A.D. 1099-1148.
I HAVE related the disasters, the labours, and the conquests of the
first Crusaders; I now direct my attention to the kingdom which was
founded by their victories, the perils of which several times summoned
the nations of the West to arms. If the recital of a war filled with
adventures and prodigies has excited the curiosity and surprise of my
readers, I trust they will not refuse to follow with me the progress of
that distant kingdom, which was the fruit of so many exploits and so
much glory, which cost so much blood and so many tears. After having
beheld the countless crowds of pilgrims setting out for the deliverance
of the Holy Land, who will not be astonished to see two or three
hundred brave knights, the glorious remains of the Christian armies,
suffice for the defence of the provinces and cities conquered by the
united powers of the West? What spectacle can create more profound
reflection in the minds of thinking and enlightened men, than that of
a new people, cast, as it were by a tempest, on a foreign shore, in
the midst of a country from which the arms, religion, and customs of
numerous nations are unceasingly employed to expel them?
The country in which the Crusaders had just established themselves,
and which the monuments of religion and history rendered so dear to
the nations of the West, constituted the kingdoms of Judah and Israel
of antiquity. When the Romans carried their arms into this country,
its new masters added to the name which the Jews had given it that of
Palestine, or the country of the Palestinians. It was bounded on the
south and east by the deserts of Arabia and Idumea, on the west by the
Mediterranean, and on the north by the mountains Libanus.
At the period of the crusades, as at the present time, a great part
of the soil of Palestine, upon which rise the barren mountains of
Sion, Hebron, Hebal, and Gelboëi, presented the aspect of a land upon
which the curses of Heaven had fallen. This land, formerly promised
to the elect people of God, had several times changed inhabitants.
All the sects, all the dynasties of the Mussulmans, had disputed the
possession of it sword in hand, and revolutions and wars had left
numerous memorable ruins in its capital, and in the greater part of its
provinces. The religious ideas of the Mussulmans and the Christians
seemed alone to give importance to the conquest of Judea; history must,
however, guard against the exaggeration with which certain travellers
have spoken of the sterility of this unfortunate country.[224] Amidst
the calamities which, during many ages, desolated the provinces
of Palestine, some traces of its ancient splendour may still be
perceived. The shores of the Lake of Galilee and of the Jordan, some
valleys watered by the Besor, the Arnou, and the Jaboc, and the plains
contiguous to the sea which war had not ravaged, still recalled by
their fertility the promises of Scripture. Palestine yet boasted some
nourishing cities, and several of its ports offered a commodious asylum
to the vessels of Asia and Europe.
In the condition of Palestine at that time, if the territory had been
entirely subject to Godfrey, the new king might have equalled in power
the greater part of the Mussulman princes of Asia; but the young
kingdom of Jerusalem consisted but of the capital and about twenty
cities or towns in its neighbourhood. Several of these cities were
separated by places still occupied by the infidels. A fortress in the
hands of the Christians was near to a fortress over which floated the
standard of Mahomet. In the surrounding country dwelt Turks, Arabs, and
Egyptians, who all united to make war upon the subjects of Godfrey.
The latter were not free from alarm even in their cities, which were
almost all badly garrisoned, and found themselves constantly exposed
to the terrors and evils of war. The lands remained uncultivated, and
all communications were interrupted. Amidst so many perils, several
of the Latins abandoned the possessions which victory had bestowed
upon them; and that the conquered country might not be left without
inhabitants, the interest of property, or proprietorship, was called
in to strengthen the wavering love for the new abode. Every man who
had remained a year and a day in a house, or upon cultivated land, was
recognised as the legitimate proprietor of it. All rights of possession
were annulled by an absence of the same duration.
The first care of Godfrey was to repel the hostilities of the Saracens,
and to extend the frontiers of the kingdom intrusted to his defence. By
his orders Tancred entered into Galilee, took possession of Tiberias,
and several other cities situated in the neighbourhood of the Lake of
Genesareth. As the reward of his labours, he obtained possession of the
country he conquered, which in the end became a principality.
Tancred, master of a rich province, advanced into the territories of
Damascus, whilst Godfrey, in a fortunate excursion, imposed tributes
upon the emirs of Cæsarea, Ptolemais, and Ascalon, and brought to
submission the Arabs dwelling on the left shores of the Jordan. He
was returning victorious to Jerusalem, when the city of Asur, which
had surrendered after the battle of Ascalon, refused to pay tribute,
and shook off the yoke of the Christians. Godfrey resolved to lay
siege to this rebel city;[225] he collected his troops, marched them
towards Asur, and proceeded to attack the town. Already had the
rolling towers approached the ramparts, the rams had shaken the walls
to their foundations, and the city was about to be carried, when the
besieged employed a mode of defence worthy only of barbarians. Gerard
of Avesnes, who had been left with them as an hostage by Godfrey, was
fastened to the top of a very high mast which was attached to the
very wall against which the efforts of the besiegers were principally
directed. At the prospect of an inevitable and inglorious death, the
unfortunate Christian knight uttered loud and painful cries, and
conjured his friend Godfrey to save his life by a voluntary retreat.
This cruel spectacle pierced the heart of Godfrey, but did not shake
either his firmness or his courage. As he was sufficiently near to
Gerard of Avesnes to make himself heard by him, he exhorted him to
merit the crown of martyrdom by his resignation. “It is not in my power
to save you,” said he; “if my brother Eustace were in your place, I
could not deliver him from death. Die, then, illustrious and brave
knight, with the courage of a Christian hero; die for the safety of
your brethren, and for the glory of Jesus Christ.” These words of
Godfrey gave Gerard of Avesnes the courage to die. He begged his old
companions to offer at the holy sepulchre his horse and his arms, that
prayers might be put up for the health of his soul.[226] A short time
after he died under a shower of darts and arrows launched by the hands
of the Christians.
The soldiers of Godfrey, on witnessing the death of Gerard, burned with
rage to revenge him, and redoubled their efforts to render themselves
masters of the city. On their side, the besieged reproached the
Christians with their barbarity, and defended themselves with vigour.
The Greek fire consumed the towers and the machines of the besiegers;
Godfrey had lost a great number of his soldiers, and despaired of
reducing the city, which received succours by sea. As winter was
approaching, he resolved at last to raise the siege and return to
Jerusalem, deeply affected at having caused the death of Gerard of
Avesnes without any advantage to the cause of the Christians.
During the siege of Asur several emirs from the mountains of Samaria
came to visit Godfrey. They were struck with the greatest surprise
when they found the king of the Christians without a guard, without
splendour, sleeping on a straw pallet like the meanest of his soldiers.
They were not less astonished when, at their request, he exhibited
before them his extraordinary strength by cutting off the head of a
camel at a single blow with his sword. The emirs, after having offered
presents to Godfrey, returned to their own country, and related the
wonders they had seen. Their recitals, which history has not disdained,
contributed greatly to increase the fame of the king of Jerusalem.
When Godfrey reached his capital, he learnt the approach of a great
number of pilgrims, the greater part of whom were Pisans and Genoese,
led by the bishop of Ariana, and Daimbert, archbishop of Pisa. To
the Christians arrived from the West were added Bohemond, prince of
Antioch, Baldwin, count of Edessa, and Raymond, count of Thoulouse.
These latter had come to visit the holy places, and to celebrate the
epoch of the birth of Christ at Jerusalem.
Godfrey went out to meet the pilgrims as far as Bethlehem, with his
knights and the clergy. “After they were come into the holy city,”
says an old chronicle, “the king received them and feasted them
magnificently; and detained them in Judea during the winter, being
much gratified with the presence of his brother Baldwin.” Daimbert,
archbishop of Pisa, had come into Palestine as legate from the Holy
See. By means of presents and promises he got himself to be named
patriarch of Jerusalem, in the place of Arnoul de Rohes. This prelate,
brought up in the school of Gregory VII., maintained with warmth the
pretensions of the Holy See, and it was not long before his ambition
introduced trouble among the Christians. In the places even where
Christ had said that his kingdom was not of this world, he who called
himself his vicar desired to reign with Godfrey, and demanded the
sovereignty of a part of Jaffa, and of a quarter of Jerusalem in which
the church of the Resurrection was built. After some debates, the pious
Godfrey yielded to the imperious demands of Daimbert; and such was then
the ascendancy of the Church and the clergy, that the new king was
obliged to consent to a treaty by which the kingdom should belong to
the patriarch, if Godfrey should die without children. Godfrey thus
acknowledged himself the vassal of the sovereign pontiff, and received
from the pope and his legate permission to reign over a country
conquered by his arms. Bohemond and Baldwin consented at the same time
to receive from the pope the investiture of their principalities.
The prince of Antioch had refused to render homage to the king of
Jerusalem, but he did not hesitate to acknowledge himself the vassal of
a power which bestowed empires, and was able to send fresh armies into
the East.
In the mean time the wise Godfrey, after having freed his territory
from the incursions of the Mussulmans, and carried the terror of his
arms beyond the Jordan, reflected that victory was not all that was
required to found a state. His capital had been depopulated by the
sword of the Crusaders; several other cities, like Jaffa, had lost the
greater part of their inhabitants; and this new king reckoned among his
subjects Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Arabs, renegades from all religions,
and adventurers from all countries. The state confided to his care
was like a place of passage, and had no other supporters or defenders
but travellers and strangers. It was the rendezvous and the asylum of
notorious sinners, who came thither to mitigate the anger of God, and
of criminals, who thus eluded the justice of men. Both of these were
equally dangerous when circumstances awakened their passions, or when
fear and repentance gave way before new temptations. Godfrey, according
to the spirit of feudal customs and the laws of war, had divided the
conquered lands among the companions of his victories. The new lords
of Jaffa, Tiberias, Ramla, and Naplouse, scarcely acknowledged the
authority of a king. The clergy, encouraged by the patriarch, assumed
the tone of masters, and the bishops exercised a temporal power equal
to that of the barons. Some attributed the conquest of the kingdom to
their valour, others to their prayers; every one claimed the reward of
either his piety or his labours; and whilst the greater part aimed at
domination, all insisted upon independence.
Godfrey undertook to rule so many conflicting pretensions, and to bring
a tumultuous government into some regular form. In order that the
execution of his project might have the greater solemnity, he chose
the circumstance which had conducted the Latin princes to Jerusalem.
After having accompanied them as far as Jericho, to celebrate with them
the festival of the Epiphany, he returned to his capital, where he
assembled the enlightened and pious men of the city, of whom he formed
the states, or the assizes, of his kingdom. In this solemn assembly
the first care was to regulate and determine the duties of the barons,
the lords, and the common subjects, towards the king, and the duties
of the king towards the lords and subjects. The king was to undertake
to maintain the laws, to defend the Church, to protect widows and
orphans, to watch over the safety of both people and lords, and to lead
in war. The lord, who was the lieutenant of the prince, as regarded
his vassals, was to guarantee them from insult, and to protect their
property, their honour, and their rights. The first duty of the counts
and barons towards the king was to serve him in council and fight. The
first obligation of a subject or a vassal towards his prince or his
lord, was to defend him or avenge him in every case of outrage, and to
protect the honour of his wife, his daughter, or his sister; to follow
him in all perils, and to surrender himself as hostage for him, if he
fell into the hands of his enemies.[227]
The king and his subjects, the great and the small vassals, mutually
engaged their faith to each other. In the feudal hierarchy, every
class had its privileges maintained by honour. Honour, that grand
principle among knights, commanded all to repulse an injury inflicted
upon a single one, and thus became, restrained within just limits, the
security of public liberty.
War was the great affair in a kingdom founded by knights and barons;
every one capable of bearing arms was reckoned as something in the
state, and protected by the new legislation; all the rest, with the
exception of the clergy, whose existence and privileges were held by
divine right, were reckoned as nothing, and scarcely merited any
attention from the legislators. The Assizes of Jerusalem did, indeed,
deign to take notice of villains, slaves, peasants or cultivators,
or captives taken in war; but they were only considered in the light
of property, of which they wished to assure the enjoyment to its
legitimate possessors. Those who had lost them could reclaim them as
they could a falcon or a hound; the value of a falcon and a slave was
the same; a war-horse was estimated at more than double the value of
a peasant or a captive. The laws did not condescend to notice these
unhappy classes, and left it to religion alone to protect them.
To watch over the execution of the constitutional laws of the state,
and to decide in all disputes, two courts were instituted; the one
presided over by the king, and composed of the nobles, was to pronounce
judgment upon differences among the great vassals; the other, presided
over by the viscount of Jerusalem, and formed of the principal
inhabitants of each city, was to regulate the interests and the rights
of the citizens and the common people. A third court was instituted,
which was reserved for Oriental Christians; the judges of it were born
in Syria, spoke its language, and decided according to the laws and
usages of the country. Thus all the citizens of the kingdom were judged
by their peers, and enjoyed the benefits of an institution which has
not been despised in ages much more enlightened.
The Franks, with their warlike character, were certain to evince
disdain for the slow, and often uncertain, forms of justice; they
adopted, in their legislation made for the East, the ordeal by iron
or fire, which had taken its birth among the nations of the North.
Judicial combat was also admitted in criminal causes, and sometimes
even in civil ones. Among a warlike people everything must present the
image of war; every action commenced against a baron or a knight was,
in his eyes, an injury—an affront—that he ought to repulse sword in
hand; Christian knights were likewise persuaded that God would not
allow innocence to succumb in an unequal combat, and victory appeared
to them at once the triumph of human laws and divine justice.
Such dispositions still bespeak the barbarity of the most remote ages;
but a great number of other laws attest the wisdom of the legislators
of the Holy Land: their code contained every institution that was
reasonable in the feudal system. Palestine was then blessed by the
revival of wise laws created for Europe, but which Europe had forgotten
amidst the anarchy of civil wars; many ameliorations made in feudal
legislation in some of the states of the West, particularly in the
cities of Italy, were consecrated in the new laws of Jerusalem.
It must be believed that in this circumstance religion sometimes
mingled her useful inspirations with those of human sagacity; justice
and humanity assumed a more sacred character in the presence of the
holy tomb. As all the subjects of Godfrey were called upon to defend
the cause of God, the quality of a soldier of Jesus Christ might make
the dignity of man respected. If it be true that the establishment
of the commons, or a second court, was the work of the Crusaders, we
cannot, with truth, assert that these wars contributed nothing towards
the progress of civilization. The laws which they made, and in which
may be plainly seen the first glimpses of regulated liberty, were a new
spectacle for Asia; they must likewise have been a subject of surprise
and a means of instruction for Europe itself, where pilgrims related,
on their return, the usages and customs established by the Franks in
the Holy Land. This code of legislation, the best, or rather the least
imperfect that had existed previous to that time, and which increased
or was modified under other reigns, was deposited with great pomp in
the church of the Resurrection, and took the name of the Assizes of
Jerusalem, or Letters of the Holy Sepulchre.
After this ceremony, which was performed in the presence of all the
pilgrims, the Latin princes then at Jerusalem returned to their own
states; Baldwin to Edessa, Bohemond to his principality of Antioch, and
Raymond to Laodicea, of which he had rendered himself master, and which
he governed in the name of the emperor of Constantinople. Scarcely had
Tancred returned to his principality when he was attacked by all the
forces of the sultan of Damascus. Godfrey, accompanied by his faithful
knights and a great number of pilgrims eager to fight under his
command, repaired immediately into Galilee, defeated the Saracens, and
pursued them to the mountains of Libanus.
As he was returning from this expedition, the emir of Cæsarea came
out to meet him, and presented to him an offering of some of the
fruits of Palestine. Godfrey only accepted a single cedar-apple, and
almost directly fell ill. This malady, which they did not hesitate
to attribute to poison, created the most serious alarm among his
followers. Godfrey with great difficulty reached Jaffa, whence he was
conveyed to his capital, where he died, committing to the companions of
his victories the charge of the glory of religion and of the kingdom
of Jerusalem. His mortal remains were deposited within the enclosure
of Calvary, near to the tomb of Christ, which he had delivered by
his valour. His death was mourned by the Christians, of whom he was
the father and the support, and by the Mussulmans, who had often
experienced his justice and his clemency. History may say of him what
the holy Scripture says of Judas Maccabeus: “It was he who increased
the glory of his people, when, like a giant, he put on his arms in the
fight, and his sword was the protection of the whole camp.” Godfrey of
Bouillon surpassed all the captains of his age in his skill in war; and
if he had lived some time longer, would have merited a name among great
kings. In the kingdom he founded he was constantly held up as a model
for princes as well as warriors. His name still recalls the virtues
of heroic times, and will live honoured amongst men as long as the
remembrance of the crusades.
After the death of Godfrey great disputes arose upon the choice of
his successor. The patriarch Daimbert endeavoured to avail himself
of the rights conveyed by the promises of Godfrey, and claimed the
throne of Jerusalem; but the barons would submit to no chief but one of
their companions in arms. Garnier, count de Gray, took possession of
the Tower of David, and of the other fortresses of Jerusalem, in the
name of Baldwin, count of Edessa. The patriarch invoked the authority
of the Church to the assistance of his cause; and as Count Garnier
died suddenly, the clergy of Jerusalem attributed his death to divine
justice, which the impious projects of the barons and knights had
offended. Daimbert wrote to Bohemond, prince of Antioch, and conjured
him to come and defend what he called the rights of the Church and the
cause of God. Jerusalem was filled with agitation and trouble; but
whilst they were tumultuously deliberating, deputies from Antioch
came to announce that their prince had been surprised in an expedition
against the Turks, and was held prisoner by the infidels. This news
spread consternation and grief among the Christians, and made them more
sensible of the necessity for calling Baldwin to the throne, with whose
valour they were so well acquainted.
Baldwin,[228] to whom deputies had been sent, shed tears on learning
the death of Godfrey, but soon consoled himself with the hope of
obtaining a crown. The county of Edessa had become richer and more
extensive than the mean kingdom of Jerusalem, several cities of
which still belonged to the Saracens; but such was the active and
enterprising spirit of Baldwin, that the prospect of a kingdom to be
conquered appeared to him preferable to a country of which he was in
peaceful possession. After having given up the county of Edessa to his
cousin Baldwin du Bourg, he began his march with four hundred horsemen
and a thousand foot. The emirs of Emessa and Damascus, informed of
his intended march, laid wait for him in the narrow and difficult
roads near the coast of the Sea of Phœnicia. Baldwin feigned to fly
before the army of the infidels, and having drawn them into an open
country, routed them, making a great many prisoners, whom he carried to
Jerusalem.[229] The knights, the barons, and a portion of the clergy
came out to meet the conqueror. Baldwin made his triumphant entrance
into the city in the midst of the acclamations of the whole Christian
population, who flocked eagerly to see the brother of Godfrey. But
whilst the inhabitants thus manifested their joy, the patriarch, with
some of his partisans, protested against the election of the new king,
and, feigning to believe that he was in safety nowhere but close to
the tomb of Christ, retired in silence to Mount Sion, as if to seek
an asylum there. Baldwin did not think it worth while to disturb the
retreat of the patriarch, and, satisfied with having obtained the
suffrages of the barons and knights, wished to assure to himself new
titles to the crown, by gaining more victories over the Saracens. He
marched from Jerusalem, followed by his bravest knights, and presented
himself before Ascalon.
The season being too far advanced to lay regular siege to the city, he
ravaged the enemy’s country, penetrated into the mountains of Engaddi,
surprised Segor, and seized a troop of brigands in a cavern which they
had chosen as a place of retreat. In this campaign, which was little
more than a pilgrimage, the soldiers of Baldwin passed along the
shores of the Dead Sea, the sight of which recalled the memory of the
punishment of Sodom; they visited the valley famous as the burial-place
of the ancestors of Israel, and that in which it is believed Moses
caused a stream of living water to spring from the side of a barren
rock. The Christian soldiers were never weary of admiring these places,
rendered sacred by scriptural remembrances. The historian Foulcher de
Chartres, who accompanied Baldwin, displays in his recital the greatest
enthusiasm, and tells us with lively joy, that he watered his horses at
the miraculous fountain of the legislator of the Hebrews.[230]
The little army of the Christians came back to Jerusalem loaded with
booty. After Baldwin’s return, the patriarch did not venture to say
anything more about his pretensions, and consented to crown the
successor of Godfrey with his own hands. The ceremony was performed
with great solemnity at Bethlehem, in the presence of the barons, the
bishops, and the principal people of the kingdom.
Tancred was not present at the coronation of the new king, for the
two companions of Godfrey had not forgotten their ancient quarrel.
Tancred had protested against the election of Baldwin, and refused to
pay him homage. Baldwin, on his part, disputed Tancred’s right to the
principality of Galilee, and summoned him to appear before him as a
contumacious vassal. The reply of Tancred was laconic, and full of
proud contempt for his rival. “I do not know,” said he, addressing
the messengers of Baldwin, “that your master is king of Jerusalem.”
He did not deign to make any reply to a second summons. At length
their mutual friends employed prayers and entreaties, to which Tancred
reluctantly gave way. The two princes agreed to have an interview
between Jerusalem and Jaffa, in which interview Tancred consented to
forget past injuries, but would not renounce a principality which he
held from Godfrey. The debates between the prince of Galilee and the
king of Jerusalem were not terminated when messengers arrived from
Antioch, conjuring Tancred to repair immediately to their city, to
govern a state which had been without a head since the captivity of
Bohemond. Tancred yielded to their entreaties, and immediately set out
for Antioch, abandoning to Hugh de Saint Omer the city of Tiberias and
the principality of Galilee.
These differences with Tancred did not impede Baldwin’s wars against
the infidels, or his endeavours to extend his young kingdom. Whilst
Persia, Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia could bring numberless armies
against the Christians, Baldwin could only muster under his standard
a small body of warriors, to whom were added a few pilgrims from the
West, the greater part without horses and very badly armed. His bravery
and activity surmounted all obstacles, and carried him through all
dangers. From the beginning of his reign, we see with surprise the
kingdom of Jerusalem, disturbed in its infancy by discord, and only
defended by a few knights, rise in the midst of formidable enemies, and
carry terror amongst neighbours much more powerful than itself.
The king of Jerusalem took advantage of the arrival of a Genoese
fleet, to punish the rebellion of the inhabitants of Arsur, and to lay
siege to their city both by sea and land. On the third day the city
fell into the hands of the Christians. A short time after, Baldwin
besieged Cæsarea, a city built by Herod in honour of Cæsar. The siege
was carried on with vigour; on the fifteenth day everything was ready
for a general assault, and as soon as the trumpet had given the first
signal, all the soldiers confessed and received absolution for their
sins. The patriarch, clothed in white vestments, with a crucifix in his
hand, led them to the foot of the ramparts;—the city was soon taken,
and the inhabitants put to the sword. The Christians, particularly
the Genoese, carried away by a thirst for pillage, and still more by
vengeance and the fury of battle, stained their victory by horrible
cruelties.[231] The Mussulmans who escaped from the massacre of
Cæsarea, carried terror into the cities of Ptolemaïs and Ascalon, and
all the countries still under the domination of the Egyptians.
The caliph of Egypt, to revenge the death of his warriors, assembled
an army, which advanced as far as the country round Ramla. Baldwin
got together, in haste, a troop of three hundred knights and a
thousand foot-soldiers, and marched to meet him. When he perceived the
standards of the Egyptian army, ten times more numerous than that of
the Christians, he represented to his soldiers that they were going
to fight for the glory of Christianity; “if they fell, heaven would
be open to them; if they triumphed, the fame of their victory would
be spread throughout the Christian world. There could be no safety
in flight; their home was beyond the seas; in the East there was no
asylum for the conquered.” After having thus animated his soldiers,
Baldwin divided his troops into six battalions. The two first, on
charging the enemy, were overwhelmed by numbers; two others, which
followed, shared the same fate. Two bishops, who were with Baldwin,
then advised him to implore the mercy of Heaven; and, at their desire,
the king of Jerusalem alighted from his horse, fell on his knees,
confessed, and received absolution. Springing to his feet, he resumed
his arms, and rushed upon the enemy at the head of his two remaining
battalions. The Christian warriors fought like lions, animated by their
war-cry “_Victory or Death!_” Baldwin had attached a white kerchief
to the point of his lance, and thus pointed out the road to carnage.
The victory was for a length of time uncertain; but at last, says an
historian, the will of God was declared in favour of the soldiers of
Christ. The Egyptian army had lost its leader, and was entirely routed;
five thousand infidels remaining on the field of battle.
The enemy fled in such complete disorder that they abandoned their
tents and their baggage. As Baldwin was pursuing them, his ear was
struck by the plaintive cry of a woman. He checked his war-horse, and
perceived a female Mussulman in the pains of childbirth. He threw his
mantle to her to cover her, and ordered her to be placed on carpets
laid upon the ground. By his commands, fruits and a skin of water were
brought to this bed of pain, and a female camel furnished milk for the
nourishment of the newly-born child. The mother was confided to the
care of a slave, with orders to conduct her to her husband. The latter,
who held a distinguished rank among the Mussulmans, shed tears of joy
on beholding a wife whose death he was lamenting, and vowed never to
forget the generous action of Baldwin.
Conqueror of the Saracens, the king of Jerusalem had sent back his
troops, and was reposing at Jaffa, after the fatigues of the war, when
he learnt that the Mussulman army had rallied, and was in full march to
attack the Christians. Baldwin, whom victory had rendered rash, without
assembling all his troops, went immediately to meet the enemy, at the
head of two hundred knights, and a few pilgrims lately arrived from
the West. Not at all dismayed by the number of the Saracens, he gave
battle; but, at the first charge, the Christians were surrounded, and
only sought a glorious death, fighting by the side of their leader. The
king of Jerusalem, obliged to fly, concealed himself among the long
dried grass and bushes which covered the plain. As the Saracens set
fire to these, Baldwin with difficulty escaped being burnt alive; and,
after many perils, was glad to take refuge in Ramla.
Night checked the pursuit of his enemies, but on the following day, the
place which served him as an asylum was threatened with an immediate
siege, and had no means of defence. Baldwin was a prey to the most
distressing anxiety, when a stranger, who had by some means got into
the city, demanded to speak instantly with the king of Jerusalem “It
is gratitude,” said he to him, “which brings me here. Thou hast been
generous towards a wife who is most dear to me—thou hast restored her
to me and her family, after having saved her life. I brave a thousand
dangers to acquit myself of so sacred a debt. The Saracens surround the
city of thy retreat on all sides; to-morrow it will be taken, and not
one of its inhabitants will escape death. I come to offer thee means of
safety. I am acquainted with a path which is not guarded;[232] hasten
then, for time presses. Thou hast but to follow me; before the dawn of
day thou wilt be among thy people.”
Baldwin hesitated—he shed tears at the idea of what must be the fate
of his companions in misfortune; but, at length, he yielded to the
generosity of the Mussulman emir, and, accompanied by a weak escort,
they both departed from the city, in the middle of a stormy night. On
gaining the distance of a few leagues from Ramla, they separated with
tears in their eyes; the emir rejoined the Mussulman army and Baldwin
succeeded in getting to the city of Arsur.
At break of day the Saracens advanced towards the ramparts of Ramla.
They quickly gained possession of the city, and all they met with in
the place were massacred. Some soldiers who escaped the Saracens’
swords, carried the sad news to the neighbouring cities. It was the
first defeat the Christians had experienced since their arrival in
Palestine. As it was confidently said that Baldwin had been slain
at the taking of Ramla, this loss added greatly to the general
consternation. The great bell of Jerusalem announced the approach and
invasion of the Saracens. The priests, the monks, the pilgrims, clothed
in sackcloth and barefooted, went in procession through the streets of
the holy city; women and children filled the churches, and with tears
in their eyes and uplifted hands implored the mercy of Heaven. The
bravest were beginning to despair of the safety of the kingdom, when
Baldwin suddenly appeared among his people, says William of Tyre, like
the morning star, and revived their hopes by his presence.
The king of Jerusalem assembled at Jaffa the wreck of his army; and the
Christian cities sent him all their inhabitants capable of bearing
arms. Several princes and knights, arrived from the West, likewise
joined him. The Christians marched boldly forth to meet the Mussulmans,
the patriarch of Jerusalem carrying through the ranks the wood of the
holy cross. The war-cry of the Christian soldiers was: “_Christ lives,
Christ reigns, Christ commands_.”[233] The two armies were soon in
sight of each other on the plains of Jaffa, and instantly the trumpets
sounded, and gave the signal of battle. Both sides fought with fury;
the infidels surrounded the Christians, and pressed them so closely
that they had scarcely room to wield their arms, and victory was on the
point of being determined in favour of the Mussulmans, when Baldwin
snatching the white flag from the hands of his squire, and followed
by a hundred and sixty knights, rushed into the very thickest ranks
of the enemy. This act of bravery decided the fate of the battle, and
the Christians regained their courage. The fight lasted during the
whole day, but towards the approach of night, the Mussulmans fled in
disorder, leaving dead upon the field the emir of Ascalon and four
thousand of their bravest soldiers.
Baldwin, who, some few days before, had been believed to be dead,
reëntered Jerusalem in triumph. He gave a great part of the booty to
the hospitallers of St. John, whose office it was to entertain the poor
and all pilgrims; and, to employ the expression of an old chronicle, he
thus shared with God the spoils of the Saracens.
The Christians assembled in the churches rendered thanks to God for the
deliverance of the kingdom; but this last victory could not dry all
the tears which a first reverse had caused to flow, and funereal hymns
were mingled with the songs of joy. In this campaign perished many of
the princes and knights who had left Europe after the first crusade.
Stephen, count of Chartres and Blois, and Stephen, duke of Burgundy,
who had arrived in Palestine with the remains of an army dispersed by
the Turks in Asia Minor, were killed under the walls of Ramla. As the
Greeks were accused of having prepared the ruin of the armies sent
to the assistance of the Latins, murmurs arose in all the Christian
colonies against the emperor Alexius. This prince, constantly in dread
of the powers of the West, sent to congratulate the king of Jerusalem
on his victories, and exerted himself to procure the liberty of the
Christians who had fallen into the hands of the Egyptians and Turks.
After having delivered or ransomed some Christian knights, he received
them at Constantinople, loaded them with presents, and sent them back
to their own country.
But whilst thus breaking the chains of a few captives, he was equipping
fleets and raising armies to attack Antioch, and obtain possession
of the cities on the coast of Syria which belonged to the Latins. He
offered to pay the ransom of Bohemond, still a prisoner among the
Turks, not for the purpose of setting him at liberty, but to have
him brought to Constantinople, where he hoped to obtain from him
the renunciation of his principality. Bohemond, who saw through the
projects of Alexius, gained the good-will of the emir who detained him
prisoner, promised him his alliance and support, and persuaded him
to accept for his ransom, half the sum offered by the emperor of the
Greeks. After a captivity of four years, he returned to Antioch, where
he employed himself in repulsing the aggressions of Alexius. The fleets
of the Pisans and the Genoese came to his relief, and several battles,
both by sea and land, were fought with various success; the Latins and
the Greeks, by turns, obtaining the advantage.
Whilst this war was being carried on between Alexius and Bohemond,
the Franks neglected no opportunity of coming into collision with the
infidels. Bohemond, Baldwin du Bourg, count of Edessa, and his cousin
Josselin de Courtenay,[234] master of several cities on the banks of
the Euphrates, united their forces to attack Charan, a flourishing city
of Mesopotamia. The Christians, after a siege of several days, were
on the point of entering the place, when the count of Edessa and the
prince of Antioch disputed the possession of it. Whilst the debates
kept the best leaders in the Christian tents, the Saracens of Mossoul
and Aleppo came to the assistance of the city, and gave battle to the
besiegers. A great number of Christians were slain in this conflict;
and many fell into the hands of the infidels, who, in the intoxication
of victory, insulted both the vanquished and the religion of Christ.
History relates that the railleries of the Mussulmans inspired rage and
despair among the army of the Christians, and that towards the end of
the fight, one knight braved alone the victorious infidels, and rushed
among the enemy’s ranks, crying, “_Let all who are willing to sup with
me in Paradise, follow me._” This brave knight at first astonished the
Saracens by his daring, but he soon fell, pierced with many wounds.
The archbishop of Edessa, Josselin de Courtenay, and Baldwin du Bourg
were loaded with irons, and taken to the prisons of Mossoul. The prince
of Antioch and Tancred were alone able to escape the pursuit of the
Mussulmans, with a small number of their soldiers. This defeat spread
terror among all the Christians of the East. Bohemond, on his return
to his capital, was menaced at the same time by the Greeks and the
Saracens; and, as he had now neither allies nor auxiliaries, and was
destitute of both men and money, he determined to go back into Europe,
and to call upon the nations of the West to assist him.
After having spread abroad a report of his death, he embarked at
Antioch, and, concealed in a coffin,[235] passed through the fleet of
the Greeks, who rejoiced at his death, and heaped curses on his memory.
On arriving in Italy, Bohemond went to throw himself at the feet of
the sovereign pontiff; describing the misfortunes he had endured in
defence of the holy religion, and invoking the vengeance of Heaven upon
Alexius, whom he represented as the greatest scourge of the Christians.
The pope welcomed him as a hero and a martyr; he praised his exploits,
listened to his complaints, intrusted to him the standard of St. Peter,
and permitted him, in the name of the Church, to raise in Europe an
army to repair his misfortunes and avenge the cause of God.
Bohemond next went to France, where his adventures and exploits had
made his name familiar to all classes. He presented himself at the
court of Philip I., who received him with the greatest honours, and
gave him his daughter Constance in marriage. Amidst the festivities
of the court, he was by turns the most brilliant of knights and the
most ardent of missionaries; he attracted general admiration by his
skill in the tournaments, and preached war against the enemies of the
Christians. He easily fired hearts already glowing with a love of
military glory; and a great number of knights contended for the honour
of accompanying him into the East. He crossed the Pyrenees and raised
soldiers in Spain; he returned into Italy and met everywhere with
the same eagerness to follow him. All preparations being completed,
he embarked at Bari, and sailed towards the territories of the Greek
emperor, where his threats and the fame of his expedition had already
spread terror.
The prince of Antioch never ceased to animate by his speeches the
ardour of his numerous companions: to some he represented the Greeks
as the allies of the Mussulmans and the enemies of Christ; to others
he spoke of the riches of Alexius, and promised then the spoils of the
empire. He was on the point of realizing his brilliant hopes, when
he was, all at once, abandoned by that fortune which had hitherto
performed such prodigies in his favour.
The city of Durazzo, of which he had undertaken the siege, for a long
time resisted all his efforts; disease, in the meanwhile, ravaging his
army. The warriors who had followed him in the hopes of pillage, or
from a desire to visit the Holy Land, deserted his standard; he was
forced to make a disgraceful peace with the emperor he had endeavoured
to dethrone, and came back to die in despair in the little principality
of Tarentum, which he had abandoned for the conquest of the East.
The unfortunate issue of this crusade, which was directed entirely
against the Greeks, became fatal to the Christians established in
Syria, and deprived them of the succours they had reason to expect
from the West. Tancred, who still governed Antioch, in the absence
and after the death of Bohemond, was attacked several times by the
Saracens of Aleppo, and only resisted them by displaying prodigies of
valour. Josselin and Baldwin du Bourg did not return to their states
till after five years of captivity. When Baldwin came back to Edessa,
he was so poor that he could not pay his common domestics; and an
Armenian prince, whose daughter he had married, was obliged to redeem
the beard[236] of his son-in-law, which he had pledged for the means
of paying his soldiers. The resources of the government of Antioch
were not less exhausted than those of the county of Edessa. In the
extremes of their misery, Tancred and Baldwin du Bourg had several
disputes; each, by turns, called in the Saracens to defend his cause,
and everything was in confusion on the banks of the Euphrates and the
Orontes.
Neither was Jerusalem free from discord. Baldwin could not pay his
soldiers, and demanded money of the patriarch, who was the depositary
of the alms of the faithful. Daimbert at first refused to assist the
king, who resolved to employ force to compel him: “Yes,” said he to the
patriarch, in a transport of anger, “I will bear away the treasures of
the church and the holy sepulchre; I wish to save Jerusalem and the
Christian people; when I have accomplished that noble project, I will
restore the riches of the all-powerful God.” Daimbert, intimidated by
the menaces of Baldwin, consented to give up a part of his treasures;
but as fast as the king of Jerusalem experienced new wants, he made
fresh demands, to which the pontiff responded by an insulting refusal.
He accused the king of profaning and plundering the sanctuary; whilst
the king, on his part, accused Daimbert of betraying the cause of
the Christians, and of dissipating in pleasures and festivities the
treasures of Jesus Christ. The quarrels of Baldwin and the patriarch
were renewed every year; both, in the end, often conveyed their
complaints to the Holy See, which pronounced no decision likely to
conciliate the angry parties. The death of Daimbert could alone put an
end to these discussions, which spread scandal through the church of
Christ, and by weakening the authority of the king, were likely to
lead to the ruin of the kingdom.
Whilst the patriarch was unceasingly making complaints against Baldwin,
the king seldom made any other reply than gaining new victories over
the infidels; nothing being able to divert him from his purpose of
every day aggrandizing his dominions. The prosperity and the safety of
Jerusalem appeared closely connected with the conquest of the maritime
cities of Syria and Palestine; it being by them alone that it could
receive succour, or establish prompt and easy communications with the
West. The maritime nations of Europe were interested in seconding, in
this instance, the enterprises of the king of Jerusalem. The navigation
of the Mediterranean, and the transporting of pilgrims to the Holy
Land, were to them an inexhaustible source of riches; the ports of
Syria would offer to them a commodious asylum for their vessels, and a
safe entrepôt for their commerce.
From the period of the first crusades the Pisans and the Genoese had
constantly sent vessels to the seas of the East; and their fleets had
aided the Christians in several expeditions against the Mussulmans.
A Genoese fleet had just arrived in the seas of Syria when Baldwin
undertook the siege of Ptolemaïs. The Genoese were invited to assist in
this conquest; but as religion was not the principle to bring them into
action, they required, in return for their assistance and their labour,
that they should have a third of the booty; they likewise stipulated
to have a separate church for themselves, and a national factory and
tribunal in the conquered city. Ptolemaïs was besieged by land and
sea, and after a bloody resistance of twenty days, the inhabitants
and the garrison proposed to surrender, and implored the clemency of
the conquerors. The city opened its gates to the Christians, and the
inhabitants prepared to depart, taking with them whatever they deemed
most valuable; but the Genoese, at the sight of such a rich booty, paid
no respect to the capitulation, and massacred without pity a disarmed
and defenceless people. This barbarous conduct, which Baldwin could
neither repress nor punish, excited the Mussulmans more than ever
against the Christians.
At each fresh conquest of Baldwin’s, a new army came from the banks of
the Nile to impede the course of his victories; but the Egyptians had
for a long time been accustomed to fly before the Franks, and they
were never seconded in their expeditions by the Mussulmans of Syria,
who were jealous of their appearance in their territories. A small
number of Christian warriors, who could never have been taken for an
army if they had not performed prodigies, were sufficient to put to
the rout a multitude of soldiers who made a sortie from the walls of
Ascalon. In consequence of this victory, several places which the
Egyptians still held on the coasts of Syria, fell into the hands of the
Christians.
Bertrand, son of Raymond de St. Gilles, arrived from Europe with the
purpose of attacking the city of Tripoli. This city, taken at first
by the Egyptians before the first crusade, and fallen again under the
power of a Turkish commander, had, in order to defend itself against
the Christians, once more recognised the authority of the caliph of
Egypt. But this caliph thought more about punishing the rebellion of
Tripoli than of providing for its defence. He had put the principal
inhabitants in irons, had levied heavy tributes, and when the people
implored his assistance against the enemies of Islamism, the caliph
sent a vessel to demand a beautiful slave who was in the city, and whom
he destined for his seraglio. The irritated people, instead of giving
up the slave he demanded, sent him a piece of wood, saying, “_That he
might make something out of that to amuse himself with_.”[237] The
inhabitants of Tripoli, then being without hope, surrendered to the
Christians.
Raymond, count de St. Gilles and of Thoulouse, one of the companions
of Godfrey, after having wandered for a long time about Asia, had died
before this place, of which he had commenced the siege. In memory of
his exploits in the first crusade, the rich territory of Tripoli was
created a county, and became the inheritance of his family.
This territory was celebrated for its productions. Limpid streams,
rushing with impetuosity between the rocks of Libanus, flowed in many
channels to water the numerous gardens of Tripoli. In the plains, and
on the hills adjacent to the sea, grew in abundance wheat, the vine,
the olive, and the white mulberry, whose leaves nourish the silkworm,
which had been introduced by Justinian into the richest provinces of
his empire. The city of Tripoli contained more than four thousand
workmen, skilful in the manufactures of woollen stuffs, of silk, and
of linen. A great part of these advantages was, no doubt, lost for the
conquerors, who, during the siege ravaged the country round, and on
taking the city, carried fire and sword throughout the whole of it.
Tripoli contained other riches for which the Franks showed no less
disdain than they had evinced for the productions of industry. A
library established in this city, and celebrated through all the East,
contained the monuments[238] of the ancient literature of the Persians,
the Arabians, the Egyptians, and the Greeks. A hundred copyists were
there constantly employed in transcribing manuscripts. The cadi sent
into all countries men authorized to purchase rare and precious books.
After the taking of the city, a priest, attached to Count Bernard de
St. Gilles,[239] entered the room in which were collected a vast number
of copies of the Koran, and as he declared the library of Tripoli
contained only the impious books of Mahomet, it was given up to the
flames. Some eastern authors have bitterly deplored this irreparable
loss; but not one of our contemporary chronicles has spoken of it,
and their silence plainly shows the profound indifference with which
the Frank soldiers were witnesses of a fire which consumed a hundred
thousand volumes.
Biblies, situated on the smiling and fertile shores of Phœnicia;
Sarepta, where St. Jerome saw still in his day the tower of Isaiah;
and Berytus, famous in the early ages of the Church for its school of
eloquence, shared the fate of Tripoli, and became baronies bestowed
upon Christian knights. After these conquests the Pisans, the Genoese,
and several warriors who had followed Baldwin in his expeditions,
returned into Europe; and the king of Jerusalem, abandoned by these
useful allies, was obliged to employ the forces which remained in
repulsing the invasions of the Saracens, who penetrated into Palestine,
and even displayed their standards on Mount Sion. He had given up
the idea of subduing the maritime cities which still belonged to the
Egyptians, when Sigur, son of Magnus, king of Norway, arrived in the
port of Jaffa. Sigur was accompanied by ten thousand Norwegians, who,
three years before, had quitted the north of Europe for the purpose
of visiting the Holy Land. Baldwin went to meet the prince of Norway,
and conjured him to join with him in fighting for the safety and
aggrandizement of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Sigur acceded with joy
to the prayer of the king, and required nothing as a recompense for his
labour but a piece of wood from the true cross.
The patriarch of Jerusalem, in order to give additional value to
that which the prince required, hesitated at first to grant it, and
made with him a treaty at least as solemn as if it had concerned the
possession of a kingdom. When they had both taken an oath to fulfil
the conditions of the treaty, Sigur, accompanied by his warriors,
entered Jerusalem in triumph. The inhabitants of Jerusalem beheld with
surprise, mingled with their joy, the enormous battle-axes, the light
hair, and lofty stature of the pilgrims from Norway; the presence
of these redoubtable warriors was the sure presage of victory. It
was resolved in a council to besiege the city of Sidon; Baldwin and
Bertrand, count of Tripoli, attacked the ramparts of the place, whilst
the fleet of Sigur blockaded the port, and directed its operations
against the side next the sea. After a siege of six weeks the city
surrendered to the Christians; the knights of Baldwin and the soldiers
of Sigur performed during the siege prodigies of valour, and showed,
after their victory, the humanity which always accompanies true
bravery. After this conquest Sigur quitted Palestine, accompanied by
the blessings of the Christian people. He embarked to return to Norway,
carrying with him a piece of the true cross, a precious memorial of
his pilgrimage, which he caused to be placed in a church of Drontheim,
where it was for a long time the object of the veneration of the
faithful.
Baldwin, on his return to his capital, learnt with grief that Gervais,
count of Tiberias, had been surprised by the Turks, and led prisoner,
together with his most faithful knights, to the city of Damascus.
Mussulman deputies came to offer the king of Jerusalem the liberty of
Gervais in exchange for Ptolemaïs, Jaffa, and some other cities taken
by the Christians; a refusal, they added, would be followed by the
death of Count Gervais. Baldwin offered to pay a considerable sum for
the liberty of Gervais, whom he loved tenderly: “As for the cities you
demand,” said he to them, “I would not give them up to you for the sake
of my own brother, nor for that of all the Christian princes together.”
On the return of the ambassadors Gervais and his knights were dragged
to an open place in Damascus, and shot to death by the Saracens with
arrows.
The Christians shed tears at the death of Count Gervais, but they soon
had to weep for a much more painful loss. Tancred, who governed the
principality of Antioch, died in an expedition against the infidels.
He had raised high in the East the opinion of the heroic virtues of a
French knight; never had weakness or misfortune implored his aid in
vain. He gained a great many victories over the Saracens, but never
fought for the ends of ambition. Nothing could shake his fidelity,
nothing appeared impossible to his valour. He answered the ambassadors
of Alexius, who required him to restore Antioch: “I would not give up
the city which is confided to me even if the warriors who presented
themselves to conquer it had bodies and bore arms of fire.” Whilst he
lived, Antioch had nothing to fear from the invasion of the infidels
or the discord of the inhabitants. His death consigned the colony to
disorder and confusion, it spread mourning through all the Christian
states of the East, and was for them the signal of the greatest
reverses.
The kingdom of Jerusalem had hitherto only had to contend against
armies drawn from Egypt; the Turks of Syria, much more terrible in
war than the Egyptians, had never united their forces to attack the
Christians of Jerusalem.[240]
The sultans of Damascus and Mossoul, with several emirs of Mesopotamia,
assembled an army of thirty thousand fighting men, and penetrated
through the mountains of Libanus into Galilee. During more than three
months the banks of the Jordan and of the Lake of Genesareth were
devastated by the horrors of war. The king of Jerusalem placed himself
at the head of his knights to encounter this redoubtable enemy, and
was defeated by the Saracens on the plains near Mount Tabor. Roger of
Sicily, who had been governor of Antioch since the death of Tancred,
and the counts of Tripoli and Edessa, came with their troops to the
assistance of Baldwin. The Christian army, although it then mustered
under its banners eleven thousand combatants, took up its encampment
on the mountains, and did not dare to risk a battle. The Christians,
intrenched upon the heights, beheld their fields ravaged and their
cities burnt. All the banks of the Jordan seemed to be in flames; for a
vast number of Saracens from Ascalon, Tyre, and other Mussulman cities,
had taken advantage of the reverses of the Christians to lay waste
many of the provinces of Palestine. The country of Sechem was invaded,
and the city of Naplouse delivered up to pillage. Jerusalem, which was
without defenders, shut its gates, and was in momentary fear of falling
again into the power of the infidels.
The Turks, however, dreading the arrival of fresh pilgrims from the
West, abandoned Galilee, and returned to Damascus and Mossoul. But
other calamities soon followed those of war. Clouds of locusts from
Arabia finished the devastation of the fields of Palestine. A horrible
famine prevailed in the county of Edessa, the principality of Antioch,
and all the Christian states. An earthquake was felt from Mount
Taurus to the deserts of Idumea, by which several cities of Cilicia
were reduced to heaps of ruins. At Samosata, an Armenian prince was
swallowed up in his own palace; thirteen towers of the walls of Edessa,
and the citadel of Aleppo, fell down with a fearful crash; the towers
of the highest fortresses covered the earth with their remains, and the
commanders, whether Mussulmans or Christians, fled with their soldiers
to seek safety in deserts and forests. Antioch suffered more from the
earthquake than any other city. The tower of the northern gate, many
public edifices, and several churches were completely destroyed.
Great troubles always inspired the Christians with feelings of
penitence. A crowd of men and women rushed to the church of St. Peter
of Antioch, confessed their sins to the patriarch, and conjured him to
appease the anger of Heaven. The shocks, nevertheless, were renewed
during five months; the Christians abandoned the cities, and, a prey
to terror, wandered among the mountains, which now were more thickly
inhabited than the greatest cities. The few who remained in cities
constantly formed religious processions, put on habits of mourning,
and totally renounced pleasures of every kind. In the streets and the
churches nothing was heard but lamentations and prayers; men swore to
forgive all injuries, and were profuse in their charities. At length
Heaven appeared to be appeased; the earthquake ceased its ravages,
and the assembled Christians celebrated the mercy of God by a solemn
festival.
Scarcely were the Christians delivered from these alarms than a new
tempest threatened Syria and Palestine.[241] Maudoud, prince or
governor of Mossoul, had been killed by two Ismaëlians, as he was
coming out of a mosque. As the prince of Mossoul was considered the
most firm support of Islamism and the most redoubtable enemy of the
Christians, the caliph and the sultan of Bagdad placed him in the
rank of the martyrs, and resolved to revenge his death. They accused
the Franks and the sultan of Damascus of the murder of a Mussulman
prince. A numerous army set out from the banks of the Tigris, and
advanced towards Syria, to punish at the same time both the Christian
and Mussulman infidels. The warriors of Bagdad, united with those
of Mossoul, penetrated as far as the lands of Aleppo, and carried
destruction and death wherever they went. In this pressing danger
the Saracens of Damascus and Mesopotamia did not hesitate to form an
alliance with the Christian princes. The king of Jerusalem, the prince
of Antioch, and the count of Tripoli united their troops with those
of the Mussulmans. The Christians were full of zeal and ardour, and
were eager for battle, but their new allies were not willing to give
them the advantage of a victory, as they mistrusted the soldiers of
Christ, and used every effort to avoid a decisive engagement, in which
they dreaded the triumph of their auxiliaries as much as that of their
foes. After having ravaged the territory of Aleppo, and the banks of
the Euphrates and the Orontes, the warriors of Bagdad returned to
their own country without trying their strength with their formidable
adversaries. The Christians in this campaign did not illustrate their
arms by any very brilliant exploits, but they kept up the division
among the Saracens, and the discord of their enemies was more
serviceable to them than a great victory.
The king of Jerusalem, no longer having the Turks of Bagdad or the
Turks established in Syria to contend with, turned his attention
towards Egypt, whose armies he had so frequently dispersed.[242] He
collected his chosen warriors, traversed the desert, carried the terror
of his arms to the banks of the Nile, and surprised and pillaged the
city of Pharamia, situated three days’ journey from Cairo. The success
of this expedition gave him room to hope that he should one day render
himself master of a great kingdom, and he was returning triumphant, and
loaded with booty, to Jerusalem, when he fell sick at El-Arrich, on the
confines of the desert which separates Egypt from Palestine. His life
was soon despaired of, and the companions of his victories, assembled
around him, could not conceal their deep sorrow. Baldwin endeavoured to
console them by his discourses: “My dear companions,” said he to them,
“you who have suffered so many evils and braved so many perils, why do
you allow yourselves to be overcome by grief? Remember that you are
still in the territories of the Saracens, and that you stand in need of
all your customary courage. Consider that you only lose in me a single
man, and that you have among you several warriors who surpass me in
skill. Think of nothing but of returning victorious to Jerusalem, and
of defending the heritage of Christ. If I have fought a long time with
you, and my many labours give me the right of addressing a prayer to
you, I conjure you not to leave my bones in a foreign land, but to bury
them near to the tomb of my brother Godfrey.”
The king of Jerusalem then caused his servants to be assembled and
gave them orders for his sepulture. After having nominated Baldwin du
Bourg as his successor, he expired, surrounded by his companions, who,
though deeply grieved, endeavoured to conceal their tears, that the
Saracens might not learn the great loss the Christians had experienced.
Baldwin lived and died in the midst of camps. During his reign, which
lasted eighteen years, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were annually
warned of the approach of the Saracens by the sound of the great bell;
and they scarcely ever saw the wood of the true cross in the sanctuary,
for this sacred relic always accompanied the armies to battle, and
its presence not unfrequently was sufficient to give victory to the
Christians.
During the time he occupied the throne of Jerusalem, the only means
Baldwin had of keeping up his necessary army arose from the tenths of
the produce of the cultivated lands, some taxes upon commerce, the
booty obtained from enemies, and the ransom of prisoners. When peace
lasted some months, or war was unsuccessful, the revenues of the state
were diminished to half their usual amount, and could not meet the most
necessary expenses. The forces of the kingdom were scarcely sufficient
to defend it in the hour of danger. Baldwin could never undertake any
great enterprise except when reinforcements arrived from the West; and
when pilgrims who bore arms returned to their own country, he was often
obliged to abandon an expedition which he had begun, and sometimes
found himself without means of resistance, when exposed to the attacks
of an enemy always eager to avenge his defeats.
The brother and successor of Godfrey was often on the point of losing
his kingdom, and only preserved it by prodigies of valour. He lost
several battles by his rashness and imprudence; but his wonderful
activity always extricated him from whatever perils he chanced to fall
into.
The historians of the times bestow warm eulogies upon the brilliant
qualities of Baldwin. In the first crusade he made himself greatly
hated for his ambitious and haughty character; but as soon as he had
obtained what he desired and ascended a throne, he was at least equally
admired for his generosity and clemency. When he became king of
Jerusalem, he followed the example of Godfrey, and deserved in his turn
to be held up as a model to his successors.
His extreme love for women sometimes drew upon him the severe censures
of the clergy. To expiate his offences, in accordance with the opinions
of the times, he richly endowed churches, particularly that of
Bethlehem; and many other religious establishments owe their foundation
to him. Amidst the tumult of camps, he added several articles to
the code of his predecessor; but that which did most honour to his
reign, was his constant anxiety to repeople Jerusalem. He offered an
honourable asylum to all the Christians scattered over Arabia, Syria,
and Egypt. Christians persecuted by Mussulmans came to him in crowds,
with their wives, their children, and their wealth. Baldwin distributed
amongst them lands and uninhabited houses, and Jerusalem began to be
flourishing.
The last wishes of Baldwin were accomplished. The Christian army,
preceded by the mortal remains of its chief, returned to Jerusalem.
Baldwin du Bourg, who came to the holy city to celebrate the festival
of Easter and to visit the brother of Godfrey, arrived on Palm-Sunday
at the hour in which the clergy and the people, according to ancient
custom, go in procession to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. As he entered by
the gate of Ephraim, the funeral train of Baldwin, accompanied by his
warriors in mourning, entered by the gate of Damascus. At this sight
melancholy cries were mingled with the hymns of the Christians. The
Latins were deeply afflicted, the Syrians wept, and the Saracens, says
Foulcher de Chartres, who were witnesses of this mournful spectacle,
could not restrain their tears. In the midst of the sorrowing people,
the count of Edessa accompanied the funereal convoy to the foot of
Calvary, where Baldwin was buried close to Godfrey.
Although the late king had pointed out Baldwin du Bourg as his
successor, the barons and the prelates met to elect a new prince.
Several proposed to offer the crown to Eustace de Boulogne, the brother
of Godfrey. Josselin de Courtenay, one of the first counts of the
kingdom, declared himself in favour of Baldwin du Bourg. Josselin,
on arriving in Asia, had been welcomed and loaded with favours by
the count of Edessa, who gave him several cities on the Euphrates.
Expelled afterwards ignominiously by his benefactor, who accused him of
ingratitude, he had taken refuge in the kingdom of Jerusalem, in which
he had obtained the principality of Tiberias. Whether he wished to make
amends for old offences, or whether he hoped to obtain fresh benefits,
he represented to the assembled barons, “that Baldwin du Bourg belonged
to the family of the last king; that his piety, his wisdom, and courage
were known to the entire East; and that no country on that side or
beyond the sea could offer a prince more worthy of the confidence and
love of the Christians. The benedictions of the inhabitants of Edessa
pointed him out to the choice of the barons and knights, and Providence
had opportunely sent him to Jerusalem to console the Christian people
for the loss of Godfrey and Baldwin.” This discourse united all the
suffrages in favour of Baldwin du Bourg, who was crowned a few days
after, and made over the county of Edessa to Josselin de Courtenay.