses; some having
+sold or lost their arms, were furnished with the small shields and
+scimitars taken from the Turks; and Godfrey of Bouillon himself rode the
+borrowed horse of the Count of Toulouse, who was left to guard the town.
+In this state of wretchedness, the crusading army marched out against a
+splendid force, which, at the beginning of the siege amounted to more than
+three hundred thousand fighting men, and had every day been
+increasing.[386] Nevertheless, all was enthusiasm in the Christian ranks.
+The priests in their pontifical robes,[387] bearing crosses and holy
+banners, mingled with the soldiers, and, singing hymns of joy, already
+taught them to anticipate victory. The number of knights going to the
+fight on foot encouraged the common men by their presence and their
+example; and, in fact, though destitute of many of the physical means
+which had given them superiority in former battles, the valour and the
+self-confidence,[388] which are the soul of victory, were never more
+present among the Christian warriors.
+
+Kerboga committed the great fault that has lost a thousand battles. He
+despised his enemy. When first the news was brought to him that the
+Christians were advancing, he was playing at chess,[389] and hardly rose
+from his game. It was only the complete route of two thousand men, whom he
+had stationed to defend the bridge, that convinced him the attack was
+serious. He thus lost the opportunity of annoying the crusaders as they
+defiled, and now he found his error and began to tremble for the
+consequences.
+
+Hugh of Vermandois,[390] Robert of Flanders, and the Duke of Normandy,
+each advanced steadily at the head of his followers towards the mountains,
+where the Turkish cavalry were likely to find more difficulty in
+manoeuvring. Godfrey of Bouillon followed; and then Adhemar, Bishop of
+Puy, clothed in armour,[391] and bearing the sacred lance, led on the
+troops of Provence. Boemond and Tancred brought up the rear, and thus the
+whole wound on towards their position.
+
+Kerboga now used every effort to remedy his first neglect, and made
+several skilful movements for the purpose of surrounding the crusaders.
+They, on their part, with little attention to the arts of warfare,
+continued to march on, their courage increasing rather than diminishing,
+and persuading themselves that even the morning dew of a fine summer's
+day, which refreshed both themselves and their horses, was a special sign
+of favour from Heaven.[392] It is said, that Kerboga, at this moment
+seized with a sudden and unaccountable fear, sent messengers to declare
+that he would accept the terms formerly offered, and commit the decision
+of the quarrel to a combat of five or ten champions to be chosen on each
+side.[393]
+
+This proposal (if really made) was instantly refused, and Kerboga, drawn
+up before his camp, waited the attack of the Christians; while Soliman or
+Kilidge Aslan, taking a wide circuit with an immense force of cavalry,
+prepared to fall upon the rear of the army commanded by Boemond. To
+conceal this evolution the vizier caused the dry grass and weeds with
+which great part of the ground was covered to be set on fire, and by the
+smoke thus raised[394] succeeded in obscuring the movements of his
+cavalry. During this manoeuvre he extended his line, and endeavoured to
+turn the flanks of the crusading army. The banner-bearers,[395] in front
+of the host, were now within bow-shot of the enemy, and the arrows began
+to fall like hail on either side. The columns of the Christians came up
+one after another to the attack, and fighting hand to hand forced back the
+Turkish centre upon their camp, so that in that part of the field victory
+seemed leaning towards the champions of the Cross.
+
+At the same time, however, Soliman had fallen upon the rear of
+Boemond,[396] who, enveloped by infinitely superior forces, was pressed
+hard and separated from the rest of the army. The dense cloud occasioned
+by the burning weeds embarrassed the Lombards and Italians, and the sword
+of the Persians was reaping a terrible harvest in the ranks of the
+crusaders. Tancred flew to the rescue of Boemond, and Hugh of Vermandois
+as well as Godfrey of Bouillon abandoning the attack[397] they were making
+on the centre of the infidel army, turned to the rear, and succeeded in
+repelling the troops of Soliman. Still, the battle raged undecided;[398]
+while Kerboga used every effort to secure the victory, and hurrying up the
+columns from his wings, caused them to charge the rear of Godfrey as he
+advanced to the succour of the Prince of Tarentum. All was now confusion
+in that part of the field, the fight became hand to hand, blade crossed
+with blade, and man struggled against man. Meanwhile the Bishop of Puy,
+still bearing the sacred lance,[399] pressed forward upon a corps at the
+head of which Kerboga had placed himself; and with the Provençals urged
+the battle manfully against the infidels. The Persians fought bravely, and
+their numbers, as well as their great superiority in cavalry, gave them
+vast advantages over the Latins. Returning again and again to the charge
+with unequalled rapidity, fighting as well when their columns were broken
+as when their ranks were entire, and unrivalled in the use of the bow,
+they gave the crusaders not a moment to pause, without some enemy to
+attack, and some blow to repel.
+
+At length a report was raised through the Christian host that the saints
+were fighting on their side; and either by accident, by the force of
+imagination, or by some preconcerted artifice, the crusaders saw--or
+thought they saw--some figures clothed in white raiment, and mounted on
+white horses, coming over the mountains to their aid.[400] All fear, all
+suspense was at an end. The enthusiasm was prodigious, extraordinary,
+overpowering. The redoubted battle-cry "God wills it! God wills it!" once
+more rang over the field, and the weapons of the Christians seemed swayed
+by the force of giants. At the same time, among the Moslems spread the
+sickening news that the Latins had forced their way into the camp. The
+hopes of the infidels fell, and terror took possession of them, while the
+courage of the people of the Cross, raised into ecstasy by the belief of
+visible aid from on high, bore down all that opposed it, and soon
+converted feeble resistance into flight. In vain Kerboga tried to rally
+his troops, the panic was general, the pursuers fierce and resolute; and
+the mighty army of the Persians was scattered to the four winds of heaven.
+Tancred,[401] leaving to others the plunder of the camp, followed the
+fugitives over the hills, and prevented them from reassembling, while the
+rest of the chiefs entered the tents of the Persians, and added to their
+slaughtered enemies the blood of the helpless and unoffending.[402] A
+number of women and children were either slain by the sword or borne down
+in the flight, and an immense booty in gold, arms, horses, cattle, and
+rich vestments made the host of the crusade richer than even when it took
+its departure from Europe. The pavilion of Kerboga himself, though not the
+most valuable, was perhaps the most curious part of the spoil, being
+formed like a town, with walls, towers, and battlements,[403] and
+comprising streets, squares, and avenues within itself. It fell to the
+share of Boemond, and was capable, they say, of containing two thousand
+men.
+
+Sixty-nine thousand Turks[404] died in the battle of Antioch, while the
+loss of the crusaders is not estimated at more than ten thousand; but it
+must be remembered that this is the account of the Christians themselves.
+One of the immediate consequences[405] of this great victory was the
+surrender of the citadel of Antioch, which was now given up in despair. A
+considerable number of the soldiers forming its garrison embraced
+Christianity, and remained in the town; while the rest, who firmly adhered
+to their ancient faith, were honourably conducted beyond the conquered
+territory. The whole army, loaded with wealth, and rejoicing in abundance,
+entered once more the walls of the city, and offered up to Heaven
+manifold thanksgivings for the victory they had obtained. The only
+occurrence that for the time troubled the public joy[406] was, that the
+Count of Toulouse, who had remained behind to guard the town, looked upon
+the citadel, which had surrendered previous to the return of the host, as
+his own conquest, and had raised his banner on the walls.[407] The council
+of leaders determined that their agreement with Boemond embraced the
+castle as well as the town, and Raimond was, in consequence, forced to
+resign the authority he had usurped to the Prince of Tarentum. The count,
+notwithstanding, still retained possession of one of the city-gates,[408]
+with its adjoining towers, which he maintained for some months, but was
+obliged at last, by force of arms, to yield the whole.
+
+The first occupation of the crusaders after quieting this dispute was to
+restore the temples, which the Moslems had converted into mosques, to the
+service of the Christian religion. The priests were re-established, the
+ceremonies of the church recalled; and though they adhered to the forms of
+the Latin ritual, with wise and Christian moderation they abstained from
+interfering with the Greek patriarch, notwithstanding that they considered
+his dogmas heretical. The next question more related to their further
+advance into the country; and the people, proud in their victory, and
+forgetful of privations in the fulness of sudden satiety, clamoured loudly
+to be led on to Jerusalem. The chiefs,[409] however, saw how greatly
+repose was required; their army was lamentably diminished; most of the
+soldiers were suffering from wounds or weariness, and few, though
+refreshed by their lately acquired stores, were capable of bearing more
+fatigue and fresh necessities. At the same time, the fiery months of
+August and September, with the exposed plains of Syria, lay before them;
+and it was known that water, scanty on the road to Jerusalem even in the
+best times, was now hardly to be procured.
+
+On these considerations, the chiefs determined to postpone their advance
+till October, and in the mean while despatched Hugh[410] the Great, Count
+of Vermandois, with Baldwin of Mons, Count of Hainault, to the court of
+Constantinople. These ambassadors were instructed to urge the base Alexius
+to fulfil the many promises which he had made and neglected; and to
+threaten him, in case of his refusal, with the anger both of God and man.
+
+Baldwin of Mons was betrayed into a Turkish ambuscade, and his fate was
+never clearly ascertained;[411] but Hugh of Vermandois made his way safely
+through Asia Minor, and arrived at Constantinople. Admitted to the
+presence of Alexius, he detailed the sufferings of the Christians, and
+their diminished forces, and showed the necessity which they felt of
+supplies and reinforcements. He announced also their victory over the
+Turks, and the signal humiliation which had been inflicted on the proud
+Moslems. This news in both respects gratified Alexius: but, equally well
+content that the Turks should be made weak, and that the Latins should not
+grow strong, he found the affairs of the east progressing exactly as he
+could have desired, and determined to leave them in the course which they
+had themselves taken. The wrath of Heaven for his broken engagements, and
+the vengeance of the crusaders on the same score, were far too remote
+evils for the narrow-minded despot to yield them any consideration. Hugh
+of Vermandois--now near home[412] and the comforts which he had so long
+abandoned, anticipating little pleasure and no small danger on the
+journey back, and having neither satisfactory news nor necessary
+reinforcements to take to the crusaders--determined upon pursuing his
+journey into France, and leaving his companions to their fate. Knowing,
+however, that it would be difficult to justify himself in their eyes, he
+did not even take the trouble to write for that purpose; others on his
+part have done so for posterity, and have failed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+_Pestilence in Antioch--Death of the Bishop of Puy--The Chiefs
+separate--Siege of Marrah--Cannibalism--Disputes between the Count of
+Toulouse and Boemond--The Count marches towards Jerusalem--Siege of
+Archas--Godfrey of Bouillon marches--Siege of Ghibel--Treachery of
+Raimond--Fraud of the Holy Lance investigated--Ordeal of Fire--Decisive
+Conduct of the Crusaders towards the Deputies of Alexius, and the Calif of
+Egypt--Conduct of the Crusaders towards the Emir of Tripoli--First Sight
+of Jerusalem--Siege and taking of the City--Fanatical Massacres._
+
+
+The crusaders[413] in Antioch had reason to regret they had not at once
+marched onward. A pestilence began to spread in the city, and multitudes
+were buried every day. Among the first was the venerable Bishop of
+Puy,[414] whose high qualities of mind and excellent character as a priest
+had given much dignity and strength to the enterprise. Many celebrated
+knights also fell victims to this plague; and all the dissensions[415] and
+crimes that indolence acting on semi-barbarians can produce, begin to
+spring up within the walls of Antioch. To effect some change, the chiefs
+agreed to separate, and to canton their men in the countries round about.
+Boemond proceeded to reduce all Cilicia to obedience, and carried on a
+desultory but successful warfare against the Turks. Godfrey[416] led his
+men to the assistance of the emir of Hezas, who solicited his aid against
+the sultaun of Aleppo. Being joined by Baldwin, and by some auxiliary
+forces from Antioch, Godfrey succeeded in delivering the emir, who was
+besieged in his fortress by the sultaun. Hezas was then placed by the
+prince under the protection of his new allies, whom he found somewhat
+exacting in their friendship. The plague still raging in Antioch, Godfrey
+turned his steps towards Edessa, the principality of his brother Baldwin,
+to whom he was now fully reconciled. After a short repose at
+Turbessel,[417] he engaged in the wars which his brother was carrying on
+against the Turks, whose dominions surrounded Edessa, and also punished
+Pancrates for the rapine which he had for some time exercised with
+impunity against all parties. The other princes in various bodies carried
+on the same separate hostilities against the Saracens, and many towns were
+added to the Christian dominions.
+
+The time fixed for the march of the general army at length arrived; but,
+whether from a taste for the desultory sort of warfare to which they had
+now habituated themselves, or from the hope of still receiving some aid
+from Europe, the crusaders tarried on their way, and laid siege to
+Marrah.[418] The Moslems made a brave resistance, and the Latins having,
+with their wonted improvidence, begun the siege without any supplies
+whatever, were soon again reduced to famine and the most horrible
+cannibalism.[419] At length Marrah was taken by storm on the arrival of
+Boemond and his forces. The slaughter was terrible, and a repetition of
+all the scenes on the taking of Antioch was here enacted with many
+circumstances of aggravation. New disputes now arose between Boemond and
+the Count of Toulouse, upon the possession of Marrah; the Prince of
+Tarentum refusing to give up the portion of the city he had conquered,
+till Raimond should yield the towers which he still held in Antioch.[420]
+Days and weeks passed in these unworthy contests, other chiefs attempting
+in vain to reconcile the two ambitious princes. At length the people,
+indignant at the conduct of their leaders, broke out into revolt, and
+destroyed the fortifications of Marrah, in spite of all that could be done
+to prevent them,[421] vowing that it, at least, should not be a new cause
+of delay. They declared also that they would choose a chief for
+themselves, who should conduct them to Jerusalem. This, of course,
+compelled the leaders of the army to begin their march, but it in no
+degree produced a reconciliation, and Raimond of Toulouse,[422] with
+Robert of Normandy and Tancred, proceeded on their way to Jerusalem,
+leaving the rest of the princes to follow as they might. Town after town
+submitted to Raimond; but Archas proved a stumblingblock to his glory, and
+resisted the efforts of all the force he could bring against it. The
+Saracen emirs of the neighbouring country, however, whether from fear of
+the Christians, or from misunderstandings among themselves, no longer
+pursued the firm and destructive plan formerly adopted of desolating the
+land before the steps of the invaders. The army of the Cross found
+provisions in plenty, and many of the towns which it approached bought
+immunity from attack, at the price of large presents to the
+crusaders.[423]
+
+Soon after the departure of Raimond, Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert of
+Flanders, Boemond, and the other leaders marched out of Antioch, and
+directed their course towards Laodicea, where Boemond[424] again quitted
+them, and returned to his new principality, leaving a great part of his
+troops to aid his brethren. As some compensation for this desertion, the
+host of the crusade was joined by a considerable body of English who had
+sailed round Spain; and, entering the Mediterranean by Gibraltar, had
+touched first at St. Simeon, and then proceeded to Laodicea--a wonderful
+undertaking, indeed, as Raimond d'Agiles observes, considering the state
+of the art of navigation in that day. From Laodicea, Godfrey, marching
+along the coast, turned his arms against Ghibel, or Gabala, whither he was
+accompanied by the ships of the band of pirates whom we have seen serving
+under Baldwin; and who, having fallen into the hands of the Greeks of
+Laodicea, had been kept in strict imprisonment till the arrival of the
+crusaders. The emir of Ghibel attempted, by the offer of large bribes, to
+divert the forces of the Cross from the attack of his city, but his
+proposals were met with contempt by Godfrey and the chiefs who accompanied
+him; and the infidel commander, in consequence, sent messengers to Raimond
+of Toulouse[425] (then besieging Archas), whose disinterestedness was
+reported to be of a different quality. Raimond, always fond of gold,
+caught at the bait held out, and immediately agreed to draw his
+fellow-crusaders from Ghibel by artifice. He lost no time, therefore, in
+sending word to Godfrey, that an immense body of Saracens was marching
+down against his Provençals under the walls of Archas. This tale of course
+caused Godfrey[426] to raise the siege of Ghibel, and hasten to the
+assistance of his comrade. On his arrival, however, Tancred, and the other
+knights of Raimond's army, undeceived the duke of Loraine, who, indignant
+at the treachery of the Count of Toulouse, renounced all
+communication[427] with him, and withdrew his men to the distance of two
+miles, resolving to give him no aid in the siege of Archas. Tancred, at
+the same time, disgusted with the avarice of the count, who withheld from
+him the recompense he had promised for his services, retired with the
+forty[428] lances that accompanied him, and joined himself to Godfrey. New
+disputes of every kind arose among the leaders, and as Raimond of Toulouse
+affected a sort of spiritual superiority, as guardian of the holy lance
+that had been discovered at Antioch, its virtues and authenticity were
+manfully denied. Peter Barthelmy, who had found it, had vision after
+vision, till his commerce with heaven drew so heavily on belief, that men,
+even the most superstitious, yielded him no further credit. The business
+was investigated, and Barthelmy brought before a sort of council of
+inquiry, where he maintained his position, supported by the Count of
+Toulouse and his chaplain, our worthy chronicler, Raimond d'Agiles, who,
+fully convinced of the truth of the miracle, unhappily proposed that his
+_protégé_ should prove his virtue by the fiery ordeal.[429] This was
+agreed to; fasts and prayers succeeded: Peter walked through the fire with
+the lance in his hand, got frightened, stopped in the middle, and was
+burned to death.[430] Some still believed; and, declaring that their
+martyr had been pressed to death by the crowd,[431] held to their
+credulity the more eagerly, because it was unsupported by any thing like
+reason.
+
+The fame of the Count of Toulouse suffered as much by the affair of the
+lance as by his deceit in respect to Ghibel; and the crusaders, wearied
+with the delay before Archas, determined to raise the siege and proceed to
+Jerusalem. In the mean while, the emir[432] of Tripoli,[433] finding that
+the Christians were about to traverse his country, sent messengers to the
+leaders, begging them to spare his towns and fields, and offering abundant
+supplies, together with several rich presents. These proffers were so
+favourably received that the emir even visited the camp of Godfrey
+himself, and concluded a treaty which was inviolably adhered to on both
+sides.
+
+At the same time[434] the deputies who had been despatched to the calif of
+Egypt returned, with very unfavourable accounts of their entertainment.
+The Saracen monarch still offered to join his arms to those of the
+Christians, for the purpose of subduing Palestine; but it was evident that
+he proposed to enjoy the fruits of victory without participation. His
+envoys, and the presents which they bore, were sent back with scorn,[435]
+the crusaders declaring that they would conquer Jerusalem with the sword
+of Christ, and keep it with the same. Ambassadors from Alexius were
+received also under the walls of Archas; and by their lips the perfidious
+emperor dared to remonstrate against the cession of Antioch to Boemond,
+who by this time had expelled the troops of Raimond of Toulouse,[436] and
+was in full possession of the town.
+
+The reply given to these messengers was not less haughty than that which
+had been sent to the calif.[437] The emperor, the crusaders said, had
+broken his most sacred oaths; he had neglected to succour them when
+succour was needful; he had betrayed the cause of Christ, and violated his
+covenant with them. They could not, therefore, be bound by an engagement
+which he had not found binding on him; and they would neither stay for his
+coming, as he desired, nor would they yield him what they had conquered
+with their own hands.
+
+These measures of decision having been taken, Godfrey and his companions
+set fire to their camp, and quitted the siege of Archas: many of the
+Provençals abandoned Raimond, and hastened after the rest; and the count
+himself,[438] though unwillingly, was obliged to follow. The noble
+sincerity and moderation of the crusaders in their conduct to the emir of
+Tripoli has not been dwelt upon sufficiently by those authors who have
+lost no opportunity of pointing out their cruelties and excesses. They
+entered a rich and beautiful country, where spoil of every kind lay around
+them. The inhabitants were infidels, and had been enemies: but the host of
+the crusade passed through the whole without the slightest violation of
+their treaty.[439] To prevent even casual injury, they encamped at a
+distance from the towns, waited for the supplies that had been promised
+them, and followed, with confidence and regularity, the guide who was
+appointed to conduct them through the land.[440] When at war, the
+crusaders waged it with all the barbarity of the age--the slaughter of the
+infidel adversary was a virtue praised by historians, and sung by poets,
+and mercy would have been held a weakness: but with those to whom they had
+bound themselves in peace, we seldom find that, _as a body_, they violated
+the most chivalric adherence to their promises.
+
+In the neighbourhood of Tripoli, the Europeans first beheld the
+sugar-cane,[441] and learned the method of preparing the valuable juice
+which has since been such an article of commerce in Europe.
+
+So great was the reliance between the people of Tripoli and the crusaders,
+that they mutually frequented the camp[442] and the city during the stay
+of the army. The emir also delivered from the chains in which they had
+long remained, three hundred Christian pilgrims; and, according to some
+authorities, promised to embrace the faith of his new allies,[443] in case
+they were ultimately successful. At the end of three days, the host of the
+Cross was once more in motion; and passing by Sidon, Acre, Ramula, and
+Emmaus, approached the city of Jerusalem.[444] At Emmaus, deputies arrived
+from the Christians of Bethlehem, praying for immediate aid against their
+infidel oppressors. Tancred was[445] in consequence sent forward with a
+hundred lances; but the tidings of a deputation from Bethlehem spread new
+and strange sensations through the bosoms of the crusaders. That word
+Bethlehem, repeated through the camp, called up so many ideas connected
+with that sweet religion, which, however perverted, was still the
+thrilling faith of every heart around. The thoughts of their proximity to
+the Saviour's[446] birthplace, banished sleep from every eyelid; and
+before midnight was well past, the whole host was on foot towards
+Jerusalem. It was a lovely morning, we are told, in the summer time; and
+after they had wandered on for some time in the darkness, the sun rushed
+into the sky with the glorious suddenness of eastern dawn, and Jerusalem
+lay before their eyes.
+
+The remembrance[447] of all that that mighty city had beheld; the
+enthusiasm of faith; the memory of dangers, and ills, and fatigues, and
+privations, endured and conquered; the fulfilment of hope; the
+gratification of long desire; the end of fear and doubt; combined in every
+bosom to call up the sublime of joy. The name was echoed by a thousand
+tongues--Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Some shouted to the sky;[448] some knelt
+and prayed; some wept in silence; and some cast themselves down and kissed
+the blessed earth. "All had much ado," says Fuller, with his emphatic
+plainness, "to manage so great a gladness."[449]
+
+To rejoicing, at the sight of the Holy City, succeeded wrath, at seeing it
+in the hands of the infidels. The army marched forward in haste, drove in
+some parties of Saracens, who had vauntingly come forth from the gates;
+and Jerusalem was invested on all sides. Some of the people, indeed,
+approached barefoot, in deep humiliation, and in remembrance[450] of the
+sufferings of Him who had purchased salvation to a world by agony and
+death; but the greater part of the soldiers advanced with purposes of
+wrath, and took up their various warlike positions round about the town.
+The attack was begun almost immediately after the first preparations; and
+Godfrey of Bouillon, Tancred, the Duke of Normandy, and Robert of
+Flanders, by a vigorous effort, carried the barbicans, and reached the
+wall.[451] A portion of this, also, was thrown down with axes and picks;
+and several knights, mounting by ladders[452] to the top of the
+battlements, under a hail of arrows and Greek fire, fought for some time
+hand to hand with the Turks.
+
+At length, after many had fallen on both sides, it became evident to the
+leaders that nothing could be effected without the usual machines, and the
+assault was suspended.
+
+All the energies of the host were now employed in constructing implements
+of war. Timber was procured from Sichon:[453] some Genoese seamen, having
+arrived at Jaffa, were pressed by the crusaders into the service of the
+Cross, and by their mechanical skill greatly facilitated the construction
+of the engines required.
+
+Catapults, mangonels,[454] and large moveable towers were prepared, as in
+the siege of Nice; and to these was added a machine called the sow, formed
+of wood, and covered with raw hides to protect it from fire, under cover
+of which soldiers were employed in undermining the walls.[455] During the
+fabrication of these implements, a dreadful drought pervaded the army; and
+all the wells in the circumjacent country having been filled up by the
+Turks, the only water that reached the camp was brought from far, and paid
+for as if each drop had been gold. The soldiers, unable to procure it,
+wandered away in the search, or watched[456] the morning dew, and licked
+the very stones for moisture. Vice and immorality again grew prevalent,
+and superstition was obliged to be called, in aid of virtue.
+
+From forty to sixty thousand men were all that remained of multitudes; and
+it became obvious to the leaders that dissensions could no longer exist
+without hazarding their destruction. Tancred,[457] the first in every
+noble act, set the example of conciliation, and embraced his foe Raimond
+of Toulouse, in the sight of the whole army. An expiatory[458] procession
+was made by the chiefs, the soldiers, and the clergy, round the city of
+Jerusalem; and prayers were offered up on each holy place in the
+neighbourhood for success in this last field. The Turks, on their part,
+forgetting the desperate valour which the crusaders had displayed on every
+occasion, beheld these ceremonies with contempt; and raising up the image
+of the Cross upon the walls, mocked the procession of the Christians, and
+threw dirt at the symbol of their faith. The wrath of the crusaders was
+raised to the uttermost, and the sacrilegious insult[459] was remembered
+to be atoned in blood.
+
+The engines were at last completed, and the attack once more begun. The
+towers[460] were rolled on to the walls, the battering-rams were plied
+incessantly, the sow was pushed on to the foundations; and while the
+Saracens poured forth fire[461] and arrows upon the besiegers, the
+crusaders waged the warfare with equal courage from their machines. Thus
+passed the whole day in one of the most tremendous fights that the host
+of the Cross had ever sustained. Night fell, and the city was not taken.
+The walls of the town were much injured, as well as the engines used by
+the assailants; but by the next morning both had been repaired, and the
+assault recommenced, and was received with equal ardour.[462] The leaders
+of the Christian army occupied the higher stages of their moveable towers,
+and Godfrey of Bouillon himself,[463] armed with a bow, was seen directing
+his shafts against all who appeared upon the walls. Such soldiers as the
+machines could not contain were ranged opposite the walls, urging the
+battering-rams, plying the mangonels, and, by flights of arrows, covering
+the attack from the towers. The enthusiasm was great and general; the old,
+the sick, and the feeble lent what weak aid they could, in bringing
+forward the missiles and other implements of war, while the women
+encouraged the warriors to daring, both by words and their example; and
+hurried through the ranks, bearing water to assuage the thirst of toil and
+excitement. Still the Saracens resisted with desperate valour. For their
+homes and for their hearths they fought; and so courageously, that when
+more than half the day was spent, the host of the crusade was still
+repulsed in all quarters. At that moment a soldier was suddenly seen on
+Mount Olivet, waving on the crusaders to follow.[464] How he had
+penetrated does not appear, or whether he was not the mere creature of
+fancy. The idea, at all events, instantly raised the fainting hopes of the
+Christians. Immense and almost supernatural efforts were made in every
+quarter; the tower of Godfrey of Bouillon was rolled up till it touched
+the wall; the moveable bridge was let down, and a knight called
+Lutold[465] sprang upon the battlements--his brother followed--another
+and another came to his support.--Godfrey, Baldwin de Bourg, and Eustace
+de Bouillon rushed in; and the banner of the Cross announced to the
+anxious eyes of the army that Christians stood upon the battlements of
+Jerusalem.[466] Tancred and Robert of Normandy burst open one of the
+gates, while Raimond of Toulouse, almost at the same instant,[467] forced
+his way into another part of the city by escalade. The Turks fought[468]
+for a time in the streets, but then fled to the mosques, and were in every
+direction massacred by thousands. It is dreadful to read of the blood
+which on that awful day washed the pavements of Jerusalem. The courts of
+the mosque of Omar floated in gore, and scarcely the most remote and
+obscure corners of the city gave shelter to an infidel head. The
+soldiers[469] remembered the impious mockeries with which the Turks had
+insulted the Cross, and the leaders believed that they were doing God good
+service in exterminating the blasphemous strangers who had polluted the
+holy places of Jerusalem, persecuted and butchered the unhappy Christians
+of Judea, and desecrated the altars of God. To have spared them or their
+accursed race would have been considered impious: and Godfrey himself not
+only encouraged the slaughter, but aided with his own hand.
+
+An immense number of Saracens had betaken themselves to the temple of
+Soliman, as it was called,[470] and there had prepared to defend
+themselves to the last; but the pursuers were too strong to be resisted,
+and nearly ten thousand men are said to have fallen in that building.
+Those even who had climbed to the roof were sought out the next day,[471]
+and several, to avoid the sword, cast themselves down and were dashed to
+pieces.
+
+Some authors mention a second massacre,[472] and greatly exaggerate the
+butchery that was perpetrated. In regard to this second massacre, there is
+much historical evidence to show that no such event took place; and I
+would fain believe that it was not the case. It cannot, however, be
+denied, that the most humane of the Christian leaders in that age were
+taught to look upon all mercy to the infidels as an injury to religion;
+and it is beyond doubt, that after the general slaughter committed on the
+capture of Jerusalem, Godfrey de Bouillon,[473] with the other leaders and
+soldiers, washed away the marks of gore, cast off their armour, assumed
+the robe of penitents, and, going to the holy sepulchre, offered up their
+prayers to the mild Teacher of our beautiful religion, convinced that they
+had accomplished a great and glorious work, and consummated an acceptable
+sacrifice in the blood of the infidels.
+
+Such was the doctrine which, in that day, men were taught from their
+cradles: such the strange interpretation put upon the Gospel of Peace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+_Election of a King--Godfrey of Bouillon--Sketch of the History of
+Jerusalem--Death of the chief Crusaders--New Bodies of Crusaders set out
+from Europe--Their Destruction in Asia Minor--Armed Pilgrimages--The
+Northern Armaments--The Venetians--The Genoese and Pisans--Anecdotes of
+the Crusaders--Battle of the Children at Antioch--The Thafurs--Baldwin's
+Humanity well repaid--Superstitions--Arms of the Crusaders--Of the
+Turks--Hospitallers--Templars._
+
+
+The great end of the crusade was now accomplished. Jerusalem was delivered
+from the hands of the infidels; but much remained to be done. To conquer
+the Holy City had been a work of prodigious difficulty; to keep it was
+perhaps more so; and it became evident that its defence must be intrusted
+to one powerful chief. For this purpose the several leaders who had formed
+the general council of the crusade met to elect a King of Jerusalem. The
+nomination to that high office was so extraordinary an honour, that the
+writers of each nation whose forces contributed to the crusade have
+declared their own particular prince to have been chosen;[474] and, as it
+was known that none of these did actually reign, they have furnished each
+with a suitable excuse for declining the distinguished task. It is
+probable, however, that the choice of the assembly really fixed at once
+upon the only person fitted for the office; and (to combine the words of
+Fulcher and Robert the Monk) that, "considering the excellence of his
+nobility,[475] his valour as a knight, his gentleness and patient modesty,
+as well as the purity of his morals, Godfrey of Bouillon was elected king
+by the whole people composing the army of God, with the unanimous wish,
+the general consent, and the judgment of all." Various clerical cabals
+followed for the dignity of patriarch, of which it is not necessary to
+speak here.
+
+Scarcely was the new monarch[476] seated on his throne, when the gathering
+forces of the Moslems called him again into the field. With the wise
+policy of activity, Godfrey did not wait to be besieged in Jerusalem, but
+marching out with all the troops he could muster, he advanced towards
+Ascalon, where a large infidel army had assembled, attacked and routed it
+completely, and thus secured the conquest he had gained.[477] But the
+virtues of Godfrey were not long destined to bless, or his talents to
+protect, the new kingdom of Jerusalem.[478] In the month of July, 1100, he
+was seized with a severe illness, on his return from a distant expedition,
+and in a few days the throne of the Holy Land was vacant.
+
+Such an unexpected event of course spread dissension and consternation
+among the crusaders. Tancred, who was at Jerusalem, and from his great
+military name enjoyed no small power, offered the crown to Boemond, and
+beyond all doubt would have succeeded in causing his election, had Boemond
+been able to accept immediately the sceptre thus held out to him.[479] But
+the Prince of Antioch[480] was at the moment a prisoner in the hands of
+some Armenian Turks.[481] The Patriarch, on his part, endeavoured to raise
+Jerusalem into a simple hierarchy,[482] and to unite the crown with the
+mitre. The partisans of the Count of Toulouse also struggled in his
+behalf for the supreme power; but in the end, Baldwin, Prince of Edessa,
+the brother of Godfrey, was elected, and after some intriguing on the part
+of the Patriarch, was anointed King of Jerusalem.
+
+It does not enter into the plan of this book to give a history of
+Jerusalem under its Latin kings: I shall, however, briefly notice each,
+that the occasion and object of the after-crusades may be properly
+understood.
+
+Baldwin, on his election,[483] displayed virtues that had slumbered, and
+lost vices that had been displayed on other occasions. He extended the
+boundaries of his kingdom, humbled its Saracen enemies, instituted wise
+and salutary laws, and showed firmness, moderation, and activity in his
+new station, as well as the great military skill and enterprising spirit
+he had formerly evinced. He took Assur,[484] Cesarea, and Acre; and added
+Beritus, Sidon, and several other places to the kingdom of Jerusalem. At
+length, in the execution of a bold expedition into Egypt, Baldwin died,
+and his body, after being embalmed, by his own particular direction, was
+carried back to the Holy City.
+
+Baldwin de Bourg, who, on the elevation of Baldwin I. to the throne of
+Jerusalem, had received the principality of Edessa, was now called to the
+vacant throne, and proved himself one of the wisest and most valiant of
+the Latin sovereigns of Judea. He also greatly extended the limits of his
+dominions; but in passing between Turbessel and Edessa, accompanied by a
+few soldiers only,[485] and unsuspicious of any ambuscade, he was suddenly
+surrounded, and carried a prisoner to Khortopret, where he remained in
+close confinement for several years. During his imprisonment Tyre was
+added to the territories of Jerusalem,[486] and various successful battles
+were fought against the Moslems. After his liberation he offered the hand
+of his daughter to Foulk of Anjou, who had some time before visited
+Jerusalem upon an armed pilgrimage. The Count of Anjou gladly accepted the
+proposal, and returning to the Holy Land, espoused Melesinda, soon after
+which he ascended the throne of Jerusalem, on the death of Baldwin. Foulk
+combined many virtues;[487] was kind, affable, and humane, as well as
+skilful and courageous in the field. After a reign of thirteen years he
+left the kingdom to his son, entire, indeed, but neither more extended in
+territory, nor more consolidated in power, than when he received it.
+
+Baldwin III. succeeded; at the time of his accession being but a boy.
+Dissensions and animosities raged among all the feudal dependants of the
+crown of Jerusalem.[488] The Moslems scattered through the country, and
+girding it on every side, took advantage of each new dispute to harass
+their Latin invaders with desultory warfare. The emperors of the east
+strove continually to wrest something of their old possessions from the
+descendants of the crusaders, and thus divided the forces, and paralyzed
+all the efforts made by the Christians to establish and secure their yet
+infirm dominion. At length Zenghi, emir of Aleppo, and Mosul marched
+against Edessa, the government of which principality had been transferred,
+on the accession of Baldwin de Bourg to the throne of Jerusalem, to
+Joscelyn de Courtenay, and from him had descended to his son. The son had
+not inherited the virtues or the valour of his father; and while Zenghi
+attacked, stormed, and took Edessa, he was rioting in debaucheries at
+Turbessel. So severe a reverse spread consternation through Palestine.
+Others, though of a less important nature, followed; and the news of these
+misfortunes soon reached Europe, where it gave matter to the eloquence of
+St. Bernard, and occasion for a new crusade.
+
+Long before this period, all the chiefs who had at first led the armies of
+the Cross to Jerusalem had tasted of the cup reserved for all men, and few
+words will end the history of each. Godfrey, Baldwin, and Baldwin de Bourg
+we have already conducted to the tomb. Boemond,[489] as I have said, fell
+into the hands of the Moslems; and after a captivity of two years, was
+permitted to pay a ransom, and return to his principality. On arriving, he
+found that his noble relative, Tancred,[490] had not only preserved, but
+increased his territories during his absence; and after several years
+continual warfare with Alexius on the one hand, and the Moslems on the
+other, mingled with opposition to the King of Jerusalem, Boemond sailed
+for Europe. There the fame he had acquired obtained for him the hand of
+Constantia,[491] daughter of the King of France. Her younger sister,
+Cecilia, was bestowed upon Tancred, who had remained in the government of
+Antioch.
+
+By the aid of France, Boemond raised large forces and landing in Greece,
+ravaged the dominions of Alexius, who was at length fain to conclude a
+peace with the powerful and enterprising Italian. The Prince of Antioch
+then sent forward the greater part of his troops to the Holy Land, while
+he himself returned to Italy to prepare for the same journey. Death,
+however, staid his progress;[492] for, after a short illness, he ended his
+career in Apulia, in 1109.[493] Tancred still survived, and defended
+constantly the territories of his cousin against every attack for three
+years after the decease of Boemond. At last the consequences of a wound
+he had received some time before proved fatal, and the noblest and most
+chivalrous of all the Christian warriors died in the prime of his days. On
+his death-bed he called to him his wife, and Pontius, the son of the
+Prince of Tripoli,[494] and, aware of the necessity of union among the
+Christians, he recommended strongly their marriage, after death should
+have dissolved the ties between himself and Cecilia. The government of
+Antioch he bequeathed to his cousin Roger;[495] but, with the same noble
+integrity which he had displayed through life, he made the new regent
+promise, that in case the son of Boemond should ever come to claim those
+territories, they should be resigned to him without dispute. Thus died
+Tancred; who, from all that we read of the crusaders, was, with the
+exception of Godfrey, the noblest of the followers of the Cross--a gallant
+leader, a disinterested man, a generous friend, a true knight.
+
+Previous to his death, however, he had been engaged in all the great
+events in Palestine. After the election of Godfrey, and the battle of
+Ascalon, the other chiefs of the crusade had either returned to Europe or
+spread themselves over the country, in pursuit of their own schemes of
+private ambition, leaving the new kingdom of Jerusalem to be supported by
+its king and Tancred, with an army of less than three thousand men. This
+penury of forces however, did not long continue, or the Holy Land must
+soon have resumed the yoke it had thrown off. The spirit of pilgrimage was
+still active in Europe; and combined with this spirit was the hope of
+gain, springing from vague and exaggerated accounts of the wealth and the
+principalities which the leaders of the first expedition had acquired.
+
+Pilgrimages now differed from those that had preceded the conquest of
+Jerusalem, in being armed; and many bodies, of several thousand men each,
+arrived both by sea and land, and proved exceedingly serviceable in
+peopling the devastated lands of Palestine. Various larger enterprises,
+more deserving the name of crusades, were planned and attempted, which it
+would be endless to name, and tedious to recount. Nearly five hundred
+thousand people set out from Europe for Syria,[496] and to these several
+of those crusaders who had gone back to Europe joined themselves, urged
+either by shame for their former desertion, or by the hope of obtaining
+easier conquests, and less dangerous honours. Of these, then, I will speak
+first, before noticing more particularly the armed pilgrimages, in order
+that I may trace to the end all those leaders of the first crusade who
+died in the Holy Land. The first great expedition set out not many years
+after the taking of Jerusalem, and consisted of several smaller ones from
+various countries, which united into larger bodies as they proceeded, and
+endeavoured to force their way through Asia Minor. At the head of these
+armies were Count Albert,[497] of Lombardy; Conrad, Constable of the
+Western Empire; Stephen, Count of Blois, whom we have seen flying from the
+land to which shame now drove him back; Stephen, Duke of Burgundy; the
+Bishops of Laon and of Milan; the Duke of Parma; Hugh, Count of
+Vermandois,[498] who now again turned towards Jerusalem; and the Count of
+Nevers: as well as William, Count of Poitiers; Guelf, Duke of Bavaria; and
+Ida, Marchioness of Austria. At Constantinople the first division met with
+Raimond of Toulouse,[499] who had returned to that city from the Holy
+Land, in search of aid to pursue the schemes of a grasping and ambitious
+spirit. The new crusaders put themselves, in some degree, under his
+command and guidance; but their first step was to disobey his orders, and
+to take the way of Paphlagonia, instead of following the track of the
+former crusade. They were for many days harassed in their march by the
+Turks, then exposed to famine and drought, and finally attacked and cut to
+pieces by Kilidge Aslan, who revenged, by the death of more than a hundred
+thousand Christians,[500] all the losses they had caused him to undergo.
+The principal leaders made good their escape, first to Constantinople, and
+then to Antioch; except Hugh of Vermandois, who died of his wound at
+Tarsus. The Count of Nevers,[501] who commanded the second body, met the
+same fate as the rest, and followed them to Antioch, after the destruction
+of his whole force. William of Poitiers, with the Duke of Bavaria and the
+Marchioness Ida, were also encountered by the victorious Saracens, and
+their defeat added another to the triumphs of the infidels and to the
+Christian disasters. The Duke of Bavaria, stripping himself of his arms,
+fled to the mountains, and made his escape. The precise fate of Ida of
+Austria remained unknown; but it appears certain she was either suffered
+to die in captivity, or was crushed to death under the horses' feet.[502]
+The Count of Poitiers, completely destitute of all resources, and
+separated from his companions, wandered on foot till he arrived at
+Antioch,[503] where he was kindly received by Tancred, still alive, and
+met the other chiefs who had encountered disasters like his own.[504] The
+principal leaders proceeded straight to Jerusalem, with the exception of
+Raimond of Toulouse, who had long fixed his heart upon the conquest of the
+rich tract of Tripoli, which he attempted for some time in vain. Death
+staid him in his progress,[505] and Baldwin succeeded in accomplishing
+what he had designed; after which the king erected the territory acquired
+into a feudal county, which was bestowed upon the son of the deceased
+Raimond.
+
+In the mean while Stephen, Count of Blois, reached Jerusalem; and having,
+by a second completed pilgrimage, wiped out, as he thought, the disgrace
+of having quitted the first crusade, he embarked, with William of
+Poitiers, to return to Europe. A contrary wind, however, drove back the
+vessel into Jaffa,[506] and here Stephen found himself called upon to join
+Baldwin in an attack upon the Turks. The king advanced with only seven
+hundred knights,[507] deceived by reports of the enemy's weakness; but in
+the plains of Ramula he found himself suddenly opposed to the whole
+Turkish army. The spirit of Chivalry forbade his avoiding the encounter,
+and in a short time the greater part of his force was cut to pieces. He
+himself, with his principal knights, made their way to the castle of
+Ramula, from which he contrived to escape alone. The rest were taken,
+fighting bravely for their lives; and though some were spared, Stephen of
+Blois[508] was one of several who were only reserved for slaughter. Thus
+died the leaders of the first crusade who met their fate in Palestine, and
+thus ended the greater and more general expeditions which had been
+sanctioned by the council of Clermont, and excited by the preaching of
+Peter the Hermit. The ultimate fate of that extraordinary individual
+himself remains in darkness. On the capture of Jerusalem, when the
+triumphant Europeans spread themselves through the city, the Christian
+inhabitants flocked forth to acknowledge and gratulate their
+deliverers.[509] Then it was that all the toils and dangers which the
+Hermit had endured, were a thousand fold repaid, and that all his
+enthusiasm met with its reward. The Christians of Jerusalem instantly
+recognised the poor pilgrim who had first spoken to them words of hope,
+and had promised them, in their misery under the Turkish oppression, that
+aid and deliverance which had at length so gloriously reached them.[510]
+In the fervour of their gratitude they attributed all to him; and, casting
+themselves at his feet, called the blessing of Heaven on the head of their
+benefactor. After that period Peter is mentioned several times by the
+historians of Jerusalem;[511] and we find that he certainly did act a very
+principal part in the clerical government of the city.[512] Whether he
+returned to Europe or not I confess I do not know. He is said to have
+founded the abbey of Montier, in France, and to have died there; but this
+rests upon no authority worthy of confidence.
+
+In the meanwhile, many of the Christians who had escaped the active swords
+of the Saracens in Asia Minor made their way to Jerusalem, and served to
+people and protect the land. Various armaments, also, arrived at the
+different seaports, bearing each of them immense numbers of military
+pilgrims, who, after having visited the holy places, never failed to offer
+their services to the king of Jerusalem, for the purpose of executing any
+single object that might be desirable at the time.
+
+Three only of these bodies are worthy of particular notice, that of the
+English, Danes,[513] and Flemings, who assisted Baldwin at the
+unsuccessful siege of Sidon--the Norwegian expedition which succeeded in
+taking that city--and that of the Venetians, who afterward aided in the
+capture of Tyre. The Genoese[514] and the Pisans, also, from time to time
+sent out vessels to the coast of Palestine; but these voyages, which
+combined in a strange manner the purposes of traffic, superstition, and
+warfare, tended rather to the general prosperity of the country by
+commerce, and to its protection, by bringing continual recruits, than to
+any individual enterprise or conquest.
+
+Many anecdotes are told of the first crusaders by their contemporary
+historians, which--though resting on evidence so far doubtful as to forbid
+their introduction as absolute facts--I shall mention in exemplification
+of the manners and customs of the time.
+
+The number of women and children who followed the first crusaders to the
+Holy Land is known to have been immense; but it is not a little
+extraordinary, that in spite of all the hardships and dangers of the way,
+a great multitude of both arrived safe at Jerusalem. The women we find, on
+almost all occasions, exercising the most heroic firmness in the midst of
+battles and destruction; and Guibert gives a curious account of the
+military spirit which seized upon the children during the siege of
+Antioch. The boys of the Saracens and the young crusaders, armed with
+sticks for lances, and stones instead of arrows, would issue from the town
+and the camp, and under leaders chosen from among themselves,[515] who
+assumed the names of the principal chiefs, would advance in regular
+squadrons, and fight in the sight of the two hosts, with a degree of
+rancour which showed to what a pitch the mutual hatred of the nations was
+carried. Even after the crusaders had fallen in battle or had died of the
+pestilence, their children still pursued their way, and getting speedily
+accustomed to fatigue and privation, evinced powers of endurance equal to
+those of the most hardy warriors.
+
+With the army of the Cross also was a multitude of men--the same author
+declares--who made it a profession to be without money; they walked
+barefoot, carried no arms, and even preceded the beasts of burden in the
+march, living upon roots and herbs, and presenting a spectacle both
+disgusting and pitiable. A Norman,[516] who, according to all accounts,
+was of noble birth, but who, having lost his horse, continued to follow as
+a foot-soldier, took the strange resolution of putting himself at the head
+of this race of vagabonds, who willingly received him for their king.
+Among the Saracens these men became well known, under the name of
+_Thafurs_ (which Guibert translates _Trudentes_), and were held in great
+horror from the general persuasion that they fed on the dead bodies of
+their enemies: a report which was occasionally justified, and which the
+king of the Thafurs took care to encourage. This respectable monarch was
+frequently in the habit of stopping his followers one by one, in any
+narrow defile, and of causing them to be searched carefully, lest the
+possession of the least sum of money should render them unworthy of the
+name of his subjects.[517] If even two sous were found upon any one, he
+was instantly expelled from the society of his tribe, the king bidding
+him, contemptuously, buy arms and fight.
+
+This troop, so far from being cumbersome to the army, was infinitely
+serviceable, carrying burdens, bringing in forage, provisions, and
+tribute, working the machines in the sieges, and, above all, spreading
+consternation among the Turks, who feared death from the lances of the
+knights less than that further consummation, they heard of, under the
+teeth of the Thafurs.
+
+Mercy towards the Turks was considered, by the contemporary clergy, to
+whom we owe all accounts of the crusades, as so great a weakness, that
+perhaps fewer instances of it are on record than really took place; for we
+seldom find any mention of clemency to an infidel, without blame being
+attached to it. Thus the promise of Tancred to save the Turks on the roof
+of the temple is highly censured, as well as the act of the Count of
+Toulouse, in granting their lives to some five hundred wretches, who had
+taken refuge in the Tower of David.
+
+One deed of this kind is told of Baldwin I., more as in its consequences
+it saved the king's person, than as any thing praiseworthy in itself.
+Passing along one day on horseback, after his troops had been employed in
+wasting the country, Baldwin is said to have met with an Arabian woman,
+who had been taken in labour by the way.[518] He covered her with his own
+cloak, ordered her to be protected by his attendants, and having left her
+with two skins of water, and two female camels, he pursued his march. The
+chances of the desultory warfare of those times soon brought back her
+husband to the spot, and his gratitude was the more ardent as the benefit
+he had received was unusual and unexpected. After the fatal day of Ramula,
+while Baldwin, with but fifty companions, besieged in the ill-fortified
+castle of that place, was dreaming of nothing but how to sell his life
+dearly, a single Arab approached the gates in the dead of the night, and
+demanded to speak with the king. He was in consequence brought to
+Baldwin's presence,[519] where he recalled to his mind the kindness once
+shown to the Arab woman, his wife; and then offered to lead him safely
+through the lines of the enemy. The fate of Palestine at that moment hung
+upon Baldwin's life, and, trusting himself in the hands of the Arab, he
+was faithfully conducted to his own camp,[520] where he appeared, says
+William of Tyre, like the morning star breaking through the clouds.
+
+Superstition, which in that age was at its height in Europe, was, of
+course, not unknown in Palestine, and all sorts of visions were seen.
+Battles, according to the monkish accounts, were won by relics and
+prayers more than by swords and lances. A part of the Holy Cross was said
+to be found in Jerusalem, a thousand more martyrs were dug up than ever
+were buried, and we find one of the bishops _ferens in pyxide lac sanctæ
+Mariæ Virginis_. Ghosts[521] of saints, too, were seen on every occasion,
+and the Devil himself, in more than one instance, appeared to the
+crusaders, tempting them with consummate art to all kinds of crimes. The
+evil spirit, however, often--indeed generally--found himself cheated by
+his victims in the end, who, by repentance, gifts to the church, and
+fanatical observances, easily found means to "swear the seal from off
+their bond."
+
+The appearance of an army in the times of the first crusade was highly
+gorgeous and magnificent.[522] The number of banners of purple and gold,
+and rich colours--each feudal baron having the right to bear his banner to
+the field--rendered the Christian host in full array as bright a spectacle
+as the sun could shine upon. The armour of the knights also gave a
+glittering and splendid effect to the scene; nor was this armour as has
+been represented, entirely of that kind called chain mail, which formed
+the original hauberk. It varied according to various nations, and it is
+evident from the continual mention of the corslet or breastplate, by all
+the authors I have had occasion to cite in this work, that that piece of
+plate armour was used during the first crusade.[523] It is probable,
+however, that the armour generally worn was principally linked mail,
+which, in the case of the knights, enveloped the whole body, being
+composed of a shirt of rings, with hose, shoes, and gauntlets, of the same
+materials. The helmet might also be covered with a chain hood, which
+completed the dress. In addition to this, it is not unlikely that a
+cuirass was frequently worn with the shirt, as we find, from the poem of
+William the Breton on Philip Augustus, that it was even then a common
+practice to wear a double plastron or cuirass, though plate armour had
+returned into common use. The shield, charged with some design, but
+certainly not with regular armorial bearings, together with the lance,
+sword, and mace, completed the arms, offensive and defensive, of a knight
+of that day.[524] I cannot find that either the battle-axe or the armour
+for the horse is mentioned during the crusade; yet we know that both had
+been made use of long before. The foot-soldiers were in some cases allowed
+to wear a shirt of mail, but not a complete hauberk, and were armed with
+pikes, bows, and crossbows; though it would seem that they gained their
+knowledge of the latter instrument from the Saracens, there being several
+lamentations, in all the accounts of their first entrance into Asia Minor,
+over their unskilfulness in the use of the arbalist. The luxury with which
+the Christians marched to the crusade may be conceived from the narrative
+given by Albert of Aix, of the rout of the troops of Conrad and his
+companions, who followed to the Holy Land, immediately after the capture
+of Jerusalem. Among the spoils taken by the Turks, he mentions
+ermines,[525] sables, and all kinds of rich furs, purple and gold
+embroidery, and an incalculable quantity of silver. The roads, he says,
+were so strewed with riches, that the pursuers trod upon nothing but
+besants and other pieces of money, precious stones, vases of gold and
+silver, and every sort of silk and fine stuff.
+
+The Turks proceeded to battle with even greater magnificence; and, after
+the victories of Antioch and Ascalon, we read continually of invaluable
+booty, jewels,[526] golden helmets and armour standards of silver, and
+scimitars of unknown worth. The arms of the Turks were lighter, in all
+probability, than those of the Christians, and in general consisted of the
+sword and the bow, in the use of which they were exceedingly skilful.[527]
+We find, however, that the various nations of which the Mahommedan armies
+were composed used very different weapons; though all were remarkable for
+the manner in which they eluded their enemies, by their skill in
+horsemanship, and the fleetness of their chargers. One nation, mentioned
+by Albert of Aix under the title of Azoparts, are called _the invincible_,
+and were furnished with heavy maces, with which they aimed at the heads of
+the horses, and seldom failed to bring them down.
+
+After the conquest of Palestine by the Christians,[528] the surrounding
+tribes continued to wage an unceasing war against their invaders; but
+nevertheless many of the Mussulman towns within the limits of the kingdom
+of Jerusalem submitted to the conquerors, and were admitted to pay
+tribute. A free communication also took place between the followers of the
+two religions, and a greater degree of connexion began to exist than was
+very well consistent with the fanaticism of either people. A mixed race
+even sprang up from the European[529] and Asiatic population, the children
+of parents from different continents being called Pullani. At the same
+time the country was governed by European laws,[530] which, not coming
+within the absolute scope of this book, I must avoid treating of, from the
+very limited space to which I am obliged to confine myself. Suffice it to
+say, that Godfrey of Bouillon, among the first cares of government,
+appointed a commission to inquire into the laws and customs of the various
+nations which formed the population of the country he was called to rule.
+From the investigation thus entered into was drawn up an admirable code of
+feudal law, under the title of _Assizes de Jerusalem_. Two institutions of
+a strictly chivalrous nature, which were founded, properly speaking,
+between the first and second crusades,[531] I must mention here, as all
+the after-history of knighthood is more or less connected with their
+progress. I mean the two military orders of the Hospital and the Temple.
+
+The spirit of religious devotion and military fervour had been so
+intimately united during the whole of the crusade, that the combination of
+the austere rules of the monk, with the warlike activity of the soldier,
+seems to have been a necessary consequence of the wars of the Cross.
+
+Long previous to the crusade, some of the citizens of Amalfi having been
+led to Jerusalem,[532] partly from feelings of devotion, partly in the
+pursuit of commerce, had witnessed the misery to which pilgrims were
+exposed on their road to the Holy Land, and determined to found an
+hospital in which pious travellers might be protected and solaced after
+their arrival at the end of their journey. The influence which the Italian
+merchants possessed through their commercial relations at the court of the
+calif, easily obtained permission to establish the institution proposed. A
+piece of ground near the supposed site of the holy sepulchre was assigned
+to them, and the chapel and hospital were accordingly built, at different
+times, and placed under the patronage, the one of St. Mary, and the other
+of St. John the Almoner.
+
+A religious house was also constructed for those charitable persons, of
+both sexes, who chose to dedicate themselves to the service of the
+pilgrims, and who, on their admission, subjected themselves to the rule of
+St. Benedict. All travellers, whether Greeks or Latins, were received into
+the hospital; and the monks even extended their charitable care to the
+sick or poor Mussulmans who surrounded them.
+
+During the siege of Jerusalem by the crusaders, all the principal
+Christians of the town were thrown into prison; among others, the abbot
+(as he is called by James of Vitry)[533] of the monastery of St. John. He
+was a Frenchman by birth, named Gerard; and, after the taking of the city,
+was liberated, with other Christian prisoners, and returned to the duties
+of his office, in attending the sick and wounded crusaders who were
+brought into the Hospital. After the battle of Ascalon, Godfrey visited
+the establishment, where he still found many of the followers of the
+crusade, who, struck with admiration at the institution, and filled with
+gratitude for the services they had received, determined to embrace the
+order, and dedicate their lives also to acts of charity. Godfrey, as a
+reward for the benefits which these holy men had conferred on his
+fellow-christians, endowed the Hospital (now in a degree separated from
+the abbey of St. Mary) with a large estate, in his hereditary dominions in
+Brabant. Various other gifts were added by the different crusaders of
+rank; and the Poor Brothers of the Hospital of St. John began to find
+themselves a rich and flourishing community. It was at this period that
+they first took the black habit and the white cross of eight points, and
+subjected themselves, by peculiar vows, to the continual attendance on
+pilgrims and sick persons.[534] Pascal II. soon after bestowed upon the
+order several valuable privileges, among which were, exemption from all
+tithes, the right of electing their own superior, and absolute immunity
+from all secular or clerical interference. The constant resort of
+pilgrims to the Holy Land not only increased the wealth of the
+Hospitallers, but spread their fame to other countries. Princes and kings
+conferred lands and benefices upon them, and the order began to throw out
+ramifications into Europe, where hospitals, under the same rule, were
+erected, and may be considered as the first commanderies of the
+institution.
+
+At the death of Gerard, which took place almost immediately after that of
+Baldwin I., Raimond Dupuy, one of the crusaders who had attached himself
+to the Hospital on having been cured of his wounds received at the siege
+of Jerusalem, was elected master, and soon conceived the idea of rendering
+the wealth and number of the Hospitallers serviceable to the state in
+other ways than those which they had hitherto pursued. His original
+profession of course led him to the thought of combining war with
+devotion, and he proposed to his brethren to reassume the sword, binding
+themselves, however, by a vow, to draw it only against the enemies of
+Christ. In what precise year the Hospitallers first appeared in arms is
+not very clearly ascertained; but it is a matter of no moment, and it is
+certain that they became a military body during the reign of Baldwin du
+Bourg.[535]
+
+The order of St. John was then divided into three classes, knights,
+clergy, and serving brothers. Each of these classes still, when absent
+from the field, dedicated themselves to the service of the sick; but the
+knights were chosen from the noble or military rank of the Hospitallers,
+and commanded in battle and in the hospital. The clergy, besides the
+ordinary duties of their calling, followed the armies as almoners and
+chaplains; and the serving brothers fought under the knights in battle, or
+obeyed their directions in their attendance on the sick. At first, the
+garments and food of these grades were the same. The vows also were alike
+to all, and implied chastity, obedience to their superior and to the
+council, together with individual poverty.
+
+The objects now proposed were war against the infidels, and protection and
+comfort to the Christian pilgrims. The knights were bound by strict and
+severe rules; they were enjoined to avoid all luxury, to travel two or
+three together, seeking only such lodging in the various towns as was
+provided for them by their community, and burning a light during the
+night, that they might be always prepared against the enemy. Their
+faults[536] were heavily punished by fasts, by imprisonments, and even by
+expulsion from the order; and they were taught to look for no reward but
+from on high. Nevertheless, before the good Bishop of Acre composed his
+curious work on the Holy Land, probably about the year 1228, the
+Hospitallers, he tells us, were buying for themselves castles and towns,
+and submitting territories to their authority like the princes of the
+earth.
+
+The origin of the order of Red-cross Knights, or Templars, was very
+different, though its military object was nearly the same. The Christian
+power in Palestine was probably as firmly established at the time of
+Baldwin du Bourg, as during any other period of its existence; yet the
+mixture of the population, the proximity of a thousand inimical tribes,
+the roving habits of the Turks, who--generally worsted by the Christians
+in the defence of cities and in arrayed fields--now harassed their enemies
+with a constant, but flying warfare; all rendered the plains of the Holy
+Land a scene of unremitting strife, where the pilgrim and the traveller
+were continually exposed to danger, plunder, and death. Some French
+knights, who had followed the first crusade,[537] animated beyond their
+fellows with the religious and military fury which inspired that
+enterprise, entered into a solemn compact to aid each other in freeing the
+highways of the Holy Land, protecting pilgrims and travellers, and
+fighting against the enemies of the Cross. They embraced the rule of St.
+Augustin; renounced all worldly goods, and bound themselves by oath to
+obey the commands of their grand master; to defend the Christian faith; to
+cross the seas in aid of their brethren; to fight unceasingly against the
+infidel, and never to turn back from less than four adversaries.[538] The
+founders of this order were Hugh de Paganis and Geoffrey de St.
+Aldemar--or, according to some, de St. Omer--who had both signalized
+themselves in the religious wars. Having no fixed dwelling, the Templars
+were assigned a lodging in a palace in the immediate vicinity of the
+Temple, from whence they derived the name by which they have since been
+known. The number of these knights was at first but nine, and during the
+nine years which followed their institution, they were marked by no
+particular garb,[539] wearing the secular habit of the day, which was
+furnished to them by charity alone. The clergy of the temple itself
+conferred on their body a space of ground between that building and the
+palace,[540] for the purpose of military exercises, and various other
+benefices speedily followed. At the council[541] of Troyes, their
+situation was considered, and a white garment was appointed for their
+dress. Their vows became very similar to those of the knights of St. John;
+the numbers of the body rapidly augmented; possessions and riches flowed
+in upon them apace, as their services became extended and general. They
+added a red cross to their robe, and raised a banner of their own, on
+which they bestowed the name of _Beauséant_. The order, as it increased,
+was soon divided into the various classes of servants of arms, esquires,
+and knights; and, in addition to their great standard, which was white
+with the red cross--symbolical, like their dress, of purity of life, and
+courage, even to death--they bore to battle a banner composed of white and
+black stripes, intended to typify their tenderness to their friends and
+implacability towards their enemies.--Their valour became so noted, that,
+like that of the famous tenth legion,[542] it was a support to itself;
+and, according to James of Vitry, any Templar, on hearing the cry to arms,
+would have been ashamed to have asked the number of the enemy. The only
+question was, "Where are they?"
+
+On entering the order, the grand master cautioned the aspirant that he
+was, in a manner, called upon to resign his individuality. Not only his
+property and his body, but his very thoughts, belonged, from the moment of
+his admission, to the institution of which he became a part. He was bound
+in every thing to obey the commands of his superior, and poverty of course
+formed a part of his vow. His inclinations, his feelings, his passions,
+were all to be rendered subservient to the cause he embraced; and he was
+exhorted to remember, before he engaged himself to the performance of so
+severe an undertaking, that he would often be obliged to watch when he
+desired to sleep, to suffer toil when his limbs required rest, and to
+undergo the pangs of thirst and the cravings of hunger when food would be
+most delightful.
+
+After these and similar warnings of the painful and self-denying nature of
+the task which he was about to impose upon himself, he was asked three
+times if he still desired to enter into the order, and on giving an answer
+in the affirmative, he was invested with the robe, and admitted to the
+vows, after previous proof that he was qualified in other respects,
+according to the rules of the institution.
+
+No possible means has ever been devised of keeping any body of men poor;
+and the Templars, whose first device was two knights riding on one horse,
+to signify their poverty and humility, were soon one of the richest, and
+beyond comparison the proudest, of the European orders. Their preceptories
+were to be found in every country, and as their vows did not embrace[543]
+the charitable avocations which, with the knights of St. John, filled up
+the hours unemployed in military duties, the Templars soon added to their
+pride all that host of vices which so readily step in to occupy the void
+of idleness. While the knights of St. John, spreading benefit and comfort
+around them, notwithstanding many occasional faults and errors, remained
+esteemed and beloved, on the whole, both by sovereigns and people; the
+knights of the Temple were only suffered for some centuries, feared,
+hated, avoided; and at last were crushed, at a moment when it is probable
+that a reform was about to work itself in their order.[544]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+_Consequences of the Loss of Edessa--The State of France unfavourable to a
+new Crusade--View of the Progress of Society--Causes and Character of the
+Second Crusade--St. Bernard--The Emperor of Germany takes the Cross and
+sets out--Louis VII. follows--Conduct of the Germans in Greece--Their
+Destruction in Cappadocia--Treachery of Manuel Comnenus--Louis VII.
+arrives at Constantinople--Passes into Asia--Defeats the Turks on the
+Meander--His Army cut to pieces--Proceeds by Sea to Antioch--Fate of his
+remaining Troops--Intrigues at Antioch--Louis goes on to Jerusalem--Siege
+of Damascus--Disgraceful Failure--Conrad returns to Europe--Conduct of
+Suger, Abbot of St. Denis--Termination of the Second Crusade._
+
+
+The loss of Edessa shook the kingdom of Jerusalem; not so much from the
+importance of the city or its territory, as from the exposed state in
+which it left the frontier of the newly established monarchy. The
+activity, the perseverance, the power of the Moslems had been too often
+felt not to be dreaded; and there is every reason to believe, that the
+clergy spoke but the wishes of the whole people, when in their letters to
+Europe they pressed their Christian brethren to come once more to the
+succour of Jerusalem. Shame and ambition led the young Count of Edessa to
+attempt the recovery of his capital as soon as the death of Zenghi, who
+had taken it, reached his ears. He in consequence collected a large body
+of troops, and on presenting himself before the walls during the night,
+was admitted, by his friends, into the town. There he turned his whole
+efforts to force the Turkish garrison in the citadel to surrender, before
+Nourhaddin, the son of Zenghi, could arrive to its aid. But the Saracens
+held out; and, while the Latin soldiers besieged the castle, they found
+themselves suddenly surrounded by a large body of the enemy, under the
+command of Nourhaddin. In this situation, they endeavoured to cut their
+way through the Turkish force, but, attacked on every side, few of them
+escaped to tell the tale of their own defeat. Nourhaddin marched over
+their necks into Edessa, and, in order to remove for ever that bulwark to
+the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, he caused the fortifications to be
+razed to the ground.
+
+The consternation of the people of Palestine became great and general. The
+road to the Holy City lay open before the enemy, and continual
+applications for assistance reached Europe, but more particularly France.
+
+The state of that country, however, was the least[545] propitious that it
+is possible to conceive for a crusade. The position of all the orders of
+society had undergone a change since the period when the wars of the Cross
+were first preached by Peter the Hermit; and of the many causes which had
+combined to hurry the armed multitudes to the Holy Land, none remained but
+the spirit of religious fanaticism and military enterprise. At the time of
+the first crusade, the feudal system had reached the acme of its power.
+The barons had placed a king upon the throne. They had rendered their own
+dominion independent of his, and though they still acknowledged some ties
+between themselves and the monarch--some vague and general power of
+restraint in the king and his court of peers--yet those ties were so
+loose, that power was so undefined in its nature, and so difficult in its
+exercise, that the nobles were free and at liberty to act in whatever
+direction enthusiasm, ambition, or cupidity might call them, without fear
+of the sovereign, who was, in fact, but one of their own body loaded with
+a crown.
+
+The people, too, at that time, both in the towns and in the fields, were
+the mere slaves of the nobility; and as there existed scarcely a shadow of
+vigour in the kingly authority, so there remained not an idea of distinct
+rights and privileges among the populace. Thus the baronage were then
+unfettered by dread from any quarter; and the lower classes--both the
+poorer nobility, and that indistinct tribe (which we find evidently[546]
+marked) who were neither among the absolute serfs of any lord, nor
+belonging to the military caste--were all glad to engage themselves in
+wars which held out to them riches and exaltation in this world, and
+beatification in the next; while they could hope for nothing in their own
+land but pillage, oppression, and wrong; or slaughter in feuds without an
+object, and in battles for the benefit of others.
+
+Before the second crusade was contemplated, a change--an immense change
+had operated itself in the state of society. Just fifty years had passed
+since the council of Clermont: but the kings of France were no longer the
+same; the royal authority had acquired force[547]--the latent principles
+of domination had been exercised for the general good. Kings had put
+forth their hands to check abuses, to punish violence and crime; and the
+feudal system began to assume the character, not of a simple
+confederation, but of an organized _hierarchy_,[548] in which the whole
+body was the judge of each individual, and the head of that body the
+executor of its sentence. Louis VI., commonly called Louis the Fat,[549]
+was the first among the kings of France who raised the functions of
+royalty above those of sovereignty, and the distinction between the two
+states is an important one. The former monarchs of France, including
+Philip I., under whose reign the first crusade was preached, had each been
+but sovereigns, who could call upon their vassals to serve them for so
+many days in the field, and whose rights were either simply personal, that
+is to say, for their own dignity and benefit, or only general so far as
+the protection of the whole confederacy from foreign invasion was implied.
+Louis the Fat, however, saw that in the kingly office was comprised both
+duties and rights of a different character; the right of punishing private
+crime,[550] and of opposing universal wrong; the duty of maintaining
+public order, and of promoting by one uniform and acknowledged power the
+tranquillity of the whole society and the security of each individual. The
+efforts of that prince were confined and partial, it is true;[551] but he
+and his great minister, Suger, seized the just idea of the monarchical
+form of government, and laid the basis of a well-directed and legitimate
+authority.
+
+This authority, of course, was not pleasing to the barons, whose license
+was thus curtailed. Their views, therefore, were turned rather to the
+maintenance of their own unjust privileges, than to foreign adventures.
+At the same time, the nobles found themselves assailed by the classes
+below them, as well as by the power above, and the people of the towns
+were seen to struggle for the rights and immunities so long denied to
+them. The burghers had,[552] indeed, been permitted to labour in some
+small degree for themselves. Though subject to terrible and grievous
+exactions, they had still thriven under the spirit of commerce and
+industry. Their lords had sometimes even recourse to them for assistance.
+The greater part, though of the servile race, had been either freed, or
+were descended from freed men; and the baron of the town in which they
+lived, though cruel and tyrannical, was more an exacting protector than a
+master. At length--the precise time is unknown--the people of the cities
+began to think of protecting themselves; and, by mutual co-operation, they
+strove at once to free themselves from the tyranny of a superior lord, and
+to defend themselves against the encroachments of others. The word
+_commune_[553] was introduced, and each town of considerable size hastened
+to struggle for its liberty. At first the horror and indignation of the
+nobles were beyond all conception; but the spirit of union among them was
+not sufficiently active to put down that which animated the commons.
+
+Each lord had to oppose his revolted subjects alone; and after long and
+sanguinary contests,[554] sometimes the baron, the bishop, or the abbot
+succeeded in subjugating the people; sometimes the burghers contrived, by
+perseverance, to wring from the nobles themselves a charter which assured
+their freedom.
+
+This struggle[555] was at its height, at the time when the fall of Edessa
+and the growing power of the Moslems called Europe to engage in a second
+crusade; but the barons at that moment found their privileges invaded
+both by the crown and the people; and the latter discovered that they had
+rights to maintain in their own land--that they were no longer the mere
+slaves to whom all countries were alike--that prospects were opened before
+them which during the first crusade they hardly dreamed of--that the
+swords which had before been employed in fighting the quarrels of their
+lords at home, or raising them to honour and fame abroad, were now
+required to defend their property, their happiness, and the new station
+they had created for themselves in society. Thus the period at which aid
+became imperatively necessary to the Christians at Jerusalem, was when
+France was least calculated to afford it. Nevertheless, the superstition
+of a king and the eloquence of a churchman combined to produce a second
+crusade; but in this instance it was but a great military expedition, and
+no longer the enthusiastic effort of a nation, or a great popular movement
+throughout the whole of the Christian world.
+
+One of the strongest proofs of this fact[556] is the scantiness of
+historians on the second crusade, and the style in which those that do
+exist, speak of its operations. It is no longer the glory of Christendom
+that they mention, but the glory of the king; no more the deliverance of
+the Holy Land, but merely the acts of the monarch.
+
+In pursuance of the general plan of extending the dominion of the crown,
+which had been conceived by Louis VI., and carried on with such infinite
+perseverance by his great minister Suger, Louis VII., the succeeding
+monarch, on hearing of the election of the Archbishop of Bourges by the
+chapter of that city, without his previous consent, had declared the
+nomination invalid, and proceeded to acts of such flagrant opposition to
+the papal jurisdiction, that the church used her most terrific thunders to
+awe the monarch to her will. Thibalt, Count of Champagne, armed in support
+of the pope's authority, and Louis instantly marched to chastise his
+rebellious vassal. Thibalt was soon reduced to obedience, but the anger of
+the monarch was not appeased by submission; for, even after the town of
+Vitry had surrendered, he set fire to the church, in which nearly thirteen
+hundred people had taken refuge, and disgraced his triumph by one of the
+direst pieces of cruelty upon record. A severe illness, however, soon
+followed, and reflection brought remorse. At that time the news of the
+fall of Edessa was fresh in Europe; and Louis, in the vain hope of
+expiating his crime, determined to promote a crusade, and lead his forces
+himself to the aid of Jerusalem.
+
+Deputies were speedily sent to the Pope Eugenius, who willingly abetted in
+the king's design, and commissioned the famous St. Bernard, Abbot of
+Clairvaux, to preach the Cross through France and Germany. St. Bernard
+possessed every requisite for such a mission.[557] From his earliest years
+he had been filled with religious enthusiasm; he had abandoned high
+prospects to dedicate himself entirely to an austere and gloomy
+fanaticism; he had reformed many abuses in the church, reproved crime
+wherever he found it, and raised the clerical character in the eyes of the
+people, too much accustomed to behold among his order nothing but vice,
+ignorance, and indolence. He was one of the most powerful orators of his
+day, endowed with high and commanding talents of many kinds; and in his
+controversy with the celebrated Abelard, the severe purity of his life and
+manners had proved most eloquent against his rival. Thus, when after
+repeated entreaties[558] he went forth to preach the crusade, few that
+heard him were not either impressed by his sanctity, persuaded by his
+eloquence, or carried away by his zeal: and thus, notwithstanding the
+unfavourable state of France,[559] a multitude of men took the symbol of
+the Cross, and prepared to follow the monarch into Palestine. In Germany
+the effects of his overpowering oratory were the same. Those who
+understood not even the language that he spoke, became awed by his
+gestures and the dignified enthusiasm of his manner, and devoted
+themselves to the crusade, though the tongue in which it was preached was
+unknown to them. Wherever he went his presence was supposed to operate
+miracles, and the sick are reported to have recovered by his touch, or at
+his command; while all the legions of devils, with which popish
+superstition peopled the atmosphere, took flight at his approach. For some
+time Conrad, Emperor of Germany, suffered[560] St. Bernard to call the
+inhabitants of his dominions to the crusade without taking any active part
+in his proceedings, but at length the startling eloquence of the Abbot of
+Clairvaux reached even the bosom of the monarch, and he declared his
+intention of following the Cross himself. At Vezelai Louis VII. received
+the symbol: but the most powerful obstacle that he found to his
+undertaking was the just and continued opposition of his minister,[561]
+Suger, who endeavoured by every means to dissuade the monarch from
+abandoning his kingdom. All persuasions were vain; and having committed
+the care of his estates to that faithful servant,[562] Louis himself,
+accompanied by Eleonor, his queen, departed for Metz, where he was joined
+by an immense multitude of nobles and knights, among whom were crusaders
+from England[563] and the remote islands of the northern sea. Ambassadors
+from Roger, King of Apulia, had already warned Louis of the treachery of
+the Greeks, and besought him to take any other way than that through the
+dominions of the emperor; but the French monarch was biassed by other
+counsels, and determined upon following the plan before laid down.
+
+The Emperor of Germany was the first[564] to set out, and by June reached
+Constantinople in safety, followed by a large body of armed men, and a
+number of women whose gay dress, half-military, half-feminine, gave the
+march the appearance of some bright fantastic cavalcade.
+
+The King of France, having previously received[565] at St. Denis, the
+consecrated banner as a warrior, and the staff and scrip[566] as a
+pilgrim, now quitted Metz, and proceeded by Worms and Ratisbon. Here he
+was met by envoys from the Emperor of the East, charged with letters so
+filled with flattery and fair speeches, that Louis is reported to have
+blushed, and the Bishop of Langres to have observed--
+
+  Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.
+
+Here,[567] too, the French beheld, for the first time, the custom of an
+inferior standing in the presence of his lord. The object of the emperor
+was to obtain from Louis a promise to pass through his territories without
+violence, and to yield to him every town from which he should expel the
+Turks, and which had ever belonged to the Grecian territory.
+
+Part of this proposal was acceded to, and part refused; and the army
+marched on through Hungary into Greece. The progress of the second crusade
+was of course subject to the same difficulties that attended that of the
+first, through a waste and deserted land; but many other obstacles no
+longer existed--the people of the country were more accustomed to the
+appearance of strangers;[568] the army was restrained by the presence of
+the king; and the whole account of the march to Constantinople leaves the
+impression of a more civilized state of society than that which existed at
+the period of the first crusade. We meet with no massacres, no burning of
+towns, no countries laid waste: and though there are to be found petty
+squabbles between the soldiers and the townspeople, frays, and even
+bloodshed; yet these were but individual outrages, kindled by private
+passions, and speedily put down by the arm of authority.
+
+The Germans[569] were less fortunate on their way than the French, and
+some serious causes of quarrel sprung up between them and the Greeks, in
+which it is difficult to discover who were the chief aggressors. The
+Greeks call the Germans[570] barbarians, and the Germans accuse the Greeks
+of every kind of treachery; but it appears evident,[571] that Conrad
+himself was guilty of no small violence on his approach to Constantinople.
+A most magnificent garden had been laid out at a little distance from that
+capital, filled with every vegetable luxury of the day, and containing
+within its walls vast herds of tame animals, for whose security woods had
+been planted, caverns dug, and lakes contrived; so that the beasts which
+were confined in this vast prison might follow their natural habits, as if
+still at liberty. Here also were several buildings, in which the emperors
+were accustomed to enjoy the summer: but Conrad, with an unceremonious
+freedom, partaking not a little of barbarism, broke into this retreat, and
+wasted and destroyed all that it had required the labour of years to
+accomplish. Manuel Comnenus, who now sat on the throne of Constantinople,
+beheld, from the windows of his palace, this strange scene of wanton
+aggression; and sent messengers[572] to Conrad, who was connected with
+him by marriage,[573] desiring an interview. But the Greek would not trust
+himself out of the walls of his capital, and the German would not venture
+within them, so that a short time was passed in negotiation; and then
+Conrad passed over the Hellespont with his forces, relieving the eastern
+sovereign from the dread and annoyance of his presence. Manuel, however,
+furnished the German army with guides to conduct it through Asia Minor;
+and almost all accounts attribute to the Greek the design of betraying his
+Christian brethren into the hands of the infidels. After passing the sea,
+the troops of Conrad proceeded in two bodies,[574] the one under the
+Emperor, and the other under the Bishop of Freysinghen; but the guides
+with which they had been provided led them into the pathless wilds of
+Cappadocia, where famine soon reached them. At the moment also when they
+expected to arrive at Iconium,[575] they found themselves attacked by the
+army of the infidels, swelled to an immense extent by the efforts of the
+sultaun of the Seljukian Turks, who, on the first approach of the
+Christian forces, had spared no means to ensure their destruction. The
+heavy-armed Germans[576] in vain endeavoured to close with the light and
+agile horsemen of the Turkish host. The treacherous guides had fled on the
+first sight of the infidels, and the enemy hovered round and round the
+German army, as it struggled on through the unknown deserts in which it
+was entangled, smiting every straggler, and hastening its annihilation by
+continual attacks. Favoured by the fleetness of their horses, and their
+knowledge of the localities, they passed and repassed the exhausted troops
+of the emperor,[577] who now endeavoured to retrace his steps under a
+continued rain of arrows. No part of the army offered security. The famous
+Count Bernard, with many others, was cut off fighting in the rear; the van
+was constantly in the presence of an active foe; and the emperor himself
+was twice wounded by arrows which fell in the centre of the host. Thus,
+day after day, thousands on thousands were added to the slain; and when at
+length Conrad reached the town of Nice, of seventy thousand knights, and
+an immense body of foot, who had followed him from Europe, scarcely a
+tenth part were to be found in the ranks of his shattered army.
+
+That he was betrayed into the hands of the Turks by the guides furnished
+by the emperor no earthly doubt can be entertained; nor is it questionable
+that Manuel Comnenus was at that time secretly engaged in treaty with the
+infidels. It is not, indeed, absolutely proved that the monarch of
+Constantinople ordered or connived at the destruction of the Christian
+forces; but every historian[578] of the day has suspected him of the
+treachery, and when such is the case it is probable there was good cause
+for suspicion.
+
+In the mean while, Louis the younger led the French host to
+Constantinople, and, unlike Conrad, instantly accepted the emperor's
+invitation to enter the city with a small train. Manuel received him as an
+equal, descending to the porch of his palace to meet his royal guest. He,
+of course, pretended to no homage from the King of France, but still his
+object was to secure to himself all the conquests which Louis might make
+in the ancient appendages of Greece, without acting himself against the
+infidels.
+
+To force the French monarch into this concession, he pursued a plan of
+irritating and uncertain negotiations, not at all unlike those carried on
+by his predecessor Alexius,[579] towards the leaders of the former
+crusade. In the midst of these, however, it was discovered that Manuel had
+entered into a secret treaty with the Turks; and, indeed, the confidence
+which the deceitful Greeks placed in the promises of the crusaders forms a
+singular and reproachful comment on the constant and remorseless breach of
+their own. There were many of the leaders of the French who did not
+scruple to urge Louis to punish by arms the gross perfidy of the Greek
+emperor; and, by taking possession of Constantinople, to sweep away the
+continual stumblingblock by which the efforts of all the crusades had been
+impeded. Had Louis acceded to their wishes, great and extraordinary
+results would, no doubt, have been effected towards the permanent
+occupation of the Holy Land by the Christian powers; but that monarch was
+not to be seduced into violating his own good faith by the treachery of
+another, and after having, on the other hand, refused to aid Manuel in the
+war which had arisen between him and Roger, King of Apulia, he crossed the
+Bosphorus, and passed into Asia Minor. Thence advancing through
+Nicomedia,[580] Louis proceeded to Nice, and encamped under the walls of
+that city. Here the first reports reached him of the fate of the German
+army, for hitherto the Greeks had continued to fill his ears with nothing
+but the successes of his fellows in arms. For a time the news was
+disbelieved, but very soon the arrival of Frederic, duke of Suabia,
+charged with messages from the German monarch, brought the melancholy
+certainty of his defeat.
+
+Louis did all that he could to assuage the grief of the Emperor
+Conrad,[581] and uniting their forces, they now marched on by the seacoast
+to Ephesus. Here, however, Conrad, mortified at a companionship in which
+the inferiority of his own troops was painfully contrasted with the
+multitude and freshness of the French, separated again from Louis; and,
+sending back the greater part of his army by land, took ship himself and
+returned to Constantinople, where he was received both with more
+distinction and more sincerity, on account of the scantiness of his
+retinue, and the disasters he had suffered.
+
+In the mean while, the French proceeded on their way, and after travelling
+for some days without opposition, they first encountered the Turks on the
+banks of the Meander.[582] Proud of their success against the Germans, the
+infidels determined to contest the passage of the river; but the French
+knights, having found a ford, traversed the stream without difficulty, and
+routed the enemy with great slaughter. The loss of the Christians was so
+small, consisting only of one knight,[583] who perished in the river, that
+they as usual had recourse to a miracle, to account for so cheap a
+victory.
+
+Passing onward to Laodicea they found that town completely deserted, and
+the environs laid waste; and they here heard of the complete destruction
+of that part of the German army which had been commanded by the Bishop of
+Freysinghen.[584] In the second day's journey after quitting Laodicea, a
+steep mountain presented itself before the French army, which marched in
+two bodies, separated by a considerable distance. The commander of the
+first division, named Geoffroy de Rancun,[585] had received orders from
+the king, who remained with the rear-guard, to halt on the summit of the
+steep, and there pitch the tents for the night. That Baron, unencumbered
+by baggage, easily accomplished the ascent, and finding that the day's
+progress was considerably less than the usual extent of march, forgot the
+commands he had received, and advanced two or three miles beyond the spot
+specified.
+
+The king, with the lesser body of effective troops and the baggage,
+followed slowly up the mountain, the precipitous acclivity of which
+rendered the footing of the horses dreadfully insecure, while immense
+masses of loose stone gave way at every step under the feet of the
+crusaders,[586] and hurried many down into a deep abyss, through which a
+roaring torrent was rushing onward towards the sea. Suddenly, as they were
+toiling up, the whole army of the Turks, who had remarked the separation
+of the division, and watched their moment too surely, appeared on the hill
+above. A tremendous shower of arrows instantly assailed the Christians.
+The confusion and dismay were beyond description: thousands fell headlong
+at once down the precipice, thousands were killed by the masses of rock
+which the hurry and agitation of those at the top hurled down upon those
+below; while the Turks, charging furiously all who had nearly climbed to
+the summit, drove them back upon the heads of such as were ascending.
+
+Having concluded,[587] that his advance-guard had secured the ground
+above, Louis, with the cavalry of his division, had remained in the rear,
+to cover his army from any attack. The first news of the Turkish force
+being in presence was gathered from the complete rout of the
+foot-soldiers, who had been mounting the hill, and who were now flying in
+every direction. The king instantly sent round his chaplain, Odon de
+Deuil, to seek for the other body under Geoffroy de Rancun, and to call it
+back to his aid; while in the mean time he spurred forward with what
+cavalry he had, to repel the Turks and protect his infantry. Up so steep
+an ascent the horses could make but little progress, and the Moslems,
+finding that their arrows turned off from the steel coats of the knights,
+aimed at the chargers, which, often mortally wounded, rolled down the
+steep, carrying their riders along with them. Those knights who succeeded
+in freeing themselves from their dying steeds were instantly attacked by
+the Turks, who, with fearful odds on their side, left hardly a living man
+of all the Chivalry that fought that day. The king even, dismounted by the
+death of his horse, was surrounded before he could well rise; but,
+catching the branches of a tree, he sprang upon a high insulated rock,
+where, armed with his sword alone, he defended himself, till the night
+falling freed him from his enemies. His situation now would have been
+little less hazardous than it was before, had he not luckily encountered a
+part of the infantry who had remained with the baggage. He was thus
+enabled, with what troops he could rally, to make his way during the night
+to the advance-guard, which had, as yet, remained unattacked. Geoffroy de
+Rancun had nearly been sacrificed to the just resentment of the people,
+but the uncle of the king, having been a participator in his fault,
+procured him pardon; and the army, which was now reduced to a state of
+greater discipline than before, by the Grand Master of the Templars,[588]
+who had accompanied it from Constantinople arrived without much more loss
+at Attalia.[589] Here the Greeks proved more dangerous enemies than the
+Turks, and every thing was done that human baseness and cunning could
+suggest, to plunder and destroy the unfortunate crusaders.
+
+Much discussion now took place concerning their further progress, and the
+difficulties before them rendered it necessary that a part of the host
+should proceed by sea to Antioch. The king at first determined that that
+part, should be the pilgrims on foot; and that he himself with his
+Chivalry would follow the path by land. The winter season, however,
+approaching, the scanty number of vessels that could be procured, and the
+exorbitant price which the Greeks demanded for the passage of each
+man--being no less than four marks of silver[590]--rendered the transport
+of the foot impossible. Louis, therefore, eager to reach Jerusalem,
+distributed what money he could spare among the pilgrims, engaged at an
+enormous price a Greek escort and guide to conduct them by land to
+Antioch, left the Count of Flanders to command them, and then took ship
+with the rest of his knights. The Count of Flanders soon found that the
+Greeks, having received their reward, refused to fulfil their agreement,
+and the impossibility of reaching Antioch without their aid being plain,
+he embarked and followed the king.
+
+The unhappy pilgrims, who remained cooped up beneath the walls, which they
+were not permitted to enter, on the one hand, and the Turkish army that
+watched them with unceasing vigilance, on the other, died, and were
+slaughtered by thousands. Some strove to force their passage to Antioch by
+land, and fell beneath the Moslem scimitar. Some cast themselves upon the
+compassion of the treacherous Greeks, and were more brutally treated than
+even by their infidel enemies. So miserable at length became their
+condition, that the Turks themselves ceased to attack them, brought them
+provisions and pieces of money, and showed them that compassion which
+their fellow-christians refused. Thus, in the end, several hundreds
+attached themselves[591] to their generous enemies, and were tempted to
+embrace the Moslem creed. The rest either became slaves to the Greeks, or
+died of pestilence and famine.
+
+In the mean while, Louis and his knights[592] arrived at Antioch, where
+they were received with the appearance of splendid hospitality by Raimond,
+the prince of that city, who was uncle of Eleonor, the wife of the French
+monarch. His hospitality, however, was of an interested nature: Antioch
+and Tripoli hang upon the skirts of the kingdom of Jerusalem as detached
+principalities, whose connexion with the chief country was vague and
+insecure. No sooner, therefore, did the news of the coming of the King of
+France reach the princes of those cities, than they instantly laid out a
+thousand plans for engaging Louis in extending the limits of their
+territories, before permitting him to proceed to Jerusalem. The Prince of
+Antioch assuredly had the greatest claim upon the king, by his
+relationship to the queen;[593] and he took every means of working on the
+husband, by ingratiating himself with the wife. Eleonor was a woman of
+strong and violent passions,[594] and of debauched and libertine manners,
+and she made no scruple of intriguing and caballing with her uncle to bend
+the king to his wishes. The Archbishop of Tyre, who was but little given
+to repeat a scandal, dwells with a tone of certainty upon the immoral life
+of the Queen of France, and says, she had even consented that her uncle
+should carry her off, after Louis had formally refused to second his
+efforts against Cesarea.
+
+However that may be, her conduct was a disgrace to the crusade; and
+Louis, in his letters to Suger, openly complained of her infidelity.
+
+The king resisted all entreaties and all threats, and, equally rejecting
+the suit of the Count of Tripoli,[595] he proceeded to Jerusalem, where
+the emperor Conrad, having passed by sea from Constantinople, had arrived
+before him. Here the whole of the princes were called to council; and it
+was determined that, instead of endeavouring to retake Edessa, which had
+been the original object of the crusade, the troops of Jerusalem, joined
+to all that remained of the pilgrim armies, should attempt the siege of
+Damascus. The monarchs immediately took the field, supported by the
+knights of the Temple and St. John, who, in point of courage, equalled the
+Chivalry of any country, and in discipline excelled them all. Nourhaddin
+and Saphaddin, the two sons of the famous Zenghi, threw what men they
+could suddenly collect into Damascus, and hastened in person to raise as
+large a force as possible to attack the Christian army. The crusaders
+advanced to the city, drove in the Turkish outposts[596] that opposed
+them, and laid siege to the fortifications, which in a short time were so
+completely ruined, that Damascus could hold out no longer. And yet
+Damascus did not fall. Dissension, that destroying angel of great
+enterprises, was busy in the Christian camp. The possession of the still
+unconquered town[597] was disputed among the leaders. Days and weeks
+passed in contests, and at length, when it was determined that the prize
+should be given to the Count of Flanders, who had twice visited the Holy
+Land, the decision caused so much dissatisfaction, that all murmured and
+none acted. Each one suspected his companion; dark reports and scandalous
+charges were mutually spread and countenanced; the Templars were accused
+of having received a bribe from the infidels; the European monarchs[598]
+were supposed to aim at the subjugation of Jerusalem; the conquerors were
+conquered by their doubts of each other; and, retiring from the spot where
+they had all but triumphed, they attempted to storm the other side of the
+city, where the walls were as firm as a rock of adamant.
+
+Repenting of their folly, they soon were willing to return to their former
+ground, but the fortifications had been repaired, the town had received
+fresh supplies, and Saphaddin, emir of Mousul, was marching to its relief.
+Only one plan was to be pursued. The siege was abandoned, and the
+leaders,[599] discontented with themselves and with each other, retreated
+gloomily to Jerusalem.
+
+The Emperor of Germany set out immediately for Europe; but Louis, who
+still hoped to find some opportunity of redeeming his military fame,
+lingered for several months; while Eleonor continued to sully scenes,
+whose memory is composed of all that is holy, with her impure amours. At
+length the pressing entreaties of Suger induced the French monarch to
+return to his native land. There he found the authority he had confided to
+that great and excellent minister had been employed to the infinite
+benefit of his dominions--he found his finances increased and order
+established in every department of the state;[600]--and he found, also,
+that the minister was not only willing, but eager, to yield the reins of
+government to the hand from which he had received them.--During the
+absence of the king, his brother, Robert of Dreux, who returned before
+him, had endeavoured to thwart the noble Abbot of St. Denis, and even to
+snatch the regency from him; but Suger boldly called together a general
+assembly of the nobility of France, and intrusted his cause to their
+decision. The court met at Soissons, and unanimously supported the
+minister against his royal opponent; after which he ruled, indeed, in
+peace; but Robert strove by every means to poison the mind of the king
+against him; and it can be little doubted, that Louis, on his departure
+from Palestine, viewed the conduct of Suger with a very jealous eye.
+
+The effects of his government, however, and the frankness with which he
+resigned it, at once did away all suspicions. The expedition was now over,
+but yet one effort more was to be made, before we can consider the second
+crusade as absolutely terminated.
+
+Suger had opposed the journey of the king to the Holy Land, but he was not
+in the least wanting in zeal or compassionate enthusiasm in favour of his
+brethren of the east.[601] Any thing but the absence of a monarch from his
+unquiet dominions he would have considered as a small sacrifice towards
+the support of the kingdom of Jerusalem; and now, at seventy years, he
+proposed to raise an army at his own expense, and to finish his days in
+Palestine.--His preparations were carried on with an ardour, an activity,
+an intelligence, which would have been wonderful even in a man at his
+prime; but, in the midst of his designs, he was seized with a slow fever,
+which soon showed him that his end was near. He saw the approach of death
+with firmness; and, during the four months that preceded his decease, he
+failed not from the bed of sickness to continue all his orders for the
+expedition, which could no longer bring living glory to himself. He named
+the chief whom he thought most worthy to lead it; he bestowed upon him all
+the treasures he had collected for the purpose; he gave him full
+instructions for his conduct, and he made him swear upon the Cross to
+fulfil his intentions. Having done this, the Abbot of St. Denis waited
+calmly the approach of that hour which was to separate him from the
+living; and died, leaving no one like him in Europe.
+
+With his life appears to have ended the second crusade, which, with fewer
+obstacles and greater facilities than the first, produced little but
+disgrace and sorrow to all by whom it was accompanied.[602]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+_Progress of Society--The Rise of Poetry in Modern Europe--Troubadours--
+Trouveres--Various Poetical Compositions--Effect of Poetry upon Chivalry--
+Effect of the Crusades on Society--State of Palestine after the Second
+Crusade--Cession of Edessa to the Emperor Manuel Comnenus--Edessa
+completely subjected by the Turks--Ascalon taken by the Christians--State
+of Egypt under the last Califs of the Fatimite Race--The Latins and the
+Atabecks both design the Conquest of Egypt--Struggles for that Country--
+Rise of Saladin--Disputes among the Latins concerning the Succession of
+the Crown--Guy of Lusignan crowned--Saladin invades Palestine--Battle of
+Tiberias--Fall of Jerusalem--Conquest of all Palestine--Some Inquiry into
+the Causes of the Latin Overthrow._
+
+
+Before proceeding to trace the events which occurred in the Holy Land
+between the second and third crusades, it may be as well to keep our eyes
+upon Europe for a few moments, and to remark the advance of society
+towards civilization. Prior to the period of the first expedition to
+Palestine, Germany had been occupied alone in struggling against the
+papal authority, and in fighting for dominions in Italy, the limits of
+which were always sufficiently vague to admit of disputes and aggressions
+on all parts. Apulia and the southern portion of Italy had been subjected,
+as we have seen, by the Normans; and the rest of that country, with the
+exception of some small republican cities, was divided into feudal
+baronies, the right of homage over which was very uncertain. Engaged in
+private wars and feuds, where personal interest was the sole object,
+unmixed with any refining principle, the Chivalry of Italy made but small
+progress. From time to time a great and distinguished chief started up,
+and dignified his country; but the general feeling of knightly zeal was
+not extended far in Italy, or was wasted in the petty purposes of confined
+and unimportant struggles. In Germany also Chivalry advanced but little.
+There was much dignified firmness in the character of the people;
+and--under the walls of Damascus--in the wars with the pope, and with the
+Norman possessors of Calabria--the German knights evinced that in the
+battle-field none were more daring, more powerful, or more resolute; but
+we find few instances where enthusiasm was mingled with valour, and where
+the ardour of chivalric devotion was joined to the bold courage of the
+Teutonic warrior. In Spain the spirit was at its height; but Spain had her
+own crusades; and it was quite enough for the swords of her gallant band
+of knights to free their native land, inch by inch, from her Saracen
+invaders. Military orders[603] were there instituted in the middle of the
+twelfth century; and the knights of Calatrava and St. James might
+challenge the world to produce a more chivalrous race than themselves;
+still the object of all their endeavours was the freedom of their native
+country from the yoke of the Moors, and they engaged but little in any of
+those great expeditions which occupied the attention and interest of the
+world. It is to France, then, and to England, under the dominion of its
+Norman monarchs, that we must turn our eyes; and here, during the course
+of the twelfth century, we shall find great and extraordinary progress.
+
+Previous to the epoch of the crusades, France, though acknowledging one
+king, had consisted of various nations, whose manners, habits, and
+languages differed in the most essential points.[604] The Provençal was as
+opposite a being to the Frank of that day, as the Italian is now to the
+Russian. The Norman and the Breton also descended from distinct origins,
+and in most cases these separate tribes hated each other with no slight
+share of enmity.
+
+The character of the Norman was in all times enterprising, wandering,
+cunning, and selfish; that of the Breton, or Armorican, savage, ferocious,
+daring, and implacable; but imaginative in the highest degree, as well as
+superstitious. The Provençal was light, avaricious, keen, active, and
+sensual; the Frank, bold, hardy, persevering, but vain, insolent, and
+thoughtless.[605] Distinctive character lies more generally in men's
+faults than their virtues; and thus, all these different races possessed
+the same higher qualities in common. They were brave to a prodigy;
+energetic, talented, enthusiastic; but during the eleventh, and the
+beginning of the twelfth centuries, the rude state of society in which
+Chivalry had arisen, continued to affect it still. The first crusade,
+however, gave an impulse to all those countries that joined in it, which
+tended infinitely to civilize Europe, by uniting nations and tribes, which
+had long been separated by different interests, in one great enterprise,
+wherein community of object, and community of danger, necessarily
+harmonized many previously discordant feelings, and did away many old
+animosities, by the strong power of mutual assistance and mutual
+endeavour. The babel of languages which Fulcher describes in the Christian
+camp before long began to form itself into two more general tongues.
+Latin, notwithstanding all the support it received in the court, in the
+church, and in the schools, was soon confined to the cloister; and the
+_langue d'oc_, or Provençal, became the common language of all the
+provinces on the southern side of the Loire, while the _langue d'oil_ only
+was spoken in the north of France. The manners and habits of the people,
+too, were gradually shaded into each other; the distinctions became less
+defined: the Provençal no longer looked upon the Breton as a savage; and
+the Frank no longer classed the Provençal with the ape. A thousand
+alliances were formed between individuals of different tribes, and the
+hand of kindred smoothed away the remaining asperities of national
+prejudice. Such assimilations tend of course to calm and mollify the mind
+of man; so that the general character of the country became of a less rude
+and ferocious nature. At this time, too, sprang up that greatest of all
+the softeners of the human heart, poetry; and immense was the change it
+wrought in the manners and deportment of that class which constituted the
+society of the twelfth century. The poetry of that age bore as distinct
+and clear a stamp of the epoch to which it belonged, as any that the world
+ever produced; and it is absurd to trace to an earlier day the origin of a
+kind of poesy which was founded upon Chivalry alone, and reflected nothing
+but the objects of a chivalrous society.
+
+It is little important which of the two tongues of France first boasted a
+national poet, and equally unimportant which gave birth to the most
+excellent poetry. The _langue d'oc_ was the most mellifluous; the _langue
+d'oil_ was the most forcible; but neither brought forth any thing but the
+tales, the songs, the satires, the ballads of Chivalry.
+
+It is more than probable that some musical ear in Provence first applied
+to his own language the melody of regularly arranged syllables, and the
+jingle of rhyme. No sooner was this done than the passion spread to all
+classes. Chivalrous love and chivalrous warfare furnished subjects in
+plenty; and the _gai savoir_, the _biau parler_, became the favourite
+relaxation of those very men who wielded the lance and sword in the
+battle-field. The Troubadours were multiplied to infinity; the language
+lent itself almost spontaneously to versification; and kings, warriors,
+and ladies, as well as the professed poets, occasionally practised the new
+and captivating art, which at once increased chivalrous enthusiasm, by
+spreading and perpetuating the fame of noble deeds, and softened the
+manners of the age, by the influence of sweet sounds and intellectual
+exercises. The songs themselves soon became as various as those who
+composed them, and were divided into _Sirventes_, _Tensons_,
+_Pastourelles_, and _Nouvelles_, or _Contes_.[606] The Conte, or tale in
+verse, needs no description, and the nature of the Pastourelle also is
+self-evident. The _Sirvente_ deserves more particular notice. It was in
+fact a satire, of the most biting and lively character; in which wit and
+poetry were not used to cover or to temper the reprobation of either
+individual or general vice, but rather, on the contrary, to give point and
+energy to invective. The keen bitterness of the Troubadours spared neither
+rank nor caste; kings, and nobles, and priests, all equally underwent the
+lash of their wit; and it is from these very sirventes that we gain a
+clear insight into many of the customs and manners of that day, as well as
+into many, too many, scenes of grossness and immorality, from which we
+would fain believe that Chivalry was free. The Tensons, or _Jeux partis_,
+were dialogues between two persons on some subject of love or chivalry,
+and in general show far more subtilty than poetical feeling. To these
+were added occasional epistles in verse; and _Plaintes_, or lamentations,
+in which the death or misfortune of a friend was mourned with a touching
+simplicity that has since been too often imitated with very ineffective
+art. Other compositions, such as the _Aubade_ and the _Serenade_, were in
+use, the difference of which from the common _lay_ consisted merely in
+their metrical construction: the word _alba_ being always repeated at the
+end of each stanza of the aubade, and the word _ser_ continually
+terminating each division of the serenade.[607] Such was the poesy of the
+_Langue d'oc_ and the Troubadours. The _Langue d'oil_ had also its poets,
+the Trouveres, and its poesy, which differed totally from that of the
+_Langue d'oc_. The art was here more ambitious than with the Provençals;
+and we find, among the first productions of the Trouveres, long and
+complex poems, which would fain deserve the name of Epics. The first of
+these, both in date and importance, is the Norman romance of Rou, which
+bears a considerable resemblance, in its object and manner, to the
+fragments of old Scandinavian poetry which have come down to us, but has a
+continuous and uniform subject, and strong attempts at unity of design.
+The romance of the Rose also, commenced by Guillaume de Lorris,[608] and
+concluded by Jean de Meung, is one of the most extraordinary compositions
+that the world ever produced, and stands perfectly alone--an allegory in
+twenty-two thousand verses! Various subjects, quite irrelevant to the
+object of the song, are introduced in its course; and the poet mingles his
+tale with satire and sarcasm, which were fully as often misdirected as
+deserved. Besides these were all the famous romances of Chivalry which
+probably originated in the fabulous but interesting story of Charlemagne's
+visit to the Holy Land, falsely attributed to the archbishop Turpin. This
+work bears internal evidence of having been written after the first
+crusade, and, we have reason to suppose, was translated into French,[609]
+from the Latin manuscript of some monkish author.
+
+In all the romances of the Round Table, we trace the end of the twelfth,
+and the beginning of the thirteenth century. They could not have been
+composed prior to that epoch; for we find many customs and objects
+mentioned, which were not known at an earlier period; and it is probable,
+from various circumstances, that they are not referable to a later age.
+Besides these, multitudes of _Fabliaux_[610] have descended to us from the
+Trouveres, and in this sort of composition, it is but fair to say, we find
+more originality, variety, and strength, though less sweetness and less
+enthusiasm, than among the compositions of the Troubadours. At this period
+also we meet with an institution in Provence, of which I shall speak but
+slightly, from many motives, though undoubtedly it had a great influence
+upon the character of Chivalry: I mean the Court of Love, as it was
+called, where causes concerning that passion were tried and judged as
+seriously, as if feelings could be submitted to a tribunal. Could that be
+the case, the object of such a court should certainly be very different
+from that of the Provençal Court of Love, the effect of which was any
+thing but to promote morality. It tended, however, with every thing else,
+to soften the manners of the country, though all the mad absurdities to
+which it gave rise were a scandal and a disgrace to Europe.
+
+Besides all these causes of mitigation, the constant journeys of the
+people of Europe to the Holy Land taught them gradually the customs of
+other nations; and in that age there was much good to be learned by a
+frequent intercourse with foreigners. The great want of Europe was
+civilization; the vices of the day were pretty equally spread through all
+countries, and the very circumstance of mingling with men of different
+habits and thoughts promoted the end to be desired, without bringing any
+great importation of foreign follies or crimes. Many useful arts, and many
+sciences, previously unknown, were also obtained from the Saracens
+themselves; and though in the crusades Europe sacrificed a host of her
+noblest knights, and spent immense treasures and energies, yet she
+derived, notwithstanding, no small benefit from her communication with
+Palestine.
+
+The state of that country, in the mean while, was every day becoming more
+and more precarious. The nations by whom it was surrounded were improving
+in military discipline, in political knowledge, and in the science of
+timing and combining their efforts, while the Christians were losing
+ground in every thing but courage. The military orders of the Temple and
+St. John were the bulwarks of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem; but at the
+same time, by their pride, their disputes, and their ambition, they did
+nearly as much to undermine its strength at home as they did to support it
+with their swords in the field of battle.
+
+It would be endless to trace all the events in Palestine which brought
+about the third crusade, and to investigate minutely the causes which
+worked out the ruin of the Christian dominion in the Holy Land. The simple
+facts must be enough in this place.
+
+Although the crusade which went forth for the express purpose of
+delivering Edessa never even attempted that object, Joscelyn of Courtenay
+did not neglect to struggle for his lost territory, and gained some
+splendid successes over the infidels, which were all in turn reversed, by
+his capture and death in prison.[611] After his failure, the difficulty
+of keeping Edessa was so apparent, that the monarch of Jerusalem[612]
+determined to yield it to the Emperor Manuel Comnenus, on condition of his
+defending it against the Turks. Manuel, therefore, received the
+principality; but the weak and cowardly Greeks soon lost what the valiant
+Franks could not maintain; and before a year was over, Nourhaddin the
+Great, sultaun of Aleppo, was in full possession of Edessa and all its
+dependencies. Baldwin III., however, who had cast off the follies of his
+youth, and now displayed as great qualities as any of his race, more than
+compensated for the loss of that principality by the capture of
+Ascalon.[613]
+
+After this great success, eight years of varied warfare followed; and at
+the end of that period Baldwin died, leaving behind him the character of
+one of the noblest of the Latin kings. His brother Almeric ascended the
+vacant throne, but with talents infinitely inferior, and a mind in no
+degree calculated to cope with the great and grasping genius of
+Nourhaddin, who combined, in rare union, the qualities of an ambitious and
+politic monarch with the character of a liberal, frugal, and
+unostentatious man.
+
+Almeric was ambitious also; but his avarice was always a check on his
+ambition, and he suffered himself often to be bribed, where he might have
+conquered. At this time[614] the Fatimite califs of Egypt had fallen into
+a state of nonentity. The country was governed by a vizier, and the high
+office was struggled for by a succession of military adventurers.
+
+Such a state of things awakened the attention of the monarchs of Jerusalem
+and Aleppo, and each resolved to make himself master of Egypt. An
+opportunity soon presented itself. Shawer, the vizier of Egypt, was
+expelled from his post by Dargham, a soldier of fortune. The disgraced
+vizier fled to the court of Nourhaddin, and prayed for assistance against
+the usurper. Nourhaddin willingly granted a request which yielded the
+means of sending his troops into Egypt; and two Curdish refugees, uncle
+and nephew, who had risen high in his army,[615] under the names of Assad
+Eddyn Chyrkouh, and Salah Eddyn or Saladin, were despatched with
+considerable forces to expel Dargham, and to re-establish Shawer. Dargham
+saw the gathering storm, and to shelter himself from its fury called the
+Christians from Palestine to his aid. But the movements of the Moslems
+were more rapid than those of Almeric; and, before the King of Jerusalem
+could reach Cairo, Chyrkouh had given battle to Dargham, and defeated and
+killed him, and Shawer was repossessed of the authority he had lost.
+Shawer soon found that his power was fully as much in danger from his
+allies as it had been from his enemies; and, to resist the Turks whom he
+had brought into Egypt, he was obliged to enter into a treaty with the
+Christians. Almeric marched immediately to Cairo, and after a multitude of
+manoeuvres and skirmishes, forced Chyrkouh and Saladin to quit the
+country; displaying, through the whole of this war, more scientific
+generalship than was at all usual in that age. No sooner were the Turks
+gone, than the Latin monarch[616] broke his truce with the Egyptians, and
+Shawer was once more obliged to apply to Nourhaddin. Chyrkouh again
+advanced into the Fatimite dominions with increased forces, obliged
+Almeric to retreat with great loss, took possession of Cairo, beheaded
+Shawer, and installed himself in the office of vizier to Adhad, calif of
+Egypt, though he still retained the title of lieutenant for Nourhaddin of
+Aleppo. Not long after these successes, Chyrkouh died, and Nourhaddin,
+doubtful of the fidelity of the Turkish emirs, gave the vacant post to
+Saladin, the nephew of the late vizier; in which choice he was as much
+guided by the apparently reckless and pleasure-seeking despotism of the
+young Curdish chief, as by the military skill he had shown when forced
+unwillingly into action. Saladin, however, was scarcely invested with
+supreme power in Egypt when his real character appeared. He cast from him
+the follies with which he had veiled his great and daring mind; and, by
+means of the immense treasures placed at his command, soon bound to his
+interests many who had been at first disgusted by his unexpected
+elevation. The califs of Egypt had been always considered as schismatics
+by the califs of Bagdat, to whom Nourhaddin still affected homage; and
+Saladin was forthwith instructed to declare the Fatimite dynasty at an
+end, and to re-establish in Egypt the nominal dominion of the Abassides.
+This was easily accomplished; Adhad, the calif, either died before the
+revolution was completed, or was strangled in the bath; the people little
+cared under whose yoke they laboured. The children of the late calif were
+confined in the harem; and Motshadi, calif of Bagdat, was prayed for as
+God's vicar on earth.
+
+Saladin's ambitious projects became every day more and more apparent, and
+Nourhaddin was not blind to the conduct of his officer. Submission quieted
+his suspicions for a time; and, though repeated causes for fresh jealousy
+arose, he was obliged to forego marching into Egypt in person, as he
+undoubtedly intended, till death put a stop to all his schemes. No sooner
+was Nourhaddin dead, than Almeric attacked his widow at Paneas,[617] and
+Saladin began to encroach upon other parts of his territories: but Saladin
+was the only gainer by the death of the great sultaun, and made himself
+master, by various means, of the whole of his Syrian dominions, while
+internal dissensions and changes in the government of Palestine gradually
+weakened every bulwark of the Latin throne. Almeric[618] died in returning
+from Paneas, and his son, Baldwin IV, surnamed the Leper, succeeded him.
+Had his corporeal powers been equal to the task of royalty, it is probable
+that Baldwin would have been a far greater monarch than his father; but,
+after many struggles for activity, he found that disease incapacitated him
+for energetic rule, and he intrusted the care of the state to Guy of
+Lusignan, who had married his sister Sybilla, widow of the Marquis of
+Montferrat, to whom she had borne one son.[619]
+
+Guy of Lusignan soon showed himself unworthy of the charge, and
+Baldwin,[620] resuming the government, endeavoured to establish it in such
+a form that it might uphold itself after his death, which he felt to be
+approaching. With this view he offered the administration to the Count of
+Tripoli,[621] during the minority of his sister's child; but the Count
+refused to accept it, except under condition that the charge of the young
+prince should be given to Joscelyn de Courtenay, the surviving branch of
+the Courtenays of Edessa, and son of the unhappy count who died in a
+Saracen prison. He also stipulated that the castles and fortresses of the
+kingdom should be garrisoned by the Hospitallers and Templars; and that in
+case the boy should die in his youth, the question of succession should be
+determined by the Pope, the Emperor of Germany, the King of France, and
+the King of England.[622] Not many years after this the king died, and
+Baldwin V. succeeded, but his death followed immediately upon his
+accession. Without abiding by the dispositions of the former monarch, no
+sooner was the young king dead, than the Grand Master of the Temple,
+Renauld of Chatillon, Count of Karac, and the Patriarch of Jerusalem
+joined to raise Sybilla to the throne, in spite of the formal protest of
+all the other barons and the Grand Master of the Hospital. The gates of
+Jerusalem were shut;[623] and it was only by sending one of their
+followers, disguised as a monk, that the nobles assembled with the Count
+of Tripoli at Naplousa could gain any tidings of what passed. Sybilla was
+crowned in form; and then the patriarch, pointing to the other crown which
+lay upon the altar, told her that it was hers to dispose of, on which she
+immediately placed it on the head of Guy of Lusignan.[624] After this some
+of the barons refused to do homage to the new king, and some absented
+themselves from his court; but the imminent danger in which the country
+was placed at length brought back a degree of concord, when concord could
+no longer avail.
+
+Saladin had by this time made himself master of all Syria;[625] and had
+not only consolidated into one great monarchy dominions which for ages had
+been separated into petty states, but also, by the incessant application
+of a powerful and expansive mind, he had drawn forth and brought into
+action many latent but valuable resources which had previously been
+unknown or forgotten. He had taught the whole interests of his people to
+centre in his own person, and he now determined to direct their energies
+to one great and important enterprise. That enterprise was the conquest of
+Palestine, and with an army of fifty thousand horse, and near two hundred
+thousand foot, he advanced towards Jerusalem, and laid siege to
+Tiberias.[626] Within the walls of that fortress the Countess of Tripoli
+held out against the Saracens, while her husband joined Guy of Lusignan,
+and brought his forces to the field in defence of the Holy Land.
+
+The conduct of the Count of Tripoli is very obscure.[627] That from time
+to time he had treated with the Saracens is evident, and almost every
+European authority, except Mills, accuses him of having, in this instance,
+betrayed his countrymen into the hands of the infidels. Whether with or
+against his advice matters little to the general result--the Christians
+marched down to meet Saladin at Tiberias.[628] Beyond doubt it was by the
+counsel of the Count of Tripoli that they pitched their tents in a spot
+where no water was to be found. The troops suffered dreadfully from
+thirst; and in the morning, when they advanced to attack Saladin in the
+cool of the dawn, the wary monarch retired before them, resolved not to
+give them battle till the heat of the risen sun had added to their
+fatigues. To increase the suffocating warmth of a Syrian summer's day, he
+set fire to the low bushes and shrubs which surrounded the Christian camp;
+so that when the battle did begin, the Latin forces were quite overcome
+with weariness and drought. The contest raged throughout the day, the
+Christians fighting to reach the wells which lay behind the Saracen
+power,[629] but in vain; and night fell, leaving the strife still
+doubtful. The next morning the Latins and Turks again mixed in combat. The
+Count of Tripoli[630] forced his way through the Saracens, and escaped
+unhurt; but the scimitars of the Moslems mowed down whole ranks of the
+Christians, for their immense superiority of numbers allowed them to
+surround the height upon which the king and the chief of his army were
+stationed, and to wage the warfare at once against every face of the Latin
+host. Such a conflict could not long endure. Multitudes of the infidels
+fell, but their loss was nothing in proportion to their number, when
+compared with that which their adversaries underwent.
+
+The Grand Master of the Hospital[631] alone clove his way from the field
+of battle, after having staid till victory had settled upon the Paynim
+banners. He reached Ascalon that night, but died on the following day of
+the wounds he had received. The King--Renault de Chatillon, Count of
+Karac, who had so often broken faith with the Moslems--and the Grand
+Master of the Temple, whose whole order was in abhorrence among the
+Mussulmans--were taken alive and carried prisoners to the tent of Saladin.
+That monarch remained for some time on the field, giving orders that the
+knights of St. John[632] and those of the Temple, who had been captured,
+should instantly embrace Islamism, or undergo the fate of the scimitar. A
+thousand acts of cruelty and aggression on their part had given cause to
+such deadly hatred; but at the hour of death not one knight could be
+brought to renounce his creed; and they died with that calm resolution
+which is in itself a glory. After this bloody consummation of his victory,
+Saladin entered the tent where Lusignan and his companions expected a
+similar fate: but Saladin, thirsty himself, called for iced sherbet, and
+having drank, handed the cup to the fallen monarch, a sure pledge that his
+life was secure. Lusignan in turn passed it to Renaul of Chatillon,[633]
+but the sultaun, starting up, exclaimed, "No hospitality for the breaker
+of all engagements!"[634] and before Chatillon could drink, with one blow
+of his scimitar, Saladin severed his head from his body.
+
+Tiberias surrendered immediately. City after city now fell into the power
+of the victor, and at length, after an obstinate defence, Jerusalem once
+more was trodden by the Moslems.[635] But the conduct of the infidel
+sultaun on this occasion shames the cruelty of the crusaders. When the
+people could hold out no longer, Saladin, who had at first offered the
+most advantageous terms, insisted that the city should now throw itself
+upon his mercy.
+
+He then agreed upon a moderate ransom for the prisoners, and promised to
+let each man carry forth his goods without impediment. When this was done,
+with extraordinary care he saw that neither insult nor injury should be
+offered to the Christians; and, having taken possession of the town, he
+placed a guard at one of the gates to receive the ransom of the
+inhabitants as they passed out. Nevertheless, when the whole wealth which
+could be collected in the town had been paid down, an immense number of
+the poorer Christians remained unredeemed. These were destined to be
+slaves; but Bernard the Treasurer relates, that Saif Eddyn, the brother of
+the monarch, begged the liberty of one thousand of these, and that about
+the same number were delivered at the prayer of the Patriarch and of
+Baléan de Ibelyn,[636] who had commanded in the place, and communicated
+with the Curdish monarch on its surrender. After this Saladin declared
+that his brother, the Patriarch, and Ibelyn had done their alms, and that
+now he would do his alms also; on which he caused it to be proclaimed
+through the city,[637] that all the poor people who could give no ransom
+might go forth in safety by the gate of St. Lazarus; but he ordered that
+if any attempted to take advantage of this permission who really could pay
+for their deliverance, they should be instantly seized and cast into
+prison. Many of the nobler prisoners also he freed at the entreaty of the
+Christian ladies; and in his whole conduct he showed himself as moderate
+in conquest, as he was great in battle.
+
+Antioch and the neighbouring towns, as well as the greater part of the
+county of Tripoli,[638] were soon reduced to the Saracen yoke, and with
+the exception of Tyre, which was defended by the gallant Conrad, Marquis
+of Montferrat, the whole of Palestine became subject to the victor of
+Tiberias.
+
+Such was the sudden and disastrous termination of the Christian dominion
+in the Holy Land;[639] a misfortune which all the contemporary writers
+attribute to the vices of the inhabitants. Without presuming to assign it,
+as they do, to the special wrath of Heaven, we may nevertheless believe
+that the gross and scandalous crimes of the people of Jerusalem greatly
+accelerated its return to the Moslem domination. After the successes of
+the first crusade, the refuse of European populations poured into
+Palestine in hopes of gain, and brought all their vices to add to the
+stock of those that the country already possessed. The clergy were as
+licentious as the laity, the chiefs as immoral as the people. Intestine
+quarrels are sure to follow upon general crime; and unbridled passions
+work as much harm to the society in which they are tolerated, as to the
+individuals on whom they are exercised. The Latins of Palestine retained
+their courage, it is true; but they knew no confidence in each other.
+Virtue, the great bond of union, subsisted not among them, and each one
+caballed, intrigued, and strove against his neighbour. The ambition of the
+two great military orders bred continual hatred and opposition,[640] and
+the discord that existed between the Hospitallers and the clergy caused
+another breach in the harmony of the state.
+
+During the time that the kingdom of Jerusalem was thus dividing itself, by
+passions and vices, into ruinous factions and enfeebled bodies, Saladin
+and those that preceded him were bending all their energies to consolidate
+their power and extend their dominion. Zenghi was a great warrior,
+Nourhaddin a great monarch,[641] and Saladin added to the high qualities
+of both, not only a degree of civilization in his own person which neither
+had known, but, what was still more, the spirit of civilization in his
+heart.
+
+Saladin was as superior to any of the princes of Palestine in mind as he
+was in territory; and with clear and general views of policy, keenness and
+strength of perception in difficulties, consummate skill in war,
+innumerable forces, and the hearts of his soldiers, it was impossible that
+he should not conquer. There can be no doubt that the Latins were a more
+powerful and vigorous race of men than the Turks. The event of every
+combat evinced it; and even in their defeats, they almost always left more
+dead upon the field of the enemy's forces than of their own. Their armour,
+too, was weightier,[642] and their horses heavier and more overpowering in
+the charge. But the Turkish horseman and the Turkish horse were more
+active and more capable of bearing long fatigue, privation, and heat than
+the European; and this in some degree made up for the slighter form and
+lighter arms of the Saracen.
+
+In war, also, as a science, the Turks had improved more than the
+Christians. We find that the troops of Saladin employed means in their
+sieges that they had acquired from the crusaders; that they stood firmly
+the charge of the cavalry; that they now fought hand to hand with the
+mailed warriors of Europe, and mixed all the modes of chivalrous warfare
+with those they had practised before.
+
+We do not perceive, however, that the Latins adopted their activity or
+their skill with the bow; and at the same time it must be remarked, that
+the armies of the Moslem fought as a whole, under the absolute command of
+one chief; while the Christians, divided in the battle as in the time of
+peace, were broken into separate corps under feudal leaders, who each
+consulted his own will fully as much as that of his sovereign.
+
+Many other causes might be traced for the Christian fall and the Mussulman
+triumph; but perhaps more has been already said than was required.
+Whatever were the causes the result was the same--Jerusalem was taken by
+the Moslem, and consternation spread through Christendom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+_The News of the Fate of Palestine reaches Europe--The Archbishop of Tyre
+comes to seek for Aid--Assistance granted by William the Good, of
+Sicily--Death of Urban, from Grief at the Loss of Jerusalem--Gregory VIII.
+promotes a Crusade--Expedition of Frederic, Emperor of Germany--His
+Successes--His Death--State of Europe--Crusade promoted by the
+Troubadours--Philip Augustus and Henry II. take the Cross--Laws
+enacted--Saladin's tenth--War renewed--Death of Henry II.--Accession of
+Richard Coeur de Lion--The Crusade--Philip's March--Richard's
+March--Affairs of Sicily--Quarrels between the Monarchs--Philip goes to
+Acre--Richard subdues Cyprus--Arrives at Acre--Siege and Taking of
+Acre--Fresh Disputes--Philip Augustus returns to Europe--Richard marches
+on--Battle of Azotus--Heroism of Richard--Unsteady Councils--The
+Enterprise abandoned._
+
+
+We have seen the solicitations of the church, and the eloquence of two
+extraordinary men, produce the first and second crusades; but many other
+incitements were added to clerical exhortations before the inveterate
+enmity of the French and English could be sufficiently calmed to permit of
+any thing like a united expedition for the recovery of the Holy Land. The
+Italian merchants,[643] who at that time carried on the commerce of the
+world, were the first that brought to Europe the terrible news of the
+battle of Tiberias, the capture of Jerusalem, and the fall of Palestine:
+but very soon after, William of Tyre,[644] the noble historian of the
+crusades, set out in person to demand assistance in behalf of his
+afflicted country from all the princes of Christendom. He first landed in
+Sicily, where William, king of that country, who had married Joan of
+England, received him with kindness, and instantly took measures for
+furnishing such assistance to the Christians of the Holy Land, that the
+small territory yet unconquered might be successfully defended till
+further succour could arrive. Three hundred knights and a considerable
+naval force were despatched at once; and William of Sicily was continuing
+zealously his preparations, when death cut him off in the midst; and the
+crown was seized by Tancred, natural son of Roger I.
+
+From Sicily, the Archbishop of Tyre proceeded to Rome; but he only arrived
+in time to witness the death of Pope Urban III.,[645] whose mind was so
+deeply affected by the loss of the Holy Land, and the capture of the
+sepulchre, that his enfeebled constitution gave way under the shock, and
+he literally died of grief. Gregory VIII., who succeeded, lost not a
+moment in preaching a new crusade; and during his short pontificate of but
+two months, he left no means untried to heal the dissensions of
+Christendom, and to turn the arms of the princes who now employed them
+against each other to the service of God, as it was then considered, in
+the deliverance of that land which had been sanctified by his advent.
+
+The first who took the Cross was the famous Frederic Barbarossa,[646] who
+conducted a magnificent army across Hungary and Greece, saw through and
+defeated the perfidious schemes of the Greek emperor, Isaac Angelus,[647]
+passed on into Asia Minor, overthrew in a pitched battle the Saracen
+forces which had been called against him by the base and cowardly Greek,
+and took the city of Iconium itself. Such splendid successes, with so
+little loss, had never before attended any Christian host; but the light
+that shone upon the German arms was soon changed to darkness by the death
+of Frederic, who, bathing imprudently in the Orontes,[648] returned to his
+tent in a dying state, and soon after expired[649] at seventy years of
+age. After the decease of the emperor, while Henry, his eldest son, who
+had remained in Germany, assumed the imperial crown, Philip Duke of Suabia
+led on the host towards Antioch. But the very name of Frederic had been a
+subject of such fear, even to Saladin himself,[650] that he had ordered
+the towns of Laodicea, Ghibel, Tortosa, Biblios, Berytes, and Sidon to be
+dismantled at the approach of the Germans. Now, again, the Saracens
+resumed the offensive; and, between war and famine, the Teutonic crusaders
+were reduced to a small body when they reached Antioch. Their force was
+still sufficient to give them the command of that city, and proved a most
+serviceable aid to the Christian troops, who were slowly beginning to
+rally throughout Palestine. A new military institution was soon after
+attached, by the duke of Suabia, to the German hospital, which had been
+founded at Jerusalem many years before by some northern merchants, and had
+since been greatly enlarged by the Hanseatic[651] traders of Bremen and
+Lubec. On this establishment he grafted the Order of the Knights of the
+Holy Cross, or the Teutonic knights of the Hospital of St. Mary,[652]
+which soon greatly increased, and was sanctioned by papal authority.
+
+I must now return to France and England, where private feuds had prevented
+the distresses of Palestine from producing so immediate an effect as they
+had wrought with the Germans. Henry II. had, as we have already seen,
+espoused Eleonor, the repudiated wife of Louis VII., and had obtained with
+her the whole of Aquitain.[653] This, in addition to Normandy, which he
+also held as a feudatory of the French crown, rendered the kingly vassal a
+greater territorial lord than even the sovereign to whom he did homage for
+his continental lands. Such a state of things, was alone quite sufficient
+to cause endless dissensions; but soon more immediate matter was found.
+Louis VII. died. Philip Augustus succeeded, yet in his youth; and Henry
+II., after having himself, in execution of the feudal duty of the dukes of
+Normandy, lifted the crown with which Philip's brow was to be decorated,
+endeavoured to strengthen his own party in France as much as possible
+against the young monarch. His second son, Geoffrey, he married to
+Constance, Dutchess of Brittany: his eldest son, Henry, espoused
+Marguerite, sister of Philip, and received with her the lordship of
+Gisors,[654] and the territory of the Vexin. Prince Henry died early,
+leaving no children; and the land, by his marriage contract, reverted to
+the crown of France; but his father refused to yield it. War broke out in
+consequence, and was raging fiercely when the news of the fall of
+Jerusalem reached Europe. The tidings were so unexpected, each one felt so
+deep and religious a devotion for the Holy Land, every knight had there so
+many relations or friends, that the news found a thousand avenues open to
+the hearts of all who heard it. The world, too, was then mad with song.
+Nations in that early age had all the zealous passions of youth. That
+fresh ardour--that wild spirit of pursuit, which almost every one must
+have felt in his own young days, was then the character of society at
+large. Europe was as an enthusiastic boy, and whatever it followed, love,
+religion, song, it followed with the uncontrolled passion, the fiery
+desire which burns but in the days of boyhood among nations as among men.
+Poetry had now become both the great delight, and the great mover of the
+day; and all the eloquence of verse found a fit subject in the sorrows of
+Palestine. The Troubadours[655] and the Trouveres vied with each other,
+which should do most to stimulate the monarchs and the Chivalry of Europe
+to lay aside their private quarrels, and to fly to the deliverance of the
+Holy Land. The _plainte_ was heard from castle to castle, mourning over
+the loss of Jerusalem. The _sirvente_ and the _fabliau_ were spread far
+and wide, lashing with all the virulence of indignant satire those whom
+feuds or interests withheld from the battles of the Cross. The papal
+authority enjoined, with its menaces and its inducements, peace to Europe
+and war to the Saracen: but even superstition and zeal effected little,
+when compared with the power of the new passion for song. The first
+crusade had been the effect of a general enthusiasm; the second of
+individual eloquence; but this was the crusade of poetry. The first two
+were brought about by the clergy alone; but this was the work of the
+Troubadours.
+
+A truce between Henry II. and Philip Augustus was agreed upon, and a
+meeting was fixed between Trie and Gisors,[656] for the purpose of
+considering the manner of settling all difficulties, and the best means of
+delivering Jerusalem. The whole of the barons of France and England were
+present at this parliament, which was held in the month of January, and
+mutual jealousies and hatred had nearly turned the assembly, which met to
+promote peace, to the purposes of bloodshed. At length the Cardinal of
+Albano and William, Archbishop of Tyre, presented themselves to the
+meeting; and the oriental prelate having related all the horrors he had
+himself beheld in the Holy Land--the slaughter of Tiberias, the fall of
+Jerusalem, the pollution of the temple, and the capture of the
+sepulchre--the symbol of the Cross was unanimously adopted by all; private
+wars were laid aside, and a mode of proceeding was determined on which
+promised to furnish vast supplies for the holy enterprise to which the
+kings and barons bound themselves.
+
+The first of the measures resolved was to enforce a general contribution
+from all persons who did not take the Cross, whether clergy or laity,
+towards defraying the expense of the crusade. This consisted of a tenth of
+all possessions, whether landed or personal, and was called _Saladin's
+tithe_. Each lord, clerical or secular, had the right of raising this tax
+within his own feoff. The lord of the commune could alone tithe his
+burghers, the archbishop his see, the abbot the lands of the monastery,
+the chapter the lands of the church. Any knight having taken the Cross,
+and being the legitimate heir of a knight or a widow[657] who had not
+taken the Cross, was entitled to lay the tax upon the lands of the other;
+while all who refused or neglected to pay their quota were given
+absolutely to the disposal of him who had the right to require it. At the
+same time that such inflictions were adjudged to those who rejected the
+call to the Holy Land, many immunities were accorded to such as followed
+the crusade. Great facilities were given to all the crusaders for the
+payment of their anterior debts; but they were by no means, as has been
+frequently asserted,[658] liberated from all engagements during the time
+they were occupied in the expedition. Such were the regulations which were
+first brought forward at Gisors. Each of the monarchs proposed them
+afterward to a separate court of their barons and clergy, Philip at Paris,
+and Henry, first at Rouen, to his Norman council, and afterward to his
+English vassals at Geddington, in Northamptonshire.
+
+All seemed now to tend rapidly towards the great enterprise; nothing was
+seen in the various countries but the symbol of the Cross, which in
+England was of _ermine_ or white, of _gules_ or red for France, and of
+_synople_ or green for Flanders.
+
+But the whole current of feeling was suddenly turned, by an aggression of
+Richard, Duke of Guienne, afterward King of England, upon the territories
+of the Count of Toulouse. Philip Augustus flew to arms to avenge his
+vassal and friend; Richard met him with equal fierceness, and the feuds
+between France and England were renewed with increased violence.[659] Many
+of the French and English knights, several of the clergy of the two
+countries, together with a great multitude of Germans, Italians, and
+Flemings, waited not for the tardy journey of the crusading monarchs, but
+passed over into the Holy Land, and joined themselves to Guy of Lusignan,
+who had now collected the remnants of all the military orders, and with
+those princes and knights who had escaped the Moslem scimitar, was
+engaged in besieging Acre. His forces[660] gradually increased till they
+became immense; and, owing to the skill of those by whom he was
+accompanied, rather than his own, the camp of Lusignan was fortified in
+such a manner that no efforts of the Saracens could penetrate its lines.
+Saladin pitched his tents on the mountains to the south, not long after
+the Christians had undertaken the siege, and innumerable battles in the
+open field succeeded, in which neither army gained any material advantage
+that was not compensated by some following reverse.
+
+The fleet of the Saracens supplied the town,[661] and the fleet of the
+Christians brought aid to the camp, so that the conflict seemed to be
+interminable, from the equal zeal and force of the contending parties.
+
+In the mean while, the war between Henry and Philip continued; and, from a
+personal dispute between Richard Coeur de Lion and the French monarch, had
+so changed its character, that Richard, accompanied by his brother John,
+went over to the faction of the enemy, and did homage to the crown of
+France.[662] Henry, abandoned by his children and the greater part of his
+nobles, found himself forced to sign an ignominious peace; and after one
+of the violent fits of passion to which he so often yielded himself, was
+taken ill, and concluded a long life of vice and crime before the altar of
+the Lord,[663] which he had once caused to be stained with blood.[664]
+
+Richard and Philip were already in alliance; and no sooner had the new
+monarch of England ascended the throne, than the preparations for the
+crusade were resumed with activity. Ample treaties were entered into
+between the French and English kings; and as the clergy, though willing
+enough to preach the crusade, were in general unwilling to aid it by the
+payment of Saladin's tenth, Richard had recourse to the most
+arbitrary[665] extortions, to furnish the sums necessary for his
+enterprise. Philip Augustus, the Count of Flanders, and Richard Coeur de
+Lion met at Nonancourt, on the confines of Normandy, and engaged mutually
+to live in peace and defend each other, as true allies, till a period of
+forty days after their return from Palestine.[666] Richard also published
+a code of laws or regulations for the government of his troops during the
+expedition. By these it was enacted, that whoever slew a brother crusader
+should be tied to the corpse and buried alive; or, if the murder were
+perpetrated at sea, should be plunged with the dead body into the waves. A
+man who drew his knife upon another, or struck him so as to produce blood,
+was destined to have his hand cut off. Other chastisements were instituted
+for simple blows, abusive language, and blasphemy;[667] and if any one
+were discovered in committing a robbery, he was sentenced to have his head
+shaved and to be tarred and feathered. This is, I believe, the first
+mention in history of that curious naval punishment.
+
+Each of the crusading monarchs now made large donations to abbeys,
+churches, and religious communities,[668] and performed various acts of
+grace to bring down the blessing of Heaven upon their enterprise. They
+took every measure that could be devised for the security and good of
+their respective realms during their absence, and then proceeded towards
+Lyons, where, finding that the followers of their camp were becoming
+somewhat more numerous than was desirable, and remembering the vices and
+irregularities of the former crusades, they instituted several new laws;
+among which it was strictly enjoined that no woman should be permitted to
+accompany either army, except washerwomen, and such as had accomplished
+fifty years. Here, also, the two kings separated,[669] and Philip,
+traversing the Alps, soon arrived at Genoa,[670] where he hired vessels to
+carry him to Messina, the general rendezvous, which place he reached with
+no other impediment than a severe storm.
+
+Richard, in the mean time, hurried on to Marseilles, where he waited a few
+days for the fleet which was to have joined him from England; but his
+impatient spirit could never brook delay, and after a pause of little more
+than a week, he hired all the vessels he could find, and proceeded to
+Genoa. Leaving that city he touched at several places on the coast of
+Italy, and near the mouth of the Tiber was encountered by Octavian, Bishop
+of Ostia, who demanded various sums, stated to be due to the church of
+Rome from the English monarch, as fees, on the election of the Bishop of
+Ely, and the deposition of the Bishop of Bourdeaux. Richard replied by
+boldly reproaching the prelate with the simoniacal avarice of his church,
+and sent him indignantly from his presence. In the Gulf of Salernum, the
+English king was met by his fleet, and soon anchored before Messina,
+causing all the horns of his armament to blow as he entered the port. The
+noise was so great, that the inhabitants crowded to the walls, where they
+beheld the thousand banners of England covering the sea with all the gay
+and splendid colours of chivalrous blazonry.[671] Richard was fond of such
+display, and, perhaps, so slight a thing as this first woke that jealousy
+in the bosom of Philip Augustus which afterward proved ruinous to the
+crusade. Nevertheless that monarch came down to meet Richard, with
+Tancred, the usurping King of Sicily, who had every thing to fear from the
+anger of the hasty sovereign of England. After dispossessing Constantia,
+the heiress of the crown, Tancred had imprisoned Joan, sister of Richard,
+the widow of the last king William the Good. He had freed her, it is true,
+on the news of Richard's arrival; but the first act of the English
+monarch[672] was to demand the restitution of his sister's dowery, and the
+legacies which had been bequeathed by William of Sicily to Henry II. of
+England. These together amounted to forty thousand ounces of gold,[673]
+and for some time Richard's application was met by nothing but quibbling
+and evasion.
+
+The best intelligence had hitherto reigned between the French and English,
+but not so with Richard's knights and the people of Sicily. The
+Anglo-Normans were dissolute and reckless, and the Sicilians soon
+proceeded from squabbling and opposition, to seek bloody revenge. It is
+probable that both parties were in fault. Every thing at Messina was
+charged at a most exorbitant price,[674] and the Normans were very apt to
+take what they could not buy. The Sicilians cheated them, and they
+plundered the Sicilians, till at length some of the Norman soldiers were
+killed.[675] Hugh Lebrun, a favourite of Richard, was wounded; and Richard
+himself, finding the peasantry supported by Tancred in the attack on his
+soldiers, lost command of his temper, fell upon the people who had come
+forth from Messina, stormed the walls of the city; and in an inconceivably
+short time, the banner of the King of England was flying over the capital
+of Sicily.[676]
+
+Philip Augustus, who had interfered on many occasions to quiet the
+differences between the Normans and the Sicilians, could not bear to see
+the English standard on the towers of Messina, and a coolness rose up
+between the two monarchs from that moment. All angry discussion, however,
+was removed by the conduct of Richard, which was calm and moderate, far
+beyond his usual habits. He offered to give up the guard of the city to
+either the Knights of the Temple or of St. John, till his claims on
+Tancred had been fairly met. This tranquillized the matter for a time; but
+Eleonor, Richard's mother, now arrived in Sicily,[677] bearing with her
+the beautiful Berengaria, of Navarre. The King of England had been
+affianced to Alice of France, the sister of Philip; but criminal
+intercourse, it was supposed, had existed between the French princess and
+Henry II., and Richard had long meditated breaking off formally an
+alliance he never intended to fulfil. The sight of Berengaria decided
+him.[678] Some letters were shown to him by Tancred, King of Sicily, in
+which Philip Augustus promised aid to the Sicilians in case of their
+warring with the English. Richard, with the papers in his hand, cast
+himself on horseback, and galloped to the tent of the French monarch.
+Philip declared the letters were forged, and that Richard's anger was a
+mere pretence to break off a marriage which suited not his taste. War
+between the two sovereigns seemed inevitable, and how it was averted does
+not very clearly appear. Probably the higher barons interposed; but at all
+events the concessions were on the side of Philip, who, by a formal
+treaty, renounced all pretensions to Richard's hand, on the part of his
+sister;[679] confirmed him in all the feoffs he held from the crown of
+France; and, leaving him and Berengaria to conclude their marriage, he set
+sail with his fleet for Acre.
+
+The appearance of the French before that place caused great rejoicing
+among the Christians, for notwithstanding every effort on the part of the
+assailants the city still held out; and, girt in themselves by the army of
+Saladin, the scarcity[680] was little less in their camp than in the town.
+Before the coming of their allies, the crusaders under the walls of Acre
+had done all that human ingenuity could invent to force the garrison to
+yield. They had turned the course of the river which supplied the city
+with fresh water; they had been incessant in their attacks and, during
+nearly two years, had never relaxed one moment in their endeavours.[681]
+It was apparent, therefore, that nothing but assault by a large force
+could carry the fortress, and this the arrival of Philip gave the
+possibility of attempting. That monarch, however, either from some
+engagement to that effect, or from the scantiness of the succour he
+brought, which, according to Boha Eddin, consisted only of six large
+ships,[682] determined to wait the arrival of Richard Coeur de Lion,
+contenting himself with battering the walls in the mean while.
+
+The coming of the King of France had spread as much alarm among the
+Saracens as joy among the Christians; but his inactivity calmed their
+apprehensions; and the escape of a magnificent white falcon which Philip
+had brought from Europe, was considered by the infidels as an evil omen
+for the French monarch. The bird flew into the besieged city, and was
+thence sent to Saladin, who would not be prevailed upon to part with it,
+though Philip offered a thousand pieces of gold for his favourite
+falcon.[683]
+
+Richard remained some time in Sicily, enjoying the idleness and luxury of
+a delicious climate, and a fertile and beautiful land; but the preaching
+of a wild enthusiast, called Joachim, together with various celestial
+phenomena, which the superstition of the age attributed to Divine wrath,
+awoke the monarch from his dream of pleasure, and after having submitted
+to an humiliating penance,[684] he set sail for Acre. A tempest soon
+dispersed his fleet, and three of the vessels were lost upon the rocky
+shores of Cyprus. The monarch of that island, one of the Comneni of
+Constantinople, had rendered himself independent of Greece, and had taken
+the title of Emperor. In the madness of insatiable greediness, he pillaged
+the crews and passengers of the English vessels stranded on his coast, and
+refused a refuge to the bride and sister of Richard himself, when driven
+by the storm into the port of Limisso. At Rhodes[685] the lion-hearted
+king heard of the disasters of his fleet, and the inhospitality of the
+Emperor of Cyprus, and no sooner had he gathered together his ships, than
+he sailed for Limisso, and demanded reparation and apology.
+
+With infinite moderation, the more admirable in the conduct of a violent
+and irritable monarch, he three times required satisfaction before he
+proceeded to any act of aggression. At length, finding it not to be
+obtained but by the sword, he landed on the island, drove the coward
+Greeks[686] before him, took the ungenerous usurper Isaac, and reduced
+the whole country to his sway. His wrath had now been roused, and all
+temper was forgotten: he taxed the unfortunate inhabitants of the country
+to an enormous extent and then, after having spent some time at Limisso,
+where he celebrated his marriage with Berengaria, he once more set sail
+for Acre. In the passage the fleet of the English monarch came suddenly
+upon a large vessel bearing the arms of the King of France. Something
+suspicious in the appearance of the ship induced Richard to pursue her,
+and it was soon discovered that she was filled with Saracen troops.
+
+The attack was instantly ordered;[687] the infidels defended themselves
+with the greatest bravery; the sea was covered with Greek fire, and a rain
+of arrows fell upon the decks of the low European galleys from the high
+sides of the Arabian vessel. But resistance against the whole fleet of the
+English king was vain; and the emir Jacob, who commanded, ordered the ship
+to be sunk by cutting through the bottom with hatchets. Before this could
+be completely accomplished, however, the English and Normans were masters
+of the vessel, and ere she went down a great part of her cargo was saved.
+This principally consisted of military stores for the camp of Saladin:
+and, among other implements of destruction, the English were surprised and
+horrified to find a number of large earthen vases filled with poisonous
+reptiles, from the bites of which it was known that the Christians near
+Acre suffered most dreadfully. Whether these animals were or were not
+really destined by Saladin as the means of a new and direful mode of
+warfare, such was the purpose which the Christian monarch[688] attributed
+to those who carried them; and giving way to his wrath, he ordered all the
+prisoners to be put to death. Some few were saved, who were afterward
+ransomed according to the universal custom of the day.[689]
+
+But little time now elapsed ere Richard, with a hundred sail, arrived
+before the city of Acre, and the shouts of joy that welcomed him made his
+proud heart beat with more than wonted ardour. All the Chivalry of Europe
+were upon the sandy plain between Ptolemais and the mountains of
+Carouba:[690] the Templars, the Hospitallers, the Knights of France, of
+England, of Germany, of Italy, of Flanders, and of Burgundy. Thousands of
+banners floated on the wind; and every sort of arms, device, and ensign
+glittered through the camp. On the inland hills lay the millions of
+Saladin, with every accessory of eastern pomp and eastern luxury. There,
+too, was the pride of all the Saracen tribes, called into the field by
+their great monarch to meet the swarming invasion of the Christians.[691]
+One wing of the Moslem army was commanded by Malek Adel Saif Eddin,[692]
+brother of Saladin, and the other by that monarch's nephew, Modaffer.
+Through the host were seen banners of green, and black, and yellow; and
+armour of as many kinds, and of as great magnificence, as that of the
+Europeans.
+
+Nor was the chivalrous courtesy of the day confined to the Christian camp.
+In times of truce the adverse nations mingled together in friendship; and
+at one moment they sent mutual presents, and reciprocated good offices,
+while at another they met in bloody and impetuous strife. Saladin himself
+seems to have conceived the highest respect for the character of Richard;
+and when he was not opposing him in the field, he was always desirous of
+showing that the Moslems were not to be outdone in generous sentiment by
+any of the Christian knights. It would be endless to recount all the
+transactions of the siege of Acre. The _spirit_ of the whole of this
+crusade (which I could wish to dwell upon more than any thing else) has
+been already fully, perfectly, and feelingly displayed, in that most
+beautiful composition, The Talisman; wherein Sir Walter Scott, however he
+may have altered some historical facts to suit the purposes of fiction,
+has given a more striking picture of the human mind in that age--of the
+character of nations as well as individuals--than any dull chronicle of
+cold events can furnish.
+
+Richard Coeur de Lion, soon after his arrival before Acre, was seized with
+the fever of the country, and in the attack made upon the town by Philip
+Augustus the English monarch was not present.[693] Philip murmured highly,
+and his assault was repulsed from the want of sufficient forces to follow
+up his first advantage. Richard in his turn attempted to storm the city
+without the aid of France, and notwithstanding efforts of almost
+incredible valour, was likewise repelled. Mutual necessity brought some
+degree of concord; and it was agreed that while one army assailed the
+walls the other should guard the camp, but still the endeavours of both
+were ineffectual to take the town by storm; and continual disputes were
+every day springing up between the two monarchs and the two hosts. Philip
+strove to seduce the vassals of Richard to follow his banner, as the
+sovereign of their sovereign, and paid three pieces of gold per month to
+each of the Norman knights who would join his standard:[694] Richard gave
+four pieces of gold to all who came over from Philip, and many a French
+feudatory joined himself to the English king. The siege of Acre still
+advanced, notwithstanding, less indeed by the presence or efforts of the
+two sovereigns, than by the simple fact of the city being cut off from all
+supplies. It had now held out for many months; and for long had endured
+but little privation from its communication with the sea; but as one
+article of the first necessity after another became exhausted, that means
+of receiving provisions was not sufficiently productive or regular for the
+supply of a great city. Even when ships arrived the town was in a state of
+scarcity, and a day's delay brought on a famine. Acre could resist no
+longer,[695] and after a short truce, which was asked in the hope of
+assistance from Egypt, it surrendered to the monarchs of France and
+England, on very rigorous terms. All the Christian prisoners within the
+town were to be freed, together with one thousand men and two hundred
+knights, chosen from those that Saladin detained in captivity; two hundred
+thousand pieces of gold were to be paid, and the true Cross was to be
+restored to the Christians. Such was the only capitulation granted to the
+people of Acre, who were also to remain in the hands of the crusaders till
+the stipulations had been fulfilled by Saladin; and in case the conditions
+were not accomplished within forty days, the prisoners were left to the
+disposal of their conquerors.
+
+Saladin neglected to fulfil any of the terms which depended on him; the
+ransom was not paid; the wood of the Cross was not restored; and
+Richard[696] cruelly commanded his prisoners to be put to death.[697]
+After the capture of the city, the Archduke of Austria boldly placed his
+banner on one of the towers but no sooner was it seen by Richard, than
+with his own hand he tore it down, and rending it to pieces,[698] trampled
+it under his feet. The insult was neither forgotten nor unrevenged, though
+from that moment the banners of the kings[699] only continued to float
+from the walls of Acre. Thus new dissensions were added to those which had
+already arisen, and the two monarchs, by taking possession of the whole
+spoil and dividing it between them, gave high disgust to the rest of the
+crusaders. Another more tangible cause of animosity soon sprang up.
+Sybilla, the wife of Guy of Lusignan, through whom alone he possessed the
+title of King of Jerusalem, died during the siege of Acre, but he still
+pretended a right to the throne. Conrad of Montferrat, lord of Tyre, had
+seized upon Isabella, sister of Sybilla, and wife of the weak and cowardly
+Humphrey de Thoron; and having obtained, by one means or another, a
+divorce between her and her husband, had married her; on which marriage,
+he also claimed the empty vanity of the crown. Richard, with the Pisans
+and the Hospitallers, maintained the cause of Lusignan; Philip Augustus,
+with the Genoese and the Templars, supported Conrad; and the schism was
+only healed by Lusignan acknowledging Conrad to be heir to the nominal
+kingdom, while Conrad allowed Lusignan to retain the title for his life.
+
+Soon after this, the crusade received[700] its deathblow, by the defection
+of Philip Augustus. No doubt can exist that that monarch had really lost
+his health since his sojourn in the Holy Land; but as little doubt is
+there that his chief motive in returning to Europe was his disgust[701] at
+the overbearing conduct of Richard, and his jealousy at the great
+superiority of his rival in all military exercises. Philip Augustus was an
+expert and able general, a brave and distinguished knight; but Richard was
+the wonder of his day, and what Philip might have admired in an inferior,
+he could not bear in a fellow-king. He therefore proclaimed aloud his
+illness, and his intention to return to Europe, most unwisely--as James of
+Vitry observes--for the interest of the crusade; for Saladin[702] had been
+so much depressed by the fall of Acre, that beyond all question immense
+concessions might have been obtained, had the monarchs but made a
+demonstration of acting in concert. As bound to him by treaties, Richard's
+permission was demanded by the King of France. At first Richard exclaimed,
+with a burst of honest indignation, "Eternal shame on him and on all
+France, if for any cause he leave the work unfinished!"[703] but he added
+afterward, "Well, let him go, if his health require it, or if he cannot
+live without seeing Paris." With this surly leave, Philip hastened his
+departure, after having made over to Conrad of Tyre his share in the city
+of Acre, and having sworn, in the most solemn manner, to respect Richard's
+possessions in Europe--an oath which he soon found occasion to break.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy,[704] with ten thousand men, was left behind to
+support Richard; and that monarch, after repairing the fortifications of
+Acre, having seen the churches purified, and the Christian religion
+restored, marched out with considerable force, and took the road by the
+seaside towards Ascalon. Vessels laden with provisions followed along the
+shore; but, on the other hand, the Moslems, who had now recovered
+confidence at the dissensions which they knew reigned among the
+Christians, pursued the army as it marched, and harassed it by continual
+attacks.
+
+Richard[705] refrained from any thing like a general engagement, as long
+as such conduct was possible; but near Azotus he found himself compelled
+to fight, and he accordingly drew out his men in battle array. Eudes, Duke
+of Burgundy, commanded the left, and the famous Jacques d'Avesnes the
+right, of the crusaders, while Richard himself appeared in the centre.
+
+Saladin[706] led the attack against the Christian army, and the right gave
+way. At the same time the left repulsed the Moslems, and with the usual
+impetuous courage of the French, who composed it, followed up their
+success till they were cut off from the main body. Richard advanced to the
+aid of the Duke of Burgundy, but only so far as to save him from being
+destroyed. With wonderful coolness he waited till the Saracens had
+exhausted their arrows, and wearied their horses with rapid evolutions, so
+that the knights murmured at the unwonted inactivity of their monarch. At
+length, seeing that Saladin had weakened his left wing to attack the Duke
+of Burgundy, that the hail of missiles was passed, and that there existed
+some confusion in the enemy's[707] lines, the king commanded his knights
+to charge, and leading them on himself, he with his own hand overthrew all
+that opposed him. The infidels whom he slew, and the feats that he
+performed, are almost incredible; but certain it is, that his voice, his
+eye, his look, brought inspiration to the Christians and dismay to the
+hearts of the Moslems. The Saracen host fled amain, and Richard remained
+master of the field, having to mourn few of his distinguished soldiers
+besides Jacques d'Avesnes who was slain towards the end of the
+battle.[708]
+
+The road both to Ascalon and Jerusalem was now open to the host of the
+Cross;[709] but either from treachery, as some have supposed, or from
+envy, as others have imagined, Richard was continually opposed in the
+council of war: the operations of the crusaders became vacillating,
+uncertain, and ill-judged, and the kingdom of Jerusalem was virtually cast
+away. The army, instead of following its advantages, proceeded to
+Jaffa,[710] wasted time in fortifying that city, and suffered the Saracens
+to recover from their panic. Various attacks were soon made upon the
+Christians; a party of Templars was surrounded by the foe, and would have
+been cut to pieces, with the Earl of Leicester and some English who had
+come to their aid, had not Richard, with his lion-heart, rushed, almost
+unarmed, into the fight; and, scattering the enemy like a whirlwind,
+delivered his friends from their peril. On another occasion, he had
+himself nearly been taken prisoner while falconing, and would certainly
+have fallen into the hands of the Saracens, had not one of his followers,
+named William de Pratelles,[711] exclaimed, "I am the king!" and thus
+drawn the attention of the enemy to himself. After this, various
+treaties[712] were entered into, which ended in nothing, and probably were
+devised by the Saracens merely for the purpose of gaining time to recruit
+their forces. It was even proposed that Joan of Sicily, the English
+monarch's sister, should be given in marriage to Saphaddin, or Saif Eddin;
+and that Jerusalem should be yielded to the parties in this strange
+alliance. All these negotiations, however, terminated as they began, and
+hostilities were often commenced and suspended, equally without cause.
+Richard advanced to Ramula, and nothing opposed his proceeding to
+Jerusalem; but at a council of war it was determined that the army should
+retire upon Ascalon.[713] This was done, and Ascalon was once more
+fortified; but here the troops were cut off from supplies, new divisions
+arose, and many desertions took place. The Duke of Burgundy retreated to
+Acre; the Genoese and Pisans broke out into open warfare, and one party,
+supported by Conrad of Montferrat, would have destroyed the other, had not
+Richard marched to the spot, forced Conrad to withdraw, and re-established
+peace between the contending nations. Conrad, frustrated in the views he
+had entertained, rejected all conciliation from Richard, and allied
+himself with Saladin. That monarch immediately hastened once more to
+attack the divided army of the Cross;[714] but Conrad was stabbed by two
+of a class of men called the Assassins,[715] at the moment that Richard,
+to obtain concord, had consented to his coronation as king of Jerusalem,
+in opposition to the claim of Guy of Lusignan. The French attributed the
+death of Conrad to Richard, and all parties flew to arms; but in the midst
+of this confusion, Henry Count of Champagne came forward, married the
+widow of Conrad, was proclaimed king of Jerusalem[716] with the consent of
+all, and the united host once more prepared to march and conquer the
+kingdom for which they had just been providing a king.
+
+During this time, Richard Coeur de Lion, while waging the war for
+Jerusalem, was neglecting all his best interests in Europe. John, his
+brother, was striving for the crown of England, and Philip Augustus was
+stripping him of his territories in France. Messenger after messenger
+brought naught but tidings of danger, and pressing solicitations for his
+return.
+
+Still Richard advanced towards Jerusalem,[717] but his force was too small
+to attempt a long-protracted siege. He found himself far from resources,
+and in a country where supplies could be obtained but with the greatest
+difficulty.[718] The marches before him were barren and hot; little water
+was to be procured and at Bethlehem a council of twenty persons was
+appointed to inquire into the possibility of proceeding. Certain
+information was received that the Turks had destroyed all the wells and
+cisterns round the Holy City, and it was determined to abandon the
+enterprise. Richard felt the disappointment with all the bitterness of
+broken hope and crushed ambition. He was led to a hill from whence he
+could behold Jerusalem; but the sight and its memories were too much, and,
+covering his eyes with his shield,[719] the warrior monarch turned away
+with a swelling heart to concert measures for gaining something, at all
+events, to compensate the loss of Jerusalem. But discord was in the bosom
+of the crusade; the soldiers murmured,[720] the chiefs rebelled, and the
+only thing that could save the army was immediate retreat. Such, then,
+after many plans had been proposed and rejected, was the ultimate step.
+The great body of the forces, with Richard and the Duke of Burgundy, fell
+back upon Acre; but a smaller part threw itself into Jaffa; and Saladin,
+recovering his energies as the crusaders lost theirs, collected his power
+and prepared to reap the fruits of their disunion. The hope of saving the
+Holy Land was now gone, and Richard determined to abandon an endeavour
+which jealousies and treacheries had rendered infeasible; and, returning
+to Europe, to give his thoughts to the consolidation and security of his
+own dominions. Before he set out, however, the news reached him that
+Saladin had attacked Jaffa with immense forces; and that the only hope of
+the garrison was in aid from him.[721] Sending the bulk of the army by
+land, he took advantage of a favourable wind, and set sail with a very
+small retinue for the besieged city. When he arrived at Jaffa, he
+perceived that the gates were already in the hands of the Saracens, and
+that the Christians were fighting to the last, to sell their lives dearly.
+"When King Richard found that the place was taken," to use the words of
+Bernard the Treasurer, "he sprang on shore, with his shield round his
+neck, and his Danish axe in his hand, retook the castle, slew the Saracens
+that were within the walls, and drove those that were without back to
+their camp, where he halted on a little mound--he and his men. Saladin
+asked his troops why they fled; to which they replied, that the King of
+England had come to Jaffa, had slain much people, and retaken the town.
+Then Saladin asked, 'Where is he?' And they replied, 'There, sire, upon
+that hillock with his men.' 'What!' cried Saladin, 'the king on foot among
+his servants! This is not as it should be.' And Saladin sent him a
+horse,[722] charging the messenger to say, that such a man ought not to
+remain on foot in so great danger."
+
+The attempts of the Saracens were vain to recover the position they had
+lost, and their terror at the tremendous name of Richard made that name a
+host. This victory again placed the King of England in a commanding
+situation, and he took advantage of it to demand peace. Saladin gladly met
+his advances. A treaty was entered into, and a truce was concluded for
+three years and eight months, during which period the Christians were to
+enjoy the liberty of visiting Jerusalem, as pilgrims, exempt from all
+grievance. Tyre and Jaffa, with the whole district between them, were
+yielded to the Latins, who, on their part, agreed to demolish the
+fortifications of Ascalon. The troops of the Cross were permitted to
+resort as palmers to Jerusalem, where the sultaun received and treated
+them with courteous hospitality. Richard would not visit the city he could
+not capture; but the Bishop of Salisbury was entertained in the sultaun's
+own palace, and obtained from the generous Saracen leave to establish
+three societies of Latin priests, in Jerusalem, in Bethlehem, and in
+Nazareth. Various other splendid acts of kingly magnanimity closed
+Saladin's communication with the crusaders.
+
+On the 25th of October, A. D. 1192, Richard set sail for Europe. The
+fruits of his crusade were but small, as far as the recovery of the Holy
+Land was concerned; but in his own person he acquired a degree of military
+glory that enmity could not wrest from him, and ages have not been able to
+dim.
+
+He had many faults and many failings; and his own pride contributed as
+much as the jealousy of his enemies to create disunion among the allies,
+and frustrate the object of the expedition. But he had also to contend
+with many wrongs and difficulties, and possessed many bright and noble
+qualities. He carried the heart of a lion to his grave;[723] and for
+centuries after the women of Palestine scared their children with his
+name.[724]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+_Death of Saladin--Disunion among his Successors--Celestine III. preaches
+a new Crusade--Henry of Germany takes the Cross--Abandons his
+Purpose--Crusaders proceed without him--Saif Eddin takes the Field, and
+captures Jaffa--The Crusaders are reinforced--Defeat Saif Eddin--Lay Siege
+to Thoron--Seized with Panic, and retreat--Disperse--Death of Henry of
+Champagne, King of Jerusalem--His Widow marries Almeric, King of
+Cyprus--Truce--Death of Almeric and Isabella--Mary, Heiress of Jerusalem,
+wedded to John of Brienne--Affairs of Europe--Innocent III. and Foulque of
+Neuilly promote a Crusade--The Barons of France take the Cross--Proceed to
+Venice--Their Difficulties--Turn to the Siege of Zara--A Change of
+Purpose--Proceed to Constantinople--Siege and Taking of that
+City--Subsequent Proceedings--A Revolution in Constantinople--Alexius
+deposed by Murzuphlis--Second Siege and Capture of the Greek
+Capital--Flight of Murzuphlis--Plunder and Outrage--Baldwin, Count of
+Flanders, elected Emperor._
+
+
+For some time the Christians of the Holy Land enjoyed an interval of
+repose. Saladin was a religious observer of his word; and during the short
+space that intervened between the departure of Richard Coeur de Lion and
+the death of his great adversary, the Latins received the full benefit of
+the treaty which had been executed between those monarchs.
+
+A year had scarcely elapsed ere Saladin was seized with a mortal sickness;
+and, finding his end approaching, he commanded the black standard, which
+had so often led the way to victory, to be taken down, and replaced by
+the shroud which was to wrap his body in the grave. This was then borne
+through the streets, while the criers called all men to behold what
+Saladin, the mighty conqueror, carried away with him of all his vast
+dominion.[725] Saladin died, a monarch in whose character, though the good
+was not unmixed with evil, the great qualities so far preponderated, that
+they overbalanced the effects of a barbarous epoch and a barbarous
+religion, and left in him a splendid exception to most of the vices of his
+age, his country, and his creed.
+
+At that period the principle of hereditary succession was not very clearly
+ascertained either in Europe or in Asia; and the vast monarchy which
+Saladin had been enabled to consolidate was broken in pieces at his death.
+Saif Eddin, his brother, took possession of the greater part of Syria, and
+strengthened himself by the soldiers of his dead relative, who both loved
+and esteemed him. Three of the great monarch's sons seized upon such
+portions of their father's dominions as they could reach; and civil
+dissensions followed, highly detrimental to the power of the Moslem, and
+favourable to the security of the Christians. This, indeed, was the moment
+when a crusade was most practicable, and Pope Celestine III. exhorted all
+Christendom to snatch the opportunity. In most instances his call fell
+upon cold and unwilling ears. Philip Augustus was too deeply engaged in
+those vast and magnificent schemes which, however impeded by the
+prejudices of the day, rendered his reign a great epoch in the history of
+nations.[726] Richard Coeur de Lion had learned the danger of quitting his
+own kingdom, and the vanity of hoping for union among ambitious men. Henry
+of Germany alone, moved by wild schemes for aggrandizing his territories,
+assented at once to the crusade; but finding that Sicily seemed ready to
+receive him, he deemed the nearer conquest the more advisable; and on the
+same principle he had taken the Cross, he abandoned it again. Not so his
+subjects; an immense number of the vassals followed eagerly the road which
+he had quitted;[727] and several Teutonic bishops, with the Dukes of
+Saxony, Brabant, and Bavaria, set out from Germany, and reached Acre in
+safety.
+
+The Christians of Palestine were at that moment in the enjoyment of
+peace,[728] and they beheld the coming of new crusaders with horror and
+despair. Had the troops that arrived been sufficient, indeed, to give any
+thing like certainty to their enterprise, all the Latins of the Holy Land
+would willingly have concurred; but the prospect of new and desolating
+wars, waged by scanty forces, was, notwithstanding the dissensions of
+their enemies, a hopeless and painful anticipation. Nevertheless, the
+Germans began their operations at once;[729] and Saif Eddin, with his
+whole attention suddenly directed to the Christians, showed, by the
+energetic activity of his movements, that the spirit of Saladin survived
+in his brother. Jaffa was taken by assault,[730] with a great slaughter of
+the Christians, and all promised a speedy destruction to the small remains
+of the Latin kingdom. Fresh succours, however, were received from Europe;
+the hopes of the Christians revived; and, under the command of the Duke of
+Saxony, they marched on towards Beritus. Saif Eddin hastened to meet them,
+and attacked the Latin forces near Sidon; but his army was completely
+routed by the firm and steady gallantry of the Germans; and the way to
+Jerusalem was once more open to the followers of the Cross. But the
+crusaders embarrassed themselves with the siege of the castle of Thoron.
+The Saracens had time to recover from their panic; civil dissensions were
+forgotten; and while the garrison of Thoron held out with persevering
+valour, the sultaun of Egypt advanced to join his uncle, and repel the
+Christian invasion. Vague rumours of immense preparation on the part of
+the infidels reached the besieging army. The crusaders were, as usual,
+disunited among themselves; the Saracens within the castle were fighting
+with the coinage of despair; and, at last, a sudden panic seized the
+leaders of the German army.[731] They abandoned the camp in the night,
+and, flying to Tyre, left their soldiers to follow as they could.[732] A
+complete separation ensued between the Germans and the Latins, each
+accusing the other of treachery; while the Syrian Christians remained at
+Tyre, the Teutonic crusaders proceeded to Jaffa. Thither Saif Eddin
+pursued them; and another battle was fought, in which the Germans were
+once more victorious, though victory cost them the lives of many of their
+princes. Almost at the same time news reached their camp of the death of
+the emperor Henry. From that moment, none of the German nobles remembered
+aught but the election of a new emperor; and as soon as vessels could be
+procured, the principal barons set off for Europe. They left behind them
+in Jaffa about twenty thousand of the inferior soldiers, and a few
+knights; but the town was surprised by the Saracens on the night of the
+following festival of St. Martin; and the Germans, plunged in revelry and
+drunkenness,[733] were slaughtered to a man.
+
+Such was the end of the German crusade in Palestine; and before proceeding
+to speak once more of the affairs of Europe, it may be as well to touch
+upon the brief and uninteresting series of events that followed in that
+country. Henry, Count of Champagne, who had married Isabella, the heiress
+of Jerusalem, had proved but an indolent monarch; and in the year 1197, at
+the precise moment when the Saracens had newly captured Jaffa, he was
+killed by falling from a window. His loss was attended by no evil
+consequences;[734] for the Saracens were soon involved once more in civil
+dissensions by the death of Saladin's second son, Malek el Aziz, sultaun
+of Egypt, and the truce with the Christians was willingly renewed.
+Isabella, the queen, whose grief was not even so stable as that of the
+dame of Ephesus, was easily prevailed on, by the Grand Master of the order
+of St. John,[735] to give her thrice-widowed hand to Almeric of Lusignan,
+now--by the cession of Richard of England--King of Cyprus. This marriage
+was certainly a politic one, as Cyprus afforded both a storehouse and a
+granary to Palestine; but the peace with the Saracens remained unbroken
+till the bigoted Simon de Montfort, detaching himself from another body of
+knights,[736] which I shall mention hereafter, arrived at Acre, and made
+some feeble and ineffectual incursions on the Mussulman territory. After
+his fruitless attempts, the truce was once more established, and lasted
+till the death of Almeric and Isabella, when the crowns of Jerusalem and
+Cyprus were again separated. The imaginary sovereignty of the Holy City
+now became vested in Mary,[737] the daughter of Isabella, by Conrad of
+Tyre, while the kingdom of Cyprus descended to the heirs of Lusignan.
+According to feudal custom it was necessary to find a husband for Mary who
+could defend her right, and on every account it was determined to seek one
+in Europe. The choice was left to Philip Augustus; and he immediately
+fixed upon Jean de Brienne, a noble, talented, and chivalrous knight, who
+willingly accepted the hand of the lady of Palestine, and that thorny
+crown which was held out to him from afar.
+
+The news of his coming, and the prospect of large European reinforcements
+to the Christians,[738] depressed the mind of Saif Eddin, who had already
+to struggle with vast and increasing difficulties. He tendered the most
+advantageous terms of peace; but at that time the two great military
+orders may be said to have governed Palestine.[739] They were then, as
+usual, contending with jealous rivalry;[740] and the Templars, having for
+the moment the superiority, the offers of the sultaun were refused,
+because the Hospitallers counselled their acceptance. Jean de Brienne
+arrived, and wedded Mary, but the succour that he brought was very far
+inferior to that which the Latins had anticipated, and the war which had
+begun was confined to predatory excursions on the territory of the
+enemy.[741]
+
+I must now retrograde in my history for some years, and speak of the
+affairs of Europe. No crusade, as we have seen, had been desired by the
+Christians of Palestine[742] since they had enjoyed the comforts of peace,
+and no crusade had reached that country; but, nevertheless, one of the
+most powerful expeditions which Europe had ever brought into the field had
+set out for the purpose of delivering Jerusalem.[743]
+
+This crusade was, in the first place, instigated by the preaching of a man
+less mighty than St. Bernard in oratory,[744] and less moved by enthusiasm
+than Peter the Hermit; but it was encouraged by one of the most talented
+and most ambitious of the prelates of Rome. Foulque of Neuilly would have
+produced little effect, had he not been supported by Innocent III.; and
+the influence of neither the one nor the other would possibly have
+obtained the object desired, had not the young and enterprising Thibalt,
+Count of Champagne, embraced the badge of the Cross with his court and
+followers, at a grand tournament[745] to which he had invited all the
+neighbouring princes. In the midst of their festivities, Foulque appeared,
+and called the whole assembly to the crusade. Partly, it is probable, from
+the love of adventure, partly from religious feeling, Thibalt, in his
+twenty-second year, assumed the Cross. The Count of Blois, who was
+present, followed his example; and of eighteen hundred knights who held
+vassalage under the lord of Champagne, scarcely enough were left to
+maintain the territories of their sovereign. Nothing, except fear, is so
+contagious as enthusiasm: the spirit of crusading was revived in a
+wonderfully short time. The Count of Flanders, with various other persons,
+took the Cross at Bruges, and many more knights joined them from different
+parts of France, among whom was Simon de Montfort, who afterward proved
+the detestable persecutor of the Albigeois.
+
+After holding two general conferences at Soissons and at Compiegne, it was
+determined to send messengers to Italy for the purpose of contracting with
+one of the great merchant states to convey the armament to the Holy
+Land.[746] The choice of the city was left to the deputies; and they
+proceeded first to Venice, furnished with full powers from the crusading
+princes to conclude a treaty in their name. Venice was at that time
+governed by the famous Henry Dandolo, who, with the consent of the Senate,
+agreed not only to carry the crusaders to Palestine for a certain sum, but
+also promised to take the Cross himself and aid in their enterprise.[747]
+Well satisfied with this arrangement, the deputed barons returned to
+France, but found the Count of Champagne sick of a disease which soon
+produced his death. After having been refused by Eudes, Duke of Burgundy,
+and Thibalt, Count of Bar, the office of commander of the expedition was
+offered to Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat, and accepted. The new chief of
+the crusade repaired to Soissons, to confer with the rest of the knights,
+and then proceeded to Italy to prepare for his departure. All these delays
+retarded their departure till the year 1202, when they set out in several
+bodies for Venice, and arrived safely at that city with very little
+difficulty.[748]
+
+Innocent III. had made infinite efforts in favour of the crusade: and,
+with the daring confidence of genius, had even taxed the unwilling clergy,
+while he merely recommended charitable subscriptions among the laity.
+Under such circumstances it will be easily conceived that the voluntary
+donations amounted to an equal sum with the forced contributions; but what
+became of the whole is very difficult to determine. Certain it is, that
+when the crusaders arrived at Venice, not half the money could be raised
+among them which they had agreed to pay for the use of the republic's
+transports,[749] although the chiefs melted down their plate to supply
+those who had not the means to defray their passage.
+
+This poverty was attributed to the fact of various large bodies having,
+either by mistake or perversity, taken the way to the Holy Land[750] by
+other ports, and carried with them a large part of the stipulated sum; but
+it does not appear that the Pope, into whose hands flowed the full tide of
+European alms, made any effort to relieve the crusaders from their
+difficulties. In this distress the Venetians offered to compromise their
+claim, and to convey the French to Palestine, on condition that they
+should aid in the recapture of the city of Zara, in Sclavonia, which had
+been snatched from the republic some time before by the King of
+Hungary.[751] With this stipulation, Dandolo, though aged and stone blind,
+agreed to take the Cross; and so deeply affected were the knights, both
+with his forbearance and gallant enthusiasm, that the iron warriors of
+Europe were melted to tears by the old man's noble daring.
+
+The news of this undertaking having reached Rome, the most vehement
+opposition was raised to any change of destination; and Innocent[752]
+launched the thunders of the church at the refractory crusaders. Many of
+the chiefs--terrified by the excommunication pronounced against those who
+should quit the direct road to the Holy Land, to attack the possessions of
+a Christian prince--remained in Italy;[753] but the greater part made
+every preparation to second the Venetians against Zara.
+
+Before their departure, the crusaders received envoys, the event of whose
+solicitations afterward gave a new character to their expedition. At the
+death of Manuel Comnenus, emperor of the east, Andronicus, his brother,
+seized upon the throne and murdered his nephew, Alexius II., who had
+succeeded. Either urged by indignation or ambition, Isaac Angelus, a
+distant relation of the slaughtered prince, took arms against the usurper,
+overthrew and put him to death; after which he in turn ascended the throne
+of Constantinople.[754] His reign was not long; for, at the end of two
+years, a brother, named Alexius, whom he had redeemed from Turkish
+captivity, snatched the crown from his head, and, to incapacitate him from
+ruling, put out his eyes.
+
+His son, named also Alexius, made his escape from prison, and fled to
+Italy, where he endeavoured to interest the Pope in his favour. But the
+church of Rome entertained small affection for the schismatic Greeks; and
+though Innocent wrote an impotent letter[755] to the usurper, he showed
+no real favour to the unhappy prince. The young exile then turned to
+Philip of Suabia (then Emperor of Germany), who had married his sister
+Irene; and at the same time hearing of the crusade, which was delayed at
+Venice,[756] he sent deputies from Verona to the chiefs, to solicit their
+aid against his treacherous uncle. The barons of France met his prayers
+with kindness; and the envoys were accompanied, on their return to the
+court of Philip of Suabia,[757] by a party of the crusaders, who were
+instructed to receive any proposition which Alexius might think fit to
+make.
+
+In the mean while, the knights embarked on board the Venetian galleys,
+round the decks of which they ranged their shields, and planted their
+banners; and having been joined by Conrad, Bishop of Halberstadt, with a
+large body of German soldiers, a finer armament never sailed from any
+port.[758]
+
+The chain which protected the harbour of Zara was soon broken through; the
+crusaders landed, pitched their tents,[759] and invested the city on all
+sides. The besiegers, as usual, were much divided among themselves; and
+those who had unwillingly followed the host to Zara, against the commands
+of the Pope,[760] still kept up a continual schism in the camp, which
+produced fatal consequences to the people of the city. The morning after
+the disembarkation, a deputation of citizens came forth to treat with
+Dandolo for the capitulation of the town. The Doge replied that he could
+enter into no engagement without consulting his allies, and went for that
+purpose to the tents of the French chiefs. During his absence, those who
+opposed the siege persuaded the deputies from Zara that the
+crusaders[761] would not assist the Venetians in an assault. With this
+assurance the Doge's reply was not waited for; the envoys returned, and
+the city prepared for defence. At the same time, the Abbot of Vaux Cernay
+presented himself to the assembled barons, and commanded them, in the name
+of the Pope, to refrain from warring against Christians while engaged
+under the banners of the Cross. On this the Doge angrily remonstrated; the
+greater part of the knights embraced his cause; and Zara, after being
+furiously attacked, surrendered at discretion.
+
+The town was now occupied during the winter by the army of the crusade;
+and the chiefs of the French forces sent a deputation to Rome to obtain
+pardon for their disobedience. This was easily granted; but the Venetians,
+who seemed to care little about excommunication, remained under the papal
+censure. Notwithstanding the forgiveness they had obtained, many of the
+most celebrated knights quitted Zara,[762] and made their way to the Holy
+Land. Such desertions took place especially after the return of the
+deputies sent to Philip of Suabia; and it was difficult to keep the
+army[763] together, when it became known that its destination was likely
+to be changed from Acre to Constantinople.
+
+Alexius, however, offered, in case of his being re-established in his
+father's dominions,[764] to place the Greek church under the authority of
+the Roman pontiff, to turn the whole force of the eastern empire against
+the infidels of Palestine, and either to send thither ten thousand men,
+and there maintain five hundred knights during his life, or to lead his
+forces towards Jerusalem in person. Besides this he promised to pay two
+hundred thousand marks of silver[765] to the crusading army, and to place
+himself in the hands of the chiefs till the city of Constantinople was
+retaken.
+
+These offers were so advantageous that the greater part of the barons
+embraced them at once: but many exclaimed loudly against the proposed
+interruption of the main purpose of the crusade, and many abandoned the
+host altogether.
+
+Alexius the usurper trembled at the news of the treaty between his nephew
+and the crusaders, and sent instant ambassadors to Rome,[766] in order to
+engage the pontiff in his interest. Such of the chiefs as were opposed to
+the measure talked loudly of the papal injunction to refrain from all wars
+with the Christians;[767] but it does not appear that Innocent exerted
+himself strenuously to turn the Latins from their design. It was far too
+much his desire to bring the Greek church under the domination of the
+Roman see, for him to dream of thwarting an enterprise backed with the
+solemn conditions I have mentioned; and it was not at all likely that the
+clearsighted prelate should renounce absolute engagements, as Mills has
+supposed,[768] for the vague hope of wringing the same from a treacherous
+usurper.
+
+At length, after the Venetians had demolished Zara,[769] to prevent its
+falling again into the hands of their enemies, the expedition, having been
+joined by the prince Alexius, set sail, and at the end of a short and easy
+passage came within sight of Constantinople.[770]
+
+The allies were instantly met by ambassadors from the Emperor, who,
+mingling promises with threats, endeavoured to drive them again from the
+shore, but in vain. The crusaders demanded the restoration of Isaac, and
+submission from the usurper, and prepared to force their landing; but
+before they commenced hostilities, they approached the walls of
+Constantinople, and sailed underneath them, showing the young Alexius to
+the Greek people, and calling to them to acknowledge their prince. No
+sympathy was excited, and the attack being determined on, the chiefs held
+a council on horseback, according to the custom of the ancient Gauls, when
+the order of their proceedings was regulated. The army was portioned into
+seven divisions, the first of which was commanded by the Count of
+Flanders, and the last by the Marquis of Montferrat. Having procured a
+number of flat-bottomed boats, one of which was attached to every galley,
+the knights entered with their horses, armed at all points, and looking,
+as Nicetas says, like statues of bronze.[771] The archers filled the
+larger vessels, and it was the general understanding that each should
+fight as he came up.
+
+"The morning was beautiful,"[772] writes the old Mareschal of Champagne,
+"the sun beginning to rise, and the Emperor Alexius waited for them with
+thick battalions and a great armament. On both sides the trumpets were
+sounded, and each galley led on a boat. The knights sprang out of the
+barks, while the water was yet to their girdle,[773] with their helmets
+laced and their swords in their hands; and the good archers, the
+sergeants, and the crossbowmen did the same wherever they happened to
+touch. The Greeks, at first, made great show of resistance, but when they
+saw the lances levelled they turned their backs and fled."
+
+The tents and camp equipage of the fugitives fell immediately into the
+hands of the crusaders; and siege was laid to the tower of Galata, which
+guarded one end of the great chain wherewith the mouth of the harbour was
+closed. Before night the Greeks had recovered from their panic, and some
+severe fighting took place ere the fort could be taken and the barrier
+removed; but at length this being accomplished, the Venetians entered the
+port. After ten days of continual skirmishing, a general attack was
+determined upon; and it was agreed that the Venetians[774] should assail
+the city by sea, while the French attempted to storm the walls by land.
+The enterprise began on the land side against the barbican; but so
+vigorously was every inch of ground disputed by the Pisans, the English
+and Danish mercenaries who guarded the fortifications, that though fifteen
+French knights obtained a footing for some time on the ramparts, they were
+at length cast out, while four of their number were taken.
+
+In the mean while, the fleet of the Venetians advanced to the walls; and
+after a severe fight of missiles between the defenders and the smaller
+vessels which commenced the assault, the galleys themselves approached the
+land; and, provided with high towers of wood, began to wage a nearer
+warfare with those upon the battlements. Still the besieged[775] resisted
+with extraordinary valour, and the galleys were beaten off; when the blind
+chief of the republic, armed at all points, commanded, with tremendous
+threats in case of disobedience, that his vessel should be run on
+shore;[776] and then, borne out with the standard of St. Mark before him,
+he led the way to victory. Shame spread through the rest of the fleet;
+galley after galley was brought up close under the walls, and all the
+principal towers round the port were in a moment stormed and taken.
+Alexius made one great effort to recover the twenty-five towers which the
+Venetians had captured; but, with remorseless resolution, Dandolo set fire
+to the neighbouring buildings, and thus raised up a fiery bulwark to his
+conquest.[777]
+
+As a last resource, the Emperor now issued forth to give battle to the
+French: and so infinite was the superiority of his numbers, that the
+hearts of the pilgrims almost failed them. The gallant Doge of Venice no
+sooner heard of their danger, than, abandoning the ramparts he had so
+nobly won, he brought his whole force[778] to the aid of the French,
+declaring that he would live or die with his allies. Even after his
+arrival, however, the disparity was so great, that the crusaders dared not
+quit their close array to begin the fight, and the troops of Alexius
+hesitated to attack those hardy warriors whose prowess they had often
+witnessed. The courage of the Latins gradually increased by the indecision
+of their enemy, while the fears of the Greeks spread and magnified by
+delay and at length Alexius abandoned the last hope of courage, and
+retreated into the city. The weary crusaders hastened to disarm and repose
+themselves, after a day of immense fatigues; but Alexius, having no
+confidence either in his own resolution, or in the steadiness of his
+soldiery, seized what treasure he could carry, and abandoned
+Constantinople to its fate.[779] The coward Greeks, deserted by their
+chief, drew forth the miserable Isaac from his prison; and having robed
+the blind monarch in the long-lost purple, they seated him on the throne,
+and sent to tell the Franks that their object was accomplished. The
+crusaders would hardly believe the tidings, but despatched four of their
+body to ascertain the truth. The envoys found Isaac enthroned in the
+palace of Blachernæ,[780] and surrounded by as large and splendid a court
+as if fortune had never ceased to smile upon him.
+
+They now represented to the restored Emperor the conditions of their
+treaty with his son; and Isaac, after some slight hesitation, accepted
+them as his own. He also agreed to associate the young Alexius in the
+throne; but as all these hard terms, especially that which implied the
+subjection of the Greek church to the Roman prelate, deeply offended his
+subtle and revengeful subjects, he prayed the crusaders to delay their
+departure till complete order was re-established.[781] This was easily
+acceded to; and the Franks and Venetians, during their stay, wrote to
+Innocent III., excusing their having again turned from the road to
+Jerusalem.[782] The Pope willingly pardoned both; but intimated, that to
+make that pardon efficacious, they must be responsible that the schism in
+the church should be healed by the submission of the Greeks to the see of
+Rome.
+
+At first, the harmony between the Franks and the Greeks appeared to be
+great. The young Alexius paid several portions of the money which had been
+stipulated;[783] and while the presence of the Latin army kept the capital
+in awe, he proceeded to reduce the provinces to obedience. When this was
+completed, however, and the tranquillity of the empire seemed perfectly
+restored, his conduct changed towards his benefactors. A fire which broke
+out in the city[784] was attributed to the French, who were at the very
+moment engaged in serious dispute with a party of Greeks, exasperated by
+an insult to their religion. The very domineering presence of the
+crusaders was a continual and irritating reproach, and the Greeks began
+to testify no small hatred towards their armed guests. Alexius himself,
+ungrateful in his own nature, contending with his father about their
+divided sovereignty, and hesitating between the people he was called to
+govern and those who upheld him in the government, refused or evaded the
+fulfilment of many of the items in his treaty with the Latins. The chiefs
+soon found that they were deceived, and formally summoned the young
+monarch to accomplish his promises. The messengers who bore the haughty
+demand to a despotic court hardly escaped with their lives; and the same
+desultory warfare which had been waged by the emperors against each body
+of crusaders that had passed by Constantinople was now commenced against
+the Count of Flanders and his companions.[785] A thousand encounters took
+place, in which the Franks were always victorious; and though the Greeks
+directed a number of vessels, charged with their terrific fire, against
+the Venetian fleet, the daring courage and conduct of the sailors freed
+them from the danger, and only one Pisan galley was consumed.
+
+In the mean while the Greeks of the city, hating and despising a monarch
+who had seated himself among them by the swords of strangers, and who had
+drained their purses to pay the troops that held them down;[786] seeing,
+also, that his ingratitude, even to his allies, had left him without the
+support by which alone he stood, suddenly rose upon Alexius, and cast him
+into prison. Isaac himself died, it is said, of fear; and the Greeks at
+first elected a nobleman of a different family, named Nicholas Canabus;
+but he was mild and weak, a character which little suited the times or
+country in which he assumed so high a station. A rival, too, existed in a
+man who had shown unremitting enmity to the Latins, and after a short
+struggle, Alexius Ducas, a cousin of the late monarch, a bold,
+unscrupulous villain,[787] was proclaimed emperor. Among his first
+acts--though at what exact period remains in doubt[788]--the new Alexius,
+who was more commonly called Murzuphlis, caused the preceding Alexius to
+be put to death. The manner of his fate is uncertain: but the usurper had
+the cunning impudence to yield his victim's body a public funeral.
+
+War was now determined between the crusaders and Murzuphlis, and the
+attack of the city was resolved; but previous to that attempt, the
+crusaders, who were in great want of provisions, despatched Henry, brother
+of the Count of Flanders, with a considerable force to Philippopoli, in
+order to take possession of the rich magazines which it contained.
+Returning loaded with spoil, he was attacked by Murzuphlis; but the Greeks
+scattered like deer before the Latins,[789] and Henry rejoined his
+companions not only rich in booty, but in glory also. Negotiations were
+more than once entered into, for the purpose of conciliating the
+differences of the Greeks and the Latins; but all proved ineffectual; and
+early in the spring the armies of France and Venice prepared for the
+attack. The first step was, as usual, a treaty between the allies to
+apportion the fruits of success. By this it was determined that the whole
+booty should be divided equally between the French and Venetians;[790]
+that six persons from each nation should be chosen to elect an emperor;
+that the Venetians should retain all the privileges they had hitherto
+enjoyed under the monarchs of Constantinople; and that, from whichever of
+the two nations the emperor was selected, a patriarch should be named
+from the other. There were various other conditions added, the principal
+of which were, that one-fourth of the whole conquest should be given to
+the new emperor, besides the palaces of Bucoleon and Blachernæ, while the
+rest was divided among the French and Venetians; and that twelve persons
+should be selected from each nation, to determine the feudal laws by which
+the land was to be governed, and to allot the territory in feoffs among
+the conquerors.
+
+On the 8th of April, 1204, the whole army, having embarked on board the
+ships,[791] as had been previously concerted, attacked the city by water.
+The vessels approached close to the walls, and a tremendous fight began
+between the assailants and the besieged: but no hope smiled on the Franks;
+they were repelled in every direction; and those who had landed,[792] were
+forced to regain their vessels with precipitancy, approaching to flight.
+The Greeks rejoiced in novel victory, and the Franks mourned in unwonted
+defeat. Four days were spent in consultations regarding a further attempt;
+and the chiefs, judging that no one vessel contained a sufficient number
+of troops to effect a successful assault on any particular spot,[793] it
+was resolved to lash the ships two and two together, and thus to
+concentrate a greater force on each point of attack. On the fourth day the
+storm was recommenced, and at first the fortune of battle seemed still in
+favour of the Greeks; but at length, a wind springing up, drove the sea
+more fully into the port, and brought the galleys closer to the
+walls.[794] Two of those lashed together, called the Pilgrim and the
+Paradise, now touched one of the towers, and, from the large wooden turret
+with which the mast was crowned, a Venetian and a French knight named
+Andrew d'Arboise sprang upon the ramparts of the city.[795]
+
+The crusaders rushed on in multitudes; and such terror seized the Greeks,
+that the eyes of Nicetas magnified the first knight who leaped on the
+walls to the unusual altitude of fifty feet.[796] One Latin drove before
+him a hundred Greeks;[797] the defence of the gates was abandoned; the
+doors were forced in with blows of axes; and the knights, leading their
+horses from the ships, rode in, and took complete possession of the city.
+Murzuphlis once, and only once, attempted to rally his troops before the
+camp he had formed, in one of the open spaces of the town. But the sight
+of the Count of St. Pol, with a small band of followers, was sufficient to
+put him to flight; and a German having set fire to a part of the
+buildings[798] no further effort was made to oppose the victorious
+crusaders. The fire was not extinguished for some time; and the Latin
+host, in the midst of the immense population of Constantinople, like a
+handful of dust in the midst of the wilderness, took possession of the
+purple tents of Murzuphlis, and keeping vigilant guard, passed an anxious
+and a fearful night, after all the fatigues and exploits of the day.
+Twenty thousand was the utmost extent of the Latin numbers;[799] and
+Constantinople contained, within itself, four hundred thousand men capable
+of bearing arms. Each house was a citadel, which might have delayed and
+repelled the enemy; and each street was a defile, which might have been
+defended against a host. But the days of Leonidas were passed; and the
+next morning the Latins found that Murzuphlis had fled, and that their
+conquest was complete. Plunder and violence of course ensued;[800] but
+there was much less actual bloodshed than either the nature of the victory
+or the dangerous position of the victors might have occasioned.
+
+Fear is the most cruel of all passions; and perhaps the fact that not two
+thousand persons were slain in Constantinople after the storm, is a
+greater proof of the courage of the Latins than even the taking of the
+city. Many noble and generous actions mingled with the effects of that
+cupidity and lust which follow always upon the sack of a great town.
+Nicetas mentions a striking example which happened to himself, wherein a
+noble Venetian dedicated his whole attention to protect an ancient
+benefactor;[801] and a body of Frenchmen, in the midst of the unbounded
+licentiousness of such a moment, were moved by a father's agony to save
+his daughter from some of their fellows. This is the admission of a
+prejudiced and inveterate enemy; and it is but fair to suppose, that many
+such instances took place. The great evils that followed the taking of the
+eastern capital, originated in the general command to plunder.
+Constantinople had accumulated within it the most precious monuments of
+ancient art,[802] and these were almost all destroyed by the barbarous
+hands of an avaricious soldiery. Naught was spared; the bronzes, which,
+valueless as metal, were inestimable as the masterpieces and miracles of
+antique genius, were melted down,[803] and struck into miserable coin; the
+marble was violated with wanton brutality; all the labour of a Phidias or
+a Lysippus was done away in an hour; and that which had been the wonder
+and admiration of a world left less to show what former days had been,
+than the earth after the deluge.
+
+In this the Latins were certainly _barbarians_; but in other
+respects--unless subtilty, deceit, vice, and cowardice can be called
+civilization, and courage, frankness, and honour can be considered as
+barbarism--the Latins deserved not the opprobrious name by which the
+Greeks designated them.
+
+The plunder of the city was enormous. In money[804] a sufficient sum was
+collected to distribute twenty marks to each knight, ten to each servant
+of arms, and five to each archer. Besides this, a vast quantity of jewels
+and valuable merchandise was divided between the French and Venetians; and
+the republic, who understood the value of such objects better than the
+simple Frankish soldiers, offered to buy the whole spoil from their
+comrades, at the rate of four hundred marks for a knight's share, and in
+the same proportion to the rest. The booty--with a few individual
+instances of concealment,[805] which were strictly punished with death
+when discovered--was fairly portioned out; and, after this partition, the
+twelve persons selected to choose an emperor proceeded to their
+deliberations. They were bound by oath to elect without favour the best
+qualified of the nobles; and after a long hesitation, between the Marquis
+of Montferrat and the Count of Flanders, they named the latter.[806] In
+all probability the determining consideration was, that Baldwin, by his
+immediate connexion with France, was more capable of supporting the new
+dynasty than the Marquis, whose Italian domains could not afford such
+effective aid. To prevent the evil consequences of rivalry, the island of
+Crete and the whole of Asiatic Greece were given to Montferrat, who
+afterward, with the consent of Baldwin, exchanged them for the Sclavonian
+territory. Baldwin was then raised upon a buckler,[807] and carried to the
+church of St. Sophia. After a brief space of preparation, he was formally
+proclaimed, and crowned as emperor; and, according to old usage, a vase
+filled with ashes,[808] and a tuft of lighted wool, were presented to the
+new monarch, as a symbol of the transitory nature of life and the vanity
+of greatness--emblems too applicable to himself and his dominions; for ere
+two years had passed, Baldwin had gone down into the grave; and less than
+the ordinary life of one man elapsed before the dynasty that he
+established was again overthrown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+_Divisions among the Moslems--Among the Christians--Crusade of
+Children--Innocent III. declares he will lead a new Crusade to Syria--The
+King of Hungary takes the Cross--Arrives in Syria--Successes of the
+Pilgrims--They abandon the Siege of Mount Thabor--The King of Hungary
+returns to Europe--The Duke of Austria continues the War--Siege of
+Damietta--Reinforcements arrive under a Legate--Famine in Damietta--The
+Moslems offer to yield Palestine--The Legate's Pride--He refuses--Taking
+of Damietta--The Army advances towards Cairo--Overflowing of the Nile--The
+Army ruined--The Legate sues for Peace--Generous Conduct of the
+Sultaun--Marriage of the Heiress of Jerusalem with Frederic, Emperor of
+Germany--His Disputes with the Pope--His Treaties with the Saracens--He
+recovers Jerusalem--Quits the Holy Land--Disputes in Palestine--The
+Templars defeated and slaughtered--Gregory IX.--Crusade of the King of
+Navarre ineffectual--Crusade of Richard, Earl of Cornwall--Jerusalem
+recovered--The Corasmins--Their Barbarity--They take Jerusalem--Defeat the
+Christians with terrible slaughter--Are exterminated by the
+Syrians--Crusade of St. Louis--His Character--Arrives in the Holy
+Land--Takes Damietta--Battle of Massoura--Pestilence in the Army--The King
+taken--Ransomed--Returns to Europe--Second Crusade of St. Louis--Takes
+Carthage--His Death--Crusade of Prince Edward--He defeats the
+Saracens--Wounded by an Assassin--Returns to Europe--Successes of the
+Turks--Last Siege and Fall of Acre--Palestine lost._
+
+
+The fifth crusade had ended, as we have seen, without producing any other
+benefit to Palestine than a deep depression in the minds of the Turks,
+from the knowledge that the weak dynasty of the Greeks had been replaced
+by a power of greater energy and resolution. The famine also, which about
+this time desolated the territories of the Egyptian sultaun, and the
+contests[809] between the remaining Attabecs and the successors of
+Saladin, crippled the efforts of the Moslems; while the courageous
+activity of Jean de Brienne[810] defeated the attempts of Saif Eddin.
+Nevertheless, many bloody disputes concerning the succession of Antioch,
+and the fierce rivalry of the orders of the Temple and Hospital,
+contributed to shake the stability of the small Christian dominion that
+remained.
+
+Each year,[811] two regular voyages of armed and unarmed pilgrims took
+place, from Europe to the Holy Land: these were called the _passagium
+Martii_, or the spring passage; and the _passagium Johannis_, or the
+summer passage which occurred about the festival of St. John. A continual
+succour was thus afforded to Palestine: and that the spirit of crusading
+was by no means extinct in Europe is evinced by the extraordinary fact of
+a crusade of children[812] having been preached and adopted towards the
+year 1213. Did this fact rest alone upon the authority of Alberic of Three
+Fountains Abbey, we might be permitted to doubt its having taken place,
+for his account is, in several particulars, evidently hypothetical; but so
+many coinciding authorities exist,[813] that belief becomes matter of
+necessity.
+
+The circumstances are somewhat obscure; but it seems certain that two
+monks, with the design of profiting by a crime then too common, the
+traffic in children, induced a great number of the youth of both sexes to
+set out from France for the Holy Land, habited as pilgrims, with the scrip
+and staff. Two merchants of Marseilles,[814] accomplices in the plot, as
+it would seem, furnished the first body of these misguided children with
+vessels, which, of course, were destined to transport them for sale to the
+African coast. Several of the ships were wrecked on the shores of Italy,
+and every soul perished, but the rest pursued their way and accomplished
+their inhuman voyage. The two merchants, however, were afterward detected
+in a plot against the emperor Frederic, and met the fate they deserved.
+Another body, setting out from Germany, reached Genoa after immense
+difficulties; and there the Genoese, instead of encouraging their frantic
+enthusiasm, wisely commanded them to evacuate their territory; on which
+they returned to their homes, and though many died on the road, a great
+part arrived in safety,[815] and escaped the fate which had overtaken the
+young adventurers from France.
+
+When Innocent III. heard of this crusade, he is reported to have said,
+"While we sleep, these children are awake:" and it is more than probable,
+that his circumstance convinced him, that the zealous spirit which had
+moved all the expeditions to the Holy Land was still active and willing.
+Certain it is, that he very soon afterward sent round an encyclical
+letter, calling the Christian world once more to arms against the Moslems.
+Indulgences were spread, and extended in their character: a council of
+Lateran was held, and Innocent himself declared[816] his intention of
+leading the warriors of Christ to the scene of his crucifixion. De
+Courçon, an English monk, who had become cardinal, preached the new
+crusade with all the pomp of a Roman prelate, and a great number of
+individuals were gathered together for the purpose of succouring
+Palestine. But the kings of the earth had now more correct views of
+policy; and policy never encourages enthusiasm except as an instrument.
+Only one king therefore could be found to take the Cross--this was
+Andrew,[817] monarch of Hungary; and the Dukes of Austria and Bavaria,
+with a multitude of German bishops and nobles, joined his forces, and
+advanced to Spalatro. Innocent III. was by this time dead, but the
+expedition sailed in Venetian ships to Cyprus, and thence, after having
+given somewhat too much rein to enjoyment, proceeded to Acre, carrying
+with it a large reinforcement from France and Italy. The Saracens had
+heard less of this crusade than of those which had preceded it, and were
+therefore less prepared to oppose it. The Christian army advanced with
+success, and many thousands of the infidels felt the European steel; but
+the crusaders, not contented with plundering their enemies, went on to
+plunder their friends; and serious divisions began, as usual, to show
+themselves, which were only healed by the influence of the clergy, who
+turned the attention of the soldiers from pillage and robbery to fasts and
+pilgrimages. When the host was once more united, its exertions were
+directed to the capture of the fort[818] built by the Saracens on Mount
+Thabor. After overcoming infinite difficulties in the ascent of the
+mountain, the Latins found themselves opposite the fortress: the soldiers
+were enthusiastic and spirited; and it is more than probable that one
+gallant attack would have rendered the greatest benefit to the Christian
+cause, by obtaining possession of such an important point. The
+leaders,[819] however, seized with a sudden fear of being cut off,
+abandoned their object without striking a blow, and retired to Acre. The
+rest of the season was passed in excursions, by which the Christians
+obtained many prisoners and much spoil; and in pilgrimages, wherein
+thousands were cut to pieces by the Saracens. The kings of Cyprus and
+Hungary then turned their course to Tripoli, where the first died, and the
+Hungarian monarch[820] was suddenly seized with the desire of returning to
+his own dominions;[821] which he soon put in execution, notwithstanding
+the prayers and solicitations of the Syrian Christians.
+
+Still the Latins of Palestine were not left destitute. The Duke of Austria
+remained, with all the German crusaders; and the next year a large
+reinforcement arrived from Cologne; nor would these have been so tardy in
+coming, had they[822] not paused upon the coast of Portugal to succour the
+queen of that country against the Moors. The efforts of the Christians had
+proved hitherto so fruitless for the recovery of Jerusalem, while the
+Saracens could bring vast forces from Egypt continually to the support of
+their Syrian possessions, that the Latins now resolved to strike at the
+very source of their power.
+
+Damietta was supposed to command the entrance of the Nile, and
+consequently to be the key of Egypt; and thither the crusaders set sail,
+for the purpose of laying siege to that important city. They[823] arrived
+in the month of May, and landed on the western bank of the river opposite
+to the town. A tower in the centre of the stream, connected with the walls
+by a strong chain, was the immediate object of attack; but the first
+attempt was repulsed with great loss, though made by the Hospitallers, the
+Teutonic Order, and the Germans, united. An immense machine[824] of wood
+was now constructed on board two of the vessels, which, lashed together,
+were moved across to the point of assault, and, after a long and
+courageous resistance, the garrison of the castle was forced to surrender
+at discretion.[825] The besieging party then abandoned themselves to joy
+and revelry; they looked upon the city as taken; and the news of the death
+of Saif Eddin increased their hopes of the complete deliverance of the
+Holy Land. The victories which Saif Eddin had gained over the Christians
+were indeed but small, nor had he struck any one great blow against the
+Attabecs, but he had gradually, and almost imperceptibly, extended his
+dominions in every direction, and left a large territory and full treasury
+to his successors. His high qualities were different from those of
+Saladin, and his character was altogether less noble and striking, but he
+possessed more shrewdness than his brother; and if his mind had not the
+same capability of expanding, it had more powers of concentration. To Saif
+Eddin succeeded his two sons, Cohr Eddin and Camel, the first of whom took
+possession of Syria and Palestine in peace. But Egypt, which the second
+had governed for some time, instantly broke out into revolt on the news of
+his father's death, and had the Franks pushed the war in that country with
+vigour, greater effects would have been produced than were ever wrought by
+any preceding crusade. They neglected their opportunity; spent their time
+in rioting and debauchery under the yet unconquered walls of Damietta:
+and, after the arrival of large reinforcements from France, England, and
+Italy, under the Cardinals Pelagius and Courçon, the Earls of Chester and
+Salisbury, and the Counts of Nevers and La Marche, they only changed their
+conduct from revelling to dissension. At length they awoke from their
+frantic dreams, and prepared to attack the city itself; but before they
+could accomplish their object, Cohr Eddin had entered Egypt, put down
+rebellion, and re-established his brother Camel in full possession of his
+authority. The siege of Damietta now became, like the first siege of
+Antioch, a succession of battles and skirmishes. For three months the
+various nations that composed the besieging force as well as the Templars,
+the Hospitallers, and the Teutonic knights, vied with each other in deeds
+of glory; nor were the Saracens behind their adversaries in courage,
+skill, or resolution. But famine took up the sword against the unhappy
+people of Damietta. Pestilence soon joined her, and the fall of the city
+became inevitable.[826]
+
+Cohr Eddin, fearful that Jerusalem might be turned to a post against him,
+had destroyed the walls of that town; but now that he saw the certain loss
+of Damietta, and calculated the immense advantages the Christians might
+thence gain, he with the best policy agreed to make a vast sacrifice to
+save the key of his brother's dominions. Conferences were opened with the
+Christians, and the Saracens offered, on the evacuation of Egypt by the
+Latins, to yield the whole of Palestine, except the fortresses of Montreal
+and Karac, to restore all European prisoners, and even to rebuild the
+walls of Jerusalem for the Christians. The King of Jerusalem, the English,
+the French, and the Germans looked upon their warfare as ended, and their
+object achieved, by the very proposal; but the cardinal Pelagius, the two
+military Orders, and the Italians, opposed all conciliation, contending
+that no faith was to be put in the promises of infidels.
+
+Heaven only knows whether the Saracens would have broken their
+engagements, or whether calm moderation might not have restored Palestine
+to the followers of the Cross; but moderation was not consulted, and the
+walls of Damietta were once more attacked. It was no longer difficult to
+take them, and when the crusaders entered the city, they discovered
+nothing-but a world of pestilence. Death was in every street; and of
+seventy thousand souls, not three thousand were found alive.[827]
+
+Discord, of course, succeeded conquest; and after having cleansed and
+purified Damietta, a winter was spent in dissensions, at the end of which
+a great part of the army returned to Europe; and Jean de Brienne, offended
+by the arrogance of Pelagius, retired to Acre. Concessions soon brought
+him back, and hostilities were resumed against the Moslems, but the legate
+overbore all counsel; and instead of directing their[828] arms towards
+Palestine, which was now open to them, the crusaders marched on towards
+Cairo. The forces of the sultaun had greatly increased, but he still
+offered peace, on conditions as advantageous as those that had been
+previously proposed. The legate insultingly rejected all terms, wasted his
+time in inactivity, the Nile rose, the sluices were opened, and Pelagius
+found himself at once unable to advance, and cut off from his resources at
+Damietta. There is nothing too mean for disappointed pride, and the legate
+then sued in the humblest language for permission to return to Acre. The
+Sultaun of Egypt, with admirable moderation, granted him peace, and the
+King of Jerusalem became one of the hostages that Damietta should be given
+up. The troops would still have perished for want, had not the noble
+sultaun been melted by the grief of John of Brienne, who wept while
+recounting the distress in which he had left his people. The Saracen
+mingled his tears with those of the hostage king, and ordered the army of
+his enemy to be supplied with food.[829] Damietta was soon after yielded,
+and the hostages exchanged. John of Brienne retired to Acre, wearied of
+unceasing efforts to recover his nominal kingdom; and Pelagius passed over
+into Europe, loaded with the hatred and contempt of Palestine.
+
+John of Brienne had received the crown of Jerusalem as his wife's dowry,
+and it was destined that the marriage of his daughter should restore the
+Holy City to the Christians. The emperor Frederick II. had often vowed in
+the most solemn manner to lead his armies into Palestine, and had as often
+broken his oath. At length it was proposed to him that he should wed
+Violante, the beautiful heiress of the Syrian kingdom; and it was easily
+stipulated that John of Brienne should give up his rights on Palestine to
+his daughter's husband. Frederic eagerly caught at the idea. By the
+intervention of the Pope the treaty was concluded between the king and the
+emperor; and Violante, having been brought to Europe, was espoused by her
+imperial lover.[830] Many causes combined to delay the new crusade, though
+it was preached by two succeeding popes with all the zeal and promises
+that had led to those that went before. France and Italy remained occupied
+entirely by intestine dissensions; but England showed great zeal, and sent
+sixty thousand men at arms to the field.[831] The emperor collected
+together immense forces, and proceeded to Brundusium; but there, being
+taken ill of a pestilential disease which had swept away many of his
+soldiers, he was obliged to return after having put to sea. Gregory IX.
+was now in the papal chair; and--wroth with the emperor for many a
+contemptuous mark of disobedience to the ecclesiastical authority--he now
+excommunicated him for coming back, however necessary the measure.
+Frederic was angry, though not frightened; and, after having exculpated
+himself to Europe by a public letter,[832] he sent his soldiers to plunder
+the Pope's territories while he recovered his health. At length, in 1228,
+he set sail from Brundusium, still burdened with the papal censure, which
+he was too much accustomed to bear to feel as any oppressive load. He
+arrived without difficulty at Acre; but all men wondered that so great an
+enterprise should be undertaken with so small a force as that which could
+be contained in twenty galleys; and it soon appeared that Frederic had
+long been negotiating with Camel, Sultaun of Egypt, who, fearful of the
+active and ambitious spirit of his brother Cohr Eddin,[833] had entered
+into a private treaty with the German monarch.
+
+The emperor, on his arrival in Palestine, found that the revengeful Pope
+had laid his injunction upon all men to show him no obedience, and afford
+him no aid while under the censure of the church.[834] None, therefore, at
+first, accompanied him in his march but his own forces and the Teutonic
+knights. The Hospitallers and Templars soon followed, and, too fond of
+active warfare to remain neuter, joined themselves to the army on some
+verbal concession on the part of Frederic. About this time Cohr Eddin
+died; and Camel,[835] freed from apprehension,[836] somewhat cooled
+towards his Christian ally. He was, nevertheless, too generous to violate
+his promises, and after Frederic had advanced some way towards Jerusalem,
+a treaty was entered into between the German monarch and the Saracens,
+whereby the Holy City and the greater part of Palestine was yielded to the
+Christians, with the simple stipulation that the Moslems were to be
+allowed[837] to worship in the temple, as well as the followers of the
+Cross.[838] Frederic then proceeded to Jerusalem to be crowned; but the
+conditions he had agreed to had given offence to the Christians of Judea,
+and the Pope's excommunication still hung over his head. All the services
+of the church were suspended during his stay; he was obliged to raise the
+crown from the altar himself and place it on his own brow; and he
+discovered, by messengers from the Sultaun of Egypt, that some
+individuals[839] of the military Orders had offered to betray him into the
+hands of the Saracens. Frederic now found it necessary to depart,[840] and
+after having done justice upon several of the chief contemners of his
+authority, he set sail for Europe, leaving Palestine[841] in a far more
+favourable state than it had known since the fatal battle of Tiberias.
+
+Soon after the departure of Frederic, a new aspirant to the crown of
+Jerusalem appeared in the person of Alice, Queen of Cyprus, the daughter
+of Isabella and Henry, Count of Champagne, and half sister of Mary,
+through whom John of Brienne had obtained the throne. Her claims were soon
+disposed of; for the three military Orders,[842] uniting in purpose for
+once, adhered to the Emperor of Germany, and Alice was obliged to
+withdraw. After this struggle the attention of the Christians was entirely
+turned to the general defence; and the right of the emperor, who had now
+made his peace with the Pope, was universally recognised.[843]
+Nevertheless, the truce which he had concluded with Camel, the Sultaun of
+Egypt, did not in all instances save the Latins of Palestine from
+annoyance and warfare. The whole country was surrounded by a thousand
+petty Mahommedan states not included in the peace, and the Moslems left no
+opportunity unimproved for the purpose of destroying their Christian
+neighbours. Their incursions on the Latin territory were incessant; and
+many large bodies of pilgrims were cut to pieces, or hurried away into
+distant lands as slaves.
+
+A truce had been agreed upon also, between the Templars and the Sultaun of
+Aleppo; but at the death of that monarch both parties had again recourse
+to arms, and the Templars were defeated with such terrible slaughter that
+all Europe was moved with compassion. Even their ancient rivals, the
+Hospitallers, sent them immediate succour; and from the commandery of St.
+John, at Clerkenwell,[844] alone, a body of three hundred knights took
+their departure for the Holy Land.
+
+A council likewise was held about this time at Spoletto, where another
+crusade was announced; and Gregory IX., who combined in his person every
+inconsistency that ambition, bigotry, and avarice can produce, sent the
+Dominican and Franciscan friars to stimulate Europe to take the Cross. No
+sooner had the crusade been preached, and the enthusiastic multitudes were
+ready to begin the journey, than Gregory and his agents persuaded many to
+compromise their vow;[845] and, by paying a certain sum towards the
+expenses of the expedition, to fill the papal treasury, under the pretence
+of assisting their brother Christians. Those who would not thus yield to
+his suggestions he positively prohibited from setting out, and engaged the
+Emperor Frederic to throw impediments in their way, when they pursued
+their purpose. Nevertheless, the King of Navarre, the Duke of Burgundy,
+the Count of Brittany, and the Count de Bar proceeded to Palestine in
+spite of all opposition; and their coming was of very timely service to
+the defenders of the Holy Land, for no sooner had the period of his truce
+with the Christians expired, than Camel, finding that preparations for war
+were making on their part, anticipated their efforts, retook Jerusalem,
+routed all the forces that could be opposed to him, and overthrew what was
+called the Tower of David. He died shortly after this victory, and on the
+arrival of the crusaders, a prospect of success seemed open before them.
+But the operations of the chiefs were detached, and though the Count of
+Brittany gained some advantages towards Damascus, the rest of the French
+knights were completely defeated in a pitched battle at Gaza, and most of
+their leaders were either killed or taken. The King of Navarre was glad to
+enter into a disgraceful treaty with the Emir of Karac, which was
+conducted through the intervention of the Templars;[846] and the rest of
+the Latins formed alliances with what neighbouring powers they could. The
+Hospitallers, however, would not subscribe to the truce with the Emir of
+Karac[847] through jealousy towards the Templars, and there was no power
+in the state sufficiently strong to force them to obedience.
+
+Shortly after this event, the King of Navarre returned to Europe, and
+Richard, Earl of Cornwall, with many knights and large forces, arrived in
+Palestine. Their expedition had been sanctioned by all the authorities of
+Europe, except the Pope. Henry III. conducted them in person to the shore;
+the prayers and benedictions of the people and the clergy followed them,
+and their journey through France was accompanied by shouts and
+acclamations. On his arrival in Palestine, Richard instantly marched upon
+Jaffa, but he was met by envoys from the Sultaun of Egypt--who was now at
+war with the Sultaun of Damascus--offering an exchange of prisoners, and a
+complete cession of the Holy Land,[848] with some unimportant exceptions.
+Richard instantly accepted such advantageous proposals; Jerusalem was
+given up to the Christians, the rebuilding of the walls was commenced, the
+churches were purified, and the earl returned to Europe with the glorious
+title of the deliverer of Palestine. The Templars would not be parties to
+this treaty, as the Hospitallers had refused to participate in the other;
+and thus, one of the great military Orders remained at war with the
+Sultaun of Damascus,[849] and the other with the Sultaun of Egypt.
+
+While these events had been passing in Palestine, a new dynasty had sprung
+up in the north of Asia, and threatened a complete revolution in the whole
+of that quarter of the world. Genjis Khan and his successors had
+overturned all the northern and eastern governments of Asia; and,
+spreading over that fair portion of the earth precisely as the Goths and
+Huns had spread over Roman Europe, had reduced the more polished and
+civilized nations of the south, by the savage vigour and active ferocity
+of a race yet in the youth of being. Among[850] other tribes whom the
+successors of Genjis had expelled from their original abodes, was a
+barbarous and warlike horde called the Corasmins; and this people,
+wandering about without a dwelling, destroying as they went, and waging
+war against all nations, at length directed their course towards
+Palestine. So quick and unexpected had been their arrival, that the
+Christians employed in the re-edification of the city-walls never dreamed
+of invasion till fire and massacre had swept over half the Holy Land.[851]
+No troops were collected, no preparations made, the fortifications of the
+city were incomplete, and the only resource of the people of Jerusalem was
+to retire in haste to the shelter of Jaffa, under the guidance of the few
+Templars and Hospitallers who were on the spot. Some few persons remained,
+and made an attempt at defence; but the town was taken in a moment, and
+every soul in it put to the sword.[852] The bloodthirsty barbarians, not
+satisfied with the scanty number of victims they had found, artfully
+raised the banner of the Cross upon the walls, and many of the Latins who
+had fled returned. Seven thousand more were thus entrapped and massacred;
+and the Corasmins exercised every sort of barbarous fury on those objects
+they thought most sacred in the eyes of the Christians.
+
+At length the fugitives at Jaffa received a succour of four thousand men
+from their allies, the Sultauns of Emissa and Damascus,[853] and resolved
+to give battle to the barbarians. The Patriarch of Jerusalem precipitated
+the measures of the army, and after a dreadful struggle the Latins were
+defeated, the Grand Masters of the Temple and St. John slain, the three
+military Orders nearly exterminated, and the Sultaun of Emissa forced to
+fly for shelter to his fortifications. Walter de Brienne, the lord of
+Jaffa, was taken; and to force that town to surrender, the Corasmins hung
+the gallant knight by the arms to a cross, declaring to the garrison that
+he should there remain till the city was yielded. Walter heard, and
+raising his voice, unmindful of his own agonies, solemnly commanded his
+soldiers to hold out the city to the last.[854] The barbarians were
+obliged to retire, and Walter was sent captive into Egypt.
+
+The Sultaun of Emissa soon raised the standard a second time against the
+barbarians and after several struggles, in which the monarch of Egypt
+sometimes upheld, and sometimes abandoned the Corasmins, they were at
+length entirely defeated, and not one, it is said, escaped from the field
+of battle.[855] Barbaquan, their leader, was slain; and thus Asia was
+delivered of one of the most terrible scourges that had ever been
+inflicted on her.
+
+At this time a monarch reigned over France who combined in a remarkable
+degree the high talents of his grandfather Philip Augustus with the
+religious zeal or, perhaps I may say, fanaticism of his father, Louis
+VIII. Louis IX. was in every respect an extraordinary man; he was a great
+warrior, chivalrous as an individual, and skilful as a general: he was a
+great king, inasmuch as he sought the welfare of his people more than the
+aggrandizement of his territories: he formed the best laws that could be
+adapted to the time, administered them often in person, and observed them
+always himself: he was a good man, inasmuch as he served God with his
+whole heart, and strove in all his communion with his fellows to do his
+duty according to his sense of obligation. Had he been touched with
+religious fervour to the amount of zeal, but not to the amount of
+fanaticism, he would have been perhaps too superior to his age. Previous
+to the news of the Corasminian irruption, St. Louis had determined to
+visit the Holy Land, in consequence of a vow made during sickness.[856] It
+appears, that after the signal defeat which he had given to Henry III. of
+England at Saintonge, Louis's whole attention was turned to the sufferings
+of the Christians in Palestine; and so deeply was his mind impressed with
+that anxious thought, that it became the subject of dreams, which he
+looked upon as instigations from heaven. The news of the destruction of
+the Christians by the barbarians, the well-known quarrels and rivalry of
+the two military Orders, and the persuasions of Innocent IV., who then
+held the thirteenth oecumenical council at Lyons, all hastened Louis's
+preparations. William Longsword and a great many English crusaders[857]
+joined the French monarch from Great Britain; and after three years'
+careful attention to the safety of his kingdom, the provision of supplies,
+and the concentration of his forces, Louis, with his two brothers, the
+Counts of Artois and Anjou, took the scrip and staff, and set sail for
+Cyprus. The third brother of the king, Alphonso, Count of Poitiers,
+remained to collect the rest of the crusaders, and followed shortly
+after.[858] The queen-consort of France, and several other ladies of high
+note, accompanied the monarch to the Holy Land.[859] At Cyprus, Louis
+spent eight months in healing the divisions of the military Orders, and
+endeavouring to bring about that degree of unity which had been unknown to
+any of the crusades. At length, early in the spring, he set sail from
+Cyprus with an army of fifty thousand chosen men. A tremendous storm
+separated the king's fleet, and, supported by but a small part of his
+troops he arrived at Damietta, where the Sultaun of Egypt, with his whole
+force, was drawn up to oppose the landing of the Christians. The sultaun
+himself was seen in golden armour, which shone, Joinville says, like the
+sun itself; and so great was the noise of drums and trumpets that the
+French were almost deafened by the sound. After some discussion, it was
+determined that the landing should be attempted without waiting for the
+rest of the army. Among the first who reached the shore was Joinville,
+Seneschal of Champagne, who, accompanied by another baron, and their
+men-at-arms, landed in the face of an immense body of Turkish cavalry,
+that instantly spurred forward against them. The French planted their
+large shields[860] in the sand, with their lances resting on the rim, so
+that a complete chevaux-de-frise was raised, from which the Turks turned
+off without venturing an assault. St. Louis himself soon followed, and in
+his chivalrous impatience to land, sprang into the water up to his
+shoulders, and, sword in hand, rushed on to charge the Saracens.
+
+Intimidated at the bold actions of the French, the Moslems fled from the
+beach; and as the crusaders advanced, the unexpected news of the death of
+their sultaun reached the Saracens, upon which they abandoned even the
+city of Damietta itself, without waiting to destroy the bridge, though
+they set fire to the bazaars.[861]
+
+At Damietta Louis paused for the arrival of his brother, the Count of
+Poitiers, and the rest of the forces; and here, with the usual
+improvidence that marked all the crusades, the army gave itself up to
+luxury and debauchery, which the king neither by laws nor example could
+check. At length the reinforcements appeared, and Louis, leaving the queen
+at Damietta, marched on towards Cairo; but near Massoura he found his
+advance impeded by the Thanisian canal, on the other side of which the
+Saracens were drawn up to oppose his progress under the command of the
+celebrated Emir Ceccidun. No other means of passing the canal seemed
+practicable, but by throwing a causeway across. This was accordingly
+commenced, under cover of two high moveable towers, called _chats
+chatiels_, or cat-castles, which were scarcely raised before they were
+burnt by quantities of Greek fire, thrown from the _pierriers_ and
+mangonels.
+
+At length an Arabian peasant agreed, for a large bribe, to point out a
+ford. The Count of Artois, with fourteen hundred knights, was directed to
+attempt it. He succeeded, repulsed the Saracens on the banks, and pursued
+them to Massoura. The panic among the Moslems was general, and Massoura
+was nearly deserted. The more experienced and prudent knights of all
+classes advised the Count of Artois to pause for the arrival of the king
+and the rest of the army. The Count, with passionate eagerness, accused
+his good counsellors of cowardice. Chivalrous honour thus assailed forgot
+reason and moderation; each one more ardently than another advanced into
+Massoura: the Moslems, recovered from their fear, returned in great
+numbers; the fight began in earnest, and almost the whole of the imprudent
+advance-guard of the Christians was cut to pieces. The Count of Artois
+fell among the first;[862] and when Louis himself arrived, all was dismay
+and confusion. The battle was now renewed with redoubled vigour; Louis
+fought in every part of the strife, and the French and Saracens seemed
+emulous of each other in the paths of glory and destruction. The sun went
+down over the field of Massoura, leaving neither army assuredly the
+victors; but the Saracens had been repulsed, and Louis remained master of
+the plain.
+
+Sickness and famine soon began to rage in the Christian camp. The Moslems
+had now interrupted the communication with Damietta; and every soldier in
+the army was enfeebled by disease. Negotiations were begun for peace; but
+were broken off, because the sultaun would receive no hostage for the
+evacuation of Damietta but Louis himself; and it was determined to attempt
+a retreat. Many strove to escape by the river, but were taken in the
+attempt; and the host itself was incessantly subject to the attacks of the
+Saracens, who hung upon its rear during the whole march, cutting off every
+party that was detached, even to procure the necessaries of life. In this
+dreadful state Louis long continued to struggle against sickness, fighting
+ever where danger was most imminent, and bearing up when the hardiest
+soldiers of his army failed. At length he could hardly sit his horse; and
+in the confusion of the flight--which was now the character of the
+retreat--he was separated from his own servants, and attended only by the
+noble Geoffroy de Sergines, who defended him against all the attacks of
+the enemy. He was led to a hut at the village of Cazel, where he lay,
+expecting every moment that the plague would accomplish its work. He was
+thus taken by the Saracens,[863] who assisted in his recovery and treated
+him with honour. The greater part of the army fell into the Moslems'
+power, but an immense number were slain and drowned in attempting their
+escape.
+
+Several difficulties now arose with regard to the ransom of the king; the
+Saracens demanding the cession of various parts of Palestine still in the
+hands of the Christians. This, however, Louis refused; and conducted
+himself in prison with so much boldness, that the sultaun declared he was
+the proudest infidel he had ever beheld. To humble him to his wishes, the
+torture of the bernicles was threatened;[864] but the monarch remained so
+unmoved, that his enfranchisement was at last granted on other terms. Ten
+thousand golden besants were to be paid for the freedom of the army; the
+city of Damietta was to be restored to the Saracens, and a peace of ten
+years was concluded. During the interval which followed these
+arrangements, the sultaun was assassinated, and the fate of St. Louis was
+again doubtful; but the murderers agreed to the same terms which had been
+before stipulated. Nevertheless, some acts of cruelty were committed; and
+a great number of the sick were massacred at Damietta. The treasure which
+the king possessed on the spot not being sufficient to furnish the whole
+ransom, his friends were obliged to seize upon the wealth of the Grand
+Master of the Temple, who basely refused to lend a portion to redeem his
+fellow-christians. At length the first part of the sum was paid; the great
+body of the foreign nobles who had joined in the crusade returned to
+Europe, and Louis himself retired to Acre. The Saracens had already broken
+the treaty with Louis by the murder of the sick at Damietta, and by the
+detention of several knights and soldiers, as well as a large body of
+Christian children. The promise of peace, therefore, was not imperative;
+and the Sultaun of Damascus eagerly courted the French king to aid him in
+his efforts against the people of Egypt.[865] The news of this negotiation
+immediately brought deputies from Egypt, who submitted to the terms which
+Louis thought fit to propose; and that monarch, without mingling in the
+wars that raged between the two Moslem countries, only took advantage of
+them to repair the fortifications of Jaffa and Cesarea. After having spent
+two years in putting the portion of Palestine that yet remained to the
+Latins[866] into a defensible state, he set sail for France, where his
+presence was absolutely required.
+
+Before proceeding to trace the after-fate of the Holy Land,[867] it may
+be as well to conduct St. Louis to his last crusade. Sixteen years after
+his return to Europe, that monarch once more determined on rearing the
+banner of the Cross. Immense numbers flocked to join him, and England
+appeared willing to second all the efforts of the French king. Edward, the
+heir of the English monarchy, assumed the Cross; and large sums were
+raised throughout Britain for defraying the expenses of the war.
+
+In 1270, St. Louis, accompanied by the flower of his national nobility,
+and followed by sixty thousand chosen troops, set sail for Palestine, but
+was driven by a storm into Sardinia. Here a change in his plans took
+place; and it was resolved that the army should land in Africa, where the
+King of Tunis some time before had professed himself favourable to the
+Christian religion. St. Louis had been long so weak, that he could not
+bear the weight of his armour,[868] nor the motion of a horse, for any
+length of time; but still his indefatigable zeal sustained him; and after
+a short passage, he arrived on the coast of Africa, opposite to the city
+of Carthage.
+
+Although his coming had been so suddenly resolved,[869] a large Mahommedan
+force was drawn up to oppose his landing; but the French knights forced
+their way to the shore, and after a severe contest, obtained a complete
+victory over the Moors. Siege was then laid to Carthage, which was also
+taken; but before these conquests could be turned to any advantage, an
+infectious flux began to appear in the army. St. Louis was one of the
+first attacked. His enfeebled constitution was not able to support the
+effects of the disease, and it soon became evident that the monarch's days
+were rapidly drawing to their close. In this situation, with the most
+perfect consciousness of his approaching fate, St. Louis called his son
+Philip,[870] and spoke long to him on his duty to the people he left to
+his charge; teaching him with the beautiful simplicity of true wisdom. The
+king then withdrew his thoughts from all earthly things, performed the
+last rites of his religion, and yielded his soul to God.[871]
+
+Scarcely was the monarch dead, when Charles of Sicily arrived with large
+reinforcements, and unknowing the event, approached Carthage with martial
+music, and every sign of rejoicing. His joy was soon turned into grief by
+the tidings of his brother's fate;[872] and the courage of the Moors being
+raised by the sorrow of their enemies, the united armies of France and
+Sicily were attacked by a very superior power.
+
+After a variety of engagements, Philip, now King of France, and Charles,
+of Sicily, compelled the defeated Moors to sue for peace; and collecting
+his troops, the new monarch returned to Europe, driven from the coast
+rather by the pestilence that raged in his army,[873] than by the efforts
+of the infidels.
+
+Prince Edward of England had taken the Cross, as I have already said, with
+the intention of following Louis IX. to the Holy Land; and with the small
+force he could collect, amounting to not more than fifteen hundred men, he
+arrived in the Mediterranean, but hearing that Louis had turned from the
+direct object of the crusade, he proceeded to Sicily, where he passed the
+winter.
+
+As soon as spring rendered navigation possible, he set sail, and arrived
+at Acre, where he found the state of Palestine infinitely worse than it
+had been since the first taking of Jerusalem.
+
+Disunion and violence had done far more to destroy the Christians of the
+Holy Land than the swords of the infidels. The two military Orders had
+been constantly opposed to each other, and had often been engaged in
+sanguinary warfare. The knights of St. John had ever the advantage; and at
+one time the Templars of Palestine had nearly been exterminated. The
+clergy attempted to encroach upon the privileges of both. The different
+Italian republics, who had secured to themselves various portions of
+territory, and various commercial immunities, were in continual warfare;
+and while the Saracens and the Mamelukes were gradually taking possession
+of the whole soil--while the fortresses of Cesarea, Jaffa, and Saphoury
+fell into the hands of the infidels, as well as all the cities and feoffs
+of the Latins, except Acre and Tyre--the sands of Palestine were often wet
+with Christian blood, shed by the hands of Christians. Antioch also fell
+almost without resistance, and the citizens were either doomed to death or
+led into captivity.
+
+Such was the state of the Holy Land at the time of Prince Edward's
+arrival. His name, however, was a host; the disunion among the Christians
+was healed by his coming;[874] every exertion was made to render his
+efforts effectual; and he soon found himself at the head of a small but
+veteran force, amounting to seven thousand men. With this he advanced upon
+Nazareth, and after a severe conflict with the Moslems, he made himself
+master of that city, in which all the Saracens that remained were
+slaughtered without mercy. The climate put a stop to his successes. It was
+now the middle of summer, and the excessive heat brought on a fever, from
+which Edward was recovering, when a strange messenger desired to render
+some despatches to the prince's own hand. He was admitted; and as the
+young leader lay in his bed, without any attendants, he delivered the
+letters, and for a moment spoke to him of the affairs of Jaffa. The
+instant after, he drew a dagger from his belt, and before Edward was
+aware, had stabbed him in the chest. The prince was enfeebled, but was
+still sufficiently vigorous to wrench the weapon from the assassin, and to
+put him to death with his own hand. His attendants, alarmed by the
+struggle, rushed into the apartment, and found Edward bleeding from the
+wound inflicted by a poisoned knife. Skilful means[875] were instantly
+used to preserve his life;[876] and an antidote, sent by the Grand Master
+of the Temple, is said to have obviated the effects of the poison.
+Edward's natural vigour, with care, soon restored him to health; and the
+Sultaun of Egypt, daunted by the courage and ability of the English
+prince, and engaged in ruinous wars in other directions, offered peace on
+advantageous conditions, which were accepted. Edward and his followers
+returned to Europe, and the Christians of Palestine were left to take
+advantage of a ten years' truce.
+
+Such was the end of the last expedition. In 1274, Gregory X., who had
+himself witnessed the sorrows of Palestine, attempted to promote a new
+crusade, and held a council for that purpose at Lyons, where many great
+and noble personages assumed the Cross. The death of the Pope followed
+shortly afterward, and the project was abandoned, on the loss of him who
+had given it birth. In Palestine, all now tended to the utter expulsion of
+the Christians. The Latins themselves first madly broke the truce, by
+plundering some Egyptian merchants near Margat. Keladun, then Sultaun of
+Cairo, hastened to revenge the injury, and Margat was taken from the
+Christians, after a gallant defence.[877] Tripoli, which had hitherto
+escaped by various concessions to the Moslems, fell shortly after Margat;
+and in the third year from that period, two hundred thousand Mahommedans
+were under the walls of Acre, the last possession of the Christians. The
+Grand Master of St. John had collected together a small body of Italian
+mercenaries, but no serviceable support could be won from the kings of
+Europe.
+
+The Grand Master[878] of the Temple, however, with the rest of the
+military Orders, and about twelve thousand men, being joined by the King
+of Cyprus, resolved to undergo a siege. The greater part of the useless
+inhabitants were sent away by sea, and the garrison prepared to defend
+themselves to the last. This was the final blaze of chivalric valour that
+shone on the Holy Land. The numbers of the Moslems were overpowering, and
+after a breach had been made in the walls by the fall of what was called
+the _Cursed Tower_, a general assault took place. The King of Cyprus made
+a dastardly flight, but the Templars and the Teutonic knights died where
+they stood, and the Hospitallers only left the city to attack the rear of
+the besieging army. Here they met with infinite odds against them, and
+fell man by man, till the news came that the Grand Master of the Temple
+was killed and that the city was taken. The Hospitallers then, reduced to
+seven in number, reached a ship, and quitted the shores of Palestine.
+About an equal number of Templars fled to the interior, and thence fought
+their way through the land, till they gained the means of reaching Cyprus.
+The inhabitants of the city who had not before departed fled to the
+sea;[879] but the elements themselves seemed to war against them, and ere
+they could escape, the Saracen sword died the sands with their blood. The
+Moslems then set fire to the devoted town, and the last vestige of the
+Christian power in Syria was swept from the face of the earth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+_Fate of the Orders of the Temple and St. John--The Templars abandon all
+Hopes of recovering Jerusalem--Mingle in European Politics--Offend Philip
+the Fair--Are persecuted--Charges against them--The Order destroyed--The
+Knights of St. John pursue the Purpose of defending Christendom--Settle in
+Rhodes--Siege of Rhodes--Gallant Defence--The Island taken--The Knights
+remove to Malta--Siege of Malta--La Valette--Defence of St. Elmo--
+Gallantry of the Garrison--The Whole Turkish Army attempt to storm the
+Castle--The Attack repelled--Arrival of Succour--The Siege raised--The
+Progress of Chivalry independent of the Crusades--Chivalrous
+Exploits--Beneficial Tendency of Chivalry--Corruption of the Age not
+attributable to Chivalry--Decline of the Institution--In Germany, England,
+France--Its Extinction._
+
+
+From the period of the fall of Acre crusades were only spoken of; but the
+spirit of Chivalry was perhaps not the less active, though it had taken
+another course: nor did it lose in purity by being directed, moderated,
+and deprived of the ferocity which always follows fanaticism. The Holy
+Land had become a place of vice and debauchery, as well as a theatre for
+the display of great deeds and noble resolution; and we find, that however
+orderly and regular any army was on its departure from Europe, it soon
+acquired all the habits of immorality and improvidence which seemed some
+inherent quality of that unhappy climate. This was peculiarly apparent in
+the two Orders of the Hospital and the Temple, the rules of which were
+particularly calculated to guard against luxury of every kind; yet, the
+one, till its extinction and both, during their sojourn in Palestine, were
+the receptacle of more depravity and crimes than perhaps any other body of
+men could produce. After the capture of Acre the knights of these two
+Orders retreated to Cyprus; and when some ineffectual efforts had been
+made to excite a new crusade for the recovery of Palestine, the Templars
+retired from that country, and, spreading themselves throughout their
+vast possessions in Europe, seem really to have abandoned all thought of
+fighting any more for the sepulchre. With the rest of Europe they spoke of
+fresh expeditions, it is true; but in the mean while they gave themselves
+up to the luxury, pride, and ambition which, if it was not the real cause
+of their downfall, at least furnished the excuse. Philip the Fair of
+France, on his accession to the throne, showed great favour to the
+Templars,[880] and held out hopes that he would attempt to establish the
+Order once more in the land which had given it birth. But the Templars
+were now deeply occupied in the politics of Europe itself: their haughty
+Grand Master was almost equal to a king in power, and would fain have made
+kings his slaves. In the disputes between Philip and Boniface VIII., the
+Templars took the part of the Pope, and treated the monarch, in his own
+realm, with insolent contempt; but they knew not the character of him
+whose wrath they roused. Philip was at once vindictive and avaricious, and
+the destruction of the Templars offered the gratification of both
+passions: he was also calm, bold, cunning, and remorseless; and from the
+vengeance of such a man it was difficult to escape. The vices of the
+Templars were notorious,[881] and on these it was easy to graft crimes of
+a deeper die. Reports, rumours, accusations, circulated rapidly through
+Europe; and Philip, resolved upon crushing the unhappy Order, took care
+that on the very first vacancy his creature, Bertrand de Got, Archbishop
+of Bourdeaux,[882] should be elevated to the papal throne. Before he
+suffered the ambitious prelate to be elected, he bound him to grant five
+conditions, four of which were explained to him previously, but the fifth
+was to be kept in secrecy till after his elevation. Bertrand pledged
+himself to all these terms; and as soon as he had received the triple
+crown, was informed that the last dreadful condition was the destruction
+of the Order of the Temple. He hesitated, but was forced to consent; and
+after various stratagems to inveigle all the principal Templars into
+France, Philip caused them suddenly to be arrested throughout his
+dominions,[883] and had them arraigned of idolatry, immorality, extortion,
+and treason, together with crimes whose very name must not soil this page.
+Mixed with a multitude of charges, both false and absurd, were various
+others too notorious to be confuted by the body, and many which could be
+proved against individuals. Several members of the Order confessed some of
+the crimes laid to their charge, and many more were afterward induced to
+do so by torture; but at a subsequent period of the trial, when the whole
+of the papal authority was used to give the proceeding the character of a
+regular legal inquisition, a number of individuals confessed, on the
+promise of pardon, different offences, sufficient to justify rigorous
+punishment against themselves, and to implicate deeply the institution to
+which they belonged. James de Mollay, however, the Grand Master, firmly
+denied every charge, and defended himself and his brethren with a calm and
+dignified resolution that nothing could shake.
+
+It would be useless as well as painful to dwell upon all the particulars
+of their trial, where space is not allowed to investigate minutely the
+facts: it is sufficient to say, that the great body of the Templars in
+France were sentenced to be imprisoned for life, and a multitude were
+burned at the stake, where they showed that heroic firmness which they had
+ever evinced in the field of battle. Their large possessions were of
+course confiscated. In Spain, their aid against the Moors was too
+necessary to permit of similar rigour, and they were generally acquitted
+in that country. In England, the same persecutions were carried on, but
+with somewhat of a milder course: and the last blow was put to the whole
+by a council held at Vienne, which formally dissolved the Order, and
+transferred its estates to the Hospitallers. James de Mollay and the Grand
+Prior of France were the last victims, and were publicly burned in Paris
+for crimes that beyond doubt they did not commit. To suppose that the
+Templars were guilty of the specific offences attributed to them would be
+to suppose them a congregation of madmen; but to believe they were a
+religious or a virtuous Order would be to charge all Europe with a general
+and purposeless conspiracy.
+
+In the mean while, the Knights Hospitallers confined themselves to the
+objects for which they were originally instituted; and, that they might
+always be prepared to fight against the enemies of Christendom, they
+obtained a cession of the island of Rhodes, from which they expelled the
+Turks. Here they continued for many years, a stumblingblock in the way of
+Moslem conquest; but at length, the chancellor of the Order, named
+d'Amaral,[884] disappointed of the dignity of Grand Master, in revenge, it
+is said, invited the Turks to the siege, and gave them the plan of the
+island with its fortifications. Soliman II. instantly led an army against
+it; but the gallant knights resisted with a determined courage, that drove
+the imperious sultaun almost to madness. He commanded his celebrated
+general, Mustapha, to be slain with arrows,[885] attributing to him the
+misfortune of the siege; and at length had begun to withdraw his forces,
+when a more favourable point of attack was discovered, and the knights
+were ultimately obliged to capitulate. The city of Rhodes was by this time
+reduced to a mere heap of stones, and at one period of the siege, the
+Grand Master himself remained thirty-four days in the trenches, without
+ever sitting down to food, or taking repose, but such as he could gain
+upon an uncovered mattress at the foot of the wall. So noble a defence
+well merited an honourable fate; and even after their surrender, the
+knights were the objects of admiration and praise to all Europe, though
+Europe had suffered them to fall without aid. The sultaun, before he
+allowed the Order to transfer itself to Candia, which had been stipulated
+by the treaty, requested to see the Grand Master: and to console him for
+his loss, he said, "The conquest and the fall of empires are but the
+sports of fortune." He then strove to win the gallant knight who had so
+well defended his post to the Ottoman service, holding out to him the most
+magnificent offers, and showing what little cause he had to remain
+attached to the Christians,[886] who had abandoned him; but Villiers
+replied, that he thanked him for his generous proposals, yet that he
+should be unworthy of such a prince's good opinion if he could accept
+them.
+
+Before the Order of St. John could fix upon any determinate plan of
+proceeding, it was more than once threatened with a complete separation,
+by various divisions in its councils.
+
+At length motives, partly political, partly generous, induced the emperor
+Charles V. to offer the island of Malta to the Hospitallers. This proposal
+was soon accepted,[887] and after various negotiations the territory was
+delivered up to the knights, who took full possession on the 26th of
+October, 1530. Thirty-five years had scarcely passed, when the Order of
+St. John, which was now known by the name of the Order of Malta, was
+assailed in its new possession by an army composed of thirty thousand
+veteran Turkish soldiers. The news of this armament's approach had long
+before reached the island, and every preparation had been made to render
+its efforts ineffectual. The whole of the open country was soon in the
+hands of the Turks, and they resolved to begin the siege by the attack of
+a small fort, situated at the end of a tongue of land which separated the
+two ports. The safety of the island and the Order depended upon the castle
+of St. Elmo--a fact which the Turkish admiral well knew, and the cannonade
+that he soon opened upon the fortress was tremendous and incessant. The
+knights who had been thrown into that post soon began to demand succour;
+but the Grand Master, La Valette, treated their request with indignation,
+and speedily sent fresh troops to take the place of those whom fear had
+rendered weak.
+
+A noble emulation reigned among the Hospitallers, and they contended only
+which should fly to the perilous service. A sortie was made from the fort,
+and the Turks were driven back from their position; but the forces of the
+Moslems were soon increased by the arrival of the famous Dragut; and the
+succour which the viceroy of Sicily had promised to the knights did not
+appear. After the coming of Dragut, the siege of St. Elmo was pressed with
+redoubled ardour. A ravelin was surprised, and a lodgment effected; and
+the cavalier, which formed one of the principal fortifications, had nearly
+been taken. Day after day, night after night, new efforts were made on
+either part; and the cannon of the Turks never ceased to play upon the
+walls of the fort, while, at the same time, the ravelin which they had
+captured was gradually raised till it overtopped the parapet. The whole of
+the outer defences were now exposed: the garrison could only advance by
+means of trenches and a subterranean approach; and to cut off even these
+communications with the parapet, the pacha threw across a bridge from the
+ravelin, covering it with earth to defend it from fire.
+
+After this, the mine and the sap both went on at once; but the hardness of
+the rock was in favour of the besieged, and by a sortie the bridge was
+burnt.[888] In a wonderfully short time it was reconstructed; and the
+terrible fire from the Turkish lines not only swept away hundreds of the
+besieged, but ruined the defences and dismounted the artillery. In this
+state the knights sent a messenger to the Grand Master, representing their
+situation, showing that the recruits they received only drained the
+garrison of the town, without protracting the resistance of a place that
+could stand no longer, and threatening to cut their way through the enemy,
+if boats did not come to take them off. La Valette knew too well their
+situation; but he knew also, that if St. Elmo were abandoned, the viceroy
+of Sicily would never sail to the relief of Malta; and he sent three
+commissioners to examine the state of the fort, and to persuade the
+garrison to hold out to the last. Two of these officers saw that the place
+was truly untenable, but the third declared it might still be maintained;
+and, on his return, offered to throw himself into it with what volunteers
+he could raise. La Valette instantly accepted the proposal, and wrote a
+cold and bitter note to the refractory knights in St. Elmo, telling them
+that others were willing to take their place. "Come back, my brethren," he
+said, "you will be here more in safety; and, on our part, we shall feel
+more tranquil concerning the defence of St. Elmo, on the preservation of
+which depends the safety of the island and of the Order."
+
+Shame rose in the bosom of the knights; and, mortified at the very idea of
+having proposed to yield a place that others were willing to maintain,
+they now sent to implore permission to stay.
+
+La Valette well knew, from the first, that such would be their conduct;
+but, before granting their request, he replied, that he ever preferred new
+troops who were obedient, to veterans who took upon themselves to resist
+the will of their commanders: and it was only on the most humble apologies
+and entreaties that he allowed them, as a favour, to remain in the post of
+peril. From the 17th of June to the 14th of July, this little fort[889]
+had held out against all the efforts of the Turkish army, whose loss had
+been already immense. Enraged at so obstinate a resistance, the pacha now
+determined to attack the rock on which it stood, with all his forces; and
+the Grand Master, perceiving the design by the Turkish movements, took
+care to send full supplies to the garrison. Among other things thus
+received were a number of hoops covered with tow, and imbued with every
+sort of inflammable matter. For the two days preceding the assault, the
+cannon of the Turkish fleet and camp kept up an incessant fire upon the
+place, which left not a vestige of the fortifications above the surface of
+the rock. On the third morning the Turks rushed over the fosse which they
+had nearly filled, and at the given signal mounted to storm. The walls of
+the place were gone, but a living wall of veteran soldiers presented
+itself, each knight being supported by three inferior men. With dauntless
+valour the Turks threw themselves upon the pikes that opposed them; and
+after the lances had been shivered and the swords broken, they were seen
+struggling with their adversaries, and striving to end the contest with
+the dagger. A terrible fire of musketry and artillery was kept up; and the
+Christians, on their part, hurled down upon the swarms of Turks that
+rushed in unceasing multitudes from below the flaming hoops, which
+sometimes linking two or three of the enemy together, set fire to the
+light and floating dresses of the east, and enveloped many in a horrible
+death. Still, however, the Turks rushed on, thousands after thousands, and
+still the gallant little band of Christians repelled all their efforts,
+and maintained possession of the height.
+
+From the walls of the town, and from the castle of St. Angelo, the
+dreadful struggle for St. Elmo was clearly beheld; and the Christian
+people and the knights, watching the wavering current of the fight, felt
+perhaps more painfully all the anxious horror of the scene, than those
+whose whole thoughts and feelings were occupied in the actual combat. La
+Valette himself stood on the walls of St. Angelo, not spending his time in
+useless anticipations, but scanning eagerly every motion of the enemy, and
+turning the artillery of the fortress in that direction where it might
+prove of the most immediate benefit. At length he beheld a body of Turks
+scaling a rampart, from which the attention of the besieged had been
+called by a furious attack on the other side.[890] Their ladders were
+placed, and still the defenders of St. Elmo did not perceive them--they
+began their ascent--they reached the top of the rampart--but at that
+moment the Grand Master opened a murderous fire upon them from the
+citadel, and swept them from the post they had gained. The cavalier was
+next attacked; but here also the Turks were met by those destructive hoops
+of fire which caused more dread in their ranks than all the other efforts
+of the Christians. Wherever they fell confusion followed; and at the end
+of a tremendous fight of nine hours, the Moslems were obliged to sound a
+retreat.
+
+A change of operations now took place; means were used to cut off the
+communication with the town; and, after holding out some time longer, the
+fort of St. Elmo was taken, the last knight of its noble garrison dying in
+the breach. The whole force of the Turks was thenceforth turned towards
+the city; and a slow but certain progress was made, notwithstanding all
+the efforts of the Grand Master and his devoted companions. In vain he
+wrote to the viceroy of Sicily; no succour arrived for many days. The town
+was almost reduced to extremity. The bastion of St. Catherine was scaled,
+and remained some time in the hands of the infidels, who would have
+maintained it longer, had not La Valette himself rushed to the spot; and,
+after receiving a severe wound, succeeded in dislodging the assailants.
+
+A small succour came at length under the command of Don Juan de Cardonna;
+but this was overbalanced by the junction of the viceroy of Algiers with
+the attacking force. The bulwark of all Christendom was being swept away,
+while Christian kings stood looking on, and once more saw the knights of
+St. John falling man by man before the infidels, without stretching forth
+a hand to save them.
+
+A large army had, in the mean while, been assembled in Sicily, under the
+pretence of assisting Malta; and at last the soldiers clamoured so loudly
+to be led to the glorious service for which they had been enrolled, that
+the vacillating viceroy after innumerable delays was forced to yield to
+their wishes, and set sail for the scene of conflict.[891] The island was
+reached in safety, the troops disembarked; and though the Turks still
+possessed the advantage of numbers, a panic seized them, and they fled.
+Joy and triumph succeeded to danger and dread, and the name of La Valette
+and his companions, remains embalmed among the memories of the noble and
+great.
+
+This was the last important event in the history of the Order of St. John;
+and since that day, it has gradually descended to later years, blending
+itself with modern institutions till its distinctive character has been
+lost, and the knights of Malta are reckoned among the past.
+
+It does not seem necessary to trace the other military fraternities which
+originated in the crusades to their close; but something more must be said
+concerning the progress of Chivalry in Europe, and the effect that it had
+upon society in general. The Holy Wars were, indeed, the greatest efforts
+of knighthood; but during the intervals between each expedition beyond the
+seas, and that which followed, and often during the time of preparation,
+the knight found plenty of occupation for his sword in his own country.
+The strife with the Moors in Spain bore entirely the aspect of the
+crusades, but the sanguinary conflicts between France and England offered
+continual occasions both for the display of knightly valour and of
+knightly generosity. The bitterest national enmity existed between the two
+countries--they were ever engaged in struggling against each other; and
+yet we find, through the whole, that mutual courtesy when the battle was
+over, and in the times of truce that frank co-operation, or that rivalry
+in noble efforts, which belonged so peculiarly to Chivalry. Occasionally,
+it is true, a cruel and bloodthirsty warrior would stain his successes
+with ungenerous rigour--for where is the institution which has ever been
+powerful enough to root out the evil spot from the heart of man? But the
+great tone of all the wars of Chivalry was valour in the field and
+courtesy in the hall. Deeds were often done in the heat of blood which
+general barbarism of manners alone would excuse; and most of the men whom
+we are inclined to love and to admire have left some blot on that page of
+history which records their lives. But to judge of the spirit of the
+Order, we must not look to those instances where the habits of the age
+mixed up a vast portion of evil with the general character of the knight,
+but we must turn our eyes upon those splendid examples where chivalrous
+feeling reached its height, did away all the savage cruelty of the time,
+and raised human actions almost to sublimity.
+
+Remarking these instances, and seeing what the spirit of Chivalry could
+produce in its perfection, we may judge what the society of that day would
+have been without it: we may trace truly the effect it had in civilizing
+the world, and we may comprehend the noble legacy it left to after-years.
+Had Chivalry not existed, all the vices which we behold in that period of
+the world's history would have been immensely increased; for there would
+have been no counteracting incitement. The immorality of those times would
+have been a thousand degrees more gross, for passion would have wanted the
+only principle of refinement; the ferocity of the brave would have shown
+itself in darker scenes of bloodshed, for no courtesy would have tempered
+it with gentleness. Even religion would have longer remained obscured, for
+the measures taken to darken it, by those whose interest it was to make it
+a means of rule, would have been but faintly opposed, had not Chivalry, by
+softening the manners of the age, and promoting general communication
+between man and man, gradually done away darkness and admitted light.
+
+Because knights were superstitious, it has been supposed that superstition
+was apart of knighthood; but this was not at all the case. The gross
+errors grafted by the Roman church on the pure doctrine of salvation often
+taught the knight cruelty, and disgraced Chivalry, by making it the means
+of persecution; but the tendency of the Order itself was to purify and
+refine, and the civilization thereby given to the world in general
+ultimately produced its effect in doing away superstition. The libertinism
+of society in the middle ages has also been wrongly attributed to
+knighthood, and thus the most beneficial institutions are too often
+confounded with the vices that spring up around them. That the fundamental
+doctrine of Chivalry, if I may so express myself, was decidedly opposed to
+every infraction of morality, is susceptible of proof. In all authors who
+have collected the precepts of Chivalry, we find sobriety and continence
+enjoined as among the first duties of a knight: and female chastity was so
+particularly esteemed, that we are told by the Chevalier de la Tour, if a
+lady of doubtful virtue presented herself in company with the good,
+whatever were her rank, the knights would cause her to give place to those
+of unsullied fame. From every thing that I can read or hear, I am inclined
+to believe that the virtues of the knights of old arose in the Order of
+Chivalry alone, and that their faults belonged to the age in which they
+lived.[892]
+
+In common with all human institutions, Chivalry presents a new aspect in
+every page of the book of history. Sometimes it is severe and stern;
+sometimes light and gay; but the qualities of valour, courtesy, and
+enthusiasm shine out at every period of its existence.
+
+At the battle of Crecy, Edward the Black Prince, then fourteen years of
+age, fought for his knightly spurs; and his father, King Edward III., from
+a mound near the mill, beheld his gallant son surrounded on every side by
+enemies. The companions of the young hero sent to the king for succour,
+alleging the dangerous situation of the Prince of Wales; on which Edward
+demanded, "Is he dead, or overthrown, or so wounded that he cannot
+continue to fight?" And on being informed that his son still lived, he
+added, "Return to him, and to those who sent you, and tell them, whatever
+happens, to seek no aid from me so long as my son be in life. Further say,
+that I command them to let the boy well win his spurs; for, please God,
+the day shall be his, and the honour shall rest with him."[893]
+
+In this instance, Edward required no more from his child than he was
+willing in his own person to endure. No one ever evinced more chivalrous
+courage than that monarch himself; and in the skirmish under the walls of
+Calais, he fought hand to hand with the famous De Ribaumont, who brought
+him twice upon his knee, but was at length vanquished by the king. After
+the battle, Edward entertained his prisoners in the town; and when supper
+was concluded the victorious monarch approached his adversary, took the
+chaplet of rich pearls from his own brow, placed it on the head of De
+Ribaumont, and said, "Sir Eustace, I give this wreath to you, as the best
+of this day's combatants, and I beg you to wear it a year for my love. I
+know that you are gay and gallant, and willingly find yourselves where
+ladies are. Tell them, then, wherever you may be, that I gave you this
+token; and, moreover, I free you from your prison. Go to-morrow, if it
+please you."[894]
+
+Such was the character of knighthood; and whether we read anecdotes like
+the above, or trace in the rolls of history the feats of an Edward the
+Black Prince, of a Duguesclin, of a Talbot, a Henry, or a Bayard, we find
+the same spirit; varied, indeed, according to the mind of the individual,
+but raising all his virtues to the highest pitch of perfection, and
+restraining all his faults as much as human errors can be restrained.
+
+It would be endless to detail all those marvels which Chivalry at various
+times effected; nor have I space to dwell upon Crecy, or Poitiers, or
+Agincourt. With respect to those great battles, where England was so
+eminently triumphant, it is sufficient to point out the extraordinary
+fact, that though the glory rested with the British, no disgrace attached
+to their enemies. Each knight in the French armies did every thing that
+personal valour could do to win the field; and the honour to England
+consists not so much in having conquered, as in having conquered such
+opponents. For long, however, it appears that the French commanders were
+inferior to the English in skill, and that their forces were destitute of
+that unity which alone secures success. At length, the son of a nobleman
+of Brittany, who had been much neglected in his early years, began to make
+head against the English. From his infancy Bertrand Duguesclin had shown
+the most persevering passion for arms, which had been always repressed;
+till at a tournament--from the neighbourhood of which he had been
+purposely sent away--he appeared in disguise, defeated all that
+encountered him, and was only discovered by refusing to meet his own
+father. From that hour Duguesclin rose in the estimation of the world; and
+after opposing, with considerable success, Edward the Black Prince
+himself, on the death of that noble commander he delivered the greater
+part of France from the domination of the English.
+
+One of the favourite schemes of Duguesclin was to restore to Chivalry its
+ancient simplicity, and he strove by every means to enforce the more
+severe and salutary laws by which it had been originally governed. Of
+course, an institution which had vast privileges and obligations was not
+without rewards and punishments; and many of these were revived by
+Duguesclin after he had become Constable of France.
+
+The custom of cutting the tablecloth with a knife or dagger before a
+knight who had in any way degraded himself[895] is said, by some, to have
+been brought into use by Duguesclin, though others affirm that he only
+renewed an ancient habit. Much more severe inflictions, also, were
+destined for those who had dishonoured the Order to which they belonged by
+cowardice, treachery, or any other unmanly crime. The criminal, condemned
+to be stripped of his knighthood, was placed upon a scaffold, in the sight
+of the populace, while his armour was broken to pieces before his face.
+His shield reversed, with the coat-of-arms effaced, was dragged through
+the dirt, while the heralds proclaimed aloud his crime and his sentence.
+The king-at-arms then thrice demanded his name; and at each time, when the
+pursuivant replied, the king added, "A faithless and disloyal traitor!" A
+basin[896] of hot water was poured upon the culprit's head, to wash away
+the very memory of his knighthood; and, being drawn on a hurdle to the
+church, he was covered with a pall, while the funeral prayers were
+pronounced over him, as one dead to honour and to fame.
+
+Notwithstanding every means taken to uphold it, Chivalry gradually
+declined from the beginning of the fourteenth century. In England the long
+civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster called into action a
+thousand principles opposed to knightly courtesy and generosity. Many
+flashes of the chivalrous spirit blazed up from time to time, it is true;
+but the general character of those contentions was base and interested
+treachery on all parts.
+
+The mean and avaricious spirit which seized upon Henry VII. in his latter
+years of course had its effect on his court and country; and the infamous
+extortions of his creatures Empson and Dudley, the ruin which they brought
+upon many of the nobility, and the disgust and terror which their tyranny
+spread through the land, served to check all those pageants and exercises
+which kept alive the sinking flame of Chivalry. Henry VIII., in the vigour
+of his youth, made vast efforts to give back to knighthood its ancient
+splendour; but the spirit had been as much injured as the external form,
+and though he could renew the one, he could not recall the other. The
+wavering tyranny of his old age also did more to extinguish the last
+sparks of knightly feeling, than his youth had done to revive the pomp of
+Chivalry. Then came the Reformation, and a new enthusiasm grew up through
+the land.
+
+In Germany the reign of the Emperor Maximilian was the last in which
+Chivalry can be said to have existed. Charles V. reduced all things to
+calculation, and though the name of knighthood remained, it soon became
+nothing but a sound.
+
+The land which had given birth to the institution cherished it long; and
+there its efforts were continually reawakened even in its decline. During
+the unhappy reign of Charles VI., France, torn by factions, each
+struggling for the sceptre of the insane monarch, saw Chivalry employed
+for the purposes of ambition alone. While all parties turned their arms
+against their fellow-countrymen, a stranger seized on the power for which
+they fought, and the English house of Lancaster seated itself on the
+throne of France. Charles VII. succeeded to a heritage of wars; but,
+apparently reckless, from the desperate state of his dominions, he yielded
+himself wholly to pleasure, without striking a blow for the recovery of
+his kingdom, till Joan of Arc recalled him to glory and himself. From that
+moment Chivalry again revived, and no period of French history presents
+knighthood under a brighter aspect than during the wars of Charles VII. At
+the same time, however, an institution was founded which soon changed the
+character of Chivalry, and in the end reduced it to a name.
+
+The inconveniences attached to the knightly mode of warfare were many and
+striking; order and discipline were out of the question; and though
+courage did much, Charles VII. saw that courage well directed would do
+infinitely more. To establish, therefore, a body over which he might have
+some control, he raised a company of _gen-d'armerie_, which soon by its
+courage and its success drew into its own rank all the great and noble of
+the kingdom. Thus came a great change over the Order; knights became mere
+soldiers, and Chivalry was used as a machine. Louis XI. contributed still
+more to do away Chivalry, by depressing the nobility and founding a
+standing army of mercenary troops. Charles VIII. and Louis XII., by
+romantic wars in Italy, renewed the fire of the waning institution; and
+Francis I., the most chivalrous of kings, beheld it blaze up under his
+reign like the last flash of an expiring flame. He, however unwittingly
+aided to extinguish it entirely, and by extending knighthood to civilians,
+deprived it of its original character. The pomps and pageants, the
+exercises and the games, which had accompanied the Order from its early
+days, were now less frequent: popes had censured them as vain and cruel,
+and many kings had discountenanced them as expensive and dangerous: but
+the death of Henry II., from a wound received at a tournament, put an end
+to them in France; and from that time all the external ceremonies of
+Chivalry were confined to the reception of a knight into any of the royal
+Orders.
+
+The distinctive spirit also had by this time greatly merged into other
+feelings. The valour was as much the quality of the simple soldier as of
+the knight; the courtesy had spread to society in general, and had become
+politeness; the gallantry had lost its refinement, and had deteriorated
+into debauchery. Faint traces of the lost institution appeared from time
+to time, especially in the wars of Henry IV. and the League. The artful
+and vicious policy of Catherine de Medicis did much to destroy it; the
+filthy effeminacy of Henry III. weakened it, in common with all noble
+feelings; and the iron rod of Richelieu struck at it as a remnant of the
+feudal power. Still a bright blaze of its daring valour shone out in
+Condé, a touch of its noble simplicity appeared in Turenne, but the false
+brilliancy of Louis XIV. completed its downfall; and Chivalry is only to
+be seen by its general effects on society.
+
+Thus things fleet by us; and in reading of all the great and mighty deeds
+of which this book has given a slight and imperfect sketch, and looking on
+the multitudes of men who have toiled and struggled through dangers,
+difficulties, and horrors for the word GLORY, the empty echo of renown, or
+perhaps a worse reward, I rise as from a phantasmagoria where a world of
+strange and glittering figures have been passing before my eyes, changing
+with the rapidity of light, and each leaving an impression for memory,
+though the whole was but the shadow of a shade.
+
+
+
+
+NOTES.
+
+
+NOTE I.--CHAP. I.
+
+Menestrier enters into a disquisition on the subject of the two
+interpretations given to the word _miles_, which would have interrupted
+the thread of my discourse too much to permit of its introduction in the
+text. I subjoin it here, however, as a good guide for those who may be
+inclined to pursue the subject further.
+
+"Il ne faut pas donc confondre le titre d'ancienne noblesse, ou de
+noblesse militaire, avec la dignité de chevalier, par l'équivoque du terme
+Latin _miles_, qui convient à l'un et à l'autre; ce que n'ont pas assez
+observé quelques autheurs, qui n'ont pas fait reflexion que dans la
+plûpart des actes écrits en langue Latine, ce mot signifie également ces
+deux différentes choses.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"L'Empereur Frederic avoir déjà? distingué ces deux espèces de Chevalerie,
+lors qu'il fit une ordonnance à Naples, l'an 1232, que personne ne se
+presentât pour recevoir l'ordre de Chevalerie, s'il n'estoit d'une
+ancienne race militaire, ou d'ancienne Chevalerie. _Ad militarem honorem
+nullus accedat, qui non sit de genere militum_; L'une de ces Chevaleries
+est donc _genus militare_, race de Chevalerie; l'autre _militaris honor_,
+honneur de Chevalerie, qui n'ont esté confonduës que par quelques
+autheurs, qui, écrivans de cette matière sans l'entendre, n'ont fait que
+l'embroüiller, au lieu de la developper.
+
+"Roger, Roy de Sicile et de Naples, fit une ordonnance, que nul ne pût
+recevoir l'ordre de Chevalerie, s'il n'estoit de race militaire. _Sancimus
+itaque, et tale proponimus edictum, ut quicumque novam militiam
+acceperit_, il l'appelle nouvelle Chevalerie, pour la distinguer de celle
+de la naissance, _sive quocumque tempore arripuerit, contra regni
+beatitudinem, pacem, atque integritatem, à militiæ nomine, et professione
+penitùs decidat, nisi fortè à militari genere per successionem duxit
+prosapiam_."--Menestrier; Preuves, chap. 1.
+
+
+NOTE II.--CHAP. II.
+
+St. Palaye, in the body of his admirable essays upon Chivalry, names the
+day preceding that of the tournament as the one on which squires were
+permitted to joust with each other: but in a note he has the following
+passage, which shows that in this, as in almost every other respect, the
+customs of chivalry varied very much at different epochs.
+
+"Les usages out varié par rapport aux tournois, suivant les divers temps
+de la Chevalerie. Dans les commencements les plus anciens chevaliers
+joutoient entre eux, et le lendemain de cette joute les nouveaux
+chevaliers s'exerçoient dans d'autres tournois, auxquels les anciens
+chevaliers se faisoient un plaisir d'assister en qualité de spectateurs.
+La coutume changea depuis: ce fut la veille des grands tournois que les
+jeunes chevaliers s'essayerent les uns contre les autres, et l'on permit
+aux écuyers de se mêler avec eux. Ceux-ci étoient récompensés par l'ordre
+de la Chevalerie, lorsqu'ils se distinguoient dans ces sortes de combats.
+Ce mélange de chevaliers et d'écuyers introduisit dans la suite divers
+abus dans la Chevalerie, et la fit bientôt dégénérer, comme le remarque M.
+Le Laboureur. Les écuyers usurpèrent successivement et par degrés les
+honneurs et les distinctions qui n'appartenoient qu'aux chevaliers, et
+peu-à-peu ils se confondirent avec eux."--_Note on St. Palaye._
+
+This note is perfectly just in the statement that in after-times the
+distinctions between knights and squires were not so strictly maintained
+as in the early days of Chivalry. At the famous jousts between the French
+and English at Chateau Joscelin, as related by Froissart, we find the
+squires opposed to the knights upon perfectly equal terms. The limits of
+this book are too narrow to admit of many long quotations; but the passage
+will be found well worthy the trouble of seeking, in the sixty fourth
+chapter of the second book of the admirable Froissart.
+
+
+NOTE III.--CHAP. II.
+
+To show the manner in which reports of all kinds were spread and collected
+even as late as the days of Edward III., I have subjoined the following
+extract from Froissart, giving an account of his reception at the court of
+the Count de Foix. It also affords a _naive_ picture of that curious
+simplicity of manners which formed one very singular and interesting trait
+in the Chivalry of old.
+
+    "_Comment Messire Jean Froissart enquéroit diligemment comment les
+    Guerres s'étoient portées par toutes les parties de la France._
+
+"Je me suis longuement tenu à parler des besognes des lointaines marches,
+mais les prochaines, tant qu'à maintenant, m'ont été si fraîches, et si
+nouvelles, et si inclinants à ma plaisance, que pour ce les ai mises
+arrière. Mais, pourtant, ne séjournoient pas les vaillants hommes, qui se
+désiroient à avancer ens [dans] on [le] royaume de Castille et de
+Portugal, et bien autant en Gascogne et en Rouergue, en Quersin [Quercy],
+en Auvergne, en Limousin, et en Toulousain, et en Bigorre; mais visoient
+et subtilloient [imaginoient] tous les jours l'un sur l'autre comment ils
+se pussent trouver en parti de fait d'armes, pour prendre, embler
+[enlever], et écheller villes, et châteaux, et forteresses. Et pour ce, je
+sire Jean Froissart, qui me suis ensoingné [étudié] et occupé de dicter et
+écrire cette histoire, à la requête et contemplation de haut prince et
+renommé Messire Guy de Châtillon, Comte de Blois, Seigneur d'Avesnes, de
+Beaumont, de Scoonhort, et de la Gende, mon bon et souverain maître et
+seigneur; considérai en moi-même, que nulle espérance n'étoit que aucuns
+faits d'armes se fissent ès parties de Picardie et de Flandre, puisque
+paix y étoit, et point ne voulois être oiseux; car je savois bien que
+encore au temps à venir, et quand je serai mort, sera cette haute et noble
+histoire en grand cours, et y prendront tous nobles et vaillants hommes
+plaisance et exemple de bien faire; et entrementes [pendant] que j'avois,
+Dieu merci, sens, mémoire, et bonne souvenance de toutes les choses
+passées, engin [esprit] clair et aigu pour concevoir tous les faits dont
+je pourrois être informé, touchants à ma principale matière, âge, corps et
+membres pour souffrir peine, me avisai que je ne voulois mie séjourner de
+non poursieure [poursuivre] ma matière; et pour savoir la vérité des
+lointaines besognes sans se que j'y envoyasse aucune autre personne en
+lieu de moi, pris voie et achoison [occasion] raisonnable d'aller devers
+haut prince et redouté seigneur, Messire Gaston, Comte de Foix et de Berne
+[Béarn]; et bien sçavois que si je pouvois venir en son hôtel, et là être
+à loisir, je ne pourrois mieux cheoir au monde, pour être informé de
+toutes nouvelles; car là sont et fréquentent volontiers tous chevaliers et
+écuyers étranges, pour la noblesse d'icelui haut prince. Et tout ainsi,
+comme je l'imaginai, il m'en advint; et remontrai ce, et le voyage que je
+voulois faire, a mon très cher et redouté seigneur, Monseigneur le Comte
+de Blois, lequel me bailla ses lettres de familiarité adressants au Comte
+de Foix. Et tant travaillai et chevauchai en quérant de tout côtés
+nouvelles, que, par la grace de Dieu, sans péril et sans dommage, je vins
+en son chatel, a Ortais [Orthez], au pays de Béarn, le jour de Sainte
+Catherine, que on compta pour lors en l'an de grace mil trois cent
+quatre-vingt et huit; lequel comte de Foix, si très tôt comme il me vit,
+me fit bonne chère, et me dit en riant en bon François: que bien il me
+connoissoit, et si ne m'avoit oncques mais vu, mais plusieurs fois avoit
+ouï parler de moi. Si me retint de son hôtel et tout aise, avec le bon
+moyen des lettres que je lui avois apportées, tant que il m'y plut à être;
+et la fus informé de la greigneur [majeure] partie des besognes qui
+étoient avenues au royaume de Castille, au royaume de Portugal, au royaume
+de Navarre, au royaume d'Aragon, et au royaume d'Angleterre, au pays de
+Bordelois, et en toute la Gascogne; et je même, quand je lui demandois
+aucune chose, il le me disoit moult volontiers; et me disoit bien que
+l'histoire que je avois fait et poursuivois seroit, au temps à venir, plus
+recommandée que mille autres: 'Raison pourquoi,' disoit-il, 'beau maître:
+puis cinquante ans en ça sont avenus plus de faits d'armes et de
+merveilles au monde qu'il n'étoit trois cents ans en devant.'
+
+"Ainsi fus-je en l'hôtel du noble Comte de Foix, recueilli et nourri à ma
+plaisance. Ce étoit ce que je désirois à enquerre toutes nouvelles
+touchants à ma matière: et je avois prêts à la main barons, chevaliers, et
+écuyers, qui m'en informoient, et le gentil Comte de Foix aussi. Si vous
+voudrois éclaircir par beau langage tout ce dont je fus adonc informé,
+pour rengrosser notre matiere, et pour exemplier les bons qui se désirent
+à avancer par armes. Car si ci-dessus j'ai prologué grands faits d'armes,
+prises et assauts de villes et de châteaux, batailles adressées et durs
+rencontres, encore en trouverez vous ensuivant grand, foison, desquelles
+et desquels, par la grace de Dieu, je ferai bonne et juste
+narration."--_Froissart_, book iii. chap. 1.
+
+
+NOTE IV.--CHAP. II.
+
+As the Brotherhood of Arms was one of the most curious customs of
+Chivalry, I have extracted from the Notes on St. Palaye, and from the
+Disquisitions of Ducange, some passages which will give a fuller view of
+its real character and ceremonies than seemed necessary in the body of
+this work.
+
+The Notes on St. Palaye also show to how late a period the custom
+descended and here let me say, that of all the treatises on Chivalry
+which I possess, there is none in which I have found the real spirit of
+knighthood so completely displayed, as in the Essays of Lucurne de St.
+Palaye, with the elegant and profound observations of M. Charles Nodier.
+
+"Les Anglois, assemblés peu avant la bataille de Pontvalain, tiennent
+conseil pour déliberer comment ils attaqueroient le connétable Duguesclin.
+Hue de Carvalai, l'un d'entre eux, ouvre son avis en ces termes: 'Se
+m'aist dieux, Bertran est le meilleur chevalier qui regne à present; il
+est duc, comte et connestable, et a esté long-temps mon compaignon en
+Espaigne, où je trouvay en luy honneur, largesse et amistié si
+habundamment et avecques ce hardement, fierté vasselage et emprise, qu'il
+n'a homme jusques en Calabre qui sceut que j'amasse autant à veoir ne
+accompaigner de jour ou de nuit pour moy aventurer à vivre ou à mourir ne
+fust ce qu'il guerrie, Monseigneur le prince. Car en ce cas je dois mettre
+poyne de le nuyre et grever comme mon ennemi. Si vous diray mon
+advis.'--(_Hist. De Bert. Duguesclin_, publiée par Menard, p. 407.)
+
+"Boucicaut, passant à son retour d'Espagne par le Comte de Foix, se trouva
+plusieurs fois à boire et à manger avec des Anglois. Comme ils jugèrent a
+des abstinences particulieres qu'ils lui virent faire dans ses repas,
+qu'il avoit voué quelque entreprise d'armes, ils lui dirent que s'il ne
+demandoit autre chose on auroit bien-tôt trouvé qui le delivreroit;
+Boucicaut leur répondit: 'Voirement estoit-ce pour combattre à oultrance,
+mais qu'il avoit compaignon; c'estoit un chevalier nomme Messire Regnault
+de Roye, sans lequel il ne pouvoit rien faire, et toutes fois s'il y avoit
+aucun d'eulx qui voulussent la bataille, il leur octroyoit et que à leur
+volente prissent jour tant que il l'eust faict à sçavoir à son
+compaignon.'--(_Histoire du Maréchal de Boucicaut_, publiée par Godefroi,
+p. 51.)
+
+"Lorsque le prince de Galles eut déclare la guerre au roi Henri de
+Castille, il manda à tous les Anglois qui etoient alors au service de ce
+prince de le quitter pour se rendre auprès de lui. Hue de Carvalai, qui
+étoit du nombre, obligé de se sêparer de Bertrand, vint lui faire ses
+adieux: 'Gentil sire, lui dit-il, il nous convient de partir nous avons
+esté ensemble par bonne compaignie, comme preudomme, et avons toujours eu
+du vostre à nostre voulente que oncques n'y ot noise ne tançon, tant des
+avoirs conquestez que des joyaulx donnez, ne oncques n'en demandasmes
+part, si pense bien que j'ay plus reçeu que vous, dont je suis vostre
+tenu. Et pour ce vous pris que nous en comptons ensemble. Et ce que je
+vous devray, je vous paieray ou assigneray. Si dist Bertran, ce c'est
+qu'un sermon, je n'ay point pensé à ce comte, ne ne sçay que ce puet
+monter. Je ne sçay se vous me devez, ou si je vous doy. Or soit tout
+quitte puisque vient au departir. Mais se de cy en avant nous acreons l'un
+à l'autre, nous ferons nouvelle depte et le convendra escripre. Il n'y a
+que du bien faire, raison donne que vous (suiviez) vostre-maistre. Ainsi
+le doibt faire tout preudomme. Bonne amour fist l'amour de nous et aussi
+en fera la departie: dont me poise qu'il convient que elle soit. Lors le
+baisa Bertran et tous ses compagnons aussi: moult fut piteuse la
+departie.'--(_Histoire de Bertrand Duguesclin_, publiée par Ménard, c.
+xxiv., p. 248 et 249.)
+
+"Duguesclin tomba dans la suite au pouvoir des Anglois, qui le retinrent
+long-temps prisonnier. Après avoir enfin obtenu sa liberté sous parole
+d'acquitter sa rançon, Carvalai, son ancien frère d'armes, qu'il avoit
+retrouvé, et qui pendant quelque temps lui tint bonne compagnie, voulut
+lui parler encore du compte qu'ils avoient à regler ensemble. 'Bertran,
+dit-il à son ami, avant que de se separer nous avons esté compagnons ou
+pays d'Espangne par de la de prisons, et d'avoir (c'est-à-dire en société
+tant pour les prisonniers que pour le butin que nous aurions) dont je ne
+comptay oncques à vous et sçay bien de pieça que je suis vostre tenu
+(redevable, en reste avec vous) dont je vouldray avoir advis: mais de tout
+le moins je vous aideray ici de trente mille doubles d'or. Je ne sçay, dit
+Bertran, comment il va du compte, mais que de la bonne compagnie; ne je
+n'en vueil point compter; mais se j'ay mestier je vous prieray. Adonc
+baisierent li uns l'autre au departir.'--(_Ibid_, p. 306.)
+
+"L'adoption en frere se trouue auoir esté pratiquée en deux manieres par
+les peuples étrangers, que les Grecs el les Latins qualifient
+ordinairement du nom de Barbares. Car parmay ceux dont les moeurs et les
+façons d'agir ressentoient effectiuement quelque chose de rude et
+d'inhumain, elle se faisoit en se piquant reciproquement les veines, et
+beuuant le sang les vns des autres. Baudoüin Comte de Flandres et Empereur
+de Constantinople reproche cette detestable coûtume aux Grecs mémes, non
+qu'ils en vsassent entre eux: mais parce que dans les alliances qu'ils
+contractoient auec les peuples barbares, pour s'accommoder à leurs
+manieres d'agir, ils estoient obligez de suiure leurs vsages, et de faire
+ce qu'ils faisoient ordinairement en de semblables occasions. _Hæc est_,
+ce dit-il, _quæ spurcissimo gentilium ritu pro fraterna societate,
+sanguinibus alternis ebibitis, cum infidelibus sæpe ausa est amicitias
+firmare ferales_. L'Empereur Frederic I. auoit fait auparauant ce mesme
+reproche aux Grecs, ainsi que nous apprenons de Nicetas. Mais ce que les
+Grecs firent par necessité, nos François qui estoient resserrez dans
+Constantinople, et attaquez par dehors de toutes parts, furent contraints
+de le faire, et de subire la meme loy, en s'accommodant au temps, pour se
+parer des insultes de leurs ennemis. C'est ce que le Sire de Joinuille dit
+en ces termes: A iceluy Cheualier oüi dire, et comme il le disoit au Roy,
+que l'Empereur de Constantinople, et ses gens, se allierent vne fois d'vn
+Roy, qu'on appelloit le Roy des Comains, pour auoir leur aide, pour
+conquerir l'Empereur de Grece, qui auoit nom Vataiche. Et disoit iceluy
+Cheualier, que le Roy du peuple des Comains pour auoir seurte et fiance
+fraternel l'vn l'autre, qu'il faillit qu'ils et chascun de leur gens d'vns
+part et d'autre se fissent saigner, et que de leur sang ils donnassent à
+boire l'vn à l'autre, en signe de fraternité, disans qu'ils estoient
+frere, et d'vn sang, et ainsi le conuint faire entre nos gens, el les gens
+d'iceluy Roy, et meslérent de leur sang auec du vin, et en beuuoient l'vn
+à l'autre, et disoient lors qu'ils estoient freres d'vn sang. Georges
+Pachymeres raconte la méme chose des Comains. Et Alberic en l'an 1187,
+nous fait assez voir que cette coûtume eut pareillement cours parmy les
+Sarazins, écriuant que la funeste alliance que le Comte de Tripoly
+contracta auec le Sultan des Sarazins, se fit auec cette cérémonie, et
+qu'ils y bûrent du sang l'vn de l'autre.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Cette fraternité se contractoit encore par l'attouchement des armes, en
+les faisant toucher reciproquement les vnes aux autres. Cette coûtume
+estoit particuliere aux Anglois, auant que les Normans se rendissent
+maîtres de l'Angleterre, principalement lorsque des communautez entieres
+faisoient entre eux vne alliance fraternelle, en vsans de cette maniere,
+au lieu du changement reciproque des armes, qui n'auroit pas pû s'executer
+si facilement.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Mais entre tant de cerémonies qui se sont obseruées pour contracter vne
+fraternite, celle qui a esté pratiquée par les peuples Chrétiens, est la
+plus plausible et la plus raisonnable: car pour abolir et pour éteindre
+entierement les superstitions qui les accompagnoient, et qui tenoient du
+paganisme, ils en ont introduit vne autre plus sainte et plus pieuse en la
+contractant dans l'Eglise, deuant le Prétre, et en faisant reciter
+quelques prieres ou oraisons, nous en auons la formule dans
+_l'Euchologium_."
+
+
+NOTE V.--CHAP. III.
+
+The fear of Robert Guiscard was no chimera; for, after having raised
+himself from indigence to power and authority, he opposed successfully the
+whole force of two great monarchies, and defeated alternately the emperors
+of the east and the west.
+
+One of the most pointed accounts of this extraordinary freebooter which I
+have met with I subjoin, from the _Melanges Curieux_.
+
+"Robertus Wischardi de Normania exiens, vir pauper, miles tamen, ingenio
+et probitate suâ Apuliam, Calabriam suæ ditioni submisit, et Insulam
+Siciliam de manu Ismaelitarum liberavit, Rotgeriumque fratrem suum ejusdem
+Insulæ Comitem appellavit. Demum mare transiens, Durachium urbem nobilem
+cepit, Dalmatiamque et Bulgariam super Alexium Imperatorem acquisivit:
+insuper eum ter bello fugavit, et Romanum, Henricum semel ab urbe fugere
+compulit, Pontificemque Romanum, quem ceperat, ab eo liberavit. Qui cum
+innumerabilia penè fecisset probitatis indicia, hoc de illo constans
+habetur, quod nisi morte præoccupatus fuisset, filium suum Boamundum
+Imperatorem faceret, se verò Regem Persarum, ut sæpè dicebat,
+constitueret, viamque Hieroso, lymorum destructâ paganitate Francis
+aperiret. Nunquam victus est quanquam sæpè pugnaverit. Venetos, qui contra
+eum omni virtute sua convenerant cum stolo suo ita profligavit, ut nec
+fuga, nec pelagus illis esset auxilio. Nec fuit terrarum locus ita
+remotus, in quo rumor, fama, timor Wischardi per omnium ferê ora non
+volitaret. Et ut verius de ec dici potest, nulli Regum aut Imperatorum
+Wischardus secundus extitit."--_Pere l'Abbe._
+
+
+NOTE VI.--CHAP. III.
+
+This cry was not the only cry of arms which the crusaders used in the Holy
+Land. Though it was the general battle-cry of the whole army, and each
+leader made use of it occasionally when he wanted to animate the whole
+host, by rousing up their old enthusiasm; yet when he sought to bring
+round him his own vassals, he used the appropriate shout of his family.
+Thus we find, by Raimond d'Agiles, that the battle-cry of Raimond de St.
+Giles was "_Toulouse!_"
+
+The best general account of the old cry of arms which I have met with is
+given by Ducange.
+
+"Le cry d'armes n'est autre chose qu'vne clameur conceuë en deux ou trois
+paroles, prononcée au commencement ou au fort du combat et de la mêlée,
+par un chef, ou par tous les soldats ensemble, suivant les rencontres et
+les occasions: lequel cry d'armes estoit particulier au general de l'armée
+ou au chef de chaque troupe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Les François que se trouuérent à la premiere conquéte de la Terre Sainte
+avoient pour cry general ces mots, _Adjuua Deus_, ainsi que nous apprenons
+de Foucher de Chartres, et d'vn autre ancien Auteur ou bien, _Eia Deus
+adiuua nos_, suivant l'Histoire de Hierusalem. Raymond d'Agiles rapporte
+la cause et l'origine de ce cry à la vision de Pierre Barthelemy, qui
+trouua la sainte Lance au temps que les Turcs assiegeoient la ville
+d'Antioche sur les nostre: car durant ce siége S. André luy estant apparu
+plusieurs fois, il luy enjoignit de persuader aux Chrétiens d'auoir
+recours à Dieu dans les fatigues du siége, et de la faim qu'ils
+enduroient, et de prendre dans les combats pour cry d'armes ces mots
+_Deus adjuua, et sit signum clamoris vestri, Devs adjuva, et reuera Deus
+adjuvabit vos_ qui sont les paroles de S. Andre, Roderic Archeuesque de
+Tolede dit qu'au siége et à la prise de Cordouë sur les Sarrazins
+d'Espagne, les Chrétiens crierent aussi _Deus adjuva_. Ils ajoustoient
+quelquefois à ce cry ces mots _Deus vult_, ou pour parler en langage du
+temps, et suiuant qu'ils sont enoncez en la Chronique du Mont Cassin,
+_Diex el volt_, dont l'origine est rapportée au Concile de Clermont en
+Auuergne, où le Pape Urbain II. ayant fait vne forte exhortation pour
+porter les princes Chrétiens à prendre les armes pour aller retirer la
+Terre Sainte demains des Infidéles, _Ita omnium qui aderant affectus in
+vnum concitauit vt omnes acclamarent, Deux volt, Deus volt_. Aprés quoy le
+pape ayant rendu graces à Dieu, dit entre autres paroles celle-cy, _Sit
+ergo vobis vox ista in rebus bellicis militare signum, quia verbum hoc à
+Deo est prolatum, cùm in hostem fiet bellicosi impetus congressio, erit
+vni uersis hæc ex parte Dei vna vociferatio Deus vult, Deus vult_. D'où on
+recueille pourquoy le cry est appelle Signum Dei dans quelques
+Auteurs."--_Ducange, Dissertations sur l'Histoire de St Louis_, Dissert.
+xi.
+
+
+NOTE VII.--CHAP. IV.
+
+I have used the term _Counts Palatine_, from the old writer whose name
+stands in the margin. The peculiar position of these Counts Palatine,
+under the ever-changing dynasties of early Europe, is a curious and
+interesting subject of inquiry, but one too extensive to be fully treated
+in this place. I hope, at some future period, to speak of it in a more
+comprehensive work. The learned author whose works have furnished me with
+the preceding note affords a good view of the original functions of the
+Counts of the Palace, or Counts Palatine.
+
+"Sovs la premiere et la seconde race de nos Rois, les comtes faisoient la
+fonction dans les prouinces et dans les villes capitales du royaume, non
+seulement de gouuerneurs, mais encore celle de juges. Leur principal
+employ estoit d'y decider les differents et les procés ordinaires de leur
+justiciables; et où ils ne pouvoient se transporter sur les lieux, ils
+commettoient à cét effet leurs vicomtes et leurs lieutenans. Quant aux
+affaires d'importance, et qui meritoient d'estre jugées par la bouche du
+prince, nos mémes rois auoient des comtes dans leurs palais, et prés de
+leurs personnes, ausquels ils en commettoient la connoissance et le
+jugement, qui estoient nommez ordinairement, acause de cét illustre
+employ, Comtes du Palais, ou Comtes Palatins.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Il y a lieu de croire que dans la premiere race de nos Rois, et méme dans
+le commencement de la seconde, la charge de Comte du Palais n'estoit
+exercée que par vn seul, qui jugeoit les differens, assisté de quelques
+Conseillers Palatins, qui sont appellez Scabini Palatii, Echeuins du
+Palais, dans la Chronique de S. Vincent de Wlturne.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"On ne peut pas toutefois disconuenir qu'il n'y ait eu en méme temps
+plusieurs Comtes du Palais. Car Eguinard en vne de ses Epîtres, dit en
+termes exprés qu'Adalard et Geboïn estoient Comtes du Palais en méme
+temps. Et vn titre de Louys le Debonnaire de l'an 938, qui se lit aux
+Antiquitez de l'Abbaye de Fulde est souscrit de ce Gebawinus, ou Gebuinus,
+et de Ruadbertus, qui y prennent qualité de Comtes du Palais."
+
+
+NOTE VIII.--CHAP. VI.
+
+The habit of carrying a small wallet when bound on a pilgrimage is one of
+the oldest customs of the Christian world. This part of the pilgrim's
+dress was called afterward an _aumoniere_, and served either as a
+receptacle for containing the alms received on the journey, or, when worn
+by the rich, as a repository for those they intended to give away. The
+curious fact of Charlemagne having borne one of these wallets to Rome, and
+of its having been buried with him, is mentioned in the XVth Dissertation
+on Joinville.
+
+"Cassian traitant des habits et des vétemens des anciens Moines d'Egypte,
+dit qu'ils se reuetoient d'vn habit fait de peaux de chevre, que l'on
+appelloit Melotes, et qu'ils portoient ordinairement l'escarcelle et le
+baton. Les termes de cét Auteur ne sont pas toutefois bien clairs, en cét
+endroit-là: _Vltimus est habitus eorum pellis Caprina, quæ Melotes, vel
+pera appellatur, et baculus._ Car il n'est pas probable que cét habit de
+peaux de cheure ait esté appellé Pera. Ce qui a donné sujet à quelques
+Commentateurs de restituer Penula. Neantmoins Isidore et Papias, comme
+aussi Ælfric dans son Glossaire Saxon, ont écrit aprés Cassian, que
+Melotis, estoit la méme chose que Pera. Quant à moy j'estime que Cassian a
+entendu dire que ces Moines, outre ce vétement fait de peaux, auoient
+encore coûtume de porter vn petit sachet, et vn baton, dont ils se
+seruoient durant leurs pelerinages. Ce qui ce peut aisement concilier, en
+restituant le mot appellatur, on le sousentendant, aprés Melotes. Tant y a
+que Cassian parle du baton des Moines au Chapitre suiuant; et dans l'vne
+de ses Collations, il fait assez, voir que lorsqu'ils entreprenoient
+quelque voyage, ils prenoient l'vn et l'autre: Cum accepissemus peram et
+baculum, vt ibi moris est Monachis vniuersis iter agentibus. Le Moine
+d'Angouléme ecrit que le corps de Charlemagne, apres sa mort, fut inhumé
+auec tous ses habits imperiaux, et que pardessus on y posa l'escarcelle
+d'or, dont les pelerins se seruent ordinairement, et qu'il auoit coûtume
+de porter lorsqu'il alloit à Rom: et super vestimentis Imperialibus pera
+peregrinalis aurea posita est, quam Romam portare solitus erat. D'où il
+resulte que le baton et l'escarcelle ont toûjours esté la marque
+particuliere des Pelerins, ou comme parle Guillaume de Malmesbury Solatia
+et indicia itineris.
+
+"Les Pelerins de la Terre Sainte, auant que d'entreprendre leurs
+pelerinages, alloient rcecuoir l'escarcelle et le bourdon des mains des
+Prestres dans l'Eglise.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Et cela s'est pratiqué mémes par nos Rois, lorsqu'ils ont voulu
+entreprendre ces longs et facheux voyages d'outremer. Car aprés auoir
+chargé leurs épaules de la figure de la Croix, ils auoient coûtume de
+venir en l'Abbaye de S. Denys, et là, aprés la celébration de la messe,
+ils receuoient des mains de quelque Prelat le baton de Pelerin et
+l'escarcelle, et memes l'Oriflamme, ensuite dequoy ils prenoient conge de
+S. Denys, Patron du Royaume."
+
+
+NOTE IX.--CHAP. VII.
+
+The pretence of the Count of Toulouse for resisting the claims of Boemond
+to the possession of Antioch was, that he had vowed to the emperor Alexius
+to deliver up all conquests to him alone. This was but a specious
+covering for his own avarice. The terms in which Baldric mentions the
+cession of Antioch to Boemond are as follows; and it will be seen that
+much more notice was taken of Alexius than that contemptible usurper
+deserved.
+
+"Locuti sunt igitur ad invicem Christianorum duces, et sponte sua Boamundo
+subintulerunt: Vides quo in articulo res nostra posita sit. Si civitatem
+ergo istam vel prece vel pretio, nobis etiam juvantibus poteris obtinere,
+nos eam tibi unanimiter concedimus: salvo in omnibus quod Imperatori, te
+collaudante, fecimus sacramento. Si ergo Imperator nobis adjutor
+advenerit, juratasque pactiones custodierit, perjuri vivere nolumus: sed
+quod pace tua dictum sit, nos illi eam concedimus: sin autem, tuæ semper
+sit subdite potestati. _Ex Historia Hierosolymitana Baldrici, Episcopi
+Dolensis._"
+
+
+NOTE X.--CHAP. X.
+
+Even in the days of Ducange the form and colour of the Oriflamme, or
+standard borne to battle before the kings of France, was so far forgotten,
+that the learned antiquary bestowed no small research to ascertain its
+texture and appearance. His erudition never left any thing in uncertainty;
+but though he proved the particular banner called the Oriflamme to have
+been red; yet Guillaume Guiart mentions one of fine azure, which was
+carried before Philip Augustus to the siege of Acre. Ducange speaks of the
+Oriflamme as follows:
+
+"Pour commencer par la recherche du nom d'Oriflamme, la plûpart des
+Ecriuains estiment, qu'on le doit tirer de sa matiere, de sa couleur, et
+de se forme. Quant à sa figure, il est hors de doute qu'elle estoit faite
+comme les bannieres de nos Eglises, que l'on porte ordinairement aux
+processions, qui sont quarrees, fenduës en diuers endroits par le bas,
+ornees de franges, et attacheés par le haut à vn baton de trauers, qui les
+tient etenduës, et est soûtenu d'vne forme de pique. Ils ajoûtent que sa
+matiere estoit de soye, ou de tafetas, sa couleur rouge, et tirant sur
+celle du feu, et de la sandaraque, à laquelle Pline attribue celle de la
+flamme. Il est vray que pour la couleur, tous les Ecriuains conuiennent
+qu'elle estoit rouge. Guillaume le Breton en sa Philippide, la decrit
+ainsi:
+
+  'Ast Regi satis est tenues crispare per auras
+  Vexillum simplex, cendato simplice textum,
+  Splendoris rubei, Letania qualiter vti
+  Ecclesiana solet, certis ex more diebus
+  Quod cum flamma habeat vulgariter aurea nomen
+  Omnibus in bellis habet omnia signa preire.'
+
+"Guillaume Guiart en son Histoire de France, en la vie de Philippes
+Auguste, a ainsi traduit ces vers:
+
+  'Oriflamme est vne banniere,
+  Aucune poi plus forte qui quimple,
+  De cendal roujoiant et simple,
+  Sans pourtraiture d'autre affaire.'
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"L'Oriflamme estoit l'enseigne particuliere de l'Abbe et du Monastere de
+S. Denys, qu'ils faisoient porter dans leurs guerres par leur Auoüe Car
+c'estoit-là la principale fonction des Auoüez, qui en qualite de
+defenseurs et de protecteurs des Monasteres et des Eglises, entreprenoient
+la conduit de leurs vassaux pour la defense de leurs droits, et portoient
+leurs enseignes à la guerre: d'où vient qu'ils sont ordinairement
+appellez, les porte-enseignes des Eglise, signiferi Ecclesiarum, comme
+j'espere justifier ailleurs Les Comtes du Vexin et de Pontoise auoient ce
+titre dans le Monastere de S. Denys, dont ils estoient les Auoüez, et les
+protecteurs, et en cette qualite ils portoient l'Oriflamme dans les
+guerres qui s'entreprenoient pour la defense de ses biens.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Il faut donc tenir pour constant que Louys le Gros fut le premier de nos
+Rois, qui en qualite de Comte du Vexin tira l'Oriflamme de dessus l'autel
+de l'Eglise de S. Denys, et la fit porter dans ses armees, comme la
+principale enseigne du Protecteur de son Royaume, et dont il inuoquoit le
+secours dans son cry d'armes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Il est arriue dans la suite que nos Rois, qui estoient entrez dans les
+droits de ces Comtes, s'en sont seruis, pour leurs guerres particulieres,
+comme estant la banniere qui portoit le nom du Protecteur de leur Royaume,
+ainsi que j'ay remarque, la tirans, de dessus l'autel de l'Eglise S.
+Denys, auec les memes ceremonies, et les memes prieres, que l'on auoit
+accoûteme d'observer, lorsqu'on la mettoit entre les mains des Comtes du
+Vexin pour les guerres particulieres de ce Monastere. Ces ceremonies sont
+ainsi decrites par Raoul de Presle, au Traite dont je viens de parler en
+cestermes: Premierement la procession vous vient à l'encontre jusques à
+l'issuë du Cloistre, et apres la procession, atteints les benoists corps
+Saints de Monsieur S. Denys, et ses Compagnons, et mis sur l'autel en
+grande reuerence, et aussi le corps de Monsieur S. Louys, et puis est mise
+cette banniere ploise sur les corporaux, où est consacre le corps de N. S.
+Jesus Christ, lequel vous receuez dignement apres la celebration de la
+Messe: si fait celuy lequel vous auez esleu à bailler, comme au plus prud
+homme et vaillant Cheualier; et ce fait, le baisez en la bouche, et luy
+baillez, et la tient en ses mains par grande reuerence, afin que les
+Barons assistans le puissent baiser comme reliques et choses dignes, et en
+luy baillant pour le porter, luy faites faire serment solemnel de le
+porter et garder en grande reuerence, et à l'honneur de vous et de vostre
+Royaume.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NOTE XI.--CHAP. XIII.
+
+Villehardouin is undoubtedly the best authority for all the particulars of
+the siege of Constantinople. Nicetas was extravagantly prejudiced; and
+though the emperor Baldwin, in his letters to the Pope, was as frank as
+any man in his situation could be, it was but natural that he should
+endeavour to show the causes of the warfare in the most favourable point
+of view--that he should represent the conduct of himself and his
+companions with every advantage--in fact that he should see the events
+which raised him to the throne through a peculiar medium, and represent
+them tinged with the same colours that they presented to his own eyes.
+
+Villehardouin wrote without many of these disadvantages. He did not belong
+to the pillaged and conquered class, like Nicetas, nor did he write to
+excuse himself in the eyes of the Pope. He had his prejudices, of course,
+like other men, but these prejudices were greatly prevented from affecting
+his history by the frank simplicity of chivalrous manners, which no one
+possessed in greater purity than he did himself.
+
+In two points Philippe Mouskes gives a different account of the affairs of
+Constantinople from Villehardouin. In the first place, he states that
+Alexius Angelus, the brother of Isaac, commanded his nephew to be drowned;
+but that by entreaties the prince moved those persons who were charged
+with the cruel order. In the next place, he says that Murzuphlis caused
+Alexius the younger to be poisoned.
+
+In regard to the destruction of the monuments of art committed by the
+Latins, Nicetas gives a melancholy, though somewhat bombastic account. The
+famous works destroyed were as follows, according to his statement:
+
+A colossal Juno, from the forum of Constantine, the head of which was so
+large that four horses could scarcely draw it from the spot where it stood
+to the palace.
+
+The statue of Paris, presenting the apple to Venus.
+
+An immense bronze pyramid, crowned by a female figure, which turned with
+the wind.
+
+The colossal statue of Bellerophon, in bronze, which was broken down, and
+cast into the furnace. Under the inner nail of the horse's hind foot, on
+the left side, was found a seal, wrapped in a woollen cloth.
+
+A figure of Hercules, by Lysimachus, of such vast dimensions that the
+circumference of the thumb was equal in measurement to the waist of an
+ordinary man. From the attitude of this statue, as described by Nicetas,
+it is not improbable that it served as a model for that piece of
+sculpture, the only part of which that remains is the famous _Torso_.
+
+The Ass and his Driver, cast by order of Augustus, after the battle of
+Actium, in commemoration of his having discovered the position of Antony
+through the means of a peasant and his beast, the one bearing the name of
+_Fortunate_, and the other that of _Conqueror_.
+
+The Wolf suckling the twins of Rome; the Gladiator in combat with a Lion;
+the Hippopotamus; the Sphynxes: and the famous Eagle fighting with a
+Serpent; all underwent the same fate, as well as the beautiful statue of
+Helen, which Nicetas speaks of as the perfection of statuary.
+
+Added to these were the exquisite figure on the race-course, and a group,
+wherein a monster, somewhat resembling a bull, was represented engaged in
+deadly conflict with a serpent. Each appeared expiring under the efforts
+of the other; the snake crushed between the teeth of the monster, and the
+bull tainted to the heart by the venom of the reptile: no bad emblem of
+the struggle between the bold and furious valour of the Latins and the
+poisonous treachery of the Greeks themselves.
+
+
+NOTE XII.--CHAP. XIV.
+
+That St. Louis was threatened with the torture is an undoubted fact though
+what that sort of torture was which Joinville calls _les Bernicles_ is not
+so clear. Ducange fancies that it was the _Cippus_ of the ancients: and
+whether it was or not, the resolution of the monarch in resisting showed
+not a little fortitude. I subjoin Ducange's observations.
+
+"Le Sire de Joinville dit que le Sultan de Babylone, ou son Conseil fit
+faire au Roy des propositions peu raisonables, croyant qu'il y
+consentiroit pour obtenir sa deliurance, et celle de ceux de sa suite, qui
+auoient este faits prisonniers auec luy en la bataille de Massoure. Et sur
+ce que le Roy refusa absolument d'y donner les mains, il le voulut
+intimider; et le menaça de luy faire souffrir de grands tourmens. Mathieu
+Paris: Cùm frequenter à Saracenis cumterribilibus comminationibus
+sollicitaretur Rex vt Damiatam redderet, et noluit vlla ratione,
+postularunt summam sibi pecuniæ persolui sine diminutione, vel diuturno
+cruciatu vsque ad mortem torqueretur. Ce tourment est appelle par le Sire
+de Jouinville les Bernicles, lequel il decrit en ces termes. Et voyans les
+Sarazins que le Roy ne vouloit obtemperer à leur demandes, ils le
+menacerent de le mettre en Bernicles: qui est le plus grief tourment
+qu'ils puissent faire à nully: Et sont deux grans tisons de bois, qui sont
+entretenans au chef. Et quant ils veulent y mettre aucun, ils le couschent
+sur le couste entre ces dieux tisons, et luy font passer les jambes à
+trauers de grosses cheuilles: puis couschent la piece de bois, qui est
+là-dessus, et font asseoir vn homme dessus les tisons. Dont il auient
+qu'il ne demeure à celuy qui est là cousche point demy pied d'ossemens,
+qu'il ne soit tout desrompu et escache. Et pour pis luy faire, au bout des
+trois jours luy remettent les jambes, qui sont grosses et enflees, dedens
+celles bernicles, et la rebrisent derechief, qui est vne chose moult
+cruelle à qui sauroit entendre: et la lient à gros nerfs de boeuf par la
+teste, de peur qu'il ne se remuë là dedans.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] La Père Menestrier, Ordres de Chevalerie; Jouvencel; Favin Théâtre.
+
+[2] Fabliau de l'ordene de Chevalerie dans les fabliaux de Le Grand
+d'Aussi.
+
+[3] Tacit. de Mor. Germ.
+
+[4] Marculfus.
+
+[5] Menestrier de la Chevalerie et ses preuves, page 230.
+
+[6] Tacitus de Morib. German.
+
+[7] Eginhard Ann.
+
+[8] See note I.
+
+[9] Charles Nodier on St. Palaye.
+
+[10] Ordene de Chevalerie Fabliaux.
+
+[11] Charles Nodier.
+
+[12] Felibien, Hist. St. Denis.
+
+[13] Coutumes de Beauvoisis.
+
+[14] St. Palaye.
+
+[15] Vie de Bayard.
+
+[16] Favin Théâtre.
+
+[17] Vie de Boucicaut, Coll. Pelitot et Momerque.
+
+[18] Vie de Bayard.
+
+[19] Froissart.
+
+[20] St. Palaye, liv. i.
+
+[21] Guillaume Guiart.; Guill, Amoric.; Rigord; Philipeid.
+
+[22] Brantome.
+
+[23] See note II.
+
+[24] Charles Nodier's Annotations on St. Palaye.
+
+[25] Ducange, Dissert. xxii. Menestrier, chap. 2; St. Palaye.
+
+[26] Roman de Garin, Fabliaux, vol. ii.
+
+[27] Menestrier, chap. 2. and 9.
+
+[28] Menestrier, chap. 9.
+
+[29] St. Palaye.
+
+[30] Hartknoch, lib. ii. c. 1.
+
+[31] Existing Orders of Knighthood.
+
+[32] Cappefigue.
+
+[33] Menestrier, ix.; St. Palaye.
+
+[34] Adré Favin Théât.
+
+[35] Nithard, lib. iii.
+
+[36] _Britannarum_ is the word.
+
+[37] Ducange apud Chron. Tur. an. 1066.
+
+[38] Munster. Geogr. lib. iii.
+
+[39] Ducange, in his sixth dissertation, has satisfactorily overturned the
+assertion made by Modius, that tournaments were known in Germany at a much
+earlier period than here stated.
+
+[40] Ducange, Dissert. vii.
+
+[41] Menestrier Origine.
+
+[42] Favin Théâtre.
+
+[43] St. Palaye.
+
+[44] St. Palaye.
+
+[45] Vie de Bayard.
+
+[46] Vie de Bayard.
+
+[47] Olivier de la Marche.
+
+[48] Ducange, Dissert. vi.
+
+[49] St. Palaye.
+
+[50] Ducange, Dissert. vii.
+
+[51] Mat. Paris, Ann. 1241.
+
+[52] Colombiere.
+
+[53] Menestrier, vi.
+
+[54] Mat. Westmonas., page 409.
+
+[55] Should any one be tempted to investigate further, he will find the
+subject discussed at length in the seventh dissertation of Ducange. See
+also the _Chronique de Molinet_.
+
+[56] St. Palaye; Ribeiro, lib. x.
+
+[57] Menestrier.
+
+[58] Ordonances des Rois de France, ann. 1294.
+
+[59] Pasquier Recherches.
+
+[60] Vie de Bayard sur Jean d'Arces.
+
+[61] See note III.
+
+[62] Colombiere.
+
+[63] La Colombiere.
+
+[64] Froissart Olivier de la Marche.
+
+[65] See the "Voeu du Heron and the Voeu du Paon." cited in St. Palaye.
+
+[66] See note IV.
+
+[67] Ducange, Dissert, xxi.
+
+[68] Monstrelet.
+
+[69] Juvenal des Ursius.
+
+[70] Hardouin de la Jaille.
+
+[71] See deed between Du Guesclin and Clisson. Ducange, Dissert, xxi.
+
+[72] Ducange, Gloss. Lat. Mutare Armas.
+
+[73] See the Chevalier de la Tour, as cited by St. Palaye.
+
+[74] Vertot.
+
+[75] Sharon Turner.
+
+[76] William of Jumieges, lib. iv.
+
+[77] Eginhard. Annal.
+
+[78] Mabillon.
+
+[79] William of Tyre, lib. i.
+
+[80] Voltaire, Essai sur les Moeurs.
+
+[81] Guibert de Nogent.
+
+[82] Will. Tyr. lib. i.
+
+[83] Mills mentions one from Manuel VII. to Pope Gregory VII., and Guibert
+of Nogent speaks of another which, though he cautiously avoids naming the
+emperor who wrote it, lest he should mislead from want of correct
+information, could only have been sent, under some of the circumstances he
+mentions, by Isaac Comnenus. Mills supposes it to have been the same with
+a letter written by Alexius, though it differs in many parts from the
+usual version of that epistle. Probably, however, this opinion is correct,
+as a letter is stated to have been addressed to Robert of Flanders, who
+was in his extreme youth in the time of Isaac Comnenus.
+
+[84] Murator. Script. Ital.
+
+[85] Albert of Aix; William of Tyre.
+
+[86] Ibid.
+
+[87] Robert, lib. i.
+
+[88] Guib. Nogent, lib. ii.
+
+[89] Hist. Hieros. abrev. Jacob. Vit. lib. i.
+
+[90] Will. Tyr. lib. i.; Albert. Chron. Hieros.
+
+[91] Will. Tyr.; Hist. Hieros.; Jacob. Vit. lib. i.
+
+[92] Will. Tyr. lib. i.
+
+[93] Albert. Aquensis; Hist. Hieros.; Jacobi Vitr.; Will. Tyr.
+
+[94] See note V.
+
+[95] William of Tyre says that he was wandering from place to place under
+the protection of Guiscard. This opinion I have adopted, although Albert
+of Aix declares that Peter joined him at Rome.
+
+[96] Will. of Malmsbury.
+
+[97] Mills.
+
+[98] Will. Tyr. lib. i.
+
+[99] Guibertus; Gesta Dei.
+
+[100] A. D. 1095.
+
+[101] Mills, chap. ii.
+
+[102] Will. Tyr. lib. i.
+
+[103] Robertus Monachus, lib. i.
+
+[104] I have followed as nearly as possible the account of Robertus
+Monachus, who was present. Having found in no book of any authenticity the
+speech attributed by more modern writers to Peter the Hermit, I have
+rejected it entirely as supposititious. Neither Robert, nor Albertus
+Aquensis, nor William of Tyre, nor Guibert of Nogent, nor James of Vitry,
+the most authentic historians of the crusade, some of whom were present at
+the council of Clermont, and most of whom lived at the time, even mention
+the appearance of Peter at that assembly. That he might be there, I do not
+attempt to deny, but that he addressed the people I believe utterly
+unfounded.
+
+[105] See note VI.
+
+[106] Robertus Monachus.
+
+[107] Fulcher of Chartres; Guibert of Nogent; William of Tyre.
+
+[108] See note VII.
+
+[109] Guibert of Nogent.
+
+[110] Fulcher of Chartres; William of Tyre.
+
+[111] Guibert; Gesta Dei.
+
+[112] Albert. Aquensis; Will. Tyr.; Guibert.
+
+[113] Albert of Aix.
+
+[114] See Ducange in Sig. Cruc.
+
+[115] Albert of Aix; James of Vitry; Robert the Monk; Guibert.
+
+[116] Fulcher.
+
+[117] Albert of Aix; William of Tyre. Mills follows this opinion; Guibert
+of Nogent and James of Vitry are opposed to it, and Fulcher gives a
+different account also.
+
+[118] Fulcher; Will. Tyr.; Albert Aquen.
+
+[119] Will. Tyr.
+
+[120] Albert of Aix; William of Tyre.
+
+[121] Albert of Aix.
+
+[122] Guibert.
+
+[123] Albert of Aix.
+
+[124] Ibid.
+
+[125] Guibert.
+
+[126] Baldric.
+
+[127] Albert of Aix.
+
+[128] Guibert of Nogent, lib. ii.; Albert of Aix, lib. i.; Orderic Vital,
+lib. ix. Mills says it was the French and Normans who thus advanced into
+the country, but the great majority of writers is against him.
+
+[129] Albert of Aix; William of Tyre.
+
+[130] Robert the Monk; William of Tyre; Guibert of Nogent; Albert of Aix.
+
+[131] Robert the Monk; Guibert of Nogent.
+
+[132] William of Tyre; Albert of Aix.
+
+[133] Robert the Monk; Guibert of Nogent.
+
+[134] Ibid.
+
+[135] William of Tyre; Albert of Aix.
+
+[136] Albert. Aquensis; William of Tyre.
+
+[137] Albert of Aix.
+
+[138] Robertus Monachus, lib. i.
+
+[139] Guibert of Nogent.
+
+[140] Guibert of Nogent.
+
+[141] See note VIII.
+
+[142] Will. Malmsbury.
+
+[143] Will. of Tyre; Albert of Aix.
+
+[144] Albert of Aix.
+
+[145] Guibert of Nogent.
+
+[146] Guibert; Will. Tyr.
+
+[147] Albert of Aix.
+
+[148] William of Tyre.
+
+[149] Albert of Aix.
+
+[150] Albert. Aquensis.
+
+[151] Will Tyr.; Albert. Aquens.
+
+[152] Guibert.
+
+[153] Fulcher; Guibert; Will. Tyr.; Albert.
+
+[154] I have taken perhaps more pains than was necessary to investigate
+this part of the crusaders' proceedings, which I found nearly as much
+confused in the writings of Mills as in those of the contemporary authors.
+Some assert that the whole mass of the western crusaders proceeded in one
+body through Italy; but finding that Fulcher, who accompanied Robert of
+Normandy and Stephen of Blois, never mentions Hugh of Vermandois; that
+Guibert speaks of that prince's departure first; that the Archbishop of
+Tyre marks the divisions distinctly, and that he certainly embarked at a
+different port in Italy from the rest, I have been led to conclude, that
+though probably looking up to Hugh as the brother of their sovereign, the
+three great leaders proceeded separately on their march. Robertus Monachus
+is evidently mistaken altogether, as he joins the Count of Toulouse with
+the army of Hugh, when we know from Raimond d'Agiles that that nobleman
+conducted his troops through Sclavonia.
+
+[155] Albert of Aix; William of Tyre.
+
+[156] Guibert.
+
+[157] Ibid. lib. ii.
+
+[158] Will. Tyr. lib. ii.
+
+[159] Albert of Aix; William of Tyre.
+
+[160] Albert of Aix.
+
+[161] Guibert.
+
+[162] Albert of Aix; Robertus Monachus; Will. Tyr.
+
+[163] Will. Tyr.; Rob. Mon.; Guibert; Albert. Aquens.
+
+[164] Albert of Aix.
+
+[165] Mills, in speaking of this interview, does not distinguish between
+the coat-of-arms and the mantle or pallium. They were, however, very
+different, and never, that I know of, worn together. The coat-of-arms was
+usually extremely small; and the form may be gathered from the anecdote of
+an ancient baron, who, not readily finding his coat-of-arms, seized the
+cloth of a banner, made a slit in the centre with his sword, and passing
+his head through the aperture, thus went to battle. These customs however
+often changed, and we find many instances of the coat-of-arms being worn
+long. The mantle was the garb of peace, and was even more richly decorated
+than the coat-of-arms. Another peaceful habiliment was the common surcoat,
+which differed totally from the tunic worn over the armour, having large
+sleeves and cuffs, as we find from the notes upon Joinville. The size of
+this garment may be very nearly ascertained from the same account, which
+mentions 736 ermines having been used in one surcoat worn by the king of
+France. See Joinville by Ducange.
+
+For the use of the pallium, or mantle, see St. Palaye--notes on the Fourth
+Part.
+
+[166] I have not chosen to represent this interview in the colours with
+which Mills has painted it. The princess Anna, from whom he took his view
+of the subject, can in no degree be depended upon. Her object was to
+represent her father as a dignified monarch, receiving with cold pomp a
+train of barbarous warriors; but the truth was, that Alexius was in no
+slight measure terrified at Godfrey and his host, and sought by every
+means to cajole him into compliance with his wishes. Almost every other
+historian declares that the crusaders were received with the utmost
+condescension and courtesy. Robert of Paris, one of Godfrey's noble
+followers, did indeed seat himself on the throne of Alexius, and replied
+to Baldwin's remonstrance by a braggart boast, for which the emperor only
+reproved him by a contemptuous sneer. This, however, would, if any thing,
+prove that the pride and haughtiness was on the part of the crusaders
+rather than on that of the imperial court.
+
+[167] Albert of Aix; William of Tyre.
+
+[168] Albert of Aix.
+
+[169] Vertot.
+
+[170] Robert the Monk.
+
+[171] Gerusalemme, cant. i.
+
+[172] What the relationship exactly was I have not been able to discover.
+Mills does not satisfy me that the mother of Tancred was the sister of
+Robert Guiscard. The expressions of Ralph of Caen on the subject appear to
+be obscure.
+
+[173] Albert of Aix.
+
+[174] St. Palaye.
+
+[175] Mills, chap. 3.
+
+[176] Fulcher.
+
+[177] Raoul de Caen.
+
+[178] William of Tyre.
+
+[179] Raoul de Caen; William of Tyre; Albert of Aix; Guibert.
+
+[180] Orderic. Vital. lib. ix.
+
+[181] Boemond had inherited all his father's hatred to the Greek
+sovereigns, and had waged many a bloody and successful war against Alexius
+himself.
+
+[182] Will. Tyr.; Albert. Aquens.
+
+[183] Raoul de Caen; Guibert.
+
+[184] Alexiad par Ducange.
+
+[185] Guibert, lib. iii.
+
+[186] Radulph. Cad. cap. 11.
+
+[187] Radulph. Cadom. cap. 12.
+
+[188] Albertus Aquensis says that Tancred took with him the whole army.
+William of Tyre follows the same opinion, as well as Guibert. Orderic
+Vital declares that when the troops were passing, Tancred dressed himself
+as a common soldier, and passed among the crowd; but Radulphus Cadomensis
+(or Raoul of Caen, as the French translate his name), who was his
+companion and friend in after-years, makes no mention of his having taken
+with him any part of the forces he commanded, merely stating, that in his
+eagerness to pass before he was discovered, he aided to row the boat
+himself.
+
+[189] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[190] Ibid.
+
+[191] Raimond d'Agiles; Will. Tyr.; Guibert.
+
+[192] Guibert; Albert of Aix.
+
+[193] Will. Tyr.
+
+[194] Guibert.
+
+[195] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[196] Guibert; Raimond; Will Tyr.
+
+[197] Alexiad.
+
+[198] Raimond d'Agiles; Albert of Aix.
+
+[199] Raimond d'Agiles expressly states that the army of the Count of
+Toulouse, which he accompanied to the Holy Land, did not join the other
+crusaders till they were under the walls of Nice. Mills is therefore wrong
+in writing that the Provençals joined the other soldiers of the Cross
+before their arrival at Nice, and then let them march on again before
+them.
+
+[200] Guibert, lib. ii.
+
+[201] Orderic Vital.
+
+[202] Guibert.
+
+[203] William of Tyre; Albert of Aix.
+
+[204] Fulcher.
+
+[205] Albert of Aix; Fulcher.
+
+[206] Will. Tyr.
+
+[207] Raimond d'Agiles; Guibert.
+
+[208] All authors, those who were present as well as those who wrote from
+the accounts of others, differ entirely among themselves concerning the
+dispositions of the siege. Fulcher, who accompanied the Duke of Normandy,
+says that that chief attacked the south; Raimond of Agiles, who was
+present also, says that the south was the post of the Count of Toulouse. I
+have, however, adopted the account of Raimond, who appears to me to have
+paid more attention to the operations of the war than Fulcher.
+
+[209] Fulcher.
+
+[210] Ibid.
+
+[211] The word used is _loricati_; and Ducange, who seldom makes a
+positive assertion without the most perfect certainty, states, in the
+observations on Joinville, that we may always translate the word
+_loricatus_, a knight, "et quand on voit dans les auteurs Latins le terme
+de loricati il se doit entendre des Chevaliers."--_Ducange, Observ. sur
+l'Hist. de St. Louis_, page 50.
+
+[212] Guibert.
+
+[213] Albert of Aix, lib. ii.
+
+[214] Albert.
+
+[215] Ibid.
+
+[216] Albert; Raimond d'Agiles; Guibert.
+
+[217] Albert.
+
+[218] Raimond.
+
+[219] Albert.
+
+[220] Guibert.
+
+[221] Guibert; Albert of Aix.
+
+[222] Raimond d'Agiles; Fulcher; Albert of Aix; Robert. Mon.
+
+[223] Robert. Mon.
+
+[224] Fulcher.
+
+[225] Guibert; Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[226] Albert of Aix.
+
+[227] Fulcher.
+
+[228] Idun; Albert of Aix.
+
+[229] Albert of Aix.
+
+[230] The Philippide.
+
+[231] Albert of Aix.
+
+[232] Fulcher.
+
+[233] Raimond d'Agiles; Albert of Aix; Guibert.
+
+[234] Will. Tyr.
+
+[235] Albert of Aix.
+
+[236] Guibert; Albert.
+
+[237] William of Tyre; Raimond.
+
+[238] Raimond de Agiles.
+
+[239] William of Tyre; Raimond de Agiles; Guibert de Nogent.
+
+[240] Fulcher, cap. 4; William of Tyre.
+
+[241] Ten at a time were admitted within the walls, but not more.
+
+[242] June 29, A. D. 1097.
+
+[243] Fulcher, cap. 5; Raimond d'Agiles; Orderic Vital; Raoul de Caen.
+
+[244] Mills avers that the chiefs separated by mutual consent. I have
+found nothing to confirm this opinion. Radulphus says that there was a
+rumour to that effect, but shows that it could not be just, as the baggage
+of the troops of Boemond and his party had, by the error that separated
+them, been left with the other division. William of Tyre leaves the
+question undecided. Fulcher says, absolutely, that the separation
+originated in a mistake. Orderic Vital follows the same opinion. Raimond
+d'Agiles is not precise, but he says that it was done inconsiderately; and
+Guibert decidedly affirms that it was accidental, and through the
+obscurity of the morning in which they began their march.
+
+[245] William of Tyre.
+
+[246] Fulcher; Raimond d'Agiles; Albert.
+
+[247] Fulcher makes it amount to nearly three hundred and sixty thousand
+combatants; and Raimond reduces the number to one hundred and fifty
+thousand.
+
+[248] Fulcher.
+
+[249] Ibid; Guibert.
+
+[250] William of Tyre; Guibert; Fulcher, cap. 5.
+
+[251] Guibert; Will. of Tyr.
+
+[252] Fulcher; Radulph. Cad. cap. 21.
+
+[253] William of Tyre; Guibert; Fulcher.
+
+[254] Fulcher, cap. 5; William of Tyre.
+
+[255] William of Tyre.
+
+[256] Raoul of Caen.
+
+[257] Albert; Raoul of Caen; William of Tyre.
+
+[258] Albert.
+
+[259] Raoul of Caen.
+
+[260] Fulcher; Albert; Raoul of Caen.
+
+[261] Albert of Aix informs us, that the ladies of Boemond's camp, seeing
+the merciless fury with which the Turks were dealing death to all ages and
+sexes, clothed themselves in their most becoming garments, and strove to
+display their charms to the best advantage, for the purpose of obtaining
+the durance of the harem rather than the grave. Albert was not present,
+and did not even visit the Holy Land; and I find his account in this
+respect confirmed by no other historian. The good canon, indeed, was
+somewhat fond of little tales of scandal, so that I feel inclined to doubt
+his authority, where such matters are under discussion. He has an anecdote
+in a similar style appended to his history of the taking of Nice.
+
+[262] Radulphus, cap. 22.
+
+[263] William of Tyre.
+
+[264] Orderic Vital; Guibert.
+
+[265] Albert of Aix; Fulcher, cap. 5; William of Tyre.
+
+[266] Radulph. Cadom. cap. 26.
+
+[267] Fulcher; Albert of Aix.
+
+[268] Albert; Radulphus Cadomachus, cap. 27, 28, _et seq._; William of
+Tyre.
+
+[269] Many of the Christians attributed their victory to the miraculous
+interposition of two canonized martyrs, who, in glittering armour, led on
+the army of Godfrey and the count of Toulouse, and scared the Turks more
+than all the lancers of the crusaders. Though the supposed interposition
+of such personages certainly robbed the leaders of no small share of
+glory, yet it gave vast confidence and enthusiasm to the inferior classes.
+
+[270] Albert of Aix; Fulcher; Guibert.
+
+[271] William of Tyre.
+
+[272] Guibert; William of Tyre; Albert of Aix.
+
+[273] Albert of Aix.
+
+[274] Guibert, lib. iii.
+
+[275] Albert of Aix, lib. iii.; William of Tyre.
+
+[276] Fulcher; Guibert.
+
+[277] Albert.
+
+[278] Ibid.
+
+[279] Radulph. Cadom. cap. 33; Guibert. lib. iii.; Will. Tyr.
+
+[280] All the authors of the day that I have been able to meet with
+declare this expedition of Baldwin and Tancred to have been voluntary.
+Mills only, as far as I can discover, attributes their conduct to an order
+received from others. I mark the circumstance more particularly, because,
+under my view of the case, the fact of Tancred and his companions having
+separated themselves from the rest of the host, after such immense
+fatigues, abandoning repose and comfort, and seeking new dangers and fresh
+privations, is one of the most extraordinary instances on record of the
+effect of the chivalrous spirit of the age. Under this point of view, all
+the historians of that time saw the enterprise which they have recorded;
+but Mills, writing in the least chivalrous of all epochs, has reduced the
+whole to a corporal-like obedience of orders.
+
+[281] Albert of Aix, lib. iii.; Radulph. cap. 37.
+
+[282] Albert of Aix, lib. iii.; Guibert; Will. Tyr.
+
+[283] Radulphus, cap. 38.
+
+[284] Albert of Aix; Guibert, lib. iii.
+
+[285] Radulphus; Albert of Aix; Guibert of Nogent.
+
+[286] Albert. lib. iii.
+
+[287] Albert.
+
+[288] Ibid.
+
+[289] Albert; Raoul de Caen. See also Fulcher, who was chaplain to
+Baldwin.
+
+[290] Albert of Aix; Raoul of Caen.
+
+[291] Albert of Aix; William of Tyre; Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[292] Albert of Aix; William of Tyre.
+
+[293] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[294] Robert. Mon. lib. iii. Albert of Aix; Guibert.
+
+[295] Albert of Aix.
+
+[296] William of Tyre.
+
+[297] Albert of Aix.
+
+[298] The population of these countries was in general Christian.
+
+[299] Fulcher; Albert.
+
+[300] Albert; Guibert, lib. iii.
+
+[301] Guibert.
+
+[302] Albert.
+
+[303] Guibert, lib. iii.; where see the manner in which Baldwin contrived
+to subjugate the inhabitants.
+
+[304] Albert of Aix.
+
+[305] Guibert.
+
+[306] Albert.
+
+[307] Mills declares, that the Christians were rescued from this ambuscade
+by the arrival of Tancred. I find the account of Albert of Aix totally
+opposed to such a statement; while the passage in Raoul of Caen relating
+to this event is so full of errors in other respects, that no reliance
+could be placed upon it, even if it justified the assertion of Mills,
+which, however, it does not do. He states, that Tancred arrived long
+before the ambuscade, and that he found Baldwin at Artesia. By this he
+might mean Baldwin de Bourg, who, after the other Baldwin became King of
+Jerusalem, was also created Count of Edessa; but this interpretation
+cannot be admitted here, as he mentions the former disputes between the
+soldiers of Tancred and of the Baldwin to whom he refers, and who could
+therefore be none other than the brother of Godfrey, who was, we know, in
+Edessa at the time. We may therefore conclude, that as a principal part of
+this account is notoriously false, Raoul of Caen cannot be considered as
+any authority, so far as this event is concerned. Finding the statement of
+Tancred's assistance here not confirmed by any other good authority, I
+have abided by the account of Albert.
+
+[308] Albert of Aix.
+
+[309] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[310] Will. Tyr., Raimond.
+
+[311] Albert of Aix.
+
+[312] Raimond; Guibert of Nogent.
+
+[313] Raimond; Albert says six hundred thousand; Guibert of Nogent.
+
+[314] Raimond.
+
+[315] Raimond d'Agiles; Albert d'Aix; Guibert de Nogent, lib. iv.; Robert.
+
+[316] Raimond d'Agiles; Albert of Aix; Guibert de Nogent.
+
+[317] Malmsbury.
+
+[318] Albert; Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[319] Guibert de Nogent; Robertus Monachus, lib. iv.
+
+[320] Guibert; Albert; Robert. Mon.
+
+[321] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[322] Ibid; Guibert; Robertus Monachus.
+
+[323] Guibert says he was a boasting coward; but this is contradicted by
+others.
+
+[324] Guibert de Nogent; Robert.
+
+[325] Guibert; Robertus Monachus, lib. iv.
+
+[326] Robert. Monac.
+
+[327] Albert of Aix.
+
+[328] Raimond d'Agiles; Vertot; Guibert; William of Tyre.
+
+[329] This is one of the points on which the authorities of the day are in
+direct opposition to each other. Mills has chosen the opinion of Robertus
+Monachus, who states that the message of the calif was haughty and
+insolent. I have followed another version of the story, because I find it
+supported by a greater weight of evidence, and because I do not think the
+calif would have taken the trouble of sending all the way from Egypt to
+insult a party of men whose persevering conduct showed that they were not
+likely to be turned back by words. Guibert says, that the calif promised
+even to embrace the Christian faith, in case the crusaders overcame the
+Turks, and restored to him his Syrian dominions. Albert of Aix also
+vouches the same proposal, which, however improbable might have been made
+for the purpose of deceiving the crusaders.
+
+[330] Robertson's Historical Disquisition on India.
+
+[331] Robert, lib. iv.
+
+[332] Albert of Aix.
+
+[333] Albert; Robert. Mon.
+
+[334] Albert of Aix, lib. iii.
+
+[335] Robertus, lib. iv.
+
+[336] Robert.; Albert of Aix, lib. iii.
+
+[337] Guibert; Albert of Aix, lib. iii.
+
+[338] Robertus; Albert.
+
+[339] Five thousand perished on the bridge and in the water, according to
+Robert the Monk.
+
+[340] Robertus Monachus.
+
+[341] Guibert mentions previously that the number of horses was reduced to
+a thousand; lib. iv.
+
+[342] Robertus; Guibert.
+
+[343] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[344] Guibert, lib. v.; Fulcher, cap. 7.
+
+[345] Will. Tyr.; Albert; Fulcher, cap. 8.
+
+[346] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[347] William of Tyre says he was a noble Armenian, chief of the tribe of
+_Benizerra_, or the sons of the armour-forgers, and calls him Emir Feir.
+Abouharagi, however, says he was a Persian, and calls him Ruzebach.
+
+[348] Guibert; Will. Tyr.; Albert.
+
+[349] Guibert.
+
+[350] William of Tyre, lib. v.; Robert, lib. v.; Guibert, lib. v.
+
+[351] This transaction is reported variously. Albert of Aix says, that the
+proposal of Boemond was at once received with joy. Raoul of Caen gives a
+different account, and states that the bishop of Puy, on the suggestion of
+Boemond, suggested that the town should be given to him who could first
+obtain it. Guibert and Robert relate it as I have done above. The
+archbishop of Tyre declares that no one opposed the proposal of Boemond
+but the Count of Toulouse.
+
+[352] Will. Tyr.; Albert of Aix; Guibert, lib. v.
+
+[353] Albert of Aix; Robertus, lib. v.
+
+[354] Robertus, lib. v., 2d June, A. D. 1098.
+
+[355] Guibert, lib. v.; Raimond d'Agiles; Albert.
+
+[356] There is some reason to believe that Boemond was the first who
+entered, as stated by William of Tyre; but as Albert of Aix makes no
+mention of the fact, and as Guibert de Nogent declares positively that
+Boemond, who is certainly his favourite hero, did not mount till sixty
+others had preceded him, as Raimond d'Agiles gives the honour of the feat
+to Fulcher de Chartres, and as Robert the Monk confirms that assertion, I
+have left the matter in doubt, as I found it. In regard to the story of
+Phirouz murdering his brother in his sleep, because he would not aid in
+his design, I believe fully that it was but one of those ornamental
+falsehoods with which men are ever fond of decorating great and
+extraordinary events. I doubt not that the tale was current in the time of
+William of Tyre, who reports it; and the act was, beyond question, looked
+upon as a noble and devoted one on the part of Phirouz; but as I find
+nothing to confirm it in any book I possess, except the simple fact of
+that Armenian having been a traitorous rascal, please God, till further
+evidence I will look upon it all as a lie. Robert the Monk represents, in
+very glowing terms, the grief of Phirouz for the death of his two
+brothers, who were killed in the _melée_. Phirouz became a Christian, at
+least in name; and to cover the baseness of his perfidy, he declared that
+the Saviour himself had appeared to him in a vision, commanding him to
+deliver up the town.
+
+[357] Albert of Aix; Guibert, lib. v.; Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[358] Albert of Aix, lib. iv.
+
+[359] Guibert; Albert; Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[360] Raimond; Robertus Monachus, lib. vi.; Albert.
+
+[361] Guibert, lib. v.
+
+[362] Albert of Aix, lib. iv.
+
+[363] See Mills's History of the Crusades.
+
+[364] Robertus Monachus, lib. vi.; Guibert; Fulcher; Albert.
+
+[365] Guibert, lib. v.; Robertus; Albert.
+
+[366] Guibert; Albert of Aix.
+
+[367] William of Tyre; Albert of Aix.
+
+[368] Robertus, lib. vi.; Albert of Aix, lib. iv.; William of Tyre.
+
+[369] Robertus Monachus, lib. vi.; Guibert, lib. v.
+
+[370] Albert of Aix.
+
+[371] Robertus, vi.; Albert of Aix.
+
+[372] Guibert.
+
+[373] Guibert; Fulcher; Albert, lib. iv.
+
+[374] Guibert, lib. v.
+
+[375] Albert of Aix, lib. iv.
+
+[376] Albert.
+
+[377] Guibert; Fulcher; Albert.
+
+[378] Raimond d'Agiles; Fulcher; William of Tyre; Albert; Guibert.
+
+[379] Fulcher; Raimond.
+
+[380] Radulph. Cadom.
+
+[381] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[382] Fulcher; Raimond; Albert; Guibert of Nogent.
+
+[383] Albert of Aix; Raimond d'Agiles; Will. Tyr.
+
+[384] Albert of Aix.
+
+[385] Albert of Aix; Guibert, lib. iii.
+
+[386] Albert of Aix.
+
+[387] Guibert; Albert; Raimond.
+
+[388] Raimond d'Agiles; Fulcher.
+
+[389] Raimond; Raoul de Caen.
+
+[390] Raimond.
+
+[391] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[392] Histor. Hieros; Jacob. Vit.
+
+[393] Raimond d'Agiles; Fulcher.
+
+[394] Guibert.
+
+[395] Will. Tyr. lib. vi.
+
+[396] Raoul of Caen.
+
+[397] Albert.
+
+[398] Albert.
+
+[399] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[400] Will. Malmsbury; Guibert de Nogent; Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[401] Albert; Raoul of Caen; Guibert.
+
+[402] Fulcher; Albert.
+
+[403] Guibert; Albert.
+
+[404] Mills.
+
+[405] Guibert; Fulcher.
+
+[406] Raimond d'Agiles; William of Tyre.
+
+[407] See note IX.
+
+[408] Albert of Aix; Will. Tyr.; Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[409] Guibert.
+
+[410] Guibert; Albert; Will. Tyr.
+
+[411] Guibert; Albert.
+
+[412] Guibert.
+
+[413] Albert of Aix.
+
+[414] Guibert; Raimond d'Agiles; Albert.
+
+[415] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[416] Albert of Aix.
+
+[417] William of Tyre.
+
+[418] Albert; Guibert.
+
+[419] Fulcher; Albert of Aix; Guibert; Raoul of Caen.
+
+[420] Raimond d'Agiles; Guibert de Nogent.
+
+[421] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[422] Raoul of Caen; Raimond.
+
+[423] Guibert.
+
+[424] Guibert, lib. vi.; Albert of Aix, lib. v.; William of Tyre.
+
+[425] Albert of Aix.
+
+[426] Fulcher; Guibert.
+
+[427] Albert of Aix.
+
+[428] Raimond d'Agiles; Albert of Aix.
+
+[429] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[430] Fulcher; Raoul of Caen.
+
+[431] Guibert; Raimond.
+
+[432] Albert of Aix; Guibert; Robert. Mon. lib. viii.
+
+[433] Mills follows Raimond d'Agiles. I have chosen the account of Albert
+of Aix, because I find it better supported by evidence.
+
+[434] William of Tyre.
+
+[435] Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[436] Fulcher. Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[437] William of Tyre, lib. vii.
+
+[438] Robert. Mon.
+
+[439] Albert.
+
+[440] William of Tyre; Albert of Aix.
+
+[441] Albert.
+
+[442] Robert; Guibert.
+
+[443] Ibid.
+
+[444] Albert.
+
+[445] Raoul of Caen; Albert; Fulcher.
+
+[446] Albert of Aix, lib. v.
+
+[447] Guibert.
+
+[448] Guibert, lib. vii.; Robert.
+
+[449] Holy War.
+
+[450] Raimond.
+
+[451] Robert; Albert; Guibert, lib. vii.
+
+[452] Fulcher mentions several ladders, but says they were too few.
+
+[453] Albert of Aix; Guibert.
+
+[454] Raimond; Albert.
+
+[455] Albert of Aix.
+
+[456] Guibert; Albert.
+
+[457] Albert of Aix.
+
+[458] Raimond d'Agiles; Guibert.
+
+[459] Albert of Aix.
+
+[460] Raimond d'Agiles; Albert of Aix.
+
+[461] Albert describes perfectly the effect of the Greek fire, and says it
+could only be extinguished by the means of vinegar, which, on the second
+day, the crusaders provided in great quantity.
+
+[462] Raimond.
+
+[463] Guibert; Albert of Aix.
+
+[464] Raimond d'Agiles; William of Tyre.
+
+[465] Robert; Guibert. lib. vii.; Albert.
+
+[466] 15th July. A. D. 1099.
+
+[467] Guibert; Raimond.
+
+[468] Albert; Robert.
+
+[469] Ibid; Guibert.
+
+[470] Guibert; Raimond d'Agiles; Robert.
+
+[471] Tancred and Gaston of Bearn had promised quarter to these unhappy
+wretches, and had given them a banner as a certain protection. It was
+early the next morning, before those chiefs were awake, that this massacre
+was committed by some of the more bloodthirsty of the crusaders. Tancred
+was with great difficulty prevented from taking signal vengeance on the
+perpetrators of this crime.--Guibert; Albert.
+
+[472] The story of the second massacre rests upon the authority of Albert
+of Aix, from whose writings it has been copied by all who have repeated
+it. Albert of Aix never visited the Holy Land. None of those who were
+present at the fall of Jerusalem (that I can discover) make the slightest
+mention of such an occurrence; and we have the strongest proof that part
+of Albert's story is false; for he declares that all the Saracens were
+slaughtered in this second massacre, even those who had previously been
+promised protection; and we know that many were sent to Ascalon.--See
+_Guibert_, lib. vii. Robert, who was present speaks of many who were
+spared.--_Robertus_, lib. ix. Fulcher, who was in the country, if not
+present, does not allude to a second massacre. Raimond d'Agiles, who was a
+witness to the whole, passes it over in silence; though each of these
+persons always speaks of the slaughter of the Saracens as the most
+praiseworthy of actions. The Archbishop of Tyre also, who copied Albert
+wherever he could be proved correct, has stamped doubt upon this anecdote
+by omitting it entirely. I have thought fit to notice this particularly,
+because Mills lays no small stress upon the tale.
+
+[473] Guibert; Albert; William of Tyre.
+
+[474] See Raimond d'Agiles; Guibert; Albert; Brompton; William of
+Malmsbury.
+
+[475] Fulcher, cap. 18; Robert. Mon. lib. ix.
+
+[476] Godfrey appears never to have taken the title of king, from a
+feeling of religious humility.
+
+[477] Robert.
+
+[478] Albert; Will. Tyr.
+
+[479] Albert.
+
+[480] He was taken, after having suffered a complete defeat from the emir
+Damisman, as he was hastening to the succour of Gabriel of Armenia.
+
+[481] Will. Tyren.; Radulph.; Cadom.
+
+[482] Arnould, one of the most corrupt priests in the army, had been
+elected patriarch, but was deposed almost immediately; and Daimbert, who
+arrived from Rome as legate, was chosen in his stead. This Daimbert it is
+of whom I speak above. He seems to have conceived, from the first, the
+idea of making Jerusalem an eastern Rome, and wrung many concessions from
+Godfrey, which were little respected by that chief's successors.
+
+[483] William of Tyre.
+
+[484] Hist. Hieros.; Jacob. lib. i.; William of Tyre; Fulcher; Albert.
+
+[485] Will. of Tyre; Fulcher of Chartres.
+
+[486] Fulcher.
+
+[487] William of Tyre.
+
+[488] Hist. Hieros.; Jacob. Vit.; Will. of Tyre.
+
+[489] Fulcher; Albert.
+
+[490] Raoul of Caen; Will. Tyr.; Fulcher.
+
+[491] Guibert; lib. vii.
+
+[492] Will. of Tyr.; Guibert.
+
+[493] Guibert says that Boemond died from the effects of poison. Other
+authors declare that grief for having been obliged to enter into a less
+advantageous treaty with Alexius than he had anticipated occasioned his
+death; but, from his whole history, I should not look upon Boemond as a
+man likely to die of grief.
+
+[494] He was the grandson of that Raimond, Count of Toulouse, of whose
+conduct I have so often had occasion to speak already, and whose
+perseverance against Tripoli will be mentioned hereafter.
+
+[495] Will. Tyr.
+
+[496] Fulcher; Albert of Aix; William of Tyre.
+
+[497] Albert of Aix; William of Tyre.
+
+[498] Fulcher.
+
+[499] Albert of Aix.
+
+[500] Fulcher; Albert.
+
+[501] Albert.
+
+[502] Albert of Aix.
+
+[503] Fulcher.
+
+[504] Albert.
+
+[505] Fulcher, cap. 35, A. D. 1105.
+
+[506] Fulcher, cap. 27.
+
+[507] Albert, lib. ix.; Fulcher.
+
+[508] Albert; Fulcher.
+
+[509] James of Vitry; Hist. Hieros. ab.
+
+[510] Hist. Hieros. abrev.
+
+[511] Mills says that the last historical mention of Peter is that which
+relates to his recognition by the Christians of Jerusalem; but such is not
+the case. We find him mentioned as a very influential person on the
+occasion of the battle of Ascalon.--See _Raimond d'Agiles_; _Guibert_,
+lib. vii.
+
+[512] Guibert, lib. vii.
+
+[513] Albert of Aix, lib. x.; William of Tyre.
+
+[514] Fulcher; William of Tyre.
+
+[515] Guibert, lib. vii.
+
+[516] Guibert. lib. vii.
+
+[517] Ibid.
+
+[518] William of Tyre.
+
+[519] Albert of Aix and Fulcher give a different account of Baldwin's
+escape.
+
+[520] Will. Tyr. lib. x.
+
+[521] Albert; Raimond d'Agiles; Fulcher; William of Tyre; Guibert.
+
+[522] Albert of Aix; Raimond d'Agiles; Guibert.
+
+[523] Mills is wrong in supposing that plate armour was not at all known
+before the beginning of the thirteenth century. As far back as the time of
+Louis the Debonair, the Monk of St. Gall gives a full description of a man
+in plate armour, and also mentions the barb, or iron covering of the
+horse.
+
+[524] See, for these particulars, the Monk of St. Gall; Albert of Aix;
+Raimond d'Agiles; Fulcher; Guibert; William of Brittany; Menestrier St.
+Palaye; Ducange.
+
+[525] Albert of Aix, lib. viii.
+
+[526] Fulcher; Guibert.
+
+[527] Albert of Aix; Fulcher; Robertus Monachus.
+
+[528] Fulcher; William of Tyre; Albert.
+
+[529] Ducange.
+
+[530] Assizes par Thaumassiere.
+
+[531] William of Tyre, lib. xviii.
+
+[532] Vertot.
+
+[533] Hist. Hierosol., Jacob. Vitri.
+
+[534] Vertot Preuves.
+
+[535] Vertot.
+
+[536] Jacob Vitriaci in Hist. Hierosol.
+
+[537] William of Tyre.
+
+[538] Jac. Vitriaci; Hist. Hierosol.
+
+[539] Will. Tyrensis, lib. xxii.; Jacob. Vit.
+
+[540] William of Tyre.
+
+[541] William of Tyre marks precisely, that the particular rules to which
+they were subjected, and the dress to which they were restricted, were
+regularly fixed by the church at the council of Troyes, in the course of
+the ninth year after their first institution. Now the council of Troyes
+took place in 1128, and Baldwin du Bourg ascended the throne of Jerusalem
+on the 2d or April, 1118, ten years previously. Their first institution,
+therefore, could not be in the reign of Baldwin I., as Mills has stated
+it, without a gross error on the part of the Archbishop of Tyre, who wrote
+in the year 1184, and therefore was not likely to be mistaken on a subject
+so near his own days.
+
+[542] Hist. Hierosol.; Jacob. Vitriaci.
+
+[543] The Templars founded many charitable institutions, but attendance on
+the sick was not a part of their profession.
+
+[544] For a more particular and correct account of the armour of the
+crusades, I must refer to the invaluable work of Dr. Meyrick, which I
+regret much not to have had by me while writing this book. My sources of
+information have been alone the historians of the day, in consulting whom
+the ambiguity of language is very often likely to induce error in matters
+which, like armour, are difficult to describe.
+
+[545] Mills says, "The news of the loss of the eastern frontier of the
+Latin kingdom reached France at a time peculiarly favourable for foreign
+war." It will be seen that I have taken up a position as exactly the
+reverse of that assumed by that excellent author as can well be conceived;
+but I have not done so without much investigation, and the more I consider
+the subject, the more I am convinced that the moment when the feudal power
+was checked by the king and assailed by the communes, was not the most
+propitious to call the nobility to foreign lands--that the moment in which
+the burghers were labouring up hill for independence, was not a time for
+them to abandon the scene of their hopes and endeavours--and that the
+moment when a kingdom was torn by conflicting powers, when the royal
+authority was unconfirmed, and the nobility only irritated at its
+exertion, was not the period that a monarch should have chosen to quit his
+dominions.
+
+[546] A curious essay might be written on the classes or castes in Europe
+at that period. It is quite a mistaken notion which some persons have
+entertained, that the only distinctions under the monarch, were noble and
+serf. We find an immense class, or rather various classes, all of which
+consisted of freemen, interposed between the lord and his slave. Thus
+Galbertus Syndick, of Bruges, in recounting the death of Charles the Good,
+Count of Flanders, A. D. 1130, mentions not only the burghers of the town,
+but various other persons who were not of the noble race, but were then
+evidently free, as well as the Brabançois or Cotereaux, a sort of
+freebooting soldier of that day. Guibert of Nogent, also, in his own life,
+and Frodoardus, in the history of Rheims, refer to many of whose exact
+station it is difficult to form an idea.
+
+[547] Rouillard, Histoire de Melun: Vie de Bouchard.
+
+[548] I know that I use this word not quite correctly, but I can find none
+other to express more properly what I mean.
+
+[549] Suger in vit. Ludovic VI.
+
+[550] Galbert in vit. Carol.
+
+[551] Suger in vit. Ludovic VI.
+
+[552] Chron. Vezeliac.
+
+[553] Guibert Nog. in vit. s.
+
+[554] Chron. Vezeliac.
+
+[555] Gesta regis Ludovici VII.
+
+[556] The only two I know who accompanied this crusade, and wrote any
+detailed account of it, are Odon de Deuil, or Odo de Diagolo, and
+Frisingen, or Freysinghen. It is an extraordinary fact, that the Cardinal
+de Vitry makes no mention of the second crusade.
+
+[557] William of St. Thierry, Mabillon.
+
+[558] Geoffroi de Clairvaux, Continuation of the Life of St. Bernard.
+
+[559] Odo of Deuil.
+
+[560] Mabillon.
+
+[561] Guizot.
+
+[562] A. D. 1147
+
+[563] Odon de Deuil.
+
+[564] William of Tyre.
+
+[565] Odon de Deuil.
+
+[566] See note X.
+
+[567] It appears from the passage of Odo of Deuil which mentions the
+curious servility, as he designates it, of the Greeks never sitting down
+in the presence of a superior till desired to do so, that the French of
+that day were not quite so ceremonious as in that of Louis XIV.
+
+[568] Odo of Deuil.
+
+[569] Nicetas.
+
+[570] Cinnamus, cited by Mills.
+
+[571] Odon de Deuil.
+
+[572] Ibid.
+
+[573] Manuel Comnenus had married Bertha, and Conrad, Gertrude, both
+daughters of Berenger the elder, Count of Sultzbach.
+
+[574] Odon de Deuil.
+
+[575] William of Tyre; Odon de Deuil.
+
+[576] The Pope, in his exhortation to the second crusade, had not only
+regulated the general conduct of the crusaders, and formally absolved all
+those who should embrace the Cross, but he had given minute particulars
+for their dress and arms, expressly forbidding all that might encumber
+them in their journey, such as heavy baggage, and vain superfluities, and
+all that might lead them from the direct road, such as falcons and
+hunting-dogs. "Happy had it been for them," says Odo of Deuil, "if,
+instead of a scrip, he had commanded the foot pilgrims to bear a cross
+bow, and instead of a staff, a sword."
+
+[577] Odo of Deuil; Will. Tyr.
+
+[578] Will. Tyr; Odon de Deuil; Gest. Ludovic VII; Nicetas.
+
+[579] Odon de Deuil.
+
+[580] Will. Tyr.; Odon de Deuil.
+
+[581] Odon de Deuil; Freysinghen; William of Tyre.
+
+[582] William of Tyre.
+
+[583] Odon de Deuil.
+
+[584] Odo of Deuil always calls Otho, Bishop of Freysinghen, brother of
+the Emperor Conrad. He was, however, only a half-brother; his relationship
+being by the mother's side.
+
+[585] Will. Tyrens lib. xvi.; Odon de Deuil.
+
+[586] Odon de Deuil; Will. Tyr.
+
+[587] Odon de Deuil.
+
+[588] Odon de Deuil.
+
+[589] William of Tyre.
+
+[590] Odon de Deuil.
+
+[591] Ibid.
+
+[592] William of Tyre; Vertot.
+
+[593] Gest. Ludovic. regis; William of Tyre; Vertot.
+
+[594] Vertot, a learned man and a diligent investigator, speaks of Eleonor
+in the following curious terms: "On pretend que cette princesse, peu
+scrupuleuse sur ses devoirs, et devenue éprise d'un jeune Turc baptisé,
+appellé Saladin, ne pouvait résoudre à s'en séparer, &c." These reports of
+course gave rise to many curious suppositions, especially when Richard
+Coeur de Leon, Eleonor's son by her second marriage, went to war in the
+Holy Land. On his return to France, Louis VII. instantly sought a
+plausible pretext for delivering himself from his unfaithful wife without
+causing the scandal of a public exposure of her conduct. A pretence of
+consanguinity within the forbidden degrees was soon established, and the
+marriage was annulled. After this Eleonor, who, in addition to beauty and
+wit, possessed in her own right the whole of Aquitain, speedily gave her
+hand to Henry II. of England, and in the end figured in the tragedy of
+Rosamond of Woodstock.
+
+[595] William of Tyre; Vertot.
+
+[596] Gest. regis Ludov. VII.
+
+[597] Vertot.
+
+[598] William of Tyre; Col. script. Arab.; Vertot.
+
+[599] William of Tyre; Freysinghen, reb. gest. Fred.; Gest. reg. Lud. VII.
+
+[600] Guil. Monach. in vit. Suger. Ab. Sanct. Dion.; Gest. reg. Lud. VII.
+
+[601] Guil. Monach. in vit. Sug.
+
+[602] All the writers of that day attempt to excuse St. Bernard for having
+preached a crusade which had so unfortunate a conclusion. The principles
+upon which they do so are somewhat curious. The Bishop of Freysinghen
+declares, that it was the vice of the crusaders which called upon their
+heads the wrath of Heaven: and, to reconcile this fact with the spirit of
+prophecy which elsewhere he attributes to the Abbot of Clairvaux, declares
+that prophets are not always able to prophesy.--_Freysing. de rebus gestis
+Fred. Imperat._ Geoffroy of Clairvaux, who was a contemporary, and wrote
+part of the Life of St. Bernard, would fain prove that the crusade could
+not be called unfortunate, since, though it did not at all help the Holy
+Land it served to people heaven with martyrs.
+
+[603] Existing orders of knighthood.
+
+[604] Fulcher; Raoul Glaber.
+
+[605] Robert; Fulcher; Raimond d'Agiles.
+
+[606] Raynouard, Poesies des Troubadours; Millot, Hist. des Troubadours;
+Le Grand d'Aussi Fabliaux.
+
+[607] Raynouard.
+
+[608] Oeuvres de Maroc.
+
+[609] Fauchet.
+
+[610] Le Grand d'Aussi.
+
+[611] Bernard, the Treasurer; James of Vitry; William of Tyre.
+
+[612] William of Tyre; Bernard.
+
+[613] William of Tyre.
+
+[614] Cardinal of Vitry; William of Tyre.
+
+[615] Cardinal of Vitry; Will. of Tyre.
+
+[616] Bernard; William of Tyre.
+
+[617] William of Tyre; James of Vitry; Guillelm de Nangis; Chron. ann.
+1174.
+
+[618] William of Tyre.
+
+[619] Jacob. Vitr.
+
+[620] Bernard the Treasurer says, that the monarch wished to annul the
+marriage between his sister and Guy. "Si grans haine estoit entre le roy
+et le cuens de Jaffe que chascun jor cressoit plus et plus et jusque a
+tant estoit la chose venue que le roy queroit achaison par quoy il peut
+desevrer tot apertement le mariage qui iert entre lui et sa seror."
+
+[621] William of Tyre; Bernard the Treasurer: James of Vitrv.
+
+[622] Bernard the Treasurer; James of Vitry.
+
+[623] Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[624] Rog. of Hovedon.
+
+[625] William of Tyre; William de Nangis.
+
+[626] Bernard; William of Nangis.
+
+[627] Will. Neub.
+
+[628] Bernard.
+
+[629] William of Nangis.
+
+[630] Bernard the Treasurer; William of Nangis.
+
+[631] Vertot.
+
+[632] Rog. of Hovedon; William of Nangis.
+
+[633] William of Nangis; Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[634] Some writers state that Saladin proposed to Chatillon to abjure
+Christianity, which he boldly refused: but others do not mention the
+circumstance, and the act of Saladin seems to me to have been more one of
+hasty passion than of deliberation.
+
+[635] Bernard.
+
+[636] Bernard the Treasurer; Continuation of William of Tyre.
+
+[637] William of Nangis.
+
+[638] Bernard.
+
+[639] James of Vitry; Bernard; William of Tyre.
+
+[640] Bernard; Albert.
+
+[641] William of Tyre.
+
+[642] Albert of Aix; Fulcher; Robert.
+
+[643] There is a letter in Hovedon from a Templar to Henry II., giving an
+account of the state of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, dated 1179.
+
+[644] Bernard the Treasurer; William of Nangis, A. D. 1188; B.
+Peterborough.
+
+[645] William de Nangis; Jacob. Vit. lib. i.
+
+[646] Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[647] A. D. 1189, 1190.
+
+[648] I have followed James of Vitry. Some say that Frederic's death
+proceeded from bathing in the Cydnus, and some in the Calycadnus. The
+matter is of little moment; but, as he was descending towards Antioch at
+the time, it is not improbable that the Cardinal de Vitry was right.
+Emadeddin, in the collection of Arabic historians by Reinaud, calls this
+river the Selef.
+
+[649] Jacob. Vit.; Hist. Hieros. ab.; Bernardus; Lection. Canisius
+Antiquæ.
+
+[650] James of Vitry.
+
+[651] Pet. de Dusburg.; Chron. Ord. Teuton.
+
+[652] Existing Orders of Knighthood; James of Vitry.
+
+[653] Vit. Ludovic VII.; Roger de Hovedon.
+
+[654] Rigord de gest. Phil Aug.; Hovedon; Robert, de Monte.
+
+[655] Geoffroi Rudel in Raynouard; Millot; Ducange.
+
+[656] William of Nangis, A. D. 1188; Rigord.
+
+[657] Rigord in vit. Philip August.; Guil. de Nangis, A. D. 1188.
+
+[658] See Rigord, who gives minutely the statutes on this occasion.
+
+[659] Branche des royaux Lignages, ann. 1189-90, Guil. de Nangis Rigord.
+William the Breton.
+
+[660] Bernard the Treasurer; James of Vitry.
+
+[661] Continuation of William of Tyre, Anon.
+
+[662] R. de Diceto; Roger de Hovedon; Matthew Paris. Ann. 1188.
+
+[663] Henry died before the altar of the church of Chinon.
+
+[664] Hovedon.
+
+[665] Brompton; Hovedon.
+
+[666] Diceto.
+
+[667] Rymer, col. diplom.
+
+[668] Brequegny, coll. ann. 1188; Rigord in vit. Phil. Aug.
+
+[669] Benedict of Peterborough.
+
+[670] Rigord says nothing of any illness which Philip suffered at Messina.
+
+[671] Hovedon; Brompton.
+
+[672] Benedict of Peterborough.
+
+[673] Rigord; Benedict of Peterborough.
+
+[674] Rigord.
+
+[675] Vinesauf.
+
+[676] Ben. Abb. Peter.; R. Hovedon.
+
+[677] Rigord.
+
+[678] Rigordus states positively that Berengaria had arrived before the
+treaty was signed between Philip and Richard. Mills says, that Richard
+remained in Sicily after Philip's departure, to wait for Berengaria; but
+Rigord lived at the time, and was one of the most diligent inquirers who
+have left us records of that age. The _Branche des royaux Lignages_ makes
+Richard say to the King of France,
+
+  "Sire vostre suer espousai
+  De laquele atan le don hui;
+  Mes onc nul jour ne la connui
+  Et j'ai puis prise Bérangarre
+  Qui fille est au roy de Navarre."--1226.
+
+William the Breton, also, who was afterward chaplain to Philip Augustus,
+represents Richard as saying,
+
+  "Et jam juncta thoro est mihi Berengaria, regis
+  Filia Navarræ."
+
+[679] Rigord in vit. Phil. Aug.; Hovedon; Rymer.
+
+[680] Bernardus.
+
+[681] Various knights are mentioned by Bernard the Treasurer, as having
+signalized themselves greatly, both prior to the siege and after its
+commencement. One in particular, whom he calls the Green Knight, even
+raised the admiration of the Saracens to such a height that Saladin sent
+for him, and made him the most brilliant offers, in hopes of bringing him
+to join the Moslems. It is more than probable that this Green Knight was
+the famous Jacques d'Avesnes, and was so called from the colour of the
+cross which he wore.
+
+[682] Auteurs Arabes, rec. de Reinaud; Branche des loyaux Rignages; Rigord
+in vit. Phil. August.
+
+[683] Boha Eddin, rec. de Reinaud.
+
+[684] Brompton, A. D. 1191; Ben. Abb. Peterborough, 1191.
+
+[685] Hovedon; Ben. Abb. Peterborough.
+
+[686] Hovedon; Brompton; Will. Newb.
+
+[687] Boha Eddin; Walter Vinesauf; Hovedon; Benedict of Peterborough
+
+[688] Peterborough; Vinesauf; James, Cardinal of Vitry, lib. i.
+
+[689] Mills speaks of the conduct of Richard in the following terms: "The
+sanguinary and ungenerous Richard killed or cast overboard his defenceless
+enemies; or, with an avarice equally detestable, saved the commanders for
+the sake of their ransom." That author, however, says not one word of the
+Saracens' fighting under false colours, or of the horrible cargo which
+they carried in their ship, though he afterward himself alludes to the
+sufferings of the crusaders from the bites of reptiles. Is this historical
+justice?
+
+[690] Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[691] Boha Eddin, rec. Hist. Arabes de Reinaud.
+
+[692] His name, literally translated, means _the just king, the sword of
+the faith_. From Saif Eddin the Christians composed the word Saphaddin, by
+which he is generally designated in the chronicles of the time.
+
+[693] Vinesauf; Hovedon.
+
+[694] Chron. St. Denis.
+
+[695] James of Vitry; Hovedon; Vinesauf; Ben. of Pet.; Bernard the
+Treasurer.
+
+[696] Rigord; William of Nangis; James of Vitry; Bernardus; Vinesauf;
+Hovedon. All these authors give different accounts of the numbers
+sacrificed.
+
+[697] Bernard the Treasurer affirms that Philip caused the prisoners to be
+executed; but most of the other historians agree, that this piece of
+cruelty was committed by Richard alone.
+
+[698] Rigord.
+
+[699] Bernard the Treasurer says, that the English king lodged in the
+house of the Templars, and that Philip Augustus occupied the citadel; "Le
+Roi de France ot le chastel d'Acre, et le fist garnir et le Roi
+d'Angleterre se herberja en la maison du Temple." Most authorities,
+however, are opposed to this statement, declaring that Richard lodged in
+the palace, and Philip with the Templars.
+
+[700] Bernard the Treasurer; Rigord; William the Breton; Branche des
+royaux Lignages.
+
+[701] Rigord; Robert of Gloucester.
+
+[702] James of Vitry; Boha Eddin; Emad Eddin; Recueil de Reinaud.
+
+[703] Benedict of Peterborough.
+
+[704] Bernard the Treasurer; James of Vitry, &c.
+
+[705] Hovedon; James of Vitry; Vinesauf.
+
+[706] Vinesauf; Boha Eddin.
+
+[707] Hovedon; Vinesauf.
+
+[708] James of Vitry; Trivet Annales.
+
+[709] Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[710] James of Vitry.
+
+[711] This gentleman was taken prisoner, but was of course ransomed
+immediately by Richard.
+
+[712] Hovedon; Boha Eddin.
+
+[713] Vinesauf; James of Vitry.
+
+[714] Hovedon; William of Nangis, ann. 1192; Vinesauf.
+
+[715] For many years a horde of plunderers had been established in the
+mountains of Phoenicia, in the neighbourhood of Tortosa and Tripoli, who,
+in the end, obtained the name of Assassins, from the small dagger which
+was their only weapon, and which was called _hassassin_. Their religion
+was a corrupted species of Islamism, and their government a fanatical
+despotism. Their chief was called sometimes the Ancient, sometimes the
+Lord of the Mountains, and among the Christians he obtained the name of
+the Old Man of the Mountains. By working on the exciteable imaginations of
+an illiterate and fanatical race, the lords of this extraordinary tribe
+had obtained over them an influence unknown to any other power which was
+ever brought to sway the mind of man. The will of the Old Man of the
+Mountains was absolute law to each of his subjects. Whatever were his
+commands, whether to slay themselves or another, they asked no
+questions--paused not to consider of justice or injustice--but obeyed; and
+when sent to execute the will of their lord upon anyone, they followed
+their object with a keen sagacity and unalterable perseverance, that
+placed the life of each individual in the hands of their remorseless
+monarch. Nothing could turn them aside from the pursuit; no difficulties
+were too great for them to surmount; and when they had struck the victim,
+if they escaped, it was well; but if they were taken, they met torture and
+death with stoical firmness, feeling certain of the joys of Paradise as a
+compensation for their sufferings. The number of this tribe was about
+sixty thousand, all conscientious murderers, whom no danger would daunt,
+and no human consideration could deter. Such were the men who slew Conrad
+of Montferrat; and yet the French with the wild inconsistency of their
+national hatred, attributed the deed to Richard, who never found aught on
+earth that could induce him to cover his wrath when it was excited, or to
+stay him from the open pursuit of revenge, which was always as bold and
+unconcealed as it was fierce and evanescent. From this tribe we have
+derived the word _assassin_.--See James of Vitry; Matthew of Paris;
+William of Tyre; Ducange ou Joinville.
+
+[716] Bernard the Treasurer; James of Vitry; William of Nangis.
+
+[717] Bernard; Vinesauf; Matthew Paris.
+
+[718] Little doubt can exist that one great cause of the abandonment of
+the crusade were the differences between Richard and the Duke of Burgundy.
+The Frenchman was jealous of the fame which the English king would have
+acquired by taking Jerusalem, and consequently took care that he should
+not effect that object. Such is the account given by Bernard the
+Treasurer--a Frenchman, who always showed a manifest tendency to exculpate
+his countrymen, whenever there existed a fair excuse. See the Chronicle in
+old French, published in the collection of Martenne and Durand. It was
+generally attributed to Hugh Plagon, but has since been proved to be the
+original of Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[719] Vinesauf.
+
+[720] Hovedon; Vinesauf.
+
+[721] The French refused to march to the assistance of Jaffa.
+
+[722] Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[723] Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[724] The Queen Berengaria and Joan of Sicily left Acre on the 29th of
+September, previous to the departure of Richard, who set out on the 25th
+of October, 1192. After encountering a violent storm, which scattered his
+fleet and wrecked the greater number of his vessels, Richard, with his
+single ship, touched at Zara, where he landed, accompanied only by two
+priests and a few knights of the Temple, whose garb he had assumed. From
+Zara, Richard endeavoured to make his way through Germany in disguise, but
+in vain. The news of his journey had already spread; the unforgiving
+Archduke of Austria, whose banner he had trampled on at Acre, caused every
+road to be narrowly watched. One after another of his companions were sent
+away by the king, till at length, with a single squire, he arrived at a
+small town near Vienna; where, taking up his abode at a petty lodging,
+Richard despatched his follower for provisions. The squire was recognised
+by some of the spies of the archduke, and Richard was taken and cast into
+prison. The royal captive was speedily given into the hands of the emperor
+of Austria, who concerted with Philip Augustus the means of detaining him
+in secrecy. His confinement, nevertheless, was soon known in England, and
+means were used to discover his precise situation. General tradition gives
+the merit of having ascertained his lord's prison to his favourite
+troubadour Blondel, or Blondiau; and we may be surely allowed to regret
+that no grave historian has confirmed the tale. However that may be, the
+place of the king's confinement was discovered, and England began to cry
+loudly for justice from all Christendom. Knightly honour and religious
+feeling were invoked, and the infamy of detaining a traveller, a pilgrim,
+and a crusader was proclaimed with the loud and powerful voice of a
+people's indignation. Henry at length felt himself obligated to yield some
+appearance of justice for detaining an independent monarch; and Richard
+was brought before the diet at Worms, where he was charged with imaginary
+crimes, the chief of which was the assassination of Conrad, Marquis of
+Montferrat. Had the least shadow of reason been left on the side of the
+emperor, Richard's fate would have been sealed; but the English monarch
+defended himself with so much eloquence and justice, that no doubt
+remained on the minds of those who heard him, and his ransom was agreed
+upon at one hundred thousand marks of silver. This money was obtained with
+difficulty, and John and Philip strove to raise greater sums to tempt the
+cupidity of the emperor to retain the lion-hearted monarch. The avaricious
+Henry hesitated on their proposals, and thus was the liberty of the noble
+king of England set up to auction, till the Germanic body indignantly
+interfered, the ransom was paid, and Richard returned to England.
+
+[725] William of Nangis.
+
+[726] Rigord; William the Breton.
+
+[727] Will. of Nangis, ann. 1196.
+
+[728] James of Vitry.
+
+[729] Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[730] Bernard; Will. of Nangis, ann. 1197.
+
+[731] James of Vitry.
+
+[732] Hovedon.
+
+[733] Fuller's Holy War; Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[734] James of Vitry; Bernard; Will. of Nangis; A. D. 1198.
+
+[735] Vertot; Bernard.
+
+[736] James of Vitry.
+
+[737] Bernard; A. D. 1205.
+
+[738] Sanut. cap. 3.
+
+[739] Hovedon.
+
+[740] The power of the orders of the Temple and the Hospital had, by this
+time, become immense. Riches flowed in upon riches, and donation was added
+to donation. In the year 1244, Matthew Paris declares the Templars
+possessed in Europe nine thousand manors, and the Hospitallers nineteen
+thousand.
+
+[741] A. D. 1210.
+
+[742] James, Cardinal de Vitry.
+
+[743] A. D. 1202.
+
+[744] Rigord.
+
+[745] Ducange; Villehardouin chronique.
+
+[746] Villehardouin.
+
+[747] Ducange, Hist. de Constantinople sous les Français.
+
+[748] Vit. Innocent III.
+
+[749] Villehardouin.
+
+[750] Ducange.
+
+[751] Villehardouin.
+
+[752] Baronius; Gesta Innocent III.
+
+[753] Villehardouin.
+
+[754] Villehardouin; Ducange, Hist. de Constantinople sous les Français.
+
+[755] Ducange, notes on Villehardouin.
+
+[756] Philip Mouskes.
+
+[757] Villehardouin.
+
+[758] It consisted of three hundred vessels of a large size, besides
+palanders and storeships.
+
+[759] November, 1202.
+
+[760] Gunther; Villehardouin.
+
+[761] Ducange; Villehardouin.
+
+[762] Alberic; A. D. 1202.
+
+[763] Villehardouin.
+
+[764] Ducange.
+
+[765] Villehardouin.
+
+[766] Ducange.
+
+[767] Gunther in Canisius.
+
+[768] Mills says, that Innocent issued decrees and bulls against the
+expedition to Constantinople, and founds his reasoning on a passage of
+Baluzius: but it is extremely probable that the anger of the Pope was a
+mere menace of the party opposed to the enterprise rather than an existing
+fact. Baluzius was not present any more than Ducange; and surely, for
+every thing where research is concerned, Ducange is the better authority
+of the two: yet Ducange makes no mention of the opposition of the Pope,
+and absolutely states that the legate counselled the attack on
+Constantinople. See _Ducange_, _Hist. de Constantinople sous les
+Francais_.
+
+Geoffroy de Villehardouin, who was not only present, but one of the chief
+actors in what he relates, speaks fully of the Pope's wrath at the attack
+of Zara, but mentions no opposition to the enterprise against
+Constantinople, though that enterprise was in agitation at the time the
+deputies were sent to Rome. Philippe Mouskes, Bishop of Tournay, a
+contemporary, states that the first application of the young Prince
+Alexius to the crusaders was made by the advice of the Pope.
+
+[769] Villehardouin.
+
+[770] June, 1203.
+
+[771] Nicetas, lib. iii. cap. 5.
+
+[772] Villehardouin.
+
+[773] Ibid.
+
+[774] Dandolo, Chron.; Villehardouin.
+
+[775] Epist. Innocent III.
+
+[776] Villehardouin.
+
+[777] Ducange; Villehardouin; Nicetas.
+
+[778] Villehardouin.
+
+[779] Nicetas.
+
+[780] Ducange; Villehardouin.
+
+[781] Ibid.
+
+[782] Gest. Innoc. III.
+
+[783] Ducange.
+
+[784] Nicetas.
+
+[785] Villehardouin.
+
+[786] Nicetas.
+
+[787] Nicetas; Villehardouin; Gest. Innoc. III.
+
+[788] Villehardouin intimates that Murzuphlis put Alexius to death
+immediately after having seized the crown; and the Chronicle in the Rouchy
+dialect, No. 148, Bibliothéque de l'Arsenal, says, "Et ne demeura gaires
+après que Morcuffle estrangla le josne empereur Alexes en la prison."
+
+[789] Nicetas.
+
+[790] Ducange; Villehardouin.
+
+[791] Villehardouin; Ducange.
+
+[792] Gunther; Ducange.
+
+[793] Villehardouin.
+
+[794] Ducange.
+
+[795] 2d April, 1204.
+
+[796] Nicetas.
+
+[797] Gest. Inn. iii.
+
+[798] Gunther; Villehardouin.
+
+[799] Villehardouin; Ducange.
+
+[800] Nicetas; Gunther.
+
+[801] Nicetas.
+
+[802] See note XI.
+
+[803] Nicetas.
+
+[804] Villehardouin; Ducange.
+
+[805] Villehardouin.
+
+[806] Nicetas; Ducange; Villehardouin; Alberic.
+
+[807] Ducange.
+
+[808] The cardinal legate invested Baldwin with the purple with his own
+hands, and Innocent confirmed, in all points but those of ecclesiastical
+government, the treaty by which the Venetians and the Franks had bound
+themselves. He also took the greatest interest in the new state, and wrote
+to all the prelates of France and Germany to support it by their preaching
+and influence. This may be added to other proofs, that Innocent never
+seriously opposed the expedition against the schismatic empire of the
+Greeks. The truth in all probability is, that he made a show of turning
+the crusaders from their purpose, both to preserve consistency and to
+afford room for any after-exertion of his authority that he might judge
+necessary: but that, at the same time, the cardinal legate very well
+understood that he was to promote the enterprise, and to be slightly
+blamed for it afterward, in order to screen his superior from the charge
+of that ambitious craving for which, however, he was notorious. It would
+be difficult to believe that Innocent, who triumphed over Philip Augustus,
+the greatest monarch of the day, and forced him to abandon his dearest
+wishes, would confine himself to idle threats, if he entertained any
+serious disinclination to the attack of Constantinople.
+
+[809] Reinaud rec. des Hist. Arabes.
+
+[810] Vertot.
+
+[811] Ducange.
+
+[812] Alberic. Mon. Trium Fontium.
+
+[813] Jacob. de Voragine; Albert Stadensis.
+
+[814] Albericus.
+
+[815] Jacob. de Voragine; Albert. Stadensis.
+
+[816] Gest. Innocent III: Labbe concil. Matthew Paris, A. D. 1213.
+
+[817] Chron. Godefrid Mon.; Bonfinius.
+
+[818] Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[819] Jacob. Vitriae; Bernardus.
+
+[820] Bernardus.
+
+[821] Mere restlessness is stated by Mills to have been the cause of
+Andrew's abandonment of the enterprise, but this was any thing but the
+case. Andrew, it is true, was of a weak and unstable character; but there
+were far too many dissensions in Hungary, and tragic horrors in his own
+family, to permit of his remaining in Palestine without total ruin to
+himself and his dominions.--See _Bonfinius_.
+
+[822] Godefrid. Moc.; James of Vitry.
+
+[823] Bernardus; James of Vitry.
+
+[824] Matthew Paris.
+
+[825] The whole of the siege of Damietta, and the events that followed, I
+have taken from James of Vitry and the old French of Bernard the
+Treasurer, with the Recueil des Hist. Arabes.
+
+[826] James of Vitry, Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[827] This pestilence seems to have been somewhat like the sea scurvy. It
+was not at all confined to the city, though it raged more furiously within
+the walls. Nevertheless, many of the soldiers of the Cross were attacked
+by it. James of Vitry, describing its effects, says, "A sudden pain took
+possession of the feet and legs: soon after, the gums and the teeth became
+affected with a sort of gangrene, and the sick persons were not able to
+eat: then, the bones of the legs became horribly black; and thus, after
+having suffered long torments, during which they showed much patience a
+great number of Christians went to repose in the bosom of the Lord."
+
+[828] James of Vitry; Bernardus.
+
+[829] Recueil des Hist. Arabes; Matthew Paris; Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[830] Bernard.
+
+[831] Matthew Paris.
+
+[832] Matthew Paris, ad. ann. 1228.
+
+[833] Bernardus.
+
+[834] Rainaldus; Sanut.; William of Nangis, 1232.
+
+[835] Bernard the Treasurer; Cont. of William of Tyre.
+
+[836] For some curious particulars concerning the disputes between the
+emperor and the Templars, see the old French of Bernard the Treasurer.
+
+[837] Bernard.
+
+[838] This story is doubtful. Matthew Paris says, that the Templars and
+Hospitallers gave information to the sultaun that Frederic would, on a
+certain day, make a pilgrimage to bathe in the River Jordan. It was not at
+all likely, however, that two Orders which were always at enmity should
+unite for such a purpose.
+
+[839] Matthew Paris, ann. 1229.
+
+[840] There were many motives which induced Frederic to return to Europe
+besides disgust at the ungrateful conduct of the Syrian Christians. The
+Pope, not content with using the spiritual sword against him, had
+unsheathed the temporal one, and was waging a furious war against the
+imperial lieutenant in Italy. It would seem a strange fact that John of
+Brienne, ex-king of Jerusalem, and father-in-law of the emperor, was in
+command of the papal forces which ravaged his son-in-law's territories,
+had we not good reason to believe that Frederic's conduct to Violante (who
+was now dead) had been of a nature that so chivalrous a man as John of
+Brienne was not likely to pass unnoticed, when his daughter was the
+sufferer. However, it is but just to remark that the reason why his
+crusade did not entirely restore the Holy Land to the dominion of the
+Christians, is to be found in the vindictive and unchristian enmity of
+Pope Gregory IX. towards the Emperor Frederic.
+
+[841] Matthew Paris.
+
+[842] Sanutus.
+
+[843] Regist. Greg. Noni, Vertot Preuves.
+
+[844] Matthew Paris, 1237.
+
+[845] Matthew Paris; Sanutus.
+
+[846] Sanutus, lib. iii. page 216.
+
+[847] The Emir of Karac was but a dependant of the Sultaun of Damascus.
+
+[848] Matthew Paris; Litteræ Comit. Richardi.
+
+[849] Sanutus; Vertot.
+
+[850] Bibliothéque Oriental; Joinville; Ducange; Sanutus, 217;
+Continuation of William of Tyre.
+
+[851] Joinville; Matthew Paris; Bernard in Martenne.
+
+[852] Joinville; Matthew Paris; Epist. Fred. Imper.
+
+[853] Ducange; Joinville; Bernard.
+
+[854] Bernard; Joinville, Matthew Paris.
+
+[855] The whole of these events are extremely obscure in history. I have
+followed Joinville more than any other author, because I find his account
+more clear and satisfactory. Ducange's valuable notes have greatly aided
+me; but even that indefatigable investigator has not been able to arrive
+at precise certainty. The accounts in Matthew Paris do not well harmonize
+with those of persons who had more immediate means of information. Vincent
+of Beauvais states, that the Corasmins were finally exterminated, not in a
+battle, but in separate bodies by the peasantry. Their whole number seems
+to have been about twenty thousand men. Bernard the Treasurer, in
+Martenne, corroborates the statement of Vincent of Beauvais.
+
+[856] Joinville; Bernard in Martenne; Guillaume Guiart.
+
+[857] Matthew Paris; Joinville.
+
+[858] Joinville.
+
+[859] Guillaume Guiart; Joinville.
+
+[860] Joinville; Branche des royaux Lignages.
+
+[861] Joinville.
+
+[862] Joinville; Guillaume Guiart; Ducange.
+
+[863] Joinville; Ducange, Guillaume Guiart.
+
+[864] See note XII.
+
+[865] Ducange; Joinville; Guillaume Guiart.
+
+[866] A. D. 1254.
+
+[867] A. D. 1270.
+
+[868] Joinville.
+
+[869] Guillaume Guiart.
+
+[870] Joinville.
+
+[871] Branche des royaux et Lignages; Sermon de Robert de Saincereaux.
+
+[872] Charles, King of Sicily, was brother to St. Louis.
+
+[873] Guillaume Guiart; William of Nangis.
+
+[874] Hemingford; Langtoft; Matthew Paris, continuation.
+
+[875] The popular version of this story is, that Eleonora, the wife of the
+prince, who had accompanied him to Palestine, sucked the poison from the
+wound, at the risk of her own life. Camden sanctions this account.
+
+[876] Hemingford; Langtoft.
+
+[877] Villani; Vet. Script.; Bernard, old French.
+
+[878] Martenne; Villani.
+
+[879] Martenne, Vet. Script.; Villani; Sanutus.
+
+[880] Raynouard.
+
+[881] For the history of the Templars, see Raynouard and Du Puy, Vertot,
+William of Nangis, Historia Templariorum, &c. Almost all the modern
+writers are more or less in favour of the Templars, while every
+contemporary authority condemns them. As to Mills's assertion, that they
+were loyal and virtuous, it is perfectly untenable. All the historians of
+the Holy Land, many of whom died while the Templars were at the height of
+their power, declare that they were a corrupt, proud, perfidious body.
+Mills himself shows that such was the opinion entertained of them by the
+Saracens; and all the general letters of the popes accuse them of manifold
+vices and depravities.
+
+[882] Vertot.
+
+[883] Will. of Nangis.
+
+[884] Vertot.
+
+[885] He was afterward pardoned when the sultaun's wrath had abated but
+Soliman would never see him more.
+
+[886] Vertot.
+
+[887] Watson; Vertot; Nic. Villagagnon.
+
+[888] Vertot; Com. de Bel. Mel.
+
+[889] Vertot; Com. de Bel. Mel. Nic. Villag.; Watson.
+
+[890] Watson; Vertot; Com.
+
+[891] Vertot.
+
+[892] Jouvencel; Ordre de Chevalerie; Fabliaux de le Grand d'Aussi;
+Chevalier de la Tour; Notes on St. Palaye.
+
+[893] Froissart, chap. 290.
+
+[894] Ibid. chap. 329.
+
+[895] Alain Chartier Le Grand.
+
+[896] La Colombiere Theatre.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The History of Chivalry, by G. P. R. James
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40537 ***