Hugh de Payens returns to Palestine--His death--Robert de Craon
made Master--The second Crusade--The Templars assume the Red
Cross--Lands, manors, and churches granted them in England--Bernard
de Tremelay made Master--He is slain by the Infidels--Bertrand
de Blanquefort made Master--He is taken prisoner, and sent in
chains to Aleppo--the Pope confers vast privileges upon the
Templars--The knights, priests, and serving brethren of the
order--Their religious and military enthusiasm--Their war banner
called _Beauseant_--Rise of the rival religio-military order
of the Hospital of St. John--Contests between Saladin and the
Templars--Imprisonment and death of the Grand Master--The new
Master and the Patriarch go to England for succour--Consecration of
the Temple church at London.
“We heard the _tecbir_, so the Arabs call
Their shout of onset, when with loud appeal
They challenge _heaven_, as if commanding conquest.”
Hugh de Payens, having now laid in Europe the foundations of the great
monastic and military institution of the Temple, which was destined
shortly to spread its ramifications to the remotest quarters of
Christendom, returned to Palestine at the head of a valiant band of
newly-elected Templars, drawn principally from England and France. On
their arrival at Jerusalem they were received with great distinction
by the king, the clergy, and the barons of the Latin kingdom. Hugh
de Payens died, however, shortly after his return, and was succeeded
(A. D. 1136) by the Lord Robert, surnamed the Burgundian, (son-in-law
of Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury,) who, after the death of his
wife, had taken the vows and the habit of the Templars.[6] At this
period the fierce religious and military enthusiasm of the Mussulmen
had been again aroused by the warlike Zinghis, and his son Noureddin,
two of the most famous chieftains of the age. The one was named
_Emod-ed-deen_, “Pillar of religion;” and the other _Nour-ed-deen_,
“Light of Religion,” vulgarly, Noureddin. The Templars were worsted
by overpowering numbers. The latin kingdom of Jerusalem was shaken to
its foundations, and the oriental clergy in trepidation and alarm sent
urgent letters to the Pope for assistance.
The Lord Robert, Master of the Temple, had at this period (A. D. 1146)
been succeeded by Everard des Barres, Prior of France, who convened
a general chapter of the order at Paris, which was attended by Pope
Eugenius the Third, Louis the Seventh, king of France, and many
prelates, princes, and nobles, from all parts of Christendom. The
second crusade was there arranged, and the Templars, with the sanction
of the Pope, assumed the blood-red cross, the symbol of martyrdom, as
the distinguishing badge of the order, which was appointed to be worn
on their habits and mantles on the left side of the breast over the
heart, whence they came afterwards to be known by the name of the _Red
Friars_ and the _Red Cross Knights_. At this famous assembly various
donations were made to the Templars, to enable them to provide more
effectually for the defence of the Holy Land. Bernard Baliol, through
love of God and for the good of his soul, granted them his estate
of Wedelee, in Hertfordshire, which afterwards formed part of the
preceptory of Temple Dynnesley. This grant is expressed to be made at
the chapter held at Easter, in Paris, in the presence of the Pope, the
king of France, several archbishops, and one hundred and thirty Knights
Templars clad in white mantles.[7]
Brother Everard des Barres, the newly-elected Master of the Temple,
having collected together all the brethren from the western provinces,
joined the second crusade to Palestine. During the march through Asia
Minor, the rear of the christian army was protected by the Templars,
who greatly signalized themselves on every occasion. Odo of Deuil, or
Diagolum, the chaplain of King Louis, and his constant attendant upon
this expedition, informs us that the king loved to see the frugality
and simplicity of the Templars, and to imitate it; he praised their
union and disinterestedness, admired above all things the attention
they paid to their accoutrements, and their care in husbanding and
preserving their equipage and munitions of war, and proposed them as a
model to the rest of the army.[8]
Conrad, emperor of Germany, had preceded King Louis at the head of a
powerful army, which was cut to pieces by the infidels in the north
of Asia; he fled to Constantinople, embarked on board some merchant
vessels, and arrived with only a few attendants at Jerusalem, where
he was received and entertained by the Templars, and was lodged in
the Temple in the Holy City. Shortly afterwards King Louis arrived,
accompanied by the new Master of the Temple, Everard des Barres; and
the Templars now unfolded for the first time the red-cross banner
in the field of battle. This was a white standard made of woollen
stuff, having in the centre of it the blood-red cross granted by Pope
Eugenius. The two monarchs, Louis and Conrad, took the field, supported
by the Templars, and laid siege to the magnificent city of Damascus,
“the Queen of Syria,” which was defended by the great Noureddin, “Light
of religion,” and his brother _Saif-eddin_, “Sword of the faith.”
The services rendered by the Templars are thus gratefully recorded in
the following letter sent by Louis, the French king, to his minister
and vicegerent, the famous Suger, abbot of St. Denis: “I cannot imagine
how we could have subsisted for even the smallest space of time in
these parts, had it not been for their (the Templars’) support and
assistance, which have never failed me from the first day I set foot in
these lands up to the time of my despatching this letter--a succour
ably afforded and generously persevered in. I therefore earnestly
beseech you, that as these brothers of the Temple have hitherto
been blessed with the love of God, so now they may be gladdened and
sustained by our love and favour. I have to inform you that they have
lent me a considerable sum of money, which must be repaid to them
quickly, that their house may not suffer, and that I may keep my
word....”[9]
Among the English nobility who enlisted in the second crusade were the
two renowned warriors, Roger de Mowbray and William de Warrenne. Roger
de Mowbray was one of the most powerful and warlike of the barons of
England, and was one of the victorious leaders at the famous battle of
the standard: he marched with King Louis to Palestine; fought under
the banners of the Temple against the infidels, and, smitten with
admiration of the piety and valour of the holy warriors of the order,
he gave them, on his return to England, many valuable estates and
possessions. Among these were the manors of Kileby and Witheley, divers
lands in the isle of Axholme, the town of Balshall in the county of
Warwick, and various places in Yorkshire: and so munificent were his
donations, that the Templars conceded to him and to his heirs various
special privileges. About the same period, Stephen, King of England,
granted and confirmed “to God and the blessed Virgin Mary, and to the
brethren of the Knighthood of the Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem,
all the manor of Cressynge, with the advowson of the church of the
same manor, and also the manors of Egle and Witham.” Queen Matilda,
likewise, granted them the manor of Covele or Cowley in Oxfordshire,
two mills in the same county, common of pasture in Shotover forest, and
the church of Stretton in Rutland. Ralph de Hastings and William de
Hastings also gave to the Templars, in the same reign, (A. D. 1152,)
lands at Hurst and Wyxham in Yorkshire, afterwards formed into the
preceptory of Temple Hurst. William Asheby granted them the estate
whereon the house and church of Temple Bruere were afterwards erected;
and the order continued rapidly to increase in power and wealth in
England and in all parts of Europe, through the charitable donations of
pious Christians.[10]
After the miserable failure of the second crusade, brother Everard
des Barres, the Master of the Temple, returned to Paris, with his
friend and patron Louis, the French king; and the Templars, deprived
of their chief, were now left, alone and unaided, to withstand the
victorious career of the fanatical Mussulmen. Their miserable situation
is pourtrayed in a melancholy letter from the treasurer of the order,
written to the Master, Everard des Barres, during his sojourn at the
court of the king of France, informing him of the slaughter of the
prince of Antioch and all his nobility. “We conjure you,” says he, “to
bring with you from beyond sea all our knights and serving brothers
capable of bearing arms. Perchance, alas! with all your diligence, you
may not find one of us alive. Use, therefore, all imaginable celerity;
pray forget not the necessities of our house: they are such that no
tongue can express them. It is also of the last importance to announce
to the Pope, to the king of France, and to all the princes and prelates
of Europe, the approaching desolation of the Holy Land, to the intent
that they succour us in person, or send us subsidies.”
The Master of the Temple, however, instead of proceeding to Palestine,
abdicated his authority, and entered into the monastery of Clairvaux,
where he devoted the remainder of his days to the most rigorous
penance and mortification. He was succeeded (A. D. 1151) by Bernard de
Tremelay, a nobleman of an illustrious family in Burgundy, in France,
and a valiant and experienced soldier.[11]
Shortly after his accession to power, the infidels crossed the
Jordan, and advanced within sight of Jerusalem. Their banners waved
on the summit of the Mount of Olives, and the warlike sound of their
kettle-drums and trumpets was heard within the sacred precincts of the
holy city. They encamped on the mount over against the Temple; and had
the satisfaction of regarding from a distance the _Beit Allah_, or
Temple of the Lord, their holy house of prayer; but in a night attack
they were defeated with terrible slaughter, and were pursued all the
way to the Jordan, five thousand of their number being left dead on the
plain.
On the 20th of April, A. D. 1153, the Templars lost their great patron
Saint Bernard, who died in the sixty-third year of his age. On his
deathbed he wrote three letters in behalf of the order. The first
was addressed to the patriarch of Antioch, exhorting him to protect
and encourage the Templars, a thing which the holy abbot assures him
will prove most acceptable to God and man. The second was written to
Melesinda, queen of Jerusalem, praising her majesty for the favour
shown by her to the brethren of the order; and the third, addressed to
Brother André de Montbard, a Knight Templar, conveys the affectionate
salutations of St. Bernard to the Master and brethren, to whose prayers
he recommends himself.
The same year the Master of the Temple perished at the head of his
knights whilst attempting to carry the important city of Ascalon by
storm. Passing through a breach made in the walls, he penetrated into
the centre of the town, and was there surrounded and overpowered.
The dead bodies of the Master and his ill-fated knights were exposed
in triumph from the walls; and, according to the testimony of an
eye-witness, not a single Templar escaped.
De Tremelay was succeeded (A. D. 1154) by Brother Bertrand de
Blanquefort, a knight of a noble family of Guienne, called by William
of Tyre a pious and God-fearing man. On Tuesday, June 19, A. D. 1156,
the Templars were drawn into an ambuscade whilst marching with Baldwin,
king of Jerusalem, near Tiberias, three hundred of the brethren were
slain on the field of battle, and eighty-seven fell into the hands of
the enemy, among whom was Bertrand de Blanquefort himself, and Brother
Odo, marshal of the kingdom. Shortly afterwards, a small band of them
captured a large detachment of Saracens; and in a night attack on the
camp of Noureddin, they compelled that famous chieftain to fly, without
arms and half-naked, from the field of battle. In this last affair the
name of Robert Mansel, an Englishman, and Gilbert de Lacy, preceptor of
the Temple of Tripoli, are honourably mentioned.[12]
The fiery zeal and warlike enthusiasm of the Templars were equalled,
if not surpassed, by the stern fanaticism and religious ardour of the
followers of Mahomet. “Noureddin fought,” says his oriental biographer,
“like the meanest of his soldiers, saying, ‘Alas! it is now a long time
that I have been seeking martyrdom without being able to obtain it.’
The Imaum Koteb-ed-din, hearing him on one occasion utter these words,
exclaimed, ‘In the name of God do not put your life in danger, do not
thus expose Islam and the Moslems. Thou art their stay and support,
and if (but God preserve us therefrom) thou shouldest be slain, we
are all undone.’ ‘Ah! Koteb-ed-deen,’ said he, ‘what hast thou said,
who can save _Islam_ and our country, but that great God who has no
equal?’ ‘What,’ said he, on another occasion, ‘do we not look to the
security of our houses against robbers and plunderers, and shall we not
defend RELIGION?’”[13] Like the Templars, Noureddin fought constantly
with spiritual and with carnal weapons. He resisted the world and
its temptations, by fasting and prayer, and by the daily exercise of
the moral and religious duties and virtues inculcated in the Koran.
He fought with the sword against the foes of Islam, and employed
his whole energies, to the last hour of his life in the enthusiastic
and fanatic struggle for the recovery of Jerusalem.[14] In his camp,
all profane and frivolous conversation was severely prohibited; the
exercises of religion were assiduously practised, and the intervals of
action were employed in prayer, meditation, and the study of the Koran.
“The sword,” says the prophet Mahomet, in that remarkable book, “is the
key of heaven and of hell; a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a
night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting and
of prayer. Whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven him. At
the day of judgment his wounds will be resplendent as vermillion, and
odoriferous as musk, and the loss of limbs shall be supplied by the
wings of angels and cherubims.”
Among the many instances of the fanatical ardour of the Moslem
warriors, are the following, extracted from the history of _Abu
Abdollah Alwakidi_, Cadi of Bagdad. “Methinks,” said a valiant Saracen
youth, in the heat of battle--“methinks I see the black-eyed girls
looking upon me, one of whom, should she appear in this world, all
mankind would die for love of her; and I see in the hand of one of them
a handkerchief of green silk, and a cap made of precious stones, and
she beckons me, and calls out, Come hither quickly, for I love thee.”
With these words, charging the Christian host, he made havoc wherever
he went, until at last he was struck down by a javelin. “It is not,”
said another dying Arabian warrior, when he embraced for the last time
his sister and mother--“it is not the fading pleasure of this world
that has prompted me to devote my life in the cause of RELIGION, I
seek the favour of GOD and his APOSTLE, and I have heard from one of
the companions of the prophet, that the spirits of the martyrs will be
lodged in the crops of green birds who taste the fruits and drink of
the waters of paradise. Farewell: we shall meet again among the groves
and fountains which God has prepared for his elect.”[15]
The Master of the Temple, Brother Bertrand de Blanquefort, was
liberated from captivity at the instance of Manuel Comnenus, Emperor
of Constantinople. After his release, he wrote several letters to
Louis VII., king of France, describing the condition and prospects
of the Holy Land: the increasing power and boldness of the infidels;
and the ruin and desolation caused by a dreadful earthquake, which
had overthrown numerous castles, prostrated the walls and defences of
several towns, and swallowed up the dwellings of the inhabitants. “The
persecutors of the church,” says he, “hasten to avail themselves of
our misfortunes; they gather themselves together from the ends of the
earth, and come forth as one man against the sanctuary of God.”
It was during his mastership, that Geoffrey, the Knight Templar, and
Hugh of Cæsarea, were sent on an embassy into Egypt, and had their
famous interview with the Caliph. They were introduced into the palace
of the Fatimites through a series of gloomy passages and glittering
porticos, amid the warbling of birds and the murmur of fountains; the
scene was enriched by a display of costly furniture and rare animals;
and the long order of unfolding doors was guarded by black soldiers and
domestic eunuchs. The sanctuary of the presence chamber was veiled with
a curtain, and the vizier who conducted the ambassadors laid aside his
scimitar, and prostrated himself three times on the ground; the veil
was then removed, and they saw the Commander of the Faithful.[16]
Brother Bertrand de Blanquefort, in his letters to the king of France,
gives an account of the military operations undertaken by the order of
the Temple in Egypt, and of the capture of the populous and important
city of Belbeis, the ancient Pelusium.[17] During the absence of the
Master with the greater part of the fraternity on that expedition,
the sultan Noureddin invaded Palestine; he defeated with terrible
slaughter the serving brethren and Turcopoles, or light horse of the
order, who remained to defend the country, and sixty of the knights who
commanded them were left dead on the plain. Amalric, king of Jerusalem,
the successor of Baldwin the Third, in a letter “to his dear friend
and father,” Louis the Seventh, king of France, beseeches the good
offices of that monarch in behalf of all the devout Christians of the
Holy Land; “but above all,” says he, “we earnestly entreat your Majesty
constantly to extend to the utmost your favour and regard to the
Brothers of the Temple, who continually render up their lives for God
and the faith, and through whom we do the little that we are able to
effect, for in them indeed, after God, is placed the entire reliance of
all those in the eastern regions who tread in the right path.”[18] The
Master, Brother Bertrand de Blanquefort, was succeeded, (A. D. 1167,)
by Philip of Naplous, the first Master of the Temple who had been born
in Palestine. He had been Lord of the fortresses of Krak and Montreal
in Arabia Petræa, and took the vows and the habit of the order of the
Temple after the death of his wife.[19]
We must now pause to take a glance at the rise of another great
religio-military institution which, from henceforth, takes a leading
part in the defence of the Latin kingdom. In the eleventh century, when
pilgrimages to Jerusalem had greatly increased, some Italian merchants
of Amalfi, who carried on a lucrative trade with Palestine, purchased
of the Caliph _Monstasserbillah_, a piece of ground in the Christian
quarter of the Holy City, near the church of the Resurrection, whereon
two hospitals were constructed, the one being appropriated for the
reception of male pilgrims, and the other for females. Several pious
and charitable Christians, chiefly from Europe, devoted themselves in
these hospitals to constant attendance upon the sick and destitute.
Two chapels were erected, the one annexed to the female establishment
being dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, and the other to St. John the
Eleemosynary, a canonized patriarch of Alexandria, remarkable for his
exceeding charity. The pious and kind-hearted people who here attended
upon the sick pilgrims, clothed the naked and fed the hungry, were
called “The Hospitallers of St. John.” On the conquest of Jerusalem
by the Crusaders, these charitable persons were naturally regarded
with the greatest esteem and reverence by their fellow-christians
from the west; many of the soldiers of the cross, smitten with their
piety and zeal, desired to participate in their good offices, and
the Hospitallers, animated by the religious enthusiasm of the day,
determined to renounce the world, and devote the remainder of their
lives to pious duties and constant attendance upon the sick. They took
the customary monastic vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty, and
assumed as their distinguishing habit a _black_ mantle with a _white_
cross on the breast. Various lands and possessions were granted them by
the lords and princes of the Crusade, both in Palestine and in Europe,
and the order of the hospital of St. John speedily became a great and
powerful institution.
Gerard, a native of Provence, was at this period at the head of the
society, with the title of “Guardian of the Poor.” He was succeeded
(A. D. 1118) by Raymond Dupuy, a knight of Dauphiné, who drew up a
series of rules for the direction and government of his brethren. In
these rules no traces are discoverable of the military spirit which
afterwards animated the order of the Hospital of St. John. The first
authentic notice of an intention on the part of the Hospitallers to
occupy themselves with military matters, occurs in the bull of Pope
Innocent the Second, dated A. D. 1130. This bull is addressed to the
archbishops, bishops, and clergy of the church universal, and informs
them that the Hospitallers then retained, at their own expense, a
body of horsemen and foot soldiers, to defend the pilgrims in going
to and returning from the holy places; the pope observes that the
funds of the hospital were insufficient to enable them effectually
to fulfil the pious and holy task, and he exhorts the archbishops,
bishops, and clergy, to minister to the necessities of the order out of
their abundant property. The Hospitallers consequently at this period
had resolved to add the task of _protecting_ to that of tending and
relieving pilgrims.
After the accession (A. D. 1168) of Gilbert d’Assalit to the
guardianship of the Hospital--a man described by De Vertot as “bold
and enterprising, and of an extravagant genius”--a military spirit
was infused into the Hospitallers, which speedily predominated over
their pious and charitable zeal in attending upon the poor and the
sick. Gilbert d’Assalit was the friend and confidant of Amalric,
king of Jerusalem, and planned with that monarch a wicked invasion
of Egypt in defiance of treaties. The Master of the Temple being
consulted concerning the expedition, flatly refused to have anything
to do with it, or to allow a single brother of the order of the
Temple to accompany the king in arms: “For it appeared a hard matter
to the Templars,” says William of Tyre, “to wage war without cause,
in defiance of treaties, and against all honour and conscience, upon
a friendly nation, preserving faith with us, and relying on our own
faith.” Gilbert d’Assalit consequently determined to obtain for the
king from his own brethren that aid which the Templars denied; and to
tempt the Hospitallers to arm themselves generally as a great military
society, in imitation of the Templars, and join the expedition to
Egypt, Gilbert d’Assalit was authorised to promise them in the name of
the king, the possession of the wealthy and important city of Belbeis,
the ancient Pelusium, in perpetual sovereignty.
According to De Vertot, the senior Hospitallers were greatly averse
to the military projects of their chief: “They urged,” says he, “that
they were a religious order, and that the church had not put arms into
their hands to make conquests;” but the younger and more ardent of
the brethren, burning to exchange the monotonous life of the cloister
for the enterprise and activity of the camp, received the proposals
of their superior with enthusiasm, and a majority of the chapter
decided in favour of the plans and projects of their Guardian. They
authorised him to borrow money of the Florentine and Genoese merchants,
to take hired soldiers into the pay of the order, and to organize the
Hospitallers as a great military society.
It was in the first year of the government of Philip of Naplous (A. D.
1168) that the king of Jerusalem and the Hospitallers marched
forth upon their memorable and unfortunate expedition. The Egyptians
were taken completely by surprise; the city of Belbeis was carried by
assault, and the defenceless inhabitants were barbarously massacred.
The cruelty and the injustice of the Christians, however, speedily
met with condign punishment. The king of Jerusalem was driven back
into Palestine; Belbeis was abandoned with precipitation; and the
Hospitallers fled before the infidels in sorrow and disappointment to
Jerusalem. There they vented their indignation and chagrin upon the
unfortunate Gilbert d’Assalit, their superior, who had got the order
into debt to the extent of 100,000 pieces of gold; they compelled him
to resign his authority, and the unfortunate guardian of the hospital
fled from Palestine to England, and was drowned in the Channel. From
this period, however, the character of the order of the Hospital of
St. John was entirely changed: the Hospitallers appear henceforth as a
great military body; their superior styles himself Master, and leads
in person the brethren into the field of battle. Attendance upon the
poor and the sick still continued, indeed, one of the duties of the
fraternity, but it must have been feebly exercised amid the clash of
arms and the excitement of war.[20]
The Grand Master of the Temple, Philip of Naplous, resigned his
authority after a short government of three years, and was succeeded
(A. D. 1170) by Brother Odo de St. Amand, a proud and fiery warrior,
of undaunted courage and resolution; having, according to William,
Archbishop of Tyre, the fear neither of God nor of man before his
eyes.[21] It was during his Grand Mastership (A. D. 1172) that the
Knight Templar Walter du Mesnil slew an envoy or minister of the
assassins. These were an odious religious sect, settled in the
fastnesses of the mountains above Tripoli, and supposed to be descended
from the Ismaelians of Persia. They devoted their souls and bodies in
blind obedience to a chief who is called by the writers of the Crusades
“the old man of the mountain,” and were employed by him in the most
extensive system of murder and assassination known in the history of
the world. Both Christian and Moslem writers enumerate with horror the
many illustrious victims that fell beneath their daggers. They assumed
all shapes and disguises for the furtherance of their deadly designs,
and carried, in general, no arms except a small poniard concealed in
the folds of their dress, called in the Persian tongue _hassissin_,
whence these wretches were called _assassins_, their chief the prince
of the assassins; and the word itself, in all its odious import, has
passed into most European languages.[22]
Raimond, son of the count of Tripoli, had been slain by these fanatics
whilst kneeling at the foot of the altar in the church of the Blessed
Virgin at Carchusa or Tortosa; the Templars flew to arms to avenge
his death; they penetrated into the fastnesses and strongholds of
“the mountain chief,” and at last compelled him to purchase peace
by the payment of an annual tribute of two thousand crowns into the
treasury of the order. In the ninth year of Amalric’s reign, _Sinan
Ben Suleiman_, imaun of the assassins, sent a trusty counsellor to
Jerusalem, offering, in the name of himself and his people, to embrace
the christian religion, provided the Templars would release them from
the tribute money. The proposition was favourably received; the envoy
was honourably entertained for some days, and on his departure he was
furnished by the king with a guide and an escort to conduct him in
safety to the frontier. The Ismaelite had reached the borders of the
Latin kingdom, and was almost in sight of the castles of his brethren,
when he was slain by the Knight Templar Walter du Mesnil, who attacked
the escort with a body of armed followers. The king of Jerusalem
assembled the barons of the kingdom at Sidon to determine on the best
means of obtaining satisfaction for the injury; and it was determined
that two of their number should proceed to Odo de St. Amand to demand
the surrender of the criminal. The haughty Master of the Temple bade
them inform his majesty the king, that the members of the order were
not subject to his jurisdiction, nor to that of his officers; that the
Templars acknowledged no earthly superior except the pope; and that
to the holy pontiff alone belonged the cognizance of the offence. He
declared, however, that the crime should meet with due punishment: that
he had caused the criminal to be arrested and put in irons, and would
forthwith send him to Rome, but till judgment was given in his case, he
forbade all persons of whatsoever degree to meddle with him.[23]
The Templars were now destined to meet with a more formidable opponent
than any they had hitherto encountered in the field, one who was again
to cause the _crescent_ to triumph over the CROSS, and to plant the
standard of the prophet upon the walls of the holy city. When the
Fatimite caliph had received intelligence of king Amalric’s invasion of
Egypt, (ante p. 36) he sent the hair of his women, one of the greatest
tokens of distress known in the East, to the pious Noureddin, who
immediately despatched a body of troops to his assistance, headed by
Sheerkoh, and his nephew, _Youseef-Ben-Acoub-Ben-Schadi_ the famous
Saladin. Sheerkoh died immediately after his arrival, and Youseef
succeeded to his command, and was appointed vizier of the caliph. He
had passed his youth in pleasure and debauchery, sloth and indolence,
but as soon as he grasped the power of the sword, and obtained the
command of armies, he renounced the pleasures of the world, and assumed
the character of a saint. His dress was a coarse-woollen garment;
water was his only drink; and he carefully abstained from everything
disapproved of by the Mussulman religion. Five times each day he
prostrated himself in public prayer, surrounded by his friends and
followers, and his demeanour became grave, serious, and thoughtful. His
nights were often spent in watching and meditation, he was diligent in
fasting and in the study of the Koran, and his admiring brethren gave
him the name of _Salah-ed-deen_, “Integrity of Religion,” vulgarly
called Saladin.
Having aroused the religious enthusiasm of the Moslems he proceeded to
take vengeance upon the Christians for their perfidious invasion of
Egypt. He assembled an army of forty thousand horse and foot, crossed
the desert and besieged the fortified city of Gaza, which belonged to
the Knights Templars, and was considered to be the key of Palestine
towards Egypt. The luxuriant gardens, the palm and olive groves of
this city of the wilderness were destroyed by the wild cavalry of
the desert, and the innumerable tents of the Arab host were thickly
clustered on the neighbouring sand-hills. The warlike monks of the
Temple in their turn fasted and prayed, and invoked the aid of the God
of battles; they made a desperate defence, and in an unexpected sally
upon the enemy’s camp, they performed such prodigies of valour, that
Saladin, despairing of being able to take the place, abandoned the
siege, and retired into Egypt.[24]
On the death of Noureddin, sultan of Damascus, (A. D. 1175,) Saladin
raised himself to the sovereignty both of Egypt and of Syria. He
again levied an immense army, crossed the desert, and planted the
standard of Mahomet upon the sacred territory of Palestine. His forces
were composed of twenty-six thousand light infantry, eight thousand
horsemen, a host of archers and spearmen mounted on dromedaries,
eighteen thousand common soldiers, and a body-guard of a thousand
Mamlook emirs, clothed in yellow cloaks, worn over their shirts of
mail. In the great battle fought near Ascalon, (Nov. 1, A. D. 1177,)
Odo de St. Amand, the Master of the Temple, at the head of eighty of
his knights, broke through the guard of Mamlooks, slew their commander,
and penetrated to the imperial tent, from whence Saladin escaped with
great difficulty, almost naked, upon a fleet dromedary. The year
following, the Templars, in order to protect and cover the road leading
from Damascus to Jerusalem, commenced the erection of a strong fortress
on the northern frontier of the Latin kingdom, close to Jacob’s ford on
the river Jordan, at the spot where now stands _Djiss’r Beni Yakoob_,
“the bridge of the sons of Jacob.” Saladin advanced at the head of his
forces to oppose the progress of the work, and the king of Jerusalem
and all the chivalry of the Latin kingdom were gathered together in the
plain to protect the Templars and their workmen. In a general action
the entire army of the cross was defeated with immense slaughter. The
Templars and the Hospitallers, with the count of Tripoli, stood firm
on the summit of a small hillock, and for a long time presented a bold
and undaunted front to the victorious enemy. The count of Tripoli at
last cut his way through the infidels, and fled to Tyre; the Master of
the Hospital, after seeing most of his brethren slain, swam across the
Jordan, and fled, covered with wounds, to the castle of Beaufort; and
the Templars after fighting with their accustomed zeal and fanaticism
around the red-cross banner, which waved to the last over the field of
blood, were all killed or taken prisoners, and the Master, Odo de St.
Amand, fell alive into the hands of the enemy. Saladin then laid siege
to the newly-erected fortress, which was defended by thick walls,
flanked with large towers furnished with military engines, and after
a gallant resistance on the part of the garrison, it was set on fire,
and then stormed. “The Templars,” says Abulpharadge, “flung themselves
some into the fire, where they were burned, some cast themselves into
the Jordan, some jumped down from the walls on to the rocks, and were
dashed to pieces: thus were slain the enemy.” The fortress was reduced
to a heap of ruins, and the enraged sultan, it is said, ordered all
the Templars taken in the place to be sawn in two, excepting the most
distinguished of the knights, who were reserved for a ransom, and were
sent in chains to Aleppo. Saladin offered Odo de St. Amand his liberty
in exchange for the freedom of his own nephew, who was a prisoner in
the hands of the Templars; but the Master of the Temple haughtily
replied, that he would never, by his example, encourage any of his
knights to be mean enough to surrender, that a Templar ought either to
vanquish or die, and that he had nothing to give for his ransom but
his girdle and his knife. The proud spirit of Odo de St. Amand could
but ill brook confinement; he languished and died in the dungeons of
Damascus, and was succeeded (A. D. 1180) by Brother Arnold de Torroge,
who had filled some of the chief situations of the order in Europe.
The affairs of the Latin Christians were at this period in a deplorable
situation. Saladin encamped near Tiberias, and extended his ravages
into almost every part of Palestine. His light cavalry swept the valley
of the Jordan to within a day’s march of Jerusalem, and the whole
country as far as Panias on the one side, and Beisan, D’Jeneen, and
Sebaste, on the other, was destroyed by fire and the sword. The houses
of the Templars were pillaged and burnt; various castles belonging to
the order were taken by assault; but the immediate destruction of the
Latin power was arrested by some partial successes obtained by the
Christian warriors, and by the skilful generalship of their leaders.
Saladin was compelled to retreat to Damascus, after he had burnt
Naplous, and depopulated the whole country around Tiberias. A truce was
proposed, (A. D. 1184,) and as the attention of the sultan was then
distracted by the intrigues of the Turcoman chieftains in the north
of Syria, and he was again engaged in hostilities in Mesopotamia, he
agreed to a suspension of the war for four years, in consideration of
the payment by the Christians of a large sum of money.[25]
Immediate advantage was taken of this truce to secure the safety of the
Latin kingdom. A grand council was called together at Jerusalem, and it
was determined that Heraclius, the patriarch of the Holy City, and the
Masters of the Temple and Hospital, should forthwith proceed to Europe,
to obtain succour from the western princes. The sovereign mostly
depended upon for assistance was Henry the Second, king of England,
grandson of Fulk, the late king of Jerusalem, and cousin-german to
Baldwin, the then reigning sovereign. Henry had received absolution
for the murder of Saint Thomas à Becket, on condition that he should
proceed in person at the head of a powerful army to the succour of
Palestine, and should, at his own expense, maintain two hundred
Templars for the defence of the holy territory. The patriarch and the
two Masters landed in Italy, and after furnishing themselves with the
letters of the pope, threatening the English monarch with the judgments
of heaven if he did not forthwith perform the penance prescribed him,
they set out for England. At Verona, the Master of the Temple fell
sick and died, but his companions proceeding on their journey, landed
in safety in England at the commencement of the year 1185. They were
received by the king at Reading, and throwing themselves at the feet
of the English monarch, they with much weeping and sobbing saluted
him in behalf of the king, the princes, and the people of the kingdom
of Jerusalem. They explained the object of their visit, and presented
him with the pope’s letters, with the keys of the holy sepulchre,
of the tower of David, and of the city of Jerusalem, together with
the royal banner of the Latin kingdom. Their eloquent and pathetic
narrative of the fierce inroads of Saladin, and of the miserable
condition of Palestine, drew tears from king Henry and all his court.
The English sovereign gave encouraging assurances to the patriarch
and his companions, and promised to bring the whole matter before the
parliament, which was to meet the first Sunday in Lent.[26]
The patriarch, in the mean time, proceeded to London, and was received
by the Knights Templars at the Temple in that city, the chief house of
the order in Britain, where, in the month of February, he consecrated
the beautiful Temple church, dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary,
which had just then been erected.[27]
[Illustration]