_Consequences of the Loss of Edessa--The State of France unfavourable to a
new Crusade--View of the Progress of Society--Causes and Character of the
Second Crusade--St. Bernard--The Emperor of Germany takes the Cross and
sets out--Louis VII. follows--Conduct of the Germans in Greece--Their
Destruction in Cappadocia--Treachery of Manuel Comnenus--Louis VII.
arrives at Constantinople--Passes into Asia--Defeats the Turks on the
Meander--His Army cut to pieces--Proceeds by Sea to Antioch--Fate of his
remaining Troops--Intrigues at Antioch--Louis goes on to Jerusalem--Siege
of Damascus--Disgraceful Failure--Conrad returns to Europe--Conduct of
Suger, Abbot of St. Denis--Termination of the Second Crusade._
The loss of Edessa shook the kingdom of Jerusalem; not so much from the
importance of the city or its territory, as from the exposed state in
which it left the frontier of the newly established monarchy. The
activity, the perseverance, the power of the Moslems had been too often
felt not to be dreaded; and there is every reason to believe, that the
clergy spoke but the wishes of the whole people, when in their letters to
Europe they pressed their Christian brethren to come once more to the
succour of Jerusalem. Shame and ambition led the young Count of Edessa to
attempt the recovery of his capital as soon as the death of Zenghi, who
had taken it, reached his ears. He in consequence collected a large body
of troops, and on presenting himself before the walls during the night,
was admitted, by his friends, into the town. There he turned his whole
efforts to force the Turkish garrison in the citadel to surrender, before
Nourhaddin, the son of Zenghi, could arrive to its aid. But the Saracens
held out; and, while the Latin soldiers besieged the castle, they found
themselves suddenly surrounded by a large body of the enemy, under the
command of Nourhaddin. In this situation, they endeavoured to cut their
way through the Turkish force, but, attacked on every side, few of them
escaped to tell the tale of their own defeat. Nourhaddin marched over
their necks into Edessa, and, in order to remove for ever that bulwark to
the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, he caused the fortifications to be
razed to the ground.
The consternation of the people of Palestine became great and general. The
road to the Holy City lay open before the enemy, and continual
applications for assistance reached Europe, but more particularly France.
The state of that country, however, was the least[545] propitious that it
is possible to conceive for a crusade. The position of all the orders of
society had undergone a change since the period when the wars of the Cross
were first preached by Peter the Hermit; and of the many causes which had
combined to hurry the armed multitudes to the Holy Land, none remained but
the spirit of religious fanaticism and military enterprise. At the time of
the first crusade, the feudal system had reached the acme of its power.
The barons had placed a king upon the throne. They had rendered their own
dominion independent of his, and though they still acknowledged some ties
between themselves and the monarch--some vague and general power of
restraint in the king and his court of peers--yet those ties were so
loose, that power was so undefined in its nature, and so difficult in its
exercise, that the nobles were free and at liberty to act in whatever
direction enthusiasm, ambition, or cupidity might call them, without fear
of the sovereign, who was, in fact, but one of their own body loaded with
a crown.
The people, too, at that time, both in the towns and in the fields, were
the mere slaves of the nobility; and as there existed scarcely a shadow of
vigour in the kingly authority, so there remained not an idea of distinct
rights and privileges among the populace. Thus the baronage were then
unfettered by dread from any quarter; and the lower classes--both the
poorer nobility, and that indistinct tribe (which we find evidently[546]
marked) who were neither among the absolute serfs of any lord, nor
belonging to the military caste--were all glad to engage themselves in
wars which held out to them riches and exaltation in this world, and
beatification in the next; while they could hope for nothing in their own
land but pillage, oppression, and wrong; or slaughter in feuds without an
object, and in battles for the benefit of others.
Before the second crusade was contemplated, a change--an immense change
had operated itself in the state of society. Just fifty years had passed
since the council of Clermont: but the kings of France were no longer the
same; the royal authority had acquired force[547]--the latent principles
of domination had been exercised for the general good. Kings had put
forth their hands to check abuses, to punish violence and crime; and the
feudal system began to assume the character, not of a simple
confederation, but of an organized _hierarchy_,[548] in which the whole
body was the judge of each individual, and the head of that body the
executor of its sentence. Louis VI., commonly called Louis the Fat,[549]
was the first among the kings of France who raised the functions of
royalty above those of sovereignty, and the distinction between the two
states is an important one. The former monarchs of France, including
Philip I., under whose reign the first crusade was preached, had each been
but sovereigns, who could call upon their vassals to serve them for so
many days in the field, and whose rights were either simply personal, that
is to say, for their own dignity and benefit, or only general so far as
the protection of the whole confederacy from foreign invasion was implied.
Louis the Fat, however, saw that in the kingly office was comprised both
duties and rights of a different character; the right of punishing private
crime,[550] and of opposing universal wrong; the duty of maintaining
public order, and of promoting by one uniform and acknowledged power the
tranquillity of the whole society and the security of each individual. The
efforts of that prince were confined and partial, it is true;[551] but he
and his great minister, Suger, seized the just idea of the monarchical
form of government, and laid the basis of a well-directed and legitimate
authority.
This authority, of course, was not pleasing to the barons, whose license
was thus curtailed. Their views, therefore, were turned rather to the
maintenance of their own unjust privileges, than to foreign adventures.
At the same time, the nobles found themselves assailed by the classes
below them, as well as by the power above, and the people of the towns
were seen to struggle for the rights and immunities so long denied to
them. The burghers had,[552] indeed, been permitted to labour in some
small degree for themselves. Though subject to terrible and grievous
exactions, they had still thriven under the spirit of commerce and
industry. Their lords had sometimes even recourse to them for assistance.
The greater part, though of the servile race, had been either freed, or
were descended from freed men; and the baron of the town in which they
lived, though cruel and tyrannical, was more an exacting protector than a
master. At length--the precise time is unknown--the people of the cities
began to think of protecting themselves; and, by mutual co-operation, they
strove at once to free themselves from the tyranny of a superior lord, and
to defend themselves against the encroachments of others. The word
_commune_[553] was introduced, and each town of considerable size hastened
to struggle for its liberty. At first the horror and indignation of the
nobles were beyond all conception; but the spirit of union among them was
not sufficiently active to put down that which animated the commons.
Each lord had to oppose his revolted subjects alone; and after long and
sanguinary contests,[554] sometimes the baron, the bishop, or the abbot
succeeded in subjugating the people; sometimes the burghers contrived, by
perseverance, to wring from the nobles themselves a charter which assured
their freedom.
This struggle[555] was at its height, at the time when the fall of Edessa
and the growing power of the Moslems called Europe to engage in a second
crusade; but the barons at that moment found their privileges invaded
both by the crown and the people; and the latter discovered that they had
rights to maintain in their own land--that they were no longer the mere
slaves to whom all countries were alike--that prospects were opened before
them which during the first crusade they hardly dreamed of--that the
swords which had before been employed in fighting the quarrels of their
lords at home, or raising them to honour and fame abroad, were now
required to defend their property, their happiness, and the new station
they had created for themselves in society. Thus the period at which aid
became imperatively necessary to the Christians at Jerusalem, was when
France was least calculated to afford it. Nevertheless, the superstition
of a king and the eloquence of a churchman combined to produce a second
crusade; but in this instance it was but a great military expedition, and
no longer the enthusiastic effort of a nation, or a great popular movement
throughout the whole of the Christian world.
One of the strongest proofs of this fact[556] is the scantiness of
historians on the second crusade, and the style in which those that do
exist, speak of its operations. It is no longer the glory of Christendom
that they mention, but the glory of the king; no more the deliverance of
the Holy Land, but merely the acts of the monarch.
In pursuance of the general plan of extending the dominion of the crown,
which had been conceived by Louis VI., and carried on with such infinite
perseverance by his great minister Suger, Louis VII., the succeeding
monarch, on hearing of the election of the Archbishop of Bourges by the
chapter of that city, without his previous consent, had declared the
nomination invalid, and proceeded to acts of such flagrant opposition to
the papal jurisdiction, that the church used her most terrific thunders to
awe the monarch to her will. Thibalt, Count of Champagne, armed in support
of the pope's authority, and Louis instantly marched to chastise his
rebellious vassal. Thibalt was soon reduced to obedience, but the anger of
the monarch was not appeased by submission; for, even after the town of
Vitry had surrendered, he set fire to the church, in which nearly thirteen
hundred people had taken refuge, and disgraced his triumph by one of the
direst pieces of cruelty upon record. A severe illness, however, soon
followed, and reflection brought remorse. At that time the news of the
fall of Edessa was fresh in Europe; and Louis, in the vain hope of
expiating his crime, determined to promote a crusade, and lead his forces
himself to the aid of Jerusalem.
Deputies were speedily sent to the Pope Eugenius, who willingly abetted in
the king's design, and commissioned the famous St. Bernard, Abbot of
Clairvaux, to preach the Cross through France and Germany. St. Bernard
possessed every requisite for such a mission.[557] From his earliest years
he had been filled with religious enthusiasm; he had abandoned high
prospects to dedicate himself entirely to an austere and gloomy
fanaticism; he had reformed many abuses in the church, reproved crime
wherever he found it, and raised the clerical character in the eyes of the
people, too much accustomed to behold among his order nothing but vice,
ignorance, and indolence. He was one of the most powerful orators of his
day, endowed with high and commanding talents of many kinds; and in his
controversy with the celebrated Abelard, the severe purity of his life and
manners had proved most eloquent against his rival. Thus, when after
repeated entreaties[558] he went forth to preach the crusade, few that
heard him were not either impressed by his sanctity, persuaded by his
eloquence, or carried away by his zeal: and thus, notwithstanding the
unfavourable state of France,[559] a multitude of men took the symbol of
the Cross, and prepared to follow the monarch into Palestine. In Germany
the effects of his overpowering oratory were the same. Those who
understood not even the language that he spoke, became awed by his
gestures and the dignified enthusiasm of his manner, and devoted
themselves to the crusade, though the tongue in which it was preached was
unknown to them. Wherever he went his presence was supposed to operate
miracles, and the sick are reported to have recovered by his touch, or at
his command; while all the legions of devils, with which popish
superstition peopled the atmosphere, took flight at his approach. For some
time Conrad, Emperor of Germany, suffered[560] St. Bernard to call the
inhabitants of his dominions to the crusade without taking any active part
in his proceedings, but at length the startling eloquence of the Abbot of
Clairvaux reached even the bosom of the monarch, and he declared his
intention of following the Cross himself. At Vezelai Louis VII. received
the symbol: but the most powerful obstacle that he found to his
undertaking was the just and continued opposition of his minister,[561]
Suger, who endeavoured by every means to dissuade the monarch from
abandoning his kingdom. All persuasions were vain; and having committed
the care of his estates to that faithful servant,[562] Louis himself,
accompanied by Eleonor, his queen, departed for Metz, where he was joined
by an immense multitude of nobles and knights, among whom were crusaders
from England[563] and the remote islands of the northern sea. Ambassadors
from Roger, King of Apulia, had already warned Louis of the treachery of
the Greeks, and besought him to take any other way than that through the
dominions of the emperor; but the French monarch was biassed by other
counsels, and determined upon following the plan before laid down.
The Emperor of Germany was the first[564] to set out, and by June reached
Constantinople in safety, followed by a large body of armed men, and a
number of women whose gay dress, half-military, half-feminine, gave the
march the appearance of some bright fantastic cavalcade.
The King of France, having previously received[565] at St. Denis, the
consecrated banner as a warrior, and the staff and scrip[566] as a
pilgrim, now quitted Metz, and proceeded by Worms and Ratisbon. Here he
was met by envoys from the Emperor of the East, charged with letters so
filled with flattery and fair speeches, that Louis is reported to have
blushed, and the Bishop of Langres to have observed--
Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.
Here,[567] too, the French beheld, for the first time, the custom of an
inferior standing in the presence of his lord. The object of the emperor
was to obtain from Louis a promise to pass through his territories without
violence, and to yield to him every town from which he should expel the
Turks, and which had ever belonged to the Grecian territory.
Part of this proposal was acceded to, and part refused; and the army
marched on through Hungary into Greece. The progress of the second crusade
was of course subject to the same difficulties that attended that of the
first, through a waste and deserted land; but many other obstacles no
longer existed--the people of the country were more accustomed to the
appearance of strangers;[568] the army was restrained by the presence of
the king; and the whole account of the march to Constantinople leaves the
impression of a more civilized state of society than that which existed at
the period of the first crusade. We meet with no massacres, no burning of
towns, no countries laid waste: and though there are to be found petty
squabbles between the soldiers and the townspeople, frays, and even
bloodshed; yet these were but individual outrages, kindled by private
passions, and speedily put down by the arm of authority.
The Germans[569] were less fortunate on their way than the French, and
some serious causes of quarrel sprung up between them and the Greeks, in
which it is difficult to discover who were the chief aggressors. The
Greeks call the Germans[570] barbarians, and the Germans accuse the Greeks
of every kind of treachery; but it appears evident,[571] that Conrad
himself was guilty of no small violence on his approach to Constantinople.
A most magnificent garden had been laid out at a little distance from that
capital, filled with every vegetable luxury of the day, and containing
within its walls vast herds of tame animals, for whose security woods had
been planted, caverns dug, and lakes contrived; so that the beasts which
were confined in this vast prison might follow their natural habits, as if
still at liberty. Here also were several buildings, in which the emperors
were accustomed to enjoy the summer: but Conrad, with an unceremonious
freedom, partaking not a little of barbarism, broke into this retreat, and
wasted and destroyed all that it had required the labour of years to
accomplish. Manuel Comnenus, who now sat on the throne of Constantinople,
beheld, from the windows of his palace, this strange scene of wanton
aggression; and sent messengers[572] to Conrad, who was connected with
him by marriage,[573] desiring an interview. But the Greek would not trust
himself out of the walls of his capital, and the German would not venture
within them, so that a short time was passed in negotiation; and then
Conrad passed over the Hellespont with his forces, relieving the eastern
sovereign from the dread and annoyance of his presence. Manuel, however,
furnished the German army with guides to conduct it through Asia Minor;
and almost all accounts attribute to the Greek the design of betraying his
Christian brethren into the hands of the infidels. After passing the sea,
the troops of Conrad proceeded in two bodies,[574] the one under the
Emperor, and the other under the Bishop of Freysinghen; but the guides
with which they had been provided led them into the pathless wilds of
Cappadocia, where famine soon reached them. At the moment also when they
expected to arrive at Iconium,[575] they found themselves attacked by the
army of the infidels, swelled to an immense extent by the efforts of the
sultaun of the Seljukian Turks, who, on the first approach of the
Christian forces, had spared no means to ensure their destruction. The
heavy-armed Germans[576] in vain endeavoured to close with the light and
agile horsemen of the Turkish host. The treacherous guides had fled on the
first sight of the infidels, and the enemy hovered round and round the
German army, as it struggled on through the unknown deserts in which it
was entangled, smiting every straggler, and hastening its annihilation by
continual attacks. Favoured by the fleetness of their horses, and their
knowledge of the localities, they passed and repassed the exhausted troops
of the emperor,[577] who now endeavoured to retrace his steps under a
continued rain of arrows. No part of the army offered security. The famous
Count Bernard, with many others, was cut off fighting in the rear; the van
was constantly in the presence of an active foe; and the emperor himself
was twice wounded by arrows which fell in the centre of the host. Thus,
day after day, thousands on thousands were added to the slain; and when at
length Conrad reached the town of Nice, of seventy thousand knights, and
an immense body of foot, who had followed him from Europe, scarcely a
tenth part were to be found in the ranks of his shattered army.
That he was betrayed into the hands of the Turks by the guides furnished
by the emperor no earthly doubt can be entertained; nor is it questionable
that Manuel Comnenus was at that time secretly engaged in treaty with the
infidels. It is not, indeed, absolutely proved that the monarch of
Constantinople ordered or connived at the destruction of the Christian
forces; but every historian[578] of the day has suspected him of the
treachery, and when such is the case it is probable there was good cause
for suspicion.
In the mean while, Louis the younger led the French host to
Constantinople, and, unlike Conrad, instantly accepted the emperor's
invitation to enter the city with a small train. Manuel received him as an
equal, descending to the porch of his palace to meet his royal guest. He,
of course, pretended to no homage from the King of France, but still his
object was to secure to himself all the conquests which Louis might make
in the ancient appendages of Greece, without acting himself against the
infidels.
To force the French monarch into this concession, he pursued a plan of
irritating and uncertain negotiations, not at all unlike those carried on
by his predecessor Alexius,[579] towards the leaders of the former
crusade. In the midst of these, however, it was discovered that Manuel had
entered into a secret treaty with the Turks; and, indeed, the confidence
which the deceitful Greeks placed in the promises of the crusaders forms a
singular and reproachful comment on the constant and remorseless breach of
their own. There were many of the leaders of the French who did not
scruple to urge Louis to punish by arms the gross perfidy of the Greek
emperor; and, by taking possession of Constantinople, to sweep away the
continual stumblingblock by which the efforts of all the crusades had been
impeded. Had Louis acceded to their wishes, great and extraordinary
results would, no doubt, have been effected towards the permanent
occupation of the Holy Land by the Christian powers; but that monarch was
not to be seduced into violating his own good faith by the treachery of
another, and after having, on the other hand, refused to aid Manuel in the
war which had arisen between him and Roger, King of Apulia, he crossed the
Bosphorus, and passed into Asia Minor. Thence advancing through
Nicomedia,[580] Louis proceeded to Nice, and encamped under the walls of
that city. Here the first reports reached him of the fate of the German
army, for hitherto the Greeks had continued to fill his ears with nothing
but the successes of his fellows in arms. For a time the news was
disbelieved, but very soon the arrival of Frederic, duke of Suabia,
charged with messages from the German monarch, brought the melancholy
certainty of his defeat.
Louis did all that he could to assuage the grief of the Emperor
Conrad,[581] and uniting their forces, they now marched on by the seacoast
to Ephesus. Here, however, Conrad, mortified at a companionship in which
the inferiority of his own troops was painfully contrasted with the
multitude and freshness of the French, separated again from Louis; and,
sending back the greater part of his army by land, took ship himself and
returned to Constantinople, where he was received both with more
distinction and more sincerity, on account of the scantiness of his
retinue, and the disasters he had suffered.
In the mean while, the French proceeded on their way, and after travelling
for some days without opposition, they first encountered the Turks on the
banks of the Meander.[582] Proud of their success against the Germans, the
infidels determined to contest the passage of the river; but the French
knights, having found a ford, traversed the stream without difficulty, and
routed the enemy with great slaughter. The loss of the Christians was so
small, consisting only of one knight,[583] who perished in the river, that
they as usual had recourse to a miracle, to account for so cheap a
victory.
Passing onward to Laodicea they found that town completely deserted, and
the environs laid waste; and they here heard of the complete destruction
of that part of the German army which had been commanded by the Bishop of
Freysinghen.[584] In the second day's journey after quitting Laodicea, a
steep mountain presented itself before the French army, which marched in
two bodies, separated by a considerable distance. The commander of the
first division, named Geoffroy de Rancun,[585] had received orders from
the king, who remained with the rear-guard, to halt on the summit of the
steep, and there pitch the tents for the night. That Baron, unencumbered
by baggage, easily accomplished the ascent, and finding that the day's
progress was considerably less than the usual extent of march, forgot the
commands he had received, and advanced two or three miles beyond the spot
specified.
The king, with the lesser body of effective troops and the baggage,
followed slowly up the mountain, the precipitous acclivity of which
rendered the footing of the horses dreadfully insecure, while immense
masses of loose stone gave way at every step under the feet of the
crusaders,[586] and hurried many down into a deep abyss, through which a
roaring torrent was rushing onward towards the sea. Suddenly, as they were
toiling up, the whole army of the Turks, who had remarked the separation
of the division, and watched their moment too surely, appeared on the hill
above. A tremendous shower of arrows instantly assailed the Christians.
The confusion and dismay were beyond description: thousands fell headlong
at once down the precipice, thousands were killed by the masses of rock
which the hurry and agitation of those at the top hurled down upon those
below; while the Turks, charging furiously all who had nearly climbed to
the summit, drove them back upon the heads of such as were ascending.
Having concluded,[587] that his advance-guard had secured the ground
above, Louis, with the cavalry of his division, had remained in the rear,
to cover his army from any attack. The first news of the Turkish force
being in presence was gathered from the complete rout of the
foot-soldiers, who had been mounting the hill, and who were now flying in
every direction. The king instantly sent round his chaplain, Odon de
Deuil, to seek for the other body under Geoffroy de Rancun, and to call it
back to his aid; while in the mean time he spurred forward with what
cavalry he had, to repel the Turks and protect his infantry. Up so steep
an ascent the horses could make but little progress, and the Moslems,
finding that their arrows turned off from the steel coats of the knights,
aimed at the chargers, which, often mortally wounded, rolled down the
steep, carrying their riders along with them. Those knights who succeeded
in freeing themselves from their dying steeds were instantly attacked by
the Turks, who, with fearful odds on their side, left hardly a living man
of all the Chivalry that fought that day. The king even, dismounted by the
death of his horse, was surrounded before he could well rise; but,
catching the branches of a tree, he sprang upon a high insulated rock,
where, armed with his sword alone, he defended himself, till the night
falling freed him from his enemies. His situation now would have been
little less hazardous than it was before, had he not luckily encountered a
part of the infantry who had remained with the baggage. He was thus
enabled, with what troops he could rally, to make his way during the night
to the advance-guard, which had, as yet, remained unattacked. Geoffroy de
Rancun had nearly been sacrificed to the just resentment of the people,
but the uncle of the king, having been a participator in his fault,
procured him pardon; and the army, which was now reduced to a state of
greater discipline than before, by the Grand Master of the Templars,[588]
who had accompanied it from Constantinople arrived without much more loss
at Attalia.[589] Here the Greeks proved more dangerous enemies than the
Turks, and every thing was done that human baseness and cunning could
suggest, to plunder and destroy the unfortunate crusaders.
Much discussion now took place concerning their further progress, and the
difficulties before them rendered it necessary that a part of the host
should proceed by sea to Antioch. The king at first determined that that
part, should be the pilgrims on foot; and that he himself with his
Chivalry would follow the path by land. The winter season, however,
approaching, the scanty number of vessels that could be procured, and the
exorbitant price which the Greeks demanded for the passage of each
man--being no less than four marks of silver[590]--rendered the transport
of the foot impossible. Louis, therefore, eager to reach Jerusalem,
distributed what money he could spare among the pilgrims, engaged at an
enormous price a Greek escort and guide to conduct them by land to
Antioch, left the Count of Flanders to command them, and then took ship
with the rest of his knights. The Count of Flanders soon found that the
Greeks, having received their reward, refused to fulfil their agreement,
and the impossibility of reaching Antioch without their aid being plain,
he embarked and followed the king.
The unhappy pilgrims, who remained cooped up beneath the walls, which they
were not permitted to enter, on the one hand, and the Turkish army that
watched them with unceasing vigilance, on the other, died, and were
slaughtered by thousands. Some strove to force their passage to Antioch by
land, and fell beneath the Moslem scimitar. Some cast themselves upon the
compassion of the treacherous Greeks, and were more brutally treated than
even by their infidel enemies. So miserable at length became their
condition, that the Turks themselves ceased to attack them, brought them
provisions and pieces of money, and showed them that compassion which
their fellow-christians refused. Thus, in the end, several hundreds
attached themselves[591] to their generous enemies, and were tempted to
embrace the Moslem creed. The rest either became slaves to the Greeks, or
died of pestilence and famine.
In the mean while, Louis and his knights[592] arrived at Antioch, where
they were received with the appearance of splendid hospitality by Raimond,
the prince of that city, who was uncle of Eleonor, the wife of the French
monarch. His hospitality, however, was of an interested nature: Antioch
and Tripoli hang upon the skirts of the kingdom of Jerusalem as detached
principalities, whose connexion with the chief country was vague and
insecure. No sooner, therefore, did the news of the coming of the King of
France reach the princes of those cities, than they instantly laid out a
thousand plans for engaging Louis in extending the limits of their
territories, before permitting him to proceed to Jerusalem. The Prince of
Antioch assuredly had the greatest claim upon the king, by his
relationship to the queen;[593] and he took every means of working on the
husband, by ingratiating himself with the wife. Eleonor was a woman of
strong and violent passions,[594] and of debauched and libertine manners,
and she made no scruple of intriguing and caballing with her uncle to bend
the king to his wishes. The Archbishop of Tyre, who was but little given
to repeat a scandal, dwells with a tone of certainty upon the immoral life
of the Queen of France, and says, she had even consented that her uncle
should carry her off, after Louis had formally refused to second his
efforts against Cesarea.
However that may be, her conduct was a disgrace to the crusade; and
Louis, in his letters to Suger, openly complained of her infidelity.
The king resisted all entreaties and all threats, and, equally rejecting
the suit of the Count of Tripoli,[595] he proceeded to Jerusalem, where
the emperor Conrad, having passed by sea from Constantinople, had arrived
before him. Here the whole of the princes were called to council; and it
was determined that, instead of endeavouring to retake Edessa, which had
been the original object of the crusade, the troops of Jerusalem, joined
to all that remained of the pilgrim armies, should attempt the siege of
Damascus. The monarchs immediately took the field, supported by the
knights of the Temple and St. John, who, in point of courage, equalled the
Chivalry of any country, and in discipline excelled them all. Nourhaddin
and Saphaddin, the two sons of the famous Zenghi, threw what men they
could suddenly collect into Damascus, and hastened in person to raise as
large a force as possible to attack the Christian army. The crusaders
advanced to the city, drove in the Turkish outposts[596] that opposed
them, and laid siege to the fortifications, which in a short time were so
completely ruined, that Damascus could hold out no longer. And yet
Damascus did not fall. Dissension, that destroying angel of great
enterprises, was busy in the Christian camp. The possession of the still
unconquered town[597] was disputed among the leaders. Days and weeks
passed in contests, and at length, when it was determined that the prize
should be given to the Count of Flanders, who had twice visited the Holy
Land, the decision caused so much dissatisfaction, that all murmured and
none acted. Each one suspected his companion; dark reports and scandalous
charges were mutually spread and countenanced; the Templars were accused
of having received a bribe from the infidels; the European monarchs[598]
were supposed to aim at the subjugation of Jerusalem; the conquerors were
conquered by their doubts of each other; and, retiring from the spot where
they had all but triumphed, they attempted to storm the other side of the
city, where the walls were as firm as a rock of adamant.
Repenting of their folly, they soon were willing to return to their former
ground, but the fortifications had been repaired, the town had received
fresh supplies, and Saphaddin, emir of Mousul, was marching to its relief.
Only one plan was to be pursued. The siege was abandoned, and the
leaders,[599] discontented with themselves and with each other, retreated
gloomily to Jerusalem.
The Emperor of Germany set out immediately for Europe; but Louis, who
still hoped to find some opportunity of redeeming his military fame,
lingered for several months; while Eleonor continued to sully scenes,
whose memory is composed of all that is holy, with her impure amours. At
length the pressing entreaties of Suger induced the French monarch to
return to his native land. There he found the authority he had confided to
that great and excellent minister had been employed to the infinite
benefit of his dominions--he found his finances increased and order
established in every department of the state;[600]--and he found, also,
that the minister was not only willing, but eager, to yield the reins of
government to the hand from which he had received them.--During the
absence of the king, his brother, Robert of Dreux, who returned before
him, had endeavoured to thwart the noble Abbot of St. Denis, and even to
snatch the regency from him; but Suger boldly called together a general
assembly of the nobility of France, and intrusted his cause to their
decision. The court met at Soissons, and unanimously supported the
minister against his royal opponent; after which he ruled, indeed, in
peace; but Robert strove by every means to poison the mind of the king
against him; and it can be little doubted, that Louis, on his departure
from Palestine, viewed the conduct of Suger with a very jealous eye.
The effects of his government, however, and the frankness with which he
resigned it, at once did away all suspicions. The expedition was now over,
but yet one effort more was to be made, before we can consider the second
crusade as absolutely terminated.
Suger had opposed the journey of the king to the Holy Land, but he was not
in the least wanting in zeal or compassionate enthusiasm in favour of his
brethren of the east.[601] Any thing but the absence of a monarch from his
unquiet dominions he would have considered as a small sacrifice towards
the support of the kingdom of Jerusalem; and now, at seventy years, he
proposed to raise an army at his own expense, and to finish his days in
Palestine.--His preparations were carried on with an ardour, an activity,
an intelligence, which would have been wonderful even in a man at his
prime; but, in the midst of his designs, he was seized with a slow fever,
which soon showed him that his end was near. He saw the approach of death
with firmness; and, during the four months that preceded his decease, he
failed not from the bed of sickness to continue all his orders for the
expedition, which could no longer bring living glory to himself. He named
the chief whom he thought most worthy to lead it; he bestowed upon him all
the treasures he had collected for the purpose; he gave him full
instructions for his conduct, and he made him swear upon the Cross to
fulfil his intentions. Having done this, the Abbot of St. Denis waited
calmly the approach of that hour which was to separate him from the
living; and died, leaving no one like him in Europe.
With his life appears to have ended the second crusade, which, with fewer
obstacles and greater facilities than the first, produced little but
disgrace and sorrow to all by whom it was accompanied.[602]