The conquest of Jerusalem by the Carizmians--The slaughter of the
Templars, and the death of the Grand Master--The exploits of the
Templars in Egypt--King Louis of France visits the Templars in
Palestine--He assists them in putting the country into a defensible
state--Henry II., king of England, visits the Temple at Paris--The
magnificent hospitality of the Templars in England and
France--Benocdar, sultan of Egypt, invades Palestine--He defeats the
Templars, takes their strong fortresses, and decapitates six hundred
of their brethren--The Grand Master comes to England for succour--The
renewal of the war--The fall of Acre, and the final extinction of the
Templars in Palestine.
"The Knights of the TEMPLE ever maintained their fearless and fanatic
character; if they neglected to _live_ they were prepared to _die_ in
the service of Christ."--_Gibbon._
[Sidenote: HERMANN DE PERIGORD. A. D. 1242.]
Shortly after the recovery of the holy city, Djemal'eddeen, the Mussulman,
paid a visit to Jerusalem. "I saw," says he, "the monks and the priests
masters of the Temple of the Lord. I saw the vials of wine prepared for
the sacrifice. I entered into the Mosque al Acsa, (the Temple of Solomon,)
and I saw a bell suspended from the dome. The rites and ceremonies of the
Mussulmen were abolished; the call to prayer was no longer heard. The
infidels publicly exercised their idolatrous practices in the sanctuaries
of the Mussulmen."[277]
[Sidenote: A. D. 1243.]
By the advice of Benedict, bishop of Marseilles, who came to the holy city
on a pilgrimage, the Templars rebuilt their ancient and formidable castle
of Saphet. Eight hundred and fifty workmen, and four hundred slaves were
employed in the task. The walls were sixty _French_ feet in width, one
hundred and seventy in height, and the circuit of them was two thousand
two hundred and fifty feet. They were flanked by seven large round towers,
sixty feet in diameter, and seventy-two feet higher than the walls. The
fosse surrounding the fortress was thirty-six feet wide, and was pierced
in the solid rock to a depth of forty-three feet. The garrison, in time of
peace, amounted to one thousand seven hundred men, and to two thousand two
hundred in time of war.[278] The ruins of this famous castle crowning the
summit of a lofty mountain, torn and shattered by earthquakes, still
present a stupendous appearance. In Pococke's time "two particularly fine
large round towers" were entire, and Van Egmont and Heyman describe the
remains of two moats lined with freestone, several fragments of walls,
bulwarks, and turrets, together with corridors, winding staircases, and
internal apartments. Ere this fortress was completed, the Templars again
lost the holy city, and were well-nigh exterminated in a bloody battle
fought with the Carizmians. These were a fierce, pastoral tribe of
Tartars, who, descending from the north of Asia, and quitting their abodes
in the neighbourhood of the Caspian, rushed headlong upon the nations of
the south. They overthrew with frightful rapidity, and the most terrific
slaughter, all who had ventured to oppose their progress; and, at the
instigation of Saleh Ayoub, sultan of Egypt, with whom they had formed an
alliance, they turned their arms against the Holy Land. In a great battle
fought near Gaza, which lasted two days, the Grand Masters of the Temple
and the Hospital were both slain, together with three hundred and twelve
Knights Templars, and three hundred and twenty-four serving brethren,
besides hired soldiers in the pay of the Order.[279] The following
account of these disasters was forwarded to Europe by the Vice-Master of
the Temple, and the bishops and abbots of Palestine.
[Sidenote: A. D. 1244.]
"To the reverend Fathers in Christ, and to all our friends, archbishops,
bishops, abbots, and other prelates of the church in the kingdoms of
France and England, to whom these letters shall come;--Robert, by the
grace of God, patriarch of the holy church of Jerusalem; Henry, archbishop
of Nazareth; J. elect of Caesarea; R. bishop of Acre; _William de
Rochefort, Vice-Master of the house of the soldiery of the_ TEMPLE, _and
of the convent of the same house_; H. prior of the sepulchre of the Lord;
B. of the Mount of Olives, &c. &c. Health and prosperity."
"The cruel barbarian, issuing forth from the confines of the East, hath
turned his footsteps towards the kingdom of Jerusalem, that holy land,
which, though it hath at different periods been grievously harassed by the
Saracen tribes, hath yet in these latter days enjoyed ease and
tranquillity, and been at peace with the neighbouring nations. But, alas!
the sins of our christian people have just now raised up for its
destruction an unknown people, and an avenging sword from afar...." They
proceed to describe the destructive progress of the Carizmians from
Tartary, the devastation of Persia, the fierce extermination by those
savage hordes of all races and nations, without distinction of religion,
and their sudden entry into the Holy Land by the side of Saphet and
Tiberias, "when," say they, "_by the common advice, and at the unanimous
desire of the Masters of the religious houses of the chivalry of the
Temple and the Hospital_, we called in the assistance of the sultans of
Damascus and Carac, who were bound to us by treaty, and who bore especial
hatred to the Carizmians; they promised and solemnly swore to give us
their entire aid, but the succour came slow and tardy; the Christian
forces were few in number, and were obliged to abandon the defence of
Jerusalem...."
After detailing the barbarous and horrible slaughter of five thousand
three hundred Christians, of both sexes--men, women, children, monks,
priests, and nuns,--they thus continue their simple and affecting
narrative:
"At length, the before-mentioned perfidious savages having penetrated
within the gates of the holy city of Israel, the small remnant of the
faithful left therein, consisting of children, women, and old men, took
refuge in the church of the sepulchre of our Lord. The Carizmians rushed
to that holy sanctuary; they butchered them all before the very sepulchre
itself, and cutting off the heads of the priests who were kneeling with
uplifted hands before the altars, they said one to another, 'Let us here
shed the blood of the Christians _on the very place where they offer up
wine to their God, who they say was hanged here_.' Moreover, in sorrow be
it spoken, and with sighs we inform you, that laying their sacrilegious
hands on the very sepulchre itself, they sadly disturbed it, utterly
battering to pieces the marble shrine which was built around that holy
sanctuary. They have defiled, with every abomination of which they were
capable, Mount Calvary, where Christ was crucified, and the whole church
of the resurrection. They have taken away, indeed, the sculptured columns
which were placed as a decoration before the sepulchre of the Lord, and as
a mark of victory, and as a taunt to the Christians, they have sent them
to the sepulchre of the wicked Mahomet. They have violated the tombs of
the happy kings of Jerusalem in the same church, and they have scattered,
to the hurt of Christendom, the ashes of those holy men to the winds,
irreverently profaning the revered Mount Sion. The Temple of the Lord, the
church of the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where the Virgin lies buried, the
church of Bethlehem, and the place of the nativity of our Lord, they have
polluted with enormities too horrible to be related, far exceeding the
iniquity of all the Saracens, who, though they frequently occupied the
land of the Christians, yet always reverenced and preserved the holy
places...."
They then describe the subsequent military operations, the march of the
Templars and Hospitallers, on the 4th of October, A. D. 1244, from Acre to
Caesarea; the junction of their forces with those of the Moslem sultans;
the retreat of the Carizmians to Gaza, where they received succour from
the sultan of Egypt; and the preparation of the Hospitallers and Templars
for the attack before that place.
"Those holy warriors," say they, "boldly rushed in upon the enemy, but the
Saracens who had joined us, having lost many of their men, fled, and the
warriors of the cross were left alone to withstand the united attack of
the Egyptians and Carizmians. Like stout champions of the Lord, and true
defenders of catholicity, whom the same faith and the same cross and
passion make true brothers, they bravely resisted; but as they were few in
number in comparison with the enemy, they at last succumbed, so that of
the convents of the house of the chivalry of the Temple, and of the house
of the Hospital of Saint John at Jerusalem, only thirty-three Templars and
twenty-six Hospitallers escaped; the archbishop of Tyre, the bishop of
Saint George, the abbot of Saint Mary of Jehoshaphat, and the Master of
the Temple, with many other clerks and holy men, being slain in that
sanguinary fight. We ourselves, having by our sins provoked this dire
calamity, fled half dead to Ascalon; from thence we proceeded by sea to
Acre, and found that city and the adjoining province filled with sorrow
and mourning, misery and death. There was not a house or a family that had
not lost an inmate or a relation...."
"The Carizmians have now pitched their tents in the plain of Acre, about
two miles from the city. The whole country, as far as Nazareth and Saphet,
is overrun by them, so that the churches of Jerusalem and the christian
kingdom have now no territory, except a few fortifications, which are
defended with great difficulty and labour by the Templars and
Hospitallers....
"To you, dearest Fathers, upon whom the burthen of the defence of the
cause of Christ justly resteth, we have caused these sad tidings to be
communicated, earnestly beseeching you to address your prayers to the
throne of grace, imploring mercy from the Most High; that he who
consecrated the Holy Land with his own blood in redemption of all mankind,
may compassionately turn towards it and defend it, and send it succour. Do
ye yourselves, dearest Fathers, as far as ye are able, take sage counsel
and speedily assist us, that ye may receive a heavenly reward. But know,
assuredly, that unless, through the interposition of the Most High, or by
the aid of the faithful, the Holy Land is succoured in the next spring
passage from Europe, its doom is sealed, and utter ruin is inevitable.
"Since it would be tedious to explain by letter all our necessities, we
have sent to you the venerable father bishop of Beirout, and the holy man
Arnulph, of the Order of Friars Preachers, who will faithfully and truly
unfold the particulars to your venerable fraternity. We humbly entreat you
liberally to receive and patiently to hear the aforesaid messengers, who
have exposed themselves to great dangers for the church of God, by
navigating the seas in the depth of winter. Given at Acre, this fifth day
of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand twelve hundred and
forty-four."[280]
The above letter was read before a general council of the church, which
had been assembled at Lyons by Pope Innocent IV., and it was resolved that
a new crusade should be preached. It was provided that those who assumed
the cross should assemble at particular places to receive the Pope's
blessing; that there should be a truce for four years between all
christian princes; that during all that time there should be no
tournaments, feasts, nor public rejoicings; that all the faithful in
Christ should be exhorted to contribute, out of their fortunes and
estates, to the defence of the Holy Land; and that ecclesiastics should
pay towards it the tenth, and cardinals the twentieth, of all their
revenues, for the term of three years successively. The ancient
enthusiasm, however, in favour of distant expeditions to the East had died
away; the addresses and exhortations of the clergy now fell on unwilling
ears, and the Templars and Hospitallers received only some small
assistance in men and money.
[Sidenote: WILLIAM DE SONNAC. A. D. 1245.]
The temporary alliance between the Templars and the Mussulman sultans of
Syria, for the purpose of insuring their common safety, did not escape
animadversion. The emperor Frederick the Second, the nominal king of
Jerusalem, in a letter to Richard earl of Cornwall, the brother of Henry
the Third, king of England, accuses the Templars of making war upon the
sultan of Egypt, in defiance of a treaty entered into with that monarch,
of compelling him to call in the Carizmians to his assistance; and he
compares the union of the Templars with the infidel sultans, for purposes
of defence, to an attempt to extinguish a fire by pouring upon it a
quantity of oil. "The proud religion of the Temple," says he, in
continuation, "nurtured amid the luxuries of the barons of the land,
waxeth wanton. It hath been made manifest to us, by certain religious
persons lately arrived from parts beyond sea, that the aforesaid sultans
and their trains were received with pompous alacrity within the gates of
the houses of the Temple, and that the Templars suffered them to perform
within them their superstitious rites and ceremonies, with invocation of
Mahomet, and to indulge in secular delights."[281] The Templars,
notwithstanding their disasters, successfully defended all their strong
fortresses in Palestine against the efforts of the Carizmians, and
gradually recovered their footing in the Holy Land. The galleys of the
Order kept the command of the sea, and succour speedily arrived to them
from their western brethren. A general chapter of knights was assembled in
the Pilgrim's Castle, and the veteran warrior, brother WILLIAM DE SONNAC,
was chosen Grand Master of the Order.[282] Circular mandates were, at the
same time, sent to the western preceptories, summoning all the brethren to
Palestine, and directing the immediate transmission of all the money in
the different treasuries to the head-quarters of the Order at Acre. These
calls appear to have been promptly attended to, and the Pope praises both
the Templars and Hospitallers for the zeal and energy displayed by them in
sending out the newly-admitted knights and novices with armed bands and a
large amount of treasure to the succour of the holy territory.[283] The
aged knights, and those whose duties rendered them unable to leave the
western preceptories, implored the blessings of heaven upon the exertions
of their brethren; they observed extraordinary fasts and mortification,
and directed continual prayers to be offered up throughout the Order.[284]
Whilst the proposed crusade was slowly progressing, the holy pontiff wrote
to the sultan of Egypt, the ally of the Carizmians, proposing a peace or a
truce, and received the following grand and magnificent reply to his
communication:
[Sidenote: A. D. 1246.]
"To the Pope, the noble, the great, the spiritual, the affectionate, the
holy, the thirteenth of the apostles, the leader of the sons of baptism,
the high priest of the Christians, (may God strengthen him, and establish
him, and give him happiness!) from the most powerful sultan ruling over
the necks of nations; wielding the two great weapons, the sword and the
pen; possessing two pre-eminent excellencies--that is to say, learning and
judgment; king of two seas; ruler of the South and North; king of the
region of Egypt and Syria, Mesopotamia, Media, Idumea, and Ophir; King
Saloph Beelpheth, Jacob, son of Sultan Camel, Hemevafar Mehameth, son of
Sultan Hadel, Robethre, son of Jacob, whose kingdom may the Lord God make
happy.
"IN THE NAME OF GOD THE MOST MERCIFUL AND COMPASSIONATE.
"The letters of the Pope, the noble, the great, &c. &c. ... have been
presented to us. May God favour him who earnestly seeketh after
righteousness and doeth good, and wisheth peace and walketh in the ways of
the Lord. May God assist him who worshippeth him in truth. We have
considered the aforesaid letters, and have understood the matters treated
of therein, which have pleased and delighted us; and the messenger sent by
the holy Pope came to us, and we caused him to be brought before us with
honour, and love, and reverence; and we brought him to see us face to
face, and inclining our ears towards him, we listened to his speech, and
we have put faith in the words he hath spoken unto us concerning Christ,
upon whom be salvation and praise. But we know more concerning that same
Christ than ye know, and we magnify him more than ye magnify him. And as
to what you say concerning your desire for peace, tranquillity, and quiet,
and that you wish to put down war, so also do we; we desire and wish
nothing to the contrary. But let the Pope know, that between ourselves
and the Emperor (Frederick) there hath been mutual love, and alliance, and
perfect concord, from the time of the sultan, my father, (whom may God
preserve and place in the glory of his brightness;) and between you and
the Emperor there is, as ye know, strife and warfare; whence it is not fit
that we should enter into any treaty with the Christians until we have
previously had his advice and assent. We have therefore written to our
envoy at the imperial court upon the propositions made to us by the Pope's
messenger, &c. ...
"This letter was written on the seventh of the month _Maharan_. Praise be
to the one only God, and may his blessing rest upon our master
Mahomet."[285]
[Sidenote: A. D. 1247.]
The year following, (A. D. 1247,) the Carizmians were annihilated; they
were cut up in detail by the Templars and Hospitallers, and were at last
slain to a man. Their very name perished from the face of the earth, but
the traces of their existence were long preserved in the ruin and
desolation they had spread around them.[286] The Holy Land, although
happily freed from the destructive presence of these barbarians, had yet
everything to fear from the powerful sultan of Egypt, with whom
hostilities still continued; and Brother William de Sonnac, the Grand
Master of the Temple, for the purpose of stimulating the languid energies
of the English nation, and reviving their holy zeal and enthusiasm in the
cause of the Cross, despatched a distinguished Knight Templar to England,
charged with the duty of presenting to king Henry the Third a magnificent
crystal vase, containing a portion of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which had been poured forth upon the sacred soil of Palestine for the
remission of the sins of all the faithful.
A solemn attestation of the genuineness of this precious relic, signed by
the patriarch of Jerusalem, and the bishops, the abbots, and the barons of
the Holy Land, was forwarded to London for the satisfaction of the king
and his subjects, and was deposited, together with the vase and its
inestimable contents, in the cathedral church of Saint Paul.[287]
[Sidenote: A. D. 1249.]
In the month of June, A. D. 1249, the galleys of the Templars left Acre
with a strong body of forces on board, and joined the expedition
undertaken by the French king, Louis IX., against Egypt. The following
account of the capture of Damietta was forwarded to the Master of the
Temple at London.
"Brother William de Sonnac, by the grace of God Master of the poor
chivalry of the Temple, to his beloved brother in Christ, Robert de
Sanford, Preceptor of England, salvation in the Lord.
"We hasten to unfold to you by these presents agreeable and happy
intelligence.... (He details the landing of the French, the defeat of the
infidels with the loss of one christian soldier, and the subsequent
capture of the city.) Damietta, therefore, has been taken, not by our
deserts, nor by the might of our armed bands, but through the divine power
and assistance. Moreover, be it known to you that king Louis, with God's
favour, proposes to march upon Alexandria or Cairo for the purpose of
delivering our brethren there detained in captivity, and of reducing, with
God's help, the whole land to the christian worship. Farewell."[288]
The Lord de Joinville, the friend of king Louis, and one of the bravest of
the French captains, gives a lively and most interesting account of the
campaign, and of the famous exploits of the Templars. During the march
towards Cairo, they led the van of the christian army, and on one
occasion, when the king of France had given strict orders that no attack
should be made upon the infidels, and that an engagement should be
avoided, a body of Turkish cavalry advanced against them. "One of these
Turks," says Joinville, "gave a Knight Templar in the first rank so heavy
a blow with his battle-axe, that it felled him under the feet of the Lord
Reginald de Vichier's horse, who was Marshall of the Temple; the Marshall,
seeing his man fall, cried out to his brethren, 'At them in the name of
God, for I cannot longer stand this.' He instantly stuck spurs into his
horse, followed by all his brethren, and as their horses were fresh, not a
Saracen escaped." On another occasion, the Templars marched forth at the
head of the christian army, to make trial of a ford across the Tanitic
branch of the Nile. "Before we set out," says Joinville, "the king had
ordered that the Templars should form the van, and the Count d'Artois, his
brother, should command the second division after the Templars; but the
moment the Compte d'Artois had passed the ford, he and all his people fell
on the Saracens, and putting them to flight, galloped after them. The
Templars sent to call the Compte d'Artois back, and to tell him that it
was his duty to march behind and not before them; but it happened that the
Count d'Artois could not make any answer by reason of my Lord Foucquault
du Melle, who held the bridle of his horse, and my Lord Foucquault, who
was a right good knight, being deaf, heard nothing the Templars were
saying to the Count d'Artois, but kept bawling out, '_Forward! forward!_'
("Or a eulz! or a eulz!") When the Templars perceived this, they thought
they should be dishonoured if they allowed the Count d'Artois thus to take
the lead; so they spurred their horses more and more, and faster and
faster, and chased the Turks, who fled before them, through the town of
Massoura, as far as the plains towards Babylon; but on their return, the
Turks shot at them plenty of arrows, and attacked them in the narrow
streets of the town. The Count d'Artois and the Earl of Leicester were
there slain, and as many as three hundred other knights. The Templars
lost, as their chief informed me, full fourteen score men-at-arms, and all
his horsemen."[289]
[Sidenote: A. D. 1250.]
The Grand Master of the Temple also lost an eye, and cut his way through
the infidels to the main body of the christian army, accompanied only by
two Knights Templars.[290] There he again mixed in the affray, took the
command of a vanguard, and is to be found fighting by the side of the Lord
de Joinville at sunset. In his account of the great battle fought on the
first Friday in Lent, Joinville thus commemorates the gallant bearing of
the Templars:--
"The next battalion was under the command of Brother William de Sonnac,
Master of the Temple, who had with him the small remnant of the brethren
of the order who survived the battle of Shrove Tuesday. The Master of the
Temple made of the engines which we had taken from the Saracens a sort of
rampart in his front, but when the Saracens marched up to the assault,
they threw Greek fire upon it, and as the Templars had piled up many
planks of fir-wood amongst these engines, they caught fire immediately;
and the Saracens, perceiving that the brethren of the Temple were few in
number, dashed through the burning timbers, and vigorously attacked them.
In the preceding battle of Shrove Tuesday, Brother William, the Master of
the Temple, lost one of his eyes, and in this battle the said lord lost
his other eye, and was slain. God have mercy on his soul! And know that
immediately behind the place where the battalion of the Templars stood,
there was a good acre of ground, so covered with darts, arrows, and
missiles, that you could not see the earth beneath them, such showers of
these had been discharged against the Templars by the Saracens!"[291]
[Sidenote: REGINALD DE VICHIER. A. D. 1252.]
The Grand Master, William de Sonnac, was succeeded by the Marshall of the
Temple, Brother Reginald de Vichier.[292] King Louis, after his release
from captivity, proceeded to Palestine, where he remained two years. He
repaired the fortifications of Jaffa and Caesarea, and assisted the
Templars in putting the country into a defensible state. The Lord de
Joinville remained with him the whole time, and relates some curious
events that took place during his stay. It appears that the scheik of the
assassins still continued to pay tribute to the Templars; and during the
king's residence at Acre, the chief sent ambassadors to him to obtain a
remission of the tribute. He gave them an audience, and declared that he
would consider of their proposal. "When they came again before the king,"
says Joinville, "it was about vespers, and they found the Master of the
Temple on one side of him, and the Master of the Hospital on the other.
The ambassadors refused to repeat what they had said in the morning, but
the Masters of the Temple and the Hospital commanded them so to do. Then
the Masters of the Temple and Hospital told them that their lord had very
foolishly and impudently sent such a message to the king of France, and
had they not been invested with the character of ambassadors, they would
have thrown them into the filthy sea of Acre, and have drowned them in
despite of their master. 'And we command you,' continued the masters, 'to
return to your lord, and to come back within fifteen days with such
letters from your prince, that the king shall be contented with him and
with you.'"
The ambassadors accordingly did as they were bid, and brought back from
their scheik a shirt, the symbol of friendship, and a great variety of
rich presents, "crystal elephants, pieces of amber, with borders of pure
gold," &c. &c.[293] "You must know that when the ambassadors opened the
case containing all these fine things, the whole apartment was instantly
embalmed with the odour of their sweet perfumes."
The Lord de Joinville accompanied the Templars in several marches and
expeditions against the infidel tribes on the frontiers of Palestine, and
was present at the storming of the famous castle of Panias, situate near
the source of the Jordan.
[Sidenote: A. D. 1254.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 1255.]
At the period of the return of the king of France to Europe, (A. D. 1254,)
Henry the Third, king of England, was in Gascony with Brother Robert de
Sanford, Master of the Temple at London, who had been previously sent by
the English monarch into that province to appease the troubles which had
there broken out.[294] King Henry proceeded to the French capital, and was
magnificently entertained by the Knights Templars at the Temple in Paris,
which Matthew Paris tells us was of such immense extent that it could
contain within its precincts a numerous army. The day after his arrival,
king Henry ordered an innumerable quantity of poor people to be regaled at
the Temple with meat, fish, bread, and wine; and at a later hour the king
of France and all his nobles came to dine with the English monarch.
"Never," says Matthew Paris, "was there at any period in bygone times so
noble and so celebrated an entertainment. They feasted in the great hall
of the Temple, where hang the shields on every side, as many as they can
place along the four walls, according to the custom of the order beyond
sea...."[295] The Knights Templars in this country likewise exercised a
magnificent hospitality, and constantly entertained kings, princes,
nobles, prelates, and foreign ambassadors, at the Temple. Immediately
after the return of king Henry to England, some illustrious ambassadors
from Castile came on a visit to the Temple at London; and as the king
"greatly delighted to honour them," he commanded three pipes of wine to be
placed in the cellars of the Temple for their use,[296] and ten fat bucks
to be brought them at the same place from the royal forest in Essex.[297]
He, moreover, commanded the mayor and sheriffs of London, and the
commonalty of the same city, to take with them a respectable assemblage of
the citizens, and to go forth and meet the said ambassadors without the
city, and courteously receive them, and honour them, and conduct them to
the Temple.[298]
[Sidenote: THOMAS BERARD. A. D. 1256.]
The Grand Master, Reginald de Vichier, was succeeded by Brother Thomas
Berard,[299] who wrote several letters to the king of England, displaying
the miserable condition of the Holy Land, and earnestly imploring succour
and assistance.[300] The English monarch, however, was too poor to assist
him, being obliged to borrow money upon his crown jewels, which he sent to
the Temple at Paris. The queen of France, in a letter "to her very dear
brother Henry, the illustrious king of England," gives a long list of
golden wands, golden combs, diamond buckles, chaplets, and circlets,
golden crowns, imperial beavers, rich girdles, golden peacocks, and rings
innumerable, adorned with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, topazes, and
carbuncles, which she says she had inspected in the presence of the
treasurer of the Temple at Paris, and that the same were safely deposited
in the coffers of the Templars.[301]
[Sidenote: A. D. 1261.]
The military power of the orders of the Temple and the Hospital in
Palestine was at last completely broken by Bibars, or Benocdar, the fourth
Mamlook sultan of Egypt, who, from the humble station of a Tartar slave,
had raised himself to the sovereignty of that country, and through his
valour and military talents had acquired the title of "the Conqueror." He
invaded Palestine (A. D. 1262) at the head of thirty thousand cavalry, and
defeated the Templars and Hospitallers with immense slaughter.[302] After
several years of continuous warfare, during which the most horrible
excesses were committed by both parties, all the strongholds of the
Christians, with the solitary exception of the Pilgrim's Castle and the
city of Acre, fell into the hands of the infidels.
[Sidenote: A. D. 1266.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 1268.]
On the last day of April, (A. D. 1265,) Benocdar stormed Arsuf, one of the
strongest of the castles of the Hospitallers; he slew ninety of the
garrison, and led away a thousand into captivity. The year following he
stormed Castel Blanco, a fortress of the Knights Templars, and immediately
after laid siege to their famous and important castle of Saphet. After an
obstinate defence, the Preceptor, finding himself destitute of provisions,
agreed to capitulate, on condition that the surviving brethren and their
retainers, amounting to six hundred men, should be conducted in safety to
the nearest fortress of the Christians. The terms were acceded to, but as
soon as Benocdar had obtained possession of the castle, he imposed upon
the whole garrison the severe alternative of the Koran or death. They
chose the latter, and, according to the christian writers, were all
slain.[303] The Arabian historian Schafi Ib'n Ali Abbas, however, in his
life of Bibars, or Benocdar, states that one of the garrison named
_Effreez Lyoub_, embraced the Mahommetan faith, and was circumcised, and
that another was sent to Acre to announce the fall of the place to his
brethren. This writer attempts to excuse the slaughter of the remainder,
on the ground that they had themselves first broken the terms of the
capitulation, by attempting to carry away arms and treasure.[304] "By the
death of so many knights of both orders," says Pope Clement IV., in one of
his epistles, "the noble college of the Hospitallers, and the illustrious
chivalry of the Temple, are almost destroyed, and I know not how we shall
be able, after this, to find gentlemen and persons of quality sufficient
to supply the places of such as have perished."[305] The year after the
fall of Saphet, (A. D. 1267,) Benocdar captured the cities of Homs,
Belfort, Bagras, and Sidon, which belonged to the order of the Temple; the
maritime towns of Laodicea, Gabala, Tripoli, Beirout, and Jaffa,
successively fell into his hands, and the fall of the princely city of
Antioch was signalized by the slaughter of seventeen and the captivity of
one hundred thousand of her inhabitants.[306] The utter ruin of the Latin
kingdom, however, was averted by the timely assistance brought by Edward
Prince of Wales, son of Henry the Second, king of England, who appeared at
Acre with a fleet and an army. The infidels were once more defeated and
driven back into Egypt, and a truce for ten years between the sultan and
the Christians was agreed upon.[307] Prince Edward then prepared for his
departure, but, before encountering the perils of the sea on his return
home, he made his will; it is dated at Acre, June 18th, A. D. 1272, and
Brother Thomas Berard, Grand Master of the Temple, appears as an attesting
witness.[308] Whilst the prince was pursuing his voyage to England, his
father, the king of England, died, and the council of the realm, composed
of the archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the bishops and barons of
the kingdom, assembled in the Temple at London, and swore allegiance to
the prince. They there caused him to be proclaimed king of England, and,
with the consent of the queen-mother, they appointed Walter Giffard,
archbishop of York, and the earls of Cornwall and Gloucester, guardians of
the realm. Letters were written from the Temple to acquaint the young
sovereign with the death of his father, and many of the acts of the new
government emanated from the same place.[309]
King Henry the Third was a great benefactor to the Templars. He granted
them the manors of Lilleston, Hechewayton, Saunford, Sutton, Dartfeld, and
Halgel, in Kent; several lands, and churches and annual fairs at Baldok,
Walnesford, Wetherby, and other places, and various weekly markets.[310]
[Sidenote: WILLIAM DE BEAUJEU. A.D. 1273.]
The Grand Master, Thomas Berard, was succeeded by Brother William de
Beaujeu,[311] who came to England for the purpose of obtaining succour,
and called together a general chapter of the order at London. Whilst
resident at the Temple in that city, he received payment of a large sum of
money which Edward, the young king, had borrowed of the Templars during
his residence in Palestine.[312] The Grand Master of the Hospital also
came to Europe, and every exertion was made to stimulate the languid
energies of the western Christians, and revive their holy zeal in the
cause of the Cross. A general council of the church was opened at Lyons by
the Pope in person; the two Grand Masters were present, and took
precedence of all the ambassadors and peers at that famous assembly. It
was determined that a new crusade should be preached, that all
ecclesiastical dignities and benefices should be taxed to support an
armament, and that the sovereigns of Europe should be compelled by
ecclesiastical censures to suspend their private quarrels, and afford
succour to the desolate city of Jerusalem. The Pope, who had been himself
resident in Palestine, took a strong personal interest in the promotion of
the crusade, and induced many nobles, princes, and knights to assume the
Cross; but the holy pontiff died in the midst of his exertions, and with
him expired all hope of effectual assistance from Europe. A vast change
had come over the spirit of the age; the fiery enthusiasm of the holy war
had expended itself, and the Grand Masters of the Temple and Hospital
returned without succour, in sorrow and disappointment, to the East.
[Sidenote: A. D. 1275.]
[Sidenote: A. D. 1291.]
William de Beaujeu arrived at the Temple of Acre on Saint Michael's Day,
A. D. 1275, and immediately assumed the government of Palestine.[313] As
there was now no hope of recovering the lost city of Jerusalem, he bent
all his energies to the preservation of the few remaining possessions of
the Christians in the Holy Land. At the expiration of the ten years' truce
he entered into a further treaty with the infidels, called "the peace of
Tortosa." It is expressed to be made between sultan Malek-Mansour and his
son Malek-Saleh Ali, "honour of the world and of religion," of the one
part, and Afryz Dybadjouk (William de Beaujeu) Grand Master of the order
of the Templars, of the other part. The truce is further prolonged for ten
years and ten months from the date of the execution of the treaty, (A. D.
1282;) and the contracting parties strictly bind themselves to make no
irruptions into each other's territories during the period. To prevent
mistakes, the towns, villages, and territory belonging to the Christians
in Palestine are specified and defined, together with the contiguous
possessions of the Moslems.[314] This treaty, however, was speedily
broken, the war was renewed with various success, and another treaty was
concluded, which was again violated by an unpardonable outrage. Some
European adventurers, who had arrived at Acre, plundered and hung nineteen
Egyptian merchants, and the sultan of Egypt immediately resumed
hostilities, with the avowed determination of crushing for ever the
christian power in the East. The fortress of Margat was besieged and
taken; the city of Tripoli shared the same fate; and in the third year
from the re-commencement of the war, the christian dominions in Palestine
were reduced within the narrow confines of the strong city of Acre and the
Pilgrim's Castle. In the spring of the year 1291, the sultan Khalil
marched against Acre at the head of sixty thousand horse and a hundred and
forty thousand foot.
"An innumerable people of all nations and every tongue," says a chronicle
of the times, "thirsting for christian blood, were assembled together from
the deserts of the East and the South; the earth trembled beneath their
footsteps, and the air was rent with the sound of their trumpets and
cymbals. The sun's rays, reflected from their shields, gleamed on the
distant mountains, and the points of their spears shone like the
innumerable stars of heaven. When on the march, their lances presented the
appearance of a vast forest rising from the earth, and covering all the
landscape."... "They wandered round about the walls, spying out their
weaknesses and defects; some barked like dogs, some roared like lions,
some lowed and bellowed like oxen, some struck drums with twisted sticks
after their fashion, some threw darts, some cast stones, some shot arrows
and bolts from cross-bows."[315] On the 5th of April, the place was
regularly invested. No rational hope of saving it could be entertained;
the sea was open; the harbour was filled with christian vessels, and with
the galleys of the Temple and the Hospital; yet the two great monastic and
military orders scorned to retire to the neighbouring and friendly island
of Cyprus; they refused to desert, even in its last extremity, that cause
which they had sworn to maintain with the last drop of their blood. For a
hundred and seventy years their swords had been constantly employed in
defending the Holy Land from the profane tread of the unbelieving Moslem;
the sacred territory of Palestine had been everywhere moistened with the
blood of the best and bravest of their knights, and, faithful to their
vows and their chivalrous engagements, they now prepared to bury
themselves in the ruins of the last stronghold of the christian faith.
William de Beaujeu, the Grand Master of the Temple, a veteran warrior of a
hundred fights, took the command of the garrison, which amounted to about
twelve thousand men, exclusive of the forces of the Temple and the
Hospital, and a body of five hundred foot and two hundred horse, under the
command of the king of Cyprus. These forces were distributed along the
walls in four divisions, the first of which was commanded by Hugh de
Grandison, an English knight. The old and the feeble, women and children,
were sent away by sea to the christian island of Cyprus, and none remained
in the devoted city but those who were prepared to fight in its defence,
or to suffer martyrdom at the hands of the infidels. The siege lasted six
weeks, during the whole of which period the sallies and the attacks were
incessant. Neither by night nor by day did the shouts of the assailants
and the noise of the military engines cease; the walls were battered from
without, and the foundations were sapped by miners, who were incessantly
labouring to advance their works. More than six hundred catapults,
balistae, and other instruments of destruction, were directed against the
fortifications; and the battering machines were of such immense size and
weight, that a hundred wagons were required to transport the separate
timbers of one of them.[316] Moveable towers were erected by the Moslems,
so as to overtop the walls; their workmen and advanced parties were
protected by hurdles covered with raw hides, and all the military
contrivances which the art and the skill of the age could produce, were
used to facilitate the assault. For a long time their utmost efforts were
foiled by the valour of the besieged, who made constant sallies upon their
works, burnt their towers and machines, and destroyed their miners. Day by
day, however, the numbers of the garrison were thinned by the sword,
whilst in the enemy's camp the places of the dead were constantly supplied
by fresh warriors from the deserts of Arabia, animated with the same wild
fanaticism in the cause of _their_ religion as that which so eminently
distinguished the military monks of the Temple. On the fourth of May,
after thirty-three days of constant fighting, the great tower, considered
the key of the fortifications, and called by the Moslems _the cursed
tower_, was thrown down by the military engines. To increase the terror
and distraction of the besieged, sultan Khalil mounted three hundred
drummers, with their drums, upon as many dromedaries, and commanded them
to make as much noise as possible whenever a general assault was ordered.
From the 4th to the 14th of May, the attacks were incessant. On the 15th,
the double wall was forced, and the king of Cyprus, panic-stricken, fled
in the night to his ships, and made sail for the island of Cyprus, with
all his followers, and with near three thousand of the best men of the
garrison. On the morrow the Saracens attacked the post he had deserted;
they filled up the ditch with the bodies of dead men and horses, piles of
wood, stones, and earth, and their trumpets then sounded to the assault.
Ranged under the yellow banner of Mahomet, the Mamlooks forced the breach,
and penetrated sword in hand to the very centre of the city; but their
victorious career and insulting shouts were there stopped by the mail-clad
Knights of the Temple and the Hospital, who charged on horseback through
the narrow streets, drove them back with immense carnage, and precipitated
them headlong from the walls.
At sunrise the following morning the air resounded with the deafening
noise of drums and trumpets, and the breach was carried and recovered
several times, the military friars at last closing up the passage with
their bodies, and presenting a wall of steel to the advance of the enemy.
Loud appeals to God and to Mahomet, to heaven and the saints, were to be
heard on all sides; and after an obstinate engagement from sunrise to
sunset, darkness put an end to the slaughter. On the third day, (the
18th,) the infidels made the final assault on the side next the gate of
St. Anthony. The Grand Masters of the Temple and the Hospital fought side
by side at the head of their knights, and for a time successfully resisted
all the efforts of the enemy. They engaged hand to hand with the Mamlooks,
and pressed like the meanest of the soldiers into the thick of the battle.
But as each knight fell beneath the keen scimitars of the Moslems, there
were none in reserve to supply his place, whilst the vast hordes of the
infidels pressed on with untiring energy and perseverance. The Marshall of
the Hospital fell covered with wounds, and William de Beaujeu, as a last
resort, requested the Grand Master of that order to sally out of an
adjoining gateway at the head of five hundred horse, and attack the
enemy's rear. Immediately after the Grand Master of the Temple had given
these orders, he was himself struck down by the darts and the arrows of
the enemy; the panic-stricken garrison fled to the port, and the infidels
rushed on with tremendous shouts of _Allah acbar! Allah acbar!_ "GOD is
victorious." Three hundred Templars, the sole survivors of their
illustrious order in Acre, were now left alone to withstand the shock of
the victorious Mamlooks. In a close and compact column they fought their
way, accompanied by several hundred christian fugitives, to the Temple,
and shutting their gates, they again bade defiance to the advancing foe.
[Sidenote: GAUDINI. A. D. 1291.]
The surviving knights now assembled together in solemn chapter, and
appointed the Knight Templar Brother Gaudini Grand Master.[317] The Temple
at Acre was a place of great strength, and surrounded by walls and towers
of immense extent. It was divided into three quarters, the first and
principal of which contained the palace of the Grand Master, the church,
and the habitation of the knights; the second, called the Bourg of the
Temple, contained the cells of the serving brethren; and the third, called
the Cattle Market, was devoted to the officers charged with the duty of
procuring the necessary supplies for the order and its forces.
The following morning very favourable terms were offered to the Templars
by the victorious sultan, and they agreed to evacuate the Temple on
condition that a galley should be placed at their disposal, and that they
should be allowed to retire in safety with the christian fugitives under
their protection, and to carry away as much of their effects as each
person could load himself with. The Mussulman conqueror pledged himself to
the fulfilment of these conditions, and sent a standard to the Templars,
which was mounted on one of the towers of the Temple. A guard of three
hundred Moslem soldiers, charged to see the articles of capitulation
properly carried into effect, was afterwards admitted within the walls of
the convent. Some christian women of Acre, who had refused to quit their
fathers, brothers, and husbands, the brave defenders of the place, were
amongst the fugitives, and the Moslem soldiers, attracted by their beauty,
broke through all restraint, and violated the terms of the surrender. The
enraged Templars closed and barricadoed the gates of the Temple; they set
upon the treacherous infidels, and put every one of them, "from the
greatest to the smallest," to death.[318] Immediately after this massacre
the Moslem trumpets sounded to the assault, but the Templars successfully
defended themselves until the next day (the 20th.) The Marshall of the
order and several of the brethren were then deputed by Gaudini with a flag
of truce to the sultan, to explain the cause of the massacre of his guard.
The enraged monarch, however, had no sooner got them into his power than
he ordered every one of them to be decapitated, and pressed the siege with
renewed vigour. In the night, Gaudini, with a chosen band of his
companions, collected together the treasure of the order and the ornaments
of the church, and sallying out of a secret postern of the Temple which
communicated with the harbour, they got on board a small vessel, and
escaped in safety to the island of Cyprus.[319] The residue of the
Templars retired into the large tower of the Temple, called "The Tower of
the Master," which they defended with desperate energy. The bravest of the
Mamlooks were driven back in repeated assaults, and the little fortress
was everywhere surrounded with heaps of the slain. The sultan, at last,
despairing of taking the place by assault, ordered it to be undermined. As
the workmen advanced, they propped the foundations with beams of wood,
and when the excavation was completed, these wooden supports were consumed
by fire; the huge tower then fell with a tremendous crash, and buried the
brave Templars in its ruins. The sultan set fire to the town in four
places, and the last stronghold of the christian power in Palestine was
speedily reduced to a smoking solitude.[320] A few years back the ruins of
the christian city of Acre were well worthy of the attention of the
curious. You might still trace the remains of several churches; and the
quarter occupied by the Knights Templars continued to present many
interesting memorials of that proud and powerful order.