Medieval Crusades

Military Orders of the Latin Kingdom

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 02:32:00 +0000

A standout amongst the most huge achieves of the first campaign was the creation and development of the Military Orders of the Latin Kingdom — the Hospitallers, or Knights of St. John, the Templars, and the Teutonic Knights. And here is a details for all these Military Orders of the Latin Kingdom
:

The Hospitallers

The Templars

Teutonic Knights

Teutonic Knights

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 02:29:00 +0000

The Order of Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital at Jerusalem was established in 1128. Amid its prior history, the individuals of Teutonic Knights restricted their attempts to religious and beneficent work. It was not until 1190, amid a later campaign than that we have been portraying, that it gained military association.

From that time, as a simply German request, it imparted to the Hospitallers and Templars the sanctions offered by the Pope and heads, and challenged with them the palm of chivalry and power. Its particular.

Growth of the Pilgrimage

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 03:17:00 +0000

    The enthusiasm for pilgrimage could be checked neither by the voice of saint nor by common sense. From the depths of the German forests, from the banks of the Seine and the bleak shores of Britain, as well as from the cities of southern Europe, poured the incessant streams of humanity, to bathe in the waters of the Jordan where their Lord was baptized, or perchance to die at the tomb which witnessed his resurrection.

    As early as the fourth century itineraries were published to guide the feet of the pious across the countries of Europe and Asia Minor; hospitals were also established along the road, the support of which by those who stayed at home was regarded as specially meritorious in the sight of Heaven.

In 611 Chosroes the Persian and Zoroastrian captured Jerusalem, slaughtered ninety thousand Christian residents and pilgrims, and, more lamentable in the estimate of that age, carried off the wood of the true cross. But Heraclius, the Greek emperor, after a ten years' war triumphed over the Persian power. Neither conquered lands nor the spoils of princely tents compared in stirring enthusiasm with the recapture of this relic. With great pomp the emperor left a part of the cross to glorify his capital, Constantinople. On September 14, 629, Heraclius entered Jerusalem, bearing, like Simon the Cyrenian, the remainder of the sacred beams upon his back. With bare feet and in ragged garments he traversed the city and reerected the symbol of the world's faith upon the assumed site of Calvary. This event is still commemorated throughout the Roman Catholic world by the annual festival of the " exaltation of the holy cross."

    Marvellous stories, the innocent exaggerations of weak minds or the designed invention of less conscionable shrewdness, fed the credulity of the people. Bishop Arculf told of having seen the three tabernacles still standing upon the Mount of Transfiguration. Bernard of Brittany as an eye-witness described the angel who came from heaven each Easter morn to light the lamp above the Holy Sepulchre.

    At the opening of the ninth century the friendship of Haroun-al-Raschid, King of Persia, for Charlemagne extended the privileges of pilgrims. The keys of the sepulchre of Jesus were sent by him as a royal gift to the Emperor of the West. Charlemagne's capitularies contain references to " alms sent to Jerusalem to repair the churches of God," and to provide lodging, with fire and water, to pilgrims en route.

    The cruel persecution by Mad Hakem, the caliph of Egypt , made scarcely an eddy in the current of humanity moving eastward. Counts and dukes vied with prelates in the multitude of their companions. In 1054 the Bishop of Cambray started with a band of three thousand fellow-pilgrims. In 1064 the Archbishop of Mayence followed with ten thousand, nearly half of whom perished by the way.

    In the latter part of the eleventh century, as has been related, the strong hand of the Turk first effectually checked the pilgrims. The horrors of the atrocities perpetrated by this new Mohammedan power afflicted Europe less than the cessation of the popular movement. The evil was twofold, secular and spiritual.

    Pilgrimage was often a lucrative business as well as a pious performance. In the intervals of his visits to the sacred places the European sojourner plied his calling as a tradesman ; the Franks held a market before the Church of St. Mary ; the Venetians, Genoese, and Pisans had stores in Jerusalem and the coast cities of Phenicia. The courtiers of Europe dressed in the rich stuffs sent from Asia, and drank the wine of Gaza. A great traffic was done in relics. The pilgrim returned having in his wallet the credited bones of martyrs, bits of stone from sacred sites, splinters from furniture and shreds of garments made holy by association with the saints. These were sold to the wealthy and to churches, and their value augmented from year to year by reason of the fables which grew about them.

In more generous minds the passion for pilgrimage was fed by the desire for increased knowledge. Travel was the only compensation for the lack of books. One became measurably learned by visiting, while going to and returning from Palestine, such cities as Constantinople or Alexandria, to say nothing of the enlightening intercourse with one's fellow- Europeans while passing through their lands.

    Mere love of change and adventure also led many to take the staff. If in our advanced civilization men cannot entirely divest themselves of the nomadic habit, but tramp and tourist are everywhere, we need not be surprised at the numbers of those who indulged this passion in days when home life was exceedingly monotonous and its entertainment as meagre.

    But the chief incentive to pilgrimage was doubtless the supposed merit of treading the very footprints of our Lord. Not only was forgiveness of sins secured by kneeling on the site of Calvary, but to die en route was to fall in the open gateway of heaven, one's travel- soiled shirt becoming a shroud which would honor the hands of angels convoying the redeemed soul to the blissful abodes. Great criminals thus penanced their crimes. Frotmonde, the murderer, his brow marked with ashes and his clothes cut after the fashion of a winding-sheet, tramped the streets of Jerusalem, the desert of Arabia, and homeward along the North African coast, only to be commanded by Pope Benedict III. to repeat his penance on even a larger scale, after which he was received as a saint. Foulques of Anjou, who had brought his brother to death in a dungeon, found that three such journeys were necessary to wear away the guilt-mark from his conscience. Robert of Normandy, the father of William the Conqueror, as penance for crime walked barefoot the entire distance, accompanied by many knights and barons. When Cencius assaulted Pope Hildebrand, the pontiff uttered these words : " Thy injuries against myself I freely pardon. Thy sins against God, against His mother, His apostles, and His whole church, must be expiated. Go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem."

We are thus prepared to appreciate the incentive to the crusades which men of all classes found in the speech of Pope Urban at Clermont, in inaugurating the movement : " Take ye, then, the road to Jerusalem for the remission of sins, and depart assured of the imperishable glory which awaits you in the kingdom of heaven."

Origin of the Pilgrim

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 03:07:00 +0000

There is no decisive evidence as to the exact date when the custom of pilgrimages to the Holy Land first obtained in the Christian Church. To the early Christians Jerusalem may well have seemed the city of the wrath rather than of the love of God. To them it was rather the scene of the death than of the resurrection of Christ, and its sacred associations were perhaps obliterated in horror at its profanation with heathen worship under the Roman name of Aelia Capitolina.

But when Christianity found a champion in Constantine theGreat, Jerusalem began to raise its head among the cities of the world. The piety of this Emperor or his mother, Helena, built churches on the traditional scenes of Our Lord's birth and burial ; traditional only, since the almost coeval legend of the Invention of the Cross shows clearly that all exact knowledge had been . lost. Constantine himself is credited with the intention of a visit to the Holy Land, and from this time we can trace the history of the sacred pilgrimages from century to century. That emperor was yet alive when a pilgrim from Bordeaux made the journey by land to Jerusalem, and left a record which still survives. In the Holy City he saw the pool of Solomon, the pinnacle whence Satan tempted Christ to throw Himself, and the little hill of Golgotha, which was the scene of the Crucifixion. At other places, too, he notes with care whatever events in Scripture history had made them famous. Clearly men were already seeking to identify the chief scenes of the sacred narrative, although in their credulity they were ready to accept whatever absurdities invention might offer ; such, for instance, as the sycamore tree into which Zacchaeus had climbed.

By the end of the fourth century the practice pilgrimages had so much increased as to give rise to the custom of collecting alms for the relief of the poor at Jerusalem. It was well, contended St. Jerome, that men should reverence holy shrines and relics. That saint himself, when forced to leave Rome, made his home in the Holy Land, and there his noble patroness, Paula, came to see him, and visit in his company Elijah's tower at Sarepta, the house of Cornelius at Caesarea, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron. Paula herself wrote afterwards to her friend Marcella : " We do not doubt that there are holy men elsewhere than here, but it is here that the foremost of the whole world are gathered together. Here are Gauls and Britons, Persians and Armenians, Indians and ^Ethiopians, all dwelling in love and harmony." In Jerome's time Jerusalem already possessed so many sacred places that the stranger could not visit them in a single day. A hundred and fifty years later, after the city had been adorned by the splendid buildings of Justinian, they cannot have been less in number.

Europe on the Eve of the Crusades

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 03:02:00 +0000

There is an essay in Setton, A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The first hundred years. With title "Western Europe on the eve of the Crusades". Here we will treat with the same historical event in different method.

The once luxuriant civilization of Rome had been swept away by the Northern invaders as completely as a freshet despoils the fields when it not only destroys standing vegetation, but carries with the debris the soil itself. The most primitive arts, those associated with agriculture, were forgotten, and the rudiments of modern industries were not thought of. Much of the once cultivated land had, as has elsewhere been noted, reverted to native forest and marsh, and in places was still being purchased by strangers on titles secured by occupancy and first improvement, as now in the new territories of America. But even nature's pity for man was outraged; the bounty she gave from half-tilled acres was despoiled by men themselves, as hungry children snatch the morsels of charity from one another's hands. What was hoarded for personal possession became the spoil of petty robbers, and what was left by the neighborhood marauder was destroyed in the incessant baronial strife. To these devouring forces must be added the desolating wars between the papal and imperial powers, the conquest and reconquest of Spain by Moors and Christians, and the despoiling of Saxon England by the Normans. Throughout Europe, fields, cottages, castles, oftentimes churches, were stripped by the vandalism which had seemingly become a racial disposition. To this ordinary impoverished condition was added the especial misery, about 1195, of several years' failure of crops. Famine stalked through France and middle Europe; villages were depopulated. Cruel as they were, men grew weary of raiding one another's possessions when there was nothing to bring back but wounds. Even hatred palled when unsupported by envy and cupidity.

The crusades gave promise of opening a new world to greed. The stories that were told of Eastern riches grew, as repeated from tongue to tongue, until fable seemed poor in comparison with what was believed to be fact. All the wealth of antiquity was presumed to be still stored in treasure-vaults, which the magic key of the cross would unlock. The impoverished baron might exchange his half-ruined castle for some splendid estate beyond the iEgean, and the vulgar crowd, if they did not find Jerusalem paved with gold like the heavenly city, would assuredly tread the veins of rich mines or rest among the flowers of an earthly paradise. The Mohammedan's expectation of a sensual heaven after death was matched by the Christian's anticipation of what awaited him while still in life.

They who were uninfluenced by this prospect may have seized the more warrantable hope of opening profitable traffic with the Orient. The maritime cities of Italy had for a long time harvested great gains in the eastern Mediterranean, in spite of the Moslem interruptions of commerce. Would not a tide of wealth pour westward if only the swords of the Christians could hew down its barriers ?

The church piously, but none the less shrewdly, stimulated the sense of economy or greed by securing exemption from taxation to all who should enlist, and putting a corresponding burden of excise upon those who remained at home, whose estates were assessed to pay the expenses of the absent. The householder who found it difficult to save his possessions while keeping personal guard over them was assured that m all his family and effects would be under the watchful protection of the church, with anathemas already forged against any who should molest them. If one were without means he might borrow to the limit of his zeal, with exemption from interest. It was understood that the Jews were still under necessity of paying back the thirty pieces of silver with which they had bought the Christians' Lord, the interest on which, compounded through the centuries, was now equal in amount to all there might be in the vaults of this accursed race.

The Feudal System and the Crusade

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 02:56:00 +0000

In accounting for the crusades we must consider the governmental condition of Europe at the time. Under no other system than that of feudalism would it have been possible to unify and mobilize the masses for the great adventure. Had Europe then been dominated by several great rulers, each with a nation at his control, as the case has been in subsequent times, even the popes would have been unable to combine the various forces in any enterprise that was not purely spiritual. Just to the extent in which the separate nationalities have developed their autonomy has the secular influence of the Roman see been lessened. Kings and emperors, whenever they have felt themselves strong enough to do so, have resented the leadership of Rome in matters having temporal bearings.

¬Nor would the mutual jealousies of the rulers themselves have allowed them to unite in any movement for the common glory, since the most urgent calls have never been sufficient to unite them even for the common defense, as is shown by the supineness of Catholic Europe when, in the fifteenth century, the Turks crossed the Marmora and assailed Constantinople.

But in the eleventh century there was no strong national government in Europe ; kingship and imperialism existed rather in name than in such power as we are accustomed to associate with the words. At the opening of the tenth century France was parcelled out into twenty- nine petty states, each controlled by its feudal lord. Hugh Capet (987-996) succeeded in temporarily combining under his sceptre these fragments of Charlemagne's estate; but his successors were unable to perpetuate the common dominion. In the year 1000 there were fifty-five great Frankish lords who were independent of the nominal sovereign. Indeed, some of these nobles exercised authority more weighty than that of the throne. Louis VI. (1108) first succeeded in making his lordly vassals respect his kingship, but his domain was small. " fie de France, properly so called, and a part of Orliannais, pretty nearly the five departments of the Seine, French Vexin, half the count ship of Sens, and the countship of Bourges — such was the whole of it. But this limited state was as liable to agitation, and often as troublous and toilsome to govern, as the very greatest of modern states. It was full of petty lords, almost sovereign in their own estates, and sufficiently strong to struggle against their kingly suzerain, who had, besides, all around his domains several neighbors more powerful than himself in the extent and population of their states " (Guizot).

In Spain much of the land was still held by the Moors. That which had been wrested from them was divided among the Christian heroes who conquered it, and who, though Feudal System rules were not formally recognized, held it with an aristocratic pretension commensurate with the leagues they shadowed with their swords.

¬In Germany, though imperialism had been established firmly by Otho the Great, the throne was forced to continual compromise with the ambition of its chief vassals, like the dukes of Saxony, Bavaria, Swabia, and Franconia. A papal appeal to such magnates was sufficient at any time to paralyze, or at least to neutralize, the imperial authority.

¬The Norman holdings in the south of Italy, the independence of the cities of Lombardy in the north, the claims of the German emperor and of the popes to landed control, were typical of the divisions of that unhappy peninsula.

¬Later than the age we are studying, Frederick Barbarossa (1152-90) enjoined that "in every oath of fealty to an inferior lord the vassal's duty to the emperor should be expressly reserved." But it was not so elsewhere. When Henry II. (1154-89) and Richard I. (1189-99) claimed lands in France, their French vassals never hesitated to adhere to these Knglish lords, nor " do they appear to have incurred any blame on that account. St. Louis (1226-70) declared in his laws that if 'justice be refused by the king to one of his vassals, the vassal may summon his own tenants, under penalty of forfeiting their fiefs, to assist him in obtaining redress by arms ' " (Hallam).

The extent to which the French barons were independent of the throne will be evident from a glance at their privileges. They possessed unchallenged :

(1) The right of coining money. In Hugh Capet's time there were one hundred and fifty independent mints in the realm.

¬(2) The right of waging private war. Every castle was a fortress, always equipped as in a state of siege.

¬(3) Immunity from taxation. Except that the king was provided with entertainment on his journeys, the crown had no revenue beyond that coming from the personal estates of its occupant.

¬(4) Freedom from all legislative control. Law-making ceased with the capitularies of Carloman in 882. The first renewal of the attempt at general legislation was not until the time of Louis VIII. in 1223. Even St. Louis declared in his establishments that the king could make no laws for the territories of the barons without their consent.

¬(5) Exclusive right of original judicature.

¬But if such was the independence of the feud-holder in his relations to the sovereign, those beneath him were in absolute dependence upon their lord. This is seen in the following obligations of feudal tenants to their superior :

¬(1) Reliefs: sums of money due from every one coming of age and taking a fief by inheritance ; fines upon alienation or change of tenant ownership.

¬(2) Escheats : reversion to the lord of all property upon a tenant's dying without natural heirs, or upon any delinquency of service.

¬(3) Aids : contributions levied in special emergency, as the lord's expedition to the Holy Land, the marriage of his sister, eldest son, or daughter, his paying a " relief " to his overlord, making his son a knight, or redeeming his own person from captivity.

(4) Wardship of tenant during minority. This involved on the part of the lord the right to select a husband for a female dependent, which alliance could be declined only on payment of a fine equal to that which any one desiring the woman could be induced to offer for her.

If the feudal system pressed so harshly upon those who were themselves of high rank, it need not be said that the common people were utterly crushed by this accumulation of graded despotisms, whose whole weight rested ultimately on the lowest stratum. The mass of the lowly was divided into three orders :

(1) Freemen possessing small tracts of allodial land, so called because held by original occupancy and not yet merged in the larger holdings. There were many freemen in the fifth and sixth centuries, but in the tenth century nearly all the land of Europe had become feudal. The freemen, whose possessions were small, soon found it necessary to surrender land and liberty for the sake of protection by some neighboring lord.

¬(2) Villains or serfs, who were attached to the land and transferable with it on change of owners.

¬(3) Slaves. The degradation of the servile class was limitless, the master having the right of life and death, entire use of the property and wages of his people, and absolute disposal of them in marriage. Slavery was abolished in France by Louis the Gross (1 108-37) so f ar as respected the inhabitants of cities ; but it took nearly two centuries more to accomplish the abolition of servitude throughout the kingdom.

The cities were, indeed, rising to assert their communal, if not manhood, rights. The communes, as they were called, demanded and received privilege in certain places of electing any persons to membership as citizens who were guaranteed absolute ownership of property. But the communes were far from even suggesting anything like the modern democratic systems, and were opposed by clergy and nobility. " So that," says Guizot, " security could hardly be purchased, save at the price of liberty. Liberty was then so stormy and so fearful that people conceived, if not a disgust for it, at any rate a horror of it." Men had not evolved the morality which could make a commonwealth. Law was bound on men only by forcq. The wall of the castle, grand and impressive as wealth could build it, or only a rude addition to the natural rock, was the sole earthly object of reverence. To the strong man came the weak, saying, " Let me be yours ; protect me and I will fight for you."

It will be evident that under the feudal system patriotism, in the modern sense of attachment to one's national domain, can scarcely be said to have existed. While we may not believe recent French writers who assert that the love of their country as such was born with the Revolution a hundred years ago, it is certain that the mediaeval attachment was no wider than to one's immediate neighborhood. The crusading Count of Flanders, on viewing the desolate hills about Jerusalem, exclaimed, " I am astonished that Jesus Christ could have lived in such a desert. I prefer my big castle in my district of Arras/' The love of the peasant seems to have been only for his familiar hills and vineyards, and his loyalty was limited by the protecting hand of his lord.

Yet generous spirits could not remain forever so narrowly bounded in their interests. Men were ready to hear the call to a wider range of sympathies and actions. The summons for the crusades thus furnished the lacking sentiment of patriotism; but it was a patriotism that could not be bounded by the Rhine or the Danube, by the Channel or the Pyrenees. Europe was country ; Christendom was fatherland.

¬At the same time the compactness of each feud, the close interdependence of lord and vassal, furnished the condition for the organization of bands of fighting men, ready to move at once, and to continue the enterprise so long as the means of the superior should hold out. There was needed to start the crusading armies no council of parliament or alliance of nations, hazarded and delayed by the variant policies of different courts. If the baron was inclined to obey the call of his ghostly superior, the successor of St. Peter, his retainers were ready to march. And the most brawling of the barons was superstitious enough to think that the voice of the Pope might be the voice of God. If he did not, his retainers did, and disobedience to the papal will might cost him the obedience of those subject to him. Besides, many of the feudal lords were themselves in clerical orders, with their oath of fealty lying at the feet of the Holy Father.

Thus Europe, though divided into many factions, and, indeed, because the factions were so many, was in a condition to be readily united. We shall see in a subsequent chapter that it was in the interest of the holy see to apply the spring which should combine and set in motion these various communities as but parts of that gigantic piece of ecclesiastical and military mechanism invented by Hildebrand.

The Grave of Saladin

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 00:44:00 +0000

They buried him that day in the garden house in the Citadel of Damascus, at the hour of the "asr العصر" prayer. The sword which he had helped through the Holy War was laid adjacent to him : " he brought it with him to Paradise." He had given away everything, and the cash for the internment must be acquired, even to the straw for the blocks that made the grave. The service was as basic as a poor person's burial service. A striped material secured the undistinguished coffin. No artist was permitted to sing a lament, no evangelist to make speech. At the point when the huge number, who thronged about the gate, saw the bier, a great wailing went up, and so distraught were the people that they could not form the words of prayer, but only cried and groaned. All eyes were wet, and there were few that did not weep aloud. Then every man went home and shut his door, and the empty silent streets bore witness to a great sorrow. Only the weeping secretary and those of the household went to pray over the grave and indulge their grief. The next day the people thronged to the tomb, praying, lamenting, reciting the Koran, and invoking the blessing of God upon him who slept beneath.

It was not till the close of a second year that the body of the Sultan was interred by a son's loving care in the oratory on the northern side of the Kellasa, beside the great Omayyad mosque, where it lies now. Over it the faithful chancellor, who was soon to follow his master, wrote the epitaph: “O God, accept this soul, and open to him the gates of heaven, that last victory for which he hoped.

“ I entered into this oratory,” says a later biographer, “ by the door which gives on the Kellasa, and after reciting a portion of the Koran over the grave, I invoked God’s mercy on its dweller. The warden showed me a packet containing Saladin's clothes, and I saw among them a short yellow vest with black cuffs, and I prayed that the sight might be blessed to me."

The savvy doctor Abd el Latif composed, to some degree pessimistically, that as far as anyone is concerned this was the main occurrence of a King's demise that was genuinely grieved by the general population. The mystery of Saladin's energy lay in the affection for his subjects. What others tried to accomplish by dread, by seriousness, by magnificence, he accom plished by generosity. In the paramount words which he talked, not well before his demise, to his best dearest child, ez Zahir, on rejecting him to his common government, he uncovered the wellspring of his own quality.

“My son,” he said, “ I commend thee to the most high God, the fountain of all goodness. Do His will, for that way lieth peace. Abstain from the shedding of blood; trust not to that; for blood that is spilt never slumbers. Seek I0 ruin I/ze luarts of tlzy people, and watch over their prosperity ; for it is to secure their happiness that thou art appointed by God and by me. Try to gain the hearts of thy emirs and ministers and nobles. I have become great as I am because I have won men's hearts by gentleness and kindness”.

Death of Saladin

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 00:37:00 +0000

At the point when Saladin was guaranteed that King Richard of England had truly taken ship and left the nation to Europe, Saladin started an advance through the land which had been won and held at so incredible cost. He went by every one of the fortresses "and boss urban areas, looking at their guards, giving requests for fortications, and putting in each a solid army of stallion and foot. At Beyrut, on the Ist of November, he got the Prince of Antioch, Bohemond the Stammerer, who taken an interest in the arrangement of peace; the meeting was heartfelt, and the Prince was given terrains in the plain of Antioch to the estimation of 15,000 gold pieces a year. At Kaukab—at no time in the future to be called Belvoir—he discovered his antiquated worker of early days, Karakush the developer of the dividers of Cairo, who had grieved in jail at Acre as far back as the surrender. There were no censures, yet just the welcome because of old and attempted commitment. On the fourth of November Damascus yet again acclaimed its Sultan. He had not been inside its doors for a long time, and his open levee the following day was thronged with old companions and glad subjects. The artists had no words uncommon and sufficiently rich for the considerable event.

Once more Saladin was at home among his child ren. We see him sitting in his summer house in the castle grounds, with his younger children about him. Envoys from the Franks were announced, but when they came into his presence, their shaven chins, cropped hair, and strange clothes frightened little Abu Bekr, who began to cry. The father, thinking only of the child, dismissed the ambassadors with an excuse, before they had even delivered their message. Older sons were there, grown men who had fought in his battles, and with these and his brother, el Adil, he went day after day hunting the gazelle in the spacious plains about Damascus. He had thoughts of going to Mekka on pilgrimage, the supreme duty of the pious Moslem; he wished to visit again that Egypt which had been_ his stepping stone to power; but the time passed, and the pilgrims came back from Arabia, and Saladin was still at Damascus, revelling in the delights of a peaceful home.

On Friday the 20th of February, he rode out with Baha d din to meet the caravan of the Hajj. He had not been well of late, and it was the wet season; the roads were streaming after heavy rains, and he had imprudently forgotten to wear his usual quilted gambeson. That night he had fever. The next day he could not join his friends at dinner, and the sight of the son sitting in the father's seat brought tears to many eyes—they took it as an omen. Each day the Sultan grew worse, his head was racked with pain, and he suffered internally. On the fourth day the doctors bled him; and from that time he grew steadily worse. The fever parched his skin, and he became weaker and weaker. On the ninth day his mind wandered; he fell into a stupor and could no longer take his draught. Every night Baha ed din and the chancellor el Fadil would go to see him, or at least to hear the doctors’ report; and sometimes they would come out streaming with tears, which they strove to command, for there was always a multitude outside the gates waiting to learn from their faces how the Master was. On Sunday, the tenth day of the illness, medicine gave some relief, the sick man drank a good draught of barley water, and broke into a profuse perspiration. “We gave thanks to God . . . and came out with lightened hearts." It was but the last effort. On Tuesday night the faithful secretary and chancellor were summoned to the castle, but they did not see the Sultan, who was sinking fast. There was a divine with him, repeating the confession of faith and reading the Holy Word; and when he came to the passage “He is God, than whom there is no other God,—who knoweth the unseen and the seen,—the Compassionate, the Merciful," the Sultan murmured, “True "; and when the words came, “ In Him do I trust," the dying man smiled, his face lighted up, and he rendered his soul to his Lord.

Saladin died on Wednesday, the 4th of March, 1193, at the age of fty ve.

Battle of Tiberias (Hattin, 4 July 1187)

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 00:33:00 +0000

Meanwhile Saladin had assembled into his hand the reins of Egypt and western Asia. In 1 185 the Christians of Palestine sent an interest for help to every one of the courts of Europe. The approach and extent of the peril drove them to choose the most critical dignitaries as their delivery people : Heraclius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, together with the Grand Masters of the Hospitallers and Templars. The ministers offered the crown of Jerusalem to King Henry II. of England, giving him the keys of the Holy Sepulcher an*, of the tower of David. The interest of the East was supported by Pope Lucius, whose letter to Henry demonstrates that Europe feared as much as it put on a show to detest the new Moslem pioneer. The letter read : " For Saladin, the most barbaric persecutor, has emerged to such a contribute his rage that, unless the passionate onset of his underhandedness is checked, he may engage a guaranteed trust that all the Jordan will stream into his mouth, and the land be contaminated by his most loathsome superstitions, and the nation yet again be subjected to the damned territory of the most detestable dictator By the distresses accordingly approaching, we beseech your Mightiness with a palpitating heart," and so on. In any case, neither King Henry's inner voice nor his expectation of picking up a brighter crown in paradise was adequate to draw him from activities closer home.

Saladin quickly verified the Pope's estimate of his ability. In May, 1187, he overthrew the Templars in a battle at Nazareth. With eighty thousand horse he then invested and crushed Tiberias on Galilee. The citadel of this place alone remained untaken. The Christians massed fifty thousand men on the plain of Hattin, above the city, for one supreme endeavor. The boldest feared the result. The sight of the wood of the True Cross gave a martyr courage rather than hope of success. Raymond, whose bravery no man questioned, made an address to the assembled barons, counselling retreat. He said : " In this army is the only hope left to the Christians of the East. Here are gathered all the soldiers of Christ, all the defenders of Jerusalem. The archers of Saladin are more skilful than ours, his cavalry more numerous and better trained. Let us abandon Tiberias and save the army." To lose that battle in the open plain would be, as Raymond foresaw, to lose everything. To retreat might force the enemy to fight against strongholds, when the advantage would be on the Christians side.

This discreet counsel of the veteran was derided by the Master of the Templars, who openly taunted Raymond with some secret alliance with Saladin. Raymond rejoined, " I will submit to the punishment of death if these things do not fall out as I have said." The barons were for following the advice of the veteran, but King Guy, after various changes of mind, gave the fatal order for battle.

The day (July 4, 1 187) was excessively hot The Christians, worn out with the march, advanced to the fight, sustained chiefly by the desperation of their resolve. The Mussulmans occupied the vantage-ground on the hills which make the western shore of the Lake of Tiberias, and welcomed their adversaries' approach with a furious discharge of arrows. Then suddenly, as lightning through a pelting storm, the white turbans and cimeters of the Saracen cavalry, led by Saladin in person, flashed across the field. In the language of the Arabic chronicler : " Then the sons of paradise and the children of fire settled their terrible quarrel. Arrows hurtled in the air like a noisy flight of sparrows, and the blood of warriors dripped upon the ground like rain." .

The True Cross, which had enlivened the Christians' strength, was an event of their shortcoming ; for, giving up on triumph through their own valor, they looked for the assurance of the symbol of their religion. Saladin said thereafter that the Franks flew round the cross like moths cycle a light. Over and over the sultan drove his squadrons through the thickest positions of his adversaries, and would that day have fixed the Christians' destiny had not night offered break to the fight. Amid the haziness the Christians moved their in thick cluster. The Saracens, having unrivaled numbers, embraced the inverse arrangement and expanded their lines, so that when morning broke they encompassed their foes on each side. The Christians futile attempted to break the cordon, which was consistently moving closer and closer, restricting the space inside it as one by one the destined knights fell. The Saracens let go the grass of the plain. Swords flashed through the offensive smoke, and the boldest, whom arms couldn't dismay, dropped from suffocation. The Templars and Hospitallers kept up the fight throughout the day, mobilizing about the cross; however that image was at last taken. It was being borne by Rufinus, Bishop of Acre, when he fell, punctured with a bolt. Says a contemporary author: " This was done through the exemplary judgment of God ; for, as opposed to the use of his forerunners, having more noteworthy confidence in common arms than in glorious ones, he went forward to fight prepared in a layer of mail."

Guy was a captive, together with the Master of the Templars and many of the most celebrated knights, who had failed to find death, though they sought it. Raymond cut his way through the line of Saracens, who praised his amazing valor as they witnessed his exploit, while the Christians denounced him for connivance with the foe.

A scene followed which showed the temper of Saladin. The conqueror received King Guy and his surviving nobles in a manner to lessen, if possible, their chagrin for the disaster. He presented to the king a great goblet filled with drink, which had been cooled in the snows from the Lebanons. Having drunk from it, Guy passed the cup to Renaud, the man who had violated the truce in former years. Saladin could be magnanimous to a worthy antagonist So great was his selfcommand that he observed the most punctilious etiquette even in the rage of a hand-to-hand fight. But to the false and treacherous he could show no mercy. The sight of the truce-breaker fired him with uncontrollable frenzy ; he exclaimed, "That traitor shall not drink in my presence. He gave Renaud the instant choice of death or acceptance of the religion of Mohammed. Renaud refused to subscribe the Koran. Saladin smote him with the side of his sabre, a mark of his contempt. At a signal a common soldier swirled his cimeter, and the head of Renaud fell at King Guy's feet.

Towards the Templars and Hospitallers the sultan had conceived similar hatred from the conviction that they regarded their covenants with their enemies too lightly. As these knights of the white and the red cross were led past him Saladin remarked, " I will deliver the earth of these two unclean races." He bade his emirs each slay a knight with his own hand. Neither the defenceless condition of the captives nor the protestation of his warriors against this cruelty produced any compunction in the breast of the res- olute conqueror.

Magnanimity of Saladin

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 00:30:00 +0000

The attack was irate and met with equivalent valor. Inside and without, the dividers were genuinely buttressed with the groups of the fallen. It was not until the key door was undermined, the bulwarks tottering, and the warriors of Saladin possessing a portion of the towers, that Balian d'Iselin, the commandant, proposed to acknowledge the conditions the Christians had dismisses before the battle. " It is past the point of no return," answered Saladin, indicating his yellow pennants, which announced his inhabitance of many places along the dividers. "Exceptionally all around," answered Balian; "we will obliterate the city. The mosque of Omar, and the puzzling Stone of Jacob which you love, might be beat into tidy Five thousand Moslems whom we hold should be slaughtered. We will then kill with our own hands our spouses and kids, and walk out to you with flame and sword. Not one of us will go to heaven until he has sent ten Mussulmans to damnation." Saladin again bowed to the boldness which he may have rebuffed, and acknowledged the capitulation (October 2, 1187).

The Christian warriors were permitted to retire to Tripoli or Tyre, cities as yet unconquered by Saladin. The inhabitants were to be ransomed at a nominal sum of money for each. Many, however, in their poverty could not produce the required amount The fact, reported to the victor, led to a deed on his part which showed his natural kindliness, together with the exactness of his rule. The ransom money could not be remitted ; it belonged of right to the men whose heroism had been blessed of Allah in taking the city. Saladin and his brother, Malek-Ahdel, paid from their own purses the redemption money for several thousand Christians, who otherwise, according to the usages of war, would have become the slaves of their conquerors.

On the day for the evacuation of the city Saladin erected his throne at the Gate of David to review the wretched army of the vanquished as it passed out. First came the patriarch and priests, carrying the sacred vessels and treasures of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Next followed Queen Sibylla with the remnant of her court. Saladin saluted her with great courtesy, and added words of seemingly genuine consolation as he noted her grief. Mothers carried their children, and strong men bore the aged and sick in their arms. Some paused to address the sultan, asking that members of their families from whom they were separated might be restored to them. Saladin instantly ordered that in no case should children be separated from their mothers, nor husbands from their wives. He permitted the Hospitallers to remain in the city on condition of their resuming those duties which their order was originally instituted to perform, and committed to them the care of the sick who could not endure being removed. Many writers are disposed to analyze the motives of Saladin and to attribute his clemency to politic foresight in subduing the hatred as well as the arms of his enemies. But surely the annals of war are too barren of such acts of humanity to allow us to mar the beauty of the simple narration ; and the virtues of Christians in such circumstances have not been so resplendent that they may not emulate the spirit of one who was their noblest foe.

The new Lord of Jerusalem cleansed the holy city of what to him was the corrupt of excessive admiration, the love of Jesus. The mosque of Omar on the sanctuary site was washed inside and without with rose-water. The platform which Nourredin had made with his own hands was raised by the side of the mihrab, towards which the general population asked as demonstrating the heading of Mecca. The central imam lectured from it on the glories of Saladin, " the shining star of Allah," on the recovery of Jerusalem, from which Mohammed had made his supernatural night excursion to Mecca, and on the sacred war, which must be proceeded until "all the branches of scandalousness ought to be cut " from the tree of life.

The joy of the Moslem world had its refrain in the wails of Europe. It is said that Pope Urban III., on hearing the news, died of a broken heart. The minstrels composed lamentations as the captives did by the rivers of Babylon. Courts and churches were draped in mourning. The superstitious saw tears fall from the eyes of the wooden and stone saints that ornamented the churches. The general gloom was described by one who felt it as " like the darkness over the earth from the sixth to the ninth hour, when Christ was crucified."

Saladin Vezir of Egypt 1169-1171

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 00:28:00 +0000

The Moslem world was ostensibly partitioned between the Syrian caliph of Bagdad and the Egyptian caliph of Cairo. Egypt was wretchedly administered. The caliph of Cairo was yet an animal of his viziers. Amaury, seeing the likelihood of extending his spaces to the Nile, took arms against him. In 1163 he sent an armed force which may have held the nation, had it not been driven out by the adversary's flooding the valley of the Nile. One gathering in Egypt conjured the help of Nourredin, who sent as his general Shirkuh the Kurd, uncle of Saladin. Amaury fulfilled against him the catch of Pelusium in 1164. In 1167 he took Alexandria, instructed at the time by youthful Saladin. He later entered to Cairo and laid El Fostat in fiery remains. In 11 68 Shirkuh recharged the war. Amaury, walking from Egypt to meet his opponent in the abandon, was flanked by that general, who all of a sudden possessed the land left undefended. Amaury, who had hitched a niece of the Emperor Manuel, made with the Greeks an unsuccessful assault upon Damietta. Here the Christians felt the hand of one who was ordained at last to topple all their energy in the East. Saladin was in order. On the demise of Shirkuh he had been selected vizier by the caliph of Cairo. The caliph, wearied of being controlled by outlining and competent men who assimilated to their greatest advantage the power they protected, chose Saladin, suspecting that the young fellow's inability would be to a lesser degree a threat to the caliphate.

Nourredin, but, divined the genius of the younger vizier and assigned to him the preferrred command in egypt. he then deposed the caliph, and with his reign delivered to an end the dynasty of the fatimites, which for 2 hundred years had held the land of the nile. therefore nourredin ruled supreme from babylonia to the wilderness of libya. simplest the dominion of jerusalem marred the map of his dominion. to reconquer this for islam become his incessant motive. along with his personal hands he made a pulpit, from which he promised the faithful at some point to preach within the mosque of omar at the temple web page.

But the Moslem world was already attached to one destined to be greater than Nourredin. The youth of Saladin had been one of apparent indolence and dissipation, but he veiled beneath his indifference the finest genius and most unbounded ambition. As soon as he felt the possession of power he assumed a corresponding dignity, and men recognized him as one appointed of Heaven. Turbulent emirs, who had ignored him as a chance holder of position, now sat reverently before him. Even the priests were struck with the sincere austerity of his devotion. The caliph of Bagdad bestowed upon him the distinguished dignity of the vest of honor. Poets began to mingle his name with those of heroes as the rising star. The pious included it in their prayers as the hope of Islam.

Knowing that experience is often wiser than genius, Saladin judiciously guarded himself from the errors of youth by associating his father, Ayoub, with him in the government of Egypt. Nourredin, whose successful career had allowed him no jealousy of ordinary men, showed that he was restless at the popularity and ability displayed by his young subaltern, and was preparing to take Egypt under his own immediate government when death, his first vanquisher, came upon the veteran (May, 1 1 74). Saladin immediately proclaimed himself Sultan of Egypt, and hastened to secure the succession of Nourredin's power as Sultan of Damascus.

Saladin Youth Period 1138-1164

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 18:58:00 +0000

Ayyub, father of Saladin,sadly departing from the castle of Tekrit in I138 , with his brother, on the very night of Saladin’s birth. They betook themselves to Zengy at Mosul, and were not disappointed of their welcome. The great Atabeg had not forgotten the ferry on the Tigris, and was never the man to turn away a good sword. The two brothers served in his armies in many wars, and when Baalbekk fell, in October, I139, Ayyub became the governor of the conquered city. Baalbekk, or Heliopolis, the old “ city of the Sun," was celebrated not only for its antiquity and its temples, but for its lofty situation. It stood between Lebanon and Antilibanus, overhanging the valley of the Litany, at a height of four thousand feet above the sea, and was said to be the coldest town in Syria. A legend tells how men asked the Cold, “ Where shall we ¿nd thee?" and it answered, “ My home is Baalbekk." Though far from being the magnificent city that it was in the days when Antoninus Pius built the great temple of which a part still stands, Baalbekk in the time of Ayyub was yet an important town, surrounded by fertile fields, orchards, and gardens, and defended by a strong wall, with a citadel, or acropolis, on the west. It had not yet suffered the vandal touch of the Mongols, or the ¿nal upheaval of earthquake, which reduced it to its present ruined state. Its “ presses over Àowed with grapes,” sweet water ran through the town, and mills and water wheels all around bore witness to fertility. To be placed in command of so great and prosperous a city was a convincing proof of Zengy's con¿dence, especially when it happened to be the southernmost outpost over against the hostile city of Damascus, distant only thirty-five miles.

Here the governor's son Saladin spent some years of his childhood ; and, according to the saying, they ought to have been happy years, because they have no history. We know absolutely nothing of the family of Ayyub between 1139 and I I46, the period of their residence at Baalbekk. No doubt Saladin received the usual education of a Moslem boy; probably as the son of the commandant he had the best teaching within reach. Ayyub was particularly devout, and even founded a convent for Sufy recluses at Baalbekk. His son was doubtless drilled for years in the Koran, in Arabic grammar, and the elements of rhetoric, poetry, and theology; for, whatever the race of the Saracen rulers of those days, their educational standard was Arabian; and to instil the Koran and traditions, to teach a pure Arabic style and the niceties of Arabic syntax, formed the chief aim of the learned but limited men who were entrusted with the training of distinguished youth.

Whatever schooling Saladin had at Baalbekk must have been meagre compared with his later opportunities. He was not yet nine years old when his father's patron was murdered, and the death of the great Atabeg was of course the signal for the recovery of Baalbekk by its old Damascus owner. Ayyub made no effort to defend the town. He was ever a diplomatic, prudent sort of man, keenly alive to his own interests. He saw that the two sons of Zengy, who shared their father's dominions, were occupied in watching each other, and had no time to look after Baalbekk. Mosil was distant, and Aleppo timid. On the other hand, Damascus was near, and was resolved to get back her own. When her troops entered Baalbekk, Ayyub made terms from the citadel, and before he surrendered he had arranged to receive a handsome ¿ef, including ten villages near Damascus, a good sum down, and a house in the capital. Here his statecraft and sagacity soon procured him a high position at the court of Abak, the grandson of Tughtigin, and in a few years he rose to be commander-in-chief of the Damascus army.

Ayyub held this exalted post when Zengy's son, the King of Aleppo, Nur-ed-din Mahmud, marched against Damascus in April, 1154. The name of Nur-ed-din (Noradin) is second only to Saladin among the great defenders of Islam. After the catastrophe at Jaabar, the Atabeg’s kingdom had fallen into two been brought to a successful issue,’ says William of Tyre, ‘ had it not been for the greed of the great princes, who commenced negotiations with the citizens.’ At the advice of traitors, the camp was shifted to the south-west, where, so ran the rumor, the wall was too weak to with stand the feeblest onslaught. But here the Crusaders found a more deadly enemy than strong fortifications; for in their new position they were cut off from the river and deprived of the orchard fruits ; and through lack of food and leadership despair fell upon the host, until men began to talk of retreat. There was jealousy, likewise, between the Syrian Franks and their Western allies, and out of this too fertile source of evil, Anar, the Vezir of Damascus, was not slow to reap pro¿t for himself. He pointed out to the former the folly of helping their brethren to seize Damascus, the capture of which would be but the prelude to the seizing of Jerusalem also. His arguments, supported as they doubtless were by bribes, brought about the abandonment of the siege. By Easter, I149, this valiant Crusade was on its way home.

In such a crisis no man who could bear a sword could have been idle in Damascus. Ayyub, though he probably did not attain the rank of commander-in-chief until after Anar's death in the August following the siege, must have played a prominent part in the defense. Saladin was of course too young to be more than an absorbed spectator. It is true that Western legend tells how Eleanor of France carried on her amours with the future “ Soldan ”; but as he was then but eleven years old, King Louis’s jealousy found a more probable accomplice for the divorce, which afterwards took place, than a good little boy at school.

Five years later, Ayyub was the chief agent in changing the dynasty and admitting the son of his old patron to the capital of Syria. It happened that whilst the elder brother had made terms with Damascus and had there risen to high power, the younger, Asad-ed-din Shirkuh, the “ Mountain Lion,” had taken service with Nur-ed-din, and such was the valor he showed in every engagement, that his master not only gave him valuable cities in fief—such as Emesa and Rahba,—but placed him in command of the army which was destined for the conquest of Damascus.

The great opportunity seemed at last to have come. The Franks were discredited and dismayed after the miserable collapse of the Second Crusade; Mesopotamia was quiet under the magnanimous rule of Zengy's eldest son ; the indomitable Anar, who had repeatedly withstood the great Atabeg himself, was dead, and in his stead had risen Ayyub, whose brother was Nur-ed-din’s trusted marshal; and already the Prince of Damascus had humbly paid homage to the King of Aleppo. If ever the hour had struck for the realizing of Zengy's dream of a Syrian empire, centered at Damascus, it was now.

In April, I154, Nur-ed-din’s army appeared on some pretext before the unconquered city. Shirkuh opened negotiations with his politic brother within the walls. In six days all was arranged ; Ayyub did justice to his old devotion to the house of Zengy, and espoused the side of the strongest battalions. The people of Damascus, like sheep astray, now that Anar was dead, abandoned their hereditary lord, and following Ayyub's advice opened their gates to the powerfulest sovereign of the age. Nur-ed-din entered Damascus without a blow, and the brothers were duly rewarded. Ayyub alone of all the court was granted the right to be seated in the presence of the king, and was made governor of Damascus; Shirkuh was established at Emesa, with the viceroyalty over the whole Damascene province. The ferry on the Tigris had proved a sovereign talisman ; but if they owed their ¿rst advance to a stroke of fortune, both brothers evidently possessed the talent and courage to use their opportunities.

From 1154 to 1164, Saladin lived at Damascus, at the Court of Nur-ed-din, with the consideration that belonged to the son of the commandant. As to what he did, what he studied, how he passed his time, and with whom, the Arab chroniclers maintain an exasperating silence. We are informed that he showed himself a youth of “ excellent qualities,” that he learned from Nur-ed-din how “ to walk in the path of righteousness, to act virtuously, and to be zealous in fighting the infidels." As the favored governor's son, he naturally enjoyed a privileged position, but, far from exhibiting any symptoms of future greatness, he was evidently a shining example of that tranquil virtue which shuns “the last infirmity of noble minds.” This is all we are told of Saladin up to the age of twenty-five. The Syrian nobles and Saladin’s rank was now high—spent their youth in study, and their manhood in war and hunting and the cultivation of letters. Stalking the lion was the king of sports, but coursing and hawking were practiced with unflagging energy. We read of setters and falcons imported regularly from Constantinople, where they were bred with great care and science. But we are not told a word to favor the supposition that Saladin as a youth was a mighty hunter; all we know tends to the belief that he preferred a quiet seclusion, and like his sagacious father, rather than his impetuous uncle, governed his life on principles of prudence and placidity. When it came to a choice of ways, the one arduous but leading to honour and renown, the other to peaceful insignificance, Saladin, as we shall see, endeavoured to choose the latter; nor was it a case of a formal noli episcopari, but rather the protest of a retired nature against the rush and press of an ambitious career. He was one of those who have greatness thrust upon them; and though, when once fairly launched, he missed no opportunity of 'extending his power, it may well be doubted whether he would ever have started at all but for the urgency of his friends. An uneventful youth might have gently passed into a tranquil old age, and Saladin might have remained plain Salah-ed-din of Damascus with a name too obscure to be European.

Nor is it likely that he would have distinguished himself as a scholar or poet. To judge by later years, his literary tastes tended to the theological; he loved poetry indeed, but less than keen dialectic; and to hear holy traditions traced and verified, canon law formulated, passages in the Koran explained, and sound orthodoxy vindicated, inspired him with a strange delight. Like his father Ayyub, he was above all things a devout Moslem; and at Damascus he had ample opportunities for cultivating divinity. Learning in those days meant theological armory more than anything else, and wise men came in throngs from the East and from the West, from Samarkand and from Cordova, to teach and be taught in the mosques and medresa: of Damascus. They must have brought with them the knowledge of other lands and other customs and arts. Perhaps Saladin sat and listened in the west corner of the Great Omayyad Mosque, when Ibn-Aby-Usrun was holding his lectures there. He could have no better master than one who was styled a “leader of his age in talents and legal learning," and whom Nur-ed-din not only brought with him to Damascus, but even built colleges in most of the great cities of Syria for him to lecture in, that his wonderful gifts might be known of all. He became a judge in Mesopotamia, and it speaks well for Saladin’s faithfulness to early ties that, when the old man lost his sight, the Damascus youth who had become the greatest of Sultans refused to let him be deprived of his honorable office.

A negative proof of the retired life led by Saladin in youth and early manhood is found in the fact that Osama, who spent nearly the whole of the ten years, 1154-1164, at Damascus in intimate relations with the court (when it happened to be there), does not once mention him, and when at last he met him in 1174 it seems that a formal introduction had to be made.* Had Saladin been constantly at court, Osama must have known him. At the same time it must be remembered that the Arab chief was between sixty and seventy at the period of his earlier Damascus residence, and would hardly have paid much attention to a mere youngster; and further, that the old poet's impulsive Bohemian nature could have had little in common with the staid young man who preferred the society of divines. Saladin possibly thought Osama a sad warning, and the wild old Arab perhaps retorted with the opinion that the governor's discreet son was no better than a prig.

The fact that Saladin, who was afterwards the most renowned leader of his time, was apparently a completely obscure individual up to the age of twenty-five, is the more curious when it is remembered that his uncle Shirkuh, who afterwards brought him into public life, was Nur-ed-din’s right-hand man, a conspicuously able and ambitious general, and was even spoken of as almost his colleague in sovereignty.1' When in 1159 Nur-ed-din was apparently dying of a malady which kept him stretched for months on a bed of sickness at Aleppo, Shirkuh, then unquestionably the premier noble of Syria, was on the point of seizing the crown itself, and was only deterred by the ever prudent counsels of Ayyub, who suggested that it might be wise to wait and see whether their master was really going to die or not In 1160 Shirkuh acted as leader of the Damascus caravan of pilgrims to Mekka, and displayed extraordinary pomp on the occasion; yet we do not hear of Saladin among his brilliant staff, nor did the latter, despite his religious instinct, ever perform that journey which to Moslems is the crowning act of grace. Shirkuh of course took a prominent part in the wars of Nur-ed-din, in the conquest of Harim (Harenc) from the Franks in 1162, and the ensuing capture of fifty Syrian fortresses, whereby the kingdom of Zengy's cautious son was extended to Marash on the border of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum on the north, and southward to Banias at the foot of Mount Hermon, and to Bozra in the Hauran.

In all this Saladin had no share: if he had taken the smallest part in any warlike operation we may be sure his admiring biographers would have recorded it. It was not until Shirkuh made his memorable expeditions to Egypt that the future “ Sultan of the Moslems” emerged from his voluntary retirement and stepped boldly into his uncle's place as the true successor of Zengy in the role of Champion of Islam.

Letters of the Crusaders

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 01:58:00 +0000

1- Letters of the Crusaders of the First Crusade:

- Letters of the First Crusade: Anselme of Ribemont to Manasses II in February 10, 1098

- Letters of the First Crusade: Stephen, Count of Blois to his wife, Adele, 1098,

- Letters of the First Crusade: From Daimbert, Godfrey and Raymond to the Pope Urban II in 1099

2- Letters of the Crusaders of the Second Crusade:

- letter from Conrad III to Wibald, Abbot of Corvey in 1148.

- Another letter from Conrad III to Wibald, Abbot of Corvey in 1148.

3- Letters of the Crusaders: Letter from Aymeric, Patriarch of Antioch, to Louis VII, King of France in 1164.

4- Letters of the Crusaders: Letter from the East to Master of the Hospitalers in I187.

5- Letters of the Third Crusade:

- Letter from Frederic I to Leopold of Austria in 1189.

- Letter from Sibylla, Ex queen of Jerusalem, to Frederic 1 in 1189.

6- Letters of the Crusaders: Letter from Duke of Lorraine to the Archbishop of Cologne in 1197.

7- Letters of the Sixth Crusade:

- Letters of the Sixth Crusade: Letter from Frederic II to Henry III of England in I229.

- Letters of the Sixth Crusade: Letter from Gerold, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to all the Faithful in 1229.

- Letter from the Master of the Hospitalers at Jerusalem to Lord de Melaye in I244.

- Letter from Guy, a crusader Knight, to B. of Chartres in I249.

8- Other Letters from the Crusaders.

Other Letters from the Crusaders

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 01:45:00 +0000

This is a list of other Letters from the Crusaders:

- 1098. (July.) Letter from Bohemond, Godfrey, Raymond, and Hugh the Great to all Christians.

- 1098. (Sept. ix.) Letter of the principal Crusaders to Pope Urban II.

- 1187. Letter of Terricius, Master of the Temple, to all Commanders and Brethren of the Temple.

- 1188. Letter of Conrad, son of the Marquis of Mont-Ferrat, to Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury.

- 1088. Letter of Patriarch of Antioch to Henry II., King of England.

- 1188. Letter of Terricius to Henry II., King of England.

- 1188. Letter of Frederic I. to Saladin.

- 1190. (Oct. 21.) Letter from Archbishop Baldwin's Chaplain to his Consent at Canterbury

- 1191. (Oct. 1.) Letter of Richard I. from Joppa to N., his subject.

- 1191. (Oct. 1.) Letter of Richard I. from Joppa to Abbot of Clairvaux.

- 1191. (About Oct. 17.) Letter of Richard I. to Saladin.

- 1191. Letter of Richard I. to Walter, Archbishop of Rouen.

- 1201. Letter of Master of the Hospital at Jerusalem to the Prior and his Brethren throughout England.

- 1220. Letter of Peter de Montacute, Master of the Temple, to A. Martel, Preceptor in England.

- 1221. Letter of Peter de Montacute to the Bishop of Elimenum.

- 1222. Letter of P. de Albeney to the Earl of Chester and Lincoln.

- 1227. Letter of Qerald, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Others, to all Christians.

- 1237. Letter of Philip, Prior of the Brotherhood of Preachers, to Pope Gregory IX.

- 1240. Letter of Hermann of Perigord, Master of the Knights of the Temple, to Master Robert Sanford, Preceptor of the House of the said Knights in England.

- 1244. Letter of Same to Same.

- 1244. Letter of Brother Q. of Newcastle to M. de Merlaye.

- 1244. Letter of Robert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to all Christians.

- 1249. Letter of Robert, Count of Arras [d'Artois] to Blanche, Queen of France.

- 1249. Letter of William de Sonnac, Master of the Soldiery of the Temple, to Master Robert Sanford.

- 1250. Letter to Earl Richard.

- 1250. Letter of John, his Chancellor, to Richard, Earl of Cornwall.

- 1250. (August.) Letter of St. Louis to his Subjects.

- 1252. (May 2.) Letter of Joseph of Cancy, Treasurer of the House of the Hospital of Jerusalem, at Acre, to Walter of St. Martin's.

- 1252. Letter of William of Orleans to Richard, Bishop of Chichester.

- 1281. Letter from Sir Joseph de Cancy, Knight of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, to King Edward I.

References:

Dana C. Munro, "Letters of the Crusaders", Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, Vol 1:4, University of Pennsylvania, 1896.

Medieval Sourcebook: Letters from The Crusaders.

Letters of the Sixth Crusade

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 01:41:00 +0000

These are the most valuable sources for the crusade of Frederic II. Each of the contestants tells the story from his own standpoint. We have comparatively little data for controlling their statements and determining their motives.

- Letters of the Sixth Crusade: Letter from Frederic II to Henry III of England in I229.

- Letters of the Sixth Crusade: Letter from Gerold, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to all the Faithful in 1229.

- Letter from the Master of the Hospitalers at Jerusalem to Lord de Melaye in I244.

- Letter from Guy, a crusader Knight, to B. of Chartres in I249.

Letters of the Sixth Crusade: Letter from Guy, a crusader Knight, to B. of Chartres in I249

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 01:38:00 +0000

To his dear half-brother and well-beloved friend, master B. of Chartres, student at Paris, Guy, a knight of the household of the viscount of Melun, greeting and a ready will to do his pleasure.

Because we know that you are uneasy about the state of the Holy Land and our lord, the king of France, and that you are interested in the general welfare of the church as well as the fate of many relatives and friends who are fighting for Christ under the king's orders, therefore, we think we ought to give you exact information as to the events of which a report has doubtless already reached you.

After a council held for that purpose, we departed from Cyprus for the East. The plan was to attack Alexandria, but after a few days a sudden tempest drove us over a wide expanse of the sea. Many of our vessels were driven apart and scattered. The sultan of Cairo and other Saracen princes, informed by spies that we intended to attack Alexandria, had assembled an infinite multitude of armed men from Cairo, Babylon, Damietta and Alexandria, and awaited us in order to put us, while exhausted, to the sword. One night we were borne over the waves by a violent tempest. Toward morning the sky cleared, the storm abated, and our scattered vessels came together safely. An experienced pilot who knew all the coast in this part of the sea and many idioms, and who was a faithful guide, was sent to the masthead, in order that he might tell us if he saw land and knew where we were. After he had carefully and sorrowfully examined all the surrounding country, he cried out terrified, "God help us, God help us, who alone is able ; we are before Damietta.' '

Indeed all of us could see the land. Other pilots on other vessels had already made the same observation, and they began to approach each other. Our lord, the king, assured of our position, with undaunted spirit, endeavored to reanimate and console his men. "My friends and faithful soldiers," said he to them, "we shall be invincible if we are inseparable in our love of one another. It is not without the divine permission that we have been brought here so quickly. I am neither the king of France nor the holy church, you are both. I am only a man whose life will end like other men's when it shall please God. Everything is in our favor, whatever may happen to us. If we are conquered, we shall be martyrs; if we triumph, the glory of God will be exalted thereby — that of all France, yea, even of Christianity, will be exalted thereby. Certainly it would be foolish to believe that God, who foresees all, has incited me in vain. This is His cause, we shall conquer for Christ, He will triumph in us, He will give the glory, the honor and the blessing not unto us, but unto His name."

In the meantime our assembled vessels approached the land. The inhabitants of Damietta and of the neighboring shores could view our fleet of 1500 vessels, without counting those still at a distance and which numbered 150. In our times no one, we believe, had ever seen such a numerous fleet of vessels. The inhabitants of Damietta, astonished and frightened beyond expression, sent four good galleys, with well-skilled sailors, to examine and ascertain who we were and what we wanted. The latter having approached near enough to distinguish our vessels, hesitated, stopped, and, as if certain of what they had to report, made ready to return to their own party; but our galleys with the fast boats got behind them and hemmed them in, so that they were compelled, in spite of their unwillingness, to approach our ships.

Our men, seeing the firmness of the king and his immovable resolution, prepared, according to his orders, for a naval combat. The king commanded to seize these mariners and all whom they met, and ordered us afterward to land and take possession of the country. We then, by means of our mangonels which hurled from a distance five or six stones at once, began to discharge at them fire-darts, stones, and bottles filled with lime, made to be shot from a bow, or small sticks like arrows. The darts pierced the mariners and their vessels, the stones crushed them, the lime flying out of the broken bottles blinded them. Accordingly, three hostile galleys were soon sunk. We saved, however, a few enemies. The fourth galley got away very much damaged. By exquisite tortures we extracted the truth from the sailors who fell alive into our hands, and learned that the citizens of Damietta had left the city and awaited us at Alexandria. The enemies who succeeded in escaping and whose galley was put to flight, some mortally wounded, uttering frightful cries, went to tell the multitude of Saracens who were waiting on the shore, that the sea was covered with a fleet which was drawing near, that the king of France was coming in hostile guise with an infinite number of barons, that the Christians were 10,000 to one, and that they caused fire, stones, and clouds of dust to rain down. " However," they added 1 ' while they are still fatigued from the labor of the sea, if your lives and your homes are dear to you, hasten to kill them, or at least to repulse them vigorously until our soldiers return. We alone have escaped with difficulty to warn you. We have recognized the ensigns of the enemy. See how furiously they rush upon us, equally ready to fight on land or sea."

In consequence of this speech, fear and distrust seized the enemy. All of our men, assured of the truth, conceived the greatest hopes. In emulation of one another they leaped from their vessels into the barks ; the water was too shallow along the shore, the barks and the small vessels could not reach the land. Several warriors, by the express order of the king, cast themselves into the sea. The water was up to their waists. Immediately began a very cruel combat. The first crusaders were promptly followed by others and the whole force of infidels was scattered. We lost only a single man by the enemy's fire. Two or three others, too eager for the combat, threw themselves into the water too quickly and owed their deaths to themselves rather than to others. The Saracens giving way, retired into their city, fleeing shamefully and with great loss. Great numbers of them were mutilated or mortally wounded.

We would have followed them closely, but our chiefs, fearing an ambuscade, held us back. While we were fighting some slaves and captives broke their chains, for the gaolers had also gone out to fight us. Only the women, children and the sick had remained in the city. These slaves and captives, full of joy, rushed to meet us, applauding our king and his army, and crying " Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord." These events happened on Friday the day of our Lord's Passion ; we drew from it a favorable augury. The king disembarked joyfully and safely, as well as the rest of the Christian army. We rested until the next day, when, with the aid and under the guidance of slaves who knew the country and the roads, we got possession of what remained to be captured of the land and shore. But during the night the Saracens, who had discovered that the captives had escaped, had killed those who remained. They thus made of them glorious martyrs of Christ, to their own damnation.

In the darkness of the following night and on Sunday morning, as they lacked weapons and troops, the Saracens seeing the multitude of the Christians who were landing, their courage and firmness, and the sudden desolation of their own city, lacking leaders, superiors and persons to incite them, as well as destitute of strength and weapons for fighting, departed, taking their women and children and carrying off everything movable. They fled from the other side of the city by little gates which they had made long before. Some escaped by land, others by sea, abandoning their city filled with supplies of all kinds. That same day at nine o'clock, two captives who escaped by chance from the hands of the Saracens, came to tell us what had happened. The king, no longer fearing an ambuscade, entered the city before three o'clock without hindrance and without shedding blood. Of all who entered only Hugo Brun, earl of March, was severely wounded. He lost too much blood from his wounds to survive, for he was careless of his life, because of the reproaches which had been inflicted upon him, and rashly rushed into the midst of the enemy. He had been stationed in the front rank, at his own request, because he knew that he was an object of suspicion.

I must not forget to say that the Saracens, after having determined to flee, hurled at us a great quantity of Greek fire, which was very injurious to us, becuase it was carried by a wind which blew from the city. But this wind, suddenly changing, carried the fire back upon Damietta, where it burned several persons and fortresses. It would have consumed more property, if the slaves who had been left had not extinguished it by a process which they knew, and by the will of God, who did not wish that we should take possession of a city which had been burnt to the ground.

The king, having then entered the city in the midst of cries of joy, went immediately into the temple of the Saracens to pray and thank God, whom he regarded as the author of what had taken place. Before eating, all the Christians, weeping sweet and sacred tears of joy, and led by the legate, solemnly sang that hymn of the angels, the Te Deum Laudamus. Then the mass of the blessed Virgin was celebrated in the place where the Christians in ancient times had been wont to celebrate mass and to ring the bells, and which they had now cleansed and sprinkled with holy water. In this place, four days before, as the captives told us, the foul Mohammed had been worshiped with abominable sacrifices, loud shouts and the noise of trumpets. We found in the city an infinite quantity of food, arms, engines, precious clothing, vases, golden and silver utensils and other things. In addition we had our provisions, of which we had plenty, and other dear and necessary objects brought from our vessels.

By the divine goodness, the Christian army, like a pond which is greatly swollen by the torrents pouring in, was added to each day by some soldiers from the lands of lord Ville-Hardouin and some Templars and Hospitalers, besides pilgrims newly arrived, so that we were, by God's grace, largely reinforced. The Templars and Hospitalers did not want to believe in such a triumph. In fact, nothing that had happened was credible. All seemed miraculous, especially the Greek fire which the wind carried back onto the heads of those who hurled it against us. A similar miracle formerly took place at Antioch. A few infidels were converted to Jesus Christ and up to the present time have remained with us.

We, instructed by the past, will in the future exercise much prudence and circumspection in our actions. We have with us faithful Orientals upon whom we can count. They know all the country and the dangers which it offers; they have been baptized with true devotion. While we write, our chiefs are considering what it is necessary to do. The question is whether to proceed to Alexandria or Babylon and Cairo. We do not know what will be decided. We shall inform you of the result, if our lives are spared. The sultan of Babylon, having learned what has taken place, has proposed to us a general engagement for the morrow of St. John the Baptist's day, and in a place which the two armies shall choose, in order, as he says, that fortune may decide for the men of the East or the men of the West, that is between the Christians and themselves, and that the party to whom fate shall give the victory, may glory in it, and the conquered may humbly yield. The king replied that he did not fear the enemy of Christ one day more than another and that he offered no time for rest, but that he defied him to-morrow and every day of his life, until he should take pity on his own soul and should turn to the rd who wishes the whole world to be saved, and who opens the bosom of His mercy to all those who turn to Him.

We tell you these things in this letter through our kinsman Guiscard. He seeks nothing else than that he may, at our expense, prepare himself for a professorship and have a fit lodging for at least two years.

We have learned nothing certain worth reporting about the Tartars. We can expect neither good faith from the perfidious, nor humanity from the inhuman, nor charity from dogs, unless God, to whom nothing is impossible, works this miracle. It is He who has purged the Holy Land from the wicked Charismians. He has destroyed them and caused them to disappear entirely from under heaven. When we learn anything certain or remarkable of the Tartars, or others, we will send you word either by letter or by Roger de Montefagi, who is to return to France in the spring, to the lands of our lord the viscount, to collect money for us.

Letters of the Sixth Crusade: Letter from the Master of the Hospitalers at Jerusalem to Lord de Melaye in I244

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 01:33:00 +0000

To the most potent lord, M. de Melaye, brother G. of Newcastle, by the grace of God, humble master of the holy house at Jerusalem, and guardian of the poor followers of Christ — greeting.

From the information contained in our letters, which we have sent to you on each passage, you can plainly enough see how ill the business of the Holy Land has proceeded, on account of the opposition which for a long time existed, at the time of making the truce, respecting the espousing the cause of the Damascenes against the sultan of Babylon ; and now wishing your excellency to be informed of other events since transpired, we have thought it worth our while to inform you that, about the beginning of the summer last past, the sultan of Damascus, and Seisser, sultan of Cracy, who were formerly enemies, made peace and entered into a treaty with the Christians, on the following conditions ; namely, that they should restore to the Christians the whole of the kingdom of Jerusalem, and the territory which had been in the possession of the Christians, near the river Jordan, besides some villages which they retained possession of in the mountains, and that the Christians were faithfully to give them all the assistance in their power in attacking the sultan of Babylon.

The terms of this treaty having been agreed to by both parties, the Christians began to take up their abode in the Holy City, whilst their army remained at Gazara, in company with that of the aforesaid sultan's, to harass the sultan of Babylon. After they had been some time engaged in that undertaking, the patriarch of Jerusalem landed from the transmarine provinces; and, after taking some slight bodily rest, he was inspired with a longing to visit the sepulchre of our I^ord, and set out on that pilgrimage, on which we also accompanied him. After our vow of pilgrimage was fulfilled, we heard in the Holy City that a countless multitude of that barbarous and perverse race, called Choermians, had, at the summons and order of the sultan of Babylon, occupied the whole surface of the country in the furthest part of our territories adjoining Jerusalem, and had put every living soul to death by fire and sword.

A council was on this held by the Christians living at Jerusalem, and, as they had not the power to resist these people, it was prudently arranged that all the inhabitants of the Holy City, of both sexes and of every age, should proceed, under escort of a battalion of our knights, to Joppa, as a place of safety and refuge. On that same night, after finishing our deliberations, we led the people cautiously out of the city, and had proceeded confidently half the distance, when, owing to the intervention of our old and wily enemy, the devil, a most destructive obstacle presented itself to us; for the aforesaid people raised on the walls of the city some standards, which they found left behind by the fugitives, in order by these means to recall the unwary, by giving them to believe that the Christians who had remained had defeated their adversaries. Some of our fellow-Christians hurried after us to recall us, comforting us with pleased countenance, and declaring that the standards of the Christians, which they well knew, were raised on the wall of Jerusalem, in token that they had defeated the enemy; and they, having been thus deceived, deceived us also.

We, therefore, in our exultation, returned confidently into the Holy City, thinking to dwell there safely, and many from feelings of devotion, and others in hope of obtaining and retaining possession of their inheritances, rashly and incautiously returned, either into the city itself or into the suburbs; we, however, endeavored to dissuade them from this altogether, fearing treachery from these perfidious people, and so went away from them. Not long after our departure, these perfidious Choermians came in great force and surrounded the Christians in the Holy City, making violent assaults on them daily, cutting off all means of ingress and egress to and from the city, and harassing them in various ways, so that, owing to these attacks, hunger and grief, they fell into despair, and all by common consent exposed themselves to the chances and risk of death by the hands of the enemy. They therefore left the city by night, and wandered about in the trackless and desert parts of the mountains till they at length came to a narrow pass, and there they fell into an ambuscade of the enemy, who, surrounding them on all sides, attacked them with swords, arrows, stones and other weapons, slew and cut to pieces, according to a correct computation, about seven thousand men and women, and caused such a massacre that the blood of those of the faith, with sorrow I say it, ran down the sides of the mountain like water. Young men and virgins they hurried off with them into captivity, and retired into the Holy City, where they cut the throats, as of sheep doomed to the slaughter, of the nuns, and aged and infirm men, who, unable to endure the toils of the journey and fight, had fled to the church of the Holy Sepulchre and to Calvary, a place consecrated by the blood of our Lord, thus perpetrating in His holy sanctuary such a crime as the eyes of men had never seen since the commencement of the world.

At length, as the intolerable atrocity of this great crime aroused the devotion of all the Christians to avenge the insult offered to their Creator, it was, by the common consent of all, agreed that we should all, after asking assistance from heaven, arrange ourselves in order, and give battle to these treacherous people. We accordingly attacked them, and fought without resting from early in the morning till the close of the day, when darkness prevented us from distinguishing our own people from our enemies ; immense numbers fell on our side ; but four times as many of our adversaries w r ere slain, as was found out after the battle. On the following (St. Luke the Evangelist's) day, the Knights Templars and Hospitalers, having recovered breath, and invoked assistance from above, together with all the other religious men devoted to this war, and their forces, and the whole army of the Christians, in the Holy Land, assembled by proclamation under the patriarch, and engaged in a most bloody conflict with the aforesaid Choermians and five thousand Saracen knights, who had recently fought under the sultan of Babylon, and who now joined these Choermians ; a fierce attack was made on both sides, as we could not avoid them ; for there was a powerful and numerous army on both sides of us. At length, however, we were unable to stand against such a multitude, for fresh and uninjured troops of the enemy continued to come upon us, as they were ten times as numerous as we, and we wearied and wounded, and still feeling the effects of the recent battle ; so we were compelled to give way, abandoning to them the field, with a bloody and dearly-bought victory ; for great numbers more fell on their side than on ours.

And we were so assisted by Him who is the Saviour of souls, that not a hundred escaped by flight, but, as long as we were able to stand, we mutually exhorted and comforted one another in Christ, and fought so unweariedly and bravely, to the astonishment of our enemies, till we were at length taken prisoners (which, however, we much tried to avoid) or fell slain. Hence, the enemy afterwards said in admiration to their prisoners: " You voluntarily threw yourselves in the way of death; why was this?" To which the prisoners replied: "We would rather die in battle, and with the death of our bodies obtain glorification for our souls, than basely give way and take to flight: such people, indeed, are greatly to be feared."

In the said battle, then, the power of the Christians was crushed, and the number of slain in both armies was incomputable. The masters of the Templars and Hospitalers were slain, as also the masters of other orders, with their brethren and followers. Walter, count of Brienne, and the lord Philip de Montfort, and those who fought under the patriarch, were cut to pieces; of the Templars only eighteen escaped, and sixteen of the Hospitalers, who were afterwards sorry that they had saved themselves. Farewell.

Letters of the Sixth Crusade: Letter from Gerold, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to all the Faithful in 1229.

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 01:28:00 +0000

Gerold, patriarch of Jerusalem, to all the faithful — greeting.

If it should be fully known how astonishing, nay rather, deplorable, the conduct of the emperor has been in the eastern lands from beginning to end, to the great detriment of the cause of Jesus Christ and to the great injury of the Christian faith, from the sole of his foot to the top of his head no common sense would be found in him. For he came, excommunicated, without money and followed by scarcely forty knights, and hoped to maintain himself by spoiling the inhabitants of Syria. He first came to Cyprus and there most discourteously seized that nobleman J. [John] of Ibelin and his sons, whom he had invited to his table under pretext of speaking of the affairs of the Holy Land. Next the king, whom he had invited to meet him, he retained almost as a captive. He thus by violence and fraud got possession of the kingdom.

After these achievements he passed over into Syria. Although in the beginning he promised to do marvels, and although in the presence of the foolish he boasted loudly, he immediately sent to the sultan of Babylon to demand peace. This conduct rendered him despicable in the eyes of the sultan and his subjects, especially after they had discovered that he was not at the head of a numerous army, which might have to some extent added weight to his words. Under the pretext of defending Joppa, he marched with the Christian army towards that city, in order to be nearer the sultan and in order to be able more easily to treat of peace or obtain a truce. What more shall I say ? After long and mysterious conferences, and without having consulted any one who lived in the country, he suddenly announced one day that he had made peace with the sultan. No one saw the text of the peace or truce when the emperor took the oath to observe the articles which were agreed upon. Moreover, you will be able to see clearly how great the malice was and how fraudulent the tenor of certain articles of the truce which we have decided to send to you. The emperor, for giving credit to his word, wished as a guarantee only the word of the sultan, which he obtained. For he said, among other things, that the holy city was surrendered to him.

He went thither with the Christian army on the eve of the Sunday when "Oculi mei" is sung [third Sunday in Lent]. The Sunday following, without any fitting ceremony and although excommunicated, in the chapel of the sepulchre of our Lord, to the manifest prejudice of his honor and of the imperial dignity, he put the diadem upon his forehead, although the Saracens still held the temple of the Lord and Solomon's temple, and although they proclaimed publicly as before the law of Mohammed — to the great confusion and chagrin of the pilgrims.

This same prince, who had previously very often promised to fortify Jerusalem, departed in secrecy from the city at dawn on the following Monday. The Hospitalers and the Templars promised solemnly and earnestly to aid him with all their forces and their advice, if he wanted to fortify the city, as he had promised. But the emperor, who did not care to set affairs right, and who saw that there was no eertaint}' in what had been done, and that the city in the state in which it had been surrendered to him could be neither defended nor fortified, was content with the name of surrender, and on the same day hastened with his family to Joppa. The pilgrims who had entered Jerusalem with the emperor, witnessing his departure, were unwilling to remain behind.

The following Sunday when " Laetare Jerusalem" is sung [fourth Sunday in Lent], he arrived at Acre. There in order to seduce the people and to obtain their favor, he granted them a certain privilege. God knows the motive which made him act thus, and his subsequent conduct will make it known. As, moreover, the passage was near, and as all pilgrims, humble and great, after having visited the Holy Sepulchre, were preparing to withdraw, as if they had accomplished their pilgrimage, because no truce had been concluded with the sultan of Damascus, we, seeing that the holy land was already deserted and abandoned by the pilgrims, in our council formed the plan of retaining soldiers, for the common good, by means of the alms given by the king of France of holy memory.

When the emperor heard of this, he said to us that he was astonished at this, since he had concluded a truce with the sultan of Babylon. We replied to him that the knife was still in the wound, since there was not a truce or peace with the sultan of Damascus, nephew of the aforesaid sultan and opposed co him, adding that even if the sultan of Babylon was unwilling, the former could still do us much harm. The emperor replied, saying that no soldiers ought to be retained in his kingdom without his advice and consent, as he was now king of Jerusalem. We answered to that, that in the matter in question, as well as in all of a similar nature, we were very sorry not to be able, without endangering the salvation of our souls, to obey his wishes, because he was excommunicated. The emperor made no response to us, but on the following day he caused the pilgrims who inhabited the city to be assembled outside by the public crier, and by special messengers he also convoked the prelates and the monks.

Addressing them in person, he began to complain bitterly of us, by heaping up false accusations. Then turning his remarks to the venerable master of the Templars he publicly attempted to severely tarnish the reputation of the latter, by various vain speeches, seeking thus to throw upon others the responsibility for his own faults which were now manifest, and adding at last, that we were maintaining troops with the purpose of injuring him. After that he ordered all foreign soldiers, of all nations, if they valued their lives and property, not to remain in the land from that day on, and ordered count Thomas, whom he intended to leave as bailiff of the country, to punish with stripes any one who was found lingering, in order that the punishment of one might serve as an example to many. After doing all this he withdrew, and would listen to no excuse or answers to the charges which he had so shamefully made. He determined immediately to post some cross-bowmen at the gates of the city, ordering them to allow the Templars to go out but not to return. Next he fortified with cross-bows the churches and other elevated positions, and especially those which commanded the communications between the Templars and ourselves. And you may be sure that he never showed as much animosity and hatred against Saracens.

For our part, seeing his manifest wickedness, we assembled all the prelates and all the prilgrims, and menaced with excommunication all those who should aid the emperor with their advice or their services against the Church, the Templars, the other monks of the holy land, or the pilgrims.

The emperor was more and more irritated, and immediately caused all the passages to be guarded more strictly, refused to allow any kind of provisions to be brought to us or to the members of our party, and placed everywhere cross-bowmen and archers, who attacked severely us, the Templars and the pilgrims. Finally to fill the measure of his malice, he caused some Dominicans and Minorites who had come on Palm Sunday to the proper places to announce the Word of God, to be torn from the pulpit, to be thrown down and dragged along the ground and whipped throughout the city, as if they had been robbers. Then seeing that he did not obtain what he had hoped from the above-mentioned siege, he treated of peace. We replied to him that we would not hear of peace until he sent away the cross-bowmen and other troops, until he had returned our property to us, until finally he had restored all things to the condition and freedom in which they were on that day when he entered Jerusalem. He finally ordered what we wanted to be done, but it was not executed. Therefore we placed the city under interdict.

The emperor, realizing that his wickedness could have no success, was unwilling to remain any longer in the country. And, as if he would have liked to ruin everything, he ordered the crossbows and engines of war, which for a long time had been kept at Acre for the defense of the Holy Land, to be secretly carried onto his vessels. He also sent away several of them to the sultan of Babylon, as his dear friend. He sent a troop of soldiers to Cyprus to levy heavy contributions of money there, and, what appeared to us more astonishing, he destroyed the galleys which he was not able to take with him. Having learned this, we resolved to reproach him with it, but shunning the remonstrance and the correction, he entered a galley secretly, by an obscure way, on the day of the Apostles St. Philip and St. James, and hastened to reach the island of Cyprus, without saying adieu to any one, leaving Joppa destitute; and may he never return!

Very soon the bailiffs of the above-mentioned sultan shut off all departure from Jerusalem for the Christian poor and the Syrians, and many pilgrims died thus on the road.

This is what the emperor did, to the detriment of the Holy Land and of his own soul, as well as many other things which are known and which we leave to others to relate. May the merciful God deign to soften the results ! Farewell.

Letters of the Sixth Crusade: Letter from Frederic II to Henry III of England in I229.

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 01:22:00 +0000

Frederic, by the grace of God, the august emperor of the Romans, king of Jerusalem and Sicily, to his well-beloved friend Henry, king of the English, health and sincere affection.

Let all rejoice and exult in the Lord, and let those who are correct in heart glorify Him, who, to make known His power, does not make boast of horses and chariots, but has now gained glory for Himself, in the scarcity of His soldiers, that all may know and understand that He is glorious in His majesty, terrible in His magnificence, and wonderful in His plans on the sons of men, changing seasons at will, and bringing the hearts of different nations together; for in these few days, by a miracle rather than by strength, that business has been brought to a conclusion, which for a length of time past many chiefs and rulers of the world amongst the multitude of nations, have never been able till now to accomplish by force, however great, nor by fear.

Not, therefore, to keep you in suspense by a long account, we wish to inform your holiness, that we, firmly putting our trust in God, and believing that Jesus Christ, His Son, in whose service we have so devotedly exposed our bodies and lives, would not abandon us in these unknown and distant countries, but would at least give us wholesome advice and assistance for His honor, praise, and glory, boldly in the name set forth from Acre on the fifteenth day of the month of November last past and arrived safely at Joppa, intending to rebuild the castle at that place with proper strength, that afterwards the approach to the holy city of Jerusalem might be not only easier, but also shorter and more safe for us as well as for all Christians. When, therefore, we were, in the confidence of our trust in God, engaged at Joppa, and superintending the building of the castle and the cause of Christ, as necessity required and as was our duty, and whilst all our pilgrims were busily engaged in these matters, several messengers often passed to and fro between us and the sultan of Babylon; for he and another sultan, called Xaphat, his brother, were with a large army at the city of Gaza, distant about one day's journey from us; in another direction, in the city of Sichen, which is commonly called Neapolis, and situated in the plains, the sultan of Damascus, his nephew, was staying with an immense number of knights and soldiers also about a day's journey from us and the Christians.

And whilst the treaty was in progress between the parties on either side of the restoration of the Holy Land, at length Jesus Christ, the Son of God, beholding from on high our devoted endurance and patient devotion to His cause, in His merciful compassion of us, at length brought it about that the sultan of Babylon restored to us the holy city, the place where the feet of Christ trod, 1 and where the true worshipers adore the Father in spirit and in truth. But that we may inform you of the particulars of this surrender each as they happened, be it known to you that not only is the body of the aforesaid city restored to us, but also the whole of the country extending from thence to the sea-coast near the castle of Joppa, so that for the future pilgrims will have free passage and a safe return to and from the sepulchre; provided, however, that the Saracens of that part of the country, since they hold the temple in great veneration, may come there as often as they choose in the character of pilgrims, to worship according to their custom, and that we shall henceforth permit them to come, however, only as many as we may choose to allow, and without arms, nor are they to dwell in the city, but outside, and as soon as they have paid their devotions they are to depart.

Moreover, the city of Bethlehem is restored to us, and all the country between Jerusalem and that city ; as also the city of Nazareth, and all the country between Acre and that city ; the whole of the district of Turon, which is very extensive, and very advantageous to the Christians ; the city of Sidon, too, is given up to us with the whole plain and its appurtenances, which will be the more acceptable to the Christians the more advantageous it has till now appeared to be to the Saracens, especially as there is a good harbor there, and from there great quantities of arms and necessaries might be carried to the city of Damascus, and often from Damascus to Babylon. And although according to our treaty we are allowed to rebuild the city of Jerusalem in as good a state as it has ever been, and also the castles of Joppa, Cesarea, Sidon, and that of St. Mary of the Teutonic order, which the brothers of that order have begun to build in the mountainous district of Acre, and which it has never been allowed the Christians to do during any former truce ; nevertheless the sultan is not allowed, till the end of the truce between him and us, which is agreed on for ten years, to repair or rebuild any fortresses or castles.

And so on Sunday, the eighteenth day of February last past, which is the day on which Christ, the Son of God, rose from the dead, and which, in memory of His resurrection, is solemnly cherished and kept holy by all Christians in general throughout the world, this treaty of peace was confirmed by oath betweeu us. Truly then on us and on all does that day seem to have shone favorably, in which the angels sing in praise of God, " Glory to God on high, and on earth peace, and good-will toward men." And in acknowledgment of such great kindness and of such an honor, which, beyond our deserts and contrary to the opinion of many, God has mercifully conferred on us, to the lasting renown of His compassion, and that in His holy place we might personally offer to Him the burnt offering of our lips, be it known to you that on the seventeenth day of the month of March of this second indiction, we, in company with all the pilgrims who had with us faithfully followed Christ, the Son of God, entered the holy city of Jerusalem, and after worshipping at the holy sepulchre, we, as being a Catholic emperor, on the following day, wore the crown, which Almighty God provided for us from the throne of His majesty, when of His especial grace, He exalted us on high amongst the princes of the world ; so that whilst we have supported the honor of this high dignity, which belongs to us by right of sovereignty, it is more and more evident to all that the hand of the Lord hath done all this ; and since His mercies are over all His works, let the worshipers of the orthodox faith henceforth know and relate it far and wide throughout the world, that He, who is blessed for ever, has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up the horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David.

And before we leave the city of Jerusalem, we have determined magnificently to rebuild it, and its towers and walls, and we intend so to arrange matters that, during our absence, there shall be no less care and diligence used in the business, than if we were present in person. In order that this our present letter may be full of exultation throughout, and so a happy end correspond with its happy beginning, and rejoice your royal mind, we wish it to be known to you our ally, that the said sultan is bound to restore to us all those captives whom he did not in accordance with the treaty made between him and the Christians deliver up at the time when he lost Damietta some time since, and also the others who have been since taken.

Given at the holy city of Jerusalem, on the seventeenth day of the month of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand two hundred and twenty-nine.

Letters of the Crusaders: Letter from Duke of Lorraine to the Archbishop of Cologne in 1197

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 01:15:00 +0000

Intruduction:

This letter shows the German crusaders in the full course of victory, which was so soon to be checked by the death of Henry VI.

The Letter:

Since we know that you rejoice greatly in the increase of our honor and in the prosperity of all Christianity, we announce to your discretion and prudence that after I had been chosen as the chief of the whole army by the princes of the Roman empire and the barons of the kingdom of Jerusalem and the common people, we directed our march toward Beyroot, by the advice of the princes and of the whole army. When we were marching in most excellent order between Tyre and Sidon, on the night of the festival of St. Severinus, Saphadin العادل سيف الدين الأيوبي and all the armies of Babylon and Damascus with a great multitude of the Saracens appeared on the side of the mountain; they surrounded our army from the rear as far as the sea-coast, and made severe and continuous attacks on our lines, and having drawn up their forces, the wicked people exercised against us all their strength.

Their purpose indeed was to pour forth all their strength against us and make trial of all our strength.

But God, the Protector of those who trust in Him, and who frees the poor from the power of the mighty, snatched His poor from the hands of the impious, and not without great injury to the impious. For, forsooth, they left there the lord of Sidon and very many other Saracens dead, and since then they have never dared to attack us. Accordingly, on the same day we fixed our tents with delight above the river of Sidon. Since, moreover, our ships were going in advance of the army, and the Saracens who dwelt in the fortress of Beyroot saw our ships coming, terrified by fear, they left the very strongly fortified fortress of Beyroot. And on the next day following with the army we took the same fortress, which was very strongly fortified, without any difficulty.

And we found in the fortress so many weapons of arbalisters and bowmen that twenty wagons could scarcely carry them, and so many victuals that they were sufficient for 500 men for seven years. Moreover, after we had made a stay of twenty days in that place, other Saracens fearing our approach deserted the fortress which is called Gibel [Gibelin] and another very strong fortress which is called Lyeche [Laodicea]. Having heard of this, and having ascertained that all the fortresses on the coast as far as Antioch were in the hands of the Christians, we turned towards Sidon and devastated in every direction all the land which the Saracens held. Thus having routed the Saracens, by the aid of the Heavenly King, so that they never dare to appear, we hope very soon to capture the sacred city of Jerusalem. For the Saracens, having heard that our army is unanimous and strong, never dare to show themselves.

This is the reason that we strenuously exhort your reverence, as much as lies in your power, to keep the memory of us alive throughout your whole archbishopric, in behalf of our prosperity and that of all Christianity, and to compel all in your archbishopric who have taken the cross to fulfill their vows and to aid the cause of Christianity. Moreover, if any wish to remain in the land of promise, we will cause sufficient incomes to be assigned to them in the same land. Farewell.

Letters of the Third Crusade:

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 01:09:00 +0000

To protect his own interest from the crusaders, the Grecian emperor made an alliance with Saladin. This made the former a greater object of hatred than ever before. In the first crusade, Alexius had been suspected and detested ; Manuel had been openly blamed for the failure of the second crusade. Now in the third, no means are too odious to be attributed to the emperor of the East. In a few years, the hatred accumulated for more than a century will vent itself in the sack of Constantinople.

- Letter from Frederic I to Leopold of Austria in 1189.
- Letter from Sibylla, Ex queen of Jerusalem, to Frederic 1 in 1189.

Letters of the Third Crusade: Letter from Sibylla, Ex queen of Jerusalem, to Frederic 1 in 1189

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 01:06:00 +0000

To her venerable and most illustrious lord Frederic, by the grace of God, most victorious emperor of Rome and most friendly champion of the Holy Cross, Sibylla, formerly queen of Jerusalem, his most humble servant, greatly humiliated in the name of the Lord.

Spare the humble and conquer the proud. I, your most humble maid-servant — as I said above— am compelled to tell your highness and supreme excellency of the grief of the whole city and of the disgrace of the sacred Christians. For the emperor of Constantinople, the persecutor of the church of God, has entered into a conspiracy with Saladin, the seducer and destroyer of the holy Name, against the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I tell this, which I am indeed not able to say without tears. Saladin, the aforesaid enemy of Christ, has sent to the Grecian emperor and the persecutor of the holy Name many presents very pleasing to mortals, in order to make a compact and agreement. And for the slaughter and destruction of the Christians wishing to exalt the name of God, he sent 600 measures of poisoned grain and added a very large vase of wine, filled with such a malignant poison that when he wanted to try its efficacy he called a man, who was killed by the odor alone when the vase was opened.

Along with the rest I am compelled to tell my lord another thing : the aforesaid emperor, in order to increase our misfortunes and magnify the destruction of the Christians, does not permit wheat or other necessary victuals to be carried from his country to Jerusalem. Wherefore, the wheat which might be sent by himself and others, is also shut up in the city of Constantinople.

However, at the end of this tearful epistle, I tell you truthfully that you ought to believe the most faithful bearer of this Tetter. For he himself witnesses what he has seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears. This is the reason that with my head bowed to the ground and with bent knees, I ask your Magnificence that inasmuch as you are the head of the world and the wall of the house of Israel, you should never believe the Grecian emperor.

Letters of the Third Crusade: Letter from Frederic I to Leopold of Austria in 1189

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 01:03:00 +0000

Frederic, by the grace of God, emperor and always august, to his beloved kinsman Leopold, duke of Austria, — greeting and all good wishes.

We thought we ought to tell you, because of your love for us, that our brother, the emperor of Constantinople, although he ought to have been bound by brotherly love, has from the very first violated all the oaths which are known to have been sworn by his chancellor at Nuremberg, in the presence of the princes of the empire, in regard to our security on the march, and markets and exchanges. Moreover, he has seized and ignominiously thrown into prison our ambassadors, the bishop of Miinster, count Rupert 1 and Markward, our chamberlain, together with all their attendants, whom we had sent to confirm the peace and to arrange for our peaceful march on this expedition of the quickening cross. At length, however, after long negotiations, grievously delaying our march until the dangerous winter season, he has sent back to our excellency the aforesaid ambassadors on the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, as if matters had been satisfactorily arranged, and he has again promised us good markets, the usual exchanges and an abundance of vessels.

Truly, because the burnt child dreads the fire, we can in the future have no confidence in the words and oaths of the Greeks. In order to avoid the stormy winter season, we propose to stay uutil spring at Philippopolis and Adrianople, and to cross over to Constantinople in the favorable season. Therefore, although we rejoice in a well-equipped army, yet we must seek divine succour in our prayers. For these reasons we ask and desire of your love, that in your prayers and pious devotions you commend us and the whole army of the crusaders to God. In addition we ask of your prudence to see that the letters which we send to the pope reach him through your aid and exertions, because you can arrange this more successfully than anyone else.

Letters of the Crusaders: Letter from the East to Master of the Hospitalers in I187

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 00:28:00 +0000

Intruduction:

This letter gives the most reliable account of the events which decided the fate of the kingdom of Jerusalem. It is without pretence to literary style, and the spelling is very bad. In the text the proper names are spelled as in the original letter. The forms in brackets have been adopted from Rey*s Colonies franqucs de Syrie aux XII me et XIII siecles (Paris 1883), and Guy Le Strange's Palestine under the Moslems (Boston and New York, 1890). The rapidity of Saladin's success and the hopelessness of the Christians are well brought out.

The Letter:

We make known to you, lord Archambault, master of the Hospitalers in Italy, and to the brethren, all the events which have happened in the countries beyond the seas.

Learn, therefore, that the king of Jerusalem was near Saphora [Sephoria] with a great army of at least thirty thousand men about the festival of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and was in perfect concord with the count of Tripoli, and the latter was with the army. And behold Saladin, the pagan king, approached Tabaria [Tiberias] with eighty thousand horsemen and took Tabaria. After this was done the king of Jerusalem left Saphora and went with his men drawn up against Saladin. And Saladin came against him near Marestutia [Marescallia] on the Friday after the festival of the Apostles Peter and Paul. Battle was engaged and during the whole day they fought fiercely, but night interrupted the strife. In the intervening night the king of Jerusalem fixed his tents near Salnubia, and on the next day, Saturday, moved with his army.

About the third hour the master of the Templars, with all his brethren, began the battle. They received no aid and, by God's permission, lost the greater portion of their men. After this happened, the king, by hard fighting and with great difficulty, went with his army to Nairn, about a league distant, and then the count of Tripoli came to the king and made him pitch his tents near the mountain, which is a sort of fortress, and they were not able to pitch more than three tents. After this was done, the Turks seeing that they had pitched their tents, kindled fires around the army of the king, and, in truth, the heat was so great that the horsemen were baking and were not able to eat or drink. Next, Baldwin of Fatinor, Bacbaberboc of Tabaria and Leisius, with three other associates, separated themselves from the army, went over to Saladin and— a thing which is grievous to relate — denied their faith, surrendered themselves to him, and betrayed to him the army of the king of Jerusalem, by revealing the difficult position in which it was.

Therefore Saladin sent against us Techedin [Taki-Eddin] with twenty thousand chosen soldiers who rushed upon our army, and the battle raged very fiercely from the ninth hour to vespers. And, because of our sins, very many of ours were killed, the Christian people were conquered, the king was captured, and the holy cross and count Gabula and Milo of Colaterido and Onfred [Honfroy] the youth, and prince Reinald [Reginald] captured and killed. And Walter of Arsun and Hugo of Gibelen [Gibelin] and the lord of Botrono [Botron] and the lord of Marachele and a thousand others of the best, captured and killed, so that not more than two hundred of the horsemen and soldiers escaped. The count of Tripoli, lord Basian and R. [Reginald], the lord of Sidon, escaped.

After this Saladin collected his army again and on Sunday came to Saphora and took Saphora and Nazareth, and Mount Tabor, and on Monday came to Aeon [Acre], which is also called Acris; and those in Aeon surrendered. Likewise those of Caifas and those of Cesarea [Csesarea] and of Jafa [Joppa], and of Naple [Neapolis], and of Ram [Ramlah], and of St. George, and of Ybelinon [Ibelin], and of Bellefort [Belfort], and of Mirabel, and of Tyron [Tyre], and of Gwaler, and of Gazer [Gaza], and of Audurum [Darum], all surrendered. After this, when our galley moved from Sur [Tyre], they sent Sabani to Saladin that he should go to Jerusalem and they would surrender the city. And we fled with the galley to Leehia [Laodicea], and we heard that Tyre had surrendered. Moreover, the following cities are still safe and are awaiting aid from the western Church ; namely, Jerusalem, Sur, Scalona [Ascalon], Marchat, Antyochia [Antioch], Lassar, Saona, Triplis [Tripoli]. Moreover, so great is the multitude of the Saracens and Turks that from Tyre, which they are besieging, they cover the face of the earth as far as Jerusalem, like an innumerable army of ants, and unless aid is quickly brought to the remaining above-mentioned cities and to the very few Christians remaining in the East, by a similar fortune they will be plundered by the raging infidels, thirsting for the blood of the Christians.

Letters of the Crusaders: Letter from Aymeric, Patriarch of Antioch, to Louis VII, King of France in 1164,

noreply@blogger.com (King Tut) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 00:19:00 +0000

Intruduction:

After the second crusade it was difficult to arouse enthusiasm in the West Many letters were written begging piteously for aid. In the meantime affairs in the Holy Land went from bad to worse. Owing to the policy of the Christians, Noureddin had been allowed to get a strong foothold in Egypt But dissensions arose between his general and the vizier of Egypt, and the latter called on the king of Jerusalem for aid. While Amalric, profiting by this chance, was carrying on a successful campaign in Egypt, the events recorded in the first letter took place.

The Letter:

Aymeric, by the grace of God, patriarch of the holy Apostolic See of Antioch, to Louis, illustrious king of the French, — greet- ing and Apostolic benediction.

It would be fitting that we should always write joyful tidings to his royal majesty and should increase the splendor of his heart by the splendor and delight of our words. But the reverse has ever been our lot. The causes for tears, forsooth, are constant, the grief and the groaning are continuous, and we are unable to speak except of what concerns us. For the proverb says : " Where the grief is, there is also the tongue and hand." The deaths of the Christians are frequent and the captures which we see daily. Moreover, the wasting away of the church in the East afflicts with ineradicable grief us who, tortured internally even to our destruction, are dying while living in anguish of soul, and, leading a life more bitter than death, as a culmination of our miseries, are wholly unable to die. Nor is there any one who turns his heart towards us and out of pity directs his hand to aid us. But not to protract our words, the few Christians who are here cry out to you, together with us, and implore your clemency, which with God's assistance is sufficient to liberate us and the church of God in the East.

And now we will tell you of all the events which have happened to us. In the Lent which has just passed, a certain one [Noureddin] of the men who are about us, who is held as chief among the Saracens, and who oppresses our Christian population far more than all who have gone before, and the leader of his army [Schirkuh] having gotten possession of Damascus, the latter entered Egypt with a great force of Turks, in order to conquer the country. Accordingly, the king of Egypt, who is also called the sultan of Babylon, distrusting his own valor and that of his men, held a most warlike council to determine how to meet the advancing Turks and how he could obtain the aid of the king of Jerusalem. For he wisely preferred to rule under tribute rather than to be deprived of both life and kingdom.

The former, therefore, as we have said, entered Egypt, and favored by certain men of that land, captured and fortified a certain city. In the meantime the sultan made an alliance with the lord king [Amalric] by promising to pay tribute each year and to release all the Christian captives in Egypt, and obtained the aid of the lord king. The latter, before setting out, committed the care of his kingdom and land, until his return, to us and to our new prince, his kinsman Bohemond, son of the former prince Raymond.

Therefore, the great devastator of the Christian people, who rules near us, collected together from all sides the kings and races of the infidels and offered a peace and truce to our prince, and very frequently urged it. His reason was that he wished to traverse our land with greater freedom in order to devastate the kingdom of Jerusalem and to be able to bear aid to his vassal fighting in Egypt. But our prince was unwilling to make peace with him until the return of our lord king.

When the former saw that he was not able to accomplish what he had proposed, full of wrath, he turned his weapons against us and laid siege to a certain fortress of ours, called Harrenc, twelve miles distant from our city. But those who were besieged — 7,000 in number, including warriors, men and women — cried loudly to us, ceasing neither day nor night, to have pity on them, and fixed a day beyond which it would be impossible for them to hold out. Our prince having collected all his forces set out from Antioch on the day of St. Lawrence and proceeded as far as the fortress in entire safety. For the Turks in their cunning gave up the siege and withdrew a short distance from the fortress to some narrow passes in their own country.

On the next day our men followed the enemy to that place and, while they were marching without sufficient circumspection, battle was engaged and they fled. The conflict was so disastrous that hardly any one of ours of any rank escaped, except a few whom the strength of their horses or some lucky chance rescued from the tumult. Those captured were our prince [Bohemond III], the count of Tripoli [Raymond II], a certain Greek, Calaman, 1 a duke of illustrious lineage, Mamistrensis, Hugh of Lesiniaco, and some of the brethren of the Templars and Hospitalers who had come from the county of Tripoli with the count. Of the people, some were killed, others captured; very few es- caped; men, horses and weapons were almost entirely destroyed.

After the slaughter of the Christians the Turks returned to the above-mentioned fortress, captured it, and by compact conducted the feeble multitude of women, children and wounded as far as Antioch. Afterwards they advanced to the city, devastated the whole country as far as the sea with fire and sword and exercised their tyranny according to their lusts on everything which met their eyes.

God is a witness that the remnant which is left us is in no way sufficient to guard the walls night and day, and owing to the scarcity of men, we are obliged to entrust their safety and defense to some whom we suspect. Neglecting the church services, the clergy and presbyters guard the gates. We ourselves are looking after the defense of the walls and, as far as possible, are repairing, with great and unremitting labor, the many portions which have been broken down by earthquakes. And all this in vain, unless God shall look upon us with a more kindly countenance. For we do not hope to hold out longer, inasmuch as the valor of the men of the present day has been exhausted and is of no avail. But we do, in order that whatever can be done may not be left undone by us.

Above all, the only anchor which is left in this extremity for our hope is in you. Because we have heard from everybody of your greatness, because we have understood that you more than all the other kings of the West, always have the East in mind. From that we are given to understand that your joy will not be full until you accomplish at some time what we are unable through our misdeeds to accomplish. And it is our hope that by your hand the lord will visit His people and will have compassion on us.

May the sighings and groanings of the Christians enter the ear of the most high and incomparable prince; may the tortures and griefs of the captives strike his heart! And, not to make our letter too long, lest we should waste away in this vain hope and be for a long time consumed by the shadow of death, may his royal majesty deign to write to us and tell us his pleasure. Whatever we undergo by his command will not be difficult for us. May our Lord Jesus Christ increase in the heart of the king the desire which we desire, and may He in whose hand are the hearts of kings enkindle that heart ! Amen.