The same fact is related by le Père Maimbourg, who adds to his recital this singular reflection. “Strange instruction of nature, which casts shame upon men by giving them, as she has done more than once, lions for masters.”

[136] Albert d’Aix is the only historian who relates this and the following facts.

[137] Some learned writers cannot trace messages by pigeons further back than the reign of Saladin. It is true that it was in the reigns of Nouradin and Saladin that regular posts, served by pigeons, were organized in Egypt; but this means of communication was very ancient in the East. The recital of Albert d’Aix cannot be doubted. The historian speaks of the surprise that this sort of messengers produced among the Crusaders; and as the fact appeared remarkable to him, he has not neglected the smallest details of it:—Legati sine morâ columbas duas, aves gratas et domitas, secum allatas eduxerunt è sinu suo, ac chartâ, ducis responsis promissisque fidelibus inscriptâ, caudis illarum filo innodatâ, è manibus suis has ad ferenda læta nuncia emiserunt.... Jam cum chartis sibi commissis aves advolaverunt, in solium et mensam ducis Hasart fideliter reversæ.... Princeps autem ex more solito aves domesticas piè suscipiens, chartas intitulatas à caudis earum solvit, secreta ducis Godfredi perlegit. We shall see in the fourth book of this history another example of this means of communication employed by the Saracens.

[138] Globes of fire, or ignited globes, as naturalists call them, might have produced this appearance.

[139] Lapides, ignem, et plena apibus alvearia, calcem quoque vivam, quantâ poterant jaculabantur instantiâ, ut eos à muro propellerent.—Will. Tyr. lib. vii. cap. 9.

[140] Audivi namque, qui dicerent cibi se coactos inopiâ ad humanæ carnis edulium transiisse, adultos gentilium cacabo immersisse, pueros infixisse verubus, et vorasse adustos; vorando æmulati sunt feras, torrendo homines, sed caninos. Hunc ipsum finem membris propriis minabantur, cùm aliena deficerent; nisi aut captæ urbis, aut cereris advenæ intercessio esuriem lenisset.—Rad. Cadom. cap. 27. We cannot forbear adding to this quotation the words of Albert d’Aix, who is astonished to see Christians eat the bodies of Mussulmans, but still more so at seeing them devour dogs. Mirabile dictu et auribus horrendum, quod nefas est dicere, nefas facere. Nam Christiani non solùm Turcos sed Sarracenos occisos, verum etiam canes arreptos et igni coctos comedere non abhorruerunt præ inopiâ, quam audistis.—Ab. Aq. lib. v. cap. 29.

[141] This circumstance is related by Mailly, but he does not say upon what authority.

[142] Archas is mentioned by Strabo, Ptolemy, Josephus, and the Itinerary of Antonine, which latter places this city at sixteen miles from Tripoli. Pococke ’tom. ii. p. 299) and Maundrell ’vol. i. p. 41) speak of a river which still bears this name. Abulfeda speaks of it under the name of Aarkat. The Itinerary from Bordeaux to Jerusalem also mentions Archas.

[143] Laodicea still exists under the name of Lakikieh. It has been long famous for its trade in tobacco.

[144] Gibel. This word signifies mountain, in Arabic. Gibel is the Gabala of Strabo and Pliny; the Gavala of the table of Peutinger. It still subsists under its ancient name of Djebil, and the remains of an amphitheatre are still to be seen there. It is, I believe, the Giblim of the Bible, whence was embarked the wood of Lebanon sent to Solomon.

[145] Tortosa is the Antaradus of Ptolemy and the Itinerary of Bordeaux.

[146] Raymond d’Agiles, before relating this and several other similar facts, expresses himself thus:—Quod si quicquam ego præter credita et visa studeo referre, vel odio alicujus apposui, apponat mihi Deus omnes inferni plagas, et deleat me de libro vitæ. The same fact is reported in Raoul de Caen.

[147] Raoul de Caen, who was not a partisan of the lance, and who cries out, whilst speaking of this pretended discovery, “O fatuitas rustica! O rusticitas credula!” does not at all spare the Provençals, and has transmitted to us the reproaches made to them in the Christian army.

[148] Videns quid actum est, populus, calliditate verbosâ seductum se fatetur, errasse pœnitet.—Rad. Cad. cap. 109.

[149] Accounts of this event may be read in William of Tyre, Robert d’Aix, and above all in Raymond d’Agiles, who does not omit the least circumstance.

[150] The picture of the march and the impatience of the Christians is to be found in Tasso, in the same colours and almost the same circumstances as in the historians.

[151] We think it right here to give the account of Albert d’Aix:—Calamellos mellitas per camporum planiciem abundanter repertos, quas vocant ZUCRA, suxit populus, illarum salubri succo lætatus et vix ad saturitatem præ dulcedine expleri hoc gustato valebant. Hoc enim genus herbæ summo labore agricolarum, per singulos excolitur annos. Deinde, tempore messis maturum mortariolis indigenæ contundunt, succum collatum in vasis suis reponentes quousquè coagulatum indurescat sub specie nivis vel salis albi. Quem rasum cum pane miscentes aut cum aquâ terentes, pro pulmento sumunt, et supra favum mellis gustantibus dulce ac salubre videtur.... His ergo calamellis melliti saporis populus in obsidione Albariæ, Marræ et Archas, multum horrendâ fame vexatus, est refocillatus.—Alb. Aq. lib. v. cap. 3.

[152] Sanuti proposed to plant the sugar-cane in Sicily and Apulia. This idea was not carried into execution before the end of the fourteenth century. The sugar-cane did not pass, as has been said, from Sicily to America; it was transported to Madeira from the coast of Spain, whither it had been brought by the Saracens. The sugar-cane is still found in some parts of the kingdom of Grenada.

[153] I at first thought that these serpents could be only the dipsada, or fire-serpent. I communicated this opinion to M. Walckenaer, who with reason had seen nothing in the reptiles of which Albert d’Aix speaks, but the common gecko of Egypt ’Lacerta gecko of Linnæus), which Belon and Hasselquits have found in great numbers in Syria, Judea, and Egypt. This species is very venomous; it resembles other species of the same genus and of the genus stellion, which appear to be harmless, and are found in France, Italy, Sardinia, and on all the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, where it is called tarente, tarenta, tarentola, &c. The opinion of M. Walckenaer appears the more reasonable, from the two species of serpents and vipers to which naturalists have given the name dipsada, the one, the Coluber dipsas of Linnæus, which is the dipsada, properly speaking, being only found in America; the other, the black viper, Coluber præster of Linnæus, appears peculiar to Europe, and is more common in the north than in the south. We may venture to quote the passage of Albert d’Aix in Latin, which speaks of the remedy advised by the inhabitants of the country against the bite of the tarenta:—Similiter et aliam edocti sunt medicinam, ut vir percussus sine morâ coiret cum muliere, cum viro mulier, et sic ab omni tumore veneni liberaretur uterque.—Alb. Aq. lib. iv. cap. 40. The same historian speaks of another remedy, which consisted in pressing strongly the place of the bite, to prevent the communication of the venom with the other parts of the system.

[154] It is Raymond d’Agiles alone who speaks of this strange deliberation of the leaders; if this historian had not been present, we could give no credit to it.—See Raym. d’Agiles, in the Collection of Bongars, p. 173. Albert d’Aix contents himself with saying that the leaders, after having traversed the territory of Ptolemaïs, deliberated whether they should not go to Damascus.

[155] Tasso has spoken of the enthusiasm of the Crusaders at the sight of Jerusalem. The historians of the crusades, Albert d’Aix, the author of the Gesta Francorum, Robert the Monk, Baldric or Baudry, and William of Tyre, present us with the same picture that Tasso does. We will content ourselves with quoting here a passage from the “History of Jerusalem and Hebron,” which proves that the sight of that city likewise awakens the enthusiasm of Mussulmans: “The coup d’œil of Jerusalem,” says this history, “is very fine, particularly when seen from the Mount of Olives. When the pilgrim arrives there, and sees the buildings nearer, his heart is filled with an inexpressible joy, and he easily forgets all the fatigues of his voyage.” Hafiz, the son of Hadjar, improvised on his arrival at Jerusalem four verses, of which this is the translation: “When we approached the holy city, the Lord showed us Jerusalem; we had suffered much during our voyage, but we believed ourselves then entering into heaven.” We have heard several modern travellers, of different manners, religions, and opinions, say that they all felt a lively emotion at seeing Jerusalem for the first time. See the beautiful description that M. de Chateaubriand has given of it in his Itinerary.

[156] The name of Solyma was formed from that of Hierosolyma.

[157] The Mussulmans call Jerusalem El Cods ’the holy), Beit-ul-Mocaddès ’the holy house), and sometimes El Cherif ’the noble). A description of Jerusalem may be seen in the extracts from the Arabian history of Jerusalem and Hebron, translated into French and inserted in the German Journal, entitled “The Mines of the East.”

[158] Tasso here makes Tancred contend with Clorinda. The personages of Clorinda and Herminia are the invention of the poet.

[159] This fact, which Tasso has mixed with some fictions, is related by Raoul de Caen, Gesta Tancredi, cap. 112. The same historian adds that Tancred met upon the Mount of Olives a hermit who was born in Normandy, and who had been the enemy of Robert Guiscard and his family. This hermit welcomed the Italian hero with respect, and showed him the places around Jerusalem the most venerated by pilgrims.

[160] See, for this arrival of the Christians, William of Tyre, lib. vii. cap. 25.

[161] In comparing the description of the siege of Jerusalem by the Crusaders with that of the siege which the Romans carried on under Vespasian, we find that the quarters of Godfrey were in the same place as those of Titus, when he directed his first attacks against the city. See the History of Josephus.

[162] An admirable picture is to be found in Tasso of this drought, which is also described by Robert the Monk, Baldric, Raymond d’Agiles, Albert d’Aix, William of Tyre, and by Gilles or Gilou, in his Latin poem upon the first crusade.

[163] Maimbourg does not seem to credit the existence of this forest, and says that it is an invention of Tasso’s. He might have read in William of Tyre this sentence, which is not at all equivocal:—Casu affuit quidam fidelis indigena natione Syrus, qui in valles quasdam secretiores, sex aut septem ab urbe distantes milliaribus, quosdam de principibus direxit, ubi arbores, etsi non ad conceptum opus aptas penitus, tamen ad aliquem modum proceras invenerunt plures. Raoul de Caen is much more positive and explicit than William of Tyre; this is the way in which he expresses himself:—Lucus erat in montibus et montes ad Hyerusalem remoti ei; quæ modo Neapolis, olim Sebasta, ante Sychar dictus est, propriores, adhuc ignota nostratibus via, nunc celebris et ferme peregrenantium unica.—Rad. Cad. cap. 121.

[164] A sufficiently remarkable circumstance is, that the shrub which grows most freely in the territory of Jerusalem, and which the Crusaders must have used, was the rhamnus, a thorny shrub, of which, if we give faith to the opinion of Pierre Belon, was formed the crown of thorns of Christ. Christopher Hasselquoit, it is true, is not of this opinion, and pretends that the crown of thorns was of the shrub nakba.

[165] Quemdam egregium et magnificum virum, dominum videlicet Gastonem de Bearn, operi prefecerunt.—Will. Tyren. lib. viii. cap. 10. Raymond d’Agiles and Abbot Guibert speak also of Gaston de Béarn.

[166] The chevalier le Felart, in his treaty on The Attack of Places, at the end of his commentary upon Polybius, speaks of the tower of Godfrey, which he improperly calls the tower of Frederick the First of Jerusalem. He gives a detailed and very exact description of this tower, which is likewise well described by contemporary historians.

[167] Cruces fixerunt, super quas aut spuebant, aut in oculis omnium mingere non abhorrebant.—Ab. Aq. lib. vi.

[168] See, for this procession, Baldric, bishop of Dol. lib. iv.; Accolte, lib. iv.; Albert d’Aix, lib. vi.; William of Tyre, lib. vii. It cannot be doubted that the leaders caused this procession to be made round Jerusalem, in order that the sight of so many places should arouse the enthusiasm of the Crusaders. We must regret that Tasso, who speaks of this procession, has scarcely said anything of the places the Christians visited; these details would have furnished poetical beauties, without in anything departing from the exactitude of history.

[169] Raymond d’Agiles says that Godfrey’s tower was transplanted by night a mile from the spot where it had been constructed; which leads us to believe that the principal attack was directed near the gate of Cedar, towards the entrance of the Valley of Jehoshaphat. For the rest, we must regret that M. de Chateaubriand, who has written a very interesting dissertation upon the military positions of Tasso, has not thrown light upon the obscurities of the historians which present themselves in this portion of their accounts of the siege.

[170] This circumstance is thus related by Abbot Guibert:—Est etiam mihi non inferiori relatione compertum, Robertum Normandiæ comitem Robertumque alterum Flandriarum principem, junctis pariter convenisse mœroribus, et se cum fletibus uberrimis conclamasse miserrimos, quos suæ adoratione crucis, et visione, immo veneratione sepulchri, tantoperè Jesus Dominus judicaret indignos.—Lib. vii. cap. 6.

[171] As Tasso often employs magic, we have sought with care for all that relates to this species of the marvellous in the contemporary historians. That which we have just quoted from William of Tyre, is the only instance we have been able to find. Some historians likewise have said that the mother of Kerboghâ was a sorceress, and that she had foretold to her son the defeat of Antioch. It is in vain to seek for similar incidents in the history of the first crusade. We ought to add that magic was much less in vogue in the twelfth century than in that in which Tasso lived. The Crusaders were no doubt very superstitious, but their superstitions were not attached to little things; they were struck by the phenomena they saw in the heavens; they believed in the appearance of saints, and in revelations made by God himself, but not in magicians. Ideas of magic came to us a long time afterwards, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The chroniclers of that period, who speak of anterior facts, fill their recitals with whimsical and ridiculous fables, such as are not to be found in more ancient authors. We must not judge of the middle ages by the chronicles of Robert Gaguin, or by those of Archbishop Turpin, the work of a monk of the twelfth century; still less by the romances of the same period.

[172] We report this circumstance here, in order to give an idea of the fire which was launched against the Christians. Albert d’Aix expresses himself thus:—Qualiter ignis, aquâ inextinguibilis solo aceti liquore restingui valeat.—Alb. Aq. lib. vi. cap. 18.

[173] This is repeated by William of Tyre and some other writers. Raymond d’Agiles very naively says: Quis autem miles ille fuerit cognoscere non potuimus.—Raym. d’Ag. p. 171, Bongars.

[174] Matthew of Edessa says that Godfrey used in this assault the sword of Vespasian, which thus assisted, for the third time, in the destruction of Jerusalem. No Latin historian mentions it.

[175] Oderic Vital attributes to Reimbault Creton of Cambresis the glory of having first entered Jerusalem. Other historians only name him among those who followed most closely the steps of the brothers Lethalde and Engelbert of Tournai. This is the text of Orderic Vital:—Reimboldus Creton qui primus in expugnatione Jerusalem ingressus est, &c. The descendants of Reimbolt Creton bore indifferently up to the sixteenth century the names of Creton and Estourmel. This family preserved as its device these words, “Vaillant sur la crête;” and La Morliere, the historian of Picardy under Louis XIII., speaks of them in these terms: “It adds not a little to the lustre of this family, that it is acknowledged that they owe the origin of their arms to the first crusade which the Christians made for the recovery of the Holy Land, bestowed by the hand of Godfrey of Bouillon, king of Jerusalem, who, to do honour to the valour of the sieur d’Estourmel, whom he had seen bear himself so valiantly at the taking of that city, made him a present of a crenated cross of silver, in which was enchased a piece of the true cross.” This precious reliquary was passed down from generation to generation to the eldest sons of this house. In the reign of Louis XIII. the marquis d’Hautefort having espoused the only daughter of Antoine d’Estourmel, cordon bleu, and first equerry to madame la duchesse d’Orléans, pretended that this piece of the true cross made a part of the inheritance. This discussion was submitted to the arbitration of the president of Mesmes, who decided that the cross was to revert to the branch of the house of Estourmel, which possesses it to this day.

[176] The details of this assault are repeated by all contemporary historians, several describe it at length. Foulcher de Chartres, who without doubt distinguished himself there, is the one who says the least. Anna Comnena says that the Christians took Jerusalem in fifteen days, but gives no details.

[177] The Oriental authors give no details of the siege of Jerusalem. The manuscript history of Jerusalem and Hebron, which is in the Imperial Library, and of which M. Jourdain has been kind enough to translate several fragments for me, contains nothing but vague notices. The author contents himself with saying that the siege lasted more than forty days, and that the Christians killed a great number of Mussulmans. We may here make a general remark: when the Mussulmans experience reverses, the Arabian authors are very sparing of details, and satisfy themselves with telling things in a vague manner, adding, “So God has willed it, may God curse the Christians.” Aboul-Feda gives very few more details than the rest. He says that the massacre of the Mussulmans lasted during seven consecutive days, and that seventy thousand persons were killed in the mosque of Omar, which is evidently an exaggeration.

[178] Raoul de Caen, cap. 132 et 133.

[179] We shall content ourselves with repeating here the words of Raymond d’Agiles, Foulcher de Chartres, and Robert the Monk:—In eodem templo decem millia decollati sunt; pedites nostri usque ad bases cruore peremptorum tingebantur; nec fœminis nec parvulis pepercerunt.—Ful. Caen. ap. Bong. p. 398. Tantum enim ibi humani sanguinis effusum est, ut cæsorum corpora, undâ sanguinis impellente, volverentur per pavimentum, et brachia sive truncatæ manus super cruorem fluitabant.—Rob. Mon. lib. 9. In templo et porticu Solomonis equitabatur in sanguine usque ad genua et usque ad frænos equorum.—Raym. d’Ag. Bong. p. 179. These words of Raymond d’Agiles are evidently an hyperbole, and prove that the Latin historians exaggerated things they ought to have extenuated or concealed.... In a letter written to the pope, the bishops, and the faithful, by Daimbert, archbishop of Pisa, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Raymond de St. Gilles, is this remarkable passage: “If you desire to know,” say they, “what became of the enemies we found in Jerusalem, know that in the portico of Solomon and in the temple, our soldiers had the vile blood of the Saracens up to the knees of their horses.”—Si scire desideratis quid de hostibus ibi repertis factum fuerit, scitote quia in porticu Salomonis, et in templo nostri equitabant in sanguine fœdo Sarracenorum usque ad genua equorum.—See Novus Thesaurus Anecdotorum, tom. i. p. 282.

[180] Albert d’Aix names these three attendants Baldric, Adelborde, and Stabulon.

[181] Some historians say that the Christians did not go to the Holy Sepulchre until the day after the conquest. We here adopt the opinion of Albert d’Aix, which appears to us the most probable.

[182] Le P. Maimbourg, Histoire des Croisades.

[183] Albert d’Aix gives the sentence which emanated from the council of the leaders. This sentence is supported by the motives we have pointed out.

[184] We have already quoted some of these historians; others relate nearly the same details, and with the same sang froid. We will quote no other but Raymond d’Agiles, who expresses himself thus:—Alii namque illorum, QUOD LEVIUS ERAT, obtruncabantur capitibus; alii autem sagittati, de turribus SALTARE cogebantur; alii vero diutissimè torti et ignious adusti flammeriebantur ’sic). Videbantur per vicos et plateas civitatis AGGERES capitum et manuum atque pedum.—Raym. de Ag. p. 178.

[185] Tankredus miles gloriosus super hâc sibi illatâ injuriâ, vehementi irâ succensus est.—Alb. Aq. lib. vi. cap. 29.

[186] Comes Raymundus, avaritiâ corruptus, Sarracenos milites quos in turrim David elapsos obsederat, acceptâ ingenti pecuniâ, illæsos abire permisit.—Alb. Aq. lib. vi. cap. 28

[187] Robert the Monk expresses himself thus: “Flebant et extrahebant.”

[188] Properly speaking, this was a kind of lustre which the Arabians call tradour. The Mussulmans have them of so large a size that it is necessary to enlarge the doors of the mosques by a breach, in order to admit them.

[189] See, for this deliberation and this speech, the History of Accolti lib. iv., and that of Yves Duchat.

[190] The English historian Brompton expresses himself thus whilst relating the misfortunes that Robert afterwards experienced:—Sic reddidit Dominus vicem pro vice duci Roberto, quia cum gloriosum in actibus Jerosolimitantis eum Dominus redderet, regnum Jerosolimitantum sibi oblatum renuit, magis eligens quieti et desidiæ in Normania deservire quam regi regum in sanctâ civitate militare. Damnavit igitur eum Deus desidiâ perenni et carcere sempiterno.—See the Historiæ Anglicæ Scriptores, tom. i. p. 1002.

[191] See Abbot Guibert, lib. vii. cap. 12.

[192] Albert d’Aix, who relates these two visions at length, terminates thus:—Horum somniorum præsignatione ex Dei ordinatione, populi Christiani benevolentiâ, Godefrido in solio regni Jerusalem exaltato.

[193] We may see in Raoul de Caen the debates which arose on this subject, and particularly the accusation directed against Tancred by Arnold de Rohés, in the name of the Latin clergy.

[194] We here give the translation of some passages of an elegy of the poet Modhaffer Abyverdy upon the taking of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, inserted by Aboul-Feda in his Annales, tom. iii. p. 319. This translation is by M. Jourdain.

“Our blood is mingled with our tears, and no part of our being remains to us that can be the object of the blows of our enemies.

“O misfortune! if tears take the place of true arms, when the fires of war break forth!

“How can the eye close its lids, when catastrophes such as ours would awaken even those who slept in the most profound repose!

“Your brethren have no other resting-places in Syria but the backs of their camels and the entrails of vultures!

“The Franks treat them like vile slaves, whilst you allow yourselves to be drawn carelessly along by the skirt of the robe of effeminacy, as people would do in perfect security!

“What blood has not flowed! how many women have been forced by modesty to conceal their beauty with their bracelets!

“Will the chiefs of the Arabs, the heroes of the Persians, submit to such degradation?

“Ah! at least, if they do not defend themselves, from attachment to their religion, let them be animated on account of their own honour, and by the love of all that is dear to them!”

[195] Eos tanquam segetem in transverso gladii secabant.—Bald. lib. iv.

[196] Subito sagittâ transfigebant, et quasi aves volatili telo percussas, ab ipsis arborum ramis moribundos humi procumbere cogebant.—Alb. Aq. lib. v. cap. 49.

[197] Anna Comnena, who speaks of the battle of Ascalon, says that the Franks were at first conquerors, and that they were afterwards attacked and beaten near Ramla. She mentions Baldwin, who was not then in Palestine, and did not come thither till after the death of Godfrey. It is easy to see that she confounds, as often happens with her, two different periods, that of the battle of Ascalon and that of the battle of Ramla, which was fought three years after, in the reign of Baldwin I.

[198] It is commonly believed that this battle of Ascalon served Tasso as a model for the great battle which terminates the Jerusalem Delivered. It is easy to see that the poet had also in view the battle of Antioch, which was fought at the gates of the city, of which the Christians were the masters. Raymond could not be present, because he held the citadel of Antioch in check, still in the power of the enemy. These circumstances, and several others, are found equally in the battle of the Jerusalem Delivered and in the historians who have described the battle of Antioch.

[199] There is in the Arabian history of Jerusalem and Hebron, a quatrain addressed to the count of St. Gilles, upon the defeat of Afdhal-Ben-Bedr-al-Djémaly, general of the army of Egypt, before Ascalon:—

Tu as fait triompher par ton épée la religion du Messie,
Dieu nous preserve d’un homme tel que Saint Gilles!
Jamais les hommes n’avaient entendu rien de pareil à ce qu’il a fait;
Il a mis dans la plus honteuse fuite Afdhul.

We quote this quatrain less for any idea that it contains, than to show that Raymond enjoyed great fame among the Mussulmans.

[200] This emissary is called Bohemond by Raymond d’Agiles. It is believed that it was Phirous who gave up Antioch to the Christians, that had taken the name of Bohemond.

[201] For this quarrel between Godfrey and Raymond, see Albert d’Aix, lib. vi. cap. 41, 42, and 43.

[202] In the genealogical history of several houses of Brittany, is the following rather curious passage: “Rion de Loheac acquired in this voyage beautiful and rich spoils from the enemies of Christianity, the Saracens; and above all things he was curious to seek for and collect heaps of the sacred and precious relics which were in those regions, in the number of which was a part and portion of the true cross upon which our Saviour Jesus Christ suffered death for the salvation of the human race, and of the stone of the sepulchre in which the said Saviour was buried. These relics he intended to bring into his own country; but being prevented by a disease of which he died in the said country of Syria, he sent them to his brother Gauthier de Loheac, by his squire called Simon de Ludron, who had accompanied him in this voyage.” We might quote many other similar facts which prove that the Christians of the West set the greatest value upon relics brought from the East.

[203] This circumstance is related in the Chronicle of Hainault ’Gisleberti Chronica Hannoniæ:)—Tacendum non est, says this chronicle, quod uxor ejus Yda comitissa domini sui occasum ut audivit, sed incerta si occisus fuerit, vel captus teneretur, Deum et virum suum diligens, partes illas eum labore magno et gravibus expensis adire non dubitavit: unde ipsa priùs de viro suo incerta, incertior rediit.—P. 37.

[204] See the Life of Peter the Hermit, by le P. d’Oultremont. Peter the Hermit was returning from the Holy Land in 1102, with a nobleman of the country of Liége, named the count de Montaign, when he was assailed by a violent tempest, during which he made a vow to build an abbey. It was in performance of this vow that he founded the abbey of Neufmontier at Huy, in Le Condrez, on the right bank of the Meuse, in honour of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Alexander, bishop of Liége, dedicated it in 1130. Peter died there at an advanced age, and desired, from humility, to be buried outside the church. It was not till a hundred and thirty years after his death that the abbot and the chapter caused his relics to be removed to a coffin covered with marble before the altar of the twelve apostles, in the year 1242, with a sufficiently long epitaph, which M. Morard, of the Academy of Sciences, read on passing through Huy in 1761, which is reported in the 3rd vol. of the MSS. of the Library of Lyon, by M. Delandine, p. 481.

[205] Robert, count of Flanders, was killed by a fall from his horse.

[206] William IX. is the first troubadour known. He was a valorous and courteous knight, but a great deceiver of ladies. He bade adieu in a song to the Limousin, to Poitou, to chivalry, which he had loved so much, and to mundane vanities, which he describes as coloured habits and beautiful hose. On his return he sang the fatigues, the dangers, and the misfortunes of this expedition, in a poem which is lost. His usual gaiety pervaded it, according to Oderic Vital, in spite of the sadness of the subject.—See the History of the Troubadours, by Millet, tom. i.

[207] Guichenon, in his History of the House of Savoy, expresses himself thus: “William Paradin relates that this prince ’Humbert, second count of Savoy) went to the Holy Land in the crusade which was determined on at the council of Clermont, under Godfrey of Bouillon,” which the greater part of the historians have confirmed after him ’such as Pingon, Vanderb, Dogliani, Chiesa, Balderan, Buttel, and Henning). Papyrus Masson has rejected this, because neither the manuscript chronicle, nor the authors of the crusades, who name many lords of less consequence, have mentioned him. Botero has said nothing of him. “Nevertheless we cannot doubt this voyage; for about that time this prince gave the monks of the Bourget in Savoy a property called Gutin, for the health of his soul, of that of count Amé, his father, and of his ancestors. This donation, dated at d’Yenne in Savoy ’and not Jena in Thuringia, as is said in the Art of Verifying Dates), imports that the count bestowed this liberality to obtain from God a fortunate establishment ’consulat) in his voyage beyond sea. Now this word consulat then signified a principality, government, or sovereignty. Oderic Vital gives to Roger, count of Sicily, the title of consul of Sicily.” Guichenon adds here many other examples of the same kind. That which created doubts of the voyage of Humbert is the silence of the historians of the first crusade, as well as all the acts of this prince that have been preserved, and which prove that he was in Europe in the year 1100; but all these doubts vanish, when we know that he went in the second expedition.

[208] The details of this last expedition are found scattered in the works of several historians. They who afford the most information are Albert d’Aix, Oderic Vital, Foulcher de Chartres, Chronicon Uspergensis, Alberici Chronicon, &c. &c.

[209] For these various positions, see the Map and the explanatory Memoir.

[210] The body of the duke of Burgundy was brought back to France, and buried at Citeaux. Urban Planchier says in his history, that they observed the anniversary of the death of this prince on the Friday before Passion Sunday. After the death of her husband, Mahaul, the wife of Eude, and mother of Florine, retired to the abbey of Fontevrault.

[211] It has been said that Arpin, on setting out for the crusade, sold the county of Berri to Philip, king of France, for the sum of 60,000 crowns. This is the way in which the fact is related in the History of Berri: “King Philip redeemed his city of Bourges, which Henry his father had engaged for 60,000 crowns, from Arpin. Thus Bourges returned to its natural prince.”—History of Berri, by Chaumeau, p. 97.

[212] Ancient historians contain many other details concerning this expedition that we have not thought it necessary to notice. This expedition presents nothing but scenes of carnage and reverses, without glory or results. We shall be obliged to return to it hereafter.

[213] Alexander, say the Greek historians, had thirty thousand infantry and five thousand horse. A single historian, Anaximenes, makes the Macedonian army amount to forty-eight thousand men.

[214] The Turks, thirty years before the taking of Jerusalem by the Christians, had scarcely met with any resistance to their invasions of some of the richest provinces of Asia, because the Mussulman religion, which they had recently embraced, was that of the countries against which they directed their arms. If the Tartars at different epochs have invaded several countries of the globe, and have maintained themselves in them, it was because on issuing from their deserts they had almost no religion, and were thus disposed to adopt any advantageous faith they might meet with in their passage. It will be objected to me that the Arabians, in the first ages of the Hegira, invaded a great part of Asia and Africa, where they found other religions than their own long established; but it may be answered that these religions were sinking to decay. When the Mussulmans presented themselves in Europe, where the Christian religion was better established than in the East, this religion offered an insurmountable barrier to their progress.

[215] Daimbert, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Raymond de St. Gilles, when writing to the pope and the faithful of the West, say that the victory of Dorylæum had filled the pilgrims with pride, and that God, to punish them, opposed Antioch to them, which delayed them nine months.

[216] Tasso himself was of this opinion, as may be seen in an interesting letter addressed to us by M. Dureau Delamalle. The admiration which I entertain for the Poet of the Crusades, makes me exceedingly anxious that M. Baour Lormian should finish the undertaking he has begun, so worthy of his rare talent, a translation in verse of the Jerusalem Delivered.

[217] M. Guinguené, in his Histoire Littéraire d’Italie, has deigned to adopt, with some modification, several of these observations, which is the most worthy reward of my labours and researches.

[218] In our general conclusions, we shall often have to quote the works of M. Heeren and M. Choiseuil d’Aillecourt upon the influence of the crusades.

[219] The verse of this writer is much better than his prose, which is very incorrect, and sometimes unintelligible.

[220] We have obtained these details from a manuscript history of Béarn, which has been kindly communicated to us by one of our most distinguished magistrates, who consecrates his leisure to the cultivation of letters. This history, remarkable for a wise erudition and sound criticism, is likely to throw a great light upon the remote times of which we speak.

[221] All the ordinances of Gaston de Béarn are to be found in the decrees of the synod or council held in the diocese of Elne, in Roussillon, the 16th of May, 1027. These dispositions had for object the Truce of God. The council decreed that no unarmed clerk or monk should be attacked, nor any man who was going to church or coming from it, or was walking with women. At the council of Bourges in 1031, and in several others, these regulations were renewed; labourers, their cattle and mills, were placed under the safeguard of religion.—See the Collection of the Councils by le P. Labbe. It is not useless to remark that these regulations were at first received in Aquitaine. The council of Clermont caused them to be adopted throughout the greater part of Europe.

[222] I only here speak of the clergy with regard to its knowledge. The opinion I express is not only applicable to France, but to all the states of Europe.

[223] What a comment upon man’s assumption is the history of France since this was written!—Trans.

[224] An excellent dissertation on the Holy Land, by the Abbé Guénée, in Les Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions, may be consulted with advantage.

[225] We have been guided principally in the history of Jerusalem, by the chronicle of Foulcher de Chartres, that of Albert d’Aix, the anonymous author of the Gesta Francorum expugnantium Hierusalem, and the history of William of Tyre. There is nothing in French upon the kingdom of Jerusalem. Being ignorant of the German language, we regret our inability to avail ourselves of the second volume of the History of the Crusades, by M. Walken, to the extent we could have wished. We may say the same of the history by M. Hacken, and several other German works upon the establishment of the Christians in the East.

Among the Arabian historians from whom the learned D. Bertheraud has made extracts, we have consulted—1. The Mussulman Annals of Aboulfeda. 2. The History of Tabari, or rather the continuation of that historian, who is called the Livy of the Arabians. 3. The History of Jerusalem, by Moudgireddin. 4. The History of Aleppo, by Kemaleddin. 5. The History of the Attabecs, by Ben Latir. These historians and some others have furnished us with some points of comparison, and some document frequently incomplete, generally useless. The Oriental historians only become an abundant source of information at the epoch of the reigns of Noureddin and Saladin.

[226] This account is found entire in Albert d’Aix, book vii. chaps. 8, 9, &c.

[227] The Assizes of Jerusalem, transported into the kingdom of Cyprus, were collected in the thirteenth century, by John d’Ibelin, count of Jaffa and Ascalon. They were printed by Baumancir, and commented upon by Thomas de la Thaumasière. It is to be lamented that the French publicists, and Montesquieu himself, have studied so superficially this monument of modern legislation, which is able to throw great light upon the history, laws, and manners of the middle ages.

[228] Dolens aliquantulùm de fratris morte et plus gaudens de hæreditate.—Fulch. Carn. lib. x. cap. 22.

[229] The Christians were in so much danger in this expedition, that Foulcher de Chartres exclaims in his history, “I would rather have been at Chartres or Orleans,” “Ego quidem vel Carnoti vel Aurelianis mallem esse quam ibi.”—Lib. x. cap. 22.

[230] “Ubi ego ipse Fulcherius adaquavi meos.”—In Bongars, p. 405. The same historian speaks in the same chapter of the Dead Sea, and of the phenomena he had remarked. Foulcher de Chartres seldom neglects an opportunity of speaking of himself; these words, “Ego Fulcherius,” very frequently appear in his narration.

[231] William of Tyre, in his account of the taking of Cæsarea, speaks of a precious vase which fell to the share of the Genoese. “At this time,” says he, “was found a vase in the shape of a dish, of a bright green colour, which the Genoese, believing it to be an emerald, were desirous of having, at the valuation of a large sum of money, to make an offering of to their church as an excellent ornament, and which they are accustomed to exhibit to the great lords who pass through their city.” This vase found at Cæsarea, and preserved at Genoa till the end of the last century, is now in the Cabinet of Antiques in the Imperial Library at Paris. [Qy. whether restored to the Genoese in 1815?—Trans.]

[232] This singular fact is related by William of Tyre with all its details.—Chap. x.

[233] We here follow the version of Foulcher de Chartres, who makes use of the word vivit instead of vincit, which appears to have prevailed afterwards. The device Christus regnat, vincit, imperat, forms the legend of the reverse of all the gold coins struck in France from the time of John to that of Louis XVI., under the different names of Francs à pied et à cheval, of Agnelets, or Ecus d’or, or Louis. In the most ancient, the Francs, the verb vincit is the first: X. P. C. vincit; X. P. C. regnat; X. P. C. imperat; Christ conquers, Christ reigns, and Christ governs; which proves that this device or war-cry may be traced back to the time of the crusades.

[234] See Gibbon for the interesting memoir of this noble family, whose name so frequently occurs in our own history, and is, I believe, still extant, in the Courtenays, earls of Devon.—Trans.

[235] “Anna Comnena adds, that to complete the deceit, he was shut up with a dead cock; and wonders how the barbarian could endure the confinement and putrefaction.”—Notes to Gibbon.—Trans.

[236] This may at first appear a singular pledge; but when we remember the great consideration in which beards were and are held in the East, we are reconciled to the fact. Beckford makes Vathek inflict loss of beard upon the sages who cannot decipher the magic characters upon the sabres, as the greatest possible punishment; and few were better acquainted with Eastern manners than the master of Font-hill Abbey.—Trans.

[237] These details are taken from the Arabian historian Novaïry.

[238] Sir William d’Avenant elegantly calls books “the monuments of deceased minds.”—Trans.

[239] Aboulfeda in his account justifies the Genoese for the massacre of the Mussulmans; the city being taken by assault, they did not exceed the usual rights of war. Another Arabian historian, Ebn-Abi-Tai, says that the Christians exhibited at the taking of Tripoli the same destructive fury as the Arabs had who burnt the library of Alexandria. The same historian speaks of the incredible number of three millions of volumes. We have preferred the version of Novaïry, who reduces the number of volumes to a hundred thousand. This author states that the library of Tripoli was founded by the cadi Aboutaleb Hasen, who had himself composed several works.

[240] The governor of Mossoul is called by the Latins Maledoctus, Mandult, and by the Arabians Mauduts. Togdequin was prince of Damascus.

[241] We have avoided mentioning too frequently the sultans and emirs of Syria, whose names seem the more barbarous as they are correctly written.

[242] Tabari and Aboul-Feda.

[243] See, for an account of this disaster, Kemaleddin and Tabari.

[244] The account of this battle, and the preparations for it, are taken from Robert of the Mount ’Robertus de Monte, Appendice ad Sigebertum). This author speaks of the fast the troops were ordered to undergo, as had been done at Nineveh: “Universo pecori pabula negabantur.” He also speaks of the milk of the holy Virgin, carried in a vase: “Episcopus Bethleemides ferens in pyxide lac sanctæ Mariæ virginis.”

[245] This act is reported in its entirety by William of Tyre.

[246] Albert d’Aix finishes his history in the first year of the reign of Baldwin II., and Foulcher de Chartres terminates his after the siege of Tyre. We may consult for this reign many passages of Baronius, Robert of the Mount, Sanuti, and particularly William of Tyre and Bernardus Thesaurius. We are in possession of the second part of a History of Jerusalem, the anonymous author of which speaks of the reigns of the two first Baldwins.

It will be said perhaps that I have borrowed from these different historians too many details; but I could not resist the desire I had to impart to my readers things that have never hitherto been related in the French language. It is surprising that, notwithstanding Jerusalem was almost always governed and defended by the Franks, no writer of our nation has spoken of it.

[247] The emir Balac was a prince of the family of Ortoc, who possessed many places on the Euphrates, reigned in Aleppo and Mesopotamia, and could set on foot innumerable armies of Turcomans.

[248] Edma, the daughter of Baldwin, still a child, was violated by the Mussulmans, to whom her father had given her as an hostage.

[249] See, as well for the incursion of the Turks as of those of the Christians, Kemaleddin, Tabari, and Aboul-Feda.

[250] Our learned Orientalists have furnished us with some very useful and profound works on the Ismaëlians; at their head is M. de Sacy, who has made us acquainted with the doctrine and many of the usages of this singular people. M. Jourdain has on this subject supplied us with a very interesting memoir.

[251] See, for the origin and the reign of Zengui, the History of the Atabecks, by Ben Latir.

[252] The history of the knights of St. John has been written in Italian by Bosio, and translated into French by Boyssat. The history since written by the Abbé de Vertot has caused all that preceded it to be forgotten. The Templars, after their tragical end, had no historian of their exploits in the Holy Land; but they have in our days found a very eloquent one in M. Raynouard.

[253] See Saint Bernard, Exhortatio ad Milites Templi.

[254] We will relate in full the decrees of the council of Naplouse, which form a precious monument of the history of these distant times; but the greater part of the crimes and offences against which the fathers of this council raised their voices, do not permit us to give these statutes in French or English, or present the most curious details of them.

[255] The castle of Puyset, near Orleans, was besieged three times by all the forces of Louis le Gros; this castle was at length taken and demolished. Veilly, and all the French historians, having neglected to read William of Tyre, make the seigneur de Puyset die in the kingdom of Naples.

[256] When quoting William of Tyre, I avail myself always of the old translation, whose naïf and simple style associates best with the spirit and manners of the twelfth century.

[257] In William of Tyre may be seen the letter which the vizir of Damascus addressed to the Christian princes of Jerusalem.

[258] The Assizes of Jerusalem speak thus of the coronation of the king:—Ly met l’anneau au doigt, qui sinefie foi; et asprès ly ceint l’espée, qui sinefie justice, à deffendre foi et sainte esglise; et asprès la couronne, qui sinefie la dignité; et asprès le sceptre, qui sinefie chastier et deffendre; et asprès la pomme, qui sinefie la terre du royaume. [Although offering a translation, I cannot resist giving this very curious piece of old French.—Trans.]

They put the ring on his finger, as signifying faith; then they girded on the sword, which means he must defend justice, faith, and the holy church; next the crown, which denotes dignity; after that the sceptre, with which he is both to punish and defend; and at last the apple or globe, which signifies the kingdom of the earth.

[259] William of Tyre attributes the determination of the king and the barons to the cries of the populace of Jerusalem; the same historian relates this expedition with many details in his sixteenth book, ch. vii.-xiii.

[260] Kemaleddin, an Arabian historian, and William of Tyre agree as to the principal circumstances of this siege.

[261] We have before us in manuscript some historical and geographical notes upon the city of Edessa, communicated to us by M. J. Chahan de Cerbied, an Armenian professor. This work is rendered more valuable by M. J. Chahan de Cerbied’s ’its author) being born at Edessa, where he passed many years. These notes are to be published in a general picture of Armenia, which will not fail to attract the attention of the learned.

[262] The greater part of the Arabian historians assert that Zengui sought to repair the evils his army had caused to the inhabitants of Edessa. Kemaleddin relates the following anecdote on this subject, which makes us at the same time acquainted with the Mussulman spirit of history and manners. We will transcribe the Latin extract from Dom. Berthereau:—Norredinus ingressus est urbem, diripuit eam, incolas jugo captivitatis submisit; illis evacuata fuit urbs, pauci tantùm remanserunt. Ex captivis unam misit ancillam Norredinus ad Zeineddinum Ali Koudgoucum, pro rege, patris sui in Mosulâ inter munera quæ ad eum misit; quam cum vidisset ille, statim illâ usus est; lavit se posteà, dixitque suis: Nostisne quid mihi hac die acciderit? Dixerunt, non. Dixit: Cum Roham cepimus, regnante Zengui, inter res raptas in manus meas incidit ancilla pulchra, ejusque pulchritudo mihi admodùm placuit; ad eam declinavit cor meum, statimque jussu Zengui martyris fuit inclamatum: Redde servos opesque raptas. Metuendus porrò erat et reverendus; ancillam reddidi, ei vero semper adhæsit cor meum: novè verò misit mihi dona Norredinus, quæ inter, ancillas misit plures, quas inter eamdem ancillam. Coitu earn subegi, nè adhuc etiam tolletur.—Kemaleddin, Hist. de Halep. p. 62, translation of Dom. Berthereau.