Chapter LVIII: The First Crusade.—Part IV

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 neighborhood 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 valor; but their valor
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 labor 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;
821 and Alexius guarded with jealous vigilance this important
conquest. The murmurs of the chiefs were stifled by honor 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 honorably
restored without ransom; and the emperor’s generosity to the
miscreants 83 was interpreted as treason to the Christian cause.

80 (return) [ His Mussulman appellation of Soliman is used by the
Latins, and his character is highly embellished by Tasso. His
Turkish name of Kilidge-Arslan (A. H. 485-500, A.D. 1192-1206.
See De Guignes’s Tables, tom. i. p. 245) is employed by the
Orientals, and with some corruption by the Greeks; but little
more than his name can be found in the Mahometan writers, who are
dry and sulky on the subject of the first crusade, (De Guignes,
tom. iii. p. ii. p. 10-30.) * Note: See note, page 556. Soliman
and Kilidge-Arslan were father and son—M.]

81 (return) [ On the fortifications, engines, and sieges of the
middle ages, see Muratori, (Antiquitat. Italiae, tom. ii.
dissert. xxvi. p. 452-524.) The belfredus, from whence our
belfrey, was the movable tower of the ancients, (Ducange, tom. i.
p. 608.)]

82 (return) [ I cannot forbear remarking the resemblance between
the siege and lake of Nice, with the operations of Hernan Cortez
before Mexico. See Dr. Robertson, History of America, l. v.]

821 (return) [ See Anna Comnena.—M.]

83 (return) [ Mecreant, a word invented by the French crusaders,
and confined in that language to its primitive sense. It should
seem, that the zeal of our ancestors boiled higher, and that they
branded every unbeliever as a rascal. A similar prejudice still
lurks in the minds of many who think themselves Christians.]

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 valor, 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 succor, 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 armor, 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. 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.

84 (return) [ Baronius has produced a very doubtful letter to his
brother Roger, (A.D. 1098, No. 15.) The enemies consisted of
Medes, Persians, Chaldeans: be it so. The first attack was cum
nostro incommodo; true and tender. But why Godfrey of Bouillon
and Hugh brothers! Tancred is styled filius; of whom? Certainly
not of Roger, nor of Bohemond.]

85 (return) [ Verumtamen dicunt se esse de Francorum generatione;
et quia nullus homo naturaliter debet esse miles nisi Franci et
Turci, (Gesta Francorum, p. 7.) The same community of blood and
valor is attested by Archbishop Baldric, (p. 99.)]

86 (return) [ Balista, Balestra, Arbalestre. See Muratori, Antiq.
tom. ii. p. 517-524. Ducange, Gloss. Latin. tom. i. p. 531, 532.
In the time of Anna Comnena, this weapon, which she describes
under the name of izangra, was unknown in the East, (l. x. p.
291.) By a humane inconsistency, the pope strove to prohibit it
in Christian wars.]

87 (return) [ The curious reader may compare the classic learning
of Cellarius and the geographical science of D’Anville. William
of Tyre is the only historian of the crusades who has any
knowledge of antiquity; and M. Otter trod almost in the footsteps
of the Franks from Constantinople to Antioch, (Voyage en Turquie
et en Perse, tom. i. p. 35-88.) * Note: The journey of Col.
Macdonald Kinneir in Asia Minor throws considerable light on the
geography of this march of the crusaders.—M.]

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. Honor 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

88 (return) [ This detached conquest of Edessa is best
represented by Fulcherius Carnotensis, or of Chartres, (in the
collections of Bongarsius Duchesne, and Martenne,) the valiant
chaplain of Count Baldwin (Esprit des Croisades, tom. i. p. 13,
14.) In the disputes of that prince with Tancred, his partiality
is encountered by the partiality of Radulphus Cadomensis, the
soldier and historian of the gallant marquis.]

89 (return) [ See de Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 456.]

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, 891 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 labor
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 vigor of
the execution could alone justify the boldness of the attempt.
Whatever strength and valor 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 labors 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 renegado, had acquired the favor
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. 921
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 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.

891 (return) [ This bridge was over the Ifrin, not the Orontes,
at a distance of three leagues from Antioch. See Wilken, vol. i.
p. 172.—M.]

90 (return) [ For Antioch, see Pocock, (Description of the East,
vol. ii. p. i. p. 188-193,) Otter, (Voyage en Turquie, &c., tom.
i. p. 81, &c.,) the Turkish geographer, (in Otter’s notes,) the
Index Geographicus of Schultens, (ad calcem Bohadin. Vit.
Saladin.,) and Abulfeda, (Tabula Syriae, p. 115, 116, vers.
Reiske.)]

91 (return) [ Ensem elevat, eumque a sinistra parte scapularum,
tanta virtute intorsit, ut quod pectus medium disjunxit spinam et
vitalia interrupit; et sic lubricus ensis super crus dextrum
integer exivit: sicque caput integrum cum dextra parte corporis
immersit gurgite, partemque quae equo praesidebat remisit
civitati, (Robert. Mon. p. 50.) Cujus ense trajectus, Turcus duo
factus est Turci: ut inferior alter in urbem equitaret, alter
arcitenens in flumine nataret, (Radulph. Cadom. c. 53, p. 304.)
Yet he justifies the deed by the stupendis viribus of Godfrey;
and William of Tyre covers it by obstupuit populus facti novitate
.... mirabilis, (l. v. c. 6, p. 701.) Yet it must not have
appeared incredible to the knights of that age.]

92 (return) [ See the exploits of Robert, Raymond, and the modest
Tancred who imposed silence on his squire, (Randulph. Cadom. c.
53.)]

921 (return) [ See the interesting extract from Kemaleddin’s
History of Aleppo in Wilken, preface to vol. ii. p. 36. Phirouz,
or Azzerrad, the breastplate maker, had been pillaged and put to
the torture by Bagi Sejan, the prince of Antioch.—M.]

93 (return) [ After mentioning the distress and humble petition
of the Franks, Abulpharagius adds the haughty reply of Codbuka,
or Kerboga, “Non evasuri estis nisi per gladium,” (Dynast. p.
242.)]

94 (return) [ In describing the host of Kerboga, most of the
Latin historians, the author of the Gesta, (p. 17,) Robert
Monachus, (p. 56,) Baldric, (p. 111,) Fulcherius Carnotensis, (p.
392,) Guibert, (p. 512,) William of Tyre, (l. vi. c. 3, p. 714,)
Bernard Thesaurarius, (c. 39, p. 695,) are content with the vague
expressions of infinita multitudo, immensum agmen, innumerae
copiae or gentes, which correspond with Anna Comnena, (Alexias,
l. xi. p. 318-320.) The numbers of the Turks are fixed by Albert
Aquensis at 200,000, (l. iv. c. 10, p. 242,) and by Radulphus
Cadomensis at 400,000 horse, (c. 72, p. 309.)]

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 honor 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 971 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
succor 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.

95 (return) [ See the tragic and scandalous fate of an archdeacon
of royal birth, who was slain by the Turks as he reposed in an
orchard, playing at dice with a Syrian concubine.]

96 (return) [ The value of an ox rose from five solidi, (fifteen
shillings,) at Christmas to two marks, (four pounds,) and
afterwards much higher; a kid or lamb, from one shilling to
eighteen of our present money: in the second famine, a loaf of
bread, or the head of an animal, sold for a piece of gold. More
examples might be produced; but it is the ordinary, not the
extraordinary, prices, that deserve the notice of the
philosopher.]

97 (return) [ Alli multi, quorum nomina non tenemus; quia, deleta
de libro vitae, praesenti operi non sunt inserenda, (Will. Tyr.
l. vi. c. 5, p. 715.) Guibert (p. 518, 523) attempts to excuse
Hugh the Great, and even Stephen of Chartres.]

971 (return) [ Peter fell during the siege: he went afterwards on
an embassy to Kerboga Wilken. vol. i. p. 217.—M.]

98 (return) [ See the progress of the crusade, the retreat of
Alexius, the victory of Antioch, and the conquest of Jerusalem,
in the Alexiad, l. xi. p. 317-327. Anna was so prone to
exaggeration, that she magnifies the exploits of the Latins.]

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
fraud 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 valor. 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 honor of the twelve apostles; and the holy lance,
in the absence of Raymond, was intrusted 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
rumor, of a miraculous complexion. 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. 991 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
clamors 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 fagots, 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; 992 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.

99 (return) [ The Mahometan Aboulmahasen (apud De Guignes, tom.
ii. p. ii. p. 95) is more correct in his account of the holy
lance than the Christians, Anna Comnena and Abulpharagius: the
Greek princess confounds it with the nail of the cross, (l. xi.
p. 326;) the Jacobite primate, with St. Peter’s staff, (p. 242.)]

991 (return) [ The real cause of this victory appears to have
been the feud in Kerboga’s army Wilken, vol. ii. p. 40.—M.]

992 (return) [ The twelfth day after. He was much injured, and
his flesh torn off, from the ardor of pious congratulation with
which he was assailed by those who witnessed his escape, unhurt,
as it was first supposed. Wilken vol. i p. 263—M.]

100 (return) [ The two antagonists who express the most intimate
knowledge and the strongest conviction of the miracle, and of the
fraud, are Raymond des Agiles, and Radulphus Cadomensis, the one
attached to the count of Tholouse, the other to the Norman
prince. Fulcherius Carnotensis presumes to say, Audite fraudem et
non fraudem! and afterwards, Invenit lanceam, fallaciter
occultatam forsitan. The rest of the herd are loud and
strenuous.]

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

101 (return) [ See M. De Guignes, tom. ii. p. ii. p. 223, &c.;
and the articles of Barkidrok, Mohammed, Sangiar, in D’Herbelot.]

102 (return) [ The emir, or sultan, Aphdal, recovered Jerusalem
and Tyre, A. H. 489, (Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alexandrin. p.
478. De Guignes, tom. i. p. 249, from Abulfeda and Ben Schounah.)
Jerusalem ante adventum vestrum recuperavimus, Turcos ejecimus,
say the Fatimite ambassadors]

103 (return) [ See the transactions between the caliph of Egypt
and the crusaders in William of Tyre (l. iv. c. 24, l. vi. c. 19)
and Albert Aquensis, (l. iii. c. 59,) who are more sensible of
their importance than the contemporary writers.]

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. 1031 The winter was consumed in discord and disorder; a
sense of honor and religion was rekindled in the spring; and the
private soldiers, less susceptible of ambition and jealousy,
awakened with angry clamors the indolence of their chiefs. 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, 1032 and
as soon as they descried the holy city, the crusaders forgot
their toils and claimed their reward. 104

1031 (return) [ This is not quite correct: he took Marra on his
road. His excursions were partly to obtain provisions for the
army and fodder for the horses Wilken, vol. i. p. 226.—M.]

1032 (return) [ Scarcely of Bethlehem, to the south of
Jerusalem.— M.]

104 (return) [ The greatest part of the march of the Franks is
traced, and most accurately traced, in Maundrell’s Journey from
Aleppo to Jerusalem, (p. 11-67;) un des meilleurs morceaux, sans
contredit qu’on ait dans ce genre, (D’Anville, Memoire sur
Jerusalem, p. 27.)]