attached to their king, Guy de Lusignan, and his queen Sibylla. They
had received them when they came from Jerusalem, as fugitives from the
wrath of Baldwin IV., and protected them against the power of that
monarch. The sultan imposed such conditions upon the prisoners as were
necessary for his own security. They were to quit Palestine never more
to return, and were in the mean time, until a fitting opportunity for
their embarkation to Europe could be found, to take up their abode at
Naplous, under the surveillance of the Moslem garrison. Immediately
after the capture of Ascalon, Saladin pitched his tents beneath the
walls of Gaza, the great fortress of the Knights Templars. He had been
repulsed by the military friars with great loss in a previous attack
upon this important station, and he now surrounded it with his numerous
battalions, thirsting for vengeance. The place surrendered after a
short siege; the fortifications were demolished, but the fate of the
garrison has not been recorded.
Having subjugated all the country bordering upon the sea coast, Saladin
moved forward in great triumph towards the sacred city of Jerusalem. He
encamped the first night at Bersabee, the ancient Beersheba, around the
well digged by Abraham, in the land of the Philistines, and on the spot
where Abraham delivered the seven ewe lambs, and made the covenant with
Abimelech, and planted a grove, and called “on the name of the Lord,
the everlasting God.” The next day Saladin marched towards Bethlehem,
halting on the way before a castle of the Hospitallers, which he
summoned to surrender, but in vain. Leaving a party of horse to watch
the place, he pitched his tents the same evening around Bethlehem, and
the next morning at sunrise, the Moslem soldiers might be seen pouring
into the vast convent and the magnificent church erected by the
empress Helena and her son Constantine, over the sacred spot where the
Saviour of the world was born. They wandered with unbounded admiration
amid the unrivalled Corinthian colonnade, formed by a quadruple row of
forty ancient columns, which support a barn-roof constructed of the
cedar of Lebanon. They paused to admire the beautiful mosaics which
covered the lofty walls, the richly carved screen on either side of the
high altar, and the twenty-five imperial eagles. Saladin was present
in person, and no serious disorders appear to have been committed.
The inhabitants of the town had all fled to Jerusalem, with whatever
property they could carry with them, and in the afternoon, after
establishing a garrison in the place, the sultan commenced his march
towards the Holy City.
At the hour of sunset, when the bells of the churches of Jerusalem were
tolling to vespers, the vast host of Saladin crowned in dark array the
bleak and desolate eminences which surround the city of David. The
air was rent with the loud Mussulman shouts _El Kods, El Kods_--“The
Holy City, the Holy City!” and the green and yellow banners of the
prophet, and the various coloured emblems of the Arabian tribes, were
to be seen standing out in bold relief upon the lofty ridges of the
hills, and gleaming brightly in the last trembling rays of the setting
sun. The Arabian writers descant with enthusiasm upon the feelings
experienced by their countrymen on beholding “the long lost sister of
Mecca and Medina,” on gazing once more upon the swelling domes of the
Mosque of Omar, and on the sacred eminence from whence, according to
their traditions, “Mahomet ascended from earth to heaven.” It must have
been, indeed, a strange, and an awful scene. The Moslem host took up
their stations around the Holy City at the very hour when the followers
both of the Christian and Mahometan religion were wont to assemble to
offer up their prayers to the one Great God, the common Father of us
all. On the one hand, you might hear the sound of the sweet vesper
bells from the towers of the Christian churches wafted softly upon the
evening breeze, the hoarse chant of the monks and priests, and the loud
swelling hymn of praise; while on the other, over all the hills and
eminences around Jerusalem, stole the long shrill cry of the muezzins,
loudly summoning the faithful to their evening devotions. Within the
walls, for one night at least, the name of CHRIST was invoked with true
piety and fervent devotion; while without the city, the eternal truth
and the Moslem fiction were loudly proclaimed, “There is but one GOD,
and _Mahomet_ is his apostle.”
That very night, when the Mussulmen had finished their prayers, and
ere darkness spread its sable shroud over the land, the loud trumpets
of Saladin summoned the Christians to surrender “the house of God” to
the arms of the faithful: but the Christians returned for answer, that,
please God, the Holy City should _not_ be surrendered. The next morning
at sunrise, the terrified inhabitants were awakened by the clangour of
horns and drums, the loud clash of arms, and the fierce cries of the
remorseless foe. The women and children rushed into the churches, and
threw themselves on their knees before the altars, weeping and wailing,
and lifting up their hands to heaven, whilst the men hastened to man
the battlements. The Temple could no longer furnish its hundreds and
thousands of brave warriors for the defence of the holy sanctuary of
the Christians; a few miserable knights, with some serving brethren,
alone remained in its now silent halls and deserted courts. For fifteen
days did the Christians successfully resist the utmost efforts of the
enemy; the monks and the canons, the bishops and the priests, took arms
in defence of the Holy Sepulchre, and lined in warlike array the dark
gray battlements and towers of Jerusalem. But the Mussulman archers
soon became so numerous and so expert, that the garrison durst not
show themselves upon the walls “Their arrows fell,” says our worthy
countryman, abbot Coggleshale, one of the brave defenders of the place,
“as thick as hail upon the battlements, so that no one could lift a
finger above the walls without being maimed. So great indeed was the
number of the wounded, that it was as much as all the doctors of the
city and of the Hospital could do to extract the weapons from their
bodies. The face of the narrator of these events was lacerated with
an arrow which pierced right through his nose; the wooden shaft was
withdrawn, but a piece of the iron head remains there to this day.”[72]
Jerusalem was crowded with fugitives who had been driven into the
Holy City from the provinces. The houses could not contain them, and
the streets were filled with women and children, who slept night
after night upon the cold pavement. At the expiration of a fortnight,
Saladin finding his incessant attacks continually foiled, retired from
the walls, and employed his troops in the construction of military
engines, stationing ten thousand cavalry around the city to intercept
fugitives, and prevent the introduction of supplies. When his engines
were completed, he directed all his efforts against the northern wall
of the city, which extends between St. Stephen’s gate and the gate of
Jaffa. Ten thousand soldiers were attached to the military engines,
and were employed day and night in battering the fortifications.
Barefoot processions of women, monks, and priests were made to the
holy sepulchre, to implore the Son of God to save his tomb and his
inheritance from impious violation. The females, as a mark of humility
and distress, cut off their hair and cast it to the winds; and the
ladies of Jerusalem made their daughters do penance by standing up
to their necks in tubs of cold water placed upon Mount Calvary. But
it availed nought, “for our Lord Jesus Christ,” says the chronicler,
“would not listen to any prayer that they made, for the filth, the
luxury, and the adultery which prevailed in the city did not suffer
prayer or supplication to ascend before God.”
To prevent the garrison from attempting to break the force of the
battering-rams, Saladin constructed vast mangonels and machines,
which cast enormous stones and flaming beams of timber, covered with
pitch and naptha, upon the ramparts, and over the walls into the city.
He moreover employed miners to sap the foundations of the towers,
and on the 16th of October the angle of the northern wall, where it
touches the valley of Gehinnon, was thrown down with a tremendous
crash. The appalling intelligence spread through the city, and filled
every heart with mourning. Friends embraced one another as it were for
the last time; mothers clung to their little ones, anticipating with
heart-rending agony the fearful moment when they would be torn from
them for ever; and the men gazed around in gloomy silence, appalled
and stupified. Young mothers might be seen carrying their babes in
their arms to Mount Calvary, and placing them before the altars of the
church of the Resurrection, as if they thought that the sweet innocence
of these helpless objects would appease the wrath of heaven. The
panic-stricken garrison deserted the fortifications, but the infidels
fortunately deferred the assault until the succeeding morning. During
the night attempts were made, but in vain, to organize a strong guard
to watch the breach. “With my own ears,” says abbot Coggleshale, “I
heard it proclaimed, between the wall and the counterscarp, by the
patriarch and the chief men of the city, that if fifty strong and
valiant foot soldiers would undertake to guard for one night only the
angle which had been overthrown, they should receive fifty golden
bezants; but none could be found to undertake the duty.”
In the morning a suppliant deputation proceeded to Saladin to implore
his mercy, but ere they reached the imperial tent the assault had
commenced, and twelve banners of the prophet waved in triumph upon the
breach. The haughty sultan accordingly refused to hear the messengers,
and dismissed them, declaring that he would take Jerusalem from the
Franks as they had taken it from the Moslems, that is say, _sword
in hand_. But some spirit of resistance had at last been infused
into the quailing garrison, the few Templars and Hospitallers in
Jerusalem manned the breach, and in a desperate struggle the Moslems
were repulsed, and the standards of the prophet were torn down from
the walls. The messengers then returned to Saladin, and declared that
if he refused to treat for the surrender of Jerusalem, the Christians
would set fire to the TEMPLE or Mosque of Omar, would destroy all
the treasures they possessed in the city, and massacre their Moslem
prisoners. The announcement of this desperate determination, which
was accompanied with the offer of a very considerable ransom, induced
Saladin to listen to terms, and a treaty was entered into with the
Christians to the following effect. The Moslems were immediately to
be put into possession of all the gates of Jerusalem, and the liberty
and security of the inhabitants were to be purchased in the following
manner. Every man was to pay to Saladin ten golden bezants as a ransom,
every woman five, and every child under seven years was to pay one
bezant.
When these terms, so disgraceful to the christian negotiators, were
known in the Holy City, nothing could exceed the grief and indignation
of the poorer classes of people, who had no money wherewith to pay the
ransom, and had consequently been delivered up to perpetual bondage
by their richer _christian_ brethren. All resistance on their part,
however, to the treaty was then hopeless; the poor had been betrayed
by the rich; the infidels were already in possession of the tower of
David, and their spears were gleaming in the streets of the Holy City.
It is recorded to the praise of the few Templars and Hospitallers who
were then in Jerusalem, that they spent all the money they possessed in
ransoming their poor christian brethren, whom they escorted in safety
to Tripoli. The number of those who, being unable to pay the ransom,
were reduced to a state of hopeless slavery, is estimated at fourteen
thousand, men, women, and children. They were sold in the common
slave-markets, and distributed through all the Mussulman countries
of Asia. The women became the concubines and the handmaids of their
masters, and the children were educated in the Mohammedan faith.
The Arabian writers express their astonishment at the number of the
christian captives, and give a heart-rending account of their sorrows
and misfortunes. One of them tells us that he saw in his native
village a fair European woman, bright as the morning star, who had
two beautiful children. She seldom spoke, but remained the live-long
day absorbed in melancholy contemplation; there was, says he, such a
sweetness and gentleness in her deportment, that it made one’s heart
ache to see her. “When I was at Aleppo,” says the historian, Azz’eddin
Ali Ibn-Al’atsyr, who fought in Saladin’s army, and was present at the
battle of Tiberias, “I had for a slave one of the christian women taken
at Jaffa. She had with her a little child, about a year old, and many
a bitter tear did she shed over this tender infant. I did my best to
comfort her, but she exclaimed, ‘Alas, sir, it is not for this child
that I weep; I had a husband and two sisters, and I know not what has
become of them. I had also six brothers, all of whom have perished.’
This is the case of one person only. Another day I saw at Aleppo a
christian slave accompanying her master to the house of a neighbour.
The master knocked at the door, and another Frank woman came to open
it; the two females immediately give a loud cry; they rush into each
other’s arms; they weep; they sit down on the ground and enter into
conversation. They were two sisters who had been sold as slaves to
different masters, and had been brought without knowing it to the same
town.”[73]
Thus fell the holy city of Jerusalem, eighty-eight years after its
conquest by Godfrey de Bouillon and the crusaders. Our excellent
chronicler, Radolph, abbot of Coggleshale, who was redeemed from
bondage by payment of the ten golden bezants, throws a pitying glance
upon the misfortunes and miseries of the poor captives, but attributes
the fall of Jerusalem, and all the calamities consequent thereon, to
the sins and iniquities of the inhabitants. “They honoured God,” says
he, “with their lips, but their hearts were far from him.” He speaks
of the beautiful women who thronged Jerusalem, and of the general
corruption of the city, and exclaims, in the words of the prophet,
“The Lord hath said unto the heathen, Go ye up against her walls and
destroy, take away her battlements, for they are not the Lord’s.”
Immediately after the surrender of the city (October 11, A. D. 1187)
the Moslems rushed to the TEMPLE (Templum Domini, ante p. 12) in
thousands. “The imauns and the doctors and expounders of the wicked
errors of Mahomet,” says Abbot Coggleshale, “first ascended to
the Temple of the Lord, called by the infidels _Beit Allah_, (the
house of God,) in which, as a place of prayer and religion, they
place their great hope of salvation. With horrible bellowings they
proclaimed the law of Mahomet, and vociferated, with polluted lips,
ALLAH _acbar_--ALLAH _acbar_ (GOD is victorious). They defiled all
the places that are contained within the Temple; i. e. the place of
the presentation, where the mother and glorious Virgin Mary delivered
the Son of God into the hands of the just Simeon; and the place of
the confession, looking towards the porch of Solomon, where the
Lord judged the woman taken in adultery. They placed guards that no
Christian might enter within the seven atria of the Temple; and as
a disgrace to the Christians, with vast clamour, with laughter and
with mockery, they hurled down the golden cross from the pinnacle of
the building, and dragged it with ropes throughout the city, amid the
exulting shouts of the infidels and the tears and lamentations of the
followers of Christ.” When every Christian had been removed from the
precincts of the Temple, Saladin proceeded with vast pomp to say his
prayers in the _Beit Allah_, the holy house of God, or “Temple of the
Lord,” erected by the Caliph Omar. He was preceded by five camels
laden with rose-water, which he had procured from Damascus, and he
entered the sacred courts to the sound of martial music, and with his
banners streaming in the wind. The _Beit Allah_, “the Temple of the
Lord,” was then again consecrated to the service of one God and his
prophet Mahomet; the walls and pavements were washed and purified with
rose-water; and a pulpit, the labour of Noureddin, was erected in the
sanctuary.[74]
The following account of these transactions was forwarded to Henry the
Second, king of England. “To the beloved Lord Henry, by the grace of
God, the illustrious king of the English, duke of Normandy and Guienne,
and count of Anjou, Brother Terric, formerly Grand Preceptor of the
house of the Temple at JERUSALEM, sendeth greeting,--salvation through
him who saveth kings. Know that Jerusalem, with the citadel of David,
hath been surrendered to Saladin. The Syrian Christians, however,
have the custody of the holy sepulchre up to the fourth day after
Michaelmas, and Saladin himself hath permitted ten of the brethren of
the Hospital to remain in the house of the hospital for the space of
one year, to take care of the sick.... Jerusalem, alas, hath fallen;
Saladin hath caused the cross to be thrown down from the summit of the
Temple of the Lord, and for two days to be publicly kicked and dragged
in the dirt through the city. He then caused the Temple of the Lord to
be washed within and without, upwards and downwards, with rose-water,
and the law of Mahomet to be proclaimed throughout the four quarters of
the Temple with wonderful clamour....”[75]
Bohadin, Saladin’s secretary, mentions as a remarkable and happy
circumstance, that the holy city was surrendered to the sultan of most
pious memory, and that God restored to the faithful their sanctuary
on the 27th of the month Regeb, on the night of which very day their
most glorious prophet Mahomet performed his wonderful nocturnal journey
from the Temple of the Lord, through the seven heavens, to the throne
of God. He also describes the sacred congregation of the Mussulmen
gathered together in the Temple and the solemn prayer offered up to
God; the shouting and the sounds of applause, and the voices lifted
up to heaven, causing the holy buildings to resound with thanks and
praises to the most bountiful Lord God. He glories in the casting
down of the golden cross, and exults in the very splendid triumph of
Islam. Saladin restored the sacred area of the Temple to its original
condition under the first Mussulman conquerors of Jerusalem (ante,
p. 12). The ancient christian church of the Virgin (the mosque _Al
Acsa_, and “Temple of Solomon”) was washed with rose-water, and was
once again dedicated to the religious services of the Moslems. On
the western side of this venerable edifice the Templars had erected,
according to the Arabian writers, an immense building in which they
lodged, together with granaries of corn and various offices, which
enclosed and concealed a great portion of the edifice. Most of these
were pulled down by the sultan to make a clear and open area for the
resort of the Mussulmen to prayer. Some new erections placed between
the columns in the interior of the structure were taken away, and the
floor was covered with the richest carpets. “Lamps innumerable,” says
Ibn Alatsyr, “were suspended from the ceiling; verses of the Koran
were again inscribed on the walls; the call to prayer was again heard;
the bells were silenced; the exiled faith returned to its ancient
sanctuary; the devout Mussulmen again bent the knee in adoration of
the one only God, and the voice of the imaun was again heard from the
pulpit, reminding the true believers of the resurrection and the last
judgment.”[76]
The Friday after the surrender of the city, the army of Saladin,
and crowds of true believers, who had flocked to Jerusalem from all
parts of the East, assembled in the Temple of the Lord to assist
in the religious services of the Mussulman sabbath. Omad, Saladin’s
secretary, who was present, gives the following interesting account
of the ceremony, and of the sermon that was preached. “On Friday
morning at daybreak,” says he, “everybody was asking whom the sultan
had appointed to preach. The Temple was full; the congregation was
impatient; all eyes were fixed on the pulpit; the ears were on the
stretch; our hearts beat fast, and tears trickled down our faces. On
all sides were to be heard rapturous exclamations of ‘What a glorious
sight! What a congregation! Happy are those who have lived to see the
resurrection of ISLAM.’ At length the sultan ordered the judge (doctor
of the law) _Mohieddin Aboulmehali-Mohammed_ to fulfil the sacred
function of imaun. I immediately lent him the black vestment which I
had received as a present from the caliph. He then mounted into the
pulpit and spoke. All were hushed. His expressions were graceful and
easy, and his discourse was eloquent and much admired. He displayed the
virtue and sanctity of Jerusalem; he spoke of the purification of the
Temple; he alluded to the silence of the bells, and to the flight of
the infidel priests. In his prayer he named the caliph and the sultan,
and terminated his discourse with that chapter of the Koran in which
God orders justice and good works. He then descended from the pulpit,
and prayed in the Mihrab. Immediately afterwards a sermon was preached
before the congregation.”
This sermon was delivered by _Mohammed Ben Zeky_. “Praise be to God,”
saith the preacher, “who by the power of his might hath raised up
Islamism on the ruins of polytheism; who governs all things according
to his will; who overthroweth the devices of the infidels, and causeth
the TRUTH to triumph! I praise God, who hath succoured his elect, who
hath rendered them victorious and crowned them with glory, who hath
purified his holy house from the filthiness of idolatry.... I bear
witness that there is no God but that one great God who standeth
_alone_ and hath no PARTNER; sole, supreme, eternal; who begetteth not
and is not begotten, and hath NO EQUAL. I bear witness that Mahomet
is his servant, his envoy, and his prophet, who hath dissipated
doubts, confounded polytheism, and put down LIES! O men, declare ye
the blessings of God, who hath restored to you this holy city, after
it has been left in the power of the infidels for a hundred years.
This HOLY HOUSE of the LORD hath been built, and its foundations
have been established, for the glory of God. This sacred spot is the
dwelling-place of the prophets, the _kebla_ (place of prayer) towards
which you turn at the commencement of your religious duties, the
birth-place of the saints, the scene of the revelation. It is thrice
holy, for the angels of God spread their wings over it. This is that
blessed land of which God hath spoken in his sacred book. In this house
of prayer, Mahomet prayed with the angels who approach God. It is to
this spot that all fingers are turned after the two holy places. This
conquest, O men, hath opened unto you the gates of heaven; the angels
rejoice, and the eyes of the prophets glisten with joy.” The preacher
proceeds, in a high strain of enthusiasm, to enlarge upon the merits of
the holy war. “The holy war, the holy war!” says he, “is better than
religious worship; it is the noblest of your occupations. Aid God, and
he will assist you; protect the Lord, and he will protect you; remember
him, and he will have you in remembrance; do good to him, and he will
do good to you. Cut off the branches of iniquity; purify the earth from
unbelievers, and destroy the nations who have excited the wrath of God
and his apostle, &c....”[77]
Omad informs us that the marble altar and chapel which had been erected
over the sacred rock in the Temple of the Lord, or Mosque of Omar,
was removed by Saladin, together with the stalls for the priests, the
marble statues, and all the abominations which had been placed in the
venerated building by the Christians. The Mussulmen discovered with
horror that some pieces of the holy stone or rock had been cut off by
the Franks, and sent to Europe. Saladin caused it to be immediately
surrounded by a grate of iron. He washed it with rose-water, and
Malek-Afdel covered it with magnificent carpets. Saladin, in his
famous letter to the caliph, giving an account of the conquest of
Jerusalem, exclaims--“God hath at length turned towards the supporters
of the true faith; he hath let loose his wrath against the infidels,
and hath driven them from his sanctuary.... The infidels have erected
churches in the holy city, and the great houses of the Templars and
Hospitallers. In these structures are rich marbles and many precious
things. Thy servant hath restored the Mosque Al-Acsa (the Temple of
the Knights Templars, ante p. 12) to its ancient destination. He hath
appointed imauns to celebrate divine service, and on the 14th chaaban
they preached, the _khotbeh_ (sermon). The heavens are rent with joy
and the stars dance with delight. The word of God hath been exalted,
and the tombs of the prophets, which the infidel hath defiled, have
been purified.”[78] Saladin restored the fortifications of Jerusalem;
he founded several schools, and converted the great house of the
Hospitallers into a college. He then quitted the Holy City to pursue
his military operations in the field.
The Templars still maintained themselves in some of the strongest
castles of Palestine, and the maritime city of Tyre continued to resist
all the attacks of the Moslems. This important sea-port was preserved
to the Christians by the valour and military talents of the young
Conrad, marquis of Montferrat, who digged a ditch across the isthmus
which connects Tyre with the main land, repaired the fortifications
and planted catapults and balistæ in boats, so as to command the only
approach to the town. Saladin proceeded in person to Tyre, to conduct
the operations against this important place. He was on horseback
from morn till night, and was assisted by his sons, his brother, and
his nephew, all of whom commanded in the field under the eye of the
sultan, and animated the troops by their example. The following account
of the state of affairs in Palestine is contained in a letter from
Brother Terric, Grand Preceptor of the Temple, and Treasurer General
of the order, to Henry the Second, king of England. “The brothers
of the hospital of Belvoir as yet bravely resist the Saracens; they
have captured two convoys, and have valiantly possessed themselves
of the munitions of war and provisions which were being conveyed by
the Saracens from the fortress of La Feue. As yet, also, Carach, in
the neighbourhood of Mount Royal, Mount Royal itself, the Temple of
Saphet, the hospital of Carach, Margat, and Castellum Blancum, and the
territory of Tripoli, and the territory of Antioch, resist Saladin....
From the feast of Saint Martin, up to that of the circumcision of the
Lord, Saladin hath besieged Tyre incessantly, by night and by day,
throwing into it immense stones from thirteen military engines. On the
vigils of St. Silvester, the Lord Conrad, the marquis of Montferrat,
distributed knights and foot soldiers along the wall of the city,
and having armed seventeen galleys and ten small vessels, with the
assistance of the house of the Hospital and the brethren of the Temple,
he engaged the galleys of Saladin, and vanquishing them he captured
eleven, and took prisoners the great admiral of Alexandria and eight
other admirals, a multitude of the infidels being slain. The rest of
the Mussulman galleys, escaping the hands of the Christians, fled to
the army of Saladin, and being run aground by his command, were set
on fire and burnt to ashes. Saladin himself, overwhelmed with grief,
having _cut off the ears and the tail of his horse_, rode that same
horse through his whole army in the sight of all. Farewell!”[79] Tyre
continued to be valiantly defended until the winter had set in, and
then the disappointed sultan, despairing of taking the place, burnt his
military engines and retired to Damascus.
The king of Jerusalem, and the Grand Master of the Temple, who had,
as before mentioned, been residing at Naplous, under the surveillance
of Saladin’s officers, were now set at full liberty, pursuant to the
treaty of Ascalon, on the understanding that they would immediately
proceed to Tyre and embark for Europe. Queen Sibylla, who was in
Jerusalem at the time of its surrender to Saladin, had been permitted
to join her royal husband at Naplous, and the king, the queen, and the
Grand Master of the Temple, consequently proceeded together to Tyre. On
their arrival at that place, they found the gates shut against them.
The young Conrad declared, that as the city had been preserved solely
by the swords of himself and his followers, it justly belonged to
him, and that neither the king nor the queen of Jerusalem any longer
possessed authority within it. Cruelly repelled from Tyre, the king and
queen, with their infant children, the Grand Master of the Temple, and
the patriarch Heraclius, proceeded to Antioch.
As soon as the winter rains had subsided, Saladin took the field,
and attempted to reduce various strong castles of the Templars and
Hospitallers. The most formidable of these were the castles of Saphet
and Kowkab (the star); the one belonging to the order of the Temple,
and the other to the order of the Hospital of Saint John. Saphet is
one of the four holy cities of the Talmud, and is held in peculiar
veneration by the Jews. The castle of the Templars crowned the summit
of a lofty mountain, along the sides of which extended the houses
and churches of the town. It was the strongest fortress possessed by
the order in Palestine. From the ramparts the eye ranged over a rich
prospect of luxuriant vineyards and smiling villages, and embraced
a grand panoramic view of lofty mountains. Through the valley below
rolled the Jordan; to the southward extended the vast blue expanse
of the lake of Tiberias; and in the north-east the snowy summits of
Anti-Lebanon might be seen piercing the skies. This important fortress
commanded the greater part of Galilee; it had always been a great
check upon the incursions of the infidels, and was considered one of
the bulwarks of the Latin kingdom. Saladin’s exertions, consequently,
for the capture of the place were strenuous and incessant. He planted
a large body of troops around it, under the command of his brother
Saifeddin; but the season was not far enough advanced for their
operations to be carried on with any chance of success. The tents of
the besiegers were blown off the mountain by the furious whirlwinds,
and the operation of the military engines was impeded by heavy rains.
The Templars made continued sallies upon the works, burnt the military
engines, butchered the soldiers in their sleep, and harassed them with
incessant alarms in the dead of night. The siege was consequently
turned into a blockade, and Saladin drew off the greater part of his
forces to attack the Christian possessions in the principality of
Antioch. He divided his army into several detachments, which were sent
in different directions, with orders to ravage all the neighbouring
country, drive away the oxen, sheep, and cattle, and collect the booty
together in the plain of the Orontes, along the banks of the lake of
Kades. He crossed the vast mountain ranges which extend between the
Orontes and the sea-coast, and appeared in arms before the gates of
Tripoli. Strenuous preparations had been made to receive him, and the
sultan contented himself with reconnoitering the place and examining
its defences; having done which, he directed his march upon Tortosa.
The Grand Master of the Temple, who was anxiously watching Saladin’s
movements, immediately threw himself into the strong castle of the
Templars at that place, and prepared to defend the town; but the
fortifications were weak, the inhabitants were panic-stricken, and
the Templars, after a short struggle, were compelled to abandon the
city, and retire behind their fortifications. There they maintained
a fierce and bloody contest with the Moslems, and during the various
assaults and sallies the town was set on fire and burnt to the ground.
Bohadin gives a fearful account of the destruction by fire of the
great cathedral church, and of the roaring and crackling of the flames
as they burst through the huge cedar beams and timbers of the roof.
He says that thousands of faithful Mussulmen gathered around the vast
and venerable pile, and raised exulting shouts as they witnessed the
progress of the fire, lifting up their voices to heaven, and returning
thanks to the most bountiful Lord God!
Having failed in all his attempts to take the castle of the Templars,
Saladin drew off his forces, leaving the once populous and flourishing
town of Tortosa a dreary desert. He then besieged and took the city of
Gabala, and then approached in warlike array the far-famed Laodicea.
The panic-stricken inhabitants refused to defend the town, and
abandoned the fortifications, but some Templars and other knights,
throwing themselves into the citadel with their followers, boldly
resisted the attacks of the infidels. After a desperate defence a
capitulation was signed, the garrison marched out with all the honours
of war, and the banners of Islam were then planted upon the towers
and battlements. Both Ibn Alatsyr and Bohadin give an enthusiastic
description of the town and its environs. They speak of its noble
harbour, its beautiful houses, elegant villas, rich marbles, luxuriant
gardens, and shady groves. All these became the prey of the fierce
Mussulman soldiery, who committed great excesses. They broke to
pieces the choice specimens of ancient sculpture, considering them
hated evidences of idolatry; they stripped all the churches of their
ornaments, and sold the sacred vestments of the priests. From Laodicea,
Saladin marched to Sohioun or Sekyun, a fortress of prodigious
strength, situate amongst the mountains midway between Gabala and
the Orontes. It was almost entirely surrounded by a deep precipitous
ravine, the sides of which were in many places perpendicular. After a
siege of five days, a part of the Mussulman soldiers clambered over
some rocks which were thought to be inaccessible, climbed the outer
wall of the town, and opened the gates to their companions; the
second and third walls were then carried by assault, and the citadel
surrendered after a short siege. Many other important cities and
castles speedily fell into the hands of the victorious Saladin. Among
these were the city of Bakas, or Bacas, on the banks of the Orontes,
and the castle of Al Shokhr, which was connected with the town by
a bridge over the river; the castle of Al Jahmàhûnîn, near Gabala;
Blatanous, near Antioch; Sarminiah, or Sarmaniya, a fortress, a day’s
journey N. E. of Aleppo; and many other places of note. All the towns
and castles between Sarminiah and Gabala surrendered to the Moslems.
“Glory be to God,” says Ibn Alatsyr, “who hath made easy that which
appeared to be difficult.”
Saladin then recrossed the Orontes, and laid siege to Berzyeh, or
Borzya, a fortress which commanded the high road from Antioch to Emesa,
or Hems, and was, therefore, a place of very great importance. During
a very hot day, when the garrison had been fighting from sunrise till
noon, Saladin suddenly called up his reserve, placed himself at their
head, scaled the fortifications, and entered the town sword in hand.
The houses were set on fire, the streets were drenched with blood,
and all the inhabitants who escaped the general massacre, were made
slaves. From Berzyeh, Saladin marched down the vast and fertile plain
of the Orontes, to the famous iron bridge over that river, about six or
seven miles from Antioch, with a view of besieging the strong castle of
the Knights Templars, called Derbazâc, or Darbêsak. On the 8th Regeb,
having collected his forces together, and procured a vast number of
powerful military engines, he moved forward and invested the place. The
walls were surrounded with wooden towers, filled with expert archers,
who swept the battlements with their arrows. Under cover of these
towers, battering-rams were placed in position, and a vast breach was
made in the walls. Saladin’s body-guard moved forward to the assault,
supported by crowds of archers on either flank, but the Templars
filled up the breach with their bodies, and after a bloody contest the
Mussulmen were driven back, leaving the ground covered with their dead.
The Templars repaired the breach, and the sultan shifted his ground of
attack. Hurdles covered with raw hides were advanced against the walls,
and an expert party of miners were employed, under cover of these
hurdles, to undermine a huge tower, which was considered to be the
key of the fortifications. The tower was so well and strongly built,
that it resisted for a length of time all the efforts of the miners;
they dug away a great part of the foundations, and the tower appeared,
says Ibn Alatsyr, to be suspended in the air. At last, however, it
fell with a tremendous crash, carrying along with it into the ditch a
vast portion of the walls on either side, so that a large yawning gap
was opened in the fortifications. Again the Mussulmen rushed to the
assault with loud shouts, and again they were hurled back by the stout
arms of the Templars, leaving the heaps of stone, and the vast masses
of shattered walls around them, crimsoned with the blood of their best
men. Bohadin, who witnessed the assault, declares that he never saw
such an obstinate defence. As soon as any one of the Templars fell,
another, he tells us, would immediately take his place, and thus they
remained upon the breach immoveable as a rock. At last, it was agreed
that if the fortress was not succoured by the prince of Antioch, within
a given period, the Templars should surrender it, and march out with
their arms in their hands. No succour arrived by the appointed time,
and the place was consequently given up to the Mussulmen.[80]
Immediately after the surrender of Darbêsak, Saladin marched upon
Bagras, a town situate at the foot of Mount Al Locam, and pushed on
his advanced guard to the environs of the vast and populous city of
Antioch, but he contented himself with the mere sight of the place,
and declined to undertake the siege of it. He remained for some time
in observation before the city, and sent out detachments in different
directions to lay waste the surrounding country, and collect spoil.
The population of Antioch was estimated at 150,000 souls: nearly all
the surviving Templars of the principality were collected together
within the walls, under the command of their valiant Grand Master, and
the Prince Bohemond was at the head of a numerous and well-organized
force, fully prepared for a desperate struggle in defence of his rich
and princely city. Saladin consequently preferred entering into a truce
to continuing the war, and concluded a treaty with Bohemond, whereby
a suspension of arms was agreed upon for the term of eight months,
to commence from the first of the approaching month of November, and
it was stipulated that all the Moslem prisoners detained in Antioch
should be set at liberty. Saladin then returned by the valley of
the Orontes to Damascus, and his troops became very impatient to be
dismissed to their homes for the winter, but he reminded them of the
brevity and uncertainty of human life, told them that there was plenty
of work before them, and that they ought not to leave for to-morrow
that which could be done to-day. He accordingly set out from Damascus
at the head of a large body of forces, and proceeded to lay siege
to Saphet, the strong and important castle of the Knights Templars.
Bohadin accompanied the sultan, and gives an interesting account of
his incessant exertions for the capture of the place. During a windy
and tempestuous night, he superintended the planting of five besieging
engines. To every soldier he allotted a specific task, and turning to
his secretary he said, “Let us not go to bed to-night, until these
five engines are completed.” Every now and then messengers came in to
narrate the progress of the work, and Saladin spent the intermediate
time in cheerful converse with his friend. The night was dark and
long, the weather miserably wet and cold, and the ground covered with
mud. Bohadin ventured to address some observations to his royal
master, upon the imprudence of exposing himself to the inclemency of
the season, and to so much watching and fatigue, but the pious sultan
reminded him of the words of the prophet, “The fire of hell shall not
prevail against the eye that wakes and watches in the service of God,
and the eye that weeps through fear of God.”
The Templars manfully defended themselves, and their brethren in
Tyre made an attempt to send them succour. Two hundred valiant and
determined soldiers set out from that city, and marched through the
country by night, sheltering themselves in the day-time in caverns
and solitary places amongst the mountains. They reached Saphet, and
attempted to conceal themselves in the neighbourhood of the castle,
until they could find an opportunity of communicating with their
beleaguered brethren. Unfortunately one of their number strayed from
his place of concealment, and was seen by a Mussulman emir, who
immediately called out a strong guard, searched the neighbourhood,
and took the whole party prisoners. They were brought into Saladin’s
presence and condemned to death; but before the sentence was carried
into execution negotiations were entered into for the surrender of
Saphet. The Templars in the fortress were ill provided with provisions;
they had now lost all hope of succour, and they agreed to surrender, on
condition that they should be permitted to march out with their arms to
Tyre, in company with the prisoners whom Saladin had just taken. These
terms were acceded to, and the fortifications of the strong castle of
Saphet were speedily demolished by the infidels.[81]
In the mean time all Europe had been thrown into consternation by the
dismal intelligence of the fall of Jerusalem. Public prayers were
put up in the churches, and fasts were ordered, as in times of great
national calamities. Pope Urban III. is said to have died of grief,
and the cardinals made a solemn resolution to renounce all kinds of
diversions and pleasures, to receive no presents from any one who
had causes depending in the court of Rome, and never to mount a horse
as long as the Holy Land was trodden under foot by the infidels. Pope
Gregory VIII. addressed apostolical letters to the sovereigns, bishops,
nobles, and people of all christian countries, painting in pathetic
terms the miserable disasters of the Latin Christians, the capture of
the holy cross, the slaughter of the Templars and Hospitallers, and the
fall of Jerusalem, and exhorting all faithful Christians immediately to
assume the cross, and march to the deliverance of the Holy City. Crowds
of armed pilgrims again quitted the shores of Europe for Palestine,
and the Templars, obedient to the pressing calls of their brethren,
hurried from their preceptories to the seaports of the Mediterranean,
and embarked in the ships of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. The Grand Master
of the Temple, and the king of Jerusalem, placed themselves at the
head of the newly arrived battalions, and established their head
quarters at Ras el Ain, a small village on the main land opposite Tyre.
Many valiant Templars from the Temple at London, and the different
preceptories of England, Scotland, and Ireland, joined their chief, and
brought with them arms, horses, clothing, and munitions of war, with
a vast amount of treasure, which had been collected in the churches.
They were the bearers likewise of a large sum of money which had been
sent by king Henry the Second for the defence of Tyre. This money was
delivered to the Grand Master, but as the siege of Tyre had been raised
before its arrival, and the young Conrad claimed the sovereignty of
the city, and set up his authority in opposition to that of the king
of Jerusalem, Gerard de Riderfort very properly refused to deliver the
money into his hands; whereupon Conrad wrote letters filled with bitter
complaints to the archbishop of Canterbury and to king Henry.[82]
At the commencement of the summer, the king and the Grand Master took
the field at the head of an army of 9,000 men, and marched along the
coast with the intention of laying siege to the important city of Acre.
Saladin wrote to all the governors of the Moslem provinces, requiring
them to join him without delay, and directed his army to concentrate
at Sepphoris. From thence he marched to Keruba, and then moved in
order of battle to Tel Kaisan, where the plain of Acre begins. The
city of Acre had been regularly invested for some days previous to his
arrival, and after reconnoitering the position of the christian army,
he encamped, extending his left wing to Al Nahr Al Halu, “the sweet
river,” and his right to Tel Al’Ayâdhiya, in such a manner, that the
besiegers themselves became the besieged. He then made a sudden attack
upon the weakest part of the christian camp, broke through the lines,
penetrated to the gate of Acre, called Karàkûsh, which he entered, and
threw into the city a reinforcement of 5,000 warriors, laden with arms,
provisions, clothing, and everything necessary for the defence of the
place. Having accomplished this bold feat, Saladin made a masterly
retreat to his camp at Tel Al’Ayâdhiya.
On the 4th of October, the newly-arrived warriors from Europe, eager
to signalize their prowess against the infidels, marched out of their
intrenchments to attack Saladin’s camp. The holy gospels, wrapped
in silk, were borne by four knights on a cushion, before the king
of Jerusalem, and the patriarch Heraclius and the western bishops
appeared at the head of the christian forces with crucifixes in their
hands, exhorting them to obtain the crown of martyrdom in defence of
the christian faith. The Templars marched in the van, and led the
assault; they broke through the right wing of the Mussulman army,
which was commanded by Saladin’s nephew, and struck such terror into
the hearts of the Moslems, that some of them fled, without halting,
as far as Tiberias. The undisciplined masses of the christian army,
however, thinking that the day was their own, rushed heedlessly on
after the infidels, and penetrating to the imperial tent, abandoned
themselves to pillage. The Grand Master of the Temple, foreseeing the
result, collected his knights and the forces of the order around him.
The infidels rallied, they were led on by Saladin in person, and the
Christian army would have been annihilated but for the Templars. Firm
and immoveable, they presented for the space of an hour an unbroken
front to the advancing Moslems, and gave time for the discomfited and
panic-stricken crusaders to recover from their terror and confusion;
but ere they had been rallied, and had returned to the charge, the
Grand Master Gerard de Riderfort, was slain; he fell, pierced with
arrows, at the head of his knights, the seneschal of the order shared
the same fate, and more than half the Templars were numbered with the
dead.[83]
To Gerard de Riderfort succeeded (A. D. 1189) the Knight Templar,
Brother WALTER.[84] Never did the flame of enthusiasm burn with fiercer
or more destructive power than at this famous siege of Acre. Nine
pitched battles were fought, with various fortune, in the neighbourhood
of Mount Carmel, and during the first year of the siege a hundred
thousand Christians are computed to have perished. The tents of the
dead, however, were replenished by new-comers from Europe; the fleets
of Saladin succoured the town, the Christian ships brought continual
aid to the besiegers, and the contest seemed interminable. Saladin’s
exertions in the cause of the prophet were incessant. The Arab authors
compare him to a mother wandering with desperation in search of her
lost child, to a lioness who has lost its young. “I saw him,” says his
secretary Bohadin, “in the fields of Acre afflicted with a most cruel
disease, with boils from the middle of his body to his knees, so that
he could not sit down, but only recline on his side when he entered
into his tent, yet he went about to the stations nearest to the enemy,
arranged his troops for battle, and rode about from dawn till eve, now
to the right wing, then to the left, and then to the centre, patiently
enduring the severity of his pain.” Having received intelligence of the
mighty preparations which were being made in Europe for the recovery of
Jerusalem, and of the march of the emperor Frederick Barbarossa through
Hungary and Greece to Constantinople, with a view of crossing the
Hellespont, into Asia, Saladin sent orders to the governors of Senjâr,
Al Jazîra, Al Mawsel, and Arbel, ordering them to attend him with their
troops, and directed his secretary Bohadin to proceed to the caliph Al
Nâssr Deldin’illah, at Bagdad, humbly to request the Mussulman pontiff
to use his spiritual authority and influence to induce all the Moslem
nations and tribes to heal their private differences and animosities,
and combine together against the Franks, for the defence of Islam.
Bohadin was received with the greatest distinction and respect by
the caliph and the whole divan at Bagdad, and whilst the pope was
disseminating his apostolical letters throughout Christendom, calling
upon the western nations to combine together for the triumph of the
CROSS, the Mussulman pontiff was addressing, from the distant city of
Bagdad, his pious exhortations to all true believers, to assemble under
the holy banners of the prophet, and shed their blood in defence of
_Islam_.
Shortly after the commencement of the new year, (586, Hejir which
began Feb. 9th, A. D. 1190,) Saladin collected his troops together,
to raise the siege of Acre. He moved from Al Kherûba to Tel Al Ajûl,
where he pitched his camp. He was there joined by his son Al Malek,
Al Daher Gayâtho’ddîn Gâzi, the governor of Aleppo, with a select
body of cavalry, and by Mohaffero’ddîn I’Bn Zinoddin, with his light
horse. The Templars and the crusaders, during the winter, had not been
idle; they had dug trenches around their camp, thrown up ramparts,
and fortified their position in such a way that it would have been
difficult, says the Arabian writer, for even a bird to get in. They
had, moreover, filled up the ditch around the town, and constructed
three enormous towers, the largest of which was much higher than the
walls, was sixty cubits in length, and could contain from five to six
hundred warriors, with a proper quantity of arms and military engines.
These towers were covered with the raw hides of oxen soaked in vinegar
and mud, to render them incombustible; they were strengthened from top
to bottom with bands of iron, and were each divided into five platforms
or galleries filled with soldiers and military engines. They were
rolled on wheels to the walls, and the Templars and the crusaders were
about to descend from the platforms and galleries upon the battlements
of the city, when the towers, and all the warriors upon them, were
consumed by some inextinguishable inflammable composition, discharged
out of brass pots by a brazier from Damascus. “We were watching,” says
Bohadin, who was standing in the Moslem camp by Saladin’s side, “with
intense anxiety the movements of the soldiers upon the towers, and
thought that the city must inevitably be taken, when suddenly we saw
one of them surrounded with a blaze of light, which shot up into the
skies; the heavens were rent with one joyous burst of acclamation from
the sons of Islam, and in another instant another tower was surrounded
with raging flames and clouds of black smoke, and then the third; they
were ignited one after the other in the most astonishing and surprising
manner, with scarce an interval of a minute between them. The sultan
immediately mounted his horse, and ordered the trumpets to sound to
arms, exclaiming with a loud voice, in the words of the prophet, ‘When
the gate of good fortune is thrown open, delay not to enter in.’”
At the commencement of the summer Saladin detached a considerable
portion of his forces to the north, to oppose the progress of the
German crusaders and Templars, who were advancing from Constantinople,
under the command of the emperor Frederic Barbarossa. These advancing
Templars were the especial favourites of Barbarossa, and after his
melancholy death, from the effects of a cold bath in the river Cydnus,
they formed part of the body-guard of his son the duke of Suabia.
In the month of July the Templars suffered severe loss in another
attack upon Saladin’s camp. The christian soldiery, deceived by the
flight of the Mussulmen, were again lured to the pillage of their
tents, and again defeated by the main body of Saladin’s army, which had
been posted in reserve. The Templars were surrounded by an overpowering
force, but they fought their way through the dense ranks of the
infidels to their own camp, leaving the plain of Acre strewed with the
lifeless bodies of the best and bravest of their warriors. “The enemies
of God,” says Bohadin, “had the audacity to enter within the camp of
the lions of Islamism, but they speedily experienced the terrible
effects of the divine indignation. They fell beneath the sabres of
the Mussulmen as the leaves fall from the trees during the tempests
of autumn. Their mangled corpses, scattered over the mountain side,
covered the earth even as the branches and boughs cover the hills and
valleys when the woodsman lops the forest timber.” “They fell,” says
another Arabian historian, “beneath the swords of the sons of Islam as
the wicked will fall, at the last day, into the everlasting _fire_ of
HELL. Nine rows of the dead covered the earth between the sea-shore and
the mountains, and in each row might be counted the lifeless bodies of
at least one thousand warriors.”
The Moslem garrison continued manfully to defend the town; they kept
up a constant communication with Saladin, partly by pigeons, partly
by swimmers, and partly by men in small skiffs, who traversed the
port in secresy, by favour of the night, and stole into the city. At
one period the besieged had consumed nearly all their provisions, and
were on the point of dying with famine, when Saladin hit upon the
following stratagem, for the purpose of sending them a supply. He
collected together a number of vessels at Beirout laden with sacks of
meal, cheese, onions, sheep, rice, and other provisions. He disguised
the seamen in the Frank habit, put crosses on their pendants, and
covered the decks of the vessels with hogs. In this way the little
fleet sailed safely through the blockading squadron of the Christians,
and entered the port of Acre. On another occasion Saladin sent 1,000
_dinars_ to the garrison, by means of a famous diver named Isa; the
man was unfortunately drowned during his passage to the city, but
the money, being deposited in three bladders, tied to his body, was
a few days afterwards thrown ashore near the town, and reached the
besieged in safety. At the commencement of the winter the garrison
was again reduced to great straits for want of food, and was on the
point of surrendering, when three vessels from Egypt broke through
the guard-ships of the Christians, and got safely into the harbour
with a copious supply of provisions, munitions of war, and everything
requisite to enable the city to hold out until the ensuing spring.
To prevent the further introduction of succours by sea, the crusaders
endeavoured to take possession of the tower of Flies, a strong castle,
built upon a rock in the midst of the sea at the mouth of the harbour,
which commanded the port. The Templars employed one of their galleys
upon this service, and crowds of small boats, filled with armed men,
military engines, and scaling-ladders, were brought against the little
fortress, but without effect. The boats and vessels were set on fire
by the besieged and reduced to ashes, and after losing all their men,
the Christians gave over the attempt. On the land side, the combats and
skirmishes continued to be incessant. Wooden towers, and vast military
machines, and engines, were constantly erected by the besiegers, and
as constantly destroyed by the sallies and skilful contrivances of the
besieged. The Templars, on one occasion, constructed two battering
machines of a new invention, and most enormous size, and began
therewith furiously to batter the walls of the town, but the garrison
soon destroyed them with fire-darts, and beams of timber, pointed with
red-hot iron.[85]
At the commencement of the next year, (587, Hejir. which began Jan.
29th, A. D. 1191,) a tremendous tempest scattered the fleet of the
crusaders, and compelled their ships to take refuge in Tyre. The sea
being open, Saladin hastily collected some vessels at Caiphas, threw a
fresh body of troops into Acre, and withdrew the exhausted garrison,
which had already sustained so many hardships and fatigues in defence
of the town. This exchange of the garrison was most happily timed,
for almost immediately after it had been effected, the walls of the
city were breached, and preparations were made for an assault. The
newly-arrived troops, however, repulsed the assailants, repaired the
walls, and once more placed the city in a good posture of defence. The
scarcity and famine in the christian camp continued to increase, and a
vast many of the crusaders, utterly unable to withstand the hardships
and difficulties of their position, deserted to Saladin, embraced the
Mohammedan faith, and were employed by him, at their own request, in
cruising off the coast against their quondam friends. Bohadin tells us
that they met with vast success in their employment. On board one of
their prizes was found a silver table, and a great deal of money and
plate, which the captors brought to the sultan, the 13th Dhu’lhajja,
but Saladin returned the treasure to them, saying, that it was a
sufficient satisfaction to him and the Moslems, to see that the Franks
pillaged and plundered one another with such alacrity.
Famine and disease continued to make frightful ravages amongst the
crusaders. The duke of Suabia, Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, the
patriarch Heraclius, four archbishops, twelve bishops, forty counts,
and five hundred other nobles and knights, besides common soldiers,
fell victims to the malady. From two to three hundred persons died
daily, and the survivors became unequal to the task of burying the
dead. The trenches which the Christians had dug for their protection,
now became their graves. Putrefying corpses were to be seen floating
upon the sea, and lining the sea-shore, and the air was infected with
an appalling and intolerable effluvia. The bodies of the living became
bloated and swollen, and the most trifling wounds were incurable.
In addition to all this, numbers of the poorer class of people died
daily from starvation. The rich supported themselves for a time upon
horse-flesh, and Abbot Coggleshale tells us, that a dinner off the
entrails of a horse cost 10_d._ Bones were ground to powder, mixed with
water, and eagerly devoured, and all the shoes, bridles, and saddles,
and old leather in the camp, were boiled to shreds, and greedily eaten.
Queen Sibylla, who appears to have been sincerely attached to the
unpopular husband she had raised to the throne, was present in the
christian camp with four infant daughters. She had wandered with the
king, Guy de Lusignan, from one place to another, ever since his
liberation from captivity, and had been his constant companion through
all the horrors, trials, and anxieties of the long siege of Acre.
Her delicate frame, weakened by sorrow and misfortune, was unable to
contend with the many hardships and privations of the christian camp.
She fell a victim to the frightful epidemic which raged amongst the
soldiers, and her death was speedily followed by that of her four
children. The enemies of the king now maintained that the crown of
the Latin kingdom had descended upon Isabella, the younger sister of
Sibylla, and wife of Humphrey de Thoron, Lord of Montreal, or Mount
Royal; but the latter seemed to think otherwise, and took no steps
either to have his wife made queen, or himself king. The enterprising
and ambitious Conrad, Marquis of Montferrat, accordingly determined to
play a bold game for the advancement of his own fortunes. He paid his
addresses to Isabella, and induced her to consent to be divorced from
Humphrey de Thoron, and take him for her husband. He went to the bishop
of Beauvais, and persuaded that prelate to pronounce the divorce, and
immediately after it had been done, he carried off Isabella to Acre,
and there married her. As soon as the nuptials had been performed,
Conrad caused himself and his wife to be proclaimed king and queen of
Jerusalem, and forthwith entered upon the exercise of certain royal
functions. He went to the christian camp before Acre, and his presence
caused serious divisions and dissensions amongst the crusaders. The
king, Guy de Lusignan, stood upon his rights; he maintained that, as he
had been once a king, he was always a king, and that the death of his
wife could not deprive him of the crown which he had solemnly received,
according to the established usage of the Latin kingdom. A strong
party in the camp declared themselves in his favour, and an equally
strong party declared in favour of his rival, Conrad, who prepared to
maintain his rights, sword in hand. The misfortunes of the Christians
appeared, consequently, to have approached their climax. The sword, the
famine, and the pestilence, had successively invaded their camp, and
now the demon of discord came to set them one against the other, and to
paralyse all their exertions in the christian cause.[86]