20

AMBITION OF NOUREDDIN.

been their safety, having come to an end, the defence became weak and inefficient. The King of Jerusalem and his knights renewed the attack with greater vigour than ever; and the wood of the holy cross, which was supposed to have been found at Jerusalem, was borne before them to the assault, giving them the assurance of victory. Although they were not successful in penetrating into the town before night, the progress they had made was so great, and the number of slain on the part of the garrison so tremendous, that the citizens determined to surrender, on condition of being permitted to quit the town with their baggage. Three days were allowed by the capitulation for the inhabitants of Ascalon to evacuate the place, but such was their fear of the Christians in their neighbourhood, that ere two days were over they had completed their preparations, and were conducted with honour to a spot where they considered themselves in safety.*

8;

For some time after the fall of Ascalon, the kingdom of Jerusalem enjoyed a higher degree of tranquillity and prosperity than had been its lot for many years. The internal troubles in Egypt did not cease with the death of Abbas and Noureddin was occupied in the north, pursuing that plan of self-aggrandisement which, although the expulsion of the Christians from Asia was certainly one of his great purposes, affected the territories of the Mussulman princes in his neighbourhood not less than those of the Franks themselves. One of the great objects of Noureddin's ambition was the addition of the city of Damascus, and the district surrounding it, to the extensive dominions which he already possessed. That city was looked upon in those days as the capital of Syria, and was governed by an emir who had shown some weakness in his conduct towards the Christians-even paying them tribute and suffering them to reclaim any Christian captives who might be found in the slave-market of the town. The feelings of the religious enthusiast, therefore, as well as those of the ambitious conqueror, were aroused in the breast of Noureddin, prompting him to wrest it from its possessor. Damascus, however, lay so near to the Christian

*The account given by William of Tyre is confirmed in almost all the material points by the Arabian historians. I have blended in the narrative the statements of Ibn-alatir and Abouyali with that of William of Tyre.

HIS CUNNING AND DUPLICITY.

21

territory in Palestine, that the Prince of Aleppo might well fear that a direct attack on his part would induce its sovereign to throw open his gates to the Franks. He determined, therefore, to effect by cunning what he dared not attempt by force; and on this, as on several other occasions, he showed a barbarous disregard for truth and honesty, which harmonises but little with the flattering picture which many modern historians* have thought fit to draw of the Mussulman princes, when compared with the Christian invaders of the Holy Land. Noureddin's first effort during the years 1154 and 1155 was to cultivate the friendship of the Emir of Damascus, and to gain the full confidence of the man he proposed to destroy. He also ingratiated himself with the various nobles of that principality, and allured the most powerful and talented of them to make him proposals for delivering the city into his hands. As soon as this was done, he betrayed them to their sovereign, who swept them away, one by one. In the end, when, by these arts, he had left the Prince of Damascus without any support amongst his great men, and had by other means as insiduous gained the people and the military, he advanced towards the object of his cupidity with a large army, and marched so rapidly that the King of Jerusalem, whom the emir had by this time called to his aid, found the forces of Aleppo in possession of the city. The emir, indeed, fortified himself in the citadel; but he was soon induced to yield it on the promise of receiving the principality of Emessa; of which place he was ere long stripped by the faithless Noureddin, and was ultimately sent as an exile to Bagdad. These facts are told by one of the Attabec's most ardent panegyrists; and yet surely such acts are but those of a cunning and unscrupulous barbarian. I shall have more events of the same kind to record ere long, which must divest the character of Noureddin of every semblance of civilisation.

On the fall of Ascalon, it would appear a tribute had been promised by Egypt to the Christian princes of the Holy Land,t and a treaty of peace was concluded about that time,

* Monsieur Guizot, in speaking of Bernard, the treasurer, says: "En aucune autre chronique peut-être, la supériorité de civilisation et de générosité des Mussulmans sur les Occidentaux ne s'y fait si bien sentir."

+ See Mills.

22

DEFEAT OF THE CHRISTIANS AT PANEAS.

or shortly after, between the khalif and the King of Jerusalem. The particulars of this transaction are very obscure, but, nevertheless, the principal facts are referred to by all the Arabian historians. In 1157, however, the Egyptians accused the Franks of some breach of the treaty, and the war recommenced on both sides with great fury. An Egyptian fleet ravaged the coast of Gaza, and in the following year an army marched across the desert to attack the Holy Land. At the same time, Noureddin renewed his efforts towards the east of Palestine, routed a large body of the Knights of the Hospital, and attacked the city of Paneas. The approach of the King of Jerusalem forced him to raise the siege; but Baldwin suffered himself to be deceived by a feigned retreat, dismissed the greater part of his troops, was attacked in an irregular march from Paneas by the whole forces of Noureddin, and totally defeated, escaping from the lost battle only by the swiftness of his horse. Surrounded by the enemy, and panic-stricken by the sudden and unexpected attack, the Christian knights for once forgot their renown, and multitudes of them surrendered after a very slight resistance. A number were killed, however, in the first onset, and Noureddin returned with his prisoners in triumph to Damascus. The procession with which he entered the gates of that city is described by one of his biographers in the work called the "Two Gardens ;" and certainly we can find no traces of his boasted civilisation here. The foot soldiers of the Christian army were marched in, bound together four and four, and three and three. The men at arms were mounted on their horses, and covered with their helmets and coats of mail; but the most celebrated knights, selected from the rest, appeared two and two, tied upon camels, and each pair forced to bear a standard, from which hung the bloody scalps of their friends and companions who had fallen upon the field of battle.

There can be but little doubt that the talented but barbarous Prince of Aleppo had his eye at this time upon the throne of Egypt, and he maintained with the vizier of the khalif a constant communication, from which he derived considerable pecuniary assistance. Still his principal object was the destruction of the Christian power in the east, and for the accomplishment of this purpose he called in the aid of

ILLNESS OF NOUREDDIN.

23

religious enthusiasm, denominating his efforts to recover. Palestine from the Franks "the sacred war," "* and summoning all his people to aid him in establishing the faith of Mahommed. Shortly after his victory at Paneas, however, on his return, it would seem, from an ineffectual attack upon the city of Nepa, Noureddin was seized by a malady which threatened to cut him off suddenly in the career of glory. His army fell into disorder, and he himself, unable to sit his horse, was borne back to Damascus in a litter.

Had the Christians, at that moment, been in a state to attack the territories of their enemy with promptitude and decision, they might have regained all that the Attabec had taken from them; but the great losses they had lately sustained had weakened them so much that they were forced to ask the aid of some Armenian princes, and then only succeeded in capturing the town of Schaizar and the fortress of Harem.

In the mean while, the illness of Noureddin grew more severe, and no hope was entertained of his life. His brother, Nasreteddin, immediately advanced to seize upon Aleppo; and all the principal emirs who had shared his fortunes, and contributed to his success, now prepared to divide amongst them those vast dominions which he had endeavoured to consolidate. Two of the principal chiefs who had served under the great Attabec, were brothers of a Curdish family, named Schircou and Ayoub; the latter had been entrusted by Noureddin with the government of Damascus, and was a man of great skill and penetration. Schircou, on the contrary, was, it would appear, at the head of a large body of Noureddin's troops, and the most powerful of his generals. Thus situated, without loss of time, the latter repaired to Damascus, not doubting to obtain his brother's assistance in making himself master of Syria. Ayoub, however, judged more wisely; he represented to Schircou that there was still a chance of Noureddin's recovery, advised him to hasten to Aleppo, and defend it against Nasreteddin, in the name of Noureddin, and promised, if the monarch did die, to open the gates

The work which first raised the reputation of Bohaeddin to the high pitch to which it attained in Syria under the reign of Saladin, had for its title "The Sacred War," and was little else than a vigorous and vehement exhortation to his fellow-Mussulmans to extirpate every other religion than that of Mahommed.

24

VICTORY OVER NOUREDDIN.

of Damascus to him, and seat him on the Syrian throne. Schircou saw the wisdom of advice which, instead of one solitary principality, offered the prospect of uniting Damascus and Aleppo under his own rule, and he hastened to follow the counsel of his brother. Noureddin recovered; Nasreteddin was forced to flee from his indignation; and Schircou, with his services apparent and his treason undiscovered, received the thanks of his master for preserving Aleppo. The favour of the Attabec monarch now showered honours and distinctions upon the house of Ayoub; and his son, Salaheddin, known to the European world under the name of Saladin, by which I shall henceforth designate him, was called unwillingly, from a life of luxurious sloth, to take a prominent part in the great revolutions of the east.

The war continued without interruption between Noureddin and the King of Jerusalem, and success hovered alternately over the banners of either host. On the 14th of July, 1159, fortune showed itself favourable to the Christians, and compensated for the defeat at Paneas, by giving Baldwin a decided victory over Noureddin and his general, Schircou, in the Tiberiad. But it is to be remarked, that although the qualities of Noureddin and of Baldwin were certainly great, both as generals and as statesmen, yet neither of them possessed that comprehensive genius which alone can conceive vast and well organised schemes, and pursue them through all their details with unity of purpose and undeviating continuity of effort. Indeed, through the whole wars to which the Christian occupation of Palestine gave rise, during the twelfth century, the effects of personal ambition and individual cupidity in frustrating great efforts, ruining mighty enterprises and rendering genius itself of no avail, is lamentably apparent. We find striking instances in every page of the history of those times to prove that selfishness, merely contemptible in a humble individual, is, in the man endowed with vast powers, destructive not only of all around him, but of his own greatness, and subversive of his best schemes and most eager purposes. Both the monarchs whom we have seen opposed to each other suffered themselves to be turned aside continually by the prospect of some petty advantage from greater objects of endeavour, and we never find any victory, such as that which Baldwin gained in the Tiberiad,