THE
HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES
BY
JOSEPH FRANCOIS MICHAUD.
_TRANSLATED BY W. ROBSON._
A New Edition,
WITH PREFACE AND SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER BY
HAMILTON W. MABIE.
_IN THREE VOLUMES._
VOL. II.
NEW YORK.
A. C. ARMSTRONG & SON,
714 BROADWAY.
CONTENTS TO VOL. II.
BOOK IX.—A.D. 1195-1198.
FOURTH CRUSADE.
The empire of Saladin divided among his
successors—The civil wars thence arising—Dynasty of
the Ayoubites—Extensive empire of Afdhal, son of
Saladin—His civil contests—Alaziz, sultan of Egypt,
takes arms against his brother—Nazr-Allah, vizier
of the sultan Afdhal—Malek-Adel—Civil commotions
of Palestine—Agitated state of the Christian
colonies—Bohemond III. governor of Antioch, taken
prisoner—Hospitallers and Templars—Pope Celestine III.
instigates the fourth crusade—Henry VI., emperor of
Germany, engages to assist—Diet of Worms—Hostilities at
Ptolemaïs—Death of Henry of Champagne—Jaffa captured by
the Mussulmans—Siege and battle of Berytus—Malek-Adel
defeated—Fallandus, the Sicilian historian—Henry VI.
of Germany conquers Naples and Sicily—Progress of his
arms in Palestine—The Saracens defeated—Death of Henry
VI.—Massacre of the garrison of Jaffa—St. Martin—Causes
of the failure of this crusade, and its mischievous
consequences—Cruel character of Henry VI pp. 1-35.
BOOK X.—A.D. 1198-1204.
FIFTH CRUSADE.
Rousseau’s opinion of the Crusaders—Enthusiasm and
valour of the Christian troops—Causes which led to the
fifth crusade—Instigated by Pope Innocent III.—His
quarrel with Philip of France—Death of Richard I.
of England—Preaching of Foulkes in favour of the
crusade—Thibault IV., count of Champagne, engages
in the crusade—Louis, count of Chartres—Preaching
of Martin Litz—Villehardouin, marshal of
Champagne—Baldwin, count of Flanders—Commercial
greatness of Venice—Dandolo, the doge of Venice—He
engages to assist the Crusaders—Gauthier de
Brienne—Sums advanced by Venice—Death and character
of Thibault—Count le Bar—Death of Eude III., duke
of Burgundy—Boniface, marquis of Montferrat,
elected commander of the crusade—Famine in Egypt
and Europe—Death of Foulkes—Pecuniary exactions of
Venice—Revolt of the city of Zara—Dandolo’s address
to the Venetians in favour of the Crusaders—Isaac,
emperor of Constantinople, dethroned—Siege of Zara—The
Abbot de Cernay—Quarrels between the Venetians and
the French Crusaders—Address of Philip of Swabia to
the French barons—Policy of Malek-Adel—Reproaches
of Innocent III. against the Crusaders at
Zara—Character of the emperor Alexius—Capture of
Corfu—Conquests of the younger Alexius, son of
Isaac—Description of Constantinople—Besieged by
the Crusaders—The Varangians—Speeches of Rossi and
Conon de Bethune—Capture of Constantinople—Alexius
dethroned—Isaac and his son Alexius restored to the
sovereignty—The Crusaders become the allies of the
Greeks, and the protectors of the Greek empire—Their
communications with the pope pp. 36-99.
BOOK XI.—A.D. 1198-1204.
Character of the Greeks—Position of Alexius the
younger—His proposals to the Crusaders—Disputes
between the Greeks and the Latins on articles of
faith—Contentions with the Bulgarians—Conflagration of
Constantinople—Imbecility and bigotry of the emperor
Isaac—Statue of Minerva destroyed—Insurrectionary
spirit in Constantinople—Famine in Egypt—Contests
between the Greeks and the Latins—Greek fire—Treachery
of Mourzouffle—He murders young Alexius, and ascends
the throne—Character of Alexius—Mourzouffle’s contests
with the Latins—Is dethroned—Death of Isaac—Lascaris
chosen emperor—Abandons the city—Constantinople taken
possession of, and plundered by the Latins—Destruction
of the works of art—Statues of Bellerophon,
Hercules, and Helen, destroyed—Reverence for relics
and images—Fanaticism of Martin Litz—Fragment of
the “true cross”—Virtues of Dandolo, the doge of
Venice—Baldwin, count of Flanders, elected emperor
of Constantinople—The conquered lands distributed
among the Crusaders—Thomas Morasini elected patriarch
of Constantinople—Correspondence between Baldwin
and the pope—Death of Marguerite of Flanders, wife
of Baldwin—Conquests of Leo Sguerre—Michael Angelus
Comnenus gains the kingdom of Epirus—Lascaris
proclaimed emperor at Nice—Mourzouffle captured
and executed—Column of Theodosius—Quarrels between
Boniface, marquis of Montferrat, and Baldwin—Boniface
invades Greece—The Greeks rebel against the domination
of the Latins—Victories of the Bulgarians—Defeat
and Massacre of the Latins—Bravery of Henry of
Hainault—Incidents of Baldwin’s life—Death of
Dandolo—Boniface is slain—Characters of the Greeks
and the Franks—Their different historians—Disputes
respecting the sovereignty of Cyprus—Death of Gauthier
de Brienne—Policy of Innocent III.—Knowledge of Greek
diffused in the West—Refinement of the Venetians, and
commercial greatness of Venice pp. 100-184.
BOOK XII.—A.D. 1200-1215.
SIXTH CRUSADE.
Famine in Egypt, and its frightful
consequences—Destructive earthquake—Saadi, the Persian
poet—Earthquake and famine in Palestine—Agitated state
of Palestine—Death of Amaury, king of Jerusalem—Death
of Bohemond III.—Pope Innocent III. stimulates the
western world to the deliverance of the Holy Land—State
of Palestine and Jerusalem—John of Brienne accepts
the young queen of Jerusalem in marriage—Agitated
state of Europe—Malek-Adel renews hostilities against
the Christians—John of Brienne takes possession of
Ptolemaïs—First dawnings of the Reformation—The
Albigeois, the Vaudois, and other reforming
sects—Papal crusade against them—Spain at war with the
Saracens and Moors—Cardinal de Courçon preaches the
crusade—Philip Augustus king of France, and John king
of England, engage in the crusade—Dominant spirit and
political contentions of Pope Innocent III.—Battle of
Bouvines—The pope assembles the council of Lateran,
and stimulates all Europe to the holy war—His death
and character—Censius Savelli chosen pope, under the
title of Honorius III.—He urges the crusade—Andrew
II., king of Hungary, engages in it—Paganism of
Prussia in the thirteenth century—Political state
of Palestine—The throne of Syria abdicated by
Malek-Adel—Melik-Kamel, the sultan of Cairo—Mount
Tabor—Political state of Hungary—Her king returns
from Palestine—The tower of Damietta captured by the
Crusaders—Death and character of Malek-Adel—Decline
of the empire of the Ayoubites—Cardinal Pelagius
instigates the prosecution of the crusade, and proceeds
to Egypt—Panic amongst the Mohammedans—Conspiracy to
dethrone the sultan of Cairo—Battle before the walls
of Damietta—Piety of St. Francis—The Mohammedans
propose conditions of peace—Damietta captured, and
the inhabitants destroyed by famine—The city assigned
to John of Brienne—His speech against the invasion of
Egypt—Obstinacy of Cardinal Pelagius—The Mohammedans
burn the fleet of the Crusaders on the Nile, and
compel them to capitulate—Melik-Kamel enters into a
treaty of peace, by which Damietta is surrendered to
the Mussulmans—Death of Philip Augustus of France—John
of Brienne revisits Europe—Oppressions of the
Christians of Palestine—The Georgians—Invasions of the
Tartars—Marriage of Frederick II., emperor of Germany,
with the heiress of the king of Jerusalem—Acknowledged
to be king—Persecutions of the Albigeois—Contests with
the Moors in Spain—War of factions in Italy—The Guelphs
and Ghibellines—Frederick of Germany engages in the
holy war, sets sail, and returns to Otranto—Gregory
IX. succeeds Pope Honorius—His rage against
Frederick of Germany—Frederick arrives at Ptolemaïs,
and concludes a treaty with Melik-Kamel—Death of
Conraddin, sultan of Damascus—Frederick acknowledged
king of Jerusalem—Hostility of the Christians—He
quits Palestine for Europe—His victories in
Lombardy—Excommunicated by Gregory IX.—Treaty with
his holiness—The pope determines on renewing the
holy war—Thibault V., king of Navarre, and Pierre de
Dreux, engage in it—Council of Tours for promoting
the cause of the Crusaders—Deaths of Peter and of
Robert Courtenay—Decline of the Latin empire in
Constantinople—John of Brienne called to the throne—His
death—Baldwin, his son-in-law, driven from the
throne—Frederick of Germany excommunicated—He invades
Italy and besieges Rome—Desolating civil war—Death
of Melik-Kamel—Agitated state of Palestine—Battle of
Gaza—Death of Gregory IX.—Richard, duke of Cornwall,
joins the Crusaders at Ptolemaïs, but soon returns to
Italy—Pope Celestine IV.—Disturbances in the reign of
Innocent IV.—Pilgrims buy off their vows—Wretched state
of Palestine—Political pretensions of the popes—State
of Europe—General reflections on the crusades—Songs of
the Troubadours—Leprosy in the West—Crusades against
Prussia and the Albigeois—The sanguinary wars in the
name of religion pp. 185-311.
BOOK XIII.—A.D. 1242-1245.
SEVENTH CRUSADE.
The Tartars of the middle ages—Their history and
conquests—Gengiskhan, the Tartar chief—Temugin—Prester
John—Khan of the Karaites—Conquest of China, Carismia,
and other extensive countries in Asia and Europe,
by Gengiskhan—His death—Victorious career of Octaï,
khan of the Tartars—Hungary conquered—The warriors
of Carismia join the sultan of Cairo, and capture
Jerusalem—The Mohammedans of Syria defeated by the
Carismians, and Damascus captured—The Carismians rebel
against the sultan of Cairo—They are defeated and
dispersed—Barbarous hordes of the Comans—Distress of
the Christians—Valeran, bishop of Berytus—Innocent
IV., at the council of Lyons determines on the seventh
crusade, and excommunicates Frederick, emperor of
Germany—Cardinals first clothed in scarlet—Louis IX.,
king of France, recovers from a dangerous malady,
and determines on prosecuting the seventh crusade
against the infidels—The illustrious names engaged
in it—Blanche, the queen-mother—Agitated state of
Germany and Italy—Frederick of Germany deposed by the
pope—Civil contests thence arising—The nobles of France
form a league to resist the exactions of the pope—Louis
makes extensive preparations for the holy war—The
earl of Salisbury, and Haco king of Norway, engage in
it—Ameliorated state of society resulting from the
crusades—Louis embarks and arrives at Cyprus—Pope
Innocent IV. takes charge of his kingdom—Marguerite,
wife of Louis—Archambault de Bourbons—Sieur de
Joinville—Antioch ravaged by the Turcomans—Louis
receives an embassy from the Tartar prince,
Ecalthai—Political discord among the Mohammedans—Family
of the Ayoubites—Malek-Salek Negmeddin, sultan of
Egypt—Military and political state of Egypt at the
time of the crusade—Louis IX. and the Christian forces
arrive before Damietta—His address to the Crusaders—He
besieges Damietta—Fakreddin, the Egyptian leader—Louis
attacks and defeats the infidel troops—Damietta
captured—Negociations with Negmeddin—Livre
Tournois—Bravery of the Bedouin Arabs—Sidon captured by
the Mohammedans pp. 312-392.
BOOK XIV.—A.D. 1248-1255.
Alphonse count of Poictiers, and Hugh Lebrun count
of Angoulême engage in the holy war—Opposition
of Henry III. of England to his barons and the
pope—Raymond, count of Thoulouse—Count d’Artois—Death of
Negmeddin—Beauty and genius of Chegger-Eddour, sultana
of Egypt—Scharmesah captured by the Crusaders—Fakreddin
takes the command of the Egyptian forces—Treachery
of the Mamelukes—Military operations on the canal of
Aschmoum—Terrific effects of the Greek fire—Fakreddin
slain, and the Saracens defeated—Rashness of Count
d’Artois, and his death—Battle of Mansourah—The
Crusaders defeated by the Mamelukes—The earl of
Salisbury, Robert de Vair, and other illustrious
warriors slain—Continued contests with the Egyptians,
and severe losses of the Crusaders—Instances of devoted
heroism and individual bravery—The Crusaders exposed to
famine and pestilence, and the Saracens victorious—The
canal of Mehallah fatal to the Crusaders—-Sufferings and
losses of the Christian army—Guy du Chatel, Gaucher de
Chatillon, and other distinguished Crusaders slain—Louis
attempts to regain Damietta—Is defeated, and surrenders
as a prisoner of war—His entire army annihilated by the
Saracens—Sieur de Joinville taken prisoner—Agonizing
situation of Marguerite, queen of Louis—30,000
Crusaders massacred, or taken into slavery—Religious
resignation of Louis—He enters into an abject treaty
for his ransom—Revolt of the Mamelukes—Death of
Almoadan—Octaï, chief of the Mamelukes—The emirs of
Egypt—Chegger-Eddour elected sultana of Egypt, and
Ezz-Eddin Aybek the governor—Extinction of the Ayoubite
dynasty—Damietta delivered up to the Mussulmans—Ransom
paid for Louis—Consternation in France on hearing of his
capture—He arrives at Ptolemaïs—Deliberates with his
knights as to their future operations—The Syrians refuse
to acknowledge the authority of the Mamelukes—Civil
commotions in Egypt—Chegger-Eddour marries Ezz-Eddin,
and yields her regal authority—Death of Frederick II. of
Germany—Conrad, his successor, excommunicated—Jacob of
Hungary—“Pastors”—Pope Innocent IV. urges the preaching
of a fresh crusade—Singular message of the “Old Man of
the Mountain” to Louis—A visit to his court—Cities of
Palestine fortified by Louis—War between the sultans of
Cairo and Damascus—Treaty between them, and hostilities
resumed against the Christians—The Turcomans surprise
Sidon, and slaughter the inhabitants—Belinas pillaged by
the Crusaders—Pious devotedness of Louis—He fortifies
Sidon—Death of Blanche, queen-regent of France—Louis
quits Palestine, and arrives at Paris—Excellence of
Joinville’s history—On the character and misfortunes
of Louis—Damietta destroyed by the Mussulmans, and the
mouth of the Nile filled with stones—Rise and fall of
the Mamelukes—Hospital of Quinze-Vingts—The Tartars and
Moguls—“Assizes of Jerusalem”—Characters of Frederick
II. of Germany and Pope Innocent IV.—Papal crusade
against Eccelino de Romano pp. 393-493.
HISTORY
OF
THE CRUSADES.
BOOK IX.
FOURTH CRUSADE.
A.D. 1195-1198.
WHEN we cast a retrospective glance over the periods we have described,
we congratulate ourselves upon not having lived in those times of
war and trouble; but when we look around us, and reflect upon the
age of which we form a part, we fear we have little reason to boast
over the epochs commonly termed barbarous. During twenty-five years
a revolution, born of opinions unknown to past ages, has pervaded
cities, agitated nations, and shaken thrones. This revolution has
for auxiliaries war and victory; it strengthens itself with all the
obstacles that are opposed to it; it is for ever born again from
itself, and when we believe we can perceive the end of its ravages,
it re-appears more terrible and menacing than ever. At the moment
in which I resume the account of the Crusades,[1] the spirit of
sedition and revolt, the fanaticism of modern doctrines, which seemed
to slumber, all at once awake, and again threaten the world with
universal disorder; nations which tremble for their liberty and their
laws, are aroused, and spring up in arms; a coalition of all kings and
of all nations, a general crusade is formed not to defend the tomb of
Christ, but to preserve that which Europe possesses of its ancient
civilization. It is amidst the rumours of a new revolution, of a
formidable war, that I am about to describe the revolutions and wars
that disturbed the East and the West in the middle ages. May I, whilst
deploring the calamities of my country, profit by the events of which I
am a witness, and by the frightful spectacle which is before my eyes,
to paint with greater truth the passions and the troubles of a remote
age, and revive in the hearts of my contemporaries a love of concord
and peace.
The death of Saladin was followed by that which almost always is
to be observed in the dynasties of the East,—a reign of agitation
and trouble succeeding a reign of strength and absolute power. In
these dynasties, which have no other support but victory, and the
all-powerful will of a single man, as long as the sovereign, surrounded
by his soldiers, commands, he is tremblingly obeyed; but as soon as he
has closed his eyes, his people precipitate themselves towards license
with the same ardour that they had yielded to servitude; and passions,
long restrained by the presence of the despot, only blaze forth with
the greater violence when there remains nothing of him but a vain
remembrance.
Saladin gave no directions respecting the order of succession, and
by this want of foresight prepared the ruin of his empire. One of
his sons, Alaziz,[2] who commanded in Egypt, caused himself to
be proclaimed sultan of Cairo; another[3] took possession of the
sovereignty of Aleppo, and a third of the principality of Amath.[4]
Malek-Adel, the brother of Saladin, assumed the throne of Mesopotamia,
and the countries in the neighbourhood of the Euphrates. The principal
emirs, and all the princes of the race of the Ayoubites, made
themselves masters of the cities and provinces of which they held the
command.[5]
Afdhal,[6] eldest son of Saladin, was proclaimed sultan of Damascus.
Master of Syria, and of the capital of a vast empire, sovereign of
Jerusalem and Palestine,[7] he appeared to have preserved something
of the power of his father; but all fell into disorder and confusion.
The emirs, the old companions of the victories of Saladin, endured
with reluctance the authority of the young sultan. Several refused to
take the oath of obedience,[8] drawn up by the cadis of Damascus;
others consented to take it, but on condition that their fiefs should
be secured to them, or that new ones should be bestowed upon them. Far
from labouring to reduce the power of this haughty soldiery, Afdhal
neglected the duties of his throne for the pleasures of debauchery,
to which he gave himself up entirely, abandoning the welfare of his
empire to a vizier,[9] who rendered him odious to the Mussulmans. The
army demanded the dismissal of the vizier, whom they accused of having
usurped the authority of the prince: the vizier, on his part, advised
his master to banish the seditious emirs. The weak sultan, who only saw
with the eyes of his minister, annoyed by the presence and complaints
of a discontented army, dismissed from his service a great number
of soldiers and emirs, who went among all the neighbouring princes,
complaining of his ingratitude, and accusing him of forgetting, in the
bosom of idleness and effeminacy, the holy laws of the prophet and the
glory of Saladin.
The greater number of them, who went into Egypt, exhorted Alaziz to
take arms against his brother. The sultan of Cairo gave ear to their
advice, and under the pretence of avenging the glory of his father,
conceived the project of possessing himself of Damascus. He assembled
his forces, and marched into Syria at the head of an army. At the
approach of danger, Afdhal invoked assistance from the princes that
reigned over the countries of Amath and Aleppo. Soon a formidable war
blazed forth, into which was dragged the whole of the family of the
Ayoubites. Alaziz laid siege to Damascus. The hopes of an easy conquest
animated his emirs, and made them believe that they were fighting in
a just cause; but as they at first had but little success, and as
victory seemed every day to fly further from their banners, the war
began to appear to them unjust. At first they murmured; then they
revolted from Alaziz, and at length rejoined the troops of Syria. The
sultan of Cairo, upon being thus abandoned, was obliged to raise the
siege disgracefully, and return into Egypt. The sultans of Damascus and
Aleppo pursued him across the desert, with the design of attacking him
in his capital. Afdhal, at the head of a victorious army, soon carried
terror to the banks of the Nile. Alaziz was about to be dethroned,
and Egypt to be conquered by the Syrians, if the brother of Saladin,
guided by a policy, whose motive might be easily divined, had not
opposed the authority of his counsels to the arms of the conqueror, and
re-established peace in the family of the Ayoubites.
The princes and emirs respected the experience of Malek-Adel, and
allowed him to be the arbitrator of their differences. The warriors
of Syria and Egypt, accustomed to see him in camps, looked upon him
as their leader, and followed him with joy to battle; whilst nations,
that he had often astonished by his exploits, invoked his name in their
reverses and dangers. The Mussulmans now perceived with surprise that
he had been in a manner exiled in Mesopotamia, and that an empire,
founded by his valour, was abandoned to young princes who bore no
name among warriors: he himself grew secretly indignant at not having
received due recompense for his labours, and was aware of all that
the old soldiers, he had so often led to victory, might one day do
to further his ambitious views. It was important to his designs that
too much of the empire should not be in the same hands, and that the
provinces should remain for some time longer shared by two rival
powers. The peace which he had brought about could not be of long
duration and the discord ever on the point of breaking out among his
nephews, must soon offer him an opportunity of reaping the rich harvest
of the vast heritage of Saladin.
Afdhal, warned by the dangers he had run, resolved to change his
conduct. Hitherto he had scandalized all faithful Mussulmans by his
intemperance in the use of wine. Aboulfeda, who was descended from
the family of Saladin,[10] says, in his history, that the sultan of
Damascus, during the early years of his reign, passed his life amidst
banquets and indulgence, taking delight in nothing but listening to
songs and composing verses. On his return from Egypt, Afdhal exhibited
an entire alteration in his manners; but he only fell from one excess
into another; he was now constantly at prayers, or employed in the
most minute practices of the Mussulman religion; but, in his excessive
devotion, as in his dissipated life, he was perfectly inattentive to
the duties of a monarch, and submitted himself, without reserve, to
the counsels of the same vizier who had already nearly cost him his
dominions. “Then,” says Aboulfeda, “complaints against him were heard
from all quarters, and tongues that had been loud in his praise became
silent.”
Alaziz thought this opportunity favourable for again taking up arms
against his brother; and Malek-Adel, persuaded that war was most likely
to minister to his ambition, no longer advocated peace, but placed
himself at the head of the army of Egypt. Having intimidated by his
threats, or won by his presents, the principal emirs of Afdhal, he
at once took possession of Damascus in the name of Alaziz, and soon
governed as sovereign the richest provinces of Syria.
Every day fresh quarrels broke out among the emirs and princes; all
those who had fought with Saladin, thought the moment was come at
which to put forth and establish their pretensions; and the princes
who still remained of the family of Noureddin began to entertain hopes
of regaining the provinces wrested from the unfortunate Attabeks by
the son of Ayoub. All the East was in a state of fermentation. Bloody
divisions desolated Persia, a prey to the various claims of the feeble
remains of the race of the Seljoucides. The empire of the Carismians,
which conquest was every day extending, threatened at the same time the
capital of Corosan and the city of Bagdad, in which the pontiff of the
Mussulman religion lived in perpetual fear. For a long time the caliphs
had been unable to take any active part in the events that changed the
face of Syria; and the only authority they possessed was exercised in
consecrating the victories of the triumphant party, whoever that might
be. Afdhal, driven from Damascus, called in vain upon the caliph of
Bagdad for protection; all that shadow of power could afford him was
a recommendation to exercise patience, and an assurance “_that his
enemies would have to render an account to God of what they had done_.”
Among the rivalries that convulsed the Mussulman states, Malek-Adel met
with no obstruction to his projects; the troubles and disorders which
his usurpation gave birth to, even the wars undertaken against him, all
contributed to the consolidation and extension of his unjustly-obtained
power. It became evident that he must soon unite under his sway the
greater part of the provinces conquered by Saladin. Thus was verified,
for the second time within a few years, the observation of an Arabian
historian, who expressed himself in the following words when speaking
of the succession of Noureddin: “_The greater part of the founders of
empires have not been able to leave them to their posterity._” This
instability of power is not a thing to be wondered at in countries
where success renders everything legitimate, where the caprices of
fortune are frequently laws, and where the most formidable enemies of
an empire founded by arms, are the very men whose bravery has assisted
in raising it. The historian we have quoted, deplores the revolutions
of military despotism, without duly searching for the natural causes of
them; and can explain so many changes only by referring to the justice
of God, always ready to punish, at least in their children, all who
have employed violence or shed the blood of man to attain empire.
Such were the revolutions which, during many years, agitated the
Mussulman states of Syria and Egypt. The fourth crusade, which we are
about to describe, and in which the Christians might have greatly
profited by the troubles of the East, only served to reunite the
scattered members of the empire of Saladin. Malek-Adel owed the
progress of his power not only to the divisions of the Mussulmans, but
to the spirit of discord that reigned among the Christians.
After the departure of the king of England, as was always the case at
the termination of every crusade, the Christian colonies, surrounded
by perils, advanced more rapidly to their fall. Henry of Champagne,
charged with the government of Palestine, disdained the title of king,
as he was impatient to return to Europe, and looked upon his kingdom as
a place of exile. The three military orders, detained in Asia by their
vows, constituted the principal strength of a state which but lately
had had all the warriors of Europe for its defenders. Guy of Lusignan
retired to Cyprus, took no more interest in the fate of Jerusalem, and
had full occupation in keeping himself on his new throne, shaken by
the continual revolts of the Greeks and threatened by the emperors of
Constantinople.
Bohemond III., grandson of Raymond of Poictiers, and descended, in the
female line, from the celebrated Bohemond, one of the heroes of the
first crusade, governed the principality of Antioch and the county of
Tripoli. Amidst the misfortunes that afflicted the Christian colonies,
the sole aim of this prince was the extension of his dominions, and
every means appeared to him good and just that could forward his
designs. Bohemond pretended to have claims to the principality of
Armenia; and employed by turns force and stratagem to get possession
of it. After several useless attempts, he succeeded in decoying into
his capital Rupin of the Mountain, one of the princes of Armenia, and
detained him prisoner. Livon, the brother of Rupin, determined to
take signal vengeance for such an outrage; and, under the pretence of
treating for peace, invited Bohemond to repair to the frontiers of
Armenia. The two princes engaged by oath to come without escort or
train to the place of conference; but each formed a secret design of
laying a snare for his adversary. The Armenian prince, better seconded
by either his genius or fortune, remained conqueror in this disgraceful
contest. Bohemond was surprised, loaded with chains, and carried away
to a fortress of Lesser Armenia. The war was instantly renewed with
fury; the people of both Armenia and Antioch rushed to arms, and the
countries and cities of the two principalities were speedily by turns
invaded and ravaged. At length peace became desirable, and after some
disputes upon the conditions, the prince of Antioch was sent back to
his states, and Rupin of the Mountain was restored to the nations of
Armenia. By an agreement entered into by the two princes, Alice, the
daughter of Rupin, married the eldest son of Bohemond. This union
promised to be the pledge of a durable peace; but the germ of so many
divisions still subsisted; the two parties retained a strong feeling
of the outrage they had received; and every treaty of peace becoming a
fresh subject of discussion, war was always ready to be rekindled.
In another direction, ambition and jealousy set at variance the orders
of the Temple and St. John. At the period of the third crusade,
the Hospitallers and the Templars were as powerful as sovereign
princes; they possessed in Asia and Europe villages, cities, and even
provinces.[11] The two orders, rivalling each other in power and
glory, attended far less to the defence of the holy places than to
the augmentation of their own renown and riches. Every one of their
immense possessions, every one of their prerogatives, the renown of
the knights, the credit of the leaders, all, even to the trophies
of their valour, were for them subjects of rivalry, and, at length,
this spirit of discord and jealousy produced an open, war. A French
gentleman, established in Palestine, possessed, as a vassal of the
Hospitallers, the castle of Margat, situated towards the frontiers of
Arabia. The Templars pretended that this castle belonged to them, and
took possession of it by main force. Robert,—that was the name of the
gentleman,—carried his complaints to the Hospitallers, who immediately
flew to arms and drove the Templars from the castle. From that time
the knights of the two orders never met without provoking each other
to the combat most of the Franks and Christians always taking a part
in the quarrel, some for the order of St. John, others for that of the
Temple. The king of Jerusalem and the most prudent of the barons made
many useless attempts to restore peace; and several Christian princes
endeavoured in vain to reconcile the two rival orders. The pope himself
had much difficulty in getting his sacred mediation to be accepted; and
it was only after long debates that the Holy See, sometimes armed with
evangelical thunders, sometimes employing the paternal language of the
head of the Church, terminated, by its wisdom and supreme ascendancy, a
contest which the knights themselves would have preferred deciding with
sword and lance.
During these fatal divisions none thought of defending themselves
against the general enemy, the Saracens. One of the most melancholy
consequences of the spirit of faction is, that it always leads to a
lamentable indifference for the common cause. The more violently the
parties attacked each other, the less perception they seemed to have
of the dangers that threatened the Christian colonies; neither the
knights of the Temple or of St. John, nor the Christians of Antioch or
Ptolemaïs, ever thought of asking for succour against the infidels; and
history does not say that one person was sent from the East to make
Europe aware of the griefs of Sion.
The situation of the Christians in Palestine was besides so uncertain
and perilous, that the wisest could form no idea of coming events, or
dare to adopt a resolution. If they appealed afresh to the warriors
of the West, they broke the truce made with Saladin, and exposed
themselves to all the resentment of the infidels; if they respected
treaties, the truce might be broken by the Mussulmans, ever ready
to profit by the calamities which fell upon the Christians. In this
state of things, it appeared difficult to foresee a new crusade, which
was neither called for by the wishes of the Christians of Asia, nor
promoted by the interests of Europe. In fact, when we cast our eyes
over the Christian colonies of the East, as they are described to us
in these unhappy times, and see the spirit of ambition and discord
displacing in all hearts the holy spirit of the Gospel, we cannot
wonder that Christendom took so little interest in their fate. Again,
when contemporary history represents to us these colonies a prey to
license and division, and destitute of everything that could render
them flourishing, we can scarcely believe that the West was again
likely to lavish its wealth and its blood to support and defend them.
But the great name of Jerusalem still produced a powerful effect upon
the minds of all; the remembrance of the first crusade still aroused
the enthusiasm of Christians; and the veneration for the holy places,
which appeared to grow weaker in the kingdom of Christ itself, was yet
cherished beyond the seas and in the principal countries of the West.
Celestine III. had, by his exhortations, encouraged the warriors of
the third crusade; and, at the age of ninety, pursued with zeal all
the projects of his predecessors; ardently wishing that the last days
of his pontificate should be illustrated by the conquest of Jerusalem.
After the return of Richard, the news of the death of Saladin
had spread joy throughout the West, and revived the hopes of the
Christians. Celestine wrote to all the faithful to inform them that the
most formidable enemy of Christendom had ceased to live; and, without
regarding the truce made by Richard Cœur de Lion, he ordered his
bishops and archbishops to preach a new crusade in their dioceses.[12]
The sovereign pontiff promised all who would take the cross the same
privileges and the same advantages as in the preceding crusades. The
profanation of the holy places; the oppression under which the faithful
of the East groaned; the ever-increasing insolence and audacity of
the Saracens—such were the motives by which he supported his holy
exhortations. He addressed himself particularly to the bishops of
England, and commanded them to use every persuasion to induce Richard
again to take up arms against the infidels.
Richard, although returned, had never laid aside the cross, the symbol
of pilgrimage; and it might be supposed he still intended to repair
again to the Holy Land; but, scarcely escaped from an unjust captivity,
taught by his own experience how great were the difficulties and
perils of a distant enterprise, his thoughts and time were engrossed
by his endeavours to remedy his losses, to defend or aggrandize his
states, and to be on his guard against the insidious attempts of
Philip Augustus. His knights and barons, whom he himself exhorted to
resume the cross, professed, as he did, a warm devotion for the cause
of Jerusalem; but they could not make up their minds to return to a
country which had been to them a place of suffering and exile.
Although the appearance of the preachers of the crusade everywhere
inspired respect, they had no better success in France, where, only
a few years before, a hundred thousand warriors had been roused by
the summons to defend the holy places. If the fear of the enterprises
of Philip was sufficient to detain Richard in the West, the dread of
the vindictive and jealous disposition of Richard exercised the same
influence over Philip. The greater number of his knights and nobles
followed his example, and contented themselves with shedding tears over
the fate of Jerusalem. The enthusiasm for the crusade was communicated
to only a small number of warriors, amongst whom history names the
count de Montfort, who afterwards conducted the cruel war against the
Albigeois.
From the commencement of the crusades, Germany had never ceased to
send its warriors to the defence of the Holy Land. It deplored the
recent loss of its armies, destroyed or dispersed in Asia Minor, and
the death of the Emperor Frederick, who had gained nothing but a grave
in the plains of the East; but the remembrance of so great a disaster
did not extinguish in all hearts the zeal for the cause of Jerusalem.
Henry VI., who occupied the imperial throne, had not partaken, as
the kings of France and England had, the perils and reverses of the
last expedition. Unpleasant remembrances or fears of his enemies
in Europe could have no effect in preventing him from joining in a
new enterprise, or deter him from a holy pilgrimage which so many
illustrious examples seemed to point out as a sacred duty.
Although this prince had been excommunicated by the Holy See, only
the preceding year, the Pope sent an embassy to him, charged with the
duty of recalling to his mind the example of his father Frederick, and
urging him to assume the cross. Henry, who sought every occasion to
conciliate the head of the Church, and who likewise entertained vast
projects in which a new crusade might be very serviceable, received the
envoy of Celestine with great honours.
Of all the princes of the middle ages, no one evinced more ambition
than Henry VI.; his imagination, say historians was filled with the
glory of the Cæsars, and he wished to be able to say with Alexander,
_all that my desires can embrace belongs to me_. Tancred, a natural
son of William II., king of Sicily, chosen by the Sicilian nobility
to succeed his father, was recently deceased; and the emperor, who
had espoused Constance, the heiress of a throne founded by Norman
Crusaders, and desirous of establishing his claims, judged that the
time was come to carry out his designs and achieve his conquests. The
expedition of which the Holy See desired him to be the leader, was
exceedingly favourable to his ambitious projects; when, promising
to defend Jerusalem, he only thought of the conquest of Sicily; and
the conquest of Sicily had no value in his estimation but as opening
the road to Greece and Constantinople.[13] At the same time that he
professed entire submission to the will of the head of the Church,
he endeavoured to form an alliance with the republics of Genoa and
Venice, promising them the spoils of the conquered; but in his mind
he nourished the hope that he should one day overthrow the Italian
republics and lower the authority of the Holy See, and upon their
remains revive, for himself and his family, the empire of Augustus and
Constantine.
Such was the prince to whom Celestine sent an embassy, and whom
he wished to persuade into a holy war. After having announced his
intention of taking the cross, Henry convoked a general diet at Worms,
in which he himself exhorted the faithful to take up arms for the
defence of the holy places. Since Louis VII., king of France, who
harangued his subjects to induce them to join in the crusade, Henry was
the only monarch that had mingled his voice with that of the preachers
of the holy war, to make his subjects acquainted with the sufferings
and complaints of the Church of Jerusalem. His eloquence, celebrated by
the historians of his time, but above all, the spectacle presented of a
great emperor himself preaching a holy war against the infidels, made
a profound impression upon the multitude of his auditors.[14] After
this solemn address, the most illustrious of the prelates assembled at
Worms ascended the evangelical pulpit to keep up the rapidly increasing
enthusiasm of the faithful; during eight hours nothing was heard but
the groans of Sion and the city of God. Henry, surrounded by his court,
assumed the symbol of the Crusaders; a great number of German nobles
followed his example, some to please God, _and others to please the
emperor_. Among those who took the oath to combat the Saracens, history
names Henry duke of Saxony; Otho marquis of Brandenburgh; Henry count
palatine of the Rhine; Herman landgrave of Thuringia; Henry duke of
Brabant; Albert count of Apsburg; Adolphus count of Schwemburg; Henry
count of Pappenhein, marshal of the empire; the duke of Bavaria;
Frederick, son of Leopold, duke of Austria; Conrad marquis of Moravia;
Valeran de Limbourg; and the bishops of Wurtzburg, Bremen, Verdun,
Habbastadt, Passau, and Ratisbon.[15]
The crusade was preached in all the provinces of Germany, and the
letters of the emperor and the pope kindled the zeal of the Christian
warriors everywhere; never had an enterprise against the infidels been
undertaken under more favourable auspices. As Germany undertook the
crusade almost singly, the glory of the German nations seemed as much
interested in this war as religion itself. Henry was to command the
holy expedition; and the Crusaders, full of confidence and hope, were
preparing to follow him to the East. But Henry entertained other views;
several nobles of his court, some who penetrated his secret designs,
and others who believed they offered him prudent advice, conjured him
to remain in the West, and direct the crusade from the bosom of his
dominions; and Henry, after a slight resistance, yielded to their
prayers, and gave his whole attention to the hastening of the departure
of the Crusaders.
The emperor of Germany placed himself at the head of forty thousand
men and took the route for Italy, where everything was prepared for
the conquest of Sicily; the remainder of the Crusaders were divided
into two armies, which, proceeding by different roads, were to meet
in Syria. The first, commanded by the duke of Saxony and the duke
of Brabant, embarked at ports of the German Ocean and the Baltic;
the second crossed the Danube, and directed its march towards
Constantinople, whence the fleet of the Greek emperor Isaac was to
transport it to Ptolemaïs. To this army, commanded by the archbishop
of Mayence and Valeran de Limbourg, were joined the Hungarians, who
accompanied their queen Margaret, sister to Philip Augustus. The queen
of Hungary, after having lost Bela her husband, had made a vow to live
only for Christ, and to end her days in the Holy Land.
The Crusaders under the command of the archbishop of Mayence and
Valeran de Limbourg, were the first to arrive in Palestine. Scarcely
were they landed when they expressed their desire and resolution to
begin the war against the infidels. The Christians, who were then
at peace with the Saracens, hesitated to break the truce signed
by Richard, and were, further, unwilling to give the signal for
hostilities before they could open the campaign with some hopes of
success. Henry of Champagne and the barons of Palestine represented to
the German Crusaders the danger to which an imprudent rupture would
expose the Christians of the East, and conjured them to wait for the
army of the dukes of Saxony and Brabant. But the Germans, full of
confidence in their own strength, were indignant at having obstacles
thrown in the way of their valour by vain scruples and chimerical
alarms; they were astonished that the Christians of Palestine should
thus refuse the assistance sent to them by Providence itself, and
added, in a tone of anger and contempt, that warriors of the West
were not accustomed to defer the hour of battle, and that the pope
had not induced them to take up arms and the cross to remain in a
state of shameful inactivity. The barons and knights of the Holy Land
could not listen to such injurious speeches without indignation, and
replied to the German Crusaders that they had neither solicited nor
wished for their arrival; that they were better acquainted than the
northern warriors of Europe with what was advantageous to the kingdom
of Jerusalem; that they had without any foreign succour braved the
greatest perils, and that when the proper moment should arrive they
knew how to prove their valour otherwise than by words. Amidst such
warm debates the minds of both parties became daily more exasperated,
and the most cruel discord thus prevailed among the Christians before
war was declared against the infidels.
All at once the German Crusaders marched out in arms from Ptolemaïs,
and commenced hostilities by ravaging the lands of the Saracens. At
the first signal of war the Mussulmans gathered together their forces;
and the danger that threatened them putting an end to their discord,
from the banks of the Nile and from the remotest parts of Syria crowded
hosts of warriors but lately armed against each other, but who now,
assembled under the same banners, acknowledged no other enemies but the
Christians.
Malek-Adel, towards whom all Mussulmans turned their eyes when the
defence of Islamism was the question, marched from Damascus at the
head of an army and repaired to Jerusalem, where all the emirs of the
adjoining provinces came to take his orders. The Mussulman army, after
dispersing the Christians who had advanced towards the mountains of
Naplouse, laid siege to Jaffa.
In the third crusade much importance had been attached to the
conservation of this city. Richard Cœur de Lion had fortified it at
great expense, and when that prince returned to Europe he left a
numerous garrison in it. Of all the maritime places, Jaffa was nearest
to the city which was the object of the wishes of the faithful; if it
remained in the hands of the Christians, a road was always open for
them to Jerusalem, and the means of laying siege to that place were
rendered more easy; but if it fell into the power of the Mussulmans, it
gave them proportionate advantages for the defence of the holy city.
When it was known at Ptolemaïs that the city of Jaffa was threatened,
Henry of Champagne, with his barons and knights, immediately took
arms to defend it, and joined the German Crusaders, giving all their
energies to the prosecution of a war which they found could now no
longer be deferred or avoided. The three military orders, with the
troops of the kingdom, were about to set forward on their march, when
a tragical accident once more plunged the Christians in grief, and
retarded the effects of the happy harmony which had been re-established
at the approach of peril. Henry of Champagne, leaning against a window
of his palace, at which he had placed himself to see his army defile
from the city, the window all at once gave way, and in its fall
precipitated him with it.[16] The unfortunate prince expired in sight
of his soldiers, who, instead of following him to battle, accompanied
him to his grave, and lost several days in celebrating his funeral
obsequies. The Christians of Ptolemaïs were still weeping the death
of their king, when the misfortune they dreaded increased their grief
and consternation; the garrison of Jaffa having attempted a sortie,
had fallen into an ambuscade, and all the warriors that composed it
were either killed or taken prisoners. The Mussulmans entered the city
almost without resistance, and twenty thousand Christians were put to
the sword.
These disasters had been foreseen by all who had dreaded the breaking
of the truce; but the barons and knights of Palestine lost no time in
vain regrets, or in the utterance of useless complaints, and looked
with eager impatience for the arrival of the Crusaders who had set out
from the ports of the Ocean and the Baltic. These troops had stopped on
the coast of Portugal, where they had defeated the Moors, and taken
from them the city of Silves. Proud of their triumph over the infidels,
they landed at Ptolemaïs at the moment the people were lamenting the
loss of Jaffa and crowding to the churches to implore the mercy of
Heaven.
The arrival of the new Crusaders restored hope and joy to the
Christians, and they resolved to lose no time, but to march at once
against the infidels. The army left Ptolemaïs and advanced towards the
coast of Syria, whilst a numerous fleet kept along shore, loaded with
provisions and warlike stores. The Crusaders, without seeking the army
of Malek-Adel, laid siege to Berytus.
The city of Berytus, at an equal distance between Jerusalem and
Tripoli, by the commodiousness of its port, its large population,
and its commerce, had become the rival of Ptolemaïs and Tyre. The
Mussulman provinces of Syria acknowledged it as their capital, and it
was in Berytus that the emirs, who contended for the lordship of the
neighbouring cities, came to display the pomp of their coronations.
After the taking of Jerusalem, Saladin was here saluted sovereign of
the city of God, and crowned sultan of Damascus and Cairo. The pirates,
who infested the seas, brought to this city all the spoils of the
Christians; the Mussulman warriors there deposited the riches acquired
by conquest or brigandage; and the Frank captives, made in late wars,
were crowded together in the prisons of Berytus; so that the Christians
had powerful motives for endeavouring to get possession of this place,
and the Mussulmans had no less urgent ones for defending it.
Malek-Adel, after having destroyed the fortifications of Jaffa,
advanced with his army as far as the mountains of Anti-Libanus, on
the route to Damascus; but on hearing of the march and determination
of the Crusaders, he crossed the mountains on his left, and drew near
to the coast: the two armies met on the plain watered by the river
Eleuthera, between Tyre and Sidon. The trumpets soon sounded to battle;
the army of the Saracens, which covered an immense space, endeavoured
at first to surround the Franks, and then to get between them and
the coast; their cavalry precipitated itself by turns on the flanks,
the van, and the rear of the Christians. The Christians closed their
battalions and on all sides presented impenetrable ranks. Whilst their
enemies showered arrows and darts upon them, their lances and swords
were bathed in the blood of the Saracens. They fought with different
arms, but with the same bravery and fury. The victory remained for a
long time uncertain; the Christians were several times on the point of
losing the battle; but their obstinate valour at length triumphed over
all the resistance of the Mussulmans, and the sea-coast, the banks of
the river Eleuthera, and the declivities of the mountains were covered
with dead. The Saracens lost a great many of their emirs. Malek-Adel,
who displayed, during the whole of this day, the skill of a great
captain, was wounded on the field of battle, and only owed his safety
to flight. All his army was dispersed; some fled towards Jerusalem,
whilst others hurried along the road to Damascus, whither the news of
this bloody defeat carried consternation and despair.[17]
In consequence of this victory, all the cities on the coast of Syria,
which still belonged to the Mussulmans, fell into the power of the
Christians; the Saracens abandoned Sidon, Laodicea, and Giblet. When
the Christian fleet and army appeared before Berytus, the garrison
was surprised, and did not venture to offer any resistance. This city
contained, say historians, more provisions than would have sufficed for
the inhabitants during three years; two large vessels, add the same
chronicles, could not have contained the bows, arrows, and machines of
war that were found in the city of Berytus. In this conquest immense
riches fell into the hands of the victors, but the most precious
reward of their triumph doubtless was the deliverance of nine thousand
captives, impatient to resume their arms, and avenge the outrages
of their long captivity. The prince of Antioch, who had joined the
Christian army, sent a dove[18] to his capital to announce to all the
inhabitants of the principality the miraculous victory gained by the
soldiers of the cross. In all the Christian cities thanks were offered
up to the God of armies. The historians, who have transmitted to us the
account of these glorious events, in order to paint the transports of
the Christian people, content themselves with repeating these words of
holy writ: “_Then Sion leaped with joy, and the children of Judah were
filled with delight._”
Whilst the Crusaders were thus pursuing their triumphs in Syria, the
emperor Henry VI. took advantage of all the means and all the powers
that the crusade had placed in his hands, to achieve the conquest of
the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. Although, in the course of his
victories, he unceasingly invoked religion, humanity, and justice,
he only listened to the dictates of his ambition; and, tormented by
the sentiment of an implacable revenge, he was neither touched by the
misery of the conquered, nor the submission of his enemies. All who
had shown any respect or any fidelity for the family of Tancred, were
cast by his orders into dungeons, or perished in horrible tortures,
which he himself had invented. The army he led but too well seconded
his gloomy and savage policy; the peace which the conquerors boasted
of having restored to the people of Sicily, caused them more evils,
and made more victims than war itself. Falcandus, who died some years
before this expedition, had deplored beforehand, in his history, the
misfortunes that were about to desolate his country. He already saw the
most flourishing cities and the rich country of Sicily laid waste by
the irruption of the barbarians. “Oh! unfortunate Sicilians,” cried he,
“it would be less frightful for you still to endure the tyrants of old
Syracuse, than to live under the empire of this savage nation, which
advances to invade your territory, and plunge you into all the horrors
of misery and slavery.”[19]
Nevertheless, these pitiless soldiers wore the crosses of pilgrims;
and their emperor, although not yet relieved from his excommunication,
arrogated to himself glory as the first of the soldiers of Christ.
Henry VI. was considered as the head of the crusade, and supreme
arbiter of the affairs of the East. The king of Cyprus offered to
become his vassal; Livon, prince of Armenia, begged the title of king
of him. The emperor of Germany having no more enemies to dread in the
West, gave his whole attention to the war against the Saracens, and
in a letter addressed to all the nobles, magistrates, and bishops of
his empire, exhorted them to hasten the departure of the Crusaders.
The emperor undertook to keep up an army of fifty thousand men for
one year, and promised to pay thirty ounces of gold to every one that
should remain under his banners till the end of the holy war. A great
number of warriors, seduced by this promise, entered into an engagement
to cross the sea, and fight against the infidels. Henry had no further
need of them for his own conquests, and therefore pressed their
departure for the East. Conrad, bishop of Hildesheim, chancellor of
the empire, whose counsels in the wars of Sicily had but too well aided
the ambition and barbarous policy of his master, was charged with the
task of leading the third army of the Crusaders into Syria.
The arrival of so powerful a reinforcement in Palestine rekindled
the zeal and enthusiasm of the Christians, and it might be expected
that they would signalize their arms by some great enterprise. The
victory they had recently gained in the plains of Tyre, the taking of
Berytus, Sidon, and Giblet, had struck the Mussulmans with terror.
Some of the leaders of the Christian army proposed to march against
Jerusalem. “That city,” said they, “cannot resist our victorious arms;
her governor is a nephew of Saladin, who endures with impatience the
authority of the sultan of Damascus, and has often appeared disposed to
listen to the propositions[20] of the Christians.” Most of the barons
did not, however, partake in this hope, and placed no confidence in the
words of the Mussulmans. It was well known, that the infidels, after
the departure of Richard Cœur de Lion, had very considerably augmented
the fortifications of Jerusalem;[21] that a triple wall, and ditches of
great depth, must render this conquest more perilous, and particularly
more difficult, than in the time of Godfrey of Bouillon. Winter was
approaching; the Christian army might be overtaken by the rainy season,
and forced to raise the siege in face of the army of the Saracens.
These considerations determined the Crusaders to put off the attack of
the holy city to the following year.
It is not impertinent to remark here, that in the Christian armies
they were constantly talking about Jerusalem, but that the leaders as
constantly directed their efforts and their arms to the acquisition of
other conquests. The holy city, situated far from the sea, contained
within its walls no other treasures but religious relics and monuments.
The maritime cities of Asia could boast of more worldly wealth, and
held out far greater advantages to the conquerors; they afforded,
likewise, more easy communication with Europe; and if the conquest of
Jerusalem sometimes tempted the piety and devotion of the pilgrims,
that of cities bordering upon the sea, constantly kept awake the
ambition of the maritime and warlike nations of the West.
All the sea-coast from Antioch to Ascalon belonged to the Christians;
the Mussulmans having only been able to keep possession of Thoron.
The garrison of this fortress frequently made incursions into the
neighbouring countries, and by continual hostilities, intercepted the
communication between the Christian cities. The Crusaders resolved
that before they set out for Jerusalem, they would lay siege to the
castle of Thoron. This fortress, built by Hugh de Saint-Omer, in the
reign of Baldwin II., was situated at some leagues from Tyre, on the
summit of a mountain, between the chain of Libanus and the sea. It was
only accessible across steep rocks, and by a narrow way bordered by
precipices. The Christian army had no machines sufficiently lofty to
reach the heights of the walls, and arrows or stones hurled from the
foot of the mountain, could not injure the besieged; whilst beams and
fragments of rock precipitated from the ramparts, made dreadful havoc
among the besiegers. In the early attacks, the Saracens ridiculed the
vain efforts of their enemies, and witnessed, almost without danger to
themselves, prodigies of valour, and the most murderous inventions of
the art of sieges, exercised ineffectually against their walls. But the
almost insurmountable difficulties that might have been supposed likely
to arrest the progress of the Christians, only redoubled their ardour
and courage.[22] They every day made fresh attacks, each day seeming
to increase their efforts, and their obstinate bravery was seconded
by newly-invented machines of war. With incredible labour, they dug
out the earth, and made themselves a way across the rocks; whilst some
Saxons, who had worked in the mines of Rammesberg, were employed in
opening the flank of the mountain. The Crusaders at length reached the
bottom of the ramparts of the fortress; the walls, the foundations of
which they demolished, began to shake in various parts, without being
struck by the ram, and their fall, which seemed delayed by a miracle,
filled the besieged with dread.
The Mussulmans now losing all hope of defending themselves, proposed to
capitulate; but such was the disorder of the Christian army, with its
multitude of leaders, that not one of them durst take upon himself to
listen to the proposals of the infidels. Henry, palatine of the Rhine,
and the dukes of Saxony and Brabant, who enjoyed great consideration
among the Germans, could enforce obedience from none but their own
soldiers. Conrad, chancellor of the empire, who represented the emperor
of Germany, might have been able to exercise beneficial power; but,
weakened by disease, without experience in war, always shut up in his
tent, he awaited the issue of the contest, and did not even deign to be
present at the councils of the princes and barons. When the besieged
had come to the determination to capitulate, they remained several days
without knowing to which prince it would be most proper to address
themselves, and when their deputies came to the Christian camp, their
propositions were heard in a general assembly, in which the spirit of
rivalry, short-sighted zeal, and blind enthusiasm held much greater
empire than reason and prudence.
The Saracens, in their speech, confined themselves to imploring the
clemency of their conquerors; they promised to abandon the fort with
all their wealth, and only asked life and liberty as the price of
their submission. The suppliant attitude of the Saracens must have
touched the pride of the Christian warriors; religion and policy
united to procure a favourable answer to the proposals that were made
to them, and the greater part of the leaders were disposed to sign
the capitulation. But some of the most ardent could not see without
indignation that it was wished to obtain by treaty that which they
must soon gain by force of arms. “It is necessary,” said they, “that
all our enemies should be struck with terror; and if the garrison of
this place perish by the sword, the affrighted Saracens will not dare
to wait for us either in Jerusalem or the other cities still in their
possession.”
As their advice was not adopted, these ardent and inconsiderate
soldiers resolved to employ every means to interrupt the negotiation,
and whilst re-conducting the deputies to the fortress, said to them:
“_Defend yourselves, for if you surrender to the Christians, you
will all perish in tortures._” In addition to this, they addressed
the Christian soldiers, and informed them, with accents of anger and
grief, that a disgraceful peace was about to be concluded with the
enemies of Christ. At the same time, such of the leaders as inclined
towards peace, spread themselves through the camp, and represented to
the army that it was useless, and perhaps dangerous, to purchase by
new contests that which fortune, or rather Providence itself, offered
to the Crusaders. Among the Christian warriors, some yielded to the
counsels of moderation, others were unwilling to trust to anything but
the sword; such as preferred victory to peace, ran to arms, and they
who accepted the capitulation, retired to their tents. The camp, in
which some remained in inaction and repose, whilst others prepared for
battle, presented, at the same time, an image of peace and war: but in
this diversity of opinions, amidst so strange a spectacle as the army
then presented, it was easy to foresee that they would very soon be
unable either to treat with enemies or fight them.
The capitulation was, notwithstanding, ratified by the principal chiefs
and by the chancellor of the empire. The hostages the Saracens were
to send were looked for in the camp, and the Crusaders fancied they
could see the gates of the castle of Thoron thrown open to them; but
despair had all at once changed the resolutions of the Saracens. When
the deputies to the Christian camp reported to their companions in
arms what they had seen and what they had heard; when they told them
of the menaces that had been made to them, and of the divisions that
existed among the enemies, the besieged forgot that their walls were
in ruins, that they wanted both arms and provisions; that they had to
defend themselves against a victorious army; and they swore rather
to die than treat with the Crusaders. Instead of sending hostages,
they appeared in arms upon the ramparts, and provoked the besiegers to
renew the contest. The Christians resumed the labours of the siege,
and recommenced their attacks; but their courage grew weaker every
day, whilst, in the same proportion, despair seemed to increase the
bravery of the Mussulmans. The besieged laboured without intermission
in repairing their machines and rebuilding their walls; sometimes the
Christians were attacked in the subterranean passages they had dug,
and perished, buried under masses of loosened earth; whilst arrows and
stones were constantly showered upon them from the ramparts. Frequently
the Saracens succeeded in surprising some of their enemies, whom they
carried alive into the place, and then slaughtered without mercy; the
heads of these unfortunate prisoners were exposed upon the walls, and
afterwards hurled by the machines into the camp of the Christians. The
Crusaders appeared to have sunk into a sort of dejection or apathy;
some still fought and remembered their oaths; but others remained
indifferent spectators of the dangers and death of their brethren. Many
added the scandal of the most depraved morals to their indifference
for the cause of God. There might be seen, says an historian, men who
had quitted their wives to follow Christ, forgetting all at once the
most sacred duties, and attaching themselves to vile prostitutes; in
fact, the vices and disorders of the Crusaders were so disgraceful,
that the authors of the old chronicles blush whilst they retrace the
picture of them. Arnold of Lubec, after having described the corruption
that reigned in the camp of the Christians, appears to ask pardon of
his reader; and, that he may not be accused of writing a satire, he
takes care to add that he does not recall such odious remembrances to
confound the pride of men, but to warn sinners, and touch, if possible,
the hearts of his brothers in Christ.[23]
Fame soon brought to the ears of the Christians that the kingdoms of
Aleppo and Damascus were in arms, that Egypt had assembled an army, and
that Malek-Adel, followed by a numberless multitude of warriors, was
advancing by forced marches, impatient to avenge his late defeat.[24]
At this news, the leaders of the crusade resolved to raise the siege
of Thoron; and to conceal their retreat from the enemy, they did not
blush to deceive their own soldiers. On the day of the Purification
of the Virgin, whilst the Christians were engaged in the offices of
devotion, the camp was informed, by sound of trumpet, that it was
intended to make a general assault on the morrow. The whole army
passed the night in preparations for the fight; but, at break of day,
they learnt that Conrad and most of the leaders had quitted the army
and taken the road to Tyre. The men assembled in groups round their
tents to ascertain the truth, and made inquiries of each other with
the greatest inquietude. The blackest forebodings took possession of
the minds of the Crusaders; as if they had been conquered in a great
battle, their only thought was flight. Nothing had been prepared
for the retreat, no order had been given; no man saw anything but
his own danger, or listened to any advice but that suggested by his
fear; some loaded themselves with everything valuable they possessed,
whilst others abandoned even their arms. The sick and wounded dragged
themselves along with pain in the steps of their companions; such as
could not walk were abandoned in the camp. The confusion was general;
the soldiers marched _pêle-mêle_ with the baggage; they knew not what
route to take, and many lost themselves in the mountains; nothing was
heard but cries and groans, and, as if Heaven wished to denote its
anger at this disorder, a frightful tempest came on; fierce lightning
rent the clouds, the thunder rolled in awful peals, and torrents of
rain inundated the country.[25] In their tumultuous flight, not one of
the Crusaders ventured to turn his eyes to that fortress which, but a
few days before, had offered to surrender to their arms: their terror
was not abated till they beheld the walls of Tyre.
The army being at last re-assembled, it became a general inquiry,
“What was the cause of the disorder they had experienced?” Then a new
delirium took possession of the Christians; mistrust and mutual hatred
succeeded to the panic terror of which they had been the victims; the
most grave suspicions were attached to actions the most simple, and
gave an odious meaning to words perfectly innocent. The Crusaders
reproached each other, as with wrongs and proofs of treachery, with
all the evils they had suffered or feared to suffer. The measures
that an improvident zeal had counselled, as well as those that had
been dictated by necessity and prudence, were the work of perfidy
without example. The holy places, which so lately the Crusaders had
contemplated with apparent indifference, now occupied their every
thought; and the most fervent reproached the leaders with introducing
none but profane views into a holy war; with having sacrificed the
cause of God to their own ambition, and with having abandoned the
soldiers of Christ to the fury of the Saracens. The same Crusaders
proclaimed loudly, that God had been unfavourable to the Christians,
because those whom he had appointed to lead the defenders of the cross,
disdained the conquest of Jerusalem. Our readers may remember that
after the siege of Damascus, in the second crusade, some Templars and
Germans were accused of avarice, and of having sacrificed the zeal
and bravery of the Christian warriors. Accusations quite as serious
were renewed on this occasion, and with equal bitterness. If we are to
believe the old chronicles, Malek-Adel had promised several leaders of
the Christian army a great number of pieces of gold to engage them to
raise the siege of Thoron; and the same chronicles add, that when the
Mussulman prince paid them the sum agreed, he gave them nothing but
false gold,—a worthy price of their cupidity and treachery.[26] The
Arabian historians give no sanction to these odious accusations; but
such was the spirit of animosity which then reigned among the Christian
warriors, that they were judged with more severity by their brethren
and companions in arms than by their enemies.
At length the rage of discord was carried so far that the Germans
and the Syrian Christians would not remain under the same colours;
the former retired to the city of Jaffa, the ramparts of which they
restored, and the latter returned to Ptolemaïs. Malek-Adel, willing
to profit by these divisions, marched towards Jaffa, and offered the
Germans battle. A severe conflict took place at a short distance from
the city. The duke of Saxony and the duke of Brabant both perished in
the _mêlée_.[27] The Crusaders lost a great number of their bravest
warriors; but the victory was in their favour. After a triumph which
was due to their arms alone, the pride of the Germans knew no bounds;
and they treated the Christians of Palestine with the greatest
contempt. “We have,” said they, “crossed the seas to defend their
country; and, far from taking any part in our labours, these warriors,
without either gratitude or courage, abandoned us in the hour of
peril.” The Christians of Palestine, on their side, reproached the
Germans with having come into the East, not to fight but to command;
not to assist their brethren, but to impose a yoke upon them more
insupportable than that of the Saracens. “The Crusaders,” added they,
“only quitted the West to make a pleasurable military progress into
Syria; they there found peace, but they left war behind them; like
those birds of passage that announce the season of storms and tempests.”
In these fatal divisions nobody had sufficient credit and power to
restrain angry spirits, or reconcile discordant opinions. The sceptre
of Jerusalem was in the hands of a woman; the throne of Godfrey, so
often shaken, was destitute of support; the empire of religion and law
was every day fading away, and violence alone possessed the privilege
of making itself respected. Necessity and force were the only powers
that commanded obedience; whilst the license and corruption that
prevailed among the people, still called _the people of God_, made such
frightful progress, that we are tempted to accuse contemporary authors
and ocular witnesses of employing great exaggeration in their recitals.
In this state of decline, amidst such shameful disorders, the most
wise and prudent of the prelates and barons thought the best step they
could adopt would be to give an able and worthy leader to the Christian
colonies, and they entreated Isabella, the widow of Henry of Champagne,
to take a new husband, who might consent to be their sovereign.
Isabella, by three marriages, had already given Palestine three kings.
They proposed to her Amaury, who had recently succeeded Guy de Lusignan
in the kingdom of Cyprus. An Arabian historian says that Amaury was _a
wise and prudent man, who loved God and respected humanity_. He did
not fear to reign, amidst war, troubles, and factions, over the poor
remains of the unfortunate kingdom of Jerusalem, and came to share with
Isabella the vain honours of royalty. Their marriage was celebrated
at Ptolemaïs, with more pomp, say historians, than the posture of
affairs warranted. Although this marriage might not remedy all the
evils under which the Christians laboured, it at least afforded them
the consolatory hope that their discords would be appeased, and that
the colonies of the Franks, when better governed, might gather some
fruit from so many victories gained over the infidels. But news which
arrived from the West, soon spread fresh grief through the kingdom,
and put an end to the barren exploits of the holy war. Amidst the
festivities which followed the marriage and coronation of Amaury, the
death of the emperor Henry VI. was announced.[28] The election of a
new head of the empire would most probably produce a violent contest
in Germany; and every one of the German princes or nobles then in
Palestine, naturally turned his attention to that which he had to hope
or fear in the events preparing in Europe: they determined to return
immediately into the West.
The count de Montfort and several other French knights had but recently
arrived in the Holy Land, and earnestly entreated the German princes
to defer their return. The pope likewise, on receiving intelligence
of the death of Henry VI., wrote to the leaders of the Crusaders, to
implore them to finish their good work, and not to abandon the cause
of Christ; but neither the prayers of the count de Montfort nor the
exhortations of the pope could detain the Germans, impatient to return
to their country. Of so many princes who had left the West to secure a
triumph to the cause of God, the queen of Hungary alone was faithful to
her vows, and remained with her knights in Palestine.[29] On quitting
Syria, the Germans contented themselves with leaving a garrison in
Jaffa. A short time after their departure, whilst celebrating the
feast of St. Martin with every excess of drunkenness and debauchery,
this garrison was surprised and massacred by the Saracens.[30] Winter
was approaching; neither party could keep the field; discord reigned
equally among Christians and Mussulmans; and both sides were desirous
of peace, because they were incapable of carrying on the war. The count
de Montfort concluded with the Saracens a truce for three years. Thus
terminated this crusade, which only lasted a few months, and was really
nothing but a pilgrimage for the warriors of the West. The victories
of the Crusaders rendered the Christians masters of all the coasts of
Syria; but their precipitate departure destroyed the fruits of their
conquests. The cities they had obtained were left without defenders,
and almost without inhabitants.
This fourth crusade, in which all the powers of the West miscarried
in an attempt upon a little fortress of Syria, and which presents us
with the strange spectacle of a holy war directed by an excommunicated
monarch, furnishes the historian with fewer great events and a
smaller number of great misfortunes than the preceding expeditions.
The Christian armies, which made but a transient visit to the East,
experienced neither the famine nor the diseases that had proved so
fatal to the former enterprises. The foresight and attention of the
emperor of Germany, who had become master of Sicily, provided for all
the wants of the Crusaders, whose exploits were intended to assist his
ambitious projects, and whom he considered as his own soldiers.
The German warriors that composed the Christian armies had not the
requisite qualities to secure the advantages of victory.[31] Always
ready to throw themselves blindly into danger; quite ignorant that it
is possible to ally prudence with courage; listening to nothing but
the violence of their own passions, and recognising no law but their
own will; obedient to leaders of their own nation, and despising all
others; full of an indomitable pride, which made them disdain the help
of their allies and the lessons of experience, such men could neither
make peace nor war.
When we compare these new Crusaders with the companions of Richard
or Godfrey, we find in them the same ardour for fight, the same
indifference for danger; but we find them very deficient in that
enthusiasm which animated the first soldiers of the cross at the sight
of the holy places. Jerusalem, which had never ceased to be open to
the devotion of the faithful, no longer beheld within its walls that
crowd of pilgrims which, at the commencement of the holy wars, repaired
thither from all parts of the West. The pope and the leaders of the
Christian army forbade Crusaders to enter the holy city without having
conquered it; and they, who did not always prove so docile, obeyed
the prohibition without pain. More than a hundred thousand warriors
that had left Europe for the purpose of delivering Jerusalem, returned
to their homes without having entertained perhaps one thought of
visiting the tomb of Christ, for which they had taken up arms. The
thirty ounces of gold promised by the emperor to all who should cross
the sea to fight the infidels, very much increased the number of the
Crusaders; this was not the case in former expeditions, in which the
crowd of soldiers of the cross was influenced principally by religious
motives. More religion than politics had entered into the other holy
wars; in this crusade, although it had been directly promoted by the
head of the Church, and was to a considerable extent directed by
bishops, we may safely say there was more of politics than religion.
Pride, ambition, jealousy, the most disgraceful passions of the human
heart, did not make an effort, as in the preceding expeditions, to
cover themselves with a religious veil. The archbishop of Mayence,
the bishop of Hildesheim, with most of the other ecclesiastics who
took the cross, attracted no admiration for either their wisdom or
piety, or distinguished themselves by any personal quality. Conrad,
the chancellor of the empire, on his return to Europe, was followed by
the suspicions which had been attached to his conduct during the holy
war; and when, a long time after, he was slain by several gentlemen
of Wurtzburg, who conspired against him, the people considered his
tragical death as a punishment from Heaven.
Henry VI., who had preached the crusade, only viewed this distant
expedition as a means and an opportunity for increasing his power and
extending his empire; whilst the West put up prayers for the success of
a holy war, of which he was the life and soul, he prosecuted an impious
war, desolated a Christian people for the purpose of subjecting them to
his laws, and threatened the empire of Greece.[32] The son of Tancred
was deprived of his sight, and cast into prison, and the daughters
of the king of Sicily were carried away into captivity. Henry’s
barbarities were so excessive, that he irritated his neighbours, and
created enemies in his own family. When he died, a report prevailed
in Europe that he had been poisoned; the nations that he had rendered
miserable could not believe that so many cruelties could remain
unpunished, and they asserted that Providence had employed the wife of
the emperor to be his executioner, and to avenge all the calamities he
had inflicted upon the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. At the approach
of death, Henry remembered that he had persecuted Richard; that he
had detained a prince of the Crusaders in chains, in spite of the
solicitations of the father of the faithful; and he hastened to send
ambassadors to the king of England, charged with the task of making
him a solemn reparation for so great an outrage. After his death, as
he had been excommunicated, it was thought necessary to address the
sovereign pontiff to obtain permission to bury him in the Holy Land;
and the pope coolly replied, that they were at liberty to bury him
among Christians, but before they did so, they must offer up many
prayers to mitigate the anger of God.
In taking possession of the beautiful and rich territories of Italy by
perfidy and violence, Henry prepared for that unfortunate country a
series of revolutions, to be renewed from age to age. The odious war
he had made against the family of Tancred, naturally gave birth to
other wars injurious to his own family.[33] In removing so far from
Germany with his armies, Henry afforded opportunity for the formation
of powerful parties, which, at his death, disputed the imperial sceptre
with some success, and at length gave rise to a war in which the
principal states of Europe were involved. Thus, whilst the other holy
wars had contributed to maintain or establish public peace in Europe,
this fourth crusade produced divisions among the states of Christendom,
without at all diminishing the power of the Saracens, and only served
to introduce trouble and confusion into many kingdoms of the West.