Origin and Numbers of the First Crusade. Characters of the Latin Princes. Their March to Constantinople. Policy of the Greek Emperor Alexius. Conquest of Nice, Antioch, and Jerusalem, by the Franks. Deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre. Godfrey of Bouillon, First King of Jerusalem. Institutions of the French or Latin Kingdom.
The first crusade, A.D. 1095-1099.
About twenty years after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Turks, the holy sepulchre was visited by Peter the Hermit. a hermit of the name of Peter, a native of Amiens, in the province of Picardy (1) in France. His resentment and sympathy were excited by his own injuries and the oppression of the Christian name; he mingled his tears with those of the patriarch, and earnestly inquired, if no hopes of relief could be entertained from the Greek emperors of the East. The patriarch exposed the vices and weakness of the successors of Constantine.
"I will rouse," exclaimed the hermit, "the martial nations of Europe in your cause;"
and Europe was obedient to the call of the hermit. The astonished patriarch dismissed him with epistles of credit and complaint; and no sooner did he land at Bari, than Peter hastened to kiss the feet of the Roman pontiff. His stature was small, his appearance contemptible; but his eye was keen and lively; and he possessed that vehemence of speech, which seldom fails to impart the persuasion of the soul. (2) He was born of a gentleman's family, (for we must now adopt a modern idiom,) and his military service was under the neighbouring counts of Boulogne, the heroes of the first crusade. But he soon relinquished the sword and the world; and if it be true, that his wife, however noble, was aged and ugly, he might withdraw, with the less reluctance, from her bed to a convent, and at length to a hermitage. In this austere solitude, his body was emaciated, his fancy was inflamed; whatever he wished, he believed; whatever he believed, he saw in dreams and revelations. From Jerusalem the pilgrim returned an accomplished fanatic; but as he excelled in the popular madness of the times, Pope Urban the Second received him as a prophet, applauded his glorious design, promised to support it in a general council, and encouraged him to proclaim the deliverance of the Holy Land. Invigorated by the approbation of the pontiff, his zealous missionary traversed. with speed and success, the provinces of Italy and France. His diet was abstemious, his prayers long and fervent, and the alms which he received with one hand, he distributed with the other: his head was bare, his feet naked, his meagre body was wrapped in a coarse garment; he bore and displayed a weighty crucifix; and the ass on which he rode was sanctified, in the public eye, by the service of the man of God. He preached to innumerable crowds in the churches, the streets, and the highways: the hermit entered with equal confidence the palace and the cottage; and the people (for all was people) was impetuously moved by his call to repentance and arms. When he painted the sufferings of the natives and pilgrims of Palestine, every heart was melted to compassion; every breast glowed with indignation, when he challenged the warriors of the age to defend their brethren, and rescue their Saviour: his ignorance of art and language was compensated by sighs, and tears, and ejaculations; and Peter supplied the deficiency of reason by loud and frequent appeals to Christ and his mother, to the saints and angels of paradise, with whom he had personally conversed. The most perfect orator of Athens might have envied the success of his eloquence; the rustic enthusiast inspired the passions which he felt, and Christendom expected with impatience the counsels and decrees of the supreme pontiff.
Urban II. In the council of Placentia, A.D. 1095,March.
The magnanimous spirit of Gregory the Seventh had already embraced the design of arming Europe against Asia; the ardour of his zeal and ambition still breathes in his epistles: from either side of the Alps, fifty thousand Catholics had enlisted under the banner of St. Peter; (3) and his successor reveals his intention of marching at their head against the impious sectaries of Mahomet. But the glory or reproach of executing, though not in person, this holy enterprise, was reserved for Urban the Second, (4) the most faithful of his disciples. He undertook the conquest of the East, whilst the larger portion of Rome was possessed and fortified by his rival Guibert of Ravenna, who contended with Urban for the name and honours of the pontificate. He attempted to unite the powers of the West, at a time when the princes were separated from the church, and the people from their princes, by the excommunication which himself and his predecessors had thundered against the emperor and the king of France. Philip the First, of France, supported with patience the censures which he had provoked by his scandalous life and adulterous marriage. Henry the Fourth, of Germany, asserted the right of investitures, the prerogative of confirming his bishops by the delivery of the ring and crosier. But the emperor's party was crushed in Italy by the arms of the Normans and the Countess Mathilda; and the long quarrel had been recently envenomed by the revolt of his son Conrad and the shame of his wife, (5) who, in the synods of Constance and Placentia, confessed the manifold prostitutions to which she had been exposed by a husband regardless of her honour and his own. (6) So popular was the cause of Urban, so weighty was his influence, that the council which he summoned at Placentia (7) was composed of two hundred bishops of Italy, France, Burgandy, Swabia, and Bavaria. Four thousand of the clergy, and thirty thousand of the laity, attended this important meeting; and, as the most spacious cathedral would have been inadequate to the multitude, the session of seven days was held in a plain adjacent to the city. The ambassadors of the Greek emperor, Alexius Comnenus, were introduced to plead the distress of their sovereign, and the danger of Constantinople, which was divided only by a narrow sea from the victorious Turks, the common enemies of the Christian name. In their suppliant address they flattered the pride of the Latin princes; and, appealing at once to their policy and religion, exhorted them to repel the Barbarians on the confines of Asia, rather than to expect them in the heart of Europe. At the sad tale of the misery and perils of their Eastern brethren, the assembly burst into tears; the most eager champions declared their readiness to march; and the Greek ambassadors were dismissed with the assurance of a speedy and powerful succour. The relief of Constantinople was included in the larger and most distant project of the deliverance of Jerusalem; but the prudent Urban adjourned the final decision to a second synod, which he proposed to celebrate in some city of France in the autumn of the same year. The short delay would propagate the flame of enthusiasm; and his firmest hope was in a nation of soldiers (8) still proud of the preeminence of their name, and ambitious to emulate their hero Charlemagne, (9) who, in the popular romance of Turpin, (10) had achieved the conquest of the Holy Land. A latent motive of affection or vanity might influence the choice of Urban: he was himself a native of France, a monk of Clugny, and the first of his countrymen who ascended the throne of St. Peter. The pope had illustrated his family and province; nor is there perhaps a more exquisite gratification than to revisit, in a conspicuous dignity, the humble and laborious scenes of our youth.
Council of Clermont, A.D. 1095,November.
It may occasion some surprise that the Roman pontiff should erect, in the heart of France, the tribunal from whence he hurled his anathemas against the king; but our surprise will vanish so soon as we form a just estimate of a king of France of the eleventh century. (11) Philip the First was the great-grandson of Hugh Capet, the founder of the present race, who, in the decline of Charlemagne's posterity, added the regal title to his patrimonial estates of Paris and Orleans. In this narrow compass, he was possessed of wealth and jurisdiction; but in the rest of France, Hugh and his first descendants were no more than the feudal lords of about sixty dukes and counts, of independent and hereditary power, (12) who disdained the control of laws and legal assemblies, and whose disregard of their sovereign was revenged by the disobedience of their inferior vassals. At Clermont, in the territories of the count of Auvergne, (13) the pope might brave with impunity the resentment of Philip; and the council which he convened in that city was not less numerous or respectable than the synod of Placentia. (14) Besides his court and council of Roman cardinals, he was supported by thirteen archbishops and two hundred and
twenty-five bishops: the number of mitred prelates was computed at four hundred; and the fathers of the church were blessed by the saints and enlightened by the doctors of the age. From the adjacent kingdoms, a martial train of lords and knights of power and renown attended the council, (15) in high expectation of its resolves; and such was the ardour of zeal and curiosity, that the city was filled, and many thousands, in the month of November, erected their tents or huts in the open field. A session of eight days produced some useful or edifying canons for the reformation of manners; a severe censure was pronounced against the license of private war; the Truce of God (16) was confirmed, a suspension of hostilities during four days of the week; women and priests were placed under the safeguard of the church; and a protection of three years was extended to husbandmen and merchants, the defenceless victims of military rapine. But a law, however venerable be the sanction, cannot suddenly transform the temper of the times; and the benevolent efforts of Urban deserve the less praise, since he labored to appease some domestic quarrels that he might spread the flames of war from the Atlantic to the Euphrates. From the synod of Placentia, the rumour of his great design had gone forth among the nations: the clergy on their return had preached in every diocese the merit and glory of the deliverance of the Holy Land; and when the pope ascended a lofty scaffold in the market-place of Clermont, his eloquence was addressed to a well-prepared and impatient audience. His topics were obvious, his exhortation was vehement, his success inevitable. The orator was
interrupted by the shout of thousands, who with one voice, and in their rustic idiom, exclaimed aloud, "God wills it, God wills it." (17)
"It is indeed the will of God," replied the pope; "and let this memorable word, the inspiration surely of the Holy Spirit, be forever adopted as your cry of battle, to animate the devotion and courage of the champions of Christ. His cross is the symbol of your salvation; wear it, a red, a bloody cross, as an external mark, on your breasts or shoulders, as a pledge of your sacred and irrevocable engagement."
The proposal was joyfully accepted; great numbers, both of the clergy and laity, impressed on their garments the sign of the cross, (18) and solicited the pope to march at their head. This dangerous honour was declined by the more prudent successor of Gregory, who alleged the schism of the church, and the duties of his pastoral office, recommending to the faithful, who were disqualified by sex or profession, by age or infirmity, to aid, with their prayers and alms, the personal service of their robust brethren. The name and powers of his legate he devolved on Adhemar bishop of Puy, the first who had received the cross at his hands. The foremost of the temporal chiefs was Raymond count of Thoulouse, whose ambassadors in the council excused the absence, and pledged the honour, of their master. After the confession and absolution of their sins, the champions of the cross were dismissed with a superfluous admonition to invite their countrymen and friends; and their departure for the Holy Land was fixed to the festival of the Assumption, the fifteenth of August, of the ensuing year. (19)
Justice of the crusades?
So familiar, and as it were so natural to man, is the practice of violence, that our indulgence allows the slightest provocation, the most disputable right, as a sufficient ground of national hostility. But the name and nature of a holy war demands a more rigorous scrutiny; nor can we hastily believe, that the servants of the Prince of Peace would unsheathe the sword of destruction, unless the motive were pure, the quarrel legitimate, and the necessity inevitable. The policy of an action may be determined from
the tardy lessons of experience; but, before we act, our conscience should be satisfied of the justice and propriety of our enterprise. In the age of the crusades, the Christians, both of the East and West, were persuaded of
their lawfulness and merit; their arguments are clouded by the perpetual abuse of Scripture and rhetoric; but they seem to insist on the right of natural and religious defence, their peculiar title to the Holy Land, and the impiety of their Pagan and Mahometan foes. (20)
I. The right of a just defence may fairly include our civil
and spiritual allies: it depends on the existence of danger;
and that danger must be estimated by the twofold
consideration of the malice, and the power, of our enemies.
A pernicious tenet has been imputed to the Mahometans, the
duty of extirpating all other religions by the sword. This
charge of ignorance and bigotry is refuted by the Koran, by
the history of the Mussulman conquerors, and by their public
and legal toleration of the Christian worship. But it
cannot be denied, that the Oriental churches are depressed
under their iron yoke; that, in peace and war, they assert a
divine and indefeasible claim of universal empire; and that,
in their orthodox creed, the unbelieving nations are
continually threatened with the loss of religion or liberty.
In the eleventh century, the victorious arms of the Turks
presented a real and urgent apprehension of these losses.
They had subdued, in less than thirty years, the kingdoms of
Asia, as far as Jerusalem and the Hellespont; and the Greek
empire tottered on the verge of destruction. Besides an
honest sympathy for their brethren, the Latins had a right
and interest in the support of Constantinople, the most
important barrier of the West; and the privilege of defence
must reach to prevent, as well as to repel, an impending
assault. But this salutary purpose might have been
accomplished by a moderate succour; and our calmer reason
must disclaim the innumerable hosts, and remote operations,
which overwhelmed Asia and depopulated Europe. II. Palestine could add nothing to the strength or safety of the Latins; and fanaticism alone could pretend to justify the conquest of that distant and narrow province. The Christians affirmed that their inalienable title to the
promised land had been sealed by the blood of their divine
Saviour; it was their right and duty to rescue their
inheritance from the unjust possessors, who profaned his
sepulchre, and oppressed the pilgrimage of his disciples.
Vainly would it be alleged that the preeminence of
Jerusalem, and the sanctity of Palestine, have been
abolished with the Mosaic law; that the God of the
Christians is not a local deity, and that the recovery of
Bethlem or Calvary, his cradle or his tomb, will not atone
for the violation of the moral precepts of the gospel. Such
arguments glance aside from the leaden shield of
superstition; and the religious mind will not easily
relinquish its hold on the sacred ground of mystery and
miracle. III. But the holy wars which have been waged in every
climate of the globe, from Egypt to Livonia, and from Peru
to Hindostan, require the support of some more general and
flexible tenet. It has been often supposed, and sometimes
affirmed, that a difference of religion is a worthy cause of
hostility; that obstinate unbelievers may be slain or
subdued by the champions of the cross; and that grace is the
sole fountain of dominion as well as of mercy. Above four
hundred years before the first crusade, the eastern and
western provinces of the Roman empire had been acquired
about the same time, and in the same manner, by the
Barbarians of Germany and Arabia. Time and treaties had
legitimated the conquest of the Christian Franks; but in the
eyes of their subjects and neighbours, the Mahometan princes
were still tyrants and usurpers, who, by the arms of war or
rebellion, might be lawfully driven from their unlawful
possession. (21)
Spiritual motives and indulgences.
As the manners of the Christians were relaxed, their
discipline of penance (22) was enforced; and with the
multiplication of sins, the remedies were multiplied. In
the primitive church, a voluntary and open confession
prepared the work of atonement. In the middle ages, the
bishops and priests interrogated the criminal; compelled him
to account for his thoughts, words, and actions; and
prescribed the terms of his reconciliation with God. But as
this discretionary power might alternately be abused by
indulgence and tyranny, a rule of discipline was framed, to
inform and regulate the spiritual judges. This mode of
legislation was invented by the Greeks; their penitentials
(23) were translated, or imitated, in the Latin church; and,
in the time of Charlemagne, the clergy of every diocese were
provided with a code, which they prudently concealed from
the knowledge of the vulgar. In this dangerous estimate of
crimes and punishments, each case was supposed, each
difference was remarked, by the experience or penetration of
the monks; some sins are enumerated which innocence could
not have suspected, and others which reason cannot believe;
and the more ordinary offences of fornication and adultery,
of perjury and sacrilege, of rapine and murder, were
expiated by a penance, which, according to the various
circumstances, was prolonged from forty days to seven years.
During this term of mortification, the patient was healed,
the criminal was absolved, by a salutary regimen of fasts
and prayers: the disorder of his dress was expressive of
grief and remorse; and he humbly abstained from all the
business and pleasure of social life. But the rigid
execution of these laws would have depopulated the palace,
the camp, and the city; the Barbarians of the West believed
and trembled; but nature often rebelled against principle;
and the magistrate labored without effect to enforce the
jurisdiction of the priest. A literal accomplishment of
penance was indeed impracticable: the guilt of adultery was
multiplied by daily repetition; that of homicide might
involve the massacre of a whole people; each act was
separately numbered; and, in those times of anarchy and
vice, a modest sinner might easily incur a debt of three
hundred years. His insolvency was relieved by a commutation,
or indulgence: a year of penance was appreciated at
twenty-six solidi (24) of silver, about four pounds sterling, for the rich; at three solidi, or nine shillings, for the
indigent: and these alms were soon appropriated to the use
of the church, which derived, from the redemption of sins,
an inexhaustible source of opulence and dominion. A debt of
three hundred years, or twelve hundred pounds, was enough to
impoverish a plentiful fortune; the scarcity of gold and
silver was supplied by the alienation of land; and the
princely donations of Pepin and Charlemagne are expressly
given for the remedy of their soul. It is a maxim of the
civil law, that whosoever cannot pay with his purse, must
pay with his body; and the practice of flagellation was
adopted by the monks, a cheap, though painful equivalent.
By a fantastic arithmetic, a year of penance was taxed at
three thousand lashes; (25) and such was the skill and
patience of a famous hermit, St. Dominic of the iron
Cuirass, (26) that in six days he could discharge an entire
century, by a whipping of three hundred thousand stripes.
His example was followed by many penitents of both sexes;
and, as a vicarious sacrifice was accepted, a sturdy
disciplinarian might expiate on his own back the sins of his
benefactors. (27) These compensations of the purse and the
person introduced, in the eleventh century, a more honourable
mode of satisfaction. The merit of military service against
the Saracens of Africa and Spain had been allowed by the
predecessors of Urban the Second. In the council of
Clermont, that pope proclaimed a plenary indulgence to those
who should enlist under the banner of the cross; the
absolution of all their sins, and a full receipt for all
that might be due of canonical penance. (28) The cold
philosophy of modern times is incapable of feeling the
impression that was made on a sinful and fanatic world. At
the voice of their pastor, the robber, the incendiary, the
homicide, arose by thousands to redeem their souls, by
repeating on the infidels the same deeds which they had
exercised against their Christian brethren; and the terms of
atonement were eagerly embraced by offenders of every rank
and denomination. None were pure; none were exempt from the
guilt and penalty of sin; and those who were the least
amenable to the justice of God and the church were the best
entitled to the temporal and eternal recompense of their
pious courage. If they fell, the spirit of the Latin clergy
did not hesitate to adorn their tomb with the crown of
martyrdom; (29) and should they survive, they could expect
without impatience the delay and increase of their heavenly
reward. They offered their blood to the Son of God, who had
laid down his life for their salvation: they took up the
cross, and entered with confidence into the way of the Lord.
His providence would watch over their safety; perhaps his
visible and miraculous power would smooth the difficulties
of their holy enterprise. The cloud and pillar of Jehovah
had marched before the Israelites into the promised land.
Might not the Christians more reasonably hope that the
rivers would open for their passage; that the walls of their
strongest cities would fall at the sound of their trumpets;
and that the sun would be arrested in his mid career, to
allow them time for the destruction of the infidels?
Temporal and carnal motives.
Of the chiefs and soldiers who marched to the holy
sepulchre, I will dare to affirm, that all were prompted by
the spirit of enthusiasm; the belief of merit, the hope of
reward, and the assurance of divine aid. But I am equally
persuaded, that in many it was not the sole, that in some it
was not the leading, principle of action. The use and abuse
of religion are feeble to stem, they are strong and
irresistible to impel, the stream of national manners.
Against the private wars of the Barbarians, their bloody
tournaments, licentious love, and judicial duels, the popes
and synods might ineffectually thunder. It is a more easy
task to provoke the metaphysical disputes of the Greeks, to
drive into the cloister the victims of anarchy or despotism,
to sanctify the patience of slaves and cowards, or to assume
the merit of the humanity and benevolence of modern
Christians. War and exercise were the reigning passions of
the Franks or Latins; they were enjoined, as a penance, to
gratify those passions, to visit distant lands, and to draw
their swords against the nation of the East. Their victory,
or even their attempt, would immortalize the names of the
intrepid heroes of the cross; and the purest piety could not
be insensible to the most splendid prospect of military
glory. In the petty quarrels of Europe, they shed the blood
of their friends and countrymen, for the acquisition perhaps
of a castle or a village. They could march with alacrity
against the distant and hostile nations who were devoted to
their arms; their fancy already grasped the golden sceptres
of Asia; and the conquest of Apulia and Sicily by the
Normans might exalt to royalty the hopes of the most private
adventurer. Christendom, in her rudest state, must have
yielded to the climate and cultivation of the Mahometan
countries; and their natural and artificial wealth had been
magnified by the tales of pilgrims, and the gifts of an
imperfect commerce. The vulgar, both the great and small,
were taught to believe every wonder, of lands flowing with
milk and honey, of mines and treasures, of gold and
diamonds, of palaces of marble and jasper, and of
odoriferous groves of cinnamon and frankincense. In this
earthly paradise, each warrior depended on his sword to
carve a plenteous and honourable establishment, which he
measured only by the extent of his wishes. (30) Their vassals
and soldiers trusted their fortunes to God and their master:
the spoils of a Turkish emir might enrich the meanest
follower of the camp; and the flavour of the wines, the
beauty of the Grecian women, (31) were temptations more
adapted to the nature, than to the profession, of the
champions of the cross. The love of freedom was a powerful
incitement to the multitudes who were oppressed by feudal or
ecclesiastical tyranny. Under this holy sign, the peasants
and burghers, who were attached to the servitude of the
glebe, might escape from a haughty lord, and transplant
themselves and their families to a land of liberty. The
monk might release himself from the discipline of his
convent: the debtor might suspend the accumulation of usury,
and the pursuit of his creditors; and outlaws and
malefactors of every cast might continue to brave the laws
and elude the punishment of their crimes. (32)
Influence of example.
These motives were potent and numerous: when we have singly
computed their weight on the mind of each individual, we
must add the infinite series, the multiplying powers, of
example and fashion. The first proselytes became the
warmest and most effectual missionaries of the cross: among
their friends and countrymen they preached the duty, the
merit, and the recompense, of their holy vow; and the most
reluctant hearers were insensibly drawn within the whirlpool
of persuasion and authority. The martial youths were fired
by the reproach or suspicion of cowardice; the opportunity
of visiting with an army the sepulchre of Christ was
embraced by the old and infirm, by women and children, who
consulted rather their zeal than their strength; and those
who in the evening had derided the folly of their
companions, were the most eager, the ensuing day, to tread
in their footsteps. The ignorance, which magnified the
hopes, diminished the perils, of the enterprise. Since the
Turkish conquest, the paths of pilgrimage were obliterated;
the chiefs themselves had an imperfect notion of the length
of the way and the state of their enemies; and such was the
stupidity of the people, that, at the sight of the first
city or castle beyond the limits of their knowledge, they
were ready to ask whether that was not the Jerusalem, the
term and object of their labours. Yet the more prudent of
the crusaders, who were not sure that they should be fed
from heaven with a shower of quails or manna, provided
themselves with those precious metals, which, in every
country, are the representatives of every commodity. To
defray, according to their rank, the expenses of the road,
princes alienated their provinces, nobles their lands and
castles, peasants their cattle and the instruments of
husbandry. The value of property was depreciated by the
eager competition of multitudes; while the price of arms and
horses was raised to an exorbitant height by the wants and
impatience of the buyers. (33) Those who remained at home,
with sense and money, were enriched by the epidemical
disease: the sovereigns acquired at a cheap rate the domains
of their vassals; and the ecclesiastical purchasers
completed the payment by the assurance of their prayers.
The cross, which was commonly sewed on the garment, in cloth
or silk, was inscribed by some zealots on their skin: a hot
iron, or indelible liquor, was applied to perpetuate the
mark; and a crafty monk, who showed the miraculous
impression on his breast was repaid with the popular
veneration and the richest benefices of Palestine. (34)
Departure of the first crusaders, A.D. 1096, March and May etc.
The fifteenth of August had been fixed in the council of
Clermont for the departure of the pilgrims; but the day was
anticipated by the thoughtless and needy crowd of plebeians,
and I shall briefly despatch the calamities which they
inflicted and suffered, before I enter on the more serious
and successful enterprise of the chiefs. Early in the
spring, from the confines of France and Lorraine, above
sixty thousand of the populace of both sexes flocked round
the first missionary of the crusade, and pressed him with
clamorous importunity to lead them to the holy sepulchre.
The hermit, assuming the character, without the talents or
authority, of a general, impelled or obeyed the forward
impulse of his votaries along the banks of the Rhine and
Danube. Their wants and numbers soon compelled them to
separate, and his lieutenant, Walter the Penniless, a
valiant though needy soldier, conducted a van guard of
pilgrims, whose condition may be determined from the
proportion of eight horsemen to fifteen thousand foot. The
example and footsteps of Peter were closely pursued by
another fanatic, the monk Godescal, whose sermons had swept
away fifteen or twenty thousand peasants from the villages
of Germany. Their rear was again pressed by a herd of two
hundred thousand, the most stupid and savage refuse of the
people, who mingled with their devotion a brutal license of
rapine, prostitution, and drunkenness. Some counts and
gentlemen, at the head of three thousand horse, attended the
motions of the multitude to partake in the spoil; but their
genuine leaders (may we credit such folly?) were a goose and
a goat, who were carried in the front, and to whom these
worthy Christians ascribed an infusion of the divine spirit.
(35) Of these, and of other bands of enthusiasts, the first
and most easy warfare was against the Jews, the murderers of
the Son of God. In the trading cities of the Moselle and the
Rhine, their colonies were numerous and rich; and they
enjoyed, under the protection of the emperor and the
bishops, the free exercise of their religion. (36) At Verdun,
Treves, Mentz, Spires, Worms, many thousands of that unhappy
people were pillaged and massacred: (37) nor had they felt a
more bloody stroke since the persecution of Hadrian. A
remnant was saved by the firmness of their bishops, who
accepted a feigned and transient conversion; but the more
obstinate Jews opposed their fanaticism to the fanaticism of
the Christians, barricaded their houses, and precipitating
themselves, their families, and their wealth, into the
rivers or the flames, disappointed the malice, or at least
the avarice, of their implacable foes.
Their destruction in Hungary and Asia, A.D. 1096.
Between the frontiers of Austria and the seat of the Byzantine monarchy, the crusaders were compelled to traverse an interval of six hundred miles; the wild and desolate
countries of Hungary (38) and Bulgaria. The soil is fruitful,
and intersected with rivers; but it was then covered with
morasses and forests, which spread to a boundless extent,
whenever man has ceased to exercise his dominion over the
earth. Both nations had imbibed the rudiments of
Christianity; the Hungarians were ruled by their native
princes; the Bulgarians by a lieutenant of the Greek
emperor; but, on the slightest provocation, their ferocious
nature was rekindled, and ample provocation was afforded by
the disorders of the first pilgrims Agriculture must have
been unskilful and languid among a people, whose cities were
built of reeds and timber, which were deserted in the summer
season for the tents of hunters and shepherds. A scanty
supply of provisions was rudely demanded, forcibly seized,
and greedily consumed; and on the first quarrel, the
crusaders gave a loose to indignation and revenge. But
their ignorance of the country, of war, and of discipline,
exposed them to every snare. The Greek praefect of Bulgaria
commanded a regular force; at the trumpet of the Hungarian king, the eighth or the tenth of his martial subjects bent their bows and mounted on horseback; their policy was insidious, and their retaliation on these pious
robbers was unrelenting and bloody. (39) About a third of the
naked fugitives (and the hermit Peter was of the number)
escaped to the Thracian mountains; and the emperor, who
respected the pilgrimage and succour of the Latins, conducted
them by secure and easy journeys to Constantinople, and
advised them to await the arrival of their brethren. For a
while they remembered their faults and losses; but no sooner
were they revived by the hospitable entertainment, than
their venom was again inflamed; they stung their benefactor,
and neither gardens, nor palaces, nor churches, were safe
from their depredations. For his own safety, Alexius
allured them to pass over to the Asiatic side of the
Bosphorus; but their blind impetuosity soon urged them to
desert the station which he had assigned, and to rush
headlong against the Turks, who occupied the road to
Jerusalem. The hermit, conscious of his shame, had
withdrawn from the camp to Constantinople; and his
lieutenant, Walter the Penniless, who was worthy of a better
command, attempted without success to introduce some order
and prudence among the herd of savages. They separated in
quest of prey, and themselves fell an easy prey to the arts
of the sultan. By a rumour that their foremost companions
were rioting in the spoils of his capital, Soliman tempted the main body to descend into the plain of Nice: they were overwhelmed by the Turkish arrows; and a pyramid of bones (40) informed their companions of the place of their defeat. Of the first crusaders, three hundred thousand had already perished, before a single city was rescued from the infidels, before their graver and more noble brethren had completed the preparations of their enterprise. (41)
The chiefs of the first crusade.
None of the great sovereigns of Europe embarked their
persons in the first crusade. The emperor Henry the Fourth
was not disposed to obey the summons of the pope: Philip the
First of France was occupied by his pleasures; William Rufus
of England by a recent conquest; the kings of Spain were
engaged in a domestic war against the Moors; and the
northern monarchs of Scotland, Denmark, (42) Sweden, and Poland, were yet strangers to the passions and interests of
the South. The religious ardour was more strongly felt by
the princes of the second order, who held an important place
in the feudal system. Their situation will naturally cast
under four distinct heads the review of their names and
characters; but I may escape some needless repetition, by
observing at once, that courage and the exercise of arms are
the common attribute of these Christian adventurers. Godfrey of Bouillon.. I. The first rank both in war and council is justly due to
Godfrey of Bouillon; and happy would it have been for the
crusaders, if they had trusted themselves to the sole
conduct of that accomplished hero, a worthy representative
of Charlemagne, from whom he was descended in the female
line. His father was of the noble race of the counts of
Boulogne: Brabant, the lower province of Lorraine, (43) was
the inheritance of his mother; and by the emperor's bounty
he was himself invested with that ducal title, which has
been improperly transferred to his lordship of Bouillon in
the Ardennes. (44) In the service of Henry the Fourth, he
bore the great standard of the empire, and pierced with his
lance the breast of Rodolph, the rebel king: Godfrey was the
first who ascended the walls of Rome; and his sickness, his
vow, perhaps his remorse for bearing arms against the pope,
confirmed an early resolution of visiting the holy
sepulchre, not as a pilgrim, but a deliverer. His valour was
matured by prudence and moderation; his piety, though blind,
was sincere; and, in the tumult of a camp, he practised the
real and fictitious virtues of a convent. Superior to the
private factions of the chiefs, he reserved his enmity for
the enemies of Christ; and though he gained a kingdom by the
attempt, his pure and disinterested zeal was acknowledged by
his rivals. Godfrey of Bouillon (45) was accompanied by his
two brothers, by Eustace the elder, who had succeeded to the
county of Boulogne, and by the younger, Baldwin, a character
of more ambiguous virtue. The duke of Lorraine, was alike
celebrated on either side of the Rhine: from his birth and
education, he was equally conversant with the French and
Teutonic languages: the barons of France, Germany, and
Lorraine, assembled their vassals; and the confederate force
that marched under his banner was composed of fourscore
thousand foot and about ten thousand horse. Hugh of Vernadois, etc. II. In the parliament that was held at Paris, in the king's presence, about two months after the council of Clermont, Hugh, count of Vermandois, was the most conspicuous of the princes who assumed the cross. But the appellation of the Great was
applied, not so much to his merit or possessions, (though
neither were contemptible,) as to the royal birth of the
brother of the king of France. (46) Robert, duke of Normandy,
was the eldest son of William the Conqueror; but on his
father's death he was deprived of the kingdom of England, by
his own indolence and the activity of his brother Rufus.
The worth of Robert was degraded by an excessive levity and
easiness of temper: his cheerfulness seduced him to the
indulgence of pleasure; his profuse liberality impoverished
the prince and people; his indiscriminate clemency
multiplied the number of offenders; and the amiable
qualities of a private man became the essential defects of a
sovereign. For the trifling sum of ten thousand marks, he
mortgaged Normandy during his absence to the English
usurper; (47) but his engagement and behaviour in the holy war announced in Robert a reformation of manners, and restored him in some degree to the public esteem. Another Robert was
count of Flanders, a royal province, which, in this century,
gave three queens to the thrones of France, England, and
Denmark: he was surnamed the Sword and Lance of the
Christians; but in the exploits of a soldier he sometimes
forgot the duties of a general. Stephen, count of Chartres,
of Blois, and of Troyes, was one of the richest princes of
the age; and the number of his castles has been compared to
the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year. His mind
was improved by literature; and, in the council of the
chiefs, the eloquent Stephen (48) was chosen to discharge the
office of their president. These four were the principal
leaders of the French, the Normans, and the pilgrims of the
British isles: but the list of the barons who were possessed
of three or four towns would exceed, says a contemporary,
the catalogue of the Trojan war. (49) Raymond of Tholouse. III. In the south of
France, the command was assumed by Adhemar bishop of Puy,
the pope's legate, and by Raymond count of St. Giles and
Thoulouse who added the prouder titles of duke of Narbonne
and marquis of Provence. The former was a respectable
prelate, alike qualified for this world and the next. The
latter was a veteran warrior, who had fought against the
Saracens of Spain, and who consecrated his declining age,
not only to the deliverance, but to the perpetual service,
of the holy sepulchre. His experience and riches gave him a
strong ascendant in the Christian camp, whose distress he
was often able, and sometimes willing, to relieve. But it
was easier for him to extort the praise of the Infidels,
than to preserve the love of his subjects and associates.
His eminent qualities were clouded by a temper haughty,
envious, and obstinate; and, though he resigned an ample
patrimony for the cause of God, his piety, in the public
opinion, was not exempt from avarice and ambition. (50) A
mercantile, rather than a martial, spirit prevailed among
his provincials, (51) a common name, which included the natives of Auvergne and Languedoc, (52) the vassals of the kingdom of Burgundy or Arles. From the adjacent frontier of
Spain he drew a band of hardy adventurers; as he marched
through Lombardy, a crowd of Italians flocked to his
standard, and his united force consisted of one hundred
thousand horse and foot. If Raymond was the first to enlist
and the last to depart, the delay may be excused by the
greatness of his preparation and the promise of an
everlasting farewell. Bohemond and Tancred. IV. The name of Bohemond, the son of
Robert Guiscard, was already famous by his double victory
over the Greek emperor; but his father's will had reduced
him to the principality of Tarentum, and the remembrance of
his Eastern trophies, till he was awakened by the rumour and
passage of the French pilgrims. It is in the person of this
Norman chief that we may seek for the coolest policy and
ambition, with a small allay of religious fanaticism. His
conduct may justify a belief that he had secretly directed
the design of the pope, which he affected to second with
astonishment and zeal: at the siege of Amalphi, his example
and discourse inflamed the passions of a confederate army;
he instantly tore his garment to supply crosses for the
numerous candidates, and prepared to visit Constantinople
and Asia at the head of ten thousand horse and twenty
thousand foot. Several princes of the Norman race
accompanied this veteran general; and his cousin Tancred (53)
was the partner, rather than the servant, of the war. In the
accomplished character of Tancred we discover all the
virtues of a perfect knight, (54) the true spirit of
chivalry, which inspired the generous sentiments and social
offices of man far better than the base philosophy, or the
baser religion, of the times.
Chivalry.
Between the age of Charlemagne and that of the crusades, a
revolution had taken place among the Spaniards, the Normans,
and the French, which was gradually extended to the rest of
Europe. The service of the infantry was degraded to the
plebeians; the cavalry formed the strength of the armies,
and the honourable name of miles , or soldier, was confined to
the gentlemen (55) who served on horseback, and were invested with the character of knighthood. The dukes and counts, who
had usurped the rights of sovereignty, divided the provinces
among their faithful barons: the barons distributed among
their vassals the fiefs or benefices of their jurisdiction;
and these military tenants, the peers of each other and of
their lord, composed the noble or equestrian order, which
disdained to conceive the peasant or burgher as of the same
species with themselves. The dignity of their birth was
preserved by pure and equal alliances; their sons alone, who
could produce four quarters or lines of ancestry without
spot or reproach, might legally pretend to the honour of
knighthood; but a valiant plebeian was sometimes enriched
and ennobled by the sword, and became the father of a new
race. A single knight could impart, according to his
judgment, the character which he received; and the warlike
sovereigns of Europe derived more glory from this personal
distinction than from the lustre of their diadem. This
ceremony, of which some traces may be found in Tacitus and
the woods of Germany, (56) was in its origin simple and
profane; the candidate, after some previous trial, was
invested with the sword and spurs; and his cheek or shoulder
was touched with a slight blow, as an emblem of the last
affront which it was lawful for him to endure. But
superstition mingled in every public and private action of
life: in the holy wars, it sanctified the profession of
arms; and the order of chivalry was assimilated in its
rights and privileges to the sacred orders of priesthood.
The bath and white garment of the novice were an indecent
copy of the regeneration of baptism: his sword, which he
offered on the altar, was blessed by the ministers of
religion: his solemn reception was preceded by fasts and
vigils; and he was created a knight in the name of God, of
St. George, and of St. Michael the archangel. He swore to
accomplish the duties of his profession; and education,
example, and the public opinion, were the inviolable
guardians of his oath. As the champion of God and the
ladies, (I blush to unite such discordant names,) he devoted
himself to speak the truth; to maintain the right; to
protect the distressed; to practise courtesy, a virtue less
familiar to the ancients; to pursue the infidels; to despise
the allurements of ease and safety; and to vindicate in
every perilous adventure the honour of his character. The
abuse of the same spirit provoked the illiterate knight to
disdain the arts of industry and peace; to esteem himself
the sole judge and avenger of his own injuries; and proudly
to neglect the laws of civil society and military
discipline. Yet the benefits of this institution, to refine
the temper of Barbarians, and to infuse some principles of
faith, justice, and humanity, were strongly felt, and have
been often observed. The asperity of national prejudice was
softened; and the community of religion and arms spread a
similar colour and generous emulation over the face of
Christendom. Abroad in enterprise and pilgrimage, at home
in martial exercise, the warriors of every country were
perpetually associated; and impartial taste must prefer a
Gothic tournament to the Olympic games of classic antiquity.
(57) Instead of the naked spectacles which corrupted the
manners of the Greeks, and banished from the stadium the
virgins and matrons, the pompous decoration of the lists was
crowned with the presence of chaste and high-born beauty,
from whose hands the conqueror received the prize of his
dexterity and courage. The skill and strength that were
exerted in wrestling and boxing bear a distant and doubtful
relation to the merit of a soldier; but the tournaments, as
they were invented in France, and eagerly adopted both in
the East and West, presented a lively image of the business
of the field. The single combats, the general skirmish, the
defence of a pass, or castle, were rehearsed as in actual
service; and the contest, both in real and mimic war, was
decided by the superior management of the horse and lance.
The lance was the proper and peculiar weapon of the knight:
his horse was of a large and heavy breed; but this charger,
till he was roused by the approaching danger, was usually
led by an attendant, and he quietly rode a pad or palfrey of
a more easy pace. His helmet and sword, his greaves and
buckler, it would be superfluous to describe; but I may
remark, that, at the period of the crusades, the armour was
less ponderous than in later times; and that, instead of a
massy cuirass, his breast was defended by a hauberk or coat
of mail. When their long lances were fixed in the rest, the
warriors furiously spurred their horses against the foe; and
the light cavalry of the Turks and Arabs could seldom stand
against the direct and impetuous weight of their charge.
Each knight was attended to the field by his faithful
squire, a youth of equal birth and similar hopes; he was
followed by his archers and men at arms, and four, or five,
or six soldiers were computed as the furniture of a complete
lance . In the expeditions to the neighbouring kingdoms or
the Holy Land, the duties of the feudal tenure no longer
subsisted; the voluntary service of the knights and their
followers were either prompted by zeal or attachment, or
purchased with rewards and promises; and the numbers of each
squadron were measured by the power, the wealth, and the
fame, of each independent chieftain. They were
distinguished by his banner, his armorial coat, and his cry
of war; and the most ancient families of Europe must seek in
these achievements the origin and proof of their nobility.
In this rapid portrait of chivalry I have been urged to
anticipate on the story of the crusades, at once an effect
and a cause, of this memorable institution. (58)
March of the princes to Constantinople, A.D. 1096, August 15-A.D. 1097, May.
Such were the troops, and such the leaders, who assumed the
cross for the deliverance of the holy sepulchre. As soon as
they were relieved by the absence of the plebeian multitude,
they encouraged each other, by interviews and messages, to
accomplish their vow, and hasten their departure. Their
wives and sisters were desirous of partaking the danger and
merit of the pilgrimage: their portable treasures were
conveyed in bars of silver and gold; and the princes and
barons were attended by their equipage of hounds and hawks
to amuse their leisure and to supply their table. The
difficulty of procuring subsistence for so many myriads of
men and horses engaged them to separate their forces: their
choice or situation determined the road; and it was agreed
to meet in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, and from
thence to begin their operations against the Turks. From
the banks of the Meuse and the Moselle, Godfrey of Bouillon
followed the direct way of Germany, Hungary, and Bulgaria;
and, as long as he exercised the sole command every step
afforded some proof of his prudence and virtue. On the
confines of Hungary he was stopped three weeks by a
Christian people, to whom the name, or at least the abuse,
of the cross was justly odious. The Hungarians still
smarted with the wounds which they had received from the
first pilgrims: in their turn they had abused the right of
defence and retaliation; and they had reason to apprehend a
severe revenge from a hero of the same nation, and who was
engaged in the same cause. But, after weighing the motives
and the events, the virtuous duke was content to pity the
crimes and misfortunes of his worthless brethren; and his
twelve deputies, the messengers of peace, requested in his
name a free passage and an equal market. To remove their
suspicions, Godfrey trusted himself, and afterwards his
brother, to the faith of Carloman, king of Hungary, who treated them with a simple but hospitable entertainment: the
treaty was sanctified by their common gospel; and a
proclamation, under pain of death, restrained the animosity
and license of the Latin soldiers. From Austria to
Belgrade, they traversed the plains of Hungary, without
enduring or offering an injury; and the proximity of
Carloman, who hovered on their flanks with his numerous
cavalry, was a precaution not less useful for their safety
than for his own. They reached the banks of the Save; and
no sooner had they passed the river, than the king of
Hungary restored the hostages, and saluted their departure
with the fairest wishes for the success of their enterprise.
With the same conduct and discipline, Godfrey pervaded the
woods of Bulgaria and the frontiers of Thrace; and might
congratulate himself that he had almost reached the first
term of his pilgrimage, without drawing his sword against a
Christian adversary. After an easy and pleasant journey
through Lombardy, from Turin to Aquileia, Raymond and his
provincials marched forty days through the savage country of
Dalmatia (59) and Sclavonia. The weather was a perpetual
fog; the land was mountainous and desolate; the natives were
either fugitive or hostile: loose in their religion and
government, they refused to furnish provisions or guides;
murdered the stragglers; and exercised by night and day the
vigilance of the count, who derived more security from the
punishment of some captive robbers than from his interview
and treaty with the prince of Scodra. (60) His march between
Durazzo and Constantinople was harassed, without being
stopped, by the peasants and soldiers of the Greek emperor;
and the same faint and ambiguous hostility was prepared for
the remaining chiefs, who passed the Adriatic from the coast
of Italy. Bohemond had arms and vessels, and foresight and
discipline; and his name was not forgotten in the provinces
of Epirus and Thessaly. Whatever obstacles he encountered
were surmounted by his military conduct and the valour of
Tancred; and if the Norman prince affected to spare the
Greeks, he gorged his soldiers with the full plunder of an
heretical castle. (61) The nobles of France pressed forwards
with the vain and thoughtless ardour of which their nation
has been sometimes accused. From the Alps to Apulia the
march of Hugh the Great, of the two Roberts, and of Stephen
of Chartres, through a wealthy country, and amidst the
applauding Catholics, was a devout or triumphant progress:
they kissed the feet of the Roman pontiff; and the golden
standard of St. Peter was delivered to the brother of the
French monarch. (62) But in this visit of piety and pleasure,
they neglected to secure the season, and the means of their
embarkation: the winter was insensibly lost: their troops
were scattered and corrupted in the towns of Italy. They
separately accomplished their passage, regardless of safety
or dignity; and within nine months from the feast of the
Assumption, the day appointed by Urban, all the Latin
princes had reached Constantinople. But the count of
Vermandois was produced as a captive; his foremost vessels
were scattered by a tempest; and his person, against the law
of nations, was detained by the lieutenants of Alexius. Yet
the arrival of Hugh had been announced by four-and-twenty
knights in golden armour, who commanded the emperor to revere
the general of the Latin Christians, the brother of the king
of kings. (63)
Policy of the emperor Alexius Comnenus, A.D. 1096, December - A.D. 1097, May.
In some oriental tale I have read the fable of a shepherd,
who was ruined by the accomplishment of his own wishes: he
had prayed for water; the Ganges was turned into his
grounds, and his flock and cottage were swept away by the
inundation. Such was the fortune, or at least the
apprehension of the Greek emperor Alexius Comnenus, whose
name has already appeared in this history, and whose conduct
is so differently represented by his daughter Anne, (64) and
by the Latin writers. (65) In the council of Placentia, his
ambassadors had solicited a moderate succour, perhaps of ten
thousand soldiers, but he was astonished by the approach of
so many potent chiefs and fanatic nations. The emperor
fluctuated between hope and fear, between timidity and
courage; but in the crooked policy which he mistook for
wisdom, I cannot believe, I cannot discern, that he
maliciously conspired against the life or honour of the
French heroes. The promiscuous multitudes of Peter the
Hermit were savage beasts, alike destitute of humanity and
reason: nor was it possible for Alexius to prevent or
deplore their destruction. The troops of Godfrey and his
peers were less contemptible, but not less suspicious, to
the Greek emperor. Their motives might be pure and pious:
but he was equally alarmed by his knowledge of the ambitious
Bohemond, and his ignorance of the Transalpine chiefs: the courage of the French was blind and headstrong; they might be tempted by the luxury and wealth of Greece, and elated by the view and opinion of their invincible strength: and Jerusalem might be forgotten in the prospect of Constantinople. After a long march and painful abstinence,
the troops of Godfrey encamped in the plains of Thrace; they
heard with indignation, that their brother, the count of
Vermandois, was imprisoned by the Greeks; and their
reluctant duke was compelled to indulge them in some freedom
of retaliation and rapine. They were appeased by the
submission of Alexius: he promised to supply their camp; and
as they refused, in the midst of winter, to pass the
Bosphorus, their quarters were assigned among the gardens
and palaces on the shores of that narrow sea. But an
incurable jealousy still rankled in the minds of the two
nations, who despised each other as slaves and Barbarians.
Ignorance is the ground of suspicion, and suspicion was
inflamed into daily provocations: prejudice is blind, hunger
is deaf; and Alexius is accused of a design to starve or
assault the Latins in a dangerous post, on all sides
encompassed with the waters. (66) Godfrey sounded his
trumpets, burst the net, overspread the plain, and insulted
the suburbs; but the gates of Constantinople were strongly
fortified; the ramparts were lined with archers; and, after
a doubtful conflict, both parties listened to the voice of
peace and religion. The gifts and promises of the emperor
insensibly soothed the fierce spirit of the western
strangers; as a Christian warrior, he rekindled their zeal
for the prosecution of their holy enterprise, which he
engaged to second with his troops and treasures. On the
return of spring, Godfrey was persuaded to occupy a pleasant
and plentiful camp in Asia; and no sooner had he passed the
Bosphorus, than the Greek vessels were suddenly recalled to
the opposite shore. The same policy was repeated with the
succeeding chiefs, who were swayed by the example, and
weakened by the departure, of their foremost companions. By
his skill and diligence, Alexius prevented the union of any
two of the confederate armies at the same moment under the
walls of Constantinople; and before the feast of the
Pentecost not a Latin pilgrim was left on the coast of
Europe.
He obtains the homage of the crusaders.
The same arms which threatened Europe might deliver Asia,
and repel the Turks from the neighbouring shores of the
Bosphorus and Hellespont. The fair provinces from Nice to
Antioch were the recent patrimony of the Roman emperor; and
his ancient and perpetual claim still embraced the kingdoms
of Syria and Egypt. In his enthusiasm, Alexius indulged, or
affected, the ambitious hope of leading his new allies to
subvert the thrones of the East; but the calmer dictates of
reason and temper dissuaded him from exposing his royal
person to the faith of unknown and lawless Barbarians. His
prudence, or his pride, was content with extorting from the
French princes an oath of homage and fidelity, and a solemn
promise, that they would either restore, or hold, their Asiatic conquests as
the humble and loyal vassals of the Roman empire. Their
independent spirit was fired at the mention of this foreign
and voluntary servitude: they successively yielded to the
dexterous application of gifts and flattery; and the first
proselytes became the most eloquent and effectual
missionaries to multiply the companions of their shame. The
pride of Hugh of Vermandois was soothed by the honours of his
captivity; and in the brother of the French king, the
example of submission was prevalent and weighty. In the
mind of Godfrey of Bouillon every human consideration was
subordinate to the glory of God and the success of the
crusade. He had firmly resisted the temptations of Bohemond
and Raymond, who urged the attack and conquest of
Constantinople. Alexius esteemed his virtues, deservedly
named him the champion of the empire, and dignified his
homage with the filial name and the rights of adoption. (67)
The hateful Bohemond was received as a true and ancient
ally; and if the emperor reminded him of former hostilities, it was only to praise the valour that he had displayed, and the glory that he had acquired, in the fields of Durazzo and Larissa. The son of Guiscard was lodged and entertained, and served with Imperial pomp: one day, as he passed through
the gallery of the palace, a door was carelessly left open to expose a pile of gold and silver, of silk and gems, of curious and costly furniture, that was heaped, in seeming disorder, from the floor to the roof of the chamber.
"What conquests," exclaimed the ambitious miser, "might not be achieved by the possession of such a treasure!"
— "It is your own," replied a Greek attendant, who watched the motions of his soul; and Bohemond, after some hesitation, condescended to accept this magnificent present. The Norman was flattered by the assurance of an independent principality; and Alexius eluded, rather than denied, his daring demand of the office of great domestic, or general of the East. The two Roberts, the son of the conqueror of England, and the kinsmen of three queens, (68) bowed in their turn before the Byzantine throne. A private letter of Stephen of Chartres attests his admiration of the emperor, the most excellent and liberal of men, who taught him to believe that he was a favourite, and promised to educate and establish his youngest son. In his southern province, the count of St. Giles and Thoulouse faintly recognized the supremacy of the king of France, a prince of a foreign nation and language. At the head of a hundred thousand men, he declared that he was the soldier and servant of Christ alone, and that the Greek might be satisfied with an equal treaty of alliance and friendship. His obstinate resistance enhanced the value and the price of his submission; and he shone, says the princess Anne, among the Barbarians, as the sun amidst the stars of heaven. His disgust of the noise and insolence of the French, his suspicions of the designs of Bohemond, the emperor imparted to his faithful Raymond; and that aged statesman might clearly discern, that however false in friendship, he was sincere in his enmity. (69) The spirit of chivalry was last subdued in the person of Tancred; and none could deem themselves dishonoured by the imitation of that gallant knight. He disdained the gold and flattery of the Greek monarch; assaulted in his presence an insolent patrician; escaped to Asia in the habit of a private soldier; and yielded with a sigh to the authority of Bohemond, and the interest of the Christian cause. The best and most ostensible reason was the impossibility of passing the sea and accomplishing their vow, without the license and the vessels of Alexius; but they cherished a secret hope, that as soon as they trod the continent of Asia, their swords would obliterate their shame, and dissolve the engagement, which on his side might not be very faithfully performed. The ceremony of their homage was grateful to a people who had long since considered pride as the substitute of power. High on his throne, the emperor sat mute and immovable: his majesty was adored by the Latin princes; and they submitted to kiss either his feet or his knees, an indignity which their own writers are ashamed to confess and unable to deny. (70)
Insolence of the Franks.
Private or public interest suppressed the murmurs of the dukes and counts; but a French baron (he is supposed to be Robert of Paris (71)) presumed to ascend the throne, and to place himself by the side of Alexius. The sage reproof of Baldwin provoked him to exclaim, in his barbarous idiom,
"Who is this rustic, that keeps his seat, while so many valiant captains are standing round him?"
The emperor maintained his silence, dissembled his indignation, and questioned his interpreter concerning the meaning of the words, which he partly suspected from the universal language of gesture and countenance. Before the departure of the pilgrims, he endeavoured to learn the name and condition of the audacious baron.
"I am a Frenchman," replied Robert, "of the purest and most ancient nobility of my country. All that I know is, that there is a church in my neighbourhood, (72) the resort of those who are desirous of approving their valour in single combat. Till an enemy appears, they address their prayers to God and his saints. That church I have frequently visited. But never have I found an antagonist who dared to accept my defiance."
Alexius dismissed the challenger with some prudent advice for his conduct in the Turkish warfare; and history repeats with pleasure this lively example of the manners of his age and country.
Their review and numbers,A.D. 1097, May.
The conquest of Asia was undertaken and achieved by Alexander, with thirty-five thousand Macedonians and Greeks; (73) and his best hope was in the strength and discipline of his phalanx of infantry. The principal force of the crusaders consisted in their cavalry; and when that force was mustered in the plains of Bithynia, the knights and their martial attendants on horseback amounted to one hundred thousand fighting men, completely armed with the helmet and coat of mail. The value of these soldiers deserved a strict and authentic account; and the flower of European chivalry might furnish, in a first effort, this
formidable body of heavy horse. A part of the infantry might be enrolled for the service of scouts, pioneers, and archers; but the promiscuous crowd were lost in their own disorder; and we depend not on the eyes and knowledge, but
on the belief and fancy, of a chaplain of Count Baldwin, (74)
in the estimate of six hundred thousand pilgrims able to
bear arms, besides the priests and monks, the women and
children of the Latin camp. The reader starts; and before he
is recovered from his surprise, I shall add, on the same
testimony, that if all who took the cross had accomplished
their vow, above SIX MILLIONS would have migrated from
Europe to Asia. Under this oppression of faith, I derive
some relief from a more sagacious and thinking writer, (75)
who, after the same review of the cavalry, accuses the
credulity of the priest of Chartres, and even doubts whether
the Cisalpine regions (in the geography of a Frenchman) were
sufficient to produce and pour forth such incredible
multitudes. The coolest scepticism will remember, that of
these religious volunteers great numbers never beheld
Constantinople and Nice. Of enthusiasm the influence is
irregular and transient: many were detained at home by
reason or cowardice, by poverty or weakness; and many were
repulsed by the obstacles of the way, the more insuperable
as they were unforeseen, to these ignorant fanatics. The
savage countries of Hungary and Bulgaria were whitened with
their bones: their vanguard was cut in pieces by the Turkish
sultan; and the loss of the first adventure, by the sword,
or climate, or fatigue, has already been stated at three
hundred thousand men. Yet the myriads that survived, that
marched, that pressed forwards on the holy pilgrimage, were
a subject of astonishment to themselves and to the Greeks.
The copious energy of her language sinks under the efforts
of the princess Anne: (76) the images of locusts, of leaves
and flowers, of the sands of the sea, or the stars of
heaven, imperfectly represent what she had seen and heard;
and the daughter of Alexius exclaims, that Europe was
loosened from its foundations, and hurled against Asia. The
ancient hosts of Darius and Xerxes labour under the same
doubt of a vague and indefinite magnitude; but I am inclined
to believe, that a larger number has never been contained
within the lines of a single camp, than at the siege of
Nice, the first operation of the Latin princes. Their
motives, their characters, and their arms, have been already
displayed. Of their troops the most numerous portion were
natives of France: the Low Countries, the banks of the
Rhine, and Apulia, sent a powerful reinforcement: some bands
of adventurers were drawn from Spain, Lombardy, and England;
(77) and from the distant bogs and mountains of Ireland or
Scotland (78) issued some naked and savage fanatics,
ferocious at home but unwarlike abroad. Had not
superstition condemned the sacrilegious prudence of
depriving the poorest or weakest Christian of the merit of
the pilgrimage, the useless crowd, with mouths but without
hands, might have been stationed in the Greek empire, till
their companions had opened and secured the way of the Lord.
A small remnant of the pilgrims, who passed the Bosphorus,
was permitted to visit the holy sepulchre. Their northern
constitution was scorched by the rays, and infected by the
vapours, of a Syrian sun. They consumed, with heedless
prodigality, their stores of water and provision: their
numbers exhausted the inland country: the sea was remote,
the Greeks were unfriendly, and the Christians of every sect
fled before the voracious and cruel rapine of their
brethren. In the dire necessity of famine, they sometimes
roasted and devoured the flesh of their infant or adult
captives. Among the Turks and Saracens, the idolaters of
Europe were rendered more odious by the name and reputation
of Cannibals; the spies, who introduced themselves into the
kitchen of Bohemond, were shown several human bodies turning
on the spit: and the artful Norman encouraged a report,
which increased at the same time the abhorrence and the
terror of the infidels. (79)
Siege of Nice, A.D. 1097,May 14-June 20.
I have expiated with pleasure on the first steps of the
crusaders, as they paint the manners and character of
Europe: but I shall abridge the tedious and uniform
narrative of their blind achievements, which were performed
by strength and are described by ignorance. From their
first station in the neighbourhood of Nicomedia, they
advanced in successive divisions; passed the contracted
limit of the Greek empire; opened a road through the hills,
and commenced, by the siege of his capital, their pious
warfare against the Turkish sultan. His kingdom of Roum
extended from the Hellespont to the confines of Syria, and
barred the pilgrimage of Jerusalem, his name was
Kilidge-Arslan, or Soliman, (80) of the race of Seljuk, and
son of the first conqueror; and in the defence of a land
which the Turks considered as their own, he deserved the
praise of his enemies, by whom alone he is known to
posterity. Yielding to the first impulse of the torrent, he
deposited his family and treasure in Nice; retired to the
mountains with fifty thousand horse; and twice descended to
assault the camps or quarters of the Christian besiegers,
which formed an imperfect circle of above six miles. The
lofty and solid walls of Nice were covered by a deep ditch,
and flanked by three hundred and seventy towers; and on the
verge of Christendom, the Moslems were trained in arms, and
inflamed by religion. Before this city, the French princes
occupied their stations, and prosecuted their attacks
without correspondence or subordination: emulation prompted
their valour; but their valour was sullied by cruelty, and
their emulation degenerated into envy and civil discord. In
the siege of Nice, the arts and engines of antiquity were
employed by the Latins; the mine and the battering-ram, the
tortoise, and the belfrey or movable turret, artificial
fire, and the catapult and balist, the sling, and the
crossbow for the casting of stones and darts. (81) In the
space of seven weeks much labour and blood were expended, and
some progress, especially by Count Raymond, was made on the
side of the besiegers. But the Turks could protract their
resistance and secure their escape, as long as they were
masters of the Lake (82) Ascanius, which stretches several
miles to the westward of the city. The means of conquest
were supplied by the prudence and industry of Alexius; a
great number of boats was transported on sledges from the
sea to the lake; they were filled with the most dexterous of
his archers; the flight of the sultana was intercepted; Nice
was invested by land and water; and a Greek emissary
persuaded the inhabitants to accept his master's protection,
and to save themselves, by a timely surrender, from the rage
of the savages of Europe. In the moment of victory, or at
least of hope, the crusaders, thirsting for blood and
plunder, were awed by the Imperial banner that streamed from
the citadel; and Alexius guarded with jealous vigilance this important conquest. The murmurs of the chiefs were
stifled by honour or interest; and after a halt of nine days,
they directed their march towards Phrygia under the guidance
of a Greek general, whom they suspected of a secret
connivance with the sultan. The consort and the principal
servants of Soliman had been honourably restored without
ransom; and the emperor's generosity to the miscreants (83) was interpreted as treason to the Christian cause.
Battle of Dorylaeum, A.D. 1097, July 4.
Soliman was rather provoked than dismayed by the loss of his
capital: he admonished his subjects and allies of this
strange invasion of the Western Barbarians; the Turkish
emirs obeyed the call of loyalty or religion; the Turkman
hordes encamped round his standard; and his whole force is
loosely stated by the Christians at two hundred, or even
three hundred and sixty thousand horse. Yet he patiently
waited till they had left behind them the sea and the Greek
frontier; and hovering on the flanks, observed their
careless and confident progress in two columns beyond the
view of each other. Some miles before they could reach
Dorylaeum in Phrygia, the left, and least numerous, division
was surprised, and attacked, and almost oppressed, by the
Turkish cavalry. (84) The heat of the weather, the clouds of
arrows, and the barbarous onset, overwhelmed the crusaders;
they lost their order and confidence, and the fainting fight
was sustained by the personal valour, rather than by the
military conduct, of Bohemond, Tancred, and Robert of
Normandy. They were revived by the welcome banners of Duke
Godfrey, who flew to their succour, with the count of
Vermandois, and sixty thousand horse; and was followed by
Raymond of Tholouse, the bishop of Puy, and the remainder of
the sacred army. Without a moment's pause, they formed in
new order, and advanced to a second battle. They were
received with equal resolution; and, in their common disdain
for the unwarlike people of Greece and Asia, it was
confessed on both sides, that the Turks and the Franks were
the only nations entitled to the appellation of soldiers.
(85) Their encounter was varied, and balanced by the contrast
of arms and discipline; of the direct charge, and wheeling
evolutions; of the couched lance, and the brandished
javelin; of a weighty broadsword, and a crooked sabre; of
cumbrous armour, and thin flowing robes; and of the long
Tartar bow, and the arbalist or crossbow, a deadly weapon,
yet unknown to the Orientals. (86) As long as the horses were
fresh, and the quivers full, Soliman maintained the
advantage of the day; and four thousand Christians were
pierced by the Turkish arrows. In the evening, swiftness
yielded to strength: on either side, the numbers were equal
or at least as great as any ground could hold, or any
generals could manage; but in turning the hills, the last
division of Raymond and his provincials was led, perhaps
without design on the rear of an exhausted enemy; and the
long contest was determined. Besides a nameless and
unaccounted multitude, three thousand Pagan knights were
slain in the battle and pursuit; the camp of Soliman was
pillaged; and in the variety of precious spoil, the
curiosity of the Latins was amused with foreign arms and
apparel, and the new aspect of dromedaries and camels. The
importance of the victory was proved by the hasty retreat of
the sultan: reserving ten thousand guards of the relics of
his army, Soliman evacuated the kingdom of Roum, and
hastened to implore the aid, and kindle the resentment, of
his Eastern brethren. March through the lesser Asia, July-September. In a march of five hundred miles, the
crusaders traversed the Lesser Asia, through a wasted land
and deserted towns, without finding either a friend or an
enemy. The geographer (87) may trace the position of Dorylaeum, Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Archelais, and
Germanicia, and may compare those classic appellations with
the modern names of Eskishehr the old city, Akshehr the
white city, Cogni, Erekli, and Marash. As the pilgrims
passed over a desert, where a draught of water is exchanged
for silver, they were tormented by intolerable thirst; and
on the banks of the first rivulet, their haste and
intemperance were still more pernicious to the disorderly
throng. They climbed with toil and danger the steep and
slippery sides of Mount Taurus; many of the soldiers cast
away their arms to secure their footsteps; and had not
terror preceded their van, the long and trembling file might
have been driven down the precipice by a handful of resolute
enemies. Two of their most respectable chiefs, the duke of
Lorraine and the count of Tholouse, were carried in litters:
Raymond was raised, as it is said by miracle, from a
hopeless malady; and Godfrey had been torn by a bear, as he
pursued that rough and perilous chase in the mountains of
Pisidia.
Baldwin founds the principality of Edessa, A.D. 1097-1151.
To improve the general consternation, the cousin of Bohemond
and the brother of Godfrey were detached from the main army
with their respective squadrons of five, and of seven,
hundred knights. They overran in a rapid career the hills
and sea-coast of Cilicia, from Cogni to the Syrian gates:
the Norman standard was first planted on the walls of Tarsus
and Malmistra; but the proud injustice of Baldwin at length
provoked the patient and generous Italian; and they turned
their consecrated swords against each other in a private and
profane quarrel. Honour was the motive, and fame the reward,
of Tancred; but fortune smiled on the more selfish
enterprise of his rival. (88) He was called to the assistance
of a Greek or Armenian tyrant, who had been suffered under
the Turkish yoke to reign over the Christians of Edessa.
Baldwin accepted the character of his son and champion: but
no sooner was he introduced into the city, than he inflamed
the people to the massacre of his father, occupied the
throne and treasure, extended his conquests over the hills
of Armenia and the plain of Mesopotamia, and founded the
first principality of the Franks or Latins, which subsisted
fifty-four years beyond the Euphrates. (89)
Seige of Antioch, A.D. 1097, October 21- A.D. 1098, June 3..
Before the Franks could enter Syria, the summer, and even
the autumn, were completely wasted: the siege of Antioch, or
the separation and repose of the army during the winter
season, was strongly debated in their council: the love of
arms and the holy sepulchre urged them to advance; and
reason perhaps was on the side of resolution, since every
hour of delay abates the fame and force of the invader, and
multiplies the resources of defensive war. The capital of
Syria was protected by the River Orontes; and the iron
bridge, of nine arches, derives its name from the massy gates of the two towers which are constructed at either end.
They were opened by the sword of the duke of Normandy: his
victory gave entrance to three hundred thousand crusaders,
an account which may allow some scope for losses and
desertion, but which clearly detects much exaggeration in
the review of Nice. In the description of Antioch, (90) it is
not easy to define a middle term between her ancient
magnificence, under the successors of Alexander and
Augustus, and the modern aspect of Turkish desolation. The
Tetrapolis, or four cities, if they retained their name and
position, must have left a large vacuity in a circumference
of twelve miles; and that measure, as well as the number of
four hundred towers, are not perfectly consistent with the
five gates, so often mentioned in the history of the siege.
Yet Antioch must have still flourished as a great and
populous capital. At the head of the Turkish emirs,
Baghisian, a veteran chief, commanded in the place: his
garrison was composed of six or seven thousand horse, and
fifteen or twenty thousand foot: one hundred thousand
Moslems are said to have fallen by the sword; and their
numbers were probably inferior to the Greeks, Armenians, and
Syrians, who had been no more than fourteen years the slaves
of the house of Seljuk. From the remains of a solid and
stately wall, it appears to have arisen to the height of
threescore feet in the valleys; and wherever less art and
labour had been applied, the ground was supposed to be
defended by the river, the morass, and the mountains.
Notwithstanding these fortifications, the city had been
repeatedly taken by the Persians, the Arabs, the Greeks, and
the Turks; so large a circuit must have yielded many
pervious points of attack; and in a siege that was formed
about the middle of October, the vigour of the execution
could alone justify the boldness of the attempt. Whatever
strength and valour could perform in the field was abundantly
discharged by the champions of the cross: in the frequent
occasions of sallies, of forage, of the attack and defence
of convoys, they were often victorious; and we can only
complain, that their exploits are sometimes enlarged beyond
the scale of probability and truth. The sword of Godfrey
(91) divided a Turk from the shoulder to the haunch; and one
half of the infidel fell to the ground, while the other was
transported by his horse to the city gate. As Robert of
Normandy rode against his antagonist,
"I devote thy head," he piously exclaimed, "to the daemons of hell;"
and that head was instantly cloven to the breast by the resistless stroke of his descending falchion. But the reality or the report of such gigantic prowess (92) must have taught the Moslems to keep within their walls: and against those walls of earth or stone, the sword and the lance were unavailing weapons. In the slow and successive labours of a siege, the crusaders were supine and ignorant, without skill to contrive, or money to purchase, or industry to use, the artificial engines and implements of assault. In the conquest of Nice, they had been powerfully assisted by the wealth and knowledge of the Greek emperor: his absence was poorly supplied by some Genoese and Pisan vessels, that were attracted by religion or trade to the coast of Syria: the stores were scanty, the return precarious, and the communication difficult and dangerous. Indolence or weakness had prevented the Franks from investing the entire circuit; and the perpetual freedom of two gates relieved the wants and recruited the garrison of the city. At the end of seven months, after the ruin of their cavalry, and an enormous loss by famine, desertion and fatigue, the progress of the crusaders was imperceptible, and their success remote, if the Latin Ulysses, the artful and ambitious Bohemond, had not employed the arms of cunning and deceit. The Christians of Antioch were numerous and discontented: Phirouz, a Syrian renegade, had acquired the favour of the emir and the command of three towers; and the merit of his repentance disguised to the Latins, and perhaps to himself, the foul design of perfidy and treason. A secret correspondence, for their mutual interest, was soon established between Phirouz and the prince of Tarento; and Bohemond declared in the council of the chiefs, that he could deliver the city into their hands. But he claimed the sovereignty of Antioch as the reward of his service; and the proposal which had been rejected by the envy, was at length extorted from the distress, of his equals. The nocturnal surprise was executed by the French and Norman princes, who ascended in person the scaling-ladders that were thrown from the walls: their new proselyte, after the murder of his too scrupulous brother, embraced and introduced the servants of Christ; the army rushed through the gates; and the Moslems soon found, that although mercy was hopeless, resistance was impotent. But the citadel still refused to surrender; and the victims themselves were speedily encompassed and besieged by the innumerable forces of Kerboga, prince of Mosul, who, with twenty-eight Turkish emirs, advanced to the deliverance of Antioch. Five-and-twenty days the Christians spent on the verge of destruction; and the proud lieutenant of the caliph and the sultan left them only the choice of servitude or death. (93) Victory of the crusaders, A.D. 1098, June 28. In this extremity they collected the relics of their strength, sallied from the town, and in a single memorable day, annihilated or dispersed the host of Turks and Arabians, which they might safely report to have consisted of six hundred thousand men. (94) Their supernatural allies I shall proceed to consider: the human causes of the victory of Antioch were the fearless despair of the Franks; and the surprise, the discord, perhaps the errors, of their unskilful and presumptuous adversaries. The battle is described with as much disorder as it was fought; but we may observe the tent of Kerboga, a movable and spacious palace, enriched with the luxury of Asia, and capable of holding above two thousand persons; we may distinguish his three thousand guards, who were cased, the horse as well as the men, in complete steel.
Their famine and distress at Antioch.
In the eventful period of the siege and defence of Antioch,
the crusaders were alternately exalted by victory or sunk in
despair; either swelled with plenty or emaciated with
hunger. A speculative reasoner might suppose, that their
faith had a strong and serious influence on their practice;
and that the soldiers of the cross, the deliverers of the
holy sepulchre, prepared themselves by a sober and virtuous
life for the daily contemplation of martyrdom. Experience
blows away this charitable illusion; and seldom does the
history of profane war display such scenes of intemperance
and prostitution as were exhibited under the walls of
Antioch. The grove of Daphne no longer flourished; but the
Syrian air was still impregnated with the same vices; the
Christians were seduced by every temptation (95) that nature
either prompts or reprobates; the authority of the chiefs
was despised; and sermons and edicts were alike fruitless
against those scandalous disorders, not less pernicious to
military discipline, than repugnant to evangelic purity. In
the first days of the siege and the possession of Antioch,
the Franks consumed with wanton and thoughtless prodigality
the frugal subsistence of weeks and months: the desolate
country no longer yielded a supply; and from that country
they were at length excluded by the arms of the besieging
Turks. Disease, the faithful companion of want, was
envenomed by the rains of the winter, the summer heats,
unwholesome food, and the close imprisonment of multitudes.
The pictures of famine and pestilence are always the same,
and always disgustful; and our imagination may suggest the
nature of their sufferings and their resources. The remains
of treasure or spoil were eagerly lavished in the purchase
of the vilest nourishment; and dreadful must have been the
calamities of the poor, since, after paying three marks of
silver for a goat and fifteen for a lean camel, (96) the
count of Flanders was reduced to beg a dinner, and Duke
Godfrey to borrow a horse. Sixty thousand horse had been
reviewed in the camp: before the end of the siege they were
diminished to two thousand, and scarcely two hundred fit for
service could be mustered on the day of battle. Weakness of
body and terror of mind extinguished the ardent enthusiasm
of the pilgrims; and every motive of honour and religion was
subdued by the desire of life. (97) Among the chiefs, three
heroes may be found without fear or reproach: Godfrey of
Bouillon was supported by his magnanimous piety; Bohemond by
ambition and interest; and Tancred declared, in the true
spirit of chivalry, that as long as he was at the head of
forty knights, he would never relinquish the enterprise of
Palestine. But the count of Tholouse and Provence was
suspected of a voluntary indisposition; the duke of Normandy
was recalled from the sea-shore by the censures of the
church: Hugh the Great, though he led the vanguard of the
battle, embraced an ambiguous opportunity of returning to
France and Stephen, count of Chartres, basely deserted the
standard which he bore, and the council in which he
presided. The soldiers were discouraged by the flight of
William, viscount of Melun, surnamed the Carpenter, from the
weighty strokes of his axe; and the saints were scandalized
by the fall of Peter the Hermit, who, after arming Europe against Asia, attempted to escape from the penance of a
necessary fast. Of the multitude of recreant warriors, the
names (says an historian) are blotted from the book of life;
and the opprobrious epithet of the rope-dancers was applied
to the deserters who dropped in the night from the walls of
Antioch. The emperor Alexius, (98) who seemed to advance to the succour of the Latins, was dismayed by the assurance of
their hopeless condition. They expected their fate in
silent despair; oaths and punishments were tried without
effect; and to rouse the soldiers to the defence of the
walls, it was found necessary to set fire to their quarters.
Legend of the Holy Lance.
For their salvation and victory, they were indebted to the
same fanaticism which had led them to the brink of ruin. In
such a cause, and in such an army, visions, prophecies, and
miracles, were frequent and familiar. In the distress of
Antioch, they were repeated with unusual energy and success:
St. Ambrose had assured a pious ecclesiastic, that two years
of trial must precede the season of deliverance and grace;
the deserters were stopped by the presence and reproaches of
Christ himself; the dead had promised to arise and combat
with their brethren; the Virgin had obtained the pardon of
their sins; and their confidence was revived by a visible
sign, the seasonable and splendid discovery of the HOLY
LANCE. The policy of their chiefs has on this occasion been
admired, and might surely be excused; but a pious baud is
seldom produced by the cool conspiracy of many persons; and
a voluntary impostor might depend on the support of the wise
and the credulity of the people. Of the diocese of
Marseilles, there was a priest of low cunning and loose
manners, and his name was Peter Bartholemy. He presented
himself at the door of the council-chamber, to disclose an
apparition of St. Andrew, which had been thrice reiterated
in his sleep with a dreadful menace, if he presumed to
suppress the commands of Heaven.
"At Antioch," said the apostle, "in the church of my brother St. Peter, near the high altar, is concealed the steel head of the lance that pierced the side of our Redeemer. In three days that instrument of eternal, and now of temporal, salvation, will be manifested to his disciples. Search, and ye shall find: bear it aloft in battle; and that mystic weapon shall penetrate the souls of the miscreants."
The pope's legate, the bishop of Puy, affected to listen with coldness and distrust; but the revelation was eagerly accepted by Count Raymond, whom his faithful subject, in the name of the apostle, had chosen for the guardian of the holy lance. The experiment was resolved; and on the third day after a due preparation of prayer and fasting, the priest of Marseilles introduced twelve trusty spectators, among whom were the count and his chaplain; and the church doors were barred against the impetuous multitude. The ground was opened in the appointed place; but the workmen, who relieved each other, dug to the depth of twelve feet without discovering the object of their search. In the evening, when Count Raymond had withdrawn to his post, and the weary assistants began to murmur, Bartholemy, in his shirt, and without his shoes, boldly descended into the pit; the darkness of the hour and of the place enabled him to secrete and deposit the head of a Saracen lance; and the first sound, the first gleam, of the steel was saluted with a devout rapture. The holy lance was drawn from its recess, wrapped in a veil of silk and gold, and exposed to the veneration of the crusaders; their anxious suspense burst forth in a general shout of joy and hope, and the desponding troops were again inflamed with the enthusiasm of valour. Whatever had been the arts, and whatever might be the sentiments of the chiefs, they skilfully improved this fortunate revolution by every aid that discipline and devotion could afford. The soldiers were dismissed to their quarters with an injunction to fortify their minds and bodies for the approaching conflict, freely to bestow their last pittance on themselves and their horses, and to expect with the dawn of day the signal of victory. On the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul, the gates of Antioch were thrown open: a martial psalm, "Let the Lord arise, and let his enemies be scattered!" was chanted by a procession of priests and monks; the battle array was marshalled in twelve divisions, in honour of the twelve apostles; and the holy lance, in the absence of Raymond, was entrusted to the hands of his chaplain. The influence of his relic or trophy, was felt by the servants, and perhaps by the enemies, of Christ; (99) and its potent energy was heightened by an accident, a stratagem, or a rumour, of a miraculous complexion. Celestial warriors. Three knights, in white garments and resplendent arms, either issued, or seemed to issue, from the hills: the voice of Adhemar, the pope's legate, proclaimed them as the martyrs St. George, St. Theodore, and St. Maurice: the tumult of battle allowed no time for doubt or scrutiny; and the welcome apparition dazzled the eyes or the imagination of a fanatic army. In the season of danger and triumph, the revelation of Bartholemy of Marseilles was unanimously asserted; but as soon as the temporary service was accomplished, the personal dignity and liberal arms which the count of Tholouse derived from the custody of the holy lance, provoked the envy, and awakened the reason, of his rivals. A Norman clerk presumed to sift, with a philosophic spirit, the truth of the legend, the circumstances of the discovery, and the character of the prophet; and the pious Bohemond ascribed their deliverance to the merits and intercession of Christ alone. For a while, the Provincials defended their national palladium with clamours and arms and new visions condemned to death and hell the profane sceptics who presumed to scrutinize the truth and merit of the discovery. The prevalence of incredulity compelled the author to submit his life and veracity to the judgment of God. A pile of dry faggots, four feet high and fourteen long, was erected in the midst of the camp; the flames burnt fiercely to the elevation of thirty cubits; and a narrow path of twelve inches was left for the perilous trial. The unfortunate priest of Marseilles traversed the fire with dexterity and speed; but the thighs and belly were scorched by the intense heat; he expired the next day; and the logic of believing minds will pay some regard to his dying protestations of innocence and truth. Some efforts were made by the Provincials to substitute a cross, a ring, or a tabernacle, in the place of the holy lance, which soon vanished in contempt and oblivion. (100) Yet the revelation of Antioch is gravely asserted by succeeding historians: and such is the progress of credulity, that miracles most doubtful on the spot, and at the moment, will be received with implicit faith at a convenient distance of time and space.
The state of the Turks and caliphs of Egypt.
The prudence or fortune of the Franks had delayed their
invasion till the decline of the Turkish empire. (101) Under
the manly government of the three first sultans, the
kingdoms of Asia were united in peace and justice; and the
innumerable armies which they led in person were equal in
courage, and superior in discipline, to the Barbarians of
the West. But at the time of the crusade, the inheritance
of Malek Shaw was disputed by his four sons; their private
ambition was insensible of the public danger; and, in the
vicissitudes of their fortune, the royal vassals were
ignorant, or regardless, of the true object of their
allegiance. The twenty-eight emirs who marched with the
standard or Kerboga were his rivals or enemies: their hasty
levies were drawn from the towns and tents of Mesopotamia
and Syria; and the Turkish veterans were employed or
consumed in the civil wars beyond the Tigris. The caliph of
Egypt embraced this opportunity of weakness and discord to
recover his ancient possessions; and his sultan Aphdal
besieged Jerusalem and Tyre, expelled the children of Ortok,
and restored in Palestine the civil and ecclesiastical
authority of the Fatimites. (102) They heard with
astonishment of the vast armies of Christians that had
passed from Europe to Asia, and rejoiced in the sieges and
battles which broke the power of the Turks, the adversaries
of their sect and monarchy. But the same Christians were the
enemies of the prophet; and from the overthrow of Nice and
Antioch, the motive of their enterprise, which was gradually
understood, would urge them forwards to the banks of the
Jordan, or perhaps of the Nile. An intercourse of epistles
and embassies, which rose and fell with the events of war,
was maintained between the throne of Cairo and the camp of
the Latins; and their adverse pride was the result of
ignorance and enthusiasm. The ministers of Egypt declared
in a haughty, or insinuated in a milder, tone, that their
sovereign, the true and lawful commander of the faithful,
had rescued Jerusalem from the Turkish yoke; and that the
pilgrims, if they would divide their numbers, and lay aside
their arms, should find a safe and hospitable reception at
the sepulchre of Jesus. In the belief of their lost
condition, the caliph Mostali despised their arms and
imprisoned their deputies: the conquest and victory of
Antioch prompted him to solicit those formidable champions
with gifts of horses and silk robes, of vases, and purses of
gold and silver; and in his estimate of their merit or
power, the first place was assigned to Bohemond, and the
second to Godfrey. In either fortune, the answer of the
crusaders was firm and uniform: they disdained to inquire
into the private claims or possessions of the followers of
Mahomet; whatsoever was his name or nation, the usurper of
Jerusalem was their enemy; and instead of prescribing the
mode and terms of their pilgrimage, it was only by a timely
surrender of the city and province, their sacred right, that
he could deserve their alliance, or deprecate their
impending and irresistible attack. (103)
Delay of the Franks, A.D. 1098, July- A.D. 1099, May.
Yet this attack, when they were within the view and reach of
their glorious prize, was suspended above ten months after
the defeat of Kerboga. The zeal and courage of the crusaders
were chilled in the moment of victory; and instead of
marching to improve the consternation, they hastily
dispersed to enjoy the luxury, of Syria. The causes of this
strange delay may be found in the want of strength and
subordination. In the painful and various service of
Antioch, the cavalry was annihilated; many thousands of
every rank had been lost by famine, sickness, and desertion:
the same abuse of plenty had been productive of a third
famine; and the alternative of intemperance and distress had
generated a pestilence, which swept away above fifty
thousand of the pilgrims. Few were able to command, and
none were willing to obey; the domestic feuds, which had
been stifled by common fear, were again renewed in acts, or
at least in sentiments, of hostility; the fortune of Baldwin
and Bohemond excited the envy of their companions; the
bravest knights were enlisted for the defence of their new
principalities; and Count Raymond exhausted his troops and
treasures in an idle expedition into the heart of Syria.
The winter was consumed in discord and disorder; a sense of
honour and religion was rekindled in the spring; and the
private soldiers, less susceptible of ambition and jealousy,
awakened with angry clamours the indolence of their chiefs.
Their march to Jerusalem, A.D. 1099, May 13-June 6. In the month of May, the relics of this mighty host
proceeded from Antioch to Laodicea: about forty thousand
Latins, of whom no more than fifteen hundred horse, and
twenty thousand foot, were capable of immediate service.
Their easy march was continued between Mount Libanus and the
sea-shore: their wants were liberally supplied by the
coasting traders of Genoa and Pisa; and they drew large
contributions from the emirs of Tripoli, Tyre, Sidon, Acre,
and Caesarea, who granted a free passage, and promised to
follow the example of Jerusalem. From Caesarea they
advanced into the midland country; their clerks recognized
the sacred geography of Lydda, Ramla, Emmaus, and Bethlem,
and as soon as they descried the holy city, the crusaders
forgot their toils and claimed their reward. (104)
Seige and conquest of Jerusalem, A.D. 1099, June 7 - July 15.
Jerusalem has derived some reputation from the number and
importance of her memorable sieges. It was not till after a
long and obstinate contest that Babylon and Rome could
prevail against the obstinacy of the people, the craggy
ground that might supersede the necessity of fortifications,
and the walls and towers that would have fortified the most
accessible plain. (105) These obstacles were diminished in
the age of the crusades. The bulwarks had been completely
destroyed and imperfectly restored: the Jews, their nation,
and worship, were forever banished; but nature is less
changeable than man, and the site of Jerusalem, though
somewhat softened and somewhat removed, was still strong
against the assaults of an enemy. By the experience of a
recent siege, and a three years' possession, the Saracens of
Egypt had been taught to discern, and in some degree to
remedy, the defects of a place, which religion as well as
honour forbade them to resign. Aladin, or Iftikhar, the
caliph's lieutenant, was entrusted with the defence: his
policy strove to restrain the native Christians by the dread
of their own ruin and that of the holy sepulchre; to animate
the Moslems by the assurance of temporal and eternal
rewards. His garrison is said to have consisted of forty
thousand Turks and Arabians; and if he could muster twenty
thousand of the inhabitants, it must be confessed that the
besieged were more numerous than the besieging army. (106) Had the diminished strength and numbers of the Latins
allowed them to grasp the whole circumference of four
thousand yards, (about two English miles and a half, (107))
to what useful purpose should they have descended into the
valley of Ben Hinnom and torrent of Cedron, (108) or approach the precipices of the south and east, from whence they had
nothing either to hope or fear? Their siege was more
reasonably directed against the northern and western sides
of the city. Godfrey of Bouillon erected his standard on
the first swell of Mount Calvary: to the left, as far as St.
Stephen's gate, the line of attack was continued by Tancred
and the two Roberts; and Count Raymond established his
quarters from the citadel to the foot of Mount Sion, which
was no longer included within the precincts of the city. On
the fifth day, the crusaders made a general assault, in the
fanatic hope of battering down the walls without engines,
and of scaling them without ladders. By the dint of brutal
force, they burst the first barrier; but they were driven
back with shame and slaughter to the camp: the influence of
vision and prophecy was deadened by the too frequent abuse
of those pious stratagems; and time and labour were found to
be the only means of victory. The time of the siege was
indeed fulfilled in forty days, but they were forty days of
calamity and anguish. A repetition of the old complaint of
famine may be imputed in some degree to the voracious or
disorderly appetite of the Franks; but the stony soil of
Jerusalem is almost destitute of water; the scanty springs
and hasty torrents were dry in the summer season; nor was
the thirst of the besiegers relieved, as in the city, by the
artificial supply of cisterns and aqueducts. The
circumjacent country is equally destitute of trees for the
uses of shade or building, but some large beams were
discovered in a cave by the crusaders: a wood near Sichem,
the enchanted grove of Tasso, (109) was cut down: the
necessary timber was transported to the camp by the vigour
and dexterity of Tancred; and the engines were framed by
some Genoese artists, who had fortunately landed in the
harbour of Jaffa. Two movable turrets were constructed at
the expense, and in the stations, of the duke of Lorraine
and the count of Tholouse, and rolled forwards with devout
labour, not to the most accessible, but to the most
neglected, parts of the fortification. Raymond's Tower was
reduced to ashes by the fire of the besieged, but his
colleague was more vigilant and successful; the enemies
were driven by his archers from the rampart; the draw-bridge
was let down; and on a Friday, at three in the afternoon,
the day and hour of the passion, Godfrey of Bouillon stood
victorious on the walls of Jerusalem. His example was
followed on every side by the emulation of valour; and about
four hundred and sixty years after the conquest of Omar, the
holy city was rescued from the Mahometan yoke. In the
pillage of public and private wealth, the adventurers had
agreed to respect the exclusive property of the first
occupant; and the spoils of the great mosque, seventy lamps
and massy vases of gold and silver, rewarded the diligence,
and displayed the generosity, of Tancred. A bloody
sacrifice was offered by his mistaken votaries to the God of
the Christians: resistance might provoke but neither age nor
sex could mollify, their implacable rage: they indulged
themselves three days in a promiscuous massacre; (110) and
the infection of the dead bodies produced an epidemical
disease. After seventy thousand Moslems had been put to the
sword, and the harmless Jews had been burnt in their
synagogue, they could still reserve a multitude of captives,
whom interest or lassitude persuaded them to spare. Of
these savage heroes of the cross, Tancred alone betrayed
some sentiments of compassion; yet we may praise the more
selfish lenity of Raymond, who granted a capitulation and
safe-conduct to the garrison of the citadel. (111) The holy
sepulchre was now free; and the bloody victors prepared to
accomplish their vow. Bareheaded and barefoot, with
contrite hearts, and in an humble posture, they ascended the
hill of Calvary, amidst the loud anthems of the clergy;
kissed the stone which had covered the Saviour of the world;
and bedewed with tears of joy and penitence the monument of
their redemption. This union of the fiercest and most tender
passions has been variously considered by two philosophers;
by the one, (112) as easy and natural; by the other, (113) as
absurd and incredible. Perhaps it is too rigorously applied
to the same persons and the same hour; the example of the
virtuous Godfrey awakened the piety of his companions; while
they cleansed their bodies, they purified their minds; nor
shall I believe that the most ardent in slaughter and rapine
were the foremost in the procession to the holy sepulchre.
Election and reign of Godfrey of Bouillon, A.D. 1099, July 23-A.D. 1100, July 18.
Eight days after this memorable event, which Pope Urban did
not live to hear, the Latin chiefs proceeded to the election
of a king, to guard and govern their conquests in Palestine.
Hugh the Great, and Stephen of Chartres, had retired with
some loss of reputation, which they strove to regain by a
second crusade and an honourable death. Baldwin was
established at Edessa, and Bohemond at Antioch; and two
Roberts, the duke of Normandy (114) and the count of
Flanders, preferred their fair inheritance in the West to a
doubtful competition or a barren sceptre. The jealousy and
ambition of Raymond were condemned by his own followers, and
the free, the just, the unanimous voice of the army
proclaimed Godfrey of Bouillon the first and most worthy of
the champions of Christendom. His magnanimity accepted a
trust as full of danger as of glory; but in a city where his
Saviour had been crowned with thorns, the devout pilgrim
rejected the name and ensigns of royalty; and the founder of
the kingdom of Jerusalem contented himself with the modest
title of Defender and Baron of the Holy Sepulchre. His
government of a single year, (115) too short for the public
happiness, was interrupted in the first fortnight by a
summons to the field, by the approach of the vizier or
sultan of Egypt, who had been too slow to prevent, but who
was impatient to avenge, the loss of Jerusalem. Battle of Ascalon, A.D. 1099, August 12. His total
overthrow in the battle of Ascalon sealed the establishment
of the Latins in Syria, and signalized the valour of the
French princes who in this action bade a long farewell to
the holy wars. Some glory might be derived from the
prodigious inequality of numbers, though I shall not count
the myriads of horse and foot on the side of the
Fatimites; but, except three thousand Ethiopians or Blacks,
who were armed with flails or scourges of iron, the
Barbarians of the South fled on the first onset, and
afforded a pleasing comparison between the active valour of
the Turks and the sloth and effeminacy of the natives of
Egypt. After suspending before the holy sepulchre the sword
and standard of the sultan, the new king (he deserves the
title) embraced his departing companions, and could retain
only with the gallant Tancred three hundred knights, and two
thousand foot-soldiers for the defence of Palestine. His
sovereignty was soon attacked by a new enemy, the only one
against whom Godfrey was a coward. Adhemar, bishop of Puy,
who excelled both in council and action, had been swept away
in the last plague at Antioch: the remaining ecclesiastics
preserved only the pride and avarice of their character; and
their seditious clamours had required that the choice of a
bishop should precede that of a king. The revenue and
jurisdiction of the lawful patriarch were usurped by the
Latin clergy: the exclusion of the Greeks and Syrians was
justified by the reproach of heresy or schism; (116) and,
under the iron yoke of their deliverers, the Oriental
Christians regretted the tolerating government of the
Arabian caliphs. Daimbert, archbishop of Pisa, had long been
trained in the secret policy of Rome: he brought a fleet at
his countrymen to the succour of the Holy Land, and was
installed, without a competitor, the spiritual and temporal
head of the church. The new patriarch (117) immediately
grasped the sceptre which had been acquired by the toil and
blood of the victorious pilgrims; and both Godfrey and
Bohemond submitted to receive at his hands the investiture
of their feudal possessions. Nor was this sufficient;
Daimbert claimed the immediate property of Jerusalem and
Jaffa; instead of a firm and generous refusal, the hero
negotiated with the priest; a quarter of either city was
ceded to the church; and the modest bishop was satisfied
with an eventual reversion of the rest, on the death of
Godfrey without children, or on the future acquisition of a
new seat at Cairo or Damascus.
The kingdom of Jerusalem, A.D. 1099-1187.
Without this indulgence, the conqueror would have almost
been stripped of his infant kingdom, which consisted only of
Jerusalem and Jaffa, with about twenty villages and towns of
the adjacent country. (118) Within this narrow verge, the
Mahometans were still lodged in some impregnable castles:
and the husbandman, the trader, and the pilgrim, were
exposed to daily and domestic hostility. By the arms of
Godfrey himself, and of the two Baldwins, his brother and
cousin, who succeeded to the throne, the Latins breathed
with more ease and safety; and at length they equalled, in
the extent of their dominions, though not in the millions of
their subjects, the ancient princes of Judah and Israel.
(119) After the reduction of the maritime cities of Laodicea,
Tripoli, Tyre, and Ascalon, (120) which were powerfully
assisted by the fleets of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, and even
of Flanders and Norway, (121) the range of sea-coast from
Scanderoon to the borders of Egypt was possessed by the
Christian pilgrims. If the prince of Antioch disclaimed his
supremacy, the counts of Edessa and Tripoli owned themselves
the vassals of the king of Jerusalem: the Latins reigned
beyond the Euphrates; and the four cities of Hems, Hamah,
Damascus, and Aleppo, were the only relics of the Mahometan
conquests in Syria. (122) The laws and language, the manners
and titles, of the French nation and Latin church, were
introduced into these transmarine colonies. According to the
feudal jurisprudence, the principal states and subordinate
baronies descended in the line of male and female
succession: (123) but the children of the first conquerors,
(124) a motley and degenerate race, were dissolved by the
luxury of the climate; the arrival of new crusaders from
Europe was a doubtful hope and a casual event. The service
of the feudal tenures (125) was performed by six hundred and
sixty-six knights, who might expect the aid of two hundred
more under the banner of the count of Tripoli; and each
knight was attended to the field by four squires or archers
on horseback. (126) Five thousand and seventy-five serjeants, most probably foot-soldiers, were supplied by the churches and
cities; and the whole legal militia of the kingdom could not
exceed eleven thousand men, a slender defence against the
surrounding myriads of Saracens and Turks. (127) But the
firmest bulwark of Jerusalem was founded on the knights of
the Hospital of St. John, (128) and of the temple of Solomon;
(129) on the strange association of a monastic and military
life, which fanaticism might suggest, but which policy must
approve. The flower of the nobility of Europe aspired to
wear the cross, and to profess the vows, of these
respectable orders; their spirit and discipline were
immortal; and the speedy donation of twenty-eight thousand
farms, or manors, (130) enabled them to support a regular
force of cavalry and infantry for the defence of Palestine.
The austerity of the convent soon evaporated in the exercise
of arms; the world was scandalized by the pride, avarice,
and corruption of these Christian soldiers; their claims of
immunity and jurisdiction disturbed the harmony of the
church and state; and the public peace was endangered by
their jealous emulation. But in their most dissolute
period, the knights of their hospital and temple maintained
their fearless and fanatic character: they neglected to
live, but they were prepared to die, in the service of
Christ; and the spirit of chivalry, the parent and offspring
of the crusades, has been transplanted by this institution
from the holy sepulchre to the Isle of Malta. (131)
Assise of Jerusalem, A.D. 1099-1369.
The spirit of freedom, which pervades the feudal
institutions, was felt in its strongest energy by the
volunteers of the cross, who elected for their chief the
most deserving of his peers. Amidst the slaves of Asia,
unconscious of the lesson or example, a model of political
liberty was introduced; and the laws of the French kingdom
are derived from the purest source of equality and justice.
Of such laws, the first and indispensable condition is the
assent of those whose obedience they require, and for whose
benefit they are designed. No sooner had Godfrey of Bouillon
accepted the office of supreme magistrate, than he solicited
the public and private advice of the Latin pilgrims, who
were the best skilled in the statutes and customs of Europe.
From these materials, with the counsel and approbation of
the patriarch and barons, of the clergy and laity, Godfrey
composed the ASSISE OF JERUSALEM, (132) a precious monument of feudal jurisprudence. The new code, attested by the
seals of the king, the patriarch, and the viscount of
Jerusalem, was deposited in the holy sepulchre, enriched
with the improvements of succeeding times, and respectfully
consulted as often as any doubtful question arose in the
tribunals of Palestine. With the kingdom and city all was
lost: (133) the fragments of the written law were preserved
by jealous tradition (134) and variable practice till the
middle of the thirteenth century: the code was restored by
the pen of John d'Ibelin, count of Jaffa, one of the
principal feudatories; (135) and the final revision was
accomplished in the year thirteen hundred and sixty-nine,
for the use of the Latin kingdom of Cyprus. (136)
Court of peers.
The justice and freedom of the constitution were maintained
by two tribunals of unequal dignity, which were instituted
by Godfrey of Bouillon after the conquest of Jerusalem. The
king, in person, presided in the upper court, the court of
the barons. Of these the four most conspicuous were the
prince of Galilee, the lord of Sidon and Caesarea, and the
counts of Jaffa and Tripoli, who, perhaps with the constable
and marshal, (137) were in a special manner the compeers and
judges of each other. But all the nobles, who held their
lands immediately of the crown, were entitled and bound to
attend the king's court; and each baron exercised a similar
jurisdiction on the subordinate assemblies of his own
feudatories. The connection of lord and vassal was
honourable and voluntary: reverence was due to the
benefactor, protection to the dependant; but they mutually
pledged their faith to each other; and the obligation on
either side might be suspended by neglect or dissolved by
injury. The cognizance of marriages and testaments was
blended with religion, and usurped by the clergy: but the
civil and criminal causes of the nobles, the inheritance and
tenure of their fiefs, formed the proper occupation of the
supreme court. Each member was the judge and guardian both
of public and private rights. It was his duty to assert
with his tongue and sword the lawful claims of the lord; but
if an unjust superior presumed to violate the freedom or
property of a vassal, the confederate peers stood forth to
maintain his quarrel by word and deed. They boldly affirmed
his innocence and his wrongs; demanded the restitution of
his liberty or his lands; suspended, after a fruitless
demand, their own service; rescued their brother from
prison; and employed every weapon in his defence, without
offering direct violence to the person of their lord, which
was ever sacred in their eyes. (138) In their pleadings,
replies, and rejoinders, the advocates of the court were
subtle and copious; but the use of argument and evidence was
often superseded by judicial combat; and the Assise of
Jerusalem admits in many cases this barbarous institution,
which has been slowly abolished by the laws and manners of
Europe.
Law of judicial combats.
The trial by battle was established in all criminal cases
which affected the life, or limb, or honour, of any person;
and in all civil transactions, of or above the value of one
mark of silver. It appears that in criminal cases the
combat was the privilege of the accuser, who, except in a
charge of treason, avenged his personal injury, or the death
of those persons whom he had a right to represent; but
wherever, from the nature of the charge, testimony could be
obtained, it was necessary for him to produce witnesses of
the fact. In civil cases, the combat was not allowed as the
means of establishing the claim of the demandant; but he was
obliged to produce witnesses who had, or assumed to have,
knowledge of the fact. The combat was then the privilege of
the defendant; because he charged the witness with an
attempt by perjury to take away his right. He came
therefore to be in the same situation as the appellant in
criminal cases. It was not then as a mode of proof that the
combat was received, nor as making negative evidence,
(according to the supposition of Montesquieu; (139)) but in
every case the right to offer battle was founded on the
right to pursue by arms the redress of an injury; and the
judicial combat was fought on the same principle, and with
the same spirit, as a private duel. Champions were only
allowed to women, and to men maimed or past the age of
sixty. The consequence of a defeat was death to the person
accused, or to the champion or witness, as well as to the
accuser himself: but in civil cases, the demandant was
punished with infamy and the loss of his suit, while his
witness and champion suffered ignominious death. In many
cases it was in the option of the judge to award or to
refuse the combat: but two are specified, in which it was
the inevitable result of the challenge; if a faithful vassal
gave the lie to his compeer, who unjustly claimed any
portion of their lord's demesnes; or if an unsuccessful
suitor presumed to impeach the judgment and veracity of the
court. He might impeach them, but the terms were severe and
perilous: in the same day he successively fought all the
members of the tribunal, even those who had been absent; a
single defeat was followed by death and infamy; and where
none could hope for victory, it is highly probable that none
would adventure the trial. In the Assise of Jerusalem, the
legal subtlety of the count of Jaffa is more laudably
employed to elude, than to facilitate, the judicial combat,
which he derives from a principle of honour rather than of
superstition. (140)
Court of Burgesses.
Among the causes which enfranchised the plebeians from the
yoke of feudal tyranny, the institution of cities and
corporations is one of the most powerful; and if those of
Palestine are coeval with the first crusade, they may be
ranked with the most ancient of the Latin world. Many of
the pilgrims had escaped from their lords under the banner
of the cross; and it was the policy of the French princes to
tempt their stay by the assurance of the rights and
privileges of freemen. It is expressly declared in the
Assise of Jerusalem, that after instituting, for his knights
and barons, the court of peers, in which he presided
himself, Godfrey of Bouillon established a second tribunal,
in which his person was represented by his viscount. The
jurisdiction of this inferior court extended over the
burgesses of the kingdom; and it was composed of a select
number of the most discreet and worthy citizens, who were
sworn to judge, according to the laws of the actions and
fortunes of their equals. (141) In the conquest and
settlement of new cities, the example of Jerusalem was
imitated by the kings and their great vassals; and above
thirty similar corporations were founded before the loss of
the Holy Land. Syrians. Another class of subjects, the Syrians, (142)
or Oriental Christians, were oppressed by the zeal of the
clergy, and protected by the toleration of the state.
Godfrey listened to their reasonable prayer, that they might
be judged by their own national laws. A third court was
instituted for their use, of limited and domestic
jurisdiction: the sworn members were Syrians, in blood,
language, and religion; but the office of the president (in
Arabic, of the rais) was sometimes exercised by the viscount
of the city. Villains and slaves. At an immeasurable distance below the nobles, the burgesses, and the strangers, the Assise of Jerusalem condescends to mention the villains and slaves, the peasants of the land and the captives of war, who were almost equally considered as the objects of property. The relief or protection of these unhappy men was not esteemed worthy of the care of the legislator; but he diligently provides for the recovery, though not indeed for the punishment, of the fugitives. Like hounds, or hawks, who had strayed from the lawful owner, they might be lost and claimed: the slave and falcon were of the same value; but three slaves, or twelve oxen, were accumulated to equal the price of the war- horse; and a sum of three hundred pieces of gold was fixed, in the age of chivalry, as the equivalent of the more noble animal. (143)