[50] Germany was not affected by the First Crusade in an equal degree

with Lorraine, Flanders, France, and Italy. Saxo Grammaticus says that

when the Germans saw the troops of men, women, and children, on horseback

and on foot, passing through their country on their way to Greece, they

laughed at them as mad for quitting their homes to run after imaginary

good in the midst of certain dangers, renouncing their own property in

search of that of other people. Ekkehard mentions the same circumstance,

and adds that the cause of the want of enthusiasm in Germany was that the

divisions between the emperor and the pope prevented the preaching of

the Crusade in that country. Signs, however, in the heavens, and other

wonderful things, made many Germans take the cross and join the armies in

the course of their march.

[51] The ladies of the twelfth century did not merely thread pearls, and

amuse themselves with other employments equally delicate and elegant.

The sword, and not merely the tongue, decided their disputes. Of this

practice Ordericus Vitalis, p. 687, has given a remarkable instance. The

love of “brave gestes” was the passion of the ladies as well as of the

knights of chivalry.

[52] [Gibbon says “The emperor of Constantinople either gave or promised

a fleet to act with the armies of Syria, and the perfidious Christian

[Almeric] unsatisfied with spoil and subsidy aspired to the conquest of

Egypt.”]

[53] After the death of Shirkuh, several emirs of the Syrian army came

forward to fill his place: but the caliph chose Saladin and conferred on

him the dignity of vizir, with the title of _malik nassir_ or general

protector. According to the atabeg historian, “what induced the caliph to

choose Saladin in preference to the others, was both his youth and his

weakness. He imagined that by choosing Saladin, a man without an army and

without strength, he could keep him dependent on him and could do with

him whatever he wished. He also hoped to win over one part of the Syrian

army and to drive away the other, which would restore his power to him

and at the same time put him in a position to resist Nur ad-Din and the

Franks.”

Ibn al-Atir makes the caliph’s advisers speak in the following manner

on this occasion: “Among all the emirs of the Syrian army, there is not

one weaker or younger than Joseph. He is the one to choose. As for him,

he will do what we please; we will place in the army men devoted to our

cause; we will put ourselves in a state of defence, and then we will

decide whether to seize Joseph or to banish him to Egypt.”

But according to the remark of the atabeg historian, “God had decided

differently,” and the caliph was to meet his ruin where he had founded

his hopes. Besides, continues the same author, Saladin at first resisted.

Frightened at the high rank to which they wished to raise him, it was

necessary to persuade him by all possible means, like those beings of

whom it is said that “they must be dragged with chains to be made to

enter paradise.” At last he decided to go to the palace, and the caliph

clothed him in the dress, cap, and other signs of the dignity of vizir.[e]

[54] [“Such,” says Gibbon, “were the guardians of the Holy City; a leper,

a child, a woman, a coward, and a traitor; yet its fate was delayed

twelve years by some supplies from Europe, by the valour of the military

orders, and by the distant or domestic avocations of their great enemy.”]

[55] It was impossible that any respect could be entertained for people

like the Latins, who were not only cruel invaders and sanguinary

persecutors, but common robbers. At one time Baldwin III gave the Moslems

liberty of pasturage round Paneas. As soon as the ground was covered with

flocks of sheep, the Christian soldiers broke into the country, carried

away the animals, and murdered their keepers. The principle of not

keeping faith with infidels seems consequent on a dogma in the Decretals:

“_Juramentum contra utilitatem ecclesiasticam præstitum non tenet._”

Tancred and St. Louis were almost the only two eminent crusaders who

distinguished themselves for preferring honesty and truth to utility and

convenience.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IV. THE THIRD CRUSADE

King Richard shall warrant,

There is no flesh so nourissant

Unto an Englishman,

Partridge, plover, haron, ne swan,

Cow ne ox, sheep ne swine,

As the head of a Sarezyn.

There he is fat and thereto tender;

And my men be lean and slender.

While any Saracen quick be,

Livand now in this Syrie;

For meat will we nothing care,

Abouten fast we shall fare,

And every day we shall eat

All so many as we may get.

To England will we nought gon,

Till they be eaten every one.

--_Old Romance of Richard Cœur de Lion._

[Sidenote: [1189-1193 A.D.]]

Europe rang with invectives against the holy Bernard, when the thousands

of men whom his eloquence and miracles had roused to arms perished in the

rocks of Cilicia. A general or a statesman would have pointed out errors

in the policy or conduct of the crusaders; but the preacher sheltered

himself under the usual defence of impostors, and declared that the sins

of the people had merited divine punishment, and that the men of his day

resembled in morals the Hebrews of old, who perished in the journey from

Egypt to the Promised Land. This language was justly felt to be cruel and

insulting; it did not exculpate the saint in the opinion of the world,

and the nations of the West were not again disposed to make religious

wars the common concern of Christendom. In the third council of the

Lateran, which met twenty years after the return to Europe of Louis and

Conrad, the policy of King Almeric had been applauded; Egypt was more

dreaded than Syria, and the possession of Damietta was held out as the

object to which all the efforts of the Christians should tend.[56] The

clergy called on the world to arm, but the recollection of misery was too

fresh, and the decrees of the council were heard of with sullenness and

discontent. Louis, however, always cherished the hope of returning to the

Holy Land, and of reviving his faded glory; and at length he found his

wishes met by a brother sovereign. Since virtue was his policy as well as

his duty, Henry II in the height of his disputes with Thomas à Becket had

professed great sanctity; and following the example of the French king,

he and his barons commanded that for one year a tax of two-pence, and for

four subsequent years a tax of a penny in the pound should be levied on

the movables of the people of England. Among the deeds of virtue which

washed from Henry the guilt of Becket’s murder was the supporting of two

hundred knights Templar in Palestine for a year, and an agreement with

the pope to go and fight the infidels in Asia, or in Spain, for thrice

that time if his holiness should require it. In the year 1177, Henry and

Louis agreed to travel together to the Holy Land. But the English monarch

was prudent and fond of peace, and the illness and subsequent death of

the French king terminated the project.

[Sidenote: [1177-1188 A.D.]]

The count of Tripolis, while regent of Jerusalem, endeavoured to

strengthen his kingdom by new draughts of men from Europe. The importance

of the embassy which he sent to the West was apparent from the dignity

of the legates, for they were the patriarch of Jerusalem and the grand

masters of the Templars and Hospitallers.

While fanaticism was rekindling the torch of religious war, news arrived

in the West of the fall of Jerusalem into the hands of the infidels. The

event was felt as a calamity from one end of Europe to the other. Nothing

could exceed the terror which seized the court of Rome. In the moment of

weakness and humiliation, the cardinals acknowledged the dignity and the

force of virtue. They resolved to take no bribes in the administration of

justice, to abstain from all luxury of living and splendour of dress, to

go to Jerusalem with the scrip and staff of simple pilgrims, and never

to ride on horseback while the ground of their Saviour was trodden under

the feet of the pagans. Pope Urban III died about this period; and his

death, like every direful event of the time, was attributed to grief at

the intelligence of the Saracenian victories. William, archbishop of

Tyre, our great guide in history, was one of the messengers of the news;

and his friend, Gregory VIII, successor of Urban, not only endeavoured to

deprecate the wrath of heaven by ordaining fasting and prayer throughout

Christendom, but issued a bull for a new crusade, with the usual

privileges to the crusaders.

The emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, summoned a council at Mainz for the

purpose of considering the general propriety of a new crusade. Prelates

and barons were unanimous in the wish for it, and William of Tyre, and

Henry, bishop of Albano, legates of the papacy, arrived at the assembly

in time to confirm and approve its holy resolve. The emperor, and his son

the duke of Swabia, the dukes of Austria and Moravia, and sixty-eight

temporal and spiritual lords, were fired with the same enthusiasm.

At the solicitation of the archbishop of Tyre, Philip Augustus, king

of France, and Henry II, king of England, met at a place between Trie

and Gisors, in Normandy, February, 1188, in order to deliberate on the

political state of the times. The prelate of the eastern Latin church

appeared, and pleaded the cause of religion before the two monarchs. So

pathetic was his description of the miseries of the Latins in Syria, so

touching were his reflections on those who engaged in petty national

wars, when even the stones of the temple called on all people to avenge

the cause of God, that Philip and Henry wept, embraced, and vowed to go

together to the Holy Land. They received the cross from the hands of the

archbishop. The count of Flanders entered into their intentions. They

agreed that the French crusaders should wear red crosses, the English

should be indicated by white ones, and the Flemish by green.

THE SALADIN TITHE

[Sidenote: [1188-1190 A.D.]]

One opinion and one feeling influenced every breast; and, by universal

consent, a tax similar everywhere in name and in nature was imposed on

those who would not be crossed. This imposition was called the Saladin

tithe; it was to last for one year; and it extended both to movable and

unmovable property. Persons who actually assumed the cross were not only

exempted, but were even allowed to take the fiscal part of their tenants’

property. If the collectors of the tithe were dissatisfied with what a

man offered to pay, they were authorised to appoint four or six men of

his parish to make an assessment. The crusaders, too, might mortgage

their land for three years, and the mortgagee should receive the rents

even to the prejudice of former creditors. The English council forbade

the pilgrims from sensual pleasures,[57] from all manner of gaming, and

from the luxury of dressing in ermine and sables. Henry wrote to the king

of Hungary and the emperor of Constantinople requesting a safe passage

for his troops. The request was granted.

Though ships continually sailed from England and France, bearing martial

pilgrims to the Holy Land, the ambition and restlessness of Philip

Augustus, and of Prince Richard, diverted the government and the great

body of the people from the salvation of Palestine. The ignominious peace

which England was compelled to make with France, and his mental agony at

the rebellion and ingratitude of his sons, brought on the death of the

English monarch (July, 1189). The love of military honour inflamed the

French king, and the bold, ardent, and valiant Richard Cœur de Lion had

more of the warlike spirit than of the religious feelings of the age.

None of the principles which originally caused the Crusades influenced

the actions of either.

So eager was Richard to equip a large military force, that he sold the

crown lands, and offices of trust and dignity were no longer to be

acquired by desert or favour. The king of Scotland obtained for ten

thousand marks Richard’s renunciation of the fortresses of Roxburgh and

Berwick, and of the claims of England on the allegiance of Scotland.

Richard crossed the channel in December, and soon after Christmas met his

brother sovereign. The monarchs renewed their protestations of perpetual

friendship, and swore that in case of necessity they would defend each

others’ territories with all the warmth of self-interest. If either of

the princes should die during the Crusade, the survivor was to use his

men and money for the accomplishment of the great design. The period

of departure was deferred from Easter to the ensuing midsummer. During

his stay in Normandy, Richard made some singular laws for regulating

the conduct of the pilgrims in their passage by sea. Murder was to be

punished by casting into the water the deceased person, with the murderer

tied to him. He that drew his sword in anger should lose his hand. If a

man gave another a blow, he was to be thrice immersed; an ounce of silver

was the penalty for using opprobrious language. A thief was to have

boiling pitch and feathers put upon his head, and was to be set on shore

at the first opportunity.

Philip Augustus received the staff and scrip at St. Denis, and Richard at

Tours (June, 1190). They joined their forces at Vézelay; the number was

computed at one hundred thousand soldiers, and the march to Lyons was

conducted in union and with harmony. At that city the monarchs parted;

the lord of France pursued the Genoese road; his noble compeer that of

Marseilles, and Sicily was named as the rendezvous.

BARBAROSSA’S CRUSADE AND DEATH

[Illustration: A CRUSADER OF THE THIRD CRUSADE]

The heroic Frederick Barbarossa was among the first of those whose grief

rose into indignation after the fall of Jerusalem. In his letters to the

sacrilegious Saladin, he demanded restitution of the city, and threatened

him in the event of non-compliance to pour into Asia all the military

force of the German states. But the triumphant infidel replied that he

would oppose his Turkomans, his Bedouins, and Syrians to the German

hordes. Tyre, Tripolis, and Antioch, he continued, were the only places

which at that time belonged to the Christians, and if those cities were

resigned to him, he would restore the true cross, and permit the people

of the West to visit Jerusalem as pilgrims. Germany was indignant at this

haughty reply; all the powers took up arms against the man who had defied

them; but in prudent remembrance of the disorders and calamities which

popular impatience had occasioned in the First and Second Crusades, an

imperial edict was issued, that no one should go who could not furnish

his own viaticum for a twelvemonth. The consecrated standards of the

German princes were surrounded by innumerable hosts of crusaders, drawn

out of every class of life, from honourable knighthood down to the

meanest vassalage. Their emperor conducted them from Ratisbon, their

rendezvous, through the friendly Hungarian states; but when he reached

the territories of the great lord of the East, he had to encounter the

hostility of a violent yet timid foe.

The emperor Isaac Angelus displayed both enmity and cowardice. He did

not deny the Germans the liberty to purchase provisions, but in his

communications with Frederick he carefully avoided giving him imperial

titles; and the Greek governors were perplexed by one day receiving

orders to preserve the fortifications of their towns, and at another

time by commands for their destruction, lest they should become stations

of the Germans. Barbarossa marched with prudence and humanity. In his

indignation at the haughtiness and duplicity of Isaac, he generally

spared the people, and passed the Hellespont without having deigned to

enter the imperial city. He entered the territories of the Mussulmans

in triumph, and not only defeated the Turks in a general engagement,

but took Iconium. The sultan then repented of his perfidy, and with the

independent emirs of Asia Minor, deprecated the further vengeance of

the Germans. They continued their march with more honour and dignity

than had ever accompanied the early crusaders, but they were deprived

by death of their venerable hero. It was in the spring of the year that

they passed the Isaurian mountains, from which issues the small river

of the Calycadnus. In this stream Frederick bathed, but his aged frame

could not sustain the shock.[58] His son, the duke of Swabia, was a brave

and experienced general, yet the death of the emperor so much revived

the courage of the Saracens, that the course of the Christians was

continually harassed. Saladin had been compelled to withdraw most of his

soldiers from Antioch, and the Germans had little difficulty in renewing

a Christian government in that city.

In the autumn of 1190, the duke of Swabia arrived at Acre, and importance

was given to the German force by the formation of a Teutonic order of

knighthood. The Vatican confirmed the establishment; Pope Celestine III

gave it the rule of St. Augustine for its general law, and accorded to

it the privileges which distinguished the other military fraternities.

The service of the poor and sick, and the defence of the holy places,

were the great objects which the pope commanded them to regard; and their

domestic economy was to be preserved by chastity and equal participation

of property. They were divided into three classes, knights, priests, and

serving brothers. All the members were to be Germans, and those of the

first class could only be men of noble birth and extraction. The order

of the Teutonic knights of the house of St. Mary in Jerusalem was their

title, and their dress was a white mantle with a black cross, embroidered

with gold.

THE SIEGE OF ACRE OR PTOLEMAIS (1189-1191 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [1189-1191 A.D.]]

While the kings of England and France were marshalling their hosts for

a foreign war, the Christians in the Holy Land slowly recovered from

their panic, and joined Lusignan. Greeks, Latins, Syrians, Templars, and

Hospitallers, emerged from their places of secrecy, burning for revenge

on the infidel spoliators. Acre had opened its gates to the conqueror a

few days after the battle of Tiberias, and that city, by reason of its

situation and magnitude, was worthy the bravest efforts of its former

lords. The sea washed its fortifications on the north and west; a noble

pier defended the port from the storms and the enemy; and the city on the

land side was fortified by double walls, ditches, and towers.[b]

GEOFFREY DE VINSAUF’S ACCOUNT OF ACRE

If a ten-years’ war made Troy celebrated; if the triumph of the

Christians made Antioch more illustrious, Acre will certainly obtain

eternal fame, as a city for which the whole world contended. In the form

of a triangle, it is narrow on the western side, while it extends in a

wider range towards the east, and full a third part of it is washed by

the ocean on the south and west. The port, which is not so convenient as

it should be, often deceives and proves fatal to the vessels which winter

there; for the rock which lies over against the shore, to which it

runs parallel, is too short to protect them from the fury of the storm.

And because this rock appeared a suitable place for washing away the

entrails, the ancients used it as a place for offering up sacrifices, and

on account of the flies which followed the sacrificial flesh, the tower

which stands above it was called the Tower of Flies.

There is also a tower called the Cursed, situated on the wall which

surrounds the city; and if we are to credit common report, it received

its name because it is said that the pieces of silver for which Judas

betrayed his Lord, were made there. The city, then named Ptolemais, was

formerly situate upon Mount Turon, which is close to the city, whence, by

an error of antiquity, some call Acre Ptolemais. There is a hill called

the Mosque, near Mount Turon, where the ancients say is the sepulchre of

Memnon; but by whose kind offices he was brought thither, we have learned

neither by writing nor by hearsay. The river which flows by the city is

named Belus, and although its bed is narrow, and not deep, Solinus has

rendered it celebrated by numbering it amongst the wonders of the world

as being enriched with glassy sand. For there was a certain sandy foss,

the sand of which supplied materials for making glass; these, if taken

out, were altogether useless; but, if let in, from the secret virtue of

the place assumed a glassy nature.

Not far from the river is pointed out a low rock near the city, at

which it is said that the three divisions of the world, Asia, Europe,

and Africa meet; and though it contains separately the other parts of

the world, the place itself, dependent on none, is distinct from and

independent of all three. Mount Carmel rises aloft on the southern side

of the city, where Elijah the Tishbite is known to have had a habitation

of modest cost, as his cave still testifies; but although we are often

wont in a description to wander away to the pleasant parts of the

circuit, we must at present overlook the attractions of the surrounding

places, while we turn our attention to the course of the war.[g]

When Richard and Philip Augustus reached the Holy Land, the siege of

Acre had lasted twenty-two months. The most patient attention would

be exhausted by a minute detail of the operations of that period, and

a liberal curiosity will be satisfied by a notice of the chief and

characteristic circumstances.

So perfect was the self-security of Saladin, that he did not attempt

to overwhelm the foe; and when he at length found the necessity of

personally attempting the relief of his city, the force of the king of

Jerusalem was appallingly numerous. The people of France and England

could not wait the tardy march of their organised armies; they answered

with impatience the signals of distress which Palestine hung out; indeed

every country of Europe poured forth its population with disorderly

rapidity, and Lusignan was at one time the commander of one hundred

thousand soldiers. The Christians were encamped on the plain to the

south of Acre, and the general station of Saladin was near the town and

mountain of Kharuba, still further to the south. Among the bravest of the

Christian lords were the count of Champagne, the duke of Gelderland, the

landgraf of Thuringia, and James d’Avesnes. Many of the clergy wore the

casque and the cuirass; the archbishops of Pisa and Ravenna, the bishops

of Salisbury, Beauvais, Cambray, Acre, and Bethlehem, deserved the honour

of ecclesiastical knighthood; and on one occasion the valour of Baldwin,

archbishop of Canterbury, saved the camp. The Christians plied the

battering-rams and mangonels against the walls, and they only ceased from

their labour when Saladin called them to battle on the plain.

The engagements were as sanguinary and obstinate as any which had marked

the holy wars. If the Latins at any time prevailed, they speedily lost

their advantages, by abandoning themselves to plunder, and allowing

the vigilant enemy to collect his broken battalions. When the Saracens

conquered, the Christians kept within the shelter of their fortified

camp,[59] and did not again take the field till pressed to action by some

new bands of crusaders. The conflicts between the Moslems and Christians

were by sea as well as by land; but the naval forces were so equally

balanced, that the Latins could not finally prevent the Egyptians from

succouring Acre, and Europe kept up its communications with the camp. In

the last year of the siege the deaths by famine and pestilence exceeded

the destruction which former battles had occasioned. Both armies were

wasted by a swift decay, for the presence of such numbers had exhausted

the Mussulman as well as the Christian neighbourhood. At the siege of

Acre, as well as at the old siege of Antioch, the morals of the holy

warriors were as depraved as their condition was miserable. Yet an

appearance of holiness pervaded the camp. Religious exercises were

performed, and vice was reprehended. The crusaders were seemingly devout,

but in reality were dissolute,[60] and compromised for personal excesses

by pharisaical scrupulosity and uncharitableness.

Conrad, marquis of Tyre, had joined, and afterwards left his friends,

and to his departure all the miseries of the Christians from famine were

attributed. But his own principality was his most important charge, and

he could not furnish provisions for his people and for the whole of the

army at the same time. Disease reached and destroyed princes as well as

plebeians; and when Queen Sybilla and her two young children died, Guy de

Lusignan lost his principal political support. New competitors appeared

for the visionary kingdom. Isabel, the sister of Sybilla, had been

married at the early age of eight years to Humphry lord of Thoron; but

when the warm passions of youth succeeded the indifference of infancy,

the gallantry and knightly accomplishments of Conrad, marquis of Tyre,

gained her affections. In the Middle Ages consanguinity or some canonical

impediment was always discovered, when disgust or ambition urged the

dissolution of the marriage contract; and when the will is resolved the

mind is not scrupulous in its choice of arguments of justification. The

church terminated the union of Humphry and Isabel, and the day after

the proclamation of the divorce the bishop of Beauvais married the

amorous fair one to the marquis of Tyre. As husband of the princess,

Conrad claimed the honours of respect which were due to the king of

Jerusalem; Humphry was too prudent to contend for an empty distinction,

but Lusignan, who had once enjoyed the crown would not forego the hope of

recovering it. The Christian cause was scandalised and injured by these

divisions among the chiefs, but the candidates for the pageant sceptre

were obliged to submit to the general opinion of the army, and reserve

the decision of their claims for the judgment of the French and English

monarchs.

RICHARD’S VOYAGE

[Sidenote: [1190-1191 A.D.]]

Richard’s fleet had not arrived at Marseilles at the appointed time; and

so great was his impatience that after waiting for it only eight days he

hired some galleys and put to sea. He went to Genoa, and conferred with

the French king, whose illness had kept him in that city. He then made a

brief stay at Pisa, and shortly afterwards an accident which happened to

his vessel compelled him to enter the Tiber.

He made some stay in Naples, and then travelled on horseback to Salerno,

where he resolved to wait till he should hear of the arrival of his

navy in the Mediterranean. The English fleet had been dispersed off

Portugal by a violent storm, but the ships finally reached Lisbon, and

circumstances enabled them to pay their obligation of gratitude. The

Moors of Spain and Africa were menacing Portugal, five hundred English

soldiers joined the king and marched to Santarem. Their warlike aspect

awed the Saracens, and the fortunate death at this juncture of the

Moorish commander broke the union of the enemy, and the country was

saved. The English fleet coasted Portugal, and the southern part of

Spain, and arrived at Marseilles. It then set sail for Messina, and

reached that place a few days before the arrival of Philip and the French.

[Illustration: A KNIGHT OF THE THIRD CRUSADE]

Richard left Salerno on the 13th of September, and on the 21st reached

Mileto. He then pursued his journey, accompanied only by one knight.

He assembled all the English ships, and entered the harbour of Messina

with so much splendour and such clangour of horns and trumpets that

the Sicilians and French were astonished and alarmed. Tancred, the

illegitimate son of Roger, duke of Apulia, was at that period the king of

the island.

Among the precautions which Tancred took for the establishing of his

authority was the imprisonment of the widow of William the Good, his

immediate predecessor. She was the sister of Richard, king of England,

but on the arrival of that monarch in Sicily, the usurper restored

her to freedom. But her dowry was still withheld, and her brother was

resolved to avenge her wrongs. In all his measures he was violent and

unjust. He placed her in a fortress which he seized from the Sicilians,

and drove out the religious inhabitants of a monastery in order that it

might contain his stores. Those circumstances and the dissoluteness of

his people were the occasion of much altercation between the natives and

the strangers. Philip Augustus had favoured the Sicilians’ cause, and

the English monarch, therefore, regarded him as an enemy, and planted

his standard on the quarters of the French. The mediation of the barons

prevented a war between Philip and Richard, and the latter showed his

goodwill to his royal companion by delivering Messina to the soldiers

of the military orders till Tancred should equitably settle the claims

of his sister. Peace was then concluded. Richard renounced all claims

on Sicily. Messina was given to the French king, and Richard encamped

without the walls. Various regulations were made for intercourse between

the different nations during the winter months. Merchants were not to

purchase bread or corn in the army for the purpose of re-sale, and the

profits on their general transactions were restricted to one denarius in

ten. Gaming was permitted to the knights and clergy, to the exclusion

of the rest of the army. No individual, however, was to lose more than

twenty shillings in one day or night. For some time there was a frequent

interchange of good offices between the French and English. Richard gave

Philip several ships, and was so prodigal of his money among the soldiers

that it was commonly said he was more bountiful in a month than his

father had been in a year. But the disputes at Messina had rankled in the

mind of Philip, and contemporary English historians have charged him with

offering his assistance to Tancred for the expulsion of Richard.

THE FRENCH SAIL TO ACRE

In the month of March, 1191, Philip left Sicily and sailed to Acre. His

appearance was regarded as a divine blessing; in the moment of elation

the attacks were renewed; but orders were soon given for suspending

them till the arrival of Richard, and it is more rational to think that

the improbability of success without him was Philip’s motive, and not

the specious reason that as the cause was common, the victory should

be common also. Before his departure from Sicily, Richard avowed that

he would lead a life of virtue, and with all humility submitted his

back to the scourges of his clergy. He was detained for a short time on

account of the expected arrival of his mother Eleanor with the princess

Berengaria of Navarre, to whom he had been affianced, long before his

treaty with Philip gave him liberty of marriage.

About a fortnight after the departure of his rival, the English monarch

set sail. In the absence of numerical statements concerning the strength

of his army, we can conjecture that it was formidable from the fact that

his soldiers, horses, and stores filled two hundred ships of various

sizes. A storm dispersed his fleet, and he heard at Rhodes that two of

his vessels had been stranded on the shores of Cyprus, and that the

people of the island had plundered and imprisoned such of the crews as

had survived shipwreck. The vessel which carried the dowager queen of

Sicily had been refused entrance into port. The English therefore landed

on the shores of Cyprus; the archers as usual preceded to clear the

way; their barbed arrows fell like showers of rain on the meadows, and

supported by the heavily armed soldiers they drove the emperor and his

Greeks into the interior of the island. The ruler of Cyprus was of the

race of Comnenus, but he had changed his government into a kingdom. Isaac

was taken; the king of England became lord of Cyprus; he taxed the people

to the dreadful amount of the half of their movables, and then accorded

to them the rights they had enjoyed under the dominion of the Byzantine

emperors.

Richard reposed himself from the toil of conquest by celebrating his

marriage with Berengaria. But in a few weeks he roused himself to arms.

His fleet left Cyprus; a large troop ship[61] of Saladin crossed his

way; the light galleys surrounded and attacked her, but the lofty sides

of the Turk could not be mounted. “I will crucify all my soldiers if

she should escape,” exclaimed Richard. His men, more in dread of their

sovereign’s wrath than the swords of the foe, impelled the sharp beaks of

their vessels against the enemy; some of the soldiers dived into the sea,

and seized the rudder; and others came to close combat with the Saracens.

In order to make the capture an unprofitable one, the emir commanded

his troops to cut through the sides of their ship till the waters

should rush in. They then leaped on the decks of the English galleys.

But 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.

Shouts of warm and gratulatory acclamations saluted the English on

their arrival at Acre. The brilliant scene before them was calculated

to excite all the animating feelings of warriors. The martial youth of

Europe were assembled on the plain in all the pride and pomp of chivalry.

The splendid tents, the gorgeous ensigns, the glittering weapons, the

armorial cognisances, displayed the varieties of individual fancy and

national peculiarities. On the eminences in the distance the thick

embattled squadrons of the sultan were encamped. The mameluke Tatar was

armed with his bow; the people of the higher Egypt with their flails and

scourges; and the Bedouins with their spears and small round shields. The

brazen drum sounded the note of war; and the black banner of Saladin was

raised in proud defiance of the crimson standard of the cross.

DISSENSION BETWEEN THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH KINGS

The joy with which the French regarded the English was soon changed for

the bitter feelings of military envy and national hatred. The religious

objects of the war appeared to be forgotten. The Genoese and Templars

sided with Philip; and the Pisans and Hospitallers with Richard. The

king of France prepared his soldiers and their battering engines for a

vigorous and general assault on the walls of Acre; and murmured revenge

when his martial competitor declined co-operation on the ground of

illness. The choicest part of the French troops marched to the walls,

eager to shame the English.

But high as was the valour of the assailants, their numbers were not

adequate; and they were repulsed in every point. When Saladin, however,

attempted to carry destruction into the army and camp of his baffled

foes, he was driven back with loss. The French reappeared as assailants;

but once again displayed their imprudent spirit. In sickness and in

convalescence Richard was carried to his military engines on a mattress,

and was so active in making and using his _petrariæ_, that he soon

destroyed half of one of the Turkish towers. He preserved his machines

from the Greek fire of the city; and he rewarded his balistarii for every

stone which they removed from the walls. The ditch was filled up; the

tower was completely levelled; and the English heroes, particularly the

earl of Leicester and the bishop of Salisbury, prepared to enter the

breach. The conflict was close and sanguinary. The Pisans came to the

assistance of the English, but the fury of the Turks was irresistible and

the walls were cleared of the enemy.

[Illustration: A KNIGHT OF THE THIRD CRUSADE]

The failure of the ambitious attempts of each of the monarchs at the

capture of Acre without the aid of his rival, evinced the necessity of

their co-operation.[62] A reconciliation in consequence was effected

between Richard and Philip: and they determined that one should attack

the walls, while the other guarded the camp from the approaches of

Saladin. But Acre had suffered so dreadfully from a two years’ siege,

that the inhabitants were reduced to the melancholy necessity of

resolving to desist from defence. Saladin endeavoured to infuse his

own invincible spirit into the minds of his people, and revived for a

moment their languid courage, by directing their hopes to succour from

Egypt. The expected aid from Cairo did not arrive; and the citizens wrung

from Saladin his permission for them to capitulate. Their safety was

accordingly purchased by their agreeing to deliver unto the two kings the

city itself, and five hundred Christian prisoners who were in it. The

true cross was to be resigned, and one thousand other captives, and two

hundred knights selected by the allies from those who were in the hands

of Saladin; and unless the Mussulmans paid to Richard and Philip the sum

of two hundred thousand pieces of gold within forty days, the inhabitants

of Acre should be at the mercy of the conquerors.

These conditions were assented to, and, before the city changed its

lords, a proclamation was made in the French and English camps that no

one should injure or insult such of the Turks as quitted the place. The

Christians entered Acre; the banners of the two kings floated on the

ramparts; but precedence seems to have been given to Richard, for he and

his wife and sister inhabited the royal palace, while Philip occupied

the house of the Templars. They could not refuse the justice of their

soldiers’ claim, founded on the principle that those who had shared the

labours should divide the reward; but payment was so long deferred, that

many persons were forced by poverty to sell their military equipments,

and return to Europe. The kings were divided in opinion respecting

the title to the sovereignty over Palestine. The English monarch was

persuaded to espouse the cause of the weak and miserable Lusignan. The

disputes were sometimes heard of during the siege; but after the capture

they raged with violence. Negotiations however were entered into, and the

agreement reached that Lusignan should be styled king of Jerusalem, and

lord of Joppa and Askalon; yet that if Conrad should be the survivor, he

and his heirs were to have perpetual sovereignty. The English monarch

afterwards generously surrendered the isle of Cyprus to Lusignan.

A few weeks after the capitulation of Acre, and before the time had

elapsed for the performance of all the conditions of the treaty, Philip

Augustus expressed his wish of returning to Europe. The duke of Burgundy,

and the largest portion of the French army, it was stipulated, were to

remain in Syria under the command of Richard. Philip Augustus went to

Tyre, gave to the marquis of that city his moiety, both of Acre and of

the Turkish prisoners, and then set sail for Europe.[b]

REVIEW OF THE SIEGE

[Sidenote: [1189-1191 A.D.]]

Such was the confusion of this famous siege, which lasted nearly three

years, and in which the crusaders shed more blood and exhibited more

bravery than ought to have sufficed for the subjugation of the whole of

Asia. More than a hundred skirmishes and nine great battles were fought

before the walls of the city; several flourishing armies came to recruit

armies nearly annihilated, and were in their turn replaced by fresh

armies. The bravest nobility of Europe perished in this siege, swept

away by the sword or disease. Among the illustrious victims of this war,

history points out Philip, count of Flanders, Guy de Chatillon, Bernard

de St. Vallery, Vautrier de Mory, Raoul de Fougères, Eudes de Gonesse,

Renaud de Maguy, Geoffroi d’Aumale, viscount de Châtellerault, Josselin

de Montmorency, and Raoul de Marle; the archbishops of Besançon and

Canterbury; with many other ecclesiastics and knights whose piety and

exploits were the admiration of Europe.

In this war both parties were animated by religion; each side boasted of

its miracles, its saints, and its prophets. Bishops and imams equally

promised the soldiers remission of their sins and the crown of martyrdom.

Whilst the king of Jerusalem caused the Book of the Evangelists to be

borne before him, Saladin would often pause on the field of battle to

offer up a prayer or read a chapter from the _Koran_. The Franks and the

Saracens mutually accused each other of ignorance of the true God and

of outraging him by their ceremonies. The Christians rushed upon their

enemies crying, “It is the will of God! It is the will of God!” and the

Saracens answered by their war-cry, “Islam! Islam!”

Fanaticism frequently augmented the fury of slaughter. The Mussulmans

from the heights of their towers insulted the religious ceremonies of the

Christians. They raised crosses on their ramparts, beat them with rods,

covered them with dust, mud, and filth, and broke them into a thousand

pieces before the eyes of the besiegers. At this spectacle the Christians

swore to avenge their outraged worship, and menaced the Saracens with the

destruction of every Mohammedan pulpit. In the heat of this religious

animosity, the Mussulmans often massacred disarmed captives; and in

more than one battle they burned their Christian prisoners in the very

field of conflict. The crusaders but too closely imitated the barbarity

of their enemies; funeral piles lighted up by fanatical rage were often

extinguished in rivers of blood.

The Mussulman and Christian warriors provoked each other during single

combats, and were as lavish of abuse as the heroes of Homer. Heroines

often appeared in the mêlée, and disputed the prize of strength and

courage with the bravest of the Saracens. Children came from the city

to fight with the children of the Christians in the presence of the two

armies. But sometimes the furies of war gave place to the amenities of

peace, and Franks and Saracens would for a moment forget the hatred that

had led them to take up arms. During the course of the siege several

tournaments were held in the plain of Acre, to which the Mussulmans were

invited. The champions of the two parties harangued each other before

entering the lists; the conqueror was borne in triumph, and the conquered

ransomed like a prisoner of war. In these warlike festivities, which

brought the two nations together, the Franks often danced to the sound of

Arabian instruments, and their minstrels afterwards played or sang to the

dancing of the Saracens.

Most of the Mussulman emirs, after the example of Saladin, affected an

austere simplicity in their vestments and manners. An Arabian author

compares the sultan, in his court, surrounded by his sons and brothers,

to the star of night which sheds a sombre light amidst the other stars.

The principal leaders of the crusade did not entertain the same love

of simplicity, but endeavoured to excel each other in splendour and

magnificence. As in the First Crusade, the princes and barons were

followed into Asia by their hunting and fishing appointments, and the

luxuries of their palaces and castles. When Philip Augustus arrived

before Acre, all eyes were for a moment turned upon the falcons he had

brought with him. One of these having escaped from the hands of his

keeper, perched upon the ramparts of the city, and the whole Christian

army was excited by endeavours to recapture the fugitive bird. As it

was caught by the Mussulmans, and carried to Saladin, Philip sent an

ambassador to the sultan to recover it, offering a sum of gold that would

have been quite sufficient for the ransom of many Christian warriors.

The misery which so often visited the crusaders, did not at all prevent

a great number of them from indulging in excesses of license and

debauchery. All the vices of Europe and Asia were met together on one

spot. If an Arabian author may be believed, at the very moment in which

the Franks were a prey to famine and contagious diseases, a troop of

three hundred women from Cyprus and the neighbouring islands arrived in

the camp. These three hundred women, whose presence in the Christian

army was a scandal in the eyes of the Saracens, prostituted themselves

among the soldiers of the cross, and stood in no need of employing the

enchantments of the Armida of Tasso to corrupt them.

Nevertheless, the clergy were unremitting in their exhortations to

the pilgrims to lead them back to the morals of the Gospel. Churches,

surmounted by wooden steeples, were erected in the camp, in which

the faithful were every day called together. Not unfrequently the

Saracens took advantage of the moment at which the soldiers left their

entrenchments unguarded to attend mass, and made flying but annoying

incursions. Amidst general corruption, the siege of Acre presented many

subjects of edification. In the camp, or in the field of battle, charity

hovered constantly around the Christian soldier, to soothe his misery, to

watch his sick pallet, or dress his wounds. During the siege the warriors

from the north were in the greatest distress, and could gain little

assistance from other nations. Some pilgrims from Lübeck and Bremen came

to their aid, formed tents of the sails of their vessels to shelter their

poor countrymen, and ministered to their wants and tended their diseases.

Forty German nobles took part in this generous enterprise, and their

association was the origin of the hospitable and military order of the

Teutonic knights.

When the crusaders entered Acre, they shared the sovereignty of it

amongst them, each nation taking possession of one of the quarters of the

city, which had soon as many masters as it had had enemies. The king of

Jerusalem was the only leader that obtained nothing in the division of

the first reconquered place of his kingdom.

The capitulation remained unexecuted; Saladin, under various pretexts,

deferring the completion of the conditions. Richard, irritated by a

delay which appeared to him a breach of faith, revenged himself upon the

prisoners that were in his hands. Without pity for disarmed enemies, or

for the Christians he exposed to sanguinary reprisals, he massacred five

thousand Mussulmans before the city they had so valiantly defended, and

within sight of Saladin, who shared the disgrace of this barbarity by

thus abandoning his bravest and most faithful warriors.[63]

This action, which excited the regret of the whole Christian army,

sufficiently exposed the character of Richard, and showed what was to

be dreaded from his violence; a barbarous and implacable enemy could

not become a generous rival. On the day of the surrender of Acre, he

committed a gross outrage upon Leopold, duke of Austria, by ordering the

standard of that prince, which had been planted on one of the towers, to

be cast into the ditch. Leopold dissembled his resentment, but swore to

avenge this insult whenever he should find an opportunity.[c]

THE CRUSADERS MOVE ON JERUSALEM

[Sidenote: [1191-1192 A.D.]]

It was with difficulty that the soldiers would leave the pleasures

of Acre. A historian tells us that the wine in the city had already

changed the complexion of the gravest Christian knights, and, for the

preservation of discipline, women were prohibited from marching with

the army. The largesses of Richard to the duke of Austria, the count of

Champagne, and others, kept them from following Philip to Europe, and

Plantagenet was at the head of nearly thirty thousand French, German,

and English soldiers. These holy warriors left Acre and marched in

a southerly direction, generally within sight of their ships, which

coasted along the shores, bearing forage and provisions, and military

necessaries. Clouds of Turks overhung and burst on the advancing army;

the Red Cross knights in the van, and the military friars in the rear,

frequently broke the violence of the storm; but the safety of the

crusaders was principally owing to the indissoluble firmness of their

columns, and their resolute forbearance.[64]

Near Azotus a general engagement could no longer be avoided by Richard.

The right of his line was commanded by that heroic and hardy champion

of the cross, James d’Avesnes. The duke of Burgundy, a man of doubtful

virtue, headed the left; and Plantagenet himself was the stay and

bulwark of the centre. The hosts of Syria and Egypt, led by Saladin,

made a general and impetuous charge on their foe. The right wing of the

Christians was repulsed; the left drove back the Saracens, but it was

drawn by the enemy far from the other divisions of the army. Richard

hastened with a select band to the aid of the duke of Burgundy, and

Saladin, in his endeavour to strengthen his right wing, removed the

weight of hostility from James d’Avesnes. No deep impression had been

made on the English lines. The personal bravery of Richard achieved

wonders; his countenance, his gestures, his invocations to St. George,

seconded the ardour of his troops, and the Turks were driven back

with great slaughter to Azotus. The loss of the Christians, though

not numerous, was severe, for James d’Avesnes perished, and his death

was justly regretted by the king as the loss of a great pillar of the

Christian cause.

[Illustration: RICHARD THE LION-HEARTED]

The progress of Cœur de Lion was no longer molested, and he quickly

arrived at Joppa. That city was now without fortifications, for when the

tide of victory turned from the Mussulmans at Azotus, Saladin commanded

the dismantling of all his fortresses in Palestine. It was policy to keep

his enemies perpetually in the field, and to exhaust them by ceaseless

skirmishes and engagements. As the road to Askalon was open, Richard

wished to press his advantages; but the spirit of faction renewed its

baneful influence, and the French barons insisted on the necessity

of restoring the works of Joppa. Their opinion was in unfortunate

accordance with the inclinations of an army already attenuated by

incessant marching, and who thought with regret on the pleasures which

had been for a while familiarised and endeared to them at Acre. It was

resolved, therefore, that Joppa should be re-fortified. Plantagenet,

alive to every duty of a general, urged the completion of the works. The

soldiers, however, gradually sunk into that state of luxury and idleness,

from which they had been with such difficulty recovered by Richard.

The Mussulmans roused themselves from the distress and panic of their

late defeat at Azotus; they began to collect in the vicinity of Joppa,

and their military appearance awoke the English and French from their

disgraceful sleep of licentiousness.

Vinsauf[g] tells how Richard, as ardent in pleasure as in war, enjoyed

the amusement of falconry, heedless of the enemy. On one occasion the

royal party would have paid dearly for their temerity, if a Provençal

gentleman, named William de Pratelles, had not cried aloud, “I am the

king”; and by this noble lie the attention of the Saracens was drawn

upon himself, while the real sovereign escaped. Shortly afterwards a body

of Templars fell into an ambuscade of the Turks. Richard sent the earl

of Leicester to the aid of the brave but exhausted knights, and promised

to follow straight. Before he could buckle on his coat of steel, he

heard that the enemy had triumphed. Despising all personal solicitude,

and generously declaring he should not deserve the name of king if he

abandoned those whom he had vowed to succour, he flew to the place of

combat, plunged into the thickest of the fight, and his impetuosity

received its usual reward of success.

The fortifications of Joppa were at length restored, a vigorous renewal

of the war was determined on, and Plantagenet declared to the Saracens

that the only way of averting his wrath would be to surrender to him

the kingdom of Jerusalem, as it existed in the reign of Baldwin the

leper. Saladin did not reject this proposal with disdain, but made a

modification of the terms, in offering to yield Palestine from the Jordan

to the sea. The negotiation lasted for some time. Richard was deceived

and cajoled by the presents and blandishments of Saphedin [Saif ad-Din],

who was the brother of Saladin, and the Christians were ashamed that

their leader should be so friendly with an infidel. The barons soon

saw, and compelled their royal lord to see, the artifice of the Turks,

who resumed their attacks, and the negotiation was broken off. But the

Templars, Hospitallers, and Pisans, dissuaded the king from attacking

Jerusalem, on the argument that even if it should be taken they would

immediately have to fight with the Turks in the neighbourhood. Richard

commanded a retreat, and the army fell back upon Ramula, and then

continued its retrogression to Askalon, a city of high consequence in

the judgment of the Latins, because it was the link between the Turks in

Jerusalem and the Turks in Egypt.

Until the return of the spring, all commerce between Askalon and other

countries was cut off, and the army endured therefore the hardships of

famine in addition to the usual severities of the climate. The impatient

duke of Burgundy deserted the standard of Richard; some of the French

soldiers went to Acre and Joppa; and others found a welcome reception

at the court of the marquis of Tyre. But discontent gave place for a

while to better feelings; and, at the solicitation of Plantagenet, most

of the deserters returned to their duty. But Conrad disdained an answer

to the royal summons. The walls of Askalon were soon repaired, for the

proudest nobles and the most dignified clergy worked like the meanest of

the people. The duke of Austria was the only distinguished man who was

wrapped in haughty selfishness, and who could say that he was neither a

carpenter nor a mason. Before indeed the works were completed, Richard

lost the aid of his French allies, who, more mercenary than chivalric,

retired to Acre, because the royal coffers were exhausted, and the king

could not give them their stipulated pay. Commercial jealousy, as well

as military envy, obstructed the Crusades. The Genoese and Pisans made

Acre the theatre of their animosities; and an appearance of dignity and

disinterestedness was given to their feuds, when they fought in the name

and for the interests of their respective friends, Conrad and Guy. The

marquis of Tyre joined his troops to the Genoese, and the civil war would

have spread through all the Christian powers, if Plantagenet had not

marched from Askalon to Acre. Conrad prudently retraced his steps, and

by the address of the English king the breach between the republicans

was closed. Richard endeavoured to conciliate the marquis; but the young

nobleman aspired to independence and sovereign power, drew seven hundred

French soldiers from Askalon to Tyre, and allied himself with Saladin.

When Richard had retired from Jerusalem, and his army became broken,

Saladin had dismissed many of his troops to their families and homes; but

when he heard of the defection of Conrad, he thought that the moment of

active hostility was arrived, and he accordingly spread his standard, and

summoned his hosts.

[Illustration: ARMY OF RICHARD IN THE EAST]

Richard was cool and undismayed at the military port of his enemy, but

political disturbances in England demanded the presence of the monarch,

and he was compelled to yield to his necessities, and solicit his

generous foe to terminate the war. He declared that he required only the

possession of the sacred city, and of the true cross. But the Mussulman

replied that Jerusalem was as dear to the Moslem as to the Christian

world, and that he would never be guilty of conniving at idolatry by

permitting the worship of a piece of wood. Thwarted by the religious

principles of his enemies, Richard endeavoured to win upon their softer

affections. He proposed a consolidation of the Christian and Mohammedan

interests, the establishment of a government at Jerusalem, partly

European and partly Asiatic; and these schemes of policy were to be

carried into effect by the marriage of Saphedin with the widow of William

king of Sicily. The Mussulman princes would have acceded to these terms;

but the marriage was thought to be so scandalous to religion, that the

imams and the priests raised a storm of clamour, and Richard and Saladin,

powerful as they were, submitted to popular opinion.[65]

The necessity of Richard’s return to England grew stronger, and the

only cause of his delay was the choice of a military commander of the

Christians. The imbecile Guy had but few partisans, and the public voice

was in favour of the valiant Conrad; Richard generously overlooked the

circumstance, that the prince of Tyre was his enemy, and the friend of

Saladin, and consented to the public wish. But while preparations were

making for the coronation, Conrad was slain by two of the Assassins. In

the first moments of indignation, the French declared that Richard had

instigated the murderers. They demanded from the widow of Conrad the

resignation of Tyre, but she was too politic to encounter the anger of

the king. Count Henry of Champagne appeared in the midst of the tumult;

he took the throne upon the invitation of the people, and following the

approved precedent, he secured himself from opposition by marrying the

widow of Conrad. Richard confirmed the election of the people, and the

civil war was closed. The duke of Burgundy and the count of Champagne

joined Richard.

Disregarding the calls from England, the king led his English and Normans

to the fortress of Darum, reduced it, and gave it to the French, whose

preparations for the attack had been rendered needless by the superior

activity of their allies. Some new messengers from England brought fresh

accounts of the increasing power of Prince John, and the treachery of

Philip Augustus. The army continued its march towards Jerusalem, and

encamped in the valley of Hebron. The generals and soldiers vowed that

they would not quit Palestine without having redeemed the sepulchre.

Everything wore the face of joy when this resolution was adopted;

Richard participated in the feeling, and although he thought that his

presence in England would be the only means of restoring affairs there,

yet he professed to the duke of Burgundy, and the count of Champagne,

that no solicitation from Europe should prevail with him to leave

the allies until after the following Easter. Hymns and thanksgivings

testified the popular joy at this resolution.

The nearer the approach of the Christians the greater was the terror of

the Mussulmans in Jerusalem; many of them prepared to leave the city,

and even Saladin was alarmed for its safety. The crusaders were at

Bethlehem; the French nobility in the council were as clamorous as the

people without to press forward; but the mind of Richard vacillated,

and he avowed his doubts of the policy of the measure, as his force was

not adequate to a siege, and to the keeping up of communications with

its stores on the coast. He proposed that they should march to Berytus,

to Cairo, or Damascus; but as the barons of Syria, the Templars, and

Hospitallers, had a perfect knowledge of Palestine, he thought that their

decision should regulate the proceedings of the army.

THE ENTERPRISE ABANDONED

A council of twenty was accordingly appointed from the military orders,

the lords of the Holy Land, and also the French knights. They learned

that the Turks had destroyed all the cisterns, which were within two

miles of the city; they felt that the heats of summer had begun; and

for these reasons it was decided that the siege of Jerusalem should be

deferred, and that the army should march to some other conquest. As a

general, Richard was fully aware of the impolicy of advancing against

the sacred city, yet he was unable to suppress his bitter feelings of

mortification at a decision which would probably blast the proud hopes

that he had indulged of redeeming the sepulchre. A friend led him to

a hill which commanded a view of Jerusalem; but, covering his face

with a shield, he declared that he was not worthy to behold a city

which he could not conquer. The French soldiers uttered invectives and

complaints against the decision of the council; Cœur de Lion offered them

provisions, ships, and money, if they would obey its decree, and march

to Cairo; and although they acquiesced, yet as they were not zealous,

Richard remained in inactivity and indecision.

Active hostility against the Saracens was abandoned by the Christians for

the fiercer employment of civil rancour and dissensions; and if a retreat

had not been commanded, the army would have been totally destroyed by

Saladin. Richard could preserve but little order and discipline among the

soldiers. Some retired to Joppa, but Acre was the rendezvous of most of

the army.

By the quickest marches Saladin reached Joppa, and so vigorous was his

siege of it that in a few days one of the gates was broken down, and

such of the people as could not defend themselves in the great tower, or

escape by sea, were destroyed. Before the morning, however, the brave

Plantagenet reached Joppa. Abandoning the hope of rescuing the Holy Land

from infidel subjection, he was on the point of quitting Acre and of

returning to Europe, when the precipitancy of his Moslem rival opened

again all his visions of glory and conquest. The French refused to march;

but the Templars and Hospitallers, the Pisans and Genoese, the earl of

Leicester and the other English nobles, vowed to save their friends.

Richard and some of his troops went by sea to Joppa; other soldiers

took the land course, but were badly distressed by those impediments

which Saladin, in anticipation of their approach, cast in their way.

Plantagenet was the first who leaped on shore, and the most active with

his deadly sword.[b]

There have been few feats of arms more renowned than this all-day fight

of Richard, and the old chronicler, Geoffrey de Vinsauf, has written

of it in such strain of enthusiasm that we cannot forbear quoting the

splendid pictures, whose hyperbole is its own explanation and excuse.[a]

VINSAUF’S ACCOUNT OF RICHARD AT JOPPA

The king hearing of the danger to which the besieged were exposed and

pitying their condition interrupted the messengers.

“As God lives,” said he, “I will be with them, and give them all the

assistance in my power!” The words were hardly out of his mouth, before a

proclamation was made that the army should be got ready. But the French

would not vouchsafe even to honour the king with an answer, exclaiming

proudly that they should never again march under his command; and in this

they were not disappointed, for they never again marched under anybody’s

command, for in a short time they all miserably perished. Meanwhile,

however, the soldiers of all nations, whose hearts God had touched, and

the sufferings of their fellow-creatures excited to compassion, hastened

to set out with the king; namely, the Templars, the Hospitallers, and

several other valiant knights, all of whom marched by land to Cæsarea;

but the noble king trusting for his safety to his own valour, embarked

on board his fleet of galleys, which were equipped with everything that

could be necessary. A contrary wind arose, which detained the king’s

ships three days at Caiphas, where they had put in.

The king, vexed at this delay, exclaimed aloud, “O Lord God, why dost

thou detain us here? consider, I pray thee, the urgency of the case, and

the devoutness of our wishes.” No sooner had he prayed thus than God

caused a favourable wind to spring up, which wafted his fleet before

it into the harbour of Joppa, in the midst of the night of Friday

immediately preceding the Saturday on which they had agreed to surrender,

and all of them would have been given over to destruction. They fled up

the fortress as far as they were able, and there awaited the stroke of

martyrdom, shedding tears, and supplicating the mercy of the Almighty who

at length was appeased, and deigned to listen to their petition; their

deliverer was already come, his fleet was riding in the harbour, and his

soldiers were eager to land for their rescue!

The Turks, discovering the arrival of the king’s fleet, sallied down to

the seaside with sword and shield, and sent forth showers of arrows: the

shore was so thronged with their multitude that there was hardly a foot

of ground to spare. Neither did they confine themselves to acting on the

defensive, for they shot their arrows at the crews of the ships, and

the cavalry spurred their horses into the sea to prevent the king’s men

from landing. The king, gathering his ships together, consulted with his

officers what was the best step to take.

“Shall we,” said he, “push on against this rabble multitude who occupy

the shore, or shall we value our lives more than the lives of those poor

fellows who are exposed to destruction for want of our assistance?” Some

of them replied that further attempts were useless, for it was by no

means certain that anyone remained alive to be saved, and how could they

land in the face of so large a multitude?

The king looked around thoughtfully, and at that moment saw a priest

plunge into the water and swim toward the royal galley. When he was

received on board, he addressed the king with palpitating heart and

spirits almost failing him. “Most noble king, the remnant of our people,

waiting for your arrival, are exposed like sheep to be slain, unless the

divine grace shall bring you to their rescue.” “Are any of them still

alive, then?” asked the king, “and if so, where are they?” “There are

still some of them alive,” said the priest, “and hemmed in and at the

last extremity in front of yonder tower.” “Please God, then,” replied

the king, “by whose guidance we have come, we will die with our brave

brothers in arms, and a curse light on him who hesitates.”

The word was forthwith given, the galleys were pushed to land; the king

dashed forward into the waves with his thighs unprotected by armour, and

up to his middle in the water; he soon gained firm footing on the dry

strand; behind him followed Geoffrey du Bois and Peter de Pratelles, and

in the rear came all the others rushing through the waves. The Turks

stood to defend the shore, which was covered with their numerous troops.

The king, with an arbalest which he held in his hand, drove them back

right and left; his companions pressed upon the recoiling enemy, whose

courage quailed when they saw it was the king, and they no longer dared

to meet him. The king brandished his fierce sword, which allowed them no

time to resist, but they yielded before his fiery blows and were driven

in confusion with blood and havoc by the king’s men until the shore was

entirely cleared of them.

The king then, by a winding stair, which he had remarked in the house of

the Templars, was the first to enter the town, where he found more than

three thousand of the Turks turning over everything in the houses, and

carrying away the spoil. The brave king had no sooner entered the town

than he caused his banners to be hoisted on an eminence, that they might

be seen by the Christians in the tower, who, taking courage at the sight,

rushed forth in arms from the tower to meet the king, and at the report

thereof the Turks were thrown into confusion. The king, meanwhile, with

brandished sword, still pursued and slaughtered the enemy, who were thus

enclosed between the two bodies of the Christians, and filled the streets

with their slain. All were slain, except such as took to flight in time;

and thus those who had before been victorious were now defeated and

received condign punishment, whilst the king still continued the pursuit,

showing no mercy to the enemies of Christ’s cross, whom God had given

into his hands; for there never was a man on earth who so abominated

cowardice as he.

But the king had only three horses with him, and what were three among so

many? If we examine the deeds of the ancients, and all the records left

us by former historians, we shall find that there never was a man who so

distinguished himself in battle as King Richard did this day. When the

Turks leaving the town saw his banners floating in the air, a cry was

raised on right and left as he sallied forth upon them, and no hail-storm

or tempest ever so densely concealed the sky, as it was then darkened by

the flying arrows of the Turks. Saladin, hearing of the king’s arrival,

and of his brilliant contest with the Turks, of whom he had slain all who

opposed him, was seized with sudden fear, and like that timid animal, the

hare, put spurs to his horse and fled from before his face. The king,

with his men, still continued the pursuit, slaying and destroying, whilst

his arbalesters made such havoc of the horses that for two miles the

traces of their flight were visible. He now therefore pitched his tent in

the same place where those of Saladin had been, and thus by the divine

grace so small a body of men had defeated this large army of the Turks.

It was then given out among the Turks what a reproach it was to them, and

lasting scandal, that so large an army and so many thousands of the Turks

had been defeated by so small an army, and that Joppa had been recovered

from them by force of arms. In this manner they murmured to one another

at what had taken place, and trembled with confusion.

Meanwhile a certain depraved set of men among the Saracens, called

Menelones of Aleppo and Cordivi, an active race, met together to consult

what should be done in the existing state of things. They spoke of the

scandal which lay against them, that so small an army, without horses,

had driven them out of Joppa, and they reproached themselves with

cowardice and shameful laziness, and arrogantly made a compact among

themselves that they would seize King Richard in his tent, and bring him

before Saladin, from whom they would receive a most munificent reward.

But now, by the providence of God, who had decreed that his holy champion

should not be seized whilst asleep by the infidels, a certain Genoese

was led by the divine impulse to go out early in the morning into the

fields, where he was alarmed at the noise of men and horses advancing,

and returned speedily, but just had time to see helmets reflecting back

the light which now fell upon them. He immediately rushed with speed into

the camp, calling out “To arms! to arms!” The king was awakened by the

noise, and leaping startled from his bed, put on his impenetrable coat of

mail, and summoned his men to the rescue.

God of all virtues! lives there a man who would not be shaken by such

a sudden alarm? The enemy rushed unawares, armed against unarmed, many

against few, for our men had no time to arm, or even to dress themselves.

The king himself therefore, and many others with him, on the urgency

of the moment, proceeded without their cuishes to the fight, some even

without their breeches, and they armed themselves in the best manner they

could, though they were going to fight the whole day. Whilst our men were

thus arming in haste, the Turks drew near, and the king mounted his horse

with only ten other knights. These alone had horses, and some even of

those they had were base and impotent horses unused to arms; the common

men were skilfully drawn out in ranks and troops, with each a captain

to command them. Oh, who could fully relate the terrible attacks of the

infidels? The Turks at first rushed on with horrid yells, hurling their

javelins and shooting their arrows. The king ran along the ranks and

exhorted every man to be firm and not to flinch. The Turks came on like

a whirlwind, again and again, making the appearance of an attack, that

our men might be induced to give way, and when they were close up, they

turned their horses off in another direction. The king and his knights,

who were on horseback, perceiving this, put spurs to their horses and

charged into the middle of the enemy, upsetting them right and left,

and piercing a large number through the body with their lances; at last

they pulled up their horses, because they found that they had penetrated

entirely through the Turkish lines.

The king now looking about him, saw the noble earl of Leicester fallen

from his horse, and fighting bravely on foot. No sooner did he see this

than he rushed to his rescue, snatched him out of the hands of the enemy,

and replaced him on his horse. What a terrible combat was then waged!

A multitude of Turks advanced, and used every exertion to destroy our

small army; vexed at our success, they rushed towards the royal standard

of a lion, for they would rather have slain the king than a thousand

others. In the midst of the mêlée the king saw Ralph de Mauleon dragged

off prisoner by the Turks, and spurring his horse to speed, in a moment

released him from their hands, and restored him to the army; for the king

was a very giant in the battle, and was everywhere in the field--now

here, now there, wherever the attacks of the Turks raged the hottest. So

bravely did he fight, that there was no one, however gallant, that would

not readily and deservedly yield to him the pre-eminence.

On that day he performed the most gallant deeds on the furious army of

the Turks, and slew numbers with his sword, which shone like lightning;

some of them were cloven in two from their helmet to their teeth, whilst

others lost their heads, arms, and other members, which were lopped off

at a single blow. While the king was thus labouring with incredible

exertions in the fight, a Turk advanced towards him, mounted on a foaming

steed. He had been sent by Saphedin of Archadia, brother to Saladin, a

liberal and munificent man, if he had not rejected the Christian faith.

This man now sent to the king, as a token of his well-known honourable

character, two noble horses, requesting him earnestly to accept them, and

make use of them, and if he returned safe and sound out of that battle,

to remember the gift and recompense it in any manner he pleased. The king

readily received the present, and afterwards nobly recompensed the giver.

Such is bravery, cognisable even in an enemy; since a Turk, who was our

bitter foe, thus honoured the king for his distinguished valour.

The king, especially at such a moment of need, protested that he would

have taken any number of horses equally good from anyone, even more a foe

than Saphedin, so necessary were they to him at that moment. Fierce now

raged the fight, when such numbers attacked so few; the whole earth was

covered with the javelins and arrows of the unbelievers; they threw them

several at a time against our men, of whom many were wounded. Thus the

weight of the battle fell heavier upon us than before, and the galley-men

withdrew in the galleys which brought them, and so, in their anxiety to

be safe, they sacrificed their character for bravery. Meanwhile a shout

was raised by the Turks, as they strove who should first occupy the town,

hoping to slay those of our men whom they should find within.

The king, hearing the clamour, taking with him only two knights and

two cross-bow men, met three Turks, nobly caparisoned, in one of the

principal streets. Rushing bravely upon them, he slew the riders in

his own royal fashion, and made booty of two horses. The rest of the

Turks who were found in the town were put to the rout in spite of their

resistance, and dispersing in different directions, sought to make their

escape even where there was no regular road. The king also commanded the

parts of the walls which were broken down to be made good, and placed

sentinels to keep watch lest the town should be again attacked. These

matters settled, the king went down to the shore, where many of our men

had taken refuge on board the galleys. These the king exhorted by the

most cogent arguments to return to the battle and share with the rest

whatever might befall them. Leaving five men as guards on board each

galley, the king led back the rest to assist his hard-pressed army; and

he no sooner arrived, than with all his fury he fell upon the thickest

ranks of the enemy, driving them back and routing them, so that even

those who were at a distance and untouched by him, were overwhelmed by

the throng of the troops as they retreated.

Never was there such an attack made by an individual. He pierced into

the middle of the hostile army, and performed the deeds of a brave and

distinguished warrior. The Turks at once closed upon him and tried to

overwhelm him. In the meantime our men, losing sight of the king, were

fearful lest he should have been slain, and when one of them proposed

that they should advance to find him, our lines could hardly contain

themselves. But if by any chance the disposition of our troops had been

broken, without doubt they would all have been destroyed. What however

was to be thought of the king who was hemmed in by the enemy, a single

man opposed to so many thousands?

[Illustration: A SARACEN CHIEF]

The hand of the writer faints to tell it, and the mind of the reader

to hear it. Who ever heard of such a man? His bravery was ever of the

highest order, no adverse storm could sink it; his valour was ever

blooming. Why then do we speak of the valour of Antæus, who regained his

strength every time he touched his mother earth, for Antæus perished when

he was lifted up from earth in the long wrestling match. The body of

Achilles also, who slew Hector, was invulnerable, because he was dipped

in the Stygian waves; yet Achilles was mortally wounded in the very

part by which he was held when they dipped him. Likewise Alexander, the

Macedonian, who was stimulated by ambition to subjugate the whole world,

undertook a most difficult enterprise, and with a handful of choice

soldiers fought many celebrated battles, but the chief part of his valour

consisted in the excellence of his soldiers. In the same manner, the

brave Judas Maccabæus, of whose wars all the world discoursed, performed

many wonderful deeds worthy forever to be remembered, but when he was

abandoned by his soldiers in the midst of a battle, with thousands of

enemies to oppose him, he was slain, together with his brothers.

But King Richard, inured to battle from his tenderest years, and to whom

even famous Roland could not be considered equal, remained invincible

even in the midst of the enemy, and his body, as if it were made of

brass, was impenetrable to any kind of weapon. In his right hand he

brandished his sword, which in its rapid descent broke the ranks on

either side of him. Such was his energy amid that host of Turks that,

fearing nothing, he destroyed all around him, mowing men down with his

sword as reapers mow down the corn with their sickles. Who could describe

his deeds? Whoever felt one of his blows, had no need of a second. Such

was the energy of his courage, that it seemed to rejoice at having found

an occasion to display itself. The sword wielded by his powerful hand,

cut down men and horses alike, cleaving them to the middle.

The Turks were terror-struck at the sight, and giving way on all sides,

scarcely dared to shoot at him from a distance with their arrows. The

king now returned safe and unhurt to his friends, and encouraged them

more than ever with the hope of victory. How were their minds raised

from despair when they saw him coming safe out of the enemy’s ranks!

They knew not what had happened to him, but they knew that without him

all the hopes of the Christian army would be in vain. The king’s person

was stuck all over with javelins, like a deer pierced by the hunters,

and the trappings of his horse were thickly covered with arrows. Thus,

like a brave soldier, he returned from the contest, and a bitter contest

it was, for it had lasted from the morning sun to the setting sun. It

may seem indeed wonderful and even incredible that so small a body of

men endured so long a conflict; but by God’s mercy we cannot doubt the

truth of it, for in that battle only one or two of our men were slain.

But the number of the Turkish horses which lay dead on the fields is said

to have exceeded fifteen hundred; and of the Turks themselves more than

seven hundred were killed, and yet they did not carry back King Richard,

as they had boasted, as a present to Saladin; but, on the contrary, he

and his brave followers performed so many deeds of valour in the sight

of the Turks, that the enemy themselves shuddered to behold them. In the

meantime, our men having by God’s grace escaped destruction, the Turkish

army returned to Saladin, who is said to have ridiculed them by asking

where Melek Richard was, for they had promised to bring him a prisoner?

“Which of you,” continued he, “first seized him, and where is he? Why is

he not produced?” To whom one of the Turks that came from the farthest

countries of the earth replied; “In truth, my lord, Melek Richard, about

whom you ask, is not here; we have never heard since the beginning of

the world that there ever was such a knight so brave and so experienced

in arms. In every deed at arms, he is ever the foremost; in deeds, he is

without a rival, the first to advance and the last to retreat; we did our

best to seize him, but in vain, for no one can escape from his sword; his

attack is dreadful; to engage with him is fatal, and his deeds are beyond

human nature.”

From the toil and exertion of the battle, King Richard and several others

who had exerted themselves the most, fell ill, not only from the fatigue

of the battle, but the smell of the corpses, which so corrupted the

neighbourhood, that they all nearly died.[g]

PEACE BETWEEN THE KINGS

Richard now wished for peace, and Saladin, exhausted by wars, submitted

to necessity. They exchanged expressions of esteem, and as the former

avowed his contempt of the vulgar obligation of oaths, they only grasped

each other’s hands in pledge of fidelity. A truce was agreed upon for

three years and eight months; the fort of Askalon was to be destroyed;

but Joppa and Tyre, with the country between them, were to be surrendered

to the Christians. The people of the West were also at liberty to

make their pilgrimages to Jerusalem, exempt from the taxes which the

Saracenian princes had in former times imposed.

The French soldiers at Acre prepared to return to Europe; but wished

first to behold the sepulchre which was so dear and sacred to the

Christians. But Richard was indignant at the audacity of men who claimed

the benefit of a treaty which no efforts of their own had procured. They

had lost the laurel of holy warriors, and they deserved not to bear the

pilgrim’s palm. The rest of the army visited the hallowed places, and

Saladin, alive to every honourable obligation, prevented his subjects

from injuring the persons and insulting the feelings of the devout

palmers. In a familiar conversation with the bishop of Salisbury Saladin

expressed his admiration of the bravery of Plantagenet, but thought

that the skill of the general did not equal the valour of the knight.

The courteous prelate complimented the Mussulman by replying that there

were not two such warriors in the world as the English and the Syrian

monarchs. Often have we had occasion to observe the generosity of Saladin

in the moment of victory. At the solicitation of the bishop he allowed

establishments of Latin priests in the Holy Sepulchre, and in the

churches of Bethlehem and Nazareth. He had pity, too, on the different

barons whom his conquests had dispossessed. He gave to the lord of

Sajetta a handsome town near Tyre; to Belian of Ibelin a castle, four

miles from Acre; and he restored Caiphas, Cæsarea, and Azotus to their

respective lords. Count Henry of Champagne became master of Joppa.

The loss of many thousand soldiers on the plains of Acre, and the

bravery and conduct of the English monarch, had prevented some of the

anticipated issues of the battle of Tiberias; Palestine did not become

a Mussulman colony; and so much of the sea coast was in the hands of

the Christians, and so enfeebled were the enemy, that fresh hostilities

could safely be commenced whenever Europe should again pour forth her

religious fanatics, and military adventurers. Richard gained more honour

in Palestine than any of the emperors of Germany and kings of France who

had sought renown in foreign war; and although these distant ages may

censure his conduct as unprofitable to his country, yet his actions were

in unison with that spirit of the times which looked upon valour as more

important than empire, and esteemed achievements in battle more highly

than the consequences of victory. In the month of October, Richard, with

his queen, the English soldiers, and pilgrims, set sail for England. But

storms of violence, uncommon even for the boisterous season of autumn,

soon scattered the fleet. Many of the vessels were wrecked on hostile

shores, and the warriors of England, now penniless, naked, and famished,

were led into Saracen prisons. Other ships fortunately reached friendly

ports, and in time returned to Britain.[b]

END AND REVIEW OF THE THIRD CRUSADE

[Sidenote: [1189-1192 A.D.]]

[Illustration: RICHARD THE LION-HEARTED AS A CRUSADER]

Thus finished this Third Crusade, in which all the western powers in

arms obtained no greater advantages than the taking of Ptolemais and

the demolition of Askalon; in it Germany lost, without glory, one of

the greatest of its emperors and the finest of its armies. If we may

believe Arabian authors, six hundred thousand crusaders appeared before

Ptolemais, and scarcely one hundred thousand of these warriors saw their

native country again. Europe had the greater reason to deplore the losses

of this war, from the fact of her armies having been so much better

composed than in preceding expeditions; criminals, adventurers, and

vagabonds had been strictly excluded from the ranks. All that the West

could boast of the most noble and illustrious of its warriors had taken

up arms.

The crusaders that contended with Saladin were better armed and better

disciplined than any that preceded them in Palestine; the foot-soldiers

employed the cross-bow, which had been neglected or prohibited in the

Second Crusade. Their cuirasses, and their bucklers covered with thick

leather, defied the arrows of the Saracens; and on the field of battle,

soldiers were often seen bristling with arrows and darts, whom the Arabs

compared to porcupines, still keeping their ranks and fighting bravely.

The Saracens had likewise made some progress in the art of war, and

began to resume the use of the lance, which they did not employ when the

first crusaders arrived in Syria. The Mussulman armies were not confused

multitudes; they remained longer under their banners, and fought with

less disorder. The Kurds and Turks surpassed the Franks in the art of

attacking and defending cities and castles. The Mussulmans had, besides,

more than one advantage over the crusaders: they made war upon their

own territories and in their own climate; they were under the command

of one single leader, who communicated the same spirit to all, and only

presented to them one cause to defend.

In this crusade the Franks appeared to be more polished than they had

been till that time. Great monarchs making war against each other without

ceasing to give evidences of mutual esteem and generous feeling, was

a new spectacle for the world. Subjects followed the example of their

princes, and lost beneath the tent much of their barbarism. The crusaders

were sometimes admitted to the table of Saladin, and emirs received at

that of Richard. By thus mingling together, Saracens and Christians might

make a happy exchange of usages, manners, knowledge, and even virtues.

The Christians, rather more enlightened than during the first Crusades,

stood in less need of excitement from the visions of fanaticism. The

passion for glory was for them almost as powerful a principle as

religious enthusiasm. Chivalry also made great progress in this crusade;

it was held in such honour, and the title of knight was so glorious, even

in the eyes of the infidels, that Saladin did not disdain to be decorated

with it.

In this crusade, in which so many knights rendered themselves

illustrious, two men acquired an immortal glory, one by a useless

bravery and qualities more brilliant than solid, the other by real

successes and virtues that might have served as models to Christians.

The name of Richard remained during a century the terror of the East,

and the Saracens and Turks celebrated him in their proverbs a long time

after the Crusades. He cultivated letters and merited a place among the

troubadours; but the arts did not at all soften his character; it was his

ferocity as well as his courage that procured him the surname of Cœur

de Lion. Carried away by the inconstancy of his inclinations, he often

changed his projects, his affections, and his principles of action; he

sometimes braved religion, and very often devoted himself to its service.

Sometimes incredulous, as often superstitious; measureless in his hatred

as in his friendship, he was extravagant in everything, and only showed

himself constant in his love for war. The passions which animated him

scarcely ever permitted his ambition to have an aim or a determinate

object. His imprudence, his presumption, and the unsteadiness of his

plans, made him lose the fruits of his exploits. In a word, the hero of

this crusade is more calculated to excite surprise than to create esteem,

and appears to belong less to history than to the romances of chivalry.

[Illustration: CHRISTIANS PASSING BEFORE SALADIN]

With less rashness and bravery than Richard, Saladin possessed a more

firm character, one far better calculated to carry on a religious war.

He paid more attention to the results of his enterprises; more master of

himself, he was more fit to command others. When mounting the throne of

the atabegs, Saladin obeyed rather his destiny than his inclinations;

but when once firmly seated, he was governed by only two passions--that

of reigning, and that of securing the triumph of the _Koran_. On all

other subjects he was moderate, and when a kingdom or the glory of the

prophet was not in question, the son of Eyyub was admired as the most

just and mild of Mussulmans. We may add that the stern devotion[66] and

ardent fanaticism that made him take up arms against the Christians, only

rendered him cruel and barbarous in one single instance. He displayed

the virtues of peace amidst the horrors of war. “From the bosom of

camps,” says an oriental poet, “he covered the nations with the wings

of his justice, and poured upon his cities the plenteous showers of his

liberality.” The Mussulmans, always governed by fear, were astonished

that a sovereign could inspire them with so much love, and followed

him with joy to battle. His generosity, his clemency, and particularly

his respect for an oath, were often the subjects of admiration to the

Christians, whom he rendered so miserable by his victories, and of whose

power in Asia he had completed the overthrow.

The Third Crusade, which was so glorious for Saladin, was not entirely

without advantages for Europe. Many crusaders, on the way to Palestine,

stopped in Spain, and by their victories over the Moors, prepared the

deliverance of the kingdoms situated beyond the Pyrenees. A great number

of Germans, as in the Second Crusade, prevailed upon by the solicitations

of the pope, made war upon the barbarous inhabitants of the shores of

the Baltic, and thus, by useful exploits, extended the limits of the

Christian republic in the West. As in this war the greater part of

the crusaders went to Palestine by sea, the art of navigation made a

sensible advance; the maritime nations of Europe acquired an accession of

prosperity, their fleets became more formidable, and they were able, with

glory, to dispute the empire of the sea with the Saracens.

In several states of Europe, commerce, and the spirit of the holy wars

contributed to the enfranchisement of the lower classes. Many serfs, upon

becoming free, took up arms. It was not one of the least interesting

spectacles of this crusade, to see the standards of several cities of

France and Germany floating in the Christian army amongst the banners of

lords and barons. This crusade was particularly beneficial to France,

from which it banished both civil and foreign wars. By prolonging the

absence of the great vassals and the enemies of the kingdom, it weakened

their power, and gave Philip Augustus authority to levy imposts, even

upon the clergy. It afforded him an opportunity of surrounding his throne

with a faithful guard, to keep up regular armies, and prepare, though at

a distance, that victory of Bouvines which proved so fatal to the enemies

of France.

[Sidenote: [1192-1194 A.D.]]

[Illustration: AN ENGLISH CRUSADER, THIRD CRUSADE]

A long captivity awaited Richard on his return to Europe. The vessel in

which he embarked was shipwrecked on the coast of Italy, and fearing to

pass through France, he took the route of Germany, concealed under the

habit of a simple pilgrim. His liberality betrayed the monarch, and as

he had enemies everywhere, he was seized by the soldiers of the duke of

Austria. Leopold had not sufficient generosity to forget the outrages

received from Richard at the siege of Ptolemais, and detained him

prisoner.[67] The duke of Austria did not dare to detain his redoubtable

captive in his own hands, and gave him up to the emperor of Germany.

Henry VI, who had likewise insults to revenge, was rejoiced to get

Richard in his power, and kept him in chains, as if he had made him a

prisoner in the field of battle. The hero of the crusade, who had filled

the world with his renown, was cast into a dark dungeon, and remained

a long time a victim to the vengeance of his enemies--and they were

Christian princes. He was brought before the German diet, assembled at

Worms, where he was accused of all the crimes that hatred and envy could

invent. But the spectacle of a king in chains was so affecting, that no

one durst condemn Richard, and when he offered his justification, the

bishops and nobles melted into tears, and besought Henry to treat him

with less injustice and rigour.

Queen Eleanor implored all the powers of Europe for the release of her

son. The complaints and tears of a mother touched the heart of Celestine,

who had recently ascended the chair of St. Peter. The pope several times

demanded the liberty of the king of England, and even excommunicated

the duke of Austria and the emperor; but the thunders of the church

had so often been launched against the thrones of Germany, that they

no longer inspired fear. Henry braved the anathemas of the holy see;

the captivity of Richard lasted another year; and he only obtained his

liberty after engaging to pay a considerable ransom. His kingdom, which

he had ruined at his departure for the Holy Land, exhausted itself to

hasten his return; and England gave up even her sacred vases to break

the chains of her monarch. He was received with enthusiasm by the

English; his adventures, which drew tears, obliterated the remembrance

of his cruelties, and Europe only recollected his exploits and his

misfortunes.[c]

DEATH OF SALADIN; ARAB EULOGIES

In the year 589 (1193 A.D.), after the departure of the king of England,

Saladin having no longer anything to fear from the Christians, resolved

to pass some time at Damascus. This was always a favourite place of

sojourn, and he hoped there to recover his health, for he was feeling

severely the strain of so arduous a war. His plan, after resting a

while in Damascus, was to go to Egypt, which he had not visited for ten

years. He left Jerusalem and paid visits en route to Nablus, Tiberias,

and other scenes of his recent conquests. At Berytus, Bohemond, prince

of Antioch, came to pay allegiance. What most touched the sultan was

that Bohemond came of his own accord, without distrust, without escort,

without even having requested a safe conduct. As evidence of his

satisfaction the sultan gave him a splendid welcome, and granted him

several fiefs contiguous to his own principality. The lords who came with

him also received presents. Saladin finally arrived in Damascus amid

the acclamations of the populace. Great was the rejoicing, and poets

exercised their art for the occasion. The sultan immediately took in

hand the welfare of the inhabitants and reformed several abuses. In the

meanwhile he betook himself with his brother Malik Adil to the pleasures

of the chase. He was away a fortnight; his health seemed restored, and

already he began to believe himself beyond all danger, when suddenly he

fell ill of a bilious fever of which he died on the thirteenth day, March

5, 1193. Boha ad-Din, who at the time of Saladin’s death was in the city,

relates that grief was universal. “That day,” he says, “was the most

terrible that had ever dawned on Islam. The castle of Damascus, the city,

the whole universe was struck with a sorrow that God alone could measure.”

Saladin was born at Tekrit, on the Tigris, and died at the age of

fifty-seven lunar years, after having reigned twenty-four years over

Egypt and nineteen over Syria. Arabian historians represent him as a

most generous prince, who would ever willingly deprive himself of the

necessaries of life. Boha ad-Din avows that finally his steward felt

obliged, unknown to him, to put aside money in order to meet future

emergencies; at his death they found in his treasury forty-seven silver

pieces and one of gold. “This,” adds Boha ad-Din, “was all that remained

of the revenues of Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and a part of Mesopotamia.”

It always happened that when Saladin took possession of a new province

he performed deeds of great generosity in order to win over the people.

When he entered Damascus after the death of Nur ad-Din, he did not take

for himself any of this prince’s treasures, but distributed everything

among the emirs. “Saladin,” says Abulfeda, “had gentle manners, he bore

contradiction easily, and showed great indulgence to those who served

him. If anything wounded his feelings he did not exhibit it. He was

reserved in speech; and his example inspired the same thing in others. No

one dared attack his neighbour’s honour in the sultan’s presence.

“He never could see an orphan without being moved. If one of its parents

were still alive he gave it into this parent’s keeping, but himself

provided for the child’s maintenance and kept watch over its education.

Whenever he met an aged person he wept tenderly and bestowed some token

of generosity. Such was his manner of life until God called him to his

merciful bosom.”

Saladin was not insensible to domestic affection. He loved to spend

his time with his family, surrounded by his children, and taking part

in their sports. He was sincerely devoted to his religion and brought

up his children in the same way. Boha ad-Din has preserved for us the

sultan’s speech, a short time before his death, on the occasion of the

departure of his son Dhahir to the post of governor of Aleppo. “O my

son,” the sultan said, “I recommend to thee the fear of God, source

of all goodness. Do what God asks, and thou shalt find in that thy

salvation. Hold always the sight of blood in horror. Take care not to

shed or stain thyself with it, for the mark is never washed away. Look

to the well-being of thy subjects and inform thyself as to their needs.

Thou art for them God’s minister as well as mine. Take care to please

the emirs, the great men of the land, and the people of high estate. It

is by my righteous ways that I have reached this degree of power. Bear

no malice towards anyone whoever he may be, for we are all mortal. Be

attentive to thy duty to others, for in giving them satisfaction thou

obtainest the forgiveness of God better than looking to thy own account

with him, for repentance to cure all; for the Lord is good and merciful.”

He loved to read the _Koran_ and he had the book read to his servitors

and all those around him. Noticing one day a little child reading the

_Koran_ to his father, he was touched to tears by the sight and gave

money and land to both father and son. He admitted unreservedly all that

religion teaches, and hated philosophers and heretics. He once imprisoned

and put to death at Aleppo a young man named Sahraverdi, who mocked at

and insulted religion.

Boha ad-Din relates again: “Saladin was a great lover of justice; not

only was he strict on its being given, but he dispensed it himself as

far as his affairs would admit. He heard cases twice a week, Mondays and

Thursdays, assisted by cadis and people of the law. Great and small,

everyone found the door open. He did the same on his journeys as in his

capital, receiving all petitions presented to him, and rejecting no

demands. When a case demanded a great amount of attention he examined it

at leisure, sometimes in the day, sometimes at night, and judged it as

God prompted him. Never was his sense of justice invoked in vain; it was

the same for the princes of his family as for his other subjects, for he

made exception of no one.”

There would be no end were one to transcribe all that the Arab

chroniclers, particularly Boha ad-Din, relate concerning Saladin’s

justice and piety. The latter is especially devoted to bringing out

these virtues of his hero, and purposely omits to speak of the vices

that stained them. In the whole course of his reign Saladin encountered

no great opposition except on the part of the Christians, and especially

those of the West. So he had come to believe in no enemies but the

Franks. These he treated as enemies of God, and called the war they

brought upon him, “the holy war.”

“When God shall have put into my hands the other Christian cities,” he

told Boha ad-Din,[f] “I shall share my states with my children, leave

them my last instructions, and bidding them farewell, embark upon that

sea to subdue the western isles and lands. I shall never lay down my arms

while there remains a single infidel upon the earth, at least if from

here to there I am not stopped by death.”

Thus Saladin’s ambitions reached as far as the conquest of France, Italy,

and the other Christian countries. And lest one should believe the words

reported by Boha ad-Din to be a vain threat, we find the same idea in

the sultan’s reply to a letter from the emperor Barbarossa. What is more

singular is that the hate of Saladin was directed towards the Christians

only as a body of nations. Once in his power, he looked at them through

different eyes. Thus we can explain the magnificent and even exaggerated

eulogies of certain contemporary Christian and especially Italian

writers, eulogies which perhaps no Mohammedan writer has exceeded. For

example, there is the following passage in the Arab history of the

patriarchs of Alexandria, whose author was one of the Coptic Christians:

“Saladin in all the surrenders he had from the Franks was faithful to

his word. When a town capitulated he left the inhabitants their liberty,

with their wives, their children, and their belongings. As to their

Mohammedan captives, Saladin offered to buy them back, and mentioned a

sum greater than their value. If the Franks refused this he let them keep

their prisoners, saying, ‘I don’t want to interfere with your captives;

only treat them well, as I treat your people.’ Whenever his policy would

permit it Saladin sought to please everybody. ‘I much prefer,’ he said,

speaking of the Christians, ‘that they should remain contented and

happy.’”

Saladin’s two most glorious achievements in the eye of the majority of

the Mohammedan historians were the taking of Jerusalem and Palestine

from the Christians, and the destruction of the Fatimite caliphate in

Egypt. To these relate most of the titles and phrases in which they refer

to him and which may be found on many monuments of the period. “With

Saladin,” says Imad ad-Din, his secretary, “the great men perished, with

him disappeared people of true worth; good deeds diminished, and bad ones

increased; life became difficult, and earth was covered with shadows; the

century had its phœnix to deplore, and Islam lost its support.”[k]

FOOTNOTES

[56] Among the causes of the First Crusade we mentioned the influence

of the spirit of commerce on the love of pilgrimages. That spirit was

afterwards mingled with the desire of conquest, particularly in the

case of the Egyptian polities. Situated between the Red Sea and the

Mediterranean, Egypt was the communication between Europe and the Indies;

and the possession of that country would have rendered the Europeans

masters of commerce.

[57] There was a decree in these statutes forbidding a crusader to take

any woman with him, except a laundress on foot of good character. This

qualification of the exception was necessary; for in the Middle Ages the

words “lotrix” and “meretrix” were synonymous.

[58] It will not be worth while to inquire whether the emperor bathed in

the Cydnus or the Calycadnus: “If he went in to wash himself, he neither

consulted with his health nor honour. Some say, his horse foundered under

him as he passed the water; others, that he fell from him. But these

several relations, as variety of instruments, make a doleful concert

in this, that there he lost his life; and no wonder, if the cold water

quickly quenched those few sparks of natural heat left in him at seventy

years of age.”--FULLER.[i]

[59] The Christian camp was so well fortified, that the Saracens used to

say, “not even a bird can enter it.”

[60] Thus, as has often been the case, the extreme of misery produced

the effects of the extreme of luxury. Pagans and Christians considering

God as the author of temporal good and evil only, and observing that the

virtuous suffered as much as the wicked, concluded that moral conduct was

disregarded by heaven. Unbounded licentiousness followed. No laws of God

limited the people: the laws of man were equally inefficacious, because

the criminal thought that he might die before the day of trial, or if he

should live to that time, those who would have been his accusers might

have perished in the general calamity. Compare Thucydides’ account of the

plague at Athens.

[61] [Richard of Devizes[e] calls her “a wonderful ship, a ship than

which, with the exception of Noah’s ark, we do not read of any being

greater.” He says the Turks “fought fiercely because ‘the only hope for

the conquered is to have nothing to hope for.’”]

[62] [On the other hand Richard of Devizes[e] quotes Saladin’s brother

as saying, “Thanks be to God, Richard was burdened with the king of the

French and hindered by him like a cat with a hammer tied to its tail.”]

[63] [The Arab historian Imad ad-Din[d] speaks thus concerning the

prisoners put to death by Richard. “After the retreat of the Christians

into the town, we found the Mussulman martyrs exposed quite naked on the

sands. We went to inspect them. They recognised their friends and related

what they had suffered for God’s cause, what honours they had received,

what benefits they had acquired by martyrdom, what felicity they enjoyed

at the price of their blood.”]

[64] Defensive war was so completely the object of the crusaders, that

each man was covered with pieces of cloth, united together by rings, on

which he received without injury the enemy’s arrows. Boha ad-Din[f] (who

narrates this curious circumstance) adds, that he himself saw several

of the Christians who had not one or two, but ten arrows adhering to

their backs, and yet who marched forwards with a quiet step, and without

trepidation. “So close did they march, that if an apple had been thrown,

it must have struck either a man or a horse,” says Vinsauf.[g]

[65] According to Boha ad-Din[f] and Abulfeda,[j] in all these

negotiations, the people of the two armies lived in friendly intercourse,

and mingled in the tournament and dance. More than this, through the

whole of the war, Saladin and Richard emulated each other as much in the

reciprocation of courtesy, as in military exploits. If ever the king

of England chanced to be ill, Saladin sent him presents of Damascene

pears, peaches, and other fruits. The same liberal hand gave the luxury

of snow, in the hot seasons, according to Hoveden.[h] Saladin could not

but have felt some kindness for gallant warriors, whether Christians or

Mussulmans, if it be true, that as soon as he was old enough to bear

arms, he had requested and received the honour of knighthood from a

French cavalier, named Humphrey de Thoron. See Vinsauf.[g]

[66] Saladin had but little indulgence in religious matters. The abbé

Renaudot, in his manuscript history, relates that he caused a philosopher

to be strangled who ventured to preach new doctrines in the city of

Aleppo.

[67] [The well-known story of the discovery of Richard in Leopold’s

hands, by Blondel, through the singing of a song which king and minstrel

had composed together, is now believed to be apocryphal and quite

fabulous.]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER V. THE FOURTH TO THE SIXTH CRUSADES

Bound for Holy Palestine,

Nimbly we brush’d the level brine,

All in azure steel array’d;

O’er the wave our weapons play’d,

And made the dancing billows glow;

High upon the trophied prow,

Many a warrior-minstrel swung

His sounding harp, and boldly sung.

--WARTON, _The Crusade_.

[Sidenote: [1195-1229 A.D.]]

Wars and rebellions had filled all the thoughts of Saladin, and he had

established no principles of succession. Three of his numerous progeny

became sovereigns of Aleppo, Damascus, and Egypt; others had smaller

possessions, and the emirs and atabegs of Syria again struggled for

independence. The soldiers of the late sultan rallied round his brother

Saphedin [Saif ad-Din] whose wisdom and valour were familiar to them.

Both by stratagem and liberal policy he reared a large fabric of empire

in Syria, and he was the most powerful of all the Moslem princes, when

the time for the expiration of the peace arrived. The Saracenic power

was, however, palsied for a while by a dreadful famine in Egypt, and

the Latins in Palestine suffered also from the miserable state of this

general granary.

The knights of St. John cast their regards towards Europe, and

particularly to England, for succour, and entreated that new armies would

march to Palestine, and destroy the exhausted Moslems.

POPE CELESTINE III PROMOTES A CRUSADE (1195 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [1195-1198 A.D.]]

Two years before this favourable moment, the daring and ambitious pope

Celestine III had again sounded the trumpet of war. France had not

revived from its losses in the Third Crusade, and Philip Augustus heard

the appeal with indifference. Many of the people of England enrolled

their names as holy warriors, obtained spiritual absolution, and then

abandoned their pious resolves. The pope hurled his thunders against

those who deserted their profession, except for some legitimate cause;

but all thoughts of a crusade gradually died away in England, for the

king was too much occupied in political concerns to encourage it. But

wild schemes of war were occasionally in his mind, and the early writers

have ascribed to his dauntless spirit the vast design of conquering Egypt

and, after having gained the Holy Land, of possessing himself of the

throne of Constantinople.

Designs equally ambitious were entertained by the emperor Henry, the

enemy of Plantagenet. Seconded by imperial influence, the clergy

successfully preached the crusade through all the German states. The

emperor declared that he would provide a passage for both rich and poor

who wished to go. But, though influenced, he was not absorbed by the

love of barren glory, and when the possession of Sicily seemed an easy

achievement, he postponed the gathering of laurels in Palestine till

he had added a great state to his empire in Europe. Tancred, prince of

Sicily, had lately died, and Henry, in right of his wife Constanza, put

in his claims. This defection from the holy war was declared to be in

accordance with the opinions of his wisest princes and lords, and it did

not quench the spirit of fanaticism and romance.

THE FOURTH (OR GERMAN) CRUSADE (1195-1198 A.D.)

From the north to the south of Germany the frenzy of crusading had

spread, and it had infected the bishops of Bremen, Würzburg, Passau,

and Ratisbon; the dukes of Saxony, Brabant, Bavaria, and the son of the

duke of Austria; the marquis of Brandenburg and Moravia; the landgraf

of Thuringia; the count Palatine, and the counts of Habsburg and

Schwembourg. The son of Henry duke of Limburg and the archbishop of Mainz

led the vanguard of the holy warriors; and in the passage through Hungary

they were joined by Margaret, sister of the French king and queen of

Hungary, who, as one mode of consolation for the loss of her husband,

had vowed to pass the remainder of her life in the pains of pilgrimage.

Though the time of peace, as settled by the treaty between Richard and

Saladin, had expired, yet the Christians and Mussulmans continued to

live in amity. When the new champions of the cross arrived at Acre, no

remonstrances of the Latins against fresh wars, no suggestions that all

new crusaders ought to be obedient to the discretion of the residents in

the Holy Land could abate the furious desire of the Germans for hostility.

Their aggressions were quickly returned by the Mussulmans, civil feuds

were hushed, and Saphedin again headed the veteran forces of Syria and of

Egypt. The important city of Joppa was taken by him before the Christian

army from Acre could relieve it. The care and expense of Richard were

dissipated in a moment; the fortifications were destroyed, and several

thousands of the people of Joppa were put to the sword. In these unhappy

moments another portion of the German force, under the command of the

dukes of the lower Lorraine and Saxony, arrived at Acre. They had made

the voyage from the northern ports of Germany, and in their route had

chastised the Moors of Portugal. Confident in their strength, the united

forces of Europe and Palestine, led by the duke of Saxony, directed

their march towards the city of Berytus; but Saphedin, ever observant

of events, quitted the vicinity of Joppa, and overtook his foes between

Tyre and Sidon. The close columns of the duke of Saxony’s army were

impenetrable to his vigorous and continual attacks. The victory of the

Christians appeared to be decisive, the enemy’s force was scattered, and

so extensive was the panic that the Saracens abandoned Laodicea, Gabala,

Joppa, Sidon, and Berytus. Nine thousand prisoners were redeemed without

ransom; and the statement that there were three years’ provisions for

the inhabitants of Berytus in the storehouses of that town shows the

importance of the day of Sidon. The exultation of the crusaders was still

further advanced by the arrival of a third body of friends, headed by

Conrad, bishop of Hidelsheim and chancellor of the German Empire. By the

usual process of ambitious princes Henry had subjugated Sicily; and now,

devoted to the conquest of the Holy Land, he sent his third army as his

immediate precursors.

It seemed that the hour was now at hand when Europe would receive the

reward of her invincible heroism. All the sea coast of Palestine was

already in the possession of the Christians: and even they who had

generally most desponded were now elevated with the conviction that the

cross must ere long surmount the walls of Jerusalem. But in their march

from Tyre towards the Holy City they made a fatal halt at the fortress

of Thoron. The lofty and solid pile of stones withstood the attacks of

the common engines of violence. But by a month’s labour of some Saxon

miners the rock itself which supported the fortress was pierced through;

and the battlements tottered to their foundation. The Saracens were now

at the feet of the Christians suing for clemency. A free passage into

the Moslem territories was all that they asked, and the fort might then

be at the disposal of the crusaders. After much time had been passed in

balancing considerations of revenge or mercy, a treaty founded on these

terms was signed; but although just principles of war prevailed with the

majority, yet the smaller party, who breathed nothing but slaughter,

impressed their menaces so deeply on the minds of the Saracens that the

latter vowed to submit to the last extremity, rather than confide in the

agreements and oaths of champions of the cross.

They gained resolution from despair; they met their foes in the passages

which had been mined in the rocks; and in every encounter the Moslem

scimitar reeked with Christian blood. Factious contentions disordered the

Latin council; insubordination and vice raged in the camp; and, to crown

their miseries, the crusaders heard that the infidel world had recovered

from its defeat at Sidon, and that the sultans of Egypt and Syria were

concentrating their levies. Daunted at the rumour of their march, the

German princes deserted their posts in the middle of the night, and fled

to Tyre. In the morning their flight was discovered by the soldiers, and

horror and despair seized every breast. The camp was deserted by those

who had strength to move; the feeble left their property, the cowardly

their arms behind them. The road to Tyre was filled with soldiers and

baggage in indiscriminate confusion; but so exhausted was the state of

the Mussulmans in Thoron, that the Christians were not molested in their

retreat by any accidents except those which their own imprudence and

precipitation occasioned (1197).

[Sidenote: [1198-1201 A.D.]]

When the fragments of the army were collected, and the soldiers were at

a distance from danger, everyone reproached the other as the cause of

the late disgraceful event. The Germans accused the Latins of cowardice;

and the barons of the Holy Land declared that they would not submit to

the domineering pride of the Germans. All the quarrels were conducted in

scriptural language. Treachery was the crime of which each party accused

the other; for the case of Judas was in the minds of all. Conrad and his

soldiers went to Joppa, and resolved to repair its fortifications and to

await the moment for revenge on the Latins of Syria. Saphedin marched

against them, and the Germans did not decline the combat. Victory was

on the side of the Christians; but it was bought by the death of many

brave warriors, particularly of the duke of Saxony, and of the son of the

duke of Austria. But the Germans did not profit by this success, for news

arrived from Europe that the great support of the Crusade, Henry VI, was

dead. The archbishop of Mainz, and all those princes who had an interest

in the election of a German sovereign, deserted the Holy Land. The queen

of Hungary was the only individual of consequence whose fanaticism was

stronger than worldly considerations. The remnants, and they were more

than twenty thousand, of this once powerful host fortified themselves in

Joppa. But a new storm arose in the Turkish states. It swept over Berytus

and the land of the Christians; and, on the 11th of November, while the

Germans were celebrating the feast of St. Martin, the Moslems entered the

city of Joppa and slew every individual whom they found.

Old Fuller[f] says, “At this time, the spring-tide of their mirth so

drowned their souls that the Turks, coming in upon them, cut every one

of their throats to the number of twenty thousand; and quickly they were

stabbed with the sword that were cup-shot before. A day which the Dutch

(the Germans) may well write in their calendars in red letters dyed

with their own blood, when the camp was their shambles, the Turks their

butchers, and themselves the Martinmasse beeves, from which the beastly

drunkards differ but a little.”

About the time of the massacre at Joppa, Henry, count of Champagne,

the acknowledged king of Jerusalem, died. The grand master of the

Hospitallers represented to Isabella the propriety of her marriage with

Almeric de Lusignan, king of Cyprus, who had lately succeeded his brother

Guy. It was thought that Acre and its vicinity could not remain in the

hands of the Latins unless they were governed by a king, and that, in

every circumstance, Cyprus, as a place of succour and retreat, would be

a valuable ally to Jerusalem. With equal truth it might have been argued

that, if there were a powerful king in Palestine, faction, the great

foe of the state, could not raise its head. Familiarised to the joys of

royalty and love, the widowed queen embraced with rapture new prospects

of happiness, and in her eyes Almeric was as estimable as she had found

her divorced husband Humphry, or her deceased lords Conrad and Henry.

The union was approved of by the clergy and barons, it was celebrated at

Acre, and Almeric and Isabella were proclaimed king and queen of Cyprus

and Jerusalem.

THE FIFTH CRUSADE (1201-1204 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [1201-1204 A.D.]]

The Third and Fourth Crusades were created by the ordinary influence

of papal power and royal authority; but the Fifth sprang from genuine

fanaticism. At the close of the twelfth century a hero arose in France,

worthy of companionship with Bernard. Fulk, of the town of Neuilly, near

Paris, was distinguished by the vehemence and ability of his preaching,

and as in early life he had drank deeply of the cup of pleasure he

was well qualified to describe the different states of the sinner and

the saint. He did not involve himself in the speculative absurdities

of the day, but declaimed against the prevailing vices of usury and

prostitution. For two years he preached without success, but after that

time “heaven lent its aid to the efforts of the preacher, in order that

his words, like arrows from a powerful bow, might penetrate the depraved

hearts of men.” Accordingly, miracles attested celestial approbation,

and his sermons were received as oracles. With the extension of his fame

his wishes for religious good increased, and his soul was inflamed with

the desire of accomplishing the great aim of Christendom. He accordingly

assumed the cross, and war with the infidels became the copious matter of

his sermons.[c]

[Illustration: THIRTEENTH CENTURY CRUSADER]

The Fifth Crusade was an individual enterprise. Since the failure of

the Third, Jerusalem was forgotten and wars between kings and Christian

peoples took the place of the pious expeditions. England, Germany, and

France, once united for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, were now

armed one against the other. The emperor Otto IV was excommunicated;

Philip Augustus had been, John was to be. All these excommunicants gave

little thought to the Holy Land. The great pope Innocent III wanted to

bring it back to their minds and caused a new crusade to be preached,

promising the remission of all sins to those who served God for one year.

Fulk the curé was the pope’s mouthpiece. He visited a tournament that was

being held in Champagne, and his burning words made all the princes and

knights assembled there assume the cross. This time, as on the first, the

kings held aloof, and the people did also. Knighthood alone took part,

and rather to show strength of arms than any deep piety, for the affair

was nothing more, or little more, than a plundering expedition. Baldwin

IX, count of Flanders, and Boniface II, count of Montferrat, were at

its head. And it had been previously proved that the sea route was much

preferable to the land, the crusaders sought ships at Venice.

That city was even then the Queen of the Adriatic. Driven by Attila’s

invasion to the lagoons, the people from the mainland had prospered in

that most remarkable situation in the world. None of the invasions that

passed over Italy had reached them. Their trade had extended, and the

islands and shores of Istria and Illyria recognised their superiority.

When the crusaders appeared, the Venetians encouraged them not only

through piety but the spirit of gain as well. The Mohammedans and Greeks

were their rivals in the eastern Mediterranean and they found this a

good opportunity to dispossess them. The interested services rendered

the crusaders in 1130 had brought the Venetians the privilege of opening

in each town of the new kingdom of Jerusalem a quarter exclusively their

own, and at the same time they took possession of the Greek islands

of Rhodes, Samos, Scio, Mytilene, and Andros. In 1173 Venice had made

its dogeship elective, and established with its grand council that

aristocratic government which kept its power through many ages.