THE ARMED PILGRIMS AT CYPRUS.
NOT with the very best grace did the King of France come to the
resolution of sailing for Cyprus. Indeed, the safety of his army
depended, in some degree, on the route selected; and the safest way to
the Holy Land was understood to be by Sicily. Unluckily, however, Sicily
was subject to the Emperor Frederick; and Frederick and his dominions
had been excommunicated by the Pope; and Louis, with his peculiar
notions, feared to set foot on a soil that was under the ban of the
Church. At Lyons, where he received the papal blessing, he endeavoured
to reconcile the Emperor and the Pope; but his Holiness declined to
listen to mediation; and the saint-king, yielding to conscientious
scruples, determined, without further hesitation, to sacrifice his plan
of passing through Sicily to Syria, and announced his intention of
proceeding by way of Cyprus to Egypt.
At that time the King of Cyprus was Henry de Lusignan, to whose family
Richard Coeur de Lion had, in the twelfth century, given the throne,
from which he dragged the Emperor Isaac; and no sooner did Louis reach
the port of Limisso, than Henry, accompanied by nobles and clergy,
appeared to bid him welcome. Nothing, indeed, could have exceeded the
enthusiasm with which the French Crusaders were received; and when Louis
was conducted with much ceremony to Nicosia, and entered that city, the
capital of the island, the populace cheered loudly, and the clergy met
him, singing 'Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.'
The glory of Nicosia has long since departed. Situated in the centre of
Cyprus, on the river Pedia, in a low fertile plain, near the base of a
range of mountains that intersects the island, and surrounded by walls,
in the form of a hexagon, flanked with bastions, the capital has many
fine houses; but these are mostly in ruins, and the inhabitants occupy
tenements reared of mud and brick, and rather repulsive in appearance.
At that time, however, the state of Nicosia was very different. As the
capital of the Lusignans, the city exhibited the pomp and pride of
feudal chivalry, with much of the splendour of oriental courts, and
boasted of its palaces, castles, churches, and convents, and chapelries,
and gardens, and vineyards, and pleasant places, and all the luxuries
likely to render mediaeval life enviable.
Now, when Louis landed at Limisso, and entered Nicosia, he had no
intention of wintering in Cyprus. In fact, the saint-king was all
eagerness to push forward and combat the Saracens. But circumstances
proved stronger than his will. The Crusaders were highly captivated with
all that they saw and heard. The aspect of the island was enchanting;
the wine, which even Solomon has deigned to celebrate, was to their
taste: the dark-eyed Greek women, who perhaps knew that the island had
anciently been the favourite seat, of Venus, and who, in any case,
enjoyed the reputation of being devoted to the worship of the goddess,
were doubtless fascinating; and almost every one of the days that
succeeded Louis's arrival was devoted to rejoicings and feastings. Not
unnaturally, but most unfortunately, the Crusaders yielded to the
fascinations of an existence which at first they all enjoyed, heart and
soul; and with one accord they cried out, 'We must tarry here till
spring. Let us eat, drink, and be merry.'
Accordingly the Crusaders did winter in Cyprus; and the consequences
were most disastrous. Enervated by luxury, they soon forgot their vows,
and rushed into every kind of extravagance and dissipation. Of course,
their recklessness soon brought its own punishment. As time passed on,
and winter set in, rain fell daily, and the intemperance, the strange
climate, and the weather soon did their work. By-and-by, a pestilential
disease made its appearance in the camp of the pilgrims, and carried off
thousands of victims, including two hundred and fifty knights. Moreover,
there was much discord and dissension. The Greek clergy and the Latin
clergy began to quarrel; the Templars and the Knights of St. John began
to fight; and the saint-king found his position the very reverse of
satisfactory or agreeable.
By the time that the little fleet, on board of which were Guy Muschamp
and Walter Espec, reached Cyprus, matters were not what they should
have been; and the wise and prudent shook their heads, and predicted
that an expedition conducted in such a fashion was too likely to end in
disaster and ruin.