[1] The author wrote the history of the fourth, fifth, and sixth crusades during the last usurpation of Buonaparte. [How easily an observant reader may tell when a book was published—the above note was, doubtless, written after Buonaparte’s failure.—Trans.]
[2] Almélik-Alazoz, Emad-eddin Otsman. We have given the names of the Mussulman princes as the greater part of our historians write them; we shall take care to point out in notes how they are pronounced by Arabian authors.
[3] Alemélek Almansour, Nassir-eddin Mohammed.
[4] Almélek Aladel Seïf-eddin Aben-beer Mohammed.
[5] Aboulfeda and some other Arabian historians point out sufficiently succinctly the division that the Ayoubite princes made of the vast provinces that formed the empire of Saladin. This empire included Syria, Egypt, almost all Mesopotamia, and even a great portion of Arabia.
Aziz, as we have said, established himself in Egypt; Afdhal and Thaher shared Syria between them, one reigning at Damascus, and the other at Aleppo. Adel retained, as his part, the cities situated beyond the Euphrates, which composed the eastern provinces, that is, Mesopotamia proper. To these three great divisions were attached several feudatory princes, who governed as fiefs various cities of the empire. Hamah, Salamiak, Moanah, and Mambedj belonged to Mansour; it was from this branch that issued the celebrated Aboulfeda: the family of Chirkoùh was established at Emessa; Thaher, son of Saladin, enjoyed Bosra; Amdjed, great-grandson of Ayoub, was prince of Balbek; Chëizer, Abou Cobaïs, Sahyoun, Tell-Bacher, Kaubeb, Adjloun, Barin, Kafar-Tab, and Famieh were possessed by various emirs who had served in the armies of Saladin.
As to Yémen, a province of Arabia, in which Touran-chah established himself, the family of the Ayoubites reigned there till 1239.
[6] Almélek Alafdhal, Noureddin Ali.
[7] At the death of Saladin Jerusalem came into the possession of Afdhal, his son, who gave it in fief to the emir Azz-eddin Djerdik. Aziz becoming master of Damascus, the holy city fell into the hands of another emir, Ilm-eddin Caísser; to him succeeded Aboulhedj, the favourite of Adel; for in the division that this prince and his nephew Aziz made of Egypt and Syria, Palestine remained in the power of Adel. Aboul-Hédj was in his turn replaced by the famous emir Aksankar-el-Kébir, and he by Meïmoun, 1197. When the empire became reunited under the dominion of Adel, his son Moaddhem had Damascus, of which Palestine and Jerusalem were dependencies.
[8] This is the text of the oath, as it has been preserved by an historian:—“I, such a one, devote myself entirely from this moment to the service of the sultan Elmélek Alnaser Salak-eddin, as long as he shall live. I swear to consecrate my life, my property, my sword, and my powers to the defence of his empire, and to be always obedient to his orders. I swear to observe the same engagements after him to his son and heir Almélek Alafdhal. I swear to submit myself to him, to fight for his empire and states with my life, my wealth, my sword, and my troops. I swear to obey him in everything; I devote myself to him inwardly and outwardly, and I take God for a witness of this engagement.”
[9] This vizier was named Nasr-allah, and bore the surname of Dhiaeddin, ‘the splendour of religion;’ he was brother of the celebrated historian Ibn-Elatzir, author of the Tarikh Kamel, and himself cultivated letters with success. The study of most of the sciences occupied his youth, and his memory was adorned with the most beautiful passages of the ancient and modern poetry of his nation. Saladin had given him as vizier to his son, and Nasr-allah proved by his conduct that he was worthy of the honour. If he committed faults as a minister, he at least honoured his character by remaining faithful to his master, sharing his misfortunes, and following him into exile. After remaining some time at Samosata, whither Afdhal was banished, he came to Aleppo, and entered into the service of Thaher, who reigned there; and becoming dissatisfied with his conduct, he quitted the court, and retired to Mossoul, where he took up his residence. He died at Bagdad in 1239, whilst fulfilling a diplomatic mission with which the prince of Mossoul had charged him. Nasr-allah left several literary works, the nomenclature of which is contained in the biography of Ibn-Khilcan.
[10] M. Am. Jourdain has published a curious account of Aboulfeda and his family, the materials for which were supplied by the works themselves of this historian: it is printed in the fourteenth volume of Les Annales des Voyages, &c. of M. Malte Brun.
[11] The Hospitallers then possessed within the limits of Christendom nineteen thousand manors; the Templars had only nine thousand. Matthew Paris expresses himself thus:—Habent insuper Templarii in Christianitate novem millia maneriorum; Hospitalii vero novem decem, præter emolumenta et varios proventus ex fraternitatibus et prædicationibus provenientes, et per privilegia sua accrescentes.—Matth. Paris., ad annum 1244, in Henry III., lib. xi. p. 615. A manor in the middle ages was the labour of one plough.
[12] We possess two letters written by Celestine to Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, to engage him to preach the crusade. The pope commands the archbishop to employ ecclesiastical censures against those who, after taking the cross, delayed their departure for the Holy Land; and to require such as could not possibly set out, to send, at their own expense, one or two men to fight against the infidels.
[13] This reminds us of the plans of conquest laid down by Pyrrhus, king of Epirus,—and of the traveller, who intended to perambulate the globe,—that he might, at the end of his wanderings, plant cabbages in Hanover.—Trans.
[14] All the facts relative to the preaching of this crusade are to be found in Roger de Hoveden, Matthew Paris, Godfrey Moine, William of Newbridge, Otho of St. Blaise, and Arnold of Lubeck. The latter gives the most details; he does not fail to tell us that forty burgesses of Lubeck took the cross on this occasion.
[15] The long lists of the names and titles of the Crusaders may at first appear tiresome to the reader; but as each name represents a territory or an estate, the lists are, in fact, the best means of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the extent of this astonishing mania.—Trans.
[16] Roger de Hoveden gives this account of the death of Henry of Champagne. Arnold of Lubeck says that this prince had placed himself at a window to take the air. The same Arnold adds that many thought that God had punished Henry for the regret he had evinced on the arrival of the Germans, whom he envied the glory of delivering the kingdom of Christ.
[17] We possess a very precious monument upon the battle of Sidon; it is a letter from the duke of Saxony, written to the archbishop of Cologne. The duke was present at the battle.
[18] Arnold, who gives an account of this message of the dove, appears to fear that it will not be believed. This is the manner in which he expresses himself in the third chapter:—Hic quiddam dicturus sum non ridiculum, sed ridiculè à gentibus tractum, qui quoniam sapientiores filiis iucis in generatione suâ sunt, multa excogitant, quæ nostrates non noverunt, nisi fortè ab eis didicerint. Solent enim ex untes ad quælibet negotia secum exportare columbas, quæ domi aut ova aut pullos noviter habent creates, et si in viâ fortè accelerare volunt nuncium, scriptas literas sub umbilico columbæ subtiliter ponunt, et eam avolare permittunt. Quæ cum ad suos fœtus properat, celeriter amicis desideratum nuncium apportat.
[19] The picture of Falcandus is perfectly prophetic, and describes events exactly like those which came after him. We will quote the most curious passages:—Intueri mihi jam videor turbulentas barbarorum acies, eo qua feruntur impetu irruentes, civitates opulentas et loca diuturnâ pace florentia metu concutere, cæde vastare, rapinis atterere, et fœdare luxuriâ. Ingerit se mihi, et lachrymas a nolente futuræ species calamitatis extorquet. Occurrunt hinc cives aut resistendo gladiis intercepti, aut se dedendo miserâ servitute depressi. Illine virgines in ipsis parentum conspectibus constupratæ; matronæ post varia et preciosa capitis, colli, et pectoris ornamenta direpta, ludibrio habitæ defixis in terrâ oculis inconsolabiliter deplorantes, venerabile fœdus conjugii fœdissimæ gentis libidine violari. Nec enim aut rationis ordine regi, aut miseratione deflecti, aut religione terreri Theutonica novit insania, quam et innatus furor exagitat, et rapacitas stimulat, et libido præcipitat. Hæc autem in Apuliâ vicinisque provinciis geri, licet horrendum ac triste sit facinus, et multo cum mœrore deflendum, utcunque tamen tolerabile putaretur, si in cispharinis tantum partibus barbarorum immanitas desæviret. Servire barbaris jam cogetur antiqua illa Corinthiorum nobilitas qui patriis olim relictis sedibus, in Siciliam transuentes, et urbi construendæ locum idoneum perquirentes, tandem in optimâ et pulcherrimâ parte Siciliæ inter inæquales portus mœnia sua loco tutissimo construxerunt. Quid tibi nunc prodest philosophorum quondam floruisse doctrinis, et poëtarum ora vatifici fontis nectare proluisse? satiùs tibi quidem esset ac tutiùs, Siculorum adhuc tyrannorum sævitiam pati, quam barbaræ fœdæque gentis tyrannidem experiri. Væ tibi fons celebris et præclari nominis Arethusa, quæ ad hanc devoluta est miseriam, ut quæ poëtarum solebas carmina modulari, nunc Theutonicorum ebrietatem mitiges, et eoram servias fœditati.—See Historia Sicula, ap. Muratori, vol. vii.
[20] Roger de Hoveden says that the Mussulman prince of Jerusalem had offered to deliver the city up to the Franks, and even to become a Christian. If the Mussulman prince had really made such a proposition, we cannot easily guess why the Christians should not have accepted it. But Roger is the only historian that mentions this perfectly incredible circumstance: Oriental historians are silent.
[21] Otho of St. Blaise says, that after the first crusade the Saracens had fortified Jerusalem:—Pagani summâ industriâ civitates et castella quæ obtinuerunt, muniverunt, et præcipuè Hyerusalem, duplici muro antemurali opposito, et fossatis profundissimus cingentes, inexpugnabilem reddiderunt, dato Christianis securissimo conductu visendi sepulcrum Dominicum, quæstûs gratiâ.—See Oth. de St. Blaise ap. Urtii collect.
[22] Arnold of Lubec enters most fully into the details of this siege: this historian is almost our only guide in this part of our narrative. We have found some useful documents in the continuator of Tabary.
[23] After describing the corruption of the Crusaders, Arnold adds:—Veniam non peto, non enim ut quempiam confundam, hæc scribo, sed dilectos in Christo moneo.
[24] Oriental historians say little of the siege of Thoron; the continuator of Tabary expresses himself thus:—“The Franks attacked Tebnyn (Thoron), and made breaches on various sides. When Malek-Adel learnt this, he wrote to Melic-Alaziz, sultan of Egypt, to desire him to come in person; ‘for if you do not come,’ said he, ‘we shall not be able to protect the frontier country.’ Alaziz then came with his troops. As to the Mussulmans who were in the castle, when they saw the breaches made in their walls, and they had no hope but defending themselves at the point of the sword, many among them surrendered to the Franks, and demanded a safeguard for themselves and their property, offering to deliver up the castle. The command was given to the priest Kandelard (Conrad), a German; but a Frank of the Sahel (coast of Syria) said to the Mussulmans, ‘If you give up the fortress, these men will make you prisoners, and will kill you: preserve your own days then.’ The Mussulmans left them as if to give up the fortress; but when they had re-ascended, they persisted in defending themselves, and fought in despair, so that they kept the castle till the arrival of Melic-Alaziz at Ascalon.”
[25] Nec inter ista defuit spiritus procellæ, tonitruis et coruscationibus, et pluviarum inundationibus et grandine de cœlo fugientes infestandâ.—Arnold Lub. cap. 5.
[26] Otho de St. Blaise appears convinced that the Templars had received money to betray the cause of the Christians. He expresses himself as follows:—Nam sicut fertur, quidam de militibus Templi, à paganis corrupti pecuniâ, animam Conradi cancellarii, qui in hâc ipsâ obsidione præcipuè clarebat, cum quibusdam aliis inflexerunt, eisque auri maximo pondere collocato, obsidionem solvere persuaserunt; sicque vendito Christo tradito paganis per castellum, sicut olim Judæis, recesserunt. Nec tamen de pretio taliter acquisito aliquod emolumentum, sicut nec Judas de triginta argenteis, consecuti sunt. Si quidem pretio corrupti, corruptum à paganis aurum metallo sophistico, auro in superficie colorato receperunt; sicque in opprobrium sempiternum cum notâ infamiæ meritò consecuti sunt.—See Oth. de St. Blaise, in the collection of Urtius.
[27] We are astonished to find so little concerning this crusade in the continuator of William of Tyre. He speaks of this battle and of the division among the Christians, but without any circumstance worthy of being communicated to our readers.
[28] Arnold of Lubec says that the news of the death of the emperor of Germany arrived before the siege of Thoron; but it is not probable that the Crusaders, who were suddenly so anxious to return to the West on account of the troubles that threatened Germany, should have undertaken the siege of Thoron after hearing of a death which must give rise to great events in Europe. Henry died in the month of September, 1196; the siege of Thoron was begun nearly at the same time; thus the Crusaders could not be informed at that period of a circumstance which made them so suddenly renounce the holy war.
[29] Le Père Maimbourg bestows the greatest praise upon the widow of Bela. “This example,” says he, “makes apparent that which has often been seen in other princesses, that heroic virtue is not at all dependent on sex, and that it is possible to make up for weakness of temperament and body by greatness of soul and strength of mind.”
[30] Fuller, an English historian, speaks of this disaster at great length. As his work is scarce, I will translate the passage from it relative to this crusade, in which the impartial reader will find the gross misrepresentations of a violent enemy of the Crusaders. “In this war,” says he, “we may contemplate an episcopal army which might have served for a synod; or, more truly, it offers us a picture of the Church militant. Many captains returned home secretly, and when the soldiers wanted to fight, the officers went away: what remained of this army fortified themselves in Jaffa. The feast of St. Martin, that great saint of Germany, fell at this time. This holy man, a German by birth, and bishop of Tours in France, distinguished himself eminently by his charity. The Germans changed his charity for the poor into excess for themselves, observing the 11th of November in such a manner that it ought no longer to be called a saint’s day, but a day of festivity. Drunkenness reduced them to such a state, that the Turks, falling upon them, killed more than twenty thousand of them. This day, which the Germans write in red letters in their calendars, takes its colour from their own blood, and as their camp was a slaughter-house, the Turks were their butchers. We may compare them to the oxen of St. Martin, which differ little from droves of drunkards.”—Nicol. Fuller, b. ii. chap. xvi. p. 133. [I really cannot see that old Fuller is so very widely wrong.—Trans.]
[31] This is the picture of the Germans in the chronicle of Usperg:—Bellicosi, crudeles, expensarum prodigi, rationis expertes, voluntatem pro jure habentes, ensibus invicti; in nullis, nisi hominibus suæ gentis confidentes; ducibus suis fidelissimi, et quibus vitam citiùs quam fidem posses auferre.
[32] The Latin and Greek chronicles both describe the cruelties of Henry VI. in Sicily. Nicetas, in his history, makes a long enumeration of the punishments invented by the emperor of Germany, and says that Greece was on the eve of seeing all the evils that afflicted Sicily fall upon her territory, when Henry VI. was removed, as if by an extraordinary interposition of Providence.
[33] We shall see in the end that Sicily cost Frederick II., but particularly young Conrad, the last prince of the family of Swabia, much embarrassment and many misfortunes.
[34] Our excellent author has conceived a kind of parental affection for the crusades, which makes him blind to their defects. If we speak of the spirit of Christianity, certainly the philosopher of Geneva has the advantage of him, as his own pages show. Divested of their mundane motives, the crusades were little else than “a savage fanaticism.” There was, at least, as much religious merit in the Mussulmans, who fought to defend their faith. A philosopher may deduce beneficial results from the crusades, particularly to Europe; but he will be much puzzled to prove that that which we now consider a truly Christian spirit, influenced many of the warriors that carried them out, or the churchmen that promoted them. The Inquisition and the crusade against the Albigeois were of the same age, and the principal agents in them equally prostituted the name of religion in their horrors.—Trans.
[35] We have a life of Innocent III. which extends to the thirteenth year of his pontificate. This life, Gesta Innocentii, is the more valuable from being written by a contemporary.
[36] We may consult, for the preachings of this crusade, the letters of Innocent III. Some details will be found in Roger de Hoveden, Matthew Paris, &c. &c.
[37] Villehardouin expresses himself thus when speaking of the indulgences of the pope:—Por ce cil pardon fut issi grand, si s’en emeurent mult li cuers des genz, et mult s’en croisièrent, porce que li pardon ne si grand. (The pardon was so great that the hearts of people were moved, and many took the cross because the pardon was so great, or complete.)
[38] Gretser has spoken at great length of the indulgences granted to the Crusaders.—De Cruce, vol. iii. b. ii. c. 3.
[39] The Chronicle of St. Victor speaks thus of Foulques de Neuilly:—Et verba ejus quasi sagittæ potentis acutæ, hominum pravâ corda consuetudine obdurata penetrarent et ad lacrymas et pœnitentiam amolirent.
[40] If we may believe contemporary chronicles, Foulques addressed Richard Cœur de Lion, and said to him,—“You have three daughters to dispose of in marriage, Avarice, Pride, and Luxury.” “Well,” replied Richard, “I give my pride to the Templars, my avarice to the monks of Citeaux, and my luxury to the bishops.” This anecdote is quoted by Rigord.
[41] The Latin history of the diocese of Paris thus designates the prostitutes—Multæ mulierculæ quæ corpore quæstum faciebant.
[42] Alberic, Rigord, Otho of St. Blaise, James of Vitri, the manuscript chronicle Autore Radulfo Coggehalensi, the Chronicle of Brompton, and Marin Sanul, have left particulars of the life of Foulques. The Ecclesiastical History of Fleury, vol. xvi., has collected all the materials scattered about in the old chronicles. The Abbé Lebeuf, in his History of Paris, quotes a Life of Foulques, 1 vol. in 12mo. Paris, 1620, which we have in vain endeavoured to procure.
[43] The monk Gunther gives some account of this sermon in the history he has left us of the conquest of Constantinople. The monk Gunther bestows the warmest praise upon Martin Litz, who was his abbot, and gives curious details of the sermons of the latter. He puts into the mouth of the preacher of the crusade a discourse in which we find the same reasons, and almost the same words, as in all the discourses of those who had previously preached holy wars; it is probable that the people were more affected by the spirit that reigned in Europe than by the eloquence of the orators.—See Gunther, in the Collection of Canisius.
[44] The castle of Ecry was situated on the river Aisne, not far from Château Porcien.
[45] The author of a History of Jerusalem, who wrote in the twelfth century, says, when speaking of the Champenois:—Et quædam pars Franciæ, quæ Campania dicitur, et cùm regio tota studiis armorum floreat, hæc quodam militiæ privilegio singulariùs excellit et præcellit; hinc martia pubes potenter egressa, vires quæ in tyrociniis exercitaverat, in hostem ardentiùs exerit, et imaginaria bellorum prolusione proposita, pugnans animos ad verum martem intendit.
[46] The name of Villehardouin took its origin from a village or castle of the diocese of Troye, between Bar and Arcy; the elder branch, to which the historian belonged, only subsisted to 1400; the younger, which acquired the principality of Achaia, merged in the family of Savoy. Ducange has left a very long historical notice of the genealogy of this family.
[47] Complures tantâ pontificii indulgentissimi gratiâ illecti, et Fulconis persuasionibus excitati, rubram crucem amiculo, quo dexter humerus tegitur, certatim consuere.—Rhamnusius de Bell. Constant. lib. i.
[48] Rhamnusius gives a very minute list of the knights and barons that took the cross. Le Père d’Outreman likewise gives a very extensive list. In the notes that accompany the history of Villehardouin, Ducange has left us many curious particulars upon the knights and barons of Flanders and Champagne who took part in this crusade.
[49] Villehardouin has preserved the names of the six deputies. The Count Thibault named two: Geoffrey of Villehardouin, Miles of Brabant. Baldwin of Flanders, two others: Canon de Bethune, and Alard de Maqueriaux; and the count of Blois, two: Jean de Friaise and Gauthier de Goudonville.
[50] Innocent III. said of the republic of Venice: Quæ non agriculturis inservit, sed navigiis potiùs et mercimoniis est intenta.—See the first book of the Collection of the Letters of Innocent.
[51] Nicetas says in his history, that Dandolo was styled “The Prudent of the Prudent.”
[52] Several historians say that Dandolo was blind, and that the emperor Manuel Comnenus had deprived him of sight during an abode he made at Constantinople. One of his descendants, André Dandolo, says merely in his history that his ancestor was short-sighted (visu debilis). The part of the story connected with Manuel Comnenus appears to be a fable. Historians differ as to the age of Dandolo: Ducange, at the period of the crusade, gives him ninety-four years. Gibbon does not doubt of his blindness, though he has no faith in its having been caused by Manuel; but he certainly assigns to him actions that could scarcely be performed by a blind man. He does not believe the accounts of his very advanced age, saying,—“It is scarcely possible that the powers of mind and body should support themselves at such an age.”—Trans.
[53] Weight of Cologne or Geneva. See the terms of the treaty.
[54] The Venetians undertook, in the treaty, to distribute to each individual of the army of the Crusaders, six setiers of bread, corn, wheat, or vegetables, and half a pitcher (demi-cruche) of wine; for each horse three bushels, Venetian measure, and water in sufficient quantities. We are not able to value the six setiers of corn, or the half-pitcher of wine, having no means of ascertaining the Venetian measures.
[55] The original treaty may be seen in the Chronicle of Andrew Dandolo, pages 325, 328 of vol. xii. of Muratori.
[56] From the thirteenth century the aristocracy began at Venice to get the better of the democracy.—See History of Venice, by Laugier.
[57] Several authors have thought that Villehardouin could not write; and they found their opinion upon what he himself says,—“I, who dictated this work.” However that may be, the history of Villehardouin has been pronounced by learned men to be a model of the language that has ceased to be French. In the sixteenth century the language of the marshal of Champagne was already not understood; his history was turned into modern French by Blaise de Vigenère towards the end of the sixteenth century; this translation has itself become so old as to be now scarcely intelligible. The new version that Ducange made of it in the seventeenth century still bears an impression of antiquity, which preserves something of the naïveté of the original. We shall often have occasion to quote Villehardouin; but we shall only quote the ancient versions, and sometimes from a translation we have ourselves made, always endeavouring to preserve as far as possible the simplicity of the old language.
[58] Gibbon says, “A reader of Villehardouin must observe the frequent tears of the marshal and his brother knights; they weep on every occasion of grief, joy, or devotion.”—Trans.
[59] Maintenant li six messagers s’ageneuillent à la pies mull plorant.—Villehardouin, lib. i.
[60] Persuasum omnes habent, solos Venetos mari, Gallos terrâ præpotentes esse.—Rhamn. lib. i.
[61] Vigenère, the translator of Villehardouin, informs us that in his time the treaty between the Venetians and the French, concluded in the month of April, 1201, was still preserved in the Chancery of Venice.
[62] The author of the History of the Republics of Italy recapitulates thus the sum that was due to the Venetians by the Crusaders:—
| For four thousand five hundred horses, at four marks per horse | 18,000 |
| For the knights, at two marks per knight | 9,000 |
| For twenty thousand foot-soldiers, at two marks per soldier | 40,000 |
| For two squires per horse, nine thousand squires | 18,000 |
| ——— | |
| Total marks | 85,000 |
| ——— |
Eighty-five thousand marks of silver are equal to four millions two hundred and fifty thousand francs.
[63] Thibault was buried in the church of St. Stephen of Troyes; his epitaph finishes with these verses:—
Terrenam quærens, cœlestem repperit urbem;
Dum procul hæc potitur, obviat ille domi.
[64] The History of Burgundy by Courtépée and Béguillet has here committed a great error in making Eudes III. set out on the crusade, and take a part in the capture of Constantinople.
[65] Villehardouin makes thus the eulogy of Boniface, marquis of Montferrat:—“The marquis Boniface is, as every one knows, a very valorous prince, and most esteemed for knowledge of war and feats of arms of any one at the present day living.”
[66] At the same time that Egypt experienced all the horrors of famine, Richard of St. Germain and the Chronicle of Fossa-Nova (see Muratori) say that a great dearth was felt in Italy and Spain; one of them adds that this year, 1202, was known under the name of “annus famis.” Mézerai speaks of this famine, which was felt in France, and attributes it to the war then carried on between Philip and Richard. “The two kings,” says he, “pillaged the lands, pulled up their vines, cut down the trees, cut the harvest whilst unripe, and destroyed more cities and towns in one day than had been built in ages. Famine followed these horrible ravages, says an author; so that many of the richest were reduced to beg their bread, and finding none to give it to them, ate grass and burrowed in the earth for roots.”
[67] The pope was satisfied with liberating the Crusaders from the usurious debts which they owed to the Jews. At that period all interest upon money lent was considered usury.
[68] Jacques of Vitri, when speaking of the suspicions and murmurs that arose against Foulques of Neuilly, expresses himself thus:—Et crescente pecuniâ, timor et reverentia decrescebant.
[69] The Abbé Lebeuf, in his History of the Diocese of Paris, vol. vi. p. 20, gives us a description of the tomb of Foulques of Neuilly, which was still standing in the last century. “The tomb of Foulques, the famous curé of this place about the year 1200, is in the nave, before the entrance to the choir, built of stone a foot and a half high. It is the work of the age in which this pious personage died. Foulques is represented in relief upon the monument, clothed as a priest, his head bare, having the tonsure on the top, and the hair so short that the whole of his ears is visible. A book is laid upon his breast, which he does not hold, as his hands are crossed above, the right placed upon the left. His chasuble and his manipule represent the vestments of his times. He has under him a kind of footstool, cut in the stone, and two angels in relief incense his head, which is placed towards the west; for, after the ancient manner, his feet are pointed to the east, or the altar. It is not true, as has been said, that this tomb is incensed, nor has it any arms. He is called in the country Sir Foulques, and sometimes Saint Sire Foulques. There is a tradition that the canons of St. Maur formerly endeavoured to carry it away; but the immobility of the car with which this story is adorned, tells us what degree of faith may be attached to it.” M. l’Abbé Chastelain names his death, in his Universal Martyrology, as having taken place on the 2nd of March, 1201, and qualifies him as venerable.
[70] Villehardouin says, when speaking of the arrival of the Crusaders at Venice, “No nobler people were ever seen, nor better appointed, nor more disposed to do something good for the honour of God and the service of Christendom.”
[71] Upon the sojourn of the Crusaders at Venice, Gesta Innocentii, Villehardouin and Ducange, Sanuti, Hérold, D’Outreman, Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xviii., l’Abbé Langier, &c. &c., may be consulted.
[72] Then might be seen so many beautiful and rich vessels of gold and silver heaped up here and there, and carried to the hotel of the duke as part of their payment.—Villehardouin.
[73] The Venetians might have said, and no doubt did say on this occasion, that the king of Hungary had taken the cross many years before, and had done nothing yet towards the fulfilment of his vow. Andrew did not set out for Palestine till many years after the taking of Constantinople.
[74] The monk Gunther does not at all spare the Venetians, and reproaches them bitterly with having diverted the Crusaders from their holy enterprise. The pious resolution of the leaders of the crusade, says he, was subverted by the perfidy and wicked artifices of these masters of the Adriatic,—fraude et nequitiâ Venetorum.
[75] With the true spirit of an antiquary, M. Michaud delights in throwing a character of the “olden time” into the language of Villehardouin, which is in a degree effective in the French, but is with much difficulty conveyed into English.—Trans.
[76] Irene, the daughter of Isaac, had been affianced to William, son of Tancred, king of Sicily; being taken into Germany, with the rest of the family of Tancred, she had married Philip of Swabia.
[77] Villehardouin and Gunther give very circumstantial details of the siege of Zara, and of the debates that followed it. (See also, on the subject of these debates, the letters of Innocent.) The Abbé Fleury, in the sixteenth volume of his Ecclesiastical History, displays sufficiently the spirit that then actuated the Crusaders. M. Lebeau, in the twentieth volume of the History of the Lower Empire, and the Abbé Laugier, in the second volume of his History of Venice, say a great deal concerning the siege of Zara.
[78] Katona, in his Histoire Critique des Rois de Hongrie, expresses himself with bitterness against the Crusaders, and relates facts very little favourable to the Venetians and French who laid siege to Zara. Archdeacon Thomas, one of the historians of Hungary, does not spare the Venetians, whom he accuses of tyranny, and who made, he says, their maritime power detested by all the excesses of violence and injustice.
[79] We feel bound to present the text of this oath:—B. Fland. et Hain., L. Blesen et Clar. et H. S. P. comites, Oddo de Chanliet, et W. frater ejus, omnibus ad quos litteræ istæ pervenerint, salutem in Domino. Notum fieri volumus, quod super eo quod apud Jaderam incurrimus excommunicationem apostolicam, vel incurrisse nos timemus, tam nos quam successores nostros sedi apostolicæ obligamus, quod ad mandatum ejus satisfactionem curabimus exhibere. Dat. apud Jaderam, anno Domini 1203, mense Aprilis.
[80] The pope adds, whilst speaking of the Venetians: “Excommunicated as they are, they still remained tied by their promises; and you are not the less authorized to require the performance of them; it is further a maxim of right, that in passing over the land of a heretic or an excommunicated person, you may buy or receive necessary things from him. Moreover, excommunication denounced against the father of a family, does not prevent his household from communicating with him.”
[81] This permission to live by pillage, even in a friendly country, is remarkable, particularly as the pope pretends to authorize it by examples from Scripture.—Fleury, Hist. Eccl. book lxxv.
Innocent, in giving the Crusaders permission to take provisions wherever they may find them, adds, “Provided it be with the fear of God, without doing injury to any person, and with a resolution to make restitution.”
[82] We find in the continuator of William of Tyre the following circumstance:—Malek-Adel being informed that the Crusaders were assembling at Venice, conceived great uneasiness regarding their ulterior designs. He called together the heads of the Christian clergy at Cairo, and announced to them that a new expedition was preparing in Europe, and that they must provide themselves with horses, arms, and provisions. The bishops, to whom he addressed himself to obtain the succour of which he stood in need, replied that their sacred ministry did not allow them to fight. “Well,” answered Malek-Adel, “since you cannot fight yourselves, you must provide me with men to fight in your place.” He then demanded of them an account of the lands they possessed, and ordered that these lands should be sold; and the money produced by this confiscation was sent to Venice, to corrupt the leaders of that republic, and to engage them to divert the Crusaders from an expedition into Egypt or Syria. Malek-Adel at the same time promised the Venetians all sorts of privileges for their trade in the port of Alexandria. This singular circumstance, related at first, as we have said, by the continuator of William of Tyre, is to be found also in Bernard Thesaurarius, and in the Chronicle of St. Victor. Marin. Sanut, it is true, passes it by in silence, and contents himself with saying that Malek-Adel went into Egypt and there collected a treasure. But it may be observed that Marin. Sanut was a Venetian, and had a good reason not to report all the details of a fact which was not to the glory of his country. Bernard when relating it, adds:—Qualiter autem hujus rei effectus fuerit in opinione patenti multorum est, si legantur quæ Veneti cum baronibus ipsis peregerunt, detrahendo eos ad obsidionem Jadræ, et deinde Constantinopolim.
[83] The marshal of Champagne lets no opportunity escape for blaming with bitterness those who abandoned the army of the Crusaders.
[84] A double alliance and the dignity of Cæsar had connected the two elder brothers of Boniface with the imperial family. Reinier of Montferrat had married Mary, daughter of the emperor Manuel Comnenus; Conrad, who had defended Tyre before the third crusade, was married to Theodora Angela, sister of the emperors Isaac and Alexius.
[85] The army was no longer to be dreaded by the emperors as it had been in the early days of the empire; but it was no more an object of fear to its enemies than to its master. A modern historian, M. Sismondi, finds in the government of the Greek empire a complete and incontestable evidence of the natural and necessary effects of the worst of governments. The ancients were acquainted with scarcely any medium between liberty and despotism. The government of Constantinople had retained, up to the middle of the middle ages, all which characterized the despotism of the ancients, although we must allow that this despotism was sometimes tempered by religion and the influence of the patriarchs of Byzantium.
[86] Lebeau, in his History, describes at length the decline of the Greek empire and the vices of the emperors. Gibbon, a much more enlightened observer, sometimes neglects important details connected with this period, and in his latter volumes, too often forgets the Greeks to speak of the barbarous nations of the East and West that had shared the wrecks of the Roman empire.
[87] We may consult, for an account of this expedition, the marshal of Champagne, Gunther, and some passages of Nicetas. Rhamnusius has only made a pompous paraphrase of Villehardouin. Lebeau and the Abbé Laugier say a great deal of the events we are relating. This expedition of the Crusaders has been splendidly described by the historian Gibbon.
[88] Villehardouin.
[89] It would be difficult to give a very exact idea of the city of Constantinople as it was at the period of this crusade. Among the travellers who have described this capital at a time nearer than our own to the middle ages, we ought to remark Peter Gilles and Grelot, who saw Constantinople, the one in the reign of Francis I., and the other in the reign of Louis XIV. Their description has furnished those who came after them with many documents. Revolutions, wars, the Turks, and fires change every day the aspect of this city, which was already much altered in the times of the travellers we have named. Ducange, in his Christiana Constantinopolis, and Banduri, in his Imperium Orientale, have collected all the information of the old travellers and the Greek historians. Among modern travellers Constantinople, Ancient and Modern, by the Englishman Dallaway, and Le Voyage de la Propontide, by M. Lechavalier, may be consulted with advantage.
[90] Having cast anchor, such as had never been there before began to contemplate this beautiful and magnificent city, the equal to which they thought could not be found in the whole world. When they perceived those high walls and large towers so near to each other, with which it was furnished all round, and those rich and superb palaces and churches rising above all, and in such great number, that they could not easily believe they saw them with their eyes; together with the fine situation of the city, in its length and breadth, which of all other cities was the sovereign, &c.—Villehardouin.
[91] Ducange, in his observations upon Villehardouin, gives a very learned note upon the arms and escutcheons which the warriors of the middle ages caused to be ranged on board their vessels, and which served them as battlements to shelter them from all the arrows of the enemy.
[92] The Greek historian Nicetas says, that the navigation of the Crusaders had been so favourable and so rapid, “that they arrived in the port of St. Stephen without being perceived by anybody.”
[93] Nicetas, speaking of the Crusaders, says they were almost all as tall as their spears.
[94] Nicetas says, among the Venetian vessels there was one so large that it was called the World.
[95] The Varangians, who were in the service of the Greek emperors, have given rise to many discussions among the learned. Villehardouin says that the Varangians were English and Danes. The count de St. Pol, in a letter written from Constantinople, calls them English, Livonians, Dacians. Other historians call them Celts, Germans. The word Varangians appears to be taken from an English word waring,(a) which means warrior; this word is met with in the Danish, and several other tongues of the north of Europe. Ducange thinks the Varangians came from Danish England, a small province of Denmark, between Jutland and Holstein. M. Malte Brun, in the notes that accompany the History of Russia, by Lévesque, thinks the Varangians drew their recruits from Scandinavia; that some came from Sweden by Norvogorod and Kiow, others from Norway and Denmark by the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. We still possess a dissertation upon the Varangians by M. de Villoison, in which we find more learning than criticism. The most probable opinion is that of Ducange and M. Malte Brun. We have but one observation to make, which is, that it is probable the Varangians were not members of the Roman church; if they followed the Greek religion, may we not believe that they belonged to the nations of the North, among whom it had been introduced?
(a) An Englishman is rather at a loss to tell where our author finds this word. Johnson derives war from werre—old Dutch.—Trans.
[96] Le Père d’Outreman speaks thus of Conon de Béthune: Vir domi militæque nobilis et fœcundus in paucis.—Constantin. Belg. lib. iii. Villehardouin says that Conon de Béthune “was a wise knight and well-spoken.”
[97] Thus went they sailing along by the side of the walls, where they showed Alexius to the Greeks, who from all parts flocked to the mole: Sieurs Greeks, behold your natural lord, of that there is no doubt, &c. &c.—Villehardouin, book iii.
[98] It was nearly at this period that the city of Chrisopolis began to be called Scutari. The name of Scutari is employed by Villehardouin.
[99] The breaking of the chain of the port, according to the account of Nicetas, spread the greatest consternation among the Greeks; and misfortune, says the historian of Byzantium, assumed so many different forms, and produced so surprising a number of afflicting images, that no mind is able to conceive them.
[100] For the first siege we may profitably consult the Letter of the Crusaders to the Pope; the History of Villehardouin; Nicetas, Reign of Alexius; the Chronicle of Dandolo; the War of Constantinople, by D’Outreman, Rhamnusius de Bell. Constantinop. &c. &c.
[101] The name of Barbysses is at present unknown to the Turks, who call this river Kiathana; the Greeks call it Karturicos, names which, in both languages remind us of the paper-mills that are at its mouth.
[102] Nevertheless the superb palaces were ruined by the stones of an extraordinary size that the besiegers launched with their machines, and they were themselves terrified by the heavy masses that the Romans rolled upon them from the walls.—Nicetas, Hist. of Alexius Comnenus, book iii.
[103] The historian of Byzantium says, with regard to this fire, that so lamentable a spectacle was capable of producing floods of tears sufficiently abundant to have extinguished the conflagration.
[104] The marshal of Champagne describes to us the order of battle of the Latins, as it was drawn up according to the tactics of the middle ages. The Crusaders issued from their camp divided into six bodies; they ranged themselves before their palisades. The knights were on horseback, their sergeants and esquires were behind them close to the quarters of their horses; the crossbow-men and archers were in front.
[105] Certes, voila une capitulation bien étrange, répondit l’empereur, et ne voy pas comme elle se puisse accomplir, tant elle est grande et excessive. Nompourtant vous avez tout fait pour lui et pour moy, que si l’on vous donnerait tout cet empire entièrement, si l’avez vous bien desuivi.—Villehardouin, book iv.
[106] The Crusaders addressed Otho, and not Philip of Swabia, which is very strange, as Philip was the brother-in-law of Alexius; but it is to be observed that at this period the pope had declared in favour of Otho, and threatened Philip with the thunders of the Church.
[107] This speech is given in its entirety by Villehardouin.
[108] The Greeks and Latins were divided on three principal points; first, the addition made by the Latin Church to the creed of Constantinople, to declare that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father; 2nd the refusal on the part of the Greeks to acknowledge the primacy of the pope; 3rdly the pretension of the Greeks that it is not possible to consecrate in the Eucharist with unleavened bread. Photius began the schism; the patriarch Cerularius established it; this latter wished to be acknowledged as the head of the universal Church instead of the pope. L’Abbé Fleury, in his Histoire Ecclesiastique, thinks that the schism of the Greeks only really began at the period the Latins were masters of Constantinople.
[109] The Bulgarians had shaken off the yoke under the first reign of Isaac. They had for leaders two brothers, Peter and Asan, who had for successor a third brother, Joannices.
[110] Nicetas devotes an entire chapter to the description of this fire. Villehardouin, in the fourth volume of his History, speaks thus of it: De quoi les pélerins Français farent mult dolent, et mult en eurent grand pitié.
[111] Nicetas gives a sufficiently long description of this statue of Pallas.—See the History of Isaac Angelus, chap. iii. This statue was thirty feet high; its eyes, says the Greek historian, were turned towards the south, so that those who were ignorant of the science of angles considered she was looking towards the West, and that she invited the nations from the north of Europe to come to the shores of the Bosphorus.
[112] Nicetas.
[113] The continuator of William gives the Greek prince the name of Marofle.
[114] Lebeau, Histoire du Bas-Empire, says that Mourzoufle had been employed to put out the eyes of Isaac.—See Hist. du Bas-Emp. liv. xciv.
[115] Jacques de Vitri, Alberic, and the continuator of William of Tyre speak of this battle fought between Antioch and Tripoli; Villehardouin likewise makes mention of it, and names many knights that were killed or made prisoners.
[116] Vigenère, when translating Villehardouin, renders thus the passage in which the marshal of Champagne expresses the dissatisfaction of the Crusaders, and the ill-conduct of Alexius towards them:—Alexis les menait de délai en délai, de respit en respit, le bec dans l’eau, quant au principal, et pour le regard de certaines menues parties, qu’il leur fournissait comme à lesche doigt, formait tant de petites difficultés et chicaneries, que les barons commencèrent à s’ennuyer.
[117] Villehardouin, after having described the court of Alexius, in this ceremony naïvely adds: Tout cela se sentait bien sa cour d’un si puissant et riche prince. The title of puissant scarcely suited a prince who was hearing war declared against him in his own palace; and the epithet rich was hardly more applicable to him, since he could not pay what he had promised, and thereby redeem his empire from the greatest danger.
[118] Là-desseus bruit se leva fort grand au palais; et les messagers s’en retournuèrent aux portes, où ils montèrent habilement à cheval; n’y ayant celui, quand ils furent hors, qui ne se sentit très heureux et content en son esprit, voire estonné, d’être reschappé à si bon marché d’un si manifeste danger; car il ne tint presque à rien qu’ils n’y demeurassent tous morts ou pris.—Villehardouin, liv. vi.
[119] Mourzoufle deprived Nicetas of the place of Logothete, to give it to his brother-in-law Philocales. Nicetas treats Mourzoufle with much severity, and among the reproaches he addresses to him, we may remark one which suffices to paint the court of Byzantium. The greatest crime of the usurper was not that of having obtained sovereignty by parricide, but postponing the distribution of his favours.
[120] The two attempts to burn the Venetian fleet are described in a letter of Baldwin to the pope.—See Gesta Innocent. The marshal of Champagne only mentions the first attempt of the Greeks.
[121] Dandolo demanded of Mourzoufle fifty centenaries of gold, which have been valued at 50,000 pounds’ weight of gold, or 48,000,000 of francs (about £2,000,000 sterling.—Trans.). Nicetas alone speaks of this interview, of which Villehardouin and other historians make no mention.
[122] The whole of this interview militates very strongly, as indeed do all the scenes in which the doge is an actor, against the story of his blindness.—Trans.
[123] The monuments we have consulted for the second siege of Constantinople are the History of Villehardouin, the reign of Mourzoufle in Nicetas, the account of Gunther, and the second letter of Baldwin to the sovereign pontiff, which is found in the Life of Innocent (Gesta Innocent.).
[124] Eidem civitati de quâ fugere non audebant, obsidionem ponebant.—Gunther. The same Gunther describes the Crusaders as trembling and distracted: De victoriâ tantæ multitudinis obtinen lâ, sive expugnatione urbis nulla eis spes poterat arridere.
[125] This treaty, made under the walls of Constantinople, is still preserved, and is to be found in Muratori, vol. xii.