of the conqueror, and to their first suppliant deputation that CHAP. mercy was sternly denied. "He had sworn to avenge the LIX. patience and long-sufferings of the Moslems; the hour of forgiveness was elapsed, and the moment was now arrived to expiate in blood, the innocent blood, which had been spilt by Godfrey and the first crusaders." But a desperate and successful struggle of the Franks admonished the sultan that his triumph was not yet secure; he listened with reverence to a solemn adjuration in the name of the common father of mankind; and a sentiment of human sympathy molified the rigour of fanaticism and conquest. He consented to accept the city, and to spare the inhabitants. The Greek and Oriental Christians were permitted to live under his dominion; but it was stipulated, that in forty days all the Franks and Latins should evacuate Jerusalem, and be safely conducted to the seaports of Syria and Egypt; that ten pieces of gold should be paid for each man, five for each woman, and one for every child; and that those who were unable to purchase their freedom should be detained in perpetual slavery. Of some writers it is a favourite and invidious theme to compare the humanity of Saladin with the massacre of the first crusade. The difference would be merely personal; but we should not forget that the Christians had offered to capitulate, and that the Mahometans of Jerusalem sustained the last extremities of an assault and storm. Justice is indeed due to the fidelity with which the Turkish conqueror fulfilled the conditions of the treaty; and he may be deservedly praised for the glance of pity which he cast on the misery of the vanquished. Instead of a rigorous exaction of his debt, he accepted a sum of thirty thousand byzants, for the ransom of seven thousand poor; two or three thousand more were dismissed by his gratuitous clemency; and the number of slaves was reduced to eleven or fourteen thousand persons. In this interview with the queen, his words, and even his tears, suggested the kindest consolations; his liberal alms were distributed among those who had been made orphans or widows by the fortune of war; and while the knights of the hospital were in arms against him, he allowed their more pious brethren to continue, during the term of a year, for the care and service of the sick. In these acts of mercy the virtue of Saladin deserves our admiration and love: he was above the necessity of dissimulation, and his stern fanaticism would have prompted him to dissemble, rather than to affect, this profane compassion for the enemies of the Koran. After Jerusalem had been delivered from the presence of the strangers, the sultan made his triumphant entry, his banners waving in the wind and to the harmony of martial music. The great mosque of Omar, which had been converted into a church, was again consecrated to one God and his prophet Mahomet; the walls and pavement were purified with rose water; and a puls

CHAP. pit, the labour of Noureddin, was erected in the sanctuary. LIX. But when the golden cross that glittered on the dome was cast down, and dragged through the streets, the Christians of every sect uttered a lamentable groan, which was answered by the joyful shouts of the Moslems. In four ivory chests the patriarch had collected the crosses, the images, the vases, and the relics, of the holy place: they were seized by the conqueror, who was desirous of presenting the caliph with the trophies of Christian idolatry. He was persuaded however to intrust them to the patriarch and prince of Antioch; and the pious pledge was redeemed by Richard of England, at the expense of fiftytwo thousand byzants of gold.

The third crusade, by

sea,

The nations might fear and hope the immediate and final 'expulsion of the Latins from Syria; which was yet delayed AD. 1188. above a century after the death of Saladin.65 In the career of victory, he was first checked by the resistance of Tyre; the troops and garrisons, which had capitulated, were imprudently conducted to the same port: their numbers were adequate to the defence of the place; and the arrival of Conrad of Montferrat inspired the disorderly crowd with confidence and union. His father, a venerable pilgrim, had been made prisoner in the battle of Tiberias; but that disaster was unknown in Italy and Greece, when the son was urged by ambition and piety to visit the inheritance of his royal nephew, the infant Baldwin. The view of the Turkish banners warned him from the hostile coast of Jaffa; and Conrad was unanimously hailed as the prince and champion of Tyre, which was already besieged by the conqueror of Jerusalem. The firmness of his zeal, and perhaps his knowledge of a generous foe, enabled him to brave the threats of the sultan, and to declare, that should his aged parent be exposed before the walls, he himself would discharge the first arrow, and glory in his descent from a Christian martyr.66 The Egyptian fleet was allowed to enter the harbour of Tyre; but the chain was suddenly drawn, and five galleys were either sunk or taken; a thousand Turks were slain in a sally; and Saladin, after burning his engines, concluded a glorious campaign by a disgraceful retreat to Damascus. He was soon assailed by a more formidable tempest. The pathetic narratives, and even the pic

64 For the conquest of Jerusalem, Bohadin (p. 67-75,) and Abulfeda (p. 40 -43,) are cur Moslem witnesses. Of the Christian, Bernard Thesaurarius (c. 151-167,) is the most copious and authentic; see likewise Matthew Paris (p. 120-124.)

65 The sieges of Tyre and Acre are most copiously described by Bernard Thesaurarius (de Acquisitione Terra Sanctæ, c. 167-179,) the author of the Historia Hierosolymitana (p. 1150—1172, in Bongarsius,) Abulfeda (p. 43—50,) and Bohadin (p. 75-179.)

66 I have followed a moderate and probable representation of the fact: by Vertot, who adopts without reluctance a romantic tale, the old marquis is avtually exposed to the darts of the besieged.

tures, that represented in lively colours the servitude and profa- CHAP. nation of Jerusalem, awakened the torpid sensibility of Europe: LIX. the emperor, Frederic Barbarossa, and the kings of France and England, assumed the cross; and the tardy magnitude of their armaments was anticipated by the maritime states of the Mediterranean and the Ocean. The skilful and provident Italians first embarked in the ships of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. They were speedily followed by the most eager pilgrims of France, Normandy, and the Western isles. The powerful succour of Flanders, Frise, and Denmark, filled near a hundred vessels; and the northern warriors were distinguished in the field by a lofty stature and a ponderous battle-axe. Their increasing multitudes could no longer be confined within the walls of Tyre or remain obedient to the voice of Conrad. They pitied the misfortunes, and revered the dignity, of Lusignan, who was released from prison, perhaps, to divide the army of the Franks. He proposed the recovery of Ptolemais, or Acre, thirty miles to the south of Tyre; and the place was first invested by two thousand horse and thirty thousand foot under his nominal command. I shall not expatiate on the story of this memorable siege; which lasted near two years, and consumed, in a narrow space, the forces of Europe and Asia. Never did the flame of enthusiasm burn with fiercer Siege ef Acre, and more destructive rage; nor could the true believers, a AD 1193, common appellation, who consecrated their own martyrs, re- A.D.1191, fuse some applause to the mistaken zeal and courage of their July. adversaries. At the sound of the holy trumpet, the Moslems of Egypt, Syria, Arabia, and the Oriental provinces, assembled under the servant of the prophet:68 his camp was pitched and removed within a few miles of Acre; and he laboured night and day, for the relief of his brethren and the annoyance of the Franks. Nine battles, not unworthy of the name, were fought, in the neighbourhood of mount Carmel, with such vicissitude of fortune, that in one attack, the sultan forced his way into the city; that in one sally, the Christians penetrated to the royal tent. By the means of divers and pigeons, a regular correspondence was maintained with the besieged; and, as often as the sea was left open, the exhausted garrison was withdrawn, and a fresh supply was poured into the place. The Latin camp was thinned by famine, the sword, and the climate; but the tents of the dead were replenished with new pilgrims, who exaggerated the strength and speed of their approaching countrymen. The vulgar was astonished by the report, that the pope himself, with an innumerable crusade, was

67 Northmanni et Gothi, et cæteri populi insularum quæ inter occidentem et septemtrionem sitæ sunt, gentes bellicose, corporis proceri, mortis intrepidæ bipennibus armatæ, navibus rotundis quæ Ysnachiæ dicuntur advectæ.

68 The historian of Jerusalem (p. 1108,) adds the nations of the East from the Tigris to India, and the swarthy tribes of Moors and Getulians, so that Asia and Africa fought against Europe.

July

At

CHAP. advanced as far as Constantinople. The march of the emperor LIX. filled the east with more serious alarms, the obstacles which he encountered in Asia, and perhaps in Greece, were raised by the policy of Saladin; his joy on the death of Barbarossa was measured by his esteem; and the Christians were rather dismayed than encouraged at the sight of the duke of Swabia and his way-worn remnant of five thousand Germans. length, in the spring of the second year, the royal fleets of France and England cast anchor in the bay of Acre, and the siege was more vigorously prosecuted by the youthful emulation of the two kings, Philip Augustus and Richard Plantagenet. After every resource had been tried, and every hope was exhausted, the defenders of Acre submitted to their fate; a capitulation was granted, but their lives and liberties were taxed at the hard conditions of a ransom of two hundred thousand pieces of gold, the deliverance of one hundred nobles, and fifteen hundred inferior captives, and the restoration of the wood of the holy cross. Some doubts in the agreement, and some delay in the execution, rekindled the fury of the Franks, and three thousand Moslems, almost in the sultan's view, were beheaded by the command of the sanguinary Richard. By the conquest of Acre, the Latin powers acquired a strong town and a convenient harbour; but the advantage was most dearly purchased. The minister and historian of Saladin computes, from the report of the enemy, that their numbers, at different periods, amounted to five or six hundred thousand; that more than one hundred thousand Christians were slain ; that a far greater number was lost by disease or shipwreck; and that a small portion of this mighty host could return in safety to their native countries.70

Richard of

Palestine,

Philip Augustus, and Richard the First, are the only kings of England, in France and England, who have fought under the same banAD. 1191, ners; but the holy service, in which they were enlisted, was 1192 incessantly disturbed by their national jealousy; and the two

factions, which they protected in Palestine, were more averse to each other than to the common enemy. In the eyes of the Orientals, the French monarch was superior in dignity and power; and in the emperor's absence, the Latins revered him as their temporal chief. His exploits were not adequate to

69 Bohadin, p. 180: and this massacre is neither denied nor blamed by the Christian historians. Asacriter jussa complentes (the English soldiers,) says Galfridus à Vinisauf (l. iv. c. 4, p. 346,) who fixes at 2700 the number of victims; who are multiplied to 5000 by Roger Hoveden (p. 697, 698.) The humanity or avarice of Philip Augustus was persuaded to ransom his prisoners (Jacob à Vitriaco, l. i. c. 98, p. 1122.)

70 Bohadin, p. 14. He quotes the judgment of Balianus, and the prince of Sidon, and adds, ex illo mundo quasi hominum paucissimi redierunt. Among the Christians who died before St. John d'Acre, I find the English names of de Ferrers earl of Derby (Dugdale, Baronage, part i. p. 260,) Mowbray (idem, p. 124,) de Mandevil, de Fiennes, St. John Scrope, Pigot, Talbot, &c.

71 Magnus hic apud eos, interque reges eorum tum virtute, tum majestatą

his fame. Philip was brave, but the statesman predominated CHAP. in his character; he was soon weary of sacrificing his health LIX. and interest on a barren coast; the surrender of Acre became the signal of his departure; nor could he justify this unpopular desertion, by leaving the duke of Burgundy, with five hundred knights and ten thousand foot, for the service of the Holy Land. The king of England, though inferior in dignity, surpassed his rival in wealth and military renown; and if heroism be confined to brutal and ferocious valour, Richard Plantagenet will stand high among the heroes of the age. The memory of Cœur de Lion, of the lion-hearted prince, was long dear and glorious to his English subjects; and, at the distance of sixty years, it was celebrated in proverbial sayings by the grandsons of the Turks and Saracens, against whom he had fought his tremendous name was employed by the Syrian mothers to silence their infants; and if a horse suddenly started from the way, his rider was wont to exclaim, "Dost thou think king Richard is in that bush ?" His cruelty to the Mahometans was the effect of temper and zeal; but I cannot believe that a soldier, so free and fearless in the use of his lance, would have descended to whet a dagger against his valiant brother Conrad of Montferrat, who was slain at Tyre by some secret assassins.74 After the surrender of Acre, and the departure of Philip, the king of England led the crusaders to the recovery of the seacoast; and the cities of Cæsarea and Jaffa were added to the fragments of the kingdom of Lusignan. A march of one hundred miles from Acre to Ascalon, was a great and perpetual battle of eleven days. In the disorder of his troops, Saladin remained on the field with seventeen guards, without lowering his standard, or suspending the sound of his brazen kettle-drum: he again rallied and renewed the charge; and his preachers or heralds called aloud on the unitarians, manfully to stand up against the Christian idolaters. But the progress of these idolaters was irresistible, and it was only by demolishing the walls and buildings of Ascalon, that the sultan could prevent them from occupying an important fortress on the confines of Egypt. During a severe

eminens...summus rerum arbiter (Bohadin, p. 159.) He does not seem to have known the name either of Philip or Richard.

72 Rex Angliæ præstrenuus... rege Gallorum minor apud eos censebatur ratione regni atque dignitatis; sed tum divitus florentior, tum bellicâ virtute multo erat celebrior (Bohadin, p. 161.) A stranger might admire those riches; the national historians will tell with what lawless and wasteful oppression they were collected.

73 Joinville, p. 17. Cuides-tu que ce soit le roi Richart?

74 Yet he was guilty in the opinion of the Moslems, who attest the confession of the assassins, that they were sent by the king of England (Bohadin, p. 225 ;) and his only defence is an absurd and palpable forgery (Hist. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xvi. p. 155-163,) a pretended letter from the prince of the assassins, the Shiech, or old man of the mountain, who justified Richard, by assuming to himself the guilt or merit of the murder,